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 I'li/'hj/ifd Si i'ro.ifr ^ Brtwstcr ■/'/ Washlit^n-n St fioSKm
 
 C A L M E 1 ' S 
 
 DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY BIBLE, 
 
 AS PUBLISHED BY THE LATE 
 
 MR. CHARLES TAYLOR, 
 
 THE FRAGMENTS INCORPORATED. 
 
 THE WHOLE CONDENSED AND ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER. 
 
 American llditioii. 
 
 REVISED, 
 
 WITH LARGE ADDITIONS, 
 
 BY EDWARD ROBINSON, 
 
 PROFESSOR EXTRAORDINARY OF SACRED LITERATURE IN THE THEOLOGICAL aRlVrtg/\RV, ANDOVER. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Siaactf) plapsj, anti 35nflral)infls on a^Sootr. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER, 
 
 47 WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 NEW YORK: JONATHAN LEAVITT, 
 182 br,oad.w;ax. 
 
 MDCCCXXXII.
 
 Q^ The Publishers of this work have in press, and will soon publish, an Abridgment oj the 
 
 present edition of CalmeVs Dictionary, with Engravings , for the use of Schools 
 
 and young persons. Prepared by Professor Robinson. 
 
 Note. — In the following work, the letter R. at the close of a paragraph, indicates that the \ 
 
 whole of that paragraph, or so much of it as follows the mark [, has been added by the v 
 
 American Editor. The same letter, preceded by an asterisk, *R. indicates that the whole ^ 
 
 of the preceding article, or so much of it as follows the mark [, is by him. \ 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1832, by 
 
 Crocker and Brewster, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 STEREOTYPED AT THE 
 BOSTON TYP$; AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDERY.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE AMERICAN EDITION 
 
 The American public being here presented with the well-known Dictionary of Calmet 
 in a condensed and somewhat abridged form, it is proper to state the circumstances under 
 which this edition has been brought forward, and the principles on which the revision of the 
 work has been conducted by the present Editor. 
 
 Augustin Calmet was a French monk, of the Benedictine order, and, in the latter part of 
 his life, abbot of Senones, in Lorraine. He devoted himself particularly to the studies 
 connected with Biblical literature ; and his chief works were a Commentary on all the Books 
 of the Old and Neio Testament, (Paris, 1707-16, 23 vols. 4to. ; reprinted in 26 vols. 4to., 
 and also in 9 vols, folio,) and the Historical and Critical Dictionary of the Bible, (Paris 
 1722-28, 4 vols, folio ; reprinted at Geneva, 1730, in 4 vols. 4to., and again at Paris 
 1730, in 4 vols, folio.) He published a few other works of a similar nature, which obtained 
 less notoriety, and died at Paris in 1757, at the age of seventy-five years. His o-eneral 
 character, as a scholar and writer, is that of a diligent and judicious collector and compiler, 
 with more of tolerance than was usual among the Catholics of that day, but without any 
 profound skill in original investigation, or any distinguished tact or taste in the plan and 
 arrangement of his works. 
 
 His Dictionary is justly regarded as affording a popular exhibition of the learning then 
 extant upon the subjects of which it treats ; without making in itself any important additions 
 to the common stock. It was translated into English by D'Oyly and Colson, and pub- 
 lished in 1732, in 3 vols, folio. There are said to have been versions of it also in the 
 Latin, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian languages. But no further edition of it appeared in 
 England until 1797, when it was again published under the direction of the late Mr. Charles 
 Taylor, with considerable retrenchments and additions. The retrenchments consisted, 
 principally, in the omission of articles resting on the authority of rabbinic literature and 
 Catholic tradition, and not directly illustrative of the Bible. The additions were given in a 
 separate volume, under the name of Fragments, and consisted of discussions and illustra- 
 tions of oriental life, character, and manners, drawn chiefly from travellers in the East. A 
 second edition of Mr. Taylor's revision was printed in 1800-03; and afterwards a third 
 from which the American edition of 1812-16, was copied, in 4 vols. 4to. The fourth 
 London edition appeared in 1823, enlarged by a second volume of Fragments ; and the fifth 
 edition in 1830, after the death of Mr. Taylor, in 5 vols. 4to., the fifth volume consisting 
 only of the plates. 
 
 The character of Mr. Taylor as an editor, and the value of his additions to Calmet's 
 work, may be given in few words. Acquainted with oriental philology only through the 
 meagre system of Masclef and Parkhurst ; as an expounder of etymologies, outstripping even 
 the extravagance of the latter; and as a theorist in the ancient history of nations, ovei3tep- 
 ping the limits which even Bryant had felt himself constrained to observe ; — his remarks on 
 these and many collateral topics, may be characterized as being in general fanciful, very 
 often rash, and sometimes even involving apparent absurdity. They must ever be received 
 by the student with very great caution. His chief and undoubted merit consists in diligently 
 bringing together, from a variety of sources, facts and extracts which serve to illustrate the 
 antiquities, manners and customs, and geography, of oriental nations. 
 
 2011851
 
 iy PREFACE. 
 
 On account of the diffuse and heterogeneous character which the Dictionary of Cahnet 
 had thus been brought to assume, it was a judicious step to undertake a new revision, in which 
 the Fragments should be incorporated with the Dictionary under one alphabet, and the whole 
 condensed and reduced to a proper form and order. Such a work has been published in 
 London, during the present year, in royal octavo, under the direction of the editor of the fifth 
 quarto edition. In order to comprise the work within this compass, the plan appears to have 
 been to leave out all articles not directly illustrative of the Scriptures themselves ; and also 
 many of the prolix and trivial critical discussions of the Fragments ; omitting, however, 
 nothing which it would be of any importance to retain. This plan appears to have been acted 
 upon throughout — but with some exceptions, and, as it would seem, in great haste. I am 
 not aware, at least, that any thing has been omitted, which it would have been in any degree 
 advisable to have retained. 
 
 Such was the work which the enterprising Publishers put into my hands, with the request 
 that I would revise it, and prepare an edition for the American public. On examining it, I 
 found that many retrenchments might still be made, in my judgment, with advantage ; while 
 many additions also might be introduced, from sources with which the English editors appear 
 to have been unacquainted. 
 
 The retrenchments which I have ventured to make, have been chiefly in respect to such 
 critical, etymological, and mythological discussions of Mr. Taylor, as the English editor had 
 retained. Believing that a much better system of Hebrew philology is beginning to be prev- 
 alent in our country, and also a more sober and correct view of Biblical interpretation in 
 general, I felt unwilling to sanction the circulation among us of any such crude and fanciful 
 speculations as could only tend to divert the mind of the Biblical student from the right way. 
 I have, therefore, not hesitated to strike out every thing of thi's kind, which seemed to me 
 positively wrong and of injurious tendency ; although enough still remains to confirm to the 
 sober-minded student the correctness of the preceding remarks. 
 
 In the place of these retrenchments, and to a much greater amount, I have made such 
 additions as seemed to be desirable, from all the sources within my reach. The whole range 
 of German labor, in the department of Biblical literature, appears to have been almost un- 
 known to the English editors ; I have drawn copiously from it. The works of modern 
 oriental travellers have also been extensively used. During the whole progress of the work, 
 the latest quarto edition of the Dictionary has been open before me, as also the French edition 
 of 1730, and the first English one of 1732; but I have not found occasion to draw from 
 them to any great extent. 
 
 The present work contains very many things which I should never have inserted, but 
 which, being once there, I did not feel myself at liberty to reject. Such a course would 
 have resulted rather in the compilation of a new work ; which it was neither my wish nor 
 duty to undertake. My province was merely to prepare a revised copy of the English work. 
 This I have done, and almost every page bears evidence of such revision. Of the very 
 numerous Scripture references, many have been found wrong, and have been corrected ; but 
 no systematic collation of them has been made. Many errors also, which had come down 
 through all the previous editions, have- been corrected. At my request, the Publishers have 
 given a new and important map of the country south of Palestine ; and, at their own sug- 
 gestion, have introduced a better plan of Jerusalem, and also added another map, illustrative 
 of the passage of the Israelites through the Red sea. 
 
 In conclusion, I have to return my thanks to the guardians and officers of Harvard Uni- 
 versity, and the Boston Athenasum, for the very liberal manner in which they met my wishes 
 for the use of books from their respective libraries. To the skilful and very accurate cor- 
 rectors connected with the Boston Type and Stereotype Company, the thanks of the Editor 
 and of the readers of this work are especially due. 
 
 The plan of the work, it will be perceived, is neither doctrinal nor devotional. The 
 object of it is simply to explain and illustrate the meaning of the Bible itself, leaving to 
 other occasions the application of that meaning, as it regards both the understanding and the 
 heart. That the work may have the eff'ect to facilitate and promote the study of the 
 Sacred Volume in our land', is now the Editor's fervent prayer, as it has long been the 
 
 ubiect of his anxious toil. 
 •• EDWARD ROBINSON. 
 
 Theol Sem. Andover, Oct. 15, 183-2.
 
 DICTIONARY 
 
 THE HOLY BIBLE 
 
 AARON 
 
 A, tlie first letter in almost all alphabets. In Hebrew 
 it is called aleph, (n) which signifies ox, from the 
 shape of it in the old Pheuician alphabet, where it 
 somewhat resemples the head and horns of that ani- 
 mal. (Plutarch. Qusest. Sympos. ix. 2. Gesenii 
 Thesaur. Heb. p. 1 ) This Hebrew name has passed 
 over along with the letter itself, into the Greek alpha. 
 Both the Hebrews and Greeks employed the letters 
 of their alphabets as numerals ; and A, therefore, 
 [aleph or alpha) denoted one, the first. Hence our 
 Lord says of himself, that he is [to x) Alpha and[rd il) 
 Omega, i. e. the first and the last, the beginning and 
 tlie ending, as he himself explains it. Rev. i. 8, 11 ; 
 xxi. 6 ; xxji. 13. R. 
 
 AARON, the sou of Amram and Jochebed, of the 
 tribe of Levi, (Exod. vi. 20.) was bom A. M. 2430; 
 that is, the year before Phai-aoh's edict for destroying 
 tiie Hebrew mate infants, and three years before his 
 jjrother Moses, Exod. vii. 7. He married Elisheba, 
 the daughter of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, 
 (Exod. vi. 23.) by whom he had four sons, Nadab and 
 Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. The eldest two were 
 destroyed by fire from heaven ; from the other two 
 the race of the chief priests was contiiuied in Israel, 
 1 Cliron. xxiv. 2 seq. 
 
 The Lord, having appeared to Moses, and directed 
 him to deliver tlie Israelites from tlieu* oppressive 
 bondage in Egypt, appointed Aaron to be his assistant 
 and speaker, he being the more eloquent of the two, 
 Exod. iv. 14 — 16; vii. 1. Moses, having been di- 
 rected by God to return into Egj'pt, quitted Midian, 
 with liis family, and entered upon his journey. At 
 momit Horeb he met his brother Aaron, who had 
 come thither by a divine direction ; (Exod. iv. 27.) 
 and after the usual salutations, and conference as to 
 the purposes of the Ahnighty, the brothers prosecuted 
 their journey to Egypt, A. M. 2513. Upon tlieir ', 
 arrival in Egypt, they called together the eldei-s of | 
 Israel, and hanng announced to them the pleasure | 
 of the Almighty, to deUver the people from their 
 bondage, they presented themselves before Phai-aoh, j 
 and exhibited the credentials of their divine mission, ' 
 1 
 
 AARON 
 
 by working several miracles in his presence. Phara- 
 oh, however, drove them away, and for the purpose 
 of repressing the strong hopes of the Israelites of a 
 restoration to liberty, he ordered their laborious oc- 
 cupations to be greatly increased. Ovei-%vhelmed 
 with despair, the Hebrews bittei-ly complamed to 
 Moses and Aaron, Avho encouraged them to sustain 
 their oppressions, and reiterated the detennination 
 of God to subdue the obstinacy of Pharaoh, and 
 procure the deliverance of his people, ch. v. In 
 all their subsequent intercourse with Pharaoh, dur- 
 ing which several powerful remonstrances were 
 made, and many astonishing miracles performed, 
 Aaron appears to have taken a very prominent part, 
 and to have pleaded with much eloquence and 
 effect the cause of the injured Hebrews, Exod. 
 vi. — xii. 
 
 Moses having ascended mount Smai, to receive 
 the tables of the law, after the ratification of the 
 covenant made with Israel, Aaron, his sous, and 
 seventy elders, followed him partly up. They saw 
 the symbol of the divine presence, without sustain- 
 ing any injury, (Exod. xxiv. 1 — 11.) and were favor- 
 ed ^^^th a sensible manifestation of the good pleasure 
 of the Lord. It was at this tune that Moses received 
 a divine command to mvest Aaron and his four sous 
 with the priestly office, the functions of wliich they 
 were to discharge before Jehovah for ever. See 
 Priest. 
 
 During the forty days that Moses continued in the 
 mount, the people became impatient, and tumultu- 
 ously addressed Aaron : " Make us gods," said they, 
 "whicli sliall go before us: for as to this Moses, the 
 man that iirought us up out of the laud of Egypt, 
 we know not what is become of him," Exod. xxxii. 
 1 seq. Aaron desired them to bring then* pendants, 
 and the ear-rings of their wives and children ; which, 
 being brought, were melted down under liis du-ec- 
 tion, and formed into a golden calf. Before this calf 
 Aaron built an altar, and the people sacrificed, 
 (lanced, and diverted themselves around it, exclaim- 
 ing, "Tliese be thy gods, O Israel, which brought
 
 V^v 
 
 AARON 
 
 [2 J 
 
 AARON 
 
 thee up out of the laud of Egypt." The Lord Jiaviug 
 informed Moses of the siu of the IsraeUtes, (Exod. 
 xxxii. 7.) he immediately descended, carrying tlie 
 tables of the law, which, as he approached the camp, 
 he threw upon the ground and broke, (ver. 19.) re- 
 proaching the people with their transgression, and 
 Aai'on with his weakness. Aaron at first endeavor- 
 ed to excuse himself, but afterwards became penitent, 
 humbled himself, and was pardoned. The taberna- 
 cle having been completed, and the offerings prepar- 
 ed, Aaron and his sons were consecrated with the 
 holy oil, and invested with the sacred garments, 
 Exod. xl. Lev. viii. Scarcely, however, Avere the 
 ceremonies connected with this solemn service com- 
 pleted, when his two eldest sons, Nadab and Abiliu, 
 \vere destroyed by fire from heaven, for j)resu]iiing 
 to burn incense in the tabernacle with strange fire. 
 Lev. X. 
 
 Subsequently to this aftecting occiUTence, there 
 was little in the life of Aaron that demands particular 
 notice. During the foity years that he discharged 
 tiie priestly office, his duties were appaj-ently at- 
 tended to with assiduity, and his general conduct, 
 excepting the case of his joining Miriam in mur- 
 muring against Moses, and distrusting the divine 
 power at Kadesli, was blameless, Numb. xii. xx. 
 
 8— n. 
 
 Li the fortieth year after the departure of the 
 Hebrev/s out of Egyi)t, and while they were en- 
 camped at Mosera, Aaron, by the divine conmiand, 
 ascended mount Hor. Here Moses divested him of 
 his pontifical robes, which were placed upon his son 
 Eleazar ; " and Aaron died on the top of .the mount," 
 at the age of one himdred and twenty-three years, 
 "and the congregation mourned for him thirty days," 
 Numb. XX. 2.3—29 ; xxxiii. 38. 
 
 There is an apparent discrepancy in the scripture 
 account of the place of Aaron's death. In the pas- 
 sages above refen-ed to, it is said that it occuri'ed in 
 mount Hor ; but in Deut. x. 6. it is stated to have 
 been at Mosera, or more properly, according to the 
 Hebrew form of the word, at Moser. The difficulty, 
 however, is removed, by supposing that the place 
 Mosera lay near the foot of mount Hor, perhaps on 
 the elevated open plain from which the mountain 
 rises, as described by Burckhardt, Travels in Syria 
 and the Holy Land, p. 4-30. Joscphus, Eusebius, 
 and Jerome, all agree in ])lacing the sepulchre of 
 Aaron upon the sunujiit of mount Flor, where it is 
 still ])reserved and venerated by the Arabs. When 
 the su])posed tomb was visited by Mr. Legh, it was 
 attciuh'd l)y a cripj)led Arab hermit, about eighty 
 years of ag(% who conducted the travellers into a 
 small white building, crowned by a cupola. The 
 moinunent i\sAi' is about three feet high, and is 
 patciied together out of fragments of stone and niar- 
 i)le. The proper tomb is excavated in the rock be- 
 low. See Hoa. 
 
 I. In reviewing the life of Aaron, we can scarcclv 
 fail to remark the manner of bis introduction into 
 the history. He at once appears ii.s a kind of assist- 
 ant, and so far an inferior, to his l)rot]ier Moses ; yet 
 he iiad some advantages whicii seem to have entitled 
 him to |)rior consideration. He was the elder bro- 
 ther, an el()(|uent speaker, and also favored by di- 
 vine inspiration. \\'e have no cause assigned why 
 he was not |)referred to Moses, in resj)ect of authori- 
 ty ; and therefore no other cause can now l;e assign- 
 ed tiian the divine good j)leasure, acting perlia])s with 
 reference to tin; superior education and consequent 
 influence of Mf)ses. 
 
 2. Among the most confirming signs given by 
 God to Moses, may be placed the interview with his 
 brother Aaron at mount Horeb. This being predict- 
 ed by God, and directly taking place, must have been 
 very convincing to Moses. (See something similar 
 in the case of Jeremiah, chap, xxxii. 8.) It should 
 seem also, that Aaron would not have imdertaken a 
 journey of two months, from Egj'pt to mount Sinai, 
 at great hazard and exjjense, unless he had been well 
 assured of the authority A\hich sent him ; neither 
 could he have expected to find Moses where he did 
 find him, unless by divine direction ; since the place, 
 afterwards called the mount of God, was then undis- 
 tinguished and unfrequented. Aaron, therefore, was 
 a sign to Moses, as Moses was a sign to Aaron. 
 
 3. It seems probalile that Aaron was in circumstan- 
 ces above those of the lower class of people in Egypt. 
 Had he been among those who were kept to their 
 daily bondage, he could ill have spared time and 
 cost for a journey to Horeb. Although the brothers, 
 then, had no pretension to sovereign authority by 
 descent, yet they were of consideration among the 
 Israelites, either by property, or office, or perhaps 
 from the fact of Moses' long residence and education 
 at the Egyptian coint ; which could not tail to be a 
 source of influence to himself and to his family. 
 Both Moses and A.-.ron seem to be acknowledged by 
 Pharaoh, and by many of his servants, as persons of 
 consideration, and as proper agents for transacting 
 business between the Israelites and the king. Aaron 
 performed the miracles before Pharaoh, too, without 
 any Avonder being expressed by him, how a person 
 like him should acquire such skill and eloquence. 
 Had Moses and Aaron been merely private persons, 
 Pharaoh would, no doubt, have punished their intru- 
 sion Jind impertinence. 
 
 4. We cannot palliate the sin of whicli Aaron was 
 guilty, when left in charge of Israel, in conjunction 
 with Hur, while Mos(>s was in the moimt receiving 
 the knv. His aiuhorlty should have been exerted to 
 restrain the ])eople's infatuation, instead of forward- 
 ing their design. (See Calf.) As to his personal 
 concern in the affiiir, we may remark, that if his own 
 faith or patience was exhausted, or if he supposed 
 Moses to be dead, then there coukl have been no col- 
 lusion l)etween them. Nor durst he have done as he 
 did, had he expected the innnediate return of Moses. 
 His activity in building the altar to the calf renders 
 his subsecjuent submission to Moses utt(>rly inexpli- 
 cable, had not a divine conviction been employed on 
 the occasion. It is to be remarked, that nothing is 
 said of the interference of Hur, the coadjutor of 
 Aaron in the govcrinnent of the ])eo])le. The latter 
 seems to have shrunk with unlioly timidity from 
 his duty of resistance to the proceedings of the 
 ))eople, fearing their disposition, as "set on mis- 
 chief," which he pleabs in excuse, Exod. xxxii. 
 oo 24, 
 
 5. The sedition of Aaron and INIiriam agiiinst 
 Moses, (Ninnb. xii. 1.) affords anotlnn- argument 
 against the supposition of collusion between the 
 l)rothers. Aaron assumes, at first, a high tone, and 
 [)retends to no less gifts than his brother; iiut he 
 aftenvanls acknowledges his folly, and, with jMiriam, 
 submits. Aaron was not visited with the leprosy, 
 but he could well judge of Us reality on his sister: 
 it was his proper office to exclude her from the camp 
 for seven days; and by his expression of "flesh half 
 consumed," it should seem that it was an inveterate 
 kind of the disease, and therefore the more signal. 
 Aaron's ofiection, ii;terest, and [tassion, all concur
 
 ABA 
 
 [3 j 
 
 AB*E 
 
 red to harden hhn aguiust uuy thing le»» than full 
 con\'iction of a divine interposition. But he well 
 knew that it was not m tlie power of Moses to in- 
 flict this disease, in so sudden and decided a manner. 
 
 6. The departure of Aaron for death, has some- 
 thing in it very singular and impressive. In the 
 sight of all the congregation, he quits the camp for 
 the mountain, where he is to die. On the way, 
 Moses his brother, and Eleazar his sou, divest him 
 of his pontifical habits, and attend him to the last. 
 We view, in imagination, the feeble old man ascend- 
 ing the mount, there transferring the insignia of his 
 office to his sou, and giving up the ghost, with that 
 faith, that resignation, that meekness, which became 
 one who had been honored with the Holy Spirit, 
 and with the typical representation of the gi'eat High- 
 priest himself. 
 
 7. In the general character of Aaron there was 
 much of the meekness of his brother Moses. He 
 seems to have been willing to serv^e liis brethren, 
 upon all occasions ; and was too easily persuaded 
 against his o\vn judgment. This appears when the 
 people excited him to make the golden calf, and when 
 Miriam urged him to rival his brother. 
 
 8. When we consider the talents of Aai-on, his 
 natural eloquence, and his probable acquirements in 
 knowledge, that God often spake to him as well as 
 to Moses, and that Egjptiau priests were scribes, as a 
 duty of their profession ; it is not very unhkely, that 
 he assisted his brother in ^vTiting some parts of the 
 books which now bear the name of Moses ; that, at 
 least, he kept journals of public transactions ; that 
 he transcribed, perhaps, the orders of Moses, espe- 
 cially those relating to the priests. If this be admis- 
 sible, then we account at once for such difference of 
 style as appears in these books, and for such smaller 
 xariations in different places, as would naturally arise 
 from two persons recording the same facts ; we ac- 
 count for this at once, without, in any degree, lessen- 
 ing the authority, the antiquity, or the real value of 
 these books. It accounts, also, for the third person 
 being used when speaking of 3Ioses : pei'haps, too, 
 for some of the praise and commendation of Moses, 
 which is most remarkable where Aaron is most in 
 fault. See Numb. xii. 3. In Deuteronomy, Moses 
 uses the pronouns, /, and me : " I said," — " the Lord 
 said to me," Avhich are rarely or never used in the 
 former books. See Bible. 
 
 AARONITES, Levites of the family of Aaron ; 
 the priests who particularly served the sanctuary. 
 Numb. iv. 5 seq. 1 Chron. xii. 27 ; xxvii. 17. See 
 Levites. 
 
 AB, the eleventh month of the civil year of the 
 Hebrews, and the 5th of their ecclesiastical year, 
 which began with Nisan. It had thirty days, and 
 nearly answers to the moon of Juty. The name 
 does not occur in Scripture. See the Jewish Cal- 
 EXDAR at the end of the volume. 
 
 AB-\DDON, or APOLLYON, the destroyer; the 
 name ascribed (Rev. ix. 11.) to the angel of the abyss, 
 or Tartarus, i. e. the angel of death. He is repre- 
 sented as the king and head of the Apocalyptic 
 locusts under the fiflh trumpet, Rev. ix. 11. Sec 
 Locust. 
 
 ABANA, or AMANA, (the former being the Kethib, 
 or readuig of the Hebrew text ; and the latter the Keri, 
 or marginal reading,) the name of one of the rivers 
 cited by Naainan (2 Kings v. 12.) as rivers of Damas- 
 cus. The latter is probably the true name, signifying 
 perennial ; the change of m into b being very common 
 m the oriental dialects. 
 
 luterpretei-s have been much divided in regard to 
 the streams probably designated by the names Abana 
 and Pharpar. One of these undoubtedly is the pres- 
 ent Barrada [the cold), the Chrysorrhoas of the an- 
 cients, which rises in x\nti-Libauus and flows through 
 Damascus. Just above the city it is divided into 
 several branches, (some travellers say three, and 
 others five,) which pass around the city on the out- 
 side, and afford water for the inunerous gardens by 
 which the city is surrounded ; while the inaiii stream 
 passes through and waters the city itself. Below 
 the city they again mostly unite, and the river loses 
 itself in a marsh a few miles S. E. from Damascus. 
 The branches here mentioned are evidently artificial ; 
 and if we now suppose that originally there were 
 but two branches in all, (the others being a work of 
 later times,) these two branches may perhaps have 
 ijeeu the Abana and Pharpar. — Another supposition, 
 however, is more probable, viz. that one of the streams 
 is the Barrada ; Awhile the other, (perhaps the Amana, 
 or perennial stream,) may be the httle river Fijih, or 
 Fege, which rises near the village of like name in a 
 pleasant valley about 15 or 20 miles N. W. of Damas- 
 cus. Dr. Richardson describes it as issuing at once 
 from the limestone rock, a deep, rapid stream of 
 about thirty feet wide. It is pure and cold as iced 
 water, and afler coursing down a rugged channel for 
 above a hundred yards, falls into the Barrada, which 
 comes from another valley, and is here only half as 
 wide as the Fijih. Its waters, also, hke those of the 
 Jordan, have a white, sulphureous hue. *R. 
 
 ABAGARUS, sec Abgar. 
 
 ABARIM, mountains east of Jordan, over against 
 Jericho, on the northern border of IMoab, within the 
 limits of the tribe of Reuben. It is impossible to de- 
 fine exactly their extent. Eusebius fixes them at six 
 miles west of Heshbou, and seven east of Li^^as. The 
 mountains Nebo, Pisgah, and Peor, were simimits 
 of the Al)arim. Numb, xxvii. 12; xxxiii. 47, 48. 
 Dent, xxxiii. 49. 
 
 ABBA, a Syriac word signifying father, and ex- 
 pressive of attachment and confidence. When the 
 Jews came to speak Greek, this word was probablj' 
 retained from their ancient language, as being easier 
 to pronounce, especially for children, than the Greek 
 pater. Hence Paul says, "Ye have received the 
 Spirit of adoption, whereby we ciy, Abba, Father," 
 Rom. viii. 15. 
 
 I. ABDON,son of Hillel, of the tribe of Ephraim, 
 and tenth judge of Israel. He succeeded Elon, and 
 judged Israel eight years, Judg. xii. 13, 15. He died 
 A. iVl. 2848, ante A.'D. 1156. 
 
 II. ABDON, son of Micah, sent by king Josiah to 
 Huldah the prophetess, to ask her opinion concern- 
 ing the book of the law, lately found in the temple, 
 2 Chrou. xxxiv. 20. Some think him to be the same 
 as Achbor, son of Micaiah, 2 Kings xxii, 12. 
 
 III. ABDON, a city of Aslier, given to the Le- 
 vites of Gcrshon's family. Josh. xxi. 30. 1 Chron. 
 vi. 74. 
 
 ABEDNEGO, a Chaldee name given by the king 
 of Babylon's officer to Azariah, one of Daniel's com- 
 panions, Dan. i. 7. Aliednego was thrown into the 
 fiery furnace at Babylon, with Shadrach and Me- 
 shach, for refusing to adore the statue erected by 
 command of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. iii. See Daniel. 
 Some have supposed this Azariah to be Ezra, but 
 A\'ithout sufficient gi-ounds. 
 
 I. ABEL, (Heb. S^n.) the second son of Adam 
 and Eve. Cain and Al>el having been instructed 
 bv their father Adam in the duty cf worship to their
 
 A B E 
 
 [ 4 
 
 ABI 
 
 Creator, each oirered the first-fruits of his labors. 
 Cain, as a husbaudman, offered the fruits of the field ; 
 Abel, as a shepherd, offered fathngs of his flock. 
 God Avas pleased to accept the offering of Abel, in 
 preference to that of his brother, (Heb. xi. 4.) in con- 
 sequence of which, Cain sank into melancholy, and 
 giving himself up to envy, formed the design of kill- 
 ing Abel ; wjiich he at length effected, having invited 
 him to go into the field. Gen. iv. 8, 9. 1 John iii. 12. 
 It should be remarked, that in our translation no 
 mention is made of Cain inviting his brother into the 
 field : — " Cain talked with xAbel his brother ; and it 
 came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain 
 rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." 
 But in the Samaritan text, ilae word? are express ; 
 and in the Hebrew there is a kind of chasm, thus : 
 "and Cain said unto Abel his brother," — "and it 
 came to pass," &c. without inserting what he said 
 to his brother. 
 
 The Jews had a tradition that Abel was murdered 
 in the plain of Damascus ; and accordingly, his tomb 
 is still shown on a high hill, near the village of Sinie 
 or Seneiali, about twelve miles north-west of Damas- 
 cus, on the road to Baalbek. The summit of the 
 hill is still called J^'ebbi Mel ; but circumstances lead 
 to the probable supposition, that this was the site, or 
 in the vicinity of the site, of the ancient Abela or 
 Abila. The legend, therefore, was most likely sug- 
 gested by the ancient name of the place. 
 
 Paul, sjjeaking in commendation of Abel, says, 
 (Heb. xi. 4.) "By faith he offered unto God a more 
 excellent sacrifice than Cain ; by which he obtained 
 witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his 
 gifis ; and by it he being dead yet speaketh," even 
 after his death. Our Saviour places Abel at the head 
 of those saints who had been persecuted for right- 
 eousness' sake, and distinguishes him by the title 
 righteous, Matt, xxiii. 35. 
 
 n. ABEL, (Heb. Sa^s,) Abel-beth-Maacah, or 
 Abel-maim, a city in the iionh of Palestine, of some 
 considerable size and importance, since it is called " a 
 mother In Israel," 2 Sam. xx. 19. For the identity of 
 the city under these three different names, comp. 2 
 Sam. xx. 14, 15, 18 ; 1 Kings xv. 20 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 4. 
 The addition of Maacah marks it as belonging to or 
 near to the region Maacah, which lay eastward of the 
 Jordan, under Anti-Lebanon. It is perhaps the 
 Mela mentioned by Eusebius as lying between Pa- 
 neas and DauKiscus. R. 
 
 ABEL-BETH-MAACAH, that is Abel near the 
 house or citv of Maacah ; the same as Abel. 
 
 ABEL-CARMAIM, or the Place of the Vineyards, 
 a \illagc of the Ammonites, about six miles from 
 Philadelphia, or Rabbath-Ammon, according to 
 Eusebius, and in his time still rich in vineyards. 
 Judges xi. 'i'i. 
 
 ABEL-MAIM, tin; same as Abel-beth-Maacah, 
 1 Kings XV. 20. 2 Chron. xvi. 4. Sec Abel II. 
 
 ABEL-MEHOLAH, the birth-place of Elisha, 
 1 Kings xix. !(!. It was situated about ten miles south 
 of Sf-ytliopolis or Betlishan, (! Kings iv. 12.) and was 
 cflubratt'd in coiniexion Avith (iideon's victory over 
 the, Mi(li;uiit(>s, Judires vii. 22. 
 
 ABEL-.'\IIZRAIM, "tlie |)laco of the Egyptians," 
 ))reviously <-aIled "the threshiug-floor of Atad," Gen. 
 I. 11. Jeroui places it between Jericho and the Jor- 
 dan ; thre(! miles from the former, and two from the 
 latter, when; Bellia;,'!.-! afterwards stood. 
 
 ABEL-SHITTIM was in the plains of i\Ioa!j, 
 beyond Jordan, o|)posite to Jericho. It is, und<)ul)t- 
 cdiy, tli-.> .Ihi'la of Josoplms, (Ant. \. I. 1. IJell. Jud. 
 
 iv. 7. 6.) and lay according to him about 60 stadia or 
 furlongs from the Jordan. Numb, xxxiii. 49. comp. 
 xxii. 1. It is more frequently called Shittim alone. 
 Numb. XV. 1. Josh. ii. 1. Micah \'i. 5. Eusebius 
 says, it was in the neighborhood of mount Peor. 
 Moses encamped at Abel-Shittim before the Israel- 
 ites passed the Jordan, under Joshua. Here, seduced 
 by Balak, they fell into idolatry, and worshipped 
 Baal-Peor; on account of which God severely 
 punished them by the hands of the Levites, chap. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 ABELA, see Abila. 
 
 ABEZ, a city of Issachar, Josh. xix. 20. 
 
 ABGAR, a king of Edessa, and of the district Os- 
 rhoene, the seventeenth of the twenty kings who 
 bore this name, and contemporary with Christ. The 
 name does not occur in Scripture, but is celebrated 
 in ecclesiastical history, on account of the corres- 
 pondence which is said to have passed between him 
 and Christ. The legend is, that Abgar wrote to the 
 Saviour, requesting him to come and heal him of the 
 leprosy ; to which Christ replied, that he could not 
 come to him, but would send one of his disciples. 
 Accorrhngly he is said to have sent Thaddeus. Both 
 letters are apocryphal, and may be found in Fabric. 
 Codex Apoc. N. T. p. 317. See also the quarto ed. 
 of Calmet. R. 
 
 ABI, mother of Hezekiah, king of Judah ; (2 Kings 
 xviii. 2.) called Abijah, 2 Chron. xxix. 1. 
 
 ABIA, in the N. T. the same as Abijah in the O. 
 T. which see. 
 
 ABIAH, second son of Samuel. Being intrusted 
 with the administration of justice, he behaved ill, and 
 induced the people to require a king, 1 Sam. viii. 2. 
 
 ABIATHAR, son of Ahimelech, and high-priest 
 of the Jews. When Saul sent his emissaries to Nob, 
 to destroy all the priests there, Abiathar, who was 
 young, fled to David in the wilderness, (1 Sam. xxii. 
 11, seq.) with whom he continued in the character 
 of high-priest. Saul, it Avould appear, transferred 
 the dignity of the high-priesthood from Ithamar's 
 family to that of Eleazar, by conferring the office 
 upon Zadok. Thus there were, at the same time, 
 two high-priests in Israel ; Abiathar with David, and 
 Zadok Avith Saul. This double priesthood continued 
 from the death of Ahimelech till the reign of Solo- 
 mon ; Avhen Abiathar, attaching himself to Adonijah, 
 was deprived by Solomon of his priesthood, 1 Kings 
 ii. 27. The race of Zadok alone exercised this min- 
 isti-y during and after the reign of Solomon, exclud- 
 ing the family of Ithamar, according to the ])rediction 
 made to Eli the high-priest, 1 Sam. iii. 11, &c. 
 
 A difliculty arises from the circumstance, that in 
 1 Kings ii. 27, Abiathar is said to be dejaived of the 
 priest's oflice by Solomon ; while in 2 Sam. viii. 17, 
 1 Chron. xviii. Iti, xxiv. 3, 6, 31, Ahimelech the son 
 of Abiathar is said to be high-priest along with 
 Zadok. The most probable solution is, that both 
 father and son each bore the two names Ahimelech 
 and Abiathar; as was not at all unusual among the 
 Jews. (See one example under Abigail.) In this 
 Avay also wc may remove the difliculty arising from 
 Mark ii. 26, where Ahialhar is said to have given 
 David the shew bread, in allusion to 1 Sam. xxi. 1, 
 seq. where it is Ahimelech. — Others suj)pose the 
 passage in Mark to be merely a Jewish mode of 
 quotation, as if from the "History of Abiathar." 
 This, however, does not remove the other difliculty 
 mentioned above ; and there are also other objections 
 to it, arising from the Greek i<liom. See Kuinoel. 
 Comm. II. p. 29. R.
 
 ABI 
 
 [5 ] 
 
 ABI 
 
 ABIB, the lii'sl inonth of the ecclesiastical year of 
 the Hebrews ; afterwards called Nisan. It answered 
 to our March, or pait of April. Abib signifies green 
 ears of corn, or liesh fi'uits. It was so named, be- 
 cause corn, particularly barley, was in ear at that 
 tune. It was an early custom to name times, such 
 as months, from observation of nature ; and the cus- 
 tom is still in use among many nations. So it was 
 with our Saxon ancestors ; and tlie Germans to this 
 day, along with the usual Latin names of the months, 
 have also others of the above character : e. g. June 
 is also called Brachmonath, or month for ploughing ; 
 Jidy, Hcumonath, or Hay-month ; November, JVind- 
 monath, or Wind-month, &c. See Month, and the 
 Jewish Calendar. 
 
 ABIGAIL, formerly the wife of Nabal of Car- 
 itiel, and afterwards of David. Upon receiving in- 
 formation of Nabal's ingratitude to the king, (1 
 Sam. XXV. 14, &c.) she loaded several asses with 
 provisions, and, attended by some of her dojnestics, 
 went out to meet David. Her manners and conver- 
 sation gained for her his esteem, and as soon as the 
 days of mourning for Nabal's death, which happened 
 soon afterwards, ^verc over, he made her his wife. 
 The issue of the marriage was, as some critics sup- 
 pose, two sons, Chiliab and Daniel, (2 Sam. iii. 3 ; 1 
 Chron. iii. 1.) but it is most probable that these names 
 were borne by one person. 
 
 ABIGAIL, sister of David, wife of Jether, and 
 mother of Amasa, 1 Chron. ii. 16, 17. 
 
 ABIHU, one of the two sons of Aaron who were 
 destroyed by fire from heaven, for having offered in- 
 cense with strange fire, instead of taking it from the 
 altar of burnt-offerings, Lev. x. 1, 2. 
 
 I. ABIJAH, son of Jeroboam, the first king of 
 Israel. Having been seized Avith a dangerous dis- 
 ease, his mother disguised herself, and visited the 
 prophet Ahijah to know Avhether he might recover. 
 Ahijah answered her that he would die, and be the 
 only person in his family who would receive funeral 
 honors, and be lamented I)y Israel, 1 Kings xiv. 1. 
 
 II. ABIJAH, called Abijam, (1 Kings xv. 1.) was 
 tlie sou of Rehoboasn, and second king of Judah. 
 He succeeded his father, A. M. 3406, ante A. D. 958, 
 and reigned three years only. In the first book of 
 Kings he is described as wallving in all the sins of his 
 father, and as waging war with Jeroboam, king of 
 Israel. But in 2 Chron. xiii. he is represented as 
 professedly and boastfully zealous for the honor of 
 God, and for the Levitical priesthood. He is also 
 there said to have obtained a decisive victory over 
 Jeroboam. 
 
 III. ABIJAH, wife of Ahaz, and mother of Heze- 
 kiah, king of Judah ; (2 Chron. xxix. ].) called Abi, 
 2 Kings xviii. 2. 
 
 IV. ABIJAH, a descendant of Eleazar, son of 
 Aaron, and head of the eighth of the twenty-four 
 companies of priests, 1 Chron. xxiv. 10 ; Luke i. 5. 
 
 ABIJAM, the same as Abijah II. 
 
 ABILA, or ABELA. There were several towns 
 of this name in Syria, each of which was called by 
 the Greeks, Leucas, or Leiicadia, "white." But the 
 principal one was a toAvn of Ccelosyria, and the cap- 
 ital of Abilene, a province of which Lysanias Avas 
 tetrarch, Luke iii. 1. It was situated in a valley, or 
 rather on the rocky declivity of a mountain, adjacent 
 to the river Chi-ysorrhoas, or Barrada, about twelve 
 miles N. W. of Damascus, perhajjs on the site of the 
 present village Seneiah, at the foot of the hill on which 
 Abel is said to have been buried. (See Abel.) If 
 these rocks were whitish in color, (and most of those 
 
 in Judea are of gray limestone,) they would fumieli 
 the Greeks with a reason for giving to Abila the 
 name of Leucadia — " White-rock-town." Compare 
 Jf'eissenfds, i. e. White-rock, the name of a German 
 city a fe-w miles W. of Leipzig. — It is worthy of 
 remark, too, that Strabo, speaking of the city of Leu- 
 cadia, in Acarnauia, says it was so called because of 
 a great white rock in its neighborhood. 
 
 There are several medals of Abila extant, two of 
 wliich are of some importance, as they serve to iden- 
 tify the site of the town. On the reverse of one of 
 these is a large bunch of grapes, from which it is to 
 be infeiTed that the place where it was struck abound- 
 ed in vineyards. This agrees exactly with the rocky 
 eminence or decUvity upon which we have assumed 
 it to have stood ; besides which, Eusebius and Jeroni 
 agree that its vineyards were very extensive and rich. 
 But the most remarkable and decisive medal extant, 
 is one wliich bears a 
 half-figure of the river, 
 with the inscription 
 " Clnysoroas Claudiai- 
 on," and on the reverse, 
 a figure of Victory, and 
 the inscription "Ler.ca- 
 diou," the Greek name of the city. We may also 
 remark, that Abila adding the name of Claudia to 
 its other appellations, as it appears from this medal 
 it did, affords a presumption that it was of some 
 importance, and perhaps of considerable magnitude 
 also ; and the conjecture receives confirmation from 
 some antiquities and inscriptions which are mentioned 
 by Pococke, as still existing in the neighborhood. 
 See Mod. Traveller, vol. iii. p. 65. 
 
 ABILENE, the name of a district of country on 
 the eastern dechvity of Antilibanus, from twelve to 
 twenty miles N. W. of Damascus, towards Heliopohs, 
 or Baalbeck ; so called from the city Abila, (which 
 see,) and also called Abila, or Abilene of Lysanias, to 
 distinguish it from others. This territory had for- 
 merly been governed as a tetrarchate by a certain 
 Lysanias, the son of Ptolemy and grandson of Meu- 
 ufEus, (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 13. 3.) but he was put to 
 death, (A. C. 36.) through the intrigues of Cleopatra, 
 who took possession of his province, (ib. xiv. 4. 1.) 
 After her death it fell to Augustus, who hired it out 
 to a certain Zenodorus ; but as he suffered the coun- 
 try to be infested with robbers, it was taken froin 
 hini and given to Herod the Great, (Joseph. B. J. i. 
 20. 4 ; Ant. xv. 10. 1.) At Herod's death, a part of 
 the territorv was given to Philip; but the gi'eater 
 part, with the city Abila, seems then, or shortly after- 
 wards, to have been bestowed on another Lysanias, 
 Luke iii. 1. He is sui)i)Oscd to have been a descend- 
 ant of the former Lysanias, but is no Avhere men- 
 tioned by Josepluis. " Indeed, nothing is said by Jo- 
 sephus, or by any other profane writer, of this part of 
 Abilene, until about teu years after the time referred 
 to by Luke, when Cahgiila gave it to Agrippa Major 
 as ''the tetrarchv of Lysanias," (Joseph. Ant. xvin. 
 6. 10.) to whom it was afterwards confirmed by 
 Claudius, (il). xix. 5. 1.) At the death of Agrippa, it 
 went, with his other possessions, to Agrippa Mi- 
 nor. * R, 
 
 I. ABIMELECH,king of Gerar of the Phih>tmes. 
 This prii-.ce, being captivated by the beauty of Sarah, 
 took her into his^haram, Avith the design of makmg 
 her his Avife. In a dream, however, the Lord threat- 
 ened him with death, unless he inuuediately restored 
 her to her husband. Abimelech pleaded his ignorance 
 of the relation betAveen Sarah and Abram, and early
 
 ABI 
 
 [6] 
 
 ABI 
 
 t' e uexl da}' returned her to her husband, and coni- 
 plamed of the deception that had been practised upon 
 him by Abrani, who had described Sarali as his 
 sister. The patriarch explained tlie motives tor his 
 conduct, stating, at the same time, that ahhough 
 Sarah Vvas Iiis wife, she was also his sister, being of 
 the same father by another mother. Abimelech 
 dismissfd them with presents, giving to Sarah, 
 through her husband, a thousand pieces of silver, 
 as a " covering of the eyes," i. e. an atoning present, 
 and as a testimony of her innocence in the eyes of 
 all, Gen. c. xx. See Abraji. 
 
 It has been thought strange that a miraculous 
 interference should have been necessary here, as well 
 as in the case of Pharaoh, (Gen. xii. 14 — 20.) to con- 
 vince Abimelech of his cninmality in detaining the 
 wife of Ai)raham ; and equally sti-auge that Abraham 
 could not procure Sarah's release by projjcr ai)j)lica- 
 tioa and request. But it must be remembered that 
 God favored Abraham with his constant intercourse 
 und direct protection, and in cases too of less diffi- 
 ci.lty than the one here in question. It is well known 
 that oriental sovereigns in all ages have exercised the 
 right of selecting the most beautiful females of their 
 kingdoms for the use of their own harams, (Gen. xii. 
 15 ; Esth. ii. 3.) and that whenever a woman is taken 
 into the haram of a prince in the East, she is secluded, 
 without possibility of coming out, at least during the 
 life of the priuce on the throne. In fact, comnumi- 
 cation with the women in the haram is hardly to be 
 obtained, and only by means of the keepers, (Esth. 
 iv. 5.) and certainly not, when any suspicion occurs 
 to the guards, to whom is intrusted the custody of 
 such buildings. The whole transaction, then, may 
 be placed in a stronger light than, perhaps, it has 
 usually ap])eared in, by the following extract from a 
 review of the travels of Peter Henry Bruce, Esq., an 
 officer in the Russian arm)', under Czar Peter. 
 
 "The retreat of the Russians, we are told, was 
 productive of an unfortunate incident to Colonel Pitt, 
 an officer in that army. Immediately on decam])iug 
 from the fatal banks of the Pruth, he lost both his 
 wife and daughter, beautiful women, by the breaking 
 of one of their coach wheels. By this accident, they 
 were left so far in the rear, that the Tartars seized 
 and carried them off". The colonel fq)plicd to the 
 grand vizier, who ordered a strict inquiry to be made, 
 but without effect. The colonel being afterwards 
 informed that they were both carried to Constanti- 
 nople, and presented to the grand signior, obtained a 
 passport, and went thither in search of them. Getting 
 acquainted with a Jew doctor, who was physician to 
 the seraglio, the doctor told him that two such ladies 
 as he described had lately been presented to the 
 suhun ; but that ?(7ie?j any of the sex ivere once, iakeyi 
 into the seraglio, they tver-e j^ever suffered to quit it more. 
 The colonel, however, tried every expedient he could 
 devise to recover his wife, if he could not obtain 
 both ; until, becoming outrageous by rejjeated disap- 
 pointments, tlicy shut him up in a dungeon, and it 
 vvas with much difficulty he got released by the 
 intercession of some of the ambassadors at that court. 
 He was afterwards told by the same doctor, that both 
 the ladies had died of the plague ; with which infor- 
 mation he was obliged to content himself, and return 
 lioine." Critical Review, vol. iii. p. 3.32. 
 
 II. ABIMELECH, another king of Gerar, proba- 
 bly a son of the former, and contemporary witli Isaac. 
 Having accidentally seen Isaac caressing his wife 
 Rebekah, whom he had called sister, Abimelech 
 reproved him for his dissimulation ; and, at the same 
 
 time, forbade his people to do any injury whatever 
 to Isaac or to his wife. Isaac, increasing in riches 
 and power, excited the envy of the Philistines ; and 
 Abimelech said to him, " Go from us, for thou art 
 much mightier than we." Isaac, therefore, retired to 
 the valley of Gerar, and afterwards to Beersheba, 
 where Abimelech, with Ahuzzath, his favorite, and 
 Phicol, his genei-al, visited him. Isaac inquired, 
 "Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and 
 have sent me away from your" To wliich Abime- 
 lech replied, that observing how much he was favored 
 by God, he was desirous of cultivating his friend- 
 ship, and had come to make a covenant with him. 
 Isaac entertained them splendidly, and the next day 
 concluded a treaty with Abimelech, Gen. xxvi. 
 8—31. 
 
 III. ABIMELECH, son of Gideon by a concubine, 
 assumed the government of Shechem after the death 
 of his father, and procured himself to be acknowl- 
 edged king; first, by the inhabitants of Shechem, 
 where his mother's family had an interest, and after- 
 wards by a great part of Israel. At Gideon's house 
 in Ophrah, he killed his father's seventy sons, now 
 orphans, on one sto)ie ; the youngest, Jotham, only 
 remaining, who, when the people of Shechem assem- 
 bled to inaugurate Abimelech, appeared on mount 
 Gerizim, and reproved tliem by his celebrated fable 
 of the trees. (See Jotham.) After three years, dis- 
 cord aiose among the Shechemites, who, reflecting 
 on their injustice, and detesting the cruelty of Abim- 
 elech, revolted from him in his absence, and laid an 
 ambuscade in the mountains, designing to kill him 
 on his return to Shechem. Of this, Abimelech 
 received intelligence from Zebul, his governor of 
 Shechem. The Shechemites invited Gaal to theii 
 assistance, with whom, at a great entertainment, they 
 uttered many imprecations against Abimelech ; who, 
 having assembled some troops, marched all night 
 towards Shechem. In the morning, Gaal went out 
 of Shechem, and gave battle to Abimelech, but was 
 defeated, and, as he was endeavoring to re-enter the 
 city, Zebul repulsed him. Abimelech afterwards 
 defeated the Shechemites, destroyed the city, and 
 burnt their tower ; but at the attack of Thebez, a 
 town about thirteen miles to the N. E., a woman 
 from the top of the tower threw an upper mill-stone 
 upon his head, and fractured his skull. (See Mill.] 
 He immediately called his armor-bearer, and desirea 
 him to slay him, " that men say not of me, A woman 
 slew him." Judg. ix. 
 
 IV. ABIMELECH, a high-priest in the time of 
 David, (1 Chron. xviii. 16.) the same as Abimelech, 
 (2 Sam. viii. 17.) and probably the same as Abiathar, 
 which see. 
 
 I. ABIRAM, the eldest son of Hiel the Bethelite. 
 Joshua, after having destroyed Jericho, uttered this 
 imprecation : " Cursed be the man before the Lord, 
 that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall 
 lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in 
 his youngest son shall beset up the gate of it," Josh, 
 vi. 26. About .537 years after this, Hiel imdertook 
 to rebuild the city ; and in conformity with the pre- 
 diction, he lost his children, 1 Kings xvi. 34. It is 
 not expressly said, either in the curse, or in the nar- 
 ration, that the children should die ; but this is clearly 
 im])lied. Hiel, it will be observed, is not blamed for 
 his proceeding ; his loss is mentioned only as a 
 remarkable fulfilment of a prediction ; and it is 
 possible that the prediction was unknown to him. 
 See Barren. 
 
 II. ABIRAM, one of the three persons who con-
 
 ABO 
 
 [7] 
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 spired witli Korah to overthrow the authority of 
 Moses in the wilderness, and upon whom God 
 inflicted an awfid punishment. He was the son of 
 Eliab, of the tribe of Reuben, Numb. xvi. 
 
 ABISHAG, a beautiful wgin of Shunam, in the 
 tribe of Issachar, who was selected to chei-ish David 
 in his old age. The king made her his wife ; but the 
 man-iage was never consummated. After the death 
 of David, Adonijah demanded Abishag in marriage ; 
 but Solomon, justly supposing that this was only a 
 step towards his assumption of the regal power, 
 refused his solicitation, and put him to death, 1 Kings 
 i. 3 ; ii. IS— 25. 
 
 ABISHAI, sou of Zeruiah, David's sister, and 
 brother of Joab and Asahel, was one of the most 
 vahant men of his time, and chief general in David's 
 armies. He vanquished Ishbi-benob, a descendant 
 of the Rephaim, the head of whose lance weighed 
 300 shekels of brass, (2 Sam. xxi. 16.) and lifted up 
 his spear against, and slew, 300 enemies, xxiii. 18. 
 See 2 Sam. ii. 18 ; 1 Chron. ii. 16. 
 
 ABISHUA, son of Phinehas, fourth high-priest of 
 the Hebrews ; (1 Chron. vi. 50.) was succeeded by 
 Bukld. The Chronicon of Alexandria places Abishua 
 under Ehud, judge of Israel, Judg. iii. He is called 
 Abiezer in Josepluis. 
 
 ABNER, son of Ner, uncle to Saul, and general 
 of his armies, 1 Sam. xiv, 51. For seven years after 
 the death of Saul he presented the crown to Ishbo- 
 sheth, the son of that prince, though generally unsuc- 
 cessful in the contests that arose between his troops 
 and those of David, who reigned at Hebron, in Judah. 
 Ishbosheth havuig accused liim of taking undue 
 liberties with Rizpah, a concubine of Saul, Abner 
 went over to David, and undertook to deliver the 
 whole kingdom into his hands. In this, however, he 
 was prevented, for immediately after quitting Hebron, 
 for the purpose of carrying his design into effect, he 
 was slain by Joab, the general of David's armies, to 
 revenge the death of his brother Asahel, who had 
 fallen by the hand of Abner, (2 Sam. ii. 20.) or more 
 probably from jealousy. The king was deeply 
 afflicted at the perfidy and cruelty of Joab, and 
 attended the funeral solemnities of Abner in per- 
 son. He also composed an elegj' on his death, 2 
 Sam. iii. 
 
 ABOMINATION. Shi, being the reverse of the 
 divine perfections and law, and the unchangeable 
 object of the divine displeasure, is frequently called 
 abominable, or an abomination, Isa. Ixvi. 3 ; Ezek. 
 xvi. 50. Idolatry and Idols are also designated abom- 
 inations, not only because the worship of idols is, 
 in itself, abominable, but because the ceremonies of 
 idolaters were almost always attended with licentious- 
 ness, and infamous and abominable actions. Shep- 
 herds were an abomination to the Egyptians, (Gen. 
 xlvi. 34.) in consequence, probably, of the tyranny 
 which had been exercised over them by the hycassos, 
 or shepherd kings, a horde of marauders, whose 
 occupations were of a pastoral kind, but who made 
 a powerful irruption into Egjpt, which they subdued, 
 and ruled for about two centuries and a half. Ever 
 after this time the persons and very name of shep- 
 herds were execi'ated, and held in great abhorrence 
 by the Egyptians. — The Hebrews were to sacrifice tlie 
 abominations of the Egyptians, (Exod. viii. 26.) that 
 is, those creatures which they venerated as the syin- 
 bols of deities, and which, therefore, they could not 
 have beheld slain, vv'ithout the utmost indignation and 
 abhorrence. Indeed their superstition was so strong, 
 that even to kill bv accident one of their sacred ani- 
 
 mals, was not to be expiated but by the death of the 
 offender. Egypt was divided into parts, each of which 
 had its pecuhar representative deity ; m one district a 
 bull, in another a goat, in another a cat, in another 
 a monkey, &c. Undoubtedly, these were strange 
 creatures to receive public worship, to be adored as 
 deities, or as symbols of deity ; the choice of such 
 has in it, certainly, something abommable to human 
 nature and feelings. 
 
 ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, foretold 
 by Daniel, (chap. ix. 27.) denotes, according to some 
 interpreters, the image of Jupiter Olympius, erected 
 in the temple of Jerusalem, by command of Anti- 
 ochus Epiphanes, 2 Mac. vi. 2 ; and 1 Mac. vi 7. 
 But, by the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by 
 our Lord, (Matt. xxiv. 15 ; Mark xiii. 14 •) and fore- 
 told as about to be seen at Jerusalem, during the last 
 siege of that city by the Romans, under Titus, is 
 meant the ensigns of the Roman army, with the 
 images of their gods and emperors upon them, which 
 surrounded the city, and were lodged in the temple 
 when that and the city were taken." The evangehsts 
 Matthew and Mark add, " Whoso readeth let him un- 
 derstand ;" hereby intimating, that this event was ap- 
 proaching, though yet future, and that the reader 
 would do well to retire speedily from a city which 
 was thus threatened with the execution of the divine 
 anger. The passages were therefore written before 
 Jerusalem was destroyed, and were, no doubt, the 
 means of warning many to escape the coming 
 wrath. 
 
 ABRAM, afterwards called Abraham, son of 
 Terah, was born at Ur, a citv of Chaldaea, A. M. 
 2008, ante A. D. 1996. Gen.xi. 27. He spent his 
 early years in his father's house, where idols were 
 worshipped. Many have supposed that he himself 
 was at first a worshipper of idols, but that, God giv- 
 ing him a better understanding, he renoimced it, and 
 on that account sufi'ered a severe persecution from 
 the Chaldeans, who threw him into a fiery furnace, 
 fi-om which God miraculously saved him. The Vul- 
 gate rendering of 2 Esd. ix. 7. expresses that he was 
 delivered from the Jire of the Chaldeans, which the 
 Jews generally believe ; although the opinion seems 
 to be founded only on the ambiguity of the word 
 Ur, which signifiesj^re, as well as the city of Ur, from 
 whence God directed Abraham mto the land of 
 promise. It seems that Terah also was convinced 
 of the vanity of idolatry, since he accompanied 
 Abraham from Ur, where he was settled, to go to 
 that place whither the Lord had called him. The 
 first city to which they came was Haran,in Mesopo- 
 tamia, where Terah died. From thence Abraham 
 went into Palestine, at that time inhabited by Canaan- 
 ites. Here God promised to bless him, and to give 
 him the property of the countiy. The patriarch, 
 however, did not ac(iuire landed property here, but 
 lived and died a stranger. Some time after his ar- 
 rival in Canaan, a great famine obliged him to go 
 down into Egypt ; where, fearing that the Egyptians 
 might be captivated with the beauty of Sarah, and 
 iiot only force her from him, but take away his own 
 life also, if they knew her to be his toife, he deter- 
 mined to call her sister. Durmg their stay in Egj'pt, 
 her beauty being reported to Pharaoh, be took her 
 forcibly from Abraham, designing to make her one of 
 his wives. God, however, afflicted him with great 
 plagues, and obliged him to restore her. After the 
 famine had ceased, Abraham returned to Canaan, 
 accompanied by his nephew. Lot ; and pitched his 
 tents between Beth-el and Hai, where he had pre-
 
 ABRAIL^AI 
 
 [8] 
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 viously raised au altar. But, as both Abraham aud 
 Lot had large flocks, thej' could not conveniently 
 dwell together, aud therefore separated ; Lot retiring 
 to Sodom, and Abraham to the plam of Mamre, near 
 Hebron, Gen. xJi. xiii. 
 
 Some years after this. Lot being taken prisoner by 
 Chedorlaomer and his allies, then warring against 
 the kings of Sodom, and the neighboring places, 
 Abraham with his household pui-sued the conquer- 
 ors, overtook and defeated them at Dan, near tlie 
 springs of Jordan, and retook the spoil, together 
 with Lot. At his return, passing near Salem, (sup- 
 posed to be the city afterwards called Jerusalem,) 
 Melchisedek, king of that city, and priest of the 
 Most High God, came out and blessed him, and j)re- 
 sented him with bread and wine for his own refrcsli- 
 ment and that of his army ; or, as some have thought, 
 offered bread and wine to God, as a sacrifice of 
 thanksgiving on Abraham's behalf. 
 
 After this, the Lord renewed his promises to Abra- 
 )iam, with fresh assurances that he should possess the 
 land of Canaan, and that his posterity should be a.s 
 numerous as the stars of heaven. 
 
 As Abraham had no chikh-en, and could no longer 
 expect any by his wife .Sarah, he complied with her 
 solicitations, and took her servant Hagai- as a wife ; 
 imagining, that if he should have children by her, 
 God might perform the promises which he had made 
 to him of a numerous posterity. Soon after her 
 marriage, Hagar, finding she had conceived, assumed 
 a superiority over her mistress, and treated her with 
 contempt ; but Sarah complained to Abraham, who 
 told her that Hagar was still her servant. Hagar, 
 therefore, being harshly treated by Sai-ah, fled ; but 
 an angel, appearing to her in the wilderness, com- 
 manded her to return to her master, and to submit to 
 her mistress's authority. Hagar therefore returned, 
 and gave birth to Ishmael, Gen. xiv. 
 
 Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, the Lord 
 renewed his covenant and promises with Abraham, 
 changing his name from Ahram, or an elevated father, 
 to Abraham, or father of a great multitude ; and the 
 name of Sarai, my princess, into Sarah, the princess ; 
 that is, of many ; no longer confined to one. As a 
 token and confirmation of the covenant now entered 
 into, he enjoined Abraham to be himself circum- 
 cised, and to circumcise all the males in his famih'. 
 He also promised him a son by Sarah, his wife, to be 
 born within a year. Gen. xvii. 
 
 The enormous sins of Sodom, Gomorrha, and the 
 neighl)oring cities, being now filled up, three angels 
 were sent to inflict upon them the divine vengeance. 
 Abraham, sitting at the door of his tent, in the valley 
 of Mamre, saw three persons walking by ; and, %vith 
 true oriental hospitality, immediately invited them to 
 take refreshment, washed their feet, and hasted to 
 prepare them meat. When they had eaten, they 
 asked for Sarah. Abraham answering that she was 
 in her tent, one of them said, " I will cehainly return 
 imto thee, according to the time of life, and lo ! 
 Sarah thy wife shall have a son." Upon hearing this, 
 Sarah laughed ;but one of the angelic visitors rebuked 
 her unlx'iief, by remarking, " Wherefore did Sarah 
 laugh ? Is any thing too hard for the Lord ? In a 
 year I will return, as I promised, and Sarah shall 
 have a son," Gen. xviii. 1 — 19. 
 
 When the angels were ready to depart, Abraham 
 accompanied them towards Sodom, wliither two of 
 them (wlio proved to be divine messengers) continued 
 their journey. Tlie third remained with Abraham, 
 and informed him of the approaching de-itructiou of 
 
 Sodom and Gomorrha. Abraham interceded, pray- 
 ing, that if fifty righteous persons were found therein, 
 the city should be spared ; he reduced the number 
 gi-adually to ten ; but this nmnbcr could not be found, 
 or God, in answer to his prayers, would have averted 
 his design. Lot, being the only righteous person in 
 the city, was preserved from the calamity that de- 
 stroyed it, Gen. xviii. xix. See Lot. 
 
 Sarah having conceived, according to the divme 
 promise, Abraham left the plain of Mamre, and went 
 south, to Gerar, where Abimelech reigned ; and again 
 fearing that Sarah might be forced from him, and 
 himself be put to death, he called her here, as he had 
 done in f^gypt, S25<er. (See Abimelech I.) Abime- 
 lech took her to his house, designing to many her; 
 but God having in a dream informed him that she 
 was Abraham's v.'ife, he restored her with great 
 presents. Sm-ah was this year delivered of Isaac 
 whom Abraham circumcised according to the cove- 
 nant stipulation. For several years the two wives 
 and the two children continued to live together ; but 
 at length Ishmael became apparently jealous of the 
 affection sho^sTi to Isaac by his father, so that Sarah 
 insisted that he and his mother should be dismissed 
 the family. After very gi'eat reluctance, Abraham 
 complied ; as God informed him that it Avas according 
 to the appointments of ProAidence, for the future 
 ages of the world. About the same time, Abimelech 
 came with Phicol, his general, to conclude an al- 
 liance with Abraham, who made that prince a present 
 of seven ewe-lambs out of his flock, in consideration 
 that a well he had opened should be his own prop- 
 erty ; and they called the place Beer-sheba, or " the 
 well of sweai'ing," because of the covenant there 
 ratified with oaths. Here Abraham planted a grove, 
 built an altar, and resided some time. Gen. xx. xxi. 
 
 About the year A. M. 2133, God directed Abra- 
 ham to sacrifice his son Isaac, on a mountain which 
 he would show him. Obedient to the divine com- 
 mand, Abraham took his sen, and two servants, and 
 w^eut towards mount JMoriah, on whicli the temple 
 afterwards stood. On their joiuney, Isaac said to 
 his father, " Behold the fire and the wood, but where 
 is the victim for a burnt-offering ?" Abraham 
 answered, that God woidd provide one. When they 
 arrived within sight of the mountain, Abraham left 
 his servants, and ascended it with his son only. Hav- 
 ing bound Isaac, he prepared to sacrifice him ; but 
 when about to give the blow, au angel from heaven 
 cried out to him, " Lay not thine hand upon the lad, 
 neither do thou any thing to him. Now I know 
 that thou fearest God, since to oliey him thou hast 
 not spared thine only son." Upon looking round 
 him, Abraham saw a ram entangled in the bushes by 
 his bonis, which he offei-ed as a burnt-offering, in- 
 stead of his son Isaac. He called the place Jehovah- 
 jireh, or the Lord ivill see, or provide, Gen. xxii. 
 1—14. 
 
 Several years afterwards, Sarah died in Hebron, 
 where Abraham came to mouni for her, and to per- 
 form the funeral offices. He addressed the jieople 
 at the city gate, entreating them to allow him to buiy 
 his wife among them ; for, being a stranger, and hav- 
 ing no land of his own, he could claim no right of 
 intennent in any sepulchre of that country. He, 
 therefore, bought of Ej)hron, one of the inhabitants, 
 the field of IMachpelah, with the cave and sepulchre 
 in it, at the price of four hundred shekels of silver ; 
 (about $200 ;) and buried Sarah with due solemni- 
 ties, according to the custom of the country, G«n. 
 xxiii.
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 [9] 
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 Abraham, being reminded by this occurrence, 
 probably, of his oa\ti great age, and the consequent 
 uncertainty of Iiis life, became solicitous to secui-e an 
 alliance between Isaac and a female branch of his 
 own family. Ehezer his steward was therefore sent 
 into Mesopotamia, to fetch from the country and 
 kindred of Abraham a wife for his son Isaac. Eli- 
 ezer executed his conmiission with prudence, and 
 returned with Rebekali, daughter of Bethuel, grand- 
 daughter of Nahor, and, consequently, Abraham's 
 niece. The life of the patriarch was prolonged for 
 many years after this event, and he died at the age 
 of 1/5 years. He was buried by his sons Isaac and 
 Ishmael, in the cave of Machpelah, where he had 
 deposited the remains of his beloved Sarah, Gen. 
 xxiv. XXV. A. M. 2133, ante A. D. 1821. 
 
 It ajjpears from the thread of the sacred narrative, 
 that Abraham took Keturah iiy marriage, and had by 
 her six sons — Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ish- 
 bak, and Shuali — after the death of Sarah, Gen. xxv. 
 1. This, however, is in itself improbable, his age at 
 that time being 137 years, and his infirmity, long be- 
 fore, such as to render it highly improbable that he 
 would have any children. On these grounds, it has 
 been thought that he married Keturah while Sarah 
 was Uving, and that the w ords may be rendered, in 
 the pluperfect tense, " and Abraham had added, and 
 taken a wife." It is worthy of remark, in support 
 of -this interpretation, that 1 Chron. i. 32, 33, places 
 the sons of Keturah before Isaac, and calls her con- 
 cubine, which would hardly have been the case li^d 
 she been his legitimate wife, taken after the death of 
 Sarah. 
 
 In re\dewdng the history of this eminent patriarch, 
 there are sevei-al things worthy attentive considera- 
 tion. 
 
 1. Abraham is introduced rather abruptly in the 
 sacred Scriptures ; — " And Jehovah said to Abram ;" 
 (Gen. xii. 1.) but it may rationally be concluded, that 
 before a man would undertake a long, fatiguing, and 
 uncertain journey, at the command of another, he 
 would be well assured of the authority which com- 
 manded him. It seems reasonable, therefore, to m- 
 fer, that God had previously spoken to Abraham — 
 perhaps often, though by what means we know not. 
 How^ever, we learn from other sources of infonna- 
 tion besides the Scriptures, that about this time Chal- 
 dea became polluted with idolatry ; and it is therefore 
 most probable that a principal reason for Abraham's 
 quitting his own country, was his dread of this evil. 
 At that time idolatry was not equally prevalent in 
 Egypt ; and the countries which were distant fi"om 
 the gi-eat cities, or had but little intercourse Avith 
 them, were still less infected with it. This accounts 
 for Abraham's travelling northward, instead of taking 
 the direct road, which communicated through 
 Canaan, between Babylon and Egj'pt. Undoubtedly, 
 the providence of God called Abraham, for his own 
 personal quiet, and that of his family, to seek a 
 country less polluted than the dominions of Nimrod ; 
 and so far, no doubt, he may be said to have had a 
 divine direction ; but every thing leads to the con- 
 clusion, that he had also an express direction to the 
 same purpose. 
 
 2. Previous to his journey, Abraham was a man of 
 property, Gen. xii. 5. He was no adventurer for a 
 fortune, but was already rich in worldly wealth ; and 
 had many dependants, most of whom, probably, ac- 
 companied him to his new residence. The dignity 
 and power of Abraham are incidentally stated in the 
 8torv of his rescuing Lot. He must have been a 
 
 2 
 
 man of no trifling possessions, who had three hun- 
 dred and eighteen servants bom among Ms property, 
 whom he could enti-ust with arms. Gen. xiv. 14. It 
 implies, that he also had many not born in his house, 
 but bo\ight with his money ; some also, doubtless, 
 were old ; some were women, and some children ; 
 these together make a considerable tribe. In fact, 
 Abraham appeai-s to correspond exactly to a modem 
 emir ; to possess many of the rights of sovereignty 
 in no small degree ; and to be little other than an 
 independent prince, even while dwelling on the terri- 
 tories of sovereign piinces, who greatly esteemed 
 him. 
 
 3. As the incident of Abraham calling Sarah sister 
 is Uable to ambiguity, and has suffered by being 
 placed in false lights, to the gi-eater discredit of Abra- 
 ham than is just or necessary, a few thoughts may 
 be well bestowed on it. It has been affirmed by 
 some writers, that by this conduct Abraham exposed 
 Sai-ah to the danger of adultery ; and that she seemed 
 too easily to consent, by passing for his sister, and not 
 his w^ife. In Abraham, there is thought to have been 
 lying, disguise, and too great easiness in hazarding 
 iiis wife's chastity ; and in her, too gi-eat forwardness 
 of compliance. ' Chrysostom, who seriously en- 
 deavored to excuse him, acknowledges, that the 
 patriarch exposed Sarah to the danger of adulteiy ; 
 and that she consented to this danger, to save the 
 life of her husband. It deserves consideration, how- 
 ever, how far this might be a custom derived from 
 the earhest ages of mankind ; for as in the first, so 
 also in the second infancy of the human raf e, the 
 relations of life were so very few, and so very inti 
 mate, that it was little short of inevitable for tho 
 nearest in blood to intermaiTy ; and it is by no means 
 incredible, that some famihes had made a point of 
 maintaining themselves distinct from others, by this 
 custom ; and that they chose to be thus restricted to 
 the branches of their own family, (cousins, &c.) as 
 afterwards among the Jews the restriction was en- 
 larged to their own tribe. Augustine makes i\n 
 apology for Abraham, saying, 1st. That he did not 
 he, by describing Sarah as his sister, as indeed she 
 was ; he only concealed a truth which he was not 
 obliged to discover, by not calling her his wife. 2dly. 
 That being exposed at the same time to two dangers, 
 one of losing his life, the other of having his wife 
 taken from him, and not being able to avoid either 
 by acknowledging her as his wfe, but thinking it at 
 least probable that he should escape death, by ac- 
 knowledging her for his sister ; of two evils he chose 
 what seemed to him the least. — But, independent of 
 these considei-ations, it should be recollected, that 
 every nation, and often every family, has its own 
 manners ; which appear not merely singular, but un- 
 couth, to those not accustomed to them, and which, 
 occasionally, are mistaken by casual observers. It is 
 not usual in England, nor does it appear to have 
 been so in Egj^it, or in Canaan, for a husband to call 
 his wife sister ; but it seems to have been customaiy 
 among the Hebrew families to use tliis term, and 
 others of near consanguinity, for a more general re- 
 lation than they strictly import, (see Father, 
 Brother, Sister,) and also for a wife, a companion. 
 — For example: We find Abram twice using this 
 mode of speech, and twice experiencing the same 
 inconvenience from it. We find Isaac using the 
 same appellation, with at least equal apparent art, 
 and mider the same apprehension, in the same place 
 where Abrajn had used it. We recollect no other 
 instances equally ancient ; but it is obsenable, that
 
 ABKAH.V3I 
 
 [ 10 
 
 A BR AH AIM 
 
 the bridegroom, ia the Canticles, does not call his 
 bride wife, but ahvays sister. Now, whatever allow- 
 ances, or of whatever kmd, the poetical style may 
 requii-e ; or whatever liberties of speech it may take, 
 it must at least possess, as essentinl to it, a corres- 
 pondence to the mimners it de])icts. This mode of 
 address, then, was ceitaiidy founded on those man- 
 ners. In later ages, wc find Tobias calling his wife 
 sister; (Tobit viii. 4.) "Sister, arise, and let us pray:" 
 — and verso 7, " I take nor this my sister for lust." 
 These instances tcjul to jirove, that it was nothing 
 unusual for husbands to express aflcction for their 
 wives, by calling them sister m fainiliarit)', and in 
 private. To return to Al)rahani: there seems to be 
 no necessity for suj)posing, that the use of this appel- 
 lation commenced when Abraham was about to enter 
 Egypt Avith Sarah. It was his general request long 
 belbre ; (Gen. xx. 13.) but he now again desired 
 Sarah to use the title brother, (as had been customary 
 between them in {irivate,) in ordinary discourse, when 
 speaking to him, or of him, to ihe Egjj)tian women, 
 with whom she might converse. 'What these Egyp- 
 tiii! women reported of h( r beauty and mani^ers, 
 \vith such accidental sight of her as might occur to 
 the chief officers of Pharaoh's house, induced Pha- 
 raoh to take her into his palace, and give her apart- 
 ments in his harani ; but it does not appear that he 
 ever saw her. Thus Sarah's calling Abraham brother, 
 was as likely to have been the innnediate cause of 
 her being taken from him, as his calling her sister. — 
 That king's conduct, or at least the beliavior of his 
 officefs, seems too much to justify Abraham's sus- 
 picions of the Egyptian manners. On the whole, so 
 far as relates to this trajisaction in Egjpt, while it is 
 admitted, that the fear of Abraham induced liim to use 
 art and management, it nuist be equally admitted, 
 that his fear was too well founded. Nor does it seem 
 to have overcome his faith, a.s some have said ; nor 
 to have put him out of the regtilar custom of his 
 life ; but to have suggested what he thought a pru- 
 dential application in public of what had been his 
 custom in j)rivate, tliough, perhaps, by this very pru- 
 dence, he ran at lejist as gnat a i-isk from the anger 
 of Pharaoh, when he dismissed him with.out delay, 
 as he niight havtuione, had he trusted entirely to the 
 ordinary course of things, and followed the simple 
 path of his duty. The same efiects seem connected 
 with the same circumstances in the story of Abime- 
 Icch, Gen. xx. 2. See Abimei.ech I. 
 
 4. However customary a plurality of wives might 
 be among the nations around him, Abraham took no 
 other wife than that of his youth ; and this, as it 
 should seem, from his very great affection for Sarah. 
 His connexion with H agar was not jjroposed by him- 
 self, but by Sarah ; and Abraham in that yicldc^d to her 
 wishes, rather than to iiis o\\ n. The same we find 
 practised by Leah and Kachei, the wives of Jacob, 
 who gave their handmaids to their husband, and 
 considered themselves as having children by this 
 substitution. (See Adoptigx.) As to Abraham's 
 treatment of Hai'-ai-, it may appear, that after she had 
 become his wife, he ought not to have let) her so en- 
 tirely under the power of Sarah ; but it is evident 
 that the sending away of Isbmael and his mother aj)- 
 ])eared hard to Abraham himself; nor did he com- 
 ply with the demands of Sarah, till after he had ob- 
 tained the divine sanction ; with a rcTiewal of the 
 promise ofdivine protection to Ishmnel. See Hagar, 
 and IsuMAKi,. 
 
 5. The covenant made with Abraham is a subject 
 well worthy of consideration, whether as it regards 
 
 the solemnity, the occasion, or tlie provisions of it. 
 Its history is related in t\Vo parts ; the first is previous 
 to the birtli of Ishmael ; the second, previous to the 
 birth of Isaac. The first foretells, that Abraham 
 should have a numerous posterity, and that he need 
 not make a stranger his heir: the second promises 
 a son by Sarah, with whom the covenant was to 
 be established. (For the ceremonies of the cove- 
 nant, see Covenant.) Regarding the provisions of 
 the covenant, we may notice, (1.) The posterity of 
 Abraham. His flunily has, from remote antiquity, 
 been extremely numerous ; from him are derived 
 many tribes of Arabs, descending through Ishmael, 
 and others by Kefurah, to say nothing of the Jews ; 
 neither has there been on the face of the earth, since 
 Noah and his sons, any man whose jjosterity is 
 equally extensive, — any man to whom so many nations 
 refer their origin. Others may have begotten fami- 
 hes, but Abraham is the father of nation^. (2.) The 
 change of names, Abram into Abraham, and Sarai 
 into Sarah. (3.) The sign of the covenant — circum- 
 cision. This liad reference to posterity. See Cir- 
 cumcision. 
 
 n. The history of Abraham's entertaining the an- 
 gels, deserves, and is capable of, illustration. We 
 find the patriarch, like a modern hospitable Arab of 
 dignity, sitting in the door of his tent, in the heat of 
 the day ; where a stream of refreshing air passed 
 through, and M'here the shade was comfortable end 
 refreshing. He was not, however, so selfish or so 
 indolent, but that at the sight of strangers, travelling 
 during those sultiy hours, he feit for their fatigue. 
 He did not wait till tliej' approached him, rs if he 
 valued his ease more than their entertainment, but 
 ran tov/ards them, invited and ])ressed them to par- 
 take of hospitality, and then hastily (disregardhig the 
 heat of the day, now he could serve his company) 
 accommodated them, and stood b.y them under the 
 trees, while they ate. He gave them a repast ac- 
 counted noble, a liberal meal ; and that his guests 
 might want for nothing, he himself attended ihem. 
 Such is still the hospitality, and such the politeness, 
 of the East. 
 
 [The extent of oriental hosi)itality may properly 
 be here illustrated by the following extracts fi-om dis- 
 tinguished modern travellers. 
 
 Niebidu", in his Description of Arabia, (p. 4G, 
 Germ, ed.) says, " The hospitality of the Arabs is 
 celebrated of old ; and I believe that the present 
 Arabs are not behind their ancestors in the practice 
 of this virtue. — A mere traveller, who wished to a isit 
 a slieik of rank in the desert, might expect, accord- 
 ing to oriental custon;, to live at the expense of the 
 sheik dining his stay, and ])erha])s to r(;ceive a pres- 
 ent at his departures — In some of the villages, there 
 ar(> fi-ee caravanseras, or taverns, wliere all travfilois 
 may have lodging, food, and drink, for some days, 
 without charge ; provided they will put up with the 
 common fare of the .Arabs; and these houses are 
 much frequoited. I myself, in my journey from 
 Loheia to licit el Fakili, was for several horns in 
 such a public house in the village Mcneyre, with all 
 my fellow-travellers, servants, camel-drivers, and ass- 
 drivers, 'i'he sheik of this village, who siqjportcd 
 flu? house, was not oidy so civil as to come to us 
 himself, and cause a better meal tluui usual to be set 
 before us, but he also besought us to remain with 
 him for the night." 
 
 The following is more specific, from La Roque: 
 (Voyage dans la Palest., p. 124 seq.) "When strangei-s 
 enter a village wln-re they know no one, they inquire
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 [ 11 ] 
 
 ABRAH.UI 
 
 for the Menzel, (or house foi- the reception of stran- 
 gers,) and desire to speak to the sheik, who is the 
 lord of it ; after sakitiug hini, they signify their want 
 of a dimier, or of a supper and lodging in the village. 
 The sheik says they are welcome, and that they 
 could not do him a greater pleasure. — But they sel- 
 dom have occasion for all this ; for as soon as the 
 people of the village see any strangers coming, they 
 mform the sheik of it, who goes to meet them, and 
 having saluted them, asks if they would dine in the 
 village, or whether they choose to stay the whole 
 night there. If they answer they would oidy eat a 
 morsel, tmd go forward, and that they choose to stay 
 under some tree a little out of the village, the sheik 
 goes or sends his people into the village, to cause a 
 collation to be brought, and in a little time they re- 
 turn with eggs, butter, curds, honey, olives, fruit, 
 fresh or dried, according to the season. If it is even- 
 ing, and the strangers would lodge in the ^illage, the 
 women of the sheik's house never fail to cause fowls, 
 sheep, lambs, or a calf to be killed and prepared, — 
 wjiieh they send to the "Menzel by the sheik's ser- 
 vants." 
 
 To the same purj)ose is the ensuing extract from 
 Burckhardt, (Travels in Syria, j). 384.) describing his 
 visit to the little city of Kerek, in the region east of 
 the Dead Sea. " They have eight Menzels for the 
 reception of guests. When a stranger takes up his 
 lodging at one of these, one of the people present 
 declares that he intends to furnish that day's enter- 
 tainment, and it is then his duty to provide a dimier 
 or supper, which he sends to the Menzel, and Avhich 
 is always sufficient for a large company. A goat or 
 lamb is generally killed on the occasion ; and barley 
 for the guest's horse is also furnished. When a 
 stranger enters the town, the jieople almost come to 
 blows with one. {mother in their eagerness to have 
 him for their guest ; and there are Turks, who every 
 other day kill a goat for this hospitable pin-pose." 
 
 In Carues's Letters from the East, (i. p. 283.) we 
 also find the following account : " We were belated 
 a few miles from Acre, and were obliged to stop at 
 an Arab village on a hill ; and, on entering the rude 
 and dirty khan, found it filled with the inhabitants. — 
 In a short time, the sheik stepped up, and civilly 
 invited us to lodge in his house, which we very 
 gladly acceded to. He asked if his women should 
 prepare a repast for us, or if we chose to dress it 
 ourselves. On our preferring the former, in aljout 
 an hour a very decent meal made its appearance." 
 
 "Abraham," remarks Dr. Richardson, " Avas a Be- 
 douin ; and I never saw a fine, venerable looking 
 sheik busied among his flocks and herds, that it did 
 not remind me of tlie holy patriarch himself." *R. 
 
 But to return to Abraham. To obtain accurate 
 ideas of this story, it may be further observed, that 
 these guests were eating, not in the tent of Abra- 
 ham, but under the shadow of the oaks : that Abra- 
 ham's tent was not the same as Sarah's tent, but 
 placed at some little distance from it, as is the custom 
 m the East ; and also, that his guests gradually dis- 
 covered themselves to AI)raham. " Where is Sarah 
 thy wife ?" How should entire strangers know his 
 wife, and her name ? and wherefore interfere in his 
 domestic matters ? " Sarah," says Abraham, " is in 
 her tent." No doubt this excited Sarah's attention ; 
 - — to which purpose it \vas adajjted, and for which 
 it was intended. Then one of them continued, 
 " When I come this way again next year, I shall 
 find her better engaged ; she will not then b(! so 
 much at Icisiu-e, but be caressing a son." Such may 
 
 be thought the import of the expressions, freely 
 taken. On hearing this, Sarah laughed ; (Gen. xviii. 
 1 — 12.) probably from a notion that the speaker knew 
 nothing about her. Then, for the first time, " the 
 Lord" speaks, reasoning, that the Lord could do any 
 thing ; and repeating, that Sarah should have a son. 
 Thus, by Sarah's detection, a token of some extra- 
 ordinary person as the speaker %\as given to her« 
 and to Abraham ; and the circumstances, though not 
 altogether miraculous as yet, are well calculated to 
 excite attention and apprehension in the minds of 
 those interested ; especially if Abraham, who had 
 so lately received the covenant from God, understood 
 any allusion to it, or any confirmation of it, under 
 these ambiguous expressions, which greatly resem- 
 ble those used not loijg before ; if so, then by tliis 
 time he might begin to discern something of the dig- 
 nity of his guests. At least, he nuist now have re- 
 garded his guests tis extraordinary personages ; hut 
 what has passed hitherto, does not demonstrate that 
 they were super-human. Abraham, therefore, plers- 
 ed and interested with their conversation, probably 
 desirous of further information, as also of doing 
 honor to his courteous and wcll-Avishing guests, ac- 
 companied them a part of the way towards Sodom ; 
 and about the dusk of the evening, v.hen the day 
 was closing, he perceived on one aaIio staid with him, 
 the others having departed, those splendid tokens, 
 brightening as darkness came on, which designated 
 a celestial being. Some have thought, that beside 
 the person sj)oken to, the Shckiiiah appeared : it 
 might be so ; but it seems more probable, that this 
 person gradually suffered the radiance of the sacred 
 Shekitmh to appear, and, withoiU leading Abraliam 
 to suppose he had seen Jchoval), might yet convince 
 his mind, that he had seen his conunissioned mes- 
 senger. If such honors might be gained l)y hospi- 
 tality, the apostle was right to recommend it, by the 
 example of such as had l\n'awares entertained an- 
 gels. Such an afternoon, such an evening, amply re- 
 paid the most liberal hospitality ! Heb. xiii. 2. Tl lis 
 kind of ambiguity, brightening into certainty, seems 
 well suited to the circumstances of the subsequent 
 conversation betMeeii Abraham and his glorious 
 visitor. Had Abraham conceived that he was speak- 
 ing immediately to Jehovah, that had left no room 
 for reasoning, or representation ; anil he could not 
 address a mere stranger-traveller, a mere casual, un- 
 distinguished guest, by such honorable tenfts as he 
 bestows on the person with whom he discoiuses. 
 The principle of thus representing this part of the 
 histoiy, seems to be confirmed by the accuracy of 
 distinction preserved in the original. The narration 
 says, " Abraham stood before Jehovah," (ver. 22,) 
 "and Jehovah spake," ver. 26, &c. Abraham, 
 however, never uses this term m addressing this 
 person, but merely Adonai, " Behold I have spoken 
 to Adonai" ver. 27, &c. Probably, therefore, here 
 is a further instance of the " unawaredness" with 
 which Abraham entertained angels ; since, though 
 he perceived the diginty of his guest to be great, it 
 was, in reahty, much gi'eater than he understood. 
 He saw the luunan exterior of this appearance fully ; 
 but the interior, or super-human, he saw very imper- 
 fectly and ambiguously ; as, indeed, human nature 
 coidd see it no othenvise. 
 
 7. Abraham's faith, respecting his son Isaac, when 
 commanded to offer him for a burnt-sacrifice, has 
 been so often m"gcd and illustrated, as to need no en- 
 largement here. — We may, however, remaik, thai 
 Abraham, under these circumstances — as having n
 
 ABRAHAM 
 
 12] 
 
 ABSALOM 
 
 son ill his old age, born after the covenant, and in 
 consequence of that alhance, on whose issue de- 
 pended invahiable promises, who was now arrived 
 at man's estate, who was liis heir, who was his 
 mother's favorite — must have been well convinced, 
 that he followed no idle phantasy, no illusive injunc- 
 tion, in proposing to slay him. The common feel- 
 •ings of human nature, the uncommon feehngs of 
 the aged patriarch, all protested against such a deed. 
 The length of the journey, the interval of time, the 
 discourse of Isaac, all augmented the anguish of the 
 parent ; unless tliat parent were well satisfied in his 
 own mind, that he acted in obedience to authority 
 fully and completely divine. 
 
 8. The Orientals,' Indians, and Infidels, as well as 
 Christians and 3Iahommedans, have preserved some 
 knowledge of Abraham, and highly commend his 
 character. See D'Herbelot, Bib. Orient, p. 12. 
 Indeed, a history of liis life, though it would 
 be highly fanciful, might easily be compiled from 
 their traditions. The Persian magi believe him to 
 have been the same with their founder, Zerdoust, or 
 Zoroaster ; while the Zabians, their rivals and oppo- 
 nents, lay claim to a similar honor. Some have 
 affirmed that he reigned at Damascus ; (Nicol. Da- 
 masc. apud Joseph, lib. i. cap. 7. Justin, lib. xxxvi.) 
 — that he dweh long in Egypt ; (Artapan. et Eupo- 
 lem. apud Euseb. Praepar. lib. ix. cap. 17, 18.) — that 
 he taught the EgA'ptians astronomy and arithmetic ; 
 (Joseph. Antiq. lib. i. cap. 8.) — that he invented let- 
 ters and the Hebrew language, (Suidas in Abraham,) 
 or the characters of the Syrians and Chald^ns ; (Isi- 
 dor. Hispal. Origg. lib. i. cap. 3.) — tliat he was the 
 author of several works ; among others, of the fa- 
 mous book entitled Jezira, or the Creation, a work 
 mentioned in the Talmud, and gi-eatly valued by 
 some Rabbins ; but those who have examined it 
 without prejudice, speak of it Avitli contempt. In 
 the first ages of Christianity, the heretics called Se- 
 thians published " Abraham's Revelations ;" (Epi- 
 phan. Hoeres, 39. cap. 5.) Athanasius, in his Synopsis, 
 speaks of the " Assumption of Abraham ;" and Origen 
 (in Luc. Homil. 35.) notices an apocryphal book of 
 Abraham's, wherein two angels, one good, the other 
 bad, dispute concerning his damnation or salvation. 
 The Jews (Rab. Selem. in Bava Bathra, cap. 1.) at- 
 tribute to him the Morning Prayer, the 89th Psalm, 
 a Treatise on Idolatry, and other works. — The author- 
 ities on all those points, and lor still other traditions 
 respecting Abraham, may be ff)iind collected in Fa- 
 bricii Cod. Pseudepigr. V. T. I. ]>. 344 se([. 
 
 We are informed (article lien Scholnian, D'Her- 
 belot) tliat, A. 1). 1119, Abraham's tomi) was discov- 
 ered near Hebron, in which Jacob, likewise, and 
 Ismic, were interred. Tlie bodies were found en- 
 tire, and many gold and silver lam])s were found in 
 the place. The Mahommedans have so great a respect 
 for liis tomb, that they make it tiieir fourth pilgrim- 
 age (the three others being Mecca, Medina, and Jeru- 
 salem.) (See Hkbuo.n.) 'I'lie Cliristians l)uilt a church 
 over tlie cavt; of Macli|)elah, where Abraham was 
 buried ; wiiicli the Tnrks have changed into a 
 mosque, and fori)i(ld»'n ("hristians from approaching. 
 (Qiiaresin. I'>lmi(l. toni. ii. page 779.) Tiie supposed 
 oak of Mature, wlnii' Aliraham received the three 
 angels, was likewise honored by Christians, as also 
 by the Jews and I'agans. 
 
 Our Saviour iLssmes us that Abraiiam desired 
 earnestly to see his day ; and that he saw it, and was 
 glad, John viii. 5(i. IClsfiwhere, he represents tlie 
 happiness of the rigiiteous as a sitting with Abraham, 
 
 Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven ; (Matt, 
 viii. 1 J .) also a reception into Abraham's bosom, as 
 into a place of rest, opposed to the misery of hell, 
 Luke xvi. 22. 
 
 The emperor Alexander Severus, who knew Abra- 
 ham only by the wonders which the Jews and Chris- 
 tians related of him, conceived so high an idea of 
 him, that he ranked him, with Jesus Christ, among 
 his gods. Lamprid. in Severo. 
 
 ABSALOM, son of David, by Maacah, was the 
 handsomest man in Israel, and had the finest head 
 of hair, 2 Sam. xiv. 25. When his hair was cut at a 
 certain time, because it incommoded him, its weight 
 was 200 shekels, by the king's standard ; that is, 
 probably, about 30 ounces — an extraordinary, but not 
 incredible, weight. Amnon, another of the king's 
 sons, havuig violated his sister Tamar, Absalom re- 
 solved to revenge her dishonor, but for some time 
 had no opportunity to carry his design into efl^ect. 
 At the end of two years, however, he invited all the 
 royal family to a shearing-feast, at Baal-hazor, where 
 Amnon was assassinated by his direction. A})prc- 
 hensive of his father's displeasure, Absalom retired 
 to Geshur, where he continued for three years, under 
 the protection of the king, his grandfather, 2 Sam. 
 xiii. Joab having procured David's consent, Absa- 
 lom returned to Jerusalem, although he was not per- 
 mitted to come into the presence of the king. For 
 two years he remained in disgrace, but at length 
 David, at the intercession of Joab, again received him 
 into favor, ch. xiv. 
 
 Absalom now, considering himself as presumptive 
 heir to the crown, set up a magnificent equipage ; 
 and everj' morning came to the palace gate, where, 
 calling to him familiarly all Avho had business, and 
 came to demand justice, he kindly inquired into their 
 case, insinuated the gi"eat difiiculty of obtaining their 
 suits, and thus by degrees alienated the hearts of the 
 people from his father, and attached them to him- 
 self When he thought he might ojienly declare 
 himself, he desired permission from the king to go 
 to Hebron, under pretence of performing some vow, 
 which he had made during his abode at Geshur, 2 
 Sam. XV. 1 — 9. He went, therefore, to Hebron, at- 
 tended by two hundred men, who followed him 
 without the least knowledge of his rebellious design. 
 At the same time, he sent emissaries throughout 
 Israel, with orders to sound the trumpet, and jiro- 
 claim that Absalom was king at Hebron. There 
 was soon a great resort of people to him, and he was 
 acknowledged by the major part of the nation. Da- 
 vid and his oflicers fled from Jerusalem, Avhither 
 Absalom immediately went, and was received as 
 king. Ahithophel advised him publicly to abuse hib 
 father's concubines, to convince the people that the 
 breach warf beyond reconciliation, and also, that 
 troops might bo sent instantly in pursuit of David ; 
 but Hushai, David's friend, who feigned to follow the 
 po|)nlar party, diverted him from complying with 
 this counsel, 2 Sam. xv. 10 seq. 
 
 The next day, Absalom marched against David 
 with all his forces, and having crossed the Jordan, 
 prejiared to attack the king, his father. David put 
 liis tr()0|)s iindei' the command of Joab; the rebel 
 army ^vas routed, and 20,000 were killed. Absa- 
 lom, iiHumted on a mule, fled through the forest of 
 Ephraim, where, jiassing under an oak, his hair be- 
 came entangled in the luanclies, and his mule, going 
 swiftly, left him susjiended. A soldier informed 
 .Foal) of the occurrence, who took three darts, and 
 thrust them through Absalom's heart; and while he
 
 ABY 
 
 [13] 
 
 ACC 
 
 was yet breathing, aiid heinging on the oak, ten of 
 Joab's armor-beai'ers also smote him. His body was 
 cast into a pit, and a heap of stones raised over it, 
 2 Sam. xviii. 1 — 17. 
 
 Absalom, having lost his children, and being de- 
 sirous to perpetuate his name in Israel, erected a 
 pillar in the king's valley, 2 Sam. xviii. 18. Josephus 
 says (Ant. vii. 10. 3.) it was a marble column, stand- 
 ing about two furlongs from Jerusalem. A monu- 
 ment bearing his name, is still sho^vn in the valley 
 of Jehoshaphat, but is evidently not of ancient origin. 
 
 ABSTINENCE, a voluntary and religious for- 
 bearance of any thing towards which there is an in- 
 clination ; but generally spoken of with regard to 
 forbearance from necessary food. Many persons 
 have supposed, that the antediluvians abstained from 
 wine, and from flesh as food, because the Scripture 
 expressly notices, that Noah, after the deluge, began 
 to plant a vineyard, and that God permitted him to 
 eat flesh; (Gen. ix. 3. 20.) whereas he gave Adam 
 no other food than herbs and fruits, i. 29. But the 
 contrary opinion is supported by Calmet and other 
 interpreters, who beheve, that men, before the deluge, 
 abstained from neither wine nor flesh. The Scrip- 
 tures certainly represent violence as being the pre- 
 vailing crime before the deluge ; that is, the unjusti- 
 fiable taking away of human life : and the precepts 
 given to Noah against the shedding of blood, seem to 
 confirm this idea. The Institutes of ftlenu inform 
 us, that animal food was originally used only after sac- 
 rifice, and as a participation consequent upon that rite. 
 
 The Mosaic law ordained, that the priests should 
 abstain from wine during the time they were em- 
 ployed in the temple-service, Lev. x. 9. The same 
 abstinence was enjoined on Nazarites, during the 
 whole time of their separation. Numb. vi. 3, 4. The 
 Jews abstain from several sorts of animals, specified 
 by the law ; as do several other nations. (See Ani- 
 mals.) Among the primitive Christians, some ab- 
 stained from meats prohibited by the law, and from 
 flesh sacrificed to idols ; — others disregarded such for- 
 bearance, and used their Christian liberty. Paul has 
 given his opinion concei'uing this, in 1 Cor. viii. 7 — 
 10. and Rom. xiv. 1 — 3. The council of Jerusalem, 
 held by the apostles, enjoined behevers, converted 
 from heathenism, to abstain from blood, from meats 
 strangled, from fornication, and from idolatry. Acts 
 XV. 20. 
 
 Paul sajs, (1 Cor. ix. 25.) that wrestlers, in order 
 to obtain a corruptible crown, abstain from all things ; 
 or from every thing which might weaken them. In 
 his First Epistle to Timothy, (iv. 3.) he blames cer- 
 tain heretics, vdio condemned marriage, and the use 
 of meats, which God hath created. He requires 
 Christians to abstain from all appearance of evil ; (1 
 Thess. V. 22.) and, with much stronger reason, from 
 every thing really evil, and contrary to religion and 
 piety. 
 
 ABYSS, or Deep. (1.) Hell, the place of punish- 
 ment, the bottomless pit, Luke viii. 31 ; Rev. ix. 1 ; 
 xi, 7, &c. (2.) The connnon receptacle of the dead ; 
 the grave, the deep (or depths of the) earth, under 
 which the body being deposited, the state of the soul 
 corresponding thereto, still more unseen, still deeper, 
 still further distant from human inspection, is that 
 remote country, that "bourn from whence no trav- 
 eller returns." Sec Rom. x. 7. (3.) The deepest 
 parts of the sea, Ps. Ixviii. 22 ; cvii. 26. (4.) The 
 chaos, which, in the beginning of the Avorld, was 
 unformed and vacant. Gen. i. 2. 
 
 The HebreAVS were of opinion (as are many of the 
 
 orientals) that the abyss, the sea and waters, encom- 
 passed the whole earth ; that the earth floated upon 
 the abyss, Uke a melon swimming on and in the 
 water. They believe that the earth was founded 
 upon the waters, (Psahn xxiv. 2 ; xxxiii. 6, 7 ; cxxxvi. 
 6, 1 or, at least, that it had its foundation on the abyss. 
 Their Sheol, however, or place of the dead, is in the 
 interior of the earth, in those dark dungeons where 
 the prophets describe the kings of Tyre, Babylon, 
 and Egypt, as lying down, that is, buried, yet suffer- 
 ing the punishment of their pride and cruelty. See 
 Hell, and Giants. 
 
 Fountains and rivers, in the opinion of the He- 
 brews, are derived from the abyss, or sea ; issuing 
 from thence through invisible channels, and return- 
 ing through others, Eccl. i. 7. 
 
 ACCAD, a city built by Niinrod, Gen. x. 10. The 
 LXX write it thread; the Syriac Achar. Ephraim 
 the Syrian says, Achar is the city Nisibis ; and in this 
 he is followed by Jerome and Abulpharagius. The 
 Targums of Jerusalem and Jonathan read Nesibin. 
 The antiquity of this city is unquestionable. 
 
 ACCEPT, to take pleasure in ; either in whole, or 
 in part. The phrase to accept the person of any one, 
 as also to respect the person, &c. (which see) is a He- 
 brew idiom, found also in the New Testament, and 
 signifies to regard any one tviih favor or partiality. It 
 is used both in a good and bad sense ; e. g. in a good 
 sense, Gen. xix. 21 ; Job xlii. 8 ; Mai. i. 8. ; in a bad 
 sense, to shoio partiality, Job xiii. 8. 10 ; xxxii. 21 ; 
 Psalm Ixxxii. 2 ; Prov. xviii. 5, &c. R. 
 
 ACCHO, a city of the tribe of Asher, Judg. i. 31. 
 In the New Testament, Accho is called Ptolemais, 
 (Acts xxi. 7.) from one of the Ptolemies, who en- 
 larged and beautified it. The Christian crusaders 
 gave it the name of Acre, or St. John of Acre, fron 
 a magnificent church which was built within its 
 walls, and dedicated to St. John. It is still called 
 Akka, by the Turks. When Syria was subjected by 
 the Romans, Akka was made a colony by the em- 
 peror Claudius. It sustamed several sieges during 
 the crusades, and was the last fortified place wrested 
 from the Christians by the Turks. 
 
 The town is situated on the coast of the Mediter- 
 ranean sea, on the north angle of a bay to which it 
 gives its name, and which extends in a semicircle of 
 three leagues, as far as the point of mount Carmel. 
 The town was originally surrounded by triple walls, 
 and a foss6 cut out of the rock, from which, at 
 present, it is a mile distant. At the south and west 
 sides it was washed by the sea ; and Pococke thinks 
 that the river Belus, which flows into the Mediter- 
 ranean, was brought through the foss6, which ran 
 along the ramparts on the north ; thus making the 
 city an island. Since the time of its memorable 
 siege by Buonaparte, Accho has been much improved 
 and strengthened. Its present population is estimated 
 at from 18,000 to 20,000. See Mod. Traveller, i. p. 20. 
 Accho, and all beyond it northwards, was con- 
 sidered as the heathen land of the Jews. 
 
 There are several medals of Accho, or Ptolemais, 
 extant, both Greek and Latin. Most of the former 
 have also the Phenician name of the city, "^V, AK 
 " ^ or Accho. The 
 
 one here given 
 (as also others) 
 represents the 
 head of Alexan- 
 der the Great, 
 and appears to 
 have been coin-
 
 ACH 
 
 [14] 
 
 ACH 
 
 ed in consequence of favors received from that 
 prince, perhaps at the time when he was detained in 
 Syria bv the siege of Tyre. 
 
 \A.CELDAMA, (the tield of blood,) a small lield, 
 lying south of Jerusalem, which the priests purchased 
 with the thiity pieces of silver that Judas had re- 
 ceived as the price of our Saviour's blood, Matt, 
 xxvii. 8; Acts i. 19. Pretending that it was not 
 lawful to appropriate this money to sacred uses, be- 
 cause it was the price of blood, they purchased with 
 it the potter's field, to be a burying-place for stran- 
 gers. Helena, the mother of Constantine, had part 
 of the field covered in, for the ])urpose of receiving 
 the dead, and it was formerly thought, that such was 
 the sarcophagous virtue in the earth, that the bodies 
 were consumed within the space of two or three 
 days. It is now used as the sepulchre of the Arme- 
 nians, who have a masrnificent convent on mount 
 Zion. See Mod. Traveller, i. p. 152. IMiss. Herald, 
 1S24. p. 66. 
 
 ACHAIA, taken in its largest sense, comprehended 
 the whole region of Greece, or Hellas, now called 
 Livadia. Achaia Projier, however, was a province 
 of Greece, of which Corinth was the capital ; and 
 embracing the whole western ]mn of the Pelopon- 
 nesus. It is worthy of remark, that Luke speaks of 
 Gallic as being depuUj (proconsul) of Achaia, at the 
 time that Paul preached there, (Acts xviii. 12.) which 
 was, indeed, tlie title borne by the superior officer in 
 AcJiaia at that time, but which did not long continue, 
 nor had it long been so at the time he wrote. See 
 Kuiuo;d on Acts xviii. 12. 
 
 ACHAICUS, a native of Achaia, and a disciple 
 of the apostle Paul. He, with Stephanus and Fortu- 
 natus, was the bearer of the First Epistle to the Co- 
 riuthians, and was recommended by the apostle to 
 their special respect, 1 Cor. xvi. 17. 
 
 ACHAN, the name of the son of Carnii, of the 
 tribe of Judah, and he who ])urloined a costly 
 Babylonish garment, an ingot of gold, and 200 shek- 
 els of silver, from among the ?poils of Jericho, 
 against the express injunction of God, who had de- 
 voted to lUter destruction the city aiid all that it con- 
 tained. Josh. vi. 18, (Sec. Some days after this trans- 
 action, Joshua sent 3000 men against the town of Ai, 
 which stood a short distance from Jericho, but .3(5 of 
 them were killed, and the ethers obliged to flee. This 
 occurrence was the catise of much discouragement 
 to Joshua and the peojjle, and they addressed them- 
 selves to the Lord by prayer, to discover the reason 
 of their discomfiture. The I^ord answered, that one 
 among them had sinned ; and commanded them to 
 select him out, Iw the use of the sacred lot, and to 
 bura him, with all that was his, vii. 3 — 1.">. On the 
 ne"; day, therefore, Joshua assembled all Israel ; and 
 having ca;;t lots, the lot fell first on the tribe of Judah, 
 then on the fatnily of Zarlii, then on the house of 
 Zabdi, anil at last on the person of Aehan; to whom 
 Joshua said, " My son, give glory to the Lord, con- 
 f'PS what you have done, without concealing any 
 thing." Achan, being thus dctectf^d, replied, "Hav- 
 ing seen among the spoils a handsome liabylonish 
 cloak, and 200 shekels in silver, with an ingot of 
 gold, of fifty shekels weight, I took tliein, and hid 
 them in my tent." Messengers were immediately 
 despatched to his tent, to fetch the accursed articles, 
 and the proofs of the crime being ])roduced in the 
 presence of all Israel, Joshua laid them out before 
 the Lord. Then taking Achau, tin; gold, silver, fur- 
 nilure, tent, mul all l)clonglng to him, into the valley 
 cf Aclror, a place noilb of Jericho, he said to him, 
 
 " Since tliou hast troubled us, the Lord shall trouble 
 thee, this day." They then stoned Achan and his 
 family and all his property, and afterwards consumed 
 them by fire. They then raised over them a great 
 heap of stones, ver. 16, seq. 26. 
 
 The sentence passed on the family of Achan may 
 be justified by reflecting, (1.) that jnobably he was 
 assisted by them in this theft ; for, if not, (2.) he could 
 never have secreted such articles in the earth under 
 his tent, without being obsened and detected by 
 them, who ought to have opposed him, or immedi- 
 ately to have given notice of the transaction to the 
 elders. As they did not do this, they became, by 
 concealment, at least partakei-s of his ciime. 
 
 xlCHIOR, general of the Ammonites, who joined 
 Holofernes with auxiliary troops, in that general's 
 expedition into Egypt. Bethulia having shut its 
 gates against Holofernes, he called the princes of 
 Moab and Amnion, and demanded of them, with 
 great passion, who those people were that opposed 
 his passage ; presuming that the JMoabites, and Am- 
 monites, being neighbors to the Hebrews, could best 
 inform him. Achior answered, "My lord, these 
 people are originally of Chaldea ; but because they 
 would not worship the gods of the Chaldeans, they 
 were obliged to leave their country." He related, 
 also, Jacob's descent into Egj-jit, the miracles of 
 Moses, and the conquest of Canaan ; observing, that 
 the people were visibly protected by God, while they 
 continued faithful to him ; but that God never failed 
 to take vengeance on their infidelity. " Now there- 
 fore," added he, " learn whether they have committed 
 any fault against their God ; if so, attack them, for 
 he will deliver them up into your hands : if not, we 
 shall not be able to resist them, because God will un- 
 dertake their defence, and cover us with confusion," 
 Judith V. 2, 3, &c. Holofernes, transported with 
 fury, answered him, " Since you have tfdcen upon 
 you to be a prophet, in telling us that the God of 
 Israel woidd be the defender of his people, to show 
 you there is no other god besides Nebuchodoncsor, 
 my master, when we have put all tliese people to the 
 edge of the swoid, we will destroy you likeAvise, and 
 you shall understand that Nebuchodonosor is lord of 
 all the earth." Achior was then carried out near to 
 the city, and left bound, that the inhabitants might 
 take him into the city. This was done, and Achior 
 declaring what had happened, the people of Bethu- 
 lia fell with their faces to the ground, and with great 
 cries begged God's assistance, beseeching him to vin- 
 dicate the honor of his name, and to humble the 
 pride of their enemies. After this they consoled 
 Achior, and Ozias, one of the leaders of the jieople, 
 received him into his house, where he continued 
 during the siege. After the death of Holofernes, 
 and the discomfiture of his army, Achior abandoned 
 the heathen superstitions, and was received into Isriul 
 by circiuHcision, .ludith xiv. (!, so(|. 
 
 " ACHISIl, king of Gath. Davitl, having resolved 
 to withdraw from the dominions of Saul, who sought 
 his life, retired to Gath, a city of the Philistines ; (I 
 Sam. xxi. 10.) but the officers of Achish having dis- 
 covered his person, and expressed their jealousy of 
 his character, David became alarmed, and feigned 
 madness, and by this stratagem preserved his 
 life. 
 
 Three or four years after this, David desired to be 
 received, for a permanency, either into the rojal city, 
 or elsewhere in the dominions of Achish. The king, 
 who knew bis valor, and the animosity between him 
 and Said, willingly received him into Gath, with 600
 
 ACT 
 
 [15 ] 
 
 ACT 
 
 men, and their families, and afterwards gave him 
 Ziiilag, 1 Sam. xxvii. 2, seq. See David. 
 
 ACHMETA. Ezra vi. 2, " There was found at 
 Achmeta a roll." — Achnieta is here the same with 
 Ecbatana, the royal city, where, in the palace, the 
 rolls were kept. So the Vulgate, which reads Ecba- 
 tanis ; and 1 Esdras vi. 23 ; also Joseplius, Antiq. 
 xi. 4 — 6. 
 
 ACHOR, -I13J', troubling, a valley in the territory 
 of Jericho, and in the tribe of Benjamin, where 
 Achan was stoned. Josh. vii. 24 ; xv. 7 ; Isaiah Ixv. 
 10 ; Hosoa ii. 15. The name was still in use in the 
 time of Jerome. 
 
 A CHS AH, daughter of Caleb, who promised to 
 give her as a reward to him wlio should take Kirjath- 
 Sepher. (See Dowrv.) Othniel, his brother's son, 
 having taken that to^Mi, married Achsah, and obtained 
 from Caleb the gift of a field having upper and 
 nether springs — a valuable addition to Kirjath- 
 Sepher, Josii. xv, 16; Judg. i. 12. See Water, 
 and Wells. 
 
 ACHSHAPH, a city of Asher, Josh. xii. 20 ; xix. 
 25. Its site is unknown. 
 
 I. ACHZIB, a city in the plain of Judah, Josh.xv. 
 44 ; Micah i. 14. 
 
 II. ACHZIB, a city on the seacoast of Galilee, 
 assigned to the tribe of Asher, but not conquered by 
 them. Josh. xix. 29 ; Judg. i. 31. According to 
 Eusebius and Jerome, it lay about nine miles north 
 of Ptolcinais, or Accho ; and was afterwai'ds called 
 Ecdipna, Jos. B. J. i. 13. 4. It is now called Zib. 
 Mod Traveller, ii. p. 29. 
 
 ACRA, a Greek word, signifying, in general, a 
 citadel, in which sense it is also used in the Chaldee 
 and Syriac. King Antiochus built a citadel at Jeru- 
 salem, on an eminence north of the temple, which 
 commanded the holy place ; and for which reason it 
 was called Acra. Joseplius says (Antiq. hb. xii. cap. 
 7. & 14 ; lib. xiii. cap. 11.) that this eminence was 
 semicircular, and that Simon Maccabfeus, having ex- 
 pelled the Syrians, wiio had seized Acra, demolished 
 it, and s})ent three yt'ars in leveling the mountain on 
 which it stood; that no situation in future should 
 command the temple. On mount Acra were after- 
 wards built the palace of Helena, queen of the Adia- 
 bsnians ; Agrippa's palace, the place where the public 
 records were lodged, and that where the magistrates 
 of Jerusalem asseml)led, Joseph, de Bello, lib. vii. 
 caj). 15 ; Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 7. 
 
 I. ACRABATENE. A district or toparchy of 
 Jndea, extending l)etween Shcchem (now Napolose) 
 and Jericho, inclining cast. It was about twelve 
 miles in length. The name is not found in Scrip- 
 ture, but occurs in Joseplius, B. J. ii. 12. 4 ; iii. 
 3, 4, 5. 
 
 II. ACRABATENE, or Acrabatine, aghstrict on 
 the frontier of Idiuuea, towards the southern ex- 
 tremity of the Dead se;;. It seems to be named from 
 the Maaleh Jlcrahbim, or Hill of Scorpions, men- 
 tioned (Josh. XV. 3.) as the southern extremity of the 
 tribe of Judah. — It is found only in 1 Maccab. v. 3. 
 
 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, a canonical book 
 of the New Testament, written by Lnke, and con- 
 taining a considerable part of the history of Peter 
 and Paul. The narrative begins at the ascension of 
 our Saviour, and continues to Paul's arrival at Rome, 
 after his appeal to Csesar ; with his residence of two 
 years in that capital ; including about twenty-eight or 
 thirty years. After Luke had given the histoiy of 
 Jesus Christ in his Gospel, he resolved to record the 
 actions of the apostles, and the wonderful manner in 
 
 which the Holy Spirit established that church which 
 Christ had redeemed. CEcumenius (in Acta, page 
 20.) calls the Acts, " the Gospel of the Holy Ghost ;" 
 Chrysostoin (in Acta Homil. 1.) calls it, "the Gospel 
 of our Saviour's resurrection," or " the Gospel of 
 the risen Jesus Christ." It narrates most miraculous 
 instances of the power of the Holy Spirit, attending 
 the propagation of the gospel ; and in the accounts 
 and instances of the first believers, we have most 
 excellent patterns of a truly Christian life. So that, 
 though Luke seems to give us but a plain narrative 
 of facts, yet this divine physician, to use Jerome's ex- 
 pression, oflTers as many remedies to heal the soul's 
 diseases, as he speaks Avords, Ep. 103. 
 
 It is believed that Luke's principal design in vrrh- 
 iug the Acts, was to preserve a true history of the 
 apostles, and of the infancy of the Christian churci), 
 in opposition to false acts and false histories, which 
 were beginning to obtain circulation ; and accord- 
 ingly, his fidelity and intelligence have been so much 
 valued, that all other Acts of the Apostles have per- 
 ished, and his, only, been adopted by the church. 
 Luke wrote this book, probably, about A. D. 64 ; i. e. 
 soon after the point of time at which the uarraticn 
 tenuinates. The place where it was written is u.n- 
 luiowii. 
 
 The style of Luke is generally more pure and ele- 
 gant than that of other parts of the New Testament. 
 Epiphanius says (Hseres. xxx. cap. 3 & 6.) that this 
 book was translated by the Ebionites out of Greek 
 into Hebrew ; (that is, Syriac, the then common lan- 
 guage of the Jews in Palestine ;) but that those 
 heretics coiTupted it with many falsities and impie- 
 ties, injurious to the character and memory of the 
 apostles. 
 
 The Book of the Acts has alv/ays been esteemed 
 canonical : (Tertul. 1. v. cont. Marc. cap. 1, 2.) though 
 the Marcionites, the Manichees, and some other here- 
 tics rejected it, because their errors were too clearly 
 condemned by it. Augustine (Ep. 315.) says, the 
 church received it with edification, and read it every 
 year. Chrysostom complains, that in his time it was 
 too little known, and the reading of it too much 
 neglected. As for himself, he very much extols the 
 advantages of an acquaintance with it, and main- 
 tains, with good reason, that it is as useful as tlu; 
 Gospels. 
 
 In order to read the Acts of the Apostles with in- 
 telligence and profit, it is necessary to have a suffi- 
 cient acquaintance with geography, with the manners 
 of the times and people referred to, and with the 
 leading historical events. The power of the Ro- 
 mans, with the nature and names of tlie public ofll- 
 cers they established, and the distinctions among 
 them, must of necessity be understood ; as well as 
 the disposition and political conduct and opinions of 
 the unconverted Jewish nation, which ol^tained, too 
 strongly, among the Christianized HebreAvs, and 
 maintained themselves as distinctions, and causes of 
 separation in the church, during many ages. In fact, 
 their consequences are hardly extinct in the East at 
 this day. 
 
 There were several Spurious Acts of the Apos- 
 tles. (1.) The Acts of the Apostles supposed 
 to have been written by Abdias, who represents him- 
 self as a bishop, ordained at Babylon, by the apos- 
 tles, when they were on their journey into Persia ; 
 but which is neither ancient nor authentic ; it was 
 not known to Eusebius, to Jerome, nor to any earlier 
 father. The author says, he wrote in Greek, and 
 that his book was translated into Latin by Julius
 
 ADAM 
 
 [ IG] 
 
 ADAM 
 
 Africanus ; who is liiniself a Greek writer. He cites 
 Hegesippus, who Uved in the second century. (2.) 
 The Acts of St. Peter, otherwise called Travels 
 of St. Peter, (Periodi Petri,) or " The Recognitions 
 of St. Clement," is a l)ook filled with visions and 
 fables, which came originally from the school of the 
 Ebionites. See Cotelerius, iu his Fathers of the first 
 Century ; likewise Fabricius's Cod. Apocr. N. T. 
 page 759, «Scc. (3.) The Acts of St. Paul, were 
 composed after his death, as a supplement to St. 
 Luke ; continuing his narrative from the second 
 year of the apostle's first voyage to Rome, to the end 
 of his life. Eusebius, who had seen this work, calls 
 it spurious. (4.) The Acts of St. John the Evan- 
 gelist, mentioned in Epiphanius and Augustine, 
 contain incredible stories of that apostle. It was 
 used by the Encratites, Manichecs, and Prise illianists. 
 They are thought to be the Acts of St. John, pub- 
 lished among the forgeries of Abdias. (Epiphan. 
 Haeres. 47. Aug. de Fide, cap. 4. and 405. Contra 
 adversar. Legis et Prophet, lib. i. cap. 20.) (5.) The 
 Acts of St. Andrew, received by the Manichees, 
 Encratites, and Apotactics. See Epiphanius, Hseres. 
 42, 61, and 62. (6.) The Acts of St. Thomas : 
 Augustine cites some things out of them, and says, 
 the ^lanichees particularly used them. (7.) The 
 Acts of St. Philip, was a book used by the Gnos- 
 tics. (8.) The Acts of St. Matthias. See M. de 
 Tillemont, Feci. Hist. torn. i. p. 1186 ; and Fabricius's 
 Cod. Apoc. N. T. p. 782. 
 
 Tlie authorities respecting all these spurious works, 
 as well as of the Acts of Pilate, are collected 
 in Fabricii Cod. Apoc. N. T. vol. i, ii. 
 
 ADADA, a city in the south of Judah, Josh. 
 XV. 22. 
 
 ADAD-RIMMON, or Hadad-Rimmon, a city in 
 the valley of Jezreel, where the fatal battle between 
 Josiah, king of Judah, and Pharaoh-Necho, king of 
 Egj'^pt, (2 Kings xxiii. 29 ; Zech. xii. 11.) was fought. 
 Adad-rimmon was afterwards called Maximianopo- 
 lis, in honor of the emperor Maximian. It is seven- 
 teen miles from Ceesarea in Palestine, and ten miles 
 from Jezreel. See Bib. Repository, vol. i. p. 602. 
 
 I. ADAH, one of Lamech's two wives ; mother 
 of Jabal and Jubal, Gen. iv. 19. See Lamech. 
 
 II. ADAH, daughter of Elon, the Hittite, and wife 
 of Esau ; the mother of Eliphaz, Gen. xxxvi. 4. 
 
 ADAM, red, the proper name of the first man. 
 It has always the article, and is therefore originally 
 an appellative, the man. The derivation of it, as well 
 as adamah, earth, from the verb ms, to be red, (in 
 Ethiop. to be beautiful,) is not improbable, when we 
 take into account the reddish or brown complexion 
 of the orientals. But the word Mam may also be 
 primitive. R. 
 
 The Almighty formed Adam out of the dust of 
 the earth, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 
 and gave him dominion over all the lower creatures. 
 Gen. i. 26 ; ii. 7. He created him in his own image, 
 and having pronounced a blessing upon hiin, placed 
 him in a delijrhtfiil garden, that he might cultivate 
 it, and enjoy its fruits. At the same time, however, 
 he gave him the following injunction: — "Of the tree 
 of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat ; 
 for in tbe day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
 die." The first recorded exercise of Adam's power 
 and intelligence was his giving names to the beasts 
 of the field, and fowls of the air, which the Lord 
 brought before him for this purpose. A short time 
 after this, the Lord, observing that it was not good 
 for man to he alone, caused a deep sleep to fall upon 
 
 Adam, and while he slept, took one of his ribs, and 
 closed up the flesh ; and of the rib thus taken from 
 man he made a woman, (womb-man, Saxon,) whom 
 he presented to him when he awoke. Adam received 
 her, saying, "This is now bone of my bone, and 
 flesh of my flesh ; she shall be called woman, be- 
 cause she was taken out of man." (Heb. c>k, mail, 
 ns'iN, tvomati.) He also called her name Eve, nin, 
 because she was the mother of all living. 
 
 This woman, being seduced by the tempter, per- 
 suaded her husband to eat of the forbidden fruit. 
 When called to judgment for this transgi-ession be- 
 fore God, Adam blamed his M'ife, " whom," said he, 
 " THOU gavest me ;" and the woman blamed the ser- 
 pent-tempter. God punished the tempter by degra- 
 dation and dread ; the woman by painful hopes, and 
 a situation of submission ; and the man by a life of 
 labor and toil ; of which punishment every day witnes- 
 ses the fulfilment. As their natural passions now be- 
 came irregular, and their exposure to accidents great, 
 God made a covering of skin for Adam and for his w ife. 
 He also expelled them from his garden, to the land 
 around it, where Adam had been made, and Avhere 
 was to be their future dwelling ; placing at the east 
 of the garden a flame, which turned eveiy way, to 
 KEEP the way to the tree of life, Gen. iii. 
 
 It is not known how long Adam and his wife con- 
 tinued in paradise : some think, many years ; others, 
 not many days ; others, not many hours. Shortly 
 after their expulsion. Eve brought forth Cain, Gen. 
 iv. 1, 2. Scripture notices but three sons of Adam : 
 Cain, Abel, and Seth, and omits daughters: but 
 Moses tells us, "Adam begat sons and daughters;" 
 no doubt many. He died, aged 930, ante A. D. 3074. 
 This is what we learn from Moses ; but interpreters, 
 not satisfied with his concise relation, propose a 
 thousand inquiries relating to the first man ; and cer- 
 tainly no historj' can furnish more questions, as well 
 of curiositj' as of consequence. 
 
 In reviewing the histon' of Adam, there are several 
 things that demand particular notice. 
 
 1. Tlie formation of Adam is introduced with cir- 
 cumstances of dignity superior to any which at- 
 tended the creation of the animals. It evidently ap- 
 pears (whatever else be designed by it) to be the 
 intention of the narrator, to mark this passage, and 
 to lead his readers to reflect on it. God said, " Let 
 us make man, (1.) In our image ; (2.) According to 
 our likeness ; and let him rule," &c. Gen. i. 26. 
 These seem to be two ideas : First, " In our image," 
 in our similitude. This could not refer to his figure : 
 (1.) Because the human figure, though greatly supe- 
 rior in formation and beauty to animals, is not so en- 
 tirely distinct from them in the j)rinciples of its con- 
 struction, as to require a special consultation about 
 it, after the animals had been formed. (2.) If all the 
 species of monkeys were made l)cfore man, the re- 
 semblance in some of them to the human form, 
 greatly strengthens the former argument. (3.) The 
 Scriptures, elsewhere, represent this distinction as 
 referring to moral excellency ; " in knotdedee — after 
 the image of him who created him," Col. iii. 10. 
 " The new man, which, according to God, {xaru dim.) 
 is created in righteousness and true holiness," Eph, iv. 
 24. In other places, also, the comparison tin-ns on 
 his purity, his station, &c. Secondly, " According to 
 our likeness," is a stronger expression than the former, 
 and more determinate to its subject. If we connect 
 this with the following words, and let him rule — the 
 import of the passage may be given thus : — " Man 
 shall have, according to his nature and capacity, a
 
 ADARI 
 
 [ 17 ] 
 
 ADAM 
 
 general likeuess to such of our perfectious as fit him 
 for the purposes to which we design him ; but he 
 shall also have a resemblance to us, in the rule and 
 government of the creatures ; for, though he be in- 
 capable of any of our attributes, he is capable of a 
 purity, a rectitude, and a station of dominion, in 
 \\hicli he may be our vicegerent." Thus, then, in a 
 lower and looser sense, man was the image of God ; 
 possessing a likeness to him in respect to moral 
 excellency, of which the creatures were absolutely 
 void ; and having also a resemblance to God, as his 
 deputy, his representative, among and over the cre- 
 ation ; for which ho was qualified by holiness, 
 knowledge, and other intellectual and moral attri- 
 butes. 
 
 As the day on which creation ended was imme- 
 diately succeeded by a sabbath, the first act of man 
 was worship ; hence the influence and extent of the 
 custom of setting apart a sabbath among his poster- 
 ity ; since not in paradise only would Adam main- 
 tain this rite. 
 
 2. " Adam became a livins; soul ;" by which we 
 imdcrstanil a living person, (1.) Because such is the 
 import of the original, simply taken : (2.) Having 
 mentioned that Adam was made of the dust of the 
 earth, is a reason why the sacred WTiter should here 
 mention his anhnation. But, (3.) It is very possible, 
 tliat it implies some real distinction between the na- 
 ture of the living principle, or soul, (not spirit,) in 
 Adam, and that of animals. IMay we suppose that 
 this j)rincip|p, thus especially imparted by God, was 
 capable of innnortality ; that, however the beasts 
 might die by nature, man would survive by nature :^ 
 that he had no inherent seeds of dissolution in him, 
 but that his dissolution Avas the consequence of his 
 sin, ;uid the execution of the threatening, "dying 
 thou shalt die V In fact, as Adam lived nearly a 
 thousaJid years after eating the fruit, which, probably, 
 poisoned his blood, how much longer might he not 
 have lived, had that poison never been taken by 
 hun ? See Death. 
 
 3. The character, endoivments, and history of Mam, 
 are very interesting subjects of reflection to the whole 
 human race ; and the rather, because the memorials 
 respecting him, which have been transmitted to us, 
 are but brief, and consequently obscure. 
 
 In considering the character of Adam, the great- 
 est difficulty is, to divest ourselves of ideas received 
 fi'om the present state of things. We cannot suffi- 
 ciently dismiss from our minds that knoivledge (rather, 
 tiiat subtUty) which we have acquired by experience. 
 We should, nevertheless, remember, that however 
 Adam might be a man in capacity of understanding, 
 yet in experience he could be but a child. He had 
 no cause to distrust any, to suspect fraud, collusion, 
 prevarication, or ill design. Where, then, is the 
 wonder, if entire innocence, if total unsuspicion, 
 should be deceived by an artful combination of ap- 
 
 Searances ; by fraud and guile exerted against it ? 
 lut the disobedience of Adam is not the less inex- 
 cusable on this account ; because, as was his situa- 
 tion, such was the test given to him. It was not an 
 active, but a pa.ssive duty ; not something to be done, 
 but something to be forlionie ; a negaiive trial Nor 
 did it regard the mind, but the appetite ; nor was 
 that appetite without fit, yea, much fitter, supply in 
 abundance all around it. Unwarrantable presump- 
 tion, unrestrained desire, liberty extended into licen- 
 tiousness, was the principle of Adam's transgi-ession. 
 
 4. The breaking of a beautiful vase, may affiird 
 some idea of Adam after his sin. The inte^'itv of 
 
 3 
 
 his mind was violated ; the Jirst compUance with sin 
 opened the way to future compUances; grosser 
 temptations might now expect success; and thus 
 spotless purity becoming impure, perfect uprightness 
 becoming warped, lost that entirety which had been 
 its glory. Hereby Adam rehnquished that distinc- 
 tion, which had fitted hijn for mimediate communion 
 wdth supreme holiness, and was reduced to the ne- 
 cessity of sohciting such communion, mediately, not 
 immediately ; by another, not by liimself ; in prospect, 
 not instant ; in hope, not in possession ; in time fii- 
 ture, not in time present ; in another world, not in 
 this. It is worthy of notice, how precisely the prin- 
 ciples which infatuated Adam have ever governed 
 his posterity ; how suitable to the general character 
 of the human race was the nature of that temptation 
 by which their father fell ! 
 
 5. It is presumable that only, or chiefly, in the 
 garden of Paradise, were the prime fruits and her- 
 bage in perfection. The land around the garden 
 might be much less fmished, and only fertile to a 
 certain degree. To promote its fertility, by cultiva- 
 tion, became the object of Adam's labor ; so that in 
 the sweat of his brow, he himself did eat bread. 
 But the sentence passed on our first parents, doubt- 
 less regarded them as the representatives, the very 
 concentration, of their posterity, the whole human 
 race ; and afl;er attaching to themselves, it seems, pro- 
 phetically also, to suggest the condition of the sexes 
 in future ages, q. d. " The female sex, which has 
 been the means of bringing death into the world, 
 shall also be the means of bringing life — posterity — 
 to compensate the ravages of death ; — and, to remind 
 the sex of its original transgi-ession, that which shall 
 be its gi-eatest honor and happiness shall be accom- 
 panied by no slight inconveniences. But the male 
 sex shall be under the necessity of laboring for the 
 support, not of itself only, but of the female and her 
 family ; so that if a man could with little exertion 
 pro\dde for himself, he should be stmiulated by far 
 greater exertions, to toil, to sweat, for the advantage 
 and suppoit of those to whom he has been the means 
 of giving life." 
 
 6. Death closes the sentence passed on mankind; 
 and was also prophetic of an event common to Adam, 
 and to all his descendants. But see how the favor 
 of God mitigates the consequences announced in 
 this sentence ! It inflicts pain on the Avoman, but 
 that pain was connected with the dearest comforts, 
 and with the gi'eat restorer of the human race ; it 
 assigns labor to the man, but then that labor was to 
 support himself, and others dearer to hhn than him- 
 self, repetitious of himself; it denounces death, but 
 death indefinitely postponed, and appointed as the 
 path to life. — [The curse pronounced on man in- 
 cludes not only physical labor and toil, the barren- 
 ness of the earth, and its tendency to produce shrubs 
 and Aveeds, Avhich retard his exertions, and render 
 his toil more painful and difficult ; it includes not 
 only the physical dissolution of the body ; but also 
 the exposure of the soul, the nobler part, to ' ever- 
 lasting death.' There is no where in Scripture any 
 hint that the bodies either of animals or of man in 
 the state before the fall, were not subject to dissolu- 
 tion, just as much as at present. Indeed the whole 
 physical structure goes to indicate directly the con- 
 trary. The life of man and of animals, as at present 
 constituted, is a constant succession of decay and 
 renovation ; and so far as physiology can draAV any 
 conclusion, this has ever been the case. We may 
 tlir-refore suppose, that the death denounced upon
 
 ADAM 
 
 [18] 
 
 ADM 
 
 man, was rather moral and spiritual death ; in that 
 very day, he should lose the image of his Maker, and 
 become exposed to that eternal doom, which has 
 justly fallen upon all his race. Such is also the view 
 of the apostle Paul ; who every where contrasts the 
 death introduced into the world through Adam with 
 the life which is procured for our race through Jesus 
 Christ, Rom. v. 12, seq. But tliis life is oidy spiritual ; 
 the death, then, in its highest sense, is also spiritual. 
 So far, too, as the penalty is temporal and physical, no 
 specific remedy is provided ; no man is or can be 
 exempt from it ; and it depends not on his choice. 
 But to remove the spiritual punishment, Christ has 
 died ; and he who will, may avoid the threatened 
 death, and enter into life eternal. 
 
 7, In regard to the situation of Adam before the 
 fall, his powers and capacities, his understanding and 
 acquirements, very much has been said and written, 
 but all of coiu-se to no purpose ; since the Scriptures, 
 the only document we have, are entirely silent on 
 these points. The poetical statements of Milton in 
 his Paradise Lost, are deserving of just as much 
 credit as the si)eculatious of Jewish Rabbins or 
 Christian theologians. We can only affirm, that the 
 Scriptiu'es recognize man as being formed in his 
 full strength of body and his full powers of mind ; 
 that he possessed not only the capacity for speech 
 and knowledge, but that he was also actually in the 
 possession and exercise of language, and of such 
 knowledge at least as was necessary for his situation. 
 There is no suggestion in the Bible, that he was 
 formed merely with the powers requisite for ac- 
 quiring these things, and then left at first in a state of 
 ignorance which would place him on a level with 
 the brutes, and from which he must have emerged 
 simply by his own exertions and observation. On 
 the contrary, the representation of the Bible is, that 
 he was at first formed, in all respects, a full-grown 
 man, with all the faculties and all the endowments 
 necessaiy to qualify him for his station as lord of a 
 new and beautiful creation. *R. 
 
 8. The salvation of Adam has been a subject of 
 trivial dispute. Tatian and the Eucratites were 
 positive he was damned ; but this opinion the church 
 condemned. The book of Wisdom says, (chap. x. 
 2.) " That God delivered him from his fall," and the 
 Fathers and Rabbins believe he did hard penance. 
 Some of the ancients beheved, that our first parents 
 were interred at Hebron, which opinion they Avhini- 
 sically grounded on Joshua xiv. 15, " And the name 
 of Hebron before was Kirjath-Aiba, which Arba 
 was a great man (Adam, qin) among the Anakini." 
 — Origen, Epiphanius, Jerome, and a great number 
 hold that Adam was buried on Calvary ; and this 
 opinion has still its advocates. There is a chapel on 
 mount Calvary dedicated to Adam. 
 
 Adam has been the reputed author of several 
 books, and some have believed that he invented the 
 Hebrew letters. The Jews say he is the author of 
 the ninety-first Psalm ; and that he composed it soon 
 after the creation. The Gnostics had a book en- 
 titled, "The Revelations of Adam," which is placed 
 among the apocryphal writings by pope Gelasius, 
 who also mentions a book called "Adam's Penance." 
 Masius spenks of another "Of the Creation," said to 
 have been composed by Adam. — On all these, see 
 Fabricii Cod. Pseudepigi-. V. T. vol. i. Hottinger, 
 Histor. Oriental, pag. 22. — The Arabians inform us, 
 that Adam received twenty books which fell from 
 heaven, and contained many laws, promise.s, and 
 prophecies. 
 
 The Tahnudists, Cabalists, Mahommedans, Per- 
 sians, and other Eastern people, relate many fabulous 
 stories relative to the creation and life of Adam, some 
 of which may be seen in the larger edition of Calmet. 
 
 11. ADAJNl was the name of a city near the Jor- 
 dan, not far from Zarethan ; at some distance from 
 which the waters of Jordan were collected in a heap, 
 when the children of Israel passed through. Josh, 
 iii. 10. The name was not improbably derived from 
 the color of the clay in its neighborhood, which was 
 used for casting the vessels of the temple, 1 Kings 
 vii. 46. 
 
 ADAMAH, a city of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 3G. The 
 LXX call it Armath ; the Vulgate, Edema. 
 
 ADAMANT, Tictf shamir, a name anciently used 
 for the diamond, the hardest of all minerals. It is 
 used for cutting or writing upon glass and other hard 
 substances, Jer. xvii. 1. It is also employed figura- 
 tively, Ezek. iii. 9 ; Zech. vii. 12. The same name 
 of the diamond is common in Arabia. — Others sup- 
 pose it to be the smiris, or emery. 
 
 ADAMI, a city of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 33. 
 
 ADAMITES, a heretical sect of the second 
 century, who afTected to possess the innocence of 
 Adam, and whose nakedness they imitated in their 
 churches, which they called Paradise. Its author 
 was Prodicus, a disciple of Carpocrates. 
 
 I. ADAR, the twelfth month of the Hebrew ec- 
 clesiastical year, and the sixth of the civil year. It 
 has twenty-nine days ; and nearly answers to our 
 February and March, accoi'ding to the Rabbins. 
 (See Months, and the Jewish Calendar.) As the 
 lunar year, which the Jews follow in their calcula- 
 tion, is shorter than the solar year by eleven days, 
 which after three years make about a month, they 
 then insert a thirteenth month, which they call Ve- 
 Adar, or a second Adar, to which they assign twenty- 
 nine days. 
 
 II. ADAR, a city on the southern border of Judah, 
 Josh. XV. 3. In Numb, xxxiv. 4. it is called Hazar- 
 Addar, or the court of Adar. 
 
 ADARSA, or Adas a, (1 Mace. vii. 40.) a city of 
 Ephraim, four miles from Beth-horou, and not far 
 from Gophna, Joseph. Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 17 ; Euseb. 
 in Adasa. Perhaps, between the upper Beth-heron 
 and Diospolis ; because it is said (1 Mace. vii. 45.) 
 the victorious army of Judas pursued the Syrians 
 from Adasa to Gadara, or Gazara, which is one day's 
 journey. Adarsa is also called Adazer, and Adaco, 
 or Acedosa, in Josephus, Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 17. and 
 de Bello, lib. i. cap. 1. Here Nicanor was over- 
 come, and his army put to flight by Judas Macca- 
 ba?us, notwithstanding he had 3000 men only, while 
 Nicanor had 35,000. Josephus tells us, that Judas, 
 in another war, was killed in this place, de Bello, 
 lib. i. cap. 1. 
 
 ADDAR, see Adar II. 
 
 ADDER, see Asp, and Serpent. 
 
 ADIABENE, a region of Assyria, frequently men- 
 tioned by Josephus, whose queen Helena and her 
 son Izates Avere made converts to Judaism, Joseph. 
 Antiq. XX. 2. 
 
 ADIDA, a city of Juuah, where Simon Macca- 
 bffius encamped to dispute the entrance into the 
 country with Tryphon, who had treacherously 
 seized Jonathan at Ptolemais, 1 Mace. xii. 38 ; 
 xiii. 13. 
 
 ADITHAIM, a city of Judah, whose situation is 
 not known, Josh. xv. 3(3. 
 
 ADMAH, the most easterly of the five cities of 
 the plain, destroyed by fire from heaven, and after-
 
 ADO 
 
 [ 19] 
 
 ADO 
 
 \vards overwhelmed by the waters of the Dead sea, 
 Gen. xix. 24. 
 
 ADONAI, unN, Lord, Master, old plural form of 
 tlie noun adon, similar to that with the suffix of the 
 first person ; used as the pluralis excdlenticR by way 
 of dignity for the name of Jeh^ah. The similai* 
 form, with the suffix, is also used of men ; as of 
 Joseph's master, Gen. xxxix. 2, 3, seq. — of Joseph 
 hunself, Gen. xlii. 30. 33 ; so Isaiah xix. 4. The 
 Jews, out of superstitious reverence for the name 
 Jehovah, always, in reading, pronounced Adonai 
 where Jehovah is written ; hence the letters nini are 
 usually written with the points belonging to Adonai. 
 See Jehovah. R. 
 
 ADONI-BEZEK, i. e. the lord of Bezek, king of 
 the city Bezek, in Canaan, seventeen miles N. E. 
 from Napolose, towards Scythopolis. — Adoni-bezek 
 was a powerful and cruel prince, who, having at 
 various times taken seventy kings, ordered their 
 tliumbs and gi-eat toes to be cut off, and made them 
 gather their meat under his table, Judg. i. 7. After 
 the death of Joshua, the tribes Judah and Simeon 
 marched against Adoni-bezek, who commanded an 
 army of Canaauites and Perizzites. They vanquished 
 him, killed ten thousand men, and having taken him, 
 cut off his thumbs and his great toes ; Adoni-bezek 
 acknowledging the retributive justice of this punish- 
 ment from God. lie was afterwards carried to Jeru- 
 salem, where he died, Judg. i. 4, seq. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the barbarity of Adoni-be- 
 zok, in tluis mutilating his enemies, was so enor- 
 mous in its chaiacter, there is reason to think that 
 similar cruelties are by no means uncommon in the 
 East. Much more severe, in fact, is the cruelty 
 contained in the following narration of Indian war : 
 — " The inhabitants of the to^vn of Lelith Pattan 
 were disposed to surrender themselves, from fear of 
 having their noses cut off, like those of Cirtipur, and 
 also their right hands ; a barbarity the Gorchians 
 had threatened them with, imless they would sur- 
 render within five days !" (Asiat. Researches, vol. 
 ii.) Another resemblance to the history of the men 
 of Jabesh ; who desired seven days of melancholy 
 rcsi)ite from their threatened affliction by Nahash, of 
 having their right eyes thrust out, 1 Sam. xi. 2. 
 
 The following is another similar scene of cruelty : 
 " Prithwinarayan issued an order to Suruparatana his 
 brotlier, to put to death some of the principal in- 
 habitants of the town of Cirtipur, and to cut off 
 the noses and hps of every one, even the infants who 
 were found in the arms of their mothers ; order- 
 ing, at the same time, all the noses and hps that had 
 been cut off to be preserved, that he might ascertain 
 how many souls there were ; and to change the 
 name of the town to JVashatapir, which signifies the 
 town of cut noses. The oi-der was caiTied into exe- 
 cution with eveiy mark of hoiTor and cruelty, none 
 escaping but those who could play on wind instru- 
 ments ; many put an end to then* Uves in despair ; 
 others came m gi'eat bodies to us in search of medi- 
 cines ; and it Avas most shocking to see so many liv- 
 ing people with their teeth and noses resembhng the 
 skulls of the deceased," i. e. by being bare ; because 
 deprived of their natural covering. (Asiatic Re- 
 searches, vol. ii. page 187.) The learned reader 
 will recollect an instance of the very same barbarity, 
 in the town which, from that circumstance, was 
 named Rhinocohtra, or " cut noses,^'' between Judea 
 and Egj'pt. See Rhinocolura. 
 
 ADONIJAH, fourth son of David, by Haggith, 
 was born at Hebron, while his father was acknowl- 
 
 edged king by only part of Israel, 2 Sam. iii. 2, 4. 
 His elder brothers, Amnon and Absalom, being dead, 
 Adonijali believed the crown by right belonged to 
 him, and made an effort to get acknowledged kuig 
 before his father's death. For this purpose he set 
 up a magnificent equipage, with chariots and horse- 
 men, and fifty men to run before him ; and con- 
 tracted very close engagements with Joab the gen- 
 eral, and Abiathar the priest, who had more interest 
 with the king than any others. Having matured his 
 plans, Adonijali made a great entertainment for his 
 adherents, near the fountain Rogel, east of the city, 
 and below the walls, to which he invited all the 
 king's sons, except Solomon ; and also the principal 
 persons of Judah, except Nathan, Zadok, and Be- 
 naiah, who were not of his party. His design was 
 at this time to be proclaimed king, and to assume 
 the government before the death of David. Nathan, 
 however, having obtained a knowledge of his de- 
 sign, went with Bathsheba to the king, who informed 
 him of Adonijah's proceedings, and interceded m 
 favor of Solomon. David immediately gave orders 
 that Solomon should be proclaimed king of Israel, 
 which was promptly done, and the intelligence so 
 alarmed Adonijah and his party, that they dispersed 
 in great confusion. Fearing that Solomon would 
 put him to death, Adonijah retired to the tabei-nacle, 
 and laid hold on the horns of the altar. Solomon, 
 however, generously pardoned him, and sent him 
 home, 1 Kings i. 
 
 Some time after David's death, Adonijah, by means 
 of Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, intrigued to- 
 obtain Abishag, the recent wife of his father ; but 
 Solomon, suspecting it to be a project to obtain the 
 kingdom, had him put to death, ch. ii. 13, &c. A. M. 
 2990, ante A. D. 1014. 
 
 ADONIRAM, the receiver of Solomon's tributes, 
 and chief director of the 30,000 men whom that 
 prince sent to Lebanon, to cut timber, 1 Kings v. 14. 
 The name Adoram is made from this word by con- 
 traction, and applied to the same person, who was 
 receiver-general from David until Rehoboam, 2 Sam. 
 XX. 24 ; 1 Kings xii. 18. He is also called Hadoram, 
 2 Chr. X. 18. R. 
 
 ADONIS. According to the Vulgate, Ezek. viii. 
 14 imports that this prophet saw women sitting in 
 the temple, weeping for Adonis; but the Hebrew 
 reads, for Tammuz, or, the hidden one.. Among the 
 Egyptians, Adonis was adored under the name of 
 Osiris, husband of Isis. The Greeks worshipped 
 Isis and Osiris under other names, as that of Bac- 
 chus ; and the Arabians under that of Adonis : 
 
 Ogygia me Bacchuni canit ; 
 Osyrin iEgjptus vocat ; 
 Arabica gens, Adoneum. 
 
 Ausonius. 
 
 But he was sometimes called Ammuz, or Tam- 
 muz, the concealed, to denote, probably, the manner 
 of his death, or the place of his burial. ( Vide Plu- 
 tarch de Defectu OracTil.) The Syrians, Phoeni- 
 cians, and Cyprians called him Adonis. The He- 
 brew women, therefore, of whom Ezekiel is speak- 
 ing, celebrated the feasts of Tammuz, or Adonis, in 
 Jenisalem ; and God showed the prophet these 
 women weeping, even in his own sacred temple, for 
 tlie supposed death of this infamous god. 
 
 The Rabbins tell us, that Tammuz was an idola- 
 trous prophet, who having been put to death by the 
 king of Bal)ylon, all the idols of the country flocked
 
 ADO 
 
 [20] 
 
 ADO 
 
 together about a statue of the suu, which this prophet, 
 who was a magiciau, had suspended between heaven 
 and earth: there they began altogether to deplore 
 the prophet's death ; for which reason a festival \^'as 
 instituted every year, to renew the memory of this 
 ceremony, at the beginning of the month Tammuz, 
 which answers prettj' neai'ly to our Jime. In tliis 
 temple was a statue, repi-esenting Tammuz. It Wcis 
 hollow, the eyes were of lead, juid a gentle lire being 
 kindled below, which insensibly heated the statue, 
 and melted the lead, the deluded people heheved 
 that the idol wept. All this time the Babylonish 
 women, in the temple, were shrieking, and mak- 
 ing strange lamentations. But this story requires 
 proofs. 
 
 The scene of Adonis's history is said to have been 
 at Byblos, in Phoenicia ; and this pretended deity is 
 supposed to have been killed by a wild boar in the 
 mountains of Libanus, whence the river Adonis de- 
 scends, (Lucian de Dea Syra,) the waters of which, 
 at a certain time of the year, change color, and ap- 
 pear as red as blood. (See Maundrell, March 17.) 
 This was the signal for celeljrating tin ir Adonia, or 
 feasts of Adonis, the observance of which it was not 
 la^vful to omit. 
 
 The common people were persuaded to beUeve, 
 that, at this feast, the Egj'ptians sent by sea a box 
 made of rushes, or of Egyptian papyrus, in the form 
 of a human head, in which a letter was enclosed, 
 acquainting the inhabitants of Byl>los, a city above 
 seven days' journey from the coast of Eg} pt, that 
 their god Adonis, whom they apprehended to be 
 lost, had been discovered. The vessel which carried 
 this letter arrived always safe at Byblos, at the end 
 of seven days. Lucian tells us he was a witness of 
 this event. Procopius, Cyril of Alexamhia, (on 
 Isaiah xviii.) and other learned men, arc of opinion, 
 that Isaifdi alludes to this superstitions custom, a\ hen 
 he says, "Wo to the land shadowing \\ith wings, 
 which is beyond the river of Ethi()])ia ; that sendeth 
 ambassadors l)y the sea, even vessels of bulrushes 
 upon the watei-s." Some, as Bochart, (Phaleg. lib. iv. 
 cap. 2.) translate — " that sendeth images, or idols — by 
 sea." But the Hebrew signifies, properly, ambassa- 
 dors — dejjuted tlijther by sea, to carry the noAvs of 
 Adonis's resurrection. [The passage, however, has 
 no reference to Adonis. See (reseuius, Commentar. 
 in loc. R. 
 
 From these remarks we are ualiu-ally led to inquire 
 into the nature of the cereinojiious worship of Ado- 
 nis, as well as the object to \vliich they referred. 
 W'r have already stated that th" Mor^liij) of Adonis 
 was celebrated at Byblos, in Phrrnicia; the follow- 
 ing is Lucian's account of the al)()minatious : "The 
 Syrians alhrm, fliat what the boar is reported to have 
 <lone against Adonis, wjis transacted in their countiy ; 
 and in memory of this accident they every year beat 
 themselves, and lament, juid celebrate frantic rites; 
 and great waitings are appointed throughout the 
 countiy. Afier they have beat/n themselves and la- 
 mented, they first pert'orm fnneral obscfiuics to Ado- 
 nis, as to one dead ; and afterwards, on a following 
 day, they feign that he is allse, and rtscended into 
 the air, [or licaven,] and sliavc^ their heads, as the 
 Egyptians do at the death of Apis; and whatever 
 women will not consent to be sliaved, are obliged, 
 by way of punishment, to prostitute themselves once 
 to strangers, and the mon«'y they thus earn is conse- 
 crated to Venus." (See Succoth Bf.noth.) We 
 may now discern tln^ flagrant iniquity connnitted, 
 and that whicji was finilier to ln^ expected, among 
 
 the Jewish women who sat weeping for Tammuz, 
 that is, Adonis. 
 
 The fable of Adonis among the Greeks assumed 
 a somewhat diiferent form from that which it bore 
 in the East. Among the Phoenicians the festival of 
 Adonis took placq^n June, (hence called the mouth 
 Tammuz,) and was partly a season of lamentation, 
 and partly of rejoicuig; see above. (Lucian de Dea 
 Syra, 6. seq.) In the former, the women gave them- 
 selves up to the most extravagant wailings for the 
 departed god, cut off their hair, or offcird up their 
 chastity as a sacrifice in his tenq)le. The solcnni 
 burial of the idol, with all the usual ceremonies, 
 concluded the days of mourning. To these suc- 
 ceeded, without any intermission, several days of 
 feasting and rejoicing, on account of the returning 
 god. — The meaning of this worship seems plainly to 
 be symbolical of the coiu^e of the sun and his influ- 
 ence on the earth. In winter, the sun, as it weje, 
 does not act ; for the inhabitants of the earth, l;e is 
 in a measure lost, and all vegetation is (itad ; but in 
 the sunnner months he diffuses every where life .•-•nd 
 joy, and has, as it were, himself returned to life. See 
 Creuzer's Symbolik, ii. 91. Ed. 2. Hug's L'nter- 
 such. iib. d. Myth. 83 seq. R. 
 
 ADONI-ZEDEK, i. e. lord of righteousness, a king 
 of Jerusalem, who made an alliance, with fbnr other 
 kuigs of the Amorites, against Joshua. A great bat- 
 tle was fought at Gibeon, where the Lord ai(!ed 
 Israel by a terrific hail-storm, and Joshua comniandc<l 
 the suu to stand still. The five kings were signally 
 defeated, and havijig hid themselves in a cave at 
 Makkedah, were taken by Joshua and put to dtath. 
 Josh. chap. X. R. 
 
 ADOPTION is an act by which a person takes a 
 stranger into his fiunily, in order to make him a part 
 of it ; acknowledges him for his sou, and constitutes 
 him heir of his estate. Adoption, stricily speaking, 
 was not in general use among the Hebrews, as Closes 
 says nothing of it in his laws ; and Jacob's adoptioji 
 of his two grandsons, I'^^phraim and Manasseh, (Gen. 
 xlviii. 5.) wiLS a kind of sul;stitutiou, whereby he in- 
 tended that his grandsons, the tv.o sons of Joseph, 
 shoidd have each his lot in Israel, as if they had 
 been his own sons: '■'■ Ephraim and Manassch iu-e 
 mine ; as Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine." 
 As he gives no inheritance to their father Josc]ih, 
 the effect of this adoption extendcnl only to their in- 
 crease of fortune and inheritance ; that is, instead of 
 one ])art, giving them (or Joseph, whoju they repre- 
 sented) two ])arts. 
 
 Another kind of adoption in ur^c among the Israel- 
 ites, consisted in the oliligation one i)rotlu'r was under 
 to marry the widow of anotlx r who died without 
 children ; so that the ciiildren l)orn of this marriage 
 were regarded as belonging to the deceased brother, 
 and went by his name, Deut. xxv. 5; Matt. xxii. 24. 
 This practice was also customary before the time of 
 Moses ; as we see in the history of Tamar, (ieii. 
 ^xviii. 8. Sec Marriage. 
 
 But Scripture aflbrds instances of still another 
 kind of ado|)ti()n — tliat of a father having a daughter 
 only, and adopting her children. Thns, ] Chron. ii. 
 2L Machir, (grandson of Josei)h,) called "Father 
 of Gilcad," (that is, chief of that town,) gave his 
 daughter to Hezron, ivho took her ; and he teas a son 
 of sixty years, (sixty years of age,) and she bare him 
 Sescub ; and Sef^ub begat Jair, v\ ho had twenty-three 
 cities in the land of (Jilead, which, no doubt, was 
 the landed estate of Alachir, who was so desirous of 
 a male heir. Jair acquired a number of other cities,
 
 ADOPTION 
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
 ADOPTION 
 
 which made up his possessions to threescore cities, 
 (Josh. xiii. 30 ; 1 Kings iv. 13.) however, as well he, 
 as his posterity, and their cities, instead of being 
 reckoned to the family of Judah, as they ought to 
 have been, by their paternal descent from Hezron, 
 are reckoned as sons of Machir, the father of Gilead. 
 Nay, more, it appears, (Numbers xxxii. 41.) tJiat this 
 very Jair, who was, in fact, the son of Segub, the 
 son of Hezron, the son of Judah, is expressly called 
 " Jair, the sou of Manasseh," because his maternal 
 great-grandfather was Machir, the son of Manasseh ; 
 luid Jair, inheriting his property, \\'as his lineal rep- 
 resentative. So that we should never have suspected 
 hiri being other than a son of Manasseh, naturally, 
 had only the passage in Numbers been extant. — In 
 like manner, Sheshau, of the tribe of Judah, gives 
 his daughter to Jarha, an Egyptian slave ; (whom 
 he hberated, no doubt, on that occasion ;) the pos- 
 terity of this marriage, hovvever, Attai, &c. not being 
 reckoned to Jarha, as an Egyptian, but to Sheshan, 
 as an Israelite, and succeeding to his estate and sta- 
 tion in Israel, 1 Chron. ii. 31, &c. So we read, 
 that Mordocai adopted Esther, his niece ; he took her 
 to himself to he a daughter (Heb. "/<;?• a daughter") 
 This being in the time of Israel's captivity, Mordecai 
 had no lauded estate ; foi' if he had had any, he would 
 not have adopted a daughter, but a son, Esther ii. 7. 
 So the daughter of Pharaoh adopted Moses ; and he 
 li'Cis to her for a son, Exod. ii. 10. So we read, Ruth 
 iv. 17. that Naomi had a son ; a son is horn to JVaomi ; 
 \\ hijn indeed it was the son of Ruth, and only a dis- 
 tant relation, or, in fact, none at all, to Naomi, who 
 v.'as merely the wife of Eliinelech, to whom Boaz was 
 a kinsman, but not the neai-est by consanguinity. In 
 addition to these instances, we have in Scripture a 
 passiige which includes no inconsiderable difficulty 
 in regard to kindred ; but Avhich, pei'haps, is allied to 
 some of these principles. The reader will perceive 
 it at once, by compai'ing the columns. 
 
 2 Kings xxiv. 17. 
 "And the king of Ba- 
 bylon made I\Iattaniah, 
 his [Jehoiachiii^s] fath- 
 er's BROTHER, king in his 
 stead ; and changed his 
 name to Zedckiah." 
 
 1 Chron. iii. 15. 
 " And the sons of Jo- 
 siali were, the first-born 
 Johanan, the second Jc- 
 hoiakim, the third Zedc- 
 kiah," 
 
 Jeremiah i. 2, n. 
 
 " In the days of Jehoia- 
 kiin, the son of Josiah, 
 king of Judah ; unto the 
 eleventh year of Zedeld- 
 ah, the son of Josiah, king 
 of Judah." Also, chap, 
 xxxvii. 1. "And king 
 Zedekiah, the son of Jo- 
 siah, reigned." 
 
 Bij this it appears that 
 Zedekiah ivas son to Jo- 
 siah, the father of Jehoia- 
 kim ; and, consequently, 
 that he was uncle to Je- 
 hciachin. 
 
 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9, 10. 
 
 " Jehoiachiu reigned 
 three months and ten 
 days in Jerusalem, a:id 
 when the year was ex- 
 pired, khig Nebuchad- 
 nezzar sent and brought 
 him to Babylon, v.ith the 
 goodly vessels of the 
 houso of the Lord ; and 
 made Zedekiali, ins 
 BROTHER, king over Ju- 
 dah and Jerusalem." 
 
 By this it appears that 
 Zedekiah ivas son to Je- 
 hoiakim. 
 
 How is this ? Zedekiah is called, in Kings and J 
 Chronicles, " the son of Josiah ;" hi 2 Chronicles he 
 is called, " the son of Jehoiakim." ... By way of 
 answer, we may observe, that perhaps Zedekiah was 
 son, by natural issue, of Jehoiakim, whereby he was 
 grandson to Josiah ; but might not his grandfather 
 adopt him as his son ? We find Jacob doing this 
 very thing to Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of 
 Joseph; "as Reuben and Simeon they shall be 
 mine :" and they, accordingly, are always reckoned 
 among the sons of Jacob. In like manner, if Josiah 
 adopted Zedekiah, his grandson, to be his own son, 
 then would this young prince be reckoned to him ; 
 and both places of Scripture are correct ; as v.ell 
 that which calls him son of his real father, Jehoia- 
 kim, as that which calls him son of his adopted 
 father, Josiah. That this might easily be the fact, 
 appears by the dates; for Josiah was killed a?i/e A. 
 D. 006, at which time Zedekiah was eight or nine 
 years old ; he being made king ante A. D. 594, when 
 he was twenty-one. By this statement the whole 
 ditliculty, which has greatly perplexed the learned, 
 vanishes at once. [This mode of accounting for the 
 apparent discrepancy in question, rests wholly on 
 conjecture, and is quite unnecessary. We have 
 only to take the word brother in 2 Chion. xxxvi. !(•. 
 in the wider and not unusual sense of kinsman, rela- 
 tive, and the difiiculty vanishes much more easily 
 than before. Thus in Gen. xiv. IG, Abraham is 
 said to have " brought back his brother Lot," although 
 Lot was really his nephew. In the same manner iu 
 Gen. xxix. 12, 15, Jacob is said to be the brother of 
 Laban, his uncle. R. 
 
 It should seem, then, that in any of the instances 
 above quoted, the party might be described, very 
 justly, yet very contradictorily : — as thus. 
 
 Jair ^vas son of Manasseh .... but, 
 
 Jair was begotten by Judah. 
 
 Attai was sou of Sheshan .... but, 
 
 Attai was begotten by Jarha. 
 
 Esther was daughter of Mordecai . but, 
 
 Esther was begotten by Abihail. 
 
 Moses was son of Pharaoh's daughter but, 
 
 Moses was begotten by Amram. 
 
 Obed was sou of Naomi .... but, 
 
 Obed was the child of Ruth. 
 
 This kind of double pai'entage would be very per- 
 plexmg to us, as we have no custom analogous to it ; 
 and possibly it might be somewhat intricate where it 
 was practised ; hoAvevcr, it occurs elsew here, beside 
 in Scripture. — We have a singularly strikhig insjancc 
 of it in a Palinyrenc inscription, copied by Mr. 
 Wood, &c. who remarks, that it is much more diffi- 
 cult to understand than to translate : " This," says 
 he, "will appear by rendering it literally, which is 
 easiest done into liatin," thus : 
 
 " Scnatus populusque Jllialamencr,i, Pani flium, 
 Mocimi nepotcm, JEranis pronepotcm, JMathcs abnepo- 
 tcm; ct JEranem patrem ejus, vtros pios ct patricB ami- 
 cos, ct omnimodi placentes pafri/E patriisque diis, hono- 
 ris gratia : JJnno 450, mcnse „^prili." 
 
 "Our difficulty is, that .Eranes is called the 
 FATHER of Alialamenes [whereas Alialamenes is him- 
 self called] the son of Panus." Wood's account of 
 Palmyra. 
 
 The sense of this inscription may be thus ren- 
 dei'ed : 
 
 " Erected by the senate and the people to A liala- 
 menes, the son of Panus, grandson of Mocimus, 
 great-grandson of /Eranes, gi-eat-great-grandsou of
 
 ADOPTION 
 
 [22] 
 
 ADOPTION 
 
 Matlieus ; and to yEraues, hia (that is, Alialainenes's) 
 father ; pious men, and friends to their countrjV' ^c- 
 
 Now, this is precisely the case of Joseph, the sup- 
 posed father of Jesus ; — of whom Mattliew says, 
 " Jacob begat Joseph ;" but Luke calls Joseph " the 
 son of Heli ;" — unless, as is more probable, Matthew 
 gives the genealogy^ of Joseph, and Luke that of 
 Maiy. This contradiction in the inscription is so 
 very glaring, that we ai-e persuaded it is no contra- 
 cUction at all, but must be explained on principles not 
 yet acknowledged by us ; for no man could possiblj^, 
 under direction of the senate and people, in a public 
 monumental inscription, and in the compass of a few 
 short lines, call Alialamenes the son of Panus, and 
 call .Cranes the father of Jllialamenes, without per- 
 ceiving the gross error in which he involved as well 
 himself as his countrj', the senate and people his em- 
 ployers, and ALL his readers ! 
 
 Tliis descent struck Dr. Halifax so much, who 
 copied the same inscription, (Phil. Trans. No. ccxvii. 
 p. 83.) that he observes upon it, " This custom of 
 theirs, of running up their genealogies or pedigrees 
 to the 4th or 5th generation, shows them to have 
 borrowed some of their fashions from their neigh- 
 bors the Jews, with whom it is not unhkely they had 
 of old gi-eat commerce ; and perhaps many of them 
 were descended from that people, Zenobia herself 
 being said to have been a Jewess ; or else this must 
 have been the manner of all the Eastern nations." 
 — The reader will recollect that Palmyra is usually 
 thought to be the "Tadmor " of Solomon, (1 Kings 
 xix. 19 ; 2 Chron. viii. 6.) which is its present name. 
 
 "The date is that of the Greeks, from the death 
 of Alexander the Great ; as the Syrians generally 
 date ; the vei^ Christians, at this day, following the 
 same usage. It is 450, or A. D. 120." So that it is 
 near enough to the age of Joseph and Mary. But it 
 is generally thought the date is from the era of the 
 Seleucidee, some years later, that is, beginning ante 
 A. D. 312. 
 
 We think this yields a fair argument, and worthy 
 the consideration of the learned among the Jews, 
 who have objected to the genealogies in the evan- 
 gelists. 
 
 We learn from various writers that the custom of 
 adoption is frequent in the East. Lady Wortley 
 Montaguf says, (Letter xlii.)"Now I am speaking 
 of their law, I do not know whether I have ever 
 mentioned to you one custom peculiar to their 
 countr}', I mean Adoptio.v, very common aviong the 
 Turks, and yet more among the Greeks and Armenians. 
 Not having it in their power to give their estate to a 
 friend, or distant relation, to avoid its falling into the 
 grand seignor's treasury, when they arc not likely to 
 have any chilcheu of their o^\^l, they choose some 
 pretty child of eith<r sex, amongst the meanest 
 
 people, AND CARRY THK CHILD AND ITS PARENTS BE- 
 FORE THE CADI, and there declare they receive it for 
 their heir. The ])arents at the same time renounce 
 all future claim to it ; a writing is drawn and ivit- 
 ncssed, and a child thus adopted cannot be disin- 
 herited. Yet I have seen some common beggars 
 that have refused to part with thfir children in this 
 manner to some of the richest among the Greeks; 
 (so powerful is the instinctive affectiou that is natural 
 to parents ;) though the adf>pting fatiiers are geneially 
 very tender to tliose children of their souls, as they 
 call them. I own tliis custom |)l('ases me much 
 better than our absurd one of following our name. 
 Methinks it is much more reasonable to make happy 
 and rich an infant whom I educate after mv own 
 
 manner, brought up (in the Turkish phrase) upon my 
 knees, and who has learned to look upon me with a 
 filial respect, than to give an estate to a creature 
 without merit or relation to me, other than that of a 
 few letters. Yet this is an absurdity we see frequently 
 practised." 
 
 W^e request the reader to note, in this extract, the 
 phrase " brought up upon the parents^ knees." Will 
 this give a detei-minate sense to the awkward ex- 
 pression (in our version, at least) of Rachel, "My 
 maid Bilhah shall bear upon my knees T^ what can we 
 understand by this phrase ? but may we take it — 
 "shall bear (children) for my knees," that is, to be 
 nursed by me, to be reared by me as if I were their 
 natural mother — " an infant whom I educate after 
 my own manner," as Lady Montague explains it. 
 This seems a proper rendering of the passage. We 
 think also the ])hrase (Gen. 1. 23.) "the children of 
 Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up on 
 Joseph's knees," expresses a greater degree of fond- 
 ness now than it has done before ; — was not this 
 something like an adoption ? does it not imply Jo- 
 seph's partiality for Manasseh ? which is perfectly 
 consistent with his behavior to the dying Jacob, 
 (Gen. xlviii. 18.) when he wished his "father to put 
 his right hand on the head of Manasseh, the eldest — 
 to whom, and to whose jiosterity, he still maintains 
 his warmest affection, notwithstanding the prophetic 
 notice of Ephraim's future precedence given him by 
 the venerable patriarch. 
 
 Among the Mahommedans, the ceremony of adop- 
 tion is sometimes performed by causing the adojjted 
 to pass through the shirt of the person who adopts 
 him. Hence, to adopt is among the Turks expressed 
 by saying — " to draw any one through one's shirt ;" 
 and they call an adopted sou, Akietogli, the son of 
 another life — because he was not begotten in this. 
 (D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, p. 47.) Something like 
 this is observable among the Hebrews : Elijah udojjts 
 Elisha by throwing his mantle over him, (1 Kings 
 xix. 19.) and when Elijah was carried off" in a fiery 
 chariot, his mantle, which he let fall, was taken up 
 by Elisha his disci|)le, his spiritual son, and adoj)ted 
 successor in the office of prophet, 2 Kings ii. 15. It 
 should be remarked also, that Elisha asks not merely 
 to be adopted, (for that he had been already,) but to 
 be treated as the elder sou, to have a double portion 
 (the elder son's prerogative) of the spirit conferred 
 upon him. 
 
 There is another method of ratifying the act of 
 adoption, however, which is worthy of notice, as it 
 tends to illustrate some ])assages in the sacred writ- 
 ings. The following is from Pitts : — " I Avas bought 
 by an old bachelor; I wanted nothing with him; 
 meat, drink, and clothes, and money, I had enough. 
 After I had lived with him about a year, he made 
 his pilgrimage to Mecca, and <-arried me with him; 
 but l)ef()re we came to Alexanchia, he was taken 
 sick, and thinking verily he should die, having a 
 woven girdle about his middle, under his sash, 
 (which they usually wear,) in which was much gold, 
 and also my letter of freedom, (which he intended 
 to give me, when at Mecca,) he took it off, and 
 bid me put it on about me, and took my girdle, 
 and put it on himself My patron would speak, on 
 occasion, in my behalf, saying. My son will never run 
 away. He seldom called me any thing but *07i, and 
 bought a Dutch boy to do the work of the house, 
 who attended upon me, and oljeyed my orders as 
 much as his. I otU'ii saw several bags of his money, 
 a great part of wliich he said he would leave me.
 
 ADR 
 
 [23] 
 
 ADR 
 
 He would say to me, ' Thxtugh I was never married 
 myself, yet you shall be [married] in a little time, and 
 then YOUR children shall be mine.'" Travels to 
 Mecca, p. 225. 
 
 This circumstance seems to illustrate the conduct 
 of Moses, who clothed Eleazar in Aaron's sacred 
 vestments, when that high-priest was about to be 
 gathered to his fathers ; indicating thereby, that Ele- 
 azar succeeded in the functions of the priesthood, 
 and was, as it were, adopted to exercise that dignity. 
 The Lord told Shebna, captain of the temple, that 
 he would deprive him of his honorable station, and 
 substitute Eliakim, son of Hilkiah: (Isaiah xxii. 21.) 
 ^^ I will clothe him with thy robe, saith the Lord, and 
 strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit 
 thy government into his hand." And Paul in seve- 
 ral places says, that Christians — ^^put on the Lord 
 Jesus; that thej put on the neiv »ia?i," to denote then' 
 adoption as sons of God, Rom. xiii. 14; Gal. iii. 27; 
 Ephes. iv. 24 ; Col. iii. 10. The saiue, John i. 12 ; I 
 Epist. John iii. 2. (See Son.) When Jonathan 
 made a covenant with David, he stripped himself of 
 his girdle and his robe, and put them upon his friend, 
 1 Sam. xviii. 3. 
 
 By the propitiation of our Saviour, and the com- 
 munication of his merit, sinners become adopted 
 children of God. Thus Paul writes, "Ye have re- 
 ceived the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, 
 Father." Rom. viii. 15. — "We wait for the adoption 
 of the children of God." And, " God sent forth his 
 Son to redeem them that were under the law, that 
 we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. iv. 
 4,5. 
 
 ADORAIM, a city in the southern part of the 
 tribe of Judah, fortified by Rehoboam, 2 Chron. xi. 
 9. In the time of Josephus, it belonged to the Idii- 
 ineans. Ant. viii. 3; xiii. 17. Compare 1 Mace, 
 xiii. 20. R. 
 
 ADORAM, see Adoniram. 
 
 ADRA, see Arad. 
 
 I. ADRAMMELECH, magnificent king, son of 
 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, (Isaiah xxx^^i. 38 ; 2 
 Kings xix. 37.) who, upon returning to Nineveh, 
 after his fatal expedition into Judea, against Heze- 
 kiah, was killed by his two sons, Adrammelecli and 
 Sharezer, who fled to the mountains of Armenia, 
 A. M. 3291, ante A. D. 713. 
 
 II. ADRAMMELECH, one of the gods adored 
 by the inhabitants of Sepliarvaim, who settled in 
 Samaria, in the stead of those Israelites who were 
 carried beyond the Euphrates. They made their 
 children pass through fire in honor of this false 
 deity, and of another called Anammelech, 2 Kings 
 xvii. 31. The Rabbins say, that Adrammelecli was 
 represented under the form of a mule. The more 
 general opinion is, that Adrammelecli represented 
 the sun, and Anammelech the moon. At any rate, 
 they seem to be the personifications of some of the 
 heavenly bodies. See Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 29, 
 Comm. lib. Jes. iv. p. 347. 
 
 ADRAMYTTIUM, a maritime town of Mysia, in 
 Asia Minor, opposite to the island of Lesbos, (Acts 
 xxvii. 2.) and an Athenian colony. It is now called 
 Adramyti. From some of the medals struck in this 
 town, it appears that it celebrated the worship of 
 Castor and Pollux, (Acts xxviii. 11.) as also that of 
 Jupiter and Minerva. 
 
 ADRIA, an ancient city of Italy, on the Tartaro, 
 in the state of Venice. It gave name to the Adri- 
 atic sea, or the sea of Adria, Acts xxvii. 27. 
 
 It appears from the narrative of Paul's voyage, 
 
 just referred to, that, ahhough the name of Adria be- 
 longed in a proper sense only to the sea withui the 
 Adriatic gulf, it was given in a looser manner to a 
 larger extent, including the Sicilian and Ionian sea. 
 Thus also Ptolemy says, (lib. iii. cap. 4.) that Sicily 
 was bounded east by the Adriatic, and (cap. 16.) that 
 Crete was washed on the west by the Adriatic sea ; 
 and Strabo says, (lib. vii.) that the Ionian gulf is a 
 part of that which in his time was called the Adri- 
 atic sea. 
 
 ADRIAN, the fifteenth emperor of Rome. This 
 prince is not mentioned in the New Testament, but 
 some interpreters are of opinion that he is alluded 
 to in Rev. viii. 10. 11. where Barchochebas, the fa- 
 mous Jewish impostor, is thought to be foretold, [but 
 without sufficient grounds. R.] The Jews having 
 created several disturbances in the reign of Trajan, 
 Adrian sent a colony to Jerusalem, for the purpose 
 of keeping them in subjection, and also built within 
 the walls of the city a temple to Jupiter. Not en- 
 during that a strange colony should occupy their 
 city, and introduce a foreign religion, the JeAvs be- 
 gan to mutiny, about A. D. 134, and Barchochebas, 
 who about the same time made his appearance under 
 the assumed character of the Messias, animated 
 them in their rebellion against the Romans. The 
 presence of Adrian, who was at this time in Syria 
 or Egj^pt, restrained in some measure their proceed- 
 ings, but after his return to Rome, they fortified 
 several places, and prepared for a vigorous resist- 
 ance. Their proceedings, and the great increase in 
 the numbers of the seditious, induced Adrian to 
 send Tinnius Rufus into Judea. The Roman gene- 
 ral marched against them, and a di'eadful slaughter 
 ensued. The Jews fought desperately, and Rufus 
 having been defeated in several conflicts, Adrian 
 sent to his assistance Julius Severus, one of the 
 gi-eatest generals of his age. Severus besieged Be- 
 ther or Bethoron, where the Jews had entrenched 
 themselves, which he at length took, and put many 
 to the sword. Others were sold as cattle, at the fairs 
 of Mamre and Gaza ; and the rest were sent into 
 Egypt, being forbidden, imder a severe penalty, to 
 return to their own city. Jerome (in Zach. xi. 7.) 
 applies to this calamity of the Jews the words of 
 Zachariah: "I will feed the flock of slaughter." 
 And the Hebrew doctors apply Jer. xxxi. 15 : "A 
 voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter 
 weeping; Rachel weeping for her children," &c. 
 The JeAvs purchased with a sum of money the lib- 
 erty, not of entering Jerusalem, but only of looking 
 from a distance on it, and going to lament its fall and 
 desolation. See ^lias. 
 
 The number of Roman soldiers and auxiliary 
 troops that perished in the course of this war, which 
 lasted, as Jerome and the Rabbins say, three years 
 and a half, (Hieronym. in Dan. ix. Basnage Hist, des 
 Juifs, tom. ii. page 133.) or, as others suppose, only 
 two years, was very great. Dio remarks, that the 
 emperor, in Avriting of the termination of the war to 
 the senate, did not use the common fonii in the be- 
 giiming of his letters, "If you and your children aro 
 in good health, I am glad of it ; I and the army are 
 in good condition ;" in consequence of the great 
 losses he had sustained. Dio. lib, 69. page 794. 
 
 After this revolt, Adrian finished the building of 
 Jerusalem, and changed its name to ^lia, Avhich 
 see. 
 
 ADRIEL, son of Barzillai, married Merab, daugh- 
 ter of Saul, who had been promised to David, 1 
 Sam. XA'iii. 19. Adriel had five sons by her, who
 
 ADULTERY 
 
 [24 ] 
 
 ADULTERY 
 
 were delivered to the Gibeonites to be put to death 
 before the Lord, to avenge the cruelty of Saul, their 
 grandfather, against the Gibeonites. 2 Sam. xxi. 8 
 imports, that these five were sons of ^Vichal and 
 Adriel ; but either the name of 3Iichal is put for 
 Merab, sister of Michal, or, more probably, Michal 
 had adopted the sons of her sister Merab, who was 
 either dead, or incapable, fiom some cause, of bring- 
 ing up her children. Perhaps, too, both sisters may 
 have borne the name of Miolial. 
 
 ADULLAM, a city in the valley or plain of Juilah, 
 the king of which was killed l)y Joshua, Josii.xii. 15. 
 XV. 35. Eusebius, mistaking it for Eglozi, places it 
 ten miles east of Eleuthorojiolis ; Jerome, eleven. 
 Rehoboam rebuilt and fortified it, [2 Chron. xi. 7.) 
 and Judas Maccabreus encamped in the adjacent 
 plain, 2 ]Mac. xii. 38. When David withdrew from 
 Achish, king of Gath, he retired to the caveof Adul- 
 lum, 1 Sam. xxii. 1 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 13. 
 
 ADULTERY is a criminal connection between 
 persons who ai-e engaged to keep themselves wholly 
 to othei-s ; and in this it differs from, and exceeds the 
 guilt of, fornication, which is the same intercoui-se 
 between unmarried persons. Fornication maj' l)e, 
 ill some sense, covered by a subsequent marriage of 
 the parties ;• but adultery cannot be so healed ; and 
 hence it is used i)y God to signify the dejiarting of 
 his OA^ai people (that is, of those who Avere under en- 
 gagements to him) from his worship to that of other 
 gods, to associate with strangers. — Hence God com- 
 pares himself to a liusband jealous of his honor ; 
 and hence the adoption of vile opinions and practices 
 is compared to the worst kind of prostitution. It is 
 an argument ad hom{7icm, not merely to the Jews, 
 but to human nature at large, against the flagitious 
 wickedness of forsaking God and his worship for 
 false gods. 
 
 By the law of Moses, adultery was punished with 
 death, lx)th in the man and the woman who were 
 guilty of it, (Lev. xx. 10.) and a most extraordinary 
 ordeal was prescrilied for the trial of a woman whose 
 husband suspected her of this crime. After having 
 been duly admonished in private, to induce her to 
 confess her infidelity, she was brought before the 
 Sanhedrim Jit Jerusalem, where various expedients, 
 of a very solemn and imposing nature, were resorted 
 to for the .same puqiose. If she still maintained her 
 innocence of the charge, and lier husband continued 
 to press it, she was then compelled to drink the wa- 
 ters of jealousy, as yjrescribcd in Numb. v. 14, seq. 
 
 This mode of trial or proof, wiiich is described by 
 .Closes in so exact and circumstantial a manner, is 
 one of the most cxtraordinarj' things that can be 
 imagined, and could not iie,.j)ractised without a con- 
 stant and perpetual miracle. It cannot be doubted, 
 but that the wiser men of the nation must have dis- 
 approved of it, and that Moses allowed it to the Jews 
 only liccause of the hardness of their iiearts ; having 
 jM-obably been used to see such kinds of trials among 
 the Egyptians, or other nations, and fearing m orse, 
 or greater Aiolence, if this had not been permitted. 
 
 It is well known that the Eastern people have long 
 had a custom of making those undergo several kinds 
 of trial, whom they suspected of crimes, the discov- 
 ery of which could not be effected in the usual wav. 
 The most conmion of these juoofs are those by red- 
 hot iron, and by boiling water. They are veiy fre- 
 quent at this time in China. When a man is accused 
 of a capital crime, he is asked whether lie is willing 
 to undergo either of these trials. If he submit, they 
 put upon his hand seven leaves from a certain tree, 
 
 and upon those leaves they clap a red-hot iron. Ho 
 holds it there for a certain time, and then throws it 
 on the ground. They immediately piU his hand into 
 a leather ])ouch, which they seal with the seal of the 
 magistrate. At the end of three days, if the hand is 
 found to be sound and well, he is declared innocent, 
 and his accuser is condemned to pay a mark of gold 
 to the use of the prince. The trial by v.ater is per- 
 formed by throwing a ring into a kettle of boihng 
 water: if the person accused can take it out from 
 thence with his hand, mthout sufl^ering any harm, 
 he is pronounced innocent. ("A Voyage to China, 
 in the Ninth Age," page 37. notes, page 159. Comp. 
 Asiat. Research, vol. iv.) This way of proof was 
 not unknown to Sopliocles, (Antigon. vcr. 274.) and 
 it was long used among Christians in Europe, (Du- 
 cange. Lexic. I'^errum candens ; Juret. in Not. ad 
 Yvon. Carimt ; Baluz. in Not. ad Capitular.) who 
 even pretended to make it pass for a harmless and a 
 religious rite ; and Ave find masses and prayers said 
 on these occasions. The CalTres oblige those who 
 are suspectedof any capital crime to swallow poison, 
 to hck a hot iron, or to drink boiling water in which 
 certain bitter herbs have been infused. The negroes 
 of Loango and of Giunea, the Siamese and other In- 
 dians, have the same superstition, and are thoroughly 
 persuaded that these trials do no harm to any who 
 are innocent. IVIr. Hastings, in his account of the 
 ordeal trials of the Hindoos, states the trial by tlie 
 cosha to be as folioAvs ; — " Tlie accused is made to 
 drink three draughts of the water, in which the im- 
 ages of the sun, of Devi, and other deities, have been 
 washed for that purpose ; and if, within fourteen 
 days, he has any sickness, or indisposition, his crime 
 is considered as proved." vVsiatic Researches, vol. 
 i. p. 79. 
 
 The precise import of this ceremony can be only 
 matter of conjecture. It seems to have contained 
 the essence of an oath, varied for the purpose of pe- 
 culiar solemnity ; so that a woman would naturally 
 hesitate to comply with such a form, understood to 
 be an appeal to Heaven of the most solemn kind, 
 and to be accompanied, in case of perjuiy, by most 
 painfid and fatal effects. From Mungo Park, we 
 learn that a similar ordeal still obtains in Africa, as 
 the following passages from his journal serve to 
 show. 
 
 " At Paniserile, one of our slatecs (slave merchants) 
 returning to his native toAAii, as soon as he had seated 
 himself on a mat, by the threshold of his door, a 
 young woman (his intended bride) brought a little 
 water in a calabash, and kneeling down before him, 
 desired him to wash his hands; wlien lie had done 
 this, the girl, with a tear of joy sparkling in her eyes, 
 drank the v/ater ; this being considered as the great- 
 est proof she could possibly give him of her fidelity 
 and attachment." Travels, ji. 347. This action of 
 the woman Ave understand to be a kitid of oath ; </. d. 
 "May this Avater prove poison to me if I ImA'e been 
 unfaithful to my al)sent husband." Tliis th<' innocent 
 might drink "with a tear of joy," Avhile a guilty 
 AA'oman Avould probably have avoided such a trial 
 Avith the utmost snlicitude. Another instance is still 
 more ajiplicable. "At Koolkorro, my landlord 
 brought out liis Avriting-board, or Avalha, that I might 
 Avrite hini a saphie, to protect him from Avicked men. 
 I Avrote the board full, from top to bottom, on both 
 sides; and my landlord, to l)e certain of having the 
 whole force of the charm, Avashed the writing from 
 the board into a calabash, Avith a little Avater, and 
 having said a fcAV prayers OA'er it, drank this power-
 
 ADULTERY 
 
 [25 ] 
 
 JELl 
 
 ful draught ; after which, lest a single word should 
 escape, he hcked the board until it was quite dry." 
 (Page 23G.) Here we find the sentiments expressed 
 in writing supposed to be communicated to water ; 
 and that water, being drank, is supposed to commu- 
 nicate the effect of those sentiments to him who 
 drank it. This drinking, then, is a symbolical action. 
 In like manner, we suppose, when the priest of Is- 
 rael wrote the curses in a sepher, (book, roll,) and 
 washed those curses into tlie water that was to be 
 drank, the water was understood to be hnpregnated, 
 as it were — to be tinctured with the curse, the acri- 
 mony of which it received ; so that now it was met- 
 aphorically bitter, containing the curse in it. The 
 drinking of this curse, though conditionally effective 
 or non-efiective, could not but have a great effect on 
 the woman's mind ; and an answerable effect on tlie 
 huslmnd's jealousy ; which it was designed to cure 
 and to dissipate. 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that if a husband loved his 
 wife too well to part Avith her on suspicion, or if a 
 woman loved her husband so well as to risk this ex- 
 posure, to satisfy him, then the rite might take place ; 
 l)ut if either did not choose to hazard this experi- 
 uient, the way of divorce was open, was much 
 easier, much less hazardous, more private, more 
 honorable, and perhaps more satisfactory. 
 
 Michaelis has well remarked, on this ceremony, 
 that to have given so accurate a definition of the 
 punishment that God intended to inflict, and still 
 more. One that consisted of such a rare disease, 
 would have been a step of incomprehensible bold- 
 ness in a legislator, who pretended to have a divine 
 mission, if he was not, with the most assured con- 
 viction, conscious of its reahty. If in any case the 
 oath of j)urgation had been taken, and the accused 
 remained unaffected by the punishment, and yet 
 af\envards had been legally convicted of the crime, all 
 the world would have noticed the fraud of the pre- 
 tended prophet, and looked upon his religion and 
 laws as mere falsehood. Even the adulteress her- 
 self, who at first trembled at taking such an oath, 
 would, in the event of not exjieriencing the threat- 
 ened punishment, soon look upon religion as an im- 
 posture, and, in process of time, become impudent 
 enough to avow her crimes publicly, and to state par- 
 ticulars, merely with a view to prostitute religion, 
 and bring it into disgrace. At any rate, she would 
 be very apt, in private, with her paramours, to make 
 merry at the expense of Moses, and his divine laws, 
 and thus a contempt of religion woidd spread more 
 and more widely every day. 
 
 The Jews, having surprised a woman in adulter}', 
 brought her to our Saviour, (John viii. 3.) and asked 
 him what they should do Avith her, Moses having 
 ordered women guilty of this crime to be stoned. 
 This they said, tempting him, to find accusation 
 against him. Jesus, stooping down, as thougli he 
 heard them not, Avi-ote with his finger on the gi-ound, 
 and then, somewhat raising himself, he said, " Let 
 him who is without sin cast the first stone ;" and, 
 stooping again, resumed his writing on the ground, 
 seeming to take no notice of those around him, but 
 leaving them to the operations of their own reflec- 
 tions and consciences. Her accusers, self-convicted, 
 retired one afler another, beginning with the eldest. 
 Jesus, raising himself up, and seeing himself left 
 alone with the woman, said, " Woman, where are 
 thy accusers ? Has no one condemned thee?" She 
 said, " No, Lord." Jesus answered her, " Neither 
 do I (now) condemn thee ; go, and sin no more." 
 4 
 
 From this narrative, many have supposed, that the 
 woman's accusers were themselves guilty of the 
 crime which they alleged against her ; and as it was 
 not just to receive the accusations of those who are 
 guilty of the evil of which they accuse others, our 
 Lord dismissed them with the most obvious propri- 
 ety. But it seems enough to suppose, that the con- 
 sciences of these witnesses accused them of such 
 crimes as restrained their hands from punishing the 
 adulteress, who, perhaps, was guilty, in this instance, 
 of a less enormous sin than they were conscious of, 
 though of another kind. It may be, too, that their 
 malevolent design to entrap our Lord, was appealed 
 to by him, and was no slight cause of their confu- 
 sion, if they wished to found a charge which might 
 affect his hfe. Their intended murder was worse 
 than the woman's adultery ; especially if, as there is 
 reason to believe, the woman had suffered some 
 violence. 
 
 Selden and Fagius consider this case as that sup- 
 posed by Moses in Deut. xxii. 23 : " If a damsel, a 
 virgin, be betrothed to a husband, and a man find 
 her in the city, and he with her, then ye shall bring 
 them both unto the gate of that city, and ye shafi 
 stone them with stones that they die ; the damsel, 
 because she cried not, being in the city, and the man, 
 because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife." 
 
 The genuineness of this narrative has been much 
 disputed, in consequence of its having been omitted 
 in many ancient MSS., and being much varied, in its 
 position, in others. The arguments in its favor, 
 however, are generally admitted to prep^derate. It 
 is found in the greater part of the MSS. extant, of all 
 the recensions or families ; and Tatian and Ammo- 
 nius (A. D. 172, and 220) inserted it in their Harmo- 
 nies. The author of the Apostolical Constitutions, 
 (lib. ii. cap. 24.) and the Synopsis ascribed to Atha- 
 nasius, have it. Jerome, Justin, Ambrose, and the 
 Latin fathers received it, though they were not un- 
 acquainted with the differences among the Greek 
 copies. Justin conjectures, that some Christian of 
 weak judgment expunged it, lest our Saviour should 
 be thought to authorize the crime of adultery by for- 
 giving it so easily. Many Syriac manuscripts, of 
 good antiquity, read it ; and it is found in all printed 
 copies, Greek and Latin. Griesbach and Knanp 
 print the passage between [ ] as dubious ; yet, on the 
 whole, admit it. For a review of all the arguments 
 on both sides, see Kuinoel, Comm. in loc. 
 
 ADUMMIM, a town and mountain on the border 
 of Judah and Benjamin, (Josh. xv. 7. xviii. 17.) west 
 of Jericho. 
 
 ADVOCATE, TTaoctyJ.t^-ioc, signifies one who ex- 
 horts, defends, comforts ; also one who prays or in- 
 tercedes for another. It is an appellation given to 
 the Holy Spirit by our Saviour, (John xiv. 16 ; xv. 
 26 ; XA'i. 7.) and to our Saviour himself, by John, 
 1 Epist. ii. 1. See Paraclete. 
 
 iELIA CAPITOLINA, the name given to Jeru- 
 salem, when the emperor Adrian, (whose family 
 name was ^Elius,) about A. D. 134, settled a Roman 
 colony there, and banished the Jews, prohibiting 
 their return upon pain of death. We are assured, 
 that Tinnius Rufus, or, as the Rabbins call him, 
 Turannus, or Tumus Rufus, ploughed up the spot 
 of ground on which the temple had stood. There 
 are medals of Adrian extant, struck upon this occa- 
 sion ; on the reverse of which Judea is represented 
 as a woman, holding two naked children by her, 
 and sacrificing upon an altar. On another medal, 
 we see Judea kneeling, submitting to the emperor.
 
 ^RA 
 
 [26] 
 
 AFR 
 
 and three children begging mercy of him. Jerome 
 states, tliat in his lime, the Jews bougln from the Ro- 
 man soldiers permission to look on Jerusalem, and to 
 shed tears over it. (Paulin. ad Sever. Ep. 11.) Old 
 men and women, loaded with rags, were seen to go 
 weeping u}) the mount of Olives, (see I\Iark xiii. 3.) 
 to lament trom thence the ruin of the temple. 
 
 The city was consecrated by Adrian to Jupiter 
 Capitolinus, after whom it was named Capitoliua, 
 and a tcm})le was built to him on the spot where 
 Jesus rose from the dead. A statue of Venus was 
 also set up on Calvary, a marble hog was placed on 
 the gate kading toward Bcthlehenj, and at this place 
 a grove was planted in honor of Adonis, to whom 
 was dedicated the cave iii which our Lord was sup- 
 posed to have been born. (Hieron. ad PauHn. Ep. 
 13.) Notwithstanding these degradations, ll0^vever, 
 the places consecrated by the birth, death, and res- 
 urrection of Jesus, continued to be held in repute, 
 and were, in fact, identified by the very means em- 
 ployed to destroy their locality, and jjut out their 
 remembrance. See Calvary, and SEPULcniiE of 
 Christ. 
 
 It a))pears that Adrian's order for expelling the 
 Jews ii-om Jerusalem did not extend to the Chris- 
 tians. These remained in the cit}', and the chin-ch, 
 which had been previously composed chiefly of con- 
 verted Je^^•s, who had connected many of the legal 
 ceremonies Avith the Christian worship, was now 
 formed exclusively of Gentile converts, who abol- 
 ished the Jewish observances. 
 
 From this ])eriod the name yElia became so com- 
 mon, that Jerusalem was preserved only among the 
 Jews, and better informed Christians. In the time 
 of Constantine, however, it resumed its ancient 
 name, which it has retained to the presoit day. 
 
 ^1{A is nearly the same thing with epocha, a 
 point of time which chronologcrs call a fixed point, 
 or chronological rera. So the first Olympiad, the 
 foundation of Rome, the vera of Nabonassar, of Al- 
 exander the Great, of the Seleucidre, (or, in the lan- 
 gtiagc of the books of Maccabees, the year of the 
 Greeks,) and the year of Jesus Christ, or Anno 
 Domini, are all teras. 
 
 The JEr\o{ the first Olympiad is fixed A. M. 3228, 
 before Jesus Christ 776. — (2.) The ^ra o? the foun- 
 dation of Rome, A. M. 32.j;j, before A. D. 751.— (3.) 
 The /Era of^Vabonussar, A. M. 3257, before A. D. 747. 
 — (4.) The /Era of Jllcxandcr the Creed, or his last vic- 
 torv over Darius, A. 31. 3G74, before A.D. 330. — (5.) 
 The JERAortluiSeleucida-, A. M. 3602, before A. D. 
 312. The Jews call this a?ra the .'Em of Contraets, 
 because, Avhen subjected to the government of the 
 Syro-i\Taccdonian kings, they were obliged to insert 
 it in the dates of their contracts and other civil 
 writings. The first book of the ]\Iaccabees places 
 the bcgiimiiig of it in sjjring, the second j)laecs it in 
 autunui. Ill the Maccabees, it is called "the TEra 
 of th(! kingdom of the (jreeks." All other nations 
 that comi)Uted by this rcrn, began it from the au- 
 tunni of th(! year Ixrfbre Ciirist :>12, but the Chal- 
 deans began it from tin- spring fi>l!owing, because, till 
 then, they did not think Scleucus thoroughly settled 
 in the possession of Babylon. — ((>.) The ^ra of the 
 birth of Jesus Christ, A. M. 4000, three years at 
 east before oiu- vidgar jera, in which we' reckon 
 t'le year 1832; whereas, if we take exactly the a'ra 
 (four Saviour's l)irth, we should reckon it 1831;, or at 
 least 1835. S(;e Epocha, also the Chrnn(,lo<j;ical Table. 
 On this subject there arc great difliculties to obtain 
 precision ; but we generally add three years to A. D. 
 
 AFFINITY. There were several degrees of 
 affinity among the Hebrews, which were considered 
 as obstructions to matrimony. (1.) A son coidd not 
 marry his mother, nor his fiather's second wife ; (2.) 
 a brother could not marry his sister, v.iiethcr by the 
 father only, or by the mother only, much less his 
 sister by both sides; (3.) a grandfather could not 
 marry his granddaughter, cither by his son cr b}' his 
 daughter ; (4.) no one could marry the daughter of 
 his father's wife ; (5.) nor th.e sister of his father cr 
 mother; (6.) nor the uncle his niece, nor the aiujt 
 her nephew ; (7.) nor the nephew tlie wife of his 
 uncle by the father's side ; (S.) a fatlier-in-lav/ could 
 not niarry his daughter-in-law ; (9.) ncr a brother 
 the Avife of his brothc r, Avhilc living, nor after the 
 death of that brother, if he left children; if he leil; 
 no children, the surviving brotiicr w^s to raise up 
 children to his deceased brother, by marrying his, 
 widow; (10.) it Avas forbidden to marry a mother 
 and her daughter at one time, or the daughter of the 
 mother's son, or the daughter of her daughter, or 
 two sisters together. Lev. xviii. 7 — 18. 
 
 The patriarchs, before the law, sometimes mar- 
 ried their half-sisters, as Abraham married Sarah, 
 his father's daughter by another mother ; or two sis- 
 ters together, as Jacob married Rachel and Leah. But 
 these cases are not to be considered as examples, be- 
 cause they Avcre authorized by necessity, or custom, 
 and the law did not then ])rohit»it them. Since the 
 giving of the law, however. Scripture expressly disap- 
 proves of matrimonial connections among such inti- 
 mate relations ; as may be seen in the case of Reuben 
 and Bilhah, his father's concubine ; Herod Antijms 
 and Herodias his sister-in-law ; and that which Paul 
 reproves and punishes among the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 
 v. 1. See Marriage. 
 
 AFRICA, one of the four principal diAisions of 
 the globe, and the third in magnitude. The oi-igin 
 of its name is uncertain. Bochart derives it from 
 the Punic Avord nns signifying an ear of corn, Avith 
 a su])posed reference to the fertility of the countrj^ ; 
 Josephus ti-aces it to Ophir, the grandson of Abra- 
 ham ; Calmet thinks it is derived from the Heb. ncN 
 ashes, many parts of the country being mere Avastf s 
 of sand ; Taylor prefers to derive it from ,i-\o to 
 b)-eak off, or void asunder, Avhich certainly describes 
 the African peninsula accurately enough, it being 
 really brok( n off, as it AA'crc, from Asia, by the Red 
 sea, and united to the great continent only at the 
 isthmus of Suez. Of these deriA\ations, hoAVCAer, the 
 first is the most j)lausible ; though, as already inti- 
 mated, ojien to dispute. 
 
 Africa is bounded on the north by the ISIediterra- 
 nean sea ; on the east by the Indian ocean, the Red 
 sea, and part of Asia; on the south by the Southern 
 ocean ; and on the Avest by the Atlantic. Its general 
 form is triangular, the nonhern part being the base, 
 and the southern extremity the vertex. Its length 
 may be reckoned about 70 degrees of latitude, or 
 4il!l0 miles; and itsgi-eatest breadth something more 
 than 40!I0 miles. 
 
 Africa AAas peopled jjiincipally by Ham, or his de- 
 scendants ; hfnci> it is called the "land of Ham," in 
 several of the Psalms. IMizraim peopled Egypt, 
 (Gen. X. 6, 13, 14.) and the Patlirusim, the Na|)htu- 
 liim, the Casluhim, and the Ludim, jKopled other 
 parts; but the situations they occuj>ied are not noAV 
 knoAvn distinctly. It is thought that many of the Ca- 
 naanites, when ex])elled by Josiiua, retired into Africa ; 
 and the Mahonunedans believe that the Amalekitcs, 
 who d\A'elt in ancient times in the neighborhood cf
 
 AGA 
 
 [27] 
 
 AGA 
 
 Mecca, were forced from thence by the Icings de- 
 scended from Zioram. Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. 
 See Canaanites. 
 
 The gospel is thought to have been carried to Af- 
 rica by the eunuch of Candace, whom Phihp bap- 
 tized ; and jirobably also by some of those wlio, from 
 different })arts of it, attended the feast of Pentecost, 
 Acts ii. 10. In after-limes, very flourishing churches 
 Avere situated on various points of the Mediterranean 
 chore of Africa ; but, at present, Mahommedanism, or 
 idolatry,- involves almost the whole continent, as 
 has l)een the case ever since its conquest by the 
 Siu-acens. 
 
 The necessary information relative to those places 
 in Africa, which are spoken of in Scripture, will be 
 found under their respective names, Abyssinia, Al- 
 EXA.xDRiA, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libia, Cyrene, &c. 
 
 AGABA, a fortress near Jerusalem, v/hich Gales- 
 tup, its governor, restored to Aristobulus, son of Al- 
 exander Januaeus. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. caj). 24. 
 
 AGABUS, a pro})het, and, as the Greeks suppose, 
 one of the seventy disciples of our Saviour. While 
 Paid and Barnabas were at Antioch, on their way 
 to Jerusalem, certain prophets came doAvn from 
 .f udea, among whom was Agaluis, Acts xi. 28. And 
 he stood up, and signilied by the Spirit that there 
 would be a great famine throughout ail the world, 
 or Roman empire. This famine, which Luke in- 
 forms us happened in the days of Claudius, (A. D. 
 44.) is noticed by profane historians, and Suetonius 
 (in Claudio) observes that during its continuance the 
 emperor was himself insulted in the market-place, 
 and obliged to retire to his palace. — About ten years 
 after, (A. D. 54.) as Paul was at Cesarea, on his way 
 to Jerusalem, for the last time before his imprison- 
 ment, the same Agabus came down from Jerusalem ; 
 and, having bound his own hands and feet with 
 Paul's girdle, prophesied that in like manner Paul 
 should he bound at Jerusalem by the Jews, and de- 
 livered over to the Gentiles, Acts xxi. 10, 11. 
 
 AGAG, a king of the Amalekites, a tribe that at- 
 tacked Israel in the wilderness, at their coming out 
 of Egy[)t, while sinkhig under fatigue, and njassa- 
 cred ail who were unable to keep up with the main 
 body, Exod. xvii. 8 ; Deut. xxv. 17. This name, 
 Agag, seems to have been common to the kings of 
 that people ; at least there was one of the name as 
 early as the time of Moses, Numb. xxiv. 7. — The 
 Lord was not satisfied with the victory which Joshua 
 obtained over them, but declai-ed that he would de- 
 stroy the memory of Amalek from under heaven, 
 Exod. xvii. 14. 16. About 400 years after this, Saul 
 was commanded to march against them, and to 
 "spar3 neither them, nor to desire any thing that was 
 theirs, but to slay both man and woman, infant and 
 suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." Saul, in 
 obcdiiMice to his orders, invaded the country of the 
 Amalekites, and cut to pieces all whom he met with 
 from Havilah to Shur. Agag, however, and the best 
 of the sheep and oxen, he spared, and also preserved 
 the most valuable of the spoil. This was highly dis- 
 pleasing to the Lord, and the prophet Samuel was 
 sent forAvard to Gilgal, to meet him, and rc])rovc 
 him for his disobedience. Having denounced pun- 
 ishment upon Saul, Samuel called for Agag, for the 
 purj)ose of inflicting upon him that punishment 
 which his cruelties had merited. When brought into 
 the presence of the prophet, Agag expressed his 
 hope that the bitterness of death was passed, to 
 which Samuel repUed, "As thy sword hath made 
 mothers childless, so shall thy mother be chUdless 
 
 among women." Agag was then hewed in pieces 
 before the Lord in Giigal, 1 Sam. xv. 
 
 That " hewing in pieces" is not unknown, as a 
 punishment, in some parts of die world, is seen 
 li-oni a relation in Bruce's Travels in Abyssinia. 
 " The bodies of those killed by the sword," he re- 
 marks, "were hcivn to pieces, and scattered about the 
 streets," where they were devoured by the hyaenas; 
 (see 1 Kings xxi. 23.) and upon one occasion, when 
 crossing the market-place, he saw the Ras's door- 
 keeper hacking to pieces three men, who were 
 bound, with all the self-possession and coolness 
 imaginable ! Travels, vol. iv. p. 81. The character 
 of Samuel has been vilified for cruelty, upon this oc- 
 casion, with how nuich reason let the reader judge. 
 
 AGAP/E, feasts of friendship, love, or kindness, 
 in use among the primitive Christians. It is very 
 probable that they vvere instituted in memory of the 
 last supper of Jesus Christ with his disciples, which 
 supper was concluded before he instituted the eu- 
 charist. 
 
 These festivals were kept in the assembly, or 
 church, towards evening, after prayers and worship 
 were over. Upon these occasions, the faithful ate 
 together, with great simphcity and union, what each 
 had brought ; so that rich and poor were in no way 
 distinguished. After a supper, marked by much 
 frugality and modesty, they partook of the sacra- 
 mental signs of the Lord's body and blood, and gave 
 each other the kiss of peace. 
 
 The Agapte are placed before the eucharist, (1 Cor. 
 xi. 21.) and if they did refer to our Lord's supper 
 be/ore he instituted the eucharist, this seems to be 
 their natural order. But it is probable that, at least 
 in some places, or on some occasions, the holy eu- 
 charist preceded the Agapte ; perhaps when perse- 
 cution rendered extreme caution necessary ; for it 
 seems very likely that Pliny speaks of these Agajjse 
 in his famous letter to Trajan: "After their service 
 to Christ, {quasi Deo,) they departed, and returned 
 to take a harmless repast in common." 
 
 The history of the Agapse anjoug the primitive 
 Christians is so closely connected with the manners, 
 customs, dnd opinions of times and j)laces, that to 
 treat it satisfactorily would lead us too far ; we may, 
 thei-efore, only offer a few remarks. There seems 
 reason to conclude, that the social intercourse of 
 early believers might enable them to discover njany 
 excellences in each other, which might contriijute 
 to justify and to proniote the observations of heathen 
 strangers, " See how these Christians love one 
 another I" 
 
 These Agapfe were not onlj^ very powerful means, 
 among the priniitive Christians, of cultivating mutual 
 affection throughout their body, and cf gaining the 
 good-will of those who observed their conduct; but, 
 in all probability, they contributed to promote the 
 Christian cause, by leading to conversions, and by 
 supporting the minds of young converts under the 
 difficulties attending their situation. Tertullian 
 (Apol. cap. 39.) speaks of them thus: "Nothing low 
 or unseemly is committed in them ; nor is it till after 
 having prayed to God, that they sit down to table. 
 Food is taken in moderation, as wanted ; and no 
 more is drank than it becomes discreet persons to 
 drink. Each takes such refreshment as is suitable, 
 in connection with the recollection that he is to be 
 engaged, in the course of the night, in adorations to 
 God ; and the conversation iscondncted as becometh 
 those who know that the Lord heareth them. After 
 water has been brought for the hands, and fresh
 
 AGA 
 
 [28] 
 
 AGR 
 
 lights, every one is invited to sing, and to glorify 
 God, whether by passages from the sacred Scrip- 
 tures, or of his own composition. This discovers 
 whether proper moderation has been observed at 
 the table. In short, the repast concludes as it be- 
 gan ; that is to say, with prayer." 
 
 These institutions, however, even in tlie time of 
 the apostles, appear to have degenerated, and be- 
 come abused. Paul (1 Cor. xi, 20, 21.) complains, 
 that the rich despised tlie poor in these assemblies, 
 and would not condescend to eat with them : " When 
 ye come together," says he, "in one i)lace — this 
 coming together, merely, is not eating the Lord's 
 supper ; one taking before another his own supper ; 
 one being hungrj', another over full. What ! have 
 ye not houses to eat and to drink in ? or despise ye 
 the church of God, and shame them that have not ?" 
 In this discordant state of its members, a church 
 could not but be unfit to celebrate tlie great com- 
 memoration of divine love. (Jude 12. " Spots in 
 your feasts of charity — Agapa? — feasting themselves, 
 &c.") 
 
 It certainly seems to us extraordinary, that on any 
 occasion, much more on occasion of a Christian in- 
 stitution recently attended to, and a solemn Chris- 
 tian ordinance about to be attended to, the Corinthi- 
 ans should, any of them, indulge to excess of any 
 kind : but when we consider that public suppers 
 and other meals were customary among the Greeks, 
 (to which they might fissimilate these Agapje,) and 
 besides, that the sacrifices at which these Corinthi- 
 ans had been accustomed to attend, were followed 
 (and some accompanied) by merriment, we shall see 
 less reason to wonder at their fallmg into intemper- 
 ance of behavior so very different from the genius 
 of the gospel. Certainly the eucharist itself is, as 
 the name implies, a feast for joy; but for joy of a much 
 more serious kind. However, we must, in justice, 
 vindicate the Coriiuhians from that gross profana- 
 tion of the eucharist itself, with which, from our 
 translation, or rather from the common acceptation 
 of the phrase " Lord's supper," they have been re- 
 proached. 
 
 The Agapas were abolished by the Council of La- 
 odicea. Can. 28. Synod of Trullo, Can. 74. and the 
 Council of Carthage, Can. 42. 
 
 The Jews had certain devotional entertainments, 
 In some degi-ee related to the Agapje. On their 
 great festival djiys, they made feasts lor their family, 
 for the priests, tlie ])oor, and orphans ; or they 
 sent portions to them. Tliese repasts were made 
 in Jerusalem, before the Lord. There were al.so 
 certain sacrifices and first-fruits appointed by the 
 law, to he set aj)art for tliat purpose, Deut. xxvi. 
 10—12; Nell. viii. 10, 12; F.sth. \x. 19. A similar 
 custom obtained among the Iieatlien : at least, so 
 far as to j):utake convivially of what had been 
 offered in sacrifice ; and perhaps, also, sending por- 
 tions to such as were absent. The Essenes also 
 had their rcjiasts in common ; and probably many 
 otiier confraternities or sects. To this fellowsliip, 
 the institution of tlie Sodales or brotherhoods, which 
 had become popular since the days of Augustus, 
 might greatly contribute. 
 
 AGATE, a precious stone, said to take its name 
 from the river Achates in Sicily, where it was first 
 found. Agates, which are of several kinds, are like- 
 wise procured in Phrygia, in India, in various jiarts 
 of Europe, and at tlio Cape of Good Ilopr. The 
 agate was the second stone in the third row of the 
 high-priest's breastplato, Exod. xxviii. If); xxxix. 12. 
 
 AGE, (1.) a period of time ; (2.) a generation of the 
 human race; (3.) a hundred years ; (4.) maturity of 
 hfe ; (5.) the latter end of life ; (6.) the duration of 
 life. See Chronology. 
 
 AGRICULTURE, see Canaan, Ploughing, and 
 Threshing. 
 
 I. AGRIPPA, surnamed Herod, son of Aristobu- 
 lus and Berenice, and grandson of Herod the Great, 
 was born three years before our Saviour, and seven 
 years before the vulgar sera. After the death of his 
 father Aristobulus, Herod, his grandfather, under- 
 took his education, and sent him to Rome, to make 
 his court to Tiberius. The emperor conceived a 
 great affection for Agrippa, and placed him near his 
 son Drusus, whose favor he soon obtained, as also 
 that of the empress Antonia. Drusus, however, dying 
 soon afterwards, (A. D. 23.) all who had been his 
 intimate friends were commanded by Tiberius to 
 quit Rome, lest their presence should renew his 
 affliction. Agrippa, who had indulged his disposi- 
 tion to liberality, was obUged to leave Rome over- 
 whelmed with debts, and very poor. He was averse 
 to go to Jerusalem, because of his inability to make 
 an appearance equal to his birth ; he retired there- 
 fore to the castle of Massada, where he lived in pri- 
 vate. Herod the tetrarch, his uncle, assisted him for 
 some time with great generosity ; made him the 
 pruicipal magistrate of Tiberias, and presented him 
 with a large sum. But all this lieing insufficient to 
 answer the excessive profusion of Agrippa, Herod 
 became weary of assisting him, and reproached him 
 with his want of economy. Agrippa was so affected 
 by his uncle's reproof, that he resolved to quit Judea, 
 and return to Rome. A. D. 35. 
 
 To effect his purpose, he borrowed from Protus, 
 a freed-man in the suite of Berenice, the sum of 
 20,000 drachmas, and from Alexander, the Alabarch 
 or chief of the Jews at Alexandria, he procured 
 200,000 more. When Agrippa landed in Italy, Ti- 
 berius was with his court at Caprea, whither Agi'ip- 
 pa sent intelhgence of his arrival, and desired leave 
 to present himself. Tiberius, whom time had cured 
 of his affliction, was glad to hear of his return, re- 
 ceived him with kindness, and, as a mark of distinc- 
 tion, gave him an apartment in his palace. 
 
 On the next day, letters were brought to the em- 
 peror from Hereimius, who was charged with his 
 affairs in Judea, in which it was stated that Agrippa, 
 having borrowed 300,000 pieces of silver out of his 
 exchequer, had fled from Judea, without repaying 
 them. This intelligence so exasperated Tiberius 
 that he commanded Agripjia to leave the palace, and 
 to pay what he owed. Agripjia, however, addressed 
 himself to the empress Antonia, from whom he ob- 
 tained a sum of money sufficient to discharge the 
 claim; and was restored to the emperor's favor. 
 Agrippa now attached himself to Cains Caligula, the 
 son of Germanicus, and grandson of Antonia ; as if 
 he had some presentiment of the future elevation of 
 Caius, who at that time was beloved by all, and 
 whose affection he so engaged that the prince was 
 not able to live without him. Joseph. Ant. xviii. 
 6. 1—5. 
 
 Upon the death of Tiberius, Caligula placed a dia- 
 dem upon the head of Agrippa, and gave him the 
 tetrarchy which Philip, son of Herod the Great, 
 had possessed ; that is, Batana?a and Trachonitis: 
 to this he added that of Lysanias, (see Abilene,) 
 and Agrippa returned into Judea, to take possession 
 of his new kingdom, A. D. 39. 
 
 Caius, desiring to be adored as a god. determined
 
 AGRIPPA 
 
 [29] 
 
 AGR 
 
 to place his statue in the temple at Jerusalem, but 
 this the Jews determinately opposed. Agrippa, who 
 was at Rome at the time that Petronius, the empe- 
 ror's lieutenant in Judea, addressed Caius upon the 
 subject, so far succeeded in his entreaties, that the 
 emperor desisted, at least in appearance, from his 
 design. 
 
 After the death of Caligula, Agi-ippa espoused the 
 interest of Claudius, who, in acknowledgment for his 
 services, bestowed upon him all Judea, and the 
 kingdom of Chalcis, which had belonged to Herod 
 his brother. Thus Agrippa suddenly became one 
 of the most powerful princes of the East, and pos- 
 sessed a greater extent of territory, perhaps, than 
 had been enjoyed by his grandfather, Herod the 
 Great. He returned into Judea, and governed to 
 the great satisfaction of his subjects. The desire of 
 pleasing the Jews, however, and a mistaken zeal for 
 their religion, induced him to commit an act of in- 
 justice, the memory of which is preserved in Scrip- 
 ture, Acts xii. 1, &c. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xix. cap. 4. 
 About the feast of the passover, A. D. 44, James the 
 greater, son of Zebedee, and brother of John the 
 evangelist, was put to death by his orders ; and 
 Peter was thro^vn into prison, with a view to his ex- 
 ecution, after the close of the festival. In this de- 
 sign, however, Agrippa was disappointed ; the apos- 
 tle being miraculously dehvered from his confine- 
 ment. A short time afterwards, Agrippa went from 
 Jerusalem to Csesarea, where he celebrated games 
 in lionor of Claudius. Antiq. lib. xix. cap. 8. and 
 Acts xii. 19, &c. Here the inhabitants of Tyre and 
 Sidon waited on him, to sue for peace. Agrippa, 
 having come early in the morning to the theatre, to 
 give them audience, seated himself on his throne, 
 dressed in a splendid robe of silver tissue. The rays 
 of the rising sun, darting upon his dress, gave it such 
 a lustre and resplendence as the eyes of the specta- 
 tors could scarcely endure. When, therefore, the 
 king spoke to the Tyrians and Sidonians, the people, 
 urged by his flatterers, exclaimed, "The voice of a 
 god, not of a man!" Instead of rejecting these im- 
 pious flatteries, Agrippa received them with com- 
 placency ; but at that instant the angel of the Lord 
 smote him, because he did not give the glory to God. 
 He was carried to his palace by his attendants, 
 where he died, after five days, racked by tormenting 
 pain in his bowels, and devoured by worms. Acts 
 xii. 20 — 23. A. D. 44. Agrippa had reigned seven 
 years. He left a son, of the same name, then at 
 Rome, and three daughters — Berenice, who was 
 married to her uncle Herod ; Mariamne, betrothed 
 to Julius Archelaiis, son of Chelcias ; and Drusilla, 
 promised to Epiphanius, son of Archelaiis, king of 
 Comagena. Joseph. Ant. xviii. et xix. passim. 
 
 II. AGRIPPA, the younger, son of tlie above, 
 was at Rome with the emperor Claudius, when his 
 father died. Josephus states that the emperor was 
 at first inclined to bestow upon him all the domin- 
 ions of his father, but was dissuaded from this by his 
 ministers. The emperor, therefore, detained Agrip- 
 pa at Rome four years longer, he being then seven- 
 teen years of age, and sent Cuspius Fadus into Ju- 
 dea. The year following, (A. D. 45.) the governor 
 of Syria, coming to Jerusalem, designed that the 
 high-priest's ornaments should be connnitted to the 
 custody of Fadus, intending to compel the Jews to 
 deliver them, to be kept within the tower of Anto- 
 uia, where they had formerly been deposited, till 
 Vitellius intrusted them to their care. But the Jews, 
 giving good security, were permitted to send depu- 
 
 ties to Ronie on this affair, who, by the good ofKceg 
 of young Agrippa, maintained the possession of their 
 privilege, and the pontifical ornaments were contin- 
 ued in their custody. 
 
 Upon the death of Herod, king of Chalcis, (A. D. 
 48.) uncle to young Agi-ippa, the emperor gave hia 
 dominions to this prince ; but he did not go into Ju- 
 dea till four years afterwards, (A. D. 53.) when 
 Claudius, taking from him Chalcis, gave him the 
 provinces of Gaulanitis, Trachonitis, Batanwa, Pa- 
 neas, and Abilene, which formerly had been pos- 
 sessed by Lysanias. After the death of Claudius, 
 his successor Nero, who had a great affection for 
 Agrippa, added to his dominions Julias in Pereea, 
 and that part of Galilee which included Tarichsea 
 and Tiberias. 
 
 Festus, governor of Judea, coming to his govern- 
 ment, A. D. 60, Agrippa, and Berenice his sister, 
 went as far as Cesarea to salute him. As they con- 
 tinued there some time, Festus conversed with the 
 king on the affair of Paul, who had been seized in 
 the temple about two years before, and who a few 
 days ])rior to this had appealed to the emperor Clau- 
 dius, then reigning at Rome. 
 
 Agrippa being desirous himself to hear Paul, 
 (Acts XXV. 13.) the apostle was brought forth, and 
 Festus introduced his case to the king. Having ob- 
 tained permission to speak, the apostle related his 
 miraculous conversion, with his previous persecu- 
 tions of the Christians, and his subsequent labors 
 and suffering for the gospel, Avith such power, that 
 he extorted from Agrijjpa that meznorable exclama- 
 tion, — " Almost thou persuadest me to be a Chris- 
 tian." Agrippa afterwards said, that his prisoner 
 might have been set at hberty had he not appealed 
 to Csesar, Acts xxvi. 
 
 About two years after this, Agrippa gave great 
 offence to the Jews, by depriving Joseph Cabei of 
 the high-priesthood, and bestowing it upon Ananus, 
 a man of a severe and cruel disposition, by whose 
 influence the apostle James was condemned to be 
 stoned. Acts xii. 2. Joseph. Ant. xx. 9. 1. To pro- 
 pitiate them, he deposed Ananus after he had en- 
 joyed the pontifical dignity only three mouths, and 
 conferred it upon Jesus, the son of Damnseus. 
 Some time after this, he permitted the Levites to 
 wear the linen robe, which had been hitherto appro- 
 priated to the priests, inducing those who had not 
 been appointed to sing in the temple service, to 
 learn vocal music, that they also might share in the 
 privilege. Jos. Ant. xx. 9. 6. 
 
 While every thing tended to rebellion in Judea, 
 Agrippa did all he could to quiet the people, and 
 incline them to peace : but his endeavors were un- 
 successful ; he indeed suspended, but could not sup- 
 press, the passions of the Jews, exasperated by the 
 cruelties and insolence of their governors. They 
 declared openly against the Romans, A. D. 66, and 
 Agrippa was forced to join his troops with those of 
 Rome, to assist in taking Jerusalem. After the de- 
 struction of that city he retired to Rome with his 
 sister Berenice, with whom he had long lived in a 
 manner that had given occasion for reports very 
 little to their advantage. He died aged about sev- 
 enty years, towards A. D. 90. Jos. Ant. xix. c. 9. 
 XX. c. 7. c. 8. c. 9. See Herod IV. 
 
 AGRIPPIAS, a name given to the toAvn of An 
 thedon, on the Mediterranean, between Raphia and 
 Gaza, by Herod the Great, in honor of his friend 
 Agrippa, the favorite of Augustus. Joseph. Antiq. 
 xiii. 21. See Antuedon.
 
 AHA 
 
 [ 30 
 
 AHAB 
 
 AGUR. The thirtieth chapter of the Proverbs is 
 
 entitled " The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh," 
 of whom nothing further is kno^Mi. He was proba- 
 bly an insj)ired Jewish writer, whose sentences were 
 incorporated witli those of Solomon, in consequence 
 of the similarity of their style and manner. 
 
 I. AHAIi, king of Israel, the son and successor 
 of Omri, ascended the throne A. M. 308G, and reigned 
 22 years, 1 Kings xvi. 29. Ahab married Jezebel, 
 the daughter of Eth-baal, king of the Zidonians, 
 who introduced the idols Baal and Astaite into Is- 
 rael, and engaged Ahab in their worship, who soon 
 exceeded in impiety all his predecessors. Being 
 displeased at his conduct, the Lord sent the jjrophet 
 Elijah to reprove him, who predicted a famine of 
 three years' continuance ; after which he retired to 
 Zarephath, lest Ahab or Jezebel should procure his 
 death. Towards the close of the three years, Ahab 
 sent Obadiah, the governor of his house, to seek 
 j)astui-e in the country, that he might preserve part 
 of his cattle. In his progress Obadiah met Elijah, 
 who directed him to go and tell Ahab that Elijah 
 was there. Ahab immediately came, and said to 
 him, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" The 
 prophet answered, " I have not troubled Israel, but 
 thou and thy father's house ; in that thou hast for- 
 saken the commandments of the Lord, and Ibllowed 
 Baalim." He then desired Ahab to gather all the 
 people, with the prophets of Baal, at mount Carmel ; 
 and when they were assembled, he brought iire from 
 heaven on his sacrifice. After this the rain descended 
 on the earth, and it recovered its former fertihty, 1 
 Kings xviii. 
 
 Some years after this, Ben-hadad, king of Syria, 
 besieged Samaria, and sent ambassadors to Ahab, 
 who was in the city, with insolent messages ; but 
 Ahab significantly reproved him by saying, " Let 
 not him that girdeth on his harness, boast himself as 
 he that putteth it oflV Ahab then reviewed the 
 people in Samaria, Avho amounted to 7000, and mak- 
 ing a sally at noon-day, (while Ben-hadad and his 
 associates were carousing in their tents,) killed all 
 v.'ho opposed them, j)Ut the Syrian army to flight, 
 and took a considerable booty, 1 Kings xx. 21. 
 
 Aha") being probably much elated by this victory, 
 a prophet, supposed by the Jews to have been Wi- 
 caiah, was sent to admonish him to prepare for Ben- 
 liadad's return in the following year. In accordance 
 with the prediction, the Syrian rejjeated his in\ asion, 
 and encamped with his arm}' at Ajihek, designing to 
 give Ahal) battle. Assured of victory, by the ])rophet 
 of the Lord, the king of Israel marched out into the 
 plain, and encamped over against his enemies. On 
 tin; seventh day they joined battle, and the Israelites 
 sluv/ 100,000 Syrians. The rest of them fled to 
 Aphck ; hut as they were pressing to enter the city, 
 tho walls fl'il upon them, and killed 27,000 more. 
 Ben-hadad, throwing himself on the clemency of 
 Ahab, was received by him into his chariot ; after 
 which he formed an aiiianre, and permitted him to 
 retire, on condition that Ahah should be allowed to 
 make streets in Damascus, as Ben-hadad's father had 
 previously do)ie in Samaria, 1 Kings xx. 22 — 34. 
 This alliance, however, was displeasing to the Lord, 
 who reproved Ahab by his i)ro])het, and the king 
 returned to Samaria depressed and displeased, ver. 
 35—43. 
 
 Upon the nature of the streets which Ahab pro- 
 posed to build in Damascus, connnentators are di- 
 vided in opinion, variously understanding the ex- 
 pression to mean markets, courts of judicature, pi- 
 
 azzas, citadels, and fortifications, for the purpose of 
 keeping the Syrians in check, &c. In illustration 
 of the passage, Mr. Harmcr adduces the privileges 
 gi'auted to the Venetians in recompense for their 
 aid, by the states of the kingdom of Jerusalem ; and 
 observes, that it Avas customary to assign churches, 
 and to give streets, in their towns, to foreign nations. 
 These, however, are rather instances of rewards for 
 services performed, than proofs of such terms as 
 conditions of peace ; and we may therefore cite the 
 following passage from Knolles's " History of the 
 Turks," (p. 206.) as being more appUcable to the his- 
 tory of Ben-hadad, than any of those which Mr. 
 Harmer has })roduced: "Baiazet luiving worthily 
 relieued his besieged citie, returned againe to the 
 siege of Constantinople, laying more hardly vnto it 
 than before, building forts and bulwarks against it 
 on the one side towards the land ; and passing ouer 
 the strait of Bosphorus, built a strong castle vpon 
 that strait ouer against Constantinople, to impeach, 
 so much as was possible, all passage thereunto by 
 sea. This streight siege (as most Avrite) continued 
 also two yeres, which I suppose by the circumstance 
 of the historic, to haue been part of the aforesaid 
 eight yeres. Emanuel, the besieged emperor, 
 wearied with these long wars, sent an ambassador to 
 Baiazet, to intreat with him a peace ; Avhich Baiazet 
 was the more wilhng to hearken vnto, for that he 
 heard newes, that Tamerlane, the great Tartarian 
 prince, intended shortly to warre upon him. Yet 
 could this peace not be obtained, but vpon condition 
 that the emperor should grant free libcrtie for the 
 Turks to dwell together in one street o/ Constanti- 
 nople, ivithfrec exercise of their own religiontind laives, 
 vndcr a judge of their own nation ; ajid further, to 
 pay unto the Turkish king a yeerely tribute of tea 
 thousand duckats. Which dishonorable conditions 
 the distressed emperor was glad to accept of. So 
 was this long siege broken vp, and presently o great 
 sort of Turks loith their families tcere seiit out of Bi- 
 thijnia, to dwell in Constantinople, and a church there 
 built for them; which not long after was by the em- 
 j)eror pulled downe to the ground, and the Turks 
 againe driuen out of the citie, at such time as Baia- 
 zet was by the mighty Tamerlane ouerthrowne and 
 taken prisoner." The circumstances of these two 
 stories, and the reniarks, arc so much alike, that it 
 merely remains to notice the propriety with which 
 our translators have chosen the word streets, ratlier 
 than any other projjosed by connnentators. Com- 
 pare the bakers^ street, Jer. xxxvii. 21. It is worthy 
 of observation, that there are extant medals of Ptol- 
 emais, referring to "Antiocheans in Ptoleniais," 
 meaning, in all probability, establishments for the 
 pin-poses of commerce, formed by companies of 
 merchants from Antioch ; not unlike our ccn^.panies 
 of merchants in Smyrna, and other cities of the 
 East, and similar to the streets of Ahab. 
 
 In the year following the events just narrated, 
 Ahab, desiring to possess a kitchen-garden near his 
 ])alace, requested Naboth, a citizen of Jezreel, to sell 
 him his vineyard. Naboth, however, refused to 
 alienate any part of his paternal inheritance, which 
 gready incens vl the king, and brought down upon 
 the patriotic man disgrace and death. Jezebel had 
 him arraigned as a traitor, and by means of false 
 witnesses procured his death. As Ahab was return- 
 ing to Samaria, after having taken possession of Na- 
 both's vineyard, he was met by Elijah, who de- 
 nounced the judgment of God against him and his 
 house. Ahab expressed his sorrow and contrition,
 
 AHA 
 
 [31 ] 
 
 AHASUERUS 
 
 whereupon the Lord promised that the execution of 
 these thrcateuings should be defeired till the days 
 of his son, 1 Kings xxi. 
 
 About two years after this, Ahab, contrary to the 
 word of the prophet Micaiah, joined his forces to 
 those of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, who was going 
 up to attack Ramoth-Gilead. He Avent out in dis- 
 guise, but, being wounded by an arrow, immediately 
 left the field of battle. He continued the whole day, 
 however, in his chariot, the blood streaming from 
 his wound, and in the evening he died. lie was 
 earned to Samaria, and there buried. His chariot, 
 and the harness of his horses, were v/ashed in the 
 fish-pool of Samaria, and there the dogs hcked up 
 his blood, according to the prophet's prediction, 1 
 Kings xxii. A. M. 3107. See Elijah, Jezebel, Mi- 
 caiah, Naboth. 
 
 n. AHAB, son of Kolaiah, one of the two false 
 prophets who seduced the Israehtes at Babylon, Jci*. 
 xxix. 21, 29. The Lord threatened them, by Jere- 
 miah, with delivering them up to Nebuchadnezzar, 
 king of Babylon, who should put them to death in 
 the presence of those who liad been deceived by 
 them ; and that the people should use their name 
 proverbially, when they would curse any one, say- 
 ing, "The Lord make thee hkc Ahab raid Zedekiah, 
 whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire." The 
 rabbins, who have been followed by several exposi- 
 tors, believe these to be the two elders Avho en- 
 deavored to corrupt the chaste Susanna. But the 
 punishment annexed to the crime of those in the 
 apocryphal history, destroys this opinion ; for Ahab 
 and Zedekiah were roasted in the fire, while the 
 others were stoned. The text does not saj^ literally, 
 they Avere stoned ; but that they were treated as they 
 would liave used their neighbor ; — that they were 
 put to death according to the law of Moses ; and as 
 that law condemns adulterers to be stoned, which 
 was the punishment they would have had inflicted 
 on Susanna, it follows that this was the punishment 
 they were to suffer in retaliation. 
 
 L AHASUERUS, a king of Persia mentioned 
 Dan. ix. 1. and called Astyages in the Vulgate, Dan. 
 xiii. Go. He is evidently to be distinguished from the 
 Ahasuerus of the book of Esther. See Astyages II. 
 
 II. AHASUERUS, a king of Persia, who is so 
 conspicuous in the book of Esther, and is mentioned 
 also in Ezra iv. 6. According to the opinion of 
 those who identify him with Darius Hystaspes, he 
 was a descendant of the royal famih' of Achsemones, 
 and ascended the throne of Persia in the 28tli year 
 of his age, A. M. 3483; anie A. D. 591. In the 
 second year of his reign, the Jews who had returned 
 to Palestine, encouraged by the exhortations of the 
 prophets Haggai and Zerhariah, resinned the re- 
 building of tlie temple, which had been interrupted 
 under the reign of Cambyses. On this, the govern- 
 ors of the province for the Persians demanded liy 
 what authority they imdertook this woi-k, Ezra v. 
 3 — 6, 13. The Jews produced the edict of Cyrus ; 
 the governors wrote to Ahasuerus, who gave direc- 
 tions to seek this edict. Having found it at Eclia- 
 tana, he confirmed it, and commanded his officers to 
 assist in the design, and to furnish things necessary 
 for sacrifices. Ahasuerus having divorced Vashti, 
 his queen, (see Vashti,) Esther, the niece of Mor- 
 decai, a Jew, was chosen to be his wife, through 
 whose intercession the edict appointing the massacre 
 of the Jews was cancelled, and their enemy, Haman, 
 disgraced and put to death. See Achmeta, Esthek, 
 and Haman. 
 
 The i-est of Ahasuerus's life has no relation to 
 sacred history. He died A. M. 3519, ante A. D. 
 485, after a reign of six-and-thii-ty years, and was 
 succeeded by Xerxes, his son by Apharsa, or Vashti. 
 
 The foregoing statement is in conformity with the 
 opinion of Usher and others, which supposes Ahas- 
 uerus to be Darius, the son of Hystaspes ; but, as 
 this opinion has its difficulties, we shall notice what 
 Dr. Prideaux has suggested in support of his opinion, 
 that Artaxerxes Longimanus Avas the Ahasuerus of 
 Scripture, to whom Esther was queen. Usher 
 thought Darius, sou of Hj'staspes, married Atcssa, 
 (who is Vashti,) afterwards divorced by him ; and 
 that he took to wife Ai'istone, daughter of Cyrus, 
 and widow of Cambyses, who is Esther. But this 
 is contradicted by Herodotus, Avho informs us, that 
 Aristone was daughter of Cyrus ; consequentlj-, she 
 could not be Esther, Avho Avas too young. He says 
 further, that Atossa had four sons by Darius, Avithout 
 reckoning daughters ; and that she had so great an 
 ascendency over him, as to prevail en him to declare 
 her son, Xerxes, his successor, to the exclusion of 
 his oAvn sons. We foresaAv, says Caimet, this ob- 
 jection, in our comment en Esther i. 9. and, without 
 A'enturiug to ascertain the Vashti divorced by Ahas- 
 uerus, Ave have sho\A-n that neither Atossa, Avhom 
 Ave take to be the daughter of Cyrus, nor Aristone, 
 Avho AA'as a virgin Avhen he married her, and might 
 be Esther, — that neither of them Avas dismissed by 
 Ahasuerus. Herodotus says expressly, in his third 
 book, that the daughter of Cyrus, and Avife of 
 Darius, AAas Atossa, lib. iii. cap. 68. and 88. Dr. 
 Prideaux adds, (Hist, part i. book iv.) that the prin- 
 cipal reason AAhich influenced Usher, Avas the notice, 
 in the book of Esther (eh. x. 1.), " that Ahasuerus 
 laid a tribute on the land, and on the isles of the 
 sea," AA-hich Ave read also in Herodotus, of Darius, 
 son of Hystaspes, lib. iii. cap. 89. But Strabo at- 
 tributes this to Darius Longimanus ; Avhile our author 
 would refer it to Artaxerxes Lonsimanus. Strabo, 
 fib. XV. 
 
 The reasons urged by Dr. Prideaux for Artaxerxes 
 Longimanus are these : (1.) That Joscphus expressly 
 affirms Artaxerxes to have been Esther's husband. 
 (Antiq. hb. xi. cap. G.) (2.) The Scptuagint, and the 
 Greek additions to the book of Esther, call Ahasue- 
 rus Artaxerxes. (3.) Several circumstances in these 
 additions caimot be applied to Artaxerxes 3Iueincn. 
 (4.) The extraordinary favor Avith Avhich Artaxerxes 
 Longimanus honored the JeAvs, strengthens the 
 probabihty that he had married a JcAvess. This 
 opinion is maintained by Sulpitius Sevcrus, and 
 many other AATiters, both ancient and modern. Sec 
 Artaxerxes Lo>'Gi]vrANUS. 
 
 Scaligcr supposes Xerxes to be the Ahasuerus of 
 Scripture, and his Avife Amestris to be queen Esther. 
 (De emendat. Temp. lib. iv.) He grounds his belief on 
 the resemblance of the names ; hut the circum- 
 stances related in the history of Amestris prove, in- 
 disputably, that she is not the Esther of Scripture ; 
 for Amestris, Avife of Xerxes, had a son by that 
 prince, Avho Avas of age to marry in the seventh year 
 of his father's reign, Herod, lib. ix. She could not, 
 therefore, be Esther, Avho Avas not married till the 
 soA^enth year of his reign. 
 
 [Thus" far Caimet. The opinions of interpreters 
 respecting the Persian king designated by this name 
 in the books of Ezra and Esther^ have been exceed- 
 ingly diverse ; and he has in turn been supposed to 
 be Astyages, Cyaxares II, Cambyses, Darius Hystas- 
 pes, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes Longimanus, i. e. each
 
 AHASUERUS 
 
 [32] 
 
 AHASUERUS 
 
 of the whole line of Persian kings from Astyages to 
 Aitaxerxes Longimanus, ^vith the exception of Cyrus 
 and Smerdis. In Ezra iv. 6. the order of time 
 would strictly require the name to be understood of 
 Cambyses ; nor is there any violence or improbabil- 
 ity in supposing, that this monarch had assumed this 
 appellation (i. e. lion king, see below) along with his 
 other titles. Or, on the supposition that Ahasuerus 
 was Xerxes, we have only to suppose that the sacred 
 writer, having in v. 5. spoken of the efforts of 
 the enemies all tlie days of Cyrus and urito the 
 reign of Darius Hystaspes, goes on to mention the 
 continuance of their efforts in general in the days 
 of his successor, Xerxes ; while in v. 7. he goes back 
 to describe their one great and successful effort in the 
 days of Artaxerxes, who is here Smerdis. 
 
 One great ditficulty in the way of settling this 
 point, seems to have been an impression on the 
 minds of the learned men who have endeavored to 
 investigate the subject, that every event and circum- 
 stance mentioned in the sacred narrative, must also 
 be found in, or made out from, the pages of profane 
 historJ^ Thus we have seen above, that Usher builds 
 his supposition of Darius Hystaspes chiefly on the 
 fact, that the imposition of a tribute mentioned Esther 
 X. 1. is also mentioned by Herodotus, and ascribed 
 to Darius. But Strabo, a-s we have seen, mentions a 
 similar fact, and in connection with another monarch. 
 Now, was the imposition of a tax by a Pei-sian 
 monarch a thing of such rare occurrence, that we 
 must expect to find it recorded in every historian, 
 and especially in every Greek historian ? We ought 
 rather to assume — and all that we know of the Per- 
 sian monarchy leads us to assume — that such levies 
 were not unfrcquent ; and we surely have no right 
 to suppose, that Greek historians, ^v^iting about the 
 affairs of a foreign and distant empire, would neces- 
 sarily mention every arrangement of its internal 
 policy. Just so, too, in regard to Esther, Inteqjret- 
 ers have sought to identify her with various wives 
 of the three Persian monarchs mentioned above by 
 Calmet. In this they have as yet been unsuccess- 
 ful ; nor does this course seem necessary. The 
 Jews were then a conquered, captive, and despised 
 people. That an oriental monarch, who looked only 
 to beauty, should make a selection from among his 
 female slaves, and in this way take a wife from this 
 degraded nation, has in itself nothing unusual or of 
 high importance. But that we must necessarily ex- 
 pect Greek historians, when treating of the external 
 affairs of Persia, to describe ])articularly, or even 
 allude to, this occurrence in the monarch's private 
 life, would seem to be unnecessaiy, and contrary to 
 sound critical judgment. They might be led by 
 circumstances to mention other wives of the mon- 
 arch, who were to them of more im|)ortance ; while 
 they might cither know nothing of Esther, or have 
 heard of iier only as a female slave who had been 
 chosen, like hundreds of others, for her beauty, and 
 who had for them no furtiier interest. 
 
 The objections, therefore, above made to the sup- 
 position that Xerxes is the Ahasuerus of Scripture, 
 would seem to fall away. On the other hand, we 
 may remark, that both Darius Hystaspes and Arta- 
 xerxes Longimanus are mentioned in Scripture by 
 their usual names, (Ezra iv. 5. 24; v. (5 etc. vii. 1 
 etc. Neh. ii. 1 etc.) and there is therefore less proba- 
 bility that they would also be mentioned under 
 another name ; while Xerxes is apparently no where 
 spoken of, or alluded to, unless it be under the ap|)el- 
 lation of Ahasuerus. To this we may add, tiiat the 
 
 character of Xerxes, as portrayed by Herodotus, — a 
 monarch not more cruel than he was imbecile and 
 vain, — corresponds entirely to the description of 
 Ahasuerus in the book of Esther. — The statements 
 of Josephus, in respect to the ancient history of his 
 nation, are often so legendaiy, as to render here his 
 testimony in favor of Artaxerxes Longimanus less 
 authoritative than it otherwise would be. 
 
 This supposition receives also a strong suppoit in 
 the etymology of the name Xerxes, as recently as- 
 certained by the labors of Grotefend and Champol- 
 lion. The former, in deciphering a cuneifonn Per- 
 sepolitan inscription, found the name of Xerxes to 
 be there written Khsh-her-she, or Khsh-ver-she ; 
 (Heeren Ideen, ed. 4. i. 2. p. 348.) and this was con- 
 firmed by the latter from an Egyptian inscription in 
 hieroglyphics and in Persian. (Precis du Syst^me 
 hieroglyphique, p. 24.) The meaning of this word 
 is the lion king. For the initial sound, the Greeks 
 substituted their similar letter X, and gave the word 
 their usual termination, making Xerxes. The He- 
 brews, by prefixing their not unfrequent prosthetic 
 Aleph, formed the name Akhashverosh, or Akashverosh, 
 c'niE'nN, which we represent by Ahasuerus, combin- 
 ing the Hebrew and the Greek '^aai^oog. See Ge- 
 senius, Thes. Heb. p. 74, 75. 
 
 On the whole, then, we may conclude with a good 
 degi-ee of probability, that the Ahasuerus of the 
 i)ook of Esther was no other than the Xerxes of 
 profane history, who succeeded his father Darius 
 about B. C. 485, and was succeeded by his son Ar- 
 taxerxes Longimanus, about B. C. 464. He was the 
 second son of Darius Hystaspes; and is chiefly 
 known in history by the vast preparations which he 
 made for the invasion of Greece, against which lie 
 marched at the head of an army (according to the 
 Greek historians) of more than five millions of men. 
 His progress was first checked at Thermopylae by 
 the devoted valor of Leonidas and his three hundred 
 Spartans ; and although he succeeded in burning the 
 deserted city of Athens, he was nevertheless soon 
 compelled to return disgracefully to his owai do- 
 minions, where he was, not long after, assassinated. 
 The only trait of moral feeling or humanity recorded 
 of hiin, is the circumstance mentioned by Herodo- 
 tus, (lib. vii.) that, while reviewing his vast army 
 and fleet from an eminence on the shores of Aby- 
 dos, he suddenly burst into tears ; and on being asked 
 the reason of this by Artabanes his uncle, he replied, 
 that lie wept at the thought of the shortness of 
 liuinan life, since, of all the vast multitudes before 
 him, not one would be alive at the end of a hundred 
 years! *R. 
 
 The description given of Ahasuerus's palace, in 
 our translation of the first chapter of Esther, is any 
 thing Ijut satisfactory, and most of the conmienta- 
 tors have been embarrassed in their attempts to make 
 out its sense : — " The king made a feast to all the 
 people that were ])resent at Shushan, the palace; 
 l)Oth unto great and small, seven <lays, in the court 
 of th(! garden of the king's jialace ; where were 
 white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with cords 
 of fine linen, and i)uri)le, to silver rings and pillars 
 of marble ; the beds were of gold, and silver, upon 
 a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black 
 marble." What are we to understand by all this ? — 
 Hangings fastened to silver rings — to ])illars of mar- 
 hie ?' — cords made of fine linen.? — beds of gold and 
 silver — laid on the pavement ? &c. 
 
 The following remarks arc by Taylor, Frag- 
 ment G79.
 
 AHASUERUS 
 
 [33] 
 
 AHASUERUS 
 
 To justify this description, we may first consider 
 the canopy ; the reader will judge of its probability 
 and use from the following quotation : — " Among 
 the ruins remaining at Persepolis is a court, con- 
 taining many lofty pillars ; one may even pi-esume 
 that these colunms did not support any architrave, 
 as Sir John Chardin has observed, (p. 76. torn, iii.) 
 but we may venture to suppose, that a covering of 
 tapestry, or linen, was drawn over them, to intercept 
 the perpendicular projection of the sun-beams. It 
 is also probable that the tract of ground where most 
 of the colunms stand, was originally a court before 
 the palace, like that which was before the king's 
 house at Susa, mentioned Esther, chap. v. and 
 through which a flow of fresh air was admitted into 
 the apartments." (Le Bruyn, vol. ii. p. 222.) This 
 idea, formed almost on the spot, supports the sug- 
 gestion of a canopy covering the court. It is con- 
 nnned also by the custom of India. We have been 
 told by a gentleman from whom we i-equested in- 
 formation on this subject, that, "at the festival of 
 Durma Rajah in Calcutta, the great court of a very 
 large house is overspread with a covering, made of 
 canvass lined with calico ; and this lining is orna- 
 mented with broad stripes, of various colors, in 
 which (in India, observe) green predominates. On 
 occasion of this festival, which is held only once in 
 three years, the master of the house gives wine and 
 cake, and other refreshments, to the English gentle- 
 men and ladies who wish to see the ceremonies ; he 
 also gives payment, as well as hospitality, to those 
 wlio perform them." That such a covering would 
 be necessary in hot climates, we may easily suppose ; 
 nor is the supposition enfeebled by remarking, that 
 the Cohseum, or Flavian Amphitheatre at Rome, has 
 still remaining on its Avails the marks of the masts, 
 or scaffoldings, which were erected when that im- 
 mense area was covered with an awning ; as it was 
 during the shows exhibited there to the Roman pub- 
 lic. See House. 
 
 In the lower part of the court, the preparations 
 consisted in what may be called a railed platform on 
 a mustaby ; what these were the reader will under- 
 stand, by an extract from Dr. Russell's History of 
 Aleppo: — "Part of the principal court is planted 
 with trees and flowering shrubs ; the rest is paved. 
 At the south end is a square basin of water with 
 jets (T eau, and close to it, upon a stone mustaby, is 
 "built a small pavihon ; or, the mustaby being only 
 railed in, an open divan is occasionally formed on 
 it. [A mustaby is a stone platform, raised about two 
 or three feet above the pavement of the court.] 
 This being some steps higher than the basin, a small 
 fountain is usually placed in the middle of the divan, 
 the mosaic jjavement round which, being constantly 
 wetted by the jet iT eau, displays a variety of splendid 
 colors, and the water, as it runs to the basin, through 
 marble channels which are rough at bottom, pro- 
 duces a pleasing murmur. Where the size of the 
 court admits of a larger shrubl)ery, temporary divans 
 are jjlaced in the gi-ove ; or arbors are formed of 
 slight latticed frames, covered by the vine, the rose, 
 or the jasmine ; the rose, shooting to a most luxuriant 
 height, when in full flower, is elegantly picturesque. 
 Facing the basin, on the south side of the court, is a 
 wide, lofty, arched alcove, about eighteen inches 
 higher than the pavement, and entirely open to the 
 court. It is painted in the same manner as the 
 apartments, but the roof is finished in plain or gilt 
 stucco and the floor round a small fountain is paved 
 uiili marble of sundry colors, with &jet (T eau in the 
 5 
 
 middle. A large divan is here prepared, but being 
 intended for the summer, chintz, and Cairo mats, 
 are employed, instead of cloth, velvet, and carpets. 
 It is called, by way of distinction. The Divan, and by 
 its north aspect, and a sloping painted shed project- 
 ing over the arch, being protected from the sun, it 
 ofters a delicious situation in the hot months. The 
 sound, not less than the sight, of the jets d' eau, is 
 extremely refreshing ; and if there be a breath of 
 air stirring, it arrives scented by the Arabian jasmine, 
 the henna, and other fragrant plants growing in the 
 shrubbery, or ranged in pots round the basin. There 
 is usually on each side of the alcove a small i-oom, 
 or cabinet, neatly fitted up, and serving for retire- 
 ment. These rooms are called kubbe, whence, prob- 
 ably, the Spaniards derived their al coba, which is 
 rendered by some other nations in Europe alcove." 
 (Page 30.) In another place. Dr. Russell gives a 
 ])rint of a mustaby, with several musicians sitting 
 upon it, on which he observes, " The front of the 
 stone mustaby is faced with marble of different col- 
 ors. Part of the court is paved in mosaic, in the 
 manner represented below." The view which we 
 have here copied, " shows, in miniature, the inner 
 court of a great house. The doors of the kaah, and 
 part of the cupola, appear in front ; on the side, the 
 high arched alcove, or divan, with the shed above ; the 
 marble facing of the mustaby, the mosaic pavement 
 between that and the basin, and the fountain playing." 
 
 This account of Dr. Russell's harmonizes per- 
 fectly with the history in Esther ; and we have only 
 to hnagine that the railings, or smaller pillars of the 
 divan, (the balustrades,) on the mustaby, in the palace 
 of Ahasuerus, were of silver, (silver gilt,) while the 
 larger, called columns, placed at the corners, (as m 
 our print,) or elsewhere, were of marble ; the flat 
 part of the mustaby also being overspread with car- 
 pets, &c. on which, next the raihngs, were cushions 
 richly embroidered, for die purpose of being leaned 
 against.— These things, mentioned in the Scripture 
 narration, if placed according to the doctor's account, 
 enable us to comprehend and justify the whole ot 
 the Bible description.
 
 AHA 
 
 [34] 
 
 AHA 
 
 AHAVA, a couutiy and river of Babylonia, or of 
 Assyria, where Ezra assembled those captives who 
 were returning to Judea, Ezra ^'iii. 15. 21. 31. It is 
 thought by some to have rvm along the province of 
 Adiabene, where a river Diava, or Adiava, the Zab, 
 or Lycus, is mentioned, on which Ptolemy places 
 a citj' Abane, or Aavane. The history of Izates, 
 king of the Achabenians, and his mother Helena, who 
 became converts to Judaism some years after the 
 death of Clmst, proves that there were many Jews 
 remaining in that country. Jos. Ant. xx. c. 2. — 
 [The above supposition would seem not to be well 
 grounded ; since it depends solely on the sunilarity 
 of the names in Latin ; of which there is no trace 
 in the Hebrew. Besides, it is more probable that 
 the rendezvous of the returning Jews would be in 
 the S. W. part of Babylonia, rather than in the re- 
 mote N. E. part of Assvria. See Rosenin. Bib. Geog. 
 i. 2. p. 93. R. 
 
 AHAZ, son of Jotham, and twelfth king of Judah. 
 He was twenty years of age when he ascended the 
 throne, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, (2 
 Kings xvi. 12.) that is, from A". M. 3262 to 3278. 
 
 Ahaz imitated the kings of Israel and Samaria, in 
 idolatry and all manner of disorders. He oflcred 
 sacrifices and incense on the high places, and in 
 groves ; and consecrated one of his sons, making 
 him to pass through fire, in honor of JMoloch. Shortly 
 after his accession to the throne, his kingdom Avas 
 invaded by the united forces of Rezin, king of Sjria, 
 and Pekah, king of Israel, who defeated his troops, 
 and besieged Jerusalem, 2 Kings xvi. 1 — 5 ; 2 Chron. 
 xxAiii. 5, seq. ; Isa. vii. 1. When they found they 
 could not take it, they divided their army, plundered 
 the country, and made prisoners every where. Rezin 
 and his party retired with all their spoil to Damas- 
 cus. But Pekah, having in one battle killed 120,000 
 of Ahaz's army, took prisoners 200,000 persons, 
 men, women, and children. As thej^ were carrying 
 these captives to Samaria, the prophet Oded, witli 
 the principal inhabitants of the city, came out to 
 meet the captors, and prevailed on them, by remon- 
 strances, to liberate then* prisoners, and restore the 
 booty. Those who were not able to perform the 
 journey homeward on foot, were conveyed in car- 
 riages to Jericho, 2 Chron. xxviii. The following 
 year, Pekah ;ind Rezin again returned, and laid waste 
 the kingdom of Judah. The Philistines and Edoin- 
 ites also spread themselves like an inundation ov(!r 
 the territories of Ahaz, committed great disorders, 
 killed many peo])]e, and carried off much booty. 
 In these circuinstances, and just before the siege of 
 Jerusalem, the jjrojjhet Isaiah, witii his son Shear- 
 jashub, went to meet Ahaz, and foretold the deliver- 
 ance of his countrj^, and the destruction of his ene- 
 mies, offering liim the choice of any prodigy, in con- 
 firmation of the prediction. Under the ap})earance 
 of declining to tempt the Lord, Ahaz refused to se- 
 lect a sign. "Hear, then," said Isaiali, " O house of 
 David ; behold tiie sign wliich the Lord gives you ; 
 a virgin coiicf-iving and l)earing a son, whose name 
 shall be called ]'>mniaiuicl. (See Emmanuel.) 
 Butter and honey shall he cat, tliat he may know 
 to refuse the evil, and choose the good." Then, 
 pointing to his own son, Isaiah assured Ahaz' 
 that before this child should be able to distinguish' 
 good and evil, the two kings confederated against 
 Judah should be slain ; which accordingly happened 
 Isaiah vii. In this extremity, Ahaz applied to the' 
 king of Assyria, presenting him the gold and silver 
 from the temple and the palace. Tiglathpileser ac- 
 
 cepted the presents, and marched to assist Ahaz ; 
 attacked and killed Rezui, took Damascus his capi- 
 tal, and removed the inhabitants to Cyrene, that part 
 of Iberia where the river Cyrus runs. Ahaz went 
 to Damascus to meet the king of Assyria, whence 
 he sent a model of an altar to the high-priest Uri- 
 jah, that he might place one hke it in the temple at 
 Jerusalem. Upon this he offered sacrifices, and 
 commanded its exclusive use. He ordercil also the 
 bases to be taken away, and the lavers of brass ; the 
 brazen sea, and its supporting oxen ; and commanded 
 them to be placed below, on the pavement of the 
 temple, 2 Kings xvi. In his greatest affliction, Ahaz 
 showed the highest contempt of God ; he sacrificed 
 to the Syrian gods, to render them propitious ; he 
 broke the vessels of the temple, shut the gates, and 
 erected altars in all parts of Jerusalem, and in all 
 the cities of Judah, to burn incense on them, 2 
 Chron. xxviii. 22, 23, &c. He died, and was buried 
 in Jerusalem; but not in the sepulchres of the kings 
 of Judah, because of his iniquities. Other princes, 
 his predecessors, as Jehoram and Joash, as well as 
 Manasseh and Anion, two of his successors, were 
 treated with the same ignominy ; and denied the 
 privilege of being interred among the kings. For 
 some remarks on the dial of Ahaz, see Dial. 
 
 I. AHAZIAH, son and successor of Ahab, king 
 of Israel, 1 Kings xxii. 40. 51. He reigned two 
 years, alone and Avith his father, who associated him 
 in the kingdom the year before his death, A. M. 
 3106. Ahaziah imitated Ahab's impiety ; and wor- 
 shipped Baal and Astarte, whose rites had been in- 
 troduced into Israel by Jezebel his mother. In the 
 second year of his reign, the Moabites, who had 
 been subject to the kings of Israel since its separa- 
 tion from Judah, revolted against Ahaziah, and re- 
 fused to pay him the ordinary tribute. About the 
 same time, he fell from the tenace of his house, 
 and being considerably hurt thereby, he sent to 
 Ekron, for the purpose of consulting Beelzebub con- 
 cerning his indisposition. His messengers were met 
 on their way by the prophet Elijah, reproved for 
 their impiety, and sent back to Ahaziah, with the 
 assurance that his illness would be fatal. Incensed 
 at the interference of the prophet, Ahaziah gave 
 orders to have him apprehended. Two officers, 
 with fifty men each, successively perished by fire 
 from heaven, while endeavoring to execute tliis com- 
 mand ; but Elijah yielded to the supplications of a 
 third, and accompanied him into the presence of the 
 king, whom he again reproved for resorting to idols, 
 instead of betaking himself to Jehovah, and re- 
 peated his declaration that he should not recover. 
 The prophet's words were verified by the dejith of 
 zVliaziah, after a short reign of two years, A. M. 
 3108. He was succeeded by his brotlier Jehoram, 
 2 Kings i ; 2 Chron. xx. 35. 
 
 II. AHAZIAH, otherwise Jehoahaz, or Azariah, 
 king of Judah, son of Jehoram and Athaliah, suc- 
 ceeded his father, A. M. 311!», 2 Kings viii. 25; 2 
 Chron. xxii. 2. He was twenty-two years of age 
 when lie ascended the throne, and he r(>igned but 
 one year at Jerusalem. He followed tin; liouse of 
 Ahab, to which he wiis allied by his mother, and 
 did evil. Joram, king of Israel, having attacked 
 Ramoth-Gilead, was there dmigerously wounded ; 
 and i)eing carried to Jezreel for cure, Ahaziah, his 
 friend and relation, went thither to visit him. In 
 the mean time, Jehu, son of Niinshi, whom Joram 
 had left besieging Ramoth, rebelled against him, de- 
 signing to extirpate the house of Ahab, according to
 
 AHI 
 
 [35 ] 
 
 AHI 
 
 tlie commandment of the Lord, and for tliis pur- 
 pose set out for Jezreel witli a party of horsemen. 
 Joram and Ahaziah, ignorant of his intentions, went 
 to meet him. Jehu, after reproaching Joram with 
 tlic wickedness of his family, pierced hixn through 
 tiie heart with an an-ow. Aliaziah fled ; but Jehu's 
 people overtook him near Ibleam, and mortally 
 wounded him. He had sufticient strength, how- 
 ever, to reach Megiddo, where he died, (2 Kings ix. 
 21, &c.) or, as it would seem from 2 Chron. xxii. 8, 
 9. was sought out and put to death, by the command 
 of Jehu. The text of the book of Chronicles im- 
 ports that Ahaziah was forty-two years of age when 
 he began to reign, in which it differs from that of 
 the Kings. This difficulty, however, may be re- 
 moved, by reading with the Septuagint, Syriac, and 
 Arabic versions, twenty-two instead of forty-two ; 
 on the supposition that the reading in Chronicles 
 arose ia transcribing, by the substitution of 2~, 42, 
 for 22, 22. 
 
 AHIAH, son and successor to the high-priest 
 Ahitub, 1 Sam. xiv. 3. His son Ahimelech was 
 put to death by Saul, 1 Sam. xxii. 18. There are 
 several other pei-sons of this name mentioned in the 
 Scriptuie history, but none of any importance. 
 
 AHIEZER, son of Anmiishaddai, and chief of 
 the tribe of Dan, who came out of Egj'pt at the 
 head of 72,000 men of his tribe. His offering was 
 the same as that of his fellow-chiefs, Numb. vii. 
 m, 67. 
 
 I. AHI JAH, a prophet of the Lord, who dwelt at 
 Shilo, and is conjectured by some to be the person 
 who spoke twice to Solomon from God, 1 Kings vi. 
 11 ; xi. 11. Ahijah wrote the history of this prince's 
 life, 2 Chron. ix. 29. Jeroboam, going one day out 
 of Jerusalem, was mot by the prophet Ahijah, (1 
 Kings xi. 29.) Avho took a new mantle, in which he 
 liad Avi-apped hhnself, (see Veil,) from off his shoul- 
 ders, and, tearing it in twelve pieces, gave ten of 
 them to Jeroboam, and declared that God would 
 thus rend the kingdom, after the death of Solomon, 
 and give ten of the tribes to himself. See 1 Kings 
 xii. 2, seq. 
 
 Jeroboam's son having fallen sick, his wife went 
 in disguise to Ahijah, to inquire whether he would 
 recover. Notwithstanding the disguise of the queen 
 and his own blindness, however, the prophet dis- 
 covered her, and foretold the death of her son, and 
 the entire extirpation of the house of Jeroboam, 1 
 Kings xiv. The event was answerable to the pre- 
 diction. Aliijah, in all probability, did not long 
 survive. 
 
 H. AHIJAH, ftither of Baasha, king of Israel, 1 
 Kings XV. 27. Baasha killed Nadab, son of Jero- 
 boam, and usurped his kingdom, thereby executing 
 the predictions of the prophet Ahijah. 
 
 AHIKAM, son of Shaphan, and father of Geda- 
 liah, sent by Josiah to consult Huldah, the prophet- 
 ess, concerning the book of the law, found in the 
 temple, 2 Kings xxii. 12 ; xxv. 22 ; Jer. xxvi. 24 ; 
 -xl. 6. 
 
 AHIMAAZ, son of Zadok t!ie high-priest, succeed- 
 ed his father about A. M. 3000, under Solomon. He 
 rendered David very important service during the 
 war with Absalom, 2 Sam. xv. 27, seq. xvii. 17. 
 While his father, Zadok, was in Jerusalem with 
 Hushai the friend of David, Ahimaaz with Jona- 
 than continued a little way ^vithout the city, near 
 the fountain Rogel. Being infonned of the resolu- 
 tions of Absalom's council, they immediately has- 
 tened to give the king intelligence ; but being dis- 
 
 covered by a young lad, who infonned Absalom, he 
 sent orders to pursue them. Ahimaaz and Jona- 
 than, fearing to be taken, retired to a man's house at 
 Bahaiim, in whose court-yard was a well, in the 
 sides of which they concealed themselves. Upon 
 the mouth of this well the woman of the house 
 spread a covering, and on the covering, corn ground, 
 or rather parched. When Absalom's people came, 
 and inquired after them, the woman answered, 
 " They have passed over the Uttle brook of Avater." 
 Deceived by this answer, the pursuers passed over a 
 brook at no great distance, but not finding them, re- 
 turned to Jerusalem, and Ahimaaz and Jonathan 
 continued their journey to David. After the battle 
 in which Absalom was slain, Ahimaaz was the first 
 who arrived with the fatal intelhgence to the king. 
 Some years afterwards, Ahimaaz succeeded his 
 father in the high-priesthood, and was himself suc- 
 ceeded by Azariah his son, 1 Chron. vi. 9. 
 
 AHIM AN, a giant of the race of Anak, who dwelt 
 at Hebron, when the spies visited the land of Ca- 
 naan, Numb. xiii. 22. He was driven from Hebron 
 with his brethren, Sheshai and Talmai, when Caleb 
 took that city. Josh. xv. 14. 
 
 I. AHIMELECH, son of Ahitub, and brother of 
 Ahiah, whom he succeeded in the high-priesthood. 
 David, flying from Saul, (1 Sam. xxi. 1.) went to 
 Nob, where Ahimelech, with other priests, then 
 dwelt, and representing to the liigh-priest that he 
 was on pressing business from the king, obtained the 
 shew-bread, and also the sword which he had won 
 from Gohah. Doeg, the Edomite, who was then at 
 Nob, related what had passed to Saul, who imme- 
 diately sent for Ahimelech and the other priests, 
 and, after accusing them of having conspired with 
 David, commanded his guards to slay them. These 
 having refused to execute the sanguinary man- 
 date, the king commanded Doeg to execute the 
 deed, which he immediately did, and massacred 
 fourscore and five persons. He went afterwards 
 to Nob, with a party of soldiers, and put men, 
 women, children, and cattle, to the sword. One of 
 Ahimelech's sons, (Abiathar,) however, escaped the 
 carnage, and retired to David, 1 Sam. xxi. xxii. 
 Probably Ahmielech himself also bore the name of 
 Abiathar. See Abiathar, and Abimelech IV. 
 
 II. AHIMELECH, or, as he is also called, Abi- 
 melech, probably the same as Abiathar, which 
 see, 1 Chron. xxiv. 3. 6. 31 ; 2 Sam. \iii. 17. Comp. 
 1 Chron. xviii. 16. 
 
 AHINADAB, son of Iddo, governor of the dis- 
 trict of Mahanaim, beyond Jordan, under Solomon, 
 1 Kings iv. 14. 
 
 I. AHINOAM, daughter of Ahimaaz, and wife 
 of Saul, 1 Sam. xiv. 50. 
 
 II. AHINO.AiM, David's second wife, and mother 
 of Amnou, was a native of Jezreel. She was taken 
 by the Amalekites when they plundered Ziklag, but 
 was recovered by David, 1 Sam. xxx. 5. 
 
 AHIO, with his brother Uzzah, conducted the ark 
 from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem, 1 Chron. 
 xiii. 7. See Uzzah. 
 
 AHIRA, son of Euan, chief of Naphtali, (Numb, 
 ii. 29.) came out of Egypt at the head of 53,400 
 men. 
 
 AHITHOPHEL, a native of Gillo, and a person 
 who bore a conspicuous part in the war between 
 Absalom and his father David. He was originally 
 one of David's most intimate and valued fi-iends, but 
 upon the defection and rebelUon of Absalom, he es- 
 poused the cause of that prince, and became one of
 
 AI 
 
 [36 ] 
 
 AJ A 
 
 the bitterest enemies to liis sovereign. Upon hear- 
 ing of Ahithophel's position in the party of Absalom, 
 David became extremely uneasy, and after ])raying 
 that the Lord would turn his counsel into foolisji- 
 ness, he despatched Hushai, who had accompanied 
 him hi his flight, to Jerusalem, for the {)urpose of 
 endeavoring to counteract the effects of Ahithophel's 
 expected advice. The anticipations of David, as to 
 the counsel of this eminent statesman, were not 
 without foundation, for the measures he recom- 
 mended were of u description the most calculated 
 to extinguish all the authority and power of the 
 king, and secure the success of the usurper's designs. 
 Ahithophel advised, in the first ])lace, that Absalom 
 should puljlicly abuse his father's concubines ; for 
 the purpose, no doul)t, of impressing the public mind 
 with an idea, that the breach with his lather was 
 irreconcilable, and also of inducing Absalom, under 
 the impression that all probability of pardon was 
 past, to follow up his i)kms witli determination and 
 vigor. In addition to this, lie proposed that David 
 should be innuediately pursued by twelve thousand 
 chosen men, who might come up with him while he 
 was weary, and fall u|)on him while oft' his guard. 
 The advice was a])proved by Absalom and his chiefs, 
 but was defeated by the prompt and skilful interpo- 
 sition of Hushai, who foresaw its consequences uj)on 
 David. (See Hushai.) Ahithophel, foreseeing that 
 the plan proposed by Hushai woidd most probably 
 issue in the defeat of Absalom, and the return of 
 the king, returned to Gillo, where he hanged him- 
 self, and thus averted that ignominious pimishment 
 which he justly apprehended as the reward of his 
 perfidy, 2 Sam. xv. 12 ; xvi. 15, seq. xvii. Ahith- 
 ophel seems to have been the grandfather of Bath- 
 sheba, 2 Sam. xxiii. 34. compared with xi. 3. 
 
 I. AHITUB, the son of Phinehas, and gi-and- 
 8on and successor of Eli, the high-priest, 1 Sam. 
 xiv. 3. 
 
 n. AHITUB, son of Amariah, and father of Za- 
 dok, the high-priest, 1 Chron. vi. 8. It is uncertain 
 whether he ever sustained the sacerdotal character 
 himself. See Amariah I. 
 
 AHIHUD, the son of Shelomi, of Aslier, and one 
 of the conmiissioners appointed by Moses to divide 
 the land of Canaan, Num. xxxiv. 27. 
 
 AHOLAH, and AIIOLIBAH, two fictitious or 
 symbolical names, adojjted by Ezekiel, (cha]). xxiii. 
 4.) to denote the two kingdoms of .ludali and Sama- 
 ria. They are represented as sisters, and of Egyp- 
 tian extraction. ./Jliotith stands for Samaria, and 
 Aholihah for Jtrusakm. The first signifies a tent, 
 (i. e. she has a tent or tabernacle of her own — her 
 religion and worship is a human invention ;) tlu; 
 second, my tent i.i mth her, (i. e. I, the Lord, have 
 given to lier a tabernacle and religious service.) 
 They both ])rostituted themselves to the Egyptians 
 and Assyrians, in imitating their abominations and 
 idolatries; wherefore the I.ord abandoned tlicm to 
 the power of those very |)eople, for whom they 
 showed such excessive and imi)ure affection. They 
 were carried into captivity, and reduced to the se- 
 verest servitude. 
 
 AHOLIAB, son of Ahisamach, of Dan, appointed 
 with Itezaleel to construct the tabernacle, p]xod. 
 XXXV. 34. 
 
 AHUZZATH, tlie friend of Abimelech, king of 
 Gerar, who accompanied him with Pliicol, a general 
 in his army, when lie visited Isaac at Beer-sheba, to 
 make an alhance with him, Gen. xxvi. 20. 
 
 I. A I, a city near Bethel, eastward, Josh. vii. 2. 
 
 The LXX call it /"ui, '.^yyai', and Josephus, ./lina; 
 others Jliah and Math. Joshua having detached 
 3000 men against Ai, God permitted them to be re- 
 pidsed, on account of the sin of Achan, who had 
 violated the anathema pronounced against Jericho, 
 by appropriating some of the spoil. (See Achan.) 
 After the expiation of this offence, Joshua sent by 
 night 30,000 men to lie in ambush behind the city, 
 and, early the next morning, marched upon it with 
 the remainder of his army. The king of Ai sallied 
 hastily out of the town with his troops, and attacked 
 the Israelites, who fled, as if under great terror, and 
 by this feint drew the enemy into the plain. When 
 Joshua saw the whole of them out of the gates, he 
 elevated his spear, as a signal to the ambuscade, 
 which immediately entered the place, now without 
 defence, and set it on fire. The people of Ai, per- 
 ceiving the rising smoke, endeavored to return, but 
 found those who had set fire to the city in their 
 rear, while Joshua and his army, advancing in front, 
 destroyed them all. The king was taken alive, 
 brought to Joshua, and afterwards hanged. Josh. 
 viii. Ai was aftenvards rebuilt, and is mentioned 
 under the name of Aiath, Is. x. 28. After the exile, 
 its former inhabitants, Benjamitts, returned again to 
 their former home, Ezra ii. 23 ; Neh. vii. 32 ; xi. 31. 
 In the time of Euscbius and Jerome, its ruins only 
 were visible. Euseb. Onomast. under 'Jyyui. 
 
 A difticulty has been felt in reconciling the relations 
 ill ch. viii. ver. 3 and 12. In tlie former verse, the 
 writer says, that Joshua chose out 30,000 men, and 
 sent them away by night, to lie in ambush between 
 Bethel and Ai ; whereas the latter states that he ciiose 
 5000 men the next morning, whom he sent to lie in 
 ambush also between Bethel and Ai. IMasius allows 
 5000 men for the ambuscade, and 25,000 for the attack 
 of the city, being persuaded, that an army of (;00,000 
 men could only create confusion on this occasion, 
 without either necessity for, or advantage in, such 
 numbers. The generality of interpreters, however, 
 acknowledge two bodies to be ))laced in ambuscade, 
 both between Bethel and Ai, one of 25,000, the other 
 of 5000 men. Let it be stated thus: Joshua at first 
 sent 30,000 men, who marched by night, and, to 
 avoid discovery, went behind the eminences of 
 Bethel. These posted themselves at the place ap- 
 pointed for the aml)usca<le. The officer at the head 
 of them then detached 5000 men, who lay hid as 
 near as possible to the town, in order to throw them- 
 selves into it on the first o])portimity. — Interjireters 
 are divided in opinion, Jis to the nature of the signal 
 used by Joshua iqion this occasion. Some suppose 
 that the instrument he employed was a shield ele- 
 vated on the point of a spear, and others that it was 
 a javelin ; the ral)bins i)elievc it to have been a staff' 
 belonging to some of th(Mr Cf)lors. 
 
 If. A I, in Jer. xlix. 3. seems to have been a city 
 in the land of the Ammonites, not far from Kab- 
 bah. 
 
 ALAH, mother of liizpah, who was Saul's concu- 
 bine. David delivered her children to the Gibeon- 
 itcs, to lie hanged befon; the Lord, 2 Sam. xxi. 8, 
 
 AJALON, (fi-om ^^n n deer, properly deer-Jicld,) 
 the name of at least three cities in Israel. 
 
 1. A.TAi.oN in Dan, assigned to the Levites of Ko- 
 hath's family, Josh. xix. 42 ; xxi. 24. It lay in or 
 near a valley, not fju- fi-om the \alley of Gibeon, be- 
 tweeen Bethshemesh and Timnatli, (2 Chron.xxviii, 
 18.) and is the jdace in which Joshua commanded 
 the light of the moon to be stayed, Josh. x. 12. It 
 is jirobably tlie place mentioned by Jerome as beinff
 
 ALA 
 
 [37] 
 
 ALE 
 
 situated near Nicopolis, about 20 miles N. W. of Je- 
 rusalem. 
 
 2. Ajalon, in Benjamin, fortified by Rehoboam, 
 2 Chron. xi. 10. A city of this name is mentioned 
 by Eusebius as being three miles east of Bethel. 
 
 3. Ajalo.v, in the tribe of Zabulun, where Elon 
 was buried, Judg. xii. 12. 
 
 AIN, (a fountain,) a city first given to the tribe of 
 Judali, and then to the Simeouites, Josh. xv. 32. 1 
 Chron. iv. 32. 
 
 AIR. The air, or atmosphere, surrounding the 
 earth, is often denoted by the w^ord heaven ; so the 
 birds of the heaven — for the birds of the air. God 
 rained fire and brimstone on Sodom from heaven, 
 that is, from the air, Gen. xix. 24, " Let fire come 
 down from heaven," that is, from the air, 2 Kings i. 
 10. 3Ioses menaces Israel with the effects of God's 
 wrath, by destruction with a pestilential air, (Deut. 
 xxviii. 22.) or perhaps with a scorching wind, pro- 
 ducing mortal diseases ; or with a blast which ruins 
 the corn, 1 Kings viii. 37. See Wind. 
 
 To "l)oat the air," and to "speak in the air," (1 
 Cor. ix. 2G; xiv. 9.) are modes of expression used in 
 most languages, signifying — to speak or act without 
 judgment, or understanding; or to no purpose; to 
 fatigue ourselves in vain. "The powers of the air" 
 (Eph. ii. 2.) probably mean devils, who exercise 
 their powers principally in the air; exciting winds, 
 storms, and tempests, or other malign influences, 
 (see Job i. 7.) and to which, perhaps, the apostle 
 may allude; if it be not rather an accommodation 
 to the Jewish beUef which was current in his days, 
 tliat the air was the abode of evil spirits. See 
 Angel. 
 
 ALABARCHA, a term not found in Scripture, 
 but which Josephus uses repeatedly, to signify the 
 ciiief of the Jews in Alexandria. Philo calls this 
 magistrate, /'t '"?/',?, Genarches, and Josephus, in 
 some places, Ethnarches ; which terms signify the 
 prince, or chief, of a nation. Some believe, that the 
 tcnn alabarch was given, in raillery, to the principal 
 magistrate, or head of the Jews at Alexandria, by 
 the Gentiles, who despised the Jews. Some derive 
 it froui AlcAa, which signifies ink, to write with ; 
 Mabarcha would then signify the "chief secretary," 
 or collector of the customs and duties on cattle car- 
 ried out of the country. Fuller derives it from the 
 Syriac Halaph, and Arcin, or Arcon, that is, the in- 
 tendant, or the sovereign's delegate ; for in places 
 where the Jews were numerous, a princijjal of their 
 own nation, or some other to whom they might ad- 
 dress themselves, in their own affairs, was placed 
 over them. Perhaps it originally signified the per- 
 son Avho had the custom of salt; Init was wantonly 
 given to the head, or goveruoi", of the Jews at Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 ALABASTER, a genus of fossils having the color 
 of the human nail, nearly allied to marbles, and, 
 according to Pliny, found in the neighborhood of 
 Thebes, in Egypt, and about Damascus, in Syria. 
 This material being very generally used to fabricate 
 vessels for holding unguents, and perfumed liquids, 
 many vessels were called alabaster, though made of 
 a different substance, as gold, silver, glass, etc. In 
 Matt. xxvi. G, 7. we read, that, Jesus being at table in 
 Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman 
 (Mary, sister of Lazarus, John xii. 3.) poured an ala- 
 baster box of precious ointment on his head. Mark 
 eays "she brake the box," signifying, probably, that 
 the seal upon the box, or upon the neck of the vase 
 or bottle, which kept the perfume from evaporating. 
 
 had never been removed, but was, on this occasion, 
 frst opened, 
 
 ALCIMUS, or, as he is called by Josephus, Jaci- 
 MU9, or Joachim, high-priest of the JeAvs, A. M. 
 3842. He w-as of the sacerdotal race, but his ances- 
 tors had never enjoyed the high-priesthood. Be- 
 sides, he had been polluted wnth idolatry, during the 
 persecution of Autiochus Epiphanes, (2 Mace. xiv. 
 3.) and he obtained his dignity by very irreo^ular 
 means. After the death of Menelaus, he was con- 
 firmed in his office by Antiochus Eupator, but did 
 not perform its functions till after the death of Judas 
 Maccabanis. Having obtained intelligence that De- 
 metrius, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, had privately 
 left Rome, and arrived in Syria, he put himself at 
 the head of the apostate Jews who were then at 
 Antioch, and throwing himself at the feet of the new 
 king, besought him to defend them from the violence 
 of Judas Maccabaeus, whom he accused as an op- 
 pressor of the king's i)arty, and who had dispersed 
 and driven them out of their country. He also en- 
 treated him to send some one into Judea, to examine 
 into the mischiefs and disorders committed by Judan 
 Maccabseus, and to chastise his insolence. Deme- 
 trius immediately sent Bacchides with an army into 
 Judea, and, confirming Alcimus in his office of high- 
 priest, charged them both with the conduct of tlio 
 war. Upon their arrival in Judea, they endeavored 
 to ensnare Judas and his brethren, under the pre- 
 tence of treating with them ; but suspecting or dis- 
 covering the snare, the brothers happily avoided it. 
 About sixty Assideans, however, and many scribes 
 and doctors of the law, relying on his oath, that no 
 injury should be offered to them, put themselves iu 
 his power, and were all murdered. 
 
 Bacchides, having established Alcimus by force 
 in Judea, returned into Syria, having committed the 
 province to Alcimus, and left troops sufficient for 
 the purpose. Alcimus, for some time, successfully 
 defended himself, but Judas soon recovered tlie su- 
 periority, and Alcimus returned to the king, with a 
 present of a gold crown, a palm-tree, and golden 
 branches ; which, in all probability, he had taken 
 out of the temple, 9 Mace. xiv. 3, 4, &c. Having 
 represented to Demetrius that his authority could 
 not be established in Judea so long as Judas lived, 
 the king sent another army against him, under the 
 command of Nicanor, 1 Mace. vii. 25, seq. After 
 several ineffectual attempts to secure the j)erson of 
 Judas, Nicanor was killed at Capharsalama, and his 
 army routed. Demetrius, being informed of this, 
 again sent Bacchides and Alcimus, with a strong re- 
 inforcement, formed of the choicest of his troops. 
 Judas, whose little army had been so reduced, that 
 he had not above eight hundred men, ventured, with 
 this small force, to attack the enemy, and after prod- 
 igies of valor, died, overwhelmed by numbers, 1 
 Mace. ix. 1—22. 
 
 The death of Judas delivered Alcimus and his 
 party from a formidable enemy, and he began to ex- 
 ercise the offices of the high-priesthood ; but, at- 
 tempting to pull down the Avail of the inner court, 
 which had lieen built by the prophets, (that, proba- 
 bly, which separated the altar of burnt-offerings from 
 the priest's court,) God punished him bj^ a stroke of 
 the palsy, of Avhich he died, after enjoying the pon- 
 tificate three or four years, 1 Mace. vii. 9 ; ix. 54. 
 A. M. 3844. 
 
 ALEMA, a city in Gilead, beyond Jordan, 1 Mace. 
 V. 26. 
 
 ALEMETH, a city of refuge, in the tribe of Ben-
 
 ALEXANDER 
 
 [38] 
 
 ALEXANDER 
 
 jamin, (1 Chroii. vi. 60.) called Almon, in Josh, 
 xxi. 18. 
 
 ALEPH, (n,) the name of the first letter in the He- 
 hrew alphaljet, whence the Alpha of the Greeks is 
 derived. (See A.) Certain psalms, and other parts 
 of Scripture, begin with Meph ; and the verses fol- 
 lowuig, with the succeeding letters of the alphabet, 
 in then- order. These are called alphabetic psahns, 
 etc. See Psalms, and Letters. 
 
 L ALEXANDER the Great, son and successor 
 of Philip king of Maccdon, is denoted in the prophe- 
 cies of Daniel, by a Icojjard with four wings, signi- 
 fying his great strength, and the unusual rapidity of 
 his conquests, cli. \-ii. G ; also as a one-horned he- 
 goat, running over the earth so swiftly as not to 
 toucli it ; attacking a ram -with two horns, over- 
 throwing him, and trampling him under foot, with- 
 out any being able to rescue him, ch. viii. 4 — 7. The 
 he-goat prefigured Alexander ; the ram, Darius Codo- 
 mannus, the last of the Persian kings. In the statue 
 beheld by Nebuchadnezzar, in a dream, (ch. ii. 39.) 
 the belly of brass was the emblem of Alexander, and 
 the legs of iron designated his successors. He was 
 appointed by God to destroy the Persian empire, 
 and to substitute the Grecian monarchy. Alexan- 
 <ler was born at Pella, ante A. D. 355. Philip was 
 killed at a marriage feast, when Alexander was 
 aliout eighteen. After he had performed the last 
 duties to his father, he was chosen by the Greeks 
 genei'al of their troops against the Persians, and en- 
 tered Asia with an army of 34,000 men, A. M. 3670. 
 In one campaign he subdued almost all Asia Minor. 
 He defeated Orobates, one of Darius's generals ; and 
 Darius himself, whose army consisted of 400,000 
 foot, and 100,000 horse, in the narrow passes which 
 load from Syria to Cilicia. Darius fled, abandoning 
 his camp and baggage, his children, wife, and 
 mother. After he had subdued Syria, Alexander 
 came to Tyre, and the Tyrians opposing his en- 
 trance into their city, he besieged it. At the same 
 time he wrote to Jaddus, high-priest of the Jews, 
 that he expected to be acknowledged by him, and to 
 i*eceive those suljmissions Avhich had hitherto been 
 paid to the king of Persia. Jaddus refusing to com- 
 ply, as having sworn fidelity to Darius, Alexander 
 resolved to march against Jerusalem, when he had 
 reduced Tyre. After a j)rotractcd siege, the city 
 was taken and sacked. This done, Alexander en- 
 tered Palestine, and reduced it. As he was maich- 
 ing against Jerusalem, intending to punish tlie high- 
 priest, Jaddus, fearing his resentment, had recoiu'se 
 to God by prayers and sacrifices. The Lord, in a 
 dream, commanded Jaddus to open the gates to the 
 conqueror, and, dressed in jiis pontifical ornaments, 
 attended by the priests, in their Ibrmalities, at the 
 head of iiis peo])le, to receive Alexander in triumph. 
 Jaddus obeyed ; and Alexander, seeing from a dis- 
 tance this (•omj)any advancing, was struck with ad- 
 miration, and approaching tin; high-priest, he saluted 
 him first, then adored God, whose name was en- 
 graven on a tiiin (tlate of gold worn by tin; high- 
 priest on his forclicad. Tin; peopi", in the mean 
 Avhile, surrouiuhid Alexander, with gnat acclama- 
 tions. The kings of Syria, wjio accompanied him, 
 and the gnat officers about Alexander, coidd not 
 comprehend tiie meaning of his conduct. Parmenio 
 alone ventured to ask. Why lie, to whom all ])eople 
 prostrated themselves, had jirostrated hims-df before 
 the high-priest of the Jews? Alexander replied, 
 that he paid this respect to God, and not to the liigh- 
 priest ; "for," adde(l he, '" winle I was yet. in Mace- 
 
 donia, I saw the God of the Jews, who appeared to 
 me in the same form and dress as this high-priest , 
 he encouraged me to march my army with expe- 
 dition into Asia, promising, under his guidance, to 
 render me master of the Persian empire. For tljis 
 reason, as soon as I perceived this habit, I recollect- 
 ed the vision, and understood that my undertaking 
 was favored by God, and that, under his protection, 
 I might expect very soon to obtain the Persian em- 
 pire, and happily to accomplish all my designs." 
 Having said this, Alexander accompanied Jaddus 
 into the city, and offered sacrifices in the temple, 
 ])unctually conforming to the directions of the priests, 
 and leavmg to the high-priest the honors and func- 
 tions annexed to his dignity. Jaddus showing him 
 the prophecies of Daniel, in which it was said that 
 a Grecian prince should destroy the Persian empire, 
 the king was confirmed in his opinion, that God had 
 chosen him to execute that great work. At his de- 
 parture, he bade the Jews ask what they Avould of 
 him; but the high-priest desired only the hberty of 
 living under his government, according to then* own 
 laws, with an exemption from tribute evei-y seventh 
 year, because in that year the Jews neither tilled 
 their grounds, nor reaped their products. Alexan- 
 der readily granted this request ; and as they be- 
 sought him to grant the same favor to the Jews be- 
 yond the Euphrates, in Babylonia and Media, he 
 promised that pri^ ilege, as soon as he had conquered 
 those provinces. This done, he left Jerusalem, and 
 visited other cities ; being every where received 
 with great testimonies of friendship and submission. 
 The Samaritans who dwelt at Sichem, observing 
 how kindly Alexander had treated tlie Jews, re- 
 solved to say that they also were, by religion, Jews ; 
 for it was their practice, when they saw the aftairs of 
 the Jews prosper, to boast that they were descend- 
 ed from Manasseh and Ephraim ; but when they 
 thought it their interest to say tlie contrary, they 
 would not fail to affirm, and even to swear, that they 
 had no relation to the Jews. They came, therefore, 
 with many demonstrations ef joy, to nieet Alexan- 
 der ; entreated him to visit their temple and city, 
 and petitioned him for an exemption from taxes 
 every seventh year, because they also neither tilled 
 nor reaped that year. Alexander replied, that he 
 had granted this exemption only to Jews; but at his 
 return, he would inquire into the matter, and do 
 them justice. Joseph. Ant. xi. c. 8. 
 
 It shoidd here be observed, that these accounts 
 of Alexander's reverence for the high-jjriest, his 
 dream, etc. rest only on the authority of Josc- 
 phus, and are probably to .be regarded as a Jewish 
 legend. R. 
 
 Alexander, having conquered Egypt, and regu- 
 lated it, gave orders for the continr.ation of his new 
 city, Alexandria, and de])arteil thence about spring, 
 into the East, in pursuit of Darius. Passing through 
 Palestine, he was infbniied that the Samaritans, in 
 a general insurrection, had killed Androiuachus, 
 governor of Syria anil Palestine, v.lio, coming to 
 Samaria, to regulate sonn- afiairs, had been burned 
 in his house by the inhabitants. This action highly 
 incensed Alexander, who loved Andromnchus, and 
 he therefore ordered all who were concerned in his 
 nun-der to be executed ; the rest he banished from 
 Samaria, and settled a colony of IMacedonians in 
 their room. The Samaritans who escaped this ca- 
 lamity, collected in Sichem, at the foot of mount Ge- 
 rizim, Avhich became their capital, as it still contin- 
 ues. And lest the 8000 men of this nation, who
 
 ALEXANDER 
 
 [39] 
 
 ALEXANDER 
 
 were iu his service, and had accompanied hiin since 
 the siege of Tyre, if sent back into their own couu- 
 tiy, niiglit renew the spirit of rebellion, Alexander 
 sent them into Thebais, the most remote southern 
 province of Eg}'pt, and there assigned them lands. 
 Joseph, c. Apion. ii. 
 
 After Alexander had subdued Asia, and opened a 
 v/ay to India, with incredible rapidity, he gave him- 
 self up to intemperance ; and having drank to ex- 
 cess., ho fell sick, and died, after he had obliged " all 
 the world to be quiet before him," 1 Mace. i. 3. 
 Being sensible that his end was near, he sent for his 
 court, and declared, that " he gave the cmjiire to the 
 most deserving." Some afiirm, however, that he 
 regulated the succession by a will. The autlior of the 
 first hook of Maccabees (chap. i. G.) says, he divided 
 lii? kingdom among his generals while he was living; 
 and it is certain, that a partition was made of his 
 dominions among the four principal officers of his 
 aruiy. He died A. M. 3681, ante A. D. 323, at the 
 age of thirty-three, after reigning twelve yeai*s ; six 
 as kirig of IMacedon, and six as monarch of Asia, 
 He was buried at Alexandria. 
 
 The name of Alexander is equally celebrated iu 
 the \^Titings of the orientals, as in those of the 
 Greeks and Romans ; but they vary extremely from 
 the accounts which Avestern historians give of him. 
 They call him Iscanier Dulliarnaira, " double- 
 horned Alexander," alluding to the two horns of his 
 empire (or his pov\'er) in the east and v/est. 
 
 n. ALEXANDER Balas, so called from Bala, 
 his mother, was the natural son of Antiochus Epipha- 
 ncs: he is, on medals, surnamed Theopator Euer- 
 getes. Some historians, however, will not allow him 
 to be even the natural son of Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 Florus calls him an unknoAvn person, and of uncer- 
 tain extraction. Justin says that the enemies of De- 
 metrius, king of Syria, suborned a young man, from 
 among the meanest of the people, to declare himself 
 son and heir of Antiochus ; and that he, warring 
 witli success against the king of Syria, obtained his 
 kingdom. Appian affirms that Alexander Balas pre- 
 tended to be of the family of the Seleucidas, without 
 any right to that pretension ; and Athona^us says, 
 that he was the supposed son of Antiochus E])iph- 
 anes. But the Roman senate, the Jews, the Egj'p- 
 tians, and the Syrians, acknowledged him as son and 
 heir of that prince. Heraclides of Byzantium was 
 the person who undertook to seat Alexander Balas 
 on the throne of Syria, and to displace Demeti'ius, 
 who was his particular enemy. He carried Alexan- 
 der, and Laodicea, a daughter of Antiochus Epi])h- 
 anes, to Rome, and by presents and intrigue pre- 
 vailed on the senate not only to acknowledge Alex- 
 ander as the heir of Antiochus, but also to afford him 
 assistance in recovering the dominions of his father. 
 Having made preparations at Ephesus to prosecute 
 the war against Demetrius, Alexander sailed into 
 Syria, and having obtained possession of Ptolemais, 
 he wrote to Jonathan Maccaba?us, sending him a 
 purple robe and a crown of gold, to induce him to 
 espouse his cause, 1 3Iacc. x. 18. Jonathan yielded 
 to his solicitation, and, notwithstanding the liberal 
 promises and assurances of Demetrius, declared for 
 Alexander. 
 
 The contending kings committed the determina- 
 tion of their cause to a decisive battle, in which De- 
 metrius, after being deserted by his troops, and per- 
 forming prodigies of valor, was slain, 1 Mace. x. 48, 
 etc. Jos. Ant. xiii. 2. Alexander Balas, having thus 
 obtained possession of the kingdom, determined to 
 
 strengthen himselPby an alliance with the king of 
 EgJTt, whose daughter he demanded in man-iage. 
 Ptolemy complied with the demand, and the mar- 
 riage was concluded at Ptolemais, where the two 
 kings met, 1 ]\lacc. x. 51—58. Jos. Ant. xiii. 4, 
 Jonathan was also present, and received marks of 
 distinction from both the princes. 
 
 Alexander Balas, however, did not long remain 
 undisturbed in possession of his throne. Within 
 two years, Demetrius Nicator, the eldest son of the 
 former Demetrius Soter, at the head of some troops 
 which he had received from Lasthenes, of Crete, 
 passed into Cihcia. Alexander was then in Phu;- 
 nicia, but instantly returned to Ajitioch, that he 
 might prepare for the arrival of Demetrius. In the 
 mean time, Apollonius, who had received the com- 
 mand of Demetrius's troops, was defeated by Jona- 
 than Maccabajus and his brother Simon, who also 
 took Azotus and Ascalon, and returneU laden with 
 spoil to Jerusalem. Alexander, in reward for these 
 services, advanced Jonathan to neAv honors, sent 
 hhn the buckle of gold, which was generally given 
 only to near relations of the king, and made an ad- 
 dition to his territory, 1 I>Iacc. x. C9. 
 
 While this was transpiring in Syria, Ptolemy Plii- 
 lometer was devising how to unite the kingdom of 
 Syria with Egypt, and de'terniinod uj)on private 
 measures to destroy both Demetrius Nicator and 
 Alexander Balas. Under pretence of assisting his 
 son-in-law Alexander, he entered Syria with a pow- 
 erful army, and after having seized several cities, 
 he represented that Balas had prepared ambuscades 
 for him in Ptolemais, Avith intention to surprise him. 
 Ptolemy advanced to Antioch without resistance, 
 assumed the throne, and put on his head the two 
 diadems of Egj'pt and Syria, 1 Mace. xi. 1 — 13. 
 Jos. Ant. xiii. 4. 
 
 Balas, who had returned into Cihcia, there gath- 
 ered a numerous armj-, with which he marched 
 against Ptolemy and Demetrius Nicator, now con- 
 federated against him, and gave them battle on the 
 river Q^naeparas ; but being overcome, he fled, with 
 five hundred horse, into Arabia ; where Zabdiel, a 
 prince of the Arabians, cut oft' his head, and sent it 
 to Ptolemy. Such is the history, at least iu the first 
 book of JMaccabees, (xi. 15 — 17.) hut other histori- 
 ans relate, that Alexander's generals, considering 
 their own interests and security, treated privately 
 with Demetrius, treacherously kUled their master, 
 and sent his head to Ptolemy at Antioch, A. M. 
 3359. Alexander Balas left a son very young, called 
 Antiochus Theos, whom Tryphon raised to the 
 throne of Syria. 
 
 III. ALEXANDER Ja>n.eus, third son of John 
 Hircanus, who left three sons, or five, according to 
 Joscphus, de Bello, i. 3. The father was particularly 
 fond of Antigonus and Aristobulus, but could not 
 endui-e his third son, Alexander, because he had 
 dreamed that he would reign after him ; which 
 dream extremely afflicted him, inasmuch as, accord- 
 ing to the law of nature, it implied the death of his 
 two brothers. Events justified the dream. Antigo- 
 nus never reigned, and Aristobulus reigned but for a 
 short time. After his death, Salome, or Alexandra, 
 his Avidow, liberated Alexander, whom Aristobulus 
 had confined in prison since their father's death, and 
 made him king. Alexander, being seated on the 
 throne, put to death one of his brothers, who had 
 formed a design on his life, and heaped favors on 
 another, called Absalom, who, being contented with 
 a private condition, lived peaceably, and retired
 
 ALEXANDER 
 
 [40] 
 
 ALEXANDER 
 
 from public employments. Alexander was of a 
 warlike, enterprising disposition ; and when he had 
 regulated his dominions, he marched against Ptole- 
 mais, but a\ as soon compelled to relinquish the ob- 
 ject of his expedition, in order to defend his own 
 territories against Ptolemy Lathyrus, who had 
 marched a powerful army into Galilee. Alexander 
 gave him battle near Asoj)hus, not far from the Jor- 
 dan ; but Ptolemy killed 30,000, or, as others say, 
 50,000 of his men. After this \nctory, he met with 
 uo resistance. His mother, Cleopatra, however, ap- 
 prehensive for the safety of Egypt, determined to 
 stop his further progi-ess, and for this purpose levied 
 a mmierous army, and equipping a large fleet, soon 
 landed in Phoenicia. Ptolemais opened its gates to 
 receive her; and here Alexander Jannjeus presented 
 liimself in her camp with considerable presents, and 
 was received as an unhaj)py prince, an enemy of 
 Ptolemy, who had no i-efuge but the queen's protec- 
 tion. Cleopatra made an alliance with him in the 
 city of Scythopolis, and Alexander marched with his 
 troops into Coelo-Syria, where he took the town of 
 Gadara, after a siege of ten months, and after that 
 Amathus, one of the best fortresses in the country, 
 where Theodorus, son of Zeno, had lodged his most 
 valuable pro))erty, as in absolute security. This 
 Theodorus, falling suddenly on Alexander's army, 
 killed 10,000, and plundered his baggage. Alexan- 
 der, however, was not deterred by this disaster from 
 prosecuting his purposes: having recruited his army, 
 he besieged Raphia, Anthedon, and Gaza, towns on 
 the Mediterranean, and took them : the latter, after 
 a desperate resistance, was reduced to a heap of 
 ruins. 
 
 After this, Alexander returned to Jerusalem, but 
 did not find that peace he expected. The Jews re- 
 volted ; and on the feast of tabernacles, while he, as 
 high-]iriest, was preparing to sacrifice, the people 
 assembled in the temple had the insolence to throw 
 lemons at him, taken from the branches which they 
 carried in their hands. To these insults they added 
 reproaches, crying that he who had been a slave, 
 was not worthy to go up to the holy altar, and oflfer 
 solemn sacrifices. Provoked by this insolence, 
 Alexander jnit the seditious to the sword, and killed 
 about (),000. Afterwards he erected a partition of 
 wood before the altar and the inner temple, to ]>re- 
 vent the approach of the i)eople ; and to defend him- 
 self in fiiture against such attempts, he took into his 
 pay guards from Pisidia and Cilicia. Finding Jeru- 
 salem likely to continue the seat of clamor and 
 discontent, Alexander quitted the metropolis, at the 
 liead of his army ; and, having crossed the .Jordan, 
 he made war upon the ]\Ioabites and Anunonites, 
 and obliged them to pay tribute ; attacked Amathus, 
 the fortress beyond Jordan, before mentioned, and 
 razed it ; and also made war with 01)eda, king of the 
 Arabians, whom he subdued. On liis return to Je- 
 rusalem he found the Jews more incensed against 
 liim than r-ver ; and a civil war shortly ensued, in 
 which he killed aliove .50,000 persons. ' All his en- 
 deavors to bring about a reconciliation proving fi nit- 
 less, Alexander one day asked them what they would 
 have him do to acquire their good will. They an- 
 swered unanimously, ' that he had nothing to do but 
 to kill himself After this they sent deputies to de- 
 sire succors from Demetrius Euca^rus, against their 
 king, who marched into Judea, with 3000 horse, and 
 40,000 infantry, and encamped at Sichem. A battle 
 ensued, in which Alexander was defeated, and com- 
 pelled to fly to the mountains for shelter. This oc- 
 
 cun-ence, however, contributed to his re-establish- 
 ment, for a large number of the Jews, touched with 
 the unhappy condition of their king, joined him ; and 
 Deiiietrius, retiring into Syria, left the Je'\\ s to op- 
 pose their king with their own forces. Alexander, 
 collecting his army, marched against his rebellious 
 subjects, whom he overcame in every engagement, 
 and having shut up the fiercest of them in Bethom, 
 he forced the town, made them prisoners, and car- 
 ried them to Jerusalem, Avhere he ordered eight 
 hundred of them to be crucified before him, diu-ing 
 a great entertainment which he made for his friends ; 
 and before these unhappy wretches had expired, he 
 commanded their wives and children to be mur- 
 dered in their presence — an unheard-of and exces- 
 sive cruelty, which occasioned the jieople of his own 
 party to call him "Thracidcs," meaning "as cruel as 
 a Thracian." Some time afterwards, Antiochus, 
 surnamed Dionysius, having conquered Damascus, 
 resolved to invade Judea ; but Alexander defeated 
 his intention, and compelled him to return into 
 Arabia, where he Avas killed. Aretas, the succeed- 
 ing king of Damascus,' however, came into Judea, 
 and defeated Alexander, in the plain of Sephala. 
 A peace being concluded, Aretas returned to Da- 
 mascus ; and Alexander ingratiated himself with the 
 Jews. Having given himself up to excessive drink- 
 ing, he brought on a violent quartan fever, which 
 terminated his life. His queen, Alexandra, observ- 
 ing him to be near his end, and foreseeing all she 
 had to fear from a mutinous people, not easily gov- 
 erned, and her children not of age to conduct her 
 affairs, was gi-eatly distressed. Alexander told her, 
 that to reign in peace, she should conceal his death 
 from the army, till Ragaba, which he was then be- 
 sieging, was taken ; that, when returned to Jerusa- 
 lem, she should give the Pharisees some share in 
 the government : that she should send for the prin- 
 cipal of them, show them his dead body, give them 
 permission to treat it Avith what indignities they 
 pleased, in revenge for the ill treatment they had re- 
 ceived from him, and promise that she Avould in fu- 
 ture do nothing in the government without their 
 advice and participation, " If you do thus," he add- 
 ed, "you may be assured, they will make a very 
 honorable funeral for me, and you will reign in 
 peace, stqipoited by their credit and authority among 
 the people." Having said these words, he expired, 
 aged fortv-eight, after a reign of twenty-seven years, 
 A. M. 3926, ante A. D. 78! This admission of the 
 Pharisees into the government, demands the espe- 
 cial notice of the reader, as it accounts, not only for 
 their influence over the minds of the people, but 
 also for their connection Avith the rulers, and their 
 poAver as pul)lic governors, wlich appear so remark- 
 ably in the history of the Ctosjx'Is; nnich beyond 
 Avhat might be expected from a sect merely reli- 
 gious. Alexander left tAvo sons, Hircanusand Aris- 
 tobulus, Avho dis|)uted the kingdom and high-priest- 
 hood, till the time of Herod the Great, and Avhose 
 dissensions caused the ruin of their family, and Avere 
 the means of Herod's elcAation. Jose])h. Ant. xiii. 
 c. 12— If). [21—24.] See Alexandra. 
 
 IV. ALEXANDER, son of Aristobulus and Al- 
 exandra, and grandson of Alexander Janna-tis, Avas to 
 have been carried captive to l{ome, Avith his brother 
 Antigonus, Avhen Pompey took Jerusalem from Aris- 
 tobulus. On the Avay, hoAvever, he found means to es- 
 cape, and, returning to Judea, raised an army of 10,000 
 foot, and 15,000 horse, Avitli which he performed 
 many gallant actions, and .seized the fortresses of
 
 ALEXANDER 
 
 [41 ] 
 
 ALEXANDER 
 
 Alexandriuni and Machserus. Gabinius, the general 
 of the Roman troops, however, drove him from the 
 mountains, beat him near Jerusalem, killed 3000 of 
 his men, and made many prisoners. By the mediation 
 of his mother, Alexandra, matters were accommo- 
 dated with Gabinius, and the Romans marched into 
 Egj'pt, but were soon compelled to return, by the 
 violent proceedings of Alexander. Wherever he 
 met with Romans, he sacrificed them to his resent- 
 ment, and a number were compelled to fortify them- 
 selves on mount Gerizim, where Gabinius found 
 him at his return from Egypt. Being apprehensive 
 of engaging the great number of troops who were 
 with Alexander, Gabinius sent Antipater with offers 
 of general pardon, if they laid down their arms. 
 This had the desired success ; many forsook Alex- 
 ander, and retired to then- own houses ; but with 
 30,000 still remaining, he resolved to give the Ro- 
 mans battle. The armies met at the foot of mount 
 Tabor, where, after a very obstinate action, Alexan- 
 der was overcome, with the loss of 10,000 men. 
 
 Under the government of Crassus, Alexander 
 again began to embroil affairs ; but after the unhap- 
 py expedition against the Parthians, Cassius obUged 
 him, under conditions, to continue quiet, while he 
 marched to the Euphrates, to oppose the passage of 
 the Parthians. During the wars between Caesar 
 and Pompey, .Alexander and Arlstobulus, his father, 
 espoused Caesar's interest. Aristobulus was poi- 
 soned, and Alexander beheaded at Antioch, A. M. 
 3945. Joseph. Ant. xiv. Bell. Jud. i. c. 8. [c. 6, 7.] 
 
 V. ALEXANDER, son of Jason, was sent to 
 Rome, to renew friendship and alliance between the 
 Jews and Romans : he is named in the decree of 
 the senate directed to the Jews, in the ninth year of 
 Hircanus's pontificate, A. M. 3935 ; B. C. 69. Jos. 
 Ant. xiv. 16. 
 
 VI. ALEXANDER, son of Theodorus, was sent 
 to Rome, by Hircanus, to renew his alliance with 
 the senate. He is named in the decree of the senate, 
 addressed to the magistrates of Ephesus, made in 
 the consulship of Dolabella; which specified that 
 the Jews should not be forced into military service, 
 because they could not bear arms on the sabbath daj% 
 nor have, at all times, such provisions in the armies 
 as were authorized by their law. Jos. Ant. xiv. 17. 
 
 VII. ALEXANDER, son of Herod the Great 
 and Mariaimie. The history of this prince can 
 hardly be separated from that of Aristobulus, his 
 brother, and companion in misfoi-tune. After the 
 tragical death of their mother, Mariamne, Herod 
 sent them to Rome, to be educated in a manner 
 suitable to their rank. Augustus allowed them an 
 apartment in his palace, intending this mark of his 
 consideration as a compliment to their father Herod. 
 On their return to Judea, the people received the 
 princes with great joy ; but Salome, Herod's sister, 
 who had been the principal cause of Mariamne's 
 death, apprehending that if ever the sons of the lat- 
 ter possessed authority, she would feel the effects of 
 their resentment, resolved, by her calumnies, to 
 alienate the affections of their father from them. 
 Til is she managed with great address, and for some 
 time discovered no symptoms of ill-will. Herod 
 married Alexander to Glaphyra, daughter of Arche- 
 laus, king of Cappadocia, and Aristobulus to Bere- 
 nice, daughter of Salome. Pheroras, the king's 
 brother, and Salome, his sister, conspiring to destroy 
 these young princes, watched closely their conduct, 
 and often induced them to speak their thoughts 
 freely and forcibly, concerning the manner in which 
 
 6 
 
 Herod had put to death their mother, Mariamne. 
 Whatever they said was immediately reported to 
 the king, in the most odious and aggravated terms, 
 and Herod, having no distrust of his brother and sis- 
 ter, confided in their representations, as to his sons' 
 intentions of revenging their mother's death. To 
 check, in some degree, their lofty spirits, he sent for 
 his eldest son, Antipater, to court, — he having been 
 brought up at a distance from Jerusalem, because 
 the quaUty of his mother was much inferior to that 
 of Mariamne — thinking that by thus making Aristo- 
 bulus and Alexander sensible that it was in his pow- 
 er to prefer another of his sons before them, they 
 would be rendered more circumspect in their con- 
 duct. The contrary, however, was the case. The 
 presence of Antipater only exasperated the two 
 princes, and he at length succeeded in so entirely 
 ahenating his father's affection from them, that Herod 
 carried them to Rome, to accuse them before 
 Augustus, of designs against his life, B. C. 11. But 
 the young princes defended themselves so well, and 
 affected the spectators so deeply with their tears, 
 that Augustus reconciled them to their father, and 
 sent them back to Judea, apparently in perfect union 
 with Antipater, who expressed great satisfaction to 
 see them restored to Herod's favor. When returned 
 to Jerusalem, Herod convened the people in the 
 temple, and publicly declared his intention, that his 
 sons should reign after him ; first Antipater, then 
 Alexander, and afterwards Aristobulus. This dec- 
 laration exasperated the two brothers still further, 
 and gave new occasion to Pheroras, Salome, and 
 Antipater, to represent their disaffection to Herod. 
 The king had three confidential eunuchs, whom he 
 employed even in affairs of great importance. These 
 were accused of being corrupted by the money of 
 Alexander, and being subjected to the rack, the ex- 
 tremity of the torture induced them to confess, that 
 they had been often solicited by Alexander and 
 Aristobulus to abandon Herod and join them and 
 their party, who were ready for any undertaking, in 
 asserting their indisputable right to the crown. One 
 of them added, that the two brothers had conspired 
 to lay snares for their father, while hunting ; and 
 were resolved, should he die, to go instantly to 
 Rome, and beg the kingdom of Augustus. Letters 
 were produced likewise from Alexander to Aristo- 
 bulus, wherein he complained that Herod had given 
 fields to Antipater, which produced an annual rent 
 of two hundred talents. 
 
 This intelligence confirmed the fears of Herod, 
 and rendered him suspicious of all persons about 
 his court. Alexander was put imder arrest, and his 
 principal friends to the torture. The prince, how- 
 ever, was not dejected at this storm. He not only 
 denied nothing which had been extorted from his 
 friends, but admitted even more than they had al- 
 leged againts him ; whether designing to confound 
 the credulity and suspicions of his father, or to in- 
 volve the whose court in perplexities, from which 
 they should be unable to extricate themselves. He 
 conveyed letters to the king, in which he represent- 
 ed that to torment so many persons on his account 
 was useless ; that, in fact, he had laid ambuscades 
 for him ; that the principal courtiers were his ac- 
 complices, naming, in particular, Pheroras, and his 
 most intimate friends; adding, that Salome came 
 secretly to him by night, and that the whole court 
 wished for nothing more than the moment when 
 they might be delivered from that pain in which 
 they were continually kept by his cruelties.
 
 ALEXANDER 
 
 [42] 
 
 ALE 
 
 In the mean time, ^li-chelaus, king of Cappadocia, 
 and father-in-law of Alexander, intbrmed of what 
 was passing in Judea, came to Jerusalem, for the 
 purpose of effecting, if possible, a reconciliation be- 
 tween Herod and his son, Knowmg the violence 
 of Herod's temper, he feigned to pity his present 
 situation, and to condemn the mmatural conduct of 
 Alexander. The sympathy of Archelaus produced 
 some relentings in the hosoni of Herod, and linally 
 led to his reconciliation with Alexander, and the de- 
 tection of the guilty parties. But this calm did not 
 long continue. One Eurycles, a Lacedemonian, 
 having insinuated himself into Herod's favor, gained 
 also the contideuce of Alexander; and the young 
 prince opened his heart freely, concerning the 
 grounds of his discontent against his father. Eury- 
 cles repeated all to the king, whose susjjicions 
 against his sons were revived, and he at length or- 
 dered them to be tortured. Of all the charges 
 brought against the young princes, nothing could be 
 proved, except that they had formed a design to re- 
 tire into Cappadocia, where they might be freed 
 from their father's tyranny, and live in peace. Herod, 
 however, having substantiated this fact, took the 
 rest for granted, and despatched two envoys to 
 Rome, demanding from Augustus justice against 
 Alexander and Aristobulus. Augustus ordered them 
 to be tried at Berytus, before the governors of 
 Syria, and the tributary sovereigns of the neigh- 
 boring ])rovinces, particularly mentioning Arche- 
 laus as one ; and giving Herod permission, shoiikl 
 they be foimd guilty, to punish them as he might 
 deem proper. Herod convened the judges, but 
 basely omitted Archelaus, Alexander's father-in- 
 law ; and then, leaving his sous under a strong guard, 
 at Platane, he pleaded his own cause against them, 
 before the assembly, consisting of 150 ])ersons. Af- 
 ter adducing against them every thing he had been 
 able to collect, he concluded by saying, that, as a 
 king, he might have tried and condemned them by 
 his own authority ; l)ut that he preferred bringing 
 them before such an assembly to avoid tlio imputa^ 
 tion of injustice and cruelty. Saturnius, who had 
 been formerly consul, voted that they shoidd he 
 punished, I)ut not with death ; and his three sons 
 voted with him : but they were overruled by Volum- 
 nius, who gi-itified the fatlier, by condemning Ids 
 sons to death, and induced the rest of the judges to 
 join with him in tliis cruel and unjust sentence. 
 The time and manner of carrying it into execution 
 were left eiuirely to Heiod. l)amascenus. Tyro, 
 and other friends, interfered, in order to save the 
 lives of the unfortunate jninces, but in vain. They 
 remained some time in confinement; and, after the 
 report of aiiother ))lot, Averc conveyed to Sebastc, or 
 Samaria, and there strangled, A. M. 3390, one year 
 before the birth of J. C. and four before the usual 
 computation of A. D. Joseph. Ant. xv. xvi. 
 
 The reader is requested to j)ay jiarticular attention 
 to this history of the behavior of Herod to his two 
 ROUS, because it has a strong connection witli the 
 gospel histories of the massacre of the inf-uits — for 
 the king wlio could slay his own sons, would not 
 scruple to slay those of others ; and it suggests good 
 reasons for the alarm of the whole city, ;md of the 
 priest-s, from whom Herod inquired where the Mes- 
 siah should be born ; also, for the flight of Josepli 
 and Mary into Egypt, and for their fear of returning 
 again into Judea, under the power of his successor 
 who, as they supposed, might very probably inherit 
 this king's cruel and tyrannical disposition. 
 
 Vin. ALEXANDER, a Jew, apparently an ora- 
 tor, mentioned Acts xix. 33. The people of Ephe- 
 sus being in uproar, and incensed against the Jews 
 for despising the worship of Diana, the Jews put 
 Alexander foi-ward, to plead their cause, and proba- 
 bly to disclaim all connection with Paul and the 
 Christians. The mob, however, would not hear him. 
 
 IX. ALEXANDER, a copper smith or brazier, 
 Avho deserted the Christian faith, 1 Tim. i. 20 ; 2 
 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 X. ALEXANDER, a man who had apparently 
 been high-priest. Acts iv. 6. 
 
 XI. ALEXANDER, the son of Simon, and 
 brother of Rufus. His father, Simon, was compelled 
 to aid in bearing the cross of Jesus, IMark xv. 21. 
 
 ALEXANDRA, or Salome, was first married to 
 Aristobulus, and afterwards became the wife of Al- 
 exander Jannjeus, his brother. In the account of 
 this prince, we have noticed the advice which he 
 gave iqjon his death-bed to Alexandra, with a view 
 to conciliate the Pharisees, and establish herself in 
 the kingdom. Alexandra folloAved his counsel, and 
 secured the object of her wishes. The Pharisees, 
 won by the marks of respect which she paid to 
 them, exerted then- influence over the people, and 
 Alexander Jannseus was buried with great pomp and 
 splendor, and x\lexandra ruled dining the space of 
 nine years. Under her government, the country 
 enjoyed external peace, but was distracted by in- 
 ternal strife. The Pharisees, having obtained an 
 ascendency over the mind of the queen, proceeded 
 to exact from her many important advantages for 
 themselves and friends, and then to obtain the pun- 
 ishment and persecution of all those who had been 
 opposed to them during the king's reign. Many of 
 the Sadducees, therefore, were put to death ; and 
 their vindictiveness proceeded to such acts of cruelty 
 and injustice, that none of Alexander's friends could 
 be secure of their lives. Many of the principal per- 
 sons wiio had served in the late king's armies, with 
 Aristobulus at their head, entreated permission to 
 quit their coimtry, or to be jilaced in some of the 
 distant fortresses, where they might be sheltered 
 from the persecution of their enemies. After some 
 dehberation, she adopted the expediejit of distributing 
 them among the difterent garrisons of the kingdom, 
 cxceyjting those, however, in which she had depos- 
 iterl her most valuable property. In the mean time, 
 her son Aristobulus was devising the n^cans of seiz- 
 ing upon the throne, and an opportunity at length 
 presented itself for carrying his project "into effect. 
 The queen being seized with a dangerous illness, 
 Aristobulus at once made himself master of those 
 fortresses in which his friends liad been placed, and, 
 before the necessary measures could be taken to 
 stay his progress, he was placed at the head of a 
 large number of troops. Alexandra, finding her 
 death at hand, left the crovii to devolve upon Hir- 
 canus, her eldest son ; but he, being opposed by 
 Aristobulus, retired to i)rivate lif>. Alexandra died, 
 B. C. 09, aged sevoity-three years. Jos. Ant. xiii. 
 ult. xiv. 1. 
 
 ALEXANDRIA, a celebrated city in Egypt, sit- 
 uated between the Mediterranean sea and the lake 
 Mareotis, the basin of which is now filled up by 
 sand. It was founded by Alexander le Great, 
 under Dinocrates, the architect wlio rebuilt the 
 temple of Diana at Ephesus, B. C. 332, and peopled 
 by colonies of Greeks and Jews. Had this prince 
 realized his ambitious projects for becoming the un- 
 disturbed master of the world, he could hardly have
 
 ALEXANDRIA 
 
 [ 43] 
 
 ALE 
 
 selected a more convenient situation for command- 
 ing and concentrating its resources. Alexandria 
 rose rapidly to a state of prosperity, becoming the 
 centre of commercial intercoiu'se between the East 
 and the West, and in pi-ocess of time was, botli in 
 point of magnitude and wealth, second only to Rome 
 itself 
 
 The ancient city, according to Pliny, was about 
 fifteen miles in circuit, peopled by 300,000 free citi- 
 zens, and as many slaves. From the gate of the 
 sea ran one magnificent street, 2000 feet broad, 
 through the entire length of the city, to the gate of 
 Canopus, aifording a beach, and a view of the 
 shipping in the port, whether north in the Mediter- 
 ranean, or south in the noble basin of the Mareotic 
 lake. Another street, of equal width, intersected 
 this at right angles, in a square half a league in cir- 
 cumference. Thus the whole city appears to have 
 been divided by two streets intersecting each 
 other. 
 
 L'pon the death of Alexander, Avhose body was 
 deposited in his new city, Alexandria became the 
 regal capital of Egj'pt, under the Ptolemies, and rose 
 to its highest splendor. During the reign of the 
 three first princes of this name, its glory was at 
 the highest. The most celebrated philosophers 
 from the East, as well as from Greece and Rome, 
 resorted thither for instruction, and eminent men, in 
 every department of knowledge, were foimd within 
 its walls. Ptolemy Soter, the first of that line of 
 kings, formed the museum, the library of 700,000 
 volumes, and several other splendid works, and his 
 son Philadelphus consummated several of his vmder- 
 takings after his decease. At the death of Cleopa- 
 tra, artte A. D. 26, Alexandria passed into the hands 
 of the Romans, under whom it became the theatre 
 of several memorable events, and after having en- 
 joyed the highest fame for upwards of a thousand 
 years, it submitted to the arms of the caliph Omar, 
 A. D. 64G. Such was the magnificence of the city, 
 that the conquerors themselves were astonished at 
 the extent of their acquisition. "I have taken," 
 said Aim'ou, the general of Omar, to his master, 
 "the great city of the West. It is impossible for 
 me to enumerate the variety of its riches and beauty ; 
 I shall content myself with observing that it con- 
 tains 4000 palaces, 4000 baths, 400 theatres or places 
 of amusement, 12,000 shops for the sale of vegetable 
 goods, and 40,000 trilnitary Jews." With this event, 
 says a modern geogi-apher, the sun of Alexandria 
 may be said to have set: the bhghtiug hand of 
 Islamism Avas laid on it ; and although the genius 
 and resources of such a city could not be iminedi- 
 ately destroyed, it continued to languish until the 
 passage by the Cape of Good Hope, in the fifteenth 
 century, gave a new channel to the trade which for 
 so many centuries had been its support ; and at this 
 day, Alexandria, hke most Eastern cities, presents 
 a mixed spectacle of ruin and wretchedness — of 
 fallen greatness and enslaved human beings. 
 
 [The present Alexandria, or, according to the 
 pronunciation of the inhabitants, .SAroTirferia, occupies 
 only about the eighth part of the site of the ancient 
 city. The splendid temples have been exchanged 
 for wretched mosques and miserable churches, and 
 the magnificent palaces for mean and ill built dwell- 
 ings. The city, which was of old so celebrated for 
 its commerce and navigation, is now merely the 
 port of Cairo, a place where ships may touch, 
 and where wares may be exchanged. The modern 
 citv is built with the ruins of the ancient. The 
 
 streets are so narrow, that the inhabitants can lay 
 mats of reeds from one roof to the opposite, to pro- 
 tect them from the scorching sun. The inhabitants 
 consist of Turks, Arabs, Copts, Jews, and Armeni- 
 ans. Many Europeans have counting houses here ; 
 where the factors exchange European for oriental 
 merchandise. 
 
 It was under Ptolemy Philadelphus, according to 
 Aristseus, that the Greek or Alexandrine version of 
 the Scriptures was made here by learned Jews, 
 seventy-two in niunber ; and hence it is called the 
 Septuagint, or version of the Seventy. But this 
 narration is entitled to little credit. It is true, how- 
 ever, that the Jews established themselves in great 
 numbers in this city, very soon after it was founded. 
 Josephus says, (c. Apion. ii. 4, Ant. xiv. 7. 2.) that 
 Alexander himself assigned to them a particular 
 quarter of the city, and allowed them equal rights 
 and privileges with the Greeks. Philo, who him- 
 self lived there in the time of Christ, affirms (Opp. 
 ii. p. 525. ed. Mangey.) that of five parts of the city, 
 the Jews inhabited two. According to his state- 
 ments also, there dwelt in his time in Alexandria, 
 and the other Egyptian cities, not less than /e/i hun- 
 dred thousand Jews. (ib. p. 523.) This, however, 
 would seem exaggerated. At that period they suf- 
 fered cruel persecutions from Flaccus, the Roman 
 governor ; which Philo has described in a sej)arate 
 treatise. — Christianity was early known and found 
 professors here. According to Euse])ius, (Hist. 
 Ecc. ii. c. 17.) the apostle Mark first introduced the 
 gospel into Alexandria ; and according to less au- 
 thentic accounts, he suffered martyrdom here, about 
 A. D. 68. A church dedicated to this evangehst, 
 belonging to the Coptic Jacobite Christians, still ex- 
 ists in Alexandria. See Rosenmueller. Bib. Geog. iii. 
 p. 291, seq. *R. 
 
 The Jewish and Christian schools in Alexandria 
 were long held in the highest esteem, and there is 
 reason to believe that the latter, besides producing 
 many eloquent preachers, paid much attention to 
 the multiplying of copies of the sacred writings. 
 The famous Alexandrian manuscript, now deposited 
 in the British IMuseum, is well knoAATi. (See Bible.) 
 For many years Christianity continued to flourish 
 at this seat of learning, but at length it became the 
 source, and for some time continued the strong- 
 hold, of the Arian heresy. The divisions, discords, 
 and animosities, which were thus introduced, ren- 
 dered the churches of Alexandria an easy prey to 
 the Arabian impostoi-, and at the time to which we 
 have already referred, they were swept away by his 
 followers. 
 
 The commerce of Alexandria being so great, es- 
 pecially in corn, — for Egjqjt was considered to be 
 the granary of Rome — the centurion might readily 
 " find a ship of Alexandria — corn-laden — sailing into 
 Italy," Acts xxvii. 6; xxviii. 11. It was in this city 
 that Apollos was born. Acts xviii. 24. 
 
 ALEXANDRIUM, a castle built by Alexander 
 Jannaeus, king of the Jews, on a mountain, near 
 Corea, one of the principal cities of Judea, on the 
 side of Samaria, in the direction of Jericho, towards 
 the frontiers of Ephraim and Benjamin, which was 
 demolished by Gabinius, but afterwards rebuilt by 
 Herod. Here the princes of Alexander Janna?us's 
 family were mostly buried ; and hither Herod or- 
 dered the bodies of his sons, Alexander and Aristo- 
 bulus, to be carried, after they had been put to 
 death at Sebaste, or Samaria. Jos. Ant. xiii. 24 ; xiv. 
 6. 10. 27 ; xvi. 2 and ult.
 
 ALL 
 
 [44] 
 
 ALM 
 
 ALGUM, see Almug. 
 
 ALIEN, a stranger or foreigner. Those who are 
 without an interest in the new covenant, or who 
 are not members of the church of Christ, are said to 
 be "ahens from the commonwealth of Israel," 
 Eph. ii. 12. 
 
 ALLEGORY, a figurative discourse, which em- 
 ploys terms appropriate to one tiling, in order to 
 express another. It is a metaphor prolonged and 
 pursued ; as, for example, when the prophets repre- 
 sent the Jews under the allegory of a vine, plant- 
 ed, cultivated, watered, by the hand of God, but 
 which, instead of producing good fruit, brings forth 
 sour grapes ; and so of others. The same, when the 
 apostle compares the two covenants of Sinai and the 
 gospel, or Jerusalem that now is, and the heavenly 
 Jerusalem ; " which things," he says, " may be alle- 
 gorized." As this was common among the Jews, in 
 writing to Jews, he adopts their custom, in which, 
 having been deeply learned, he could, no doubt, have 
 greatly enlarged ; but then, where had been the 
 power of the cross of Christ ; the genuine unsophis- 
 ticated doctrines of the gospel ? 
 
 Allegories, as Avell as metaphors, parables, simili- 
 tudes, and comparisons, are frequent in Scripture. 
 The Jews, and the people of the East in general, 
 were fond of this sort of figurative discourse, and 
 used it in almost every thing they said. One chief 
 business of a commentator is, to distinguish between 
 the allegorical and hteral meaning of passages, and 
 to reduce the allegorical to the literal sense. The 
 ancient Jews, as the Therapeutse, the author of the 
 Book of Wisdom, Josephus, and Pliilo, (and in imi- 
 tation of them, many of the fathers,) turned even 
 the historical parts of Scripture into allegories ; al- 
 though the literal sense in such passages is most 
 cleart These allegorical explanations may interest, 
 perhaps, but they are good for little ; they cannot 
 justly be produced as proofs of any thing; unless 
 where Christ, or his apostles, have so applied them. 
 
 The ancient philosophers and poets also used to 
 deUvcr doctrines, and to explain things allegorically. 
 Pythagoras instructed his disciples in this symbolical 
 manner, believing it to be the most proper method 
 of explaining religious doctrines, and to be a help to 
 memory. Euclid of IMegaia did, indeed, forbid the 
 use of allegories and emltlems, as fit only to render 
 plain things obscure ; and Socrates taught in a man- 
 ner the most natural and simple, excepting those 
 ironies which he sometimes interspersed in his dis- 
 courses. But the philosophers, generally, were ex- 
 cessively fond of allegories and mystical theologj' ; 
 and they Avere too closely imitated by the early 
 Christians. See Symbols. 
 
 ALLELUIA, or IIallklu-jah, (praise Jeho- 
 vah.) This word occurs at the beginning, and at 
 the end, of many of the Psalms. It was also sung 
 on solemn days of rejoicing: "And all her streets 
 (t. c. of Jenisidem) shall sing alleluia," says Tobit, 
 speaking of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, Tob. xiii. 
 18. John, in the Revelation, says, (chap. xix. 1. 3. 
 4. 6.) " I heard a great voice of much people in 
 heaven, who cried, Alleluia; and the four living 
 creatures fell down, and worshipped God ; saying. 
 Alleluia." This expression of joy and praise was 
 trarraftrred from the synagogue to the church, and 
 it is still occasionallv used in devotional psalmody. 
 
 ALLON BACHUTH, the oak of weeping, a place 
 in Bethel, where Rebekah's nurse was buried, Gen. 
 XXXV. 8. 
 
 ALLOPIIYLI, ' .-n/.oipO.oi , a Greek term, used 
 
 by the LXX. which signifies, properly, strangers ; 
 but the Hebrew term, to which it corresponds, is 
 generally taken, in the Old Testament, to signify the 
 Philistines. 
 
 ALLUSH, or Alusu. The Israelites, being in the 
 wilderness of Shur, departed from Dophkah to Al- 
 lush, and from thence to Rephidim, Numb, xxxiii. 13. 
 In Judith, (chap. i. 9.) Chellus or Chains, and Kades, 
 are set down as being near each other. Eusebius 
 and Jerome fix Allush in Idumea, about Gabala, that 
 is, about Petra, the capital of Arabia Petrcea ; for, ac- 
 cording to them, the Gabalene is near Petra. Allush 
 is also called Eluza, or Chaluza. In the accounts of 
 the empire, it is situated in the third Palestine, and 
 is placed by Ptolemy among the cities of Idumea. 
 The Jerusalem Targum on Genesis xxv. 18. and on 
 Exodus XV. 22. translates Shur and the desert of 
 Shur, by Allush. [But Shur could not have been far 
 from the present Suez, Exod. xv. 22. It is impossi- 
 ble to assign definitely the position of Alush, the en- 
 campment of the Israelites. R. 
 
 ALMON, a city of Benjamin, given to Aaron's 
 family. Josh. xxi. 18 ; probably the Alameth men- 
 tioned 1 Chron. vi. CO. 
 
 ALMON-DIBLATIIAIM, one of the stations of 
 the Israelites before they reached mount Nebo, 
 Numb, xxxiii. 46. 
 
 ALMOND-TREE, ipr, shaked, from a root which 
 signifies to ivatch ; for, in fact, the almond-tree is one 
 of the first trees that blossom in the spring, and, as 
 it were, aAvakes, while most are asleep by reason of 
 winter. This tree is often mentioned in Scripture. 
 The Lord, intending to express to Jeremiah (i. 11.) 
 the vigilance of his wrath against his people, showea 
 him the branch of an almond-tree ; where the du- 
 plicity of meaning in the word shaked is difficult to 
 express in a translation. " What seest thou ? " He 
 answers, "I see the rod of an almond-tree," (i. e. a 
 ivatcher.) The Lord replies : " I will watch over my 
 word to fulfil it." 
 
 The almond-tree resembles a peach-tree, but ia 
 larger. In Judea it blossoms in January, and by 
 ]March has fruit. Aaron's rod, which bore blossoms 
 and fruit in the Avildeniess, (Numb. xvii. 8.) was of 
 the almond-tree. The author of Ecclesiastes, (xii. 5.) 
 expressing metaphorically the whiteness of an old 
 man's hair, says, " The cdmond-tree shall flourish." 
 The blossoms of this tree arc white. 
 
 ALMS, charitable donation. The word is derived 
 ultimately from the Greek "Ekfug, mercy, pity, com- 
 passion. 
 
 ALMUG, or by transposition Algum, a kind of 
 wood which Hiram brought from Ophir, 1 Kings x. 
 11 ; 2 Chron. ii. 8. The rabbins generally render it 
 coral ; others ebony, or pine. It certainly is not coral, 
 for this is not proper to make musical instruments, 
 nor to bo used in rails, or a staircase, to which uses, 
 the Scripture tells us, the wood almug was put. The 
 pine-tree is too common in Judea, and the neighbor- 
 ing country, to search for it as far as Ophir. The 
 wood thjimtm (by which the word is rendered in 
 the Vulgate) is that of the citron-tree, known to the 
 ancients, and much esteemed for its odor and beautj\ 
 It came from Mauritania. Plin. xiii. 1(5. 
 
 Cahnet is of o|»inion, that by almug, or algum,or 
 simply gum, taking nl for an article, is to be under- 
 stood oily and gummy wood, particularly of the tree 
 which prodiices gum Arabic. It is said gum Ammo- 
 niac proceeds from a tree rcsembUng that which 
 bears myrrh ; and gum Arabic comes from the black 
 acacia, which he takes to be the same as the Shittim
 
 ALO 
 
 I 45 ] 
 
 ALP 
 
 wood, frequently mentioned by Moses ; if so, Solo- 
 mon's Almug and Moses's Shittim, he remarks, would 
 be the same wood. See Shittim. 
 
 [Some have supposed the Almug to be Sandal- 
 wood, (Santaluvi,) which is a native of the East In- 
 dies, and much used for costly work. So Rosenmuel- 
 ler. Kunchi compares the Arabian Almokam, which is 
 theArabic name of the wood usually known in Europe 
 by the apjiellation Brazil-vfOoA, from the tree Casal- 
 pinia of Linnaeus. There are various species of 
 this tree. That called tjie CcEsalpinia sappan is a 
 native of the East Indies, Siam, the Molucca islands, 
 and Japan ; as are also several other species. Its 
 wood is very durable, and is used in fine cabinet 
 work. It yields also a dye of a beautiful red color, 
 for which it is much used. Its resemblance in color 
 to coral may have given occasion for the name Al- 
 viug, which, in Rabbinic, still signifies coral ; and then 
 the meaning of the name would be coral-wood. Ge- 
 senius adopts this supposition. See Rees's Cyclop. 
 Alt. CfBsalpinia. R. 
 
 I. ALOES, or Aloe, an East Indian tree, that 
 grows about eight or ten feet high. At the Ifead of it is 
 a large bundle of leaves, thick and indented, broad 
 at bottom, but narrowing towards the point, and 
 about four feet in length ; the blossom is red, inter- 
 mixed with yellow, and double like a pink ; from 
 this blossom comes fruit, like a large pea, white and 
 red. Tlie juice of the leaves is drawn by cutting 
 them with a knife ; and afterwards it is received in 
 bottles. The eastern geographers tell us, that the 
 wood of aloes, the smell of which is exquisite, is 
 found only in those provinces of India which are 
 comprehended in the first climate ; that the best is 
 that which gi-ows in the isle of Senf, situated in the 
 Indian sea, towards China. Others are of opinion, 
 that the wood of aloes, produced in the isle of Comar, 
 or at Cape Comorin, is the best, and that it was of this 
 kind a certain king of India made a present, weigh- 
 ing ten quintals, to Nouschirvan ; which, when ap- 
 plied to the fire, melted, and burned hke wax. This 
 wood is brought Ukewise from the islands of Su- 
 matra and Ceylon. The Siamese ambassadors to 
 the court of France, in 1686, brought a present of it 
 from their sovereign ; and were the first to commu- 
 nicate any consistent account of the tree. It is said 
 to be about the height and form of the ohve-tree ; 
 the trunk is of three colors, and contains three sorts 
 of wood ; the heart, or finest part, is called tambac or 
 calambac, and is used to perfume dresses and apart- 
 ments. It is worth more than its weight in gold ; 
 and is esteemed a sovereign cordial against fainting 
 fits, and other nen'ous disorders. From diis account 
 the reader will perceive the rarity and value of this 
 perfume, implied in the notice taken of it by the 
 spouse in the Canticles, (iv. 14.) and the boast of the 
 prostitute, Prov. vii. 17. The sandal-wood ap- 
 proaches to many of its properties ; and is applied 
 to similar uses, as a perfume at sacrifices, &c. 
 The aloes of Syria, Rhodes, and Candia, called 
 Aspalathiis, is a shrub full of tliorns ; the wood 
 of which is used by perfumers, after they have 
 taken off the bark, to give consistency to their per- 
 fumes, 
 
 [This tree or wood was called by the Greeks 
 ayuX::o/oy, and later 'ivXu::vti, and has been known to 
 modems by the names of aloe- wood, paradise-wood, 
 eagle-wood, etc. Modern botanists distinguish two 
 kinds ; the one genuine and most precious, the other 
 more common and inferior. The former grows in 
 Cochin-China, Siam, and China, is never exported, 
 
 and is of so great rarity in India itself, as to be worth 
 its weight in gold. Pieces of this wood that are 
 resinous, of a dark color, heavy, and perforated as if 
 by worms, are called calambac ; the tree itself is called 
 by the Chinese siik-Iuang. It is represented as 
 large, with an erect trunk, and lofty branches. The 
 other or more common species is called garo in the 
 East Indies, and is the wood of a tree growng in 
 tJie Moluccas, the excoecaria agallocha of Linnaeus. 
 The leaves are like those of a pear-tree ; and it has 
 a milky juice, which, as the tree grows old, hardens 
 into a fragrant resin. The trunk is knotty, crooked, 
 and usually hollow. The domestic name in India 
 is aghil ; whence the Europeans who first visited 
 India gave it the name of lignum aquilce, or eagle- 
 wood. From this same agiiil the Hel^rew name 
 QiSnN seems also to be derived. But as this is also, 
 as to form, the plural of SnN, a tent, the A'^ulgate in 
 Numb. xxiv. 6. has translated thus : " As tents 
 which the Lord hath spread ;" while the Hebrew is : 
 " As aloe-trees which the Lord hath planted ;" — in 
 om* version, " Ugn-aloes." — Aloe- wood is said by 
 Herodotus to have been used by the Egj'ptians for 
 embalming dead bodies ; and Nicodemus brought it, 
 mingled with myrrh, to embahn the body of our 
 Lord, John xix. 39. See Gesenius, Thesaurus 
 Ling. Hcb. p. 33. R. 
 
 II. ALOES, a plant or herb, the leaves of which 
 are about two inches thick, prickly, and chamfered ; 
 in the middle rises a stem ; and the flower yields a 
 white kernel, extremely light, and almost round. 
 These aloes are not unconmion among us. It 
 has been said, that one kind of aloes flowers 
 but once in a hundred years, and that, as its flower 
 opens, it makes a great noise ; but there have been 
 several seen blowing in the gardens at and round 
 London, without making any noise. As the flowers 
 have six stamina, and one style, Linnaeus ranges 
 this plant in the sixth class, called hexandria monogy- 
 nia. Our knowledge of it is obtained not so much 
 from oriental specimens, as from American, which 
 could not be kno^vn to the ancients. The Cape of 
 Good Hope furnishes many kinds. 
 
 From this plant is extracted the common drug 
 called aloes, which is a very bitter resin. Some 
 have supposed that this was what Nicodemus brought 
 for embalming the body of Christ, John xix. 39. 
 See the close of the preceding article. 
 
 ALPHA, (A,) the first letter of the Greek alpha- 
 bet. See the letter A. 3Iartial, in imitation of the 
 Greeks, who used to distinguish the rank of people 
 by letters, says : 
 
 Quod Alpha dixi, Codre, penulatorinn, 
 Te uuper, aliqua, cum jocarer in charta: 
 Si forte bilem movit hie tibi versus, 
 Dicas licebit Beta me togatorum. 
 
 Epig. 1. V. Ep. 26. 
 
 ALPHABET, see Hebrew Letters. 
 
 I. ALPH^US, father of James the less, (Matt. x. 
 3 ; Luke vi. 15.) and husband of the Mary who was 
 sister to the mother of Christ ; (John xix. 25.) for 
 which reason, James is called the Lord's brother. 
 (See Brother.) By comparing John xix. 25. with 
 Luke xxiv. 10. and Matt. x. 3. it is evident that Al- 
 l)hseus is the same as Cleophas ; Alpheeus being his 
 Greek name, and Cleophas his Hebrew or Syriac 
 name, according to the custom of the province, or 
 the time, where men often had two names, by one 
 of Avhich they were known to their friends and
 
 ALT 
 
 [46] 
 
 ALTAR 
 
 countiymen, and by the other to the Romans, or 
 strangers. More probably, however, the double 
 name in Greek arises from a diversity in pronouncing 
 the n in liis Aramean name, •iD'?n ; a diversity which 
 is common also in the Septuagint. See Kuiuoel on 
 John xiv. 25. See also Names. 
 
 n. ALPH.'EUS, father of Levi, or Matthew, the 
 apostle and evangelist, Mark ii. 14. 
 
 L ALTAR, the place on which sacrifices were 
 oftered. Sacrifices are nearly as ancient as worship ; 
 and altars are of nearly equal antiquity. Scripture 
 speaks of altars, erected by the patriarchs, without 
 describing their form, or the materials of which they 
 were composed. The altar which Jacob set up at 
 Bethel, was the stone which had served him for a 
 pillow ; and Gideon sacrificed on the rock before 
 his house. The first altars which God conunanded 
 Moses to raise, were of earth or rough stones ; and 
 tlie Lord declared, that if iron were used in con- 
 structing them, they would become impure, Exod. 
 XX. 24, 25. The altar which Moses enjoined Joshua 
 to build on INIount Ebal, was to be of unpolished 
 stones, (Deut. xxvii. 5 ; Josh. viii. 3L) and it is very 
 probable, that such were those built by Samuel, Saul, 
 and David. The altar which Solomon erected in 
 the temple was of brass, but filled, it is believed, 
 with rough stones, 2 Chron. iv. 1. That built at 
 Jerusalem, by Zerubbabel, after the return from 
 Babylon, was of rough stones ; as was that of the 
 Maccabees. Josephus says, (De Bello, hb. vi. cap. 
 14.) that the altar which was in his time in the tem- 
 ple, was of rough stones, fifteen cubits high, forty 
 long, and forty wide. 
 
 Among the ancient Egyptian pictures that have 
 been discovered at Herculaneum, are two of a veiy 
 curious description, representing sacred ceremo- 
 nies of the Egyptians, probably in honor of Isis. 
 Upon these subjects we shall lay the substance of 
 Mr. Taylor's remarks before our readers. 
 
 In the first picture, the scene of the subject is in 
 
 the area before a 
 temple ; (as usual ;) 
 the congregation is 
 numerous, the mu- 
 sic various, and the 
 priests engaged are 
 at least nine per- 
 sons. The temple 
 is raised, and an 
 ascent of eleven 
 steps leads up to it. 
 On this altar we 
 observe, (1.) Its 
 form and decora- 
 lions. (9.) The birds 
 about it. In the 
 original, one Ibis is 
 lying down at ease, another is standing up, witliout fear 
 or apprehension ; a third, perched on some paling, is 
 looking oVer the heads of tlie peoj)le ; and a fom-th 
 is standing on tlic l)ack of a Sphinx, nearly adjacent 
 f^ the temple, in tlie front of it. It deserves notice, 
 that this altar (and the other also) has at each of its 
 four corners a rising, which continues square to about 
 half its height, Init from thence is gradually slnped 
 off to an edge, or a point. These are, no doubt, the 
 horns of the allar ; and jnobably this is tluir true 
 figure. See Exod. xxvii. 2, &c. ; xxix. 12; l^.ekiel 
 xliii. 15. On these Joub caught hold, (I Kin^^s ii. 
 28.) and to these the Psalmist alludes, (cxviii. 27.) 
 "Bind the sacrifice with cords unto the horns of the 
 
 altar." It is probable that the primaiy use of these 
 horns was to retain the victim. 
 
 (1.) Observe the garland with which this altai- is 
 decorated. (2.) Observe the occupation of the priest, 
 who, with a kind of fan, is blowing up the fire. No 
 doubt this fim is employed, because to blow up the 
 sacred flame with the breath would have been 
 deemed a kind of polluting it. It may bear a ques- 
 tion, whether something of the same nature were 
 not used in kindling the fire on the Jewish altar. 
 That fans wei-e known anciently in the East, is highlj' 
 probable, from the simplicity of the instrument, no 
 less than from its use. The ancients certainly had 
 fans to drive away flies with, (Greek uriuao^ir, Latin 
 muscarium, Martial, xiv. Ep. 67.) We do not 
 know indeed that any Jewish writer mentions the 
 use of a fan in kindling the altar fire ; nor, indeed, 
 should we have thought of it, had it not occurred in 
 this Egyptian representation. 
 
 The other figure shows the boms of the altar, 
 ^^ formed on the same prin- 
 
 ciple as the foregoing ; but 
 this is seen on its angle, 
 and its general form is 
 more elevated. It has no 
 garlands, and perfumes 
 appear to be burning on 
 it. In this picture the as- 
 sembly is not so numer- 
 ous as in the other ; but 
 almost all, to the number 
 of ten or a dozen persons, 
 are playing on musical in- 
 struments. 
 
 Both these altars have 
 a simple projecting ornament, running round them 
 on their upper parts ; but this has also a cori'espond- 
 ing ornament at bottom. Upon the base of it stand 
 two birds, which desei-ve notice, on account of their 
 being unquestionable representations of the true 
 ancient Egj'ptian Ibis ; a bird long lost to naturalists. 
 Perhaps the publication of these ])ortraits of the bird 
 may contribute to recover and identify it ; which 
 will be deemed a service to natural history. They 
 also deserve especial notice, on account of their 
 situations, as standing on the altar itself, or lying 
 down close to it, even while the sacred fire is burn- 
 ing, and the sacred cei'emonies being jierformed by 
 the |)riests, close around them. From their confident 
 familiarity, it should seem that these birds were not 
 only tolerated, but were considered as sacred ; and, 
 in some sense, as aj)pertainiiig to the altar. Would 
 it not have been a kind of sacrilege to have dis- 
 turbed, or exiiellcd from their do7niciIe, their resi- 
 dence, these refugees, if refugees they were, at the 
 altar ? (See the history of Aristodicus, Ilerod. lib. i. 
 cap. 1.59.) Diodorus Siculus (lib. i.) rejjorts, that the 
 Egj'jitians were very severe to those who killed a 
 cat, or an Ibis, whether jjurposcly, or inadvertently ; 
 the populace, he says, would attack them in crowds, 
 and jjut them to death by the most cruel means ; often 
 without observing any form of justice; — by a kind 
 of judgment of zeal. 
 
 As these Ibises were ])rivileged birds in Egyj)t, so 
 might some clean species of birds be eqtially priv- 
 ileged among the .lews, and be sutferecl quietly to 
 build in various ))arts of the tem])le, in the courts 
 aromid the altar; and if they were of the nature of 
 our domestic fowl, they might even make nests, and 
 lay their eggs, at or about the altar, or among the 
 interstices and projections of the bottom layer of
 
 ALTAR 
 
 [47] 
 
 ALTAR 
 
 large rough stones, which formed the base of it. If 
 they were the property of the priests, or of their 
 children, or of any constant residents in the temple, 
 (alluded to in the next verse,) they might give no 
 more offence, by stragghng about the sacred pre- 
 cincts, than the vicar's sheep or horse gi-azing in the 
 church-yard does among ourselves. We know, too, 
 that there is scarcely a country church among our- 
 selves, in which sparrows, and swallows too, do not 
 make their nests ; and yet, though we dislike the de- 
 filement they occasion, we do not think the building 
 the less sacred. By these considerations, we may 
 perhaps illustrate the passage, Psahn Ixxxiv. 3. The 
 sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest/or 
 heiself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, 
 O Lord of hosts. 
 
 The Altars in the tabernacle and in the temple at 
 Jerusalem were as follow: — (1.) The Altar of Burnt- 
 ofFcrings, (2.) The Altar of Incense. (3.) The 
 Table of Shew-bread ; but this is iinproperly called 
 an altar. See Shevz-bread. 
 
 1. The Altar of Burnt-offerings is thus de- 
 scribed by Calmet. It was a kind of coffer of Shit- 
 tim-wood, covered with brass plates, (Exod. xxvii. 1, 
 seq.) live cubits square, and three in height. Moses 
 
 placed it towards the east, before the entrance of the 
 Tabernacle, in the open air, that so the fire which 
 was to be kept perpetually upon it, and the smoke 
 arising from the sacrifices which were burnt there, 
 might not disligin-e the inside of the Tabernacle. 
 At the four corners were four horns, of a cubit 
 square, covered with the same metal as the rest of 
 the Altar. They were hollow, that part of the 
 blood might be poured into them. Within the depth 
 or hollow of it was a grate of brass, on which the 
 lire was made, and through which fell the ashes, 
 which were received in a pan below. At the four 
 corners of this grate were four rings, and four chains, 
 which kept it up at the four horns of the xA-ltar above 
 mentioned. As this Altar was portable, Moses had 
 rings made, and fastened to the sides of it, into 
 which wej-e put staves of Shittim-wood, overlaid 
 with brass, by means of which it was removed from 
 place to place. 
 
 Such was the Altar of Burat-ofFcrings belonging 
 to the tabernacle erected by Moses in the wilderness ; 
 but in Solomon's temple it was much larger. This 
 was a kind of cube, twenty cubits long, as many 
 wide, and ten in height, covered with thick plates 
 of bi-ass, and filled with rough stones ; and on the 
 
 east side there was an easy ascent leading up to it. 
 When the Jews returned fi-om the captivity of Baby- 
 lon, they rebuilt the Altar of Burnt-offerings, upon 
 the model of Solomon's ; but after both the temple 
 and the altar had been profaned by the orders of 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, tliis altar was demolished, 
 and the stones of it laid in some part of the temple 
 
 which was unpolluted, till a prophet should be raised 
 up by God, who should come and declare the use 
 for which they were reserved, 1 Mace. xiv. 41. 
 Herod the Great, having built a new temple, raised 
 an altar of burnt-offerings like that which had been 
 there before ; but Josephus says, that the ascent 
 to it was on the south side. B. J. vi. p. 918. edit. Col.
 
 ALTAR 
 
 [48] 
 
 ALTAR 
 
 The Altar of Burnt-ofFerings, according to the 
 rabbius, was a large mass of rough and unpolished 
 stones, the base of which was 3*2 cubits, or 48 feet 
 square. From thence the altar rose one cubit, or a 
 foot and a half ; then there was a diminishing of one 
 cubit in thickness ; and from thence the altar, being 
 only 30 cubits square, rose five cubits, and received 
 a new diminution or in-benching of two cubits, and 
 consequently Avas reduced to 28 cubits square. From 
 thence again it rose three cubits, but was two cubits 
 smaller. Lastly, it rose one cubit, and so being in 
 all 24 cubits, or 36 feet square, it formed the hearth 
 on which the sacrifices were burnt, and the perpet- 
 ual fire kept up. The diminution of two cubits, 
 which was nearly in the middle of the Altar, served 
 as a passage for the priests to go and come about 
 the altar, to attend the fire, and to place the sacrifice 
 on it. 
 
 This altar, being composed of large plates of massy 
 brass, was thence called the brazen altar, 1 Kings 
 viii. 64. The ascent was by a sloping rise on the 
 south side, called Kibbesh, 32 cubits in length, and 
 16 in breadth ; it landed upon the upper benching- 
 in, near the hearth, or top of the altar ; because to 
 go up by steps was forbidden by the law. The 
 priests might go round about the altar, and perform 
 their offices very conveniently upon the two in- 
 benchings which we have described ; namely, that 
 of the niiddle, and that above it, both of whicli 
 were a cubit broad. 
 
 The following is an explanation of the profile of 
 the altar of burut-oflTerings according to the rab- 
 bins, and Dr. Prideaux. 
 
 iA 
 
 llliili'ini:ifaiigi!'iii!^'i!iiiriiiiiiihiiiiini'iii;ii.ii!ii'ii!!!H!iiHiniiiinii': 
 
 tCts 
 
 a. A Trench which went quite round the Altar, 
 wherein was thrown the blood of the sacri- 
 fices. 
 
 a. b. The Foundation of the Altar, one cubit high, 
 
 and .32 cubits square. 
 
 b. c. Tiie first in-benching, one cubit broad. 
 
 c. d. The elevation of five cubits. 
 
 d. e. The second in-benching, one cubit broad. 
 e.f. The elevation of three cubits. 
 
 f.g. The third in-benching, one cubit broad. 
 ^. h. The last rising, one cubit. 
 I. The Hearth of 24 cubits, or 36 feet square. 
 k. k. The Horns of the Altar, of one cubit, and hol- 
 low, half a cubit square. 
 I. The sloping ascent to the Altar, 32 cubits in 
 
 length, 
 m. d. The passage on botli sides the Kibbesh, to the 
 second in-benching. 
 The altar of burnt-ofFerings, both in the taberna- 
 cle and ti'inplo, was regarded as an asylum or place 
 of rcfiige. 1 Kings i. .50, scq. ii. 28, scq. 
 
 2. The Altar of Lncense was a small table of 
 Shittim-wood, covered with plates of gold, of one 
 cubit in length, another in width, and two in height, 
 Exod. XXX. 1, .scq. At the four (corners were four 
 horns, and all around a little border or crown over 
 it. On each side were two rings, into which staves 
 might be inserted for the purpose of carrying it. It 
 stood in the holy place, (not in the holy of holies,) 
 
 over against the table of shew-bread. Every morn- 
 ing and evening the priest in waiting for that week, 
 and appointed by lot for this office, oflTered incense 
 of a particular composition upon this altar ; and to 
 this end entei-ed with the smoking censer filled with 
 fire from the altar of burnt-offerings into the holy 
 place. The priest, having placed the censer on it, 
 retired out of the holy place. This was the altar 
 which was hidden by Jeremiah before the capti\nty, 
 2 Mace. ii. 5, 6. On the Altar of Incense the priest 
 Zacharias was appointed to place the perfume ; and 
 while engaged in this sei-vice he received the annim- 
 ciation of the birth of a son, Luke i. 11. 
 
 II. ALTAR at Athens, inscribed "^yicioTco ^tw, 
 " to the unknown God." Paul, discoursing in that city 
 on the resurrection of the dead, was carried by some 
 of the philosophers before tlie judges of the Areop- 
 agus, where he uses this expression: (Acts xvii. 22, 
 23.) "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things 
 ye are too superstitious, over fond of gods ; for as I 
 passed by; and beheld your sacred instruments, I 
 found an altar, with this inscription — "To the un- 
 known god ;" liim, therefore, whom ye worship as 
 ^^iinknoicn" — hiui declare (represent, announce) I 
 unto you." The question is. What was this altar, 
 thus consecrated to the " unknown god?" Jerome 
 says, that it was inscribed " to the gods of Asia, Eu- 
 rope, and Africa ; to the unknowii and strange gods ;" 
 and that the apostle uses the singular form, because 
 his design was only to demonstrate to the Atheni- 
 ans, that they adored an unknown god. In Ep. ad 
 Tit. c. i. 12. 
 
 Some, as Grotius, Vossius, Beza, believe that Paul 
 speaks of altars extant in several places of Attica, 
 without any inscription, erected after a solemn expi- 
 ation for the country, by the philosopher Epimeni- 
 des ; see the note of Dr. Doddridge below. Others 
 conceive that this altar was the one mentioned by 
 Pausanias and Philostratus, (Attic, lib. vi. cap. 2.) 
 who speak of '.-//KofiToir daoy ^o-iioi iSnvvTcii, altars, 
 at Athens, consecrated "to the unknown gods." 
 Lucian, in the Dialogue attributed to him, entitled 
 Philopatris, swears — "by the unknown god, at 
 Athens." He adds, " Being come to Athens, and 
 finding there the unknown god, we worshipped 
 him, and gave thanks to him, with hands lifted up 
 to heaven." Another statement is made by Peter 
 Comestor. He relates, that Dionysius, the Areopa- 
 gite, observing, while he was at Alexandria, the 
 eclipse, which, contrary to nature, ha])pened at the 
 death of our Saviour, from thence concluded, that 
 some unknown god sufft'red ; and not being then in 
 a situation to learn more of the matter, he erected, 
 at his return to Athens, this altar, " to the unknown 
 god," whicli gave occasion to Paul's discourse at the 
 Areo))agus. Thcophylact, Q^cumenius, and others, 
 give a different account of its origin and design, but 
 each of their opinions, as also those we have no- 
 ticed, has its difficulties. 
 
 Chrysostom thinks the altar, entitled, " To the 
 gods of Asia, Europe, and Africa, to the imknown 
 and strange gods," is not that mentioned by Paul ; 
 as the Areo|)agites would never have mulerstood 
 this altar by the bare designation of the " [Jnknown 
 God." He conceives it to be more jirobable that the 
 Athenians, who were a people extremely super- 
 stitious, being apprehensive that they had forgotten 
 some divinity and omitted to worship him, erected 
 altars in some ])art8 of their city, inscribed " To the 
 unknown god ;" whence Paul took occasion to 
 preach, first Jehovah, and then Jesus, to them, as a
 
 ALTAR 
 
 [49] 
 
 AMA 
 
 God, with respect to them, truly unknoivn, yet, in 
 some sort, adored without their knowing him. 
 Chrysost. in Acta. 
 
 Augustin did not doubt but that the Athenians, 
 under the appellation of the unknown God, wor- 
 sliipped the true one. Others also have thought, 
 that the God of the Jews was the object of this altar, 
 he being a powerful God, but not fully known, as 
 the Jews never used his name in speech, but substi- 
 tuted "the Lord" for "Jehovah." 
 
 The following is Dr. Doddridge's note on the 
 passage : — " The express testimony of Lucian (Phi- 
 lopat. ad fin.) sufficiently proves that there was such 
 an inscription at Athens ; and shows how unneces- 
 sary, as well as unwarrantable, it was in Jerome to 
 supposo, that the apostle, to serve his own purpose, 
 gives this turn to an inscription, which bore on its 
 front a plurality of deities. Whence this important 
 phenomenoi' arose, or to what it particularly referred, 
 it is more difficult to say. Witsius (Melet. p. 85.) 
 with Heinsius (in loc.) understands it of Jehovah, 
 wliose name, not being pronounced by the Jews 
 themselves, might give occasion to this appellation ; 
 and to this sense Mr. Biscoe inclines. (Boyle's Lect, 
 chap. viii. § 12. p. 322. 325.) Dr. Welwood (pref. 
 to the Banquet of Xenophon, p. 18, 19.) supposes 
 that Socrates reared this altar, to express his devo- 
 tion to the one living and true God, of whom the 
 Athenians had no notion ; and whose incomprehen- 
 sil>le being he insinuated, by this inscription, to be 
 far beyond the reach of their vmderstanding, or his 
 own. And in this I should joyfully acquiesce, could 
 I find one ancient testimony in confirmation of the 
 fact. As it is, to omit other conjectures, I must give 
 the preference to that which Beza and Dr. Ham- 
 mond have mentioned, and which 3Ir. Hallet (Disc, 
 on Script, vol. i. p. 307, 308.) has labored at large to 
 confirm and illustrate ; though I think none of these 
 learned writei-s has set it in its most natural and ad- 
 vantageous hght. Diogenes Laertius, in his life of 
 Epimenides, (vide lib. i. p. 29, C. with the notes of J. 
 Casaubon and Menagius,) assures us, that in the time 
 of that philosopher (about 600 years before Christ) 
 there was a terrible pestilence at Athens ; in order to 
 avert which, when none of the deities to whom they 
 sacrificed, appeared able or willing to help them, 
 Epimenides advised them to bring some sheep to the 
 Areopagus, and letting them loose from thence, to 
 follow them till they lay down, and then to sacrifice 
 them (as I suppose the words tw nQoailxom Gtu 
 signify) to the god near whose temple or altar they 
 then were. Now it seems probable, that, Athens not 
 being then so full of these monuments of supersti- 
 tion as afterwards, these sheep lay down in j>laces 
 where noiie of them were near ; and so occasioned 
 the rearing what the historians call anonymous altars, 
 or altars, each of which had the inscription <>y> wwrw 
 0tw, to the unknown god; meaning thereby, the 
 deity who had sent the plague, whoever he were ; 
 one of which altars, at least, however it might have 
 been repaired, remained till Paul's time, and long 
 afler. Now as the God whom Paul preached as 
 Lord of all, was indeed the deity who sent and re- 
 moved this pestilence, the apostle might, with great 
 [>ropriety, tell the Athenians, he declared to them 
 lim whom, without knowing him, they worshipped ; 
 as I think the concluding words of the 23d verse 
 may most fairly be rendered." 
 
 Dr. Lardner has an article on this subject, which 
 may be consulted with advantage ; it is in the quarto 
 edition, vol. iv. p. 174. 
 
 7 
 
 [It is a strong objection to the view taken above by 
 the excellent Dr. Doddridge, that the sacrifices were 
 to be offered, not to an uyv^arw ^ew, but to roJ nQoa/,- 
 xovTi -diCj, i. e. the god to whom the affair pertains, 
 or the god who can avert the pestilence, whoever he 
 may be ; so that the uiscription on such altars, if 
 any, would doubtless have been, t<u ttqoo'jXojti ^tm. 
 But these altars are expressly said by the Greek 
 writer to have been (imfioi avwwuoi, i. e. anonymous 
 altars, — though evidently not in the sense in which 
 Dr. Doddridge has taken it, but meaning altars 
 without any name or inscription. 
 
 Eichhorn conjectures (Allgem. Bibhoth. iii. p. 414.) 
 that there were standing at Athens various very an- 
 cient altars, which originally had no inscription, and 
 which were aflervrards not destroyed, for fear of pro- 
 voking the anger of the god to whom each had been 
 dedicated, although it was no longer knovvTi who 
 this god was. He supposes that therefore the in- 
 scription, uyyt-oaria Stia, was placed upon them, which 
 would properly signify, " to an unknown god," and 
 not " to THE unknown god." Of these altars, Paul 
 met with only one, and spoke accordingly. That 
 there were altars with this inscription, in the plural 
 number, appears from the testimony of Pausanias, 
 (V. 14. p. 412.) and we may well conclude, on the 
 authority of Paul, that at least one existed at Athens 
 with the inscription in the singular. 
 
 Bretschneider supposes the inscription to have 
 been, ayicioroi? 9ioit, i. e. to the gods of foreign na- 
 tions, unknown to the Athenians ; indicating either 
 that foreigners might sacrifice upon that altar to their 
 own gods, or that Athenians who were about to 
 travel abroad, might first by sacrifices propitiate the 
 favor of the gods of the countries they were about to 
 visit. He quotes the following sentiment of Tertul- 
 lian : " I find indeed altars prostituted to unknoum 
 gods, but idolatry is an Attic trait ; also to uncertain 
 gods, but superstition is a trait of Rome." (Adv. 
 3Iarc. i. 9.) This view is in substance similar to that 
 of Jerome, first above mentioned. Bretschn. Lex. 
 
 N. T. art. uyrwOJoq. 
 
 So much at least is certain, both from Paul's as- 
 sertion and the testimony of Greek profane writers, 
 that altars to an unknoAvn god or gods existed at 
 Athens. But the attempt to ascertain definitely 
 whom the Athenians worshipped under this appella- 
 tion, must ever remain fruitless for want of sufficient 
 data. The inscription afforded to Paul a happy oc- 
 casion of proclaiming the gospel ; and those who 
 embraced it, found indeed that the Being whom they 
 had thus ' ignorantly worshipped,' was the one only 
 living and true God. See Kuinoel's Comm. in Act. 
 xvii. 23. *R. 
 
 ALUSH, see Allush. 
 
 AMALEK, son of Eliphaz and Timna his concu- 
 bine, and grandson of Esau. He succeeded Gatam 
 in the government of Edom, south of Judah ; (Gen. 
 xxxvi. 12, 16. 1 Chron. i. 36.) and is by some sup- 
 posed to have been father of the Amalekites who 
 dwelt on the south of Judah. This, however, is 
 very disputable, as will appear from what follows. 
 
 AMALEKITES, a powerfiil people who dwelt 
 in Arabia Petraea, between the Dead sea and the 
 Red sea, or between Havilah and Shur ; (1 Sam. xv. 
 7.) perhaps in moving troops. We cannot assign the 
 place of their habitation, except in general it is ap- 
 parent that they dwelt south of Palestine, between 
 mount Seir and the border of Egypt ; and it does 
 not appear that they possessed cities, though one is 
 mentioned in 1 Sam. xv. 5. They hved generally
 
 AMALEKITES 
 
 [ 50 
 
 AMALEKITES 
 
 in migrating paities, in caves, or in tents. The Is- 
 raelites had scarcely passed the Red sea, when the 
 Amalekites attacked them in the desert of Rephidim, 
 and slew those who, through fatigue or weakness, 
 lagged behind. Moses, by God's connnand, directed 
 Joshua to repel this assault ; and to record the act 
 of inhumanity in a book, to perpetuate its remem- 
 brance for future vengeance. Joshua attacked the 
 Amalekites, and defeated them, while Closes was on 
 the mountain, and, witli Aaron and Hur in his com- 
 pany, held up his lifted hands to heaven, A. M.2513. 
 According to the SeM-i|)ture mode of expression, 
 Moses required all the virtue of his rod and his 
 prayers, to defeat so dreadful an enemy ; and if God 
 had not interfered on behalf of his people, the num- 
 ber, valor, and advantage of Ainalek's arms, had 
 given them the victory. 3Ioreover, victory, which 
 God gives or withholds at his pleasure, had certainly 
 favored the x\rnalekites, if Aaron and Ilur, who ac- 
 companied Moses on the mount, remote from dan- 
 ger, had not sui)ported the extended arms and hands 
 of that legislator. The mystery of this we leave to 
 commentators. The battle continued till the ap- 
 proach of night; for Scripture says, (Exod. xvii. 12.) 
 "the hands of Moses were steady till the going down 
 of the sun." As the success of this action was the 
 sole work of God, he said to Moses, " Write this for 
 a memorial in a book." 
 
 Under the Judges, (Judg. vi. 3.) we see the Ama- 
 lekites united with the Midianites and Moabites to op- 
 press Isi-ael ; but Ehud dehvered them from Eglon, 
 (Judg. iii. 13.) and Gideon delivered them from Mid- 
 ian and Amalek. Many years after, the Lord di- 
 rected Samuel to say to Saul, "Thus saith the Lord 
 of hosts, I remember what Amalek did to Israel, 
 how he laid wait for him in the way when he came 
 up fi-om Egjpt : now go and smite Amalek, and ut- 
 terly destroy all." Saul marched therefore against 
 the Amalekites, advanced to their capital, defeated 
 and drove them from Havilah (towards the lower 
 part of the Euphrates) to Shur, (on the Red sea 
 towards Egj'pt,) destroying the people : but he spared 
 the best of the cattle and movable's ; thereby violat- 
 ing the command of God. Nevertheless, some fugi- 
 tives escaped ; for though they appear but little more 
 in history, yet some years after Saul's expedition 
 against them, a troop of Amalekites pillaged Ziklag, 
 then belonging to David, where he had left his wife 
 and his projjerty. David, returning, pursued, over- 
 took, and dispersed them, and recovered all the booty 
 which they had carried off, 1 Sam. xxx. L lii 
 Judges X. 14. and xii. I."), we read of an Amalek and 
 a mount of the Amalekites in the tribe of Ephraim. 
 It is hence probable that colonies of this ])eople had 
 formerly migrated into Canaan ; and that one of 
 them had thus maintained itself against the Ephraim- 
 ites. See IJib. Repos. I. p. 594. 
 
 The Arabians have a tradition, that Amalek was a 
 son of Ham ; a notion which we are not disposed to 
 reject ; for certainly it is not easy to conceive how 
 the Amalckit's, if only the posterity of the son of 
 EUphaz, grandson of Esau, could be so powerful and 
 numerous as this tribe was when the Israelites de- 
 parted out of lOgypt. Resides, Mosos relates, (Gen. 
 xiv. 7.) that in Abraham's time the five confederate 
 kings invaded Amalek's country ai)out Kadesh, as 
 likewise that of the Amorites" at Ila/.ezon-tamar. 
 Moses also (Numb. xxiv. 20.) relates, that Balaam, 
 observing from a distance the land of Amalek, said, 
 in his prophetic style, "Amalek is the first (the head, 
 the original) of the nations, but his end shall be, that 
 
 he perish for ever." This will not agree with the 
 Amalekites, if they were so modern ; for the gener- 
 ation then living was but the third from Amalek him- 
 self, as appears by the following comparative gene- 
 alogj' : 
 
 Esau, Jacob, 
 
 Eliphaz, Levi, 
 
 Amalek, Koath, 
 
 Amram, 
 
 Aaron. 
 
 It is Avorthy of notice, also, that Moses never re- 
 proaches the Amalekites with attacking the Israel- 
 ites, thei?- brethren ; an aggi-avating circumstance, 
 which it is probable he would not have omitted if 
 they had been descended from Esau, and, by that 
 descent, brethren to the Israelites. Lastly, we see 
 the Amalekites almost always joined in Scripture 
 witli the Canaauites and Philistines, and never with 
 the Edornites ; and when Saul destroyed Amalek, 
 the Edoniites neither assisted nor avenged them. It 
 is therefore probable that the Amalekites, so often 
 mentioned in Sacred Histoiy, were a people descend- 
 ed from Canaan, and very dift'erent from the de- 
 scendants of Amalek, the gi'andson of Esau, who 
 perhai)s might be but a small tribe, and not conspic- 
 uous at the time ; if, indeed, they ever rose to much 
 imjiortance. 
 
 Of the Amalek destroyed by Saul, too, the Arabi- 
 ans had a tradition, that he was the father of an an- 
 cient tribe in Arabia, which contained only Arabians 
 called pure ; the remains of which were mingled 
 with the posterity of Joktan and Adnan, and so 
 became Mosarabes, or Mostcutrabes, that is, mixed 
 Arabians — blended with foreigners. They believe, 
 also, that Goliath, who was slain by David, was king 
 of the Amalekites, and that the giants who inhabited 
 Palestine in Joshua's time, part of whom retired into 
 Africa while Joshua was living, and settled on the 
 coasts of Barbaiy, were of the same race ; an account 
 which has many circumstances of credibility about 
 it. The son of Amalek was Ad, a celebrated prince 
 among the Arabians, and as some suppose, the son 
 of Uz, and gi-andson of Aram, the son of Shem. 
 The Mahommedans say. Ad was father of an Arabian 
 tribe called Adites, who were exterminated for not 
 hearkening to the patriarch Eber, Avho preached the 
 unity of God to them. (D'llerbelot, Biblioth. Orient.) 
 These accounts are, indeed, very imjjerfect ; but on 
 the whole, we seem to be warranted in suggesting, 
 (1.) That there were more kinds of Amalekites than 
 one : (2.) that the tribe which Saul destroyed might 
 not be very numerous at that time, and that the tract 
 of coimtry mentioned in relation to them, was that 
 of their lliglit, not that of their jjossessiou, unless as 
 rovers, or Bedouins : (3.) that they were turbulent 
 and violent toward their neighbors, as formerly they 
 had been toward the stragglers of Israel ; which sug- 
 gests the reason why their neighbors were not dis- 
 pleased at their expulsion : (4.) that such being their 
 character, they might have produced a war, by giving 
 recent cause of offence to Israel; though Scripture 
 only mentions the fulfilment of an ancient ])rophecy 
 — perhaj)s there never had been peace between the 
 two nations: (5.) that Agag, slain by Sanuiel, had 
 been extremely cruel — a supposition which seems 
 warranted by tlni expression, " As thy sword has 
 made mothers childless;" therefore he met with no 
 more than his just punishment in the death he re- 
 ceived. See Agag and Samuel. 
 
 Mr. Taylor arranges the diflferent tribes bearing 
 the name of Amalek in a geographical view, thus:
 
 A :>i -V 
 
 [51 ] 
 
 AMA 
 
 (1.) AwALEK, the uncieut, Genesis xiv. 7. where the 
 phrase is remarkable, "cdlthe country of theAnialek- 
 ites," which implies a great extent. This people 
 we may place near the Jordan, Numb. xxiv. 20. (2.) 
 A tribe' in the region east of Egypt ; between Egypt 
 and Canaan, Exod. xvii. 8 ; 1 Sam. xv. &c. (3.) The 
 descendants of Eliphaz. — It was against the second 
 of these that Moses and Joshua fought, (Exod. xvii. 
 8 — 13.) against which tribe perpetual hostility was to 
 be maintained, ver. 16 ; 1 Sam. xv. It was also, 
 most probably, to the ancient Amalckites (1.) that 
 Balaam alluded (Numb. xxiv. 20.) as havhiw been 
 "Jirst of the nations," for the descendants of Esau 
 were very far from answering to this title ; in fact, 
 they were but just appearing as a tribe, or family. 
 Even at this day, the Arabs distinguish between 
 families oi'pure Arab blood, and those of mixed de- 
 scent ; but they include the posterity of Ishmael 
 among those of mixed descent, while they reckon 
 the Amalekites by parentage as of pure blood. The 
 posterity of Esau, therefore, could hardly claim 
 privilege abo\'e that of Ishmael, either by antiquity, 
 or by importance. Neither is it any way likely, that 
 the Amalekites of Esau's family should extend their 
 settlements to whei-e we find those Amalekites (2.) 
 wlio attacked Israel at the very borders of Egypt, 
 and on the shores of the Red sea. Instead ofMaa- 
 chathi, (Deut. iii. 14: Josh. xii. 5 ; xiii. 11, 13.) the LXX 
 read, " the kings of the Amalekites," which implies 
 that this people had occupied very extensive territo- 
 ries. The same countries seem to be alluded to by 
 David, in Psalm Ixxxiii. 7. where he had already 
 mentioned Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, «S,sc. yet 
 distinct from these he mentions Gebel, Amnion, and 
 Amalek ; consequently this Amalek was not of the 
 descent of Esau, or of Ishmael. 
 
 The spies sent to explore the land of Canaan 
 (Numb. xiii. 29.) report, that the Amalekites inhabit- 
 ed the south ; which agrees exactly with the equiv- 
 ocation of David to Achish, 1 Sam. xxvii. David 
 invaded the x\malekites, ver. 8. but in ver. 10. he 
 says, he went "against the soidh of J udah,''^ the south 
 of the JerahmeeUtes, the south of the Kenites; which 
 indeed was very true, as he went against the Amalek- 
 ites, who were south of all those places. 
 
 I. AMANA, a mountain, mentioned in Cant. iv. 8. 
 and by some supposed to be mount Amanus, in Ci- 
 licia. Jerome and the rabbins describe the land of 
 Israel as extending northward to this mountain ; and 
 it is known that Solomon's dominion did extend so 
 fai". 3Iount Amanus, with its continuations, separates 
 Syria and Cilicia, and reaches from the Mediterra- 
 nean to the Euphrates. — [The Amana of the Canti- 
 cles, however, is rather the southern part or sum- 
 mit of Antilibanus ; so called jierhaps from the river 
 Amana, which descended from it. See Gesenius 
 Heb. Lex. Reland Pal. p. 320. R. 
 
 II. AMANA, a river of Damascus. See Abana. 
 
 I. AMARIAH, eldest son of Meraioth, and father 
 of the high-priest Ahitub, wjxs high-priest in the time 
 of the Judges, but we are not able to fix the years of 
 his pontificate. His name occurs 1 Chron. vi. 7. 
 and if he actually did exercise this oflice, he should 
 be placed, as we think, before Eli, who was succeeded 
 by Ahitub, who, in the Chronicles, is put after Ama- 
 riah, ver. 7. — [There was another of this name,viz. — 
 
 II. AMARIAH, high-priest at a later period, the 
 son of Azariah, but also the father of a second Ahi- 
 tub, 1 Chron. vi. 11. In like manner, in the same 
 list, there are three high-priests bearing the name of 
 Azariah. R. 
 
 III. AMARIAH, great-grandfather of tlie prophet 
 Zephaniah, and father of Gedaliah, Zeph. i. 1. 
 
 I. AM ASA, son of Jether or Ithra and Abigail, 
 David's sister. Absalom, during his rebellion against 
 David, i)laced his cousin, Amasa, at the head of his 
 troops, (2 Sam. xvii. 25.) but he was defeated by 
 Joab. After the extinction of Absalom's party, David, 
 from dislike to Joab, who had killed Absalom, 
 oftered Amasa his pardon and the command of the 
 army, in room of Joab, whose insolence rendered 
 him insupportable, 2 Sam. xix. 13. On the revolt 
 of Sheba, son of Bichri, David ordered Amasa to 
 assemble all Judah against Sheba ; but Amasa de- 
 laying, Da-\ id directed Abishai to pursue Sheba, with 
 what soldiers he then had about his person. Joab, 
 with his people, accompanied him ; and when thev 
 had reached the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa joined 
 them with his forces. Joab's jealousy being excited, 
 he fonned the dastardly and cruel purpose of assas- 
 sinating his rival — "Then said Joab to Amasa, Art 
 thou in health, my brother ? and took him by the 
 beard with the right hand to kiss him ;" but at the 
 same time smote him with the sword. Such was the 
 end of Amasa, David's nephew, ch. xx. 4 — ]0. 
 A. M. 2982. 
 
 II. AMASA, son of Hadlai, opposed the admis- 
 sion of such captives as were taken from the king- 
 dom of Judah, in the reign of Ahaz, into Samai-ia, 2 
 Chron. xxviii. 12. 
 
 AMASAI, a Levite, who joined David with thirty 
 gallant men, while in the desert, flying from Saul. 
 David went to meet them, and said, " If ye be come 
 peaceably to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto 
 you : but if ye be come to betray me to mine ene- 
 mies, seeing there is no \vTong in mine hands, the 
 God of our fathers look thereon and rebuke it." 
 Then said Amasai, " Thine are we, David, and on 
 thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace be unto thee, and 
 peace be to thine helpers." David, therefore, re- 
 ceived them ; and gave them a command in his 
 troops, 1 Chron. xii. 18. 
 
 AMATH, or Emath, a city of Syria ; the same 
 with Emesa on the Orontcs. See Hamath. 
 
 'AMATHITIS, a district in Syria with the capital 
 city Hamath, on the Orontes, 1 Mace. xii. 25. See 
 Hamath. 
 
 I. AMAZIAH, son of Joash, eighth king of Judah, 
 (2 Chron. xxiv. 27.) succeeded his father, A. M. 
 3165. He was twenty-five years of age when he 
 began to reign, and reigned twenty-nine years at 
 Jerusalem. He did good in the sight of the Lord, 
 but not with a perfect heart. When settled in liis 
 kingdom, he put to death the murderers of his father, 
 but not their children ; because it is written in the 
 law, " The fathers shall not be put to death for the 
 children, neither shall the children be put to death 
 for the fathers ; every man shall be put to death for 
 his own sin," Deut. xxiv. 16 ; 2 Chron. xxv. 2, 3, 4. 
 Designing to proceed against Edom, which had re- 
 volted from Judah, in the reign of Joram, about 
 fifty-four years before, (2 Kings viii, 20.) Amaziah 
 mustered .300,000 men able to bear arms. To these 
 he added 100,000 men of Israel ; for which he paid 
 100 talents, about $150,000. But a prophet of the 
 Lord came to him, and said, " O king, let not the 
 army of Israel go with thee ; for the Lord is not 
 with Israel." Amaziah, hereupon, sent back those 
 troops ; and they returned strongly irritated against 
 him. They dispersed themselves over the cities of 
 Judah, from Beth-horon to Samaria, killed 3000 men, 
 and cai-ried off a great booty, to make themselves
 
 AMB 
 
 [52] 
 
 AMM 
 
 amends for that they had expected from Edom. 
 Amaziah, with his own forces, gave battle to the 
 Edomites, in the Valley of Salt, killed 10,000, and 
 took 10,000 more, who had saved themselves, in all 
 probability, on a rock, where they were assaulted, 
 and from whence they were thro^vll headlong, and 
 thereby dashed to pieces. In 2 Kings xiv. 7. it is 
 said, "Amaziah took Selah, pSc, (Petra,) and gave it 
 the name of Joctael ;" i. e. probably he took Petra, 
 the capital of Arabia Petreea ; others are of opinion, 
 that he only took the rock (Gr. Petra) to Avliich these 
 ten thousand Edomites had retreated. Amaziah, 
 having thus punished Edom, and taken their gods 
 prisoners, adored them as his owti deities. This 
 provoked the Lord, who, by a prophet, remon- 
 strated with him ; but Amaziah was incorrigible, and 
 the prophet departed foretelling his premature end. 
 
 From this time Amaziah appears to have been so 
 greatly infatuated as to think himself invincible, and 
 sought a quarrel with the king of Israel, for the pur- 
 pose of showing his prowess, 2 Kings xiv. 8, 9 ; 2 
 Cliron. XXV. 17, seq. Joash's attempts to conciliate 
 him proving unavailing, the two armies came to 
 battle near Bethshemesh, where Amaziah was de- 
 feated, and himself carried prisoner to Jerusalem, 
 part of whose walls were demolished by Joash, and 
 the most valuable things, including the gold and sil- 
 ver vessels belonging to the temple, taken away to 
 Samaria, ver. 11 — 14. 
 
 Amaziah reigned after this, fifteen or sixteen 
 years at Jerusalem ; but as he returned not to the 
 Lord with all his heart, he was punished by a con- 
 spiracy formed against hun at Jerusalem: He en- 
 deavored to escape to Lachish ; but was assassinated, 
 and brought back on horses, and buried wth his an- 
 cestors, in the city of David, A. M. 3194. Uzziah, 
 or Azariah, his son, about sixteen years of age, suc- 
 ceeded him, ver. 19, 20, 21. 
 
 II. AMAZIAH, the priest of the golden calves at 
 Bethel, who procured the banishment of the prophet 
 Amos, because he had predicted the destruction of 
 the high places, consecrated to idols, and also of the 
 house of Jeroboam, Amos vii. 10, seq. See Amos. , 
 
 AJVIBASSADOR. The ministers of the gospel 
 are called ambassadors, because they are appointed 
 by God to declare his will to men, and to promote a 
 spiritual alliance with him, 2 Cor. v. 20. 
 
 AMBER, (sca-n, chasmal, Ezek. i. 4, 27 ; viii. 2.) 
 is a yellow or straw-colored ginnmy substance, 
 originally a vegetable production, but reckoned to the 
 mineral kingdom. It is found in lumps in the sea 
 and on the shores of Prussia, Sicily, Turkey, &c. 
 Externally it is rough ; it is very transparent, and on 
 being rubbed yields a fragrant odor. It was fomicrly 
 supposed to be medicinal ; but is now employed in 
 the manufacture of trinkets, ornaments, &c. 
 
 In the above passages of Ezckicl, the Hebrew 
 word chashmal is translated by the Sept. and Vulgate 
 eleclnim, i. e. amber, because the Heb. word denotes a 
 very brilliant metal; composed of silver and gold,which 
 was nnich prized in antiquity ; sec Pliny xxxiii. 4. 
 p. 2.3. Others, as Bof hart, compare here the mixture 
 of gold and brass, of which the ancients had several 
 kinds ; by which means a high degree of lustre Avas 
 obtained; e. g. a;s pyropum, res Corinthium, etc. 
 Sometlring similar to this was probably also the 
 i\\{\M-A\\t^yit''xo>.:iuiot in Rev. i. 15. Sec Bochart, 
 Hieroz^ii. p. 877. *R. 
 
 AlVtjJtVIUS, (Marcus,) succeeded Cojwnius in 
 the goyerhinent of Judea, A. D. 13. Annius Rufus 
 was hiaflnccessor, A. D. 17. 
 
 AMEN, jcK, in Hebrew, signifies true, faithful, cer- 
 tain. It is used Ukewise in allirmation ; and was 
 often thus used by our Saviour : Amen, Amen, ver- 
 ily, verily. It is understood as expressing a wish, 
 Amen ! so be it ! or an affirmation. Amen, yes : I 
 believe it. Numb. v. 22, She shall answer. Amen ! 
 Amen ! Deut. xxvii. 15, 16, 17, &c. All the people 
 shall answer, Amen ! 1 Cor. xiv. 16, How shall he 
 who occupieth the place of the unlearned say. Amen ! 
 at thy giving of thanks? seeing he undcrstandeth not 
 what thou sayest. The promises of God are Amen 
 in Christ; i. e. certain, confirmed, granted, 2 Cor. 
 i. 20. The Hebrews end the five books of Psahns, 
 according to their distribution of them, with Amen, 
 Amen ; which the Septuagint translate iVi oito, 
 yiroiTo, and the Latins Fiat, fat. The gospels, &:c. 
 are ended ^vith Amen. The Greek, Latin, and other 
 churches, preserve this word in their prayers, as 
 well as alleluia and hosanua. At the conclusion of 
 the public prayers, the people anciently answered 
 with a loud voice. Amen ! and Jerome says, that, at 
 Rome, when the people answered, Amen ! the sound 
 was like a clap of thunder. Prref in Lib. ii. Ep. ad 
 Galat. The Jews assert, that the gates of heaven 
 are opened to him who answers Amen! with all his 
 might. 
 
 [The word ^mcn is strictly an adjective, signifying 
 frm, and metaph. faithful. So in Rev. iii. 14, our 
 Lord is called " the Avicn, the faithful and true Wit- 
 ness ;" where the last words cxjilnin the preceding 
 appellation. So Is. Ixv. 16, it is in the Heb. " the 
 God of Amen,''^ which our version renders "God of 
 truth," i. e. of fidelity. In its adverbial use it means 
 certainly, truly, surely. It is used at the beginning of 
 a sentence, by way of emphasis, rarely in the Old 
 Testament, (Jer. xxvhi. 6.) but frequently by our 
 Saviour in the New, where it is commonly translated 
 Verily. In John's Gospel alone, it is often used by 
 him in this way double, i. e. Verily, verily. In the 
 end of a sentence it is often used, singly or repeated, 
 especially at the end of hymns and prayers ; as 
 Atnen and Amen, Ps. xh. 14 ; Ixxii. 19 ; Ixxxix. 53. 
 The proper signification of it here is, to confirm the 
 words which have preceded and invoke the fulfil- 
 ment of them; so be it, fat, Sept. •noiro. Hence in 
 oaths, after the priest has repeated the words of the 
 covenant or imprecation, all those who pronounce 
 the Amen, bind themselves by the oath, Num. v. 22 ; 
 Deut. xxvii. 15, seq. Neh. v. 13. ; viii. 6. ; 1 Chron. xvi. 
 36. Compare Ps. cvi. 48. R. 
 
 AMERUTHA, a town of Upper Galilee, which 
 Josephus fortified against the Romans ; (Vita sua, 
 p. 101.3.) probably the same as Mcrotli, which termi- 
 nates Upper Galilee westward ; (Jos. Ant. iii. 2.) 
 perlia])s the Mearah of the Sidonians, Josh. xiii. 4. 
 
 AMETHYST, a precious stone, the ninth in order 
 on the high-priest's breastplate, bearing the name of 
 Issachar, Ex. xxviii. 19; xxxix. 12. Its color resem- 
 bles that of new wine, and reflects a violet. Rev. 
 xxi. 20. 
 
 I. AMINADAB, of Judah, son of Aram, and 
 father of Naason and Elisheba, wife of Aaron, the 
 high-priest, Exod. vi. 23 ; Matt. i. 4. 
 
 II. AMINADAB, whose chariots are mentioned. 
 Cant. vi. 12. as being extremely ligiit. "Or ever I 
 was a%vare, my soul made me like the chariots of 
 Aminadab." Ho- was veiy jHobably a celebrated 
 charioteer, whose horses were singidarly swift. 
 
 AMMA, a hill opposite to Giah, not far from 
 Gibeon, where Asahel was slain by Abner, 2 Sam. 
 ii. 24.
 
 AMM 
 
 [ 53] 
 
 AMM 
 
 AMMAN, the capital of the Ammonites, called in 
 Scripture, Rabbath Amnion, and in profane authors, 
 Philadelphia. See Rabbath. 
 
 AMMANAH, in the Jewish writers, is the same as 
 mount Hor ; a mount in the northern boundary of 
 the land. In the Jerusalem Targum, mount Hor is 
 called mount Manus; Jonathan writes it Umanis. 
 Inwards from Ammanah was within the land, beyond 
 Animanali was without the land, according to the 
 opinions of the Tahnudists. 
 
 I. AMMON, or No-Ammo>', or Amimon-No, a city 
 of Egj'pt. The Vulgate generally take this city for 
 Alexandria, although they could not be ignorant that 
 Alexandria is much more modern than Jeremiah, 
 Ezekiel, and Nahum, who speak of No-Ammon. 
 But they might believe that this city had stood at or 
 near the place where Alexandria now stands ; though 
 there is no evidence in history that such was the fact. 
 The prophets describe No-Ammon as being situated 
 among the rivers ; as having the waters siwrounding 
 it ; having the sea as its rampart ; and as being ex- 
 tremely populous. This description has induced 
 some interpreters to consider No-Ammon as having 
 been the same vnih Diospohs, or the city of Jupiter, 
 in Lower Egypt. The ruin of this city, so distinctly 
 foi-etold by the prophets, occurred ])artly under 
 Sargon ; and more ftilly, though still not completely, 
 under Cambyses. 
 
 [The name of the city is properly Ao-^mmoji, i. e. 
 tlie seat or dwelling of the god Amnion, Nah. iii. 8. 
 In Ezek. xxx. 14 — 16 it is called simply JVo ; and in 
 both Nah. iii. 8. and Jer. xlvi.25, the English version 
 has also only JVo ; in the latter case with a misap- 
 prehension of the sense. See the next article. It 
 means, beyond all reasonable doubt, the city of 
 Thebes, the ancient and renowned capital of Egypt, 
 called also Diospohs by the Greeks, and the chief 
 seat of the worship of Jupiter Amnion. The vast 
 ruins of the temples of Luxor and Caruac still pro- 
 claim the grandeur and maguLficence with which 
 this worship was conducted. Nahum indeed de- 
 scribes No-Ammon as 'situated among the rivers, 
 and that its rampart was the sea ;' but this, in the 
 highly figurative language of the prophet, applies 
 rather to Thebes as the capital of Egjpt, as the rep- 
 resentative of the whole countr\', than to its literal 
 position. — The other Diospohs, although literally 
 situated among the branches of the Nile, was not of 
 sufficient importance to b^ar the comparison with 
 Nineveh which Nahum institutes. See the Mission- 
 aiy Herald for 1823, p. 347, seq. Greppo, Essay on 
 the Hieroglyphic System, Bost. 1830. p. 1.50, seq. 
 Champollion, Egypte sous les Pharaons, i. p. 199, seq. 
 ii. p. 198, seq. , 
 
 The ruins of the ancient city of 'riiebes are the 
 wonder and delight of all modern travellers, for their 
 extent, their vastness, and their sad and solitary gran- 
 deur. Mr. Came, in his Letters from the Elast, (vol. i. p. 
 150, seq. Lond. 1826,) gives the following account of 
 them : " It is difficult to describe the noble and stu- 
 pendous ruins of Thebes. Beyond all others they 
 give you the idea of a ruined, yet imperishable, city ; 
 so vast is their extent, that you Avander a long time 
 confused and perplexed, and discover at every step 
 some new object of interest. From the temple of 
 Luxor to that of Karnac the distance is a mile and a 
 half, and they were formerly connected by a long 
 avenue of sphynxes, the mutilated remains of which, 
 the heads being broken oft' the greater part, still line 
 the whole path. Arrived at the end of this avenue, 
 you come to a lofty gate-way of granite, and quite 
 
 isolated. About fifty yards farther you enter a temple 
 of inferior dimensions ; you then advance into a spa- 
 cious area, strewed with broken pillars, and sur- 
 rounded with vast and lofty masses of ruins, — all 
 parts of the great temple ; a little on your right is the 
 magnificent portico of Karnac, the vivid remem- 
 brance of which will never leave him who has once 
 gazed on it. Its numerous colonnades of pillars, of 
 gigantic form and height, are in excellent preserva- 
 tion, but without ornament ; the ceiling and walls of 
 the portico are gone ; the ornamented plat-stone still 
 connects one of the rows of pillars with a slender 
 remain of the edifice attached to it. Passing hence, 
 you wander amidst obelisks, porticoes, and statues ; 
 the latter without grace or beauty, but of a most 
 colossal kind. If you ascend one of the hills of rub- 
 bish, and look around, you see a gate-way standing 
 afar, conducting only to solitude, — and detached ami 
 roofless pillars, while others lie broken at their feet ; 
 the busts of gigantic statues appearing above the 
 earth, while the rest of the body is yet buried, or the 
 head torn away. 
 
 "The length of the great temple of Karnac is esti- 
 mated at 1200 feet, and its breadth at 400 ; and among 
 its hundred and fifty columns are two rows, eaf h pil- 
 lar of which is ten feet in diameter. On the left, 
 spread the dreary deserts of the Thebais, to the edge 
 of which the city extends. The front is a pointed and 
 baiTen range of mountains. The Nile flows at the 
 foot of the temple of Luxor; but the ruins extend far 
 on the other side of the river ; to the very base of 
 those formidable precipices, and into the wastes of 
 sand. The natural scenery around Thebes is a3 
 fine as can possibly be conceived." See No and 
 Thebes. *R. 
 
 II. AMMON, Amoun, or in later times Jupiter. 
 Ammon, the supreme god of the Egyptians, worship- 
 ped also by the Ethiopians «nd Lybiaiis, and held bj' 
 the Greeks and Romans to be the same Avith their 
 Jupiter. (Herod, ii. 42. Diod. i. 13.) Macrobiua 
 declares the god Amnion to be the representative c f 
 the Sun ; and this view is suppoi-ted by Egyptian 
 inscriptions, in which, besides his usual name, he is 
 also called Amon-Re, i. e. Ammon, the Sun. His im- 
 age sometimes had the head of a ram; and Jablon- 
 sky hence supposed this to have been an emblem of 
 the Sun in spring, when entering the sign Aries. 
 (Pantheon -^gypt. i. p. 166.) The New Platonists 
 held this god to be the emblem of the eternal 
 and hidden source of light, the supreme creator 
 of the universe, SiuiovnyU. Euseb. Prsep. Evang. 
 xi. 7. 
 
 The origin and etymology of the name are upcer- 
 tain. Champollion supposes it to come from the 
 Egyptian word AMOUN, signifying gloi-y, sublimity ; 
 (Egj'pte sous les Pharaons i. p. 217.) though in 
 another place (Pantheon No. 1.) he folloAvs Manetho, 
 and makes the word Anion signify occult, hidden. 
 
 The images of Ammon, as found on Egyptian mon- 
 uments, represent a human figure, with a youthful 
 visage, sitting upon a throne ; or sometimes with the 
 head and sometimes the whole body of a ram. 
 (Champollion, Pantheon No. 1.) He was addressed 
 also by the Egyptians with the epithets Lord of the 
 re^ons of the tvorld, supreme Lord, king of the gods. 
 This name also occurs in the epithets bestowed on 
 the Pharaohs ; e. g. Son of Ammon, approved of Ain- 
 mon, beloved of Ammon, &c. He was worshipped in 
 temples of the utmost splendor at Meroe, and in an 
 oasis of the Lybian desert, whither Alexander the 
 Great made an expedition ; but the chief seat of his
 
 A M 51 
 
 [54] 
 
 AMN 
 
 worship was at Thebes, the celebrated capital of 
 E°-ypt, which on this account was called No-Ammo.x. 
 (See the preceding article.) The god himself is only 
 once referred to in the Bible, vi/. Jer. xlvi. ^o, "The 
 Lord of Hosts saith. Behold I will punish Jmman of 
 .Vo, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, Avith their gods and 
 their kings," &c. The English v(>r.sion has here in- 
 correctly translated the word Auuuon by a multi- 
 tude.— See Geseniiis, Thcs. Ling. Heb. p. 115. Grep- 
 po. Essay on the Hieroglyphic Syst. Bost. 1830. Ap- 
 pendix M. p. 225. *R. 
 
 in. AMMON, or Ben- Annul, (soji o/mj/ ;?eo^/e,) 
 son of Lot, by his younger daughter. Gen. xix. 34, 
 38. He was the father of the Ammonites, a famous 
 people, always at enmity with Israel. 
 
 AMMONITES, the 'descendants of Annnon, or 
 Beu-Annni, a son of Lot ; and called, sometimes, 
 Ammanites. They destroyed an ancient race of 
 giants called Zamzunuuim,and seized their country, 
 which lay south-cast of Judea, Deut. ii. 19—21. 
 Their territory extended from the Arnon to the Jab- 
 bok, and from' the Jordan a considerable distance into 
 Arabia. Their cai)ital city was Kabbah, (also Rab- 
 batli Amnion, and afterw'ards Philadelphia,) which 
 stood on the Jabbok. They were gross idolaters ; 
 their chief idol being Moloch, supposed to he the 
 same with Saturn. They were dispossessed of part 
 of their territories by Sihon, king of the Amorites ; 
 but God restrained Moses and Israel from attacking 
 them, because he did not intend to give any of the 
 remaining part of their land to the Hebrews. Never- 
 theless, as, before Israel entered Canaan, the Amo- 
 rites had conquered a great part of their country, 
 Moses retook it, and divided it between the tribes of 
 Gad and Reuben.— After the death of Othniel, the 
 Anmionites and Amalekites joined with Eglon, king 
 of Moab, to oppress Israel, whom they governed for 
 18 years. In the time of Jephthah the Annnonites 
 declared war against Israel, under the pretence that 
 the latter detained a great part of the country which 
 had formerly l)een theirs, before the Amorites pos- 
 sessed it. But Jejihthah defeated them with great 
 slaughter, Judg. xi. In the beginning of Saul's 
 reign, Nahash," king of the Annnonites, having at- 
 tacked Jabesh-Gilead, reduced it to a capitulation, 
 (1 Sam. xi. 1.) but he would accept of no other con- 
 ditions, than the inhabitants submitting to have every 
 man his right eye jilucked out, as a re])roach on 
 Israel. Saul, however, coming seasonably to their 
 aid, delivered the people from this intended barbar- 
 ity. About GO years after this, David, who had been 
 upon friendly terms with the king of Amnion, sent 
 compliments of condolence, after his death, to Hanun, 
 his son and successor. The Ammonite, however, 
 afr<cling to regard the ambassadors as spies, treated 
 them in a very degrading manner. David avenged 
 the affront, and subdued the Ammonites, the Moab- 
 ites, and the Syrians, their allies, 2 Sam. x. From 
 this period to tiie death of Ahab, about 140 years. 
 Amnion and Moal) cotuiiiued subject to tiie kings of 
 Israel, 2 Kings i. 1. Two years after the death of 
 Ahab, .Feiioram, his son, defeated the Moabites, (A. 
 M. 310!», 2 Kings iii. 7, to end,) but it does not ap- 
 pear that he reduced them to obedience. At the 
 same time the Annnonites, Moabites, and other peo- 
 ple, made an irruption into Judah, but, according 
 to the word of the Lord revealed to .Talia/iel, the 
 rombine^l army was wholly destroyed by mutual 
 slaughter, 2 Chron. xx. 
 
 The Ammonites and Moabites seem now to have 
 been reduced to a condition in which they were nn 
 
 longer able to harass their enemies, the Israelites; 
 but after the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half- 
 tribe of Manasseh, had been carried captive by Tig- 
 lath-Pileser, (A. M. 32G4,) they took possession of the 
 cities belonging to those tribes ; and for this they were 
 reprov&d and threatened by the proj)liet Jeremiah, 
 Jer. xlix. 1 — 6. But great as had been their guilt up 
 to this time, it was much aggi-avated by their "insolent 
 triumph over the people of Israel, when their temple 
 was destroyed and themselves carried away by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. They had even joined w ith Nebuchad- 
 nezzar in making war on the Jews, 2 Kings xxiv. 2. 
 Urged on, too, by Baalis, king of the Ammonites, 
 Ismael, the son of Nethauiah, murdered Gedaliah, the 
 governor over Judea appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 Jer. xl. 14, seq. xli. 1 — 10. The Lord, however, 
 showed his displeasure at their conduct, and Ezekiel 
 was commissioned to foretell that, as the reward of 
 their unfeeling and profane triumph, they should 
 themselves be delivered to the men of the East for a 
 possession, and be cut off, so as to perish out of the 
 coimtries, Ezek. xxv. 3, 10. We believe that the 
 former part of this prediction was fulfilled, about four 
 years afterwards, when Nebuchadnezzar invaded all 
 the countries around Judea, and carried away their 
 people, A. M. 3420—1. (Josephus.) The fulfilment 
 of the latter part of the prediction was deferred for a 
 time. Cyrus, it is probable, gave permission to the 
 Ammonites and the Moabites to return into their o\mi 
 country ; for we find them subsequently in their for- 
 mer settlements, exposed to those revolutions by 
 which the people of Syria and Palestine were visited ; 
 and subject sometimes to the kings of Egypt, and 
 sometimes to those of Syria. This agrees, too, with 
 Jer. xlix. 6. where the prophet foretells that they 
 should be for a time restored. But the calamities to 
 which these people had been themselves exposed, 
 did not tend in any degi-ee to allay their animosities 
 towards their neighbors ; and hence we find them 
 ready to hinder the Jews from again building the 
 walls of Jerusalem, (Nehem. iv. 3, seq.) and to attack 
 them when exposed to the ravages of Antiochus 
 Ej)iphaues. Judas Maccabeus, how^ever, visited them 
 with the just reward of their conduct, 1 Mace. v. 6 
 — 45. Their power was broken, their hostility ceased, 
 and, in compliance with the prophecy already cited, 
 they soon after became extinct, as a nation. They 
 were gradually blended with the Arabs, and Origeu 
 assures us, that in his days they were only known 
 under this general name. Origen in Job. lib. i. 
 
 AMNON, the eldest son of David, by Ahinoam 
 his second wife, having conceived a violent passion 
 for Taniar, his sister, became ill ; Jonadab, sou of 
 Shimeah, David's brother, inquired the cause, and 
 Amnon discovered to him his passion. Jonadab 
 advised him to counterfeit extreme sickness, and 
 when the king his father visited him, to say, " I pray 
 thee, let my sister Tamar come and dress me food in 
 my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand." 
 Amnon followed this advice, and the king readily 
 granted hisre(]uest. — Tamar came to Amnon's apart- 
 ment, "made cakes in his sight, baked them, and 
 poured them out before him." Annion would eat 
 nothing, however ; but calling his sister into the most 
 private part of the chamber, and obeying only the 
 dictates of his passion, he, by violence, abused her. — 
 After committing the crime, his aversion to her 
 became more excessive than had been his love. Ta- 
 mar being expelled from the room of Amnon, her 
 brother Absalom met her in the street, in tears, la- 
 menting, and having her head covered with ashes.
 
 AMO 
 
 [ 55 ] 
 
 AMP 
 
 He soothed her, and advised her to be silent, but 
 formed a determination to avenge her insult. David, 
 when informed of what had transpired, was extremely 
 aftected ; but, as he tenderly loved Anmon, wiio was 
 his eldest son, he refrained from punishing him. At 
 the end of two jears, Absalom, who had restrained his 
 resentment during this time, determined to create an 
 opportunity to avenge it, and for thispurjjose he invited 
 the king, his father, and all his brothers, to an entertain- 
 ment, at Baal-hazor. David declined the invitation, but 
 the princes went down to the festival, where Anmon 
 was assassinated by Absalom's orders, 2 Sam. xiii. 
 
 AMON, the fourteenth king of Judah, son of j\la- 
 nasseh and Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz, of Jot- 
 bah, began to reign, A. M. 33G1, ante A. D. G43, at 
 the age of twenty-two, and reigned only two years at 
 Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as 
 his father Mauasseh had done, by forsaking Jeho- 
 vah, and worshipping idols. His servants conspired 
 against him, and slew him in his own house ; but the 
 people killed all the conspirators, and established his 
 son Josiah on the throne. He was buried in the 
 garden of Uzzah, 2 Kings xxi. 19, seq. 2 Chron. 
 xjcxiii. 21, seq. 
 
 AMORTTES,a people descended from the fourth 
 sou of Canaan, Gen. x. 16. They first peopled the 
 mountains west of the Dead sea, dwelling in Hazezon- 
 tamar, and near Hebron ; but afterwards extended their 
 limits, and took possession of the finest provinces of 
 Moab and Amnion, on the east, between the bi-ooks 
 Jabbok and Anion, Josh. v. 1 ; Numb. xiii. 29 ; xxi. 29. 
 Moses took this country from their king, Sihon, (A. M. 
 2553,) who refused the Israelites a passage, on their 
 way out of Egypt, and attacked them with all his force. 
 The lands which the Amorites possessed on this 
 side Jordan, were given to the tribe of Judah, 
 and those beyond the Jordan to the tribes of Reuben 
 and Gad. Amos (ch. ii. 9.) speaks of their gigantic 
 stature and valor, and compares their height to the 
 cedar, their strength to the oak. The name Amorite 
 is often taken in Scripture for Canaanite in general, 
 Gen. XV. 16. See Rosenmueller, Bibl. Geog. ii. 1. p. 
 255. Reland, Palaest. p. 138. 
 
 I. AMOS, DicN, the fourth of the minor prophets, 
 belonged to the little town of Tekoah, in Judah, 
 about 12 miles south-east of Jerusalem. He was 
 a herdsman ; and ffom his herds and flocks came for- 
 ward as a prophet, not in Judah, but in Israel. He 
 prophesied in Bethel, (where the golden calves were 
 erected,) under Jeroboam II. about A. M. 3215 ; and 
 Amaziah, high-priest of Bethel, accused him before 
 the king, as conspiring against him, and ordered the 
 prophet to return into Judah. Amos answered Ama- 
 ziah, " I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's 
 son ; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore 
 fruit ; and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, 
 and the Lord said unto me. Go, prophesy unto my 
 people Israel," Amos vii. 10, to end. (See Syca- 
 more.) He began to prophesy the second year be- 
 fore the earthquake, in the reign of king llzziah, 
 (Amos i. 1.) which Josephus (with most conmienta- 
 tors) refers to that prince's usurpation of the priest's 
 office, when he attempted to offer incense. The 
 rabbins, and Procopius of Gaza, are of opinion that 
 this happened in the twenty-fifth year of Uzziah, A. 
 iM. 3219 ; but this cannot be, for' Jotham, son of Uz- 
 ziah, born A. M. 3221 , was of age to govern, that is, 
 between fifteen and twenty years old^when his 
 father was struck with a leprosy. — It is, however, im- 
 possible to determine the exact date of this earth- 
 quake, although it is also referred to in Zech. xiv. 5. 
 
 The book of Amos is divided into two parts. The 
 first six chapters contain admonitions and denuncia- 
 tions ; the three others, visions. The former are di- 
 rected partly against Israel and Judah, and partly 
 against foreign nations, viz. the Syrians, Phenicians, 
 Moabites, and Edomites. Assyria is not mentioned 
 by name, but is clearly implied in ch. v. 17. He 
 employs sharp invectives against the sins of Israel, 
 and especially of the inhabitants of Samaria, their 
 efieminacy, avarice, and harshness to the poor ; the 
 s])lendor of their buildings, and the delicacy of their 
 tables. He reproves Israel for going to Bethel, Dan, 
 Giigal, and Beersheba, which were the most famoii.s 
 pilgrimages of the country; and for swearing by the 
 gods of those places. 
 
 The time and manner of Anios's death are not 
 known. Some authors relate, that Amaziah, priest 
 of Bethel, provoked by the discourses of the prophet 
 to silence him, had his teeth broken ; (Cyril, Proef in 
 Amos ;) others say, that Hosea, or Uzziah, sou of 
 Amaziah, struck him with a stake on the temples, 
 and almost killed him ; that in this condition he was 
 carried to Tekoah, where he died, and was buried 
 with his fathers. Epiphan. de Vita Prophet, c, 13. 
 
 [All this, however, is useless dreaming. From the 
 circumstance that Amos was a herdsman, we cannot 
 draw the conclusion that he was therefore rude and 
 unpolished, or destitute of cultivation. The exam- 
 ple of David had shown long before, that even among 
 the lower classes a highdegi-ee of poetical talent and 
 cultivation was sometimes to be found. In regard to 
 style, Amos takes a high rank among the prophets. 
 He is full of fancy and imagery, concise, and yet sim- 
 ple and perspicuous. His language is occasionally 
 harsh. His prophecies are arranged in a certain 
 order ; so that we may suppose that, after having ut- 
 tered them, he had carefully written them out. As 
 interpreters have been aware of his having been a 
 herdsman, they have mostly set themselves to find 
 only pastoi-al figures and imagery in his writings, 
 and also something which should be low and incor- 
 rect. But he exhibits no more imagery from pas- 
 toral life than the other Hebrew poets ; and as to 
 incorrectness, there is nothing which can be taken 
 into account. It is therefore unjust, when Jerome 
 calls him sennone hnpentum, i. e. rude in speech. — 
 Such is the judgment of Gesenius. R. 
 
 II. AMOS, yicx, father of the prophet Isaiah, 
 was, it is said, son of king Joash, and brother of 
 Amaziah. The rabbins pretend, that Amos, Isaiah's 
 father, was a prophet, as well as his son, according to 
 a rule among them, that when the father of a prophet 
 is called in Scripture by his name, it is an indication, 
 that he also had the gift of prophecy. Augustin 
 conjectured, that the prophet Amos was the father of 
 Isaiah ; but the names of^ these two persons are writ- 
 ten differently : yirN, father of Isaiah ; dcn, amos, the 
 prophet Amos. Some are of opinion, that the man 
 of God who spake to king Amaziah, and obliged him 
 to send back the hundred thousand men of Israel, 
 whom he had purchased to march against the Edom- 
 ites, (2 Chron. xx\. 7, 8.) was Amos, the father of 
 Isaiah, and brother of king Amaziah, But this opin- 
 ion is supported by no proofs. See Isaiah. 
 
 III. AMOS, son of Nahum, and father of Mat- 
 tathias, in the genealogy of our Saviour, Luke 
 iii.25. 
 
 AMOZ, see Amos II. 
 
 AMPHIPOLIS, a city of Macedonia, situated not 
 far from the mouth of the river Strymon, which 
 flowed around the city, and thus occasioned its name.
 
 ANA 
 
 [56] 
 
 ANA 
 
 It w as originally a colony of the Athenians, founded 
 by Cimon. Under the Romans it became the capital 
 of the eastern province of Macedonia. Paul and Si- 
 las passed through ^Vinphipohs to Tliessalonica, after 
 they had been set at liberty at Pliilipi)i, Acts xvii. 1. 
 In the middle ages it received the name of Chryso- 
 polis. The village which now stands upon the site 
 of the ancient city is called Einpoli or Yamboli,a cor- 
 ruption of Amphipolis. R. 
 
 AMRAM, son of Kohadi, of Levi, maiTied Joche- 
 bed, l)y whom he had Aaron, ftliriam, and Moses. 
 He died in Egypt, aged 137, Exod. vi. 20. 
 
 AMRAPHEL, king of Shinar, confederated with 
 Chedorlaomer, kingof Elam, and two other kings, to 
 make war against the kings of Sodom, Gomorrha, and 
 the three neighl)oring cities, which they plundered, 
 and carried oti" many captives, among whom w as Lot, 
 Abraham's nephew. Abraham pursued them, retook 
 Lot, and recovered the spoil. Gen. xiv. A. M. 2092. 
 
 AMULETS are properly certain medicines worn 
 around the neck or on other parts of the body, as a 
 preservative agaiust diseases. Among oriental na- 
 tions they exist in the form of charms or talismans, 
 not only against disea.ses, but also to ward off danger, 
 or witchcraft, or the influence of evil spirits. Such 
 amulets are of gi-eat mitiquity, (Pliny, xxx. 24.) and are 
 also found at the present day not only in the East, but 
 also among the negi-o tribes of Africa. They consist 
 usually of strips of paper written over with sacred 
 sentences, etc. or of gems and stones or pieces of metal 
 prepared for this purpose. These were also not un- 
 known to the Hebrews. In Isa. iii. 20, the rings or 
 earrings, there mentioned, appear to have been amu- 
 lets of this kind, made thus to serve also the purpose 
 of ornament. These were probably precious stones, 
 or small plates of gold or silver, Avith sentences of the 
 law or magic formulas engraved upon them, and 
 worn in the ears or suspended by a chain around the 
 neck. It is certain that earrings were sometimes in- 
 struments of superstition in this way, e. g. Gen. xxxv. 
 4. where Jacob takes away the earrings of his family, 
 along with their false gods. Chardhi says (in Har- 
 mar's Obs. iv. p. 248.) " I have seen some of these 
 earrings with figures on them and strange chai-acters, 
 which I believe may be tahsmans or charms, or per- 
 haps nothing but the amusement of old women. 
 The Indians say they are presen'ativcs against en- 
 chantment. Perhaps the earrings of Jacob's family 
 were of this kind." Augustin also speaks zealously 
 against earrings which were worn as amulets in his 
 time, Ep. 73 ad Posid. See Gesenius, Connu. on Is. 
 iii. 20. Schroeder, p. 168, seq. Fundgruben des 
 Orients, iv. p. 86. p. 156, seq. 
 
 The later Jews regarded also as amulets the phy- 
 lacteries, or sentences of the law which Closes had 
 commanded them to wear on their foreheads and 
 wrists ; although this command of Moses is probably 
 to be understood no more literally, than the com- 
 mand to impress them upon their hearts. Deut. vi. 6, 
 8. There are also various cabalistic amulets among 
 the later Jews. *R. 
 
 ANAB, a city iu the mountains of Judah, (Josh. 
 xi.2] ;xv. 50.) which Jerome believed to be the same 
 with Beth-anaba, ei<^ht miles east of Diospolis or 
 Lydda. Eusebius places Betho-anab four miles dis- 
 tant from tills city. But neither of these is the Anab 
 mentioneil I)y Joshua, which he places, with Hebron 
 and Del)ir, more to the south of Judah. 
 
 ANAH, son of Zibeon, the Hivite, and father of 
 Aholibamah, Esau's wife. Gen. xxxvi. 24. While 
 feeding asses in the desert, he discovered " springs 
 
 of wann water," as Jerome translates the Hebrew 
 crc^ The English version has nndes, as also the 
 Arab and Venetian Greek versions. But this word 
 does not signify mules in any oriental dialect ; while 
 the meaning " warm springs" is supported by the 
 Arabic ; see Rosenin. Comm. in loc. Such springs 
 are also found in the eastern coast of the Dead sea, 
 which was not far from the dwelling of the Seirites, 
 to whom Anah belonged, and who inhabited at that 
 time the country to the south-west and south of that 
 sea. Five or six miles south-east of the Dead sea, 
 towards Petra, and, consequently, in or near the same 
 region in which the Seirites, and afterwards the 
 Edomites, dwelt, is a place celebrated among the 
 Greeks and Romans for its warm baths, and called by 
 them Callirhoc. Jose{)hus mentions (B. J. i. 33. 5.) that 
 it was visited by Herod ; and says that the waters 
 empty themselves into the Asphaltus sea, and are 
 also potable on account of their sweetness. Pliny 
 also mentions these baths. Hist. Nat. v. 17. Mr. 
 Legh also visited the place. In a deep ravine, a 
 stream of considerable size tumbles from a perpen- 
 dicidar rock on one side, the face of which is of a 
 splendid yellov/ from the sulj)hi:r deposited by the 
 water. A hot rajjid stream flows at the bottom, and 
 receives the suiailcr streams of boiling water which 
 rush down on all sides. The water is so hot that it 
 is impossible to hold the hand in it half a minute. 
 The deposit of sulphur is very considerable. 
 Rosenm. Bibl. Geog. ii. 1. p. 217, seq. R. 
 
 ANAHARATH, a city of Issachar, Josh. xix. 19. 
 
 ANAK, Anakiji, famous giants in Palestine. 
 Anak, father of the Anakini, was son of Arba, who 
 gave name to Kirjath-Arba, or Hebron. He had 
 three sons, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, Avhose de- 
 scendants were terrible for their fierceness tuid stat- 
 ure. The Hebrew spies rejjorted, that in compar- 
 ison to those monstrous men, they themselves were 
 but gi-assho]>pcrs, Nmn. xiii. 33. Caleb, assisted by 
 the tribe of Judali, took Kirjath-Arba, and destroyed 
 the Anakim, Josh. xv. 13, 14. Judges i. 20. A few 
 only remained in the cities of the Philistines, Ga/a, 
 Gath, and Ashdod, Josh. xi. 22. See Giant, 
 
 ANAMIM, second son of Mizraini, Gen. x. 13. 
 He peopled the Mareotis, if we may rely on the para- 
 jihrast Jonathan, son of Uzziel ; but rather the Peii- 
 tapolis of Cyrene, according to tiie jiaraphrast of 
 Jerusalem. Bochart was of ophiion, that these Ana- 
 mim dwelt in the countries around the tai:ple of 
 Jui)iter Amuion, and in tho Nasamonitis. We believe 
 the Anamians and Garamantes to be descended from 
 Anamim. The Hebrew Ger, or Gar, signifies a pas- 
 senger or traveller. The tiame of Gctr-amantes may 
 be derived from Ger-amanun : their capital is called 
 Garamania, in Solinus. All this, however, is mere 
 conjecture. 
 
 ANAMMELECH. It is said (2 Kings xvii. 31.) 
 that the inhabitants of Scpharvaim, sent from beyond 
 the Euphrates into Samaria, bunied their children in 
 honor of Anauuuelech and Adranunelech. (See 
 Adrammelech.) The god Anannnelech is probably 
 also the name of some deified heavenly body. Those 
 who make tlie former to be the sun, suppose the latter 
 to be the moon ; but this 's not well sup|)orted. Hyde 
 understands it of the constellation Cephcus, which in 
 oriental astronomy is called the Herdsman and caitle, 
 or the Cattle-star. This accords well with the wor- 
 ship of the stars, &c. which was prevalent in those 
 regions. (Hyde de Rel. vet. Persai-um, p. 131.) Th(! 
 latter part of both these names is the oriental word 
 Melech, i. e. king. R.
 
 A N A 
 
 [ 57 1 
 
 ANA 
 
 I. ANANIAS, sou of Nebeclceiis, and high-priest 
 ol" tlie Jews, succeeded Joseph, sou of Camith, A. D. 
 47. He was sent by Qiiadratus, governor of Syria, 
 to Rome, to answer for his conduct to the emperor 
 Claudius ; but he justified himself, was acquittecl, and 
 returned. Jos. Ant. xx. (i. 2. [He did not, however, 
 again recover the high priesthood ; for cku"ing the 
 lh)ie that Felix was procurator of Judea, Jonathan, 
 the successor of Ananias, was high-priest. But Felix 
 having caused him to be assjxssinated in tiie temple, 
 (Jos. Ant. XX. 8. 5.) the office remained vacant, until 
 king Agrippa gave it to Ismael the sou of Phabeus. 
 (ib. XX. 8. 8.) During tliis interval the events in which 
 Paul was conceruiMl witJi Ananias, as given below, 
 seem to have taken place. Ananias at that time was 
 not iu fact high-priest, but had usurped the dignity, 
 or acted rather as the high-priest's substitute. K. 
 
 The tribune of the Roman troops which guarded 
 the temj)lc at Jerusalem, having taken the a})OStle 
 Paul into his custody, when he was assaulted by the 
 Jews, (Acts xxii. 23, 24 ; xxiii. 1, seq.) convened the 
 priests, and placed tht; apostle before them, that he 
 might justify himself. Paul commenced his address, 
 but the high-priest Ananias immediately connnand- 
 ed tliose wiio were near him to strike him on the 
 face. To this injury and insult the apostle replied, 
 " God is about to smite thee, thou whited wall ; for 
 thou sittest to judge me according to the law, but 
 commandest me to ho, smitten contrary to the law." 
 Being rebuked for tiius adiiressing himself to the 
 high-priest, the apostle excused himself by alleging 
 that he was ignorant of his office. See Paul. 
 
 The assembly I)eing divided in opinion, the ti-ibune 
 ordered Paul to Cesarea, and thither Ananias, and 
 other Jews, went to accuse him before Felix, Acts 
 xxiv. Ananias was slain by a seditious faction, at the 
 head of which was his own son, at the conmiencement 
 of the Jewish wars. Some writers, not distinguishing 
 what Josephus relates of Ananias, when high-priest, 
 from what he relates of him after his deposition, have 
 made two persons of the same uidividual. 
 
 n. ANANIAS, surnamcd the Sadducee, was one 
 of tlie warmest defenders of the rebellion of the Jews 
 against the Romans. He was sent by Eleazar, leader 
 of the mutineers, to Metilius, captain of the Roman 
 troops, then shut up in the royal palace at Jerusalem, 
 to promise him and his i)eople their lives, provided 
 they would leave the place, and surrender their arms. 
 Metilius having surrendered on these conditions, the 
 factious murdered all the Romans, except Metilius, 
 who escaped on promising to tuni Jew, A. D. G6. 
 Ananias was also sent by Eleazar to the Idumajans, 
 (A. D. GG.) requesting that they would assist the rebels 
 at Jerusalem, against Ananus, whom they accused of 
 designing to deliver up the city to the Romans. Jos. 
 B. J. ii. 18 or .32. 
 
 III. ANANIAS, one of the first Christians of the 
 city of Jerusalem, who, in concert with his wife, Sap- 
 phira, sold an estate, and secreting part of the pur- 
 chase-money, carried the remainder to the a])ostles, 
 as tiie whole price of his inheritance, Acts v. 1. Peter, 
 knowing the falsehood of this pretension, reproved 
 him sharply, telling him, " that he had lied to the 
 Holy Ghost, not to men only ;" and Ananias fell sud- 
 denly dead at his feet. Shortly after, his wife, Sap- 
 phira, ignorant of what had transpired, came into the 
 assembly, and Peter, having put the same question to 
 her, as he had before put to her husband, she also was 
 guilty of the like falsehood ; and was suddenly struck 
 dead in the same manner. 
 
 A number of conjectures have been formed as to 
 
 the reasons which induced tlie Holy Spirit thus to 
 punish the falsehood of Ananias and Sapphira. [But 
 the sin committed by them was surely of no ordinary 
 dye. They had feigned the appearance of piety ; they 
 had attempted to deceive the apostles ; they had de- 
 liberately undertaken to commit a fraud, and even a 
 sacrilegious one, inasmuch as the money destined to 
 the use of the church of God was itself a consecrated 
 thing ; in short they had ' lied unto the Holy Ghost.' 
 Tlie meanness and flagitiousness of their crime was 
 also aggi-avatcd by the circumstance, that those who 
 thus really gave up their possessions for the common 
 use, appear to have been themselves sustained from 
 the public treasury. The sacred history does not de- 
 tail to us specifically the motives which impelled 
 theni to this course ; but God read their hearts ; and 
 we may rest assured that in this awful doom, as well 
 as in all things else, the ' Judge of all the earth did 
 right.' R. 
 
 IV. ANANIAS, a disciple of Christ, at Damascus, 
 whom the Lord directed to visit Paul, then recently 
 converted and arrived at Damascus, Acts ix. 10. Ana- 
 nias answered, "Lord, I have heard by many of this 
 man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints." But 
 the Lord said, " Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel 
 unto me." Ananias therefore went to the house where 
 Paul resided, and putting his liauds on him, said, 
 "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, Avho appeared unto 
 thee on the road, hath sent me that thou mightest re- 
 ceive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." 
 We know no other circumstance of the life of Ana- 
 nias. The modern Greeks maintain, that he was one 
 of the seventy disciples, bishop of Damascus, a martyr, 
 and biu-ied in that city. There is a very fine church 
 where he was interi-ed ; and the Turks, who have 
 made a mosque of it, preserve a great respect for his 
 monument. 
 
 I. ANANUS, high-priest of the Jews ; called An- 
 nas, Luke iii. 2; John xviii. 13. See Annas. 
 
 II. ANANUS, son of Ananus, the high-priest men- 
 tioned above, was lugh-priest three months, A. D. 62. 
 Josephus (Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 8.) describes him as a 
 man extremely bold and enterprising, of the sect of 
 the Sadducees ; who, thinking it a favorable oppor- 
 tunity, after the death of Festus, goveiuor of Judea, 
 and before the arrival of Albinus, his successor, as- 
 sembled the Sanhedrim, and therein procured the 
 condemnation of James the brother (or relative) of 
 Christ, who is often called the bishop of Jerusalem, 
 and of some others, whom they stigmatized as guihy 
 of impiety, and delivered to be stoned. This was 
 extremely displeasing to all considerate men in Jeru- 
 salem, and tliey sent privately to king Agrippa, who 
 had just arrived in Judea, entreating that he would 
 prevent Ananus from taking such proceedings in fu- 
 ture. He was, iu consequence, deprived of his office ; 
 and it is thought that he was put to death at Jerusa- 
 lem, at the beginning of the Jewish wars, A. D. 67. — 
 Several other Jews of this name are mentioned by 
 Josephus in his accounts of the last war between the 
 Jews and the Romans. See Agrippa II. 
 
 ANATHEMA, 'Avlt^tuu, from uiari&t^fu, signifies — 
 something set apart, separated, devoted. It is under- 
 stood principally to denote the absolute, irrevocable, 
 and entire separation of a person from the communion 
 of the faithfid, or from the number of the living, or 
 from the privileges of society ; or the devoting of any 
 man, animal, city, or thing, to be extirpated, destroyed, 
 consumed, and, as it were, annihilated. The Hebrew 
 ain, chdram, in Hiph. signifies property to destroy, 
 exterminate, devote. Moses requires the Israelites to
 
 ANATHEMA 
 
 58 1 
 
 AND 
 
 devote, and utterly extiqiate those who saciifice to 
 false gods, Exod. xxii. 20. In like maimer God com- 
 mands that the cities belonging to the Cmiaanites 
 which did not surrender to the Israelites, should be 
 devoted, Deut. vii. 2, 26 ; xx. 17. Achan, liaving pur- 
 lomed part of the spoil cf Jericho, which had been 
 devoted, was stoned, and what he had secreted was 
 consumed with fire. Josh. \ i. 17, 21 ; vii.— The word 
 cherein, or anathema, is also sometimes taken for that 
 which is irrevocably consecrated, vowed, or offered to 
 the Lord, so that it may no longer be employexl in, 
 or returned to, conmioii uses. Lev. xxvii. 28, 29. 
 " No devoted thing (absolutely separated) that a man 
 shall devote (absohuely separate) to the Lord, cf man, 
 beast, or field, shall be sold or redeemed." Some 
 assert, that persons thus devoted were put to death, 
 and quote Jephthah's daughter as an example. (See 
 Jephthah.) In the old Greek writers, anathema is 
 used for a person, who, on some occasion, devoted 
 himself for the good of his country ; or as an expia- 
 tory sacrifice to the infernal gods. — Here the reader 
 will recollect Codrus and Curtius. Sometimes par- 
 ticular persons, or cities, were devoted: the Israelites 
 devoted king Arad's country ; (Num. xxi. 2, 3.) the 
 people at JMizpeh devoted all who should not march 
 against the tribe of Benjamin ; (Judg. xx.) and Saul 
 devoted those who should eat before sunset, while 
 they were pursuing the Philistines, 1 Sam. xiv. 24. 
 It appears by the execution of these execrations, th.it 
 those involved in them were put to death. 
 
 Sometimes particular persons devoted themselves, 
 if they did not accomplish somq^ specific purpose. 
 In Actsxxiii. 12, 13, it is said that above forty persons 
 bound themselves with an oath, that they would 
 neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. The 
 Esseuians were engaged by oaths to observe the 
 statutes of their sect; and those wIjo incurred the 
 guilt of excommunication, were driven from their 
 assemblies, and generally starved to death, being 
 obliged to feed on giass like beasts, not daring to 
 receive food which might bo offered them, because 
 they were bound by the vows they had made, not to 
 eat any. Joseph, dc Bello, ii. 12. 
 
 Moses (Exod. xxxii. 32.) and Paul (Kom. ix. 3.) in 
 some sort anathematize themselves. Aloses conjures 
 God to forgive Israel ; if not, to blot him out of the 
 book which ho had written ; and Paul says that he 
 could wish to be accursed (anathematized, ubsolutely 
 separated from life, devoted, and made over to death 
 — whether stoning — burning — or in the most tremen- 
 dous form — as Achan, &c.) for his brethren, the 
 Israelites, rather than see them excluded from the 
 blessings of Christ's covenant, bj' their malice and ob- 
 duracy. That is, he would, as it were, change places 
 with them. They w^erc now excluded from being 
 the peculiar people cfGod;so would he be: they 
 were devoted to wrath in the destruction of their 
 fitatc ; so would he be: they were excluded from 
 Christian society; so Avould he be, if it would bene- 
 fit them. — I coLLD wish myself anathematized from 
 the body of Christ, if that mifrht advantage Israel: so 
 great is my all'cction to my nation and j)eople! 
 
 Excommunication, anathema, and excision, are the 
 greatest judgments that can be inflicted on any man 
 in this world ; whether we und'.'rstand a violent and 
 ignominious death, or a sci)arution from the society 
 of saints, with exclusion fiom the benefit of their 
 prayers and coinmiinion. IntcrpretiTS are much 
 divided on the tcxls ubov(' cited, but they agree, 
 that Modes and Paul gave, iu these instances, the 
 most powerful proofs of a perfect chai-ity, anil in 
 
 the strongest manner expressed their ardent desire 
 to procure or to promote the happiness of their 
 brethren. The language must be regarded as hy- 
 perbolical, expressing the highest intensity of feeluig. 
 
 Another kind of anathema, very peculiarly ex- 
 pressed, seems to mean a very different thing from 
 that just explained. It occurs, 1 Cor. xvi. 22. "If 
 any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be 
 Anathema ! Maranatha." This last word is made 
 up of two Syi-iac words, signifying, "The Lord 
 cometh ;" i. e. the Lord will surely come and will 
 execute this curse, by condemning those who love 
 him not. At the same time the opposite is also im- 
 j)lied, i.e. the Lord cometh also to reward those who 
 love him. This probably was not now, for the first 
 time, used as a new kind of ciu-sing by the apostle, 
 but was the apphcation of a current mode of speech 
 to the ])urpose he had in contemplation. Perhaps, 
 therefore, by inspecting the manners of the East, we 
 may illustrate the import of this singular passage. 
 The following extract from Bruce, (vol. i. p. 112.| 
 though it does not, perhaps, come up to the full 
 power of the apostle's meaning, will j)robably give 
 the idea which was commonly attached to the phrase. 
 Mr. Bruce had been forced by a pretended saint, in 
 Egypt, to take him on board his vessel, as if to carry 
 hiin to a certain place ; Mr. B. however, meant no 
 such thing, and having set him on shore at some 
 little distance (rom Avhencc he came, " we slacked 
 our vessel down the stream a few yards, filling our 
 sails and stretching away. On seeing this, our saint 
 fell into a desperate passion, cursing, blaspheming, 
 and stamping with his feet ; at every woril crying 
 "SuAPv Ullah!" i. e. "May God send, and do jus- 
 tice !" This appears to be the strongest execration 
 this passionate Arab could use, q. d. " To punish you 
 adcquatelj" is out of my power ; I remit you to the 
 vengeance of God :" — Is not this also the import of 
 Anathema Maranatha ? 
 
 Excommunication was a kind of Anathema used 
 among the Hebrews, as it is now among Christians. 
 Anathema was the gi-eatest degree of excommunica- 
 tion ; and by it the criminal was deprived, not only 
 of communicating in prayers and other holy offices, 
 but of admittance to the church, and of conversation 
 with believers. Excommunicated persons cculd not 
 perform any public duty ; th.ey could bo neither 
 judges nor witnesses ; they could not be present at 
 funerals, nor circumcise their own sons, nor sit down 
 in the company of others, nearer than four cubits ; 
 they were incapable of the rites of burial ; and a large 
 stone was left on their graves, or the people threw 
 stones on their sepulchres, and heaped stones over 
 them, as over Achan, and Absalom, Josh. vii. 26; 2 
 Sam. xviii. 17. See Excommunication. 
 
 ANATHOTII, a city of Bv'njamin, (Josh. xxi. 18.) 
 about three miles from Jerusalem, according to Euse- 
 bius and Jerome, or twenty furlongs, according to Jo- 
 se])hus, where the prophet Jeremiah was born, Jer. 
 i. \. It was given to the Levites of Kohath's family, 
 and was a citv of refuge. 
 
 ANCHOR,' sec Ship. 
 
 ANDREW, the apostle, was u native of Bethsaida, 
 and brother of Peter. He was first a disciple of 
 John the Baptist, whom he left, to follow our Saviour, 
 after the testimony of John, John i. 40, 44. Andrew 
 introduced his brother Simon, and after accompany- 
 ing our Saviour at the marriage in Cana, they re- 
 turned to their ordinary occupation, not expecting, 
 perhaps, to be further employed in his service. 
 Some months after, Jesus met them while fishing.
 
 ANG 
 
 [ 59 
 
 ANG 
 
 and called them to a regular attendance on his per- 
 son and ministry, promising to make them fishers 
 of men, Matt. h\ 18, 19 ; John vi. 8. Of his subse- 
 quent hfe nothing is luioAvn ; the book of Acts makes 
 no mention of him. Some of the ancients are of 
 opinion, that Andrew preached in Scythia ; others, 
 that he preached in Greece ; others, in Epirus, 
 Achaia, or Argos. The modern Greeks make him 
 founder of the church of Byzantium, or Constanti- 
 nople, ■which the ancients knew nothing of The 
 Acts of his Martyrdom, which are of considerable 
 antiquity, though not authentic, affirm that he suf- 
 fered martyrdom at Patinas, in Achaia, being sen- 
 tenced to be executed on a cross by Egpeus, procon- 
 sul of that provmce. See Fabric. Cod. Apoc. N. T. 
 vol. ii. 
 
 ANDRONICUS, one of the gi*eat men belonging 
 to the court of Autiochus Epij)]ianes, was left by 
 that i)riuce to govern the city of Antioch, while he 
 went into Cilicia, to reduce certain places which had 
 revolted. Menelaus, the pretended higli-priest of 
 the Jews, thought this circumstance might favor his 
 design of getting rid of Onias, wliose dignity he un- 
 justly possessed, and who had arrived at Antiocli 
 with accusations against him. He therefore addressed 
 himself to Androuicus with large presents ; but 
 Onias, being informed of it, reproached him very 
 sliarply, secluding himself all the while in the sanc- 
 tuary at Daphne, (a suburb of Antioch, wherein was 
 a famous temple, and where Julian the Apostate 
 afterwards sacrificed,) lest any violence should be 
 offered to him. Menelaus solicited x'Vndronicus so 
 powerfully to despatch Onias, that he Avent in per- 
 son to Daphne, and promised, wth solemn oaths, 
 tliat he would do him no injury, thereby persuading 
 liim to leave his place of refuge. As soon as Onias 
 had quitted the sanctuary, however, Menelaus seized 
 him and put him to death. When the king returned 
 from his expedition, and was acquainted with the 
 death of Onias, he shed tears, commanded Androui- 
 cus to be divested of the purple, to be led about the 
 city in an ignominious manner, and to be killed in 
 tlie very place where he had kiUed Onias, 2 Mace, 
 iv. A. M. 3834. 
 
 ANEM, (lit. two fou7itai7is,) a city of Issachar, 
 given to the Levites, 1 Chron. vi. 73. In the paral- 
 lel passage, Josh. xix. 21, it is called En-gannim, i. e. 
 fountain of the gardens. 
 
 I. ANER, a city of Manasseh given to the Levites 
 of Kohath's family, 1 Chron. vi. 70. 
 
 II. ANER, Eshcol, and Mamre, three Canaanites 
 who joined their forces with those of Abraham, in 
 pursuit of the kings Chedorlaomer, x'\mraphel, and 
 their allies, who had pillaged Sodom, and carried off 
 Lot, Abraham's nephew. Gen. xiv. 24. They did not 
 imitate the disinterestedness of the patriarch, how- 
 ever, but retained their share of the spoil. 
 
 ANGARIARE. The evangelists use this term as 
 equivalent to press : — to constrain or take hy force. 
 The word angari, whence angariare is derived, comes 
 originally from the Persians, who called the post- 
 boys which carried the letters and orders of the 
 king to the provinces, angares. As these officers 
 compelled the people, in places they passed through, 
 to furnish them witli guides, horses, and carriages, 
 the word anirariare became expressive of constraints 
 of that nature. (See Xen. Cyr. viii. 6. 17. Herodot. 
 viii. 98. Compare also Esth. viii. 10, 14.) It ajjpears 
 that tlie Jews were subject to these angairs under 
 the Romans. Jesus said to his disciples, '" Whoso- 
 v\yi- .shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him 
 
 twaui ;" and Simon, the Cyrenian, was compelled to 
 bear our Saviour's cross. Matt. v. 41 ; xxvii. 32. 
 
 These remarks will be sufficient to convey a gen- 
 eral idea of the import of the word Axcariare, but 
 a more accurate conception may be formed, from 
 the following portrait of an angare, as furnished by 
 Colonel Campbell : — 
 
 " As I became familiarized to my Tartar guide, I 
 found his character disclose much better traits than 
 his first a];peai-ance bespoke. The first object he 
 seemed to have in view on our journey, was to im- 
 press me with a Jiotion of his consequence and au- 
 tliority, as a messenger belonging to the sultan. As 
 all those men are employed bj' the first magistrates 
 in the country, and are, as it were, the links of com- 
 munication between them, they think themselves of 
 great importance to the state ; while the gixat men, 
 whose business tliey are employed in, make them 
 feel the weight of their authority, and treat them 
 witli the greatest contempt : hence they become 
 habitually servile to their superiors, and, by natural 
 consequence, insolent and overbearing to their infe- 
 riors, or those who, being in their power, they con- 
 ceive to be so. As carriers of despatches, their 
 power and authority, wherever they go, are in some 
 points undisputed ; and they can compel a supply 
 of provisions, horses, and attendants, wherever it 
 suits their occasion ; nor dare any man resist their 
 right to taJic the horse from under him, to proceed on 
 the emperor's business, be the owner's occasion 
 ever so pressing. As soon as he stopped at a cara- 
 venserai, he immediately called lustily about him in 
 the name of the sultan ; demanding, in a menacing 
 tone of voice, fresh horses, victuals, &c. on the 
 instant. The terror of this great man operated like 
 magic ; nothing could exceed the activity of the 
 men, the briskness of the women, and the terror of 
 the children ; but no quickness of preparation, no 
 effort could satisfy my gentleman ; he would show 
 me his power in a still more striking point of view, 
 and fell to belaboring them with his whip, and kick- 
 ing them with all his might." (Campbell's Travels, 
 Part ii. pages 92. 94.) If such were the behavior of 
 this messenger, whose character opened so favorably, 
 what may we suppose was the brutality of those 
 who had not the same sensibility in their composi- 
 tion ? and what shall we say to that meekness, which 
 directed to go double what' such a despot should re- 
 quire ? — "if he compels thee to go a mile with him — 
 go two," Matt. v. 41. See Posts. 
 
 I. ANGEL, a messenger. This word answers to 
 the Hebrew ixSr, maldch. In Scripture, we fre- 
 quently read of missions and appearances of angels, 
 sent to declare the will of God, to correct, teach, re- 
 prove, or comfort. God gave the lav/ to Moses, and 
 apj)eared to the patriarchs, by the mediation of 
 angels, who rejn-esented him, and who spake in his 
 name, Acts vii. 30, 53 ; Gal. iii. 19. 
 
 Origen, Bede, and others, think that angels were 
 created at the same time as the heavens, and that 
 Moses included them under the expression — "In the 
 Ijeginning, God created the heavens;" others sup- 
 pose tliat they are intended under the term light, 
 which God created on the first day ; while some are 
 of opinion that they were created before the world 
 — which seems countenanced by Job xxxviii. 4. 7. 
 " Where wast thou, Avhen I laid the foundations of 
 the earth ;— and all the sons of God shouted for 
 jov ?" 
 
 Many of the fathers, led into mistake by the book 
 of Enoch, and bv a passage in Genesis, (vi. 2.)
 
 AXiGEL 
 
 Avherein it is said, " The sons of God saw the daugh- 
 ters of men, that they were fair, and they took them 
 wives of all which they chose," iniagineil that angels 
 were corporeal, and capable of sensual pleasures. 
 It is true, they call them spirits, and spiritual beings, 
 but in the same sense as we call the wind, odors, va- 
 pors, &LC. spiritual. Others of the fathers, indeed, and 
 those in great number, have asserted, that angels were 
 purely spiritual ; and this is the conmion opinion. 
 
 Before the cajjtivity at Babylon, we find no angel 
 mentioned by name ; and theTabnudists aftirm that 
 they brought their names thence. Some have ap- 
 propriated angels to empires, nations, provinces, 
 cities, and persons. For instance, Michael is con- 
 sidered as protector of Israel: "Michael, your 
 prince," says the angel Gabriel to Daniel, ch. x. 21. 
 Gabriel speaks also of the angel, protector of Persia, 
 according to the majority of interpreters, when he 
 says, that "the prince of the kingdom of Persia 
 withstood him one-antl-twenty days." Luke (Acts 
 xvi. 9.) tells us, that a man of Macedonia apjjeared 
 to Paul in the night, and said to him, " Come over into 
 Macedonia and help us ;" which has been [improper- 
 ly] understood of the angel of Macedonia inviting him 
 into the province committed to his care. The LXX 
 (Deut. xxxii. 8.) say, that "God had set the bounds 
 of the peoples, according to tlic numljer of the 
 angels of Israel ;" which has been sujiposetl to mean 
 the government of each partictdar country and na- 
 tion, wherewith God had intrusted his angels. , But 
 our Enghsh translators keep more exactly to the 
 original, and render it, "He set the bounds of the 
 peoples according to the number of the children of 
 Israel." 
 
 John addressed letters to the angels of the seven 
 Christian churches in Asia Minor; meaning, in the 
 judgment of many fathers, not the bishops of those 
 churches, but angels, ^^ ho were appointed by God 
 for their protection. Hut, as the learned Prideaux 
 observes, the minister of the synagogue, who olfi- 
 ciated in oft'ering up the public prayers, being the 
 mouth of the congregation, delegated by them, as 
 their representative, messenger, or angel, to address 
 God in prayer for them, was in Hebrew called She- 
 liach-Zibbor, i. e. the angel of the diurch, and that 
 hence the bishops of the seven cliiu'ches of Asia are 
 in the Revelation, by a name borrowed from the syn- 
 agogue, called, angfds of those churches. Connect. 
 6cc. Part i. Book vi. 
 
 Guardian angels, however, appear to be alluded 
 to in the Old Testanicnt. .lacol) speaks ((.'en. \h iii. 
 ]{).) of the angel who had delivered him out of all dan- 
 gers. The Psalmist, in several |)laces, mentions 
 angels as protectors of tlie righteous; (Ps. xxxiv. 7; 
 xci. 11.) and this was- the common opinion of the 
 Jews in our Saviour's time. Wben I'eter, having 
 been released, came from prison to tli(! house where 
 the disciples were assembled, Jind knocked at the 
 door, those within thought it was his guardian angel, 
 and not himself, Acts xii. ]^. Oiu- Saviour enjoins 
 us not to des[)ise Utile ones, (i. e. his followers,) be- 
 cause their angels rontinualli/ behold the face of ovr 
 hcavenhf Father, Matt. wiii. 10. IJotli' .It-us and 
 heathen believed that particular angels were com- 
 missioned to attend individuals, and had the care of 
 their conduct and protection. Hesiod, one of the 
 most ancient Greek aiitlioi-s, says, that there are good 
 angels od earth ; whom In- thus describes : 
 
 Aerial spirits, by gnat Jf>ve design<>d 
 
 To be on cjuth the guardians of mankind ; 
 
 [ 60 ] ANGEL 
 
 Invisible to mortal eyes they go, 
 .Vnd mark our actions, good or bad, below; 
 The immortal spies with watchfid care preside, 
 And thrice ten thousand round their charges glide. 
 They can reward with glory or with gold ; 
 Such power divine permission bids them hold. 
 
 Oper. et Dies, Ub. i. ver. 121. 
 
 Plato says (de Lcgibus, Ub. x.) that every person 
 has two detmons, or genii, one jirompting him to 
 evil, the other to good. Apuleius speaks but of one 
 dremon assigned to every man by Plato, Ex hac suh- 
 limiore damonum copiu, Plato cmtumat singulis ho- 
 mijiihus in vita agenda testes, cl custodes singidos ad- 
 ditos, qui nemini conspicui semper adsint. Libel, de 
 Deo Socratis. 
 
 The apostle Paul hints at a subordination among 
 the angels in heaven, one differing from another, 
 either in otHce or glory : but the lathers who have 
 interpreted the apostle's words arc not agreed on 
 the number and order of the celestial hierarchy. 
 Origen was of opinion, that Paul mentioned pait 
 oidy of the choirs of angels, and that there were 
 many others of whicii he said nothing; and this no- 
 tion may be observed in many of the subsequent fa- 
 thers. Others have reckoned u[) nine choirs of angels. 
 The author, who is conunonly cited luider the nann' 
 of Dionysius th»^ Areo|»agite, admits but three hie- 
 rarchies, and three orders of angels in each hierarchy. 
 In the first, are sera|)him, cherubim, and thrones; 
 in the second, donnnions, mights, and powers ; in 
 the third, [)rincipalities, archangels, and angels. 
 Some of the rabbins reckon four^-others ten, orders, 
 and give them different names according to their de- 
 grees of power and knowledge; but this rests only 
 on the imagination of those wlio amuse themselves 
 with speaking veiy particularly of things of ■which 
 they know nothing. 
 
 Kai)hael tells Tobias, (Tobit xii. l'\) that he is one 
 of the seven angels who attend in th<^ j)resence of 
 God. Michael tells Daniel, that he is one of the 
 chief princes in the court of the Almighty, Dan. x. 
 13. In the Revelation, (\ iii. 2, 3.) John saw seven 
 angels standing before the Lord. In the Ajjocryphal 
 Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, they are called 
 angels of the jiresence, and in the 1/ife of Moses, the 
 eyes of the Lord. These denominations are, j>roba- 
 bly, ijiiitations of w'hat was a j)art of the customary 
 order, in the courts of the Assyrian, Chaldeaji, and 
 Persian kings, where there Wi-rr .seven eunuchs, or 
 great oflicers, always near the j)rince. Ccmp. 
 I'-sther i. V). Dan. v. 7. 
 
 The luiml'.er of angels is not mentioned in Scrip- 
 tun> ; but is always represented as very great, and, 
 indeed, innumerable. Daniel (vii. 10.) says, that oti 
 his approach to the throne of the Ancient of Days, 
 he saw a fiery stream issuing liom it, and tliat 
 "thousand thousands of angels ministered unto him, 
 and ten thousand times teti thousand stood before 
 him." Our Lord sjiid that "his heavridy Father 
 coidd give him more than twelve l(>gions of an- 
 gels" (Matt. xx\i. .").■?.) — more than — seventy-two 
 thousand. The I'salmist describes the chariot of 
 God as attended by twenty thousand angtis. Pp. 
 Ixviii. 17. 
 
 'I'lie Sadducees denied the existence of angels and 
 spirits; (Acts xxiii. 8.) but other Jews paid them a 
 superstitious worship, Col. ii. 18. The author of 
 the book, eiUitled, "Of St. Peter's Preaching," a 
 a work of great antiquity, cited by Clemens of Al- 
 exandria, (Stromat. lib. vi.) says, the Jews pay re-
 
 ANGEL 
 
 [61 ] 
 
 ANGEL 
 
 ligious worship to angels and archangels, aud even to 
 the months and the moon. Celsus reproached them 
 almost in the same manner. (a})ud Origen. contra 
 Gels, lib. V.) Tertiillian assures us, that Simon aud 
 Gerinthus prcfcnod the mediation of angels to that 
 of Christ. (Lib. de praescript. caj). 12.) Josephus, 
 and atler him Porphyry, says, that tlie Esseues, at 
 tlieir initiation, eJigaged themselves, by oath, to pre- 
 serve faithfully tlie names of angels, aud the books 
 relating to their sect. De Bello. ii. 12. Porphyry, de 
 Abstin. lib. iv. 
 
 By the " angeis of the Lord," are often meant, in 
 Scripture — men of God — prophets ; for example, 
 (Judg. ii. 1.) " An angel of the Lord came up from 
 Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out 
 of Egy|)t, &ic. And it came to pass when the angel 
 of the Lord spake these words, they Ufted up their 
 voices and wept ; and they sacrificed there to the 
 Lord, and Joshua let the people go." It has been 
 thought, that this angel was Joshua, or the high- 
 })riest, or a prophet ; and several interpreters have 
 been of opinion, that Joshua is described by Moses, 
 under the name of the angel of the Lord, who was 
 to introduce Israel into the promised land. Prophets 
 are ceilainly called angels of the Lord ; e. g. Haggai 
 i. 3. "Then spake Haggai, the angel of the Lord, 
 from among the angels of the Lord," (Heb. ■^n'^!:, Gr. 
 ..tyyfXo:,) although our translation agrees with the 
 Vulgate, in interpreting -\nhc, messenger; " Thus spake 
 Haggai, the LorcVs messenger, in the Lord's message, 
 unto the people." 3Ialachi, the last of the minor 
 prophet.«, is, by several of the fathers, called " the 
 angel of God ;" as his name signifies in Hel)rew ; 
 but sotne believe Ezra to be designated by the name 
 Malachi, or angel of tlie Lord. (Jerome, Praef. in 
 Mai.) Eupolennis, speaking of the prophet Nathan, 
 who convicted David of his sin, calls him "an angel," 
 or messenger, from the Lord. Calmet remarks that 
 Manoah, Samson's father, (Judg. xiii. 2, &c.) calls, 
 indifferently, angel, and man of God, him who ap- 
 peared to his Avife ; till liis vanishing with the smoke 
 of the burnt-offering convinced him it was aji angel ; 
 but it seems evident, that neither Manoah, nor his 
 wife, took him for other than a prophet, till after his 
 disappearance, v. 16. 
 
 Sometimes the name of God is given in Scripture 
 to an angel. The angel who appeared to Moses in 
 the bush, (Exod. iii. 2, &c. see Acts vii. 30, 31 ; Gal. 
 iii. 19.) who delivered the law to him, who spake to 
 him, and who guided tlio j)eojtl;? in the wilderness, 
 is often called by the name of God ; and the Lord 
 snid, "Mynamc is in him," Exod. x.xiii. 21. The 
 angel who appearf^d to the i)atriarchs, is likewise 
 termed God : (Gen. xviii. 3, 17, 22, etc.) not oidy 
 Elohim and Adonai, names sometimes attributed to 
 judges and to princes, but also by the name Jr.no- 
 VAH, which belonged to God onl\'. 
 
 II. ANGEL, Destroying Angel, Angel of Denth, 
 Angel of Satan, Angel of the Bottomless Pit. Tliese 
 terms signify the devil and his agents ; evil angels, 
 miuistei-s of God's wrath and vengeance. God smote 
 Sennacherib's army with the sword of the destroying 
 angel ; (2 Kings xix. 35.) also, the Israelites, by the 
 sword of the angel of death, 2 Sam. xxiv. 16. 'The 
 angel or messenger of Satan linft'eted Paul ; (2 Cor. 
 xii. 7.) the same angel accused the high-})riest, 
 Joshua, l)efore the Lord; (Zech. iii. 1,2.) and dis- 
 puted with the archangel Micliae], about the body of 
 Moses, Jude 9. The angel of the bottomless pit, 
 (Rev. ix. 11.) or the angel king of the bottomless pit, 
 as John, in the Revelation, calls him, is the same as 
 
 tlie prince of devils, the destroying angel. See 
 Satan. 
 
 The Angel of Death is the agent which God com- 
 missions to separate the soul from the body. — The 
 Persians call him Mordad, or Asuman ; the rabbins 
 and Arabians, x\zrael ; and the Chaldee paraphrasts, 
 ]Malk-ad mousa. The book concerning the As- 
 sumption, or death of Moses, calls him Samael, prince 
 of the devils ; and states that when he advanced 
 towards Moses, with a design of forcing the soul of 
 that co]iductor of God's people out of liis body, he 
 was so struck with the lustre of his countenance, 
 and the virtue of tlie name of God written on his 
 rod, that he was obliged to retire. 
 
 In the Greek of the book of Job, the angel of 
 death {"Ayyi/.o: HLduTo^uoo?) is frequently mentioned. 
 See chap, xxxiii. 22; xx. 15; xxxvi. 14. Solomon 
 also says, "An evil man seeketh only rebellion, 
 therefore a cruel angel shall be sent against him," 
 Prov. xvii. 11. This is supposed to be the evil angel 
 mentioned Ps. xxxv. 5, 6. 
 
 The devil is considered m Scrijiture as a prince, 
 who exercises dominion over other devils of a lower 
 rank, and of less power. In this sense, the gospel 
 speaks of Satan's kingdom. Matt. xii. 26. Our 
 Saviour came into the world to overthrow the power 
 of Satan ; and at the day of judgment he Avill ccu- 
 demii those who have rejected the gospel, to that 
 eternal fii-e which is prepared for the devil and his 
 angels ; (ch. xxv. 41.) his ministers and agents, beings 
 of the same nature, and sentenced to the same pun- 
 ishment with himself. 
 
 The preceding observations are derived from Cal- 
 met ; but as the subject to which they relate is in 
 itself very obscm-e, all Ave know of it being gathered 
 from incidental hints, scattered here and there in the 
 Bible, the reader is ])resented vvitli the folloAving 
 additional remarks by Mr. Taylor. 
 
 As we must wholly i-ely on Scripture accounts, 
 and Avave all others, except so far as they are per- 
 fectly consonant Avith these, AA'e shall do Avell to ex- 
 amine, first of all, the language of Scripture, in ref- 
 erence to angels, ami their nature ; and to ascertain 
 its import in different places AA'here it occurs. 
 
 I. The Avord Angel is taken rather as a name of 
 office, than of nature ; a messenger, an agent, an 
 euA'oy, a dejjuty ; (1.) personaJh/ taken, he Avho per- 
 forms the Avill of a superior ; (2.) impersonally taken, 
 THAT Avhicli ])erfbrnis the Avill of a superior. 
 
 (1.) Personally taken, the AA'ord angel denotes a 
 human messenger: for instance, in the Old Testa- 
 ment, 2 Sam. ii. 5. "And David sent messengers 
 (Heb. angels) to Jabesh Gilead ;" Prov. xiii. U. "A 
 Avicked messenger (in'^t, angel) falleth into evil;" — 
 and so in various places. Also, in the Ncav Testa- 
 ment, Matt. xi. 10. "I send my messenger (Gr. 
 my angel, toi i(;;fA/<i i^;;) before thy face." Also, 
 Mark i. 2; Luke vii. 24. "And when the messen- 
 gei-s, (Gr. the angels) of John Avere departed." James 
 ii. 25. "Rahab receiAcd the messengers, [Gr. the 
 angels.) Gal. Ia'. 14. "Ye receiA-ed me as the angel 
 of God, [dyyf/.or (^fs ,) as Christ Jesus," the prime 
 messenger from 'God to man. Some commentators 
 haA-e referred this, which is the simplest idea of the 
 Avord, to John v. 4. " An angel Avent doAvii aud 
 troubled the Avater ;" as if this Avere a messenger 
 sent (by the priests or others) for that pur})ose. So 
 Acts xii. 15. "They said. It is the angel of Peter ; 
 i. e. a messenger from him. But this conception 
 fails of the true import of these |)assages. (See Be- 
 THESPA.) It' seems, however, certain, from the
 
 ANGEL 
 
 [G2] 
 
 ANGEL 
 
 Scriptures quoted, and from many others, that, per- 
 sonally taken, the sense of a messenger, or one de- 
 puted by another to act for him, is the genuine idea 
 of the word angel, both in the Old and in the New 
 Testament. Hence, therefore, Christ Jesus may 
 well be called, "The angel of God :" he being emi- 
 nently the deputy from God to man ; the great ^'liigel 
 of the covenant ; (Mai. iii. L) the agent for God. 
 
 (2.) Taken impersonally, the word Angel impUes, 
 that agent which executes the will of another : and, 
 as the great natural agents of the world m-ound us 
 are wholly beyond the direction of man, and, there- 
 fore, are esteemed as exclusively obedient to God, 
 the word angel imports something empowered or 
 commissioned to execute his will. Now, though all 
 the powers of nature, in all their operations, are, in 
 this sense, angels of God, as acting for him, yet their 
 more extraordinary effects are principally noticed, as 
 being most evidently his agents: these appearing 
 most remarkable to feeble humanity, and most ex- 
 citing its attention. In a sense greatly analogous to 
 this, we say, in common speech, " Providence inter- 
 posed so and so ;" such a thing is " the dispensation 
 of Providence." But we rarely express ourselves 
 thus, in respect to the ordinary occurrences of life. 
 Extraordinary operations of providence, then, though 
 accomplished by natural means, are in Scripture 
 considered as angels (agents) of God: and so the 
 Psalmist observes, (civ. 4^) that God can, if he please, 
 " make winds his angels,^' to conduct his dispensa- 
 tions ; "and flames of fire his ministers," or servants, 
 to perform his pleasure. 
 
 IL But, beside agencies of natural powers, or 
 providential angels, we have reason to infer, that 
 there exists in the scale of beings, a series of crkated 
 i.NTELLiGE.NT POWERS, who are angels, inasmuch as 
 they are occasionally agents of God towards man- 
 kind. These, in capacity and dignity, arc vastly 
 superior to oui-selves ; indeed, they are so much our 
 superiors, that in order to render them in any de- 
 gree comprehensible by us, their nature, offices, &c. 
 are illustrated by being compared to what occurs 
 among mankind. Thus, if a human prince have his 
 attendants, his servants, his guards, tiiis circumstance 
 is taken advantage of, and is employed to illustrate 
 the nature of celestial angels ; and to this effect, by 
 way of similitude, and condescending to the concep- 
 tion of humanity, angds are represented as attend- 
 ants, servants of God. We know that God needs no 
 attendants to perform his commands, being omni- 
 
 K resent ; but being himself likened to a great king, 
 is angels are compared to courtiers and ministers, 
 subordinate to him, and employed in his service. 
 It cannot be said, God does not need angels, there- 
 for'" angels do not exist ; tor God does not need man, 
 yet man exists, Thi.s principle is evidently the foun- 
 dation of the aj)ologue wliich prefaces the poetical 
 part of the book of Jol) : (chap. i. (i.) " There was a 
 day, when the sons of God came to present them- 
 selves (as it were, at coiut) before tiie Lord ;" also, 
 of 1 Kings xxii. \9. " I saw the Lord sitting on his 
 throne, and all the host of licaven standing by him, 
 on his right hand, and on his left." Isaiah's vision 
 (chap, vi.) is to the same purj)ose ; and our Lord 
 continues the same idea, especially, when speaking 
 of his glorious return, — " The Son nf Man sliall si nd 
 his angels, to expel from his kingdom all tiiat ortinds. 
 He sliall sit on the throne of liis glory, and all his holy 
 angels around him," Matt. \\v. 'il, seq. Through- 
 out the Revelation, many coincident representations 
 may be observed. In reference to llie seniccs ren- 
 
 dered by angels to mankind, wc may safely aclopt 
 the idea of their being servants of this Great King, 
 sent from before his throne to this lower world, to 
 execute his commissions : so far, at least, Scripture 
 warrants us. In such services, some of them, prob- 
 ably, are always engaged, though invisible to us. 
 We may receive from them much good, or evil, 
 without being aware of any angehc interference. 
 Thus the activity of Satan (an agent of evil) in Job, 
 is represented as producing gi-eat effects, (by storms 
 and other means,) but Job knew not that it was 
 Satan : he refen-ed all the calamities he felt, or 
 feared, to the good pleasure of God acting by natu- 
 ral causes; and thus the angel might long have 
 watched Aljraham invisibly, before he called out to 
 forbid the slaying of Isaac, Gen. xxii. In this sense, 
 angels are "ministering spirits, sent forth to do 
 a variety of services to the heirs of salvation," 
 Hob. i. 14. 
 
 If angels are thus engaged invisibly in the care or 
 service of mankind, then we can find no difficulty in 
 admitting that they have had orders, on particular . 
 occasions, to make themselves known, as celestial 
 intelligences. They may often have assumed the 
 human appearance, for ought we can tell ; but if 
 they assumed it completely, (as must be supposed, 
 and which nothing forbids,) how can we generally 
 know it.' How can we recognize them ? This is 
 evidently beyond human abilities, unless it be part 
 of their commission to leave indications of their su- 
 perior nature. This produces the inquiry — By what 
 tokens have angels made themselves known ? 
 
 (1.) Such discovery has usually been aj^er they 
 had delivered their message, and always for the 
 purpose of a sign, in confirmation of the faith of the 
 party whom they liad addressed. It is evident, that the 
 angel which appeared to Manoah, was taken by both 
 Manoah and his wife only for a prophet, till after he 
 had dehvered his message, he took leave " wonder- 
 fully," to convince them of his extraordinary nature. 
 Thus the angel tliat wrestled with Jacob, at last put 
 the hollow of his thigh out of joint — a token that he 
 was no mere man. The angel that spake to Zach- 
 arias, (Luke i. 20.) rendered him dumb — a token be- 
 yond the power of mere man (e. g. an impostor 
 speaking falsely in the name of God) to produce ; 
 and so of others. 
 
 (2.) But sometimes angels did not reveal them- 
 selves fully ; they gave, as it were, obscure, and 
 very indistinct, though powerful, intimations of their 
 presence. When angels were commissioned to ap- 
 pear to certain persons only, others who were in 
 company with those j)ersons, had sensations Avhich 
 indicated an extraordinary occurrence. Although 
 the appearance was not to them, yet they seem to 
 have felt the effects of it ; as Dan. x. 7. " I, Daniel, 
 alone saw the vision — the men that were with me 
 saw not the vision ; hut a screat quaking fell upon 
 them, so that they fled to hide themselves." So Acts ix. 
 7. "The men which journeyed with Saul stood 
 speechless, hearing a \oice, but seeing no man." 
 xxii. 9. "They that were with me saw a peculiar 
 kind of light and were afraid; but they heard not the 
 voice (the distinct words) addressed to me." xxvi. 
 14. "We were Ar.i, fallcTi to the earth." The guards 
 of the sepulchre (Matt, xxviii. 4.) seem to have been 
 in much the same situation ; they jirobably did not 
 distinctly (i. e. acrurntely, steadily,) see the angel ; 
 but only saw a general s|)lendid ajqiearance, enough 
 most thoroughly to terrif^v them, and to cause them 
 to become ns dead men, but not enough to resist the
 
 ANGEL 
 
 [ m 
 
 ANG 
 
 craliy explanations ol" the priests, and the inlluence 
 of their money. 
 
 (3.) These ijistauces evince, that angels discovered 
 themselves to be angels, with difterent degrees of 
 clearness, as best suited their errand. Sometimes 
 they were conjectured to be angels, but they did not 
 advance those conjectures into certainty ; and some- 
 times they left no doubt who and what they were, and, 
 together with their errand, they declared their nature. 
 
 (4.) The general token of angelic presence, seems 
 to have been a certain splcmhn-, or brightness, accom- 
 panying their persons : but this seems to have had 
 also a distinction in degree. It would seem, that 
 sometimes a person only, not a splendor, was seen ; 
 sometimes a splendor only, not a person ; and 
 sometimes both a person and his splendor. Of the 
 person only, we have already given instances ; of the 
 splendor only, the burning bush seen by Moses, may 
 be one instance ; though afterwards a person spake 
 from it ; the splendor in the sanctuary might be 
 another. This splendor seems to have been worn 
 by Jesus at his transfiguration ; — (Matt. xvii. 2 ; Mark 
 ix. 2.) at his appearance to Saul ; — (Acts ix. 3 ; xxvi. 
 13.) also when seen by John, Rev. i. Was not this 
 splendor, when worn by a person, indicative of the 
 presence of the great angel of the covenant ? 
 
 III. Thus we trace a gradation in the use of the 
 word angel, which it may be proper to exhibit in 
 connection: — (1.) Human messengers; t. e. agents 
 for others. — (2.) Divine messengers, yet human per- 
 sons ; i. e. agents for God : — as prophets (Haggai i. 
 13.) and priests, (Mai. ii. 7 ; Eccles. v. 0.)— (3.) OlK- 
 cers or bishops of the churches. — (4.) Providence, 
 i. e. the agency of divine dispensations, conducting 
 natural causes, ajjparent on remarkable occasions. — 
 (5.) Created hitelligences ; i. e. agents of a nature 
 superior to man ; performing the divine connnands, 
 in relation to mankind. — (6.) The great angel be- 
 tween God and man ; {. e. the deputed agent of God, 
 eminently so. Not to extend this very, delicate and 
 obscure subject too far, it is sufficient, if this mode 
 of representing it excite the reader's considera- 
 tion ; we should be cautious of intruding into things 
 not seen. 
 
 IV'. In the same rank as to nature, though very 
 different from celestial angels, as to happiness. 
 Scripture seems to place the angels " who kept not 
 their first esrate." But neither their number, their 
 economy, nor their powers are expressed. As the 
 nature and offices of good angels are illustrated by 
 similitudes, so are the nature and disposition of evil 
 angels ; — e. g. 
 
 fl.) If a part of a prince's court be faithful lo his 
 government, and under his obedience, another part 
 may be imfaithful, may bo in rebellion, may hate 
 him. This idea, then, is that of rebels. What is 
 said of Satan, and the fallen angels, his companions, 
 is analogous to such a revolt in a prince's court ; 
 i. e. the idea of what passes among men, is trans- 
 ferred to spiritual beings, in order to help us to 
 some conception on a subject othersvise beyond our 
 powers. 
 
 (2.) As revolters in provinces distant from court 
 may sometimes injure loyal subjects, so may we sup- 
 pose that evil (rebel) angels arc suffered to injure in- 
 dividuals among mankind. They may inflict dis- 
 eases, as in the case of Job ; i. e. having the dispo- 
 sition, they are suffered to take advantage of natural 
 disease, and to augment, and fix it, if possible, as in 
 the case of Saul ; or to render it fatal, as in the case 
 of the lunatic, Matt. xvii. 15 : Mark v. Luke viii. 
 
 Also, if the thorn in the flesh, and the angel of Satan, 
 lie the same, in the case of Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 7. 
 
 (3.) We may sui)pose, that evil angels would, if 
 ])ermitted, destroy all good from off" the earth ; — 
 all natural good ; would blast the fruits of the earth, 
 spread diseases, and deform the face of nature ; 
 would expel all thoughts of God, all emotions of 
 gratitude to him, all piety, divine or human, — all 
 moral good. 
 
 (4.) Vv'e may suppose, that the endeavors of these 
 malignant beings to destroy, are, when they attempt 
 to exceed their limits, checked and counteracted by 
 the agency of benevolent spirits ; or that these are 
 employed to ward oft' or prevent the evils designed 
 by Satan and his angels. 
 
 'v. On the whole, we may sum up the contradic- 
 tory characters of these active and intelligent agents, 
 by combining those particulars in which Scripture 
 supports us. No doubt but many parts of their na- 
 ture, powers, and offices, must remain hidden from 
 us here ; but when we exchange earth for heaven, 
 this subject, like many others, may he infinitely better 
 understood by us ; and if we should not become 
 such agents ourselves, yet we may witness the inex- 
 pressibly beneficial effects arisiiig among our fellow 
 mortals from that agency which now we call super- 
 natural, and which we can only comprehend in a 
 very small degree, and that by very inadequate coni- 
 parisons. 
 
 Good angels are God's host ; innumerable ; they 
 attend and obey him in heaven, but they occasion- 
 ally do services, and give instructions, to the sons of 
 men. Good angels attended on Christ, honored him, 
 ministered to him, strengthened him ; accompanied 
 his resurrection, his ascension, and will attend his 
 second coming, when they will separate the godly to 
 glory, the ungodly to perdition. Good angels attend 
 good men, defend and save them, direct them, carry 
 their souls to heaven, will rejoice with them in glory, 
 &c. They are humble and modest ; obedient, sym- 
 pathizing, complacent, &c. 
 
 Evil angels are unclean, promoters of darkness 
 — of spiritual wickedness ; they oppose good angels, 
 and good men ; they are under punishment now ; 
 they dread severer sufferings hereafter, everlasting 
 fire being pre^iared for them. 
 
 Angels of light, and angels of darkness. 
 We call good angels angels of light, their habitation 
 being in heaven, in the region of light ; they are 
 clothed with light and glory ; they stand before the 
 throne of the Most High, and they inspire men with 
 good actions, actions of light and righteousness. 
 Angels of darkness, on the contrary, are the devil's 
 ministers, whose abode is in hell, the region of dark- 
 ness. Paul says, that " Satan sometimes transforms 
 himself into an angel of light," (2 Cor. xi. 14.) in 
 like manner as our Saviour says, " that wolves some- 
 times put on sheep's clothing, to seduce the simple," 
 IMatt. vii. 15. They are, however, discovered by 
 their works ; sooner or later they betray themselves 
 by deeds of darkness, wherein they engage with 
 their followers. 
 
 ANGER is in Scripture frequently attributed to 
 God ; not that he is capable of those vioknt emo- 
 tions which this passion produces ; but figuratively 
 speaking, after the manner of men, and because he 
 punishes the Avicked with the severity of a superior 
 provoked to anger. . . 
 
 "Anger" is often used for its effects, i. e. punish- 
 ment, chastisement. The magistrate is " a revenger 
 to execute wrath," (Rom. xiii. 4.) that is to say, veu-
 
 .\ N I 
 
 [(;4 J 
 
 ANIMALS 
 
 geancc, or puiiishmciit. "Is God unjust, who makrs 
 people sensible of the eifects of his anger?" or who 
 taketh vengeance, (speaking after the manner of 
 men,) Rom. iii. 5. " Anger is gone out noin the 
 Lord, and begins to be felt," (IVunii). xvi. 4().) by its 
 effects, iu a j)lague. Anger is often joined with fury, 
 even when God is spoken of; but this is l)y way of 
 expressing more forcibly the effects of his anger, or 
 what may be expected from the just occasions of his 
 indignation, Dent. xxix. 24. "Turn from us the fury 
 of thine anger," 2 Chron. x.\ix. ]0; Dan. ix. 1<!. 
 
 "The day of wrath," is the day of (iod's judg- 
 ment, the dciy of vengeance, or ])unishnRnt, (Kom. 
 ii. 5.) — " the wrath to come ;" (Matt. iii. 7 ; 1 Thess. 
 i. 10.) "We were all children of wrath," "vessels of 
 wrath, fitted to destruction," Eph. ii. 3; Uom. ix. 22. 
 
 Paul enjoins the Romans to " give way, or place, 
 to wrath ;" (Rom. xii. 19.) that is, provoke not the 
 wicked, who are already sufficiently exasperated 
 against you, but let their anger of itself sink and 
 decline ; also, do not expose yourselves unseasona- 
 bly to their passion ; as, when we meet a furious and 
 unruly beast, we go out of the way, and avoid him ; 
 so behave toward your persecutors. The weapons 
 of God's anger (Jer. 1. 25.) are the instriuiients he 
 uses in punishment, war, famine, barrenness, dis- 
 eases, &c. but particularly war, which is the con- 
 junction of all misfortunes, and the fulness of "the 
 cup of God's wrath." To consummate, finish, fill, 
 his anger, is to cause the effects of it to !»" felt with 
 the utmost i-igor. 
 
 The Hebrews express anger by the same word 
 which signifies nose and nostnls, borrowed from the 
 idea of hard breathing or smiffing, and the conse- 
 quent dilatation of the nostrils, which accomj)anies 
 violent anger. So Theoc. i. 8. Martial vi. 64. 
 See Nose. 
 
 ANIM, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 50.) probably 
 the Anam, or Anea, mentioned by Eusebiiis and Je- 
 rome, about eight or ten miles east of IIe])ron. 
 
 ANIMALS. The Hebrews distinguish dean ani- 
 mals, I. e. those which may l)e eaten and offered in 
 sacrifice to Jehovah, from those which arc unclean., 
 the use of which is prohibited. The distinction con- 
 sists in the form of the toot or hoof, wliich must be 
 thoroughly cloven into two parts, and no more, and 
 in chewing the cud. Those animals which possess 
 both these qualities arc clean ; those which have nei- 
 ther, or only one, of them, are unclean. 
 
 The sacrifices tlie Hebrews generally offered were, 
 (1.) of the beeve kind ; a cow, bull, or calf. When 
 it is said oxen were sacrificed, we are to understand 
 bulls, for the mutilation of animals was not permitted 
 or used among the Israelites, Lev. xxii. 18, 19. (2.) 
 of the goat kind ; a she-goat, he-goat, or kid, xxii. 24. 
 (3.) of the sheep kind ; an ewe, ram, or lam!). In 
 burnt-off'eiings, and sacrifices for sin, rams were 
 offered ; for peace-otferings, or sacrifices of pure 
 devotion, a female might be ofliered, if piu-e and 
 without blemish, iii. 1. Besides these three sorts of 
 animals used in sacrifice, many others might be eaten, 
 wild or tame ; such as the stag, the roe-J)uck, and in 
 general, nil that have cloven feet, and that ciiew the 
 cud. All that have not cloven hools, and do not 
 chew the cud, were esteemed impun>, and could nei- 
 ther be ofl^ered nor eaten, Lev. xi. .3, 4. The tiit of 
 all sort.s of animals sacrificed, was forbidden as food; 
 as was the blood in all cases, on pain of deatii. Nei- 
 ther did the Israelites eat the sinew which lies on the 
 hollow of the thigh, because the angel that wrestled 
 with Jacob at Mahanaim, touched it, and occasioned 
 
 it to shrink. Neither did they cat animals which 
 had been taken, or touched, by a ravenous or impure 
 beast, such as a dog, a «olf, or a boar ; — nor the ff esh of 
 any animal that died of itself Whoever touched the 
 carcass of it was imjnire until the evening ; and till 
 that time, and affer he had washed his clothes, he 
 could not associate with others. Lev. xi. 39, 40. 
 
 Fish that had neither fins nor scales were unclean, 
 Lev. xi. 10. Birds wliich Avalk on the ground with 
 four feet, such as bats, and ffies that have many feet, 
 were impure ; but the law (Lev. xi. 21, 22.) excepts 
 locusts, which have their hind teet higher than those 
 before, and rather leap than walk. — These are clean, 
 and m.-iy be eaten ; as, in fact, they were, and still are, 
 in Palestine, and other eastern countries. 
 
 Interpreters are much divided with relation to the 
 legal purity or impurity of animals. It is believed by 
 some, that this distinction obtained before the flood; 
 since God commanded Noah (Geiv vii. 2.) to carry 
 seven couple of clean animals into the ark, and onlj' 
 two of unclean ; (see Ark ;) but others, as Augustiu, 
 Origen, Irciia^us, are of opinion, that it is altogether 
 symbolical, and that it denotes the moral purity which 
 tlie Hebrews were to endeavor after, or that impu- 
 rity which they were to avoid, according to the nature 
 of these animals. Thus, if a hog, for example, sig- 
 nified gluttony ; a hare, lasciviousness ; a sheep, gen- 
 tleness ; a dove, simplicity ; — then the principal design 
 of Moses in prohibiting the u.se of swine's flesh, was 
 to condemn gluttony, and excess in eating or drink- 
 ing; or in recommending sheep, or doves, it was to 
 recommend gentleness, &c. Others, as Theodoret, 
 believe, that God intended to preserve the Hebrews 
 from the temptation of adoring animals, bj' permitting 
 them to eat the generality of those which were re- 
 garded as gods in Egypt ; and leading them to look 
 with horror on others, to which, likewise, diA'ine 
 honors were paid. They never had any idea of 
 worslii|)|)iiigtlie animals they ate ; still less of adoring 
 those which they could not jiersuade themselves to 
 use, even for nourishment. Tertullian thought, that 
 God pro])osed, by this means, to accustom the He- 
 brews to tcmjicrance, by enjoining them to deprive 
 themselves of several sorts of food. Many comment- 
 ators, however, discern in the; animals which are for- 
 bidden as unclean, merely some natural qualities 
 which are really hurtful, or which, at least, are un- 
 derstood to be so by certain j)eo))!c. Mcsi s forbade 
 the use of those beasts, birds, and fislus, the flesh of 
 which was thought pernicious to health ; those 
 which were wild, dangerous, or venomous, or that 
 were so esteemed. God, likewise, who designed to 
 separate the Hebrews from other peoj)le, as a nation 
 consecrated to his service, seems to have interdicted 
 the use of certain animals, which wire considered 
 as unclean, that by this figurative jiurity thej- might 
 be inclined to another jnirity, real and perfect, as is 
 intimated, Le\. xx. 24. 
 
 Most nations have fixed on certain animals as less 
 fit for human food than others ; in other words, as 
 unclean ; and this, indejiendent of their jiroperties, as 
 more or less salutary or injurious to health. Yet we 
 find considerable variations of opinion and practice, 
 even among nations inhabiting the same countries. 
 The horse, held unlawful by the Hebrews, is eaten 
 by the Tartars; the camel, forbidden to the Jews, is 
 eaten by the Arabs; as is also the hare, and others. 
 
 In general, it may be observed, that whatever was 
 forbidden as t)rdinary food was still more strongly 
 prohibited from the altar; and, among other reasons, 
 because as sacrifices were eaten either in whole or in
 
 ANN 
 
 [ 65] 
 
 ANN 
 
 part, by tiie priest or offerer, or both, it is evident, 
 that the admission of animals legally impure would 
 have spread impurity under the sanction of the altar 
 itself. And further, that as the altar partook of the 
 sacrifice, the fat, &c. which were consumed by its 
 fire, that fire, with the sacred implement itself, would 
 have been absolutely desecrated by such unwan-aut- 
 able departure from the instituted rites. See the 
 histories of this in the Maccabees, &c. The flesh of 
 the swine was usually the pollution forced by perse- 
 cutors on the Jews ; but it is evident, that any kind 
 of prohibited food, from whatever class derived, 
 would have produced the same effect. See further 
 under Goat, and Sheep. 
 
 We cannot determine precisely the creatures meant 
 in the original, under certain of the followug names, 
 as the eastern parts of the world have many animals 
 different from those which inhabit Europe, and to 
 which no English names can properly be given : but 
 under their respective articles, what infonnatiou we 
 have been able to procure, will appear. The Vul- 
 gate has been followed in this catalogue ; those who 
 please may considt the large work of Bochart, con- 
 cerning the animals mentioned in the Bible. 
 
 UNCLEAN ANIMALS. 
 
 Quadrupeds, 
 
 The Camel. The Hare. 
 
 The Porcupine, or Hedge-hog. The Hog. 
 
 Birds. 
 
 The Eagle. The Screech-owl. 
 
 The Ossifrage. The Cormorant. 
 
 The Sea-eagle. The Ibis. 
 
 The Kite. The Swan. 
 
 The Vulture, and all its species. The Bittern. 
 
 The Raven, and all its species. The Porphyrion. 
 
 The Ostrich. The Heron. 
 
 The Owl. The Curlew. 
 
 The Moor-hen. The Lap-wing. 
 
 The Spar-hawk. The Bat. 
 
 Creeping Quadrupeds. 
 
 The Weasel. 
 The Mouse. 
 The Shrew-mouse. 
 The Mole. 
 
 The Cameleon. 
 The Eft. 
 The Lizard. 
 The Crocodile. 
 
 ANISE, an herb well known, which produces 
 small seeds of a pleasant smell. Our Lord reproaches 
 the Pharisees with their scrupulous exactitude in 
 paying tithe of anise, mint, and cunamin, while they 
 neglected justice, mercy, and faith, which were the 
 most essential principles and practices of religion. 
 Matt, xxiii. 23. 
 
 I. ANNA, wife of Tobit, of the tribe of Naphtali, 
 carried captive to Nineveh, by Shalinaneser, king of 
 As^ria, Tobit i. 1, 2, &c. 
 
 II. ANNA, daughter of Phanuel, a prophetess and 
 vddow of the tribe of Asher, Luke ii. 36, 37. She 
 was married early, and lived but seven years with 
 her husband, after which she continued, wtliout 
 ceasing, in the temple, serving God, day and night, 
 with fasting and prayers. Dr. Prideaux remarks 
 tliat this expression is to be understood no otherwise 
 than tliat Anna constantly attended the morning and 
 evening sacrifice at the temple, and then with great 
 devotion offered up her prayers to God ; the time of 
 the morning and evening sacrifice being the most 
 solemn time of prayer among the Jews, and the tem- 
 
 9 
 
 pie the most solemn place for it. Anna was fourscore 
 and four years of age, when the Virgin came to pre- 
 sent Jesus in the temple ; and enteiing there, while 
 Simeon was pronoimcing his thanksgiving, Anna, 
 hkewise, began to praise God, and to speak of the 
 Messiah to all who waited for the redemption of 
 Israel. 
 
 ANNAS, a high-priest of the Jews, Luke iii. 2 ; 
 John xviii. 13, 24 ; Acts iv. 6. He is mentioned in 
 Luke as being high-priest along ivith Caiaphas his 
 son-in-law. He is called by Josephus, Ananus the 
 son of Seth ; and was first appointed to that ofiice by 
 Quirinus, proconsul of Syria, about A. D. 7 or 8, (Jos. 
 Ant. xviii. 2. 1.) but was afterwards deprived of it by 
 Valerius Gatus, prociuator of Judea, who gave the 
 office first to Ismael the son of Phabseus, and a short 
 time after to Eleazar the son of Annas. He held the 
 oflice one year, and was then succeeded by Simon, 
 who, after anotlier year, was followed by Joseph, also 
 called Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, about A. D. 
 27 or 28, who continued in oflSce until A. D. 35. In 
 the passages of the New Testament above cited, 
 therefore, it is apparent that Caiaphas was the only 
 actual and proper high-priest ; but Aimas, being his 
 fatlier-in-law, and having been formerly himself 
 high-priest, and being also perhaps his substitute, 
 (pD,) had great influence and authoritj^ and could 
 with great propriety be still termed high-priest along 
 with Caiaphas. Jos. Ant. xviii. 2. 2. Kuinoel on 
 Luke iii. 2. *R. 
 
 ANNUNCIATION, a festival on which Chris- 
 tian churches celebrate the conception, or incar- 
 nation of the Son of God in the womb of the Virgin 
 Mary. It falls on the 25th of March. The angel 
 Gabriel first announced the approach of this event to 
 Zacharias, telling him that his son should be the 
 fore-runner and prophet of the Messiah. Six months 
 afterwai-ds Gabriel was sent to Nazareth, to the Vir- 
 gin Mai-y, of the tribe of Judah, and family of David, 
 whom he saluted by saying, " Hail, thou highly-fa- 
 vored of the Lord ; the Lord is with thee ; blessed 
 art thou among women !" Mary, being greatly per- 
 plexed by the salutation, the angel added, " Fear not, 
 Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. Thou 
 shalt conceive, and bring forth a son, and shalt call 
 his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be 
 called the Son of the Highest," &c. Then said 
 Mary to the angel, "How shall this be, seeing I 
 know not a man.'" The angel answered, "The 
 Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of 
 the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore, also, 
 that Holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be 
 called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin, 
 Elisabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old 
 age ; and this is the sixth month with her ; for with 
 God nothing shall be impossible." And Mary said, 
 " Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me 
 according to thy word," Luke i. 5, 26. The angel 
 then depai-ted; and by the operation of the Holy 
 Ghost, Maiy conceived the only Sou of the Father, 
 who had been four thousand years expected; and 
 who was to be the happiness, the light, and the sal- 
 vation of men. 
 
 In the Koran, (third Sura,) there is tliis remarkable 
 passage : " Remember what is written of Mary — We 
 sent to her our Spirit, in the human form ; she was 
 affrighted, and said, ' God will preserve me from you, 
 unless you have his fear before your eyes.' But the 
 angel answered, ' O Mary ! I am tlie messenger of 
 thy God, and of thy Lord, who will give thee a wise 
 and active son !' She replied, ' How shall I have a
 
 ANNUNCIATION 
 
 [66] 
 
 ANNUNCIATION 
 
 son, wiiliout the knowledge of man?' 'He has said 
 it' — answered the angel: 'the event shall be as I 
 have announced to thee.' Then she became preg- 
 nant." The history of the annunciation, as a part of 
 the miraculous conception, having been impugned, 
 this extract may serve to show, that it was extant in 
 other authorities, beside our j)rcs( nt gospels. Ma- 
 homet certainly found it in some ancient writing, 
 since he says, "Remember ivhat is un-itten,''^ an ap- 
 peal which he could hardly have adopted, had not 
 the occurrence been the general belief, prior to his 
 time ; a.s its primary aspect is so favorable to 
 Christianity. [Mahomet doubtless borrowed this 
 passage from the New Testament itself, hkc many 
 other parts of tlie Koran. R. 
 
 1. This subject has been so often placed before 
 our eyes, by representations (rather misrepresenta- 
 tions) of the pencil, that it becomes necessary to 
 guard against false ideas received through this me- 
 dium ; to dismiss the cloud attending the angel — 
 the flowers — the brilliancy — and all such artful and 
 artificial, but unwarrantal)le, accessories; and to 
 reduce the story to the simple narrative of Luke. 
 From this it appears, that Maiy was in a house — 
 probably in private ; (but this is not said, nor in what 
 part of her house ;) for the angel entered and ad- 
 vanced towards her. Nor did he apjiear in splen- 
 dor, or in any extremely disturbing manner, so 
 as to astonish Mary, but gave her time to con- 
 sider, to reason with herself, respecting hi.t .fny- 
 ing : Gr. "what kind of salutation (not what kind of 
 person) this could be" — and to recover from her first 
 surprise, at such a compliment paid her. He then 
 proceeded to deUver his message ; and she inquires 
 of him — if, indeed, her exclamation, "How can that 
 be !" be not rather the' language of surprise. It does 
 not appear that she knew liim to be an angel ; for 
 then she would have acquiesced in his words \n\h- 
 out hesitation ; but after he had, as a sign, given her 
 information jhat her cousin Elisabeth was pregnant, 
 he departed. He did not vanish ; but went away 
 from her. Mary went "in baste" — directly — to visit 
 Ehsabeth, (a considerable journey,) from whom she 
 could acquire information to guide her conduct in 
 this matter. — Had Elisabeth not been pregnant, then 
 Mary might have thought the appearance delusive ; 
 but finding Elisabeth really pregnant, she could 
 learn from her what kind of vision had appeared to 
 Zacharias in the temple, whereby to identify the per- 
 son seen by herself She would thus receive abun- 
 dant evidence in confirmation of her own experience, 
 and of her confidence in the divine interposition. 
 
 Thus simph' considered, this narrative has much 
 resemblance to that of the annunciation of the birth 
 of Samson, wherein the angel was repeatedly ad- 
 flressed as a mere man — a prophet ; and was not 
 discovered, till after his message liad taken its effect. 
 In like manner, an angel announced to Sarah the 
 birth of Isaac ; Jaut was not known, at the time, to be 
 an angel ; Sarah hesitated, because of her great age ; 
 and tlie Virgin Mary hesitated, because of her (early) 
 youth. Mary, being a person of a reflective turn of 
 mind, co\dd not but ponder, and consider very atten- 
 tively the language and expression used in both 
 instances, the similarity of ajipcaranccs, and other 
 circumstances. 
 
 It is wortiiy of remark, that as Mary was referred 
 to Elisabeth, so ElisaJ)eth was in some sense referred 
 to Mary. How, if tliis were not the case, should 
 Elisabeth know that .Mary was the mother of her 
 Lord — and what things were told Mary from tlie 
 
 Lord— and how should she know that Mary had 
 believed ? — See liUke i. 42. 
 
 2. There is another annunciation, which ought not 
 to be overlooked here — that made in a dream to Jo- 
 seph, (Matt. i. 20.) probably by the same celestial 
 messenger that appeared to Mary and Elisabeth, and 
 certainly to the same import as the former annunci- 
 ation to Mary. Now, as Joseph appears to have 
 been a thoughtful, well-informed, and considerate 
 man, not a young man, and, above all, a just man, 
 (i. e. very strict,) we may be assured that a man of 
 his understanding, his experience in life, his reputa- 
 tion, (perhaps his family pride as descended from 
 David,) and his moderate situation in the world, 
 would not degrade and burden himself with a suppos- 
 ititious issue, imless he had been fully convinced that 
 the case was miraculous. — Thus the mediocrity of 
 Joscjjh's situation, in respect to property, becomes a 
 reason of considerable weight — since he could sc 
 easily have relieved himself from the attendant ex- 
 penses of a rising family, at his time of fife, by fulfil- 
 ling his first design of putting Mary away privily ; 
 wlncl), in fact, unless under complete conviction, 
 was his duty. 
 
 It should be remarked, that the angel, in speaking 
 to Mary, uses language which may be taken in refer- 
 ence to a temporal Messiah — (He shall reign, &c.) 
 but to Joseph, he seems to be more explicit, and to 
 speak of a spiritual Messiah, — " He shall save his 
 people from their sins." He also refers Joseph to the 
 prophecy resj)ecting Emmanuel ; and informs him, 
 that this event was the completion of that prophecy : 
 "This also all is come to pass, that it might he 
 fulfilled." Of com-se both Joseph and Mary Avell 
 knew the prophetic writings : Mary, as appears from 
 the allusions to them in her song; and Joseph, to 
 whom, otherwise, the appeal to Isaiah's prophecy 
 had been useless. See Joseph, Mart, &c. 
 
 3. As the annunciation of the birth of John the 
 Baptist appears very much to illustrate and to con- 
 firm that respecting Jesus, it demands the consider- 
 ation of some of its circumstances: — 
 
 (1.) The age of Zacharias (probably above fifVy) 
 rendered it milikely that he should be imposed upon ; 
 and equally unlikely that he should, through warmth 
 of imagination, impose on himself. (2.) Elisabeth ap- 
 parently was near the same age as her husband, which, 
 for a woman in the East, is a much more advanced 
 period of life than among us. Considering the early 
 age at which the Jews married, this couple had prob- 
 ably lived together, ban-en, thirty or more years. (3.) 
 The lot determined whose duty it was to burn in- 
 cense. Zacharias, then, coidd little have expected 
 this visit — at this time : — nothing could be more 
 contingent, in respect to him. (4.) Being in the 
 sanctuary, he there saw a person standing on the 
 right side of the altar of incense — that being the 
 most convenient situation to permit Zacharias to 
 fulfil his office ; and (as we imderstand it) so that the 
 altar and the smoke of the incense was between 
 them. (5.) The very great sanctity of this place — 
 no person was ever admitted here, but the priests 
 who had duty in it ; no ordinary Jew ever approached 
 it ; not even a priest had duty in it at this moment of 
 solemn worship, except he wlio was engaged in that 
 worship ; and Zacharias not only must have person- 
 ally known any intrusive priest, but it was his duty 
 to ])unish his intrusion. The appearance of the an- 
 gel, though we suppose it to be oomjdetely human, j'et 
 was certainly diflerent from that of a priest, in dress, 
 manners, &c. (6.) The angel's discourse to Zaehn-
 
 ANO 
 
 [ 67 ] 
 
 ANOINTING 
 
 rias. (7.) The unbelief of Zachai-ias: he urges not 
 only his own age — implying the extinction of corporal 
 vigor in himself; but the same impediment with 
 respect to his wife. (8.) The angel's answer : " I am 
 Gabriel, who stand before God." (9.) The sign 
 given to Zacharias, "thou slialt be dumb." — The 
 effect of this on the people ; and his telling them by 
 action, and dumb show, that he had seen a vision. 
 It should seem that he was deaf also, for he received 
 information by signs, ver. 62. (10.) lie remained in 
 this state at the temple some days, till " the days of 
 his ministration were accomplished ;" so tliat all the 
 priests in waiting might be informed of these circum- 
 stances: for though he could not speak, he could 
 write the story. (11.) The conception of Elisabeth, 
 which is, indeed, the main incident in this narrative. 
 For suppose all the former to be A'oid of truth — 
 suppose that a man of Zacharias's character and time 
 of Ufe, to make himself famous, (or rather infamous,) 
 had forged all the former parts of the story — that his 
 dumbness was obstiuate, and wilful, yet what effect 
 could all this have had to recall the departed vigor 
 of his person ? That is not all : — What effect could 
 his relation of these things to Elisabeth, by ivriting, 
 as must be supposed, have had on a woman of her 
 time of hfe ? If imagination had for a while invig- 
 orated Zacharias, could it have had the effect of 
 overcoming even nature itself, in the person of EUsa- 
 beth ? A woman at fifly, or more, (equal to a woman 
 in England ten years older, at least,) and long barren, 
 was surely past both fears and hopes of child-bear- 
 ing: let this be duly weighed. (12.) EUsabeth liid 
 herself full five months. This deserves notice ; be- 
 cause her condition could not be known, much less 
 could it be blazoned abroad. Now, in the sixth 
 month, (i. e. while Elisabeth's pregnancy was j)ri- 
 vate,) Gabriel visits Mary at Nazareth, and tells her 
 the secret respecting Elisabetli, as a sign that he was 
 no impostor. Mary believed him ; but Mary also 
 took rational metliods to justify that belief: she went 
 directly to visit Elisabetli. — On mquiry and inspec- 
 tion, she found what Gabriel had told her to be true ; 
 and from the accounts of Zacharias and Elisabeth, 
 she acquired information which guided her conduct. 
 
 Now, if it be made a question, whether Zacharias 
 could not be deceived, either by others, or by himself, 
 it is best answered, by asking — When did self-decep- 
 tion produce such effects ? He could certainly judge 
 of his own incapacity (real incapacity) to speak : but, 
 supposing it assumed, or fancied — what influence 
 could this have had in forwarding the birth of John ? 
 The general inference is clear: — if the birth of John, 
 the forerunner of Jesus, was miraculous, its whole 
 weight is in favor of the miraculous conception, 
 and the annunciation, of Jesus. See John Bap- 
 tist, &c. 
 
 ANOINTING was a ceremony in frequent use 
 among the Hebi-ews. They anointed and perfumed, 
 from principles of health and cleanness, as well as 
 religion. They anointed the hair, head, and beard. 
 Psalm cxxxiii. 2. x\t their feasts and rejoicings they 
 anointed the whole body ; but sometimes only the 
 head or the feet, John xii. 3; Luke vii. 37; Matt. vi. 
 17. The anointing of dead bodies was also practised, 
 to preserve them from coiTuption, Mark xiv. 8 ; xvi. 
 1 ; Luke xxiii. 56. They anointed kings and liigh- 
 priests at their inauguration, (Exod. xxix. 7, 29 ; Lev. 
 iv. 3 ; Judg. ix. 8 ; 1 Sam. ix. 16 ; 1 Kings xix. 15, 16.) 
 as also the sacred vessels of the taliernaclc and tem- 
 ple, Exod. XXX. 26, &c. 
 
 Anointing, in general, was emblematical of ii par- 
 
 ticular sanctification ; a designation to the service of 
 God, to a holy and sacred use. God prescribed to 
 Moses the manner of making the oil, or the perfumed 
 ointment, with which the priests and the vessels of 
 the tabernacle were to be anointed, Ex. xxx. 30, seq. 
 It was composed of the most exquisite perfumes and 
 balsams, and was prohibited for all other uses. Eze- 
 kiel upbraids his people with haviug made a like 
 perfume for their own use, chai). xxiii. 41. 
 
 The anointing of sacred persons and sacred orna- 
 ments, and utensils of the temple, tabernacle, ahars, 
 and basins, removed them from ordinary and com- 
 mon use ; separated them to an appropriate dignity, 
 and rendered them holy, sacred, and reverend. The 
 anointing received by Aaron and his sons, devolved 
 on his whole race, whicli thereby became devoted 
 to the service of the Lord, and consecrated to his 
 worship. Lev. viii ; Exod. xxix. 7 ; Psalm cxxxii. 2. 
 The rabbins think the holy oil was poured on the 
 head of Aaron in the form of an X ; according to 
 others, in tlie form of a caph — o. Many are of opin- 
 ion, that of the ordinary priests the hands only were 
 anointed. The Levites did not receive any unction. 
 The ceremonies of anointing were continued for 
 seven days ; and the rabbins inform us, that while 
 the ointment or perfume, that was composed by Mo- 
 ses, lasted, they thus anointed all the high-priests that 
 succeeded, for seven days. But when this perfume 
 was exhausted, they contented themselves with in- 
 stalling the high-priest for seven days, in his sacred 
 habit. The former, therefore, were called high- 
 priests anointed, (Lev. iv. 3 ; v. 16.) the latter were 
 said to be initiated in their habits. They say, also, 
 that there was never made any new oil, after that of 
 Moses was spent, whicli they think lasted to the cap- 
 tivity of Babylon. But the Christian fathers beheve, 
 that the unction of the high-priests continued to the 
 coming of the true anointed, the Messiah, Jesus 
 Christ. Besides, Moses nowhere forbids to renew, 
 or compose again, tliis ointment. It even appears 
 that he intended it sliould be repeated as oc- 
 casion required, by setting down its composition so 
 punctually. 
 
 The anointing of kings is not commanded by Mo- 
 ses ; but Ave find it practised in sacred history. Sam- 
 uel anointed Saul, (1 Sam. x. 1.) which was renewed 
 some time after at Gilgal, (1 Sam. xi. 15.) when Saul 
 had delivered Jabesh-Gilead from the violence of 
 Nahash, king of the Ammonites. Samuel also re-, 
 ceived orders from the Lord to anoint young David, 
 which he did ; (1 Sam. xvi. 13.) but as his title to the 
 crown was much disputed by the house of Saul, the 
 unction was given him three times, reckoning this 
 the first. He was afterwards consecrated at Hebron, 
 by the tribe of Judah, after the death of Saul, (2 Sam. 
 ii. 4.) and lastly, at Hebron, by all Israel, after the 
 death of Abner, 2 Sam. v. When Absalom rebelled 
 against Ins father, he caused himself to be anointed 
 with the holy oil ; and Solomon also was anointed by 
 the high-priest Zadok, and the prophet Nathan, 2 
 Sam. xix. 10 ; 1 Kings i. 39. 
 
 But we do not find that the kings of Israel gener- 
 ally practised this ceremony. The prophet Elijah 
 received an order from the Lord to anoint Hazael, 
 importing his ruling over Syria ; and also Jehu, son 
 of Nimshi, for his reigning over Israel, 1 Kings xix 
 15, 16. Elijah did not execute this commission him- 
 self; but his disciple Elisha performed it on the 
 person of Jehu, who is the only king of Israel 
 whose anointing is expressly mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture. Among the kings of Judah, however, we find
 
 ANOINTING 
 
 [68] 
 
 ANT 
 
 niauy iustauces, even do^ii to the fall of the loBgdom ; 
 especially when any difficulty occurred about the 
 succession to the crowxi ; as under Joash and Jeho- 
 ahaz, sons of Josiah, 2 Kings xi. 12. After the re- 
 turn from the captivity, anointing vvas no longer 
 practised on the kings ; nor even on tlie priests, if 
 the Jews may be believed. Lastly, it is said or im- 
 plied in Scripture, that the prophets w ere anointed ; 
 but we have no particulars of the manner. It is 
 even doubted, whether they did receive any real 
 unction. Elijah is sent to anoint Ehsha, (1 Kings 
 .\ix. 19.) but as to the execution of this connnaud, 
 Ehjah did nothing to Elisha but throw liis cloak 
 over his shoulders. It is tliercfore \ery probable 
 that the word anointing, in this place, only imports a 
 pai'ticular appointment, designation, or call, to the 
 office of prophet. 
 
 The unction of Christ the Mcssiali, thk anointed 
 of the Lord, was represented by all these now men- 
 tioned. It was foretold in Psalm xlv. 7. "Thou 
 lovest righteousness, and hatest iniquity ; therefore 
 God, thy God, hath anointed thee a\ ith the oil of 
 gladness, above thy fellows." And in Isaiah Ixi. 1. 
 "The Spu'it of the Lord God is upon me, because 
 the Lord hath anointed me," &c. And Dan. ix. 24. 
 "Seventy weeks are determined u])on thy people, 
 and upon thy holy city .... to seal up the vision and 
 prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." In the 
 Christian dispensation we acknowledge the spiritual 
 unction of Jesus Christ, the true anointed of the 
 Father, (Luke vi. 18 ; Acts iv. 27 ; x. 38.) who hath 
 anointed us by his grace, sealed us with his seal, 
 and given us the pledge of the Holy Spirit, which 
 dwells in our hearts, 2 Cor. i. 21. Our Lord was 
 anointed personally ; at least, some parts of his per- 
 son ; (see Messiau ;) but especially at his baptism, 
 when the Shekinah settled on him. Some ancient 
 sects thought, that at this time the Christ, i. c. the 
 anointing, was peculiarly communicated to him. 
 Was not the spitting in his fare l)y the soldiers a 
 mock unction ; as the crown of thorns, and the pur- 
 I)le robe, were mock ensigns of royalty ? 
 
 Mark (vi. 13.) informs us, tiiat when the apostles 
 were sent by Christ, to preach throughout Judea, 
 they worked many miracles, aiiointed the sick, and 
 healed them in the name of ilie Lord. James gives 
 directions tliat the sick among the faitiiful should 
 send for the priests of the churcli, who should pray 
 foj- them, and anoint them with oil in the name of the 
 Ccird. He says, tliat jjrayer, accoiiipanied with faith, 
 sliall heal the sick ; tiiat the Lord a\ ill comfort him, 
 and if he have sinned, it shall be remitted to him. 
 On this it is that the church of Rome founds her 
 extreme unction, acknowledges it as an institution of 
 Jesus Christ, and receives it as one of Jier seven sac- 
 raments, to wliich the sanctifying grace is pronnsed ; 
 forgetting tliat the apostle directs this anointing for 
 the purpose of restorinir the sick to health; i. e. for 
 life ; whereas the cliurcli of Rome emjjioys it for 
 the purpose of dismL<i3ing tlu expiring soul : i. e. for 
 death. 
 
 The custom of anointing is common in the East, 
 where it is used civilly, as a |)art of personal elegance 
 and dress; medically, as Iieing beneficial in certaui 
 disorders, and even, as some say, preventing the 
 plague. It is also used officially, as ap])ears in the 
 former parts of this article. 
 
 [The custom of ajiointing with oil or p<u-fumi; was 
 also common among the (ireeks and Romans; espe- 
 cially the anointing of guests at feasts and otlior 
 entertahiments. Sec Potter's Grec. Ant. ii. p. 385. 
 
 Adam's Rom. Ant. p. 444. Hor. Od. ii. 7. ii, 11. 
 iii. 29. Joseph. Ant. xix. 4. 1. and 9. 1. Iliad 
 xiv. 171. 
 
 The same custom is still prevalent in the East. 
 Tavernier says that "among the Arabs oUa'c oil is 
 regarded as a very agreeable i)resent. When any 
 one oft'ers it to them, they innnediately take off their 
 tm'ban and anoint their head, face, and beard, raising 
 their eyes at the same time to heaven and exclaiming : 
 ' Thanks be to God.' " Rosenm. A. u. N. Morgenlaud, 
 iv. J). 117. — Sometimes rosewater and perfumes 
 are substituted instead of the" ancient custom. Nie- 
 buhr relates the following : (Descript. of Arabia, 
 Copeuh. 1772. p. 59.) "When the visitor rises to 
 go away, a sign is made to the servants to bring 
 rosewater and the chafing-dish of perfumes. This 
 ceremony, however, is seen only on extraordmaiy 
 occasions ; or when a hint is very civilly to be given, 
 that the master of the house has other business ; for 
 so soon as a guest has been sprinkled with rosewater, 
 or has had his beard and wide sleeves fumigated 
 with the perfinne, he nuist not stay any longer. We 
 were received for the first time with all the oriental 
 ceremonies at Rosetta, at the house of a Greek mer- 
 chant. One of our company was not a little startled, 
 as a servant placed himself directly before him, and 
 began to throw rosewater into his face and upon his 
 clothes. Foi-tunately there vvas an European with 
 us, who better understood the customs of these 
 countries, and explained to us in few words how the 
 thing was ; othei'wise we should have been the 
 laughing-stock of all tlie orientals present." *R. 
 
 ANSWER. In addition to the usage of the 
 phrase, to ansiver, in the sense of a reply, it has the 
 following significations : — (1.) To sing in two cho- 
 ruses, or responses, Exod. xv. 21 ; Numb. xxi. 17 ; 1 
 Sam. xxix. 5. — (2.) It is also taken in the sense of an 
 accusation or defence. Gen. xxx. 33 ; Dent. xxxi. 21 ; 
 Hos. V. 5. [But the chief peculiarity lies in the cir- 
 cumstance, that the word to ajisiver is frequently 
 employed in the beginning of a discourse, when it 
 does not indicate a response, but simply the commence- 
 ment of speaking. The Heb. njj", and Gr. u:ioy.n[yo- 
 inci, are used in the same manner, and are chiefly 
 translated in the English version by to answer, e. g. 
 ZecJi. iii. 4 ; iv. 11, 12 ; Matt. xi. 25 ; xii. 38 ; xvii. 4 ; 
 Mark ix. 5; Luke vii. 40, etc. In other instances, 
 they are translated more according to the jjroper 
 sense ; e. g. .lob iii. 2. Heb. " Then answered Job 
 and said ;" Eng. "And Job spake and said." Cant. 
 ii. 10. R. 
 
 ANT, the devourcr, a little insect, famous for its 
 social habits, economy, unwearied industry, and 
 prudent foresight. Proverlis vi. (i — 8. is a passage 
 for a long discourse : " Go to the ant, thou sluggard, 
 consider her ways, Jind be wise. Which having no 
 guide, overseer, or ruler, jjrovideth her meat in the 
 summer, and gathereth her food in the liai-vest ;" but 
 a long discourse would be misplaced here. The 
 same character of foresight is given to the ant, (aj)par- 
 ently by a dilferent writer from Solomon,) in chap. 
 xxx. 25: "Tlie ants ari^ a people not strong, yet 
 they jirepare their meat in the sinnmer." From 
 these testimonies, ajid from many othei*s among the 
 ancients, we conclude, that in warmer climates, tlie 
 ants do not sleep during winter ; but continue more 
 or less in activity, and during this season enjo}' the 
 advantages arising from their summer stores; which 
 does not invalidate tlie retnark of our naturalists, 
 that in tliis colder (;limate ants ju-e torpid during 
 winter. In our hot-houses — we speak from observa-
 
 ANT 
 
 [ 69 
 
 ANT 
 
 tion — ants are not torpid. We niay appeal (as 
 Scheuchzer does) to Aristotle, Pliny, Plutarch, Vir- 
 gil, and Jerome; (Life of Malchus;) but we only 
 quote Horace, who says, 
 
 Parv'ulfi nam exemplo est magui formica laboris : 
 Ore traliit quodcunque ])otest, atque addit acervo 
 Quem struit, hand igiiara, ac uou iucauta futuri. 
 
 Sat. 1. 
 
 " The ant, small as she is, sets us an example ; she 
 is very laborious, she can'ies in her httle mouth 
 whatever she can, and adds it to her constructed 
 store heap, providing against a future period, with 
 gi-eat precaution." 
 
 "Aller the example of the ant, some have learned 
 to provide agciinst cold and hunger ;" says Juvenal, 
 Sat. 6. These testimonies may convince us that 
 the ant in warmer chmates provides against a day 
 of want. As this uisect is such a favorite with 
 both naturalists and moralists, we shall quote Bar- 
 but's account of it, in his work on British insects, 
 p. 277. 
 
 " The oiUward shape of this insect is singular and 
 curious, when seen through the microscope. With 
 good reason it is quoted as a pattern of industry. A 
 nest of ants is a small, well regulated republic ; their 
 peace, union, good imderstandiug, and mutual assist- 
 ance, deserve the notice of an observei*. The males 
 and females, pro\'ided witli wings, -enjoy all the 
 pleasures of a wandering life ; while the species of 
 neutei-s, without wings or sex, labor unremittingly. 
 Follow with your eye a colony that begins to settle, 
 which is always in a stiff soil, at tlie foot of a wall or 
 tree, exposed to the sun ; you will perceive one, and 
 sometimes several cavities, in the form of an arched 
 vault, which lead into a cave contrived by their 
 removing the mould Avitli tlieir jaws. Great policy 
 m their little labors prevents disorder and confusion ; 
 each has its task ; whilst one casts out the particle 
 of mould that it has loosened, another is returning 
 home to work. All of them employed in forming 
 themselves a retreat of the depth of one foot, or more, 
 they think not of eating, till they have nothing fur- 
 ther left to do. Within this hollow den, supported 
 by the roots of trees and jilauts, the ants come to- 
 gether, hve m society, shelter themselves from sum- 
 mer storms, from winter frosts, and take care of the 
 eggs which they have in their trust. The wood-ants 
 are larger than the garden ones, and also more for- 
 midable. Armed with a small sting, concealed in 
 the hinder part of their al)domen, they woiuid who- 
 ever offends them. Their puncture occasions a hot, 
 painful itching. They are carnivorous ; for they 
 dissect, with the utmost neatness and delicacy, frogs, 
 lizards, and birds, that are delivered over to them. 
 The preservation of the species is in all animated 
 beings the most important care. Behold, with what 
 concern and caution the ants at the beginning of the 
 spring load themselves between their two jaws with 
 the new-hatched larvae, iii order to expose them to 
 the early rays of the beneficent sun ! The milder 
 weather being come, the ants now take the field. 
 Fresh cares, new labors, great bustling, and laying 
 up of provisions. Corn, fruits, dead insects, carrion, 
 all is la>vful prize. An ant meeting another, accosts 
 it with a salute worthy of notice. The ant overloaded 
 with booty, is helped by her fellow-ant. One chances 
 to make a discovery of a valuable cajjture, she giv es 
 information of it to another, and in a short time a 
 legion of ants come and take possessi()n of the new 
 
 conquests. No general engagement with the inhab' 
 itants of the neighboring nest, only sometimes a few 
 private skirmishes, soon determined by the conqueror. 
 All those stoz-es, collected with so much eagerness 
 during the day, are innnediately consumed. The 
 subterraneous receptacle is the hall, where the feast 
 is kept ; every one repairs thither to take his re- 
 past ; all is in common throughout the little repub- 
 lic, and at its expense are the larvse fed. Too weak 
 and helpless to go a foraging, it is chiefly in their 
 behalf the rest go to and fro, bring home, and lay 
 lip. They shortly tuin to chrysalids, in which state 
 they take no food, but give occasion to new cares 
 and sohcitudes. All hmnan precautions have not 
 hitherto been able to siqiply that degree of weu-mth 
 and minute attention, which the ants put in practice 
 to forward the instant of their last metamorphosis. 
 The insect issuing forth to a new life, tears its white 
 transparent veil ; it is then a real ant, destitute of 
 wings, if it has no sex ; winged, if it be male or 
 female, always to be known by a small erect scale 
 placed on the thread, which connects the body and 
 thorax. The males, who are much smaller, seldom 
 frequent the common habitation ; but the females, 
 much larger, repau- to it to deposit their eggs, which 
 is all the labor they undergo. The winter's cold 
 destroys them. The fate which attends the males is 
 not well ascertained ; do they fall victims to the se- 
 verity of winter ? or are they made over to the rage 
 of the neigliboring ants ? These latter pass the win- 
 ter in a toi-pid state, as some other insects do, till 
 spring restores them to their wonted activity : they 
 have, therefore, no stores for winter, no consumption 
 of pro^^sions. W^hat are commonly sold in markets 
 for ants' eggs, are grubs newly hatched, of Avhich 
 pheasants, nightingales, and partridges, are veiy 
 fond. In Switzerland, they are made subservient to 
 the destruction of caterpillars ; which is done by 
 hanging a pouch filled with ants upon a tree ; and 
 they, making their escape through an aperture con- 
 trived on purpose, run over the tree, without being 
 able to reach down to the gi'ound, because care has 
 been previously taken to besmear the foot of the tree 
 with wet clay or soft pitch ; in consequence of which, 
 compelled by himger, they fall upon the caterpillars 
 and devour them." 
 
 Forskal, speaking of the red ant, says, " It is less 
 tlian the former, inhabits wood, and is in reputation 
 among the husbandmen for the useful hatred with 
 which it pursues the dharr, which gi'eatly infests the 
 date trees." 
 
 ANTARADA, a city of Syria, or Phenicia, on 
 the continent, opposite to, and east of, the island 
 Arada, and of^ the city Arada, in that island. Scrip- 
 ture does not speak expressly of the city Antarada; 
 but in several places, it mentions Arada, or Arva, or 
 the Arvadites, who are reckoned among the Canaan- 
 itcs, whose country God gave to the Hebrews, Gen. 
 X. 18 ; 1 Chron. i. 16. Antarada is at present called 
 Tortosa, and is still considerable, chiefly on account 
 of its fine harbor. See Aradus. 
 
 ANTELOPE. This animal is not mentioned in 
 the English Bible, but there is little doubt among the 
 best interpreters that the 13s tzebi, which our trans- 
 lators have taken for the roe, is really the gazelle or 
 antelope. The roe is extremely rare in Palestine 
 and the adjoining countries, but the antelope is very 
 common in every part of the Levant ; and when it 
 is recollected that the >2-i was allowed to the Hebrews 
 as an article of food, and it is found that the antelope 
 answers in character to it, we shall have little diffi-
 
 ANTELOPE 
 
 70 
 
 ANT 
 
 cuhy ill acquiescing in tliis interpretation. The 
 name >3X, from the verb nax, to shine, be splendid, is 
 very cliaracteristic of the beauty and elegance of the 
 gazelle, to which the ancients were accustomed to 
 compare every thing which was beautiful and lovely, 
 as Cant. ii. 9 ; iv. 5 ; vii. 4. &c. The gazelle or ante- 
 lope is of a gregarious character, and is said to live 
 together in large troops, to the number of two or 
 three thousand ; (Russell's Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, vol. 
 ii. p. 153.) whereas the roe is an animal of a very 
 difterent disposition, living in separate faniihes, and 
 seldom associating with strangers. The LXX uni- 
 formly ti"anslate the Hebrew name of this animal by 
 SoQxag^ dorcas, as it primarily signifies beauty, and is 
 so translated in several places. In corroboration of 
 the vaUdity of this interpretation. Dr. Shaw observes, 
 that the characteristics which are attributed to the 
 SoQxug, both in sacred and profane history, will well 
 agree with the antelope. Thus, j\j-istotle describes it 
 to be the smallest of the honied animals, as the ante- 
 lope certainly is. The dorcas is described to have fine 
 eyes, and those of the antelope are so to a proverb. 
 The damsel whose name was Tabitha, which is by 
 interpretation Dorcas, (Acts ix. 3(3.) might be so called 
 from this circumstance. David's Gadites, (1 Chron. 
 xii. 8.) together with Asahel, (2 Sam. ii. 18.) are said 
 to be as swift of foot as the tzebi ; and few creatures 
 exceed the antelope in swiftness. The antelope is 
 also in great esteem among the eastern nations as an 
 article of Ibod, having a very musky taste, which is 
 highly agreeable to their palates ; and therefore the 
 tzebi, or antelope, might well be received as one of 
 the dainties at Solomon's table, 1 Kings, iv. 23. 
 From Dr. Russell, we learn that the people of Syria 
 distinguish between the antelope of the mountain and 
 that of the plain. The former is the most beautifully 
 formed, and it bounds with surjirising agility ; the 
 latter is neither so handsome, so strong, nor so active. 
 Both, however, are so fleet, that the gieyhounds, 
 though reckoned excellent, cannot, without aid of 
 the falcon, come u]) with them, excejn in soft, deep 
 ground. It is to the former species of this animal, 
 no doubt, that the sacred writers allude, when they 
 speak of its flectness upon the mountain, 1 Chron. 
 xii. 8; Cant. ii. 8, 0, 17; viii. 14. 
 
 [The gazelle or anteIo|)e of the Bible, is the Jlnti- 
 lopa cervicapra or dorcas of Linna?us, the common 
 antelope. It is about 2.^ feet in heigiit, of a reddish 
 brown color, with the belly and feet white, has long 
 naked ears, and a short, erect tail. The horns are 
 black, about 12 inches long, and bent like a lyre. It 
 inhabits Barbary, I^-gypt, Arabia, and Syria, and is 
 about half the size of a fallow deer. It goes in large 
 flocks, is easily tamed, though naturally very timid ; 
 and its flesh is reckoned excellent food. 
 
 There are no less than 2!) species of antelopes in 
 all. This animal constitutes a genus between the 
 deer and the goat. They are mostly confined to 
 Asia and Africa, inhai)iting the hottest regions of the 
 old world, or the temperate zones near the tropics. 
 None of them, except the chamois and the saiga, arc 
 found in Europe. In America only one species has 
 yet been found, viz. tin; Missouri antelope, which in- 
 iial)its the country west of the lMississip])i. Antelopes 
 chiefly inhabit hilly couiuriis, though some reside in 
 the plains; and some species form herds of two or 
 three thousand, while others keeji in small troops of 
 five or six. These animals are elegantly formed, 
 active, restless, timid, shy, and astonishhigly s^ift, 
 running Avith vast bounds, and springing or leaping 
 with surprising elasticity; they frequently stop fin- a 
 
 moment in the midst of their course to gaze at their 
 pursuers, and then resume their flight. 
 
 The chase of these animals is a favorite diversion 
 among the eastern nations ; and the accounts that 
 are given of it, supply ample proofs of the swiftness 
 of the antelope tribe. The gi-eyhound, the fleetest 
 of dogs, is usually outrun by them ; and the sports- 
 man is obliged to have recourse to the aid of the 
 falcon, which is trained to the work, for seizing on 
 the animal and impeding its motion, that the dogs 
 may thus have an opportunity of overtaking it. In 
 India and Persia a sort of leopard is made use of 
 in the chase ; and this animal tal^es its prey not by 
 swiftness of foot, but by its astonishing springs, which 
 are similar to those of the antelope ; and yet if the 
 leopard should fail in its first attempt, the game 
 escapes. 
 
 The flectness of this animal has been proverbieJ 
 in the countries which it inhabits, from the earliest 
 time ; as also the beauty of its eyes. So that to say, 
 "You have the eyes of a gazelle," is used as the 
 greatest compliment that can be paid to a fine 
 woman. *R. 
 
 ANTHEDON, a city of Palestine, lying on the 
 ]MediteiTanean, about twenty furlongs south of Ga- 
 za. Herod the Great called it Agrippias, in honor 
 of Agrippa. See Agrippias, and the Map of 
 Canaan. 
 
 ANTICHRIST, the name of that Man of Sin who 
 is expected to precede the second coming of our 
 Saviour ; and who is represented in Scripture, and 
 in the Fathers, as the epitome of every thing impious, 
 cruel, and abominable. To him is referred Avhat 
 the prophets have said of Antiochus Epiphanes, of 
 Gog and Magog, of the son of perdition, and of the 
 man of sin, mentioned by Paul, which many have 
 applied historically to Nero. For it may be said, 
 that Nebuchadnezzar, Cambyses, Antiochus Epipha- 
 nes, and Nero, were so many antichrists, or fore- 
 runners of antichrist. John informs us, that in his 
 time there were many antichrists ; meaning heretics 
 and persecutors, 1 John ii. 18. But antichrist, the 
 true, real antichrist, who is to come before the uni- 
 versal judgment, will in himself include all the marks 
 of wickedness, which have been separately extant in 
 diflferent persons, his tjqjcs, or forerunners. Paul 
 (2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.) says, "That this man of sin, this 
 son of perdition, this enemy of God, shall exalt him- 
 self above all that is called God, or that is worship- 
 f)ed ; so as to sit in the temple of God, showing 
 himself that he is God." This terrible picture of 
 antichrist seemed so like Nero, that many of the an- 
 cients thought that ]»rince was antichrist, or at least 
 his forerunner, and that antichrist would appear very 
 soon after him. Others thought, that Nero would 
 rise again before the consummation of ages, to ac- 
 complish wliat was said of antichrist in the Scrip- 
 tures. John (Rev. xi. 7.) describes antichrist imder 
 the name of the "beast that ascendeth out of the 
 bottomless pit, and killeth the two witnesses ; who 
 maketh war with the saints ; killeth them, and leav- 
 eth their dead bodies exposed in the market-place of 
 the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and 
 Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." He 
 afterward (ch. xiii.) rejjresents him as " a beast rising 
 up out of the sea, with ten horns, and ten crowns on 
 his horns, and on his head the name of blasphemy. 
 The dragon (or the devil) gave him his strength and 
 power. The beast was worshipped, and had a 
 mouth given him, speaking great things, and blas- 
 phemies, and power to make war against the saints
 
 ANTICHRIST 
 
 [71 ] 
 
 ANTICHRIST 
 
 for two and forty montlis : the beast overcame, and 
 was worshipped for two and fortj' months." In 
 another place he says, "that the beast should oblige 
 all, both small and gi'eat, rich and jioor, free and 
 bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in 
 their foreheads ; so that no one might buy or sell, 
 save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, 
 or the number of his name. Here is wisdom ; let 
 ])im that hath understanding count the number of the 
 beast ; for it is the number of a man ; and his numlx-r 
 is six hundred three score and six." Some believe 
 this number 666, to be that of the letters in the name 
 of antichrist, according to their numerical valuation, — 
 for the lettei-s of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin alpha- 
 bets have their nimierical values. 
 
 It has greatly perplexed the curious, to know 
 whether the name of the beast, which John speaks 
 of, should be %vTitten in Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, or 
 Latin ; whether this name be that of his person, or of 
 his dignitj', or that which his followers should give 
 him ; or that which he will deserve by his crunes. 
 There are many conjectures on this matter ; and 
 almost all commentators have tried their skill, with- 
 out being able to say, positively, that any one has 
 succeeded, in ascertaining the true mark of the beast, 
 or the number of his name. 
 
 The number 666, has been discovei'ed in the 
 names — Ulpius Trajanus (a), Dioclesian (6), Julian 
 the Apostate (c), Luther (d), Evanthas (e), Latinus 
 (/), Titan {g), Lampetis (h), Niketes (i), Kakos Ho- 
 degos [k] that is, bad guide ; Amoumai (/) I renounce ; 
 Romiit (?«) Roman; Abinu Kadescha Papa [n) our 
 holy father the pope; and, Ehon Adonai Jehovah 
 Kadosch (o) the Most High, the Lord, the Holy God. 
 
 {a) o r J n T o 2 
 
 70. 400. 30. 80. 10. 70. 6 666 
 
 (t) DiocLEs Augustus dclxvi. 
 
 (c) C. F. JuLiANUs Cesar, atheus. . . dclxvi. 
 
 Or, rather, C. F. Jul. Caes. Aug. . . dclxvi. 
 
 (rf) 1 n S 1 S 
 
 200. 400. 30. 6. 30 666 
 
 (e) £ Y A N A S 
 
 5. 400. 1. 50. 9. ]. 200 
 
 (J) J A T E I N o S 
 30. 1. 300. 5. 10. 50. 70. 200. 
 
 {g) T E T TAN 
 
 300. 5. 10. 300. 1. 50. . . . 
 
 (h) A A M n E T I 2 
 30. 1. 40. 80. 5. 300. 10. 200. 
 
 (l) ON I K H T H S 
 
 70. 50. 10. 20. 8. 300. 8. 200. 
 
 66Q 
 
 666 
 
 ... 666 
 . . . 666 
 . . . 6m 
 
 (k) K A K O 2 O J H r O 2 
 
 20. 1. 20. 70. 200. 70. 4. 8. 3. 70. 200. . . 666 
 {I) A r N O Y M E 
 
 1. 100. 50. 70. 400. 40. 5 666 
 
 (m) n 1 ^011 
 
 400. 10. 10. 40. 6. 200 m6 
 
 [n) 1 1 a n n V ii pnij laN 
 
 10. 80. 10. 80. 1. 1. 300. 6. 4. 100. 5. 6. 50. 10. 2. 1. 
 (o)B'Tpnin'' "I i-\H]y>hy 
 300. 4. 100. 5. 6. 5. 10. 10. 30. 4. 1. 50. 6. 10. 30. 70. 
 
 This last name could have been invented and calcu- 
 lated, only to show the vanity of all the pains taken 
 in this inquiry ; since the number 666 is found in 
 names the most sacred, the most opposite to anti- 
 christ. The wisest and the safest way is, to be silent. 
 We may say the same of the time when antichrist 
 is expected to appear. We know, certainly, that he 
 
 will come before the consummation of ages, before 
 the second commg of Jesus Christ. But those who 
 have attempted to determine the time of his appear- 
 ance, have only discovered their ignorance and rash- 
 ness. Ever since Paul's days, impostors have ten-ified 
 believers, by affirming, that the day of the Lord was 
 at hand. He writes to the Thessalonians, (2 Epist. 
 ii. 1, 2.) "We beseech you, brethren, be not soon 
 shaken in mind, as if the day of Christ were at hand ; 
 for that day shall not come, except there come a fall- 
 ing away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the 
 son of perdition." John says, (1 Epist. iv. 3.) " Eveiy 
 spirit that confesseth not that Christ is come in the 
 flesh, is not of God ; this is that spirit of antichrist, 
 whereof you have heard that it should come, and 
 even now ah-eady is it in the world." The heretics 
 of that period were true signs of antichrist ; but these 
 cautions show the expectations of the Christians of that 
 time. The same opinions and dispositions are observa- 
 ble in the generality of the early fathers. The churches 
 of Vienne, and Lyons, in Gaul, seeing the violence 
 of the persecution under Marcus Aurelius, beheved 
 that they then beheld the persecution of antichrist. 
 An old ecclesiastical author, called Judas, who lived 
 under Severus, asserted, that antichrist would very 
 soon appear, because of the persecution then raging 
 agauist the church. Judas Syrus, Tertullian, and 
 Cyprian, w ho flomished soon after, did not doubt but 
 that the coming of antichrist was very near. Hilary, 
 observing the progress of Arianism, believed he saw 
 those signs which were the forerunners of antichrist ; 
 and Basil, Jerome, Chrysostom, and Gregory the 
 Great, were of opinion, that the end of the world 
 was at hand, and the coming of antichrist not distant. 
 After the tenth century, which concluded the sixth 
 millenary, according to that opinion which reckoned 
 the birth of Jesus Christ to have happened about 
 A. M. 5000, people began to get the better of this 
 apprehension of the end of the world, which, accord- 
 ing to a tradition of the ancients, was to take place 
 after a duration of 6000 years. They began to build 
 larger churches and edifices. Jerome's translation of 
 the Scriptures, which stated the world to have existed 
 not above 4000 years before Christ, contributed like- 
 wise to the persuasion, that the final period of the 
 world, and the coming of antichrist, were not ex- 
 tremely near: this, however, did not hinder some 
 fi'om attempting to fix the time of antichrist's appear- 
 ance. The council of Florence (A. D. 1105) con- 
 demned Fluentius, bishop of that city, for maintain- 
 ing that antichrist was then born. Abbot Joachim, 
 who Uved in the twelfth century, pretended that an- 
 tichrist was to appear in the sixtieth year of his time. 
 Arnaud de Villeneuve said, antichrist would come 
 A. D. 1326 ; Francis Melet said, in A. D. 1530, or 
 1540; John of Paris, A. D. 1560; Cardinal de Cusa, 
 A. D. 1730, or 1734; Peter Daille was of opinion, 
 tliat, according to his calculations, he must appear in 
 A. D. 1789 ; Jerome Cardan, in A. D. 1600 ; John 
 Pico, of Mirandola, in A. D. 1994. Events have 
 already confuted the generality of these predictions ; 
 and we may afiirm, without rashness, that the rest 
 are not superior in certainty. A tradition seems to 
 have been received among the ancients, that anti- 
 christ should be born of some Jewish family, and of 
 the tribe of Dan. The most ancient commentators 
 on the Revelation were of opinion, that John's omis- 
 sion of the name of Dan, in his enumeration of the 
 tribes of Israel, (Rev. vii. 5.) proceeded from his 
 foreknowledge, that antichrist should arise from this 
 tribe. And how should he arise from tlus tribe,
 
 ANTICHRIST 
 
 [ 7'i ] 
 
 ANT 
 
 since tlie Jews dwell no longer in Judea, or, at least, 
 are no longer masters of that country ? Why, he 
 will come, say these fathers, from the other side of 
 the Euphrates, from Babylonia, where some suppose 
 that the remainder of the ten tribes (and in ])artiou- 
 lar of the tribe of Dan) subsists still. Tiiis opinion is 
 followed by almost all who have written since Je- 
 rome, in whose time it was common. As to the 
 parents of antichrist, interpreters are not agreed. 
 Some think his father will be a devil, and his mother 
 some corrupt woman ; others think, that antichrist 
 will be himself a devil incarnate. Hilary thought 
 that Satan would appear in the person of antichrist, 
 and endeavor to persuade the world that lie is God, 
 by working false miracles. As our Lord was i)orn 
 of a virgin, says Hippolytus, so will antichrist boast of 
 having derivi.'d his birth from a virgin also ; but, 
 whereas the Son of God took upon him real flesh, 
 antichrist, says that author, will assume only the ap- 
 pearance, the image, or phantom of flesh. Chrysos- 
 tom, Thoodoret, Theophylact and others, hold that 
 antichrist will be a real jnan, though an agent of Sa- 
 tan, in exercising his cruelty and malice against the 
 faithful. 
 
 ^ It remains to state some ideas as to the dominion 
 of antichrist. It has been supposed by some writers, 
 that he will be born in Babylonia — that he will there 
 lay the foundation of his empire — that the Jews will 
 be the first to declare for him, to acknowledge his 
 dominion, and to enjoy the principal employments in 
 his government. He ■will win them by his delusion, 
 his false miracles, and by all the appearances of 
 goodness, piety and clemency ; so that this unhappy 
 people will take him for their Messiah ; and will flat- 
 ter themselves with the expectation of seeing the 
 kingdom of Israel restored by his means to its for- 
 mer splendor. After he has subdued Egypt, Ethio- 
 pia, and Libya, say the same authors, he will march 
 against Jerusalem, which he will easily conquer, — 
 and there establish the seat of his empire. Gog and 
 Magog will then oppose him ; he will give them bat- 
 tle, and defeat them without difficulty, in the midst 
 of Palestine ; see Ezek. xxxviii. xxxix. After this, 
 he will direct all his endeavors to the destruction 
 of Christ's kingdom, and the persecution of Chris- 
 tians : he will exalt lumself above all that is called 
 God, or that is worshipped ; so that he, as God, shall 
 sit in the temple of God ; (2 Thess. ii. 4.) in the tem- 
 ple of Jerusalem ; which he will rebuild. Some of 
 the ancients believed, that he will be seated in the 
 churches of Christians, (the temples of God,) and 
 there receive the adoration of gi-eat numbers of 
 apostates, who will renounce the faith of Christ. 
 Scripture does not mention the duration of anti- 
 christ's kingdom : but in several places, it seems to 
 allow three years and a half, for the continuance of 
 his persecutions: at least it assigns three years and a 
 half, for the persecutions of those who are considered 
 as figures of antichrist. 
 
 Mussulmans, as well as Jews and Christians, ex- 
 pect another Christ. They call him Daggiel, or Deg- 
 giel, froui a name which siguirtes an imimstor, or a 
 liar; and thry hold that their prophet Mahomet 
 taught one of his disciples, whose name was Tamini- 
 Al-Dari, every thing relating to antichrist ; and, on 
 his authority, they tell us, that antichrist must come 
 at the end of the world ; that he will make; his entry 
 into Jerusalem, like Jesus Christ, riding on an ass ; 
 but that Christ, who is not dead, will come at his 
 second advent to encounter him: and that, after hav- 
 ing conquered him, he will then die indeed. That the 
 
 beast, described by John in the Revelation, will ap- 
 pear with antichrist, and make war against the saints. 
 That Imam Mahadi, who remains concealed among 
 the Mussulmans, will then show himself, join Jesus 
 Christ, and with him engage Daggiel ; after which 
 they will unite the Christians and the Mussulmans, 
 .and of the two religions will make but one. D'Her- 
 belot, Bibl. Orient. 
 
 This subject is confessedly obscure : there are some 
 persons in the present day, who, observing late sur- 
 prising and interesting events, have thought they 
 pointed strongly to the near approach of antichrist : 
 time, however, must ascertain whether their calcula- 
 tions, observations, and determinations are coinci- 
 dent with those appointed by Providence ; or whether 
 they are no better founded than those propositions 
 which events have already confuted. 
 
 Many Protestant writers have held, that the head 
 of the Romish church, and his power, is the " man 
 of sin" or antichrist of the apostle ; an opinion which 
 Calmet, of course, could not entertain. Indeed, why 
 should Ave attempt a descriptive delineation of a per- 
 son, whose portrait might, after a little patient wait- 
 ing, be drawn from the life ? especially when so many 
 others have failed in ascertaining him, as appears in 
 this article. 
 
 The apostle John asserts (1 Epist. ii. 18.) that in his 
 time there were " many antichrists ;" and it is prob- 
 able that, did we accurately know the number of 
 pretenders to a divine mission, in his days, (meaning 
 before the destruction of Jerusalem,) we should see 
 the propriety of his observation in the strongest light. 
 Not only Judas Gaulonitcs, Theudas, and others men- 
 tioned in Scripture, as making such pretences, were 
 antichrists, but even the disciples of John the Baptist, 
 who formed a numerous sect, not entirely extinct at 
 this day. As the term occurs only in the writings 
 of John, it is desirable to deduce our explanation of it 
 from his authority. He uses it both collectively and 
 individually: whence it should appear to be a power, 
 or an operative principle, actuating many persons, 
 rather than a single person so characterized and so 
 denominated. 
 
 I. ANTIGONUS, son of John Hircanus, and 
 gi-andson of Simon Maccabseus. His brother, Aristo- 
 bulus, made him his associate in the kingdom ; but 
 was at length prevailed upon by their common ene- 
 mies to put him to death, B. C. 105. — Jos. Ant. xiii. 
 18 and 19. 
 
 IT. ANTIGONUS, son of Aristobulus, who was 
 brother to Hircanus and Alexandra, was sent as a pris- 
 oner to Rome, with his father ancl brother, by Pom- 
 pey, who had taken Jerusalem. After remaining in 
 Italy for some time, he returned to Judea, and after a 
 variety of fortunes, was established king and high- 
 priest, Herod being compelled to fly to Rome. Hav- 
 ing obtained assistance from Antony and Ciesar, 
 Herod returned, and, after a firm and protracted re- 
 sistance on the i)art of Antigonus, retook Jerusalem, 
 and repossessed himself of the throne. Antigonus 
 was carried to Antioch, and, at the solicitation of 
 H(M-od, was there put to death by Antony, B. C. 37. — 
 Jos. Ant. xiv. c. 11 and the following. 
 
 ANTI-LIBANUS, see Lebanon. 
 
 I. ANTIOCH, of Syria, on the Orontes, was for- 
 merly called Riblath, according to Jerome. (On 
 Ezek. xlvii ; Isa. xiii. 1.) It is mentioned only in the 
 books of the Maccabees, and in the New Testament ; 
 but Riblath, or Riblatha, is named Numbers xxxiv. 
 11 ; 2 Kings xxiii. .3:3 ; xxv.6,20, 21 ; Jer. xxxix. 5; 
 lii. 9, 10, 26, 27. This, however, could not have been
 
 ANTIOCH 
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 ANT 
 
 the same as Antioch. (See Ribi.ah.) Theodoret 
 says, that in his time there Avas a city of Riblah, near 
 Emesa, in Syria ; which is contrary to Jerome. Hoav- 
 ever that might be, it is certain that Antiocli was not 
 known under this name, till after the reign of Seleu- 
 cus Nicanor, who built it, and called it Antioch, in 
 consideration of his father Antiochus, ante A. D. 301. 
 Being centrally situated, it became the seat of empire 
 of the Syrian kings of the Macedonian race, and 
 afterwards of the Roman governors of the eastern 
 provances. There also the disciples of Jesus Clu-ist 
 Avere first called Christians, and making it a principal 
 station, they from hence sent missionaries out in 
 various directions. Acts xi. 26. Strabo describes 
 Antioch as being in power and dignity not much in- 
 ferior to Seleucia or Alexandria. Ammianus Mar- 
 celhnus says it was celebrated throughout the 
 Avorld ; and Josephus characterizes it as the third 
 city of the Roman provinces. It was long, indeed, 
 the most powerful city of the East, and was famous 
 among the Jews for the Jus Civitatis, or right of 
 citizenship, which Seleucus had given to thejn in 
 common with the Greeks and Macedonians, and 
 wliich Josephus informs us they retained. These 
 privileges, no doubt, contributed to render Antioch 
 so desirable to the Christians, who were every where 
 considered as a sect of Jews, since here they could 
 perform their worship in their own way, without 
 molestation or interruption. This may also contrib- 
 ute to account for the importance attached by the 
 apostles to the introduction of the gospel into Anti- 
 och ; and for the interest taken by them in its promo- 
 tion and extension, in a city so distant from Je- 
 rusalem. 
 
 Antioch Avas almost square, had many gates, Avas 
 adorned Avith fine fountains, and possessed great fer- 
 tihty of soil and commercial opulence. The em- 
 perors Vespasian, Titus, and others, granted consid- 
 erable priA'ileges to Antioch ; but it has also been ex- 
 posed to great calamities and revolutions. In the 
 years A. D. 340, 394, 39G, 458, 526, and 528, it Avas 
 almost demolished by earthquakes. The emjjeror 
 Justinian repaired it, A. D. 529, and called it Theo- 
 polis ; that is, " The City of God." Cosrhoes, king 
 of Persia, took it, A. D. 540, massacred the inhabitants, 
 and burnt it. Justinian ordered it to be rebuilt, A. 
 D. 552: Cosrhoes took it a second time, A. D. 574, in 
 the reign of Justin, and destroyed its AAalls. A. D. 
 588, it suffered a dreadful earthquake, in Avhich above 
 60,000 persons perished. It Avas again rebuilt, and 
 again Avas exposed to ncAv calamities. The Saracens 
 took it, A. D. 638, in the reign of Heraclius : Nice- 
 phorus Phocas retook it, A. D. 966. Cedrenus re-, 
 lates that, A. D. 970, an army of 100,000 Saracens 
 besieged it, Avithout success ; but they afterAAards 
 subdued it, added ncAV fortifications to it, and made 
 it ahnost impregnable. Godfrey of Bouillon, Avhen 
 engaged in the conquest of the Holy Land, besieged 
 it, A. D. 1097. The siege was long and bloody ; but at 
 length the Christians, by their zeal and by treacherj', 
 obtained possession, on Thursday, June 3, A. I). 
 1098. In 1268, it Avas taken by the sultan of Egypt, 
 Avho demolished it, destroyed its renoAvn and mag- 
 nificence, and placed it under the dominion of the 
 Turk. 
 
 Antioch aboimded with great men, and its chiu-ch 
 Avas long governed by illustrious prelates. It suffered 
 nuich, hoAvever, on several occasions, sometimes 
 being exposed to the violence of heretics, and at other 
 times being rent by deplorable schisms. The bishop 
 of Antioch has the title of Patriarch ; and has con- 
 10 
 
 stantly had a great share in the aflfairs of the Eastern 
 church. 
 
 Antioch is noAv called Antakia, and, till the year 
 1822, it occupied a remote corner of the ancient 
 enclosure of its walls ; its splendid buildings being 
 reduced to hovels, and its population living in Turk- 
 ish debasement. At that period it was revisited by 
 its ancient subterranean enemy, and converted by an 
 earthquake into a heap of ruins. It contains now 
 about 10,000 inhabitants. 
 
 From the medals of this city which are extant, it 
 appears that it Avas honored as a Roman colony, a 
 metropolis, and an asylum. It was also Autonomos, 
 or governed by its own laAvs. Among these medals, 
 there are two which require notice. The first reads 
 'Arrioyj<^f tmv TTQog Jacptyj, Avliich affords proof that 
 Antioch valued itself on its relation to the temple 
 and worship established in that 
 place. Daphne was, indeed, a 
 league from the city, but by the 
 zeal of the devotees, was consid- 
 ered as a suburb, or rather as a 
 part of the city itself But by 
 far the most interesting medal to 
 us as Christians, is one on which 
 is read, " Of the Antiocheans 
 under ^atuminus," who was governor of Syria at the 
 time of our Saviour's birth. See Cyrenius. 
 
 II. ANTIOCH, of Pisidia, a city belonging to the 
 proATince of Pisidia in Asia Minor, but situated within 
 the limits of Phrygia. It Avas also built by Seleucus 
 Nicanor. Paul and Barnabas preached here ; but 
 the JeAvs, angry to see that some of the Gentiles re- 
 ceived the gospel, raised a tumult, and obliged the 
 apostles to leave the city. Acts xiii. 14. It is at pres- 
 ent called Versategli, according to some ; but as 
 others say, Tahoya, or Sibi, or Antiochio. 
 
 ANTIOCHIS, concubine of Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 who gave her the cities of Tarsus and Mallo, that she 
 might receive their revenues for her OAvn use. This 
 Avas regarded by their inhabitants as an insupport- 
 able mark of contempt : they took arms against Anti- 
 ochus, Avho marched in person to reduce them, 2 
 Mace. iv. 30. It Avas a custom Avith the Idngs of 
 Persia, to give their wives particular cities ; some for 
 their table, some for their head-dress, for their attire, 
 for their girdles, &c. The idea Avas analogous to our 
 pin-money. Cicero in Verrem, v. 
 
 I. ANTIOCHUS. There were many kings of 
 this name in Syria, after Seleucus Nicanor, (the 
 second king of Syria, Alexander the Great being the 
 first,) Avho was father of Antiochus Soter, so named 
 for having hindered the invasion of Asia by the 
 Gauls. 
 
 II. ANTIOCHUS Theos, (the divine,) son and 
 successor of Antiochus Soter, was poisoned by his 
 Avife Laodice, and succeeded by his son Seleucus 
 Callinicus. 
 
 III. ANTIOCHUS THE Great, so celebrated on 
 account of his AA'ars against the Egyptians, Romans, 
 and Jews, Avas the son of Seleucus Callinicus, and 
 brother of Seleucus Ceraunus, whom he succeeded, 
 ante A. D. 223. Having resoh^ed to become master 
 of Egypt, Antiochus seized Coelo-Syria, (the province 
 lying betAveen Libanus and Antilibanus,) Phoenicia, 
 and Judea. The Jcavs having submitted, and 
 received him into their cities, he granted them, 
 as a reward, 20,000 pieces of silver, to purchase 
 beasts for sacrifice, 1460 measures of meal, 375 
 measures of salt, to be offered with the sacrifices, and 
 timber to rebuild the porches of the temple. The
 
 ANTIOCHUS 
 
 [74 ] 
 
 ANTIOCHUS 
 
 senators, priests, scribes, and singers of the temple, 
 he exempted from the capitation tax, and permitted 
 the Jews to Hve according to their own laws, through- 
 out his dominions. He remitted the third part of 
 their tribute, to indemnify them for their losses in the 
 war; forbade the heathen from entering the temple 
 without being purified, and from bringing into the 
 city the flesh of mules, asses, ami horses to sell, under 
 the penalty of 3000 drachmas. Antiochus married 
 his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy Ei)ii)lianes, king 
 of Egypt, (B. C. lt»;i,) and gave Coelo-Syria, Phanii- 
 cia, and Judea, as her dowry, on condition that the 
 tribute of these provinces should be equally dividetl 
 between himself and the king ol' Egypt. Three 
 years atlerwards he was overcome by the Romans, 
 and obliged to cede all his possessions beyond mount 
 Taurus, and to give twenty hostages, (among \\ hom 
 was his own son, Antiochus, afterwards surnamed 
 Epiphanes,) and to pay a tribute of 13,000 Euljoic 
 talents, each fourteen Roman pounds in weight. To 
 defray these charges, he resolved to seize tlie treas- 
 ures of the temple of IJelus, at Elymais, \\hich were 
 very great ; but the people of that country, informed 
 of his design, surprised and destroyed him, with ail 
 his army, ante A. D. 187. He left two sons, Seleucus 
 Philopator, and Antiochus Epiphanes, who succeeded 
 him. Josephus Ant. xii. 3. 
 
 IV. ANTIOCHUS Epiphanes, sou of Antiochus 
 the Great, of the former article. Having continued 
 as a hostage at Rome fourteen years, his brother 
 Seleucus resolved to procure his return to Syria, and 
 therefore sent his own son, Demetrius, as a hostage 
 to Rome, instead of Antiochus ; but while Antiochus 
 was on his journey to Syria, Seleucus died ; {ante A. 
 D. 175 ;) so that when he landed, the people received 
 hun as some propitious deity, come to assume the 
 government, and to opi)ose the enterprises of Ptole- 
 my, king of Egypt, who threatened to invade Syria. 
 It was upon this occasion that he received the sur- 
 name of Epiphanes, (the illustrious,) that is, of one 
 appearing as it were like a god. 
 
 Antiochus soon directeit his attention to Egypt, 
 which he invaded, and reduced almost entirely to 
 obedience, 2 Mace. iv. 5. ante A. D. 173. During his 
 siege of Alexandria, an occurrence took place Avhich 
 exhibited that cruel and ferocious temper that subse- 
 quently exemphfied itself so fully in the person of 
 Antiochus E{)iplianes. While; besieging this city, a 
 report was spread of his death, and the inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem, among others, who gi'oaned under his 
 yoke, gave expression to their feelings of joy, upon 
 the receipt of the intelligence. The consequence of 
 this was, that Antiochus, wli.'n returning from Egypt, 
 entered the- city forcibly, treated the Jews as rebels, 
 and commnnde<l his troo[>s to slay all they met: 
 80,000 weri! killed in three days' time ; 40,000 were 
 made captives ; and as many sold, 2 Mace. v. 14. 
 He entered into the holy of holies, being conducted 
 by the corrupt high-priest, iMenelaus, from whence he 
 took and carried ofl'the n^iost {)recious vessels, to the 
 value of 1800 talents. In the year A. C. 171, Anti- 
 ochus again entered EgA'pt, v/liich he com[)letely 
 subdued, and in the year following he sent Ajtollo- 
 nins into Judea (2 Mace. v. 21, 2.1.) with an army of 
 22,000 men, with orders to destroy all who were of 
 fidl age, and to sell the women and young men. 
 Ajwllonius executed his commis.;iou but too j)unc- 
 tually. It was at this timi,' that Judas Maccabieus 
 retired into the wilderness, with his father and his 
 brethren, 2 Mace. v. 29. These calamities, however, 
 were but preludes of what they were to suffer; for 
 
 Antiochus, apprehending that the Jews would never 
 be constant in obedience to him, unless he obliged 
 them to change their rehgion, and to embrace that 
 of the Greeks, issued an edict, enjoining them to 
 conform to the laws of other nations, and forbidding 
 their usual sacrifices in the temple, their festivals, 
 and tlieir sabbath. The statue of Jupiter Olympus 
 was placed on the altar of the temple, and the abom- 
 ination of desolation polluted the house of God. 
 i>luny corrupt Jews complied with these orders, but 
 others opposed them : Mattathias and his sons retired 
 to the mountains ; and old Eleazar, and the seven 
 brethren, IMaccabees, suffered death, with great cour- 
 age, at Antioch, 2 Mace. vU. After the death of 
 Mattathias, Judas Maccabseus put himself at the 
 head of those Jews who continued faithful ; and op- 
 posed with success the generals who were sent 
 against him. Finding his treasures exhausted, An- 
 tiochus went into Persia to levy tributes, and to 
 gather large sums, which he had agi'eed to pay the 
 Romans. Knowing there were very gi'eat riches in 
 the temple of Elymais, he determined to carry them 
 oft'; but the inhabitants of the country made so vigor- 
 ous a resistance, that he was compelled to retreat 
 towards Babylonia. When he arrived at Ecbatana, 
 he received news of the defeat of Nicanor and Timo- 
 theus, and that Judas MaccabaBus had retaken the 
 temple of Jerusalem, and restored the worship of the 
 Lord. On receiving this intelligence, transported 
 with indignation, he commanded the driver of his 
 chai'iot to urge the horses forward, threatening to 
 make Jerusalem a gi'ave for the Jews. He fell from 
 his chariot, however, and died, overAvhelmed with 
 pain and grief, in the mountains of Paratacene, ni 
 the little town of Tabes, A. M. 3840, ante A.D. 1G4. 
 
 V. ANTIOCHUS EuPATOR, son of Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, was but nine years old when his father 
 died, and left him the kingdom of Sjria. Lysias, 
 who governed in the name of the young jirince, led 
 against Judea an army of 100,000 foot, 20,000 horse, 
 and thirty elephants, 1 Mace, vi ; 2 Mace. xiii. He 
 besieged and took the fortress of Bethsura ; from 
 thence he marched against Jerusalem, and, notwith- 
 standing the valor and resistance of the Maccabees, 
 the city was ready to fall into his hands, when Ly 
 sias received news that Philip (whom Antiochus 
 Epijjhanes, a little belbre his death, intrusted with 
 the regency of the kingdom, during the minority of 
 his son) was arrived at Antioch to take the govern- 
 ment, according to the disposition of the late king. 
 Lysias ])roposed an acconunodation with the Jews, 
 that he might retimi speedily to Antioch, and oppose 
 PhiHp ; and having thus made jjcace, he immediately 
 led the young king and his army into Syria. In the 
 mean time Demetrius Soter, son of Seleucus Philo- 
 pator, nephew of Antiochus l''|»iphanes, to whom, by 
 right, the kingdom belonged, (for Antiochus Eijijih- 
 anes prociu'ed it by usurpation from his nejthew,) 
 having escaped from Rome, where he had been a 
 hostage, came into Syria; and finding the people dis- 
 posed for revolt, he lieaded an anny, and marched 
 immediately to Antioch, against Antiochus and Ly- 
 sias. The inhabitants did not wait till he besieged it, 
 but opened the gati s, and delivenHl to him Lysias, 
 and the young king, Antiochus Eu|)ator, who were 
 put to death bv his orders, without being suffered to 
 appear befonf him. A. M. 3842, ante A. D. 162. 
 
 VL ANTIOCIHS Tuf.os, or the Divine, son of 
 Alexander Balas, was placed on the throne of Syria 
 by Diodotus, or Tryphon, who Imd deposed Deme- 
 trius Nicanor, and compelled him to retire to Seleu-
 
 ANTIOCHUS 
 
 [ ?5] 
 
 ANT 
 
 cia, 1 Mace. xi. 39, Sec. ante A. D. 145. To strejigtheu 
 himself in his new dominions, Auiiochus secured 
 the friendship and assistance of Jonathan JMacca- 
 hseus, whom lie confirmed in the high-priesthood, 
 and also granted him four toparchies (considerable 
 districts) in Judea. The career of young Antiochus, 
 however, was but short, for Tryphon, to whose per- 
 fidy he owed the crown, resolved to take it for him- 
 self. He made Jonathan Maccabfeus a jn-isoner at 
 Ptolcmais, and put him to death at Bascania, after 
 which he retm'ued into Syria, and procured the 
 death of Antiochus. Thus Tryphon was left master 
 of Syria. A. M. 3861, ante A.'D. 143. 1 Mace, xiii ; 
 2 31acc. xiv. 
 
 VII. ANTIOCHUS SiDETEs, or Soter, (the sa- 
 viour,) or EusEBES, (the pious,) was son of Demetrius 
 Soter, and brother of Demetrius Nicanor. Tryphon, 
 the usurper of the lungdom of Syria, having rendered 
 himself odious to his troops, they deserted him, and 
 offered their services to Cleopatra, wife of Demetrius 
 Nicanor, who lived in the city of Selcucia, shut up 
 with her children, while her husband, Demetrius, was 
 a prisoner in Persia, where he had married Rodegima, 
 daughter ofArsaceSjldng of Persia. (Jos. Ant. xiii. 12.) 
 Ckopatni, therefore, sent to Antiochus Sidetes, her 
 brother-in-law, and offered him the crown of Syria, if 
 he would marry her, to which Antiochus consented. 
 He was then at Cuidus, where his father, Demetrius 
 Soter, b.ad placed him with one of his friends : he 
 came hito Syria, and wrote to Simon Maccabaeus, to 
 engage him against Tryphon, 1 Mace. xv. He con- 
 firmed the privileges which the kings of Syria had 
 granted to Simon, permitted him to coin money 
 with his own stamp, declared Jerusalem and the 
 temple exempt from royal jurisdiction, and promised 
 other favors, as soon as he should become peaceable 
 possessor of the kingdom which had belonged to his 
 ancestors. 
 
 Antiochus Sidetes, being come into Syria, married 
 his sister-in-law, Cleopatra, A. M. 3865. Tryphon's 
 troops resorted to him in crowds, and Tryphon, thus 
 abandoned, retired to Dora, in Phoenicia, whither An- 
 tiochus j)ursued him with an army of 120,000 foot, 
 and 8000 horse, and wth a powerful fleet. Simon 
 Maccaba?us sent him 2000 chosen men, but Anti- 
 ochus refused them, and revoked all his promises. 
 He sent Athenobius to Jerusalem, to oblige Simon to 
 restore Gazara and Joppa, with the citadel of Jerusa- 
 lem, and to demand 500 talents, as tribute for the 
 places Simon held out of Judea ; and 500 talents 
 more, as reparation for injuries the king had suffered, 
 and as tribute for his own cities ; threatening war 
 against him if he did not comply. Simon showed 
 Athenobius all the lustre of his wealth and powci-, 
 told him he had no place in his ])ossession which 
 belonged to Antiochus, and, as to Gazara and Joijpa, 
 which cities had done infinite damage to his people, 
 he would give the king one hundred talents for the 
 property of them. 
 
 Athenobius returned with great indignation to An- 
 tiochus, who was extremely offended at Simon's 
 answer. In the mean time, Tiyphon, having stolen 
 privately from Dora, embarked in a vessel and fled. 
 Antiochus pursued him, and sent Cendebeus with 
 troops into the maritime parts of Palestine, with 
 orders to build Cedron, and to fight the Jews. John 
 Hircanus, son of Simon Maccabaeus, being then at 
 Gazara, gave notice to his father of Ceudebeus's 
 coming. Simon furnished troops to his sons, John 
 Hircanus and Judas, and sent them against Cende- 
 beus, whom they routed in the plain, and pursued to 
 
 Azotus. Antiochus followed Tryphon, till he forced 
 him to kill himself, after five or six years' reign. 
 Antiochus now thought of nothing but reducing 
 those cities which, in the beginning of his brother's 
 reign, had thrown off subjection. Sunon Macca- 
 baeus, prince and high-priest of the Jews, being 
 treacherously killed by Ptolemy, his son-in-law, in 
 the castle of Docus, near Jericho, the murderer sent 
 immediately to Antiochus Sidetes to demand troops, 
 that he might recover for him the country and cities 
 of the Jews. Antiochus came in person with an 
 army, and besieged Jerusalem : John Hircanus, how- 
 ever, defended it Avith vigor, and the siege was long 
 protracted. The king divided his army into seven 
 parts, guarding all the avenues to the city. It being 
 the proper time for celebrating the Feast of Tab- 
 eniacles, the Jews desired of Antiochus a truce of 
 seven days, which was granted ; and sent them bulls 
 with gilded bonis, and vessels of gold and silver, 
 filled with incense, to be offered in the temple : he 
 also ordered such provisions to be given to the Jew- 
 ish soldiers as they wanted. This courtesy of the 
 king so won the hearts of the Jews, that they sent 
 ambassadors to treat of peace, and to desire that they 
 might live according to their o%vn laws. Antiochus 
 required of them to surrender their arms, to demolish 
 the city walls, to pay tribute for Joppa, and the other 
 cities they possessed out of Judea, and to receive a 
 garrison into Jerusalem. They consented to these 
 conditions, the last excepted ; for they could not sub- 
 mit to see an army of strangers in their capital : they 
 rather chose to give hostages, and 500 talents of silver. 
 The king therefore entered the city, beat down the 
 breast-work above the walls, and returned to Syria, 
 A. M. 3870, ante A. D. 134. Three years afterwards, 
 Antiochus marched against the Parthiaus, demand- 
 ing the liberty of his brother, Demetrius Nicanor, 
 who had been made prisoner by Arsaces ; but, being 
 deserted by his own forces, he was Idlled, A. M. 3874, 
 A. C. 130. Demetrius Nicanor, or Nicator, re-ascend- 
 ed the throne, after the death of Sidetes. 
 
 VIII. ANTIOCHUS Gryphus, or Philometor, 
 son of Demetrius Nicanor, ascended the throne of 
 Syria, A. M. 3881. He reigned eleven yeai-s alone, 
 and fifteen with his brother Cyzicus, and died A. M. 
 3907. 
 
 IX. ANTIOCHUS Cyzicus, having obtained from 
 his brother Gryphus, as his share of the kmgdom, 
 Coelo-Syria, became extremely luxurious, and aban- 
 doned himself to excesses of every description. 
 
 John Hircanus, prince and high-priest of the Jews, 
 besieged Samaria, A. C. 109. The Samaritans in- 
 vited Antiochus Cyzicus to their assistance. He 
 advanced speedily to help them, but was overcome 
 by Antigonus and Aristobulus, sons of John Hirca- 
 nus, who commanded the siege, and who pursued 
 him to ScythopoUs ; after which they resumed the 
 siege of Samaria, and blocked up the city so closely, 
 that the inhabitants again solicited Cyzicus. Having 
 received 6000 men from Ptolemy Lathyrus, son of 
 Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, he wasted the lands be- 
 longing to the Jews, designing thereby to obUge 
 Hircanus to raise the siege of Samaria ; but his troops 
 were at last dispersed, and Samaria was taken by 
 storm, and razed by Hircanus. Antiochus was 
 also conquered, and put to death by Seleucus, A. 
 C. 90, after a reign of eighteen years. Jos. Ant. 
 xiii. 18. 
 
 I. ANTIPAS HEROD, or Herod Antipas, son 
 of Herod the Great and Cleopatra of Jerusalem, was 
 declared by Herod, in his fii-st will, to be his succes-
 
 ANTIPAS HEROD 
 
 [76] 
 
 ANT 
 
 sor in the kingdom ; but he afterwards siiljstituted 
 Archelaus, king of Judea, givuig to Antipas only the 
 title of tetrarch of Gahlee and Peraea. Archelaus 
 going to Rome, to petition Augustus to confirm his 
 father's will, Antipas went also, and the emperor 
 gave Archelaus one moiety of what had been as- 
 signed to hmi by Herod's will, with the title of eth- 
 narch,and promised to grant him the title of Iving, 
 when he had shown himself deserving of it, by his vir- 
 tuous conduct. His revenues amounted to (iOO talents. 
 To Antipas Augustus gave Galilee and Periea, w Inch 
 produced 200 talents ; and to Pliilip, Herod's other son, 
 the Batansea, Trachonitis, and Auranitis, and some 
 other places, whose income was 100 talents. (Jos. 
 Ant. xvii. 13.) Antipas, having returned to Judea, took 
 great pains in adorning and fortifying the principal 
 places of his dominions; he gave the name of Juhas 
 to Bethsaida, in honor of Julia, wife of Augustus ; and 
 Cinnereth he called Tiberias, in honor of Tiberius, 
 afterwards emperor. He married the rlaughter of 
 Aretas, king of Arabia, whom he divorced, about A. 
 D. 33, to marry his sister-in-law, Herodias, who was 
 his own niece and wife of Philip, his brother, who 
 was still living. (Jos. Ant. xviii. 2.) (See Herod H.) 
 John the Baptist, exclaimhig against this incest, was 
 seized by order of Antipas, and imprisoned in the 
 castle of Machserus, Matt. xiv. o, 4 ; Mark vi. 14, 
 17, 18 ; Luke iii. 19, 20. Even Herod feared and 
 respected the virtue and holiness of John, and did 
 many things out of regard to him ; l>ut his passion 
 for Herodias had, no doubt, much sooner prevailed 
 against his life, had he not been restrained by his 
 feai-s of the people, Avho universally esteemed John 
 the Baptist as a prophet. Matt. xiv. 5, 6, &c. At a 
 time, however, when the king was celebrating his 
 birth-day, with the principal ])ersons of his coui-t, 
 the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and so 
 much pleased him, that he swore to give her whatever 
 she should ask. Her mother, Herodias, who Avas 
 anxious to get rid of the Baptist, advised her to ask 
 for his head. The king was vexed at the request ; 
 but, in consideration of his oath, and of the [)ersons 
 at table with him, he sent one of his guards, who be- 
 headed John in prison. The head was brought in a 
 basin, and given to Herod's favorite, who carried it 
 directly to her mother. 
 
 Aretas, king of Arabia, to revenge the insult which 
 Herod had offered to his daughter, declared A\ar 
 against him ; and vanquished him in a very ol)stinate 
 fight. Josephus (Antiq. xviii. 7.) assures us, that the 
 Jews considered the defeat of .Autipas as a ))unish- 
 ment for the death of .Folm the Iia])tist. Some years 
 afterwards, (A. D. 3!).) Herodias, being jealous of her 
 brother Agri])pa's prosperity, (who, from a private 
 person, had become king of Judea,) j)ersuaded her 
 husband, Antipas, to visit Rome, and to solicit the 
 same dignity from the emijeror Caius. Agrippa, 
 however, being jealous also, though on another 
 ground, wrote to the emperor and accused Antipas. 
 Agrippa's messenger arrived at the very time when 
 Hero(i ol)tained his first audience with the emperor. 
 Caius read Agrippa's letters witii great earnestness, 
 and, finding Herod Antipas accused of liavitig been 
 a party in Sejamis's coiis|)iracy against Tiberius, and 
 of still carrying on a corresi)ondence with Artabanus, 
 king of Parthia, against the Romans, he denvanded 
 to know if it were true. Antijms, not daring to deny 
 that he liad a larg«! quantity of arms in his arsenal, 
 was l)anished instantly to Lyons in Gaul. Herodias 
 followed her husband, aiul shared his fortune in 
 banishment. The year of Antijias's deatii is not 
 
 known, but it is certain he died in exile, as well as 
 Herodias. (Ant. xviii. 9.) 
 
 It was Herod Antipas who mocked Jesus at Jei-u- 
 salem before his condemnation, sending him back to 
 Pilate arrayed in a gorgeous robe, Luke xxiii. 7, seq. 
 
 The manner in which the death of John the Bap- 
 tist is stated in this narrative to have been procured, 
 is so extraordinary, as compared with what occurs 
 among European nations, that a few remarks upon 
 it may not be without their use. 
 
 In tlie East, then, it is customary for public dan- 
 cers at festivals in great houses to solicit, from the 
 company they have been entertaining, such rewards 
 as the spectators may choose to bestow. These are 
 usually small pieces of money, which the donor 
 sticks on the face of the performer ; and a favorite 
 dancer will sometimes have her face covered with 
 such ])resents: nothing further is expected. Herod 
 the Great, hoAAever, offered half his kingdom to Sa- 
 lome, the daughter of Herodias, Avho had danced to 
 pleasi! him ; and in this, if he Avere not equal in wis- 
 dom, he Avas certainly superior in extravagance, to 
 a monarch, " Shah Abbas, Avho, being one day 
 drunk, [in his palace,] gave a Avoman that danced 
 much to his satisfaction the fairest Hhan in all Ispa- 
 han ; Avhich AA-as not yet finished, but Avanted little : 
 this Hhan yielded a great revenue to the king, to 
 AA'hom it belonged, in chambei--rents." So far the 
 parallel is tolerably exact ; for that Herod Avas far 
 from lieing solier, is a pardonable suspicion ; — but 
 the sequel is different : " The nazer, having put him 
 in mind of it, next morning, took the freedom to tell 
 him, that it AA'as unjustifiable prodigality ; so the king 
 ordered to give her a hundred tomans, (200Z.) Avith 
 AA'hich she Avas forced to be contented." Thevenot, 
 in Persia, p. 100. This may assign a reason for the 
 hurry of Herodias, to secure tlie execution of John 
 the Baptist ; for, had she Avaited till the next morn- 
 ing for the fulfilment of the king's oath, he might 
 have been by that time calmer, and some of his ser- 
 Aants might have remonstrated Avith him on the vio- 
 lence and injustice of his order, as the Persian na- 
 zer did Avith his master ; and Salome, Avho noAV in- 
 sists, "Give me here the head of John in a charger," 
 might have been otherAvise forced to accept, in full 
 payment for her activity, the vacant charger only ; 
 Avithout accomplishiiig that death, Avhich AA'as so 
 vehemently desired by Herodias ; or, perhaps, the 
 ))itifid value of a fcAV tomans, instead of the half of 
 the promised kingdom. 
 
 H. ANTIPAS, a faitlfful AA'itness, or martyr, men- 
 tioned Rev. ii. 13. It is said that he Avas one of our 
 Saviour's first disciples, luid sufi'ered mai-tyrdom at 
 Pergamus, of Avhich city he was bishop. 
 
 I. ANTIPATER, an Idunuean, father of Herod 
 the CJreat, A\'as son of another Antijias, or Antipater, 
 Avho had been appointed governor of Idumaea, by 
 Alexander Janna:'us, king of the Jcavs. (Josephus, 
 Antiq. xiA-. 2. de Bello, i. ;").) He Avas, both for au- 
 ti(nnty of family and for riches, the j)rincipal person 
 of Idumiea, and ulxaininl from Julius Csesar the gov- 
 ernment of Judea for himself, and that of Jerusalem, 
 and the country adjacent, for his eldest son Phasael ; 
 and the government of (Jalilee for his other son, 
 Herod, avIio Avas not at that time above fifteen years 
 of age. He Avas poisoned by INIalichus, who after- 
 Avards took pos.session of his government, ante A. 
 D. 43. 
 
 II. ANTIPATER, son of Hen)d the Great, and 
 of Doris his first Avife, Avas educated as a private per- 
 son, and did not ap|)ear at rf)urt, until his father re-
 
 APA 
 
 [77] 
 
 APH 
 
 solved to call hiin there, in consequence of hie sus- 
 picion regarding the conduct of his two sons Alex- 
 ander and Aristohulus. Antipater, taking advantage 
 of Herod's jealousy, plotted the destruction of his 
 brothers, which he accomplished, A. M. 3999. (See 
 Alexander.) This being effected, he determined 
 to destroy his father also, that he might the sooner 
 become possessed of the crown ; but Herod, having 
 discovered his unnatural proceedings, had him put 
 to death, by permission of Augustus, A. M. 4001. 
 Herod died a few days afterwards. Jos. Ant. xvii. 
 c. 3, 6, and 11. B. J. i. 17. 
 
 The history of these times, and of the troubles in 
 Herod's family, greatly illustrixte the gospel accounts 
 of the tyranny and cruelty of this prince. They 
 show, that his bloody jealousy at Bethlehem was 
 nothing extraordinary for him ; and that no safety 
 for the infant Saviour was to be expected from his 
 fury, short of a residence in Egypt. In what times, 
 and under what tyranny, was the Prince of Peace 
 born ! 
 
 ANTIPATKIS, a town anciently called Cafar- 
 Saba, Acts xxiii. 31. Josephus says (Anti(i. xiii. 2.3.) 
 it was about I.IO furlongs, or 17 miles, from Joppa. 
 The old Itinerary of Jerusalem places it ten miles 
 from Lydda, and twenty-six from Cjesarea. Herod 
 the Great cliangi-d its name to Antipatris, in honor 
 of his father Antipater. Antipatris was situated in a 
 very fruitful and agreeable plain, watered with many 
 due springs and rivulets, and near the mountains, in 
 the way from Jerusidem to Ca^sarea. Josephus, de 
 BcUo, i. 16. 
 
 ANTONIA, a tower or fortress at Jerusalem, on 
 tlic west and north angle of the temple, built by 
 Herod the Great, (and named Antonia in honor of 
 I lis friend, Mark Antony,) on an eminence, cut steep 
 on all sides, and enclosed by a wall three hundred 
 cubits high ; it contained many ajiartments, bagnios, 
 and halls, so that it might pass for a ]>alace. It was 
 in form a square tower, with a turret at each of the 
 four corners. It was so high, that persons might 
 look from thence into the temple ; and there was a 
 covered way of connnunication from the one to the 
 other ; so that, as the temple was in some sort a cit- 
 adel to the town, the tower of Antonia was a citadel 
 to the temple. Josephus, Antiq. xv. 14. et de Bello, 
 vi. 12. There is frequent mention, in Josephus, of 
 the tower of Antonia, particularly in his history of 
 the Jewish war. The Romans generally kept a gar- 
 rison in it ; and from hence it was, that the tribune 
 ran with his soldiers, to rescue Paul out of the hands 
 of the Jews, who had seized him in the tem})le, 
 and designed to kill him, Acts xxi. 31, 32. See 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 I. APAMEA, a city of Syria, on the Orontes, 
 built, as is believed, by Seleucus I. king of Syria; 
 or by his son, Antiochus Soter, in honor of queen 
 Apamca, wife of Seleucus, and mother of Antiochus. 
 It was probably the same with Shephani, a city of 
 Syria, Numb, xxxiv. 10, 11. 
 
 II. APAMEA, a city of Phiygia, on the river 
 Marsyas, near which, as some have been of opinion, 
 Noah's ark rested ; whence the city took the sur- 
 name oi' {Kibotos) Ark. The Sibylline verses place 
 the mountains of Ararat, where "the ark rested, on 
 the confines of Phrygia, at the sources of the Marsyas. 
 On a medal, struck in honor of Adrian, is the fi^m-e 
 of a man, representing the river 3Iarsyas, with tliis 
 inscription — ATTAjMEilN KIBHTOS MJP^^IJ 
 — A medal of the Apameans — the Ark and the river 
 Marsyas. TJiat this was one of the commemorative 
 
 notices of the ark, and of the deluge, tuere is little 
 doubt ; but only in the sense, that traditionary me- 
 morials of the ark, were here very ancient. In ref- 
 erence to the medal, we may add that Strabo affirmsi 
 the ancient name of Apamea to have been Kibotos; 
 by which name the ark (probably of Noah) was un- 
 derstood. Kibotos is apparently not a Greek term : 
 it niight be the name of a temple, in which com- 
 memoration was made of the ark, and of the pres- 
 ei-vation of man by it. There are several medals of 
 Apamea extant, on 
 which are repre- 
 sented an ark, with 
 a man in it, receiv- 
 ing the dove, which 
 is fljing to him ; and 
 part of their inscrip- 
 tion is the word 
 NOE : but either this 
 should be read neo, 
 an abridgement of 
 Neokoron ; or, it is 
 the end of a word, 
 AnAMEnN ; or, 
 (some of) the med- 
 als are spurious ; which has been suspected. Still, 
 as they are from different dies, yet all referring to 
 Apamea, it seems that their authors had a knowl- 
 edge of the tradition of commemoration respecting 
 the ark preserved in this city. (See Are.) Many 
 more such commemorations of an event so greatly 
 affectuig mankind Avere no doubt maintained for 
 many ages, though we are now under great difficul- 
 ties in tracing them. In fact, naany cities boasted of 
 these memorials ; and referred to them as proofs of 
 their antiquitj-. See Ararat. 
 
 APE. Among the articles of merchandise im- 
 ported by Solomon's fleet were apes, 1 Kings x. 22 ; 
 2 Chron. ix. 21. The Greek writers mention a sort 
 of ape, native of Ethiopia, and around the Red sea, 
 called Kephos, or Keipos, or ^e6o5, which comes near 
 to the Hebrew Kiiph, or Koph. It was about the 
 size of a roe-buck. The Egyptians of Babylon, hi 
 Egj'pt, adored a kind of ape, which Strabo calls 
 Keipos ; and they are still Avorshipped in many 
 places of India. 
 
 APHARSACHITES, Ezra v. 6; orApHARSAXH- 
 chites, Ezra iv. 9; the name of an Assyrian people 
 who Avere sent to inhabit the Aacant cities of the 
 Israelites. They are elseAvhere unknoAA'n. Gese- 
 nius compares the name of the Par(etace7ii,\vho dwelt 
 betAAcen Persia and Media. Herodot. i. 101. R. 
 
 APIIEK. There are seA^eral cities of this name 
 mentioned in Scripture. The name signifies strength, 
 hence a citadel, fortified city. — I. A city in the 
 tribe of Aslier, (Josh. xiii. 4 ; xix. 30.) called also 
 Aphik in Jndg. i. 31. This can hardly be any other 
 than the Aphaca of Eusebius and Sozomenus, situ- 
 ated in Libanus, famous for a temple of Venus. A 
 village called Afka is still found in mount Lebanon, 
 situated in the bottom of a valley; see Burckhardt, 
 p. 25, or p. 70. 493. Germ. ed". — II. A city near 
 Avhich Bcnhadad Avas routed by the Israelites, (1 
 Kings XX. 26, seq.) to Avhich the Aphaca of Eusebius 
 corresponds, situated to the east of the sea of Galilee, 
 and mentioned by Seetzen and Burckhardt, under 
 the name of Feik. Euseb. Onom. \. '^Itf^xu. Burckh. 
 p. 279. or p. 438. 539. Germ, ed.— III. A city in the 
 tribe of Issachar, near to Jezreel, AA'hcre the Philis- 
 tines twice encamped before battles Avith the Israel- 
 ites, 1 Sam. iv. 1 ; xxix. 1 ; comp. xxviii. 4. — Either
 
 API 
 
 [78] 
 
 APO 
 
 this or the Aphek first above mentioned, is probably 
 the royal city of the Canaanites, spoken of in Josh, 
 xii. 18. — Different from either of these is the Aphekah 
 mentioned Josh. xv'. 53 ; which was situated in the 
 mountains of Judah. R. 
 
 APHEREMA, one of the three toparchies added 
 to Judea, by the kings of Syria, 1 Mace. xi. 34. 
 Perhaps, the Ephrfem, or Ephrahn, mentioned 
 John xi. 54. 
 
 APHSES, head of the eighteenth sacerdotal fam- 
 ily, of the twenty-four which David chose for temple 
 service, 1 Chron. xxiv. 15. 
 
 APHUT^I, Isn.elites, who returned from the 
 capti\nty, and settled in their own country. The 
 name AphutfEi is perhaps derived from Jiphtah, a city. 
 Josh. XV. 43. 
 
 APIS. The Egyptians maintained, at Hthopolis, 
 a bullock consecrated to the sun, which tliey called 
 Mnevis ; and at Memphis, another, iiam^d A{)is, 
 dedicated to the moon, and under whif-h Osiris v>as 
 adored. This animal was not ahoirethcr a common 
 bull ; but wa.s distinguished by the following marks: 
 the whole body was black, except, as some think, a 
 white square spot on the forehead ; others say, a 
 spot like the figure of an eagle on its back ; but 
 rather a crescent-like spot. The hairs of the tail 
 were double, and it had the form of a beetle under 
 its tongue. When, after a very dihgcnt search, a 
 calf of tills description was found, it was carried with 
 great joy to the temple of Osiris, where it was fed, 
 and worshipped as a representative of that god, so 
 long as it lived ; and after its death, it was buried 
 with great solemnity and mourning. This done, 
 they carefully sought another witli the same marks. 
 Sometimes they were many years before they found 
 one ; but when they had succeeded, there was a 
 great festival over all the country. It has been gen- 
 erally thought that the golden calf which Aaron 
 made for Israel in the wilderness, and the calves set 
 up by Jeroboam, to be worshipped by the ten tribes, 
 were imitations of the Egjptian Aj)is. See Calf. 
 
 The worship of Apis was not improbably derived 
 from India to Egypt; and the resemblances between 
 the two hving deities are well stated, from personal 
 observation, by Fra Paolino da San Bartolomeo. 
 (Voyage to the East Indies, chap. 2. Eng. edit. p. 
 21.) He says, "On the day of my return to Pondi- 
 chery, I had an opportunity of seeing a very singular 
 scene ; as on that day the god Ai)is w;us letl in pro- 
 cession through the city. This deity was a beautiftd 
 fat, red-colored ox, of a middle size. The Brahmans 
 generally guard liiin the whole year through, in the 
 neighborhood of his temple; but this was exactly 
 the period at which he is exhibited to the people with 
 a great many solemnities. He was preceded by a 
 band of Indian musicians; that is to say, two (h-um- 
 mers, a fifer, and sf>veral persons, who, with pieces 
 of iron, beat upon copper basins. Then came a few 
 Brahmans; and i)ehind these was an immense nnd- 
 titude of people. The pagans had all opened the 
 doors of their houses and slio|)s, and before each 
 stood a small basket willi rice, tliin ciikcs, herbs, and 
 other articles in which the projirietors of these houses 
 and shops used to deal. Every one beheld A])is 
 wth reverence ; and those were considerfd fortunate 
 of whose |)rovisions he was pleased to t;iste a nioiuh- 
 ful as he passed. Philarclius conjei-tured, as we are 
 told by Phitarch, in his treatise on Isis and Osiris, 
 that Apis was originally brought from India to Egjpt 
 by the inhabitants of th(> latter. Plutarch himself 
 asserts, that the Egyptians consiflered Apis as an em- 
 
 blem of the soul of Osiris : and, perhaps, he here 
 meant to say, that under this expression they under- 
 stood that plastic power by which Osiris had pro- 
 duced and given life to every part of the creation. 
 PUny, in his Natural History, speaking of Apis, uses 
 the following remai'kable words : ' When he eats out 
 of the hand of those who come to consult him, it is 
 considered as an answer. He refused to receive any 
 thing from the hand of Germanicus Ceesar, and the 
 latter soon after died.' From this it appears, that the 
 Egj'ptians entertained the same opinions respecting 
 Apis as the Indians do. In Egyjjt, as well as in 
 India, people were accustomed to consider him as an 
 oracle ; to place food before him, and, according as 
 he accepted or refused it, to form conclusions in re- 
 gard to their good or bad fortune. The ox [bull] 
 Avhich represents Apis must, every three years, give 
 place to another. If he die in the course of these 
 three jears of his deification, he is committed to the 
 earth with all that pomp and ceremony observed at 
 the interment of persons of the first rank. Various 
 pagodas, or pagan temples, have on their front the 
 figure of a cow, or perhaps two, of a colossal size." 
 
 Dr. Forster (the translator of Fra Paolino) points 
 out several differences between the practice of the 
 Hindoos and the Egyptians: he says, " The sacred 
 ox of the Indians, for example, remains only three 
 years in life; whereas that of the Egyptians, accord- 
 ing to Plutarch, remained twenty-five, after which 
 he was drowned, then embalmed, and deposited in 
 a subterranean burying-place destined for that pur- 
 pose, near the village of Abusir, the ancient Busiris, 
 not far from Memphis. The cofiin of an Apis ox 
 was found there by Paul Lucas and Wortley Mon- 
 tague. [Belzoni also found a tomb of Apis in one 
 of the caves in the moimtains of Upper Egypt, which 
 enclose the tombs or gates of the kings. In one of 
 these he found a colossal alabaster sarcophagus, 
 transparent and clear toned, sculptured both on the 
 inside and outside Avith hieroglyphics. In this was 
 the body of an ox [bull] embalmed in asphaltus. 
 This sarcopha^is is now in tlie British nmseum. R. 
 
 APOCALYPSE signifies i-cvelation, but is j)ar- 
 ticularly referred to the Revelations which John had 
 in the isle of Patnios, whither he was banished by 
 Domitian, between the years of J. C. 95 and 97. 
 The Apocalypse was not at all times, nor in all 
 churches, admitted as canonical. Jerome, Amphi- 
 lochius, ancj Sulpitius Severus remark, that in their 
 time many chtirches in Greece did not receive it ; it 
 is not in the catalogues of the councilof Laodicea, or 
 of Cyril of Jerusalem; but Justin, Irena?us, Origen, 
 Cyprian, Clemens of Alexandria, T(M-tullifm, and after 
 them all the fathers of the foiu'th, fifth, and following 
 ages, quote the Revelation as a book acknowledged 
 to be canonical. Indeed, as Sir Isaac Nekton has 
 remarked, there is no book of the New Testament so 
 strongly attested, or commented so early upon, as 
 this. 
 
 The book of the Revelation contains twenty-two 
 chapters. The first three are epistolary admonitions 
 and instructions to the angels (or bishops) of the 
 seven churches in Asia Minor, — Ephesus, Smyrna, 
 Pcrgainus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Lao- 
 dicea. The fifteen following chaijters contain repre- 
 sentations of the persecutions which the church was 
 to sufier fi-oMi Jews, heretics, and heathens ; princi- 
 pally from the emiterors Dioclesian, IVIaximian, Ile- 
 raclius, (jlalerius IMaximian, Severus, 3Iaxentius 
 Maximinus, and Licinius ; and, lastly, from Julian 
 tlie Apostate. After this, we have a display of the
 
 APOCALYPSE 
 
 [ 79 
 
 APOCALYPSE 
 
 divine vengeance against persecutors, the Roman 
 empire, and the city of Rome, described under the 
 name of Babylon, tlie gi-eat whore seated on seven 
 hills : and the whole is terminated by a description 
 of the victories of the church, and its triumph over 
 its enemies ; of the marriage of the Lamb, and the 
 celestial happiness of the churcli triumphant. 
 
 [The book of Revelation belongs, in its cliaractor, 
 to the prophetical writings, and stands in intimate 
 relation with the prophecies of the Old Testament, 
 and more especially with the writings of the later 
 prophets, as Ezekiel, Zechariah, and particularly 
 Daniel ; inasimich as it is almost entirely sym- 
 bolical. This circumstance has siuTounded the 
 interpretation of this book with difficulties, which no 
 inteqireter has yet been able fully to overcome. 
 Most of these are connected with the questions as to 
 the author and the time when the book was com- 
 posed. As to the author, the weight of testimony 
 throughout all the history of the church, is in favor 
 of John, the beloved apostle. As to the time of its 
 composition, we may better judge after a sjTioptic 
 view- of its contents. 
 
 In all prophecy there is a twofold object, viz. of con- 
 solution and of exhortation. So here ; the despond- 
 ing Christian community are admonished to fidelity 
 and perseverance by the assurance of the speedy 
 commencement of the kingdom of God, or at least 
 of the overthrow of its most potent enemies. The 
 hortatory part is chiefly contained in the epistles to 
 tlie seven churches of Asia Minor. The book may 
 be divided into three parts, \-iz. 
 
 L The Introduction, in epistles to the seven 
 churches, both general and particular, (i. 4. — iii. 22.) 
 
 IL Thejirst Revelation, (iv. 1.— xi. 19.) The book 
 of destiny, sealed with seven seals, is given to the 
 Lamb to open. (iv. v.) He opens four of the seals, 
 and at the opening of each there appears the emblem 
 of a war or plague; at the opening of the fifth and 
 sixth is announced the approach of the gi*eat day of 
 judgment. and wrath for all the enemies of Chris- 
 tianity, (vi.) Before the seventh seal is opened, the 
 Christians receive a seal as a mark of preservation 
 against the impending destruction, (vii.) The sev- 
 enth seal is now opened, but the catastrophe is still 
 delayed, being made dependent on the sounding of 
 seven trumpets. At the sounding of the four first 
 trumpets, four plagues appear ; and three woes are 
 announced as about to accompany the other three 
 trumpets, (viii.) At the sounding of the fifth appears 
 the strange and fearful plague of the locusts, the first 
 wo ; (ix. 1 — 12.) at the sixth, comes forth a terrible 
 army for war, the second wo. (ix. 13 — 21.) The 
 annunciation is now given, that with the soimding 
 of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of God will be 
 finished ; (x.) and the prophet is commanded to 
 measure the temple and those who worship therein, 
 in order that they may be excepted from the general 
 calamity of the city, which for a time is to be given 
 to the Gentiles, (xi. 1, 2.) Before the final catastro- 
 phe, two prophets are still to admonish and exhort 
 to repentance ; they will, however, be put to death as 
 martyrs, and the holy city will suffer punishment on 
 account of then), and those who remain will re])-nt 
 and give glory to God. (xi. 3 — 13.) Now follows the 
 sounding of the seventh trumpet, and tlie commence- 
 ment of the gi-eat judgment against all enemies, and 
 the api'roach of the kingdom of God is announced, 
 (xi. 14—19.) 
 
 IIL But all this does not follow at once ; but is 
 described at large in the second Revelation, which 
 
 now begins, (xii. — xxii.) The theocracy, out of 
 which the Messiah sjn-ings, is jiersecuted by Satan, 
 who, being cast out from heaven, is actuated for a time 
 with rage so mucli the more vehement against the 
 Christians, (xii. 1 — 17.) His instruments are the 
 heathen, or antichrist, under the figure of a beast 
 with seven heads and ten horns, which persecutes 
 the saints; (xii. 18. — xiii. 10.) and also the false 
 priestliood which is subservient to him, and which 
 is, in like manner, represented under the image of a 
 beast, (xiii. 11 — 18.) Then follows the blissful peace 
 enjoyed by the Christians who were exempted from 
 tiie plagues, under the dominion of the Lamb. (xiv. 
 1 — 5.) Announcement of the fall of Rome, and of 
 the judgment upon the heathen, (xiv. 6 — 20.) The 
 Avrath of God is to be poured out from seven vials 
 upon the earth, (xv.) As the four first vials are 
 poured out, follow four plagues ; (xvi. 1 — 9.) the 
 three others bring down destruction upon Rome, 
 (xvi. 10 — 21.) whose destruction, to be completed 
 through the beast himself, is now more minutely 
 described and celebrated, (xvii. 1. — xix. 10.) At last 
 both beasts ai-e subdued by the Messiah, and Satan 
 is bound, (xix. 11. — xx. 3.) The reign of a thousand 
 years and first resuirection. (xx. 4 — 6.) The last 
 conflict Avith Gog and Magog, the final overthrow of 
 Satan, (xx. 6 — 10.) and the last judgment, (xx. 11 — 
 15.) The New Jerusalem, (xxi. 1 — xxii. 5.) Epi- 
 logue, (xxii. 6 — 21.) 
 
 Since Eichhom published his commentary upon 
 this book in 1791, (in which he made the gi-eat mis- 
 take of assigning to the whole a dramatic character,) 
 most interpreters agree with him in finding in the 
 Jirst revelation the destruction of Jerusalem and 
 consequent overthrow of Judaism ; and in the second 
 revelation, the downfall of heathenism, i. e. the sub- 
 version of the influence of pagan Rome and the 
 pagan Roman empire, as such, before the advance 
 and general diffusion of Christianity. This of course 
 implies that the Apocalypse was written at an earlier 
 date than has ofteii been assigned to it. The notices 
 of time which may be drawn from the book itself, 
 are the following. (1.) In c. xi. 1, 2, Jerusalem is 
 spoken of in a manner which pre-supposes that it 
 was still standing. (2.) From c. xvii. 10, it would 
 seem that it was written under the sixth Roman em- 
 peror, Vespasian ; unless one of the three mock em- 
 perors, Galba, Otho, or Vitellius, is to be reckoned 
 as the sixth ; which would make but the difference 
 of a year or two. (.3.) The persecution of the 
 Christians imder Nero is pre-supposed ; (vi. 9 ; xvii. 
 6.) as also the death of most of the apostles, (xviii. 
 20.) These data in themselves w^ould seejii to fix 
 the time of the composition of the Apocalypse from 
 about A. D. 68 to 70; and as Jerusalem w^as de- 
 stroyed in A. D. 72, this date would accord well 
 with Eichhorn's theory. 
 
 The general view of the Apocalypse given by 
 Hug in his introduction to the N. T. is similar to the 
 above, but with some modifications. There are in 
 the book three cities, on account of which all these 
 terrible appearances in heaven and earth take place, 
 viz. Sodom or Eg}'pt, Babylon, and the New Jeru- 
 salem. Sodom is Jerusalem, for in it our Lord was 
 crucified, (xi. 8.) and there also is the temple, xi. 1. 
 liabylon is Rome, for it stands on seven hills, (xvii. 
 9.) and has the empire of the world, xvii. 18. Jeru- 
 salem and Rome therefore are the cities whose over- 
 throw is foretold ; but these are not spoken of liter- 
 ally, but as the emblems or symbols of those religions 
 of which they were the chief scats and supporters,
 
 APOCALYPSE 
 
 [ 80 
 
 APO 
 
 viz. Judaism and heathenism. — The New Jerusalem 
 comes down from heaven in place of those cities 
 which are overthrown ; but as these latter are sym- 
 bols each of a religion, so also the former is the em- 
 blem of Christianity, which is to endure forever, and 
 secure the eternal bliss of man. 
 
 Along with this view, however, the same author 
 holds still to the idea, that the banishment of the 
 apostle John to Patmos, and the consequent compo- 
 sition of this book, did not occur until the reign of 
 Domitian, or about A. D. 95, and more than twenty 
 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. To avoid 
 this anachronism, lie applies, of course, aH that is 
 said of Jerusalem, symliolically, to the Jewish 
 religion, which still prevailed among that people, 
 although the teinple and worship wei'e destroyed. 
 But this seems to be a forced construction, and is 
 not at all necessary, since the historical accounts 
 respecting the time of John's banishincnt are very 
 uncertain. 
 
 BiU whatever view may be taken of this book in 
 general, the following remarks of Hug are well de- 
 serving of the attention of all interpreters. " It is 
 hardly necessary to remark, that all the strokes and 
 figures in this great work are by no means signifi- 
 cant. ]Many are inserted only to give life and ani- 
 mation to the whole ; or they are introduced by way 
 of ornament oiU of the jirophets and holy books ; 
 und no one who is any judge of such mattei-s, will 
 deny, that the filling up of the whole is in an extra- 
 ordinary degree rich, and for occidental readers in 
 the highest degree splendid. The description of the 
 chastisements by hail, pestilence, floods which are 
 changed into blood, by insects and vermin, ai-e imita- 
 tions of the plagues of Egypt ; and do not here either 
 require or admit any particular historical explanation 
 or application. The eclipses of the sun and moon, 
 the falling stars, are usual figm-es emjiktyed by the 
 prophets, in order to represent tli(^ overthrow of 
 states and empires, or the full of renowned ])ersons, 
 by means of great and terrible physical phenomena. 
 And in general, the sublimest and most api)roj)riate 
 and striking figures and passages of the projthets are 
 interwoven by the author in his work ; and they 
 thus impart to the whole an oriental splendor, which 
 leaves all Arabian writers far behind. 
 
 "The numbers also arc seldom to be taken arith- 
 metically, unless there exist si)eciul grounds for it. 
 Seven seals, seven angels, seven trumi)ets, seven vials, 
 seven tiuuiders,— wiio docs not here see that this is 
 the holy ])r(>i)hetic munber, and is employed only as 
 ornament and costume ? So also the roimd numbers, 
 and times, and half times ; they admit neither of a 
 chronological nor lunnerical reckoning; but are gen- 
 erally put for indefinite times and munbers. 
 
 " 'IMierc are in th(! whole only two historical 
 events, which, consequently, adnnt of a historical 
 interpretation. Aside from tlie general prevalence 
 of Christiaiuty, with which the vision closes, the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem is a kiii)\Mi fact, — and by the 
 side of this stands also the downfall of Home. — ^Ilere 
 we are necessarily referred to the historical interpreta- 
 tion, so far as it can be ap])rie(l without violence, 
 and so far as history voluntarily aftt)rds her aid. 
 But every thing minute and frivolous, and every 
 thing far-fetched or forced, must be cautiously 
 avoided." 
 
 Upon the foregoing principles, the greater part of 
 the book of Revelation must be i-eganled as having 
 had its accomplishment in the earlier centuries of 
 the church ; while subsequent ages ar."* sunnnarily 
 
 described in the latter part of the book, of which the 
 fulfilment is gradually developing itself. *R. 
 
 There have been several other Apocaltpses 
 attempted to be imposed on the church, at various 
 times, but their spuriousness is universally main- 
 tained. Calmet eiuunerates the following: — (1.) 
 The Revelations of St. Peter ; an apocryphal book 
 mentioned by Eusebius, and Jerome, and cited by 
 Clemens of Alexandria, in his Hypotyposes. — (2.) 
 The Revelation of St. Paul, an apocryphal book, 
 used among the Gnostics and Cainites, and which 
 contained, as they pretended, those ineffable things 
 which the apostle saw during his ecstasy, and 
 which he informs the Corinthians he was not 
 ])ermitted to divulge, 2 Cor. xii. 4. — (3.) The Rev- 
 elation of St. John, different from the true Apoc- 
 alyi)se ; and of which Lambecius says, there was 
 a MS. in the emperor's librarj' at Vienna. — (4.) 
 The Revelation of Cerinthus, in which he spoke oi 
 an earthly kingdom, and certain sensual pleasures, 
 which the saints should enjoy for a thousand years 
 at Jerusalem. It is probable that the notion enter- 
 tained by some of the ancients, that Cerinthus was 
 the aiulior of St. John's Revelation, arose from this 
 imitation by him of that work, and the ill use which 
 he had made of the apostle's writings, the better to 
 authorize his own visions. — (5.) The Revelation ol' 
 St. Thomas is known only by pope Gelasius's de- 
 cree, which ranks it among apocryphal books. — 
 (G.) The Revelation of Adam, forged, probably by 
 the Gnostics, from what is said in Genesis, of the 
 Lord's causing a deep sleep to fall on Adam ; or, as 
 the LXX have it, an ecstasy. — (7.) The Revelation 
 of Abraham, possessed by the Sethian heretics, and 
 which Epiphanius describes as aboimding with 
 imi)in-ity. — (8.) The Revelation of Moses, which, 
 Cedremis says, some authors believe to be the same 
 a])ocryphal work as Genesis the Less, which was 
 extant among the ancients. Syncellus, speaking of 
 this A])ocaly])se, says, the passage of Paul to the 
 Galatians is taken from it, (ch. vi. 15.) "Neither cir- 
 cumcision availcth any thing, nor imcircumcision, 
 but a new creature." — (9.) The Revelation of Elias, 
 from which Jerome thinks that the passage in 1 Cor. 
 i. 9, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath 
 it entered into the heart of man to conceive, what 
 God hath ])rej)ared for them that love him," is bor- 
 rowed. f)rigon, in his citation of these words, tells 
 us, thiU they are no where to be found, but in the 
 seci'ct books of Elias. 
 
 From this great number of books called by the 
 name of A])ocaly])ses, or Revelations, it should seem 
 that the title, and perhaps the work itself, of the 
 Revelation of St. John, was more popular among the 
 early Christians, than is usually thought to be the 
 case ; it is, at least, certain that the Mosaic ornaments 
 of the most ancient churches now existing, have 
 more frequent allusions to scenes in the Revelation, 
 than to ;uiy other book iu the New Testament. 
 Imitations so luunerous might render the question 
 of geiniinent'ss and autht^uicity difficult in those 
 days; but this lays succeeding ages under the greater 
 obligations lo the considerate and sedate decision of 
 the early Christians, and to the i)refi'rence they have 
 adjiulged to the book now universally received. 
 
 APOCRYPHAL pro])erly signifies /nW^/en. Books 
 are called ai)Ocry|)hal on the following accounts: 
 (1.) when the ;iuthor is not known; whether he 
 has affixed no name to his work, or has affixed a 
 feigned name ; (2.) when they have not been ad- 
 mitted into the canon of Scri|)ture, nor publicly read
 
 APOCRYPHAL 
 
 [81 1 
 
 APO 
 
 in the congregation, although they may have been 
 read in private; (3.) when they are not authentic, 
 and of divine authority ; even tliough tliey may be 
 thought the works of eminent or of sacred authors ; 
 e. g. the Epistle of Barnabas ; (4.) when they were 
 composed by heretics, to authorize, or to justify, 
 their errors. 
 
 There are apocryphal books, therefore, of several 
 degrees. Some are absolutely false, dangerous, and 
 impious, composed to defend error or to promote 
 superstition ; such as the Gospels of St. Thomas, 
 of the Valentinians, Gnostics, Marcion, &c. Others 
 are simply apocryphal, and not contrary to faith 
 and good manners ; as the l)ooks of Esdras, IMacca- 
 bees, &c. Others, after having been long contested 
 by some, have been by others received as canonical ; 
 as the church of Rome admits many, which arc by 
 all Protestants regarded as apocryplial, though 
 printed with our English Bibles, and parts of them 
 read in the Episcopal service ; all of which Jerome 
 reckons among apocryphal writings, and says, the 
 church reads them, but without receiving them into 
 the canon. 
 
 . There arc a few inconsiderable parts of Scripture, 
 ^\hich na-e at this day received by some as canonical, 
 while others consider them as apocryphal ; such as 
 the titles to the Psalms, the preface of Jeremiah, Ec- 
 clesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Sirach, and the addi- 
 tions to Esther and Daniel. 
 
 [Apocryphal books, in the Protestant sense, are 
 of two classes, viz. (1.) Those which were in exist- 
 ence in the time of Christ, but were not admitted by 
 the Jews into the canon of the Old Testament ; 
 eitlicr because they had no Hebrew original, or be- 
 cause they were regarded as not divinely inspired. 
 The most important of these are collected in the 
 ^ipocrypha often appended to the English Bible ; 
 among which the books of Ecclesiasticus and Mac- 
 cabees are the most valuable ; the former as con- 
 taining many excellent maxims of wisdom, and the 
 latter as being for the most part true history, but 
 written in a diffuse and legendary manner. Most 
 of the others bear the stamp of legends on the face 
 of them. All of these stand in the Septuagint and 
 Vulgate as canonical. But besides these there ex- 
 isted veiy many pseudepigraphia, or writings falsely 
 attributed to distinguished individuals ; e. g. to Adam, 
 Setli, Noah, Abraham, the twelve patriarchs, &c. 
 &c. All that is known of these latter may be seen 
 in Fabricii Codex Pseudepig. V. T. 
 
 (2.) Those which were written after the time of 
 Christ, but were not admitted by the churches into 
 the canon of the New Testameitt, as not being 
 divinely inspired. These are mostly of a legendary 
 character. They have all been collected by Fabri- 
 cius in his Codex Apoc. .V. T. Among them are no 
 less than 24 Gospels ; of which the most important 
 are those of the Egyptians, of the twelve apostles, of 
 Cerinthus, of the Ebionites, of the Gnostics, of Mar- 
 cion, of Thomas, and the Gospel of the Infancy of 
 Jesus. — There are also 10 different Books of Acts; 
 and six Epistles, or rather correspondences, includ- 
 ing the letters said to have passed between Paul and 
 Seneca, an Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans, one 
 from the Corinthians to Paul, and his reply. Sec. Sec. 
 For the nine Apocalypses, see that article. — None 
 of all these are received as canonical at tlie present 
 day by any portion of the Christian church. 
 
 Other pseudepigraphia of this kind, though not 
 intended to be put foith as parts of the New Testa- 
 ment, are the correspondence of Jesus Christ with 
 11 
 
 Abgar, king of Edessa, (see Abgar,) and the Epistle 
 of P. Lentulus to the Senate of Rome, describing the 
 person of Clirist, &c. See Lentulus. *R. 
 
 APOLLO, one of the gods worshipped by the 
 heathen, to whom they attributed oracles and divi- 
 nation. See Gospel, Oracle, and Python. 
 
 APOLLONIA, a city of Macedonia, through 
 which Paul passed in his way from Amphipolis to 
 Thessalonica, Acts xvii. 1. It was formerly cele- 
 brated for its trade. 
 
 I. APOLLONIUS, an officer belonging to Anti- 
 ochus Epiphanes, who is called Misarches in the 
 Greek, (2 Mace. v. 24.) and whom Antiochus Epiph- 
 anes sent into Judea to execute his design of draw- 
 ing large sums from Jerusalem. Antiochus came 
 thither at the head of 22,000 men, and, on the sab- 
 bath-day, fell on the people, and put great numbers 
 to the sword. Tlie city was burnt and pillaged ; 
 10,000 persons were taken, carried captive, and sold 
 to the king's profit. Two years afterwards, Judas 
 Maccabfeus, having gathered an army of 6C00 Jews, 
 who continued faithful, defeated and killed ApoUo- 
 nius, dispersed his army, and carried off a very 
 rich booty, 1 Mace. i.*30, 31. A. M. 3838, ante 
 A. D. 166. 
 
 II. APOLLONIUS Daus, governor of Coelo- 
 Syria, and general of Demetrius Nicanor, having 
 abandoned the party of Alexander Balas, and es- 
 poused that of Demetrius Nicanor, headed a power- 
 ful army, to compel the Jews to declare for Deme- 
 trius. A. M. 3856, ante A. D. 148. He was defeated 
 by Jonathan Maccabseus, however, and 8000 of his 
 men killed, 1 Mace. x. 69 — 76. For this victory, 
 Alexander Balas bestowed new favors on Jonathan ; 
 among which was a golden buckle, such as the 
 king's relations wear, and the property of Accaron, 
 ver. 77—89. 
 
 III. APOLLONIUS, son of Genneus, was one 
 of those governors whom Lysias had left in Judea, 
 after the treaty formed between the Jews and the 
 young king Antiochus Eupator, and who endeav- 
 ored,"by their ill treatment, to compel the Jews to 
 break it, 2 Mace. xii. 2. 
 
 APOLLOS, a Jew of Alexandria, who came to 
 Ephesus, A. D. 54, during the absence of Paul, who 
 had gone to Jerusalem. He was "an eloquent man, 
 and mighty in the Scriptures," (Acts xviii. 24.) but 
 he knew only the baptism of John ; so that he was, 
 as it were, only a catechumen, and not fully informed 
 of the higher branches of gospel doctrine. Never- 
 theless, he knew Jesus to be the Messiah, and de- 
 clared himself openly as his disciple. At ISphesus, 
 where he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, 
 demonstrating, by the Scriptures, that Jesus was the 
 Christ, Aquiia and Priscilla heard him, and took 
 him home with tliem, to instruct him more fully in 
 the ways of God. Some time after this, he inclined 
 to go into Achaia, and the brethren w-rote to the dis- 
 ciples there, desiring them to receive him. At Cor- 
 inth he Mas very useful in watering what Paul had 
 planted. It has been supposed, that the great affec- 
 tion his disciples had for him, almost produced a 
 schism, (1 Cor. iii. 4 — 7.) "some saying, I am of 
 Paul ; others, I am of Apollos ; others, I am of 
 Cephas." But this division, which Paul mentions 
 and reproves, in his First Epistle to the Corintiiians, 
 did not prevent him and Apollos from being closely 
 united in the bonds of Christian charity and affec- 
 tion. Apollos, hearing that the apostle was at Eph- 
 esus, went to meet him, and was there when he 
 WTote the First Epistle to the Corinthians, wherein 
 
 •>'
 
 A PO 
 
 [82] 
 
 APOSTLE 
 
 he obsen-es that he had earnestly entreated A polios 
 to return to Corinth, but had not prevailed upon 
 him ; that, nevertheless, he gave him room to hope, 
 that lie would visit that city at a favorable opportu- 
 nity, ch. xvi. 12. Some have supposed that the 
 apostle nanifes ApoUos and Ce[)has, not as the real 
 persons in whose names ])arties had been formed at 
 Corinth, but that, in order to avoid jirovoking a 
 temper which he desired might subside, he "trans- 
 fers, by a figure, to Apollos, and to hims;>lf," what was 
 said really of other parties, whom, out of prudence, 
 he declines naming. It might be so ; but the reluc- 
 tance of Apollos to return to Corinth seems to coun- 
 tenance the other, which is tlie general opinion. 
 Jerome says, (ad. Tit. iii.) Apollos wriS so dissatisfied 
 Avith the division which had happened on his ac- 
 count at Corinth, that he retired into Crete, with 
 Zeno, a doctor of the law; but that this interruption 
 of Christian harmony having been appeased i)y the 
 letter of Paul to the Corinthians, Apollos returned to 
 that city, and afterwards became bishop there. The 
 Greeks make him bishop of Duras ; but, in their 
 Menaea, they describe him as second bishop of Col- 
 ophon, in Asia. Ferrarius says he was bishop of 
 Iconium, in Phrygia ; others say he was bishop of 
 Ctesarea ; but this is all uncertain. 
 
 APOLLYON, 'the destroyer;' answering to the 
 Hebrew Abaddon, which see. Rev. ix. 11. 
 
 APOSTLE, «.TO"ro,'.u;. a messenger, or envoy. The 
 term is applied to Jesus Christ, who was God's en- 
 voy to save the world, (Heb. iii. 1.) though, more 
 commonly, the title is given to persons 'who Averc 
 envoys, commissioned by him. Those also who 
 were sent on any errand by a church or Christian 
 community, are called in the N. T. apostles. Thus 
 Paid speaks of two apostles, Eng. messengers, 1 Cor. 
 Anii. 23. So also Phil. ii. 25, where he calls Epaph- 
 roditus, in like manner, the apostle, i. e. messenger 
 of that church. 
 
 Herodotus uses the word to denote a public herald, 
 an ambassador, or nuncio. Tiie Hebrews had apos- 
 tles sent by their patriarch to collect a certain yearly 
 tribute, which was called aurum roi-onnriuin. (Cod. 
 Theod. xiv.) Some assert, that, before Jesus Christ, 
 they had another sort of apostle, v>ho collected the 
 half shekel, which was paid by every Israelite to the 
 temple. These might be called apostles ; but we 
 cannot perceive that this name was given to them, 
 as it certainly was to other ofiicers, belonging to the 
 high-priests and heads of the people, who were sent 
 to carry their orders to distant cities and provinces, 
 in affairs relating to religion. For example, Paul 
 was deputed to the synagogues of Damascus, with 
 directions to seize and imprison all who professed 
 the religion of Christ ; that is, he v.as the apostle of 
 the high-priest, and others at Jerusalem, for this 
 purpose: and he alludes to this custom, according to 
 Jerome, in the beginning of his Epistle to the Gala- 
 tians, saying, that he h " an apostle, not of man, 
 neither by [coMimissioneil from] man, hut by [com- 
 missioned fi'om] Jesus ChriFJt:"' as if he had said, an 
 a|)0Stle, not like tho.?e among the Jews, wlio derived 
 their mission from the chief priests, or from the 
 principal men of the nation ; but an apostle s?nt by 
 Jesus Christ himsc!!'. Euseliius and Jernine speak 
 likewise of a|)ostles sent iiy tlic Jews to defame Jesus 
 Christ, his doctrine, and hi:3 discifiles. Justin Mar- 
 tyr, in his Dialocue airain.t Trypho, says, they sent 
 persons whom they called apostles, to disperse cir- 
 cular letters, filled with calumnies agaiust the Chris- 
 tisms : and to this, it is supposed, there is a reference, 
 
 " we have not received letters concerning thee from 
 Jerusalem ; — but this sect is every where spoken 
 against," Acts xxviii. 21, 22. Epiphanius, speaking 
 of these apostles, observes, that theirs was a very 
 honorable and profitable employment atnong the 
 Jews. 
 
 The Ai'osTLES of Jesus Christ were his chief dis- 
 ciples, whom he invested with his authority, filled 
 with his Spirit, intrusted particularly with his doc- 
 trines and services, and chose to I'aise the edifice of 
 his church. After his resurrection, he sent his apos- 
 tles into all the world, commissioned to preach, to 
 baptize, to work miracles, &c. The names of the 
 twelve are, — 
 
 1. Peter 6. Bartholomew 10. Jude (Lebbeus, 
 
 2. Andrew 7. Thomas Thaddeus) 
 
 3. John 8. Matthew (Levi) 11. James 3Iinor 
 
 4. Philip 9. Simon 12. Judas Iscariot. 
 
 5. James Major 
 
 The last betrayed his Master ; and, having hanged 
 himself, 3Iatthias was chosen in his place. Acts i. 
 15—26. 
 
 The order in which the apostles are named is not 
 the same in all the gospels. See Matt. x. 2 ; INIark 
 iii. 16 ; Luke vi. 14 ; Acts i. 13. This, though a very 
 simj)le fact and observation, has its weight in show- 
 ing that the evangelists neither wrote in concert, nor 
 copied from one another. Had they done so, nothing 
 could be more probable than their repetition of a list 
 already formed to their hands, of a number of names 
 so \^■ell known as those of the ajjostles ; and the 
 order of which was so perfectly indifferent to any 
 personal object. They all begin with Simon Peter, 
 and end with Judas Iscariot. 
 
 From the application of the title apostle, as given 
 above, we may jjcrceive in what sense Paul claims 
 it — " Am not I an apostle ?" — a missionary, an envoy, 
 a person authorized by Christ to pi-oclaim his will, 
 1 Cor. ix. 1. In the same sense he applies the title 
 to Barnabas, whom he includes — "or I only and 
 Barnabas, have not we power to be accompanied by 
 a wife," &c. ver. 6. So that there are, perhaps, 
 three or four persons called apostles in this sense, 
 besides the twelve mentioned in the gospels, as 
 having been chosen to that office by our Saviour 
 when on earth. 
 
 [In regard to the apostles of our Lord, there 
 are some particulars deserving of a moment's 
 attention. 
 
 1. They were, for the most part at least, Galileans, 
 and from the lower class of society. The greater 
 part of them were fishermen, who prosecuted their 
 employiYiont on the shores of the lake of Tiberias. 
 Matthew was a publican or tax-gatherer employed 
 by the Romans ; an occupation regarded by the 
 Jews in general with the utmost contempt and ab- 
 horrence. They were ' unlearned and ignorant 
 men,' (Acts iv. 13.) and Paul justly regards it as a 
 proof of the wisdom and power of God, that he had 
 chosen, through the preaching of unlearned men, to 
 overthrow the whole edifice of human wisdom, 
 and lead the world to the light of truth, 1 Cor. i. 
 27, seq. 
 
 2. The apostles all received instruction from Jesus 
 in common ; and on the day ol" Pentecost were all 
 furnished with ])ower from on high, for their great 
 enter|)rise and destination, through the outpouring 
 of the Holy Spirit. In respect to the religious 
 truths which they were to teach, therefore, they were 
 infallible, and so directed and assisted by the Spirit, 
 that their doctrines were not nlloved bv human
 
 APP 
 
 errors. In all other respects, however, they were 
 not at all infallible, nor even hispired, as tlieir history 
 clearly shows. Thus, during the whole ministry of 
 Jesus, they were not able to divest themselves of the 
 Jewish notion, that the Messiah was to be a temporal 
 prince, and the dehverer and restorer of tlie Jewish 
 nation ; so that, even after our Lord's resurrection, 
 they put the question to him in a body, " Lord, wilt 
 thou at this time restore again the kingdom to 
 Fsrael ?" Acts i. 6. But even after the extraordi- 
 nary gifts of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and 
 afterwards, we still find Peter needing an express 
 direction from the Spirit, before he could so far 
 overcome his Jewisii prejudices, as to preach the 
 gospel to the Gentiles. We find, too, Paul and 
 Barnabas disputing and separating from one another ; 
 (Acts XV. 36, seq.) and Paul rebuking Peter and 
 others for then" want of consistency, Gal. ii. 11, seq. 
 In respect, also, to certain parts of doctrine, they 
 received only by degrees a fuller illumination ; see 
 Acts XV. So also Paul several times distinguishes 
 between what is merely his own judgment or opin- 
 ion, and that which he receives directly from the 
 Lord, e. g. 1 Cor. vii. 6. At other times the apostle 
 laid plans and attempted to execute them ; which 
 plans citlier remained unfulfilled, or were directly 
 fi-ustrated by the influence of the Spirit ; e. g. in Rom. 
 XV. 28, Paul expresses the intention of passing 
 through Rome on his way to Spain ; in Acts xvi. 7, 
 it is related that Paul and Silas " assayed to go into 
 Bithynia, but the Spirit suftered thcui not." 
 
 3. There was among the apostles no external dis- 
 tinction of rank ; indeed, the whole teaching of 
 Jesus was directed to do away all such distinc- 
 tion, had it been otherwise possible for it to exist, 
 Matt. XX. 24, seq. xxiii. 11, 12; Mark x. 44. Nev- 
 ertheless, there appears to have been a difference of 
 character and standing among them in respect to 
 influence and activity, so far as this, that Peter, and 
 James, and John act a more prominent part than any 
 of the others, both during the Hfetime of Christ, and 
 also after his death ; when they became especially 
 pillars in the church at Jerusalem, Gal. ii. 9. Among 
 these three, again, Peter seems to have had a special 
 prominence, aiisiug from his zeal, activity, energj', 
 and decision of character. He also was the first to 
 preach the gospel to the Gentiles, Acts xv. 7. But 
 abo\e all the apostles who had personally known our 
 Lord and received his instructions, Paid, who after- 
 wards became an apostle, like one born out of due 
 time, was distinguished for a widely extended and 
 successful activity, particularly among the heathen ; 
 and he it was, especially, through whose instrument- 
 ality Christianity became what it was intended by 
 its Founder to be, the religion of the whole human 
 race. If it was the zeal, activity, and success of 
 Peter which gave him a pre-eminence iu the church, 
 much more would such pre-eminence be due to 
 Paul. — Of the other apostles we have no particular 
 personal accounts, after the day of Pentecost. *R. 
 
 "APPII FORUM, a city, or market town, founded 
 by Ai)pius Claudius, on the great road ( Via Appii) 
 whicli he constructed from Rome to Capua. Some 
 authors suppose it to have occupied the site of the 
 present hamlet of Le Case Nuove. But it is more 
 probably to be found in the present Casarillo di Santa 
 Maria, situated 50 miles from Rome, in the borders 
 of the Pontine marshes, where are the remains of an 
 ancient city. Being thus situated in the marshes, 
 it is no wonder that the water was bad, as mentioned 
 by Horace. 
 
 [ 83 ] APP 
 
 Egressum magna me excepit Aricia, Roma, 
 Hospitio modico. — 
 
 — Inde Forum Appl 
 Differtum nautis, cauponibus atque malignisi.— 
 Hie ego, propter aquam, quod erat deterrima, ventri 
 Indico bellum. — Hor. Sat. i. 5. 
 
 The " Three Taverns" were about eight or ten 
 miles nearer to Rome than " Appii Forum," as Cice- 
 ro intimates, who, going from Rome, writes, " ab 
 Appii Foro, hora quarta ; dederam aliam paulo ante 
 a Trihus Tabeniis ,-" a little before he came to the 
 Forum of Appius he had -written from the Three 
 Taverns ; (ad. Att. ii. 10.) so that probably the chief 
 number of Christians waited for the apostle Paul at 
 a place of refreshment ; while some of their num- 
 ber went forward to meet him, and to acquaint him 
 with their expectation of seeing him among them, 
 for which they respectfully waited his coming. 
 See Acts xxviii. 15. 
 
 APPLE and APPLE-TREE, Heb. man tappuach, 
 Cant. viii. 5 ; Joel i. 12. Commentators have been 
 at a loss what tree is strictly meant under this name ; 
 the manner in which it is employed seeming to imply 
 a tree of gi-eat and distinguished beauty ; thus Cant, 
 ii. 3, " As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, 
 so is my beloved among the sons;" and vii. 8, "the 
 smell of thy nose is like apples." Hence Harmar 
 supposes it to be the orange or citron-tree. Obs. 
 Ixxv. The coi-responding Arabic word, tyffach, sig- 
 nifies not only apples, but also generally all similar 
 fruits, as oranges, lemons, quinces, peaches, apricots, 
 etc. and it is a common comparison to say of any 
 thing, " It is as fragrant as a tyffach.:' The Hebrew 
 word may, perhaps, have been used in the same gen- 
 eral sense. There is, however, no need of such a 
 supposition. Apple-trees were not very common in 
 Palestine, and their comparative rarity would natu- 
 rally give them a poetical value. The same word", 
 tappuach, is also employed as the name of a person, 
 (1 Chron. ii. 43.) and of two cities, one in Judah, (Josh, 
 xii. 17 ; XV. 34.) and the other on the border between 
 Ephraim and Manasseh, Josh. xvi. 8. 
 
 In Prov. XXV. 11, it is said, in our Enghsh version, 
 " A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pic- 
 tures of silver." This is translated by Gesenius and 
 others thus : " Like golden apples inlaid with silver 
 figures." On this Rosenmueller remarks, that it is 
 difticult to see for what i)nrpose such apples of gold 
 should be fabricated ; and he prefers, therefore, to 
 refer the epithet golden to their color, and translates, 
 " like golden apples, or quinces, in vases or baskets 
 of silver ;" i. e. as these allure the eye, so a fitly 
 spoken word is ple?isant to the understanding. *R. 
 
 APPLES OF Sodom. The late adventurous 
 traveller, M. Seetzen, who went round the Red sea, 
 notices the famous Apple of Sodom ; which was said 
 to have all the appearance of the most inviting apple, 
 while it was filled with nauseous and bitter dust 
 only. It has furnished many moralists with allusions : 
 and also our poet Milton, in whose infernal regions — 
 
 A grove sprung up — laden with fair fruit — 
 
 greedily they plucked 
 
 The fruitage, fair to sight, like that which grew 
 Near that bituminous fake, where Sodom flamed. 
 This, more delusive, not the touch, but taste 
 Deceived. They, fondly thinking to allay 
 Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit 
 Chewed bitter ashes, which the oflfended taste 
 With spattering noise rejected :—
 
 APPLES 
 
 [84] 
 
 AQU 
 
 Seetzen thus explains this pecuharity : " The infor- 
 mation which I have been able to collect on the ap- 
 ples of Sodom (Solanum Sodomeum) is very contra- 
 dictory and insufficient ; I believe, however, that I 
 can give a very natural explanation of the phenom- 
 enon, and that the following remark will lead to it. 
 While I was at Karrak, at the house of a Greek cu- 
 rate of the town, I saw a sort of cotton, resembling 
 silk, which he used as tinder for his match-lock, as it 
 could not be employed in making cloth. He told 
 me that it grew in the plains of el-G6r, to the east 
 of the Dead sea, on a tree like a fig-tree, called 
 Aoeschaer. The cotton is contained in a fruit re- 
 sembling the pomegranate ; and by making incisions 
 at the root of the tree, a sort of milk is procured, 
 which is recommended to barren women, and is 
 called Lebbin Aoeschaer. It has struck me that 
 these fruits, being, as they are, without ])ulp, and 
 which are uukuoAvn throughout the rest of Pales- 
 tine, might be the famous apples of Sodom. I sup- 
 pose, likewise, that the tree which produces it, is a 
 sort of fromager, {Bombyx, Linn.) wliich can only 
 flourish under the excessive heat of the Dead sea, 
 and in no other district of Palestine." 
 
 This curious subject is further e.xplained, in a note 
 added by M. Seetzen's editor, who considers the tree 
 to be a species of Asclepias, j)robably the Asclepias 
 Gigantea. The remark of 31. Seetzen is coiToborat- 
 ed by a traveller, who passed a long time in situa- 
 tions where this plant is very abundant. The same 
 idea occurred to him when he first saw it in 1792, 
 though he did not then know that it existed near the 
 lake Asphaltites. The uml)ella, somewhat like a 
 bladder, containing from half a pint to a pint, is of 
 the same color with tlie leaves, a bright green, and 
 may be mistaken for an inviting fruit, without much 
 Btretch of imagination. That, as well as the other 
 parts, when green, being cut or i)ressed, yields a 
 milky juice, of a very acrid taste : but in winter, 
 when dry, it contains a yellowish dust, in appearance 
 resembling certain fungi, connnon in South Britain ; 
 but of pungent quality, and said to be particularly 
 injurious to the eyes. The whole so nearly corre- 
 sponds with the description given by Solinus, (Poly- 
 histor,) Josephus, and others, of the Poma SodomfP, 
 allowance being made for their extravagant exagge- 
 rations, as to leave little doubt on the subject. 
 
 Seetzen's account is partly confirmed by the la- 
 mented Burckhardt. lie says, " The tree Asheyr is 
 very conmion in the Ghor. It bears a fruit of a "red- 
 dish yellow color, about three inches in diameter, 
 which contains a white substance, resembling the 
 finest silk. The Arabs collect the silk, and twist it 
 into matches for their fire-locks, preferring it to the 
 common match because it ignites more i-eadily. 
 More than twentv camel loads might be produced 
 aimually." p. 392": 
 
 The same plant is also to be seen on the sandy 
 borders of the Nile, above the first cataracts, the 
 only vegetable production of that barren tract. It 
 is about three feet in height, and the fruit exactly 
 answering the above descrii)tion. It is there called 
 Oshoin. The dowiiy sui)staiice found within the 
 etem is of too short staple prolmbly for any mnnufac- 
 ture, for which its silky delicate" texture and clear 
 whiteness iniglit otherwise l)e suitable. It is used to 
 BtufT pillows, and similar articles. 
 
 [Chateaubriand supposes the apples of Sodom to 
 be the fruit of a shrub which grows two or three 
 leagues from the mouth of the Jordan ; it is thorny, 
 with small taper leaves, and its fruit is exactlv like 
 
 the small Egyptian lemon in size and color. Before 
 the fruit is ripe, it is filled with a coiTosive and sa- 
 line juice ; when dried, it yields a blackish seed, 
 which may be compared to ashes, and which in taste 
 resembles bitter pepper. — Mr. King found the same 
 shrub and fruit near Jericho, and seems also inclined 
 to regard it as the apple of Sodom. Miss. Herald 
 for 1824, p. 99. Mod. Traveller, i. p. 2CG. 
 
 Most probably, however, the whole story in Taci- 
 tus and Josephus is a fable, which sprung up iu 
 connection with the singular and marvellous char- 
 acter of this region and its history. The whole ac- 
 count of the Dead sea in Tacitus is of a similar 
 kind. Even to the present day a like fable is 
 current among the Arabs who dwell in the vicinity. 
 Burckhardt says, "They speak of the spurious 
 pomegranate-ti-ee, producing a fruit precisely like 
 that of the pomegranate, but which, on being open- 
 ed, is found to contain nothing but a dusty powder. 
 This, they pretend, is the Sodom apple-tree ; other 
 persons, however, deny its existence." p. 392. *R. 
 
 APRIES, king of Egjpt, called Pharaoh-IIophrah, 
 in the sacred writings, (Jer. xliv. 30.) was son of 
 Psammis, and grandson of Nechos, or Necho, who 
 fought Josiah king of the Jews. He i-eigned twenty- 
 five years, and was long considered as one of the 
 happiest princes in the world ; but having equipped 
 a fleet, with design to reduce the Cyrenians, he lost 
 almost his whole army in the expedition. The 
 Egyptians, exasperated at the occurrence, rebelled, 
 and proclaimed Amasis, one of his chief officers, 
 king. Aclasis marched against Apries, and took 
 him prisoner, and he was afterwards strangled by 
 the people. Such was the end of Apries, accorduig- 
 to Herodotus, (ii. c. 161, 162, 169.) 
 
 This prince had made a league with Zedekiah, 
 and pi-omised him assistance ; (Ezek. xvii. 15.) 
 whereupon Zedekiah, relying on his forces, revolted 
 from Nebuchadnezzar, A. 31. 3414, aiite A. D. 580. 
 Early in the year following, the Babylonians march- 
 ed into Judea, but as other nations of Syria had 
 hkewise shaken ofl^ their obedience, he first reduced 
 them to their duty ; and, towards the end of the 
 year, he besieged Jerusalem, 2 Ivings xxv. 5 ; 2 
 Chron. xxxvi. 17; Jer. xxxix. 1; lii. 4. Zedekiah 
 defended himself long and obstinately, in order to 
 give time to Hophrah, or Apries, to come to his as- 
 sistance. Apries advanced, with a powerful army, 
 and the king of Babylon raised the siege, to meet 
 him ; but, not daring to hazard a battle against the 
 Chaldeans, the Egyptian retreated, and abandoned 
 Zedekiah. Jeremiah threatened Apries with being 
 delivered into the hands of his enemies, as he had 
 delivered Zedekiah into the hands of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar; and Ezekiel (ch. xxix.) reproaches him se- 
 verely with his baseness ; threatening, since Egypt 
 had been "a stafi' of reed to the house of Israel, 
 and an occasion of falling," itself should be reduced 
 to a solitude ; that God would send the sword against 
 it, which should destroy man and beast. This was 
 afterwards accomplished, first, in the person of 
 Apries as above stated ; secondly, in the conquest of 
 Egypt, by the Persians. Comp. Greppo's Essay on 
 the Hieroglyphic System, p. 129. 
 
 AQUILA, a native of Pontus, iu Asia Minor, 
 who, with his wife Priscilla, (Acts xviii. 2.) enter- 
 tained Paul at Corinth, whither they had been driven 
 by the edict of the emperor Claudius, which banished 
 all Jews from Koine. (Sueton. Claud, c. 2.5.) Paul 
 afterwards quitted Aquila's house, and lodged with 
 Justus, near the Jewish synagogue, at Corinth, per-
 
 ARA 
 
 [85] 
 
 ARABIA 
 
 haps, because Aquila was a convert from Judaism, 
 whereas Justus was a convert from paganism ; on 
 which account the Gentiles niiglit come and hear 
 him with more liberty. When the apostle left Cor- 
 inth, Aquila and Priscilla accompanied him to 
 Ephesus, where he left them to edify the church by 
 their instructions and exami)le, while he went to 
 Jerusalem. They rendered him very great services 
 in this city, and even exposed their own lives to pre- 
 serve his, (Rom. xvi. 4.) — as some think, on occasion 
 of the tumult raised by Demetrius and his crafts- 
 men in behalf of their goddess Diana. They had 
 returned to Rome when Paul wrote his Epistle to 
 the Romans, (A. D. 58.) in which he salutes them 
 with great encomiums ; but they did not continue 
 there ; for they were at Ephesus again, when Paul 
 wrote his Second Epistle to Timothy, (A. D. 64.) 
 chap. iv. 19. What became of them afterwards is 
 not knoAvn. 
 
 AR, Areopolis, Ariel of Moab, or Rabbath- 
 MoAB, names which signify the same city, the capital of 
 the territory of the Moabitcs, on the south of the river 
 Anion. Eusebius remarks, that the idol of these 
 people, probably JMoabites, was called Ariel. Epi- 
 
 S)hanius says, that a small tract of land, adjoining to 
 Hoab, Iturea, and the country of the Nabathaeaus, 
 16 called Arielitis. Isaiah (xvi. 7, 11.) calls it "the 
 city with walls of burnt brick ;" in Hebrew Kirha- 
 reschith, or Kirjathhans. Jerome says, the city was 
 destroyed by an earthquake, when he was young. 
 Burckhardt found a place still called Rabba, about 20 
 miles soiuh of the Arnon, with ruins about a mile 
 and a half in circuit ; doubtless the site of the an- 
 cient Rabbah. (p. 377, or p. 040 Germ, ed.) Ar was 
 not attacked by Israel, from respect to the memory 
 of Lot; to whose postcrit}' God had assigned it, 
 Deut. ii. 9. 
 
 ARAB, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 52. 
 
 ARABAH, a city of Benjamin, Josh, xviii. 22. 
 
 ARABIA is a considerable country of Western 
 Asia, lying south and south-east of Judea. It ex- 
 tends 1.500 miles from north to south, and 1200 from 
 east to west. On the north it is bounded by part of 
 Syria, on the east by the Persian gulf and the Eu- 
 phrates, on the south by the Arabian sea and the 
 straits of Babelmandel, and on the west by the Red 
 sea, &.C. Arabia is distinguished by geogi-aphers 
 into three parts, Arabia Descrta — PetraDa, and — Felix. 
 
 Arabia Deserta has the mountains of Gilead 
 west, and the river Euphrates east ; it con)preliends 
 the country of the Itureans, the Edomites, the Naba- 
 thteans, the peojjle of Kedar, and others, who lead a 
 wandering life, liaving no cities, houses, or fixed hab- 
 itations ; but wholly dwelling in tents ; in modern 
 Arabic, such are called Bedouins. This country 
 seems to be generally described in Scripture by the 
 word "Arab," which signifies, properly, in Hebrew, 
 the west. The}' may have taken the name of Arabim, 
 or Jf'(strrns, from their situation, being west of the 
 river Euphrates; and if so, their name ^Jrab is prior 
 to the settlement of Israel in Canaan. In Eusebius, 
 and authors of that and the following ages, the coun- 
 try and the greater part of tlie cities beyond Jordan, 
 and of what they call tlie Third Palestine, are con- 
 sidered as parts of Arabia. 
 
 Arabia Petr^a lies south of the Holy Land, and 
 had Petra for its capital. This region contained the 
 southern Edomites, the Amalekites, the Cushites, 
 (improperly called Ethiopians, by our translators, and 
 other interpreters of Scripture,) the Hivites, the Me- 
 onians, or Maouim, &c. people at present known 
 
 under the general name of Arabians. But it is of 
 consequence to notice the ancient inhabitants of these 
 districts, as they are mentioned in the text of Scrip- 
 ture. In this country was Kadesh-barnea, Gerar, 
 Beersheba, Lachish, Libnah, Paran, Arad, Hasmona, 
 Oboth, Phunon, Dedan, Segor, &c. also mount Sinai, 
 where the law was given to Moses. 
 
 Arabia Felix lay still farther south ; being 
 bounded east by the Persian gulf; south by the ocean, 
 between Africa and India ; and west by the Red sea. 
 As this region did not immediately adjoin the Holy 
 Land, it is not so frequently mentioned as the former 
 ones. It is thought, that the queen of Sheba, who 
 visited Solomon, (1 Kings x. 1.) was queen of part of 
 Arabia Felix. This country abounded with riches, 
 and particularly with spices ; and is now called Hed- 
 jaz. It is much celebrated, by reason of the cities 
 of Mecca and Medina being situated in it. 
 
 Arabia is generally stony, rocky, and mountainous ; 
 princii)ally in the parts remote from the sea. In the 
 course of ages, a vast plain has been interposed be- 
 tween the mountains, now in the midst of the coun- 
 try, and the sea, which has gradually retired from 
 them. This is now the most fruitful and best culti- 
 vated part, but it is also the hottest ; for up 'n tho 
 mountains the air is much cooler than below in the 
 plains. The plain is called Tehama; or "the 
 Levels." 
 
 The inhabitants of Arabia, who dwelt there before 
 Abraham came into Canaan, are supposed to have 
 descended from Ham. We find there 3Iidianites, of 
 the race of Cush, among whom Moses retired. Abim- 
 elech, king of Gerar, is known in the time of Abra- 
 ham ; and the Amalekites, in the time of IMoses. The 
 Hivites, the Amorites, the Kenites, and the iMeonians, 
 or Mahonians, extended a good way into Arabia 
 Petra!a;tlie Horim occupied the mountains which 
 he south of the land of Canaan, and east of the Dead 
 sea. The Rephaiin, Emini, Zuzim, and Zamzum- 
 mim (Gen. xiv. 5 ; Deut. ii. 10, 11.) inhabited the 
 country called afterwards Arabia Deserta, and which 
 was subsequently peopled by the Ammonites, Moab- 
 itcs, and Edomites. 
 
 The Arabs derive their remotest origin from the 
 patriarch Heber, whom they called Iloud, and who, 
 at the distance of four generations, was the father of 
 Abraham. He settled, they say, in the southern parts 
 of Arabia, and died there about 1817 years before A. 
 D. His son Joctan, named by the Arabs Kathj.ii, or 
 Kahthan, being the father of a numerous family, be- 
 came, also, the first sovereign of the country : his pos- 
 terity peopled the jieninsula, and from him many 
 tribes of Arabs boast their descent. These are called 
 piu-e or unmixed Arabs. They say, too, that tho 
 name Arabia is derived from Jarab, one of his sona. 
 See JoKTA.N. 
 
 The Arabs of the second race derive their descent 
 from Ishmael,son of Abraham and Hagar, who camo 
 and settled among the former tribes. Of his jjoster- 
 ity, some applied themselves to traffic and hus- 
 bandry ; but the far greater part ke])t to the deserts, 
 and travelled from place to place, like the modern 
 Bedouins. It is probable that a third description 
 of Arabs might arise from the sons of Abraham by 
 Keturah, as they would naturally associate more or 
 less with their brethren the Ishmaelites. Other oc- 
 casional accessions of a like nature might augment 
 the migratory population. The present Bedouins 
 are fond of tracing their descent from Ishmacl, and 
 consider their numbers as fulfilling the promise made 
 to Hagar, of a numerous posterity to issue from her
 
 ARABIA 
 
 [86] 
 
 ARABIA 
 
 son. Their character, too, agrees with that of their 
 alleged progenitor, for their hand is against every man ; 
 and every man''s hand is against them. Their disposi- 
 tion leads them to the exercise of ai-nis, and warlike 
 habits ; to the tending of flocks ; and to the keen ex- 
 amination of the tracts and passages of their country, 
 in hopes of meeting with booty. They despise the 
 nj-ts of civilized and social life; nor v.'ill they inter- 
 marry with settled tribes, nor with the Turks, nor 
 with the Moors, lest they should degrade the dignity 
 of their pedigree. Their families are now dispersed 
 over Syria, IMesopotamia, Palestine, Egypt, and great 
 part of Africa, beside their original country, the Ara- 
 bias. They have, indeed, but few kingdoms in which 
 they possess absolute power, but they are governed 
 by (princes) emirs, and by (elders) sheiks ;'dnd though 
 no where composing an empire, yet in the whole 
 they are a prodigious multitude of men — an unde- 
 niable fullilment (in conjunction with the Jews) of 
 the promise made to Abraham, that his posterity 
 should be innumerable, as the stajs in heaven, or as 
 the sand of the sea. 
 
 To us, who inhabit to^\^^s, and have fixed resi- 
 dences, the wandering and migratory lives of the pa- 
 triarchs have a j)cculiar, and somewhat strange, ap- 
 pearance ; but among the Arabs, that very kind of 
 life is customary at this daj'. In Egypt, "The Be- 
 douin Arabs ai-e distributed into little companies, 
 each with a cliief, Avhom they call sheik; they dwell 
 always under tents, and each platoon foinis a little 
 camp. As they have no land belonging to them, 
 they change their abode as often as they please. 
 When they fix themselves any where, for a certain 
 time, they make an agreement with the Bey, the 
 Cachelf, or the Caimakan, and purchase, for a whole 
 year, the permission of cultivating a certain portion 
 of land, or of feeding theii- flocks there, dm-ing the 
 time they agi-ee for. They continue there, then, veiy 
 peaceably, go forwards and backwards into the vil- 
 lages, or neighboring towns, sell and purchase what 
 tliey please, and enjoy all the liberty they can de- 
 sire." But "they often establish themselves on the 
 laud they occupy, scpjuviting from the jurisdiction of 
 the government the land they have seized on, and 
 taking possession of it, without paying the tax. This 
 is a loss for the govermnent, which is, by this means, 
 deprived of the revenue of those lands." (Norden's 
 Travels in EgApt, p. 9().) This may remind us of the 
 mode of life of the patriarchs, Al)raham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob : and so we fuul Abimelech jealous of Isaac's 
 greatness — " Go from us, for thou ait much mightier 
 than we; and if we let thee stay a little longer, thou 
 wilt seize the land as tliy property, and we shall lose 
 the revenue of it." — "They go into the villages or 
 neidiboring towns ;" so " Dinah, tiie daughter of Ja- 
 cob, went out to see tlie daugiitcrs of the kuul ;"' — 
 i. e. into the town of Shechem, as th<'. story proves. 
 This may also remind us of the injmwtions of Jon- 
 adnb, son of Ri'rl-.ab, on liis posterity : (Jer. xxxv. 6.) 
 "Ye shall not buikl a house, but dwell intents all 
 your days." ^ iN'everthelrss, th"y fled for .sliolter, from 
 the army of tlr; Chaldeans, to Jerusalem; though 
 even there, no doul.'t, tiu-y contiinird to abide in 
 their tents ; and this singularity distinguislied them, 
 not to the j)rophit only, but to all lli(> iidiabitants of 
 Jerusalem. Col. Capiicr, in his " Observations on 
 the Passage to India," (1778,) thus describes an Arab 
 encamj)nient: — "From this hill, we could j^lainlv 
 perceive, at the distance of about three miles, an im- 
 mense body of Arabs, which, as they had their fam- 
 ilies and florlcs with tlieni, looked like nn encamp- 
 
 ment of the patriarchs : they first sent out a detach- 
 ment of about four hundred men towards us ; but, 
 finding Ave were drawn up to receive them, five men 
 only advanced from the main body, seeminglj' with 
 an intention to treat : on seeing which, we also sent 
 five of our people on foot to meet them. A short 
 conference ensued ; and then both parties came to 
 our camp, and were received with great ceremony 
 by our sheik : they proved to be Bedouins, under 
 the command of sheik Fadil, amounting together to 
 nearly twenty thousand, including icomen and chil- 
 dren. After much negotiation, our sheik agreed to 
 paj- a tribute of one chequin for every camel carry- 
 ing merchandise ; but he refused to pay for those 
 cariying tents, baggage, or provisions : — they promised 
 to send arejeek [a protecting companion of their own 
 party] with us, till we were past ail danger of being 
 molested by any of their detached parties," (p. G3.) 
 This extract may give us some idea of the Israelites 
 encampment in the wilderness, under ]Moses. Here 
 we find 20,000 persons, women and children in- 
 cluded. How heavy was the burden of Babylon ! 
 (Isaiah xiii. 20.) " It shall never be inhabited, neither 
 shall it be dwelt in, from generation to generation; 
 neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there ; neither 
 shall the shepherds make a fold there :" — wander 
 where they will, they shall keep aloof from Babylon. 
 To the same pin-pose speaks Niebulir : — " Their way 
 of living is nearly the same as that of the otlur 
 wandering Arabs, of the Kurds, and of the Tm'ce- 
 mans. They lodge in tents n-ade of coarse str.ft', 
 either black, or striped black and white ; which ia 
 manufactured by the women, of goats' hair. The 
 tent consists of three apartments, of which one is for 
 the men, another for the women, and the third for 
 the cattle. Those ■(\iio are too poor to have a tent, 
 contrive, however, to shelter themselves from the in- 
 clemencies of the weather, either with a piece of 
 cloth stretched upon poles, or by retiring to the 
 cavities of the rocks. As the shade of trees is ex- 
 ceedingly agreeable in such torrid regions, the Bed- 
 ouins are at great pains in seeking out shaded 
 situations to encamp in." (Travels, vol. i. p. 208.) 
 " I am black, but comely," says the spouse ; (Cant. i. 
 5.) black, as the tciUs of Kedar, come]}', as the tent-cur- 
 tains of Solomon. It should be remembered, how- 
 ever, that those who are able, have distinct tents, not 
 apartments only, for the men, the women, and the 
 cattle. Sec Tents. 
 
 The pure and ancient Arabians were divided into 
 tribes, as well as the sons of Ishmael. Some of 
 these tribes still exist in Arabia, others are lost and 
 extinct. The Islnnaclitcs formed twelve tribes, ac- 
 cording to the number of the sons of Ishmael, (Gen. 
 XXV. 13, 14.) viz. Nebajoth, Kedar, Abdiel, Mibsam, 
 ?dishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadar, Tenia, Jetur, Na- 
 l)hish,and Kedemah ;but although those people very 
 carefully jireserve their genealogy, yet they cannot 
 trace it up to Ishmael; they are obliged to stop at 
 Adnan, one of his descendants; the genealogj^- even 
 of Mahomet rises no higher. Besides the descend- 
 ants of Ishmael, who ])eopled the greater part of 
 Arabia, the sons of Almdiam and Keturah, of Lot, of 
 Ksau,ofNahor, ami others,dwelt in the same countr}', 
 and mixed witli, or drovi' out, th(" old inhabitants. 
 
 The inhabitants of Arabia are divided into those 
 who dwell in cities, njul those who live in the 
 field and desert: the latter al)ide continually in 
 tents, and are much more honest and simple than the 
 Arabians who live in towns. Of these some are 
 Gentiles, others Mussulmans; the fonner preceded
 
 ARABIA 
 
 [87 ] 
 
 ARABIA 
 
 Mahomet, and are now called among thorn '• Ara- 
 bians of the Days of Ignorance ;" the others, who 
 have received the doctri)ies preached by Mahomet, 
 arc called Moslcnioun, or Mussidnians, that is, be- 
 lievers; and are the peoj)le who conquered, and who 
 still possess, great part of Asia and Africa ; and who 
 foiuided the four great monarchies of the Turks, the 
 Persians, 3Iorocco,and Mogul ; not lo mention less- 
 er kingdoms. 
 
 The ancient Arabians were idolaters ; worshipping 
 a stone, says Clemens Alexandrinus. 3Iaximus Tyr- 
 ius and the modern Arabians accuse them of the 
 same. The black stone, which has the repute of 
 having been "from time innnemorial" the object of 
 their worship, is still to be seen in the Caaba at 
 Mecca. They say this stone was originally white, 
 but has wept itself black, on account of the sins of 
 mankind. Herodotus says they had only two deities — 
 Bacchus and Venus. Strabo tells us that they adored 
 only Jupiter and Bacchus ; which Alexander the 
 Great being informed of, resolved to subdue them, 
 that he might oblige them to worship him as their 
 third deity. The modern Arabians mention other 
 names of ancient deities adored in Arabia ; as Lakiah, 
 whom die^ invoked for rain ; Hafedah, for preserva- 
 tion from serious accidents in journeys ; Razora, for 
 the necessaries of life : Lath, or Allat, which is a 
 diminutive of Allah, the true name of God ; Aza, or 
 Uza, from ^^ziz, which signifies the Mighty God ; 
 Menat, from .Menan, distributor of favors. It is very 
 probable that they adored likewise the two golden 
 antelopes, which are frequently mentioned in their 
 histories, and which were consecrated in the temple 
 at Mecca. The ancient Midianites, among whom 
 Moses retired when he was received by Jethro, 
 worshipped Abda and Hinda. (D'Herbelot, p. 47G.) 
 Urotalt, mentioned by Heiodotus, denotes probably 
 the sun ; and Alilat, the moon. The first of these 
 words may signify the God of Light ; the second, 
 the God, or Goddess, eminently. 
 
 The Arabs glory in the fertility of their language, 
 which, certainly, is one of the most ancient in the 
 world ; and is remarkable for its copiousness and the 
 multitude of words which express the same thing. 
 We read in Pococke's Notes ou Abulpharagius, that 
 Ibn Chalawaisch composed a book on the names of 
 the lion, which amounted to .500; and those of the 
 serpent to 200. Honey is said to have 80 names ; 
 and a sword 1000. The greater part of these names, 
 however, are poetical epithets ; just as we say the 
 Almighty for God. So in Arabic, the lion is the 
 strong, the terrible, &c. Some specimens of their 
 poetry are thought by Schultens to be of the age of 
 Solomon. The present Arabic characters are mod- 
 ern. The ancient writing of Arabia was without 
 vowels, like the Hebrew ; and so is also the modern 
 Arabic, except in the Koran and other specimens 
 of exact chirograjjhy. The Ai"abs studied astron- 
 omy, astrology, divination, &c. Thej^ suffer no like- 
 ness of animated nature on their coins. See Ori- 
 ental Languages. 
 
 A history of Arabia is that of human nature in its 
 earliest stages of association, and with as little change 
 of manners from generation to generation as may l)e. 
 "If any people in the world," says Niei)uhr, "affoi-d 
 in their histoiy an instance of high antiquity and of 
 great simplicity of manners, the Arabs surely do. 
 Coming among them, one can hardly help fancying 
 one'ii self suddenly carried backwards to the ages 
 which immediately succeeded the flood. We are 
 tempted to imagine ourselves among the old patri- 
 
 archs, with whose adventures we have been so much 
 amused in our infant days. The language, which has 
 been spoken from time immemorial, and which so 
 nearly resembles that which we have been accustomed 
 to regard as of the most distant antiquity, completes 
 the illusion which the analogy of manners began." 
 (Travels, vol. ii. p. 2.) "All that is known concern- 
 ing tlie earliest period of the nistory of this country, 
 is, that it was governed in those days by potent 
 monarchs called Tobba. This is thought to have 
 been a title common to all those princes, as the 
 name Pharaoh was to the ancient sovereigns of 
 Egjpt." (Ibid. p. 10.) "The countiy which this 
 nation iidiabits affords many objects of curiosity, 
 equally singular and interesting. Intersected by 
 sandy deserts, and vast ranges of mountains, it pi'e- 
 sents on one side nothing but desolation in its most 
 frightful form, while the other is adorned with all the 
 beauties of the most fertile regions. Such is its posi- 
 tion, that it enjoys, at once, all the advantages of 
 sidtry and of temperate climates. The peculiar pro- 
 ductions of regions the most distant from one an- 
 other, are produced here in equal perfection. Hav- 
 ing never been conquered, Arabia has scarcely knoA^Ti 
 any changes, but those effected by the hand of na- 
 ture ; it bears none of the impressions of human fury 
 which appear in many other places." " The natural 
 and local circumstances of Arabia are favorable to 
 that spirit of independence which distinguishes its 
 inhabitants from ether nations. Their deserts and 
 mountains have always secured them from the en- 
 croachments of conquest. Those inhabiting the 
 plains have indeed been subdued, but their servi- 
 tude has been only temporary ; and the only foreign 
 ])owers to whose arms they have yielded, have been 
 those bordering on the two gulfs between which 
 this country lies." (Ibid. p. 99.) " The most ancient 
 and powerful tribes of this people are those which 
 easily retire into the desert when attacked by a foreign 
 enemy." (Ibid. p. 1C8.) "The Bedouins, who live in 
 tents in the desert, have never been subclued by any 
 conqueror; but such of them as have been enticed, 
 by the prospect of an easier way of life, to settle 
 near towns, and in fertile provinces, are now, in 
 some measure, dependent on the sovereigns of those 
 provinces. Such are the Arabs in the different parts 
 of the Ottoman empire. Some of them pay a rent 
 or tribute for the towns or paslurages v/hich they 
 occupy. Others frequent the banks of the Eu- 
 phrates, only in one season of the year ; and in 
 winter return to the desert. These last acknowl- 
 edge no dependence on the Porte." (Ibid. p. 164.) 
 "Of all nations the Arabs have spread farthest over 
 the world, and in all their wanderings they have, better 
 than any other nation, preserved their language, 
 manners, and peculiar customs. From east to west, 
 from the banks of the Senegal to the Indus, are 
 colonies of the Arabs to be met with ; and between 
 north and south, thej' are scattered from the Eu- 
 phrates to the island of Madagascar. The Tartar 
 hordes have not occupied so wide an extent of the 
 globe." 
 
 The Arabians in general are cunning, witty, gener- 
 ous, and ingenious ; lovers of eloquence and poetry ; 
 but superstitious, vindictive, sanguinary, and given to 
 robbery, (that is, of those not under the protection of 
 some of their own people,) which they think allow- 
 able, because Abraham, the father of Ishmael, say 
 they, gave his son nothing. Gen. xxv. 5, 6. 
 
 The Arabs have various traditions among them of 
 Scripture personages and events. They relate ad-
 
 ARABIA 
 
 [88 ] 
 
 ARA 
 
 renlurcs of Abraham their progenitor, of Moses, of 
 Jcthro, of Solomon, and others. They have seen 
 originate in their country tliose modes of rehgion to 
 wliich a great portion of mankind adhere: the Jew- 
 ish, the Clu'istiau, and the Mahometan. We have 
 no complete list of their kings, nor history of their 
 country ; but some few^xed periods have been dis- 
 covered by the learnea, of which the mention of 
 a part may be acceptable. A complete history 
 would throw great light on So ipture ; and notwith- 
 standing the broken and divided nature of its sub- 
 ject, in relation to various governments, yet the gen- 
 eral picture of life and manners which it would ex- 
 hibit, could not fail of being both interesting and 
 instructive. 
 
 Ante A. D. 1817. Jocta^, son of Heber. He was 
 succeeded by his son, his gi*andson, and his great- 
 grandson. 
 
 Kabr-Houd — the tomb of Heber — is said to be ex- 
 tant, at the extremity of a district named Seger, situ- 
 ated between Hadramaut and Marah. 
 
 1698. Hamyar, son of Abd-elshams ; whose 
 
 family possessed the sovereignty 2'200 years ; but not 
 without intervals of privation. 
 
 1458. Afrikis, contemporary with Joshua. 
 
 The Arab writers say that he granted an asylum to a 
 tribe of Canaanites expelled by Joshua. 
 
 980. Balkis, the queen of Sheba, who visit- 
 ed Solomon. 
 
 Malek, brother of Balkis ; who lost an 
 
 army in the moving sands of the desert. 
 
 — - — 890. Amram, not of the Hamyarite family. 
 
 860. Al Alkram, of the Hamyarite family. 
 
 DnouHABSCHAN, his son. In his reign a 
 
 prodigious inundation, from a collection of waters, 
 overwhelmed the city of Saba, the capital of Yemen, 
 and destroyed the adjacent country. 
 
 A. D. 436. Dhou'lnaovas, deprived of his do- 
 minions by the Ethiopians, threw himself into the sea. 
 
 502. The Hamyarites cease to reign in Arabia, 
 which is now governed by Ethio])ian viceroys. 
 
 569. Mahomet bom : he invents and propagates 
 a new religion, which he spreads by conquest. In 
 A. D. 622, he flees from Mecca to Medina, July 16th, 
 which constitutes the commencement of the Ilcgira, 
 or Mahometan era. 
 
 The early successors of Mahomet removed the 
 seat of empire into Syria, and afterwards to Bagdad ; 
 where it continued till the taking of that city by the 
 Tartar Houloga.n, in the fouz'tcenth century. 
 
 The customs of the Arabians are alUed in many 
 respects to those which we find in Holy Writ ; and 
 arc greatly illustrative of them ; many being, indeed, 
 the very same, retained to this day. Their jiersonal 
 and domestic maxims, their local and political pro- 
 ceedings, are the same now as heretofore ; and the 
 general character anciently attributed to them, of 
 being plunderers, yet hos|)itable ; greedy, deceitful, 
 and vindictive, yet generous, trust-worthy, and hon- 
 orable ; is precisely the description of their nation 
 at present. The Scripture frequently mentions the 
 Arabians (meaning those adjoining Judca) as a pow- 
 erful peo])le, who valued themselves on their wis- 
 dom. Their riches consisted princi|)ally in flocks 
 and cattle ; they paid king Jehoshaphat an annual 
 tribute of 7700 sheep, and as many goats, 2 Cliron. 
 xvii. 11. The kings of Arabia fiunished Solomon 
 with a great quantity of gold and silver, 2 Chron. ix. 
 14. They loved war, but made it rather like thieves 
 and plunderers, than like soldiers. They lived at 
 hberty in the field, or the desert, concerned them- 
 
 selves little about cultivating the earth, and were not 
 very obedient to established governments. This is 
 the idea which Scripture gives of them ; (Isa. xiii. 
 20.) and the same is their character at this day. 
 
 There are many other particulars in wliich this 
 people appear to resemble their collateral relations, 
 the Jews ; and probably the worship of the true God 
 was long j)reserved among them — to the time of 
 Jethro, at least ; but the prevalence of Mahometan- 
 ism has given a certain cliaracter to them, which 
 renders them almost obdurate against the gospel. 
 The true Arabians are not so intolerant as the Turks, 
 and should be carefully distinguished not only from 
 the Turks, the Saracens, and the IMoors, but also 
 among the Arabs themselves, because the proportion 
 of vices and virtues which characterize them, dif- 
 fers among the tribes, no less than among indi- 
 viduals. 
 
 Since the propagation of the gospel, many Ara- 
 bians have embraced Christianity ; and we know of 
 some bishops and martyrs of Arabia. In Origen's 
 time a council was held there against certain her- 
 etics. The iNIahometans acknowledge, that before 
 ]Mahomct there were three tribes in this country 
 which professed Christianity ; those of Thanouk, Ba- 
 hora, and Naclab. That of Thanouk, having had 
 some difl^erence with their neighbors on the subject 
 of religion, retired to the province of Baliarain, on 
 the Persian gulf. 
 
 [There are three etymologies usually given of the 
 name Arabia ; one of which is mentioned under 
 Arabia Deserta, above ; the second is also men- 
 tioned above, viz. that it was from Jarab, the son of 
 Joktan or Kathan ; the third is sanctioned by Rosen- 
 mueller, viz. that the Heb. 3-1;; has the same meaning 
 as the feminine n3"\;', i. c. a plain, a desert. 
 
 The ancient Hebrews gave to all the countries 
 afterwards comprehended under the name Ara- 
 bia, the general ap})cllation of the East, and called 
 the inhabitants children of the East, Gen. xxv. 6 ; 
 Judg. vi. 3 ; Job i. 3, Sec. The name Arab and 
 Arabia was originally apj)ljed by the Hebrews only 
 to a small portion of the vast temtory now known 
 by that title. In Ezek. xxvii. 21, among several 
 Arabian provinces Avhich traded with Tyre, Arab 
 (Arabia) and the princes of Kedar are mentioned ; 
 compare also 2 Chron. xxi. 16, 17 ; xxvi. 7. Under 
 cdl the kings of Arabia^ mentioned 1 Kings x. 15, Jer. 
 xxv. 24, are doubtless to be imderstood chiefs of 
 Arab nomadic tribes or Bedouins. The Arabians 
 spoken of in Isa. xiii. 20, Jer. iii. 2, are in like man- 
 ner Bedouins, who wander in the desert and 
 dwell in tents. When the apostle Paul says, (Gal. 
 i. 17.) that he tvent i7ito Arabia aiid returned again to 
 Damascus, he means, without doubt, the northern 
 part of Arabia Deserta, which lay adjacent to the 
 territory of Damascus. He uses the name in a 
 wider sense, when he remarks, (Gal. iv. 25.) that 
 mount Sinai lies in Arabia. 
 
 For full and ])articu!ar accounts of Arabia and its 
 inhabitants, see Niebuhr's Travels ; Burckhardt's 
 Travels in Arabia, Lond. 1829 ; Kosenmueller's Bibl. 
 Gcogr. vol. iii ; and also the 3Iodcrn Traveller in 
 Arabia, which contains a very good account of the 
 history and geogi-aphy of Arabia, and especially 
 of the peninsula of mount Sinai, compiled from 
 various authors. *R. 
 
 ARACEANS, or Arkites, a people descended from 
 Arak, son of Canaan, who dwelt in the city Arco, or 
 Area, at the foot of mount Libanus. Josephus and 
 Ptolemy both speak of this city. Antoninus's Itine-
 
 ARA 
 
 [89] 
 
 ARARAT 
 
 rary i)laccs it between Tripolis and Antaradus ; and 
 Josephus produces a fragment of the history of As- 
 syria, wherein it is related, that the inhabitants of 
 Arce submitted to the Assyrians, together with those 
 of Sidon and the ancient Tyre. He says, also, that 
 tJie river Sabbaticus empties itself into the Mediter- 
 ranean, between Arce and Raphansea. This is prob- 
 ably the Arce said to belong to the tribe of Asher, 
 and otherwse called Antipas. (Antiq. book v. chap. 
 1.) In Solomon's time, Baariah was superintendent 
 of the tribe of Asher, according to the Hebrew, (1 
 Kings iv. 16.) but Josephus says, he was governor of 
 the country around the city of Arce, which lies on 
 the sea. In the later times of the Jewish common- 
 wealth, this city was part of Agrippa's kingdom. 
 See Rosenm. Bibl. Geog. II. i. 10. 
 
 ARAD, Akada, Arath, Adraa, or Adra, a city 
 south of the tribe of Judah and the land of Canaan, in 
 Arabia Petra^a. The Israelites having advanced to- 
 wards Canaan, the king of Arad opposed their pas- 
 sage, defeated them, and took a booty from them. 
 But they devoted his country as accursed, and de- 
 stroyed all its cities, when they became masters of 
 the land of Canaan, Numb. xxi. 1. Arad was re- 
 built ; and Eusebius places it in the neighborhood 
 of Kadesli, four miles from 3Ialathis, and twenty 
 from Hebron. 
 
 ARADUS, in the Bible, Arvad, now Ruad, a city 
 and island in the Mediterranean, on the coast of 
 PhcEuicia, over against Antaradus. The isle of Ara- 
 dus is but seven furlongs, or 875 paces about, and 
 is 200 paces distant from the continent. The Ara- 
 diaus, or Arkites, descendants of Canaan, dwelt at 
 Aradus, Gen. x. 17. This country was jiromised to 
 the Israelites ; liut thej- did not possess it until, per- 
 haps, the reign of David, or that of Solomon. 
 
 I. ARAM, the fifth son of Shem, (Gen. x. 22.) was 
 the father of the people of Syria, who, from him, are 
 called Aramteans. (See Shem.) Homer and Hesiod 
 call those Aramaeans, whom the more modern Greeks 
 call Syrians. The prophet Amos (ix. 7.) seems to 
 say, that the first Aramaeans dwelt in the country of 
 Kir, in Iberia, where the river Cyrus runs ; and that 
 God brought them from thence, as he did the He- 
 brews out of Egypt : but at what time this happened 
 is not known. Moses always calls the Syrians, and 
 inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Aramites. The Ara- 
 maeans often warred against the Hebrews ; but Da- 
 vid subdued them, and obliged them to pay him trib- 
 ute. Solomon preserved the sanie authority ; but, 
 after the separation of the ten tribes, it does not ap- 
 pear that the Syrians were generally subject to the 
 kings of Israel ; unless, perhaps, under Jeroboam II. 
 who restored the kingdom of Israel to its ancient 
 boundaries, 2 Kings xiv. 25. For the Aramaean lan- 
 guage or dialect, see Oriental Languages. 
 
 II. ARAM. There are several countries of this 
 name mentioned in Scripture ; as — Aram Naharaim, 
 or Syria of the Two Rivere, that is, of Mesopotamia ; 
 Aram of Damascus ; Aram of Soba; Aram of Beth- 
 rehob; and Aram of Maachah. See Syria. 
 
 ARARAT, a country and mountain in Armenia, 
 on which the ark is said to have rested, after the 
 deluge, Gen. viii. 4. It has been affinncd, that there 
 are still remains of Noah's ark on the top of this 
 mountain ; but M. de Tournefort, who visited the 
 spot, assures us that there was nothing like it ; that 
 the top of the mountain is inaccessible, both by rea- 
 son of its great height, and of the snow which [)er- 
 petually covers it. Ararat is twelve leagues from 
 Erivan, east, and is situated in a vast plain, in tlie 
 12 
 
 midst of which it rises. The Eastern people call 
 mount Ararat, Ar-dag, or Parmak-dagh, the finger 
 mountain, because it is straight, and stands by it- 
 self, like a finger held up; or the mountain of Dag. 
 It is visiljle at the distance of 180 or 200 miles. 
 Tavernier says, there are many monasteries on 
 mount Ararat ; that the Armenians call it Mere- 
 soussar, because the ark stopped here. It is, as it 
 were, taken off" from the other mountains of Arme- 
 nia, which form a long chain : fi-om the top to the 
 middle, it is often covered with snow three or four 
 months of the year. He adds, that the city of Nek- 
 givan, or Nakschivan, three leagues from mount 
 Ararat, is the most ancient in the world ; that Noah 
 settled here, when he quitted the ark ; that the word 
 JVak-schivan is derived from JVak, which signifies 
 ship, and schivan, stopped or settled, in memory of 
 the ark's resting on mount Ararat. 
 
 The Armenians maintain, by tradition, that, since 
 Noah, no one has been able to climb this mountain, 
 because it is perpetually covered with snow, which 
 never melts, unless to make room for other snow, 
 newly fallen ; that Noah, when he left the ark, set- 
 tled at Erivan, twche leagues from Ararat, and that 
 at a league from this city, in a very happy aspect, 
 that patriarch planted the vine in a place which at 
 present jiekls excellent wine. Mr. Morier describes 
 Ararat as being most beautiful in shape, and most 
 awful in height ; and Sir Robert Ker Porter has fur- 
 nished the following gi-aphic picture of this stupen- 
 dous work of nature : — " As the vale opened beneath 
 us, in our descent, my whole attention became ab- 
 sorbed in the view before me. A vast plain peopled 
 with countless villages ; the towers and spires of the 
 churches of Eitch-mai-adzen arising from amidst 
 them ; the glittering waters of the Araxes flowing 
 through the fresh green of the vale ; and the subordi- 
 nate range of mountains skirting the base of the 
 awful monument of the antediluvian world, it seemed 
 to stand a stupendous link in the liistoi-y of man, 
 uniting the two races of men before and after the 
 flood. But it was not until we had arrived upon 
 the flat plain that I beheld Ararat in all its ampli- 
 tude of gi-andeur. From the spot on which I stood, 
 it appeared as if the hugest mountains of the world 
 had been piled upon each other, to form this one 
 sublime immensity of earth, and rock, and snow. 
 The icy peaks of its double heads rose majestically 
 into the clear and cloudless lieavens ; the sun blazed 
 bright upon them, and the reflection sent forth a 
 dazzling radiance equal to other suns. This point 
 of the view united the utmost grandeur of plain and 
 height, but the feelings I experienced whilfe looking 
 on the mountain are hai-dly to be described. My 
 eye, not able to rest for any length of time on the 
 blinding glory of its summits, wandered do^vn the 
 apparently interminable sides, till I could no longer 
 trace their vast fines in the mists of the horizon ; 
 when an inexpressible impulse, immediately carry- 
 ing my eye upwards again, refixed my gaze on the 
 awftd glare of Ararat ; and this bewildered sensibil- 
 ity of sight being answered by a similar feeling in 
 the mind, for some moments I was lost in a strange 
 suspension of the powers of thought." 
 
 Of the two separate peaks, called Little and Great 
 Ararat, which are separated by a chasm about seven 
 miles in width. Sir Robert Porter thus speaks ;— 
 "These inaccessible summits have never been trod- 
 den by the foot of man, since the days of Noah, if 
 even then, for my idea is that the ark rested in the 
 space between these heads, and not on the top of
 
 ARARAT 
 
 [90] 
 
 ARARAT 
 
 either. V'arious attempts have been made in differ- 
 ent ages to ascend these tremendous mountain pyra- 
 mids, but in vain ; their form, snows, and glaciers 
 are insurmountable obstacles, the distance being so 
 great from the commencement of the icy regions to 
 the highest points, cold alone Avould be the destruc- 
 tion of any person who should have the hardihood 
 to persevere. On viewuig mount Ararat from the 
 northern side of the plain, its two heads are sepa- 
 rated by a wide cleft, or rather glen, in the body of 
 the mountain. The rocky side of the greater head 
 rims almost perpendicularly down to the north-east, 
 while the lesser head rises" from the sloping bottom 
 of the cleft, in a perfectly conical shape. Both 
 heads are covered with sno\\. The form of the 
 greater is similar to the less, only broader and 
 rounder at the top, and shows to the north-west a 
 broken and abrupt front, opening about half way down 
 into a stupendous chasm, deep, rocky, and peculiarly 
 black. At that part of the mountain, the hollow of 
 the chasm receives an interruption from the projec- 
 tion of the minor mountains, which start from the 
 side of Ararat, like branches from the root of a tree, 
 and run along in undulating jirogression, till lost in 
 the distant vapors of the plain." 
 
 [The following interesting and graphic account, 
 both of the province and mountain of Ararat, is 
 from the pen of the Rev. E. Smith, American mis- 
 sionary to Palestine, who made an exjiloring tour in 
 Persia and Armenia, in 1830 and 1831. It was writ- 
 ten from Tebreez in Persia, under date of Feb. 18th, 
 1831, and is here extracted from the Biblical Repos- 
 itory, vol. ii. p. 202. 
 
 "The name of Ararat occurs but twice in the Old 
 Testament, Gen. viii. 4, and Jerein. U. 27 ; and both 
 times as the name of a country, which in the last pas- 
 sage is said to have a king. It is well known, that this 
 was the name of one of the iifteen provinces of Ar- 
 menia. It was situated nearly in the centre of the 
 kingdom ; was very extensive, reaching from a point 
 above seven or eight miles east of the modern Erz- 
 room, to within thirty or forty miles of Nakhchewau ; 
 yielded to none in fertility, being watered froin cue 
 extremity to the other by the Araxes, which divided 
 it into two nearly equal parts ; and contained some 
 eight or ten cities, which were successively the resi- 
 dences of the kings, princes, or governors of Arme- 
 nia, from the commencement of its jjolitical exist- 
 ence about 2000 years B. C. according to Armenian 
 tradition, until the extinction of the Pagi-atian dy- 
 nasty, about the middle of the 11th century; with 
 the exception of about 2-30 years at the conimence- 
 ment of the Arsacian dynasty, when Nisibis and Orfa 
 were the capitals. It is therefore not unnatural that 
 this name shoidd be substituted for that of the whole 
 kingdom, and thus become known to foreign na- 
 tions, and tiiat tlie king of Armenia should bc'called 
 the king of Ararat. This |)rovince we have seen 
 almost in its whole extent, first entering it at the 
 western and then at its e.istern extreruity. 
 
 "On the last occasion we passed very near the 
 base of that noble mountain, which is called by the 
 Armr^nians, ;\Iasis, and i)y Etu-o|)eaMS gencrallv Ara- 
 rat ; and for more than twenty days had it constant- 
 ly ill sight, except when olj"scurcd by clouds. It 
 consigts of two peaks, one considerably higher than 
 the other, and is connected with a chain of moun- 
 tains running off to the ufirth-west and west, which 
 though high, are not of sutiicieiu ehjvatioii to detract 
 at all from the lonely dignity of this stupendous 
 mass. From Nakhchewan, nt the distance of at 
 
 least 100 miles to the south-east, it appeared like an 
 immense isolated cone, of extreme regularity, rising 
 out of the valley of the Araxes. Its height is said 
 to be 16,000 feet, but I do not know by whom 
 the measurement was taken. The eternal snows 
 upon its summit occasionally form vast avalanches, 
 Avhich precipitate themselves down its sides Avith a 
 sound not unlike that of an earthquake. When we 
 saw it, it AA'as white to its veiy base with siioaw And 
 certainly not among the mountains of Ararat or of 
 Armenia generally, nor those of any part of the 
 world where I have been, have I ever seen one 
 whose majesty could plead half so powerfully its 
 claims to the honor of having once been the step- 
 ping stone between the old world and the new. I 
 gave myself up to the feehng, that on its summit were 
 once congregated all the inhabitants of the earth, and 
 that, while in the valley of the Araxes, I was paying a 
 visit to the second cradle of the human race. Nor 
 can I allow my opinion to be at all shaken by the 
 Chaldee paraphrasts, the Syrian translators and com- 
 mentators, and the traditions of the whole family of 
 Syrian churches, which translate the passage in ques- 
 tion mountains of the Kurds. The Septuagint and Jo- 
 sephus, who support the Hebrew oi-iginal, certainly 
 speak the language of a ti-adition quite as ancient. 
 Not to urge the names of places around moimt INIa- 
 sis in favor of its claims, as I think in the case of 
 Nakhchewan might be done with some force, there 
 is one passage of Scripture of some imjjortance, 
 which I do not recollect to have ever seen applied 
 to elucidate this subject. In Gen. ii. 2, where the 
 movements of the descendants of Noah are first al- 
 luded to, it is said that they journeyed from the 
 east and came into the land of Shinar. Now, had 
 the ark rested upon the mountains of Kiu'distan, 
 they would naturally have issued at once into Meso- 
 potamia, and have made their way down to Babylon 
 from the north ; nor would they have been obliged 
 to go so far to find a plain. But in migrating from 
 the valley of the Araxes, they would of course keep 
 on the eastern side of the Median mountains until 
 they almost reached the parallel of Babylon, before 
 they would find a convenient place for crossing 
 them. Such is now the daily route of caravans 
 going from Tebreez to Bagdad. They go south as 
 far as Kermanshah, and then, making almost a right 
 angle, take a western direction to Bagdad ; thus mak- 
 ing their journey some ten or twelve days longer 
 than it would be, were they to take the more moun- 
 tainous and difficult road by Soleymania. It has 
 been objected to this location of mount Ararat, that 
 there are now no olive trees near enough for Noah's 
 dove to have plucked her leaf from ; and perhaps 
 this opinion gave rise to the tradition in favor of the 
 Kurdish mountains, which are so near to the warm 
 regions of Mesopotamia. In fact, there are no olive 
 trees in the valley of the Araxes, nor of the Cyrus, 
 nor in any part of Armenia we have seen, nor yet, as 
 we have been told, on the shores of the Caspian. 
 They are to be found no nearer than some of the 
 warm valleys of the province of Akhaltzikhi and 
 the basin of the ancient Colchis. We mentioned 
 this objection in a circle of learned monks at Etch- 
 miazin. They shrewdly replied by asking, if it 
 would be very hard work for a jjigeon to fly to Ak- 
 haltzikhi and back again. Their ex])]anation was 
 in fact satisfactory. The distance, in the direction 
 taken by caravans, is about 1.30 miles, and in a 
 straight line must be less ; a distance which, accord- 
 ing to some recent experiments made upon the flight
 
 ARC 
 
 [ 9] 1 
 
 ARE 
 
 of carrier pigeons between Loudon and Antwerp, 
 might be easiij- passed over twice in a day by that 
 bird." *R. 
 
 ARAUNAH, or Or>a>-, an ancient inhabitant of 
 Jerusalem, whose threshing-floor was on mount Mo- 
 riah, where the temple was afterwards built, 2 Sam. 
 xxiv. 18 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 18. See Jerusalem. 
 
 ARBA, otherwise Hebron, (Josh. xiv. 15.) was 
 first possessed by giants of the race of Anak ; after- 
 wards given to the tribe of Judah, and the property 
 of it transferred to Caleb. The rabbins have a tradi- 
 tion tliat Heijron was called ^irba, that is, four, be- 
 cause the four most illustrious patriarchs, Adaju, 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were buried there ; or, 
 as others say, because four of the most celebrated 
 matrons of antiquity were interred there, viz. Eve, 
 Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah : but there is no account- 
 ing for these rabbinical traditions. See Hebron. 
 
 ARBATTIS, a city of Galilee, taken and destroyed 
 by Simon IMaccabceus, 1 Mace. v. 23. 
 
 ARBELA, the name of several places in Palestine. 
 It is said (1 Mace. ix. 2.) that Bacchides and Alchnus 
 came into Galilee, and encamped at Maseloth, which 
 is in Arbela. The city Masai, or Misheal, was in the 
 tribe of Asher, near to which was a place called Ar- 
 bela, Josh. xix. 26. — Eusebius and Jerome mention a 
 city of this name, in the great plain of Esdraelon, 
 nine miles from Legio, probably east ; and the former 
 writer mentions another belonging to the region of 
 Pella. See Betu-arbel. 
 
 ARCA, a city of Phosnicia, allotted to Asher, and 
 situated between Ai-ad and Tripohs. See Araceaxs. 
 
 ARCE, [from Arke,) or Rekem, by change of 
 pronunciation, or Petra, the capital of Arabia Petrsea. 
 See Rekem, and Petra. 
 
 ARCHANGEL. See Angel. 
 
 I. ARCHELAUS, king of Cappadocia, father of 
 Glaphjra, wife of Alexander, sou of Herod the Great. 
 See .Alexander VII. 
 
 II. ARCHELAUS, son of Herod the Great, and 
 Maltace, his fifth wife. Hei'od having put to death 
 his sons Alexander, Aristobulus, and Autipater, and 
 expunged from his will Herod Antipas, whom he 
 had declared king, substituted Archelaus, giving to 
 Antipas only the title of tetrarch. , (See Antipas.) 
 After the death of Herod, Archelaus was proclaimed 
 king by the populace, and aftei"\vards went to Rome 
 to procure from Augustus the confirmation of his 
 father's will. Antipas, his brother, disputed his title 
 before the emperor, and the Jews also sent a solemn 
 embassy to Rome, to desire Augustus to permit them 
 to live according to their own laws, and on the foot- 
 ing of a Roman province ; without being sul)ject to 
 kings of Herod's family, but only to the governors of 
 Syria. Augustus, having heard all parties, gave to 
 xVrchelaus the title, not of king, but of ethnarch, with 
 one moiety of the territories which his father Herod 
 had enjoyed ; promising him the crown likewise, if 
 his conduct should deserve it. Archelaus returned 
 to Judea, and tmder pretence that he had counte- 
 nanced the seditious against him, he deprived Joazar 
 of the high-priesthood, and gave that dignity to his 
 brother Eleazar. He governed Judea with so much 
 violence, that, at\er seven years, the chiefs of the Sa- 
 maritans and Jews accused him before Augustus ; 
 who sent for him to Rome, and after hearing his 
 defence, banished him to Vienne in Gaul, where he 
 died. His territoiy was reduced to the form of a Ro- 
 man ])rovincc, Josephus, de Bello, ii. 6 ; Ant. xvii. ult. 
 
 ARCHI, a city of Manasseh, near Bethel, Josh. 
 xvi. 2. 
 
 ARCHIPPUS, either a teacher or deacon in tlie 
 church at Colosse, of whom Paul speaks, as his fel- 
 low-soldier. Col. iv. 17 ; Philem. 2. 
 
 ARCHISYNAGOGUS, or ruler of the synagogue, 
 see Synagogue. 
 
 ARCTURUS signifies, properly, the Bear's tail, 
 and denotes a star in the tail of the Great Bear, or 
 constellation Ursa JNIajor. 
 
 Job is supposed to speak of Arcturus, or the Bear, 
 under the name of Ash, [a-;) chap. xi. 9; xxxviii. 32. 
 
 Niebuhr observes, that the Arabs have no names 
 in their language related to those HebreAv names 
 which occur in Job ix. 9, yet some of them, he adds, 
 call the Great Bear, Aos/(, or Benat .Ydsh ; from 
 which the Hebrew Ash, ::•;•, is probably a contrac- 
 tion ; and from a conversation he held with a Jewish 
 astrologer, at Bagdad, he is of opinion that v;, Ash, 
 signifies the Great Bear, [Ursa Major,) which is 
 called in Europe, bj^ the common people, a chariot — 
 " Charles's Wain." In the tables of Ulugh Bey, pub- 
 lished by Hyde, the stars « ■? •/ tV, of the Great Bear, 
 are called el JK'ash ; and the stars i ! »,, el Bendth. 
 Aben Ezra says, ^^Ash is the wagon, which is also 
 called the Bear, and is near to the north pole." Aben 
 Ezra also says, " The ancients have assured us, that 
 the seven small stars at the tail of the Ram compose 
 the A'lma," and Rabbi Isaac Israel says, in express 
 terms, '■^ Kima is the Arabian Thuraija — the Pleia- 
 des." (Descript. of Arabia, p. 114. Gemi. ed.) 
 
 We may therefore with great certainty conclude, 
 that the Ash, tr-y, in Job, is Ursa IMajor, and the Kimah, 
 n-'O, the Pleiades or seven stars ; although the LXX 
 understand Ash to be the Pleiades, and Kimah, 
 Arcturus. 
 
 That the course of the stars influenced the sea- 
 sons, in the opinion of the ancients, is well kno\\"n ; 
 whence Phny says, (hb. 2. cap. 39.) "Arcturus sel- 
 dom rises without bringing hail and tempests ;" and 
 (lib. xviii. cap. 28.) "the evils which the heavens 
 send us are of two kinds ; that is to say, tempests 
 which produce hail, storms, and other like things, 
 which is called Tas Major, and which are caused, as 
 I have often said, by dreadful stars, such as Arcturus, 
 Orion, and the Kids." The ancients, however, were 
 mistaken in this notion, for the stai-s only marked that 
 time of the year when such things might naturally 
 be expected. 
 
 AREOPAGUS, the place, or court, in which the 
 Areopagites, the celebrated and supreme judges of 
 Athens, assembled. It was on an enunence, for- 
 merly almost in the middle of the city ; but nothing 
 remains by which we can detemiine its form or con- 
 struction." "Going out of the gate, which is the 
 present entrance to the Acropolis," says Mr. Stuart, 
 "we had just before us the Areopagus, a hill which 
 gave name, as every one knows, to the most celebrated 
 tribunal of Athens^ built either on it, or contiguous to 
 it. This hill is almost entirely a mass of stone ; its 
 upper surface is ■^^^thout any considerable irregulari- 
 ties, but neither so level, nor so spacious, as that of 
 the Acropolis, and though of no great height, not 
 easily accessible, its sides being steep and abrupt. 
 On this hill the Amazons pitched their tents, when 
 they invaded Attica in the time of Theseus ; and in 
 after-times, the Persians under Xerxes began from 
 hence their attack on the Acropohs. Here we ex- 
 pected to find some vestiges of the tribunal — but 
 were disappointed, for we did not discover tlie least 
 remaining trace of building upon it. At the foot of 
 this rock, on the part facing the north-east, are some 
 natural caverns, and contiguous to them, rather the
 
 ARG 
 
 [ 9'-^ ] 
 
 ARI 
 
 rubbish thaii the ruins of souie considerable build- 
 ings. That nearest the Acropolis, according to tra- 
 dition, was the palace of Dionysius the Areopagite. 
 After Christianity was estabUshed at Athens, it be- 
 came a church, and was dedicated to him. Near it 
 stood the archbishop's palace, but that is at present 
 utterly demoUshed. It is not improbable, that both 
 the church and the palace were built on the ruins 
 of the ancient tribunal called the Areopagus." 
 
 It is said, the Areopagites pronounced sentence in 
 the dark, that they might not be affected by the sight 
 of the persons engaged in the prosecution. It is also 
 said, that before any person could be elected a judge 
 of the Areopagus, he must have discharged the office 
 of archon, or chief magistrate of the city ; but this 
 was not attended to in later ages. However, it 
 probably gives a character to Dionysius, who was 
 converted by Paul. The Areopagites took cog- 
 nizance of murders, impieties, and immoralities ; 
 they punished vices of all kinds — idleness included ; 
 they rewarded or assisted the virtuous ; they were 
 peculiarly attentive to blasi)hemies against the gods, 
 and to the performance of the sacred mysteries. It 
 was, therefore, with the greatest })ropr!ety, that Paul 
 was questioned before this tribunal. Having preached 
 at Athens against the plurality of gods, and declared, 
 that he came to reveal to the Athenians that God 
 whom they adored without knowing him, the apostle 
 was carried before the Areopagites, as the introducer 
 of new deities, (Acts xvii. 19, 22.) where he spoke 
 with so much wisdom, that he converted Dionysius, 
 one of the judges, and was dismissed, \\'ithout any 
 interference on their part. Our translation, by giving 
 the import of the word Areoj)agus, " Mars' hill," has 
 lost the coiTect representation of the passage ; since 
 Mars' hill might not be a court of justice ; and beside 
 tliis, the station of Dionysius, as one of the Areopa-^ 
 gites, is lost on the reader. Comp. Potter's Antiqui-* 
 tics of Greece, b. i. c. 19. Sec Athens. 
 
 AREOPOLIS, the same as Ar, or Ariei,, or 
 Rabbath-Moab. See Ar. 
 
 ARETAS, the proper name of several kings of 
 Arabia Petraea. One was contemporary with Anti- 
 pater. (Jos. Ant.xiv. c.2, 3, 4.) Another, the only one 
 mentioned in Scripture, gave his daughter in 'mar- 
 riage to Herod Antipas ; but she being repudiated by 
 Herod, Aretas made war upon him (A. D. 37) and 
 destroyed his army. In consccpience of this, the 
 emperor Tiberius, indignant at tlie audacity of Aretas, 
 and being entreated by Herod to give him' assistance, 
 directed Viteliius, tiiei'i procoiisid of Syria, to make 
 war upon the Arabian king, and bring him alive or 
 dead to Rome. Ikit while Viteliius was in the midst 
 of preparation for the war, and had already sent for- 
 ward some of his troops, Ik; received intelligence of 
 the death of Tiberius; on whicli he immediately re- 
 called his troo[)s, dismissed them into winter quar- 
 ter, and then left thi; province, A. D. 39. (.Tos. A;it. 
 xvii. c. 5.) Aretas, taking advantage of this supine- 
 uess, seems to have made an incursion and got pos- 
 session of Damascus; over which he then appointed 
 a governor or ethnarch, who, at the instigation of the 
 Jews, attempted to put Paul in i)rison, 2 Cor. xi. 32, 
 33; comp. Xrtn iv. 24, 25.— Under Nero, liowever^ 
 (A. D. 54 to 07,) Damascus apfiears again on coins as 
 a Roman city. See Kuinocl on Acts 1. c. and Pro- 
 legom. *l{. 
 
 I. ARGOIJ, (ajn.v, with proslli. n for 3n, a heap of 
 stones, etc.) a district ea.st of Jordan, in ihe half-tribe 
 of Manassch, and in the country of Rashaii, one of 
 the most fruitful territories ou the other side Jordan. 
 
 In this district were the sixty toAVns called Havoth- 
 Jair, which had walls and gates; without reckoning 
 villages and hamlets, not enclosed ; all belonging to 
 Og, king of Bashan. There are some remains of the 
 A^'ord Argolj in Ragab, a city east of Jordan, Deut. 
 iii. 4, 14 ; 1 Kings iv. 13. 
 
 II. ARGOB, the capital of the region of Argob. 
 Eusebius says, that Argob was fifteen miles west 
 from Gerasa. It is probably the same as Ragab, or 
 Ragabah, mentioned in the Mishna, in Menachoth, 
 viii. 3. and in Josephus, Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 23. The 
 Samaritan translation, instead of Argob, generally 
 puts Rigobah. 
 
 ARIEL (SxnN, lion of God, i. e. hero, or city of 
 heroes) is understood of the altar of burnt-offer- 
 ings; or of the city of Jerusalem, in Isaiah xxix. 
 
 I, 2, 7. 
 
 ARIMATHEA, or Ramah, or Ramatha, a city 
 whence came Joseph the counsellor, mentioned 
 Luke xxiii. 50. and often supposed to be the modern 
 Ramie, or Ranila, a pleasant town, standing in a fer- 
 tile plain, about thirty-five miles north-west of Jeru- 
 salem, on the high road to Jafia, and containing a 
 population of about 5000 souls, who are principally 
 occupied in Imsiiandry. [This, however, is a mis- 
 apprehension ; fur the Hebrew for Arimathca is 
 Ramah, not Ranileh ; and besides, this latter citj' 
 could not be mentioned in the Scriptures, since it 
 was first founded about A. D. 71G, by Soliman Ben 
 Abdolmelek, the seventh cahph of the race of the 
 Ommiadae. See Abulfedse Tab. Syr. p. 79 ; Rosenm. 
 Bibl. Geog. II. ii. p. 338. 
 
 Arimathea, then, is the Hebrew Ramah ; but as 
 there were at least two cities of this name in Pales- 
 tine, it is still somewhat uncertain which of these 
 is meant. Most ])roljably, however, it was the Ra- 
 mah of mount Epliiaini, (probal)ly identical A\'itli that 
 in the tribe of Benjamin, see Rosenm. Bibl. Geog. 
 
 II. ii. p. 18G.) the biitli-place and residence of Sam- 
 uel. This was called also Ramathahn-Zcphim, (s-riti 
 D1D1X, heights of the Zophim, 1 Sam. i. 1 ; comp. v. 
 19.) from which name, whh the article j)refixed, Ha- 
 ramathaim, (1 Sam. i. 1.) the form Arimathea is readily 
 derived. In 1 IMacc. xi. 34. it is called Ramathem, 
 and by Josephus, Ramatha, Ant. vi. 11. 4, 5. See 
 Ramah. *R. 
 
 ARISTARCHUS, a disciple mentioned bv Paul, 
 (Col. iv. 10; Phil. 24.) and also in the Acts, (x'ix. 29; 
 XX. 4 ; xxvii. 2.) was a Macrdoniau, of Thessalohica. 
 I[e accompanied Paul to Ephesus, and continued with 
 him the two years of his abode there, partaking of 
 his lal)ors and dangers. He was nearly killed in a 
 tumult raised by the Ephesian goldsmillis, w hose city 
 he left with the apostle, and accompanied him into 
 Greece and Asia, and then as a fellow-jjrisoncr to 
 Rome. The Greeks say, he was bishop of Apamea, 
 in Syria; and was beheaded with Paul, at Rome, 
 under Nero. 
 
 I. ARISTOBULUS, a Jew, of the race of the 
 ])riests, a |)liiloso|)lier, and preceptor to Ptolemy, 
 king of Egypt, 2 Mac. i. 10. Clemens and Eusebius 
 believe him to be the same as is mentioned in the 
 preface to the second book of Maccabees, called 
 "king Ptolemy's master, who was of the stock of the 
 anointed jtriests," that is, of the priests of the God of 
 Israel, consecrated h\ holy unction. 
 
 II. ARISTOB[T LllS, of whom Paul speaks, (Rom. 
 xvi. 1 0.) was, according to ihe modern Greeks, brother 
 of Barii;ii)as, and one ot" the seventy discijiles ; was 
 ^ordained a bishop by Barnabas, or by Paul, whom 
 he followed in his travels; was sent into Britain,
 
 ARK 
 
 [ 93] 
 
 ARK 
 
 wheie he labored much, made many converts, and 
 at last died. See Christianity ; History. 
 
 III. ARISTOBULUS, or Judas, or Puilellen, 
 
 (lover of the Greeks,) was the son of'Hircanus, whom 
 ho succeeded, A. M. 3898, but reigned one year only. 
 He was cruel and vindictive. He made war upon 
 the Itureans, a peojjle descended from Jethur, son 
 of Ishmael, who dwelt in Arabia, between Damascus 
 and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He sid)dued them, 
 and forced them to receive circumcision, by offering 
 them the alternative either of embracing Judaism 
 or of quitting their country. Jos. Ant. xiii. c. 18, 19. 
 
 IV. ARISTOBULUS, second son of Alexander 
 jaunaeus, and youngest brother of Hircanus the high- 
 priest, (see Alexandra,) whom he made war upon, 
 but was taken by Pompey, and sent prisoner to Rome, 
 with his children, where he remained eight years. 
 Ho at length escaped, and returned to Judea, where 
 he levied troops, and endeavored to establish himself, 
 but was severely wounded by Gabinius, the Roman 
 general, and again sent to Rome, where he was kept 
 iu fetters. He was set at liberty by Juhus Caesar, 
 after a captivity of seven or eight years, and appointed 
 to oppose Pompey's pai'ty in Syria, for which pur- 
 pose two legions were assigned him. He was poi- 
 soned by that party, however, before he could quit 
 Rome, and received the honors of a funeral from 
 those in the interest of Csesar. His body, being em- 
 balmed iu honey, remained at Rome, till Mai-k An- 
 tony caused it to be carried to Judea, to be interred 
 iu the sepulchres of the kings. He died A. M. 3955, 
 ante A. D. 49. Jos. Ant. xiii. xiv. 
 
 V. ARISTOBULUS, son of Alexander, and gi-and- 
 son of Aristo!)ulus, second son of Alexander Jannaeus, 
 was the last of the Asmonaean family. Herod, his 
 brother-in-law, exerted himself to prevent his pos- 
 sessing the high-priesthood, but being overjjowered 
 by the solicitations of his wife, Mariamne, and his 
 mother-in-law, Alexandra, he invested Aristobulus 
 with this dignity, who was then but seventeen years 
 of age. He resolv-ed, however, to procure his de- 
 struction, and had him drowned, while he was bathing 
 near Jericho, A. IM. 3970, ante A. D. 34. Jos. Ant. 
 XV, c. 2, 3 ; xvi. 3. 
 
 VI. ARISTOBULUS, son of Herod the Great 
 and ]Mariamu;", and brother of Alexander. See 
 Alexander, VII. 
 
 AilIUS, or Areus, king of Spaita, mentioned 1 
 iMacr. xii. 7. and by Josophus, Antiq. book xii. chap. 
 5. This i)rince wrote a letter to the high-priest, 
 Onias, the contents of which are given, 1 Mace. xii. 
 20. One particulai* feature iu it is, that the Lace- 
 drcmonians are acknowledged as brethren of tlic 
 J*ws; that is, spnuig from the same origin, having 
 Abraham for their father. 
 
 I. ARK, (Noah's,) in Hebrew nan, thebah; Greek, 
 /?',y.' IT (■..-, a chest, or ^-'^Qrui, a coffer. The term thebah 
 used by Moses is different from the common name 
 by which he describes a coffer; and is the same that 
 he employs when speaking of the little wicker basket 
 ni v/hich he was exposed on the Nile ; whence some 
 liavc thought that the Ark was of wicker work. It 
 was a sort of bark, m shape and appearance much 
 like a chest or trunk. The ancients inform us, that 
 tiio Egyptians used on the Nile barks made of bul- 
 ruslies, which were so light, as to be carried on their I 
 shoulders, when they met with falls of water, that 
 prf'vented their passage. Noah's Ark was, in all 
 probability, in form like these Egyptian boats. The 
 greatest difficulty refers, principally, to its size and 
 capacity ; and how Noah was able to build a vessel 
 
 sulKcient to contain the men and beasts, with provis- 
 ions requisite for their support, during a whole yeaj-. 
 To resolve these difficulties, it has been requisite to 
 inquire very particularly into the measure of the 
 cubit mentioned by Moses, into the number of the 
 creatures admitted into the Ark, and into the di- 
 mensions of this vast building. After the nicest 
 exaniination and conq)utation, and taking the dimen- 
 sions with the greatest geometrical exactness, the 
 most learned and acciu'ate calculators, and those nicst 
 conversant with the building of ships, conclude, that if 
 the ablest mathematicians had been consulted about 
 proportioning the several apartments in the Ark, they 
 could not have done it with greater correctness than 
 Moses has done ; and this narration in the sacred 
 history is so far from fiu'nishing deists with arguments 
 wherewith to weaken the authority of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, that, on the contrary, it supplies good arguments 
 to confirm that authoi-ity ; since it seems, in a manner, 
 impossible for a man, in Noah's time, when naviga- 
 tion Avas not perfected, by his own wit and invention, 
 to discover such accuracy and regularity of propor- 
 tion, as is remarkable in the dimensions of the Ark. 
 It follows, that the correctness must be attributed to 
 diAine inspiration, and a supernatural direction. 
 (Wilkins's Essay towards a Real Character, part ii. 
 cap. 5. Saurin, Discours Historique, &c. torn. i. p. 
 87, 88.) 
 
 If we reckon the Hebrew cubit at twenty-one 
 inches, the Ark was 512 feet long, 87 wide, and 52 
 feet high ; and the internal capacity of it was 357,600 
 cubical cubits. If we suppose the cubit to be only 
 eighteen inches, its length was 450 feet, its width 75, 
 and its height 45. Its figure was an oblong square, 
 but the covering might have a declivity to carry off 
 water. Its length exceeded that of most churches in 
 Europe. The height might be divided into four 
 stories, allowing three cubits and a half to the first ; 
 seven to the second ; eight to the third ; and five and 
 a half to the fourth ; and allotting five cubits for the 
 thicloiess of the top and bottom, and the floors. The 
 first story might be the bottom, or what is called the 
 hold of ships ; the second might be a gi-anary, or 
 magazine ; the thii'd might contain the beasts ; and 
 the fourth the fowls. But the hold not being reck- 
 oned as a stoiy, and sening only as a conservatoiy 
 of fresh water, Moses says, there were but three sto- 
 ries in the Ark : and when interpreters say four, they 
 include the hold. Some reckon as many stab! s as 
 there were kinds of beasts, which is not necessary ; 
 because many kinds of birds and beasts, which use 
 the same food, might very well live together. . 
 
 The number of beasts received into the Ark is nr t 
 so great as some have imagined. We know about a 
 hundred and forty, or a hundred and fifty, species of 
 quadrupeds ; of birds, more in number, but smaller iu 
 size ; of reptiles, thirty or forty species. We know not 
 of more than six species of beasts larger than a horse ; 
 very few equal to a horse, and many nuich sniallei', 
 even under the size of a sheep: so that all the four- 
 footed beasts, including 3650 sheep, if they be sup- 
 posed necessary for the nourishment of such animals 
 as live on flesh, at the rate often sheep daily, scr.iceiy 
 occupy more room than 120 oxen, 3730 sheep, and 80 
 wolves. Among birds, few are larger than a swan, 
 and most are less. Reptiles, or creeping animals, an- 
 generally small: many can live in the water, ajid 
 these it would not be necessary to receive into the 
 Ark. All the beasts might easily have been lodged 
 in 36 stables, and all the birds in as many lofts ; rl- 
 lowing to each apartment 52^ feet in length, 29 in
 
 ARK 
 
 [94] 
 
 ARK 
 
 Width, and 13i in height. There might he more 
 than 31,174 hiishels of fresh water in the hold ; which 
 is more than is sufficient for drink to four times as 
 many men and heasts, for one year, as were in the 
 Ark. The granary in the first story might contain 
 more pro\isions than were necessary for ah the ani- 
 mals in the Ark, during one year ; whether they all 
 lived on hay, fruits, and herbs, (which is very proh.n- 
 ble, at this juncture, there being none which, in cases 
 of ueces:5ity, might not subsist well enough without 
 flesh,) or whether there were shee]) designed for the 
 food of such animals as hve on flesh. Beside places 
 for the beasts and birds, and their provisions, Noah 
 might find room on the third stoi-y for thirty-six cab- 
 ins occupied by household utensils, instruments of 
 husbandry, books, gi'ains, and seeds ; for a kitchen, a 
 hall, four chandjers, and a space of about forty-eight 
 cubits in length, to walk in. 
 
 Such is the substance of Calmct's reasoning, and 
 though modern discoveries have augmented the va- 
 riety of species of beasts and birds, the number of 
 them is not sufficiently great to annul the argument 
 he has adduced. Many animals which feed on flesh 
 can endure long fasting; others are torpid in certain 
 degrees of cold ; others fold themselves into a very 
 small compass, and jjass their time with little or no 
 motion. We nuist also recollect, that the innumera- 
 ble varieties of sj)ecies now known, are greatly tlic 
 effect of climate, of food, of habit, whether roving or 
 domesticated, and these would allow for considerable 
 deductions from the general mass of creatm-es in the 
 Ark. As to trees, jdants, and vegetables, in general, 
 we know, that most of their seeds can endure water 
 for a long while without rotting ; that the taller trees 
 were not long wholly covered with the water of the 
 deluge ; and that the eggs, &c. of insects, though 
 extremely numerous, might be attached in various 
 coiTiers of the Ark, and occupy very little space. 
 
 Interpreters generally believe that Noah was one 
 hundred and twenty yeai-s in building the Ark ; an 
 opinion founded on Gen. vi. .'], " j\]y spirit shall not 
 always strive with man ; his days sliall be a hundred 
 and twenty years." They suppos.; that God here 
 predicted an interval of only one hundred and twenty 
 years to the deluge ; and that this lime was necessary 
 for Noah to make pre]»arations, to Iniild th(" Ark, to 
 
 fireach repentance, to collect provisions, animals, &l.c. 
 Jut how shall we reconcile this with Avhat is said 
 Gen. v. 32. of Noah's being five hundred yeai-s old 
 at the birth of Sliem, Ham, and .Japheth ? And when 
 God commands him to build the Ark, he says, "And 
 thou shalt come into the Ark, thou, and tliy sons, and 
 thy wife, and thy sojis' wives with thee," Gen. vi. 18. 
 At that time, his three sons, who were not born till 
 aft r the five hundredth year of his age, were all 
 married; though the deluge hajjpeneci in the six 
 hundredth year of Noah. It is impossible, therefore, 
 that he should have received orders to build the Ark 
 a hundred and twenty years before the deluge, un- 
 less he had other sons, though only these tln-ee at- 
 tended to his orders. 
 
 The wood used fi)r tlie Ark is called in tin; He- 
 brew, gopher wood, (iWn. vi. 14.) ieu v; ; in the LXX, 
 £■ ;•« TfTou>'(.>i«. sijuare pirrrs of U'ood. Some render 
 it cedar, or box, or woods that do not easily perish. 
 Bochart maintains, that ^ro/'/if signifies c^jprcss ; and 
 in Artnenia and .Vssyria, where it is sup|)ose(l, with 
 reason, that the Ark was constructed, cypress is the 
 only wood fit to make so long a vessel of. Others 
 are of o|)inion, tfiat gopher signifies, in general, oily 
 and gunnny woods; sni^h as the pine, the fir-tree. 
 
 and the turpentine-tree. The word goplait, which 
 comes very near gopher, sigififies sulphur, and, in a 
 larger sense, maj' be taken for rosin, pitch, and other 
 combustible matters drawn from wood. Jerome 
 translates it here, polished wood, but elsewhere, 
 wood coated over with bitumen. The jfoint remains 
 undecided ; but Calmet prefers the cypress. 
 
 Some pei'sons have started diflicidties with regard 
 to the square and oblong figure of the Ark ; but they 
 did not consider that this vessel was not designed for 
 sailing or rowing, but chiefly for floating on the water 
 a considerable time. Besides, it may be proved, by 
 instances, that its form was not less connnodious for 
 rowing, than capacious for carrying. George Hornins, 
 in his "History of the several Empires," tells us, that 
 in the beginning of the 17th century, one Peter Hans, 
 of Hornc, had two ships built after the model and 
 proportions of the Ark ; one was 120 feet long, 20 
 wide, and 12 deep. These vessels had the same fate 
 with Noah's, being at first objects of ridicule and rail- 
 lery ; but experience demonstrated, that they carried 
 a third part more than others, though they did not 
 require a larger crew : they were better sailers, and 
 made their way with much more swiftness. The only 
 inconvenience found in them was, that they were fit 
 only for times of peace, because they were not proper 
 to carry guns, (l^e Pelletier, Dissert, sin- I'Arche de 
 Noe, caf)*: ii. p. 2i», 30.) 
 
 The number of men and animals included in the 
 x\rk, plentifully sujiplics matter of dispute. As to the 
 number of men, if we kept to the texts of Moses and 
 Peter, we should have no contest about it; Moses 
 expressly says, that Noah Avent into the Ark, himself, 
 his wife, his three sons, anc' their three wives: and 
 Peter tells us, that there were I I't Liglit persons saved 
 from the deluge. But the mind of man, fruitful in 
 imaginations, always curiou.-. u\;d j>erpetually unquiet, 
 has considerably augmented this i lunber. Some have 
 hereby thought to do God servict ; supposing eight 
 persons were not sufficient to sujjply the wants of so 
 many ainmals. Others have imagined, that to affirm 
 eight persons only to have been ])reserved from the 
 deluge, was to set too narrow bounds to God's mercy. 
 The Mahometan interpreters believe, that beside 
 the eight ])ei-sons whom we have mentioned, there 
 were seventy-tA\o more who etitered ; not the sons 
 only of Noah, but their servants likewse. It is, be- 
 yond conqjarison, more difficult to fix the number of 
 animals than that of men. Moses himself helps to 
 perplex us, in these words: "Of every clean beast 
 thou shalt take to thee seven seven, the male iU)d his 
 female ; and of beasis not clean, two, the male and his 
 female." He places two here but once: but the Sa- 
 maritan, the LXX, and Vtdgate, read two twice ; and 
 the Hebrew itself, chap. vii. ver. iX reads two two, 
 ivcnt in — which leaves the difhculty in all hs force ; the 
 text bearing ecpially to be construed screjj and sei'tn, 
 and two and two; or, of clean beasts, ybw?7rf?i, or 
 seven pair ; and of unclean, two pair, or only one 
 pair. But what are we to understand by elean and 
 unclean beasts? Was this distinction, declared by 
 Moses in the law, known and ])ractised before the 
 deluge; or did Moses mention it as known and un- 
 derstood by the ])ersous for whom h(^ wrote ? It is 
 probable, that this distinction was known to Noah; 
 and that the same animals were esteemed pure (while 
 others were iiiq)ure) both by Noah and by IMoses. It 
 is manifi'st, that by ])ure or dean animals, in general, 
 those only were meant which might be oflfered in 
 sacrifice, as bull<, sheep, goats, and their several spe- 
 cies ; and the like among birds, as pigeons, doves,
 
 ARK 
 
 [95 ] 
 
 ARK 
 
 heiis, aiid sparrows. For the common uses of life, 
 as food, &c. Moses allocs a great number of animals ; 
 but it is questionable, whether in this place wc are 
 to extend the pure animals beyond those admitted in 
 sacrifice. The pair of imclean could be only one 
 male and one female ; Imt the seven clean beasts 
 might be two males and five females ; one male for 
 sacrifice, the other for inultiphcation of tiie species. 
 
 [The preceding remarks arc from Calmet. Tiie 
 English editor has expended niucli time and fruitless 
 labor, in attempting to ascertain the foi-ni of the Ark ; 
 and has, for this pmpose, compared it with an oriental 
 liouse, and witii a variety of objects in heathen my- 
 thology. But all oriental houses are not alike. We 
 can only draw the conclusion from the Scripture 
 account, that the Ark wiis not a ship, but a building 
 in the form of a parallelogram, 300 cubits long, 50 
 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high. The length of the 
 cubit, in the gi-eat variety of measures which bore 
 this name, it is impossible to ascertain, and useless to 
 conjecture. The Ark is called in Hebrew thebah, by 
 the Sept. xi^iuiTv;. kiboios ; and by Josephus, /.u(.iia?, 
 larnax, a chest. So far as these names aflbrd any evi- 
 dence, they also go to show that the Ark of Noah 
 was not a regulai'ly built vessel ; but merely in- 
 tended to float at large upon the watei's. We may, 
 therefore, probably with justice, regard it as a large, 
 oblong, floating housf", with a roof either flat, or only 
 slightly inclined. It was constructed with three sto- 
 ries, anil had a door in the side. There is no men- 
 tion of wiiidows in the si !e ; but above, i. e. probably 
 in the flat root", where Noah was commanded to 
 make them of a cubit in size. Gen. v. IG. That this 
 is the meaning of the passage, seems apparent from 
 Gen. viii. 13 ; where Noah removes the covering of 
 the Ark, in order to behold whether the gi-ound was 
 dry ; — a labor surely imnecessary, had there been 
 windows in the sides of the Ark. 
 
 The form and dimensions of Noah's Ark have 
 given rise to an infinite amoimt of useless speculation. 
 Besides the practical illustration of building similar 
 ships, mentioned above, many books have also been 
 written on the subject. One of the most important 
 was written by the Jesuit Kircher, under the title 
 " Area Nofe," published at Rome, 1669, in folio, and 
 republished at Amsterdam in 1675, fol. pp. 250. This 
 work is divided into three parts, and contains an il- 
 lustration of what took place before, during, and after 
 the deluge. All the difl'erent stories and compart- 
 ments of the Ark are here delineated ; and the beasts, 
 birds, and reptiles, are all appropriately distributed ! 
 The plate given by Calmet to represent the Ark, does 
 not fall much short of the same fanciful particularity. 
 
 As Noah was the })rogenitor of all tlie nations of 
 the earth, we might naturally expect to find memo- 
 rials of him also among heathen nations, and espe- 
 cially interwoven into their mytholog-ical traditions. 
 This appears to have been undoubtedly the fact. 
 The traces of the deluge in heathen mythology have 
 been laboriously collected by Mr. Bryant, in his My- 
 thology, vol. ii. p. 193, seq. 
 
 It appears, from many circumstances, that the great 
 patriarch was highly reverenced by his ])osterity. 
 They styled him Prometheus, Deucalion, Theuth, 
 Zuth, Xuthus, Inachus, Dioimusus, etc. In tiie 
 East, his true name was better [)reserved ; he was 
 there called Noas, Nans, and sometimes contracted. 
 Nous. Indeed, it must ever remain a striking fact, 
 that throughout the whole kindred family of lan- 
 guages, from India to us, the syllable Ao, or JVach, 
 is one of the fundamental sounds by which xcater. 
 
 and a multitude of ideas connected with it, arc des- 
 ignated ; as la/fu, iiiiiu, rav:, navis, navigate, nasSy 
 .Yachen, etc. 
 
 Suidas relates an account of this personage, whom 
 he calls Annacus, agreeing in its main points with the 
 story of Noah, and which is further illustrated by 
 Stephen of Byzantium. Diodorus, and other Greeks, 
 call him Deucalion ; and describe the deluge as uni- 
 versal. We are assured by Philo, (De praemio et 
 poena, vol. ii. p. 412.) that Deucalion was Noah. 
 "The Grecians call the person Deucalion, but the 
 Chaldeans style him Noe, in Avhose time there hap- 
 pened the great eruption of waters." The Chaldeans 
 likewise mentioned him by the name of Xisouthros. 
 (Cedren. p. 10.) — Eusebius has preserved a passage 
 from Abydenus, (Prtef. Evang. ix. 12.) in which he 
 speaks of Noah as a king under the name of Sei- 
 sithrus, and says that "during the prevalence of the 
 flood, Seisithrus sent out birds, that lie might judge 
 whether the waters had subsided ; but that the birds, 
 not finding any resting place, returned to him again. 
 This was repeated three times ; when the birds were 
 found to return with their feet stained with soil ; by 
 which he knew that the flood was abated. Upon 
 this he quitted the ark." Abydenus concludes with 
 a particular in which all the eastern writers are 
 unanimous, viz. that the place of descent from the 
 Ark was in Armenia. — Plutarch also mentions the 
 dove of Noah, (Deucahon,) and its being sent from 
 the Ark. (de solert. Animal, v. ii. p. 968.) 
 
 But the most particular account of the deluge, and 
 the nearest of any to that of Moses, is given by Lu- 
 cian. He also describes Noah under the name of 
 Deucalion, (De Dea Syra, v. ii. p. 882.) and says he 
 "put all his family into a vast ark which he had 
 provided ; and Avent into it himself. At the same 
 time animals of every species, boars, horses, lions, 
 serpents, whatever lived upon the face of the earth, 
 followed him by pairs ; all of which he received into 
 the ark, and ex])erienced no evil from them. Thus 
 they Avere wafted with him as long as the flood en- 
 dured." After the receding of the waters, Lucian 
 says Deucalion went out from the Ark and raised an 
 altar to God ; but he transposes the scene to Hiera- 
 polis in Syria ; where the natives pretended to have 
 particular memorials of the deluge. 
 
 Most of the authors who have transmitted these 
 accounts, likewise aflirm that the remains of the Ark 
 were visible in their days upon one of the mountains 
 of Armenia. So also some of the fathers. This, 
 however, we may properly assume as fabulous. See 
 Ararat. 
 
 Part of the ceremonies, in most of the ancient mj's- 
 terics, consisted in carrying al)out a ship or boat ; 
 which may, perhaps, relate to nothing else but Noah 
 and the deluge. So the ship of Isis, so celebrated 
 among the Egyptians. (Pitiscus Lexicon.) 
 
 Mr.' Bryant is of opinion that the appellation of 
 many cities, as of Thebes in Egypt and in Boeotia, 
 and also of others in Cilicia, Ionia, Attica, Syria, and 
 Italy, is derived from the Hebrew thehah, the word 
 signifying ark. But this we may justly regard as 
 verging too much upon the finiciful. 
 
 The Ark was also called by the Greeks yifivnoc, 
 kibotos, which would seem not to be a word of Greek 
 origin. It is in this way that the city Apamea in 
 Phrygia seems to have become particularly comiected 
 with the memory of the deluge. This city was an- 
 ciently called Cibotus, whether in connnemoration 
 of the deluge, or whether, being so called, the name 
 was afterwards referred to the Ark, it is difticuU to
 
 ARK 
 
 [%] 
 
 ARK 
 
 say. At any rate, the people of this city seem to 
 have collected or presei'ved more particular aud 
 authentic traditions concerning tJie flood, and of the 
 presen'ation of the human race, than are elsewliere 
 to be met with out of the Bible. *R. 
 
 A specimen of this is given in the annexed medal, 
 which is j}reserved ui the 
 cabinet of the king of 
 France, and is too remark- 
 able to be overlooked ; 
 aud having been particu- 
 larly scrutinized by the 
 late Abbe BartJielcmy, at 
 the desire of the late Dr. 
 Combe, was, by that able 
 antiquary, pronounced 
 authentic. It bears on 
 one side the head of Se- 
 verus ; on the otiier a history in two j)arts ; represent- 
 ing, first, two figures enclosed in an ark, or chest, 
 sustained l)y stout j)osts at the corners, and well 
 timbered throughout. On tlie side are letters ; on the 
 toj) is a dove ; hi front., the same two figures wliicii 
 we see in tlie ark are represented as come oiU, and 
 tleparting from their late residence. Hovering over 
 tlieni is the dove, with a sprig in its bill. (Double 
 histories are conunon on medals.) The situation of 
 these figures implies the situation of the door ; and 
 clearly commemorates an escape from the dangers 
 of water, by means of a floating vessel. Whether 
 tliese particulars can be, without difliculty, referred to 
 the history of Deucalion and Pyrrha, as usually un- 
 ilerstood, will be strongly doubted by all v>'ho duly 
 contemplate the subject. Moreover, the Abbe liar- 
 thelemy informs us, that the letters on the ark are — 
 "the letter N, followed by two or three others, of 
 which there remain only the slightest traces ; or, to 
 .''peak more accurately, there is nothing but the con- 
 tour of the second letter to be distinguished, which, 
 according to different lights, appears somctinics an 
 iJ, (O,) sometimes an E. There are traces of two or 
 three otiiers;" say o^ two others; one of which "in 
 some lights appears to be O (i-')." [These letters 
 Mr. liryant reads as MIF.. The inscription refers 
 it to Apamea. There seems, indeed, to have been a 
 notion that the ark rested on the hills of Cehena, 
 where the city Cibotus was founded ; aiul the Sibyl- 
 line oracles, wherever they were written, also include 
 these hills under the name of Ararat, and mention 
 this circumstance. Sije Apamea, and Ararat. R. 
 It is ])ossiI)le, says Mr. Taylor, that the reader may 
 not at Jirst perceive the j)ropriety of attaching so 
 great im])ortance to the history of Noah's deliverance 
 and its commemoration. The outcry of a certain 
 class of reasoncru against Revelation has long been, 
 "Bring us facts which all the world agree in; 
 
 FACTS admitted, ESTABLISHED, BY UNBIASED EVI- 
 DENCE," Sec. Jf, in answer to this, w<; adduce proof 
 that th<! Christian dispensation is from a!)ove, we 
 are reminded — "How f<!W of mankind receive it! 
 Christ's own nation deny the subject of it ; heathen 
 lands refiise him." If we advert to Moses — " What ! 
 a leader of a pitiful horde of le])n)us slaves! at most, 
 a legislator acknowledged by a single nation ! and 
 that a stupid nation too." To establish the assertion, 
 therefore, that Deity has condescended to make 
 known his intentions to man, he invites such persons 
 to investigate the instance of Noah : — Was the 
 deluge, Ik; asks, a real occurrence? — All mankind 
 acknowledge it. Wherever tradition has been 
 maintained, wherever ^vritte^ records are preserved. 
 
 wherever commemorative rites have been instituted, 
 what has been their subject .'' — The deluge ; dehver- 
 ance from destruction by a flood. The savage and 
 the sage agi-ee in this : North and South, East and 
 West, relate the danger of their great ancestor from 
 ovenvhelming waters. — But he was saved : and 
 how? — By personal exertion? By long supported 
 swimming? By concealment in the highest moun- 
 tains ? No : but by enclosure in a large floating edi- 
 fice of his own construction — his own construction, 
 for this j)articidar purpose. But this labor was 
 long ; this was not the work of a day ; he must have 
 FOREKNOWN BO astonisliiug an event, a considerable 
 time i)i"evious to its actual occurrence. — Whence did 
 he receive this foreknowledge? Did the earth 
 inform him, that at twenty, thirty, forty years' dis- 
 tance it would disgorge a flood ? — Surely not. Did 
 the stars announce that they woidd dissolve the ter- 
 restrial atmosphere in terrific rains? — Surely not. 
 Whence, then, had Noah his foreknowledge ? Did 
 he begin to build when the first showers descended ? 
 This was too late. Had lie been accustomed to rains 
 formerly— why think them now of importance ? Had 
 he never seen rain — what could induce him to 
 provide against it ? Why this year more than last 
 year? — why last year more than the year before? 
 These inquii-ies are direct : we cannot flinch Ircm 
 the fact. Erase it from the Mosaic records ; still it 
 is recorded in Greece, in Egypt, in India, and in 
 Britain : it is registered in the very sacra of the pagan 
 Vv'orld ; and is annually renewed by commemorative 
 imitation, where the liberty of oi)inion is r.ot lettered 
 by prejudices derived from Hebrew institutions, or 
 by the "soijhisticated" inventions of Christianitj-. — 
 "Go, infidel," he adds, "turn to the right hand, or to 
 the left hand : take your choice of difticiilties : dis- 
 parage all mankind as fools, as willing dupes to 
 superstitious commemoration, as leagued througliout 
 the world to delude themselves in < uier to impugn 
 your wisdom, your just-thinkin;.", \( ur love of trutli, 
 your imbiased integrity ; or allow that this fact, 
 at least this one fact, is established by testimony 
 abundantly sufiicient ; but remember, that if it be 
 established, it implies a communication from GOD 
 TOMAN. — Who could inform Noah? Why did 
 not that great jiatriarch provide against /Yre "? — 
 against Eatihquakes ? — against Explosions :^ — Why 
 against a Delus;e ? — why against IVattr'} — Away with 
 subterfuge. Say frankly, 'This was the dictation of 
 Deity;' say, 'Only HE who made the world could 
 predict the time, the means, the causes of this devas- 
 tation ; only HE could excite the hope of restoration, 
 or suggest a method of deliverance.' Use your own 
 language; but permit a bumble believer to adopt 
 language already recorded : '■Ih) faith, A'bfl/i — being 
 loamcd of God — of things iievcr see7i as yet — in pious 
 fear — prepared the Ark (Kibotos) to the saving of his 
 fimilji — by which he condemned the ivorld.^ Rlay a 
 similar condemnation never rest on us, who must at 
 least admit the truth of one text in the Bible — or 
 stand convicted by the united voice of all mankind, 
 and by the testimony of the eartli, the now shattered, 
 the now disordered earth itself!" 
 
 II. ARK OF the Covenant. The Hebrew 
 word ]nN, which Moses cmjiloys to denote the 
 sacred coff'er in which the tables of the law 
 were de])osited, signifies a chest or box. It was 
 of Shittim-wood, covered with plates of gold ; two 
 cubits and a half in length, a cubit and a half 
 wide, aud a cubit and a half high. On the top of it, 
 all round, ran a'kind of gold crown ; and two cher-
 
 ARK 
 
 [97 ] 
 
 ARM 
 
 iibim were over the cover. It had four rings of 
 gold, two on each side, through which staves were 
 put, by which it was carried, Exod. xxv. 10 — 22. 
 After the passage of the Jordan, the Ark continued 
 some time at Gilgal ; (Josh. iv. 19.) whence it was 
 removed to Shiloh, 1 Sara. i. 3. From hence the 
 Israehtes took it to their camp ; but when they gave 
 battle to the Philistines, it was taken by the enemy, 
 chap. iv. The Philistines, oppressed by the hand 
 of God, however, returned the Ark, and it was lodged 
 at Kirjath-jearim, chap. vii. 1. It was afterwards, in 
 the reigii of Saul, at Nob. David conveyed it from 
 Kirjath-jearim to the house of Obcd-Edom ; and from 
 thence to his palace at Sion ; (2 Sam. vi.) and, lastly, 
 Solomon brought it into the temple at Jerusalem, 2 
 Chron. V. 2. (See Armies.) It remained in the tem- 
 ple with all suitable respect, till the times of the later 
 kings of Judah, who, abandoning themselves to idol- 
 atry, were so daring as to establish their idols in the 
 holy place itself The priests, unable to endure this 
 profanation, removed the Ark, and carried it from 
 place to place, to preserve it from the pollution and 
 impiety of these princes. Josiah commanded them 
 to bring it back to the sanctuary, and forbade them 
 to carry it, as they had hitherto "done, into the coun- 
 tiy, 2 Chron. xxxv. 3. 
 
 It is doubted, with good reason, whether the Ark 
 was replaced in the temple, after the return of the 
 Jews from Babylon. Dr. Prideaux is of opinion, that 
 as the Jews found it necessaiy, for the celebration of 
 their worship in the second temple, to have a new 
 altar of incense, a new shew-bread table, and a new 
 candlestick, they had likewise a new Ark ; and he 
 asks, Since the holy of holies, and the veil drawn be- 
 fore it, were wholly for the sake of the Ark, Avhat 
 need had there been of these in the second temple, 
 if there had not been the Ark also to which they 
 refeiTcd ? Some think that Nebuchadnezzar con- 
 veyed the Ark to Babylon, among the spoil of rich 
 vessels carried off by him from the temple ; others, 
 that Manasseh, having set up idols in the temple, 
 took away the Ark, which was not returned during 
 liis reign. The author of Esdras (2 Esd. x. 22.) rep- 
 resents the Jews lamenting, that the Ark of the 
 Covenant was taken by the Chaldeans, among the 
 plunder of the temple. The Gemara of Jerusalem, 
 and that of Babylon, both acknowledge, that the Ark 
 of the Covenant was one of the things wanting in the 
 second temple. The Jews flatter themselves, that 
 it will be restored by their Messiah, says Abarbanel ; 
 but Jeremiah, (chap. iii. 16.) speaking of the time of 
 the Messiah, says, they shall neither talk nor think of 
 the Ark, nor remember it any more. Esdras, Nehe- 
 miah, the Maccabees, and Josephus, never mention 
 the Ark in the second temple ; and Josephus says 
 expressly, that when Jerusalem was taken by Titus, 
 there was nothing in the sanctuary. Lastly, the rab- 
 bins agree in saying, that, after the captivity of Baby- 
 lon, the Ark was not at Jerusalem ; and that the 
 foundation-stone, which they believe to be the cen- 
 tre of the holy mountain, was placed in the sanc- 
 tuary in its room. The fathers, and Christian com- 
 mentators, agree generally with the Jews on this 
 point. 
 
 Beside the tables of the covenant, placed by Moses 
 in the sacred cofier, God appointed the blossoming 
 rod of Aaron to be lodged there, (Numb. xvii. 10.) 
 and the omer of manna which was gathered in the 
 wilderness, Exod. xvi. 33, 34. 
 
 The heathen, likewise, had, in their religious rites, 
 little chests, or cistcp, in which they locked up their 
 13 
 
 most sacred things. Apuleius says, that in proces- 
 sions in Egypt there was a chest-bearer, who carried 
 a box, enclosing the richest things for their rehgious 
 uses. Plutarch, on the rites of Isis and Osiris, says 
 the same. Pausanias mentions a chest, in which the 
 Trojans locked up their mysteries, which, at the 
 siege of Troy, fell to Euripulus's share. The an- 
 cient Etrurians had also cisttB ; so had the Greeks 
 and Romans : but these chests often enclosed things 
 profane, superstitious, and ridiculous ; whereas the 
 Ark of God contained the most sacred and serious 
 things in the world. 
 
 ARKITES, (Gen. x. 17.) and Archites,(1 Chron. 
 i. 15.) a Canaanitish tribe inhabiting the city ^rca 
 (".ioxi) in Syria, some miles north of Tripolis. Ar- 
 ea was the birth-place of Alexander Severus. Burck- 
 hardt found here ruins, which serve to show its an- 
 cient importance. Travels in Syr. p. 162, or Germ. 
 ed. p. 520, with Gesenius's note. 
 
 ARM. This word is frequently used in the 
 Scriptures in a metaphorical sense, to denote power, 
 as 1 Sam. ii. 31 ; Ps. x. 15; Ezek. xxx.21. Hence, 
 any remarkable or striking manifestation of God's 
 power is referred to his arm, Exod. vi. 6 ; Ps. xliv. 
 3 ; xcviii. 1 ; Luke i. 51 ; Acts xiii. 17. The prophet 
 represents God as the arm of his people, (Isa. xxxiii. 
 2.) in affording them strength and protection. In 
 allusion to the ancient custom of warriors making 
 bare the ai-m when closely engaged in combat, God 
 is said to " make bare his arm," when in any signal 
 manner he interposes his power for the deliverance 
 of his people, and the destruction^ of his enemies, 
 Isa. hi. 10. 
 
 ARMAGEDDON, [mountain of Megiddo,) a place 
 mentioned Rev. xvi. 16. Megiddo is a city in the 
 great plain, at the foot of mount Carmel, which had 
 been the scene of much slaughter. Under this char- 
 acter it is referred to in the above text, as the place 
 in which God will collect together his enemies for 
 .destruction. See Megiddo. 
 
 ARMENIA, a considerable pro■^^nce of Asia ; 
 having Media on the east, Cappadocia on the west, 
 Colchis and Iberia on the north, Mesopotamia on 
 the south, and the Euphrates and Syria on the south- 
 west. Care should be taken to distinguish Arme- 
 nia from Aramsea, or Syria, with which it has been 
 sometimes confounded. 
 
 The name Armenia is probably derived from 
 Harminni, the mountainous country of the Minni, or 
 Mineans, who are noticed Jer. li. 27. In Gen. viii. 
 4, Moses says the ark rested on the mountains of 
 Annenia ; in the Hebrew, the mountains of Ararat : 
 and in 2 Kings xix. 37, it is said the two sons of 
 Sennacherib, after having killed their father, es- 
 caped into Armenia ; in the Hebrew, the land of 
 Ararat. 
 
 ARMIES. The Lord, in Scripture, assumes the 
 name "Jehovah of Hosts:" nif<ai nn\ The Hebrew 
 nation, in many places, is called the " army of the 
 Lord," because God was considered as its head and 
 general ; who named the captains of its armies ; 
 who ordained war and peace ; whose priests sounded 
 the trumpets, &c. The armies of Israel were not 
 composed of regular troops kept constantly in pay ; 
 the whole nation were fighting men, ready to march 
 as occasion required. The army expected no re- 
 ward beside honor, and the spoils taken, which were 
 divided by the chiefs. Each soldier furnished him- 
 self with arms and provisions, and their wars were 
 generally of short dumtion: they fought on foot, hav- 
 ing no horse, till the reign of Solomon. David is
 
 ARMIES 
 
 [ 08 
 
 ARMIES 
 
 the first who had regular troops ; his siiccessois, for 
 the most part, had onh' iniUtia, excepting their body- 
 guards, which were not numerous. Wlien they 
 expected to give battle, proclamation A\as made at 
 the head of every battalion, according to Deut. xx. 
 5. (See War.) The ark of (iod was often borne 
 in the army, (1 Sam. iv. 4, 5 ; 2 Sam. xi. 11; xv. 
 24.) and the Israelites of the ten tribes, in imitation 
 of Judah, carried their golden calves with tliem in 
 their camp, as the Philistines did their idols, 1 Cliron. 
 xiv. 12 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 8. 
 
 Few things in histor\- are more surprising than 
 the great numbers which are recorded as forming 
 eastern armies ; even tlie Scripture accounts oi" the 
 armies that invaded Juilea, or were raised in Judea, 
 often excite the wonder of their readers. To i)aral- 
 lel these great numbers by those of other armies, is 
 not ALL that is acceptable to the inquisitive ; it is 
 requisite also to show how so small a jirovincc as 
 the Holy Land really was, could furnish such mighty 
 armies of fighting men ; with the uncertainty of the 
 proportion of these fighting men to the whole num- 
 ber of the nation ; in respect to which many un- 
 founded conjectures have escaped the pens of the 
 learned. With a view to this, Mr. Taylor has at- 
 tempted, by adducing instances of numerous armies 
 which have been occasionally raised, to show \\hat 
 may be done by despotic power, or the im])iilse of 
 military glory ; and also that the composition of 
 Asiatic armies is such as may render credible those 
 numbers which express their gross amount; while 
 no just inference resjiecting the entire popidation of 
 a country can be dra\\ai from the numbers stated as 
 occasionally composing its armies. 
 
 The account given by Knolles, in his " History of 
 the Turks," of the contending armies of Bajazet and 
 Tamerlane, is no bad specimen of the " I will" of 
 military power, of the cares and anxieties attending 
 on the station of conmiand, and of the feelings of 
 great minds on great occasions. " So, marching on^ 
 Tamerlane at length came to Jiachichich, where he 
 staid to refresh his army eight dales, and there againe 
 took a generall nuister thereof, wherein were foimd 
 (as most write)yb«r hundred thousand horse, and sir 
 hundred thousand foot ; or, as some others that were 
 there present afhrme, thre hundred thousaiid horse- 
 men, and Jiue hundred thousand foot of al nations. 
 Vnto whom he there gaue a generall pay, and, as 
 his manner was, made vnto them an oration, inform- 
 ing them of such orders as he would haue kept, to 
 the end they might the better obserue the same: 
 with much other militaric discipline, whereof he was 
 very curious with his cai)tains. At which time, also, 
 it was lawfull for euery conmion soldier to behold 
 him with more boldness than on other dales, foras- 
 much as be difl for tliat time, and such like, lay 
 aside inq)erial niajestie, and shew himselfe more fa- 
 miliar unto them." p. 21.'). '' Male ozzius hnumii 
 mad<! true relation vnto liaiazct, was by him de- 
 manded 'wliether of the two armies he thought big- 
 ger or stronger ?' for now Baiazet had assembled a 
 mightie armie of threr hundred thousand mc7i, or, as 
 some report, of three hundred thousand horse77ien and 
 two hundred thousand fool. WhcreuiUo Maleozzius, 
 hauing before craned |)ardon, answered, ' That it 
 could not be, but that Tamerlane might in rca.son 
 haue the greater number, I'or that he was n com- 
 mander of farre greater i-ouiitries.' Wherewith 
 proufl Baiazet ofl'.-nded. in great choller repiieil, 
 ' Out of doubt, tiie sight of the Tartarian hath made 
 this coward so affraid, thai he tiiiiiketh euery enemie 
 
 to be two." p. 216. " All which Tamerlane, walk- 
 ing this night vp & down in his campe, heard, and 
 nnicli reioiced to see the hope that his soldiers had 
 alreadie in general couceiued of the victorie. W^ho 
 aller the second watch returning vnto his pauilhon, 
 and there casting himself upon a carpet, had thought 
 to haue slej)t a while ; hxd his cares not suffering him 
 so to do, he then, as his manner was, called for a booke, 
 wherein was contained the Hues of his fathers and an- 
 cestors, and of other valiant ivorthies, the which he vsed 
 ordinarily to read, as he then did: not as therwith 
 vainly to deceiue the time, but to make vse thereof, 
 by the imitation of that which was by them worthily 
 done, & declining of such dangers as they by their'' 
 rashness or ouersight fel into." j). 218. [See the 
 same kind of occupation of Ahasuerus, Esther vi. 
 1.] "My will is, said Tamerlane, 'that my men 
 come forward vnto me as soon as they may, for I 
 will aduance forward Avith an hundred thousand foot- 
 men, tiftie thousand vpon each of my two wings, and 
 in the middest of them forty thousand of my best 
 horsemen. My pleasure is, that after they haue tried 
 the fierce of these men, that they come vnto my 
 avauntgju-d, of whom I wil dispose, Sz,ffty thousand 
 horse more in three bodies, whom thou shalt com- 
 mand : which I wil assist with 80,000 horse, where- 
 in slial be mine own person : hauing 100,000 foot- 
 men behind me, who shal march in two squadrons : 
 and for my are reward I appoint 40,000 horse, and 
 fiftie thousand footmen, who shal not march but to 
 my aid. And I wil make choice of 10,000 of my 
 best horse, whom I wil send into eury place where 
 I shal thinke needfull within my armie, for to im- 
 l)art my commands." p. 218. 
 
 It is imj)ossible, on this occasion, not to recollect 
 the immense army led by Napoleon into Russia, 
 exceeding six hundred thousand troops ; also, the 
 forces engaged around Leipsic ; amounting (includ- 
 ing both sides) to half a million of men. 
 
 lint it may be said, that " such mighty empires 
 may well he supposed to raise forces, to which the 
 small state of Judea was incompetent." This may 
 safely be admitted ; l)ut what was, in all jjrobability, 
 the nature and composition of the Jewish, as of other 
 eastern armies, we may learn from the following 
 relations; which contribute to strengthen the cred- 
 ibility of the greater numbers recorded as compos- 
 ing them. Baron du Tott reports as follows of the 
 ai-mies raised by the Cham of the Crimea: "It may 
 be presumed that the rustic frugal life which these 
 pastoral ]>eo])le lead favors poj)ulation, while the 
 wants and excesses of luxury, among jjolished na- 
 tions, strike at its very root. In fact, it is observed, 
 that the people are less numerous under the roofs 
 of the Crimea, and the province ol' Boodjack, than 
 in the tents of the Noguais. The best calculation 
 we can mak(\ is from a view of the military forces 
 which the Cham is able to assemble. We shall 
 soon see this j)rince raising three armies at the same 
 time ; one of a hundred thousand men, which he com- | 
 manded in person ; another of sixty thousand, com- ! 
 manded by the Calga ; and a third of forty thousand, 
 by the Nooradin. He had tlu^ j)ower of raising 
 double the 7ii(»iier, without ])n'judice to the necessary | 
 labors of the state." (Vol. i. p. IIIJ.) "The invasion | 
 of New Servia, which had been d«'termined on at | 
 Constantinople, was consented to in the assembly of j 
 the Grand \'assals of Tartary, and orders were ox- [ 
 ])edited, througiiout the |)ro\ inces, for the necessary , 
 military supplies. Three horsemen were to be fur- j 
 nished by eight families ; whicli number was estlmat-
 
 ARiMIES 
 
 [ 99 ] 
 
 ARMIES 
 
 ed to be sufficient for the three armies, wliicli were 
 all to begin their operations at once. That of the 
 Nooradin, consisting of forty thousand men, had or- 
 ders to repair to the Little Don ; that of the Calga, 
 of sixty thousand, was to range the left coast of the 
 Boristhenes, till they came beyond the Orela ; and that 
 Avhich the Cham conunauded in person, of a hundred 
 thousand, was to penetrate into New Scrvia." (V^ol. 
 i. p. 150.) The following descriptive account of 
 Asiatic armies is from Volney : — " Sixty thousand 
 men, with them, ai'e very far from being synonymous 
 with sixty thousand soldieis, as in our armies. That 
 of which we are now speaking affords a proof of 
 this ; it might amount, in fact, to forty thousand men, 
 which may be classed as follows : — Five thousand 
 Mamlouk cavahy, luhich was the whole effective army ; 
 about fifteen hundred Barbary Arabs, on foot, and 
 no other infantry, for the Turks are acquainted with 
 none ; with thenj the cavalry is every thing. Be- 
 sides these, each Mamlouk having in his suite two 
 footmen, anned ivith staves, these would form a bo<ly 
 of ten thousand valets, besides a number of servants 
 and sen-adgis, or attendants on horseback, for the 
 Bey and Kachefs, whicli may be estimated at two 
 thousand : all the rest were sutlers, and the usual 
 train of followers. — Such was this army, as described 
 to be in Palestine, by j)ersons who had seen and 
 followed it." (Travels, vol. i. p. 124.) " The Asiatic 
 armies ai"e 7nobs, their marches ravages, their cam- 
 paigns mere inroads, and their battles bloody frays. 
 The strongest, or the most adventurous party, goes 
 in search of the other, which not imfrequently flies 
 without offering resistance : if they stand their 
 ground, they engage pell-mell, discharge their car- 
 bines, break their spears, and liack each other with 
 their sabres ; for they rarely have any cannon, and 
 when they have, they are but of little service. Jl 
 panic frequently diffuses itself loithout cause : one 
 party flies ; the other pursues, and shouts victory ; 
 the vanquished submits to the will of the conqueror, 
 and the campaign often termmates without a battle." 
 p. 126. It appears, by these extracts, that the num- 
 bers which compose the gross of Asiatic annies are 
 very far from denoting the true munher of soldiers, 
 fighting men of that army ; in fact, when we deduct 
 those whose attendance is of little advantage, it may 
 be not very distant from truth, if we say nine out 
 of ten are such as, in Europe, would be forbidden the 
 futny ; nor is the suggestion absolutely to be rejected, 
 that when we read 40, instead of 400, the true 
 fighting corps of soldiers only are reckoned and 
 stated. However that may be, these authorities are 
 sufficient to justify the possibility of such numbers as 
 Scripture has recorded, being assembled for pur- 
 poses of warfare ; of which purposes plunder is not 
 one of the least in the opinion of those who usually 
 attend a camj). It follows, also, that no conclusive 
 estimate of the population of a kingdom can be 
 drawn from such assemblages, under such circum- 
 stances ; and, therefore, that no calculation ought to 
 be liazarded on such imperfect data. 
 
 But there is another circumstance connected with 
 eastern armies that ought not to be lost sight of, es- 
 pecially as it affords an opportunity for illustrating 
 a passage of Scripture. We mean, the apparently 
 singular request made by Barak, the general of the 
 Israelites, to Deborah the prophetess, Judg. iv. (i. 
 Deborah commanded him in the name of the Lord 
 to encamp on mount Tabor, with ten thousand men : 
 "And I will draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, 
 Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots 
 
 and his multitude ; and I will deliver him into thine 
 hand. And Barak said unto her. If thou wilt go 
 with me, then I will go : but if thou wilt not go 
 with me, theji I will not go." Modern warfare 
 would much rather decline the company of a wo- 
 man, who, under the circumstances stated', was httle 
 other tlian conmiander-in-chief But we learn from 
 Xeuophon, (Cyrop. lib. iv.) "that most of the in- 
 habitants of Asia are attended in their military ex- 
 peditions by those whom they Uve with at home." 
 
 " The army brought chariots which they had taken ; 
 
 some of thorn full of the most considerable women, 
 
 for to this day all the inhabitants of Asia, in time 
 
 of war, attend the service accompanied with what 
 they value most ; and they say, that they fight the 
 better when the objects most dear to them are pres- 
 ent." Herodotus (Polhymnia, cap. 39.) narrates the 
 following history : "Pythius, the Lydian, had highly 
 honored king Xerxes by contributions, entertain- 
 Jiients, &c. — whom he thus addressed: 'Sir, I have 
 five sons, \\ho are all with you in this Grecian expe- 
 dition ; I A\ oidd entreat you to pity my age, and 
 dispense Avith the presence of the eldest. Take with 
 you the four others, but leave this to manage my 
 affairs.' — Xerxes in great indignation made this 
 reply : ' Infamous man ! you see me embark my all 
 in this Grecian war ; myself, my children, my broth- 
 ers, my domestics, and my friends ; — how dare you, 
 then, presume to mention your son, you who are my 
 slave, and whose duty it is to accompany me on 
 this occasion — with all your family, and even your 
 wife V " We may now tbrm a better notion of the 
 policy of Barak, in stipulating lor the presence of the 
 projjhetess who judged Israel with his army. She 
 Avas a public pereon, was well known to all Is- 
 rael, and her appearance would no less stimulate 
 the valor of the troops to " fight the better for 
 an oliject most dear to them," than it would sanc- 
 tion the undertaking determined on and executed 
 against an opj)ressor so powerful as Jabin, king of 
 Canaan. 
 
 This notion may be extended somewhat further ; 
 for Deborah, in her triumphant song, supposes that 
 Sisera's mother attributed the delay in his return to 
 the great number of captives — female captives — 
 taken from the enemy — " to every man a damsel, or 
 two ;" — families of the warriors of Israel, taken pris- 
 oners in their camp, equally with seizures made in 
 the villages and towns. Whether this be coiTcct 
 or not, no striking objection seems to oppose it — and 
 we are sure that the presence of women of rank in 
 the camps of the orientals was not uncommon. 
 Every body is acquainted with the generosity of 
 Alexander in the tent of Darius, when the royal 
 fantily ol' Persia became his captives ; and the story 
 of Panthea is so beautifully told by Xenophon, 
 (Cyrop. lib. v.) that if it be already familiar to the 
 reader, he cannot be displeased with its repetition. 
 The generosity ol' Alexander might emulate, but it 
 could not excel, the generosity of Cyrus. " When 
 we first entered her tent (that of Panthea) we did 
 not know her ; for she was sitting on the ground, 
 with all her women-servants round her, and was 
 dressed in the same manner as her servants were : 
 but when we looked around, being desirous to knOAV 
 which was the mistress, she immediately appeared 
 to excel all the others, though she was sitting with , 
 a veil over her, and looking down upon the gi'ound. 
 When we bid lier arise, she and the serA'ants around 
 her rose. Standing in a dejected posture, her team 
 fell at her feet," &c. This idea of women attending
 
 ARM 
 
 [ 100 
 
 ARMS 
 
 soldiers contributes an illustration to a verse in that 
 sufficiently obscure eflFiision, Psalm Ixviii. 12. 
 
 Kings of armies did flee, did flee, 
 
 And she who tarried at home divided the spoil. 
 
 [Here the phrase " she that tarries at home," or, 
 more properly, "that abides in the house," is poet- 
 ically put for female ; since in the East it is custom- 
 ary for the women to remain within doors. The 
 distribution of the plunder is here, therefore, attribut- 
 ed to the women ; and appropriately ; for it was 
 enough for the men to have vanquished the en- 
 emies and conquered in battle ; the spoil, obtained 
 through their valor, was left to the equitable division 
 of others ; and who more proper for this than the 
 females ? Comp. Judg. v. 24. R. 
 
 ARiMS, MILITARY, and ARMOR. The He- 
 brews used in war offensive arms of the same kinds 
 as were employed by other people of their time, 
 and of the East ; swords, darts, lances, javelins, bows, 
 arrows, and slings. For defensive arms, they used 
 helmets, cuirasses, bucklers, armor for the thighs, 
 &c. At paiticular periods, especially when under 
 servitude, whole armies of Israelites were without 
 good weapons. In the war of Deborah and Barak 
 against Jabin, there were neither shields nor lances 
 among 40,000 men, Judg. v. 8. In the time of Saul 
 {1 Sam. xiii. 22.) none in Israel, beside Saul and 
 Jonathan, was armed with swords and spears ; be- 
 cause the Philistines, Avho were then masters of the 
 country, forbade the Hebrews using the trades of 
 armorei-s and sword cutlers ; and even obliged them 
 to employ Philistines to sharpen their tools of hus- 
 bandry ; but these, being their masters, would make 
 no anns for them. 
 
 We have in Scripture, not only histories in which 
 armor and some of its parts are described, but also 
 allusions to complete suits of armor, and to the 
 pieces which composed them. Without any formal 
 attempt to expose the errors of critics, whose infor- 
 mation on this article might have been improved by 
 greater accuracy, the following remarks may con- 
 tribute to our better acquaintance with tlie subject. 
 The following figure, which is from Calmet, is 
 usually offered, by way of illustrating the armor of 
 the famous champion Goliath. As it is drawn from 
 the description given of him, and according to the 
 signification of the words used to describe each 
 separate part, it 7iiay be something like the original. 
 It should bo observed, 
 however, ( 1 . ) that swords 
 so long as this are not 
 known in antiquity ; and 
 that had it i)een of the 
 length here represented, 
 David would have found 
 it cuniborsome to use af- 
 terwards, constantly, as 
 we l(>arn he did f (2.) 
 that this figure is com- 
 posed on the principle 
 that the armor wjis 
 worn without any other 
 dress, which we think 
 may be questioned, and 
 is not e&sily determined ; 
 (3.) that the forms of 
 Roman or (ireek armor 
 are not decidedly ap- 
 plicable to the Pales- 
 
 tine history ; yet the armor of these people has 
 been studied for this figure. 
 
 The next is a soldier in armor, from the column 
 usually called that of Anto- 
 ninus, but perhaps more prop- 
 erly i-eferred to Aurelius. The 
 apostle (Eph. vi. 13, 14.) ad- 
 vises believers to " take unto 
 themselves the whole armor 
 of God ;" and he separates 
 this panoply into its parts : 
 "your loins," says he, "girt 
 about with truth." Now, this 
 figure has a very strong com- 
 position of cinctures round 
 liis waist (loins) ; and if we 
 suppose them to be of steel, 
 as they appear to be, the de- 
 fence they form to his person 
 is very great ; such a defence 
 to the mind is truth. Un- 
 _ _ doubtenly there were, as we 
 
 ' shall see, other kinds of 
 
 girdles ; but none that could be more thoroughly 
 defensive than that of this soldier. Moreover, these 
 cinctures surroimd the person, and go over the 
 back, also. So truth defends on all sides. The re- 
 mark that " Paul names no r.rmor for the back," 
 is also somewhat impaired ; because if this part of 
 the dress was what he refeired to by TfOf^ouiJi/fio/, 
 "girded round ahout," then its passing round the 
 back, pretty high up, at least, was inij^lied. — The 
 apostle proceeds to advise " having on the breast- 
 plate of righteousness," to defend the vital parts; as 
 our figure has on a breast-plate ; and as one below 
 has a covering made in one piece for the whole 
 upper part of his body. "Having the feet shod 
 with the preparation of the gospel of peace ;" not 
 iron, not steel ; but ])atient investigation, calm in- 
 quiry ; assiduous, laborious, lasting ; if not, rather, 
 w\x\\ firm footing in the gospel of peace. Whether 
 the apostle here means stout, well-tanned leather, 
 leather well prepared, by his " preparation of the 
 gospel of peace" or shoes which had spikes in them, 
 which, running into the grovmil,gave a steadfastness 
 to the soldier who wore them, may come under re- 
 mark hereafter. We shall only add, that IMoseg 
 seems, at least according to our rendering, to have 
 some allusion to shoes, either plated, or spiked, on 
 the sole, when he "feays, (Dcut. xxxiii. 25.) " Thy 
 shoes shall be iron and brass ; and as thy days shall 
 thy strength be." — "Above all taking the shield of 
 faith:" not ahovc all in point of value; but of situa- 
 tion ; over all — hefore all ; as our soldier holds his 
 shield ; for his ])rotection. Faitli may be a prime 
 gi-ace, but if raised too high, like a shield over ele- 
 vated, the parts it should defend may become ex- 
 posed to the enemy. " Take the helmet of salva- 
 tion ;" security — safety. So far our figure applies; 
 however, it has no sword : it hatl originally a spear, 
 but that weapon has been destroyed by time. 
 "Praying," says the apostle, "and wateliiug;" these 
 are duties of soldiers, especially of Thristian soldiers, 
 but they are not of a nature to be explained by this 
 figure; however, we very frequently meet with them 
 in monuments of antiquity : nothing is more conunon 
 than sacrifices, Scv. in camps, and the very first sol- 
 diers in the Antonine pillar are sentinels. It may be 
 remarked, that this soldier has no armor for his 
 legs, or thighs, or arms: they are merely sheltered 
 by clothing, but are not defended by armor. We
 
 ARMS 
 
 [ ICl J 
 
 ARiMB 
 
 do not find that the apostle alludes to any pieces of 
 defence for the legs, or the thighs, of his Christian 
 warrior. 
 
 This engraving shows the parts of a complete suit 
 
 of armor, separately ; from an ancient gem: as, (1.) 
 the Leg-pieces, which not only cover the legs pretty 
 low down, but also the thighs, up above the knee ; 
 (2.) the Spear stuck in the gi-ound ; (3.) the Sword, 
 m this instance in its sheath ; (4.) the Cuirass, or 
 defence of the body : this appears to be made of 
 leather, or some pliant material, capable of taking 
 the form of the parts : (5.) the Shield ; upon which, 
 in our gem, is placed (G.) the Helmet, witli its flow- 
 ing crest. 
 
 The next is among the most curious statues of an- 
 tiquity remaining, being a portrait of Alexander the 
 Great fighting on horseback ; and probably, also, a 
 portrait of his famous horse Bucephalus. Tlic 
 figure has a girdle round his waist ; in wliich it is 
 rather suigular ; and close to this girdle falls the 
 sheath for his sword ; his loins are girt about with a 
 single piece of armor, buckled at the sides ; A\hicli 
 answere the purposes of a breast-plate, by covering 
 high up on the thorax: his feet arc not only shod, 
 but ornamented with strajjs, &c. a considerable way 
 up the leg. He has neither sliield nor helmet ; and 
 Mr. Taylor remarks, that ho lias not foimd a com- 
 manding officer — a general — with a helmet on, 
 neither during his actual engagement in fighting. 
 
 as this figure is represented, nor when addressing 
 his soldiers, though that could hardly be the fact. 
 The form, size, &c. of this sword deserve notice ; it 
 is very different from the ideal sword of Gohath, in 
 the first figure above. That girdles were of several 
 kinds we need not doubt ; if we did, the entire dif- 
 ference between that of this figure and that of the 
 second above would justify the assertion. In that 
 there is no room for concealing, or for carrying, any 
 thing, but we know that one use of the girdle in the 
 East was, and still is, to carry various articles. So 
 we read, 2 Sam. xx. 8. that " Joab's garment that he 
 had put on, was girded (close) vmto him, and upon 
 it a sword-girdle, (or belt,) that is, a girdle of a mili- 
 tary nature, fit for holding a sword : and in this gir- 
 dle was a sword in its sheath ; and as he went it 
 fell out." Notwithstanding that there was much 
 hypoc'-itical baseness in Joab's behavior, we ought 
 to observe, that a sword might thus fall out of the 
 girdle which contained it ; for so we are told by 
 Herodotus, that the sword of Cambyses fell out of 
 the girdle, and wounded him in the thigh, of whicJi 
 wounds he died. 
 
 We read of swords having two edges ; and of the 
 gi-eat execution expected to be done by them. See 
 Psalm cxlix. 6, and Prov. v. 4. That a sword so short 
 as that of this figure might have two edges seems 
 probable enough, while that of Gohath would be 
 both the weaker and the worse for such a form. The 
 shai-p sword issuing out of the mouth of our Lord 
 (Rev. ii. 12.) will be noticed elsewhere ; we only ob- 
 serve here, that to imagine a long sword issuing out 
 of the mouth of a person, suggests a very awkward 
 image, or idea, to say the least ; an idea which 
 hardly could have its prototype in nature. 
 
 The annexed figures represent 
 Standards or Ensigns of the Ro- 
 man legions ; and explain on 
 what principles the Jews might 
 regard them as idolatrous, not 
 only because they had been con- 
 secrated to idols, and by heathen 
 priests, but fis they have images 
 on them ; which, if they might 
 be those of the emperor, might 
 also be those of idol deities. 
 
 The passage 2 Sam. i. 9. has 
 divided inteiin-eters : " Slay me," 
 says Saul, " for anguish (vertigo) 
 is come upon me ;" so reads our 
 translation, with the Vulgate ; but 
 the LXX and Syriac read, " deej) 
 darkness surrounds me ;" the 
 Chaldee parapluasi, "I am wholly 
 terrified ;" and some rabbins, " I 
 have the cramp." The Hebrew word {]'2v, shabatz) 
 signifies to surround — enclose — interweaAC : it occurs 
 several times as descriptive of a coat, or covering; 
 as Exod. xxviii. 4, 39 : " And thou shalt make an 
 embroidered coat ;" a close coat, says the Vulgate, 
 Aquila, Synunachus, and Theodotion ; the LXX to 
 the same effect, ;<oai u.Jwroi ; and elsewhere: but per- 
 haps, a coat \vTought with eye-let {oilet, Fr.) holes; 
 whence the word signifies, the holes in which jew- 
 els are set. Since, then, this word, or its derivatives, 
 in more than a dozen places, describes a bodily ves- 
 ture, and of a particular kind, , should it in this 
 passage be understood to signify mental sufterings ? 
 Shoutd it not rather, as rabbi Levi Ben Gershon and 
 M. Saurin think, be rendered a close coat, made of 
 rings [oilets) in the nature of a coat of mail, worn by
 
 ARMS 
 
 [ 102 ] 
 
 ARMS 
 
 Seul, for liiB personal security and clefoncc in 
 battle ? There are still extant among our anci( jit 
 armory some of these close coats, which appear 
 to be composed of small steel I'ings, connected 
 into eacii other ; and thereby permitting a free 
 motion of the body on all sides. It is difficult 
 to determine this ([uestion ; for though it can- 
 not be denied that the ancient Hebrews might use 
 such coats, yet we camiot prove it to have been tlie 
 case. 
 
 The nature of the difficulties arising in this his- 
 tory being uuderetood, the reader is requested to 
 examine the annexed engraving, which represents a 
 combat between a person on horseback and another 
 
 on foot : it is from Montrau(;on, {8iipplement, vol. iii. 
 page 397.) who thus remarks on it: "The horseman 
 represented on an Etruscan vase, of Cardinal Gual- 
 teri, is armed in such a singular manner, that I 
 thought it necessary to give the figure here. This 
 horseman is mounted on a nakcni horse with only 
 a bridle: though the horse seems to have something 
 on his neck, which |)asses i)et^\'('eIl his two ears, 
 but it is impossible to distinguish \\ hat it is." " The 
 armor also of this horseman is as extraordinary as 
 that of the .Samaritan horseman on Trajan's Pillar. 
 His military habit is verif dose, and fitted to his hody, 
 and covers him even to his ivrist, and below his ankles, 
 HO that his feet remain naked ; which is very extra- 
 ordinary. For, I think, both in the ancient and 
 modern cavalry, the feet were a princii)al j)art which 
 they guarded ; excepting only the Moorish horse, 
 who have for their whole dress only a short tunic, 
 which reaches to the middle of the thigh ; and the 
 Numidians, who ride quite naked, upon a naked 
 liorse, except a sliort cloak \\liich they hH\'e fastened 
 to their neck, and hanging loose behind them in 
 warm weather, and which they wrap about them- 
 selves in cold wealh(>r. Our iMruscan horseman 
 here hath his feet naked ; but he hath his head wvW 
 covered with a cap folded about it, and large sli|)s 
 of stuff hanging down from it. He wears a collar 
 of round stones. The rlose bodied coat he \\eais, is 
 wrought all over with zigzags, and large |)oints, down 
 to the girdle ; which is broad, and tied round the mid- 
 dle of his body; the same flourishing is continued 
 lower down his habit <|uite to his ankle, and all over 
 his arms to his wrist. Me braTidislies his s))ear against 
 his adversary, who is a nak<-d man on for)t, who 
 hath only a helmet on, and holds a large oval shield 
 in his left hand, and a spear in his right, which he 
 darts at his enemy, without being frighted at his 
 
 being so well equipped. The horseman, besides 
 his spear, hath a sword fastened to his belt, or 
 breast girdle. The hilt of his sword terminates in 
 a bird's head. Behind the man on foot, is a man 
 well dressed, witli his hat (which is like the modern 
 ones) falling from his head. He is the esquire of 
 the horseman ; and holds a spear ready for him, 
 which he may take if he happens to break his 
 own." This may assist our inquiries on the sub- 
 ject of the supposed close coat of Saul's armor. 
 (1.) This being an Etruscan vase, is pi-obably of 
 pretty deep antiquity; as vases of the kind were not 
 majiufactured in later ages. (2.) These vases have, 
 very often, histories depicted on them, referring to 
 eastern nations : they have events, deities, fables, 
 &c. as well as dresses, derived from Asia ; whence 
 the Etruscans were a colony. We risk little, there- 
 fore, in supposing that our subject is ancient, even 
 advancing towards the time of King Saul; and that 
 it is also Asiatic. Our next inquiry is. What it re- 
 presents. — Cci-tainly we may consider the person on 
 horseback as no common cavalier ; he is an officer 
 at least, probably a general; if not rather a king: 
 in whicli case, this is the very conmion subject of a 
 king vanquishing an enemy ; a subject which occurs 
 in munerous instances on gems, medals, &c. as is 
 well known to antiquaries. But the peculiarities oi 
 his dress are what demand our present attention. 
 (1.) His coat is so close as to cover liis whole per- 
 son. (2.) It seems to have marks, which, though 
 they may be ornaments, yet are analogous to quilt- 
 ings, and raise that idea strongly. Now supjjosing, 
 that under these quiltings is a connected chain of 
 iron rings, extending throughout the whole, it pre- 
 sents a dress well known in later ages, and, as this 
 exami)le proves, in times of remote antiquity ; and 
 to which agree the words used in describing Saul's 
 shabatz, as already noticed. 
 
 In order further to justify these conjectures on the 
 nature of the defence afforded by Saul's coat of mail, 
 Mr. Taylor copied r^ne of the Samaritan horsemen 
 
 from the Trajan Pillar. This dress, it will be seen, is 
 \vholly composed of scales, ami fits the wearer with 
 consunmiate accuracy ; even his feet and his hands 
 are covered with scales : and though his dress is 
 divided into two ])arts, one for his body, the other 
 t'or his legs, } ct tin; whole shows not only his shape, 
 but also every muscle of his body. This dress was 
 made of horny substances, such as horses' hoofs, 
 (Pausanias Attic, cap. 21.) or other materials of equal 
 toughness and hardness: but scaly coats of mail were 
 frcMpiently made of iron, and, very connnonly, we 
 find |)arts of armor of defcMice imbricated in this 
 manner. 
 
 [The above remarks on the case of Saul have been 
 permitted to remain, partly as an instance of the fan- 
 ciful, and often groundless, speculations of Taylor; 
 but principally for the sake of the general illustrations 
 of ancient armor. R. 
 
 An observation or two on the story of Saul's at- 
 tempt to dress David in his armor, (1 Sam. xvii. 38.) 
 and we may dismiss this subject. That youtli being
 
 ARO 
 
 [ 103 ] 
 
 ARR 
 
 introduced info the royal prcHcnce, in consequence 
 of his proposal to meet Goliath, our translation ,say.«, 
 " Saul armed David with his armor, and he i)ut a 
 liehnet of brass on his head ; also he armed him 
 with a coat of mail." [This ought, however, to he 
 translated : " Saul clothed David with his garments ; 
 and he put a helmet of brass ujion his head ; and 
 clothed him also with a coat of mail." There is here 
 no difficidty. David, as a shepherd youth, had been 
 accustomed to rove the hills and deserts in his simple 
 dress, with all his limbs at full liberty ; and of course 
 he could not at once feel himself at ease in the gar- 
 ments and close armor of a wariior. lie had never 
 tried them, i. e. he was not accustomed to them, and 
 could move in them neither with case nor agility. 
 Being, too, the armor of Saul, ^vho was taller than the 
 rest of the people, they might also be too large for 
 David. At any rate, he preferred to lay them aside ; 
 and to go against the Philistine in that garb to which 
 alone lie had been accustomed, and in which alone 
 he felt himself free, and able to act with energj' and 
 dexterity. Can we wonder at his preference ? R. 
 
 ARNON, a river frequently mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture, (Dciit. ii. 94, &c.) and which rises in the moun- 
 tains of Gilead or Moab, and runs by a north-west 
 course into the eastern part of the Dead sea. It is 
 now called Wady Mod-jeb, and divides the province 
 of Belka from tliat of Kerek, us it formerly divided 
 the kingdom of the INIoabites and Amorites, Numb, 
 xxi. 1.3. [It flows through a deep and wild ravine 
 of the same name, (in the Ileb. Numb. xxi. 1.5 ; Dent, 
 ii. 24 ; iii. 9.) and in a narrow bed. Rurckhardt 
 describes it as follows : " From the spot where we 
 reached the high banks of the 3Iodjeb, we followed 
 the top of the precipice at the foot of which the river 
 flows, in an eastern direction, for a quarter of an 
 hour ; when we reached the ruins of Araayr, the 
 ^i)-oer of the Scriptures, standing on the edge of the 
 ])rccipice. From hence a footpath leads down to 
 the river. The view which the Modjeb presents is 
 very striking. From the bottom, where the river 
 rmis through a narrow stripe of verdant level about 
 forty yards across, the steep and barren banks arise 
 to a great height, covered with immense blocks of 
 stone v.'hich have rolled down from the upper strata ; 
 so that when viewed from above, the valley looks 
 like a deep chasm, formed by some tremendous con- 
 vulsion of th" earth, into which there .seems to be no 
 possibility of descending to the bottom. The distance 
 from the edge of one preci))ice to that of the opposite 
 one, is about two miles in a straight line. 
 
 "We descended the northern bank of the Wady 
 by a footpatli which winds among the masses of 
 rock, dismounting on account of the steepness of the 
 road. We were about thirty-five minutes in reach- 
 ing the bottom. — The river, which flows in a rocky 
 bed, was almost dried up ; but its bed bears evident 
 marks of its impetuosity during the rainy season, the 
 shattered fragments of large; pieces of rock wliich 
 had been brokoi from the banks nearest the river, 
 and carried along by the torrent, having been depos- 
 ited at a considerable height aljove the present chan- 
 nel of the stream. A few Defle and willow tree s 
 grew on its banks. — The ])rincipal source of the 
 iModje!) is at a short distance to the north-east of Ka- 
 trane, a station of the Syrian Hadji or caravans to 
 Mecca." Travels in Syria, j). 372 ; (Jesenius, Comm. 
 on Is. xvi. 2. *R. 
 
 ARNONA, a district beyond Jordan, along the 
 river Arnon. See Reland, p. 495. 
 
 AROER,the name of various cities, (].) A citv on 
 
 the north side of the river Arnon, which was the 
 southern border of the Moabitish-Anmionitish terri- 
 tory, or of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, Dent. ii. 36 ; 
 iii. 12; Josh. xii. 3; xiii. 16. In Jerem. xlviii. 19. it 
 is called a Moabitish city. Burckhardt found its 
 ruins on the Arnon, under the name Araayr; see 
 the extract trom Burckhardt in the jireceding article. 
 — (2.) Another city, farther north, situated over again.st 
 Habboth Anunon, (Josh. xiii. 25.) on the brook Gad, 
 i. can arm of the Jabbok, (2 Sam. xxiv. 5.) and built 
 by the Gadiles, Num. xxxii. 34. — (3.) A third city, in 
 the tribe of Judah, 1 Sam. xxx. 28. R. 
 
 ARPAD or Arphad, a town in ScriiHure always 
 associated with Ilamath, the Epiphania of the Greeks, 
 2 Kings xviii. 34, &c. Some make it the same as 
 the Arphas noticed in Josephus, as limithig the 
 jjrovinccs of Gamalitis, Gaulanitis, Batana^a, and 
 Trachonitis, north-east ; (Joseph. Bel. J. iii. c. 2 ;) but 
 this is improbable. Michaelis and others compare the 
 Raphan or Raphansea, which Stephen of Byzantium 
 places near Epiphania. 
 
 I. ARPHx\XAD, son of Shem, and father of Sa- 
 lah ; born one year after the deluge ; died A. M. 
 2090, aged 438 years. Gen. xi. 12, &c, 
 
 II. ARPHAXAD, a king of Media, mentioned 
 Judith i. 1. Calmet supposes him to be the same 
 with Phraortes, the son and successor of Dejoces, 
 king of Media. But in this he differs from the 
 learned Prideaux, who thinks Arpliaxad to be Dejo- 
 ces, and not Phraortes, his successor ; for, as he 
 obsenes, Arpliaxad is said to be that king of Media 
 who was the founder of Ecbatane, which all other 
 writers agree to have been Dejoces ; and the begin- 
 ning of the twelfth year of Saosduchinus exactly 
 agrees with the last year of Dejoces, when the battle 
 of Ragan is said to have been fought. Herodotus 
 says that Phraortes first subdued the Persians, and 
 afterwards almost all Asia; but at last, attacking 
 Nineveh, and the Assyrian empire, he was killed, in 
 the twenty-second year of his reign. The book of 
 Judith informs us, that he built Ecbatane, and was 
 defeated in the gi-eat plains of Ragan, those probably 
 about the city of Rages, or Rey, in Media, Tobit i. 
 16; iii. 7 ; iv. 11. 
 
 ARROW, a missile offensive weapon, sharp, slen- 
 der, barbed, and shot from a bow, 1 Sam. xx. 36. 
 Divination with arrows was a practice formerly much 
 in use, and is not unknown even in modern times. 
 Ezekiel (chap. xxi. 21.) informs us that Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, marching against Zedekiah and the king of the 
 Ammonites, when he came to the head of two ways, 
 mingled his arrows in a quiver, to divine from them 
 in which direction he should pursue his march ; that 
 he consulted Teraphim, and inspected the livers of 
 beasts, in order to determine his resolution. Most 
 commentators believe that he took several arrows, 
 and on each of them wrote the name of the king, or 
 city, &c. which he designed to attack ; as on one — 
 Jerusalem ; on another — Rabbah ; on another — 
 Egypt, &c. ; and that these, being put into a quiver, 
 were shaken together, and one of them drawn out ; 
 that coming first being considered as declarative of 
 the will of the gods to attack first that city, province, 
 or kingdfim, whose name was upon the arrow. 
 
 This notion of the manner in which the divination 
 was performed, may be correct ; but the following 
 mode of doing it, transcribed from Delia Valle, (p. 
 276.) is worthy of notice: — "I saw at Aleppo a Ma- 
 hometan, who caused two persons to sit upon the 
 ground, one onposite to the other; and gave them 
 four arrows into their ha)ids, which both of them
 
 ARS 
 
 104 ] 
 
 A RT 
 
 held with their points downward, and, as it \\ere, in 
 two right hnes united one to the other. Then a ques- 
 tion being put to him, about any business, he fell to 
 murmur his enchantments, and thereby caused the 
 said four arrows, of their own accord, to unite tkcir 
 points together in tlie midst, (though he that held them 
 stirred not his hand,) and, according to the future 
 event of the matter, those of the right side wei-e 
 
 e laced over those of the left, or on the contrary." — 
 lella Yalle then proceeds to refer this to diabolical 
 agency. Without affirming that this mode of divina- 
 tion was that practised by the king of Babylon, the 
 passage in the prophet would seem to be entitled to 
 examination, with special reference to it. 
 
 There %vere many other ways of divination by ar- 
 rows ; such as shooting one, or more, into the air, and 
 watching on which side it (or the greater number) 
 fell, &c. Comp. 2 Kings xiii. 14 — 19. [Pococke in 
 his Spec. Hist. Arab. (p. 329.) relates, that when one is 
 about to set out on a journey, or to marry a wife, or 
 to undertake any important business, he usually cori- 
 sults three arrows which are kept in a vase or box. 
 The first has the inscription God orders it ; the sec- 
 ond, God forbids it ; and the third has no inscription. 
 Ho draws out an arrow with one hand ; and if it be 
 the first, he prosecutes his purpose with alacrity, as 
 by the express command of God ; if it be the second, 
 he desists ; if the third, he puts it back and draws 
 again, until he obtains one of the other two. Comp. 
 Rosenm. Com. in Ezek. xxi. 26. R. 
 
 The word arrow is often taken figuratively for 
 lightning, and other meteors, (the same as the heathen 
 would call the thunderbolts of their Jupiter,) but 
 there is a passage, (Psalm xci. 5.) where it has been 
 thought dubious whether it should be taken literally, 
 for wai-, or figuratively, for some natural evil : 
 
 Tliou shall have no occasion of fear, 
 
 From the teiTor by night ; 
 
 Fi'oni the arrow that fiiclh by day; 
 
 From the pestilence in darkness walking ; 
 
 From the destruction wiiich wastc:li at noon-day. 
 
 [But arrow is here used, no doubt, figuratively for 
 danger in general ; terror l)y niglit and arroivs by day 
 include all species of calamity ; while the next lines 
 go on to specify more particularly the pestilence. 
 This, indeed, like every other calamity, may be 
 reckoned among the arroivs of divine judgment. So 
 the Arabs. R. 
 
 The following is from Busbequius: (Eng. edit.) 
 "I desired to remove to a less contagious air. ... I 
 received from Solymau, the emi)eror, this message ; 
 tliat the emperor wondered what I meant, in desiring 
 to remove my habitation. Is not the pestilence God^s 
 ARROW which ivill always hit his mark ? It' God woidd 
 visit me herewith, how could I avoid it? Is not tlie 
 jjlague, said he, in my own palace, and yet I do not 
 think of removing ?" We find the same opinion ex- 
 pressed in Smith's Remarks, &c. on the Tm-ks : (p. 
 109.) "VV'hat, say they, is not the plague the dart of 
 Almighty God? and can we escape the blow he lev- 
 els at us ? is not bis hand steady to hit the persons he 
 aims at? can we run out of his sight, and beyond 
 his power?" So Herbert, (p. 99.) speaking of "Cur- 
 roon, says, "tiiat year his emjdre was so wounded 
 with God's arrows of plague, jicstilence, and famine, 
 as this thousand years before was never so terrible." 
 See Ezek. v. 15. ''When I send upon them the evil 
 arroivs of famine," &,c. 
 
 ARSACES, or Mithriuates, king of the Parthi- 
 ans, 1 Mace. xiv. ii. Demetrius Nicanor, or Nicator, 
 king of Syria, having invaded his coimtry, at first 
 
 obtained several advantages. Media declared for 
 him, and the Elymseans, Persians, and Bactrians 
 joined him ; but Arsaccs having sent one of his offi- 
 cers to him, under pretence of treating for peace, he 
 fell into an ambuscade ; his army was cut off by the 
 Persians, and he himself fell into the hands of Ar- 
 saces. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xhi. cap. 9; Justin lib. 
 xxxvi. and xli. 
 
 ARSENAL. The ancient Hebrews had each man 
 his owai arms, because all went to the wars ; they 
 had no arsenals, or magazines of arms, because they 
 had no regular troops, or soldiers, in constant pa)'. 
 There were no arsenals in Israel, till the reigns of 
 David and Solomon. David made a large collection 
 of arms, and consecrated them to the Lord, in his 
 tabernacle. The high-priest, Jehoiada, took them 
 out of the treasury of the temple, to arm the people 
 and Levites, on the day of the young khig J cash's 
 elevation to the throne, 2 Chron. xxiii. 9. Solomon 
 collected a great quantity of arms in his palace of the 
 forest of Lebanon, and established well-provided ar- 
 senals in all the cities of Judah, which he fortified, 2 
 Chron. xi. 12. He sometimes compelled the conquered 
 and tributary people to forge arms for lujii, 1 Kings 
 X. 25. Uzziah not only furnished his arsenals with 
 sjJCiu-s, helmets, shields, cuirasses, swords, bows, and 
 slings, but also with such machines as were proper 
 for sieges. Hezekiah had the same ])recaution ; he 
 made stores of ai'ms of all sorts. Jonathan and Simon. 
 Maccaba?us had arsenals stored with good arms ; not 
 only such as had been taken from their enemies, but 
 others which they had purchased, or commissioned 
 to be forged for them. 
 
 ARTABA, \-/i^Tu^ix'i. a measure used Ijy the Bab}'- 
 lonians, containing seyenty-two sextarii, according 
 to Epiphanius, (de Ponderib. et IMens.) and Isidore 
 of Seville ; (lib. xvi. Origen.) or, according to Dr. 
 Arbutljiiot's tables, one bushel, one gallon, and one 
 pint ; allowing, with him, four pecks tuid six pints to 
 the medimnus, and one pint to the choinix. It is 
 found oidy in the apocryphal Daniel, or Dan. xiv. 3. 
 Vulg. 
 
 ARTAXERXES, (.sn-j-cnmN,) a name or title com- 
 mon to several kings of Persia, Ezra iv. 7. In Ezra 
 vii. 21. the same name is written Nfo'iiTin-tN. 
 
 I. ARTAXERXES, a name given by Ezra (iv. 7, 
 8, 23; comp. 24.) to the Magus, called by Justin 
 Oropastcs; by Herodotus, Smerdis ; by ^schylus, 
 IMardus ; and by Ctesias, Sphendadates. Afler the 
 death of Cambyses, hc^ usurped tlie government of 
 Persia, [ante A. D. 522,) pretending to be Smerdis, 
 son of Cyrus, whom Cambyses had juit to death. 
 He probably, also, assmned the title of Artaxerxes, 
 though this is not mentioned by the Greek historians. 
 This" is tiie Artaxerxes who v.rote to his governors 
 ijeyond the Euphrates, signifying, tliat, having re- 
 ceived their advices relating to the Jcavs, he required 
 them to forbid the Jews from rebuilding Jerusalem. 
 Thus, from aliont ante A. D. 522, the Jews did not 
 dare to forward the repairs of the city avails, till about 
 ante A. D. 520, when Darius Hystaspes renewed the 
 royal ])ermission to build them, Ezra iv. 24 ; v. vi. — 
 Smerdis reigned oidy about six months ; when seven 
 noblemen consinred against him, assassinated him, 
 and ]jlaced Darius Ilystasjies, one of their number, 
 on the throne, ante A. D. 521. 
 
 n. ARTAXERXES Longimanus, the second son 
 and successor of Xerxes, ascended the Persian throne 
 ante A. D. 4G4. In the seventh year of his reign he 
 permitted Ezra to return to Judea, with all who in- 
 clined to follow him, (Ezra vii. viii.) and in the twen-
 
 ASA 
 
 [ 105 1 
 
 ASA 
 
 tieth year of his reign Nehemiah also obtained leave 
 to return, and to rebuild the walls and gates of Jeru- 
 salem, Neh. ii. From this year some chronologers 
 compute Daniel's seventy weeks of years, (Dan. ix. 
 24.) but Dr. Prideaux, who discourses very copiousl}' 
 and with great learning on this prophecy, maintains 
 that the decree mentioned in it for restoring and 
 rebuilding Jerusalem cannot be understood of that 
 granted to Nehemiah, in the twentieth year of Arta- 
 xerxes ; but of that granted to Ezra, by the same 
 prince, in the seventh year of his reign. From thence 
 to the death of Christ, are exactly four hundred and 
 ninety years, to a month ; for in the month of Nisan 
 was the decree granted to Ezra ; and in the middle 
 of the same month, Nisan, Christ suffered; just four 
 hundred and ninety years afterwards. (Connect, 
 part 1. b. V.) [Others suppose the Artaxerxes men- 
 tioned in Ezra vii. viii. to have been Xerxes, the 
 predecessor of Artaxerxes Longimanus ; so Winer 
 and others following Josephus. But the Scripture 
 name of Xerxes is Ahasuerus ; (see this article ;) 
 and the authority of Josephus in this respect is very 
 slender ; since he makes Xerxes reign 35 years ; 
 whereas we know from other accoimts that he was 
 assassinated in the twenty-first year of his reign. — 
 This Artaxerxes is said to have received the name 
 of Longimanus from the imusual length of his arms, 
 which were so much out of due proportion, that 
 when standing erect, he could touch his knees. Oth- 
 ers say he had one arm or hand longer than the 
 other. He died ante A. D. 425, after a mild reign of 
 39 years. R. 
 
 ARTEMAS, a disciple who was sent by the apos- 
 tle Paul into Crete, in the room of Titus, while the 
 latter continued witli Paul at Nicopohs, where he 
 passed the winter. Tit. iii. 12. We know nothing 
 particular either of his life or death. 
 
 ARUBOTH, or Araboth, a city or country be- 
 longing to Judah, (1 Kings iv. 10.) the situation of 
 which is not known. 
 
 ARUMAH, otherwise Rumah, a city near She- 
 chem, (Judges ix. 41.) where Abimelech encamped. 
 
 ARVAD, properly Aradus, the name of a Phoeni- 
 cian city upon the island of the same name, not far 
 from the coast, founded, according to Strabo, (xvi. 2. 
 § 13, 14.) by Sidonian deserters, Ezek. xxvii. 8, 11. 
 Their gentile name is Arvadites, Gen. x. 18 ; 1 
 Chron. i. 16. See Aradus, and Antarada. R. 
 
 ARZA, governor of Tirzah, in whose house Zimri 
 killed Elah, king of Israel, 1 Kings xvi. 9. 
 
 ASA, son and successor of Abijam, king of Judah, 
 (1 Kings XV. 8.) began to reign A. M. 3049, ante A. D. 
 955 ; and reigned forty-one years at Jerusalem. Asa 
 expelled those who, from sacrilegious superstition, 
 prostituted themselves in honor of their false gods ; 
 purified Jerusalem from the infamous practices at- 
 tending the worship of idols ; and deprived his 
 mother of her office and dignity of queen, because 
 she erected an idol to Astarte: which idol he burnt 
 in the valley of Hinnom. (See King's Mother.) 
 Scripture, however, reproaches him with not de- 
 stroying the high places, which he, perhaps, thought 
 it was necessary to tolerate, to avoid the greater evil of 
 idolatry. He carried into the house of the Lord the 
 gold and silver vessels which his father, Abijam, had 
 vowed he woidd consecrate ; and fortified and re- 
 paired several cities, encouraging his people to this 
 labor while the kingdom was at peace. After this, 
 he levied 300,000 men in Judah, armed with shields 
 and pikes; and 280,000 men in Benjamin, armed 
 with shields and bows, all men of courage and valor. 
 14 
 
 About this time, Zerah, king of Ethiopia, (or of Cush, 
 that is, part of Arabia ; see Cush, HI.) marched 
 against Asa with a million of foot, and 300 chariots 
 of war, and advanced as fai- as Mareshah ; probably 
 in the fifteenth year of Asa's reign. See 2 Chron. 
 xiv. 9. A. M. 3064. Asa advanced to meet him, and 
 encamped in the plain of Zephatha, (or Zephalah,) 
 near Mareshah. Asa prayed to the Lord, and God 
 terrified Zerah's army by a panic fear ; it began to 
 fly, and Asa pursued it to Gerah, slaying a gi-eat 
 number. Asa's army then returned to Jerusalem, 
 loaded with booty, (2 Chron. xiv. 15 ; xv. 1, 2.) and 
 were met by the prophet Azariah, who encouraged, 
 warned, and cxliorted them. Asa, being thus ani- 
 mated with new courage, destroyed the idols of Ju- 
 dah, Benjamin, and mount Ephraim ; repaired the 
 altar of burnt-ofTerings ; assembled Judah, and Ben- 
 jamin, with many from the tribes of Simeon, Ephraim, 
 and jNIanasseh ; and on the third month, in the fif- 
 teenth year of his reign, celebrated a solemn festival. 
 Of the cattle taken from Zerah, they sacrificed 700 
 oxen, and 7000 sheep ; they renewed the covenant 
 with the Lord ; and declared, that whosoever would 
 not seek the Lord should be put to death. God gave 
 them peace ; and the kingdom of Judah, according 
 to the Chronicles, was quiet till the thirty-fifth year 
 of Asa. But there are difficulties concerning this 
 year ; and it is thought probable, that we should read 
 the twenty-fifth, instead of the thirty-fifth, since 
 Baasha, who made war on Asa, lived no longer than 
 the twenty-sixth year of Asa, 1 Kings xvi. 8. In the 
 thirty-sixth (rather, says Calmet, the twenty-sixth) 
 year of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, began to fortify 
 Ramah, on the frontiers of the two kingdoms of Ju- 
 dah and Israel, to hinder the Israelites from resorting 
 to the kingdom of Judah, and the temple of the Lord 
 at Jerusalem. Whereupon Asa sent to Benhadad, 
 king of Damascus, all the gold and silver of his pal- 
 ace, and of the temple, to prevail on him to break his 
 alliance with Baasha, and to invade his territories, 
 that Baasha might be obhged to abandon his design 
 at Ramah. Benhadad accepted Asa's presents, and 
 invaded Baasha's country, where he took several 
 cities belonging to Naphtali ; Baasha being forced 
 to retire from Ramah, to defend his dominions nearer 
 home, Asa immediately ordered his people to Ra- 
 mah, carried off all the materials prepared by 
 Baasha, and employed them in building Geba and 
 Mizpah. At this time, the prophet Hanani came to 
 Asa, and said, (2 Chron. xvi. 7.) " Because thou hast 
 relied on the king of Syria, and not on the Lord thy 
 God, herein thou hast done foolishly ; therefore, from 
 henceforth, thou shalt have wars." Asa, offended 
 at these reproaches, put the prophet in chains, at 
 the same time ordering the execution of several per- 
 sons in Judah. Toward the latter part of his Ufe, 
 he was afflicted with the gout in his feet, and the 
 disorder, rising upward, killed him. Scripture re- 
 proaches him with having recourse rather to physi- 
 cians than to the Lord. His ashes were buried in 
 the sepulchre which he had provided for himself, 
 in the city of David, afler his body had been burned. 
 A. M. 3090, ante A. D. 914. 
 
 ASAHEL, son of Zeruiah, and brother of Joab; 
 one of David's thirty heroes, and extremely swifl of 
 foot ; killed by Abner, at the battle of Gibeon, 2 
 Sam. ii. 18, 19. 
 
 ASAHIAH, one of the persons sent by king Jo- 
 siah to consult Huldah, the prophetess, concerning 
 the book of the law, found in the temple, 2 Kings 
 xxii. 14.
 
 ASH 
 
 KX) 
 
 ASH 
 
 ASAPH, son of Barachias, of tlie tribe of Levi, 
 father of Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah, 
 and a celebrated musician, in David's time, 1 Chron. 
 XXV. 1, 2. In the distribution of the Lcvites, whicli 
 that prince directed for the service of the temple, he 
 appointed Kohath's fainily to be placed in the mid- 
 dle, about the altar of burnt sacrifices; Merari's 
 family to the left ; and Gerson's family to the 
 right.' Asaph, who was of Gerson's family, presided 
 over this band ; and his descendants had the same 
 place and rank. There are twelve Psalms with 
 Asaph's name prefixed, viz. the 50th, and from the 
 73d to the 83d ; but whether Asaph composed the 
 words and the music ; or David the words, and 
 Asaph the nuisic ; or whetJier some of Asaph's de- 
 scendants wrote them, and prefixed to them the name 
 of that eminent master of the music of the temple, 
 or of that division of singers of which Asaph's fam- 
 ily was the head, is not certain. Ail these psalms, 
 though generally distinguished for their beauty, do 
 not suit Asaph's time ; some were written during 
 the captivit}', others in Jehosha))hat's time. "A 
 Psalm for Asaph," might mean a Psalm for Asaph's 
 family. 
 
 ASENATH, daughter of Potiphar, priest of Heli- 
 opolis, and the wife of Joseph (Gen. xli. 45.) and 
 mother of Ephraim and Manasseh. (See Potiphar, 
 ad Jin.) [The Seventy, whose authority is worth 
 something in Eg}'ptian names, write 'Atiivi^, which 
 is equivalent to the Egyptian or Coptic As-JVeith, 
 i. e. belonging to Mith, the Egyptian goddess of wis- 
 dom, corresponding to the Minerva of the Greeks. 
 See Greppo, Hieroglyph. Syst. Append, p. 226. 
 Champollion, Pantheon Egj'ptien, no. 6. R. 
 
 ASHAN, {smoke,) a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 42.) 
 but afterwards apparently yielded to Simeon, Josh. 
 xix. 7. Eusebius says that, in his time, Beth-Ashan 
 was sixteen miles from Jerusalem, west. In 1 Sam. 
 XXX. 30, it is called Chor-ashan, i. c. furnace of 
 smoke. 
 
 ASIIDOD, one of the five cities of the Phihs- 
 .tines, assigned to the tribe of Judah, but never con- 
 quered by them, Josh. xiii. 8 ; xv. 46, 47 ; 1 Sam. v. 
 1 ; vi. 17, etc. It was called by the Greeks Azotus. 
 Here stood the temple of Dagon ; and hither the 
 ark was first brought, after the fatal battle at Eben- 
 ezer, I Samuel v. 1, seq. It sustained many sieges, 
 c. g. by Tartau, the Assyrian general, in the time 
 of Ilezekiah ; (Is. xx. 1.) afterwards by Psannnet- 
 ichus, king of Egypt, contemporary with Manasseh, 
 Anion, and Josiali. This siege is said by Herodotus 
 (ii. 157.) to have lasted twenty-nine years ! It was 
 afterwards taken by the Maccabees, and destroyed 
 by Jonathan; (1 Mace. v. 16; x. 77, seq.) but was 
 again restored by the Roman general Gabinius. 
 (Jos. Ant. xiv. 5. 3.) At the present day, it is a mis- 
 erable village, still called Esdud. See also the 
 article AzoTCs. R. 
 
 ASHDOTH, a city in the tribe of Reuben, called 
 Ashdoth-pisgah, (Josli. xii. 3; xiii. 20.) because it 
 was seated in the plains at the foot of mount Pisgali. 
 The word signifies low places, or ravines, at the foot 
 of a mouiUain. 
 
 ASHER, one of the sons of Jacob and ZilfKili, 
 Leah's maid. \M had fi)ur sons and one daughter, 
 Gen. xlix. 20; Deut. xxxiii. 24. Tlie iidieritance of 
 his tribe lay in a very fruitfid country, on the sea- 
 coast, with liibanus north, Carmid and the tribe of 
 Isaachar south, an<l Zcbulun and Naphtali east. 
 Tyre and Sidon, with the whole of Phoenicia, were 
 assigned as the territory of thia tribe, (Josh. xix. 25, 
 
 seq.) but it never possessed the whole range of dis- 
 trict assigned to it, Judg. i. 31. See Canaan. 
 
 ASHER, a city between Scythopolis and She- 
 chem, and, consequently, remote from the tribe of 
 Asher, Josh. xvii. 7. In the Old Itinerary to Jeru- 
 salem, it is placed between Scythopolis and Neapo- 
 lis, which is the same as Shechem. Eusebius says, 
 it was in Manasseh, 15 miles from Neapolis, towards 
 Scythopolis. 
 
 ASHES. To repent in sackcloth and ashes, or 
 to lie down among ashes, was an external sign of 
 self-aftliction for sui, or of grief under misfortune. 
 We find it adopted by Job ; (chap. ii. 8.) by many 
 Jews when in great fear ; (Esth. iv. 3.) and by the 
 king of Nineveh, Jonah iii. 6. Homer describes old 
 Laertes grieving for the absence of his son, — "sleep- 
 ing in the apartment where the slaves slept, in the 
 ashes near the fire." Coinpare Jer. vi. 26. " Daugh- 
 ter of my people, — wallow thyself in ashes." " I am 
 but dust and ashes," said Abraham to the Lord; 
 (Gen. xviii. 27.) indicating his deep sense of his own 
 meanness in comparison with God. God threatens 
 to shower down dust and ashes on the lands instead 
 of rain ; (Dent, xxviii. 24.) thereby to make them 
 barren instead of blessing them. (See Rain.) The 
 Psalmist, in gi-cat sorrow, says, poetically, that he 
 had " eaten ashes," Ps. cii. 9. He sat on ashes, and 
 threw them on his head ; his food was sprinkled 
 with the ashes wherewith he was himself covered. 
 So Jeremiah (Lam. iii. 16.) introduces Jerusalem, 
 saying, " The Lord hath covered me with ashes." 
 There was a sort of ley and lustral water, made with 
 the ASHES of the heifer, sacrificed on the great day 
 of expiation ; these ashes were distributed to the 
 people, and used in purifications, by sprinkling, to 
 such as had touched a dead body, or been present at 
 funerals. Numb. xix. 17. 
 
 The ancient Persians had a punishment which 
 consisted in executing certain criminals by stifling 
 them in ashes. (V^alerius Maximus, fib. ix. cap. 2.) 
 Thus the wicked Menelaus was despatched, who 
 caused the troubles which had disquieted Judea ; 
 (2 Mace. xiii. 5, 6.) being thrown headlong into a 
 tower, fifty cubits deep, which was filled with ashes 
 to a certain height. The action of the criminal to 
 disengage himself, plunged him still deeper in the 
 whirling ashes ; and this agitation was increased by 
 a wheel, which kept them in continual movement, 
 till he was entirely stifled. 
 
 ASIIIMA, a deity of very uncertain origin, 
 adored by the men of Hamath, who were settled in 
 Samaria, 2 Kings xvii. 30. Some of the rabbins 
 say, that Ashima had the shape of an ape ; others 
 that of a lamb, a goat, or a satyr. (Selden, de Diis 
 Si/r. Syntag7n. ii. cap. 9. et Additiones And. Beyr, 
 ibidem.) They who think this divinity was an ape 
 seem to have had regard to the sound of the word 
 Sima, which lias some relaticm to the Greek word 
 for an a|)e, .SVnim ; but the Hebrews have another 
 word for an ajx", Levit. xvii. 7. Both llie ape and 
 the goat were worshipjied in I'lgypt, and in the East. 
 (Diodor. Sicul. lib. i. Basnage, Antici. Jud. torn. i. p 
 1!>0.) — The name Asliima may very well be com- 
 pared with the Pi-rsian nsuman, heaven ; in Zend, 
 acmano ; so (Jcsr^iius, in his Manual Lex. 1832. 
 This, also, according to the magi, is the name of the 
 angel of deatb, who separates the souls of men from 
 their l)odii's, and also presides over the 27th day of 
 every solar month in the Persian year ; which, there- 
 fore, is called by his name. (I)'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, 
 p. 141.) — It may be further observed, that these pec-
 
 oies all the rest of 
 nor contained the 
 alalia, Cappadocia, 
 lia, Phi-ygia, Mysia, 
 d in the New Tcs- 
 — which are soine- 
 a, Doris, and Lycia. 
 jn m their larger 
 Doris — Mysia and 
 gia Minor, formed 
 h has been thought 
 •ipture Asia. But, 
 ident that Mysia, 
 ed by the sacred 
 the Asia so called 
 re reasonably sup- 
 'estament, is to be 
 Minor, as Acts xix. 
 :;. or (2.) only pro- 
 fonia, or the whole 
 ,vas the capital, and 
 . xiv.) thus in Acts 
 
 i. 15 ; 1 Pet. i. 1 ; 
 )roconsular Asia as 
 ygia, Mysia, Caria, 
 
 Fam. ii. 15.) R. 
 •ipes, as they are 
 16 Acts, (chap. xix. 
 1," Eng. tr.) — were 
 xa provinces of the 
 lected from among 
 ide over the things 
 id to exhibit annual 
 ts, at their o^vn ex- 
 the manner of the 
 received their titles 
 { belonged, as Syr- 
 'ariarch,eU\ and, of 
 y were called Asi- 
 
 annual, and was 
 
 At the beginning 
 lal equinoXjthe sev- 
 c assembly, in order 
 is Asiarch. A per- 
 ^ouncil of the prov- 
 [ cities, as Ephesus, 
 sly announced the 
 eeu selected. From 
 the different cities, 
 id from these the 
 
 to preside over all 
 vorsliip of the gods, 
 ed .Isiarch ; while 
 eld the office, still 
 t was also borne by 
 ^ designated by the 
 agues and advisers 
 ;e of residence was 
 'yzicus, or at any 
 ,vas held. See on 
 ond, Poli Synops. 
 R. 
 
 h games at Ephe- 
 for Paul, restrained 
 )sed, in the theatre, 
 )emetrius, the gold- 
 sus. The Asiarchs 
 ;ligion whose games 
 lartyrdom of Poly- 
 e afterAvards called 
 t out a lion against
 
 
 3
 
 A SI 
 
 [ 107 ] 
 
 AS I 
 
 pie came from Hamatli, or Emesa, a city of Syria, 
 on the river Orontes ; and we I'ead, in Herodian, that 
 the sun was adored in this city, under the name of 
 Elah- Gabalah ; whence the emperor Heliogal)akis 
 took liis name. The god, Elagabal, was represented 
 by a large stone, round at the bottom, which, rising 
 insensibly to a point, terminated in a conic or pyram- 
 idal figure. His worship became celebrated at 
 Rome, from the time of Heliogabalus, who caused a 
 magnificent temple to be erected to him. Around 
 this temple were several altars, on which hecatombs 
 ofbiUls, and great numbers of sheep, were sacrificed 
 every morning, and abundance of excellent wine and 
 spices jwured out. 
 
 ASHCHEx\AZ, (Jer. h. 27.) and ASHKENAZ, 
 (Gen. X. 3.) proper name of a son of Gomei-, and of 
 a tribe of his descendants. In Jeremiah, this tribe is 
 mentioned as one of those that shall execute the di- 
 vine judgments upon Babylon, and is placed together 
 with Ararat and Minni, provinces of Armenia. 
 Hence the conjecture is not improbable, that Ashke- 
 naz itself was also a tribe and province of Ar- 
 menia ; or, at least, lay not fai' from it, near the Cau- 
 casus, or towards the Black sea. Further than tliis 
 we can have no data. See Rosenmueller, Bib. Geog. 
 I. i. 238. R. 
 
 ASHNAH, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 33. 
 
 ASHPENAZ, iutendant, or governor of king Neb- 
 uchadnezzar's eunuchs, who changed the name of 
 Daniel and his companions, Dan. i. 3. 
 
 ASHTAROTH, see Astaroth. 
 
 ASHUR, a son of Shem, who gave name to As- 
 syria. It is believed, that he dwelt originally in the 
 land of Shinar, and al)Out Babylonia; but was com- 
 pelled by Nimrod to remove thence, higher towai-ds 
 the springs of the Tigris, in the province of Assyria, 
 where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and 
 Resen. This is the sense sometmies given to Gen. x. 
 11, 12 : " Out of that land (Shinar) went forth Ashur, 
 and builded Nineveh," &c. But others understand 
 it to speak of Nimrod, who left his own coimtry, and 
 attacked Assyria, which he overcame, built Nineveh, 
 and here established the seat of his empire. The 
 prophet Micali (chap. v. 6.) calls Assyria the land of 
 Nuurod. (See Bochart, in Phaleg, lib. iv. cap. 12.) 
 See Assyria. 
 
 ASIA. The ancient Hebrews were strangers to 
 the division of the earth into parts or quarters; and 
 hence we never find the word Asia in any Hebrew 
 book. It occurs only in the books of the Maccabees, 
 and in the New Testament. 
 
 ated 
 
 Asia is separated from Europe by the Tanais or 
 Don, the Euxuie, ^gean, and Mediterranean seas ; 
 the Red sea and isthmus of Suez divide it from Africa. 
 This part of the globe is regarded as having been the 
 most favored. Here the first man was created ; here 
 tlie patriarchs lived ; here the law was given ; here 
 the greatest and most celebrated monarchies were 
 formed ; and from hence the first founders of cities 
 and nations in other parts of the world conducted 
 their colonies. In Asia, our blessed Redeemer ap- 
 peared, ^%Tought salvation for mankind, died, and 
 rose again ; and from hence the light of the gospel 
 has been diffused over the world. Laws, arts, sci- 
 ences, and rehgions, almost all have had their origin in 
 Asia. The soil is fruitful, and abounds with all the 
 luxuries as well as necessaries of life. 
 
 Asia was generally divided into Major and Minor. 
 Asia Minor was a large eountrv, (Acts xix. 10.) lying 
 between the Euxine or Black sea northward, "and 
 the Mediterranean southward. It is now called Ana- 
 
 tolia, or Aatolia. Asia Major denotes all the rest of 
 the Asiatic continent. Asia Minor contained the 
 provinces of Bithynia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, 
 Cihcia, Pamphyha, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Phrj gia, Mysia, 
 Troas — all of which are mentioned in the New Tes- 
 tament ; — Lydia, Ionia, andiEolis — which are some- 
 times includeil under Lydia — Caria, Doris, and Lycia. 
 Of these, Lydia and Caria — taken in their larger 
 acceptations, the latter including Doris — ^lysia and 
 Phrj gia, including Troas or Plirygia jNIinor, formed 
 the Roman proconsular Asia, which has been thought 
 by some to be the same as the Scripture Asia. But, 
 as Dr. ^\'clls remarks, it is evident that 3Iysia, 
 Phrygia, and Troas, are reckoned by the sacred 
 writer as distinct provinces from the Asia so called 
 in Scripture. [It is therefore more reasonably sup- 
 posed, that by Asia, in the New Testament, is to be 
 understood, (1.) the whole of Asia Minor, as Acts xix. 
 20, 27 ; XX. 4, 16, 18 ; xxvii. 2, &c. or (2.) only pro- 
 consular Asia, i. e. the region of Ionia, or the whole 
 Avestern coast, of which Ephesus was the capital, and 
 which Strabo also calls Asia; (lib. xiv.) thus in Acts 
 ii. 9 ; A-i. 9 ; xix. 10, 22 ; 2 Tim. i. 15 ; 1 Pet. i. 1 ; 
 Rev. i. 4, 11. Cicero speaks of proconsular Asia as 
 containing the provinces of Phiygia, Mysia, Caria, 
 and Lydia. (Pro. Place. 27. Ep. Fam. ii. 15.) R. 
 
 ASIARCH^^, or tisifs Principes, as they are 
 called in the Latin version of the Acts, (chap. xix. 
 31, "Certain of the chief of Asia," Eng. tr.)— were 
 high-priests of Asia. [In the eastern provinces of the 
 Roman empire, persons were selected from among 
 the more opulent citizens, to preside over the things 
 pertaining to religious worship, and to exhil)it annual 
 games and theatrical amusements, at their own ex- 
 pense, in Iionor of the gods, m the manner of the 
 sediles at Rome. These officers received their titles 
 from the province to which they belonged, as Syr- 
 iarch, (2 IMacc. xii. 2.) Lyciurch, Cariarch,etc. and, of 
 com-se, in proconsular Asia, they were called ^st- 
 arcJis. Their appointment was annual, and was 
 made in the following manner : At the beguaniug 
 of each year, i. e. about the autumnal equinox,the sev- 
 eral cities of Asia held each a public assembly, in order 
 to nominate one of their citizens as Asiarch. A per- 
 son was tlien sent to the general council of the prov- 
 ince, at some one of the principal cities, as Ephesus, 
 Smyrna, Sardis, etc. who publicly announced the 
 name of the individual who had been selected. From 
 the persons thus nominated by the different cities, 
 the council designated ten ; and from these the 
 Roman j)roconsid a])i)ointcd one to j)reside over all 
 that pertained to the honor and worship of the gods. 
 This person was especially called Asiarch ; wliile 
 those, also, who had formerly held the office, still 
 retained tiie name ; or perhaps it was also borne by 
 the other nine persons who were designated by the 
 council, and who were the colleagues and advisers 
 of the chief ./?5i'a?r/i. Their place of residence was 
 at Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, Cyzicus, or at any 
 other city where the council was held. See on 
 Acts xix. 31, Kuinoel, Hammond, Poli Synops. 
 Also Winer. Bib. Realw. p. 61. R. 
 
 These chiefs, then holding such games at Ephe- 
 sus, out of friendly consideration for Paul, restrained 
 him from appearing, as he proposed, in the theatre, 
 during the sedition raised by Demetrius, the gold- 
 smith, respecting Diana of Ephesus. The Asiarchs 
 were fre(]uently priests of the reUgion whose games 
 they celebrated : thus, in the martyrdom of Poly- 
 carj), Philip the Asiarch (a httle afterwards called 
 the high-priest) is solicited to let out a lion against
 
 ASK 
 
 [ lOS 
 
 AST 
 
 Polycaip, Avhich he declares he could not do, because 
 that kuid of spectacle was over. These Asiarchs 
 should by no means be confounded with the archou, 
 or chief magistrate of Ephesus : for they were rep- 
 resentatives, not of a single city, luit of numy cities 
 united. Tlie dignity wa5 great ; but the expense 
 also was gi-eat ; so that only men of wealtJi could 
 uniertake it. Hence we find Aristides exerting him- 
 seh' strenuously to be discharged from this costly 
 office, to wliich he had been three or four times 
 nominated. This notion of tlie Asiarchs is con- 
 firmed by a medal of Rhodes, struck under Hadrian, 
 on the reverse of which we read, '*a coin struck in 
 common by thirteen cities, in honor of the magis- 
 trate of Rhodes, Claudio Fronto, Asiarch and high- 
 priest of the thirteen cities." 
 
 The consideration of these Asiarchs for the apos- 
 tle Paul, during the tumult, is not only extremely 
 honorable to his character, and to theirs, but is also 
 a strong confirmation of the remark made by the 
 evangelist, (ver. 10.) that "all they who dwelt in 
 Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and 
 Greeks." It shows also in ^^■hat hght the tumult of 
 Demetrius was beheld, since he took especial care 
 to observe that " all Asia" worshipped their goddess. 
 Yet were the very Asiarchs, now engaged in this 
 worship, intent on saving the man whom Deme- 
 trius represented as its most formidable enemy. 
 Though tliere was, properly speaking, only one 
 Asiarch at a tune, yet those v.ho had passed through 
 the office retained the title ; for which reason tliey 
 are mentioned in the plural by the evangelist. 
 
 ASKELOX, a citj- in the laud of the Phihstines, 
 between Ashdod and Gaza, on the coast of the ^led- 
 iterranean. After the death of Joshua, the tribe of 
 Jiidsdi took Askelon ; but it subsequently became 
 one of the fi\ e govermnents belonging to the PliiUs- 
 tines, Judges i. 11. [The prophets" Amos, (i. 8.) 
 Zephaniah, (ii. 4.) and Jeremiah (xlvii. 5, 7.) announce 
 destruction to it, as also to the other cities of the 
 Philistines. In the fourth century, Askelon, like 
 Ashdod, became the seat of a bishop; and remained 
 till the middle of the seventh century, when the 
 Arabs took possession of Palestine. Tlie cit}- under- 
 went various fortunes during the crusades, till at 
 length it was razed, by the labors of Christians and 
 Mussulmans in common, ui accordance vr\xh the 
 treaty between Richard and Saladin, A. D. 119*2. 
 Since that time, this fonnerly opulent, splendid, and 
 strong city, has remained a desolate heap of ruins. 
 Dr. Richardson thus describes its present state : 
 " Askelon was one of tlie proudest satrapies of the 
 Phihstines ; now Uiere is not an hihabitaut within its 
 walls : and the prophecy of Zechariah is fulfilled, 
 'The king shall perish from Gaza, and Askelon 
 .shall not be inhabited,' Zech. ix. (J. When tlie 
 propiiecy was uttered, both cities were in an equally 
 flourishing condition, and nothing but the prescience 
 of Heaven could pronounce on wjiich of the two, 
 and in what manner, the vial of his wrath should 
 thus l>e poured out. Gaza is truly without a khig. 
 The lofty towers of Askelon lie scattered on the 
 ground, and the ruins witliin its walls do not shelter 
 a human lK>ing. How is the wrath of man made to 
 praise his Creator!" 
 
 The ancients mention the wine of Askelon with 
 
 m 
 
 name 
 
 applause ; as also the onions, whii-h grew here 
 abundance. (Pliny, H. \. xix. tj.] Indeed, the na 
 shalot, Fr. echalotte, Ital. scaloscnw, seems to be cor- 
 rupted out of .isralonin, it l>oing properly the allium 
 ^^scalonirxtin. According to an auci-nt tradition, 
 
 Derceto, the mother of the Babylonish queen Semi- 
 ramis, cast herself headlong into a lake in the ^^cin- 
 ity of this cit}', in order to preserve her honor from 
 a young man who was pursuing her : and was there 
 trajisformed into a fish. On this account, the SjtI- 
 ans ate no fish ; and worshijiped Derceto as a god- 
 dess in the form of a fish with the head of a woman. 
 This same divinity, probably the emblem of the 
 prohfic powers of nature, the Greeks seem to have 
 adored as the heavenly Venus. At least diis latter 
 had a temple at Askelon, which was plundered of its 
 riches by the Scytliians. (Herodot. i. 10.5.) Com- 
 pare the article Dagox. 
 
 Askelon was the birthplace of Herod the Great, 
 and of several distingiushed Mussulmans. *R. 
 
 AS3I0DEUS, or Asmodi, an e\i.\ spirit, mentioned 
 in the apocryphal book Tobit, as having beset Seu-ah, 
 the daughter of Raguel, and killed her seven fi.rst 
 husbands, whom she had married before Tobit. (iii. 
 8 ; vi. 14 ; viii. 2, 3.) The rabbins have various 
 legends respecting this spirit. He is properly the same 
 as .ishmadai, and also .ibaddon, and, therefore, the 
 same as the Greek .Ipollyon, i. e. the angel of death. 
 
 AS3IONEAXS, a name given to the 3Iaccabees, 
 descendants of Mattathias, who was, according to 
 Josephus, (-\ntiq. lil). xii. cap. 8.) the great-grandson 
 ofAsmonaeus. The family of the Asmonaeans be- 
 came ven,- illustrious in the later times of the He- 
 brew connnonwealth : it was the support of the 
 rehgion and libem^ of the Jews ; and possessed the 
 supreme authority, from Mattathias to Herod the 
 Great. See Maccabees. It is no where said 
 whether the Asmonaeans were of the race of Joze- 
 deck, in whose family the office of high-priest con- 
 tinued in a hneal descent, till Alcimus was promoted 
 to that dignity. This is certain of the Asmonaeans, 
 that they were of the course of Joarib, which was 
 the first class of the sons of Aaron ; and, therefore, 
 on failure of the former pontifical family, (which had 
 now happened by the fiight of Onias, son of Onias, 
 into Eg} pt.) they had the best right to succeed to that 
 station. Under this right Jonathan took the office, 
 when nominated to it by the reigning king in Syria : 
 being also elected thereto by the general sufirage of 
 the people. Prid. Connect. &c. Part II. book iv. 
 
 ASXAPPER, a king of Assyria, who sent the 
 Cuthaeans into Israel, Ezra iv. 10. IMany think this 
 was Salmaneser ; but others, with niore probabilitj", 
 think it was Esar-haddon. 
 
 ASP. a kind of serpent, ^^ hose poison is of such rapid 
 operation, that it kills almost the instant it penetrates, 
 without a possibility of remedy. It is said to be very 
 small. The most remarkable mention of it in Scriptiu-e 
 is in Psalm Iviii. 4. where the adder or asp (;rc) is said 
 to "stoj) its ears, that it may not hear the voice of the 
 charmer." This is supposed by Foi-skal to be the co- 
 luber Baeiain,w'hoae bite causes instant death. Some 
 are of opinion that there is a sort of asp really deaf. 
 whi''h is the most dangerous of its kind, and that the 
 Psalmist here speaks of this. (Bochart, de Animal. 
 Sacr. Part II. lib. iii. cap. G.) Others think tliat tlie 
 asp, when old, Ijecomes deaf; others, that it, as well 
 as other serpents, hears exijuisitely ^^ ell, but that, 
 when any one attempts to charm it, it stops its ears, 
 by applying one very close to the earth, and stop- 
 ping the other with the end of its tail. The expres- 
 sion is, probably, taken from actual observation of 
 nature. That ser]>ents are overcome, as if charmed, 
 so that, while they would bite some persons with 
 great violence, they arc haniiless to others, is .n 
 known fact: but the mode of producing this etfcct
 
 ASS 
 
 [ lO'J ] 
 
 ASS 
 
 has uot yet been coinmujiicated lo European travel- 
 lers. A Hottentot informed 3Ir. Taylor, that in his 
 country, the uaja, or hooded snake, was charmed by 
 a pecviliar whistle, which he repeated several times : 
 but from his description of the attitude and situation 
 of the creature, as hiding itself behind rocks, in holes, 
 &:c. and putting out its head from its retreat, as if 
 to listen, he could conceive no idea of a charm, 
 strictly so called. The attention of the creature 
 seemed to be excited by the whistled tune, and that 
 instant opportunity was taken to knock him on the 
 head. But if there bo a kind of asj), over which 
 such a whistle, &c. has no power to excite his atten- 
 tion, but he steadily keeps himself safe within his 
 hole of concealment, this may coincide with the 
 Psalmist's idea, and justify the expression used by 
 him. Such a serpent, so hid in the cleft of a rock, 
 may look at his enemy, and may preserve Imnself 
 motionless and secure, notwithstanding everj' art to 
 entice him from his hiding place. 
 
 [The true asp of the ancients seems to be entirely 
 unknown. It is frequently mentioned bj' ancient 
 writers ; but in such a careless and indefinite man- 
 ner, that it is impossible to ascertain the species with 
 precision. Critics are still undecided with respect 
 to the species by which Cleopatra procured her 
 death ; and, uideed, whether slie was bitten or stung 
 at all. In the English version, the word is uni- 
 formly used for the Heb. jnc, the coluber Badaen of 
 Forskal. In Rom. iii. 14, the Greek word uo.Tlg oc- 
 cm-s, and it is also used by the Seventy in Ps. cxl. 4. 
 (3.) where it is for the Heb. iiroy, adder. R. 
 
 ASPHALTUS, or Jews' Pitch, bitumen, a gummy, 
 inllanunable mineral substance, with a smooth, 
 shining surface, and usually of a dark brown color, not 
 unlike common pitch. It is found in nature, partly 
 as a dry, hard fossil, mingled with chalk, marie, 
 gj'psum, or slate ; and partly as a fluid, tar-like sub- 
 stance, issuing from crevices in rocks, and from the 
 earth, or swinmiing on inland lakes. This last oc- 
 curs most frequently on the Dead sea; compare 
 Gen. xiv. 10. Tacitus Hist. — The ancients used this 
 production, among other things, instead of mortar, 
 and the walls of Babylon were cemented by it, Gen. 
 xi. 3. In the neighborhood of Babylon there were 
 abundant springs of ai^phaltus, at the i)lace called Is, 
 or Hit; see D'Herbelot, Bib. Orient, art. Hit. It 
 was used also to cover Ijoats, etc. (Gen. vi. 14 ; 
 Ex. ii. 2.) and was, moreover, much employed in the 
 
 1)reparation of medicines, and particularly in em- 
 )alming dead bodies. Joseph. i\nt. lib. v. de Bello, 
 cap. iv. sen cap. v. in Lat. p. 892. The asphaltus of 
 the Dead sea, which rises, at i)articular seasons, from 
 the bottom of the lake, is thought to be superior to 
 every other kind. The Arabians lish for it diligently, 
 or gather it on the shore, \\hither the wind drives it. 
 It is shining, dark, heavy, and of a strong smell 
 when burnt. 
 
 ASPHAR, a lake in the district of Tekoali, (1 Mace, 
 ix. 33.) whicli Cnlmet takes to be the Dead sea. 
 
 I. ASS, an animal well known for domestic uses ; 
 and frequently mentioned in Scripture. People of 
 the first quality in Palestine rode on asses. Deborah, 
 in her song, describes the nobles of the land as those 
 trho ride on tvhite asses; (Judg. v. 10; comp. Bib. 
 Repos. i. p. 588.) Jair of Gilead had thirty sons, 
 \ylio rode on as many asses, and commanded in thirty 
 cities ; (ib. x. 4.) and Abdou, one of the judges of Israel, 
 had forty sons and thirty grandsons, wlio rode on 
 seventy asses, (Judg. xii. 14; comp. 2 Sam. xvii. 
 33. etc.) The oriental asses are not to be com- 
 
 pared with those of northern countries ; but ar6 ftr 
 more stately, active, and lively. Indeed thev were 
 anciently, as still, highly ])rized ; and were also pre- 
 ferred for riding, especially the she-asses, on account 
 of their sure-footedness. Hence we so often find 
 mention of she-asses alone. — The ass was unclean 
 by the law, because it did not chew the cud. To 
 dra\v with an ox and an ass together was prohibited. 
 Lev. xi. 26. 
 
 We read in Matt. xxi. 4. that, in order to accomplish 
 a prophecy of Zechariah, (ix. 9.) our Saviour rode on 
 an ass into Jerusalem, in a triumphant manner. This 
 has been made a subject of ridicule by some ; but we 
 ought to consider, not only that the gi-eatest men in 
 Israel rode on asses anciently, as we have seen above, 
 but, also, that God had thought fit absolutely to pro- 
 hibit the use of horses and of chariots for war ; 
 (Dent. xvii. 10 ; compare Josh. xi. 6.) that David rode 
 on a nmle, and ordered Solomon to use it at his cor- 
 onation ; (1 Kings i. 33, 34.) that aftei-Avards, when 
 Solomon and succeeding princes multiplied horses, 
 they were rebuked for it; (Isaiah ii. 6, 7; xxxi. 1; 
 Hosea xiv. 3.) and that the removal of horses is 
 promised in the days of the Messiah, Hosea i. 7 ; 
 Micah v.- 10, 11 ; Zech. ix. 10. So that on the whole 
 we find, that this action of our Lord is to be viewed 
 not merely as an accomplishment of a prophecy, but 
 also as a revival of an ancient and venerable Hebrew 
 custom. An imcertainty, if not a difficulty, has been 
 started, whether to adhere to the opinion of Dr. Dod- 
 dridge, or to that of Mr. Hervey, in respect to the 
 kind of ass on which our Lord rode into Jerusale«i. 
 Dr. Doddridge observes, that the eastern assee are 
 larger and much better than ours, and that our 
 Lord's triumphant entry was not degraded by indig- 
 nity ; though liumble, it was not mean. Mr. Hervey, 
 on the contrary, glories in va hatever of meanness and 
 disrepute attached to that circumstance. It may, 
 however, be remarked, that much of that extreme 
 meanness, which some have found in the character 
 and situation of Jesus, arises from their imperfect 
 acquaintance with local customs and manners, and 
 is greatly diminished on closer inspection ; for, how- 
 ever humble might be his appearance, jet it was 
 neither vulgar nor mean. How far the following 
 extracts support this idea, in respect to the kind of ass 
 rode by our I^ord when entering Jerusalem, is left to 
 the reader ; but this is uot the only instance in which 
 the medium is safest and best. Niebuhr says, " Chrla- 
 tiaus cannot, indeed, repine at being forbidden to 
 ride on horseback in the streets of Cairo, for the asses 
 are there very handsome; and are used for riding, by 
 the greater part of the Mahometans ; and by the most dis- 
 tinguished women of the country," p. 39. (French edition.) 
 In fact, this use of asses is general in the East ; and 
 only the grandees use horee-s in the cities. This 
 excepts the Arabs of the countiy, those in offices of 
 govermnent, &c. 
 
 In the gospel is mentioned the in'f.oc unxoc. (Matt. 
 xviii. 6; Mark ix. 41.) to express a large mill-stone, 
 turned by asses, heavier than that turned by women, 
 or by slaves. See Jahn's Archseol. § 138, 139. 
 
 The Jews were accused by the pagans of wor- 
 shipping the head of an ass. Apion, the gi-ammariau, 
 who seems to have been the author of this slander, 
 (Joseph, lib. ii. contra Apion,) affirmed, that the Jews 
 kept the head of an ass in the sanctuary ; that it was 
 discovered there when Antiochus Epiphanes took 
 the temple, and entered into the most holy place. 
 He added, that one Zabidus, having secretly got into 
 the temple, carried off the ass's head, and conveyed
 
 ASS 
 
 110 1 
 
 ASS 
 
 it to Dora. Suidas (in Damocrito, and in Juda) says, 
 that Damocritus, or Deniocritiis, the historian, aver- 
 red that the Jews adored the head of an ass, made 
 of gold ; and sacrificed a man to it every three, or 
 every seven, years, after having cnt him in i)ieces. 
 Plutarch (Symposia, lib. iv. cap. 5.) and Tacitus, 
 (Hist. lib. V.) being imposed on by this calumny, re- 
 port, that the Hebrews adored an ass, out of gratitude 
 for the discovery of a fountain by one of these crea- 
 tures in the wilderness, at a time when the army of 
 this nation was parched with thirst, and extremely 
 fatigued. The heathen imputed the same worship 
 to the eai-ly Christians ; and Tcrtullian (Apolog. cap. 
 16.) reports, that certain enemies to the Christians 
 exposed to public view a picture, wherein was rep- 
 resented a person holding a book in his hand, dressed 
 in a long robe, with ass's ears, and a foot like an ass, 
 which picture was inscribed, " The God of the 
 Christians has an ass's hoof." Epiphanius, (de Haj- 
 res.) speaking of the Gnostics, says, they taught that 
 the god Sabaoth had the shape of an ass ; but that 
 others described him as shaped like a hog. Learned 
 men who have endeavored to discover the origin of 
 this slander, are divided in their opinions. The 
 reason which Plutarch and Tacitus give for it, would 
 be the most plausible, were there any truth in the 
 fact on which they ground it. But nothing in the 
 history of the Jews can be interpreted to favor it. 
 Tanaquil Faber has attempted to prove, that this ac- 
 cusation proceeded from the temple in Egypt, called 
 Onion, after Onias, the high-priest ; (having been 
 built by him at Hehopolis, B. C. 150 ;) as if this name 
 came from onos, an ass ; which is, indeed, a plausi- 
 ble conjecture. Others have asserted, that the mis- 
 take of the heathen proceeded from an ambiguous 
 mode of reading, as if the Greeks, meaning to say 
 that the Hebrews adored heaven, Ouranon, might in 
 abbreviation write Ounon ; whence the enemies of 
 the Jews concluded that they worshipped onos, an 
 ass. Bochart (de Animal. Sacr. lib. ii. cap. 18.) is 
 of opinion that the eri'or arose from an expression 
 of Scripture: (Isaiah i. 20; xl. 5; Iviii, 14.) "The 
 mouth of the Lord hath spoken it ;" in the Hebrew, 
 Pi-Jehovah, or Pi-Jeo. Now, in the Egyptian lan- 
 guage, pieo signifying an ass, the Alexandrian Egyp- 
 tians, hearing the Jews often pronounce this word 
 pieo, might believe that they called on their god, 
 and thence inferred tliat they adored an ass. But 
 though these explications are ingenious, they are not 
 solid. — It is i)robablo that no good reason can be 
 given for tlie accusation, which might have arisen 
 from a joke, or from accident. M. Le Moine seems 
 to have succeeded best, who says, that in all jiroba- 
 bility the golden urn containing the manna, which 
 was preserved in the sanctuary, was taken for tlu; 
 head of an ass; and that the omer of manna might 
 have been confounded with the Hebrew hamor, 
 which signifies an ass. See Assaro.v. 
 
 II. ASS OF Balaam. In the article Balaam, 
 some account of his ass may be seen. Here we 
 shall only inquire, whether it were a reality, or an al- 
 legory ; an imaiiiuation, or a vision of Balaam. Au- 
 gustin, with the greater number of commentators, 
 supposes it was a certain fact, and takes it literally. 
 (Qusest. in (ien. 48, 50.) He discovers nothing in 
 the whole relation more surprising than the stupidity 
 of Balaam, who heard his ass speak to him, and who 
 replied to it, as to a reasonaiiie person ; and adds, as 
 his opinion, that God did not give tiie ass a reasona- 
 ble soul, l)ut permitted it to pronounce certain wnnis, 
 to reprove tiie proj)het's covcloi"<ness. 
 
 Gregory of N^ssa (in Vita Mosis) seems to thmk, 
 that the ass did not utter words ; but that having 
 brayed as usual, or a little more thtm usual, the di- 
 viner, practised in drawing presages from the voices 
 of beasts, and of birds, easily comprehended the 
 meaning of the ass ; and that Closes, designing to 
 ridicule this superstitious art of augury, relates the 
 matter as if the ass really spoke articulately. (But 
 see 2 Peter ii. 16.) Maimonides asserts the whole 
 dialogue to be but a kind of fiction and allegory ; 
 whereby Moses relates what passed only in Balaauj's 
 imagination as real history. Philo, in his life of Clo- 
 ses, suppresses it entu'ely. And the greater part of 
 the Jewish authors consider it, not as a circumstance 
 which actually took place, but as a vision, or some 
 similar occurrence. 
 
 Le Clerc solves the difficulty, by saying, Balaam 
 believed in the transmigi-ation of souls, passing from 
 one body into another, fi'om a man into a beast, 
 reciprocally ; and, therefore, he was not surprised 
 at the ass's complaint, but conversed with it as if it 
 were rational. Others have imagined different ways 
 of solving the difficulties of this history. 
 
 In considering this question, Mr. Taylor assumes 
 as facts, (1.) That Balaam was accustomed to au- 
 gury and presages, (2.) That on this occasion he 
 would notice every event capable of such interpret- 
 ation, as presages were supposed to indicate. (3.) 
 That he was deeply intent on the issue of his jour- 
 ney. (4.) That the whole of his conduct towards 
 Balak was calculated to represent himself as an ex- 
 traordinary personage. (5.) That the behavior of 
 the ass did actually prefigure the conduct of Ba- 
 laam in the three particulars of it which are re- 
 corded. — First, the ass turned aside, and went into 
 the field ; for which she was smitten, punished, re- 
 proved : so Balaam, on the first of his i)erverse 
 attempts to curse Israel, was, as it were, smitten, 
 reproved, j)unished, (1.) by God, (2.) by Balak. The 
 second time the ass was more harshly treated for 
 hurting Balaam's foot against the wall : so Balaam, 
 for his second attempt, was, no doubt, still further 
 mortified. Thirdly, the ass, seeing inevitable danger, 
 fell down and was smitten severely : in like manner 
 Balaam, the third time, was overruled by God, to 
 speak truth, to his own disgrace ; and esca))ed, not 
 without hazard of his life, from the anger of Balak. 
 Nevertheless, as Balaam had no sword in his hand, 
 though he wished for one, with which to slay his 
 ass, so Balak, notwithstanding his fury, and his 
 seeming inclination, had no power to destroy Balaam. 
 In short, as the ass was opposed by the angel, but 
 was driven forward liy Balaam, so Balaam was op- 
 posed by God, but was driven forward by Balak, 
 against his better knowledge. Were we sure that 
 Balaam wrote this narrative, and that Moses cojiied 
 it, as the rabbins aflSrm, (see Balaam,) this view of 
 the subject wovdd remove the difficulties which have 
 been raised about it. It might then be entitled " a 
 specimen of Balaam's augury." 
 
 III. ASS, Wild. This animal, which was for- 
 merly well known in the East, and is frequently 
 mentioned in Scripture, is a much handsomer and 
 more dignified animal than the common ass. It is 
 called N-io, para, by the Hebrews, and nyuyQo;:. orojia- 
 f^er, i»y the Greeks. That the wild ass was known 
 an(l valued for its mettle, appears from a passage in 
 Herodotus, (Pol. 86.) where that writer says, "The 
 Indian horse were well armed like their foot: but, 
 beside led horses, they had chariots of war, drawn 
 bv horses and wild assis." The reference of theise
 
 ASS 
 
 [ 111 ] 
 
 ASS 
 
 aiiinials to the troops of India (a j)roviuce at the head 
 of the Indus, not our Hindoostan) deserves attention ; 
 because the troops of the onager are said by GjneUn 
 to " return towards India, where they winter." Aris- 
 totle (Hist. hb. vi. cap. 36.) mentions the wild ass, 
 which is said to exceed horses in swiftness ; and 
 Xenophon says (Cyrop. lib. i.) that he has long legs, 
 is very rapid in running, swift as a Avhirlwind, hav- 
 ing strong and stout hoofs. ^Eiian says the same ; 
 but that he may be tired, and when taken, is so gen- 
 tle that he may easily be led about. Martial gives 
 the epithet " handsome" to the wild ass — " Pulcher 
 adest onager;" (hb. xiii. Epig. 100.) and Oppiau 
 describes it as " handsome, large, vigorous, of stately 
 gait, and his coat of a silvery color, having a black 
 band along the spine of his back ; and on his flanks 
 patches as white as snow." Mr. Morier says, " We 
 gave chase to two Avild asses, which had so much 
 the speed of our horses, that when they had got at 
 some distance, they stood still and looked behind at us, 
 snorting with their noses in the air, as if in conteinpt 
 of our endeavors to catch them." (Second Journey 
 in Persia, p. 200.) The latest traveller who has de- 
 scribed the onager is Sir R. K. Porter, in his " Trav- 
 els in Persia," who also gives a figure of the animal. 
 The mode of hunting it is, as it was in Xenophon's 
 time, by means of several horses relieving each 
 other, till the onager is completely tired. The color 
 of Sir Robert's figure is a bright jjay. 
 
 [These animals inhabit the dry and mountainous 
 parts of the deserts of Great Tartary, but not higher 
 than about lat. 48°. They are migratory, and arrive 
 in vast troops to feed during the summer, in the 
 tracts to the east and north of the sea of Aral. About 
 autiunn they collect in herds of hundreds, and even 
 thousands, and direct their course southward towards 
 India, to enjoy a warm retreat during winter. But 
 they more usually retire to Persia, where they are 
 found in the mountains of Casbin, and where part 
 of them remain the whole year. They are also said 
 to penetrate even to the southern parts of India, to 
 the mountains of Malabar and Golconda. — These 
 animals were anciently found in Palestine, Syria, 
 Arabia Deserta, Mesopotamia, Phrygia, and Lycao- 
 nia ; but they rarely occur in those regions at the 
 present time ; and seem to be almost entirely con- 
 fined to Tartary, some parts of Persia and India, and 
 Africa. — Their manners greatly resemble those of 
 the wild horse. They assemble in troops under the 
 conduct of a leader or sentinel ; and are extremely 
 shy and vigilant. They will, however, stop in the 
 midst of their course, and even sufl^er the approach 
 of man for an instant, and then dart off" with the ut- 
 most rapidity. They have been at all times celebrated 
 for their swiftness. Their voice resembles that of 
 the common ass, but is shriller. 
 
 The Persians catch these animals alive for the 
 sake of domesticating them, or improving the breed 
 of tame asses. The breed of asses in such high es- 
 teeni in the East, is produced by crossing the tame 
 kind with the ass tluis reclaimed from a state of 
 wildness. — These facts rest principally on the au- 
 thority of the Russian professors Pallas and Gme- 
 lin. »R. 
 
 It is to professor Gmelin, however, who brought 
 a female and a colt from Tartary to St. Petcrs!)urgh, 
 that we are principally indebted for our acquaintance 
 with the wild ass. The female, which had been 
 caught when very young, though of small stature, 
 and probably stinted in growth by its captivity, and 
 by want of suitable food, travelled from Astracan to 
 
 Moscow (1400 werstes) with the ordinary post, with- 
 out any other repose than that of a few nights ; she 
 also travelled from Moscow to Petersburgh (730 
 werstes,) and did not seem to have suffered by the 
 journey ; though she died in the autumn following, 
 apparently from the effect of the hei'bage of a 
 marshy soil, and the cold and humidity of so north- 
 ern a climate. She had nothing of the dulness and 
 stupidity of the conunon ass. "I remarked that she 
 often passed two days without drinking, especially 
 in moist weather, or when very heavy dews fell. 
 She also preferred brackish water to fresh ; and 
 never drank of what was troubled. She loved bread 
 sprinkled with salt, and sometimes would eat a hand- 
 ful of salt. I was told, that when at Derbent, she 
 always ran to drink of the Caspian sea, though fresh 
 water was nearer to her. She also selected plants 
 impregnated with sahne particles ... or those of 
 bitter juices. She loved raw cucumbers ; and some 
 herbs, which she refused when green, pleased her 
 when dried. She would not touch odoriferous or 
 marsh plants, nor even thistles. I was informed that 
 the Persians, when taming the young onagers, feed 
 them with rice, barley, straw, and bread. Our ani- 
 mal was extremely familiar, and followed persons 
 who took care of her, freely, and with a kind of at- 
 tachment. The smell of bread strongly attracted 
 her ; but, if any attempt was made to lead her against 
 her will, she showed all the obstinacy of the ass : 
 neither would she suflfer herself to be approached 
 behind, and if touched by a stick, or by the hand, 
 on her hinder parts, she would kick ; and this action 
 was accompanied by a slight grumbling, as express- 
 ive of complaint. The male onager, which was 
 bought at the same time as the female, but which 
 died in the voyage from Derbent to Astracan, was 
 larger and less docile. His length from the nape of 
 the neck to the origin of his tail was five feet ; his 
 height in front, four feet four inches ; behind, four 
 feet seven inches ; his head two feet in length ; his 
 ears one foot ; his tail, including the tuft at the end, 
 two feet three inches. He was more robust than the 
 female ; and had a bar or streak crossing at his 
 shoulders, as well as that streak which runs along 
 the back, which is common to both sexes. Some 
 Tartars have assured me that they have seen the 
 cross-bar double in some males. Our onager was 
 higher on her legs than the common ass ; her legs 
 also were more slender than those of the ass ; and 
 she resembled a young filly : she could also scratch 
 her neck and head easily with her hind foot. She 
 was weak on her fore legs, but behind she could very 
 well support the heaviest man. Notwithstanding her 
 state of exhaustion, she carried her head higher than 
 the ass, her ears well elevated, and showed a vivacity 
 in all her motions. The color of the hair on the 
 greater part of the body, and the end of the nose, is 
 silvery white ; the upper part of the head, the sides 
 of the neck, and the body, are flaxen, or pale Isabella 
 color. The mane is deep brown ; it commences 
 between the ears, and reaches the shoulders ; its hair 
 is soft, woolly, three or four inches long, hke the 
 mane of a young filly. The coat in general, espe- 
 cially in winter, is more silky and softer than that of 
 horses, and resembles that of a camel. The Arabs, 
 no less than the Tartars, esteem the flesh of the ona- 
 ger ; and the Arab writers, who permit the eating of 
 its flesh, make the same difference between this ass 
 and the domestic ass, as the Hebrews did, whose law 
 did not permit the coupling of the onager with the 
 she ass, as being of different kinds."
 
 ASS 
 
 [ 11'^ ] 
 
 ASSYRIA 
 
 ASSlDiEANS, a term occurring in the books of 
 the Maccabees, which some think comes from the 
 Hebrew dm^h, chasidim, merciful, pious. Ecclesi- 
 nsticus, (ch. xliv. 10.) praising the greatest men of 
 his nation, calls them " merciful men ;" which is 
 equivalent to Assidreans, taken in this sense. Others 
 maintain, that the Assidaeans are the same as the Es- 
 senians, whose manner of living is so much com- 
 mended by Joscphus, Philo, Pliny, and others ; an 
 opinion which seems confirmed by 1 Mace. vii. 13. 
 which calls the Essenians .Isdanim. Others have 
 tliought the Assidaeans were afterwards divided, and 
 produced the Sadducees and Pharisees. Tlie name 
 of Sadducees signifies ^1/5/ ; that of Pliarisees, sepa- 
 rated; to indicate their distinction above other Jews, 
 by their justice and sanctity. The members of the 
 Jewish church, after the captivity, wei-e divided into 
 the Zadikinu, or righteous, who observed only the. 
 written law of Moses ; and the Chasidim, or pious, 
 who supei-added the constitutions and traditions of 
 the elders. These Chasidim Prideaux supposes to 
 be the Assidfeans, or Cliassidasans ; the Hebrew 
 cheth, answering to our ch, being expressed some- 
 times in Greek by an aspirate ; in Latin sometnncs 
 by an h; and sometimes being entirely omitted, as 
 in ^'lssid(vans. Scaliger supposed the Assida?ans to 
 !)e a confraternity of Jews, whose principal devotion 
 consisted in keeping up the edifices belonging to the 
 temple ; and who, not content with paying the com- 
 mon tribute of half a shekel a head, appointed for 
 temple reparations, voluntarily imposed on them- 
 selves other taxes. They swore b3'the temple ; every 
 day, except tlie eleventh of Tizri, they offered a 
 lamb in sacrifice, which was called the sin-offering 
 of the Assidfeans ; and from this sect sprung the 
 Pharisees, who produced the Essenians. 1 Mace. ii. 
 42. rciiresents the Assidfeans as a numerous sect, 
 distinguished for valor and zeal. See Essenes. 
 
 ASSOS, a maritime city, by some geographers 
 described as belonging to Mysia, by others, to Troas. 
 Luke, and others, went by sea from Troas to Assos : 
 but Paul went by land thither, and meeting them at 
 Assos, they went together to Mitylene, Acts xx. 13, 
 14. A. D. 50. But there were many cities of this 
 name. (1.) A maritime city in Lycia. (2.) Another 
 in the territory of Eolis. (3.) Another in Mysia. (4.) 
 Another in Lydia. (5.) x^nother in Epirus Minor, 
 the native country of Cleanthes the philosopher, 
 wjiich also was called Apollonia, as Pliny says. To 
 this last city Paul sailed. Acts xx. 13. It was be- 
 tween Troas and ^litylene, therefore in the district 
 of Troas ; and is marked accordingly in the maps. 
 Strabo says, that the luxurious kings of Persia had 
 the grain of which their bread was made brought 
 from Assos, the wine which they draidv from Syria, 
 and tiie water which they drank from the river 
 Ulreus. This need not be taken literally ; the import 
 of the phrase being that their power extended 
 over these places ; and that they received tribute 
 from them. 
 
 ASSYRIA, a celebrated territory and empire, has 
 its name from ^^shur, (nirx,) or Jlssur, the second 
 son of Shem, (Gen. x. 22.) who settled in that coun- 
 try. But as the Chaldeans and Syrians in their 
 dialect ])ronouncod the name Athur, (instead of 
 Ashur,) so it is also called by the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans Alijria and Aturia. The name Alhur has 
 maintained itself in an ancient city on the Tigris, 
 not far from Mosul, which already lay in ruins in 
 the time of Abulfcda. R. 
 
 The boundaries of Assyria have varied according 
 
 to its success in arms. It was at first bounded by 
 the Lycus and Caprus ; but the name of Assyria, 
 more generally speaking, is applied to all that terri- 
 tory which lies between Media, INIesopotamia, Ar- 
 menia, and Babylon. It is now called Kurdistan. 
 The empire of Assyria is generally supposed to have 
 been founded by Ashur, son of Shem, who was 
 driven from Shinai- by Nimrod, Gen. x. 10, 11. Bo- 
 chart, however, adopts the marginal reading of the 
 passage — "Out of that land, he^Ninu-od) went forth 
 into Assur or Assyria, and builded Nineveh," — in 
 which he has been followed by Faber, Hyde, 3Iarsh- 
 am. Wells, the authors of the Universal History, 
 Hales, Rosennuieller, Gesenius, and others. Tiiis 
 opinion is supported, too, by the Targums of Onke- 
 los and Jerusalem, by Tlieophilus of Antioch, and 
 Jerome ; and though not free from difficulty, appears 
 to I)e the more consistent of the two interpretations. 
 (See NiaiROD.) Nimrod, then, may be considered as 
 the founder of the ncAV empire at Nineveh, which, 
 being seated in a country almost exclusively peopled 
 by the descendants of Ashur, had been called Ashur, 
 or Assj/na. Of Nimrod's successors we are igno- 
 rant. We read (Gen. xiv.) that in Abraham's time, 
 about A. ?tl. 2092, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, in 
 confederacy Avith certain kings, attacked the kings 
 of Sodom and Gomorrha, and the neighboring cities, 
 which had rebelled. Under the Judges, (Judg. iii. 
 8.) about A. M. 2591, the Lord delivered Israel into 
 the hands of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopota- 
 mia, who oppressed them eight years. Julius Afri- 
 canus says, tliat Evechoils reigned in Chaldea 224 
 years before the Arabians, (i. e. A. IM. 2242,) in the 
 time of Isaac. Th.e Arabians conquered the Chal- 
 dean empire, A. M. 2460, and kept it about 216 yeai"s, 
 to A. 31. 2682; and Belus, the Assyrian, succeeded 
 the Arabians fit\y-five years before the foundation of 
 the latter Assyrian empire by Ninus. Dionysius 
 Halicarnassiis (Antiq. Rom. lib. i.) justly observes, 
 that the Assyrian empire was, in the beginning, but 
 of small extent ; and Avhat we have said confirn^.s 
 this ; since we see kings of Shinar, Elam, Chaldea, 
 and Ellasar, at a time when the Assyrian empire, 
 founded by Nimrod, must have subsisted ; and be- 
 fore Ninus, son of Belus, had founded, or rather ag- 
 gi-andized, the only empire of Assyria known to 
 profane authors ; for they had no knowledge of that 
 established by Nimrod. During the reigns of David 
 and Solomon, the Assyrian monarchs possessed 
 nothing on this side the Euphrates. David subdued 
 all Syria, without their concerning themselves about 
 it ; and when he attacked the Annnonites, they sent 
 for succor to the other side of the Euphrates ; (2 
 Sam. X. 16.) but David defeated those troops, and 
 even obliged certain people on the other side the 
 river to pay him tribute. 
 
 The first king of Assyria mentioned in Scripture 
 is the sovereign who reigned at Nineveh, when Jo- 
 nah went thither, about A. M. 3180. The prophet 
 does not ijiform us who this monarch was ; but he 
 describes the city as being prodigiously large. From 
 2 Kings XV. 19. and 1 Chron. v. 26. we learn that 
 about 50 years after this, Pul, king of Assyria, invaded 
 the territories of Israel, under the reign of Mena- 
 liem. It is conjectured that Pul was the father of 
 Sardanapalus ; who began to reign, according to 
 Usher, A. M. .'3237, and under whom the history of 
 Assyria assumes a more consistent aspect. 
 
 The measure of Nineveh's sins being completed, 
 God raised uj) enemies against Sardanapalus, in the 
 persons of .\rbaces, governor of Media, and the Per-
 
 ASSYRIA 
 
 [ 113 ] 
 
 ASSYRIA 
 
 bians and other of his allies, who besieged and took 
 the capital, and induced the king to put himself to 
 death. Thus terminated the ancient empire of the 
 Assyrians, which had lasted from Nimrod, about 
 2500 years, and from Ninus, son of Bclus, about 520 
 years, A. M. 3254. (Herodot. lib. i. c. 95.) Upon 
 the death of Sardanapalus the empire was divided 
 into the Assyrian, properly so called, and the Baby- 
 lonian kingdoms. Arbaces, whom Prideaux believes 
 to be the Tiglath-pileser of the Scriptures, (2 Kings 
 XV. 29, &c.) fixed the seat of his government at 
 Nineveh, which continued the capital of the Assyr- 
 ian empire. He was succeeded by Salnianescr, 
 whose son and successor, Sennacherib, is so famous 
 in sacred and profane history. He was killed by 
 two of his sons, and succeeded by a third, Esarhad- 
 don ; who, after having re-united the dissevered 
 enemies of Chaldca and Assyria, left the throne to 
 Saosduchinus, who reigned twenty years. This is 
 supposed by some to be the prince who is named 
 Nabuchodonosor, in Judith, but without probability. 
 Saosduchinus was succeeded by Chyniladon, the 
 Nebuchodonosor mentioned in the Apocrypha, upon 
 whose death the throne was filled by Sarachus, or 
 Chynaladanus, the true Sardanapalus. Sarachus 
 having rendered himself contemptible to his sub- 
 jects by his effeminacy, Nabopolassar, to whom he 
 had committed the government of Chaldea, deter- 
 mined upon seizing the crown, and for this purpose 
 formed an alliance with Astyages, or Ahasuerus, son 
 of the king of 3Iedia. With their united forces they 
 besieged Nineveh, took the cit}', and terminated the 
 monarchy of the Assyrians ; Sarachus having burned 
 himself to death in his palace. Ante A. D. 612. — 
 With this event the prophecies of Jonah, Zephaniah, 
 and Nahum against Nineveh were fulfilled. See 
 Nineveh. 
 
 [The history of the Assyrian empire is one of the 
 most obscure portions of ancient biblical literature ; 
 and the manner in which it has hitherto been treat- 
 ed, has not contributed, in any measure, to dispel the 
 darkness. In the want of all native historians, the 
 only original sources from which the fragments of 
 the earlier history of this country can be drawn, are 
 the Old Testament, Herodotus, and Ctesias. These 
 sources are all evidently independent of each other ; 
 but the accounts derived from them are so far from 
 constituting an harmonious whole, that they are in 
 the chief points entirely discordant. Indeed the two 
 Greek historians are so much at variance with the 
 bibhcal WTiters, and also with themselves, especially 
 in regard to the origin and duration of the Assyrian 
 and ]Median empires, that most critics have assumed 
 a double Assyrian dynasty ; the first closed by Sar- 
 danapalus, about 888 B. C. and followed by Arba- 
 ces and the Median kings ; and the second com- 
 mencing about 800 or 775 B. C. and subsisting 
 along with the Median race. But as Herodotus and 
 Ctesias both profess to have drawn from genuine 
 sources, and yet differ from each other in important 
 particulai-s, as much as if they were speaking of 
 different states ; and as there is no gi-ound whatever 
 for distrusting the accounts contained in the Old 
 Testament respecting the nations with which the 
 Hebrews came in contact, it would seem prefera- 
 ble, on every critical as well as other ground, to 
 make the biblical accounts the foundation of the As- 
 syrian history, illustrating them, nevertheless, so far 
 as possible, by the Greek accounts, Avhenever these 
 latter harmonize with them. This is done in the 
 following synopsis ; which has been compiled chiefiv 
 15 
 
 from the collections made by Roscnmueller and Ge- 
 senius. (Rosenm. Bibl. Geogr. I. ii. 91, seq. Gesen. 
 Comm. zu Isa. xxxix. 1, etc. Thesaur. Ling. Heb. 
 p. 1G3, seq.) 
 
 That Assyria was one of the most ancient empires 
 of Asia, appeai-s from the united testimony both of 
 the Bible and of foreign historians. In the' genealo- 
 gical and ethnographical table of Genesis it is said, 
 (Gen. X. 11.) that Nimrod went forth from Babylon 
 to Assyria, i. e. conquered it, and built there Nine- 
 veh and other cities. That this is the proper trans- 
 lation of this passage, and not (as in the English 
 version) that Ashur went forth and built Nineveh, 
 is apparent from the connection ; which is entirely 
 broken up and destroyed by the latter mode of ren- 
 dering, — Ashur, a sou of Shem, being thus anoma- 
 lously inserted among the descendants of Ham, and 
 an event in his history narrated before his birth, 
 which is first mentioned in v. 22. In the other 
 mode, the narrative is uninterrupted ; and hence the 
 prophet Micah calls Assyria the land of JVimrod, 
 3Iic. V. G. The native accounts preserved by Cte- 
 sias (in Diod. Sic. ii. 1, seq.) call the founder of the 
 Assyrian kingdom JVinus ; but there is no good 
 reason extant for I'egardmg him as a different per- 
 son from Nimrod. The stories related by Ctesias 
 of the extraordinary deeds of Ninus and his queen 
 Semiramis, bear the stamp of exaggerated tradition, 
 in which the actions of several kings, or perhaps of 
 a Avhole dynasty, would seem to be referred to a 
 single pair. The most that can be assumed from 
 these accounts as true, is the probable fact, that the 
 successors of Ninus continued to extend their con- 
 quests on every side. Indeed, as early as the time 
 of Moses, the Assyrians appear to have made them- 
 selves already formidable as conquerors, who carried 
 awaj' the nations whom they subdued ; for Balaam, 
 who came from the Euphrates, announces to the 
 Kenites, a Canaanitish tribe on the east side of the 
 Jordan, that they should be carried into captivity by 
 the Assyrians, (Num. xxiv. 22.) and adds that these 
 conquerors should also in their turn be subjugated 
 by ships from Chittim, i. e. coming from the west, 
 xxiv. 24. In Ps. Ixxxiii. 8, the Assyrians are men- 
 tioned among David's enemies, in connection Avith 
 the Moabites, Edomites, Philistines, and Tyrians ; a 
 proof that, in David's time, (1000 B. C.) the Assyrian 
 dominion had extended itself into Syria. 
 
 The first king of Assyria mentioned in the Old 
 Testament is Pul, who made his appearance on 
 the border of Israel about 770 B. C. and compelled 
 king Menahem to pay him a thousand talents of sil- 
 ver to spare him and confirm him in his usurpation, 
 2 Kings XV. 19. In the subsequent internal divisions 
 of the kingdom of the ten tribes, one of the parties 
 seems also to have appealed to the Assyrians for 
 aid ; compare Hos. v. 13. x. 6. When, at a later pe- 
 riod, Pekah king of Israel, and Rezin king of Syria, 
 made an alliance against Judah, king Ahaz invited 
 Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to become his 
 ally, and sent him all the silver and gold of the tem- 
 ple as a present. He accordingly besieged and took 
 Damascus, put Rezin to death, and carried the in- 
 habitants away to Kir, or Kur, a province of Assyr- 
 ia, 2 Kings xvi. 5 — 10. He did the same also with 
 a part of the Israelites, 2 Kings xv. 29. Under the 
 following king Shalmaneser, (Enemessar, Tob. i. 
 2.) the Assyrian empire appeai-s to have reached its 
 most flourishing point. The king of Israel, Hoshea, 
 became his tributary, (2 Kings xvii. 3.) but soon 
 made an alliance with Egypt, and refused to pay the
 
 ASSYRIA 
 
 [ 114 J 
 
 AST 
 
 promised tribute. Shalmaneser now invaded Israel, 
 (about 730 to 720 B. C.) besieged Samaria tln-ee 
 years, and took it ; reduced the country to an As- 
 syrian province ; transported the former inhabitants 
 to Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Media ; and introduced 
 new inhabitants or colonists from other parts of his 
 kingdom, and also from Babylonia, 2 Kings xvii. (J, 
 24; xviii. 9 — II. He subdued, also, all Pha?nicia, 
 except the island of Tyre. (Jos. Ant. ix. 14. 2.) At 
 this time, therefore, about 720 B. C. the Assyrian 
 empire was at the summit of its power, and included 
 all Upper Asia, from Persia to the Meihterranean, 
 and from the Casjjian to tiie Persian gulf. But the 
 monarchs were not yet satisfied witii these colossal 
 dominions. Fearing, it would seem, that the south- 
 western provinces might ally themselves with Egj-pt, 
 and thus help to augment the power of that state, 
 (as was actually the wish of a large party among 
 the Jews ; see Is. xx. 5, 6 ; xxx. 2, seq. xxxi. 1, seq.) 
 the successor of Shahnanescr, Sargo.x, undertook 
 the conquest of Egypt. Tartan, his general, opened 
 the way thither by the siege autl capture of Ash- 
 dod ; (Is. XX. 1.) and that about this time an Assyrian 
 host actually penetrated into Egypt and captured 
 No-Ammon, i. e. Thebes, or Diospolis, the capital of 
 Upper Egypt, seems ap])aront from the passage in 
 Nalium iii. H — 10. But Sargon must soon have died, 
 and his host withdrawn itself from Egj'pt and Pales- 
 tine ; for llezekiah ventured, in the very first years 
 of his reign, to fall away from Assyria and ally him- 
 self with Egypt, 2 Kings xviii. 7. Again, therefore, 
 Sargon's successor, Sennacherib, made his appear- 
 ance in Judea with an army, on his way to Egypt, 
 took possession of all the Jewish cities, and demand- 
 ed the surrender of Jerusalem, Is, xxxvi. 1 ; 2 Kings 
 xviii. 14 — IG. But in the mean time, hearing that 
 Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, was advancing against 
 him, (Is. xxxvii. !); 2 Kings xix. !).) and the Lord 
 also having almost destroyed his army by a pesti- 
 lence, he raised thi; siege of Jerusalem, and retired 
 to Nineveh, 2 Kings xviii. 13, seq. xix ; Isa. xxxvi, 
 xxxvii. 
 
 Encouraged, it would seem, by this unsuccessful 
 expedition of Sennacherib against the western coun- 
 tries, the eastern ])rovinces also of the Assyrian em- 
 pire seized this moment to throw of!" the yoke. About 
 this time Media seems to have become independent 
 under Dejoces ; and also in Babylonia ]\Ierodach-bala- 
 dan liad set himself up as an independent sovereign, 
 but Wiis nuirdercd after a reign of" six months. His 
 successor, Belii)us, was vanquished by Seimacliei'ih 
 in a battle, wlio took him prisoner, and thus brought 
 Babylonia again under his dominion. He ap[)ointed 
 his son Esarhaddon viceroy over it, and returned 
 himself to Assyria. He now made an exixnlitiou 
 against the Greeks as far as to Cilicia, overcame 
 them, and foundi^d the city of Tarsn>!. (These last 
 circumstances are related by Berosus, in a fragment 
 preserved in the Armenian version of the Chronicon 
 of Eusebins, and liitlirrto not ref"err('d to. See Ge- 
 sen. (^onnn. '/. Isa. xxxix. 1. p. 9!)!).) Afler a reign 
 of eighteen years, Scmiaclierib \%as assassinated by 
 two of his sons, who fled to Armenia; and Esar- 
 haddon, the viceroy of Babylon, became his succes- 
 sor, 2 Kings xix. 37 ; Isa. xxxvii. 3H. Of this mon- 
 arch the Biliic makes no mention, except merely the 
 passing notice, (Ezra iv. 2.) that he sent colonists to 
 Samaria. It is the not im|»robable conjecture of 
 many learned men, that I'",sarhaddon is tin- Sakdan- 
 APALUs of Ctesias, (Diod. Sic. ii. 24 — 27.) who, 
 being driven back by the rebellious Medes and 
 
 Babylonians into Nineveh, his capital, and pushed to 
 extremities, destroyed himself, his wives, and his 
 treasures, in one common conflagi-ation. 
 
 Afler Sennacherib, however, the Hebrews do not 
 appear to have been troubled by the inroads of the 
 Assyrians ; except, perhaps, the incursion mentioned 
 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11, when Manasseh was carried off 
 as a captive. But the name of the Assyrian king 
 imder whom this took place, is not mentioned ; and 
 very soon after Sennacherib, certainly, the Chalde- 
 ans appear as the conquerors of Hither Asia. Mean- 
 time, however, Assyria, although weakened and re- 
 duced perhaps within its original limits, appears to 
 have maintained itself as a se|)arate state. But about 
 120 years after Esarhaddon, (.597 B. C.) Cyaxares, 
 king of Media, made an alliance with Nabopolassar 
 vice-king of Babylon, against Assyria ; and the two 
 captured and destroyed Nineveh, and divided the 
 kingdom between them. Assyria itself became a 
 Median province. 
 
 As to the interior constitution, and the civil and 
 social institutions of the Assyrian state, the fragments 
 of its liistory that have come down to us are en- 
 tirely silent. The Assyrians stand out on the historic J 
 page solely as conquerors. That they possessed any ■ 
 important commerce, that they paid any attention to 
 arts and sciences, that they exercised any influence 
 on the moral cultivation of the nations whom they 
 subdued, we find no trace. Their language and re- 
 ligion, i. e. the worship of the Stars and of nature, 
 under symbolic forms, they appear to have had 
 in common with the Medo-Persian tribes, their 
 neighbors. 
 
 In reference to this historical view of the Assyrian 
 em])ire, we find that the name Jissyria is emj)loyed 
 in the Old Testament in three dift'erent significa- 
 tions, viz : m 
 
 1. Assyria ancient and proper, lay east of the Ti- fl 
 gris, between Armenia, Susiana, and Media ; and ^ 
 appears to h:ive comjirehended tlie six j)rovinces at- 
 tributed to it by Ptolemy, (vi. 1.) viz. Arrapachis, 
 (Heb. Arj)haxad ?) Adiabene, Arbelis, (now Erbil,) 
 Calachene, (Heb. Halah ? 2 Kings xvii. G.) Apollo- 
 nias, and Sittacene. It is thei region which mostly 
 conq)rises the modern Kurdistan and the jjashalik 
 
 of Mosul. Of these provinces Adiabene was the 
 most fertile and important ; in it was situated Nine- 
 veh, the capital ; and the tenn Assyria in its most 
 narrow sense seems sometimes to liave meant only 
 this province. Plin. v. 12. 
 
 2. Most genei-ally Assyria means the kingdom of 
 ^^ssi/ria, including Babylonia and Mesopotamia, and 
 extending to the Euphrates, which is therefore used 
 by Isaiali as an image of this em])ire, Isa. vii. 20 ; viii. 
 7. In one instance the idea of the empire predomi- 
 natxs so as to exclude that of Assyria ])roper, viz. 
 (iCU. ii. 14, wiiere th<' Hiddekel or Tigris is said to 
 flow eastwanl of" Assyria. 
 
 3. Afier tli(> overthrow of the Assyrian state, the 
 name continued to be a])i)lic(l to those countries 
 which had i)een formerly under its dominion, viz. 
 (a) To Uahylonia, 2 Kings xxiii. 29; Jer. ii. 18, etc. 
 So Judith i. .5; ii. 1; v. 1. etc. where Nebu- 
 chadnezzar is called king of Assyria, [h] To Persia, j 
 Ezra vi. 22, where Darius is also called king of As- 
 syria, (c) Roman writers also apply this name toi 
 Si/ria ; but this use of it is unknown to the orient- 
 als ; see Bodiarti Phaleg. ii. 3 ; Relandi Falsest. 
 1012, seq. *R. 
 
 I. ASTAROTII, or Astoreth, or Astartk, 
 a celebrated Phaiiician goddess. In Scrip-
 
 ASTAROTH 
 
 [ 115 ] 
 
 ASTAROTH 
 
 ture, this word is often 
 plural, nnnfy ; some- 
 times, mcN, ascrah, the 
 grove ; nn^'N, aseroth, 
 or an^N, aserim, 
 woods ; groves were 
 her temples ; in groves 
 consecrated to her, 
 such obscenities were 
 committed, as render- 
 ed her worship infa- 
 mous. She w'as god- 
 dess of the woods, the 
 celestial goddess, and 
 was also called the "queen of heaven ;" (Jer. xhv. 17, 
 18.) and sometimes her worship is described by that 
 of the "host of heaven." (See Meni.) She is ahnost 
 always joined with Baal, and is called gods ; Scrip- 
 ture having no particular word for expressing a god- 
 dess. It is supposed that the moon was adored under 
 this name. Temples of the moon generally accom- 
 panied those of the sun ; and while bloody sacri- 
 fices, or human victims, were offered to Baal, bread, 
 liquors, and perfumes were presented to Astarte ; 
 tables were prepared for her on the flat terrace-roofs 
 of houses, near gates, in porches, and at cross- ways, 
 on the first day of every month, which the Greeks 
 called Hecate's supper. Jerome, in several places, 
 translates the name of Jlstarte by Priapus, as if to 
 denote the hcentiousness of her worship. The 
 eastern people, in many places, worshipped the 
 moon as a god, and represented its figm-e with a 
 beard, and in armor. The statue in the temple of 
 Heliopolis, in Syria, Pljuy sajs, was that of a woman 
 clothed like a man. Solomon, seduced by his foreign 
 wives, introduced the worship of Astarte into Israel ; 
 but Jezebel, daughter of the king of Tyre, and wife 
 of Ahab, principally estaljlished her worshii). Angus- 
 tin assures us, that the Africans (descendants from 
 the Phoenicians) maintained Astarte to be Juno. 
 But Herodian says, the Carthaginians call the heaven- 
 ly goddess, the moon, Astroarche. The Phcsniciaus 
 asserted confidently, says Cicero, that their Astarte 
 was the Syrian Venus, bom at Tyre, and wife of 
 Adonis ; very different from the Venus of Cyprus. 
 Lucian, who wrote particularly concerning the god- 
 dess of Syria, (Astarte,) says, expressly, that she is 
 the moon, and no other ; and it is indubitable, tliat 
 this luminaiy was worshipped under different names 
 in the East. Astarte was probably the same as the 
 Isis of Egypt, who was repi'escnted with the head 
 of an ox, or with horns on her head. But the man- 
 ner of representing Astarte on medals, is not always 
 the same. Sometimes she is in a long hal)it ; at 
 other times, in a short habit ; sometimes Iiolding a 
 long stick, with a cross on its top ; sometimes she 
 has a crown of rays ; sometimes she is crowned 
 with battlements ; or by a victory. In a medal of 
 Caesarea Palcstina, she is in a short dress, crowned 
 with battlements, with a man's head in her right 
 hand, and a staff in her lefl. This is believed to be 
 the man's head mentioned by Lucian, whicli was 
 every year brought from Egypt to Biblos, a city of 
 Phtrnicia. Sanchoniathon says, she was represented 
 witli a cow's head, the horns'describing royalty, and 
 the lunar rays. 
 
 [Thus far Cahnct, in accordance with the views 
 of most of the earlier commentatoi-s ; compare also 
 Jahn, Bibl. Archseol. § 409 ; Miinter, Religion der 
 Babylomer, p. 20. But Gesenius, Rosenmiiller, and 
 others, who have devoted particular attention to the 
 
 subject, have been led to adoj)t \icws somewhat 
 diflFerent, and of the following purport. See Gese- 
 nius, Thesaur. p. 162. Comm. zu. Isa. ii. p. 337, seq. 
 
 Astarte, or Heb. Ashtoreth, plur. Ashtaroth, is the 
 name of a Phoenician goddess, (2 Kings xxiii. 13.) 
 whose worship was also introduced among the Isra- 
 ehtes and Philistines, 1 Kings xi. 5, 33 ; 1 Sam. vii. 
 3 ; xxxi. 10. She is more commonly named in con- 
 nection with Baal, Judg. ii. 13 ; x. 6 : 1 Sam. vii. 4 ; 
 xii. 10. Another Hebrew name of the same goddess 
 is nifN, Asherah, i. e. the happy, the fortunate ; or 
 more simply /oriujic. This last name is commonly 
 rendered in the English version grove ; as also in 
 the Septuagint, Vulgate, Luther, and others. But 
 after reviewing all the passages in which the word 
 occurs, Gesenius comes decidedly to the conclusion, 
 that the meaning grove cannot be supported in any 
 one of them, but is manifestly contrary both to the 
 etymology and to the context. Both these Hebrew 
 names of Astarte, when used in the plural, often 
 signify images or statues of Astaiie ; which are then 
 said to be broken down, destroyed, &c. In connec- 
 tion with the worship of Astarte there was much of 
 dissolute licentiousness ; and the public prostitutes 
 of both sexes were regarded as consecrated to her. 
 See 2 Kings xxiii. 7 ; comp. Lev. xix. 29 ; Deut. 
 xxiii. 18. 
 
 As now Baal, or Bel, denotes, in the astrological 
 mythology of the East, the male star of fortune, the 
 planet Jupiter, so Ashtoreth signifies the female star 
 of fortune, the planet Venus. The word mrrj', 
 Ashtoreth, for wliicli an etymology has long been 
 sought, is equivalent to the Syriac ashteruth and es- 
 tero, and to the Persian sitareh, which all signify 
 star; and it therefore denotes by way of eminence, 
 the STAR, i. e. Vemis. The ancient Orient regarded 
 this planet as the goddess of love and fortune ; hence 
 it was called by the Babylonians Meni, (which see,) 
 and by the Hebrews also Asherah, the fortunate ; sec 
 above. It was also worshipped under the names of 
 Anaitis, JVaneea, Mylitta, among the Babylonians and 
 Armenians, with many licentious rites, which are 
 mentioned in the Zabiau books. It should be here 
 remarked, that bishop Miinter concedes this view^ 
 of the subject only in resjject to a later age ; but 
 supposes that originally Baal and Astarte were 
 the representatives of the sun and moon ; Rel. der 
 Babylonier, p. 20. See Baal. 
 
 A part of the Phoenician rtiytlms respecting Astarte 
 is given by Sanchoniathon, Euseb. de Prsep. Evang. 
 i. 10. " Astarte the most liigh, and Jupiter Dema- 
 rous, and Adodus king of the gods, reigned over the 
 country, with the assent of Saturn. And Astarte 
 placed the head of a bull upon her own head, as an 
 emblem of sovereignty. As she was journeying 
 about the world, she found a star wandering in the 
 air, and having taken possession of it, she conse- 
 crated it in the sacred island of Tyre. The Phoe- 
 nicians say that Astarte is Venus." This senes to 
 account for the horned figure under ^^ Inch she was 
 represoited ; and affords testimony of a star conse- 
 crated as her symbol. ''R. 
 
 II. ASTAROTH, Astaroth-Carnaim, or Kar- 
 NAiM,(Gen. xiv. 5.) was a city beyond Jordan, six miles 
 from Adraa, or Edrei', between that city and Abila, 
 now Mezaraib. Astaroth-Caiiiaim is supposed to 
 be derived from the goddess Astarte, adored there, 
 who was represented with horns, or a crescent ; for 
 carnahn signifies horns. In 2 Mace. xii. 26. mention 
 is made of a temple of the goddess Atargatis, in 
 Carnion, which is doubtless the same as Astaroth-
 
 ASY 
 
 [ 116] 
 
 ATH 
 
 Camaim. Atargatis, (which see,) was the same as 
 Derceto, of Askelon, represented as a woman with 
 the lower parts of a fish. See Askelon, and Dagon. 
 
 AST ARTE, see Astaroth, I. 
 
 ASTONISHMENT, wi.xe of. See Wine. 
 
 I. ASTYAGES, otherivise Cyaxares, king of the 
 Medes, successor of Phraortes, reigned forty years, 
 and died A. M. 3409, ante A. D. 595. He had a son, 
 called Astyages, or Darius ; and two daughters, Man- 
 dane and Ainyit. For Astyages, or Darius, see the 
 following article. Amyit married Nebuchadnezzar, 
 son of Nabopolassar, king of Chaldea, and was 
 mother of Evil-merodach. Mandane married Cam- 
 byses the Persian, and was mother of Cyrus. 
 
 n. ASTYAGES, otherwise Ahasuerus, (Tobit 
 xiv. 15; Dan. ix. l.)or Artaxerxes, (Dan. vi. 1. Gr.) 
 or Darius the Mede, (Dan. v. 31.) or Cyaxares, (by 
 his father's name,) or Apandas, was, by his father, 
 Cyaxares, appointed governor of Media, and scut 
 with Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, against Sara- 
 chus, (or Chiniladanus,) king of Assyria, whom they 
 besieged in Nineveh, took that city, and dismem- 
 bered the Assyrian empire. See Assyria. Astya- 
 ges was with Cyrus at the conquest of Babylon, and 
 succeeded Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Dan. v. 30, 
 31. A. M. 3447. Cyrus succeeded* him, 3456, Dan. 
 xiii. 65. See Isa. xiii. xiv. xxi. xlv. xlvi. xlvii. Jer. 
 1. li. 
 
 ASUPPBI, house of. This word occurs 1 Chron. 
 xxvi. 15. but considerable diversity of opinion exists 
 among learned men as to its import. Dr. Geddes 
 renders it, "the store-rooms," and understands it 
 of the upper galleries of the temple, where the 
 stores were probably kept. Others understand by it 
 the treasury of the temple. This opinion is ground- 
 ed — 1. upon the import of the word ; 2. because 
 Obed-Edom (whose sons are said to be placed at 
 Asuppim) is said (2 Chron. xxv. 24.) to have the cus- 
 tody of the treasures. Dr. Lightfoot, who has along 
 discussion on the subject, concludes that Asuppim 
 were two gates in the western wall, which stood 
 most south, or nearest to Jerusalem ; and that the 
 HOUSE OF Asuppim was a large building which ran 
 between them, and was a treasury of divers rooms, 
 for laying up things that served for the use of the 
 temple. (Temple Service, chap. v. sec. 3.) [The 
 meaning of the word is collections, i. e. stores ; and 
 Jiouse oT Asuppim is, therefore, a store-house connected 
 with the temple, prolmblv on the southern part, 1 
 Chr. xxvi. 15, 17. R. 
 
 ASYLUM, Gr. '' slovh>r. from « and fi'^i;, prey. 
 This word signifies a sanctuary, whither unfortunate 
 persons might retire for security from their enemies, 
 and from whence they could not lie forced. It has 
 been supposed, that Hercules's grandsons were the 
 institutors of these places of refuge, in Greece, if 
 not in Europe ; for, apprehending the resentment of 
 those whom Hercules luul ill-treated, they ap})oiiUed 
 Hu a.sylurn or temple of merey at Athens. Cadmus 
 erected another at Thebes, and Romulus another at 
 Rome, on mount Palttine. That of Daphne, near 
 Antioch, was very famous, 2 Mace. iv. 34. Theseus 
 built an asyltun at Athens in favor of slaves, and of 
 the poor ulio should fly thitlur, IVom the oppression 
 of tlie ricii. There was one iji the isle of Calauria. 
 The temples of Ai)ollo at Del|)hi, of .hmo at Samos, 
 of Escidapius at Dclns, of Baoehus at Kphesus, and 
 many others in (ireeee, had the privilege of being 
 .nsyla. Ronuilus gave tliis rijrlit to a wood adjoin- 
 ing the temple of Vejovis. (V'irgil, .Eueid. viii. 342.) 
 Ovid sjicaks of a wood near Ostium, that enjoyed 
 
 the same privilege, (Fast. 1.1.) Augustin observes, 
 (de Civit. hb. i. cap. u4.) that the whole city of Rome 
 was an asylum to all strangers. The number of 
 these privileged places was so much increased in 
 Greece, under the emperor Tiberius, that he was 
 obliged to recall their licenses, and to suppress them. 
 (Sueton. in Tiberio. Tacit. Annal. lib. iii. cap. 6.) 
 But his decree was little observed after his death. 
 
 The altar of burnt sacrifices, and the temple at 
 Jerusalem, were sanctuaries. Hither Joab retired ; 
 (1 Kings ii. 28, 29, 31.) but Solomon, observing that 
 he would not quit the altar, ordered him to be killed 
 there. Moses commands (Exod. xxi. 14.) that any 
 who had committed murder, and fled for protection 
 to the altar, should be dragged from thence. Sanc- 
 tuaries were not for the advantage of wicked men, 
 but in favor of the innocent, when attacked unjustly. 
 When criminals retired to the sanctuary of a temple, 
 they were either starved, or forced thence by fires 
 kindled around them. See Refuge. 
 
 ATAD. At Atad's threshing floor (Gen. 1. 11.) the 
 sons of Jacob, and the Egj^ptians who accompanied 
 them, mourned for Jacob, whence it was afterwards 
 called Abel-Mizraim, "the mourning of the Egyp- 
 tians." See Abel-3Iizraim. 
 
 ATARGATIS, a goddess of the Phihstines, called 
 by the Greeks Derceto, Plin. v. 23. She was repre- 
 sented with the head and upper parts of a beautiful 
 female, and the tail of a fish. She was worshipped 
 particularly at Askelon, which see. She had also a 
 temple at Camaim, i. e. Astaroth-Carnaim, 2 Mace, 
 xii. 26; comp. 1 Mace. v. 43. This last circumstance 
 would naturally lead to the conclusion, that Atarga- 
 tis or Derceto was the same as Astaroth or Astarte ; 
 and further, Herodotus expressly calls the goddess 
 worshipped at Askelon, Venus, (i. 105.) i. e. Astarte. 
 See Jahn, Bibl. Archaeol. iii. 509. Gesen. *R. 
 
 ATAROTH. There are several cities of this 
 name. — (1.) One in the tribe of Gad, beyond Jordan, 
 (Numb, xxxii. 3, 34.) the same, probably, with Atroth- 
 Shophan, given to this tribe, verse 35. — (2.) Another 
 on the frontiers of Ephraim, between Janohah and 
 Jericho, (Josh. xvi. 7.) probably Ataroth-Addar, xvi. 
 5 ; xviii. 13. — (3.) Ataroth Beth- Joab, in Judah, 
 1 Chron. ii. 54. 
 
 ATHALIAH, daughter of Ahab, king of Israel, 
 and wife of Joram, king of Judah. Being informed 
 that Jehu had slain her son Ahaziah, and forty-two 
 princes of his family, she resolved to destroy all the 
 princes of the blood-royal of Judah, that she might 
 ascend the throne without a rival, 2 Kings xi. 1 ; 2 
 Chr. xxii. 10. But Jehosheba, daughter of Joram, 
 and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, son of Ahaziah, 
 and kept him secretly, for six years, in the temple. 
 In the seventh year, the high-priest Jehoiada deter- 
 mined to place him on the throne of his ancestors ; 
 which he accompUshed amid the acclamations of the 
 muhitude. Athaliah, hearing the noise, entered the 
 temple ; seeing the young king seated on his throne, 
 she tore her clothes, and cried, " Treason ! Treason !" 
 Jehoiada commanded the Levites, who were armed, 
 to carry her without the temple, where she was slain, 
 A. M. 3126; «;i/e A. D. 884. 
 
 ATHAR, see Ether. 
 
 ATHENS, a celebrated city and powerful com- 
 monwealth of Greece, distinguished by the military 
 talents, learning, elo(|uence, and politeness of its in- 
 habitants. AVhen Paul visited it, A. D. 52, he found 
 it ])lunged in idolatry ; occu])ied in inquiring and 
 reporting news; curious to know every thing; and 
 divided in opinion concerning religion and hapj)ines.s.
 
 ATHExNS 
 
 [ n? ] 
 
 ATO 
 
 Acts xvii. The apostle, taking opportunities to 
 preach Jesus Christ, was brought before the judges 
 of the Areopagus ; where he gave au illustrious tes- 
 timony to truth, and a remarkable instance of pow- 
 erful reasoning. (See Areopagus.) The schools, 
 professors, and philosophers of Athens were very 
 famous. The Lyceum, where Aristotle taught, was 
 on the banks of the river Ilissus. The academy 
 was part of the Ceramicus, which, being at first 
 marshy and unwholesome, was drained and planted ; 
 iu these shady walks Plato read his lectures ; whence 
 his disciples were called Academics. There were 
 other sects of philosophers at Athens, as the Stoics, 
 the <i;ynics, and the Epicureans. 
 
 As the customs of this city illustrate certain pas- 
 sages of Scripture, we shall add a few particulars 
 relating to them ; principally extracted from Stuart's 
 Antiquities of Athens. 
 
 On the architrave of a Doric portico, yet standing 
 in Athens, are inscriptions to the following pur- 
 port : 
 
 "The people [of Athens] out of the donations 
 bestowed [on them] by Caius Julius Caesar, the god ; 
 and by the emperor Augustus Cfesar, the son of the 
 god ; [dedicate this] to Minerva Archegetia [chief 
 conductress]" &lc. 
 
 " The people [honor] Lucius Caesar, the son of the 
 emperor Augustus Csesar, the son of the god." 
 
 "The senate of the Areopagus, and the senate of 
 the six hundred, and the people [honor with this 
 statue] Julia goddess, Augusta, Providence," &c. 
 
 The reader will compare these public memorials 
 with the observation of the apostle, that Athens was 
 too much addicted to the adoption of objects for wor- 
 ship and devotion. It was not, indeed, singular in 
 worshipping the reigning emperor; but flattery 
 could be carried no higher than to characterize his 
 descendants as deities, and one of them as no less 
 a deity than Providence itself. (Compare Luke 
 xxii. 25.) 
 
 The gi'eat festival at Athens in honor of Minerva, 
 called the Pan-Athenaic procession, deserves partic- 
 ular notice. One of its greatest ornaments was a 
 ship, which was kept in a repository near the Areop- 
 agus, and is mentioned by Suidas, who says, among 
 the Athenians, the peplus is the sail of the Pan-Athe- 
 naic ship, which every fourth year they prei)are for 
 Minerva, conducting it through the Ceramicus to 
 the Eleusiniuni, The peplus was also esteemed as 
 the veil of Minerva. This reference of a ship to Mi- 
 nei*va, Mr. Taylor thinks, is not without its meaning ; 
 and indeed, he adds, we find that almost every an- 
 cient divinity is directly, or indirectly, related to the 
 sea. The famous statue of Minerva, of ivory and 
 gold, was the work of Phidias. Pausanius says, it 
 was standing erect, her garment reaching to her 
 feet ; she had a helmet on ; and a Medusa's head on 
 her breast ; in one hand she held a spear, and on 
 the other stood a Victory of about four cubits high. 
 Pliny informs us, that the statue was twenty-six cu- 
 bits high ; iu which, perliaps, he included the pedes- 
 tal, on which, they both say, the birth of Pandora 
 was represented. ' It is jirobable this statue was 
 painted. The gold about it weighed forty talents ; 
 and might be worth 120,000^ sterling. Lachares 
 stript it off about one hundred and thirty years after 
 the statue had been finished. The Areopagus was 
 not far from the ascent and entrance to the An-ojio- 
 lis, called the Propylea ; but this is described in its 
 Ijroper place. See "Arkopagus. 
 
 From the invasion of Xerxes to t!u' irrnpt on of 
 
 Alaric into Greece, (A. D. 396,) Athens changed tiiM- 
 ters upwards of twenty times. It was twice burnt 
 by the Persians ; destroyed by Philip II. of Mace- 
 don ; again by Sylla ; the Acropolis was plundered 
 by Tiberius ; desolated by the Goths in the reign of 
 Claudius ; and the whole territory ravaged and ruin- 
 ed by Alaric. That conqueror, however, spared 
 much of Athens, and perhaps most of the antiqui- 
 ties. From the reign of Justinian to the thirteenth 
 century, the city remained in obscurity, though it 
 continued to be a town, and the head of a small 
 state. It supplied Roger, king of Sicily, with silk- 
 worms, in 1130 ; was besieged by Sgure, a petty 
 prince of the Morea, iu 1204 ; but was successfully 
 defended by the archbishop. It was seized by Bon- 
 iface, marquis of Montsen-at, who appointed one of 
 his followers duke of Athens. It was a fief of the 
 kingdom of Sicily, during the latter part of the four- 
 teenth centurj' ; and then fell into the possession of 
 Reinier Acciajuoli, a Florentine, who bequeathed it 
 to the Venetians. Omar, general of Mahomet the 
 Great, seized it iu 1455. It was sacked by the Ve- 
 netians in 1464 ; was bombarded and taken by them 
 in 1687 ; and lost to the Turks, again, in 1688. It 
 was always of some consideration ; and those 
 writers who describe it as reduced to a village [Boa 
 Ant. Grsec. p. 20.] were misinformed. The name 
 Settines, which they give it, is a corruption of ttg 
 
 •Jdi[ru?. 
 
 The population of Athens, in 1812, was about 
 12,000, about a fifth part only of which were Turks ; 
 but the sanguinary contest which has been since 
 carried on between the Greeks and the Turks, has 
 left it but a mass of ruins. 
 
 ATONEMENT, i. e. reconciliation. We have 
 evidently lost the true import of this word, by our 
 present manner of pronouncing it. When it was 
 customary to pronounce the word one as own — (as 
 in the time of our translators) then the Avord atone- 
 ment was resolvable into its parts, at-one-ment, or 
 the means of being at one, i. e. reconciled, united, 
 combined in fellowship. This seems to be precisely 
 its idea, Rom. v. 11. "being (to God) reconciled — or 
 at-one-ed, we shall be saved by his (Christ's) life, by 
 whom we have i-eceived the at-one-ment" or means 
 of reconciliation. Here, it appears, the word atone- 
 ment does not mean a ransom, price, or purchase paid 
 to the receiver, but a restoration of accord, which is, 
 perhaps, the most correct idea we can affix to the 
 term expiation or utontment under tlie Mosaic law. 
 Sacrifices, &c. were appointed means for restoring 
 fellowship and accord between God and the nation 
 of Israel ; in other a\ ords, of rendering God, or cer- 
 tain of tlie divine attributes, as justice, &c. ritu- 
 ally propitious, capable of holding (i. e. satisfied to 
 hold) communion with the people ; by their interpo- 
 sition effectually restoring that one-ness which trans- 
 gression had violated. — In Job xxxiii. 24. where our 
 translators have placed in the text ransom, and in 
 the margin atonement, the marginal word seems 
 preferable — " deliver him from going down to the pit 
 of death, for I have accepted an atonement for his 
 life ; therefore his youth shall return — his flesh be- 
 come fairer than a child's." To justify these ideas, 
 we may refer to Numb. xvi. 46 : " Go quickly, make 
 reconciliation, for wrath is gone out." Lev. xvi. 11. 
 " Aaron shall make reconciliation for himself and 
 his house." Lev. iv. 20. et al. "The priest shall 
 make reconciliation for him, and he shall be forgiv- 
 en." 2 Sam. xxi. 3. David said to the Gibeonites, 
 " Wherewith shall I make the reconciliation, that ye
 
 ATONEMENT 
 
 [ lis ] 
 
 AVE 
 
 may bless ihe inheritance of the Lord r" — i. c. that 
 ye may be at one with the people of Israel. Eng. 
 Ir. reads atonement. From all this it is evident, 
 that tlie expiatory sacrilice offered by our Saviour 
 on Calvary, was the price or ransom, on the efficacy 
 of which the at-one-ment of the race of mankind 
 depended ; but to call that sacrilice the atonement, 
 instead of the means of atonement, is an incoirect 
 application of the word. See Sacrikick, and Mer- 
 cy-seat. 
 
 ATONEMENT, DAY OF, was the tenth of Tiz- 
 ri, which nearly answers to our September. The 
 Hebrews call it Kippitr, pardon, or expiation, because 
 the faults of the year were then expiated. The 
 principal ceremonies were the following: (Lev. xvi.) 
 The high-priest, after he had washed, not only his 
 hands and his feet, as usual at common sacritices, 
 but his whole body, dressed himeelf in ])lain linen 
 like tlie other priests, wearing neither his purple 
 robe, nor the ej^liod, nor tlie pectoral, because he 
 was to expiate his own sins, together with those of 
 the people. lie first offered a bullock and a ram 
 for his own sins, and those of the i)riests, putting his 
 hands on the heads of the victims, and confessing 
 bis own sins, and the sins of his bouse. Afterwards, 
 he received from the princes of the people two 
 goats for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offer- 
 ing, to be offered in the name of the whole nation. 
 The lot dctei'miued Avhich of the two goats should 
 be sacrificed, and which set at liberty. After tliis, 
 the high-priest put some of the sacred fire of the 
 altar of burnt-offerings into a censer, threw incense 
 upon it, and entered with it, thus smoking, into the 
 sanctuary. After liaving perfumed the sanctuary 
 with this incense, he came out, took some of the 
 blood of the yoimg bullock he had sacrificed, carried 
 that also into the sanctuary, and, dipping his fingers 
 in it, sprinkled it seven times between the ark and 
 the veil, which separated tlie lioly from the sanctu- 
 ary, or most holy. Then he came out a second 
 time, and beside the altar of bunit-ofieriugs killed 
 the goat which the lot had determined to be the sac- 
 rifice. The blood of this goat he carried into the 
 most holy place, and sprinkled it seven times be- 
 tween the ark and the veil, which separated the holy 
 from the sanctuary; from thence be returned into 
 the court of the tabernacle, and s])rinkled both sides 
 of it with the blood of the goat. During this time, 
 none of the priests, or peoj)le, were admitted into 
 the tabernacle, or into the court. This being done, 
 the high-priest came to the altar of burnt-ofi'erings, 
 wetted the four horns of it with the blood of the 
 goat, and young bullock, and s|>iiiikled it seven times 
 with the same blood. The sanctninT, the court, and 
 tb' altar being thus jHirified, he directed the goat 
 which was set at liberty l)y the lot, to be brought to 
 him, which being done, he put his hand on the goat's 
 head, confessed bis own sins, and the sins of the 
 people, and then delivered it to a person to carry it 
 to some desert place, *".nd let it loose, or throw it 
 down some precij/ice. (See Scape Goat.) This 
 being done, the high-])riest washed himself all over 
 in the tabernacle, and, putting on other clothes, (some 
 think his pontifical dress, his robe of purple, the 
 ephod, and the pectoral,) sacrificcfl two ratns for 
 burnt-offering, one for himself, and the other for the 
 people. The day was a gi-eat solemnity of the He- 
 iirews ; a day of rest, and of strict fasting. Leo of 
 Modena, Buxtorf, and others, have; collected 
 many particulars relative to the solemnities of this 
 day, from the rabbins, as may be seen in the 
 
 larger edition of this work, art. ExriATiG>-, Aza- 
 ZEL, &c. 
 
 ATROTH, see in Ataroth. 
 
 ATTALIA, a maritime city of Pamphylia, which 
 .Paul and Barnabas visited. Acts xiv. 25. A. D. 45. It 
 still subsists under the name of Antuli. It was built 
 (or refounded) by Attains Philadelphus, king of Per- 
 gamus, who gave to it his own name. 
 
 ATTALUS, a king of Pergamus, surnamed Phila- 
 delphus, (I Mace. XV. 22.) to whom the Romans 
 wrote in favor of tlie Jews. The arrival of the Jew- 
 ish ambassadors at Rome, to renew their alliance, in 
 consequence of which the Roman senate wrote to 
 Attalus, is fixed to A. M. 3865 ; and Attalus Phila- 
 delphus began to govern in 3845. He governed 
 twenty-one years ; and, in 38G6, resigned the king- 
 dom to his nephew Philometor, to whom of right it 
 belonged. 
 
 ATTITUDE at table, see Eating. 
 
 AUGUSTUS, emperor of Rome, succeeded Julius 
 Cajsar, nineteen years before A. D. — A. M. 3985. Au- 
 gustus was the emperor who appointed the enrol- 
 ment (Luke ii. 1.) which obliged Joseph and the Vir- 
 gin to go to Bethlehem, the place where the Messiah 
 was to be born. 
 
 Augustus procured the crown of Judfca for Herod, 
 whom he loaded with honors and riches ; and was 
 pleased also to undertake the education of Alexan- 
 der and Aristobulus, his sous, to whom he gave apart- 
 ments in bis palace. When he came into Syria, 
 Zenodorus, and the Gadarenes, waited on him with 
 complaints against Herod ; but he cleared himself 
 of the accusations, and Augustus added to bis hon- 
 ors and kingdom the tetrarchy of Zenodorus. He 
 also examined into the quarrels between Herod and 
 bis sons, and reconciled them. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. 
 XV. cap. 13.) Sylteus, minister to Obodas, king of 
 the Nabatheans, having accused Herod of invading 
 Arabia, and destroying many people there, Augus- 
 tus, in anger, wrote to Herod about it ; but he so 
 \vell justified his conduct, that the emperor restored 
 him to favor, and continued it ever after. He dis- 
 ap[)roved, lioAV(>ver, of the rigor exercised by Herod 
 toAvard his sons, Alexander, Aristobulus, and Antipa- 
 ter ; and when they were executed he is said to have 
 oliscrved, " that it were better a gieat deal to be 
 Herod's hog than his son." (Macrob. Satinn. lib. ii. 
 cap. 4.) After the death of Lepidus, Augustus as- 
 sumed the office of higli-jjriest ; a dignity which 
 gave him the insjiection over ceremonies and reli- 
 gious concerns. One of his first j)roceedings was, 
 an examination of the Sibyls' books, many of which 
 he burnt, and placed the others in two gold boxes, 
 under the pedestal of Apollo's statue, whose temple 
 \\as within the enclosure of the palace. See Sibyl. 
 This is worthy of note, if these iirophecics had ex- 
 cited a geiKMal exjiectntion of some gi'cat person 
 about that time to be born, as there is reason to sup- 
 jiose was the fact. It should be remembered, also, 
 that Augustus bad the honor to shut the temple of 
 Jamis, in token of universal jieace, at the time when 
 the Prince of Peace was born. This is remarkable, 
 because that temple was shut but a very few times. 
 Augustus died A. D. 14. 
 
 AURANITIS, see Haura.n. 
 
 AURIT.-E, sons of Cush. See I^r. 
 
 AVEN, a ])lain in Syria ; the same, probably, as the 
 jilain of Baal-beck, or valley of Baal, where there was 
 a magnificent temple dedicated to the sun. It is sit- 
 uate between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and hence 
 called the valley of Lebjiiion, Josh. xi. 17; Amos i. 5.
 
 AZA 
 
 t 119 ] 
 
 AZO 
 
 AVENGE. See Revenge. 
 
 I. AVI3I, a city of Benjamin, Josh, xviii. 3. 
 
 II. AVIM, a people descended from Hcvteus, son of 
 Canaan, who dwelt originally in the countrj' after- 
 wards possessed by the Caphtorim, or Philistines, 
 Deut. ii. 23; Josh. xiii. 3. There were also Avim, 
 or Hivites, at Shechem, or Gibeon, Josh. ix. 7 ; Gen. 
 xxxiv. 2. There were some also beyond Jordan, at 
 the foot of mount Ilermon, Josh. xi. 3. Bochart 
 thinks that Cadmus, who conducted a colony of 
 Phoenicians into Greece, was a Hivite ; his name, 
 Cadmus, deriving from the Hebrew Kedem, the East, 
 because he came from the eastern parts to Canaan ; 
 and the name of his wife, Hermione, from mount 
 Hermon, at the foot of which the Hivites dwelt. In 
 this case, the metamorphosis of Cadmus's compan- 
 ions into serpents, is founded on the signification of 
 the name Hivites ; which, in the Phoenician language, 
 signifies serpents. The country of the Avim was also 
 called Hazerim ; (Deut. ii. 23.) in the eastern inter- 
 preters and Pliny, Raphia. Tlicir territory ended at 
 Gaza, beginning at the river of Egj'pt ; and thus ex- 
 tending forty-four miles. Sometimes this country 
 appears to be called Shur ; which the Arabic ren- 
 ders Gerarim, Gen. xx. 1. See Gerar. 
 
 AVITH, the capital city of Hadad, king of Edom, 
 Gen. xxxvi. 35. 
 
 AXE, a well-known instrument of iron, used for 
 cutting ; and often metaphorically employed in 
 Scripture, for a person or power, who, as a cutting 
 instrument in the hand of God, is employed to lop 
 off branches and boughs, and sometimes to cut 
 down the tree itself. Thus, if sinners be compared 
 to trees in a forest, he who smiles them is compared 
 to an axe, Isa. x. 15. This is especially apparent in 
 the proverbial phraseology used by John the Bap- 
 tist : (3Iatt. iii. 10 ; Luke iii. 9.) " The axe is laid to 
 the root of the trees" — irresistible punishment, de- 
 struction, is near. We risk little in referring this 
 (ultimately) to the Roman power and armies ; which, 
 as an axe, most vehemently cut away the very ex- 
 istence of the Jewish polity and state. In this 
 sense it coincides with our Lord's expression, " I am 
 come to send a sword on the earth" — ^more properly on 
 the land; that is, of Judea. See Judges ix. 8: Psalm 
 Ixxiv. 5 : Isa. xiv. 6 — 8 : Ezek. xvii. 29 — 24 : xxxi. 3. 
 
 AZA. Gaza and Azoth are sometimes so called. 
 Josephus notices a mountain of tliis name, near to 
 which Judas Maccabseus fought against Bacchides, 
 in his last encounter. In 1 Mace. ix. 15, it is called 
 mount Azotus. 
 
 I. AZARIAH, high-priest of the Jews, (1 Chron. 
 vi. 9.) and perhaps the same with Amariali, who 
 lived under Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 2 Chron. 
 xix. 11. about A.M. .3092. 
 
 II. AZARIAH, son of Johanan, high-priest of the 
 Jews, 1 Chron. vi. 10. Perhaps the same with 
 Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, killed A. M. 3164, 2 
 Chron. xxiv. 20, 22. 
 
 III. AZARIAH, the high-priest who opposed 
 Uzziah, king of Judah, in offering incense to the 
 Lord, 2 Chron. xxvi. 17, 
 
 IV'. AZARIAH, a higli-jn-iest in the reign of 
 Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxxi. 10. 
 
 V. AZARIAH, the father of Seraiah, the last 
 high-priest before the captivity, 1 Chron. vi. 14. 
 
 A I. AZARIAH, son of the high-priest Zadok ; 
 but we do not read that he succeeded his father, 1 
 Kings iv. 2. 
 
 V n. AZARIAH, captain of Solomon's guards, 1 
 Kinirn iv. .5. 
 
 VIII. AZARIAH, or Uzziah, a king of Judah, 
 began to reign at sixteen years of age, and reigned 
 fifty-two years at Jerusalem, 2 Kings xv. 27. 2 Chron. 
 xxvi. 18, 19. The beginuiiig of Uzziah's reign was 
 very happy. Having obtained great advantages over 
 the Phihstines, Ammonites, and Arabians, he added 
 to the fortifications of Jerusalem, and kept up an 
 army of 307,500 men, with great magazines of arms. 
 He was also a great lover of agriculture, had nu- 
 merous husbandmen in the plains, vine-dressers in 
 the mountains, and shepherds in the valleys. Pre- 
 suming to offer incense in the temple, however, 
 which office was peculiar to the priests, he was 
 struck with a leprosy, and continued without the 
 city, separated, to his death, A. 31. 3246. 
 
 IX. AZARIAH, a prophet, who, by God's ap- 
 pointment, met Asa, king of Judah, when returning 
 after his success against Zerah, king of Ethiopia, or 
 Cush, 2 Chron. xv. 1. 
 
 X. AZARIAH, a person to whom the high-priest, 
 Jehoiada, discovered that the young prince, Joash, 
 was living ; and who contributed to place him on 
 the throne, 2 Chron. xxiii. 1. 
 
 XI. AZARIAH, the name of two sons of Jehosha- 
 phat, king of Judah, 2 Chron. xxi. 2. 
 
 XII. AZARIAH, the son of Hoshaiah, who ac- 
 cused the prophet Jeremiah (chap, xliii. 2.) of de- 
 ceiving the people ; because he advised the Jews, 
 who remained after the transportation to Babylon, 
 against going into Egypt. He carried Jeremiah and 
 Baruch into Egypt, with the people who had been 
 left behind. 
 
 XIII. AZARIAH, the Chaldean name of Abed- 
 nego, who was cast into the fiery furnace by Nebu- 
 chadnezzai-, for refusing to adore his golden statue, 
 Dan. i. 7. iii. 19. 
 
 AZAZEL. See Goat, scape. 
 
 AZEKAH, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 35 ; 1 Sam. 
 xvii. I.) which Eusebius and Jerome place between 
 Jerusalem and Eleutheropolis. 
 
 AZEM, a city of Simeon, Josh. xix. 3. The same, 
 perhaps, as Esmonia, or Asmona. 
 
 AZMAV^ETH, or Azmoth, or Beth-azmoth, a 
 city, probably in Judah, adjacent to Jerusalem and 
 Anathoth, Nebcin, vii. 28 ; xii. 29. 
 
 AZMON, or Jeshimon, a city in the wilderness of 
 3Iaon, south of Judah, belonging to the tribe of 
 Simeon, Numb, xxxiv. 4 ; Josh. xv. 4. 
 
 AZNOTH TABOR, or simply Azanoth, or Az- 
 NOTH, a city of Naphtali, (Josh. xix. 34.) which Euse- 
 bius places in the plain, not far distant from Dio- 
 csesarea. 
 
 AZOTUS is th(> Greek name of the same city which 
 is called, in the Hebrew, Ashdod. It was not taken 
 by Joshua, and, being surrounded with a wall of 
 great strength, it became a place of great impor- 
 tance, and one of the five governments of the Philis- 
 tines. Hither was sent the ark of God, when taken 
 from the Israelites ; and here was Dagon cast down 
 before it, 1 Sam. v. 2, 3. Uzziah, king of Judah, 
 broke down its wall, and built cities, or watch-tow- 
 ers, about it, 2 Chron. xxvi. 6. It was taken by 
 Tartan, general of the king of Assyria, (2 Kings 
 xviii. 17.) when it appears to have been very severely 
 treated ; as Jeremiah (chap. xxv. 20.) gives the cup of 
 desolation to be drunk by " the remnant of Ashdod." 
 It was not wholly destroyed, however, for Amos (chap, 
 i. 8.) mentions " the inhabitant of Ashdod ;" Zepha- 
 niah(chap. ii. 4.) says, "Ashdod shall be driven out at 
 noon-day ;" and Zechariah (ix. 6.) says, " a bastard shall 
 dwell in Ashdod." From these notices, it appears,
 
 AZOTUS 
 
 [ 120] 
 
 AZOTUS 
 
 that Ashdod was a place of great strength aud conse- 
 quence. Its New Testament name is Azotus, and here 
 Philip was found, after his conversion of the eunuch 
 at Gaza, distant about thirtyniiles. Acts viii. 40. 
 
 Azotus was a port on the Mediterranean, between 
 Askalon and Ekron, or between Jamnia and Aske- 
 lon, (Judith iii. 2. Gr.) or between Gaza and Jamnia, 
 (Josephus, Antiq. xiii. 23.) i. e. it lay between these 
 cities, but not directly, nor in the same sense. The 
 present state of the town is thus described bv Dr. 
 Wittman : (Travels in Syria, &c. p. 28o.) ""Pur- 
 suing our route through a deUghtful country, we 
 came to Ashdod, called by the Greeks Azotus, and 
 under that name mentioned in the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles ; a town of great antiquity, provided with two 
 
 small entrance gates. In passing through this place, 
 we saw several fragments of columns, capitals, cor- 
 nices, &c. of marble. Towards the centre is a hand- 
 some mosque, with a minaret. By the Arab inhab- 
 itants Ashdod is called IMezdel. Two miles to the 
 south, on a hill, is a ruin, having in its centre a lofty 
 column still standing entire. The delightful verdure 
 of the surrounding plains, together with a gi'eat 
 abundance of fine old olive trees, rendered the scene 
 charmingly picturesque. In the villages, tobacco, 
 fruits and vegetables are cultivated abundantly by 
 the inhabitants ; and the fertile and extensive plains 
 yield an ample produce of corn. Ashdod may be 
 seen from the 'sloping hill of easy ascent,' near 
 Jaffa, or Joppa." See Ashdop. 
 
 B 
 
 BAAL 
 
 BAAL 
 
 L BAAL, or Bel, {governor, ruler, lord,) a god of 
 the Phoenicians and Canaanites. Baal and Astaroth 
 are commonly mentioned together; and, as it is be- 
 lieved that Astaroth denotes the moon, Calmet con- 
 cludes that Baal represents the sun. The name 
 Baal is used, in a generical sense, for the superior 
 god of the Phoenicians, Chaldeans, Moabites, and 
 other people, and is often compounded with the 
 name of some place or quality ; as Baal-Peor, Baal- 
 zebub, Baal-Gad, Baal-Zephon, Baal-Berith. Baal 
 is the most ancient god of the Canaanites, and, per- 
 haps, of the East ; and the Hebrews too often im- 
 itated the idolatry of the Canaanites, in adoring him. 
 They offered human sacrifices to him, and erected 
 altars to him, in groves, on high places, and on the 
 terraces of houses. Baal had priests and prophets 
 ooni^ecrated to his service ; and many infamous 
 actions were committed in his festivals. Some 
 learned men nave maintained that the Baal of Pho'- 
 nicia was the Saturn of Greece and Rome ; and cer- 
 tainly there was great conformity between their ser- 
 vices and sacrifices. Others are of opinion that 
 Baal was the Phoenician (or Tyrian) Hercules, (an 
 opinion not inconsistent with the other,) but it is 
 generally concluded that Baal was the sun ; and, on 
 this admission, all the characters which he assumes 
 in Scripture, may be easily explained. The great 
 luminary was adored over all the East, and is the 
 most ancient deity acknowledged among the hea- 
 then. See Idolatry. 
 
 The Hebrews sometimes called the sun Baal- 
 Shemesh; — Baal the sun. Manasseh adored Baal, 
 planted groves, and worshipped all the host of 
 heaven; but Josiah, desirous to repair the evil in- 
 troduced by Manasseh, put to death " the idolatrous 
 priests that burnt incense unto Baal, to the sun, and 
 to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host 
 of heaven. He commanded all the vessels that 
 were made for Baal, and for the grove, (Ashreh, or 
 Astaroth,] and for all the host of heaven, to be 
 brought forth out of the temple. He took away the 
 horses that the kings of Judah had given to the 
 sun, and burnt the chariots of the sun with fire." 
 Here the worship of the sun is particularly described ; 
 and the sun itself is clearly expressed by the name 
 of Baal, 2 Kings xxiii. IL The temples" and altars 
 of the sun, or Baal, were generally on eminences. 
 Manasseh placed in the two courts of the temple at 
 Jenisalem altars to all the host of heaven, and, in 
 
 particular, to Astarte, or the moon, 2 Kings xxi. 5. 
 7. Jeremiah threatens those of Judah, who had 
 sacrificed to Baal on the house-top, (ch. xxxii. 29.) 
 and Josiah destroyed the altars which Ahaz had 
 erected on the terrace of his palace, 2 Kings xxiii. 12. 
 
 Human victims were offered to Baal, as they were 
 to the sun. The Persian Mithra (who is also the 
 sun) was honored with like sacrifices, as was also 
 Apollo. Jeremiah reproaches the inhabitants of Ju- 
 dah and Jerusalem with "building the high places 
 of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt-offer- 
 ings unto Baal," (chap. xix. 5.) — an expression which 
 appears to be decisive, for the actual slaying by fire 
 of the unhapp)'^ victims to Baiil. 
 
 The Scripture calls temples consecrated to Baal, 
 i. e. to the sun, chamanim, Lev. xxvi. SO ; Isa. xvii. 
 8 ; xxvii. 9 ; Ezek. vi. 4, G, and 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4. 
 They were places enclosed w ith walls, in which a per- 
 petual fire was maintained : they were frequent in the 
 East, particularly among the Persians ; and the Greeks 
 called them pijreia, or pyratheia, from the Greek 
 pyr, fire, or pyra, a funeral pile. There was in them, 
 says Strabo, (lib. xv.) an altar, abundance of ashes, 
 and a fire never suft'ered to go out. Maundrel, iu 
 his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, observed 
 some remains of them in Syria. [The word 
 □'j-n, c/(aHifl?n';H, signifies, to judg(^ from the clearest 
 passage, (2 Chr. xxxiv. 4.) a species of idol statues, or 
 images, which stood upon the altars of Baal. The 
 word is, therefore, always properly rendered in the 
 English version images. The exi)lanation of Jarchi 
 is not improbably the correct one, viz. solar pillars, 
 sun-columns. The god Baal Chaman (|-:n) is not 
 unfrcquently mentioned in Phoenician inscriptions, 
 which is best explained by Baal i. e. Deus Solaris. R. 
 
 Some critics have thought that the god Belus of 
 the Chaldeans and Babylonians was Nimrod, their 
 first king ; others, that he \\as Belus the Assyri- 
 an, father of Ninus ; and others, a son of Semi- 
 ramis. Many have supposed Belus to be the same 
 with Jupiter ; but Calmet concludes that Baal was 
 worshipped as the sun among the Phoenicians and 
 Canaanites ; and that he was often taken in general 
 for the great god of the eastern people. 
 
 [The preceding observations are mostly from Cal- 
 met himself; but a9 very much of the idolatry al- 
 luded to in the Old Testament is derived from, or 
 connected with, the rites of Baal, it seems in)portant 
 to give here the views of later commentators, who
 
 BAAL 
 
 [ 121 ] 
 
 BAAL 
 
 have been led to investigate the subject with par- 
 ticular care. The principal of these are Gesenius, 
 (in his Thesaurus Ling. Heb. p. 224, and in his Com- 
 mentar zu Isa. ii. p. 335.) and bishop Miinter, of Co- 
 penhagen, in his work entitled " Rehgion der Baby- 
 lonier," Copenh. 1827, p. 16, seq. 
 
 The word BaaJ, in the Old Testament, when em- 
 ployed with the article, and without further addition, 
 i. e. the Baal, i. q. the Lord, denotes an idol of the 
 Phcenicians, and particularly of the Tyrians, whose 
 worship was also introduced, with great solemnities, 
 among the Hebrews, and especially at Samaria, 
 along with that of Astarte ; Judg. vi. 25, seq. 2 Kings 
 X. 18, seq. (See Astaroth I.) In the plural, fiaoym, 
 the word signifies images or statues of Baal, Judg. 
 ii. 11 ; X. 10, &c. — Of the extent to which the wor- 
 ship of this idol was domesticated among the Phce- 
 nicians and Carthaginians, we have an evidence in 
 the proper names of persons ; as among the former 
 Ethbaal, Jerubbaal ; and among the latter, Hannibal, 
 Asdnibal, &c. — Among the Babylonians the same 
 idol was worshipped under the name of Bel ; which 
 is only the Aramaean form of Baal, i. e. ^2 for h-;2, 
 e. g. Isa. xlvi. 1 ; Jer. 1. 2 ; 11. 44, &c. His worship 
 wo? established in that city in the famous tower of 
 Babel, the uppermost room of which served at the 
 same time as an observatory, and was the re- 
 pository of a collection of ancient astronomical ob- 
 servations. (Herodot. i. 181 — 183. Diod. ii. 10. 
 Strabo, xvi. 1. 6.) See also the article Babel. — By 
 Greek and Roman \VTiters the Phoenician Baal is 
 called Hercules and Hercules Tyrius. (Her. ii. 14. 
 Arrian, Exp. Alex. ii. 16. 2 3Iacc. iv. 18, 20.) 
 
 That in the astronomical, or rather astrological 
 mythology of the East, we are to look for the origin 
 of this worship in the adoration of the heavenly 
 bodies, is conceded by all critics. But, in conse- 
 quence of the varying statements of ancient authors, 
 who lived at different periods, a considerable di- 
 versity of opinion has arisen in respect to what 
 heavenly body we are to regard Baal as represent- 
 ing. The more common opinion has been, that 
 Baal, or Bel, is the sun ; and that, under this name, 
 this luminary received divine honors. Bishop Miinter 
 supposes that this was the case at least originally ; 
 (p. 17.) that the fundamental idea of all oriental 
 idolatry, — which may also be traced from India to 
 the north of Europe, — is the primeval poiver of nature, 
 which divides itself into the generative, and the C07i- 
 ceptive or productive power. Of these two, the male 
 and female powers of nature, he supposes (with 
 others) the sun and moon to have been worshipped 
 as the representatives under the names of Baal and 
 Astarte, at least by the most ancient Babylonians 
 and other Semitish tribes. — Gesenius, fixing his 
 view more particularly on a later period, finds that 
 the Greek and Roman writers give to the Babylonian 
 Bel the muue of Jupiter Belus. (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 
 10. Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 16. Diod. ii. 8, 9.) By 
 this name, however, they did not mean the " father 
 of the gods," but the planet Jupiter, s<eWo Jovis, (Cic. 
 de Nat. Deor. ii. 20.) which was regarded, along with 
 the planet Venus, as the principle of all good, the 
 guardian and giver of all good fortune ; and forms 
 with Venus the most fortunate of all constellations, 
 imder which alone fortunate sovereigns can be born. 
 (Comm. z. Isa. ii. p. 355, seq.) Hence it is also called, 
 by the Arabians, Fortuna major. (See Gad, and Me.vi.) 
 This planet, therefore, Gesenius supposes to have 
 been the object of worship under the name of Baal ; 
 na also the planet Venus under that of Astarte. 
 16 
 
 Not that the sun was not an object of idolatrous 
 worship among these nations ; but in that case he is 
 represented under his own name, Shemesh, also Baal- 
 shamaim, (lord of the heavens,) Baal-hamman, Baal- 
 shemesh, &c. (Thesaur. p. 224, col. 2.) — This view, it 
 will be observed, is directly controverted by Miinter, 
 only in reference to the very earliest ages. 
 
 The following passages have been retained from 
 the Enghsh edition of this work, not as illustrating, 
 in any way, the Bible or the idolatrous worship of 
 Baal, but as being in themselves interesting, and as, 
 perhaps, casting a faint light on the remark of bishop 
 Miinter above, in reference to the worship of the 
 male and female powers of nature, "from India to 
 the north of Europe." *R. 
 
 The worship of Bel, Belus, Belenus, or Belinus, 
 was general throughout the British islands ; and cer- 
 tain of its rites and observances are still maintained 
 among us, notwithstanding the spread and the es- 
 tablishment of Christianity during so many ages. It 
 might have been thought, that the pompous rituals 
 of popery would have superseded the Druidical 
 superstitions ; or that the reformation to Protestant- 
 ism would have banished them ; or that the prev- 
 alence of various sects would have reduced them 
 to oblivion : but the fact is otherwise. Surely the 
 roots of Druidism were struck extremely deep ! 
 What charm could render them so prevalent and 
 permanent ? — " A town in Perthshire, on the borders 
 of the Higli lands, is called Tillie- [or Tullie-) beltane, 
 i.e. the einbcnce, or rising- gi-ound, ©/"f/ie^re of Bard. 
 In the neighborhood is a Druidical temple of eight 
 upright stones, where it is supposed the fire was 
 kindled. At some distance from this is another 
 temple of the same kind, but smaller, and near it a 
 well still held in great veneration. On Beltane 
 morning, superstitious people go to this well, and 
 drink of it ; then they make a procession round it, 
 as we are informed, nine times. Afl:er this they in 
 hke manner go round the temple. So deep-rooted 
 is this heathenish superstition in the minds of many 
 who reckon themselves good Protestants, that they 
 will not neglect these rites, even when Beltane falls 
 on sabbath." (Statist. Accounts of Scotland, vol. iii. 
 p. 105.) "On the first day of May, which is called 
 Beltan, or Bal-tein, day, all the boys in a township, 
 or hamlet, meet in the moors. They cut a table 
 in the green sod, of a round figure, by casting a 
 trench in the ground of such circumference as to 
 hold the whole company. They kindle a fire, and 
 dress a repast of eggs and milk in the consistence 
 of a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal, which 
 is toasted at the embers against a stone. After the 
 custard is eaten up, they divide the cake into so 
 many portions, as similar as possible to one another 
 in size and shape, as there are persons in the com- 
 pany. They daub one of these portions all over 
 with charcoal, until it be perfectly black. They put 
 all the bits of cake into a bonnet. Every one, 
 blindfold, draws out a portion. He who holds the 
 bonnet is entitled to the last bit. Whoever draws 
 the black bit, is the devoted person who is to be 
 sacrificed to Baal, whose favor they mean to implore, 
 in rendering the year productive of the sustenance 
 of man and beast. There is httle doubt of these 
 inhuman sacrifices having been once offered in this 
 country, as well as in the East, although they now 
 pass from the act of sacrificing, and only compel the 
 devoted person to leap three times through the 
 flames ; with which the ceremonies of this festival 
 are closed." (Id. vol. xi. p. 621.)
 
 BAA 
 
 [ 122 1 
 
 BAA 
 
 This pagan ceremony of lighting fires in honor 
 of tlic Asiatic god Belus, gave its name to the entire 
 month of May, which is to this day called mi na 
 Bealtine, in the Irish language. Dr. Keating, speak- 
 ing of this fire of Beal, says, that the cattle were 
 driven through it, and not sacrificed ; and that the 
 chief design of it was to keep off all contagious dis- 
 orders from them for that year ; and lie also says, 
 that all the inhabitants of Ireland quenched their 
 fires on that day, and kindled them again out of 
 some part of that fire. He adds, from an ancient 
 glossary : " The Druids lighted two solemn fires 
 every year, and drove all four-footed beasts through 
 them in order to preserve them from all contagious 
 distempers during the current year." In AVales this 
 annual fire is kindled in autuiim, on the first day of 
 November. In North Wales, especially, this fire is 
 attended by man\ ceremonies ; such as running 
 through the fire and smoke, each participator casting 
 a stone into the fire, 6cc. 
 
 ihis superstition, says Dr. .Maci)herson, prevailed 
 throughout the North, as well as throughout the West. 
 "Although the name ol'Bd-lein is unknown in Swe- 
 den, yet, on the last day of April, i. e. the evening 
 preceding our Bel-lein, the country peo])le light gi-eat 
 fires on the hills, and spend the night in shooting. 
 This with them is the eve of Walburgh's Mess." 
 Leopold Von Biich, Avho travelled through Norway 
 in 1807, noticed this jiractice at Lodingen, N. lat. 
 ()8i. His words are — " It was Hansdagsaften, the 
 eve of St. John's day. The people flocked together, 
 on an adjoining hill, to keep up St. John's fire till 
 midnight, as is done throughout all Germany and 
 Norway. It burnt very well, but it did not render 
 the night a whit more light. The midnight sun 
 shone bright and clear on the fire, and we scarcely 
 could see it. The St. John's fire has not certainly 
 been invented in these regions, for it loses here all 
 the power and nightly splendor which extend over 
 whole territories in Germany, Notwithstanding this 
 circumstance, we surrounded the fire in great good 
 humor, and danced in continual circles the wliole 
 night through." This extract informs us, not only 
 that this custom maintains itself in the extreme 
 north, but also throughout Germany : in short, we 
 see that it involves all Euro|)e. It can, therefore, 
 occasion no surprise that we find it so inveterately 
 established in the countries mentioned in Scrijnure, 
 where the sun had infinitely more jiower and in- 
 lluence, and which are nuich nearer to the seat of 
 the original observances. The world was then 
 l)lunged in idolatry, and we cannot wonder that 
 tiiis branch of it ])revailed, since many of its cere- 
 monies and superstitious rites still exist, notwith- 
 standing the influence of the gospel. 
 
 There were many cities in Palestine, into whose 
 name the word Baal entered by com])Osition. 
 
 I. BAALAH, otherwise KiRjATH-jEARiM,or Kir- 
 jath-Baal, or Baai.k-Judah, (Josh. xv. J), GO; 2 
 Sam. vi. 2; 1 Chron. xiii. (J.) a city of Judah, not far 
 tiom Gibeah and (Jiiu'on, and where the ark was 
 stationed after the Philistines returned it, 1 Sam. vi.21. 
 It lay about !• or 10 miles north-west of Jerusalem. 
 
 II. BAALAH, a mountain on the border of the 
 lot of the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. IL 
 
 BAALATH, a city of Dan, Josh. xix. 41: J 
 Kings ix. 18. Jftsephus speaks of I?aleth, not far 
 from Gazara, Anti(|. lib. viii. cap. 2. It was fortified 
 bv Solomon, 2 Chron. viii. G. 
 
 * BAALATH-BEER, a city of Simeon, Josh. xix. 
 S, probably the same as Bnnl, 1 Dnon. iv. .?.'}. 
 
 BAAL-BERITH, Lord of the covenant, a deity of 
 the Shechemites, (Judg. vhi. 33; ix. 4.) which the 
 Israelites made their god after the death of Gideon. 
 There w as at Shechem a temple of Baal-Berith, in 
 whose treasurj' they accumulated that money which 
 they afterwards gave to Abimelech, son of Gideon. 
 The most simple explanation of the name Baal- 
 Berith, is to take it generally for the god who pre- 
 sides over alliajices and oaths. In this sense the 
 true God may be termed the God of covenants; 
 and if Scripture had not added the name Baal to 
 Ba-ith, it miglit have been so understood. The most 
 barbarous nations, as well as the most superstitious, 
 the most religious, and the most intelligent, have 
 always invoked the Deity to witness oaths and cove- 
 nants. The Greeks hacl their Zens Horkios, Jupiter 
 the witness and arbitrator of oaths ; and the Latins 
 had their Dens Fidius, or Jupiter Pistitis, whom they 
 regarded a.s the god of honesty and integiity, and 
 wiio ])resided over treaties and alliances. 
 
 BAAL-GAD, a city at the foot of mount Hermon, 
 which derived its name from the deity Baal, there 
 adored, Josh. xi. 17. Some have erroneously sup- 
 posed it to be the same as Heliopolis, or Baalbeck. 
 It is probably i. q. Baal-Hermon, which see. 
 
 BAAL-GUR, or Gur-Baal, i. e. sojown of Baal. 
 We read, 2 Chron. xxvi. 7. "the Lord assisted Uz- 
 ziah against the Philistines, and against the Ara- 
 bians, that dwelt at Gur-Baal." The Septuagint has, 
 " the Arabians that dwelt above Petra." It seems to 
 have been a town in Arabia Petrsea, where was 
 probably a temple to Baal. 
 
 BAAL-HAZOR, a city of Ephraim, where Absa- 
 lom kept his flocks, 2 Sam. xiii. 23. 
 
 BAAL-HERMON, Judg. iii. 3 ; 1 Chron. v. 23. 
 See Hermon, and Baal-Gad. 
 
 BAALIS, a king of the Ammonites, who sent Ish- 
 mael to kill Gedaliah, who governed the remnant of 
 the Jews, not carried captive to Babylon, Jer. 
 xl. 14. 
 
 BAAL-MEON, a city of Reuben, (Numb, xxxii. 
 38 ; 1 Chron. v. 8.) sometimes called Beth-Baal- 
 Meon, (Josh. xiii. 17.) the house, or temple, of Baal- 
 Meon; and also Beth-Meon, Jer. xlviii. 23. The 
 Moabites took it from the Reubenites, and were 
 masters of it in the time ofEzekiel, Ezek. xxv. 9. 
 Eusel)ius and Jerome place it nine miles from Es- 
 bus, or Esehon, at the foot of moimt Baaru, or 
 Abarim. 
 
 BAAL-PEOR. The import of this name is un- 
 certain. Simon takes it to denote " the lord of 
 momu Peor" where this deity was worshipped ; as 
 th(! heathen had their Jupiter Ohpnpins, Apollo 
 Clarius, Mercurius Cylknius, Sec. It has been taken 
 in an obscene sense, and with too nuich truth ; for 
 it is certain that the deities of the heathen were, 
 and still are, often of the grossest kind ; not that 
 we know their worshippers to have thought them 
 scandalous, or to have connected them with any 
 oft'ence against decency, or with that sense of shame 
 and indignation which they excite in us. They may 
 have considerefl them as commemorative inemorials 
 of distant ])ersoiis and times, or as employed to 
 bring to recollection truths, in themselves perfectly 
 innoxious; although such means of recording his- 
 torical facts, of wliatever nature, fire in our opinion 
 crin)inally indecorous, and utterly unfit for public 
 exi)osure. Of this the compound of the Lmgam 
 and Yoni, among the Hindoos, affords open and 
 popular ])roof; but there are other observances in 
 some of their festivals, usually postponed till after all
 
 UAA 
 
 [ 1-23 ] 
 
 BAB 
 
 Europeans arc departed, which too obscenely justify 
 the most offensive derivation of the name. 
 
 This false god is, by some, supposed to be the 
 Adonis, or Orus, adored by the Egyptians, and other 
 eastern people. Scripture informs us (Numb. xxv. 
 1 — 3.) tliat tlie Israehtes, being encamped in the 
 wilderness of Sin, were seduced to worship Baal- 
 Peor, to partake of his sacrifices, and to sin with the 
 daughters of Moab ; and the Psalmist, (Psahn cvi. 
 28.) adverting to the same event, says, "they ate the 
 offerings of the dead." Peor is Or, or Orus, if we 
 cut off the article Pe, which is of no signification. 
 Orus is Adonis, or Osiris. The feasts of Adonis 
 were celebrated at\cr the maimer of funerals; and 
 the worshippers at that time connnitted a thousand 
 dissolute actions, particularly after they were told 
 that Adonis, whom they had mourned for as dead, 
 was alive again. (See Adoms.) Origen believed 
 Baal-Peor to be Priapus, or the iilol of turpitude, 
 adored principally by women, and that Moses did 
 not think proper to express more clearly what kind 
 of turpitude lie meant ; and Jerome says, this idol 
 was represented and worshipped in the same ob- 
 scene manner as Priapus. His opinion is, that effem- 
 inate men and women, who prostituted themselves 
 in honor of idols, as fretiuently mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture, were consecrated to Baal-Peor, or Priapus. 
 Maimonides asserts that Baal-Peor was adored by 
 the most immodest actions ; and there is no doubt 
 that he wius the god of impurity. We know Avith 
 what impudence the daughters of Moab engaged the 
 Israehtes to sin ; (Numb. xxv. 3.) and the prophet 
 Hosea, (chaj). ix. 10.) speaking of this crime, says, 
 "They went unto Baal-Peor, and separated them- 
 selves unto that shame." Selden suggests that Baal- 
 Peor is Pluto, the god of the dead, founding his con- 
 jecture on Psalm cvi. 28, where " offerings to the 
 dead" are mentioned, and which he takes to be 
 those that were offered to appease the manes of the 
 dead. Apollinarius, in his paraphrase on this Psalm, 
 says, the Hebrews polluted themselves in the sacri- 
 fices of Baal-Peor, by eating hecatombs offered to 
 the dead ; and some afhrm that Saturn ranked his 
 son IMuth, whom he had by Rhea, among the gods, 
 and that he was adored by the Phcsnicians, some- 
 times under the name of Death, (which is the sig- 
 nification of the word Muth,) and sometimes by that 
 of Plulo. (Sanchon. apud Euseb. Pra?par. lib. i. cap. 
 viii.) But these opinions seem less jirobable than that 
 above proposed, that this deity was (the dead) Ado- 
 nis, or O&iris. It may be added, that some believe 
 Adonis to have been the father of Priapus ; and that 
 funeral entertainments were made in his honor, 
 which may well be understood by the name of sacri- 
 fices : " The priests roar and cry before their gods, 
 as men do at the fea-st when one is dead," Baruch 
 vi. 32. The Psalmist expresses himself in the plural 
 number ; " they ate the sacrifices," — for the sacrifices 
 of Baal-Peor were repasts, such as were used at 
 funerals ; with this difference, that the latter were 
 oflen accompanied with real and sincere sorrow; 
 whereas, in those of Adonis, the tears were feigned, 
 and the debauchery, afterwards indulged, real. See 
 Chiu.n, and Adonis. 
 
 BAAL-PERAZIM, a place in the valley of Re- 
 phaim, not very far distant from Jerusalem, 2 Sam. 
 V. 20; 1 Chion. xiv. 11 ; comp. Is. xxviii. 11. Here 
 David gained a victory over the Philistines. 
 
 BAAL-SHALISHA, (2 Kings iv. 42 ; 1 Sam. ix. 
 4.) a district placed by Jerome and Eusebius fifteen 
 miles from Dioapolis north, near mount Ephraim. 
 
 BAAL-TAMAR, lord of the palm-tree, a village 
 near Gibeah, where the children of Israel engaged 
 the tribe of Benjamin, Judg. xx. 33. 
 
 The palm-tree occurs on many coins as a symbol 
 attending Astarte ; a branch of palm is held by the 
 goddess sitting on the rock ; and often by Jupiter, 
 who, most probably, answers to the character of the 
 lord of the palm-tree. It may be sujjposed that 
 this symbol was chiefly adopted where the palm was 
 best known ; nevertheless, we find it applied where 
 it cannot be restrained to the idea of a production 
 of the country merely, and therefore, most proba- 
 bly, it was introduced from where this symbol was 
 locally applicable. 
 
 BAALTIS, the same as Astarte, or the moon ; next 
 to Baal, the god most honored by the Phoenicians. 
 See Astarte, and Astaroth. 
 
 BAAL-ZEBUB, see Beel-zebub. 
 
 BAAL-ZEPHON, a station of the Hebrews, 
 (Exod. xiv. 2,9; Numb, xxxiii. 7.) near Clysma, or 
 Colsuiii. Baal-Zephon was, probably, a temple to 
 Baul, at the northern point of the Red sea; and, most 
 likely, in or near an cstabhshment, or to\vn, like the 
 present Suez. [See, on this point, Stuart's Course of 
 Heb. Study, ii. ji. 186, seq. Rosenmueller and Ge- 
 senius suppose the name to mean place or temj)le oj 
 Tijphon, the evil genius of Egypt and enemy of fer- 
 tility, who was worshipped at Heroopohs. R.] — Some 
 describe this deity, viz. Baal-Zephon, as a dog in shape, 
 (seeAxuBis,) signifying his vigilant eye over this 
 place, and his office" by barking, to give notice of an 
 enemy's arrival ; and to guard the coast of the Red 
 sea, on that side. It is said, he was placed there, 
 principally, to stop slaves that fled from their masters. 
 The Jerusalem Targum assures us, that all the statues 
 of the Egyptian gods having been destroyed by the. 
 exterminating angel, Baal-Zephon alone resisted; 
 whereupon, the Egyptians, conceiving great ideas of 
 his power, redoubled their devotion to him. Moses, 
 observing that the people flocked thither in crowds, 
 pethioned Pharaoh that he, too, might make a jour- 
 ney thither with the Israehtes ; which Pharaoh per- 
 mitted ; but as they were employed on the shore of 
 the Red sea, in gathering up the precious stones 
 which the river Pliison had carried into the Gihon, 
 and from thence were conveyed into the Red sea, 
 (a notable instance of rabbinical geography !) Pha- 
 raoh surjirised them, and sacrificed to Baal-Zephon, 
 waiting till the next day to attack Israel, whom he be- 
 lieved his god had delivered into his hands : but, in the 
 mean time, they passed the Red sea and escaped. 
 
 BAANAH and RECIIAB, officers of Ishbosheth, 
 son of Saul, who privately slew that prince while 
 reposing, and were punished for it by David, 2 Sam. 
 iv. 2, seq.^ 
 
 BAASHA, son of Ahijah, and commander of the 
 armies of Nadab, king of Israel. He killed his mas- 
 ter treacherously at the siege of Gibbethon, and 
 usurped the kingdom, which he possessed twenty- 
 four years. He exterminated the whole race of Jer- 
 oboam, as God had commanded ; but by his bad 
 conduct, and his idolatry, incurred God's indigna- 
 tion, 1 Kings XV. 27; xvi. 7. A. M. 3051. Baasha, 
 instead of making good use of admonition, trans- 
 ported Avith rage against a prophet, the messenger 
 of it, killed him. 
 
 BABEL, or Babylon, a city and province, which 
 received this name, because, when the tower of Babel 
 was building, God confounded the languages of 
 those who were employed in the undertaking, (Gen. 
 x. 10.) about A. M. 1775, 120 years after the deluge.
 
 BABEL 
 
 [ 124] 
 
 BABEL 
 
 Others derive the name from the Arabic word bdb, a 
 door or gait, compounded with Bel, e. g. the gate or 
 city of Bel. — For an accoimt of the city of Babylon, 
 see the next article ; and for the geographical descrip- 
 tion, as well as an historical notice of the province 
 or kingdom, see Babylonia. Here we confine our- 
 selves to the tower. 
 
 Very different conceptions have been formed on 
 the nature and figure of the tower of Babel. Some 
 have delineated it as being round in shape, with a 
 spiral pathway leading up to the top ; but it appears 
 more credible that it was square ; and that certain 
 buildings, yet remaining in various parts of the 
 world, may be considered as transcripts, or imita- 
 tions, of it. To enable the reader to judge of this 
 proposition, Mr. Taylor copied several instances, 
 apparently nearly related to it in form and destina- 
 tion, from which we select the following. 
 
 This pyramid, rising in several steps or stages, is 
 
 at Tanjore, in the East Indies ; and affords, it is pre- 
 sumed, a just idea of the tower of Babel. It is, in- 
 deed, wholly constructed of stone, in which it differs 
 from that more ancient edifice, which, being situated 
 in a country destitute of stone, was, of necessity, con- 
 structed of brick. On the top of this pyramid is a 
 chapel or temple ; aftbrding a specimen of the gen- 
 eral nature of this kind of sacred edifices in India. 
 These amazing structures are conunonly erected on, 
 or near, the l)anks of great rivers, for the adviuitage 
 of ablution. In the courts tliat suri'ound them, in- 
 numerable multitudes assemble at the rising of the 
 sun, after having batlied in the stream below. The 
 gate of tlie ])ago(la uniformly fronts the east. The 
 internal cliamber coniiiiouly receives light only Irom 
 the door. An external pathway, for the purpose of 
 visiting the chapel at the top, merits observation. 
 Tliis is an ancient pyramid, built by the Mexicans 
 in America ; it agrees 
 in figun; with the 
 i'nrmer ; and has, on 
 tlie outside, an a.scent 
 of stairs leading tip 
 one side to the upper 
 story, |troceeding to 
 tlie chapels on its 
 sunnnit. This ascent 
 implies tiiat tin; chap- 
 els were used, from 
 time to time ; and no 
 doubt, it marks the 
 shortest track for tiiat 
 purjiose, as it occu- 
 pies one side only. 
 
 That the tower of Belus had a chapel on the top, ap- 
 peal's from Herodotus, who, after mentioning the 
 spiral ascent, says, "In the last tower is a large 
 chapel, but no statue," &c. (See in Baal.) Diodo- 
 rus implies the same, when he says, there were stat- 
 ues of gold, of which one was forty feet high : it 
 must have been a large chapel that could be sup- 
 posed to contain such a figure. The ideas collected 
 from the foregoing subjects lead us, (1.) to a pyra- 
 mid of sohd construction, in its principal parts, but 
 of less laborious materials internally : (2.) to a chapel, 
 or temple, on the top of such pyramid : (3.) to one 
 or more passages leading to the summit. There are 
 certain points of comparison between the pyramids 
 of Egypt (see Pyramids) and the tower of Babel to 
 which our attention may be directed. (1.) A river 
 runs before the pyramids, which agrees with the 
 notion of their being sacred structures, since the 
 stream was suitable to purposes of ablution ; in 
 hke manner, a river ran before the tower of Babel. 
 (2.) The general form of these structures were alike, 
 that is, broad at bottom, rising very high, tapering 
 at top. (3.) The internal construction was of less 
 costly materials than the external ; being of smi- 
 baked bricks, at best ; while the external was fur- 
 nace-baked bricks at Babel, but immense stones in 
 Egypt, which insured the durability of the Egj'ptian 
 edifices. (4.) A city extended on each side of the 
 river in both instances. (5.) The royal palace was 
 separated from the temple by a considerable width 
 of water. (6.) Thei-e were apartments, or chapels, 
 in each. (7.) There were sacred cloisters or courts 
 around. (8.) There was (or was intended to be) at 
 the top a great image : there arc indications of such 
 an intention on the top of the open pyramid. This 
 thought is not new ; the Jerusalem Targum asserts 
 it of Babel, and says that the image was to have 
 held a sword in its hand, as a kind of protector 
 against men and demons — Faciamus nobis Imaginem 
 adoratio.ms ill ejus fastigio, et ponamus Gladiumin 
 manu ejus, ul conferat contra acies pr<tlium,prius quam 
 dispergamur de superjicie tcrrcE. These obvious agree- 
 ments sufliciently evince that the structures were 
 alike in form and in destination [?] so that we may 
 judg(! j)retty accurately on what we do not know of 
 the one by Avhat Ave do know of the other. They 
 contribute, also, to establish the inference, that the 
 same people (tliough not the same branch of that 
 people) were the builders of both. 
 
 Being now enabled, by means of these points of 
 comparison, to comprehend the intention of the 
 builders of the tower of Babel, we proceed to con- 
 sider the mode of its construction. We read (Gen. 
 xi. 3.) that they proposed to make bricks and to 
 biuii them thoroughly ; that th( se bricks were cm- 
 ployed by them as stones, of \\ hich it should ap- 
 pear tlie country was destitute; — "instead of (mor- 
 tar) chomar they had chemar," where the reader will 
 observe, that tlie same word is used under two pro- 
 nunciations, and this, probably, ought to be thus 
 tmderstood — " insteatl of clay-mortar," which is the 
 kind used in countries east of Shinar for build- 
 ings not expected to exceed ordinary duration, 
 these determined builders em})loyed the bitiuneu 
 which rises in tlie lands adjacent to this tower, or 
 was brought from sources higher up the Euphrates: 
 — bitumen-mortar, to resist moisture from morasses 
 formed by the river. The quantity of bitumen that 
 must have been employed in building Babylon is 
 scarcely credible. Most probably it was procured 
 from Hit on the Euphrates, where it still abounds.
 
 BABEL 
 
 [ 125 ] 
 
 BABEL 
 
 "The master-mason told me, (says M. Beauchamp,) 
 that he found some in a spot where he was digging, 
 about twenty years ago ; which is by no means strange, 
 as it is common enough on the banks of the Euphra- 
 tes, I have myself seen it on the road from Bagdad 
 to Juba, an Arabian village, seated on that river." 
 
 The men engaged at Babel had two objects in 
 view ; (1,) to build a city, and (2.) a tower. There 
 could be no impiety in proposing to build a city ; 
 yet it is expressly stated, that, in consequence of the 
 divine interposition, the continuation of the city was 
 relinquished. On the other hand, the tower was 
 certainly intended as a place for worship, but not of 
 the true God ; yet it is no where said in Scripture 
 that it was destroyed, or its works suspended. This 
 is not easily explained ; and the circumstance is 
 rendered the more obscure, by the accounts of its 
 overthrow which have been presei-ved in heathen 
 writers. Eupolemus, quoted by Eusebius, (Prsep. 
 lib. ix.) says, "The city Babel was first founded, 
 and afterwards the celebrated tower ; both which 
 were built by some of the people who had escaped 
 the deluge. — The tower was eventually ruined by 
 the power of God." Abydenus, in his Assyrian 
 Annals, also mentions the tower ; which, he says, 
 was carried uj) to heaven ; but that the gods ruined 
 it by storms and whirlwinds, frustrated the purpose 
 for which it was designed, and overthrew it on the 
 heads of those who were engaged in the work. The 
 ruins of it were called Babylon. (Euseb. Cliron. p. 13.) 
 The reader \\\l\ bear this in mind, as it will assist in 
 determining our judgment on the character of the 
 ruins still extajit. 
 
 We do not find in Scrij)tin-e any subsequent al- 
 lusion to the tower of Babel ; but there is in the 
 LXX a remarkable variation from our Hebrew 
 copies in Isaiah x. 9, where we read. Is not Calno as 
 Carchemish ? those translators read, " Have I not 
 taken the region which is above Babylon and Cha- 
 lane, where the tower was built ?" That they re- 
 ferred to the ancient attempt of the sons of men 
 cannot be doubted ; and the passage is so under- 
 stood by the Christian fathers, as may be seen in 
 Bochart. The latest accounts by our travellers, es- 
 pecially the tract of Mr. Rich, with his plates, had 
 raised a doubt whether the original tower of Babel 
 were the same with that known to us by the de- 
 scriptions of ancient authors as tiie tower of Bejus, 
 at Babylon. The same doubt had occurred to Fa- 
 ther Kircher, (Turris Babel, lib. ii. cap. 3.) but he 
 )>roduces no authority in su])port of his conjecture, 
 that a second tower was built by Ninus and Semi- 
 ramis. Certain it is, that no ancient author men- 
 tions two towers ; but if we might be allowed to ad- 
 mit the supposition, it would obviate almost every 
 difficulty that at present appears insurmountable, in 
 attempting to reconcile ancient accounts with actual 
 appearances. — [The supposition of Calmet and others 
 is not improbable, viz. that the tower of Behis ^^ as 
 not the tower of Babel itself, but Avas rather I)uilt 
 upon the old foundations of the latter. R. 
 
 We submit here an instance of a building \ery 
 f^imilar in fonn and proportions to the original 
 tower ; and producing effects on the eye and mind 
 of a British traveller analogous to what it may be 
 presumed was intended by the priests and the 
 builders of Babel. It is Mr. Wathen's account of 
 the great pagoda at Conjeveram, the Dewal, or tem- 
 ple of Vurdaraujah ; extracted from his voyage to 
 Madras. " The tower, or most elevated part of this 
 buUdiuff. consisted of fifteen stories, or stages ; the 
 
 floor of the lowest of these was covered with boards 
 somewhat decayed, and was about twenty feet 
 square, having much the appearance of the belfry 
 of a country church in England. A ladder of fifteen 
 rounds conducted us to the next stage, and so on, 
 from story to storj', until we reached the top, each 
 stage or floor diminishing gradually in size to the 
 summit. Here our labor was most amply repaid ; 
 for never had I witnessed so beautiful and so sub- 
 lime a prospect. It so far surpassed evei-y idea I 
 had or could have formed of its grandeur and effect, 
 that I was almost entranced in its contemplation. 
 1 forgot all the world beside, and felt as if I could 
 have continued on this elevated spot for ever." 
 
 3Iodern travellers vary in their descriptions of the 
 remains of the tower of Babel. Fabricius says, it 
 might have been about a mile in circumference. 
 Guicn says the same. Benjamin, who is much more 
 ancient, informs us, that the foundations were two 
 thousand paces in length. The Sieur de la Bonlaye 
 le Gour, a gentleman of Anjou, who says he made 
 a long stay at Babylon, or Bagdad, declares, that 
 about three leagues from that city, is a tower, called 
 Megara, situated between the Tigris and Euphrates, 
 in an open field, which is solid within, and more 
 like a mountain than a tower. The compass of it is 
 above five hundred paces ; and as the rain and 
 winds have very much ruined it, it cannot be more 
 than about a hundred and thirty-eight feet high. It ia 
 built of bricks four inches thick ; and between every 
 seven courses of bricks there is a course of straw, 
 three inches thick, mixed with pitch and bitumen ; 
 from the top to the bottom are about fifty coui-ses. 
 
 The following particulars of the tower of Belus 
 are from Dr. Prldeaux : — " Till the time of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, the temple of Belus contained no more 
 than the [central] tower only, and the rooms in it 
 served all the occasions of that idolatrous worship, 
 that he enlarged it by vast buildings erected round 
 it, in a square of two furlongs on every side, and a 
 mile in circumference, which was one thousand 
 eight hundred feet more than the square at the tem- 
 ple of Jerusalem, for that was but three thousand 
 feet round ; whereas this was, according to this ac- 
 count, four thousand eight hundred ; and on the 
 outside of all these buildmgs, was a uall enclosing 
 the whole, which may be sup))csed to have been of 
 equal extent with the square in which it stood, that 
 is, two miles and a half in compass, in ^^ Inch v,cre 
 several gates leading into the temple, all of solid 
 brass ; and the brazen sea, the brazen |)illars, and 
 the other brazen vessels, which were carried to Bab- 
 ylon, from the temple of Jerusalem, seen) to have 
 been employed in the making of them ; for it is said, 
 that Nebuchadnezzar did put all the t^^acred vessels, 
 which he carried from Jerusalem, into the house of 
 his god at Babylon, that is, into this house or tem- 
 ple of Bel. This temple stood till the time of 
 Xerxes, but on his rctinni from the Grecian expedi- 
 tion, he demolished the whole of it, and laid it all 
 in rubbish, Jiaving first ])lundered it of its innneuse 
 riches, among which were several images or statues 
 of massy gold ; and one of them is said by Diodorus 
 Siculus to have been forty feet high, which might 
 perchance have been that which Nebuchadnezzar 
 consecrated in the plains of Dura." 
 
 [A succinct account of the tower of Belus may 
 be given as follows ; and it will also serve as an il- 
 lustration of the worship of Bel, or Baal, i. e. of the 
 l)lanet Jupiter. (See Baal.) Herodotus saw this 
 temple, still unimpaired. (Herodot. i. 181, seq.) It 

 
 BAB 
 
 126 ] 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 stood •.viihin ibe city, iu the niidst of a square area, 
 surrounded by walls which were furnished with 
 iron gates. It was built of burnt bricks laid in 
 bitumen, and rose to the height of a stadium, i. e. 
 according to Volney, (Recherches, P. iii. p. 72, seq.) 
 about 320 feet. There were eight stages or stories ; 
 to which the ascent was by slanting stairs along the 
 external walls. These stories gradually diminished hi 
 breadth from the base upward ; thus giving to the 
 tower the form of a pyramid. Hence Strabo also calls 
 it a square pyramid, (xvi. 1. 5.) The upper story 
 contained a chamber, with a bed, before which 
 stood a golden table. In this chamber Herodotus 
 eays no one slept at night except a female, whom 
 the god Belus, according to the Chaldeans the 
 priests of this temple, had selected from the females 
 of the city. Diodorus Siculus says, this chamber 
 served also for astronomical observations. In the 
 next story below v/as a chapel, with a gigantic statue 
 of Belus, sitting upon a throne with a table be- 
 fore it. The image, throne, and table, throughout, 
 were of pure gold. — Niebuhrand R. K. Porter sup- 
 pose that the remains of this temple are extant in 
 the ruin Birs JVimrood ; and to this Rosenmueller 
 also gives his assent. Bib. Geog. I, ii. p. 24. See 
 under Babylo:*. R. 
 
 It is highly probable, that the remains of towers, 
 shown in Babylonia, are only ruins of old Babylon, 
 built by Nebuchadnezzar. See further in the next 
 article. 
 
 " Babel," says Ibn Haukal, " is a small village, 
 but the most ancient spot in all Ii-ak. The whole 
 region is denominated Babel, from this place. The 
 kings of Canaan resided there, and ruins of great 
 edifices still remain. I am of opinion, that, in for- 
 mer times, it was a very considerable place. They 
 say that Babel was founded by Zokah Piurasp ; and 
 there was Abraham, to whom be peace ! thrown into 
 the fire. There are two heaps, one of which is in 
 a place called Koudi Fereik, the other Koudi Der- 
 bar : in this the ashes still remain ; and they say 
 that it was the fire of Ninirod into which Abraham 
 was cast ; may peace ha on him !" Now, as it is 
 evidently impossible that a monarch of the Peishda- 
 dian, or first dynasty of the Persian kings, supposed 
 to have reigned ante A. D. 780, sliould have seen Abra- 
 ham, may not this tradition have some reference to 
 the story of Shadrach, and his companions, cast into 
 the fiery furnace, as recorded in Daniel ? The cir- 
 ciunstances of the miraculous delivery are the same, 
 and the memory of this, so nmcli later miracle, is 
 more likely to have been preserved than the other. 
 At all events, these traditions of deliverance trom 
 the power of fire, show that the memory of a his- 
 tory, of which that was the subject, was strongly and 
 generally impressed on the minds of the inhab' ants 
 iu neighboring countries ; though they mighi not 
 accurately report ail the particulars of it. 
 
 I. BABYLON, (derived from Babel, which see,) 
 the capital of Babylonia, or Chaldea, was probably 
 built by Nimroil ; but it was long before it obtained 
 its subsequent size and splendor. It was enlarged 
 by Belus ; and Semiramis added so many and so 
 very considerable works, that she might be called, 
 not improperly, the foundress of it ; as Constantine 
 is called the founder of Constantinople, although 
 that city had long been the city Byzantium. It was, 
 long afterwards, embellished l)y Nebuchadnezzar ; 
 and hither a considerable portion of the Jewish 
 captives were led by their haughty and politic con- 
 queror. In consequence of this transportation to 
 
 the chief city of the empire, the name Babylon ijc- 
 came symbolical among the Jews for a state of suf- 
 fering and calamity ; and is, accordingly, used in this . 
 figurative sense in the Revelations ; not for the city 
 of Babylon in Chaldea, but for another place and 
 state which might justly be compared to the ancient 
 Babylon. [But see under Apocalypse.] The Jews 
 carry this notion still further, and give the name of 
 Babylon to any place, whether in Babylonia Proper, 
 or out of it, where any division of their nation had 
 been held in a state of captivity. 
 
 BehiH the Assyrian is said to have reigned at Baby- 
 lon A. M. 2()82, 'ante A. D. 1322, in the time of Sham- 
 gar, judge of Israel ; and to have been succeeded 
 by Ninus, Semiramis, Ninyas, and others: but none 
 of these princes arc noticed in Scripture, at least 
 not under the title of kings of Babylon. Ninus, ac- 
 cording to Herodotus (lib. i. cap. 95.) founded the 
 Assyrian empire, which subsisted in Upper Asia 520 
 years. During this interval, the city and province 
 of Bal)ylon was under a governor appointed by the 
 king of Assyria, till the reign of Sardanapalus, (A. 
 M. 3257,) when Arbaces, governor of the Medes, 
 and Belesis, or Nabonassar, governor of Babylon, 
 are said to have revolted against him. Sardanapa- 
 lus burnt himself in his palace ; and the insurgents 
 divided the monarchy ; Arbaces reigning in Media, 
 and Belesis at Babylon. (See Assyria.) Nebu- 
 chadnezzar the Great, who destroyed Jerusalem, 
 was the most magnificent king of Babylon known. 
 Evilmerodach succeeded him, and Belshazzar suc- 
 ceeded Evilmerodach. (Beros. apud Joseph, lib. 1. 
 contra Apion. p. 1045.) Darius the Mede succeeded 
 Belshazzar, and Cyrus succeeded Darius, otherwise 
 called Astyages. The death of Belshazzar is fixed 
 to A. M. 3448, and the first year of Cyrus's reign at 
 Babylon, to A. M. 3457. The successors of Cyrus 
 are well known : the followng is their order : Cam- 
 byses, the Seven 3Iagi, Darius son of Hystaspes, 
 Xerxes, Artaxerxes Longimanus, Xerxes II. Secun- 
 dianus or Sogdianus, Ochus, or Darius Nothus, Ar- 
 taxerxes Mnemon, Ochus, Arses, Darius Codoman- 
 nus, who was overcome by Alexander the Great A. 
 M. 3673, ante A. D. 331. For a fuller sketch of 
 the history, Sec. of Babylon, see the next article, 
 Babylonia. 
 
 Scripture often speaks of Babylon, particularly 
 after the reign of Hezckiah, who, on his recovery, 
 Avas visited by ambassadors from Merodach-Bala- 
 dan, king of Babylon, 2 Kings xx. 12. Isaiah, who 
 lived at the time, especially foretells the calamities 
 which the Babylonians should bring upon Palestine ; 
 the captivity of the Hebrews at Babylon, and their 
 return ; the fall of the gi'eat city, and its capture by 
 the Medes and I'ersians. The prophets who lived 
 after Isaiah, in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 who sav." the desolation of Jerusalem, and the sur- 
 rounding country, enlarge still further on the gran- 
 deur of Babylon, its cruelty, and the desolation 
 with which God would overwhelm it. 
 
 Babylon is described as the greatest and most 
 powerful city in the world — Babylon the Great. Of 
 what other city are terms used equally haughty, 
 equally magnificent ? — the Golden City ! (Is<niah xiv. 
 4.) — the Glorxj of Kingdoms ! — the Beauty of the Chal- 
 dees' excellency ! (xiii. 19.) — the Tender and Delicate! 
 the Lady of Kingdovis! a Lady! a Qiieen for ever ! 
 who says, / am ; and none else beside me ! (xlvii.) 
 These and other terms, altogether peculiar, express 
 her beauty ; and as for her power, she is called, — 
 the Hammer of the tvhole Earth! (Jer. 1. 23.) — the
 
 BABYLON 
 
 r i27 1 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 Baltic Ate! the weapons of war ! proper to break in 
 pieces nations, and to destroy kingdoms, li. 20. 
 Kingdoms and nations she did destroy ; but, after a 
 wliiio, her turn came ; and we now contemplate in 
 her ruins a speaking instance of the vioissitude of 
 human affairs ; a most impressive evidence of the 
 fulfilment of prophecies wherein were foretold the 
 devastations which those ruins now witness. 
 
 Herodotus, who visited Babylon, and is the most 
 ancient author who has written upon it, has left the 
 following description of this celebrated city. It was 
 square ; 120 furlongs every way, i. e. fifteen miles, 
 or five leagues square ; and the whole circuit of it 
 was 480 flu-longs, or twenty leagues. The walls 
 were built with large bricks, cemented with bitu- 
 men ; and were 87 feet thick, and 350 feet high. The 
 city was encompassed with a vast ditch, which was 
 filled with water ; and brick work was carried up on 
 both sides. The earth which was dug out was 
 employed in making the bricks for the walls of the 
 city ; so that one may judge of the depth and width 
 of the ditch by the extreme height and thickness of 
 the walls. There were a hundred gates to the city, 
 twenty-five ou each of the four sides ; these gates, 
 with their posts, &c. were of brass. Between every 
 two of them were three towers, raised ten feet above 
 the walls where necessar}^ A street answered to 
 each gate, so that there were fifty streets in all, cut- 
 ting one another in right angles ; each fifteen miles 
 in length, and 151 feet wide. Four other streets, 
 having houses only on one side, the ramparts being 
 on the other, made the whole compass of the city : 
 each of these streets was 200 feet wide. As the 
 streets of Babylon crossed one another at right an- 
 gles, they formed 676 squares, each square four fur- 
 longs and a half on every side, making two miles 
 and a quarter in circuit. The houses of these 
 squares were three or four stones high, their front's 
 were adorned with embellishments, and the inner 
 space was courts and gardens. The Euphrates 
 divided the city into two parts, running from north 
 to south. A bridge of admirable structure, about a 
 furlong in length, and 60 feet wide, formed the com- 
 munication over the river ; at the two extremities of 
 this bridge were two palaces, the old palace on the 
 east side of the river, the new palace on the west ; 
 and the temple of Belus, which stood near the old 
 palace, occupied one entire square. The city was 
 situated in a vast plain ; and to people it Nebuchad- 
 nezzar carried thither an abiiost infinite number of 
 his captives of all nations. The famous hanging 
 gardens which adorned the palace in Babylon, and 
 which are ranked among the wonders of the world, 
 contained four liundred feet square ; and were com- 
 
 Kosed of several large terraces, the platform of the 
 ighest terrace equalling the walls of Babylon in 
 height, i. e. 350 feet. From one terrace to that 
 above it, was an ascent by stairs ten feet wide. This 
 whole mass was supported by large vaults, built one 
 upon another, and strengthened by a wall twonty- 
 tAvo feet thick, covered with stones, rushes, and bitu- 
 men, and plates of lead to j)rcvent leakage. On tli<; 
 highest terrace was an aqueduct, said to be supplied 
 with water from the river, by a punq>, (probably the 
 Persian luheel,) from whence the whole garden \\as 
 watered. It is affirmed, that Nebuchadnezzar un- 
 dertook this wonderful and famous edifice out of 
 complaisance to his wite Amjtis, daughter of Asty- 
 ages ; who, being a native of Media, retained strong 
 inclinations for mountains and forests, which abound- 
 ed in her native countn-. (Dlod. Sicul. ii. Strabo, 
 
 xvi. 2. Quint. Curt. v. 1.) Scripture no where no- 
 tices these celebrated gardens ; but it speaks of wil- 
 lows planted on the banks of the rivers of Babylon : 
 " We hanged our harps on the willows in the midst 
 thereof," says Ps. cxxxvii. 2. Isaiah, describing, in 
 a prophetic style, the captivity of the Moabites by 
 Nebuchadnezzar, says, " They shall be carried away 
 to the valley of willows," xv. 7. The same prophet, 
 (ch. xxi. 1.) describing the calamities of Babylon by 
 Cyrus, calls this city the desert of the sea ; where 
 the word sea is applied to the river Euphrates, 
 (comp. xxvii. 1.) as also to the Nile, Is. xix. 5 ; Nah. 
 iii. 8. [See also the additions under Babylonia.] 
 Jeremiah, to the same piu-port, says, (li. 36, 42.) " I 
 will dry up the sea of Babylon, and make her springs 
 dry. The sea is come up upon her: she is cov- 
 ered with the multitude of the waves thereof." 
 Megasthenes (ap. Euseb. Prsep. ix. 41.) assures us, 
 that Babylon was built in a place which had before 
 abounded so greatly with water, that it was called 
 the sea. But the language of the Psalmist, above 
 quoted, suggests the idea that the chy of Babylon 
 was refreshed by a considerable number of streams; 
 " By the rivers [streams, flowing currents] of Baby- 
 lon we sat down." — " On the willows (plural) in the 
 midst thereof we hanged our harps" (plural). There 
 must then have been gardens visited by these 
 streams, easily accessible to the captive Israelites; 
 not the royal gardens, exclusively, but others less 
 reserved. We know, also, that there was but one 
 river at Babylon then, as there is but one now, the 
 Euphrates ; so that when these captives represent 
 themselves as "sitting by the rivers of Babylon," in 
 the plural, they inform us, that this river was divided 
 into several branches, or canals ; and these were, 
 doubtless, works of art. See under Babylonia. 
 
 From the history in Daniel, (chap, iii.) of the con- 
 secration of Nebuchadnezzar's " Golden Image," we 
 know that Babylon [i. e. the province] contained a 
 vast plain, capacious enough to accommodate the 
 assembled ofticers of his empire, with all the pomp 
 and preparations in the power of this mighty mon- 
 arch, and, beyond all doubt, also a very great propor- 
 tion of the prodigious population of Babylon. This 
 is called the plain of Diira, snn ; and, deducing its 
 name from the meaning of the root, it imports the 
 round, or circular, enclosure. As the occasion was 
 the consecration of a statue, it is natural to suppose 
 that the ceremony would take place as near as might 
 be, and, if possible, immediately before, the temple, 
 or sacred station, in which this idol deity was to re- 
 main : it would not be dedicated in a distant place, 
 and afterwards conveyed to its appointed residence ; 
 but the homages of its Avorshippers would be more 
 appropriate on its arrival at home, and its inhabita- 
 tion of its destined residence. This enables us to 
 afiix a character to a large circular enclosure, of 
 which the remains are still visible at Babylon, and 
 which surrouixls the principal mounds, which may 
 be those of the temple of Belus, and the royal palace. 
 In fact, admitting this very natural supposition, 
 [wliicIi,however, is entirely fanciful, R.] it contributes 
 at the same time an argument, not without its use, 
 in attempting to identify and distinguish these exten- 
 sive structures. We do not find that this plain is 
 described by ancient authors, unless it be included 
 in what they report of the accommodations and 
 enceinte of the palace. Diodorus says that the tem- 
 ple occupied the centre of the city ; Herodotus says, 
 the centre of that division of the city in which it 
 stood ; as the palace in the centre of its division.
 
 BABYLON 
 
 [128] 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 But the descriptiou of Diodoriis is pointed with re- 
 spect to the fact of the palace beiug near to the 
 bridge, and, consequently, to the river's bank : and he 
 is borne out by the descriptions of Strabo and Cur- 
 tius, both of whom represent the hanging gardens to 
 be very near the river ; and all agree that they were 
 within, or adjacent to, the square of the fortified palace. 
 
 Great boastings have been made of the antiquity 
 of the astronomical observations taken by the Baby- 
 lonians. Josephus tells us, (c. Apion. i. p. 1044.) 
 that Berosus, the Babylonian historian and astrono- 
 mer, agreed with Moses concerning the corruption 
 of mankind, and the deluge ; and Aristotle, who was 
 curious in examining the truth of what was reported 
 relating to these observations, desired Calisthenes to 
 send him the most certain accounts that he could 
 find of this particular, among the Babylonians. Ca- 
 listhenes sent him observations of the heavens, which 
 had been made during 1903 years, computing from 
 the origin of the Babylonish monarchy to the time 
 of Alexander. This carries up the account as high 
 as the one hundred and fifteenth year after the flood, 
 which was within fifteen years after the tower of 
 Babel was built. For the confusion of tongues, 
 which followed immediately afl;er the building of 
 that tower, happened in the year in Avhich Peleg was 
 born, 101 years after the flood, and fourteen years 
 before that in which these observations begin. 
 
 In ancient authors much confusion is occasioned 
 by a too general application of the name Babel : it 
 has denoted the original tower, the original city, 
 the subsequent tower, the palace, the later city, 
 and we shall find it expressing the province of 
 Babylonia : in fact, it stands connected in that sense 
 with the plain of Dura, which is said to be in the 
 province of Babylon, and which might be placed at 
 a distance from the city, were it not for considera- 
 tions already recited. Ancient authors have raised 
 the wonder of their readers, by allowing to the walls 
 of Babylon dimensions and extent which confound 
 the imagination, and rather belong to a province than 
 to a city. But that they really were of extraordi- 
 nary dimensions, should appear from references 
 made to them by the prophet, who threatens them 
 with destruction. Jeremiah (i. 15.) says, "Her foun- 
 dations are fallen : her walls are thrown down ;" and 
 again, (li. 44.) " The very wall of Babylon shall fall :" 
 and (verse 58.) "the broad wall of Babylon shall be 
 utterly broken :" — observe, the broad wall ; and in 
 verse 53. we read, "Though Babylon shall mount 
 up to heaven, [that is, her defences,] and though she 
 should fortify the height of her strength," [that is, 
 her wall.] Thus we find allusions to the height, 
 the breadth, and the strength, of the walls of Baby- 
 lon : but, before we proceed to examine these pas- 
 sages more fully, we shall avail ourselves, in part at 
 least, of what descriptions are afforded by heathen 
 writers. 
 
 Public belief has been staggered by the enormous 
 dimensions allowed to Babylon by the difl^erent au- 
 thors of ancient times — Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, 
 Pliny, and Quintus Curtius ; because, even if the 
 most confined of those measures reported by the fol- 
 lowers of Alexander (who viewed it at their fullest 
 leisure) be adopted, and the stadia taken at a moder- 
 ate standard, thc^y will give an area of 72 square 
 miles. We therefore conceive, that, with respect to 
 the extent of the buildings and population of Baby- 
 lon, we ought not to receive the above measure as a 
 scale ; from the gi-eat improbability of so vast a con- 
 tigtious space having ever been built on : but that the 
 
 wall might have been continued to the extent given, 
 does not appear so improbable, for we cannot sup- 
 pose that so many ancient writers could have been 
 misled concerning this point. But, although we may 
 extend our belief to the vastness of the enceinte, it 
 does not follow that we are to believe that 80, or 
 even 72 square miles, contiguous to each other, were 
 covered with buildings. The different reports of 
 the extent of the walls of Babylon are given as fol- 
 low : — By Herodotus, at 120 stadia each side ; or 
 480 stadia in circumference. By Pliny and SoUnus, 
 at 60 Roman miles ; which, at 8 stadia to a mile, 
 agrees with Herodotus. By Strabo, at 385 stadia. 
 By Diodorus, from Ctesias, 360 : but from Clitarchus, 
 who accompanied Alexander, 365. And, lastly, by 
 Curtius, at 368. It appears highly probable that 360, 
 or 365, wjis the true statement of the circumference. 
 That the area enclosed by the walls of Babylon was 
 only partly built on, is proved by the words of Quin- 
 tus Curtius,who says (lib. v. cap. 4.) that ' the buildings 
 (in Babylon) are not contiguous to the walls, but some 
 considerable space was left all rourid .... Nor do 
 the houses join ; perhaps from motives of safety. 
 The remainder of the space is cultivated ; that, in 
 the event of a siege, the inhabitants might not be 
 compelled to depend on supplies from without.' 
 Thus far Curtius. Diodorus describes a vast space 
 taken up by the palaces and public buildings. The 
 enclosure of one of the palaces (which appears to be 
 what is called by others the citadel) was a square of 
 15 stadia, or near a mile and a half; the other of 
 five stadia: here are more than two and a half 
 square miles occupied by the palaces alone. Be- 
 sides these, there were the temple and tower of Belus, 
 of vast extent ; the hanging gardens, &c. But, after 
 all, it is certain, and we are ready to allow, that the 
 extent of the buildings of Babylon was gi-eat, and far 
 beyond the ordinary size of capital cities then known 
 in the Avorld ; which may indeed be concluded from 
 the manner in which the ancients in general speak 
 of it. The population of this city, during its most 
 flourishing state, exceeded twelve hundred thousand ; 
 or perhaps a million and a quarter. 
 
 The hanging gardens, (as they are called,) which 
 had an area of about three and a half acres, had 
 trees of a considerable size growing in them : and it 
 is not improbable that they were of a species differ- 
 ent from those of the natural growth of the alluvial 
 soil of Babylonia. Curtius says, that some of them 
 were eight cubits in the girth ; and Strabo, that 
 there was a contrivance to prevent the large roots 
 from destroying the superstructure, by building vast 
 hollow piers, which were filled with earth to receive 
 them. These trees may have been per])etuated in 
 the same spot where they grew, notwithstanding 
 that the terraces may have subsided, by the crum- 
 bhng of the piers and walls that supported them. 
 
 Now, it appears that we ought to make a distinc- 
 tion here. That the province of Babylonia should 
 be surrounded by a wall of immense thickness, for 
 the purpose of a fortification, is little less than ridicu- 
 lous ; but that an enclosure or wall might embrace 
 a large extent of country, is credible. Ibn Haukal 
 speaks of villages "extending for nearly twenty far- 
 sang by twelve farsang ; all about this space is a 
 wall, and within it the people dwell winter and sum- 
 mer." — This may be allowed to justify the extent 
 assigned to the walls of Babylonia, as a province ; 
 while those more proximate to the city of Babylon 
 were certainly constructed with wonderful labor, 
 skill, and solidity, according to the duty demanded
 
 BABYLON 
 
 [ 129 ] 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 of them in protecting a narrower space. This seems 
 rather to militate against the sentiment of Dr. Blay- 
 ney, who would keep to the singular, wall, where 
 the term occurs; as Jer. h. 58: "The walls [plural] 
 of Babylon ; the broad [wall, singular] shall be 
 utterly broken." It would be hazardous to insist 
 that the prophet intended a distinction from nar- 
 rower walls by using the tenii hroad ; but those who 
 observe that in chap. 1. 15. we have also walls, in the 
 plural — " her walls are thrown down," as the doctor 
 himself renders, will hesitate on reducing this term 
 in this place to the singular. 
 
 We are now j^repared to examine somewhat 
 more closely the predictions quoted from the 
 prophet. With regard to the first, (Jer. 1. 15.) "Her 
 foundations are fallen," Dr. Blayney observes, very 
 justly, that foundations cannot fall : they are already 
 deep in the ground ; they may be razed, or uprooted, 
 but they can go no lower. He therefore renders, 
 with the LXX, i.Tu>.ifig, her battlements, or the turrets 
 filled with men who fought in defence of the walls. 
 They might be somewhat analogous to the bastions 
 of modern fortification; but, most likely, they were 
 raised higher than the wall itself Another passage 
 deserves remark, as being manifestly intended by the 
 WTiter to display uncommon emphasis, (H. 58.) "The 
 broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly broken." 
 These last words are but a feeble resemblance of 
 the original, which is very difficult to be rendered 
 into English, ijnj'nn ^v^i', in utterly razing it most 
 utterly raze if,— -doubly destroy it with double de- 
 struction. And this is denounced on the broad wall 
 of Babylon. If, therefore, traces should be found of 
 any narrow wall of this ill-fated city, they may be 
 allowed to possess their interest : but hitherto no in- 
 dications of the broad wall have been so much as 
 suspected by the most inquisitive, and probably no 
 such discovery ever will be achieved. 
 
 We have now touched on the particulars connected 
 with Babylon, except one that has puzzled all com- 
 mentators, Jer. li. 41. " How is Sheshach taken ! and 
 how is the praise of the whole earth surprised ! how 
 is Babylon become an astonishment among the na- 
 tions !" On which Dr. Blayney says, " That Babylon 
 is meant by Sheshach is certain ; but why it is so 
 called, is yet matter of doubt." We have this term, 
 also, chap. xxv. 26. "And the king of Sheshach 
 shall drink — after the other kings of the earth." 
 [That it is a name for Babylon, there can be no 
 doubt, from the first passage above ; but the deriva- 
 tion is extremelj' obscure. The Jewish commenta- 
 tors, and Jerome, suppose it to be the name Saj, 
 Babel, written in the cabalistic manner called 
 ^itbash, i. e. in which n is put for n, c for 2, etc. 
 But even supposing, though not admitting, that this 
 secret mode of writing is really so ancient, there 
 eeems to be no good reason why, in the very same 
 verse, (li. 41.) Babel should be mentioned once by 
 its true name, and then again by a concealed one. 
 Others suppose it to be for Shikshak, xaz-xunt/o.-, i.e. 
 the city of iron plated gates. But the most apt and 
 probable derivation is that of Von Bohlen, (Symbol. 
 ad Interp. S. Cod. ex Ling. Pers. p. 22.) viz. tliat it is 
 the same as the Persian Shih-Shdh, or Shah-Shdh, 
 i. e. house or court of the prince, an appellation which 
 could be more suitable to no city than to Babylon. R. 
 
 [Thus far the mingled contributions of Calmet and 
 Taylor, in regard to the ancient Babylon. Before 
 proceeding to give an account of the mighty ruins, 
 which at the present day alone mark its former site, 
 it mav not be improper to subjoin a few particulars 
 17 
 
 relating more especially to the decline and fall of 
 tliis proud city ; leaving the more detailed account 
 of the geographical character of the surrounding 
 country, and of the history of the state, to be added 
 under the article Babylonia. 
 
 The original foundation of the city is referred, in 
 the Bible, to the attempt of the descendants of Noah 
 to build "a city and a tOAver ;" on account of which 
 their language was confounded and they were scat- 
 tered, by the interposition of God himself. Gen. 
 xi. 1, seq. Hence the name Babel, i. e. confusion. 
 With this coincide the traditions related by other 
 ancient ^Titers, and professedly extracted from As- 
 syrian historians. (See the extract froir. Abydenus, 
 under the article Babel, and compare the Armeniaii 
 Hist, of Moses Choren. i. c. 8. — Josephus, Ant. i. 4, 
 3. quotes a similar tradition from the Sibylline ora- 
 cles, which is found in the edition of Gallaeus, lib. 
 iii. p. 336, seq. with which compare also Gallsei 
 Dissertat. de Sibyllis, p. 459.) Another Assyrian 
 account, handed down by Ctesias, (Diod. Sic. ii. 7.) 
 makes Semiramis, the queen of Ninus, to be the 
 founder of Babylon ; and a later Chaldean ac- 
 count, given by Megasthenes and Berosus, describes 
 Nebuchadnezzar as its builder. (In Euseb. Presp. 
 Evang. ix. 41. Joseph, c. Apion. i. 19.) These ac- 
 counts may all be reconciled, by supposing that 
 Semiramis rebuilt or greatly extended the ancient 
 city ; and that Nebuchadnezzar afterwards enlarged 
 it still farther, and rendered it more strong and 
 splendid. The description of the city itself by He- 
 rodotus, who personally visited it, has already been 
 given above. 
 
 Under Nebuchadnezzar, at any rate, Babylon reach- 
 ed the summit of her greatness and splendor. She 
 was now the capital of the civilized world, and into 
 her lap flowed, either through conquest or commerce, 
 the wealth of almost all knoAvn lands. Justly, there- 
 fore, might the prophets call her the great, (Dan. iv. 
 30.) the praise of the whole earth, (Jer. li. 41.) the 
 beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, (Is. xiii. 19.) the lady 
 of kingdoms, (Is. xlvii. 5.) but also the tender and del- 
 icate, and given to pleasures. Is. xlvii. 1. 8. Indeed, 
 these last epithets are gentle, in comparison with the 
 real state of the case ; for, in consequence of the 
 opulence and luxury of the inhabitants, the corrupt- 
 ness and licentiousness of manners and morals were 
 carried to a frightful extreme. Herodotus assures 
 us, (i. 199.) that the daughters even of the nobles 
 prostituted themselves in the temple of Mylitta, i. e. 
 the planet Venus, or Ashtaroth. Quintus Curtius 
 gives us the following picture of the horrid profli- 
 gacy and beastly indecency of the inhabitants, which 
 is quite too bad to be translated : (fib. v. 1.) "Nihil ur- 
 bis ejus corruptius moribus, nee ad irritandas illicien- 
 dasque immodicas voluptates instructius. Liberos 
 conjugesque cum hospitibus stupro coire, modo pre- 
 tium flagitii detur, parentes maritique patiuntur. — 
 Feminarum convivia ineuntium in principio modes- 
 tus est habitus ; dein summa quaeque amicula exu- 
 unt, paulatimque pudorem profanant ; ad ultimum 
 (lionos auribus sit) ima corporum velamenta proji- 
 ciunt : nee meretricium hoc dedecus est, sed matro- 
 narum virginumque, apud quas comitas habetur 
 vulgati corporis vihtas." Well, therefore, might the 
 prophets proclaim woes against her ! Well might 
 we expect Jehovah to bring down vengeance on her 
 crimes ! Indeed, the woes denounced against Bab- 
 ylon by the prophets, constitute some of the most 
 o.wfully splendid and subhme portions of the whole 
 Bihle, Is. xiii; xlvii; Jer. 1: h. et al. saep. Hence,
 
 BABYLON 
 
 [ 130] 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 too, as the great capital, in which all the corruptions 
 of idolatry were concentrated, Babylon, in the Rev- 
 elation of St. John, is put symbolically for Rome, at 
 that time the chief seat and capital of heathenism. 
 
 The city of Babylon, however, did not long thus 
 remain the capital of the world ; for already, imder 
 the reign of Nebuchadnezzar's /Grandson, Nabonnid, 
 the Belshazzar of the Scriptures, it was l)esieged and 
 taken by Cyrus. The accounts of Greek historians 
 harmonize here with that of the Bible, that Cyrus 
 made his successful assault on a night when the 
 whole city, relying on the strength of the walls, had 
 given themselves up to the riot and debauchery of a 
 grand public festival, and tlie king and his nobles 
 vycre revelling at a splendid entcrtainnioiit. Cyrus 
 had previously caused the Pallacopas, a canal which 
 ran west of the city, and carried oft' the sui)ei-fluous 
 water of the Euphrates into the lake of Nitocris, 
 (see under Babylonia,) to be cleared out, in order 
 to turn the river into it ; which, by this means, was 
 rendered so shallo^^•, that his soldiers were able to 
 penetrate along its bed into the city. From this 
 time its importance declined ; for Cyrus made Susa 
 the capital of his kingdom ; and Babylon thus ceased 
 to be the chief city of an independent state. He is 
 said also to have torn doAvn the external walls ; be- 
 cause the city was too strongly fortified, and might 
 easily rebel against him. It did thus revolt against 
 Darius Hystaspes ; who again subdued it, broke 
 down all its gates, and reduced its walls to the height 
 of fifty cubits. (Herod, iii. 159.) According to 
 Strabo, (xvi. 1, 5.) Xerxes destroyed the tower of 
 Belus. The same writer mentions, that under the 
 Persians, and under Alexander's successors, Baby- 
 lon continued to decline ; especially after Seleucus 
 Nicator had founded Seleucia, and made it his resi- 
 dence. A great portion of the inhabitants of Baby- 
 lon removed thither ; and in Strabo's time, i. e. under 
 Augustus, Babyldn had become so desolate, that it 
 might be called a vast desert. Diodorus Siculus, in 
 the same centurj', says, (ii. 27.) that only a small por- 
 tion of Babylon was inhabited ; and, in the time of 
 Pausanias, in the first half of the second century, 
 only the walls remained. (Arcad. c. 33.) After this, 
 the sole mention of Babylon, (and only as a village 
 on that site,) until the time of Delia Valfe, (see below,) 
 is in the last half of the fourth century, and at the 
 beginning of the fourteenth. *R. 
 
 We shall now direct our attention to the remains of 
 those once magnificent structures which distinguished 
 Babylon as the wonder of the world : of their elegance 
 we cannot judge, as that has cetfsed to exist ; of their 
 magnitude we can form some esthnate, though not 
 of their connection, or mutual dependence ; we shall, 
 nevertheless, find, on examination, sufficient partic- 
 ulars attached to these monuments of persevering 
 labor, to justify the predictions of the prophets, and to 
 clear them from the charge of inconsistency, or pre- 
 varication ; which is our ])rincipal object. 
 
 [For the easier understanding of the subjoined 
 quotations, it should be borne in mind, that all the 
 principal ruins yet discovered, are on the east bank 
 of the Euphrates. They lie within a triangular area, 
 of which the river is the ba.se, and the two sides are 
 formed by the ruins of the ancient wall, which com- 
 mence at the river above and below, and meet in a 
 right angle at the most eastern point. The latest 
 traveller who has visited these stupendous ruins is 
 Sir R. K. Porter, who has examined them wth more 
 anention than any former traveller. R. 
 
 The first traveller who communicated an intel- 
 
 ligible account of these antiquities was Delia Valle, 
 who, in 1616, examined them more minutely and 
 leisurely than some who went before him. His ac- 
 count of the more northerly of these ruins, which 
 he calls the tower of Belus, is instructive, notwith- 
 standing later information: "In the n)idst of a vast 
 and level plain, about a quai'ter of a league from the 
 Euphrates, appears a heap of ruined buildings, like 
 a huge mountain, the materials of which are so con- 
 foimded together, that one knows not what to make 
 of it. Its figiu'c is square, and it rises in form of a 
 tower or jjyramid, with four fronts, which answer 
 to the four quarters of the compass, but it seems 
 longer from north to south than from east to west, 
 and is, as far as I could judge, by my pacing of it, a 
 large quarter of a league. Its situation and form 
 correspond with that pyramid which Strabo calls the 
 tower of Belus. The height of this mountain of 
 ruins is not in every part equal, but exceeds the 
 highest palace in Naples; it is a mis-shapen mass, 
 wherein there is no appearance of regularity ; in 
 some places it rises in sharp points, craggy and 
 inaccessible ; in others it is smoother and of easier 
 ascent ; there are also traces of torrents from the 
 summit to the base, caused by violent rains. It is 
 built with large and thick bricks, as I carefully ob- 
 served, having caused excavations to be made in 
 several places for that purpose ; but they do not ap- 
 pear to have been burned, but dried in the sun, 
 which is extremely hot in those parts. These sun- 
 baked bricks, in whose substance were mixed bruised 
 reeds and straw, and which were laid in clay mor- 
 tar, compose the great mass of the building, but 
 other bricks were also perceived at certain intervals, 
 especially where the strongest buttresses stood, of 
 the same size, but baked in the kiln, and set in good 
 lime and bitumen." (Vol. ii. Let. 17.) He paced the 
 circumference, and found it to be 1134 of his ordi- 
 nary steps ; say about 2552, or 2600, feet : conse- 
 quently the dimensions of each side should have 
 been about 640 or 650 feet. He observed founda- 
 tions of buildings around the great mass, at the dis- 
 tance of fifty or sixty paces. This ruin has subse- 
 quently been known under the appellation of " Delia 
 Valle's Ruin ;" it is the same as the natives call 
 Makloube, Mujelibe, that is, overturned; or "the 
 pyramid of Haroot and Maroot." 
 
 M. Beauchamp, Vicar General of Babylon, and 
 CoiTesponding Member of the French Academy of 
 Sciences, visited these celebrated ruins several times 
 within the (then) last twenty years [1799.] He says, 
 "The ruins of Babylon are very visible a league 
 north of Hellah. There is, in particular, an eleva- 
 tion which is flat on the top ; of an irregular figure ; 
 and intersected by ravines. It would never have 
 been suspected for the work of human hands, were 
 it not proved by the layers of bricks foimd in it. Its 
 height is not more than 60 yards. It is so little ele- 
 vated, that the least ruin we pass in the road to it 
 conceals it from the view. To come at the bricks 
 it is necessary to dig into the earth. They are 
 baked with fire, and cemented with zepth, or bitu- 
 men : between each layer are found osiers. Above 
 this mount, on the side of the river, are those im- 
 mense ruins which liave served, and still serve, for 
 the building of Hellah, an Arabian city, containing 
 10 or 12,000 souls. Here are found those large and 
 thick bricks, imprinted with unknown characters, 
 specimens of which I have ])resented to the Abb6 
 Barthelemy. This place, and the mount of Babel, 
 are commonly ctilled by the Arabs ]Makloul)e, that
 
 BABYLON 
 
 [ 131] 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 is, turned topsy-turvy. I was informed by the mas- 
 ter mason employed to dig for bricks, that the places 
 from which he procured them were large, thick 
 walls, and sometimes chambers. He has frequently 
 found earthen vessels, engraved marbles, and, about 
 eight years ago, a statue as large as life, which he 
 threw among the rubbish. On one wall of a cham- 
 ber he found the figures of a cow, and of the sun 
 and moon, formed of varnished bricks. Sometimes, 
 idols of clay are found, representing human figures. 
 I found one brick on which was a lion, and on 
 others a half-moon in relief. The bricks are ce- 
 mented with bitumen, except in one place, which is 
 well preserved, where they are united by eC very thin 
 stratum of white cement, which appears to me to be 
 made of linje and sand. The bricks are everywhere 
 of the same dimensions, one foot three lines square 
 by three inches thick. Occasionallj^, layers of osiers 
 in bitumen are found, as at Babel. The master ma- 
 son led me along a valley, which he dug out a long 
 while ago, to get at the bricks of a wall, that, from 
 the marks he showed me, I guess to have been sixty 
 feet thick. It ran perpendicular to the bed of the 
 river, and was probably the wall of the city. I found 
 in it a subterranean canal, which, instead of being 
 arched over, is covered with pieces of sand-stone, 
 six or seven feet long, by three wide. These ruins 
 extend several leagues to the north of Hellah, and 
 incontestably mark the situation of ancient Babylon." 
 The increasing cariosity of travellers, with the 
 arrival iu Europe of several inscribed bricks, and 
 other instances of the kind of letters used in these 
 inscriptions, induced the visits of others : the follow- 
 ing are extracts from Kinneir's Memoir on Persia. 
 " In the latitude of .32 deg. 25 min. north, and, ac- 
 cording to my reckoning, fifty-four miles from Bag- 
 dad, stands the modern town of Hilleh, on the banks 
 of the Euphrates. It covers a very small portion of 
 the space occupied by the ancient capital of Assyria, 
 the ruins of which have excited the curiosity and 
 admiration of the few European travellers, whom 
 chance or business has conducted to this remote 
 quarter of the globe, and have been partially de- 
 scribed by Benjamin of Tudela, Beauchamp, and 
 Pietro Delia Valle. p. 2G9. The town of Hilleh is 
 said, by the people of the country, to be built on the 
 site of Babel ; and some gigantic ruins, still to be 
 seen in its vicinity, are beUeved to be tlie remains of 
 that ancient metropolis. I visited these ruins in 
 1808 ; and my friend, captain Frederick, whose 
 name I have had frequent occasion to mention in this 
 Memoir, spent six days in minutely examining every 
 thing worthy of attention, for many miles ro\md 
 Hilleh. I shall, therefore, without noticing the de- 
 scription given by former ti-avellers, state fii-st what 
 was seen by myself; and afterwards the' result of 
 captain Frederick's inquiries. The principal ruin, 
 and that which is thought to represent the temple of 
 Belus, is four miles north of Hilleh, and a quar- 
 ter of a mile from the east bank of the Euphrates. 
 This stupendous monument of antiquity is a huge 
 
 fyramid, nine hundred paces in circumference. 
 Captain Frederick measured the east and south 
 faces at the top, and found the former to be one 
 hundred and eighty, and the latter one hundred and 
 ninety, paces, at two feet and a half each pace,] and, 
 as nearly as I could guess, about two hundred and 
 twenty feet in height at the most elevated part. It 
 is an exact quadrangle. Three of its faces are still 
 perfect ; but that towards the south has lost more of 
 its regularity than the others. This pyramid is built 
 
 entirely of brick dried in the sun, cemented in some 
 places with bitumen and regular layers of reeds, and 
 in others with slime and reeds, which appeared to 
 me as fresh as if they had been used only a few 
 days before. [All that captain Frederick saw were 
 cemented with bitumen. On entering a small cav- 
 ern, however, about twenty feet in depth, I found 
 that the bricks in the interior of the mass were inva- 
 riably cemented with slime and layers of reeds at 
 each course.] Quantities of furnace-baked brick 
 were, however, scattered at the foot of the pyramid : 
 and it is more than probable that it was once faced 
 with the latter, which have been removed by the 
 natives for the construction of their houses. Tlie 
 outer edges of the bricks, from being exposed to the 
 weather, have mouldered away : it is, therefore, 
 only on minute examination that the nature of the 
 materials of which it is composed can be ascertained. 
 When viewed from a distance, the ruin has more 
 the appearance of a small hill than a building. The 
 ascent Js in most places so gentle that a person may 
 ride all over it. Deep ravines have been sunk by 
 the periodical rains ; and there are numerous long, 
 narrow cavities, or jjassages, which are now the un- 
 molested retreat of jackals, hysenas, and other nox- 
 ious animals. The bricks of which this structure is 
 built are larger, and much inferior to any other I 
 have seen ; they have no inscriptions on them, and 
 are seldom used by the natives, on account of their 
 softness. The name given by the Arabs to this ruin 
 is Ilaroot and Maroot ; for they beheve that, near 
 the foot of the pyramid, there still exists (although 
 invisible to mankind) a well, in which those two 
 wicked angels were condemned by the Almighty to 
 be suspended by the heels until the end of the 
 world, as a punishment for their vanity and pre- 
 sumption. Delia Valle mentions several smaller 
 mounds, as being situated in the plain in the imme- 
 diate vicinity of the pyramid. Captam Frederick 
 and myself looked in vain for these mounds ; we 
 could only discern the high banks of a canal, run- 
 ning parallel to the S. W. face of the square, and a 
 mound, about half a mile distant, of which I shall 
 speak hereaftex-. 
 
 " On the opposite [the W.] side of the river, about 
 six miles S. W. of Hilleh, a second eminence, not 
 quite so large as that just mentioned, but of greater 
 elevation, would seem to have escaped the observa- 
 tion of modern travellers ; with the exception of 
 Niebuhr, by whom it is slightly mentioned. It ia 
 formed of furnace-baked and sun-dried brick, about 
 one foot in diameter, and from three to four inches 
 thick. This pyramid is styled Nimrood by the 
 Arabs ; and on its summit are the remains of a small 
 scpiare tower, the wall of which is eight feet thick, 
 and, as nearly as I could guess, about fifty in height. 
 It is built of furnace-baked bricks, of a yellowish 
 color, cemented with slime, but no reeds or bitumen 
 were ])erccptiblc. From tliis tower there is a most 
 extensive view of the windings of the Euphrates, 
 through the level plain of Shinar. Its banks are 
 lined with villages and orchards, and here and there 
 a few scattered hamlets in the desert appeared like 
 spots on the surface of the ocean. On the top and 
 sides of the mound I observed several fragments of 
 different colors, resembling, in appearance, pieces 
 of mis-shapen rock. Captain Frederick examined 
 these curious fragments with much attention, and 
 was at first inclined to think that they were consoli- 
 dated pieces of fallen masonry ; but this idea was 
 soon laid aside, as they were found so hard aa to
 
 BABYLON 
 
 [ 132] 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 resist iron, in the manner of any other very hard 
 stone, and the junction of the bricks was not to be dis- 
 cerned. It is difficult to form a conjecture concern- 
 ing these extraordinary fragments, (some of which 
 are six and eight feet in diameter,) as there is no 
 stone of such a quahty to be procured any where in 
 the neighboring country, and we could see or hear 
 of no builduig of which they could form a part. 
 Here those bricks which have inscriptions on them 
 are generally found by the Arabs, wlio are constantly 
 employed in digging for them, to build the houses 
 at Hilleh. About a hundred and twenty paces from 
 this pyramid is another, not so high, but of greater 
 circumference at the base. Bricks are dug in great 
 quantities from this place ; but none, I believe, wth 
 inscriptions. 
 
 " [To return to the E. side.] About one mile and 
 a half from Hilleh, on the eastern bank of the Eu- 
 phrates, captain Frederick discovered a longituduial 
 mound, close on the edge of the river ; and two 
 miles further up, in an easterly direction, a second, 
 more extensive than the first. He was given to un- 
 derstand that the Arabs were in the habit of procur- 
 ing vast quantities of burnt bricks from this mound, 
 none of which, however, had any inscription. He 
 perceived, on examination, a wall of red bricks, in 
 one part even with the surface of the ground, and 
 open to the depth of thirty feet in the mound, the 
 earth having been moved for the purpose of procur- 
 ing the bricks. At another place, not far distant, 
 were the remains of an extensive building. Some 
 of its walls were in great preservation, ten feet above 
 the surface of the rubbish ; and the foundation, at 
 another part, had not been reached at the depth of 
 forty-five feet. It was six feet eight inches thick, 
 built of a superior kind of yellowish brick, furnace- 
 baked, and cemented, not with bitumen or reeds, 
 but lime mixed with sand, A decayed tree, not far 
 from this spot, was shown by the country people, as 
 being coeval with the building itself. Its girth, two 
 feet from the ground, measured four feet seven 
 inches, and it might be about twenty feet in height : 
 it was hollow, and apparently very old. [Former 
 travellers have asserted that "they saw a number of 
 very old and uncommon looking trees along the 
 banks of the river : but neither captain Frederick 
 nor myself saw any but this one ; and it certainly 
 differed from the other trees wliich grow in the 
 neighborhood.] The great pyramid, first mentioned, 
 is only about half or three quarters of a mile from 
 this mound. Captain Frederick, having carefully 
 examined every mound or spot, described by the 
 natives as belonging to Babel, endeavored to dis- 
 cover if any thing remained of the ancient city wall. 
 He commenced by riding five miles down the bank 
 of the river, and then by following its windings six- 
 teen miles north of Hilleh, on the eastern side. The 
 western bank was explored witii the same minute- 
 ness ; but not a trace of any deej) excavation, or any 
 rubbish, or mounds, (excepting those already men- 
 tioned,) were discovcretl. Leaving the river, he 
 proceeded from Hilleh, to a village named Kara- 
 kooli, a distance of fifteen iniles in a N. W. direc- 
 tion, without meeting any tiling wortliy of remark. 
 He next rode hi a parallel line, six miles to the west, 
 and as many to the east of the pyramid of Haroot 
 and Maroot, and returned to Hilleh, disappointed in 
 all his expectations; for, within a s|)ace of twenty- 
 one miles in length and twelve in breadth, he was 
 unable to discover any thing that could admit of a 
 conclusion, that either a wall or ditch had ever ex- 
 
 isted within this area. [Captain Fiederick mformed 
 us, that he dedicated eight or ten hours each day to 
 his inquiries, during his stay at Hilleh.] The size, 
 situation, and construction of the pyramid of Haroot 
 and Maroot have led major Rennell and D'Anville 
 to suppose it to be the remains of the temple of 
 Belus. The latter, as we have already stated, is 
 described as being a square of a stadium in breadth, 
 and of equal dimensions at the base, and built of 
 brick cemented with bitumen. The mass Avhich we 
 now see, is an exact quadrangle, which, ten feet 
 within the outer edge of the rubbish, measured nine 
 hundred paces, or two thousand tAvo hundred and 
 fifty feet, exceeding the circuit of the base of the 
 tower of Belus by two hundred and fifty feet — a 
 trifling excess, when we consider how much it must 
 have increased by the fallen ruins. Its elevation, at 
 the S. W. angle, is still upwards of two hundred 
 feet ; which is very great, considering its antiquity, 
 and the soft materials of which it is composed. 
 Strabo represents the temple of Belus as having an 
 exterior coat of burnt brick ; and, as I have before 
 said, there is every reason to believe, from the ac- 
 cumulation of pieces of furnace-baked bricks at the 
 foot of each face, that this was the case with the 
 great pyramid to the north of Hilleh. We are, how- 
 ever, left in some doubt respecting the situation of 
 the temple. Diodorus says, that it stood in the 
 centre of the city : but the text is obscure ; and it 
 may be inferred, that the palace on the east bank of 
 the Euphrates and [the] temple were the same. If 
 this be the case, we may be permitted to conjecture, 
 that the Euphrates once pursued a course different 
 from that which it now follows, and that it flowed 
 between the pyi-amid of Haroot and Maroot, and the 
 mound and the ruins, already mentioned as half a 
 mile farther to the west. The present course of the 
 river would appear to justify this conclusion ; for it 
 bends suddenly towards these mounds, and has the 
 appearance of having formerly passed between them. 
 Should this conjecture be admitted, then will the 
 ruins just mentioned be found to answer the de- 
 scription given by the ancients of the materials, size, 
 and situation of the two principal edifices in Baby- 
 lon. But if not, we shall continue in ignorance 
 concerning the remains of the palace ; for the pyra- 
 mid is far too distant from the river and the other 
 ruins, to incline us to suppose it to have been the 
 royal residence." p. 279. 
 
 To Mr. Rich, Resident at Bagdad for the East 
 India Company, we are indebted for a still more 
 particidar account of these monuments of antiquity ; 
 his tracts Iiave greatly engaged the attention of the 
 public, and have given occasion to much investiga- 
 tion. The following are extracts from his first 
 work. (Lond. 1815.) "The ruins of Babylon may 
 in fact be said almost to commence from IMohawil, 
 a very indifferent khan, close to which is a large 
 canal, with a bridge over it, the whole country be- 
 tween it and Hellah exhibiting at intenals traces of 
 building, in which are discoverable burnt and un- 
 burnt bricks and bitumon. Three mounds in par- 
 ticular attract attention from their magnitude. The 
 district called l)y the natives El-Aredh Babel ex- 
 tends on both sides of the Eu])hratos. The ruins of 
 the eastern quarter of Babylon commence about two 
 miles above Hcllali, and consist of two large masses 
 or mounds connected with, and lying N. and S. of, 
 each other ; and several smaller ones which cross the 
 plain at different intervals. [At] the northern ter- 
 mination of the plain is Pietro Delia Valle's ruin ;
 
 BABYLON 
 
 [ 133 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 from the S. E. (to which it evidently once joined, 
 being only obliterated there by tAvo canals) proceeds 
 a narrow ridge or mound of earth, wearing the ap- 
 pearance of having been a boundary wall. This 
 ridge forms a kind of circular enclosure, and joins 
 the S. E. point of the most southerly of the two 
 grand masses. The whole area, enclosed by the 
 boundary on the east and south, and the river on the 
 west, is two miles and six hundred yards from E. to 
 W. — as much from Pietro Delia Valle's ruin to the 
 southern part of the boundary, or two miles and one 
 thousand yards to the most southerly mound of all. 
 The first grand mass of ruins [south] is one thou- 
 sand one himdred yards in length, and eight hundred 
 in the greatest breadth. The most elevated part 
 may be about fifty or sixty feet above the level of 
 the plain, and it has been dug into for the purpose 
 of procuring bricks. On the north is a valley of 
 five hundred and fifty yards in length, the area of 
 which is covered with tussocks of rank grass, [is 
 longest from E. to W.] and crossed [from S. to N.] 
 by a line of ruins of very little elevation. To this 
 succeeds [going N.] the second grand heap of ruins, 
 the shape of which is nearly a square of seven hun- 
 dred yards length and breadth. This is the place 
 where Beauchamp made his observations ; and it 
 certainly is the most interesting part of the ruins of 
 Babylon : every vestige discoverable in it declares it 
 to have been composed of buildings far superior to 
 all the rest which have left traces in the eastern 
 quarter : the bricks are of the finest description, and, 
 notwithstanding this is the grand store-house of them, 
 and that the greatest supplies have been and are now 
 constantly drawn from it, they appear still to be 
 abundant. In all these excavations Avails of burnt 
 brick, laid in lime mortar of a very good quality, are 
 seen ; and in addition to the substances generally 
 streAved on the surfaces of all these mounds, aa'c here 
 find fragments of alabaster vessels, fine earthen AA'are, 
 marble, and great quantities of varnished tiles, the 
 glazing and coloring of which is sui-prisingly fresh. 
 In a holloAV, near the southern part, I found a 
 sepulchral urn of earthen Avare, Avhich had been 
 broken in digging, and near it lay some human 
 bones, Avhich puh'erized AAith the touch. 
 
 " To be more particular in my description of this 
 mound : — not more than tAvo hundred yards from 
 its northern extremity is a ravine, hollowed out by 
 those Avho dig for bricks, in length near a hundred 
 yards, and thirty feet Avide by forty or fifty deep. 
 On one side of it a feAV yards of Avail remain stand- 
 ing, the face of Avhich is Aery clear and perfect, and 
 it appears to have been the front of some building. 
 The opposite side is so confused a mass of rubbish, 
 fliat it should seem the ravine had been AA'orked 
 through a solid building. Under the foundations of 
 tlie southern end, an opening is made, Avhich dis- 
 covers a subteiTanean passage, floored and Availed 
 Avith large bricks laid in bitumen, and covered over 
 Avith pieces of sand stone, a yard thick and several 
 yards long, on Avhicli the whole [Aveiglit rests] being 
 so great as to haAC given a considerable degree of 
 obliquity to the side Avails of the passage. It is half 
 full of brackish Avater ; (probal)ly rain water impreg- 
 nated Avith nitre, in filtering through the ruins, Avhich 
 are all very productiA^e of it;) and the Avorkmen say 
 that some AA^ay on it is high enough for a horseman 
 to pass upright : as much as I saAV of it, it Avas near 
 seA-en feet in height, and its course to the south. — 
 This is described by Beauchamp, avIio most unac- 
 countably imagines it must have been part of the 
 
 city wall. The supej-stmcture over tne passage i« 
 cemented with bitumen ; other parts of the ravine 
 [are cemented] with mortar, and the bricks have all 
 AATiting on them. The northern end of the ravine 
 appears to have been crossed by an extremely thick 
 Avail of yelloAvish brick, cemented Avith a brillitint 
 white mortar, Avhich has been broken through in 
 holloAving it out ; and a little to the north of it I dis- 
 covered Avhat Beauchamp saAv imperfectly, and un- 
 derstood from the natives to be an idol. I was told 
 the same, and that it AA'as discoA-ered by an old Arab 
 in digging, but that, not knoAving Avhat to do AA'ith it, 
 he covered it up agam. [It is probable that many 
 fragments of antiquity, especially of the larger kind, 
 are lost in this manner. The inhabitants call all 
 stones with inscriptions or figures on them idols.] 
 On sending for the old man, I set a number of men 
 to work, who, after a day's hard labor, laid open 
 enough of the statue to shoAv that it AA-as a lion of 
 colossal dimensions, standing on a pedestal of a 
 coarse kind of gray granite, and of rude Avorkman- 
 shij) ; in the mouth Avas a circular aperture into 
 Avhich a man might uitroduce his fist. A little to 
 the Avest of the ravine is the next remarkable object, 
 called by the natives the Kasr, or Palace, by Avhich 
 appellation I shall designate the Avhole mass. It is 
 a very remarkable ruin,Avhich, being uncovered and 
 in part detached from the rubbish, is visible from a 
 considerable distance ; but so surprisingly fresh in 
 its appearance, that it Avas only after a minute in- 
 spection that I Avas satisfied of its being in reality a 
 Babylonian lemain. It consists of several walls and 
 piers, (which face the cardinal points,) eight feet in 
 thickness, in some places ornamented Avith niches, 
 and in others strengthened by pilasters and buttresses, 
 built of fine burnt brick, (still perfectly clean and 
 sharp,) laid in lime-cement of such tenacitj', that 
 those Avhose business it is have given up AAorking, on 
 account of the extreme difficulty of extracting them 
 Avhole. The tops of these Avails are broken, and 
 many have been much higher. On the outside they 
 have in some places been cleared nearly to the foun- 
 dations, but the internal spaces formed by them are 
 yet filled Avith rubbish ; in some parts almost to their 
 summit. One part of the AAall has been split into 
 three parts, and overthrown as if by an earthquake ; 
 some detached Avails of the same kind, standing at 
 different distances, shoAv what remains to haA'e been 
 only a small part of the original fabric ; indeed it 
 appears that the passage in the ravine, together Avith 
 the Avail Avhich crosses its u])per end, Avere connected 
 Avith it. There are some holloAvs underneath, in 
 which seA'eral persons have lost their lives ; so that 
 no one Avill noAV venture into them, and their en- 
 trances ha\'e become choked up Avith rubbish. Near 
 this ruin is a heap of rubbish, the sides of AA'hich are 
 curiously streaked by the alternation of its materials, 
 the cliief part of Avhich, it is probable, Avas unburnt 
 brick, of Avhich I found a small quantity in the 
 neighborhood, but no reeds Avere discoverable in the 
 interstices. There are tAvo paths near this ruin, 
 made by the Avorkinen Avho carry doA\Ti their bricks 
 to the rJA'cr side, Avhence they ai-e transported by 
 boats to Hellah ; and a little to' the N. N. E. of it is 
 the famous tree AA'hich the natives call Athele, and 
 maintain to ha\'e been flourishing in ancient Baby- 
 lon, from the destruction of Avhich they say God 
 purposely preserved it, that it might aflbrd Ali a con- 
 venient place to tie up his horse after the battle of 
 Hellah ! It stands on a kind of ridge, and nothing 
 more than one side of its trunk remains ; (by Avhich
 
 BABYLON 
 
 [ 134 1 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 It appears to have been of considerable girth ;) yet 
 the branches at the top are still perfectly verdant, 
 and, gently waving in the wind, produce a melan- 
 choly rustling sound. It is an evergreen, something 
 resembling the lignum vii(B, and of a kind, I believe, 
 not common in this part of the country, though I am 
 told there is a tree of the same description at Bassora. 
 All the people of the country assert that it is ex- 
 tremely dangerous to approach this mound after 
 night-fall, on account of the multitude of evil spirits 
 by which it is haunted. 
 
 " A mile to the north of the Kasr [palace] and nine 
 hundred and fifty yards from the river bank, is the 
 last ruin of this series, described by Pietro Delia 
 Valle. The nniives call it Mukallib«^, (or, according 
 to the vulgar Arab proniuiciation of these parts, Mu- 
 jelibe,) meaning overturned. It is of an oblong 
 shape, irregular in its height and the measurement 
 of its sides, which face the cardinal points ; the 
 northern side being two hundred yards in length ; 
 the southern two hundred and nineteen ; the eastern 
 one hundred and eighty-two ; and the western one 
 hundred and thiity-six ; the elevation of the S. E. 
 or highest angle, one hundred and forty-one feet. 
 Near the summit, W. appears a low wall, built of 
 unburnt bricks, mixed up with chopped straw or 
 reeds, and cemented with clay-mortar of great thick- 
 ness, having between every layer a layer of reeds. . . . 
 All are worn into furrows by the weather ; — in some 
 places of gl-eat depth. The summit is covered with 
 heaps of rubbish ; — whole bricks with inscriptions 
 on them are here and tliere discovered : the whole is 
 covered with innumerable fragments of pottery, 
 brick, bitumen, pebbles, vitrified brick, or scoria, and 
 even shells, bits of glass, and mother-of-pearl. 
 There are many dens of wild beasts in various parts, 
 in one ol which I found the bones of sheep and other 
 animals, and perceived a strong smell like that of a 
 lion. I also found quantities of porcupine quills, and 
 in most cavities are numbers of bats and owls. It is 
 a curious coincidence, that I here first heard the 
 oriental account of satyrs. I had always imagined 
 the belief of their existence was confined to the West : 
 but a Choadar, who was with me when I examined 
 this ruin, mentioned, by accident, that in this desert 
 an animal is found resembling a man from the head 
 to the waist, but having the thighs and legs of a sheep 
 or goat ; he said, also, that the Arabs hunt it with 
 dogs, and eat tiie lower parts, al)staining from the 
 upper, on account of their resemblance to those of the 
 human species. ' But the wild beast of the desert shall 
 lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful crea- 
 tures ; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall 
 dance there,' Is. xiii. 21." 
 
 It was in this iMujelib^ that a quantity of marble 
 was found, some years ago, and afterwards a coffin 
 of mulberry-wood, containing a human body, en- 
 closed in a tight wrapper, and apparently partially 
 covered with bitumen. The report of this induced 
 Mr. R.. to set laborers to work, for the purpose of 
 discovery. " They dug into a shaft or hollow pier, 
 sixty feet square, lined with fine brick laid in bitu- 
 men, and filled up with earth ; in this they found a 
 brass s])ike, some earthen vessels, (one of which was 
 very thin, and had the remains of fine white var- 
 nish on the outside,) and a beam of date-tree wood. 
 On the third day's work they made their way into 
 the opening, and discovered a narrow jiassage 
 nearly ten feet high, half filled with rubbish, flat on 
 the top, and exhibiting both burnt and unburnt 
 bricks ; the former with inscriptions on them, and 
 
 the latter, as usual, laid with a layer of reeds be- 
 tween every row, except in one or two courses near 
 the bottom, where they were cemented with bitu- 
 men ; a cinnous and unaccountable circumstance. 
 This passage appeared as if it originally had a lining 
 of fine burnt brick, cemented with bitumen, to con- 
 ceal the unburnt brick, of which the body of the 
 building was principally composed. Fronting it is 
 another passage, (or rather a continuation of the 
 same to the eastward, in which direction it probably 
 extends to a considerable distance, perhaps even all 
 along the northern front of the Mujelibe,) choked up 
 with earth, in digging out which 1 discovered, near 
 the top, a wooden cofliu, containing a skeleton in 
 high preservation. Under the head of the coffin 
 was a round pebble ; attached to the coffin, on the 
 outside, a brass bird, and inside an ornament of the 
 same material, which had apparently been suspend- 
 ed to some part of the skeleton. These, could any 
 doubt remain, place the antiquity of the skeleton 
 beyond all dispute. This being extracted, a little 
 further in the rubbish the skeleton of a child was 
 found ; and it is probable that the w hole of the pas- 
 sage, whatever its extent may be, was occupied in a 
 similar manner. No skulls were found, either here 
 or in the sepulchral urns at the bank of the river." 
 
 These are all the great masses of ruins on the 
 eastern side of the river. The western side affords 
 none immediately adjacent to the river ; hut about 
 six miles south-west of Hellah is a vast mass, pre- 
 viously known to us only by the cursoi-y report of 
 Niebuhr, who had not opportunity to examine it. 
 It is called by the Arabs Birs jYimrood, by the Jews, 
 Nebuchadnezzar's Prison. Of this Mr. Rich says, 
 "I visited the Birs under circumstances peculiarly 
 favorable to the grandeur of its effect. The morning 
 was at first stormy, and threatened a severe fall of 
 rain ; but as we approached the object of our jour- 
 ney, the heavy cloud separating discovered the Birs 
 frowning over the plain, and presenting the appear- 
 ance of a circular hill, crowned by a tower, with a 
 high ridge extending along the foot of it. Its being 
 entirely concealed from our view during the first 
 part of the ride, prevented our acquiring the gradual 
 idea, in general so prejudicial to effect, and so par- 
 ticularly liimeiited by those who visit the pyramids. 
 Just as we were within the proper distance, it burst 
 at once upon our sight in the midst of rolling masses 
 of thick black clouds, partially obscured by that kind 
 of haze whose indistinctness is one great cause of 
 sublimity, whilst a few strong catches of stormy 
 light, thrown upon the desert in the back ground, 
 served to give some idea of the immense extent, and 
 dreary solitude, of the wastes in which this venera- 
 ble ruin stands. It is a mound of an oblong figure, 
 the total circuniference of which is seven hundred 
 and sixty-two yards. At the eastern side it is not 
 more than fifty or sixty feet higii ; at the western 
 it rises in a conical figure to one hundred and ninety- 
 eight feet *, and on its summit is a solid pile of brick, 
 thirty-seven feet high, by twenty-eight in breadtli, 
 diminishing in thickness to the top, which is irreg- 
 lUar. It is built of fine burnt bricks, which have 
 inscriptions on them, laid in lime-mortar of admira- 
 ble cement. The other parts of the summit of this 
 hill are occiii)icd by immense fragments of brick- 
 work of no determinate figure, tumbled together, 
 and converted into solid vitrified masses, as if they 
 had undergone the fiercest fire, or been blown up 
 with gunpowder, the layers of bricks being perfectly 
 discernible — a curious fact, and one for which I am
 
 BABYLON 
 
 [ 135 ] 
 
 BABYLON 
 
 utterly incapable of accounting. The whole of this 
 mound is itself a ruin, channeled by the weather, 
 and strewed with the usual fragments, and with 
 pieces of black stone, sand stone, and marble. No 
 reeds are discernible in any part. At the foot of the 
 mound a step may be traced, scarcely elevated above 
 the plain, exceeding in extent by several feet the 
 base : and there is a quadrangular enclosure round 
 the whole, as at the Mujelibe, but much more per- 
 fect and of greater dimensions. At a trifling distance 
 from the Birs, and parallel with its eastern face, is a 
 mound not inferior to the Kasr in elevation ; much 
 longer than it is broad. Round the Birs are traces 
 of ruins to a considerable extent." 
 
 [This ruin was afterwards examined by Sir R. K. 
 Porter, who gives some additional facts and notices. 
 He found the base of the brick wall, which is still 
 standing, to be entirely free from marks of fire, 
 and apparently still in its original condition. He 
 thence draws the not improbable conclusion, that 
 the destroying agent, wliatever it was, must have 
 acted from above, in a downward direction ; and 
 that the immense fragments of vitrified brick-work 
 which lie strewed around, must have fallen from 
 some point higher than the summit of the remnant 
 of wall at present standing. The fire which pro- 
 duced these remarkable effects, must have had the 
 glow of the hottest fiu-nace ; and from the character 
 of the disruption or fissure of the wall, and of the 
 vitrified masses, he is disposed to beliese that the 
 destruction was effected by lightning. (Travels, 
 vol. ii. p. 312.) 
 
 Through the researches of Ker Porter and Mr. 
 Rich, the former suggestion of Niebuhr, that this 
 ruin is the remains of the tower of Belus, is sup- 
 posed by Rosenmueller to be placed nearly beyond 
 doubt. (Bib. Geog. I. ii. p. 24.) The traditional 
 name, also, Birs JVimrood, tower of Nimrod, favors 
 the supposition, so far as this species of proof is of 
 any value. The mound to the eastward of the Birs 
 may then be the ruins of ancient buildings occupied 
 by the numerous priests and servants of the temple. 
 — All these heaps of ruins occupy the area of a large 
 parallelogram, around which the remains of a strong 
 wall or mound are still distinctlj^ to be traced. 
 
 Delia Valle, major Rennell, and others, as may be 
 seen in the preceding extracts, have supposed that 
 the tower of Belus is to be sought for in Delia Valle's 
 ruin, situated on the east side of the river at the most 
 northern point of all the ruins. Against this sup- 
 position, K. Porter brings very cogent reasons ; (ii. p. 
 346.) biu supposes that ruin to have been formerly the 
 royal palace or castle. The objection urged by 
 Rosenmueller against this latter conjecture is a strong 
 one, viz. that this ruin lies quite out of the city 
 itself, being connected, according to the drawings, 
 wth the wall which here sweeps aroimd it ; while 
 it is also too remote from the river, which divided 
 the palace or castle into two parts. The latter 
 vn-iter, with great probability, conjectures, that we 
 see here the ruins of a fortification or citadel, Avhich 
 commanded and protected the walls of the city on 
 this side. *R. 
 
 Descending from this ruin southward, we arri\t' at 
 that grand mass of ruins, called by tradition the Kasr, 
 or palace. There is no difficulty in deferring to this 
 tradition ; or even in believing that perhaps the sin- 
 gle remaining tree, the Arhele, may be a descend- 
 ant of some wiiich formerly composed the ornaments 
 of the famous hanging gardens. This building has, 
 evidently, been constructed with the greatest care ; 
 
 and its peculiar "freshness," on which major Ren- 
 nell founds an argument against its Babylonish 
 origin, appears to be nothing beyond what might be 
 expected from more careful selection of materials, 
 better manipulation and workmanship, and, in one 
 word — from royal liberality and patronage. Uni- 
 formity of plan is seldom consulted in the palaces of 
 eastern monarchs, nor is the arrangement of their 
 several offices, such as European judgment would 
 prefer. Unless, therefore, we could suppose that tlie 
 palace of Semiramis, or of Nebuchadnezzar, or of 
 any other Babylonish monarch, with the additions 
 of later times, was conceived on principles of more 
 than common correctness, we must allow that in its 
 best condition it was little other than a labyrinth ; 
 and, consequently, its ruins can be nothing but 
 confusion. 
 
 Mr, Rich says, (Second Memoir, p. 10.) "The 
 strong embankment built by the Babylonian mon- 
 archs was intended to prevent the overflow, not to 
 secure its running in one channel ; and ever since 
 the embankment was ruined, the river has expended 
 itself in periodical inundations. This is the case in 
 many parts of its progress ; for instance at Feluja, 
 the inundation from whence covers the whole face 
 of the country as far as the Avails of Bagdad, .... 
 with a depth of water sufficient to render it navigable 
 
 for rafts and flat-bottomed boats At Hellah, 
 
 notwithstanding the numerous canals drawn from it, 
 when it rises it overflows many parts of the western 
 desert ; and on the east it insiimates itself into the 
 hollows and more level parts of the ruins, converting 
 them into lakes and morasses." The reader, who 
 has seen the overflowing Nile called sea, by Nahum, 
 in the instance of Memphis, will, without reluctance, 
 allow the same appellation to the overflowing Eu- 
 phrates ; and truly enough may it be said, that the 
 sea has come up over Babylon ; since the more level 
 parts of the ruins are converted into lakes and mo- 
 rasses, during the seasons of the river's swelling; 
 though at intervals these swamps may be tolera- 
 bly dry. 
 
 It is evident fi*om what has been adduced, that no 
 other remains of ancient Babylon than those of its 
 public buildings can now be discovered or distin- 
 guished : the houses of individuals, which Herodotus 
 describes as being three stories in height, have dis- 
 appeared, with all their accommodations and accom- 
 panimeius. No doubt they had gardens and pleasure 
 grounds, embellished and refreshed by streams of 
 water, and by plantations affording shade and pri- 
 vacy, those indispensable luxuries in the East. These 
 are destroyed ; no trace of them exists ; and, there- 
 fore, we cannot Avonder that more accessible retreats, 
 in Avhich those aaIio carried them captiA'e demanded 
 of the forlorn Israelites to sing the Lord's song in 
 this foreign land, should have shared in the general 
 fate. We see by Avhat means the A\'illoAA-s on AA-hich 
 they hanged their harps might groAv among the wa- 
 ter-courses ; but the AAater-courses are ruined, and 
 the AvilloAvs are extinct. 
 
 Whether Ave should seek the exterior Avails of the 
 province of Babylon in the direction taken by cap- 
 tain Frederick is of small importance, since Ave haA'e 
 ventured to conjecture that they VA'ere not distin- 
 guished by magnitude or solidity: whether those 
 more proximate to the city, and especially Avhether 
 those Avhich have left long mounds, in ruins, but 
 Avhich evidently enclosed the temple and the palace, 
 may be any part of the broad AA'alls, is a question 
 of greater importance, and, at present, of difficult
 
 BABYLON 
 
 [ 13G 
 
 BAB 
 
 solution. Whether these long enclosures have ever 
 been faced with brick, whether they have ever had a 
 ditch before them, and whether their breadth answers 
 to that assigned to the famous walls of Baljylon by 
 ancient writers, we can neither affirm nor deny, till 
 possessed of more accurate information. 
 
 Mr. Rich has very properly called the attention of 
 his readers to the accomplishment of that prophecy 
 of Isaiah which predicts the overthrow of Babylon, 
 " as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha. It 
 shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in 
 from generation to generation : neither shall the 
 Arabian pitch tent there ; neither shall the shepherds 
 make their fold there : but wild beasts of the desert 
 shall Ue there ; and their houses shall be full of dole- 
 ful creatures ; and owls shall dwell there, and satyi-s 
 shall dance there : and the wild beasts shall ci-y in 
 their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant 
 palaces." The prophet adds in the following chap- 
 ter: (xiv. 23.) "I will make it a possession for the 
 bittern, (see Bittern,) and pools of water" — rather, 
 stagnant marshes of reeds. Almost every word of 
 these prophecies may be justified from iVIr. Rich him- 
 self: he mentions his perception of a strong smell 
 like that of a lion ; — his finding bones of sheep, &c. 
 doubtless of ajiimals carried there and devoured by 
 the wild beasts, many dens of which are in various 
 paits ; he found quantities of porcupine quills ; — 
 numbers of bats and owls ; — and, to close the list of 
 these doleful creatures, here he learned the existence 
 of satyrs ; — here he was cautioned against the vio- 
 lence of evil spirits after night-fall ; — and, in shoi-t, 
 his "tussocks of rank grass" are no other than the 
 "reeds of the stagnant marshes" of the prophet. 
 
 There would be something extremely melancholy 
 in the fate of Babylon, its desolation, its disaj)pear- 
 ance, its external annihilation, after so vigorous and 
 so long continued exertion to raise it to pre-eminence, 
 did we not know that its pride was excessive, and its 
 power was cruel. The fierceness of war was the 
 delight of its kings. Nebuchadnezzar himself had 
 been a warrior of no limited ambition ; the Chaldeans 
 were bitter, hasty, sanguinary, ferocious ; and to read 
 the accounts of their inhumanity jirepares us for a 
 reverse, which we await, but do not regret. There 
 is something in the idea of retaliation from which 
 the human mind is not averse — " As she hath done, 
 so do to her ;" is the language not of prophecy or of 
 poetry only, but of "even-handed justice," in the 
 common acceptation of mankind. It is not only be- 
 cause we are better acquainted with the miseries in- 
 flicted on Jerusalem and the sanctuary that we admit 
 these feelings in respect to Babylon : there can be 
 no doubt, but what other nations had equally suffered 
 imder her oppression : the people who are emphat- 
 ically called on to execute the vengeance determined 
 against her, had certainly been galled under her yoke. 
 Cyrus and Xerxes, who captured her city and de- 
 stroyed her temple, were but the avengers of their 
 country. Alexander considered himself in the same 
 light. It is rather from a deficiency of historical 
 accounts than from the facts of the case, that Babylon 
 has been supposed to have been reduced by a gradual 
 decay only. Already have more symptoms of vio- 
 lence been discovered than were formerly supposed, 
 and it is more than possible, that our intercourse with 
 eastern writers may bring us acquainted with events, 
 which will enable us to account for appearances that 
 now present nothing but uncertainties. Idolatry took 
 its rise at Babylon, was fostered and protected there, 
 and from thence was diffused throughout (at least) 
 
 the western world : the liberal arts, the more recon- 
 dite sciences, with every power of the human mind, 
 were rendered subservient to systematic idolatry.— 
 Its doom, therefore, must correspond with its crimes 
 It is enough for us, that we know its punishment to 
 be just; and that we are happily enabled to trace in 
 its ruins the unequivocal and even the verbal accom- 
 plishment of those predictions which denounced its 
 calamities — the monuments of miseries long deserved, 
 but not remitted though postponed. 
 
 The following are the comparative dimensions of 
 the principal ruins of ancient Babylon. 
 
 Mujeli!)e, circumference 2111 feet; height remain- 
 ing on the S. E. 141 feet. 
 
 Kasr, or Palace, square, 700 yards. 
 
 Sea, or Lake, by the plain, length 800 yards; breadth 
 550 yards, by measurement. 
 
 Bridge, (supposed,) length 600 yards ; breadth nearly 
 100 yards, ruins. 
 
 Temj)lo of Belus, (Herodotus,) square, 500 feet. 
 
 Temj)le of Belus, (supposed,) with the buildings near 
 it, ruins, length 1100 yards; breadth 800 yards; 
 height remaining 50 or 60 feet. 
 
 Birs Nimrood, circumference 2286 feet ; height re- 
 maining, E. 50 or 60 feet; W. 198 feet; tower, 
 235 feet. 
 
 Extent of the whole enclosure, above two miles and 
 a half, N. and S. — the same E. and W. 
 
 II. BABYLON, a city in Egypt, on the borders 
 of Arabia, not far from Helicpolis and Aphrodisiopo- 
 lis, and not very distant from Cairo. It is mentioned 
 by Ptolemy, who calls it Babylis. (Compare Josephus, 
 Antiquities of the J(nvs, book ii. chap. 13.) Diodorus 
 Siculus says it was built by the cajjtives brought by 
 Sesostris from Chaldea ; but Josephus says it was 
 built in the time of Cambyses, by some Persians 
 whom he permitted to settle there. Some critics 
 have supj)0sed that Peter wrote his first Epistle from 
 this Babylon ; but we have no evidence that he ever 
 was in Egyi)t ; and probability leads to the contrary 
 conclusion. 
 
 [BABYLONIA, the province of which Babylon 
 was the capital ; now the Babylonian or Arabian 
 Irak, which constitutes the pashalik of Bagdad. This 
 celebrated province included the tract of country 
 contained between the Euphrates and the Tigris, 
 bounded north by Mesopotamia and Assyria, and 
 south by the Persian gulf. This gulf was indeed its 
 only definite and natural boundary ; for towards the 
 north, towards the ea-st or Persia, and towards the 
 west or desert Arabia, its limits were quite indefinite. 
 It is, however, certain, that both in ancient and mod- 
 ern times, important tracts on the eastern bank of the 
 Tigris, and on the western bank of the Euphi-ates, 
 and still more on both banks of their imited stream, 
 the ancient Pasitigris and modern Shatt el- Arab, were 
 reckoned to Babylonia, or Ir;.k el- Arab. 
 
 The most ancient name of the country is Shinctr, 
 Gen. X. 10; Dan. i. 1, 2. Afterwards Babel, Baby- 
 lon, and Babylonia, became its common appellation ; 
 witli which, at a later period, Chaldea, or the land of 
 the Chaldeans, was used as synonymous, after this 
 people had got the whole into their possession. Isaiah, 
 in the superscription of one of his prophecies re- 
 specting the destruction of Babylon, (xxi. 1.) calls 
 this land the desert or plain of the sea. This we must 
 regard as a poetical, or rather, perhaps, a symbolical, 
 epithet, derived probably from the circumstance, that 
 before the erection of dikes and mounds by Semira-
 
 BABYLONIA 
 
 [ 137 ] 
 
 BABYLONIA 
 
 mis, the whole of this flat region was often over- 
 flowed by the adjacent rivers, and thus actually re- 
 sembled, and might with propriety be called, a sea. 
 See Gesen. and Rosenni. on Is. xxi. 1. 
 
 Babylonia is an extensive plain, interrupted by 
 no hill or mountain, consisting of a fatty brownish 
 soil, and subject to the annual inundations of the Ti- 
 gi'is and Euphrates, more especially of the latter, whose 
 banks are lower and flatter than those of the Tigris. 
 The Euphrates conmionly rises about twelve feet 
 above its ordinary level ; and continues at this height 
 from the end of April till June. These frequent inun- 
 dations of course compelled the earhest tillers of the 
 soil to provide means for drawing off the superabun- 
 dant water, and so distributing it over the whole sur- 
 face, that those tracts which were in themselves less 
 well-watered, might receive the requisite irrigation. 
 From this cause, the whole of Babylonia came to be 
 divided up by a multitude of larger and smaller ca- 
 nals ; in part passing entirely through from one river 
 to the other ; in pail, also, losing themselves in the 
 interior, and serving only the purposes of iri'igation. 
 (Herodot. i. 193.) These canals seem to be the rivers 
 of Babylon spoken of in Ps. cxxxvii. 1. The most 
 important of these were the JVahar Malca, or the 
 king's river, which flowed from the Euphrates S. E. 
 into the Tigris; the Pallacopas, drawn from the 
 Euphrates, above Babylon, and emptying its waters 
 into the lakes or marshes formed by it on the S. W. 
 borders of the province towards Arabia ; (into which 
 channel Cyrus turned the main stream of the Eu- 
 phrates in his assault upon the city ;) and the Maar- 
 sares, which flowed parallel to the Euphrates, at the 
 distance of some miles from it toward the west. 
 
 Besides this multitude of canals, which are now 
 mostly vanished without trace. Babylonia contained 
 several large lakes, formed partly by the inundations 
 of the two gi-eat rivers, and partly the work of art. 
 The largest of these is described by Herodotus, (i. 
 185.) and was the work of the celebrated queen Ni- 
 tocris. It was situated in the northern part of Baby- 
 lonia, far above the city, not very remote from the 
 river, to which it ran parallel for a great distance. 
 The earth which was excavated from it, served to 
 build the dikes and mounds along the river ; and the 
 whole shore of the lake was encased by a wall of 
 stone. Besides this, at a distance below the city, 
 there were on the west side of the Euphrates, tracts 
 of low marshy land, which were filled with water 
 from the river and canals, and extended far into the 
 Arabian desert. Babylonia, therefore, was a land 
 abounding in water ; and Jeremiah might therefore 
 well say of it, that it dwelt upon many waters, Jer. 
 h. 13. 
 
 Notwidistanding the extreme heat which reigns 
 here for the gi-eater portion of the year, and which 
 compels the inhabitants to pass the most of the day 
 in subterraneous apartments, called Serdaps, the air 
 is in general pure and wholesome, excepting around 
 Basra and the low regions in the vicinity. In sum- 
 mer the atmosphere is so clear, that at a very short 
 distance from the river, neither dampness nor dew- 
 is to be perceived ; and were it not for the morasses 
 formed by the inundations, which might easily be 
 reclaimed, the country might still be what it was 
 anciently, the most fertile, perhaps, on earth. Thus 
 Herodotus describes it, (i. 193.) as rewarding the dil- 
 igent irrigation and tillage of its ancient cultivators 
 by a return of two hundred and even three hundred 
 fold. On the other hand, the country was destitute 
 of large trees, and had neither the fig, olive, nor 
 18 
 
 vine ; though date and palm trees were common. 
 But the want of timber for building was made up by 
 abundant supplies of the best of clay for bricks, 
 which, whether burned, or dried in the sun, acquired 
 such hardness, that they have endured without injury 
 the storms and violence of ages, although scattered 
 and exposed to the weather in the utmost degree. 
 Mortar, also, was abundantly prepared and furnished 
 by the hand of nature herself. Eight days' journey 
 above Babylon, on the small river Is, near the city 
 Hit, were copious fountains of naphtha, or bitumen, 
 which was used for cement, by intermingUngwith it 
 layers of straw or reeds. This process is described 
 by Herodotus ; and the present ruins, of Babylon 
 exhibit this cement and these layers in perfect 
 preservation. 
 
 The cities and places mentioned in the Bible as 
 lying in Babylonia, besides Babylon the capital, are 
 Dura, the gi-eat plain around Babylon, where Nebu- 
 chadnezzar set up the gigantic golden image, (Dan. iii. 
 1.) Erech, Accad, Calneh or Calno, etc. which 
 may be seen under these articles respectively. 
 
 The geogi-aphical situation of Babylon was un- 
 commonly favorable for commercial pursuits. By 
 means of its great navigable watei*s, it received from 
 above the productions of Syria and Asia Minor, of 
 Media and Armenia ; and from below, through the 
 Persian gulf, those of India, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, 
 and the whole of Africa. Thus Babylon became 
 the repository of all the treasures of Asia and Africa ; 
 and is, therefore, justly termed by Ezekiel, a city of 
 merchants, Ezek. xvii. 4. Babylonian garments or 
 mantles, reno^vned for their fineness and splendor, 
 seem early to have been articles of exportation ; see 
 Josh. vii. 21. Indeed, the Babylonians, from all the 
 hints contained in the Bible, and also fi-om the more 
 detailed accounts of Herodotus, (i. 195.) seem to have 
 been a people who loved splendor, and who had be- 
 come accustomed to a multitude of artificial wants, 
 which could not be satisfied without a commer- 
 cial intercourse with manj' and even distant nations. 
 
 The Babylonians were celebrated, even in the 
 earliest ages, for their knowledge of the sciences ; 
 and, more especially, they had cultivated astronomy 
 to a very important extent. Professor Idelcr, of Berlin, 
 has shown, that in the ancient calculations of the 
 ecUpses of the moon, quoted by Ptolemy from the 
 observations of the Chaldeans, they are found to dif- 
 fer from modern calculations of the same echpses 
 only, at most, in the minutes. (Memoirs of the Berlin 
 Acad, for 1814 and 1815.) It was not all, however, 
 a pure love of science, that thus led them to the culti- 
 vation of astronomy ; but the belief in the power of the 
 stars over the fates of men and over the weather ; in 
 short, an astrological faith, which could not but easily 
 lead them to pay divine honors to the heavenly bodies. 
 (See Baal, Astaroth, Babel.) This sort of astro- 
 nomical and astrological knowledge, transmitted do\^^l 
 through many centuries, was the exclusive possession 
 of a caste of priests or learned men, which, as also in 
 Egypt and Persia, was divided into different classes, 
 Tiiey are called, generally, ivisc inen, learned ; also 
 Chaldeans, (Dan. ii. 4, 5, 10.) from the nation with 
 which they probably migrated to Babylon. As 
 Nebuchadnezzar made his entry into Jerusalem, after 
 the capture of the city, there was among his train of 
 nobles the Rab-mag,\\hich, although treated in the 
 English version as a proper name, means, doubtless, 
 the chief of the inasi ; (Jcrem. xxxix. 3, 13.) but 
 whether this term was a general name for the whole 
 caste of the priests, or only of a particular class, can-
 
 BABYLONIA 
 
 [ 138] 
 
 BAC 
 
 not be determined. To them belonged also, no 
 doubt, the astrologers and star-gazers mentioned in 
 Isa. xlvii. 13. 
 
 The language of the ancient Babylonians was un- 
 doubtedly a branch of the great Semitish stock, to 
 which, also, the Hebrew and Arabic belong ; and was 
 probably not very, if at all, difterent from the East 
 Aramaean, or Chaldee. The written character was 
 also the same as that of the Chaldeans. Later Jew- 
 ish writers indeed inaccurately call this the Assyrian, 
 inasmuch as they take the name Assyria in its most 
 extensive sense, as including Babylonia and Chaldea, 
 etc. See Assyria. 
 
 According to the Bible, the kingdom of Babylonia 
 was tlie earliest founded after the flood. Nimrod was 
 its founder; and he afterwards extended his con- 
 quests over Assyria, Gen. x. 8, 9, 10. The Gi-eek 
 and Roman writers knew nothing of Nimrod ; with 
 them Behis was the founder of Babel and the Baby- 
 lonish kingdom. But as Bel, (Baal,) which signifies 
 lord, may very jjrobably have been the general title 
 of the earliest kings, so Belus and Nimrod can easily 
 have been one person. Several centuries later, in 
 the time of Abraham, we hear of a king of Shiuar, or 
 Babylon, Amraphel, Gen. xiv. 1. From this time 
 onward, there is no mention of Babylonia in the ear- 
 lier historical books of the Old Testament. Ptolemy 
 of Alexandria, in the second century of our era, gives 
 us a catalogue of the kings of Babylonia, which he 
 probably took from the writings of Berosus. This 
 begins with Naeoxassar, in 747 B. C. who was 
 without doubt a vassal of Assyria ; for among the 
 colonists sent by Shalmanesur king of Assyria to Sa- 
 maria, about 730 B. C. there were also Babylonians ; 
 a proof that Babylonia at that time was dependent on 
 Assyria, although it might have its own king. Such 
 a vassal or viceroy was also Merodach-balada.v, 
 who about 71 1 B. C. sent messengers to Hezekiah, 
 to congratulate him on his restoration, and form an 
 alliance with him against the Assyrians, 2 Kings xx. 
 12 ; Isa. xxxix. 1. This Merodach-baladan is also men- 
 tioned under the same name by Berosus, (see Gese- 
 nius. Com. z. Isa. i. p. 999.) who relates of him, that 
 he usurped the throne after having murdered his 
 predecessor Acises ; that after six months he him- 
 self was slain I)y Belibus, or Elibus, \\ ho undertook 
 to maintain himself as an independent king. But in 
 the third year of his reign, he \\as conquered by 
 Sennacherib, who made his son, Esar-haddon, vice- 
 roy of Babylon. Nevertheless, before the lapse of a 
 century, the empire of Assyria was destined to be 
 overthrown by a power from Babylonia, viz. the 
 Chaldeans. (See this article.) This warlike people, 
 called in Scripture the Chasdim, wlio Jiad formerly 
 inhabited the mountainous tracts in the north of 
 Mesopotamia and Assyria, had now become fixed in 
 Babylonia, anrl must, in a very short tune, have ac- 
 quired tlie upper hand in tho Assyrian empire. For 
 about a century after 1 Isar-haddon, tlie Baliylonian 
 viceroy Nabopolassar made himself independent 
 of Assyria, and, in alliance with Cyaxares of Media, 
 made war upon and conquered that country. (See 
 Assyria.) That Naboj)olassar was a Chaldean, is 
 manifest, from the riiTiimstance that there is no fur- 
 ther mention whatever of A.-syrian kinjis, but onlv 
 of Chaldean sovereigns. In iiis old age he assumed 
 as the partner of his tbrone his son, t!ie celebrated 
 NEBUCHAn.\j://ZAR. (S'>e this article.) Under liis 
 reign the city of Babylon rmd the empire of Babylo- 
 nia attained to their highest pitch of splendor. H(^ 
 died after a r?ign of 35 vears, in the vear 5G2 B. C. 
 
 After his death the Babylonish-Chaldee empire has- 
 tened rapidly to its ruin. His son and successor, 
 Evil-merodach, (2 Kings xxv. 7 ; Jerem. lii. 31.) 
 whose queen was probably the celebrated Nitocris, 
 became so odious by his vices, that he was murdered 
 in the second year of his reign, by his brother-in-law, 
 Neriglissar, who then mounted the throne. He 
 was followed, after a reign of four years, by his son 
 Laborosoarchod, a minor, who, after nine months, 
 was murdered by several of his nobles. These 
 placed Nabo^jnid, or Labynet (the Belshazzar of 
 Daniel) upon the throne, who was a son of Evil- 
 merodach and grandson of Nebuchadnezzar ; and 
 during his minority his mother Nitocris seems to 
 have acted as regent. But at this time the Medo- 
 Persian kingdom was every where acqiuring strength 
 and extent under Cyrus ; and at length Babylon, and 
 with it the Chaldean empire, fell before his arms, and 
 became incorporated with the empire of the Persians, 
 about the year 538 B. C. See Babylon. 
 
 Of the internal constitution of the Babylonian em- 
 pire, we only know, in general, that its provinces were 
 under governors, or viceroys, pachas, — a constitution 
 which seems to be common to all the oriental states 
 of ancient and modern times. But the number of 
 provinces is unknown. *R. 
 
 BACA, THE VALLEY OF, Or of tcais, (Psalm Ixxxiv. 
 6.) perhaps the same as the valley of Tears, or Weep- 
 ers, or Bochim, Judg. ii. 1 ; 2 Sam. v. 23. In a moral 
 sense the vale of tears signifies this world, which, to 
 good men, presents only an occasion of grief and 
 tears, because of the disorders that prevail, of the 
 continual dangers to which we are exjjosed, and the 
 absence of those eternal good things which Ave ought 
 to long after. The Psalmist says, " Blessed is the 
 man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the 
 ways of them, who, passing through the valley of 
 Baca, or tears, make it a well, the rain also filletli tho 
 pools ;" from which it has been generally inferred 
 that the valley of Baca was a dreary, thirsty, uude- 
 su-able place — the very reverse of what appears to be 
 the fact. The following is from De la Roque : (Voy. 
 de Syrie, p. 116.) " I was extremely satisfied with our 
 walk; which, besides, gave me an opportunity of 
 admiring the most agreeable territory, and the best 
 cultivated, i)erhaps, in all Syria, lying the length of 
 the plain from north to south, to the mountains which 
 separate it from that of Damascus. This plain, or, 
 more properly sjieaking, the whole territory of Baal- 
 bec, to the mountains, is named in Arabic, Al-bkaa, 
 which we express by Bekaa. It is watered by the 
 river Letanus, and by many other streams ; it is a 
 delicious, I might say an enchanted, coiuitry, and in 
 nothing inferior to the country of Damascus, which 
 is so renowned among the orientals. Beka produces, 
 among other tilings, those ixautifui and excellent 
 grapes which are sent to various parts, luider the 
 name of grapes of Damascus." This seems to be the 
 very same place meant by the Psalmist, and to have 
 retained (or recovered, as many i)laccs have, under 
 the present Arab government) its ancient ap])ellatioii. 
 It is among the mountains of Lebanon, north of 
 Judea. [It need not, however, be understood, that 
 there was really a valley called Baca, or the valley of 
 loeepintr. The I'saimist in exile, or at least at a dis- 
 tance from Jerusalem, is speaking of the privileges 
 and happiness of those who are permitted to make 
 the usual pilgrimages to that city in order to worship 
 Jehovah in the tenqile: ''They love the ways which 
 lead thither; yea, though they must pass through 
 roueh and dreary paths, even a vale of tears, yet such
 
 BAD 
 
 L 1:59 ] 
 
 BAL 
 
 are their hope and joy of heart, tJjat all tliis is to them 
 as ft well watered countrj', a laud crowned with the 
 blessings of the early rain." Something like this 
 \vould seem to be the sense of the passage. The 
 {)lain or valley of Baalbec, referred to above, could 
 not of coiu-sc Ue in the way of any Israehtes on such 
 a pilgrimage ; while its fertility is utterly inappro- 
 l)riate to the sentiment of the Psalmist. 11. 
 
 BACCfllDES, the general of the Syrian king 
 Demetrius, and go\eruor beyond the river, i. e. the 
 Euphrates, 1 Mace. vii. 8. The king sent him with 
 an army against Judea, to establish the notorious 
 Alcimus (q. v.) by force in the dignity of high-priest, 
 161 B. C. He left with Alcimus a body of troops, 
 that he might maintain himself against Judas Macca- 
 bajus. But, as Judas continued to make progress, 
 Bacchides returned the next year with a chosen ar- 
 my, vanquished and slew Judas at Laisa, (1 Mace, 
 ix. 18.) held Jonathan afterwards at bay, and fortified 
 Jerusalem ; (ix. 49, 50.) but after the death of Alcimus, 
 in the next year, he again withdrew his forces. In 
 the following year, (158 B.C.) however, he returned 
 to Jiidea on the invitation of some of the discontented 
 Jews ; but concluded a peace with Jonathan on rea- 
 sonable terms, and left him to govern the Jewish 
 state, 1 Mace. ix. 70, seq. *R. 
 
 BACKBITE, to speak evil of an absent person. 
 Paid classes this sin with several others of a heinous 
 nature, Rom. i. 30. 
 
 BACKSLIDE, to depart gradually and insensibly 
 from the faith, love and practice of God's truth, Jer. 
 iii. G— 14 ; Hos. iv. 16. 
 
 BADGERS' SKINS. Among those inadvertent 
 renderings, which, for want of better information on 
 oriental natural history, have been adopted, in our 
 public translation, that of "badgers' skins" for the 
 covering of the tabernacle, (Exod. xxv. 5, etal.) and 
 for shoes, (Ezek. xvi. 10.) has been liable to great 
 exception. The badger is an inhabitant of cold 
 countries, certainly not of Arabia, and is rare, even 
 where it breeds ; as in England. It is a small, in- 
 otfensive animal, of the bear genus, and remains 
 torpid all winter. 
 
 The ancient versions, for the most part, took the 
 word Tahash to signify a color, a violet color, to which 
 the rams' skins were dyed ; and for this opinion Bo- 
 chart contends: but the rabbins insist on its being 
 an animal ; and Aben Ezra thinks it to be of the 
 bull kind; some animal which is //(iVA: and ya/; and 
 in this sense the word appears to be the same as the 
 Arabic Dahash, fat, oily. The conjecture, then, of 
 those who refer the Tahash to the seal, is every way 
 credible ; as in our own island the seal is famous 
 for its fat or oil, which, in default of whale oil, is 
 used for similar purposes. Moreover, seal-skins, on 
 account of their durability, are used to cover trunks 
 and boxes, to defend them from the weather ; and 
 as the skin of the Tahash was used for making shoes, 
 (Ezek. xvi. 10.) so the skin of the seal may be, and is, 
 tanned into a^j good leather as calf-skin itself. 
 
 It remains, then, to be proved that an animal, fit 
 for the purpose, was readily ])rocurable by the Israel- 
 ites in the wilderness ; for this we quote Thevenot, 
 (p. 166.) who, being at Tor, a port on the Red sea, 
 says, "But they could not furnish me with any 
 thing of a certain fish, which they call a sea-man. 
 However, I got the hand of one since. This fish is 
 taken in the Red sea, about little isles, that are close 
 by Tor. It is a great, strong fish, and hath nothing 
 extraordinary but two hands, which are indeed like 
 the hands of a maJ), saving that the fingers are 
 
 joined together whh a skin like the foot of a goose ; 
 but the skin ofthejishis like the skin of a iinld ^oat, or 
 cha7nois. When they spy that fish, they strike him 
 on the back with harping irons, as they do whales, 
 and so Idll him. They use the skin of it for making 
 bucklers, which are musket proof." A\'hether this be 
 a species of seal must be left undetermined ; as 
 nothing is said of its coming ashore, or being am- 
 phibious ; nevertheless, it may be the Tahash of the 
 Hebrews. Niebuhr says, (j). 157, Fr. edit.) " A mer- 
 chant of Abushahr called Dahash that fish which the 
 captains of English vessels called porpoise, and the 
 Germans sea-hog, or dolphin. In n)y voyage from 
 Maskat to Abushahr, I saw a prodigious quantity to- 
 gether, near Ras Mussendom, who all were going 
 the same way, and seemed to swim with gicat ve- 
 hemence." 
 
 [Gesenius adopts the same opinion, on account of 
 the similarity of the Arabic name Dahash, which 
 means, projjerly, the dolphin, but is also applied to 
 the seal genus. On many of the small islands of 
 the Red sea, around the peninsula of Sinai, are 
 found seals ; (hence insula phocarum, Strab. xvi. p. 
 776.) likewise, a sj)ecics of sea-cow, called also sea- 
 man or sea-camel, the skin of which is an inch 
 thick, and is used by the Arabs of the present day 
 for shoe-leather. Burckhardt remarks that he " saw 
 parts of the skin of a large fish, killed on the coast, 
 which was an inch in thickness, and is employed by 
 the Arabs instead of leather for sandals." (Travels 
 in Syria and the Holy Land, p. 582.) — Rosenmuel- 
 ler(on Ex. xxv. 5.) inclines to the ancient rendering, 
 which makes the word denote some color. R. 
 
 BAGOAS, Holofernes' chamberlain, who intro- 
 duced Judith hito his master's tent. The word Ba- 
 goas is used for eunuchs in general, and often oc- 
 curs in the history of the East. 
 
 BAHURIIM, a town of Benjamin, (2 Sam. iii. 16 ; 
 xvii. 5; xvi. 18.) probably buih by the young men 
 who escaped the destructioit of their tribe. It is 
 thouglit to have been also named Almon, (Josh. xxi. 
 18.) and Alemath, 1 Chron. vi. 60. 
 
 BAJITH, a tower of Moab, Isaiah xv. 2. 
 
 BALA, a city of the tribe of Simeon, Josh. xix. 3; 
 called also Bilhah, 1 Chr. iv. 29. Josephus also 
 speaks of a place 7.\<au. Ant. vi. 6. 
 
 BALAAM, a prophet, or diviner, of the city Pe- 
 thor, on the Euphrates, Numb. xxii. Balak, king of 
 Moab, luuing seen the multitude of Israel, and fear- 
 ing they would attack his country, sent for Balaam, 
 tocome and curse them. His messengers having 
 declared their errand, Balaam, during the night, con- 
 sulted God; who forbade his going. Balak after- 
 wards sent others, of superior quality : Balaam still 
 declined, but kept them in his house that night; 
 during which the Lord said to him, " If the men 
 COME TO CALL THEE, risc up aud go with them ; but 
 yet the word that I shall say unto thee, that slialt 
 thou do." Balaam, therefore, rose up in the morning, 
 (not staying for the signal appointed to him, of 
 l)eing called by the inessengers, as appears,) aud 
 went with the envoys of Balak. God, i)erceiving 
 this froward evil dis])osition of his heart, was angry ; 
 and an angel stood in the way to stop him. This, 
 Balaam's ass seeing, while the diviner himself was, 
 probably, lost in thought, turned out of the road- 
 way, into the fields. Balaam, however, forced her 
 into the way again, and this occurred a second and 
 a third tiine. "^ (See Ass of Balaam.) At length, 
 Balaam was made sensible of the divine interposi- 
 tion, and offered to retmn home: but, receiving oer-
 
 BALA.\M 
 
 [140] 
 
 BAL 
 
 mission, lie continued bis journey to Balak, who 
 complained of his reluctance in coming. " Now I 
 am come (said Balaam) I can say nothing: the word 
 that God putteth into my mouth, that must I speak." 
 Balak conducted him to a feast in his capital, (Kir- 
 jath Huzoth,) and the next morning carried him to 
 the high places of Baal, and showed him the ex- 
 tremity of the Iraelitish camp. Here Balaam de- 
 sired seven altars to be built, and a bullock and a 
 ram to be offered on each altar, Numb, xxiii. ad Jin. 
 Balak stood by the burnt offering, while Balaam 
 withdrew to his enchantments. God bade him re- 
 turn, and utter an oracular blessing on Israel, and 
 not a curse. This he did a second and a third time, 
 to the extreme mortification of Balak, who dismissed 
 hijii in great anger ; Balaam declaring, that he could 
 not "go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to 
 do either good or bad of his own mind." He sub- 
 sequently foretold what Israel should, in future 
 times, do to the nations round about ; and, after hav- 
 ing advised Balak to engage Israel in idolatry and 
 whoredom, that they might offend God and be for- 
 saken by him, quitted his territories for his own 
 land. Numb. xxiv. 14 ; Mic. vi. 5 ; 2 Pet. ii. 15 ; Jude 
 ii ; Rev. ii. 14. This I)ad counsel was pursued : 
 the young women of Moab inveigled the Hebrews 
 to the feasts of Baal-Peor: persuaded them to idol- 
 atry and seduced them to impurity. God com- 
 manded Moses to avenge this insidious procedure, 
 and he declared war against the Midianites, of whom 
 he slew many, and killed five of their princes. Numb. 
 XXV. 17, 18. Among those who fell on this occa- 
 sion was Balaam, xxxi. 2, 7, 8. 
 
 The rabbins relate many other particulars of Ba- 
 laam ; as that at first he was one of Pharaoh's coun- 
 sellors ; according to others, he was the father of Jan- 
 nes and Jambres, two eminent magicians ; that he 
 squinted, and was lame ; that he was the author of 
 that passage in JVumbers, xohertm his history is re- 
 lated ; and that Moses inserted it, in like manner as 
 he inserted other writings. 
 
 It has been much questioned whether Balaam 
 were a true prophet of the Lord, or a mere diviner, 
 magician, or fortune-teller. Origen and others say, 
 that all his power consisted in magic and cursing ; 
 because the devil, by whose infiucuce he acted, can 
 only curse and injure. Theodorcf, Cyril of Alexan- 
 dria, and Ambrosi', think he prophesied without 
 being aware of the import of what he said; but Je- 
 rome seems to ha\ e adopted tlie opinion of the He- 
 i)rews — that Balaam knew the true God, and was a 
 true proplict, tliougli coiTupted by avarice. Moses 
 certainly says, h<! constdted the Lord ; and calls the 
 Lord, his God, (Numl). xxii. 18.) but this might have 
 been merely Ix'causc he was of the j)osterity of 
 Sheni, which jiatriarch maintained the worship of the 
 Lord among his descendants : so that, while the 
 j)Osterity of Ham fell into idokur}-, and the posterity 
 of Japheth were settle»l at a distance, in Em-ojx!, tlie 
 Shemites maintained the worshij) of Jeliovah, and 
 knew his holiness and jealousy. Tliis appears 
 in the proliigatc; advice which Balaam gives Ba- 
 lak, to seduce the Israelites to transgress against 
 .lehovah, witli the holincfs of whose nature the 
 perverted ))roplict seems to have been well ac- 
 quainted. 
 
 It is worthy of notice in the account of Balaam's 
 divinations, (Numb. xxiv. L) that " When he saw that 
 it pleaded tlie I^onl to bless Israel, he went not as 
 at other times to sick for eiichimtminls ;" i. e. ho did 
 not pretend to go away and seek for omens and 
 
 practise incantations, but began at once to speak in 
 the name of the Lord. 
 
 BALADAN, the father of Meroch-Baladan, the 
 king of Babylon, who sent messengers to Hezekiah, 
 2 Kings XX. 12 ; Isa. xxxix. 1. He is by many sup- 
 posed to have been the same as Nabonassar, a for- 
 mer king of Babylon ; but this does not accord %vith 
 the account of Berosus. See in Babylonia, and 
 Assyria. R. 
 
 BALAK, son of Zippor, king of Moab, being terri- 
 fied at the multitude of Israel who were encamped on 
 the confines of his coimtry, sent deputies to Balaam 
 the diviner, desiring him to come and curse them, or 
 devote them to destruction, Numb. xxii. — xxv. (See 
 Balaam.) Balaam having advised him to engage 
 the Israelites in sin, Balak, politically, as he thought, 
 followed his counsel ; which proved equally per- 
 nicious to him who gave it, to those who followed 
 it, and to those against whom it was intended. The 
 Israehtes, who were betrayed by it, were slain by 
 their brethren who continued unperverted ; Balaam, 
 the author of it, was involved in the slaughter of the 
 Midianites ; and Balak, who had executed it by 
 means of the Midianite women, saw his allies at- 
 tacked, their country plundered, and himself charged 
 with being the cause of their calamity. 
 
 BALANCE, in Scripture, an instrument much of 
 the same nature, probably, as the Roman steelyard, 
 where the weight is hung at one end of the beam, 
 and the article to be weighed at the other end. 
 Balances, in the plural, generally appear to mean 
 scales, — a pair of scales. See Weighing. 
 
 BALDNESS is a natural effect of old age, in 
 which period of life the hair of the head, wanting 
 nourishment, falls off, and leaves the head naked. 
 Baldness Avas used as a token of mourning ; and is 
 threatened to the voluptuous daughters of Israel, 
 instead of well-set hair ; (Isa. iii. 24. see also Mic. i. 
 16.) and instances of it occur, Isa. xv. 2 ; Jer. xlvii. 
 5 ; Ezek. vii. 18 ; Amos viii. 10. 
 
 BALM, see Balsam. 
 
 BALSAM-TREE, or Balsam. The word Balsa- 
 mon may be derived from Baal-shemen, jtr-Sya, i. e. 
 lord of oil ; or the most precious of perfumed oils. 
 The word is not in the Hebrew of the Song of 
 Solomon, but we find the vineyards of Engedi, (i. 
 14.) which are believed to have been gardens of the 
 balsam-tree. In Ezek. xxvii. 17. we find the word 
 pannag ; which the Vulgate translates Balsamum ; and 
 which is so understood by the Chaldee, and other in- 
 terpreters. [The usual Hebrew word is Tzen*, the 
 opohulsam, which was found particularly in Gil- 
 ead. R. 
 
 The Balsam tree, though not a native of Judea, 
 was cultivated in great perfection in the gardens 
 near Jericho, on the banks of Jordan. Josephus, 
 speaking of the vale of Jericho, says, " Now here is 
 the most fruitful country of Judea, which bears a 
 vast number of jifilm trees, besides the balsam tree, 
 whose sprouts they cut with sh.'up stones, and at the 
 incisions they gather the juice, which drops doAvn 
 like tears." 'De Bell. Jud. hb. i. c. 7. sect. 6. The 
 balsam produced by these trees was of such conse- 
 quence as to be noticed by all the writers who 
 treated of Judea. Pliny says, "This tree, which 
 was peculiar to Juris, or the vale of Jericho, was 
 more like a vine than a myrtle. Vespjisian and Ti- 
 tus carried each of them one to Rome as rarities, 
 and Ponipcy boasted of bearing them in his triumph. 
 When Alexander the Great was in Juria, a spoonful 
 of the balsam was all to be collected on n summer's
 
 BALSAM 
 
 [141] 
 
 BALSAiM 
 
 day ; and in the most plentiful year the great royal 
 park of these trees yielded only six gallons, and the 
 smaller one only one gallon. It was, consequently, 
 60 deal-, that it sold for double its weight in silver. 
 But, from the great demand for it, adulteration soon 
 followed, and a spurious sort grew into common use, 
 at a less price." Pliny, Natural History, c. xxv. 
 Justin, indeed, makes this tree the source of all the 
 national wealth ; for in speaking of this part of the 
 country he says, " The wealth of the Jewish nation 
 did arise from the opobalsamum, which doth only 
 grow in those countries, for it is a valley like a gar- 
 den, which is environed in continual hills, and, as 
 it were, enclosed with a wall. The space of the 
 valley contaiueth 200,000 acres, and is called Jericho. 
 In that valley there is a wood as admirable for its 
 fruitfulness as for its delight, for it is intermingled 
 with palm trees and opobalsamum. The trees of 
 the opobalsamum have a resemblance to the fir- 
 tree ; but they are lower, and are planted and hus- 
 banded after the manner of vines, and on a set 
 season of the year they sweat balsam. The darkness 
 of the place is, besides, as wonderful as the fruit- 
 fulness of it. For although the sun shines no where 
 hotter in the world, there is naturally a moderate 
 and perpetual gloominess of the air." Justin's His- 
 tory, lib. xxxvi. In the estimate of the revenues 
 which Cleopatra derived from the region round 
 about Jericho, which had been given to her by An- 
 tony, and which Ilerod afterwards farmed of her, it 
 is ?aid, " that this country bears that balsam which 
 is the r^ost precious drug that is there, and grows 
 there only." Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. xv. c. 4. sect. 
 2. And in the account of Shoba's visit to Solomon, 
 from a desire to see a person so celebrated for his 
 wisdom, it is said that she gave him twenty talents 
 of gold, and an immense quantity of spices and pre- 
 cious stones ; and " they say," adds the Jewish his- 
 torian, " that we are indebted for the root of that 
 balsam, which our country still bears, to this woman's 
 gift." Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. viii. c. 6. sect. 6. This 
 balsam is mentioned in the Scriptures under the 
 name of balm of Gilead, Jer. viii. 22 ; xlvi. 11 ; li. 8. 
 Since the conquest of Palestine by the Romans, says 
 Mr. Buckingham, " the balsam-tree has entirely 
 disappeared ; not one is now to be found." The 
 following account of the balsam-tree is extracted, by 
 Dr. Harris, from Mr. Bruce. The Balessan, balsam, 
 or balm, is an ever-green shrub, or tree, which 
 grows to about 14 feet high, spontaneously and with- 
 out culture, in its native country Azab, and all along 
 the coast to Babelmandel. The trunk is about eight 
 or ten inches in diameter, the wood light and open, 
 gummy, and outwardly of a reddish color, incapable 
 of receiving a polish, and covered with a smooth 
 bark, like that of a young cherry-tree. It flattens at 
 top, like trees that are exposed to snow l)lasts, or sea 
 air, which gives it a stunted appearance. It is re- 
 markable for a penury of leaves ; the flowers are 
 like those of the acacia, small and white, only that 
 three hang upon those filaments or stalks where the 
 acacia has but one. Two of these flowers fall off" 
 and leave a single fruit ; the branches that liear 
 these, ai-e the shoots of the present year ; they are 
 of a reddish color, and rougher than the old wood. 
 After the blossoms, follow yellow, fine scented 
 seed, enclosed in a reddish-black pulpj' nut, very 
 sweet, and containing a yellowish licpior like hone}'. 
 They are bitter, and a little tart upon the tongue, of 
 the same shape and size of the fruit of the turpen- 
 tine-tree, thick in the middle, and pointed at the 
 
 ends. There were three kinds of balsam extracted 
 from this tree. The first was called opobalsamum, 
 and was most highly esteemed. It was that which 
 flowed spontaneously, or by means of an incision, 
 from the trunk or branches of the tree in summer 
 time. The second was carpobalsamum, made by 
 pressing the fruit when in maturity. The third, 
 and least esteemed of all, was hylobalsamum, made 
 by a decoction of the buds and small young twigs. 
 
 The great value set upon this drug in the East is 
 traced to the earliest ages. The Ishmaelites or 
 Arabian carriers or merchants, trafficking with the 
 Arabian commodities into Egjpt, brought with them 
 "■IK, balm, as a part of their cargo, Gen. xxxvii. 25 ; 
 xliii. 11. 
 
 Strabo alone, of all the ancients, has given us the 
 truest account of the place of its origin. " In that 
 most happy land of the Sabseans," says he, " grow 
 the frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon ;" " and 
 in the coast that is about Saba, the balsam also." 
 Among the myrrh-trees behind Azab, all along the 
 coast, is its native country. We need not doubt that 
 it was transplanted early into Arabia, that is, into 
 the south part of Arabia Felix, immediately fronting 
 Azab, where it is indigenous. The high coiuitry of 
 Arabia is too cold to receive it, being all mountain- 
 ous ; water freezes there. The first plantation that 
 succeeded seems to have been at Petra, the ancient 
 metropolis of Arabia, now called Beder, or Bader 
 Hunim. Notwithstanding the positive authority of 
 Josephus, and the great probability that attends it, 
 that Judea was indebted to Sheba for this tree, we 
 cannot put it into competition with what we have 
 been told in Scripture, as we have just now seen, 
 that the place where it grew and was sold to mer- 
 chants was Gilead in Judea, more than 17.30 years be- 
 fore Christ, or 1000 before the queen of Sheba ; so 
 that, in readuig the verse, nothing can be plainer than 
 that it had been transplanted into Judea, flourished, 
 and had become an article of commerce in Gilead, 
 long before the period he mentions. " A company 
 of Ishmaelites canie from Gilead with their camels 
 bearing spices, and balm, and myrrh, going to cany 
 down to Egypt," Gen. xxxvii. 25. Now the spicery 
 or pepper was certainly purchased by the Ishmael- 
 ites at the mouth of the Red sea, where was the 
 market for Indian goods ; and at the same place they 
 must have bought the inyrrh, for that neither grew 
 nor grows any where else, than in Saba, or Azabo, 
 cast of cape Gardefan, where were the ports of India, 
 and whence it Mas dispersed over all the Avorld. 
 
 Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, Strabo, Diodo- 
 rus Siculus, Tacitus, Justin, Solinus, and Serapion, 
 speaking of its costliness and medicinal virtues, all 
 say that this balsam came from Judea. The words 
 of Pliny are, "but of all other odors whatever, 
 balsam is preferred, produced in no other part but 
 in the land of Judea, and even there in two gardens 
 only, both of them belonging to the king, one no 
 more than 20 acres, and the other still smaller." 
 Pliny's History, 1. xxii. c. 25. 
 
 "At this time," continues Mr. Bruce, "I suppose 
 it got its name of balsamum Judaicum, or balm of 
 Gilead, and thence became an article of merchandise 
 and fiscal revenue, which probably occasioned the 
 discouragement of bringing any more from Arabia, 
 whence it was very probably prohibited as contra- 
 band. We should suppose that 30 acres planted wth 
 this tree would have produced more than all the 
 trees of Arabia do at this day. Nor does the planta- 
 tion of Beder Hulsin amount to much more than
 
 BAM 
 
 [ 142] 
 
 BAP 
 
 that quantity ; for we are still to ol^serve, that even 
 when it had been, as it were, naturalized in Judea, 
 and acquired a name in that country, still it bore 
 evident marks of its being a stranger there ; and its 
 bemg confined to two royal gardens alone, shows 
 that it was maintained there by force and culture, and 
 was by no means a native of the country ; and this 
 is confirmed by Strabo, who speaks of it as being 
 in the king's palace and garden of Jericho : the 
 place being one of the warmest in Judea, indicates 
 these apprehensions about it." Briice's Travels, 
 vol. V. p. 23. edit. 8vo. Carpenter's Scrip. Nat. 
 Hist. 
 
 Nothing is more inexplicable to us than the re- 
 mai-k of the bride, (Cant. v. 5.) who, rising from bed, 
 says, " her hands dropped myrrh, (balsam,) and her 
 fingers sweet-smelling myrrh, on the handles of the 
 lock." But we think this extract may assist our 
 conjectures on the subject. Observe, the word 
 rendered sweet-smdling signifies self-Jloiuing — drop- 
 ping — what comes over (as a chemist would say) 
 freely. Now as wc are not bound, that we know of, 
 to restrain this to a juice, we may take it for this 
 very "red, sweet-smelling powder, shed sponta- 
 neously by the tree itself" Moreover, as the women 
 of Ahu Arisch cannot possibly use a powder, simply, 
 to wash themselves with, but must combine it with 
 water or fluid, or essence of some kind, we shall, 
 we apprehend, need only to admit, that with such an 
 essence as the bride calls balsam, she had recently 
 washed herself, (that is, before going to rej)ose,) to 
 perceive that this uicident, so perplexing to us, be- 
 cause unlike our customs, is perfectly agreeable to 
 the customs of eastern countries, and what in Ara- 
 bia would be thought nothing extraordinary. If the 
 bride had only washed her head with such an es- 
 sence, yet some of it might remain on her hands ; 
 but if she had, which nothing forbids, washed her 
 ai"ms and hands also, [vide Al Henxa,) then it might 
 naturally occur to a person, fancying herself in a 
 dream to be acting, that she should suppose her 
 hands and fingers to shed some of this fluid, wher- 
 ever, and on whatever, they touched. It appears 
 that fragrant essences of several kinds are used by 
 the women in Arabia ; of which professor Forskal 
 affords sufficient instances. 
 
 As the opobalsam grows in Arabia, we see no 
 reason wliy it may not be the famous balm of Judea, 
 mentioned Gen. xxxvii. 25. and Jer. xlvi. 11. et al. 
 the 2\cri. There being several other balmy trees, 
 perhaps, may have been the reason why this has 
 any difficulty in it, since certainly we must admit 
 the ])ossibility of its being one of them. 
 
 BA MA H, an eminence, or high place, where the 
 Jews worshii)pcd their idols, Ezek. xx. 29. 
 
 BAMIAN, says Ibii Haukal, " is a town half as 
 large as Balkli, situated on a hill. Before this hill 
 runs a river, the stream of which flows into Gurjes- 
 tan. Bamian has not any gardens or orchards, 
 and it is the only town in this district situated on a 
 iiill. The cold part of Kliorasan is about Bamian." 
 (Sir VV. Oiiselcy's Trans, p. 225.) Tliis town is 
 affirmed to iiave been the residence of Shem. Sec 
 Chaldea. 
 
 BAMOTH, a station of the Israelites, Numb. xxi. 
 19, 20. Eusebius says, Bamoth is a city of Moab, 
 on the river Arnon. It was the same place as the 
 following Bamoth-Baal. 
 
 BMlOTll-liKAUiht high places of Baal, or the 
 heights sacred to Baal, was a city east of tin; river 
 Jordan, given to Reuben, Josh. xiii. 17. Eusebius 
 
 says it was situated on the plains of the Arnon. Sec 
 Bamoth. 
 
 BANNER, see Ensign. 
 
 BAPTISM, Bix7iTiai.(og, from ^anrltw, to wash, to 
 dip, or immerge. 
 
 I. BAPTISM BY WATER. The law and history 
 of the Jews abound with lustrations and baptisms 
 of diflferent sorts. Moses enjoined the people to 
 wash their ganiients, and to purify themselves, by 
 way of preparation for the reception of the law, 
 Exod. xix. 10. The priests and Levites, before they 
 exercised their ministry, washed themselves, Exod. 
 xxix. 4 ; Levit. viii. 6. All legal pollutions were 
 cleansed by baptism, or by plunging into water. 
 Certain diseases and infirmities, natural to men and 
 to women, were to be purified by bathing. To touch 
 a dead body, to be present at funerals, &c. required 
 purification. But these purifications were not uni- 
 form : generally, people dipped themselves entirely 
 under the water, and this is the most simple notion of 
 the word baptize : but, very commonly, ritual bap- 
 tism was performed by aspersion, or such a lustra- 
 tion as included no more than the reception of some 
 lustral blood and water scattered lightly on the per- 
 son ; as, when Moses consecrated the priests and 
 altar; (Exod. xxix. 21.) when the tabernacle was 
 spi-inkled with blood, on the day of solemn expia- 
 tion ; (Lev. viii. 11.) or when the sacrifice was offer- 
 ed by him for the sins of the high-priest and the 
 multitude, (Lev. xvi. 14, 15.) and he wetted the horns 
 of the altar with the blood of the victim. Wlieu 
 a leper was purified after his cure, or when a man 
 was polluted by touching or by meeting a dead 
 body, they lightly sprinkled such persons with lus- 
 tral water. Numb. xix. 13, 18, 20. 
 
 The more strict professors among the Jews washed 
 then- arms up to their elbows, when returned homo 
 from market, or out of the street, fearing they might 
 have touched some polluted thing, or person. They 
 washed their hands, likewise, with great exactness, 
 before and after meals ; also, the furniture and uten- 
 sils of their table and kitchen, as often as they had 
 the least suspicion of their having been jjolhued, 
 Mark vii. 2 ; John ii. 6. The following description 
 of a sect of Christians Avill remind the reader of the 
 notice taken by the Evangelist Mark (chap. vii. 4.) 
 of the ceremonial washings of the Pharisees: "For 
 the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash 
 their hands oft, eat not ; holding the tradition of 
 the elders. And when they come from market, ex- 
 cept they wash, they eat not." — " The Kemmont 
 were once the same as the Falasha. . . . They have 
 great abhorrence to fish, which they not only refrain 
 from eating, but cannot bear the sight of; and the 
 reason they give for this is, that Jonah the prophet 
 (from whom they l)oast they are descended) was swal- 
 lowed by a whale, or some otiier such great fish. 
 They are hewers of wood, and carriers of water, to 
 Gondar, and are held in great detestation by the 
 Abyssinians. They hold that, having been once 
 baptized, and having once comnnuucated, no sort of 
 prayer, or other attention to divine worship, is neces- 
 sary. They icash themselves from head to foot, after 
 coming from market or any public place, ivhere they 
 may have touched any one of a sect different from 
 their otvn, esteeming all such unclenny Bruce, vol. iv. 
 p. 275. 
 
 It may be at least amusing to trace the ideas of in- 
 terpreters on the force of the original words nvyuij^ 
 )ii/t')>ri<'. (Mark vii. 3.) which express, say some, to 
 wash "with the fist," i. e. by rubbing water on the
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 143 
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 palm of one hand with the doubled fist of the other. 
 Lightfoot explains the phrase by " washing the hand 
 as far as the fist extends," i. e. up to the Avrist ; and 
 Theophylact enlarged its meaning still fm-ther, " up 
 to the elbow." We little need to fear that this en- 
 largement of Theophylact should be too gi-eat, if 
 the^e Kemmont might be the commentators ; for 
 thev, it seems, washed themselves from head to foot, 
 after coming from market. May wc not suppose that 
 some of the stricter kind of Pharisees did thus en- 
 tirely wash themselves, though the Evangelist only 
 notices \vhat was general and notorious, or, rather, 
 what he thought best adapted to the conception of 
 the foreigners for whose use he WTOte, and for whom 
 he was under the necessity of explaining the phrases 
 relating to this matter, as "defiled, i. e. unwashed — 
 hands ?" ver. 2. So he glances at their "washing of 
 cups and pots, brazen vessels and tables," which 
 might be washed all over ; whatever be taken as the 
 import of the word baptism, in this place. We see, 
 also, in this instance, how consistent is the idea of 
 persons being excessively scrupulous in some things, 
 while excessively negligent in others; as these Kem- 
 mont, though super-accurate in washing themselves, 
 think attendance on divine worship unnecessary ; in 
 which, also, they remind us of the Pharisees, who 
 neglected "the weightier matters of the law, justice, 
 mercy, and truth," Matt, xxiii. 23. 
 
 But by what means did the Israelites in the wilder- 
 ness, where water was so scarce that a miracle was 
 necessary to procure sufficient for their sustenance, 
 
 [)erform the numerous ablutions required by their 
 aw ? — If the priests could obtain sufficient for their 
 eacred ser\'ices, which no doubt required a consider- 
 able quantity, how should the whole camp, men, 
 women, and children, be furnished, beside their sup- 
 ply for drinking, cooking, &c. with that winch was 
 requisite for natural and for ceremonial washings ? 
 This to each person was no trifluig quantity daily, 
 and in the whole was a vast consumption : add to 
 it, the quantity necessary for supplying the herds of 
 cattle, &c. which are represented as numerous ; and 
 we know, beneath a burning sky, they must have 
 been thirsty, whether at rest or in motion. The 
 present question, however, only regards a supposed 
 waste of water in personal and ceremonial ablu- 
 tions : which those who have observed the frequen- 
 cy of them will not esteem trivial, under the circum- 
 stances of a prodigious multitude stationary in an 
 arid desert. 
 
 The following quotations may assist in regulating 
 our conceptions of this matter. " — If they [the Arab 
 Algerines] cannot come by any water, then they 
 must ivipe [them^lves] as clean as they can, till 
 water may conveniently be had, or else it suffices to 
 take Ahdes iijion a stone, which I call an imaginary 
 Ahdes ; i. e. to smooth their hands over a stone two or 
 three times, and rub them one toith the other, as if they 
 icere ivashiiig ivith water. (The like Abdes sufficeth, 
 when any arc sickly, so that water might endanger 
 their life) and after they have so wiped, it is Gaise, 
 1. e. lawful" to esteem themselves clean. (Pitts' 
 Account of the Mahometan Religion, &c. p. 44.) 
 Perfectly agreeable to this description is Aaron Hill's 
 notice : (Travels, p. 50.) " If the time be cold and 
 rigirl, 'tis enough to make mi outward motion, (i. e. of 
 washing,) and the will is taken for the duty of the 
 action." So in the Mahometan treatise of Prayer, 
 published by De la Motraye, (vol. i. p. 360.) it is said, 
 " In case water is not to be had, that defect may be 
 supplied with earth, a stone, or any other product 
 
 of the earth ; and this is called Tayamum ; atid is 
 performed by cleaning the insides of the hands upon 
 the same, rubbing therewith the face once ; and then 
 again rubbing the hands upon the earth, stone, or 
 whatever it is ; stroking the right arm to the elbow 
 with the left hand ; and so the left with the right." 
 Now, if such ideas prevailed among the Israelites, 
 we see how the whole camp might obtain a suf- 
 ficient degree of purity, yet waste no water. So 
 might single travellers in the desert, as David, Eli- 
 jah, &c. perform their ablutions, at the times when 
 the law more particularly, or when custom more 
 generally, directed them ; although they were dis- 
 tant from pool, fountain, or spring. — But the princi- 
 pal object of reference here is one which, being sin- 
 gular, has always been, in consequence, perplexing : 
 We find Naaman (2 Kings v. 17.) requesting of the 
 prophet Elisha, "two mules' burthen of earth," evi- 
 dently for some religious purpose, but what that pur- 
 pose could be, has embarrassed commentators. The 
 opinion has prevailed, that he meant to form this 
 earth into an altar ; or to spread it for a floor, to 
 pray upon, as if he w^ere thereby constantly resident 
 in that holy country whence he had brought it. 
 But it is not impossible, that there is here a refer- 
 ence to the same custom of using earth instead of 
 VA^ater for purifications. 
 
 There is a description of Elisha the prophet, by a 
 part of his office when servant to Elijah, which ap- 
 pears rather strange to us. " Is there not here a 
 prophet of the Lord ?" says king Jehoshaphat ; and he 
 is answered, "Hei-e is Elisha ben Shaphat, icho poured 
 water on the hands of Elijah," (2 Kings iii. 11.) i. e. 
 who was his servant and constant attendant. So 
 Pitts tells us: (p. 24.) "The table being removed, 
 before they rise, [from the ground whereon they 
 sit,] a slave, or servant, who stands attending on them 
 with a cup of water to give them drink, steps into 
 the middle, with a basin, or copper pot of water 
 soinething like a cofFce-pot, and a little soap, and 
 lets the water run upon their haiids one after another, 
 in order as they sit." Such service, it appears, Elisha 
 performed for Elijah : what shall we say then to the 
 remarkable action of our Lord, who "poured w^ater 
 into a basin, and washed his disciples' feet," after 
 supper? Was he indeed among them as one who 
 serveth ? On this subject D'Ohsson says, (p. 309.) 
 "Ablution, Abdesth, consists in washing the hands, 
 feet, face, and a part of the head ; the law mentions 
 them by the term — " the three parts consecrated to 
 ablution." ... "The Mussulman is generally seated 
 on the edge of a sopha, with a pewler or copper ves- 
 sel lined with tin placed before him upon a round 
 piece of red cloth, to prevent the carpet or mat from 
 being Avet : a servant, kneeling on the ground, pours 
 out water for his master ; another holds a cloth des- 
 tined for these purifications. The person who puri- 
 fies himself i)egins by baring his arms as far as the 
 elbow. As he washes his hands, mouth, nostrils, 
 
 face, arms, &c. he repeats the projier prayers It 
 
 is probable that 3Iohammed followed on this subject 
 the book of Leviticus." It is well known that there 
 was in England an officer, who, at the coronation, 
 and fonnerly at all public festivals, held a basin 
 of water for the king to wash his hands in, after din- 
 ner ; but it is not equally well known, tht.t cardinal 
 Wolsey, one tune, when the duke of Buckingham 
 held the basin for Henry VIII. after the king had 
 washed, put his own hand into the basin ; the duke, 
 resenting this intrusion, let some of the water fall on 
 the habit of the cardinal, who never forgave the
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 [ 144 
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 Bction, but brought the duke to the block, in conse- 
 quence of his resentment. 
 
 When the Jews received a proselyte to their re- 
 hgion, they both circumcised and baptized him ; 
 affirming that this baptism was a kmd of regenera- 
 tion, whereby he was made a new man ; from being 
 a slave, he became free ; and his natural relations 
 before this ceremony were, after it, no longer ac- 
 counted such. See on Matt. iii. 6, Kuinoel and 
 Lightfoot Hor. Heb. also Jahn's Bib. Archseol. 
 § 325. and his large German work, vol. iii. p. 218. 
 Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. Rab. Talm. col. 408.— Jesus is 
 supposed to refer to this species of baptism in his 
 discourse with Nicodemus, John iii. 1 — 12. 
 
 When John Baptist began to preach repentance, 
 he practised a baptism in the waters of Jordan. 
 He did not attribute to this service the virtue of for- 
 giving sins, but used it as a preparation for the bap- 
 tism of Jesus Christ, and for remission (forsaking) of 
 sins. Matt. iii. 2 ; Mark i. 4. He not only exacted 
 sorrow for sin, but a change of life, manifested by 
 such practices as were worthy of repentance. The 
 baptism of John was more perfect than that of the 
 Jews, but was less perfect than that of Christ. " It 
 was," says Chrysostom, " as it were, a bridge, wjiich, 
 from the baptism of the Jews, made a way to that of 
 our Saviour ; it was superior to the first, but inferior 
 to the second." That of John promised what that of 
 Jesus performed. Notwithstanding that John did 
 not enjoin his disciples to continue his baptism after 
 his death — it being superseded by the manifestation 
 of the Messiah, and the gift of the Holy Ghost — 
 many of his followers administered it, several years 
 after the death of Christ, and some did not even 
 know that there was any other baptism.' Among 
 this number was ApoUos, a learned and zealous man 
 of Alexandria, who came to Ephesus twenty years 
 after the resurrection of our Saviour, Acts xviii. 25. 
 And Paul, coming afterwards to the same city, found 
 many Ephesians, who had received no other bap- 
 tism than that of John, and knew not that there 
 were any influences of the Holy Ghost communi- 
 cated by baptism into Christ, Acts xix. 1. Our Sa- 
 viour, when sending his apostles to preach the gos- 
 pel, said, " Go, teach all nations ; baptizing them 
 in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost, Matt, xxviii. 19. Whosoever 
 believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that 
 believeth not shall be damned," Mark xvi. 16 ; John 
 iii. 18. Baptism, therefore, is the first mark by which 
 the disciples of Jesus Christ are distinguished. 
 
 Baptism is taken in Scripture for sufferings : "Can 
 ye drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized 
 with tlie baptism which I am baptized with ?" Mark 
 X. 38. And, Luke xii. 50, " I have a baptism to be 
 baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be 
 accomplished ?" We find traces of similar phrase- 
 ology in the Old Testament (Ps. Ixix. 2, 3.) where 
 waters often denote tribulations ; and where, to be 
 swallowed up by the waters, to pass through great 
 waters, &,c. signifies, to be overwhelmed by mis- 
 fortunes. 
 
 II. BAPTISM BY FIRE. The words of John, 
 Matt. iii. 11. have given occasion to inquire what 
 is meant by baptism by fire. Some of the fathei-s 
 believed, that the faithful, before they entered Para- 
 dise, would pass through a certain fire, to purify 
 them from remaining pollutions. Others explain 
 the term fire of an abundance of graces ; others 
 by the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles, in 
 the form of fiery tongues. Others have said, that 
 
 the word fire is an addition, and that we should read, 
 " I baptize you with water, but he that cometh after 
 me, will baptize you with the Holy Ghost." It is cei'- 
 tain the word^re is not in several MSS. of Matthew ; 
 but we read it in Luke iii. 17. and in the oriental 
 versions of Matthew. Some old heretics understood 
 the passage literally, and maintained, that material 
 fire was necessary in the administration of baptism ; 
 but we are not told either how or to what part of the 
 body they appUed it ; or whether they obliged the 
 baptized to pass over or through the flames. Va- 
 lentinus re-baptized those who had received bap- 
 tism out of his sect, and drew them through the 
 fire. Hcraclion, cited by Clemens Alexandrinus, 
 says, that some applied a red-hot iron to the ears of 
 the baptized, as if to impress some mark on them. 
 
 It deserves notice, that in both the evangelists 
 this prediction is expressed in the same manner ; that 
 is to say, there is no article, nor any sign of disjunc- 
 tion, between the terms Holy Ghost and Jire. Ac- 
 cording, therefore, to the power of the Greek lan- 
 guage, these two terms form but one act, or thing ; 
 or, in other words, this one baptism was to be con- 
 ferred at the same time, not separately, though under 
 two species ; the first that of the Holy Ghost, the 
 second, that of fire ; and to this agi-ees the history, 
 Acts ii. " there was the sound as of a rushing 
 mighty wind," this was the first ; and " the cloven 
 tongues like as of fire, which sat on each of them," 
 this was the second ; — strictly the baptism by fire. 
 Immediately after the appearance of the cloven 
 tongues, it is said, "they were all filled with the 
 Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues :" 
 — The same we read, also, in the histoiy of Corne- 
 lius, (Acts X. 45.) " on the Gentiles also was poured, 
 out the gift of the Holy Ghost ; for they heard them 
 speak with tongues." And Peter, in narrating the 
 history, (Acts xi. 15.) says, "the Holy Ghost fell on 
 them as [he fell] on us at the beginning" — and they 
 were " baptized with the Holy Ghost." Yet, as we 
 read nothing of ivind in this history, it should seem 
 that the symbohcal Jire only appeared ; and that 
 these Gentiles were baptized by fire faUing from 
 heaven ; and afterwards by water, as directed by 
 Peter. 
 
 [After all that is said above, the question, respect- 
 ing the baptism by Jire in Matt. iii. 11, and Luke iii. 
 16, must still be determined by a simple reference 
 to the succeeding verse in each case. The whole 
 passage is as follows : (and John said,) " I indeed 
 baptize you with water unto repentance ; but there 
 cometh one mightier than I, whose shoes I am not 
 worthy to bear ; he shall baptize you with the Holy 
 Ghost and with fire : Whose fan is in his hand, and 
 he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his 
 wheat into his gamer ; but the chaff he will burn 
 with unquenchable fire." Here tlie ivheat are evi- 
 dently those who receive Christ as the JNIessiah, and 
 embrace his doctrines ; these he will baptize with 
 the Holy Ghost, i. e. he will impart to them spiritual 
 gifts, the teachings and consolations of the Holy 
 Spirit : while the chaff arc as evidently those who 
 reject Christ and his doctrines, and live in sin ; 
 these he will baptize with Jire " unquenchable ;" 
 they shall "go away to everlasting punishment." 
 Compare also Matt. iii. 10. R. 
 
 III. BAPTISM IN THE NAME OF JeSUS ChRIST. 
 
 Many difificulties have been raised on the words of 
 Luke: (Acts x. 48.) "Be baptized in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins." And 
 again, (chap. viii. 16.) "They were baptized in the
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 [ 145] 
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 .NAME OF THE LORD Jesus." It lias beeu questioned, 
 whether baptism was ever administered in the name 
 of Jesus only, without express mention of the 
 Father and the Spirit ; and whether such baptism 
 could be valid or lawful. ]Many fathers, and some 
 councils, believed tliat the apostles, occasionally, had 
 baptized in the name of Jesus only ; and Ambrose 
 asserts that though one person only of the Trinity 
 were expressed, the baptism is perfect. " For," adds 
 he, " whosoever names one person of the Trinity, 
 means the whole." But, as this opinion is founded 
 only on a dubious fact, and an obscure text, it is not 
 impossible that these fathers and councils might be 
 mistaken ; first, as to the fact, and explanation of 
 the text ; and secondly, in the consequences they 
 drew from it. It may be shown, (I.) that the text 
 in the Acts is not clear for this opinion ; (2.) that it 
 is very dubious whether the apostles ever baptized 
 in the name of Jesus only. By baptizing in the 
 name of Jesus, may be signified, (1.) either to bap- 
 tize with invocation of the name of Jesus alone, 
 without mentioning the Father and the Spirit ; or 
 (2.) to baptize in his name, by his authority, with 
 liis baptism, and into his rehgion, (making express 
 mention of the three persons of the Trinity,) as he 
 has cleai'ly and plainly commanded in Matthew, 
 Since, therefore, we have a positive and explicit text 
 for this service, — what should induce us to leave it, 
 and to follow another capable of different senses ? 
 Who will believe that the apostles, forsaking the form 
 of baptisni prescribed to them by Jesus Christ, had 
 instituted another form, quite new, and without ne- 
 cessity ? In fact, the opmion that baptisjn ought to 
 be administered in the name of the whole Trinity, 
 and with express invocation of three persons, has a 
 clear text of Scripture in its favor, where the rite is 
 instituted, as it were, and expressly treated of; and 
 this against an incidental mention of it in a historical 
 relation, among other things, and capable of several 
 senses. 
 
 There is a very sudden turn of metaphor used by 
 the apostle Paul, in Rom. vi. 3 — 5. " Know ye not that 
 so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ wei-e 
 baptized into his death? therefore we are buried ivith 
 hivi by baptism into death . . . that we should walk in 
 ne^vuess of life. For if we have been planted to- 
 
 f ether [with him] in the likeness of his death, we shall 
 e also planted in the likeness of his resurrection." 
 Now what has baptism to do with planting ? Wherein 
 consists their similarity, so as to justify the resem- 
 blance here implied ? In 1 Pet. iii. 21. we find the 
 apostle speaking of baptism, figuratively, as "saving 
 us;" and alluding to Noah, who long lay buried in 
 the ark, as corn long lies buried in the earth. Now, 
 as after having died to his former course of life in 
 being baptized, a convert was considered as rising to 
 a renewed life, so after having been separated from 
 his former connections, his seed-bed as it were, after 
 having died in being planted, he was considered as 
 rising to renewed life also. The ideas, therefore, 
 convej^ed by the apostle in these verses are precisely 
 the same ; though the metaphors are different. 
 Moreover, if it were anciently common to speak of a 
 person, after baptism, as rising to renewed life, and 
 to consider corn also as sprouting to a renewed life, 
 then we see how easily Hymeneus and Philetus (1 
 Tim, i, 18.) " concerning the truth might err, saying, 
 tliat the resurrection was past already ;" that is, in 
 baptism, [quasi in planting, that is, in being transfer- 
 red to Cliristianity,] in which error they did little 
 more than annex their old heathen notions to the 
 19 
 
 Christian institution. The transition was extremely 
 easy ; but, unless checked in time, the error might 
 have become very dangerous. We think this more 
 likely to have been the fact respecting these errone- 
 ous teachers, than any allusion to vice, as death, and to 
 a return to virtue, as life ; which Warburton proposes, 
 (Div. Leg. vol. i. p. 435.) and the notion seems to have 
 been adopted by Menander, who taught (Irenteus, lib. 
 i. cap. 21.) that his disciples obtained resurrection by 
 his baptism, and so became immortal. How easily 
 figurative language suffers under the misconstructions 
 ot gross conception ! 
 
 IV. BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD. The apostle Paul, 
 (1 Cor. XV. 29.) proving the resurrection of the dead, 
 says, " If the dead rise not at all, what shall they do 
 who are baptized for the dead ?" The question is, 
 W^liat is meant by " baptism for the dead ?" No one 
 pretends, that the apostle approves the practice, or 
 authorizes the opinion. It is sufiicient, that there 
 were people who thus thought and acted at the time. 
 Observe, also, he does not say, the Corinthians caused 
 themselves to be baptized for the dead ; but — " what 
 shall THEY do, who are baptized for the dead ?" How 
 will THEY support this practice, upon what will they 
 justify it, if the dead rise not again, and if souls de- 
 parted rise not after death .' We might easily show, 
 that some at this time, who called themselves Chris- 
 tians, were baptized for the dead, — for the advantage 
 of the dead. When this epistle to the Corinthians 
 was ^^Titten, twenty-three years after the resurrection 
 of our Saviour, several heretics (as the Simoniaus, 
 Gnostics, and Nicolaitans) denied the real resurrec- 
 tion of the dead, and acknowledged only a metaphor- 
 ical resuiTection received in baptism. The Marcion- 
 ites, who appeared some time afterwards, embraced 
 the same principles; they denied the resurrection of 
 the dead, and, which is more particular, they received 
 baptism for the dead. This we learn from Tertullian, 
 who tells the Marcionites, that they ought not to use 
 Paul's authority, in favor of their jiractice of receiving 
 " baptism for the dead ;" and that if the apostle no- 
 tices this custom, it is only to prove the resurrection 
 of the dead against themselves. In another place, he 
 confesses that in Paul's time, some were baptized a 
 second time for the dead, — on behalf of the dead ; 
 hoping it would be of service to others, as to their 
 resurrection, (contra Marcion, v, 10; Dc Resurrect. 
 Carnis, c. 48.) 
 
 Chrysostom says, that among the Marcionites, 
 when any of their catechumens die, they lay a living 
 person under the bed of the deceased ; then, advanc- 
 ing toward the dead body, they ask whether he be 
 willing to receive baptism. The person under the 
 bed answers for him, that he desires earnestly to be 
 baptized ; and, accordingly, he is so, instead of the 
 dead jjerson ; thus making a mimimery of this sacred 
 administration. (In 1 Cor. Ilomil. 40.) Epiplianius also 
 asserts that the Marcionites received baptism not only 
 once, but frequently, as often as they thought proper ; 
 and they procured themselves to be baj)tized in the 
 name of tbose among them who died without bap- 
 tism, as substituted representatives of such persons ; 
 and that Paul had these heretics in view, (Hseres, 42. 
 et 28.) 
 
 Bochart has collected no less than fifteen senses in 
 which this passage has been taken by the learned, 
 such is its obscurity ; but it is only obscure to us, by 
 reason of our ignorance of ancient customs. It was 
 clear to the apostle ; and equally clear to those to 
 whom he wrote. He refers to a rite well known, 
 openly and avowedly practised ; not by a few, nor by
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 146 ] 
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 a petty sect of Christians, but by a whole people : hi 
 short, it was familiar to the Corinthians, and needed 
 no explanation. It is somewhat singular, that the 
 import of the Jewish practice in cases of pollution 
 by a dead body, should have been so imperfectly 
 applied in explanation of this subject ; but we have 
 taken the liberty to apply the idea to the illustration 
 of the text. The first office jjerformed to a dead 
 body was washing: and this was common to the 
 heathen, 
 
 Tarquinii corpus bona famina lavit ct unxit; 
 
 and to the Jews, as appears from the Talmud ; and 
 to the early Christians, Acts ix. 37. Accordingly, 
 the person who laid out, and washed, a dead body, 
 and consequently participated in the pollution occa- 
 sioned by death, participated also in the customary 
 interment of the dead. Death was, as it were, im- 
 puted to him ; and he continued iii a state of seclusion 
 from society till the third day. On that day he 
 washed himself thoroughly in water, and was bap- 
 tized by the sprinkling of the ashes of the red heifer ; 
 which restored him to his place among the living, 
 and was to him a release from his sepulchral state ; 
 in other words, a resurrection. This sprinkling is 
 expressly enumerated among the Jewish baptisms by 
 the apostle, Heb. ix. 10, 13. See also, in Gr. Ecclus. 
 xxxiv. 25. Suppose, then, a person to be polluted by 
 a dead body on Friday afternoon, he would be synj- 
 bolically dead the remainder of the day, the whole 
 of Saturday, and until he was baptized by the ashes 
 on the Sunday morning: such being the Hebrew 
 manner of reckoning three days. It is evident, that 
 he sympathized with the death of the party who oc- 
 casioned his pollution, by symbolizing with his inter- 
 ment, and with his washing; and if the Jews imder- 
 stood the symbol, and attached to the subsequent 
 baptism the idea of an illustration of the national 
 hope of a resurrection, (Acts xxiii. G.) then the apos- 
 tle's argument is extremely cogent on that people : 
 "What shall thty — the Jews — do, who are baptized 
 for the dead ; [literally, instead of the dead, as sub- 
 stitutes for the dead, vtxnioy, plural,] if there is not, 
 if there cannot be, any such thing as a resurrection 
 of the dead, why do they undergo a ceremony the 
 very purport and intention of which is the prefigura- 
 tion of a resurrection? Why are they baptized as 
 substitutes for — as r(>])resentatives of — the dead ?" 
 From this argument the Sadducees among the Jews 
 must be excepted ; and also the heathen. The apos- 
 tle's words, therefore, are not general, but an argn- 
 mentum ad homincm. The reader will aUjo oljscrve 
 the force of the article before the term dead, T('n- 
 vfx-y^n-, not any dead, nor the dead in general, but, 
 those dead well known to the parties ; — as the cus- 
 tO!n was well known to the Corinthians. That the 
 Jews really did attach the idea of regeneration to 
 baptism in th(! case of conv(;rts, as observed by Cal- 
 met, in the early part of this article, is well known 
 from Maimonides, and other rab])ins: and the resem- 
 blance between regnirration, i;n])nrting a renewal of 
 life, and resurrertion, imporlln;,' also a renewal of life, 
 is so close, that they migiit almost be considered as 
 two words expressing the sanio thing; and, probably, 
 they were so used among the .lews. 
 
 [This passage respecting hnpllum for the dead (1 
 Cor. XV. 29.) has been a stumbling-hlock to interpret- 
 ers in eveiy age. Neither of the explanations above 
 given is satisfactory ; and it may not, thert>fore, be 
 uninteresting to the reader, to have the subject pm'- 
 su;"<l to a greater extent. In doing this, the writer 
 
 is happy in being able to avail himself of manuscript 
 notes of lectures delivered on this epistle by the 
 learned and pious professor Neander of Berlin ; and, 
 more particularly, the judgments passed upon the 
 testimony of the fathers in the following paragraphs, 
 rest upon his authority. 
 
 The most ancient interpretation which we have of 
 the passage, follows the simple and literal meaiiing of 
 the words: ^ianriita-S-at mio rixq<T,y, to be baptized, for, 
 instead of, the dead. In this it is assumed, that at the 
 time when Paul wrote, many Christians had con- 
 ceived superstitious notions in respect to the efficacy 
 of the external rite of baptism ; they supposed that 
 those catechumens and others who died without bap- 
 tism, were exposed to certain damnation ; and there- 
 fore they had adopted a vicarious mode by which 
 they might still receive the benefit of the rite, viz. the 
 relatives or friends of such deceased persons were 
 baptized in their stead. Paid (it is admitted) cannot 
 of coin-se assent to such a superstition ; but he argues 
 here only ad hominem, or ex concessis ; i. e. " this very 
 superstition shows, how deeply the belief in a resiu'- 
 rection is grounded in the very nature of man." Ter- 
 tullian (as quoted above) remarks, that this superstition 
 would be something entirely heathenish ; and he 
 compares it with the lustrations of the heathen for 
 the dead on the first of February. This interpreta- 
 tion is also found in the commentary of Hilarius. — 
 There are, indeed, many things to be said in favor of 
 the supposition of the existence of such a supersti- 
 tion ; but the passage of Tertidlian cannot properly 
 be thus applied ; because he conies to this conclusion 
 only through an exegetical inference. Epiphaniiis 
 is of opinion, that among the sect of Cerinthus the 
 usage was prevalent, that living persons were baptized 
 in place of the dead ; and he appeals to an ancient 
 tradition, which related that Paul had condemncfl 
 such a superstition. But the accounts which are 
 given by Epiphanius are to be received with giTat 
 caution and sus])icion. Chrysostom also relates of 
 the Marcionites the story which has been already 
 quoted above. But in respect to this alleged custom 
 of the Marcionites, it may be said, that it is not so old 
 as the sect of Marcion. At least, the customs which 
 were prevalent among the Marcionites of Chrysos- 
 tom's day, and in Syria, camiot justly be charged 
 upon Marcion himself and his inmiediate disciples. 
 The whole rests upon conjecture ; and this, so far as 
 it concerns the a])ostolic age, is improbable. Indeed, 
 the probability is, that the Marcionites would never 
 have introduced such a custom, had it not been for 
 their misa))prehension of this passage of the apostle. 
 But even if there was actually such a sujierstitious 
 custom extant, we are by no means entitled to as- 
 sume, that Paul would feel himself warranted to 
 deduce from it an argument in favor of the resurrec- 
 tion. A practice so sui)crstitious ajid unchristian 
 Paul would never have alluded to, without con- 
 denuiing and coiUesting it. Besides, it is quite ini- 
 pro!)al)le, that at so early a period there was any such 
 a class of persons as c;itechumens. 
 
 Another intcrpretalion, ado])ted by many, takes 
 the word baptize in its literal sense; but gives to 
 v.Tln the sense_/()7' the sake of, and supposes tlu; j)lural 
 ytxno:v to \)i'. j)ut by enallage for the singular u^oor. 
 Then the sense is, " What do they, who ai'c baptized 
 for the dead ?" i. e. for the sake oi" Christ, the cruci- 
 fied Saviotn-. The argmnent would here be good ; but 
 the use of r/itii would i)e unusual, since it must then 
 mean in faith on a deceased Jesus. But the use of 
 the plural for the singular is here inadmissible ; both
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 [ 147 1 
 
 BAR 
 
 on account of the great heirshness, and particularly 
 
 because of tlje followiug plural pronoun at ro">) . 
 
 It has also been proposed to take ' (ty in the sense 
 of over, " to baptize over the dead ;" i. e. either upon 
 the graves of Christian martyrs, or by the deathbeds 
 of expiring Cln-istians. But there is no evidence of 
 the existence of any such custom ; nor would there 
 be any force whatever in such an argument. It 
 could, at most, be only as before, an argumentum ad 
 homine^n. 
 
 Tlierc remain, however, two modes of explanation 
 here, both of Avhicli are natural, and give an easy and 
 satisfactory sense. It is perhaps more a matter of 
 taste tlian of argument, wliich of the two is to be 
 l)referred. 
 
 The one method sets out from the literal and perhaps 
 original meaning of the word ('Ju.t r/l'f n, to immerse, im- 
 vierge, i. e. so as to be entirely sunk or immersed in any 
 thing. Thus in Isa. xxi. 4. instead of " tearfulness 
 aflrighted me," the Septuagint reads, "iniquity bap- 
 tized me," i. e. overwhelmed me, so that I was 
 wholly immersed in it. Hence, also, metaphorically, 
 ^ia.rTitiaSat, to be immersed in calamities ; as in Matt. 
 XX. 22, and 3Iark x. 38, " Can ye be baptized with the 
 baptism that I am baptized with ?" and also Luke 
 xii. 50, " I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and 
 how am I straitened till it be accomplished !" So 
 also Josephus, (B. J. iv. 3. 3.) in speaking of bands 
 of robbers who had crept into Jerusalem, which was 
 then defenceless, says, voTfoov iiu.iriaur tm .7i'.w>', 
 "afterwards they baptized the city," i. e. filled it v/ith 
 confusion and suffering, immersed it in calamities. 
 This meaning now furnishes a very appropriate sense 
 in the passage in question. The argument of the 
 apostle then is: "If the dead rise not at all, of Avhat 
 avail is it to expose oui-selves to so many dangers and 
 calamities in the hope of a resurrection and future 
 reward ? in the hope that we shall rise again and 
 enter into rest ? since, if the supposition be true, we 
 are oi ny.Qoi, dead, and are never to rise." Compare 
 verses 30 and 31, where xirSwivw, to be in jeopardy, 
 and a.io9ri[oy.v), to die, are substituted for liuririCtn, to 
 baptize ; compare also the use of the word dead in 
 Luke XX. 38. 
 
 The objections which may be suggested to this 
 interpretation, are the following : (1.) The word baj)- 
 tize is thus taken here in a figurative signification, 
 while there is in fact nothing which requires it to be 
 so taken. (2.) It is remarkable, that Paul should 
 here use baptize twice in this sense, instead of using 
 some other word, — especially as he re])eats no other 
 word in the same manner. (3.) The baptizing in v. 
 29 seems to be something common to all Christians ; 
 whereas the dangers spoken of in v. 30, etc. are 
 tliose of Paul himself, or, at most, those of the 
 preachers of Christianity. 
 
 The other remaining method retains the literal and 
 usual sense of baptize, as designating the oi-dinaiy 
 religious rite ; and gi-ounds itself particularly on the 
 circumstance, that in the previous verses, as well as 
 elsewhere, Paul makes the relation between the 
 resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of believ- 
 ers an object of great prominency. " They are buried 
 with him in baptism unto death ; wherein also they 
 are risen with him unto newness of life," etc. Rom. 
 vi. 4 ; Col. ii. 12. Bajjtism, therefore, is to them not 
 only the symbol of a present resurrection to a new 
 life, but also the symbol of a |)articij)ation in the 
 future resurrection. Keeping this idea in view, the 
 question very nattjrally and cogently arises: "If th^ 
 (io;i(l rise not, wlmt do they who are baptized for the 
 
 dead .»" i. e. who are baptized into a belief in Christ 
 and a resurrection, and into the hope of partici- 
 pating in that resurrection, while yet they are never 
 to rise again, but for ever to remain dead. Why are 
 they baptized into a belief, in which, after all, they 
 do not beUeve ? What means such baptism as this ? 
 and what is the benefit of it either here or hereafter .' 
 
 The objections to be suggested here are : (1.) That 
 the argument of the apostle is thus reduced ad homi- 
 7iem, though more extensive and stronger than in the 
 cases above considered. (2.) That the transition 
 from verse 29 to verse 30 is thus rendered quite ab- 
 rupt and unusual. 
 
 It shoidd be remarked, that verse 29 is to be taken 
 in immediate connection with verse 19 ; the inter- 
 vening nine verses being a digression or parenthesis. 
 Taking into view this connection of verse 29 with 
 both the verses 19 and 30, the writer has ever been 
 inclined to prefer the former of these two interpreta- 
 tions ; since in this way verse 29 forms with those 
 two verses a continuous whole, in which the idea of 
 calamity and danger is dwelt upon throughout ; while 
 in the other mode, a new and less forcible appeal is 
 interposed between the two parts of one and the 
 same argument expressed in verses 19 and 30. The 
 excellent ?\^eander inclines to the latter method ; 
 which is also that of Wetstein. *R. 
 
 BARABBAS, a remarkable thief, guilty also of 
 sedition and murder ; jet preferred before Jesus 
 Christ, by the Jews, John xviii. 40. Origen says, 
 that in many copies, Barabbas was called Jesus 
 likewise. The Armenian has the same reading : 
 "Whom will ye that I deliver unto you ; Jesus Ba- 
 rabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ ?" This gives 
 an additional spirit to the history ; and well deserves 
 notice. 
 
 BARACHIAS, father of Zechariah, mentioned 
 Matt, xxiii. 35. [There are two persons to whom 
 this name is referred with greater or less probability 
 by commentators ; since there are two Zechariahs 
 mentioned in history as having been slain by the 
 people in the midst of the temple. The first is 
 Zechariah the sou of Jehoiada, mentioned in 2 Chron. 
 xxiv. 20, seq. as having been slain in the court of the 
 temple by the command of king Joash. If this was 
 the Zechariah intended by Jesus, then his father must 
 have borne two names ; a thing not uncommon 
 among the Jews. The other is Zechai-iah the son 
 of Baruch, mentioned by Josephus (B. J. iv. G. 4.) 
 as having been slain by the zealots in the midst 
 of the temple, just before the taking of Jerusalem. 
 The name Baruch, and the circumstances, correspond 
 here entirely ; but the difficulty lies in the fact, that 
 this Zechariah was not thus murdered until long 
 aflcr the death of Christ, who must then have spoken 
 prophetically, whereas he evidently appears to speak 
 only of the past. To avoid this difficulty, which is 
 the only one, some, as Hug, (Einl. ii. p. 10.) have 
 supposed that Jesus did in I'act sjjeak {prophetically 
 ajid prospectively ; but that when Matthew penned 
 his Gospel, after the event thus predicted had actu- 
 ally taken place, he chose to make the Saviour em- 
 ploy an aorist instead of a fiiture tense in respect to 
 it ; in order to call the atttntiou of his rcatlers to it 
 as an historical fact, rather than as a prophetical allu- 
 sion. R. 
 
 BARAK, the son of Abinoam, who was chosen 
 by God to deliver the Hebrews from that bondage 
 under which tiiey were lield by Jabin, king of the 
 Canaanites, Judg. iv. 4. He 'refused to obey the 
 Lord's orders, signified to him by Deborah, the
 
 BAR 
 
 [ 148 ] 
 
 BAR 
 
 prophetess, unless she consented to go with him. 
 Deborah, therefore, accompanied him towards Ke- 
 desh of Naphtah ; and having assembled 10,000 men, 
 they advanced to mount Tabor. Sisera, being in- 
 formed of this movement, marched with 900 chariots 
 of war, and encamped near the river Kishon ; but 
 Barak rapidly descending from mount Tabor, and 
 the Lord having spread terror through Sisera's army, 
 a complete victory was easily obtained. Sisera was 
 killed by Jael, and Barak and Deborah composed a 
 hymn of thanksgiving. See Deborah. 
 
 BARBARIAN, a word used by the HcbreAVS to 
 denote a stranger ; one who knows neither the holy 
 language nor the law. According to the Greeks, all 
 other nations, however learned or polite they might 
 be in themselves and in their manners, were barba- 
 rians. Hence Paul comprehends all mankind under 
 the names of Greeks and barbarians, (Rom. i. 14.) 
 and Luke calls the inhabitants of the island of Malta, 
 barbarians. Acts xxviii. 2, 4. In 1 Cor. xiv. 11. the 
 apostle says, that if he who speaks a foreign language 
 in an assembh', be not understood by those to whom 
 he discourses, with respect to them he is a barbarian ; 
 and, reciprocall}', if he understand not those who 
 speak to hitn, thej' are to him barbarians. Barbarian, 
 therefore, is used in Scri])turc for every stranger, or 
 foreigner, who does not speak our native language, 
 and includes no implication whatever of savage nature 
 or manners in tliose respecting whom it is used. 
 
 BAR-CHOCHEBA, or Chochebas, or Chochi- 
 Bus, a famous impostor. It is said, he assumed the 
 name of Bar-Choclieba, that is. Son of the Star, from 
 the words of Balaam, Avhich he applied to himself as 
 the Messiah: "There shall come a star [cocdb) out 
 of Jacob, and a sceptre out of Israel." Bar-Chochelm 
 engaged the Jews to revolt, (A. D. 136,) under the 
 reign of Adrian, who sent Julius Severus against 
 him. The Roman shut him up in Bether, the siege 
 of which Wiis long and obstinate. The town, how- 
 ever, was at length taken, and the war tinished. Bar- 
 Chocheba perished, and the nndtitude of Jews put 
 to death, or sold during the war, and in consequence 
 of it, was almost innumerable. After this, Adrian 
 published an edict, forbidding the Jews, on ])ain of 
 death, to visit Jerusalem ; and guards were placed at 
 the gates, to prevent their entering. The rebellion 
 of Bar-Chocheba happened A. D.136, in the 19th 
 year of Adrian. 
 
 BAR-JESUS, a Jewish magician in the isle of 
 Crete, Acts xiii. (i. Luke calls him Elymas, which 
 in Arabic is, the sorcerer. He was with the procon- 
 sul, Sergius Paulns, who, sending for Paul and Bar- 
 nabas, desired to hear the word of God. Bar-Jesus 
 endeavoring to hinder the proconsul from embracing 
 Christianity, Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, said, 
 "Thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not 
 cease to pervert the ways of the Lord ? Behold, the 
 hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou sjialt be blind, 
 not seeing the sun, for a season;" which took place 
 immediately. The proconsul was converted, and 
 Origen and (Jhrysostom s\ippose, that Elyinas was 
 also converted, and that Paul restored his sight. 
 
 BAR-JONA, a name by which onr Saviour some- 
 limes calls Peter; (Matt. xvi. 17.) i. q. son of Jonah. 
 
 B.\RIS, the name of a j)alace begun by John Hir- 
 canus, on the mountain of the tejni)le;'and which 
 afterwards was used for the residence of the Asmo- 
 naean princes. Herod the Great made a citadel of it, 
 which he called Antonia, in honor of his friend Mark 
 Antony. See Axtoma. 
 
 BARI^EY. In Palestine, barley was sown in au- 
 
 tumn, and reaped in spring, that is, at the passover. 
 The rabbins sometimes called barley the food of 
 beasts, because they fed their cattle with it, 1 Kings 
 iv. 28. In Homer, we find barley always given to 
 horses. Herodotus tells us, that the Egyptians ate 
 neither wheat nor barley, using a particular sort of 
 corn instead of them. Nevertheless, the Hebrews 
 frequently used barley bread, 2 Sam. xvii. 28. Da- 
 vid's friends brought him in his flight, wheat, barley, 
 &c. and Solomon sent wheat, barley, wine, and oil, 
 to the servants whom king Hiram had furnished 
 him, for the works at Libanus, 2 Chron. ii. 15. See 
 also John vi. 9 ; 2 Kings iv. 42. 
 
 Moses remarks, that when the hail fell in Egypt, 
 the flax and the barley were bruised and destroyed, 
 because the flax was full grown, and the barley form- 
 ing its gi-een ears ; but the wheat and the rye were 
 not damaged, because they were only in the blade, 
 Gen. ix. 31. This was some days before the depart- 
 ure of the Israelites out of Egypt ; or b-efore the 
 passover. In Egypt, barley harvest does not begin 
 till toward the end of April. 
 
 BARNABAS, Joseph, or Joses, a disciple of Je- 
 sus, and a companion of the apostle Paul. He was 
 a Levite, and a native of the isle of Cyprus, and is 
 believed to have sold all his property, and laid the 
 price of it at the apostles' feet. Acts iv. 36. It is said 
 he was brought up with Paul at the feet of Gamaliel. 
 When that apostle came to Jerusalem, three years 
 after his conversion, Barnabas introduced him to the 
 other apostles, Acts ix. 26, 27. about A. D. 37. Five 
 years afterwards, the church at Jerusalem, being in- 
 formed of the jirogress of the gospel at Antioch, sent 
 Barnabas thither, who beheld Avith great joy the 
 wonders of the grace of God, Acts xi. 22, 24. He 
 exhorted the faithful to jjerseverance, and some time 
 afterwards went to Tarsus, to seek Paul, and bring 
 him to Antioch, where they dwelt together two years, 
 and converted great numbers. They left Antioch, 
 A. D. 44, to convey alms from this church to that at 
 Jerusalem, and at their return they brought John 
 Mark, Barnabas's cousin, or nephew. While they 
 were at Antioch, the Holy Ghost directed that they 
 should be separated for those labors to which he had 
 appointed them ; i. e. the planting of new churches 
 among the Gentiles. After three years they returned 
 to Antioch. In their second journey into Asia Mi- 
 nor, Barnabas, at Lystra, was taken for Jupiter, but 
 was afterwards persecuted by the same peojjle. In 
 A. D. 51, he and Paul were appointed delegates from 
 the Syrian church to Jerusalem, and '.hen to carry 
 the apostolic decrees to the Gentile cluirches. At 
 Antioch he was led into dissimulation by Peter, and 
 was, in consequence, reproved by Paul. In their 
 return to Asia Elinor, Paul and Barnabas having a 
 dispute relative to Mark, Barnabas's ncphcAv, they 
 separated. Paid going to Asia, and Barnabas, wth 
 Mark, to Cyprus, Acts xiii — xv ; Gal. ii. 13. A 
 spurious gospel and ejjistle an; ascribed to Barnabas. 
 See Fabn Cod. Apoc. N. T. 
 
 BARRENNESS, sterility, want of issue or fruit, 
 Gen. xi. 30; 2 Kings ii. 19, 21. Barrenness is ac- 
 coiuited a great misfortune among the eastern people ; 
 and was esj)ecially so among the Jews. Professore 
 of Christianity are, figuratively, said to be barren, 
 when they are destitute of the fruits of the Spirit, 
 or do not abound in good works, Luke xiii. 6 — 9; 2 
 Pet. i. 8. 
 
 In the description of Jericho, 2 Kings ii. 19. we 
 read in the Phiglish version as follows: The men of 
 Jericho said to Elisba, " Behold, T pray thee, the situ-
 
 BARRENNESS 
 
 [ 149 
 
 BARRENNESS 
 
 atiou of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth ; but the 
 water is naught, and the ground barren ;" — where 
 the margin reads, " causing to miscarnj," Our trans- 
 lators seem to have been startled at such a property 
 in the ground ; and, therefore, placed the literal 
 rendering in the margin. Again, (v. 21.) " Thus 
 saith the Lord, I have healed these waters : there 
 shall not be from thence any more death, or barren 
 land" — literally, aboHion. The import of the root of 
 the word here translated barren (nS3!:'c) is, to bereave, 
 as of children : (Gen. xlii. 8G.) — to lose, as by abor- 
 tion ; to miscarry; (Gen. xxxi. 38.) "thy she-goats 
 have not cast their young." It is here in Piel, and 
 has a causative sense, to cause abortion. This is here 
 ascribed to the soil ; though in verse 21 it is imphed 
 that the water was the cause ; since that being healed, 
 the cause of aboilion ceased. It cannot well refer 
 here to any effect upon natural productions ; because 
 Jericho was celebrated for its fertility, is pronounced 
 pleasant, and is called "the city of palm-trees," 2 
 Chron. xxviii. 15. We must rather, therefore, refer 
 it to a destructive influence on animal life, arising 
 partly, jjcrhaps, from the drinking of the water, and 
 partly from the eftects of the water upon the adjacent 
 ti'act of country. 
 
 Nor is this an isolated case ; nor is it peculiar to 
 Jericho alone. Even at the present day there are 
 cities in the same predicament as that in which Jeri- 
 cho was; namely, where animal life of certain sorts, 
 p.iues, and decays, and dies ; cities where that pos- 
 terity which should replace the current mortality, is 
 either not conceived, or if conceived, is not brought 
 to the birth, or if brought to the birth, is fatal in de- 
 livery, both to the mother and her otispring. That 
 this is the case appears from the following relations: 
 "The inclemency of the climate of Porto Bello is 
 sufficiently known all over Europe ; not only strangers 
 who come thither are affected by it, but even the 
 natives themselves suffer in various manners. It 
 destroys the vigor of nature, and often untimely cuts 
 the thread of life. It is a current opinion, that for- 
 merly, and even not above twenty years since, partu- 
 rition was here so dangerous, that it was seldom any 
 woman did not die in child-bed. As soon, therefore, 
 as they had advanced three or four months in their 
 pregnancy, they were sent to Panama, where they 
 continued till the danger of delivery was past. A 
 few, indeed, had the tirrnness to wait their destiny 
 in their own houses; but much the greater number 
 thought it more advisable to undertake the journey, 
 than to run so great a hazard of their lives. The 
 excessive lo\e which a lady had for her husband, 
 blended with the dread that he would forget her 
 during her absence, his emi)loyment not permitting 
 him to accompany her to Panama, determined her to 
 set the first example of acting contrary to their gen- 
 eral custom. The reasons for her fear were sufficient 
 to justify her resolution to run the risk of a probable 
 danger, in order to avoid an evil which she knew to 
 be certain, and must have cml)ittered the whole re- 
 mainder of her life. The event was hap|)y ; she 
 was delivered, and recovered her former health ; anil 
 the example of a lady of her rank, did not fail of in- 
 spiring others with the like courage, though not 
 founded on the same reasons; till, by degrees, the 
 di-ead which former melancholy cases had impressed 
 on the mind, and which gave occa-^iion to this climate's 
 being [reported] fatal to pregnant women, was entirely 
 dispersed. Another opinion, equally strange, is, that 
 the animals from other climates, on their being 
 brought to Porto Bello, cease to procreate. The 
 
 inhabitants brhig instances of hens, brought from 
 Panama or Carthagena, which, immediately on their 
 arrival, grew barren, and laid no more eggs; and 
 even at this time the horned cattle sent from Panama, 
 after they have been here a short time, lose their 
 flesh in such a manner as not to be eatable, though 
 they do not want for plenty of good pasture. It is 
 certain, that there are no horses or asses bred here ; 
 which tends to confirm the opinion, that this climate 
 checks the generation of creatures produced in a more 
 benign or less noxious air. However, not to rely on 
 the common opinion, we inquired of some intelligent 
 persons, who differed but very little from the vulgar ; 
 and even confirmed what they asserted, by many 
 known facts and experiments, performed by them- 
 selves." Don Ulloa, Voy. S. Anier. vol. i. p. 93. 
 
 This seems to be a clear instance of a circumstance 
 very similar to the genuine import of the Hebrew 
 word, "causing to miscarry," and of the circum- 
 stances attending it. How far the situation of Porto 
 Bello and of Jei-icho might be similar, Ave need not 
 inquire ; nor whether Don Ulloa be correct in re- 
 garding the air as the cause of this peculiarity. 
 
 A second extract is from Sir. Bruce's Travels, 
 (vol. iv. p. 469, 471, 472.) — "No horse, mule, ass, or 
 any beast of burden, will breed, or even live, at Sen- 
 naar, or many miles about it. Poultiy does not live 
 there ; neither dog nor cat, slieep nor bidlock, can 
 be preserved a season there. They must go, every 
 half year, to the sands ; though all possible care be 
 taken of them, they die in every place where the fat 
 earth is about the town, during the first season of the 
 rains. Two greyhounds which I brought from At- 
 bara, and the nudes which I brought from Abyssinia, 
 lived onlj' a few weeks after I an-ived. They seemed 
 to have an inward complaint, for nothing appeared 
 outwardly ; the dogs had abundance of water, but I 
 killed one of them from apprehension of madness. 
 Several kings have tried to keep lions ; but no care 
 could prolong their lives beyond the first rains. 
 Shekh Adelan had two, which were in great health, 
 being kept with his horses at grass in the sands, but 
 three miles from Sennaar. Neither rose, nor any 
 species of jessamine, grows here ; no tree, but the 
 lemon, flowers near the city, that I ever saw : the 
 rose has been often tried, but in vain. The soil of 
 Sennaar, as I have already said, is very unfavorable 
 both to man and beast, and particularly adverse to 
 their i)ropagation. This seems to me to be owing 
 to some noxious quali.ry of the fat earth with which 
 it is every way surrounded, and nothing may be de- 
 pended u}>on more surely than the fact already men- 
 tioned, that no marc, or other beast of burden, ever 
 foaled in tlie town, or in any village within several 
 miles round it. This remarkable quality ceases upon 
 removing from the fi'rtile country to the sands. Aira, 
 between three and four miles off Sennaar, with no 
 water near it but the Nile, surrounded with white 
 barren sand, agrees perfectly with all animals, and 
 here are the (juarters Avhere I saw Shekh Adelan the 
 minister's horse, (as I suppose for their numbers,) by 
 tar tlie finest in the world ; where in safety he 
 watched the motions of his sovereign, who, shut up 
 in his capital of Sennjiar, could not there maiiUain 
 one hors(? to oppose him. But, however unfavorable 
 this soil may be for the propagation of animals, it 
 contributes very abundantly both to the nourishment 
 of man and beast. It is positively said to render 
 three hundred for one, [see Gen. xxvi. 12.] which, 
 however confidently advanced, is, I think, both from 
 reason and ap])earance, a great exaggeration. It is
 
 BAR 
 
 150 ] 
 
 BAR 
 
 all sown with dora or millet, the principal food of 
 the natives. It produces also Avheat and rice, but 
 these, at Sennaar, are sold by the pound, even in yeai-s 
 of plenty. The salt made use of at Sennaar is all 
 extracted from the earth al)out it, especially at Hal- 
 faia, so strongly is the soil impregnated with this 
 useful fossil." 
 
 This instance presents a city, a royal city, in some 
 respects very fertile, which, nevertheless, in other 
 respects, reminds us of Jericho : like that city, it was 
 pleasant, but adverse to propagation ; and this Mr. 
 Bruce atti'ibutes to the nature of the earth, or soil 
 around it. We find also this eftect ceasmg at a small 
 distance, which deserves notice ; because it is very 
 possible, that this property of the soil was the means, 
 in the hand of Providence, to accomplisli the predic- 
 tion of Joshua, respecting the rebuilding of Jericho, 
 Josh. vi. 26. See Abiram. 
 
 I. BARS ABAS, (Joseph,) suruamed The Just, was 
 au early disciple of Jesus Christ, and, probably, 
 among the seventy. Acts i. 21, 22, &c. x'ifter the 
 ascension of our Saviour, Peter proposed to fill up 
 the place of Judas, the traitor, by one of those dis- 
 ciples who had been constant eye-witnesses of our 
 Saviour's actions. Two pereons were selected, Bar- 
 sabas and Matthias ; the lot determined for Matthias. 
 
 II. BARSABAS, (Judas,) one of the principal 
 disciples, (Acts .xv. 22, et seq.) who, with others, was 
 sent from Jerusalem to Autioch, can-jing a letter 
 with the council's decree. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW, one of the twelve apostles, 
 was of Galilee ; (Acts i. 13.) but we know Uttle of 
 him. It is generally believed that he preached the 
 gospel iu the Indies ; (Euseb. lib. v. cap. 10.) and 
 that he carried thither the Gospel of Matthew, in 
 Hebrew, where Pantenus found a copy of it a him- 
 dred j'cars after. We are told, likewise, that he 
 preached iu Arabia Felix, and Persia, which he 
 iTiiglit do, in passing through those countries to In- 
 (Ua. Many are of opinion, that Nathanael and Bar- 
 tholomew are the same person ; and they support 
 this opinion by these rea'<ous: — (1.) No notice is 
 taken of Bartholomew's caUing, unless his and A^a- 
 thanael's lie the same. (2.) The evangelists who 
 speak of Bartholomew, say nothing of Nathanael ; 
 and John, who speaks of Nathanael, says nothing of 
 BarlholonioW. (8.) Bartholomew is not a proper 
 name ; it signifies son of Tolmai, i. e. Ptolemij, be- 
 sides which he might be named Nathanael, i. e. Na- 
 thaniel, .son of Ptolemy. (4.) John seems to rank 
 Nathanael among the apostles, when he says, that 
 Peter, Thomas, the two sons of Zebedee, Nathanael, 
 and two other disciples, being gone a fishing, Jesus 
 Hho'.v: d himself to them, John xxi. 2. 
 
 'i'he Syrian writers, who are of this opinion, call 
 him " Nathanael-bar-Tholemy," and " Nathanael- 
 ebji-Tholemy." They say he accompanied his 
 brother-aposrle, Thomas, into the East; that they 
 preached at Nisibis, Mosul, (or Nineveh,) Hazath, 
 and in Persia ; that Thomas went on to India : but 
 we do not ])crceive that they generally affirm the 
 same of Bartholomew. Yet Amrus, a Syriac aythor, 
 quoted by Asscmanni, writes, that "Nathanael-ebn- 
 Tholemy, the disciple of Thomas, (rather fellow-dis- 
 ciple witii Thomas,) and Lel)l>eus, of the twelve, 
 with Addeus, (or Tliaddcus,) Marus, and Agheus, 
 who had been of the seventy, tauglit Nisibis, al- 
 Gzeirat, (i. e. Mesopotamia,) Mosul, Bal)y Ionia, and 
 Chaldea ; also Arabia, the East counti^, Nebaioth, 
 Huzzath, and Persia. Also, going into the greater 
 Armenia, he converted the inhabitants to Ch.ristian- 
 
 ity, and there built a church. Lastly, he removea 
 to India, as far as China." This last particular may 
 be true of Thomas ; but is very questionable as to 
 his associate Bartholomew. All other writers place 
 the scene of this apostle's labors in the regions 
 around Persia and Armenia. The Syrian canons 
 place the fifth seat of ecclesiastical honor at Baby- 
 lon, in consideration of " Thomas, the apostle of the 
 Hindoos and Chinese ; and of Bartholomew, who is 
 also the Nathanael of the Syrians." So that it may 
 be taken, generally, that BartholomeAv was the apos- 
 tle of Mesopotamia and Persia. 
 
 A spurious Gospel of Bartholemew is mentioned 
 by pope Gelasius. Bernard, and Abbot Rupert, 
 were of opinion, that he was the bridegroom at the 
 marriage of Cana. Fabric. Cod. Apoc. N. T. i. p. 
 341, seq. 
 
 BAR-TIMEUS, a blind man of Jericho, who sat 
 by the side of the public road, begging, when our 
 Saviour passed that way to Jerusalem. Mark (x. 
 4G — 52.) says, that "Jesus coming out of Jericho, 
 with his disciples, and a great crowd, Bar-Timeus, 
 when he heard it, began to cry out, Jesus, Son of 
 David, have mercy on me !" and Jesus restored him 
 to sight. But Matthew, (xx. 30.) relating the same 
 story, says, that tAvo blind men, sitting by the way- 
 side, understanding that Jesus was passing, began to 
 cry out, &c. and both received sight. Mark notes 
 Bar-Timeus only, because he was more known, and 
 not injprobably (as his name is preserved) was born 
 in a superior rank of life, therefore was no common 
 beggar ; if, besides, his blindness had been the cause 
 of reducing him to poverty, no doubt his neighbors 
 would mention his name, and take great interest in 
 his cin"e. Probably, Timeus, his father, was of note 
 in that place ; as such was generally the case, Avhen 
 the father's name was taken by the son ; and, per- 
 haps, some of the neighbors who had known Bar- 
 Timeus in better circumstances, who had often 
 pitied, but could not relieve him, were the persons 
 to encourage the blind man ; " Be of good comfort ! 
 Rise ; he calleth thee." This does not contradict 
 the supposition, that on this occasion he, principally, 
 expressed his w armth and zeal ; that he spake of 
 Jesus Christ, and distinguished himself by his alac- 
 rity, faith, and obedience. However, this two in 
 Matthew may be nothing more than a literal adhe- 
 sion to the Syriac dual form of expression ; there 
 being in this evangelist other instances of the same 
 idiom ; as the two thieves (xxvii. 44.) who reviled 
 Jesus ; whereas Luke mentions only one ; and says, 
 the other rebuked his companion. The cure of an- 
 other blind man, mentioned Luke xviii. 35, 43. is differ- 
 ent from this ; that happened, when Jesus w as entering 
 mfo Jericho ; this, the next day, as he A\as coining out. 
 [It should, however, be remarked, that the miracle 
 recorded by Luke is apparently the same as that 
 mentioned by Matthew and Mark, and is so regarded 
 by commentators in general. The apparent discre- 
 pancy of Luke's statement vanishes, on the suppo- 
 sition of Newcome and others, that Jesus remained 
 perhaps several days at Jericho, and in that time 
 made one or more excursions from the city and re- 
 turned to it again. R. 
 
 BARUCII, son of Neriah, and grandson of 
 Maaseiah, was of the tribe of Judali, and the faith- 
 ful disciple and scribe of Jerennah the prophet, Jer. 
 xxxii. 12 — 16 ; xUii. 3, 6 ; h. 61. There is an apoc- 
 ryphal book ascribed to him. 
 
 I. BARZILLAI, a native of Rogelim, in Gilead, 
 and one who assisted David when expelled from
 
 BAS 
 
 [ 151 ] 
 
 BAS 
 
 Jerusalem by Absalom, 2 Sam. xvii. 27, 28. When 
 David returned to Jerusalem, Barzillai attended him 
 to the Jordan. 
 
 II. BARZILLAI, a native of Meholath, father of 
 Adriel, who mairied IMichal, formerlvwife of David, 
 2 Sam. xxi. 8. 
 
 III. BARZILLAI, a priest, who mai-ricd a daugh- 
 ter of Barzillai the Gileadite, Ezra ii. 61 ; Nehem. 
 vii. 63. 
 
 BASCA, or Bascama, a town near Bethshan, 
 where Jonathan INIaccabreus was killed, 1 Mace. xiii. 
 23 ; Jos. xiii. 1. 
 
 BASHAN signifies a sandy, soft soil, from the 
 Arabic ; and this agrees with the character of the 
 country, as fit for pasturing cattle ; and is applicable 
 to an extensive province. 
 
 The land of Bashan, otherwise the Batantea, is 
 east of" the river Jordan, north of the trilies of Gad 
 and Reuben, and in the half-tribe of Manasseh. It 
 is bounded east by the mountains of Gilead, the land 
 of Ammon, and East Edom ; north by mount Her- 
 mon ; south by the brook Jabbok ; west by the Jor- 
 dan. Og, king of the Amoritcs, possessed Bashan 
 when Moses conquered it. Bashan was esteemed 
 one of the most fruitful countries in the world ; its 
 rich pastures, oaks, and fine cattle, are exceedingly 
 commended, Numb. xxi. 33 ; xxxii. 33 ; Isa. ii. 13 : 
 Dent. iii. 1 ; Psal. xxii. 12. 
 
 The following description of this region is by Mr. 
 Buckingham: "We had noAV quitted the land of 
 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and entered into that 
 of Og, the king of Bashan, both of them well known 
 to all the readers of the early Scriptures. We had 
 quitted, too, the districts apportioned to the tribes of 
 Reuben and Gad, and entered that which was allot- 
 ted to the half-tribe of Manasseh, beyond Jordan, 
 eastward, leaving the land of the children of Am- 
 mon on our right, or to the east of the Jabbok, which 
 divided Annnon, or Philadelphia, from Gerasa. The 
 mountains here are called the land of Gilead in the 
 Scriptures ; and in Josephus, and according to the 
 Roman division, this was the country of the Decap- 
 olis so often spoken of in the New Testament, or 
 the province of Gaulouitis, from the city of Gaulon, 
 its early capital. We continued our way over this 
 elevated tract, continuing to behold, with surprise 
 and admiration, a beautiful country on all sides of 
 us ; its plains covered with a fertile soil, its liills 
 clothed with forests, and at every new turn present- 
 ing the most magnificent landscapes that could be 
 imagined. Amongst the trees, the oak was fre- 
 quently seen ; and we know that this territory pre- 
 sented them of old. In enumerating the sources 
 fi-om which the supplies of Tyre were drawn in the 
 time of her gi-eat wealth and naval splendor, the 
 projjhet says, 'Of the oaks of Bashan have they made 
 thine oars,' Ezek. xxvii. 6. Some learned comment- 
 ators, indeed, believing that no oaks grew in these 
 supposed desert regions, have translated tlie \\ ord by 
 alders, to prevent the appearance of inaccuracy in 
 the inspired writer. The expression of ' the fat bidls 
 of Bashan,' which occurs more than once in the 
 Scriptures, seemed to us equally inconsistent, as ap- 
 plied to the beasts of a country generally thought to 
 be a desert, in connnon with the whole tract which 
 is laid down in the modern maps as such, between 
 the Jordan and the Euphrates ; but we could now 
 fully comprehend, not only that the bulls of this lux- 
 uriant country might be ])roverbially fat, but that its 
 possessors, too, might be a race renowned for strength 
 and comeliness of person. . . . The general face of 
 
 this region improved as we advanced further in it ; 
 and every new direction of our path opened upon 
 us views which surprised and charmed us by their 
 graiideur and beauty. Lofty mountains gave an 
 outhne of the most magnificent character ; flowing 
 beds of secondary hills softened the romantic wild- 
 ness of the picture ; gentle slopes, clothed with wood, 
 gave a rich variety of tints, hardly to be imitated by 
 the pencil : deep valleys, filled with murmuring 
 streams, and verdant meadows, ofiTered all the luxu- 
 riance of cultivation, and herds and flocks gave life 
 and animation to scenes as grand, as beautiful, and 
 as highly picturesque, as the genius or taste of a Claude 
 could either invent or desire." 
 
 [Similar to this is also the account given by 
 Burckhardt of the Belka, which lies south of the 
 Jabbok, constituting the northern part of the ancient 
 Gilead, and of course adjacent to Bashan. " We 
 had now entered a climate quite different from that 
 of the Ghor, [or valley of the Jordan.] During the 
 whole of 3'esterday we had been much oppressed 
 by heat, which wa? never lessened by the slightest 
 breeze ; iu the Belkan mountains, on the contrary, 
 we were refreshed by cool winds, and every where 
 fovmd a gi'ateful shade of fine oak and wild pista- 
 chio trees, with a scenery more like that of Europe 
 than any I had yet seen in Syria. The superiority 
 of the pasturage of the Belka over that of all south- 
 ern Syria, is the cause of its possession being much 
 contested. The Bedouins have this saying: 'Thou 
 canst not find a country like the Belka.' " Travels in 
 Syria, etc. p. 348, 368. R. 
 
 BASON, or Laver, of the tabernacle, and of the 
 temple. See Temple. 
 
 BASTARDS, children begotten out of the state 
 of matrimony. The law forbade the adnnssion of 
 bastards into the congi-egation of Israel, to the tenth 
 generation, Deut. xxiii. 2. The rabbins distinguish 
 bastards into three kinds ; (1.) those born in- mar- 
 riage, of parents contracted in cases prohibited by 
 the law ; (2.) those bom from a criminal conjunction, 
 punishable by the judges, as are the children of 
 adulterers: (3.) those born in incest, and condemned 
 by the law. They also distinguish between bastards 
 certain and uncertain. The first are those whose 
 birth is notoriously corrupted, and who without diffi- 
 culty are excluded from the congi-egatiou of the 
 Lord. Doubtful bastards are those whose birth is 
 imcertain. These could not be excluded in strict- 
 ness, yet the Scribes Avould not admit them, for fear 
 that any certain bastards should slip in among them. 
 But the Vulgate, the LXX, and the authors of the 
 canon law, take tl;e Hebrew mamzer, (Deut. xxiii. 2.) 
 for the child of a jji'ostitute ; while some interpret- 
 ers take it for a generic tenn, which signifies ille- 
 gitimate children, whose birth is impure in any 
 manner whatever. Others believe the Hebrew 
 mamzer rather signifies a stranger or foreigner than 
 a bastard. Jephthah, who was the son of a concu- 
 bine, (Judg. xi. 1.) became head and judge in Israel. 
 Pharez and Zarah, sons of Tamar, conceived from 
 a kind of incest, are reckoned among the ancestors 
 of David. Among the Hebrews the children followed 
 the condition of the mother. How then, it is asked, 
 could a bastard son, born of a mother an Israelite, 
 be excluded the congi-egation of Israel to the tenth 
 generation, since the Egyptians and Idumaeans might 
 be admitted after the third generation ? This con- 
 sideration renders it probable that mamzer means 
 more than barely a bastard, perhaps a bastard bom 
 of a woman a stranger and an idolater. The LXX
 
 BAT 
 
 [ 153] 
 
 BDE 
 
 render the word in Zech. ix. 6. a stranger, or an 
 alien ; and in Deut. xxiii. 2. the son of a prostitute. 
 The Hebrew word occurs only in these two places, 
 and its signification is by no means certain. The 
 words, " They shall not enter into the congregation 
 of the Lord, even to the tenth generation," cannot 
 mean that this sort of children might not be convert- 
 ed, or be admitted into Judaism, till after ten genera- 
 tions ; but that they should not enjoy the employments, 
 dignities, or privileges of true Hebrews, till the 
 blemish of their birth was entirely obliterated and 
 forgotten. 
 
 BAT, an unclean creature, having the body of a 
 mouse, and wings not covered with feathers, but of 
 a leathery membrane, expansible for the purpose of 
 flying. These wings consist in a very curious form- 
 ation, which cannot be contemj)lated without ad- 
 miration, the bones of the extremities being con- 
 tinued into long and thin processes, connected by a 
 most delicate membrane or skin, capable, from its 
 thinness, of being contracted at pleasure into innu- 
 merable wrinkles, so as to lie in a small space when 
 the animal is at rest, and to be stretched to a very 
 wide extent for occasional flight. It produces its 
 } oung alive, and suckles them like four-footed ani- 
 mals. The bat is extremely well described in Deut. 
 xiv. 19. "Moreover, the bat, and every creeping thin^ 
 thatjlieth, is unclean to you ; they shall not be eaten." 
 This character, which fixes to the bat the name used 
 in both passages, is omitted in Leviticus ; neverthe- 
 less, it is very descriptive ; and places this creature 
 at the head of a class, of which he is a very clear, 
 and a very well known instance. There are bats in 
 the East much larger than ours ; and they are salted 
 and eaten. The bat never becomes tame ; it feeds 
 on flies, insects, and fat things, such as candles, oil, 
 and grease. It appears only by night, nor then, un- 
 less the weather be fine, and the season warm. Some 
 of the bats of Africa and Ethiopia have long tails, 
 like those of mice, which extend beyond their wings. 
 Some have four ears, others only two ; they build 
 no nests, but bring forth their young in a hole or 
 cleft, or cave, in tops or coverings of houses ; some 
 are black, some white, sallow and ash-colored. The 
 old one suckles its young, as they arc fastened to its 
 teats ; and when she is obliged to leave them, in 
 order to go out and seek food, she takes them from 
 her teats, and hangs them up against the v.all, where 
 they adhere by clinging. There are bats in China, 
 some say, as large as pullets, and as delicate eating ; 
 those of Brazil, Madagascar, and the Maldives, called 
 Vampire bats, are very large, and suck the blood of 
 men, while they sleep, fastening upon some uncov- 
 ered part, while, at the same time, they refresh the 
 suflierer by the fanning of their wings, who is in 
 very great danger, unless he awakes. 
 
 BATANiEA was the same as the ancient king- 
 dom of Bashan, (which see,) and was jjart of the 
 territory given to Herod Antipas, at the death of 
 Herod the Great. 
 
 BATH, or Ephah, a Hel)rew measure, containing 
 seven gallons, fonr pints, liquid measure ; or three 
 pecks, three pints, dry measure. Some have imagin- 
 ed that there was a sacred bath, diftVrent from the 
 common, containing a bath and iialf of the other ; 
 which they endeavor to prove by what is said, 1 
 Kings vii. 26. of Solomon's molten sea, that it con- 
 tained 2000 baths ; compared with 2 Chron. iv. 5. 
 which says that it held 3000 baths ; but this differ- 
 ence is easily reconciled. (See Sea.) The LXX 
 render this word sometimes j9ai5^ ; sometimes utrqr,- 
 
 T)c; (2 Chron. iv. 5.) sometimes xiQuuwg, Isaiah v. 10. 
 The ancient Latin version translates it lagena. It 
 was the tenth part of the homer, in liquid things, as 
 tlie ephah was in dry measure, Ezek. xlv. 11. 
 
 BATH-KOL, daughter of the voice, the name by 
 which the Jewish writers distinguish w hat they called 
 a revelation from God, after verbal prophecy had 
 ceased in Israel ; i. e. after the prophets Haggai, 
 Zechariah, and Malachi. The generality of their 
 traditions and customs are founded on this Bath- 
 Kol, which, as Dr. Prideaux has shown, was a fan- 
 tastical way of divination, like the Sortes Virgiliause 
 among the heathen. For, as with them, the words 
 first opened upon in the works of that poet, were the 
 oracle whereby they prognosticated those future 
 events which they desired to be informed of; so 
 with the Jews, when they appealed to Bath-Kol, the 
 next words which they should hear drop from any 
 one's mouth were taken as the desired oracle. 
 
 BATH-SHEBA, or Bathshua, (1 Chr. iii. 5.) the 
 daughter of Eliam, or Ammiel, and wife of Uriah 
 the Hittite. David having found the means of grati- 
 fying his guilty passion with Bath-sheba, in conse- 
 quence of which she became pregnant, he further 
 added to his crime by procuring the death of Uriah 
 her husband, 2 Sam. xi. After her husband's death, 
 Bath-sheba mourned as usual ; which ceremony being 
 over, David brought her to his house, and married 
 her; soon after which she was delivered of a son. 
 The Lord sent Nathan to David, to convince him of 
 his sin, and to threaten his punishment by the death 
 of this child, which occurred on the seventh day. 
 After this, Bath-sheba became the mother of Solo- 
 mon, Shammuah, Shobab, and Nathan, 1 Chron. iii. 
 5 ; 2 Sam. v. 14. 
 
 BATH-ZACH ARIAS, a place near Bethsura, 
 celebrated for a battle fought between Antiochus 
 Eupator, and Judas Maccabaeus, 1 3Iacc. vi. 30. Epi- 
 phanius says, the prophet Habakkuk was born in the 
 territories of Bath-zacharias. 
 
 BATTLEMENT, a wall round the top of flat- 
 roofed houses ; as were those of the Jews, and other 
 eastern people. (See House.) The Jews wei-e en- 
 joined to adopt this precaution against accidents, un- 
 der the penalty of death, Deut. xxii. 8. In Jer. v. 
 10, the term appears to denote towers, walls, and 
 other fortifications of a city. 
 
 BAY-TREE. This is mentioned once in the 
 Ejiglish Bible, (Psalm xxxvii. 35, 36.) biU the origi- 
 nal Hebrew word (mis) denotes rather an indigenous 
 tree, one not transplanted, but growing in its own 
 native soil. 
 
 BDELLIUM, [n^-^z,) occurs Gen. ii. 12 ; Numbers 
 xi. 7. Compare Exod. xvi. 31. It is commonly 
 supposed that the bdellium is a gum from a tree, 
 common in Arabia and the East. Pliny (lib. xii. 
 cap. 9.) says, the best bdellium comes from Bac- 
 tria ; that the tree which produces it is black, as 
 large as an olive-tree, its leaves like those of an oak, 
 and hs fruit like that of the caper-tree. There is 
 bdellium likewise in the Indies, in jMedia, and in 
 Babylonia. Moses says the manna of the Israelites 
 was of the color of bdellium. Numb. xi. 7. [But 
 this substance, ^^■hatever it was, is mentioned along 
 with gold and gems ; while bdellium is certainly not 
 so remarkable a gift of natiu"e as to deserve this 
 classification, or as that the jiroduction of it should 
 confer on Ilavilah a peculiar celebrity. Hence the 
 opinion of the Jewish writers is not to be contemn- 
 ed, which Bochart has discussed, (Hieroz. ii. G74, 
 seq.) viz. that pearls are to be here understood, of
 
 BEA 
 
 [ 153 ] 
 
 BEARD 
 
 which great quantities are found on the shores of 
 the Persian gulf and in India, and which might not 
 inaptly be compared with manna, as in Num. 
 xi. 7. R. 
 
 BEAM, see Eye, adjin. 
 
 BEAM, the cylindrical piece of wood belonging 
 to a weaver's loom, on which the web is gradually 
 rolled as it is woven, Judg. xvi. 14 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 7. 
 
 BEAR, (iin.) Bears were common in Palestine ; 
 David says, (1 Sam. xvii. 34, 36.) he had often fought 
 with bears and hons. Elisha having prophetically 
 cursed some lads of Bethel, for insulting him, two 
 she bears issued from a neighboring forest, and 
 wounded forty-two of them, 2 Kings ii. 23, 24. (See 
 Elisha.) The sacred writers, to express the sensa- 
 tions of a man transported by passion, say, " He is 
 chafed in his mind, as a bear bereaved," 2 Sam. xvii. 
 8. There are white bears in the north ; but they 
 were, probably, unknown in Palestine. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah (xi. 7.) describing the happi- 
 ness of the Messiah's reign, says, the ox and the bear 
 shall feed together. Daniel, (vh. 5.) in his descrip- 
 tion of the four great monarchies, represents that of 
 the Persians under the figure of a bear having three 
 rows of teeth ; by this, perhaps, principally intend- 
 ing Cyrus. 
 
 BEARD. The Hebrews wore their beards, but 
 had, doubtless, in common with other Asiatic na- 
 tions, several fashions in this, as in all other parts of 
 dress. Moses forbids them (Lev. xix. 27.) " to cut 
 off entirely the angle, or extremity, of their beard," 
 that is, to avoid the manner of the Egyptians, who 
 left only a little tuft of beard at the extremity of 
 their chins. The Jews, in some places, at this day 
 suffer a little fillet of hair to grow from below the 
 ears to the chin ; where, as well as upon their lower 
 lips, their beards are long. When they mourned 
 they entirely shaved the hair of their heads and 
 beards, and neglected to trim their beards, to regu- 
 late them into neat order, or to remove Avhat gi-ew 
 on their upper lips and cheeks, Jer. xli. 5 ; xlviii. 37. 
 In times of grief and afthction, they plucked away 
 the hair of their heads and beards ; a mode of ex- 
 pressing gi-ief common to other nations under great 
 calamities. See Shaving. 
 
 The customs of nations, in respect to this part of 
 the human countenance, have differed so Avidely, 
 that it is not easy, among us, who treat the beard as 
 an encumbrance, to conceive properly of the impor- 
 tance which is attached to it in the East. The terms 
 in wliich most of the Levitical laws that notice the 
 beard are expressed, are obscure to us, by the very 
 reason of their being familiar to the persons to whom 
 they were addressed. Perhaps the following quota- 
 tions may contribute to throw a light, at least upon 
 some of them : " The first care of an Ottoman prince, 
 when he comes to the throne, is, to let his beard 
 grow, to wliicli sultan ]VIustapha added, the dyeing 
 of it black, in order that it might be more apparent 
 on the day of his first appearance, when he was to 
 gird on the sabre ; a ceremony by which he takes 
 possession of the throne, and answering the corona- 
 tion among us." (Baron du Tott, vol. i. p. 117.) So, 
 De la 3Iotraye tells us, (p, 247.) "That the new sul- 
 tan's beard had not been permitted to grow, but only 
 since he had been proclaimed emperor ; and was 
 verj' sliort, it being customary to shave the Ottoman 
 princes, as a mark of their subjection to the reign- 
 ing emperor." Niebuhr says, "In the year 17G4, 
 Kerim Khan sent to demand payment of the tribute 
 due for his possessions in Kermesir ; but Mir 3Ia- 
 20 
 
 henna maltreated the officer who was sent on the 
 errand, and caused his beard to be cut off." (Vol. 
 ii. p. 148. Eng. edit.) This will remind the reader 
 of the insult offered to the ambfissadors of David, 
 by Hanun, (2 Sam. x.) which insult, however, seems 
 to have had a peculiarity in it — of shaving one half 
 of the beard ; i. e. the beard on one side of the face. 
 On this subject, we translate from Niebuhr (French 
 edit.) the following remarks : " The orientals have 
 divers manners of letting the beard grow ; the JeAVs 
 in Turkey, Arabia, and Persia, presen'e their heard 
 from their youth ; and it differs from that of the 
 Christians and Mahometans, in that they do not 
 shave it either at the ears or the temples. The Aral^s 
 keep their whiskers verj^ short ; some cut them oft' 
 entirely ; but they never shave off the beard. In 
 the mountains of Yemen, where strangers are sel- 
 dom seen, it is a disgrace to appear shaven ; they 
 supposed our European sen'ant, Avho had only whis- 
 kers, had committed some crime, for which we had 
 punished him, by cutting off his beard. On tlie 
 contrary, the Turks have commonly long whiskers ; 
 the beard among them is a mark of honor. The 
 slaves and certain domestics of the great lortls, are 
 forced to cut it off, and dare not keep any part of it, 
 but whiskers ; the Persians have long whiskers, and 
 clip their beard short Avith scissors, Avhich has an un- 
 pleasant appearance to strangers. The Kurds shaAe 
 the beard, but leaA'e the Avhiskers, and a band of hair 
 on the cheeks. The true Arabs have black beards, 
 yet some old men dye their Avhite beards red ; but 
 this is thought to be to hide their age ; and is rather 
 blamed than praised. The Persians blacken their 
 beards much more ; and, probably, do so to extreme 
 old age, in order to pass for younger than they really 
 are. The Turks do the same in some cases. [Hoav 
 differentlj' Solomon thought! Prov. xx. 29. "The 
 gloiy of young men is their strength, and the 
 beauty of old men is the gray head."] When the 
 younger Turks, after having been shaven, let their 
 beards gi'OAV, they recite afatha, which is considered 
 as a A'OAV never to cut it off; (compare Numb. vi. 18 ; 
 Acts xxi. 24.) and Avhen any one ^uts off his beajd, 
 he may be very severely punished, (at Basra, at 
 least, to 300 blows Avith a stick.) He Avould also be 
 the laughing stock of those of his faith. A 3Ia- 
 hometan, at Basra, having shaved his beard 
 Avhen drunk, fled secretly to India, not daring to 
 return, for fear of public scorn, and judicial punish- 
 ment." 
 
 "Although the Hebrews took gi-eat care of their 
 beards, to fashion them Avhen they AAcre not in 
 mourning, and on the contrary, did not trim them 
 Avhen they Avere in moiu'uing; j'et I do not obserAe 
 that their regard for them amounted to any Acnera- 
 tion for their beard. On the contrarj', the Arabians 
 liaA'e so nuich respect for their beards, that they look 
 on them as sacred ornaments given by God to 
 distinguish them from AAomen. They never shave 
 them ; nothing can be more infamous than for a 
 man to be shaved ; they make the preservation of 
 their beards a capital point of religion, because Ma- 
 homet ncA'er cut oft' his ; it is likeAAise a mark of 
 authority and liberty among them, as aa'cII as among 
 the Turks ; the Persians, Avho chp them, and shaA e 
 above the jaAA', are reputed heretics. The razor ia 
 never draAvn over the grand signior's face ; they Avho 
 serve in the seraglio, have their beard shaved, as a 
 sign of servitude ; they do not suffer it to gi-OAv till 
 the sultan has set them at liberty, which is bestoAved 
 as a rcAA^ird upon them, and is ahAays accompanied
 
 BEARD 
 
 [ 154] 
 
 BEA 
 
 with some employment. Unmarried young men 
 may cut their beards ; but when married, especially 
 if parents, they forbear doing so, to show that they 
 are become wiser, have renounced tlie vanities of 
 youth, and think now of superior things. When 
 they comb their beards, they hold a handkerchief on 
 their knees, and gather carefully the hah-s that Ikil ; 
 and when they have got together a projjer quantity, 
 they fold them up in paper, and carry them to the 
 place where they bury the dead. Among them it 
 is more infamous for any one to have his beard cut 
 oflj than among us to be publicly whipped, or brand- 
 ed Avith a hot iron. I\lany men in that country 
 would prefer death to such a punishment. The 
 wives kiss their husbands' beards, and children their 
 fathers', when tliey come to salute them ; the men 
 kiss one another's beards reciprocally, when they 
 salute in the streets, or come fi-om a journey. They 
 say, that the beard is the perfection of the human 
 face, which would be more disfigured by having tliis 
 cut off, than by losing the nose. They admire and 
 envy those who have fine beards: 'Pray do but see, 
 they cry, that beard ; the very sight of it woukl per- 
 suade any one that he, to whom it belongs, is an 
 honest man.' If any one witii a fine beard is guilty 
 of an unbecoming action, '.What a disadvantage is 
 this, they say, to such a beard ! How much such a 
 beard is to be pitied !' If they would correct any 
 one's mistakes, they will tell him, ' For shame of your 
 beard ! Does not the confusion that follows such an 
 action light on your beard ?' If they entreat any 
 one, or use oaths in affirming, or denying, any thing, 
 they say, 'I conjure you by your beard, — by the life 
 of your beard, — to gi'ant me this,' — or, ' by your 
 beard, this is, or is not, so.' They say further, in 
 the way of acknowledgment, ' 3Iay God preserve 
 your blessed beard ! May God pour out his bless- 
 ings on your beard !' And in comparisons, 'This is 
 more valuable than one's beard.' " Moeurs des Arabes, 
 par M. D'Arvieux, chap. vii. 
 
 These accounts may contribute to illustrate several 
 passages of Scripture. The dishonor done by Davifl 
 to his beard, of letting his spittle fall on it, (1 Sam. 
 xxi. 13.) seems at once to have convinced Achish of 
 his being distempered: q. d. "No man in good 
 healtl), of body and mind, would thus defile wiiat 
 we esteem so honorable as his beard." If the beard 
 be thus venerated, we perceive the import of Mepiii- 
 bosheth's neglect, in his not trimming it, 2 Sam. xix. 
 24. If men kiss one another's beards, when they sa- 
 lute in the streets, or when one of them is lately 
 come from a journey, then we may discover traces 
 of deeper dissimulation in the behavior of Joab to 
 Amasa (2 Sam. xx. [).) than has generally been no- 
 ticed : " And Joab held in his right hand the beard 
 of Amasa, that he might give it a kiss." No wonder 
 that while this act of friendship, of gratulation after 
 long absence, occupied Amasa's attention, he did not 
 perceive the sword tliat was in Joab's le/l hand. The 
 action of Joab was, indeed, a high compliment, but 
 neither suspicious nor unusual ; and to this compli- 
 ment Amasa paying attention, and, no doul)t, return- 
 ing it with answeral)le politeness, he could little ex- 
 pect the fatal event that Joab's perfidy j)roduced. 
 (See furtlier on this perfidy of Joab under Arms and 
 Armor.) Was perhaps the behavior of Judas to 
 Jesus sometliing like this behavior of Joab to Ama- 
 sa? — a worthy example worthily imitated ! 
 
 The cutting off the beard is mentioned (Isaiah xv. 
 2.) as a token of mourning; and as sucli it ajjpcars 
 to be very expressive: (Jcr. xli. 5.) " Foui-score men 
 
 came from Samaria, having their beards shaven, and 
 their clothes rent." — See, also, chap, xlviii. 37. Is 
 not this custom somewhat illustrated by the idea 
 which the Arabs attached to the shaven servant of 
 Niebuhr, i. e. as a kind of punishment suffered for 
 guilt, expressed or implied ? 
 
 BEAST, an animal destitute of reason ; but the 
 word is usually employed to signify a quadruped 
 living on land. God created the beasts of the eartii, 
 and man, on the sixth day ; and brought the fowls 
 and the beasts to Adam, to receive then- names ; 
 that he might begin his exercise of that dominion 
 which was given to him over the infei'ior creatures. 
 After the deluge the flesh of beasts was given toman 
 as, food, but the blood was forbidden to be eaten, or 
 even to l)e shed with violence. By the law (Exod. 
 xxi. 28, 29.) every beast which shoidd kill a man, or 
 become abominably polluted, was to be put to death, 
 Lev. XX. 1.5, 16. In the law of the sabbath, provision is 
 made for the rest of domestic animals ; and as a 
 memorial of the saving of the first-born Hebrews, 
 and the first-born among their cattle, in the last of 
 the plagues of Egypt, the first-born of each were to 
 be consecrated to the Lord. The Egyptians, and 
 other idolatrous people, adored beasts, tJie souls of 
 which they thought to be endowed with reason. 
 The doctrine of transmigration was common in the 
 East, and prevailed among the Hebrews, as is mani- 
 fest from some passages in the New Testament. 
 Father Pardies, a Jesuit, wrote concerning the 
 knowledge of beasts ; to show, that they are not 
 destitute of thought or understanding. Willis like- 
 wise wrote on the souls of beasts. Solomon,. in Ec- 
 clesiastes, whether he proposes his own thoughts, 
 or those of the philosophers and free-thinkers of his 
 time, expresses himself in a manner which might 
 be understood to insinuate that beasts possess under- 
 standing, and reasonable souls. " I have said in my 
 heart concerning the sons of men, that they might 
 see that tliey themselves are beasts ; for, as one 
 dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one 
 breath ; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a 
 beast. Who knoweth the spirit of man that gc^eth 
 upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth down- 
 ward to the eardi ?" Eccl. iii. 18, 19, 21. But we 
 shoidd widely mistake the import of such passages, 
 should we infer from them, that beasts are equal to 
 man, in reason, or in a capacity of religion, of know- 
 ing God, of attaining celestial felicity, and of acting 
 on spiritual principles. The knowledge, reasoning, 
 desires, designs of beasts, are limited to the discern- 
 ment of what may contribute to their inunediate 
 and instant enjoyment, their temporal happiness, and 
 the multiplication of their specios. Thev can and 
 do, indeed, determine between hot and' cold, be- 
 tween enjoyment and pain, safety and danger ; but 
 not between moral good and evil, between just and 
 unjust, lawful and unlawlid. But, it is asked, Avliat 
 becomes of the animating principle of beasts, when 
 separated from matter? We have no j)riuciplcs 
 whereby we can discover this. We know that God 
 created all things for his glory ; but can beasts be 
 capable of an active knowledge and love of their 
 Creator? If not, he must be glorified In' them some 
 other way ; as, doubtless, he is glorified ])assively by 
 simple matter ; but surely not in any other sense, 
 than as showing forth his glory, his wisdom, and 
 his power. On this subject, we shoidd recur to the 
 distinctions of life ; — body, soul, spirit. Body we 
 grant them ; soul, i. e. animal life, we also grant them ; 
 his they ' njoy up to fixed degrees, each possessing
 
 BED 
 
 [ 155 ] 
 
 BED 
 
 that kind, de^ee, power, and duration, appropriate 
 to its species ; transmitting that to its posterity, but 
 without inijjrovcinent as without variation. Herein 
 the animal life, or soul, is distinct from reason ; which 
 is infinitely various, capable of unlimited improve- 
 ments, and of strong desires after still further acqui- 
 sitions. Instinct, then, is a confined, contented, 
 satisfied quality ; reason is directly the contrary ; and 
 this strongly characterizes the active nature of spirit, 
 which is a higher principle of life, bestowed on man 
 for higher purposes of existence. (See Animals.) 
 Our translators have rendered lwu (Rev. iv. 6, &c.) 
 beasts, instead of living creatures, as the word de- 
 notes. 
 
 BEATEN-WORK, see Idol. 
 BED. This word frequently occurs in the English 
 
 version of the Scrip- 
 tures, and is in many 
 cases calculated to 
 mislead and perplex 
 the reader. The 
 beds used in the 
 East are very differ- 
 ent from those in this 
 part of the world ; 
 and an attention to 
 this is indispensable 
 to the right appre- 
 hension of several 
 passages of Holy 
 Writ. It should be 
 observed that the use 
 of chairs is unknown 
 in the East. The 
 orientals sit or recline on a diian, divan, or sofa, that 
 is, a part of the room raised above the floor, and 
 sjjread with a car|)et in winter, and in summer with 
 fine mats, and having cushions or bolsters placed 
 along the back to lean against. These divans fre- 
 quently serve the purpose of a bed, with the addi- 
 tion of two thick cotton quilts, one of which, folded 
 double, serves as a n)attrass, the other as a covering. 
 Such a bed was that of David, 1 Sam. xix. 15. 
 This will help us to understand several passages of 
 Scripture otherwise unintelligible : Amos iii. 12. 
 " As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the 
 lion two legs, or a piece of an ear ; so shall the chil- 
 dren of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria 
 in the corner of a bed;" that is, in the corner — which 
 is the place of honor, the most easy, voluptuous, in- 
 dulging station — of the divan. Will it not also help 
 us to ascertain the true attitude of the dying Jacob, 
 who, when Joseph brought his two sons to him, 
 "strengthened himself and sat upon the bed," — the 
 <livan ; and who, after blessing his sons, not "gather- 
 ed up his feet into the bed," but " drew them up on 
 the divan ?" Sometimes the beds are laid on the 
 floor, as we learn from Sir J. Chardin, Mr. Hanway, 
 Dr. Russell, and other travellers. Mr. Hanway 
 describes the beds in Persia as consisting "only of 
 two cotton quilts, one of which was folded double, 
 and served as a mattrass, and the other as a cover- 
 ing, with a large flat pillow for the head." Was it 
 not on such a bed that Saul slept, 1 Sam. xxvi. 7. ? 
 Also, that on which the paralytic was let down, 
 Lukev. 19.? The Psalmist says, (Psal. vi. 6.) "I 
 am weary with my groaning, all the night I make 
 my bed to swim ; (the divan on which I am placed ;) 
 I water my couch (or the divan furniture) with my 
 tears." Is it not good sense to say, " My tears not 
 only copiously wet the divan, or mattrass — the upper 
 
 part on which I lie, but they run over it, and even 
 extend to the lower part — the broad part — of the di- 
 van, and wet that also ?" i. e. the bed's feet of our 
 translators. It is said, Deut. iii. 11. "The bedstead 
 {•^-\-;) of Og was a bedstead of iron." It may be 
 thought, that our translators, in rendering this word 
 bedstead, intended the broad smooth ])art, or floor, 
 of the divan ; unless it should rather be referred to 
 the covering of that part, i. e. the carpet, or scarlet 
 cloth, though it possibly might denote both floor 
 and covering, as we say in common speech, " the 
 floor of a room," notwithstanding the room may be 
 covered by a carpet. Either sense of the word 
 takes off much occasion for wonder on account of 
 the dimensions of this bedstead, or divan, of Og, 
 which appears to have been about fifteen feet and a 
 half long, and six feet ten inches broad ; and to have 
 been made of iron (its sujjporters, at least) instead 
 of wood, as was customary. English ideas have 
 measured this huge piece of furniture by English 
 bedsteads ; but, had it been recollected that neither 
 the divan, nor its covering, is so closely commensu- 
 rate to the usual size of a person as our bedsteads 
 in England are, no inconsiderable allowance would 
 have been made in the dimensions of the bed for 
 the repose of this martial prince. We may now 
 also explain that very diflicult passage, Ezek. xiii. 
 18. "Wo to those women that sew pillows to all 
 arm-holes, and make kerchiefs on the head of every 
 stature, to hunt souls !" «Scc. These words seem to 
 contain these ideas ; those who utter false prophe- 
 cies, to soothe the mind of the wicked, are compared 
 by the prophet to women who study and emj)Ioy 
 every art to allure by voluptuousness ; — against sucli 
 he declares wo : " Wo to those who sew, em- 
 broider, luxurious cushions for all elbows, i. e. to 
 suit the dimensions of persons of all ages ; those 
 who make pillows, bolsters, or perhaps quilts, cover- 
 ings, (not kerchiefs,) for heads of every stature, stu- 
 diously suiting themselves to all conditions, capaci- 
 ties, ages, making eflTeminacy more effeminate," &:c. 
 The cushions, then, were not to be sewed to all arm- 
 holes, and carried about the person, as our transla- 
 tion seems to imply ; but they were to be so soft in 
 their texture, so nicely adapted in their dimensions 
 to suit all leaning arms, as to produce their full vo- 
 luptuous effect. These the prophet compares to 
 toils, snares, &c. in which the persons were caught, 
 into which they were chased, decoyed ; like animals 
 hunted by a surrounding company, which drives 
 them into a narrow space, or trap, where their cap- 
 ture, or destruction, is inevitable, according to the , 
 eastern mode of hunting; from these compulsive 
 seducers he foretells delivery, &c. ver. 20. Under- 
 stood thus, the passage becomes easy and plain, and 
 analogous to the usages of the country wherehi it 
 was delivered. Comp. Prov. vi. 26. 
 
 This also explains how Haman (Esther vii. 8.) 
 not only "stood up to make request for his life," but 
 was " fallen on the bed — the divan — whereon Es- 
 ther" was sitting. We see, too, the nature of the 
 order of Saul to bring up David to him, that he 
 might " kill him in his bed." (1 Sam. xix. 15.) Was 
 the pillow of goats' hair a divan cushion, perhaps, 
 stuffed with goats' hair instead of cotton ; and laid 
 in such a manner as to resemble the disorderly atti- 
 tude and appearance of a sick man ? — Other passages 
 the reader will observe for himself. 
 
 Nothing sounds more uncouth to English ears, than 
 to hear of a person carrying his bed about with him. 
 To order a man, miraculously healed, to do this, is
 
 BED 
 
 [ 156] 
 
 BED 
 
 so strange to us, that although we discover in it a 
 couvincingproof of his restoration to bodily strength, 
 yet we are almost tempted to ask, with the Phari- 
 sees, " Who bade thee cany thy bed ?" But, wlien 
 properly explained, the apparent iucongiaiity vanish- 
 es before our better understanding. Such a kind 
 of mattrass, or even the simple quilt, above spoken 
 of, might be the bed [xoaiifiaroi) of the New Testa- 
 ment ; and was often, we may conclude from the 
 circumstances of the occujjier, without the accom- 
 paniment of a cushion, to complete it. So, Mark ii. 
 4, 11. "Arise, take up thy bed," i. e. thy mattrass — 
 the covering spread under thee. Acts ix. 34. Peter 
 said to Eneas, " Arise, and" hereafter " spread" thy 
 bed "for thyself;" — thy palsy being cured, thou 
 shah be able not only to do that service for thj'self, 
 but to giA'e assistance rather than to ask it. Krahhaton, 
 then, is the meanest kind of bed in use : our truckle- 
 bed, or any other which is supported by feet, &c. 
 cannot justly represent it. Perhaps our sailors' 
 hammocks are the nearest to it. But we are not to 
 suppose that all beds were alike ; no doubt, that 
 when David wanted warmth, his attendants would 
 put matti-asses below, and coverlets above, to pro- 
 cure it for him. Neither are we to understand, when 
 a bed is the subject of boasting, that it consisted 
 merely of the krahhaton, or plain divan. In Prov. 
 vii. lis. the harlot vaunts of her bed, as highly 
 ornamented "with tapestry- work — with brocade 
 1 have brocaded, bedecked my bed ; the covering 
 of it is of the fine yarn of Egypt, embossed with em- 
 broidery." This description may be much illus- 
 trated by the account which Baron du Tott gives 
 of a bed ; in which he was expected to sleep, and in 
 which he might have slept, had not European habit 
 incapacitated him from that enjoyment. " The time 
 for taking our repose was now come, and we were 
 conducted into another large room, in the middle of 
 which was a kind of bed ; without bedstead, or cur- 
 tains. Though the coverlet and pillows exceeded in 
 magnificence the richness of the sofa which likewise 
 ornamented the apartment, I foresaw that I could 
 expect but little rest on this bed, and had the curi- 
 osity to examine its make in a more particular man- 
 ner. Fifteen mnttrasses of quilted cotton, ahout three 
 iyiches thick, placed one upon another, formed the 
 ground-work, and were covered by a sheet of In- 
 dian linen, sewed on the last mattress. A coverlet 
 of green satin, adorned with gold emhroidered in em- 
 bossed work, was in like manner fastened to the two 
 sheets, the ends of which, turned in, were sewed 
 down alternately. Two large pillows of crimson 
 satin, covered with the like einbroiden/, in which there 
 was no loant of gold or spangles, rested on two cush- 
 ions of the sofa, brought near to serve for a back, 
 and intended to support our heads. The taking of 
 the pillows entirely away, would have been a good 
 resource, if we had had any bolster ; and the expe- 
 dient of turning tlie other side upwards having only 
 served to show they wi^re embroidered in the same 
 manner on the bottom, we at last determined to lay 
 our handkerchiefs over them, which, however, did 
 not prevent our being very sensible of the embossed 
 ornaments underneath." (Vol. i. p. 95.) Here wc 
 have many mattrasses of quilted cotton ; a sheet of 
 Indian linen, {qnen/, nnislin, or the fine linen of 
 Eg>'])t?) a coverlet of green satin, enibossod ; two 
 large pillows, embossed also ; two cushions from the 
 sofa, to form a back. So that we see, an eastern 
 bed may be an article of furniture sufficiently com- 
 plicated. 
 
 This description, compared with a note of De la 
 Motraye, (p. 172.) leads to the supposition, that some- 
 thing like what he speaks of as called makass, i. e. a 
 brocaded covering for show, is what the harlot boasts 
 of, as being the upper covering to her divan. " On 
 a rich sofa," he says, "was a false covering of plain 
 gi'een silk, for the same reason as that in the hall ; 
 but I hfted it up, while the two eunuchs who were 
 with us had their backs turned, and I found that the 
 MAKASS of the minders were a very rich brocade, with 
 a gold ground, and flowered with silk of several col- 
 ors, and the cushions of green velvet also grounded 
 with gold, and flowered like them." JVote. — " The 
 minders have two covers, one of which is called 
 MAKASS, for ornament ; and the other to presence 
 that, especially when they are rich, as these were." 
 This was in the seraglio at Constantinople. It is 
 perfectly in character, for the harlot, who (Prov. ix. 
 14.) " sits on a kind of throne at her door," and who 
 in this passage boasts of all her showy embellish- 
 ments, to mention whatever is gaudy, even to the 
 tinsel bedeckings of her room, her furniture and her 
 makasses, assuming nothing less than regal dignity 
 in words and description ; though her apartment be 
 the way to hell, and the alcove containing her bed 
 be the very lurking chamber of death. 
 
 A query may be added, whether the ivory beds of 
 Amos (vi. 4.) were not the divan whereon the cover- 
 ings were laid. These might be ornamented with 
 ivory ; and to this sense the use of the Hebrew word 
 miiteh agrees. In this acceptation there is no repeti- 
 tion in the prophet's words, when he mentions 
 voluptuaries " lying upon mittehs — divans — their 
 frame-work ornamented with ivory ; and stretching 
 themselves (yawning?) upon the couches — coverings 
 of those divans; meaning carpets, splendid cushions, 
 &c. All these embellishments, these enervating lux- 
 uries, the nature, the enjoyments, and the actions of 
 these voluptuaries, agree with the expected delights 
 of an alcove ; they agree also with what has been 
 collected from those ancient writers who censured 
 the luxury of which they were witnesses in their 
 time ; luxury which, it must not be forgotten, was 
 lirouglit from the East, from Persia, from Syria, 
 from the land of silk, of calico, and of canopies. 
 
 We are now, it is evident, at liberty to suppose 
 that as much elegance (or, at least, show and pom- 
 posity) was displayed on the divans and their furni- 
 ture, which served for repose by night, as on those 
 used by day. And as perhaps the same furniture 
 did not serve both day and night, all the year round, 
 but was occasionally changed, it seems natural to 
 conclude, that in a great house there must be con- 
 siderable stores of such furniture ; which, being not 
 a little cumbersome, must require proper, and even 
 large, rooms and warehouses, in which to keep it. 
 This leads to the true sense of the passage, (2 Kings 
 xi. 2.) Joash and his nurse ivere hidden six years in the 
 house of the Lord — in the bed-chamber, (niarn mns,) 
 i. e. the repository — or store-room — for the beds — 
 for the mattrasses and their numerous accompani- 
 ments ; which, being bulky, afforded the means of 
 forming space among them sufficient to receive the 
 (^hild and his nurse, and to conceal them effectually. 
 This was within the precincts of the house of the 
 Lord, a sacred place, where none but priests could 
 enter ; and where, probably, none did enter but the 
 high-priest, Jehoiada, and his wife Jehosheba. This 
 explanation banishes all ideas of an English bed- 
 room in the house of die Lord ; (which, to keep un- 
 visited during six years, would have been very sus-
 
 liEE 
 
 [157] 
 
 BEE 
 
 picious ;) it renders the concealment extremely easy 
 and natural, since, certainly, this repository was 
 mider the charge of its proper keeper, who, only, 
 managed its concerns ; and it agrees to the forma- 
 tion of the Hebrew woi-ds. Moreover, if the infant, 
 Joash, were wounded, apparently to death, (as Atha- 
 liah, no doubt, thought him irrecoverably dead be- 
 fore she left him,) this large room might afford more 
 conveniences while he was under cure from his 
 wounds than any other room coidd do ; and having 
 been safe here for a time, where better could they 
 place him afterwards? 
 
 In closing this article, we should note the various 
 acceptations of the word divan, or duan : (1.) for the 
 raised floor ; (2.) for the whole settle on wliich a 
 j)erson (or several persons) sits ; (3.) for the room 
 tliat contains the divan ; (4.) for the hall, or council 
 chamber ; so called, because the council usually sits 
 on the duan constructed around the room ; (5.) for 
 the council itself; who are said when in consulta- 
 tion to be "in divan." See Sitting. 
 
 BED AN. We read in 1 Sam. xn. 11. that the 
 Lord sent several deliverers of Israel ; Jerubbaal, Be- 
 dan, Jephthah, Samuel. Jerubbaal we know to be 
 Gideon ; but we no where find Bedan among the 
 judges of Israel. The LXX, instead of Bedan, read 
 Barak ; others think Bedan to be Jair, of Manasseh, 
 who judged Israel twenty-three years, Judg. x. 3. 
 There was a Bedan, great-grandson to Machir, and 
 Jair was descended from a daughter of Machir. 
 The Chaldee, the rabbins, and after them the gene- 
 raUty of commentators, conclude that Bedan was 
 Samson, of Dan ; but the opinion which supposes 
 Bedan and Jair to be the same person seems the 
 most probable. The names of Samson and Barak 
 were added in many Latin copies, before the cor- 
 rections of them, by the Roman censors, were pub- 
 lished. The edition of Sixtus V. reads, " Jerobaal, 
 et Baldan, et Samson, et Barak, et Jephte." 
 
 BEE, an insect producing honey. (See Honey.) 
 Bees were unclean by the law. Lev. xi. 23. 
 
 BEEL-ZEBUB. The form and quahty of this 
 ridiculous god have been much disputed. Beel-ze- 
 bub, or, as he is called in the Greek and Latin, Beel- 
 zebul, or Beel-zebut, had a famous temple and ora- 
 cle at Ekron, and Ahaziah, king of Israel, having 
 fallen from the terrace of his house, and received 
 dangerous bruises, sent to consult him, whether he 
 should recover, 2 Kings i. In the New Testament, 
 Beel-zebub is called " prince of the devils," Matt. xii. 
 24 ; Mark iii. 22 ; Luke xi. 15. Some are of opinion, 
 that the name of Achor, the god invoked at Cyrene 
 against flies, comes from Accaron, the city where 
 Beel-zebub was worshipped ; others, that the true 
 name which the Philistines gave to their deity, was 
 Beel-zebach, god of sacrifice ; or Beel-zebnoth, gdd of 
 hosts, or Beel-zebul, god of the habitation, or of 
 heaven ; and that the Jews, who deUghted in disfig- 
 uring the names of false gods, by a play of words, 
 or punning upon them, and who were scrupulous 
 of calling them by their proper appellations, gave 
 him, in derision, that ofjly god, or god of ordure. 
 The name of Beel-zebuth is not very different from 
 that of Beel-zebaoth, god of hosts. Some comment- 
 ators suppose, that the true name of the deity was 
 Belsamin, the god of heaven ; others, that he ^'^•as 
 called the " god of flies," because he defended people 
 from these insects ; as the Eleans adored Jupiter ; 
 and the Romans too, though not under the name of 
 Jupiter, but of " Hercules Apomyius." We no where 
 read, however, that killing flies was one of the la- 
 
 bors of Hercules. Others think that the fly or beetle 
 accompanied the unage of Baalzebub, and gave 
 name to it : " Baal with the fly ;" and the Egyptians, 
 (who lived near the Philistines,) we know, paid di- 
 vine honors to the beetle. It is said in the book of 
 Wisdom, (chap. xii. 8.) that God sent flies and wasps 
 to drive the Canaanites and Anmionites by degrees 
 out of Canaan ; and then adds, that God made those 
 very things, to which they paid divine honors, the 
 instruments of their punishment ; which indicates, 
 that they adored flies and wasps. Besides, it really 
 does appear, that Ekron and its neighborhood is pes- 
 tered with a kind of fire-fly, or cincinnellce, whose 
 stings occasion " a most violent burning tumor," at 
 some seasons of the year. Why the Jews, in our 
 Saviour's time, called Beelzebub the " prince of the 
 devils," we know not. The Jews, however, accused 
 him of driving out devils, in the name of Beelzebub, 
 prince of the devils, that is, of Satan, Lucifer, or 
 the chief of the rebel angels, as appears by our 
 Lord's answer : " If Satan cast out Satan, he is di- 
 vided against himself; how then can his kingdom 
 stand ?" Matt. xii. 24. 
 
 [Those who write BaXti^ovli, in the New Testa- 
 ment, derive the form from am Vya the name of an 
 idol deity among the Ekronites, signifying lord of 
 flits, fly-baal, fly-god, whose office it was to protect 
 his worshippers from the torment of the gnats and 
 flies with which that region was infested, like the 
 ZiC'i u:roiivio? of the Greeks, or of the Myagrius of 
 the Romans ; 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 16. Those who write 
 Bte/.ii(iovX, derive it from Sm Sj.'2, i. e. either lord of 
 the dwelling, region, sc. of the demons, the air ; or, 
 with more probabihty, deus stercoris, from Sai stercus, 
 (Buxtorf, Lex. Rab. Tal. 641.) They suppose the 
 Jews to have applied this appellation to Satan as 
 being the author of all the pollutions and abomina- 
 tions of idol worship. See Jahn, § 408. iii. Kuinoel 
 on Matt. X. 25. See the article Baal. R. 
 
 BEER, a well, a town about 12 miles from Jeru- 
 salem, in the way to Shechem, or Napolose. It is 
 probable, that Jotham, son of Gideon, retired to this 
 place, to avoid falling into the hands of his brother 
 Abimelech, Judg. ix. 21. 
 
 BEER-ELIM, (Isaiah xv. 8.) the well of the 
 princes, probably the same with that mentioned 
 Numb. xxi. 18. 
 
 BEER-RAMATH, the well on the heights, Josh, 
 xix. 8. (See Rama.) Eng. tr. Baalath-beer, Ramath 
 of the south. 
 
 BEER-LAHA-ROI, a well between Kadesh and 
 Shur, where the angel of God appeared to Hagar, 
 Gen. xvi. 14. 
 
 I, BEEROTH, a city of the Gibeonites, after- 
 wards belonging to Benjamin, (Josh. Lx. 17 ; xviii. 
 25 ; 2 Sam. iv. 2 ; Ezra ii. 25.) seven miles fi-ora 
 Jerusalem, toward Nicopohs. 
 
 II. BEEROTH, of the children of Jaakon, (Dent. 
 X. 6.) a station of the Israelites ten miles from the 
 city of Petra, according to Eusebius. Numb, xxxiii. 
 31. reads only Bene-Jaakan, instead of Beeroth- 
 bene-Jaakan, Deut. x. 6. Where water is scarce, 
 wells would naturally induce settlements, and give 
 name to them ; so Puteoli, the wells, Acts xxviu. 13. 
 The property of wells would also be claimed by the 
 residents around them ; hence. Beer oth-beni- Jaakon, 
 the wells of the sons of Jaakan. 
 
 BEER-SHEBA, the ivell of an oath. (See Cove- 
 nant.) The place where Abraham made an alliance 
 with Abimelech, king of Gerar,and gave him seven 
 ewe-lambs, in token of that covenant to which they
 
 BEH 
 
 [158] 
 
 BEHEMOTH 
 
 had sworn, Gen. xxi. 31. The to-\vn subsequently 
 built here was given by Joshua to Judah ; but was 
 afterwards transferred to Sinieon, Josh. xv. 28. It 
 was twenty miles south of Hebron, and at the ex- 
 treniitv of the Holy Land. 
 
 BEESHTERAH, a city, belonging to the half- 
 tribe of Manasseh, beyond Jordan, Avhich was given 
 to the Levites, Josh. xxi. 27. Compare 1 Chron. vi. 
 71, where it is called Asiaroth. Vulgate, Bozra. 
 
 BEETLE, see Canker-worm, and Locust. 
 
 BEEVES, the generical name for a class of clean 
 animals. Collectively, herds. See Heifer. 
 
 BEGGING. Moses, exhorting the Israelites to 
 alms-giving, says : (Deut. xv. 4, 7.) " To the end that 
 there be no poor among you ; for the Lord shall 
 gi-eatly bless thee ;" and, a little lower, " If there be 
 among you a jjoor man, thou shalt not harden thine 
 heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother." 
 These texts do not speak of begging ; but Ave know 
 that there were at all times beggars, among the Jews, 
 as well as other nations. God himself says, (Deut. 
 XV. 11.) "The poor shall never cease out of the 
 land ;" and there were beggars in Jerusalem, and 
 other places, Mark. x. 4G ; Luke xviii. 3.5. The true 
 sense of the passage in Moses is, that God would so 
 bless the lands of the Hebrews in the sixth year, 
 that though there should be no harvest in the sab- 
 batical year, yet none among them should be desti- 
 tute, if tiiey observed his precepts ; or, it was his 
 design to recommend charity and alms-giving 
 most effectually ; q. d. " Be so charitable and 
 liberal, that there may be no indigent person in 
 Israel." 
 
 BEHE3IOTH, the animal. The author of the book 
 of Job has evidently taken great pains to delineate 
 highly finished poetical pictures of two remarkable 
 animals — behemoth and leviathan — with which 
 he closes his description of animated nature, and 
 terminates the climax of that discourse which he 
 j)uts into the mouth of the Creator, The passage 
 stands thus in our translation : — 
 
 Behold, now, behemoth, which I made with 
 thee ; 
 
 1. He eateth grass as an ox; 
 
 2. His strength is in his loins, 
 
 3. His force in the navel of his belly ; 
 
 4. He movetli his tail like a cedar ; 
 
 5. The sinews of his stones are wrapt together. 
 0. His bones are strong pieces of brass, 
 
 7. His bones like bars of iron. 
 
 8. He is the chief of the ways of God ; 
 
 9. He that made him, can make his sword to ap- 
 
 j)roach him. 
 
 10. Surely the mountains bring liini forth food, 
 
 11. Where all the l)easts of the field play: 
 
 12. He lieth under the shady trees, 
 
 13. In the covert of the reeds and fens; 
 
 14. The shady trees cover him with their shadow, 
 1.5. The willows of the Ijrook coni|)ass him about; 
 IG. Behold, he drinkcth up a river ; he hasteth not ; 
 
 17. He trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his 
 
 mouth ; 
 
 18. He taketh it with his eyes; 
 
 19. His nose picrccth through snares. 
 
 Bochart has taken gi'cat pains to prove that this is 
 the hi|)popotamu«, or river-horse ; Sanctius thinks it 
 was an ox ; the Fathers suppose it was the devil ; and 
 Calniet, with the generality of the older interpreters, 
 believes that it is the elephant. In adopting the 
 opinion of Bochart, we may offer the following sug- 
 
 gestion in support of that interpretation. The levi- 
 athan is described at still greater length than the be- 
 hemoth, and they evidently appear to be presented 
 as companions ; to be reserved as fellows and asso- 
 ciates. Under this idea, which is almost undeniable, 
 we may inquire what were the creatures most likely 
 to be companionized in early ages, and in countries 
 bordering on Egj'pt, where the scene of the book of 
 Job is laid ; and from the "Antiquities of Hercula- 
 neum," the " Prseuestine Pavement," and the famous 
 " statue of the hill," it is apparent that they must 
 have been the crocodile, now generally allowed to 
 be the leviathan, and the hippopotamus, or river- 
 horse. 
 
 After these authorities, we may, without hesitation, 
 conclude, that this association was not rare or un- 
 common, but that it really was the customary manner 
 of tliinking, and, consequently, of speaking, in an- 
 cient times, and in the countries where these creatures 
 were native ; we may add, that being well known in 
 Egypt, and in some degree popular objects of Egyp- 
 tian pride, distinguishing natives of that country, 
 from their magnitude and character, they could not 
 escape the notice of any curious naturalist, or writer 
 on natural history ; so that to suppose they were 
 omitted in this })art of the book of Job, would be to 
 suppose a blemish in the book, implying a deficiency 
 in tlie author. And if they are inserted, no other 
 description can be that of the hippopotamus. 
 
 It has been above stated, that many learned men 
 have taken the elephant for behemoth ; — but to this 
 it may be replied, that no pictorial authority which 
 has hitherto been published, has represented the ele- 
 phant as known in Egypt ; much less as peculiar to 
 that country, though it has been repeatedly, indeed, 
 we believe, constantly, adopted as a symbol of Africa. 
 Till, therefore, some instances be produced, in which 
 the elephant is not only rejjresented as an inhabitant 
 of Egypt, but also as associated with the crocodile, 
 we presume we may consider the weight of evidence 
 as decisive in favor of the hippopotamus as being 
 behemoth. Omitting, therefore, what might be said 
 against the elephant, such as the difficulty of recon- 
 ciling certain particulars with the descri])tion of be- 
 hemoth by the sacred writer, &c. let us now examine 
 the description somewhat closely, in the order of the 
 verses in the y)assage. 
 
 1. He eateth grass like an ox. It is evident from 
 all the i-epresentations selected, that the hippopota- 
 mus feeds on vegetables. In one of the ])lates in 
 the Antiquities of Herculaneuin, (vol. ii. p. 295.) he 
 is in the very act of feeding on such provisions. 
 
 2. His strens-th is in his loins. 3. His force in the 
 navel of his belhj. Each of these delineations repre- 
 sents him as powerfully built ; and shows prodigious 
 strength of construction. 
 
 4. He moveth (bendeth) his tail like a cedar, \. e. 
 shaken by the wind ; not, we suppose, rapidly, Avith 
 a tremulous motion, but slowly, as it were solennily, 
 ill a stately manner. This ajjpeai-s, in some degree, 
 from representations, where his tail is seen to advan- 
 tage, and is evidently in motion. 
 
 5, 6, 7. Are implied in his general form ; but are 
 incapable of illustration by these subjects. We shall 
 merely para])hrase the version : "His smaller bcncs 
 arc like compact bars of brass : his larger bones like 
 forged bars of iron." 
 
 9. He, (God,) in making him, has tnadefaH (fixed) his 
 iveapon. None of the j)lates exhibit the tusks of^the 
 hip[)opotanius like what they are in nature ; yet this 
 part of the animal had not entirely escaped notice.
 
 BEHEMOTH 
 
 I 159 ] 
 
 BEHEMOTH 
 
 10. The swellings (risings) produce him food ; not 
 mountains, strictly speaking, but any elevations, such 
 as those on wiiich he is represented feeding, in some 
 ol* these j)lates. 
 
 11. J f here play all the beasts of the field. It may 
 bo thought suHiciently remarkable, that in several of 
 these representations, where so formidable a creature 
 as the hippopotamus is depicted as drinking, roaring, 
 tScc. there sliould be a duck in perfect quiet, and 
 without any fright, or fear of injury from him, as is 
 the case. Is it not the chief intention of this verse, 
 to express the seciu'ity of the lesser creatures from 
 injury by this inoffensive animal, ■which permits 
 even their frolics and sportiveness without interrup- 
 tion ? 
 
 12. He lieth under the shady trees ; 14. The shady 
 trees compass him with their shadow. Here the prints 
 fail ; Egyj)t being a country not abounding in trees : 
 but, as amends, verses 13, 15 (He lieth in the coved 
 of the reeds and fens) are strongly illustrated by 
 them. 
 
 16. He dnnketh up a river ; he hasteth not. One of 
 the plates seems to be a direct connnent on this verse ; 
 and on verses 17, 18. He is cojfident though Jordan 
 rush against his mouth, he taketh it with his eyes. The 
 ancient artist has well expressed the eagerness in this 
 animal. (The j)lates may be seen in the large edition 
 of this work.) 
 
 It should be remembered, that the subjects from 
 Herculaneum were the connnon ornaments of com- 
 mon houses ; their merit, therefore, as instances of 
 art, is by no means considerable ; but their common- 
 ness (as seems to be a fair inference from the situa- 
 tions in which they were found) deserves notice, in 
 support of principles adopted on this subject and 
 otliers. 
 
 These remarks are independent of the general 
 natural histoiy of the hippopotamus ; and are merely 
 meant to show, that the chief particulars of his jiian- 
 ners were well understood in ancient times ; that 
 they are comformable to the accounts of travellers, 
 will appear to any who peruse BufTon's account of 
 this animal ; and especially the more recent " Travels 
 in Africa" of M. Vaillant: — but, as our present de- 
 sign is not to write the natural history of the crea- 
 ture, but merely to ascertain and identify the behe- 
 moth of the book of Job, with what success this 
 design has been fulfilled must be left to the reflective 
 reader. See Elephant, and Hippopotamus. 
 
 [That the behemoth of the book of Job is the hip- 
 popotannis, or river horse, is now fully conceded by 
 all recent commentators of any note ; and for the 
 following reasons among others: (1.) That it is an 
 aquatic animal follows from the whole plan and order 
 of the two discourses of Jehovah ; (c. xxxviii, etc.) 
 in which the appeal is made, first, tr> the phenomena 
 of nature, and then to the beasts of the earth and 
 birds of the air ; all these are reviewed in the for- 
 mer address, and there remain for the second only 
 the aquatic animals. (2.) The description of behe- 
 moth is immediately lollowed by that of the croco- 
 dile. But the crocodile and hippopotamus, as being 
 Egyynian wonders, are constantly and every where 
 so joined by the ancient writers ; see Herodot. ii. (i!) 
 —/I. Dio'd. Sic. i. 35. Plin. H. N. xxviii. 8. (3.) 
 That it is amphibious follows necessarily from the 
 antitiiesis and contrast expressed in verses 15, 20 — 
 22, and verses 23, 34. The probability is that the 
 name behemoth is properly an Egyptian word, sig- 
 nifying river-ox ; just as the same animal is still 
 sometimes called by us sea-cow. 
 
 The appearance of the hijipopotainus when on the 
 land is altogether uncouth, the body being extremely 
 large, flat, and round, the head enormously large in 
 proportion, and the legs as disproportionately siiort. 
 Authors vary in describing the size of this animal. 
 The length of a male has been known to be seven- 
 teen feet, the height seven feet, and th(! circumference 
 fifteen ; the liead three feet and a half, and the girt 
 nine feet ; the mouth in width about two feet. The 
 general color of the animal is brownish ; the ears 
 small and pointed, and lined verj' thickly with fine, 
 short hairs ; the eyes small in proi)ortion to the 
 creature, and black ; the \\\)s very thick, broad, and 
 beset with a few scattered tufts of short bristles ; the 
 nostrils small. The armament of teeth in its mouth 
 is truly formidable ; more j)articular]y the tusks of 
 the lower jaw, which are of a curved form, some- 
 what cylindrical ; these are so strong and hard that 
 they will strike fire with steel, are sometiujes more 
 than two feet in length, and weigh upwards of six 
 pounds each. The other teeth are nuich smaller ; 
 those in the lower jaw are conical, pointed, and pro- 
 jecting forwards almost horizontally. The whole 
 surface of the body is covered with short hair ; but 
 more sparingly on the under parts than on the upper. 
 The tail is short, thick, and a little hairy. The feet 
 are large, and each of the four lobes, or toes, fur- 
 nished with a hoof. The color of the hipnopotanms, 
 when just emerging from the water, is paiish brown, 
 or mouse color, inclining to a bluish tinge, with the 
 skin appearing through the hair ; but this aj)pear- 
 ance vanishes as the skin becomes dry. 
 
 The following account of the capture of a hippo- 
 potamus serves greatly to elucidate the descrijition 
 in the book of Job, and to show its correctness, even 
 in those points which have formerly been regarded 
 as poetical exaggerations. It is translated from the 
 travels of M. Riippell, the German naturalist, who 
 visited Upper Egjpt and the countries still farther up 
 the Nile, and is the latest traveller in those regions. 
 (Reisen in Nnbien, Kordofan, etc. Frankf. Ib29. p. 
 52, seq.) " In the province of Dougola, the fishermen 
 and hippopotamus hunters form a distinct class or 
 caste ; and are called in the Berber language Hauauit 
 (pronounced Howowit). They make use of a small 
 canoe, formed from a single tree, about 10 feet long, 
 and capable of carrying two, and at most three men. 
 The harpoon which they use in himting the hippo- 
 potamus, has a strong barb just back of the blade or 
 sharp edge ; above this a long and strong cord is 
 fastened to the iron, and to the other end of this 
 cord, a block of light wood, to serve as a buoy and 
 aid in tracing out and following the animal when 
 struck. The iron is then slightly fastened upon a 
 wooden handle, or lance, about eight feet long. 
 
 "The hunters of the hi|)popotamus harpoon their 
 prey either l)y day or by night ; but they prefer the 
 former, because they can then better parry the fero- 
 cious assaults of the enraged animal. The hunter 
 takes in his right hand the handle of the harpoon, 
 with a part of the cord ; in his left, the remainder of 
 the cord, with the buoy ; in this manner he cautious- 
 ly approaches the creature as it sleeps by day upon 
 a small island ; or he watches at night on those parts 
 of the shore, where he hojies the animal will come 
 up out of the water, in order to feed in the fields of 
 grain. When he has gained the desired distance, 
 (about seven paces,) he throws the lance with his full 
 strength ; and the harpoon, in order to hold, must 
 penetrate ihe thick hide and into the flesh. The 
 wounded beast commonly makes for the water, and
 
 BEHEMOTH 
 
 [160] 
 
 BEL 
 
 plunges beneath it in order to conceal himself; the 
 handle of the harpoon falls off, but the buoy swims, 
 and indicates the direction which the animal takes. 
 — The harpooning of the hippopotamus is attended 
 with great danger, when the hunter is perceived by 
 the animal, before he has thrown the harpoon. In 
 such cases the beast sometimes rushes, enraged, upon 
 his assailant, and crushes him at once between his 
 wide and formidable jaws, — an occurrence that 
 once took place during our residence near Shendi. 
 Sometimes the most harmless objects excite the 
 rage of this animal ; thus in the region of Amara, a 
 hippopotamus once crauuched, in the same way, 
 several cattle that were fastened to a water-wheel. 
 
 " So soon as the animal has been successfully 
 struck, the hunters hasten in their canoe cau- 
 tiously to approach the buoy, to which they fasten 
 a long rope ; with the other end of this they pro- 
 ceed to the large boat or bark, on board of which 
 are their companions. The rope is noAV drawn in ; 
 the pain thus occasioned by the barb of the har- 
 poon, excites the rage of the animal, and he no 
 sooner perceives the bark, than he rushes upon it ; 
 seizes upon it, if possible, %vith his teeth ; and some- 
 times succeeds in shattering it, or oversetting it. 
 The hunters in the mean time are not idle ; they 
 fasten five or six other harpoons in his flesh, and 
 exert all their strength, by means of the cords of 
 these, to keep him close alongside of the bark, in 
 order thus to diminish, in some measure, the effects 
 of his violence ; they endeavor, with a long sharp 
 iron, to divide the Ugamentum jugi, or to beat in the 
 skull, — the usual modes in which the natives kill this 
 animal. Since the carcass of a fuU-grown hippopot- 
 amus is too large to be drawn out of the water 
 without quite a number of men, they commonly cut 
 up the animal, when killed, in the water, and draw 
 the pieces ashore. In the whole Turkish province 
 of Dongola, there are only one or two hippopotami 
 killed annually. In the years 1821 — 23 inclusive, 
 there were nine killed ; four of which were killed by 
 us. The flesli of the young animal is very good 
 eating ; when full-gro\vn they are usually very fat, 
 and their carcass is commonly estimated as equal to 
 four or five oxen. The hide is used only for making 
 whips, whicli are excellent ; and one hide furnishes 
 from 350 to 500 of them. The teeth are not used. 
 
 " One of the hippopotami which we killed was a 
 very old male, and seemed to have reached his ut- 
 most growth. He measured, from tlie snout to the 
 end of the tail, about 15 feet ; and his tusks, from 
 the root to the point along the external curve, 28 
 inches. In order to kill him, we had a battle with 
 him of four hours long, and that too in the night. 
 Indeed, he came very near destroying our large 
 bark ; and with it, perhaps, all our lives. The mo- 
 ment he saw tlie hunters in the small canoe, as they 
 were about to fasten the long rope to the buoy, in 
 order to draw him in, he threw himself with one 
 rush upon it, dragged it with hiin under water, and 
 sliattered it to j/ieccs. The two hunters escaped 
 this extreme danger with great difficulty. Out of 25 
 musket balls, which were fired into the monster's 
 head, at the distance of five feet, only one penetrated 
 the hide and the hones near the nose ; so that eveiy 
 time he breathed, he snorted streams of blood upon 
 the bark. All the other balls remained sticking in 
 the thickness of the hide. We had, at last, to em- 
 ploy a small cannon ; the use of which at so short a 
 distance had not before entered our minds ; but it 
 was only after five of its balls, fired at the distance 
 
 of a few feet, had mangled, most shockingly, the 
 head and body of the monster, that he gave up the 
 ghost. The darkness of the night augmented the 
 horrors and dangers of the contest. This gigantic 
 hippopotamus dragged our large bark at his will in 
 every direction of the stream ; and it was in a fortu- 
 nate moment for us that he yielded, just as he had 
 drawn the bark among a labyrinth of rocks, which 
 might have been so much the more dangerous, be- 
 cause, from the gi-eat confusion on board, no one 
 had observed them. 
 
 " Hippopotami of the size of the one above de- 
 scribed cannot be killed by the natives, for want of 
 a cannon. These anunals are a real plague to the 
 land, in consequence of their voraciousness. The 
 inhabitants have no permanent means of keeping 
 them away from their fields and plantations ; all that 
 they do is, to make a noise during the night with a 
 drum, and to keep up fires in different places. In 
 some parts the hippopotami are so bold, that they 
 will yield up their pastures or places of feeding, only 
 when a large number of persons come rushing upon 
 them with sticks and loud cries." *R, 
 
 BEKAH, half a shekel ; in Dr. Arbuthnot's Ta- 
 ble, 13d. ll-16ths; in Dr. Prideaux's, Is. 6d. [The 
 true value was about 25 cents. R.] The half- 
 shekel was called bekah, from the verb baka, Avhich 
 signifies, to divide into two parts. Every Israelite 
 paid one bekah yearly, for the support and repaiis 
 of the temple, Exod. xxx. 13. See Didrachma. 
 
 BEL, the Chaldean Baal. (See Baal.) They at- 
 tributed to Bel the gift of healing diseases ; and be- 
 lieved that he ate and drank like a living person. 
 Daniel (Apoc.) relates his detection of the cheat of 
 Bel's priests, who came eveiy night through private 
 doors, to eat what was offered to their deity. 
 
 BELA, Bala, or Zohar, Gen. xiv. 8. See Zoar. 
 
 BELIAL is plainly Hebrew, from >'?3, not, and 
 S}", advantage, xdility ; hence, strictly, Belial means 
 u'orthlessness, and is always so used in a moral sense. 
 A man or son of Belial, therefore, is a wicked, worth- 
 less man; one i-esolved to endure no subjection; a 
 rebel ; a disobedient, uncontrollalile fellow. The in- 
 habitants of Gibeah, who abused the Levite's wife, 
 have the name "men of Belial" given to them, Judg. 
 xix. 22. Hojjhui and Phineas, the high-])riept Eli's 
 sons, are likewise called "sons of Belial," because of 
 their crimes, and their unbecoming conduct in the 
 temple of the Lord. In later writings, Belial is put 
 for the power or lord of evil, i. e. for Satan. Paul 
 says, (2 Cor. vi. 15.) "What concord hath Christ 
 with Belial ?" Whence it is inferred, that in his 
 time the Jews, by Belial, understood Satan, as the 
 patron and epitome of licentiousness. 
 
 BELL. Moses ordered that the lower part of 
 the blue robe, which the high-priest wore in religious 
 ceremonies, should be adorned with poniegianates 
 and bells, intermixed, alternately, at ffjual distances. 
 The pomegranates were of wool, blue, ])urple, and 
 crimson ; the bells were of gold, Exod. xxviii. 33,34. / 
 The legislator adds, "And it shall be upon Aaron \/ 
 to minister; and his sound shall be heard win n be , 
 
 goeth in imto the holy ])lace before the Lord, and j 
 
 when he cometh out ; that he die not." The kings ' 
 
 of Persia are said to have had the hem of their 
 roi)es adorned like that of the Jewish high-priest, 
 with pomegranates and golden bells. The Arabian 
 ladies, who are about the king's person, have little 
 gold bells fastened to their legs, their necks, and 
 elbows, which, when they dance, make a very 
 agreeable harmony. The Arabian princesses also
 
 BEL 
 
 [ 161 ] 
 
 BELSHAZZAR 
 
 wear on tlieir legs, and suspended from their hair, 
 which is plaited, and hangs long behind, a number 
 of little bells, wliich, when they walk, give notice that 
 the mistress of the house is passing, that so the 
 servants may behave themselves respectfully, and 
 strangers retire, to avoid seeing the person who ad- 
 vances. It wzis therefore, in all probability, with some 
 such design of giving notice that the high-priest 
 was passing, that he also wore these bells at the hem 
 of his robe ; it was a kind of public notice that he 
 was about to enter the sanctuary. In the court of 
 the king of Persia no one might enter the apart- 
 ments without giving warning ; not by knocking, or 
 speaking, but by the sound of something, Judith xiv. 
 8, 9. Thus the high-priest, out of respect, did not 
 knock by way of notice, when he entered the sanc- 
 tuary ; but, by the sound of the little bells at the 
 bottom of his robe, he, as it were, desired permis- 
 sion to enter, " that the sound of the bells might be 
 heard, and he be not punished with death." The 
 prophet Zechariah speaks (chap. xiv. 20.) of "bells 
 of the horses ;" probably such as were hung to the 
 bridles, or foreheads, or belts round the neck, of war- 
 horses, that thereby they might be accustomed to 
 noise. (See Burder's Oriental Customs. Rosenmiil- 
 ler's Alt. u. Neues Morgenland, iv. p. 412.) A horse 
 which had not been trained, nor used to wear 
 bells, was by the Greeks called — one that had never 
 heard the noise of bells. The mules employed in 
 the funeral pomp of Alexander the Great had, at 
 each jaw, a gold bell. 
 
 BELLY. This word is often used as synon- 
 ymous with gluttony ; " The Cretans are always 
 liars, evil beasts, slow bellies ;" (Tit. i. 12.) and, 
 "There are many whose god is their belly," (Philip. 
 iii. 19.) and (Rom. xvi. 18.) "They serve not the 
 Lord Jesus, but their own bellies." It is used, like- 
 wise, for the heart, the bottom of the soul : " The 
 words of a tale-bearer go down into the innermost 
 parts of the belly," and wound the very bottom of 
 the soul, Prov. xviii. 8, and ch. xx. 27. " The spirit 
 of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the 
 inward parts of the belly ;" the spirit of man is like 
 the light of God, which penetrates the very bottom 
 of the soul. And ch. xxii. 18. " Preserve the les- 
 sons of wisdom ; if thou keep it within thy belly," 
 in thy heart, "it will not break out upon thy lips." 
 {Vulgate.) The "belly of hell" is the gi-ave, or im- 
 minent danger of death. The author of Ecclesiasti- 
 cus says, that he was delivered from the deep belly 
 of hell : and Jonah, that he cried to the Lord " out 
 of the belly of hell," — from the bottom of the sea. 
 See IIeli.. 
 
 BELMA, or Belmon, a place near the valley of 
 Esdraelon, Judith vii. 3. 
 
 BELMAIM, the waters of Bel, or Belus, Judith 
 vii. 3. 
 
 BELIMEN, (Judith iv. 4. Gr.) the same, probably, 
 as Beel-maim ; and, perhaps, Abel-maim, (Abel-me- 
 hira, Syriac,) of Naphtali, 2 Chron. xvi. 4. So that 
 Belmen, Belma, Belmaim, and Abel-mehola may be 
 the same place. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR, the son of Evil-merodach, and 
 grandson of Nebucliadnezzar, ascended the throne 
 of Chaldea, A. M. 3444. He made the great and 
 fatal entertainment for a thousand of his courtiers 
 in 3449 ; so that he reigned but four years, Dan. v. 
 The king, when warmed by wine, commanded the 
 gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his 
 grandfather, had brought from the temple of Jeru- 
 salem, to be produced before him, that he might 
 21 
 
 drink out of them, with his court ; but he was quick- 
 ly terror-stricken by an appearance, as it were, of a 
 man's fingers, writing on the wall over against the 
 candlestick. Belshazzar was greatly astonished, and 
 commanded all the diviners and sages of Babylon 
 to be fetched, to explain the writing. He promised 
 great honors ; but the Magi could comprehend 
 nothing of the writing, which increased the disorder 
 and uneasiness of the king and his court. The 
 queen-mother [probably Nitocris] informed the 
 king of Daniel and his prophetic spirit, who was 
 quickly sent for. The prophet performed what was 
 required, was clothed with scarlet, received a gold 
 chain, and was proclaimed the third person in the 
 kingdom. But on that very night Belshazzar was 
 killed, and Darius the Mede [Cyrus] took possession 
 of his kingdom. 
 
 We are considerably perplexed to reconcile pro- 
 fane history with this account in the sacred writings. 
 It is generally believed that Evil-merodach was suc- 
 ceeded by Neriglissor; Neriglissor by Laborasoar- 
 doch ; and that Belshazzar is the same with Nabonidas, 
 orLabynites. (See the article Babylonia, ck/^«.) All 
 the marks whereby Nabonidas is described in history, 
 agi-ee with Belshazzar. Hei'odotus says, (1. 1.) that he 
 was the last king of Babylon ; that he was not of 
 Neriglissor's or of Laborasoardoch's family ; but was 
 the son of the great queen Nitocris. Belshazzar, m 
 like manner, is in Daniel the last king of the Chal- 
 deans, son of a king of Babylon, (who can be no 
 other than Evil-merodach,) and of whom the queen 
 dowager, by her influence over him, would seem to 
 have been mother. Daniel (v. 2.) calls Belshazzar 
 the son of Nebuchadnezzar ; but in the style of the 
 Hebrews, grandsons or descendants are often named 
 sons. Jeremiah (xxvii. 6, 7.) says expressly, " The 
 nations shall be subject to Nebuchadnezzar, to his 
 son, and to his grandson, till the time come for ven- 
 geance on himself, and his country." But whatever 
 variations may be observed in historians, the result 
 of their accounts is uniform — that the prophecies 
 against Babylon were, for the most part, literally ful- 
 filled at the death of Belshazzar ; (it was then be- 
 sieged by an army of Medes, Elamites, and Arme- 
 nians, according to the predictions of Isaiah, xiii. 
 17 ; xxi. 2. and Jeremiah 1.11,27—30.) that the 
 fords of the river should be seized ; that confusion 
 and disturbance should prevail throughout the city ; 
 that the bravest of the inhabitants should be dis- 
 heartened ; that the river Euphrates should be made 
 dry ; (1. 38 ; li. 36.) that the city should be taken in 
 a time of rejoicing; that its princes, sages, and cap- 
 tains should be overwhelmed with drunkenness, and 
 should pass from a natural to a mortal sleep ; (li. 
 39, 57.) that the city which was formerly so beauti- 
 ful, so ])owerful, and so flourishing, should become 
 a dwelling for bitterns and unclean birds, Isaiah 
 xiv. 23. These particulars not only deserve the 
 reader's notice in themselves, but also in the circum- 
 stance of tJieir being delivered in progressio7i ; not 
 altogether ; not all by the same prophet ; but at dif- 
 ferent times ; the succeeding adding what a former 
 had omitted, yet all agreeing in the same general 
 issue and description. 
 
 It must have appeared to the mind of every care- 
 ful reader of the description of the miracle at Bel- 
 shazzar's feast, (Dan. v.) that some of the circum- 
 stances attending it require explanation. This has 
 been attempted by Mr. Taylor, the substance of 
 whose remarks we" lav before the reader. [But it 
 must be borne in mind, that this is all mere conjee-
 
 BELSHAZZAR 
 
 [ 162] 
 
 BEN 
 
 ture. R.] By inspecting the engraving accompanying 
 the article House, one of the courts will be seen to 
 be a square area, with pillars around it, supporting 
 a gallery. In such an area, Mr. T. supposes the king 
 to have been enteilaining a select party of his 
 guests ; that the candlestick, giving a great light, was 
 situated in the centre of the area ; tiie tables placed 
 around it, and at the upper end the king to have 
 been seated. Having thus arranged the premises, he 
 proceeds to inquire, (1.) Where, in what part of the 
 court, did the miracle occur.' and, (2.) In what did 
 it consist ? In order to approach toward an answer 
 to these questions, he thus minutely analyzes the 
 narration of the sacred writer : — 1. In that same 
 hour came forth fingers (n di) according to — of— a hu- 
 man hand, writing (that is, they wrote) over against — 
 that is, near to (not in the comparatively obscure 
 angles of the court ; but in the part nearest to) the 
 candlestick, where the principal force of the light 
 struck; in a bright situation; upon the plaster [in- 
 spect the engraving; above, or below, the painted 
 tiles marked O) of the wall, enclosure, partition, 
 which surrounded the court; (that which in our 
 engraving is supported by the pillars ; see Marriage 
 Processions ;) (n di) according to — of, the royal 
 palace : then the king was terrified, and sent for 
 Daniel. T/te?i (ver. 24.) from before him [God] was 
 sent the part (n di) of a hand, that is, like unto a 
 hand ; and this writing appeared to be traced upon 
 the ivall. 
 
 Thus the first question is answered : — The writing 
 was upon the plaster, over a central pillar in the 
 coiu't ; (say, in our plan, on that next to the opening 
 D, on the right hand side ;) in the most conspicuous 
 situation the wall could afford. 
 
 2. The miracle is supposed to have consisted in 
 tracings, marks, or delineations, on the plaster: — 
 now such might be made by various means ; as (1.) 
 by lines, drawn with a black substance on a white 
 ground ; or (2.) by fissures, cracks, or crevices, 
 wrought, as it were, in the plaster ; or (.3.) as a finger 
 might write on soft plaster, Ijy tracing its coru'se 
 along it ; thereby forming hollows, little furrows, 
 indented marks on its surface ; much like those 
 made by the impression of a seal ; for so the word 
 (n^c^) is used, ch. vi. 8. — JK'ow, O king, establish the 
 decree and stamp {zD'<:.'-\r^) mark by stamping with thy 
 seal, as the custom in the East is, for confirmation, 
 the writing. This may be accepted as answering the 
 second question. 
 
 So far we are justified, no less by oin- plate, than 
 by the narration itself: there remains another ques- 
 tion, which is rather to be answered by conjecture 
 than by facts. The following crude ideas on the sub- 
 ject are offered that the reader may improve them 
 into a better clKiracter. 
 
 Why could not the Chaldean wise men read the 
 writing ? They could not ascertain its meaning, 
 probably, because, if it consisted in indented tracings, 
 as with a finger, on sofi plaster, there vfds no dis- 
 coloration, whereby to distinguish them as letters (i. 
 e. well-drawn, well formed letters) li-oni the rest of 
 the plaster; at most, perhaps, the Chaldeans saw 
 merely a mnnbcr of (to them confused) lines ; or if 
 the marks were delineated by means of cracks or 
 fissures, in tlie plaster itself, the effect was, to the 
 Chaldeans, mu<'h the same. When Daniel insjiect- 
 ed the inscription, he jierceived that it formetl let- 
 ters and words ; he was enabled to combine and 
 arrange them ; also, to perceive their hidden mean- 
 ing and application to pej-sons and things ; which 
 
 he had the fortitude to tell the king ; and to apply 
 to him, personally. These ideas go far in explana- 
 tion of this matter. But if it be thought the letters, 
 as letters, were clear to the eyes of the wise men, as 
 they were to Daniel, there still remains a question, in 
 what characters were they written ? Not in the 
 Chaldee character, it is presumed ; but, probably, in 
 the sacred language ; the ancient Hebrew ; which 
 for the present we call the Samaritan. This was a 
 character not likely to be familiar to the Chaldeans : 
 they would not readily think of combining into let- 
 ters and words, in this character of the ancient He- 
 brews, (now their vanquished subjects and slaves,) a 
 few iiTegular scrawling lines: //)a< character was no 
 sacred character to them ; nor were they in the 
 habit of investigating it ; while to Daniel, this very 
 description of writing had been his daily study 
 from his youth, — his daily perusal, in the holy Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 We see no objection against uniting these ideas. — 
 As thus: suppose the Imes might be formed by hol- 
 lows or tracings in the plaster ; these, though they 
 appeared to the Cljaldean wise men to be no better 
 than those random veins which are occasionally ob- 
 served in marble, &c. yet, when inspected by the 
 learned eye of Daniel, he saw they were letters, in 
 that sacred language to which he had been ac- 
 customed ; he read them without difficulty, he com- 
 bined them, and, more than that, he explained them. 
 The text says expressly, that the Chaldeans could 
 not read them ; but even if they had happened to 
 possess the power of reading them, they might have 
 been none the nearer toward ascertaining their pro- 
 phetic import. We see daily instances of foreign 
 characters, and foreign words, which are unintel- 
 hgible to most persons, much like what these char- 
 acters were to the Chaldeans. 
 
 There is a species of eastern wit which consists in 
 forming letters and sentences into enigmas, of va- 
 rious kinds : no doubt Belshazzar considered this 
 inscription as something of the same nature, and 
 therefore expected his profound decipherers to ex- 
 plain it. This kind of puzzle is more common in 
 the East than we are aware of; and we find Nadir 
 Shah had coins struck with the same play of words 
 upon them, " .'?/ kherfi ma vacheh, ' What has hap- 
 pened is best :' the numerical letters of this motto 
 n)ake up 1148, the year he usurped the crown," 
 Frazer's Histoi-y, p. 119. 
 
 Thus we have endeavored to deflect a few scat- 
 tered rays on the nature of this miracle ; always 
 meaning to insist on the distinction between inquu*- 
 ing in what a miracle consisted ; and by what ])0wer 
 it was accomplished. The first is tiie proper duty 
 of rational minds : the latter is confessedly above 
 them. 
 
 BELTESHAZZAR, the name given to Daniel, at 
 the court of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. i. 7. 
 
 BELUS, TEMPhE OF, see Babel. 
 
 BEN-Ai3INAi)AB, governor of the country of 
 Dor ; he married Taphath, daughter of Solomon, 1 
 Kings iv. 11. 
 
 BEN AT AIT, son of Jehoiada, captain of David's 
 guard. He slew "the two lions of 3Ioab," that is, 
 two Moabitish champions, 2 Sam. xxiii. 20. He also 
 killed a lion in a pit, in time of snow. He killed a 
 giant five cubits high, who was armed with sword 
 and spear, though he himself had a staff" only in 
 his hand. He adhered to Solomon against Adoni- 
 jah ; was sent by Solomon to kill Joab ; and was 
 made generalissimo in his place, 1 Kings i. 36 ; ii.
 
 BEN 
 
 163 ] 
 
 BEO 
 
 29. — Some pei-sons of this name returned from 
 Babvlon, with Ezra ; x. 25, 30, 35, 43. 
 
 BIEN-AxMMI, a son of Lot by his daughter, (Gen. 
 xix. 38.) and the father of the Ammonites. 
 
 BEN-DEKAR, a governor of several cities under 
 Solomon, 1 Kings iv. 9. 
 
 BEx\E, or BeiNE-Berak, (Josh. xix. 45.) a city in 
 the tribe of Dan ; probably where the " sons of Berak" 
 were established. The Vulgate makes two cities of 
 it. Bane and Barak. 
 
 BENE-JAA^AN, the sons of Jaakan ; (Numb, 
 xxxiii. 31.)aud in Dent. x. 6. Beeroth-bene- Jaakan 
 is the wells of the sons of Jaakan. 
 
 BEN-GEBER, a son of Geber, of Manasseh, who 
 possessed tlie cities of Jair, and the region of Argob, 
 beyond the Jordan, 1 Kings iv. 13. 
 
 I. BEN-HADAD, a son of Tabrimon, king of Sy- 
 ria, who came to assist Asa, king of Judah, against 
 Baasha, king of Israel, and obliged him to return 
 and succor his own country, and to abandon Ra- 
 mah, which he had undertaken to Ibi-tify, 1 Kings 
 XV. 18. This Ben-hadad is probably Hadad, the 
 Edomite, who rebelled against Solomon, 1 Kings 
 xi. 25. 
 
 II. BEN-HADAD, a king of Syria, son of the 
 above Ben-hadad, who made war against Ahab, A. 
 M. 3103. (See Ahab.) Ben-hadad being defeated, 
 his generals told him that the God of the Hebrews 
 was god of the mountains only, and that he must 
 attack Israel in the plain, where he had no power. 
 Ben-hadad pursued this advice the year following ; 
 but the Israehtes killed 100,000 of his people, and 
 he concealed himself, to avoid falling into the hands 
 of Ahab, 1 Kings xx. 1 — 30. The king of Israel, 
 however, received him into his chariot, and accept- 
 ed his conditions of peace, ver. 31 — 34. About 
 twelve years afterwards, Ben-hadad declared war 
 against Jehoram, son of Ahab ; but the prophet 
 Elisha discovered his plans to Jehoram, and thereby 
 disappointed them, 2 Kings vi. 8, to end. Ben-hadad 
 suspected treachery in his officers ; but learning, 
 after a while, that his projects were revealed by 
 Elisha, he resolved to seize the prophet ; and under- 
 standing that he was at Dothan, he sent thither a 
 detachment of his best troops, whom the prophet 
 struck with blindness, and led into Samaria. Some 
 years afterwards, Ben-hadad again besieged Sama- 
 ria, and the famine became extreme in the place : 
 but, in the night-time, a panic fear struck the Syrian 
 host ; they imagined that Jehoram had procured an 
 army of Hittites and Egyptians, and thought only of 
 saving themselves by flight. The next year, Ben-ha- 
 dad, being sick, sent Hazael with presents to the man 
 of God, to learn from him whether there were hopes 
 of his recovery. He answered. Go, tell him thou 
 mayest certainly recover ; hmvever, the Lord hath showed 
 me that he shall surely die. Hazael returned to Da- 
 mascus, and told Ben-hadad that his health would 
 be restored ; but the next day he took a tJiick cloth, 
 which he dipped in water, and spread it over the 
 king's face, so that he speedily died. Hazael suc- 
 ceeded him, viii. 7—15. A. M. 3120, ante A. D. 884. 
 See Hazael. 
 
 III. BEN-HADAD, a son of Hazael, above men- 
 tioned, from whonj Jelioash, king of Israel, recover- 
 ed all that Hazael had taken from his predecessor, 
 2 Kings xiii. 3, 24, 25. Jehoash defeated him 
 three times, and compelled him to surrender all 
 the country beyond Jordan, namely, the lands be- 
 longing to Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh, which Ha- 
 zael had taken. 
 
 Josephus calls those princes Hadad, who, in Scrip- 
 ture, are named Ben-hadad, or son of Hadad ; adding 
 that the Syrians of Damascus paid divine honors to 
 the last Hadad, and Hazael, in consideration of the 
 benefits of their government, and particularly be- 
 cause they adorned Damascus with magnificent tem- 
 ples. (Ant. viii. 8 ; ix. 2.) 
 
 BEN-HAIL, a prince sent by Jehoshaphat to the 
 cities of his dominions to instruct the people, 2 
 Chron. xvii. 7. 
 
 BEN-HINNOM, or Geh-hinnom, or Geh-bene- 
 HiNXOM, that is, " the valley of the children of 
 Hinnom," or, "the son of intense lamentation," 
 south-east of Jei-usalem, Josh. xv. 8 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 
 10. Some say, it was the common sewer to Jerusa- 
 lem, and an emblem of hell ; which is railed Ge- 
 henna. (See Gehenna.) This valley was likewise 
 called Tophet. See Tophet. 
 
 BEN-HESED, governor of Sochoh, and Hepher, 
 under Solomon, 1 Kings iv. 10, margin. 
 
 BEN-HUR, governor of Ephraim, under Solomon, 
 1 Kings iv. 8, margin. 
 
 BENJAMIN, the youngest son of Jacob and Ra- 
 chel, Gen. XXXV. 16, 17, &c. Rachel died imme- 
 diately after he was born, and with her last breath 
 named him Ben-oni, the son of my sorrow : but Ja- 
 cob called him Benjamin, the son of my right hand. 
 He is often called in Scripture Jemini only, that is, 
 my right hand. During the famine which aftlicted 
 Canaan, Jacol), sending Ids sons into Egjpt to buy 
 corn, kept Benjamin at home. Joseph, who well 
 knew his brethren, though they did not dis^over 
 him, not seeing Benjamin among them, inquired 
 whether he were living ; and gave them corn, only 
 on condition that they would bring Benjamin to 
 Egypt. Jacob, after great reluctance, permitted Ben- 
 jamin to undertake the journey into Egypt, Gen. xlii ; 
 xliii. 1 — 15. Joseph, now seeing Benjamin among his 
 brethren, carried them to his house, made them eat 
 Avith him, but not at his own table ; and sent Ben- 
 jamin a portion five times larger than tliat of any 
 other. After this, he commanded his steward to 
 fill their sacks with corn ; and in the sack belonging 
 to the youngest, to put the silver cup which he used, 
 and the money which Benjamin had brought to 
 pay for his corn. When the brethren had left the 
 city, he sent his steward after them, who re])roach- 
 ed them with their robbery, searched all their 
 sacks, and in that of Benjamin found the cup. They 
 returned to Joseph, who, after much solicitation on 
 their part, and tears on his, discovered himself to 
 them, fell on Benjamin's neck, kissed him, and all 
 his brethren ; and invited them into Egypt, with 
 their father. He gave to each of them two suits of 
 raiment ; but to Benjamin five suits, with three hun- 
 dred pieces of silver, xliii. 16. — xlv.24. After this, 
 Scripture says nothing of Benjamin. Of his tribe 
 Jacob says, "Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the 
 morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall 
 divide the spoil ;" (Gen. xlix. 57.) and Moses, in hia 
 last song, says, " The beloved of the Lord shall 
 dwell in safety by him ; and the Lord shall cover 
 him all the day long, and he shall dwell between 
 his shoulders," Dent, xxxiii. 12. The words " Ben- 
 jamin is a ravening wolf," are allusively applied to 
 Paul, Avho was of the tribe of Benjamin ; but much 
 more properly to the valor of the tribe. See Judg. 
 XX. and Canaan. 
 
 BEN-ONI, see Benjamin. 
 
 BEON, otherwise Bean, a city of Reuben, beyond 
 Jordan, Numb, xxxii. 3.
 
 BER 
 
 [ 164 ] 
 
 BET 
 
 I, BERA, a town in Judah, about eight miles from 
 Eieutheropolis, north, Judg. ix. 21. See Beer. 
 
 II. BERA, a king of Sodom, in the time of Abra- 
 ham ; who was tributary to Chedorlaomer, king of 
 Elam, and with four other kings rebelled against 
 him, Gen. xiv. 2. 
 
 I. BEREA, (1 Mace. ix. 4.) probably the saine 
 town as Bera. 
 
 II. BEREA, a city of Macedonia, near mount Ci- 
 thanes ; where Paul preached the gospel with suc- 
 cess. Acts xvii. 11 — 13. There is a medal of Berea 
 extant, which is remarkable for being inscribed, " of 
 the second Macedonia," and also for being the 
 only Macedonian medal of the date (A. U. C. 70G.) 
 inscribed with the name of the city where it was 
 struck. Compare Acts xvii. 11, '■hioble Bereans." 
 
 BERED, a city in Judah, near Kadesh, Gen. xvi. 
 14. The Chaldec calls it Agara ; the Syriac, Gedar ; 
 the Arabic, Jader ; it Avas the same, perhaps, as 
 Arad, or Arada, (Numb, xxxiv. 4.) in the south of 
 Judah. 
 
 BERENICE, or Ber.mce, daughter of Agrippa 
 the Great, king of the Jews, and sister of Agrippa 
 the younger, also king of the Jews. She was first 
 betrothed to ]Mark, son of Alexander Lysimachus, 
 alabarch of Alexandria ; but afterwards she married 
 Herod, king of Ghalcis, her own nncle, by the father's 
 side. After the death of Herod, she proposed to 
 Polemon, king of Pontus and part of Cilicia, that if 
 he Avould be circumcised she would marry him. 
 Polemon complied, but Berenice did not continue 
 long with him. She returned to her brother Agrip- 
 pa, with whom she lived in such a manner as to 
 excite scandal. She was present with him, and 
 heard the discourse of Paul before Festus, at Csesa- 
 rea of Palestine, Acts xxv. 23. 
 
 BERITH, or Baratres, a city of PhcBnicia, on 
 the Mediterranean, between Biblos and Sidon, 400 
 furlongs north of Sidon. It is doubtful whether 
 Scripture speaks of this place ; but there are several 
 cities of the same name in Palestine. David car- 
 ried off a great quantity of brass from the towns of 
 Betah and Berothai, in Syria, 2 Sam. viii. 8. 
 
 BERODACH-BALADAN, son of Baladan, king 
 of Babylon, sent ambassadors to Hczekiah, king of 
 Judah, with letters and presents, on receiving infor- 
 mation that he had been sick, and was recovered 
 in a miraculous manner. Hezekiah, extremely 
 pleased, showed them the riches of his palace ; but 
 God sent Isaiah to forewarn him that every thing in 
 his palace, with the sight whereof he had entertained 
 the foreigners, woidd be carried aAvay to Babylon, 
 2 Kings XX. 12 — 18. [In Isa. xxxix. 1, he is called 
 Merodach-baladan, (q. v.) and under this name he 
 is also mentioned by Berosus. See Assyria, and 
 Babylonia. R. 
 
 BEROSUS, the Babylonish historian, was, by na- 
 tion, a Chaldean ; and by office a jjriest of Belus. 
 Talian says, he lived in the time of Alexander the 
 Great, and dedicated his work to king Antiochus, 
 the third after Alexander, that is, Antiociius Theos, 
 or, perhaps, Antiochus Soter ; for tlie many years 
 between Alexander and Antiochus "^I'lieos (some 
 reckoning G4 from tiie death of Alexander to tlie first 
 year of Antiochus Theos) might inchice us to prefer 
 this sense. Berosus, having hiariujd Greek, went 
 first to the isle of Cos, where lie taught astronomy 
 and astrology ; and afterwards to Athens, wliere he 
 ;i.-<inir(;(l so much rc|)utation by his astrok)gical pre- 
 dictions, that in the Gymnasium, wbere the youth 
 p'Tf^>nti('d tlieir exercises, a statue, witli u golden 
 
 tongue, was erected to him. Josephus and Euse- 
 bius have preserved some valuable fragments of 
 Berosus's history, which greatly elucidate many 
 places in the Old Testament ; and without which it 
 would be difficult to produce an exact series of the 
 kings of Babylon. [A very important fraginent of 
 Berosus, which is refeiTed to by Josephus, (Ant. x. y 
 1. 4.) but not inserted by him, has recently been 
 brought to light in the Armenian version of the 
 Chronicon of Eusebius, published at Venice, 1818. 
 tom. i. p. 42, 43. It is important as illustrating the 
 history of Merodach-Baladan ; and has been used for 
 this purpose by Gesenius, in his Com. on Is. xxxix. 
 1, where it is quoted in full. R. 
 
 BEROTHAI, (2 Sam. viii. 8.) a city conquered 
 by David ; supposed by some to be Berytus, or 
 Beyroot, in Phoenicia. But it is probably the same 
 as the following. 
 
 BEROTHAH, one of the boundary towns of Is- 
 i-ael, between Hethalon and Emesa, Ezek, xlvii. 16. 
 [It is probably the same as the preceding Berothai, 
 and from the mention of it here would seem not to 
 be a maritime place ; therefore not Beyroot. See 
 Roseum. Bib. Geog. I. ii. p. 292. R. 
 
 BERYL, the eighth stone in the high-priest's pec- 
 toral, Exod. xxviii. 20. The Vulgate "and LXX call 
 it Beryl ; the Hebrew, Shoham. The projjcr signi- 
 fications of the Hebrew names of precious stones 
 are unknown. 
 
 BESOR, or Bosor, a brook which falls into the 
 Mediterranean, near Gaza, 1 Sam. xxx. 9, 10, 21. 
 This is " the brook of the wilderness," (Amos vi. 
 14.) or the river of Egypt, mentioned in Scripture, 
 Josh. XV. 4 — 17 ; 2 Chron. vii. 8. 
 
 BETAH, a city of Syria-Zobah ; taken by David 
 from Hadadezer, 2 Sam. viii. 8. In the parallel 
 passage, 1 Chr. xviii. 8, it is called Tihhath. 
 
 BETEN, a city of the tribeof Asher, Josh. xix. 25. 
 
 BETH, in Hebrew, signifies house ; and is pre- 
 fixed to very many proper names and other words, 
 thus forming with them the name of a place ; as 
 Beth-el, ' house of God ;' Beth-lehein, ' house of 
 bread,' &c. Most of these names follow here in 
 their order. R. 
 
 BETHABARA, beyond Jordan, where John bap- 
 tized, (John i. 28.) was the common ford of the river, 
 and probably the same as Beih-harah, Judg. vii. 24. 
 
 BETH-ACHARA, or Beth-haccerem, a city of 
 Benjamin, situated on an eminence, between Jerusa- 
 lem and Tekoa, Neh. iii. 14; Jer. vi. 1. 
 
 BETH-ANATH, a city of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 38 ; 
 Judg. i..33. 
 
 BETHANY, (John xi. 18.) a village, distant about 
 two miles east from Jerusalem, beyond the mount of 
 Olives, and on the way to .foriclio. Here Martha 
 and Mary dwelt, with their l)rotlier Lazarus, whom 
 Jesus raised from the ilead ; and here Mary poured 
 perfume on our Saviour's head. See Mod. Travel- 
 ler in Palestine, p. 157. 
 
 BP:THANIM, a village four miles from Hebron, 
 and two miles fi-om Abndiani's tiuj)entine-trce. 
 
 BETII-ARABAH, a city on the confines of Ju- 
 dah and B<Mijnmin, Josh. x\. (i ; xviii. 22. 
 
 BETH-ARA.M, a city in Gad, Josh. xiii. 27 
 
 BETH-ARBEL, a plac(! mentioned Ilosea x. 14. 
 where we read in the Vulgate, " As Shalmana was 
 overcome by him \\lio made war against him, after 
 having destroyed the altar of Baal," designing to de- 
 scribe Gideon ; (Jud. vi. 25; vii. 8, 10, etc.) but the 
 Hel)n,'w iiu|)orls, "AsSlialmau spoiled Beth-ar- 
 v.vhy ill the day of i)attle." Some explain tliis pas-
 
 BET 
 
 [ 165] 
 
 BETHESDA 
 
 sage as relating to the taking of the city Arbela, by 
 Saimaneser ; but this event is not noticed in history. 
 Jerome, and the Alexandrian MS. read Jerobaal; 
 and understand it, with the Vulgate, of the victory 
 obtained by Gideon over Zahnunna. Arbda, or Ar- 
 bah-el, signifies fine countries, countries of God ; for 
 which reason, we find many places so named. It 
 is said, 1 3Iac. ix. 2. that Bacchides and Alcimus 
 came into Gahlee, and encamped at Maseloth, which 
 is in Arbela. The city Masai, or Misheal, was in the 
 tribe of Ashcr, near to which were very fine fields, 
 and a place called Arbela, Josh. xix. 26. 
 
 BETH-AVEN-, a city of the tribe of Benjamin, 
 eastward of Bethel, Josh. vii. 2 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 5. There 
 was also a desert of the same name. Josh, xviii. 12. 
 The Talmudists have confounded it with Bethel; 
 because after Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had set up his 
 golden calves at Bethel, the Hebrews, who adhered 
 to the house of David, in derision, called this latter 
 city Beth-aven, that is, the house .of nothing, or the 
 house of vanity, instead of Bethel, " the house of 
 God," as Jacob had formerly named it, Hosea iv. 
 1.5; X. 5; Amos v. 5. See Bethel. 
 
 BETH-AZMAVETH, the same !is Azmaveth, 
 which see. 
 
 BETH-BAA L-MEON, a city of Reuben, Josh, 
 xiii. 17. 
 
 BETH-BARAH, a place beyond Jordan, (Judg. 
 vii. 24.) probably Bethabara. 
 
 BETH-BASI, a city of Judah, which the two 
 Maccabees, Simon and Jonathan, fortified, 1 Mac. ix. 
 62—64. 
 
 BETH-BIREI, a city of Judea, 1 Chron. iv. 31. 
 
 BETH-CAR, a city of Dan, 1 Sam. vii. 11. 
 
 I. BETH-DAGON, temple of Dagon, a city of 
 Asher, Josh. xix. 27. Compare 1 Sam. v. 2 — 5. 
 
 II. BETH-DAGON, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 
 41.) so called, probably, because here was a temple 
 of Dagon, before the Israelites took it. 
 
 BETH-DIBLATHAIM, see Diblatha. 
 
 BETHEKED, or Beth-akad, (2 Kings x. 12, 
 14.) which some construe in a general sense — a 
 shearing-house, or, the house of shepherds binding 
 sheep ; but tlie LXX take it for a place between 
 Jezreel and Samaria. 
 
 BETHEL, a city Avest of Hai, on the confines of 
 the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin, (Gen. xii. 8 ; 
 xxviii. 10.) and occupying the sjwt where Jacob 
 slept, and had his memorable dream. (See Jacob.) 
 Eusebius places Bethel twelve miles from Jerusa- 
 lem, in the way to Sichem, or Napolose. Bethel 
 was also called Beth-aven by the prophets in de- 
 rision of the worship of the golden calves established 
 tbere. See Beth-aven. 
 
 BETHER, THE mountains of, Cant. ii. 17 ; viii. 14. 
 The Vulgate reads " mountains of perfume." Some 
 take this place to be Bethoron ; others, Betharis, be- 
 tween Cpesarea and Diospolis ; or Bether, mentioned 
 by the LXX, Josh. xv. 60. among the cities of Judah. 
 Calmet believes it to be Upper Bethoron, or Bethora, 
 between Diospolis and Ca^sarea. Eusebius speaks of 
 Betharim, near Diospolis, and when he mentions 
 Bether, taken by vVdrian, he says, it was in tlie 
 neighborhood of Jerusalem. [The word Bether 
 means, \)ro\Vdr\y, dissection ; the mountains of Bether 
 then may be moimtains of disjunctio7i, disritption, 
 i. e. mountains cut up, divided by valleys, etc. Tlie 
 word is no where else found as a proper name ; 
 should it, then, be so taken in the Canticles ? R. 
 
 BETHESDA, in the Vulgate Bethsaida, other- 
 wise called Pisnnaprobntica,hec!\i\se the sliecp wen- 
 
 washed in it which were designed for the sacrificea, 
 in Greek probata. Bethesda signifies " the house ol 
 mercy," probably because the sick who lay under 
 the porticos that surrounded h, here found shelter. 
 The Gospel informs us, that there were five porches 
 about this pool, and many sick persons constantly 
 waiting, in order to descend into the water when it 
 was stirred ; for an angel came down at a certain 
 season and stirred the water ; the first who then 
 plunged into it was ciu-ed, be his disease what it 
 might, John v. 1 — 4. 
 
 The majority of writers have regarded the cures 
 wrought at the Pool of Bethesda as a standing mira- 
 cle among the Jews ; and yet they have been sur- 
 prised that Jose[)hus should omit to mention a fact 
 so honorable to his nation. Dr. Doddridge calls 
 this " the greatest of difficidties in the history of the 
 evangelists ; and that in which, of all others, the 
 learned answerers of Mr. Woolston had given liim 
 the least satisfaction." Mr. Fleming, to avoid some 
 difliculties in tlie narrative, supposed the latter part 
 of the third verse, and the whole of the fourth, to 
 be spurious: it is wanting in Beza's MS. and is add- 
 ed, in a later hand, to a MS. in the French king's 
 hbrary : howcA-er, it is in all other MSS. in tlie Sy- 
 riac, and the other versions in the Polyglot. 
 
 The learned Dr. Hammond supposed that the 
 blood of the great number of sacrifices which were 
 washed in this pool communicated a salutary ef- 
 ficacy to the water, on its being stirred up by a mes- 
 senger from the high-priest : — a very unphilosophi- 
 cal suggestion, surely ! and yet Dr. Pococke was so 
 far captivated by it, as to seek at Jerusalem for the 
 pool of Bethesda, on the wrong side of the city, 
 where it is not ; and where it is, he could not see it ; 
 for reasons which we shall state presently. We in- 
 sert one of Dr. Doddridge's notes on this history ; 
 partly from respect to his memory, and deference to 
 his difficulties ; partly, as it sets the idea of a stand- 
 ing miracle in a very strong light ; and partly, as an 
 instance how greatly learning and piety might some- 
 times profit, by a more intimate acquaintance with 
 things, as well as words. 
 
 " I imagine this pool might have been remarkable 
 for some mineral virtue attending the water ; which 
 is the more probable, as Jerome tells us, it was of a 
 very high color ; this, together with its being so very 
 near the temple, where a bath was so much needed 
 for religious puqioscs, may account for the building 
 such stately cloisters round it, three of which re- 
 main to this day. (See Jerusalem.) Some time 
 before this passover, an extraordinary connnotion 
 was probably observed in the water : and Providence 
 so ordered it, that the next person who accidentally 
 bathed here, being under some great disorder, found 
 an immediate and unexpected cure. The hke 
 phenomenon, in some other desperate case, was 
 probably observed on a second commotion ; and 
 these commotions and cures might happen period- 
 ically, perhaps every sabbath, (lor that it was yearly 
 none can proAe,) for some weeks or months. This 
 the Jews would naturally ascribe to some angelic 
 power, as they did afterwards the voice from heaver, 
 (John xii. 29.) lliough no angel appeared ; and they 
 and St. John had reason to do it, as it was the Scrip- 
 ture scheme, that tliese benevolent spirits had been, 
 and frequently are, tlie invisible instruments of good 
 to the children of men, Ps. xxxiv. 7; xci. 11 ; Dan. 
 iii. 28 ; vi. 22. On their making so ungrateful a re- 
 turn to Christ, for this miracle, and those wrought at 
 the former passover, and in the internicdiate space.
 
 BETHESDA 
 
 [ 166] 
 
 BETHESDA 
 
 this celestial visitant, probably from this time, re- 
 turned no moi*e : and therefore, it may be observed, 
 that though the evangelist speaks of the pool as still 
 at Jerusalem when he wrote, yet he mentions the 
 descent of the angel as a thing which had been, but 
 not as still continuing. (Comp. ver. 2 and 4.) Tliis 
 may account for the surprising silence of Josephus 
 in a story which made so much for the honor of 
 his nation. He was himself not born when it hap- 
 pened ; and though he might have heard the report 
 of it, he would, perhaps, (as in tlie modern way,) 
 oppose speculation and hypothesis to fact, and have 
 recourse to some indigested and unmeaning ha- 
 rangues, on the unkno\vn force of imagination ; or, 
 if he secretly suspected it to be true, his dread of the 
 marvellous, and fear of disgusting his pagan read- 
 ers with it, might as well lead him to suppress this, 
 as to disguise the passage through the Red sea, and 
 the divine voice from mount Sinai, in so coAvardly 
 and ridiculous a manner as it is knowii he does. 
 And the relation in which this fact stood to the his- 
 tory of Jesus, would make him peculiarly cautious 
 in touching upon it, as it would have been so dif- 
 ficult to handle it at once with decency and safety." 
 
 Having noticed these remarks, Mr. Taylor gives 
 the following analysis and illustration of the words 
 of the evangelical history. 
 
 J\^3W there is — in Jerusalem, over against the she.ep- 
 (gate) a pool (or place for swimming, xo::viifii,9oa,) 
 blamed in Hebreiv, Bethesda, having Jive porches (por- 
 ticoes, walking places). In these lay a multitude of 
 (^.75?) 01 Vrci?) debilitated persons, blind, contracted, wast- 
 ed, wailing forihe moving of the water ;for an angel, ac- 
 cording to the season, (occasioxallv, xutU xaiQoy.) 
 descended into the pool, and troubled the water : ivho- 
 cver then first ivent down (into the pool) a/ler the mov- 
 ing of the water, was cured of ivhatevcr disease (of the 
 nature of those above enumerated) had seized him. 
 
 1. JVoiv there is — these words do not determine 
 that tiie evangelist wrote his gospel before the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, as has been inferred from 
 them ; — for there are remains of the pool to this 
 day, and, as it is sunk in the rock, it may still re- 
 main for ages. Dr. Doddridge says, " he does not 
 find satisfactory proof (though many have asserted 
 it) that the sheep to be sacrificed Avere washed here ; 
 or that the blood of the sacrifices ran into it." — And 
 indeed tli n"e are no traces, or channels, in the rock 
 which forms the groTUid, (if in fact there were a pos- 
 sibility,) of the blood from the altar having ever ran 
 toward, or into, the pool. This obliged Pococke, 
 who adopt(;d that idea, to seek for the pool of Be- 
 thesda in lower ground, on the other side of the tem- 
 ple. The error lias consisted in supposing that the 
 sheep were washed here, after they wore slain : 
 whereas, they were washed in it, (if at all,) as soon as 
 bought in tlie adjoining market ; after which, they 
 were driven into the temple. The place now shown 
 for the pool of Bethesda, is square : nevertheless it 
 might have had five porches; one on each hand at 
 entering, the entrance being in the middle of one 
 side ; and three on the other sides. (See the con- 
 jcctm-al plans on the plate of the Plan of Jerusalem.) 
 This difiiculty, therefore, is removed merely by an 
 appropriate construction. It was, probably, very 
 simple, and neither " stately" nor fit for " purifica- 
 tion for religious purposes," notwithstanding its 
 vicinity to the temple. 
 
 2. The diseases mentioned are of the nervous 
 kind. We pretend not to sufficient acquaintance 
 with the Greek medical writers, to determine 
 
 whether rvipXwv, blind, is used in the sense of dim' 
 sighted, i. e. so weak in the nerves &c. serving the 
 eye, as to be nearly, yet not hopelessly, blind. But 
 we submit whether somewhat very like this sense of 
 the word, is not its import in Acts xiii. 11. " Thou 
 shalt be blind (nc/i-ui?) not seeing the sun for a sea- 
 son [it^Qi- y-ci'Qa)." Also, 2 Peter i. 9. " These are — 
 blind, (tl(//.u; e(tti,) not seeing afar off, myops, short- 
 sighted, iivconuLwv :" where it should seem, that the 
 latter word is used by way of explaining the former; 
 as there could be no need to describe a person to- 
 tally blind as short-sighted. 1 John ii. 11. — He tvho 
 walketh in darkness, — darkness hath blinded [iTr(p?.waf) 
 — suspended the ofiices of — his eyes; not that his 
 eyes are deprived of the power of seeing ; but that 
 they cannot exert that power to advantage, because 
 of surrounding darkness. The other diseases men- 
 tioned by the evangelist, are evidently such as cold 
 bathing, especially in medicinal water, would be es- 
 teemed a remedy for. For the angel, see the article 
 Angel, i. e. a providential agent of God. 
 
 3. But what if here were, in fact, two distinct 
 waters ? first, the constant body of water, of a cer- 
 tain depth ; the pool, wherein the sheep were washed 
 — the bath : secondly, an occasional and inconstant 
 issue of water, the source of which was on one side 
 of the bath, faUiug from a crevice of the rock where- 
 in this basin was sunk, from the height of several 
 feet. What \^ this were the medicinal water which 
 "was troubled at the season?" and falling perhaps 
 in no very large quantity, the person who could first 
 get to it, received the full benefit of it, because he 
 had it fresh and pure from the rock, which the 
 water in the pool, if it were supplied from the same 
 source, could not be ; because there was no super- 
 fluity of it, of which other patients might partake ; 
 because such of it as fell into the pool, became in- 
 stantly diluted, mingled with the body of water con- 
 stantly there, and was thereby deprived of its ef- 
 ficacy, and its concentrated virtues ; and this mixture 
 was sure to be completed by the nmnber of pei'sons 
 who would rush into the pool, desirous of being 
 first, or very early, in it. It should be observed, that 
 if the water fell from above into the pool, the people 
 might easily watch it ; and would not fail to force 
 their way towards it, when they perceived signs of 
 it gushing out : whereas, had the jiool itself been 
 the water that was moved, would not the sheep have 
 been prohibited from polluting it ? partly from 
 ideas of holiness and virtue connected with it ; 
 partly from apprehension that, while they were wash- 
 ing, the water might be troubled, at a moment when 
 nobody could benefit by it ; if, indeed, its being 
 troubled could be distinguished from the commo- 
 tion occasioned by the sheep. 
 
 Let us now accept assistance from travellers who 
 have visited the place. " A little above, we entered 
 the city at the gate of St. Stephen, (where, on each 
 side, a lion retrograde doth stand,) called, in times 
 past, the port [gate] of the valley, and oi'thefiock; for 
 that the cattle came in at this gate which were to be 
 sacrificed in the temple, and were sold in the mar- 
 ket adjoining. On the left hand is a strong 
 bridge, which passcth, at the east end of the 
 north wall, into th(^ court of the temple of Solomon ; 
 the head [of the i)ridge] to the ])ool of Bethesda 
 (underneath wJiich it [the wat<>r of the pool] had a 
 conveyance) called aho probaticum, for that the sac- 
 rifices were therein washed, ere delivered to the 
 priests. Now, it is a great square profundity, green 
 and uneven at the bottom : into which a barren
 
 BET 
 
 [ 167 ] 
 
 BET 
 
 8PRi:«G doth drill between the stones of the north- 
 ward wall ; and stealeth away almost undiscovered. 
 The place is for a good depth hewn out of the rock ; 
 confined above on the north side with a steep wall, 
 on the west with the high buildings, (perhaps a part 
 of the castle of Antonia ; where are two doors to 
 descend by, now all that are, half choked with rub- 
 bish,) and on the south with the wall of the coin-t of 
 the temple." Such is the account of Sandys, who 
 was there in 1611. He found the spring running, 
 but in small quantities; and "stealing away" un- 
 noticed. But it should seem, that when Mr. Maun- 
 drell was there, 1697, this stream did not run — as he 
 does not mention that circumstance — so that, pos- 
 sibly, it is still intermitting ; and to this day runs 
 (xaT« yatoijy) occasionally. We have every reason to 
 suppose, that the spring was formerly more copious 
 and abundant, as well as medicinal ; as the rubbish 
 which now chokes up the passage for its waters, 
 may not only diminish their quantity, but injure their 
 quality. " On the 9th [April, 1697] we went to take 
 a view of what is now called the Pool of Bethesda, 
 which is 120 paces long, 40 broad, and 8 deep : at 
 the west end are some old arches, now dammed up, 
 which, though there are but three in number, some 
 will have to be the five porches, hi which sat the 
 lame, halt, and blind." (Maundrell's Journey.) 
 From the account of Sandys, it appears, that the 
 basin being hewn deep in the rock, and upon 
 {" above") that rock the northern wall standing, and 
 the spring issuing from between the stones of this 
 wall, the place whence the spring issues must be 
 several feet above the level of the water in the ba- 
 sin ; which basin, being deeper in some places than 
 in others, " uneven at the bottom," might be deep 
 enough to swim in, in some parts, while, in others, it 
 might merely serve to wash the sheep. 
 
 Thus, by means of the accounts of travellers, and 
 their representations, this history appears in what 
 may be thought a new light, (and apparently a just 
 one, since, so far as we perceive, it accounts strictly 
 for every thing in the text,) and, perhaps, a more ac- 
 curate idea is annexed to the name of this place, 
 than those who derived it from mrx n^^ "the 
 house of issuing of waters," "the house of efllision," 
 were aware of. That it was not in any probability 
 the drain fi-om the temple is proved ; but may not 
 "the spring house" be a title very descriptive of the 
 porticoes around this gushing, medicinal, and intermit- 
 ting spring? and as the water was salutary, this der- 
 ivation is in fact analogous with that from n-^c^n, 
 n'3 the " house of mercy," or kindness ; from ion, 
 chesed, exuberant bounty. See Jahn's Bib. Arch. 
 § 198. 
 
 We close, by reflecting that it was John's design 
 to relate a miracle wrought by his Master; to honor 
 Jesus, and Jesus solely: he had, therefore, no in- 
 ducement to allude to any miracidous (angelical, 
 spiritual) interference, previous to, or distinct from, 
 that of Jesus ; and it is submitted to the reader, 
 whether his words, properly taken, do really import 
 any such interference ; especially if we advert to the 
 various senses of the word Angel ; of which several 
 ai*e given under that article. 
 
 BETH-EZEL, a place mentioned Mic. i.ll. It 
 was, according to Ephrem Syrus, not far from Sa- 
 maria. 
 
 BETH-GADER, a city of Judah, 1 Chron. ii. 51. 
 See Gadara. 
 
 BETH-GAMUL, a city of the Moabites, in Reu- 
 ben, Jer. xlviii. 23. 
 
 BETH-HACCEREM, see Beth-achara. 
 
 BETH-HANAN, one of the cities over which Sol- 
 omon placed Ben-dekar, (1 Kings iv. 9.) but the 
 situation of which is unknown. 
 
 BETH-HARAN, (Num. xxxii. 36.) or Beth-ha- 
 RAM, (Josh. xiii. 27.) a city of Gad beyond the Jor- 
 dan, afterwards called Livias, or Julias. 
 
 BETIi-HOGLAH, a town of Benjamin, on the 
 confines of Judah, Josh. xv. 16; xviii. 19, 21. 
 
 BETH-HORON, the name of two cities or to\vns 
 lying apparently near each other, and distinguished 
 by the names of Upper and Lower Beth-horon, Josh, 
 xvi. 3, 5 ; 1 Chron. vii. 24. They would seem to bo 
 sometimes spoken of as only one place ; and were 
 situated on the confines of Benjamin and Ephraim, 
 about 12 Roman miles north-west from Jerusalem, 
 according to Eusebius and Jerome, on the way to 
 Nicopolis. At first they were assigned to Ephraim, 
 but afterwards to the Levites, Josh. xvi. 3 ; xxi. 22. 
 From the distinction in the names, we may draw the 
 conclusion, that the one lay on a hill, and the other 
 in a valley ; and this is confirmed by Josephus, (B. 
 J. ii. 19. 8.) who describes here a narrow, steep and 
 rocky hollow way or pass, exceedingly dangerous to 
 an army ; — the same, no doubt, which is called in 
 Josh. X. 11, the descent or going doum of Beth-horon ; 
 and which is also described in the same manner iu 
 1 Mace. iii. 15, 24. It therefore often proved disas- 
 trous to flying troops. (See in Joshua, Josephus, and 
 Maccabees, last above quoted.) The place was 
 strongly fortified by Solomon, 1 Kings ix. 17 ; 2 
 Chron. viii. 5. — Dr. Clarke found an Arab village, 
 Bethoor, on the way from Jaflli to Jerusalem, on a 
 hill about 12 miles from the latter place ; Avhich he 
 reasonably supposes may be the site of Beth-horon 
 the Upper. *R. 
 
 BETH-JESHIMOTH, a city of Reuben, between 
 the mountains of Abarim and the Jordan, about ten 
 miles south-east of Jericho, (Josh. xii. 3 ; xiii. 20.) 
 afterwards possessed by the Moabites, Ezek. xxv. 9. 
 
 BETH-LEBAOTH, a city of Simeon, (Josh. xix. 
 6.) called Lebaoth, chap. xv. 32. 
 
 I. BETH-LEHEM, the house of bread, a city of 
 Judah ; (Judg. xvii. 7.) generally called Be.thlehem 
 of Judah, to distinguish it from another Bethlehem 
 in Zebulun. It is also called Ephratah, (Bethlehem 
 Ephratah,) and its inhabitants Ephrateans, Gen. 
 xlviii. 7 ; Mic. v. 2. It was six miles south of Jeru- 
 salem, in the way to Hebron ; and was fortified by 
 Rehoboam, 2 Chron. xi. 6 ; Ezra ii. 21. 
 
 In this city David was born, and dwelt, until his 
 combat with' Goliath introduced him to the court of 
 Saul, and opened for him a new career. But that 
 which imj)arts to Bethlehem the highest interest, is, 
 that here the Saviour of the world, our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, was born. INIicah, (chap. v. 2.) extolling this 
 pre-eminence of Bethlehem, says, "Thou Bethlehem 
 Ephratah, though thou he li"ttle among the thou- 
 sands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth 
 unto me, who is to be ruler in Israel ;" or, who is 
 the Messiah, as the Chaldee paraphrast has trans- 
 lated it. Several difliculties are started relating to^ 
 this prophecy of INIicah, which foretells the birth of 
 the Messiah at Bethlehem. Matthew (ii. 6.) reads, 
 "And thou, Bethlehem of Judah, art not the least of 
 the cities of Judah ;" whereas the text of Micah runs, 
 " And thou, Bethlehem, though thou he little among 
 the thousands of Judah." It is objected that here is 
 a contrariety between Matthew and Micah, one of 
 whom says, that Bethlehem is small among the cities 
 cf Judah; the other that it is not the least of the cities
 
 bp:t 
 
 [ 168 ] 
 
 BET 
 
 of Judah. But to this it is answered, that a city may 
 be little, yet not the least. [Or we have only to sup- 
 pose, (what was evidently the fact,) that the apostle 
 quoted from memory ; and that, therefore, while the 
 sense remains the same, there is a slight variation in 
 the words. R. 
 
 The cave in which it is said our Saviour was born, 
 was not strictly in the city. The original church, 
 built by the empress Helena over it, still exists, but 
 blended with tlie necessary repairs and restorations 
 from the devastations of inimical hordes of Mahome- 
 tans and others, during the Crusades, and especially 
 at the close of the thirteenth century. Near it ai-e 
 said to be the chapel of the innocents and their sep- 
 ulchre ; also the sepulchres of Jerome, of Eusebius, 
 and of Paula and Eustochius. The tomb of Rachel, 
 near Bethlehem, is of no antiquity. 
 
 The inn in which our Saviour was born was prob- 
 ably a caravanserai, where guests were received gra- 
 tis ; but where notliing was found them but shelter. 
 It is generally supposed that the caravanserai being 
 full, Joseph and Mary were obliged to repose in a 
 cave, or grotto cut out of the rock, which usually 
 served as a stable ; but this idea, as the intelligent 
 author of the Modern Traveller remarks, is an out- 
 rage on common sense. The gospel narrative af- 
 fords no countenance to the notion that the Virgin 
 took refuge in any cave of this description. On the 
 contrary, it was evidently a manger belonging to the 
 inn, or khan ; in other words, the upper rooms being 
 occupied, the holy family were compelled to take up 
 their abode in the court allotted to the mules and 
 horses, or other animals. 
 
 The following is Volney's description of the vil- 
 lage : (Trav. vol. ii. p. 332.) " The second place 
 deserving notice, is I>ait-el-lahm, or Bethlehem, so 
 celebrated in the history of Christianity. This vil- 
 lage, situated two leagues south-east of Jerusalem, is 
 seated on an eminence, in a country full of hills and 
 valleys, and might be rendered very agreeable. The 
 soil is the best in all these districts ; fruits, vines, 
 olives, and scsamum succeed here extremely well ; 
 but, as is the case every where else, cultivation is 
 wanting." 
 
 Dr. Clarke found Bethlehem a larger place than 
 he expected, and describes the first view of it as im- 
 
 f)osing. It is built on the ridge of a hill which over- 
 ooks the valley reaching to the Dead sea, of which 
 it commands a distinct prospect ; so that any phe- 
 nomenon elevated over Bethlehem, would be seen 
 from afar in the East country, beyond the Dead sea. 
 The convent is not in the town, but adjacent : it has 
 the air of a fortress ; and might even stand a siege 
 against the Turks. The inmates manufacture cru- 
 cifixes and beads for the devout, and mark religious 
 emblems on the persons of pilgrims, by means of 
 gunpowder. The doctor descended into the valley 
 of Bethlehem, whore he found a well of "pure and 
 delicious water," which, he thinks, is that so ardently 
 longed for by David, 2 Sam. xxiii. 15. 
 
 II. RETII-LEHEM, a city of Zebulun,(Josh. xix. 
 15; Judg. xii. 10.) which is scarcely known, but by 
 its bearing the same name as the above. 
 
 BETH-MAON, see Baal-Meon. 
 
 BETH-MARCABOTH, a city of Simeon, Josh, 
 xix. 5; 1 Chron. iv. 31. 
 
 BETH-MILLO, a place near Shechem, 2 Kings 
 xii. 20. 
 
 BETH-NIMRAH, a city of Gad ; (Numb, xxxii. 
 36 ; Josh. .xiii. 27.) possibly Nimrim, ( Jer. xlviii. 34.) 
 or Bethnabris, five miles north from Livias. The 
 
 difficulty lies in extending the tribe of Gad so far 
 as Nimrim south, or Bethnabris north. 
 
 BETH-OANNABA, or Beth-hannabah, a town 
 which Eusebius places four miles east from Diospo- 
 lis ; but Jerome says it is placed, by many, eight 
 miles distant. Beth-oannaba seems to preserve 
 some remains of the word JVob, where the taberna- 
 cle continued, some time, in the reign of Saul ; (1 
 Sam. xxi. 1.) and Jerome says Nob was not far from 
 Diospolis. 
 
 BETH-ORON, see Beth-horon. 
 
 BETH-PALET, or Beth-pheleth, a city in the 
 most southern part of Judah, Josh. xv. 27 ; Neh. 
 xi. 26. 
 
 BETH-Px\ZZEZ, a city of Issachar, Josh. xix. 21. 
 
 BETH-PEOR, acity ofMoab, given to Reuben, 
 and famous for the worship of Baal-Peor ; which 
 see, Deut. iii. 20 ; iv. 46 ; xxxiv. 6 ; Josh. xiii. 20. 
 
 BETHPHAGE, a little village at the foot of the 
 mount of Olives, between Bethany and Jerusalem, 
 Luke xix. 29. Jesus, being come from Bethany to 
 Bethphage, commanded his disciples to procure an 
 ass for his use, in his triumphant entrance into Jeru- 
 salem, John xii. The distance between Bethphage 
 and Jerusalem is about fifteen furlongs. The Tal- 
 mudists say that Bethphage was within the walls of 
 Jerusalem, but at the very utmost circuit of them ; 
 and it is probable that there was a street or district 
 so called, because it led immediately, and indeed 
 adjoined, to the Bethphage which produced figs, and 
 was out of the city. It is probable, too, that the figs 
 of this district were brought into Jerusalem, and sold 
 on the spot. But the district itself was, no doubt, at 
 the descent of the mount of Olives next to Jerusa- 
 lem ; and seems rather to have been so named from a 
 house of figs ; a house where figs were sold, or in the 
 garden of which they were cultivated ; and this 
 might extend a good way up the mountain. It is, 
 perhaps, uncertain, whether or not there was a vil- 
 lage, or niunber of other houses, beside those of the 
 gardeners who attended to the cultivation of this 
 fruit; as also of ohve-trees, and of palm-trees ; most 
 probably, also, of various other esculents for the 
 use of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 
 
 I. BETHSAIDA, a city on the north-eastern shore 
 of the sea of Galilee, near the spot where the Jordan 
 enters that sea. It was enlarged and adorned by 
 Philip the Tetrarch, who called it Julias, though it 
 is not known by this name in the New Testament. 
 [This place is mentioned Luke ix. 10, where Jesus 
 is said to have withdrawn himself to a desert place 
 belonging to Bethsaida, after the execution of John 
 the Baptist ; from whence, also, after the miracle of 
 the five loaves, he is said to have rotiuned across 
 the lake to Capernaum, Matt. xiv. 22, 34 ; John vi. 17. 
 Some also reckon here Mark viii. 22. R. 
 
 n. BETHSAIDA of Galilee (John xii. 21.) lay 
 somewhere in the vicinity of Caj)ernaum, on the 
 west side of the lake of Tiberias ; as we conclude 
 from its being often mentioned with Capernaum as 
 one of the chief places of resort for Christ and his 
 disciples. Matt. xi. 21 ; Luke x. 13. Eusebius says, 
 merely, it lay on the shore of the lake. The 
 apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip were of this 
 city, (John i. 44.) and are hence called Galileaiis, 
 Mark xiv. 70, al. John i. 43. *R. 
 
 BETH-SHE AN, more generally known by the 
 name of Scythopolis, was a town of Manasseh, but 
 situated in Issachar, Josh. xvii. 11, 16 ; Judg. i. 27 ; 
 1 Kings iv. 12. In 2 Mac. xii. 29, it is reckoned to 
 be 600 furlongs, or 75 miles, from Jerusalem. Jose-
 
 BET 
 
 [ 169 
 
 BEZ 
 
 phus says it was 120 furlongs from Tiberias ; so that 
 It cauuot be so near the lake of Tiberias as some 
 
 feographers have supposed. It was on the west of 
 ordan, at tlie south-west extrenjity of the great 
 plain of Esdraelon. The name of Scythopolis, or 
 the city of the Scythians, came, according to George 
 Syncellus, from the Scythians, who invaded Pales- 
 tine in the reign of Josiah, son of Amos, king of Ju- 
 dah. Stephens the geographer, and Pliny, call it 
 Nvsa; tiie Hebrews name it Bethshean, or Beth- 
 shan; the LXX, (Judg. i. 27.) "Bethshan, other- 
 wise Scythopolis." After the battle of Giiboa, the 
 Philistines, having taken the bodies of Saul and 
 Jonathan, hung them on the walls of Bethshan ; but 
 the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, on the other side 
 Jordan, came in the night, carried off the bodies, 
 and interred them honorably under a grove of oaks 
 near their city, 1 Sam. xxxi. 10. 
 
 The fruits of Bethshan were the sweetest in the 
 land of Israel ; and fine hnen gannents were made 
 here. Before the Babylonish captivity it was in- 
 cluded tvithin the land of Israel ; but after that 
 period it was reckoned without the land ; and none 
 of its productions were tithed. Probably the pos- 
 terity of the Scythians retained their property in it, 
 and its demesnes. 
 
 Bethshan is now called Bysan, and is described 
 by Burckhardt as situated on rising ground, on the 
 west of the river Jordan, about 24 miles south of 
 Tiberias. The present village contains 70 or 80 
 houses, the inhabitants of which are in a miserable 
 condition, owing to the depredations of the Be- 
 douins. The ruins of the ancient city are of con- 
 siderable extent, along the banks of the rivulet which 
 ran by it, and the valley formed by its bi-anches ; and 
 bespeak it to have been nearly three miles in cir- 
 cuit. See Bib. Repos. vol. i. p. 599. 
 
 I. BETH-SHF:MESH, a city belonging to the 
 tribe of Judah, (Josh. xv. 10.) afterwards given to the 
 Levites, Josh. xxi. 16. In Eusebius it is placed ten 
 miles from Eleutlieropolis, east, in the way to Nicop- 
 olis, or Emails ; that is, about 30 miles north-west 
 of Jerusalem. This city is not to be confounded 
 with Ir-shemesh, mentioned. Josh. xix. 41, as belong- 
 ing to Dan. Ir-shemesh signifies the City of the su7i, 
 and Beth-shemesh signifies the House of the sun. As 
 the tribes of Dan and Judah were adjacent, the 
 same city is reckoned sometimes to one tribe, some- 
 times to the other. The Philistines returning the 
 ark of the Lord into the land of Israel, it came to 
 Beth-shemesh ; and some of the people looking 
 with too much curiosity into it, the Lord smote 
 seventy principal men of the city, and 50,000 of the 
 common people, 1 Sam. vi. 12 — 20. 
 
 II. BETH-SHEMESH, a city of Issachar, Josh. 
 xix. 22. 
 
 III. BETH-SHEMESH, a city of Naphtali, Josh. 
 xix. 38 ; Judg. i. 33. 
 
 IV. BETH-SHEMESH, a city in Egypt, Jer. xliii. 
 13. This is, no doubt, the Heliopolis of the Greeks ; 
 called On, Gen. xli. 45, 50, and Onion by Ptolemy ; 
 which name it retained in the days of Ezekiel, chap. 
 xxx. 17. It had a temple in which there was an 
 annual festival in honor of the sun. 
 
 BETH-SHITTAH, a place south-west of the sea 
 of Tiberias, to which Gideon pursued Midian, Judg. 
 vii. 22. 
 
 BETH-SIMOTH, called also Betii-Jesimoth, 
 which see. 
 
 BETH-SURAH, see Beth-zur. 
 
 BETH-TAPPUAH, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 53.) 
 22 
 
 which Eusebius says is the last city of Palestine, in 
 the way to Egypt, fourteen miles from Raphia. 
 
 BETHUEL, son of Nahor and Milcah, was Abra- 
 ham's nephew, and father of Laban, and of Rebecca, 
 Isaac's wife. Bethuel does not appear in the affair 
 of Rebecca's marriage, but Laban only, Gen. xxiv. 
 50. See Laban. 
 
 BETHUL, or Bethuel, a city of Simeon ; (Josh, 
 xix. 4 ; 1 Chron. iv. 30.) the same, probably, as Be- 
 thelia, which Sozomen speaks of, as a tow7] belong- 
 ing to the inhabitants of Gaza, well peopled, and 
 having several temples remarkable for their struc- 
 ture and antiquity ; particularly a pantheon, (or tem- 
 ple dedicated to all the gods,) situated on an em- 
 inence made of earth, brought thither for the pur- 
 pose, which commanded the whole city. He con- 
 jectures that it was named Bethelia, which signifies 
 the House of God, by reason of this temple. 
 
 BETHULIA, a city celebrated for its siege by 
 Holofernes, at which he was killed by Judith, Ju- 
 dith vii. 1. Calmet thinks it to be the Bethul, or 
 Bethuel, above noticed, and believes that this idea 
 maybe reconciled with Judith iv. 6; vii. 3, which 
 say that Bethulia was near Dothaini and Esdraelop, 
 cities in the great plain, very remote from Bethulia, 
 by supposing that the author of the book of Judith 
 describes the march of Holofernes' army, and the 
 camp which he left when he broke up to go and 
 undertake the siege of Bethulia ; not the camp of 
 which he took possessio7i, when he sat down before 
 the place. 
 
 BETH-ZUR, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 58.) which 
 was fortified by Rehoboam, 2 Chron. xi. 7. Lysias, re- 
 gent of Syria, under young Antiochus, son of Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, besieged Bethzur with an army of 60,000 
 foot and 5000 horse ; but Judas Maccabseus coming 
 to succor the place, Lysias was obliged to raise the 
 siege, 1 Mac. iv. 28 ; vi. 7. Judas put his army to 
 flight, and afterwards, making the best use of the 
 arms and booty found in the enemy's camp, the 
 Jews became stronger and more formidable than 
 they had heretofore been. Bethzur lay south of 
 Jerusalem, on the way to Hebron, and not far from 
 the latter city. It was a fortress against Idumsea, and 
 defended the passages into Judea from thence. We 
 read, 2 Mac. xi. 5, that Bethzur was five furlongs 
 from Jerusalem ; but this is evidently a mistake. 
 Eusebius places it twenty miles from that city, 
 toward Hebron, and Dr. Pococke speaks of a vil- 
 lage on a hill hereabouts, called Bethsaon. 
 
 BETONIM, a city of Gad, towards the north of 
 this tribe, bordering on Manassch, Josh. xiii. 26. 
 
 BETROTHING, see Marriage. 
 
 BEULAH, married ; a name given to the Jewish 
 church ; importing its marriage with God, as their 
 husband and sovereign Lord, Isa. Ixii. 4. 
 
 BEZALEEL, a famous artificer, son of Uri, (Exod. 
 xxxi. 2 ; XXXV. 30.) of whom it is said, that he was 
 filled with the Spirit of God, to devise excellent 
 works in gold, silver, and all other workmanship — 
 a remarkable testimony to the antiquity of the arts, 
 to the esteem in Avhich they were held, to the source 
 whence they were imderstood to spring, and to the 
 wisdom (bv inspiration) of this artist. 
 
 BEZEK, a city over which Adoni-Bezek was 
 king, (Judg. i. 4. seq.) and where Saul reviewed his 
 army, before he marched against Jabesh-Gilead, 1 
 Sam. xi. 8. Eusebius says there were two cities of 
 this name near one another, seven miles from Si- 
 chem, in the way to Scythopolis. 
 
 BEZER, a city east of the Jordan, given to the
 
 BIB [ 170 J 
 
 Reubenit)"S ; aiul afterwards to tlie Lcvites oi" Gi-r- 
 shoiii's family, Dent. iv. 4.}. It was also one of the 
 cities of refuge, Josh. xx. 8. The site of it is not 
 known. 
 
 BEZETH, a city on this side Jordan, which Bac- 
 chides surprised, and threw all the inhabitants into a 
 gi-eat pit, 1 Mac. vii. 19. 
 
 BEZETHA, or Betzeta, a division or district of 
 Jerusalem, situated on a mountain, encompassed with 
 good walls;. being, as it were, a new city added to 
 the old. Bezetha was north of Jerusalem and the 
 temple. See the Map of Jerusalem. 
 
 BIBLE, from the Greek Bl i/.og, book, a name 
 given to our collection of sacred writings, which we 
 call THE Bible, or the Book, by way of eminence 
 and distinction. The Hebrews call it mpc, mikrah, 
 lesson, lecture, or scripture. They acknowledge only 
 twenty-two books as canonical, which they place in 
 the following order : — 
 
 Order of the Books of the BIBLE, according to the 
 Hebrew. 
 
 The Law. 
 
 1. Genesis, in Hebrew, Bereschith (in the begin- 
 ning). 2. Exodus, in Hebrew, Ve-elle Schemoth 
 {these are the names). 3. Leviticus, in Hebrew, Vay- 
 ikra {and he ccdled). 4. Numbers, in Hebrew, Bam- 
 midbar {in the desert). 5. Deuteronomy, in Hebrew, 
 EUe haddebarim {these are the tvords). 
 
 The former Prophets. 
 
 6. Joshua. 7. Judges. 8. Samuel I. and II. as 
 one book. 9. Kings I. and II. as one book. 
 
 The latter Prophets. 
 
 10. Isaiah. 11. Jeremiah. 12. Ezckiel. 13. 
 The twelve minor Prophets make one book, viz. : — 
 Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Na- 
 hum, Hal)akkuk, Zephaniali, Haggai, Zechariali, 
 Malaclii. 
 
 The Sacred Books ; or, Hagiographa. 
 
 14. The Psalms. (Divided into five books.) 15. 
 The Proverbs. 10. Job. 17. Solomon's Song. 
 (The Jews place the Lamentations and the book of 
 Ruth after the Song of Solomon.) 18. Ecclesiastes. 
 19. Esther. 20. Daniel. 21. Ezra and Nehemiah. 
 22. The two liooks of Chronicles. 
 
 Catalogue of the Sacred Writings, as received by the 
 Jews; from Origen. 
 
 Books of the Old Testanient. 
 
 1. Genesis. 2. Exodus. 3. Leviticus. 4. Num- 
 bers. 5. DeutfM'onomy. G. Joshua. 7. Judges and 
 Ruth. 8. The First and Second Book of Samuel. 
 9. The First and Second Book of Kings. 10. The 
 First and Second Book of Chronicles. 11. The 
 First and Second Book of Esdras. 12. The Psalms. 
 13. The Book of Proverbs. 14. Ecclesiastes. 1.5. 
 Solomon's Song. Hi. Isaiah. 17. Jeremiah, with 
 the Lamentations, and the Ei)istl(! to the Captives. 
 18. Ezekiel. 19. Daniel. 20. Job. 21. Esther. 22. 
 The Minor Prophets. 
 
 The above and the following list, botli from Ori- 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 gen, are im])ortant, as showing the canon of Scrip- 
 ture in the third century. 
 
 Books of the New Testament. 
 
 The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. The 
 Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 Epistles of St. Paul. 
 
 To the Romans. To the Corinthians. To the 
 Galatians. To the Ephesia)is. To the Philippiaus. 
 To the Colossians. To the Thessalonians. To 
 Timothy. To Titus. To Philemon. To the He- 
 brews. 
 
 Catholic, or General Epistles. 
 
 The Epistle of James. The Epistles of Peter. 
 The Epistles of John. The Epistle of Jude. The 
 Revelation by St. John. 
 
 The books of the Old Testament were written for 
 the most part in Hebrew. Some parts of Ezra and 
 Daniel are written in Chaldee. The books of the 
 New Testament were all written in Greek, except, 
 perhaps, Matthew, whose Gospel is by some sup- 
 posed to have been first ^vl•itten in Hebrew, or Syriac, 
 the language then spoken in Judea. 
 
 Lost Books. — There are some Books cited in the 
 Old Testament, which are supposed to be lost. 
 These are, (1.) the "Book of the Wars of the Lord," 
 Numb. xxi. 14. (2.) the "Book of the Righteous, or 
 Jasher," Josh. x. 13. and 2 Sam. i. 18. (3.) the " Chron- 
 icles," or "Annals of the Kings of Judah and Israel," 
 1 Kings xiv. 19. We have also only a part of Solo- 
 mon's 3000 Proverbs, and of liis 1005 Songs, (1 
 Kings iv. 32, 33.) and none of his writings on Natu- 
 ral History. It is justly doubted whether we have 
 the Lamentations which Jeremiah composed on the 
 death of Josiah, king of Judah, (2 Chron. xxxv. 25.) 
 because the taking of Jerusalem, and the destruction 
 of that city by Nebuchadnezzar, appear to be the 
 subjects of those extant. 
 
 (i.) "The Book of the Wars of the Lord." This 
 is cited by Moses, Numb. xxi. 14, and appears to 
 have related some particulars which happened when 
 the Hebrews passed the brook of Anion. Some 
 think it was a work of greater antiquity than Moses, 
 containing a recital of wars, to which the Israelites 
 were parties, before their Exodus under Moses. In- 
 deed, it is most natural to quote a book, which is 
 more ancient than the author who is writing, par- 
 ticularly in sup))ort of any extraordinary and mi- 
 raculous fact. The Hebrew of this passage is per- 
 plexed : "As it is written in the Book of the Wars 
 of the Lord; at Vahch, in Siiphah; and in the brooks 
 of Arnon," &c. We know not who or what this 
 Vahch is. M. Boivin, senior, thought it meant .some 
 prince who had the government of the country, and 
 was defeated by the fsraelit"S before they came out 
 of Egypt ; others think Vahet> was a king of Moab, 
 overcome by Sihon king of th(; Amorites. Grotius, 
 instead of J'ahcb, reads .Moab, and translates it, 
 ^'' Sihon b(-at Moab at Siiphnh." Calmet prefers 
 Zared, instead of Valiel), ;;fter this manner: "As it 
 is written in the Book of the Wars of the Lord, the 
 Hel)rewscame from Zared, and (uicampedat Suphah, 
 and about the stnam of the brook of Arnon." 
 Zared we know, (Numb. xxi. 12, 13.) from whence 
 they came to Suphah, which is mentioned Dent. i. 1, 
 and, perhaps, Numb. xxii. '.Ml. From hence they
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ m ] 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 canic to ihc brook of Aruoii, which flows dowu to 
 Ar, the capital of the Moabites. This is cited very 
 seasonably in this place, to confirm what is said in 
 j)recedin{^ verses. Others are of opinion, that the 
 " Book of the Wars of the Lord" is the book of 
 Niniibers itself, wherein this passage is cited; or 
 that of Joshua or the Judges ; and they translate, 
 " It is saiil in the recital of ike wars of the Lord." 
 f)thers, that this narration of the wars of the Lord 
 is contained in the 135th and the 13Gth Psalms; 
 others, that the " Book of the Wars of the Lord," 
 and the "Book of Jasher," (Josh. x. 13.) are the 
 same. Cornelius a Lapide conjectures, that this ci- 
 tation is added to the text of Moses, and that the 
 " Book of the Wars of the Lord," related the wars 
 of the Israelites, under Moses, Joshua, and the 
 judges ; and therefore was later than Moses. Lastly, 
 it is said, that Moses either Avrote himself, or pro- 
 cured to be written, a book, wherein he related all 
 the wars of the Lord ; that it was continued under 
 the judges and the kings, and was called Chronicles, 
 or Annals ; and that from these annals were com- 
 posed those sacred books, which contained the his- 
 tories of the Old Testament. The wiiole passage, 
 however, is exceedingly obscure ; and tliere is no 
 end to conjecture concerning it. 
 
 (9.) "The Book of Jaslier, or the Upright," is 
 cited. Josh. x. 13. and 2 Sam. i, 18, and the same 
 difficulties are proposed concerning this as concern- 
 ing the former. Some thudc it to be the same with 
 that of the Wars of the Lord ; others, that it is the 
 book of Genesis, which contains the lives of the 
 patriarclis, and other good men ; others, the " Books 
 of Moses." But the opinion which seems most proba- 
 ble, is, that there were from the beginning persons 
 among the Hebrews, who were employed in writing 
 the annals of their nation, and recording the memo- 
 rable events in it. These annals were lodged in the 
 tabernacle, or temple, where recoui'se was had to 
 them as occasion requiyed. The " Book of the Wars 
 of the Lord," the " Book of Days, or Chronicles," 
 and the " Book of Jasher, or the Righteous," are 
 therefore, properly speaking, the same, but differ- 
 ently denominated, according to the diffierence of 
 times. Before there were kings over the Hebrews, 
 these recoi'ds might be entitled, the " Book of the 
 Wars of the Lord," or the " Book of Jashei-, or 
 Right." After the reign of Saul, they might be 
 called the " Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of 
 Israel, or of Judah." Grotius is of opinion, that 
 this book was a triumphant song, made purposely to 
 celel)rate the success of Joshua, and the miracle at- 
 tending it. M. Dupin prefers this opinion, as most 
 prol)able, because, (1.) the words cited by Joshua are 
 poetical expressions, not very proper for historical 
 memoirs; and, (2.) because a book under the same 
 title is referred to in Samuel, where David's song is 
 repeated on the death of Said and Jonathan, 2 Sam. 
 i. 18. But may not these opinions coincide, if we 
 suppose this book contained a collection of pieces 
 of poetrj', made on occasion of remarkable events ? 
 In this view, the appeal to the book of Jasher for a 
 copy of David's ode, called " The Bow," is very 
 pertinent. Might it not contain the Songs of Moses, 
 of Deborah, and others ? Dr. Geddes will not allow 
 that Josh. X. 13. is a quotation, but it seems clearly 
 to be such. 
 
 It is well known to all readers of English histoiy, 
 that not ojdy are our most ancient chroniides in 
 vei-se, but also that many national events are record- 
 ed in historical songs, wliich, though unquestionably 
 
 genuine and authentic, yet are no vvliere else to be 
 met with. The Saxon Chronicle, and several oth- 
 ers, prove this ; but the most popular instances are 
 the " border songs," or events narrated in rhyme, of 
 the wars and contests between the English and the 
 Scots on the " debatable lands," before the union of 
 the two crowns. 
 
 (3.) " The Book of Chronicles, or Days," con- 
 tained the annals and journals written by jjublic re- 
 corders, in the kingdom of Israel and Judah. They 
 are not now in being, but are cited very frequently 
 in the books of Kings and Chronicles, which are 
 abstracts chiefly from such ancient memoirs and 
 records, as, in all probability, were subsisting after 
 the return of the Jews from the Babylonisli captivity. 
 The authors were generally prophets. 
 
 As it is of the utmost importance to every pro- 
 fessor of that religion which is founded on the Bible, 
 that the Bible itself should not only be well under- 
 stood by him, but that its authority, as a work com- 
 municated by inspiration from Heaven, should be 
 well ascertained ; and, moreover, that the authen- 
 ticity of such copies of it as are now^ procurable, 
 and the correctness of those translations from such 
 copies as are usur.lly read and appealed to by us, 
 should be established, we have thought it might be 
 proper to offer an inquiry of some length into these 
 latter particulars, not less for the use of the bibhcal 
 student, than for the satisfaction of general readers. 
 
 Of the AUTHORITY of the Bible, as received by 
 inspiration from God, we shall at present say noth- 
 ing, presuming it to be fidly admitted by the reader ; 
 being also aware that the proofs requisite to do this 
 subject toleral)le justice would extend these sum- 
 mary hints to an inconvenient length. As to the 
 AUTHENTICITY of sucli copics of the Bible as are 
 now procurable, we refer the reader to the article 
 Scripture. 
 
 Of the original writers of the Bible. — It 
 is very credible that the patriarch Abraham, to go 
 no higher into antiquity, possessed and brougiit away 
 what inibrmation the books or records of his origi- 
 nal country, Kedem, could communicate. We are 
 not aware tliat we sliould say any thing improbable, 
 if we considered Noah himself as practising the art 
 of writing ; but as great doubts have been enter- 
 tained, whether this art were more ancient than the 
 intercourse of Moses with the Deity on mount Horeb, 
 we are unwilling to be tliought too sanguine, or as 
 taking too much for granted. 
 
 The remarks suggested under the article Seals, 
 are deteiminate for the nature of the seal of Judah, 
 (Gen. xxxviii. 18.) that it contained his name, or ap- 
 propriate mark, engraved on it. We assume this as 
 fact. But we discern traces of a still more early 
 enqdoyment of diis noble art, in the days of Abra- 
 ham. We have in Gen. xxiii. 17, 18. a passage 
 which has all the air of an abridgment of a title- 
 deed, or conveyance of an estate ; which, indeed, is 
 its import. " And the field of Ephron, which was 
 in Machpelali, which was before Mamre, the field and 
 the cave which was therein, and all tlie trees in the 
 field, that were in all the borders thereof round 
 about, were made sure to Abraham, for a possession, 
 in the presence of the children of Heth, before all 
 that went in at the gate of his city." The whole 
 history of this purchase and payment strikes us as 
 being'not only according to the local usages of the 
 country, in the present day, but also to be so mi- 
 nutely" described, that we" scarcely think it would 
 have "been so amply, and even jjunctiliously, inserted
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ 172] 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 into an epitomized history of the times, had not the 
 original lain before the writer ; who, finding himself 
 able to communicate this ancient document to his 
 
 fosterity, embraced the opportunity of abridging it. 
 f this be admitted as an instance of the art of writ- 
 ing, and of that art being practised in the days of 
 Abraham, we may justly consider whetlier that pa- 
 triarch could be the fii'st possessor of it. We thuik not : 
 and if, as the rabbins say, Abraham himself learned 
 of Shem, — and they say, decidedly, that " Isaac went 
 to Shem's school," — then we may hesitate belbre we 
 deny the possibility, at least, that Sliem had pre- 
 served histories of former events, which histories he 
 communicated to Abraham, from whom they de- 
 scended to Isaac, to Jacob, to Levi, to Moses. We 
 are not singular in supposing a difference of style 
 between the early parts of the book of Genesis and 
 the original writings of Moses. No injury is done 
 to the just arguments on behalf of the inspiration 
 of Scripture, if we suppose that Shem wrote the 
 early history of the world ; that Abraham wrote 
 family memoirs of what related to himself; that 
 Jacob continued what concerne<l himself; and that, 
 at length, Moses compiled, arranged, and edited, (to 
 use a modern word,) a copy of ihe holy works ex- 
 tant in his time. A procedure perfectly analogous 
 to this, was conducted by Ezra in a later age ; on 
 whose edition of Holy Scripture our faith now rests, 
 as it rests, in like manner, on the prior edition of 
 Moses, if he were the editor of some parts ; or on 
 his aiithoritj', if he wer-e the writer of the whole. 
 
 Accepting Moses as the writer of the Pentateuch, 
 though not without the probable concurrence of 
 Aaron, we may nevertheless consider Joshua as add- 
 ing some minor matters to it, such as the history of 
 the death of Moses ; and Ezra, also, in his edition, as 
 adding some other minor matters to it, such as va- 
 rious explicatory observations, changes of names 
 which had happened during the lapse of many ages, 
 and particular directions where such or such objects 
 were situated, for the benefit of his readers, and of 
 remote posterity. When we come to the days of 
 Moses, we have clear evidence of written documents 
 being composed, purposely, to deliver down to i)os- 
 terity the history of events. Moses not only was 
 willing to write, but he is specifically directed to 
 write, by way of record ; and to take special care for 
 the preservation of those records, by placing them in 
 the most sacred national repository ; and under the 
 immediate care of those persons who, by birth, edu- 
 cation, and office, were most intimately concerned in 
 their preservation. 
 
 This custom of composing public records was 
 contiiuied in after-ages in Isi-aei, under the judges 
 and the kings ; and when the division took place be- 
 tween Israel and Judah, each of those kingdoms 
 preserved copies of the writings esteemed sacred, 
 whetiier historical or devotional. We have, indeed, 
 reason to be thaidtful, that beside the Pentateuch 
 preserved by tlie Jewish people, tlu! Samaritans have 
 preserved a copy, which, if it l)e, as many learned 
 men have supposed, written in the ancient Hebrew 
 character, is so much the more valuable, as it has 
 had less danger and less of( nsiDii of error, than a 
 copy transcribed into another ali)hal)et, to meet an- 
 other dialect. IJut this is not the only use which we 
 should make of this circumstance; we oiigiit to rec- 
 olii'ct the natural cllects of party in matters of re- 
 ligion, especially when heightened by |)olitical ran- 
 cor; we may be satisfied that the Samaritans would 
 BuflTer no alterations to be made in their copies, i)y 
 
 any authority from the Jewish governors ; and the 
 Jews, we well know, woidd have hardly received a 
 palpable truth from " that foolish people which 
 dwelt in Samaria." When, therefore, we find the 
 copies preserved by these opposing and inimical 
 people generally correspondent, and differing only 
 in some minor matters, we ought to admire the 
 providence of God, which has thus " made even the 
 wrath of man to praise him," by transmitting more 
 than one copy of this leading portion of Holy Writ, 
 in a manner more certain, and much less liable to 
 doubt, or collusion, or equivocation, than if a single 
 copy had come through tlie hands of one set of 
 friends only, or had been preserved only by those 
 whose luisupported testimony might have been sus- 
 pected of undue partiality, or of improper bias. We 
 find the kings of Judah attentive to the arrangement 
 of their sacred code in after-ages : David, no doubt, 
 authenticated the books of the prophet Sanuiel ; and 
 we read that Hezekiah employed several j)ersous to 
 collect and arrange the Proverbs of Solomon ; and 
 even to add to them others which that prince had 
 left behind him. It is usually understood that the 
 Psalms, the Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, were added 
 imder Hezekiah ; and probably the books of Job and 
 Isaiah also. The jjrophecies of Jeremiah were pub- 
 lic ; a large number of them were read to all the 
 people, and before the king, so that many copies 
 might be in circulation. The same may be said of 
 most of the minor proj)hets, and, in short, of all that 
 were near to the days of Nehemiah and Ezra. It is 
 very natural to suppose that the chiefs of the Jewish 
 people, afler their return from captivity, would do 
 their utmost to collect, preserve, and maintain the 
 dignity and integrity of the writings of their sacred 
 code ; and, indeed, excepting the prophet Malachi, 
 we may confidently consider Ezra as not only col- 
 lecting, but collating the copies of former writings, 
 and composing additions to the historical narrations; 
 not in the books themselves, (except here and there 
 a few words,) withheld perhaps by their prior sanc- 
 tity, but in that separate history which we call the 
 Chronicles. 
 
 Here we ought to pause ; because here om- faith 
 rests on Ezra's edition ; and we doubt not that this 
 "scribe, well instructed in the law," had not only 
 good reasons for what he did, and for his manner of 
 doing it, but also divine guidance to preserve him 
 from erring. We susi)ect that we have as many in- 
 stances of Ezra's caution as we have marginal read- 
 ings in our Hebrew Bibles ; which, in the whole, 
 amount to 840. These occur in various places of 
 the works extant l)efore Ezra ; but there are none in 
 the prophet Malachi, who has been supposed to be 
 Ezra himself; if so, the reason for this exception 
 from various readings is evident. From the time of 
 Ezra the Hebrew canon was esteemed as comi)leted : 
 but, between this time and our Lord, the books or 
 the Jews became objects of inquiry among neighbor- 
 ing nations ; and translations of tliem being under- 
 taken by those whose language we also study, these 
 translations become very important to us, who, by 
 their means, hav(! additional sanction to the articles 
 of om- inquiry, and additional means of answering 
 the purposes to which our inquiry is directed. 
 
 Jewish labors on Hebrkw Copies. The at- 
 tention of the Jews \vas by no means confined to 
 writing copies of the Holy Word ; they also made 
 most incredible exertions to preserve the genuineness 
 and integrity of the text ; which produced what has 
 been termed the Mnsora, the most stupendous mon-
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [173 1 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 unient in the whole history of literature, of minute 
 and persevering labor. (See Masora.) In the Jew- 
 ish manuscripts and printed editions, a word is often 
 found with a small circle annexed to it, or with an 
 asterisk over it, and a word written in the margin of 
 the same line. The former is called the Kethibh, the 
 latter the Keri. In these, much mystery has been 
 discovered by the Masorites. The prevailing opinion 
 is, that they are partly various readings, collected 
 from the time of Ezra, and partly critical observa- 
 tions, or, as they have been called, insinuations, of 
 the Masorites, to substitute proper or regular, for im- 
 proper and irregular words, and sometimes decent 
 for indecent expressions, in the text. As to the 
 vowel points, which Calmet has considered as Maso- 
 retical, the reader may see sufficient information 
 under the article Points. 
 
 OiX THE PRESENT STATE OF THE HeBREW MANU- 
 SCRIPTS. — No extensive collation of the Hebrew 
 manuscripts of the sacred text was made till the last 
 century ; owing, in a great measure, to a notion which 
 had prevailed of the integrity of the sacred text, in 
 consequence of its supposed preservation from error, 
 by the wonder-working Masora. The rabbins boldly 
 asserted, and the Christians implicitly believed, that 
 the Hebrew text was free from error, and that, in all 
 the manuscripts of it, not an instance of a various 
 reading of importance could be produced. The 
 tirst who combattL'd this notion, in the form of regu- 
 lar attack, was Ludovicus Capellus. From the dif- 
 ferences he observed betAveen the Hebrew text and 
 the version of the Seventy, and between the Hebrew 
 and the Samaritan Pentateuchs ; from the manifest 
 and palpable corruptions he thought he saw in the 
 text itself; and from the many reasons which made 
 him suppose the vowel points and the Masora were 
 both a modern and a useless invention, he was led 
 to question the general integrity of the text ; and 
 even his enemies allowed, that, in his attack upon it, 
 he discovered great learning and ingenuity. Still, 
 however, he admitted the uniformity of the manu- 
 scripts ; and when this was urged against him by 
 Buxtorf, he had little to reply. But at length, (what 
 should have been done before any thing had been 
 said or written on the subject,) the manuscripts 
 themselves were examined, and inmunerable various 
 readings were discovered in them. From this time 
 biblical criticism on the sacred text took a new turn. 
 Manuscripts were collated, and examined with atten- 
 tion, their various readings were discussed with free- 
 dom, and their respective merits ascertained by the 
 rules of criticism. The celebrated collation of Dr. 
 Kennicott was begun in the year 1760. He under- 
 took to collate all the manuscripts of the sacred text 
 in England, and in Ireland ; and while he should be 
 employed in tiiis, (which he su|)posfd miglit be about 
 ten years,) to collate, as far as the expense would ad- 
 mit, all the Hebrew manuscripts of inmortance, in 
 foreign countries. The first volume of this great 
 work was printed in 1776 ; the second in 1780. Dr. 
 Kennicott himself collated two hundred and tifty 
 manuscripts ; and under his direction and at his ex- 
 pense, Mr. Bruns collated aiiout three hundred and 
 fifty ; so that the whole number of manuscripts col- 
 lated, on this occasion, was nearly six hundred. In 
 his opinion, fifty-one of the manuscripts collated for 
 his edition were from 600 to 800, and one hundred 
 and seventy-four from 480 to .580, years old. Four 
 quarto volumes of various readings have since been 
 published by De Rossi, from more than four hundred 
 manuscripts ; some of which are said to be of the 
 
 seventh or eighth century, as well as from a con- 
 siderable number of rare and unnoticed editions. 
 The consequence of these extensive collations has 
 been, to raise a general opinion among the learned, 
 1st, that all manuscript copies of the Hebrew Scrip- 
 tures now extant may, in some sort, be called Maso- 
 retic copies, because none of them have, entirely, es- 
 caped the labors of the Masorites ; 2dly, that the 
 most valuable manuscripts, generally speaking, are 
 those which are oldest, written at first without points 
 or accents, containing the gi-eatest number of vowel 
 letters, exhibiting marks of an accurate transcriber, 
 and conforming most to the ancient versions, and, 
 with regard to the Pentateuch, conforming most to 
 the Samaritan exemplar, and the Greek uninterpo- 
 lated version ; 3dly, that the Masoretic copies often 
 disagree (and that, the further back they go, the 
 greater is their disagreement) from the present printed 
 copy ; 4thly, that the synagogue rolls disagree the 
 least from the printed copies, so that they are of 
 little value in ascertaining the text. From this com- 
 bination of reasons they conclude, that the surest 
 sourcesof emendation, are a collation of manuscripts 
 and parallel places ; a comparison of the text with 
 the ancient versions, and of these with one another ; 
 and granunatical analogy ; and where all these fail, 
 even conjectural criticism. 
 
 The ancient opinions, however, have some advo- 
 cates. They do not go so far as to assert, that a col- 
 lation of Hebrew manuscripts is perfectly useless ; 
 but they think it may be prized higher that it de- 
 serves ; that, when manuscripts of an earlier date 
 than the Masora are sought for, it should not be for- 
 gotten, that the Masorites had those manuscripts, 
 when they settled the text ; and what hopes can 
 there be, they ask, that, at the close of the eighteenth 
 century, after the Hebrew has long ceased to be a 
 spoken language, a Christian, so much of whose 
 time is employed in other jjursuits, and distracted by 
 other cares, can make a better use of those manu- 
 scripts than was actually made of them, by the Ma- 
 soretic literati, whose whole time, whose every 
 thought, from their earliest years to their latest age, 
 was devoted to that one object ; who hved among 
 the people, and almost in the country, where the 
 events recorded by them happened, who saw with 
 their own eyes the luanners they describe, and daily 
 and hourly spoke and heard a language kindred to 
 that in which they are written ? But if there must 
 be a collation of manuscripts, then, say they, no 
 manuscript written by any otlier than a Jew, or want- 
 ing any one of the Jewish marks of authenticity, 
 should be taken into account ; and, trying the ques- 
 tion of the integi-ity of the text by these, which they 
 call the only authentic manuscripts, no question, they 
 assert, will remain of the ])erfect integrity, and per- 
 fect freedom from corruption, of the present text. 
 Where it can be shown, that the text of the Masora 
 is corrupt, the genuineness of the Bible reading may 
 be doubted ; but where there is no reason to impeach 
 the Masora, the text, as they assert, is fixed beyond 
 controversy. Such is the state of the manuscripts 
 of the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
 Of the PRINTED Hebrew Bibles. Those 
 printed editions Avhich deserve particular attention, 
 are that of Soncino, in 1488, from its being the first 
 l)riuted edition of the whole Bible ; the edition at 
 Brescia, in 1494, from its being the edition used by 
 Luther, in his translation ; and a third, printed in 
 1517, without the name of any place. These three 
 editions are called the Soncinates, being printed by
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ IJ'4 1 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 Jews, ot' a family which came origiually from Ger- 
 many, and established themselves at Soncino, a to^vn 
 in Lombardy. They were the first Hebrew printers. 
 Bomberg's edition was printed five times, and is dis- 
 tinguished by the beauty of the type ; but, not being 
 divided into chaptei's and verses, is unfit for general 
 use. The first of his editions was printed in 1518, 
 the last in 1545 ; they were all printed at Venice, 
 and are all in 4to. Robert Stephens's 16mo. edition, 
 in seven volumes, was printed at Paris, 1544 — 1546. 
 He had before printed a 4to. edition at Paris, in four 
 volumes, 1539 — 1544. The celebrated edition of 
 Athias was published at Amsterdam, first in 16G1, 
 and afterwards in 16G7 ; and is remarkable for being 
 the first edition in Hebrew, in which the verses are 
 numbered. It was beautifully republished by Van 
 der Hooght, 8vo. 1705. This edition has the general 
 reputation of great accuracy. His text was adopted 
 by Dr. Kenuicott. A stereotype edition of Van der 
 Hooght is now printed in London, edited by Judah 
 D'AUemande, wlio also translated the New Testa- 
 ment into Hebrew, at the request of the London So- 
 ciety for promoting Christianity among the Jews. 
 Great pains have been bestowed to i-ender it accu- 
 rate. The historical summaries of Van der Hooght 
 have been omitted, and the various readuigs and Ma- 
 fioretic notes are exhibited at the foot of each page. 
 The Plantiniau editions have consideral)le merit for 
 their neatness tuid accuracy. The edition of Nimes 
 Torres, Avith the notes of Rasche,was begun in 1700, 
 was printed in 1705, and was the favorite edition of 
 the Jews. Most of the former editions were sur- 
 passed, in accuracy, by that of Michaehs in 1720. 
 A critical edition was published by Raphael Cha- 
 jim Basila, a Jew at Mantua, in four parts, 1742 — 
 1744. 
 
 The most celebrated edition of the Hebrew, with 
 a Latin translation, was that of Sebastian Muiister. 
 The first volume of the first edition was prhited in 
 1534, the second volume in 1535 ; the second edition 
 was printed in 1546. It was the first Latin trans- 
 lation by any of the separatists from the see of Rome. 
 Sauctes Pagninus was the first of the Catholics who 
 made an entirely new Latin version. It was pub- 
 lished at Lyons, in 1528, and has often been repub- 
 lished. That the liUtinity is barbarous camiot be 
 denied ; but, as it was the author's design to frame a 
 verbal translation, in the strictest and most literal 
 sense of that word, its supposed barbarism was una- 
 voidable. The celebrated edition of Houbigant, 
 with a Latin version and prolegomena, was published 
 in four volumes folio, in 1753, at Paris. The merit 
 of this edition is celebrated by all who are not advo- 
 cates for the Masora ; by them it is spoken of in the 
 har.-ljost terms. Several manuscripts were occa- 
 .sionally consulted by the author ; but it is evident, 
 that he did not collate any one mamiscript through- 
 out. Prior to Ilouhigant's edition, was that of Rei- 
 neccius, at Leipsic, in 1725, reprinted there in 1739. 
 A new edition of it was |)rinted in 1793, under the 
 inspection of Dr. Doederlein, and professor Meisner. 
 It contains tlie most important of the various read- 
 ings collected by Kenuicott and De Rossi ; printed 
 under the text. For the ]>Mrpo»^ of common use it 
 is an excellent edition, and supplies the want of the 
 splendid but exi)ensive editions and collations of 
 Houbigant, Kennicott, and De Rossi. 
 
 [To the above list should be added, the edition of 
 Simonis in 8vo. Halle, 1752, 1767, 1822, and Amst. 
 1753 ; the edition of Jahn in 4 vols. 8vo. Vieima 
 1806, in which nil the passages that arc parallel an' 
 
 printed side by side in the manner of a harmony ; — 
 and the stereotype edition of Tauchnitz,8vo. Leipsic, 
 1831, printed under the supervision of professor Hahn, 
 and one of the most correct and beautiful editions ex- 
 tant. For a complete account of the editions of the 
 Hebrew Bible, the reader is referred to Le Long's Bib- 
 liotheca Sacra, Par. 1723, fol. or to Masch's edition 
 of the same work, in quarto, Halle, 1778 — 85. R. 
 
 Translations of the Hebrew Scriptures. — 
 The first translation in order of time, and indeed in 
 point of importance to us, is that Greek version usu- 
 ally called the Seventy, or the Septuagint ; but we 
 have nothing to add to the account given of it inider 
 Septuagint. The Chaldee translations come next 
 in order : they are not so much translations, howev- 
 er, as paraphrases. (See Jonathan, Takgum, Ver- 
 sion, &c.) The Syriac translation has been by some 
 referreil to the time of Solomon ; by others to the 
 time of Abgarus, king of Edessa; v\'hich is certainly 
 more probable, but is not universally admitted. It 
 unquestionably is ancient. Dr. Prideaux thinks it 
 was made within the first century, and that it is the 
 best of all translations. (See Syria, ad fin.) Latin 
 translations do not date before the introduction of 
 Christianity into Rome. Of these the Vulgate is 
 the chief. 
 
 We are now to add to our consideration, the sev- 
 eral books which compose the New Testament ; and 
 which were studied, copied, and translated, together 
 with the Hebrew Scriptures, by Christians, while 
 the Jews continued to study and copy those only 
 which contained the principles of their ancient 
 system. 
 
 Of the present state of the Greek JManu- 
 scRiPTS. — The Greek manuscripts, according to 
 Wetstein's accoimt, are v/ritteu either on parchment 
 (or vellum) or on paper. The parchment or vellum 
 is sometimes purple-colored. Manuscripts, written 
 in capital letters of the kind commonly found on the 
 ancient monuments of Greece, are generally snpj)os- 
 ed to be of the sixth century, at the latest : those 
 written in an ornamental, semi-barbarous character, 
 are generally supposed to be of the tenth century. 
 Manuscripts written in small letters are of a still 
 later age. But the Greek manuscripts copied by the 
 Latins, after the reign of Charlemagne, are in anoth- 
 er kind of alphabet ; the c, the f, and the y, in them, 
 are inflected, in the form of the letters of the Latin 
 alphabet. Even in the earliest manuscrijjts some 
 words are abbreviated. At the beginning of a new 
 book, the first four or five lines arc often written iu 
 vermilion. There are very few manuscripts con- 
 taining tlie entire New Tegtament. The greater jtart 
 contain the Gospels only ; veiy few have the Apoc- 
 alypse. The curious and extensive collations, which 
 ha\e been made of manuscripts within the last cen- 
 tury, have shown, that certain nianuscri])ts have an 
 affinity to each other, and that their text is distin- 
 guished from others by characteristic marks. This 
 has enabled the writers on this subject to arrange 
 them under certain general classes. They have ob- 
 served, that, as difterent countries had different ver- 
 sions, according to their respective languages, their 
 manuscripts naturally resemble their respective ver- 
 sions, as the versions, generally speaking, were made 
 from the manuscripts in common use. Pursuing 
 this idea, they liav(! supposed fcMU- principal exem- 
 plars : 1st, the fVesttni exemplar, or that used in the 
 countries where the Ijatin language was spoken ; — 
 with this, the Latin versions coincide: 2d, the Al- 
 exandrine exemplar; — with this, the (piotations of
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ 175 ] 
 
 BIBT.K 
 
 Origen coiueide : 3tl, the Eckssene exemplar, from 
 which the Syriac versiou was made : and 4th, the 
 Byzantine or Constantinopolitan exemplar : the great- 
 est number of manuscripts written by the monks of 
 mount Athos, the Moscow manuscripts, the Sclavo- 
 nian or Russian versions, and the quotations of Chry- 
 sostom and Theophylact, bishop of Bulgaria, are re- 
 fenible to this edition. The readings of this exem- 
 plar are remarkably different from those of the oth- 
 er exemplars ; between which a striking coincidence 
 appeai-s. A reading supported by all three of them 
 is supposed to be of the very highest authority ; yet 
 the true reading is sometimes found only in the fourth. 
 
 From the coincidence observed between many 
 Greek manuscripts and the Vulgate, or some other 
 Latin translation, a suspicion arose in the minds of 
 several writers of eminence, that the Greek text had 
 been assimilated throughout to the Latin. This 
 seems to have been lirst suggested by Erasmus ; but 
 it does not appear that he supjjosed the alterations 
 were made before the fifteenth century : so that the 
 charge of Latinizing the manuscripts did not, in his 
 opinion, extend to the original writers of the manu- 
 script, or, as they are called, the writers a prima 
 vianu, but affected only the subsequent interpolators, 
 or, as they are called, the writers a secimdd manu. 
 Father Simon and Mill adopted and extended this 
 accusation ; and it was urged by Wetsteiu with his 
 usual vehemence and abihty ; so that it came to be 
 generally received. Bengel expressed some doubts 
 of it ; and Semler formally calletl it in question. He 
 was followed by Griesbach and Woide ; and finally 
 brought over Michaelis ; who, in the first edition of 
 his Litroduction to the New Testament, had taken 
 part with the accusers ; but, in the fourth edition of 
 the same work, w^th a candor of whicli there are 
 too few examples, he declaied himself persuaded 
 that the charge was imfounded ; and totally aban- 
 doned his former opinion. 
 
 Besides the manuscripts which contain whole 
 books of the New Testament, other manuscripts have 
 been consulted : among these are the Lectionaria, or 
 collections of detached parts of the New Testament, 
 appointed to be read in the service of the church. 
 Tliese are distinguished into the Evangelistaria, or 
 lessons from the Gospels ; and the Apostoli, or les- 
 sons from the Acts and Epistles. The quotations 
 from the New Testament, in the works of the an- 
 cients, have also been consulted. 
 
 The principal Greek manuscripts now extant, 
 are the Codex Alexandrinus, in the British Muse- 
 um ; the Codex Cantabrigiensis, or Codex Bez^ ; 
 and the Codex Vaticands. The Codex Alexandri- 
 nus consists of four volumes: the first three contain 
 the Old Testament ; the fourth, the New Testament, 
 together with the first Epistle of St. Clement to the 
 Corinthians, and a fragment of the Second. The 
 Codex Cantabrigiensis, or the Codex Bczfe, is a Greek 
 and Latin manuscript of the four Gospels and the 
 Acts of the Apostles. The Codex Vaticanus contain- 
 ed, originally, the whole Greek Bible. The respect- 
 ive ages of these venerable manuscripts have been 
 a sul»ject of gi-eat controversy, and have employed 
 the ingenuity and learning of several biblical writers 
 of gi-eat renown. After a profound investigation of 
 the subject. Dr. Woide fixes the age of the Codex Al- 
 txandrinus between the middle and the end of the 
 fourth century ; afler a similar investigation. Dr. 
 Kipling fixes the age of the Codex Cantabrigiensis, 
 or the Codex Bezcv, to the second century ; but bish- 
 op Marsh, in his notes to Michaelis, (vol. ii. p. 708 — 
 
 715.) seems to prove that it was not written earilef 
 than the fifth century. Montfaucon and Blanchini 
 refer the Codex Vaticanus also to the fifth century. 
 In 1786, a fac-simile edition of the New Testament 
 in the Codex Alexandnnus was published in London, 
 by Dr. Woide. In 1793, a fiic-simile edition of the 
 Codex Cantabrigiensis, or the Codex Bezce, was pub- 
 lished at Cambridge, at the expense of the Universi- 
 ty, by Dr. Kiphug. These editions exhibit their re- 
 spective prototypes, line for line, and word for word, 
 to a degree of similarity hardly credil)le. The types 
 wTre cast for the purpose, in alphabets of various 
 forms, that they might be varied with those of the 
 manuscript, and represent it more exactly ; and the 
 ink was composed to suit the color of the faded pig- 
 ment. Nothing equal to them had appeared in the 
 world of letters. The Alexandrian manuscript is an 
 article of such great curiosity, and the labor and ex- 
 pense bestowed on it is so truly honorable to the 
 country which possesses it, that some further account 
 of it may be looked for here by the intelligent reader. 
 This celebrated manuscript, w'hich had been re- 
 vered as a treasure by the Greek church for several 
 ages, was presented to king Charles I. by Cyril Lu- 
 car, patriarch of Alexandria, and was transmitted to 
 England by sir Thomas Roe, ambassador at the Ot- 
 toman Porte, in 1628. It was placed in tlie Royal 
 Library at St. James's, whence it was suljsequently 
 removed to the national collection in the British Mu- 
 seum ; of which it forms one of the glories. The 
 writer of it is said to have been Thccla, an Egyptian 
 lady, who lived early in the fourth century ; — but 
 here ends our knowledge of her. She was, no doubt, 
 a person of eminence, probably of consequence, since 
 her copy is complete, as to its contents ; though now 
 bearing marks of accidents, to which it has been ex- 
 posed. Its value is further enhanced, by observing, 
 that, whatever opinions in subsequent ages agitated 
 the Christian world, they have had no influence on 
 this copy ; it neither omits, not inserts, nor dismem- 
 bers a word to accommodate a passage to such senti- 
 ments. It was not many removes distant from the 
 originals, of which it is a transcript : the language 
 was still spoken ; and whatever ambiguities occurred, 
 (as some will always occur in all Avritings,) they were 
 then easily explained, and properly understood by 
 the copyist ; so that one princijial cause of literary 
 and verbal errors did not exist. It had not been long 
 in England, before its value, as an important docu- 
 ment in behalf of Christianity, became known. Mr. 
 Patrick Young, the learned keeper of the king's h- 
 braiy at that time, soon discovered the Epistles of 
 Clement, the only copy known of the second of them ; 
 and was commanded by the king to publish them, 
 which he did in 1633, with a Latin ti-anslation. Dr. 
 Grabe, being commanded by queen Anne to publish 
 the manuscript, communicated to the world, in 1707 
 — 1710, the Old Testament part of it; being the Sep- 
 tuagint translation. We have noticed Di-. Woide's 
 New Testament in 1786. Some years aflerwards, 
 Mr. Baber, of the British IMuseum, published the 
 book of Psalms, with equal accuracy ; and in the 
 year 1814, proposed to publish a fac-simile copy of 
 the remaining i)artp, so that the whole will be before 
 the world. The number of copies to be printed is 
 two hundred and fifty ; and the expense will be near- 
 ly eight thousand pounds, which has been voted by 
 the British parliament. 
 
 Punctuation of the Bible. — The numerous 
 mistakes of the Fathers, and their uncertainty how 
 j>articidar passages were to be read and understood,
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ 176] 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 clearly prove that there was uo regular or accustom- 
 ed mode of punctuation in use in the fourth century. 
 The majority of the points or stops now in use are 
 unquestionably of modern date, not being generally 
 adopted earlier than the ninth century. It seems to 
 have baen a gradual improvement, commenced by 
 Jerome and continued by succeeding critics. At the 
 invention of printing, the editors placed the points 
 arbitrarily, probably (Michaehs thinks) without be- 
 stowing the necessary attention ; and Stephens in 
 particular, it is well known, varied his poims in every 
 edition. 
 
 Division of the Bible into Verses. — On the 
 death of Edward, when Mary came to the crown, 
 many of the reformed fled into divers parts of Ger- 
 many : some of them, who resided at Geneva, setting 
 about a new translation of the Scriptures, in 1557, 
 the New Testament was printed at Geneva, by Con- 
 rade Badius, and is said to be the first English Tes- 
 tament divided into verses. Whatever the antiquity 
 of the Hebrew vowel points may be, the division of 
 verses in the Old Testament is antecedent to the dis- 
 covery of printing, or to any manuscripts that are 
 known to exist ; but in the Greek manuscripts of the 
 New Testament there is no distinction of verses, and 
 the time when they were first used by printers is 
 perhaps not very accurately ascertained. Robert 
 Stephens is thought to have been the author or in- 
 ventor of verses in the New Testament, which he is 
 said to have performed during a journey on horse- 
 back from Paris to Lyons. Calmet says, "the first 
 division of the New Testament was made by Robert 
 Stephens in 1551, and of the whole Bible in 1555." 
 Michaelis says, " verses were first used in the New 
 Testament by Robert Stephens in 1551, and in the 
 Old Testament by Hugo de St. Caro, a Dominican 
 monk, in the twelfth c'entury." But a Latin Bible, 
 translated by Sanctes Pagninus, and printed at Ly- 
 ons in 1527, before Robert Stephens had printed any 
 Bible on his own account, is divided, the verses be- 
 ing numbered in tlie margin, and distinguished in 
 the text by paragraphical marks, both in the Old and 
 New Testament, and in the Apocrypha. The books 
 are, indeed, made into fewer divisions. Matthew's 
 Gospel, for example, in this edition, is divided into 
 576 verses ; whereas the present division amounts to 
 1071. Calmet notices this edition, but not the di- 
 vision of verses. There is reason to conclude, that 
 Robert Stephens had seen this Bible, jierceived the 
 utility of verses, and imitated and improved thereon. 
 The great advantage of such a division is allowed by 
 all who know the use of a concordance. 
 
 Editions of the Greek New Testament. — The 
 first, in point of time, was that of Erasmus, with a 
 new Latin translation, of which he })ublished five 
 editions— 1516, 1519, 1522, 1527, and 1535. The 
 edition of 1519 is most esteemed. In fact, the edi- 
 tions by Enisinus, with a slight intermixture of the 
 text in the Compiutensian polyglot, are the principal 
 editions from which almost all the subsequent copies 
 have been taken. Tlic next edition of the New Tes- 
 tament in Greek, is that insi;rted in the Compiuten- 
 sian polyglot. The Icarnc:! agree in wishino' that 
 the editors had described, or specified, the manu- 
 8( ripts they made use of The editors speak highly 
 of them; but this was when the number of known 
 manuscripts was small, and manuscript criticism was 
 in its infancy ; so that, without impeaching either 
 the r candor or their judgment, their assertions, in 
 this respect, must be understood with much limita- 
 tion. It has been charged on them, that they some- 
 
 times altered the Greek text, without the authority 
 of a single manuscript, to make it conform to the 
 Latin. But against this charge they have been de- 
 fended by Goeze, and Michaelis, and, to a certain ex- 
 tent, by Griesbach. For exquisite beauty and deli- 
 cacy of type, elegance and proper disposition of con- 
 tractions, smoothness and softness of paper, liquid 
 clearness of ink, and evenness of lines and letters, 
 the editions of Robert Stephens have never been sur- 
 passed, and, in the opinion of many, never equalled. 
 There were four editions published by himself, m 
 1546, 1549, 1550, and 1551. His son published a 
 fifth edition in 1569. The third of these is in folio, 
 and has the readings of sixteen manuscripts in the 
 margin. The first two are in 16mo. and of those, 
 the first (1546) is the most correct. The first edition 
 of Beza was printed in 1565 ; he jirincipally follow- 
 ed the third edition of Robert Stephens. He print- 
 ed other editions in 1582, 1589, 1598 ; but they do 
 not contain, every where, the same text. In his 
 choice of readings he is accused of being influenced 
 by his Calvinistic sentiments. The celebrated edi- 
 tion of the Elzevirs was first printed at Leyden, in 
 1624. It was taken from the third edition of Robert 
 Stephens : where it varies from that edition, it fol- 
 lows, generally, the edition of Beza. By this, the 
 text, which had previously fluctuated, acquired a 
 stability, it being generally followed in all subsequent 
 editions. It has deservedly, therefore, obtained the 
 appellation of editio recepta. The editors of it are 
 unknown. 
 
 Editions with various Readings. — The cele- 
 brated edition of Mill was published at Oxford in 
 1707, after an assiduous labor of thirty years. He 
 inserted in his edition all the collections of various 
 readings which had been made before his time ; col- 
 lated several original editions ; procured extracts 
 fi-om Greek manuscripts, which had never been col- 
 lated ; and, in many instances, added readings from 
 the ancient versions, and from the quotations in the 
 works of the ancient Fathers. The whole of the va- 
 rious readings collected by him, is said, without any 
 improbability, to amount to thirty thousand. He has 
 enriched his work with learned prolegomena, and a 
 clear and accurate description of his manuscripts. 
 He took the third edition of Stephens for his text. 
 
 The edition of Bengel was published in 1734. He 
 prefixed to it his " Introdudio in Cnsin JVovi Testa- 
 7ne7iti ;" and subjoined to it his ^^ Apparatus Criticus 
 et Epilogusy He altered the text, where he thought 
 it might be improved ; but, excepting the Apocalypse, 
 studiously avoided inserting any reading which was 
 not in some printed edition. Under the text he 
 placed some select readings, reserving the whole col- 
 lection of various readings, and his own sentiments 
 upon them, for his Apparatus Criticus. He express- 
 ed his opinion of these marginal readings by the 
 Ch-eck letters u, fi, y, <\ and t. 
 
 But all former editions of the Greek Testament 
 were surpassed by that of Wetstein, Avhich was pub- 
 lished in two volumes folio, in 1751, at Amsterdam. 
 He adopted for his text the editio recepta of the El- 
 zevirs. His collection of various readings far sur- 
 passes that of Mill or Bengel, and his notes are par- 
 ticularly valuable, for the copious extracts he has 
 made from rabbinical writers. These greatly serve 
 to explain the idiom and turn of expression used by 
 the apostolic writers and evangelists. 
 
 The first edition of Griesbach's New Testament 
 was published in 1775 — 1777, in two volumes octa- 
 vo, at Halle, in Germany. In the year 1796, the
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ 177 ] 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 first volume was reprinted, under the patronage and 
 at the expense of his grace the duke of Grafton, 
 having extracts from two hundred manuscripts, in 
 addition to those quoted in the former edition. He 
 collated all the Latin versions published by Sabatier 
 and Blanchini. His object was to give a select and 
 choice collection of the various readings produced 
 bv Mill, Bengel, and Wetstein, and of his own ex- 
 tracts ; ouiittiug all such as are trifling in themselves, 
 supported by questionable autiiority, or evidently only 
 errata. Gricsbach's edition has been reprinted in Eng- 
 land in a smaller form, for the use of schools ; also 
 in America. Knapp's Greek Testament is the text- 
 book commonly used by the students in the German 
 universities ; mid is gradually acquiring that authority, 
 which, in all probability, will render it the general 
 book of scholars, tutors, and the literati in general. 
 
 There are many other respectable editions of the 
 Greek Testament ; but those we liave mentioned are 
 confessedly the principal. The study of Greek learn- 
 ing is at this time pursued with great ardor in the 
 British empire ; and English travellers take oppoitu- 
 uities of obtaining copies of MSS. from abroad, which 
 greatly increase the literary riches at home. Eng- 
 land and America repay the obligation, by printing, or 
 by contributing assistance in printing, the sacred 
 books for all the world. 
 
 PoLYGi,oTT Editions of the Bible, — that is. Bi- 
 bles published in several languages, or at least in 
 three, of A\liich the texts are ranged in difterent col- 
 umns. Some polyglotts contain all the books of the 
 Bible, others contain but a part. — The following are 
 the principal editions : — 
 
 L517.] — The first polyglott is that of Complutum, 
 or Alcala. It is divided into six parts, and compris- 
 ed in four volumes folio. It has the Hebrew, Latin, 
 and Greek, in three distinct columns ; the Chaldee 
 paraphrase, with a Latin interpretation, is at the bot- 
 tom of the page, and the margin is filled with the 
 Hebrew and Chaldee i-adicals. The fourth volume 
 contains the Greek Testament, with no other trans- 
 lation than the Latin. The expense of the work, 
 which, it is said, amounted to fifty thousand ducats, 
 was wholly paid by cardinal Ximenes, of Spain. It 
 is certain, that the cardinal spared no expense in 
 collecting manuscripts ; but whether he had any that 
 were truly valuable has been much doubted. In 
 1784, when professor Birch was engaged in his edi- 
 tion of the Bible, professor Moldenhawer went to 
 Alcala, for the purpose of discovering the manu- 
 scripts used in the Ximenian polyglott. After much 
 inquiry, he ascertained, that about thirty-five years 
 before, they had been sold to a rocket maker, of the 
 name of Toryo. But this is now doubted. 
 
 1518.] — The Bible of Justinian, bishop of Nebio, 
 of the order of St. Dominic, in five languages ; He- 
 brew, Chaldee, Greek, Latin, and Arabic. Only the 
 Psalter was printed. 
 
 1546.] — John Potken, provost of the collegiate 
 church of St. George, at Cologne, caused the Psalter 
 to be printed in four languages ; Hebrew, Greek, 
 Chaldee, or rather Ethiopic, and Latin. 
 
 1546.] — The Jews of Constantinople printed tlie 
 Pentateuch, in Hebrew, Chaldee, Persian, and Ara- 
 bic, wiili the Commentaries of Solomon Jarchi. 
 
 1547.] — The same Jews caused also to be printed, 
 the Pentateuch, in four languages ; Hebrew, Chal- 
 dee, vulgar Greek, and Spanish. 
 
 1565.1 — John Draconhis, of Carlostad in Franco- 
 nia, published an edition of the Psalter, tlie Proverbs 
 of Solomon, and the i>rophets Micah and Joel, in 
 23 
 
 five languages ; Hebrew, Chaldee, Greek, Latin, and 
 German. The death of the author prevented the 
 completion of this work. 
 
 1572.] — The polyglott of Antwerp was printed in 
 that city in 1569 — 1572, in eight volumes folio, under 
 the direction of Arias Moutanus. It contains, beside 
 the whole of the Complutensian edition, a Chaldee 
 paraphrase of part of the Old Testament, which car- 
 dinal Ximenes, having particular reasons for not 
 publishing, had deposited in the theological library 
 at Complutum. The New Testament has the Syri- 
 ac version, and the Latin translation of Pagninus, as 
 revised by Montanus. 
 
 1586.] — There appeared at Heidelberg an edition 
 of the books of the Old Testament, in Hebrew and 
 Greek, with two Latin vei-sions ; one by Jerome, 
 and the other by Sanctes Pagninus, ranged in four 
 columns, at the bottom of which were notes ascribed 
 to Vatablus. Hence it obtained the name of the poly- 
 glott Bible of Vatablus. This book is rare, but 
 held in little estimation. 
 
 1596.] — David Wolder, a Lutheran minister at 
 Hamburg, caused to be printed, by James Lucias, a 
 Bible in three languages ; Greek, Latin, and German. 
 
 1599. — Elias Hutter, a German, printed several 
 polyglotts. The first is in six languages, printed at 
 Nuremberg. — There were only printed the Penta- 
 teuch, the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth ; in 
 Hebrew, Chaldee, Greek, Latin, and the German of 
 Luther: the sixth language varied according to what 
 nation the copies were designed for. Some had the 
 Sclavonian version, of the edition of Wittemberg ; 
 others the French, of Geneva; others the Italian, al- 
 so of Geneva; others the Saxon version, from the 
 German of Luther. This work is very rare. Hut- 
 ter also published the Psalter and the New Testa- 
 ment, in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German. But 
 his chief work is the New Testament, in twelve lan- 
 guages ; Syriac, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, 
 French, Latin, German, Bohemian, English, Danish, 
 and Polish. This polyglott was printed at Nurem- 
 berg, m two volumes, folio ; and in four volumes, 
 quarto. It has no critical value. 
 
 1645.]_The Bible of M. le Jay, in seven lan- 
 guages, was printed at Paris by Anthony Vitre, in ten 
 volumes, large folio. It contains the Hebrew, Sa- 
 maritan, Chaldee, Greek, Syriac, Latin, and Arabic. 
 He followed the Greek version printed at Antwerp, 
 also the Chaldee and Latin. The Hebrew text is 
 extremely inaccurate, but it is, nevertheless, the 
 most beautiful polyglott extant. 
 
 1657.] — Less beautiful, but more accurate, and 
 comprehending more than any of the preceding poly- 
 glotts, is that of London, edited by Dr. Bryan Wal- 
 ton, and printed in 1653—1657, in six volumes, to 
 which the Lexicon Heptaglotton of Castell, in two 
 volumes folio, is usually added. This edition of the 
 Scriptures contains learned prolegomena, and sever- 
 al other treatises, new oriental versions, and a very 
 large collection of various readings. Twelve copies 
 Averc printed on large paper : one, of great beauty, 
 is in the library of St. Paul's cathedral ; another was 
 in iliat of the count de Lauragais ; and another is in 
 the library of St. John's college, Cambridge. It is 
 said to have been the first book printed by subscription 
 in England. Dr. Walton had leave from Cromwell 
 to import his paper duty free. 
 
 1831.]— Most of the polyglotts we have noticed 
 are of great rarity, and, bearing a high price, are to 
 be found only, or chiefly, in public libraries, and in 
 those of the 'curious. It gives ns much pleasure,
 
 BIBLE 
 
 I 178 1 
 
 bible: 
 
 therefore, to be .able to add to this list another 
 work of the same class, which has been })ublish- 
 ed by Mr. Bagster, of London, at a price which 
 places it v/ithin the reach of all who desire to possess 
 themselves of a most important aid in the interpre- 
 tation of Scripture. It is published in folio, exhibit- 
 ing, at one view, the Old Testament in Hebrew, 
 Greek, English, Latin, Spanish, Italian, French, and 
 German. The Hel)rew text is from Vander Hooght, 
 with the Keri, and the Sam. Pentateuch, from 
 Kennicott's edition ; the Greek from Bos, with the 
 readings of Grabe ; the Vulgate from the edition of 
 Clement VIII ; the Spanish from Padre Scio ; the 
 Itahah from Diodati ; the French from Ostervald ; 
 the German from Luther. The New Testament 
 embraces the same languages, excepting the Hebrew, 
 the place of which is occupied by the Portuguese : 
 the Greek is the text of Mill, with Griesbach's read- 
 ings. It also contains the Peshito Syriac translation, 
 with the Epistles and Apocalypse from the Philox- 
 enian version. Each language is published in a sep- 
 arate form in small octavo. 
 
 The two last-mentioned editions have made a no- 
 ble addition to the materials for studying Holy Scrip- 
 ture, and the learned are daily augmenting this as- 
 sistance, by collations of ancient versions, with their 
 various readings; which may be esteemed as so 
 many polyglotts. 
 
 Every person, to whom the sacred writings are 
 dear, must wish them edited in the most perfect 
 manner. It would reflect disgrace on the learned 
 of the Christian world, that any pagan author should 
 be published in a more perfect manner than the 
 word of God. An Englishman must view with 
 pleasure the useful and magnificent exertions of his 
 countrymen in this respect. Bishop Walton's poly- 
 glott ranks first in that noble and costly class of pub- 
 lications ; foreign countries can show nothing equal 
 to Dr. Kennicott's edition of the Bible, or similar to 
 Dr. Woide's edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, Dr. 
 Kipling's edition of the Codex Bezse, or Dr. Holmes 
 and Mr. Parsons's edition of the Septuagint. 
 
 Where the word of God is concerned, the greatest 
 moderation should be used ; and care should be 
 taken, that the assertions made, are expressed accu- 
 rately, and in such terms as prevent improper con- 
 clusions being drawn from them. Where the num- 
 ber of the various readings is mentioned before per- 
 sons to whom the subject is new, or in any Avorks 
 likely to have a general circulation, it should be add- 
 ed, that their importance is rather of a literary than 
 a religious kind ; and that, whether considered col- 
 lectively or individually, they do not affect the gen- 
 uineness of the text, or the substance of its history 
 or doctrine. The improvements, whicli proposed 
 altenitions are thought to make, should not be exag- 
 gerated ; it should be remarked, that alterations of 
 that description are confessedly few ; and that none 
 of them atfect the gospel as a historj', as a rule of 
 faith, or as a body of morality. Conjectural emen- 
 dations should be reslraiiKMl, and almost always be 
 resisted. 
 
 English TiiANsi.ATm.vs oi' thk Biblk. — We 
 proceed now to a sulijert more ji.-irticularly interest- 
 ing to us, which is, the liistory of our English trans- 
 lations. It would be very diflicult to ascertain every 
 English translator, or when the Scriptures were first 
 translated into the language of this country. That 
 the Saxons read the Bil)lc in their own language, is 
 an opinion well authenticated ; some parts, at least, 
 having been translated by Adhehn, Itishop of Sher- 
 
 borne, Eadfrid, (e,r Ecbcit,) bishop of Lindisferue, 
 the venerable Bede, and king Alfred. ^Ifric, abbot 
 of IMalmesbury, translated the Pentateuch, Judges, 
 and Job ; — which were printed at Oxford in the 
 year 1699. And the four Gospels were printed fi-om 
 an ancient Saxon MS. now in the Bodleian library, 
 in 1571, under the care of the martyrologist John Fox, 
 assisted and encouraged by Matthew Parker, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. It would ap})ear that the 
 Saxons had more than one translation, of parts at 
 least, of the Bible among them ; though no version 
 particularly sanctioned by public authority. They 
 had also glosses and comments. Besides these early 
 versions, several parts of the Scriptures had been 
 from time to time translated I>y difi'erent persons ; 
 proofs of which, if not the very translations them- 
 selves, exist in difi'erent libraries of Great Britain. 
 In particular, in 1349, the Psalms were translated by 
 Richard Rolle, a hermit of Hampole in Yorkshire ; 
 and in the Harleian and the king's libraries, are 
 specimens of other and different versions. Soon 
 afterwards John Wycliff" translated the New Testa- 
 ment, several copies of which are in different libra- 
 ries, both public and private, though with some de- 
 gi'ee of variation. In the year 1731, it was printed 
 in folio, v.'ith a glossary, under the care of the Rev. 
 John Lewis, minister of Margate, and chaplain to 
 Lord Malton, and again, in 1810, m quarto, by the 
 Rev. Mr. Baber. 
 
 In 1526, WiUiam Tyndal printed the first edition of 
 his New^ Testament, at Antwerp, in octavo, without a 
 name, with an epistle at the end, wherein he desired 
 them that were learned to amend if aught were found 
 amiss. This edition is very scarce ; for soon after its 
 appearance, the bishop of London, being at Antwerp, 
 desired an English merchant to buy uj) all the copies 
 that remained unsold, which, with many other 
 books, were burned at Paul's Cross. This Dr. Jor- 
 dan thinks was done by the bishop to serve Tyndal, 
 which it certainly did, bj' putting a good sum of 
 money into his pocket, and enabling him to prepare 
 another edition for the press more correct than the 
 former, which, however, was not printed till 15.34. 
 From the first edition five thousand copies were re- 
 printed by the Dutch in 1527, 1528, and in 1530 ; 
 but all these editions are represented to be exceed- 
 ingly incorrect. In 1534, they printed a fifth edition, 
 corrected by George Joye, who not only corrected 
 the typographical errors, but ventured to alter, and 
 amend, as he thought, the translation. Soon after- 
 wards, the second edition by Tyndal himself ap- 
 peared, in which he complains of Joye's forestalling 
 him, and altering his translation. Besides purchas- 
 ing the co])ies of Tyndal at Antwerp, orders and 
 monitions were issued by the archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, and the bishoj) of liondon, to bring in all 
 the New Testaments translated into the vulgar tongue, 
 that they might be burned ; and to prohibit the read- 
 ing of them. In 1523, (lenry VIII. ordered "all 
 the books containing several errors, etc. with the 
 translation of the Scri|)tures corru])ted by William 
 Tyndal, as well in the Old Testament as in the New, 
 to be utterly expelled, rejected, and put away out of 
 the hands of his peoi)Ie, and not to go abroad among 
 his subjects." Tyndal's translation of the Penta- 
 teuch was printed at Marlborough, in Hesse, the 
 \'ear before ; and that of .ronah this year. Some 
 are of opinion these were all he translated, and Fox 
 mentions no more ; but Hall and Bale, his contem- 
 jjoraries, say, that he likewise translated the books 
 from Joshua to Nehemiah ; which, unless Matthew's
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ 179 1 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 be so far a new translatiou, is moat probable. Ful- 
 ler presumes, that he translated the Old Testament 
 from the Latin, as his friends allowed that he had 
 no skill in Hebrew : but in this Fuller might be mis- 
 taken. He finislied his translation of the Penta- 
 teucii in the year 1528 ; but, going by sea to Ham- 
 burgl), he suti'enxl shipwreck, with the loss of all 
 his book?;, pajiers, etc. so that he was obhged to 
 begin the whole again. Tyndal himself, in a letter 
 to John Frith, written January, 1583, says, " I call 
 God to record, against tlio day we shall appear be- 
 fore our Lord Jesus, to give a reckoning of our 
 doings, that I never altered one syllable of God's 
 word against my conscience ; nor w oidd do this day, 
 if all that is in earth, whether it be honor, pleasure, 
 or riches, might be given me. Moreover, I take God 
 to witness to my conscience, that I desire of God to 
 myself in this world, no more than that without 
 which I cannot keep his laws." It appears, how- 
 ever, that the king, in pursuance of his own settled 
 judgment, thinking much good might come from 
 people reading the New Testament with reverence, 
 and following it, commanded the bishops to call 
 to them the most learned of the two universi- 
 ties, and to cause a new translation to be made ; but 
 nothing l)eing done, the people still read and studied 
 Tyndal's. It was tlierefore determined to get rid of 
 so dangerous a heretic ; and the king and council 
 employed one Henry Philips, who insinuated him- 
 self into the acquaintance of Tyndal, and of Pointz, 
 an English merchant, at ^vhose house he lodged : 
 and at a favoral)le opportunity he got the procura- 
 tor-general of the emperor's court to seize on 
 Tyndal, by whom he was brought to Vilvorden, about 
 18 miles from Antwerp. After being imprisoned a 
 year and a half, notwithstanding letters in his favor 
 from secretary Cromwell, and others, to the court 
 at Brussels, he was tried, and none of his reasons in 
 his defence being admitted, he Avas condemned, by 
 virtue of the emperor's decree, made in the assem- 
 bly at Augsburgh, in the year 1536. Being brought 
 to the place of execution, he was first strangled, 
 calling out in his last moments, " Lord, open the 
 king of England's eyes !" — and then he was burned. 
 Thus died William Tyndal, with this testimony 
 to his character given him by the emperor's pro- 
 curator or attorney-general, though his adversaiy, 
 that he was " homo dodus, plus, ct bonus ;" and 
 others, who conversed with him in the castle, re- 
 ported of him, that " if he were not a good Chi-is- 
 ten man, they could not tell whom to trust." 
 
 The first English Bible, or complete translation of 
 the Scriptures, printed, was that by Myles Covcrdale, 
 the first edition of which bears date 1535. It was 
 dedicated to Henry V^III. and is printed in folio. A 
 copy is in the British Museum. In bishop Cover- 
 dale's Bible we meet with the following judicious 
 remark, which shows the very respectable knowledge 
 and temper of that great man. "Now whereas the 
 most famous interpreters of all geve sondrye judg- 
 mentes on the texte, (so far as it is done by the 
 spiryte of knowledge in the Holye Gooste,) methynke 
 no man shoulde lie offended thereat, for they referre 
 theyr doyngs in mekenes to the spiryte of trueth in 
 the congregation of God: and sure I am, that there 
 conmiethe more knowledge and imderstondiuge of 
 the Scripture by their sondrye translacions, than 
 by all the gloses of our sophisticall doctours. For 
 that one interpreteth somthynge obscurely in one 
 place, the same translateth another (or els he himselfe) 
 more manifestly by a more playne vocalile of the 
 
 same meaning in another place." More than com- 
 mon care seems to have been taken by Coverdale 
 in the language of his translation. We have some 
 instances of barbarism, Ijut they are very few, and 
 none which are not authorized by die purest writers 
 of the times in which he wrote. To him, and to 
 other translators of the Scriptures, especially of the 
 present authorized version, our language OAves, per- 
 haps, more than to all the authors who have written 
 since : and even though some of the expressions 
 may appear uncoutli, their fewness renders them in- 
 offensive ; they are never vulgar ; they preserve 
 their ancient simplicity pure and midefiled ; and, in 
 their circumstance and connection, perhaps l)ut sel- 
 dom could be exchanged for the better. Nor will 
 this ojjinion be condenmed when it is considered, 
 that tliat elegant writer and learned prelate, bishop 
 Lowth, has constantly used the words where he has 
 not differed from the translation ; and whenever 
 amendments have been intended in the language 
 of the Scriptures, if we have gained any thing in 
 elegance, we have almost assuredly lost in dignity. 
 
 At the convocation (1536, probably) the clergy 
 agreed on a petition to the king, that he would be 
 graciously pleased to grant unto the laity the reading 
 of the Bible in the English tongue ; and that a new 
 translation might be made for that purpose ; and 
 soon after injunctions wei'c issued to the clergy by 
 the authority of the king's highness, the seventh ar- 
 ticle of which conmiands, — " That every person or 
 j)roprietary of any parish chinch within this realm, 
 at this great feast of St. Peter ad vinciUa, (Aug. 1,) 
 next coming, provide a book of the whole Bible, 
 both in Latin and also in English, and lay the same 
 in the quire for every man that will look thereon : 
 and shall discourage no man from the reading any 
 part of the Bible, either in Latin or English ; but 
 rather comfort, exhort, and admonish every man to 
 read the same, as the very word of God, and the 
 spiritual food of man's soul; whereby they n^.ay 
 better know their duties to God, to the sovereign 
 lord the king, and theii- neighbor ; ever gentilly and 
 charitably exhorting them, that using a sober and 
 modest behavior in the reading and inquisition of 
 the true sense of the same, they do iit no wise stifly 
 or eagerly contend or strive one with another about 
 the same, but refer the declaration of those places 
 that be in controversy to the judgment of them that 
 be learned." 
 
 The first edition of Matthew's Bible generally 
 known, was printed in the year 1537. The name of 
 Thomas Matthew is said to have been fictitious, and 
 used by the real editor, John Rogers, from motives of 
 prudence or fear ; for although no clamor was raised 
 against Myles Coverdale for his translation, the name 
 of Tyndal was exceedingly odious to the clergy ; and 
 much trouble might reasonably have been expected 
 from an acknowledged rejjublication of his transla- 
 tion. " None will deny, says Fuller, but that many 
 faults needing amendment are fovmd in the (Tyndal's) 
 translation, ^vhich is no wonder to those who con- 
 sider; first, such an undertaking was not the task of a 
 man, but men. Secondly, no gnat design is invented 
 and perfected at once. Thirdly, Tyndal, being an 
 exile, wanted many necessary accommodations. 
 Fourthly, his skill in Hebrew was not considerable : 
 yea, generally, learning in languages Avas then but 
 in tlie infancie thereof Fifthly, our English tongue 
 was not improved to that ex})ressiveness whereat, at 
 this day, it is arrived. However, what he undertook, 
 was to be admired as glorious ; what he performed,
 
 BIBLE 
 
 180 ] 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 to be coinmeuded as profitable ; wbereiu he failed, 
 is to be excused as pardonable, and to be scored 
 on the account rather of that age, tha)i of the author 
 himself Yea, Tyndal's pains were useful, had his 
 translations done no other good than to lielj) towards 
 the making of a better ; our last translators having 
 in express charge from king James to consult the 
 translation of Tyndal." JMatthew's Bible is composed 
 partly from Tyndal's and partly from Coverdale's 
 translations, with some alterations ; taking Tyndal's 
 New Testament, and such parts of the Old as were 
 translated by him, except that the prophecy of Jonah 
 is of Coverdale's translation ; ueidier is Tyndal's pref- 
 ace prefixed to Jonah, or any other preface inserted, 
 except to the Romans, in that Avhich is supposed to 
 be the first edition. Sundry alterations are made 
 from Covcrdale, ami some have been of opinion, 
 that it was a new work undertaken by Coverdalc, 
 Tyndal, and Rogers, and that the latter translated 
 the Apocrypha ; but Mr. Le%vis thinks that Cover- 
 dale had none to assist him in his translation, and 
 that he was not concerned in that called Matthew's, 
 but only John Rogers, who made a few alterations, 
 but not a new ti'anslation. Grafton was called to an 
 account for piinting Matthew's Bible, 1537, and ex- 
 amined as to the great Bible, what notes he intended 
 to set to it ; to which he replied, " that he added 
 none to the Bible he printed, when he ])erceived 
 the king and the clergy not willing to have any." 
 Yet he was confined a prisoner in the Fleet six 
 weeks, and then released, on being bound in a bond 
 of £300, neither to imprint nor sell any more Eng- 
 lish Bibles, till the king and clergy should agree on 
 a translation. 
 
 In the year 1538, Grafton and Whitchurch had 
 obtained permission of Hemy VIII. to print the 
 Bible at Paris ; but when the work was nearlj" finish- 
 ed, by an order of the Inquisition, dated the 17th of 
 December the same year, the printers were inhibited, 
 under canonical pains, to proceed ; and the whole 
 impression of two thousand five hundred copies was 
 seized and confiscated. By the cncoiu'agement of 
 the lord Cromwell, however, some Englishmen re- 
 turned to Paris, recovered the presses, types, etc. 
 and brought them to London, where the work was 
 resumed, and the Bible finished in 1539. This was 
 called Cranmer's Bil)le, on account of the preface, 
 which was written by the archbishop. In this, the 
 translations of Covcrdale and Matthew seem to be 
 revised and corrected. The Psalms are those now 
 used in the liturgy of the estal)hshed cluu-ch. There 
 are several editions of this Bible ; in particular, one 
 in 15 U, under the cai'e of Tonstal, blsjiop of Durham, 
 and Heath, !)isho]) of Rochester ; and another, printed 
 at Rouen, at the charge of Richard Carmarden, 155<j. 
 
 In Novemlicr, 1539, the king appointed lord Crom- 
 well to take sj)ecial care and charge that no manner 
 of person or jjcrsous should print any Bible in the 
 English tongue during the ^^pace of five years, but 
 only sucii !!s shall be d(>puted, assigned, and admitted 
 by the said lord Cromwell: it is not improbable but 
 this might have been done in f-ivor of Taverner's 
 Bible, Avhich appeared at this time ; Bale calls it, 
 Saa-orum rccognitio, svu polivs nova ; but Mr. Le^vis 
 says, that it is neither a ban- revisal nor a correct 
 edition of the English Bilile ; nor yet strictly a new 
 version, but between both ; it is, what may be called, 
 a correction of Matthew's Bible, wherever the (;ditor 
 thought it needfiil. He takes in a great part of Mat- 
 thew's marginal notes, but oniits sevrral, and inserts 
 others of his own. 
 
 In the convocation held February 6, 1542, the 
 archbishop, in the king's name, required the bishops 
 and clergy to revise the translation of the Scriptures; 
 and for that purpose difierent parts of the New Testa- 
 ment were put into the hands of several bishops for 
 perusal. Many objections were raised on various 
 pretences, and bishop Gardiner read a list of ninety- 
 nine Latin words, which he said would not admit of 
 being translated into English. By this it was found 
 that this motion or translation would come to nothing ; 
 and a determination of the king, to wrest the work 
 from the bishops, and place it in the hands of the 
 universities, seems to have had a similar fate ; for 
 the next jear an act was passed which condemned 
 Tyndal's translation as crafty, false, and untrue ; and 
 enacted, that all books of the Old and New Testa- 
 ment of his translation should, by authority of this 
 act, be abolished, extinguished, and forbidden to be 
 kept and used in this realn), oi" elsewhere in his 
 majesty's donunions. But it was provided, "that 
 the Bibles and New Testaments in English, not being 
 of Tyndal's translation, shoidd stand in force, and 
 not be comprised in this abolition or act. Nevcrthe- 
 lesse, if there should be foiuid in anie such Bibles or 
 New Testamentes anie amiotations or i)reambles, that 
 then the owners of them should cut or blot the 
 same in such wise as they cannot be perceived or 
 read, on pain of losing or forfeiting for every Bible, 
 etc. 40s. Provided, that this article should not ex- 
 tend to the blotting any quotations oi* summaries of 
 chapters in any Bibles." It was likewise enacted, 
 " That no manner of person or persons after the first 
 day of October, the next ensuing, should take upon 
 him or them to read openly to other in any church 
 or open assemblj-, within any of the king's domin- 
 ions, the Bible or any j)art of the Scripture in Eng- 
 lish, unless he was so appointed thereunto by the 
 king, or any ordinarie, on jiain of suffering a 
 month's imprisonment. Proviiled, that the chancel- 
 lor of England, captaines of the warres, the king's 
 justices, the recorders of any city, borough, or town, 
 the speaker of the parliament, etc. which heretofore 
 have been accustomed to declare or teaclie any 
 good, vertuous, or godly exhortations in anie assem- 
 blies, may use any part of the Bible or holie Scrip- 
 tures as they have been wont ; and that every jioble- 
 man and gentleman, being a householder, may read, 
 or cause to be read by any of his familie servants in 
 his house, orchardes, or garden, and to his own fami- 
 lie, anie text of the Bible or New Testament, and 
 also every merchant-nian, being a householder, and 
 any other persons other than women, prentises, &c. 
 might read to themselves privately the Bible. But 
 no woman, (except noblewomen and gentlewomen, 
 who might read to themselves alone, and not to 
 others, any texts of the liible,) nor artificers, pren- 
 tises, journeymen, ser\ing-men of the degrees of 
 yomen or under, husbandmen, oi- laborers, were to 
 read the Bible or New Testament in Englishe to 
 himself, or any other, i)rivately or o])enly, upon paine 
 of one month's im])risonnient." Wlien we read 
 enactments like these, and contrast sucii hinderances 
 to the spread of sacred kno\\ledge with the present 
 state of religious liberty, ])ublic and jtrivate, what 
 intense sensations of gratitude to the Divine Author 
 of this holy book shoidd fill the mind of every 
 Christian! Another act was ])assed, Jidy 8, 1546, 
 whereby the having and reading of Tyndal's and 
 Coverdale's translations were jirohibited, as well as 
 the use of any other than what was allowed by act 
 of parliament.
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ IBl ] 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 In this state mattei-s continued so long as Henry 
 VIII. lived ; but on the accession of his sou Edward 
 VI. (1547,) they took another turn ; the reformation 
 being encouraged, and the acts whicli prohibited the 
 translation of the Scriptures being repealed. In- 
 junctions were issued, and sent into every part of 
 the kingdom, among other things enjoining, that 
 within three months a Bible of the larger volume in 
 English, and within twelve months Erasmus's Para- 
 phrase on the Gospels, be provided, and convenient- 
 ly placed in the churches for the people to read in. 
 
 The reign of queen jMary was too unfavorable for 
 any translation of the Scriptures to be printed in 
 England ; and, except the Geneva Testament, Ave 
 meet with nothing but a quarto primer, Latin and 
 English, according to the use of Sarum, ,with the 
 epistles and gospels in English, printed by John 
 Kingston and Henry Sutton, 1557. Bishop Cover- 
 dale, being compelled to leave England, during the 
 reign of j\Iary, took up his residence principally at 
 Geneva, where he engaged Avith some Protestant 
 refugees in a newvei-sion of the Scrijnures, from the 
 Hebrew and Greek languages, Avith notes; called 
 irom the place, the Geneva Bible. That Avhich Avas 
 done in this Bible Avas as folloAvs: — "(1.) Because 
 some translations read after one sort and some after 
 another, they noted in the margin the diAcrsities of 
 speech and reading, especially according to the He- 
 brcAV. — (2.) Where the HebrcAV speech seemed hard- 
 ly to agree Avith ours, they noted in the margin, 
 using that Avhich Avas more intelligible. — (.3.) Though 
 many of the HebreAV names AA'ere altered from the 
 old text, and restored to the true Avriting, and first 
 original, yet in the usual names, little Avas changed, 
 for fear of troubling the simple readers. — (4.) Where 
 tJie necessity of the sentence required any thing to 
 be added, Avhether verb or other Avord, they put it 
 in the text Avith another kind of letter, that it might 
 easily be discerned from the connnon letter of the 
 text.— (5.) As touching the division of the A'erses, they 
 folloAved the HebrcAv examples, adding the number 
 to each verse. — (6.) The principal matters AA^ere 
 noted ; and the arguments, both for each book and 
 for each chapter. — (7.) They set OA'er the head of 
 CA'ery page some notable Avord, or sentence, for the 
 help of memory. — (8.) They set brief annotations 
 ui)on all the hard places, as aa-cII for the under- 
 standing of obscure Avords, as for declaration of the 
 text. And for this purpose they diligently read the 
 best commentaries ; and had much confereiice Avith 
 godly and learned brethren. — (9.) They set forth 
 Avith figures certain places in the books of Moses, 
 of the Kings, and Ezekiel, Avhich seemed so dark, 
 that by no other description they could be made easy 
 to the reader. — (10.) They added certain iDaps of 
 cosmograjjliy, of diA'ers places and countries, partly 
 described, and partly by occasion touched, both in 
 the Old and Ncav lY'Stament. (11.) They adjoined 
 two profitable tables ; the one of interpretations of 
 HebreAV names, and the other containing all the 
 chief and principal matters of the Avhole Bible." 
 The NeAV Testament Avas published in 1557, and the 
 Avhole Bible in 1560. 
 
 In the lirst parliament of queen Elizabeth, held 
 January, 1558, an act passed for restoring to the 
 croAATi the ancient jurisdiction over the state, eccle- 
 siastical and spiritual ; and another for the uniform- 
 ity of connnon prayer, and service in the church. 
 The queen also appointed a royal visitation, and 
 gave her injunctions, as Avell to the clergy as the 
 laity, by Avhich it Avas ordered, as in the reign of 
 
 Edward VI. that tliey should, at the charge of tk« 
 parish, Avithin three months, provide one book of the 
 Avhole Bible, of the largest volume in English ; and 
 Avithin tAvelve months, the Paraphrase of Erasmus. 
 The folloAving year the Liturgy Avas reviewed, and 
 altered in some passages ; and", being presented to 
 parliament, Avas by that authority received and es- 
 tablished. And, soon after, a design Avas formed 
 to make a ncAV translation of the Scrijitures, under 
 the direction of archbishop Parker ; Avhich, Iioaa- 
 ever, Avas not printed before the year 1568, Avheu it 
 first appeared in folio. This is called the Bishops^ 
 Bible. The Avork Avas divided into several parcels, 
 and assigned to men of learning and character, se- 
 lected for the purpose. Archbishop Parker had the 
 chief direction of the affair, rcA'ieAved the perform- 
 ance, and gave the finishing hand to it. He em- 
 jjloyed several ci-itics in the HebrcAv and Greek 
 languages to revieAv the old translation, and com- 
 pare it AA'ith the original. There is a peculiaaity ob- 
 servable in the Psalms of this translation, for Avhich 
 there seems no apparent reason, viz. the Avord cn^x 
 is translated Lord, and mn' is translated God ; con- 
 trary to general, if not (otherAA'ise) imiversal custom. 
 It is not unlikely, that this circumstance prevented 
 the bishops' Psalms from being read in the church 
 service, in Avhich the Psahiis of archbishop Cranmer's 
 Bible Avere used, and are continued to this day. 
 Cranmer's Psalms AA'ere often printed in the Bishops' 
 Bible, and sometimes in the Geneva, either by them- 
 selves, or Avith the proper Psahns of those transla- 
 tions in oj)posite columns. 
 
 Davies, bishop of St. DaAid's, Avas noAV engaged in 
 translating the Bible into Welsh, together Avith Wil- 
 liam Salisbury, bishop of Man, aa'Iio Avas A'ery learned 
 in British antiquities. A translation of tlie rSeAV 
 Testament by LaAA'rence Tomson,Avho Avas under 
 secretary to sir Francis Walsingham, AAas printed in 
 1576. This AAas afterAvards reprinted frequently in 
 the Geneva Bible, instead of the former translation. 
 
 These labors of the Pi'otestants had their effect on 
 the Catholics ; AA'ho, as they Avould not use the ver- 
 sions of those Avhom they cousidei-ed as heretics, 
 and being Act ashamed of having no Aversion of 
 Scripture for their use, set themselves to translate, as 
 far as they laAvfully might. In 1582, the Ncav Testa- 
 ment, translated by the English college at Rheims, AA'as 
 printed ; tAventy-seven years after, in 1609, appeared 
 the first Aolume, and in 1610, the second Aolunio of 
 the Old Testament and Apocrypha, printed at Douay, 
 and thence called the Douay Bible. Both these have 
 been reprinted several times ; but an edition in five 
 volumes, 12mo. 1750, is much inq)roved in point of 
 language, especially from the Douay, AA'hich is in 
 many instances very obscure. The translators AA'ere 
 William Allen, Henry Holland, George Martin, and 
 Richard Bristol. The notes Avere by Dr. Worthing- 
 ton. Le Long says, the Ncav Testament AA^as ])rinci- 
 pally translated by William Raynokl, or Reynolds. 
 
 Account of the presext English authorized 
 Version. — At a convocation in 1603, soon after the 
 accession of James I. complaints Avere made that 
 many and great faults existed in the translation au- 
 thorized to be read ; and Fuller says, one of the best 
 things produced by the Ham])ton-Court conference 
 AA'as, a resolution in his majesty for a ncAv transla- 
 tion of the Bible : to this purpose the king Avrote to 
 the archbishops and bishops, enjoining them to pro- 
 vide benefices as speedily as they could, for so many 
 of the learned men selected to prepare the ncAV 
 translation, as had not previously adequate ecclesi-
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [182] 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 astical preferment ; and, also, to inform themselves of 
 all persons in their respective dioceses, who under- 
 stood the Hebrew and Greek languages, and had 
 studied the Scriptures in their original tongues, ex- 
 horting them to send the results of their private stud- 
 ies to Mr. Lively, Hebrew reader at Cambridge, Dr. 
 Harding, Hebrew reader at Oxford, or Dr. Andrews, 
 dean of Westminster, " that so our said intended 
 translation may have the help and furtherance of all 
 our principal learned men within this our kingdom." 
 Fuller's list of the translators amounts to forty-seven, 
 which number was ranged under six divisions. The 
 names of the persons, tiie places where they met, to- 
 gether with the portions of Scripture assigned to 
 each company, are as follows : — 
 
 Ten at Westminster. The Pentateuch ; the his- 
 tory, from Joshua to the first book of the Chronicles, 
 exclusively. Dr. Andrews, afterwards bishop of 
 Winchester; Dr. Overall, afterwards bishop of Nor- 
 wich ; Dr. Saravia, prebendary of Canterbury ; Dr. 
 Clarke, fellow of Cin-ist's college, Cambridge ; Dr. 
 Laifield, fellow of Trinity, Cambridge — being skilled 
 in architecture, his judgment was much relied on for 
 the description of the tabernacle and temple ; Dr. 
 Leigh, archdeacon of 3Iiddlesex ; Mr. Burgley ; 
 Mr. King ; Mr. Tompson ; Mr. Bedwell, of Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 Eight at Cambridge. From the first of Chroni- 
 cles, with the rest of the history, and the Hagiogra- 
 pha, viz. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Canticles, Ecclesi- 
 astes. Mr. Lively ; Mr. Richardson, fellow of Eman- 
 uel ; j\Ir. Chadderton ; Mr. Dillingham, fellow of 
 Christ college ; Mr. Andrews, afterwards master of 
 Jesus college ; Mr. Harrison, the Rev. vice-master 
 of Trinity college ; Mr. Spalding, fellow of St. 
 John's, Cambridge, and Hebrew professor there ; Mr. 
 Bing, fellow of Peter-house, Cambridge, and He- 
 brew professor there. 
 
 Seven at Oxford. The four greater prophets, 
 with the Lamentations, and the twelve lesser proph- 
 ets. Dr. Harding, president of Magdalen college ; 
 Dr. Reynolds, president of Corpus Christi college ; 
 Dr. Holland, rector of Exeter college, Regius pro- 
 fessor ; Dr. Kilby, rector of Lincoln college, and 
 Regius professor ; Mr. Smith, afterwards bishop of 
 Gloucester, who composed the learned and religious 
 preface to the translation ; Mr. Brett ; Mr. Fan- 
 clowe. 
 
 Cambridge. The prayer of Manasseh, and the 
 rest of the Apocry])ha. Dr. Duport, prebendary of 
 Ely, and master of Jesus college ; Dr. Braiuthwaite, 
 afterwards master of Gonvil, and Caius college ; 
 Dr. Radclyfte, a senior fellow of Trinity college ; 
 Mr. Ward, afterwards D. D. and Margaret professor ; 
 Mr. Uo\\iies, fellow of St. John's, and Greek pro- 
 fessor ; Mr. Boyse, fellow of St. John's ; Mr. Ward, 
 of King's college, afterwards D. D. prebendary of 
 Chichester. 
 
 Oxford. The four Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, 
 and Apocalypse. Dr. Ravis, afterwards bishop of 
 London ; Dr. Abbot, afterwards archbishop of Can- 
 terbury ; Dr. Eedes (instead of whom Lewis has 
 James Montague, bishop of Bath and Wells) ; Mr. 
 Thompson ; Mr. Savill ; Dr. Peryn ; Dr. Ravens ; 
 Mr. Harmer. 
 
 Westminster. The Epistles of St. Paul, and the 
 other canonical Epistles. Dr. Barlowe, afterwards 
 bishop of Lincoln; Dr. Hutchinson; Dr. Spencer ; 
 Mr. Fenton ; Mr. Rabbet ; Mr. Sanderson ; Mr. 
 Fakins. 
 
 And that they might proceed to the best advan- 
 
 tage in their method and management, the king 
 suggested the instructions following : — (1.) The Bible 
 read in the chiu'ch, commonly called the Bishops' 
 Bible, was to receive as few alterations as might be ; 
 and to pass throughout, unless the original called 
 plainly for an amendment. — (2.) The names of the 
 prophets and the inspired writers, with the other 
 names in the text, to be kept so near as may be as 
 they stand recommended at present by customary 
 use. — (3.) The old ecclesiastical words to be re- 
 tained. For instance, the word church not to be 
 translated congregation, &c. — (4.) When any word 
 has several significations, that which has been com- 
 monly used by the most celebrated Fathers should 
 be preferred ; provided it be agreeable to the context, 
 and the analogy of faith. — (5.) As to the chapters, 
 they were to continue in their present division, and 
 not be altered without apparent necessity. — (6.) The 
 margin not to be charged with any notes, ex- 
 cepting for the explanation of those Hebrew or 
 Gi-eek words, which cannot be turned without some 
 circumlocution ; and, thei'cfore, not so proper to be 
 inserted in the text. — (7.) The margin to be furnished 
 with such citations as serve for a reference of one 
 place of Scripture to another. — (8.) Every member 
 of each division to take the chapters assigned for the 
 whole company ; and after having gone through the 
 version or corrections, all the division was to meet, 
 examine their respective performances, and come to 
 a resolution which parts of them should stand. — (9.) 
 When any division had finished a book in this man- 
 ner, they were to transmit it to tlie rest to be further 
 considered. — (10.) If any of the respective divisions 
 should doubt or dissent upon the review of the book 
 transmitted, they were to mark the places, and send 
 back the reasons of their disagreement ; if they 
 happened to differ about the amendments, the dis- 
 pute was to be referred to a general committee, con- 
 sisting of the best distinguished persons drawn out 
 of each division. However, this decision was not 
 to be made till they had gone through the work. — 
 (IL) When any place was remarkably obsciue, let- 
 ters were to be directed by authority to the most 
 learned persons in the uuivei'sities, or country, for 
 their judgment upon the text. — (12.) The directors 
 in each company were to be the deans of Westmin- 
 ster and Chester, and the king's professors in He- 
 brew and Greek in each university. — (13.) The 
 translations of Tyudal, Matthew, Coverdale, White- 
 church, and Geneva, to Ije used when they come 
 closer to the original than the Bishops' Bible. — 
 Lastly, Three or four of the most eminent divines in 
 .".■;ch of the imiversities, though not of the number 
 of the translators, were to be assigned by the vice- 
 chancellor, to consult with other heads of houses for 
 reviewing the whole translation. 
 
 Almost three years were spent in this service, the 
 entering on which was somewhat delayed by Mr. || 
 Edward Lively's death. The whole work being fi 
 finished, and three copies of the whole Bible sent to 
 London, viz. one from CaniL'ridgc, a second from 
 Oxford, and a third from Westminster, a new choice 
 was made of two out of each conijiany, six in all, 
 to review the whole work and revise it, and extract 
 one out of all the three copies, to be committed to 
 the press. They went daily to Stationers' Hall, and 
 in three quarters of a year fulfilled their task. Last 
 of all, Bilson, bishop of Winchester, and Dr. Myles 
 Smith, who, from the beginning, had been very 
 active in the aflfaii-, reviewed the whole work, and 
 prefixed arguments to the seveial books ; and Dr.
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ 183 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 Smith, who, for his hidefatigable pains taken in this 
 work, ^^•as soon after the printing of it deservedly 
 made bishop of Gloucester, was ordered to write a 
 preface to it, the same which is now printed in the 
 folio editions of the Bible. This translation was 
 first printed in J 611, in black letter. The title-page 
 in the Old Testament is a copper-plate, with an em- 
 blematical border, engi-aved by Boel. The title of 
 the New Testament is in a border cut in wood, with 
 heads of the twelve apostles, tents of the tribes, 
 &:c. In 1G12, a quarto edition was printed on Ro- 
 man type, A\itli an engraved title, copied from the 
 folio, by Jasper Isac. 
 
 Marginal Referexces. — In 1664, John Canne, a 
 leader of the English Brownists at Amsterdam, pub- 
 lished a Bible of the present translation in octavo, 
 with many marginal references. Dr, Blayney ex- 
 amined these for his edition of the Oxford Bible, 
 in 1769. 
 
 In 1677, a Bible was printed by Hayes, at Cam- 
 bridge, witii many references added to the first edi- 
 tion ; and in 1678, one was printed at Cambridge 
 with many more references, the labor of Dr. Scatter- 
 good, rector of Wilwick and Elverton, in Northamp- 
 tonshire, and one of the compilers of the Critici 
 Sacri. Several editions of this Bible were printed. — 
 In 1699, a new edition of the royal Bible, in quarto, 
 was printed at London, with a great addition of par- 
 allel texts ; and a new chronological index, by Dr. 
 Tenison, archl)ishop of Canterbury, and Dr. Lloyd, 
 bishop of Worcester. This has been many times 
 reprinted. It is not to be understood that archbishop 
 Tenison and bishoj) Lioyd were concerned in the 
 printing or editing of this Bible, further than furnish- 
 ing the additional parallels and new tables ; having 
 no superintendence of the press ; and this it is but 
 justice to their memories to declare ; for the first 
 edition was so full of typographical errors, that a 
 complaint was exhibited against the printers by the 
 clerg}' of the lower house of convocation. 
 
 The progressive but veiy considerable increase of 
 parallels from the first edition, by diflferent editors, 
 will appear by the following scale. 
 
 Old Tes. 
 First edition, 1611 . . 6588 
 Hayes's edition, 1677 . 14629 
 Dr. Scattergood, 1678 20357 
 Bishops Tenison and 
 
 Llovd, 1699 24352 
 
 Dr. Biavnev, 1769 . . . 4.3318 
 Bishop "Wilson, 1785 . 45190 
 
 Apoc. N. Tes. Total. 
 
 885 1.527 9000 
 
 1409 9857 25895 
 
 1417 11371 a3145 
 
 1419 13717 39488 
 1772 19893 649^3 
 1772 19993 66955 
 
 ]\Ir. Purver's translation of the Bible was published 
 in 1764, in two volumes folio ; he afterwards revised 
 the Avliolo, and made consideraJjle alterations and cor- 
 rections f )r a s(^cond edition, which, however, has not 
 yet been published ; but the MS. remains in the pos- 
 session of his grandson, John Purver Bell. 
 
 Concordances to the Bible — are of two kinds ; con- 
 cordances of words, and concordances of parallel 
 passages. Of the former class, those of Cruden and 
 Buttenvorth arc by far the best — Cruden's is the 
 standard book ; and of the latter, Crutwell and Bag- 
 ster t.ake the precedence. These concordances of 
 parallels, however, have been in a great measure 
 superseded by a later published work, entitled, 
 " Scientia Bililica, containing a copious collection of 
 parallel passages for the illustration of the New Tes- 
 tament, printed in words at length." This valuable 
 work will, it is hoped, be extended to the whole of 
 the Scriptures. It is extremely useful to the biblical 
 
 student. For the Hebrew Bible, Dr. Taylor's con- 
 cordance is the most extensive, but the price being 
 very high, Buxtorf's may be substituted with 
 great advantage. For the Septuagint, the con- 
 cordance of Trommius is unrivalled ; and for the 
 Greek New Testament, Schmidius and Dr. Williams, 
 
 Concluding Remarks. — Thus we have endeav- 
 ored to set before the reader such a history of the 
 Bilile as may answer most of the principal questions 
 usually asked on the subject. The length of the ar- 
 ticle must be justified by its imi)oi-tance. There are 
 many collateral inquiries which might be entered 
 into ; but a hint nuist suflice. Let us admire the 
 providence of God, which first caused the preserva- 
 tion of two copies, the Samaritan and the Jewish ; 
 then translations into several languages, which may 
 be regarded as so many copies, and especially the 
 Greek translation, because we have many helps 
 among our classical studies for acquiring a compe- 
 tent intimacy ^Aith this language. Nor let us with- 
 hold the acknowledgments of our most weighty 
 obligations to our predecessors in Britain ; whose 
 laboi-s have transmitted their names to their religious 
 posterity, and to the religious world at large, with im- 
 mortal honor. To say that their translation is free 
 from faults, w^ould be to speak of them as more than 
 men ; nevertheless, let no one despise their perform- 
 ance, till he has qualified himself to undertake such 
 another, — and then, two pages of translation, at- 
 tempted by himself, Avill make liini fully sensible of 
 the advantages we receive from those who sustained 
 that labor before us. — But after acknowledging that 
 much has been done, we must also admit that much 
 remains to be done ; and we take this opi)oi-tunity of 
 suggesting a few brief hints on the subject, which is 
 confessedly of great importance. 
 
 It is not to be denied, that a ti-anslation of Holy 
 Scripture, if undertaken in the present day, would 
 have many advantages superior to those which at- 
 tended king James's translation. The state of 
 knowledge is much improved, by the labors of 
 learned men, in the succeeding intenal of time ; and, 
 without determining whether religious knowledge 
 be improved or injured, by what variations in opinion 
 have been since introduced, we are certain that geo- 
 graphical knowledge is much more correct, as well 
 as extensive ; that the knowledge of natural histor}' 
 and of natural philosophy, of the customs, manners, 
 modes of thinking, and tinns of expression, among 
 the orientals, and many other requisite subjects, are 
 better understood at present than they were formerly, 
 and these are always of consequence, and occasion- 
 ally of the utmost importance for conveying the 
 true meaning of many passages of Scripture. The 
 principles of general science, also, are more widely 
 diffiised than they formerly were among students 
 professedly attached to divinity ; and ■we may ob- 
 serve, with confidence, that knowledge limited to 
 divinity, or the principles which lead to salvation, 
 though drawn from the Bible itself, however indis- 
 pensable, absolutely indispensable, it; may be, is not 
 sufficient to enable any one to understand, so far as 
 correctly to translate the Bible, which furnishes it ; 
 because, though the chief, and to us every Avay the 
 most important, intention of the Bible is, to make 
 men wise to salvation, yet there are in it, and con- 
 necned with it, so many collateral circumstances, so 
 many incidents, observations, and notices of various 
 kinds, that if these be neglected, or ill-performed, or 
 misunderstood, and consequently misrepresented, 
 not only is Scripture injured by such mistakes, but
 
 BIBLE 
 
 [ 184 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 a stumbling-block is put in the way of those more 
 enlightened I'eaders, who, when they observe these 
 errors, may be too apt, on their account, to reject 
 the whole ^vork in which they are found. By de- 
 tecting blemishes, which need little beyond bare in- 
 spection to be detected, they may conceive that con- 
 tempt for the sacred WTitings, whicli, under a more 
 favorable and correct version, never would have en- 
 tered their minds. We ought also to remai-k, that 
 our language has undergone some changes in the 
 course of two centuries, by which it has varied from 
 being precisely the same as when our translators 
 A^rote. Many words which Ave re then polite and 
 elegant, are now vulgar, to say the least ; and some, 
 perhaps, wliich were perfectly correct or innocent 
 at the period when those learned men employed 
 them, are now considered as gross, if not indelicate. 
 Other words also which were, more or less, equivo- 
 cal or ambiguous in the days of James, are now set- 
 tled to a decisive and certain meaning ; if that mean- 
 ing be what our translators had in view, no harm en- 
 sues ; but if it be contrary to their intention, the 
 fault lies not in the original translators, but in the 
 later application of the language. And this is more 
 noticeable still, in ^Aords which have changed their 
 import, (as some have,) and are now used in senses 
 contrary to what our forefathers annexed to them. 
 Nor can we refrain from complaining also of the 
 negligent manner in which the press has been con- 
 ducted in all our public editions; what should be 
 printed in poetry is set as prose ; what should be 
 marked as a quotation, or a speech, reads like com- 
 mon narration ; and if the nature of the original 
 language allowed of sudden and rapid transitions 
 without falsification or confusion, (which perhaps 
 was not so frequent as some have supposed,) yet, in 
 a translation, these are very often causes of gi"eat 
 apparent perplexity. And this perplexity is occa- 
 sionally increased by improper divisions of chapters 
 and verses, which but too often separate immediate 
 coimection. It is nuich more easy to notice these 
 and other obstacles to perfection, in our ])ublic ver- 
 sion, than it is to prevent them, or to jjrovide against 
 them in future translations. Whether the difficulty 
 of removing them entirely be sufficient to justify the 
 suspension of every attempt to correct them, we do 
 not determine. Undoubtedly, the present version is 
 sufficient to all ])urposes of piety ; and our observa- 
 tions rather refer to the finishing of the already ex- 
 tant superstructure, than to laying new foimdations 
 for such an edifice ; or rather, perhaps, to the re- 
 moval of some Gothic peculiarities, which disfigure 
 the appearance of the edifice, and which at least are 
 unpleasant to beholders, although they be not danger- 
 ous to the stability of the building. 
 
 We ought not to pass over without ap[)lause the 
 labors of those learned men, who, by translating 
 portions of Scripture, have greatly facilitated the un- 
 dertaking of a version entirely new and complete, 
 whenever that shall be thought proper to be done. 
 In fact, it seems to be one previous condition neces- 
 sary to the success of so extensive a design, that 
 every part of the sacred voluine shall have been 
 critically examined, carefully rendered, and its true 
 meaning given by individual study, i)efore a general 
 revision of the whole should be undertaken and 
 adopted; because, such versions having been sub- 
 mitted to the ojiinion of capable judges long before 
 the text is definitively settled, and having been sub- 
 ject to the investigation and correction of numerous 
 readei-s among the learned, their merits are more 
 
 likely to be fairly appreciated, and to be established 
 or rejected, than by a smaller number of judges, 
 though such may be very competent ; or on the spur 
 of an occasion, when the impatience of the religious 
 world may be unfavorable to sedate deliberation. 
 
 We have thrown out these hints, byway of show- 
 ing the magnitude of the subject ; far from wishing 
 to discourage even the luuiiblest endeavors which 
 may have the illustration of Scripture for their ob- 
 ject. On the contrary, we rejoice when any exer- 
 tions are made to accomplish that desirable purpose : 
 and though all may not be eminently successful, yet, 
 as each may contain something valuable, (according 
 to the nature and course of those remarks which 
 arise from the habits of life of the author, and his 
 opportunities of personal information,) and may con- 
 sequently prove advantageous to the whole mass, 
 and to the general body of biblical learning, we are 
 tempted to accommodate the words of Moses, 
 " Would God that all the Lord's people were proph- 
 ets !" A very correct and extensive acquaintance 
 with the English language itself, is a quahty by no 
 means to be omitted in a translator ; we wish this 
 were strictly attended to, as then the choice of words, 
 among many which appear synonymous, or which 
 seem equally to express the imj)ort of the original, 
 would be not only more copious, but more significant, 
 more harmonious, and more dignified. It is for 
 want of this qualification, perhaps, rather than from 
 actual incompetence for translation, arising from 
 ignorance of the original languages, that many 
 laborious effiarts appear more faulty than they 
 really are. 
 
 It gives us pleasure to notice the progress made 
 in biblical learning since these remarks were sub- 
 mitted to the public, in the former editions of this 
 work. Several learned men have engaged in new 
 translations of the whole, or parts, of the Sacred 
 Scriptures. Much pains has been taken to obtain a 
 correct copy of the public version ; an account of 
 which the reader will not be displeased to see in 
 this place ; and it will conclude the present article. 
 
 Of the various editions of king James's version, 
 that which was published at Oxford in 1769, under 
 the care of Dr. Blayncy, has been considered as the 
 standard edition. This, however, now yields the 
 palm of accuracy to the very beautit\d and correct 
 edition published by Messrs. Eyre and Strahan, his 
 majesty's printers, but printed by Mr. Wcodfall, in 
 1806, and again in 1812. In collating the edition of 
 1806 with Dr. Blayney's, not fewer than one hun- 
 dred and sixteen errors were discovered, and one of 
 these was an omission of several words ; after thp 
 expression "no more" in Rev. xviii. 22. the words 
 "at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever 
 craft lie be, shall be found any more," being omitted. 
 Only one erratum, we believe, has been discovered 
 in the edition of 1806. The copy printed from was 
 the current Cambridge edition, with which Mr. 
 Woodfall's edition agi'ces page for page. It was 
 aftenvards read twice i)y the Oxford impression then 
 in use ; and the proofs were transmitted to the Rev. 
 Lancelot Sharpc, bj' whom they were read by Dr. 
 Blayney's 4to. edition of 1769. After the proofs re- 
 turned by 3Ir. Sharpe for press had been corrected, 
 the forms, or sheets of type, were placed upon the 
 press at which they were to b(! printed, and another 
 proof was taken. This was read by Mr. Woodfall's 
 superintendent, and afterwards by Mr. Woodfall 
 himself, with Dr. Blayney's edition, and any errors 
 that had previously escaped, were corrected ; the
 
 BIN 
 
 [ 185 ] 
 
 BIR 
 
 forms not having been removed from the press after 
 the last proofs had been taken off. By this pre- 
 caution they avoided the danger of errors (a danger 
 of very frequent occurrence, and of no small mag- 
 nitude) arising from the removal of the forms from 
 the proof press to the presses on which the sheets 
 are finally worked off. Of this edition, which was 
 ready for publication in 1806, five hundred copies 
 were printed on imperial 4to. two hundred on royal 
 4to. and three thousand on medium 4to. size. In the 
 course of printing this edition from the Cambridge 
 copy, a niunber of very gross errors were discovered 
 in the latter ; and the errors (since corrected) in the 
 common Oxford edition above noticed, were not so 
 few as 1200. The London edition of 1806 being 
 exhausted, a new unpression was put to press in 
 1810, and was completed, with equal beauty and 
 accuracy, in 1812 ; but this also is now out of 
 print. 
 
 In the year 1804, the British and Foreign Bible 
 Societ)" was formed for the purpose of circulating 
 the Holy Scriptures, without note or comment, not 
 only throughout the British dominions, but also, ac- 
 cording to its ability, in other countries, whether 
 Christian, Mahometan, or pagan. The success which 
 has attended this glorious object has by far exceeded 
 the most sanguine expectations of its founders and 
 supporters. " Their voice has gone out through all 
 the earth, and their woYds to the end of the world." 
 During the twenty-one years this society has been 
 established, it has expended upwards of one million 
 two hundred and sixty thousand pounds ; has print- 
 ed, or assisted in printing, the Scriptures in 140 
 languages, in fifty-five of which they had never be- 
 fore been printed ; and has issued upwards of four 
 milUons five hundred thousand copies of the Sacred 
 Writings ! Other similar associations have followed 
 nobly this glorious example ; and of these none has 
 labored with more effect than the American Bible 
 Society. 
 
 BIGTHAN, an officer belonging to Ahasuerus, 
 who, having conspired against the king, was discov- 
 ered by Mordecai, Esth. ii. 21. 
 
 BILDAD, the Shuhite, and one of Job's friends, 
 was descended from Shuah, son of Abraham and 
 Keturah, whose family hved in Arabia Deserta. 
 
 BILEAM, a city of Manasseh, on the east of Jor- 
 dan ; given to the Levites of Kohath's family, 1 
 Chron. vi. 70. Elsewhere called Ibleam, Josh. xvii. 
 11 ; Judg. i. 27 ; 2 Kings ix. 27. 
 
 I. BILHAH, Rachel's handmaid, given by her to 
 her husband Jacob, that through her means she might 
 have children. Billiah had Dan and Naphtali. See 
 Adoption. 
 
 II. BILHAH, a city of Simeon, see Baxa. 
 BIND, TO, AND LOOSE, is a figurative expression 
 
 derived from carrying burdens ; that is, confirming 
 or removing a burden of the mind. It is also taken 
 for condemning or absolving : (Matt. xvi. 19.) " I 
 will give unto you the key of the kingdom of heaven, 
 and whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be 
 bound in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on 
 earth, shall be loosed in heaven." Binding and 
 loosing, in the language of the Jews, expressed per- 
 mitting, or forbidding, or judicially declaring any 
 thing to be permitted, or forbidden. In the promo- 
 tion of their doctors, they put a key into their hands, 
 with these words : " Receive the power of binding 
 and loosing;" whence the allusion, "Ye have taken 
 away the key of knowledge," Luke xi. 52. " I am 
 not come to unloose the law, but to complete it," says 
 24 
 
 our Saviour, Matt. v. 17. that is, as in our translation, 
 " not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it," The re- 
 ligion of Jesus has perfected the law of Moses, dis- 
 covered its true spirit, unfolded its secret meanings, 
 and accomplished all its types and figures. If it 
 have also abrogated some of its ceremonial institu- 
 tions, it is only for the purpose of accommodating 
 mankind at large, and causing the essential princi- 
 ples of it to be better observed. " To bind the law 
 upon one's hand for a sign ;" to " wear it like a 
 bracelet on one's arm," (Deut. vi. 8.) was meant figu- 
 ratively to imply an intimate acquaintance witli its 
 precepts ; but the Jews took it literally, and bound 
 parts of the law about their wrists. (See Phylac- 
 teries.) In Isaiah viii. 16, "Bind up the testimony, 
 seal the law," is to be understood thus, " Seal what 
 thou hast been writing, bind it about with thread or 
 riband, and set thy seal upon it ; — for closure and 
 confirmation of its contents ; to witness thy confi- 
 dence in its veracity, and thy expectation of com- 
 pletion." It is said that Daniel was the most learned 
 of the Magi, interpreters of dreams, &c. " for show- 
 ing (explaining) hard sentences, and dissolving of 
 doubts ;" (Heb. in'^rp Niirci, untying of knots ;) also, 
 chap. V. 16. where " loosing" things which were 
 bound is used to express the explanation of things 
 concealed. See Daniel. 
 
 BIRD, or Fowl. It has been very uselessly dis- 
 puted, whether birds came originally out of the earth, 
 or out of the water ; and whether, as to the use of 
 them on fast-days, they may be placed among fishes ; 
 or whether they are really fiesh-meat as much 
 as quadriqieds. Moses, speaking of the creation of 
 birds, says, (Gen. i. 20.) "Let the waters produce 
 living fishes, and fowls upon the earth, under the 
 firmament of heaven ;" but the Hebrew runs thus ; 
 " Let the waters produce creeping things that have 
 fife, and let the birds fly over the earth ;" and chap, 
 ii. 19. intimates that birds are from the earth : " Out 
 of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of 
 the field, and every fowl of the air." 
 
 Birds are classed into clean or unclean, see Lev. 
 xi. 1.3—24. and Deut. xiv. 11, &c. 
 
 From the legislator who had issued the strictest 
 injunctions on the subject of clean and unclean 
 beasts, we might naturally expect directions equally 
 strict respecting birds, a class no less distinguished 
 among themselves, by their qualities, and their modes 
 of life. But here his characteristics of animals de- 
 rived from the feet (see Animals) failed; nor was it 
 easy to fix on marks which should, in every instance, 
 guide the learned and the unlearned, the country rus- 
 tic and the respectable citizen. Hence we meet in 
 the Mosaic institutes with no reference to conforma- 
 tion, as the means of distinguishing birds into clean 
 or unclean, lawful or imlawful ; but a hst of excep- 
 tions forms the sacred directory, and ceilain kinds 
 are forbidden, without a word concerning those 
 which are allowed. 
 
 It will be observed, that the number of species of 
 birds is greater than that of beasts ; that the latter 
 are more fixed to places, more resident, more home- 
 stead ; whereas birds, possessing greater powers of 
 extensive migration, and many of them being, in 
 fact, temporary visitants, in their passage to various 
 distances, according to the seasons, they might give 
 rise to many difficulties on tlieir lawfulness as food. 
 Sec. which without fixed regulations would become 
 not a little perplexing. Birds, also, are less confined 
 in their mode of life than beasts are ; some are at- 
 tached to the land, and even to the desert ; others
 
 BIRD 
 
 [ 186 
 
 BIRD 
 
 take to the water naturally, and speud their lives, 
 mostly, on that element ; while not a few are free to 
 the eujoj^meut of both laud and water, and derive 
 their sustenance from either, as accident or inclina- 
 tion leads them. The sacred legislator was not un- 
 acquainted with these diversities, and he has, virtu- 
 ally, rendered them subsenient to his leading inten- 
 tions. In effect, it may be taken as certain, that 
 birds which live on grain are not prohibited; and 
 these, as is well known, comprise the species which 
 have been domesticated by mankind ; the wilder 
 game are lawful, or not, according to the nature of 
 their food. Birds of prey, whetlier they subsist on 
 lesser fowls, or on animals, or on reptiles, or on any 
 other creature having life, or havuig had life, are de- 
 cidedly rejected ; this includes all with crooked 
 beaks and strong talons ; it takes in also those which 
 are now known under the appellation of loaders ; 
 birds of the marshes, or the shores, and many of 
 the open sea, as well as of lakes and rivers. The 
 same principle, of admitting no second digestion of 
 flesh, which had its influence in distinguishing ani- 
 mals, has its influence also here ; though we caimot 
 trace it in all cases, and, indeed, in some cases, the 
 exception seems to have been occasioned by less ob- 
 vious causes. 
 
 The reader Avill not be surprised, if, under these 
 circumstances, considerable difficulty should be 
 found in identifying the birds enumerated in the 
 Mosaic hst of exceptions ; they have occasioned no 
 small diversity of opinion among the learned ; and 
 no one who is competently acquainted with the sub- 
 ject, will pi-onounce, without hesitation, on the spe- 
 cies under consideration, though his opinion may in- 
 cline to this or the other, and he may reckon gene- 
 ral probabilities in his favor. Feeling the weight of 
 these difficuhies, we submit the following remarks 
 in elucidation of the prohibitory hst inserted in Le- 
 viticus xi. 13, et seq. 
 
 The Eagle. — This bird is well known, as taking 
 a kind of pre-eminence among birds of prey. 
 There is no difliculty in determining the genus in- 
 tended. 
 
 The OssiFRAGE. — Interpreters are not agreed on 
 this bird ; some read vulture, others the black eagle, 
 others the falcon ; the name Peres, by which it is 
 called in the Hebrew, denotes to crush, to break; and 
 with this agrees our version, which implies "tiie 
 bone-l)reaker." This name is given to a kind of 
 eagle, from its habit of breaking the bones of its 
 prey, after it has eaten the flesh ; some say also, that 
 he swallows the bones thus broken. Onkelos uses 
 a Avord which signifies naked, and leads to the vxd- 
 ture ; indeed, if we take the classes of birds in natu- 
 ral order, in the passage before us, the vulture should 
 follow the eagle as unclean. The Septuagint and 
 Vulgate also render vulture; and so do Munstcr, 
 Schindler, and the Zurich versions. 
 
 The OspREY is most probably the Halietus, or sea- 
 eagle ; or perhaps the black eagle, which, though 
 among the smallest of its tribe, is among the strongest. 
 So Homer speaks, (II. xxi. verso 252.) "Ilavhig the 
 rapidity of a black eagle, {ui'.ur<„.) tliat bird of 
 I)rey which is at the same time the strotigest and the 
 .swiftest of birds." If this hint bn admissible, then 
 the vulture, distinguished by ils bald head and neck, 
 is excluded, on one side ; wliiie the class of e:i"-les 
 wliich have a superfluity of featliers on the throat 
 and head, are exchided on the other side. Of iliese 
 Bruce offers two, tlie ^/'isser JVcrk, which has a kiud 
 of beard of feathers under his chin ; and the jVisser 
 
 Tokoor, which has a' long crest, or tuft, on the back 
 of his head. 
 
 The Vulture. — This word is written with ^, 
 Daali, (hnt) in Lev. but in Deut. xiv. with •\, Raah, 
 (hn-i) : if the first of these be correct, it leads us, not 
 to the vidture, but to the hawk ; as the import of it is 
 the sivift or rapid ; and this is countenanced by the 
 Samorltan version, wliich reads Daithah. This 
 tends much to support the opinion, that the second 
 eagle of the list is the vulture ; since the vulture 
 could hardly be omitted ; and its station among its 
 associates should seem to be earlier than this. As 
 modern naturalists, this is the proper place where 
 we should expect to find the hawk ; and the order 
 is so natural, that little seems to be risked in assuming 
 it for the days of Moses ; for, though we are well 
 aware that the natiu-al history of that ancient writer 
 nuist ziot be judged by the principles of the Linnsean 
 system ; yet where nature has appointed an ordei-, as 
 we may safely say, in this instance, what should for- 
 bid the earliest naturalists from observing it ? In 
 favor of the hawk are Jerome, the Arabic vei-sions, 
 Munster, Castaho, Junius, Diodati, Buxtorf, Schind- 
 ler, and others. 
 
 The Kite follows the hawk with propriety. As 
 there are several kinds of these birds, no doubt but 
 all their classes were intentionally included under 
 one name that was best known. Whoever should 
 have eaten one species of eagle, or of hawk, because 
 another species was named in the text, would have 
 found the consequence of his transgression in the 
 punishment of his prevarication. 
 
 Every Raven after his kind. — This genus no doubt 
 includes the crow, the pie, &c. and therefore, com- 
 ing after the hawk and kite, closes this list of birds 
 of jirey with great propriety. 
 
 It will be observed that the foregouig are birds of 
 wing, high-flyers, such as roam to great distances, 
 and prey wherever they can. Sir. Bruce describes 
 multitudes of birds as following the armies in Abys- 
 sinia ; and it is likely that among them would be 
 found most or all of those here enumerated. Per- 
 haps some are not only birds of prey, biU feed on 
 human carcasses ; which wovdd be a further cause of 
 their pollution and prohibition. 
 
 We are now directed to a very different class of 
 birds, Avliich commences with — the Owl, — say our 
 translators ; but this is clearly a mistake ; the Avord 
 describes " the daughter of greediness,^'' i. e. the Os- 
 trich. Is it not astonishing tliat this bird, whatever 
 it be, sliould have been described as, (1.) the ostrich, 
 by the liXX ; (2.) the Sirenes, apj)arently creatures 
 of fancy ; (3.) the owl ; and (4.) the nightingale ? — 
 What have these birds in common, that can justify 
 such variations? The three Chaldce versions, On- 
 kelos, Jonathan, and the Jerusalem paraphrase, read 
 JVaamah, which is the Arabic name for the ostrich ; 
 jMaimonides and the Talnuid agree with them. 
 
 The Night Hawk. — Tliat a voracious bird is in- 
 tended seems clear from the import of its name, 
 which signifies violence. Bochart supposes it to be 
 the male ostrich, and then the ])receding word must 
 be restricted to the female ostrich. The LXX and 
 Vulgate not im|)roperIy make it the Night Owl, 
 {Slrix Orientalis,) which Hassciquist thus describes: 
 " It is of the size of the common owl, and lodges in 
 the large buildings or ruins of I'^-gypt and Syria, 
 and sometimes even in the dwelling-houses. The 
 Arabs settled in Egypt call it .Massasu, and the Syr- 
 ians, Banv. It is extremely voracious in Syria ; to 
 such a degree, that if great care is not taken to shut
 
 BIRD 
 
 187 
 
 BIRD 
 
 the windows at the coming on of night, he enters 
 the houses and kills the children ; the women, there- 
 fore, are very mucii afraid of him." 
 
 Tlie Cuckoo. — The strength of the versions is in 
 favor of the sea-metc ; the original name may de- 
 note a shnJa; lean liird ; but the sea-meiv, as a water- 
 bird, seems to be very ill placed in this part of the 
 list. " The Rhaad, or Sqf-Saf, is a granivorous and 
 greetmous bird, which wanteth the hinder toe. There 
 are two species of it ; the smaller whereof is of the 
 size of an ordinary pullet, but the larger is near as 
 big as the Hoobaara, differing also from the lesser in 
 having a l)lack head, with a tuft of dark blue feathers 
 unniediately l)elow it. The belly of them both is 
 white, the back ami the wings of a buff color, spot- 
 ted with iirown ; wliilst the tail is lighter, marked all 
 along Avith bltick transverse streaks. The beak and 
 the legs are stronger than in the partridge kind. 
 Rhaad, which denotes thunder, in the language of this 
 country, is supposed to be a name that hath been 
 given to this bird from the noise it maketh in spring- 
 ing from the ground ; as Saf-Saf, the other name, 
 verj'' naturally expresses the beating of the air, when 
 it got upon the wing ;" — "And is not unlike in name 
 to the Sahaph, or Sah-haf, which, in liev. xi. 16, we 
 translate Clckow." (Shaw's Travels, p. 252. fol. 
 edit. Note.) Dr. Geddes renders, "the Horn-Owl ;" 
 but is this distinct enough from the foregoing ? 
 
 The Hawk, after his kind. — This Vjird seems to be 
 strangely placed here ; we had kites of all sorts in 
 the former lists ; (verse 14.) now, after the ostrich, 
 and the owl, birds of no flight comparatively, we 
 have the haivks, a genus much more likely to have 
 been included before, following the eagles and vul- 
 tures. The ibis, a bird so common in Egj-^it, coidd 
 hardly be omitted in the list ; or, can it be the plov- 
 er ? Hasselquist mentions the plover of Egypt, 
 and the three-toed plover. We should seem to want 
 a A\ild bird. If Mr. Bruce's Abou Hcmnes (vol. v. p. 
 172.) be, as he supposes, the ancient Ibis of Egypt, 
 perhaps it still retains the Hebrew name JVetz, for 
 Abou is merely the Arabic word for father, and Han- 
 7ies resembles the Hebrew appellation here used, q. 
 han-J\''etz. He begins his account of the Abou 
 Hannes by saying, "The ancient and true name of 
 this bird seems to be lost ; the present is fancifidly 
 given to it," &:c. Perhaps it is rather disguised 
 than lost ; but this is conjecture, and nothing more. 
 This bird is not now foimd in Egypt, though an- 
 ciently it was worshipped there, and was very nume- 
 rous ; it is therefore not the ibis of Hasselquist. The 
 Arabic title, father, is probably a vestige of the ancient 
 idolatry, of wliich this bird was the object. [But all 
 the ancient versions favor the hawk. R. 
 
 The Little Owl. — Such is the translation of the 
 LXX, Aquila, Theodotion, and Jerome ; but why 
 should the owl be introduced here ? he was named 
 in the former verse. Our translators seem to have 
 thought the owl a convenient bird, as we have three 
 owls in two verses. Dr. Geddes thinks this bird is 
 the cormorant, and that the following is the sea-s^ull ; 
 but we incline to transpose them. It begins tht; list 
 of water-birds, whatever bird it be. Bochart sup- 
 poses it to be the pelican. 
 
 The Cormorant. — Dr. Geddes renders, the "sea- 
 gull ;" and observes, " That this is a pluns;ins: bird, I 
 have little doubt. Some modern critics think it is 
 the Pelican Bassanus of Linnaeus. The Chaldee 
 and Syriac versions, fsh-catcher, favor this rendering ; 
 nor less the Greek Cataractes, which, according to 
 Aristotle, draws for its food fishes from the bottom 
 
 of the sea." This seems to be a clear description of 
 the cormorant, which certainly is one of the best of 
 plungers ; and lives wholly on fish ; moreover, this 
 bird in some parts of Asia is used as fish-catcher for 
 its master, who, by putting a collar round its neck, 
 prevents it from swallowing the fish it has caught, 
 which the bird, therefore, brings to the boat, and is 
 afterwards fed with a part of its prey. To this also 
 agrees the description of Aristotle. Suidas says, 
 "the Cataractes is a kind of sea bird;" Aristotle 
 says, " smaller than a hawk." Appian (in Ixeuticis) 
 describes the Cataractes exactly according to the 
 manner of the Gannet, or Soland goose, on the coast 
 of Scotland. At any rate the Hebrew legislator in- 
 tended a water-bird ; and therefore the impropriety 
 of rendering the preceding and following bird "owl" 
 is evident. 
 
 The Great Owl. — This is strangely placed, after 
 the little owl, and among water-birds. The LXX 
 render Ibis ; and the place seems to be very proper 
 for the Ibis ; which yet is not likely to be the ancient 
 Ibis of Egypt, but that which in later ages received 
 the name. The followng is Hasselquist's account 
 of this bird : — "The Ardea Ibis is about the .'^ize of a 
 raven-hen. It is found in Lower Egypt, especially 
 in places not ovei-flowed by the Nile; and also in 
 those from which the water is withdra^\'n. He feeds 
 on insects and small frogs, which abound in Egypt, 
 both before and after the inundation of the Nile ; in 
 which he is of great service to the country. They 
 assemble morning and evening, especially in the 
 gardens^, iu such gi-eat numbers, that the palm-trees 
 are covered with them. When he reposes himself, 
 he sits upright, so as to cover his feet Avith his tail, 
 and to straighten his neck and breast." As a bird of 
 this character and description suits the situation as- 
 signed him here, it is much preferable, at any rate, 
 to "the great owl." [But the Chaldee and Syriac 
 versions make it the common "owl," in Avhich they 
 are followed by Bochart. In Isaiah xxxiv. 11, also, 
 this bird is mentioned with the raven, as inhabiting 
 a desert. R. 
 
 The Swan. — This bird, in Hebrew Tinshemeth, is 
 extremely doiditful ; the LXX render Porphynon, or 
 purple hen, which is a water-bird, not imlike in form 
 to those which have preceded it. His name is de- 
 rived from his general color. Dr. Geddes observes, 
 that " the root signifies to breathe out, to respire. If 
 etymology were our guide, it would point to a well 
 known quality in the swan, that of being able to 
 respire a long time with his bill and neck under 
 water, and even plunged in the mud." The conjec- 
 ture of Michaelis may not l)e improbable, " that it is 
 the goose, which every one knows is remarkable for 
 its manner of breatlmig out, or hissing, when pro- 
 voked ; or even when uiuler a small degree of ap- 
 prehension, Anthout being provoked. Michaelis 
 says, (p. 221.) "What makes me conjecture this is, 
 that the same Chaldee interpreters, who, in Leviti- 
 cus, render Obija, do not employ this word in Deut- 
 eronomy, but substitute 'the ivhite A'aA:,' which, ac- 
 cording to Buxtorf, denotes the goose." Perhaps 
 Egypt has birds of the wild-goose kind ; one of 
 which is here alluded to. Norden (vol. ii. p. 36.) 
 mentions "a goose of the Nile, whose plumage was 
 extremely beautiful. It was of an exquisite aro- 
 matic taste, smelled of ginger, and had a great deal 
 of flavor." Can a bird of this kind be the Hebrew 
 Tinshemeth ? 
 
 The Pelican; in Hebrew Kaat, iu the eastern 
 versions, Kik^ Kok, or Kak. As the preceding bird
 
 BIRD 
 
 [ 188 
 
 BIRD 
 
 was called the white Kak, it seems to suppose a simi- 
 larity between that and this, through it infers a differ- 
 ence of color. The Talmud describes it as a water- 
 bird, with a long neck ; and it also inhabits deserts, 
 Isa. xxxiv. 11 ; Zeph. ii. 14; Ps. cii. 6. The LXX 
 read Palecas, and the Vulgate, Orwcrotalus ; on the 
 whole this bird is pretty well determined. 
 
 The Gier-Eagle. — No eagle is a water-bird, and 
 for this reason, were there no other, in this list of 
 water-birds, we ought not to expect an eagle. Most 
 interpreters, however, are willing to render the He- 
 brew Racham by that kind of Egyptian vulture 
 which is now caUed Rachami, and is abundant in 
 the streets of Cairo, Viiltur percnopterus. The 
 description which Hasselquist gives of this bird is 
 horrible ; but, especially, it does not agree with a 
 ivater-bird, which is here wanted : " It is hardly ever 
 seen in the fields, or around the lakes ; it is an im- 
 pure bird, and a carrion-eater." Dr. Geddes says, 
 " It is not easy to conceive how this bird came by 
 its name, Racham." By tracing it, however, we may 
 perhaps advance some way toAvard ascertaining the 
 bird. Jonathan and the Syrian interpreter translate, 
 Serakreka ; Onkelos, Jerakreka ; the Tahnud, Sera- 
 krak. Dr. Shaw mentions " the Shaga-rag, of the 
 bigness and shape of a jay, though with a smaller 
 bill, and shorter legs. The back is brownish ; the 
 head, neck, and belly of light green ; and upon the 
 wings and tail there are several spots or rings of a 
 deep blue. It makes a squalling noise ; and builds 
 in the banks of the SliellifF, Booberak, and other 
 rivers." This description approaches that of the 
 king-Jisher, or Alcyone ; the name is sufficiently co- 
 incident with those of the versions ; and if the Al- 
 cyone may represent the Racham, we see at once that 
 it is a water-bird ; and the stories of this bird's ten- 
 der affection unite in the character of the Racham. 
 " The king-lisher frequents the banks of rivers, and 
 feeds on fish. To compare small things with great, 
 it takes its prey after the manner of the osprey, 
 l)alancing itself at a certain distance over the water for 
 a considerable space, then, darting below the surface, 
 brings the prey up in its feet. It inakes its nest in 
 holes in the sides of the cliffs. The nest is very 
 foetid, by reason of the remains of fish brought to 
 feed the young." (Pennant's British Zoology, vol. 
 ii. p. 247.) See Ovid, (Metam. lib. xi.) for the ten- 
 derness of the Alcyone. Also Thcoc. Idyll, vii. 57. 
 Virg. Georg. iii. 338. Silius Ital. lib. xiv. 275. There 
 are many kinds of Alcyoncs ; that some are knoAvu 
 in Egypt we are informed by Hasselquist, who gives 
 this account of them : ^^Alcedo Rudis frequents the 
 banks of the Nile, and takes the fish by thrusting his 
 long bill into the water like the gull. Alcedo .^gyp- 
 tica is found in Lower Egypt, makes his nest on the 
 date-trees, and the sycamores, which grow around 
 Cairo. Feeds on frogs, insects, and fish which it 
 finds in the fields. Its voice resembles that of the 
 raven." Without determining on the probability of 
 this conjecture, wc may be sure that the Rachami of 
 Cairo is not the Racham of Moses ; as a bird so well 
 known, and hardly capable of being lost, would cer- 
 tainly have i)een acquiesced in liy commentators, 
 were it the bird designed, notwithstanding the re- 
 marks of Bruce, vol. v. I(i3, &c. 
 
 The Stork. — It is pretty well agreed that the He- 
 brew Chasidah is either the stork or the heron ; the 
 stork is by nuich the more probable ; and indeed, as 
 the heron is not a bird of passage, which the stork is 
 well known to be, we may acquiesce in this bird as 
 the Chasidah. 
 
 The Heron. — This bird should rather be included 
 among the storks, as it resembles them closely. As 
 commentators cu-e quite at a loss on this subject, in- 
 somuch that Dr. Geddes retains the original word, 
 " Anaphas of every kind," we shall be excused if 
 we extract from Dr. Shaw the description of a bird 
 which answers to what the passage and order re- 
 quire. It is probable some bird very near akin to 
 this was the reference of the sacred writer. " The 
 Boo-onk, or long-neck, is of the bittern kind, some- 
 what less than the lapwing. The neck, the breast, 
 and the belly are of a light yellow ; but the back 
 and upper part (pf the wings are of a jet black. The 
 tail is short ; the feathers of the neck are long, and 
 streaked with white, or a light yellow. The bill, 
 which is three inches long, is green, in fashion like 
 the stork's ; and the legs, which are short and slen- 
 der, are of the same color. In walking and search- 
 ing for food, it throweth out its neck seven or eight 
 inches ; whence the Arabs call it Boo-onk, the long- 
 neck, or, the father of the neck." This is reckoned 
 by the doctor among water-birds ; it seems to be a 
 smaller bird, but allied in form and manners to the 
 kinds under prohibition. 
 
 The Lapwing, Hoopoe, or Ui'UPa, is generally 
 considered as the bird designed by the original word 
 Dukiphath, so called from its crest. It seems, that 
 the Egyptians call the hoopoe, Kukupha, and the 
 Syrians, Kikupha ; both are near enough to the He- 
 brew Dukiphath ; which, thei'efore, we conclude, is 
 the hoopoe. 
 
 The Bat. — This rendering has the authority of 
 most versions and commentators. 
 
 The number of birds prohibited by Moses is 
 twenty, which he ranges most systematically. 
 Those which we have tolerable authority to believe 
 are correctly rendered, are distinguished by small 
 capitals. 
 
 Birds of the Air. 
 
 Eng. Trans. 
 
 Eagle 
 
 Ossifrage, 
 
 Osprey 
 
 Vulture 
 
 Kite 
 
 Raven 
 
 Owl 
 
 Night Hawk 
 
 Cuckoo 
 
 Hawk 
 
 Little Owl 
 
 Cormorant 
 
 Great Owl 
 
 Swan 
 
 PeUcan 
 
 Gier-Eagle 
 
 Stork 
 
 Heron 
 
 Lapwing 
 
 Birds of the Land. 
 
 Birds of the Water. 
 
 Probable Species. 
 Eagle. 
 Vulture. 
 Black Eagle. 
 Hawk. 
 Kite. 
 Raven. 
 
 Ostrich. 
 Night Owl. 
 Saf-Saf. 
 Ancient Ibis. 
 
 Sea-Gull. 
 Cormorant. 
 Ibis Ardea. 
 Wild Goose. 
 Pelican. 
 Alcyone. 
 Stork. 
 Long Neck. 
 Hoopoe. 
 
 Bat Bat. 
 
 For further description see the respective articles.
 
 BIRD 
 
 [ 189 ] 
 
 BIR 
 
 Moses, to inculcate humanity ou the IsraeUtes, or- 
 ders, if they find a bird's nest, not to take the dam 
 with the young, but to suffer the old one to fly away, 
 and to take the young only. 
 
 Birds were offered in sacrifice on many occasions : 
 in the sacrifices for sin, he who had not a lamb, or a 
 kid, (Lev. v. 7, 8.) "might offer two turtles, or two 
 young pigeons, one for a sin-offeruig, the other for 
 a burnt-offering." Moses relates at length the man- 
 ner of the sacrifice of fowls in Lev. i. 14, 15, 16. 
 Some interpreters insist, that the head of the bird 
 was pulled off; others, that there was only an open- 
 ing made with the larger finger-nails, between the 
 head and the tlu'oat, without separating entirely the 
 head from the body. The text does not intimate 
 what was done with the head, if it were separated. 
 It is observed, that when Abraham offered birds 
 (Gen. XV. 10.) for a burnt-offering, he did not divide 
 them, but placed them entire ou the other victims. 
 In other places, whei'e Moses speaks of the sacrifice 
 of birds, he does not command the head to be pluck- 
 ed off. (See Lev. v. 7, 8.) When a man who had 
 been smitten with a leprosy was healed, he came to 
 the entrance of the camp of Israel, and the priest 
 went out to inspect him, whether he were entirely 
 cured. Lev. xiv. 5, 6. After this inspection, the lep- 
 rous person came to the door of the tabernacle, and 
 offered two living sparrows, or two pure birds, those 
 of which it was lawful to eat. He made a wisp with 
 branches of cedar and hyssop, tied together with a 
 thread, or scarlet riband ; and after he had filled an 
 earthen pot with running water, that the blood of 
 the bird might be mingled with it, the priest, dipping 
 the bunch of hyssop and cedar into the water, 
 sprinkled with it the leper who was healed ; after 
 which, he set the living bird at liberty. 
 
 In Palestine, dead bodies were sometimes left ex- 
 posed to birds of prey, as appears from Scripture ; 
 but, generally, they were buried in the evening. — 
 The ancients hunted birds ; Baruch (iii. 17.) speak- 
 ing of the kings of Babylon, says, " They had their 
 pastime with the fowls of the air." Daniel tells 
 Nebuchadnezzar, that " God had made the fowls of 
 the air subject to him ;" (Dan. ii. 38.) very much as 
 the art of hawking was formerly in great repute in 
 Britain, as it continues to be in some parts abroad. 
 
 The prophets speak often of birds of passage, of 
 the swallow, and of the stork, that return to their 
 habitation. In allusion to this circumstance, God 
 says that he will recall his captive people lik» a bird 
 from a far country. The Lord, speaking of his peo- 
 ple, says, " Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled 
 bird ; the birds round about are against her : come 
 ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to de- 
 vour," Jer. xii. 9. A speckled, or striped bird, that 
 is, unnaturally speckled, or striped, as if by having 
 been dyed ; it being very conformable to the nature 
 of birds, that such an appearance should draw to- 
 gether the neighboring birds, (as an owl does, by 
 day-light,) and that they should molest and injure 
 the sufferer, often fatally. — Joseph Kimchi, who is 
 followed by Calmet, takes the idea in a somewhat 
 different sense, saying, a Chaldec word nearly re- 
 lated, signifies to dip, or stain : — may the idea import 
 here, a bird stained, or sprinkled with her own blood ? 
 The LXX and Bochart translate the Hebrew — " Is 
 not mine heritage become like a hyena against me ? 
 Is not all mine heritage surrounded by Avild beasts ?" 
 and the latter justly observes, that the original will bear 
 the sense of a ravenous wild beast ; while the Arabs 
 call the hyena by a name entirely similar, and so may 
 
 apply' either to bird or to wild beast. In confirmation 
 of this rendering, it is remarked, that this agrees well 
 with the foregoing verse, wherein the heritage is com- 
 pared to a yelling lion. But may it not be said, that 
 the prophet, having taken one metaphor from wild 
 beasts, now selects another from among birds ? An 
 owl by day-hght is followed and provoked by num- 
 bers, even of the smaller birds. May then this ex- 
 pression signify a bird streaked, wounded, and 
 sprinkled with its own blood, surrounded by ene- 
 mies, who, themselves not being able completely to 
 devour it, call on the beasts of the field to complete 
 their purpose ? [The most suitable version of this 
 passage seems to be the following : " Lo, a ravenous 
 beast, a hyena, is my heritage ! lo, ravenous beasts 
 are against it on every side !" i. e. the Jews are 
 wild beasts, rather than, men, but I will bring against 
 them other wild beasts, viz. the Chaldeans, &c. This 
 comports well with verse 8, and also with what 
 inunediately follows. See Rosenmiiller Com. in 
 Jerem. xii. 9. R. 
 
 The Hebrew word zippor, translated generally 
 sparrow, is likewise taken for any small bird. Tlie 
 Preacher, speaking of old men, says, (Eccl. xii. 4.) 
 " They rise up at the voice of the bird," that is, very 
 early. The Greek, ornis, signifies a bird, a hen ; and 
 the translator of Origen has used pullet for bird. 
 
 One of the engravings given under the article Al- 
 tar has shown that the Ibis, a kind of stork, was so 
 venerated in Egypt, as to be an allowed inmate in 
 sacred structures : something of the same kind oc- 
 curs also in Persia, for Thevenot says, (p. 122.) 
 " Within a mosque, at Ourljioun, lyes interred the 
 son of a king, called Schah-Zadeh-Imam-Dgiafer, 
 whom they reckon a saint ; the dome is rough cast 
 over ; before the mosque there is a court, well plant- 
 ed over with high plane-trees, on which we saw a 
 great many storks, that haunt thereahout all the year 
 7-ound." This should be compared with the reason- 
 ing at the close of the article referred to. 
 
 BIRTH is taken for the natural descent of oft- 
 spring from its pai-ent : figuratively, New Birth im- 
 ports an entire change of principles, manners and 
 conduct. See Regeneration. 
 
 There have been great difficulties started, on the 
 nature of the instrument rendered stools in our trans- 
 lation, Exod. i. 16. "And the Idng of Egypt said to 
 the Hebrew midwives, When ye do the office of a 
 midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon 
 the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him ; but 
 if it be a daughter, then she shall live." According 
 to this rendering, the women in labor were to be 
 seated on stools, for their more easy delivery. Now, 
 (L) this is contrary to the attitude adopted in the 
 East for women in labor, wliicli is standing; (2.) 
 the Hebrew word D'JJX, obnayim, dual, implies, 
 from its very etymology, instruments of stone ; which 
 surely would not be adapted for such occasions. 
 [The' difficulty, however, is avoided by a correct 
 translation of the passage, as follows: "When ye 
 deliver the Hebrew women, and ye look upon the 
 bathing-troughs, (i. e. upon the children while bath- 
 ing them,) if it be a son, ye shall kill him, etc." Not 
 but that the midwives would know the sex of the 
 cliild before they came to bathe it ; but the intention 
 and spirit of the command seem to be, that they 
 should destroy the male infants tvhile thus bathing 
 them, by drowning them privately, or as if by acci- 
 dent. That the word is in the dual form, may have 
 arisen from the circumstance that such a laver was 
 composed of two stones, one of which served as a
 
 BIRTH 
 
 [ 190 ] 
 
 BIRTH 
 
 cover. A practice entirely similar is described by 
 Thevenot, (ii. p. 98.) as prevailing at the Persian 
 court. R.] " The kings of Persia are so afraid of 
 being deprived of that power which they abuse, and 
 are so apprehensive of being dethroned, that they 
 destroy tlie children of their female relations, when 
 they are brought to bed of boys, by putting them into 
 an earthen trough, where they suffer them to starve :" 
 that is, we suppose, under pretence of preparing to 
 wash ihem, they let them piue aAvay, or contrive to 
 destroy them in the water. 
 
 This expression of Thevenot carries the matter 
 further than most authors whom we have perused. 
 That eastern sultans liave ocrasionly deprived, and 
 still do occasionally deprive, children born in their 
 seraglios of life, directly after their birth, even though 
 themselves be the fathers, is well authenticated : we 
 find, also, that the internal management of a seraglio 
 is greatly influenced, or directed, by the head sultana- 
 mother ; who usually sways the black eunuchs, and 
 who often, as soon as the child is born, appoints its 
 destruction, that it may not interfere with others, 
 whom she favors in their prospects of the succession. 
 But that this should extend to children of the sul- 
 tan's female relations is, no doubt, to be referred to 
 extraordinary circumstances, such as political suspi- 
 cions, rather than to the regular com-se of things. 
 "They pointed us to some handkerchiefs, like cra- 
 vats, round the necks of certain figures, in number 
 120, being representations of that emperor's children, 
 which were all strangled in one day, by order of his 
 successor." This was done in the seraglio at Con- 
 stantinople, as we learn from Tournefort. The fact 
 is confirmed by others; and, indeed, it comes much 
 to the same, if it be not rather less compassionate, to 
 suffer a number of young persons to arrive at a cer- 
 tain degree of maturity, and then to destroy them 
 through political jealousy, than to put them out of 
 their misery directly after they enter upon it, and to 
 close at once that hf(? which is destined to know lit- 
 tle good, perhaps to know much evil ; and, very 
 probably, to a melancholy dissolution, at a time when 
 it is intimately susceptible both of hopes and of fears. 
 See Judges ix. 5 ; 2 Kings x. 7. 
 
 These remarks are introductory to the inferences, 
 (1.) that children -who arc born from branches of 
 blood royal, or in such stations as, by an ungracious 
 forecast, may be regarded as capable of aspiring to 
 the crown, or the government, are the objects of sus- 
 picion ; not those of the commonalty in general. 
 Children of grandees, or chiefs, that is, of leading 
 men, are exposed to this danger, not those of peas- 
 ants and slaves. Apply this to the situation of Israel 
 in Egypt ; it was not every child, every sou born 
 thn/ughout all Israel, as well those in the' country of 
 Goshen as those in the capital of Egypt, that was in- 
 cluded in the directions of Pharaoji ; but those of 
 the chiefs, the principals ; for, had Pharaoh thus 
 treated all Israel, he had vmdoubtedly raised a re- 
 bellion ; he had diminished his stock of slaves, which 
 was his jiroperty ; whereas, the depriving that peo- 
 ple of chiefs answered his jiurpose equally well. 
 He acted much according to the custom of his own 
 court and seraglio, and did not very greatly extend 
 it, except by including a distinct race, and a sojourn- 
 ing people. (2.) It was impossible that two Hebrew 
 midwives could olhcially attend all the women of 
 Israel in Goshen, &c. but they might be sufficient 
 for those in the royal city, at least for the wives of 
 chiefs, and such, we apprehend, resided here only 
 during their turn to share in the labors assigned to 
 
 their people. These considerations coincide with 
 the idea previously suggested, that Moses and Aaron 
 were of note and rank, among the Israelites, by birth 
 and by natural condition ; and they agi'ee perfectly 
 with the account of Josephus, who relates that the 
 birth of Moses was predicted, as of a child who 
 should wear the crown of Pharaoh, taking it from 
 him : that is, Pharaoh feared some illustrious youth 
 would rise up to destroy him, and to deliver Israel, 
 which fear became his torment. Pharaoh, being 
 deluded by the midwives, "directed all his people," 
 his officers, his superintendents, his guards, &c. to 
 watch the Israelites, men as well as women, and to 
 scrutinize strictly what rites of circumcision were 
 going forward, as these indicated the birth of boys ; 
 and, on discovering such male infants, they should 
 dro\Mi them in the Nile ; meaning, infants in and 
 around the royal city ; for in the open countrj' of 
 Goshen, this watching had been impossible, the ex- 
 ecution of the order had been attended with hazard 
 to the officers, opportunities of concealment were in- 
 finitely more numerous, and the mention of the I'iver 
 seems to imply nearness to it, which might not be 
 the fact in some parts of Goshen ; and could not be 
 the fact in any great part of it, if the situation usually 
 assigned to that country be adopted, that is, between 
 Egypt and the Red sea. 
 
 These extracts serve to illustrate the conduct of 
 Herod; first, toward his own sons; (see Herod ;) 
 secondly, toward the infants at Bethlehem ; for, if 
 the kings of Persia destroy the infants of their own 
 relations, and if the king of Egypt, fearing the birth 
 of Moses, was peculiarly jealous and vigilant, where 
 is the wonder, that Herod destroyed the infaifts of 
 Bethlehem, under the idea, that among them was 
 concealed a pretender to his crown ? He did no 
 more than was approved and practised in the East 
 in such cases ; nay, perhaps he might ajiplaud his 
 own clemency in that he did not destroy the parents 
 also, with their elder offspring, but only infants en- 
 tering on their second year. 
 
 In confirmation of the proposition, that the chil- 
 dren, not the mothers, were washed in stone vessels 
 containing water, Mr. Taylor has given in his Frag- 
 ments an engraving from an ornamental basso re- 
 lievo on a sepulchral urn, which sho^^■s a midwife 
 in the act of placing a new-born infant in a vessel, 
 apparently of the same nature, and for the same pur- 
 pose, as the Hebrew laver : her intention is, evident- 
 ly, to wash the child ; Avhile the mother sits in an 
 enfeebled attitude, looking on. An attendant holds 
 a capacious swather, to receive the child after wash- 
 ing; and the notice of the time of the child's birth, 
 and perhaps its horoscope, occupies a female, who 
 stands behind, and who inscribes it with a stijlus on 
 a globe. This rej)resentation, he remarks, proves 
 that children were committed to the midwife for the 
 purpose of being washed ; Pharaoh might, therefore, 
 say to the Hebrew midwives, or to these Egyptian 
 women who were mid^^■ives to the Hebrew women, 
 as was the opinion of Josephus, "Vvlien jou are 
 engaged in washing the Israelite infants, if they be 
 boys, contrive to drown them in the water." This 
 order not succeeding to his mind, he directed Lis 
 officers to seize, and to drown by force, whatever 
 young Israelites (boys) they could lay their hands on. 
 
 The ancients bestowed considerable attention on 
 the washing of a new-born infant ; and, indeed, it 
 was in some degree ceremonious. "The Lacede- 
 monians," says Plutarch, in his Life of Lycurgus, 
 " washed the new-born infant in yiine, (principally,
 
 BIRTH 
 
 [ 191 ] 
 
 BIR 
 
 no doubt, persons of property,) meaning thereby to 
 strengthen the infant ;" but generally they washed 
 the child in water ; warmed, perhaps, in Greece ; 
 cold, perhaps, in Egypt ; or according to the season. 
 We see, tlien, that the washing of a child newly born 
 was a business of some consideration : how easily, 
 therefore, did the hearers, and readers, of Christ and 
 his apostles comprehend the phrases " the washing 
 of regeneration ;" or " the new birth ;" the being 
 born " a second time, of water ;" the initiatory, and, 
 as it were, the reviviftcatory, ordinance of baptism ! 
 
 The above mentioned engi-aviug suggests another 
 subject of inquiry, respecting the swaddling clothes 
 appropriate to infants ; an article but imperfectly 
 known by us. Our translation has, as it may be 
 thought somewhat improperly, used the term swad- 
 dling bands; which implies a number of small 
 pieces — narrow rolls — strips — bands : but the true 
 import of the word is, more probably, that of a large 
 cloth or wrapper ; such as the female figure in the 
 engraving holds up, extended, ready to receive the 
 child ; an envelope of considerable capacity and am- 
 plitude. With this idea agree what accounts have 
 reached us of this part of attention to children among 
 the ancients : " The child being washed, it was wrap- 
 ped in a cloth, woven for this purpose by the mother 
 in the time of her virginity ; as may be conjectured 
 by that which Creusa made for Ion." This, we 
 may conceive, was lined throughout for gi-eater 
 warmth ; we may suppose, too, the lining was soft 
 and comfortable, while the outside was richly orna- 
 mented. " On this side," that is, the outside of it, 
 "the Erecthidse had worked the representation of 
 Medusa's head, and the snakes of her hair ; besides 
 two dragons, drawn in gold, with other ornaments." 
 This description evidently implies that considerable 
 labor and care had been bestowed on this article ; 
 80 that a handsome cloth of the kind could be pro- 
 curable only by a parent in easy circumstances. But, 
 however that might be, the inference is clear, that 
 this cloth was large ; that it was not properly bands, 
 but of some extent ; otherwise, it could not have 
 contained all these decorations, nor would it, we 
 may suppose, have been esteemed worthy of receiv- 
 ing them. 
 
 Let us combine the supposition of size, or ampli- 
 tude of dimension, with a swaddling cloth ; while 
 we examine places where the word occurs in Scrip- 
 ture. — Job xxxviii. 8, 9. " Who closed the opening 
 made by the sea, in its bursting forth as from the 
 womlj ; when I placed my cloud as its vestment, 
 and thick darkness as its swaddling doth ?" — when I 
 enveloped it in thick clouds, for its immediate cloth- 
 ing, and surrounded it by extensive darkness, as a 
 wrapper — involving it wholly. Surely, the idea of 
 a broad, ample covering better suits this passage 
 than that of narrow belts, or bands. 
 
 Having hinted that not every woman could pro- 
 cure this ample covering, it remains to connect the 
 idea of a mother in easy circumstances with the fol- 
 lowing passages. Lam. ii. 20. " Behold, O Lord, 
 and consider to whom thou hast done this: shall the 
 women eat their fruit, their little ones wliom they 
 have swaddled'^ in costly robes ; apd to whom they 
 have paid every attention tliat delicacy could sug- 
 gest to persons of consequence ; persons fit to be as- 
 sociated with the " priest and the prophet," honor- 
 1 able by condition of life. Surely, this raises the sen- 
 \ timent, and is perfectly coincident with a similar af- 
 ; flictive prophecy, (Deut. xxviii. 56, 57; Jer. xix. 9.) 
 and with the well-known melancholy histor}' in Jo- 
 
 sephus. So, in the same chapter, verse 22, " those 
 whom I had swaddled, with great care and solici- 
 tude, and had reared them to a hopeful time of life, 
 my enemy hath consumed." Tliough nature knows 
 no difference between the loss of a child to a poor 
 person, and the same loss to a rich person, yet poe- 
 try heightens its figure, by contrasting former deli- 
 cacy with present distress ; and such seems to be 
 the mode adopted by the prophet in this passage, to 
 increase the pathos of his representation. [The He- 
 brew word in these passages is not that which com- 
 monly signifies to swaddle, although so translated ; 
 but it means rather to carry on the arm, to dandle, &c. 
 The above remarks, therefore, are apjjUcable only to 
 the English version. R. 
 
 Ezek. xvi. 4. " And as for thy nativity" it was the 
 very reverse of respectable; "for in the day thou 
 wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou 
 washed in water, to supple thee : in salting thou wast 
 not salted ; in swaddling thou wast not swaddled" — in 
 a large, capacious swaddling cloth, as a rich person's 
 child would have been. Tliis is certainly the sense 
 
 of the prophet. LXX, xal n a.ranyuroi; ovx ioTTaoya- 
 
 rwx'^t,c. The idea may be applied to an occurrence 
 in the New Testament ; of the propriety of which 
 application the reader will judge with candor. 
 Lidve ii. 7. " The virgin mother brought forth her 
 son, the first-born ; and she enveloped him in an 
 ample swaddling robe, such as befitted, at least in 
 some degree, the heir of David's house ; and she 
 took that kind of care of him which persons in com- 
 petent circumstances take of their new-born infants." 
 If this be a fact, observe, how it became o sign to 
 the shepherds : "You shall find the babe wrapped 
 in a handsome swaddling cloth — though lying in a 
 manger," Luke ii. 12. For aught we know, they 
 might have found in Bethlehem, then crowded to 
 excess, a dozen or a score of infants lying in man- 
 gers ; but none with those contradictory marks of 
 dignity and indignity ; of noble descent, and of per- 
 sonal inconvenience ; of respectable station, and of 
 refuge-taking poverty ; in short, the comfortable and 
 lined swaddling cloth, which no doubt the mother 
 brought with her, and the rocky, inconvenient, out- 
 cast-looking residence in which for the time being 
 the object of their patriotic hopes, and of their pious 
 researches, was secluded. This carries us a little 
 further: if it were customary for "mothers in their 
 virgin state" to work, and ornament, this article of 
 future expectanc}', and if the Virgin IMary had actu- 
 ally worked such a one, then she was not without 
 leisure, means, and skill equal to the performance ; 
 consequently, she could not have lieen excessively 
 poor, nor under the control of others, that is, in ser- 
 vitude ; but must have enjoyed advantages not be- 
 low those of the medium rank of women in her time 
 and nation. All this, however, is only conjecture. 
 
 BIRTHRIGHT, the privilege of'first-boru son. 
 (See FiRST-BORX.) Among the Hebrews, as, in- 
 deed, among most other nations, the first-born en- 
 joyed particular privileges ; and wherever polygamy 
 was tolerated, it was highly necessary to fix them. 
 (See Deut. xxi. 15 — 17.) They consisted, first, in a 
 right to the priesthood, which, before the law, was 
 in the eldest of the family ; but when brethren sepa- 
 rated into families, each became ])riest and head over 
 his own house. Secondly, the birthright consisted 
 in receiving a double portion of the father's property 
 above his brethren. This is explained two ways: 
 some suppose that half the whole inheritance was 
 given to the elder brother, and the other half shared
 
 BIT 
 
 [ 192 1 
 
 BIT 
 
 in equal parts among the rest. But the rabbins in- 
 form us, on the contrarj^, that the first-born took for 
 his share twice as much as any of his brethren. If 
 the first born died before the division of the father's 
 inheritance, and left any children, his right devolved 
 to his heirs. First-born daughters were not invest- 
 ed with these privileges. Esau sold his birthright 
 to Jacob, who, in consequence, had a right to de- 
 mand from his father the privileges annexed to it ; 
 Jacob transferred the right of the first-born from 
 Reuben to Joseph ; and David from Adonijah to 
 Solomon. See Inherftance. 
 
 BISHLAM MITHRIDATH, one of the king of 
 Persia's officers on this side the Euphrates, who 
 wrote to king Artaxerxes, desiring him to forbid 
 the Jews to rebuild the temple, Ezra iv. 7. 
 
 BISHOP, in Greek, 'Entnt^v.^o;, in Latin, episcopus, 
 an overseer, one who has the inspection and direction 
 of any thing. Nehemiah speaks of the overseer of 
 the Levites at Jerusalem: (Neh. xi. 22.) Uzzi had 
 the inspection of the other Levites. The Hebrew 
 pdkid, rendered episcopus, has the same signification. 
 The Athenians gave this name to the person who 
 presided in their coiu-ts of justice ; and the Digest 
 gives it to those magistrates who had the inspection 
 of the bread market, and other things of that nature : 
 but the most common acceptation of the word bish- 
 op, is that which occurs Acts xx. 28. and in Paul's 
 epistles, (Phil. i. L) where it signifies the pastor of a 
 church. Peter calls Jesus Christ, "the Shepherd 
 and Bishop of our souls," 1 Pet. ii. 25. Paid de- 
 scribes the qualities requisite in a bishop, I Tim. iii. 
 2; Tit. i. 7, &c. 
 
 BITHRON, 2 Sam. ii. 29. This word means the 
 same as Bether, which see. It probably denotes 
 here a region of hills and valleys, and not any definite 
 place. R. 
 
 BITHYNIA, (1 Pet. i. 1.) a province of Asia Mi- 
 nor, in the northern part of that peninsula ; on the 
 shore of the Euxine, having Phrygia and Galatia to 
 the south. It is famous as being one of the prov- 
 inces to which the apostle Peter addressed his first 
 epistle ; also, as having been under the government 
 of Pliny, who describes the manners and characters 
 of the Christians there, about A.D. 106; also for the 
 holding of the most celebrated council of the Christian 
 church in the city of Nice, its metropolis, about A. D. 
 325. It should seem to be, with some justice, con- 
 sidered as a province taught by Peter ; and we read 
 (Acts xiv. 7.) that when Paul attempted to go into 
 Bithynia, the Spirit suffered him not. It is directly 
 opposite to Constantinople. 
 
 BITTER. BITTERNESS. The Lord says to 
 the Jews, " I will send the Chaldeans against you, 
 that bitter nation," Hab. i. 6. " Take care, lest peo- 
 ple who are bitter of soul run upon thee," Judg. 
 xviii. 2.5. David in his flight (2 Sam. xvii. 8.) was 
 accompanied by men bitter of soul, or chafed in their 
 minds as a bear bereaved. The energy of these ex- 
 pressions is sulficiendy discernible ; denoting vexa- 
 tion, anger, fiiry. Sometimes bitterness of soul sig- 
 nifies only grief, 1 Sam. i. 10 ; 2 Kings iv. 27. The 
 waters of jealousy, wliicii women suspected of adul- 
 tery were obliged to drink, are called bitter waters, 
 Numb. v. 19. (See Jealousy.) "Bitter envying,'' 
 (Jam. iii. 14.) denotes mortal and permanent hatred. 
 King Hezekiah in Iiis hynm says (Isa. xxxviii. 17.) 
 that, "in the midst of his peace, he was attacked 
 with great bitterness," a very dangerous disease 
 
 BITTER HERBS. The Hebrews were com- 
 manded to eat the Passover with bitter herbs ; (Exod. 
 
 xii. 8.) but what kind of herbs or salad is intended 
 by the Hebrew word merorim, which literally signi- 
 fies hitters, is not well known. The Jews think 
 cichory, wild lettuce, hoarhound, and the like. 
 Whatever may be implied under the term, whether 
 bitter herbs, or bitter ingi'edients in general, it was 
 designed to remind them of their severe and bitter 
 bondage in Egypt, from which God was now about 
 to dehver them. 
 
 BITTERN, a fowl, about the size of a heron, and 
 of that species. Nineveh and Babylon became a 
 possession for the bittern and other wild birds, (Isa. 
 xiv. 23; xxxiv. 11; Zeph. ii. 14.) according to the 
 English Bible, but it is very doubtful whether this 
 be correct. 
 
 " Three elements," says Scheuzer, " may dispute 
 tlie property of the kippod ; earth, air, and water." 
 The weight of interpreters is in favor of the hedge- 
 hog, or the porcupine, which may stand at the head 
 of the hedge-hog species. It must be acknowledg- 
 ed, that the Arabic terms kenfud, kunj)hud, canfed, 
 &c. sufficiently resemble the Hebrew kippod, which, 
 possibly, was pronounced with n inserted, as lampad, 
 written lappad, &c. It may be thought different 
 from the common hedge-hog, because the manners 
 of that creature do not agree with those attributed to 
 the kippod; for the hedge-hog is resident in more 
 verdant and cultivated places than we are led to 
 place the kippod in. It appears, however, from Dr. 
 Russel's Aleppo, (vol. ii. p. 159.) that the porcupine 
 is called kunfud : " It is sometimes, though rarely, 
 brought to town by the peasants." " The notion of 
 his darting his quills still prevails in Syria. I never 
 met with any person who had seen it ; but it stands 
 recorded in books, and the fact is not doubted." 
 "The hedge-hog is regarded by the natives as the 
 same species ; is foimd in the fields in abundance, 
 but serves only for medicinal purposes." It is con- 
 cluded, from these hints, that the porcupine is wilder 
 than the hedge-hog, in Syria. The same inference 
 arises from comparing the accoimts of these animals 
 given by Buffon ; hedge-hogs he placed in his gar- 
 den : and they are kept in kitchens as devourers of 
 black beetles ; they al)ound most in temperate cli- 
 mates ; the north being too cold for them. The 
 porcupine is a native of the hottest climates of Africa 
 and India, perhaps is originally of the East, yet can 
 live and multiply in less sultry situations, such as 
 Persia, Spain, and Italy. Agricola says, the species 
 has been in late ages transported into Europe. It is 
 now found in Spain, and in the Apennine moun- 
 tains, near Rome. Plinj' and the naturalists say, 
 that the porcupine, like the bear, hides itself in win- 
 ter. It eats crums of l)read, cheese, fruits, and, 
 when at hberty, roots, and wild grain ; in a garden it 
 makes great havoc, and eats pulse with greediness ; 
 it becomes fat toward the close of summer, and its 
 flesh is not bad eating. 
 
 We should now inquire what associates Scripture 
 has given to the kippod. It is connected with "pools 
 of water," in Isa. xiv. 23, according to our transla- 
 tion. This we shall consider hereafter. In chap, 
 xxxiv. 11, it is associated with Kaat, the pelican: 
 with lanshuph, whicii is siqiposed to be the lesser 
 bittern or Ardea Ibis ; and with Oreb, or the raven 
 kind ; together with thorns, nettles, and brambles ; 
 witii Tannim, and with ostriches. If only water- 
 birds had been connected with it here, we might 
 have been led to conclude that it denoted a water- 
 bird also ; but as ravens and ostriches, to say noth- 
 ing of the thorns and netdes, are found in dry places,
 
 BITTERN 
 
 [ 193 ] 
 
 BLA 
 
 nothing prevents this from being an animal of dry 
 places also. In Zephaniah ii. 14, the kippod is coupled 
 only witii the Kaat, or pelican ; hut, though th;^ peli- 
 can be a water-bird, yet she builds iier nest in open 
 places distant from water ; and the prophet had said, 
 in the former verse, "Nineveh sliall lie dry like a 
 wilderness ;" so that creatures inhabiting dry places, 
 may readily be supposed to reside there. This as- 
 sociation, therefore, is not conclusive for a water- 
 Sird ; thougli it must be admitted that it looks rather 
 like a bird of some kind as a fellow to the pelican, 
 with which it is matched. It appears, then, that 
 both Babylon and Nineveh are threatened with des- 
 olation, and witii becoming the residence of the 
 kippod. To ascertain this kippod, Mr. Taylor has 
 taJcen some pains to discover what creatures breed 
 in ruins in these countries. The result has proved 
 not very satisfactory. Storks, owls, Ijats, and a bird, 
 which is probably the locust bird, are all he finds 
 identified. Bats we might naturally expect in vaults 
 and caverns ; but whether j)orcupines also, may be 
 questioned. The following extracts are submitted 
 to the reader; if they do not determine the question, 
 they may give hints for further inquiries. At Chytor 
 — "The mines of above an hundred [temples] to this 
 day remain of stone, white, and well polished, albeit 
 now inhabited by storks, owls, bats, and like birds." 
 — (G. Herbert, Travels, p. 95.) 
 
 "Nineveh was built on the left shoar of the Tigris, 
 upon Assyria side, being now only a heap of rubbish, 
 extending almost a league along the river. There 
 are abundance of vaidts and caverns uninhabited ; 
 nor could a man well conjecture, whether they were 
 the ancient habitations of the people, or whether any 
 houses were built upon them in former times ; for 
 most of the houses in Turkie are like cellars, or else 
 but one storie high." (Tavei-nier, book ii. p. 72.) 
 M. Beauchamp, in his account of the ruins of Baby- 
 lon, (European Magazine, May, 1792,) informs us, 
 that "this place and the mount of Babel are com- 
 monly called by the Arabs Mak-Coube, that is, ^topsy- 
 turvy ;' " which is almost the same as Thevenot 
 mentions respecting Nineveh and its inhabitants ; 
 and which, could we trace it to its origin, very prob- 
 ably Avould be found deserving our notice. " The 
 master mason led me along a valley — I found in it 
 a subterranean canal — these ruins extend several 
 leagues." Vaults and under-groimd constructions 
 then remain of ancient Babylon, and these may well 
 afford shelter for bats. We understand that trees grow 
 in parts of the space formerly occupied by Babylon ; 
 and, if so, they may afford slielter for porcupines. 
 Against this interpretation of kippod it must be ob- 
 served, tliat in the Chaldce this word denotes a bird 
 — taken for the bittern, as by our translators ; and so 
 in the Talmud. The root of the word signifies, to 
 draw together, contract, shrink ; which, as applied to 
 animals, teaches nothing; for we cannot admit with 
 Scheuzer, that " the beaver is what best agrees to 
 the import of the word." It is probable that the 
 porcupine does not inhabit dusty ruins, or dry or 
 desert places ; l)ut rather conmion lands or forests, 
 where vegetal)les and gi-ain may be its food : yet, as 
 vegetables may gi-ow wiiere towns have stood, per- 
 haps this is not a decisive objection. Moreover, this 
 objection becomes still less decisive, if the nnnark of 
 Bochart be correct, that the (now) pools of icatcr are 
 to be (liereafter) a possession for the kippod; and 
 these " pools of water" are, according to the most 
 probable notion of the word, artificial, or Jish-ponds, 
 as in Isa. xix. 10. If so, we may understand them 
 25 
 
 here of garden-canals, forming parts of pleasure 
 grounds ; fed, no doubt, originally from the river ; 
 and long after the destruction, or rather the aban- 
 doning, of the city, retaining moisture enough to 
 support vegetables, on which porcupines might feed. 
 In fact, Babylon became a park, wherein the kings 
 of Parthia hunted in after ages, and the same land 
 which supported wild boars, might equally well sup- 
 port other wild animals, including those native of 
 hot climates, such as the porcupine undoubtedly is. 
 In a former chapter, the prophet takes some pains 
 to consort creatures of the drj^ desert with creatures 
 of the Vvatery marshes ; and from the local situation 
 of Babylon, all these classes might dwell there 
 together. 
 
 It would have lieen fortunate, if the etymology of 
 this word had afforded means of determining the 
 creature intended ; as applied to the hedge-hog, it 
 can only refer to his contracting or draiving himself 
 together, at the apj^roach of an enemy ; and perhaps 
 this reference is suflicient. It is necessary only to 
 add, that iii Arabic, the class Kanfad, or Kenfud, in- 
 cludes three kinds: — (1.) Kanfad al bari, the land- 
 hedge-hog. — (2.) Kanfad al bachari, the sea-hedge- 
 hog ; what we call the urchin, as indeed we call the 
 former also by this name. — (3.) Kanfad al gebeli, the 
 hedge-hog of the mountains; which is, no doubt, the 
 poi-ctqihie. Seeing, then, the determination of this 
 language in favor of this word, can we do better than 
 be guided by it in this instance ? Yet, with some re- 
 luctance, as this is not precisely that creature which, 
 on principles of arrangement, seem to answer the re- 
 quisitions of every place in Scripture. 
 
 AVe conclude, therefore, though wishing for fur- 
 ther information, with the idea of Bochart : 
 
 And I will make it [Babylon] a possession for tlie 
 
 porcupine ; 
 Even the garden-canals of water. 
 
 The general reasoning of this article is now re- 
 duced to a certainty, by the testimony of the late Mr. 
 Rich, who says expressly, in his "Memoir on Baby- 
 lon," (p. 30.) " I found QUANTITIES OF PORCUPINE- 
 
 quills ; and in most of the cavities are numbers of 
 bats and owls." Quantities of quills imply the ex- 
 istence of many porcupines, in these deserted des- 
 olations. 
 
 BITUMEN, a fat, combustible, oily matter, found 
 in many places, particularly above Babylon, and in 
 Judea, in the lake Asphaltites, or the Dead sea. Noah 
 coated oyer the ark with bitumen ; (Gen. vi. 14.) the 
 builders of the to^\ er of Babel used it for a cement ; 
 (Gen. xi. 3.) and the little vessel in which Moses was 
 exposed, near the banks of the river Nile, was daub- 
 ed over with it, Exod. ii. 3. See Asphaltus, and 
 also under Babylonia, p. 137. 
 
 BIZ.TOTHJAH, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 28. 
 
 BIZTHA, (Esth. i. 10.) a eunuch at the court of 
 Ahasuerus, or Xerxes. 
 
 BLACKNESS of the face. We have an ex- 
 pression, Joel ii. 6, " Before their approach [the 
 locusts'] the people shall be much pained ; all faces 
 shall gather blackness ;" which is also ;idopted by the 
 prophet Nahum : (ii. 10.) "the heart melteth, the 
 knees smite together, much pain is in all loins, and 
 the/oce5 of them all gather blackness." This j)hrase, 
 which sounds uncouth to an Enghsh ear, is elucidat- 
 ed by the following history, from Ockley's Hist, of 
 the Saracens, (vol ii. p. 319.) which we the rather 
 introduce, as Mr. Harmer has referred this blackness
 
 BLE 
 
 [ l'J4 ] 
 
 BLl 
 
 to the effect of hunger and thirst ; and Calniet, to a 
 bedaubing of the face with soot, &c. a proceeding 
 not very consistent with the hurry of flight, or the 
 terror of distress. " Kuniiel, the son of Ziyad, was 
 a man of tine wit. One day Hejage made Ijini come 
 before liim, and reproached liini, because in sucli a 
 garden, and before such and such persons, whom 
 he named to him, he had made a great many im- 
 precations against him, saying, the Lord blacken his 
 face, that is, Jill him ivith shame aiid confusion ; and 
 wished that his neck was cut oftj and his l)lood shed." 
 The reader will observe how perfectly this explana- 
 tion agi-ees with the sense oi" the passages quoted 
 above : to gather blackness, then, is equivalent to 
 suffering extreme confusion, and being overwhelmed 
 with shame, or with terror and dismay. 
 
 BLASPHEMY. A man is guilty of blasphemy, 
 when he speaks of God, or his attributes, injurious- 
 ly ; when he ascribes such qualities to him, as do not 
 belong to him, or robs him of those which do. The 
 law sentences blasi)hemers to death. Lev. xxiv. 12 — 
 16. Whosoever heard another blaspheming, and 
 witnessed his offence, laid his hand on the criminal's 
 head, to express that he was to bear the whole blame 
 and punishment of his crime. The guilty person 
 was led out of the c^ity and stoned. 
 
 BLASTUS, an officer of king Agrippa, who fa- 
 vored the peace with Tyre and Sidon, Acts xii. 20. 
 
 BLEMISHES were of various kinds on men, 
 and also on animals. Blemishes, personal deformi- 
 ties, excluded priests from performing their sacred 
 functions : blemishes on animals excluded them 
 from being offered on the altar, &c., Lev. xxii. 20, 
 21, &c. ; xxiv. 19, 20 ; Deut. xv. 21. 
 
 BLESS, BLESSING, is referred, (1.) to God, 
 and, (2.) to man. Without doubt the inferior is 
 blessed by the superior. When God blesses, he 
 bestows that virtue, that efficacy, which renders his 
 blessing effectual, and which his blessing expresses. 
 His blessings are either temporal or spiritual, bodily 
 or mental ; but in eveiy thing they are productive of 
 that which they imjjort: whereas, the blessings of 
 men are only good wishes, personal or official, and, 
 as it were, a peculiar kind of prayer to the Author 
 of all good, for the welfare of the subject of them. 
 God's blessings extend into the future life ; but no 
 gift of one man to another, even of a parent to his 
 child, can exceed the limits of the present state. 
 Blessing was an act of thanksgiving to God for his 
 mercies ; or, rather, for that special mercy, which, at 
 the time, occasioned the act of blessing; as for food, 
 for which thanks were rendered to God, or for any 
 other good. 
 
 Those predictions of the ancient patriarchs, which 
 we usually call lilessings, are much rather jjrophetic 
 hints or suggestions as to what should be the char- 
 acter, disposition, or circumstances of those to whom 
 they referred. They were i)robably grounded, in 
 some degree, on oliservations made respecting the 
 temper and conduct of the party himself who im- 
 mediately receivfid them. So, if Benjamin, son of 
 Jacob, were iiimself |)ersonally sharp, wolf-like, bold, 
 predatory, his nature might be expected to descend 
 in his posterity; and sd of others. But often, the 
 spirit of prophecy |)ronipted tlie mind of the sj)eaker, 
 writer, or composer, to utter sentiments which, in 
 the event, were to be fulfilled strictly, literally, or 
 verbally, yet in a maimer different from what was 
 most prominent on the mind f)f the sj)t'aker. So 
 when Jacob says of Simeon and Levi, "I will dis- 
 perse thein in Jacob, and scatter thein in Israel ;" 
 
 since he intended this dispersion by way of degra- 
 dation and punishment, it is not likely that he fore- 
 saw that one tribe should furnish men of letters — 
 MTiters, in the futm-e kingdom of his descendants ; 
 that the other shoidd lie invested with the priesthood, 
 and thereby both be allotted into various districts, 
 and cities, throughout the land of Israel : yet the 
 fact was so ; and Providence accomplished his 
 prophecy, by dispersing and scattering these tribes 
 after a manner which, ])erhaps, did not occur to th© 
 mind of the dying patriarch, at the instant when he 
 delivered the prediction. When Isaac foretold the 
 different natures and properties of the countries 
 which should be possessed by Jacob and by Esmi, 
 he did not confer on the persons of his sons any real 
 possession ; he merely, as it were, divided to them, 
 by prediction, the places of the future habitations of 
 their posterity : and these places he described pro- 
 phetically, and prophetically referred to the nations, 
 rather than to the persons, of Jacob and Esau. 
 
 Blessing is sometimes put for salvation — for conse- 
 cration — lor a promise of future good — for the re- 
 ception of a good — for a gift or present — for praise — 
 for alms — for adoration — for a lean's blessing him- 
 self; in short, it implies a fehcity, either expected, 
 promised, received, or bestowed. The manner of 
 blessing is appointed in the Mosaic ritual, by the lift- 
 ing up of hands. Our Lord lifted up his hands, and 
 blessed his disciples. This action appears to have 
 been constant : as the palm of the hand held up- 
 wards, was precatory, so the palm turned outwards 
 or downwards, was benedictory. Moses says to 
 x\aron, " Thus shall ye bless the children of Israel, 
 saying unto them. The Lord bless thee and keep 
 thee ; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, 
 and be gracious unto thee ; the Lord lift up his coun- 
 tenance unto thee, and give thee peace," Numb. vi. 
 23. He pronounced these words standing, with a 
 loud voice, and his hands elevated and extended. 
 God ordains that, on the arrival of Israel in the 
 promised land, the whole multitude should be con- 
 vened between the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, 
 and that blessings should be published on mount 
 Gerizinj, for those who should observe the laws of 
 God, and curses on mount Ebal against the violators 
 of those laws. This was performed by Joshua, af- 
 ter he had conquered part of the land of Canaan, 
 Josh. viii. 30, 31. 
 
 BLESSING, Valley of. This was in the tribe 
 of Judah, near the Dead sea and Engedi, not far 
 from Tekoa, and was called the valley of Beracha, 
 or Blessing, after the miraculous victory of Jehosha- 
 phat over the confederated army of Amnion, Moab, 
 and Edom, 2 Chron. xx.23— 2ti. 
 
 BLIND. Blindness is sometimes taken for a real 
 privation of sight, sometimes for dimness of sight ; 
 so the blindness of the man in the gospel, who was 
 born blind, and that of Tobit, were real : they had 
 truly no sight. The men of Sodom, who endeavor- 
 ed to fmd Lot's door, and could not; (Gen. xix. 11.) 
 and Paul, during the first three days of his being at 
 Damascus, (Acts ix. 9.) lost the use of their sight only 
 for a time ; the offices of their eyes were suspended. 
 The LXX well represent the situation of the in- 
 habitants of Sodom, by saying they were struck 
 {aorasid, q. d. avidentid) with an inability of seeing, 
 sightless. Moses says, (Lev. xix. 14.) "Thou shalt 
 not put a stumbling block before the blind," which 
 may be understood literally, or figuratively ; as 
 if he recommended that charity and instruction 
 .'^honld be shown to them who want light and conn-
 
 BLINDNESS 
 
 195 ] 
 
 BLINDNESS 
 
 sel, or to those who are m danger of going wrong ; 
 to instruct the ignorant, &c. He says also, (Deut. 
 xxvii. 18.) " Cursed be he who maketh the bUnd to 
 wander out of his way ;" whicli may also be taken 
 in the same manner. The Jebusites, to insuh David, 
 wlio besieged Jerusalem, mocked him, saying, (2 
 Sam. V. 6.) "Thou shalt not come in liither, except 
 thou take away tiie blind and tlie lame," as if they 
 desired none but the blind and the lame to defend 
 their city. Job says, (xxix. 15.) he had been eyes to 
 the blind, had given good advice to those who need- 
 ed it, had taken pains to set them right, who, through 
 want of light and understanding, had gone astray. 
 Our Saviour, almost in the same sense, says, (Matt. 
 XV. 14.) "If the blind lead the blind, they will both 
 fall into the ditch ;" designing to describe the pre- 
 sumption of the Pharisees, who, blind as they were 
 in the ways of God, yet pretended to lead others. 
 He tells them, (John ix. 40, 41.) that he came into 
 the world, that " they who see not might see, and 
 that they who see might be made blind." Tlie 
 Pharisees, perceiving that this alluded to them, re- 
 plied, "Are we blind also?" He answered them, 
 "If ye were blind, (naturally or inevitably, or dicl 
 you acknowledge your ignorance,) ye should have 
 no sin : but now ye say. We see, therefore your sin 
 remaineth." A principal character of the Messiah 
 predicted in the prophets is, that the eyes of the 
 blind should be enliglitened by him, Isaiah xxix. 18 ; 
 XXXV. 5 ; xlii. 16. This, therefore, our Lord propos- 
 ed to the observation of John's disciples, who came 
 from their master, to inquire whether he were the 
 person whom they expected. " Tell John," says he, 
 "the blind see." The evangelists have preserved 
 the memory of several miraculous cures, wrought by 
 our Saviour on the blind. 
 
 On the pool of Bethesda it has been suggested, 
 that a great dimness of sight might be one degree 
 of blindness ; or, at least, that a temporary suspen- 
 sion of sight might be expressed by the term blind- 
 ness ; other instances of such suspension might have 
 been adduced in tlie Syrians, who w^ei-e smitten in 
 this manner by Elisha, 2 Kings vi. 18. 
 
 It is also hinted in the article on Eastern Veils, 
 that the face of Moses was covered with a veil, the 
 effect of which was little different from a slight de- 
 gree of blindness, or dimness of perception ; and 
 this degree of blindness is, by the apostle, referred 
 to the heart of the Jews ; (2 Cor. iii. 14.) that being, 
 at present, under this veil ; but when it (that is, the 
 heart of the nation) shall turn to the Lord, the veil 
 shall be taken away — taken off, from round about it, 
 TTiniaiQiCrai. A few further thoughts on this subject 
 may be acceptable, because it apparently contains 
 an allusion to an eastern custom, of which the west- 
 ern reader can have no conception. They are by 
 Mr. Taylor. 
 
 Sultan Coobsurroo moiuited the throne by order 
 of his grandfather ; his father opposed, defeated, and 
 took him prisoner; "impaled many of his folloAvers, 
 and bid his son behold the men in whom he trusted." 
 His son told him, " he should not have served him 
 80 .... he had no joy in life, after the beholding 
 of so many gallant men dead." Notwithstanding, 
 the king spared his life, casting him into prison, 
 where his eyes were sealed up [by something put 
 before them, which might not be taken off) for the space 
 of three years ; after which time that seal was taken 
 away, that he might with freedom enjoy the light, 
 though not his liberty." (Sir Thomas Roe's Em- 
 bassy to India, p. 477.) Delia Valle (p. 29.) describes 
 
 the same fact in terms somewhat different ; and, in- 
 deed, without the foregoing explanation, his account 
 might have led us into perplexity : — " He caused hia 
 eyes to be sewed up, as it is so'metimes the custom 
 here ; to the end to deprive him of sight, without ercffi- 
 cating him, that so he might be unfit to cause any more 
 commotions ; which sewing, if it continue long, they 
 say it wholly causes loss of sight ; but after a while, 
 the father caused this prince's eyes to be unripped 
 again, so that he was not blinded, but saw affain,and 
 it was only a temporal [temporary] penance"" Now, 
 what could this be, that was thus put betbi-e the eyes 
 of this young prince, and sealed, or sewed up, but a 
 kind of hood, or veil, which covered his head and 
 face, and most probably enclosed the whole upper 
 part of both. If this notion of a hood, or veil, be 
 correct, — and nothing seems to oppose it, — then ob- 
 serve, (1.) This was the punishment of a father to 
 his son, for rebellion and disobedience ; moreover, it 
 was an abated punishment. (2.) It was accomplished 
 by the ministry of others, who scaled this wrapper 
 on the young prince. (3.) It was to endure for a 
 limited time ; afler which the father directed its re- 
 moval. (4.) After its removal, the son went about 
 again, in partial liberty, though, we are informed, 
 " strongly guarded ;" and as it was generally believed 
 to be the intent of his father (for he would often 
 presage so) to make this prince, his first-boni, his 
 successor ; though for the present, out of some 
 jealousy, (he being so much beloved of the people,) 
 he denied him his entire liberty. 
 
 Waving the jealousy of this father, is not this his- 
 tory an accurate coiuiterpart to the dealings of God 
 with Israel, as hinted at by the apostle ? The veil 
 was on the lieart of that people, as a punishment, 
 not a destruction ; moreover, it was to continue for 
 a limited time only, and then that nation would be 
 again acknowledged by him, as his son, his ffrst- 
 born, and be restored to liberty, and eventually to 
 favor. 
 
 Mr. Harmer (vol. ii. p. 277.) has quoted the above 
 extract to illustrate Isaiah vi. 10. " SMit the eyes of 
 this people ;" but the Hebrew word yi'z-, Hiphil im- 
 per. yvn, does not strictly mean to shut, close, but to 
 besmear, plaster over, &c. and thus prevent from 
 seeing. This is the strict signification of the root ; 
 and, evidently, its translations in the New Testa- 
 ment may bear this meaning, y.i(tuii'v>,conniveo, {Matt. 
 xiii. 15 ; Acts xxviii. 27.) i. c. they have haljf sMit 
 their eyes, like those who wish to keep out too strong 
 a glare of light. The sentiment therefore of the New 
 Testament word will be this, These people have de- 
 sisted from seeing ; us we say, they overlook, that 
 is, do not sec a thing ; or, as it is well expressed, 
 " seeing they do not perceive ;" which agrees with 
 the import of the Hebrew. 
 
 Blindness, as a disease of the organ of vision, may 
 be produced by drying up the natural humors of the 
 eyes, through which the rays of light pass; and this 
 may be the effect of old age, which produces dim- 
 ness and at length blindness ; or it may be the con- 
 sequence of great heat, applied to the eyes ; and in 
 this manner one of the kings of England is said to 
 have been blinded, by the holding of a heated brass 
 basin before his eyes, which gradually exiialed their 
 moisture. If the eyes are dried up, they nnist be 
 hardened. Or blindness may pi-oceed from a cata- 
 ract, or thick skin, growing over a part of the eye, 
 and preventing the passage of the rays of light to 
 the interior, the proper seat of vision ; this might 
 anciently be thought to give the appearance of hard-
 
 BLINDNESS 
 
 [ 196 ] 
 
 BLINDNESS 
 
 iiess to the eye ; and we ourselves call such an ap- 
 pearance a wall-eye. — The reader may recollect 
 other instances. 
 
 By these considerations we may, perhaps, account 
 for the seeming contrariety, which appears some- 
 times between the margin and the text in our trans- 
 lation, (and in other translations also,) which ren- 
 ders the same word blindness and hardness ; for it is 
 by no means unusual, for young persons especially, 
 to discover the strong distinction between the ternis 
 blindness and hardness ; while the cause of their 
 adoption to express the same distemper entirely es- 
 capes them. So we read, Mark iii. 5, " Being grieved 
 for the blindness — hardness — of their hearts." So 
 Rom. xi. 25, ^^ Blindness — hard7iess— in part hath 
 happened to Israel." Ephesians iv. 18, "Because 
 of the blindness — hardness — of their hearts." 2 Cor. 
 iii. 14, "Their minds were blinded — hardened:" 
 and elsewhere. Now, if in these and other j)laces, 
 the disorder advei-ted to were a blindness occasioned 
 by desiccnlion of the visual agents, or any of their 
 parts, whether arising fi-om causes already suggested, 
 or from any other, then we readily jierceive by what 
 means the two ideas oi bli7idness and hardness might 
 originate from the same word ; and that, in fact, both 
 renderings may be correct, since by one we are led 
 to tlie cause, hardness; and by the other to the 
 effect, blindness. 
 
 These observations are intended to parry remarks 
 which have been raised from this commission given 
 by God to the prophet. Some have said, God com- 
 mands the prophet to do a certain thing to this peo- 
 ple, and then punishes the people : nay, this appears 
 stronger still, where the passage is quoted, as, (John 
 xii. 40.) He hath blinded their eyes and hardened 
 their hearts ; which seems to be contradictory to 
 Matt. xiii. 1.5, where the people themselves are said 
 to have closed their own eyes: and so Acts xxviii. 
 27. These seeming contradictions are very easily 
 reconciled. God, by giving plenty and abundance, 
 affords the means of the people's abusing his good- 
 ness, and becoming both over-fat with food, and in- 
 toxicated with drink ; and thus, his very beneficence 
 may be said to make their heart fat, and their ej'es 
 heavy: while at the same time, the peo))le by their 
 own act, their over-feeding, become unwieldy — in- 
 dolent — bloated — o\er-fat at heart ; and, moreover, 
 so stupified by liquor and strong drink, that their 
 eyes ;md ears inay be useless to them : with wide 
 open eyes, "staring, they may stare, but not perceive ; 
 and listening, they may hear, but not understand ;" 
 and in this lethargic state they will continue ; pre- 
 femng it to a more sedate, rational condition, and 
 refusing to forbear from prolonging the causes of it, 
 lest at any sober interval they should see truly with 
 their eyes, and hear acciuately with their ears ; in 
 consequence of which they should be shocked at 
 theinselves, be conveited, be changed from such 
 misconduct, and T shoidd heal them ; should cure 
 these delusory effecls of their surfeits and dissolute- 
 ness. Company Isaiah v. 11 ; xxviii. 7. Where is 
 now the contradiction between these diftereut repre- 
 Gentations of the sani? event ? — Is it not an occurrence 
 of daily notoriety, that (Jod gives, but the sinner abuses 
 Jiis gitis to his own injury, of body and mind ? 
 
 This may also hint a reason why our Lord spoke 
 in parables ; that is, t'je jjeoplt! were too much stu- 
 ])ified to see the plain and r-linple truth ; but their 
 attention might possibly be gained by a tale, or be 
 caught by an inference. 
 
 liccause the customs of our countrv do neither 
 
 authorize, nor tolerate, the maiming of a criminal by 
 way of punishment, we are (happily for us) incapable 
 of entering into the spirit of several passages of Scrip- 
 ture ; for instance, those which speak of not merely 
 loss of sight, but loss of the eyes, also, the organs of 
 sight ; that is, of blindness, occasioned by a forcible 
 extraction of the eye itself: nevertheless, till we 
 proj)erly understand this dej)lorable condition, we 
 shall not adequately compi-ehend the exertion of 
 that power which could restore the faculty of sight, 
 by restoring the organ of that inq)ortant sense. We 
 wish to impress this on the i-eader ; and to present 
 to his conception the inevitable and remediless mis- 
 ery of the unhappy sufferers under such a calamity; 
 winch is a punishment constantly used in the East 
 for rebellion or treason. 
 
 " Mahommed Khan .... not long after I left 
 Persia, his eyes were cut out. (Hanway, p. 924.) 
 The close of this hideous scene (of punishment) was 
 au order to cut out the eyes of this unhappy man : 
 the soldiers were dragging him to this execution, 
 while he begged with bitter cries that he might 
 rather suffer death, (p. 203.) Sadoc Aga had his 
 beard cut off, his face rubbed with dirt, and his eyes 
 were cut out. (p. 201.) The Persians regard blind 
 men as dead ;" and indeed they are ever after a dead 
 weight on their families, who maintain them, with 
 gi-eat trouble, and who ever have them l)efore their 
 eyes. Tliis is the reason why they are not put to 
 death at once. 
 
 "As we approached Astrabad, we met several 
 armed horsemen carrying home the peasants whose 
 eyes had been ])Ut out, the blood yet running down 
 their faces." (p. 201.) Chardin relates an instance 
 of a king of Imiretta, who lived in this condition. 
 (p. 180.) Hearing a conqilaint of continual wars, 
 " I am sorry for it, re])lietl the king, but I cannot help 
 it : for I am a poor blind man ; and they make me do 
 what they themselves please. I dare not discover 
 myself to any one whatever ; I mistrust all the 
 world ; and yet I surrender myself to all, not daring 
 to offend any bodj^, for fear of being assassinated by 
 every body. This poor prince is young and well 
 shaped : and he always wears a handkerchief over 
 the upper part of his face, to wipe up the rheum 
 that distils from the holes of liis eyes ; and to hide 
 such a hideous sight from those who come to visit 
 him." 
 
 Let us now consider tlie anaioinical force of some 
 expressions in the prophet Isaiah : he speaks of a 
 person who was to bind up the broken hearted, also, 
 to open the eyes that were blinded, i. e. total blind- 
 ness itself, as the word seems to imply, 2 Kings xxv. 
 7. for did not Nebuchadnezzar punish Zedekiah 
 with the usual punishment for high treason, or re- 
 bellion, (as we have seen above,) bj^ ciuting out his 
 eyes, in order to blind him efl'ectually ? See also Jer. 
 xxxix. 7 ; Iii. 11. 
 
 The evangelist Luke (iv. 18.) seems to allude to 
 such an inq)ort of the word, and to such a fact: 
 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me . . to give to 
 the blind restoration of sight, remobility of the eyes," 
 uvui).iii-ir. The j)ower which could bind up the 
 broken heart, coidd also restore the eye-balls to their 
 deprived sockets, and give them every faculty which 
 th(\v had long lost. L<-'t the reader well consider and 
 admire this j)ower. Let him also ai)j)laud the cor- 
 rect and happy ])hrascology of the evangelist, whom 
 tradition reports to have been the "beloved physi- 
 cian." In perfect coincidence with this, Mr. Ches- 
 selden observes, (Philosoi)hical Transactions, No.
 
 BLINDNESS 
 
 [ 197 1 
 
 BLO 
 
 402.) that he had couched several bhud persons ; 
 and they all had been " mightily perplexed after the 
 operation, how to move their eyes, iiaviug had no 
 occasion to move them during their blindness ; and 
 they were a long time before they could attain this 
 faculty, and before they could direct them to any 
 object which they wished to inspect :" that is, they 
 were long in recovering that uruiiXupir which our 
 Lord communicated perfectly in an instant. The 
 same evangelist uses a very descriptive expression 
 of our Lord's manner of doing such a kindness : 
 (Luke vii. 2L) "And to many who were blind he 
 freely made a present of sigiit ; [f/atJiauTu t'u [i/.f.uiy ;) 
 the word is not now inu,-(/.fi/ n, but simply /J-U',iEn' ; 
 which seems to justify the stronger import we have 
 ascribed to the former word : while the term f/uQiauTo 
 expresses the graceful readiness of the donor's 
 action. 
 
 Mr. Pope has two lines which have been much 
 applauded: speaking of the Messiah, he says, 
 
 He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, 
 And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day. 
 
 Critics might remark the fallacy of the metaphor 
 in the first hue, since the visual ray (that is, of light) 
 has no film from which to be purged, whatever the 
 visual waij (the passage for light into the eye) might 
 have. But our observations lead us to the second 
 line, which, however happily expressed, is inferior in 
 strength to the prophet ; who not only includes the 
 restoration of ability for vision to the sightless eye- 
 ball, but also, perhaps, the restoration of the eye-ball 
 itself to its proper place, and to its rolling activity : 
 
 He from thick films shall clear the visual course. 
 The rolling ball restore, with all its former force. 
 
 Whether the application of the instances above 
 quoted to the case of Zedekiah, and to the word 
 used in reference to him, may be admitted without 
 hesitation, we will not determine. But an instance 
 of wluit may certainly be considered as a loss of the 
 eye-ball itself, occurs in the case of Samson, 
 Judges xvi. 21. "The Philistines took him and 
 (iij^y-rN npji) bored — dug out — his very eyes:" treat- 
 ing him as a rebel. Well might he, therefore, after- 
 wards speak of being "avenged on them for the 
 loss of his two eyes," verse 28. " O dark, dark, dark, 
 beyond the reach of light !" This shows also the 
 barbarity of Nahash, (1 Sam. xi. 2.) who proposed to 
 " thrust out," scoop out — hollow out — the right eyes 
 of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilcad. This shows, 
 too, the severity of the punishment assigned to "the 
 eye that mocketh at his father, and desi)iseth to oI)ey 
 his n)other ; the ravens of the valley shall pick it out ; 
 and the young eagles shall eat it :" — that is, it shall 
 suffer the pimishment of rebellion and treason. And 
 finally, this shows the strong language of the rebels 
 in the conspiracy of Korah, Numb. xvi. 14. " Wilt 
 thou (Moses) bore out the eyes of these men ?" — wilt 
 thou subject them to total and irrejiarable blindness ? 
 — otherwise, q. d. " Is it in thy power to punish so 
 extensive a conspiracy, as thou mightest punish a 
 !• ingle reljcl ?" 
 
 If therefore the instances mentioned by Hanway 
 and Chardin are not to l)e considered as altogctiier 
 coincident with that of Zedekiah, since then the his- 
 torian might have used the jMoper word to express 
 such a forced extraction of the eye-ball, yet they will 
 apply to the passages subsequently quoted ; an 1 
 
 they will justify the different senses of the word blind- 
 ness, according to the nature and origin of its cause. 
 
 The idea of blindness seems evidentiv to varv in 
 its strength :—( John ix. 40.) "I am come into "this 
 world that they who see not might see ; and that 
 they who see might become blind;" not totally 
 blind, as those who have lost their eye-balls, but in a 
 smaller degree. " The Pharisees said, Are we blind 
 also ? — If ye were bhnd — absolutely, inevitably bhnd 
 — blind through any calamitous disjjensation of 
 Providence — ye should have no sin ; but now ye 
 say. We see ; therefore your sin remaineth." 
 
 Ignorance is a kind of blindness often no less fatal 
 tlian privation of sight ; and partial or deficient in- 
 formation is Uttle better than ignorance : so we find 
 Closes saying to Hobab, " Leave us not, I pray thee ; 
 forasmuch as thou knowest how we ought to encamp 
 in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead 
 of eyes," Numb. x. 3L The necessity and propriety 
 of such a guide will appear from considerations 
 easily gathered from the following extract ; and the 
 description of a person of this character will be inter- 
 esting, though it cannot be equally interesting to us 
 who travel on hedge-bounded turnpike roads, as to 
 an individual about to take his passage across the 
 Great Desert. If it be said, in the case of Moses, the 
 angel who conducted the camp might have ap[)ointed 
 its stations, without the assistance of Hobab ; we an 
 swer, it might have been so ; but, as it is now the 
 usual course of Providence to act by means, even to 
 accomplish the most certain events ; and as no man 
 who has neglected any means, has now the smallest 
 right to expect an interposition of Providence on his 
 behalf; so we strongly doubt, wliether it would not 
 have been a failing, an act of presumption, in Rloses, 
 had he omitted this application to Hobab ; or, indeed, 
 any other, suggested by his good sense and under- 
 standing. " A Hybeer is a guide ; from the Arabic 
 word Hubbar, to inform, instruct, or direct, because 
 they are used to do this office to the caravan travel- 
 ling through the Desert, in all its directions, whether 
 to Egypt and back again, the coast of the Red sea, or 
 the countries of Sudan, and the western extremities 
 of Africa. They are men of great consideration, 
 knowing perfectly the situation aud properties of all 
 kinds of vvater, to be met on the route ; the distances 
 of wells ; whether occupied by enemies or not ; and 
 if so, the way to avoid them with the least inconve- 
 nience. It is also necessary to them to know the 
 places occupied by the simoom, aufl the seasons of 
 their blowing in those parts of the desert ; likewise 
 those occu])ied by moving sands. He generally be- 
 long- to some powerful tribe of Arabs inhabiting 
 these deserts, whose protection he makes use of, to 
 assist his canivans, or protect them in time of dan- 
 ger ; and handsome rewards ai'c ah\a}'s in his power 
 to dislribute on such occasions ; but now that the 
 Arabs in these deserts are every where without gov- 
 ernment, the trade between Abyssinia and Cairo 
 given over, that between Sudan and the metropohs 
 much diminished, the importance of that office of 
 Hybeer, and its consideration, is fallen in ])roportiou, 
 and with these the safe conduct ; and Me shall see 
 ])resently a caravan cut off by the treachery of the 
 ver}' Hybeers that conducted them ; the first in- 
 stance of the kind that ever happened." Bruce, vol. 
 iv. p. 5SG. 
 
 BLOOD was forbidden to the Hebrews, either alone, 
 or mixed with flesh ; that is, creatures suffocated, or 
 killed without discharging the blood from them ; iDe- 
 cause the life of the creature is in its blood. Lev.
 
 BLOOD 
 
 [ 193] 
 
 BLOOD 
 
 Xvii. 11. According to this notiou is Virgil's ex- 
 pression, describing the death of Rhastus, 
 
 Pui*puream vomit ille animam. ^neid. ix. 349* 
 
 and from hence proceed several acceptations of the 
 word blood : 
 
 (1.) For life, Gen. ix. 5 ; Matt, xxvii. 25 ; Gen. iv. 
 10 ; Dent. xix. 6 ; Numb. xxxv. 24, 27.— (2.) Rela- 
 tionship, or consanguinity. Lev. xviii. 6 ; Esth. x^ i. 
 10. Apoc.—{S.) Flesh and blood (signifying the ani- 
 mal frame) are placed in opposition to superior 
 nature, Matt. xvi. 17 ; 1 Cor. xv. 50, &c. — (4.) David 
 said he would not drink the blood of his heroes, who 
 had exposed their lives to bring him water from the 
 well of Bethlehem ; (1 Chron. xi. 19.) the water 
 which had been so near costing them their lives. — 
 (5.) God reserved to himself the blood of all sacri- 
 fices ; he being absolute master of life and death. 
 The blood of animals was poured upon his altar, or 
 at the foot of his altar, according to the nature of the 
 sacrifice ; and if the teinj)le were too remote, it was 
 poured upon the gi-ound, and covered with dust. 
 The blood of the sacrifice in the Old Testament was 
 figurative of that blood which our Redeemer, as the 
 great sacrifice, poured fortli tor us, for the forgive- 
 ness of sins. " A man of blood," " a husband of 
 blood," is a cruel and sanguinary man, a husband 
 purchased with blood, or who is tlie occasion and 
 cause of the effusion of his sou's blood ; thus, Zip- 
 porah called her husband, Moses, when she had 
 circumcised her son ; because she had to redeem 
 the life of her husband by circumcising her son, by a 
 bloody rite, Ex. iv. 25 ; or, as others render it, " Thou 
 art now a husband to me by blood," that is, by the 
 blood of the covenant, by circumcision. " To build 
 one's house with blood ;" (Hab. ii. 12.) with oppres- 
 sion, and the blood of the unhappy. "To wash 
 one's feet in blood," to obtain a signal and bloody 
 victory, Ps. Iviii. 10. The Vulgate reads, to ivash 
 his hands ; the Hebrew, he shall ivash his feet. " I 
 will visit the blood of Jezreel," I will avenge the 
 blood which Jezebel hath shed there. "The moon 
 shall be changed into blood," (Joel ii. 31.) shall ap- 
 pear red like blood, as it does, in some degree, 
 during a total eclipse. Ezek. xvi. G, "I said unto 
 thee, even when thou wast in thy blood, Live." I 
 saw thee polluted with the blood of thy birth, and, 
 notwithstanding this impurity, I gave thee life. 
 
 Tlie reader, probably, has never remarked, in the 
 expression of David respecting Joab, (1 Kings ii. 5.) 
 any thing beyond a simple idea of shedding blood 
 luilawfully ; and that viay be a sufiicient acceptation 
 of tlie passage ; yet, we think, it may acquire a 
 spirit at least, if not an illustration, by comparison 
 with the following history. Tlie dying king says to 
 Solomon, his successor, "Thou kuowest what Joab, 
 the son of Zeniiah, did to me and to the two chiefs 
 of Israel, Aimer and Amasa, tiiat lie slew them, and 
 shed the blood of war (blood which only might be 
 shed in fair and open warfare) in peace, under 
 friendly professions, and put (sjjriukled) the blood of 
 war into his girdle, which was on liis loins ; (that is, 
 on the very front of his girdle ;) and into the shoes 
 which were on his feet," that is, into the front of his 
 shoes. It is evident that David means to describe 
 the violence of Joab, the eflects of which seem to 
 have been coincident with the sentiment of the 
 valiant Abdollali, " wlio went out and definided him- 
 self, to the terror and astonishment of his enemies, 
 killing a great many with his own hand, so that they 
 
 kept at a distance, and threw bricks at him, and made 
 him stagger; and when he felt the blood run down 
 his face and beard, he repeated this verse : 
 
 ' The blood of our Avounds doth not fall down on our 
 heels, but on our feet ;' 
 
 meaning, that he did not turn his back on his ene- 
 mies ; but that his blood fell in front, not behind." 
 (Ockley's Hist. Saracens, vol. ii. p. 291.) In like 
 manner, the blood shed by Joab fell on his feet, " on 
 his shoes," says David ; it was not inadvertent- 
 ly, but purposely shed ; shed in a hardened, un- 
 feeling manner ; with malice aforethought ; with 
 ferocity, rather than valor. This explanation is very 
 different from Mr. Harmer's, vol. iii. p. 312. [and 
 must be regarded as far-fetched. R. 
 
 The blood of Jesus Christ is the price of our salva- 
 tion; "his blood has purchased his church," Acts xx. 
 28. "We are justified by his blood," Rom. v. 9. 
 "We have redemption through his blood," Eph. i. 
 7 ; Col. i. 14. " By his blood he hath pacified all 
 things in heaven and earth," Col. i. 20. " By his 
 own blood he entered in once into the holy place, hav- 
 ing obtained eternal redemption for us," Heb. ix. 12. 
 — For the phrase Avenger of Blood, see Revenge. 
 
 No discovery made more noise in the inquisitive 
 world, than the accounts given by Mr. Bruce relat- 
 ing to the eating of blood. Many were the ill- 
 advised conmients and additions to which the first 
 reports of this custom gave rise ; and it was proba- 
 bly attributable to these comments that the publica- 
 tion of his work was so long delayed. The reader 
 will find below that particular incident, which was 
 related very differently, by reporters, from what Mr. 
 B. himself relates it ; it is given partly as an act of 
 justice to that travellei-'s memory, as well as because 
 it elucidates a striking passage in Holy Writ. 
 
 Not only did the Mosaic law forbid the eating of 
 blood, but the prohibition appears to be one of the 
 earliest injunctions given to renovated mankind ; (Gen. 
 ix. 4.) "The fife, i.e. the blood thereof, shall you not 
 eat." This was renewed in most positive terms, in Lev. 
 xvii. 10. and remarkably in verses 12. and 15. where 
 the stranger also is included in the prohibition, under 
 the most rigorous penalty. Now it is reasonably 
 asked, Unless tins custom had been known to Moses, 
 or used in his time, wherefore insert the regulation ? 
 wherefore forbid what was never practised ? That 
 this is now actually ordinarily jjractised in Abyssinia, 
 we have the testimony of Mr. Bruce ; and Mr. Hodges 
 also (Travels in India, j). 93. 4to.) i-elates, that he was 
 present at a sacrifice among the mountaineers of Hin- 
 dostan, where those assembled at their annual cere- 
 mony, after the head of tlie ox was separated by the 
 chief with a sabre, ate the still bleeding flesh, and 
 the blood which remained in it. It appears, also, 
 that there are tribes in Africa, whose slight manner 
 of roasting their food is little different from eating it 
 raw ; and if it were not personal to ourselves, as a 
 nation, it might be said, that we ate various kinds of 
 fish, as oysters, &c. raw ; while yet we are surprised 
 at those who feed on snails, and at those who feast 
 on locusts. — So difterent are the manners of man- 
 kind ! and so startling are their apprehensions of 
 the customs of others! For the rest let us hear Mr. 
 Bruce : — 
 
 " Not long aft;er our losing sight of the ruins of this 
 ancient capital of Abyssinia, we overtook three trav- 
 ellers, driving a cow before them ; they had black 
 goat-skins upon their shoulders, and lances and
 
 BLOOD 
 
 [ 199 
 
 BOA 
 
 shields iu their hands ; in other respects they were 
 but thinly clothed; they appeared to be soldiers. 
 The cow did not seem to be fatted for killing, and it 
 occurred to us all that it had been stolen. This, 
 however, was not our business, nor was such an oc- 
 currence at all remarkable iu a country so long en- 
 gaged in war. We saw that our attendants attached 
 themselves, in a particular manner, to the three sol- 
 diers that were driving the cow, and held a short 
 conversation with thein. Soon after, we arrived at 
 the hithermost bank of the river, where I thought 
 we were to pitch our tent ; the drivers suddenly 
 tripped up the cow, and gave the poor animal a very 
 rude fall upon the gi-ound, which was but the begin- 
 ning of her sufferings. One of them sat across her 
 neck, holding down her head by the horns, another 
 twisted the halter about her fore feet, while the third, 
 who had a knife in his hand, to my very great sur- 
 prise, in place of taking her by the throat, got astride 
 upon her belly, before her hind legs, and gave her a 
 very deep wound in the upper part of the buttock. 
 From the time I had seen them throw the beast 
 upon the ground, I had rejoiced, thinking that when 
 three people were kilhng a cow, they must have 
 agreed to sell part of her to us ; and I was much 
 disappointed at hearing the Abyssinians say, that we 
 were to pass the river to the other side, and not en- 
 camp where I intended. Upon my proposing they 
 should bargain for part of the cow, my men answer- 
 ed, what they had already learned in conversation — 
 ' that they were not then to kill her, that she was 
 not wholly theirs, and they could not sell her.' This 
 awakened my curiosity ; I let my people go forward, 
 and staid myself, till I saw, with the utmost aston- 
 ishment, two pieces, thicker and longer than our 
 ordinary beef steaks, cut out of the higher part of 
 the buttock of the beast : how it was done I cannot 
 positively say, because, judging the cow was to be 
 killed from the luoment I saAv the knife drawn, I 
 was not anxious to view that catastrophe, which was 
 by no means an object of curiosity ; whatever way it 
 was done, it surely was adroitly ; and the two pieces 
 were spread upon the outside of one of their shields. 
 One of them still continued holding the head while 
 the other two were busied in curing the A\ound. 
 This, too, was not done in an ordinary manner ; the 
 skin, which had covered the flesh that was taken 
 away, was left entire, and flapped over the wound, 
 and was fastened to the corresponding part by two 
 or more small skewers or pins : whether they had 
 put any thing under the skin, between that and the 
 wounded flesh, I know not ; but, at tiie river side 
 where they were, they had prepared a cataplasm of 
 clay, with whicli they covered the wound ; they 
 then forced the animal to rise, and drove it on be- 
 fore them, to furnish them with a fuller meal when 
 thev should meet their companions in the evening." 
 Travels, vol. iii. p. J 42. 
 
 In various jjarts of his Travels, Mr. B. asserts the 
 eating of flesh raw, the animal being killed on the 
 outside of the door, for the entertainment of a 
 company within. Thig raw flesh, he says, is called 
 "6nnrf,-" he mentions it as given even to the sick by 
 their friends ; and he explains a disorder which it 
 produces. He says, he ate of it himself, and (to no- 
 tice the force of custom) on this he lived a long 
 time together ; — in fact, the soldiery scarcely have, 
 or can have, any other food. The following hints 
 are introductorv to his remarks on the historv of 
 Saul : (1 Sam. xiv. 33.) 
 f « Wp have an instance, in the life of Saul, that 
 
 shows the propensity of the Israelites to this crime. 
 Saul's army, after a battle,/eu', that is, fell voraciously, 
 upon the cattle they had taken, and threw them upon 
 the ground to cut off their flesh, and eat them raw; 
 so that the army was defiled by eating blood, or liv- 
 ing animals. To prevent this, Saul caused to be 
 rolled to him a great stone, and ordered those that 
 killed their oxen, to cut their throats upon that stone. 
 This was the only lawful way of killing animals for 
 food ; the t}'ing of the ox, and throwing it upon the 
 ground, was not permitted as equivalent. The Is- 
 raelites did, probably, in that case, as the Abyssinians 
 do at this day : they cut a part of its throat, so that 
 the blood might be seen on the ground, but nothing 
 mortal to the animal followed from that wound. 
 But after laying its head upon a large stone, and cut- 
 ling its throat, the blood fell from on high, or was 
 poured on the ground like water, and sufficient 
 evidence appeared that the creature was dead, be- 
 fore it was attempted to eat it. We have seen that 
 the Abyssinians came from Palestine, a very few 
 years after this ; and we are not to doubt, that they 
 then carried with them this, with many other Jewish 
 customs, which they have continued to this day." 
 (Travels, vol. iii. p. 299.) This fact has since beeu 
 confirmed bj^ Mr. Salt ; it is termed in Abyssinia 
 " eating the shidada." 
 
 BLUE, see Purple. 
 
 BOANERGES, that is. Sons of Thunder; a 
 name given by our Saviour to the sons of Zebedee, 
 James and John, (Mark iii. 17.) on the occasion, 
 probably, of their request, that he would call for fire 
 from heaven, and destroy a certain village of the 
 Samaritans, who had refused to entertain them, Luke 
 ix. 53, 54. It is applied to them no where else in the 
 New Testament. 
 
 BOAR. The wild boar is usually thought to be 
 the parent of the swine kind. It inhabits Asia as 
 well as Europe, and retains its character and man- 
 ners in almost every climate. On the feet, as mark- 
 ing distinction, it may be observed that, though their 
 outward appearance resembles that of a cloven-footed 
 animal, yet internally they have the same number of 
 bones and joints as animals which have fingers and 
 toes ; so that the arrangement of their feet-bones 
 is, into first, and second, and third phalanges, or 
 knuckles, no less than that of the human hand. 
 Beside, therefore, the absence of rumination in the 
 hog kind, the feet of the species do not accord with 
 those of such beasts as are clean, according to the 
 established Levitical regulations. (See Animals.) 
 It will be found, also, that no carnivorous quadru- 
 peds are placed by nature in the class of animals 
 having feet divided into two parts only. Such could 
 not have been acceptable on the sacred altar ; the 
 second digestion of food (as nuist be the case with 
 creatin-es that feed on flesh, which flesh has been 
 already supported by the digestion of food, vegetable 
 or animal) being absolutely excluded. Even honey 
 was prohibited from the altar, probably, because it 
 had undergone a process not unlike digestion, in 
 the stomach of the bee. It was lawful as food to 
 man ; but not as an accompaniment to sacrifice. 
 
 The prophet figuratively complains (Ps. Ixxx. 
 13.) that the wild boar of the forest had rooted up 
 the Lord's vine ; which is understood either of Sen- 
 nacherib, or Nebuchadnezzar, or Antiochus Epiph- 
 anes, who rava^d Judea. The Hebrew word ziz 
 is taken generally for wild beasts, see Ps. 1. 11. 
 The Syriac understands it in that place of the wild 
 ass ; the Chaldee of the wild cock. [The language
 
 BOD 
 
 [ 200 
 
 BOO 
 
 in this passage, however, is only highly figurative ; 
 aud cannot with ])ropriety be thus definitely applied 
 to any individual animal. R. 
 
 I. BOAZ, or Booz, the husband of Ruth. See 
 Booz. 
 
 II. BOAZ, the name of one of those brazen pillars 
 which Solomon erected in tlie porch of the temple, 
 1 Kings vii. 21. The other, called Jachin, was on 
 the right hand of the entrance, Boaz on the left. 
 Boaz (r;-i:i) signifies strength, firmness. They wore 
 to^gether thirty-five cubits high, as in 2 Chron. iii. 
 15. i. e. each separately Vas seventeen cubits and a 
 half: 1 Kings vii. 15, and Jer. Iii. 21, say eighteen 
 cubits, in round numbers. Jeremiah says the thick- 
 ness of these columns was four fingers, for they were 
 hollow ; the circumference of them was twelve cu- 
 bits, or four cubits diameter ; the chapiter of each 
 was in ail five cubits high. These chapiters, in dif- 
 ferent parts of Scripture, are said to be of different 
 heights, of three, four, or five cubits ; because they 
 were composed of different ornaments or members, 
 which were sometimes considered as omitted, so'me- 
 times as included. The body of the chapiter was of 
 three cubits, the ornaments with which it was joined 
 to the shaft of the pillar, were of one cubit: these 
 make four cubits ; the row which was at the top of 
 the cha|)iter was also of one cubit ; in all five cubits. 
 
 BOCHIM, the place of mourners, or of iveepings, a 
 place near Gilgal, where the Hebrews celebrated 
 their solemn feasts. Here the angel of the covenant 
 appeared to them, and denounced the sinfulness of 
 their idolatry, which caused bitter weeping among the 
 peo])le ; v/hence the place had its name, Judg. ii. 10. 
 
 BODY, the animal frame of man, as distinguished 
 from his spiritual nature. James says (iii. 6.) the 
 tongue pollutes the whole body ; the whole of our 
 actions: or it influences the other members of the 
 body. Our Saviour says, (Matt. vi. 22.) " If thine 
 eye be single, thy whole body shall be fidl of light" 
 — if thy intentions be upright, thy general conduct 
 will be agreeable to that character: or, "if thine 
 eye be single," if thou art liberal and beneficent, all 
 thy actions will be good ; at least, thou wilt avoid 
 many sins A\'liich attend avarice. Paul speaks of a 
 spiritual body, in opposition to the animal, 1 Cor. xv. 
 44. The body which we animate, and which re- 
 turns to the earth, is an animal body ; but that 
 which will rise hereafter, will be spiritual, neither 
 gross, heavy, frail, nor subject to the wants which 
 oppress the j)resent body. 
 
 Body is opposed to a shadow, or figure, Colos. ii. 
 17. The ceremonies of the law are figures and 
 shadows realized in Christ and the Christian re- 
 ligion : e. g. the Jewish passover is a figure of the 
 (Jnristian passover; the sacrifice of the paschal 
 lamb is a shadow of the sacrifice of Christ. The 
 fulness of the godhead resides bodily in Jesus 
 Christ ; (Colos. ii. 9.) really, essentially. 'God dwells 
 in the saints, as in his temi)le, by his Spirit, his 
 light, his grace ; but in Jesus Cin-ist the fulness of 
 the godhead dwelt not allegorically, figuratively, and 
 cursorily, but really and essentiallv. 
 
 The l)ody of any thing, in the style of the He- 
 brews, is the very reality of the thing. The " body 
 of day," "the body of piu-ity," "the body of death," 
 "the body of sin," signify— broad day,' iimocence 
 itself, &c. "The body of death" signifies cither 
 our mortal body, or the body which" violently en- 
 gages us in sin by concu|)iscencc, and which domi- 
 neers in our members. An assembly or connnunity 
 is called a body, 1 Cor. x. 17. 
 
 " Where the body is, there the eagles assemble," 
 (Matt. xxiv. 28.) is a sort of proverb used by our 
 Saviour. In Job xxix. 30, it is said that the eagle — 
 viewing its prey from a distance — as soon as there is 
 a dead body, immediately resorts thither. Our 
 Saviour compares the nation of the Jews to a body, 
 by God, in his wrath, given up to birds and beasts of 
 prey ; wherever are Jews, there will be likewise 
 enemies to pillage them. Corpus, in good Latin 
 aiuhors, is sometimes used to signify a carcass, or 
 dead body. But in this passage, it seems to be an 
 allusion to the body of the Jews, preyed on by the 
 Roman eagles ; the eagle being the standard of that 
 people. 
 
 BOHAN, {the thumb,) a Reubenite, who had a 
 stone erected to his honor, on the frontier between 
 Judah and Benjamin, jjerhaps to commemorate his 
 exploits in the conquest of Canaan, Josh. xv. 6; 
 xviii. 17. 
 
 BOND, BONDAGE, see Slaves, Slavery. 
 BOOK, in Hebrew, noD, sepher, in Greek, plri^-og, 
 in Latin, liber. Several sorts of materials were an- 
 ciently used in making books. Plates of lead or 
 copper, the bark of trees, brick, stone, and wood, 
 were originally employed to engrave such things and 
 documents upon, as men desired to transmit to pos- 
 terity. Josephus (Antiq. lib. i. cap. 3.) speaks of two 
 columns, one of stone, the other of brick, on which 
 the children of Seth wrote their inventions, and their 
 astronomical discoveries. Porphyry mentions pil- 
 lars preserved in Crete, on which were recorded the 
 ceremonies practised by the Corybautes in their 
 sacrifices. Hesiod's works M'ere at first written on 
 tablets of lead, in the temple of the Muses in BcBotia. 
 God's laws were written on stone ; and Solon's laws 
 on wooden planks. Tablets of wood, box, and ivory 
 were common among the ancients ; Avhen they were 
 of wood only, they were oftentimes coated over with 
 wax, which received the writing inscribed on them 
 with the point of a style, or iron pen ; and what was 
 written might be effaced by the broad end of a style. 
 AfterAvards, the leaves of the palm-tree were used 
 instead of wooden planks; and also the finest and 
 thinnest bark of trees, such as the lime, the ash, the 
 maple, the elm : hence, the word liber, which de- 
 notes the inner bark of trees, signifies also a book. 
 As these barks were rolled up, to be more readily 
 carried about, the rolls were called volumen, a 
 volimie ; a name given likewise to rolls of paper, or 
 of parchment. The ancients wrote likewise on 
 linen. But the oldest material commonly employed 
 for writing upon, appears to have been the papyrus, 
 a reed very conmion in Egypt, and other places. A 
 considerable collection of MSS. written on this sub- 
 stance, which were discovered in the overwhelmed 
 city of Herculaneum, and which, under the munif- 
 icence of George IV, while prince regent, uncom- 
 mon pains were taken to restore, are thus de- 
 scribed by the Hon. Grey Bennet : ^^ The papyri are 
 joined together, and form one roll, on each sheet of 
 which the characters are printed, standing out in a 
 species of bas-relief, and singly to be read with the 
 greatest ease. As there me no stops, a difliculty, 
 however, is found in joining the letters, in making 
 out the words, and in discovering the sense of the 
 phrase. The MSS. were found in a chamber of an 
 excavated house, in the ancient Hcrcidaneum, to 
 the number of about 1800, a considerable part of 
 which are in a state to be unrolled. Herculaneum 
 was buried for the most part under a shower of hot 
 ashes. (August 24, A. D. 79.) The MSS. were,
 
 BOOK 
 
 [ 201 ] 
 
 BOOK 
 
 from the heat, reduced to a state of thider, or, to 
 speak more properly, resemblhig paper which had 
 been burnt. WJiere' the baking has not been com- 
 plete, and where any part of the vegetable juice has 
 remained, it is almost impossible to unroll them, the 
 sheets towards the centre being so closely united. 
 In the others, as you approach the centre, or conclu- 
 sion, the 3ISS. become smoother, and the work pro- 
 ceeds with greater rapidity. At present there are 
 about fifteen men at work, each occupied at a MS. . . . 
 The papyri are very rough on the outside. They 
 are of different sizes, some containing only a few 
 sheets, as a single play, othere some hundreds, and a 
 few, perhaps, two thousand." (Archaeologia, vol. 
 XV. art 9.) 
 
 The papyrus reed is still known in Sicily ; and 
 a small manufactory of it is estabhshcd in the 
 neighborhood of Syracuse, to gratify the curious. It 
 has been also found in great plenty in Chaldea, in 
 the fens, at the confluence of the Tigris and Eu- 
 phrates. Another quarter affording ancient papyri, 
 is, as already stated, Egypt ; scrolls of it containing 
 inscriptions were found by the French, during their 
 invasion of that country ; and Denon has given plates 
 of more than one. He says, " I was assured of the 
 proof "of my discovery, by the possession of a manu- 
 script, which I found in the hand of a fine nmmmy, 
 that was brought me : I perceived in its right hand, 
 and resting on the left arm, a roll of papyrus, on 
 which was a manuscript, the oldest of all the books 
 in the known world. The pap^^rus on which it is 
 written, is prepared in the same way as that of the 
 Greeks and Romans ; that is to say, of two layers of 
 the medulla of this j)lant glued to each other, with 
 the fibres made to cross, to give more consistence to 
 the leaf The writing goes from right to left, be- 
 ginning at the top of the page. Above the figure is 
 an inscription composed of seven vertical and four 
 horizontal lines : the writing is here different from 
 the rest of the manuscript, of which this is part ; and 
 the characters appear to be infinitely varied and 
 numerous. Various colors appear in the several 
 parts of the original figures — red, blue, green, and 
 black." The common name for book, sepher, or 
 fii^Xoc, seems to be taken generally ; it is used by 
 Herodotus (lib. v. cap. 58.) to denote the Egyptian pa- 
 pyrus, and it certainly means books made of that plant, 
 though the term has been thought sometimes to de- 
 scribe those made of skins, as Mark xii. 26 ; Luke iii. 4, 
 et al. Papyrus being, however, more common and less 
 costly than dressed skins, it should appear, that notes, 
 memoranda, and first draughts of writings, to be 
 afterwards more carefully revised and finished, were 
 made on j)apyrus sheets, not on skins, which were 
 used for n^ceiving the finished performance ; as 
 among our lawyers. This distinction gives a direct- 
 ly contrary import to the directions of the apostle — 
 (2 Tim. iv. 13.) "Bring with thee the books, (?i,«A<'«, 
 but especially the parchments, i(fi((9oui«," — (another 
 Latin word in Greek characters) — from what has 
 usually been supposed. The learned bishop Bull, 
 and others, have thought that the memhrana were 
 Paul's common-place book, in which he had writ- 
 ten extracts from various authors, sacred or profane ; 
 but according to the above view we may suppose 
 that the memhrana contained finished pieces, of 
 whatever kind, (which accounts for the apostle's so- 
 licitude about them,) while the papyrus books were 
 of less value and importance, being imperfect. It 
 appeal's that Herodotus uses the term hihlion for a 
 letter of no gi-eat length, (lib. i. cap. 124, 5.) and it is 
 2G 
 
 used to mark a bill or billet of divorcement, which, 
 if Lightfoot be right, was always of twelve hnes in 
 length ; neither more nor less. Matt. xiv. 7 ; Mark x. 
 4. It is possible that hiUos expresses a catalogue, or 
 list of names, (Matt. i. 1.) and this gives the true im- 
 port of the phrase " book of life," meaning, the list 
 of Christian professors, (allusive to those records of 
 names kept in the churches, comp. Acts i. 15 ; Phil, 
 iv. 3 ; Rev. iii. 5, &c.^ and these, most likely, were 
 not written on parcnment, meinbrana, but on the 
 paper most common, and least costly. (See below.) 
 
 Book is sometimes used for letters, memoirs, an 
 edict, or contract. The letters which Rabshakeh de- 
 livered from Sennacherib to Hezekiah, are called a 
 book. The English, indeed, reads letter, but the 
 LXX reads ,^(,^A/oi, and the Hebrew text n^iDDn /lasc- 
 phdrim, 2 Kings xix. 14. So is the contract which 
 Jeremiah confirmed for the purchase of a field, Jer. 
 xxxii. 10. Also Ahasuerus's edict in favor of the 
 Jews, Esth. ix. 20 ; Job (xxxi. 35.) wishes, that his 
 judge, or his adversary, would himself write his sen- 
 tence, his book. The writmg, likewise, which a man 
 gave to his wife Avhen he divorced her, was called a 
 book of divorce. 
 
 We read in Gen. v. 1, "the book of the genera- 
 tion of Adam," that is, the history of his hfe ; and 
 elsewhere, " the book of the generation of Noah," or 
 of Jesus Christ ; that is, their history. 
 
 Book of Life, or Book of the Laving, or Book of 
 the Lord, Ps. Ixix. 28. It is very probable, that 
 these descriptive phrases, which are frequent in 
 Scripture, are taken from the custom observed gen- 
 erally in the courts of princes, of keeping a list of 
 persons who are in their service, of the provinces 
 which they govern, of the officers of their armies, of 
 the numl)er of their troops, and sometimes even of 
 the names of their soldiers. Thus when Moses de- 
 sires God rather to blot him out of his book, than to 
 reject Israel, (Exod. xxxii. 32.) it is the same almost as 
 Paul's expi-essiou, in some sort, to be accursed, (Rom. 
 ix. 3.) separated from the company of the saints, and 
 struck out of the book of the Lord, for the benefit 
 of his people. (See Anathema.) When it is said, 
 that any one is written in the book of life, it means 
 that he particularly belongs to God, is enrolled among 
 the numljer of his friends and servants. When it is 
 said, "blotted out of the book of life," this signifies, 
 erased from the list of God's friends and servants ;^ 
 as those who are guilty of treacheiy are struck off 
 the roll of officers belonging to a prince. It is prob- 
 able, also, that the primitive Christian churches 
 kept lists of their members, in which those recently 
 admitted were enrolled : these would take a title 
 analogous to that of the book of life, or the Lamb's 
 book of life : as this term occurs principally in the 
 Revelation, it seems likely to be derived from such a 
 custom. Something of the same nature we have in 
 Isaiah iv. 3, where the prophet alludes to such as 
 were " wTitten among the living in Jerusalem ;" that 
 is, enrolled among the citizens of that city of God ; 
 to which the Christian church was afterwards com- 
 l)ared. In a more exalted sense, the book of life 
 signifies the book of predestination to glory, faith, 
 and grace ; or the register of those who through 
 grace have persevered to eternal life. 
 
 Book of Judgment. Daniel says, "Judgment 
 was set, and the books were opened," vii. 10. This 
 is an allusion to what is practised, when a prince 
 calls his servants to account. The accounts are pro- 
 duced, and inquired into. It is possible he might 
 allude also to a custom of the Persians, among whom
 
 BOOK 
 
 [ 202 ] 
 
 BOOK 
 
 it was a constant practice every day to write down 
 what had happened, the senices done for the king, 
 and the rewards given to those who had performed 
 them ; as we see in the histoiy of Ahasuerus and Mor- 
 decai, Esth. ii. 23 ; vi. 1, 2. When, therefore, the 
 king sits in judgment, the books are opened, and he 
 compels all his servants to reckon with hini ; he 
 punishes those who have been failing in their duty, 
 compels those to pay wJio are indebted to hiin, and 
 rewards those who have done liini services. There 
 will be, in a manner, a similar proceeding at the day 
 of God's final judgment. 
 
 For the book of Jasher : — of the wars of the Lord : 
 — of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, and the 
 respective books of Scripture. See Bibl.e, ad iiiit. 
 
 The Book, or Flying Roll, spoken of in Zecha- 
 riah, (v. 1,2.) twenty cubits long, and ten wide, was one 
 of those old rolls, composed of many skins, or parch- 
 ments, glued or sewed together at the end. Though 
 some of the (rolls) volumes were very long, yet none, 
 probably, was ever made of such a size as this. 
 This contained the curses and calamities which 
 should befall the Jews. The extreme length and 
 breadth of it, show the excessive number and enor- 
 mity of their sins, and the extent of their punish- 
 ment. 
 
 Isaiah, describing the effects of God's wrath, says, 
 " The heavens shall be folded up like a book," 
 [scroll,] Isa. xxxiv. 4. He alludes to the way among 
 the ancients, of rolling up books, when they purposed 
 to close them. A volume of several feet in length 
 was suddenly rolled up into a very small compass. 
 Thus the heavens should shrink into themselves, and 
 disappeai-, as it were, from the eyes of God, when his 
 wrath should be kindled. These ways of speaking 
 are figurative, and very energetic. 
 
 It is related in the books of the Maccabees, that 
 the Jews, when suffering persecution from Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, laid open the book of the law, wherein 
 the Gentiles endeavored to find delineated figures of 
 idols, 1 Mace. iii. 48. Some believe, that the Jews 
 laid open before the Lord the sacred books, wherein 
 the Gentiles had in vain sought for something where- 
 by to support their idolatry ; others think, tliey laid 
 open the sacred writings, wherein the Gentiles were 
 desirous to paint figm-es of tlieir idols : — otherwise, 
 the Hebrews laid o|)pn their sacred books, wherein 
 the Gentiles had sought diligently whether they could 
 not find figures of some of the deities adored by the 
 Jews ; — for the Gentiles were very uneasy on this sub- 
 ject, some believing that the Jews worshipped an ass, 
 or a living man, or Bacchus, or a something which 
 they would not own. With some small variation ia 
 the Greek text, it might be translated thus: "They 
 laid open the book of the law, at the same time that 
 the Gentiles consulted the images of their false 
 gods." 
 
 Books eaten. "Insomuch that the Turks said 
 frequently and justly of them, that other nations 
 had their learning in their books, but the Tartars 
 HAD EATEN THEIR BOOKS, au'l hail thcir tvisdotii in 
 their breasts, from whence they could draw it out as 
 they had occasion, as divine oracles." (Busbequius, 
 Trav. p. 245.Kng.tr.) This may lead us to the 
 true idea of the prophets, when they mention the 
 eating of books presented to them ; i. e. that the 
 knowledge tliey had received should be communi- 
 cate<l to others, from time to time, as wanted : they 
 were treasures (nor for themselves, but for otiiers) of 
 wisdom and knowledge. 
 
 It may lie added, that as iIk- papyrus plant Avas 
 
 (and is) eaten, at least in part, the idea of eating a 
 book made of it, is not so completely foreign from 
 the nature of the article, as it would be, if such a 
 thing Avere proposed among ourselves ; or, as eating 
 a book made of skins would be. 
 
 Captain Clapperton mentions a most remarkable 
 custom which he found in the interior of South 
 Africa, that is worthy of notice, in connection with 
 this subject. It is this ; where the Mahometan con- 
 verts do not understand the Arabic language, the 
 most appi-oved mode of imbibing the contents of 
 the Koran is by tracing the characters with a sub- 
 stance on a smooth, black board, then Avashiug them 
 off, and swallowing the liquid ! 
 
 The Sealed Book, mentioned Isaiah xxix. 11, 
 and the book sealed with seven seals in the Reve- 
 lation, (chap. V. 1 — 3.) are the prophecies of Isaiah, 
 and of John, which were written in a book, after 
 the manner of the ancients, and were sealed ; that 
 is, they were unknown, and mysterious ; they 
 had respect to times remote, and to future events, 
 so that no knowledge could be derived from them, 
 till the time should come, and the seals were taken 
 off. In early times, letters, and other writings that 
 were to be sealed, were first wrapped round 
 with thread or flax, and then wax and the seal were 
 applied to them. To read them, it was necessary to 
 cut the thread, or flax, and to break the seals. With 
 regard to this particular book, however, Mr. Taylor 
 thinks he has found something of the kind among 
 the pictures discovered at Herculaneum. It repre- 
 sents a book of a considerable size, the leaves bound 
 together at the back, and two of them joined to- 
 gether, so that only their external faces are visible, 
 or open for the inspection of writing ; their internal 
 faces being either blank, or, if written on, their con- 
 tents not to be read, till after the leaves are separat- 
 ed. The book of Avhich he gives an engraving 
 actually does disclose the writing on two pages, 
 those leaves being opened, while two other pages 
 continue closed by the union of the two leaves on 
 which they are inscribed. It is generally thought, 
 that the phrase " written Avithin and without" de- 
 notes writing on both sides of the rolled skin, but 
 if the book were of this form, it is doubtful ; but it 
 may, very probably, be questioned, Avhether it mean 
 any thing beyond being written on both pages. 
 Certainly, no part of the subject treated of in the 
 book was written on the outside ; nothing more than 
 the title, if that; since, in that case, it must have been 
 exposed to view, as the sealing of the leaves did 
 not enclose it. 
 
 There is a phrase in Ps. xl. which Mr. Taylor 
 has attempted to illustrate. " In the volume of the 
 book it is written of me" — which the LXX render, 
 in the head (zf </«/(';.■) of the book. Chrysostom has 
 described this cephalis as a wrapper (fi'-'ti/a ); and 
 supposed, that on this was written a Avord, or Avords, 
 Avhich imported, "about the coming of the Mes- 
 siah ;" and Aquila uses the sam<! Avord to express 
 what Ave render volume. Ajiplying this idea, Mr. 
 Harmer says, (Obs. Aol. iv. p. 10; c. viii. Obs. 4.) 
 "The thought is not only clear and distinct, but very 
 energetic ; amounting to this, that the sum and sub- 
 stance of the sacred l)ooks is, 'The Messiah Com- 
 eth ;' and that those AVords accordingly might be 
 Avritten, or embroidered, Avith great ])ropriety on the 
 Avrapper, or cas(\ Avherein they Avere kept." Noaa', 
 admitting iNIr. Ihirmer's conclusion to be just, 3Ir. 
 Taylor thinks he has discovered better premises for 
 it in a picture foiuid at Herculaneum, than Mr. H.
 
 BOO 
 
 [ 203 ] 
 
 BOS 
 
 had assigned. This painting represents a portable 
 book-case, apparently made of leather, and of the 
 description kno^\^l to the Romans by tlie name of 
 scrinium. It is tilled with rolled books, each of 
 which has a ticket or label ajipended to it, and which 
 is probably the genuine capituluni or argiuncnt of 
 the book. " The words of the Psalm, then, may l)e 
 taken to intimate that the head, cephalis, capitulum, 
 label or ticket appended to the volume, or roll, was thus 
 inscribed ; and in this view, the capitulum answered 
 the purpose of the lettering on the l)acks of our books. 
 The passage, then, may be thus understood : — Burnt- 
 ofl'ering and sacrifice were not what thou didst re- 
 quire ; they were not according to thy will. Then 
 said I, Lo, I come, as in the roll (label) of the book is 
 written concerning nie ; — I delight to accomplish thy 
 will. The engraving given by jMr. Taylor shows, 
 that these small labels were capable of being rolled 
 up, till they were close to the gi-eater roll to Avhich 
 they belonged ; as seems to be the meaning of the 
 Hebrew term. 
 
 [The suggestion of Mr. Harmer above is ingenious, 
 i)Ut seems hardly to be required, or even admitted, by 
 the words of the context. The roll of the book, by 
 way of eminence, would seem to refer to the book of 
 the law ; nor is anv different tei-m given to it in Heb. 
 X. 7. R. 
 
 BOOTH, a tent made of poles, and used as a 
 lem|Jorary residence. See Tent. 
 
 BOOTY, spoil. It was appointed by Moses, that 
 booty taken from the enemy should bo divided 
 equally between those who w^ere in the battle and 
 the rest of the people ; (Numb. xxxi. 27.) that is, into 
 two parts, the first for those who had been in the 
 action ; the other for those who had continued in the 
 camp. He adds, " Ye shall likewise separate the 
 Lord's share, which ye shall take out of the whole 
 booty belonging to the men of w'ar ; and of everj' five 
 hundred men, oxen, asses, or sheep, ye shall take one 
 and give it to the high-priest, because these are the 
 Lord's first-fruits. As to the other moiety, which shall 
 belong to the children of Israel, who did not fight ; out 
 of every fifty men, oxen, asses, or sheep, or other ani- 
 mals, whatsoever, ye shall take one and give it to the 
 Levites, who have the charge of the tabernacle of the 
 Lord." So that the share of Eleazar, and of the 
 priest, was nuich larger in proportion than that of anj^ 
 one of the 12,000 soldiers who had been in action, 
 and than that of the Levites. And what was prac- 
 tised on this occasion became a law^ for ever after ; 
 an instance of which appears in what happened un- 
 der David, after the defeat of the Amalekites, who 
 had plundered Ziklag. The captives given to the 
 high-priest, no doubt, became slaves ; were they 
 slaves of the high-priest personally, or of the temple ? 
 If to the temple, were they not like the Gibeonites, 
 the Nethinim, and others engaged in menial ofiices, 
 as hewers of wood, and drawers of water ? Did their 
 descendants also occupy the same stations ? 
 
 The rabbins allege that under the kings of Israel, 
 another rule was followed in distributing the spoil. 
 First, every thing was given to the king, which had 
 belonged to the conquered king ; his tent, his slaves, 
 his cattle, his spoils, his treasure. After this, the re- 
 mainder of the booty being divided into two equal 
 parts, the king had one moiety, and the soldiers had 
 the other. This last part was distributed equally 
 between the soldiers who had been in the action, and 
 those who continued behind to guard the cfunj). 
 They assert, that these rules had been established 
 ever since the time of Abraham. It is difl^cult, in- 
 
 deed, to prove this; but we know that Abraham 
 offered to the Lord the tenth of what he had taken 
 from the five kings, and this tithe he made a present 
 to Melchiscdek. 
 
 BOOZ, or BoAZ, one of our Saviour's ancestors 
 according to the flesh, son of Salmon and Rahab, a 
 Canaanitess of Jericho, whom Sahnon, of the tribe of 
 Judah, married. Some say, there were three of this 
 name, the son, grandson, and great-grandson of Sal- 
 mon ; the last being husband of Ruth, and father of 
 Obed. This they believe to be the only way in 
 which Scripture can be reconciled with itself, since 
 it reckons 366 years between Salmon's marriage and 
 the birth of David, and yet mentions only three per- 
 sons between Salmon and David, viz. Booz, Obed, 
 and Jesse. But though it is difficult to fill so great a 
 space with four persons from father to son, succeed- 
 ing one another, and though it is imcommon to see 
 four persons in the same family successively, living 
 very long, and having children when far advanced 
 in age, yet, as Calmet remarks, there is nothing im- 
 possible in it ; particularly at that time, when many 
 persons lived above a hundred years. Suppose Sal- 
 mon, at the age of a hundred and twenty, might be- 
 get Booz ; Booz, at a hundred, might beget Obed, 
 who, at something more or less, might have Jesse ; 
 and Jesse, when a hundred years old, might have 
 David. This, he adds, is only supposition, but it is 
 sufficient to show, that there is no contradiction or 
 impossibility in the Scripture account. IMr. Taylor, 
 however, prefers the solution of Dr. Allix. The 
 Targum on Ruth says, that Salmon is styled Salmon 
 the Just ; his works and the works of his children 
 were very excellent ; Boaz was a righteous person, by 
 whose righteousness the jieople of Israel were deliv- 
 ered from the hands of their enemies, &c. There were 
 but 366 years fl-om the first year of Joshua to the birth 
 of David — for from the Exodus to the building of the 
 temple were 480 yeare ; add to 366 the 40 years' wan- 
 dering in wilderness, the life of David seventy yeai-s, 
 and four years of Solomon — the total is 480 years. He 
 therefore supposes that Salmon might beget Boaz 
 when he was 96 years old ; Boaz begat Obed when be 
 was 90 years old ; Obed at 90 begat Jesse ; and Jesse 
 at 85 begat David. We know that long life often de- 
 scends in a family ; old Pair had a son who lived to 
 be veiy old ; and, what is no less remarkable, old 
 men of ;-uch families liave had children very late in 
 life, as after the age of a hundred years ; of which 
 old PaiT himself is one example. 
 
 Some rabbins maintain, that Ibzan, judge of Israel, 
 (Judges xii. 8.) is the same as Booz ; the foundation 
 of which opinion is, that Ibzan \\as of Bethlehem, 
 and that there is some relation between the names. 
 But Ibzan having governed Israel from A. M. 2823 
 to 2830, he cannot be the same as Booz, who could 
 not be born later than A. M. 2620, his father Salmon 
 having married Ruth in 2553. Now, supposing him 
 to be born in 2620, he must have lived 210 years; 
 which appears incredible. 
 
 BORITH, or Berith, rendered fuller's soap, in 
 Mai. iii. 2. is thought to be the herb kali. But we 
 should not forget, that the East pi-oduces a kind of 
 fat earth, used in scouring cloth, like our fuller's 
 earth. See Soap. 
 
 BOSCATH, see Bozkath. 
 
 BOSOM, the front of the upper part of the body — 
 the breast. The orientals generally wore long, wide, 
 and loose garments ; and when about to carry any 
 thing away that their hands would not contain, they 
 used for the purpose a fold in the bosom of their robe.
 
 BOT 
 
 [ 204 
 
 BOTTLE 
 
 To this custom our Lord alludes — " Good measure 
 shall men give into your bosom," Luke vi. 38. To 
 have one " in our bosom," imphes kindness, secrecy, 
 intimacy. Gen. xvi. 5 ; 2 Sam. xii. 8. Christ is in the 
 bosom of the Father ; that is, possesses the closest 
 intimacy, and most perfect knowledge, of the Father, 
 John i. 18. Our Saviour is said to caiTy his lambs 
 in his bosom, which beautifully represents his tender 
 care and watchfulness over them, Isa. xl. 11. 
 
 BOSPHORUS. There were two places of this 
 name ; (1.) The Cimmerian Bosphorus, which joined 
 the lake Mosotis, now sea of Azof, to the Euxine sea. 
 (2.) The Thracian Bosphorus, that of Constantinople, 
 or the arm of the sea between Chalcedon and Con- 
 stantinople. Each of these straits is called, in Greek, 
 Bosphorus, or rather Bosporus, because an ox may 
 swim over them. Interpreters are much divided 
 concerning the (supposed) straits of which Obadiah 
 (ver. 20.) speaks. The Jew whom Jerome consulted 
 on such difficulties as occurred to him in the Hebrew, 
 told him, that the Bosphorus mentioned by the 
 prophet was the Cinnnerian Bosphorus, whither the 
 emperor Adrian had banished many of those Jews 
 whom he had taken prisoners during the war in 
 Palestine. So the Vulgate. Others believe, with 
 more reason, that the captives taken notice of by 
 Obadiah, were such as Nebuchadnezzar had sent 
 away as far as the Palus Mceotis, about which the 
 countiy is generally thought to be the most frightful 
 in the world ; and hither the great persecutors of 
 Christianity frequently sent the professors of our re- 
 ligion. Lastly, many others imdei-stand the Hebrew 
 as meaning Spain, and translate thus: — "The cap- 
 tives of Jerusalem which are at Se])harad [that is to 
 say, in Spain] shall possess the cities of the south." 
 Profane historians, as Megasthenes and Strabo, assert, 
 that Nebuchadnezzar extended his conquests as far 
 as Africa and Iberia, beyond the pillars ; — which we 
 apprehend to be those called Hercules' pillars. Now, 
 in this expedition against Spain, some say that he 
 transported many of the Jews thither. — But we may 
 question whether Sepharad signifies Spain. Some 
 suppose France to be denoted by it. The old Greek 
 interpreters have kept the Hebrew term, without 
 changing it in their translation. The Septuagint 
 read Ephratha, instead of Sepharad. Calmet supposes 
 some country beyond the Euphrates to be meant by 
 Sepharad, such as that of the Sapircs, or Saspircs, 
 towards Media, or the city of Hij)j)ara, in Mesopota- 
 mia. But the most judicious conmientators do not 
 undertake to determine the country definitely. See 
 Obadiah, Spai.v, Sepharad. 
 
 BOSSES, the thickest and strongest parts of a 
 buckler, Job xv. 20. 
 
 BOTTLE. The difference is so great between 
 the properties of glass bottles, such as are in common 
 use among us, and bottles made of skin, which were 
 used anciently by most nations, and still are used in 
 the East, that wlien we read of i)ottles, without care- 
 fidly distinguisliiiig in ouv minds one kind of bottle 
 from the otiier, mist.'ike is sure to ensue. For in- 
 stance, (Josh. ix. 4.J the Gibconites "did work wilily ; 
 they took u])on their asses wine-bottles, old, and rent, 
 and bound u])" — patched. So, ver. 13, "These bot- 
 tles of wine were new, and l)ehold they be rent." 
 Surely to connnon readers this is uniiueiiigible ! So, 
 Matt. ix. 17, "Neither do men put nrw wine into old 
 bottles ; else, the bottles break, and the wine ruiuicth 
 out, and the bottles perish :" — " but new wine," says 
 Luke, (v. 38.) "must be i)ut in new bottles, and 
 both arc preserved." Now, what idea have English 
 
 readers of old, and rent, and patched (glass) bottles .•' 
 or of the necessity of 7ieif> glass bottles for holding 
 neiv wine ? Nor should we forget the figure em- 
 ployed by Job: (xxxii. 19.) "My belly is as wine 
 which hath no vent ; it is ready to burst, like neio 
 bottles." To render these, and some other passages, 
 clear, we must understand some of the properties of 
 the bottles alluded to. 
 
 The accompanying engraving, which is copied 
 from the Antiquities 
 of Herculaueum, (vol. 
 vii. p. 197.) shows, 
 very clearly, the form 
 and nature of an an- 
 cient bottle ; out of 
 which a young wo- 
 man is pouring wine 
 into a cup, which in 
 the original is held by 
 Silenus. It appears 
 from this figure, that 
 after the skin has been 
 stripped off the ani- 
 mal, and properly 
 dressed, the places 
 where the legs had 
 been are closed up ; and where the neck was, is the 
 opening left for receiving and discharging the con- 
 tents of the bottle. This idea is very simple and 
 conspicuous in the figure. Such bottles, when full, 
 in which state this is represented, differ of course 
 from the same when empty ; being, when full, swol- 
 len, round, and firm ; when empty, flaccid, weak, 
 anfl bending. By receiving the liquor poured into it, 
 a skin bottle must be greatly swelled, and distended ; 
 and no doubt, it must be further swelled by the fer- 
 mentation of the liquor within it, while advancing to 
 ripeness ; so that, in this state, if no vent be given to 
 it, the Uquor may overpower the strength of the bot- 
 tle ; or, by searching every crevice, and weaker part, 
 if it find any defect, it may ooze out by that. 
 Hence arises the propriety of {)utting neiv wine into 
 neiv bottles, which, being in the prime of their 
 strength, may resist the expansion, the internal press- 
 ure of their contents, and preserve the wine to ma- 
 turity ; while old bottles may, without danger, con- 
 tain old wine, whose fermentation is already past, 
 Matt. ix. 17 ; Luke v. 38 ; Job xxxii. 19. 
 
 [The Hebrews employed several words signifying 
 bottle ; but there seems not to have been any generic 
 difference in the idea expressed by them ; unless, 
 perhaps, the bottles or skins may have been of differ- 
 ent sizes. (1.) In Gen. xxi. 14, Abraham is described 
 as giving to Hagar a bottle of water, ncn, chemeth, 
 which she carried with her, and which, therefore, 
 could not have been of a large size. — (2.) The bottle 
 of wine which Samuel's mother brought to Eli (1 
 Sam. i. 24.) is called Vjj, iicbel ; which is also repre- 
 sented as being transported on horses, (1 Sam. x. 3 ; 2 
 Sam. xvi. 1.) and was, tlierefbre, larger. This word 
 seems to have been rather a general term like our 
 word vessel, because it is the word used in Isa. xxx. 
 14. and Lam. iv. 2. where the epithet eaiihen is joined 
 with it. — (3.) The word inj, nod, seems to imply a 
 skin or botde similar to the preceding one ; it was 
 from such an one that Jael gave milk to Sisera, (Judg. 
 iv. 19.) and in this also Jesse sent wine by David to 
 Saul. The same word is employed in Ps. cxix. 83. 
 " I am like a bottle in the smoke," i. e. black and 
 dried up, like a bottle of wine suspended in the 
 smoke, in order to ripen it, as was the common
 
 BOTTLE 
 
 [ 205 ] 
 
 BOW 
 
 practice of the ancients. — (4.) Another name is 2W, 
 6b, mentioned in the plural noN, oboth, Job xxxii. 19. 
 where Elihu says he " is ready to burst like neiv bot- 
 tles" i. e. like those filled with new wine in a state of 
 fermentation. These would seem, therefore, to have 
 been used for the preservation of wine, as was com- 
 mon in the East ; comp. Matt. ix. 17. It is not im- 
 possible that this was a larger species than the others ; 
 at least this supposition is favored by the use of the 
 same word (jin) to signify a necromancer, sorcerer, (1 
 Sam. xxviii. 7 — 19.) or the spirit which was supposed 
 to dwell in such persons. These were chiefly en- 
 gastrimythi, or ventriloquists, respecting whom it was 
 supposed they had in them a demon who thus spoke 
 from within them. Hence the person himself was 
 as it were an aiN, 6b, vessel, bottle, into which the 
 demon had entered, and which contained him. This 
 is the most common meaning of the word ; indeed it 
 occurs in the sense of bottle only once in the whole 
 Old Testament, Job xxxii. 19. K. 
 
 Bottles, then, of skins, would naturally be propor- 
 tioned to the size of the animal which yields them, — 
 kid-skins, goat-skins, ox-skins. The larger were, 
 perhaps, not unlike Avhat the Arabs now name the 
 Girbu, thus described by Mr. Bruce: — "A girba is 
 an ox's skin, squared, and the edges sewed together 
 very artificially, by a double seam, which does not 
 let cut water, much resembling that upon the best 
 English cricket balls. An openuig is left at the top 
 of the girba, in the same manner as the bung-hole 
 of a cask. Around this the skin is gathered to the 
 size of a large handful, which, when the girba is full 
 of water, is tied round with whip-cord. These gir- 
 bas generally contain about sixty gallons each, and 
 two of them are the load of a camel. They are then 
 all besmeared on the outside with grease, as well to 
 hinder the water from oozing through, as to prevent 
 its being evaporated by the heat of the sun upon the 
 girba, which, in fact, happened to us twice, so as to 
 put us in imminent danger of perishing with thirst." 
 (Travels, vol. iv. p. 334.) " There was great plenty 
 of shell-fish to be picked up on every shoal. I had 
 loaded the vessel with four skins of fresh water, equal 
 to four hogsheads, with cords of buoys fixed to the 
 end of each of them ; so that if we had been ship- 
 wrecked near land, as rubbing two sticks together 
 made us a fire, I was not afraid of receiving suc- 
 cors before we were driven to the last extremity, 
 provided we did not perish in the sea." (Vol. i. 
 p. 205.) 
 
 [Such bottles, or vessels of skins, are almost mii- 
 versally employed at the present day in travelling in 
 the East. Niebuhr gives the following account of 
 liis baggage, when setting out from Cairo for Suez : 
 (Trav. vol. i. p. 212. Clerm. ed.) " We had each of us a 
 vessel of thick leather to drink out of; and because we 
 should find no water for some days, we took also 
 (juite a number of goat-skins filled with water with 
 us. Our wine we had in large glass bottles, {Damas- 
 janen, demi-johns ?) which seemed to us to be the best 
 for this purpose ; but when a camel happens to fall, or 
 strikes with his load against another one, these ves- 
 sels easily break ; and therefore it is better, in orien- 
 tal journeys, to carry both wine and spirits in goat- 
 skins. The skins that arc thus used to transport 
 water, have the hair outwards ; those that are in- 
 tended for wine, have the hair inwards, and are so 
 well covered with pitch, that the drink acquires no 
 bad taste whatever. And although for an European 
 it may be at first somewhat disgusting to keep his 
 drink in such vessels, yet he has not to fear that his 
 
 wne will be spilled and lost by the way, as was th« 
 case with a part of ours." Mr. King also mentions, 
 when departing from Cairo for Jerusalem, that they 
 " purchased four goat-skins and four leather bottles 
 to carry water." Three days after, they found that, as 
 " the goat-skins were new, they had given the water 
 a reddish color, and an exceedingly loathsome taste." 
 Missionary Her. 1824, p. 34, 35. R. 
 
 BOUNDS, BOUNDARIES, limits. Moses for- 
 bids any one to alter the bounds of his neighbor's 
 inheritance : (Dent. xix. 14.) " Thou shalt not remove 
 thy neighbor's land-mark, which they of old time 
 have set on thine inheritance, which thou dost in- 
 herit," &c. All the people curse the man who 
 should remove the bounds planted by their ancestors, 
 Deut. xxvii. 17. Job (xxiv. 2.) reckons those who 
 are guilty of this crime among thieves and robbers, 
 and oppressors of the poor. Josephus (Antiq. lib. iv. 
 cap. 8.) has interpreted the law of Moses in a very 
 particular sense. He says, " that it is not lawful to 
 change the limits, ehher of the land belonging to the 
 Israelites, or that of their neighbors with whom they 
 are at peace ; but that they ought to be left as they 
 are, having been so placed by the order of God him- 
 self; for the desire which avaricious men have to 
 extend their limits is the occasion of war and divis- 
 ion ; and whosoever is capable of removing the 
 boundaries of lands is not far from a disposition to 
 violate all other laws." 
 
 Among the Romans, if a slave, with an evil design, 
 changed any boundary, he Avas punished with death. 
 Men of condition were sometimes banished, and pri- 
 vate persons punished according to the circumstances 
 of their crime, by pecuniary fines, or corporal pun- 
 ishment. The respect of the ancients for boundaries 
 proceeded almost to adoration. Numa Pompilius, 
 king of the Romans, ordained, that offerings should 
 be made to boundaries, with thick milk, cakes, and 
 first-fruits. Ovid says, that a lamb was sacrificed to 
 them, and that they were sprinkled with blood ; and 
 Juvenal speaks of cake and pap, which were laid 
 every year upon the sacred bounds. 
 
 The Scripture reckons it among the effects of God's 
 onmipotence, to have fixed bounds to the sea, Ps. civ. 
 9 ; Job xxvi. 10 ; Prov. viii. 29 ; Jer. v. 22. 
 
 BOW, a kind of weapon well known. The Israel- 
 ites had many very expert archers among their troops. 
 When there is mention in Scripture of bending the 
 bow, the verb tread underfoot is generally used ; be- 
 cause it was the custom to put the feet upon the bow, 
 to bend it. [The phrase a deceitful boio, to which 
 the people of Israel are compared, (Ps. Ixxviii. 57 ; 
 Hos. vii. 16.) means a bow which shoots the arrow in 
 a wrong direction, not as it is aimed ; and the com- 
 parison is just, because Israel swerved from the 
 course which God had marked out for them and di- 
 rected them to pursue. 
 
 In 2 Sam. i. 18. we read in the English version, 
 " Also be (David) bade them teach the children of 
 Judah the use o/the bow." Here the words 'Hhe use 
 of" are not in the Hebrew, and convey a sense en- 
 tirely false to the Enghsh reader. It should be, 
 "teach them the bow," i. e. the song of the bow, the 
 lamentation over Saul and Jonathan which follows ; 
 and which is called, by way of distinction, the bow, 
 from the mention of this weapon in verse 22. This 
 mode of selecting an inscription to a poem or work 
 is common in the East ; so in the Koran the second 
 Sura is entitled the cow, from the incidental mention 
 in it of the red heifer, comp. Numb. xix. 2. In a 
 similar manner, the names of the books of the Penta-
 
 BOZ 
 
 [ 206 ] 
 
 BRA 
 
 teuch in the Hebrew Bibles, are merely the Jirst word 
 in each book. *R. 
 
 God is represented in Scripture wth his bow and 
 arrows, as warriors and conquerors are described, 
 Hab. iii. 9. The Persians, in Scripture called Elani- 
 ites, were the most expert archers in the world. See 
 War, machines and instruments of. 
 
 BOWELS, the inward parts of a human body. 
 According to the Jews, these are the seat of mercy, 
 tenderness, and compassion ; and hence the Scrip- 
 ture expressions of the bowels being moved, bowels 
 of mercy, sh-aitened in your bowels, &c. The He- 
 brews sometimes place wisdom and understanding 
 also in the bowels. Job xxxviii. 36 ; Psal. li. 10 ; 
 Isaiah xix. 3, &:c. [The reason of this is, that 1)otoels 
 is often put by the Hebrew writers for the internal 
 parts generally, the inner man, and so also for heart 
 as we use it. R. 
 
 BOX-TREE, nicND, tashiir ; so called from its 
 flourishing, or perpetual viridity — an evergreen. 
 Isaiah says, " I will plant in the wilderness the ce- 
 dar, the shittah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree ; 
 I will set in the desert the fir-tree, and the pine, and 
 the box-ti-ee together," ch. xli. 19. The nature of the 
 box-tree might lead us to look for evergi'eens among 
 the foregoing trees, and perhaps by tracing this idea 
 we might attain to something lik? satisfaction respect- 
 ing them, which at present we cannot. A plantation 
 of evergi-eens in the wilderness is not inilikely to be 
 the import of this passage. The contrast between a 
 perpetual verdure, and sometimes universal browu- 
 ness, not enlivened by variety of tints, must be very 
 great ; }ievertheless we must be careful not to group 
 unnaturally associated vegetation. — Some suppose a 
 species of cedar to be meant. 
 
 BOZEZ, the name of a rock which Jonathan 
 climbed up to attack the Philistines, 1 Sam. xiv. 4. 
 It was situated between Myron and Michmash, and 
 foi-med, with a similar rock opposite, called Seveh, a 
 defile, or strait. 
 
 BOZKATH, a city of Judah, Joshua xv. 39 ; 2 
 Kings xxii. 1. 
 
 BOZRAH, a city of gi-eat antiquity, known also to 
 the Greeks and Romans by the name of Bostra. In 
 most of tlie passages of the Old Testament where it 
 is mentioned, it appears as a chief city of the Edom- 
 ites ; (Is. xxxiv. 6 ; Ixiii. 12 ; Amos i. 12 ; Jer. xlix. 
 13, 22.) only in Jer. xlviii. 24. it is named among the 
 cities of Moab. It does not hence follow, that we 
 must consider these as difterent cities ; for in con- 
 sequence of the continual wars, incursions and 
 conquests, whicli were common among the small 
 kingdoms of that region, the possession of particular 
 cities often passed into different hands. Thus Sela, 
 i. e. Petra, the capital of the Edomites, taken from 
 them by Amaziah king of Judah, (2 Kings xiv. 7.) is 
 also mentioned by Isaiah among the Moabitish cities, 
 xvi. 1. Since now Bozrah lay not in the original 
 territory of the Edomites, i. e. south of Judea, but 
 north of tlie territory of the Ammonites, in Auranitis, 
 or Haouran ; we must suppose that the Edomites had 
 become masters of it l)y conquest; and that it was 
 afterwards taken from them liy the ]Moabites, and 
 held for a time l)y these latter. — Bozrah lay south- 
 easterly from Edrei, one of the capitals of Bashan, 
 and, according to Eusebius, twenty-four Roman 
 miles distant from it ; with this agi-ees also the 
 specification of Ptolemy. The Romans reckoned 
 Bozrah to desert Araliia ; thus Ammianus Marcellinus 
 eays, (xiv. 27.) "Arabia has among her towns several 
 large cities, as Bostra, and Gerasa, and Philadelpliia." 
 
 Alexander Severus made it the seat of a Roman 
 colony. In the acts of the Nicene, Ephesian, and 
 Chalcedonian synods, mention is made of bishops of 
 Bozrah ; and at a later period it became an important 
 seat of the Nestorians. (See Assemani's Bibloth. Ori- 
 ent, tom. iii. pt. ii. p. 595,730.) Abulfeda calls it the 
 chief city of Auranitis, or Haouran. And even at the 
 present day, according to Burckhardt, it is one of the 
 most important places in the Haouran. (Travels in 
 Syria, &c. p. 326.) " Bozrah is situated," he says, 
 " in the open plain, and is at present the last inhabited 
 place in the south-east extremity of the Haouran ; it 
 was formerly the capital of Arabia Provincia, and is 
 now, including its ruins, the largest town in the 
 Haouran. It is of an oval shape, its greatest length 
 being from east to west ; its circumference is three 
 quarters of an hour. It was anciently enclosed by a 
 thick wall, which gave it the reputation of great 
 strength. Many parts of this wall, especially on the 
 west side, still remain ; it was constructed with stones 
 of a moderate size strongly cemented together. The 
 principal buildings in Bozrah were on the east side, 
 and in a direction from thence towards the middle of 
 the town. The south and south-cast quarters are 
 covered with ruins of private dwellings, the walls of 
 many of which are still standing, but most of the roofs 
 have fallen in. On the west side are springs of fresh 
 water ; of which I counted live beyond the precincts 
 of the town, and six within the walls. — The castle 
 of Bozrah is a most important post to protect the 
 harvests of the Haouran against the hungry Bedou- 
 ins ; but it is much neglected l)y the pachas of Damas- 
 cus, and this year the crops of the inhabitants of 
 Bozrah have been almost entirely consumed by the 
 horses of the Aeneze, a tribe encamped in the vicin- 
 ity. — Of the vineyards for whicli Bozrah was cele- 
 brated, and which are commemorated by the Greek 
 medals of the colonia Bostrcf, not a vestige remains. 
 There is scarcely a tree in the neighborhood of the 
 town ; and the twelve or fifteen families, who now 
 inhabit it, cultivate nothing but Avlieat, barley, horse- 
 beans, and a little dhourra. A number of fine rose- 
 trees gi-ow wild among the ruins of the town, and 
 were just beginning to open their buds." The an- 
 cient importance of tiie city is still demonstrated by 
 tlie ruins of temples, theatres, and palaces ; of which 
 Burckhardt gives a full description. *R. 
 
 BRACELET, an ornamental chain, or a clasp, made 
 of various metals, always meant to adorn tlie })art on 
 whicli it was worn. [The word bracelet comes prop- 
 erly from the Latin brachiale, meaning an ornament 
 for the arm; and to this corresj)onds the Hebrew 
 i^cx, tsdmid. Tliis is too common to need any de- 
 scription. But there is another kind of oruameut 
 called in Hebrew nij'^j tscddcih^ or n-i;'XN, etsddah, which 
 is also often rendered bracelet in our P^nglisli version ; 
 sometimes improperly. The Hebrew words come 
 from a root which signifies to step, to ivalk ; hence 
 the proper signification seems to be step-chain, or 
 foot-chain, i. e. small chains which the oriental 
 women wear fastened to the ornaments of the ankles, 
 so as to unite the feet, and thus cause them to walk iu 
 a measured pace ; an affectation which is strongly 
 reproved by Isaiah, (iii. 16.) who describes the females 
 of Jerusalem as "walking and mincing as they go, 
 and making a tinkling with their feet." So in the 
 enumeration of female ornaments, Isa. iii. 20 ; and 
 also Num. xxxi. 50, where the Israelites, after having 
 defeated the Midianites, offered to the Lord the 
 "/oo<-chains, and bracelets, rings, ear-rings," etc. taken 
 from the enemy. The \vord etsddah, however, seems
 
 BRA 
 
 [207 ] 
 
 BRE 
 
 Bometimes to have been taken in a more general 
 sense, and to have also included the sense of brace- 
 let; as in 2 Sam. i, 10, where the Amalekite who 
 had slain Saul, says, that he took off the bracelet 
 [etsddah) that was upon the arm of that prince. So 
 the Septuagiut here has x/.iS,:nu. But this is not the 
 specific or usual meaning. R.] The Chaldee 
 properly translates it chaiiis of the foot. Clemens 
 Alexandrinus (Praedag. lib. ii. cap. 12.) calls those 
 silver or golden circlets that women put about their 
 legs, rifdit; niQiOipioiov;, i. c. fetters or bonds, as do 
 other profane authors. The women of Syria and 
 .■\jabia at this day wear great rings round their legs, 
 to whicii are fastened many other lesser rings, which 
 make a tinkling noise, like Uttle bells, when they 
 walk or stir. These rings are fixed above the ankle, 
 and are of gold, silver, copper, glass, or even of var- 
 nished earth, according to the substance and con- 
 dition of the wearer. The princesses wear large 
 hollow rings of gold, within which are enclosed little 
 pebbles, that tinkle. Others have lesser rings called 
 Kelkal, hung round them, which have the same 
 effect. The larger circles, or rings, are open in one 
 place, in form of a crescent, by which they pass the 
 small of the leg through them. (See Dresses.) 
 The Egyptian ladies wore also very valuable leg- 
 rings ; for we read in an inscription found in Spain, 
 that the statue of Isis had ornaments of gold on its 
 legs, set with two emeralds, and with eleven other 
 precious stones. The Roman and Grecian Avomen 
 also used them. Trimalchio, (in Petronius,) speak- 
 ing of his spouse, says. See what she wears on her 
 legs ; Videtis midieris compedes ; by way of complaint 
 at her extravagance. 
 
 BRAMBLE, Judg. ix. 14, 15. The word nax, dtdd, 
 which is here translated bramble, is in Ps. Iviii. 9. 
 rendered thorn. The most proper name in Enghsh 
 would be buck-thorn. The LXX and Josephus 
 translate it numo:, and the Vulgate rhamnus. Theo- 
 dorus says the rhamnus is the largest of thorns, and 
 is furnished with the most dreadful darts ; and Dios- 
 corides, as cited by Bochart, remarks, that the Afri- 
 cans, or Carthaginians, called the rhamnus '-^-ZraJ/u, 
 which is the plural of the Hebrew atad. As to the 
 nature of the trees of which Jephthah speaks, we are 
 pretty sure of most of them. The olive-tree, the fig- 
 tree, the vine, are well known ; and the bramble 
 seems to be very well chosen as a representative of 
 the original atad ; for probably that vegetable should 
 be a tree, bearing a fruit of some kind, (like the 
 thorn-ap|)le,) which is associated, though by oi)posi- 
 tion, witli the vine, &c. That this atad was used for 
 the purpose of burning, we have the evidence of the 
 Psalmist. The bramble of Britain is a kind of rasp- 
 berry ; whether this atad of Judea is of the same 
 class, we do not determine. Hasselquist does not 
 mention it ; and the rendering of the LXX seems to 
 hint at a diflfercnt kind of thorn. Scheuchzer gives 
 the preference on this occasion to the Rhamnus, or 
 JVabca Paliurus Athenei, which Hasselquist selected 
 for the crown of thorns of oin* Saviour. It is cer- 
 tain that such a tree is required as may well denote 
 a tyrant ; one who, instead of affording shade and 
 shelter to such as seek his protection, strips them of 
 their property, as a bramble-bush does the sheep 
 which come near it, or he down under its shadow. 
 At the same time this tree being associated with 
 those which bear valuable fruit, it should appear 
 necessary to fix on some bush producing fruit also, 
 as most properly answering to this atad. 
 
 While transcribing this article, a passage in Hol- 
 
 land's translation of Plutarch occurred to our recol- 
 lection, which seems admirably illustrative of the 
 above idea of the character of the tree which should 
 represent the atad, — which, instead of affording 
 shelter, should strip of their property those who 
 sought its shade and protection. "Whereupon is 
 thought that he [Demosthenes] forsook his colors 
 and lied ; now, as he made haste away, there chanced 
 a bramble to take hold of his cassock behind, whereat 
 he turned back and said to the bramble, ' Save my 
 life, and take my ransom.'" (Cai-penter's Scripture 
 Natural History,' p. 428.) 
 
 BRANCH. The prophets give this name to the 
 3Iessiah : " Behold the man, whose name is the 
 Branch," says Zechariah, chap. vi. 12. also chap. iii. 
 8. "Behold, I will bring forth my servant the 
 Branch." The Vulgate translates Oriens. Jesus 
 Christ is the Branch of the house of David ; he is 
 likewise Oriens, the Sun of Righteousness, which is 
 risen in order to enlighten us, and to deliver us out 
 of the shadow of death. The Messiah is likewise 
 called by this name m Isaiah iv. 2 ; Jer. xxiii. 5 ; 
 xxxiii. 15. as a kind of prophecy of his miraculous 
 birth of a virgin. 
 
 BRASS is frequently mentioned in the English 
 Bible, but there is little doubt thai copper is in- 
 tended ; brass being a mixed metal, for the manu- 
 facture of which we are indebted to the Germans. 
 The ancients knew nothing of the art. See Copper. 
 
 BREAD, a word which in Scripture is taken for 
 food in general, Gen. iii. 19; xviii. 5; xxviii. 20; 
 Exod. ii. 20. INIaima is called bread from heaven, 
 Exod. xvi. 15. 
 
 The ancient Hebrews had several ways of baking 
 bread ; they often baked it under the ashes, upon the 
 hearth, upon round copper plates, or in pans or stoves 
 made on purpose. At their departure out of Egypt, 
 they made some of these unleavened loaves for their 
 journey, Exod. xii. 39. Elijah, when fleeing from 
 Jezebel, found at his head a cake, which had been 
 baked on the coals, (properly upon hot stones,) and a 
 cruse of water, 1 Kings xix. 5. The same prophet 
 desired the widow of Sarepta to make a little bread 
 (cake) for him, and to bake it under the ashes, 1 
 Kings xvii. 13. The Hebrews call this kind of cake 
 uggoth; and Hosea (vii. 8.) compares Ephraim to 
 one of them which was not turned, but was baked 
 on one side only. Busbequius (Coustantinop. p. 36.) 
 says, that in Bulgaria this sort of loaf is still very 
 common. They are there called hugaces. As soon 
 as they see a guest coming, the women immediately 
 prepare these unleavened loaves, which are baked 
 under the ashes, and sold to strangers, there bemg 
 no bakers in this country. 
 
 The Arabians, (D'Arvieux Coutumes des Arabes, 
 cap. xiv.) and other eastern people, among whom 
 wood is scarce, often bake their bread between two 
 fires made of cow-dung, which burns slowly, and 
 bakes the bread very leisurely. The crumb of it is 
 very good, if it be eaten the same day ; but the crust 
 is black, and burnt, and retains a smell of the fuel 
 used in baking it. This explains Ezek. iv. 9, 10, 
 12, 15. which is extremely shocking to the generaHty 
 of readers. The Lord commands this prophet to 
 make a paste composed of wheat, barley, beans, len- 
 tils, millet, and fitches, and of this to make a loaf, to 
 bake it with human excrements in the sight of all 
 the people. The prophet expressing extreme rehic- 
 tance to this, God permitted him to bake it with 
 cow-dung, instead of human dung. We are not to 
 imagine that it was God's design to make the prophet
 
 BREAD 
 
 208 ] 
 
 BREAD 
 
 eat man's dung ; he only enjoined him to bake liis 
 bread with such excrements: but, afterwards, he 
 allowed him to bake it with cow-dung, as the Ara- 
 bians do. See Fuel, and the extract from Niebuhr 
 below. 
 
 The Hebrews, and other eastern people, have a 
 kind of oven, called tanour, which is like a large 
 pitcher, of gray stone, open at top, in which they 
 make a fire. When it is well heated, they mingle 
 flour in water; and this paste they apply to the out- 
 side of the pitcher. It is baked in an instant, and 
 being dried, is taken off in thin, "fine pieces, like our 
 wafers. The orientals believe Eve's oven to have 
 been of this kind ; that it was left to Noah, and they 
 say that the boiling water which ran over from it, 
 occasioned the deluge ; — metaphorical of the exten- 
 sive spread and effects of her sin. 
 
 A third sort of bread used among the people of 
 the East, is baked (according to Corvieux) in a great 
 pitcher half full of certain little flints, which are 
 white and glistering, on which they cast the paste in 
 the form of little flat cakes. The bread is white, and 
 smells well, but is good only for the day on which it 
 is baked, unless there be leaven mingled with it to 
 preserve it longer. This is the most common way 
 in Palestine. 
 
 [Another kind of oriental oven consists of a round 
 hole in the earth ; the bottom is first covered over 
 with stones, upon which fire is made ; and when the 
 stones are hot enough, the coals and ashes are re- 
 moved, and the dough laid in thin flakes upon the 
 hot stones, and turned several times. Su,ch are the 
 cakes of stones, 1 Kings xix. 6. In Persia, according 
 to Tavernier and Chardin, those ovens are about 
 three feet in diameter, and five or six feet deep. 
 Sometimes a whole sheep is thus baked or roasted in 
 them, by hanging it over the hot stones or coals. 
 Comp. Jahn Bib. Arch. Pt. ii. p. 181, Germ. ed. 
 4 140, Am. ed. 
 
 Niebuhr gives the following description of the 
 bread and the mode of baking it in the East : (De- 
 script, of Arab. p. 51. Germ, ed.) " The Arabs have 
 different ways of baking bread. On board of the 
 ship in. which we took passage from Djidda to Lo- 
 heia, one of the sailors every afternoon prepared as 
 much durra, i. e. made it into dough, as was neces- 
 sary for one day. Mean time the oven was heated. 
 This was nothing more than a large Avater-pot bot- 
 tom upwards, about three feet high, without a 
 bottom, plastered over thick with clay, and standing 
 on a movable foot-piece. When this was hot 
 enough, the dough, or rather the cakes, were clapped 
 upon the sides of the oven internally, without taking 
 out the coals, and the oven was then covered. The 
 bread was afterwards taken out, when, for a Euro- 
 pean it was not half baked, and so eaten as warm as 
 possible. The Arabs of the desert use a plate of iron 
 for baking their cakes of brcatl. Or they lay a round 
 lump of dough among hot coals of wood or of 
 camel's dung, and cover it over with them entirely, 
 till, as they sujjpose, the bread is enough baked ; 
 they then knock off the ashes from it, and eat it hot. 
 The Arabs of the cities have ovens not unlike our 
 own. These also are not without wheat bread. It 
 has likewise the form and size of our [German] pan- 
 cakes, (i. e. of a dough-nut, or a middling-sized 
 apple,) and is seldom sufficiently baked. The other 
 food of the orientals consists chiefly in rice, milk, 
 butter, cheimak, or thick cream, and all kinds of gar- 
 den fruits. Nor have they any deficiency of animal 
 food." In another place, after relating the same 
 
 facts, this writer remarks, that " the principal suste- 
 nance of the orientals in general is new bread, just 
 baked in this manner ; and on this account they fur- 
 nish themselves on their journeys in the desert es- 
 peciallv with meal." (Travels, vol. i. p. 234, Germ. 
 ed.) *R. 
 
 The forms given to bread in different countries, 
 however, are varied according to circumstances, 
 whether it be required to sustain keeping for a longer 
 or a shorter time ; that bread which is to be eaten 
 the same day it is made, is usually thin, broad, and 
 flat ; that which is meant for longer keeping is 
 larger, and more bulky, that its moisture may not too 
 soon evaporate. So far as we recollect, the loaves 
 most generally used among the Jews were round ; 
 though the rabbins say the shew-bread was square. 
 We have representations of loaves divided into twelve 
 parts ; we cannot affirm, that the loaf used by our 
 Lord at the eucharist was thus divided ; but if it 
 were, it shows how conveniently it might be dis- 
 tributed among the disciples ; to each a part. We 
 conceive, too, that such a divided loaf gives no im- 
 proper comment on the passage, " We being many 
 are one bread" — many partakers, each having his 
 portion from the same loaf, 1 Cor. x. 17. 
 
 Moses enjoined the Israelites, on their arrival in 
 the promised land, " to oflTer up a cake of the first 
 of their dough, for a hcave-ofteriug in their genera- 
 tions," Numb. XV. 20. These first-fniits of bread, or 
 dough, were given to the priest or Levite, who dwelt 
 in the place where the bread was baked ; if no priest 
 or Levite dwelt there, that part of the dough de- 
 signed for the Lord, or his minister, was thrown 
 into the fire, or the oven. The quantity of bread to 
 be given for first-fruits was not settled by the law; 
 but custom and tradition had determined it to be be- 
 tween the fortieth part of the whole mass at most, and 
 the sixtieth part of the mass at least. Philo remarks, 
 that something was set apart for the priest, when- 
 ever they kneaded, but he does not say how much. 
 Leo of Modena tells us, that the modern custom of 
 the Jews is, when the bread is kneaded, and a piece 
 of dough made as big as forty eggs, to take a small 
 part from it, and make a cake, which is instead of 
 the first-fruits appointed by the law. It had been a 
 custom to give this cake to the priest ; but, at pres- 
 ent, it is thrown into the fire, to be consumed. This 
 is one of the three precepts which should be ob- 
 served by the women, as they generally make the 
 bread. The prayer to he recited by them, when they 
 throw this httle portion of dough into the oven, or 
 the fire, is as follows : — " Blessed art thou, O Lord 
 our God, the King of the world, who hast sanctified 
 us by thy precepts, and hast commanded us to sepa- 
 rate a cake of our dough." 
 
 It appears, from several places of Scripture, that 
 there stood constantly near the altar a basket full of 
 bread, to be offered with the ordinary sacrifices, 
 Exod. xxix. 32; Numb. vi. 15. Moses forbids the 
 priests to receive from the hands of strangers bread, 
 or any thing else that they proposed to give ; because 
 all these gifts are corrupted, Lev. xxii. 25. There 
 are different opinions concerning the meaning of 
 this law. Some think that under the name of bread, 
 we should understand all sorts of sacrifices and 
 offerings, because the victims that were slain ai-e, in 
 Scripture, sometimes called the bread of God. 
 Others imagine, that God forbids the receiving sacri- 
 fices of any kind, or any real offering immediately 
 from the hands of infidel people ; but that he per- 
 mits the reception of money wherewith to purchase
 
 BREAD 
 
 [ 209 ] 
 
 BREAD 
 
 offerings and victims. Others explain it literally, of 
 offerings of flour, bread, or cakes ; that none of these 
 were to be received in the temple from the hands 
 of idolaters, or infidels. 
 
 God threatens to break the staff of bread, that is, 
 to send famine among the Israelites, Ezek. iv. 16. 
 Our Saviour says, after the Psalmist, "Man doth not 
 live by bread only, but by every word which pro- 
 ceedetii out of tiie mouth of God," Matt. iv. 4. God 
 can sustain us, not only with bread, or ordinary food, 
 but with any thing else, if lie tiiink fit to communi- 
 cate a nourishing virtue to it. Thus he fed the Is- 
 raelites in the Avilderncss with manna ; and thus five 
 thousand men were fed witli five loaves, distributed 
 by the hands of Christ and his apostles. Bread and 
 water are used for sustenance in general. Dent. ix. 9, 
 18, &c. " Bread of affliction, and water of afflic- 
 tion," (1 Kings xxii. 27.) are the same as a little bread 
 and a little water, or prison-bread and prison-water, 
 prison allowance ; as one partakes of them in a 
 season of affliction. 
 
 As the Hebrews generally made their bread verj' 
 thin, and in the form of little flat cakes, or wafers, 
 they did not cut it with a knife, but broke it ; which 
 gave rise to that expression so usual in Scripture, of 
 breaking bi-ead, to signify eating, sitting doAvn to 
 table, taking a repast. In the institution of the 
 eucharist, our Saviour broke the bread which he had 
 consecrated ; whence, to break bread, and breaking 
 of bread, in the New Testament, are used for cele- 
 brating the eucharist. 
 
 The Psalmist speaks of the bi-ead of tears, and 
 the bread of soitows. Psalm xlii. 3 ; cxxvii. 2. 
 Meaning continual sorrow and tears, instead of food ; 
 or which make us lose the desire of eating and 
 drinking. "Bread of wickedness, bread of deceit," 
 is bread acquired by fraudulent and criminal prac- 
 tices. These metaphors are very energetic. 
 
 Bread, daily ; to show an entire dependence on 
 our heavenly Father's care, we are instructed to pray 
 day by day for our daily bi-ead. Matt. vi. 11. The 
 Greek word fmoi'aio:, sufficient, used by the evange- 
 lists, may be understood as opposed to neoioiaio;, su- 
 perfluous. Many conunentators include in this pe- 
 tition, a prayer for the daily supply for the spiritual 
 wants of the believer by Divine Grace, as well as a 
 daily supply for his temporal need by Divine Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 Shew-bread, (Heb. bread of presence,) was bread 
 offered every sabbath day to God on the golden table 
 placed in the holy place, Exod. xxv. 30. The He- 
 brews affirm, that the loaves were square, having 
 four sides, and covered with leaves of gold. They 
 were twelve in number, in ziiemory of the twelve 
 tribes of Israel, in whose names they were offered. 
 They must have been quite large, since every loaf 
 was composed of two assarons or omers of flour, 
 which make about ten pints 2-lOths. The loaves 
 had no leaven ; were presented hot every sabbath 
 day, the old loaves being taken away, which were to 
 be eaten by the priests only. With this offering 
 there was salt and incense ; and even wine, accord- 
 ing to some commentators. Scripture mentions only 
 salt and incense ; but it is presumed wine was added, 
 because it was not wanting in other sacrifices and 
 'offerings. It is believed that the loaves were ])laced 
 one upon the other in two piles, of six each ; and 
 that between every loaf there were two thin plates 
 of gold, folded back in a semicircle, the whole length 
 of them, to admit air, and to hinder the loaves from 
 growinsr mouldv. These golden plates, thus turned 
 
 07 
 
 in, were supported at their extremities by two 
 golden forks which rested upon the ground, Lev. 
 xxiv. 5, seq. 
 
 As there is much difference of opinion among 
 commentators as to the manner in which these 
 loaves were placed upon the table, it may be neces- 
 saiy to offer some remarks on the subject. The 
 following quotation from Lightfoot, (of the Temple,) 
 however, may be previously perused \vith advan- 
 tage :— 
 
 " On the north side of the house, which was on 
 the right hand, stood the shew-bread table of tsvo 
 cubits long, and a cubit and a half broad, (Exod. 
 xxv. 23.) in the tabernacle of Moses, but wanting that 
 half cubit in breadth in the second temple (the reason 
 of the falling short, not given by them that give the 
 relation.) It stood lengthwise in hs place, that is, 
 east and west, and had a crown of gold round about 
 it, toward the upmost edge of it, which [see Baal 
 Hatt. in Ex. xxv.] the Jews resemble to the crown 
 of the kingdom. Upon this table there stood con- 
 tinually twelve loaves, which, because they stood 
 before the Lord, were called cjcn arh. Matt. xii. 4, 
 '' jIqtoi TTooSiriivK, the bread of setting before, [the 
 bread of presence,] for which our English has found 
 a very fit word, calling it the sheiv-bread ; the man- 
 ner of inaking and placing of which loaves was 
 thus, says Maimonides: (in Tamidin, per. .5.) "Out 
 of four and twenty hnd, seah, (three of which went 
 to an ephah,) that is, out of eight bushels of wheat 
 being ground, they sifted out (Lev. xxiv. 5.) four and 
 twenty tenth-deals, (Exod. xvi. 36.) or omers, of the 
 purest flour ; and that they made into twelve cakes, 
 two omers in a cake ; or the fifth part of an ephah 
 of corn in every cake ; they made the cakes square, 
 namely, ten hand-breadths long, and five broad, and 
 seven fingers thick. 
 
 " On the sabbath they set them on the table in 
 this manner ; four priests went first in to fetch away 
 the loaves that had stood all the week, and other four 
 went in after them to bring in new ones in their 
 stead ; two of the four last caiTied the two rows of 
 the cakes, namely, six a-piece, and the other two 
 carried in, either of them, a golden dish, in which the 
 frankincense Avas to be put, to be set upon the 
 loaves ; and so those four that went to fetch out the 
 old bread, two of them were to carry the cakes, and 
 the other two the dishes ; these four that came to 
 fetch the old bread out stood before the table with 
 their faces towards the north, and the other four that 
 brought in the new stood betwixt the table and the 
 wall Xvith their faces towards the south ; those drew 
 off the old cakes, and these, as the others went off, 
 slipped on the new, so that the table was never with- 
 out bread upon it, because it is said, they should 
 stand before the Lord continually. They set the 
 cakes in two rows, six and six, one upon another, 
 and they set them, the length of the cakes crossover 
 the breadth of the table, (by which it appears, that 
 the crowni of gold about the table rose not above the 
 surface of it, but was a border below edging even 
 with the plain of it, as is well held by Rabbi Solo- 
 mon, in Exodus xxv.) and so the cakes lay two hand- 
 breadths over the table on either side ; for the table 
 was I)ut six hand-breadths broad, and the cakes were 
 ten hand-bretidths long ; now as for preventing that 
 that which so lay over should not break off, if they 
 had no other way to prevent it, (which yet they had, 
 but I confess that the descrijnion of it in their 
 authors I do not understand,) yet their manner of 
 laying the cakes one upon another was such as that
 
 BREAD 
 
 210 ] 
 
 BREAD 
 
 the weight rested upon the table, and not upon the 
 pohits that hung over. The lowest cake of either 
 row they laid upon the plain table ; and upon that 
 cake they laid three golden canes at distance one 
 from another, and upon those they laid the next 
 cake ; and then three golden canes again, and upon 
 them another cake; and so of the rest, save only 
 that they laid but two such canes upon the fifth cake, 
 because there was but one cake more to be laid upon. 
 Now these which I call golden canes (and the He- 
 brews call them so also) were not like reeds or canes, 
 perfectly round and hollow through, but they were 
 like canes or kexes slit up the middle ; and the reason 
 of laying them thus betwixt cake and cake was, that 
 by their hollowness air might come to every cake, 
 and all might thereby be kept the better from mould- 
 iness and corrupting; and thus did the cakes lie 
 hollow, and one not touching another, and all the 
 golden canes being laid so, as that they lay within 
 the compass of the breadth of the table ; the ends 
 of the cakes that lay over the table on either side 
 bare no burthen but their own weight. 
 
 " On the top of either row was set a golden dish 
 with a handful of frankincense, which, when the 
 bread was taken away, was burnt as incense to the 
 Lord, (Lev. xxiv. 7.) and the bread went to Aaron 
 and his sons, or to the priests, as their portiakis to be 
 eaten." 
 
 So far this learned author 
 
 This is a representation of this table, as usually 
 acquiesced in, on rab- 
 binical autliority. The 
 table itself is a parallel- 
 ogram ; in the middle 
 stands a vase with its 
 covering, which vase is 
 understood to contain 
 incense ; at each end of 
 the table stands a pile, 
 formed by the loaves 
 of shew-bread ; this 
 jjile is upheld by gold- 
 en prongs, which pre- 
 vent the loaves from 
 slipping out of their 
 
 !)laces ; and between the loaves arc golden pipes, 
 aid for the admission of air, to prevent any kind of 
 mouldincss, &.c. from attaching to the bread. The 
 reader will observe the gi-eat height of these piles. 
 We cannot but wonder at the conduct of whoever 
 originally made the design for this table ; by what 
 authority could he place on these prongs the head 
 of any animal, whether ox or sheep ? or was it in 
 allusion to the four heads of the cheru!)? (as there 
 were four of thesn jjrongs, two on each side of the 
 table.) It sliould seem to l)c the head of a young 
 bull ; — but, if so, if tlicn; were really any tradition 
 of such a head, might it not l)econie theorigin of 
 that calunniy which reported, that the Jews wor- 
 shipped an ass's head? (see Ass ;) for it is remarka- 
 ble that the calumny does not say a complete ass 
 but the head of an ass ; and, possibly, some such' 
 mistake might give occasion to it: — for, had it said 
 an ox's head, the report had not been far from the 
 truth, if this re[)n-.s;Mitatinn bo authentic. However ! 
 that must rest on the rabbins, whoso accounts are 
 its authorities ; or on whatever authority the original 
 flesigner might have to pl.-ad. It shouhl appear by 
 this figure, that the cro^^•n of carved work around | 
 the rim of the table roso above the su])crficial level I 
 of the table ; if so, as Lightfoot justly remarks, the ' 
 
 loaves could not exceed it, so as to overhang its edge, 
 but must be confined within its limits. It will be 
 observed, that the legs of this table are distinct 
 and insulated ; not being strengthened by a rail, 
 or any similar connection with each other, in any 
 part. 
 
 As the foregoing figure has no authority beside 
 description, we have 
 here given a representa- 
 tion of the shew-bread 
 table, as it is delineated 
 on the arch of Titus, but 
 restored to somewhat of 
 its true appearance. This 
 shows no loaves placed 
 upon it ; and probably 
 Titus found it thus va- 
 cant, when it became his 
 prey ; but it shows a cup, 
 standing at one end of the 
 table, nearly, or altogeth- 
 er, on the spot where, according to the rabbins, one 
 of the piles of bread should be ; and in fact, in such 
 a part that it would be impossible to place one of 
 those piles, without removing the cup. We observe, 
 too, nothing of the supposed golden props, or sup- 
 ports to those piles, in this figure. From this situa- 
 tion of the cup we have ventured to surmise the 
 possibility, that there was on the table a second cup, 
 (which we have hinted at by dotted lines,) in a part 
 of the table answerable in point of symmetry to 
 that of the first cup. It is true, however, that a sin- 
 gle cup might stand in the middle of the front of 
 the table ; but what if there were in the middle a 
 small box of incense and a cup standing on each 
 side of it ? 
 
 It is probable the reader will be struck with the 
 manner of ranging the 
 loaves in this engrav- 
 ing, which appears to 
 difter altogether from 
 the rabbinical pile ; 
 that supj:)osing them 
 to be laid one upon 
 another in height ; this 
 supposing them to be 
 laid by the side of one 
 another in length. 
 
 We gather this or- 
 der of the loaves, (1.) 
 from the use of the 
 Hebrew word itself, {-\-\';^irek,) which our translators 
 certainly understood in this sense, and have very 
 properly rendered, in Lev. xxiv. 6. " two rows, six 
 in a row" — not two piles, six in a pile ; but a row, 
 that is, at length, one loaf by the side of its fellows. 
 The word denotes an orderly arrangement of the 
 sid)jects to which it refers; so, Prov. ix. 2, " Wis- 
 dom hath furnish(>d, arranged the proinsioiis on the 
 table ; but provisions are not arranged on a table in 
 piles, one upon another; but in rows, one by the 
 side of another, or one row before, one behind, an- 
 other. So, Numb, xxiii. 4, "/ have arranged seven 
 altars j'^ surelj' not one over the other, but in a line. 
 It denotes also an army, that is, rows of soldiers, 
 standing side l)y side ; the inference, therefore, is 
 that the word is conclusive against the rabbinical no- 
 tion of piles of shew-bread, since it denotes distribu- 
 tions or arrangements, and tliose in ranks or rows. 
 (2.) As these twelve loaves represented an offering 
 from each of the twelve tribes, it was fit that each
 
 BREAD 
 
 [211 ] 
 
 BREAD 
 
 tribe should be equally open to the view of the per- 
 Bon to whom, as it was understood, the present was 
 presented, that no tribe might seem to be slighted or 
 neglected ; but in piles this could not be, as the under 
 loaf would necessarily appear pressed, and concealed 
 by those above it ; consequently, the tribe it referred 
 to would bo symbolically injured and disgraced by 
 such a situation of its representative. (3.) The very 
 construction and form of the table, as it appears in 
 the arch of Titus, shows the impossibility of adopt- 
 ing the prongs of the first engraving aliove, because 
 that stena which reaches from the table to the ground, 
 at the very nearest possible situation for it to the end 
 of the table, must have run down directly before the 
 leg of the table, (which is very unlikely, considering 
 the situation of the cup,) by reason of the absence 
 of that part of the table which was cut away ; and 
 these piles could not be placed nearer to the centre 
 of the table because of the covercle containing in- 
 cense, &c. which stood there, as in that engraving. 
 On the whole, therefore, probability leads to the 
 opinion, that the loaves were placed in two rows, six 
 in each row; that they were of a certain convenient 
 breadth, conmiensurate to the surface of the table, 
 but of a more considerable height, as suggested by 
 dotted lines ; and they might be as much higher, 
 above the full height of the cup, as Avas necessary. 
 This is supposing that they contained the whole 
 quantity of tlour understood to be allotted to them 
 in Leviticus. They might resemble our half-peck 
 or peck loaves ; or what are called bricks, by our 
 bakers. This arrangement of the loaves, too, admits 
 perfectly of that diminution of the table in front, 
 which appears in what we have considered as the 
 authentic representation ; it admits also a place for 
 the conjectural cup on the other side of the table ; 
 and it leaves a space between these two cups, which 
 might be occupied by something else to complete 
 the table ; such as incense, salt, &c. It is indifferent 
 to this arrangement, whether the loaves were round 
 or square. 
 
 This plan shows, by the strong lines, what were 
 the limits of the table 
 as taken by Titus ; and 
 its dotted lines hint at 
 its limits as made by 
 Moses. It is natural to 
 ask. Who directed these 
 alterations? Did they 
 obtain under Solomon, 
 the Maccabees, or Herod ? They seem to imply a 
 spirit of innovation, which one should little expect 
 to find among a people so attached as the Jews were, 
 to the peculiarities of their ritual, and to their reli- 
 gious services. Moses seems to say, (Lev. xxiv. 8.) 
 that the Israelites furnished the loaves presented be- 
 fore the Lord ; but this ought to be understood only, 
 as they paid the first-fruits and tenths to the priests 
 (which was the chief of their income.) And of these 
 tenths and first-fruits the priests took wherewith to 
 make the shew-bread, and whatever else it was their 
 duty to furnish, in the sei'vice of the temple. In the 
 time of David, (1 Chron. ix. 32.) the Levites of the 
 family of Kohath had the care of the shew-brcad, or, 
 as it is called in the Chronicles, "the bread of order- 
 ing." Probably the Levites baked and prepared it ; 
 but the priests offered it before the Lord, 1 Chron. 
 xxiii. 28. However, Jerome says, from a tradition 
 of the Jews, that the priests sowed, reaped, ground, 
 kneaded, and baked the shew-bread. 
 
 It is more difficult, however, to ascertain the use 
 
 of the shew-bread, or what it represented, than al- 
 most any other emblem in the Jewish economy. 
 The learned Dr. Cudworth has the following remarks 
 on the subject in his treatise on the Lord's supper : 
 " When God had brought the children of Israel out 
 of Egypt, resolving to manifest himself in a peculiar 
 manner present among them, he thought good to 
 dwell amongst them in a visible and external man- 
 ner ; and, therefore, while they were in the wilder- 
 ness, and sojourned in tents, he would have a tent or 
 tabernacle built, to sojourn with them also. This 
 mystery of the tabernacle was fully understood by 
 the learned Nachmanides, who, in few words, but 
 pregnant, expresseth himself to this purpose : ' The 
 mystery of the tabernacle was this, that it was to be 
 a place for the Shekinah, or habitation of Divinity, 
 to be fixed in ;' and this, no doubt, as a special type 
 of God's future dwelling in Christ's human nature, 
 which was the true Shekinah ; but when the Jews 
 were come into their land, and had there built them 
 houses, God intended to have a fixed dwelling-house 
 also ; and, therefore, his movable tabernacle was to 
 be turned into a standing temple. Now, the taber- 
 nacle, or temple, being thus as a house, for God to 
 dwell in visibly, to make up the notion of dwelling 
 or habitation complete, there must be all things 
 suitable to a house belonging to it. Hence in 
 the holy place, there must be a table and a can- 
 dlestick, because this was the ordinary furniture 
 of a room, as the fore-commended Nachmanides 
 observes. The table must have its dishes, and spoons, 
 and bowls, and covers belonging to it, though they 
 were never used ; and always furnished with bread 
 upon it. The candlestick must have its lamps con- 
 tinually burning. Hence also there must be a con- 
 tinued fire kept in this house of God upon the altar, 
 as the focus of it ; to which notion, I conceive, the 
 prophet Isaiah doth allude, (chap. xxxi. 9.) ' Whose 
 fire is in Ziou, and his furnace in Jerusalem ;' and 
 besides all this, to carry the notion still further, there 
 must be some constant meat and provision brought 
 into this house ; which was done in the sacrifices 
 that were partly consumed by fire upon God's own 
 altar, and partly eaten by the priests, who were God's 
 family, and therefore to be maintained by him. 
 That which Avas consumed upon God's altar, was 
 accounted God's mess, as appeareth from Malachi, 
 (i. 12.) where the altar is called God's table, and the 
 sacrifice upon it, God's meat : ' Ye say. The table 
 of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even 
 his meat, is contemptible.' And often, in the law, 
 the sacrifice is called God's iz^nS lehem, that is, his 
 bread or food. Wherefore it is further observable, 
 that, besides the flesh of the beast oflered up in sac- 
 rifice, there was a mincah, that is, a meat or rather 
 bread-oficring, made of flour and oil ; and a liba- 
 men, or drink-offering, which was always joined 
 with the daily sacrifice, as the bread and drink which 
 was to go along with God's meat. It was also strictly 
 connnandcd, that there should be salt in every sacri- 
 fice and oblation, because all meat is unsavory with- 
 out salt, as Nachmanides hath here also well ob- 
 served : ' Because it was not honorable that God's 
 meat should be unsavory, without salt.' Lastly, all 
 these things were to be consumed on the altar only 
 by the holy fire, which came down from heaven, 
 because they were God's portion, and therefore to 
 be eaten or consumed by himself, in an extraordinary 
 manner." 
 
 We have remarked, that the shew-bread was eaten 
 by none but priests ; nevertheless, David, having re-
 
 BRE 
 
 [212] 
 
 BRE 
 
 ceived some of these loaves from the high-priest 
 Abimelech, ate of them, without scruple, in his ne- 
 cessity ; (1 Sam. xxi. 6 — 9.) and our Saviour uses his 
 example to justify the apostles, who had bruised ears 
 of corn, and were eating them on the sabbath day, 
 Matt. xii. 3, seq. 
 
 BREAST, BOSOM. The females in the East are 
 moi'e anxiously desirous than those of northern cli- 
 mates of a full and swelling breast ; in fact, they 
 study embonpoint of appearance, to a degree uncom- 
 mon among ourselves ; and what in the temperate 
 regions of Europe might be called an elegant slen- 
 derness of shape, they consider as a meagre appear- 
 ance of starvation. They mdulge these notions to 
 excess. It is necessary to premise this, before we 
 can enter thoroughly into the spirit of the language 
 in Cant. viii. 8 — 10. which Mr. Taylor renders some- 
 what diifFerently from our public ti'anslation. 
 
 Bride. Our sister is little, and she hath no 
 
 breasts ; being 03 yet too young ; 
 immature ; 
 What shall we do for our sister, in 
 the day when she shall be spoken 
 for .5 
 
 Brideoroom. If she be a wall, we will build on her 
 [ranges] turrets of silver ; 
 If she be a door-way, we will frame 
 around her panels of cedar. 
 
 Bride. I am a wall and my breasts like 
 
 Kiosks, 
 Thereby I appeared in his ej^es as 
 one who offered peace [repose ; 
 enjoyment]. 
 
 This instance of self-approbation is peculiarly in 
 character for a female native of Egypt ; in which 
 country, Juvenal sneeringly says, it is nothing un- 
 common to see the breast of the nurse, or mother, 
 larger than the infant she suckles. The same con- 
 formation of a long and pendent breast is marked in 
 a group of women musicians, foimd by Denon 
 painted in the tombs on the mountain to the west of 
 Thebes ; on which he observes, that the same is the 
 shape of tlie bosom of the present race of Egyptian 
 females. The ideas couched in these verses appear 
 to l)e these, " Om- sister is quite young," says the 
 ^ride ; — "But," says the bridegroom, " she is upright 
 as a wall ; and if her breasts do not project beyond 
 her person, as Kiosks project beyond a wall, we will 
 ornament her dress [head-dress ?] in the most mag- 
 nificent manner with turret-sliaped diadems of sil- 
 ver." This gives occasion to the reflection of the 
 bride, understood to be speaking to herself aside — 
 "As my sister is compared to a wall, I also in my 
 person am upright as a wall ; but I have this further 
 advantage, that my bosom is ample and full, as a 
 Kiosk projecting lieyond a wall; and though Kiosks 
 offer repose and indulgence, yet my bosoni offers to 
 my spouse infinitely more effectual enjoyment than 
 they do." This, it may be conjectured," is" the simple 
 idea of the i)assage ; the difference being that turrets 
 are built on the to|) of a wall ; !(;iosks project from 
 the front of it. The name Kiosk is not restricted to 
 this construction, but includes most of what are 
 commonly called suminer-lionses or pavilions. [This 
 exposition forms a part of Mr. Taylor's translation 
 of the whole book of Canticles, which is inserted 
 under that article. See the remarks there pre- 
 fixed. R. 
 
 I. BREASTPLATE, a piece of defensive armor 
 to protect the heart. The breastplate of God is 
 righteousness, which renders his whole conduct un- 
 assailable to any accusation. Christians are exhorted 
 to take to themselves " the breastplate of righteous- 
 ness," (Eph. vi. 14.) and "the breastplate of faith and 
 love," 1 Tliess. v. 8. Being clothed with these 
 graces, they will be able to resist their enemies, and 
 quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one ; a 
 beautiful simile. 
 
 II. BREASTPLATE, a piece of embroidery 
 about ten inches square, (Exod. xxviii. 15, seq.) of 
 very rich work, which the high-priest wore on his 
 breast. It was made of two pieces of the same rich 
 embroidered stuff of which the ephod was made, 
 having a front and a lining, and forming a kind of 
 purse, or bag, in which, according to the rabbins, 
 the Urim and Thununim were enclosed. The front 
 of it was set with twelve precious stones, on each of 
 which was engraved the name of one of the tribes. 
 They were placed in four rows, and divided from 
 each other by the little golden squares or partitions 
 in which they were set, according to the following 
 order. 
 
 The names given to the stones here are not free 
 from doubt, lor we are very imperfectly acquainted 
 with this j)art of natural science. The breastplate 
 was fastened at the four corners ; those on the top 
 to each shoulder, by a golden hook, or ring, at the 
 end of a wreathed chain ; those below to the girdle 
 of the ephod by two strings or ribands, which also 
 had two rings and hooks. This ornament was never
 
 BUB 
 
 [213] 
 
 BUR 
 
 to be severed from the priestly garments ; and it was 
 called "the memorial," (Ex. xxvdii. 15.) being de- 
 signed to remind tlie priest how dear those tribes 
 should be to him, whose names he bore upon his 
 heart. It was also named the " breastplate of judg- 
 ment," probably because by it was discovered the 
 judgment aiid the will of God ; or because the high- 
 priest who wore it was the fountain of justice, and 
 put on this ornament when he exercised his judicial 
 capacity m matters of great consequence, which 
 concerned the whole nation. Compare Urim and 
 Thummim. 
 
 BRIDE, a new-married female. In the typical 
 language of Scripture, the love of the Redeemer to 
 the church is energetically alluded to in the ex- 
 pression, " the bride, the Lamb's \vife," Rev. xxi. 9. 
 See Marriage, and Canticles. 
 
 BRIDEGROOM, see Marriage, and Canti- 
 cles. 
 
 BRIERS, see Thorns. 
 
 BRLAISTONE, a well kiio\\Ti substance, extremely 
 inflammable, tliat may be melted and consumed by 
 fire, but not dissolved iu water. God destroyed the 
 cities of the plain by raining upon them fire and 
 brimstone. Gen. xix. 2i. The wicked are threatened 
 with this punishment, Psal. xi. 6 ; Rev. xxi. 8. 
 
 BROOK, properly torrent, in Greek, Xeliiwjoo; : 
 in Helirew, s,-!j nachal. A brook is distmguished from 
 a river, for a river flows at all times, but a brook at 
 some times only ; as after great rains, or the melting 
 of snows. As the Hebrew nachal signifies a valley, 
 as well as a brook, one is oflen used for the other ; 
 as the brook of Gerar, for the valley of Gerar. But 
 this ambiguity is of little consequence, since gene- 
 rally there are brooks in valleys. 
 
 BROTHER is taken in Scripture for any rela- 
 tion, a man of the same country, or of the same na- 
 tion, for our neighbor, for a man in general. It is 
 probable that James, Joses, and Judas, (Matt, xxvii. 
 56.) thougli called brethren of Jesus, were not strictly 
 his natural brothers ; but (according to the usage of 
 the Hebrews, in extending names of affection from 
 the proper kin to which they acciu-ately applied, to 
 more distant relatives) cousins. James and Joses 
 were sons of Mary, (certainly not the Virgin,) ^latt. 
 xxvii. 56. James and Judas were sons of Alpheus, 
 (Luke vi. 15, 16.) and AJphcus is most probably Cle- 
 ophas, husliand of Mary, sister of the Virgin, John 
 xix. 25. Brother is one of the same nation (Rom. 
 ix. 3, &c.) — one of the same faith, (fii-st Epistle of St. 
 John,) one of the same nature, Heb. ii. 17. Thus 
 we see a regular gradation in the api)Iication of the 
 word brother in Scripture, and most, perhajjs all, 
 languages employ some equivalent extension of it. 
 We say in English, a brother of" the same trade — a 
 brother of the same color — "brother black," &c. Of 
 the same disposition — "brother miser." Of the 
 same vice — "brother thief," &:c. And to express 
 many other ideas of similarity, we often attach 
 meanings no less extensive to this word, than are de- 
 noted by it when it occurs in its loosest sense in holy 
 writ. 
 
 By the law, the brother of a man who died mth- 
 out children was obliged to marrj' the widow of 
 the deceased, to raise up children "to liim, that his 
 name and memory might not be extmct. See 
 Marriage. 
 
 BUBASTIS, a famous city of Egj'pt. Ezekiel 
 (xxx. 17.) calls it Pibeseth. It" stood on the eastern 
 shore of the eastern arm of the Nile. See Pi- 
 
 BZSETH. 
 
 BUCKET, see Water. 
 
 BUCKLER. (See Arms, Armor.) It was a de- 
 fensive piece of armor, of the nature of a shield ; and 
 is spoken figiu-atively of God, (2 Sam. xxii. 31 ; Ps, 
 xviii. 2, 30 ; Prov. ii. 7.) and of the truth of God, 
 Ps. xci. 4. 
 
 To BUILD. In addition to the proper and Uteral 
 signification of this word, it is used with reference 
 to children and a numerous posterity. Sarah desires 
 Abraham to take Hagar to wife, that by her she may 
 be budded up, i. e. have children to support her 
 family. Gen. xvi. 2. The midwivcs who refused 
 obedience to Pharaoh's orders, when he commanded 
 them to put to death all the male children of the 
 Hebrews, were rewarded for it ; God built them 
 houses — gave them a numerous posterity, says Cal- 
 met. But some think the passage signifies that the 
 houses of the Israelites were established by the 
 numbers of children which the midwives saved. 
 The LXX read, " they (the midwives) made them- 
 selves houses," more extensive than mere families ; 
 and Jose[)hus says, they were Egj-ptian women ; if 
 so, the phrase expresses the accumulation of wealth, 
 or great fortunes, Exod. i. 21. [This last is the more 
 probable meaning. R. 
 
 BUL, the eighth month hi the Hebrew calendar, 
 afterwards called Marchesvan ; answering nearly to 
 our October, O. S. According to some, (which is 
 the more probable supposition.) it corresponded to 
 the lunar month from the new moon of November 
 to that of December. The name signifies rain 
 month. It is the second month of the civil year, 
 and the eighth month of the ecclesiastical year. It 
 has twenty-nine days. (See Jewish Calendar.) We 
 only find the name Bui in 1 Kings vi. 38. under the 
 reign of Solomon. 
 
 BULL, Bullock. This animal was reputed clean, 
 and was generally used in sacrifice. The Septua- 
 gint and Vulgate oflen use the word ox ; compre- 
 hending under the word rather the species, than the 
 sex or quahty, of the animal ; like our word bullock. 
 The ancient Hebrews, in general, never mutilated 
 any creature ; and where in the text we read ox, we 
 are to understand a bull. Lev. xxii. 24. 
 
 The beauty of Joseph is compared to that of a 
 bullock. The Egyptians had a particular veneration 
 for this animal ; they paid divine honors to it ; and 
 the Je\\'sare supposed to have imitated them in their 
 woi-shij) of the golden calves. Jacob reproaches his 
 sons, Simeon and Levi, for having dug doAvn the 
 wall of the Sichemites; but the LXX translate the 
 Hebrew, " for hamstringing a bull," Gen. xlix. 6. 
 Many of the ancient fathers explained this j)as.^age 
 of Cln-ist, and referred it to his being put to death 
 by the Jews. The Hebrew signifies either a wall or 
 a bull. Bull, in a figurative and allegorical sense, is 
 taken for powerful, fierce, insolent enemies. " Fat 
 bulls (bulls of Bashan) surrounded me on every 
 side," says the Psalmist, Ps. xxii. 12. and Lxviii. 
 •30. "Rebuke the beast of the reeds, the multitude of 
 the bulls ;" Lord, smite in thy wrath these animals 
 which feed in large pastures, these herds of bulls. 
 And Isaiah says, (cliap. xxxiv. 7.) "The Lord shall 
 cause his victims to be slain iu the land of Edom, a 
 terrible slaughter will he make, he ^^■ill kill the uni- 
 corns, and the bulls," meaning those proud and cruel 
 princes who oppressed the weak. 
 
 BURDEN, a heavy load. The word is common- 
 ly used in the prophets for a disastrous prophecy. 
 The burden of Babylon, the burden of Nineveh, of 
 Moab, of Egj'pt. The Jews asking Jeremiah cap-
 
 BUR 
 
 [214] 
 
 BURIAL 
 
 tiously, What was the burden of the Lord ? he 
 answered them, You are that burden ; you are, as it 
 were, insupportable to the Lord ; he will throw you 
 on the ground, and break you to pieces, and you 
 shall become the reproach of the people, Jer. xxiii. 
 33 — 40. The burden of the desert of the sea 
 (Isaiah xxi. 1.) is a calamitous prophecy against 
 Babylon, which stood on the Euphrates, and was 
 watered as by a sea ; and which, from being great 
 and populous, as it then was, would soon be reduced 
 to a solitude. See Babylo.v. 
 
 The burden of the valley of vision, (Isaiah xxii. 
 1.) is a denunciation against Jerusalem, called, by 
 way of irony, " The Valley of Vision," though it 
 stood on an eminence. It is tailed " of Vision," or 
 "of Moriah," because it is thought that on mount 
 Moriah Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac. The 
 burden of the beasts of the south, (Isa. xxx. 6.) evi- 
 dently respects Judea, but we cannot perceive on 
 what account it has this inscription. It may be, that 
 copiers supplied it ; for it seems to make no sense 
 with the context, but, on the contrary, interrupts and 
 suspends it. The text may be thus read, (ver. 4, 5.) 
 — The Jews sent their ambassadors as far as Tanis 
 and Haues ; but they were confounded when they 
 saw that these people were not in a condition to as- 
 sist them. (The burden of the beasts of the south.) 
 They went, I sa}-, ''into the land of trouble and an- 
 guish, from whence come the young and old lion, 
 the viper and ticry flying serpent ; they will carry 
 their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and 
 their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a 
 people that shall not profit them." It may then be a 
 mai-ginal note or inscription, crept into the text, and 
 drawn from the mention of the beasts of burden 
 that go down to Egypt, i. e. the south. — Zechariah 
 says, (xii. 3.) "In that day will I make Jerusalem a 
 burdensome stone for all jjeoplc. All that t^n-den 
 themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all 
 the people of the earth be gathered together against 
 it." Those that would lift it shall be hurt [strain 
 themselves] by it. All nations around Jerusalem 
 tried their strength against it ; the Assyrians, the 
 Chaldeans, the Persians, the Egyptians, &c. but all 
 these had been hurt by tlie Jews. They have taken 
 the city, it i^s true, but they paid dearly for their vic- 
 tory by then- losses. Jerome observes, that in the 
 cities and villages of Palestine, there was an old cus- 
 tom, wliich continued even to his time, to have great 
 and heavy round stojies, which the young people 
 lifted up as high as they could, by way of exercise, 
 and to try their strength. He assures us, moreover, 
 that in the citadel at Atliens, near the statue of Mi- 
 nerva, lie had seen an iron ball of very great weight, 
 and >vhich he' could not move but with difiiculty, 
 with which they heretolbre used to try the strength 
 of the athlcta^, tliat their powers might be known, 
 and that they might not be too unequally matched. 
 Many think that "the stone of Zoheleth," (1 Kings 
 i. 9.) was one of these stones of burden ; and Ec- 
 clesiasticus (vi. 91.) alludes to this custom, when he 
 says, "Slie will lie upon him as a migiity stone of 
 trial, and he will cast her from him ere it be long." 
 The weight, or burden of the day, (Matt. xx. 12.) 
 expresses the labor and toil of the day, during 
 many hours, especially the meridian heat. 
 
 BURIAL. The Hebrews were, at all times, very 
 careful in the burial of their dead ; to be deprived of 
 burial, was thought one of the greatest dishonors, or 
 causes of unhappiness, that could befall any man ; 
 (Eccl. vi. 3.) being denied to none, jiot even to ene- 
 
 mies ; but it was withheld from self-murderers till 
 after sunset, and the souls of such persons were be- 
 lieved to be plunged into hell. This concern for 
 burial proceeded from a persuasion of the soul's im- 
 mortahty. Jeremiah (viii. 2.) threatens the kings, 
 priests, and false prophets, who had adored idols, 
 that their bones should be cast out of their graves, 
 and be thrown like dung upon the earth. The same 
 prophet foretold that Jehoiakim, king of Judah, who 
 built his house by unrighteousness, and who aban- 
 doned himself to avai'ice, violence, and all manner 
 of vice, among other severe punishments, should be 
 buried with " the burial of an ass ;" that he should 
 be cast out of the gates of Jerusalem into the com- 
 mon sewer, ch. xxii. 18, 19. It is observed, (2 Mace. 
 V. 10.) that Jason, who had denied the privilege of 
 burial to many Jews, was himself treated in the same 
 manner; that he died in a foreign land, and was 
 thrown like carrion upon the earth, not being laid 
 even in a stranger's grave. Good men made it part 
 of their devotion to inter the dead, as we see by the 
 instance of Tobit. 
 
 A remarkable expression of the Psalmist (Ps. 
 cxli. 7.) appears to have much poetical heightening 
 in it, which even its author, in all probability, did not 
 mean should be accepted literally ; while, neverthe- 
 less, it might be susceptible of a literal acceptation, 
 and is sometimes a fact. He says, " Our bones are 
 scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth 
 and cleaveth ivood upon the earth." This seems to 
 be strong eastern painting, and almost figurative 
 language ; but that it may be strictly true, the fol- 
 lowing extract demonstrates: — "At five o'clock we 
 left Garigana, our journey being still to the east- 
 ward of north ; and, at a quarter past six in the even- 
 ing, arrived at the village of that name, whose in- 
 habitants had all perished with hunger the year be- 
 fore ; their wretched bones being all unburied and scat- 
 tered upon the surface of the ground, wXiCYG the village 
 formerly stood. We encamped among the bones of 
 the dead ; no space could be found free from them ; 
 and on the 23d, at six in the morning, full of horror 
 at this miserable s])ectacle, we set out for Teawa ; 
 this was the seventh day from Has el Feel. After 
 an hour's travelling, we came to a small river, which 
 still had Avater standing in some considerable pools, 
 although its banks were destitute of any kind of 
 shade.'"^" (Bruce's Travels, vol. iv. p. 349.) The 
 reading of this account thrills us with horror ; what 
 then must have been the sufferings of the ancient 
 Jews at such a sight? — when to have no burial was 
 reckoned among the greatest calamities ; M'hen tlieir 
 land was thought to be polluted, in which the dead 
 (even criminals) were in any manner exposed to 
 view ; and to whom the very touch of a dead bodj', 
 or part of it, or of any thing that had touched a dead 
 bodj^, was esteemed a defilement, and required a 
 ceremonial ablution ? 
 
 There was nothing determined ])articularly in the 
 law as to the i)lacc of burying the dead. There 
 were sepulchres in town and country, by the high- 
 ways, in gardens, and on mountains ; those belong- 
 ing to the kings of Judah were in Jerusalem, and 
 the king's gardens. Ezekiel intimates that they were 
 dug under the mountain upon Avhich tiie temple 
 stood ; since God says, that in future this holy moun- 
 tain should not be polluted witli the dead bodies of 
 their kings. The sepulchre which Joseph of Ari- 
 m.athea had provided for himself, and in which he 
 placed our Saviour's body, was in his garden ; that 
 of Rachel was adjacent to the highway from Jeru-
 
 BURIAL 
 
 [ 215 1 
 
 BUT 
 
 ealem to Bethlehem. That of the Maccabees was 
 at Modin, upon an eminence, whence it was visible 
 at a great distance both by sea and land. The kings 
 of Israel had their biirying-places in Samaria. 
 Samuel was interred in his own house, (1 Sam. xxv. 
 1.) Moses, Aaron, Eleazar and Joshua were buried 
 in mountains ; Saul and Deborah (Rebekah's nurse) 
 were buried under the shade of trees. It is affirmed, 
 that the sepulchres of the inhabitants of Jerusalem 
 were in the \alley of Kidron. Here likewise was 
 the burying-place for foreigners. 
 
 [Tiie following extract from Dr. Jowett's Christian 
 Researches in Syria, etc. (p. 207.) may cast some 
 light on the Hebrew modes of burial: "While 
 walking out one evening, a few fields distance from 
 Deir el Kamr, with the son of my host, to see a de- 
 tached garden belonging to his father, he pointed 
 out to me, near it, a small, solid stone building, ap- 
 parently a house ; very solenmly adding, " Kabbar 
 oeity, — the. sepulchre of my faintly." It had neither 
 door nor window. He then directed my attention 
 to a considerable number of similar buildings at a 
 distance ; which to the eye are exactly like houses, 
 but which are in fact family mansions for the dead. 
 They have a most melancholy appearance, which 
 made him shudder while ho explained their use. 
 They seem, by their dead walls, which must be 
 opened at each several interment of the members of 
 a family, to say, ' This is an unkindly house, to which 
 visitors do not willingly throng; but, one by one, 
 they will be forced to enter ; and none who enter 
 ever come out again.' Perhaps this custom, which 
 prevails here and in the lonely neighboring parts of 
 the mountains, may have been of great antiquity, 
 and may serve to explain some Scripture phrases. 
 The prophet Samuel was bui-ied " in his house at 
 Ramah ;" (1 Sam. xxv. 1.) it could hardly be in his 
 dwelling-house. Joab "was buried in his own house 
 in the wilderness;" 1 Kings ii. 34. This was "the 
 house appointed for all living," Job xxx. 23. Carp- 
 zov remarks, (Apparat. p. 643.) ' It is hardly to be 
 supposed that the sepulchres were in the houses 
 themselves, and under the roof; and we are there- 
 fore rather to understand by the term every thing 
 which belongs or appertains to the house, as a court 
 or garden, in a corner of which perhaps such a 
 monument was erected.' The view of these sepul- 
 chral houses at Deir el Kamr puts the matter be- 
 yond conjecture." R. 
 
 The Jews call what we term a church-yard or 
 cemetery, " the house of the living," to show their 
 belief of the immortality of the soul, and of the 
 resurrection of the body ; and when they come 
 thither bearing a corpse, they address themselves to 
 those who lie there, as if tiiey were still alive, say- 
 ing, "Blessed bo the Lord who hath created you, 
 fed you, brought you up, and at last, in his justice, 
 taken you out of the woi-Id. He knows the number 
 of you all, and will in time revive you. Blessed be 
 the Lord who causeth death, and restoreth life." 
 (Buxtorf, Synag. Jud. cap. xxxv.) Their respect for 
 sepulchres is so great, that they build synagogues 
 and oratories near those of great men and prophets, 
 and go and pray near them. The rabbins teach, 
 that it is not lawful to demolish tombs, nor to dis- 
 turb the repose of the dead, by burying another 
 corpse in the same grave, even after a long time ; 
 nor to carry an aqueduct across the common |)lace 
 of burial ; nor a highway; nor to go and gatlicr 
 wood there, nor to suffer cattle to feed there. When 
 the Jews come with a funeral to a burying-place. 
 
 they repeat the blessing directed to the dead, as 
 above mentioned ; the body is then put down upon 
 the ground, and if it be a person of consideration, a 
 kind of funeral oration and encomium is made 
 over him. This being done, tliey walk round the 
 grave, reciting rather a long prayer, beginning whh 
 Deut. xxxii. 4. which they call the righteousness of 
 judgment; because therein they return thanks to 
 God for having pronounced an equitable judgment 
 concerning the life and person of the deceased. A 
 little sack full of earth is then put under the dead 
 person's head, and the coffin is nailed down and 
 closed. If it be a man, ten persons take ten turns 
 about him, and say a prayer for his soul ; the near- 
 est relation tears a corner of his clothes, and the 
 dead body is let down into the grave, with his face 
 towards heaven, the mourners crying to him, "Go in 
 peace," or rather, according to the Talmudists, " Go 
 to peace." The nearest relations first throw earth 
 on the body ; and afterwards all present. This done, 
 they retire, walking backwards ; and before they 
 leave the burying-ground, they pluck bits of grass 
 three times, and cast them behind their backs, say- 
 ing, "they shall flourish like grass on the earth," 
 Ps. Ixxii. 16. 
 
 Calmet is of opinion, that there is no instance of 
 an epitaph inscribed on the tomb of an ancient He- 
 brew ; and remarks, that that which is reported of 
 Adoniram's, found in Spain, and some others of like 
 authority, are not deserving of notice. If a monu- 
 ment were erected in memory of a king, a hero, a 
 prophet, or a warrior, the tomb itself, he remarks, 
 spoke sufficiently, and the memory of the person 
 was perpetuated, together with his history, among 
 the people. Nevertheless, they might have inscrip- 
 tions, distinguishing the party they contained; and 
 if the hieroglyphics mentioned in the article on 
 tombs be so ancient as there hinted, they may be 
 regarded as proofs that monumental inscriptions 
 were not unusual in (perhaps Jewish) antiquity. 
 
 BURNING BUSH, wherein the Lord appeared 
 to Moses, at the foot of mount Horeb. (See Moses.) 
 As to the person who appeared in the bush. Scrip- 
 ture, in several places, calls him by the name of 
 God, Exod. iii. 2, 6, 13, 14, &c. He calls himself 
 the Lord God ; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob ; the God who was to deliver his people from 
 their bondage in Egypt. Moses, blessing Joseph, 
 says, "Let the !.'lc::sii"ig of him who dwelt in the 
 bush .come on the head of Josej)h," Deut. xxxiii. 16. 
 But in the places of Exodus which we are examin- 
 ing, instead of "the Lord appeared to him," the He- 
 brew and the Septuagint import, "the angel of the 
 Lord appeared to him." Stephen, in the Acts, (vii. 
 30.) reads it in the same manner; Jerome, Augustin 
 and Gregory the Great teach the same thing. It 
 Avas an angel, agent, messenger, who, representing 
 the Lord, spoke in his name. The ancients gene- 
 rally hold the Son of God to be the person who ap- 
 peared in the bush. 
 
 BURNT-OFFERINGS, see Offerings; and 
 for the Altar of Bcrnt-offerings, see Altar. 
 
 BUSHEL is used in our English version to express 
 the Greek word fUhog, Latin modius, a measure con- 
 taining about a peck. Matt. v. 15. 
 
 BUTTER is generally taken, in Scripture, for 
 cream, or liquid butter." Children were fed with 
 butter and honey ; fisa. vii. 15, 22.) with milk-diet, 
 with cream, and with honey, which was common in 
 Palestine. D'Arvieux, (p. 205.) speaking of the 
 Arabs, says, " One of their chief breakfasts is cream
 
 BUTTER 
 
 [ 216 
 
 BUTTER 
 
 —or fresh butter — mixed in a mess of honey. 
 These do not seem to suit very well together, but 
 experience te>iches that this is no bad mixture, nor 
 disagreeable in its taste, if one is ever so little accus- 
 tomed to it." The last words seem to indicate a 
 delicacy of taste, of which D'Arvieux was sensible in 
 himself, which did not, at once, relish this mixture ; 
 and, very possibly, the prophet alludes to son;ething 
 of the same hesitation in children, who must be some 
 time before they fancy this mixture ; but, having 
 been accustomed to it, they find it pleasant, and 
 know how to prefer the good and agreeable, before 
 what is evil ; i. e. less suited to their palate. We 
 presume, therefore, that this food was, as near as 
 conveniently might be, an immediate substitute for 
 the mother's milk. Thevenot also tells us, "The 
 Arabs knead their bread-paste afresh ; adding thereto 
 butter, and sometimes also honey." (Part i. p. 173.) 
 We read in 2 Sam. xvii. 2!). of honey and butter be- 
 ing brought to David, as well as other refreshments, 
 "because the people were hungry, weary, and thirsty." 
 Considering the list of articles, there seems to be 
 nothing adapted to moderate thirst, except this honey 
 and butter ; for we may thus arrange the passage : 
 the people were hungry, — to satisfy which were 
 brought wheat, barley, flour, beans, lentiles, sheep, 
 cheese ; the people were weary, — to relieve this were 
 brought beds ; the people were thirsty, — to answer 
 the purpose of drink was brought a mixture of butter 
 and honey ; food fit for breakfast, light and easy of 
 digestion, pleasant, cooling, and refreshing. That 
 this mixture was a delightful liquid appears from the 
 maledictory denunciation of Zophar: (Job xx. 17.) 
 The wicked man "shall not see the rivers, the floods, 
 the brooks [torrents] of honey and butter ;" honey 
 alone could hardly be esteemed so flowing as to 
 afford a comparison to rivers and torrents ; but cream, 
 in such abundance, is much more fluid ; and mixed 
 with honey, may dilate and thin it into a state more 
 proper for rumiins; — poetically speaking, as freely as 
 water itself. " Honey and milk are under thy 
 tongue," says the spouse, in Cant. iv. 11. Perhaps 
 this mixture was not merely a refreshment, but an 
 elegant refreshment; which heightens the inference 
 from the ])rcdictions of Isaiah, and the description of 
 Zophar, w'lo speak of its abundance ; and it in- 
 creases the respect ])aid to David, by his failliful and 
 loyal subjects at JMahanaim. 
 
 It is evident, however, from Prov. xxx. 33. that 
 churned butter was not unknown in Judea. Jackson 
 saAV it made in Curdistau in the following manner : 
 "The milk was put into a sort of bottle, made of a 
 goat's skin, every part of which was sewed up except 
 the neck, which was tied witli a string to prevent llie 
 milk running out. They then fixed three strong 
 sticks in the groimd, in a form somewhat like what 
 we often use in raising weights, only on a smaller 
 scale. From these they suspend the goat's skin tied 
 by each end, and continue shaking it backwards 
 and forwards till it becomes butter; and they easily 
 know this liy the noise it makes. They then empty 
 the skin into a large vessel, and skim off the butter." 
 (Journey over land from India to England, ]>. 188.) 
 
 Hasselquist mentions the following custom of the 
 Greek ecclesiastics at Magnesia: "The priests, hav- 
 ing washed and dried the feet of the guests, anointed 
 them with fresh biUter, which, as they told me, was 
 made of the first milk of a young cow;" — perhaps 
 the first milk of a cow which had recently calved. 
 Bruce says the king of Abjssinia a)ioints his head 
 with butter daily- 
 
 [Job, (chap. xxix. 6.) speaks of " washing his steps 
 with butter ; and the rock poured him out rivers of 
 oil ;" where to bathe the footsteps in butter, or rather 
 " in thick curdled milk, means, to walk in a country 
 overflowing with milk ; and this, with the subse- 
 quent parallelism, denotes a land abounding vdth 
 milk and oil. 
 
 A singular custom is described by Burckhardt, as 
 being prevalent in Modern Arabia. (Travels in Ara- 
 bia, Lond. 1829. p. 27.) " There are in Djidda twen- 
 ty-one butter-sellers, who likewise retail honey, oil, 
 and vinegar. Butter forms the chief article in Arab 
 cookery, which is more greasy than even that of 
 Italy. Fresh butter, called by the Arabs zebde, is 
 very rarely seen in the Hedjaz. It is a common 
 practice among all classes, to drink every morning a 
 coftee-cup full of melted butter or ghee, after which 
 cofTee is taken. They regard it as a powerful tonic, 
 and are so much accustomed to it from their earliest 
 youth, that they would feel gi-eat inconvenience in 
 discontinuing the use of it. The higher classes con- 
 tent themselves with drinking the quantity of butter, 
 but the lower orders add a half-cup more, which 
 they snuff up their nostrils, conceiving that they 
 prevent foul air from entering the body by that 
 channel. The practice is universal, as well with the 
 inhabitants of the toAvn as with the Bedouins. The 
 lower classes are likewise in the habit of rubbing 
 their breasts, shoulders, arms, and legs, with butter, 
 as the negroes do, to refresh the skin. During the 
 late war, the import of this article from the interior 
 almost ceased ; but even in time of peace it is not 
 sufficient for the consumption of Djidda; some is, 
 therefore, brought also from Sowakin ; but the best 
 sort, and that which is in greatest plenty, comes from 
 Massowah, and is called here Dahlak butter ; whole 
 ships' cargoes arrive from thence, the greater part of 
 which is again carried to Mekka. Butter is likewise 
 imported from Cosseir ; this comes from Upper 
 Egypt, and is made from buffalo's milk ; the Sowa- 
 kin and Dahlak ghee is from sheep's milk. — The 
 Hedjaz abounds with honey in every part of the 
 mountains. Among the lower classes, a common 
 breakfast is a mixture of ghee and honey poured over 
 crumbs of bread, as they come quite hot from the 
 oven. The Arabs, who are very fond of paste, never 
 eat it without honey." 
 
 The Hebrew word (-Ncn) usually rendered butter, 
 denotes rather cream, or more properly sour or curdled 
 milk. (See Bibl. Repos. i. p. G05.) This last is a 
 fiivorite beverage in the East to the ])resent day. 
 Burckhardt, when crossing the desert from the coun- 
 try south of the Dead sea to Egypt, says, " Besides 
 flour, I carried some butter and dried leben, [sour 
 milkS which, when dissolved in water, forms not only 
 a refreshing beverage, but is nnich to be recom- 
 mended as a preservative of health when travelling 
 in summer." (Travels in Syria, p. 439.) In Djidda 
 he says there were " two sellers of leben, or soin* milk, 
 which is extremely scarce and dear all over the Hed- 
 jaz. It may appear strange, that, among the shep- 
 lierds of Arabia, there should be a scarcity of milk, 
 yet this was the case at Djidda and Mekka; but, in 
 fact, the immediate vicinity of these towns is ex- 
 tremely barren, little suited to the pasturage of cattlii, 
 and very few people are at the expense of feeding 
 them for their milk only. When I was at Djidda, 
 the pound of milk (for it was sold by weight) cost 
 one piastre and a lialf, and could be obtained only 
 by favor. What the northern Turks call yoghori, 
 and the Syrians and Egyptians leben-hamed, i. e. very
 
 BUZ 
 
 [217 ] 
 
 BUZ 
 
 thick milk, rendered sour by boiling and the 
 addition of a strong acid, does not appear to 
 l)e a native Arab dish ; the Bedouins of Arabia, at 
 least, do not prepare it." (Travels in Arabia, p. 
 31.] *R. 
 
 BUZ, sou of Nahor and Milcah, and brother of 
 
 Huz, Gen. xxii. 21. Elihu, one of Job's friends, was 
 descended from Buz, son of Nahor. Scripture calls 
 him an Aramean, or Syrian, (Job xxxii. 2.) where 
 Ram is put for Aram. The prophet Jeremiah (chap. 
 XXV. 23.) threatens the Buzites, who dwelt in Arabia 
 Deserta, with God's wrath. 
 
 C 
 
 CAD 
 
 CMS 
 
 CAB, a Hebrew measure, according to the rabbins, 
 the sixth part of a seah, or satum ; and the eighteenth 
 part of an ephah. A cab contained three pints l-3d 
 of our wine measure ; or two pints 5-6ths of our 
 corn-measure, 2 Kings vi. 25. 
 
 CABALA, (nS3|">, tradition.) The Cabala is a mys- 
 tical mode of expounding tlie law, which the Jews 
 say was discovered to Moses on mount Sinai, and 
 has been from him handed down by tradition. It 
 teaches certain abstruse and mysterious significations 
 of a word, or words, in Scripture ; from whence are 
 borrowed, or rather ybrcerf, explanations, by combin- 
 ing the letters which compose it. This Cabala is of 
 tliree kinds: the Gematry, the Motaricon, and the 
 Themurah, or change. 
 
 The first consists in taking the letters of a Hebrew 
 word for arithmetical numbers, and explaining every 
 word by the aritlimetical value of the letters which 
 compose it — e. g. the Hebrew letters of n'^v^- }<3>, Ja- 
 bo-Shiloh, (Gen. xlix. 10.) Shiloh shall come, when 
 reckoned arithmetically, make up the same number 
 as those of the word n-^cv, Messiah ; whence they 
 infer, that Shiloh signifies the Messiah. The second 
 consists in taking each letter of a word for an entire 
 diction or word ; e. g. Bereshith, the first word of Gen- 
 esis, composed of B.R. A.Sh.I.Th. of which they make 
 Kara-Kakia-AretzShamaim-latn-Thehomoth. " He 
 created the firmament, the earth, the heavens, the sea, 
 and the deep." This is varied by taking, on the 
 contrary, the first letters of a sentence to form one 
 word : as Attah-Gibbor-L,e-olam-Adonai. " Thou art 
 strong for ever, O Lord." They unite the first let- 
 ters of tliis senteuce, A.G.L.A. and make AGLA, 
 which may signify "I will reveal," or "a drop of 
 dew." The third kind of Cabala consists in transpo- 
 sitions of letters, placing one for another, or one be- 
 fore another, much after the manner of anagrams. 
 
 CABBON, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 40. 
 
 I. CABUL, a city of Asher, Josh. xix. 27. 
 
 n. CABUL, a district, given to Hiram by Solo- 
 mon, (1 Kings ix. 13.) in acknowledgment for his 
 great services in building the temple. Some place 
 the cities of Cabul beyond Jordan, in the Decapolis ; 
 Grotius is of opinion, that the cities which Pharaoh 
 had conquered from the Philistines, and yielded to 
 Solomon, were among the cities of Cabul. Most 
 commentators are persuaded, that the city of Cabul 
 (Josh. xix. 27.) was one ; and probably Hiram gave 
 this name to the other cities which Solomon had 
 ceded to him. Cabul was perhaps the same as Cha- 
 balon, or Chabul, which Josephus places near Ptole- 
 mais, south of Tyre. [The district of Cabul was 
 then probably in the north-west part of Galilee, adja- 
 cent to Tyre. R. 
 
 CAD, or Cadus, in Hebrew, signifies a water- 
 pitcher or bucket ; but in Luke, a particular measure : 
 " How much owest thou to my lord ? — A hundred 
 (Vulg. cados) measures of oil." The Greek reads 
 28 
 
 " a hundred baths." The bath, or ephah, contained 
 full ten gallons, Luke xvi. 6. 
 
 CADUMIM, a brook, (Vulg. Judg. v. 21.) which 
 many think ran east, from the foot of mount Tabor, 
 into the sea of Tiberias : but we have no evidence 
 of any such brook in that ])lace. The English trans- 
 lators call it " the river of Kishon." We know there 
 was a city in these parts called Cadmon, mentioned 
 Judith vii. 3, whence the brook Cadumim, or Kishon, 
 might be named. [The Vulgate alone has retained the 
 epithet cadumim as a proper name. It is properly 
 descriptive of the Kishon, and should be translated 
 either as in our English version, " that ancient river," 
 or, " that stream of battles." (See the Bibl. Repos. 
 vol. i. p. 605.) R. 
 
 C^SAR, the name assumed by, or conferred 
 upon, all the Roman emperors after Julius Caesar. 
 In the New Testament, the reigning emperor is gen- 
 erally called Caesar, omitting any other name which 
 might belong to him. Christ calls the emperor Ti- 
 berius simply Cajsar, (Matt. xxii. 21.) and Paul thus 
 mentions Nero, " I appeal to Coesar." [The Csesars 
 mentioned in the New Testament are, Augustus; 
 (Luke ii. 1.) Tiberius; (Luke iii. 1 ; xx. 22.) Claudius; 
 (Actsxi.28.) Nero ; (Acts XXV. 8.) Caligula, who suc- 
 ceeded Tiberius, is not mentioned. R. 
 
 I. C^SAREA, in Palestine, formerly called Stra- 
 to's Tower, was situated on the eastern coast of the 
 Mediterranean, and had a fine harbor. It is reckoned 
 to be 36 miles south of Acre, 30 north of Jaffa, and 
 62 north-west of Jerusalem. Csesarea is often men- 
 tioned in the New Testament. Here king Agrippa 
 was smitten, for neglecting to give God the glory, 
 when flattered by the people. Cornelius the cer.tu- 
 rion, who was baptized by Peter, resided here. Acts 
 X. At Csesarea, the prophet Agabus foretold to the 
 apostle Paul, that he would be bound at Jerusr.lem, 
 Acts xxi. 10, 11. Paul continued two years prisoner 
 at Csesarea, till he could be conveniently conducted 
 to Rome, because he had appealed to Nero. When- 
 ever Coesarea is named, as a city of Palestine, 
 without the addition of Philippi, we suppose this 
 Csesarea to be meant. 
 
 Dr. Clarke did not visit Csesarea ; but viewing it 
 from off the coast he says, " By day-break the next 
 morning we were off the coast of Csesarea; and so near 
 with the land that we could very distinctly perceive 
 the appearance of its numerous and extensive ruins. 
 The remains of this city, although still considerable, 
 have long been resorted to as a quarry, whenever 
 building materials are required at Acre. Djezzar 
 Pasha brought from thence the columns of rare and 
 beautiful marble, as well as the other ornaments of 
 his palace, bath, fountain, and mosque at Acre. The 
 place at present is only inhabited by jackalls and 
 beasts of prey. As we were becalmed during the 
 night, we heard the cries of these animals until day- 
 break. Pococke mentions tike curious fact, of the
 
 C^SAREA 
 
 218 
 
 CAI 
 
 existence of crocodiles in the river of Csesarea. Per- 
 haps there has not been in tlie liistory of the world 
 an example of any city, that in so short a space of 
 time rose to such an extraordinary height of splendor 
 as did this of Csesarea, or that exhibits a more awful 
 contrast to its former magnificence, by the present 
 desolate appearance of its ruins. Not a single inhab- 
 itant remains. Its theatres, once resounding with 
 the shouts of multitudes, echo no other sound than 
 the nightly cries of animals roaming for their prey. 
 Of its gorgeous palaces and temples, enriched with 
 the choicest works of art, and decorated with the 
 most precious marbles, scarcely a trace can be dis- 
 cerned. Within the space of ten years after laying 
 the foundation, from an obscure fortress it became 
 the most celebrated and flourishing city of all Syria. 
 It was named Csesarea by Herod, in honor of Au- 
 gustus, and dedicated by him to that emperor, in the 
 twenty-eighth year of his reign. Upon this occasion, 
 that the ceremony might be rendered illustrious, by 
 a degree of profusion unknown in any former in- 
 stance, Herod assembled the most skilful musicians 
 and gladiators from all parts of the world. The so- 
 lenmity was to be renewed every fifth year. But, as 
 we viewed the ruins of this memorable city, every 
 other circumstance resjjecting its history was ab- 
 sorbed in the consideration that we were actually 
 beholding the very spot where the scholar of Tarsus, 
 after two years' imprisonment, made that eloquent 
 appeal, in the audience of the king of Judea, which 
 must ever be remembered with piety and delight. In 
 the history of the acts of the holy apostles, whether 
 we regard the internal evidence of the narrative, or 
 the interest excited by a story so wonderfully ap- 
 pealing to our passions and aifections, there is nothing 
 that we call to mind with fuller emotions of sublimity 
 and satisfaction. ' In the demonstration of the Spirit, 
 and of power,' the mighty advocate for the Christian 
 faith had before reasoned of righteousness, temper- 
 ance, and judgment to come, till the Roman governor, 
 Felix, trembled as he spoke. Not all the oratory of 
 Tertullus, nor the clamor of his numerous adversaries, 
 not even the countenance of the most profligate of 
 tyrants, availed against the firmness and intrepidity 
 of the oracle of God. The judge had trembled be- 
 fore his prisoner ; and now a second occasion of- 
 fered, in which, for tlie admiration and triumph of 
 the Christian world, one of its bitterest persecutors, 
 and a Jew, appeals, in the public tribunal of a large 
 and populous city, to all its chiefs and its rulers, its 
 governor and its king, for the truth of his conversion, 
 founded on the highest evidence, delivered in tiie 
 most fair, open, and illustrious manner." 
 
 Caesarea Palestina Avas inhabited by Jews, heathen, 
 and Samaritans ; hence parts of it were esteemed 
 unclean by the Jews ; some of whom would not pass 
 over certain jilaces ; others, however, were less scru- 
 pulous. Perpetual contests were maintained between 
 the Jews and the Syrians, or the Greeks ; in which 
 many thousand persons were slain. 
 
 The Arab interpreter thinks this city was first 
 named Hazor, Joshua xi. ]. Rabl)i Abhu says, "Cse- 
 sarea was the daughter of Edoni ; situated among 
 things profane ; she was a goad to Israel in the days 
 of the Grecians; but the Asmonean family over- 
 came her." Herod the Groat built the city to honor 
 the name of Caesar, and adorned it with most splendid 
 houses. Over against tlie mouth of the haven, made 
 by Herod, was the temi)le of Caesar, on a rising 
 ground, a superb structure ; and in it a statue of Cae- 
 sar the emperor. Here was also a theatre, an amphi- 
 
 theatre, a forum, &c. all of white stone, &c. (Joseph, 
 de Bell. lib. i. cap. 13.) 
 
 After he had finished rebuilding the to\vn, Herod 
 dedicated it to Augustus ; and 
 prociu-ed the most capable 
 workmen to execute the med- 
 als struck on the occasion, so 
 that these are of considerable 
 elegance. The port was call- 
 ed Sebastus, that is, Augus- 
 tus. The city itself was made 
 a colony by Vespasian ; and 
 is described on its medals, as 
 
 COLOXIA PRIMA FLAVIA AU- 
 GUSTA CJESAREA ; Caesarea, the first colony of the 
 Flavian (or Vespasian) family. 
 
 II. CAESAREA PHILIPPI, (before called Paneas, 
 and now Banias,) was situated at the foot of mount 
 Paneus, or Hermon, near the springs of the Jordan. It 
 has been supposed, that its ancient name was Dan, 
 or Laish ; and that it was called Paneas by the Phoe- 
 nicians only. Eusebius, however, distinguishes Dan 
 and Paneas as diflferent places. Caesarea was a day's 
 journey fi-om Sidon, and a day and a half from Da- 
 mascus. Phihp the tetrarch built it, or, at least, em- 
 bellished and enlarged it, and named it Caesarea, in 
 honor of the emperor Tiberius ; but afi;erwards, in 
 compliment to Nero, it was called Neronias. The 
 woman who had been troubled with an issue of 
 blood, and was healed by our Saviour, (Matt. ix. 20; 
 Luke vii. 43.) is said to have been of Caesarea Phi- 
 lippi, and to have returned thither after her cure, and 
 erected a statue to her benefactor. The present 
 town contains, according to Burckhardt, about 150 
 houses, inhabited mostly by Turks. The goddess 
 Astarte was worshipped here, 
 as appears from the medals 
 extant. The annexed en- 
 graving represents one of Al- 
 exander Severus ; in which 
 the emperor is crowning the 
 goddess with a wreath. The 
 Greek language was more 
 used in this city than the 
 Latin ; yet it struck medals 
 in each language. It seems 
 to have been made a Roman colony ; though not 
 mentioned as such by any writer. It is likely that 
 Caesarea Phihppi was among the most forward cities 
 to compliment Severus, since several authors report 
 that it was his birth-place. Lampridius even says, 
 that he was named Alexander, because his mother 
 was delivered of him in a temple dedicated to Alex- 
 ander the Great, on a festival in honor of that hero, 
 at which she had assisted with her husband. The 
 editor of the Modern Traveller has industriously 
 collected and judiciously compared the several no- 
 tices of this place which are fovmd in modern writers. 
 Palestine, pp. 353 — 363, Engl. cd. ; pp. 327, seq. 
 Am. cd. 
 
 CAIAPHAS, a high-priest of the Jews, succeeded 
 Simon, son of Camith, and after possessing this dignity 
 nine years (from A. IM. 4029 to 4038) he was suc- 
 ceeded by Jonatlian, son of Ananas, or Annas. He 
 married a daughter of Annas, who also is called 
 high-priest in the Gospel, l)ecause he had long en- 
 joyed that dignity. When the jiriests deliberated on 
 the seizure and death of oiu- Saviour, Caiaphas told 
 them, there was no room for debate on that matter ; 
 "that it was expedient for one man to die, instead 
 of all the people, — that the whole nation might not
 
 CAI 
 
 [219 ] 
 
 CAIN 
 
 perish," John xi. 49, 50. This sentiment was a kind 
 of prophecy, which God suffered to proceed from the 
 mouth of tiie high-priest on this occasion, importing, 
 though not by his intention, that the death of Jesus 
 would be the salvation of the world. When Judas 
 had betrayed Christ, he was first taken before Annas, 
 who sent him to his son-in-law, Caiaphas, who pos- 
 sibly hved in the same house, (John xviii. 24.) and 
 here the priests and doctors of the law assembled to 
 judge Jesus and to condemn him. (See Jerusalem.) 
 The depositions of certain false witnesses being found 
 insufficient to justify a sentence of death against him, 
 and Jesus continuing silent, Caiaphas, as high-priest, 
 adjured him by the living God to say whether he 
 was the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus having an- 
 swered to this adjuration in the affirmative, Caiaphas 
 rent his clothes, and declared him to be worthy of 
 death. Two years afterwards (A. D. 38.) he was 
 deposed by Vitellius ; but we know nothing of him 
 afterwards. His house is still professedly sho\\Ti in 
 Jerusalem. See Annas. ' 
 
 CAIN, possession, or possessed, the eldest son of 
 Adam and Eve, and brother of Abel. Cain applied 
 to agi'iculture, and Abel to feeding of flocks, Gen. iv. 
 2, vtc. Cain offered the first-fruits of his grounds to 
 the Lord, but Abel the fat of his flock ; the latter was 
 accepted, but the former rejected, which so enraged 
 Cain that his countenance was entirely changed. The 
 Lord, however, said unto him, " Why is thy counte- 
 nance so dejected ? If thou doest well, shalt thou not 
 be accepted ?" But Cain, unrestrained By this ad- 
 monition, killed his brother Abel ; and for it became 
 an exile and a vagabond. Nevertheless, he received 
 an assurance, that he himself should not be murder- 
 ed ; of which God gave to him a token ; for so may 
 the words be understood, though commonly they are 
 considered as expressing a token of guilt, strongly 
 marked on his person. Cain quitted the presence 
 of the Lord, and retired to the land of Nod, east of 
 Eden, where he had a son, whom he named Enoch, 
 and in memory of whom he built a city of the same 
 name. Josephus says, that having settled at Nod, 
 he, instead of being reformed by his punishment and 
 exile, became more wicked and violent, and headed 
 a band of thieves, whom he taught to enrich them- 
 selves at the expense of others ; that he qujte changed 
 the simplicity and honesty of the wor|d, into fraud 
 and deceit ; invented weights and measures, and was 
 the first who set bounds to fields, and built and forti- 
 fied a city. 
 
 The learned Shuckford was not only dissatisfied 
 with the usual notion, that God set a mark upon Cain, 
 in consequence of his having killed his brother Abel, 
 but he makes himself merry with the ludicrous na- 
 ture of some of those marks wliich fancy had ap- 
 pointed to be borne about by him. Without attempt- 
 ing to defend those conjectures, and without adding to 
 their number, Mr. Taylor endeavors to show, that 
 the customary rendering of the passage (Gen. iv. 15.) 
 may perhaps be supported. 
 
 Among the laws attributed to Menu is the follow- 
 ing appointment, which is more worthy notice, be- 
 cause it is directly attributed to Menu himself, as if it 
 were a genuine tradition received fromhim. It de- 
 scribes so powerfully and pathetically the distressed 
 situation of an outcast, that one is led to think it is 
 drawn from the recollection of some real instance, 
 rather than from foresight, of the sufferings of such 
 a supposed criminal. Crimes, in general, have been 
 thought by mankind susceptible of expiation, more 
 or less, according to the degrees of their guilt ; but 
 
 some are of so flagi-ant a nature as to be supposed 
 atrocious beyond expiation. Though murder be 
 usually considered as one of those atrocious crimes, 
 and consequently inexpiable, yet there have been 
 instances wherem the criminal was punished by 
 other means than by loss of life. A judicial inflic- 
 tion, of a commutatory kind, seems to have been 
 passed on Cain. Adam was punished by a dying 
 life ; Cain by a living death. 
 
 " For violating the paternal bed. 
 
 Let the mark of a female part be impressed on 
 
 THE FOREHEAD WITH A HOT IRON; 
 
 For drinking spirits, a vintner's flag ; 
 
 For stealing sacred gold, a dog's foot ; 
 
 For murdering a priest, the figure of a headless 
 corpse. 
 
 With none to eat with them, 
 
 AVith none to sacrifice with them. 
 
 With none to be allied by marriage to them ; 
 
 Abject, and excluded from all social duties, 
 
 Let them wander over the earth; 
 
 Branded with indelible marks. 
 
 They shall be deserted by their paternal ^iiid ma- 
 ternal relations. 
 
 Treated by none with affection ; 
 
 Received by none with respect. 
 
 Such is the ordinance of Menu." 
 
 "Criminals of all classes, having performed an 
 expiation, as ordained by law, shall not be marked on 
 the forehead, but be condemned to pay the highest 
 fine." This also is from Menu. 
 
 These principles are thus applied by Mr. Taylor, 
 in illustration of the history of Cain. Cain had slain 
 Abel liis brother ; this being a very extraordinary and 
 embarrassing instance of guilt, and perhaps the Jirst 
 enormous crime among mankind which required 
 exemplary punishment, the Lord thought proper to 
 interpose,' and to act as judge on this singularly 
 affecting occasion. Adam might be ignorant of this 
 guilt, ignorant by what process to detect it, and 
 ignorant by what penalty to punish it ; but the Lord 
 (metaphorically) hears of it, by the blood which cried 
 from the ground ; and he detects it, by citing the 
 murderer to his tribunal ; where, after examination 
 and conviction, he passes sentence on him : — " Thou 
 art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth 
 to receive thy brother's blood; a fugitive and a vaga- 
 bond shalt thou be in the earth," (>nvS3, be-aretz.) And 
 Cain said to the Lord, "/s my iniquity too great for 
 expiation ? Is there no fine, no suffering, short of 
 such a; vagabond state, that may be accepted? Be- 
 hold, thouMst banished me this day from the face of the 
 land {no-M<n, adamah) where I AViis born, where my 
 parents dwell, my native country! and from thy 
 presence also, in thy public worship and institutions ; 
 / must now hide myself from all my heart holds dear, 
 being prohibited from approaching my former iiiti- 
 mates, and thy venerated altar. I shall be a fugitive, 
 a vagabond on the earth ; and any one tvho findeth me 
 may slay me without compunction, as if I were rather 
 a wild beast than a man." The Lord said, " I men- 
 tioned an expiation formerly, on account of your 
 crime of ungovernable malice and anger, bidding 
 you lay a sin-offering before the sacred entrance; 
 but then you disregarded that admonition and com- 
 mand. Nevertheless, as I did not take the fife of 
 your father Adam, though forfeited, when I sat in 
 judgment on him, but abated of that rigorous penalty ; 
 so I do not design that you should be taken off by
 
 CAl 
 
 [ 220 ] 
 
 CAL 
 
 sudden death ; neither immediately from myself, nor 
 mediately by another. I pronounce, therefore, a 
 much heavier sentence on whoever shall destroy 
 Cain. Moreover, to show that Cain is a person suf- 
 fering under punishment, since no one else has 
 power to do it ; since he resists the justice of his 
 fellow-men ; since his crime has called me to be his 
 judge, I shall brand his forehead with a mark of his 
 crime ; and then, whoever observes this mark will 
 avoid his company ; they will not smite him, but they 
 will hold no intercourse with him, fearing his irasci- 
 ble passions may take offence at some unguarded 
 word, and should again transport him into a fury, 
 which may issue in bloodshed. Beside this, all 
 mankind, wherever he may endeavor to associate, 
 shall fear to pollute themselves by conference with 
 him." — The uneasiness continually arising from this 
 state of sequestration led the unhappy Cain to seek 
 repose in a distant settlement. 
 
 If this conception of the history be just, and if the 
 quotation from Menu be genuine, we have here one 
 of the oldest traditions in the world, in confirmation, 
 not only of the history, as related in Genesis, but of 
 our public version of the passage. 
 
 I. CAINAN, son of Enos, born A. M. 325, when 
 Enos was ninety years of age, Gen. v. 9. At the age 
 of seventy, Cainan begat Mahalaleel ; and died, aged 
 910, A. M. 1235. 
 
 II. CAINAN, a son of Arphaxad, and father of 
 Salah. He is neither in the Ilebrew nor in the Vul- 
 gate of Gen. xi. 12 — 14. but is named between Salah 
 and Arphaxad, in Luke iii. 36. The LXX, in Gen. 
 X. 24 ; xi. 12. admit him. Some have suggested, that 
 the Jews suppressed the name Cainan out of their 
 copies, designing to render the LXX and Luke sus- 
 pected. Others, that Moses omitted Cainan, being 
 desirous to reckon ten generations only from Adam to 
 Noah, and from Noah to Abraham. Others, that Ar- 
 phaxad was father of both Cainan and Salah ; of Sa- 
 lah naturally, of Cainan legally. Others, that Cainan 
 a)id Salah were the same person, under two names ; 
 this they allege in support of that opinion which 
 maintains Cainan to be really son of Arphaxad, 
 and father of Salah. Many learned men believe, 
 that this name was not originally in the text of Luke, 
 but is an addition by inadvertent transcribers, who, 
 remarking it in some copies of the LXX, added it. 
 See Kuinoel on Luke iii. 36. 
 
 CAIPIIA, a town at the foot of mount Carmel, 
 north, on the gulf of Ptolema'is ; the ancient name of 
 which was Sycaminos, or Porpliyreon. Sycaminos 
 was derived probably from the sycamore-trees which 
 grew here, as Porpliyreon might be from catching 
 here the fish used in dyeing purple. Perhaps Cepha, 
 or Cdipha, was derived from its rocks ; in Syriac, 
 Kepha : but the Hebrews write Hepha, not Kepha. 
 This city was sei)arated from Acco, or Ptolemais, by 
 a large and beautiful harbor, the distance to which, 
 by sea direct, is not more than fifteen miles ; though 
 by land the distance is double. 
 
 CAIUS CALIGULA, emperor of Rome, succeeded 
 Tiberius, A. D. 37 ; and reigned three years, nine 
 montiis, and twenty-eight days. It does not appear 
 that he molested the Christians. Cains having com- 
 manded Petronius, governor of Syria, to place his 
 statue in the temple at Jerusalem, for tlie purpose of 
 adoration, the Jews so vigorously ojiposed it, that, 
 fearing a sedition, he suspended the order. He 
 was killed by Cha?n;as, one of his guards, while 
 coming out of the theatre, A. D. 41, in the fourth 
 year of his reign ; and was succeeded by Clau- 
 
 dius. He is not mentioned in the New Tes- 
 tament. 
 
 CAKES. The Hebrews had several sorts of 
 cakes, which they offered in the temple, made of 
 meal, of wheat, or of barley ; kneaded sometimes 
 with oil, sometimes with honey ; sometimes only rub- 
 bed over with oil when baked, or fried with oil in a 
 fryingpan. At Aaron's consecration, " they offered 
 unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened, tempered 
 with oil ; and wafers unleavened, anointed with oil ; 
 the whole made of fine wheaten flour," Exod. xxix. 
 
 I, 2. The Hebrew calls all offerings made of grain, 
 flour, paste, bread, or cakes, nnjir, mincha. These 
 offerings were made either alone, or with other 
 things. Sometimes fine flour was offered, (Lev. ii. 
 1.) or cakes, or other things baked, (verse 4.) or cakes 
 baked in a fryingpan, (verse 5,) or in a fryingpan with 
 holes, or on a gridiron, verse 7. Ears of corn were 
 sometimes offered, in order to be roasted, and the 
 corn to be got out from them. These offerings were 
 instituted principally in favor of the poor. This, 
 however, is understood of voluntary offerings, not ap- 
 pointed by the law ; for, as to certain sacrifices, the 
 law, instead of two lambs and a ewe, permits the 
 poor to ofler only one lamb, and two young pigeons. 
 
 For offering, these cakes were salted, but unleav- 
 ened. If the cakes which were offered were baked 
 in an oven, and sprinkled or kneaded with oil, the 
 whole was presented to the priest, who waved the 
 offering before the Lord, then took so much of it as 
 was to be burned on the altar, threw that into the 
 fire, and kept the rest himself, Lev. ii. 4. If the 
 offering were a cake kneaded with oil, and dressed 
 in a fryingpan, it was broken, and oil was poured on it : 
 then it was presented to the priest, who took a hand- 
 ful of it, which he threw on the altar-fire, and the 
 rest was his oavu. It should be observed, that oil in 
 the East answers the purpose of butter among us in 
 Europe. 
 
 Cakes or loaves, offered with sacrifices of beasts, 
 as was customary, (for the great sacrifices were al- 
 ways accompanied by offerings of cakes, and liba- 
 tions of wine and oil,) were kneaded with oil. The 
 wine and oil were not poured on the head of the an- 
 imal about to be sacrificed, (as among the Greeks 
 and Ronians,) but on the fire in which the victim 
 was consutued. Numb, xxviii. 1, &c. The law reg- 
 ulated the quantity of meal, wine, and oil, for each 
 kind of victim. See Bread. 
 
 CALAH, a city of Assyria, built by Ashur, or 
 Nimrod ; (see Assyria ;) for the phrase in Gen x. 
 
 II, 12. is ambiguous. It was distant from Nineveh; 
 the city Resen lying between them. Bochart thinks 
 it is the same city as is called Halali in 2 Kings xvii. 
 6, and Cellai'ius understands Ilolwan, a famous town 
 in the ages of the caliphs, in the Syriac dialect called 
 Hhulon, but in the Syriac dociunents written Hha- 
 lach ; but the difi'erent initial letter in the Hebrew 
 militates against this mutation ; since c is too strong 
 a sound to be ea.sily changed. Ei)hraini the Syrian 
 understands Hatra, a city in the region of the Zab, 
 which falls into the Tigris; or perhaps he intends 
 the city called Chatrncharla by Ptolemy, which im- 
 ports, " Chntra, the city ;" but then, as Michaclis ob- 
 serves, this city was east of the s])rings of the Lycus, 
 or Zab. [Rosenmiiller prefers the opinion of Cella- 
 rius, that Calah is the same as the Cholivan, or Holwan, 
 of the Arabs, and the Chalach of the Syrians. It was 
 situated in the north-east part of the present Irak, 
 towards Persia, at the foot of the mountains which 
 now separate the Ottoman and Persian empires in
 
 CAL 
 
 [221 ] 
 
 CAL 
 
 this quarter. It probably gave name to the province 
 Chcdnchene of Strabo. (Rosenm. Bib. Geog. I. ii. p. 
 98. R.] Holwan would suit the geographical inten- 
 tion of the text completely, in reference to its con- 
 nection with the other cities mentioned. 
 
 CALAMUS, see Cane. 
 
 L CALEB, {dog,) son of Jephunneh, of Judah, was 
 sent \vith Joshua and others to view the laud of Ca- 
 naan, Numb. xiii. They brought with them some of 
 the finest fruits as specimens of its productions ; but 
 some of the spies discouraging the people, they openly 
 declared against the expedition. Joshua and Caleb 
 encouraged them to go forward, and the Lord sen- 
 tenced the whole multitude except these two to die 
 in the desert, xiv. 1 — 10. When Joshua had invaded 
 and conquered great part of Canaan, Caleb with his 
 tribe came to Gilgal, and asked for a particular pos- 
 session, which Joshua bestowed upon him with many 
 blessings, chap. xiv. 6 — 15. Caleb, therefore, with 
 his tribe, marched against Kirjath-arba, (afterwards 
 Hebron,) took it, and killed three giants of the race 
 of Anak ; from thence he went to Debir, or Kirjath- 
 sepher, which was taken by Othnicl, xv. 13 — 19. 
 Caleb is thought to have survived Joshua. 
 
 H. CALEB, son of Uur, whose sons Shobal, Sal- 
 ma, and llcrepli, peopled the country about Bethle- 
 hem, Kirjath-jecirini, Beth-Gader, &c. 1 Chron. ii. 
 50—55. 
 
 III. CALEB, the name of a district in Judah, in 
 which were the cities of Kirjath-sepher and Hebron, 
 belonging to the family of Caleb, 1 Sam. xxx. 14. 
 
 IV. CALEB, son of Hesron, who married first 
 Azuba, and afterwards Ephrath, 1 Chron. ii. 9, 18,24. 
 
 I. CALF, the young of a cow, of which there is 
 frequent mention in Scripture, because calves were 
 commonly used for sacrifices. A "calf of the herd" 
 is probably so distinguished from a sucking calf. 
 The fatted calf (Luke xv. 23.) was a calf fatted par- 
 ticularly for some feast. In Hos. xiv. 2. the expression, 
 " we will render the calves of our lips," signifies sac- 
 rifices of praise, prayer, &c. The LXX read " the 
 fruit of our lips," as does the Syriac ; and the apostle, 
 Heb. xiii. 15. 
 
 II. CALF, THE Golden, which the Israelites wor- 
 shipped at the foot of mount Sinai, Exod. xxxii. 4. 
 (See Aaron.) When the people saw that Moses de- 
 layed to come down from the mount, they demanded 
 of Aaron to make them gods which should go before 
 them. Aaron demanded their ear-rings ; which were 
 melted, and cast into the figure of a calf. When this 
 was about to be consecrated, Moses, being divinely 
 informed of it, came down from the mount, and hav- 
 ing called on all who detested this sin, the sons of 
 Levi armed themselves, and slew of the people about 
 23,000, according to our version ; but the Hebrew, Sa- 
 maritan, Clialdee, LXX, and the greater part of the 
 old Greek and Latin fathers, read .3000. 
 
 There are some hints in the account of the golden 
 calf, which are usually overlooked: as (1.) Aaron 
 calls the calf in tlie plural, "gods" — " These are thy 
 gods — they who brought thee out of Egjpt." So the 
 peojile say, " Make us god-s,''^ yet only one image was 
 made. (2.) Although the second conunandmeut for- 
 bids the making "to thyself" any graven image, 
 yet, in the instances of the cherubim, graven images 
 were made ; though not for any private individual, 
 nor for the purpose of visible worship, but for inte- 
 rior emblems, in the most holy j)lace, never seen by 
 the people. (3.) Aaron did not make this calf with 
 his own hands, most probably ; but committed it to 
 Borne sculptor, who wrought not openly in the midst 
 
 of the camp, but in his workshop. The Jews report, 
 that the image was made into the form of a calf by 
 some evil spirits who accompanied the Israelites from 
 Egj'pt ; and if they mean evil human spirits, they are 
 right enough. The sacred writers in succeeding ages 
 plainly speak of the golden calf as a very great sin. 
 Ps. cvi. 19, 20 ; Acts vii. 41 ; Deut. ix. 1(>— 21. (4.) 
 Aaron, though greatly misled, must have meant by this 
 worship, something more than the mere worship of 
 the Egyptian calf. Apis ; for in what sense had Apis 
 " brought Israel out of the land of Egypt" ? an ex- 
 pression which Jeroboam subsequently used ; (1 
 Kings xii. 28.) which is strange, if Apis, an Egyptian 
 deity, had been the object of his calves. The LXX 
 say, in Exod. xxxii. 4. that Aaron described the calf 
 with a graving tool, but that the people made and cast 
 it. The Chaldee paraphrast says, "Aaron received 
 the ear-rings, tied them up in pUrses, and made the 
 golden calf of them," and Bochart maintains, that 
 this is the best translation, the Hebrew chanet signi- 
 fying a purse, and not a graving tool. — It should seem, 
 therefore, that Aaron had given the gold of which he 
 had the custody, to a workman appointed by the 
 people ; that he followed the people throughout this 
 transaction ; and that he endeavored to guide (per- 
 haps, even to control) their opinion, in varying and 
 appointing to the honor of Jehovah, what many, at 
 least "the mixed multitude," would refer to the honor 
 of the gods they had seen in Egypt. In this view, 
 his expression deserves notice — " to-morrow is a 
 solemnity to Jehovah ;" not to Apis, or to any other 
 god, but to Jehovah. Such was the sentiment of 
 Aaron, whatever sentiments some of the people might 
 entertain ; and his confession to Moses (ver. 24.) may 
 be so taken : " I cast it," i. e. I gave it to be cast. 
 Certainly, the making of the calf was a work of time, 
 it was not cast in a moment, nor in the midst of the 
 camp, hut in a jjroper workshop, or other convenient 
 place ; and evt ii perhaps was forwarded more rapidly 
 than Aaron knew, or wished. He might use all 
 means of delay, though he sinfully yielded to a pre- 
 varication, or to a worship of Jehovah by an image ; 
 an impure medium of worship, which was explicitly 
 forbidden in the second commandment, Exod. xx. 4. 
 Augustin says, Aaron demanded the personal orna- 
 ments of the women and children, in hopes they 
 would not part with those jewels, and consequently, 
 that the calf could not be made. What means of 
 resistance to the people he might possess, we cannot 
 tell ; perhaps the people satisfied themselves by 
 fancying, that, in referring this image to God, they 
 avoided the sin of idolatry. Did Aaron imagine the 
 same ? not understanding the commandment already 
 given as a prohibition of worshipping God by me- 
 diatorial representations, or pubUc symbols of his 
 presence. 
 
 The termination of this melancholy occurrence 
 was as extraordinary as its commencement : " And 
 Moses took the calf which they had made, and burnt 
 it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it 
 upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink 
 of it," Exod. xxxii. 20. 
 
 Calves, Golden, of Jeroboam. This prince, 
 in order to separate the ten tribes more effectually 
 from the house of Djwid, set up objects of worship 
 in the land of Israel, that the people might not be 
 compelled to go up to Jerusalem, 1 Kings xii. 26 — 
 28. He made two calves of gold, and said, " Behold 
 thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the 
 land of Egypt. And he set the one iu Bethel, and 
 the other he put in Dan, at the two extremities of his
 
 CAL 
 
 [322 
 
 CAL 
 
 kingdom. And this thing became a sin ; for the 
 people went to worship before these calves to Dan 
 and to Bethel." Monceau thought- t.hat these 
 calves, as well as the calf of Aaron, were imitations 
 of the cherubim, and that they occasioned i-ather a 
 schismatic than an idolatrous worship. We know, 
 indeed, that all Israel did not renounce the woi-ship 
 of the Lord for tliat of the calves, but it is highly 
 probable that the majority did so. See 1 Kings 
 xix. 10. 
 
 It is certain Jeroboam's golden calves were not 
 images of Baal ; (see 1 Kings xvi. 31, 32 : 2 Kings 
 X. 28, 31.) neither does Elijah say, " Choose between 
 these calves (as emblems of Apis) and Jehovah." 
 Nevertheless, most commentators think Jeroboam 
 designed, by his golden calves, to imitate the worship 
 of Apis, which he had seen in Egypt, 1 Kings xi. 40. 
 Scripture reproaches him frequently with having 
 made Israel to sin ; (2 Kings xiv. 9.) and when de- 
 scribing a bad prince, it says, he imitated the sin of 
 Jeroboam, 2 Kings xvii. 21. The LXX and the 
 Gi-eek fathers generally read (feminine) golden 
 cows, instead of golden calves. Josephus speaks of 
 the temple of the golden calf as still in being in his 
 time, somewhere towards Dan ; but he omits the his- 
 tory of the sin. The glory of Israel was their God, 
 their law, and their ark ; but the worshippers of the 
 golden calves considered those idols as their glory : 
 "The priests thereof rejoiced on it, for the glory 
 thereof," Hosea x. 5. Hosea foretold the destruc- 
 tion and captivity of the calves of Samaria, (Hosea 
 viii. 5, 6.) and the Assyrians, having taken Samaria, 
 carried off the golden calves, with their worshippers. 
 
 CALIGULA, see Caius. 
 
 To CALL frequently signifies to be ; but, perhaps, 
 includes the idea of admitted to be, acknowledged to 
 be, well known to be, the thing called ; since men do 
 not usually call a thing otherwise than what they 
 conclude it to be. "He shall be called Wonderful, 
 Counsellor, the Mighty God, Father," &c. He shall 
 possess all these qualities; he shall be truly the 
 Wonderful, the Mighty God, &c. Isaiah ix. 6. " He 
 shall be called the Son of the Most High," Luke i. 35. 
 He shall be truly so. So of John the Baptist, "Thou 
 shalt be called the prophet of the Highest ;" — Thou 
 shalt be acknowledged under that character. To 
 Call any thing by its name ; to affix a name to it, is 
 an act of authority : the father names his son ; the 
 master names his servant ; " God calleth the stars by 
 their names," Psalm cxivii. 4. To call on God 
 sometimes signifies all the acts of religion, the whole 
 public worship of God. " Whosoever shall call on 
 the name of the Lord," — whoso*ver shall believe, 
 trust, love, pray, and p)-aise as he ought to do, — 
 "shrill be saved," Rom. x. 13. "Men began to call 
 on the name of the Lord," Gen. iv. 26. Others trans- 
 late, " The name of God was profaned," that is, by 
 giving it to idols. (Sec Exos.) God is in some sort 
 jealous of our adoration ; he requires that we should 
 call on no otlier god beside himself. 
 
 CALLISTHENES, an officer of the king of Syria, 
 who set fire to the temple gates, and was afterwards 
 burned by the people, 2 Mace. viii. .33. 
 
 CALNEH, a city in the land of Shinar, built by 
 Nimrod, and formerly the seat of liis empire. Gen. x. 
 10. Probai)ly the Caino of Isaiah, (x. 9.) and the 
 Canneh of Ezek. xxvii. 23. It must have been situ- 
 ated in Mesopotamia, since these prophets join it with 
 Haran, Eden, Assyria, and Chilmad, which traded 
 with Tyre. [According to tlie Targums, Eusebius, 
 Jerome, and others, Calneh, or C dno, was Ctesiphon. 
 
 a large city on the east bank of the Tigris, opposite 
 to Seleucia. R. 
 
 CALVARY, or Golgotha, that is, the place of a 
 skull, a httle hill north-west of Jerusalem, and so 
 called, it is thought, from its skull-like form. It 
 formerly stood outside of the walls of Jerusalem, and 
 was the spot upon which our Saviour was crucified. 
 When Barchochebas revolted against the Romans, 
 Adrian, having taken Jerusalem, entirely destroyed 
 the city, and settled a Roman colony there, calling it 
 ^lia Capitolina. The new city was not built exactly 
 on the ruins of the old, but further north ; so that 
 Calvary became almost the centre of the city of 
 iElia. Adrian profaned the mount, and particularly 
 the place where Jesus had been crucified, and his 
 body buried ; but the empress Helena, the mother of 
 Constantine the Great, erected over the spot a stately 
 church, which is still in being. 
 
 The objections to the location of Calvary, which 
 were m-ged at an early period of the Christian his- 
 tory, have been lately renewed by some intelligent 
 ti-avellers and writers, whose high character gives to 
 their decisions a degree of authority, and renders an 
 examination of them necessary in a work like the 
 preseiit. Among these .writers Dr. E. D. Clarke 
 stands foremost, whose objections to the identity of 
 the present Calvary with the place of our Saviour's 
 crucifixion and sepulture may be thus summed up : — 
 (1.) All the evangelists agree in representing the place 
 of crucifixion as " the place of a skull ;" that is to say, 
 "a public cemetery," whereas the spot now assumed 
 as Calvary does not exhibit any evidence which 
 might entitle it to this appellation. (2.) The place 
 called " Golgotha," or " Calvary," was a mount or hill, 
 of which the place now exhibited under this name 
 has not the slightest appearance. (3.) The sepulchre 
 of Joseph of Arimathea, in which our Saviour was 
 laid, was a tomb cutout of a rock, instead of which, 
 the modern sepulchre is a building of comparatively 
 modern date, and above ground. 
 
 To these objections captain Light has given his as- 
 sent, and adds, " When I saw mount Calvary within 
 a few feet of the alleged place of sepulture, and the 
 apparent inclination to crowd a variety of events 
 under one roof, I could not help imagining that the 
 zeal of the early Christians might have been the cause 
 of their not seeking among the tombs further from 
 the city the real sepulchre." Dr. Richardson, who 
 also questions the identity of these sacred places, 
 considers,with captain Light, that the contiguity of the 
 present tomb of Christ to mount Calvary is another 
 objection to its identity Avith the original one. 
 
 To these objections, which are urged at great 
 length, and with much ingenuity, Mr. Taylor has 
 devoted considerable attention. The following re- 
 marks comprise the substance of his arguments, in 
 reply to them. 
 
 1. The name Golgotha — Calvary — the place of a 
 skull — given to the scene of our Saviour's crucifixion 
 by the evangelists, does not necessarily signify, as 
 Dr. Clarke interprets it, after Stockius, "a place of 
 sepulture" — " a ])ublic cemetery." It is always used 
 in the singular — "the ])lace of a skull," which would 
 have been a very improper designation for a place 
 of many skulls. The language of Luke, however, is 
 peculiar, and places it beyond doubt that skxdl was 
 the proper name of the place. This evangelist, 
 without mentioning Golgotha, writes, y.al nri ant]X&ov 
 in'i Tov Tu/ror y.a/.Hiifrov xourlor — " and when they Were 
 come to a place called skull," chap, xxiii. 33. — Luke j 
 therefore appears to have strictly translated the word
 
 CALVARY 
 
 [ 223 ] 
 
 CALVARY 
 
 Golgotha, which signifies, not xQccviu zo.-ros, "place of 
 a skull," but simply xQcnlor, skull. Now, this name 
 was probably given from the peculiar form of the 
 place, and not in consequence of any purpose to 
 which it was devoted. [It appears, however, to have 
 been the place where malefactors were commonly 
 executed, and where their bodies were left im- 
 buried. R. 
 
 2. It is not a little curious that Dr. Clarke should 
 not have perceived that his objection to the present 
 site of Calvary — that it has no appearance of a mount 
 — imposes an insuperable difficulty in the way of his 
 own hypothesis, which places Calvary in " a deep 
 trench" — the valley Tyropaeon — between Acua and 
 Sion. Not to dwell, however, upon this glaring in- 
 consistency, we proceed to consider whether the 
 spot now shown as Calvary does not exhibit the ap- 
 pearance of a mount, and also that peculiar form, 
 from which it has been as probable that Calvary de- 
 rived its name. In this inquiry father Bernardino 
 may be a guide. He says, " The space occupied by 
 mount Calvary is now divided into two parts, form- 
 ing chapels; the first of these is twenty-one palms in 
 width, and forty-seven in length. . . . The second di- 
 vision of mount Calvary is eighteen palms in width, 
 and forty-seven in length." Speaking of the chapels, 
 he says, they are not on the same level ; but, " the 
 MOUNT is in height towai'ds the north two palms and 
 a half; and towards the S. W. two palms and ten 
 inches: and the smaller kishsg [il poggiolo) \s in 
 height seven inches two minutes and a half. This was 
 the place of the bad thief. Towards the north, the 
 place of the good thief, — it is in height one palm and 
 six inches. . . ." " The steps under the arch towards 
 the north leading to the little hill, are in height — 
 the first, two palms, — the second, one palm ten inches. 
 . . ." "The letter H. is the proper mount Calva- 
 RT ;" — This letter H. is placed on the rising described 
 as il poggiolo, the little hill ; marked by a circle, 
 as the place of the cross of Jesus. This is evidence 
 that this ignorant and superstitious monk, as Dr. 
 Clarke [and others] would probably call him, distin- 
 guished TWO risings in mount Calvary ; though Dr. 
 Clarke passed the distinction over without notice. 
 How greatly his observation confirms the derivation 
 traced in the name, may safely be left to the reader's 
 intelligence. To obtain a clear idea of mount Calvary, 
 we must imagine a rising, now about^i!ce7i feet high. 
 — The ascent comprises eighteen stairs. The first 
 flight contains ten stairs, the second flight contains 
 eight. There are also two others, in length more 
 thanfortyfeet ; and in width more than thirty feet ; and 
 upon this, nearly in the centre, a smaller rising about 
 seventeen inches in height ; which smaller rising is, says 
 Bernardino, " il proprio Monte Caluario." After 
 this, how can Dr. Clarice affirm that there exists no evi- 
 dence in the church of the holy sepulchre ; "nothing 
 that can be reconciled with the history of our Saviour's 
 suflerings and burial ?" It is affirmed that mount Cal- 
 vary was leveled for the foundations of the church. 
 
 3. In reply to Dr. Clarke's last objection, Mr. Tay- 
 lor adopts a course of reasoning to the following 
 eflfect : — The first step to be taken in the inquiry is, 
 to determine what kind of sepulchral edifice was 
 constructed by Joseph of Arimathea; and tiiis can 
 only be accomplished by strictly examining the 
 words of the original writers who describe it. Dr. 
 Clarke having inspected a great number of ancient 
 tombs cut in the rock, in various jjarts of the coun- 
 tries through which he had travelled, and not a few 
 at Jerusalem itself, had suffered this idea to take en- 
 
 tire possession of his mind : he looked for an exca- 
 vation in a rock, and nothing more. But before we 
 determine that there really was nothing more, we are 
 bound to examine whether the terms employed by 
 the evangelists to describe the eventually sacred 
 sepulchre, are completely satisfied, by this restricted 
 acceptation. 
 
 Matthew uses two words to describe Joseph's 
 intended place of burial ; chap, xxvii. verse 60 he 
 says, he laid the body of Jesus in his own new tmueiw, 
 (tomb, Eng. tr.) — and they rolled a great stone to the 
 
 door Tn" ini^iKiu [of the sepulchre, Eng. tr.) ^nd 
 
 there luere Mary Magdalene, Sfc. sitting over against 
 Tu Tacps [the sepulchre, Eng. tr.) This rendering 
 of the same word, ,i/)i,i'f'~oi , by both tomb and sepid- 
 chre, is injudicious. Campbell more prudently con- 
 tinues to each term of the original that by which he 
 had first chosen to express it, in English : " he 
 deposited the body in his own monument — Mary Ma<^- 
 dalene, &c. sitting over against the sepulchre." — 
 " Command that the sepidchre [rl>v rut/ioi) be guard- 
 ed." — "Make the sepidchre [tuv Tutpui) as secure as 
 ye can." — Mary Magdalene, &.c. went to visit the sep- 
 ulchre, [r'of Tu<j>uy.) — " Come, see the place where the 
 Lord lay ; — they went out from the monument, to" 
 ,i()i,Kf<'B." It is inferred, then, that what is rendered 
 monument implies a kind of frontispiece, or orna- 
 mental door-way, (the stone poiial of captain Light,) 
 and the evangelist may include the chambers in this 
 term, as from these the women came out. Neither of 
 the other evangelists uses more than one term — the 
 monument. The nature of this will justify a closer 
 inspection of it. 
 
 The evangelist Matthew says, this monument was 
 
 iXaTLin^nir ir rS^iTifToa, cut Old — hollowcd Out — SCOOpcd 
 
 out of the rock, which formed the substratum of the 
 soil ; while his other term [taphos) intends the exter- 
 nal hillock, or mound-like form of the rock, rising 
 above the general level of the ground. There is no 
 occasion for going beyond the volumes of Dr. Clarke 
 for proof of this acceptation of the term taphos; 
 whether we accompany him among the tumuli of the 
 Steppes, or those in the plain of Troy, — to the tomb 
 of Ajax, — to the tomb of ^syetes, (which are coni- 
 cal mounds of earth, like our English barrows,) all 
 are taphoi. Mark repeats nearly the words of Mat- 
 thew, in reference to the monument : but Luke uses 
 the term /.uhvTai. This sepulchre of the "rich man 
 of Arimathea" may perhaps be compared to the sep- 
 ulchres discovered at Telniessus; of which Dr. Clarke 
 says, — " In such situations are seen excavated cham- 
 bers, worked with such marvellous art as to exhibit 
 open facades, porticoes with Ionic columns, gates and 
 doors beautifully sculptured, on wliich are carved the 
 representation as of embossed iron-work bolts, and 
 hinges." Those ornaments were hewn in the rock ; 
 but Luke's words are not restricted to this sense ; for, 
 it should scom that the very term rendered monument, 
 leads us to building of some kind, prefixed lo the rock ; 
 or even standing above it. This evangelist's phrase 
 (chap. xi. 47.) is express to the point; o/xuJoiafre r'a 
 ■ini^iiiia — "ye build the 7no7ii(7?i€?i<5 of the prophets," 
 where the term build is explicit. Perhaps even this 
 term, iM>;iiEfoi, includes or implies some kind oi' con- 
 struction, not merely excavation ; so in the tomb of 
 which Dr. Clarke gives a delineation, p. 244. Helen 
 "constructed this monument for herself," — to intjinrov 
 XLtTeoxfiuniv, — but th'is monument iS "composed of five 
 immense masses of stone," wrought into conjunction ; 
 and forming an upper chamber, " which seemed to 
 communicate with an inferior vault." The sepulchre
 
 CALVARY 
 
 [ 224 
 
 CALVARY 
 
 of David (Acts ii. 29.) was a monument ; not an exca- 
 vation in the rock of Sion. The rocks were rent, 
 (Matt, xxviii. 32.) but the monuments in which the 
 dead were deposited were opened. 
 
 It is concluded, then, on the authority of Matthew, 
 that the intended burial-place of Joseph of Arimathea 
 presented two distinctions, a taphos — sepulchre, and 
 a mnemeion — monument. 
 
 Not unlike is the tomb now shown for that of the 
 Saviour. It is affirmed to be a rock encased with 
 building. Heartily do we wish the building were not 
 there ; heartily do we agi-ee with honest Sandys, — 
 " those uaturall formes are vtterly deformed, which 
 would haue better satisfied the beholder; and too 
 much regard hath iijade them lesse regardable. For, 
 as the Satyre speaketh of the fountaine of ^Egeria, 
 
 How much more venerable had it beene. 
 
 If grasse had cloth'd the circling banks in greene, 
 
 Nor marble had the native tophis marr'd." 
 
 Yet Sandys speaks expressly of " a compast roofe 
 of the SOLID ROCKE, but lined foi- the most part with 
 white marble." This distinction is not noticed by 
 Dr. Clarke ; neither has he noticed that the frontis- 
 piece to this tomb is confessedly modern ; — that in 
 this exterior building the arch of the roof is pointed ; 
 whereas, in the interior chamber, the arch is circular ; 
 — proof enough of reparation, without consulting the 
 monks. But if Mr. Hawkins's History of this Ciiurch 
 be correct, in which he says, " Hequen, caliph of 
 Egypt, sent Hyaroc to Jerusalem, who took effectual 
 care that the church should be pulled down to the 
 ground, conformably to the royal command" — if this 
 be true, no doubt the sepulchre, which was the princi- 
 pal object of veneration in the church, was demolish- 
 ed most unrelentingly. It would, therefore, be no 
 wonder to find, that the present building is little other 
 than a shell over the spot assigned to the tomb ; and 
 this without any reflection on the character of Hele- 
 na, -who could not foresee what the Saracens would 
 do nearly nine hundred years after her death. 
 
 So much for the similarities between the evange- 
 lists' description of the sacred places and those ap- 
 pearances which they now present : it remains to 
 inquire, what proof we have that their localities 
 were accurately preserved. It is certain that many 
 thousands of strangers resorted every year to Jerusa- 
 lem, for purposes of devotion, who would find them- 
 selves interested, in a more than ordinary degree, in 
 the transactions whicli that city had lately witnessed, 
 and with the multitudinous reports concerning them, 
 which were of a nature too stupendous to be con- 
 cealed. The language of Luke (xxiv. 28.) plainly 
 imports wonder that so much as a single pilgrim to 
 the holy city could be ignorant of late events : and 
 Paul appeals to Agrippa's knowledge that "these 
 thing*; were not done in a corner." It is, in short, 
 impossible, that the natural curiosity of the human 
 mind — to adduce no superior principle — should be 
 content to undergo the fatigues of a long journey to 
 visit Jerusalem, and yet, when there, should refrain 
 from visiting the scenes of the late astonishing won- 
 ders. So long as access to the temple was free, so 
 long would Jews and proselytes from all nations pay 
 their devotions there ; and so long would the inquisi- 
 tive, whether converts to Christianity or not, direct 
 their attention to mount Calvary, with the garden and 
 sepulchre of Joseph. The apostles were at hand, to 
 direct all inquirers ; neither James nor John could 
 be mistaken ; and during more than thirty years the 
 
 localities would be ascertained beyond a doubt, by the 
 participators and the eye-witnesses themselves. — 
 Though the fact is credible, yet we do not read of 
 any attempt of the rulers of the Jews to obstruct ac- 
 cess to them, or to destroy them : but it is likely that 
 they might be in danger on the breaking out of the 
 Jewish war, (A. D. 66,) and especially on the circum- 
 vallation of Jerusalem, A. D. 70. The soldiers of 
 Titus, who destroyed every tree in the country around 
 to employ its timber in the consti-uction of their works, 
 would effectually dismantle the garden of Joseph ; 
 and we cannot from this time reckon, with any cer- 
 tainty, on more of its evidence than what was afforded 
 by the chambers cut into the rock ; and, possibly, the 
 portal, or monument, annexed to them. 
 
 At the time of the conmiotions in Judea, and the 
 siege of Jerusalem, the Christians of that city retired 
 to Pella, beyond the Jordan. These must have known 
 well the situation of mount Calvary ; nor were they 
 so long absent, as might justify the notion that they 
 could forget it when they returned ; or that they 
 were a new generation, and therefore had no previous 
 acquaintance with it. They were the same persons ; 
 the same church officers, with the same bishop at 
 their head, Simeon son of Cleophas ; and whether we 
 allow for the time of their absence two years, or five 
 years, or seven years, it is morally impossible that 
 they could make any mistake in this matter. Simeon 
 lived out the century ; and from the time of his death 
 to the rebellion of the Jews under Barchochebas, was 
 but thirty years — too short a period, certainly, for the 
 successors of Simeon at Jerusalem, to lose the knowl- 
 edge of places adjacent to that city. That Barcho- 
 chebas and his adherents would willingly have 
 destroyed every e\'idence of Christianity, with Chris- 
 tianity itself, we know ; but whether his power 
 included Jerusalem, in which was a Roman garrison, 
 may be doubted. The war ended some time before 
 A. D. 140; and from the end of the war we are to 
 consider the emperor and his successors as intent on 
 establishing his new city, ^lia, and on mortifying to 
 the utmost both Jews and Christians, who were gen- 
 erally considered as a sect of the Jews. It is worth 
 our while to examine the evidence in proof of 
 the continued veneration of the Christians for the 
 holy places, which should properly be divided into 
 two periods ; the first to the time of Adrian's ^lia ; 
 the second from that time to the days of Constantine. 
 Jerome, writing to Marcella concerning this custom, 
 has this remarkable passage : Longum est nunc ah 
 ascensu Domini usque ad prccsentcm diem per singidas 
 (States currere, qui Episcoporum, qui Martyrum, qui 
 eloquentiam in doctrina Ecclcsiastica virorum venerint 
 Hierosolymam, j)utantes se minus religionis, minus ha- 
 bere scientifP, nisi in illis Christum adurussent locis, de 
 quibus primum, Evangdium de patibulo coruscaverat. 
 {Ep. 17. ad Marcell.) "During the whole time from 
 the ascension of the Lord to the present day, through 
 every age as it rolled on, as well bishops, martyrs, and 
 men eminently eloquent in ecclesiastical learning, 
 came to Jerusalem ; thinking themselves deficient in 
 religious knowledge, unless they adored Christ in 
 those places from which the gospel dawn burst from 
 the cross." It is a pleasing reflection that Uie lead- 
 ing men in the early Christian communities were thus 
 diligent in acquiring the most exact information. 
 They spared no pains to obtain the sacred books in 
 their complete and perfect state, and to satisfy them- 
 selves by ocular inspection, so far as possible, of the 
 truth of those facts on which they built the doctrine 
 they delivered to their hearers. So Melito, bishop
 
 CALVARY 
 
 [ 225 ] 
 
 CALVARY 
 
 of Sardis, [A. D. 170,] writes to Onesimus, When I 
 went into the East, ami was come to the place where 
 those things were preaclied and done :" — so we read 
 that Alexander, bishop of Cappadocia, (A. D. 211,) 
 going to Jerusalem for the sake of prayer, and to visit 
 the sacred places, was chosen assistant bishop of that 
 city. This seems to have been the regular phraseol- 
 ogy ou such occasions ; for to this cause Sozomen 
 ascribes the visit of Helena to Jerusalem, " for the 
 sake of prayer, and to visit the sacred places." 
 
 This may properly introduce the second period in 
 this history, on which wc lay great stress ; — it is no 
 longer the testimony of friends ; it is the testimony of 
 enemies ; it is the record of their determination to 
 destroy to their utmost every vestige of the gospel of 
 Christ. On that determination we rest our confidence ; 
 they could not be mistaken ; and their endeavors 
 guide our judgment. Jerome says, ^ib Hadriani 
 temporibus usque ad imperium Constantini, per annos 
 circiter centum octoginta, in loco resurrectioms simula- 
 crum Jovis, in crucis rupe statua ex marmore Veneris 
 agentibus posita colebatur, existimantibus pcrsecutionis 
 auctoribus, quod tollerent nobis Jidem resurrectionis et 
 crucis, si loca Sancta per idola polluissent. Bethlehem 
 mine nostrum et augustissimum oi-bis locum, dc quo 
 Psalmista canit, Veritas dc Terra orta est, lucus inum- 
 brabat Thamuz, i. e. Adoiiidis ; et in specu, ubi quon- 
 dam Christus parvidus vagiit. Veneris Amasius plan- 
 gebatur. [Ess. 13. ad Paulin.) " From the time of 
 Hadrian to that of the government of Constantine, 
 about the space of one hundred and eighty years, in 
 the place of the i-esurrection was set up an image of 
 Jupiter ; in the rock of the cross a marble statue of 
 Venus was stationed, to be worshipped by the peo- 
 ple ; the authors of these persecutions supposing that 
 they should deprive us of our faith in the resurrec- 
 tion and the cross, if they could but pollute the holy 
 places by idols. Bethlehem, now our most venera- 
 ble place, and that of the whole world, of which the 
 Psalmist sings, ' Truth is sprung out of the earth,' was 
 overshadowed by the grove of Thammuz, i. e. of 
 Adonis ; and in the cave where once the Messiah aj)- 
 peared as an infant, the lover of Venus was loudly 
 lamented." This is a general account of facts ; a few 
 additional hints may be gleaned from other writers. 
 Socrates (Hist. Eccl. lib. i. cap. 17.) says, " Those who 
 followed the faith of Christ, after his death, held in 
 gi'eat reverence the monument of that wonderful 
 work ; but those who hated the religion of Christ, 
 filled up the place with a dyke of stones, and built in 
 it a temple of Venus, with a figiu-e standing up on it ; 
 by which they intended to dissipate all recollection 
 of the holy place. ^-4(pQo5tr}ig KixT'uihir vaov xuTuaxev- 
 uauiTft f.Tt(Trj;(i«i' ctyaXiia, utj notovvTt? ■ urr^uiiov rov 
 Ti'i.rov. 
 
 Sozomen is more particular. We learn from him 
 that "The Gentiles by whom the church was jierse- 
 cuted, in the very infancy of Christianity, labored by 
 every art, and in every manner, to abolish it : the 
 holy place they blocked up with a vast heap of stones ; 
 and they raised that to a great height, which before 
 had been of considerable depth ; as it may now be 
 seen. And, moreover, the entire place, as well of the 
 resurrection as of Calvary, they surrounded by a 
 wall, stripping it of all ornament. Anfl first tliey over- 
 laid the gi-ound with stones, then they built a temple 
 of Venus on it, and set up an image of the goddess — 
 
 IIiQiXii;iuyTig Si Tifiji: nuvra Tor T>]g avaOTaOtvii /w()o>' 
 xal Tou Koutitt, Sitxliautiaav, y.a'i ?.i&(a tmv iirnfuritav xa- 
 rioTQviOav : — xa'i 'yJtpQoStTijg yahv xaTtny.et'aoar, xa't lm- 
 diov HqvaavTo. their intention being, that whoever there 
 29 
 
 adored Christ, snould seem to be worshipping Venus ; 
 so that, in process of time, the true cause of this wor- 
 ship in this place should be forgotten ; and that the 
 Christians practising this should become also less at- 
 tentive to other religious observances ; while the 
 Gentile temple and image worship should be, on the 
 centrary, established. 
 
 If any credit be due to these historians, the heathen 
 levelers had left but little to be done by Helena in 
 the way of deforming these sacred objects. They 
 had, with the most violent zeal, changed the features 
 of every part : what was originally a hollow they 
 raised into a hill ; what was high they cut down and 
 leveled ;— -{to use a homely phrase, they turned evei-y 
 thing topsy-turvy. Helena could only cause these 
 places to be cleared and cleansed : to reinstate them 
 in their first forms was out of her power. And that 
 the evidence of this desecration should not rest on 
 " monkish historians," Providence has preserved in- 
 contestible witnesses in the medals of Adrian, which 
 mark him as the founder of the new city, JEAm, and 
 exhibit a temple of Jupiter, another of Venus, and 
 various other deities, all worshij)ped in it. 
 
 It is evident, that if the rock of Calvary and the 
 holy sepulchre were suiTounded by the same wall, as 
 Sozomen asserts, they could not be far distant from 
 each other ;* and this wall, with the temples and other 
 sacra it enclosed, would not only mark these places, 
 but, in a certain sense, would preserve them ; as the 
 mosque of Omar preserves the site of the temple of 
 Solomon, at this day. While, therefore, we abandon 
 to Dr. Clarke and captain Light the commemorative 
 altars and stations, which we think it not worth while 
 to defend, and while we heartily wish that all these 
 places had been left in their original state to tell their 
 OA\ii story, we must be allowed to relieve the memory 
 of the Christian empress from the guilt of deforming 
 by intentional honors these sacred localities ; and the 
 monks, however ignorant or credulous, from the im- 
 putation of imposing on their pilgrims and visitors, in 
 respect to the site of the places they now show as 
 peculiarly holy. 
 
 On the whole, we are called to admire the proofs yet 
 preserved to us by Providence, of transactions in these 
 localities nearly two thousand years ago. Facts which, 
 for centuries, employed the artifices and the power of 
 the supreme government in church and state, of the 
 Jewish hierarchy, and of the Roman emperors, to sub- 
 vert, to destroy the evidences of; yet the evidences 
 defied their malignity ; — of the barbarians — Saracens 
 and Tiu'ks, to demolish ; but they still survive ; — of 
 heathen philosophy, and soi-disant modern philoso- 
 phy, to annul, but in vain. The labors of Julian to 
 re-edify the temple continue almost living witnesses 
 of his discomfiture. The sepulchres of the soldiers 
 who fell in assaulting Jerusalem remain speaking 
 evidences of the destruction of the city, according to 
 jjrediction, by the Komans. The holy sepulchre 
 stands a traditional memorial of occurrences too in- 
 credible to obtain credit, unless supported by super- 
 human testimony. Or if that be thought dubious, 
 mount Calvary certainly exists, with features so dis- 
 tinct, so peculiar to itself, and unlike everything else 
 
 * This meets tlie remaining- objection, urged by Dr. Ricliard- 
 son and captain Light ; namely, the contigriity of the holy sepul- 
 ciire to mount Calvary. The language of John, too, is decisive 
 upon this point : " Now, there was in the place (iv t6tii^) where 
 he was crucified a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre. — 
 There they laid Jesus," chap. xix. 41. And he repeats, 
 that the sepulchre was idgh at hand — iyyii — close by, adjoin' 
 ing.
 
 C A M 
 
 [ 226 ] 
 
 CAMEL 
 
 aroiiml it, that in spite of the ill-judged labors of hon- 
 est enthusiasm, of the ridiculous tales of superstition, 
 and the mummery of ignorance and arrogance, we 
 have only to compare the original records of our 
 faith with circumstances actually existing ; to demon- 
 strate that the works on which our belief relies were 
 actually written in the country, at the times, and by 
 the persons, eye-witnesses, which they purport to be. 
 See further on Sepulchre of Christ. 
 
 [It is necessary here only to remark, that the spec- 
 ulations of Dr. Clarke, respecting the sepulchre, are 
 regarded by other travellers as wholly imtenable ; and 
 that the general position of Calvary rests upon the 
 unbroken tradition of more than eighteen centuries. 
 The more specific designations of the sites of various 
 holy places are well understood to be without any 
 such authority. R. 
 
 CAMBYSES, the son of Cyrus, succeeded his 
 father, A. M. 3475. In the Old Testament he is call- 
 ed Ahasuerus, Ezra iv. 6 ; and at the solicitation of 
 the Samaritans, prohibited the Jews from proceeding 
 in rebuilding their temple. What Ezekiel says 
 (chap, xxxviii. xxxix.)of the wars of Gog and Magog 
 against Israel, and the judgments of God against the 
 enemies of his people, Calmet thinks may be referred 
 to the time of Cambyses. Also, what the prophets 
 say of the misfortunes of the Israelites, after their 
 return from captivity. See Joel ii. 30, 31 ; iii. 2, 3, 
 4, 5, 15, 16 ; Isa. xli. 15, 16 ; Micah iv. 11. 12, 13. 
 Some authors refer the history of Judith to the time 
 of Cambyses. 
 
 CAMEL, an animal common in the East, and 
 placed by Moses among ujiclean creatures, Deut. xiv. 
 7. We may distinguish three sorts of camels. Some 
 are large and full of flesh, fit only to carry burdens ; 
 (it is said, 1000 pounds weight ;) others, which have 
 two hunches on the back like a natural saddle, are fit 
 either to carry burdens or to be ridden ; and a third 
 kind, leaner and smaller, are called dromedaries, be- 
 cause of their swiftness ; and are generally used by 
 men of quality to ride on. Bruce has the following 
 remarks on this creature : " Nature has fm-nishedthe 
 camel with ])arts and qualities adapted to the ofiice 
 he is employed to discharge. The driest thistle and 
 the barest thorn is all the food this useful quadruped 
 requires ; and even these, to save time, he eats while 
 advancing on his journey, witliout sto])j)ing, or occa- 
 sioning a moment of delay. ^Vs it is his lot to cross 
 immense deserts, where no water is found, and coun- 
 tries not even moistened by the dew of heaven, he is 
 endued with the power, at one watering-place, to lay 
 in a store, with which he supplies himself for thirty 
 days to come. To contain this enormous quantity 
 of fluid, nature has formed large cisterns within him, 
 from which, once filled, he draws, at pleasure, the 
 ([uantity he wants, and pours it into his stomach with 
 the same ofl<>ct as if he then drew it from a spring; 
 and with this he travels patiently and vigorously all 
 day long, carrying a prodigious load upon him, 
 through coimtries infected with poisonous winds, aiul 
 glowhig with parching and never cooling sands." 
 We attem|)tcd to raise our camels at Saflieha by 
 every method that we could devise, but ail in vain ; 
 only one of them coidd get upon his legs ; and tliat 
 one did not stand two minutes till he kneeled down, 
 and could never be raised afterwards. This the 
 Arabs all dedarcul to be the elVects of cold ; and yet 
 Fahreidieit's thermometer, an hoiu- befon^ day, stood 
 at 42''. Every way we turned ourselves, death stared 
 us in the face. We had neither time nor strength to 
 vA\st •, nor provisions to support us. We then took 
 
 the small skins tliat had contained our water, and 
 filled them, as far as we Jiought a man could carry 
 them with ease ; but, after all these shifts, there was 
 not enough to serve us three days, at which I had 
 estimated our journey to Syene, which still, however, 
 was uncertain. Finding, therefore, the camels would 
 not rise, we killed two of them, and took so much 
 flesh as might serve for the deficiency of bread, and 
 from the stomach of each of the camels, got about 
 four gallons of water, which the Bishareen Arab 
 managed with great dexteritj^ It is kuoAvn to peo- 
 l)le conversant with natural history, that the camel 
 has within him reservoirs, in which he can presei've 
 drink for any number of days he is used to. In 
 those caravans of long course, which come from the 
 Niger across the desert of Selima, it is said that each 
 camel, by cb-inking, lays in a store of Avater, that will 
 support him for forty days. I will by no means be a 
 voucher of this account, which carries with it an air 
 of exaggeration ; but fourteen or sixteen days, it is 
 well known, an ordinary camel will live, though he 
 hath no fresh supply of water. When he chews his 
 cud, or when he eats, you constantly see him throw 
 from his repository, mouthfuls of water to dilute his 
 food ; and nature has contrived this vessel with such 
 properties, that the water within it never putrefies, 
 nor turns imwholesome. It was indeed vapid, of a 
 bluish cast, but had neither taste nor smell." (Vol. 
 iv. p. 596.) 
 
 The Arabians, Persians, and others, eat the flesh 
 of camels, and it is served up at the best tables of 
 the country. Wlien a camel is born, the breeders 
 tie his four feet imder his belly, and a carpet over his 
 back. Thus they teach him the habit of bending 
 his knees to rest himself; or when being loaded, or 
 unloaded. The camel has a large solid Toot, but not 
 a hanl one. In the spring of the year all his hair 
 falls oft' in less than three days' time, and his skin re- 
 mains quite naked. At this time the flies are ex- 
 tremely troublesome to him. lie is dressed with a 
 switch, instead of a curry comb ; and beaten as one 
 would beat a carpet, to clear it of dust. On a jour- 
 ney his master goes before him piping, singing, and 
 whistling; and the louder he sings the better the 
 camel follows. 
 
 [Tlie following is Niebuhr's account of the drom- 
 edary of Egypt : (Trav. vol. i. \>. 215, Germ, ed.) 
 "My four companions took horses for this journey, 
 [from Cairo to Suez] ; I chose from curiosity a 
 dromedary, and found myself very well oft" although 
 I feared at first I should not be able to ride comfort- 
 ably upon so high a beast. The dromedary lies down, 
 like the camel, in order to let his rider mount. In 
 getting u]), he rises upon his hind legs first, so that 
 the rider must take care; not to fall down over his 
 head ; he has also the same jjace as the camels, while 
 horses have to go sometimes faster, sonietimes slow- 
 er, in order to keep along with the caravan. When 
 on the march, he must not be sto{t])ed even to mount : 
 and to avoid the ntn^d of this, he is taught on a cer- 
 tain signal to lower his head to the ground, so that 
 his rider can set his foot upon his neck ; and when 
 he again raises his head, it requires but little practice 
 to be able easily to jjjace one's self upon the saddle. 
 The saddle of the camels that carry heavy loads, is 
 oj)en on the top, and tlu^ load hangs down on each 
 side, in order that the hump of fat upon the back of the 
 animal may not be subjected to pressure. A riding 
 saddle for a camel or (h-omedary is not very difler- 
 ent from the conunon saddle, and consequently cov- 
 f) s he hump on his back. Upon this saddle I slung
 
 CAMEL 
 
 [227 ] 
 
 CAMEL 
 
 my mattresses ; and could thus set myself on one 
 side or the other, or upright, according as I wislied 
 to avoid the sun's rays, which at this season are very 
 oppressive. JMy companions, on tlie contrary, could 
 only remain in one position upon their horses, and 
 were tlierefore greatly fatigued ; while at evening I 
 was commonly not much more weary from riding, 
 than if I had had to sit still all day upon a chair. II", 
 however, one had to trot upon so high a beast, it 
 would hideed be inconvenient. But the camels take 
 Jong and slow steps ; and the motion Avhich one feels 
 upon them is, therefore, more like that of a cradle." 
 Burckhardt says, too: "When mounted on a camel, 
 which can never be stopi)cd while its comjjanions 
 are moving on, I was obhged to jump off when I 
 wished to take a Ijearing. The Arabs are highly 
 pleased with a traveller who jumps off his beast and 
 remounts without stop])ing it ; as the act of Icueeling 
 down is troublesome and fatiguuig to the loaded 
 camel, and before it can rise again, the caravan is 
 considerably ahead." (Trav. in Syr. p. 445.) 
 
 The hardiness of the camel, and the slender and 
 coarse fare with which he is contented, during long 
 and severe journeys, are truly surprising. Burck- 
 hardt, in his route from the country south of the 
 Dead sea, directly across the desert to Egjpt, was 
 with a party of Bedouins, who heard that a troop 
 from a hostile tribe was in the vicinity. " It was, 
 therefore, determined to travel by night, until we 
 should be out of their reach ; and we stopped at 
 sunset, after a day's march of eleven hours and a 
 half, merely for the purpose of allowing the camels 
 to eat. Being ourselves afraid to light a fire, lest it 
 should be descried by the enemy, we were obliged 
 to take a supper of dry flour mixed with a little salt. 
 During the ivhole ofihisjournei/, the camels had no oth- 
 er provender than the imthered shrubs of the desert, my 
 dromedary excepted, to which I gave a few hand- 
 fuls of barley every evening. Loaded camels are 
 scarcely able to perform such a journey without a 
 daily allowance of beans and barley. — Aug. 31st. 
 We set out before midnight, and continued at a quick 
 rate the whole night. In these northern districts of 
 Arabia the Bedouins, in general, are not fond of pro- 
 ceeding by night ; they seldom travel at that time, 
 even in the hottest season, if they are not in very 
 large numbers, because, as they say, during the night 
 nobody can distinguish the face of his friend from 
 that of his enemy. Another reason is, that camels 
 on the inarch never feed at their ease in the day time, 
 and nature seems to require that they should have 
 their principal meal and a few hours' rest in the even- 
 ing. The favorite mode of travelluig in these pans 
 is, to set out about two hours before sunrise, to stop 
 two hours at noon, when ever}' one endeavors to sleep 
 under his mantle, and to alight for the evening at 
 about one hour before sunset. We always sat round 
 the fire, in conversation, for two or three hours after 
 supper." (Trav. in Syr. p. 451.) Similar to this is 
 the account given by Messrs. Fisk and King, dur- 
 ing their journey from Cairo to Palestine, under date 
 of April 10, 182.3 : " When the caravan stops, the 
 camels are turned out to feed on the thistles, weeds 
 and grass which the desert produces. At sunset 
 they are assembled, and made to lie down around 
 the encampment. Yesterday afternoon four of them, 
 which carried merchandise for an Armenian, went 
 off, and could not be found. Two or three men 
 were despatched in search of them. This mornhig 
 they were not found, and we arranged our baggage 
 BO as to give the Armenian one of ours. The rest of 
 
 the company also gave him assistance in carrying his 
 baggage, and we set off at seven. In the course of 
 the day, the four camels were found at a distance, 
 and brought into the encampment at evening." 
 (Missionary Herald, 1824, p. 35.) 
 
 The value of the camel to the Arabs, and indeed 
 to all the oriental nations, is inestimable ; and indeed 
 they regard it as the peculiar gift of Heaven to the 
 people of their race. Their wealth often consists 
 solely in their camels. So Job is said to have had 
 three thousand of them at first, and afterwards six 
 thousand, i. 3 ; xlii. 12. An anecdote mentioned by 
 Chardin in his 3IS. (Harmar's Obs. iv. p. 318.) illus- 
 trates this, and shows that the wealth of Job was 
 truly princely. "The king of Persia being in Ma- 
 zanderan, in the year 1676, the Tartars set upon the 
 camels of the king in the month of February, and 
 took three thousand of them ; which was a great 
 loss to him, for he has but seven thousand in all, if 
 their number should be complete ; especially con- 
 sidering it was winter, when it was difficult to pro- 
 cure others m a country that was a stranger to 
 commerce ; and considering, too, their importance, 
 these beasts can-jing all the baggage, for which rea- 
 son they are called the ships of Persia. Upon these 
 accounts the king presently retired." 
 
 The camel is here most graphically compared with 
 a ship, and this epithet is justly applied to him, as 
 being the mecUum of commerce, the bearer of bur- 
 dens across the pathless deserts of the East, which 
 may well be likened to the trackless ocean. This is 
 also further illustrated by the following extracts. *R. 
 
 Sandys writes thus : (p. 138.) " The whole Caruan 
 being now assembled, consists of a thousand hoi-ses, 
 inules, and asses; and of five hundred camels. 
 These are the ships of Arabia ; their seas are the 
 deserts, a creature created for burthen," &c. It does 
 not clearly appear in this extract, though it might be 
 gathered from it, that the camel has the name of "the 
 ship of Arabia :" but Mr. Bruce comes in to our as- 
 sistance, by saying, (p. 388, vol. i.) "What enables 
 the shepherd to perform the long and toilsome jour- 
 neys across Africa, is the camel, emphatically called, 
 bj'the Arabs, the ship of the desert! He seems 
 to liave been created for this very trade," &c. 
 
 [From the above extracts it is manifest, that the 
 camel is thus poetically called the ship of the desert, 
 from the circumstance of his being a beast of bur- 
 den, and not with any reference to his speed, which 
 is not great. The dromedary, on the contrary, is 
 celebrated for its fleetness ; or rather on account of 
 its being able to hold out for so long a time in a liard 
 rapid trot. R.] In Morgan's History of Algiers, 
 this writer states, that the dromedary in Barbary, 
 called Aashare, will, in one night, and through a lev- 
 el country, traverse as much ground, as any single 
 horse can in ten. The Arabs affirm that it makes 
 nothing of holding its rapid pace, which is a most 
 violent hard trot, for four and tA\enty hours on a 
 stretch, without showing the least sign of weariness, 
 or inclination to bait; and that having then swallow- 
 ed a ball or two of a sort of paste made up of barley- 
 meal, and may be a httle powder of dry dates among 
 it, with a bowl of water or camel's milk, the indefat- 
 igable animal will seem as fresh as at first setting 
 out, and be ready to run at the same scarcely credi- 
 ble rate, for as many hours longer, and so on from 
 one exti-emitv of the African desert to the other ; 
 provided its rider could hold out without sleep and 
 other refreshments. During his stay in Algiers, Mr. 
 Morgan was a party in a diversion in which one of
 
 CAMEL 
 
 [ 228 ] 
 
 CAM 
 
 these Aashari ran against some of the swiftest Barbs 
 in the whole Neja, Avhicli is famed for having good 
 ones, of the true Libyan breed, shaped hke grey- 
 hounds, and which will sometimes run down an 
 ostrich. 
 
 " We all started," he remarks, " like racers, and for 
 the first spurt most of the best mounted amongst us 
 kept pace pretty well, but our grass-fed horses soon 
 flagged : several of the Libyan and Numidiau run- 
 ners held pace, till we, who still followed upon a 
 good round hand gallop, could no longer discern 
 them, and then gave out ; as we were told after their 
 return. When the dromedary had been out of sight 
 about half an hour, we again espied it flying towards 
 us with an amazing velocity, and in a very few mo- 
 ments was among us, and seemingly nothing con- 
 cerned ; while the horses and mares were all on a 
 foam, and scarcely able to breathe, as was likewise a 
 fleet, tall greyhound bitch, of the young prince's, who 
 had followed and kept pace the whole time, and was 
 no sooner got back to us, but lay down panting as if 
 ready to expire." p. lOL 
 
 [With reference to these facts, Mr. Taylor has at- 
 tempted to illustrate the passage in Job ix. 26, "They 
 (my days) are passed away like swift ships ;" where 
 the proper version is either "ships of desire," i. e. 
 eager to arrive at their place of destination ; or, accord- 
 ing to Gesenius and others, "shi])s of papyrus," in 
 allusion to the light and rapid skiffs made of this ma- 
 terial, aud which are celebrated in ancient histo- 
 ry. Mr. Taylor supposes the writer to allude to 
 these ships of the desert, or dromedaries. But, in the 
 first place, neither the camel nor dromedary is ever 
 called directly a ship, i. e. merely the word ship 
 alone never denotes a camel or a dromedary ; and 
 then, too, the qualifying word ebeh (h^n) does not 
 here point to any such use of the word. 3Ioreover, 
 it is not the dromedary, which is so called on ac- 
 count of its speed ; but the camel, on account of its 
 usefulness as a beast of burden. R. 
 
 Our Lord's words in Matt. xix. 24, " It is easier 
 for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than 
 for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven," 
 have given rise to nuicli discussion. Theophylact, 
 with man}' ancient and some modern commentators, 
 read x.anf.or, or at least interpret z,'<i,);;.oi, a cable, as 
 does Whiti)y. But Euthymius, and some ancient 
 versions, with Grotius, Erasjuus, Drusius, Lightfoot, 
 Michaelis, RoscnmiiUer, and KuiuocI, contend that 
 the x.'iiiti^.ov is to be retained. Campbell has well de- 
 fended the common reading ; aud the rabbinical 
 citations adduced by Lightfoot, Schocttgen, and oth- 
 ers, prove that there was a similar proverb in use 
 among the Jews : " Perhaj)s thou art one of the 
 Pampedithians, who can make an elephant pass 
 through the eye of a needle;" that is, says the Aruch, 
 who speak things impossible. Biu the very proverb 
 itself is found in the Koran : " The impious shall 
 find the gates of heaven shut ; nor shall he enter 
 there till a camel shall pass through the eye of a 
 needle." The design of our Lord was evidently to 
 hint to the rich their danger, in order that they may 
 exert tiiemseives to surmount the peculiar temi)ta- 
 tions by which they are assailed ; and learn not to 
 trust in imcertain riches, l)ut in the living God. 
 
 Li Matt, xxiii. 24, there is anotlier |)r(jver!)ial ex- 
 pression, which also has been much mismiderstood : 
 "Ye strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel." Dr. A. 
 Clarke has shown that there; is an error of the jiress 
 in the English translation, in which at has been sub- 
 stituted for out. The expression alludes to the Jew- 
 
 ish custom of filtering wine, for fear of swallowing 
 any insect forbidden by the law as unclean ; and is 
 applied to those who are snperstitiously anxious in 
 avoiding smaller faults, yet do not scruple to commit 
 the greater sins. To make the antithesis as strong as 
 may be, two things are selected as opposite as possi- 
 ble ; the smallest insect, and the largest animal. 
 
 CAMELS' HAIR, an article of clothing. John 
 the Baptist was habited in raiment of camels' hair, 
 and Chardin states, that such garments are worn by 
 the modern dervishes. There is a coarse cloth made 
 of camels' hair in the East, which is used for manu- 
 facturing the coats of shepherds, and camel-drivers, 
 and also for the covering of tents. It was, doubtless, 
 this coarse kind which was adopted by John. By 
 this he was distinguished from those residents in 
 royal palaces who wore soft raiment. Elijah is said 
 in the Eng. Bible to have been " a hairy man ;" (2 
 Kings i. 8.) but it should be "a man dressed in hair ;" 
 that is, camels' hair. In Zech. xiii. 4, "a rough gar- 
 ment," that is, a garment of a hairy manufacture, is 
 characteristic of a prophet. 
 
 CAMELEON, a kind of lizard, the flesh of which 
 Moses forbids the Hebrews to eat. Lev. xi. 30. There 
 is no reason for supposing that the Hebrew word mj 
 means the real cameleon, but some kind of lizard 
 distinguished for its strength. 
 
 CAMELO-PARDUS, or Camelo-Pardalus, an 
 animal like a camel in form ; and like a panther in 
 colors, or spots. The Hebrews were allowed it as 
 food, Deut. xiv. 5, 6, according to the Vulgate ; in 
 the English version it is translated chamois, which 
 see. The camelo-pardalus has been supposed the 
 giraffe, an animal found in the East Indies, beyond 
 the Ganges ; also in Africa, though rarely in the north 
 of that continent. Its neck is very long and slender ; 
 its ears are slit ; its feet are cloven ; its tail is round 
 and short ; its legs, especially its fore legs, are taller 
 than those of any other animal, so that it cannot 
 drink without straddling ; and it has two little horns, 
 Bochart is of opinion, however, that Moses did not 
 intend the girafie, or carnelo-pardus, because the res- 
 idence of this animal is in countries too remote ; and 
 further, that the camel being imclean, it was not 
 likely the giraffe should be allowed. He thinks the 
 Hebrew zemer signifies a wild goat. Others translate 
 it an elk. See Chamois. 
 
 I. CAMON, a city west of the Jordan, according 
 to Eusebius, in the great plain, six miles from Legio, 
 inclining north ; jierhaps Cadmon. 
 
 II. CAMON, a city of Manasseh, east of the Jor- 
 dan, in the country of Gilead, Judg. x. 5. 
 
 CAMPHIRE, Cant. i. 14 ; iv. 13. The Hebrew 
 copher is rendered cypress in the LXX and the Vul- 
 gate. It is an odoriferous shrub, common in the isle 
 of Cyprus, where it is called henna, or al-henna, and 
 the purposes for which it is employed are thus de- 
 scribed by Sonnini : — (Travels in Egypt, vol. i. p. 
 264, &c.) 
 
 " If large black eyes, which they are at pains to 
 darken still more, be essential to Egyptian female 
 beauty, it likewise requires, as an accessory of first 
 rate importance, that the hands and nails should be 
 dyed red. This last fashion is fully as general as 
 the other, and not to conform to it would be reckon- 
 ed indecent. The women could no mon; (lisj)ense 
 with this daubing than with their clolhcs. Of what- 
 ever condition, of \\iiatever religion they may be, all 
 emyjioy the same means to ac(|uire this species of or- 
 nauKUit, which the empire oi" fashion alone could 
 perpetuate, for it assuredly sjioils fine hands much
 
 CAMPHIRE 
 
 [ 229 ] 
 
 CAN 
 
 more than it decorates them. The animated white- 
 ness of the pahn of the hand, the tender rose-color 
 of the nails, are effaced by a dingy layer of a red- 
 dish or orange-colored drug. The sole of the foot, 
 tlie epidermis of which is not hardened by long or 
 frequent walking, and which daily friction makes 
 still thinner, is likewise loaded A\ith the same color. 
 It is with the greenish powder of the dried leaves of 
 the henna that the women procure for themselves a 
 decoration so whimsical. It is prepared chiefly in 
 the Said, from whence it is distributed over all the 
 cities of Egypt. Tlie markets are constantly sup- 
 plied with it, as a commodity of habitual and indis- 
 pensable use. They dilute it in water, and rub the 
 soft paste it makes on the parts which they mean to 
 color : they are wrapped up in linen, and at the end 
 of two or three hours the orange hue is strongly im- 
 pressed on them. Though the women wash both 
 hands and feet several times a day with lukewarm 
 water and soap, this color adheres for a long time, 
 and it is suflicient to renew it about every fifteen 
 days : that of the nails lasts much longer ; nay, it passes 
 for ineffaceable. In Turkey, likewise, the women 
 make use of henna, but apjily it to the nails only, and 
 leave to their hands and feet the color of nature. It 
 would appear, that the custom of dyeing the nails 
 was known to the ancient Egyptians, for those of 
 mimnnies are, most commonly, of a reddish hue. 
 But the Egyptian ladies refine still further on the 
 general practice ; they, too, paint their fingers, space 
 by space only, and, in order that the color may not 
 lay hold of the whole, they wrap them round with 
 thread at the ])ro]iosed distances, before the applica- 
 tion of the color-giving paste ; so that, when the 
 operation is finished, they have the fingers marked 
 circularly, from end to end, with small orange-color- 
 ed belts. Others — and this practice is more common 
 among certain Syrian dames — have a mind, that their 
 hands should present the sufficiently disagreeable 
 mixture of black and white. The belts, which the 
 henna had first reddened, become of a shining 
 black, by rubbing them with a composition of sal-am- 
 moniac, Ume and honey." This ))ractice of staining 
 the hands and nails explains, perhaps, the phraseol- 
 ogy in Deut. xxi. 12. 
 
 "You sometimes meet with men, likewise, who 
 apply tincture of henna to their beards, and anoint 
 the head with it : they allege, that it strengthens the 
 organs, that it prevents the falling off of the hair (the 
 followers of Mahomet, it is well known, ])reserve, on 
 the crown of the head, a long tuft of hair) and beard, 
 and banishes vermin." 
 
 The plant is thus described: — "The henna is a 
 tall shrub, endlessly multi])lied in Egy])t ; the leaves 
 are of a lengtiiened oval Ibrm, opposed to each oth- 
 er, and of a faint green color. The flowers grow 
 at the extremity of the branches, in long and tufted 
 bouquets; the smaller ramifications which support 
 them are red, and likewise opposite : from their arm- 
 pit cavity [axill(t) springs a small leaf almost round, 
 but terminating in a point : the corolla is formed of 
 four petals cm-ling u)), and of a light yellow. IJe- 
 tween each petal are two whitestamina with a yellow 
 summit; there is only one white pistil. The pedicle, 
 reddish at its issuing irom the bough, dies liwuy into 
 a faint green. The calix is cut into four pieces, of a 
 tender green up toward tlieir extremity, which is 
 reddish. The fruit or berry is a green capsule pre- 
 vious to its maturity ; it assumes a red tint as it 
 ripens, and becomes brown when it is dried : it is 
 divided into four compartments, in which are enclos- 
 
 ed the seeds, triangular and brown-colored. The 
 bark of the stem and of the branches is of a deep 
 gray, and the wood has, internally, a light cast of 
 yellow. In truth, this is one of the plants the most 
 grateful to both the sight and the smell. The gently 
 deepish color of its bark, the light green of its Ibliage, 
 the softened mixture of white and yellow, with w hich 
 the flowers, collected into long clusters like the lilac, 
 are colored, the red tint of the ramifications which 
 support them, form a combination of the most agree- 
 able effect. These flowers, whose shades are so del- 
 icate, dift'use around the sweetest odors, and em- 
 balm the gardens and the apartments which they 
 emltellish ; they accordingly form the usual nosegay 
 of beauty ; the women, ornament of the prisons of 
 jealousy, whereas they might be that of a whole 
 country, take pleasure to deck themselves with these 
 beautiful clusters of fragrance, to adorn their apart- 
 ments with them, to carry them to the bath, to hold 
 them in their hand, in a word, to perfume their bosom 
 with them. They attach to this possession, which the 
 mildness of the climate, and the facility of culture, 
 seldom refuses them, a value so high, that they Avould 
 willingly appropriate it exclusively to themselves, and 
 that they suffer with impatience Christian women 
 and Jewesses to partake of it with them. The hen- 
 na grows in great quantities in the vicinity of Rosetta, 
 and constitutes one of the principal ornaments of the 
 beautiful gardens which surround that city. Its root, 
 which penetrates to a great depth \A'ith the utmost 
 ease, swells to a large size in a soil, soft, rich, mixed 
 with sand, and such as every husbandman would 
 have to work upon ; the shrub, of course, acquires a 
 more vigorous growth there than any where else ; it 
 is, at the same time, more extensively multiplied ; it 
 grows, however, in all the other cultivated districts 
 of Egypt, and princii)ally in the upper part. There 
 is much reason to presvune, that the hernia of Egypt 
 is the kupros of the ancient Greeks. The descrip- 
 tions, incomplete it is admitted, which authors have 
 given of it, and particularly the form and the sweet 
 perfume of its flowers which they have celebrated, 
 leave scarcely any doubt respecting the identity of 
 these two plants. [The name of kupros is no longer 
 in use among the modern Greeks ; they give to the 
 henna the corrupted denominations of khi^, kna, &c. 
 The seamen of Provence, Avhose vessels were em- 
 ployed in carrying the powder of henna, called it 
 quene.] Besides that, the clusters of cypriis, botr^is 
 cypri, of the Song of Songs, (chap. i. 13, 14.) can be 
 nothing else but the very clustcrsof the flowers of the 
 henna ; this is, at least, the opinion of the best com- 
 mentators. It is not at all astonishing, that a flower so 
 delicious should have furnished to oriental poesy 
 agreeable tdlusions and amorous comparisons. This 
 fm-nishes an answer to part of the forty-fifth question 
 of Michaelis ; for the flower of henna is disposed in 
 clusters, and the women of Egvpt, who dearly love 
 the smell of it, are fond of carrying it, as I have said, 
 in the spot which the text indicates — in their bosom." 
 CANA, the city in which our Lord performed his 
 first miracle, was in Galilee, and pertained to the 
 tribe of Zebulun. The village now bearing the 
 name, and supposed to occupy the site of the ancient 
 town, is ]»leasantly situated on the descent of a hill, 
 about sixteen miles north-west of Tiberias, and six 
 north-east of Nazareth. Dr. Richardson states that, 
 in a small Greek church in this place, he was shown 
 an old stone pof, made of the connnon coni])act lime- 
 stone of the country, which the hierojihant informed 
 him was one of the* original pots that contained the
 
 CAN 
 
 230 ] 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 water which underwent the miraculous change at 
 the wedding, which was here honored by the pres- 
 ence of Christ. " It is worthy of note," says Di-. 
 Clarke, "that, walking among the ruins of a church, 
 we saw large massy stone pots, answering the de- 
 scription given of the ancient vessels of the country ; 
 not preserved nor exhibited as reliques, but lying 
 about, disregarded by the present inhabitants, as an- 
 tiquities with whose original use they were unac- 
 quainted. From their appearance, and the number 
 of them, it was quite evident, that a practice of keep- 
 ing water in large stone pots, each holding from 
 eighteen to twenty-seven gallons, was once connnon 
 in the country." (Travels, p. ii. ch. 14.) Cana, or, 
 as it is now called, Refer Kenna, or Cane Galil, con- 
 tains about 300 inhabitants, who are chiefly Catho- 
 lic Christians. There was another place bearing the 
 same name, belonging to the tribe of Asher, which 
 was situated in the neighborhood of Sidon. 
 
 I. CANAAN, son of Ham. The Hebrews believe 
 that Canaan, having first discovered Noah's naked- 
 ness, told his father Ham ; and that Noah, when he 
 awoke, having understood what had passed, cursed 
 Canaan, the first reporter of his exposure. Others 
 are of opinion, that Noah, knowing nothing more 
 displeasing to Ham, than cursing of Canaan, resolved 
 to punish him in his son, Gen. ix. 25. The posterity 
 of Canaan Avas numerous; his eldest son, Sidon, was 
 the father of the Sidonians, or Phoenicians; and his 
 other ten sons tlie fathers of as many tribes, dwelling 
 in Palestine and Syria ; namely, the Hittites, Jehu- 
 sites, Amorites, Girgasites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 
 An'adites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. See Ca- 
 
 NAA>'ITES. 
 
 II. CANAAN, the name of the land peopled by 
 Canaan and his posterity,'' and afterwards given to the 
 Hebrews. It signifies p]-operly level or loiv cotmtry, 
 as lying on the coast, in opposition to din, ardm, Syria, 
 or a higher country. This country has, at difterent 
 periods, been called by various names, either from 
 Us inhabitants or some circumstances connected with 
 its history.— (1.) The Land of Canaan, from Canaan, 
 the son of Ham, who divided it among his eleven 
 sons, each of whom became the head of a numerous 
 tribe, and ultimately of a distinct people, Gen. x. 15. 
 —(2.) The Land of Promise, (Heb. xi. 9.) from the 
 promise given to Abraham, that his posterity should 
 
 Sossess it. Gen. xii. 7 ; xiii. 15. These being termed 
 [ebrews, the region in which they dwelt was called 
 —(3.) The Land of the Hehrnvs, Gen. xl. 15.— (4.) 
 The Land of Israel, ivoni the Israelites, or posterity 
 of Jacob, having settled themselves there. This 
 name is of frequent occurrence in the Old Testa- 
 ment. In its larger acceptation, it comprehends all 
 that tract of ground on each side of Jordan, which 
 God gave for an inheriiance to the children of Israel. 
 —(5.) The Land of Judcih. Under this appellation 
 was at first comprised only that part of the region 
 which was allotted to the tribe of Judah ; but in sub- 
 sequent times, when their tribe excelled the others 
 in dignity, it w{is applied to the whole land. After 
 the separation of the ten tribes, that portion of the 
 land which iielonged to Judah and Benjamin, which 
 formed a separate kingdoiu, was distinguished by the 
 appellation of "the laud of Judah," or of Ju'dea ; 
 which latter nanii; the whole country retained duriu" 
 the existence of the second tfuiplf, and under the 
 dominion of the Romans.— ^C.) The Hulij Land. 
 This name does not appear to have been used I)v the 
 Hebrews themselves, till after the Babylonish captiv- 
 ity, when it is applied to the land by the prophet 
 
 Zechariah, ii. 12. The land of Canaan was supposed 
 by the Jews to be peculiarly holy, inasmuch as it 
 furnished holy offerings for the temple ; but not all 
 parts of it indiscriminately. They supposed, also, 
 that neither the Shechinah, nor the sacred Spirit, 
 dwelt on any person, even a prophet, out of this land. 
 In Canaan, say the rabbins, (Sheviith, cap. ix. hal. 
 2.) are three countries — Judea, the region beyond 
 Jordan, and Galilee. This division designedly ex- 
 cludes Samaria, which was considered as unclean by 
 reason of its inhabitants. Its land, waters, dwellings 
 and paths were clean. — (7.) Palestine, by which 
 name the whole land appears to have been called in 
 the time of Moses, (Exod. xv. 14.) is derived from 
 the Philistines, a people who migi'ated from Egypt, 
 and, having exj)elled the aboriginal inhabitants, set- 
 tled on the borders of the Mediterranean, where they 
 became so considerable, as to give their name to the 
 whole country, though they in fact possessed only a 
 small part of it. By heathen writers, the Holy Land 
 has been variously termed, Syrian Palestine. Syria, 
 and Phoenicia. (Reland. Palest, cap. i.) 
 
 The boundaries of this country are, the Mediter- 
 ranean sea on the west ; Lebanon and Syi'ia on the 
 north ; Arabia Deserta, and the lands of the Anunon- 
 ites, Moabites, and Midianites, on the east ; the river 
 of Egypt, the wilderness or desert of Zin, the south- 
 ern shore of the Dead sea, and the river Arnon, on 
 the south ; and Egypt on the south-west. Near 
 mount Lebanon stood the city of Dan, and near the 
 southern extremity of the land, Beersheba ; and hence 
 the expression " from Dan to Becrsheba," to denote 
 the whole length of the land of Canaan. Its extreme 
 length was about 170 miles, and its width a!x)Ut 80. 
 By the Abrahamic covenant, recorded in Gen. xv. 18. 
 the original grant of land to the Israelites was "from 
 the river of Egypt to the Euphrates." The bounda- 
 ries of it are most accurately described by Moses in 
 Numb, xxxiv. 1 — 16. 
 
 Tlie land of Canaan has been variously divided. 
 Under Joshua it w as apportioned out to the twelve 
 tribes ; under Solomon it was distributed into twelve 
 provinces; (1 Kings iv. 7 — 10.) and upon the acces- 
 sion of Rehoboam to the throne, it was divided into 
 the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. After this 
 period, it fell into the hands of the Babylonians, the 
 Greeks, the Syrians, and the Romans. During the 
 time of our Saviour, it was under the dominion of the 
 last-mentioned peo])!e, and was divided into five 
 provinces, viz. Galilee, Samaria, Judea, Persea, and 
 Idumaea. Perfea was again divided into seven can- 
 tons, viz. Abilene, Trachonitis, Itura?a, Gaulouitis, 
 Batansea, Peraea, and Decajjolis. 
 
 The Israelites do not appear to have restricted 
 themselves to this country ; and in the time of the 
 kings, their power extended over distant districts. 
 On their return from Babylon, they did not regain 
 the whole land ; not even the whole of what was 
 marked by the boundaiy hue of Moses ; the district 
 south of Gaza, and of aline drawn from Gaza to Ka- 
 desh-Barnea,was excluded from tlie Jiational tcrritorJ^ 
 The Idumreans, also, diu'ing the Babylonish captiv- 
 ity, h<ad encroached, and settled themselves in many 
 towns on the south of Judah ; so that Iduniaea was 
 considered as divided into the greater and the lesser, 
 or the upper and the lower: but these being subdued 
 by Hyrcanus, (Joseph. Ant. lib. xiii. cap. 17.) the in- 
 habitants embraced Judaism, and were afterwards 
 reckoned as Jews. Palestine, says Pomponius Mela, 
 was divided into five countries ; Idunisea, Judea, Sa- 
 maria, Galilee, and beyond Jordan.
 
 o
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [ 231 ] 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 Moses draws a line from Sidon to Laslia, and from 
 Sidon to Gaza: the rabbins also draw a line "from 
 the mountains of Amana to the river of Egjpt ; 
 whatever is within that line belongs to the laud of 
 Israel ; but whatever is without that line is without 
 the land :" their meaning is, that the islands in the 
 Mediterranean, as Arvad, Tyre, &c. never were oc- 
 cupied by the Hebrew nation. These appear to have 
 been strongly fortified, and not only inhabited by a 
 hardy race of people, but capable of being supplied, 
 by sea, with reinforcements, and necessaries of all 
 kinds, so tiiat they resisted the power of tlie Israel- 
 ites ; and the conquest of them is particularly boast- 
 ed of by a subsequent invader, 2 Kings xviii. 34 ; 
 xix. 13. 
 
 The surface of the land of Canaan is beautifully 
 divereiiied with mountains and plains, rivers and val- 
 leys, and must have presented a delightful appear- 
 ance when the Jewish nation was in its prosperity, 
 and under the special providence of God. The 
 principal mountains are Lebanon, Carmel, Tabor, 
 the mountains of Israel, Gilead, and Hermon, the 
 mount of Olives, Calvaiy, Sion, and Moriah. Of the 
 valleys, those of Hinnom, Jehoshaphat, Siddim, Re- 
 phaiin, and Mamre, are the most known. The plain 
 of the Mediterranean, of Esdraelon, and the region 
 round about Jordan, are celebrated as the scenes of 
 many important events. Tiie chief brooks and riv- 
 ers are the Jordan, the Arnon, the Sihor, the Jabbok, 
 the Bezor, or river of Egypt, the Kishon, the Kedron, 
 the lake Asphaltites, orthe Dead sea, and the lake of 
 Tiberias, or the sea of Galilee. For a description of 
 these, see their respective articles. 
 
 The land of Canaan is situated in the fifth climate, 
 between the 31st and 34th degrees of north latitude : 
 hence the heat during the summer is intense. The 
 surface of the land, however, being so greatly diver- 
 sified with mountains and plains, renders the climate 
 unequal and variable. On the south, it is sheltered 
 by lofty mountains, which separate it from the sandy 
 deserts of Arabia. Breezes from the Mediterranean 
 cool it on the west side. IMount Lebanon keeps off 
 the north wind, while mount Hermon intercepts the 
 north-east. During the summer season, in the inte- 
 rior of the country, particularly in the plains of 
 Esdraelon and Jericho, the heat is intense. Gener- 
 ally speaking, however, the atmosphere is mild ; the 
 summers are commonly dry, the days extremely hot, 
 but the nights sometimes intensely cold. 
 
 The soil of Canaan was of tlie richest description ; 
 a fine mould, without stones, and almost without a 
 pebble. Dr. Shaw informs us, that it rarely requires 
 more than one pair of beeves to plough it. Moses 
 speaks of Canaan as of the finest country in the 
 world — a land flowing with milk and honey. Pro- 
 fane authors also speak of it much in the same man- 
 ner. Hecatfeus, (Joseph, contr. Ap. p. 1049.) who 
 had been brought up with Alexander the Great, and 
 who wi'Ote in the time of Ptolemy I. mentions this 
 country as very fruitful and well-peopled, an excel- 
 lent province, that bore all kinds of good fruit. Pliny 
 gives a similar description of it, and says, Jerusalem 
 was not only the most famous city of Judea, but of 
 the whole East. He describes the course of the 
 Jordan, as of a delicious river ; he speaks advaii- 
 tagoously of the lake of Genesareth, of the balm of 
 Judea, its palm-trees, &c. Tacitus, (Hist. lib. xv. 
 cap. 6.) Ammianus Marcellinus, and most of the 
 ancients, who have mentioned Canaan, have spoken 
 of it with equal commendations. The Mahometans 
 speak of it extravagantly. They tell us, that besides 
 
 the two principal cities of the countrj% Jerusalem 
 and Jericho, this province had a thousand villages, 
 each of which had many fine gardens. That the 
 gi-apes were so large, that five men could hardlv car- 
 ry a cluster of them, and that five men might' -hide 
 themselves in the shell of one pomegranate ! That 
 this country was anciently inhabited by giants of the 
 race of Amalek. 
 
 Notwithstanding these testimonies of the ancients, 
 we find people very incredulous as to the fruitfulness 
 of the Holy Land. Some travellers said little to its 
 advantage. The country, they say, appears to be 
 dry and barren, ill watered, and has but few cultivat- 
 ed plains. Strabo, (Hb. xvi.) among the ancients, 
 speaks of it with contempt. He says that this prov- 
 ince is so barren, that it moves nobody's envy, that 
 there is no need of fighting for it, in order to obtain 
 it, and that Jerusalem stands on a dry and barren 
 spot. Jerome was an eye-witness of it, and very well 
 acquainted with those qualities which Scripture as- 
 cribes to it. He says that Canaan is full of moun- 
 tains, that dryness and drought are very common, 
 that they had only rain water, which they caught 
 and preserved in cisterns, Avhich supplied the ab- 
 sence of fountains. Yet Jerome, speaking of the fer- 
 tility of Canaan, says no country could dispute with 
 it in fruitfulness. 
 
 Having given a general outline of the countrj', we 
 may now proceed to describe it more particularly. 
 And first, with reference to its divisions among, the 
 tribes. 
 
 "From the mountains of Quarantania," says Dr. 
 Shaw, " we have a distinct view of the land of the 
 Amorites, of Gilead, and of Bashan, the inheritance 
 of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and of the half-tribe 
 ofManasseh. This tract, in the neighborhood partic- 
 ularly of the river Jordan, is, in many places, low and 
 shaded — for want of culture, perhaps — with tamarisks 
 and willows: but at the distance of two or three 
 leagues from the stream, it appears to be made up of 
 a succession of hills and valleys, somewhat larger, and 
 seemingly more fertile, than those in the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin. Beyond these plains, over against Jericho, 
 where we are to look for the mountains of Abarim, 
 the northern boundary of the land of Moab, our pros- 
 pect is interrupted by an exceeding high ridge of des- 
 olate inountaius, no otherwise diversified than by a 
 succession of naked rocks and precipices, rendered 
 in several places more frightful, by a multiplicity of 
 torrents which fall on each side of them. This ridge 
 is continued all along the eastern coast of the Dead 
 sea, as far as our eye can conduct us, affording, all the 
 way, a most lonesome and melancholy prospect, not 
 a little assisted by the intermediate view of a large, 
 stagnating, imactive expanse of water, rarely if ever 
 enlivened by any flocks of birds that settle upon it, or 
 by so much as one vessel of passage or conmierce 
 that is known to frequent it. Such is the general plan 
 of that jjart of the Holy Laud which fell under my 
 observation." But quitting the land of Moab, the 
 scene is greatly improved as we proceed further north- 
 ward, and advance toward the injmense and fertile 
 plains of the Haoiiran. Ibn Haucal gives the same 
 name, Masharik, to the country of Haouran,as to the 
 plains near Damascus, which have always been con- 
 sidered by the orientals as a terrestrial jiaradise. The 
 Arabs report of that citj', that Mahomet should say, 
 on a distant sight of it, " he would not enter it ; as 
 there was but one paradise for man, and he woidd not 
 have his in this world." " Beyond the mountain, and 
 to the south-west of Damascus," says a Catholic mis-
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [23^] 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 BJonary, " the plain of Haouran begins. Its fertility 
 is so great, that it is called the granary of the Turks. 
 In fact, there arrive, ahnost daily, caravans from all 
 parts of the empire, which cany away the corn. 
 The meal made of it is excellent, wiiereof they 
 make loaves about two feet long, and half a foot in 
 thickness. It will keep a whole year without cor- 
 rupting. When it gi-ows dry, they steep it in water, 
 and tind it as good as if new made. Both rich and 
 poor prefer it to all other sorts of bread." (Journey 
 from Aleppo to Damascus. 1736. 8vo. p. 66.) Vol- 
 ney, too, describes them as " the immense plains of 
 Haouran ;" their length, as " live or six days' journey ;" 
 and their soil as most fruitful. See Bashan. 
 
 With this description agrees the request of the 
 tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manas- 
 seh to Moses: (Numb, xxxii. 1 — 5.) " This country is 
 a land for cattle, — if we have found gi-ace in thy sight, 
 give us this laud for a possession." The tribe of Reu- 
 ben lay to the south ; east of this tribe was the desert ; 
 west of it the Jordan and the Dead sea ; north of it 
 was the tribe of Gad ; and southward a tract overrun 
 by the Israelites, but afterwards recovered by the Mo- 
 abites. This tribe appears to have had mountains 
 accompanying the side of the Jordan ; hvn as moun- 
 tains supply streams, it may be presumed that they 
 had many intervals of great fertility. The tribe of 
 Gad lay north of Reuben ; and it would appear that 
 the mouutalns receded from the Jordan, in the terri- 
 tories of this tribe. The eastern parts of these moun- 
 tains were habitable ; but whether the descendants of 
 these Israelites possessed those parts may be doubt- 
 ed ; perhaps, only partially. The half-tribe of Ma- 
 nasseh, or Eastern Manasseh, extended north to the 
 southern ridge of Lebanon, and the springs of Jor- 
 dan : the same, no doubt, may be affirmed of these 
 parts as of those pertaining to the tribe of Naphtali ; 
 which we shall next proceed to describe. 
 
 Dandini, speaking of mount Lebanon, says, "This 
 couutry consists in elevated and stony mountains, ex- 
 tending north and south. Nevertheless, the industry 
 and labor of man have made it one uniform plain ; 
 for, gathering into dikes the stones which are scattered 
 aboin,they form continued walls, and constantly going 
 forwards, they raise others in succession higher ; so 
 that at length, by means of equalizing hills and val- 
 leys, they co))vert a barren mountain into a beautiful 
 level, easily susceptible of culture, aud at once fertile 
 and dr-liglitful. It abounds in corn, excellent wine, 
 oil, cotton, silk, wax, wood, animals wild and tame, 
 especially goats. There are but few small animals, 
 the winter being severe, and the snow perpetual. 
 There are many sheep, fat and large as those of Cy- 
 prus, and others in the Levant. In the forests are 
 wild boars, bears, tigers, and other animals of the same 
 nature. The rest of the plains abounds in partridges, 
 which arc as large as common hens. There are no 
 dove-cotes, but ciuantities of pigeons, turtle doves, 
 thrushes, becca-figos, and other kinds of birds. There 
 are also eagles. They do not dig around the vines, 
 but till the ground with oxen ; the plants being set in 
 straight lines, at proper distances. Neither do they 
 prop them, but let tiiem trail on the ground. The 
 wine they produce is delicate and agreeable. There 
 are grapes as large as plums. The siz.e of the bunches 
 of grapes issm-prising : and when I saw them, I easi- 
 ly discovered why the Hebrews had so great long- 
 ing to taste them, and why they so y)assionately de- 
 sired to conquer the Promised Land, after having 
 seen the specimen which the spies brought from the 
 neighboring district. These mountains, then, do not 
 
 only aboimd in stones, but in all sorts of provisions." 
 De la Roque describes the western face of Libanus, 
 and the valley between Libanus and Anti-Libanus, in 
 the highest terms, as to fruitfuhiess, pleasantness, and 
 salubrity ; but the south aspect of Lebanon he did not 
 visit. The following account of the Jordan, which 
 takes its rise in these mountains, is principally extract- 
 ed from that writer ; who has taken much pains on 
 the subject. The source of the river Jordan is incon- 
 testably in the mountains of Anti-Libanus, in the re- 
 gion now called Wad-et-tein ; it is subject to the pa- 
 cha of Damascus, and comprehends the mount 
 Hermon of the ancients. The Jordan rises near the 
 district anciently called Panium, or Paneas, where 
 the city Paueades stood, which was afterwards called 
 Cesarea Philippi. Josephus indeed says the true 
 source of the Jordan was at Phiala, in the Trachoni- 
 tis, from whence it flowed by subterranean passages, 
 till it appeared at Panium. Phiala was a round ba- 
 sin, always full, never running over. Panium, says 
 the same writer, was a gi'otto, excavated by nature at 
 the foot of a high mountain ; it is extremely deep, and 
 filled with a standing water ; and from below issue 
 the fountains of Jordan. Pliny says much the same ; 
 to which Eusebius adds, that the mountain also was 
 named Panium. But in another place, he says, the 
 river Joi-dau rose at a small town called Dan, four 
 thousand paces distant from Paneas. So that two 
 fountains uniting their streams united also their names 
 — Jor-Dan. Eugene Roger, who travelled in the Holy 
 Land in IG36, says, Jor is a small village in the tribe 
 of Naphtali, at the foot of mount Libanus, south, 
 whence the {)rincipal source of the Jordan issues, 
 about a league from Dan. These two villages, he 
 says, are inhabited by Druses, who breed many goats. 
 Notwithstanding these testimonies, however, some 
 modern critics have thought that only one source is 
 entitled to the honor of originating the Jordan. We 
 have hinted that the region of Wad-et-tein, where 
 all the inhabitants of mount Libanus ])lace the sources 
 of the Jordan, included the mount Hermon of the an- 
 cients, — or a part of this mountain ; — as the whole 
 was of great extent, and had various appellations. 
 Among others, that part of it where the grotto Pa- 
 neas was received the name of Panion, being conse- 
 crated to the god Pan, the deity of mountains, forests, 
 and chases. Here his image was worslii])ped, and a 
 temple probably erected, which became the cause of 
 establishing a small town ; which in succeeding ages 
 received various names, as Cesarea Philippi, Claudia 
 Cesarea, and Neroniadas ; but this last, being odious, 
 was not permanent ; the town recovered its name of 
 Cesarea Philippi, then of Paneades, or Banias, which 
 it retains, though some of the Mahometans call itBe- 
 lina. William of Tyre informs us that near to this 
 city was a vast forest, named, in his time, the forest of 
 Paneades ; a very proper place for feeding sheep ; aud 
 that a ])ro(ligiousnniltitu(le of Aralisand Turcomans, 
 after having made a jjeace with Godfrey of Bologne, 
 retired thither. The Jordan is InU an inconsiderable 
 stream, till, after receiving several rivulets, and by the 
 nature of the country, after running two or three 
 leagues, it forms what is now called the marsh of 
 Jordan, anciently lake Merom ; which extends about 
 two leagues in circvunference, when the snows melt 
 on mount Libanus, but is dry in the heats of simimer. 
 This marsli is almost wholly overgrown with reeds, 
 of that kind which is used for writing with, and for the 
 fledging of arrows. The environs of the lake are full 
 of tigers, bears, and even lions, which descend from 
 the neighboring mountains. Coming out of this lake,
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [ 233 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 the Jordau resumes its course southwards, and, at 
 half a league's distance, is crossed by a stone bridge, 
 which the inhabitants call Jacob's bridge, because 
 they say it was in this place that the patriarch wres- 
 tled with the angel. Alter a course of eight or nine 
 leagues, the river enters the lake of Genesareth, or 
 the sea of Galilee, or of Tiberias. Having passed 
 through this lake, it issues near the ruins of Scy- 
 thopolis, and, after about thirty leagues, loses itself in 
 the Dead sea. See Jordax. 
 
 Volney says, "As we approach the Jordan, tlie 
 country becomes more hilly and better watered ; the 
 valley through which this river flows abounds, in 
 general, in pasturage, esjiecially in the upper part of 
 it. As for the river itself, it is very far from being of 
 that importance which we are apt to assign to it. The 
 Arabs, who are ignorant of the name of Jordan, call 
 it El-Sharia. Its breadth between the two principal 
 lakes, in few places exceeds sixty or eighty feet ; but 
 its depth is about ten or twelve. In winter it over- 
 flows its naiTOw channel ; and, swelled by the rains, 
 forms a sheet of water sometimes a quarter of a league 
 broad. The time of its overflowing is generally in 
 March, when the snows melt on the mountains of the 
 Shaik ; at which time, more than any other, its wa- 
 ters are troubled, and of a jellow hue, and its course 
 is impetuous. Its banks are covered with a tiiick 
 forest of reeds, willows, and various shrubs, which 
 serve as an asylum for wild boars, ounces, jackalls, 
 hares, and different kinds of birds." See Jer. 
 xUx. 19. 
 
 The reader will consider the Dead sea as being 
 originally divided into several streams, running among 
 low grounds,by which they were absorbed ; and among 
 which they fertilized the fields, the gardens, and oth- 
 er delights of the inhabitants. The present vicinity 
 of Damascus is the nearest approach to this idea of 
 the "cities of the plain." The waters which render 
 this city so enchanting terminate in a marsh, as we 
 presume those of the Jordan did ; without reaching 
 the ocean, or falling into any other river. The fol- 
 lowing extract may elucidate this tonception: "Da- 
 mascus is the capital and residence of the pacha. 
 Tlie Arabs call it El-Sham, agreeably to their custom 
 of bestowing the name of the country on its capital. 
 Tlie anci(.'Ut oriental name of Demeslik is known 
 c .'.ly to geographers. The city is situated in a vast 
 plain, open to the south and east, and shut in toward 
 the Avest and the north by mountains, which limit the 
 view at no great distance ; but, in return, a number 
 of rivulets rise from these mountains, which render 
 the territory of Damascus the best watered and most 
 delicious p'rovince of all Syria ; the Arabs speak of it 
 with enthusiasm ; and think they can never suffi- 
 ciently extol the freshness and verdure of its orchar^ls, 
 the abundance and variety of its fruits, its numerous 
 streams, and the clearness of its rills and fountains. 
 No city contains so many canals and fountains ; each 
 house hfis one ; and all these waters are furnished by 
 three rivulets, or branches of the same river, which, 
 after feniliziiig the gardens for a course of three 
 leagues, flow into a hollow of the desert, to the south- 
 east, where they form a morass called Behairat-el- 
 Mardj, or the Lake of the INIeadow." (Volney, vol. 
 ii. p. 269.) Another writer says, " This lake is three 
 leagues from Damascus, toward the east, ten or 
 twelve leagues long, and five or six broad. It pro- 
 duces excellent fish, and the copse which surrounds 
 it, a great quantity of game. The wonder is, that 
 though it receives not only the above-mentioned river, 
 but many stray waters besides, yet it never overflows. 
 30 
 
 Returning now to the head of the Jordan, we find 
 the tribes of Naphtah and Asher. To Naphtali we 
 have attended in part, ftlaundrell gives us reason to 
 suppose, that Asher, lying on the sea-coast, had some 
 advantages which Naphtali had not. He says, "A 
 very fertile plain extends itself to a vast compass be- 
 fore Tyre." " The plain of Acra extends itself in 
 length from moimt Saron as far as Carmel, whit h i 
 at least six good hours ; and in breadtii, between the 
 sea and the mountains, it is in most jilaces two 
 hours over. It enjojs good streams of water at con- 
 venient distances, and every thing else that nii^d.t 
 render it both pleasant and fruitful. But this ciLJi- 
 cious plain is now almost desolate, being sufl't- rt d, l(..r 
 want of culture, to run up to rank weeds, which v.ere, 
 at the time wliou we passed it, as high as our horses' 
 backs. The plain of Esdmelon is of vast extern, 
 and very fertile, but uncultivated; only serving xha 
 Arabs for pasturage." — "We turned out of the plain 
 of Esdraelon, and entered the precincts of the ha'f- 
 tribe of ]Manassch. From hence our road lay, i'or 
 about lour hours, through narrow valleys, plcasoutly 
 wooded on both sides." As to Zebulun,, 3iai:ndreil 
 only mentions in one place his being " an hour Li-d 
 a half in crossing the delicious plain of Zebulun," — to 
 that of Acra. " Our stage this day was somewhat 
 less than seven hours ; it lay aliout W. by N. through 
 a country very dehghtful, and fertile beyond imagi- 
 nation." 
 
 Dr. E. D. Clarke, speaking of this district, says, 
 " After leaving Shef 'hamer, the mountainous territo- 
 ry begins, and the road winds among valleys covcicd 
 with beautiful trees. Passing these hills, we entered 
 that part of Galilee which belonged to the tribe of 
 Zabulun ; whence, according to the triumphal song 
 of Deborah and Barak, issued to the battle against 
 Sisera ' they that handled the pen of the writer.' The 
 scenery is, \o the full, as delightful as in the rich vales 
 upon the south of the Crimea: it reminded us of tlie 
 finest parts of Kent and Surrey. The soil, although 
 stony, is exceedingly rich, but now entirely neglected. 
 
 Had it pleased Djezzar to encourage the labors of 
 
 the husbandman, he might have been in possession cf 
 more wealth and power than any pacha in the grana 
 signior's dominions. The delightful plain of Zabu-** 
 lun appeared every where covered with spontaneous 
 vegetation, flourishing in the wildest exuberance." 
 (p. 400.) . . ." We left our route to visit the elevated 
 mount where it is believed that Christ preached to his 
 disciples that memorable sermon, concentrating tlie 
 sum and substance of every Christian virtue. Hav- 
 ing attained the highest point of it, a view was pre- 
 sented, which, for hs grandeur, independently of the 
 interest excited by the different objects contained in 
 it, has no parallel'in the Holy Land. From diis situ- 
 ation we perceived that the plain, over which we had 
 been so long riding, was itself very elevated. Far 
 beneath appeared other plains, one lower than the oth- 
 er, in hat regular gradation concerning which obser- 
 vations were recently made, and extending to the sur- 
 face of the sea of Tiberias, or sea ofGahlee. This im- 
 mense lake, almost equal, in the grandeur of its appear- 
 ance, to that of Geneva, spreads its waters over all the 
 lower territory, extending from the north-east towards 
 the south-west, and then bearing east of us. Its east- 
 ern shores present a sublime scene of mountains, ex- 
 tending toward the north and south, and seeming to 
 close it in at either extremity ; both towards Chora- 
 zin, where the Jordan enters ; and the Anion, or Cam- 
 pus Magnus, through which it flows to the Dead sea. 
 The cultivated plains reaching to its borders, which
 
 CANAAN 
 
 234 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 we beheld at an amazing depth below our view, re- 
 sembled, by the various hues their different produce 
 exhibited, the motley pattern of a vast carpet. To the 
 north appeared snowy summite, towering beyond a 
 series of intervening mountains, with unspeakable 
 greatness. We considered them as the summits of 
 Libanus ; but the Arabs belonging to our caravan 
 called the principal eminence Jebel el Sieh, saying it 
 was near Damascus ; probabi\ , therefore, a part of 
 the chain of Libanus. This summit was so lofty, 
 that the snow entirely covered the upper part of it ; 
 not lying in patches, as I have seen it, during sum- 
 mer, upon the tops of very elevated mountains, (for 
 instance, that of Ben Nevis in Scotland,) but invest- 
 ing all the higher part with that perfect white and 
 smooth velvet-like ajjpearance which snow only ex- 
 hibits when it is very deej) ; a striking spectacle in 
 such a climate, whei-e the beholder, seeking protec- 
 tion from a burning sun, almost considers the firma- 
 ment to be on fire. The elevated ])lains upon the 
 mountainous territory beyond the northern extremi- 
 ty of the lake are called by a name, in Arabic, which 
 signifies 'the Wilderness.' To the south-west, attlie 
 distance of only twelve miles, we beheld mount Tha- 
 bor, having a conical form, and standing quite insu- 
 lar, upon the northern side of the plain of Esdraelon. 
 The mountain whence this superb view was present- 
 ed consists entirely of limestone ; the prevailing con- 
 stituent of all the mountains in Greece, Asia Minor, 
 Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine." (p. 456.) "As we 
 rode towards the sea of Tiberias, the guides pointed 
 to a sloping spot from the heights upon our right, 
 whence we had descended, as the place where the 
 miracle was accomphshed by which our Saviour fed 
 the multitude ; it is, therefore, called ' The Multipli- 
 cation of Bread ;' as the mount above, where the 
 sermon was preached to the disciples, is called ' The 
 Mountain of Beatitudes,' from the expressions used 
 in the beginning of that discourse. This part of the 
 Holy Land is very full of wild animals. Antelopes 
 are m great number. We had the pleasure of seeing 
 these beautiful quadrupeds in their natural state, 
 feeding among the thistles and tall herbage of these 
 plains, and bounding before us occasionally, as we 
 disturbed them. The Arabs frequently take them in 
 the chase. The lake now continued in view upon 
 our left. The wind rendered its surface; rough, and 
 called to mind the situation of our Saviour's disciples, 
 when, in one of the small vessels which traverse these 
 waters, they were tossed in a storm, and saw Jesus, 
 in the fourth watch of the night, walking to them 
 upon the waves. Matt. xiv. 24. Often as this subject 
 has been painted, combining a number of circum- 
 stances adapted for the representation of sublimity, 
 no artist has been aware of the uncommon grandeur 
 of the scenery, memorable on account of the transac- 
 tion. The lake of Genesareth is surrounded by ob- 
 jects well calculated to heighten the solemn impres- 
 sion made by such a picture ; and, independent of the 
 local feelings likely to be excited in its contemplation, 
 affords on(! of the most striking prospects in the Ho- 
 ly Land. It is by comparison alone that any due con- 
 ception of the appearance it presents can be convey- 
 ed to the minds of those wlio have not seen it: and 
 speaking of it comparatively, it may be described as 
 longer and finer than any of our Cumberland and 
 Westmoreland lakes, although, perhaps, it yields in 
 majesty to the stupendous features of Loch Lomond, 
 in Scotland. It does not possess the vastncss of the' 
 lake of Geneva, although it much resembles it in par- 
 ticular points of view. The lake of Locanio, in Italy 
 
 comes nearest to it in point of picturesque beauty, al- 
 though it is destitute of any thing similar to the islands 
 by which that majestic piece ot water is adorned. It 
 is inferior in magnitude, and, perhaps, in the height 
 of its surrounding mountains, to the lake Asphaltites ; 
 but its broad and extended surface, covering the bot- 
 tom of a profound valley, environed by lofty and pre- 
 cipitous eminences, added to the impression of a 
 certain reverential awe under which every Christian 
 pilgi-im api)roaches it, give it a character of dignity 
 unparalleled by any siniilai- scenery." (p. 4G2.) " On 
 the plain of Esdraelon, in the most fertile part of all 
 the land of Canaan, (which, though a solitude, we 
 found like one vast meadow, covered with the richest 
 pasture,) the tribe of Issachar rejoiced in their tents." 
 
 " The road was mountainous, rocky, and full of 
 loose stones ; yet the cultivation was every where 
 marvellous : it afforded one of the most striking pic- 
 tiu-es of human industry which it is possible to be- 
 hold. The limestone rocks and stony valleys of 
 Judea were entirely covered with jilantations of figs, 
 vines, and olive trees ; not a single spot seemed to be 
 neglected. The hills, from their bases to their uj)most 
 summits, were entirely covered with gardens; all of 
 these were free from weeds, and in the liighest 
 state of agricultural perfection. Even the sides of 
 the most barren mountains had been rendered fer- 
 tile, by being divided into tei'races, like steps rising 
 one above another, whereon soil had been accumu- 
 lated with astonishing labor. Among the standing 
 crops, Ave noticed millet, cotton, linseed, and tobac- 
 co, and, occasionally, small fields of barley. A sight 
 of tliis territory can alone convey any adequate idea 
 of its surprising produce ; it is truly the Eden of the 
 East, rejoicing in the abundance of its wealth. Un- 
 der a wise and a beneficent government, the produce 
 of the Hoi}' Land would exceed all calculation. Its 
 perennial harvest ; the salubrity of its air ; its limpid 
 s|)rings ; its rivers, lakes, and matchless plains ; its 
 hills and vales ; — all these, added to the serenity of 
 the climate, prove this land to be indeed ' a field 
 which the Lord hath blessed : God hath given it of 
 the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and 
 plenty of corn and wine.' " The reader will recol- 
 lect iliat this account refei-s to the territory passed 
 through in the route from Acre to Tiberias and Je- 
 rusalem. A less flattering picture is drawn of the 
 direct road from Jerusalem to Joppa ; and of the 
 countries bordering on the desert to the south. It 
 must, however, be confessed, that these parts main- 
 tained numerous flocks and herds, anciently, and that 
 places are not wanting where the same might be 
 maintained, at this day, did circumstances admit the 
 necessary safety and protection. 
 
 Pi-. Shaw gives the following account of the tribes 
 of Issachar, Benjamin, Judah, and Dan : " Leaving 
 mount Carmel to the N. W. we pass over the S. W. 
 corn(>r of the ])lain of Esdraelon, the lot formerlj' of 
 the tribe of Issachar, and the most fertile portion of 
 the land of Canaan. The most extensive jiart of it 
 lieth to the eastward, where our prospect is bound- 
 ed, at about fiih^'ii miles' distance, by the mountains 
 of Ilermon and Tabor, and by those upon which 
 the city of Nazareth is situated. Advancing further 
 into the half-tribe of Manasseh, we have still a fine 
 arable coimtry, though not so level as the former ; 
 where the landscape is changed every hour by the 
 intervention of some piece of rising ground, a grove 
 of trees, or the ruins of some ancient village. The 
 country begins to be rugged and uneven at Samaria, 
 the north boundary of the tribe of Ephraijn ; from
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [ 235 ] 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 whence, through Sichern, all the way to Jerusalem, 
 we have nothing but mountains, narrow dejilees, and 
 valleys of different extents. Of the former, the 
 moMiitains of Ephraim are the largest, being most 
 oi' them shaded with large forest trees; whilst the 
 valleys below are long and spacious, not inferior iu 
 fertility to the best part of the tribe of Issachar. 
 The mountains of the tribe of Benjamin, which lie 
 still further to the soutiiward, are generally more 
 nuked, having their ranges much shorter, and con- 
 sequently their valleys more li-equent. In the same 
 disposition is the district of the tribe of Judah ; 
 tliough the mountains of Quarautania, those of Eu- 
 gaddi, and others that border on the plains of Jericho 
 and the Dead sea, are as high, and of as gi-eat ex- 
 tent, as those iu the trilje of Ephraim. Some of the 
 valleys, likewise, which belong to this tribe, such as 
 that of Kephaim, Eschol, aud others, merit an equal 
 regard with that parcel of ground whicli Jacob gave 
 to his son Joseph, Gen. xlviii. 22. But the neighbor- 
 hood of Ramah and Lydda is nearly of the same 
 arable and fertile nature with that of the half-tribe 
 of 3Ianasseh, and equally inclineth to be plain and 
 level. The latter of these circumstances agreeth 
 also with the tribe of Dan, whose country, notwith- 
 standing, is not so fruitful, having in most parts a 
 less depth of soil ; and boi-dereth upon the sea-coast 
 iu a range of mountains." 
 
 Of tlie tribe of Benjamin, Maundrell says, " All 
 along this day's travel from Kane Lebau to Beer, 
 and also as far as we could see round, the country 
 discovered a quite different face from what it had 
 before ; presenting nothing to the \iew, in most 
 places, but naked rocks, mountains, and precipices. 
 At sight of which, pilgiims are apt to be much as- 
 tonished and balked in their expectations ; finding 
 that country in such an inhospitable condition, con- 
 cerning whose pleasantness and plenty they had be- 
 fore formed in their minds such high ideas, from the 
 description given of it in the Word of God ; inso- 
 much that it almost startles their faith, when they 
 reflect, How could it be jjossible for a land like this 
 to supply food for so prodigious a number of in- 
 habitants as ai'e said to have been polled in the twelve 
 tribes at one time ? the sum given in by Joab, 2 Sam. 
 xxiv. amounting to no less than thirteen hundred 
 thousand fighting men, besides women and children. 
 But it is certain that any man, who is not a little 
 biased to infidelity before, may see, as he passes 
 along, arguments enough to support his faith against 
 such scruples. For it is obvious for any one to ob- 
 serve, that these rocks and hills must have been 
 anciently covered with earth, and cultivated, and 
 made to contribute to the maintenance of the inhab- 
 itants no less than if the country had been all plain, 
 nay, perhaps, much more ; forasmuch as such a 
 mountainous and uneven surface affords a larger 
 t^pace of ground for cultivation than this country 
 would amount to, if it Avere all reduced to a perfect 
 level. For the husbanding of these mountains, their 
 manner was to gather up the stones, and place them 
 in several lines, along the sides of the hills, in form 
 of a wall. By such borders, they supported the 
 mould from tumbling, or being washed down ; and 
 formed many beds of excellent soil, rising gradually 
 one above another from the bottom to the top of the 
 mountains. Of this form of culture you see evi- 
 dent footsteps wherever you go in all the mountains 
 of Palestine. Thus the verj^ rocks were made fruit- 
 fid. And perhaps there is no spot of ground in this 
 wliole land that was not formerly improved, to the 
 
 production of something or other ministering to the 
 sustenance of human life. For, than the plain 
 countries nothing can be more fruitful, whether lor 
 the jjroduction of corn or cattle, and consequently 
 of milk. The hills, though improper for all cattle, 
 except goats, yet being disposed into such beds as 
 are afore described, served very ■v\ell to bear corn, 
 melons, gourds, cucumbers, and such like gar.len 
 stuff, which makes the principal food of tiiese coun- 
 tries for several months Ln the year. The most 
 rocky parts of all, which could not well be adjusted 
 in that manner for the production of corn, might 
 yet serve for the plantation of vines and olive-trees ; 
 which delight to extract the one its fatness, the other 
 its sprightly juice, chiefly out of such dry aud flinty 
 places. And the great plain joining to the Dead 
 sea, which, by reason of its saltness, niight be thought 
 unserviceable, both for cattle, corn, ohves, and vines, 
 had yet its proper usefulness, for the nourishment of 
 bees, and for the fabric of honey ; of which Josephus 
 gives us his testimony. (De Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 4.) 
 And I have reason to believe it, because when I was 
 there, I perceived in many places a smell of honey 
 and wax, as strong as if one had been in an apiary. 
 Why, then, might not this country very well main- 
 tain the vast number of its inhabitants, being in every 
 part so productive of either milk, corn, wine, oil, or 
 honey ? which are the principal food of these east- 
 ern nations ; the constitution of their bodies, and the 
 nature of their clime, inclining them to a more ab- 
 stemious diet than we use in England, and other 
 colder regions." 
 
 The following description from Volney, includes 
 the tribes of Shneon and Judah : " Palestine, in its 
 present state, comprehends the whole country in- 
 cluded between the Mediterranean to the west, the 
 chain of mountains to the east, and two lines, one 
 drawn to the south, by Kan Younes, and the other 
 to the north, between Kaisaria and the rivulet of 
 Yasa. This whole tract is almost entirely a level 
 plain, without either river or rivulet in summer, but 
 watered by several torrents in winter. Notwi 1 - 
 standing this dryiiess, the soil is good, aud may even 
 be termed fertile ; for Avheu the winter rains do not 
 fail, every thing springs up in abundance ; and the 
 earth, which is black and fat, retains moisture siifii- 
 cient for the growth of grain and vegetables during 
 the summer. More dourra, sesamum, water-melons, 
 and beans, are sown here than in any other part of 
 the country. They also raise cotton, barley, aud 
 wheat ; but, though the latter be most esteemed, it is 
 less cultivated, for fear of too much inviting the ava- 
 rice of the Turkish governors, and the rapacity of 
 the Arabs. This countiy is indeed more frequently 
 plundered than any other in Syria ; for, being veiy 
 proper for cavalry, and adjacent to the desert, it lies 
 open to the Arabs, who are far from satisfied with 
 the mountains ; they have long disputed it with 
 every power estabhshed in it, and have succeeded 
 so far as to obtain the concession of certain places, 
 on paying a tribute, from whence they infest the 
 roads, so as to render it unsafe to travel from Gaza 
 to Acre." 
 
 From these testimonies the reader may collect the 
 general character of this country, and of those par- 
 cels of it which fell to the lot of the different tribes 
 respectively. But there is one character of it Avhich 
 has never been properly estimated ; that is, its strength 
 in a military point of view, and as military science 
 stood in ancient days. If we examine it as originally 
 described, and promised to the sons of Israel, we
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [ 236 ] 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 find it bounded, and at the same time effectually de- 
 feuded, on the east by the whole length of the river 
 Jordan, and the Dead sea; on the north by the 
 mountain of Lebanon, and its branches, which, of 
 course, afford strong grounds on which to resist an 
 invading enemy; on the west by the Great sea, 
 where its ports were not favorable to an assailant, 
 being but of moderate capacity, and ill calculated to 
 accommodate a fleet ; and on the south by the 
 wearisome desert, with hills, at which the Israelites 
 themselves liad been repulsed. We conclude, then, 
 that the first departure from the plan of settUng this 
 peculiar people was a fatal error, since it deprived 
 the intended country of so great a proportion of 
 population as two tribes and a half; whereas, that 
 density of population which these tribes must havS 
 produced, would have been the security of the whole, 
 and would have rendered it impregnable. We may 
 also infer, that had these two tribes and a half settled 
 in Canaan, they would have enabled the Israelites to 
 have driven out the inhabitants of those' towns which 
 eventually maintained their situations ; so that the 
 entire country would have been completely Israelite, 
 and the consequent uniformity of opinion and of 
 interest would have contributed greatly to the per- 
 manency of this compact and confirnied common- 
 wealth. The country was also so situated, that it 
 possessed the power of choosing what intercourse it 
 thought proper with surrounding nations. For in- 
 stance, caravans for traffic might rendezvous at Da- 
 mascus, and pass into Arabia, or into Egypt, without 
 entering, or but little, the Israelite dominions ; and 
 so from Egypt, to Damascus, to the Euphrates, and 
 even to Bozra ; while the intercourse between 
 Egj'pt, Greece, and the whole of Europe, by sea, 
 was maintained without any interference with the 
 ports of Palestine. We conclude, then, that Balaam 
 was perfectly correct when he said, " This people 
 shall dwell alone''' — secluded, having little commu- 
 nication with other nations. That the Hebrews were 
 not likely to perform voyages of long continuance, 
 may be inferred from the established peculiarities of 
 their food ; and this may contribute to account for 
 the employment of Tyrians by Solomon, in his ex- 
 peditions to Ophir. In short, eveiy thing leads us 
 to consider this nation as intended for an agricultural, 
 sedentary, recluse peojjle ; whose country was com- 
 pact, and almost insulated, Hke themselves ; but these 
 intend^'d advantages were rendered ineffectual by 
 the dcpartm-e of n 'considerable portion of tlie nation 
 from the original plan of their settlement, by wliich 
 it was mutilated, if not destroyed; and the common- 
 wealth dcj)rived of that federal bond, that imity of 
 interest, of design, of religion, and of fraternity, 
 which might have resisted the efforts of enemies to 
 subjugate separate parts, and so, by degrees, the 
 whole. 
 
 Of the peculiarities of the country east of the 
 Jordan, we have some interesting though imperfect 
 notices. We have a nunil)(;r of travels in the conn- 
 try west of the Jordan, from the Mediterranean to 
 Jerusalem, whether from Acre, from Joppa, or from 
 EgJ'l)t ; but for several centuries the east of the Jordan 
 has remained almost unknown. The present inhab- 
 itants are such banditti, that Europeans are justified 
 in deeming it the height of imprudence to venture 
 among them. Yet it seems possible, by obtaining 
 powerful protection, greatly to diminish this danger. 
 The late adventurous M. Seetzen visited this re- 
 gion in the early part of this century. His account 
 is to this effect : — " I had intended from Acre to visit 
 
 the ancient town of Edrei, now called Draa, and the 
 two Decapolitan cities of A'.jiJa, now Abil, and Ga- 
 dara. The first of these places, Edrei, is often men- 
 tioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, as one of the most 
 important tov.ns in the teiTitory of the king of Ba- 
 san, who, in the time of Moses, lived at Astaroth, 
 the present Busra. But the country was so infested 
 by the nomad Arabs, that I could procure neither 
 horse, nor mule, nor ass. Yussuf [his servant] even 
 declared to me a second time that he could not ven- 
 ture to go with me. It was not without difficulty 
 that I at last found a guide ; but to save the only 
 coat which I had to my bacK, and wliich the Arabs 
 would not have failed to have taken from nie, I was 
 obliged to make use of a precaution sufficiently 
 strange, which was to cover myself with rags ; in 
 fact, to assume the disguise of a i.aesloch, or com- 
 mon beggar. That nothing about me might tenj{)t 
 the rapacity of the Arabs, I put over my siiirt an old 
 kombaz, or dressing gown, and above that an old 
 blue and ragged shift — I covered my head with some 
 shreds, and my feet with old slippers. An old tat- 
 tered Abbai, thrown over my shoulders, protected 
 me from the cold and rain, and a branch of a tree 
 served me for a walking stick. My guide, a Greek 
 Christian, put on nearly the saine dress, and in this 
 trim we traversed the countiy nearly ten days, often 
 stopped by the cold rains, which wetted us to the 
 skin. I was also obliged to walk one whole day in 
 the mud with my feet bare, since it was impossible 
 to use my slippers on that marshy land, completely 
 softened by the water. The town of Draa, situ- 
 ated on the eastern side of the route of the ])ilgrinis 
 to ]Mecca, is at present uninhabited and in ruins. 
 No remains of the beaiuifid ancient architecture 
 could be found, except a sarco])}iagus, very well exe- 
 cuted, which I saw near a fountain, to which it serves 
 as a basin. Most of the houses are built with ba- 
 salt. The district of El Eotthin contains many 
 thousand caverns made in the rocks, l)y the ancient 
 inhabitants of the country. Most of the houses, 
 ev<Mi in these villages, which are yet inhabited, areli 
 kind of grotto, composed of walls placed against the 
 projecting points of the rocks, in such a manner that 
 the W!'.liS of the inner chamber, in which the iuliab'- 
 itauts live, are partly of bare rock, and partly of 
 mason-work. Besides these retreats, there are, in 
 this neighborhood, a number of very large caverns, the 
 construction of which must have cost isifinite labor, 
 since they are formed in the hard rock. Tliere is 
 only one door of entrance, which is so regularly 
 fitted into the rock, that it shuts like the door of a 
 house. It appears, then, that this coimtry was for- 
 merly inhabited by Troglodytes, without reckoning 
 the villages whose inhab.itants may be regarded as 
 such. There are still to bi^ ibimd many families liv- 
 hig in caverns, sufficiently spacious to contain them 
 and all their cattle. These immense caverns are 
 moreover to be found, in considerable numbers, in 
 the district of Al-Jednr, some leagues to the south- 
 ward of M'kess, where also we met with seveial 
 
 fatnilics of the Troglodytes Besides my guide, 
 
 I had taken with me au armed jjeasant, and alter a 
 troublesome walk we arrived at night at a vast natu- 
 ral cavern, inhabited by a IMohammedan family. 
 After going through a wide and pretty l(U)g passage, 
 Ave j)crceived at *lie other end a part of the family 
 assembled rotmd a fire, and employed in j-reparing 
 supper, which consisted princi|)ally of a kind of 
 bouilli, mixed with wild herbs, and giuel made of 
 wheat. I was wet through by the rain, and had
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [ 23/ 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 walked all day barefooted. This fire was, therefore, 
 insufficient to warm me, although the persons and 
 cattle which came in at sun-set filled nearly all the 
 cavern. I should probably have passed a bad night, 
 if the old father of the family had not kindly thought 
 of conducthig us, after supper, to another cavern at 
 a small distance. After having passed a door of or- 
 dinaiy size, we found there all the flock of goats be- 
 longing to this Troglodyte, and at the end a large 
 empty space, where they had lighted for us the im- 
 mense trunk of a tree, whose cheerful blaze invited 
 us to sleep around it. The fire w as kept in all night, 
 and the chief of this hospitable family brought us 
 also a good mess of rice. The first appearance of 
 these fierce inhabitants of the rocks had given me 
 some uneasiness, but I afterwards found that they 
 were, not more barbarous than other peasants of 
 these districts. The old father of the family appeared, 
 on the contrary, to be a sensible and humane man. 
 .... Several artificial gi-ottoes have been worked in 
 the rocks around Kairak, where wheat is preserved 
 for ten years." 
 
 The immense caverns mentioned in Scripture, in 
 which a number of armed men were hidden, with 
 cattle, (Sec. need no longer excite surprise. We 
 learn also that the wonderful caves of the dead, the 
 last of houses appointed for all living, were close re- 
 semblances to these dwellings : so that the house, or 
 the chambers, of death, is correct, as a literal descrip- 
 tion of these dreary mansions. Many transactions 
 might pass in caverns, in that country, which would 
 appear common and ordinary there, though we 
 think them wonderfully strange. Compai-e the resi- 
 dence of Lot in one of these caves, in this very 
 neighborhood. Gen. xix. 30. 
 
 After Seetzen, the next traveller who has \'isited 
 these districts is Burckhardt, who extended his 
 course much farther south than Seetzen, and, in- 
 deed, traced very nearly the whole of the route 
 taken by Moses and the Israelites, anciently, when 
 traversing these countries, in their advance to Ca- 
 naan. We shall give his relation in his own words, 
 in a letter (dated Cairo, September 12, 1812) ad- 
 dressed to the secretaiy of the African institution : 
 "Myfii-st station from Damascus was SafTad, (Ja- 
 phet,) a few hours distant from Djessr Beni Yakoub, 
 a bridge over the Jordan to the south of the lake 
 Samachonitis. From thence I descended to the 
 shore of the lake of Tabai-ya, (Tiberias,) visited Ta- 
 barya, and its neighboring districts, ascended mount 
 Tabor, and tarried a few days at Narazeth. I met 
 here a couple of petty merchants from Szalt, a castle 
 in the mountains of Balka, which I had not been 
 able to see during my late tour, and which lies on 
 the road I had pointed out to myself for passing into 
 the Egj ptian deserts. I joined their caravan ; after 
 eight hours' march, we descended into the valley of 
 th.- Jordan, called El Ghor, near Bysan ; (Scythopo- 
 lis ;) crossed the river, and continued along its ver- 
 dant banks for about ten hours, until we reached the 
 river Zerka, (Jabbok,) near the place where it emp- 
 ties itself into the Jordan. Turning then to our 
 left, we ascended the eastern chain, formerly part of 
 the district of Balka, and arrived at Szalt, two long 
 days' journey from Nazareth. The inhabitants of 
 Szalt arc entirely indejjendent of the Turkish gov- 
 ernment ; they cultivate the ground for a considera- 
 ble distance round their habitations, and part of them 
 live the whole year round in tents, to watch their 
 harvest and to pasture their cattle. Many luined 
 places and mountains m the district of Balka pre- 
 
 serve the names of the Old Testament, and eluci- 
 date the topography of the i)rovinces that fell to the 
 share of the tribes of Gad and Reuben. Szalt is at 
 present the only inhabited place in the Balka, but 
 numerous Arab tribes pasture there their camels and 
 sheep. I visited from thence the ruins of Aman, or 
 Philadelphia, five hours and a half distant from 
 Szalt. They are situated in a valley on both sides 
 of a rivulet, which empties itself into the Zerka. A 
 large amphitheatre is the most remarkable of these 
 ruins, which are much decayed, and in everj- respect 
 inferior to those of Djerash. At four or five hours 
 south-cast of Aman, are the ruins of Om En-esas 
 and El Kotif, which I could not see, but which, ac- 
 cording to report, are more considerable than those of 
 Philadelphia. The want of communication between 
 Szalt and the southern countries delayed my depart 
 ure for upwards of a week ; i found at last a guide, 
 and we reached Kerek in two days and a half, after 
 having passed the deep beds of the toiTcnts El Wale 
 and El IModjeb, which I suppose to be the Nahaliel 
 and Anion. The Modjeb divides the district of Balka 
 from that of Kerek, as it formerly divided the Mo- 
 abites from the Amorites. The ruins of Eleale, He- 
 sebon, Meon, Medaba, Dibou, Arver, [for these 
 names see Numb. ch. xxi. xxxii.] all situated on the 
 north side of the Arnon, still subsist, to illustrate the 
 history of the Beni Israel. To the south of tl^.e wild 
 torrent jModjeb I found the considerable ruins of 
 Rabbat Moab, and, three hours distant from them, 
 the town of Kerek, situated at about tv*elve hours' 
 distance to the east of the southern extremity of the 
 Dead sea. Kerek is an important position, and its 
 chief is a leading character in the affairs of the des- 
 erts of southern Syria ; he commands about 12G0 
 match-locks, which are the terror of the neighboring 
 Arab tribes. About 200 families of Greek Christians, 
 of whom one third have entiiely embraced the nom- 
 ad life, live here, distinguished only from their 
 Arab brethren by the sign of the cross. The treach- 
 ery of the Shikh of Kerek, to whom I had been par- 
 ticularly recommended by a grandee of Damascus, 
 obliged me to stay at Kerek about twenty days. 
 After having annoyed me in different ways, he per- 
 mitted me to accompany him southvrard, as he had 
 himself business in the mountains of Djebal, a dis- 
 trict which is divided from that of Kerek I)y the deep 
 bed of the torrent El Ansa, or El Kahaiy, eight hours 
 distant from Kerek. We remained for ten days in 
 the villages to the north and south of El Ansa, which 
 are inhabited by Arabs, who have become cultiva- 
 tors, and who sell the produce of their fields to the 
 Bedouins. The Shikh, having finished his business, 
 left me at Beszeyra, a village about sixteen hours 
 south of Kerek, to shift for mjself, after having ma- 
 liciously recommended me to the care of a Bedouin, 
 with whose character he must have been acquainted, 
 and who nearly stripped me of the remainder of my 
 money. I encountered here many difticulties, was 
 obliged to walk from one encampment to another, 
 until I found at last a Bedouin, wlio engaged to carry 
 me to ]'>gypt. In liis company I continued south- 
 ward, in the mountains of Sliera, \\hich are divided 
 from the north of Djebal by the broad valley called 
 Ghoseyr, at about five hours' distance from Beszeyra. 
 The chief place in Djebal is Tatyle, and in Shera 
 the castle of Shobak. This chain of mountains is 
 a continuation of the eastern Syrian chain, which 
 begins Avith the And-Libanus, joins t!)e Djebel el 
 Slnkh, forms the valley of Ghor, and borders the 
 Dead sea. The valley" of Ghor is continued to the
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [238 ] 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 south of the Dead sea; at about sixteen hours' dis- 
 tance from the extremity of the Dead sea, its name 
 is changed into that of Araba, and it runs in ahiiost 
 a straight Une, dechning somewhat to the west, as 
 far as Akaba, at the extremity of the eastern branch 
 of the Red sea. The existence of this valley ap- 
 pears to have been unknown to ancient as^ well as 
 modern geogi-aphers, although it is a very remarka- 
 ble feature in the geography of Syria, and Arabia 
 Petrtea, and is still more interesting lor its produc- 
 tions. In this valley the manna is still found ; it 
 drops from the sprigs of several trees, but principally 
 from the Gliarrab ; it is collected by the Arabs, who 
 make rakes of it, and who eat it with butter ; they 
 call it Assal Beyrouk, or the honey of Beyrouk. In- 
 digo, gum arable, tlie silk tree called Asheyr, whose 
 fruit encloses a white silky substance, of wliich the 
 Arabs twist tlieir matches, grow in this valley. It is 
 inhabited near the Dead sea in sununer time by a 
 few Bedouin pe;isants only, but during the winter 
 months it becomes the meeting place of upwards of 
 a dozen powerful Arab tribes. It is probable that 
 the trade between Jerusalem and the Red sea was 
 carried on through this valley. The caravan, loaded 
 at Eziongeber with the treasures of Ophir, might, 
 atl:er a march of six or seven days, deposit its loads 
 in the warehouses of Solomon. This valley de- 
 serves to be thoroughly known ; its examination will 
 lead to many interesting discoveries, and would be 
 one of the most important objects of a Palestine 
 traveller. At the distance of a two long days' jour- 
 ney north-east li-om Akaba, is a rivulet and valley 
 in the Djebel Shera, on the east side of the Araba, 
 called Wady 3Iousa. This place is very interesting 
 for its antiquities and the remains of an ancient city, 
 which I conjecture to be Petra, the capital of Arabia 
 Petrcea, a place which, as far as I know, no Europe- 
 an traveller has ever visited. In the red sand-stone 
 of which the valley is composed are upwards of two 
 hundred and tifty sepulchres, entirely cut out of the 
 rock, the greater part of them with Grecian orna- 
 ments. There is a mausoleum in the sliape of a 
 temple, of colossal dimensions, likewise cut out of 
 the rock, Avith all its apartments, its vestibule, peri- 
 style, &CC. It is a most beautiful specimen of Gre- 
 cian architecture, and in perfect preservation. There 
 are other mausolea with obelisks, apparently in the 
 Egyptian style, a whole amphitheatre cut out of the 
 rock, with the remains of a palace and of several 
 temidts. U|)ou the summit of the mountain which 
 closes the narrow valley on its western side, is the 
 tomb of Ilaroun, (Aaron, brother of 3Ioses.) It is 
 held in great veneration by the Arabs. (If I recol- 
 lect right, there is a passage in Eusebius, in which 
 he says that the tomb of Aaron was situated near 
 Petra.) The information of Pliny and Strabo on 
 the site of Petra, agree with the position of Wady 
 Mousa. (See Sela.) I regi-etted most sensibly that 
 I was not in circumstances that admitted of my 
 observing these antiquities in all their details, but it 
 was necessary foi- my saf(-ty not to inspire the Arabs 
 with suspicions that might probably have impeded 
 the progress of my journey, for I was an unprotect- 
 ed stranger, known to be a townsman, and thus au 
 object of constant curiosity to the Bedouins, who 
 watched all my steps in order to know why I had 
 preferred that road to Egypt, to the shorter one along 
 the Mediterranean coast. It was the intention of 
 my guide to conduct me to Akaija, where we might 
 hope to meet with some caravan for Egy|)t. On our 
 way to Akaba, we were, however, informed that a few 
 
 Ai-abs were preparing to ci'oss the desert direct to 
 Cauo, and I preferred that route, because I had 
 reason to apprehend some disagreeable adventures 
 at Akaba, where the pacha of Egypt keeps a garri- 
 son to watch the Waliabi. His ollicers I knew to 
 be extremely jealous of Ai-abian as well as Syrian 
 strangers, and I had nothing with me by which I 
 might have proved the nature of my business in these 
 remote districts, nor even my Frank origin. We 
 therefore joined the caravan of Arabs Allowein, who 
 were carrying a few camels to the Cairo market. 
 We crossed the valley of Araba, ascended, on the 
 other side of it, the barren mountains of Beyane, and 
 entered the desert called El Ty, which is the most 
 barren and horrid tract of country I had ever seen ; 
 black flints cover the chalky or sandy gi-ound, which 
 in most places is without any vegetation. The tree 
 which produces the gum arable grows in some spots ; 
 and the tamarisk is met with here and there : but the 
 scarcity of water forbids much extent of vegetation, 
 and the hungry camels are obliged to go in the even- 
 ing for whole hours out of the road in order to find 
 some withered shrubs upon which to feed. During 
 ten days' forced marches, we passed only four springs 
 or wells, of which one only, at about eight hours 
 east of Suez, was of sweet water. The others were 
 brackish and sulphureous. We passed at a short 
 distance to the north of Suez, and arrived at Cairo 
 by the pilgrim road." 
 
 The account transmitted by Burckhardt has been 
 subsequently verified by ]Mr. Legh, a gentleman well 
 known by his travels in Egypt. His narration forms 
 an interesting portion of Dr. Macmichael's Journey 
 to Constantinople, in 1818. The perplexities of the 
 learned in their endeavors to ascertain the site of 
 Petra, a city once so fanjous and so powerful, are now 
 removed ; and we have discovered demonstrations 
 of a seat of government, a considerable population, 
 and a respectable state of the arts, in the midst of a 
 vast accunmlation of rocks, and (apparently) an'un- 
 productive desert. The existence of a rivulet, or 
 stream of water, at this place, cannot escape the 
 reader's notice ; and he has been partly prepared for 
 residences, and even extensive dwellings, among 
 rocks, cut out of them, or annexed to them, by the 
 description Seetzen has given of the modern Trog- 
 lodytes by w horn he was received. The importance 
 of thest! discoveries is indisputable ; and the whole, 
 as already known, justifies the inference of a state 
 of things, of national poAver, and of intercourse, in 
 ancient times, (and, probably, in the most remote an- 
 tiquity with which we are acquainted,) entirely dif- 
 ferent from any conception we could previously form. 
 It is pleasant to see the accounts of ancient writers 
 justified ; and still more to see the allusions and his- 
 torical facts of Scripture supported l)y existing evi- 
 dences, to which no possible imputation of inaccu- 
 racy can be attached. It will be observed, that 
 mount Sinai was seen from mount Ilor; also its dis- 
 tance, three days' journey ; undoubtedly, therefore, 
 mount Hor was visible fi-om Sinai ; and Burck- 
 hardt places Wady Mousa (Petra) at two long days' 
 journey north-east from Akaba ; and north of it 
 he places the valley of Ghor. The reader may 
 now compare the ]Mosaic history with this naiTative 
 to great advantage. 
 
 Passing on by Roman ruins, and occasionally Ro- 
 man roads, Mr. Legh arrived at Shubac the 20th of 
 May. "On the 2.3d, the sheikh of Shubac, Mahomet 
 Ebn-Raschid, arrived, and with him also came the 
 sheikh Abou-Zeitun, (Father of the Ohvc-tree,) tlie
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [ 239 ] 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 governor of Wadi Mousa. The latter proved after- 
 wards our most formidable enemy, and we were in- 
 debted to the courage and unyielding spirit of the 
 former for tiie accomplishment of our journey, and 
 the sigiit of the wonders of Petra. When we related 
 to tlie two sheikhs, who had just entered the camp, 
 our eager desire to be permitted to proceed, Ahou- 
 Zeitun swore, 'by the beard of the i)ro|)het, and by 
 tlie Creator,' that the CafFrees, or infidels, should not 
 come into his country." Mahomet Ebn-Raschid as 
 warmlv supported tliem, and "Now, there arose a 
 groat dispute between the two sheikhs, in the tent, 
 which assumed a serious aspect: the sheikh of Wadi 
 JMousa, at length starting up, vowed that if we should 
 «lare to pass through his lands, we should be shot 
 like so many dogs. Our friend 31ahomet mounted, 
 and desired us to follow his example, which, when 
 he saw we had done, he gi-asped his spear and fierce- 
 ly exclaimed, ' I have set them on their horses : let 
 me see who dare stop Ebn-Raschid.' We rode 
 along a valley, the people of Wadi Mousa, with their 
 sheikh at tlieir head, continuing on the high ground 
 to the left in a parallel direction, watching our move- 
 ments. In half an hour we halted at a spring, and 
 were joined by about twenty horsemen provided 
 with lances, and thirty men on foot, with matchlock 
 guns, and a few double-mounted dromedaries, whose 
 riders were well armed. On the arrival of this rein- 
 forcement, the chief, Ebn-Raschid, took an oath in 
 the presence of his Arabs, swearing, ' by the honor of 
 tlieir women, and by the beard of the prophet, that 
 we,' pointing to our party, ' should drink of the wa- 
 ters of AVadi Mousa, and go wherever we pleased in 
 their accursed country.' " Soon after they left the 
 ravine, the rugged peak of mount Hor was seen 
 towering over the dark mountains on their right, 
 with Petra under it, and Djebeltour, or mount Sinai, 
 distant three daj's' journey, like a cone in the hori- 
 zon. They reached Ebn-Raschid's camp of about 
 seven tents, (usually 25 feet long and 14 feet wide,) 
 in three circles, and next morning attempted, but in 
 vain, to obtain the consent of the hostile sheikh to 
 pass through his territory. They did not, ho^vever, 
 come to blows, and at length they passed the much 
 contested sti-eam on which stood the mud village of 
 Wadi Mousa ; Ebn-Raschid, with an air of triumph, 
 insisting on watering the horses at that rivulet. 
 " While we lialted for that purpose, we examined a 
 sepulchre excavated on the right of the road. It was 
 of considerable dimensions: and at the entrance of 
 the open court that led to the inner chamber were 
 represented two animals resembling lions or sphinxes, 
 but much disfigured, of colossal size. As this was 
 the first object of curiosity that presented itself, we 
 began to measure its dimensions ; but our guides 
 grew impatient, and said, that if we intended to be so 
 accurate in our survey of all the extraordinary places 
 we should see, we should not finish in ten thousand 
 \ears." 
 
 They therefore remounted, and rode on through 
 niches sculptured in the rocks, frequent representa- 
 tions of rude stones, mysterious symbols of an indef- 
 inite figure detached in relief, water courses or earth- 
 en pipes, arches, aqueducts, and all the signs of a 
 wonderful ])eriod in the ancient annals of this mem- 
 orable scene. "We continued (says the narrative) to 
 explore the gloomy winding passage for the distance 
 of about two miles, gradually descending, when the 
 beautifiil facade of a temple burst on our view. A 
 statue of Victory with wings, filled the centre of an 
 aperture like an attic window ; and groups of colos- 
 
 sal figures, representing a centaur and a young man, 
 were placed on each side of a portico of loftv propor- 
 tion, comprising two stones, and deficient in nothing 
 but a single column. The temple was entirely exca- 
 vated from the solid rock, and preserved from the rav- 
 ages of time and the weather by the massive projections 
 of the natural clifl's above, in a state of excjuisite and 
 inconceivable perfection. But the interior chambers 
 were comparatively small, and appeared unworthy 
 of so magnificent a portico. On the siuiiujit of the 
 front was ])laced a vase, hewn also out cf the solid 
 rock, conceived by the Arabs to be filled with the 
 most valuable treasure, and showing, in the numerous 
 shot-marks on its exterior, so many proofs of their 
 avidity ; for it is so situated as to be inaccessible to 
 other attacks. This was the hasna, or treasure of 
 Pharaoh, as it is called by the natives, which Ebn- 
 Raschid swore we should behold." A colossal vase 
 belonging, probably, to another temple, was seen by 
 captains Irby and 3Iangles, at some distance to the 
 westward, and many excavated chambers were found 
 in front of this temple of Victory. About three hun- 
 dred yards farther on was an amphitheatre. " Thir- 
 ty-three steps (gradini) were to be counted, but, un- 
 fortunately, the j)roscenium, not having been excavat- 
 ed like the other parts, but built, was in ruins." 
 Th-j remains of a palace, and immense numbers of 
 bricks, tiles, &.c. presented theinselves on a large 
 open space, while " the rocks which enclosed it on 
 all sides, with the exception of the north-east, were 
 hollowed out into innumerable chambers of difl^erent 
 dimensions, whose entrances were variously, richly, 
 and often fantastically, decorated with every imagi- 
 nable order of architecture." Petra was, in the time 
 of Augustus, the residence of a king who governed 
 the Nabathsei, or inhabitants of Arabia Petrsea, who 
 were conquered by Trajan, and annexed to Pales- 
 tine. More recently, it was possessed by Baldwin 
 I. king of Jerusalem, and called by him IMous Re- 
 galis. 
 
 Should any European traveller be so fortunate as 
 to be allowed to accompany the caravan from Gaza 
 to meet the Mecca pilgrims ; or to examine the district 
 of Beersheba, and of Paran, south of the Dead sea, 
 our account of the Holy Land would be more com- 
 plete than it is at present ; and we might possess the 
 means of clearing up man}' points connected with 
 the residence of Israel in the wilderaess, and other 
 Scripture histories, which continue involved in ob- 
 scurity, from want of such information. [The castle 
 of Akaba, the site of the ancient Elath, was after- 
 wards visited by M. Riippel. For his account of 
 this region see the article Elath. R. 
 
 In addition to what has been already said, we may 
 remark, that as storms, in Palestine, come from the 
 3Iediterranean sea, the prophet Elijah was perfectly 
 correct in choosing mount Carmel, on the edge of 
 that sea, for the scene of his contest with the priests 
 of Baal before Ahab, 1 Kings xviii. Also, in his go- 
 ing up the mount, and sending Gehazi to look toward 
 the sea for that rain which he had predicted, (ver. 
 41.) but of which there was then no appearance. It 
 would seem possible, too, that this rain was accom- 
 panied by thunder ; for Elijah hints prophetically at 
 "the sound of abundance of rain :" — this, hoAvever, 
 is not determinate. Volney says that rain is to be 
 expected " in the evening :" it was toward evening 
 when Elijah foretold rainto Ahab; and it was quite 
 evening when the rain fell. 
 
 The same WTiter says, " Thunder is extremely rare 
 in summer in the plain of Palestine :" yet Samuel, by
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [ 240 ] 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 his prayers, obtained it from the Lord in the time of 
 wheat harvest, 1 Sam. xii. 18. 
 
 Perhaps something of the nature of thunder is al- 
 luded to in 2 Sam. v. 24. " When thou hearest the 
 voice of proceeding — advancing — in the heads of the 
 Becaiin." — What are these hecaim ? Certainly not 
 mulberry-trees ; — but probably a kind of balsam-ti-ee 
 or shrub. The word signifies to ooze, to distil in 
 small quantities, to weep. " The valleys of rills," or 
 rivulets, or moisture. 
 
 It rains on the mountains in Syria when it does 
 not rain on the plains. Thus, when Elisha foretold 
 a supply of water to the army of Jehoshaphat, per- 
 ishing by thirst, (2 Kings iii.) though they saw nei- 
 ther wind nor rain, yet both might have occurred at 
 a distance, " by the way of Edom ;" which rain, run- 
 ning from the mountains, was providentially directed 
 to fill the drains and ditches made by the Israelites. 
 Now, as no signs of rain had been observed by the 
 P.Ioabitcs, tlicy concluded, wlicn the sunbeams were 
 reflected by the water, that it was blood ; and their 
 hasty conclusion ruined them. The suddenness of 
 rains among the mountains, with their effects, is wliat 
 perhaps we, at least in some parts of England, can 
 hardly conceive of. We have seen that they fall 
 evening and morning: Mr. Maundrell also tells us, (p. 
 8.) " At Shofatia we were obliged to pass a rive ■ — 
 a river we might call it now, it being swollen so high 
 by the late rains that it was impassable : though at 
 other times itnnght be but a snaall brook, and in sum- 
 mer perfectly dry. These mountain-rivers are ordi- 
 narily very inconsiderable ; but they are apt to swell 
 upon sudden rains, to the destruction of many a pas- 
 senger, who will be so hardy as to venture unadvis- 
 edly over them." 
 
 This may also exhibit, perhaps, the true import of 
 the history of the destruction of Sisera's army : (Judg. 
 iv.) — Barak, by divine assistance, having routed that 
 army, the fugitives endeavored to escape, by passing 
 the torrent Kishon, which they supposed to be forda- 
 ble ; but, in the night, a heavy rain had sn elled it to a 
 great overflow, so that many were drowned in at- 
 tempting to pass it. Sisera, perceiving this, would 
 iiot attempt tlie passage in his chariot, but fled on 
 foot in another direction, which iirought him to Jacl. 
 Thus, it being by night, "the stars in their courses" 
 nfight be said to "fight against S.isera." Bloreover, 
 if the rain fell on the tops of the mountains adjacent, or 
 distant, the glinnner of star-light just visible might 
 deceive Sisera's flying army to attempt passing the 
 su{)poscd brook ; and to this rapidity of the Kishon 
 the poetess adverts, " The river Kishon swept them 
 away" — as such " mountain-brooks are apt to swell on 
 sudden rains, to the destruction of many passengers." 
 There is no reference here to judicial astrology. But 
 see the Bil)lical Rei)ositorj^, vol. i. j). 5G8, seq. 
 
 Mr. Ilarmer much wished for such an account of 
 the various times, seasons, and events of the year, in 
 Palestine or Syria, as might form a calendar, to reg- 
 ulate our notions of the employments and duties of 
 the inhabitants ; of their expectations concerning 
 what seasons they thought likely to occur; and 
 of those numerous occupations which depend on 
 the vicissitudes of suuuner and winter, of seed- 
 time and harvest. The same wishes animated the 
 directors of the Royal Society ofGottingen, and beiu"- 
 persuaded of the advantages to be derived in the 
 study of Scripture li-om such a work, they proposed it 
 as a prize question ; to be selected from travellers of 
 acknowledged authority. The successful competi- 
 tor was J. G. Buhle ; and his work, entitled " Calen- 
 
 darium Palestinae CEnomicum," communicates muchi 
 valuable information. Of this Mr. Taylor has made 
 a translation, and inserted it among the Fragments 
 to the larger edition of this work ; but as it contains 
 nuich that is useless to the general reader, and occu- 
 pies considerable space, we have made the follow- 
 ing abridgment. In the larger work the names of 
 the several productions are given in detail, and all 
 the authorities upon which the statements are found- 
 ed, inserted at full length, with a specification of the 
 particular editions of the works to which reference is 
 made. 
 
 January. 
 
 JFeather. — This may be called the second winter 
 month. On the elevated parts of Palestine, the cold 
 is intense during the early part of the month. There 
 is generally a considerable tall of snow, which is dis- 
 solved in a few hours. In the plain of Jcri<*ho the 
 cold is scarcely felt. The western winds, which 
 generally blow during winter, bring heavy rains, es- 
 pecially during the night : these swell the rivers, 
 lakes, and jiools, which are dried up during the sum- 
 mer. In the morning the merciuy is generally be- 
 tween 40° and 4G°, and does not rise above 3° or 4° 
 in the afternoon. On rainy or cloudy days, it sel- 
 ,dom exceeds 1° or 2° of rise, and frequently remains 
 the same during the whole day. Towards the latter 
 end of the month, when the sky is clear, it is so hot 
 that travellers with difficulty prosecute their journey. 
 The winds blow gently, and chiefly from the north 
 or east. 
 
 Productions. — All kinds of corn are sown this 
 month. Beans blossom, and the trees are again in 
 leaf. The almond-tree blossoms earliest, and even 
 before it is in leaf. If the winter be mild, the winter 
 fig, which is generally gathered the beginning of 
 spring, is still found on the trees, though stripped of 
 their branches. Blistleto, and the cotton-tree, flour- 
 ish. Among the garden herbs and flowers of this 
 month are caulitlowei', hyacinth, violet, gold- 
 streaked daffodil, tulip, wormwood, leutisc-tree, 
 anemonies, ranunculuses, and colchicas, a genus of 
 lilies. 
 
 February. 
 
 Weather. — -The >veather is the same as last month, 
 except that, towards the latter end, at least in the 
 more southern parts, the snows and winter cold are 
 observed to cease. Chiefly remarkable for rains ; 
 these, however, do not continue man}' days together : 
 but the weather varies about the 4th or 6th. Some- 
 times it changes to cold, with snow. The sky is fre- 
 quently covered with clear light clouds : tlie atmos- 
 phere grows warm ; the wind continuing north or east, 
 but, latterly, changing westward. The first 14 days, 
 the mercury usually stands between 42° and 47°. In 
 the afternoon it does not rise above 1, 2, or 3 degrees, 
 but afterwards, except the weather should become 
 cold, it rises gradually to 50°. 
 
 Productions. — The latter crops now appear above 
 ground ; barley is sown until the middle of the 
 month. Beans acquire a husk, and may be gathered 
 all the spring. Cauliflowers and water-parsnips are 
 gathered. The jjeach and apple-trees blossom, and 
 a great variety of herbs captivating the sight by their 
 delightful appearance in the fields. 
 
 March. 
 
 IFeathcr. — This month is the forerunner of spring ;
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [241 ] 
 
 CANAAN 
 
 but rains, with thunder and hail, are not yet over. 
 Tiie weather is generally warm and temperate; 
 sometimes extremely hot, especially in the plain of 
 Jericho. The western winds ollen blow with great 
 force, and the sky is cloudy and obscured. In the 
 middle of the month, the mercury stands at 52° ; 
 towards the end, between 56^ and 58°. In the begin- 
 ning of the month, it does not rise in the afternoon 
 above 5° ; towards the end, 8° or 9° ; in rainy weath- 
 er, there is scarcely any variation during the whole 
 day. Towards the end of the month, the rivers are 
 much swollen by the rain, and by the thawing of the 
 snow on the tops of the mountains. Earthquakes 
 are sometimes felt at this time. 
 
 Productions. — Rice, Indian wheat, and corn of Da- 
 mascus are sown in Lower Egypt. Beans, chick- 
 peas, lentils, kidney-beans, and geivansos are gather- 
 ed. Every tree is in full leaf. The fig, palm, apple, 
 and pear-trees blossom ; the former, frequently, 
 while the winter fig is on the tree. The Jericho 
 plum-tree presents its fruit. The vine, which has a 
 triple pioduce, having yielded its first clusters, is 
 pruned of the barren wood. Thyme, sage, rosemary, 
 artichoke, fennel, &c. flourish. 
 
 April. 
 
 Weather. — The latter rains now fall ; but cease 
 about the end of the month. The sun's heat is ex- 
 cessive in the plain of Jericho, the small streams in 
 which are dried up. But in other parts of Palestine, 
 the spring is now delightful. Heavy dews sometimes 
 fall in the night. The mercury rises gradually, as 
 the month advances, from 60° to 66° ; in the after- 
 noon, it does not rise, when the sky is clear, above 
 8° or 10°. The sky is always without clouds, except 
 those small bright ones that rise in the afternoon. 
 Never is the sky observed to be cloudy or obscured, 
 except when tliere is rain, which is accompanied 
 with thunder much seldomer than in the last month. 
 A hoar-frost is seen, for several days together, the 
 beginning of the month ; especially when the winds 
 blow from the north or east. The air grows very 
 hot, but the mornings and evenings are cooler. The 
 snows on the summits of Libanus, and other moun- 
 tains, begin to thaw. 
 
 Productions. — The harvest depends upon the du- 
 ration of the rainy season. After the rains cease, the 
 corn soon arrives at maturity. Wheat, zea or spelt, 
 and barley ripen. The spring fig is still hard. The 
 almond and the orange-trees produce fruit. The 
 turpentine-tree and the charnubi blossom. A new 
 shoot, bearing fruit, springs from the branch of the 
 vine that was left in the preceding month, which 
 must also be lopped. Sugar-canes are planted at 
 Cyprus. 
 
 Grass being very high, the Arabs lead out their 
 horses to pasture. 
 
 Mat. 
 
 Weather. — The summer season commences : the 
 excessive heat of the sun renders the earth barren. 
 Rain has been observed even in the first part of this 
 month. Egmont found the air of the town of Safet 
 most pure and salubrious, while the heat was insup- 
 portable in the parts adjacent. The sky is generally 
 serene and fair, except that small, bright clouds some- 
 times rise. The winds blow generally from the 
 west. At the beginning of the month, the mercury 
 reaches 70° ; then it rises gradually from 76° to 80°. 
 
 I In the afternoon, it does not rise above 6° or 9°. The 
 
 I 31 
 
 air becomes hotter in proportion as the western winds 
 abate, especially if they are calm for several days to- 
 gether : but even then the violence of the heat is not 
 so great as when the wind blows from the north or 
 east. When the heat is very great, there is frequent- 
 ly observed a dry mist, which obscures the sun. 
 The snows on Libanus thaw rapidly, but the cold is 
 still sharp on its summit. 
 
 Productions. — Harvest continues. Wheat, barley, 
 rice and rye are cut down. The early aj)j)les are 
 gathered. Hasselquist and Pococke state that cotton 
 is so\vn this month ; but Mariti and Korte affirm, 
 that the cotton-tree bears the winter in Syria, and 
 now puts forth a yellow blossom. Mandrakes yield 
 ripe fruit. Sage, rue, garden purslain, the yellow 
 cucumber and the white now flourish. They con- 
 tinue, after harvest, to sow various garden herbs : 
 many of the vegetables come to maturity twice in 
 the same year, in spring and in autumn. The giass 
 and herbs reach their greatest height at this tune. 
 
 June. 
 
 Weather. — During this month the sky is generally 
 clear, and the weather extremely hot. As the month 
 advances, the mercury gradually rises in the morn- 
 ing, from 76° to 80° ; in the afternoon, it stands be- 
 tween 84° fuid 92°. The winds, generally blowing 
 from the west, refresh the air in the afternoon : and, 
 by blowing sometimes during the night, they assuage 
 the heats, which are now excessive. The inhabit- 
 ants pass their nights in sunmier upon the roofs of 
 their houses, wliich are not rendered damj) by any 
 dew. The snow, however, is still frozen on Libanus, 
 in some parts of which it is so cold, as to compel 
 travellers to ])ut on their winter garments. 
 
 Productions. — Rice, early figs and ap])les, plums, 
 cherries and mulberries ripen. The cedar gum dis- 
 tils spontaneously, and the bacciferous cedar yields 
 berries. The palm-tree produces opobalsamum, or 
 balm of Gilead, during this and the two following 
 months. The melon is gathered, and rosemary 
 flourishes. 
 
 The Arabs, as the summer advances, lead their 
 flocks to the hills and mountains situated more to 
 the north. 
 
 July. 
 
 Weather. — Heat more intense. There is no rain, 
 Libanus is free from snow, except where the sun 
 cannot penetrate. The snows on die tojis of the 
 mountains thawing gradually during the summer, 
 Libanus yields a perpetual sujiply of water to the 
 brooks and fountains in the countries below. The 
 mercury usually stands in the beginning of the 
 month at 80° ; towards the end, 85° or 86°. It does 
 not rise in the afternoon above 8° or 10°. The winds 
 generally blow from the west ; but, when they fail, 
 the heat is excessive. 
 
 Productions. — Dates, apples, pears, nectarines, 
 peaches, grapes, and the gourd called citrul ripen. 
 Cauliflower and water-parsnip are sown. There is 
 no longer a sufficient supply of pasturage for the 
 cattle. 
 
 August. 
 
 Weather.— The sky is serene and fair, and the heat 
 extreme. The weather is entirely the same during 
 the first twenty days, as in the preceding months : 
 afterwards white clouds, commonly called niliaca, 
 larger than those which are generally observed in
 
 CANAAN 
 
 [ 242 ] 
 
 CAN 
 
 Bummer, rise, for the most part, till the end of the 
 month. Mr. Burckhardt, who was at Shobak, a vil- 
 lage a few miles north of mount Seir, in Arabia Pe- 
 trea, on the 20th of this month, states, that in the af- 
 ternoon there was a shower of rain, with so violent 
 a gust of wind, that all the tents were thrown .down 
 at the same moment. The mercury, until those days 
 when the clouds rise, continues the same as in the 
 last month ; afterwards, it falls 4° or 5°. Dew falls, 
 but not in any great quantities. Snow has been seen 
 on the summits of Libanus during this month, but it 
 was wet and slipper}\ 
 
 Productions. — Figs, olives, and pomegranates are 
 ripe. The winter fig, or the third jjroduce, 
 which does not ripen before winter, appears this 
 month. The shrub al-kenna, or al-henna, (see Cam- 
 PHiRE,) brought out of Egypt, puts forth leaves, and 
 its fragrant blossoms. The first clusters of the vine, 
 which blossomed in March, come to maturity, and 
 are ready for gathering. 
 
 September. 
 
 Weather. — During this month the days are very 
 hot, and the nights extremely cold. The rainy sea- 
 son commences towards the end of the month. The 
 mercury remains the same in the beginning of this 
 month as it was at the latter end of the preceding 
 one ; except that it rises higher in the afternoon. In 
 rainy weather it falls 3° or 4°, till it gets down to 65° ; 
 but the variation of one day does not exceed 3° or 
 4° ; and when it rains, 1° or 2°. Lightnings are very 
 frequent in the night-time ; and if seen in the western 
 hemisphere, they portend rain, often accompanied 
 with thunder. The winds blow chiefly from the west. 
 
 Productions. — Towards the end of tlie month 
 ploughing begins. Ripe dates, pomegranates, pears, 
 plums, citrons, and oranges are now obtained. The 
 sebastus, also, yields fruit, and the charnubi ripe 
 pods. Cotton is now gathered ; and also the second 
 clusters of grapes, which blossomed in April. 
 
 October. 
 
 Weather. — The rainy season now commences; the 
 extreme heat is abated, (although still great in the 
 day-time,) the air being much refreshed by cold in 
 the night, by which the dew is frozen. The rains 
 which now fall, called the early or former rains, are 
 sometimes accoiniianied with thimder. The winds 
 are seldom very strong, but variable. The mercuiy 
 in the morning stands, for the most part, before the 
 rainy days, at 72°. It does not rise, in the afternoon, 
 above 5° or 6°. After the rains, it descends gradu- 
 ally to 60°. The variation of one day, seldom, on 
 rainy days never, exceeds .3° or 4°. 
 
 Productions. — About the middle of this month 
 wheat and barley ai-e sown, as also during the two 
 following months. White-blossoming chick-pea, len- 
 tils, purjile flowering garden spurge, small smooth- 
 podded vetches, sesannum, green-rinded melons, an- 
 guria, (gourds,) cucumbers, fennel, garden fenugreek, 
 and bastard safl"ron are likewise sown. The ))ista- 
 chio, a tree peculiar to I'alestine, Syria, and Egyi)t, 
 yields its fruit. The chaniubi still presents its ])ods ; 
 and the olive and pomegranate trees jn-oduce ripe 
 fruit. The Jericho rose blossoms ; the third clusters 
 of grapes, which in IVTay had produced another 
 small branch loaded with the latter grapes, are gath- 
 ered ; as an! also cotton, lettuces, endives, cresses, 
 wild chervil, spinage, beet, garden artichoke, and 
 wild artichoke. 
 
 November. 
 
 Weather. — The rains, if not already fallen, certain- 
 ly fall this month. The heat, although not so great in 
 the day-time, is still violent ; but the nights are very 
 cold. The rivers and lakes are, at this period, for the 
 most part, dried up. The winds are chiefly from 
 the north ; but seldom blow with force. The mer- 
 cury, as the month advances, gradually falls from 
 60° to 50°. The variation of one day is not more 
 than from 2° to 5°. 
 
 Productions. — This is the time for the general sow- 
 ing of corn. The trees retain their leaves till the mid- 
 dle of the month. Dates are gathered. The napleia, 
 or cenoplia, yields its delicious fruit ; in shape, re- 
 sembling the crab-apples, and containing a nut as 
 large as olives. At Aleppo, the vintage lasts to the 
 15th of the month. 
 
 December. 
 
 Weather. — This is the first winter month : the cold 
 is piercing, and sometimes fatal to those not inured 
 to the climate ; but rain is more common than snow, 
 which, when it falls, seldom remains all the day on 
 the ground, even in the midst of winter. The winds 
 blow from the east or the north, but are seldom vio- 
 lent. When the east winds blow, the weather is dry, 
 though they sometimes bring mist and hoar-frost, and 
 are accompanied with storms. When the sun shines, 
 and there is a calm, the atmosphei-e is hot. The 
 mercury usually stands at 46°: it frequently gets up 
 3° in the afternoon, if there be no rain. 
 
 Productions. — Pulse and corn are sown. Sugar- 
 canes ripen, and are cut down at Cyprus. 
 
 The grass and herbs springing up after the rains, 
 the Arabs drive their flocks fi-om the mountains into 
 the plains. 
 
 For a description of each of these natural produc- 
 tions the reader is referred to their respective ar- 
 ticles. 
 
 With regard to the various birds, animals, reptiles, 
 &c. indigenous to the land of Canaan, or such as are 
 mentioned in the sacred writings, there is necessari- 
 ly some difficulty, in consequence of our not possess- 
 ing a description of them under their original names. 
 Some of them are satisfactorily identified, but others 
 remain in a state of great uncertainty. For a de- 
 scription of them the reader is referred to the respect- 
 ive articles, and for an account of the biblical ar 
 rangement, to the outlines of natural history, at the 
 end of the volume. 
 
 CANAANITES, the descendants of Canaan. 
 Their first habitation was in the land of Canaan, 
 where they multijilied extremely, and by trade and 
 war acquired great riches, and settled colonies over 
 almost all the islands and coasts of the Mediterrane- 
 an. When the measure of their idolatries and abom- 
 inations was conijileted, God delivered their coimtry 
 into the hands of the Israelites, who conquered it un- 
 der Joshua. He destroyed great numbers of them, 
 and obliged the rest to fly, some into Africa, others 
 into Greece. Proco])ius says, they first retreated into 
 Egypt; but gradually advanced into Africa, where 
 they built many cities, and spread themselves over 
 those vast regions, which reach to the Straits, pre- 
 serving their old language, with little alteration. He 
 adds, that in the ancient city of Tingis, (Tangiei-s,) 
 founded by them, wen; two great pillars of white 
 stone, near a large fountain, inscribed in Phoenician 
 characters, " We are people preserved by flight from
 
 CANAANITES 
 
 [ 243 
 
 CANAANITES 
 
 that robber Jesus, [Joshua,] the son of Nave, who 
 pursued us." In Athauasius's time, the Africans 
 continued to say, they were descended from tlie Ca- 
 /laanites ; and when asked their origin, they answer- 
 ed Canani. It is generally agreed, that the Punic 
 tongue was nearly the same as the Canaanitish and 
 Hebrew ; and this seems to be confirmed by several 
 ancient inscriptions found at IMalta, which are in 
 Phoenician characters, but may be read by means of 
 the Hebrew. The colonies which Cadmus carried 
 to Thebes, in Boeotia, and his brother Cilex into Cili- 
 cia, were from the stock of Canaan. Sicily, Sar- 
 dinia, 3Ialta, Cyprus, Corfu, Majorca and Minorca, 
 Gadcs, and Ebusus are thought to have been peopled 
 by Cauaanites. Bochart, in his Canaan, has set this 
 niatter in a clear light. 
 
 This name was given to the Canaanites, not only 
 by the Hebrews, but they themselves adopted it ; as 
 appears from inscriptions on Phoenician coins, in 
 Phoenician letters, (first read by Dr. Swinton, of Ox- 
 ford,) on one of which (in Gent. Mag. Dec. 1760) we 
 have, " Laodicea, mother in Canaan ;" where we 
 also remark, that this city claims the dignity of (am) 
 metropolis, or mother, like certain otiiers which we 
 read of in Scripture. This removes an error of Bo- 
 chart, who imagined that the Canaanites were asham- 
 ed of the name of their ancestor, by reason of his un- 
 filial conduct, Gen. ix. 22, 25. We read in the life of 
 Abraham, (Gen. xii. 6 ; xiii. 7.) that the Canaanites 
 were then in the laud. It appears, also, that Esau 
 took to wife two Canaanitish women, (Gen. xxxvi. 2.) 
 which implies that the parents and relations of these 
 women were Canaanites, as Anah and Zibeou, (ver. 
 24, 25.) though of Hittite or Hivite families. 
 
 [The Canaanites, who partly expelled the original 
 inhabitants of Palestine, and partly incorporated 
 themselves with them, were descended from Canaan, 
 according to the genealogical table in Gen. x. 6, 15, seq. 
 Hence they must, like the Hebrews, though earlier, 
 have advanced from the eastern parts of Asia towards 
 the western ; and that they really were kindred to the 
 Semitish tribes, and had been with them, is shown by 
 their common language, the Hebrew and the Phoeni- 
 cian languages being only dialects of one great stock. 
 Canaan had eleven sons, viz. Sidou, Heth, Jebusi, 
 Amori, Girgashi, Hivi, Arki, Sini, Arvadi, Zemari, and 
 Hamathi ; and these all became tlie heads of as many 
 tribes, which, according to Gen. x. 19, occupied the 
 whole country from Sidon to Gaza. Five of these 
 tribes settled in Syria and Phoenicia, viz. the Zidoni- 
 ans, Arkites, Arvadites, Hamathites, and Sinites. The 
 other six, viz. the Hittites, or children of Heth, Jebu- 
 sites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Zemarites, 
 fixed themselves in Canaan proper, and were divided 
 up into many small districts or domains, of which 
 thirty-one are enumerated in Josh. xii. 9 — 24. But 
 in the various passages of the Old Testament where 
 these tribes are spoken of, there is no uniformity in 
 regard to the number of them. Sometimes they are 
 all included under the general name of Canaanites ; 
 (Ex. xiii. 11 ; Deut. xi. 30.) sometimes two are named, 
 the Canaanites and Perizzites, (Gen. xiii. 7.) of which 
 names the first is a general patronymic, and the oth- 
 er signifies inhabitants of plains ; sometimes three, the 
 Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites ; (Ex. xxiii. 28.) then 
 again^re ,• (Ex. xiii. 5; 2 Chron. viii. 7.) six ; (Ex. iii. 8, 
 17.) seven, Deut. vii. 1 ; Acts xiii. 19. Finally, in Gen. 
 XV. 19, seq. ten tribes are named, the Kenites, Keni- 
 zites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaims, 
 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites, — 
 among which, however, several, as the Rephaims, 
 
 Kenites, and Kenizites, belong to the original inhabit- 
 ants of the land, who still dwelt among the Canaan- 
 ites, when Abraham niigi-ated into that country. It 
 IS probable that this ditibrence in the number speci- 
 fied IS entirely casual, without any definite design. 
 
 1. The Hivites dwelt in the northern part of 
 the country, at the foot of mount Hermon, or Anti- 
 lebanon, according to Josh. xi. 3, where it is related 
 that they, along with the united forces of northern 
 Canaan, were defeated by Joshua. They were not 
 however, entirely driven out of their possessions; for 
 according to Judg. iii. 3, they still dwelt upon' the 
 mountains of Lebanon, from Baal-Hermon to Ha- 
 math. In David's time they still existed, 2 Sam. 
 xxiv. 7 ; 1 Kings ix. 20. Of the tribes or race of the 
 Hivites were also the Shechemites and Gibeonites, 
 xxxiv. 2 ; Josh. xi. 19. 
 
 2. The Canaanites, in a stricter sense, in so 
 far as they constituted one of the various tribes which 
 were included under this general name, inhabited 
 partly the plains on the west side of the Jordan, and 
 partly the plains on the coast of the Mediterranean 
 sea. Hence they are divided into the Canaanites by 
 the sea and by the coast of Jordan, (Num. xiii. 29.) 
 and into those of the east and of the west. Josh. xi. 3. 
 
 3. The Girgashites dwelt between the Canaan- 
 ites and the Jebusites ; as may be inferred from the 
 order in which they are mentioned in Josh. xxiv. 11. 
 
 4. The Jebusites had possession of the hill coun- 
 try around Jerusalem, and of that city itself, of which 
 the ancient name was Jebus, Josh. xv. 8. 63 ; xviii. 28. 
 The Benjamites, to whom this region was allotted, 
 did not drive out the Jebusites, Judg. i. 21. David 
 first captured the citadel of Jebus, 2 Sam. v, 6, seq. 
 Still the Jebusites continued to dwell there in quiet ; 
 as appears from the transaction of David with Arau- 
 nah, a Jebusite chief, 2 Sam. xxiv. 23, seq. 
 
 5. The Amorites inhabited, in Abraham's time, 
 the region of Hazazon-tainar, afterwards En-gedi, 
 south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Dead 
 sea, Gen. xiv. 7. At a later period, they spread 
 themselves out over the mountainous country which 
 forms the southern part of Canaan, between the 
 Dead sea and the Mediterranean, and which was 
 called from them the " mountain of the Amorites," 
 and afterwards the " mountain of Judah," Deut. 
 i. 19, 20 ; Num. xiii. 29 ; Josh. xi. 3. They ex- 
 tended themselves also towards the north ; for Ja- 
 cob speaks (Gen. xlviii. 22.) of the "piece of gi-ound 
 which he took from the Amorites," and which, 
 according to Gen. xxxiii. 18, lay near Shechem. 
 Sometimes the name Amorites is used in a wider 
 sense for Canaanites in general ; as Gen. xv. 16. 
 From Josh. v. 1, it appears, that the name Amorites 
 was applied especially to those Canaanitish tribes 
 which dwelt in the mountainous region of the south, 
 as above described. This is confirmed by Josh. x. 
 5, 6, where it is said that the kings of Jerusalem, 
 Hebron, &c. were kings of the ^.'imorites, although 
 Jerusalem, as we know, belonged to the Jebusites. 
 How widely the Amorites had extended themselves 
 in the land of Canaan, appears also from Judg. i. 34, 
 seq. where they are said to have compelled the Dan- 
 ites to remain in the mountains, and also to have es- 
 tablished themselves at Aijalon and Shaalbim, places 
 within the territory of Ephraim, and consequently in 
 the middle of the land ; while, according to verse 19, 
 their southern border was the hill Akrabbim. On the 
 east side of the Jordan, also, they had, before the time 
 of Moses, founded two kingdoms, that of Basban on 
 the north, and the other, bounded at first by the Jab-
 
 CANAANITES 
 
 [ 244 ] 
 
 CAN 
 
 bok, on the south. But under Sihon they crossed the 
 Jabbok, and took from the Amorites and Moabites 
 all the country between the Jabbok and the Arnon ; 
 so that this latter stream, now became the southern 
 boundary of the Amorites, Num. xxi. 13, 14, 2G ; xxxii. 
 33, 39 ; Deut. iv. 46, 47 ; xxxi. 4. This last tract the Is- 
 raelites took possession of after their victoiy over 
 Sihon, and defended themselves in it by the right of 
 conquest against the claims of the Ammonites, Judg. 
 xi. 8, seq. 
 
 6. The HiTTiTES, or children of Heth, ac- 
 cording to the report of the spies, (Num. xiii. 29.) 
 dwelt among the Amorites, on the mountainous dis- 
 trict of the south, afterwards called the "mountain 
 of Judah." In the time of Abraliam they possess- 
 ed Hebron ; and the patriarch purchased from them 
 the cave of Machpelali as a sepulchre. Gen. xxiii ; 
 XXV. 9, 10. We may also infer that they dwelt at or 
 near Beersheba ; for it was while Isaac was residing 
 there, that Esau married two wives of the Hittites, 
 Gen. xxvi. 23, 34. After the Israelites entered Ca- 
 naan, the Hittites seem to have moved farther north- 
 ward. The country around Bethel (Luz) is called 
 the land of the Hittites, Judg. i. 26. But even at a far 
 later period thej- continued to maintain themselves in 
 the land ; for Uriah the Hittite was one of David's 
 officers, (2 Sam. xi. 3.) and Solomon was the first to 
 render them tributary, 1 Kings ix. 20. He also had Hit- 
 tite females in his harem, 1 Kings xi. 1. Under his 
 reign, too, tlicre is still mention of kings of the Hit- 
 tites, 1 Kings ix. 29 ; 2 Kings vii. 6. So late also as the 
 return of the Jews from the Babylonish exile, the Hit- 
 tites are mentioned as one of the heathen tribes from 
 which the children of Israel unlawfully took wives, 
 Ezra ix. 1. 
 
 7. The Perizzites were found in various parts 
 of Canaan. The name signifies inhabitants of the 
 plains. According to Gen. xiii. 7, they dwelt with 
 the Canaanites, between Bethel and Ai ; and accord- 
 ing to Gen. xxxiv. 30, in the vicinity of Shechem. 
 It would seem also from Josh. xvii. 15, that they 
 were sf)read out towards the north into the territo- 
 ries of Ephraimand Manasseh ; since Joshua recom- 
 mends to these tribes, to hew down the forests in the 
 district of the Perizzites and Rcphaims, and establish 
 themselves there. There dwelt Perizzites in the 
 southern part of Judah also ; as appears from Judg. 
 i. 4, s q. 
 
 The Canaanites, like their neighbors the Phceni- 
 oians, with whom, indeed, they constituted one race 
 or people, appear very early to have attained to a not 
 unimportant degree of cultivation. Moses informs 
 the Hebrews, (Deut. vi. 10, 11.) that they will find 
 "great and goodly cities, and houses full of all good 
 things, wells, vineyards, and olive-trees." Like the 
 Syrians and Phoenicians, the Canaanites also consti- 
 tuted no single and independent state ; like the for- 
 mer, these, too, were divided up into many small dis- 
 tricts and communities, under kings or chiefs. The 
 form of govenunent seonis, in the earliest times, to 
 have been aristocratic, under a chief with very limit- 
 ed powers. This is plain from Gen. xxxiv. where 
 Hamor, the chief of the Hivitcs, could not contract 
 an alliance with Jacob and his family, before he had 
 laid the matter l)efore the eld* is anil the people, and 
 obtained their consent. So also in the case of Abra- 
 ham and Ephron, Gen. xxiii. As being peculiar in 
 his relations, appears jMelchiscdck, king of Salem 
 and at the same time priest of tiie ftlost Hi'di to 
 whom Abraliam gave a tenth of thf spoil, Gen. xiv. 
 18, seq. That tliere were frequent wars anion" this 
 
 multitude of smaller kings and states, (of which thirty- 
 one are enumerated, Josh. xii. 9, seq.) is not only prob- 
 able in itself, but also evident from Judg. i. 7, where 
 Adoni-bezek is said to have cut off the thumbs an4 
 great toes of seventy kings vanquished by him, and 
 then caused them to gather the crumbs under his 
 table. Several of the Canaanitish kings appear to 
 have had a sort of superior dominion over others 
 around them ; as Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, 
 (Josh. X. 1 — 4,) and also Jabin, king of Hazor, Josh, 
 xi. 1 — 5. — See, on this whole subject, Rcsenmiiller's 
 Bibl. Geograph. vol. ii. part i. p. 251, seq. *R, 
 
 CANDACE, an Ethiopian queen, Avhose eunuch, 
 having been at Jerusalem to worship, was met, and, 
 being converted, was baptized by Philip the Deacon, 
 near Bethsura, as he was returning to his own coim- 
 try. Acts viii. 26. (See Philip.) It is thought that 
 Candace, or Chendaqui, was the general name of the 
 queens of Ethiopia, in the age of Christ. (Plinv vi. 
 29. Ludolf. Comment, ad Hist. ^Ethiop. 89. Light- 
 foot. Hor. Heb. 85.) 
 
 CANDLESTICK of gold, made by Moses for the 
 service of the temple, (Exod. xxv. 31, 32.) consisted 
 wholly of pure gold, and had seven branches ; that 
 is, three on each side, and one in the centre. These 
 branches were at equal distances, and each one was 
 adorned with flowers, like lilies, gold knobs after the 
 form of an apple, and smaller ones resembling an al- 
 mond. U])on the extremities of the branches were 
 seven golden lamps, which Avere fed with pure olive 
 oil, and lighted every evening by the priests on duty, 
 and extinguished every morning. The candlestick 
 was placed in the holy place, and served to illumine 
 the altar of incense and the table of shew-bread, 
 which stood in the same chamber. The golden can- 
 dlestick has been, sometimes, erroneously represent- 
 ed as seven golden candlesticks, placed individually 
 in the sanctuary ; and the passage in Rev. i. 12, 13, 
 has been thought to countenance this idea of separate 
 candlesticks ; but the repiesentation there given is of 
 an entirely different nature, and has no reference to 
 the golden candlestick of the temple ; like the de- 
 scription in Zechariah mentioned below. 
 
 The word ?.r/r'iu constantly answers in the LXX to 
 the golden lamji-sconces of the tabernacle and tem- 
 ple, i. e. of the golden candlestick. 
 
 The following is from rabbis Kimchi and Levi 
 Gerson. The concluding thought of Kimchi is cer- 
 tainly ingenious : These lamps were called the candle 
 of the Lord, in 1 Sam. iii. 3, where it is said, " before 
 the candle of the Lord went out, the I^n-d called to 
 Samuel," upon which words, David Kimchi gives 
 this gloss : "If this bespoken concerning tlie lamps 
 in the candlestick, this was somewhat before day ; for 
 the lamps burnt from even till moining, yet did they 
 sometimes some of them go out in the night. They 
 put oil into them by such a measure as should keep 
 them burning from even till morning, and many 
 times they did burn till morning; and they always 
 found the western \i\m\) burning. Now it is said, 
 that this prophecy came to Sanmol, 'before the lamp 
 went out,' while it was yet night, about the time of 
 cock-crowing ; for it is said, afterward, that Samuel 
 lay till morning: or, allegorically, it speaks of the 
 candle of prophecy; as they say the sun ariseth, and 
 the sun sets : before the holy blessed God cause the 
 sun of one righteous man to set, he causeth the sun 
 of anotlier righteous man to rise. Before Moses' 
 sun set, Jophua's sun arose ; before Eli's sun set, 
 Samuel's sun arose ; and this is that which is said, 
 before the candle of the Lord icent out.''''
 
 CANDLESTICK 
 
 [ 245 ] 
 
 CANDLESTICK 
 
 In Zechariah, chap. iv. there is an account of the 
 splendid and significant emblem presented in vision 
 to the prophet, which will abundantly reward an at- 
 tentive examination. The principal object that met 
 the eyes of Zechariah, was a candelabrum, a candle- 
 stick or lampbearer, entirely of gold, pure, solid, cost- 
 ly, precious, consisting of a tall, upright shaft, sur- 
 mounted by a bowl, and of a number of branches, 
 each of which supported a lamp, springing out of it, 
 as boughs from the trunk of a tree, but only on two 
 sides. The image is evidently taken from the can- 
 dlesticks in the tabernacle and temple, but differed 
 widely from them. The difference is very closely 
 examined by Dr. Stonard, in his commentary on the 
 prophet : and very remarkable it is. In the firet 
 place, there was a bowl or basin on the top of the 
 shafl, intended to contain oil for the nourishment of 
 the lights of the lamps ; " and its seven lamps upon 
 it, seven and seveu." From the bowl proceeded 
 pipes conveying oil to the lamps; and beside the can- 
 dlestick stood two olive-trees, one on each side of it, 
 whose branches shed their produce into spouts or 
 gutters, from Avhicli the bowl was sujjplied. This is 
 thus explained by Dr. Stonard, who has followed it 
 at great length, with a minuteness, and often a felici- 
 tj' of expression, that shoAV the taste and admiration 
 with which he contemplates the magnificent picture. 
 Light, in general, is the emblem of excellence, dis- 
 cerned, acknowledged, and admired by the world. 
 A material lamp is an instrument formed to yield an 
 artificial light, which, being sustained by oil, is really 
 nothing but oil kindled into a flame. When a lamp 
 is taken for the emblem of spiritual and intellectual 
 excellence, truth must be its oil, the pabulum of its 
 light, which, in reality, is nothing else thau truth dis- 
 played showing itself to the world. Accordingl}% the 
 oil, which is food of the symbolical lainp set before 
 us in the pait of the vision, is truth ; divine, moral, 
 religious, or saving truth. When the truth is receiv- 
 ed by any man, he has then the mystic oil in himself; 
 and when that oil is kindled into a flame, not only is 
 he internally enlightened, but he conducts himself 
 accordingly, and becomes truly good and holy. It is 
 the property of light to diffuse itself upon all objects 
 within its reach. He that hath in himself that spirit- 
 ual light, who acts and lives according to the truth, 
 makes it shine before men ; he gives light to the 
 world. 
 
 A material candlestick is an instrument construct- 
 ed to bear a lamp, or many lamps, for the purpose of 
 giving light. A symbolical or spiritual candlestick, 
 with many branches and lamps, represents a body or 
 assemblage of persons enlightened and shining, as be- 
 fore mentioned, collected into a regular society, for 
 the purpose of dissipating the sjjiritual dulness of a 
 world lying in sin, and enveloped in ignorance. Such 
 a society is the church, which alone containing in it- 
 self the principles of saving truth, of holiness, of 
 solid comfort, and everlasting happiness, is the in- 
 strument constructed and appointed by God, to hold 
 forth the light, which may guide the steps of men 
 into the way of peace. Every true member of it is 
 luminous, at once enlightened and enlightening; so 
 speaking and so living, as to show forth to othere the 
 light that is in himself. And not only is the symbol 
 of a candlestick well adapted to represent the church 
 of God, but the chuixh is actually rej)resented by it, 
 as we have seen, in other parts of Scripture. Since, 
 then, a candlestick, in general, is the scriptural sym- 
 bol of a church, a candlestick with seven branches 
 and lamps must be the symbol of the univei-sal 
 
 church, (see Seven,) spread abroad through all its 
 numerous congiegations, having and giving light ; at 
 the same time that, being fixed upon branches pro- 
 ceeding from one shaft, they plainly imply that all 
 those congregations are united in one body of the 
 universal chu"rch. 
 
 The church of Israel was represented by this fig- 
 ure of a candlestick, in the tabernacle and temple ; 
 and since the Gentile church was, on every account, 
 entitled to be represented by a like symbol as the 
 Jewish, the two great divisions of the church woukl 
 be properly represented by two candlesticks of seven 
 branches each. But since these churches have been 
 made one, what symbol could be so apt and so 
 consistent with Scripture doctrines and imagerj', as 
 that of a candlestick bearing fourteen lamps on as 
 many branches, issuing in two septenaries from its 
 opposite sides ? Such, exactly, was the candlestick 
 exhibited to Zechariah. 
 
 The candlestick must have had some base or foot, 
 which would represent the foundation on which the 
 church stands. This is no other than Jesus Christ, 
 and the base, therefore, must have been the stone 
 with seven eyes, mentioned in this and the foregoing 
 vision of the prophet. The shaft of a candlestick 
 springs up imniediately from the base, and is, in re- 
 ality, nothing more than the elongation or elevation 
 of it. In the one, Christ is represented as the foun- 
 dation of the church ; in the other, he appeai-s as the 
 principle of spiritual vitality to all its congregations 
 and members. 
 
 The branches of the candlestick growing out of the 
 shaft intimate the closest union and absolute depend- 
 ence of all of them upon him; in exact correspond- 
 ence with that other figure, under which our Lord 
 is pleased to represent himself, as the trunk of the 
 spiritual vine, and his disciples as the branches. 
 
 On the right and left sides of the cmndlestick were 
 two olive-trees, which attracted the particular atten- 
 tion of the prophet ; and he inquired, " What are 
 those two olive-trees ?" and again, " What are the 
 two branches of the olive-trees, which, through two 
 oil gutters, drain off the oil from them ?" The an- 
 swer of the interpreting angel seems to imply an al- 
 most culpable ignorance in the prophet. " Knowest 
 thou not what these be? These are the sons of oil, 
 which stand before the Lord of the whole earth." 
 An olive-tree is used as an emblem of the Jewish 
 church. (See Olive.) But the church compounded 
 of Jewish and Gentile believers is already set before 
 us in the significant emblem of the golden candle- 
 stick. We must, therefore, find for the two ohve- 
 trees a different interpretation, which shall join the 
 subjects represented by them in the most intimate 
 relation to the church. Dr. Blayney presumes them 
 to be "no other than the two dispensations of the 
 law and the gospel, under which were communicat- 
 ed the precious oracles of divine truth, which illu- 
 minate the soul, and make men wise to salvation." 
 The dispensations of God in the Scriptures of the 
 Old and New Testaments, are the sole fountains of 
 the spiritual oil, the only sources whence divine or 
 moral, religious or saving, truth is derived to men in 
 perfect ])urity. The olive-trees give out their oil by 
 two peculiar and conspicuous branches, and of coui-se 
 are intended to represent some eminent and especial 
 instruments for the jiropagation of the true religion. 
 These are the ministers of the law and the gospel, 
 considered as two distinct bodies of men, following, 
 in analog}- to the candlestick, the grand division of the 
 universal church into its tM'o primitive and principal
 
 CANDLESTICK 
 
 [ 246 ] 
 
 CAN 
 
 branches, the Jewish and the Gentile. The two 
 branches shed forth the juice of the trees to the sup- 
 port of the Hghts on the candlesticks ; so do the min- 
 isters of rehgion convey to their congregations the 
 sacred truths contained in the dispensations of the 
 law and the gospel. "These," said the angel, "are 
 the two sons of oil, which stand before the Lord of 
 the whole earth." These two sons of oil possess 
 abundantly, and are capable of supplying adequately 
 to the wants of the church, those divine and moral 
 truths which enlighten men's minds with the knowl- 
 edge, and touch their hearts with the love, of God, 
 and of the things which are conducive to salvation. 
 They are said to stand before the Lord of the whole 
 earth — the whole territory of Christendom — as min- 
 isters of his presence, strengthened by his might ; as 
 stewards of his mysteries, to act the part of the wise 
 householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasures 
 things new and old. The flow of juice from these 
 symbolical trees is not limited to any particular sea- 
 sons, but is perennial and perpetual. This is quite 
 suitable to the nature of the subjects represented by 
 them, which continually send forth their sacred 
 streams of truth without intermission or failure, in all 
 places, at all seasons and periods, through the hands 
 and instruments appointed to convey the same. 
 Again, the two branches send out the oil through 
 two oil gutters or spouts. These must represent the 
 channels, as it were, through which the ministers of 
 the divine dispensations convey the blessings of reli- 
 gious, saving truth ; those institutions which afford to 
 the ministry the most convenient and edifying means 
 of making known the truth. 
 
 The bowl, which is the reservoir of all the oil 
 poured forth from the two olive-trees, must necessa- 
 rily signify something which is the recipient of the 
 whole body of truth, made known by the two dis- 
 pensations. Now, such a recipient is nowhere to be 
 found, but in the body of the church universal. The 
 bowl, indeed, cannot typify the church, as it is known 
 to the world in the outward and visible persons and 
 actions of its members ; but as it is discernible in 
 contemplation only to the eye of the understanding. 
 It represents the church at unity, having all its ])arts 
 nourished by the same food, pervaded by the same 
 circulating blood, animated by the same living sjiirit, 
 according to the image repeatedly cmjjloyed by Paul 
 to represent the unity of the church. The pipes, 
 which are the media between the lamps and the bowl, 
 answer the same pur])ose to the dishes and cups of 
 the former, as the oil gutters do to the latter. They 
 consequently represent the same things Avith respect 
 to the several congregations, as the others do with 
 respect to the whole body of the catholic church ; 
 that is, the ministry of the two dispensations convey- 
 ing the doctrines of truth and salvation to their re- 
 spective flocks. 
 
 But it may be asked, since the lamps are supposed 
 to be aligiit,and they could not light themselves. Who 
 is it that kindled their fljunes ? The work, being not 
 represented by any symbol, is plainly intended to be 
 conceived, as Dr. Stonard remarks, as that of an in- 
 visible hand of one who operates by natural secret 
 influence. This answers precisely to the eflT^ct of 
 the Holy Spirit upon Christians. In vain will the 
 truth be heard with their eai-s and received by their 
 understandings by tiie two dispensations, if the Holy 
 Ghost, by his iufiuenres, did not give eff'ect to the 
 word, and to the lal)or of those who publish it. All 
 that is well pleasing in the sight of God and tndy 
 useful to man, all proceed from the operation of the 
 
 Holy Spirit, bringing the principle of truth into ac- 
 tion, kindUng the sacred oil into a bright and steady 
 flame. 
 
 CANE, or Calamus, sweet, an aromatic reed, 
 mentioned among the drugs of which the sacred per- 
 finnes were comyjounded, Exod. xxx. 23. Acorus 
 calamus of Linnieus. It is a knotty root, of a red- 
 dish color, and containing a soft, white pith. The 
 true odoriferous cane comes from India; and the 
 prophets sj)eak of it as a foreign commodity, of great 
 value, Isa. xliii. 24. Theophrastus and Phny mention 
 a sweet cane, which grows in Syria, beyond Libanus, 
 in a lake ; probably the lake Semechon ; but this 
 being too near Judea, to enhance its value as a for- 
 eign commodity, it has been more reasonably suppos- 
 ed that it came from Saba, where it grew, as is report- 
 ed by Strabo and Diodorus Siculus. Pliny also speaks 
 of it as being a native of Arabia ; and it is enumerat- 
 ed among the fragrant productions of that country 
 by Dionysius. Hjisselquist says it is common in the 
 deserts of the two Arabias. It is gathered near lam- 
 bo, a ])ort town of Arabia Petrsea, from whence it is 
 brought into Egypt. The Venetians pui-chase it, and 
 use it in the composition of their theriaca. This plant 
 was probably among the number of those which the 
 queen of Sheba presented to Solomon ; it is still very 
 much esteemed by the Arabs, on account of its fra- 
 grance. They call it helsi meccavi, and idhir mecchi. 
 This, in all probability, is the sweet cane of Jeremi- 
 ah, (vi. 20.) where it is called prime, or excellent, and 
 is associated with incense from Sheba ; the same in 
 Exod. xxx. 23, where our translation renders " sweet 
 calamus;" see also Isaiah xliii. 24, where the best is 
 supposed to come from India, which agi-ees with the 
 " far country" of the prophet. 
 
 CANKER-WORM. Our translators have render- 
 ed the Hebrew pS"', ijilek, "canker-worm," in Joel i. 
 4; ii. 25 ; Nahum iii. 15. and "caterpillar," in Ps. 
 cv. 34 ; Jer. li. 27. Being frequently mentioned with 
 the locust, it is thought by some to be a species of 
 that insect. In Nahum it is said to have wings, and 
 to fly ; to encamp in the hedges by day, and commit 
 its depredations in the night. The LXX interpret 
 it, the hruchus, or hedge-chafer. 
 
 In the Philosophical Transactions, (vol xix.) Dr. 
 Molyneaux has described a prodigious flight of in- 
 sects, which appeared on the south-west coast of the 
 county of Galway, in the year 1668, and from his ac- 
 count of their depredations they appear greatly to 
 have resembled the Hebrew yclck. It belonged to 
 the tribe called by naturalists coleoptcros, or vigini- 
 pennis, the scaraheus, or beetle kind, which has strong 
 thick cases to defend and cover its tender and thin 
 wings, which lie out of sight and next to the body. 
 It is thought to be the same species of beetle which 
 is called by Aristotle melolanthc, from its devouring 
 the blossoms of apple-treos; and is the scaraheus ar- 
 boreus of Monfet and Charleton, called by us dori'S or 
 hedge-chafers. We give the close of Dr. Molyneaux's 
 interesting paper : — 
 
 "Thisperniciousinsect, I am fully convinced, from 
 good reasons, is that self-same (so often mentioned in 
 Holy Scripture, and commonly joined in company 
 with the locust, as being both great destroyers of the 
 fruits of the earth) to which the Septuagint and the 
 Vulgar Latin translation, retaining the Greek word, 
 give the name of bruchos, or bruchus, derived from 
 briicho, frendo, vel stn'deo, intimating the remarkable 
 noise it makes both in its eating and flying; from 
 whence, likewise, it has got its French name, hanne- 
 ton, by corruption from aliton, quasi, alls tonans,
 
 CAN 
 
 [ 247 
 
 CAN 
 
 thundering tvin^s. I meet with this sort of fly 
 spoken of in the Bible, (Lev. xi. 22 ; Joel i. 4 ; ii. 25 ; 
 Nahum iii. 16, 17.) but I find our English version al- 
 most constantly translates this word, [bruchos,] though 
 improperly, as I think, canker-tvonn, since this de- 
 notes only a reptile or creeping vermin, whereas that 
 word imports certainly a flying insect. For the bru- 
 chos in chap. iii. 16, 17. of the prophet Nahum is ex- 
 pressly said to fly, and have wings, and its nature 
 and properties are most truly and particularly de- 
 scribed in these words : ' It spoileth and fleeth away ; 
 they camp in the hedges in the day, and when the 
 sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not 
 known where they are ;' that is, they then retire again 
 to the hedges and trees, where they lie quiet and con- 
 cealed till the sun sets again. If this passage be com- 
 pared with what I have said above of our Irish bru- 
 chos, we must allow Nahum played the natural phi- 
 losopher here, in this short but accurate description, 
 as well as the divine prophet in denouncing God's 
 judgments. In one of the forementioned texts, I 
 find, indeed, the word bruchos more rightly translat- 
 ed locust or beetle in our English Bibles ; and this 
 place, on another account, seems so apposite and 
 agreeable to something I said before, that I cannot 
 avoid taking particular notice of it, and giving my 
 thoughts more fully concerning the rationale of that 
 odd clause in the Jewish law, where Moses tells the 
 Israelites, (Lev. xi. 21, 22.) 'These may ye eat, of 
 every flying creeping thing that goeth on all four, 
 which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon 
 the earth ; even these of them ye may eat ; the lo- 
 cust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, 
 and the grasshopper after his kind.' Now I must 
 confess, notwithstanding all that the learned com- 
 mentators have said on this passage, it hitherto has 
 seemed to me (and I believe to most readers) very 
 strange and imaccountable, that here, among the 
 pure, wholesome creatures, proper for human nour- 
 ishment, beetles, and those other nasty, dry, unprom- 
 ising vermin, should be thought fit to be reckoned up 
 as clean and proper for the food of man. But since 
 I have had some little experience of what has hap- 
 pened among ourselves, I cannot but admire the j)rov- 
 idence of God, and the sagacious prudence of his 
 lawgiver, Moses, who, foreseeing the great dearth and 
 scarcity that these vermin might one day bring upon 
 his people, had a particular regard to it, and there- 
 fore gives them here a permissive precept, or a sort 
 of hint what they should do when the corn, grass, olive 
 trees, fruit trees, vines, and other provisions were 
 destroyed by the locust and bruchos, or beetle, swarm- 
 ing in the land ; why, then, for want of other nour- 
 ishment, and rather than starve, he tells them they 
 might eat, and live upon, the filthy destroyers them- 
 selves, and yet be clean. And thus we see the na- 
 tive Irish [they dressed, and lived upon them during 
 the time of scarcity occasioned by the depredations 
 of the insect] were (though unknown to themselves) 
 authors of a practical commentary on this part of the 
 Levitical law, and by matter of fact have explained 
 Avhat was the sense and meaning of this otherwise 
 so dark and abstruse text." 
 
 CANNEH, (Ezek. xxvii. 23.) probably Calneh, 
 (Gen. X. 10.) which see. 
 
 CANON, a Greek term which signifies the rule. It 
 is used in ecclesiastical language, to signify a rule 
 concerning faith, discipline or manners : also to dis- 
 tinguish those books of Scrii)tnre which are received 
 as inspired, and indisputable, from profane, apocry- 
 phal, or disputed books. (See Bible.) The He- 
 
 brews admit twenty-two books into their canon, or, at 
 most, twenty-four, supposing Ruth to be separated 
 from the Judges, and the Lamentations from Jere- 
 miah. They believe, generally, that the canon of 
 Scripture was not closed, nor the number of inspired 
 books fixed, till Ezra, with the consent of the gener- 
 al council of the nation, collected all those which 
 were acknowledged as sacred and inspired, compos- 
 ed one body of them, and regulated what we call the 
 sacred canon of Scripture ; since which time, Jose- 
 phus states, that the Jews have not admitted any 
 book as canonical. Dr. Prideaux, however, with 
 great appearance of reason, says it is more likely that 
 the two books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 
 Esther, as well as Malachi, were afterwards added, 
 in the time of Simon the Just, and that it was not 
 till then that the Jewish canon of the Holy Scriptures 
 was fully completed. See Connect, part i. book 5. — 
 For the number and arrangement of the books of the 
 Hebrew canon, see the article Bible. 
 
 Genebrard and Serranus are of opinion, that, after 
 Ezra, the Jews of the great sj^nagogue admitted into 
 their canon books which were composed after this 
 time, such as Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, Judith, 
 and Maccabees ; nevertheless, they did not obtain 
 authority equal to that of the old ones. But this is 
 not without difficulty ; for, first, the books of Tobit 
 and Judith might be written before the captivity ; 
 secondly, if the Jews thought them inspired, why did 
 they not receive them into the canon as of equal au- 
 thority with the rest ? 
 
 It may be, perhaps, suspected that the Jews, who 
 retained the Hebrew tongue, might exclude these 
 books from the canon, because they were not writ- 
 ten [extant] in Hebrew, the sacred language : but 
 they received Daniel and Ezra, wherein are large 
 passages written in Chaldee : now Ecclesiasticus, 
 Tobit, Judith, and at least the first book of 3Iacca- 
 bees, were originally written in this language ; j'et 
 they do not appear to have been received into the 
 canon. 
 
 If particular churches have sometimes deliberated 
 whether they should admit certain writings among 
 the sacred books ; if some doctors and councils have 
 not included them in their catalogues of the Scrip- 
 tures ; and if others have rejected them ; such con- 
 duct is proof of the gi'eat circumspection which was 
 used in receiving into its canon only what really was 
 deemed to be authentic and inspired. This very 
 hesitation should convince us, that if at last those 
 books were received, that determination was foimd- 
 ed on good reasons. Time was necessarj' to exam- 
 ine, to be well assured, and to fix the doubts of par- 
 ticular churches. 
 
 CANTHARA, (Simon,) succeeded Theophilus, 
 son of Jonathan, in the high-priesthood ; and enjoy- 
 ed this dignity about two years, at two several times. 
 After the death of Agrippa, Herod, king of Chalcis, 
 deprived him of his office, to confer it on Joseph, son 
 of Camith. (Jos. Ant. xix. 5. xx, 1.) 
 
 CANTICLES, or Songs, were frequently compos- 
 ed by the Hebrews on important occasions. Moses 
 composed one of rejoicing after the passage of the 
 Red sea, in honor of that miracle, Exod. xv. David 
 composed a mournful song on the death of Saul and 
 Jonathan ; (2 Sam. i. 17.) and another on the death 
 of Abner, iii. 33. Jeremiah wrote his Lamentations, 
 a song, or series of elegies, in which he deplore;: the 
 ruin of Jerusalem ; he wrote also others on tlie death 
 of Josiah, king of Judah, 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. Deb- 
 orah and Barak made a triumphant song after the
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [248] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 defeat of Sisera, (Judg. v.) and Judith after the de- 
 feat of Holofernes, Judith xvi. Hannah, the mother 
 of Samuel, and king Hezekiah, returned thanks to 
 God in solemn hynms, and spiritual songs, 1 Sam. ii. 
 Isa. xxxviii. 9. The Canticles, composed by the Vir- 
 gin Mary, by Zachariah, and by old Simeon, are of 
 the same nature. In 1 Kings iv. 32, we read that 
 Solomon composed 1005 songs or verses ; but we 
 have only remaining his Song of Songs. 
 
 Canticles, the Book of, {the Song of Songs,) is 
 thought by many to have been composed by Solo- 
 mon, and it is believed on occasion of his marriage 
 with the king of Egypt's daughter. According to 
 most commentators, it is a continued allegory, in 
 which a divine and spiritual nuu'riage between the 
 Redeemer and his church is expressed. 
 
 Seven nights and seven dajs are distinctly marked 
 in this song, (because weddings among the Hebrews 
 were celebrated seven days,) and it relates poetically 
 the transactions of each day. The Hebrews, appre- 
 hending it might be understood grossly, forbade the 
 reading of it by any person before the age of thirty. 
 
 The church generally, as well as the synagogue, 
 received this book as canonical. To the objection, 
 that neither Christ nor his apostles have cited it, and 
 that the name of God is not found in it, it is answer- 
 ed, that there are several other sacred books which 
 our Saviour has not quoted ; and that in an allegory, 
 in which the Sou of God is concealed under the 
 figure of a husband, it is not necessaiy that he should 
 be expressed by his proper name ; it would then, in 
 fact, cease to be an allegory. 
 
 [There is, perhaps, no book in the whole Bible 
 which has given rise to such- a variety of interpreta- 
 tion as the Canticles. All these different modes, 
 however, may be arranged under three classes: — (1.) 
 One class of interpreters regard the book as founded 
 on the relation of Jehovah to the Jewish people, and 
 they find in every figure a reference to some particu- 
 lar event in Jewish history. According to these, the 
 whole i)ook is an allegorical, figurative history of the 
 divine government in respect to the nation of Israel. 
 This mode of interpretation we find among the Jews 
 as early as there are any traces of the book itself. 
 Indeed, Jesus the son of Sirach seems to have fol- 
 lowed it, 200 years before Christ, when he praises 
 Solomon for having composed dark parables, Ec- 
 cles. xlvii. 13 — 17. These are not to be referred 
 to the Proverbs of Solomon ; for the Proverbs are 
 separately mentioned. — (2.) According to a second 
 mode of interj)retation, which has been current in 
 the Christian chiu'ch in all ages, Christ is the princi- 
 pal subject of the Canticles. This mode assumes 
 two forms ; in both, Cln-ist is assumed as the Lover or 
 Bridegroom ; but the Beloved, or the Bride, is in one 
 the whole Christian church, and in the other, each 
 individual Christian soul. Many have sought to com- 
 bine these two modifications. — (3.) A third class of 
 interpreters suppose the book to contain throughout 
 a description of eaithly love. This view has sprung 
 up and gained admittance chiefly since the middle of 
 the eighteenth century. From tiiat time onward it 
 obtained vory general currency, and was supported 
 in a great variety of modifications. One sought to 
 defend the honor of the book, by maintaining it to 
 be a description of a hap[)y wedded life, or a defence 
 of monogamy ; another afiirmed, it v/as worthy 
 of admission into the canon, although it might only 
 describe a chaste, un wjdded love. One invented this 
 history, — another that, — in order by this means to be 
 able to explain the poem ; and where all this iell 
 
 short, they had recourse to dreams. One declared 
 the whole to be a collection of unconnected poetical 
 fragments ; another undertook to point out a plan 
 running through the whole. The reproach, there- 
 fore, of arbitrary interpretation, which the followers 
 of the literal and physical interpretation have so often 
 brought against those of the other classes, because of 
 their want of unanimity, falls, with equal weight, upon 
 themselves ; for there are no two of them who ac- 
 cord with one another in their views. Both of the 
 two first classes of interpreters liannonize with each 
 other in this respect, that they regard the Canticles 
 as the description of a spiritual relation by means of 
 figures drawn from sensible objects. 
 
 In order to show the possibility of such a spiritual 
 interpretation of the book in question, we may re- 
 mark, that it is neitlier unworthy of God, nor at all 
 at variance, with the usual manner of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, to expi-ess a spiritual relation through such 
 sensible figures. God himself, when he addresses 
 mankind through his prophets and through his Son, 
 enqjloys such figures and expressions as are drawn 
 from human relations. He calls himself a Father and 
 a Shepherd ; he describes his love towards them, in 
 order to express its strength, under the metaphor of 
 wedded love ; he speaks of longings and pinings, of 
 sorrowonaccount of unfaithfulness, and of jealousy. 
 Thus, in numerous passages of the Old Testament, 
 the relation of Jehovah to the Jewish people is ex- 
 hibited in figurative language, borrowed from the 
 relation of a lover to his beloved, i. e. of a bridegroom 
 to his bride, of a husband to his wife, etc. In the 
 departure from Egypt, Israel was a bride ; when the 
 nation at Sinai entered into a solemn covenant with 
 Jehovah, it was married to him ; every subsequent 
 falling away to idolatry is represented as adultery 
 and fornication ; and every return to God, as the tak- 
 ing back of one divorced. See Isa. liv. 5; Ixii. 5: 
 Jer. iii. 1 : Ezek. xvi. xxiii : John iii. 29 : Rom. vii: 
 Eph. V : 1 Cor. xi. 
 
 In respect to the propriety of such an interpreta- 
 tion of this book as shall give a s])iritual character of 
 this kind to the representations contained in it, there 
 are several considerations which go to show that 
 such an allegorical interpretation is here the only 
 correct one. The first reason is drawn from external 
 circumstances, and is of some importance. Among 
 a people who hold so much to the authority of tra- 
 dition as do the Jews, we arc not at liberty wholly to 
 neglect such tradition ; although we cannot receive 
 it as of any decisive authority. Now, all the Jewish 
 teachers, so far as we have any knowledge of their 
 writings, are uniformly of one accord in giving to the 
 Canticles an allegorical interjjretation. In doing this, 
 they every where appeal to tradition ; of which the 
 principal witness is the Chaldee translator. We can- 
 not here pursue the testimony any further ; but there 
 can be no question, that those who made the collec- 
 tion of the writings of the Old Testament, followed, 
 in respect to this book, the allegorical inethod of in- 
 terpretjxtion. Even a hasty glance at these writings 
 shows that it could not have been the object of those 
 who collected them, to include all the remains of the 
 Hebrew national literature. They iiad constantly in 
 view the Hebrew theocracy, and admitted into their 
 collection only that which had reference to the rela- 
 tion in which God stood towards the Hebrev/ nation, 
 — that which, either as history, prediction, the out 
 gushings of devotion, or as doctrinal instruction, was 
 adapted to quicken the theocratic feeling and pro- 
 mote a godly life. In receiving, therefore, the book
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 249 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 of Canticles into the canon, they must liave had the 
 firm conviction, that its strains described not a com- 
 mon eaithly love, but the love of Jehovah towards 
 his people. What the moderns have here to say in 
 conmiendation of human aftectiou, and that a poem 
 which treats of this was worthy of admission among 
 the sacred writings, is nothing to the purpose ; for 
 the only question here is, On what principles was 
 the book actually received into tlie canon ? And this 
 question is purely historical, and must be answered 
 from the evidence afforded by the character of the 
 writings of the Old Testament. But if it be once 
 shown, that those who fonned this collection of these 
 writings, understood the book of Canticles allcgori- 
 calty, it would surely be a most violent assumption 
 to affirm, that in their time the true interpretation of 
 the book was already lost ; especially since the time 
 of its composition could not have been far remote 
 from that age ; and since the fact of their thus adopt- 
 ing it, shows that the allegorical interpretation must 
 in their day have been the connnon one. 
 
 To this external argument we may add another 
 and a stronger one, derived from passages of the po- 
 em itself, which compel us to believe that, under the 
 images of nuptial love, the highest spiritual love is 
 described. We do not here press the consideration, 
 that the supporters of the physical mode of interpret- 
 ation are obliged to supply, arbitrarily, a multitude of 
 historical circumstances, in order to give to their 
 explanations even an appearance of probability ; 
 since it might be replied, that this obscuritj^ arises 
 only from our ignorance of the situation in which the 
 nuptial pair were ])laced. We refer only to some 
 passages, which, literally taken, are either destitute of 
 sense, or must be subjected to violence in order to 
 obtain one ; while, in the allegorical method, they 
 present a sense at once easy and elegant. From c. i. 
 4, it appears that the name of the beloved must be a 
 collective name. The passages in c. i. 5, iii. 4, viii. 2, 
 and V. 3 — 7, are entirely at variance with oriental 
 usages and customs, when taken in the literal sense ; 
 figuratively taken, they are beautiful and appropriate. 
 So also the following passages, if literally taken, are 
 without meaning ; c. vi. 4, 10 — 12. iv. 8. et al. step. 
 To those grounds in favor of the allegorical inter- 
 pretation, we may also subjoin, as a subsidiary one, the 
 names of the two principal persons. The Bridegroom 
 is called Sulomoh, (masc.) the peaceful, or the Prince of 
 peace ; (Is. ix. G.) the Bride, Sulamith, (fem.) the 
 peaceful, or the happy, vii. 1. A coincidence like 
 this can hardly be accidental. 
 
 We may then properly assume the allegorical in- 
 terpretation of the book of Canticles as the correct 
 one, and as supported by sufficient arguments. The 
 objection, and tlie only one, commonly urged against 
 it, viz. the great want of coincidence among those 
 who have followed this method, must be laid, not to 
 the account of the book itself, but of its interpreters. 
 It has arisen from the fact, that, mistaking the figu- 
 rative character of the Old Testament, raid ha\ ing 
 themselves no poetic feelings, they have, without any 
 fixed principles, attempted to explain every siiigh; 
 figure, and have found in every one an allusion to 
 some real circumstance, either of history or of the 
 internal spiritual life. This method stands in direct 
 opposition to the whole character of the Canticles; 
 in which there is so much of ornament and mere 
 costume. One must not expect to find something 
 corresponding to each single figure in this book ; but 
 he must first unite all the single figures into one gen- 
 eral image, and then the corresponding realitv will 
 32 
 
 be easily found. Thus, e. g. in the descriptions of 
 the beauty and gracefulness of the Bride, we should 
 look for nothing further than the expressions of the 
 love and complacency of Jehovah towards the peo- 
 ple of Israel. The comparison of other oriental 
 poets, who, in like manner, describe a higher love 
 under the images of a lower, especially among the 
 Persians and Arabians, is full of instruction on this 
 point. So soon as this principle becomes establish- 
 ed, we shall avoid that arbitrariness with which all 
 the earlier and later interpreters may, in some degree, 
 be charged ; and also that variety of explanation, 
 which has so often been adduced as an argument 
 against the allegorical method of interjiretation. 
 
 If, now, the spiritual interpretation of this book be 
 the coi-rect one, this poem must, of course, maintain 
 its place in the canon of the Old Testament ; from 
 which, of late, many attempts have been made to ex- 
 clude it. But, on the other hand, many, in former 
 times, have gone too far in their estimation of the 
 Song of Songs, when they have placed it above all 
 the other books of the Old Testament. Had it really 
 this pre-eminence of value, how comes it that neither 
 Christ nor the apostles have ever cited it ? Although 
 the writer of this book acted under the same divine 
 influence as the other inspired penmen, yet, so far as 
 the Christian world is concerned, we cannot but re- 
 gard the prophetic writings as of moi-e direct impor- 
 tance. Indeed, we cannot avoid the im})ression, that, 
 for our modern and occidental modes of thinking, 
 and for our manners and customs, the figurative, the 
 human, the physical, is in this poem too prominent. 
 The projihets, indeed, often employ the same figures ; 
 but witi) them the fact, the substratum, the moral re- 
 lation of Jehovah to his people, is always apparent ; 
 while, in the Canticles, some of those figures are, for 
 our times and circumstances, carried out too far. 
 
 To recur, for a moment, to the difference of opin- 
 ion which exists among the supporters of the allegor- 
 ical interpretation, viz. whether the relation of 
 Jehovah to his people, as described in this poem, is 
 his relation to the Jewish or to the Christian church, 
 or to the souls of individuals ; we may observe that, 
 in general, the very grounds which lead us to adopt 
 the allegorical interpretation of the book, compel us 
 also to assume the relation of Jehovah to the Jewish 
 people, as the subject of the representation. The 
 question, whether, in this book, the relation of Christ 
 to his church is the subject of description, must, 
 therefore, receive a negative answer, if it lie meant 
 thereby to imply, that the book of Canticles has no 
 special reference to the times of the Old Testament, 
 or that it must be torn away from all historical con- 
 nections, and regarded solely as describing proj)heti- 
 cally the love of Christ to his church under the new 
 dispensation. But, on the other hand, we must an- 
 swer this question affirmatively, in so far as Jehovah, 
 whose love to his ]>eople of the old covenant is de- 
 scribed, is also no other than Christ, who, in all times, 
 has rc\'ealcd to mankind the glory of God, and offer- 
 ed up himself a sacrifice for them, in order to estab- 
 lish the new covenant. We must also answer it 
 affirmatively, in so far as the church of the Old Tes- 
 tament, and the church of the New, stand in the 
 same general relation to Christ; and so far as sin and 
 grace, defection and reunion, which constitute the 
 subject of description in the Canticles, are often re- 
 peated in the history of both these churches. To 
 the relations of an individual soul with Christ, the 
 descriptions of this book can only be ajiplied by way 
 of accommodation ; and here the greatest caution is
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 250 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 aeeessaiy. A false iutei-pretation may here easily 
 mislead to a mysticism, which has far more connection 
 with the dogmas of the Persian Sujism than with the 
 gospel ; to a degradation of that which is most holy, 
 inasmuch as the moral relation of the soul to Christ 
 is perverted into a matter of taste ; to a spiritual in- 
 toxication, which cannot but be fatal to Christian 
 humility and self-denial. It is assuredly not an ac- 
 cidental circumstance, that in the whole of the Scrip- 
 tures, both of the Old and New Testaments, the 
 relation of God or of Christ to the souls of individu- 
 als is never described wider the figure of marriage. 
 Although, indeed, the relation of Christ to his church 
 and to individual souls is essentially the same, still 
 in the former case there is less room for the excite- 
 ment of physical or carnal feelings than in the latter. 
 The preceding remarks are chiefly drawn from an 
 able essay upoii the Song of Songs, by professor 
 Hengstenberg, of Berlin, contained in the Evange- 
 lische Kirchenzeitung for 1827. They cannot fail to 
 meet the approbation of every candid and intelligent 
 inquirer. Many attempts have been made, of late 
 years, to invest this poem with a merely literary and 
 worldly character, as an idyl, a pastoral, a descrip- 
 tion of nuptial love, &c. Among these last must be 
 ranked the following translation by the former editor 
 of Calmet, Mr. Taylor. It exhibits a good deal of 
 research and ingenuity ; but also very much that is 
 fanciful and unfounded, especially in all that relates 
 to philology. He does indeed suggest that the poem 
 may be allegorical, and may be applied to the union 
 of the Jewish and Gentile churches, — a suggestion 
 which the preceding remarks have shown to be 
 without ground, and which he no where attempts to 
 carry out in practice. His whole endeavor is direct- 
 ed to the illustration of the poem as a description of 
 nuptial affection. It forms indeed a separate treatise, 
 distinct from Calmet's Dictionary ; which, there- 
 fore, the writer of these lines does not feel himself 
 at liberty to meddle with. The general impression left 
 by both the version and the illustrations of Mr. Tay- 
 lor is, that he has given to the poem a dress too stiffly 
 dramatic, and imjiarted to it a character of modern 
 orieiualism and of lusciousness, not to say sensuality, 
 which is luiknown to the Hebrew original. *R. 
 
 The Book of Canticles, By Mr. C. Taylor. 
 
 Introduction. — The first principle to be considered 
 in analyzing this poem is, the arrangement of its 
 parts ; for it evidently af)pears to be not one contin- 
 ued or uniform ode, but a composition of several 
 odes into one connected series. In addition to the 
 termination of the poem, there are three places 
 where the author has decidedly marked the close of 
 a subject. These are, the lively adjurations address- 
 ed by the Bride to the daughters of Jerusalem. 
 These three periods close by the same words, utter- 
 ed by the same person, (the Bride,) who, when she 
 is the last speaker, concludes in the same manner 
 with very slight variations. They occur at t.he 
 end of the first day, the end cf the second day, and 
 the end of the fifth day ; l)ut at tlio end of the "poem, 
 this conclusion is not maintained. If, then, these 
 passages lie admitted as divisions of the poem origi- 
 nally intended to be marked as closes, we have oidy 
 to ascertain two other divisions, in order to render 
 the ])arts of the poem pn^tty nearly commensurate to 
 each other iu length, and complete in the subject 
 which each includes. IJy attending to the sentiments 
 and expressions, wo shall find little difficulty in per- 
 
 ceiving such a change of person and occurrence, that 
 the ending of the third day must be where we have 
 jilaced it ; because the following words, relating to a 
 dream of the over-night, imply that they are spoken 
 in a morning ; and they are so totally distinct from 
 the foregoing sentiments, as to demonstrate a total 
 change of scene and of subject. The same may be 
 said of the close of the fourth day. There is such a 
 determinate change of style, subject, and person 
 speaking, in the succeeding verses, that every feeling 
 of propriety forbids our uniting them. These prin- 
 ciples, then, divide the poem into six divisions, each 
 of which we have considered as one day. It has 
 been usual with commentators to regard these six 
 days as succeeding the day of marriage ; a mistake, 
 as we suppose, which has misled them into many 
 mazes of error. On the contrary, they are here con- 
 sidered as preceding the day of marriage ; and, we 
 think, the poet has distinctly marked the sixth day, 
 as being itself the day of that union ; which accounts 
 for its termination with the morningcclogue, and the 
 omission of the evening visit of the Bridegroom to 
 the Bride ; as then the sabbath, to which no allusion 
 appears in any preceding day, Vtoidd be beginning, 
 in whose solemnities the Jewish bridegioom would 
 be attentively engaged. Other interpreters have sup- 
 posed these eclogues to be so absolutely distinct as to 
 have no connection with each other, and not to form 
 a regular series — a supposition that considerably im- 
 pairs their beauty, as a whole, and the effect of each 
 of them singly ; wuile it leaves imdecided the reason 
 for their association, or for their appearance and 
 preservation in one book. 
 
 Of the time of the year. — That the time of the year 
 is spring, has always been supposed ; and, indeed, it 
 is so clearly marked as to need no support from rea- 
 sonings. The mention of several particulars in the 
 poem demonstrates it. Mr. Harmer has identified 
 the month to be April ; and, in Judea, we may say 
 of April, as in England has been said of May, that 
 "April is the mother of love." 
 
 Of the divisions of each day. — We have supposed it 
 right to divide each day into two parts, morning and 
 evening ; because there appears to be such appropri- 
 ations of persons and sentiments, as detach each 
 eclogue from its companion. It should be remem- 
 bered that the 7100/1 of the day is too liot in Judea to 
 permit exertion of body or mind ; and that no per- 
 son of the least degree of respectability is abroad at 
 that time of the day. The Turks have r. proverb 
 importing, that "only Franks and dogs walk about 
 at noon." And in Europe itself, as in Spain and 
 Portugal, while the natives at noon sleep the siesta, 
 " the streets," say the}', " are guarded by Englishmen 
 and dogs." Since, then, 7ioon is the time for repose 
 m the East, (see 2 Sam. iv. 5.) we are not to expect 
 that an eastern ])oct should depart from the man- 
 ners of his country by representing this part of the 
 day as a fit time for visiting, or conversation, or en- 
 joyment. Neither can we sujjpose that 7iight is a fit 
 time for visiting, or conversation, among recent ac- 
 quaintances especially. Whatever our own imhappy 
 manners may ordain, in respect of encroaching on 
 the proper repose of night, the East knows nothing 
 of such revels ; nor of those assignations, which, 
 under favor of night, furnish too much occasion for 
 repentance on the morrow. Sudi considerations 
 restrict these eclogues to two parts of the day, morn- 
 ing and evening. The morning, among the oriental 
 nations, is very early; the cool of the day, day-break, 
 before the heat comes on ; and the evening is also
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 251 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 the cool of the day, after the heat Ls over. The 
 mornings of this poem are mostly occupied by con- 
 versations of the Bride with lier female ^ isitors, or 
 with her attendants, in her own apartments. But on 
 the morning of the second day, the Bride, observing 
 her beloved engaging in a himting party, is agreeably 
 surf)risod by a visit from Jiini, and sees him from 
 tlie upper story of her apartments, and through the 
 cross-bars of her windows. He solicits a view of 
 her countenance: but the poem seems to insinuate 
 his further waiting I'or that till the next morning ; 
 when she, l)cing intent on considering his palanquin, 
 sulfers herself to be surju-isod ; and tlie Bridegroom 
 compliments her beauty, wliich, for the first time, he 
 has ."111 opportunity — not properly of considenng — 
 but merely of glancing at. The evening is the reg- 
 ular time when the Bride expects to be visited by 
 her Spouse ; accordingly, lie visits her on the first 
 evening ; but on the second evening she describes 
 her anxiety, occasioned by his failure in this expect- 
 ed attention, for which she had v.aited even into 
 night, when it was too late to suppose he woidd 
 come, and she must needs relinquish all thoughts of 
 seeing him. On the other evenings he punctually 
 pays his attendance ; and though the inqiort of the 
 conversation between them is usually to the same 
 effect, yet the variety of phraseology and metaphor 
 employed by both parties gives a characteristic rich- 
 ness, elegance, and interest to this poem ; in which, 
 if it be equalled, it is by very few ; — but certainly it 
 is not surpassed by any. 
 
 Of tilt persons tvho speak. — It is natural to inquire, 
 in the next i)lace, who are the interlocutors in this 
 poem. That it consists of conversation is an opin- 
 ion derived from the earliest times ; from the Jewish 
 synagogue, no less than from the Christian church : 
 but opinions have varied as to the ])ersons engaged 
 in this conversation. There evidently are two prin- 
 cipals ; first, the lady herself, whom we distinguish 
 as the Bride ; meaning a person betrothed to her 
 spouse, but not yet married to him. She evidently 
 comes from a distant country, and that country south 
 of Judea, and more exposed to the heat of the sun. 
 She is accompanied by her mother, or by a representa- 
 tive of her mother, and by proper female attendants, 
 whom we shall denominate Bridemaicls. The second 
 principal in the poem is the Bridegroom, who is de- 
 scribed in terms which can agree only with a prince ; 
 and this prince is accom])anied, on his part, by a 
 number of companions, with Avliom he can be free, 
 and who in return can be hearty. In addition to 
 these, as the Bride is but recently arrived froui a dis- 
 tant land, it is very natural that some of the ladies 
 of her present residence (the Royal Haram) should 
 visit her ; no less to rougratulatc and to compliment 
 her, than to engage a share in her good graces, and 
 to commence that friendship which may hereafter 
 prove valuable and pleasant to both parties. The 
 Queen Mother of the Bridegroom jjcrhaps heads 
 this group. 
 
 Received o|)inion, founded on a pretty general tra- 
 dition, has called the prince, Solomon, king of Isra- 
 el ; and tradition almost, or altogether equally general, 
 has called the jirincess, his Egyptian spouse, the 
 daughter of Pharaoh. As we acquiesce in this opin- 
 ion, we pass it with this slight njention only. 
 
 Of the place ivhere the action passes. — The ])lace is 
 the city of David. This will follow, in some de- 
 gree, from the mention already made of the parties ; 
 but further proof may be found in the history of this 
 connection, 1 Kings iii. 1. Solomon made affinity 
 
 with Pharaoh, king of E^pt, a^d took Pharaoh's 
 daughter, and brought her into the City of David, 
 until he had made an end of building his own house. 
 Solomon made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter," 
 1 Kings vii. 8.—" Pharaoh's daughter came up out of 
 the City of David, to the hoiuse which Solomon had 
 built for her," 1 Kings ix. 24. From these passages 
 it is cleai-, that Solomon lodged his bride in the city 
 of David, directly as he received her; consequently at 
 the time described in this poem. Tracing the an- 
 cient boundaries of the city (or palace) of David, we 
 find it connects on one side with the city of Jerusa- 
 lem ; on the other side it is surrounded by the open 
 countrj', the hills, &c. in the neighborhood. Its in- 
 ternal distribution, we are not to imagine, was wholly 
 like that of a city ; that is, a series of streets thi-ough- 
 out, leading from end to end ; but comprising the 
 palace of David, its courts and appurtenances, the 
 gardens and pleasure-grounds belonging to that 
 place, in various and irregular forms. If there were a 
 few continued lines of houses in it, thej' might be 
 adjacent to the city of Jerusalem, say, to where the 
 iron gate is marked in our plan ; and, for the sake of 
 perspicuity, we shall admit (but without believing it) 
 that I, K, L, M, were streets, or other buildings ; and 
 further, where the wall of the present city passes, we 
 shall sujjpose a pile of buildings, the palace of Da- 
 vid ; having one front toward Jerusalem, and another 
 toward the gardens, into which the rest of the ground 
 was formed. These gardens, thus occupying full 
 half the area of the city of David, or the whole of 
 what is marked mount Sio7i on our plan, must be 
 supposed to be amply furnished with the most ad- 
 mired plants, shrubs, trees, evergreens, &c. ; with 
 water, in basins, streams, and fountains ; with a 
 smooth-mowed sward of the most vivid green, that 
 is, grass ; and with a variety of flowers in pots, vases, 
 &c. ; in short, with whatever of decoration art and 
 expense couhl ])rocure ; and the whole so disposed 
 as to be seen to the greatest advantage from the w in- 
 dows, balconies, galleries, pavilions, and internal 
 walks of the palace. Nor is this all ; for unless we 
 observe how fitly the risings and hills of mount Sion 
 were adapted to communicate pleasure, by views of 
 them, (that is, being looked towards,) and by the situa- 
 tions they afforded for prospects ; (that is, being looked 
 from ;) also, what is implied in these risings, the hol- 
 lows, dells, &c. their counterparts, which yielded at 
 once both coolness and shadow, we shall lose the 
 satisfaction arising from several of the allusions in 
 the poem : these liillocks, then, the reader will bear 
 in mind. We must add the su])})Osition of various 
 gates around this enclosure, some communicating 
 with the town, others with the country ; all of them 
 more or less guarded by proj)er officers and attend- 
 ants. We must also include in our ideas of the pal- 
 ace, that king Solomon himself resided in a part of 
 it ; say, for distinction sake, the part below e : and 
 his Brid(>, her mother, and attendants, lodged in 
 another part of it ; say the pai't above e. These 
 parts of the same palace may easily be understood as 
 possessing a ready connnunication with each other: 
 some of them were surromuled by corridors ; others 
 were open pavilions, or colonnades, according to the 
 nature and composition of a royal residence in the 
 East, and adapted to the various purposes of the 
 aj»artments. Add guards — former residents — proper 
 officers — sei-vants, &c. 
 
 Thus we have stated our notions of the time, the 
 place, the persons, of this conversation poem. We 
 desire the reader to transport himself and his con-
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 252 ] 
 
 ceptions into the palace of the highly-favored king 
 of Israel ; to make one among those honored with a 
 station in the train of Solomon, when his betrothed 
 spouse, newly amved from Egj'pt, with her mother, 
 surrounded by all the pomp which the superb Pha- 
 raoh himself coidd depute to aggraudize his daugh- 
 ter in the eyes of beholders. Egypt was at this time 
 in its glory, as to riches and power ; and Solomon 
 was rising into the greatest repute for magnificence, 
 and iuto a proverbial fame for wisdom. Thus in- 
 troduced, let us attend the conversations of these il- 
 lustrious lovers ; but let us remember that they are 
 expressed and transmitted in the energetic, the im- 
 passioned, the figurative language of poetry, of east- 
 ern poetry ; comprised in metaphors, easy, familiar, 
 and even constant, in the place and country where 
 we hear them ; that a gi-eat part of the gallantry at- 
 tending a courtship-conversation is (by usage) in- 
 cluded in them ; and that the promptitude of the rep- 
 artee to such allusions, metapliors, similes, compar- 
 isons, &.C. is accepted as no small test of the spright- 
 ly wit, felicity of fancy, readiness of reply, and men- 
 tal dexterity, of the pereons between whom they pass. 
 
 Allegorical meaning of the poem. — Upon this topic 
 Mr. Taylor merely suggests, that the Song may al- 
 legorize the imion of the Jewish and Gentile 
 churches. The Jewish church, in that view, would be 
 the Bridegroom, which (1.) resides at Jerusalem, (y.) 
 whose chief, and whose prolocutor, is the Messiah, 
 (3.) whose dignity is superior. The Gentile church 
 would be, (1.) from a distance, (2.) new in this inti- 
 mate relation, (3.) swarthy in some respects, yet fair 
 in others, (4.) modest, yet afl^ectionate ; elegant, yet 
 rustic ; (5.) willing to yield obedience, property, &c. 
 to her lord. (G.) This union would naturally be re- 
 ferred to the days of the Messiah ; but, (7.) there 
 would be many countries not directly informed of 
 his coming; may these be the little sister not yet 
 mature in person ? — And to close the whole, (8.) may 
 the absence of the chief of tlie Jewish church, and 
 the earnest desire of the Gentile church for his re- 
 turn, with which the poem closes, be in any way 
 related to the actual state of things, or allude to the still 
 expecting Hebrews, and the still inmiature heathen ? 
 
 The reader will remember, that Mr. Taylor's at- 
 tempt professes to illustrate 6^ plaics ; no other mean- 
 ing, therefore, is to be expected in it, than what plates 
 can illustrate; and indeed it seems absolutely neces- 
 sary, as a dictate of common sense, that not till 
 AFTER the verbal rendering is clearly established, 
 any more elevated import should be constructed 
 upon it. Neither is the reader to expect critical re- 
 marks, variations of versions, MSS., &c. The ob- 
 ject is only arrangement. 
 
 Arrangement. 
 
 TIME. At, and after, the Bride's recent ar- 
 
 rival from Egypt. 
 The Marriage Week : six days 
 previous to the completion of the 
 marriage ; the sixth day being the 
 day of marriage. Each day di- 
 
 ^ vided info two eclogues. Morning 
 
 I and Evening; except the sixih, 
 
 ivhich is Morning only. 
 Time of the year : Spring. 
 
 PLACE. A Palace of Solomon in Judea ; 
 
 idth its haram, gardens, ^c. that 
 is, the City of David, adjacent to 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 TIME. 
 PLACE. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 Bride. 
 
 Ladies. 
 
 Bride. 
 Ladies. 
 Bride. 
 Ladies 
 
 Bride. 
 
 Ladies. 
 
 Bride. 
 
 Ladies. 
 Bride. 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 First Day. Eclogue I. 
 
 Morning. 
 
 The Bride's parlor and apartments 
 in the haram. 
 
 Bride. Ladies of the haram, or 
 Q,UEEN Mother, visiting the 
 Bride, to compliment and to ac- 
 company her. 
 
 May he salute me with affectionate 
 salutations! (1) 
 
 Or, May he think me worthy to re- 
 ceive his addresses — his compli- 
 ments of kindness. 
 
 Yes, most certainly ; — Expect, as- 
 suredly, his kindest addresses. 
 
 So much are thy (2) love-favors 
 excellences above wine. 
 
 By the exquisite odor of thy per- 
 fumes 
 
 (Like perfume widely diffused is 
 thy renown ybr beauty.) 
 
 The A'irgins' affections are concili- 
 ated to thee. 
 
 Pray lead the way — [(3) precede me ; 
 go before me.] 
 
 . . . . O no, — We follow in thy 
 train [close after thee.] 
 
 The king hath introduced me into 
 his palace [(4) Haram, chaviber.] 
 
 We shall be happy and rejoice in 
 thee : 
 
 We shall commemorate thy love- 
 favors more than wine : 
 
 Most consummately shall we love 
 thee : 
 
 Or, With perfect integrity shall we 
 love thee. 
 
 I am swarthy 
 
 But attractive — [engaging] 
 
 swarthy, O ye daughters of 
 
 Ladies. 
 
 Jerusalem, 
 
 As the tents of Kedar ! 
 
 attractive — as the tent-cur- 
 tains of Solomon ! 
 
 Do not too accurately scrutinize 
 my swarthiness. 
 
 For indeed the sun hath darted his 
 direct rays upon me. 
 
 The sons of my mother treated me 
 contemptuously ; (5) 
 
 They appointed me (6) inspect- 
 ress of the (7) fruiteries [or- 
 chards ;] 
 
 But my fruitery — my own — I have 
 not inspected. 
 
 Tell me, O thou beloved of my (8) 
 heait [person,] where thou feedest 
 thyfock. 
 
 Where thou makest i7 to repose at 
 noon : 
 
 For why siiould I be like a rover, 
 [a straggler in confusion,] 
 
 Beside the flocks of thy compan- 
 ions ? 
 
 If indeed thou shouldest not know 
 of thyself, 
 
 O most (J)) elegant of women ! 
 
 Trace thou thy way along the tracks 
 of the flock ;
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 253 ] 
 
 Or feed thou thy kids beside the 
 shepherds' tents. 
 
 First Day. Eclogue II. 
 
 TIME. EvENi?JG. 
 
 PLACE. Bride's Parlor. 
 
 PEKSONS Bride and her Atte.ndants. 
 
 Bridegroom and his Attendamts. 
 
 Ladies of the Haram. 
 
 Bridegroom. 
 
 Ladies ; or 
 Bridegroom's 
 
 C0MPA-M0>'S. 
 
 Bride, [aside) 
 
 Bridegroom. 
 
 Bride. 
 
 To a chief (rider) ui the cavahy of 
 Pliaraoh, 
 
 (10) Have I compared thee, my 
 cousort. 
 
 Thy cheeks are so elegantly deco- 
 rated with bauds of pearls ; 
 
 Tliy neck is so resplendent with col- 
 lets of gems. 
 I We will make for thee golden 
 
 bands, 
 I With spotted edges of silver. 
 
 Wliile the king is surrounded by his 
 (11) circle 
 
 My spikenard diffuses delightful 
 fragrance. 
 
 A scent-bag of balsam is my love 
 to me, 
 . In my bosom he shall constantly 
 rest: 
 
 A cluster of Al-Henna (12) is my 
 beloved to me, 
 
 \^0f M-Henna^ from the plantations 
 of E>-gedi. 
 
 Behold, thou ait elegant, in thy taste, 
 my consort ! 
 
 Behold, thou art elegant! Thine 
 eyes are Doves ! 
 
 Behold, thou art (13) magnificent, 
 my associate friend ; 
 
 How delightful, how exquisitely 
 green [orfowery] is our (14) car- 
 pet covering ! 
 
 The beams of thy palaces are ce- 
 dars ! 
 
 Their ornamental inlayings are firs ! 
 ( 15 bridim, or brushim. q. Cypress?) 
 
 1 am a rose of the mere 
 
 field: 
 
 A hly of the mere valley. 
 
 As the lily among thorns. 
 
 So is my cousort among the maid- 
 ens. 
 
 As the citron-tree among the wild 
 underwood, 
 
 So is my associate friend among 
 the youths. 
 
 Bridegroom having retired. Bride sola; or (16) 
 speaking to the Ladies, 
 
 Bride. When I delight in his (17) deep 
 
 shadow, and sit down beneath it. 
 And his fruit is dehcious to my 
 
 taste ; — 
 When he introduces me into his 
 
 house of wine. 
 And "Affection" is his banner 
 
 bright-blazing above me; 
 When he cheers me with refreshuig 
 
 cordials, 
 
 Bridegroom. 
 Bride. 
 
 TIME. 
 PLACE. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 Bride. 
 
 Bridegroom, 
 speaking to 
 Bride. 
 
 To his Com- 
 panions, 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 And revives me with fragrant (18) 
 
 citrous ; — 
 
 (I am so wounded to fainting by 
 
 affection ! ) 
 When his left arm is under my 
 
 head, 
 And his right arm embraces 
 
 me ; 
 
 I adjure you, O daughters of Je- 
 
 rusalenj. 
 By the startling antelopes, by the 
 
 timid deer ot the field. 
 If ye disturb, if ye discompose this 
 
 complete afiection, 
 Till [affection] herself desire it ! 
 
 Second Day. Eclogue I. 
 
 Morning, early. 
 
 Bride''s chamber. Bride at her [\) 
 window hears the [huiiting horn, 
 S)'c. '?] music of her beloved, very 
 early in the morning. 
 
 Bride, her Attendants. 
 
 Bridegroom, below. 
 
 Bridegroom's Companions, in at- 
 tendance, ivithin hearing. 
 
 The (2) music [sounds] of my be- 
 loved ! 
 
 Behold, he himself approaches ! 
 
 Lightly traversing the hills. 
 
 Fleetly bounding over the rising 
 grounds. 
 
 My beloved is swift like an ante- 
 lope, or a fawn ! 
 
 Behold him stopping [(3) seated, 
 placed,] in his (4) carriage ; 
 
 Looking through the apertures ; 
 (5) [windows,] 
 
 Gleaming between the blinds ! (6) 
 [lattices ;] 
 
 My beloved addresses me, and says, 
 
 "Kise, my consort, my charmer, 
 and come away ; 
 
 For lo ! the winter is over, the rains 
 are passed, are gone. 
 
 The flowers appear in the meads, 
 
 The singing-time [of the nightin- 
 gale] is come, 
 
 And the voice of the turtle re- 
 echoes in our gi'ounds : 
 
 The fig-tree forwards into sweet- 
 ness its sivellirrg fruit. 
 
 And the vines advance into fra- 
 grance their just setting grapes. 
 
 Arise, my consort, my charmer, 
 and come away ! 
 
 My dove (7) hid in the clefts of the 
 rocks, 
 
 Concealed in the fissures of the 
 cliffs, 
 
 Show me thy (8) swelling neck 
 [turgid crop,] 
 
 Let me hear thy [cooing] call ; (9) 
 
 For sweet is thy call, 
 
 And thy swelhng neck is beauti- 
 ful." 
 
 " Catch the jackals, the little jack- 
 als which damage our fruit- 
 eries
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 254 1 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 Ere their productions come to ma- 
 turity. 
 [Or, IVhilt they have tender fruits.]" 
 
 Bridegroom being idthdraicn. 
 
 Bride. My beloved is mine, and I am his ! 
 
 (10) 
 
 Feeding among hhes ! 
 
 When the day breezes, ^yheu the 
 leiigthening shadows glimmer, 
 
 Then return, then, my beloved, 
 show thyself like the antelope, 
 
 Or the young hart, on the moun- 
 tains of Bether (11) [crags.] 
 
 Second Day. Eclogue II. 
 
 TIME. 
 
 PLACE. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 Bride. 
 
 Vejy late in the Evening. 
 Bride^s apartment. 
 Bride, sola, [or ivith the Ladies of 
 the Haram.] 
 
 Reclined on my sofa till dusky night 
 
 / look around, 
 I seek him — the beloved of my 
 
 heart : 
 [Or, I have sought all the long 
 
 evening till dusk; or, till night, 
 
 (12)] 
 I seek him — but I find him not. 
 JVhat if I rise now, and take a turn 
 
 [a round] in the city, (13) 
 In the streets, in the squares : 
 Seeking him — the beloved of my 
 
 heart ? 
 
 I 7nay geek him, but not find him. 
 JVhat if the watchmen, going their 
 
 rounds through all the city, find 
 
 me ? 
 "Have ye seen him — the beloved 
 
 of my heart?" 
 / shoidd ask of them : — I might ask 
 
 in vain. 
 But, ivhat if, passing ever so little a 
 
 way beyond them, 
 I find him — the beloved of my 
 
 heart ? — 
 I would clasp him, I would not let 
 
 him go ; 
 Until i had brought him to the 
 
 house of my mother. 
 To the apartment of my parent 
 
 herself. 
 Then tvould I adjure you, O daugh- 
 ters of Jerusalem, 
 By the startling antelopes, by tlic 
 
 timid deer of the field, 
 If ye distiu-b, if ye discompose this 
 
 complete aflection. 
 Till [.']ffection] herself desire it ! 
 
 Third Day. Eclogue I. 
 
 Morning. 
 
 Bridc^s chamhcr-ivindow ; looking to- 
 wards the country. 
 
 Bride, and her Attendants of the 
 Haram ; looking through the 
 window. 
 
 Bride, {above) (1) What is that, coming up from 
 the common fields, 
 
 TIME. 
 PLACE. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 Like a vast (2) column of smoke ? 
 
 Fuming with balsams and frankin- 
 cense, 
 
 Suri)assing all powders of the per- 
 fumer. 
 Ladies, or That is the (3) palanquin appro- 
 
 Attendants. priate to Solomon himself! 
 
 Sixty stout men surround it ; 
 
 The stoutest heroes of Israel ; 
 
 Every one of them grasping a 
 sword ; every one of them ex- 
 pert at arms ; 
 
 Ready on his thigh the sword of 
 the commander, 
 
 [A chief (4) fearless] from fear in 
 the night. 
 
 Superior to fear at all tiines. 
 Bride. A nuptial palanquin hath king Solo- 
 
 mon made for himself? 
 Ladies, or O yes ! He hath made (5) of Leba- 
 
 Attendants. non-wood [cedar] its pillars ; 
 
 Of silver its top covering [canopy ;] 
 
 Of gold its lower carriage ; 
 
 With purple [aregainen] its middle 
 part [Jloor] is spread, 
 
 A present from the daughters of Je- 
 rusalem. 
 Bride. Go forth, O daughters of Zion,aud 
 
 behold king Solomon 
 
 Wearing the (6) head-circlet with 
 which his mother encircled him 
 
 In the day of his espousals, 
 
 In the day of the gladness of his 
 heart. 
 
 Bridegroom (7) having seen the face, or person, of 
 his Bride, for the first time, from a distance — inci- 
 dentcdly at her ivindow — hy means of this visit, takes 
 advantage of this opportunity to praise her beauty. 
 
 Bridegroom. Behold, thou art elegant, my con- 
 [below) sort, behold, thou art elegant ! 
 
 Thine eyes are doves peering be- 
 tween thy (8) locks : 
 
 Thy hair is like a flock of goats, (9) 
 
 Long-haired glistering goats [de- 
 scending] at mount Gilead ; 
 
 Thy teeth like a shorn flock (10) o/ 
 sheep, 
 
 Coming up on (11) mount Cassius. 
 
 All of them twins to each other! 
 
 And not one lias lost its fellow 
 twin. 
 
 Like a braid of scarlet are thy lips ; 
 
 And the organ of thj^ voice [mouth] 
 is loveliness. 
 
 Blushing (12) like the iimer part of 
 a piece of jiomegranate 
 
 Is thy cheek [temple] beneath thy 
 locks ; 
 
 White (13) like the tower of David 
 is thy neck, 
 
 (14) Built on a conmiandmg emi- 
 nence ; 
 
 A thousand shields are suspended 
 around it, as trophies of conquest, 
 
 All of them arms of dignity of 
 valiant heroes. 
 
 Thy (15) two nipples are hke two 
 twhi fawns of the antelope. 
 
 Nibbling lily flowers.
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 255 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 When the day breezes, when the 
 
 hngtliening shadows glhiimer, 
 1 will visit the mountain of balsam, 
 The hill of frankincense. 
 
 Third Day. Eclogue II. 
 
 TIME. Evening. 
 
 PLACE. Bnde's parlor ; in ivhich her Ladies, 
 
 8fC. are in waiting. 
 
 PERSONS. Bridegroom, accompanied by At- 
 tendants, visiting his Bride. 
 
 Bridegrcom. ThoLi ait my entire elegance, my 
 consort, 
 
 Not a blemish is in thee. 
 
 Be of my party (16) to Lebanon, 
 my spouse. 
 
 Accompany me to Lebanon, come : 
 
 See the prospect from the head of 
 Amanah, 
 
 From the head of Shenir, and of 
 Hermon, 
 
 From Lions' Haunts, from Pan- 
 ther Mountains. 
 
 Thou hast (17) carried off captive 
 my heart, my sister, spouse, (19) 
 [partner.] Thou hast carried off 
 captive my heart, [literally, Thou 
 hast dishearted ine.\ 
 
 By one (18) sally of thine eyes. 
 
 By one link [of the chainette] of thy 
 neck. 
 
 How handsome are thy love-favors, 
 my sister, my spouse ! (19) [be- 
 trothed ] 
 
 How exquisite are thy love-fa- 
 vors ! 
 
 How much beyond wine ! ' 
 
 And the fragrance of thine es- 
 sences ! — 
 
 Beyond all aromatics ! 
 Bride. Sweetness — as liquid [palm] honey 
 
 drops, such drop thy hps, [speech] 
 O spouse : 
 
 [Bee] honey and milk are under 
 thy tongue : 
 
 And the scent of thy garments is 
 the sweet scent of cedar. 
 Bridegroom. A garden locked up is my sister, 
 spouse, 
 
 A spring strictly locked up, a foun- 
 tain closely sealed. 
 
 Thy plants are shoots of Paradise : 
 
 [Or, Around thee shoot plants of 
 Paradise. [^Q)] 
 
 Pomegranates, with delicious fruits ; 
 
 The fragrant henna, with the 
 nards, 
 
 (21) The nard, and the crocus, 
 
 And sweet-scented reed, and cinna- 
 mon ; 
 
 With every tree of incense ; 
 
 The balsam and the aloe ; (22) 
 
 With every prime aromatic. 
 
 Thou fountain of gardens ! thou 
 source of living waters ! 
 
 Thou source of streams — even of 
 Lebanon streams ! 
 Bride. North wind, awake ! (but (23) sink, 
 
 thou soutliern gale) 
 
 Blow on my garden, waft around 
 its fragrances, 
 
 The7i let my beloved come into his 
 garden, 
 
 And taste the fruits t^Atc^i he praises 
 as his delicacies ! 
 Bridegroom. I am (24) come into my garden, my 
 sister, spouse, [betrothed, troth- 
 plight.] 
 
 I gather my balsam with my aro- 
 matics, 
 
 I eat my liquid honey with my firm 
 honey, 
 
 I drink my wine with my milk. 
 To his Eat, my companions : drink, drink 
 
 Companions. deeply. 
 
 My associate friends ! 
 
 Fourth Day. Eclogue I. 
 
 TIME. Morning. 
 
 PLACE. Bride's chamber. 
 
 PERSONS. Bride and her Attendants : 
 Ladies of the Haram. 
 
 Bride, I was sleeping, (1) but my [heart] 
 
 relating a imagination was awake : 
 
 dream to JVhen methought I heard 
 
 her visitors. The (2) voice [sound] of my be- 
 loved, knocking, and saying: 
 "Open to me ! my sister ! my consort l 
 ]My dove ! my perfect ! [or immacu- 
 late beauty!] 
 For my head is excessively filled 
 
 with dew. 
 My locks with the drops of the 
 
 night." 
 But I ansivered : 
 " I have put off my vest ; 
 How can I put it on .' 
 I have washed my feet ; 
 How can I soil them ?" 
 My beloved put his hand to open 
 
 the door by the lock, (3) 
 ( — My heart in its (4) chamber pal- 
 pitated on account of him ! 
 I rose to open to my beloved, 
 ( — My hand dropi)ed balsam, and 
 
 my fingers self-flowing balsam. 
 On the handles of the lock ;) 
 
 I did open to my beloved ; 
 
 But my beloved was turned away 
 
 — was gone — 
 ( — My soul [pei-so7i, affection] sprung 
 
 forwards to meet his address.) 
 I sought him, but could not find 
 
 hini ; 
 I called him, but he answered me 
 
 not. 
 The watchmen going their rounds 
 
 in the city discovered me. 
 They struck me, they wounded me ; 
 They snatched my deep veil itself 
 
 from off me. 
 Those surly keepers of the walls ! 
 I adjure you, O daughters of Jeru- 
 salem, 
 
 If ye should find my beloved, 
 
 What should ye tell him ! — 
 — That I am wounded to fainting 
 by Affection.
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 256 1 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 Ladies. 
 
 Bride, 
 
 describes his 
 countenance. 
 
 Describes his 
 
 dress. 
 
 Wherein is thy beloved superior 
 to other beloveds, 
 
 Most elegant of women, 
 
 Wherein is thy beloved superior to 
 other beloveds, 
 
 That thou dost thus adjure us ? 
 
 My beloved is white and ruddy ; 
 
 The (5) bright-blazing standard of 
 ten thousand ! 
 
 His head is wrought gold — of the 
 purest quality ! 
 
 His locks are pendent curls — black 
 as the raven ! 
 
 His eyes like (6) doves at a ivMte- 
 foaming water-fall ; 
 
 Or, dipping themselves in a [garden 
 canal — basin] streamlet q/milk. 
 
 And [turning themselves, rolling] 
 sporting in the fulness [depth] of 
 the pool. 
 
 His temples arc shrubberies of odo- 
 riferous plants, 
 
 Clumps of aromatic trees: 
 
 His lij)s are hUes dropping self-flow- 
 ing balsam ; 
 
 His wrists [bands, bracelets] are cir- 
 clets of gold. 
 
 Full set with topazes ; 
 
 His waist [girdle] is bright ivory. 
 
 Over which the sapphire plays ; 
 
 His legs [d}-aivers, &(c.] are columns 
 of marble, 
 
 Rising from bases of purest gold 
 [his shoes] : 
 
 His figure is noble as the cedars of 
 Lebanon ; 
 
 Majestic as the cedars of Paradise, 
 
 His address is sweetness ! 
 
 [The vej-y concentration of sweet- 
 ness !] 
 
 His wliole person is loveliness ! 
 
 [TVie I'e/T/ concentration of loveliness!] 
 
 Such is my beloved, such is my 
 consort, 
 
 daughters of Jerusalem ! 
 Whither may thy beloved be gone. 
 Most elegant of women ? 
 What course may tiiy beloved have 
 
 taken, 
 That we might bring him to rejoin 
 
 thee ? 
 My beloved is gone down to his 
 
 garden, 
 To his shrubberies of odoriferous 
 
 plants ; 
 To feed in his gardens, 
 And to gather lilies. 
 
 1 am my beloved's, and my beloved 
 
 is mine : 
 
 Feeding among lilies ! 
 
 Fourth Day. Eclogue II. 
 
 TIME. Evening. 
 
 PLACE, Bride's parlor; in which art the 
 
 Ladies in waiting, Sfc. 
 PERSONS. Bridegroom, ?{'i7?i /its Attendants, 
 
 visiting his JJride. 
 
 Bridegroom. Thou art wholly (8) decorated, my 
 Fortifed cities. love, like Tirzah ; 
 
 Ladies 
 
 Bride. 
 
 Adorned as Jerusalem ; 
 
 Dazzling as flaming-bannered ranks. 
 
 Wheel about (9) thine eyes [glances] 
 from off" my station. 
 
 For, indeed, they overpower me ! 
 A repetition of " Thy (10) hair is as a flock of goats 
 Third Day. thai appear from Gilead : 
 
 Eclogue I. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep 
 Common trans- which go up from the ivashing ; 
 lation. Whereof every one beareth twins, 
 
 and there is not one barren among 
 them. 
 
 ^s a piece of pomegranate are thy 
 temples withm thy locks." 
 
 Sixty are those queens, and eighty 
 those concubines. 
 
 And damsels beyond number ; 
 
 But my dove is the very one alone ; 
 
 To me she is my perfect one ! 
 
 The very one is she to her mother ; 
 
 The faultless favorite of her pa- 
 rent : 
 
 The damsels saw her ; 
 
 And the queens admired her. 
 
 And the concubines extolled her, 
 saying, 
 
 " Who is this, advancing [in bright- 
 ness] like day-break. 
 
 Beauteous as the moon, clearly ra- 
 diant as the sun. 
 
 Dazzling as the streamer-flames of 
 heaven ?" [q. a comet ?] 
 
 To the garden of filberts I had gone 
 down, 
 
 To inspect the fruits of the brook 
 side ; 
 
 Whether the grape were setting; 
 
 W^hether the pomegranate flow- 
 ered ; 
 
 Unawares to my mind, my person 
 [] 1 , .'Iffection] bcglided itself back 
 again, 
 
 More siviftly than the chariots of 
 mypeo])le at a (12) charge [pour- 
 ing out.] 
 
 Bride lises to go away. 
 
 Face about, (13) face about, Selo- 
 
 MEH ! 
 
 Face about, face about ! 
 
 That we may (14) reconnoitre 
 
 thee 
 
 What would you reconnoitre in Se- 
 
 LOMEH ? 
 
 Or, How ivould you reconnoitre Se- 
 
 lomch ? 
 Like [as we do] reti-enchments (15) 
 
 around camps ! 
 
 Bridegroom's 
 Companions. 
 
 Ladies of ^ 
 Haram, or I 
 Bride's At- j 
 tendants. J 
 Brideg. Com. 
 
 Fifth Day. Eclogue I. 
 
 TIME. Morning. 
 
 PLACE. Bride's toilette : Bride dressing, or 
 
 recently dressed. 
 
 PERSONS. Bride, and her Attendants ; La- 
 
 dies of the Haram. 
 
 Ladies of the Haram ; admiring the 
 Bride's [Egyptian ?] dress. 
 
 How handsomely decorated are thy 
 (1) feel in sandals,
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [257 ] 
 
 O daughter of [liberality] (2) 
 
 princes ! [ pouring out.] 
 [i. e. O liberal rewarder of ingenui' 
 
 ty and merit.'] 
 The (3) selve-edges {returns] of thy 
 
 drawers iire hike (5) open-work, 
 
 [pinked,] 
 The performance of excellent hands! 
 Thy (6) girdle-clasp is a round 
 
 goblet, 
 H) Rich in mingled wine : 
 Tny [bodice] body-VEST is a sheaf 
 
 of wheat, 
 Bound about with lihes : 
 Thy two (8) nipples are two twva. 
 
 fawns of the antelojje, 
 Feeding among lilies. 
 Thy neck is like an ivory tower : 
 
 Thine eyes [dark with stibium] are 
 like the fish-pools in Heshbon, 
 
 (9) 
 
 By the gate of Beth-rabbim : 
 
 Thy nose is hke the tower of Leba- 
 non, 
 
 (10) Which looketh toward Damas- 
 cus: 
 
 Thy head-dress upon thee resem- 
 bles (11) Carmel; 
 
 And the tresses of thy hair are like 
 (12) Aregamen ! 
 
 The king is (13) entangled in these 
 meanderings ! (14) [foldings ; 
 plaitings ; intricacies.] 
 
 Fifth Day. Eclogue IL 
 
 TIME. Evening. 
 
 PLACE. Bride^s parlor ; with Ladies, &c. 
 
 in ivaiting. 
 PERSONS. Bridegroosi visiting his Bride. 
 
 Bridegroom. How beautiful, and how rapturous, 
 O love, art thou in delights! 
 Thy very (15) stature equals the 
 
 palm ; 
 And thy breasts resemble its clus- 
 ters : 
 I said, I would climb this palm, 
 And would clasp its branches : 
 Now shall thy bosom be odoriferous 
 
 as clusters of grapes. 
 And the sweetness of thy breath 
 
 like the fragrance of citrons. 
 Yes, thy [palate] (IG) address re- 
 sembles exquisite wine, [cor- 
 dial.] 
 (17) Going as a love-favor to asso- 
 ciate friends, to consummate in- 
 tegrities of love, 
 [or, to friends ivhose stanch friend- 
 ship has been often experienced.] 
 It might make the very lips of the 
 sleeping [of age] to discourse. 
 
 Bride. I am my beloved's, (18) 
 
 And toward me are his desires, 
 [or, And my dependence is upon 
 him.] 
 Bridegroom. Come, my beloved, let us go out 
 into the fields. 
 Let us abide in the villages, 
 33 
 
 Brids. 
 
 Brideoroom. 
 Bride. 
 
 TIME. 
 
 PLACE. 
 PERSONS. 
 
 Attendants 
 at the House. 
 
 Bbidegroom. 
 
 Bride. 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 We will rise early to inspect tho 
 vineyards, 
 
 Whether the vine be sotting itt 
 fruit, 
 
 Whether the smaller grape protrude 
 itself. 
 
 Whether the pomegranates flower, 
 
 Whether the (19) dudaim [man- 
 drakes] diffuse their fragrance. 
 
 There will I make thee complete 
 love-presents ; 
 
 For our lofts (20) contain all new del- 
 icacies [fruits,] 
 
 But especially preserved delicacies, 
 
 Stored up, my beloved, for thee. 
 
 wert thou my brother, 
 Sucking my mother's breasts, 
 Should I find tliee in the public 
 
 street, 
 
 1 would kiss thee ; 
 
 Yes, and then would they [by-$tand- 
 ers] not contemn me : 
 
 I would take thee, I would bring 
 thee 
 
 To the house of my mother 
 
 Thou shouldest conduct me (21); 
 i. e. show me the way thither, 
 
 1 would give thee to drink 
 
 scented wine, 
 
 Wine I myself had flavored with 
 the sweetness of my pomegran- 
 ate. 
 
 Then, were his leil arm under my 
 head. 
 
 And his right arm embracing me, 
 
 I would charge you, daughters of 
 Jerusalem, 
 
 (22) By the startling antelopes, by 
 the timid deer of the f eld, 
 
 Wherefore disturb, wherefore dis- 
 compose this complete Affection, 
 
 Till [Affection] herself desire it ? 
 
 Sixth Day. Eclogue I. 
 
 Morning : cfter the marriage cere- 
 mony had recently taken place. 
 
 Front of the palace. 
 
 Bride, her Attendants : Bride- 
 groom, his Attendants : all in 
 procession before and after the 
 Royal palanquin, in which the 
 Royal Pair are seated. 
 
 Who is this coming up from the 
 common fields. 
 
 In full (1) sociability with her be- 
 loved ? 
 
 Under the citron-tree (2) I urged 
 thee [overcame thy bashfulness.] 
 
 There thy mother (3) deUvered thee 
 over to me. 
 
 There thy parent solemnly deliver- 
 ed thee over to me. 
 
 Wear me as a seal on thy heart [in 
 thy bosom], 
 
 (4) As a seal-ring on thine arm. 
 
 For strong as death is Affection ; 
 
 Its passion unappeasable as the 
 grave : 
 
 Its shafts are shafts of fire,
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 258 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 The flame of Deity itself! [vehe- 
 ment as lightning.] 
 Bridesrooh. Mighty waters cannot quench this 
 complete Affection ; 
 
 Deluges cannot overwhelm it : 
 
 If a chief (man) give all the wealth 
 ■■ of his house 
 
 In affection, it would be despised as 
 despicable in him. 
 Bridc Our [cousi7i, relation] sister is little, 
 
 And (5) her bosom is immature : 
 
 Wl^t shall we do for our sister, 
 
 In the day when her concerns shall 
 be treated of? 
 Bridekroom. If sl>e be a wall, 
 
 We will build on her turrets of 
 silver : 
 
 If she be a door- way. 
 
 We will frame around her soffits 
 of cedar. 
 Brii>£. [aside) I am a wall — and my breasts are 
 like kiosks (6) ; 
 
 Thence I appeared in his eyes as 
 one in whom he might find 
 peace (7), 
 
 [Msolute Repose ; or Prosperity of 
 all ki7ids.] 
 ji^o Bridegroom. Solomon himself 7iow) has a fruitery 
 at (8) Baal-Ham-aun ; 
 
 That fruitery is committed to (9) in- 
 spectors ; 
 
 The chief (10) tenant shall bring as 
 rent for its fruits, 
 
 A thousand silverlings. 
 
 My fruitery, my own, my o^vn in- 
 spection. 
 
 Will yield a thousand to thee, Solo- 
 \ mon : 
 
 But (11) two hundred are due to 
 the inspectors of its fruits.) 
 Bridegroom. O thou [Dove] who resides! in gar- 
 dens. 
 
 Thy companions listening await thy 
 [cooing] voice, 
 
 Let me especially hear it ! 
 
 Fly to me swiftly, my beloved, 
 
 And show thyself to be like the 
 antelope or the young hart. 
 
 On the mountains of aromatics ! 
 
 Briok. 
 
 Illustrations of the proposed Version. 
 
 We are now prepared to review the characters of 
 the principal speakers in this interesting poem. The 
 Bride has been a ranger of parks, plantations, &c. 
 is fond of gardens and rural enjoyment, and has a 
 property of her own, of the same nature ; yet is a 
 person of complete elegance of taste and of maimers ; 
 magnificent in her personal ornaments, and liberal 
 with princely liberality in her disposition. She lias 
 been educated i)y her niotlicr with the tenderast affec- 
 tion, and is her only daugiiler ; though her mother has 
 several sons. The Bridegroom is noh!<! in his per- 
 son, magnificent in his equipage, palace, and pleas- 
 ures ; active, military, of pleasing address and com- 
 pliment, and one on whom his exalted rank and sta- 
 tion sit remarkably easy. The Bride's Mother 
 does not speak in any part of the poem ; it is only by 
 what is said of her that we find she accompanied her 
 
 daughter: whether this personage be her natural 
 modier, or any confidential friend, deputed to that of- 
 fice, might engage conjecture. The Bride's Compan- 
 ions speak but little ; we think only once, at the closa 
 of the fourth day, if then. The Bridegroom's Com- 
 panions speak, also, only on the same occasion. The 
 Ladies of the Haram, or visitors to the Bride, 
 are the first persons to compliment and to cheer her ; 
 and we think they seem to accompany in her train 
 throughout the poem. It is likely that these visitors 
 praise her in the first day, describe the palanquin in 
 the third day, converse with the Bride in the fourth 
 day, and admire her dress in the fifth day. These 
 parts have hitherto been attributed to the Bride's 
 Egyptian attendants ; but we rather suppose the in- 
 formation they give, and the sentiments they com- 
 municate, imply persons well acquainted with the 
 Bridegi-oom and his court — that is, Jcivish attendants, 
 maids of honor to the Bride : — or, May these pas- 
 sages be spoken by the Queen Mother of the 
 Bridegroom ? (See Queen Mother.) Some other 
 persons also speak once at the opening of the sixth 
 day ; their remark indicates that they stand near, or 
 at the palace : for want of more precise knowledge 
 of them, they are called " Attendants at the house :" 
 say, the chief officers of the palace. But is this 
 spoken by the ladies of the Haram ? or by the queen 
 mother ? 
 
 Thejirsl day. — 1. May he salute me ivith affectionate 
 salutations ! Though the import of the Avord neshek 
 undoubtedly is to kiss, yet, in several passages of 
 Scripture, it implies no more than mere salutation or 
 addressing — a compliment paid on view of a per- 
 son or object. So those who are said, in our trans- 
 lation, to have " kissed the image of Baal," did not 
 kiss that image, strictly speaking, but kissed toivard 
 it ; that is to say, they kissed their liands, and refer- 
 red that action to the image ; or kissed at a distance 
 from it — addressed it respectfully by the salaam of 
 the East. (See Adore, and Kiss.) This expression 
 of the Bride, then, implies, simply, an apprehension 
 or fear, (united with a wish to the contrary,) that 
 when the Bridegroom sees her, he may think slight- 
 ly of her person, her qualities, or attractions, and may 
 refrain from paying his addresses to her. In reply, 
 the ladies commend her beaut}', and cheer her mod- 
 est sohcitudc, by praising her attractions and her ele- 
 gances. They do not indeed pi-aise her person, be- 
 cause, according to the customs and decencies of the 
 country, the Bridegi-oom cannot yet see that ; they 
 only praise her general appearance, and what must 
 first strike a beholder — what are most noticeable at 
 the earliest interview — at a first ajjproach — that is, 
 her polite manners and deportment ; also her per- 
 fumes, to the diffusion of which they compare her 
 renown for beauty. The importance of perfumes in 
 the East is veiy great; the lovers of the Arabian 
 poets never omit to notice this attraction of their 
 mistresses. 
 
 "When the two nymphs arose, they diffused fragrance I 
 
 around them. 
 As the zejihyr scatters perfimie from the Indian 
 
 flower. 
 
 Do not the perfumes of Khozami breathe ? 
 Is it the fragrance of Hazer from Mecca, or the odor ji 
 diffusing from Azza ? '' 
 
 She resembled the moon, and she waved like the 
 branches of Myrobalan,
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 259 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 She diffused perfume like tlie ambergris, and looked 
 beautiful like the fawn." 
 
 Agreeably to this, we find in Scripture the remark, 
 that, " Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart ;" 
 (Prov. xxvii. 9.) and Isaiali, describing a female de- 
 sirous of pleasing her paramour, represents Jier as 
 " increasing her perfumes," cliap. Ivii. 9. (See also Es- 
 ther ii. 12 ; Psalm xlv. 8 ; Prov. vii. 17.) The reader 
 will observe the distance to which these jierfumes are 
 understood to extend their fragrance ; and, relatively, 
 that to which the liride's beauty was famous. 
 
 2. Love-favors. It is usual to render this word 
 (dudi) loves — but, by considering, (1.) Tiiat the la- 
 dies say, THEY shall commemorate the (dudi) loves of 
 the bride ; (2) that (dudi) loves are said to be poured 
 out as from a bottle, or to be sent as presents to per- 
 sons of integrities [plural); (3.) that the spouse in- 
 vites the bride into the country, where he would give 
 her his (dudi) ioyes ; it appears that Iovc-presents 
 of some kind are the articles meant by the word. 
 Suppose, for instance, tlie bride presented the ladies 
 with curiousiy-worked handkerchiefs, [as is custom- 
 ary in the East,] the ladies might look on them, at a 
 distance of time afterwards, with a pleasing recollec- 
 tion of tlic j)crson by whom they were given ; as is 
 customary among ourselves. Such tokens are not 
 valued for their intrinsic worth, but for the sake of 
 the giver ; and, were it not trivial, we might quote a 
 common inscription on this subject as coincident 
 with the spirit of this passage, " When this you see, 
 rcmeniber me." What other than a present of love 
 can be poured out from a bottle — delicious wine, that 
 might rouse the drowsy to discourse ? or why does 
 the Spouse invite his Bride into the country, but in 
 order to present her with its best productions ; some 
 of which, he tells her, were stored up, and expressly 
 reserved for her reception ? Such is the meaning of 
 this word, in this place : favors bestowed as the ef- 
 fect of love — to remunerate love ; or designed to 
 conciliate love, to excite regard toward the presenter 
 of the gift. We have used the word favors, since 
 that word im[)lies, occasionally, personal decorations ; 
 as at marriages, ribands, &c. given by the bride to 
 the attendants, or others, are termed bnde-favors, or 
 eimitly favors. 
 
 3. The bride proceeds to invite her visitors (as we 
 Buijpose) into the interior of her apartments ; and, 
 from good manners, desires them to precede her ; 
 which they, with equal good manners, decline. The 
 word meshck signifies to advance toward a place ; as 
 Judg. iv. G, "Go and draiv toward mount Taijor, and 
 take with thee ten thousand men ;" that is, go frst 
 to mount Tabor, and be followed by thine army — 
 head thine army — precede it. Job xxi. .'^'3, " Ho 
 goeth to tlie grave, where he [meshuk) precede.^ a 
 great many men ; and so draws them toward Imn ; 
 as he himself has \mc\\ preceded ^^y many who have 
 died before him." Job xxvi". 18, "The price, [me- 
 shch;) the precedence of .visdom— its attraction— is 
 preferable to rubies." Jer. xxxi. 3, " I have loved 
 thee witli an everUstiiig love : therefore with loving- 
 kindness hav<^ 1 preceded thee ;" as we say, been be- 
 forehand "ith thee, " drawn thee toward me." Such 
 appear to be the import of the word, which, there- 
 fore, is in this place rendered — lead the way, that is, 
 precede me. 
 
 4. Tlie king^s chamber. This word, though usually 
 rendered chamber, can only mean, in general, his 
 apartments, his residence ; the word is used to this 
 purport, Deut. xxxii. 25 ; Prov. xxiv. 4 ; Jer. xxxv. 2 ; 
 
 anrl we have among ourselves an instance of a simi- 
 lar application of the word chamber. In Richard III. 
 Shakspeare makes Buckingham say to the young 
 king, " Welcome, sweet prince, to Loudon, to your 
 CHAMBER :" the reason is, London, from being the 
 usual residence of the king, was called camera regis, 
 " the king's chamber." It might justly be rendered 
 " rooms ;" so we have the rooms at Bath, at Mar- 
 gate, &c. or chambers in a palace — as the ever-mem- 
 orable Star chamber, the Jerusalem chamber, the 
 painted chamber, &c. that is, apartments. But here 
 it evidently means the Haram, or women's apart- 
 ment, the secluded chamber, into which the Bride 
 invites tlie ladies ; and where the latter part of 
 this eclogue j)asse8, being ti-ansferred, as we suppose, 
 from the parlor below to the Haram above ; or from 
 the parlor exterior, to the Haram interior. 
 
 5. Treated vie contemptuously, literally, " snorted at 
 me ;" which perhaps might be rendered by our Eng- 
 lish phrase, " turned up their noses at me ;" — but 
 how would that read in a poem ? To spurn does 
 not correctly express the idea, as that action rather 
 refers to a motion of the foot; whereas, this term 
 expresses a movement of a feature, or of the entire 
 countenance. 
 
 6. Inspcctressofthefruiteries. This, we imagine, is 
 somewhat analogous to our office of ranger of a royal 
 park ; an office of some dignity, and of more emol- 
 ument : it is bestowed on individuals of noble families 
 among ourselves ; and is sometimes held by females 
 of the most exalted rank ; as the princess Sophia of 
 Gloucester, who is ranger of a part of Bagshot park; 
 the princess of Wales, who was ranger of Greenwich 
 park, &c. and the office is consistent even with 
 royal dignity. This lady, then, was appointed ran- 
 ger — governess, directress of these plantations ; which 
 appears to have been perfectly agreeable to her nat- 
 ural taste and disposition, although she alludes, with 
 great modesty, to her exposure to the sun's rays, in a 
 more southern climate, by means of this office, as an 
 apology for a complexion which might be thought by 
 Jerusalem females to be somewhat tanned. 
 
 7. Fruiteries. The word signifies not restrictively 
 vineyards, but places producing various kinds of 
 plants; for we find the al-henna came from "the 
 fruiteries of En-gedi," the plantations, not merely 
 vineyards, of "the fountain of Gadi," orthe "springs 
 of Gadi," chap. i. 14. See No. 12. below. 
 
 8. Beloved of my heart, strictly, beloved by my per- 
 S071 • but as (h's is rather an uncouth phrase in Eng- 
 lish the reader will excuse the substitution of one 
 more familiar. The word is very improperly ren- 
 dered soul, by our translators, throughout the Old 
 Testament, though the usage of^ their time, as appears 
 from the best w riters, pleads strongly in their ex- 
 cuse. — "That soul shall die" — "that soul shall be cut 
 off," read person ; for in many places the actions and 
 functions, or qualities, of the body, are attributed to 
 it ; sometimes those of a living body, sometimes those 
 of a dead body; where we cannot suppose it means a 
 dead soul. It may be considered as a general word, 
 expressing a person's sc?/" : and sir Wilham Jones 
 was obliged to use this term self, on more than one 
 occasion, in translating a cognate word from the 
 Arabic ; as for instance — " he threw his self into the 
 water," where it would be extremely erroneous to 
 say, " his soul," in our common acceptation of that 
 term. 
 
 9. Elegant. We observed, in considering the 
 Ship of Tyre, that the word ipi might refer less to 
 beauty of person than has been thought. We sup-
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 260 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 ■pose our word handsome may answer to it, in a gen- 
 eral sense ; and we say, not only a handsome per- 
 son, but a handsome dress, handsome behavior, 
 speecli, &c. We have preferred the term elegant as 
 implying all these ideas, but as being more usually con- 
 nected with person and manners ; for we rather say, " a 
 lady of elegant manners," than of handsome manners. 
 
 10. This passage is examined in the article on 
 Marriage Processions. The principles of that ex- 
 planation seem to be just. Otherwise, the comparison 
 might be, " To my own mare, tvhich is the prime among 
 the high-bred horses I have received from Pharaoh.'''' 
 
 11. Circle. This is precisely according to the 
 usage of the East; the royal personage sits on liis 
 seat, and his friends stand round him, on each side, 
 forming a segment of a circle. The friends of the 
 Bridegroom are, we suppose, his companions ; but 
 on this first visit he might, perhaps, ha accompanied 
 by other attendants, for the greater dignity and bril- 
 liancy of the interview. Nevertheless, thirty com- 
 
 E anions might form a sufficient circle : and one can 
 ardly suppose the king of Israel had fewer than 
 Samson, (at that time a private person,) Judg. xiv. 
 10. and Ps. cxxviii. 3. 
 
 12. Al-Henna ; see Camphire. " The planta- 
 tions, or fruiteries, of En-gedi." These were not far 
 from Jericho : they did not so much contain vines as 
 aromatic shrubs, including, perhaps, the famous bal- 
 sam of Judea. It may be thought from Ezek. xlvii. 
 10. that En-gedi was a watery situation ; perhaps not 
 far from the river, beside being itself a fountain. 
 This agi'ees wth Dr. Shaw's account of al-henna : he 
 says, it requires much water ; as well as the palm, for 
 which tree Jericho was famous, and from which it 
 derived an appellation. 
 
 13. Elegant ; magnificent. We think the Bride- 
 groom here compliments his Bride on the general 
 elegance of her appearance (ipi) ; for, as she is veil- 
 ed all over, he cannot see the features of her counte- 
 nance : he catches, however, a glimpse of her eyes 
 through her veil, and those he praises, as being 
 doves'* ; for wliich we refer to a following remark. 
 (See Veil.) She returns the compliment, by prais- 
 ing his elegance (ipi); but as this elegance refers to 
 his palace, it seems here to be properly rendered mag- 
 nificence; which, indeed, as we have observed, is its 
 meaning elsewhere. She notices this magnificence, 
 as displayed in the cedar, and other costly woods, 
 which adorned those apartments of ihe })alace into 
 which she had lieen conducted ; not forgetting that 
 ever-accej)table ornament in the East, the green 
 grass-plat before the door, which, beside being green, 
 was also in this palace adorned with the most state- 
 ly and brilliant flowers, compared to which, says the 
 Bride, I am not worthy of mention ; I am not a 
 palace-flower, not a fragrant rost;, carefully cultivat- 
 ed in a costly vase ; or a noble lily, planted in a rich 
 and favorable soil ; I am a rosy of the field, a lily 
 from the side of the bumble water-course, the sim- 
 ple — the sliadiMl valley. To this her self-degrada- 
 tion, the Bridcgi-oom n'turus an affectionate dissent ; 
 and here concludes their first interview ; whose chief 
 characteristics may be gathered Irom observing, that 
 it is, (1.) short, (2.) distant, (3.) general, (4.) that not 
 the slightest approach to any freedom between the 
 parties is discoverable in it ; which perfectly agrees 
 with our ideas on the import of the opening line of 
 this eclogue. 
 
 14. Green ;Jlowerif. It has bcrn remarked, that 
 the word here used lias both these significations ; and 
 
 if, as we suppose, it refers to the green grass before 
 the pavilion, and to the flowers, and flowering 
 sln-ubs, in pots and vases, standing close by the pa- 
 vilion, it is applicable to both ideas. On this subject 
 there is an appropriate passage in Tavernier : " I never 
 left the court of Persia, but some of the lords, es- 
 pecially four of the white eunuchs, begged of me to 
 bring some flowers out of France ; for they have evei-y 
 one a garden before their chamber door ; and happy is he 
 that can present the king with a posy of flowers in a 
 crystal flower-pot." We know, also, that banquets, 
 «Scc. are held in gardens adjoining the residences of 
 persons of opulence, in the East: and when Ahasue- 
 rus, rising from table, went into the palace-garden, 
 (Esther vii. 7.) he had not far to go ; but might quit 
 the banquet chamber, dnd return to it in an instant ; 
 for, evidently, the garden was adjacent. The idea of 
 flowery verdure also applies to the rendering of oixsh 
 — carpet, or covering ; not bed. (See Bed.) That a 
 bed for sleeping on should be green, is no great proof 
 of magnificence ; but an extensive bed of flowers, as 
 it were, in full view of a parlor opening into it, 
 would at once delight the senses of sight and smell, 
 and would deserve mention, when elegances were 
 the subjects of discourse. 
 
 IG. After the Bridegroom is ^^ ithdrawn, the Bride 
 expresses herself to the ladies with less reserve. Her 
 conversation no longer refers to the palace, but to 
 her beloved ; she resumes the recently suggested 
 simile of the citron-tree, which, being a garden plant, 
 naturally leads her thoughts to a kiosk in a garden, 
 where, when they should be in jirivate together, 
 they might partake of refreshments ; and while 
 they should be sitting on the Duan, (see Bed,) 
 he might rest his arm on the cushion, which 
 supported her head, while his right arm was free 
 to offer her refreshments, citrons, &c. or to em- 
 brace her. She concludes by saying, that in such a 
 pleasing seclusion she would not choose their mutu- 
 al affection should be interrupted ; and alludes to the 
 very startling antelopes and deer, as the most timid 
 creatures she could select, and those most likely to 
 be frightened at intrusion on their retreats. 
 
 17. Deep shadow. As the tirange-tree does not 
 grow to any height, or extent, in Britain, answerable 
 to this idea of a deep shadow, we must take the opin- 
 ion of those who have seen it in, or near, perfection: 
 a single witness may be suflicient, if the orange-trees 
 of Judea may be estimated by those of Spain. No 
 doubt but the Bride's comparison implies a noble 
 tree, a grand tree of its kind. The following are 
 from ]Mr. Swinburne's travels in Spain : "The day 
 Was sultry, and I could with pleasure have lolled it 
 out in the prior''s g-art/cn, uisder the shade of a 
 KOBLE i-EMON-TREE, rcfrcshcd by the soft perfumes 
 ascending on every side, from the neighboring or- 
 chards." , . . "Being very hot and hungry, we made 
 the best of our way Lome, through large plantations 
 of orange-trees, which Iwe grow to the size of 
 moderate TIMBER trees; the fruit is much more 
 pleasing to the eye, if less so i^ the palate, than the 
 oranges of Portugal, as the rich 'bUiod color is ad- 
 mirably contrasted with the bright tint of the leave*! " 
 Pages 250, 2t!0. 
 
 18. That the fruit here meant is not " applt^c," but 
 citrons, is now so generally admitted, that we heed 
 not stay to prove it: nevertheless, it is proper to 
 mention it, that this rendering may not seem to be 
 adopted without authority. Almost every writer has 
 proofs on this subject. See Apple-Tree.
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [261 1 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 77ie second day. — 1. Bride at her tvindoiv hears the 
 hunting-horn. This we think probable, from what 
 follows ; the directions of the Bridegroom to his com- 
 panions to catch the jackals, partly prove it ; perhaps, 
 however, the poet hints, that though, when he set 
 out, the i)rince designed to be of their party, yet, af- 
 ter conversation with his Beloved, he is tempted to 
 send them alone on that expedition. It is very nat- 
 ural that this passing by the Brido'a whidows should 
 occur, if Solomon dwelt below, and was going out 
 at a gate above, in the palace ; or even if his chase 
 were restricted to the area within the walls, it might 
 easily lead him to pass the upper wing of the palace, 
 and the windows of the liaram. 
 
 2. Music. This is considered in the article on 
 Marriage Processions. Are not these hills, these 
 rising grounds, within the park of the palace ? If so, 
 then perhaps the Bridegroom, in a following day, in- 
 vites his Bride to no very distant or very dangerous 
 " lions' haimts," or " panther mountains ;" — hut to 
 hillocks, &CC. in his park, known by these appella- 
 tions. Wc say pa-haps, because, though such names 
 are given to i)arts of a royal palace in the East, yet 
 the mention of Lebanon seems to infer a more dis- 
 tant excursion. 
 
 3. Seated in his {i) carriage. See the Plate of Ve- 
 hicles, p. 269. Also for (5) the windows ; and for 
 (6) the blinds, or lattices. 
 
 7. Mij Dove hid in (he clej^s of the rocks. To im- 
 derstand this simile, consider the Bridegroom as be- 
 ing in the garden, htlow the windows of the cham- 
 ber, within which openings the Bride is seen by him ; 
 now, windows in the East are not only narrow, but 
 they have cross-bars, like those of our sashes, in 
 them : the interposition of these prevents a full view 
 of the lady's person ; so that she resembles a dove 
 peeping, as it were, over, or from within, the clefts 
 in a rock ; and only partly visible ; that is, retiring, 
 her head and neck, or crop, " which," says the Bride- 
 groom, "though I can but just discern, I perceive is 
 lovely." Observe, too, that she is closely veiled ; the 
 retiring, timid dove, therefore, is the comparison. — 
 The Bridegroom continues the simile of the dove, 
 praises (8) her turgid crop, and her pleasant voice ; 
 this, in a dove, can only be the (9) cooing, or call, of 
 that bird, which, under this simile, he desires to hear 
 directed toward himself. 
 
 10. M}/ Beloved is mine, and I am his. Does this 
 mean, " 1 ain all obedience to his requests ? Our en- 
 joyments now are mutual, and it shall be my happi- 
 ness to accomplish his desires." What is the import 
 of the phrase " feeding among lilies ?" — Who feeds? 
 — who is fed? — why among lilies? 
 
 11. Bether. This might be rendered " the craggy 
 moiuitains ;" and if it were certain that the ibex or 
 roek-goat, or the chamois, was that particular species 
 of gazelle which we have rendered " antelope," it 
 might be very proper to preserve that translation ; 
 but as Egypt is not a mountainous country, but a 
 valley, could the Bride know any thing of the rock- 
 goat ? On the other hand, were the moiuitains of 
 Bether funous for swift goats ? — and how should the 
 Bride know that particular ? 
 
 12. Till night I seek him ; meaning, I have waited 
 for my Beloved all the evening ; and now, though it 
 be too late to expect his com])any, still I seek him : 
 my disappointment is great ; — hut how to remedy 
 it ? — Shall I go into the city ? for I am sure he is not 
 at home ; I am sure, if he were in his palace, ho 
 would visit me. The whole of this speech is under- 
 stood to be in the optative mood ; we have rather used 
 
 the subjunctive English mood, as more likely to COB- 
 vey its true import. 
 
 13. City. See the article on Jerusalem, where 
 we have suggested the probability of the term City, 
 in Acts xii. denoting the City of David. We would 
 suggest the same here ; and submit, that the Bride 
 does not mean the City of Jerusalem, but the streets, 
 the broad places, the haiKlsome courts, squares, &c. 
 of the City of David, her present royal residence. 
 Under this idea, should she venture on an evening 
 promenade, she would be near her apartments, and 
 never beyond the walls of her palace : but even this 
 she declines; not choosing to expose herself to inci- 
 dental meetings with the guards or watchmen. To 
 suppose that she has any inclination to ramble in Je- 
 rusalem at large, is to forget that she is a foreigner, 
 and very recently arrived : how could she know her 
 way about that city ? 
 
 The third day. — 1. What is that — ? In the origi- 
 nal, " JFho is that" — ? But this has been regarded as 
 an error of transcribers. If the original word were 
 ivhat, then the palanquin is the subject of this inquiry ; 
 and to this the answer is given ; if the original word 
 were who, then the answer implies that the royal own- 
 er Mas seated in this vehicle. But there appears no 
 subsequent reference to him. We have rather 
 thought that the general turn of the question leads 
 to the word what : the reader will take his choice, as 
 either word implies the same import, and will justify 
 the same answer. 
 
 2. Vast column of smoke. This strong expression 
 [plural] is by no means too strong for the poet's de- 
 sign : the Avord is used in Joel ii. 30. to denote the 
 smoke of a volcano, or other abundant discharge of 
 smoke, rising high in the air like a cloud. The im- 
 mense quantity of perfumes burning around the ap- 
 proaching visitor is alluded to with very great address, 
 under this prodigious comjiarison. The burning of 
 perfumes in the East, in the preceding part of pro- 
 cessions, is both veiy ancient, and very general. 
 Deities (images) were probably the first honored 
 with this ceremony, and afterwards their supposed 
 vicegerents, human divinities. W^e have a relic of 
 the same custom still existing among ourselves, in the 
 flowers strewed or borne in public pi-ocessions, at cor- 
 onations, &c. and before our great officers of state ; 
 as the lord chancellor, the speaker of the House of 
 Commons ; and in some corporations the mace, as an 
 ensign of office, has the same origin, though now re- 
 duced to a gilded ornament only. 
 
 3. Palanquin. See the Plate of Vehicles, below, 
 
 4. Fearless. We rather think this epithet describes 
 the commander of these guards, " the man," that is, the 
 head man, or chief, (see No. 10. of the Sixth Day,) 
 as a brave fellow; of tried courage, void of fear, in 
 the very darkest night, or rather, at all times: the 
 composition of the Hebrew word (with r) favors 
 this thought ; and we think, had not the bed, the sleep- 
 ing bed, unluckily ])recedcd it, this word Avould not 
 have been deviated by translators from its proper im- 
 port ; to which we have endeavored to restore it, 
 
 5. This passage would startle the reader if he ha<l 
 not been ])repared for it by AA'hat we have already 
 said. This arrangement of the words is imusual in 
 Hebnnv, yet in poetry is very natural ; it mere!}' re- 
 fers the subject described to the following words de- 
 scribing it, instead of the foregoing words, to which 
 it has hitlierto been usual to refer it. We shall see 
 by the Plates the proprieties which accompany, as 
 natural inferences, this manner of regulating the pas- 
 sage. See the Plate of Vehicles,
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 262 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 6. Head-Circlet. This might be rendered bandeau; 
 but then we could not have preserved the play of 
 words ; for to have said, " the bandeau with which 
 his mother banded, or bandaged, his head," would have 
 been intolerable : the expression in our language be- 
 comes ludicrous ; we have therefore preferred circlet, 
 with which his mother encircled him. What this aV- 
 clet was, we may see on another occasion more fully ; 
 but the Plate of the Bridegroom's Drkss will assist 
 us in part. (See p. 271.) 
 
 7. Bridegroom having seen his Bride for the first 
 time. This we infer, because this is his first descrip- 
 tion of her, or the first compliniciit he pays to her 
 person ; he praised, in the first day, her general de- 
 portment ; in the second day, he only compared her 
 neck to that of a dove, that being all he had yet seen ; 
 but now, the poet seems to say that he takes advan- 
 tage of her contemplation of the royal palanquin to 
 ius])cct her countenance ; which also she has suflTcred 
 to be seen, partially at least. (See Nos. 7. 8. of the 
 Second Day.) Observe, he only praises so much of 
 her person as we may suppose he could discern, 
 while she was standing behind the window ; that is 
 to say, her face, her hair, (seen in front,) her neck, 
 and her bosom ; having caught a glimpse of these, he 
 praises them ; but his Bride has modestly stolen away, 
 and returns no answer. She hears him, no doubt, 
 with internal pleasure ; but the complete sight of her 
 being a favor not } et to be granted, she withholds 
 her approbation from the incident which had been 
 too much his friend. Observe the art of the poet, 
 who introduces an incident, whereby he favors the 
 Lover with a gratification to which he was not, strict- 
 ly speaking, entitled ; yet contrives to save the delica- 
 cy of his Bride entirely harmless and irreproachable: 
 he gives to the Bride the choice of what time — how 
 long — she would continue at the window ; yet from 
 the accident of her going to the window without her 
 veil, if the introduction of his palanquin were a plot 
 in the Bridegroom, we perceive, by his subsequent 
 xliscourse, that his plot had succeeded ; — and this 
 without the smallest imputation on the delicacy of the 
 person who was the object of his contrivance. 
 
 8. Between thj locks. The word rendered locks 
 seems to imply that portion of — those curls of — the 
 hair whicti ])Iays around the forehead : whereas, the 
 word rendered tresses seems to denote those braids 
 which fall down the back of the wearer. (See the 
 Plate of the Bride's Dress, below.) Agreeably to 
 this supposition, we do not recollect that the king has 
 praised her tresses, because he had not seen them ; 
 jiaving only seen his Lady in' front ; but he praises 
 her locks, tvto or three times ; they being such parts 
 of her hair as, in beholding her person in front, nat- 
 lu'ally met his inspection. 
 
 9. 10. There is an oj)])osit:on in this passage Avhich 
 requires elucidation. Thy hair, or braids of hair, 
 falling on thy shoulders, arc like the long hairs of the 
 Angora species of goat, whose staple is of great length, 
 and very silky, (some of them have been made into 
 muffs for our ladies,) which hang down, but bend and 
 wave in hanging. Opposed to tliis is a flock of sheep, 
 closely shorn, trimmed of their wool ; no superflu- 
 ity, but unifortn and perfect neatness. The goats 
 are descending at mount Gilcad ; wher<-, we sujipose, 
 tlie way was winding and tortuous, making the flock 
 appear the longer, and more ninnerous, to a person 
 standing at the foot of the mount: the sheep are com- 
 ing up on mount Cassiua ; suppose such a road, as 
 apparently or really compresses them into one com- 
 pany; (especially if seen by a person standing on the 
 
 top of the mount ;) or which only admits two at a 
 time to pass along it. Mount Gilead was at the ex- 
 tremity of J udea, north : mount Cassius was at the 
 extremity of Judea, south. The contrast is, that of 
 long hair lengthened by convolutions of descent ; op- 
 posed to the utmost smoothness contracted into the 
 narrowest space. 
 
 11. As to the rendering of "mount Cassius," in- 
 stead of "the washing:" — (1.) It rises from reading 
 the original as two words, instead of one ; which, in 
 fact, does not deserve the name of an alteration : (2.) 
 as mount Gilead is a i)lace, the parallelism requires a 
 place for this verse ; which, (3.) the o))positions we 
 have above remarked fully justify. This correction 
 restores the poetry of the passage ; and is perfectly 
 agreeable to the usages of Hebrew poetry in general, 
 and of this Song in particular. 
 
 12, 13. Blushing ; tchite. These verses, we appre- 
 hend, maintain an opposition of a nature similar to 
 that illustrated in the foregoing remarks: blushing 
 like a pomegi-anate ; — ivhite as a marble tower. We 
 presume, that the inference of blushing is not to the 
 flower of the pomegranate, but to the inner part of 
 its rind when the fruit is cut open ; Avhich certainly is 
 sufticiently blushing. The comparison of the female 
 complexion to the rind, or skin, of ruddy fruits is 
 Gonnnon in all nations. It is among ourselves a com- 
 pliment rather popular than elegant, to say of a young 
 woman, " She blushes Yiko a Catharine pear :" but 
 comparisons derived from the blushes of the peach are 
 used not only in good company but by good writers. 
 
 14. The tower of David, built on a commanding em- 
 inence. Probably this tower was part of the palace 
 of David; or it might be a guard-house, which stood 
 alone, on some hillock of his royal residence. The 
 allusion, we presume, is to the lady's neck rising from 
 her shoulders and bosom, majestically slender, grace- 
 ful, and delicate as the clearest marble ; of which ma- 
 terial, probably, this tower of David was constructed. 
 On the neck of this lady was hung, by way of orna- 
 ment, a row or collet of gems, some of which were 
 polished, prominent, and oval in shaj)e ; these the 
 speaker assimilates to the shields which were hung 
 round the tower of David, as military embellishments. 
 We would ask, however, whether these shields, thus 
 hung on the outside of this lower, were not troj)hie3 
 taken from the vanquished ; — if so, antiquity explains 
 this custom at once, and the royal lover may be un- 
 derstood as saying, " 3Iy father David hung many 
 shields of those warriors whom he had subdued, 
 many shields of the mighty, as trophies of his proAvess, 
 around the tower which he built as an arniory ; 
 trophies no less splendid, and of conquests no less 
 numerous over princes vanquished by yoin- beauty, 
 adorn your neck." (See 1 Mace. iv. 57.) This is not 
 all ; as the word for shields seems to imply a shield 
 borne before a warrior ; as before Goliath, when sub- 
 dued by David, 1 Sain.xvi. 7. 
 
 15. Thy tivo 7iipplcs. Here we cannot, we appre- 
 hend, adopt any otlier rendering ; for the simile seems 
 to allude to two young red antelopes, who, feeding 
 among lilies, and being much shorter than the flow- 
 ers, arc wholly obscured by them, except the tips of 
 their noses, Avhich lliey put up to reach the flowers, 
 growing on their majestic stems. As these red tips 
 are seen among the white lilies, so are the nipples 
 just discernible through the transparent gauze, or 
 muslin, which covers the lady's bosom. Otherwise, 
 the breast itself is compared to lilies, on account of 
 its whiteness ; above which peeps up the red nose of 
 the beautiful gazelle.
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 16. Lebanon. This may be understood as if he 
 had said, " Your Egypt is a low, a level country ; but 
 we have here most delightful and extensive prospects. 
 What a vast country we see from mount Lebanon !" 
 &c. And this may veiy possibly be the true sense of 
 the in\ itation ; but we submit, whether these appel- 
 lations were not names of places within the precincts 
 of the royal park. Such occur in the East ; and to 
 such, we suspect, is the allusion of this passage. 
 
 17. Carried captive my heart ; robbed me of my 
 heart, and carried it oft, as a prisoner of war, into 
 slavery : so we say among ourselves, such a one has 
 " lost his heart," — " his heart is captivated ;" which is 
 tiie idea here. 
 
 18. By one sally of thine eyes ; that is, of which I 
 just get a glimpse, behind or between thy veil -, or, of 
 which the sparkles, shooting through thy veil, reach 
 me ; and that with irresistible effect ; even to my 
 heart's captivity, as above. The comparison of 
 glances of the eyes to darts, or other weapons, is 
 common in the poets. 
 
 19. Spoiise. The first time we meet with this word, 
 calah, it implies bi-ide : but, we think, it is capable 
 of being referred to either sex, like our word spouse. 
 The Bridegroom adds, viy sister, (see Abraham,) but 
 the Bride, in her answer, though she adopts the word 
 spouse, yet omits the term brother ; we suppose, be- 
 cause that was understood to convey a freedom not 
 yet becoming her modesty to assume ; — she goes so 
 far ; but uo farther. The reader will perceive several 
 words altaclied, in elucidation of this appellation, to 
 the places where it occurs. 
 
 20. Around thee shoot plants ; literally, " thy shoots 
 are plants," &c. By means of this supplement, we 
 presume, the ideas of the poet are, for the first time, 
 rendered clear, correct, and connected. The impor- 
 tance of water, fountains, springs, &c. in the East, is 
 well knowTi ; but the peculiar importance of this arti- 
 cle to a garden, and that garden appropriated to aro- 
 matic plants, must be very striking to an oriental 
 reader. By way of meeting some ideas that have been 
 suggested, we shall add, that the Bride is a fountain, 
 &c. securely locked up from the Bridegroom, at pres- 
 ent ; that is, he is not yet privileged to have complete 
 access to her. What the advantages of water to a 
 garden of aromatics might be, we may guess from 
 the nature of the plants; the following extract from 
 Swinburne may contribute to assist our conjectures : 
 "A large partj' of sprightly damsels and young men 
 that were walking here were much indebted to us 
 for making the water-works play, by means of a 
 small bribe to the keeper. Nothing can be more de- 
 licious than these sprinklings in a hot day ; all the 
 flowers seemed to acquire new vigor ; the odors exhaled 
 from the orange, citron, and lemon trees, grew more 
 poignant, more balsamic, and the company ten times 
 more alive than they were ; it was a true April show- 
 er. We sauntered near two hours in the groves, till 
 we were quite in ecstasy with sweets. It is a most heav- 
 enly residence in spring, and I shoidd think the sum- 
 mer heats might be tempered and rendered supjjort- 
 able enough by the profusion of water that they en- 
 joy at Seville." (Travels in Spain, p. 252.) The 
 following description of his mistress, by an Arabian 
 lover, in Richardson's Arab. Gram. (p. 15L) bears 
 much similitude to several allusions in the poem be- 
 fore us : — 
 
 Her mouth was like the Solomon's seal, 
 And her cheeks like anemonies, 
 And her lips like two carnations, 
 
 [ 263 ] CANTICLES 
 
 And her teeth like pearls set in coral, 
 And her forehead like the new moon ; 
 And her hps were sweeter than honey, 
 And colder than the pure water. 
 
 How very different from our own is that climate, 
 wherein the coldness of pure water is a subject 
 of admiration ! — a comparison to the lips of the 
 fair! 
 
 21. Qj^The nard. As this plant occurs in the 
 close of the former verse, should it again occur here ? 
 Can the words be differently connected ? or is a 
 word unfortunately dropped ? or what fragiant shrub 
 should be substituted for the nard7 but observe, 
 that in one passage the word nard is singular, in the 
 other it is plural. 
 
 22. We are so accustomed to consider the aloe as 
 a hitter, because of the medical drug of that name, (an 
 inspissated juice,) that we are hardly prepared to re- 
 ceive this allusion to the delicious scent of the flowers 
 of this plant ; but that it justly possesses and main- 
 tains a place among the most fragrant aromatics, we 
 are well assured :— "This morning, like many of tho 
 foregoing ones, was delicious; the sun rose glorious- 
 ly out of the sea, and the air all around was perfum- 
 ed with the effluvia of the aloe, as its rays sucked up 
 tho dew from the leaves." (Swinburne's Travels 
 through Spain. Letter xii.) 
 
 23. Sink, thou southern gale. On this avertive sense 
 of the word ba, see the article Shiloh. Had this 
 sentiment been uttered in England, we should have 
 reversed the injunction ; but, in Judea, the heat of the 
 south wind would have suffocated the fragrancy of 
 the garden, to which the north \vind would have been 
 every way favorable. To desire the north wind to 
 blow at the same time when the south wind blows, is 
 surely perverted philosophy, inconsistent, poetry, and 
 miserable divinity. 
 
 24. / am come into my garden ; that is, " I already 
 enjoy the pleasure of your company and conversa- 
 tion ; these are as grateful to my mind as delicious 
 food could be to my palate : I could not drink wine 
 and milk with greater satisfaction : I am enjoying it. 
 And 3'ou, my friends, partake the relisli of those pleas- 
 ures Avhich you hear iron) the lips of my beloved, and 
 of those elegances which you behold in her deport- 
 ment and address." 
 
 The fourth day. — 1. The Bride says explicitly, that 
 these occurrences haj)pened in a dream, ^^ I slept f^ — 
 which at once removes all ideas of indelicacy, as to 
 the Bridegroom's attempt to visit her, her going to 
 the door, standing there, calling him, being found by 
 t!ie watchmen, beaten, wounded, &c. Moreover, 
 she seems to have supposed herself to be previously 
 married, by mentioning her ra^/irf, or deep veil, which 
 in reality, we presume, she had not yet worn, as the 
 marriage had not actually taken place ; and, though 
 betrothed, she probably did not wear it till the wed- 
 ding. That the word heart in this passage means 
 imagination, dreaming imagination, fancy, appears 
 from Eccles. ii. 23 : " The days of laborious man are 
 sorrows ; his doing vexations, yea, even in the night- 
 time his HEART does not rest ;" he is still cireaming of 
 still engaged about, the subject of his daily labors. — 
 This sense of the word heart is not uncommon in the 
 Proverbs. 
 
 2. TTie voice, that is, sound, of my beloved, knocking. 
 For the same reasons for which we have rendered 
 voice, music, in the Second Day, (2) we have rendered 
 voice, sound, in this place ; since the sound of a rapping 
 against a door is not properly a voice ; and since the
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [264 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 word bears a more general sense than voice, restrict- 
 ively. 
 
 3. Lock. On the nature of the locks used in the 
 East, Mr. Harmer has said something, and we mean 
 to say more elsewhere, with a Plate and explana- 
 tion. 
 
 4. Chamber of my heart. See the article Ship. 
 
 5. Standard of ten thousand : — chief say many ; — 
 standard, say others ; — he for tvhom the standard is 
 borne, say some, observing, that the word has a pas- 
 sive import ; (the standard was a fiery beacon ;) — he 
 who caiTies this beacon — no, that is too laborious — he 
 for ivhom, in whose honor, to light whom, this stan- 
 dard is carried ; he who shines, glitters, dazzles, by 
 the light of it: and, lastly, comes the present elucida- 
 toi- — what forbids that this royal Bridegroom should 
 himself be the standard that leads, that precedes, that 
 is followed by — imitated by — ten thousand ? So 
 Shakspeare describes Hotspur — 
 
 His honor stuck upon him, as the sun 
 
 In the gray vault of heaven, and by his light 
 
 Did all the chivalry of England move 
 
 To do brave acts : "he was indeed the glass 
 
 Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves. 
 
 So that, in speech, in gait. 
 
 In diet, in afiections of delight. 
 
 In military rules, humors of blood. 
 
 He was the mark and glass, copy and book. 
 
 That fashioned others ! — And him O wondrous 
 
 him ! 
 O miracle of men ! 
 
 6. His eyes are like doves. Nothing can more strik- 
 ingly evince the necessity for acquaintance with the 
 East, as well in its natural histoiy as in other articles, 
 than this passage, and the other passages in which 
 eyes are compared to doves ; our translators say, " to 
 the eyes of doves," which, as it may be understood to 
 imply meekness, tenderness, &c. has usually passed 
 without correction: but the facts are, (L) that our 
 translators have added the word eyes ; and (2.) that 
 they took l)lack for Avhite. They had in their mind 
 the ivhiie pigeon, or, at least, the light-colored turtle- 
 dove ; whereas the most connnon pigeon, or dove, in 
 the East, is the deep blue, or blue-gray pigeon, whose 
 brilliant plumage vibrates around his neck every 
 sparkling hue, every dazzling flash of color : and to 
 this pigeon the comparison of the author refers. 
 The deep blue ])igeon, standing amid the foam of a 
 water-fall, would bo — a blue centre surrounded by a 
 white space on each side of him, analogous to the iris 
 of the eye, surrounded by the white of the eye. But, 
 as the foam of this water-fall is not brilliant enough 
 to satisfy the poet, he has placed this deep blue pigeon 
 in a pond of milk, or in a garden basin of milk, 
 where, he says, he turns himself round, to parallel the 
 dipping of tlic former verse : lie wantons, sports, 
 frisks : so sportive, rolling, and glittering, is the eye, 
 the iris of my beloved. The milk, then, denotes the 
 white of the eye, and the i)igeon surrounded by it 
 the iris : that is, "the iris of his eye is like a deep blue 
 pigeon, standing in the cenU-c of a pool of milk." 
 The comjjarison is certainly extremely poetical and 
 pictiu-esquc. Those who can make sense of our 
 public translation are extretn(!ly favored in point of 
 ingenuity. This idea had not esca})ed the poets of 
 Hindostan ; for wo have in the Gitagovinda the fol- 
 lowing passage : " The glances of licr eyes played 
 like a pair of water-birds of azure plumage, that sport 
 near a full-blown lotos on a pool in the season of dew." 
 
 The pools of Heshbon afford a different comparison 
 to the eyes of the Bride ; dark, deep, and serene, are 
 her eyes ; so are those pools, dark, deep, and serene : 
 — but were they also surrounded by a border of dark- 
 colored marble, analogous to the border of stibium 
 drawn along the eye-lids of the spouse, and render- 
 ing them apparently larger, fuller, deeper.^ As this 
 comparison is used where ornaments of dress ai-e the 
 particular subjects of consideration, we tliink it not 
 impossible to be correct ; and certainly it is by no 
 means contradictory to the ideas contained in the 
 simile recently illustrated. (See No. 9. in the Fifth 
 Day.) For the particulars of the Dress, sec the Plates 
 of dresses and their explanations, infra. 
 
 7. Decorated as Tirzah, &c. Th« whole of this 
 eclogue, we apprehend, is composed of military allu- 
 sions and phrases ; consequently the cities, with the 
 mention of which it opens, were those most famous 
 for handsome fortifications. " Thou art [ipi] decorat- 
 ed as Tirzah ; — [naweh] adorned as Jerusalem; — 
 [aimeh] ornamented in a splendid, sparkling, radiant 
 manner, as bannered ranks, or corps of soldiers, are 
 ornamented ; which is not far from the compliment 
 formerly paid her as resembling an officer of cavalry, 
 riding with dignity among the horse of Pharaoh : nor 
 is it unlike the reference of the prince himself to a 
 [fiery] standard, in the preceding eclogue. See what 
 is said on the banner of the heavens in a following 
 verse : these banners, we must recollect, were 
 
 flaming fire-pots, usually carried on the top of a 
 staff: 
 
 8. Jflieel about thine eyes : literally, do that return, 
 or, at least, turn round: but this phrase is not in our 
 language either military or poetical ; we have, there- 
 fore, adopted a word of command, whose import is 
 of the same nature, and Avhose application has been 
 sufliciently familiar to us of late. 
 
 9. My station, literally, my region, the ground I 
 occupy with my troops, my post, in a military sense ; 
 which station you attack, and by your attack force 
 me to give ground, to retire ; you drive me off", over- 
 power me, advance into my territories, and, in spite 
 of my resistance, add them by victory and conquest 
 to your own. These are clearly military ideas, and 
 therefore, we suppose, are expressed in military 
 terms. 
 
 10. Here follow four lines, or verses, repeated from 
 the second eclogue of the second day. They have 
 every appearance of being misplaced ; a mere dupli- 
 cate of the former passage. It should seem rather 
 unlikely that, in so short a poem, such a duplication 
 should be inserted intentionally. Whether these 
 lines replace othere which should be here, or merely 
 are a repetition, the reader will judge for himself 
 by the connection, or want of connection, of the 
 passage. 
 
 * Dazzling as the streamers 7 a comet. The 
 reader will probably be startled at this idea, as we 
 also should have been, had we not accidentally met 
 with the following Arabic verses in Richard- 
 son: — 
 
 When I describe your beauty, my thoughts are 
 
 perplexed. 
 Whether to compare it 
 To the sun, to the moon, or to the wandering star 
 
 [a comet]. 
 
 Now this idea com])letes the climax of the pas- 
 sage, which was greatly wanted ; so that the com- 
 parisons stand, (1.) day-break, a small glimmering
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 2G5 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 light ; (2.) the moon ; (full moon ?) (3.) the sun clear- 
 ly shinhig ; (4.) the comet ; which, seen by night, is 
 dazzling ; as it were, the fiery banner, or streamer of 
 the hosts of heaven ; such a phenomenon has ever 
 been among the most terrific objects to the eyes of 
 the simple Aral), on whose deep blue sky it glows in 
 tremendous perfection. Is this word plural hy em- 
 phasis ? — meaning, the chief of streamers ; the 
 STREAMER, par excellence. 
 
 The comparison of a lady to the full moon is fre- 
 quently adopted in Arabia : 
 
 She appeared like the full moon in a night of joy, 
 Delicate in limbs, and elegant of stature. 
 
 We cannot refrain from observing how happily 
 this comet illustrates the simile, in Jude 18 : " JVan- 
 dering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of 
 darkness for ever." As the apostle uses the word 
 planetai, it has been usual to suppose he alludes to 
 neighboring orbs, the planets, whose motions appear 
 very irregular ; sometimes direct, sometimes station- 
 ary, sometimes retrograde ; but, if we refer his ex- 
 pression to comets, then we see at once how^hey 
 may be said to remain in perpetual darkness, after 
 their briHiancy is extinct ; which idea is not ai)plica- 
 ble to the planets. We may add, tliat the Chaldeans 
 held comets to be a species of planets, (Senec. 
 Quest. Nat.) that the Pythagoreans included com- 
 ets among planets which a])pear after veiy long in- 
 tervals, (Arist. Meteor, lib. i.) and that the Egyp- 
 tians calculated their periods and predicted tlieir 
 return. 
 
 IL Jiffection, heart. The Bride had told us be- 
 fore, in No. L that, while she slept, her affection, 
 heart, imagination, was awake ; the heart, among the 
 Hebrews, was the seat of the affections ; but, here, 
 the Bridegroom says, while he was really awake, 
 and therefore fully master of his senses, and of his 
 actions, his affection overcame his intentions, and 
 brought him back, uuawai-es to himself, unconscious- 
 ly, or nolens volcns, as we say ivill he nil he, toward 
 the object of his regard. This, then, is a stronger 
 idea than the former ; and is heightened by his no- 
 tice of the swiftness with which he was brougiit 
 back ; equal to that of the rapid chariots of his peo- 
 ple, flying to engage the enemy ; literally, chariots of 
 my people pouring oid (12): now, this pouring oid 
 hardly means a review ; but, if it do, it must point, 
 especially, to the most rapid movement of that ex- 
 ercise ; that is, the charge ; if it mean poured oid in 
 battle, it amounts to the same ; a charge on the ene- 
 my, executed with great velocity ; but some say, 
 "chariots of the princes of my people." (See Amin- 
 ADAit.) Wiio are "the people" of monarchs? The 
 phrase is used by Pharaoh, in Gen. xli. 40, and by 
 Solomon here. 
 
 13. Face about : literally, turn round : but as this 
 is no military phrase, as already observed, the ex- 
 pression adopted seems to be more coincident with 
 the general tenor of this eclogue. 
 
 14. This phrase, which literally is, that we may 
 fasten our eyes on thee, we have ventured to render 
 
 reconnoitre thee ; for it appears, that they would 
 " fasten their eyes" on her, as they did on entrench- 
 ments around camps ; which can be nothing but 
 what modern military language would term recon- 
 noitring. 
 
 1.5. iniat, or how, woidd you fasten your eyes on 
 Selomeh ? — Like as ive do on the ditches, fosses, or 
 entrenchments of the camps. In this sense the root is 
 34 
 
 used, in 2 Sam. xx. 15; 1 Kings xxi. 23; Isa. xxvi. 
 1 ; Lam. ii. 1. On the whole, then, it appears, that 
 these are military terms ; and it must be owned that 
 they prodigiously augment the variety of the poem, 
 and give a highly spirited air to this eclogue in par- 
 ticular ; they account, too, for the lively interference 
 of the Bridegroom's companions, and, by the rapid 
 repartee they occasion, they close it very differently 
 from all the others, and with the greatest animation 
 and vivacity. 
 
 Thcffth day. — 1. Feet in sandals. See the Plate 
 of the Bride's Dress. 
 
 2. Z)aKjg/iicr o/ Liberality : or of princes. Here 
 the same word occurs as we observed signified 
 (Fourth D ay, No. 12.) powing out ; it is usually ren- 
 dered princes, from the opportunity enjoyed by per- 
 sons of high rank, of pouring out their liberality on 
 pro|)er occasions ; and perhaps such is its import in 
 this })lace. Daughter, in the looser sense of the word, 
 not descendant, huX patroness of pouring out, of libe- 
 rality, who hast spared no expense, on this occasion, 
 to adorn thyself with the most costly apparel ; q. d. 
 " Daughter of liberahty, how magnificent ! how ele- 
 gant ! how attractive is thy dress ! the whole to- 
 gether is beautiful ; the parts separately are rich and 
 ornamental ! We shall consider and commend them 
 in their order." 
 
 As the Bride stands up, the ladies begin with de- 
 scribing her sandals ; and they not only praise her 
 sandals, but her feet in them. The reader will per- 
 ceive, by inspecting the prints, that this is extremely 
 accurate ; as sandals do not hide the feet, but permit 
 their every beauty to be seen ; and although our la- 
 dies, being accustomed to wear shoes, may think 
 more of a handsome shoe than of a handsome foot, 
 the taste in the East is different. We know that the 
 Roman emperor Claudius decorated his toes with 
 gems, no less than his fingers ; and was so proud of 
 his handsome foot, that whereas other sovereigns 
 used to give their hands to be kissed by their sub- 
 jects, on certain occasions, he gave his foot for that 
 purpose ; which some historians have attributed to 
 pride of station ; others to pride of person, as if his 
 handsome foot would otherwise have been over- 
 looked, and deprived of its due admiration. Ob- 
 serve, these ladies begin at the Bride's sandals, 
 her feet, and their descriptions ascend ; the Bride- 
 groom always begins with her locks, her hair, &c. 
 and his descriptions descend, but not so low as the 
 feet. 
 
 3. The selvedges of thy drawers. This word 
 [chemuk] is derived from the same root as that in 
 the Second Day rendered " my beloved was tuimcd 
 away ;" it signifies, therefore, to turn, to return, to 
 turn back ; now, what can more correctly describe 
 the selvedge of a piece of cloth, &c. which is made 
 by the return of the threads back again, to where 
 they came from, that is, across the cloth? Thus 
 threads, by perpetually turning and returning, com- 
 pose the edge of the cloth ; which we conceive to 
 be the very article described by the use of the word 
 in this pface ; but if it be the edge of the gar- 
 ment, the thought is the same ; since that is the 
 natm-al situation for an ornamental pattern of open- 
 work. 
 
 4. Drawers. This word can never mean thighs ; 
 as thighs have no selvedges, it must mean drawers, 
 or the dress of the thighs. See the Plate of Egyp- 
 tian Dresses, jjiyra. 
 
 5. Open-ivork ; pinked. AVhich of these words 
 should be adopted depends on what materials these
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 266 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 drawers were made of: if they were of muslin, then 
 the open-tvork is ^\^•ollght with a needle, as muslin 
 will not bear pinking ; but if they were of silk, then 
 they might be adorned with flowers, &c. cut into 
 them by means of a sharp iron, struck upon the 
 silk, and cutting out those parts wliich formed the 
 pattern. And this, we apprehend, is the correct 
 meaning of the word ; it signities to pi'ick full of 
 holes — to wound — to pierce — to make an open- 
 ing — to run through, as with a sword : all which 
 ideas agi-ee perfectly with our rendering, pinking; 
 which consists in piercing silk full of holes, with 
 a steel instrument, forcibly struck through its sub- 
 ject. This detei-mines for silk drawers ; howev- 
 er, open-work pinkings do not disagree in phrase- 
 ology. 
 
 6. Girdle-clasp. See the Plate of Egyptian 
 Dresses, Nos. 6, 9. 
 
 7. Rich in mingled nine : the original is, not poor ; 
 an expression doubtless adopted by the poet for the 
 sake of his verse ; the difference between rendering 
 "rich," and "not poor," needs no ajjology. The 
 idea is, that this clasp was set ^^■ith rubies ; and sir 
 William Jones tells us, it is very common among the 
 Arabian poets to compare rubies to wine ; hence he 
 begins one of his translations from the Arabic, 
 
 " Boy, bid yon liquid ruby flow ;" meaning that 
 
 he should pour out wine from the vessel which con- 
 tained it. 
 
 8. jyipples. See No. 15. Third Day, where this 
 allusion has already occurred. 
 
 9. Eyes like the pools of Heshbon ; (see No. 6. in 
 Fourth Day ;) that is, darkened by a streak of stib- 
 ium di'awn all round them ; as those pools are 
 encompassed by a border of black marble. Proba- 
 bly, too, the form of these pools was oval rather than 
 circular. 
 
 10. Thy nose like the toivcr of Lebanon. If the 
 former line had not alluded to a place, whereby this 
 line should require allusion to a place also, we 
 should have inclined to risk a version derived from 
 the roots of these words; which would stand 
 thus : — 
 
 Thy nose like a tower of whiteness itself. 
 Which overlooks the levels [thy cheeks, &c.]. 
 
 We are persuaded that this gives the true concep- 
 tion of the passage, even if referred to a structure 
 called the tower of Lebanon ; for Damascus is situ- 
 ated on a level plain ; or this tower might stand so 
 as to overlook some of those level plains which are 
 interspersed in the mountains of Lebanon. Such, 
 however, is the general idea ; an erect tower, but of 
 whatever other qualities is not determined. It might 
 be desirable to render the foregoing verse also ac- 
 cording to its roots ; but the mention of the gate of 
 Balhrahhim forbids ; and if Heshbon be of necessity 
 retained, then, for the sake of the parallelism, we 
 think we must retain also Lebanon and Damascus ; 
 of course, the comparisons are entirely local. See 
 No. 11. Third Day. 
 
 11. Carmel. (12.) Areganien. We confess our 
 embarrassment on tlie subject of these words. 
 
 13. Entangled. This word {assur) is used to sig- 
 nify the entangling power of love. Air. Harmer in- 
 terprets Eccles. vii. 26: "I find more bitter than 
 death the woman whose hands are [assurini) bands ;" 
 the general sense of the word is confinement, 
 restraint, bondage ; so that our word entangled seems 
 to express the idea sufficiently. 
 
 The idea that the king's heart was entangled in 
 the numerous and beautiful braids of hair which 
 adorned the head of his spouse, seems plausible 
 enough, from the customs of oriental females, and 
 the general scope of the passage ; but a particular 
 and applicable authority is furnished in an ode of 
 the Pend-Nameh, (p. 287, 288.) translated from the 
 Persian by baron Silvestre de Sacy. Ode of Jami 
 ON THE Tresses of his Mistress. — "O thou, who 
 hast entangled my heart in the net of thy ringlets ! 
 the name alone of thy curling hair is become a snare 
 for hearts. Yes, all hearts are enchained (as in the 
 links of a chain) in the (Unks) ringlets of thy hair ; 
 each of thy curls is a snare and chains. O thou, 
 whose curls hold me in captivity, it is an honor for 
 thy slave to be fettered by the chains of thy ringlets. 
 What other veil could so well become the fresh roses 
 of thy complexion, as that of thy black curls [fra- 
 gi-ant] like musk ? Birds fly the net ; but, most 
 wonderful ! my never quiet soul delights in the chains 
 of thy tresses ! Thy curls inhabit a region higher 
 than diat of the moon. Ah ! how high is the region 
 of thy tresses ! It is from the deep night of thy 
 curl^hat the day-break of felicity rises at every in- 
 stant for Jami, thy slave !" 
 
 The reader will probably think this rhapsody 
 sufficiently exalted ; it is, however, a not im- 
 modest specimen of the poetical exuberance of 
 fancy and figurative language in which the orientals 
 envelope their ideas, when inspired by the pow- 
 er of verse, and frenzied by the fascinations of 
 beauty. 
 
 14. Meandenngs. This word [rehethim) signifies 
 to run down, with a tremulous motion, or winding 
 way, as of a stream, or rill of water ; so Jacob's rods 
 were placed in the rills, rivulets, gutters; in the 
 watering-troughs: (Gen. xxx. 38, 46.) so the daugh- 
 ters of Reuel filled the troughs, watering-places, for 
 the sheep to drink from ; (Exod. ii. 16.) not raised 
 wooden troughs, such as our horses drink out of, but 
 rills running among the stones, &c. This we have 
 expressed by the word mcanderings ; derived from 
 the numerous hendings of the river Meander, and 
 now naturalized in our language, in reference to 
 streams and winding rivulets, &c. The trough into 
 which Rebekah emptied the contents of her pitcher 
 (Gen. xxiv. 20.) is described by a diflerent Avord, and 
 might be properly a trough. 
 
 15. Thy stature equals the palm. See the Plate of 
 the Bride's Dress, infra. 
 
 16. Thy address ; literally, thy palate ; but this 
 must refer to speech of some kind ; the Bride had 
 formerly told her spouse, that " his lips dropped 
 honey ;" and now he says, " her palate dropped 
 wine — prime wine ;" we have the lips and the palate 
 noticed together, to tiie same purjjose, in Prov. 
 V. 3 :— 
 
 The lips of a strange woman drop liquid honey, 
 ^Vnd her palate drops what is smoother than oil. 
 
 It is evident the writer means her flattering words, 
 her seductive discourses. The rendering " thy ad- 
 dress" seems to coincide with the cheering and per- 
 vading eflects of wine. 
 
 17. Going to be presented, as a special token of 
 affectionate regarcf, to persons whose consununate 
 integrity has been experienced ; literally, going for 
 love favors to uprights [persons]. Now, in such a 
 case, a ])erson would naturally select the very best 
 wine in his power ; he would not send the tait, or
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [267 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 the vapifl, but the most cordial, the most vahiable he 
 could procure. We suspect that the Bridegi'oom 
 compliments himself, under the character of a 
 friend whose integiity could not be doubted. (For 
 the sense of consummate or complete, as that of the 
 word Jashur, or Jeshurun, see the article Jeshu- 
 
 RUN.) 
 
 18. Should this chasm be filled up with 
 
 and he is mine ? 
 
 19. Dudaim. See the article Mandrake. 
 
 20. Our lofts ; — that is, the upper part of our 
 gates or openings. As it is evident they were 
 places to contain stores of fruit froin the last year's 
 gathering, the word lofts is as projier as any to con- 
 vey that idea. It might be added, that presents of 
 fruit, especially app-Jes, by youths to their beloveds, 
 are well known among the Greek poets ; indeed, the 
 practice almost became a custom, and originated a 
 proverb, "He loves her with apples;" — as we say 
 " w"ith cakes and comfits." 
 
 21. Thou shouldst conduct vie. The reader's at- 
 tention has already been drawn to this passage ; 
 without departing from the usual translation of the 
 words, we have merely referred them to the proper 
 gpeaker. 
 
 22. Should this chasm be filled up with 
 
 B%' the startling antelope, by the timid deer of the 
 field ? 
 
 It is inserted by the LXX, and the passage is miper- 
 fect without the usual termination. 
 
 TTie sixth day. — 1. Sociability. This seems to be 
 pretty nearly the import of the original term, which 
 occurs only in this place. Since, as we conceive, 
 the parties sat in the palanquin opposite to each 
 other, the Bride could hardlj' be said to be leaning 
 on her beloved, nor joining herself to her beloved, as 
 some have proposed to render it ; nevertheless, that 
 a kind of free intercourse after marriage is meant 
 here, which would not have been so proper before 
 marriage, admits of no doubt; and we think the chit- 
 chat of sociability may answer the meaning of the 
 word. The following conversation is probably a 
 continu.ition of, or at least is of the nature of, that 
 intended by the term sociability. 
 
 2. / urged thee ; that is to say, I -would not let thee 
 indulge tliy bashfulness, but brought thee forward to 
 the marriage ceremony, and overcame thy maiden 
 dilatoriness, "That would be w^oo'd, and not un- 
 sought be won." 
 
 3. Thy mother delivered thee. The word signifies 
 to deliver over, as a pledge is delivered over, to the 
 ]7erson who receives it, or to be brought forward, or 
 brought out for that purpose. The reader may dis- 
 cover, under the uncouth idiom of our translators, 
 this very idea ; " There thy mother brought thee 
 forth ;" that is, as a pledge is brought forth to be de- 
 livered to a person who stands out of the house to 
 receive it. (Sec Deut. xxiv. 10, 11.) That this is 
 sufficiently unhappily expressed, we suppose no ju- 
 dicious reader will hesitate to admit. But w4iat 
 shall we say to the Romish rendering of this pas- 
 sage : " There thy mother was corrupted ; there she 
 was deflowered that bare thee !" — and then — such 
 mysteries ! in reference to Eve, the general moth- 
 er, &c. 
 
 4. As a signet on thy arm. See the article Seals. 
 
 5. Our sister, or cousin, or friend, &c. The word 
 
 sister is not always used— strictiv— in the Hebrew, in 
 
 reference to consanguinity. iThe youth of this 
 
 party is denoted by the phrase— her" breast is not 
 grown to its proper mature size. In Egvpt this part 
 of the person was extremely remarkable ; Juvenal 
 describes the breasts of an Egjptian woman as being 
 larger than the child she suckled. 
 
 6. Kiosks are pavihons, or little closets projecting 
 from a wall for the purpose of overlooking the sur- 
 rounding country ; like our summer-houses, &c. In 
 the East they are, also, the indispensable places of 
 repose, and of that voluptuous, tranquil gi-atifi cation 
 to which the inhabitants are urged by the heats of 
 the climate. 
 
 7. As one ivho offered peace ; \i\.exs\\y, as one finding 
 peace ; but, perhaps, the sentiment is — " I ajjpeared 
 to him as inviting as the most delightful kiosk ; a 
 kiosk, in which he might be so delighted, that he 
 would go no farther in search of enjoyment." That 
 peace often means prosperity is well known ; in- 
 deed all good is, in the Hebrew language, as it 
 were, combined and concentrated in the term 
 peace. 
 
 8. Baal Ham Aun. We take this to be altogether 
 an Egyptian term ; Ham Aun is " progenitor Ham ;" 
 — Baal is " lord" — " The lord Ham our progenitor." 
 This agrees perfectly with Egvptian principles. (See 
 Ammon-No.) In fact, no other nation so long main- 
 tained, or had so just authority to maintain, its rela- 
 tion to Ham, who was commemorated in this coun- 
 try during many ages. This name of a place, de- 
 cidedly Egjptian, confirms the general notion that 
 the Bride was daughter to Pharaoh. 
 
 9. Inspectors. This is the office which had been 
 held by the Bride, when in her own country ; but 
 here it is expressed in the plural ; implying, probably, 
 an inferiority from that of the princess, though to 
 the same purposes, &c. 
 
 10. The tenant ; literally, the man ; that is, as we 
 understand it, the chief man, the first tenant, the oc- 
 cupier ; the same here as we have taken " the man" 
 for the commander, in No. 4. Third Day, that is, the 
 chief, or head man, as we speak ; not each man dis- 
 tributively, but the man emphatically ; for, if there 
 were many tenants, did each bring a thousand silver- 
 lings ? so as to make, say ten thousand ; then, why 
 not state the larger number ? or, did all which the 
 tenants brought make up one thousand ? then, why 
 not use the phu'al form men ? Moreover, since two 
 hundred, which is one fifth of a thousand, was due 
 to the inspectors, it reminds us, that this is the veiy 
 proportion established in Egypt by Joseph, Gen. 
 xlvii. 24. This is convincing evidence that this prin- 
 cess was from Egypt ; and proves that, for purposes 
 of protection, &c. this due was constantly gathered 
 by the reigning prince. We suppose she hints at 
 her father's government, under this allusion to these 
 inspectors ; and is still Egyptian enough to insist on 
 the propriety of paying the regidai- tribute to his 
 sovereignty, as governor in chief. An extract from 
 Mr. Swinburne's account of a similar estate among 
 the Spanish Arabs may explain the nature of these 
 fruiteries, and their profits : " I cannot give you a 
 more distinct idea of this people than by translathig 
 a passage in an Arabic manuscript, in the library of 
 the Escurial, entitled, ' The Histoiy of Granada, by 
 Abi Abdalah ben Alkalhibi Aboaneni,' written in the 
 year of the Hegira 778, A. D. 1378 ; Mahomet Lago, 
 being then, for the second time, king of Granada. 
 It begins by a description of the city and its envi- 
 rons, nearly in the following terms: 'The city of
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [268 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 Granada is surrounded with the most spacious gar- 
 dens, where the trees are set so thick as to resemble 
 hedges, yet not so as to obstruct the view of the 
 beautiful towers of the Alhambra, which glitter hke 
 so many bright stars over the green forests. The 
 plain, stretching far and wide, produces such quanti- 
 ties of gi"ain and vegetables that no revenues bnt 
 those of the first families in the kingdom are equal 
 to their annual produce. Each garden is calculated 
 to bring in a nett income of five hundred pieces of gold, 
 (aui-ei,) ouf of ivhich it pays thirty miiiEe to the king. 
 Beyond these gardens lie fields of various culture, at 
 all seasons of the year clad in the richest verdure, 
 and loaded with some valuable vegetable production 
 or other ; by this method a perpetual succession of 
 crops is secured, and a great annual rent is produced, 
 ivhich is said to amount to twenty thousand aurei. Ad- 
 joining you may see the sumptuous farms belonging 
 to the royal demesnes, ivonderfully agreeable to the be- 
 holder, from the large quantity of plantations of trees 
 and the variety of plants. The vineyards in the 
 neighborhood bring fowieen thousand aurei. Immense 
 are the hoards of all species of dried fruits, such as 
 fgs, 7-aisi)is, plums, ^'c. They have also the se- 
 cret of preserving grapes sound and juicy from 
 one season to another.'' " [Comp. Fifth Day, No. 
 20.] "N. B. I was notable to obtain any satis- 
 factory account of these Granada aurei, gold 
 coins." (Swinburne's Travels in Spain, Letter 
 xxii. p. 1G4.) 
 
 We have supposed that this Sixth Day is the day 
 of marriage ; as this has not usually been imder- 
 stood, we shall connect some ideas which induce us 
 to consider it in that light. Leo of Modena says, 
 that (1.) "The Jews marry on a Friday, if the spouse 
 be a maid ;" (Thursday, if a widow.) — Now Friday 
 morning is the time of this eclogue, supposing the 
 poem began with the first day of the week. — (2.) 
 " The Bride is adorned, and led out into the open 
 air ;" so, in this eclogue, the Bride's mother " brings 
 her out," for that purpose; — (3.) "into a court or 
 garden ;" so, in this eclogue, the ceremony passes 
 " under a citron-tree ;" conse({uently in a garden. 
 This eclogue, then, opens with observation of the 
 nuptial procession after marriage ; and we learn that 
 the ceremony had taken place by the following con- 
 versation, in which the Bridegroom alludes to the 
 maiden bashfuhiess of his Bride, as having required 
 some address to overcome. Moreover, the Bride 
 sohcits the maintenance of perpetual constancy to 
 herself, as implied in the connection now completed ; 
 with attention to the interests of a particular friend, 
 she transfers all her private property to lier husband, 
 yet reserves a government-due to her royal parent 
 io Egypt ; and the eclogue closes, both itself and 
 the poem, by nuitual wishes for more of each other's 
 conversation and company. See the article Mar- 
 riage. 
 
 It is now time to conclude our investigation of 
 this poem ; but we nuist previously observe, how 
 perfectly free it is from the least soil of indelicacy ; 
 that allusions to matrimonial privacies which have 
 been fancied in it, are absolutely groundless fancies ; 
 and tliat, not till the Fiftii Day, is there any allusion 
 to so nuich as a kiss, and then it is covered by as- 
 similation of the party to a sucking infant brother. 
 The First Day is distance itself, in point of conver- 
 sation ; the Second has no conversation but what 
 passes from the garden below up to tJio first-floor 
 window ; the Third Day is the same in tlic morning- 
 and the evening is an invitation to take an excursion' 
 
 and survey prospects ; as to the comparison to a 
 well, delicacy itself must admire, not censure, the 
 simile. The Fourth Day opens with a dream, by 
 which the reader perceives the inclination of the 
 dreamer, and the progress of her aflection ; but the 
 Bridegroom himself does not hear it, nor is he 
 more favored by it, or for it ; on the contraiy, the 
 lady permits him in the evening to sport his military 
 terms as much as he thinks proper ; but she does 
 not, by a single word, acquaint him of any breach 
 he had made in her heart. We rather susjject, that 
 she rises to retire somewhat sooner than usual, 
 thereby counterbalancing, in her own mind, those 
 effusions of kindness to which she had given vent 
 in the morning. The Fifth morning is wholly oc- 
 cupied by the ladies' praises of the Bride's dress ; 
 she herself does not utter a word ; but, in the evening 
 of that day, as the marriage was to take place on the 
 morrow, she merely hints at what she coidd find in 
 her heart to do, ivere he her infant brother ; and for 
 the first time he hears the adjuration, " if his left 
 arm was under her head," on the duan cushion, &c. 
 and the discourse, though evidently meant for her 
 lover, yet is equivocally allusive to her supposed 
 fondling. It must be admitted, that after the mar- 
 riage they make a procession, according to the cus- 
 tom of the place and station of the parties, in 
 the same palanquin together, and here they are 
 a little sociable ; but modesty itself will not find 
 the least fault with this sociabilitj', nor with one 
 single sentence, or sentiment, uttered on this 
 occasion. 
 
 We appeal now to the candor, understanding, and 
 sensibility of the reader, whether it be possible to 
 conduct a six-day conversation between persons 
 solemnly betrothed to each other, with greater deli- 
 cacy, gi-eater attention to the most rigid vii'tue, with 
 greater propriety of sentiment, discourse, action, de- 
 meanor, and deportment. — The dignity of the per- 
 sons is well sustained in the dignity of their lan- 
 guage, in the coiTectness of their ideas and ex- 
 pressions ; they are guilty of no repetitions ; what 
 they occasionally repeat they vary, and improve by 
 the variation ; they speak in poetry, and poetry fur- 
 nishes the images they use ; but these images are 
 pleasing, magnificent, varied, and appropriate ; they 
 are, no doubt, as they should be, local, and we do 
 not feel half their propriety because of their locality ; 
 bnt we feel enough to admit, that few are the authors 
 who could thus happily conduct such a poem ; few 
 are the personages who could sustain the characters 
 in it ; and few are the readers in any nation, or in 
 any time, who have not ample cause to admire it, 
 and to be thankful for its preservation as the Song 
 OF Songs ! 
 
 Being well persuaded that the reader has never 
 truly seen this poem before, and that (though it has 
 always been in our Bibles in prose) under the present 
 arrangement it becomes a new poem, we have di- 
 rected more attention to be given to the Plates than 
 perhaps otherwise might have been done ; these 
 must speak for themselves; we only say, further, 
 that in regard to the arrangement of the poem, 
 oiu" opinion advances toward a pretty strong per- 
 suasion of its correctness ; but as to the ver- 
 sion, our endeavor has been to make that speak 
 English.
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 269 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 Explanation of the Plates. 
 
 Vehicles. — Mr. Taylor has collected representa- 
 tions of several descriptions of those carriages which 
 ai-e nsed in the East, and which are supposed to be 
 alluded to in the opening of the Second Day of this 
 poem. We select the most important. 
 
 Behold him seated, placed in his carriage, thus ; 
 _ looking out through the 
 
 «^^S=S^fc. apertures, or front win- 
 
 ^ - >- dows. Gleaming, s/wtt;- 
 
 ing himself, or rather, 
 being just visible, just 
 glimpsing through, or 
 between the lattices, per- 
 haps appended to the 
 apertures in front of the 
 carriage. This engrav- 
 ing represents a travel- 
 ling carriage ; not a car- 
 riage for state or splen- 
 dor. But in the Third Day we have the description 
 of a superb and stately equipage, different, no doubt, 
 from the former, because built expressly by the i-oyal 
 lover, to suit the dignity of his intended nuptials. 
 Such a palanquin we have in the accompanying en- 
 graving, and this is what may be more particularly 
 examined by the description given in the poem. 
 " King Solomon hath built for himself a nuptial pal- 
 anquin ; its pillars" (or what we should call iXs poles) 
 " are made of cedar wood ;" — Lebanon wood : per- 
 haps, indeed, the whole of its wood-work might be 
 cedar ; but the poles, as being most conspicuous, are 
 mentioned in the first place. Now, it is every way 
 unlikely that Solomon would make these pillars of 
 silver, as we read in our common version ; the use 
 of silver poles does not appear ; but the top, cover- 
 ing, roof, canopy — literally the rolling and unrolling 
 part, that which might be rolled up — was of silver tis- 
 sue. This canopy, or roof, is clearly seen in the 
 engraving ; and it is ornamented with tassels, and a 
 deep kind of hanging fringe, perhaps of silver also. 
 But the lower carriage, or bottom, was of golden tis- 
 sue, meaning that })art which hangs by cords from 
 the pillars or poles ; that part in which the person 
 sat — literally, the ridden-in part, which we have ren- 
 dered the carriage — was of gold. The internal part 
 of this carriage was spread witli aregamcn. Was 
 this a finely-wrought carpet, adorned with flowers, 
 inottos, &c. in colors, as some have supposed ? How, 
 then, was it purple ? as the word is always held to 
 denote. We see at each end of the carriage a kind 
 of bolster or cushion, or what may ansAver the pur- 
 pose of easy rechning. Is this covered with chintz ? 
 or very fine calico? — Was such the carriage-lining of 
 Solomon's palanquin, but worked with an ornament- 
 al pattern of needle-work, and presented to the kiytg 
 by the daughters of Jerusalem? We presume we 
 have now approached nearly to a just understanding 
 of this poetical description : no doubt, the royal ve- 
 hicle was both elegant and splendid. We have 
 attempted to distinguish its parts, with their j)articu- 
 lar applications. The propriety of our departing 
 from the customary mode of understanding these 
 verses must now be left to the reader's decision ; 
 but if the words of the original be so truly descrip- 
 tive of the parts of this carriage, as we have sup- 
 posed, we may anticipate that decision with some 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Egyptian Dresses. — There are two ideas which 
 ought to be examined before we can justly ascertain 
 
 the particulai-s of the Bride's appearance : Jirst, Was 
 her dress con-espondent to those of the East in gen- 
 eral ? 01-, secondly, as she was an Egj-ptian, was her 
 dress pecuharly in the Egjptian taste.? To meet 
 these inquiries, we propose to offer a few remarks on 
 the peculiarities of Egjptian dress, presuming that 
 some such might belong to the dress worn by this 
 lady ; and indeed, that these are what give occasion 
 to the admiration of the ladies of the Jerusalem ha- 
 ram ; who, observing her magnificent attire, compli- 
 ment every part of that attire, as they proceed to 
 inspect it, in the following order. See the notes in 
 illustration of the Fifth Day. 
 
 1. Sandals. See Bride's Dress, infra. 
 
 2. Selvedges of thy thigh apparel. — We have al- 
 ready examined the import of 
 
 this word. If we look at the 
 accompanying figure, we shall 
 find, that, in front of the drape- 
 ry which descends down the 
 thigh, from the waist to the 
 ankle, that is to say, where the 
 edges of the drapery meet in 
 front, is a handsome border of 
 open-work ; this is very dis- 
 tinct, and it answers exactly 
 to the description and words 
 used to denote it in the poem ; 
 it is, (1.) at the return — the 
 selvedge — of the drapery ; (2.) 
 it appertains to the thigh, and 
 accompanies it hke a petticoat ; 
 (3.) it is pinked, or open-ivorkcd, 
 into a pattern, which has evi- 
 dently cost great labor, the per- 
 formance of excellent hands ! 
 This figure is truly Egyptian ; 
 for it is from the Isiac Table. 
 We find the same kind of orna- 
 ment worn by Grecian ladies, but on the oidside of 
 the thigh, as appears in the Hamilton vases. Wheth- 
 er we read returning edge, selvedge, or front borders, 
 &c. of this drapery, is indifferent to the idea here 
 stated. 
 
 6. TTiy girdle clasp. See Bride's Dress, infra. 
 
 Bodice, body vest. See Bride's Dress, infra. 
 
 8. Nipples. (I.) See the engraving under the ar- 
 ticle Bed, where the nipples are just discernible 
 through the very fine gauze, which covers the bo- 
 som. (2.) Observe that the Egyptian figures above 
 have the breast and nipple entirely naked : each has 
 a kind of neckinger, which crosses the bosom, and is 
 brought between the breasts, so that the wearer 
 might have covered the breast had she pleased ; 
 but the breast itself is lefl — as if carefully left — un- 
 covered, in all these figures : we presume, therefore, 
 that this was, anciently, a customary mode of dress, 
 rendered necessary by the heat of the country. It 
 appears on various munnnies, and on many other 
 Egyptian representations. Sonnini says, (vol. iii. p. 
 204.) " The Egyptian women have no other cloth- 
 ing than a long shift, or jacket, of blue cloth, with 
 sleeves of an extraordinary size. — This manner of 
 dressing themselves by halves, so that the air lyiay circu- 
 late over the body itself, and refresh evci-y part of it, is 
 very comfortable in a country where close or thick hab- 
 its tvould make the heat intolerable." We must not 
 judge of the propriety of Egyptian costume by the 
 necessary defences against the variations and chills 
 of northern climates. The reader will obsene the 
 head-dress in this figure ; the hair, which we pre-
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 270] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 sume is meant to represent curls ; the pectoral ; the 
 covering of the bosom ; the petticoat, its border, or- 
 naments, &c. 
 
 Bride's Dress. 
 
 This figure represents an oriental lady in full dress, 
 from Le Bruyn. The read- 
 er will observe the head- 
 dress, which consists of a 
 cap set with pearls in vari- 
 ous forms, the centre haug- 
 mg over the forehead. On 
 the top of this cap rise a 
 number of sprigs of jew- 
 elry work, which imitate, 
 in precious stones, the nat- 
 ural colors, &c. of the flow- 
 ers they are meant to rep- 
 resent. The stems are 
 made of gold or silver 
 wires ; and the leaves, we 
 suppose, are made of color- 
 ed foil. We saw, in the 
 former plate, that Egyptian 
 ladies wore a high-rising 
 composition of ornaments ; 
 and we see in this figure, a composition little,if at all, 
 less aspiring. In fact, then, this head-dress i-enders 
 very credible the idea of our translators, " thy head- 
 dress upon thee is like Cannel .'" — whether, by Car- 
 mel, we understand mount Carmd, in which case the 
 allusion may be to the trees growing on it ; or, as the 
 Avord signifies, a fruitful field, whose luxuriant vege- 
 tation displays the most captivating abundance. 
 From the cap of this head-dress hangs a string of 
 pearls, which, passing under the chin, surrounds the 
 countenance. We observe, also, on the neck, a col- 
 let of gems, and three rows of pearls. These are 
 common in the East ; and something of this nature, 
 we presume, is what the Bridegroom alludes to, when 
 he sa^'s. Eclogue II. in the First Day, " Thy cheeks 
 are bright, or splendid, with bands, thy neck with col- 
 lets:" meaning bands of pearls, surrounding the 
 countenance, and glistening on the cheeks; and col- 
 lets of gems, or other si)lendidor shining substances, 
 disposed as embellishments. Observe, also, the or- 
 naments suspended by a gold chain, which hangs 
 from th* neck. These, though not, strictly speak- 
 ing, girdle-clasps, yet have nuich the same effect in 
 point of decoration ; and are composed of precious 
 stones, including, no doubt, rubies, " rich in mingled 
 wine." Observe the rings worn on the fingers ; the 
 wrist-bands of the vest, the flowers brocaded on it, 
 on the veil, &c. The figure also shows distinctly 
 the difference between locks and tresses of hair. The 
 locks are those which hang loosely down the temples 
 and cheek : the tresses are those braids which natu- 
 rally hang down the back, but which, in order to 
 show their length, are in this instance brought for- 
 ward over the shoulder. The reader will observe 
 how these arc plaited. Now, this mode of dressing 
 the hail seems to have little allusion to the color of 
 puri le, or to require pur|)le-colored ribands, or rib- 
 ands of any color. It may rather be fancied to re- 
 semble a mode of weaving, such as might be practised 
 at Arcch, or Erech, whence it might be denominaited 
 Jlrechmen, that is, '\froin the city of Arech ;" and, 
 could this be admitted, we should perliaps find some- 
 thing like the following ideas in this passage : "Thy 
 head-dress is a difiuse, spreading appearance, like 
 vegetation and flowers [q. chenille ?] ;" " Thy tresses 
 
 are close, compact, stuck together like an intimately 
 woven or woi-ked texture ;" say a carpet, diaper, 
 calico, &c. It is true, this figure shows only a 
 few tresses ; but we ought to extend our conception 
 to a much gi'eater number ; for lady Montague says, 
 "I never saw, in my life, so mscay fine heads of hair. 
 In one lady's I have counted a hundred and ten 
 tresses, all natural." Now, what numerous m<?i'canes, 
 meanderings, convolutions, &c. would a hundred and 
 ten Presses furnish by dexterous plaiting! And as 
 long hair, capable of such ornamental disposition, 
 was esteemed a capital part of personal beauty, how 
 deeply, how inextricably, was the king — his afiiiction 
 — entangled in such a labyrinth of charms, adorned 
 in the most becoming manner, and displayed to the 
 greatest advantage ! The sex has always been proud 
 of this natural ornament ; and, when art and taste 
 have well arranged it, all know that its effects are not 
 inconsiderable. The reader Avill recollect, that we 
 have already stated embarrassments on the subject 
 of the word Aregamen. We have taken some pains 
 to examine passages where it occurs ; but we cannot 
 acquiesce in the ojjinion that it means purple ; that 
 is, the color o? purple oulj'. Nevertheless, as all the 
 dictionaries, and lexicons, and concordances, are 
 against us, we suspend our determination. 
 
 There is a figure in Sandys, Avhich shows the san- 
 dals; not only adorned 
 with flowers, wrought 
 on them, but which, be- 
 ing sandals only, permit 
 the whole foot to be 
 seen ; and being height- 
 eners, they make the 
 wearer seem so much 
 taller than otherwise she 
 
 would be, that the Bridegroom may weU compare 
 his bride to a palm-ti'ee, up to whose toj) he designs 
 to climb, that he may procure its fruit. This figure 
 also shows an ornament around the aiikle, and a gii*- 
 dle, perhaps of silver embroidery. 
 
 This engi'aving is fi-om "Estampes du Levant," 
 and will assist to illus- 
 trate the comparison 
 which our public trans- 
 lation (chap. ii. 2.) ren- 
 ders, " thy belly is a heap 
 of wheat set about ^vith 
 lilies." In the^ra^ place, 
 instead of heap, read 
 s/feq/", of wheat. Second- 
 ly, for belli/, read bodice, 
 or vest ; that is, the cov- 
 ering of the belly. Third- 
 ly, for set about, read 
 bound about, or lied im 
 ivith a band of lilies. In 
 short, the comparison is — a vest of gold tissue, tied 
 up with a broad girdle of white satin, or of silver tis- 
 sue, like that of this figin-e, to a sheaf of wheat 
 standing on its end, and tied round its middle by a 
 broad band of lilies, twisted into itself, whose heads 
 would naturally hang down loosely, like the end of 
 the girdle of this figiu'c. Having given the above as 
 our idea of this comparison, it may be proper to say, 
 that if the words set about be absolutely retained, then 
 the silver flowers on this ground of gold tissue may 
 answer that idea ; but this does not appear to be so 
 correct a translation. Wc may be allowed also to 
 ol)i-erve, hoAV entirely this explanation removes every 
 indelicacy to which our public translation is ex-
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [271 ] 
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 posed ; aud how gi-eatly it is recommended by its sim- 
 plicity. 
 
 This investigation of the Bride's dress may be clos- 
 ed witli propriety by the following description of a 
 dress \\orn by lady Montague as given by herself; 
 also, that of 'the fair Fatinia, of whom she says, 
 " She was dressed in a caftan of gold brocade, flow- 
 ered with silver, very well fitted to her shape, and 
 showing, to admiration, tlio beauty of her bosom, 
 only shaded by the thin gauze of her shift. Her 
 drawers were pale pink, her waistcoat green and sil- 
 ver; her slippers white satin, finely endjroidered ; 
 her lovely anns adorned with bracelets of diamonds ; 
 and her broad girdle set around with diamonds ; 
 ujjon her head a rich Turkish handkerchief of pink 
 and silver, her own fine black hair, hanging a great 
 length, in various tresses ; aud on one side of her head 
 some bodkins of jewels. When I took my leave, two 
 maids brought in a fine silver basket of embroidered 
 handkerchiefs ; she begged I would wear the richest 
 for her sake, and gave the others to my woman and 
 intcr|)retess." (The dudi, love-favors, of our poem, 
 passim.) "The first part of my dress is a pair of 
 di'awers ; very full, that reach to my shoes, aud con- 
 ceal the legs more modestly than yoiu* petticoats. 
 They are of a thin rose-colored damask, brocaded 
 with silver flowers. My shoes are of white kid 
 leather, emiji'oidered with gold. Over this hangs 
 my smock, of a fine white silk gauze, edged with 
 embroidery. This smock has wide sleeves, hanging 
 half way down the arm, and is closed at the neck 
 with a diamond button ; but the shape and color of 
 the bosom are very well to be distinguished through 
 it. The antery is a waistcoat, made close to the 
 shape, of white and gold damask, Avith very long 
 sleeves falling back, and fringed with deep gold 
 fringe, and should have diamond or pearl buttons. 
 3Iy caftan, of the same stuflT with my drawers, is a 
 robe exactly fitted to my shape, and reaching to my 
 feet, with very long, straight, falling sleeves. Over 
 this is my girdle, of about four fingers broad, which 
 all that can afford it have entirely of diamonds and 
 other precious stones. Those who will not be at 
 that expense have it of exquisite embroidery on sat- 
 in ; but it must be fastened before with a clasp of 
 diamonds. The curdee is a loose robe they throw 
 off, or put on, according to the weather, being of a 
 rich brocade, (mine is green and gold,) either lined 
 with ermine or sables ; the sleeves reach very little 
 below the shoulders. The head-dress is composed 
 of a cap, called talpock, which is, in winter, of fine 
 velvet embroidered with pearls or diamonds, and in 
 summer of a light shining silver stufl'. This is fixed 
 on one side of the head, hanging a little way down, 
 with a gold tassel, aud bound on, either with a cir- 
 cle of diamonds (as I ha^e seen several) or a rich 
 embroidered handkerchief. On the other side of 
 the head, the hair is laid flat ; and here the ladies are 
 at liberty to show their fancies : some putting flow- 
 ers, others a plume of heron's feathers, and in short 
 what they please ; but the most general fashion is a 
 large 6oi<7ue< of jewels, made like ilatural flowers; 
 that is, the buds of pearl ; the roses of different col- 
 ored rubies ; the jessamines of diamonds ; the jon- 
 quilles of topazes, &c. so well set and enamelled, it 
 is hard to imagine any thing of that kind so beauti- 
 ful. The hair hangs at its full length behind, divided 
 into tresses braided with pearls or ribands, which is 
 always in great quantity. I never saw in my life so 
 many fine heads of hair. In one lady's I have 
 counted a hundred and ten of these ti-esses, all nat- 
 
 ural ; but it must be o%ATied, that cveiy kind of beau- 
 ty is more common here than with us. They 
 generally shape their eyebrows ; and both Greeks 
 and Turks have the custom of putting round their 
 eyes a black tincture, that, at a distance, or by can- 
 dle light, adds very much to the blackness of them. 
 They dye their nails a rose color ; but, I own, I can- 
 not enough accustom myself to the fashion to find 
 any beauty in it." Letters xxix. xxxiii. 
 
 Bridegroom's Dress. 
 
 We have elsewhere (see Crown) bestowed some 
 thoughts on the nature and shape of the royal crown 
 of the kings of the Jews, and we wish now to recall 
 those thoughts to the mind of the reader. AVe ob- 
 served, that the crown of king Saul was called na- 
 zer, or separated ; but a very different word, othar, is 
 used to express the circlet, with which the mother of 
 Solomon encircled his head on the day of his mar- 
 riage. Our translation renders both these words by 
 one English appellation, crown ; and the word othar 
 is thus rendered, where, as it seems, it gives incor- 
 rect notions of the.subject intended. In distinguish- 
 ing the different forms of this part of dress, we 
 consider the cap or crown, 
 (or both ideas in one, the 
 crowned cap,) in the an- 
 nexed figure, as being the 
 nazer, or "separated" cap 
 of Scripture. This is a 
 ])ortrait of Tigranes, king 
 of Armenia ; and it con- 
 tributes, with others, to 
 authorize our distinction. 
 In addition, however, to 
 these, we have also repre- 
 sentations of a cap, the separations of Avhich are very 
 evident behind ; and one of these separated parts 
 falls on each shoulder down the back of the wearer. 
 This goes not only in corroboration of the proposed 
 distinction in the form and nature of the crowns of 
 Jewish monarchs, but also strongly tends to es- 
 tablish the nature of the shcbetz, or royal coat of close 
 armor. 
 
 It was not, then, a royal cap of state, with which 
 the mother of Solomon decorated his head at his 
 nuptials ; that was probably made by a more pro- 
 fessed artist : neither was it proper to be worn at such 
 a personal ceremony, but onlj' on state occasions : — 
 but, if the queen mother had taken pains to embroi- 
 der a muslin fillet ; if she had worked it with her own 
 hands, and had embellished it with a handsome pat- 
 tern, then it was paying her a compliment, to wish 
 the daughters of Jerusalem should go forth to ad- 
 mire the happy effects of this instance of maternal 
 attention and decorative skill. 
 
 The accompanying portrait of Nadir Shah of Per- 
 sia, from Frazer, shows his dress to abound in pearls, 
 precious stones and golden embroidery. The man- 
 ner of the king's sitting and the kind of throne on 
 which he sits, may perhaps give some hint of the 
 7nanner of the Bridegroom's sitting in the First Day. 
 This is not the royal throne of state, the mus7ind of 
 India ; that is usually stationed in one place, where 
 it is fitted up with all imaginable magnificence, and 
 to which it is fixed: whereas this seat is movable, 
 and is carried from place to place, as wanted. Some 
 such settee was perhaps occupied by Solomon, a\ hen 
 he visited his Bride ; so that the king sat, while 
 his companions stood on each hand of him, form-
 
 CANTICLES 
 
 [ 272 ] 
 
 CAP 
 
 ing a cii'cle. It 
 is necessaiy to dis- 
 tinguish the kind 
 of throne ; because 
 there are (1.) the 
 musmid itself, or 
 throne of state — (2.) 
 this kind of seat or 
 settee — (3.) a kind 
 of palanquin (call- 
 ed takht rcvan, 
 that is, moving- 
 throne) — and oth- 
 ers, all of which 
 are thrones ; but 
 their names and ap- 
 plication are not the 
 same in the original 
 text of Sci'ipture. 
 This figure is copied from De la Valle, and is a 
 portrait of Aurengzebe, the 
 Mogul of India. Observe 
 the pearls, &c. in his tur- 
 ban ; the collets of pearls 
 and gems hanging from his 
 neck ; the same at his wrists : 
 so tlie Bride says of her 
 Prince, "liis wrists, that is, 
 his wrist-bands, the orna- 
 ments at his wrists, are cir- 
 clets of gold full set with 
 topazes." Tliese topazes 
 occupy the place of the 
 pearls in our figure. Ob- 
 serve, also, his shoes, which, 
 being gold embroidery, are 
 the bases of purest gold., from 
 which rise his legs, like pil- 
 lars of marble. Observe, 
 too, that the stockings, fitting pretty closely to the 
 fegs, give them an appearance much more analo- 
 gous to pillars or columns, that when the draw- 
 ers are full, and occupy a considerable space, as they 
 are commonly worn in the East. The reader will 
 remark the nature and enrichments of this girdle, 
 which is, no doul>t, of gold embroidery. The tent 
 may give some idea of that of Solomon, to which 
 the ladies' coinpare the Bride ; they say she is " at- 
 tractive as the tent of Solomon ;" and certainly a 
 tent so ornamented and enriched, so magnificently 
 embellished, is attractive ; attractive in the same 
 manner as a magnificent dress, when worn by a 
 person. If this tent l)e of black velvet, the golden 
 enrichments embossed upon it must have a grand ef- 
 fect. It should be recollected, that the passage de- 
 mands the strongest contrast possible to the " tents 
 of Kedar," or the black tents of wandering Arabs ; 
 and, were it not for a following verse, the reference 
 should be to the Bride's dress — discomposed — all in 
 a fiuttcr — after a long journey, from which she is 
 but alighted at the moment — rather than to her per- 
 son, or comi)lexion, whicli subsequently is described 
 as fair, &c. by terms absolutely incompatible with 
 blackness or swartbincss. The coverings anmially 
 sent by the grand seignior for the holy lious(> at 
 Mecca, are always black. Mr. Moricr has delineated 
 a tent, intended to represent that of the prophet, the 
 front of which is all but covered with jewels ; the 
 whole sides and the toj) with ornaments, shawl-jiat- 
 terns, &c. (Travels in Persia, vol. ii. p. 181.) 
 
 This is a portrait of the grand seignior, sultan 
 
 Achmet. But it shows 
 a girdle, or rather the 
 clasp which fastens it, 
 of a different nature 
 from the former. This 
 appears to be made of 
 some solid material, 
 (ivory,perhaps,) thick- 
 ly studded over with 
 precious stones, where- 
 by it corresponds per- 
 fectly with that de- 
 scribed by the Bride, 
 as bright ivory over 
 ivhich the sapphire 
 plays : for these gems 
 may as well be sap- 
 phires as any other. The general appearance of the 
 sidtan's figure is noble and majestic, and may answer, 
 not inadequately, to the description given of her be- 
 loved by the Bride. 
 
 It would be a considerable acquisition to sacred 
 literature if those incidents which are furnished by 
 the Greek poets, and which resemble certain inci- 
 dents in this poem, were collected for the purpose of 
 comparison : they would be found more frequent 
 and more identical than is usually imagined. But 
 this purpose would be still more completely accom- 
 plished, by a comparison with those productions of 
 the Persian and Hindoo poets, which have been 
 brought to our knowledge by the diligence and taste 
 of our coimtrymen in India. It may safely be said, 
 that every line of the Hebrew poem may be illustrat- 
 ed from Indian sources. Even that incident, so re- 
 volting to our manners, of the lady's going out to 
 seek her beloved by night, is perfectly correct, ac- 
 corduig to Indian poetical costume, as appears by 
 Calidasa's Megha Dida, (line 250, of Mr. Wilson's 
 translation,) also the Gitagovinda, translated by sir 
 William Jones, (Asiatic Researches, vol. iii.) and oth- 
 ers, which have been subsequently added to the 
 stores of English literature. Admitting, as the read- 
 er has seen supposed in this work, that the Egyp- 
 tians were from India, and that Abraham, the father 
 of the Hebrew nation, was also from the East ; this 
 conformity to the manners of the original country 
 by an Egyptian princess, consort of a Hebrew king, 
 could include no difficulty arising from any imputa- 
 tion of indelicacy ; especially as tlie poet explicitly 
 assigns the entire occurrence to a dream. 
 
 CAPERNAUM, a city on the western shore of the 
 sea of Galilee, on the borders of Zebulun and Naph- 
 tali, and in which our Saviour principally dwelt dur- 
 ing the three years of his public ministry. Matt. iv. 
 13 ; Mark ii. 1 ; John vi. 17. Buckingham, Burck- 
 hardt, and some other writers, believe it to have been 
 the place now called Talhheum, or Tel Hoom, which 
 is upon the edge of the sea, from !) to 12 miles N. N. 
 E. of Tiberias, and where there are ruins indicative 
 of a considerable place at some former period. Dr. 
 Richardson, however, in passing through the plain 
 of Gennesareth, inquired of the natives whether they 
 knew such a i)lace as Ca])ernaum ; to which they 
 replied, "Cavernahum wa Clionasi, they are quite 
 near, but in ruins." Tliis should, perlia])s, induce us 
 to fix the site of Capernaum fiu-tlicr south ; but our 
 Saviour's denunciation against it seems to have been 
 literally accom])lislied ; and it has been cast down into 
 the grave, for hitherto no satisfactory evidence has 
 been found of the place on which it stood. Matt. xi. 23.
 
 CAP 
 
 [ 273 ] 
 
 CAP 
 
 CAPHAR, in Hebrew, signifies a field, or village ; 
 and hence we often find it in composition with other 
 words, as a proi)er name, and sometimes annexed to 
 the name of a city ; because what had been a village, 
 when augmented, becomes a city. 
 
 CAPHAR-SALAMA, or Caphar-Sarama ; the 
 same, perhaps, as Caphar-Semelia ; not far from 
 Jerusalem, 1 Mac. vii. 31. Afterwards called .An- 
 tij)atns. 
 
 CAPHAR-SOREK. In Jerome's time there was 
 a town of this name, noith of Eleutheropolis, near 
 Saraa. It is thought to have been named from the 
 brook or valley of Sorek, where Delilah lived, Judg. 
 xvi. 4. 
 
 CAPHTOR, CAPHTORIM. There is great diffi- 
 culty in properly analyzing thisappellation; some think 
 it imports, " islands, every way surrounded by wa- 
 ter." Henius refers it to one of the islands in the Nile ; 
 Abel thinks it is tlie same as Rib, or Rihib, the Del- 
 ta of Egypt. Bochart, following the Septuagint and 
 the Targums of Jerusalem and Jonathan, takes 
 Caphtor to be Cappadocia, on the Euxine ; Calmet 
 and others suppose the island of Crete to be the 
 Caphtor of the Scriptvu'es, chiefly on account of the 
 resemblances between the laws and manners of the 
 Cretans and Caphtorim, or Philistines. So also 
 Gesenius and Rosenmiiller. In Gen. x. 13, 14, it is 
 .'aid that the Philistines and Caphtorim went out 
 irom Egypt, (probably to Crete,) and from thence 
 ihe Philistines migrated to Canaan ; see Amos ix. 7. 
 Hence Jeremiah calls them (xlvii. 4.) "the remnant 
 of the island Caphtor." This opinion is also confirm- 
 ed by the circumstance, that the Philistines ai-e also 
 called Cherdliim, or Chcrethitcs, equivalent to Cretans. 
 That the Caphtorim, or Cherethim, and the Philis- 
 tines, are the same people, is beyond doubt. Ezekiel 
 says, (ch. xxv. 16.) " I will stretch out mine hand 
 upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Chere- 
 thim." Zephaniah also says, (ii. 5.) " Wo unto the 
 inhabitants of the sea-coast, the Cherethites :" and 
 1 Sam. XXX. 14, 15. "The Amalekitesmadean irrup- 
 tion into the country of the Cherethites ;" that is, of 
 the Philistines, as the sequel proves. Afterwards, 
 the kings of Judah had foreign guards called Chere- 
 thites and Pelethites, who were Philistines. See 
 Philistines. 
 
 CAPITATION OF THE Jews. Moses ordained, 
 (Exod. XXX. 13.] that every Israelite should pay half 
 a shekel for his soid, or person, as a redemption, 
 "that there might be no plague among the peop e, 
 when they were numbered." Many interpreters a:e 
 of opinion, that this payment was designed to take 
 place as often as the people Avere numbered ; and 
 that this payment of the half shekel per head being 
 evaded when David numbered his subject God pun- 
 ished the neglect with a pestilence, 2 Sam. xxiv. 1. 
 But it is more generally thought that Moses laid this 
 tax on all the jjcople, payable j'early, for the main- 
 tenance of the tabernacle, for the sacrifices, wood, 
 oil, wine, flour, habits, and subsistence of the priests 
 and Levites. In our Saviour's time, the tribute was 
 punctually paid. (See Didrachma.) The Israelite?, 
 when returned from Babylon, paid one third jtart of 
 a shekel to the temple ; being disabled probably at 
 that time, by poverty, from doing more, Nehem. x. 
 32. The rabbins observe, that the Jews in general, 
 and evi n the priests, except women, children under 
 thirteen years of age, and slaves, were liable to pay 
 the half shekel. The collectors demanded it in the 
 beginning of Nisan, but used no compulsion till the 
 passover, when thev either constrained its payment, 
 35 
 
 or took security for it. After the destruction of the 
 temple, the Jews were compelled to pay the half 
 shekel to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 
 
 CAPPADOCIA, a region of Asia, adjoining Pon- 
 tus, Armenia, Phrygia, and Galatia, (Acts ii. 9 ; 1 Pet. 
 i. 1.) between the Halys, the Euphrates, and the 
 Euxine. Ptolemy mentions the Cap])iid( cians, and 
 derives their name from a river, Cuj.jiadoi. They 
 were formerly called Lcuco-Syn, or " \\ lute Svrians," 
 in opposition to those who lived south of the' moun- 
 tains, and more exposed to the sun. Such was their 
 character for dulncss and vice, that the following 
 virulent epigram was written upon them : — 
 
 " V^ipera Cappadocem nocitura momordit ; at ilia 
 Gustato periit sanguine Cappadocis." 
 
 Cappadocia was also placed first in the proverb 
 which cautioned against the three K's — Kappadocia, 
 Kilicia, and Krete. 
 
 CAPTIVITY. God generally punished the sins 
 of the Jews by captivities or servitudes. The first 
 captivity, however, from which Moses delivered them, 
 should be considered rather as a permission of Pro\i- 
 dence, than as a punishment for sin. There were six 
 captivities during the government by judges: (1.) 
 imder Chushan-Rishathaim, king of Mtsopotamia, 
 which continued about eight years ; (2.) under Eglon, 
 king of Moab, from which they were delivered by 
 Ehud ; (3.) under the Philistines, out of which they 
 were rescued by Shamgar ; (4.) lu-der Jabin, king cf 
 Hazor, from which they were delivered by Deborah 
 and Barak ; (5.) under the Midianites, froin which 
 Gideon freed them ; (6.) under the Amnionites i.ud 
 Philistines, during the judicatures of Jephlhali, Ib:zan, 
 Elon, Abdon, Eli, Samson and Samuel. Eia the 
 most remarkable captivities of the Ht brews were these 
 of Israel and Judah, under their regal government. 
 
 Captivities of Israel. — (1.) Tiglath-Pilezer tock 
 several cities, and carried away cajitives, principally 
 from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of 
 Manasseh, A. M. 3264. (2.) Salmaneser destroyed 
 Samaria, after a siege of three years, (A. M. 3263,) 
 and transplanted the tribes which had been spared 
 by Tiglath-Pilezer, to provinces beyond the Eu- 
 phrates. (See further, infra.) It is usually believed, 
 that there was no general return of the ten tribes 
 from this captivity ; but the prophets seem to speak 
 of the return of at least a great part of Israel. (See 
 Hos. xi. 11; Amos ix. 14; Obad. 20 ; Isa. x. Ir; 
 Ezek. xxxvii. 16; Jcr. xlvi. 27 ; xlix. 2, &c. ; IMicah 
 ii. 12 ; Zech. ix. 13 ; x. 6, 10.) From the histrriral 
 books we see that Israelites of the tc7i tribes, as wi 11 
 as of Judah and Benjamin, returned from thecajitivi- 
 ty. Among those wlio returned with Zerubbabel, 
 are reckoned some of Ephraiin and Manasseh, who 
 settled at Jerusalem, among the tribe of Jueah. 
 When Ezra numbered those who had returned, he 
 only inquired whether they were of the race of Is- 
 rael ; and at the first passover celebrated in the tem- 
 ple after the return, was a sacrifice of twelve he- 
 goats for the whole house of Israel, according to the 
 number of the tribes, Ezra vi. 16, 17: viii. 35. Un- 
 der the Maccabees, and during the time of our Sa- 
 viour, we see that Palestine was peopled by Israelites 
 of all the tribes, indifferently. The Samaritan chron- 
 icle asserts, that in the 35th year of the ])ontificate of 
 Abdelus, 3000 Israelites, by permission of king 
 Sauredius, returned from captivity, under the con- 
 duct of Adus, son of Simeon. 
 
 Captivities of Judah. — These are generally 
 reckoned four: (1.) A. M. 3398, under king Jehoia-
 
 CAPTIVITY 
 
 [ 2-4 
 
 CAPTIVITY 
 
 kiiu, when Daniel and others were carried to Baby- 
 lon ; (2.) A. M. 3401, in the seventh year of Jehoia- 
 kim, when Nebuchadnezzar carried 3023 Jews to 
 Babylon ; (3.) A. M. 3406, under Jehoiachim, when 
 this prince, with part of his people, was sent to Baby- 
 lon ; (4.) A. M. 3416, under Zedekiah. From this 
 period Ijegins the seventy years of captivity foretold 
 by the prophet Jeremiah. At Babylon they had 
 judges and elders who governed them, and decided 
 matters in dispute juridically according to their laws. 
 Cyrus, in the first year of his reign at Babylon, (A. 
 M. 3457,) permitted the Jews to return to their own 
 country ; (Ezra i. 1.) but they did not obtain leave 
 to rebuild the temjile ; and the completion of 
 those prophecies, wiiich foretold the termination of 
 their captivity after seventy years, was not till A. M. 
 3486, Avhen Darius Hystaspes, by an edict, allowed 
 them to rebuild the temple. 
 
 It is worthy of inquiry, as involving the illustration 
 of several passages of Scripture, whether the depor- 
 tations of the Israelites and Judeaus were total, or 
 only partial. The following is the result of Mr. Tay- 
 lor's investigations. 
 
 Under the article Canaan it has been suggested 
 that the river Jordan, as it divided the country pos- 
 sessed by the Isi-aelites, so it divided the interests and 
 the politics of that people. Hence it happened, occa- 
 sionally, that the south was invaded, while the north 
 was m peace ; and ofteii the districts eastward of Jor- 
 dan were oppressed or even subdued, before the 
 shock was felt on the coasts of the RIediterranean 
 sea. This at length proved the ruin of the whole 
 nation. The two tribes and a half, settled cast of the 
 Jordan, — as most exposed to inroads, yet least readi- 
 ly assisted, dwelling, too, in a country so very desira- 
 ble as to attract the eye of avidity, yet calculated rath- 
 er to breed pacific than warlike inhabitants, being 
 also, we inay conjectm-e, best known by means of 
 passengers, — were the first to be carried into captivi- 
 ty by invaders from the north. From these districts, 
 if once occupied by enemies, the transit was easy 
 over the Upper Joi-dan ; and the northern tribes of 
 Israel were of course exposed to inroads of the con- 
 querors ; by whom, in the issue, they were displaced. 
 Judah retained its independence longer; but Judali 
 at length was invaded from the north, was subjugat- 
 ed to a foreign power, and its inhabitants treated like 
 those of other conquered countries, being led away 
 by the conqueror at his pleasure. But though we 
 say the inhai)itants were removed from their native 
 country, yet it appears from incidental observations 
 in Scrij)ture that some remained ; and major Rennell 
 has offered several reasons for believing that only 
 certain classes of this people were carried to Assyria, 
 or to Babylon ; and as this is an inquiry of some con- 
 sequence, and leads to the consideration of that pro- 
 portion of the people which returned to the land of 
 Judea in after-ages, we give the major's remarks ])rct- 
 ty ftilly : — 
 
 "The chronology of Usher and Newton allow the 
 following dates, for the events under consideration : 
 
 Ante A. n. Ditr. 
 
 Captivity of the two and half tribes, and ^ 
 
 of the Svrians of Damascus, > 740 
 by Tiglath-Pilezer . . . ) 
 
 of the ten tribes by Slialmaneser 721 19 
 
 of Judah by Nebi'ichadnezzar . . 606 134 
 
 Destruction of Jerusalem .589 151 
 
 D-. cree of Cvnis for nu' lelurn of ijie Jews .'i.^O 904 
 
 " The eastern tinbes were taken away by Tiglath- 
 Pileser, about 740 B. C. : and this was done, it ap- 
 pears, at the solicitation of the king of Judea, against 
 those of Israel and Syria, who threatened him. It is 
 said (2 Kings xvi. 9.) that ' the king of Assyria took 
 Damascus, slew their king Resin, and carried the 
 people captive to Kir;' by which the country of As- 
 syria is unequivocally meant. But Josephus says 
 (Antiq. ix. cap. 12. 3.) that tliey were sent to Upper 
 Media ; that Tiglath-Pileser sent a colony of Assyr 
 ians in their room ; and that, at the same time, he 
 afflicted the land of Israel, and took away many cap- 
 tives out of it. In 2 Kings xv. 29. it is said, that 
 ' Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, took Ijon, and 
 Abel-beth-Maachah, Janoah, Kadesh and Hazor, and 
 Gilead and Galilee ; all the land of Naphtali, and car- 
 ried them captive to Assyria.' But, in the account 
 of the sanic transaction, in 1 Chron. v. 26, it is said, 
 that Tiglath-Pilezer 'carried away the Reubenites, 
 the Gadites, and (the half-tribe of Manasseh, and 
 brought them to Halah, and Hahor, and Hara, and 
 to the river of Gozan, unto this day.' Josephiis, re- 
 lating the same transaction, (Antiq. lib. ix. cap. 11. 
 1.) says, that Tiglath-Pileser 'carried away the in- 
 habitants of Gilead, Galilee, Kadesh, and Hazor, and 
 transplanted tliem into his own kingdom ;' by which, 
 in strictness, Assyria should be understood : but it 
 appears from the book of Tobit, that Media was also 
 subject to him ; so that there is no contradiction. 
 We come, iiext in order, to the jn'oper sidijcct of the 
 ten tribes. In 2 Kings xvii. 6, Shalnmncscr, king of 
 Assyria, is said to have carried a\Aay Israel into As- 
 syria, and to liave 'placed them in Halah, and in Ha- 
 hor, by the river of Gozan, and in the ciiies of the 
 Medes.^ Josephus, speaking of the same event, sa3^s, 
 (Antiq. ix. cap. 14. ].) that Shalmaneser took Sama- 
 ria, (that is, the capital of the Israelites,) demolished 
 the government, aiid transplanted all the peo- 
 ple into Media and Persia ; and that they Avere re- 
 placed by other people out of Cuthah ; which, he 
 says, (in section 3 of the same chapter,) is the name 
 of a country in Persia, and which has a river of the 
 same name in it. Of the Cutheans, he continues, 
 there were Jive tribes, or nations ; each of which had 
 its own gods ; and these they bi-ought with them in- 
 to Samaria. These, he observes, were the people 
 afterwards called Samaritans ; and who, although 
 they had no pretensions, affected to he kinsfolk of 
 the Jews. 
 
 " The Cutheans (he says) had formerly belonged 
 to the inner parts of Persia and Media. In 2 Kings 
 xvii. 24, it is said, that the people brought to supply 
 the place of the Israelites, were from iive places ; 
 i. e. Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim ; 
 and also that they worshipped as many different dei- 
 ties. Thus, we have the history of the removal of 
 the ten triix-s of Israel, at different j)eriods ; as also of 
 the people of Damascus, to the same countries ; all 
 of which was effected by the kings of Assyria, whose 
 capital was at Nineveh. But ])revious to the second 
 captivity (or that of Judah) by the Babylonians, these 
 last had become masters of all Assyria: Nineveh had 
 been destroyed, and Babylon had become the capita! 
 of the empire of Assyria, thus enlarged by conquest. 
 There are no particulars given, respecting the carry- 
 ing away of Israel to Nineveh, as of Judah to Baby- 
 lon ; bin we may. jierhaps, b(^ allowinl to consider 
 both as parallel cases ; and thence infer that the con- 
 duct of the kingof Nineveh was much the same with 
 that of the king of Babylon. Josephus says, that all 
 the nation of Israel was taken away, and their places
 
 CAPTIVITY 
 
 [ 275 
 
 CAPTIVITY 
 
 supplied by the Cutheans. 2 Kings xvii. leaves us 
 to understand the same, if taken literally ; that is, 
 that Shalnianeser 'carried Israel away into or unto 
 Assyria ;' and that people were brought from divers 
 countries, and ' placed in the cities of Samaria, in- 
 stead of the children of Israel : and they possessed 
 Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.' Certainly, 
 if these accounts are to be taken literally, we must 
 suppose no other, than that the ivhole nation was car- 
 ried away ; which supposition, however, occasions 
 some difficulty, not only from the munbers to be car- 
 ried away, but from the obvious difficulty o{ feeding 
 by tiie way, and of finally placing in a situation where 
 they could be fed, so vast, and in a great degree so 
 useless, a multitude, when removed to a strange coun- 
 try. Wheresoever they came, they must either have 
 been starved themselves, or they must virtually have 
 displaced nearly an equal number of the king's sub- 
 jects, who were already settled, and in habits of 
 maintaining themselves, and probably of aiding the 
 state. They were said to be carried to Nineveh. 
 This residue of the ten tribes (that is, seven and a 
 half) cannot be estimated lower than t^vo thirds of 
 the population of Nineveh itself. And it may be 
 asked, W)io fed them, in their way across Syria and 
 Mesopotamia to Nineveh ? And admitting an ex- 
 change of the Cutheans for the Israelites, on so ex- 
 tended a scale, as to include the agricultural and 
 working people of all classes, a sovereign who 
 should make such an exchange, where an interval of 
 space of nearly a thousand miles intervened, would 
 at least discover a different kind of policy from that 
 which, in our conception, was followed by the king 
 of Assyria. Were we to avail ourselves of the Bible 
 statement, and take between 'Sh and four millions, for 
 the i)eople of Israel ; and of these, three fourths for 
 liie seucn a/irf a /ig//" tribes carried away by Shalma- 
 nezer, that is, more than 2| millions, we might well 
 rest the argument there. But even reduced to the 
 more probable number of 700,000, and upwards, — 
 how was such a multitude to be provided for ? 
 Nor is this stated to be an act of necessity, but of 
 choice ! 
 
 " We shall now state the particulars that are given, 
 respecting the Babylonish captivity. It appears, then, 
 that Nebuchadnezzar carried away the principcd in- 
 habitants, tlie warriors, and artisans of every kind, 
 and these classes only ; leaving l)ehind the husbaiid- 
 mcn, the laborers, and the poorer classes in general ; 
 that is, the great body of the people. May it not be 
 concluded, that nuich the same mode of conduct was 
 pui-sued by the king of Nineveh, as by him of Bal)y- 
 lon ; although it is not particularized ? It cannot i)e 
 supposed that either Media or Assyria wanted hus- 
 bandmen. The history of Tobit shows, not only 
 that the Jews were distributed over Media, but that 
 they fill(;d situations of trust and confidence. And, 
 on the whole, it may be conceived that the persons 
 brought away from the land of Israel were those 
 from whom the conqueror expected useful services, 
 in his country, or feared disturbances from, in their 
 own ; in effect, that the classes were much the same 
 with those brought away from Judea, by the king of 
 Babylon ; and that the great body of the people re- 
 mained in the land, as being of use there, but would 
 have been burthensome if removed. Consequently, 
 those aVIio look for a nation of Jews, transplanted in- 
 to Media, or Persia, certainly look for what was 
 never to be found ; since no more than a select part 
 of the nation was so transplanted. In the distribu- 
 tion of such captives, it might be expected that a 
 
 wise monarch would be governed by two considera- 
 tions : first, to profit the most by their knowledge and 
 industry ; and, secondly, to place them in such a situa- 
 tion, as to render it extremely difficult for them to re- 
 turn to their own country. The geographical position 
 of 31 edia appears favorable to the latter circumstance, 
 there being a great extent of country, and deep rivers 
 between. 
 
 " One circumstance appears very remarkable. Al- 
 though it is positively said, that only certain classes 
 of the JeAvs were carried to Babylon, at the latter 
 captivity ; and also that, on the decree of Cyrus, 
 which permitted their return, the principal part did 
 return, (perhaps 50,000 in all,) yet so great a number 
 was found in Babylonia, in after-times, as is really 
 astonishing. They are spoken of by Josephus, as 
 possessing towns and districts, in that country, so late 
 as the reign of Phraates ; about forty years before 
 Christ. They were in great numbers at Babylon it- 
 self; also in Seleucia and Susa- Their iuci'ease 
 must have been wonderful ; and in order to maintain 
 such munbers, their industry and gains also must 
 have been great. But it must also have been, that a 
 very great number were disinclined to leave the 
 country in which they were settled, at the date of the 
 decree. Ammianus Marcellinus, so late as the ex- 
 pedition of Julian, speaks of a Jews' town at the 
 side of one of the canals between the Euphrates and 
 Tigris." 
 
 Such are the prhicipal arguments of major Ren- 
 nell : there are others to which he has not advened. 
 From 2 Chron. xxx. we find that the pious Hezekiah 
 wrote to " all Israel, E])hraim, and Manasseh ; — and 
 that divers of Asher, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebu- 
 lun" obeyed his injunctions, and came to Jerusalem 
 to keep his passover ; so that, " since the time of Sol- 
 omon, son of David, there had not been the like in 
 Jerusalem." Moreover, we read in 2 Chron. xxxiv. 
 3, 4, 5, that king Josiah not only " purged Judah 
 and Jerusalem," in the first place, from idolatry, but 
 that he went in person, and did the same " in the 
 cities of IManasseh, (the half-tribe west of Jordan,) 
 Epliraim, Simeon, and even unto Naplitali, " through- 
 out all the laud of Israel." This he could not have 
 done, had he not possessed some authority over tlie 
 country he visited ; and had not the people of this 
 country acquiesced in tlie propriety of what he was 
 doing, knowing it to be agreeable to their ancient 
 laws and institutions. But this implies a population 
 of Hebrews by descrent. Now, as Josiah »teuded 
 his reformation throughout Israel, as he was killed 
 at Megiddo, a town in the centre of Israel, and de- 
 fending Israel against an invader, there is no room to 
 doubt, but that tiie main body of the population of 
 Israel at that time was descended from those who 
 had been lefl in the country, when the principals of 
 the nation, its to station and quality, were led into 
 captivity. It can hardly be supposed that Israel was 
 treated at that time more severely than Judah was 
 afterwards ; on the contrary, one would imagme, that 
 repeated revolts woidd be tlie most signally punish- 
 ed. Yet we find that Nebuchadnezzar left some Ju- 
 deans behind, although he carried off whoever could 
 be of any service to him, in adorning his new capi- 
 tal ; that city which he so greatly improved, as to 
 render it the subject of liis pride : — " this great Baby- 
 lon, which I have built." 
 
 If these suggestions be founded on truth, they may 
 assist our endeavors to discern the real character of 
 the Samaritans. It will be recollected, that what his- 
 tory we have of these people is not fi-om Israelite
 
 CAPTIVITY 
 
 [ 276] 
 
 CAPTIVITY 
 
 writers or from themselves, but from their rivals, the 
 Jews, whose description of them contains no equivo- 
 cal tokens of national animosity and dislike. Where- 
 as, if the bulk of the Israelites were left in their na- 
 tive land, if the population, though decimated, were 
 not wholly deported, then the descent claimed by 
 the Samaritans from the tribe of Ephraim, may well 
 be allowed them ; and then it is neither more nor less 
 than injustice, to deny their general relation to the 
 Hebrew community. This does not exclude the 
 fact, that a number of Ciitheans was intermingled 
 among them, who, probably, occupied advantageous 
 situations; whether as to office or property: but 
 these must always have been known, must always 
 have been distinguished, as the Turks are, at this 
 day, in their vai-ious lines of descent, among the 
 Greeks. Nor is it by any means unlikely, that these 
 different peo|)le should employ different arguments, 
 according to events. When the affairs of the Jews 
 were prosperous, the Israelite-Samaritans might 
 claim atiinity with them, and truly ; when the Jewish 
 people were in difficulties, the Cuthealis would nat- 
 urally endeavor to ingratiate themselves with the 
 heathen governors and sovereigns who despotized 
 Judea. So far as they appear in the gospel histo- 
 ry, we do not see that the Samaritans were Avorse 
 than tlie Jews ; indeed they seem, on the whole, to 
 have been more open to conviction than the zealots 
 of the southern tribes. This is clear from- their his- 
 tory, — that while the temple of Jerusalem is destroy- 
 ed, and the national rites are abolished, the Samari- 
 tans are still preserved as a people, though inglorious ; 
 they maintain their ancient observances, though im- 
 perfectly ; they derive their descent from their pro[)er 
 patriarchs, in their own country, though, probably, 
 not without considerable breaches and intervals in 
 their means of proof; they possess authentic copies 
 of the Mosaic institutes, free from Babylonish muta- 
 tions, and under which they act; and Provi- 
 dence has continued them to the present time, 
 as evidence of various points of history, and inci- 
 dental facts, connected with holy writ. So little 
 cause had the Jewish zealot to despise "those 
 who reside in the mount of Samaria ; and that 
 foolish people which dwell in Shechem," Ec- 
 clus. 1. 28. 
 
 Another question for de'.ermination, and one of 
 some difficulty, relates to the country whither the ten 
 tribes were transplanted. Scripture informs us, as we 
 have i^en above, that Tiglath-Pileser carried away 
 Naphtali, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe o^f lAIanas- 
 seh, to Halah, to Habor, and to Hara ; (1 Chron. v. 
 26.) and that Sahnaneser carried off' the rest of Israel 
 into Assyria, to Halah, to Habor, on the river of Gozan, 
 and into the cities of the IMedcs, 2 Kings xvii. 6. 
 Laliela and Halah are certainly the same, and proba- 
 bly denote the land of Havilah,' or Colchis. Habor, or 
 Chabor, is the river Chabonis, and the country water- 
 ed by it, as Gozan, or Gauzan, is the name of the prov- 
 ince through which the river Chaboras flows. [But 
 see GozAN.] There is also a district in Media called 
 Gauzan, between the rivers Cyrus and Cambyses,and 
 is placed ijy Benjamin of Tudcla four days' journey 
 from llemdam. Hara, or Ara, is in Media, and is prob- 
 ably the province of the Arcans, known to the ancient 
 geographers. Benjamin of Tudela assures us that there 
 were in iMedia fifty cities |)eopled by Israelites. Wc 
 sec by Tobit i. 11, "l6 ; iii. 7 ; v. 8. that there were Is- 
 raelites at Nineveh, at Rages in Media, at Shushim, or 
 Susa, and at Ecbatana. In our Saviour's time there 
 were Israelites scattered through the provinces of the 
 
 !imrm that the . 
 many of them ^ / 
 vy, Lithuania, y " 
 
 East, Acts ii. 9 — 11 ; James i. 1. Philo describes the 
 Jews as being very numerous throughout the East, 
 under the empu-e of the Persians ; and Josephus, 
 (Ant. lib. xi. cap. v.) speaking of the ten tribes, says, 
 in his time they were in great multitudes beyond the 
 Euphrates. The second book of Esdras (xiii. 41, &c.) 
 advances a notion, that the Israelites carried captive 
 by Shalmaneser, resolved on withdrawing from the 
 nations, that they might serve God with gi-eater liber- 
 ty ; and that for this purpose they passed over the 
 Euphrates, God having opened the channel of the 
 river, by a miracle in their favor, like that when he 
 gave them passage over the Jordan. They marched 
 a year and a half before they arrived at the place 
 they intended, and at last settled at Arzeret, where 
 they are to remain to the latter ages, when the Al- 
 mighty will recall them, and again open a passage 
 for them through the Euphrates. But where is this 
 country of Arzeret ? Josephus Ben-Gorion says, 
 that when Alexander the Great would have passed 
 over the dark mountains which separate the country 
 of the Israelites from the other nations, he was pre- 
 vented by a voice which cried to him, "Take care 
 that you enter not into the house of God." Benja- 
 min of Tudela reports that after a journey of one and 
 twenty days, as he travelled towards the north, he 
 airived at the kingdom of the Rechabites, the extent 
 of which was sixteen days' journey. Of the cities 
 of this kingdor.-. he relates many jjarticulars, but does 
 not say that this was the kingdom of Arzeret. Ma- 
 nasseh-ben-Israel and other writers affirm that the 
 ten tribes retired into Tartary, whence 
 passed into America, Russia, Muscov; 
 and China. Olaus Rudbek, son of the famous M. 
 Rudbek, author of the "Atlantica," in his " Laponia 
 Illustrata," maintains, that we must not expect to find 
 the remains of the ten tribes of Israel either in Asia, 
 or in Africa, and much less in America; but in the 
 utmost northern climes, even in his own country, 
 Lapland. These surmises he supports by some gen- 
 eral probabilities, and by the conformity between the 
 manners and ceremonies of the Laplanders and 
 those of the Jews. But upon this foundation, there 
 can be no country in the world in which the Jews 
 of the ten tribes may not be found. 
 
 Sir William Jones inclines to the opinion that 
 the ten tribes migrated to India, aboiU Thibet, and 
 Cashmire, and such opinion derived support from 
 several circimistances. In the year 1828 the follow- 
 ing statement appeared in the German papers : — 
 " Leipsic, Ju>e 30. — After having seen, for some 
 years past, merchants from Tiflis, Persia, and Arme- 
 nia, among the visitors at our fair, we have had, for 
 the first time, two traders from Bucharia, with shawls, 
 which are there manufactured of the finest wool of 
 the goats of Tibet rjid Cashmire, bj- the Jeivish fami- 
 lies, wlio form a third part of the population. In 
 Bucharia (formerly the capital of Sogdiana) the Jews 
 have been very numerous ever since the Babylonian 
 captivity, and are there as remarkable for their indus- 
 tiy and manufactm-es, as they are in England for 
 their nxoney transactions. It was not till last year 
 that the Russian government succeeded in extending 
 its diplomatic missions far into Bucharia. The above I 
 
 traders exchanged their shawls for coarse and fine } 
 
 woollen cloths of such colors as arc most esteemed 
 in the East." The number of these Jews must be 
 very great, if this account be at all correct, as to the 
 proportion which they bear to the whole population, 
 this being stated by the most accurately informed 
 writers to be from 15,000,000 to 18,000,000. But this
 
 CAPTIVITY 
 
 [277 1 
 
 CAR 
 
 informatiou is confirmed, in a very satisfactory man- 
 ner, from other sources. 
 
 In the year 1822, a 3Ir. Sargqn, one of the agents, 
 we beheve, to the Lon^JoiTSociety for converting the 
 Jews, communicated to England some interesting ac- 
 counts of a number of persons resident at Boni^bav, 
 Cannanore, and the vicinity, who were evidently tlie 
 descendants of Jews, calhng themselves Beni-Israel, 
 and bearing, almost uniformly, Jewish names, but 
 with a Persian termination. Feelilig very desirous to 
 obtain all possible knowledge of their condition, 3Ir. 
 Sargon undertook a mission to Cannanore for this 
 purpose, and the result of his inquiries was a convic- 
 tion, that they were not Jews of the one tribe and a 
 half, being of a difterent race from the white and 
 black Jews at Cochin, and consequently that they 
 were a remnant of the long-lost ten tribes. He also 
 concluded, from the information obtained respecting 
 the Beni-Israel, that they existed in great numbers in 
 countries between Cochin and Bombay, the north of 
 Persia, among the hordes of Tartary, and in Cash- 
 mire ; the very countries in which the German ac- 
 counts state the recent discovery to have been made. 
 So far, then, these accounts confirm each other, and 
 there is every probability that the Beni-Israel, resident 
 on the west of the Indian peninsula, had originally 
 proceeded from Bucharia. It will therefore be in- 
 teresting to know something of their moral and re- 
 ligious character ; and we have collected the follow- 
 ing particulars from Mr. Sargon's accounts: (1) In 
 dress and manners they resemble the natives so as 
 not to be distinguished from them, but by attentive 
 observation and incpiiry. (2.) They have Hebrew 
 names of the same kind, and with the same local ter- 
 mination, as the sepoys in the 9th regiment Bombay 
 native infantry. (3.) Some of them read Hebrew, 
 and they have a faint tradition of the cause of their 
 original exodus from Egypt. (4.) Their conmiou 
 language is the Hindoo. (5.) They keep idols and 
 worship them, and use idolatrous ceremonies inter- 
 mixed with Hebrew. (6.) They circumcise their own 
 children. (7.) They observe the Kippoor, or great 
 expiation day of the Hebrews, but not the sabbath, 
 uor any feast or fastdays. (8.) They call themselves 
 Gorah Jehudi, or white Jews ; and they term the black 
 Jews, Collah Jehudi. (9.) They speak of the Ara- 
 bian Jews as their brethren, but do not acknowledge 
 the European Jews as such, because they are of a 
 fairer complexion than themselves. (10.) They use, 
 on all occasions, and at the most trivial circumstances, 
 the usual Jewish prayer, " Hear, O Israel, the Lord 
 our God is one Lord." (11.) Tliey have no cohen 
 (priest), levite, or kasi, among them, under those terms, 
 but they have a kasy, (reader,) who performs prayers 
 and conducts their religious cerenjonics, and they 
 appear to have elders and a chief in each community, 
 who determine in their religious concerns. (12.) 
 They expect the Messiah soon to arrive, and rejoice 
 in the belief that at Jerusalem they will see their God, 
 worship him only, and be despised no more. This 
 is all the information that can be collected from JMr. 
 Sargon's accounts, but the very region in which these 
 people have been discovered, has been described by 
 the celebrated oriental geographer, Ibn Haukal, Avith 
 great minuteness, under the appellation of Mawer-al- 
 nahr. He speaks of it as one of the most flourisliing 
 and productive provinces within the regions of Islam, 
 and describes its inhabitants as a people of i)robity 
 and virtue, averse from evil, and fond of peace. — 
 "Such is their liberality, that no one turns aside from 
 the rites of hospitality ; so that a person conteinplat- 
 
 nig them in this light, would imagine that all the 
 families in the land were but one house. When a 
 traveller arrives there, every person endeavors to 
 attract him to himself, that he may have opportuni- 
 ties of performing kind offices for "the stranger ; and 
 the best proof of their hospitable and generous dis- 
 position is, that every peasant, though possessing but 
 a bare sufficiency, allows a portion of his cottage for 
 the reception of his guest. Thus, in acts of hospital- 
 ity, they expend their income. Never have I heard of 
 such things in any other country. . . . You cannot see 
 any town or stage [station], or even desert, without a 
 convenient inn or stage-house, for the accommodation 
 of travellers, with every thing necessary. I have 
 heard that there are above 20C0nebatsor inns, where 
 as many persons as may arrive shall find sufficient 
 forage for their beasts, and meat for themselves." 
 
 The Hebrews affirm, that since the destruction of 
 the temple by the Romans, they have always liad their 
 heads, or princes, both in the East and West, imder 
 the name of Princes of the Captivity ; that of the 
 East, governing the Jews of Babylon, Chaldea, As- 
 syria, and Persia ; that of the West, those of Judea, 
 Egy})t, Italy, and the Roman empire. 
 
 CARAVAN, a name given in the East to a com- 
 pany of travellers or merchants, who, for their greater 
 security, march in a body through the deserts, and 
 other places, infested with Arabs or robbers. (See 
 Gen. xxxvii. 25.) "As the collection of such a num- 
 ber of persons [to form a caravan] requh'es time, and 
 the imbodying of them is a serious concern, it is con- 
 certed with gi'eat care and preparation, and is never 
 attempted without permission of the prince in whose 
 dominions it is formed, and of those also through 
 whose dominions it is to pass, expressed in ivriting. 
 The exact number of men and carriages, mules, 
 horses, and other beasts of burthen, are specified in 
 the license ; and the merchants to whom the caravan 
 belongs regulate and direct every thing appertamiug 
 to its government and police, during the journey, and 
 appoint the various officers necessary for conducting 
 it. Each caravan has four principal officers : (1.) the 
 Caravan Bachi, or head of the caravan; (2.) the 
 Captain of the March ; (3.) the Captain of the Stop, 
 or Rest ; — and (4.) the Captain of the Distributio>-. 
 The frst has the uncontrollable authority and com- 
 mand over all the others, and gives them his orders : 
 the second is absolute during the march ; but his 
 authority immediately ceases on the stoj)ping, or en- 
 camping, of the caravan, wlien the third assumes his 
 share of the authority, and exerts it during the time 
 of its remaining at rest : and the fowth orders the dis- 
 position of every ])art of the caravan, in case of an 
 attack or battle. This last officer has also, during the 
 march, the inspection and direction of the distribu- 
 tion of provisions, which is conducted, under his 
 management, by several inferior officers, who are 
 obliged to give security to the master of the caravan ; 
 each of them having the care of a certain number of 
 men, elephants, dromedaries, camels, &.c. which 
 they imdertake to conduct, and to furnish with pro- 
 A isions, at their own risk, according to an agi-eement 
 stii)ulated between them. A fifth officer of the car- 
 avan is the pay-master, or treasurer, who has under 
 him a great many clerks and interijietcrs, a])p^nted 
 to keep accurate journals of all the material incidents 
 that may occur on the journey ; and it is by these 
 journals, signed by the superior officers, that the 
 owners of the caravan judge whether they have been 
 Avell or ill served or conducted." This description 
 is from colonel Campbell, who jjroceeds to say,
 
 CARAVAN 
 
 [ 278 ] 
 
 C AE 
 
 "Another kind of officers are mathematicians, with- 
 out wliom no caravan will presume to set out. There 
 are commonly three of them attached to a caravan of 
 a large size ; and they perform the offices both 
 of quarter-master and aids-de-camp, leading the 
 troops when the caravan is attacked, and assigning 
 the quarters where the caravan is appointed to en- 
 camp. There are no less than five distinct [kinds 
 of] caravans: first, the heavy caravans, which are 
 composed of elephants, dromedaries, camels, and 
 horses ; secondly, the light caravans, whicli have but 
 few elephants ; thirdly, the common caravans, where 
 are none of those animals; fourthly, the horse cai"a- 
 vans, where are neither dromedaries nor camels ; and 
 lastly, sea caravans, consistmg of vessels ; from 
 whence you will observe, that the word caravan is 
 not confined to the land, but extends to the water also. 
 The proportion observed in the hea\'y caravan is 
 as follov/s : — When there are five hundred elephants, 
 they add a thousand dromedaries, and two thousand 
 horses at the least : and the escort is composed of 
 four thousand men on horseback. Two men are re- 
 quired for leading one elephant, five for three drom- 
 edaries, and seven for eleven camels. This multitude 
 of servants, together with the officers and passengers, 
 whose number is uncertain, serve to support the 
 escort in case of a fight ; and render the caravan more 
 formidaljle and secure. The passengers are not ab- 
 solutely obliged to fight ; but, according to the laws 
 and usages of the caravans, if they refuse to do so, 
 they are not entitled to any provisions whatever from 
 the caravan, even though they should agree to pay 
 an extravagant price for them. The day of the car- 
 avan setting out, being once fixed, is never altered or 
 postpotied ; so that no disappointment can possibly 
 ensue to any one. Even these powerful and well- 
 armed bodies are way-laid and robbed by the Arabian 
 princes, who keep spies in all jiarts to give notice 
 when a caravan sets out : sometimes they plunder 
 them ; sometimes they make slaves of the whole con- 
 voy." (Travels to India, p. ii. p. 40.) 
 
 This account may be made very materially to assist 
 in ilhistrating the history of the exodus. In order 
 to apply it to that event, we i)remise, that the manners 
 of the East, because resulting from the nature and 
 the peculiarities of the countries, have ever been so 
 permanent, that what Avas anciently adopted into a 
 custom is still conformed to, with scarcely any (if any) 
 variation. 
 
 1. "A caravan is too serious a concern to be at- 
 tempted without the permission of the king, in whose 
 dominions it is formed ; and of those })Owers, also, 
 through whose dominions it is to pass." This ex- 
 plains the urgency of Moses to obtain permission 
 fro!;i Pharaoh ; and the power of Pharaoh to prevent 
 the assemljlage necessary for the purpose of Israel's 
 deliverance : it accounts, also, for the attack made by 
 Anialek : (Exod.xvii. 8.) which tribe, not having been 
 solicited for a free passage, intended revenge and 
 plunfler for this omission, in a "formidable body, as 
 large as an army ;" lint Moses could not have previous- 
 ly negotiated for their consent, without alarming 
 Pharaoh too highly, as to the extent of his proposed 
 excursion with the people. 
 
 2. The nature of the "mixed nudtitude" which 
 accomjianied the caravan of Israel clearly appears in 
 this extract. 
 
 3. "The exact number of men, carriages, nudes," 
 &c. This we find was the custom also in the time of 
 Moses ; as the returns made, and registered, in the 
 book of Numbers sufficiently demonstrate. 
 
 4. The time necessary for the formation of a cara- 
 van justifies the inference, that the Israelites did not 
 leave Egypt in that extreme haste which has been 
 sometimes supposed ; they must have had time to 
 assemble ; many, no doubt, from distant parts, which 
 would require several days : they might be expelled 
 in haste from the royal city ; but to collect them all 
 together at the place of rendezvous, nuist have been 
 a work of time : wc see it is so at this day. For 
 further information on this subject, see the article 
 
 ExODUS. 
 
 5. Another consideration, not unimportant, arises 
 from the nature, the departments, and the powers of 
 these officers. It appears from various passages of 
 Scripture, that the Lord, or Jehovah, was consider- 
 ed as the chief guide, conductor, or commander of 
 the Israelites, at the time of their exodus from 
 Egypt: he, therefore, was understood to be, as it 
 were. Caravan Bachi to this jieople ; in his name 
 3Ioses acted as the cliief of the caravan. [As to the 
 other officers, if they existed at all, we have no ac- 
 count of them ; except that Joshua was ordered to 
 go and fight Amalek, (Ex. xvii.) who attacked Israel 
 when encamped. R.] It is cdso not improbable that 
 Aaron, who assisted Moses in all things, and was his 
 substitute when absent, had, as a part of his duty, to 
 keep "accurate journals of all material incidents," 
 &c. This accounts why, in his penitence and fideh- 
 ty, he has given an ampla relation of his share in the 
 transaction of the golden calf, and of the anger it ex- 
 cited against him ; while lie has, ptrhayjs, declined to 
 transmit to posterity the name or the ch.aracter of the 
 principal in it. As a parallel instance, the reader may 
 recollect, how much more circumstantially Peter's 
 fall is related in Peter's Gospel (i. e. Blark's) than in 
 any other. It accounts, also, for the commendation 
 of Moses, as the meekest of men, in the very instance 
 of Aaron's rebellion against him ; and it accounts, to(>, 
 for the use of the third person in the narration, in- 
 stead of the first person, which Moses himself uses in 
 Deuteronomy, composed, or at least published, after 
 Aaron's death. It results from the whole, that the 
 history of tlie exodus, &c. w^as comjnled from the 
 public, ofiicial, authentic register, kept in the camp 
 daily ; that the original was not private memoranda, 
 but, to use a modern phrase, the Gazette of the time. 
 
 Mathematicians, mentioned by colonel Campbell, 
 were completely sujierfluous in the caravan of Israel. 
 
 The reader will observe other particulars for him- 
 self: those here suggested are offered only as hints 
 to lead inquiry ; this is not the place to enlarge on 
 them. The remark, however, is obvious, that the 
 most intricate transactions ai)pcar ]>lain, w lien set in 
 their proper light ; and that what we noiv find ob- 
 scure, is so, evidently, not Irom any real obscurity in 
 the original narration, but from our imperfect knoAvl- 
 edge of the sulijects to which it refers. 
 
 CARAVANSERAI, a building in the East, which 
 is expressed in our version of the Scriptures by the^- 
 term Inn. There appear to be three descriptions ol^ 
 these buildings. Some are simply jjlnces of rest, (by 
 the side of a foimtain, if possible,) which, being at 
 proper distances on the mad, are thus named, though 
 they are mere naked walls; others have an attend- 
 ant, who sidtsists either by some charitable donation, 
 or the benevolence of passengers; and others are j) 
 more considerable establishments, where families re- j 
 side and take care of them, and furnish many neces- I 
 sary j)rovisions. Conformably to these ideas, the (S 
 Scripture uses at least two words to express a cara- 
 vanserai, though our translators have rendered both
 
 CARAVANSERAI 
 
 [ 279 ] 
 
 CARAVANSERAI 
 
 by the same term inn. Thus, Luke ii. 7, There was 
 no room/or them in the inn, (zura/i nan.) " tlie place of 
 untying," of beasts, &c. for rest. Luke x. 34, The 
 good Samaritan brought him to the (rrurih;^ftut) inn, 
 (whose keeper is called in the next verse pandokeius,) 
 a receptacle open to all comers. It may reasonably 
 be suj)pose(l, that a caravanserai in a town should be 
 better furnished than one in the country, in a retired 
 place, and where few travellers pass ; and Mr. Tay- 
 lor therefore inclines, against Harmer, (Obs. vol. iii. 
 p. 248.) to think that the inn, to which the good Sa- 
 maritan is represented as conducting the wounded 
 traveller, was intentionally described of an inferior 
 kind. If so, we may reasonably take the other word, 
 " the untying place," as denoting a larger edifice ; 
 and this accounts for the evangelist Luke's mention 
 of there being no room (rv.io:) in it: q. d. "though it 
 was large enough for such occasions as usually 
 occurred in the town of Bethlehem, yet now every 
 apartment in this receptacle was occupied ; so that 
 no privacy fit for a woman in the situation of Marj^ 
 could be had:" — especially as, colonel Campbell has 
 informed us, "they are continually attended by num- 
 bers of the very lowest of the people" — very unfit 
 associates for Mary at any time, and certainly in her 
 present condition. " Caravanserais were originally 
 intended for, and are now pretty generally applied 
 to, the accommodation of strangers and travellers ; 
 though, like every other good institution, sometimes 
 perverted to the purposes of private emolument, or 
 public job. They are built at proper distances 
 through the roads of the Turkish dominions, and 
 afford to the indigent and weary traveller an asylum 
 from the inclemency of the weather. They Jiave 
 commonly one story above the ground-floor ; the 
 lower story is arched, and serves for warehouses 
 to store goods, for lodgings, and for stables, while the 
 upper is used merely for lodgings; besides which 
 they are always accommodated with a fountain, and 
 have cooks'-shojis and other conveniences to supply 
 the wants of lodgers." (Campbell's Travels, p. ii. p. 
 8.) This description appUes, of course, to the better 
 sort of caravanserais. 
 
 The nearest construction amongst us to a caravan- 
 serai, appears in some of our old inns, where galle- 
 ries, with lodging rooms in them, run round a court, 
 or yard ; but then, as travellers in the East always 
 carry with them their own bedding, &c. it is evident 
 that our inns are better provided than the best east- 
 ern caravanserais. It is necessary to keep this in 
 mind ; because we must not suppose that .Tosei)li 
 and Mary travelled without taking the necessary 
 utensils with them ; or that they could have procined, 
 ill this inn, any thing beyond provisions and lodging. 
 Perhaps even they could not have procured provis- 
 
 ions. But of the poverty of their easteni inns, we 
 shall obtain a pretty distinct idea from the following 
 extract : — 
 
 " There are no inns any where ; but the cities, and 
 commonly the villages, have a large building called 
 a khan, or kervatiserai, which serves as an asylum for 
 all travellers. These houses of reception are always 
 built without the precincts of towns, and consist of four 
 wings round a square couit, which serves, by way of 
 enclosure, for the beasts of burthen. The lodgings 
 are cells, where you find nothing but bare walls, dust, 
 and sometimes scorpions. The keeper of this khan 
 gives the traveller the key and a mat ; and he pro- 
 vides himself the rest. He must, therefore, carry 
 with him his bed, his kitchen utensils, and even his 
 provisions ; for frequently not even bread is to be 
 found in the villages. On this account the orientals 
 contrive their equipage in the most simple and port- 
 able form. The baggage of a man who wishes to be 
 completely provided, consists in a carpet, a mattress, 
 a blanket, two saucepans with lids, contained within 
 each other, two dishes, two i)lates, and a cofFee-pot, 
 all of copper well tinned ; a small wooden box, for 
 salt and pepper ; a round leathern table, which he 
 suspends from tlie saddle of his horse ; small leathern 
 bottles or bags for oil, melted butter, water, and 
 brandy (if the traveller be a Christian) ; a pipe, a tin- 
 der-box, a cup of cocoa-nut, some rice, dried raisins, 
 dates, Cyprus cheese, and, above all, cofl^ee-berries, 
 with a roaster, and wooden mortar to pound them. 
 I am thus particular, to prove that the orientals are 
 more advanced than we, in the art of dispensing with 
 many things, an art which is not without its use 
 Our European merchants are not contented with 
 such simple accommodations." (Volney's Travels, 
 vol. ii. p. 419. Eng. edit.) The reader will bear this 
 account in mind : for we shall find that he is not a 
 poor man in the East, who possesses this quantity of 
 utensils. One would hope that at Bethlehem, "the 
 house of bread," it was not difficult to procure that 
 necessary of fife. 
 
 [The following graphic description of a scene in 
 the large khan or caravanserai at Acre, is from the 
 pen of Dr. Jowett, under date of Nov. 3, 1823: 
 (Christ. Researches in Syria, etc. p. 115. Am. ed.) 
 " Looking out of oin- window upon the large, open, 
 quadrangular court of the khan, we beheld very 
 much such a scene as would illustrate the 'Ara- 
 bian Nights' Entertainments.' In the centre is a 
 spacious fountain, or reservoir, the fir-st care of 
 every builder of great houses or cities in the East. 
 On one side is a row of camels, each tied by the 
 slenderest cord to a long string; to which a small 
 bell is appended, so that, by the slightest motion, they 
 keep u]) one another's attention, and the attention 
 also of ail the inmates of the khan, tliat of weary 
 travellers especially, by a constant jingle. On an- 
 other side, horses and nuiles are waiting for orders ; 
 while asses, breaking loose, biting one another, and 
 throwing up their heels, give variety to the scene. 
 Goats, geese, poultry, &c."are on free quarters. In 
 the midst of all these sights and soimds, the groom, 
 the muleteer, the iDcrchant, the pedlai-, the passers- 
 by, and the by-standers, most of them wretchedly 
 dressed, though in coats of many colors, all looking 
 like idlers, whatever they may have to do, contrive 
 to make themselves audible ; generallj' lifting up 
 their voices to the pitch of high debate, and very often 
 much higher. Noise, indeed, at all times, seems to be 
 the proper element of the people of these countries; 
 their throats are formed for it, their ears are used to
 
 CAR 
 
 [ 280 
 
 CAR 
 
 it; neither the meu uor the females, growu-up per- 
 sons nor children, the rich uor the poor, seem to 
 have any exclusive privilege in making it ; and, what 
 is very annoying to a Frank traveller, the party with 
 whom he is treating, and who wishes most probably 
 to impose on him, will turn round to make an appeal 
 to all the by-standers, who are no less ready with 
 one voice to strike in with their opinion on all mat- 
 ters that come before them. 
 
 "The immense khan, of which the consul's rooms 
 form a sinall part, is inhabited by a great variety of 
 families. It is three stories high ; and in so dilapi- 
 dated a state, that it seems to me to wait only for a 
 gentle shock of an earthquake — no improbable event 
 — to bring it all down." 
 
 The same travellei-, in passing from Saide (Sidon) 
 to Acre, came, near evening, to the foot of the line of 
 mountains "which forms a midway barrier betwixt 
 Tyre and Acre. After ascending it a little way, we 
 reached, just after sunset, a poor hovel, called Khan 
 Nahoura ; the owner of which, having several guests 
 already arrived, made many difficulties about receiv- 
 ing us. A little money, however, changed his heart 
 towards us. Happily, just before our arrival, we 
 were hailed by some fishermen on the water side, — 
 men who, probably, at this day, are unconsciously ful- 
 filling the prophecy of Ezekiel, cxxvi. 5, 14, — from 
 whom we bought some excellent fish. With no 
 other preparation than that of putting them whole 
 into the burning embers, they furnished us with 
 a very seasonable and refreshing supper." (Ibid. 
 p. 112.) 
 
 Khan appears to be the Turkish name for caravan- 
 serai. On the great roads, where there are long 
 intervals between the cities or settled parts of the 
 country, these establishments are maintained by the 
 government ; particularly in Persia. Indeed, this is 
 a custom of very high antiquity ; for Xenophon in- 
 forms us that Cyrus, "observing how far a horse 
 could well travel in a day, built stables at those dis- 
 tances, and supplied them with persons to keep them 
 in charge." (See sir R. K. Porter's Trav. in Persia, 
 vol. i. p. 482.) *R. 
 
 CARBUNCLE, a precious stone, like a large ruby, 
 or garnet, of a dark, deep red color, something like 
 bullock's blood ; said to glitter even in the dark, and 
 to sparkle more than the ruby : but Braun observes, 
 after Boptius, that the carbuncle of the ancients is the 
 ruby. [The Hebrew word n,-i-i3, bdreketh, translated 
 carbuncle in the English version, Ex. xxviii. 17. Ezek. 
 xxviii. 13, is rendered smaragdtts by Josephus, the 
 Seventy, and the Vulgate ; an"d this is vindicated by 
 Braun. (I)c V>st. sacerd. Hcb. p. 517, seq.) In Is. 
 liv. 12, our translators have put carbuncle for the 
 Heb. n-i-i!', ekddh ; of which it can only ])e said, that 
 its root indicates something bright, shining ; but the 
 specific kind of stone is not known. R. 
 
 CARCHEMISH, a city of great strength on the 
 Eupluatos, belonging to Assyria, which was taken by 
 Necho, king of Egypt, and' retaken by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, in tlic fourth year of Jehoiachin, king of 
 Judah, 2 Chron. xxxv. 20 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 29. Isaiah 
 ppcaks of Carcbemish, and seems to say that Tiglath- 
 Pilczor couqu.-red it; perliaps froui tlio Egyptians. 
 Probably Carrboniisb is Cerrusium, Circesium, or 
 Kirkisia, which is situated in tlie angle formed by 
 the junction of the Chaboras, or Chebar, and the 
 Euphrates. 
 
 CARIA, a country of Asia Minor, to which the 
 Romans wrote in favor of the Jews, 1 Mac. xv. 23. 
 It has been called Phoenicia, because a Phoenician 
 
 colony first settled there. Its chief town was Hali- 
 carnassus. 
 
 I. CARMEL, a city of Judah, on a mountain of 
 the same name, in the south of Palestine, 10 miles 
 east of Hebron. Here Nabal the Carmelite, Abigail's 
 husband, dwelt. Jerome says, that in his time the 
 Ron)ans had a garrison at Carmel. On this moun- 
 tain Saul, returning from his expedition against 
 Amalek, erected a trophy, 1 Sam. xv. 12. [This 
 mountain still retains its ancient name ; Seetzcu 
 found, on the west side of the Dead sea, a limestone 
 mountain, called el-Carmel, which is without doubt 
 the same. R. 
 
 II. CARMEL, a celebrated range of hills rimning 
 north-west from the plain of Esdraclon, and ending 
 in the promontory, or cape, which forms the bay of 
 Acco. Its height is about 1500 feet, and at its foot, 
 north, runs the brook Kishon, and a little farther 
 north, the river Belus. Josephus makes Carmel a 
 part of Galilee ; but it rather belonged to Manasseh, 
 and to the south of Asher. Carmel signifies the vine- 
 yard ; and Jerome informs us, that this mountain 
 had good pastures. Toward the sea is a cave, where 
 it has been supposed that the prophet Elijah desired 
 Ahab to bring Baal's false prophets, and where fire 
 from heaven descended on his Ijurnt sacrifice, 1 
 Kings xviii. 21 — 40. Pliny mentions " the promon- 
 tory Carmel," and on this mountain a town of the 
 same name, formerly called Ecbatana. 
 
 [Mount Carmel is an object of so much celebrity 
 and impo)-tance, that some more particular notice of 
 it seems desirable. It is the only great promontory 
 upon the coast of Palestine. The foot of the north- 
 ern part approaches the water, so that, seen from the 
 hills north-east of Acre, mount Carmel appears ns if 
 " dipping his feet in the western sea ;" farther south 
 it retires more inland, so that between the mountain 
 and the sea there is an extensive plain covered with 
 fields and olive-trees. Carmel consists rather of 
 several connected hills, than of one ridge ; the north- 
 ern and eastern part being somewhat higher than 
 the southern and western. The western side of the 
 mountain, towards the sea, is five or six miles long, 
 not running in a straight line ; but (according to 
 Pococke and Volney) the two extremities jut out and 
 stand over against each other, forming, in the middle, 
 a bow. The mountain, according to the reports of 
 the great majority of travellers, well deserves its He- 
 brew name ; (Carmel, count?-!/ of vineyards and gar- 
 dens ;) Mariti describes it (Trav. p. 274, seq.) as a 
 delightful region, and says the good quality of its 
 soil is apparent from the fiict, that so many odorifer- 
 ous plants and flowers, as hyacinths, jon(]uilles, ta- 
 zpttos, anemonies, &c. grow wild ujion the motm- 
 tain. O. von Richter in his "Pilgrimage" (p. 65.) 
 says : " Mount Carmel is entirely covered with green ; 
 on its sunnnit are pines and oaks, and farther down 
 olive and laurel-trees ; every where jilentifully 
 watered. It gives rise to a multitude of crystal 
 brooks, the largest of which issues from the so called 
 fountain of Elijah ; and they all hurry along, between 
 banks thickly overgrown with bushes, to the Kishon. 
 Every species of tillage succeeds here admirably, 
 under this mild and cheerful sky. The prospect 
 from the sunnnit of the mountain out over the gulf 
 of Acre and its fcM'tllc shores, and over the l)lue heights 
 of Lebanon to the Wiiite ca])e, is enchanting." Mr. 
 Carne also ascended the mountain and traversed the 
 whole summit, which occupied several hours. (Let- 
 ters from the East, Lond. 1824, vol. i. p. 286.) Ho 
 savs : " It is the finest and most beautiful mountain
 
 CAR 
 
 [281 ] 
 
 CAT 
 
 in Palestine, of gi'eat length, and in many parts cov- 
 ered with trees and flowers. On reaching, at last, the 
 opposite summit, and coming out of a wood, we saw 
 the celebrated plain of Esdraelon beneath, with the 
 river Kishon flowing through it ; mounts Tal)or and 
 Hermon were in front ; and on the left [S. E.] the 
 prospect was bounded by the hills of Samaria. This 
 scene certainly did not fulfil the descriptions given 
 of the desolation and barrenness of Palestine, al- 
 though it was mournful to behold scarcely a village 
 or cottage in the whole extent ; yet the soil appeared 
 so rich and verdant, that, if diligently cultivated, 
 there is little doubt it would become, as it once was, 
 ' like the garden of the Lord.' In another place he 
 says : (ibid, vol. ii. p. 119.) " No mountain in or around 
 Palestine retains its ancient beauty so much as Car- 
 mel. Two or three villages, and some scattered cot- 
 tages, are found on it ; its groves are few, but luxu- 
 riant; it is no place for crags and precipices, or 
 ' rocks of the wild goats ;' but its surface is covered 
 with a rich and constant verdure." 
 
 These descriptions admirably illustrate the vivid 
 representations of the inspired Hebrew poets and 
 prophets in respect to Carmel. Thus Isaiah, in de- 
 scribing the gospel times, (xxxv. 2.) affirms that " to 
 the desert shall be given the excellency (splendid or- 
 naments) of Carmel." So, on account of the gi-ace- 
 ful form and verdant beauty of its sunmiit, the head 
 of the bride, in Cant. vii. 5, is compared to Carmel. 
 It was also celebrated for its pastures, and is there- 
 fore ranked with Bashan, Jer. 1. 19 ; Is. xxxiii. 9 ; 
 Amos i. 2. 
 
 There are in mount Carmel very many caves ; 
 it is said more than a thousand ; chiefly on the west 
 side. They are said to have formerly been inhabited 
 by monks. In one tract, called the Monks' cavern, 
 there arc four hundred adjacent to each other, and 
 furnished with windows and places for sleeping 
 hewn in the rock. A peculiaritj^ of many of these 
 caverns is mcutioned by Schulz, (Leitungen, &c. v. 
 p. 187, 383.) viz. that the entrances to them are so 
 narrow, that only a single person can creep in at a 
 time ; and that the caves are so crooked that a per- 
 son is immediately out of sight to one who follows, 
 and can conceal himself This may serve to give us 
 a clearer idea of what is intended in Amos ix. 3. 
 where Jehovah says of those who endeavor to es- 
 cape from punishment, "Though they hide them- 
 selves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take 
 them out thence." That the grottoes and caves of 
 Carmel were already in very ancient times the resort 
 and dwelling of prophets and other religious persons, 
 is well known. The prophets Elijah and Elisha often 
 resorted thither. (See 1 Kings xviii. 19, seq. 42 ; 2 
 Kings ii. 25 ; iv. 2.5 ; and compare, perhaps, 1 Kings 
 xviii. 4, 13.) At the present day, is sho\\ii a cavern, 
 called the cave of Elijah, a little below the iMonks' 
 cavern mentioned above. It is now a 3Ia]iome- 
 tan sanctuary. Comp. Rosenin. Bibl. Geogr. II. i. 
 p. 101, seq. ,. *R. 
 
 CARNAIM, see Astaroth II, 
 
 CARNAL, fleshly, sensual. Wicked or uncon- 
 verted men are represented as under the domination 
 of a "carnal mind, which is enmity against God," 
 and which must issue in death, Rom. viii. 6, 7. 
 Worldly enjoyments are carnal, because they only 
 minister to the wants and desires of the animal j)art 
 of man, Rom. xv. 27 ; 1 Cor. ix. 11. The ceremo- 
 jiial parts of the Mosaic dispensation were carnal ; 
 they related immediately to the bodies of men and 
 beasts, Heb. vii. 16 ; ix. 10. The u eapons of a 
 36 
 
 Christian's warfare are not carnal ; they are not of 
 human origin, nor are they directed by human wis- 
 dom, 2 Cor. X. 4. 
 
 CARPUS, a disciple of Paul, who dwelt at Troas, 
 2 Tim. iv. 13. 
 
 CART, for threshing, a machine still used in the 
 East, Amos ii. 13. See Threshing. 
 
 CARTHAGE, a celebrated city on the coast of 
 Africa ; a colony from Tyre. According to the Vul- 
 gate, Ezekiel says, (xxvii. 12.) the Carlhagiuians 
 traded to Tyre ; but the Hebrew reads Tarshish, 
 which rather signifies Tarsus in Cilicia, or Tar- 
 tessus in Spain, formerly famous for trade. See 
 Tarshish. 
 
 CASIPHIA. Ezra says, that when returning to 
 Judea, he sent to Iddo, who dwelt at Casiphia ; per- 
 haps mount Caspius, near the Caspian sea, between 
 Media and Hyrcania, where were many captives, 
 Ezra viii. 17. 
 
 CASLUHIM, a son of Mizraim, from whom came 
 the Caplitorim, or Philistines. See Caphtor. 
 
 CASPIS, a city in Arabia, inhabited by people of 
 various nations, who, having menaced Judas Macca- 
 beus and his troops, were slaughtered by them, 2 
 3Iac. xii. 13—16. 
 
 CASSIA, a spice mentioned by Moses as an ingre- 
 dient in the composition of the holy oil, used in the 
 consecration of the sacred vessels of the tabernacle, 
 Exod. XXX. 24. [The word cassia comes, undoubt- 
 edly, from the Hebrew n;''i,r', ketsiah, which occurs 
 once in this sense in the Hebrew Scriptures, in the 
 plural ; Ps. xlv. 8, "All thy garments smell q/'myirh, 
 a7id aloes, and cassia." The plural was very proba- 
 bly used by the Hebrews on account of the small 
 detaclied pieces into which the bark is usually di- 
 vided in commerce ; but the Seventy, in conformity 
 to the general usage of Greek ^viiters, give it in the 
 singular number, and write it with one sigma, y.an[a. 
 The meaning of the word in Hebrew is, something 
 stripped off, i. e. !>ark separated from the trunk ; and 
 it was not unnatural that a precious commodity of 
 this kind from the remotest East should thus be 
 called by the general name bai-k, just as in modern 
 times a different species of bark is thus distinguished. 
 The word cassia occurs also in two other passages 
 of our English version, viz. Ex. xxx. 24 ; Ezek. 
 xxvii. 19 ; where it corresponds to the Heb. n-ip, kid- 
 ddh. In the former passage, the Seventy have I'qic, 
 a species of lily ; in the latter, they appear not to 
 have read the same Hebrew word. That the He- 
 brew ntp really means cassia, is somewhat doubtful ; 
 but from its connection, in Exodus, with myrrh, cinna- 
 mon, and sweet calamus, it would seem at any rate 
 to have come from the same countries, and to have 
 possessed the same properties. 
 
 This oriental aromatic is the cassia of modem 
 cookery, but not of modern botany. It is the Laurus 
 cassia of Linnaeus, a native of Malabar, Sumatra, 
 Java, &c. *R. 
 
 CATERPILLAR (Heb. cMsil) is improperly put, 
 by the English translators, for a species of locust now 
 unknown. In several passages of Scripture this in- 
 sect is distinguished from the locust, properly so 
 called ; and in Joel i. 4. is mentioned as "eating up" 
 what the other species had left, and may, therefore, 
 bo called " the consumer" by way of eminence. But 
 the ancient interpreters are far from being agreed as 
 to what particular species it signifies. The LXX, 
 Aquila, the Vulgate, and Jerome understand it of 
 " the chafer," which is a great devourer of leaves. 
 Michaelis, from the Syriac, supposes it to be the
 
 C AU 
 
 [ 282 ] 
 
 CAUCASUS 
 
 "mole cricket," which in its grub state is very de- 
 structive to corn, and other vegetables, by feeding on 
 then- roots. 
 
 I. CATHOLIC. This term is Greek ; signifying 
 universal, or general. The church of Christ is called 
 cathoUc, because it extends throughout the world, 
 and diu-ing all time. We call some truths catliolic, 
 because they are generally received, and are of gene- 
 ral influence ; so the catholic, that is, the general, 
 chiuTh. 
 
 II. CATHOLIC, i. e. general. Epistles, are seven 
 in number, viz. one of James, two of Peter, three of 
 John, and one of Jude. They are called catholic, 
 because directed to Christian converts generally, 
 and not to any particular church. The principal 
 design of these epistles is to warn the reader against 
 fhe heresies of the times, and to establish Christian 
 converts against the efforts made to reduce them to 
 Judaism, or to a mixture of legal notions with Chris- 
 tianity, or of idolatrous principles and practices with 
 the gospel. 
 
 CAVES were often used as dwellings in Pales- 
 tine. See Rock, and Carmel. 
 
 CAUCASUS, the name of a range of mountains 
 in Asia. [The modern Caucasus is that immense 
 chain of mountains whicli runs from about the mid- 
 dle of the western shore of the Caspian sea, north- 
 west, to the northern side of the Euxine, or Blaclc 
 sea. In ancient times, the name appears to have 
 been applied to the whole of that vast tract of ele- 
 vated and mountainous country, commencing in 
 India and extending to the Mediterranean and 
 Euxine seas, forming the highest elevation or region 
 of Asia, the Hindu Koh, and comprehending, 
 among many other ranges, those of Ararat and Tau- 
 rus. These two last names were applied very in- 
 definitely to denote ranges of mountains beyond the 
 limits to which these names jiroperly belonged ; 
 and thus they were sometimes probably intei-- 
 changed, or employed by different writers to express 
 the same mountains. This whole subject has strict- 
 ly no connection with the illustration of the Bible, 
 because none of these names (except Ararat) are 
 found in Scripture ; but as the Greek word Caucasus 
 was probably derived from India, and the tracing of 
 it to its source is connected with some important 
 geographical views, it may not be uninteresting to 
 sec here subjoined the following extract from ca])tain 
 Wilford, in the Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 455. R. 
 
 "The true Sanscrit name of this mountain is 
 C^hasa-girt, or the moimtain of the C^hasas, a most 
 ancient and powerful tribe, who inhabited this im- 
 mense range, from the eastern limits of India to the 
 confines of Persia ; and most ])roba'oly as far as the 
 Euxine and Mediterranean seas. They are often 
 mentioned in the sacred books of the Hindus. Their 
 descendants still inhal)it the same regions, and are 
 called to tiiis day C'hasas, and in some places C^ha- 
 sijas and Cossais. They belonged to the class of 
 warriors, or Csheilris ; but )io\v they are considered 
 as the lowest of the four classes, and were thus de- 
 graded, according to the institutes of Menu, by their 
 omission of the holy rites, and by seeing no Brah- 
 mins. However, the vakeel of the rajah ofComanh, 
 or Minora, wlio is a learned Pandit, informs me, that 
 the greatest jiart of the zemindai-s of that country 
 are C'hasas ; and that they are not considered, or 
 treated, as outcasts. They are certainly a very an- 
 cient tribe ; for they are mentioned as such in the in- 
 stitutes of Menu ; and their great ancestor C'hasa, or 
 Chasya, is mentioned by Snnchoniathon under the 
 
 name of Cassiu-s. He is supposed to have lived be- 
 fore the flood, and to have given his name to the 
 mountains he seized upon. The two countries of 
 Cashgar, those of Cash-viir, Castwar, and the famous 
 peak of Chas-gar, are acknowledged in India to de- 
 rive their names from the Cltasas. The country 
 called Casia by Ptolemy, is still inhabited by C^ha- 
 sijas ; and Pliny informs us, (lib. vi. cap. 20.) that 
 the inhabitants of the mountainous region between the 
 Indus and the Jumna, were called Cesi, a word ob- 
 viously derived from C^hasa, or Chesai, as they are 
 denominated in the vulgar dialects. The appella- 
 tion of Caucasus, or Coh-CAS, extended from India 
 to the shores of the Mediterranean and Euxine seas; 
 most probably, because this extensive range was in- 
 habited by C^hasas. Certain it is, that the mountains 
 of Persia were inhabited by a race of people called 
 CossfRi, Cusseei, and Cissii ; there was a mount Casius 
 on the borders of Egypt, and another in Syria ; the 
 Caspian sea, and the adjacent moimtains, were most 
 probably denominated from them. Jupiter Cassius, 
 like Jupiter Peninus in the Alps, was worshipped in 
 the mountains of Syria, and on the borders of Egypt ; 
 moreover, we find that the titles of Cassius and Cas- 
 siopseus, given to Jupiter, -were synonymous, or 
 nearly so. In Sanscrit the words Chasapa, Chasy- 
 apa, and Chasyapati, signify the lord and sovereign 
 ruler of the Chasyas ; Chasyapiya, or Chasapeya, in 
 a derivative form, implies the country of Chasapa. 
 
 "The original country of the Chusas seems to 
 have been the present country of Cashgar, to the 
 north-east of Cabul ; for the C'hasas, m the Institutes 
 of Menu, are mentioned with the Daradas, who are 
 obviously the Dardce of Ptolemy, whose country, 
 now called Darad by the natives, and Dawurd by 
 Persian authors, is to the north-west of Cashmir, 
 and extends towards the Indus ; hence Ptolemy with 
 great propriety asserts, that the mountains to the 
 north-east of Cabul are the real Caucasus. The 
 country of Cashcar is situated in a beautiful valley, 
 watered by a large river, whicli, after passing close 
 to Chaga-Seray, Cooner and Noorgul, (Cooner and 
 Noorgul are called Guz-noorgul in the Aj^een Ak- 
 bery,) joins the Landi-Sindh, or little Sindh, below 
 Jalalabad, in the small district of Cameh, (for thei-e is 
 no town of that name,) and from this circumstance 
 the little Sindh is often called the river Cameh. The 
 capita] city of Cashcar is called Chatraul, or Cha- 
 tram-, and is the place of residence of a petty Ma- v 
 homedan prince, who is in great measure tributary 
 to the emperor of China, for the Chinese are now in 
 possession of Badacshan as far as Baglan to the north- 
 west of Anderab." 
 
 " Pliny (lib. vi. cap. 30.) informs us, that mount 
 Caucasus was also called Graucasus ; an appellation 
 obviously Sanscrit ; for Grava, which, in conversa- 
 tion, as well as in the spoken dialects, is invariably 
 pronounced Grau, signifies a mountain, and being a 
 monosyllable (the final being surd) according to the 
 rules of grammar, it is to lie prefixed thus, Grava- 
 Chasa, or Grau-Chasa. Isidorus says that Caucasus, 
 in the eastern languages, signifies white ; and that a 
 mountain, close to it, is called Costs by the Scythians, 
 in whose language it signifies snoio and whiteness. 
 The Casis of Isidorus is obviously the Casian ridge 
 of Ptolemy; where the genuine appellation appears 
 stripped of its adjunct. In the language of the Cal- 
 muck Tartars, Jasu and Chctsu signify snow ; and in 
 some dialects of the same tongue, towards Badac- 
 shan, they say Jusha and Chusha, Tusha, and Tu- 
 rhi'i, or Tuca. Tliese words, in the opinion of my
 
 CAU 
 
 [ 283 ] 
 
 CAUSEWAY 
 
 learned friends here, arc obviously derived from the 
 
 Sanscrit Tiishnrci, ijy droppinjr the final ra The 
 
 words Ch/isu, or C'hasa, me jjronounced Chasa, or 
 Cos ; Chusa, or Cusa, by the inhabitants of the coun- 
 tries between Bahlac and the Indus ; for they inva- 
 riably substitute cli or c in the room of sh This 
 
 imnrense range is constantly called in Sanscrit Him- 
 dchel, or ' Snowy Mountain ;' and Himalaya, or the 
 'Abode of Snow.' From Hiina the Greeks made 
 Imaiis : Einodus seems to be derived from Himoda, 
 or ' snowy ;' Himana, Ilaimdna, and Haiindnus, 
 wiiich are apijcllations of the same import, are also 
 found in the Puranas ; from these is probably de- 
 rived .'linanus, which is the name of a famous moun- 
 tain in Lesser Asia, and is certainly part of the Hima- 
 laya mountains; which, according to the Puranas, 
 extend from sea to sea. The western part of this 
 range was called Taurus ; and Strabo says (lib. xi. p. 
 SlU.) that mount Imaus was called also Taurus. The 
 etymology of this last appellation is rather obscure ; 
 l)ut since the Brahmins insist that Toc^hdrestdn is 
 corrupted from Tushdra-sthdn, by which appella- 
 tion that country is distinguished in the Puranas ; 
 and that Tiinan is derived from Tusharan, its San- 
 scrit name, the sh being quiescent ; may we not 
 equally suppose, that Taiirics is derived from Tu- 
 shara, or Tusharas ? for this last form is used also, 
 but only in declensions, for the sake of derivation. 
 Tushara signifies ' snow ;' Tushara-sthan, or Tuc^ha- 
 ras-sthan, the place or abode of snow ; and Tusha- 
 ran, in a derivative form, the country of snow." 
 
 CAUSEWAY, a raised way, or path, 1 Chron. 
 xxvi. 16 ; 2 Chron. ix. 4. One of these prepared 
 ways is no doubt refeiTed to in Isa. Ixii. 10, which 
 Mr. Taylor thus renders — 
 
 Pass, pass, the gates ; 
 
 Level (even) the way for the people ; 
 
 Throw up, throw up, the causeway — lit. raise, raise, 
 
 ' the raised way, (Eng. ver. highway,) 
 Clear it from every stone ; 
 Display a standard to the people. 
 
 ■\Ir. Manner would refer the fourth member of 
 this sentence, to the heaping up stones by the Avay 
 of land-marks, to direct travellers in their way. 
 AVithout impugning his instances, Mr. Taylor veiy 
 properly hints that where a causeway had already 
 levelled and fixed the road, that further labor of 
 raising mounts was unnecessary. As to the nature 
 of these causeways, (called iii this jjlace nSoc, mesil- 
 Idh,) George Herbert gives this information : (p, 170.) 
 " A word of our last night's journey, [in Hyrcania, 
 i. e. Persia ; the country to which Isaiah alludes.] 
 The most part of the night avc rode upon a paved 
 cawse\', broad enough for ten horses to go abreast ; 
 built by extraordinary labor and expense, over a part 
 of a great desert ; which is so even that it affords 
 a large horizon ; howbeit, being of a boggy, loose 
 ground upon the surface, it is covered with white 
 salt, in some places a yard deep, a miserable pas- 
 sage ! for, if either the Avind drive the loose salt 
 abroad, which is like dust ; or that by accident the 
 horse or camel forsake the cawsey, the bog is not 
 strong enough to uphold them, but suflfers them to 
 sink past all recovery ;" — he then compares this to 
 the Roman vi(e militares, whose foundations were 
 laid with huge piles, or stakes, pitched into a bog, 
 and fastened together vvith branches or withes of 
 wood ; upon which rubbish was spread, and gravel 
 or stones afterwards laid, to make the ground more 
 
 firm and solid. Now, if the prophet Isaiah meant 
 such a causeway as Herbert describes, passing over 
 a bog, the nature of the passage afforded no stones 
 to be gathered into a heap for the purpose of form- 
 ing land-marks ; but, if it passed where stones or 
 gi-avel, dust, &c. might take the place of the loose 
 salt in Herbert's narration, then we see the import 
 of the prophet's expressions : " Sweep away every 
 izupediment ; whatever may render travelling incom- 
 modious ; to the very stones and dust which may 
 occasionally accumulate, even on a solidly construct- 
 ed causeway." Thevenot and Hanway also, occa- 
 sionally, mention causeways in Persia. The reader 
 cannot but have observed the reduplication of the 
 commanding words, "Pass, pass; throw up, throw 
 up ;" i. e. continue passing till all be passed ; continue 
 throwing up, for a considerable distance, a long way. 
 So sir John Chardin, translating a Persian letter, 
 renders thus, " To whom I wish that all the world 
 may pay homage ;" but he says, " In the Persian it is, 
 That all souls may serve his name, his name." He 
 adds, "Repetition is a figui-e very frequent in the 
 oriental languages, and without question is borrowed 
 from the sacred language, of which there are a 
 thousand examples in the original Bible ; as in Ps. 
 Ixviii. 12, ' They are fled, they are fled ;' that is, they 
 ai-e absolutely fled. 
 
 [The whole of the preceding illustration is found- 
 ed upon the false supposition, that the Hebrew nSo-, 
 mesilldh, means every where causeway, or elevated 
 road. This is, no doubt, its original meaning ; but 
 there can be also no doubt that, like our word high- 
 ivay, it had departed from its primitive sense, and 
 signified, in general, any public ivay or high-road. 
 This is its meaning in Judg. xx. 31, 32 ; 1 Sam. vi. 
 12. In like manner it is used Prov. xvi. 17, in a 
 metaphorical sense, for ivay, i. e. walk or manner of 
 life. In the passage of Isaiah, therefore, above 
 quoted, (Ixii. 10.) the rendering of the English ver- 
 sion, highway, is more appropriate than the one pro- 
 posed. In other respects, too, it would be difiicult 
 to see in what the proposed version of the whole 
 passage is in any way superior to that of our com- 
 mon EngUsh Bible ; since the sense is pi-ecisely the 
 same. 
 
 The same praise of simplicity and directness can- 
 not, however, be given to the English version of Ps. 
 Ixxxiv. 5, in which the same Hebrew word occurs, 
 and is there rendered ivays. To help out the sense, 
 as they supposed, the translators have interpolated 
 the words of them ; making the clause read, "in 
 whose heart are the ways of them ;" a passage which 
 is probably not less inexplicable to the English reader, 
 than if it had remained in the original Hebrew. 
 This Psalm was apparently composed while the in- 
 spired writer was at a distance from Jerusalem, either 
 in exile or detained by other causes, and thus de- 
 prived of the privilege of worshipping Jehovah in 
 his sanctuary. He is thus led to pour out his heart 
 before God, and express his longing dcsncs again to 
 be present at the public national worship of the tem- 
 ple at Jerusalem. "Even the birds," he says, " may 
 dwell around thine altars ; (see Altar ;) and how 
 happy are they who inliabit thy house, who may 
 worship thee continually ! Happy they whose glory 
 is in thee, and in whose heart the ways !" i. e. the 
 liighways which lead to Jerusalem, where the tem- 
 ple is, and the pleasure of thy worship is to be en- 
 joyed. The sense here is, " Happy are those who 
 glory in thee, and who delight to tread the ways 
 which lead to thy presence ;" in allusion, no doubt,
 
 CED 
 
 [284] 
 
 CEDAR 
 
 to the journeys made to Jeiusalem, when " the tribes 
 went up to worship." Such are their joy and confi- 
 dence in God, that tlie most desolate tracts beconje 
 to them as a fruitful country, (See under Baca.) 
 They go on from strength to strength, i. e. increasmg 
 in strength, — not hke other travellers, wasting away 
 with fatigue, but gaining strength daily as they ad- 
 vance towards Zion, through the rejoicing of their 
 hearts in view of the delights of the temple wor- 
 ship. Thus the Psalmist describes the emotions of 
 those who thus dwell in Zion, or who may visit it 
 when they will ; and he expresses his longing desire, 
 that this privilege may again be his. In accordance 
 with this view, the Psalm may be translated as 
 follows : — 
 
 How lovely are thy tabernacles, Jehovah of Hosts ! 
 
 My soul longeth, yea, fainteth, for the courts of Je- 
 hovah ; 
 
 My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God ! 
 
 Even the sj)arrowhath found a dwelling. 
 
 And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may 
 place her young, 
 
 Even thine altars, Jehovah of Hosts, my King, and 
 my God ! 
 
 Happy the dwellers in thine house, who continually 
 praise thee ! 
 
 Hapjjy those who glory in thee ; in whose hearts 
 are the ways to Zion. 
 
 Passing through a vale of weeping (or desolate val- 
 ley) they convert it into a fountain. 
 
 Yea, with blessings the early rain doth cover it ! 
 
 They go from strength to strength ; they a})pear each 
 before God in Zion. *R. 
 
 It is usually understood that the prophet Isaiah 
 (chap. xl. 3.) alludes to the custom of sending per- 
 sons, as we might say, laborers, pioneers, before a 
 great prince, to clear the way for his passage. 
 
 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, 
 
 "Prepare (even) ye the way of the Lord ; 
 
 Make straight in the desert a highway for our 
 
 God ; 
 Evejy valley shall be raised ; 
 And every mountain and hill shall be lowered ; 
 And the winding paths shall be made straight ; 
 Ami the broken (rough) places level." 
 
 It was the connnon practice, when monai"chs 
 travelled, that the ways were made or repaired be- 
 fore them. (See Arrian. Exped. Alex. M. iv. 30. 
 Diod. Sic. ii. 13.) The following is from sir Thomas 
 Roe's chaplain, (p. 468.) and affords a happy com- 
 ment on th<! passage : " I, waiting upon my lord 
 embassador two years, and part of a third, and trav- 
 elling with him in progress with that king, [the 
 Mogul,] in the most temperate months there, 'twixt 
 September and April, were in one of our progresses 
 'twixt Maiuloa and Amadavar, nineteen days, making 
 but short journeys in a wilderness, where (by a very 
 great company sent i)efore us, to make those passages 
 and places fit to receive us) a way was cut out 
 AND MADE EVEN, l)road cuough for our conve- 
 nient passage ; and in the place where we pitched 
 our tents a great compass of ground was rid, and 
 made i)lain for them, by grubhiug a mnnher of trees 
 and bushes ; yet there we went as readily to our 
 tents as we did when tJiey were set up in the 
 plains." 
 
 CEDAR, a tree gi-eatly celebrated in the Scrip- 
 
 tures, A few are still standing on mount Lebanon, 
 above Byblos and Tripoli east ; but none elsewhere 
 in these mountains. In former times there must 
 have been a great abundance of them, since they 
 were used in so many extensive buildings. These 
 trees are remarkably thick and tall ; some among 
 them are from thirty-five to forty feet in girth. The 
 cedar-tree shoots out branches at ten or twelve feet 
 from the ground ; they are large and distant ; ita 
 leaves are sometliing like those of rosemary ; it is 
 always gi-eeii ; and distils a kind of gum, to which 
 different effects are attributed. Cedar wood is re- 
 puted incorruptible ; it is beautiful, solid, free from 
 knots, and inclining to a red-brown color. It bears 
 a small cone, like that of the pine. 
 
 The cedar grows not only on mount Lebanon, but 
 in Africa, in Cyprus, in Crete, or Candia. The ^vood . 
 was used in making statues designed for duration. 
 The temple of Jerusalem and Solomon's palace were 
 finished with cedar. The roof of the temple of Di- 
 ana at Ephesus was of cedar, according to Pliny. 
 In 1 Kings x, 27, it is said that Solomon multiplied 
 cedars in Judea, till this tree was as common as 
 sycamores ; which are very general there ; compare 
 2 Chron. i. 15 ; ix. 27. 
 
 The cedar loves cold and mountainous places ; 
 if the top is cut, it dies. The branches which it 
 shoots, lessening as they rise, give it the form of a 
 pyramid. Le Bruyn, in his journey to the Holy 
 Land, says the leaves of the tree point upwards, and 
 the fruit hangs downwards ; it grows like the cones 
 of the pine, but is longer, harder, and fuller, and not 
 easily separated from the stalk. It contains a seed 
 like that of the cypress, and yields a glutinous, thick 
 sort of resin, transparent, and of a strong smell, 
 which does not run, but falls drop by drop. This 
 author tells us, that having measured two cedars on 
 mount Lebanon, he found one to be fifty palms in 
 girth ; the other forty-seven. Naturalists distinguish 
 several sorts of cedars ; but we speak here only of 
 that of Lebanon, the only one mentioned in the Bi- 
 ble. The wood was used not only for beams, for 
 planks which covered edifices, and for ceilings to 
 apartments, but likewise for beams in the walls, 1 
 Kings vi. 36 ; vii. 12 ; Ezra vi. 3, 4. 
 
 In the purification of a leper, cedar-wood, togeth- 
 er with hyssop, was to be used, in sprinkling the 
 leper. Lev, xiv. 4, 6. 
 
 [This celebrated tree, the Piniis cedrus of botanists, 
 is not peculiar to mount Lebanon, but grows also 
 upon mounts Amanvis and Taurus in Asia Minor, 
 and in other parts of the Levant ; but does not else- 
 where reach the size and height of those on Leba- 
 non. It has also been cultivated in the gardens of 
 Emope ; two venerable individuals of this species 
 exist at Chiswick in England ; and there is a very 
 beautiful one in the Jardin des jjlantes in Paris. The 
 beauty of this tree consists in the proportion and 
 synnnetry of its wide-spreading branches. The gum, 
 which exudes both from the trunk and the cones or 
 fruit, is, according to Schulz, (Leitungen, &.c. v. p. 
 459.) "soft like balsam; its fragrance is like that of 
 the balsam of Mekka. Every thing about this tree 
 has a strong balsamic odor; and hence the whole 
 grove is so pleasant and fragrant, that it is delightful 
 to walk in it." This is probably the smell of Leba- i 
 non s[)oken of in Cant. iv. 11 ; Hos. xiv. 6, The I 
 wood is peculiarly adajHod to building, because it is ' 
 not subject to decay, nor to be eaten of worms ; 
 hence it was much used for rafters, and for boards 
 with which to cover houses and form tlie floors and
 
 CEDAR 
 
 [ 285 ] 
 
 CEDAR 
 
 ceilings of rooms. The palace of Persepolis, the 
 temple at Jerusalem, and Solomon's palace, were all 
 in this way built witli cedar ; and the latter especially 
 appears to have had in it such a quantity of this 
 wood, that it was called " the house of the forest of 
 Lebanon," 1 Kings vii. 2 ; x. 17. The ships of the 
 Tyrians had also masts of cedar, Ezek. xxvii. 5. 
 
 Of the forests of cedars which once covered 
 Lebanon, only a small remnant is left. A single 
 grove only is now found, lying a little off from the 
 road which crosses mount Lebanon from Baalbec to 
 Tripoli, at some distance below tiie summit of the 
 mountain on the western side, — at the foot, indeed, 
 of the highest summit or ridge of Lebanon. This 
 grove consists of a few very old trees, intermingled 
 with a large number of younger ones. The former 
 are the patriarchs of the vegetable world ; it is cer- 
 tain that they were ancient three hundred years ago ; 
 but their number is decreasing, as the oldest decay 
 or are destroyed. Li 1550, the number of these an- 
 cient trees is stated by Bellonius at 28 ; from that 
 time down to 1818, they are stated at 24, 23, 16, 12, 
 and 7. 3Ir. Fisk, in 1823, says there arc G or 8 of 
 the largest ; but does not see the propriety of the 
 statements just enumerated. See the extract from 
 his journal below. As the subject is interesting, the 
 following extracts from various travellers who have 
 visited the spot, are subjoined. It will be seen that 
 the account given by Mr. Fisk is the most full and 
 satisfactory. 
 
 Mauudrell writes, in 1(J96, as follows: "These 
 noble trees grow amongst the snow, near the higliest 
 part of Lebanon, and arc remarkable, as well for 
 their own age and largeness, as for those frequent 
 allusions made to them in the word of God. Here 
 are some of them very old, and of a prodigious 
 bulk, and others younger, of a smaller size. Of the 
 former I could reckon up only sixteen, and the latter 
 are very immerous. I measured one of the largest, 
 and found it twelve yards six inches in giith, and 
 yet sound, and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its 
 boughs. At about five or six yai'ds from the ground, 
 it was divided into five limbs, each of which was 
 equal to a great tree." 
 
 Pococke, in 1738, describes them with greater 
 minuteness : " The cedars form a gi'ove about a 
 mile in circumference, which consists of some large 
 cedars, that are near to one another, a gi'eat number 
 of young cedars, and some pines. The great ce- 
 dars, at some distance, look like very large spread- 
 ing oaks; the bodies of the trees are short, dividing 
 at bottom into three or four ; some of which, gi-ow- 
 ing up together for about ten feet, appear something 
 like those Gothic columns Avhich seem to be com- 
 posed of several pillars. Higher up, they begin to 
 spread horizontal!}'. The young cedars are not 
 easily known from pines ; I oliserved, they bear a 
 gi-eater quantity of fruit than the large ones. The 
 wood does not differ from white deal in appearance, 
 nor does it seem to be harder. It has a fine smell, 
 but not so fragrant as the juniper of America, which 
 is commonly called cedar ; and it also falls short of 
 it in beauty. I took a piece of the wood from a 
 great tree that was blown down by tlie wind, and 
 left there to rot. There arejifteen large ones stand- 
 ing." (Dcscr. of the East, b. ii. c. 5.) 
 
 Burckiiardt speaks of the cedars, in 1810, as fol- 
 lows : " They stand on uneven ground, and form a 
 small wood. Of tiie oldest andbest looking tr(?es, I 
 counted eleven or twelve ; twenty-five were very 
 large ones, about fifty of middling size, and more 
 
 than three hundred smaller and young ones. The 
 oldest trees are distinguished by having the foliage 
 and small branches at the top only, and by four, five, 
 or even seven trunks springing fiom one base. The 
 branches and foliage of the others were lower ; but 
 I saw none whose leaves touched the ground, like 
 those in Kew gardens. The trunks of the old trees 
 ai*e covered with the names of travellers and other 
 persons who have visited them. I saw a date of the 
 seventeenth century. The trunks of the oldest trees 
 seem to be quite dead ; the wood is of a gray tint. I 
 took off a piece of one of them, but it was after- 
 wards stolen." (Travels in Syr. p. 19.) 
 
 Dr. Richardson visited the cedars in his way from 
 Baalbec to Tripoli, in 1818. From the summit of 
 the mountain, the descent towards the west, he 
 says, "is rather precipitous, and Avinds, by a long, 
 circuitous direction, down the side of the mountain. 
 In a few minutes we came in sight of tlie far-famed 
 cedars, that lay down before us on our right. At 
 first, they appeared like a dark spot on the bate of 
 the mountain, and afterwards like a clump of dwarf- 
 ish shrubs that possessed neither dignity nor beauty, 
 nor any thing that entitled them to a visit, but the 
 name. In about an hour and a half, we reached 
 them. They are large, and tall, and beautiful, the 
 most picturesque productions of the vegetable world 
 that we had seen. There are in this clump two 
 generations of trees ; the oldest are large and massy, 
 rearing their heads to an enormous height, and 
 spreading their branches afar. We measured one 
 of them, which we afterwards saw was not the 
 largest in the clump, and found it thirty-two feet in 
 circumference. Seven of these trees have a particu- 
 larly ancient appearance ; the rest are younger, but 
 equally tall, though, for want of space, tlieir branches 
 are not so spreading. The clump is so small, that a 
 person may walk round it in half an hour. The old 
 cedars are not found in anj^ other part of Lebanon. 
 Young trees are occasionally met with ; they are 
 very productive, and cast luany seeds annually. The 
 surface all round is covered with rock and stone, 
 with a partial but luxuriant vegetation springing up 
 in the interstices." 
 
 Under date of October 4, 1823, the American njis- 
 sionaries, Messrs. Fisk and King, record in their 
 journal the following description of the cedars of 
 Lebanon : " Taking a guide, Ave set out for the ce- 
 dars, going a little south of east. In about two hours 
 we came in sight of them, and in another hour 
 reached them. Instead of being on the highest 
 summit of Lebanon, as has sometimes been said, 
 they are situated at the foot of a liigli mountain, in 
 what may be considered as the arena of a vast am- 
 phhheatre, opening to the west, with high mountains 
 on the north, south, and east. The cedars stand on 
 five or six gentle elevations, and occupy a spot of 
 ground about three fourths of a mile in circumfer- 
 ence. 1 walked around it in fifteen minutes. We 
 measured a number of the trees. The largest is up- 
 wards of 40 feet in circumference. Six or eight 
 others arc also very large, several of them nearly 
 thi' size of the laVgest." But each of these was 
 nuuiilestly two trees or more, Avhich have groAvn 
 together, "and noAV form one. They generally sepa- 
 rate a fcAV feet from the ground into the original 
 trees. The handsomest and tallest are those of tAAO 
 or three feet in diameter, the body straight, the 
 branches almost horizontal, forming a beautiful cone, 
 and casting a goodly shade. We measured the 
 length of tAA-o by the shade, and found each about
 
 CEN 
 
 286 ] 
 
 CENSER 
 
 90 feet. The largest ai-e not so high, but some of 
 the otliers, I think, are a Httle higher. They produce 
 a conical fruit, in shape and size like that of the pine. 
 I counted them, and made the whole number 389. 
 Mr. King counted them, omitting the small saplings, 
 and made the number 321. I know not why trav- 
 ellers and authors have so long and so generally 
 given 28, 20, 15, 5, or 7, as the number of the cedars. 
 It is true, that " of those of superior size and antiqui- 
 ty," there are not a great number ; but then there 
 is a regular gradation in size, from the largest down 
 to the merest sapling. One man, of whom I inquir- 
 ed, told me that there are cedars in other places on 
 mount Lebanon, but he could not tell where. Sev- 
 eral others, to whom I have put the question, have 
 unanhnously assured me that these are the only 
 cedars which exist on the mountain. They are call- 
 ed in Arabic arij. The Maronites tell me that they 
 have au annual feast, which they call the Feast of the 
 Cedars. Before seeing the cedars, I had met with a 
 European traveller who had just visited them. He 
 gave a short account of them, and concluded with 
 saying, " It is as with miracles ; the wonder all van- 
 ishes when you reach the spot." What is there at 
 which an inrtdel cannot sneer? Yet let even an in- 
 fidel put himself in the place of an Asiatic passing 
 from barren desert to barren desert, traversing oceans 
 of sand and mountains of naked I'ock, accustomed to 
 countries like Egypt, Arabia, Judea, and Asia Minor, 
 abounding, in the best places, only with shrubbery 
 and fruit trees ; let him, with the feelings of such a 
 man, climb the ragged rocks, and pass the open ra- 
 vines of Lebanon, and suddenly descry, among the 
 hills, a grove of 300 trees such as the cedai's actually 
 are, even at the present day, and he will confess that 
 a fine comparison in Amos ii. 9, " Whose height was 
 as the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the 
 oaks." Let him, after a long ride in the heat of the 
 sun, sit down under the shade of a cedar, and contem- 
 plate the exact conical form of its top, and the beau- 
 tiful symmetry of its branches, and he will no longer 
 wonder that David compared the people of Israel, 
 in the days of their prosperity, to the "goodly ce- 
 dars," Psalm Ixxx. 10. A traveller, who had just 
 left the forests of America, might think this little 
 grove of cedars not worthy of so nnich notice, but 
 the man who knows how rare largo trees are in Asia, 
 and how difficult it is to find timber for building, 
 will feel at once that what is said in Scripture of 
 these trees is perfectly natural. It is probable that 
 in the days of Solomon and Hiram, there were ex- 
 tensive forests of cedars on Lebanon. A variety of 
 causes may have contributed to their diminution and 
 almost total extinction. Yet, in comparison with all 
 the other trees that 1 have seen on the mountain, the 
 few that remain may still be called "the glory of 
 Lebanon." (Missionary Herald, 1824. p. 270.) '*R. 
 
 CENCHREA, a ])ort of Corinth, whence Paul sail- 
 ed for E])hesus, Acts xviii. 18. [It was situated on 
 the eastern side <Tf the isthmus, about 70 stadia from 
 the city. The other jiort, on the Avestern side of the 
 isthmus, was Lecha'um. R. 
 
 CENSER, a vessel in which fire and incense were 
 carried in certain parts of the Hebrew worship. It 
 appears, from inunerous instances, that the services 
 of divine worslii]), under the Mosaic dispensation, 
 resembled those usually addressed to monarchs and 
 sovereigns among the orientals; and there can be 
 little doubt, that the Hebrews diiected them to a 
 person understood to be resident in the sanctuary, 
 before which, and in which, they were performed. 
 
 This notion of Jewish services was so strong among 
 the heathen, that we find they reported the object 
 of worship in the temple at Jerusalem to be an old 
 man with a long beard. That report might possibly 
 originate in the description of the Ancient of days,hy 
 the prophet Daniel. However that might be, it is 
 genei'ally concluded that the attendants on the tem- 
 ple were nearly similar to the attendants on royalty 
 and dignity in general ; and many external acts of 
 worship were of the same appearance and import. 
 We have no custom of biuniing perfumes, as a mode 
 of doing honor ; and though the church of Rome 
 has adopted the use of the censer, and fiunigation, it 
 is as a part of sacred worship, not of civil gratulation. 
 On the contrar)', in the East, fumigation forms a part 
 of civil entertainment; and is never omitted when it 
 is intended to compliment a guest. Being thus gen- 
 eral, and indeed indispensable, in Asiatic njanners, it 
 was received anciently into divine worship; and the 
 priests in their ordinary service, as well as the high- 
 priest in the most solemn acts of his public ministra- 
 tion, used incense — a cloud of incense, in approach- 
 ing to the more innnediate presence of God. 
 
 Little is known on the form and nature of the an- 
 cient Hebrew censer. The censers which have 
 been received from heathen antiquity, and those 
 used in the Romish worslii]j also, being suspended by 
 chains, give, not unfrequently, erroneous ideas of this 
 sacred utensil, as employed among the Jews. The 
 Hebrew has two words, both rendered censer in our 
 translation. The first (nnnr, machiah) describes the 
 censers of Aaron, and of Korah and his company, 
 Lev. X. 1 ; Numb. xvi. 6. It appears, that these wei-e 
 of brass, or copper ; also, that after the death of those 
 who had presumptuously used them, they were beaten 
 into hroad plates for a covering to the altar. From 
 this application of them, we infer that they Avere not 
 cast, nor of great thickness, nor made of small 
 pieces ; but that they were thin, and their jjlates of 
 considerable surface. This term continued to denote 
 a censer under the monarchy ; for we read, 1 Kings 
 vii. 50, and 2 Chron. iv. 22, o( censers (nirnr, macldoth) 
 of gold, made by Solomon. [This Hebrew Avord, 
 according to its etymology, Avould signify a fire-pan, 
 or coal-pan, and AAas ])robably not nuich different, as 
 to form, from a fire shovel ; which agrees well with 
 the above suggestions. R. 
 
 From 2 Chron. xxvi. 19, we learn that king Uzziah 
 attempted to "bm-n incense hi the house of the Lord, 
 having a censer in his hand." The Avord is different 
 from the former, (mrpr, miktereth) and seems to im- 
 port an implement of another shape. It AA^as proba- 
 bly of a civil, if not a profane, (possibly, of an idola- 
 trous,) nature ; for Ezekiel says, (viii. 11.) that the 
 seventy apostate JeAvs engaged in idolatrous Avorship 
 had every man his censer {miktereth) in his hand. 
 The same may be inferred from 2 Chron. xxx. 14, 
 Avhere it is recorded, that Hezekiah and his people 
 took aAvay the idolatrous altars that Avere in Jerusa- 
 lem ; with all the censers for incense. HoAvever, it 
 nuist not hastily be concluded that this article Avas 
 ivholly idolatrous; fi)r Ave read, in Exod. xxx. 1, 
 " Thou slialt make an altar {n-\a,-i Tr;^r, miktar kctureth) 
 to fume Avith perfume, i. e. to burn incense thereon :" 
 so that this kind also Avas legally adopted in divine 
 Avorship. It deserves notice, that those avIio used 
 these censers are described as holding them in their 
 hands ; but this ])osition is not, that Ave recollect, as- 
 cribed to the machtdh, or censer of Aaron. This 
 leads to the conclusion, that the miktereth may be 
 considered as a kind of censer, carried in the hand ;
 
 CENSER 
 
 [287 ] 
 
 CER 
 
 not alone, as tlie heat arising from the burning em 
 bers it contained would be disagreeably great, but in 
 a kind of dish, which dish, with the censer in it, was 
 placed on the altar of incense, and there left, diffiis- 
 mg a smoke, morning and evening, during the trim- 
 ming of the lamps, &c. Exod. xxx. 7, 8. Apparently, 
 this ^vas regarded as an inferior kind of censer, ap- 
 propriate to the priests, and common to them all ; 
 but whether the other kind (the machtdh) was pecu- 
 liar to the high-priest, is not clear : we find it used 
 by the sons of Aaron, (Lev. x. i.) l)ut that was an ir- 
 regularity, and was punished as sucii. It is men- 
 tioned, also, as being employed by 250 of the associ- 
 ates of Kor.ih ; but that was in rebellion, and proved 
 fatal to the transgressors. 
 
 [The Hebrew word for this species of censer 
 (mapc) signifies, properly, incense-pan, i. e. a vessel 
 for burning incense. It differs from the former kind, 
 therefore, in the etymology of its name ; but that it dif- 
 fei-s from it in any other way, we have no means of 
 ascertaining. The difference which it is here at- 
 tempted to establish, rests, therefore, merely on con- 
 jecture. The two names may have not improbably 
 signified the same identical instrument; being called 
 in one case, fire-pan, because it contained fire ; and in 
 the other, smoke-pan, or incense-pan, because incense 
 was put upon the fire within it. So of the remarks 
 which follow, except that the Greek (fu'c?.t; means 
 not vial, but bowl, dish. R. 
 
 A similar distinction of censers is observed in the 
 New Testament ; for the twen- 
 -^vii ty-four elders (Rev. v. 8.) had 
 ^Isiffr' golden vials full of odors ; 
 ((fiu/.ai;) — but (chap. viii. 3.) the 
 ,~-f angel had a golden censer, 
 
 (^?.iiayv)Toy.) These vials were 
 not small bottles, such as we 
 call vials; which idea arises in- 
 stantly by association in our 
 minds ; but they were of the 
 nature of the censers and dish- 
 es, above spoken of, (compared 
 by Doddridge to a tea-cup and 
 saucer.) This gives a very different idea to chap. 
 XV. 8 ; xvi. 1, &c. of the same book, where the vials 
 having the wrath of God, are poured out ; for if they 
 contained fre, that is a fit emblem of wrath ; and 
 burning embers may be described as ^ourec^ otti from 
 a censer, with great pro- 
 priety. Nothing can be 
 more apparent, if we 
 suppose, for instance, the 
 covering of the censer to 
 be wholly removed ; in 
 which state the bowl of 
 it, perhajjs, may be that 
 described by the Apoca- 
 lyptic writer as a vial ; 
 and it might convenient- 
 ly contain the fire to be 
 poured out from it. This is perfectly agi-eeable to its 
 form and services as a censer, and to the nature and 
 use of the ancient censers. 
 
 We ought also to remark, that bearing censers is 
 an office of servants, in attendance on their superi- 
 ors ; — the same office anciently, in the temple, no 
 doubt, denoted wahing on the Deity — being occu- 
 pied in his service — in attendance on him. This 
 action, therefore, demonstrates the devotedness to false 
 gods, of those who worshipped them, by bearing cen- 
 sei*s to honor their images ; especially when it is 
 
 recollected, that offering incense was connected with 
 addresses and prayers. 
 
 CENTURION, an officer conmiandiug a hundred 
 soldiers : similar to our captain in modern times. (See 
 Adam's Rom. Antiq. p. 370.) 
 
 CEPHAS, a Syriac name given to Peter, which by 
 the Greeks was rendered Petros, and by the Latins 
 Petrus, both signifying stone, ovroc/c. See Peter. 
 
 CERASTES, a serpent so called, because it has 
 horns on its forehead. It hides in the sand, is of a sandy 
 color, crawls slanting on its side, and seems to hiss 
 when in motion. The word occurs only in Gen. xlix. 
 17 : " Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a cerastes, 
 (in the English text adder, in the margin arrow-snake, 
 that is, the dart-snake, or jaculus,) in the path." The 
 Hebrew ps>Dr, shephiphon, is by some interpreted asp, 
 by others bctsilisk ; but Bochart prefers the cerastes. 
 
 CEREMONIES, the external rites of religion. 
 Essential worship is that of the heart and mind — 
 worship in spirit and in truth ; but still, ceremonies 
 and external worship make a part, and a necessary 
 part, of religion. Without them, religious services 
 would be confusion, and worship would degenerate 
 into supei'stition. Under the old covenant, God first 
 deUvered the great precepts of his law. No ceremonies 
 were prescribed till afterwards ; and they were then 
 intended to check that inclination which the Hebrews 
 had discovered for idolatry, and to burthen them 
 with the yoke of ceremonies, (Acts xv. 10.) that they 
 might be induced to desire, with more ardor, the 
 coming of their great DeUverer. In the new cove- 
 nant, few ceremonies are enjoined ; and they are 
 employed as means only, not as the end ; and in con- 
 descension to the weakness of the worshippers, who 
 are men, and not angels. 
 
 It has been questioned whether the ceremonies of 
 the Jews were imitated from the Egj^ptians, or vice 
 versa. Sir John Mirsham and Dr. Spencer have at- 
 tempted to prove the former ; and they have had 
 many followers. Indeed there is great resemblance 
 between certain ceremonies, which were common to 
 both people ; while in other particulars there are dif- 
 ferences which appear to be even studied. Moses, 
 from condescension to the customs, prejudices, hu- 
 mors, inclinations, and even hardness of the Hebrews' 
 hearts, may have permitted or prohibited certain 
 practices, which were permitted or prohibited among 
 the Egyptians ; and he might, for the same reasons, 
 borrow something from the forms of their temples 
 and their altars. 
 
 But there is another consideration, which has been 
 suggested, and that ought not to be overlooked in 
 the determination of this question. It should be re- 
 membered, that the origin of many religious rites is 
 to be assigned to a period anterior to the establish- 
 ment either of the Egyptian or the Jewish polity. 
 Now, it was by no means fit that Moses should re- 
 ject such merely because they had been adopted by 
 the Egyptians. Why should he, for instance, refuse 
 to adopt the rite of sacrifice, because this rite was 
 conmion among heathen nations ? Was it not also 
 a traditionary mode of worship derived from the ear- 
 liest ages, and the most sacred sources ? AVas it not 
 transmitted to the Hebre\\s from their ancestors 
 also ? Was it not practised by all whose memory 
 they venerated ? Why should he omit to notice the 
 new moons? Such had been the custom — the patri- 
 archal custom — from time in)memorial. In short, it 
 should ajjpear that, in fact, God had given to man 
 certain ordinances ; and his posterity throughout the 
 world retained more or less of them. So much of
 
 CHA 
 
 288 ] 
 
 CHALDEANS 
 
 them as the Egyptians had retained, though inter- 
 mingled among otliers not so authorized, Moses 
 adopted — so far he was the instrument of reform- 
 ing the religious worship of his time — and to these 
 institutions, thus sifted from the chaff of human ad- 
 ditions, he added others congenial in their nature, 
 particularly adapted to the temper, circumstances, 
 and future situation of the Jewish people. These 
 additions are truly the Mosaic, and were intended to 
 preserve that people distinct and separate from all 
 others. How well they have answered this purpose, 
 appears not only from the evidences of it in their 
 history, but from what, in their present dispersed 
 state, they daily offer to our eyes. Are they not now 
 a distinct people, still preserved as memorials con- 
 firming historic truth, while nations much more pow- 
 erful, and which long triumphed over them, are 
 extinct — mingled among those who have conquered 
 them — and no longer nations ? — This leads us to re- 
 flect, that the design of these rites was not merely to 
 keep the Jews from idolatry, but that, after they 
 were no longer exposed to that temptation, they 
 should be thereby preserved as a standing evidence 
 of the truth of prophecy, of the providence of God 
 displayed toward them, and especially of the verity 
 of Jesus Christ, of his apostles, and of the Christian 
 religion in general. Such they will continue, so long 
 as their testimony continues to be needful. 
 
 CESAR, CESAR^A, see C^sar, C^sarea. 
 
 CESTIUS GALLUS, a Roinan governor of Sy- 
 ria, under whose government the Jews began their 
 rebellion, A. D. 66. 
 
 CHAFF, the refuse of winnowed corn. The un- 
 godly are represented as the chaff; a simile most 
 forcible and appropriate. Whatever defence they 
 may afford to the saints, who are the wheat, they are 
 in themselves worthless and inconstant, easily driven 
 about with false doctrines, and will ultimately be 
 driven away by the blast of God's wrath. Psalm i. 4 ; 
 Matt. iii. 12, iScc. False doctrines are called chaff: 
 they are unproductive, and cannot abide the trial of 
 the word and Spirit of God, Jer. xxiii. 28. See Bap- 
 tism BY Fire. 
 
 CHALCEDONY, a precious stone, in color like a 
 carbuncle, Rev. xxi. 19. It is said to have derived 
 its name from Chalcedon, a city of Rithynia, oppo- 
 site to Byzantium. It comprises several varieties, 
 one of which is the modem carnelian. Some have 
 supposed this to be the stone also called nophec, Exod. 
 xxviii. 18. translated "emerald." 
 
 CHALDEA, a country in Asia, the capital of 
 which, in its widest extent, was Babylon. (See 
 Babvlo.n.) It was originally of small extent, but the 
 empire being afterwards very much enlarged, the 
 name is generally taken in a more extensive sense, 
 and includes Babylonia. See Chaldeans. 
 
 CHALDEANS. This name is taken, (1.) for the 
 people of Chaldea, and the subjects of that empire 
 generally. (2.) For philosophers, naturalists, or 
 soothsayers, whost; principal employment was the 
 study of mathematics and astrology { by which they 
 pretended to foreknow the destiny of men born un- 
 der certain constellations. 
 
 The difficulty of determining the name and deriva- 
 tion of the Chaldeans JKnng great, it may be proper 
 to introduce a few considerations on the subject ; 
 some of them, for their matter, are principally taken 
 from Mr. Bryant ; though the conclusion they are 
 intended to support, will differ considerably from the 
 hypothesis of that very learned writer. ' Scriptiwe 
 docs not afford any name from which the appellation 
 
 Casdim can be regularly derived ; but, Mr. Taylor 
 thinks, we may safely consider the Babylonians and 
 the Casdim as being in whole, or in jjart, the same 
 people ; for we read that — " Nebuchadnezzar, king 
 of Babylon, was a Chaldean, (Casdia,)" Ezra v. 12. 
 that — when Darius the Mede obtained the throne of 
 Babylon, he was made king over the realm of the 
 Chaldees, {Casdini,) Dan. ix. 1. that — when the Baby- 
 lonian army besieged Jerusalem, it was the army of 
 the Chaldees, (Casdim,) {2 Kings xxv. 4, 10 ; Jer. Iii. 
 8.) and — Babylon being called "the beauty of the 
 Chaldees' excellence," (Isa. xiii. 19.) is evidence suf- 
 ficient to this point. By inquiring who were the 
 Babylonians, we may approach, he remarks, toward 
 determining who were the Chaldeans ; and if we 
 look to Gen. xi. 2. we shall find that the inhabitants ; / 
 of this country journeyed from the East, Kcdcm, j ' 
 which Kcdem he fixes in the neighborhood of Cau- 
 casus. We are next to remember that these Chal- 
 dees worshipped fire, and light, under the name of 
 ^ur, Ur, Or, or Our, all words of the same sound, 
 and varied only in spelling or in writing, by different 
 nations; so that, whether we find Aurrtoi, or Ourita, 
 the meaning is the same. The following are testi- 
 monies to our piu-pose : — 
 
 Upon the banks of the great river Ind 
 
 The southern Scuthfe dwell : which river pays 
 
 Its watery tribute to that mighty sea, 
 
 Styled Erythrean. Far removed its source, 
 
 Amid the stormy chfTs of Caucasus : 
 
 Descending thence throu.gh many a winding vale, 
 
 It separates vast nations. To the west 
 
 The Orit^ live. 
 
 Meaning, that the Aurita? live west of the source of 
 the Indus, in mount Caucasus ; which the reader 
 will find agrees with our position of Kedem. This 
 is Mr. Bryant's version of a passage in the poet Di- 
 onysius. (Anc. Myth. vol. iii. p. 226.) He says, 
 (Obs. 253.) " The Chaldeans were the most ancient 
 inhabitants of the country called by their name ; 
 there are no other principals, to whou) we may refer 
 their original. They seem to have been the most 
 early constitiued and settled of any people on earth. 
 They seem to be the only people which did not mi- 
 grate at the general dispersion. They extended to 
 Egypt west ; and eastward to the Ganges." Mr. 
 Taylor is of opinion, however, that by means of captain 
 Wilford's account of Caucasus, under that article, 
 we may conceive, with.out nnich danger of error, of 
 the Sanscrit C^hasas, Chasyas, and the Scripture 
 Casdim, as being closely related, if not the same 
 people, originally ; for we learn, as he adds, that 
 "they are a very ancient tribe," are mentioned ui the 
 Institutes of Menu ; and that their ancestor, Zeus 
 Cassios, is sup])osed to liave lived before the flood; 
 and to have given name to the mountains he seized. 
 Their station, then, is Caucasus. But when a con- 
 siderable division of mankind withdrew to Shinar, 
 they Were accompanied by a certain proportion of 
 C'liasyas, or Casdim, who, being a su])erior caste, or 
 inheriting stations of trust and dignity, (i.e. priests, 
 if not governors also ; or u body out of" which the 
 kings wei'c elected,) gave name to the Babylonian 
 kingdom ; which is called the kingdom of the Chas- 
 dim, or Cliasyas. Something of this distinction is 
 connected with the jtatriarch Abraham. We know 
 he was of Kedem ; not of Babylonia ; yet Eusebius 
 says, Abraham was a Chaldean by descent (to y*ioe 
 Xa::dafo:). Admitting, then, the Casdim to be de-
 
 CHALDEANS 
 
 [ 289 
 
 CHALDEANS 
 
 scendants in the direct line of Sheui, (sec Shem,) a 
 priest himself, this branch of his posterity might re- 
 tain their right to the priestly office, transmitted from 
 father to son in succession, according to their cus- 
 tom. Diodorus Siculus (lib. ii. cap. 21.) gives the 
 character of the Chaldeans at large ; we select the 
 following passages : — 
 
 "The Chaldeans are descended from the most an- 
 cient families of Babylon, and they maintain a man- 
 ner of life resembling that of the priests of Egypt. 
 For in order to become more learned, and more 
 equal tc the service of the gods, they continually apply 
 themselves to philosophy, and have procured, above 
 all, a great reputation in astronomy. They study with 
 great care the art of divination. They foretell the 
 future, and believe themselves able to ward off evils, 
 and to procure benefits, by their expiations, by their 
 sacrifices, and by their enchantments. They have also 
 experience in presages by the flight of birds ; and are 
 versed in the interpretation of dreams and prodigies. 
 Beside this, they consult the entrails of victims, and 
 inffer predictions, which are considered as certain. 
 Among the Chaldeans this philosophy remains con- 
 stantly the possession of the same family ; passing 
 from father to sons, and this, only, they study. . . . 
 They consider matter as eternal, neither needing 
 generation, nor subject to corruption. But they be- 
 lieve that the arrangement and order of the world is 
 the effect of divine intelligence, and that all which 
 appears in the heavens, or on earth, is the eflect, not 
 of a casual or of a fatal necessity, but of the wisdom 
 and power of the gods. The Chaldeans also having 
 made numerous observations on the stars, and know- 
 ing more perfectly than other astrologers their mo- 
 tions and their influences, they foretell to men the 
 most part of those events which will hereafler befall 
 them. They consider, above all, as a point of diffi- 
 culty and of consequence, the theory of the five stars, 
 which they call interpreters, and we call planets, es- 
 pecially Saturn. Nevertheless, they say that the sun 
 is not only the most splendid of the heavenly bodies, 
 but also that from which may be drawn most indi- 
 cations of great events. . . . They conceive that the 
 five planets command thirty subaltern stars, which 
 they call counsellor-gods, of which one half rules 
 over what is above the earth, or what passes in heav- 
 en, the other half observes the actions of men. Every 
 ten days a messenger-star is despatched, to know 
 what passes above, and what in the regions below. 
 They reckon twelve superior gods, who preside each 
 over a month, and a sign in the zodiac. The sun, 
 the moon, and the five planets, go through these 
 twelve signs ; the sun takes one year to perform this 
 coiu-se ; the moon performs it in one month. Each 
 planet has his proper period, but the revolutions of 
 these bodies differ greatly in times and rapidity. The 
 stiirs, they affirm, influence particularly over men at 
 their birth ; and the knowledge of their aspects at 
 that moment, contributes much to reveal the bless- 
 ings or the evils which they may expect. . . . They 
 form, beyond the limits of the zodiac, twenty -four 
 constellations, twelve northern and twelve southern ; 
 the twelve visible together rule over the living ; the 
 twelve invisible rule over the dead ; and they con- 
 sider them as judges over all men. The moon, say 
 they, is below all the stars and all the planets ; and 
 her revolution is complete in a shorter time. . . . 
 The Chaldeans, in short, are the most eminent as- 
 trologers in the world, as having cultivated this study 
 more carefully than any other nation. But wo can- 
 not easilv believe what thev advance on the great 
 37" 
 
 antiquity of their early observations : for, according 
 to them, they began 473,000 years before the passage 
 of Alexander into Asia." 
 
 These extracts show the Chaldeans to hold very 
 smnlar notions with the ancient Persian Magi. The 
 interpreter-stars of one are, evidently, the mediator- 
 stars of the other : the messenger-stars are the watch- 
 ers of Daniel; or analogous to the Satan of Job: 
 and on the reports of such messengers, no doubt, the 
 coiuisellor-gods formed their decrees ; as in the in- 
 stance of Nebuchadnezzar. From this account, the 
 reader wll also understand by what right the Baby- 
 lonian monarch called on his Chaldeans, his wise men, 
 and astrologers, to explain that revelation which he 
 conceived had been made to him by the celestial guar- 
 dians of his person and kingdom. Philostratus (Vit. 
 ApoUon. lib. ii.) says, the ludi ai-e the wisest of all 
 mankind. The Ethiopians (the oriental Ethiopians) 
 are a colony from them ; and they inherit the wisdom 
 of their forefathers. The hieroglyphics on the obe- 
 lisks, says Cassiodorus, (lib. iii. epist. 2. 51.) are Chal- 
 daic signs of words, which were used, as letters are, 
 for the pm-pose of information. Zonaras (v. i. p. 22.) 
 says, the most approved account is, that the arts came 
 from Chaldea to Egypt ; and from thence passed in- 
 to Greece. The philosophy of this people was 
 greatly celebrated. Alexander visited the chief per- 
 sons of the country, who were esteemed professors 
 of .science. Consider the pre-eminence given to 
 Solomon, (1 Kings iv. 30.) "and fuller — more exten- 
 sive — was the wisdom of Solomon, beyond the wis- 
 dom of all the sons of Kedem, and beyond all the 
 wisdom of Mizraim :" and with this character com- 
 pare that of the Chaldeans, as above, and that of the 
 original Indi, who are Chaldeans, and sons of Kedem 
 too. We find they worshipped fire, so that they were 
 Auritoe ; and, in short, that Ur of the Chaldees might 
 be the residence of such professors, and such devo- 
 tees; for which reason Abraham was directed to 
 quit it. On the whole, we may consider the Chas- 
 dim, or Chaldeans, as the philosophic or the priestly 
 order, among the Babylonians ; and rather a caste 
 among a nation, than a nation of themselves ; much 
 as the Brahmins of India (a race by their own ac- 
 knowledgment not truly Indian) are at this day; 
 who preserve knowledge, if any be preserved ; who 
 perform religious functions, and are supposed to 
 maintain the truth of religion officially, and whose 
 order sometimes furnishes kings and nobles. Inso- 
 much that if we should say of Abraham — he came 
 from Ur, a city of the Brahmins ; or if we should 
 say — the Brahmins were the wisest of all mankind, 
 yet Solomon was wiser than they were ; though we 
 should certainly offend against terms and titles, yet 
 we should possibly be tolerably near to a fair notion 
 of the Chasdim of Scripture, and of their character. 
 
 [The view above taken of the Chaldeans, can 
 hardly be termed satisfactory ; and the character as- 
 signed to them as a people is certainly not accordant 
 throughout with the representations of Scripture. 
 They are, indeed, described as wise and learned, so 
 that the name Chaldean is also taken directly for a 
 learned man, an astrologer, &c. but they are also de- 
 scribed as being warlike, fierce, and inured to hard- 
 ship, Hab. i. It will therefore not be inappropriate 
 to exhibit here the views entertained respecting the 
 origin of this people by Vitringa ; (Comm. in Jes. 
 tom. i. p. 412, ad Jes. xiii. 19.) and after him by 
 Gesenius, Rosenmiiller, and others. (Gesen. Com. z. 
 Jes. xxiii. 13. Rosenm. Bibl. Geogr. I. ii. p. 36, seq.) 
 
 The Chaldeans, called every where in the Hebrew
 
 CHALDEANS 
 
 290 ] 
 
 CH A 
 
 Scriptures Casdiin, were a warlike i)eoplt3, who origi- 
 nally inhabited the Carduchian niountains, north of 
 yissyria, and the northern part of Mesopotamia. 
 According to Xenophon, (Cyrop. iii. 2. 7.) the Chal- 
 deans dwelt in the mountains adjacent to Armenia ; 
 and they are found in this same region in the cam- 
 paign of the younger Cyrus, and the retreat of the 
 ten thousand Greeks. (Xen. Anab. iv. 3, 4 ; v. 5. 9 ; 
 vii. 8. 14.) That they were genealogically allied to 
 the Hebrews appears from (Jen. xxii. 22 ; where 
 Chesed, {iv:i, whence Casdim,) tlie ancestor of this 
 people, is mentioned as a .son" of Nahor, and was, 
 consequently, the nephew of Abraham. And further, 
 Abraham himself emigrated to the land of ("anaan 
 from Ur of the Chaldeans, Ur-Casdi'in ; [Gvu. xi. 28 ; 
 Neh. ix. 7.) and in Judith v. G, the Hebrews are sai(l 
 to be descendunls of the Chaldeans. The region 
 around the river Chaboras, in the norlii of Mesojw- 
 tamia, is called by Ezekiel (i. 'S.) the Land of tlit 
 Chaldeans ; althoiigli this may i)e perhaps taken in a 
 wider sense for the Chaldean or iJabylonian empire. 
 Jeremiah calls them (v. 15.) "an ancient nation." As 
 the Assyrian monarchs extended their conquests to- 
 wards the north and west, the Chaldeans came also 
 under their dominion ; and this rough and energetic 
 people appear to have assumed, under the sway of 
 their conquerors, a new character, by means of the 
 removal of a part of them to Babylon; where they 
 were probably placefl to ward off the irruptions of 
 the neighboring Arabians. We may suppose, too, 
 that some special form of government was assigned 
 to them, ill order to convert them from a rude horde 
 into a civilized peoi»le. Still an important part of 
 the Chaldeans must ha\e remained in their ancient 
 country, and continued true to their ancient modes 
 of life ; for in the time of Xenophon they appear un- 
 der the same primeval character and manners, (see 
 above,) and enjoyed, also, imder the Persians, a certain 
 degree of liberty. (Are not the Kurds, who have in- 
 habited these regions, at least, since the middle ages, 
 and \vliose character and mode of life agree with Xen- 
 ophon's description of the Chaldeans, probably the 
 descendants of that people? See GeseniusComm. z. 
 Jes. Th. i. p. 747.) That this establishment of the Chal- 
 deans in Babylon did not tak(; pl;ice long before the 
 time of Shalmaneser, (about 730 B. C.) may be infer- 
 red from the fact, that Isaiah (xxiii. 13.) calls the 
 Chaldeans a people newly founded by the .hsj/rians. 
 A very vivid and graphic description of the Chaldeim 
 warriors is given l)y the, prophet Habakkuk, wlio 
 probably lived about the time when they first made 
 incursions into Palestine or the adjacent regions, 
 c. i. (i— n, 
 
 t). For lo, I nii.sc up the Chaldeans. 
 
 A bitter and hasty nation. 
 
 Which marches far and wide in the earth, 
 
 To possess the dwellings that are not theirs. 
 7. They ar<' terrible and dreadiiil, 
 
 Their decrees and their judgments proceed only 
 from themselve-. 
 fi. Swifter than leopards are their horses, 
 
 And fiercer than the evening wolves. 
 . Th(!ir horsemen ])rance proudly around; 
 
 And their horsemen shall come from afar and fly, 
 
 Like the eagle when he pounces on his prey. 
 9. They all shall come for violence. 
 
 In troops, — their glance is gwy forwaril! 
 
 They eather captives like the sand ! 
 10, \nd tliey scoff at kings, 
 
 And j)rinces are a scorn unto them. 
 They deride every strong hold ; 
 They cast u\) [mounds of] earth and take it. 
 11 . Then renews itself his spirit, and transgresses and 
 is guilty ; 
 For this his pow er is his God. 
 
 This warlike people must, in a short time, and in 
 an important degree, have obtained the upper hand 
 in the Assyrian empire. For about 120 years after 
 Esarhaddon, (see Babylonia, and Esarhaddon,) i. e. 
 about 597 B. C. Nabopolassar, a viceroy of Babylon, 
 made himself independent of Assyria, contracted an 
 •nlliance with Cyaxares, king of Media, and with his 
 aid subdued Nineveh a)](l the whole of Assyria. 
 That Nabopolassar was u Chaldean, may be iftferred 
 from the fact, that there is afterwards no more men- 
 tion of Assyrian kings, but only of Chaldean mon- 
 archs. Nabopolassar had a powerfid enemy in 
 Necho, the king of Egypt, who penetrated, victori- 
 ous, even to the banks of the Euphrates; while in 
 Syria, Pha'nicia, and Judea, all espoused his party. 
 Under tliese circmnstances, Nabopolassar, being al- 
 ready advanced in age, assumed his son Nebuchad- 
 nezzar as the partner of his throne. From this 
 period onward, the history of the Chaldeans is given 
 under the article Babylonia. *R. 
 
 CHAM, Egypt ; but whether so called from the 
 patriarch Ham may be doubted, although the Eng- 
 lish translation says " Land of Ham." It denotes 
 heal, heated; hlaek, or sun-burnt, Vsalm cv. 23, 27; 
 cvi. 22. Tlie heathen writers called this country 
 Chemia, and the native Copts, at this day, call it Che- 
 mi. See Ham, and Egypt. 
 
 CHAMELEON, see Cameleox. 
 
 CHAMOIS. Our translators have evidently erred 
 ill inserting the chamois in Deut. xiv. .5. The He- 
 brew word is zemer, which the LXX render " Came- 
 lopardalis ;" the Vulgate and the Arabic do the same, 
 the latter rendering " Zirafte." The ziraffe, or gi- 
 raft'e, however, being a native of the torrid zone, and 
 of Southern Africa, it is equally unlikely that it should 
 be abundant in Judea, and used as an article of food, 
 as that the chamois, which inhabits tlie chilly regions 
 of mountains only, and seeks their most retired 
 heights, to shelter it from the warmth of summer, 
 j)referring those cool retreats where snow and ice 
 pnnall, should be known among the population of 
 Israel. We must yet wait for authorities to justify 
 a conclusive opinion on this animal. The class of 
 antelopes bids fairest to contain it. 
 
 (MIAMOS, see Chkmosh. 
 
 CHAOS, a term expressive of that confusion 
 which overspread matter when first produced ; and 
 before Go<l, by his almighty word, had reduced it to 
 order. 
 
 CHAR AC A, a city of Gad, whence Judas Macca 
 hens drove Timotheus, 2 Mac. xii. 17. Probably the 
 same as Charac-!\Ioal). See Selah. 
 
 CHARIOT. The history of conveyance by 
 means of vehicles, carried or drawn, is a subject too 
 extensive to be treated of fidly here. — There can 
 be no doubt, after men had accustomed cattle to 
 submit to the control of a rider, and to support the 
 incumbent weight of a person, or persons, whether 
 the animal were ox, camel, or horse, that the next 
 step was to load such a creature, jtroperly trained, 
 with a litter, or portable conveyance ; balanced, per- 
 haps, on each side. This might be long before the 
 mechanism of the wheel was em|)loycd ; as it is still 
 practised among pastoral i)eople. Nevertheless, we
 
 CHARIOT 
 
 [ 2<J1 ] 
 
 CHARIOT 
 
 find that wheel carriages are of great antiquity ; tor 
 we read of ivagons so early as Gen. xlv. 19, and 
 iuihtary carriages, perhaps for chiefs and oflicers, 
 first of all, in Exodus xiv. 25, " The Lord took off the 
 chariot-jt'Aee/s of the Egj^ptians ;" and, as these were 
 the fighting strength of Egypt, this agrees with those 
 ancient writers, who report that Egypt was not, in 
 its early state, intersected by canals, as in latter ages ; 
 after the fonnation of whicli, wheeled carriages 
 were laid aside, and little, if at all, used. 
 
 The first mention of chariots occiu's (Jen. xli. 4.3. 
 " I'haraoh caused Joseph to ride {rdcub) in the second 
 chariot [merktbeih] that belonged to him." This, most 
 likely, was a chariot of state, not an ordinary, or trav- 
 elling, but a handsome, ecjuipagc ; becoming the rep- 
 resentative of the monarch's ])erson and power. \V<,' 
 find, as already suggested, that Egypt had anothei- 
 kind of wheel-carriage, better adapted to the convey- 
 ance of burdens ; " take out of the land of Egypt 
 (niSjy egiiloih) ivagons, wlieel-carriages, lor convey- 
 ance of yoin- little ones, and your women." These 
 were family vehicles, for the use of the feeble ; in- 
 cluding, if need be, Jacob himself: accordinglj', we 
 read, ver. 27, of the tvagons which Joseph had sent to 
 carry him, (Jacob,) ami whicli, perhaps, the aged patri- 
 arch knew by their construction to be Egypt-built; 
 for as soon as he saw them, he believed the reports 
 from that coimtry, though he had doubted of them 
 before, when delivered to him by liis sons. This 
 kind of chariot deserves attention, as we find it after- 
 wards employed on various occasions of Scripture, 
 among which are the follow ing:^"/-s/, it \vas intended 
 by the princes of Israel for carrying parts of the sa- 
 cred utensils: (Num. vii. 3.) "They brought their 
 offering — six covered wagons {fgaluth) and twelve 
 oxen," — (two oxen to each wagon ;) — here these 
 wagons are expressly said to be covered : and it should 
 appear, that they were so, generally ; beyond ques- 
 tion, those sent by Joseph for the w^omen of Jacob's 
 family were so ; among other jjin-poses, for that of 
 seclusion. Perha])s these wagons might be covered 
 with circular headings, spread on hoops, like those 
 of our own wagons ; — what wv call a tilt. Consider- 
 able imjjortance attaches to tliis heading, or tilt, in 
 the history of the cia-iosity of the men of Bethslie- 
 niesli, (1 Sam. vi. 7.) where we read that the Philis- 
 tines advised to make a new (covered) wagon, or carl 
 {egdldh); — and the ark of the Lord wiis ]iut into it, 
 — and, no doubt, was carefully covered over — conceal- 
 ed — secluded by those who sent it. — It came to Betb- 
 sheniesh, and the men of that town, a\ ho were reaping 
 in the fields, perceiving the cart coming, went and ex- 
 amined what it contained ; " and they saw the ark, 
 and were joyful in seeing it." Those, jierliaps, who 
 first examined it, instead of carefully covering it up 
 again, as a sacred utensil, suffered it to lie; o|)en to 
 conmion inspection, which they encouraged, in or- 
 der to triumidi in the votive offerings it had acquir- 
 ed, and to gratify profane curiosity ; — the Lord tliere- 
 fore punisiied the people, (ver. 19,) " because they 
 had inspected, looked ui)on, the ark." This affords 
 a clear view of the transgi-ession of these Israelites, 
 who had treated the ark with less reverence than the 
 Philistines themselves ; for those heathen conquer- 
 prs had at least behaved to Jehovah with no less re- 
 spect than they did to their own deities ; and being 
 accustomed to cany them in covered wagons, for 
 privacy, they maintained the same privacy as a mark 
 of honor to the God of Israel. The Levites seem to 
 have been equally culpable with the common peo- 
 ple ; they ought to have conformed to the law, and 
 
 not to have suffered their triumi)h on this victoriouf* 
 occasion to beguile them into a transgression so con- 
 trary to the very first ininci|)Ies of the theocracy. 
 
 That this word egiUdU describf^s a covered wagon, 
 we learn from a third instance, that of Uzzah, (2 Sam. 
 vi. 3.) for we cannot suppose that Davitl could so far 
 forget the dignity of the ark of the covenant, as to 
 suffer it to be exposed, in a public piocession, to the 
 eyes of all Israel ; especially after the ])unishment of 
 the people at Bethshemesh. "They carried the ark 
 of (jod on a new 'covered cart' — and Uzzah put 
 forth [his hand, or some catching instrument] to the 
 ark of God, and laid liold of it, 'lor the oxen shook 
 it ; and tin,' Lord smote him there, and he died on 
 the spot, with the ark of God u])on him. And David 
 called the place 'the breach of Uzzah' " — i. e. where 
 the anger of the Lord broke out agahist Uzzah. 
 
 \Ve may now notice the })roportionate severity of 
 the ])unishments attending profanation of the ark — 
 (L) the Philistines suffered by diseases, from which 
 they were relieved after theii- oblations ; — (2.) the 
 Bethshemeshites also suffered, but not fatally, by dis- 
 eases of a different nature, which, after a time, passed 
 off. These were inadvertencies ; but, (3.) Uzzah — 
 who ought to have been fully instructed and correct- 
 ly obfHlient, who conducted the procession, who was 
 himself a Levite — was punished fatally, for his re- 
 missness — his inattention to the law, which express- 
 ly directed tliat the ark should be carried on the 
 shoulders of the priests, the Kohathites, (Num. iv. 4, 
 19, W.) dislinct from those tlii)igs carried in wagons, 
 <"hap. vii. 9. 
 
 That this khiil of wagon was iisetl for carrying 
 considerable weights, and even cumbersome goods, 
 (and, therefore, was fairly analogous to our own tilted 
 wagons,) we gather from the expression of the Psalm- 
 ist, xlvi. 9 :— t 
 
 He maketh wars to cease to the end of the earth ; 
 The bow he breaketh ; and cutteth asunder the spear ; 
 The chariots {cgdl6th)\ie burneth in the fire. 
 
 'J'he writer is mentioning the instrmnents of war 
 — the I)ow — the spear — then, he says, the wagons 
 (plinai) which used to return home loaded with 
 plunder, these share the fate of their companions, the 
 how and the spear; and are burned in the fire — the 
 very idea of the classical allegory, Peace burning the 
 im|>lements of war ! — introduced here with the hap- 
 piest effect ; not the general's merkebelh ; but the plun- 
 dering wagons. This is still more expressive, if these 
 wagons carried captives ; w hich \vc know they did 
 i)i other instances ; women and children. " The cap- 
 tive-canying wagon is burnt." There can be no 
 .stronger descri])tion of the cdc'Ct of peace : and it 
 closes the period witli pecidiar emi)hasis. 
 
 [This attempt to determine the form and use of the 
 Hebre\v m'^y; rests on mere conjecture, and is op- 
 jiosed l)y all tlie evidence whicli the nature of the 
 case admits. Especially in Ps. xlvi. 9, it is obvious, 
 that tli(^ meaiiing is siiu})ly chariots of war : Jehovah 
 is described as desolating the enemy by destroying 
 their inq)lements of war, of battle, — the bows, the 
 spears, the chariots of the warriors. How tame in 
 conqiarison is here the idea of a baggage-ivagoni — Be- 
 sides, there is no evidence whatever, that this kind of 
 vehicle was a covered one ; certainly it is not neces- 
 sarily to be so understood, at least in the case of war- 
 chariot.s. The ark, too, is said above to have been al- 
 ways covered, when transported in a vehicle or 
 borne on the shoulders; but this surely does not fol-
 
 CHARIOT 
 
 [293 1 
 
 CHARIOT 
 
 low from aiiy thing that is said in Scripture. That 
 the egdldh may sometimes have been covered, is also 
 doubtless true. The name is derived from a root 
 signifying to roll, and means simply a vehicle on 
 tohcels, whether chariot or wagon, for the transport- 
 ation of goods or persons ; and nuiy, for aught we 
 loiow, have included as many forms and kinds, as 
 our word car, or wagon, or carriage. R. 
 
 Having thus shown the antiquity and use of cover- 
 ed wagons, which, in most instances, perhaps indeed 
 in all, were drawn by oxen, we [)roceed to notice 
 chariots of equal antiquity, but for a different pur- 
 pose ; and among these we may perceive a distinc- 
 tion, as we find two names employed to denote 
 them : (1.) the receb, (2.) the mercahah, the latter 
 evidently a derivative from the former. The first 
 may be thought the inferior, and drawn by two 
 horses only ; the second was the more splendid, 
 and drawn by four liorses. Joseph, as we have 
 seen, rode in the second state-chariot {mercahah) 
 of Pharaoh's kingdom : — that this was a handsome 
 equipage, need not be doubted ; that it was a public 
 vehicle, appears from the proclamation and honors 
 attending the statesman who rode in it. Joseph, also, 
 when going to meet his father, rode as vizier in his 
 mcrcdbdh. We find, moreover, that Sisera, when 
 expected to make his triumphant entry, was equally 
 expected to ride in such a chariot ; for his mother 
 says, " Why tarry the wheels of his mercdboth ?" 
 Judg. V. 28. This vehicle he had also used in battle, 
 chap. iv. 15. Perhaps this conception adds a spirit 
 to the history of Naaman, 2 Kings v. 9. That hero 
 of Syria came to the prophet Elisha, with his horse 
 and attendants, a great retinue ; but being in a state 
 of disease, he occupied a humble 7-eceb ; being a leper, 
 he was secluded ; not so, when he went away healed ; 
 then, in a state of exultation, he rode in his mercd- 
 bdh ; for so says verse 21, he ahghted from his mer- 
 cdbdh to meet Gehazi. (See also vei'se 26.) This kind 
 of chai-iot was not omitted by the ambitious Absa- 
 lom, among his preparations for assuming the state 
 of royalty ; (2 .Sam. xv. 1.) and that this was a char- 
 iot of triumjjh, or of magnificence, is decided by a 
 passage of the prophet Isaiah, (chap. xxii. 18.) "the 
 chariots — mercdboth — ov thy glory sJiall be the 
 shame of thy Lord's house." (See also 1 Kings xii. 
 18; XX. 33 ; 2 Kings ix. 27.) It may further be ob- 
 served, that these vurcdboth ^verc used in battle, by 
 kings and by general officers ; so we read in 2Chron. 
 XXXV. 24, that king Josiali was mortally wounded in 
 battle ; his servants therefore took him out of that 
 mtrcdbah wliich he had used, as conmiander against 
 Pharaoh-Necho, and put him in a second receb, 
 which belonged to him, to convey him to Jerusalem. 
 The same is related of Ahab, 1 Kings xxii. 35. And 
 the king, who was disguised as an officer, was stayed 
 up in his mercdbdh against Syria ; but he died in the 
 evening. And the blood from his wound ran into the 
 bosom of his receb. That is to say, Ahab had 
 been removed, like Josiah, from a chariot of dig- 
 nity to a common litter, (for such might be the 
 rdceh here,) for the more easy and private carriage 
 of Ins body, now de;ul ; and the l)lood from his wound 
 ran into this vehicle, — which, therefore, was washed 
 in the pool of Samaria ; (verse .38.) and thus the min- 
 gling of his blood with the water of the pool, of which 
 the dogs drank, fulfilled the jn-ophet's prediction. 
 That the word chariot souietimes means the horses 
 whici) drew the vehicle, api)ears from 2 Sam. viii. 4 
 " And David houghed all the chariot horses ; but re- 
 served to himself a hundred chariot horses ;" here the 
 
 horses must be the subject of this operation, not the 
 chariots; and so the passage is always understood, 
 though the word chariot only is used. 
 
 [Of the distinction here attempted to be made 
 between the Hebrew aoi, receb, and naair, mercdbdh, 
 the same must be said as above ; it is not only with- 
 out evidence, but contrary to all the evidence which 
 exists. In the case of Naaman the Syrian, (2 Kings 
 V.) no one, who had not a theoiy to support, would 
 ever suspect that the chariot mentioned in verse 21 
 was not the very same vehicle just before mentioned 
 in verse 9 ; and which in one case is called receb, and 
 in the other mercdbdh. So, also, in the case of Ahab, 
 (1 Kings xxii. 35.) where there is no hint of his re- 
 moval from one vehicle to another, and yet both 
 terms are used of the same vehicle. The word 33i, 
 receb, is the abstract noun from the verb signifying 
 to ride, to be borne, and means, in general, any vehicle 
 in which one is transported ; just as our word carriage 
 designates, in general, that in which one is carried. It is 
 also more generally a noun of nudtitude, signifying a 
 plurality of such vehicles ; while, on the contrary, the 
 word mercdbdh is a noun of unity, designating only one 
 vehicle, under the idea of the instru7ne7it of one's being 
 carried. It is also not im})roi)able, that this Avord 
 may have been limited to a more definite significa- 
 tion, and applied to some particidar forms or kinds of 
 chariots. The other word, receb, was exceedingly gen- 
 eral in its application, standing sometimes for char- 
 iots of war ; (Exod. xiv. 9.) sometimes, possiblj^, for a 
 litter borne by horses, as in the case of Josiah ; (2 
 Chi'on. XXXV. 24.) sometimes for the horses them- 
 selves, as 2 Sam. viii. 4 ; x. 18 ; and again for the riders 
 on horses and other anirnals, Is. xxi. 7, 9. That it, 
 however, designates any where a litter, is certainly 
 very difficult to be made out, and is contradicted by 
 Gesenius and all tlie other best interpreters. R. 
 
 At any rate it is not easy to determine Avhen it means 
 a wheeled chariot, drawn by two horses, or when it 
 means a litter, carried by two horses ; but this is of 
 small consequence, as we may rationally conclude, 
 that vehicles with two horses Avere {»rior to those 
 with four ; the second pair being added for greater 
 pomp and dignity. The following may perhaps af- 
 ford some hints on the subject of chariots drawn by 
 two horses. 2 Kings ii. 1 1, " There appeared to the 
 prophet Elisha a receb, chariot, of fire, and horses 
 of fire." Ps. Ixxvi. 6, "In a dead sleep are both 
 7*ece6, chariot, and horse f^ if this be a single horse, 
 it must needs be a wheeled chariot, which he draws ; 
 not a litter. Is. xliii. 17, " Who bringeth forth r^ceb 
 — chariot, and horse,^^ (singular). 2 Kings vii. 13, 
 14. " Take, I pray thee, Jive [it should be a few] 
 of the horses which remain ; — tliey took, therefore, 
 two receb, chariot horses," i. c. the jiroper number 
 for a receb : and, that the rendering jive is here im- 
 proper, is evident, because only two were sent ; yet 
 this was clearly according to the proposal, and fully 
 as much to the purpose oh Jive ; the mention oi^Jive is 
 evidently intended as a sort of round niunber, a 
 few. 
 
 A passage in the second part of Dr. E. D. Clarke's 
 Travels throws additional light on the construction 
 of the ancient chariot. That traveller says, (p. 112.) 
 — " The women of the place (the hot sjjrings, at Bour- 
 nabashi) bring all their garments to be washed in 
 these springs, not according to the casual visits of 
 ordinary industry, but as an ancient and established 
 custom, in the exercise of which they proceed with 
 all the pomp and songs of a public ceremony. The 
 remains of customs belonging to the most remote
 
 CHA 
 
 [ 993 ] 
 
 CHE 
 
 ages are discernible in the shape and couetructiou of 
 the wicker cars, in which the Hnen is brought on 
 these occasions, and whicli are used all over this 
 country. In the first of them, I recognized the form 
 of an ancient car, of Grecian sculpture, in the Vati- 
 can collection at Rome ; and which, although of Pa- 
 rian marble, had been carved to resemble wicker 
 work ; while its wheels were an imitation of those 
 solid, circular planes of timber used at this day, 
 in Troas, and in many parts of Macedonia, and 
 Greece, for the cars of the country. They are ex- 
 
 f)re8sly described by Homer, in the mention of Priam's 
 itter, when the king commands his son to bind on 
 the chest or coflor, which was of wicker work, upon 
 the body of the carriage. (Iliad xx^v.) This wicker 
 chest, being movable, is used or not, as circumstances 
 may require." This particular formation did not 
 escape the notice of Dr. Sibthorp, when at Troy. He 
 says, " The wains wei-o of a singular structiu-e, and 
 probably of very ancient origin, and had received 
 none of the improvements of modern discoveries. A 
 large wicker basket, eight feet long, mounted on a 
 four-wheeled machine, was supported by four later- 
 al props, which were inserted into holes or sockets. 
 The wheels were made of one solid piece, round and 
 convex on each side." (Walpole. Trav. Asia, vol. 
 ii. p. 114.) 
 
 [If we might suppose that the Hebrew rtceb ever 
 designated a litter, the following descrij)tion of a 
 scene in the khan at Acre would afford, perhaps, an 
 apt illustration: "The bustle was increased this 
 morning, by the departure of the wives of the govern- 
 or of Jaffa. They set off in two coaches, of a curi- 
 ous construction, connnon in this country. The 
 body of the coach was raised on two parallel poles, 
 some^vhat similar to those used for sedan-chairs, 
 only that in these the poles were attached to the low- 
 er part of the coach, — throwing, consequently, the 
 centre of gravity much higher, and appai-ently ex- 
 posing the vehicle, with its veiled tenant, to an easy 
 overthrow, or at least to a very active jolt. Between 
 the poles, strong mules were harnessed, one before 
 and one behind ; who, if they should prove capri- 
 cious, or have very uneven and mountainous ground 
 to pass, would render the situation of the ladies still 
 more critical. But there is nothing to which use 
 may not reconcile us, and they who can be brought 
 to endure the trot of the camel, may consider them- 
 et'lves, as franked for every other kind of convej - 
 ance." (Jowett's Chr. Res. in Syria, p. 115, 116. Am. 
 cd^R. 
 
 CHARIOTS OF War. Scripture speaks of two 
 sorts of these, one for princes find generals to ride in, 
 the other to break the enemy's battalions, by rush- 
 ing in among them, being armed with iron, [i. c. iron 
 hooks or scythes, curru^ falcati,] which made terri- 
 ble havoc. The Canaauites, whom Joshua engaged at 
 the waters of 3Ierom,had horsemen, and a nuiltitude of 
 chariots, Josh. xi. 4. Sisera, general of Jahin, king of 
 Hazor, had 900 chariots of iron. Judah could not get 
 possession of the lands belonging to their lot, because 
 the ancient inhabitants of the country were strong in 
 chariots of iron, Judg. i. 19. The Philistines, in their 
 war against Saul, had 30,000 chariots, and (iOOO 
 horsemen, 1 Sam. xiii. 5. David, having taken 1000 
 chariots of war from Hadadezer, king of Assyria, ham- 
 strung the horses, and burned 900 chariots, reserv- 
 ing only 100, 2 Sam. viii. 4. It does not appear that 
 the kings of the Hebrews used chariots in war. 
 Solomon had a considerable number, but we know 
 not of any military expedition in which they were 
 
 employed, 1 Kings x. 26. As Judea was a nioufl. 
 tainous country, chariots were of no use. In 2 Mac. 
 xiii. 2, there is mention of chariots armed with 
 scythes, which the king of Syria led against Judea. 
 
 CHEBAR, a river of Assyria, which falls into the 
 Euphrates, in the upper part oflVIesopotamia, Ezek. i. 
 1. The same as the Chaboras. 
 
 CHEDORLAOiMER, king of the Elymseane, or 
 Elamites, (i. e. either the Persians, or a people bor- 
 dering on them,) was one of four kings who confed- 
 erated against the five kings of the Peutapohs of Sod- 
 om, who had revolted from his power, A. M. 2092. 
 See Elam. 
 
 CHELMON, a city ojjposite to Esdraelon ; near 
 to which part of Holofernes' army encamped before 
 he besieged Bethulia. It is, perhaps, the Salmon of 
 Ps. Ixviii. 14 ; Judg. ix. 48 ; or Cammon, noticed by 
 Eusebius, seven miles north from Legio. 
 
 CHEMOSH, the national god of the Moabites, and 
 of the Ammonites, worshipped also under Solomon 
 at Jerusalem, Judg. xi. 24 ; 1 Kings xi. 7 ; 2 Kings 
 xxiii. 13 ; Jer. xlviii. 7. Some confound Chemosh 
 with Ammon. Jerome and others take Chemosh and 
 Peor for the same divinity : but Baal-Peor was Tam- 
 muz, or A donis. 
 
 CHENANIAH, a master of the temple music, who 
 conducted the music at the removal of the ark from 
 Obed-edom, 1 Chron. xv. 22. 
 
 CIIEPHIRAH, a city of the Gibeonites, given to 
 Benjamin, Josh. ix. 17 ; xviii. 26. It appears to have 
 been a village of the Hivites, and to have retained its 
 name, to whatever size it might afterwards have at- 
 tained. 
 
 CHEREIM, see A.vathema. 
 
 CHERETHIM, or Cretim, the Philistines. (See 
 Caphtor.) David, and some of his successors, had 
 guards which were called Cherethites and Pelethites, 
 (2 Sam. viii. 18.) whose office was of the same na- 
 ture as thnt of Capigis among the Turks and other 
 orientals, ^vho are bearers of" the sultan's orders for 
 punishing any one, by decapitation, or otherwise ; 
 an office ^vhich is very honorable in the East, though 
 considered as degrading among us. It appears that 
 Herod made use of an officer of this description 
 in beheading John the Baptist. Of a like na- 
 ture, probably, were the "footmen" of Saul, 1 Sam. 
 xxii. 17. 
 
 CHERITH, a brook beyond Jordan, which falls 
 into that river, below Bethsan, 1 Kings xvii. 3. See 
 Elijah. 
 
 CHERUB, jL(/ara/ Cherubim, a particular order of 
 angels; (Ps. xviii. 10, &c.) but, more particularly, 
 those symbolical representations wliich are so often 
 referred to in the Old Testament, and in the book 
 of Re\ elation. On no subject, perhaps, have there 
 been so many unavailing conjectures as the form and 
 design of these figures. Grotius says, the cherubim 
 were figures like a calf. Bocliart and Spencer think 
 they were nearly the figure of an ox. Josephus 
 says, they were extraordinary creatures, of a figure 
 imknown to mankind. Clemens of Alexandria be- 
 lieves that the Egyptians imitated the cherubim of 
 the Hebrews in their sphinxes and hieroglyphical 
 animals. The descriptions which Scripture gives of 
 cherubim differ ; but all agree in representing a fig- 
 ure composed of various creatures — a man, an ox, an 
 eagle, and a lion. Such were the cherubim describ- 
 ed by Ezekiel, chap. i. 5, to the end, and x. 2. 
 Those which Solomon placed in the temple must 
 have been nearly the same, 1 Kings yi. 23. Those 
 which Moses placed on the ark of the covenant
 
 CHERUBIM 
 
 [994 ] 
 
 CHE 
 
 ^Exod. Axv. 18, 19, 20,) are not clearly described; 
 nor are those which God posted at the entrance of 
 Paradise, Gen. iii. 14. Ezekiel (xxviii. 14.) says to 
 the king of Tyre, " Thou art the anointed cherub 
 that covereth : thou wast upon the holy mountain of 
 God;" like that cherub, resplendent with glory. 
 Moses says, the two cherubim covered the mercy- 
 seat, with their wings extended on both sides, 
 and looked one upon another, having their faces 
 turned towards the mercy-seat, which covered 
 the ark. 
 
 Amidst these conflicting opinions Mr. Taylor has 
 steered his course, and from a number of indepen- 
 dent and historical data he has elicited much that is 
 plausible, if it cannot be said to be altogether con- 
 clusive, as to their general form. But as the disser- 
 tation will not admit of abridgment, we must refer 
 the reader to the Fragments of wliich it is com- 
 posed. The following remarks, however, may not 
 be without their use. 
 
 Each cherub had four faces: (1.) that of a man ; 
 (2.) that of a lion ; (.3.) that of an ox ; (4.) that of an 
 eagle. These four faces were probably attached to 
 one head, and seen by the beholder in union, being 
 joined, each by its back part to the others. Their body, 
 from the neck downwards, was human ; " the likeness 
 of a man." This human part first meeting the spec- 
 tator's eye, had he seen nothing else, he might from 
 thence have supposed the whole form to be human. 
 Ezekiel describes the cherub as having four wings ; 
 — Isaiah describes the seraph as having six wings ; 
 say, two on his head, two on his shoulders, two on 
 his flanks. Their arms, rendered in our translation 
 hands, were four, one on each side of the creature. 
 The remainder, or lower part, of their figure, was, 
 from the rim of the belly downwards, either, (1.) hu- 
 man thighs, legs, and feet, to which were appended, at 
 the posteriors, the body and hind legs of an ox ; or, 
 rather, (2.) the body and the fore legs of an ox, out 
 of which the human part seemed to rise, so that all 
 below the rim of the belly was ox-like, and all above 
 that division was human. From which forination a 
 spectator paying most attention to their lower parts, 
 miglit have Ijeen inclined to think them oxen ; or at 
 least bestial. With regard to their services, or 
 what they appeared to do, we may ask. Was the 
 vision seen by the jjrophet Ezekiel, as well as that 
 by the prophet Isaiah, the resemblance of a mova- 
 ble throne or chariot, of prodigious dimensions, on 
 which the sovereign was understood to sit ; and to 
 which the wheels were annexed, in much the same 
 manner as to the royal travelling (or military) thrones 
 of the Persian kings ; while die four cherubim occu- 
 pied the places of four horses to draw this magnifi- 
 ceiit machine ? This he thinks probable, and illus- 
 trates the idea at some length. 
 
 The wheels described in Ezek. i. 15 — 21, in con- 
 nection with tlie cherubim, he conceives to have been 
 representative of the throne of the Deity ; the con- 
 struction — wheel within wheel — being for the piu*- 
 pose of their rolling every way with perfect readi- 
 ness, and without any occasion of turning the whole 
 machine. The cherubim having the conducting of 
 this throne, it is ol)vious to remark how well adapt- 
 ed their figure was to their s.-n-vice ; — their faces look- 
 ing every way, so that tiicro Avas no occasion for 
 turning (as a horse must) in obedience to directions, 
 to proceed to the right, or to the left, instead of going 
 straight forward. 
 
 [Much misapprehension respecting these appear- 
 ances, has arisen from the idea of the wheels and 
 
 "^TilTi 
 
 the cherubim bemg full of eyes, Ezek. i. 18 ; x. 12. 
 So in Rev. iv. 6, 8, the four beasts are said to have 
 "eyes before and behind," and "whhin." This is 
 doubtless intended as a symbol of the alacrity with 
 which the ministei-s of Jehovah perform his will, — 
 of that keen-sighted sense of duty which lets nothing 
 escape unseen, unnoticed, unfulfilled. R. 
 
 The accompanying engraving represents a crea- 
 ture which ornaments the jiortal of the palace of 
 Persepolis : the legs and the body resemble those of 
 an ox ; and it lias the tail of an ox : on the body are 
 grafted a large pair of wings, — no doubt those of an 
 eagle ; and its whole front and shoulders are studded, 
 either with feathers, or 
 with rising knobs. — What 
 its head was, it is now im- 
 possible to determine ; but 
 by its form, by the cap 
 upon it, and by what 
 seems to be drapery, at- 
 tached to it, it is probable 
 that the countenance was 
 human. The statues are 
 greatly damaged ; partly 
 by age, and more by fire ; 
 still more, perhaps, by the 
 barbarity of their possess- 
 ors. But if this subject 
 rejiresent an ox's body, 
 
 eagle's wings, and a human countenance, then it 
 closely approaches the ancient composition of the 
 cherub ; and it is the more satisfactory, because, 
 being extant in Persia, it proves that such emblems 
 were not confined to Egypt ; but might be of Chal- 
 dean, or, at least, of Asiatic, origin. In fact, it is evi- 
 dent that they were adopted throughout a very exten- 
 sive poi'tion of the East; and Ezekiel being resident 
 in Persia, his reference to them might be easily un- 
 derstood by his readers, to whom such symbols were 
 familiar. 
 
 In conclusion, was the ofi^euce given to Judali, by 
 Israel, by the erection of the golden calves, (which 
 certainly were allied to the cherubim, in figure and 
 import, if they were not absolutely the same,) be- 
 cause this was a profession of having the throne of 
 God among that division of the sons of Jacob ? Waa 
 it also because, in Judali, these emblems were kept 
 private, in the temple ; wliereas, in Israel, they were 
 exposed to public view, as objects of worship ? 
 Were the figures erected by Jeroboam truly cheru- 
 bim, but called calves, i. e. their name being taken 
 from the inferior part of their comjiosition by way 
 of indignity ; or were they an imperfect association 
 of emblems, some being omitted, and what remained 
 being chiefly those jiarts which referred to the ox, or 
 calf? or, as these are sometimes called heifers, waa 
 the sex feminine instead of masculine'? or had they 
 compound parts of both sexes ? as many Egyptian 
 sjjhinxes had, as what remain fullj' demonstrate. 
 [These are all riucstions which no man can ever an- 
 swer afliirmatively ; and, therefore, it is better at once 
 to say, No. 11. 
 
 In 2 Kings xix. 15 ; Ps. Ixxx. 1 ; Isaiah xxxvii. 16, 
 God is spoken of as dwelling — residing — between the 
 cherubim ; but tin; word helwcen is supplied by our 
 translators: should they not rather have supplied the 
 word above or over the cherubim, or some similar ex- 
 pression ? — since such is the relative situation of the 
 Divine Majesty in these visions. 
 
 CHESALO'N, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 10. 
 
 I. CHESIL,a city of Judah ; (Josh. xv. 30.) Euse-
 
 CHI 
 
 [ 295 ] 
 
 CHITTIM 
 
 bins calls it Xil ; and places it in the south of Judah. 
 — II. A constellation. See Orion. 
 
 CHESTNUT-TREE, (p-i;) Gen. xxx.37; Ezek. 
 xxxi. 8. In these places, the LXX and Jerome trans- 
 late, " plane-tree ;" and most of the modern interpret- 
 ers follow their authority. The Hebrew is derived 
 from a root which signifies nakedness ; and it is often 
 observed of the plane-tree, that the bark peels off 
 from the trunk, leaving it naked ; Platanus orientalis. 
 
 CHIDON, the threshing-floor where Uzzah was 
 suddenly struck dead, 1 Chron. xiii. 9. In 2 Sam. 
 vi. 6, it is called " the threshing-floor of Nachon ;" 
 but we know not whether the names of Nachon and 
 Chidon are those of men or of places. 
 
 CHILD, CHILDREN. The descendants of a 
 man, generally, are called his sons, or children, in 
 the Hebrew idiom ; as the children of Edom, of Mo- 
 ab, of Israel. Disciples, also, are often called chil- 
 dren or sons. The children of the devil, the sons of 
 Belial, arc those who follow the maxims of the world 
 and of the devil. The expressions, "children of tlie 
 wedding," "children of light," "children of dark- 
 ness," signify those invited to the wedding, those 
 who follow light, those who remain in darkness; 
 as the children of the kingdom describes those who 
 belong to the kingdom. The holy angels are some- 
 times described as sons of God, Job i. 6 ; ii. 1 ; Psalm 
 Ixxxix. G. Good men, in opposition to wicked men, 
 arc likewise thus called ; as the* family of Seth in 
 opposition to the descendants of Cain, Gen. vi. 6. 
 Judges, magistrates, and priests are likewise termed 
 children of God, Psalm Ixxxii. 6; xxix. 1. Israelites 
 are called sons of God, in o{)position to the Gentiles, 
 Hosea i. 10; John xi. 52. In the New Testament, 
 believers are called children of God, in virtue of 
 their adoption, John i. 12; Rom. viii. 14 ; Gal. iii. 26. 
 See Birth. 
 
 CHILMAD, a citv of Asia, Ezek. xxvii. 23. 
 
 L CHIMHAM, a' son of Barzillai, the Gileadite, 
 and one who followed David to Jerusalem, after the 
 war with Absalom ; and Avho was enriched by David, 
 in consideration of his father Barzillai, whose gene- 
 rous assistance he had experienced, 2 Sam. xix. 37, 
 38. — II. A place near Bethlehem, Jer. xli. 17. 
 
 CHIOS, or Coos, an island in the Archipelago, 
 between Lesbos and Samos, on the coast of Asia 
 Minor, now called Scio. Paul passed this way as 
 he sailed southward from Mitvlene to Samos, Acts 
 XX. 15. 
 
 CHISLOTH, or Chisloth-Tabor, a city on the 
 side of mount Tabor, (Josh. xix. 12, 18.) which Eu- 
 sebius and Jerome call Casalus, or Exaliis, and place 
 ten miles from Diocsesarea, east. 
 
 It is called Tabor, only, in verse 22, and there is at 
 this day a village so called by the Arabs, at the foot 
 of the mountain. It is, however, probable that this 
 was a fortification higher up the mountain, perhaps 
 on the top of it ; whence it might be called the con- 
 fidence of Tabor. 
 
 CHINNERETH, see Cinnereth. 
 
 CHISLEU, the ninth month of the Hebrews, be- 
 ginning with the new moon of December, Neh. i. 1 ; 
 Zech. vii. 1. Others make it equivalent to our No- 
 vember. See CiSLEU. 
 
 CHITTIM. Writers on Scripture antiquities are 
 not agreed as to the country or countries implied 
 under this name. Josephus is for Cyprus, Bochart 
 and Vitringa for Italy and Corsica, Grotius, Le Clerc, 
 and Calmet understand Macedonia, Jerome the 
 islands of the Ionian and ^Egean sea, while Lowth and 
 Hales understand all the islands and coasts of the 
 
 Mediterranean. It is proper to examine critically 
 the various passages of Scripture in which the word 
 occurs, for the purpose of ascertaining whether more 
 than one region or country may not be intended. 
 We have then the following references: — (1.) Chit- 
 tim, mentioned by Moses, Numb. xxiv. 24. (2.) Chit- 
 tim, mentioned by Daniel, xi. 30. Bochart is of 
 opinion that the ships of Chittim, here, refer to the 
 Roman fleet, jjresuming that Chittim signifies Italy 
 l)ut, as Mr. Taylor remarks, he calls the Roman fleet 
 that of the Chittim, because it lay in the harbors of the 
 3Iacedonians ; thus the fleet of Chittim, and of Mace- 
 donia, was, in fact, the Roman fleet also. (3.) Chethim 
 in the isle of Cyprus ; from whence, as Josephus 
 says, the Hebrews called all islands Chethim, though 
 he restrains that title, principally, to a city called 
 (Citius) Kitios; now Larnica. (4.) In Ezek. xxvii. 
 6, some of the Arabs translate the word chetcim "the 
 isles of India ;" the Chaldee, "the province of Apu- 
 lia," meaning the region of elephants, and probably 
 intending Pul in Egypt. The Syriac version reads 
 Chettboje, which has some resemblance to Cataya ; 
 and by which we are directed towards India. (5.) 
 Isaiah, speaking of the destruction of Tyre, by Neb- 
 uchadnezzar, says, "Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for 
 it is laid waste — from the land of Chittim it is reveal- 
 ed to them," ch. xxiii. 1. This Calmet understands 
 of Macedonia ; but, then, how is it said, that the de- 
 struction of Tyre, occasioned by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 should come from Chittim ? Might not the passage 
 be more properly interpreted, as relating to the de- 
 struction of this city by Alexander the Great? Bas- 
 uage, by Chittim, understands the Cuthceans, inhab- 
 itants of the Suziana, near Babylon, who marched 
 under Nebuchadnezzar, and assisted at the siege of 
 Tyre. But where are the Cuthseans named Chittim ? 
 Upon the whole, there is reason to think that the 
 word Chittim implies, as Lowth and Hales suppose, 
 all the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean sea. 
 
 [The following is the note of Gesenius upon the 
 word Chittim, in his commentary upon Is. xxiii. 1 : 
 "Among the three different opinions of ancient 
 and modern interpreters, according to which they 
 sought for the land of the Chittim in Italy, Macedo- 
 nia, and Cyprus, I decidedly prefer the latter, w^hich 
 is also that of Josephus. (Ant. i. 6. 1.) According to 
 this, Chittim is the island Cyprus, so called from 
 the Phoenician colony Klnor, Citium, in the southern 
 part of this island ; but still in such a sense, that this 
 name Chittim was at a later period employed also, in 
 a wider sense, to designate other islands and coun- 
 tries adjacent to the coasts of the Mediterranean ; e. g. 
 Macedonia, Dan. xi. 30 ; 1 IMac. i. 1 ; viii. 5. This is 
 also mentioned by Josephus. That A'lTioiAvas some- 
 times used for the whole of Cyprus, and also in a 
 wider sense for other islands, as Rhodes, is expressly 
 asserted by Epiphanius, who himself lived in Cyprus, 
 as a w^oll known fact. (Adv. Hseres. xxx. 25.) It 
 could also, he adds, be used of the Macedonians, be- 
 cause they were descended from the Cyprians and 
 Rhodians. That most of the cities of Cyprus were 
 Phoenician colonies, is expressly afiirmed by Diodo- 
 rus, (ii. p. 114. comp. Herodot. vii. 90.) and the prox- 
 imity of the island to Phoenicia, together with its 
 aliundant supply of the utmost variety of productions, 
 especially of such as were essential to ship-building, 
 would lead us to expect nothing else. In respect to 
 Citium, at least, it is clear, that it was settled by the 
 Phoenicians, and not by the Greeks. (Here follows 
 a variety of citations in proof of this point, e. g. Cic. 
 de Fin.'iv. 20. Diog. Laert. vita Zenonis, etc.) One
 
 CHI 
 
 296 ] 
 
 CHIUN 
 
 of the few passages iu the Bible which gives a more 
 definite hint in respect to the Chittim, is Ezek. xxvii. 
 6, which agrees very well with Cyprus : ' Of the oaks 
 of Bashan do they make thine oars; thy ships' 
 benches do they make of ivory, encased with cedar 
 from the isles of Chittim ;' where the word Jlshurim 
 means probably the same as Teashitr, a species of ce- 
 dar or pine, which is found abundantly in the noble 
 forests of Cyprus. The opinion that Italy was the 
 land of the Chittim, which is adopted by Bochart and 
 Vitringa, seems to me to be wholly untenable ; be- 
 cause, in Is. xxiii. 12, (comp. verse 6,) the Chittim 
 appear evidently to be a Phoenician possession ; while 
 in Italy especially, no colonies of this people ever 
 existed. In the present passage, (Is. xxiii. 1.) we 
 must understand the sense to be, that the fleets com- 
 ing from Tarshish (Tartessus) to Tyre, would on their 
 w^ay learn from the inhabitants of Cyprus the news 
 of the downfall of Tyre." (See Gesen. Comm. zu 
 Isa. Th. ii. p. 721 ; Rosenm. Bibl. Geogi-. iii. p. 
 378.) R. 
 
 CHIUN, [the name of a god worshipped by the 
 Israelites in the desert. The name occurs only in 
 Amos V. 26, " But 3'e have borne the tabernacle of 
 your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of 
 your god, which ye made to yourselves." This is 
 quoted somewhat differently in Acts viii. 43, " Ye 
 took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of 
 yoiu" god Remphan, figures which ye made to wor- 
 ship them." According to Syriac and Hebrew inter- 
 preters, it is the same as the Araliic Chevdn, the 
 planet Saturn ; respecting the worship of which by 
 the Semitish nations, sec Gesenius Comm. zu Jesaia, 
 Th. iii. p. 343. They regarded and worshipped the 
 planets Saturn and Mars, as evil principles, sources 
 of ill ; as they held Jupiter and Venus for sources of 
 good. The use of the word stctr, especially as ap- 
 
 Slied in the Acts, refers us directly to a star-god. 
 lichaelis not inaptly proposes to change the reading 
 of the Hebrew points to Chevdn instead of Chiun. 
 The Seventy, and Stephen quoting from them, have 
 here simply substituted 'Fca<iiiv, or ' Pffupicv, Rephan, 
 or Remphan, the Coptic name of Saturn. R.] Some 
 think that three deities are named here — Moloch, 
 Chiun, and Remphan : others, that the three names 
 mean only one god ; that is, Saturn, and his planet. 
 Salmasius and Kircher assert, that Kiion is Saturn, 
 and that his star is called Keiran among the Persians 
 and Arabians, and that Remphan, or Rephan, signified 
 the same among tlie Egjptians. They add, that the 
 Seventy, writing in Egypt, changed the word Chiun 
 into Remphan, because it had the same signification. 
 Jablonsky and Basnage conclude, that Moloch was 
 the sun, and Chion, or Chiun, and Rephan, the 
 moon. 
 
 [The illustration of this subject is attempted by 
 Mr. Taylor, by the following references to Hindu 
 mythology, and to the Sanscrit language. They may 
 stand here for what they are worth. It is no doulit 
 true, that the very striking analogies which are foimd 
 to exist between the ancient Sanscrit, and the Per- 
 sian, the Greek, and other western tongues, go very 
 far to prove an original relation between the race's 
 which spoke these languages ; but it should also be 
 borne in mind, that between the Sanscrit and the 
 various Semitish languages no such analogy exists ; 
 the resemblances between tJiem being in fact verv 
 slight, and not sufficient to warrant any inference of 
 primeval kindred. R. 
 
 It is suggested by Mr. Taylor, that this Chiun may 
 be the Chtven of the ancient Sanscrit and the modern 
 
 Bramius. Wo know, indeed, that Kijun is the name 
 of a Persian deity ; and also that Keiivan denotes the 
 planet Saturn ; but the reasons for identifying Chiun 
 \^ith Saturn are not satisfactory. What, then, is 
 Chiven'? — Mr. Taylor answers, The power of de- 
 struction and reproduction. Brama, Vistnou, and 
 Chiven are the triple power of the Supreme Being, in 
 manifestation ; in other words, creation, conservation, 
 destruction, and reproduction. Nor was it otherwise 
 understood by the Seventy, who, in translating the pas- 
 sage in Amos, offer a remarkalile variation ; to 'uaxQov 
 Tov ftfoii riioiy' Panpuf ; which is adopted by Stephen. 
 (Acts vii. 43.) " The star of your god Remphan, fig- 
 lU'es which ye made to v\orship them." Now, what 
 can Remphan be .'' This question has been foiuid 
 difficult of solution ; but the following passage from 
 the Essay of sir W. Jones on the gods of India, 
 (Asiatic Researches, p. 251. Calcutta edit.) may be 
 more determinate : " Mahadeva, in his generative 
 character, is the husband of Bhavani, whose relation 
 to the waters is evidently marked by her image being 
 restored to them at the conclusion of her great festi- 
 val called Durgotsava : she is known also to have 
 attributes exactly similar to those of Venus Ma- 
 rina, Avhose birth from the sea-foam and splendid 
 rise from the couch, in whicli she had been cradled, 
 have afforded so many charming subjects to ancient 
 and modern artists ; and it is very remarkable that 
 the Rembha of India's court, who seems to corre- 
 spond with the poi)ular Venus, or goddess of beauty, 
 was produced, according to the Indian fabulists, from 
 the froth of the churned ocean." .... "Bhavani 
 now demands our attention ; and in this cliaracter 
 we suppose her to be. ..Venus herself; not theldalian 
 queen of laughter and jollity, who, with her nymphs 
 and graces, was the beautiful child of poetical imagi- 
 nation, and answers to the Indian Rembha, with her 
 celestial train of Apsaras, or damsels of paradise; but 
 Venus Urania, so luxuriously painted by Lucretius, 
 and so proj^erly invoked by him at the opening of a 
 poem on nature ; Venus presiding over generation, 
 and, on that account, exhil)ited sometimes of both 
 sexes; (an union very common in the Indian sculp- 
 tures ;) as in her bearded statue at Rome, in the 
 images, perhaps, called Ilermathena, and in those 
 figures of her, which had the form of a conical mar- 
 ble, 'for the reason of which figure we are left,' says 
 Tacitus, ' in the dark.' — The reason, however, ap- 
 pears too clearly in the temples and paintings of 
 Hindustan ; where it never seems to have entered the 
 heads of the legislators orj)eop!e that any thing natu- 
 ral could be offensively obscene ; a singularity which 
 pervades all their writings and conversation, but is 
 no proof of depravity in their morals." (p. 254.) The 
 decorous sensibility of this elegant writer has imagined 
 a distinc'.lon without an cssenlial diiference; it is 
 enough for our pur])ose, how("V(>r, that Rembha and 
 Rempha are evidently the same ; that Rembha is the 
 popular Venus, or goddess of reproduction ; and that 
 Chiven is the reproductive j)Ower: the Seventy, and 
 Stephen following them, therefore, in preferring one 
 name to the odier, have merely substituted an appel- 
 lation better known, to express the same character: 
 — but both these terms are Sanscrit ; and the infer- 
 ence that these deities, worshi])ped in the West, were 
 adopted from the East, follows, unquestionably, from 
 the use of these terms to ex|)ress them. 
 
 It will, no doubt, be observed, that Chiven is a 
 term used many ages afier the events to which the 
 prophet refers, which are those connected with the 
 history of Balaam, (Niunb. xxii. &c.) and that the
 
 CHO 
 
 [ 297 ] 
 
 CHR 
 
 term in Numbers is not Chiven but Baal-peor, chap. 
 XXV. 3. Referring to this same occurrence, the 
 Psahnist says, (Ps. cvi. 28.) "The Israehtes joined 
 themselves to Baal-peor, and did eat the sacrifices of 
 the dead (otic, methim)." — What means th.js Methim ? 
 Some refer to sacrifices offered to, or in honor 
 of, the dead ; such, probably, as were afterwards, 
 though in very early times, offered by the Greeks 
 and Trojans. But this does not meet the parallelism 
 of the place : as Baal-peor is a deity, we must look 
 for a deity in Methim, a deity analogous to Baal- 
 peor, and this we find in Chiven, who is lord of de- 
 struction as well as of reproduction. In Isaiah xxviii. 
 15. we read of " a covenant made with death, (n?, in 
 the singular,) and with hell (the grave, Sinc) are we 
 at agreement." Here the reference is to death in a 
 general sense, the termination of life, as appears from 
 mention of the grave ; whereas, in the text of the 
 psalm, the term is read in the plural ; deaths [per- 
 haps, intensively, for the Supreme Power of death] : 
 but the Keri (margin) is correct, which reads death, 
 in the singular ; and, therefore, allows us to include 
 a reference to the Power of destruction (Moth) with 
 that of generation, Baal-peor ; which powers co- 
 alesce in the character of the Hindu Chiven. Sir 
 William Jones has hinted at the union of both sexes 
 in the statues of Venus; the same is most notorious 
 in Cliiven : his figure in Sonnerat is half man, half 
 woman ; and his emblem, in the same author, is of 
 the grossest description. In fact, it combines and 
 displays what Tacitus has left obscure ; and is a 
 compound symbol, which, as sir William observes, 
 appears too clearly in the temples and paintings of 
 Hindustan. This afibrds a just notion of Baal-peor ; 
 and explains the comparisons to which Jerome and 
 Augustin have had recourse in their A\Titings. Chi- 
 ven, in India, is " adorned in the temples with tlie 
 best sweet herbs and flowers," says Baldfpus, in 
 Churchill, (vol. iii. p. 831.) Augustin says the same 
 of Phalli, carried in procession in honor of Bacchus, 
 in the cities of Italy, [at Rome, in the month of Au- 
 gust,] crowned with garlands by the matrons ; (De 
 Civitate Dei, lib. \"ii. cap. 2.) and Jerome, on Hosea, 
 accuses the Jewish women of worshipping Baal- 
 peor, ob obsceni magnitudinem membri, quem uos 
 Priapum possumus appellare. This hesitating phra- 
 seology shows, that the Christian father was aware of 
 the want of precision in his language ; but he did 
 not choose more fully to describe what the Latins 
 called fascini, and what to this day is worn as a 
 talisman by the Joguis of India. 
 
 [The somewhat ostentatious display in the preced- 
 ing j)aragraph might have been spared, had the 
 writer been satisfied with the simple and obvious 
 meaning which the text presents. In the passage in 
 Ps. cvi. 28, "They [the Israelites] joined themselves 
 to Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead :" — the 
 sacrifices are simply those of idols in general, who 
 are called dead in contrast to the only living and true 
 God. Just so in Ps. cxv. 3, seq. In like manner 
 idols are also called "lying vanities;" (Ps. xxxi. 6, 
 Jonah ii. 9.) and other terms of the utmost contempt 
 and despite are often apphed to them. R. 
 
 That the Israehtes brought with them from Egypt 
 various Egyptian words, which they had ado})ted 
 during their residence in that country, is generally 
 admitted. The appellation Peor has been thought 
 of foreign origin, and not Hebrew; and the deriva- 
 tion of it from the Egjptian has lately been urged 
 with considerable learning and force. 
 
 CHORAZIN a town in Galilee, near to Caperna- 
 38 
 
 um, not far distant from Bethsaida, and, consequently, 
 on the western shore of the sea of Galilee. Pococke 
 speaks of a village called Gerasi, among the hills 
 west of the place called Telhoue, 10 or 12 miles north- 
 north-east of Tiberias, and close to Capernaum. The 
 natives, according to Dr. Richardson, call it Chorasi. 
 It is upbraided by Christ for its impenitence. Matt, 
 xi. 21 ; Luke x. 13. 
 
 CHOZEBA, a to-sra in Judah, 1 Chron. iv.22. 
 
 CHRIST, a Greek word, answering to the Hebrew 
 nTc, Messiah, the consecrated, or anointed one, and 
 given pre-eminently to our blessed Lord and Saviour. 
 Hannah, the mother of Samuel, plainly alludes to 
 him, when, at the end of her hynni, and in a time 
 when there was no king in Israel, she says, (1 Sam. 
 ii. 10.) "The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, 
 and he shall give strength unto his King, and exalt 
 the hom of his Anointed ;" that is, the glory, the 
 strength, the power of his Christ, or Messiah. " And 
 the Psalmist, (ii. 2.) "The kings of the earth set 
 themselves against the Lord, and against his Messi- 
 ah," or Anointed. And Ps. xlv. 7, "Therefore 
 God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of 
 gladness above thy fellows." Also Jeremiah, (Lam. 
 iv. 20.) "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of 
 the Lord, was taken in their pits." Daniel foretells 
 the death of Christ under the name of Messiah the 
 Lord: "And after threescore and two weeks shall 
 Messiah be cut off, but not for himself," chap. ix. 2G. 
 Lastly, Habakkuk says, (iii. 13.) "Thou wentest forth 
 for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation 
 with thine anointed." It would be needless to 
 bring testimonies from the New Testament to prove 
 Jesus to be the Messiah, since they occur in almost 
 everj- line. 
 
 The ancient Hebrews, being thus instnicted bj-tlie 
 prophets, had clear notions of the Messiah ; but these 
 became gradually depraved, so that when Jesus ap- 
 peared in Judea, the Jews entertained a false con- 
 ception of the Messiah, expecting a temporal monarch 
 and conqueror, who should reinove the Roman yoke, 
 and subject the whole world. Hence they Avere 
 scandalized at the outward appearance, the humility, 
 and seeming weakness of our SaA'iour. The modern 
 Jews, indulging still greater mistakes, fonii to them- 
 selves chimerical ideas of the Messiah, utterly un- 
 known to their forefathers. (Comp. Bibl. Repos. 
 vol. ii. p. 330, seq.) 
 
 The ancient prophets had foretold, that the Messi- 
 ah should be God and man, exalted and abased, 
 master and servant, priest and victim, prince and 
 subject ; involved in death, yet victor over death ; 
 rich and poor ; a king, a conqueror, glorious ; a man 
 of griefs, exposed to infirmities, unknown, in a state 
 of abjection and hiuniiiation. All these contrarieties 
 were to he reconciled in the person of the Messiah ; 
 as they i-eally were in the pei-son of Jesus. It was 
 known that the 3Iessiah was to be born, (1.) of a vir- 
 gin, (2.) of the tribe of Judah, (3.) of the race of David, 
 (4.) in the village of Bethlehem. That he was to 
 continue for ever, that his coming was to be con- 
 cealed, that he was the great prophet promised in the 
 law, that he was both the Son and Lord of David, 
 that he was to perform great miracles, that he ehould 
 restore all things, tliat he should die and rise again, 
 that Elias should be the forerunner of liis appear- 
 ance, that a i)roof of his verity should be the cure 
 of lepers, life restored to the "dead, and the gospel 
 preached to the poor. That he should not destroy 
 the law, but shouhl perfect and fulfil it; that he 
 should be a stone of offence, and a stumbling-block,
 
 CHRIST 
 
 [ 298 ] 
 
 CHRIST 
 
 against which many should bruise themselves ; that 
 he should suffer iufinite oppositions and contradic- 
 tions ; that from his time idolatry and impiety should 
 be" banished, and that distant people should submit 
 themselves to his authority. 
 
 When Jesus appeared in Judea, these notions were 
 common among the Jews. Our Saviour appeals even 
 to themselves, and asks, if these are not the charac- 
 ters of the Messiah, and if they do not see their 
 completion in himself. The evangelists take care 
 to put the Jews in mind of them, proving hereby, 
 that Jesus is the Christ whom they expected. They 
 quote the prophecies to them, which then were ac- 
 knowledged to belong to the Messiah, though they 
 have been controverted by the Jews since. It may 
 be seen in the early fathers of the church, and in the 
 most ancient Jewish authors, that in the beginning 
 of Christianity, they did not call in doubt several 
 prophecies, which their forefathei"s understood of the 
 Messiah. But in after-ages they began to deny that 
 the passages we quote against them should be under- 
 stood of the Messiah, endeavoring to defend them- 
 selves from arguments out of their own Scrij)tures. 
 After this they fell into new schemes, and new no- 
 tions concerning the Messiah. Some of them, as the 
 famous Hillel, who Uved, according to the Jews, be- 
 fore Christ, maintain that the Messiah was already 
 come in the person of king Hezekiah ; others, that 
 the belief of the coming of the Messiah is no article 
 of faith. Buxtorf says that the greater part of the 
 modern rabbins believe, that the Messiah has been 
 come a good while, but keeps himself concealed in 
 some part of the world or other, and will not mani- 
 fest himself, because of the sins of the Jews. Jarchi 
 affirms, that the Hebrew^s believed the Messiah was 
 born on the day of the last destruction of Jerusalem 
 by the Romans. Some assign him the terrestrial 
 paradise for liis habitation ; others the city of Rome, 
 where, according to the Talmudists, he keeps him- 
 self concealed among the leprous and infirm, at the 
 gate of the city, expecting Elias to come to manifest 
 him. A great number believe he is not yet come ; 
 but they are strangely divided about the time and 
 circumstances of his coming. Some expect him at 
 the end of six thousand years. They suppose Jesus 
 Christ to be born A. M. 3761. Add to this number 
 1800, it will make 5561 ; consequently they have 439 
 years to expect still. Kimchi, who lived in the 
 twelfth century, was of opinion, that the coming of 
 the Messiah was very near. Maimonides pretended 
 to have received certain prophecies from his ances- 
 tors, importing that the gift of prophecy should be 
 restored to Israel, after the same number of years 
 from the time of Balaam, as had passed from the be- 
 ginning of the world to Balaam's time. According 
 to him, Balaam prophesied A. M. 2488. If we double 
 this number, we find the restoration of the gift of 
 prophecy should be A. M. 4976, that is, A. D. 1316. 
 
 But this conclusion has been found false. Some 
 have fixed the end of their misfortunes to A. D. 1492, 
 others to A. D. 1598, others to A. D. 16C0, others yet 
 later. Last of all, tired out with these uncertainties, 
 they have pronounced an anathema against any who 
 shall pretend to calculate the time of the coming of 
 the Messiah. (Gemara Tit. Sauhedr. cap. xi.) See 
 Messiah. 
 
 As the holy unction was given to kings, priests, 
 and prophets, by describing the jjromised Saviour of 
 the world under the name of Christ, anointed, or 
 Messiah, it was sufficiently evidenced, that the qual- 
 ities of king, projjhet, and high-priest, would emi- 
 nently centre in him ; and that he would exercise 
 them, not only over the Jews, but over all mankind ; 
 and particularly over those who should receive him 
 as their Saviour. Peter and the other believers, being 
 assembled together, (Acts iv. 27.) apply psalm ii. to 
 Jesus ; and Luke says, (iv. 18.) that our Saviour, en- 
 tering a synagogue at Nazareth, opened the book of 
 the prophet Isaiah, where he read, "The Spirit of 
 the Loi'd is upon me, because he hath anointed me 
 to preach the gospel to the poor," and proceeded to 
 show that this prophecy was accomplished in his 
 own person. 
 
 It is not recorded, however, that Jesus ever re- 
 ceived any external, official unction. The unction 
 that the prophets and the apostles speak of is the 
 spiritual and internal unction of grace, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, of which the outward unction, with 
 which kings, priests, and projihets were anciently 
 anointed, was but the figure and symbol. Neverthe- 
 less, many have supposed, — and we see no objection 
 to it, — that when the Spirit visibly descended on Jesus 
 at his baptism, he received a peculiar, solemn, and 
 appropriate unction. 
 
 The Jewish nation entertained a very general ex- 
 pectation of the appearance of the 3Iessiah, about the 
 time of our Lord's birth ; and it is very credible they 
 had more ways than one of computing the period of i 
 the Messiah's advent, so that their expectation was ) 
 justly founded. One of these modes of calculation ' 
 may be seen under the article Generation, and it 
 may not be unpleasant to the reader to inspect some 
 of those indications of this national feeling, which 
 Providence has happily preserved. On this subject 
 we shall accept assistance from an able "defender 
 of Christianity," Dr. Chandler. " The expectation 
 of this ^reat King could not be rooted out of the 
 minds of the (Jewish) ])eople to Vespasian's days, 
 whose sudden rise to the emjjire, and conquest of the 
 Jews, so turned the heads of many, as to make them 
 imagine he must be the king that had been spoken 
 of. This account we have in two Gentile and one 
 Jewish writers. For the readier comparing their 
 accounts, we have placed them in three columns, to 
 be seen at one view : — 
 
 " Plmibus persuasio inerat, anti- 
 quis snrerdotum libris contineri, eo 
 ipso tempore fore, ut valesceret 
 Oriens, ])rofectique Judea, rerum 
 potirentur. Qua; ambages Ves- 
 pasianum et Titum predixerunt. 
 Sed vulgus, [Judftorum,] more hu- 
 manse cupidinis, sibi tanturn fato- 
 rum magnitudinem interprctati, ne 
 adversis quidem ad vera mutabnn- 
 tur. Tacitus, Hist. cap. 13. 
 
 " The generality had a strong 
 
 '^Percrebuerai oriente toto constans 
 opinio esse in fatis ut eo tempore, 
 Juda?i profecti rerum potirentur. 
 Id de imperio Romano, quantimi 
 postea eventu patuit, prtedictum, 
 Judaei, ad se habentes, rebellarunt. 
 Suetonius, Vespasian, c. 4. 
 
 " There had been for a long time 
 all over the East a constant per- 
 suasion, that it was [recorded] in 
 the Fates [books of the Fates, de- 
 
 " That which chiefly excited them 
 (the Jews) to war, was an ambigu- 
 ous jiropliecy, which was also 
 foimd in the sacred books, that at 
 that time some one within their 
 country should arise, that should 
 obtain the empire of the ivhole 
 world [('•>? xarltToy xaipov tutiroy, ano 
 Ti~s /wQitc, rijc avTviv aQiei ti,v ofxov- 
 fiitrp). For this they had received, 
 (by tradition, we otxtCor iii?.a(ior,) 
 that it was spoken of one of their
 
 CHRIST 
 
 persuasion, that it was contained in 
 tlie ancient writings of the priests, 
 
 tliat AT THAT VJERY TIME the EaSt 
 
 sliould prevail ; and that some who 
 sliould come out of Jiidea should 
 obtain the empire of the world. 
 \Vhich ambiguities foretold Ves- 
 pasian and Titus. But the com- 
 mon j)cople, [of the Jews,] accord- 
 ing to the usual influence of human 
 wisiies, apj)ropriated to themselves, 
 by their intcrjjretation, this vast 
 grandeur foretold by the Fates, 
 nor could be brought to change 
 their opinion for the true by all 
 their adversities." 
 
 [ 299 ] 
 
 crees, or foretellings] that at that 
 TIME, some who should come out 
 of Judea should obtain universal 
 dominion. It appeared, by the 
 event, that this prediction referred 
 to the Roman emperor ; but the 
 Jews, referring it to themselves, 
 rebelled." 
 
 CHRIST 
 
 nation ; and many wise men {noifol, 
 or Chachams) were deceived with 
 the interpretation. But in truth 
 Vespasian's empire was designed 
 in this prophecy ; who was cre- 
 ated emperor [of Rome] in Judca. 
 Joseph, de Bello lib. vii. cap. 31. 
 
 " From the collation of these passages, thus com- 
 pared together, it will be observed, (1.) That all three 
 historians agree, that there was a general expectation 
 of a new kingdom to appear about that time, 
 which, from Judea, should extend itself over the 
 whole earth. It wa3 a rooted persuasion in many, 
 saith one : It was commonhf known throughout the 
 whole East, saith another : It was the principle that 
 chicjlif stirred up the Jeicish nation to war m ith the 
 Romans ; and many of their wise men, rabbins, or 
 learned in their Scrij)tures and traditions, trusting to 
 it, were deceived, saith the third. (2.) This persua- 
 sion was ancient and coristant, or uninterrupted, saith 
 Suetonius : Derived down by tradition, as the sense of 
 the sacred prophecies of the Jews, and so understood 
 by their wise men, saith Josephus. (3.) This per- 
 suasion was contained in the sao-ed books of the 
 priests, saith Tacitus : In the holy books of the proph- 
 ets, saith Jose|)hus: In the Fates, saith Suetonius; 
 meaning the libri fatales, or prophetic books. (4.) 
 The opinion that went abroad, according to Sueto- 
 nius, of the Jews possessing this empire, is expjained 
 by Tacitus, that the East shoidd prevail ; and by Jo- 
 sephus, that a certain man of their nation should rule 
 the world. (5.) From the agreement of the three 
 historians, that at that time this king should appear, 
 it may be collected, that there were times marked in 
 tlic sacred books for his coming, which [times) were 
 then thought to be expired. Nor could Josephus 
 have erred so grossly, in applying the prophecy to 
 Vespasian, but for this. The period fixed was over. 
 He could find no new reckoning to protract the ex- 
 pectation. Despairing, then, of a Messiah in his own 
 nation, [tiie Jews,] he pitches upon one in the Ro- 
 man. That time appears further from the number 
 of impostors, (Ant. lib. xx. cap. 6, 7 ; de Bello, lib. vii. 
 cap. 31.) which were not known in any age before ; 
 from the readiness of the people to join them at any 
 hazard; from the vigor with which they opposed tlie 
 Romans in the siege, without and against all hopes 
 of success, beside that which this expectation inspired 
 tliem with. (Joseph, de Bello, iii. 27. Gr.) All the 
 time of the siege they were assured of help in some 
 extraordinary way (lib. vi. cap, 35). False prophets 
 in Jerusalem promised the people that the day of 
 salvation Mas come, even to the last hour of their 
 ruin. (lb. lib. vii. cap. 4.). Eyen when the Romans 
 were mastei-s of the temjile, one pf them led up 6,000 
 men to certain destruction, in confidence of some 
 surjirising interposition at their last extremity. From 
 this persuasion they rebelled ; from this persuasion 
 the hearts of the common people were kept up under 
 all the miseries of the siege ; and even their disap- 
 
 pointments did not cause them to forsake it. (lb. lib. vi. 
 cap. 30.) (6.) Though Josephus calls this prophecy 
 an ambiguous (or dark] oracle, because the event did 
 not answer to his sense of it, yet he owns it was un- 
 derstood in the sense I am speaking of, by their wise 
 men ; and by those before them, who had delivered 
 down this sense of it. Veiy dark indeed it must be, 
 if, describing one of the royal house of David to be 
 their king, it intended a Roman of an obscure family : 
 if, describing him as the converter of the Gentiles to 
 the knowledge of the true God, it was to be under- 
 stood of one that lived and died an idolater; if, de- 
 scribing him as the person that should put an end to 
 the Roman empire, in belief whereof the Jews took 
 up arms against them, it meaned a Romayi should 
 destroy the Jeuxish nation and religion. Josephus, 
 therefore, whatever motives he had for so applying 
 the prophecy, on writing his Antiquities, returned 
 to his first belief; and fairly hints there, as do the 
 rest of his nation, that Daniel's Messiah was yet to 
 come and subdue the Romans." 
 
 The conception of our Saviour occurred at Naza- 
 reth, a small city in Galilee, where his virgin mother 
 was visited, and informed of the extraordinary event 
 by the angel Gabriel. (See An>-unciation.) About 
 nine months afterwards an edict was issued by Au- 
 gustus, enjoining all persons throughout his domin- 
 ions to be registered in the ])Iace of their uativitj'. 
 This led Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, and while 
 there the infant Jesus was born, in the year of tlie 
 world 4000. On the eighth day he was circumcised, 
 in conformity with the law, and called Jesus, in com- 
 pliance with the divine injunction laid upon his 
 mother before his birth. As Joseph and 3Iary were 
 preparing to return to Nazareth, they were warned 
 by a divine messenger to fly with their infant son 
 into Egypt, to avoid the cruelty of Herod, whose 
 jealousy was roused by the news of the biith of the 
 King of the Jews, and who had ordered all the male 
 children about Bethlehem, under two years old, to 
 be slain. This cruel tj'rant, however, soon afterwards 
 died, and Joseph was admonished to return into Ju- 
 dea. The holy family retired to Nazareth, and there 
 Jesus abode, subject to his earthly parents, till A. D. 
 30, when be was baptized by John in the river Jor- 
 dan, and publicly declared, by a voice from heaven, 
 to be the Son of God, and the teacher of the world. 
 After having been subjected to the assaults of Satan, 
 in the wilderness, Jesus entered upon his public min- 
 istry of teaching the people, making discii)les, and 
 working miracles, during which he traversed the 
 land nearly from one extremity to the other, vis- 
 iting also the Samaritans, and the Gentiles in the
 
 CHR 
 
 [ 300 ] 
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 coasts of Tyre and Sidou. At length, however, one 
 of his own disciples, Judas Iscariot, giving place to 
 the devil, undertook to deliver him up to his impla- 
 cable enemies, the Jews. This he effected, and 
 Jesus, after having been subjected to every species 
 of indignity, was crucified on Calvary as a common 
 malefactor. He remained in the tomb for three days, 
 when he rose from the dead, and, after continuing 
 with his disciples for the space of forty days, he led 
 them out to Bethany, where he blessed them, and 
 visibly ascended up into heaven. 
 
 For some account of the genealogy of Christ, see 
 the articles Adoption, and Genealogy. 
 
 As to the personal appearance of Christ, some 
 have asserted that he was the most beautiful of men, 
 while others have maintained that he was without 
 handsome form and comeliness. Is there any au- 
 thentic memorial of his human form ? — Nicephorus 
 has given a description of his features ; but Nicepho- 
 rus is too late to be much depended on ; and so are 
 all representations of the person of Jesus. So also 
 the epistle of Lentulus, which is evidently spurious. 
 (See the Biblical Repository, vol. ii. p. 367, seq.) Tra- 
 dition is an ill guide in matters of personal descrip- 
 tion ; and if it may convey a general idea, that idea 
 is too general, and too loose, to attach to the descrip- 
 tion of any individual whatever. There are, on 
 some of the coins of the later emperors, heads of 
 Christ, with the motto Rex Regnantium, King of 
 Idngs. Whether it would be possible, in the exami- 
 nation of a complete series, to fix on any ^vhich 
 might approach to a credible degree of verisimility, 
 we know not. We cannot suppose that so late as 
 Constantine, and less still, so late as the successors of 
 his name and family, there should be any accurate por- 
 traits extant of this venerable and illustrious Person, 
 that is, three hundred years, or later, after his decease. 
 
 We expect a time, when He shall appear to all na- 
 tions under that illustrious character — the Prince 
 OF Peace ; and the humble form of the man, who 
 hsd no personal beauty to attract applause, shall be 
 lost in the dignity and glory of liis exalted station. 
 
 CHRISTIAN, a name given at Antioch to those 
 who believed Jesus to be the Messiah, Acts xi. 26. 
 They generally called themselves brethren, faithful, 
 saints, believers ; and were named by the Gentiles, 
 Nazarenes and Galileans. It has been the opinion 
 of several, that Christian was originally derived from 
 the Greek Chrestos, good, useful ; and Tertullian 
 says, " Tlie name of Christian comes from the unc- 
 tion received by Jesus Christ ; and that of Chres- 
 tianus, which you sometimes through mistake give 
 us, (for you are not particularly acquainted with our 
 name,) signifies that gentleness and benignity whereof 
 we make profession." 
 
 CHRISTIANITY, the religii.u taught by Jesus 
 Christ, the Saviour of the world, and comprised in 
 the witings of the New Testament. The evidences 
 of the truth of Christianity are usually divided into 
 two classes, external and internal, and they furnish, 
 in their details, the highest degree of proof of which 
 such a subject is capable. 
 
 To be able to communicate a clear and distinct 
 idea of that extent to which the gospel of Christ 
 was proiniilgated in the early ages of the church 
 would afford great pleasure ; and it is of some con- 
 sequence, in justification of several predictions which 
 seem to announce its general propagation : but our 
 authorities are so incompetent, or the facts they re- 
 port are so uncertain, that not much which may be 
 depended upon, can be considered as having come 
 
 down to us. We have seen that the Old Testament 
 may be understood as affording references to the ex- 
 tremes of the ancient continent, as well eastward as 
 westward ; and if we might rely on occasional hints 
 of ecclesiastical writers, the spread of the gospel was 
 commensurate T\ith the indications of the ancient 
 prophets. In attempting this subject, we cannot 
 avoid remarking how effectually Divine Providence 
 had prepared the way for circulating the "glad 
 tidings of great joy," by the achievements of that vic- 
 torious madman, Alexander the Great, in the East, 
 and by the extended dominion of the Roman empire 
 in the West. By the first of these circumstances, the 
 Greek language was carried almost to the centre of 
 India ; and the Greek power was estabhshcd, and 
 long maintained itself, in those provinces which de- 
 pended on Babylon, or Seleucia, as the seat of their 
 government. This is the more worthy of notice, as 
 in these very provinces the captive Jews were sta- 
 tioned by their conquerors, Nebuchadnezzar and 
 others ; and their posterity maintained the expecta- 
 tion of a Messiah from their ow n nation, descended 
 from a king of their own blood, of whose character 
 and qualities they had information from the sacred 
 books, which they carefully preserved as their com- 
 panions wherever they went, and from the religious 
 institutions on which they attended, though under 
 many disadvantages. Addresses to these Jews, 
 whether by discourse or by writing, Avould be intel- 
 ligible to them, either in the Syriac, in the Chaldee, 
 or in the Greek tongue ; while the latter would be 
 the medium of communication to the descendants of 
 Alexandei''s companions in arms, who were very 
 numerous in these parts. Beside the perusal of the 
 sacred books, and the maintenance of their national 
 rites, by these Jews, we know that their pilgi-ims 
 visited Judea ; and the natural curiosity of the hu- 
 man mind would keep alive a spirit of inquiry after 
 the holy places, and the sacred customs of their na- 
 tion as practised in the Holy Land. We must add, 
 that every pious Jew would willingly pay the half- 
 shekel contribution to the sanctuary, Avhich was for- 
 warded by every opportunity ; and if any inclined 
 to withhold it, they would be, by shame or by force, 
 compelled to that duty. Moreover, pilgrims who 
 had visited Jerusalem would be distinguished among 
 their brethren ; and, much like the Hadgis among 
 the Mahometans at present, would tenaciously retain 
 the tokens of that distinction. This fact of pilgrim- 
 age is sufiiciently proved in the narration, (Acts ii. 9.) 
 where we find visitors — " Parthiaus, Medes, Elamites, 
 Mesopotamians," — but the next description of per- 
 sons, " dwellers in Judea," is certainly liable to cor- 
 rection. Judea, properly speaking, was not intended, 
 because the whole enumeration consists of foreign 
 countries, among which Judea could not possibly be 
 ranked. On the question whether instead of Judea 
 we should read India, or Lydia, opinions are divided. 
 It may be strongly objected, that Lydia is greatly 
 misplaced in being separated from Phrygia and Pam- 
 phylia, to which it was neighbor; while it was 
 remote from Mesopotamia, Cai)padocIa, and Pontus, 
 with which it is ranged. It is acknowledged that 
 the same objection apphes in some degi-ee, though 
 not so strongly, to the reading of India, between 
 Mesopotamia and Cappadocia : we know of no India 
 between those provinces, as usually understood. If, 
 indeed, we might take 3Iesopotaniia for the original 
 country of that name, as the proto-inartyr Stephen 
 appears to have done, then we may, without hesita- 
 tion, read India in this text ; and this enumeration by
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 [301 ] 
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Luke, thus understood, would be a correct list of 
 countries to which the gospel was early sent; of 
 wliicli we have credible, though not abundant, evi- 
 dence. It would be rash to affirm that as actually 
 the case, yet tiie reader will not reject the suggestion, 
 till he has well considei-ed what may be stated in 
 sup|)ort of it. [It is only necessary here to remark, 
 that the reading Judca is uniformly supported by the 
 unanimous authority of all the manuscripts and ver- 
 sions. R. 
 
 We should also obser\'e the different phrase em- 
 ployed by the sacred writer in this passage : he men- 
 tions Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, as if they were 
 natives of those countries, by their direct appellations ; 
 but he describes those of Mesopotamia, Judea, &c. 
 as dwellers, using the same word as in verse 5. " Now 
 there were at Jerusalem dwellers, Jews, devout men, 
 out of every nation under heaven." It is clear that 
 these were only temporary residents at Jerusalem ; 
 and it ijiay be supposed that the same word in verse 
 9. intended only temporary residents in Mesopotamia. 
 This distinction contributes to support what has been 
 proposed, since it cannot for a moment be admitted 
 that in the Greek Mesopotamia (between the rivers 
 Euphrates and Tigris) the Jews were in any degree 
 unsettled ; on the contrary, here they were firmly 
 fixed and established ; whereas in India, they might 
 be considered as residents only, as they certainly 
 were in Rome, in Gyrene, Libya, and elsewhere. 
 
 As the sacred S})irit has directed Luke to place 
 the eastern parts of the world first in his list, we shall 
 first ofier a few words in reference to the promulga- 
 tion of the gospel among them. 
 
 It is certain that the apostle Peter had visited the 
 provinces addressed hi his First Epistle, — Poutus, 
 Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia: — these lay 
 north of Antioch, at which city he left the apostles 
 Paul and Barnabas. Antioch was half way from 
 Jerusalem to these provinces, and no more conve- 
 nient opportunity for this visit of Peter to them can 
 be pointed out, nor any employment for this apostle 
 be so probaljle as such a journey. We therefore 
 place his excursion thither about A. D. 50. From 
 Cappadocia and Pontus, perhaps, Peter descended 
 into 3Iesopotamia, where the gospel is supposed by 
 many writers to have been introduced directly after 
 the ascension of our Lord. Be this as it may, the Syr- 
 ian writers inform us, that Bartholomew the apostle 
 (whom they assert to be the same as Nathanael, the 
 friend of Philip, and named Bar-Tolmai, from his fa- 
 ther Tolmai,or Ptolemy) visited Mesopotamia, where 
 he contril)uted to the establishment of the gospel. 
 They say,also,that the apostle Thomas passed through 
 Mesopotamia, and spread the gospel in its vicinity ; in 
 which service he was assisted by the apostle Jude, 
 the i)rotlier of James. Whether these fellow-evan- 
 gelists acted in conjunction, whether the times of 
 their labors were concurrent, is not easily ascertain- 
 ed, nor is it of moment here. Yet we attach some 
 importance to the proposition, that the apostle Jude 
 labored far eastward, because it contributes to ex- 
 plain the similarity of his Epistle with some parts of 
 the Second of Peter ; which seems strongly to con- 
 firm the idea that both were addressing much the 
 same people. In fact, the style of imagery, eleva- 
 tion, and metaphor which they adopt, is altogether 
 oriental ; a phraseology to which tlie western world 
 reconciles itself with dilficulty, and rarely sanctions 
 in regular and correct composition. Jude certainly 
 bad preached, previously, in various parts of Syria ; 
 at Antaradus, Laodicea, Palmyra, Callinicimi, now 
 
 Racca, and Circeum, now Kerkisieh ; then, as we 
 have said, he visited Thomas in Mesopotamia, whence 
 they made an excursion into Media and Parthia ; 
 after which Jude returned to Mesopotamia and 
 Syria, but Thomas, who appears to have devoted his 
 life to the service of the gospel in the East, remained 
 in Parthia ; or continued pressing on still farther 
 eastward, till he reached India, where he first propa- 
 gated the doctrine of the cross. But here it is proper 
 to inquire, What, and where, was this country de- 
 nominated India ? — and this we shall attempt to 
 determine, by considering the application of the 
 name in the Bible, rather than among heathen 
 ^vi'iters. 
 
 The first, and, indeed, the only mention (as usually 
 understood) of India, in Scripture, is in Esther i. 1, 
 and viii. 9, where we read that Ahasuerus ruled from 
 India eastward, to Cush westward. Bactria was, 
 usually, the most eastern province of the Persian 
 empire ; but that, under some fortunate sovereigns, 
 the Persian dominion included the bank of the In- 
 dus, may readily be granted : beyond this, its posses- 
 sions rarely, if ever, extended. Semiramis, indeed, 
 crossed the Indus at Attock, (the prohibited river,) 
 but was defeated. Alexander also crossed the Indus, 
 and ndvanced some distance beyond it, but a perpet- 
 ual succession of obstacles, mountain after mountain, 
 and river after river, disheartened his troops and en- 
 forced his return. We conclude, therefore, that 
 Ahasuerus did not rule over India, meaning Hindus- 
 tan, but his empire might include a province beyond 
 Bactria, on the bank of the Indus, and deriving its 
 name from that river. Nor should we forget that 
 the original India of the Hindus, or the primary 
 settlement of the Brahmins, was not the modern 
 India : into this coimtry they came, as they acknowl- 
 edge, through the pass of Hurdwar ; nevertheless, 
 the name India, if derived from them, might distin- 
 guish the regions where they had been established, 
 north and west of their present situation ; and such a 
 province might at times form part of the Persian 
 territories. This would restrict the appellation India 
 to a province in the vicinity of the Indus, while it 
 favors the supposition that the spread of the gospet 
 was co-extensive with the power of tlie Persian em- 
 pire. This hypothesis is consistent with those opin- 
 ions which have hitherto been reckoned discordant, 
 namely, that Matthew is bj' some reported to have 
 extended his labors to India, while others confine 
 them to Assyria. These parts were inhabited by 
 Jews, who, though in captivity, occasionally furnish- 
 ed zealous adherents to their country, and to their 
 Kaaba, who willingly sufl'ered no little fatigue, to 
 manifest their attachment to the law of Moses, and 
 their endeavors to fulfil all righteousness. These, 
 having heard the gospel at Jerusalem, at the great 
 national feasts, would be partly prepared to receive 
 the apostles at their own residence ; while the apos- 
 tles would naturally choose to visit countries of 
 which they had some previous knowledge, and where 
 they might flatter themselves in favor of their nation, 
 that the good seed might fall on good gi-ouud. They 
 would also, no doubt, offer the gospel, in the first in- 
 stance, to Jews, wherever they went ; and, (not 
 excluding the Gentiles,) probably, would expect their 
 chief harvest of converts among those whom they 
 still regarded as their countrymen. 
 
 It is probable that Matthew, Peter, Thomas, and 
 Jude, though equally inspired with Paul, lessojienly 
 opposed Judaism than he did ; considering them- 
 selves as apostles of the circumcision, and paying
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 [ 302 ] 
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 some deference to institutions indifferent in regard to 
 the gospel, tliey might less excite opposition than the 
 apostle of the Gentiles, who magnified his office, not 
 without incessant hazard to his person, principally 
 from his own countrymen. We may reasonably 
 conclude, also, that however some of these distant 
 residents might defy difficulties when their religion 
 was concerned, yet, that the main body of the dis- 
 persion would feel a diminished regard to places 
 which they never could behold, and to services of 
 which they never could partake. So that by combi- 
 nation of this abated zeal with apostolic nwderation, 
 the propagators of the gospel eastward might expe- 
 rience fewer perplexities, less severe sufferings, per- 
 haps less animosities and contentions, on the whole, 
 than their fellow-laborers in the West ; notwith- 
 standing that some of them ended their lives by 
 martyrdom. 
 
 If it be asked, whether the course of the gospel 
 absolutely terminated at the Indus, the question is 
 difficult to answer. There is an obscure report that 
 China itself received the gospel very early, (see 
 Thomas,) but the authority on which it rests is slen- 
 der, and the true country understood by that appel- 
 lation is uncertain. Though perfectly willing to 
 admit the possibility of the fact, yet it must he al- 
 lowed that the same passage of Isaiah which has 
 been quoted as mentioning the land of Sinim, or 
 Tsin, i. e. China, might be the chief stay of such re- 
 port. More might be said in favor of that opinion 
 which supposes the gospel to have reached the 
 peninsula of India, the coast of Malabar particularly, 
 where we trace an ancient establishment of Christi- 
 anity under the title of " Christians of St. Thomas." 
 But'this Thomas appears to have been later than the 
 apostle of that name ; we are disposed therefore to 
 terminate the personal labors of the apostles with the 
 boundary of the Persian emjjire. To this boundary 
 they had the company of their nation, the protection 
 of the same government as protected that nation, the 
 same language, manners, observances religious and 
 civil, with the innumerable facilities derivable from 
 Ihat " more sure word of prophecy," which furnish- 
 <ed a proper introduction on all occasions, private or 
 • public. If farther progress were really made east- 
 ward so early, we may attribute it to converts deput- 
 ed for that purpose, rather than to the personal 
 exertions of the apostles. 
 
 We return now to Jerusalem, as to the centre 
 whence the doctrine of the gospel diverged in all 
 directions. In the journeys of Peter we have seen it 
 reach northward to An'rioch, Pontus, Cappadocia, 
 and Bithynia ; these provinces formed the shore of 
 the Euxine or Black sea. The travels of Paul were 
 partly parallel to these, but south and west of them. 
 A mere enumeration of the jjlaces he passed through 
 in his several journeys, as recorded, may suffice to 
 show what parts were visited by his means with evan- 
 gelical blessings. His first expedition for the pur- 
 pose of communicating light to those who sat in 
 darkness, was that witli Barnabas, (Acts xiii.) usually 
 placed A. D. 44, the fourth year of the Roman em- 
 peror Claudius ; and supposed to extend into A. D. 
 47. The places enumerated have been ah-eady no- 
 ticed. Afler the council at Jerusalem, (Acts xv.) 
 about A. D. 49, or 50, Peter went to Antioch, where 
 he met with Paul and Barnabas ; not long afler 
 which Paul's second journey coirmiences, and ex- 
 tends to A. D. 54 (in conqjany with Silas.) Paul's 
 third journey, from Antioch in Syria, A. D. 54, to 
 A. D. 57, or 58, the fourth year of Nero, Acts 
 
 xxviii. 23. At Jerusalem Paul is apprehended, and 
 sent away guarded, A. D. 58, or 59. His voyage to 
 Rome, A. D, 60, ends, Avith his history, about A. D. 63. 
 We have ■■ the direct testimony of the Acts of the 
 Apostles for these several journeys ; the following 
 can only be inferred from incidental expressions in 
 different parts of Paul's Epistles : — 
 
 Italy. — No doubt, when Paul was liberated from 
 his first imprisonment at Rome, he would visit differ- 
 ent parts of the country around tliat metropolis. 
 
 Spain. — Paul mentions (Rom. xv. 24, 25.) his in- 
 tention of visiting this country. Clemens Romanus, 
 in his first Ejiistle to the Corinthians, observes, that 
 the apostle jjreached in the West, to its utmost bounds, 
 which no doubt includes Spain. - Theodoret adds, 
 that he visited " the islands of the sea ;" which ap- 
 pear to correspond with the islands afar off, in Isaiah 
 Ixvi. 19. The same writer mentions Gaul and Britain 
 among the disciples of the tent-maker. There 
 seems, therefore, to be no period more convenient in 
 the short remainder of Paul's life, than soon after his 
 liberation, for an excursion from Italy to Spain, 
 probably by sea ; from Spain to Britain, also by sea ; 
 from Britain through Gaul to Italy, by land, for the 
 most part. Whether he ever returned into the East 
 is uncertain : fiuiii Pliilemoii "Z^l, he ajjpears to have 
 expected it. Some writers have supposed a fifth 
 journey, which they thus arrange : Italy, Spain, 
 Crete, Jerusalem, Antioch in Syria ; then, after some 
 residence there, Colosse, Philippi, Nicopolis in Epi- 
 rus, Corinth, Troas, Miletum in Crete, Rome. Ade- 
 quate proof of this last route is wanting; but as he 
 might easily from Gaul or Italy pass over into 
 Greece, it is possible he might revisit Philippi, Troas, 
 Colosse, Corinth, and Nicopolis before he returned 
 to Rome ; where he was seized, and with Peter suf- 
 fered martyrdom. [It must here be borne in mind, 
 that all these alleged journeys of Paul rest onlj' on 
 the reports of later writers, and are of very doubtful 
 credit. R. 
 
 We may now tui-n to a question peculiarly inter- 
 esting; namely,, the- early introduction of Christianity 
 among, the ancient Britons, Although antiquity, in 
 ordinary cases, is but a weak plea for either power 
 or purity, since we know that corruptions sprung up 
 early in the church, yet, in the present case, it is 
 most probable that the nearer we approach to the 
 times of the apostles, and the more directly we de- 
 rive from them, or their immediate agents, the prin- 
 ciples of faith and manners, with the greater satisfac- 
 tion may we rely on their correctness and authority. 
 It is, indeed, impossible to suppose, that while Chris- 
 tianity was alloyed with notions retained by those 
 who quitted various sects to embrace it, — while the 
 Judaizing Christians deferred nuich to their ancient 
 Judaism, and the Gentile philosophers, though con- 
 verted, continued to be tinctured with their long- 
 studied philosophy, — it is inqiossible to suppose that 
 the Druidical converts should so completely relin- 
 quish their national Druidism that they should never 
 n)ore be influenced by it, either personally or in com- 
 munity. This, however, may be said in favor of 
 Britain, that its distance from the jirincipal scenes of 
 ecclesiastical ambition secured it in no inconsidera- 
 ble degree from the disastrous consequences of that 
 fatal fascination ; nor did the various persecutions 
 suffered by the churches on the continent I'age with 
 equal violence in this island, which often continued 
 in jieace, while flames and fury involved the Cliris- 
 tians of other parts. 
 
 At what time the Christian religion was first intro-
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 [ 303 ] 
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 duced into Britain, is a question on which our eccle- 
 siastical historians have been divided. 3Iost of them, 
 however, seem to agree in fixing that event before 
 the expiration of tlie first century ; and the testimo- 
 nies of several of the ancients have been produced 
 in suj)port of this opinion. Both Tertullian and 
 Origen speak of Christianity as having made its way 
 into Britain ; nor do they represent it as a recent 
 event, so that it may be presumed to have taken 
 place long before their time. The former says, 
 " There are places among the Britons which were in- 
 accessible to the Romans, but yet are subdued by 
 Christ." (Adv. Judaeos, cap. 7.) — The latter says, 
 " Tlic power of God our Saviour is even with them 
 in Britain, who are divided from our world." (In 
 Luc. ca[). i. Hom. 6.) — It was usual with the ancients, 
 long before Origen's time, to speak of Britain as di- 
 vided from the ivorld. Even king Agrii)pa, in his 
 speech to the Jews at Jerusalem, (as related by Jose- 
 pluis,) about the beginning of the revolt, uses a similar 
 language. Eusebius is more explicit : speaking of 
 the pious labors of the apostles, he declares, that 
 some of them " had passed over the ocean, and 
 preached to those which are called the Britannic 
 islands." From his connection with the imperial 
 court, and his intimacy with the emperor himself, 
 who was a native of Britain, he may well be sup- 
 posed to have possessed the best informjition ; and, 
 as much of l-.is reasoning depends on the truth of 
 the above allegation, it is natural to presume that he 
 was well assured of the fact. Theodoret, also, another 
 ancient and respectable ecclesiastical historian, ex- 
 pressly names the Britons among the nations whom 
 the apostles (the fishermen, publicans, and tent- 
 makers, as he calls them) " had persuaded to embrace 
 the religion of him who was crucified." (Tom. iv. 
 Serm. 9.] To these testimonies may be added that of 
 Gildas, tlie earliest of the British historians. Ac- 
 cording to him, (Epist. c. i.) the gospel began to be 
 published in Britain about the time of the memorable 
 revolt and overthrow of the Britons under Boadicea, 
 (A. D. GO, or Gl,) and was followed by a long inter- 
 A'al of peace. Speaking of this revolt, with its dis- 
 astrous termination and consequences, Gildas adds, 
 "In the mean time, Christ, the true Sun, afforded 
 his rays, that is, the knowledge of his precepts, to 
 this island, benumbed with extreme cold, having 
 been at a great distance from the Sun, not the sun in 
 the firmament, but the Eternal Sun in heaven." On 
 what authority Gildas places this event at that time, 
 he does not say. From domestic or British records 
 he appears to have derived no assistance ; and he 
 was of opinion that no documents of that kind re- 
 mained then in the country. And if there ever had 
 been any such, he thought they had either been burnt 
 by the enemy, or were carried into foreign parts by 
 his exiled or emigrated countrymen ; so that, to his 
 great regret, he had not been able to discover any. 
 He nuist, therefore, have relied on the authority of 
 some foreign records ; or he might follow the tradi- 
 tion of the country. However that might be, his 
 statement appears on the whole correct, and is re- 
 markably supported by the Triades of the Isle of 
 Britain, some of the most curious and valuable frag- 
 ments preserved in the Welsh language, and relating 
 to persons and events from the earliest times to the 
 beginning of the seventh century. These ancient 
 British documents, which are of undoubted credit, 
 though but little known till lately, state that the 
 famous Caractacus, who, afl^er a war of nine yeare in 
 defence of the liberties of his country, was basely 
 
 betrayed and delivered up to the Romans by Areg* 
 wedd Foeddig, (the Caitismandua of Roman au- 
 thors,) was, together with his father Bran, and the 
 whole family, carried captive to Rome, about A. D. 
 52, or 53, where they were detained seven years, or 
 more. At this time the gospel was i)rcached at 
 Rome; and Bran, with others of the family, became 
 converts to Christianity. After about seven years, 
 they had permission to return, and were the means 
 of introducing the knowledge of Christ among their 
 countiymen ; on which account Bran was long dis- 
 tinguished as one of the three blessed soverci^ns^ 
 and his family as one of the holy lineages of Britain. 
 At the return of these earliest Britisii converts, it 
 might be expected that some of the Christians, with 
 whom they had associated at Rome, would be pre- 
 vailed on to accompany them to their native countiy. 
 Several of the disciples of Christ, whose names are 
 recorded in the New Testament, were probably at 
 Rome when the Britons quitted that city ; but it does 
 not appear that any of them did at this time visit Brit- 
 ain. We find, however, that certain Christians from 
 Rome did actually accompany the liberated captives ; 
 and the names of three have been preserved. One 
 was called Hid, and is said to have been an Israelite ; 
 the other two were Cyndav, and Arwystli Hen, both 
 of them probably Gentiles. What their Roman 
 names were, it is now impossible to say. They are 
 supposed to have been all preachers, and are said to 
 have been instrumental (the former especially) in 
 turning great numbers of the Britons from the error 
 of their ways, and persuading them to believe in 
 Christ. Their names are the more remarkable, as 
 they were, if not the first, yet, doubtless, among the 
 veiy first. Christian preachers that ever set foot on 
 the British island. 
 
 As Bran and Caradoc (otherwise Bi'ennus and 
 Caractacus) were Silurian or Welsh princes, we 
 may safely conclude that. Christianity made its way 
 into Wales as early as into any part of the kingdom. 
 When Bran returned to his native land, some of his 
 family, it is thought, staid behind and settled at 
 Rome. Of these Claudia, mentioned with Pudens 
 and Linus, in 2 Tim. iv. 21, is deemed to have been 
 one, and supposed to be the same with Claudia, the 
 wife of Pudens, mentioned by Martial the poet, who 
 speaks of her as a British lady of extraordinary vir- 
 tue, wit, and beauty. (Epig. lib. iv. 13 ; lib. xi. 54.) 
 Some have thought her to be the daughter of Carac- 
 tacus ; and Mr. Taylor has rendered this highly 
 probable. (See Fragment, No, 608.) Besides these 
 royal captives, Pomponia Grtecina, the wife of Aulus 
 Plautius, Claudius's lieutenant, and the first Roman 
 governor here, has also been thought a Briton and a 
 Christian, consequently one of the earliest British 
 Christians. Of her Tacitus says, " An illustrious 
 lady, married to Plautius, who was honored with an 
 ovation, (or lesser triumph,) for his victories in 
 Britain, was accused of having embraced a strange 
 foreign superstition ; and her trial for that crime was 
 conmiitted to her husband. He, according to an- 
 cient law and custom, convened her whole family 
 and relations ; and having in their presence tried her 
 for her life and fame, pronounced her innocent of 
 any thing immoral. Pomponia lived [to a great 
 age] many years after this trial, but always led a 
 gloomy, melancholy kind of life." (Annal. lib. xiii. 
 c. 32.) On this it has been remarked that Tacitus, 
 no doubt, deemed the lives of the prinilcive Chris- 
 tians gloomy and melancholy ; and had he been 
 called on to describe them, he would, in all proba-
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 [304] 
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 bility, have represented their religion as a vile foreign 
 superstition ; and the sobriety and severity of their 
 lives (abstaining from pagan rites and excesses) as a 
 continual solitude, and intolerable austerity. " It 
 was the way," says bishop Stillingfleet, " of the men 
 of that time, such as Suetonius and Pliny, as well as 
 Tacitus, to speak of Christianity as a barbarous and 
 wicked superstition, (as appears by their writings,) 
 being forbidden by their laws, which they made the 
 only rule of their religion." (Orig. Britannicse, p. 
 44.) This trial of Pomponia happened, it seems, 
 while Nero and Calpurnius Piso were consuls; [A. 
 D. 57.] after the apostle Paul's coming to Rome the 
 first time ; and therefore she may, not unreasonably, be 
 supposed to have been one of his converts. It appears 
 that there were other persons of distinction among 
 the apostle's friends then at Rome ; for instance, those 
 of Caesar's household, among whom might be some 
 of the British captives. 
 
 It does not appear by the Triades, that the whole 
 of Caractacus's family embraced Christianity at 
 Rome, or even that he himself did so ; but a son 
 and a daughter of his are mentioned, as well as his 
 father, as very eminent Christians. The name of 
 the son was Cyllin, (see Linus,) and that of the 
 daughter Eigen ; both classed among the British 
 saints. That son is said to be the gi-andfather of 
 Lleurwg, commonly called king Lucius, who greatly 
 exerted himself, at a later period, to promote Chris- 
 tianity in Britain, or at least in Wales, the country 
 of his ancestors, and where he himself also reigned 
 by the favor or permission of the Romans. Even 
 the famous king Arthur appears to be a descendant 
 of this illustrious family. 
 
 " That St. Paul did go to Britain, we may collect 
 from the testimony of Clemens Romanus, Theodo- 
 ret, and Jerome, who relate, that after his imprison- 
 ment he preached the gospel in the ivestern parts ; 
 that he brought salvation to the islands that lie in the 
 ocean, and that, in preaching the gospel, he went to 
 the utmost bounds of the ivest. What was meant by 
 the west, and the islands that lie in the ocean, we may 
 judge from Plutarch, Eusebius, and Nicephorus, 
 who call the British ocean the western ; and again 
 from Nicephorus, who says, that one of the apostles 
 went to the extreme countries of the ocean, and to 
 the British isles, but especially from the words of 
 Catullus, who calls Britain the utmost island of the 
 west ; and from Theodoret, who describes the Brit- 
 ons as inhabiting tlie utmost parts of the west. 
 When dement, therefore, says that Paul went to 
 the utmost boitnds of the west, we do not conjecture, 
 but are sure, that he meant Britain, not only because 
 Britain was so designated, but because Paul could 
 not have gone to the utmost bounds of the west 
 without going to Britain. It is almost unnecessaiy, 
 therefore, to appeal to the express testimony of Ve- 
 nantius Fortunatus and Sophronius, for the apostle's 
 journey to Britain. Vcnantius Fort, quoted by God- 
 win, says, Sophronius Patriarcha Hierosolymitanus 
 disertis verbis asserit Britanniam nostrum eum invi- 
 sisse." (Burgess's Seven Epochs of the Ancient 
 British Church, p. 7.) 
 
 There is a force in the expressions of Clemens 
 Romanus (1 Epist. Cor. cap. 5.) that is seldom justly 
 appreciated, inasmuch as he repeats his assertion. 
 His words are, " Paul received the reward of his 
 patience — He preached both in the east and in the 
 west ; — and having taught the whole world righteous- 
 ness, and for that end travelled to the utmost bounds 
 OF THE WEST, .... he Suffered martyrdom." Had 
 
 not the writer been well assured of his facts, he 
 would have been contented with his first assertion, 
 — " he preached in the west ;" whereas, he greatly 
 strengthens this assertion by repetition and addition, 
 " He travelled to the utmost bounds of the west ;" 
 a mode of expression rising greatly in energy above 
 the former ; and evidently intended to mark out to 
 the reader a determinate, specific, and well-known 
 proposition as the object of the phrase. The later 
 writers may be dispensed with, after this unequivo- 
 cal testimony ; the moi-e powerful because inci- 
 dental. 
 
 In the judgment of Mr. Taylor, the resemblance 
 between the British name Arwystli and the Greek 
 Aristobulus (Rom. xvi. 10.) deserves more consider- 
 ation than it has hitherto received. It is certain, he 
 remai-ks, that the formation of this name [from the 
 Greek] is according to the analogy of the ancient 
 British language ; it is certain, also, that the apostle 
 does not salute Aristobulus himself, personally and 
 directly, but those related to him. It is not absolute- 
 ly clear that Aristobulus was a Christian, any more 
 than Narcissus, mentioned in the same manner, in 
 the following verse, who is by some thought to have 
 been the emperor's freed-man, and dead some time 
 before the date of this epistle. We may, however, 
 observe a difference, if we attend closely to the pur- 
 port of the phrase used. The apostle salutes so 
 many (restrictively) of those attached to Narcissus 
 as were in the Lord ; therefore, some were not in 
 the Lord ; but he uses no such restriction concern- 
 ing Aristobulus's family, but salutes them generally ; 
 therefore, they were all in the Lord ; and the proba- 
 biUty may pass for nothing less than certainty, that 
 where all the family was Christian, the head of the 
 family was so, especially and primarily. The ex- 
 pression employed by the apostle implies, further, 
 that Aristobulus was not at Rome when this epistle 
 was composed, or when it was expected to reach 
 that capital ; and if, as is customary, we date it A. D, 
 58 or 59, it reduces within narrow limits the ques- 
 tion whether Aristobulus accompanied Bran to 
 Britain. If Bran were sent to Rome A. D. 52, and 
 kept there seven years, we are brought to A. D. 59, 
 for the time of his release. It was very late in 58, 
 or early in 59, when Paul sent off his Epistle to the 
 Romans ; it appears by the breaks in the last chap- 
 ter, that he laid it aside, and resumed it, several 
 times, and that he retained it to the moment of his 
 [or its] departure from Corinth, where it was written. 
 If, then, Paul had, at this time, intelligence of the in- 
 tention of Aristol)ulus to quit Rome for Britain, or 
 of his having actually done so, very lately, his mode 
 of expression is accounted for, correctly and com- 
 pletely. 
 
 It further appears (see Aristobulus) that the 
 Greeks say, this preacher " tvas sent into England, 
 ivhere he labored very vmch, made many co7iverfs, and 
 at last died." As it is impossible that the Greeks 
 should have known any thing aboiU the British Tri- 
 ades; and on the other hand, that the Triades should 
 have known any thing about the Greeks, these wit- 
 nesses appear to be not only very distant, but per- 
 fectly distinct and independent ; their combined tes- 
 timony, therefore, h the more con-oborative, and the 
 more striking. And it may now be asserted, with 
 the utmost appsarance of truth, that whoever were 
 employed in introducing Christianity into Britain, 
 Aristobulus was one of the earliest missionaries, and 
 under the royal protection of the Silurian princes. 
 We are enabled also by this statement to explam and
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 [ 305 ] 
 
 CHR 
 
 to verify the words of Tertulliau, which some have 
 considered as a mere flourish of rhetoric, Bntanno- 
 rum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero suhdita. 
 Places in Britain, which were inaccessible to the 
 Roman arms, might, nevertheless, be subdued to 
 Christ, in Wales, where, amid the recesses and re- 
 treats furnished by the mountains, there were, no 
 doubt, many who had fled, after the capture of Ca- 
 ractacus, and who there continued to resist the Ro- 
 mans. In fact, Ostorius, who had taken Caractacus 
 captive, sunk under the fatigue of the succeeding 
 war ; Manlius Valens, with a legion of Romans, 
 was attacked and defeated by the Britons, and the 
 war continued with various success. Nero even en- 
 tertained thoughts of withdrawing his army from 
 Britain, says Suetonius. In A. D. 62, Petronius 
 Turpillianus succeeded to the government of Britaiu ; 
 who, says Tacitus, " gave the name of peace to his 
 own inactivity, and, having composed former disturb- 
 ances, attempted nothing further." Is it impossible 
 that this inactivity, during three jears, should be 
 tlie result of the return of the principal royal Brit- 
 ons to their homes? — Britain fell to the lot of Ves- 
 pasian in A. D. 71, and to Agricola in A. D. 78. By 
 this time, we may safely say with the Greeks, that 
 Arxstohulus had made many co7iverts in Britain, We 
 may now also attach a stronger sense to the expres- 
 sion of Theodoret, who reckons Gaul and Britain 
 among the disciples of the tent-maker. For, say the 
 Greeks, Aristobulus " was brother to Barnabas, — 
 was ordained by Barnabas, or by Paul, ivhom he fol- 
 lowed in his travels ;" so that the Britons, converted 
 by Aristobulus, might witli propriety l)e called the 
 disciples of Paul, even if tliat apostle never set foot 
 in Britain. But it will be acknowledged, at the 
 same time, that if Paul did follow Aristobulus, and 
 confinn his converts in Britain, the comfort of his 
 visit was greatly increased, and the necessity of his 
 prolonged residence was greatly diminished, by the 
 previous success of his disciple. Might he come 
 during the peaceful government of Petronius Tur- 
 pilhanus .' 
 
 But we may adopt a chronology still more con- 
 venient ; for it appears that Ostorius arrived as gov- 
 ernor in Britain, A. D. 50, and immediately opened 
 a winter campaign against the Britons. Ailowng a 
 proportionate time for the events of war, as urged by 
 this active general, Caractacus might be sent prisoner 
 to Rome in A. D. 51, instead of A. D. 52, which 
 would give the following dates : 
 
 A. D. 
 
 Aulus Plautius governor in Britain 4'i 
 
 Bran and Caradoc at Rome 51 
 
 Bran liberated after 7 years' captivity ... 58 
 Paul writes to the Romans, at the end of 58, or 
 early in 59 ; Aristobulus gone from Rome to 
 Britain with Bran, at the date of Paul's 
 letter. 
 
 Paul visits Britain 63 
 
 The apostle mentions sundiy British Christians, 
 residing at Rome, when writing to Timothy. 
 Had Timothy a personal acquaintance with 
 them ? It should appear so, from the tenor 
 and mode of the salutation 65 or 66 
 
 Thus we have seen that to the extent of the 
 prophecies of the Old Testament, either the records 
 of the New Testament expressly aflirm, or very 
 credible testimony leads us to believe, that the gos- 
 pel quickly communicated its salutary influence; 
 39 
 
 and so far the investigation of biblical geography 
 demonstrates the authority of the Bible itself, by the 
 fulfilment of its prophecies, and the general estab- 
 lishment of its truth. If it be asked, whether the 
 parts thus favored have not lost their first faith, we 
 confess that the charge implied in the question is 
 too true ; nevertheless, they seem in general to have 
 retained some tincture at least of the principles they 
 had imbibed ; and, though greatly debased by eiTor, 
 or discouraged by oppression, yet the faith of Jesus 
 Christ, even in countries remote from its origin, is 
 professed, is retained, in spite of a thotisand disad- 
 vantages, and notwithstanding a thousand oppositions, 
 secular or religious, national or local. IMay the 
 happy time soon come, when no doubt shall remain 
 whether the most distant nations have or have not 
 been favored with the gospel ; but when evident and 
 notorious facts shall justify an appeal in proof of that 
 felicity; and the whole earth shall acknowledge 
 that "the Lord is One, and his name One, from 
 the rising of the sun to the going down of the 
 same !" 
 
 CHRONICLES, Books of. This name is given 
 to two historical books of Scripture, which the He- 
 brews call Dihre-hayamim, {Words of Days, i. e. Di- 
 aries, or Journals,) and make but one book of them. 
 They are called in the LXX Paralipomena, {things 
 omitted,) as if they were a supplement of what had 
 been omitted, or too much abridged, in the other 
 historical books. But it must not be thought that 
 these are the records, or books of the acts of the 
 kings of Judah and Israel, so often referred to. 
 Those were the original memoirs, and the Chroni- 
 cles make long extracts from them. The Hebrews 
 ascribe the Chronicles to Ezra, after the return from 
 the captivity, assisted by Zechariah and Haggai. But 
 if there be some things which seem to determine for 
 Ezra as the author, others seem to prove the con- 
 trary. (1.) The author continues the genealogy of 
 Zerubbabel down to the tAvelfth generation ; but 
 Ezra did not live late enough for that. (2.) In seve- 
 ral places he supposes the things ^^ hich he mentions 
 to be then in the same condition as they had for- 
 merly been, for example, before Solomon, and before 
 the captivity, 2 Chrou. v. 9, and 1 Kings viii. 8. (See 
 also 1 Chron. iv. 41, 43 ; v. 22, 26 ; 2 Chrou. viii. 8, 
 and xxi. 10.) (3.) The Avriter of these books was 
 neither a contemporary nor an original writer ; but 
 a compiler and abridger. He had before him ancient 
 memoirs, genealogies, annals, registers, and other 
 pieces, which he often quotes or abridges. It seems 
 that the chief design of the author was to exhibit 
 correcdy the genealogies, the rank, the functions, 
 and the order of the priests and Levites ; that, after 
 the captivity, they might more easily resume their 
 ])roi)er ranks, aud reassume their ministries. He had 
 also in view to show how the lands had been dis- 
 tributed among the families before the captivity ; that 
 subsequently each tribe, so far as was possible, might 
 obtain llio ancient inheritance of their fathers. He 
 quotes old records by the name of ancient things, 1 
 Chron. iv. 22. He recites /oj(r several rolls, or num- 
 bcrings of the people ; one taken in the time of David, 
 a second in the time of Jeroboam, a third in the time 
 of Jotham, and the fourth in the time of the captivity 
 of the ten tribes. He speaks elsewhere of the numbers 
 taken by order of king David, and which Joab did not 
 finish. Jerome truly observes, that these books contain 
 a very great number of things important for the expli- 
 cation of Scripture ; that all the scriptural traditions are 
 contained in them ; and that it is deceiving ourselves to
 
 CHR 
 
 [ 306 
 
 CHU 
 
 imagine we have any knowledge of the lioly books, 
 if we are ignorant of these. Also, that in the Chron- 
 icles we may find the solution of a great number of 
 questions that concern the gospel. 
 
 There are many variations, as well in facts as in 
 dates, between the books of Kings and the Chroni- 
 cles, which are to be explained and reconciled, 
 chiefly on the principle, that the latter are supple- 
 mentary to the former ; not forgetting that the lan- 
 guage was slightly varied from what it jiad been ; 
 that various places had received new names, or had 
 undergone sundry vicissitudes; that certain things 
 were now better known to the returned Jews, under 
 other appellations than wliatthey formerly had been 
 distinguished by ; and that, from the materials before 
 him, which often were not the same as those used 
 by the abridgers of the histories of the kings, the 
 author takes those passages wliich seemed to him 
 best adapted to his purpose, and most suital^le to the 
 times in which he wrote. It must be considered, too, 
 that he often elucidates obsolete and ambiguous 
 words, in forjiier books, by a difterent mode of spell- 
 ing them, or by a difterent order of the words used ; 
 even when he does not use a distinct phraseology of 
 narration, which he sometimes does. The first book 
 contains a recapitulation of sacred history, by gene- 
 alogies, from the i)eginning of the world to the 
 death of David, A. M. 2289. The second book con- 
 tains the history of the kings of Judah, without those 
 of Israel, from the beginning of the reign of Solo- 
 mon only, A. M. 2290, to the retm-n from the cap- 
 tivity of Babylon, A. M. 3468. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY is the science of computing 
 and adjusting periods of time, and is, necessarily, of 
 considerable importance in relation to Scripture his- 
 tory. See Time. 
 
 The chronology adopted by the English transla- 
 tors, and placed in the margin of the larger Bibles, 
 is that of the Masoretic, or common Hebrew text ; 
 but of the authenticity of this, strong doubts are en- 
 tertained by the best biblical critics. Compared with 
 the more extended chronology of the Septuagint, it 
 is of modern adoption ; the venerable Bede, who 
 flourislied in the eighth century, having been the first 
 (christian writer who manifested a predilection for 
 it. It has been observed, however, tliat prior to the 
 reformation, tlie views of the celebrated monk of 
 Durham had made init little progress among the 
 clergy, and that when Luther roused the attention 
 of Europe to tlie errors of the ancient communion, 
 the authority of the Greek version and tlie imani- 
 mous consent of the primitive writers were still 
 found to regulate all the calculations concerning the 
 age of the world. In the warmth of the contro- 
 versy which ensued, the more rigid Protestants were 
 induced to rank among the corruptions of the west- 
 ern church, the chronology of the Samaritan Penta- 
 teuch, of the Sevf^nty, and of Joseplnis ; and with- 
 out taking time or pains to examine the groimds of 
 their opinion, they resolutely pronounced that the 
 numbers of tiie original text were to be preferred 
 to those of any vei-sioji ; and fortiiwith bestowed 
 the weight of their autliority upon the Jewish 
 side of the (juestion, and opposed tliat which the 
 Christians had maintained from the days of the 
 apostles. 
 
 The chief difl'erence between these two schemes 
 of chronology, is fotmd in those periods which ex- 
 tend from the creation to the deliifre, and from thence 
 to the birth of Abraham. Acconling to the Hebrew 
 com|)Utation, the number of years comprised in the 
 
 first period, amounts only to 1656 ; and the second 
 to 292. But in the Septuagint, the numbers respect- 
 ively are 2262 and 10/2 ; thus extending the interval 
 between the creation and the birth of Christ, from 
 4000 to nearly 6000 years. These variations have 
 not yet been satisfactorily accounted for, but much 
 light has been thrown upon the subject by the labo- 
 rious investigations of Hayes, Jackson, and Hales ; 
 and the result has been to give a somewhat increased 
 degree of confidence in the larger computations of 
 the Septuagint. 
 
 Ages of tue World. — The time preceding the 
 birth of Jesus Christ has generally been divided into 
 six ages: (1.) from the beginning of the Avorld to the 
 deluge, comprehending 16.56 years ; (2.) from the 
 deluge to Abraham's entering the land of promise, 
 in A. M. 2082, comprehending 426 years ; (3.) from 
 Abraham's entrance of the promised land, to the 
 exodus, A. M. 2513, comprehending 431 years ; (4.) 
 from tlie exodus to the foundation of the temple by 
 Solomon, A. M. 2992, comprehending 479 years ; 
 (5.) from the foimdation of the temple to the Baby- ^a 
 lonish captivity, in A. M. 3416, comprehending 424-^, / 
 years ; (6.) from the captivity to the birth of Christ, ' 
 A. M. 4000, the fourth year before the vulgar era, ^ 
 or A. D. comprehending 584 years. ^ 
 
 We need not enlai-ge on tiie difterent systems of 
 ancient and modern chronologers, concerning the 
 years of the world. Those who would study these 
 matters, must consult those authors who have ex- 
 pressly treated the subject. We have followed Usher 
 in the chronology of the Old Testament, with some 
 trifling differences only ; and among the appendices 
 is a Chronological Table, with the dates inserted ac- 
 cording to D]-. Hales. 
 
 CHRYSOLITE, a precious stone, probably the 
 tenth on the high-priest's pectoral ; bearing the name 
 of Zebulun, Exod. xxviii. 20 ; xxxix. 19. It is 
 transparent, the color of gold, with a mixture of 
 green, which displays a fine lustre. The Hebrew 
 B'^Din (tarshish) is translated by the LXX, and by Je- 
 rome, sometimes, carbuncle ; by the rabbins, beryl ; 
 it was the seventh foundation of the New Jerusalem, 
 Rev. xxi. 20. Some suppose it to be the topaz of the 
 moderns. 
 
 CHRYSOPRASUS, the tenth of those precious 
 stones which adorned the foundation of the heaven- 
 ly Jerusalem ; its color was green, inclining to 
 gold, as its name imports, Rev. xxi. 20. See Rees' 
 Cyclop. 
 
 CHUB, a word which occius only in Ezek. xxx. 
 5. and probably signifies the Cubians, placed by 
 Ptolemy in the Mareotis. Bochart takes it to be 
 Paliurus, a city in JMarinorica, because the Syriae 
 word denotes paliurus, a sort of tiiorn. It would 
 seem to be a southern country, from the circum- 
 stance of its being mentioned with Egypt and Ciish. 
 
 CHUN, a city of Syria, conquered by David, 1 
 Chron. xviii. 8. In the parallel passage, 2 Sam. viii.8, 
 it is called Berothai, (which see,) i. e. probably Be- 
 7-ytns, now Beirout. 
 
 CHURCH. The Greek word iy.y.'Ai\aia signifies 
 an assembly, wliether common or religious ; it is 
 taken, (1.) for tlie place where an assembly is held ; 
 (2.) for the persons assembled. In the New Testa- 
 ment it generally denotes a congregation of believers. 
 By the church is sometimes meant the faithful who 
 have preserved the true religion from the beginning, 
 and will preserve it. The history of this church is 
 narrated by Moses, from the Iieginning to his time ; 
 from Moses to Christ, we iiave the sacred writings
 
 CIR 
 
 [ 307 
 
 CIRCUMCISION 
 
 of the Hebrews. Moses is our guide from Siiein to 
 Abraham, but he does not inform us whetlier the 
 true rehgion were preserved l)y the descendants of 
 Ham and Japheth ; nor how long it subsisted among 
 them. We see, that Abraham's ancestors worshipped 
 idols in Chaldea, Josh. xxiv. 2. On the other hand, 
 we know, that the fear of the Lord was not entirely 
 banished out of Palestine and Egypt wlien Abra- 
 ham came thither ; for the king of Egypt feared 
 God, (Gen. xii. 17 ; xx. 3.) and had great abhorrence 
 of sin. Abraham imagined, that there were at least 
 ten or twenty righteous persons in Sodom, (Gen. xviii. 
 23, 24, 25.) and it is probable, that the sons of Abra- 
 ham, by Hagar and Keturah, for some time pre- 
 served the faith wliich they had received from their 
 father. Job, who was of Esau's posterity, and his 
 friends, knew the Lord, and the Ammonites and Mo- 
 abites, who descended from Lot, did not, probably, 
 fall inunediately into idolatry. The Ishmaelites, 
 sons of Hagar and Abraham, value themselves on 
 having always adhered to the worship of the true 
 God, and having extended the knowledge of him ui 
 Arabia, as Isaac did in Palestine ; but we are cer- 
 tain, that in the time of Mahomet, and long before, 
 they had forsaken the true faith. See Chris- 
 
 TIAXITV. 
 
 CHL SHAN-RISHATHAIM, king of Mesopota- 
 mia, oppressed the Israelites eight years ; from A. 
 M. 2591, to 2599, Judges iii. 8, 9, 10. 
 
 CHUZA, steward to Herod Agrippa, and husband 
 of Joanna, Luke viii. 3. 
 
 CILICIA, a country of Asia Minor, on the sea- 
 coast, at the north of Cyprus, south of mount Tau- 
 rus, and west of the Euphrates. Its capital was 
 Tarsus. A synagogue of this province is mentioned. 
 Acts vi. 9, and as Paul was of this country, and of a 
 city so considerable as Tarsus, it may be thought that 
 he was also of this synagogue ; so that it is probable 
 he was one of those who had been disputing with Ste- 
 phen, and were overcome by the arguments of that 
 proto-martyr. See Tarsus. 
 
 CINNAMON, one of the ingi-edients in the per- 
 fumed oil with which the tabernacle and its vessels 
 were anointed, Exod. xxx. 23. The cirinamotmim is 
 a shrub, the bark of which has a fine scent ; several 
 of the moderns confound it with the rinnamon-tree, 
 and cassia aromatica; but others distinguish three 
 species. It is now generally agreed, that the cinna- 
 momum spoken of so confusedly by the ancients, is 
 our ciyinamon; it is a long, thin bark of a tree, rolled 
 up, of a dark red color, of a poignant taste, aromatic, 
 and very agreeable. The finest description comes 
 from Ceylon ; but there might formerly have been 
 cinnamon in Arabia, or Ethiopia ; or it might be im- 
 ported then into Egypt, Arabia, &c. as it is now into 
 Europe ; so that it might come originally from 
 Ceylon. 
 
 CINNERETII, or Ceneroth, or Cix.neroth, a 
 city of Naphtali, south of which lay a great valley or 
 plain, which reached to the Dead sea, all along the river 
 Jordan, Josh. xix. 35. Many believe, and with proba- 
 bility, that Cimiereth was the same as Tiberias ; for, 
 as the lake of Gennesareth (in Hebrew, the lake of 
 Cinnereth) is, without doubt, that of Tiberias, it 
 seems reasonable that Cinnereth and Tiberias should 
 also be the same city, Deut. iii. 17. See Tiberias, 
 and Gennesareth. 
 
 CIRCUMCISION, a Latin term, signifying 'to 
 cut around,' because the Jews, in circumcising 
 their children, cut off, after this manner, the little 
 Bkin which formis the prepuce. God enjoined Abra- 
 
 ham to use circumcision, as a sign of hie covenant ; 
 and, in obedience to this order, the patriarch, at nine- 
 ty-nine years of age, was circumcised, as also his 
 son Ishmael, and all the males of his property, Gen. 
 xvii. 10. God repeated the precept to Moses; and 
 ordered that all who intended to partake of the pas- 
 chal sacrifice should receive circumcision ; and that 
 this rite should be performed on children on the 
 eighth day after their birth. Tlic Jews have always 
 been very exact in observing this ceremony, and it 
 appears that they did not neglect it when in Egypt. 
 But Moses, w hile in 3Iidian, with Jethro, his father- 
 in-law, did not circumcise his two sous born in that 
 country ; and during the journey of the Israelites in 
 the wilderness their children were not circumcised ; 
 probably by reason of the danger to which they 
 might have been exposed in sudden removals, &,c. 
 because of their unsettled state, and manner of life. 
 
 The law mentions nothing of the minister, or the 
 instrument, of circumcision ; which were left to 
 the discretion of the people. They generally used 
 a knife or razor, or sharp stone, Exod. iv. 25 ; 
 Josh. v. 3. 
 
 The ceremonies observed in circumcision are 
 particularly described by Leo of Modena, (cap. 
 viii.) and may also be seen in Allen's Modern Ju- 
 daism. 
 
 The Arabians, Saracens, and IshmaeUtes, who, as 
 well as the Hebrews, sprung from Abraham, prac- 
 tised circumcision, but not as an essential rite to 
 which they were bound, on pain of being cut oft" 
 from their people. Circumcision was introduced 
 with the law of Moses among the Samaritans, Cuthe- 
 ans, and Idinneans. Those wlio assert that the 
 Phoenicians were circumcised, mean probably the 
 Samaritans ; for we know, from other authority, that 
 the Phoenicians did not observe this ceremony. As 
 to the Egyptians, circumcision never w'as of general 
 and indispensable obligation on the whole nation ; 
 certain priests only, and particular professions, were 
 obliged to submit to it. 
 
 Circumcision is never repeated. When the Jews 
 admitted a proselyte of another nation, if he had 
 received circumcision, (co?j^isioH,) they were satisfied 
 with drawing some drops of blood from the part 
 usually circumcised ; which blood was called " the 
 blood of the covenant." 
 
 The Jews esteemed the foreskin or uncircumcision 
 as a very great impurity ; and the greatest offence 
 they could receive was to be called " uncircumcised." 
 Paul (Rom. ii. 26.) frequently mentions the Gentiles 
 under this term in opposition to the Jews, whom he 
 names " circumcision." He also alludes to an im- 
 perfect mode of circumcision, or a partial removal 
 of the foreskin, which ap})arently was practised by 
 the Edomites, Egyptians, &c. This he calls con- 
 cision; and associates those who practised it with 
 dogs, Phil. iii. 2. He probably here turns the appli- 
 cation of Jewish terms of contempt and ridicule 
 against the Jews themselves. 
 
 As a conasquence of the opinion entertained by tlie 
 Jews, that uncircumcision was unclean and dis- 
 honorable, but circumcision the contrary ; they 
 sometimes use the word uncircumcision in a figura- 
 tive sense, to signify something impiu'e, superfluous, 
 useless, and dangerous : e. gr. Moses says of himself 
 he is " of uncircumcised lips," (Exod. vi. 12, 30. 
 that is, he had an impediment in his speech. Jere- 
 miah (vi. 10.) says of the Jews, they had " uncircum- 
 cised em-s," that is, they would not hear instruction. 
 He exhorts them (chap. iv. 4 ; ix. 26.) to " circumcise
 
 CLA 
 
 [ 308 ] 
 
 CLE 
 
 their hearts ;" hterally, to take away the foreskins of 
 their hearts ; to be tractable and attentive. Moses 
 inveighs against the uncircumcised hearts of the 
 Jews, who would not obey the Lord ; and we have 
 similar expressions in the New Testament. Stephen 
 reproaches the Jews with the hardness of their heart, 
 and their indocility. Acts vii. 51. 
 
 Jews who renounced Judaism, sometimes endeav- 
 ored to erase the mai-k of circumcision : " They 
 made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the 
 holy covenant," 1 i\Iac. i. 15. Some are of opinion, 
 that the Israelites in the wilderness had done so, 
 which obliged Joshua to circumcise them a second 
 time. Josh. v. 2. Under the persecutions of the 
 Romans, after the destruction of the temple, many 
 Jews were guilty of this ; and it seems as if Paul 
 alluded to the same thing, 1 Cor. vii. 18. 
 
 CIRCUMSPECT, cautious, seriously attentive to 
 every part of the revealed will of God, and very 
 careful not to cast stumbling-blocks in the way of 
 others, Exod, xxiii. 13 ; Eph. \'. 15. 
 
 CISLEU, the ninth month in the ecclesiastical 
 year, and the third in the civil, or political, year of 
 the Hebrews. It is supposed to answer nearly to 
 our November, O. S. See Chisleu, and Jewish 
 Calendar. 
 
 CISTERN. There were cisterns throughout 
 Palestine, in cities and in private houses. As the 
 cities were mostly built on mountains, and the rains 
 fall in Judea at two seasons only, (spring and au- 
 tumn,) people were obhged to keep water in vessels. 
 There are cisterns of very large dimensions, at this 
 day, in Palestine. Two hours distant from Bethle- 
 hem are the cisterns or pools of Solomon. They are 
 three in munber, situated in the sloping hollow of a 
 mountain, one above another ; so that the waters of the 
 uppermost descend into the second, and those of the 
 second descend into the third. The breadth is near- 
 ly the same in all, between eighty and ninety pac<;s, 
 but the length varies. The first is about 160 paces long; 
 the second 200 ; the third 220. These pools formerly 
 supplied the town of Bethlehem and the city of Je- 
 rusalem with water. Wells and cisterns, fountains 
 and springs, are seldom distinguished accurately in 
 Scripture. Worldly enjoyments are called " broken 
 cisterns that can hold no water," (Jer. ii. 13.) from 
 their unsatisfying and unstable nature. (See Mod. 
 Traveller, Palestine, \). 165.) 
 
 [Dr. Jowett .says : (Chr. Res. in Syria, p. 225.) 
 "With regard to water, some parts of the Holy Land 
 appeared, in the months of October and November, 
 to labor under great {)rivation. Yet even in this re- 
 spect art might furnish a remedy, in the tanks and 
 cisterns, which a little industry would form and pre- 
 serve. The cities and villages have such supplies ; 
 and in every stage of seven or eight hours, there are 
 usually found, once or twice, at least, cisterns or 
 muddy wells. In some places, a person at the well 
 claimed jjayment for the water, which he drew for 
 us and our animals ; but this was probably an impo- 
 Bition, although by us willingly paid." R'. 
 
 CITIES OF REFUGE, see Refuge. 
 
 CITRON, sr>e Apple. 
 
 CLAUD A, a small island towards the south-west 
 of Crete, Acts xxvii. 16, 
 
 CLAUDIA, a Roman lady converted by Paul, 2 
 Tim. iv. 21. Some think sJie was the wife of Pu- 
 dens, who is named innnediately before her; others 
 conjecture, that she was a British lady, sister of Li- 
 nus. See Christianity. 
 
 I. CLAUDIUS, the emperor of Rome, mentioned 
 
 in the New Testament, succeeded Caius Caligula, 
 A. D. 41, and reigned upwards of thirteen years. 
 He gave to Agi-ippa all Judea ; and to his brother 
 Herod, the kingdom of Chalcis. He terminated the 
 dispute between the Jews and the other inhabitants of 
 Alexandria, confirming the former in the freedom of 
 that city, and in the free exercise of their religion and 
 laws ; but not permitting them to hold assemblies at 
 Rome. Agrippa dying in the fourth year of Claudius, 
 A. D. 44, the emperor again reduced Judea into a prov- 
 ince, and sent Cuspius Fadus as governor. About 
 this time happened the famine, as foretold by the 
 prophet Agabus, (Acts xi. 28, 29, 30.) and at the same 
 period, Herod, king of Chalcis, obtained from the 
 empei'or the authority over the temjjle, and the 
 money consecrated to God, with a power of depos- 
 ing and estabhshing the high-priests. In the ninth 
 year of Claudius, (A. D. 49.) he published an order, 
 expelling all Jews from Rome, (Acts xviii. 2.) and 
 it is probable that the Christians, being confounded 
 with the Jews, were banished hkewise. Suetonius 
 plainly intimates this, when he says that Claudius ex- 
 pelled the Jews, by reason of the continual disturb- 
 ances excited by them, at t!ie instigation of Chres- 
 tus : — an ancient waj' of spelling the title of Christ. 
 Claudius was poisoned by his wife Agrippina, and 
 was succeeded by Nero. 
 
 II. CLAUDIUS LYSIAS, tribune of the Roman 
 troops, which kept guard at the temple of Jerusalem. 
 Observing the tumult raised on account of Paul, 
 whom the Jews had seized, and designed to mur- 
 der, he rescued him, and (Acts xxi. 27; xxiii. 31.) 
 carried him to fort Antonia, and afterwards sent him 
 guarded to Csesarea. 
 
 in. CLAUDIUS FELIX, successor of Cumanus 
 in the government of Judea, and husband of Drusil- 
 la, sister of Agrippa tlie younger. Felix sent to 
 Rome Eleazer, son of Dineeus, captain of a band of 
 robbers, who had committed great ravages in Pales- 
 tine ; he procured the death of Jonathan, the high- 
 priest, who occasionally represented his duty to him, 
 with great freedom, and defeated a body of 3000 
 men, which an Egyptian, a false prophet, had assem- 
 bled on the mount of Olives. Paul being brought to 
 Csesarea, Felix treated him well, permitted his 
 friends to see him, and to render him services, hoping 
 he would procure his redemption by a sum of 
 money, Acts xxiii. Felix, with his wife Diaisil- 
 la, who was a Jewess, having desired Paul to explain 
 the religion of Jesus Christ, the apostle spoke with 
 his usual boldness, and discoursed to them concern- 
 ing justice, chastity, and the last judgment. Felix, 
 being terrified, remanded the apostle to his confine- 
 ment, and detained him two years at C?esarea, to 
 oblige the Jews. He was recalled to Rome, A. D. 
 60, and was succeeded by Portius Festus. (Joseph. 
 Ant. 1. XX. c. 7.) 
 
 CLAY, a substance frequently mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture, and universally known. It was formerly used 
 in the East, as it is to this day, for sealing. Norden 
 and Pococke both observe that the inspectors of the 
 granaries in Egypt, after having closed the door, put 
 their seal ujjon a handful of clay, with which they 
 cover the lock. This may tend to explain Job 
 xxxviii. 14, where the earth is represented as assum- 
 ing form and imagery from the brightness of the 
 rising sun, as rude clay receives a figure from the 
 impression of a signet. 
 
 CLEAN, CLf^ANSE, see Purifications, and 
 also Animals. 
 
 CLEMENT, whose name is in the Book of Life,
 
 CLO 
 
 [ 309 ] 
 
 CO A 
 
 Phil. iv. 3. Most interpretere conclude that this is 
 the same Clement who succeeded in the government 
 of the church at Rome, commonly called Clemens 
 Roman us. 
 
 The church at Corinth having been disturbed by 
 divisions, Clement wrote a letter to the Corinthians, 
 which was so much esteemed by the ancients, that 
 they read it publicly in many churches. It is still 
 extant, and some have inclined to rank it among the 
 canonical writings. We have no authentic accounts 
 of what occurred to Clement during the persecution 
 of Domitian ; we are assured, that he lived to the 
 third year of Trajan, A. D. 100. 
 
 CLEOPAS, according to Eusebius and Epipha- 
 nius, was brother of Joseph, both being sons of Ja- 
 cob. He is probably the same person with Alpiieus, 
 which see. He was the father of Simeon, bishop of 
 Jerusalem, of James the Less, of Jude, and of Joseph, 
 or Joses. Cieopas married Mary, sister of the Vir- 
 gin ; so that he was uncle to Jesus Christ. He, his 
 wife, and sons, were disciples of Christ ; but Cieopas 
 did not sufficiently understand what Jesus had so 
 often told his disciples, that it was expedient he 
 should die, and return to the Father. Having beheld 
 our Saviour expire on the cross, he lost all hope of 
 seeing the kingdom of God established by him on 
 earth ; but going to Emmaus with another disciple, 
 thoy were joined by our Lord, who accompanied 
 them, and on his breaking bread they recognized 
 him, Luke xxiv. 13, to end. 
 
 L CLEOPATRA, daughter of Antiochus the 
 Great, and wife of Ptolemy Epiphancs, king of 
 Egypt. Some are of opinion, that this princess is 
 described in Dan. xi. 17, under the title "Daughter 
 of Women." 
 
 IL CLEOPATRA, daughter of the above Cleopa- 
 tra and Ptolemy Epiphanes. She married Ptolemy 
 Philometor, her own brother; and is mentioned Es- 
 ther xi. 1. Apoc. 
 
 \\\. CLEOPATRA, daughter of Ptolemy Philo- 
 metor, and the latter Cleopatra, married first to Alex- 
 ander Balas, king of Syria, then to Antiochus Side- 
 tes ; and afterwards to Demetrius Nicauor. She 
 is named in Mac. x. She designed to jjoison her son 
 Gryphus, but he prevented her, and obliged her to 
 drink the draught she had provided for him, A. M. 
 3882. 
 
 IV. CLEOPATRA, sister and v/ife of Ptolemy 
 Physcon. See Alexander III. 
 
 V. CLEOPATRA, the last queen of Egj'pt, and 
 daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, celebrated for her 
 beauty and accomplishments. When Cleopatra 
 pjisscd through Judea, in her return from a jour- 
 ney she had made with Antony to the Eujjhratcs, 
 Herod received her with all imaginable maguificoice. 
 Cleopatra killed herself by the sting of an asp, 
 A. M. 3974. 
 
 CLOTHES, see Dresses. 
 
 CLOUD, (1.) a collection of vapors:— (3.) the 
 morning mists, Hos. vi. 4 ; xiii. 3. When the Is- 
 raelites liad left Egypt, " The Lord went before them 
 in a pillar of cloud," to direct their march, Exod. xiii. 
 21, 22. This pillar was commonly in front of the 
 tribes ; but at Pihahiroth, when the Egyptian ar- 
 my approached behind them, it placed itself be- 
 tween Israel and the Egyptians, so that the Egyptians 
 could not come near the Israelites all night. "The 
 angel of God, whieh went before the canip of Israel, 
 removed and went behind them ; and the inllar of 
 the cloud went from before their face, and stood 
 behind them," Exod. xiv. 19. In the morning, the 
 
 cloud mo\ing on over the sea, and following the 
 Israelites who had passed through it, the Egvp- 
 tians followed the cloud, and were drowned. This 
 cloud fronj that time attended the Israelites : it was 
 clear and bright during night, in order to give them 
 light, but in the day it was thick and gloomy, 
 to defend them from the excessive heats of the desert. 
 The cloud by its motions gave the signal to Israel, 
 either to encamp, or to decamp ; so that where that 
 stayed, the people stayed, till it rose again ; then they 
 broke up their camp, and followed it till it stopped. 
 It was called a pillar, from its form, rising high and 
 elevated, as it were a pile, or heap of mists ; as we 
 say, a pillar of smoke. Rabbi Solomon and Aben 
 Ezra suppose that there were two clouds, one to 
 enlighten, the other to shade the camp. 
 
 The Lord appeared at Sinai in the midst of a 
 cloud ; (Exod. xix. 9; xxxiv. 5.) and after Mosea had 
 built and consecrated the tabernacle, a cloud filled 
 the court around it, so that neither Moses nor the 
 priests could enter, xl. 34, 35. The same occuiTed 
 at the dedication of the temple by Solomon, 2 Chron. 
 V. 13 ; 1 Kings viii. 10. 
 
 When, then, the cloud appeared on the tent, in front 
 of which were held the assemblies of the people, in 
 the desert, it was believed that God was then present, 
 for the motion of the cloud which rested on the tent 
 was a sign of the divine presence, Exod. xvi. 10; 
 xxxiii. 9; Num. xi. 25. The angel descended in the 
 cloud, and from thence spoke to Moses, without 
 being seen by the people, Elxod. xvi. 10 ; Num. xi. 
 25 ; xxi. 5. It is usual in Scripture, when mention- 
 ing the presence of God, to represent him as encom- 
 passed with clouds, serving as a chariot, and veiling 
 his dreadful majesty. Job xxii. 14 ; Isaiah xix. 1 ; 
 Matt. xvii. 5 ; xxiv. 30, &:c. Ps. xviii. 11, 12 ; xcvii. 2 ; 
 civ. 3. The Son of God is described as ascending to 
 heaven in a cloud ; (Acts i. 9.) and at his second 
 advent, as descending upon clouds, Matt. xxiv. 30 ; 
 Rev. xiv. 14, 16. 
 
 CLYSMA, or Cliska, or Colsum, the place 
 where the Israelites i)nssed the Red sea. According 
 to Epiphanius, it was one of the three ports which 
 lay on the Red sea: Suez is now its representative. 
 See Exodus. 
 
 CNIDUS, a city standing on a promontory of the 
 same name, in that part of the province of Caria 
 which -was called Doris, a little north-west from 
 r;!r-des. It was remai-kable for the worship of "W'- 
 i:'os, and for possessing the celebrated statue of this 
 ao.'dcss, made by the tamous artist Praxiteles. The 
 I'onians wrote to this city in favor of the Jews, (1 
 Mac. XV. 23.) and Paul passed it i;i his way to 
 Rome, Acts xxvii. 7. 
 
 COA. In 1 Kings x. 28, and 2 Chron. i. 10. it is 
 said that horses were brought to Solomon from Coa, 
 at a certain price. The Septuagint read, «>f f.^f^oi't. 
 Some, by Coa, understand the city of Coa, in Arabia 
 Felix ; others Co, a city of Egypt, and cajiital of the 
 jirovince called Cypopolitana. The Hebrew may 
 be translated, " They brought horses to Solomon 
 from Egypt and from Michoe;"and Pliny (lib. \\. 
 cap. 29.) "assures us, that the country of the Troglo- 
 dytes, near Egypt, was formerly called Michoe. 
 Others translate, "They brought horses, and spun 
 thread ;" (lineii-yam, Eng. trans.) supposing that the 
 Hebrew mikoa signifies thread. Jarchi supposed it 
 to mean a string of horses, fastened from the tail 
 of one to another; — they brought horses in strings-— 
 at a settled duty or price ; and this interpretation is 
 followed by several expositors. Bochart, by mikoa,
 
 coc 
 
 [310 1 
 
 COH 
 
 understands tribute ; and translates, " They brought 
 horsea — and as to the tributes, this prince's farmers 
 received them at certain rates." The usual manner 
 of tying camels together, by four or five, in the way 
 that we tie horses, is favorable to this interpretation ; 
 and we may read : — " And Solomon had horses 
 brought out of Egj'pt, even (literally, draivings-out — 
 prolongations,) strings, that is, of horses, and the king's 
 broker received the strings, that is, of horses — in 
 commutation — exchange — barter. And a chariot came 
 up from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and 
 a single horse for one hundred and fifty ;" and these 
 he sold again at a great profit to the neighboring 
 kings. — As the whole context seems rather apphca- 
 ble to horses than to linen-yarn, this idea preserves 
 the unity of the passage, while it strictly maintains 
 the import of the words used in it. 
 
 [The word coa is found only in the Vulgate. The 
 Hebrew is nipv, mikveh, the same word which, in 
 Gen. i. 10, is rendered the gathering together, collec- 
 tion, of the waters. How the Septuaguit and Vul- 
 gate could here make a proper name of it, is difficult 
 to see ; it may best be applied here in the same sense 
 as in Genesis, viz. " And Solomon had horses brought 
 out of Egypt ; and a collection, caravan, {mikveh,) of 
 the king's merchants brought a collection, caravan, 
 {mikveh, of horses,) for money." In verse 17, the 
 writer proceeds in the same manner to state the cost 
 of them, — a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver, 
 and a horse for one hundred and fifty. In this way 
 the woi"d is used both of the merchants and of the 
 horses, — just as our word caravan may be used in the 
 same manner ; and there is thus a sort of paronoma- 
 sia. R. 
 
 COCK, a well known and tame bird. He gene- 
 rally crov/s three times in the night — at midnight, two 
 hours before day, and at break of day. 
 
 COCK-CROWING, a division of time. See Hour. 
 
 COCKATRICE, a fabulous species of serpent, 
 supposed to be hatched from the egg of a cock. The 
 translators of the English Bible have variously ren- 
 dered the Hebrew jjdx, or ijjjdx, by adder and cocka- 
 trice ; and we are by no means certain of the partic- 
 ular kind of serpent to Avhich the original term is 
 applied. In Isa. xi. 8, " the tziphoni," says Dr. Har- 
 ris, " is evidently in advance in malignity beyond the 
 pethen which precedes it ; and in ch. xiv. 29, it must 
 mean a worse kind of serpent than the nachash ;" 
 but this stilj leaves us ignorant of its specific charac- 
 ter. Mr. Taylor is of opinion that it is the naja, or 
 cobra di capello, or hooded snake, of the Portuguese, 
 which we rind thus described by Goldsniith : — 
 
 "Of all others the cobra di capello, or hooded ser- 
 i)ent, inflicts the most deadly and incurable wounds. 
 Of tills formidable creature there are five or six dif- 
 ferent kinds ; but they are all equally dangerous, and 
 their bite is followed by speedy and certain death. 
 It is from three to eight feet long, with two long 
 fangs hanging out of the upper jaw. It has a broad 
 neck, and a mark of dark brown on the forehead ; 
 which, when viewed frontwise, looks like a pair of 
 spectacles ; but behind like the head of a cat. The 
 eyes are fierce and full of fire ; the head is small, and 
 the nose flat, though covered with very large scales, 
 of a yellowish Jish-color; the skin is white, and the 
 large tumor on the neck is flat, and covered with ob- 
 long, smooth scales. The l)ite of this animal is said 
 to be incurable, the jjatient dying in about an hour 
 afl;er the wound ; the whole frame being dissolved 
 into one jHitrid mass of corruption." The effects 
 here attributed to the bite of this creature answer 
 
 very well to what is intimated of the tziphoni in 
 Scripture. Thus, in Isa. xi. 9, "They (the tziphoni) 
 shall not hurt nor destroy (corrupt) in all my holy 
 mountain." And Prov. xxiii. 32, " At the last it biteth 
 hke a serpent, and stingeth (spreads, difiiises its 
 poison; so the LXX and Vulgate) like an adder." 
 See Serpent and Inchantments. 
 
 The greatest diflSculty, at first sight, against accejjt- 
 ing the naja as the tzepha, is, that it is said, that ser- 
 pent shall not be tamed, but shall resist encliantment, 
 whereas the naja is in some sort domesticated. But 
 Mr. Taylor remarks, (1.) that though the naja is 
 managed by human contrivance and art, yet it is not 
 tamed, but would as readily bite its master as any 
 other ; (2.) that we may take the prophet to mean, 
 " though this kind of serpent be occasionally subdued, 
 yet those I send shall be proof against such manage- 
 ment ; more venomous, more ferocious ; of the same 
 species, but of greater ])owers and malignity." — [But 
 a still more formidable objection to this sujjpositiou 
 is, that the naja, or cobra di capello, is found only in 
 India, and never in Palestine or the adjacent countries. 
 (See Rees's Cyclop, art. Coluber.) The Hebrew terms 
 tzepha and tziphoni designate the adder race in gene- 
 ral ; not, apparently, any particular species. R. 
 
 The unyielding cruelty of the Chaldean armies, 
 under Nebuchadnezzar, who were appointed minis- 
 ters of Jehovah's vengeance on the Jewish nation, 
 whose iniquities had made him their enemy, is ex- 
 pressively alluded to in the following passage : " For 
 behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, 
 which shall not be charmed, and they shall bite you, 
 saith the Lord," Jer. viii. 17. 
 
 COCKLE. This herb is only mentioned Job xxxi. 
 40. By the Chaldee it is rendered " noxious herbs ;" 
 and our translators have placed in the margin "noi- 
 some weeds." Michaelis, after Celsius, understands 
 it of the aconite, a poisonous plant, growing sponta- 
 neously and luxuriantly on sunny hills, such as are 
 used for vinej'ards. This interpretation suits the 
 passage, where it is mentioned as growing instead of 
 barley. [The Hebrew word signifies siipply ivccds 
 in general, " noisome weeds." R. 
 
 CCELE-SYRIA, Hollow-Syria, is properly the 
 valley between Libanus and Antilibanus, extending 
 from north to south, from the entrance of Hamath 
 beyond Heliopolis, or Baal-beck. But, in the larger 
 sense, the country south of Seleucia, to Egypt and 
 Arabia, is called Coele-Syria. Joscphus (Antiq. lib. 
 i. cap. 11.) j)laces the country of Annuon in Coele- 
 Syria ; and Stephens, the geographer, fixes the city 
 of Gadara in it, which was east of the sea of Tibe- 
 rias. The following is a list of the cities in Ccele- 
 Syria, according to Ptolemy : Abila, Lysanium, Saana, 
 Inna, Damascus, Samulis, Abida, Hippos, CajntoUas, 
 Gadara, Adra, vScythopolis, Gerasa, Pella, Dium, 
 Philadelphia, and Caiiatha. Hence we see that it 
 included several cities of the Pera-a. 
 
 Coele-Syria has no particular name in Scripture, 
 but is c-omprised under the general one of Aram ; 
 and, perhaps, Syria of Zoba, or Aram Zoba, extended 
 to Ccele-Syria ; of which, however, we know not any 
 good proofs ; for we cannot tell where the city of Zoba 
 was, from which Aram of Zoba is supjjosed to take 
 its name; unless it be the same with Hobah, (Gen. 
 xiv. 15.) or Chobai, a.-^ the LXX read it. See Syria. 
 
 COHORT, a military term used by the Romans, to 
 denote a company generally composed of 600 foot sol- 
 diers : a legion consisted of ten cohorts, every cohort 
 being composed of three maniples, and every mani- 
 ple of 200 men ; a legion, consequently, contained in
 
 CON 
 
 [311 ] 
 
 CON 
 
 all 6,000 men. Others allow but 500 men to a cohort, 
 which would make 5,000 in a legion. It is probable, 
 that cohorts ainong the Romans, as companies among 
 the moderns, often varied as to their number. 
 
 COLONY. This word does not always imply that 
 any considerable body of citizens from Rome had left 
 their native cit)', and had founded a new town where 
 there had been none, as the first colonies in America 
 were founded. No doubt, a settlement of Romans 
 might give rise to Roman colonies ; and maiiy bodies 
 of their troops, after they were dismissed from mili- 
 tary service, received allotments in distant towns. 
 But anciently many cities were favored with the 
 character of colonies, by which they became entitled 
 to the privileges of Roman citizens, and were consid- 
 ered as being in a manner Roman, in reward for ser- 
 vices which they had rendered to the government of 
 Rome, or to the emperors. See Philippi. 
 
 COLOSSE, a city of Phrygia, which stood not far 
 from the junction of the river Lycus with the Mean- 
 der; being situated at an equal distance between 
 Laodicea and Hierapolis. These three cities were 
 destroyed by an earthquake, according to Eusebius, 
 in the tenth year of Nero, that is, about two years after 
 the date of Paul's epistle. Some believe, that the 
 apostle never visited this place, though he preached in 
 Phrygia ; but that the Coiossians received the gospel 
 from Epaphias. Paul having been informed, either 
 by Epaphras, then prisoner with him at Rome, (A. D. 
 (52.) or by a letter from the Laodiceans, that false 
 l)rophets at Colosse had preached the necessity of 
 legal observances, wrote that epistle to Colosse which 
 we now have, in which he insists on Jesus Christ 
 l)eing the only mediator with God, and true head of 
 the church. His letter was carried to the Coiossians 
 by Tychicus, his faithful minister, and Onesimus. 
 
 COMFORTER, {Paracletus,) an exhorter, defend- 
 er, interceder. This title is given to the Holy Spirit 
 by our Saviour, John xiv. 16, and John gives it to 
 our Saviour himself; " we have an advocate (jparacle- 
 tus) with the Father, Jesus Christ the I'ighteous, 1 Ep. 
 ii. 1. But the title is chiefly given to the Holy Spirit, 
 
 COMMON, profane, ceremonially unclean, Mark 
 vii. 2, 5 ; Acts x. 14, 15 ; Rom. xiv. 14. 
 
 COMMUNION, fellowship, concord, agreement, 
 1 Cor. X. 16 ; 2 Cor.vi. 14 ; 1 John i. 3. The com- 
 munion of a number of persons in the same religious 
 service is frequently adverted to in Scripture ; and it 
 is usually understood, that the twelve tribes of Israel 
 were virtually represented, at the time of offering up 
 the daily sacrifice in the temple at Jerusalem, by 
 twelve ))ersons called stationary men, who constantly 
 attended this duty, and who composed a congrega- 
 tion. Besides this, we read of the apostle Paul's par- 
 taking in the service to be performed on accoimt of 
 certain Nazarites ; (Acts xxi. 24.) so that joining in 
 their expenses was considered as partaking in some 
 degree in the sanctity and merit of their offerings. 
 As we have no sacrifices among ourselves, Ave are 
 little able to appreciate the usages attending such 
 consociations. 
 
 CONCUBINE, a term which, in western authors, 
 commonly signifies a woman who, without being 
 married to a man, lives with him as his wife : but, in 
 the sacred writers, the word concubine is understood 
 in another sense ; meaning a lawful wife, but one of 
 the second rank ; inferior to the first wife, or mistress 
 of the house. She differed from a proper wife in 
 that she was not married by solemn stipulation, but 
 only betrothed ; she brought no dowry with her ; and 
 lind no share in the government of the family. Chil- 
 
 dren of concubines did not inherit their father's 
 property ; but he might provide for them, and make 
 presents to them. Thus Abraham, by Sarah his 
 wife, had Isaac, his heir ; but by his two concubines, 
 Hagar and Keturah, he had other children, whom he 
 did not ujake equal to Isaac, Gen. xxv. 6. As polyg- 
 amy was tolerated in the East, it was common to see 
 in every family, beside lawful wives, several concu- 
 bines; but since the abrogation of polygamy by 
 Christ, and the restoration of marriage to its primi- 
 tive institution, the admission and maintenance of 
 concubines has been condemned among Christians. 
 
 CONCUPISCENCE, a term used by the apostle 
 John, to signify an irregular love of pleasure, wealth, 
 or honors, 1 John ii. 16. Concupiscence is both the 
 effect and cause of sin: bad desires, as well as bad 
 actions, are forbidden ; and the first care of those 
 who would please God, is to restrain concupiscence. 
 When the Hebrews demanded change of diet, in 
 mutinous terms, with excessive and irregular desire, 
 God pimished many of them with death, and the 
 place of their burial was called the graves of lust, 
 Num. xi. 34. God prohibits the desiring with con- 
 cupiscence any thing which belongs to our neighbor. 
 Concupiscence is generally taken in a bad sense ; 
 particularly for carnal incHnations, 
 
 CONDEMN, to declare guilty ; an expression which 
 is used not only in judicial acts, but in whatever re- 
 lates to them. The priests condemned lepers of im- 
 purity ; that is, they declared them unclean. So Dan, 
 i. 10, "Ye shall condemn my head to the kiug(Eng. 
 trans, make me endanger) ; and Job ix, 20, " My 
 mouth shall condemn me :" God shall judge me by 
 my own words. " The righteous that is dead, shall 
 condemn the ungodly which are living," Wisd. iv. 16. 
 
 CONEY, [shaphdn,) an unclean animal. Lev. xi. 5. 
 There is little doubt 
 thatthe shaphan is the -' '^ -'^ 
 
 gaiinim Israel, or, as it 
 is called by Bruce, the 
 ashkoko, a harmless 
 animal, of nearly the 
 same size and quality 
 as the rabbit, but of a 
 browner color, small- 
 er eyes, and a more pointed head. Its feet are round, 
 and very fleshy and pulpy ; notwithstanding which, 
 however, it bu'ilds its house in the rocks, Prov. xxx. 
 26. [The word coney is an old name for the rabbit, 
 and the Jewish rabbins say that the Heb. shaphdn is 
 the same animal. It is described as chewing the cud, 
 (Lev. xi, 5,) as inhabiting mountains and rocks, (Ps, 
 civ. 18.) and as gregarious and sagacious, Prov. xxx. 
 26, All these seem best to designate the Arabian 
 jerboa, or mountain rat ; inus v. dipus jacidus of 
 Linnaeus. It is about the size of a large rat ; the hind 
 feet are very long, and enable them to make prodi- 
 gious bounds ; and with their fore feet they carry 
 food to their mouths like the squirrel. They buiTow 
 in hard, clayey ground, not only in high and dry spots, 
 but also even in low and salt places. They dig holes 
 with their fore feet, forming oblique and winding 
 burrows of some yards in length, ending in a large 
 hole or nest, in which a store of provision, consisting 
 of herbs, is preserved. These burrows are conceal- 
 ed and defended with great sagacity ; indeed, the 
 Hebrew name implies cunning. At the approach of 
 danger, they spring forward so swiftly, that a man 
 well mounted can hardly overtake them. The figure 
 of this animal is given under the article Mouse. R, 
 
 CONFESSION, a public or private declaration
 
 CON 
 
 [312 ] 
 
 COP 
 
 which any one makes of his sins. Mattliew says, 
 (chap. iii. 6.) that the Jews came to receive baptism, 
 confessing their sins. James (chap. v. 16.) requires 
 us to confess om* faults one to another ; and John 
 eays, that if we confess our sins, God is faitliful and 
 just to forgive them, 1 John i. 9. We see, in the 
 Acts of the Apostles, that many Gentiles who were 
 converted, came and confessed their sins, ch. xix. 18. 
 
 In the ceremony of the solemn expiation, under 
 the Mosaic law, the high-priest confessed in general 
 his own sins, the sins of other ministers of the tem- 
 ple, and those of all the people ; and when an Israel- 
 ite offered a sacrifice for sin, he put his hand on the 
 head of the victim, and confessed his faults. Lev. iv. 4. 
 
 CONFESSOR, a name given to those who con- 
 fessed the doctrine of Christ before heathen, or per- 
 secuting, judges ; or to those who firmly endured 
 punishment for defending the faith ; if they died un- 
 der their torments they were called martyrs. Our 
 Lord says, he will confess before his heavenly Father, 
 those who shall have confessed him before men ; 
 (Matt. X. 32.) and Paul commends Timothy (1 Tim. 
 vi. 12.) for having confessed a good confession (Eug. 
 trans, profession ;) for having, at the hazard of his life, 
 
 fiven a glorious and steady testimony to the truth, 
 'he same apostle says, that Jesus Christ witnessed a 
 good confession before Pontius Pilate, 1 Tim. vi. 13. 
 CONIAH, see Jeconiah. 
 
 CONSCIENCE, the testimony, or judgment of the 
 Boul, approving its actions which it judges to be good, 
 or reproaching itself with the commission of those 
 which it judges to be evil. Conscience is a moral 
 jjrinciple, which determines on the good or evil ten- 
 dency of our actions. In Rom. xiii. 5, Christians are 
 required to be submissive to secular powers, "not 
 only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake." Paul 
 permits them, also, to eat at the houses of Gentiles, if 
 invited thither, and to partake of what is served at 
 their tables, without making particular inquiries from 
 any scrupulosity of conscience ; asking no questions 
 for conscience' sake. But if any one, meaning to 
 inform them, say, " This has been sacrificed to idols," 
 eat not of that meat, says the apostle, for his sake 
 who gave you this information ; and, likewise, lest 
 you should wound another's conscience, 1 Cor. x. 25 
 — 29. If he who gives you this notice be a Chris- 
 tian, and, notwithstanding the information he gives 
 you, you eat, he will condenui you in his heart, or 
 will eat of it after your example, and thereby will 
 wound his own conscience : if he be a heathen, and 
 he sees you eat of it, contrary to Christian custom, 
 he will conceive a contempt for you and your reli- 
 gion, which iiad not power to induce you to refrain 
 from so small a gratification. 
 
 CONSECRATE, Consecration, the offering or 
 devoting any thing to God's worship and service. In 
 the law, God ordained that the first-born of man and 
 beast should be consecrated : he consecrated, also, the 
 race of Abraham, particularly the tribe of Levi, and 
 more especially the family of Aaron. The whole 
 Hebrew commonwealth, however, was consecrated, 
 on their arrival in the land of Canaan. (See Ebal.) 
 Consecrations depended on the good will of men, 
 who consecrated themselves, or things, or persons 
 depending on them, to the service of God, whether 
 for a time only, or in perjjetuity. Joshua devoted, 
 or set apart, the Gibeonites to the service of the tab- 
 ernacle. Josh. ix. 27. David and Solomon devoted 
 the Nethiniui, or remains of the ancient Canaanites. 
 Hannah consecrated her son Samuel to the Lord, to 
 e«rve all his life in the tabernacle. The angel who 
 
 promised Zechariah a son, (Luke i. 15.) commanded 
 him to consecrate him to the Lord, and to take care 
 that he observed those laws during his whole life, 
 which the Nazarites (who were consecrated to God, 
 though but for a time) observed during their conse- 
 cration. 
 
 The Hebrews sometimes devoted fields or cattle to 
 the Lord ; after which they were no longer in their 
 own power. Did not Jacob do the same ? Gen. 
 xxviii. 22. If they desired to possess them again, 
 they were obliged to redeem them. David, and other 
 kings, often consecrated to the Lord the arms and 
 spoils of their enemies, or their enemies' cities, and 
 country. (See Anathema, and Devoting.) In the 
 New Testament we also see consecrations. Believ- 
 ers are consecrated to the Lord, as a holy race, a 
 chosen people, 1 Pet. ii.9. Bishops and other sacred 
 ministers are devoted more pcculiarlj^, &c. 
 
 CONTRITION, sorrow for sin, attended with a 
 sincere resolution of reformation. Scripture never 
 uses this term in this sense, but has many equivalent 
 expressions ; without contrition there is no repent- 
 ance, and without repentance no remission of sins. 
 Ps. li. 17. 
 
 CONVERSION, a turning from one state, man- 
 ner of life, course of conduct, or principles, to an- 
 other ; as from the worship of idols to that of the 
 true God. In the gospel it means a change of mind, 
 spirit, disposition, or behavior. So the apostles are 
 advised to forsake the haughty, ambitious, and 
 worldly views of men, to become like children, to 
 entertain child-like sentiments, Matt, xviii. 3. Sin- 
 ners are converted when they turn from sin to God, 
 (Psalm li. 13.) when they forsake their old courses, 
 and practise holiness in heart and life. "When thou 
 art converted, strengthen thy brethren," (Luke xxii. 
 32.) — when thou art changed and recovered from thy 
 feebleness of mind, to sentiments of greater fortitude, 
 to feelings of stronger faith, and more devout assur- 
 ance, then strengthen those who may be read}' to 
 sink into despondency, error, or apostasy, and en- 
 deavor to prevent the prevalence of these evils over 
 their minds, by recollecting those hazards to which 
 thou hast felt thine own exposure. 
 
 COOS, a small island of the Grecian Archipelago, 
 at a short distance from the south-west point of Lesser 
 Asia, 1 3Iac. xv. 23. Paul passed it in his voyage to 
 Jerusalem, Acts xxi. 1. It is nov/ called Stan-co. 
 The Coan vests, which probably were not unlike our 
 gauzes, or transparent muslins, are alluded to by 
 Horace and Tibullus. It Avas celebrated for its fer- 
 tility, for the wine and silk-worms which it produced, 
 and for the manufacture of silk and cotton of a beau- 
 tiful texture. 
 
 COPONIUS, the first governor of Judea, estab- 
 lished by Augustus, after the banishment of Arche- 
 laus to Vienne, in France. (Joseph. Ant. xviii. 1. 1.) 
 
 COPPER, one of the j)iimitive metals, and the 
 most ductile and malleable after gold and silver. Of 
 this metal and lapis calaminaris is made brass, which 
 is a modern invention. There is little doubt but that 
 copper is intended in those ])as8ages of our transla- 
 tion of the Bible which speak of brass. Copper was 
 known prior to the flood, and was wrought by Tubal- 
 Cain, the seventh from Adam, Gen. iv. 22. It ap- 
 pears to have been used for all the purposes for which 
 we now use iron. Job speaks of bows of copper; 
 (xx. 24.) and the Philistines bound Samson with fet- 
 ters of copper, Judg. xvi. 21. In Ezra viii. 27, there 
 is mention of "two vessels of fine copper, precious 
 as gold." The LXX, Vulg. Castaho, and Arabic,
 
 COR 
 
 [313] 
 
 COR 
 
 render " vases of shining brass ;" the Syriac, " vases 
 of Corinthian brass." It is more probable, however, 
 that this brass was from Persia, or India, wliich Aris- 
 totle describes as being so shining, so i)ure, and so 
 free from tarnish, that its color differs nothing from 
 that of gold. Bochart takes this to be the chasmal of 
 Ezek. i. 27. and the fine brass of the Revelation, (i. 
 15; 1). 18.) the eZec<r«»i of the ancients. (See Amber.) 
 Ezekiel (xxvii. 13.) speaks of the merchants of Javan, 
 Jubal, and Meshech, as bringing vessels of brass 
 (copper) to the markets of Tyre. According to Bo- 
 chart and Michaehs, these were people situated to- 
 wards mount Caucasus, where copper mines are 
 worked at this day. 
 
 CORAL, a hard, cretaceous, marine production, 
 produced by the labors of millions of insects, and re- 
 seniblhig in figure the stem of a plant, divided into 
 branches. It is of various colors, black, white, and 
 red. The latter is the most valuable. It is ranked 
 by the author of the book of Job, (xxviii. 18.) and by 
 the prophet Ezekiel, (xxvii. 1(3.) among precious 
 stones. 
 
 CORBAN, a gift, ^ present made to God, or to his 
 temple. The Jews sometimes swore by corban, or 
 by gifts offered to God, Matt, xxiii. 18. Theophras- 
 tus says, that the Tyrians forbade the use of such 
 oaths as were peculiar to foreigners, and particularly 
 of corban ; Avhich, Josephus informs us, was used 
 only by the Jews. Our Saviour reproaches the Jews 
 with cruelty towards their parents, in making a cor- 
 ban of what should have been appropriated to their 
 use. Matthew expresses this reply from childi-en to 
 their parents : " It is a gift — whatsoever thou miglit- 
 est be profited by me," i. e. I have already devoted to 
 God that which you request of me. Is not the idea 
 to this effect : " That succor which you request of me 
 is already devoted to God ; therefore I cannot pro- 
 fane it by giving it to you, ahhough you are my pa- 
 rent, and such might be my duty ?" — Now, this might 
 take place in particular articles, without the child's 
 whole property being so devoted ; or it might be a 
 ])retence to put off the sohciting parent for the time. 
 This the Jewish doctors esteemed binding ; yet easily 
 remitted. The form of the vow is in express terms 
 mentioned in the Talmud ; and though such a vow 
 is against both nature and reason, yet the Pharisees, 
 and the Talmudists, their successors, approve it. To 
 ficilitate the practice of these vows, so contrary to 
 natural duty, to charity and religion, to confirm and 
 increase the superstition of then- people, the Jewish 
 doctors did not requii-e them to be pronounced in a 
 formal manner ; it was of little consequence whethoi- 
 the word corban were mentioned, though this was 
 most in use, provided something was said which 
 came near it. They permitted even debtors to de- 
 fraud their creditors, by consecrating their debt to 
 God ; as if the projjcrty were their own, and not 
 rather the rigiit of their creditor. Josephus remarks, 
 that, among the Jews, men and women sometimes 
 made themselves corban ; that is, consecrated them- 
 selves to God, or to certain offices in his service. If 
 they were aflerwards desirous to cancel their obliga- 
 tion, they gave to the priest, for a man fifty, for a 
 woman thirty, shekels. (Antiq. iv. 4.) 
 
 Moses speaks of different sorts of corban, or dedica- 
 tions by the Hebrews, of part of their estates, which 
 might be aflerwards redeemed, or if it were cattle, 
 sanctified. Lev. xxvii. 29. 
 
 They wiio made a vow neither to eat nor drink till 
 they had killed Paul, (Acts xxiii. 12.) in some sort 
 made every thing corban that belonged to them ; or 
 40 
 
 every thing that might supply them with meat and 
 drink. 
 
 CORBONA, the treasury of the temple, so called 
 because the offerings, made in money, were there 
 deposited. The Jews scrupled to deposit the money, 
 returned by Judas, in the temple treasury, because it 
 had been the price of blood ; and as such was esteem- 
 ed impure, Matt, xxvii. 6. 
 
 CORD. To put cords about one's reins, to gird 
 one's self with a cord, was a token of sorrow and 
 humiliation. Job xii. 18 ; 1 Kings xx. 31, 32. Cord 
 is often used for inheritance : "I will give thee the 
 land of Canaan, the cord of thine inheritance," Psalm 
 cv. ll,margin. "Joseph hath a double cord," (Ezek. 
 xlvii. 13. Lug. tr. two portions); which expression 
 originated from the custom of measuring land with a 
 cord. So Joshua distributed to every tribe a certain 
 number of cords, or acres. " My cords (Eng. tr. the 
 lines, that is, my lot) are fiiUen unto me in pleasant 
 places," Psalm xvi. G. " The waves of death com- 
 passed me about," (2 Sam. xxii. 5.) Heb. the cords of 
 hell (of the gi'ave) ; alluding to the fillets bound about 
 dead bodies : he also calls them the bands of death. 
 The LXX, instead of coi-ds of death, translate it, pains 
 of death. Psalm xviii. 5. "The bands (cords) of the 
 wicked," (Psalm cxix. 61.) the snares with which 
 they catch weak people. "The cords of sin" (Prov. 
 V. 22.) are the consequences of crimes and bad hab- 
 its ; bad habits are, as it wei"e, indissoluble bands, 
 from which it is almost impossible to extricate our- 
 selves. To stretch a cord or line about a city signifies, 
 to ruin it, to destroy it entirely, to level it with the 
 gi-ound, Lain. ii. 8. The cords extended in setting 
 up tents furnish several metaphors, Isa. xxxiii. 20 ; 
 Jer. x. 20. 
 
 CORIANDER, a small, round seed of an aromatic 
 plant. Moses says, that the manna which fell in the 
 wilderness was like coriander-seed ; its color was 
 white, Exod. xvi. 21 ; Numb. xi. 7. See ]Ma>-\a. 
 
 CORINTH, the capital of Achaia, called ancient 
 ly Ephyra, and seated on the isthmus which separates 
 the Peloponnesus from Attica, and hence called bi- 
 maris, on two seas. The city itself stood a little 
 inland, but it had two ports, Lechaeum on the west, 
 and Cenchrea on the east. It was one of the most 
 populous and wealthy cities of Greece ; but its riches 
 produced pride, ostentation, effeminacy, and all the 
 vices generally consequent on plenty. Lascivious- 
 ness, particularly, was not only tolerated, but conse- 
 crated here, by the worship of Venus, and the noto- 
 rious prostitution of numerous attendants devoted to 
 her. Such was here the expense at which these 
 pleasures were procured, as to give occasion to the 
 proverb: " Nou cuivis homini contingit adire Corm- 
 thum." Corinth was destroyed by the Romans, B. C. 
 14() ; and during the conflagration, several metals in 
 a fused state accidentally running together, produced 
 the composition named JEs Corinthium, or Corinth- 
 ian brass. It was afterwards restored by Julius 
 Cfesar, who planted in it a Roman colony ; but while 
 it soon regauied its ancient splendor, it also relapsed 
 into all its former dissipation and licentiousness. 
 Paul arrived at Corinth, A. D. 52, (Acts xviii. 52.) 
 and lodged with Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who, 
 as well as himself, were tent-makers. He preached 
 in the Jewish synagogue, and converted some to the 
 faith of Christ; and fi-om hence he wrote two Epis- 
 tles to the Thessalonians. Finding that the Jews of 
 Corinth, instead of being benefited, o])posed him 
 with blasphemv, he shook his raiment, and turned to 
 the Gentiles, lo'dging whh Justus, surnamed Titus, a
 
 COR 
 
 [314 ] 
 
 CORN 
 
 Gentile, but one who feared God. Many of these 
 embraced the faith. Paul suffered much here ; but 
 continued in the neighborhood eighteen months. 
 
 From Corinth he went to Jerusalem ; and about 
 A. D. 56, wrote liis First Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 from Ephesus, in which he reproves some persons 
 who disturbed the peace of that church ; complains 
 of disorders in their assemblies, of lawsuits among 
 them, and of a Christian who, by taldng his father's 
 wife, had committed incest with his mother-in-law. 
 This letter pi-oducing in the Corinthians deep sorrow, 
 gi-eat vigilance against the vices reproved, and a very 
 beneficial dread of God's anger, they removed the 
 scandal, and expi'essed determined zeal against the 
 crime committed, 2 Cor. vii. 9, 10, 11. The apostle, 
 having ascertained the good effects which his first 
 letter had produced among the Corinthians, wrote a 
 second to them, from Macedonia, probably from 
 Philippi, (A. D. 57.) in which he expresses his satis- 
 faction at their conduct, justifies himself, and com- 
 forts them : he glories in his sufferings, and exhorts 
 them to liberality. There is great probability that 
 Paul visited Corinth a second time, towards the end 
 of this year, (Acts xx. 2 ; and 2 Cor. xii. 14 ; xiii. 1.) 
 and a third time, on his second return to Rome, 
 2 Tim. IV. 20. ' See further on the date of these 
 epistles under Paul. 
 
 CORMORANT, an unclean water-bird. Lev. xi. 
 
 17, &c. The Chaldee and Syriac versions render 
 the Hebrew ijhz', fish-catcher, and the LXX, cata- 
 rades, which bird, according to Aristotle, agrees well 
 enough with the cormorant. In Isa. xxxiv. 11, we 
 have the cormorant in our translation, instead of the 
 pelican. See Birds. 
 
 CORN. The generic name for grain, in the Old 
 Testament writings, is pi, dagdn, corn, so named for 
 its abundant increase. In Gen. xxvi. 12, and Matt, 
 xiii. 8, grain is spoken of as yielding a hundred-fold; 
 and to the ancient fertility of Palestine all authorities 
 bear testimony. Of the difference in quantity of 
 produce in different parts, Wetstein has collected 
 many accounts. 
 
 It is evident from Ruth ii. 14, 2 Sam. xvii. 28, 29, 
 &c. that parched corn [i. e. grain] constituted part of 
 the ordinary food of the Israelites, as it still does of 
 the Arabs resident in Syria. Their methods of pre- 
 paring corn for the manufacture of bread were the 
 following : The threshing was done cither by the 
 staff" or the flail, (Isa. xxviii. 27, 28.) — by the feet of 
 cattle, (Deut. XXV. 4.) — or by "a sharp threshing in- 
 strument having teeth," (Isa. xli. 15.) which was some- 
 thing resembling a cart, and drawn over the corn by 
 means of horses or oxen. When the corn is threshed, 
 it is separated from the chaff" and dust, by throwng it 
 forward across the wind, by means of a winnowing 
 fan, or shovel ; (Matt. iii. 12.) after which the grain is 
 sifted to separate all impurities from it, Amos ix. 9 ; 
 Luke xxii. 3l. Hence we see that the threshing- 
 floors were in the open air, Judg. vi. 11 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 
 
 18. Tlie grain thus obtained was conunonly reduced 
 to meal by the hand-mill, which consisted of a lower 
 mill-stone, the upper side of which was concave, and 
 an upper null-stone, the lower surface of which was 
 convex. The hole for receiving the corn was in the 
 centre of the upper mill-stone ; and in the operation 
 of gi-inding, the lower was fixed, and the upper made 
 to move round upon it, with considerable velocity, 
 by means of a handle. Tliese mills are still in use 
 in the East, and in some parts of Scotland. Dr. E. 
 1). Clarke says, " In the island of Cyprus I observed 
 upon the ground the sort of stones used for grinding 
 
 corn, called queiiis in Scotland, common also in Lap- 
 land, and in all pai-ts of Palestine. These are the 
 primeval mills of the world; and they are still found 
 in all corn countries, where rude and ancient customs 
 have not been liable to those changes introduced 
 by refinement. The employment of grinding with 
 these mills is confined solely to females ; and the prac- 
 tice illustrates the 
 prophetic obser- 
 vation of our Sa- 
 viour, concerning 
 the day of Jerusa- 
 lem's destruction : 
 " Two women 
 shall be grinding 
 at the mill ; one 
 shall be taken,and 
 the other left," 
 Matt. xxiv. 41. 
 Mr. Pennant, in 
 his Tour to the 
 Hebrides, has given a particular account of these 
 hand-mills, as used in Scotland, in which he observes 
 that the women always accompany the grating noise 
 of tlie stones with their voices ; and that when ten 
 or a dozen are thus employed, the fury of the song 
 rises to such a pitch, that you would, without breach 
 of charity, imagine a troop of female demoniacs to be 
 assembled. As the operation of grinding was usual- 
 ly performed in the morning at day-break, the noise 
 of the females at the hand-mill was heard all over 
 the city, which often awoke their more indolent mas- 
 ters. The Scriptures mention the want of this noise 
 as a mark of desolation in Jer. xxv. 10, and Rev. xviii. 
 22. There was a humane law, that " no man shall 
 take the nether or upper mill-stone in pledge, for he 
 taketh a man's life in pledge," Deut. xxiv. 6. — He 
 could not grind his daily bread without it. 
 
 The close of life at mature age is compared to a 
 shock of corn fully ripe ; " Thou shalt come to thy 
 grave in a full age, Hke as a shock of corn cometh in 
 (to the garner) in its season," Job v. 26. (See also 
 Gen. xxv. 8, and Job xiii. 17.) Our Lord compares 
 himself to a corn of wheat falling into the ground, 
 but afterwards producing much fruit, John xii. 24. 
 The prophet Hosea (xiv. 7.) speaks of "gi-owing as 
 the vine, and reviving as the corn ;" and we have 
 seen already that the return of vegetation in the 
 spring of the year, has been adopted very generally, 
 as an expressive symbol of a resurrection. The 
 apostle Paul uses this very simile, in reference to a 
 renewed life ; " The sower sows a bare — naked — 
 grain of corn, of whatever kind it be, as wheat, or 
 some other grain, but after a proper time, it rises to 
 light, clothed with verdure ; clothed also with a husk, 
 and other appurtenances, according to the nature 
 which God has appointed to that species of seed : — 
 analogous to this is the resurrection of the body," &c. 
 1 Cor. XV. 37. Our reference is, that if tliis compar- 
 ison were in use among the ancients, (and a gem, in 
 Montfau^on, declares its antiquity,) it could hardly 
 be unknown to the Corinthians, in their learned and 
 polite city, " The Eye of Greece ;" neither could it 
 be well confined to the philosophers there, but must 
 have been known by tliose to whom the apostle 
 wrote, generally ; if so, then not only was the sacred 
 writer justified in selecting it by way of illustration, 
 but he had more reason for calling them " fools" 
 who did not ])roperly reflect on what was acknowl- 
 edged and admitted among themselves, tlian modern 
 inconsiderates have supposed ; and whatever of iiarsh-
 
 COR 
 
 [ 315 
 
 cov 
 
 ness may be fancied in this appellation, it was nothing 
 beyond what they might both deserve and expect. 
 
 The apostle might, no doubt, have instanced the 
 power of God in the progress of vivilication ; and 
 might have inferred, that the same power which 
 could confer life originally, could certainly restore it 
 to those particles which once had possessed it. It is 
 possible he has done this covertly, having chosen 
 to mention vegetable seed, that being most obvious 
 to common notice ; yet not intending to terminate 
 his reference in any quality of vegetation. We find 
 the same manner of expression in Menu, who, dis- 
 coursing of children, says, "Whatever be the quahty 
 of the seed scattered in a field prepared in due sea- 
 son, a plant of the same quality s[)rings in that field, 
 with peculiar visible properties. That one plant 
 should be sown and another produced, cannot hap- 
 pen ; whatever seed may be sown, even that pro- 
 duces its proper stem. Never must it be sown in 
 another man's field." By this metaphor he forbids 
 adultery, as he immediately states at large. There is 
 a veiy sudden turn of metaphor used by the apostle 
 Paul, in Rom. vi. 3 — 5 : " Know ye not that so many 
 of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap- 
 tized into his death ? therefore we are buried with 
 him by baptism into death — that we should walk in 
 newness of life. For if we have been planted to- 
 gether [with him] in the likeness of his death, we 
 shall be also planted in the hkeness of his resurrec- 
 tion." But what has baptism to do with planting ? 
 Wherein consists their similarity, so as to justify the 
 resemblance here implied .-' In 1 Pet. iii. 21, we find 
 the apostle speaking of baptism, figuratively, as 
 " saving us ;" and alluding to Noah, who long lay 
 buried in the ark, as corn lies buried in the earth. 
 Now, as, after having died to his former course of 
 life, in being baptized, a convert was considered as 
 rising to a renewed life, so, after having been sepa- 
 rated froTR his former connections, his seed-bed, as it 
 were, after having died in being planted, he was con- 
 sidered as rising to renewed life also. The ideas, 
 therefore, conveyed by the apostle in these verses are 
 ])recisely the same, though the metaphors are differ- 
 ent. Moreover, if it were anciently common to speak 
 of a person after baptism, as rising to renewed life, 
 and to consider corn also as sprouting to a renewed 
 life, then we see how easily Hymeneus and Philetus 
 (2 Tim. ii. 17, 18.) " concerning the truth might en-, 
 saying, that the i-esurrection was past already," in 
 baptism, [quasi in planting — that is, in being trans- 
 ferred to Christianity,) in which error they did little 
 more than annex their old heathen notions to the 
 Christian institution. The transition was extremely 
 easy ; but unless checked in time, the error might 
 have become very dangerous. We think this more 
 likely to have been the fact respecting these errone- 
 ous teachers than any allusion to vice, as death, and 
 to a return to virtue, as life : which Warburton pro- 
 poses, and the notion seems to have been adopted by 
 JMenander, who taught that his disciples obtained 
 resurrection by his baptism, and so became immor- 
 tal. How easily figurative language suffers, under 
 the misconstructions of gross conception ! [See Bap- 
 TiRif, where the same illustration is found. R. 
 
 CORNELIUS, centurion of a cohort, belonging to 
 the legion surnamed Italian, Acts x. He was a 
 Gentile ; one who feared God ; of constant devotion, 
 and much charity. His whole family served God, 
 and it pleased God to favor him, in a miraculous man- 
 ner, with a knowledge of the gospel, through Peter, 
 from whom he received instruction. As the apostle 
 
 was speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius 
 and his family, and they were added to the Christian 
 church, as the first-fruits of the Gentiks. It deserves 
 notice, that Juhan the Apostate reckons only two 
 persons of consideration, who were converted to 
 Christianity on its first promulgation : — Sergius Pau- 
 lus the proconsul, and Cornelius the centurion. 
 From this reference, it is probable that Cornelius was 
 a person of greater distinction than he is usually sup- 
 posed to be. X 
 
 CORNER, the extremity of any thing, according 
 to the Hebrews. "Ye shall not round the comers of 
 your head, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy 
 beard," Lev. xix. 27. — 1 Sam. xiv. 38. " Draw near, all 
 ye chief (Heb. corners) of the people." " They have 
 seduced Egypt, even they who are the stay [comer) 
 of the tribes thereof," Isa. xix. 13. And Zeph. iii. 6. 
 " I have cut off" the nations, their comers are deso- 
 late." The comer sometimes signifies the most dis- 
 tinguished place, that part of an edifice which is most 
 in sight. Zechariah, speaking of Judah, after the 
 return from captivity, says, " Out of him came forth 
 the corner, out of him the nail," x. 4. This tribe shall 
 afford corners, heads ; it shall produce the comer- 
 stone, tlie Messiah. Corner is taken, likewise, for the 
 most retired part of a house, Prov. xxi. 9. The cor- 
 ner of a bed or divan (Amos iii. 12.) is the place of 
 honor. See Bed. 
 
 CORNER-STONE, Greek ay.noywmto?, Heb. px 
 njo. Is. xxviii. G.. Our Lord is compared in the New 
 Testament to a corner-stone, in three different points 
 of view. First, as this stone lies at the foundation 
 and serves to give support and strength to the build- 
 ing, so Christ, or the doctrine of a Saviour, is called 
 az()o/w>aroc, sc. A(5^o?,^Eph. ii. 20.) because this doctrine 
 is the most important feature of the Christian reli- 
 gion, and is the ftmdamental object of all the precepts 
 given by the apostles and other Christian teachers. 
 Further, as the corner-stone occupies an important 
 and conspicuous place, Jesus is compared to it (1 Pet. 
 ii. 6.) because God has made him distinguished, and 
 has advanced him to a dignity and conspicuousness 
 above all others. Lastly, since men often stumble 
 against a projecting corner-stone, Christ is therefore 
 so called, (Matt. xxi. 42.) because his gospel will be 
 the cause of aggi'avated condemnation to those who 
 reject it. *R. 
 
 COTTAGE, see Tent. 
 
 COTTON, a white woolly or downy substance, 
 found in a brown bud, produced by a shrub, the 
 leaves of which resemble those of the sycamore-tree. 
 The bud, which grows as large as a pigeon's egg, 
 turns black, when ripe, and divides at top into three 
 parts ; the cotton is as white as snow, and with the 
 heat of the sun swells to the size of a pullet's egg. 
 Scripture speaks of cotton under the Hebrew name 
 tt'e-, shesh, (Exod. xxv. 4.) [where the English version 
 has Jine linen. The Heb. shesh designates generally 
 cotton, afterwards called butz, y\2. Both words, how- 
 ever, are also used of linen. The/7je byssus, a cotton 
 cJoth of the Egyptians, to judge of the specimens 
 found on mummies, was much like the sheetings of 
 the present day ; certainly not finer. R. 
 
 COUCH, see Bed. 
 
 COVENANT. The word testamentum is often 
 used in Latin, and Sta.'^,l■^rl in Greek, to express the 
 Hebrew nna, berith, which signifies covenant ; whence 
 the titles Old and JVeiv Testaments are used improp- 
 erly to denote the Old and jVetv Covenants- Gram- 
 marians remark that the alliance which we term a 
 covenant is expressed in Greek by two words : (I.)
 
 COVENANT 
 
 [316] 
 
 COVENANT 
 
 When both parties are equal, so that each may stand 
 upon terms, or canvass the terms of the other, pro- 
 pose his own, agree or disagree, &c. the word used is 
 ^YNSHKH ; but, (2.) when the covenant is of that 
 nature, when one party being greatly the superior, 
 proposes, and the other, willing to come to agreement, 
 accepts his propositions ; then the word used is 
 JIA&HKH ; which signifies an appointment — dis- 
 pensation — institution ; whereby tlie proposer pledges 
 himself, but does not bind the acceptor, by the prop- 
 ositions, till he has actually accepted them. If this 
 distinction be well founded, .... then it will imme- 
 diately appear, that there is great propriety in tlie 
 title given to our " Book of the New Covenant," the 
 new JIAGHKH ; inaccurately termed by us "the 
 New Testament," since herein the proposals of God 
 to man are made, and recorded ; but these proposals 
 imply that the party to be benefited by them, should 
 accept and appeal to them, in a personal and a bind- 
 ing manner. 
 
 Thei-e is an importance attached to the term cove- 
 nant, which must justify a little further enlargement 
 on it. That it sometimes signifies simply a pi-oposal, 
 the folIoAving instances will determine. 1 Kings xx. 
 34. Bcnhadad said to Ahab, " The cities which my 
 father took from thy father, I will restore," &c. Then 
 said Ahab — I take thee at thy word, I accept tliy 
 proposals, " I will send thee away with this cove- 
 nant." " And the king stood by a pillar, and made 
 a covenant .... to keep the commandments of the 
 Lord, with all the heai't, and all the soul ; and all the 
 people stood to the covenant," 2 Kings xxiii. 3. They 
 agreed to the proposals made ; — they assented to 
 what was required of them. This seems to be the 
 import of the apostle's reasoning, 2 Tim. ii. 13. " If 
 we believe not," and will not accept his proposals, 
 made with a view to our believing, and acceptance 
 of them, " yet he abideth faithful," and will strictly 
 adhere to whatever he has offered, or proposed to us : 
 " he cannot deny himself;" he cannot withdraw those 
 proposals to which he has invited us to accede : i.e. 
 our unbelief does not diminish the good faith, or the 
 perpetuity of God's offers. (See Rom. iii. 3.) Thus 
 we see that the word covenant implies, (1.) an ap- 
 pointment to which the respondent could agree pas- 
 sively, oidy, by obedience ; as a covenant made with 
 day and night ; (Jer. xxxiii. 20.) or with the earth, 
 and the beasts of the earth, Gen. ix. 10. (2.) A law, 
 a constituted regulation, and appointment ; given to 
 intelligent agents. (-3.) A proposalmade, and offered 
 to the acceptance of intelligent agents : not to be va- 
 jied, or diversified by them ; but to be accepted in 
 Into. (4.) Proposals made by two equal parties, 
 which, after being ])roperly canvassed and examined, 
 are finally adjusted by them, and deliberately con- 
 firmed. (5.) The ratification-ofiering ; customary on 
 such occasions. 
 
 It may be proper here to hint at the signs of cov- 
 enants, i. e. memorials, tilings never to be looked on 
 without bringing to rccollectio)i the agreement made 
 on the original and ])rimary occasion of their ap- 
 poiutiiiPiit. ( 1 .) Was not, perhaps, the tree of knowl- 
 edge such a sign to Ad;un ? (2.) God says expressly 
 of the rainbow, (Gen. ix. 12.) " This is the sign which 
 I give of the covenant (the dispensation which I ap- 
 point) between myself and all flesh. And when I 
 becloud with clouds (i. c. storms, rains, &c.) the earth, 
 the bow shall appear in the clouds, and I will recol- 
 lect my agreement, and there sliall be no deluge" to 
 destroy the earth, &c. (3.) Abraham received the 
 sign — seal — memorandum — of circumcision. (4.) Ja- 
 
 cob and Laban raised " the heap of witnesses," as a 
 memorial of an agi'eement made ; and this heap was 
 not to be passed at any future time, even to the re- 
 motest ages, without reminding themselves, or their 
 posterity, of the original agreement thereby com- 
 memorated. (5.) As such a sign the Israelites received 
 circumcision, and the sabbath, Exod. xxxi. 16. The 
 first covenant with the Hebrews was that made when 
 the Lord chose Abraham and his posterity for his 
 people ; a second covenant, or a solemn renewal of 
 the former, was made at Sinai, comprehending all 
 who observe the law of Moses. The new covenant, 
 of which Christ is the Mediator and Author, and 
 which Avas confirmed by his blood, comprehends all 
 who believe in him, and are in his church. 
 
 The first covenant between God and man was 
 made with Adam, at his creation, Avhen he was pro- 
 hibited to eat a certain fruit. Gen. ii. 17. A second 
 covenant God made with man after his fall, prom- 
 ising not only forgiveness, on his repentance, but also 
 a Messiah, who should redeem the human race from 
 the death of sin, and from the second death, Rom. v. 
 12, 19. A third covenant God made with Noah, 
 when he directed him to build the ark, (Gen. vi. 18.) 
 and which was renewed. Gen. ix. The covenants 
 between the patriai-chs Adam .and Noah, and their 
 posterity, were general ; that made with Abraham 
 was limited ; concerning that patriarch and his fam- 
 ily by Isaac exclusively ; Gen. xii. 1 ; xv. 4, 5, 18. 
 The seal or confirmation of it, was the circumcision 
 of all the males in Abraham's family. The effects of 
 this covenant appear throughout the Old Testament ; 
 the coining of the Messiah is the consummation and 
 end of it. The covenant of God with Adam forms 
 what we call the state of nature ; that with Abraham, 
 explained further under Moses, constitutes the law ; 
 that ratified through the mediation of Jesus Christ is 
 the kingdom of grace. 
 
 In common discourse, we usually say the Old and 
 New Testaments ; the covenant between God and 
 the posterity of Abraham ; and that which he has 
 made with believers by Jesus Christ ; because these 
 two covenants contain eminendy all the rest, which 
 are consequences, branches, or explanations of them. 
 The most solemn and perfect of the covenants of 
 God with men, is that made through the mediation 
 of our Redeemer ; which must subsist to the end of 
 time. The Son of God is the guarantee of it ; it is 
 confirmed with his blood ; the end and object of it is 
 eternal life, and its constitution and laws are infinitely 
 more exalted than those of the former covenant. 
 
 The prophet Jeremiah (chap, xxxiv. 18.) speaks of 
 a remarkable ceremony attending a covenant. The 
 Lord says, "I will give (to punishment) the men 
 who have trfinsgresscd my covenant, which have not 
 performed the words of the covenant which they had 
 made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, 
 and passed between tlie parts thereof." The custom 
 of cutting fi victim in two, of placing the several 
 moieties upon two different altars, and making those 
 who contracted pass between both, is well known in 
 Scripture, and in ])rofanc authors. The instance of 
 the covenant made with Abraham may serve to con- 
 firm this sense ; the burning lamp (the shechinah) 
 passed between the separated parts ; as Abraham 
 jn-obably had already done. (See Gen. xv. 9, 10, 17.) 
 It is not easy to determine, however, in what manner 
 the victim was anciently divided ; whether crosswise, 
 i. c. across the loins ; or lengthwise, i. e. from the 
 front of the belly, through the whole length of the 
 back bone, and down the spinal marrow. The latter
 
 COVENANT 
 
 [317 ] 
 
 COVENANT 
 
 mode would be iiiucli the niost expressive and sol- 
 emn. May there not be an allusion to this in Heb. 
 iv. 12, " The word of God is lively and efficacious, 
 and more penetrating than any double-edged sword ; 
 piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and 
 joi.\TS°and MARROW?" Oh, for that sincerity of 
 heart and mind, which may be found acceptable un- 
 der so critical an examination ! 
 
 Among other descriptions of a covenant, there is 
 one which demands explanation : Numb, xviii. 10, 
 • " The oflerJugs I have given to thee, and thy sous 
 and thy ilaughters with thee, by a statute for ever ; it 
 is a covenant of salt, for ever, before the Lord." 2 
 Chron. xiii. 5, " Ought you not to know that the 
 Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to 
 David,ybr cvei; to him and to his sons by a covenant of 
 salt?" 
 
 It is generally thought that salt is here made an 
 emblem of perpetuity ; but the covenant of salt seems 
 to refer to an agreement made in which salt was used 
 as a token of confirmation. Baron du Tott says, 
 " [Moldovanji Pacha] was desirous of an acquaint- 
 ance with me, and seeming to regret that this busi- 
 ness would not permit him to stay long, he departed, 
 promising in a short time to return. I had already 
 attended him half way down tlic staircase, when, 
 stopping, and turning briskly to one of my domestics 
 who followed me, ' Biing me directly,' said he, ' some 
 BREAD AND SALT.' I was uot Icss surprised at this 
 fancy, than at the haste which was made to obey 
 liim. What he requested was brought ; when, tak- 
 ing a little salt between his fingers, and putting it 
 "with a mysterious air on a bit of bread, he ate it 
 WITH A DEVOUT GRAVITY ; assuriug me, that I might 
 now rely on him. I soon procured an explanation 
 of this significant ceremony ; but this same man, 
 when become visir, was tempted to violate his oath, 
 thus taken in my favor. Yet if this solemn con- 
 tract be uot always religiously observed, it serves, 
 at least, to moderate the spirit of vengeance so natural 
 to the Turks." The baron adds in a note : " The 
 Turks think it the blackest ingi-atitude, to forget the 
 man from whom we have I'cceived food ; which is 
 signified by the bread and salt in this ceremony." 
 (Trav. part i. p. 214. Eng. edit.) The baron al- 
 ludes to this incident in part iii. p. 36. Moldovanji 
 Pacha, being ordered to obey the baron, was not 
 pleased at it. " I did uot imagine I ought to put any 
 great confidence in the mysterious covenant of the 
 bread and salt, by which this man had formerly vowed 
 inviolable friendship to me." Yet he "dissembled 
 his fliscontent," and " his peevishness only showed 
 itself in his first letters to the Porte." 
 
 It will now appear ci'edible, that the phrase "a 
 covenant of salt" alludes to some such custom in an- 
 cient times ; and without meaning to symbolize very 
 deeply, we take the liberty of asking, whether the 
 precept, (Lev. ii. 13.) "W^ith all thine offerings thou 
 shalt offer salt," may have any reference to ideas of a 
 similar nature. Did the custom of feasting at a 
 covenant-making include the same, according to the 
 sentiment of the Turks hinted at in the baron's 
 note ? 
 
 We ought to notice the readiness of the baron's 
 domestics, in proof that they well understood what 
 was about to take place. Also, that this covenant is 
 usually punctually observed ; and where not so, has a 
 restraining influence on the party who has made it ; 
 and his non-observance of it disgraces him. 
 
 We proceed to give a remarkable instance of the 
 power of this covenant of salt over the mind ; it 
 
 seems to imply a something attributed to salt, which 
 it is very ditficult for us completely to explain, but 
 which is not the less real on that account : 
 
 " Jacoub ben Laith, the founder of a dynasty of 
 Persian princes called the Saffarides, rising, like 
 many others of the ancestors of the princes of the 
 East, from a very low state to royal power, being, in 
 his first setting out in the use of arms, no better than 
 a freebooter or robber, is yet said to have maintained 
 some regard to decency in his depredations, and 
 never to have entirely stripped those that he robbed, 
 always leaving them something to soften their afflic- 
 tion. Among other exploits that are recorded of 
 him, he is said to have broken into the palace of the 
 prince of that country, and having collected a very 
 large booty, which he was on the point of carrying 
 away, he found his foot kicked something which 
 made him stumble ; he imagined it might be some- 
 thing of value, and putting it to his mouth, the better 
 to distinguish what it was, his tongue soon infonned 
 him it was a lump of salt. Upon this, according to 
 the morahty, or rather superstition, of the country, 
 where the people considered salt as a symbol and 
 pledge of hospitality, he was so touched, that he left 
 all his booty, retiring without taking any thing away 
 with him. The next morning, the risk they had run 
 of losing many valuable things being perceived, great 
 was the surprise, and strict the inquiry, what could 
 be the occasion of their being left. At length Jacoub 
 was found to be the person concerned ; who having 
 given an account, very sincerely, of the whole trans- 
 action to the prince, he gained his esteem so feffectu 
 ally, that it might be said with truth, that it was his 
 regard lor salt that laid the foundation of his after- 
 fortune. The prince employed him as a man of 
 courage and genius in many enterprises, and finding 
 him successful in all of them, he raised him, by httle 
 and little, to the chief posts among his troops ; so 
 that, at that prince's death, he found himself possess- 
 ed of the command in chief, and had such interest 
 in their affections, that they preferred his interests to 
 those of the children of the deceased prince, and he 
 became absolute master of that province, from 
 whence he afterwards spread his conquests far and 
 wide." (D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, p. 4G6. Also Har- 
 mer's Obs.) 
 
 Mr. Harmer has well illustrated the phrase, " We 
 were salted with the salt of the palace," (Ezra iv. 14.) 
 and the reader will be pleased with his remarks : 
 "It is sufficient to put an end to all conjecture, tore- 
 cite the words of a modern Persian monarch, whose 
 court Chardin attended some time about business. 
 Rising in a wrath against an officer who had attempt- 
 ed to deceive him, he drew his sabre, fell upon him, 
 and hewed him in pieces, at the feet of the grand 
 visir, who was standing (and whose favor the poor 
 wretch courted by this deception.) And looking 
 fixedly on him, and on the other great lords that 
 stood on each side of him, he said, with a tone of in- 
 dignation, ' I have, then, such ungrateful servants and 
 traitors as these to eat my salt ! Look on this sword ; 
 it shall cut off" all those perfidious heads.' " It is 
 clear, that this expression, " eating this prince's salt," 
 is equivalent to — receive a maintenance from him. 
 " It is a conunon expression of the natives in the East 
 Indies, ' I eat such an one's salt ;' meaning, I am fed 
 by him. Tamerlane, in his Institutes, mentioning 
 one Shaw Behaun, w^ho had quitted his service, 
 joined the enemy, and fought against him, ' At 
 length,' says he, ' my sail which he had eaten over- 
 whelmed iiim with remorse : he again threw him-
 
 CRA 
 
 [318] 
 
 CRE 
 
 self on my mercy, and humbled himself before 
 me.' " 
 
 COVETOUSNESS. This word is sometimes 
 used in a good sense, as ' to covet the best gifts,' (1 Cor. 
 xii. .31.) but usually in a bad sense, to denote an inor- 
 dinate desire of earthly things, especially of that 
 which belongs to another. Covetousness is declared 
 by the apostle to be idolatry, Col. iii. 5. 
 
 COUNCIL is occasionally taken for any kind of 
 assembly ; sometimes for that of the Sanhedrim, at 
 others for a convention of pastors met to regulate 
 ecclesiastical affairs. Thus the assembly of the 
 apostles, (fee. at Jerusalem, (Acts xv.) met to deter- 
 mine whether the yoke of the law should be imposed 
 on Gentile converts, is commonly reputed to be the 
 first council of the Christian church. See Tribunals. 
 • COUNSEL. Beside the common signification of 
 this word, as denoting the consultations of men, it is 
 used in Scripture for the decrees of God, the orders 
 of his providence. God frustates the counsels, the 
 views, the designs of princes ; but " the counsels of 
 the Lord stand for ever," Ps. xxxiii. 11; cvii. 11; 
 Luke vii. 30. According to the LXX, Christ is ca,ll- 
 ed the angel of the great counsel ; the minister, the 
 executor of the great and admirable design of God, 
 for the salvation of mankind, Isaiah ix. 6. 
 
 COUNTRY, a land, or town. It is taken likewise 
 for family, Ps. xcv. 7. Patria, in Greek, signifies a 
 race, a nation. The heavenly country denotes that 
 residence in heaven, which is hoped for and sought 
 by Christians. 
 
 COURT. The courts belonging to the temple of 
 Jerusalem were three : (1.) the couH of the Gentiles, 
 because the Gentiles were allowed to enter no far- 
 ther; (2.) the court of Israel, because Israelites, if 
 clean, had a right of admission into it ; (3.) the court 
 of the priests, where the altar of burnt-oflTerings stood, 
 and where the priests and Levites exercised their 
 ministry. Israelites, who offered sacrifices, might 
 bring their victims to the inner part of this court, but 
 could not pass a certain separation which divided it; 
 they withdrew as soon as they had delivered their 
 sacrifices and offerings to the priest, or had made 
 thoir confession, with laying their hand on the head 
 of the victim, if it were a sin-offering. 
 
 IJefore the temple was built, there was a court 
 around the tabernacle, formed only of pillars, and of 
 veils hung by cords. (See Tabernacle.) These 
 courts resembled those of the Egyptian temples. 
 The palaces of kings and of great men had also exten- 
 sive courts, as appears from those of Solomon and of 
 king Ahasuerns. (See House.) The evangelists men- 
 tion the high-priest's court, and Luke speaks of the 
 strong armed man ivho guardeth the palace ; that is, 
 the armed guard, as in the feudal times, at the gates 
 of baronial castles. 
 
 Court is used for a city in Ezek. xlvii. 17, xlviii. 1, 
 that is, the cities of Ennon and Netophath. In the 
 Hebrew, this is frequent: including all those towns 
 in which the word Hazer is combined ; as Hazer- 
 Suza, the court of Suza ; Hazer-Shual ; so, Hazer-a, 
 Hazer-im, Hazer-oth : these names of towns signify 
 courts. The courts of Jei-usalem are sometimes put 
 for the city. 
 
 COURTS, Judicial, see Tribunals. 
 
 COZBI, daughter of Zur, a prince of the Midian- 
 ites, who, with others of her sex and age, seduced 
 the principal Israelites to coimnit idolatry and impu- 
 rity ; Phineas slew her and Zimri at the same time. 
 Numb. XXV. 7 — 15. 
 
 CRANE, a tall and long-necked fowl, which, ac- 
 
 cording to Isidore, takes its name from its voice, 
 which we imitate in mentioning it. The prophet 
 Jeremiah mentions this bird as intelligent of the sea- 
 sons by an instinctive and invariable observation of 
 their appointed times, viii. 7. The same thing is 
 noticed by Aristophanes and Hesiod ; the latter of 
 whom says, " When thou hearest the voice of the 
 crane, clamoring annually from the clouds on high, 
 recollect that this is the signal for ploughing, and in- 
 dicates the approach of showery winter." [The 
 Hebrew reads first did, swallow, and then -luy, crane ; 
 our translators have either transposed the two words ; 
 or, what is more probable, mistaken the sense of 
 them. R. 
 
 CREATION, To Create. These terms properly 
 signify a production of something out of nothing. 
 The Hebrew uses the verb ni3, hard, to form, to bring 
 into order, to signify creation, having no word which 
 accurately expresses absolute creation out of nothing. 
 
 CRESCENS, a companion of Paul, (2 Tim. iv. 
 10.) who is thought by Eusebius and others to have 
 preached in Gaul, and to have founded the church 
 of Vienne, in Dauphin y. 
 
 CRETE, a large island, now called Candia, in the 
 Mediterranean, (1 Mac. x. 67.) almost opposite to 
 Egypt; and it maybe considered as having been 
 originally peopled from thence, probably by a branch 
 of the Caphtorim. The Cretans affected the utmost 
 antiquity, as a nation, and" distinguished themselves 
 as Eteocretenses, " true Cretans." Homer celebrates 
 this island as famous for its hundred gates, which 
 Virgil (^neid. iii.) seems to refer to cities ; but in 
 the Odyssey, Homer calls it " ninety-citied." Being 
 surrounded by the sea, its inhabitants were excellent 
 sailoi's, and its vessels visited all coasts. They were 
 also famous for archery, which they practised from 
 their infancy. But the glory of Crete was Minos the 
 legislator, said to be son of Jupiter and Europa, or 
 rather Manueh, which was but another name for Ju- 
 piter himself. Minos was the first, it is said, who 
 reduced a wild people to regularity of life ; and in 
 order to effect this the more completely, he retired 
 during nine years into the cavern of Jupiter : which 
 seems to be the same as what is related by the Hin- 
 doo Puranas, that Sami Rama performed austere de- 
 votion nine years in the holloiv of a tree, before she 
 effected her settlement. After nme years, Minos 
 established r^igious rites ; and these and other usages 
 of Crete were copied by the Greeks. See Caphtor. 
 
 The Cretans were one of the three K's against 
 whose tmfaithfulness the Grecian proverb cautioned — 
 Kappadocia, Kilicia, and Krete. Itappears, also, that 
 the character of this i)eople for lying was thoroughly 
 established in ancient times ; for in common sj)eecli, 
 the expression " to Cretanizc," signified to tell lies ; 
 which contributes to accouiU for that detestable 
 character the apostle (Titus i. 12.) has given of the 
 Cretans, that they were " always liars." This was not 
 only the opinion of Epimcnides, from whom Paul 
 quotes this verse, but of Callimachus, who has the 
 same words. When Epimcnides adds, that " the 
 Cretans are savage beasts," or fierce beasts, "and gor- 
 bellies," — bellies which take a long time in being 
 filled^ — he completes a most disgusting description. 
 Polybius represents them as disgraced by piracy, 
 robbery, and almost every crime, and Paul charges 
 Titus to rebuke them sharply, and in strong terms, 
 to prevent their adherence to Jewish fables, human 
 ordinances, and legal observances, 
 
 Crete was taken by the Romans under Metellus, 
 hence called Creticus, after a vigorous resistance of
 
 CRO 
 
 [ 319 ] 
 
 CROSS 
 
 above two years, (A. D.66.) aud, with the small kmg- 
 dom of Cyrene, on the coast of Libya, formed a 
 Roman province. In the reign of the emperor Leo, 
 it had twelve bishops, subject to Constantinople. In 
 the reign of 3Iichael II. the Saracens seized it, and 
 held it until, after 127 years, they were expelled by 
 the emperor Phocas. It remained under the domin- 
 ion of the em])eror, till Baldwin, earl of Flanders, 
 being raised to the throne, rewarded Bonifacio, mar- 
 quis of Montserrat, with it, who sold it to the Vene- 
 tians, A. D. 1194. Under their goverun)ent it 
 flourislied greatly ; but was unexpectedly attacked 
 l)y the Turks, A. D. 1645, in the midst of peace. 
 The siege lasted 24 years, and cost the Turks 200,000 
 men. It is now subject to the Turks, and, conse- 
 quently, is impoverished and depopulated. In many 
 places it is unhealthy. 
 CRIMSON, see Purple, Scarlet. 
 CRISPUS, chief of the Jewish synagogue at Cor- 
 inth, was converted and baptized by Paul, (Acts 
 xviii. 8.) about A. D. 52, 1 Cor. i. 14. Some aflirm 
 that Crispus was bishop of ^gina, an island neai- 
 Athens. The Greeks observe his festival, October 4. 
 CROCODILE, see Leviathan. 
 CROSS, a kind of gibbet made of pieces of wood 
 placed transversely ; whether crossing at right angles, 
 one at the top of the other, or in the middle, or diag- 
 onally, or fork -wise. The Greek oraiQog, stauros, a 
 cross, often denotes only a piece of wood fixed in 
 the ground, by the Latins called palus, or vallum. 
 Death by the cross was a punishment of the meanest 
 slaves ; and was a mark of infamy. This punish- 
 ment was so common among the Romans, that pains, 
 afflictions, troubles, &c. were called crosses ; and the 
 verb cruciare was used for sufferings both of body 
 and mind. Our Saviour says, that his disciple must 
 take up his cross and follow him. The cross is the 
 sign of ignominy and sufferings ; yet it is the badge 
 and glory of the Christian. Jesus Christ is the way 
 we are to follow ; and there is no way of attaining 
 that glory and happiness which is promised in the 
 gospel, but by the cross of Christ. The punish- 
 ment of the cross was common among the Syrians, 
 Egyptians, Pei-sians, Africans, Greeks, Romans, and 
 Jews. Piiaraoh's chief baker was beheaded, and his 
 carcass fastened to a cross. Gen. xl. 19. (Eng. trans. 
 tree.) Haman prepared a great cross, (Eng. trans. 
 frallows,) on which to hang Mordecai, Esth. vii. 10. 
 The Jews will not admit that they crucified people 
 while living ; they affirm that they first put them to 
 death, and then fastened them to a cross either by 
 the hands or the neck. But though there are many 
 instances of men thus hung on a gibbet after death, 
 there are indisputable proofs of their crucifying them 
 alive. The worshippers of Baal-peor, (Numb. xxv. 
 4.) and the king of Ai, (Josh. viii. 22.) were hung up 
 alive ; as were the descendants of Saul, by the Gibe- 
 onites ; (2 Sam. xxi. 9.) and Alexander Jannseus cru- 
 cified 800 of his subjects at an entertainment. 
 
 The law ordained that persons executed should 
 not be left on the cross afl;er sun-set, because he who 
 is hanged is cursed by God, Deut. xxi. 23. The 
 Jews believed that the souls of those who remained 
 on tlie gibbet without burial, enjoyed no peace, but 
 wandered until their bodies were buried. This also 
 was an idea of the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 Sometimes the criminal was crucified on a tree, 
 and fastened to it with cords ; and sometimes he was 
 fastened with his head downwards ; as was Peter, 
 from resi)ect to his Master, Jesus Christ, not thinking 
 himself worthy to be fixed to a cross in the same 
 
 manner as he had been. Sometimes a fire was 
 kmdled at the foot of the cross, by the smoke and 
 flame of which the mfferer might perish. The 
 common way of crucifying was by fastening the 
 cnminal with naUs, one at each hand, and one at 
 both Ins feet, or one at each foot. Sometimes they 
 were bound with cords, which, though it seems 
 gentler, because it occasions less pain, was really 
 more cruel, because the suflerer was hereby made to 
 languish longer. Somefimes they used both nails 
 and cords for fastenings ; and when this was the 
 case, there was no difficulty in hfting up the per- 
 son, together with his cross, he being sufficiently 
 supported by the cords. Before tliey nailed liini 
 to the cross, they generally scourged him with 
 whips, or leathern thongs, which was thought more 
 severe, and more infamous, than scourging with 
 cords. Sometimes little bones, or pieces of bones, 
 were tied to the scourges, to increase the pain. 
 Slaves, who had been guilty of great crimes, were 
 fastened to a gibbet, or a cross ; aud were thus led 
 about the city, and beaten. Our Saviour was loaded 
 with his cross ; and, as he sunk under the burden, 
 Simon, the Cyrenian, was constrained to bear it after 
 him, and with him, Mark xv. 21. The criminal was 
 crucified quite naked ; and the Saviour of the world, 
 in all probability, was not used more tenderly than 
 others who suftered this punishment, although Chris- 
 tians, out of respect and modesty, represent the Re- 
 deemer as decently covered, sometimes from his 
 loins to his knees. 
 
 The cross to which our Saviour was nailed, had 
 the form of a T, but with the head-piece rising above 
 the transverse beam. Some say it was fifteen feet 
 high ; that the arms of it were seven or eight feet 
 long ; that the top on which the title, or sentence of 
 condemnation, was fastened, was a piece of wood 
 added afterwards, with a board, on which was writ- 
 ten, " Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." But 
 this is all conjecture, and rather against probability, 
 as it seems, from the circumstances narrated, that the 
 cross was much lower ; so that a person speaking 
 from it could easily be heard, that a foot soldier's 
 spear could pierce the side of our Lord, and that a 
 reed or cane, in addition to a person's height, could 
 reach his mouth. Painters commonly represent the 
 cross as lowered when our Saviour is fastened to it, 
 and afterwards set uj)right again, and the body of 
 our Saviour raised with it. But this opinion is not 
 at all probable. The shaking and motion of the 
 cross, together with the weight of the body, might, 
 without any thing else, have broken the hands and 
 feet, and have loosened him from the cross, with 
 indescribable pains. It is most probable that he was 
 nailed to the cross, as it stood already erected. 
 
 Sometimes those who were fastened upon the cross 
 lived long in that condition ; from three to nine days. 
 Hence, Pilate was amazed at our Saviour's dying 
 so soon, because naturally he must have lived 
 longer, ]Mark xv. 44. The legs of the two thieves 
 were broken, to hasten their death, that their bodies 
 might not remain on the cross on the sabbath-day, 
 and to comply with the law, which forbade the bodies 
 to hang after sunset ; but among other nations, they 
 were suffered to continue long ; sometimes, till they 
 were devoured alive by birds and beasts of prey. 
 
 The Hebrews did not pray for those of their na- 
 tion who were crucified or hanged, at least not 
 publicly in the synagogue ; nor did they permit them 
 to be placed in the tombs of their families, till their 
 flesh had been first consumed in the public sepul-
 
 CRO 
 
 [ 320 ] 
 
 CRU 
 
 chres. Perhaps it was for this reason that Joseph of 
 Arimathea desired leave from Pilate to lay the body of 
 Jesus in his own tomb, that it miglit not be thrown 
 undistinguished into the public burying-place. 
 
 CROWN, an ornament frequently mentioned in 
 Scripture, and in very common use, appaiently, 
 among the Hebrew^. The higji-priest wore a crown 
 about his mitre, or the lower part of his bonnet, tied 
 behind his head. It seems as if private priests, and 
 even common Israelites, also, wore a sort of crown ; 
 for God commands Ezekiel not to take off" his cro\\n, 
 {tire, Eng. trans.) nor assume tiie marks of mourn- 
 ing, Ezek. xxiv. 17, 23. This crowii was a riband or 
 fillet, which surrounded the head. When Moses 
 commands the Israelites to bind the words of the 
 law on their hands, and as frontlets beuveen their 
 eyes, he alludes to the use of crowns and bracelets 
 among them, Deut. vi. 8. 
 
 Crowns are so little in use among us, that we dis- 
 tinguish the supreme magistrates of countries by the 
 phrase " crowned heads ;" but in the East they are 
 worn on many occasions which require demonstra- 
 tions of joy. (Comp. Eccles. and Job.) Job (xxxi. 
 36.) speaks of binding a crown on his head, which we 
 are not, we presume, to take as a royal crown, (that 
 would not need binding,) but as one of those tokens 
 of rejoicing which the custom of his country de- 
 manded at proper opportunities. But we have this 
 custom described at full length in Wisdom and Ec- 
 clesiasticus : — " Let no flower of the spring pass by 
 us ; let us ci-own ourselves with rose-buds," chap. ii. 
 8. " Wisdom weareth a crown, triumphing for ever," 
 chap. iv. 2. " The fear of the Lord is a crown of 
 rejoicing," Eccles. i. 2. These passages lead us to 
 the true impoi-t of the crown of thorns, placed by 
 the Roman soldiers on the head of our Lord — it was 
 a derision of his inauguration as king of the Jews ; 
 and it was not a tarnished golden crown which they 
 employed, but a prickly vegetable one ; to degrade, 
 in a very expressive, and intendedly ridiculous, man- 
 ner, the triumphant occasion on which they thus 
 bedecked him. The use of crowns among the vic- 
 torious athletfB, or combatants in the games of an- 
 tiquity, is well known. Newly married people of 
 both sexes Avore crowns, more rich and beautiful 
 than those generally used, Isa. Ixi. 10 ; Cant, iii. 11. 
 
 The crown, mitre, and diadem, royal fillet, anAtiara, 
 are frequently confounded. Crowns are bestowed 
 on gods, kings, and princes, as marks of their digni- 
 ty. David took the crowii from the god Moloch, or 
 Milcom, which was of gold and enriched with 
 jewels, (see Moloch,) (2 Sam. xii. 30; 1 Chron. xx. 
 2.) and the Amalekite who boasted of killing Saul, 
 brought tiiat prince's diadem, or royal fillet, to David, 
 2 Sam. i. 10. Queens among the Persians wore 
 diadems, Esth. ii. 17. God says, he had put a crown 
 of gold on the head of the Jewish nation, which is 
 represented as his spouse, Ezek. xvi. 12. Kings 
 used several diadems, when they possessed several 
 kingdoms. Ptolemy, having conquered Syria, made 
 his entry into Antioch, and put two diadems on his 
 head, that of Egypt and that of Asia. In the Reve- 
 lation, the dragon with seven heads had seven 
 crowns, one on each head, (xii. 3.) and the beast which 
 sprung out of the sea, with ten horns, had, likewise, 
 ten crowns. Lastly, the Eternal Word, the True 
 and Faithful One, had many crowns on his head 
 xix. 12. ' 
 
 CroiOTi is figuratively used to signify honor. "Ye 
 are my joy and my crown," says Paul to the Philip- 
 pians, iv. 1. Crown is used likewise for reward, be- 
 
 cause conquerors in the public games were crowned 
 with wreaths, garlands, &c. 
 
 CRUCIFIXION, see Cross. 
 
 CRUSE, a small vessel for holding water, and 
 other liquids, 1 Sam. xxvi. 11. 
 
 Our translators have rendered by the word cruse; 
 no less than three words, which are offfered by the 
 Hebrew; and which, no doubt, describe different 
 utensils ; though, perhaps, all may be taken as ves- 
 sels for the purpose of containing liquid. The fii'st 
 occurs, 1 Sam. xxvi. 11. David, Avhen in Saul's 
 tent, would not smite him, but carried off" his spear, 
 and his cruse (tsappachath) of water. That this was 
 a small vessel, not a capacious cistern, is evident ; 
 that it was a personal appendage to Saul, appears 
 from its being readily recognized as belonging to 
 him. Probably, as the spear was royal, so was the 
 water-vessel. However, it is certain it was not large. 
 In 1 Kings xvii. 12, the same word is used for the 
 widow's cruse of oil. So also 1 Kings xix. 20. — 
 We read also, 1 Kings xiv. 3, " Take in thy hands . . 
 a cruse of honey ;" but here the woi-d is diff"erent, 
 (bakhuk debash,) because, honey not being, by a great 
 deal, so fluid as water, a diff"erent vessel might con- 
 tain it ; this should, most propei-ly, be rendered ajar 
 or pot of honey. In 2 Kings ii. 20, Elisha says, 
 " Bring me a new cruse" {tselochith). This vessel is 
 described by a word different from either of the for- 
 mer ; and one which, in 2 Chron. xxxv. 13, appears 
 to denote a vessel in which the sacrifices were boiled ; 
 but elsewhere, a vessel — a dish, brought to table, 
 containing food, 2 Kings xxi. 13 : Prov. xix, 24 ; 
 xxvi. 15. Perhaps this might answer to our bowl, 
 or porringer. See Dish, and Kneading Troughs. 
 
 Now, it seems to be most probable, that as Saul 
 (like Elijah) was journeying, he took with him such 
 vessels as are customarily used by those who now 
 journey in the East ; and, as the widow in Sarepta 
 is described as being reduced to the very extremity 
 of famine, we may conclude that the narrower, the 
 smaller, the more diminutive, and the less capacious, 
 were her cruse, the better it agrees with the handful 
 of meal, and with the other circumstances of her 
 situation and history. 
 
 To those acquainted with the shape and nature of 
 the Florentine flasks of oil, one of the above figures 
 (a) will appear a close resemblance of them ; and as 
 there is, probably, a reason, in the nature of that com- 
 modity, for making the flask with a neck so long 
 and so narrow, if the same reason hold in Judea, 
 the same would be the shape of the Jewish flasks. 
 Moreover, as this is the shape of the water-flasks 
 now used by travellers in the East, it may well rep- 
 resent the ancient tsappachath, which our translators 
 have rendered cruse. The reader will observe the 
 wicker case to this flask ; which we may suppose, in 
 the instance of Saul's, was of superior materials, or 
 more ornamented than usual, by way of denoting its
 
 CUB 
 
 [321 ] 
 
 CUP 
 
 employment by a royal personage. But, as it must 
 he admitted that it might be of another shape, we 
 have in our engraving a vessel differently shaped, 
 (d) which likewise is used by travellers in the East, 
 to contain water for personal accommodation ; and 
 tlie ornaments on which might easily be rendered 
 royal, and -even superb. Pococke says, "If they go 
 long journeys, they have such vessels for containing 
 water as are represented in fig. (b) and (c) which 
 they use in the journey to Mecca. 
 
 To CRY. This word is used in several senses. 
 " The blood of Abel crieth from the ground," where 
 it was spilt. Gen. iv. 10. " The cry of Sodom as- 
 cended up to heaven," xviii. 20. The cries of the 
 Israelites, oppressed by the Egyptians, rose up to 
 the throne of God, Exod. iii. U. "He looked for 
 judgment, but behold oppi-essiou ; for righteousness, 
 but behold a cry," Isa. v. 7. " If my land cry against 
 me, or the furrows likewise thereof complain," says 
 Job, xxxi. 38. The force of these expressions is 
 such, that any explanation would only weaken them. 
 
 CRYSTAL. The Hebrew Kerech is rendered by 
 our translators, crystal, (Ezek. i. 22.) frost, (Gen. 
 xxxi. 40, &c.) and ice, Job vi. 16, &c. The word 
 primarily denotes ice, and it is given to a perfectly 
 transparent and hyaline gem, from its resemblance 
 to this substance. 
 
 CUBIT, a measure used among the ancients, and 
 which the Hebrews call ammdh. A cubit was origi- 
 nally the distance from the elbow to the extremity 
 of the middle finger ; which is the fourth part of a 
 well-proportioned man's stature. The Hebrew cu- 
 bit, according to bishop Cumberland, and M. Pel- 
 letier, is twenty-one inches ; but others fix it at 
 eighteen. The Talmudists observe, that the Hebrew 
 cubit was larger, by one quarter, than the Roman. 
 It is thought that there were two sorts of cubits 
 among the Hebrews, one sacred, the other common ; 
 the sacred containing three feet, the common, a foot 
 and a half. 3Ioses (Numb. xxxv. 4.) assigns to the 
 Levites 1000 sacred cubits of land round about their 
 cities ; and in the next verse he gives them 2000 
 common ones. The two columns of brass, in Solo- 
 mon's temple, are reckoned eighteen cubits high, in 
 1 Kings vii. 15, and in 2 Chron. iii. 15, thirty-five 
 cubits. (See BoAZ.) Other writers, however, allow 
 the sacred cubit to exceed the common cubit by only 
 a hand's breadth. They suppose Moses to speak of 
 the conunon cubit, Avhen he descriljes it as the 
 measure of a man's arm folded inward ; (Deut. iii. 
 11.) and that the sacred cubit was a hand's breadth 
 longer than this, as Ezek. xliii. 13. The very learned 
 and ingenious Dr. Arbuthnot says, that to him it 
 seems plain, that the Jews used two sorts of cubits, 
 a sacred one, and a profane or common one ; for in 
 Deut. iii. 11. the bed of Og is said to have been nine 
 cubits long, and four cubits broad, after the cubit of 
 a man. But (Ezek. xl. 5.) Ezekiel's reed is said to 
 be six cubits long, by the cubit and a hand-breadth ; 
 whence it appeai-s, that the larger cubit, by which 
 the reed was measured, was longer than the common 
 one, by a hand-breadth, or three inches. But, not- 
 withstanding these reasons, Calmet believes that 
 there was but one cubit among the Hebrews, from 
 the exodus to the Babylonish captivity ; and that 
 this was the Egyptian cubit, the measure of which 
 was taken, some years ago, from the old standards 
 extant at Grand Cairo ; and that only after the cap- 
 tivity. Scripture notices two sorts of measures to 
 distinguish the ancient Hebrew cubit from that of 
 Babylon, which the captives had used during their 
 41 
 
 abode in that city. On this, he thinks, is grounded 
 the precaution of Ezekiel in observing, that the 
 cubit he is speaking of is the true ancient cubit, 
 larger by a hand's breadth than the common cubit. 
 
 CUCKOO, an unclean bird. Lev. xi. 16. We are 
 not certain of the bird intended by Moses under this 
 name ; the strength of the versions is in favor of the 
 sea-meiv, or gull. Geddes renders, " the horn-owl," 
 but we incline to the opinion of Shaw, who under- 
 stands it of the rhaad, or saf-saf, a granivorous and 
 gregarious bird, which wants the hinder toe ; though 
 we confess we see no reason for the exclusion of 
 this bird by Moses. See Birds. 
 
 CUCUMBER, a vegetable very plentiful in the 
 East, especially in Egypt, (Numb. xi. 5.) where they 
 are esteemed delicacies, and form a great pan of the 
 food of the lower class of people, especially during 
 the hot months. [The n^nup, kishdim, of Numb. xi. 
 5, is the Egyptian cucumber, the Cucumis chate of 
 Linnaeus, similar in form to our cucumber, but larger, 
 being usually a foot in length. It is described by 
 Hasselquist as greener, smoother, softer, sweeter, 
 and more digestible than our cucumber. (Travels, 
 p. 530, Germ, ed.) He also says, that it grows in 
 perfection around Cairo, especially after the inunda- 
 tions of the Nile. In other paits of Egypt it is less 
 cultivated, because it does not succeed as well. They 
 are not watery, but rather of a firm substance, like 
 melons, with a sweetish and refreshing taste. In 
 summer they are brought upon the tables of the 
 gi-eat, and of the Europeans in Egj'pt, as the best 
 and most pleasant refreshment, and from which no 
 ill consequences are to be apprehended. R. 
 
 CUD, the food deposited in the first stomach in 
 cattle, and some other animals, for the purpose of 
 rumination, i. e. of being chewed again, when it re- 
 turns upwards, after having been swallowed. Ani- 
 mals not chewing the cud were prohibited as food 
 to the Hebrews, Deut. xiv. 6 — 8. See Animals. 
 
 CUMMIN, a plant much hke fennel ; and which 
 produces blossoms and branches in an umbellated 
 form. Our Lord reproved the scribes and Pharisees 
 for so very carefully paying tithe of mint, anise, 
 and cummin, and yet neglecting good works, and 
 more essential obedience to God's law, Matt, 
 xxiii. 23. 
 
 CUP. This word is taken in Scripture both in 
 a proper and in a figurative sense. In a proper 
 sense, it signifies a common cup, such as is used for 
 drinking out of at meals ; or a cup of ceremony, as 
 used at solemn and religious meals ; as at the pass- 
 over, when the father of the family pronounced cer- 
 tain blessings over the cup, and, having tasted it, 
 passed it round to the company and his whole family, 
 who partook of it. In a figurative sense, cup gene- 
 rally imports afflictions or punishments: "Stand up, 
 O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the 
 Lord the cup of his fury," Isaiah h. 17. (See Psalm 
 Ixxv. 8.) In the same sense, men are represented as 
 drunk with sorrow, with afflictions, with the wine 
 of God's wrath ; which expressions are consequences 
 following this first metaphor of a cup. It is de- 
 rived from the custom observed at entertainments for 
 the guests to drink round out of the same cup. Such 
 persons as refused to drink in their turn at feasts, 
 were not endured : " Let him drink or begone," was 
 a kind of proverb. Cup denotes, likewise, share or 
 portion, (Psalm xvi. 5.) because at meals each had 
 his cup. Or the prophet alludes to those cups which 
 were drunk by every one in his turn : " I will have 
 no share in the inheritance, the feasts, sacrifices, por-
 
 cus 
 
 [ 322 ] 
 
 CUSH 
 
 tiouB, society of the wicked ; God alone is sufficient 
 for me ; he is my portion and my cnp ; I desire noth- 
 ing further." 
 
 Cup of Blessing (1 Cor. x. 16.) is that which 
 was blessed in entertainments of ceremony, or 
 solemn services, out of which the company drank 
 all roinid. Or a cup over which God was blessed 
 for having furnished its contents ; — and occasionally, 
 for having afforded cause, as well as means, of re- 
 joicing. Our Saviour, in the last supper, blessed the 
 cup, and gave it to each of his disciples to drink, 
 Luke xxii. 20. 
 
 Cup of Salvation (Ps. cxvi. 1.3.) is a cuj) of 
 thanksgiving, of blessing tlie Lord for liis mercies. 
 We see this practice where the Jews of Egj'pt, in 
 their festivals for deliverance, offered cups of salva- 
 tion. The Jews have at this day cups of thanksgiv- 
 ing, which are blessed, in their marriage ceremonies, 
 and in entertainments made at the circumcision of 
 their children. Some commentators believe " the 
 cup of salvation" to be a libation of wine poured on 
 the victim sacrificed on thanksgiving occasions, ac- 
 cording to the law of Moses, Exod. xxix. 40. 
 
 Cup of Josepu, by which, according to the Eng- 
 lish translation, he is said to have divined, Gen. 
 xliv. 5. From customs still used in the East, it 
 seems probable that this, instead of being a cup by 
 which to divine, was a cup of distinction, or one pe- 
 culiar to the governor, which had been presented, 
 as they now are in some parts, by the citizens whom 
 he governed. See mider Joseph. 
 
 CURSE. God denounced his curse against tlie 
 serpent which had seduced Eve, (Gen. iii. 14.) and 
 against Cain, who had imbued his hands in his 
 brother Abel's blood, iv. 11. He also promised to 
 bless those who should bless Abraham, and to curse 
 those who should curse him. The divine maledic- 
 tions are not merely imprecations, nor are they im- 
 potent Avishes ; but they carry their effects with 
 them, and arc attended with all the miseries they 
 denounce or foretell. 
 
 Holy men sometimes proi)hetically cursed par- 
 ticular persons ; (Gen. ix. 25; xlix. 7; Deut. xxvii. 
 15 ; Josh. vi. 26.) and history informs us, that these 
 imprecations had their fulfilment ; as had those of 
 our Saviour against the barren fig-tree, Mark xi. 21. 
 But such curses are not consequences of passion, 
 im{)arience, or revenge ; — they are predictions, and 
 therefore not such as God condemns. No one sh.all 
 presume to curse his father or his mother, on pain 
 of death ; (Exod. xxi. 17.) nor the prince of his peo- 
 j)le ; (xxii. 28.) nor one that is deaf; (Lev. xix. 14.) 
 whether a man really deaf be meant here, or one 
 who is absent, and therefore cannot hear what is said 
 against him. Blasphemy, or cursing of God, is pun- 
 ished v/itli death, Lev. xxiv. 10, 11. Our Lord pro- 
 nounces blessed those disciples who are (falsely) 
 loaded with curses ; and requires his followers to 
 l)Icss thos;i who curse them ; to render blessing for 
 cursing, &c. Matt. v. 11. 
 
 Tlie ral)bins say, that Barak cursed and excom- 
 municated Meroz, who dwelt near the brook Ki- 
 shon, but who came not to lussist Israel against Jabin. 
 Wherefore Barak excommunicated him l)y the sound 
 of 400 trumpets, according to Judg. v. 23. But ]Me- 
 roz is more probably the name of a place. See 
 Anathema, Devoting. 
 
 I. CUSH, eldest son of Ham, and Huher of Nim- 
 rod. Gen. x. 8. His sons were Seba, Havilah, Sab- 
 tali, Raamah, Sabtijcha, and Nimrod, vor. 7. 
 
 II. CUSH, and CUSHAN. the couutries peopled 
 
 by the descendants of Cush, ami generally called 
 Ethiopia, in the English Bible, as though but one 
 place were intended. Such, however, is not the 
 fact, and a want of attention to this will involve 
 some passages of Scripture in inextricable confusion. 
 
 [Commentators differ exceedingly in respect to 
 the countries which are included under the name of 
 Cush, or Ethiopia. Bochart every where understands 
 the southern parts of Arabia ; (Phaleg. iv. 2.) Ge- 
 senius affirms that Cush, and all the tribes connected 
 with this name, are to be sought only in Africa. 
 (Lex. art. v^2.) Michaelis supposed that both the 
 African Ethiopia and southern Arabia were intended. 
 (Spicilcg. i. 143, seq.) To this opinion Rosenmiiller 
 also assents ; (Bibl. Geog. iii. p. 154.) and adds, that 
 in a wider sense, the Hebrews designated by the name 
 Cush all southern countries, or the torrid zone, with 
 their inhabitants, so far as these were of a black or 
 tawny color, — in an indefinite extent, from west to 
 east. He supposes, too, that if the Hebrews had any 
 knowledge of the countries around the Indus and 
 Ganges, Avhicli we now call the East Indies, they 
 also included all these regions under the name Cush; 
 i. e. they employed this name generally and indefi- 
 nitely, just as the Greeks did Ethiopia, and as we do, 
 at the present day, the term East Indies. Mr. Bry- 
 ant supposes the Scripture to mention three different 
 countries of this name, viz. in Africa, in southern 
 Arabia, and the third comprehending the regions of 
 Persis, Chusistan, and Susiana. (Mythology, vol. iii. 
 p. 180 ; p. 175, seq.) As this last opinion is the more 
 consonant, both with the Bible and with profane his- 
 tory, it will be proper here to point out the grounds 
 on which it rests. 
 
 1. Cush, the oriental Cush, or Ethiopia, is men- 
 tioned by Herodotus ; (vii. 70.) and Zephaniah mani- 
 festly alludes to it, wlien he speaks of the return of 
 Judah from captivity: (iii. 10.) "From beyond the 
 rivers of Cush (Ethio])ia), my suppliants, even the 
 daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering." 
 The principal of these rivers were, of course, the 
 Ulai, Kur, Chobar, and Choaspes ; all eastern 
 branches of the Tigris ; near which w ere the chief 
 places of the captivity. (Bryant's Mythol. iii. p. 181.) 
 Cholchis was also included in this oriental Cush, or 
 Ethiopia; for Jerome mentions St. Andrew's preach- 
 ing the gospel in the towns upon the two Cholchic 
 rivers, the Apsarus and Phasis ; and calls the natives 
 Ethiopes interiores ; he also relates the same circmn- 
 stance of Matthias, and calls the country altera Ethi- 
 opia. (Hieron. de Scriptoribus ccclesiast.) Many 
 other notices to the same effect from classic authors 
 are quoted by IMr. Bryant, ;;s above cited. Besides 
 this, Moses Choronensis, a native of Armenia, who 
 wrote, in the fifth century, a history of tliat country, 
 and also a geography still extant, includes all the 
 country east of the Tigris, from the Caspian sea to 
 the Persian gulf, under tin; name of Cush. He calls 
 Media, Chushi-Caproch ; Elymais, Chushi-Chora- 
 san ; Persia, Chushi-^Yemroz ; and under Elymais 
 he reckons a jn-oviiice nansed Chvr,astan. ' (Ed. 
 Whistoii, ]). .3()3.) This province oi' Cliusastan, or 
 Chusistan, or Kliosistan, corresponds to the ancient 
 Susiana, is bounded on the south by the Persian 
 gulf, and on the west and south-west by the Tigris, 
 which separates it from the Arabian Irak ; and its 
 name is no other than the ancient Cush with a Per- 
 sian termination. (Sec sir R. K. Porter's map of 
 Persia in his Travels; also in Rosenmiillcr's Bib. 
 Geog. vol. i.) As a still finther illustration, we may 
 add, that the couiUry called nro, Cuthah, in 2 Kings
 
 CUSH 
 
 [ 323 ] 
 
 CUSH 
 
 xvii. 24, where thu king of Assyria is said to have 
 transported from Babylon, Jind Ciithah, and Ava, and 
 Hanialh, colonists into tlie cities of Samaria, can 
 hardly be any other than this oriental Cush ; the 
 name Cutliah, or Cuth, being only the Aramaean mode 
 of pronouncing Cush; since the letters simi and 
 tau were by them often thus interchanged ; as in 
 the name iirN, .^shi'u; or Assyria, which they pro- 
 nounced -\)ri<, '/Itkitr, or Atmia. (See under Assyria.) 
 From the fact of its being mentioned along with Baby- 
 lon, it is evidently a country lying eastward of Pales- 
 tine, and the coincidence of the name knaves little room 
 to doubt its identity with the oriental Cush, as above 
 described. To this counti-y, then, we must assigu 
 the river Gihon. (See Stuart's Ileb. Chrestomathy 
 on Gen. ii. 13.) 
 
 •2. Cush, as employed by the Hebrews, included 
 the southern parts of Arabia, principally along the 
 coasts of the Red sea; since there are several pas- 
 sages of Scripture which apply to no other coun- 
 try ; and least of all to the African Ethiopia, or Abys- 
 sinia. From this country originated Nimrod, who 
 conquered Babel, Gen. x. 8, seq. The Ethiopian 
 woman, whom Moses married during the march of 
 the Israelites through the Arabian desert, can hardly 
 be sup])osed to have come from the distant Abys- 
 suiia, but rather from the adjacent southern Ai-abia, 
 Num. xii. 1. When the prophet Habakkuk says, 
 (iii. 7.) " I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction ; and 
 the [tent-] curtains of the land of Midian did trem- 
 ble," those whom he addressed surely did not 
 think of the distant African Ethiopia, but of the 
 parts adjacent to Midian, i. e, southern Aral)ia. So 
 in 2 Chron. xxi. 16, among the enemies of the He- 
 brews are mentioned, after the Philistines, the Ara- 
 bians, ^vho dwelt near, by the side of the Cushites, 
 or Ethiopians ; this cannot well apply to the African 
 Ethiopians, who were separated from Arabia by the 
 Red sea and wide deserts. In like manner, when it 
 is said, in 2 Chron, xiv. 9, that Zerah, king of Ethio- 
 pia, made an incursion into Judea as far as Mare- 
 shah, we can hardly suppose him to come from the 
 African Ethiopia ; for in that case he must first have 
 conquered Egypt ; of which there is no mention. 
 It is, therefore, more probable, that he was the king 
 of an Arabian tribe; who might more easily come in 
 contact with the king of Judah. Moreover, in wri- 
 ters of the fifth century, the Ilomeritcs, or Hamyar- 
 ites, a people wlio always inhabited the south of Ara- 
 bia, are called Cushites and Ethiopians. (Asseman- 
 ni, Biblioth. Orient, torn. iii. pt. ii. j). 568.) Hence 
 the Chaldee paraphrast Jonathan was not far out of 
 the way, when he translates the word Cush in Gen. 
 X. 6, by Arabia ; as also the paraphrast of the Chroni- 
 cles, 1 Chron. i. 8, 9. *R. 
 
 3. Cush, Ethiopia, south of Egypt, or Ethiopia 
 proper, now generally named Abyssinia, which name 
 the Arabians derive from Habasch, a son of Cush. 
 This Habasch is not mentioned in the Bible, nor the 
 Cush from whom the Mahometans suppose him to 
 be descended ; for the Scripture Cush was bi-other 
 of Canaan, and father of Nimrod, Seba, Sabtah, Ha- 
 vilah, Raamah, and Sabtecha ; whereas, the Arabians 
 make Cush the father of Habasch to be son and not 
 brother of Canaan ; and certainly it is probable, that 
 Cush the father of Nimrod, &c. who dwelt in Ara- 
 bia, is different from Cush the son of Canaan, who 
 peojjied Ethiopia proper. Ethiopia proper is de- 
 scribed in the following passages : " I will make 
 Egypt waste, from Migdol to Syene," (Assouan, on 
 the confines of Ethiopia,) Ezek. xxix. 10, marg. and 
 
 Jer. xiii. 23, "Can the Ethiopian change his 
 skin ?" Jeremiah joins the Cushim with the Liby- 
 ans ; Daniel, (xi. 43.) which can be naturally ex- 
 plained only of the Ethiopians and Abyssinians ; 
 also Ezekiel, xxx. 4, 5. Queen Candace's eunuch 
 was of the same country. In all these passages it 
 appears that Cush comprehends not only Ethiopia, 
 above Syene and the Cataracts, but likewise a part 
 of Thebai's, or Upper Egj'pt. Ahasuerus (Esther i. 
 1 ; viii. 9.) reigned from the Indies to Ethiopia, that 
 is, to Abyssmia ; for Herodotus says, this country 
 paid tribute to Darius sou of Hystaspes. Isaiah says, 
 (chap. xlv. 14.) "The labor of Egypt, and merchan- 
 dise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans, men of stature, 
 shall come over to thee, and they shall be thine." 
 Here, says Mr. Bruce, tlie several nations are dis- 
 tinctly and severally mentioned in their places, but 
 the whole meaning of the passage would have been 
 lost, had not the situations of these nations been per- 
 fectly known ; or had not the Sabeans been men- 
 tioned separately ; for both the Sabeans and the Cush- 
 ites were certainly Ethiopians. The meaning of the 
 verse is, that the fruit of the agriculture of Egypt, 
 which is wheat ; the conunodities of the negi'o, gold, 
 silver, ivory, and perfumes, would be brought by 
 the Sabeau shepherds, their carriers, and a nation 
 of great power, who shall join themselves with you. 
 Again, Ezekiel says, (chaji. xxx. 8, 9.) "And they 
 shall know that I am the Lord, when I have set a 
 fire in Egypt, and all her helpers shall be destroyed." 
 " In that day shall messengers go forth from me in 
 ships, to make the careless Ethiopians afraid." Now 
 Nebuchadnezzar was to destroy Egypt (Ezek. xxix. 
 10.) from the frontiers of Palestine to the mountains 
 above Atbara, where the Cushite dwelt. Between 
 this and Egypt is a great desert ; the country beyond 
 it and on both sides was possessed by half a million 
 of men. The Cushite, or negi'o merchant, was se- 
 cure, under these circumstances, from any insult by 
 land : as they were open to the sea, and had no de- 
 fender, messengers, therefore, in ships, or a fleet, had 
 easy access to them, to alarm and keep them at home, 
 that they did not fall into danger by marching into 
 Egypt against Nebuchadnezzar, or interrupting the 
 service on which God had sent him. But this does 
 not appear from translating Cush, Ethiopian ; the 
 nearest Ethiopians to Nebuchadnezzar, the most 
 powerful and most capable of opposing him, were 
 the Ethiopian shepherds of the Thebaid, and these 
 were not accessible to ships ; and the shepherds so 
 posted near to the scene of destruction to be com- 
 mitted by Nebuchadnezzar, were enemies to the 
 Cushites living in to^vns, and they had repeatedly 
 themselves destroyed them, and, therefore, had no 
 temptation to be other than spectators. (Bruce, 
 Travels, vol. i. p. 107.) 
 
 These distinctions are of greater importance than 
 it may at first appear ; because, by attributing to one 
 country, called Cush, what properly belongs to an- 
 other Cush, at a considerable distance from the for- 
 mer, much confusion ens^ucs ; and confusion, too, of 
 a nature not easily remedied. It should be, how- 
 ever, remembered, that all ancient writers have at 
 least equal confusion in their descriptions of Ethio- 
 pia, (Cush,) and arising from the same cause — the 
 different families of the Cushites, which, by various 
 removals, inhabited these places, so widely separated 
 from each other. 
 
 We should not close this article without noticing 
 the rivers of Cush, [Ethiopia, Eng. trans.) men- 
 tioned in Isa. xviii. 1, although it is not practicable,
 
 CUT 
 
 [324] 
 
 CUTTINGS 
 
 within the hmits prescribed by this work, to euter 
 into a critical examination of the prophecy. Mr. 
 Taylor has devoted two or three Fragments to the 
 subject, and he anives at the following conclusions : 
 (1.) The rivers of Cush are the branches of the Nile. 
 (2.) The object of the prophecy is to excite the Nu- 
 bians and Ethiopians to send gifts to mount Ziou, in 
 honor of Jehovah ; which they might as easily do, 
 as confederate with Hoshea, king of Israel. (3.) 
 The people to %vhom it is addressed are the Nubians 
 and Ethiopians, in their own country ; though at 
 this time their king was advancing toward the pos- 
 session of Egypt. (4.) The history to which it belongs 
 is that of the extension of the Ethiopian power over 
 Egypt, and the silent termination of it. (5.) The 
 person who send^ the messengers. The prophet him- 
 self sends to the southern Egyptians ; the southern 
 Egj'ptians send to Nubia, which Nubia is the nation 
 to which the message is ultimately addressed. If 
 this representation be just, the restoration of the 
 Jews to their own land, by any western pov^er, is 
 not the ap])lication of it. 
 
 CUTHITES, a people who dwelt beyond the 
 Euphrates, and were from thence transplanted into 
 Samaria, in place of the Israelites, who had before 
 inhabited it. They came from the land of Cush, or 
 Cutha ; their first settlement being in the cities of 
 the Medes, subdued by Shalmaneser, and his prede- 
 cessors. (See Cush.) The Israelites were substi- 
 tuted for them in those places. On their amval in 
 Samaria, the Cuthites resumed the worship of the 
 gods they had adored beyond the Euphrates. The 
 Lord, being hereby provoked, sent lions among them, 
 which desti-oyed them. This being reported to 
 Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, he appointed an Isra- 
 eUtish priest to instruct them in that worship which 
 was pleasing to God ; but the people, thinking they 
 might reconcile their old superstitions with the wor- 
 ship of the God of Israel, worshipped the Lord and 
 their false gods together, and made of the lowest of 
 the people jjriests of the high-places. They con- 
 tinued this practice long, but afterwards forsook 
 idols, and adhered to the law of Moses, as the Sa- 
 maritans, their descendants, continue to do. When 
 the Jews returned from their captivity, the Samari- 
 tans desired to assist them in rebuilding the temple, 
 (Ezra iv. 1, 2.) but Zerubbabel, and Jeshua son of 
 Jozedek, with the elders of Israel, answered that 
 they could not grant their request ; the king of 
 Persia having given permission to Jews only to 
 build a temple to the Lord. Hence it appears, 
 that tiic Cuthites had hitherto no temple in their 
 country ; but that in each city they worshipped God, 
 and, perhaps, idols in consecrated places, josephus 
 informs us, that they did not build a common tem- 
 ple on mount Gerizim till the reign of Alexander 
 the Great. See Samaritans. 
 
 CUTTINGS IN THE Flesh. There has been much 
 conjecture as to the reason for which the priests of 
 Baal " cut thomselvcs, after their manner, with knives, 
 and with lancets, till the blood gushed out upon 
 tiiem," 1 Kings xviii. 28. This seems, by the his- 
 tory, to have been after Elijah had mocked them, or 
 while he was mocking them, and had worked up 
 their fervor and passions to the utmost height. Mr. 
 Harmer has touched lightly on this circumstance, 
 but has not set it in so clear a view as it seems to be 
 capable of, nor has he given veiy cogent instances. 
 It may be taken as an instance of earnest entreaty, 
 of conjuration, by the most powerful marks of affec- 
 tion ; q. d. " Dost thou not see, O Baal ! with what 
 
 passion we adore thee ? — how we give thee most de- 
 cisive tokens of our affection ? We shrink at no 
 pain, we decline no disfigurement, to demonstrate 
 our love for thee ; and yet thou answerest not ! By 
 every token of our regard, answer us ! By the freely 
 flowmg blood we shed for thee, answer us!" &c. 
 They certainly demonstrated their attachment to 
 Baal ; but Baal did not testify his reciprocal attach- 
 ment to them, in proof of his divinity ; which was 
 the point in dispute between them and Elijah. Ob- 
 serve how readily these still bleeding cuttings would 
 identify the priests of Baal at the subsequent slaugh- 
 ter; and how they tended to justify that slaughter; 
 being contrary to the law, that ought to have gov- 
 erned the Hebrew nation ; as we shall presently see. 
 As the demonstration of love, by cuttings made in 
 the flesh, still maintains itself in the East, a few in- 
 stances may be, at least, amusing to European read- 
 ers, without fear of its becoming fashionable among 
 us : " But the most ridiculous and senseless method 
 of expressing their affection is, their singing certain 
 amorous and whining songs, composed on purpose 
 for such mad occasions ; between every hne of which 
 they cut and slash their naked arms, with daggers ; 
 each endeavoring, in their emulative madness, to ex- 
 ceed the other by the depth and number of the 
 wounds he gives himself. (A lively picture this, of 
 the singing, leaping, and self-slashing priests of Baal !) 
 Some Turks, I have observed, when old, and past 
 the foUies which possessed their youth, to show their 
 arms, all gashed and scarred from wrist to elbow ; 
 and express a gi'eat concern, but greater wonder, at 
 their past simplicity." The "oddness of the style 
 invited me to render some of the above-named songs 
 into English : 
 
 Could I, dear ray of heavenly light, 
 Who now behind a cloud dost sliine, 
 
 Obtain the blessing of thy sight, 
 And taste thy influence all divine ; 
 
 Thus would I shed my warm heart's blood, 
 
 As now I gash my veiny arm ; 
 Wouldst thou but like the sun think good 
 
 To draw it upward by some charm. 
 
 Another runs thus : 
 
 O, lovely charmer, pity me ! 
 
 See how my blood does from me fly ! 
 Yet were I sure to conquer thee, 
 
 Witness it, Heaven ! I'd gladly die." 
 
 Aaron Hill's Travels, p. 108. 
 
 This account is confirmed by De la Motraye, who 
 gives a print of such a subject. This custom of 
 cutting themselves is taken, in other places of Scrip- 
 ture, as a mark of affection : so, Jer. xlviii. 37 : " Ev- 
 ery head shall be bald, every beard clipped, and upon 
 all hands cuttings ; and upon the loins sackcloth f* 
 as tokens of excessive grief, for the absence of those 
 thus regarded. So, chap. xvi. ver. G: "Both the 
 great and the small shall die in the land ; they shall 
 not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, 
 nor cut themselves," in proof of their affection, and 
 expression of their loss ; " nor make themselves bald 
 for them," by tearing their hair, &c. as a token of 
 grief. So, chap. xli. 5 : " There came from Samaria 
 fourscore men having their beards shaven, and their 
 clothes rent ; and having cut themselves ; with offer- 
 ings to the house of the Lord." So, chap, xlvii. 5.
 
 CYM 
 
 [ 325 ] 
 
 CYR 
 
 " Baldness is come upon Gaza : Askeloii is cut off, 
 with tlie residue of her valleys ; how long wilt thou 
 cut thyself 9" rather, perhaps, hotv deep ? or to ivhat 
 length wilt thou cut thyself? All these places in- 
 clude the idea of painful absence of the party belov- 
 ed. Cuttings for the dead had the same radical idea 
 of privation. The law says. Lev. xix. 28, and Deut. 
 xiv. 1 : "Ye are the children of the Lord your God ; 
 ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness 
 between your eyes, for the dead," i. e. restrain such 
 excessive tokens of grief: sorrow not as those with- 
 out hope — if for a dead friend ; but if for a dead idol, 
 as Cahnet always takes it — then it prohibits the idol- 
 atrous custom, of which it also manifests the antiqui- 
 ty. Mr. Harmer has properly referred " the wounds 
 in the hands" of the examined prophet, (Zech. xiii. (5.) 
 to this custom : — the prophet denies that he gave 
 himself these wounds in token of his affection to an 
 idol ; but admits that he had received them in token 
 of affection to a person. It is usual to refer the ex- 
 pression of the apostle (Gal. vi. 17 : "I bear in my 
 body the marks, stigmata, of the Lord Jesus,") to those 
 imprinted on soldiers by their commanders ; or to those 
 imprinted on slaves by their masters ; but would there 
 be any imin-opriety in referring them to tokens of affec- 
 tion towards Jesus ? q. d. " Let no man take upon 
 him to [molest, fatigue] trouble me by questioning 
 my pretensions to the apostleship, or to the charac- 
 ter of a true lover of Jesus Christ, as some among 
 you Galatians have done ; for I think my losses, my 
 sufferings, my scars, received in the fulfilment of my 
 duty to him, are tokens sufficiently visible to every 
 man who considers them, of my regard to him, 
 for whose sake I have borne, and still bear them : I 
 shall, therefore, write no more in vmdication of 
 my character, in that respect, however it may be 
 impugned." 
 
 CYAMON, a place opposite to Esdraelon, (Judith 
 vii. 3. Gr.) perhaps the same as Camon, placed by 
 Eusebius in the gi'eat plain, six miles from Legio, 
 north. 
 
 L CYAXARES L son of Phraortes, succeeded 
 his father in the kingdom of the Medes, and was suc- 
 ceeded by Astyages, otherwise called Masuenis. 
 Cyaxares began to reign about A. M. 3391, died about 
 A. M. 3430. 
 
 IL CYAXARES II. son and successor of Asty- 
 ages, observing the progress of Evil-merodach, king 
 of the Assyrians, or Belshazzar his son, called Cyrus 
 his nephew to his assistance, and attacked Babylon, 
 A. M. 3448. (See Belshazzar, and Babylon.) 
 Xenophon says, that Cyrus left the government of 
 Babylon to his uncle Cyaxares, who held it only two 
 years. This Cyaxares is otherwise called Darius the 
 Mede. See Darius I. 
 
 CYMBAL, a musical instrument, consisting of 
 two broad plates of brass, of a convex form, which, 
 being struck together, produce a shrill, piercing 
 sound. They were used in the temple, and upon 
 occasions of public rejoicings, (1 Chron. xvi. 19.) as 
 they are by the Armenians, at the present day. In 
 1 Cor. xiii. l,the apostle deduces a comparison from 
 sounding brass, and tinkling cymbals : perhaps the 
 latter words had been as well rendered clattering 
 cymbals ; since such is the nature of the instrument : 
 but, if we may suppose that, in the phrase "sounding 
 brass," the apostle alluded to an instrument compos- 
 ed of merely two pieces of brass, shaken one aga'iist 
 the other, and thereby producing a kind of rattling 
 jingle, void of meaning, intensity or harmony, perhaps 
 we should be pretty near the true idea of the passage. 
 
 Boys, among ourselves, have such a kind of snappers ; 
 and the crotalistria of the ancients were no better. 
 
 CYPRIARCHES ; that is, governor of Cyprus. 
 Nicanor has this title, 2 Mac. xii. 2. 
 
 CYPRUS, the largest island in the Mediterranean, 
 situated between Cilicia and Syria ; the inhabitants 
 of which were plunged in all manner of luxury and 
 debauchery. Their principal deity was Venus, who 
 had a celebrated temple at Paphos. The island is 
 extremely fertile, and abounded in wine, oil, honey, 
 wool, copper, agate, and a beautiful species of rock- 
 crystal. There were also large forests of cypress- 
 trees. (See Chittim.) Of the cities in the "island, 
 Paphos and Salamis are mentioned in the New Tes- 
 tament. The apostles Paul and Barnabas landed 
 here, A. D. 44, Acts xiii. 4. While they continued 
 at Salamis, they preached Jesus Christ in the Jewish 
 synagogues ; and from thence they 'visited all the 
 cities of the island, preaching the gospel. At 
 Paphos, they found Bar-Jesus, a false prophet, with 
 Sergius Paulus, the governor : Paul struck Bar-Jesus 
 with blindness ; and the ))roconsul embraced Chris- 
 tianity. Some time after, Barnabas went again into 
 this island with John, surnamed Mark, (Actsxv. 39.) 
 and it is said he was martyred here, being stoned to 
 death by the Jews of Salamis. 
 
 CYRENE, a city and province of Libya Pentapo- 
 htana, between the gi-eat Syrtes, and the Mareotis; 
 at present called Ca'iroan, in the kingdom of Barca. 
 It was sometimes called Pentapolis, from the five 
 principal cities which it contained — Cyrene, Apollo- 
 uia, Arsinoe, Berenice, and Ptolemais. From hence 
 came Simon the Cyrenian, father of Alexander and 
 Rufus, on whom the Roman soldiers laid a part of 
 our Saviour's cross. Matt, xxvii. 32 ; lAike xxiii. 26. 
 There were many Jews in the province of Cyrene, 
 a great part of whom eniliraced the Christian reU- 
 gion, though others opposed it with much obstinacy. 
 Among the most inveterate enemies of our religion, 
 Luke reckons those of this province, who had a 
 synagogue at Jerusalem, and excited the people 
 against Stephen, Acts xi. 20. 
 
 CYRENIUS, orP. Sulpitius Quiri.nus, (according 
 to his Latin appellation,) governor of Syria, Luke ii. 
 1, 2. Very great difficulties have been raised on the 
 history of the taxing under Cyrenius ; as it appears, 
 by history, that Cyrenius was not governor of Syria 
 till nine or ten years aff;er our Saviour was born. 
 Cyrenius was not of a noble family ; but, by early 
 public services, he obtained the honor of the consul- 
 ship of Rome, A. U. 742 ;. and he gained a memora- 
 ble victory over the Homonadenses, A. U. 747, or 
 748. Usher thinks he was then proconsul of Cilicia ; 
 but others think he was sent into that province as an 
 extraordinary officer. However, having finished this 
 war, he migiit be sent, say they, into Syria, for the pur- 
 poses of the enrolment to be made there, A. U. 749, 
 which is about the time fixed by Luke ; for Herod 
 died A. U. 750, or 751. Cyrenius was appointed 
 governor to Caius Ca?sar, A. U. C. 755. It is gener- 
 ally admitted that Cyrenius was not properly govern- 
 or of Syria at the ti'me of our Lord's birth, though 
 he was afterwards, Saturninus being then governor. 
 Still, however, Cyrenius might have been associated 
 with him. 
 
 We should observe on Luke ii. 1, 2. (1.) that the 
 word o.Vori.n.;, rendered all the tcorZrf, sometimes sig- 
 nifies only the whole of a country, region, or district; 
 as certainly, Luke xxi. 26. and, perhaps, Acts xi. 28. 
 But the expression all the country is pecuharly prop- 
 1 er here, because Galilee, as well as Judea, was m-
 
 CYRENIUfe 
 
 L 326 ] 
 
 CYRENIUS 
 
 eluded; and perhaps all places where there were 
 Jews. (2.) That the word arcoyndcpr,. rendered taxing, 
 should have been rendered enrolment ; as a taxation 
 did not always follow such enrolment, though this 
 was generally the prelude to it. The difficulty lies 
 in the word .towti,, "Jirst ;^^ because there really was 
 a taxation ten or eleven years afterwards, which, as 
 a decisive mark of subjection to the Roman power, 
 was very mortifying to the Jewish nation. And to 
 this taxation Gamaliel alludes, Acts v. 37. Dr. 
 Prideaux thought he had found traces of a Roman 
 census, or univereal assessment, or enrolment, in the 
 second census of Augustus ; and that the time occu- 
 pied in making it, before it came to Judea, accounts 
 for the difference between the dates when the decree 
 was issued, ante A. D. 8, and the period of its execu- 
 tion, at Jesus's birth, ante A. D. 3, or 4 ; observing, that 
 a census of the same kind, made by William the Con- 
 queror in England, (Domesday Booke,) was six yeai-s 
 in malving. Dr. Larduer, however, objects, that the 
 census of Augustus was of Roman citizens only ; 
 whereas tliis of Luke is not so restricted ; but, evi- 
 dently, included Jewish subjects, and of every town. 
 Justin Martyr, in his first Apology, says to the em- 
 peror and senate, " You may assure youi-selves, (of 
 the birth of Jesus, in Bethlehem,) from the census 
 made in the thne of Cyrenius, your first procurator 
 in Judea ;" and this description of Cyrenius, as we 
 shall see, deserves notice. Clement of Alexandria, 
 Origen and Tertullian, apjjeal to this census of Cyre- 
 nius; and the emperor Julian the Apostate says, 
 "The Jesus whom you extol, was one of Cfesar's 
 subjects. If you make a doubt of it, I will prove it, 
 by and h\, though it may as well be done now : for 
 you say yourselves, that he ivas enrolled with his 
 father and mother in the time of Cyi-enius." (Apud 
 Cyril, lib. vi.) 
 
 Assisted by this information, we may combine the 
 narrative of Luke into the following order; which, 
 probably, is not for from its true import. " In those 
 days, Ceesar Augustus issued a decree, (he being dis- 
 pleased at some jjai-ts of Herod's conduct, and mean- 
 ing that he should feel his dependence on the Ro- 
 man empire,) that the whole land of Judea should be 
 enrolled, as well jjcrsons as possessions, in order that 
 the true state of the inhabitants, their families, and 
 their value in property of every kind, might be 
 known and recorded. Accordingly, aZZ loere enrolled, 
 but the taxation did not immediately follow this en- 
 rolm(?nt, because Augustus was again reconciled to 
 Ilerod, which accounts for Josephus's silence on an 
 assessment not carried into effect. And this enrol- 
 ment was made ivhen Cyrenius the censor (afterw"ards 
 better known under the title of Cyrenius the govern- 
 or) was first sent into Judea ; (Yoiu* first procurator in 
 Judea, says Justin Martyr, above quoted ;) or, more 
 exactly, this was the first assessment, or enrolment, of 
 Cyrenius, governor of Syria. And all icent to be en- 
 rolled, each to his oivn city : and as the emperor's order 
 was urgent, and Cyrenius was known to be a man 
 for despatching l)usiness, even Alary, though far ad- 
 vanced in her pregnancy, went with Joseph ; and lohile they 
 waited, for their turn, to be enrolled, Mary tvas deliv- 
 ered of Jesus ;" and Jesus was enrolled with Mary and 
 Joseph, as Julian says expressly, in the quotation 
 given above. 
 
 [The difficulty which exists in Luke ii. 2, in re- 
 gard to the census of Cyrenius, can probably never 
 be fully removed, because of the absence of the 
 necessary historical data. The passage may be 
 properly translated thus: "This enrolment was the 
 
 first, while Cyrenius was governor of Syria." Now 
 Cyrenius, or Quiriuus, was not proconsul of Syria 
 until A. D. 7 or 8, when, according to chronologers, 
 our Saviour was 10 years of age ; (Jos. Ant. xviii. I.) 
 but Saturninus was proconsul of Syria at the time 
 of his birth, and was succeeded by Quintus Varus. 
 The latter was recalled in A. D. 7, and was succeed- 
 ed by Quirinus, who was sent expressly by the empe- 
 ror to take the census of the country and collect a 
 tax ; w hich census and tax Luke also mentions, Acts 
 v. 37. The difficulty, therefore, which arises here, is 
 of a t« ofold nature ; first, the existence of such an 
 enrolment at the time of Christ's birth : and, second- 
 ly, the fact of its having been made by Cyrenius. 
 Both of these facts rest on the authority of Luke 
 alone ; not being mentioned either by Joscphus, or 
 by any profone historian. 
 
 In regard to the enrolment, it may be said, that 
 it was probably not thought of sufficient importance 
 by Roman historians to deserve mention ; being con- 
 fined to a remote and comparatively unimportant 
 province ; nor was it perhaps of such a nature, as 
 would lead even Josephus to take notice of it. It 
 would seem to have been a meie enumeration of 
 persons, capitum descriptio ; since the Jews at this 
 time were not a Roman province, but were subject 
 to Herod the Great, to whom they paid tribute. As 
 Herod, however, like the other allied kings, was un- 
 der the dominion of the Romans, it was in the power 
 of x'Vugustus to require an emuneration of his sub- 
 jects; to which, in this instance, the Jews seem to 
 have submitted willingly, since it involved no aug- 
 mentation of their taxes, nor interference with their 
 jjrivate affairs. But afterwards, v. hen Archelaus had 
 been banished to Vienne in Gaul, and liis govern- 
 ment had been reduced to the form of a Roman 
 province, and when Quiriuus was sent from Rome 
 to make a census, not only of ])ersons, but of property, 
 with a view to taxation, the Jews resisted the meas- 
 ure, and under the conduct of Judas and his asso- 
 ciate Sadducus, broke out into open rebellion. (See 
 Acts v. 37. and Jos. Antiq. xviii. 1. 1.) 
 
 In regard to the other part of the difficulty, there 
 have been several modes of solution proposed. 
 
 1. The first is founded on the su])position, that 
 Quiriuus, at the time of Christ's birth, was joined 
 with Saturninus in the government of Syria, as the 
 procurator of that ])rovince. We know that a few 
 years previous to this date, Volumnius had thus been 
 joined with Saturninus ; and the two, Saturninus and 
 Volmnnius, are several times spoken of together by 
 Josephus, and are then equally called governors of 
 Syria. (Jos. Ant. xvi. 9. 1 ; xvi. 10. 8.) Josephus 
 does not mention the recall of Volumnius; but there 
 is certainly the possibility, that this had taken place 
 before the tiuje of Christ's birth, and that Quiriuus, 
 who had already distinguished himself, had been sent 
 in his place. He wouki then have been, under Sa- 
 turninus, a iyi/iiior, governor, of Syria, just as Volum- 
 nius had been; and just as Pilate afterwards was 
 ),)fi((,ji, governor, of Judea. That he should then 
 be mentioned here by Luke as such, rather than Sa- 
 turninus, is very naturally accounted for by the fact, 
 that he returned, ten years afterwards, as proconsul 
 or chief governor, and held a second and more im- 
 portant census. The language of Justin Martyr, 
 above quoted, would seem to favor this supposition. 
 The objection sometimes urged against this view, 
 that it requires the word >;)>,i/o)fi o to be taken in too 
 wide a sense, is not valid ; because Josephus applies 
 the same word to the procurators Volunniius and
 
 CYRENIUS 
 
 [ 327 ] 
 
 CYR 
 
 Pilate. The only real objection is, the silence of all 
 other history. But, although profane history does not 
 affirm the fact of Cyrenius' having formerly been 
 procurator of Syria, before he was proconsul, yet 
 she does not in any way deny it ; and we may, there- 
 fore, safely rest upon the authority of the sacred 
 writer for the truth of this fact, just as we do for the 
 fact of the existence of this first enrolment itself. 
 We know that, in all other respects, his historical 
 details are supported by the testimony of other wri- 
 ters ; in this case, his statement is not impeached by 
 any opposing testimony ; whj', then, not receive it in 
 Bimplicity ? It may here be remarked of the medal 
 copied under the article Antioch, by means of 
 which Mr. Taylor claims to have solved the difficul- 
 ty in this passage, that it contains the names of Sa- 
 tuminus and (as he supposes) Volumnius. This, 
 however, if it proves any thing, only proves just what 
 Josephus does, viz. that they were spoken of togeth- 
 er as governors of Syria. Hence he draws from this 
 medal the inference which others had long before 
 drawn from Josephus, that if Volumnius was so rep- 
 resented, Cyrenius might have succeeded liim, and 
 also have been so represented. 
 
 2. According to another mode of solution, the 
 passage is made to read thus : "This enrolment was 
 made before Cyrenius was governor of Syria." The 
 advocates of this view suppose that Luke inserted 
 this verse as a sort of parenthesis, to prevent his 
 readers from confounding this enrolment with the 
 subsequent census made by Quirinus. The positive, 
 or rather the superlative, ~iQ^ri<, is thus understood 
 in the sense of the comparative nooriim, and is made 
 to govern the following genitive. That both the 
 positive and superlative are sometimes used instead 
 of the comjiarative, is no doubt true; (see Kypkeon 
 John i. 15 ; Glassius, Phil. Sac. p. 48.) but such a con- 
 struction in the present case would be, to say the 
 least, harsh, and very foreign to the usual simplicity 
 of Luke. 
 
 3. A third mode is sanctioned by the names of 
 Calvin, Valesius, Wetstein and others, and gives the 
 sense of the passage thus, — first changing avri] into 
 m'ry,: "In those days, thei'c went out a decree 
 from Augustus, that the whole land should be enrol- 
 led ; but the enrolment itself was first made when 
 Cyrenius Wcns governor of Syria." The supposition 
 here is, that the census commenced under Saturni- 
 nus, t)ut was not completed until 10 years after, un- 
 der duirinus. But this supposition is not only not 
 supported by any historical evidence, but is con- 
 tradicted by all the evidence of this kind that exists. 
 Josephus not only does not mention any census as hav- 
 ing been begun previous to the arrival of Quirinus, but 
 he says that Quirinus was sent by the emperor for 
 the express purpose of taking a census, and speaks 
 of the progi-ess and termination of it, without a hint 
 of its having been continued ten years, and under 
 three successive proconsuls. (Antiq. xvii. 1. 1.) 
 
 The above are the more important solutions which 
 have been proposed in order to remove the difficul- 
 ty from the passage before us. Besides these, some 
 have supposed the verse to be a marginal gloss, 
 which has crept into the text ; others have boldly af- 
 firmed that the sacred writer has here made a mis- 
 take ; and several others still have proposed various 
 solutions, which have been adopted only by them- 
 selves. The conjecture of Michaelis furnishes a very 
 good solution, were it any thing more than a mere 
 conjecture : he proposes to insert jjqo tPc after iytrcro, 
 so that it would then read : "This was the first en- 
 
 rolment before that of Cyrenius," &c. But no 
 manuscript furnishes any trace of such a read- 
 ing. *R. 
 
 CYRUS, son of Cambyses the Persian, and of 
 Mandane, daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes, 
 He was born in the king his father's court, (A. M. 
 3405,) and was educated with great care. When he 
 was about twelve years of age, his gi-andfather, As- 
 tyages, scut for him to court, with his mother, Man- 
 dane. Some time after, the king of Assyria's sou 
 invading Media, Astyages, w ith his son Cyaxares, and 
 his grandson Cyrus, marched against him. Cyrus 
 defeated the Assyrians, but Cambyses soon after- 
 wards recalled him, that he might have him near his 
 person. Astyages dying, his son Cyaxares, uncle by 
 the mother's side to Cyrus, succeeded him in the 
 kingdom of Media ; and Cyrus, being made general 
 of the Persian troops, was sent, at the head of 30,000 
 men, to assist Cyaxares, whom the Babylonians 
 were preparing to attack. Cyaxares and Cyrus gave 
 them battle, and dispersed them ; after which Cyrus 
 carried the war into the countries beyond the river 
 Halys, subdued Cappadocia, marched against Croesus, 
 king of Lydia, defeated him, and took Sardis his 
 capital. Having reduced almost all Asia, he repassed 
 the Euphrates, and turned his arms against the As- 
 syrians : having defeated them, he laid siege to Bab}- 
 lon, which he took on a festival day, after having 
 diverted tlie course of the river which ran thi'ough 
 it. On his return to Persia, he married liis cousin, the 
 daughter and heiress of Cyaxares. He aftcr%\'ards 
 subdued all the nations between Syria and the Red 
 sea, and died at the age of seventy, after a reign of 
 thirty years. 
 
 There ai-e but few particulars respecting Cyrus in 
 Scripture ; but what there are, are more certain than 
 those derived from other sources. Daniel, in the 
 remarkable vision, (chap. viii. 3, 20.) in which God 
 showed him the ruin of several great empires, which 
 preceded the birth of the Messiah, represents Cyrus 
 as a ram which had two horns, both high, bu.t one 
 rising higher than the other, and the higher coming 
 up last. This ram " pushed westward, and north- 
 ward, and southward, so that no beasts might stand 
 before him, neither was tliere any that could deliver 
 out of his hand ; but he did according to his will, and ■ 
 became gi-eat." — The two horns signify the two em- 
 pires, which Cyrus united in his person — that of the 
 Medes and that of the Persians. (See Persia.) In 
 another place, Daniel compares Cyrus to a bear, with 
 three ribs in its moiuh, to which it was said, " Arise, 
 devour much flesh." 
 
 Cyius succeeded Cambyses in the kingdom of 
 Persia, and Darius the Mede (by Xenoplion called 
 Cyaxares, and Astyages in the Greek of Daniel xiii. 
 0.5.) also in the kingdom of the Medes, and the em- 
 pire of Babylon. He was monarch, as he speaks, of 
 all the earth, (Ezra i. 1, 2 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23.) 
 when he permiried the Jews to retmn into their own 
 country, A. M. 34GC, a7ite A. D. 538. He had always 
 a particular regard for Daniel, and kept him in high 
 offices. 
 
 The prophets foretold the coming of Cyrus: 
 Isaiah (xliv. 28.) particularly declared his name, 
 above a century before he was born. Josephus says, 
 (Antiq. lib. ii. cap. 2.) that the Jews of Babylon 
 showed this passage to Cyrus ; and that, in the edict 
 which he gi-anted for their return, he acknowledged, 
 that lie received the empire of the world from the 
 God of Israel, and that the same God had described 
 him by name, in the writings of the prophets, and
 
 CYRUS 
 
 [ 328 ] 
 
 CYRUS 
 
 foretold that he should build a temple to hiai at Je- 
 rusalem. The taking of Babylon, by Cyrus, is clear- 
 ly foretold by the prophets. Is. xiii. xiv. xxi. xlv. xlvi. 
 xlvii. Jer. xxv. 12 ;1. li. Dan. vii. viii. 
 
 Cyrus being a Persian by his father, and a Mede 
 by his mother, he is called in an oracle, cited by He- 
 rodotus, (lib. i. cap. 33, 91.) " a mule :" " Be afraid," 
 said the oracle to Croesus, " when the Medes shall be 
 
 commanded by a mule." And Nebuchadnezzar 
 some time before his death, said to the Babylonians, 
 I foretell a misfortune, which none of your gods will 
 be able to avert : a Persian mule shall come against 
 you, who, with the help of their gods, shall bring you 
 into bondage." (Megasthenes, apud Euseb. Praepar. 
 lib. ix. cap. 41.) 
 
 / 
 
 D 
 
 DAG 
 
 DAM 
 
 DABBASHETH, a town of Zebulun, Josh, 
 xix. 11. 
 
 DABERATH. Joshua (xix. 12.) mentions Da- 
 berath as a town of Zebulun, or on its borders, but 
 in chap. xxi. 28. it is placed in the tribe of Issachar ; 
 which tribe ceded it to the Levites. Josephus calls 
 it Dabaritla, or Darabifia, in the great plain at the ex- 
 tremity of Galilee and Samai-ia ; perhaps it is Dabira, 
 which Jerome places toward mount Tabor, in the 
 district of Diocsesarea. 3Iaundrell speaks of Debora 
 at the foot of mount Tabor. 
 
 I. DAGON, a god of the Philistines. The Etymolo- 
 gicum Magnum says that Dagon was Saturn ; others 
 say, he was Jupiter ; others say, Venus, whom the 
 Egyptians worshipped under the form of a fish ; be- 
 cause, in Tryphon's war against the gods, Venus con- 
 cealed herself under this shape. (Ovid Met. lib. v. 
 fab. 5.) Diodorus Siculus says (lib. ii.) that at Aske- 
 Icn the goddess Derceto, or Atergatis, was worship- 
 ped under the figure of a woman, with the lower 
 parts of a fish ; and Lucian (de Dea Syr.) describes 
 that goddess, or Venus, as being adored under this 
 form. There is an ancient fable, that 'i2a)i»;c, 
 (Cannes,) who was half a man and half a fish, came 
 to Babylon, and taught several arts : and afterwards 
 returned to the sea .... there were several of these 
 Cannes . . . the name of one was Odacon, i. e. 6 Da- 
 gon (the Dagon). Berosus, speaking of Cannes, 
 says, lie had the body and head of a fish ; and above 
 the head of the fsh he had a human head ; and below 
 the tail of the fish he had human feet. This is the 
 true figure of Dagon. Helladius reports of Ces, 
 what Berosus reports of Oannes ; (whence Scaliger 
 thought Oes was the name Oannes mutilated ;) he 
 says, he was a monster who came out of the Red 
 sea. He had the head, the hands, and the feet of a 
 man ; in the rest of his body he was a fish : he first 
 taught letters and astronomy to mankind. We con- 
 clude, then, that Ces and Cannes are the same 
 person ; and that Cannes is Dagon. See Deluge. 
 A temple of Dagon at Gaza was pulled down by 
 Samson, Judg. xvi. 23. In another at Ashdod, the 
 Philistines deposited the ark of God, 1 Sam. v. 1 — 3. 
 A city in Jiidah was called Beth-Dagon, that is, the 
 house [or temple] of Dagon ; (Josh. xv. 41.) and an- 
 other on the frontiei-s of Asher, Josh. xix. 27. Euse- 
 bius speaks of a town called Caphar Dagon, the Field 
 of Dagon, between Jamiiia and Diospolis. Philo-Bib- 
 lius, in his translation of Sanchoniathon, says that Da- 
 gon means Siton, the god of wheat. Dagon does, in- 
 deed, signify ivhent, in the Hebrew ; but who is this god 
 of wheat? probably Ceres, the goddess of agriculture 
 and plenty : the Hebrews have no feminine names to 
 signify goddesses : and Elian informs us, that among 
 the names of Ceres, Siton was one. Ceres was 
 " the goddess of wheat," in her character of the in- 
 
 ventress and protectress of agriculture. We find her 
 likewise delineated with fish around her on some 
 medals, as those of Syracuse. In Philo-Biblius, 
 Dagon is brother to Saturn, as in Greek authors 
 Ceres is sister to Saturn. Ceres submitted to the 
 embraces of her brother, according to the Greeks ; 
 Atergatis is sister to Saturn, according to Philo-Bib- 
 lius. Lastly, Ceres is soinetimes described with the 
 attributes of Isis, the goddess of fertility among the 
 Egyptians. An Egyptian medal represents half the 
 body of a woman with a cornucopia in her hands, 
 the tail of a fish bent behind, and feet like those of a 
 crocodile, or a sea-calf Salmasius is of opinion, 
 that Dagon is the same as Ceto. a great fish. Ceto 
 the sea-monster, to which Andromeda was exposed 
 at Joppa, and Derceto the goddess of the Askelonites, 
 are the same deity. Selden thinks Atergatis to be the 
 same as Dagon, and derived from the Hebrew Mir- 
 Dagan, " magnificent fish ;" and Diana, the Per- 
 sian, or Venus, was, it is said, changed into a fish, by 
 throwing herself into the waters of Babylon. There 
 was a deep pond near Askelon filled with fish, con- 
 secrated to Derceto, from which the inhabitants of 
 the town abstained, through superstitious belief that 
 Venus, having cast herself into this pond, was there 
 metamorphosed into a fish. [The name Dagon 
 is derived from dag, fish, and signifies a large fsh. 
 This god seems originally to have been the same 
 with Astarte. For fuller information respecting 
 Dagon, see Selden de Diis Syris, ii. 3. Creuzer's 
 Svmbolik, ii, 12. De Wette, Heb. Jiid. Archseol. 
 § 233. R. 
 
 II. DAGCN, Dog, or Docus, a fortress in the 
 plain of Jericho, where Ptolemy, son of Abubus, 
 dwelt, and where he treacherously killed his father- 
 in-law, Simon Maccaba^us, with Mattathias and Ju- 
 das, his two sons, 1 Mac. xvi. 11. 
 
 DALMANUTHA, a city west of the sea of Tibe- 
 rias, in the district of Magdala, Matt. xv. 39; Mark 
 viii. 10. (See Magdala.) Cthers suppose it to have 
 been on the south-eastern shore of the lake. 
 
 DALMATIA, part of Illyricuni, on the gulf of 
 Venice, 2 Tim. iv. 10. 
 
 DAMASCUS, a celebrated city of Syria, which 
 was long the capital of a kingdom of Damascus, or 
 Aram of Damascus, i. e. Syria of Damascus. It was 
 a city in the time of Abiaham ; and some of the an- 
 cients say that this pjitriarch reigned there, imme- 
 diately after Damascus, its founder. Scripture says 
 nothing more of this city till David's time ; when 
 Hadad, king of Damascus, sending troops to assist 
 Hadadezer, king of Zoliah, was defeated with the 
 latter, and subdued by David, A. M. 2992. Tovvard 
 the end of Solomon's reign, God stirred up Rezin, 
 son of Eliadah, who restored the kingdom of Damas- 
 cus, and shook off the yoke of the Jewish kings.
 
 DAMASCUS 
 
 [ 329 ] 
 
 DAMASCUS 
 
 Asa, king of Judah, implored the help of Benhadad, 
 son of Tabrimmon, king of Damascus, against Baa- 
 sha, king of Israel, and engaged him, by subsidies, to 
 invade his enemy's territories. After this time, the 
 kings of Damascus were generally called Benhadad, 
 which they assumed as a surname, like the Caesars 
 of Rome. Jeroboam II. king of Israel, regained the 
 superiority of Israel over the kings of Syria. He 
 conquered Damascus and Hamath, the two principal 
 cities of Syria, (2 Kings xiv. 25.) but after the death 
 of Jeroboam II. the Syrians reestablished their 
 monarchy. Rezin assumed the title of king of Da- 
 mascus ; entered into a confederacy with Pekah, 
 usurper of the kingdom of Israel, and, in conjunction 
 with him, made great havoc in the territories of Jo- 
 thani and Ahaz, kings of Judah, 2 Kings xvi. 5. 
 Tiglath-Pileser, however, coming to the assistance 
 Off Ahaz, invaded the dominions of Rezin, took 
 Damascus, destroyed it, killed Rezin, and sent 
 the Syrians into captivity beyond the Euphrates; 
 according to the predictions of the prophets Isaiah 
 and Amos, 2 Kings xv. 29 ; Is. vii. 4, 8 ; viii. 4 ; xxii. 
 1 — 3 ; Amos i. 3. Damascus, however, recovered 
 fi'om these misfortunes ; and it appears, that Sen- 
 nacherib took it, when he marched against Hezekiah, 
 Is. ix. 11. Holofernes also took it, Judith ii. 27. 
 Ezekiel speaks of it as flourishing, chap, xxvii. 11. 
 Jeremiah threatens it with the attacks of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, XXV. 9 ; xxvii. 8 ; xlix. 23. After the return 
 from the captivity, Zechariah (ix. 1.) foretold several 
 calamities which should befall it, and which, in all 
 probability, did befall it when it was conquered by 
 the generals of Alexander the Great. The Romans 
 took it about A. JM. 3939, when Pompey made war 
 against Tigranes, and sent Metellus and Lselius 
 thither, who seized it. Damascus remained under 
 the Roman government till it fell into the hands of 
 the Arabians. Obodas, father of Aretas, king of 
 Arabia, whom Pai\l mentions, (2 Cor. xi. 32.) was 
 master of Damascus in the reign of Augustus ; but 
 was subject to the Romans. Aretas, whose officer 
 was governor at Daniascus when Paul came thither, 
 quarrelled with the Romans, and was then at war 
 with them, A. D. 37. (See Aretas.) In A. D. 713, 
 it was conquered by the Saracens, and miserably 
 devastated. In 1147, it was besieged by the crusa- 
 ders, but not taken ; it yielded to the Christian forces 
 125 years afterwards. In 1396, Tamerlane besieged 
 it with a large army, some say a miUion of men. 
 After a desperate and prolonged resistance, it yielded 
 to his forces ; and, irritated at its obstinate defence, 
 he put its inhabitants to the sword without mercy. 
 Selim took it, A. D. 1517, under whose successors, 
 the Ottoman emperors, it still continues. 
 
 The Arabians call this city Damasch, or Demcsch':, 
 or Sc/ianis, which is also their name for the province. 
 They generally believe that this city derived its name 
 from Demeschk Eliezer, Abraham's steward, and that 
 Abraham was its founder. Yet some Arabian histo- 
 rians affirm, that it was founded and named by Dem- 
 8chak,sonofCanaan,sonofHam,and grandson of Noah. 
 
 Damascus was a metropolitan see under the patri- 
 arch of Antioch ; at present the Greek patriarch of 
 Antioch resides there. The Persian geographer says, 
 that the field or plain of Damascus is one of the four 
 Paradises of the East ; and, notwithstanding all the 
 revolutions which have happened to* it, Damascus is 
 still one of the most considerable cities in Syria. It 
 is situated in a very fertile plain, at the foot of mount 
 Libanus, being surrounded by lulls, in, tlir" mannor of 
 a triumphal arch. It is bounded liv :i riser, v/hich 
 42 
 
 the ancients named Chrysorrhoas, as if it flowed with 
 gold, divided into several canals. The citv has still 
 a great number of fountains, which render it ex- 
 tremely agreeable. Its fertile and delightful mead- 
 ows, covered with fruits and flowers, contribute, also, 
 to its fame. Damascus, says Ibn Havikal, or, as he 
 writes it, " Demeshk, is a chief city ; the right hand 
 of the cities of Syria, It has ample territories among 
 the mountains ; and is well watered by streams 
 which flow around, ' The land about it produces 
 trees, and is well cultivated by husbandmen. This 
 tract is called Ghouteh, It extends about one mer- 
 hileh by two. There is not in all Syria a n;ore de- 
 lightful place. Here is one of the largest mosques 
 in all the land of the Mussulmans, part of which was 
 built in ancient times, by the Sabians." — He then 
 traces this mosque into the hands of the Greeks, 
 the Jews, the Christians and the true believers: 
 he adds, "Walid ben Abd-al-Molk repaired this 
 building, beautified it with pavements of marble, and 
 pillars of variegated marble, the tops of which were or- 
 namented with gold, and studded with precious stones, 
 and all the ceiling he caused to be covered with gold: it is 
 said he expended the revenues of all Syria in this work," 
 
 The Via Recta, or street called Straight, (Acts ix. 
 11.) extends from the eastern to the western gate, 
 about a league, crossing the whole city and suburbs 
 in a direct line. On both sides of it are shops, in 
 which are sold the rich merchandise brought by the 
 caravans. Near the eastern gate is a house, said to 
 be that of Judah, where Paul lodged after his con- 
 version ! There is in it a very small closet, where 
 tradition reports, that the apostle passed three days 
 without food, till Ananias restored him to sight. 
 Tradition also says, that here he had the vision re- 
 ferred to, 2 Cor. xii. 2. About forty paces from the 
 house of Judah, stands a little mosque, where Ana- 
 nias is said to have been buried. There is also in 
 the Great Street, or Straight, a fountain, whose wa- 
 ter is drunk by the Christians, in remembrance of 
 that which the same fountain supplied for the bap- 
 tism of Paul. Near the eastern gate, on the south 
 of it, is a kind of window or port-hole, in the para- 
 pet of the great wall ; by which tradition says Paul 
 escaped from the Jews ! Near the city, on the way 
 leading to the Turkish burying-ground, is a building 
 said to be that of Naaman the Syrian. It is an 
 hospital for lepers ; and near it is a tomb, report- 
 ed to be that of Gehazi, servant to Ehsha, who, after 
 his disgrace, retired to Damascus, where he died ! 
 
 The ancient road from Jerusalem near Damascus 
 lies between two mountains, not above a hundred 
 paces distant from each other: both are round at bot- 
 tom, and terminate in a point. That nearest the 
 great road is called Cocab, the star, in memory of 
 the dazzling light which here appeared to Paul, 
 The other mountain is called Medaiver el Cocab, the 
 circle of light. Towards the middle of this moun- 
 tain is an old monastery, almost destroyed, of which 
 only one grotto remains, and this so small that a man 
 can hardly turn himself in it. This is reported to 
 have beeil Paul's shelter after his conversion, till he 
 could make ready for continuing his journey to Da- 
 mascus, South-west is the plain of Hauran, the 
 granary of Turkey, 
 
 The external appearance of the houses in Damas- 
 cus is mean ; the internal is magnificent, Tliere are 
 many covered markets built of hewn stone, and well 
 vaulted, with openings from space to space. The foot- 
 ways in the streets are raised; and there are many khans 
 :or lodging merchants and travellers. The Straight
 
 DA3IASCUS 
 
 [ 330 ] 
 
 DAN 
 
 Strati, is r.i present a covered bazaar, exchange, or 
 market. 
 
 Damascus is one of the most commercial cities in 
 the Ottoman empire, and has many rich manufac- 
 tures. The inliabitants are witty and cunning ; they 
 are, however, polite, and less oppressed by the pacha 
 than many others. The Christians are mostly of the 
 Greek church, with a few Maronites. The popula- 
 tion is estimated at from 100,000 to 150,000. 
 
 Damascus was highly favored by the emperor 
 Julian. It was a metropolis and a colony; it is 
 so called on the medals of Gordian and Philip ; and 
 it appears that the latter gave his veteran soldiers cs- 
 tablishnients in the city and its neighborhood. It 
 was also made the capital of that part of Coele-Syria 
 which was called from it Damascene. In the divis- 
 ion of tlie country establislicd liy Constantineand his 
 successors, it was included in Phoenicia Libanica, 
 which had for its chief town, Hehopolis (Baalbek). 
 
 [The city of Damascus, Avith the surrounding coun- 
 try, is celebrated by all travellers, as one of the most 
 beautiful and luxuriant regions in the world. The 
 orientals themselves call it tlie Paradise on eaHh. 
 Mr.Carne gives the following account of his approach 
 to the city from tlie S. W. and of the city itself: 
 (Letters from the East, vol, ii. p. 70, seq.) 
 
 "On the following day, we set out early, impatient 
 to l)cho]t[ the celebrated plain of Damascus. A large 
 round mountain in front prevented us from catching 
 a glimpse at it, till, on turning a point of the rock, it 
 appeared suddenly at our feet. Perhaps the bar- 
 ren and dreary hills we had beeii for some days pass- 
 ing, made thi; plain look doubly beautiful, and we 
 stood gazing at it for some time ere we advanced. 
 The domes and minarets of the sacred city rose out 
 of the heart of a forest of gardens and trees, which 
 was twelve miles in circumference. Four or five 
 small rivers ran through the forest and the city, glit- 
 tering at intervals in the sun ; and to form that vivid 
 contrast of objects in which Asiatic so much excels 
 European scenery, the plain was encircled on three 
 of its sides by mountains of liglitand naked rocks. 
 
 "After descending the mountain, we were some 
 time travelling through avenues of trees and gardens 
 before we entered the city. Damascus is seven miles 
 in circumference ; tlie width is quite disproportioned 
 to the length, which is above two miles. The walls 
 of this, the most ancient city in the world, are low, 
 and do not enclost; it mon; than two thirds round. 
 The street still called Straight, and where St. Paul 
 is, with reason, said to have lived, is entered by the 
 road from .Jerusalem. It is as stiaight as an arrow, 
 a nn\o in length, broad, and well i)aved. A lofty 
 window in one of the towers to the east, is shown us 
 as the ])lace whore the apostle was let down in a 
 basket. In the way to Jerusalem is the spot wjiere 
 his course was arrested by the light froju heaven. A 
 Christian is not allowed to reside in Damascus, ex- 
 cept in a Turkish dress. 
 
 "The great niunber of tall palm and cypress-trees 
 in the plain of Damascus add much to its beauty. 
 The fruits of the plain arc of various kinds, and of 
 excellent flavor. Provisions r,rc cheap; the bread is 
 the finest to be found in the East; it is sold every 
 morning in small, light cakes, perfectlv white, anil 
 sitri)asscs in quality even that of Paris." This luxu- 
 rious city is no place to fn'rform penance in ; the 
 paths around, winding through thf^ mass of woods 
 and fruit-trees, invite you daily to the most delightful 
 rides and walks. Sunuuer-ho'uscs are found in" ijro- 
 fusioD ; some of the latter may be hired for a day's 
 
 use, or are open for rest and refreshment, and you sit 
 beneath the fruit-trees, or on the divan which opens in- 
 to the garden. If one feels at any time satiated, he has 
 only to advance out of the canopy of woods, and 
 mount the naked and romantic heights of some of 
 the mountains around, amidst the sultry beams of the 
 sun, and he will soon retiuni to the shades and waters 
 beneath, with fresh delight. Among the fruits pro- 
 duced in Damascus are oranges, citrons, and apricots 
 of various kinds. The celebrated plain of rosjes, 
 from the produce of which the rich perfume [attar 
 of roses) is obtained, is about three miles from the 
 town ; it is a part of the great plain, and its entire 
 area is thickly planted with rose-trees, in the cultiva- 
 tion of which great care is taken. 
 
 " Our abode Avas not far from the gate that con- 
 ducted to the most frequented and charming walks 
 around the city. Here four or five of the rivers meet, 
 and form a large and foaming cataract a short distance 
 from the walls. In this spot it was pleasant to sit or 
 walk beneath the trees; for the exciting soimds and 
 sights of nature are doubly welcome near an eastern 
 city, to relieve the languor and stillness that prevail. 
 
 " We often went to the pleasant village at the 
 foot of the moimtain Salehieh. One of the streams 
 passed through it ; almost every house had its gar- 
 den : and above the mass of foliage, in the midst of 
 them, rose the dome and minaret of the mosque, and, 
 just beyond, the gray and naked cliflfs. The finest 
 view of the city is to the right of this place: a hght 
 kiosk stands partly up the ascent of the mountain ; 
 and from its cool and upper apartment, the prosj)ect 
 of the city, its woods, plain, and mountains, is inde- 
 scribably rich and delightful. The plain in front is 
 unenclosed, and its level extent stretches to the east 
 as far as the eye can reach. 
 
 " The place called the ' Meeting of the Waters,' is 
 about five miles to the north-west of the city. Here 
 the river Barrady, which may be the ancient Abana, 
 being enlarged by another river that falls into it about 
 two miles ofl^, is divided into several streams, which 
 flow through the plain. The separation is the result 
 of art, and takes place at the foot of one or two rocky 
 hills, and the scene is altogether very pictiu'esque. 
 The streams, six or seven in number, are some of 
 them carried to water the orchards and gardens of 
 the higher grounds, others into the lower, but all 
 meet, at last, close to the city, and forntthe fine cata- 
 ract." *R. 
 
 EPHES-DAMMIM, a city of Judah, 1 Sam. 
 xvii. 1. 
 
 DAMI»f ATION, a word Uf^c(] among us, in a theo- 
 logical sense, to express a total loss of the soul ; or a 
 state of sufl^ering under spiritual punishment: but 
 this is not its proper inqmrt in all j)laces where it 
 occurs in Scripture ; and the use of it is in some 
 passages of our translation (xtremely imfortunate. 
 We read, John v. 2!), of the "resurrection to dam- 
 nation ;" of "eternal daimiation," (Mark iii. 29.) 
 of "the damnation of hell," (IVlatt. xxiii. .33.) where 
 the stronger sense of the word is exacted l)y the 
 context: but in Matt, xxiii. 14, wc. read of the 
 "greater danmation," which evidently implies a 
 lesser damnation ; and in Rom. xiii. 2, 1 Cor. xi. 29, 
 and 1 Tim. V. 12, we should road "condemnation," 
 or "judgment." Rom. xiv. 23, "He that doubteth 
 is damned," should be read "self-condemned," — if 
 he eat flesh, or any thing else which may oftend a 
 weak brother. 
 
 I. DAN, fifth son of Jac*l>, being his eldest by 
 Billiah, Rachel's handmaid. Gen. xxx. 4, 5, 6. Jacob
 
 DAN 
 
 [ 331 ] 
 
 DANIEL 
 
 blessed Dan in these words : (Gen.xlix. 16, 17.) "Dan 
 shall judge hit- people as one of the tribes of Israel. 
 Dan shall be a seri)ent by the way, an adder in the 
 path, (see Serpent, Cerastes,) that biteth the horse's 
 hods, so that his rider shall fall backward ;" mean- 
 ing that, though this tribe was not the most powerful 
 or the most celebrated in Israel, it would, notwith- 
 standing, pi'oduce one, who should be the piince of 
 his people ; whicli prediction was accomplished in 
 Samson, who was of Dan. Dan had but one son, 
 named Hushim, (Gen. xlvi. 23.) notwithstanding 
 which, when the Israehtes came out of Egypt, this 
 tribe contained 02,700 men. Numb. i. 39. 
 
 The tribe of Dan possessed a very rich and fertile 
 soil, between the tribe of Judali east, and the country 
 of the Philistines west; but the limits of their land 
 were uarrov.-, because it was only part of the territo- 
 ries of Judah divided Irom the rest. For their suc- 
 cess in enlarging their tciritories, see Judges xviii. 
 
 II. DAN, originally called Laish, (Judg. xviii.) a 
 town at the northern extremity of Israel, in the tribe 
 of Naphtali. " From Dan to Beershelia," denotes the 
 two extremities of the land of promise, Dan being 
 the northern city, and J3eersheba the southern one. 
 Dan was seated at the foot of mount Libanus, on the 
 spring of Dan, or Jordan. Several authors have 
 thought that the river Joi-dan took its name from the 
 Hebrew Jor, a spring, and Dan, a town near its source. 
 (Sec Jordan.) Dan lay four miles from Paneas, to- 
 wards Tyre, though some have confounded it with 
 Paneas. Here Jeroboam set up one of his golden 
 calves, 1 Kings xii. 29. Dan was afterward called 
 Daphne, 2 Mac. iv. 33. 
 
 Daniel, called Belteshazzar by the Chaldeans, 
 a projihet, descended from the royal family of David, 
 who was carried captive to Babylon, when very 
 young, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Ju- 
 dah, A. 31. 3398. He was chosen, with his three 
 companions, Hananiah, 31ishae], and Azariah, to re- 
 side in Nebuchadnezzar's court, where he received 
 a suitable education, and made great progress in all 
 the sciences of the Chaldeans, but declined to pollute 
 himself, by eating provisions from the king's table, 
 Dan. i. Nebuchadnezzar, having dreamed of a large 
 statue, composed of several metals, which was beaten 
 to pieces by a stone, and believing this dream to be 
 prophetical, was very solicitous to have it explained ; 
 but having lost the recollection of it, he insisted that 
 the IMagi should not only interpret its meaning, but 
 recall it to his mind ; this being impossible, they were 
 condenuied to death. Daniel recovered and explain- 
 ed the dream ; and was, as a reward, established 
 governor of the jirovince of Babylon, and chief of the 
 Magi, ii. 14 — 48. Another time, Nebuchadnezzar 
 having dreamed of a large tree cut down, yet so that 
 its root remained in the earth, Daniel explained it of 
 the king himself, whose fate it prefigured. (See 
 Nebuchadnezzar.) In the reign of Belshazzar, 
 Daniel had a vision of four beasts, which represented 
 the four great empires of the Chaldeans, the Per- 
 sians, the Greeks, and the Romans, or, rather, the 
 Seleucidse and Lagida^, Dan. vii. In the follow- 
 ing chapter, he saw, in vision a ram and a he-goat ; 
 (the ram denoted Darius Codomannus, the last king 
 of Persia, and the he-goat denoted Alexander the 
 Great;) the ram was overcome, and the he-goat be- 
 came irresistibly powerful. (See Darius.) He de- 
 scribes, also, the successors of Alexander ; and partic- 
 ularly the persecutions of the Jews under Antiochus 
 Epiphanes; the vengeance of God upon him; and 
 the victories of the Maccabees. It was to this mon- 
 
 arch that Daniel explained the import of the myste- 
 rious writing on the wail. (See Belshazzar.) Bel- 
 shazzar, bemg killed on the night in which he had 
 profaned the sacred vessels of the temple, was suc- 
 ceeded by Darius the Mede, (Dan. v. A. M. 3449,) who 
 l)romoted Daniel above all his governors, and de- 
 signed to give him the general administration of hia 
 kingdom. This mark of favor, however, excited 
 envy in the governors, who prevailed upon the king 
 to issue an edict, forbidding every man, durin"- a 
 time, to solicit any thing from Goil or man, exc'ept 
 from the king. Daniel, continuing his prayers to 
 God, setting his face towards Jerusalem, was im- 
 peached to the king, who was obliged to enforce the 
 unalterable law, and order him to be thrown into the 
 lions' den. Early the next morning, Darius went 
 thither, and, finding Daniel safe, commanded him to 
 be taken out, and his accusers, with their wives and 
 famihes, to be thrown to the lions, chap. vi. 
 
 Daniel, having read in Jeremiah that seventy years 
 would be accomplished in the desolation of Jerusa- 
 lem, prayed and fasted, to receive tlie explanation 
 of this period of time. After his devotion, the angel 
 Gabriel appeared to him, and revealed something of 
 much greater importance, even the death and sacri- 
 fice of the Messiah ; which was to happen after 
 seventy weeks of years, chap. ix. (See Artaxerxes 
 LoNGiMANUs.) In the third year of Cyrus's reign in 
 Persia, which coincides with the first year of Darius 
 at Babylon, Daniel had another remarkabhs vision, in 
 which the angel Gabriel discovered to him, in a 
 manner almost as clear as if he had related a history, 
 what was to hapjjen in Persia, after Cyrus, (chap, x.) 
 viz. the coming of Alexander the Great, the over- 
 throw of the Persian empire, the Greek dominion in 
 Asia, the continued wars between the kingdoms of 
 Syria and Egypt, the persecutions by Antiochus 
 E))iphanes, the destruction of that persecuting prince, 
 nd the victory and happiness of the saints, chap. xi. 
 After the death of Darius the Mede, Cyrus ascended 
 the throne of the Persians and Medes ; and Daniel 
 continued to enjoy great authority. 
 
 The reputation of Daniel was so great, even in his 
 lii'e-time, that it became a proverb. " Thou art Aviser 
 than Daniel," says Ezekiel, (xxviii. 3.) ironically, to 
 the king of Tyre: and in chaj). xiv. 14, 20, God says, 
 "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, 
 were in it, they should deliver but their own souls 
 by their righteousness." He enjoyed the favor of 
 tlie princes whom he served, with the affection of 
 the ])eo|)le, to his death ; and )jis reputation was 
 immortal. 
 
 Formerly, some of the Jews showed an inclination 
 to exclude Daniel froni among the prophets, because 
 his predictions were fo" ch-ar and express lor Jesus 
 beine the Messiah, and fixed with too much precision 
 the tune of his conjing. Our Saviour, however, bears 
 testimony to his prophetic character. Matt. xxiv. 15. 
 
 It is believed that Daniel died in Chaldea, being 
 probably detained there by his high employments in 
 the Pei-si;ui empire. Epiphanius says he died at 
 Babylon ; and this sentiment is followed by most 
 historians. Others think he died at Shtishan, or Susa. 
 Benjamin of Tudela relates, that his monument was 
 shown at Chuzestan, Avhich is the ancient Susa. 
 
 Among Daniel's writings, some have at all times 
 been esteemed canonical ; others have been contest- 
 ed. Whatever is written in Hebrew or Chaldee is 
 generally acknowledged as canonical both by Jews 
 and Christians ; but there has been constant opposi- 
 tion to those parts which are extant only in Greek;
 
 DANIEL 
 
 [ 332 ] 
 
 DANIEL 
 
 as the history of Susanua, and Bel and the Dragon 
 The first twelve chapters of Daniel are written partly 
 in Hebrew, partly in Chaldee. He writes Hebrew 
 where he delivers a simple narrative ; but he relates 
 in Chaldee his conversations with the Magi, and 
 Nebuchadnezzar's edict, published after the inter- 
 pretation of his dream of the golden image. This 
 shows the extreme accuracy of this prophet, who 
 relates the very words of those pereons whom he in- 
 troduces as speaking. The Greek which we have of 
 Daniel is Theodotion's ; that of the LXX has been 
 long lost. Porphyry asserted, that the prophecies 
 which we receive as Daniel's were falsely ascribed 
 to him ; and that they were, in fact, histories of past 
 events. But that Daniel lived at Babylon long be- 
 fore Autiochus Epiphanes, and there wrote the 
 prophecies ascribed to him, cannot reasonably be 
 contested. 
 
 The rabbins maintain that Daniel ought not to be 
 ranked among the prophets for two reasons; (1.) be- 
 cause he did not live in the Holy Land, out of which 
 the spirit of prophecy, they say, does not reside ; (2.) 
 because he spent his life in a court, in honor and 
 pleasure ; contrary to the other prophets. Some add, 
 that he was, pei-sonally, a emiuch, and, therefore, ex- 
 cluded from the congi-egation ; tor which opinion 
 they quote the words of Isaiah to Hezekiah, (2 Kings 
 XX. 18.) " x\nd of thy sons— shall they take away; 
 and they shall be eunuchs, in tlie palace of the king 
 of Babylon." Many of the Jews, therefore, place his 
 writings among the Hagiographa, as of much less 
 authority than the canonical Scriptures. 
 
 There are two or three things appertaining to this 
 eminent prophet, which could not be noticed in their 
 proper place, without breaking the thread of the nar- 
 rative, but which we may not pass over without 
 remark. 
 
 A title given to the prophet in chap. v. 12. — " an 
 untier of knots" — though it may appear strange to us, 
 was highly expressive of the powers of his mind ; 
 and, as we learn from sir John Chardin, is not un- 
 known at present in the East. 
 
 The patent given to sir John by the king of Persia, 
 is addressed — " To the Lords of Lords, who have the 
 presence of a lion, the aspect of Deston ; the princes 
 who have the stature of Tahem-ten-ten, who seem to 
 be in the time of Ardevon, the regents who carry the 
 majesty of Ferribours; the conquerors of kingdoms, 
 superintendents that unloose all manner of knots, and 
 who are under the a.scendant of Mercury," &c. In 
 his explanation, sir John says, it is, in the original, 
 who unloose all sorts of knots. — The Persians rank all 
 penmen, books, and writings, unfler Mercurv, whom 
 they call Attared ; and hold all people born under that 
 planet, to be endued with a rofined, penetrating, clear- 
 sighted, and subtile wit. Now, on turning to Daniel 
 V. 12, it will be observed witli what accurate coinci- 
 dence to these principles the queen describes the 
 Erophet: "In all respects an alnmdam spirit, and 
 nowledge, and understanding, wliich manifests it- 
 self in his intei-|)reting dreams, and explainin"' intri- 
 cate enigmas, and imtijing of knots, is found in 
 Daniel." Vv'e gather from this comparison, tluvt as 
 superintendents (of provinces) arc desrri!)ed as lui- 
 tiers of knots, and Daniel is thus described, he was 
 or had been, a superintendent. Daniel had been 
 made governor of tlu; provinrn of Babylon by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar; as he is not so described on tliis occa- 
 sion, it is every way proiiable he was not now in that 
 office, yet the queen continues his titles to him. 
 
 The prophecy of the sevcnti/ lorcks may justify, !iy 
 
 its importance, a few remarks, oy way of elucidation. 
 Part of it is thus rendered in oiu- translation : — " Af- 
 ter threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut 
 off, but not for himself," c. ix. 26. 
 
 The passage contains two expressions for exami- 
 nation ; the first is, the term "Messiah." The Jews 
 insist, with all their might, that this term must not be 
 restricted to a single individual, but means, " proper- 
 ly,the whole class, or race of those who were anointed, 
 whether kings or priests." — That is to say, the legal 
 exercise of civil or ecclesiastical functions ; or the just 
 title to the oftice and power of government, in both 
 its branches. But observe, (1.) This sense arises, in 
 some degi'ee, from the placing of a point in the sen- 
 tence ; (2.) that it is no new principle ; for both Eu- 
 sebius and Clemens Alexandrinus, by " Messiah the 
 Prince," in verse 25, understand an anointed governor, 
 or settled government ; and Eusebius expressly ex- 
 plains it to be, the series and succession of the high- 
 priests who held the government till Herod's time. 
 There is some difference ansong translators in ren- 
 dering the words Messiah the Prince. — Our present 
 Septuagint, which is Theodotion's translation, says 
 /-oiaror i^yfiii fin, the Christ the goveriwr ; or the anointed 
 governor : Arias Montanus says, iindem ducem, the an- 
 ointed leader : Tertnllian, and the Vulgate, say, Chris- 
 tum ducem : Castalio says, Messiam pnncipcm, like our 
 English version : Tremellius says, Christum antcces- 
 sorem, the anointed antecessor, or leader. These versions 
 evidently refer to a particular person preemment of 
 a whole series, all of which series might be anointed, 
 but this person distinguishedly. This is very similar 
 to what ]\Ir. Taylor has suggested ; — that the united 
 claims of the two Jewish branches of royalty centred 
 in the one person of Jesus, so that he was, as it were, 
 doubly anointed — anointed from each line of descent. 
 (See Genealogy.) This view of the jjassage com- 
 bines the notion of a continued line of persons, le- 
 gally entitled to the government, with that of an 
 individual especially entitled to govern. But our 
 attention is more ])articularly directed to the latter 
 phrase of the passage quoted, which our translators 
 have rendered, " but not for himself." That this 
 translation was well intended we cannot doubt ; but 
 it is not the customary meaning of the Hebrew words. 
 Theodotion renders them — the anointing shall be 
 destroyed, and 710 judgment shall be «i it. Aquila — 
 the anointed shall be destroyed (y-ui oix lani ai Vr') and 
 shall have nothing: Symmachus — the anointed shall 
 be cut off, [y-^ii- ovx r.u'jycti uitw,) and there shall be 
 nothing to him : Vulgate — et nan erit ; and he shall 
 not be : Tertullian — the anointing shall be extirpated, 
 and shall not be. The j>]irase comnionly signifies, 
 shall be no more ; or a total and entire loss — cessation 
 — without any continuity or renev.al. This is, then, 
 in other words, t'le very sentiment of the venerable 
 Jacob : " Shiloh shall he destroyed" — the poiver of 
 govei-nment shall sink in hi»i trhose especial rrght it is : 
 this is the very sentiment of the prophet Ezekiel : 
 "The diadem, the crown, the legal right of govern- 
 ment, shall first bo overturned, and then shall be 
 destroyed icith him ivhose right it is," ch. xxi. 27. 
 Thus we see that the ])rophet does but connect with 
 a prefixed period of time that event which the dying 
 Jacob left at large ; and that Ezekiel and Daniel do, 
 as it were, echo the indications of each other. All 
 agree, from th(> carlif^st notice of any govermnent to 
 be established in Judca, down to the time when the 
 character of that goveirnnent was ascertained and 
 experienced, that when that jiarticidar person, whose 
 legal title, whose just pretensions, whose specific
 
 DANIEL 
 
 [ 333 ] 
 
 DANIEL 
 
 claims, might excite the most animated hopes, the 
 most fervid expectations — when he should come — 
 the issue would disappoint hope and expectation : — 
 which would behold their object sink in destruction, 
 and the accomplishment of their prolonged anxieties 
 annihilated in utter impossibihty ! See Shiloh. 
 
 Hieroglyphic animals. — Among the figures which 
 Le Bruyu has copied from the ruins of PersepoHs, in 
 Persia, there are some which seem remarkably coin- 
 cident with the puii^ort of certain passages in the 
 prophet Daniel. It is not easy to ascertain the era 
 of these ruins, which are universally considered as 
 having formed a palace of the Persian kings. Prob- 
 ably it is assuming too nmch to attribute them to 
 Cyrus ; but if, as is stated, they may date soon after 
 that monarcli, they will be suflicienti}' ancient to 
 justify the use we propose to make of them. The 
 j)alace of Persepolis \'\as destroyed by Alexander the 
 Great ; yet, from its remaining ruins, we infer its 
 former grandeur. Among its ornaments are several 
 hundred figures, sculptured on the wall in basso 
 relievo. Some of them are certainly of a religious 
 nature ; otliers are emblematical ; of these, several 
 have greatly the appearance of being political em- 
 blems, commemorating past events, which, being 
 flattering to the Persian Icings, they wished to per- 
 petuate the memory of. Ludei- this aspect they 
 justify examination. Le Bruyn gives the following 
 account of some of them : — 
 
 " These portals are twenty-tAvo feet and four inches 
 in depth, and thirteen feet and four inches in breadth. 
 In the inside, and on each pilaster, is seen a large 
 figure in low relief, and almost as long as the pilas- 
 ter ; with a distance of twenty-two feet from the fore 
 to the hinder legs, and a height of fourteen feet and 
 a half. The heads of these animals are entirely de- 
 stroyed, and their breasts and fore feet project from 
 the pilaster. Their bodies are, likewise, greatly dam- 
 aged." ..." The figures in the two first portals very 
 much resemble a horse, both before and behind, only 
 the head seems to be like that of an ape ; and, indeed, 
 the tail has no great sunilitude to that of a horse ; but 
 this may be imputed to the ornaments which are 
 fastened to it, and were much used among the an- 
 cient Persians." . . . . " Under a portal to the west, is 
 the figure of a man hunting a bull, who has one horn 
 in his forehead, which is grasped by the man's left 
 hand, while his right plunges a large dagger into the 
 belly of the bull. On the other side, the figure of 
 another man clasps the horn Avith his right hand, 
 and stabs the beast with his left. The second portal 
 discovers the figure of a man carved in the same 
 manner, A\ath a deer that greatly resembles a lion, 
 having a horn in his forehead, and wings on the 
 body. The same rej)resentations are to be seen imder 
 the portal to the north, with this exception, that, in- 
 
 Emblematical Rki'resentatiojt. 
 
 1. I saw a lion, 
 
 2. Having eagle's v>ings ; 
 
 3. The wings were plucked ; 
 
 4. It Avas raised from the ground, 
 
 5. Made to stand on its feet as a man, 
 
 6. A man's heart [intellect) Avas gi\'en to it. 
 
 Dan. chap. vii. 
 
 Does not this sculpture rejnesent the destruction of 
 this metaphorical lion ? The ideas are remarkably 
 coincident; they differ but as the language of sculp- 
 ture necessarily differs from that of poetry. 
 
 stead of the deer, there is a great lion, which a man 
 holds by the mane." . . . . " There are also tAvo other 
 figures on each side, in the two niches to the south, 
 one of which gi-asps the horn of a goat with one 
 hand, Avhile the other rests on the neck of that ani- 
 imal." . ..." In one of these portals, to the cast, Ave 
 obserA-ed the figure of a man encountering a lion ; 
 and in another compartment, a man fighting Aviih a 
 bull. We likeAvise beheld, under the tAvo portals to 
 the Avest, several figures of lions, one of Avhich is 
 represented AAith Avings." .... "The Spanish ambas- 
 sador Avas persuaded, that the animal attacked by the 
 lion, on the staircase, represents an ox, or a bull ; 
 but I rather think it intended for a horse or an ass. 
 This particular piece of sculpture is no more than a 
 hieroglyphic, representing virtue victorious over force ; 
 and every one knoAAS, that the ancient Persians and 
 EgA ptians concealed their greatest mysteries under 
 equivocal figures, as Heliodorus observes. As all 
 these animals, therefore, are represented Avith horns, 
 Avhicli are not natural to them, some mystery must 
 certainly be intended by that sculpture ; and this sup- 
 position seems the more reasonable, because it is well 
 knoAvn that horns Avere anciently the emblem of 
 strength, and even of majesty itself." . ..." I take 
 the other figure, Avhich encounters a lion, and is hab- 
 ited like a Mede, to be a hieroglyphic ; because the 
 Egyptians, from whom the Persians borrowed sev- 
 eral customs, re])resented strength and fortitude by 
 the figure of a lion. The reader may consult Clemens 
 Alexandrinus AAith relation to this particular. It may 
 likcAvise be intended for a real conibat, the Medes 
 and Persians liaA'ing been very fond of encountering 
 animals, as Xenophou observes in his ' Institution of 
 Cyrus.' Those Avho are versed in antiquity may 
 judge of these figures as they think proper." 
 
 It is evident from these extracts, that Le Bruyn 
 had no fixed opinion as to Avhat these figures repre- 
 sent. Without controverting Avhat he offers, JMr. 
 Taylor thus proposes his own conceptions. One of 
 these figiu'es "represents a man Avho has seized a 
 lion Avith one hand : in his other hand he holds a 
 sword, as if draAvn back," in order to plunge it the 
 more forcibly into tlie body of the lion ; the lion is 
 lifted up from the earth, and stands upright on its 
 hind legs ; he looks behind him, as if fearing harm 
 from thence. This lion is partly clothed Avith feath- 
 ers ; and these, from their size, &c. have the appear- 
 ance cf hc'iug eagle's feathers : his feathers seem to 
 be dinmiishing ; at least, he is by no means so full of 
 feathers as another figure adjoining. The man, from 
 his cap, &:c. is doubtless a person of distinction ; in 
 fact, a Persian king, victorious over a poAver denoted 
 by a lion ; but possessed of the additional strength 
 and celerity of an eagle. The correspondence of 
 events is thus: — 
 
 Historical Narratio>-. 
 
 1. The Babylonian eiiipire: 
 
 2. Nineveh added to it — but, 
 
 3. Nineveii almost destroyed at the fall of Sar- 
 
 danapalus : 
 
 4. Again raised, but liy artijicial means, 
 
 5. To stand in an unnatural posture, 
 
 6. Through the policy and good management 
 
 of its king ; perhaps Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 " Another of these sculptures also represents a man, 
 certainly no less a personage than a king, who Avith 
 one hand seizes the [single] horn of an animal, Avhich 
 he has attacked; Avhile, with the other hand, he
 
 DAR 
 
 [334] 
 
 DAR 
 
 E lunges a sword into its belly. This animal has the 
 ody, fore legs, and head of a beast ; he is also great- 
 ly clothed with feathers, has wings, and birds' legs, 
 on which he stands upright. He seeiua to make a 
 stout resistance. 
 
 " It is not easy to determine what beast is here rep- 
 resented, but it seems to be clear that the king is 
 breaking its [single] horn, (power,) and destroying it. 
 It probably alludes to some province of the Persian 
 empire, acquired by victory ; and most likely tlie 
 other emblems in this palace have similar reference : 
 for we learn from Diodorus, that military actions of 
 the Egyptian monarchs were represented on tlie tem- 
 ples and j)alaces of Egypt ; and we may fairly pre- 
 sume that the vanity ol" Persia would not be inferior 
 to that of Egj'pt." Mr. Taylor's opinion is, that these 
 figures represent the king, or the deity, under whose 
 auspices the king conquered, by whom the neighbor- 
 ing powers, allegorized Ijy these figurative beasts, 
 were subdued ; and that these are allusions to such 
 actious: but his opinion goes no further, than to ac- 
 knowledge their coincidence with the animals de- 
 scribed by the prophet Daniel ; whose emblems are 
 not only justified by the comparison, but it is proved, 
 also, dial s !ch national allegories were in use at that 
 time, and were then well known and publicly ad- 
 mitted. 
 
 It is remarkable, that Daniel does not determine 
 the species of the fourth beast in his vision ; perhaps 
 because its insigiiia were then unknown in so distant 
 a region as Persia. 
 
 That ancient opponent of Christianity, Porphyry, 
 affirmed that the book of Daniel was a history writ- 
 ten figuratively after the events it refers to had hap- 
 pened; even after Antiochus Epiphanes, and long 
 after the empire of the Greeks ; and Eichhorn and 
 others adopt his notion ; but, as the emblems on this 
 palace are, at all events, prior to Alexander, who de- 
 stroyed them, and have no Greek allusions among 
 them, their antiquity becomes a voucher for the an- 
 tiquity of Daniel, with whom they coincide so remark- 
 ably ; and if tlie autiquity of Daniel be estabUshed, 
 his proj)hetic character follows of course. The 
 reader will reflect on the importance of establishing 
 the antiquity of Daniel ; since our calculations of the 
 time of the Messiah's coming, (Sec. originate from 
 him, ^vho remarkably, clearly, and systematically, 
 calculates the periods and dates of following events. 
 Mr. Taylor I'urtlier suggests, that the reason why 
 Daniel calculates so systematically, perhaps was, be- 
 cause he dwelt in Baljylon, where a new era had 
 lately been es^tablished, which we call that of Nabo- 
 nassar : this formed a fixed point, of which Daniel's 
 proficiency in Chaldean studies enabled him to avail 
 himself No such era was as yet adopted in Greece, 
 Judea, or Svria. 
 
 I. DARIUS THE MEDE, spoken of in Daniel, 
 (chap. V. 31 ; ix. 1 ; xi. 1.) was son of Astyages, king 
 of the Modes, and brother of Mandane, mother of 
 Cyrus, and Amyit, the mother of Evil-mcrodachand 
 grandmother of Belshazzar : thus he was uncle, by 
 the mother's side, to Evil-merodach and to Cyrus. 
 The Hebrew frp„f.,.al|y calls him Danavcsch, or 
 Darius; the LXX, Artaxerxcs ; and Xenophon, 
 Cyaxares. See Astyages II. 
 
 II. DARIUS CODOMANNUS was one of the 
 most handsome men in the Persian empire ; and at 
 the same time the most brave and generous of the 
 Persian kings. Alexander the Great defeated Darius 
 several times, and at length subverted tlie Persian 
 monarchy, after it had been established 206 years. 
 
 Darins was killed by his own generals, after a short 
 reign of six years. Thus were verified the prophe- 
 cies of Daniel, (chap, viii.) who had foretold the en- 
 largement of the Persian monarchy, under the sym- 
 bol of a ram, butting with its horns westward, 
 northward, and southward, which nothing could 
 resist : and its destruction, by a goat having a very 
 large horn between his eyes, (Alexander the Great,) 
 coming from the West, and overrunning the world 
 without touching the earth. S])ringing forward with 
 impetuosity, he ran against the ram with all his force, 
 attacked him with fury, bi-oke his two horns, and 
 trauqjled him under foot, without anyone being able 
 to rescue him. Nothing can be added to the clear- 
 ness of these prophecies. 
 
 DARKNESS, obscurity. "Darkness was upon 
 the face of the deep," (Gen. i.2,) that is, chaos was im- 
 mersed in thick darkness, because light was withheld 
 from it. The most terrible darkness was that brought 
 on Egypt as a plague ; it was so thick as to be, as it 
 were, palpable ; so horrible, that no one durst stir out 
 of his j)lace ; and so lasting, that it endured three 
 days and three nights, Exod. x. 21, 22 ; VVisd. xvii, 
 2, 3. The darkness at our Saviour's death began at 
 the sixth hour, or noon ; and ended at the third hour, 
 or three o'clock in the afternoon. Thus it lasted al- 
 most the whole time he was on tlie cross ; compare 
 Matt, xxvii. 45, with John xix. 14, and Mark xv. 25. 
 Some are of opinion, that this darkness covered 
 Judea only ; which is sometimes expressed by the 
 wJwle earth ; that is, land or country ; others, that it 
 extended over a hemisphere. It should be remarked, 
 that the moon being at full, a natural eclipse of the 
 sun was impossible ; though Julius Africanus, Euse- 
 bius, and Jerome, in their several chronicles, refer 
 that eclipse of the sun which Phlegon mentions, to 
 our Saviour's death. That author says, it was the 
 greatest eclipse ever seen, since at noon-day the stars 
 were discernible in the heavens. It happened in the 
 fourth year of the 102d Olympiad, which is that of 
 Jesus Christ's deatli. And Tertullian refers the 
 heathen to their public archives for an accoimt of 
 this darkness. The remarks, however, made liy Dr. 
 Lardner, in o])position to the application of what has 
 been adduced from Phlegon, have great force. That 
 ancient writer speaks of what passed in Bithynia, not 
 in Judea ; the references he makes to the year are 
 uncertain, and do not specify the time of the year ; 
 his language, so far as apjiears, may be referred to a 
 natural eclipse of the sini ; and, further, the quota- 
 tions made from his work, or the allusions to it by 
 Christian writers, are very loose, imperfect, and un- 
 satisfactoiy. On the whole, it docs not appear that 
 Phlegon intended a reference to the period of Christ'8 
 passion. 
 
 Darkness is sometimes used metaphorically : for 
 death, Job x. 22. The land of darkness — the grave. 
 It is also used to denote misfortunes and calamities, 
 Psalm cvii. 10. "A day of darkness," (Esth. xi. 8. 
 .fipoc.) an unhappy day. "Let that day lie darkness 
 — let darkness stain it," (Job iii. 4, 5.) let it be reck- 
 oned among the unfortunate days. " I am encom- 
 passed with darkness." " I will co\er the heavens 
 with darkness." "The sun shall be turned into 
 darkness, and the moon into blood," &c. These 
 exjiressions signify very great calamities ; personal 
 and national. In a moral sens(>, darkness denotes 
 sin; the children of light, in ojiposition to the chil- 
 dren of darkness; the righteous in oppositicm to the 
 wicked. "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now 
 are ye light," Ephes. v. 8, 11. "God bath called ua
 
 DAU 
 
 [ 335 
 
 D A V 
 
 out of darkness," &.c. (1 Pet. ii. 9.) from idolatry, 
 ignorance, &c. to Christianity. 
 
 DATE, the fruit of the pahn-tree. See Palm. 
 
 DAUGHTER. This word, like other names of 
 relation employed in Scripture, being a noun express- 
 ing similitude, no less tlian kindred, is used in refer- 
 ence to many subjects, which are not properly the 
 offspring of that person, or that thing, of which they 
 are said to be daughters. The following are senses 
 in which the word daughter is used in Scripture. 
 
 (1.) Female offspring, by natural birth, Gen. vi. 1 ; 
 xxiv. 23, and other places. — (2.) Grand-daughter ; so 
 the servant of Abraham calls Rebekah "my master's 
 brother's daughter," (Gen. xxiv. 48.) whereas she 
 was daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, as appears 
 from verse 24 ; consequently, gi-and -daughter of Na- 
 hor, brother of Abraham, the master of the speaker. — 
 (3.) Betnote descendants, of the same family or tribe, 
 but separated by many ages ; " daughter of Heth," of 
 his posterity ; daughters of Canaan, of Moab, of 
 Ammon; and Luke (i. 5.) says, EHsabeth was of the 
 "daughters of Aaron," of his descendants, though 
 many generations had intervened. — (4.) Daughter by 
 nation. Dinah went out to see the young women of 
 Shechem, called the " daughters of the fand," Gen. 
 xxxiv. 1. (See also Numb. xxv. 1 ; Deut. xxiii. 17.) — 
 (5.) Daughter, by reference to the human species; 
 young women, of whatever nation. Gen. xxx. 13. (See 
 Prov. xxxi. 29 ; Cant. ii. 2.) — (6.) Daughter, by person- 
 ification, of a people, or city, whence daughter of 
 Jerusalem, or of Zion ; of Babylon ; (Isa. xlvii. 1, 5.) 
 of Edom : (Lam. iv. 21.) of Egypt, Jer. xlvi. 11, 14.— 
 (7.) Daughter hj law ; (Ruth iii. 1.) and this is com- 
 mon in all nations, to call a son's wife daughter ; but 
 Boaz calls Rutii "daughter" by counesj', as express- 
 ing kindness, afTability, affection, from a senior to a 
 junior in age, from a superior to an inferior by sta- 
 tion, iii. 10, 11. — (8.) Daughter by adoption, as Esther 
 was to 3Iordecai, (Esther ii. 7.) and as God promises 
 his people by his grace, 2 Cor. vi. 18. — (9.) Daughter, 
 in reference to disposition and conduct : as we have 
 " sons of Belial," so we have " daughter of Belial," a 
 woman of an unrestrainable conduct, uncontrollable, 
 1 Sam. i. IG. (See also Belial, and Soxs.) — (10.) 
 Daughter, in reference to ago : as we have " a son of 
 so many years," so wc have "a daughter of ninety 
 years," Heb. — a woman of that age ; (Gen. xvii. 17.) 
 and the same is said of a female beast. Lev. xiv. 10. — 
 (11.) The female offspring of a bird, (Isa. xiii. 21. 
 marg.) "daughter of the owl." — (12.) The branches, 
 which are, as it were, the offspring of a tree, (Gen. 
 xlix. 22.) the branches — daughters, Heb. — of Joseph, 
 compared to a tree, spread over a wall. — (13.) Towns, 
 or villages, around a mother city, that i^, probably 
 originating from it, or supported by it : so Tyre is 
 called the daughter of Zidon, Isa. xxiii. 12. (See 
 also 2 Sam. xx. 19.) So Ave read of Gath-AjMMAH, 
 that is, Gath the mother-Xown ; of a town being a 
 mother in Israel: (see Numb. xxi. 2.5,32; Josh. xv. 
 45; 2 Chron. xiii. 19; Psalmxlviii.il. in the He- 
 brew :) and many cities in ancient medals are quali- 
 fied as metropolis, mother-towns, implying, no doubt, 
 lesser towns, and towns not equally aucient, as being 
 included in their jurisdiction. We might ask wheth- 
 er "the daughter of Tyre" (Psalm xlv. 12.) be a per- 
 son, the king's daughter, or ato\\m, offering a present 
 by its deputies. [The meaning is, Tyre itself. R. 
 
 The state of daughters, that is, young women, in 
 the East, their employments, duties, &c. may be gath- 
 ered from various j)arts of Scripture ; and seem to 
 have borne but little resemblance to the state of 
 
 young women of respectable parentage among our- 
 selves. Rebekah drew and fetched water ; Rachel 
 kept sheep, as did the daughters of Jethro, though 
 Jethro was a priest, or a prince, of IMidian. They 
 superintended and performed domestic services for 
 the family ; Tamar, though a king's daugliter, baked 
 bread ; and the same of others. We have the same 
 occupations for the daughters of princes in the an- 
 cient poets, of which Homer is an unquestionable 
 evidence. 
 
 DAVID, son of Jesse, of Judah, and of the town 
 of Bethlehem, was born A. M. 2919. After the re- 
 jection of Saul, as to the descent of the crown in his 
 family, the Lord sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint 
 a son of Jesse to be the future king. Jesse produced 
 his seven sons one after another ; but the intended 
 sovereign was not among ihem. David, therefore, 
 was sent for, w-ho was about fifteen years of age, and 
 Samuel conferred on him an unction in the midst of 
 his brethren. After which, David returned to his 
 ordinary occupation of feeding his father's flocks, 1 
 Sam. xvi. 15, 16, A. 31. 2934. Some time after- 
 wards, Saul falling into a lamentable state of melan- 
 choly, David w'as chosen to play before him, and the 
 king appointed him his armor-bearer, 1 Sam. xvi. 14 
 — 23. When Saul recovered, David returned to his 
 father's house ; but some years after, Goliath, a Phi- 
 listine giant, having insulted Israel by a challenge, he 
 encountered the giant and slew him. The Philis- 
 tines, seeing their hero killed, fled, 1 Sam. xvii. 1 — 
 52. When Saul saw David coming against this Phi- 
 listine, he inquired of Abner who he was ; but Abner 
 answered that he knew not. Calmet remarks that 
 this appears strange, considering Saul had seen David 
 in his own house, where he played before him on 
 his harp, and had appointed him armor-bearer. 
 He supposes that either David's face, voice, and air, 
 must liave been changed since that time ; or that 
 Saul, during his gloomy insanity, iiad acquired false 
 ideas of David's person ; or, after his recoven', had 
 forgotten him. But we are not certain that David 
 had ever been a regular attendant on the person of 
 Saul ; that he had often played before him ; nor do 
 we know under what circumstances of dress or place. 
 It does not appear that even Jonathan had seen Da- 
 vid, at least not familiarly, before, and this is the 
 greater difficulty : Abner, as general, might be absent, 
 but Jonathan was, no doubt, more or less, about his 
 father. Abner, however, presented David to the 
 king, with the head and sword of Goliath in his 
 hands. From this instant, Jonathan conceived a 
 great affection for David, which contiiuied ever after, 
 1 Sam. xvii. xviii. 1 — 4. When Saul and David re- 
 turned from this expedition, the women of Israel 
 met them, singing, "Said has slain his thousands, 
 and David his ten thousands ;" which so enraged 
 Saul against David, that henceforth he looked en 
 him with an evil eye ; though he kept him about his 
 person, and gave him the command of some troops. 
 Ho, however, refused to give him his daughter in 
 marriage, though he had promised her to the man 
 who should kill Goliath, xvii. 25. Saul's distemper 
 having returned, David played on the harp before 
 him, and Saul with his sjjear twice attempted to kill 
 him, xviii. 10, 11. Having discovered that his second 
 daughter entertained kind thoughts of David, Saul 
 caused it to be communicated to him, that to merit 
 the honor of becoming the king.'s son-in-law, he 
 required no great gifts, dowry, or presents, but a 
 hundred foreskins of the Philistines; his design 
 being to haver David fall by their hands. David,
 
 BA\ID 
 
 [ 336 
 
 DAVID 
 
 however, with his people, killed tAVo liundrcd Philis- 
 tines, and brought their foreskins to the king, who 
 could, therefore, no longer refuse him his daughter ; 
 though he did not lay aside the intention of his de- 
 struction. His distemper again possessing him, 
 David, as usual, played on the harp before him ; but 
 the king endeavoring to pierce him with his lance, 
 he fled to his house, xviii. 17 ; xix. 10, A. M. 2944. 
 
 Having thus repeatedly escaped from Saul's mal- 
 ice, David went to Samuel at Raniah, and related to 
 him what had passed. They went together to Nai- 
 oth, but David, not thinking himself secure here, 
 secretly visited Jonathan, who encouraged him, and 
 jiromised to discover Saul's real disposition towards 
 liim, distinct from his disease. This proving to be 
 altogether inimical to David, the two friends renewed 
 protestations of perpetual friendship, and David re- 
 tired to the high-priest Abinielech at Nob, to whom 
 he represented, that the king had sent him on busi- 
 ness that required haste. Abimelech gave him 
 Goliath's sword which was deposited in the taberna- 
 cle, and some of tlie shew-bread, taken the day be- 
 fore from the golden table. Not believing himself to 
 bs safe in Saul's territories, David retired to Acliish, 
 king of Gath ; but being soon discovered, he wasprc- 
 perA'ed, cither bj^ counterfeiting madness, or by a real 
 epilepsy, 1 Sam. xx. xxi. From hence he went to 
 Adullum, where his relations and others resorted to 
 him, so that he was at the head of about four hun- 
 dred men. The prophet Gad advised his return into 
 tl^e land of Judah, Avherc Abiatliar the priest joined 
 him, bringing the priestly ornaments. The Philis- 
 tines having invaded the threshing-floors of Keilah, 
 David attacked and dispersed them ; but Saul march- 
 ing against him, he retreated to the desert of Maon. 
 Saul pursued him thither ; but, receiving information 
 that the Philistines had invaded the land, he desisted 
 from his pursuit. Being delivered from this danger, 
 David retired to the wilderness of En-gedi, whither 
 Saul soon followed him with 3000 men ; but going 
 into a cave, David, who lay there concealed with his 
 people, cut off the skirt of his robe, without his per- 
 ceiving it. When Saul had jn-oceeded to some dis- 
 tance, David went our, cried after him, protested his 
 innocence, and sjiowed him the skirt of his robe. 
 Saul was so touched with what he said, that he shed 
 tears, acknowledged David's integrity, and made him 
 swear not to exterminate his family, when he should 
 be advanced to tlie throne, xxii. — xxiv. A. M. 2946. 
 
 While in the wilderness of Maon, David protected 
 the flocks of Nabal, not only from his own people, 
 but from the tribes of wandering Arabs, who seize 
 as prey all they can find. For this service he solicit- 
 ed a present from Nabal, but meeting a denial, his 
 anger prompted him to destroy him and his familj^ 
 With this resolution he set forward ; but Abigail, 
 Nnbal's wife, pacified him with pi-esents, for which 
 David returned thanks to God ; and after Nabal's 
 death he married Abigail. 
 
 The Ziphites having informed Saul that David lay 
 concealed in the hill of Hachilah, he marched with 
 3000 men against him ; but David, by night, got into 
 S mi's tent, took his spear and cruse of water, and 
 
 departed without being discovered, 1 Sam. xxvi. 1 
 
 25. After this, Achish, king of Gath, (1 Sam. xxvii.) 
 gave David Ziklag !or a habitation ; whence he made 
 several incursions on the Amalckites, and on the 
 people of Geshur and Gezri ; killing all who oppos- 
 ed him, to prevent any discovery where he had 
 been. He brought all the cattle to Achish, reporting 
 that they were from the south of Judah. This prince 
 
 did not scruple to carry David with him to war 
 against Saul ; but the other princes of the Philistines 
 obtamed his dismission, which must have been most 
 agreeable to David, A. M. 2949, 1 Sam. xxix. On 
 his return to Ziklag, he discovered that the Amalek- 
 ites, in revenge of his incursions, had burned the 
 city, and carried off" all the property and persons. 
 David and his people pursued them, put the greater 
 part of them to the sword, and recovered all their 
 booty. 
 
 While this was passing in the south, the Philistines 
 had defeated the Hebrews, on mount Gilboa ; Saul 
 being overpowered and slain in the engagement, 
 with Jonathan and his two otiier sons, 1 Sam. xxxi. 
 The news was brought to David by an Amalekite ; 
 who boasted that he had assisted Saul in despatching 
 himself, and as a proof presented the king's diaderii 
 and bracelet. David ordered this Amalekite to be 
 slain, who boasted that he had lain hands on the 
 Lord's anointed ; composed a mournful elegy in 
 honor of Saul and Jonathan ; and with all his people 
 lamented their deaths, and the defeat of Israel, 2 
 Sam. i. 
 
 Directed by God, David advanced to Hebron, 
 where the tribe of Judah acknowledged him as their 
 king, (2 Sam. ii.) while Ishbosheth, son of Saul, reign- 
 ed at Mahanaim beyond Jordan, over the other tribes. 
 For some years, there v.'cre almost perpetual skir- 
 mishes between their troops, in which David was til- 
 ways successfid ; but Ishbosheth having reprimanded 
 Abner, his general, he visited David, and promised 
 to make him master of all Israel ; but was treacher- 
 ously killed by Joab, at the gate of Hebron. Ishbo- 
 sheth was killed soon afterwards, and David punished 
 the murderers. Being noAV proclaimed king over all 
 Israel, he expelled the Jebusites from Jerusalem, and 
 there settled his residence. Some years afterwards, 
 he removed the ark of the Lord fi-om Kirjath-jearim 
 to his own palace, 2 Sam. v. vi. xxiii. 13 — 17 ; 1 
 Chron. xii. — xvi. 
 
 David, now enjoying peace, formed the design of 
 building a temple to the Lord ; and the ]jrophet Na- 
 than applauded his intention. The night following, 
 however, God discovered to the prophet, that this 
 honor was reserved for David's son, because David 
 had shed blood. About A. M. 2960, David fought 
 the Philistines, and freed Israel from these enemies ; 
 also from the Moabites, wliom he treated with a se- 
 verity, for which we are not well acquainted with 
 the motives, nor, indeed, with all the circumstances. 
 He sifljdued likewise all Syria; made an expedition 
 as far as the Euphrates, and conquered the Edom- 
 ites in the valley of Salt, 2 Samuel viii. Nahash, 
 king of the Ammonites, being dead, he sent compli- 
 ments of condolence to his son and successor ; but 
 his courtiers having persuaded him, that David sent 
 them as spies, the ])rince insulted tlie ambassadors, 
 and thus provoked David's anger. Joab was sent 
 against the Ammonites, who were routed, together 
 Avith the Syrians ; and the next year David marched 
 in person against the former, who had received suc- 
 cors froin the Syrians beyond the Euphrates, and 
 dispersed them. The year following, having resolved 
 to subdue Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites, he 
 sent Joab with the army, while he continued at Je- 
 rusalem, ch. X. It was at this time that he fell into 
 the dreadful crimes of adultery and murder in regard 
 to Bathsheba, and Uriah her husband, xi. 2 — ^27. 
 After the death of Uriah, David married Bathsheba. 
 Joab having reduced Rabbah to extremities, David 
 went thither, took the city, and plundered it ; order-
 
 DAVID 
 
 [ 337 
 
 DAVID 
 
 ing the people to be subjected to the most severe 
 labors, ver. 26—31. This was probably before he 
 was brought to repentance on account of his criminal 
 connection with Bathsheba. Upon his return to Je- 
 rusalem, Nathan, by God's connnand, visited liim, 
 and, under an affecting parable of a rich man, who 
 had taken from a poor man the only ewe-lamb he 
 had, induced David to condemn himself Nathan 
 foretold that his house should be filled with blood, 
 as a punishment for his crime ; and that the child 
 born of this adulteiy should die ; as it did within a 
 few days, ch. xii. 1 — 25. 
 
 As the beginning of his predicted punishment in 
 David's own family, his son Amnon was slain by his 
 brother Absalom, who fled, but was brought back by 
 Joab's intercession. Shortly after this, he aspired to 
 the ro3'al dignity, and was acknowledged king at 
 Hebron, David being compelled to fly from Jerusa- 
 lem ; just beyond mount Olivet, he met Ziba, the 
 servant of 3Iephibosheth, a son of Jonathan, to 
 whom he gave the whole inheritance of his master, 
 chap. xvi. Near Bahurim, Shimei loaded him with 
 curses ; but David endured all with a patience analo- 
 gous to his remorse for his past iniquity. Absalom 
 followed him to Mahanaim, and a battle ensued, in 
 which Absalom's army was defeated ; and he, hang- 
 ing by his hair on a tree, was slain by Joab, chap, 
 xviii. The news of his death overwhelmed the king 
 with sorrow ; but, by the advice of Joab, he showed 
 himself publicly to the people, and set out on his re- 
 turn to Jerusalem. The tribe of Judah met him, 
 but Sheba said, "We have no pai-t in David, neither 
 have we inheritance in the son of Jesse." Israel 
 followed Sheba, but Judah adhered to David, 
 chap. XX. 
 
 The land being afflicted by a famine of three 
 years' continuance, the Lord reminded David of the 
 blood of the Gibeonites unjustly shed by Saul. Da- 
 vid, therefore, asked the Gibeonites, what satisfaction 
 they required ; and they demanding that seven of 
 Saul's sons should be hanged up in Gibeab, David 
 complied, A. M. 2983, 2 Sam. xxi. Some time after 
 this, David having proudly and obstinately com- 
 manded the people to be numbered, the Lord sent 
 the prophet Gad to offer him the choice of three 
 scourges ; either that the land should be afliicted 
 by famine during seven years, or that he should fly 
 three months before his enemies, or that a pesti- 
 lence should rage during three days. David chose 
 the latter, and, though 70,000 persons died, the sen- 
 tence was not fully executed. David, as an act of 
 thanksgiving, erected an altar in the threshing-floor 
 of Araunah, where, as some think, the temple was 
 afterwards built, xxiv. 
 
 David, from his great age, could now scarcely oij- 
 tain any warmth ; a young woman, therefore, named 
 Abishag, was brought to him, to lie with him, and 
 attend him ; but continued a virgin, 1 Kings i. 1 — 4. 
 At this time, Adonijah, his fourth son, set up the 
 equipage of a king, and formed a party ; but Nafiian, 
 who knew the promises of David in favor of Solo- 
 mon, acquainted Bathsheba with it, who claiming 
 those promises, David gave orders that Solomon 
 should be anointed king. David, being now near his 
 end, sent for Solomon, committed to him the jiians 
 and models of the temple, with the gold and silver he 
 had prepared for it, and charged him to be constant- 
 ly faithful to God. He died, aged 71, A. M. 2990,^ 
 ante A. D. 1014. He reigned seven years and a half 
 at Hebron, and thirty-three at Jerusalem, in all forty 
 years, chap. ii. 
 
 43 
 
 In the account here given, chiefly from Calmet, 
 the history of David only is narrated ; but he must 
 also be regarded as an eniineni type of our Saviour, 
 and as being the author of a large portion of the 
 Psalms, from wliich the church of Christ in all ages 
 has derived the utmost advaiuage in consolation, in- 
 struction, and assistance in divine worship ; and in 
 which the clearness and fulness of the prophecies re- 
 lating to the advent, and offices, and kingdom of our 
 Lord, are remarkable. See Psalms. 
 
 Joseph us relates, that Solomon deposited abun- 
 dance of riches in David's monument ; and that, 
 1300 years after, the high-priest Hircanus, being be- 
 sieged in Jerusalem by Antiochus Pius, opened 
 David's monument, took out 3000 talents, and gave 
 Antiochus part of them. He adds that, many years 
 after, Herod the Great searched this monument, and 
 took great sums out of it. In the memoirs published 
 in Arabic by M. le Jay, in his Polyglott, we read tiiat 
 Hircanus, when besieged by king Antiochus Sidetes 
 opened a trcasui'e chamber, which belonged to some 
 of David's descendants, and that, after he had taken 
 a large sum out of it, he still left much, and sealed it 
 up again. This is very different from Josephus's 
 account ; but is probably the foundation of it. Da- 
 vid's monument was much respected by the Jews. 
 Peter (Acts ii. 29.) tells them, it was still with them, 
 and Dio informs us, that part of the mausoleum fell 
 down in the emperor Adrian's reign. 
 
 There is one circumstance in the history of David 
 which requires further notice than it has received in 
 the narrative just given. 
 
 There is an apparent discrepancy between the ac- 
 counts of his numbering the people, as given in 
 2 Sam. xxiv. 9. and 1 Chron. xxi. 5. In tlie former 
 place it stands thus -.—Israel 800,000 ; Judah 500,000 ; 
 in the latter it is, Israel 1,100,000 ; Judah 470,000. 
 A very striking difference, certainly ; and the question 
 for solution is. Are the accounts to be reconciled ? 
 Patrick, Lightfoot, Hales, and others, are of opinion 
 that the returns were not completed when sent in to 
 the king ; and that the writer of the book of Samuel 
 mentions the numjjer according to the list actually 
 given in ; whereas the author of the Chronicles gives 
 the list not laid before the king, nor inserted in the 
 public records, but generally kuov/n among the peo- 
 ple. It is difficult, however, to conceive that the 
 compiler of jjublic annals, such as are the Chroni- 
 cles, should depart from the authentic or authorized 
 retiu-ns, and insert such as were obtained from cur- 
 rent report, or sources of private information. Per- 
 haps the conjectiu-e of a more recent writer. Mi*. 
 Baruch, is better adapted to meet the case, and we 
 shall, therefore, lay the substance of his remarks be- 
 fore tlie reader : — 
 
 " It rppcars," he observes, " by 1 Chron. xxvii. that 
 there wore twelve divisions of generals, who com- 
 manded monthly, and whose duty was to keep guard 
 near tlie king's person, each having a body of troops, 
 consisting of twenty-four thousand men, which, 
 jointly, formed a grand army of two hundred and 
 eighty-eight thousand ; and as a separate body of 
 twelve tliousand men naturally attended on the 
 twelve princes of the twelve tribes, mentioned in the 
 same chapter, the whole will be three hundred thou- 
 sand ; which is the difference between the two ac- 
 counts of eight hundred thousand, and of onennllion 
 one hundred thousand. As to the men of Israel, tlic 
 audior of Sanuiel does not take notice of the three 
 hundred thousand, because they were in the actual 
 service of the king, as a standing army, and, therefore,
 
 DAY 
 
 [ 338 ] 
 
 DEA 
 
 there was no need to number them ; but Chronicles 
 joins them to the rest, saying expressly (Sn-^c" So) ' all 
 those of Israel were one million one hundred thou- 
 sand ;' whereas the aiUhor of Samuel, who reckons 
 only the eight hundred thousand, does not say, 
 (Sn-i!;'> h^) 'all those of Israel,'' but barely (Sn-ic' Tini) 
 ' and Israel were,' &c. It must also be observed, that, 
 exclusive of the troops liefore mentioned, there was 
 an ai-my of observation on the frontiers of the Phi- 
 listines' country, composed of thirty thousand men, 
 as appears by 2 Sam. vi. 1. which, it seems, were 
 included in the number of five Imudred thousand of 
 the people of Judah, by the author of Samuel ; but 
 the author of Chronicles, who mentions only four 
 hundred and seventy thousand, gives the number of 
 that tribe, exclusive of those thirty thousand men, 
 because tliey were not all of the tribe of Judah, 
 and, therefore, he does not say, (hth^ Sd) 'all those 
 of Judah,'' as he had said, (Sk-id^ Vd,) ' all those of 
 Israel,'' but only, (min^i) ' and those of Judah.' Thus 
 both accounts may be reconciled, by only having re- 
 coui-se to other parts of Scripture, treating on the 
 same subject, which will ever be found the best 
 method of explaining difficult passages." 
 
 The remarks which follow are so just and valuable, 
 that no apology will be required for their insertion : 
 
 " The above variations are, in appearance, so glar- 
 ingly contradictory, that, if the standing army of two 
 hundred and eighty-eight thousand men, and the ar- 
 my of observation of thirty thousand, had not been 
 recorded in Scripture, by which the difficulties are 
 solved, those modern critics who take a delight in 
 finding seeming defects, blemishes, and corruptions 
 in our copies of the sacred books, might, with great 
 plausibility, produce the present collation, as an irref- 
 ragable instance to support their position. But let 
 us, for a moment, suppose that those circumstances, 
 though real facts, had not been recorded ; how would 
 the state of the question then rest? Those critics 
 would plume themselves on what they would call 
 the in-esistible force of such contradictory instances ; 
 but all their boasting would be grounded on the 
 baseless fabric of a vision, I mean, on our ignorance 
 of those particulars, which, if known, would imme- 
 diately reconcile the variations. The inference I 
 Avould draw from this observation is, that many diffi- 
 culties may appear insurmountable, which might 
 easily be solved, had the sacred writers been more 
 exi)licit in recording circumstances, which, perhaps, 
 they have omitted, as being well known in their 
 time : and, therefore, critics should be more cautious, 
 than peremptorily to pronounce all seeming varia- 
 tions to be a proof of corruption, since our present 
 inability to reconcile them is no certain proof of any 
 blemish or defect." 
 
 DAY. The day is distinguished into natural, as- 
 tronomical, civil, and artificial ; and there is another 
 distinction which may be termed prophetic ; the proph- 
 ets being the only persons who call years days ; of 
 which there is an example in the explanation given 
 of Daniel's seventy weeks. The natural day is one 
 revolution of the sun. The astronomical day is one 
 revohuionof the equator, added to that portion of it 
 through which the sun has passed in one natural 
 day. The civil day is that, the beginning and end of 
 which arc dctcrminod by the custom of any nation. 
 The Hebrews began their day in the evening ; (Lev. 
 xxiii. 32.) the Babylonians "from sim-rising. The 
 artificial day is the time of the svm's continuance 
 above the horizon, which is unequal accordin'' to 
 diffi^rcnt seasons, on account of the obliquity of'the 
 
 sphere. The sacred writers generally divide the 
 day and night into twelve unequal hours. The sixth 
 hour is always nooia throughout the year ; and the 
 twelfth hour is the last hour of the day. But in sum- 
 mer, the twelfth hour, as all the others were, was 
 longer than in winter. See Hours. 
 
 To-Day, does not only signify the particular day 
 on which we are speaking, but any definite time ; as 
 we say, the people of the present day, or of that day, 
 or time. 
 
 DEACON. Among the Greeks those youths who 
 served the tables were called Stuxorot, deacons, i. e. 
 ministers, attendants ; and there is a manifest allu- 
 sion to them in our Lord's rebuke of his disciples: 
 (Luke xxii. 25.) "The kings of the Gentiles exercise 
 lordship over them ; and those possessing authority 
 over them, are called benefactors [fvioyirai). But 
 among you it shall not be so ; but he who is great- 
 est among you, let him be as the youngest ; and he 
 who takes place as a ruler, as he who serveth (i. e. a 
 deacon). For whether is greater, he who reclines at 
 table, [araxiltiitoc,) or he who serveth (i. e. the dea- 
 con) ? Whereas I am among you as (the deacon) he 
 who serveth." Is there not great humility in our 
 Lord's allusion ? But the word is used in ecclesias- 
 tical language, to denote an officer who assists either 
 the bishop or priest, or in the service of the poor. 
 (For the institiUion of deacons, see Acts vi. 1.) They 
 Avere selected by the people from among themselves, 
 were then presented to the apostles, and ordained by 
 prayer and imposition of hands. Paul enumerates 
 the qualifications of a deacon in 1 Tim. iii. 8 — 12. 
 [The word i5u(;^oioc, deacon, attendant, &c. as spoken 
 in reference to the primitive institutions of the Chris- 
 tian churches, means 07ie who collects and distributes 
 alms to the poor, an overseer of the poor, an almoner. 
 Persons of both sexes were appointed to perform 
 the duties of this office ; which consisted in a gen- 
 eral inquiry into the situation and wants of the poor, 
 in taking care of the sick, and in administering all 
 necessary and i)roper relief, Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 8, 
 12 ; Rom. xvi. 1. From this word, as applied to 
 this office, is derived the English word deacon ; which, 
 however, retains little of its original signification. R. 
 
 DEACONESS. Such women were called dea- 
 conesses, as served the church in those oflices in 
 which the deacons coidd not w ith propriety engage ; 
 such as keeping the doors of that \mn of the church 
 where the women sat ; assisting tiie women to tm- 
 drcss and dress at baptism ; privately instructing 
 those of their own sex ; and visiting others impris- 
 oned for the faith. They were of mature and ad- 
 vanced age when chosen ; of good manners and 
 repiUation. They were, in the primitive times, ap- 
 pointed to this office, va ith the imposition of hands. 
 Paul speaks of Pha'be, deaconess of the church at 
 the port of Ccnchrea, the eastern haven of Corinth, 
 Rom. xvi. 1. See Dkacon. 
 
 These persons apjioar to be the same as those 
 whom Pliny, in his famous letter to Trajan, styles 
 "^Incillis, qu(B ministry: dicebantur" — female attend- 
 ants called assistants, ministers, or servants. It 
 appears, then, that tlu^se were customary officers 
 throughout the churches ; and when the fury of 
 persecution fell on Christians, these were among the 
 first to sufi'er ; the most cruel of tortures being in- 
 flicted on them, not sjiaring even extreme old age. 
 Is it not reniarkal)Ie that the ofiice, which is so well 
 adapted to the matronly character of the female sex, 
 should be wholly excluded from our list of assistants 
 in the church .'
 
 DEA 
 
 [ 339 ] 
 
 DEB 
 
 It is usually uuderstood, that at first deacoutsses 
 were widows, who had lived with one husband only ; 
 not less than sixty years of age ; which, by the 
 fifteenth canon of the council of Chalcedon, was re- 
 duced to forty years. In later times, they wore a 
 distinguishing dress. The apostle Paul says, that 
 Phffibe had been his patroness, as well as that of 
 many others, (Rom. xvi. 2.) which implies a dignity 
 seldom considered ; and shows that great respecta- 
 bility of station was the reverse of inconsistent with 
 the office of deaconess. 
 
 DEAD. It was natural that the Hebrews should 
 have great consideration for the dead, since they be- 
 lieved the soul's immortality, and a resurrection of 
 the body. They esteemed it the greatest misfortune 
 to be deprived of burial, and hence made it a point 
 of duty to bury the dead, (Tob. i. 19 ; ii. 3,9; iv. 17.) 
 and to leave something on their graves to be eaten by 
 tJie poor. When an Israelite died in any house or 
 tent, ail the persons and furniture in it contracted a 
 pollution, which continued seven days. Numb. xix. 
 14 — IG. All who touched the body of one who died, 
 or was killed, in the open fields ; all who touched 
 men's bones, or a grave, were unclean seven days. 
 To cleanse this pollution, they formerly took the 
 ashes of the red heifer, sacrificed by the higii-priest 
 on the day of solemn expiation : (Numb, xix.) on 
 these they poured water in a vessel, and a person 
 who was clean dipped a bunch of hyssop in the water, 
 and sprinkled with it the furniture, the chamber, and 
 the persons, on the third day and on the seventh day. 
 It was required that the [jolluted person should pre- 
 viously bathe his whole body, and wash his clothes ; 
 after Mhich he was clean, ver. 17 — 22. Since the 
 destruction of the temple, the Jews have ceased 
 generally to consider themselves as polluted by a 
 dead body. 
 
 It appears to have been a custom in Palestine, to 
 embalm the bodies of persons of distinction and for- 
 tune : but this was never general. The evangelist 
 John remaiks, that our Saviom- was wra])t in linen 
 clothes, with the spices, as the manner of the Jews 
 is to bury ; (John xix. 40.) and we read, that either 
 with, or near, the bodies of some kings of Judah, 
 abundance of sjjices was burnt ; (2 Chron. xxi. 19.) 
 but we cannot affirm that this was customary, Jer. 
 xxxiv. 5. See Embalming. 
 
 Ancieytly the Jews had women hired to lament at 
 funerals, and who played on doleiul instruments, and 
 walked in procession. The rabliins say, that an 
 Israelite was enjoined to have two of these musicians 
 at his wife's obsequies, besides the women hired to 
 weep. Persons who met the funeral procession, in 
 civility joined the company, and mingled their 
 groans. To this our Saviour seems to allude : (Luke 
 vii. 32.) " We have mourned to you, and ye have 
 not we|)t." And Paul — " Rejoice with them that 
 do rejoice, and weep with them that weep," Rom. 
 xii. 15. See Burial. For baptism of the dead, see 
 Baptism. 
 
 DEAD SEA, see Sea. 
 
 DEATH is taken in Scripture, (1.) for the separa- 
 tion of body and soul, the first death; (Gen. xxv. 11.) 
 (2.) for alienation from God, and exposure to his 
 wrath, 1 John iii. 14, &c. ; (3.) for the second death, 
 that of eternal damnation ; (4.) for any great calami- 
 ty, danger, or imminent risk of death, as persecution, 
 2 Cor. i. 10. " The gates of death" signify the grave ; 
 "instruments of death," dangerous and deadly weap- 
 ons ; "bonds or snares of death," snares intended to 
 produce death ; " a son of death," one who deserves 
 
 death, or one condenmed to death; "the duet of 
 death," the state of the body in the grave. Sec. 
 
 A<lam, having eaten of the forbidden fruit, incurred 
 the penalty of death, for himself and his i)OSterity. 
 Had he continued obedient, it is generallv supposed 
 he would not have died, and the fruit of "the tree of 
 hie was, perhaps, intended to preserve him in a happy 
 state of constant health ; peilmps, too, after a long 
 life, God might have translated him, by some easy 
 mutation, into a life absolutely immortal. Death was 
 therefore, brought into the world by the envy and 
 malice of the devil; (Wisdom iii. 24.) and the sin of 
 Adam introduced the death of all his descendants 
 Rom. V. 12. He was driven out of paradise after his 
 guilt, lest he should eat the fruit of the tree of life. 
 
 Our Saviour, by his death, however, subdued the 
 power of death, and merited for us a blessed immor- 
 tality, Heb. ii. 14, 15. Not that the soul, mortal be- 
 fore, has been by him rendered immortal ; or that he 
 has merited for us the favor of not dying ; for he has 
 not changed the nature of the soul, nor exempted us 
 from the necessity of dying; but he has given us the 
 life of grace in this world, and has merited eternal 
 happiness for us in the future world ; provided the 
 merits of his death are received by faith. 
 
 DEBIR, the name of a city. (It signifies that sepa- 
 rated part of a temple, called tlie adytum ; the most 
 retired or secret part, from which the oracle was un- 
 derstood to issue. In Solomon's temple, the holy of 
 holies was called the debir, in Hebrew, 1 Kings vi. 5, 
 19 — 22, etc.) The city Debir is called, also, A^r/o/A- 
 sepher, " the city of the book," or learning ; and 
 Kiijath-sa7inah, the "city of purity," from the Clial- 
 dee and Arabic root to cleanse. This ancient city 
 was near Hebron, in the south of Judah, and its first 
 inhabitants were giants of the race of Anak. Joshua 
 took it, and slew its king. Josh. x. 39 ; xii. 13. It fell 
 by lot to Caleb ; and Othniel first entering the place, 
 Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah, xv. 15, 16. It 
 subsequently belonged to the Levites, xxi. 15 ; 1 
 Chron. vi. 58. See Kirjath-sepher. 
 
 There were two other cities of this name ; one be- 
 longing to Gad, beyond Jordan, (Josh. xiii. 26.) the 
 other to Benjamui, though originally to Judah, Josh. 
 XV. 7. 
 
 I. DEBORAH, a prophetess, and wife of Lapi- 
 doth, judged the Israelites, and dwelt under a palm- 
 tree between Ratnah and Bethel, Judg. iv. 4, 5. She 
 sent for Barak, directed him to attack Sisera, and 
 promised him victory. Barak, however, refused to 
 go, unless she accompanied him ; which she did, i»ut 
 told him, that the success of the expedition would be 
 imputed to a woman, and not to him. After the 
 victory, Deborah and Barak composed a splendid 
 triumphal song, which is preserved in Judges c. v. 
 (For a translation of this song, with a commentary, see 
 the Biblical Repository, vol. i. p.56i^, seq.) 
 
 II. DEBORAH, Rebekah's nurse, who accompa- 
 nied Jacob, and was buried at the foot of Bethel, 
 under an oak ; for this reason called the oak of 
 weejiing, Gen. xxxv. 8. 
 
 DEBT, an obligation which must be discharged by 
 the party bound so to do. This may be either spe- 
 cial or general : special obligations are where the 
 party has contracted to do something in return for a 
 service received ; general obligations are those to 
 which a man is bound by his relative situation. 
 " Whoso shall swear by the gold of the temple — by 
 the gift on the altar— is a debtor ;" (Matt, xxiii. 16.) is 
 bound by his oath ; is obliged to fulfil his vow. " I 
 am debtor to the Greeks and barbarians ;" (Rom. i. 14.)
 
 DED 
 
 [340] 
 
 DEG 
 
 under obligations to persons of all nations and char- 
 acters. Gal. V. 3, he is a debtor — is bound — to do the 
 whole law. Men may be debtors to human justice, 
 or to divine justice ; bound to obedience, and if that 
 be not comphed with, bound to suffer the penalties 
 annexed to transgression. 
 
 DECALOGUE, the ten principal commandments, 
 (Exod. XX. 1, &c.) from the Greek Siy.a, ten, and 
 /.oyo;, loord. The Jews call these precepts. The ten 
 ivords. 
 
 DECx\POLIS, (from the Greek Si>'.l<, ten, and 
 riiXig, a city,) a country in Palestine, which contained 
 ten principal cities, on both sides of Jordan, Matt. iv. 
 25 ; Mark v. 20 ; vii. 31. According to Pliny, they 
 were, 1. Scythopolis ; 9. Philadelphia; 3. Raphanaj ; 
 4. Gadara ; 5. Hippos ; G. Dios ; 7. Pella ; 8. Gerasa ; 
 i\ Canatha ; 10. Damascus. Josephus inserts Oto- 
 pos instead of Canatha. Though within the hmits 
 of Israel, the Decapolis was probably inhabited by 
 foreigners ; and hence it retained a foreign apiJcUa- 
 tion. This may also contribute to account for the 
 numerous herds of swine kept in the district, (Matt, 
 viii. 30.) a practice which was forbidden by the Mo- 
 saic law. See further under Canaan. 
 
 DECREE, a determination or appointment, judi- 
 cial, civil, ecclesiastical, or divine. The divine ap- 
 pointments never err, being founded on truth, judg- 
 ment, perfect wisdom, and perfect knowledge, united 
 with perfect goodness, kindness, and grace. See 
 Predestination. 
 
 DEDAN, Dedanim, a country or city, and a peo- 
 ple, several times mentioned in tlie Old Testament, 
 but which there is some difficulty in identifying. 
 D'Anville places a city called Dadan, or, according to 
 Bochart, Dadena, in the eastern part of Arabia, near 
 the Persian gulf. This is probably the Dedan 
 of Gen. X. 7, and Ezek. xxvii. 1.5, the men of 
 which are mentioned in conjunction with the mer- 
 chants of many isles, as furnishing the men of Tyre 
 with ivory and ebony, which they probably procured 
 from India. About this spot a very extensive com- 
 merce flourished many ages after Tyre was destroy- 
 ed, of which those very articles formed a considera- 
 ble part. 
 
 It must be remarked, however, that there were two 
 Dedans, who gave name to their descendants — the 
 son of Kaamah, the son of Cusii, (Gen. x. 7.) and the 
 son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Kcturah, 
 Gen. XXV. 3. Tlie descendants of the latter settled in 
 Arabia Pctrfea, in the vicinity of Iduniea, (Jer. xlix. 
 8 ; Ezek. xxv. 13.) and it is only by carefully at- 
 tending to the circumstances in which the names are 
 introduced, that the people to whom reference is 
 made can be determined. 
 
 DEDICATION, a religiou.s ceremony, by which 
 any thing is declared to be consecrated to the wor- 
 ship of Cud. Mtvses dedicated the tabernacle built in 
 the wilderness, (ExM. xl ; Numb, vii.) and the ves- 
 sels set apart for divine service. Solomon dedicated 
 the temple which he erected, (1 Kings viii.) as did the 
 Israelites, retiu-ned from the captivity, their new tem- 
 I)lc, Ezra vi. 1(1, 17. The Maccabees, having cleansed 
 the temple, whicii iiad been polluted by Antiochus 
 
 E|)iphanes, again dedicated tho altar, 1 Mac. iv. .52 
 
 5D. This is believed to be the dedication Avhich the 
 Jews celebrated in winter, at whuUi our Lord was 
 present, John x. 22. The temple rebuilt by Ilcrod 
 was dedicated with great solemnity; aiul in order to 
 make the festival more august, Herod ai)j)ointcd it on 
 the anniversary of his accession to the crown. This 
 was towards the end of antt A. D. 40 ; and the tem- 
 
 ple which he built was dedicated at the end of his 
 32d year, four years before the true date of the birth 
 of Christ. Some think it probable that this was the 
 dedication referred to above. 
 
 But not only were sacred places thus dedicated ; 
 cities, walls, and gates, and even the houses of private 
 persons, were sometimes thus consecrated, Neh. xii.. 
 27, the title of Ps. xxx; Deut. xx. 5. Hence the 
 custom of dedicating churches, oratories, chapels, 
 and other places of worship. 
 
 DEEP, see Abyss. 
 
 DEER, fallow, a wild quadruped, of a middle 
 size, between the stag and the roe-buck ; its horns 
 turn inward, and are large and flat. Tlie deer is 
 naturally very timorous : it was reputed clean, and 
 good for food, Deut. xiv. 5. Young deer were par- 
 ticularly esteemed for their delicacy ; and are no- 
 ticed in the Canticles, Proverbs, and Isaiah, as beau- 
 tiful, lovely creatures, and very swift, Cant. iv. 5 ; viii. 
 3 : Prov. v. 19. See Hind. 
 
 DEFILE, DEFILEMENT. Many were the 
 blemishes of person and conduct, which, under the 
 law, were esteemed defilements ; some were volun- 
 tary, some involuntary ; some originated with the 
 party, others Avere received by him ; some were in- 
 evitable, being defects of nature, others the conse- 
 quences of personal transgression. Under the gos- 
 pel, defilements are those of the heart, of the mind, 
 the temper, the conduct. Moral defilements are as 
 numerous, and as strongly prohibited as ever; but 
 ceremonial defilements are superseded, as requiring 
 religious rites, though many of them claim attention 
 as usages of health, decency, and civility. (See Matt. 
 XV. 18 ; Gen. xlix. 4 ; Rom. i. 24 ; James iii. C ; Ezek. 
 xliii. 8 ; also many passages in Leviticus and Num- 
 bers.) See Purification. 
 
 DEGREES, Psalms of, is the title prefixed to 
 fifteen Psalms, from Ps. cxx. to Ps. cxxxiv. inclusive. 
 This title has given great difKculty to commentators, 
 and a variety of explanations have been proposed. 
 The most probable are the three following: (1.) Pil- 
 grim songs, carmina ascensiorium, sung by the Israel- 
 ites while going up to Jerusalem to worship ; (comp. 
 Ps. cxxii. 4.) but to this explanation the contents of 
 only a few of these Psalms arc appropriate, e. g. of 
 Ps. cxxii. — (2.) Others suppose the title to refer to a 
 species of rhythm in these Psalms ; by which the 
 sense ascends, as it Avere, by degrees, — one member 
 or clause frequently repeating the words with which 
 the preceding member closes. Thus, in Ps. cxxi. 
 
 1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. 
 From whence cometh 7ny help. 
 
 2. My help cometh from the Lord, 
 Who made heaven and earth. 
 
 3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved ; 
 Thy keeper will not slumber. 
 
 4. Lo, NOT SLUMBER nor sleep will the keeper of 
 
 Israel. 
 
 5. Jehovah is thy keeper, etc. 
 
 But the same objection lies against this solution, aa 
 before, viz. that it does not suit the contents of all 
 these ])salms. — (.3.) Perhaps the poetry of the Syrians 
 may hereafter throw some light upon this title. Of 
 the eight species of verse which they distinguish, one 
 is called gradus, scalre, degrees, like these psalms ; 
 and the name appears to refer to a particular kind of 
 meti-Q. But what that metre is, and whether it exists
 
 DEL 
 
 [341 ] 
 
 DELUGE 
 
 in tlie psalms bearing this title, we have not yet 
 the means of determining. (See Oberleitner's Chres- 
 tom. Syr. p. 287. Stuart's Heb. Chrestom. on Ps. 
 cxxxiv.) *R. 
 
 DEHAVITES, perhaps inhabitants of that part of 
 Assyria which was watered by the river Diaba ; prob- 
 ably the -^tiot of Hei-odotus, (i. 125.) a Persian tribe, 
 Ezra iv. 9. 
 
 DELILAH, a woman who dwelt in the valley of 
 Sorek, belonging to Dan, near the land of the PhiUs- 
 tiucs. Samson abandoned himself to her, and, as 
 some think, married her, Judg. xvi. 4. The princes 
 of the Philistines, by bribes, prevailed on her to betray 
 Samson : he eluded her first demands ; but at length 
 she succeeded, and reduced his strength to weakness, 
 by cutting off his hair. See Samson. 
 
 DELOS, one of the Cyclades, a number of islands 
 in the ^gean sea. It was much celebrated, and 
 lield in the highest veneration, for its famous temple 
 and oracle of Apollo, 1 ]\Iac. xv. 23. 
 
 DELUGE. We vniderstaud principally by this 
 word, that universal flood which happened in the 
 time of Noah, and from which, as Peter says, there 
 were but eight persons saved. Moses's account of 
 this event is recorded Gen. vi. vii. See Ark, Noah. 
 
 The sins of mankind were the causes of the del- 
 uge ; and commentators agi-ee to place it A. M. 1G56 ; 
 but they find difficulties as to the month in which it 
 began. Several of the fathers were of opinion, that 
 it began and ended in the spring of the year ; under- 
 standing the second month mentioned by Moses, of 
 the second in the ecclesiastical year, beginning at 
 Nisan, (March, O. S.) about the vernal equinox. 
 Among other proofs, thej' borrow one from the dove's 
 bringing back an olive-leaf to Noah, which was, they 
 think, a tender shoot of that year. But the most 
 learned chrouologists believe, that the sacred author 
 designed the second month in the civil year, which 
 answered partly to October, and partly to November ; 
 so that the deluge began in autinnn. 
 
 CALENDAR OF THE YEAR OF THE DELUGE. 
 
 A. M. 1656. [According to M. Basnage, Ant. Jud. 
 torn. ij. p. 399.) 
 
 Methuselah died, aged 969 j^ears. 
 
 Noah and his family entered the 
 ark. 
 
 The fountains of the great deep 
 broken up. 
 
 The rain began ; and continued 
 forty days and nights. 
 
 The earth buried under the waters. 
 
 Rain continued. 
 
 The waters at their height till the 
 27th, when they began to abate. 
 
 The ark rested on mount Ararat, 
 in Armenia. 
 
 Waiting the retiring of the wa- 
 ters. 
 
 The tops of the mountains ap- 
 peared. 
 
 Noah let go a raven, which did not 
 return. 
 
 He let go a dove, which returned. 
 
 The dove, being sent a second 
 time, brought back the olive- 
 branch. 
 
 The dove, sent out a third time, 
 returned no more. 
 
 MoiUli 
 I. 
 
 IL 
 
 September. 
 October. 
 
 III. 
 
 JYovcmber. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Decemb. 26. 
 
 V. 
 
 VL 
 
 VII. 
 
 Jamtan/. 
 
 February. 
 
 March. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 April 17. 
 
 IX. 
 
 May. 
 
 X. 
 
 June 1. 
 
 XL 
 
 July 11. 
 
 
 18. 
 25. 
 
 XII. August 2. 
 
 I. September 1. 
 IL October 27. 
 
 A. M. 1657 
 
 The dry land appeared. 
 Noah went out of the ark. 
 
 The question concerning the universality of the 
 deluge, is very serious and important. Some learn- 
 ed men have denied it, and pretended that to main- 
 tain it, is ail absurdity ; that the universality of the 
 deluge is contrary both to the divine power and the 
 divine goodness ; that it may be geometrically de- 
 monstrated, that were all the clouds in the air reduced 
 to water, that water would not cover the superficies 
 of the earth to the height of a foot and a half; and 
 that all the waters in the rivers and the sea, if spread 
 over the earth, would never reach the tops of the 
 mountains, unless rarified in an extraordinary man- 
 ner, and that then it could not support the weight of 
 the ark ; that all the air Avhich encompasses the 
 earth, if condensed into water, would not rise above 
 thirty-one feet, which would be far from enough to 
 cover the surface of the earth and the mountains to 
 fifteen cubits above their tops. All this, they say, 
 seems contrary to reason, as what follows is contrary 
 to nature. Rain does not fall upon eminences above 
 600 paces high : it does not descend from a greater 
 height ; but if formed higher, it would immediately 
 be frozen by the cold that prevails in those upper re- 
 gions. Whence, then, it is asked, came the water to 
 cover the tops of those mountains that rise above 
 this region ? Will any one say that the rain found a 
 way back again ? How coidd the plants be preserved 
 so long under water? How could the animals that 
 came out of the ark disperse themselves throughout 
 the Avhole world ? Besides, all the earth was not 
 peopled at that time ; why, then, should the deluge be 
 universal ? Was it not sufficient if it reached those 
 countries which were inhabited ? How Avere beasts 
 brought from the extremities of the world, and col- 
 lected into the ark ? 
 
 The universality of the deluge, says Vossius, is im- 
 possible and unnecessary ; was it not sufficient to 
 deluge those countries where there were men ? — But 
 how did Vossius learn that the world was not then 
 fully peopled ? According to the LXX, whoso 
 chronology is supported by him, the world was 
 above 2200 years old. Besides, supposing a partial 
 deluge only, what necessity was there to build, at a 
 great expense, a prodigious ark ? to bring all sorts of 
 animals into it for preservation? or to oblige eight 
 persons to enter into it, &c. Was it not more easy to 
 have directed these people and animals to travel into 
 those countries which the deluge was not to reacli ? 
 How could the waters continue above the mountains 
 of Armenia without spreading into the neighbcring 
 countries ? How should the ark llo;st niany months 
 on a mountain of water, without sliding doAvn the 
 declivity of it? which Vossius himself confesses 
 would be the situation of the ark, supposing a partial 
 deluge. He says, if the deluge extended through the 
 world, the jjlauts and trees would have died ; but 
 that they did not die, since Noah, and the animals, 
 wheii they quitted tlie ark, settled in those very 
 countries which the deluge overflowed. In answer 
 to this, Calmet asks why, if the plants and trees in 
 this country did not die,' they should die elsewhere. 
 If tlft waters of the deluge destroyed the trees and 
 l)lants where they reached, whence, he asks, came 
 the shoot of the ohve-tree, which the dove brought 
 to Noah ? and adds, that there is an infinite fertility 
 of nature m the production and reproduction of
 
 Di^LUGE 
 
 [ 342 
 
 DELUGE 
 
 plants ; and that watei- is a principle much more 
 proper to preserve, than to destroy them ; that many 
 plants grow under water, and that all vegetables re- 
 quire moisture to cause them to germinate. To this 
 is to be added, that the waters of the deluge covered 
 the whole surface of the earth not more than about 
 a hundred and ten days ; not half a year. 
 
 As to the bringing of beasts of all kinds to Noah, 
 the difficulty is not so great as might be imagined. 
 The number of beasts created in the beginning might 
 not be very many ; for if the various tribes of man- 
 kind proceeded from one man and one woman, why 
 might not the various kinds of animals proceed from 
 one pair of each kind 1 The differences between the 
 most imlike sort of 'dogs and horses, is not greater 
 thaii between the different nations of men, of whom 
 some are white and others black ; some of an olive 
 color, and others red. Besides, of every species of 
 animals, some individuals might inhabit the country 
 about paradise, where Noah most probably resided, 
 perhaps not far from Armenia ; and there is little 
 doubt, but that Noah's ark was built Ln Mesopotamia, 
 towards Chaklea. If there be any animals, that, 
 through long habit, which becomes a second natui-e, 
 caimot now live in this part of the world, (which, 
 however, seems very difficult to prove,) it does not 
 follow that there were such in Noah's time. If men 
 or beasts were suddenly conveyed from the extreme- 
 ly heated regions of Africa, to the coldest parts of the 
 North, then, indeed, it is credible, they would perish ; 
 but the case is greatly altered, if they remove, by in- 
 sensible degrees, to those places, or if they were bred 
 there ; and if noiv some creatures are found only in 
 particular countries, we are not warranted to infer, 
 that there never were any of the same kind else- 
 where. On the contrary, we know, that formerly 
 beasts of several species were numerous in countries 
 where, at present, none of the kind inhabits, as the 
 hippopotami of Egypt; wolves and beavers in Eng- 
 land ; and even several kinds of birds, as the crane, 
 .stork, &c. which formerly bred in England, Avhere 
 tliey aro now ui?known ; though they still breed in 
 Holland. 
 
 But the strongest objection against the universality 
 of the deluge, is, the quantity of Avater requisite to 
 cover the whole earth, to the height of fifteen cubits 
 above the mountains. It has been said, as above, 
 that if all the air in the atmosphere around our globe 
 were condensed into water, it would not yield above 
 two-and-thirty feet depth of water over all the earth. 
 This calculation is founded on experiments made to 
 prove the gravity of the air ; but these experiments 
 are contradicted by others, which allow us to ques- 
 tion, at least, the precision of the inference, because 
 there is a prodigious extent of atmosphere above that 
 which can reasonably be supposed to have any influ- 
 ence on the barometer, or on any instrument which 
 we can construct for the purpose of ascertaining the 
 weight of the air. At the creation, the terrestrial 
 globe was surrounded with water, the whole of which 
 might not be exhaled into the atmosphere, but of 
 which a part might run into reservoirs below the sur- 
 face of the globe. But wherever these primitive 
 waters were deposited, and whatever became of 
 them, certainly they Avere not annihilated ; and it 
 Avas as easy for God to restore them into the state and 
 action of fluidity at the deluge, as in the beginning it 
 Avas to rarify the other portions of Avater into air or 
 vapors ; or to a]>point them other (inferior, or supe- 
 rior) situations. 3Iose.s relates, (Gen. vii. 11, 12.) 
 that the foundations of the great deep Avere broken 
 
 up, as Avell as that the windoAvs of heaven were 
 opened ; — evidently meaning to describe a rising of 
 Avaters from beneath the earth, no less than a falling 
 of Avaters from above upon it. 
 
 But, supposing the ark to be raised fifleen cubits 
 above the highest mountains, hoAv could the men and 
 creatures in it live and breathe amidst the cold, and 
 the extreme tenuity of the air, in that middle region ? 
 Taa'o things are offered in reply to this objection : 
 (1.) Though the air is colder and sharper on the tops 
 of the highest mountains, than in the plains, yet peo- 
 ple do not die there from those causes. — (2.) The 
 middle region of the air, in respect to temperature, is 
 more or less elevated, according to the greater or 
 lesser heat of the sun. During Avinter, it is much 
 nearer the earth than in summer ; or, to speak more ( 
 properly, the cold Avhich rises into the middle region \ i, 
 of tlie air during summer, descends to the loAver re- j ^ 
 gion during Avinter. Thus, supposing the deluge to 
 be universal, it is evident, that the middle region of 
 the air must have risen higher above the earth and 
 Avaters, during the long winter of that calamity ; con- 
 sequently, the men and beasts enclosed in the ark, 
 breathed nearly, or altogether, the same air as they 
 Avould have ordinarily breathed a thousand or tweh'e 
 hundred paces lower, that is, on the surface of the 
 earth. It is not intended, however, by these argu- 
 ments, to prove, that the deluge was produced Avith- 
 out a miracle ; but only to shoAV that it does not 
 involve all the difficulties imputed. 
 
 Dr. Burnet attempted to explain the physical 
 causes of the deluge. He supposed the earth in its 
 beginning to be round, smooth, and even, through- 
 out ; without mountains or valleys ; that the centre 
 of the earth contained a great abyss of water ; that 
 the earth, by sinking in many places, and by rising in 
 others, in consequence of different shocks, and of 
 divers earthquakes, opened a passage for the internal 
 Avaters, Avhich issued impetuously from the centre 
 where they had been enclosed, and spread OA'er all 
 the earth ; that, in the beginning, the axis of the 
 earth AA'as parallel with the axis of the Avorld, moving 
 directly under the equator, and producing a perpet- 
 ual equinox ; and that in the first Avorld there Avere 
 neither seas, nor rain, nor rainboAV. 
 
 The objections to this theory arise rather from the 
 extremes to Avhich the aiUhor pushed his suppositions, 
 than from the general idea itself. If, instead of main- 
 taining that the earth Avas uniformly level, he had 
 admitted hills and valleys, though not such high 
 mountains as at present ; if he had admitted lakes or 
 small seas, though not such oceans as at present ; 
 much might have been said in its support. For it is 
 every way credible, that the state of the globe before 
 the deluge was very different from Avhat it is noAv; 
 but to shoAV in what those differences might consist, 
 requires, besides a lively fancy, a correct judgment, 
 and much scientific information. Mr. Whiston en- 
 deavored to account for this phenomenon by the pro- 
 jection of a comet, Avhich, he supposes, passed so 
 close to the body of the earth, at the time of the del- 
 uge, as to involve it in itsatmosi)here and tail ; which, 
 consisting of A'apors, rarified and expanded in differ- 
 ent degrees, caused the tremendous lidl of rain spoken 
 of by Moses. The presence of the comet Avould also 
 occasion a double tide, by the power of Avhich the 
 orb of the earth Avould undergo a change, in Avhich 
 itmumerable fissures AA'ould be made, Avhence the 
 Avaters from its centre Avould rush, — corresponding 
 Avith the other i)art of the narratiA-e, — the fountains 
 of the great deep being broken vip. Dr. Woodward
 
 DELUGE 
 
 [343] 
 
 DELUGE 
 
 thouglit that the whole mass of the earth being dis- 
 solved by the waters of the deluge, a new earth was 
 afterwards formed, composed of different beds or 
 layers of terrestrial matter which had floated in this 
 fluid ; that these layers were disposed one over the 
 other, almost according to their different gravities ; 
 so that j)lants or animals, and particularly shell-fish, 
 which were not dissolved like others, remained en- 
 closed by mineral and fossil materials, which have 
 ] preserved them entire, or at least have retained im- 
 ' pressions of them : and these are what we now call 
 fossils. By this hypothesis he accounts for the shells 
 Ibund in places very remote from the sea, the ele- 
 phants' teeth, the bones of animals, the petrified 
 lislics, and other things found on the tops of moun- 
 tains, and other elevated places. In his work are 
 many very curious facts and obsen-ations relating to 
 the deluge ; and Dr. Woodward ranks among the 
 first, who, by inquiring into the actual appearances 
 of nature, produced proofs of this great event still re- 
 maining in sufficient abundance. He opened those 
 memorials of evidence which have since been en- 
 larged by others — Mr. Whitehurst and Mr. Parkin- 
 son, and more recently JMi-. Townscnd and professor 
 Buckland. 
 
 The Mussulmans, Pagans, Chinese, and Ameri- 
 cans, have traditions of the deluge ; but each nation 
 relates it after its own manner. Josephus (contra 
 Apion. lib. i.) cites Berosus, who, on the testimony of 
 ancient documents, describes the deluge much like 
 Moses ; and gives also the history of Noah, of the 
 ark, and of the mountains where it rested. Abyde- 
 nus (apud Euseb. Prajpar. lib. ix. cap. 12.) relates, 
 that one Sesistrus was informed by Saturn of a del- 
 uge approaching to drown all the earth ; that Sesisj; 
 trus, having embarked in a covered vessel, sent forth 
 birds to learn in what condition the earth was ; and 
 that these birds returned three times. Alexander 
 Polyhistor relates the same story with Abydenus, 
 adding that the four-footed beasts, the creeping 
 things, and birds of the air, were preserved in this ves- 
 sel. Lucian, in his book de Dea Syra, says, that 
 mankind having given themselves up to vices, the 
 earth was drowned by a deluge, so that none but 
 Deuj?aljon jTmained upon it, he having taken shelter 
 in a vessel, with his fiimily, and the animals. Apol- 
 lodorus, Ovid, and many others, have discoursed 
 of Deucalion's deluge ; but have intermixed many 
 circumstances, which agree only with that of Noah. 
 On these various traditions, as well as on the com- 
 memorative emblems of this event, preserved by the 
 Egyptians, Hindoos, Druids, Greeks, Persians, PhoB- 
 nicians, and others, ?»Ir. Taylor has collected a large 
 mass of information, in his Fragments; we select a 
 few striking examples. 
 
 The following is from Syncellus: — "In the first 
 year there came up, accordmg to Berosus, from the 
 waters of the Red sea, (the Indian ocean,) and ap- 
 peared on the shore contiguous to Babylonia, a crea- 
 ture void of reason [this is a palpable error, as the 
 whole history shows ; therefore, for Cmoi' Mpnnor read 
 Loiov (inpoor, a Creature truly wise] named Oannes ; 
 and as Apollodorus reports, having the whole body 
 of a fish ; above the head of this fish rose another 
 head (of a man) ; he had human feet, (or legs,) which 
 came out from each of the two sides of the tail ; he 
 had also human voice and language. They still i)rc- 
 serve at Babylon, says Berosus, his resemblance 
 painted. This creature remained some time, during 
 the day, among the natives, without taking any nour- 
 ishment, and conversed with them from time to 
 
 tmic ; he taught them letters and learning ; showed 
 them the arts of life ; instructed them to build cities ; 
 to raise temples to the Deity ; to institute laws ; to 
 study geometry ; the various manners (and seasons) 
 of committing to the earth the seeds of fruits, and 
 of gathering their productions ; and generally, what- 
 ever conduces to soften and to polish the manners 
 of mankind. Since that period nothing more has 
 been heard of him. After the setting of the sun, 
 this creature, Oannes, went toward the sea, plunged 
 into it, and passed the night in the water. Aiter- 
 wards, other similar creatures ai)peared ; concerning 
 whom Berosus promises to relate many things, in 
 his history of the kings." This " history" is unfortu- 
 nately lost; but Oannes is thus mentioned by Apollo- 
 dorus (in Syncellus). " Berosus reports, that Alorus 
 was the first king of Babylon, native of that city ; 
 he reigned ten sain ; then came Alasparus and Ame- 
 lonus, of the country of Pantibiblos ; then the Chal- 
 dean Ammenonus, imder whose reign was seen to 
 issue from the Red sea (the Indian ocean) that 
 Oannes which Alexander Polyhistor, by anticipation 
 of time, placed in the Jii'st year, and which we place 
 after a lapse of forty sari. Abydenus places the 
 second Oannes after a period of twenty-six sari." 
 Apollodorus goes on to mention other kings, as Meg 
 Alorus, Da-onus, and Evedorachus, in whose time 
 appeared another creature, half man, half fish, named 
 6 Jayior, the Dagon. Helladius, an author of the 
 fourth century, cited by Photius, (Biblioth. p. 194.) 
 also reports, " that a person named Oan was seen in 
 the Red sea ; who had the body of a fish ; but his 
 head, feet and hands were human ; he taught the 
 use of letters and astrononi}'. Some said he was 
 boin of the first parent, which is the egg. This 
 Oan was altogether a man ; and he appeared like a 
 fish, only because he was covered with the skin of a 
 fish." It is clear that Oan is the same as Oannes ; 
 and that Oannes is the same as Dagon. " He was a 
 man, but clad with the appearance of a fish ;" — " he 
 was born of the first parent, the egg." — This egg 
 once contained all mankind. 
 
 The n ost complete series of emblems coincident 
 with this subject, hitherto 
 procured, consists of a num- 
 ber of medals of Coiinth, 
 wliich represent very dis- 
 tinctly the ark, with the in- 
 fant rising into renewed life, 
 after having been preserved 
 by the fish (the ark). The 
 Apamean medal (see Apajiea) 
 contains a history of that 
 event, rather than an emblem of it. 
 
 The incidental mention of the "Lady of the Egg," 
 the " Goddess of the Egg," venerated among the 
 Druidical Britons, incites me to wish to add a few 
 words in illustration of that appellation. I do not 
 know, indeed, that it occurs expressly in Scripture ; 
 j'et, if the rabbins have (or had) any authority for 
 cx[)laining the import of the terms Succoih Benoth 
 by reference to the emblem of a hen and chickens, 
 (the doves, among the Greeks,) the occurrence of 
 the title alluded to, is not impossible. Many creatures 
 lay eggs ; and the seed of a plant is but another 
 tenn fi)r an egg. The title "Goddess of the Egg," 
 may, therefore, be taken in a general sense, as de- 
 noting the procreative power universal ; otherwise, 
 with a stricter reference to a specific object, symbol- 
 ized under the type of an egg. And this svus adopted 
 among the Asiatics and the Greeks.
 
 DEM 
 
 [ 344 ] 
 
 DEM 
 
 On some of the medals of Tyre is seen the em- 
 blem of a serpent enfolding an egg. Now, that the 
 serpent was on many occasions significant of benevo- 
 lent superintendence, is expressly recorded on some 
 of the medals of Egypt, by the motto NEO ArAQ. 
 J AIM, the New Good Genius, inscribed around a 
 serpent crowned ; on either side of which are the 
 symbols of peace and plenty ; poppy-heads and ears 
 of corn, marking, also, increase, fertility. The egg 
 was that great and important object on which the 
 power of benevolent superintendence was most as- 
 siduously employed, most eminently, on a particular 
 occasion. It was no other than the ark, with the 
 world, its contents. But the difficulty of showing 
 the issue of living beings, thousands of living beings, 
 of different kinds, from an egg, when reduced to a 
 type, is gi»eat, and hence the sculptors, and painters, 
 and medalists of antiquity, have rather chosen to 
 represent the same thing under emblems derived 
 from vegetable nature : the poppy-head, or the pome- 
 granate, contains thousands of seeds, each possessing, 
 as is well known, the power of eventual life ; where- 
 as, an egg conveys the idea of a single life only, at 
 the utmost, unless explained ; and delineation cannot 
 explain it. It might be thought, that the egg should 
 properly refer to the creation ; especially by those 
 who render Gen. i. 2. "the Spirit of God brooded (as 
 a bird over her eggs) on the face of the deep : " but 
 the second creation, i. e. after the deluge, seems to 
 be a more satisfactory reference. The following ex- 
 tracts are from Bryant : (Anc, Mythol. vol. ii. p. :J52.) 
 '^At this season, according to Aristophanes, sable- 
 winced night produced an egg ; from whence sprouted 
 up like a blossom, Eros, [Love,] the lovely and desirable, 
 tvith his glossy golden ivings." The egg is called wov 
 vTTijrhiiov : which is interpreted. Ovum absque concu- 
 bitu ; but it likewise signifies rinog, rainy. This was 
 certainly an emblem of the ark, when the rain de- 
 scended : and it may, I think, be proved from a like 
 piece of mythology in Orpheus (Hymn 5) concern- 
 ing Protogonus — " / invoke Protogonus, who ivas of a 
 two-fold state or nature, {Sitpvi',) who wandered at large 
 under the wide heavens, ('Sioyirr,) egg-born, — who tvas 
 also depicted with golden ivings." " I have before ob- 
 served, that one syniliol, under which the ancient 
 mythologists represented the ark, was an egg, called 
 Ovum Typhonis. Over this sometimes a dove was 
 supposed to have brooded, and to have produced a 
 new creation ... At other times, a serpent was de- 
 scribed round it ; either as an emblem of that provi- 
 dence, by which mankind was preserved ; or else to 
 signify, a renewal of fife from a state of death ; which 
 circumstance was denoted by a serpent ; for that an- 
 imal, by annually casting its skin, was supposed to 
 renew its life, and to become positis novus exuviis, 
 vcgete and fresh after a state of inactivity. By the 
 bursting of this egg, was denoted the opening of the 
 ark ; and the disclosing to hght whatever was within 
 contained." p. .361. 
 
 \Vc conclude by mentioning a re-action to which 
 some of tlicsc principles have given occasion ; it is 
 that of placing in tiie heavens, in the form of con- 
 stellations, memorials of those transactions which so 
 gi'catly interested mankind. The constellation of the 
 Ship, [Argo,] of the Raven, of the Dove, of the 
 Altar, of the Victim, and the Sacrificer, bear no in- 
 competent witness to tlie history of the deluge. See 
 Ark, p. 95. 
 
 DEMAS, a Thessalonian mentioned by Paul, (2 
 Tim. iv. 10.) who was at first a most zealous disci- 
 ple of the apostle, and very serviceable to him at 
 
 Rome during his imprisonment, but afterwards 
 forsook him to follow a more secular life. 
 
 I. DEMETRIUS SOTER, Idng of Syria, reigned 
 twelve years, from A. M. 3842 to 3854. He was son 
 of Seleucus IV. suniamed Philopater ; but, being a 
 hostage at Rome when his father died, his uncle An- 
 tiochus Epiphanes, who in the interim arrived in 
 Syria, procured himself to be acknowledged king, 
 and reigned eleven years : after him his son, Antio- 
 chus Eupator, reigned two years. At length De- 
 metrius Soter regained his father's throne. He is 
 often mentioned in the books of the Maccabees. 
 
 II. DEMETRIUS NICANOR, or Nicator, son 
 of Demetrius Soter, was for many years deprived of 
 the throne by Alexander Balas; but he at length recov- 
 ered it by the assistance of Ptolemy Philometor, his 
 father-in-law. After a number of vicissitudes, he 
 was killed, ante A. D. 126, and was succeeded by his 
 eldest son, Seleucus, to whom he left a dangerous ri- 
 val in the person of Alexander, surnamed Zebina. 
 
 III. DEMETRIUS, a goldsmith of Ephesus, who 
 made niches, or little chapels, or portable models of 
 the famous temple, for Diana of Ephesus, which he 
 sold to foreigners. Acts xix. 24. Observing the prog- 
 ress of the gospel, not in Ephesus only, but in all 
 Asia, he assembled his fellow craftsmen ; and repre- 
 sented that, by this new doctrine, not only their trade 
 would suffer, but that the worship of the great Diana 
 of Ephesus was in danger of being entirely forsaken. 
 This produced an uproar and confusion in the city ; 
 till at length the town-clerk apjieased the tumult by 
 firmness ajid persuasion. 
 
 IV. DEMETRIUS, mentioned by John as an em- 
 inent Christian, (3 John 12.) is by some believed to 
 be the Demetrius of the former article, who had re- 
 nounced heathenism to embrace Christianity. But 
 this wants proof. 
 
 DEMON, or D^mon, Jaluwi'. Good and bad an- 
 gels, but generally bad angels, are called in Greek 
 and Latin, Demones, or Dcemones. The Hebrews ex- 
 press Demon by Serpent ; Satati, or Tempter ; Shed- 
 dim, or destroyers ; Seiritn, goats, or hairy satyrs : and 
 in Greek authors we find Dfemoncs, or Diabolus, that 
 is, calumniators, or impure spirits, &c. See Angel. 
 
 The Jews represent evil angels as being at the left 
 hand of God's throne, to receive his orders, while , / 
 the good angels are at his right hand, ready to exe- " 
 cute his will. Lactantius believed that there were 
 two sorts of demons, celestial and terrestrial ; that 
 the celestial were the fallen angels who engaged in 
 impure amours, and that the terrestrial were their is- 
 sue, and the authors of all the evils committed on 
 earth. 
 
 Many of the ancients allotted to each man an evil 
 angel continually tempting him to evil, and a good 
 angel continually inciting him to good. The Jews 
 hold the same sentiment at this day ; and the same 
 may be remai'kcd in the ancient })hiIosopl)ers. 
 
 We commonly hold that the devils are in hell, 
 where they suffer the punishment of their rebellion. 
 But the ancient fathers ])laced (see Ephes. ii. 2 ; vi. 
 12.) the devils in the air ; and Jerome says, it was the 
 general opinion of the doctors in the church, that the 
 air between heaven and earth is filled with evil spir- 
 its. Augustin, and others of the fathers, believed 
 that the demons ftill from the Inghest and purest re- 
 gion of the air into that near the earth, which is but 
 darkness in comparison to the serenity and clearness 
 of the other. 
 
 The request of the devils to our Saviour, not to 
 send them into the deep, but to permit them to enter
 
 DEMON 
 
 [345 ] 
 
 DES 
 
 the herd of swine, intimates that these evil spirits 
 found some enjoyment while on earth ; and the fear 
 of torment htfore the time, shows, that the time of 
 their extreme punishmeni was not yet come. Matt, 
 viii. 29; Luke viii. 31. When our Saviour pro- 
 nounces sentence against the wicked, he says, "Depart, 
 ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
 and his angels," 3Iatt. xxv. 41. This fire, therefore, 
 was prepared for the devil, who may not as yet suf- 
 fer the full pain of it. But we are not to suppose that 
 devils suffer nothing at present ; grief, despair, and 
 rage, to find themselves fallen from happiness, and 
 banished to infinite and eternal misery, must be a 
 verv great punishment. 
 
 That the devil formerly affected divine honors, 
 and that whole nations were so far blinded as to pay 
 them, cannot be questioned. (See Dent, xxxii. 17; 
 Ps. cvi. 37 ; Baruch iv. 7.) It does not appear that 
 the Hebrews ever paid any worship to the devil, in 
 our sense of this word, as understanding by it Satan, 
 the fallen angel ; or the head of the fallen angels. 
 The heathens worshipped Pluto, or Hades, the god 
 of hell, and other infernal deities, manes, furies, &c. 
 But the Greeks and Romans had not the same idea 
 of Satan as we have. The Persians, who acknowl- 
 edged two principles, one good, Oromazes, the other 
 bad, Arimanes, offered to the first sacrifices of 
 thanksgiving, and to the second sacrifices to avert 
 misfortunes. They took an herb, called omomi, 
 which they bruised in a mortar, invoking the god of 
 hell and darkness; then, mingling with it the b'ood 
 of a wolf, they carried this composition to a place 
 where the rays of the sun never entered, and threw 
 it down. There are people of America, Asia, and 
 Africa who pay superstitious ^^orship to the devil, 
 that is, the evil principle, under whose government 
 they suppose this earth to be. 
 
 Examples of demoniacal possession are fre- 
 quent, especially in the New Testament. Christ and 
 his apostles cured great numbers of possessed per- 
 sons. But as it has been found in many cases, that 
 credulity has been imposed on, by fictitious posses- 
 sions, some have maintained, that all were diseases 
 of the mind, the effects of distempered imagination ; 
 that persons sometimes thought themselves really 
 possessed ; that others feigned themselves to be so, 
 in order to carry on some design ; in a word, that 
 there never were any real possessions. In answer 
 to this, it is observed, that, if there were no real pos- 
 sessions, Christ and his apostles, and the whole church, 
 would be in eiTor, and must wilfully involve us in 
 error, also, by speaking, acting, and praying, as if 
 there were real possessions. Our Saviour speaks to 
 and commands the devils, who actuated the possess- 
 ed ; which devils answered, and obeyed, and gave 
 proofs of their presence by tormenting those misera- 
 ble creatures, whom they were obliged to quit. They 
 cast them into violent convulsions, throw them on 
 the ground, leave them for dead, take possession of 
 hogs, and hurry those animals into the sea. Can 
 this be merely delusion ? Christ alleges, as proof of 
 his mission, that the devils are cast out ; he promises 
 his apostles the same power that he himself exercis- 
 ed against those wicked spirits. Can all this be 
 nothing but chimera ? It is admitted that there are 
 several tokens of possession which are equivocal and 
 fallible, but there are others which are indul>itable. 
 A person may counterfeit a demoniac, and imitate 
 the actions, words, motions, contortions, cries, bowl- 
 ings, and convulsions of one possessed. — Some ef- 
 44 
 
 forts, that seem to be supernatural, mav be effects of 
 heated imagination, of melancholv blood, of trick and 
 contrivance. But if a person suddenly should speak 
 and understand languages he never learned, talk of 
 sublime matters he never studied, or discover things 
 secret and unknown ; should he lift up himself in 
 the air without visible assistance, act and speak in a 
 manner very distant from his natural temper and 
 condition ; and all this without any inducement from 
 interest, passion, or other natural motive ; if all these 
 circumstances, or the greater part of them, concur in 
 the same possession, can there be any room to sus- 
 pect that it is not real ? There have, then, been pos- 
 sessions in which all these circumstances have con- 
 curred. There have, therefore, been real ones, but 
 especially those which the gospel declares as such. 
 God was pleased to permit, that in our Saviour's 
 time there should be many such in Israel, to furnish 
 him with occasions of signalizing his power, and to 
 supply further and convincing proofs of his mission 
 and divinity. It is admitted, that true possessions 
 by the devil are miraculous. They do not hap- 
 pen without divine permission ; but they are neither 
 contrary nor superior to the laws of nature. God 
 only suffers the demons to act ; and they only exer- 
 cise a power that is natural to them, but which was 
 before suspended and restrained by Divine Provi- 
 dence. See Angel. 
 
 DENARIUS, a Roman coin, worth four sesterces, 
 generally valued at seven pence three farthings Eng- 
 lish, or, more properly, about 12i cents. In the New 
 Testament, it is taken for a piece of money in gener- 
 al ; 3Iatt. xxii. 19 ; Mark xii. 15 ; Luke xx. 24. 
 
 DERBE, a city of Lycaonia, to which Paul and 
 Barnabas fled when expelled from Iconium, Acts xiv. 
 G. A. D. 41. 
 
 DESERT. The Hebrews, by -^anr, midbar, "a 
 desert," mean an uncultivated place, particularly if 
 mountainous. Some deserts were entirely dry and 
 barren ; others were beautiful, and had good pas- 
 tures ; Scripture speaks of the beauty of the desert. 
 Psalm Ixv. 12, 13. Scripture names several deserts 
 in the Holy Land ; and there was scarcely a town 
 without one belonging to it, i. e. uncultivated places, 
 for woods and pastures; like our English commons, 
 common lands. The principal deserts were the fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 Arabia, through which the Israelites passed be- 
 fore they came to Moab. This is particularly call- 
 ed "The Desert." It lies between the Jordan, or 
 the mountains of Gilead, and the river Euphrates, 
 Exod. xxiii. 31. God promised the children of Isra- 
 el all the land between the desert and the river ; that 
 is, all the country from the mountains of Gilead to 
 the Euphrates. In Dent. xi. 24, he promises them 
 all between Libanus, the desert, the Euphrates, and 
 the 3Iediterranean. 
 
 Edo^i. We cannot determme its limits ; as Edom 
 extended far into Arabia. 
 
 Egypt. Ezekiel xx. 36, seems to denote the des- 
 ert in which the Hebrews sojourned after quitting 
 Egypt. Tobit (viii. 3.) speaks of the deserts of Upper 
 Egj'pt, jirobably of the Thebais. 
 
 Judea, where John Uie Baptist preached, began 
 near Jericho, and extended to the mountains of 
 Edom, Matt. iii. 1. 
 
 Kadesh, about Kadesh Bamea, in the south of 
 Judah, and in Arabia Petrsea. 
 
 Maon, (1 Sam. xxiii. 24.) in the country, and 
 perhaps near the capital, of the Maonians, or
 
 D E U 
 
 [346 ] 
 
 D I A 
 
 Meouiauii, \n Ai'abia Petrieu, at tlie exireiiiity of 
 Judah. 
 
 Palmvra. Solomon built Paliuyra, in the desert, 
 between the Euphrates, the Orontes, and the Chry- 
 Eorrhoas. See Tadmos. 
 
 Pauan, in Anibia Petra.-a, near tbe city of Paran. 
 Ishniael dwelt in this wilderness, Gen. xxi. 21. Ha- 
 bakkuk i^ays (iii. 3.) that the Lord appeared to his 
 people in the aioniitains of Paran. The Hebrews 
 rernaijied long in tliis desert. Si'e Paka.n. 
 
 Shur, on the nonh-rast of the Red sea. Magar 
 wandered in this wilderness, (Gen. xvi. 7.) and Israel, 
 after passing the Uvd s:;;i. came into it, Exod. xv.92. 
 Here was, probably, a city named Shnr. 
 
 Si:.'. There a^c two dcf^crts of this name in Scrip- 
 uuv; the yfr.j/, written pp, (Exod. xvi. 6.) lies between 
 Elini and mount Sinai. The second, written yi, is 
 ner.r Kadesh Baruea, which was in the desert of Sin, 
 o.-- Tzin, Nil ml), xx. 1. 
 
 Si"Ai, adjacent to mount Sinai. The Israelites 
 occampod here a long time, and received most of 
 their laws, Exod. xix. 
 
 DESSAU, a town, or castle, near to which the Is- 
 raelites lodged themselves under iudas Maccabajus, 
 ^ ?uac. xiv. in. Its situation is iniknowu. 
 
 DEVIL, a fallen angel, especially the chief of 
 ihem. See Axgel, Demo.n, Diabolus, Satan. 
 
 DEVOTING, cuRsixNG, anathkma. The most 
 ancient instance, and, indeed, the only instance, of 
 devoting, strictly speaking, in ScriptiU'c, is that which 
 Balak, king of Aloab, would have had Balaam use 
 ;;gainst Israel, Numb. xxii. 6. Joscphns has furnish- 
 ed us with another, in the case of the two brothers 
 Hircanus and Aristobuius. But several devotings of 
 f.nnther sort are noticed in sacred history; as when 
 a!:\ i-.eople, city, country, or famih, was devoted. 
 (S. ?e Anathema.) The heathen, who admitted a 
 plurality of gods, and who believed them to be sub- 
 ordinate in {)0wer one to a^noiher, usetl enchant- 
 ments a)id devotings to bring mischief on their ene- 
 mies. They sometimes called forth the tutelary dei- 
 ties of cities, to deprive their enemies of their pro- 
 tection .".nd defence. It is said tliat, for fear of this, 
 tlio Tyrians chained tlie statue of Apollo to the altar 
 of Hercules, tiie tutelar deity of their city, lest he 
 should forsake tlicm. The Komaiis, says Macrobiiis, 
 being persundrd that everj- city had its tutelar}' dci- 
 ti<'s, when attacking a city, used ceriaiii verses to 
 call forth its gods, believing it in)possii)lo otherwise 
 to take the town ; and even when they might take a 
 place, they thought it would l>c a great crime to take 
 the gods captive with it: for this reason the Romans 
 concealed the real names of their cities very closely, 
 they being different from what they were generallv 
 called ; they concealed likewi.=e tlie names of the tu- 
 telaiy gods of (heir cities, Pliny informs us that the 
 secret nam<^ of Ronje wa? Vnlenlia, and that ^'aleri- 
 tis Soramis w;i^ severe!-,- piniished for revealing it. 
 
 DErTEnONOl\lY,'//ie rfpetitiou of the law, the 
 fifth bof)k of t'lie Pentatt iich, so called ))v the Greeks, 
 because in it >.loses recapitu!:!tes what he had or- 
 dained in tlie preecding books. Some rabbins call 
 it Mir.hvnh. the scrnnd laic; others "the book of rep- 
 rehensions," frotn the rp])rr)aches \vi)ich occur in 
 chap. i. viii. ix. xxviii. xxx. xxxii. Tiiif: book con- 
 tains the history of what passed in tlse wilderness 
 from the beginning of tin- eleventh month to the sev- 
 enth day of the tv/elfrh month, i;i the fortieth year 
 after tlie Israelites' de))arture from Egypt; that is, 
 about six wc^eks. Some have doubted whetiier it 
 was written by Moses, becmtse it mentions !iis death. 
 
 and the author spealts of the land beyond Jordan, 
 like one who writes west of that river. (See Aaron.) 
 It is admitted that the relation of Moses' death was 
 added to the book ; but the word -{2-;, eber, ti-anslated 
 beyond Jordan, may be translated on this side. In 
 the book of Deuteronomy, Moses recites to the peo- 
 ple what had passed since their coming out of Egypt ; 
 explains, and adds some others, to the laws of God 
 which he had received at Shiai ; exhorts the people 
 to obedience ; and declares, that Josliua was ap- 
 pointed by God to succeed him. He wrote down 
 this transaction, committed tlie writing to the Levites 
 and elders, and charged them to read it every seven 
 years, in a general assembly of the people, at the 
 feast of tabernacles. Dent. xxxi. 9 — 14. It includes, 
 also, his lust song; to which is added the liistory of 
 his death. 
 
 DEW. Dews in Palestine are very copious, (Judg. 
 vi. 38 ; Gen. xxvii. 28.) and furnish many beautiful 
 similes to the sacred ])enmen. Dent, xxxii. 2 ; Hos. 
 vi. 4; xii. 5. 
 
 DIABOLL'S, an accuser, a caluniniator. We rare- 
 ly meet with this word in the Old Testament. Some- 
 times it ;mswers to the Hebrcjw Belial ; f ometimes 
 to Satan. The former signifies a libertine ; the latter, 
 an adversary, or an accuser. The word Satan in 
 Job i. 6, is rendered o c^u't.-JoAoj, by the LXX. The 
 Eblis of the Mahometans is the same with our Luci- 
 fer; and the name is similar to that of Diabolus. 
 The Mussulmans call him likewise ./?zarcZ, which is 
 the Scripture name for the scape-goat ; and is prob- 
 ably the Azazel of liie hook of Enoch. They main- 
 taiti, that Eblis was called by this name, signifying 
 perdition, or refractor}!, which is nearly the meaning 
 of .Be/z«/, because, having received orders to pros- 
 trate himself before Adam, he v.ould not comply, 
 under pretence that, being of the suj)erior nature of 
 fire, lie ought not to bend the knee to Adam, who 
 was formed only of earth. (See Adam.) Diabolus 
 sometimes signifies the devil, as Wisd. ii. 24 ; some- 
 times an accuser, an adversary who jjrosecutes b-e- 
 fore the judges ; as Ps. cix. 6 : Eccles. xxi. 27. 
 . DIADEM, see Crown. 
 
 ,' DIAL. This insirnment for the measuring of 
 'titne is not mentioned in Scrijiture before the reign ^ 
 of Ahaz, (A. M. 3262,) and we cannot clearly ascer- 
 tain that, ( ven after his reign, the Jews generally di- 
 vided their tin)c by hours. The word hour occurs 
 first in Tobit, Avhich tnay confirm the op,inion, that y 
 the invention of dials came from beyoufl the Eu- J 
 phrates. But others beiieve that the invention came 
 from the Phamiciaus, and th;it the first traces of it 
 are discoverable in what Homer says, (Odys. xv. 402.) rn/^ 
 of " an island called Syria, lyi»igal)ove Orlygia^ where 
 the revolutions of the sun are observed;" that is, in 
 this island they noted the returns of tiie .smi ; the sol- 
 stice?. As tbi; Plurnicians are thought to have 
 inhabitefl this island of Syria, it is premmed that 
 they left there this ntojumient of their skill in'astron- 
 omy. (See Horns.) /shout three huudied yeai-s 
 after Homer, Pherecydes, in the same island, set up 
 a sim-dial to distingtiish the hours, 'llie Greeks 
 confess that Anaximander first divided time by hours, 
 and introduced sun-dials among them, ("slier fixes . 
 the death of Anaximander to A. M. 3457, under the/ 
 reign of C^yrus, and during the captivity of Babylon. 
 As this philosopher travelled into Chaldea, he might 
 bring with him from thence the dial and the needle, ^ 
 which were both in use there. Pliny gives the hon- 
 or of this invention to Anaximenes, by mistake con- 
 [ fomiding the disciple with the master; for, as Bas-
 
 DIAL 
 
 [347 ] 
 
 DIA 
 
 uage obst-rvus, it is inoiu reaeiuiialjle lo lliiiik Pliny 
 was mistaken tlian Diogenes Laertius ,• or rati icr that 
 this name is an erroneous reading. 
 
 Interpreters differ concerning the Ibnii of the dial 
 «>t' Ahaz, 2 Kings xx. Cyril ol" Alexau(hia and 
 Jerome l)elie\ed, that it was a staircase so (lisj)ose(!, 
 that the siai slioweil the liom-.s ij|jou it by the shad- 
 ow ; an opinion whicli tiie geut.rahty ol" expositors 
 have foilowt'd. Others believe it was a pillar creeled 
 ill the middle of a very level antl smooth pavement, 
 upon wiiicli the hom-s were engraved. The lines 
 marked on this pavement are, according to these au- 
 riiors, what t!ie Sciiptore calls des^recs. Grotius 
 describes it thus, after rabbi EliasChomer: It was 
 u concave hemisphere, in the midst of whicli was a 
 gloi)e, whost3 shadow fell u])on several eight-aiid- 
 tweiity lines, engraved in the eoiicavity of tiie henfi- 
 sphere. This descri[»lion comes near to that kind <a" 
 dial which the Greeks called scaplia, a hour, or lic;ii- 
 isplirrion ; the invention of wiiich Vitruvius attributes 
 to iJerosus, and describes as " a half-circle, hollowed 
 iiito the stone, and the stone cut down to aji iuigle." 
 iVow Berosus lived abo\ e three hundred years (per- 
 haps throe hundred and thirty) before A. D. wliiel), 
 indeed, is long after Aha/,, who died 72t> before A. 
 D.; but there is no necessity for considering Berosus 
 as the inventor of this kind of dial ; it seems sufli- 
 cient to say, that he \\ as reported to be the lirst who 
 introduced it into Greece. Berosus was a jiriest of 
 Belus at Babylon, and compiler of a history tliat 
 contained astrononfic;d oi)servations for fom- hundred 
 and eighty years. Passing from Babylon into 
 Greece, he taught astronomy, tiist at Cos, afterwards 
 at Athens, where we still find one of his dials, and 
 where he was honored with a i)nblic statue in the 
 gymnasium. The four hundred and eighty years 
 included in this writer's history, carry us higher than 
 the date of Ahaz : but some time must be allowed 
 for these dials to ha\ e readied Israel from Babylon, 
 if we suppose the invention to have been adopted, 
 and to have become popular, at that period of time : 
 they might be of much earlier invention, and that 
 they were, seems probable I'rom what Herodotus 
 P / saj's (hb. i. c. 109.) of "the i)ole, the gnomon, and 
 ^ I the division of the day into twelve parts," which 
 ' ' " the Greeks recsived trom the Babylonians." Mr. 
 Taylor discovered some representations of ancient 
 jnstni'nents of this kind, one of ^vhich was found at 
 Herculaneum, and was probably originally from 
 Eg^.'pt, which he conceives to answer, in many re- 
 • pects, to the circumstances of the sacred narrative. 
 This kind of sun-dial was portable ; it did not rc- 
 (piire to be constructed on, or for, a jjarticviiar spot, 
 to which it was subsequently confined ; and, there- 
 fore, one ready made might easily be liroiight on a 
 camel from Babylon to Ahaz. That he had com- 
 munications with those countries, appears liy bis al- 
 liance with Tiglath-Pileser ; (2 Kings xvi. 7, 8.) and 
 that he was what in modern language would be 
 called a man of taste, is evinced by liis desiring to 
 possess a handsome altar, siniilar to one he had seen 
 at Damascus ; (ver. 10.) which is also another in- 
 stance of his introducing foreign curiosities, or 
 novelties. 
 
 On these dials, like some still used in India, each 
 hour appears to have been divided into three parts, 
 which, vai-j'ing with the season, contain fiorn 90 to 
 24 of our minutes each, according to the length of 
 the day. These <livisions are in India called Ghun. 
 Now, supposing that the dial of Ahaz was in the 
 form of a half circle, and that each hour wns divid- 
 
 ed into three parts, the shadow would in the moniing 
 move down, till it would be nearly noon, when IsaiaJi 
 spake to Hezekiah : — thus 
 
 It was not quitu noon : ibr at noon it coidd not be 
 said of the shadow, "which now dtscends" or is, at 
 this time, iroing down ; but it might be close upon 
 noon, until which point the shadow might be con- 
 sidered as descen(iing. Perlu![)S the j)rophet had 
 said Hey.(kiah shoulil die at noon, as his sickness 
 was in its nature mortal ; if so, his t?(,<!/a7if rt^turu was 
 necessary ; and, as a sign of amendiiient, in a case 
 so criiicai, the instant beginning of the shadow to 
 retrogi-ade, was equally necessary : the shadow ret- 
 rograded, then, ten statioiis, or one fourth of thn 
 circle ; and having readied this station, it thence re- 
 sumed and re-accomplished its natural course. 
 
 If the instrument used in this instance were 
 itrought irom Babylon, we see the reason why the 
 king of Babylon was so peculiarly interested in the 
 event, 2 Kings xx. 12. 
 
 As to the retrogradation of the shadow, and the 
 means by which it was jjioduced, there are various 
 opinions. It seenis the most probable that the 
 change was in the shadow only ; that is, the solar 
 rays being deflected in an extraordinarj' manner by 
 the interposition of a cloud, or some other means, 
 they produced the change, or retrogradatory motion, 
 of the !>]ace of the shadow in the dial. 
 
 DIAMOND, the sixth stone in the high-priest's 
 breastplale, bearing the name of ixaphtali, Exod 
 xxxviii. 18. It is, however, questicaiable whether 
 the diamond, was in use in the time oi' Moses. See 
 AnA:\iA.\T. 
 
 DIANA, a celebrated goddess of the liealhen, and 
 one of the twelve superior tleitics. In the heavens 
 she was Lima, o>- ?«ieni, (the moon,) on earth Diana, 
 in liell Hecate. She was in\(iked by won>en in 
 child-birth under the liame of Lucina. She was 
 sometimes represented wit'i a crescent on her head, 
 a bow in her hand, aiui dressed in a hunting habit ; 
 at other times with a triple body, (tri])le-faced Pros- 
 eiiiine,) and biaring instruments of torture in her 
 hands. At Rome there is a full length and complete 
 image of this goddess, which is clearly an emble- 
 matical representr.tion of tiie dependence of all crea- 
 tures on the |)owers of nature ; or the many and ex- 
 tensive blessings Ijesrowed by nature, on all ranks of 
 existence: whether man, lions, stags, oxen, animals 
 of all kinds, or even insects. The goddess is sym- 
 bolized as diffusing her bejiefits to eacli in its proper 
 station. Her nurneious rows of breasts speak the 
 same allegorical language, i. e. fountauis of supply : 
 whence figures of this kind were called (rroAri/aoro?) 
 many-breasted. To cities, also, she bears a peculiar 
 regard, as appears by the honorable station (on her 
 head) of the turrets,'their proper emblems. On her
 
 DIANA 
 
 [348] 
 
 DIN 
 
 breastplate (pectoral) is a necklace of pearls ; it is 
 also ornamented with the signs of the zodiac, in al- 
 lusion to the seasons of the year, throughout which 
 nature dispenses her various bounties. In fact, the 
 whole course of nature, and her extensive distribu- 
 tions, are mystically represented in this image. 
 Here we have a representation of the front of the 
 
 famous temple of 
 Diana of Ephesus, 
 (the pronaos, or 
 front of the naos,) 
 from which it ap- 
 pears to have been 
 odostyle, i. e. hav- 
 ing eight columns: 
 the image of Di- 
 mia is in this 
 medal represented 
 clothed : a motto 
 at bottom, " Of 
 the Ephesiaus :" 
 around it NES2- 
 KOPS2N — a clear allusion to, and a strong confirma- 
 tion of, what the grammateus asserts, that the city of 
 Ephesus was justly entitled to, and held, by univer- 
 sal consent, the ofiice of ntokoron to the temple (and 
 statue) of Diana; nor was this any thing new ; the 
 city had long been so esteemed. JVeokoron signifies 
 guardian of the temple and its contents, manager of 
 its concerns ; — something analogous to our church- 
 warden ; but of superior power and dignity. It 
 might be rendered " superintendent of the sacra." 
 
 It is well known that many heathen deities resolve 
 themselves into the sun and moon ; and that Diana 
 is the moon, in most or all of her offices and charac- 
 ters. " The precious things put forth by the moon," 
 are mentioned so early as the days of Jacob ; and 
 long afterwards we frequently read of the " queen of 
 heaven," &c. The moon was also the goddess pre- 
 siding over child-birth. This deity was known by 
 distinction, as Diana of Ephesus, where she had a 
 famous temple, (see Ephesus,) to some of the per- 
 sons connected with which Paul rendered himself 
 obnoxious by the discharge of his apostolic duties. 
 Acts xix. 27, &c. The language of this narrative is 
 worthy of notice here. Demetrius was a worker in 
 silver, (a chaser perhaps,) who made representations 
 — some on medals — some in alto-relievo — or other 
 kinds of wrought, or of cast, work, (or small mod- 
 els, i)erhaps,) of the portico and temple (the naos) of 
 the goddess Diana. Now, the city of Ephesus, in 
 her office of superintendent of the sacra to this tem- 
 ple, was bound to promote its interests ; it could not 
 therefore be indifferent, or insensible, when this great 
 and famous «,'difice was about to be degraded, to be 
 rendered contemptible — through the impiety of a 
 few hated Jews. Notwithstanding the reported dan- 
 ger, however, and the danger always attendant on 
 |)opuiar conmiotion, the grammateus, or recorder, 
 [town-clerk, Engl, vcr.) harangues the peo])lc on the 
 subject of their riot ; states, "that the honor of their 
 city as neokoron was incontrovertible ; that the per- 
 sons in custody were neither guilty of sacrilege, nor 
 of blaspheming their goddess, in particular, especial- 
 ly considering that this image was not 'made with 
 hands,' but was well known to be Jove-descended ; 
 and, moreover, that if the accused were guilty of any 
 misdemeanor, they should be i)ro])erly indicted for 
 it: but if the complainants were desirous of extend- 
 ing their measures beyond merely insuring the honor 
 and security of Diana, they should call a general 
 
 meeting of the town, in which to propose their reso- 
 lutions ; because the honor of the neokorate apper- 
 tained to the whole town, and not to any separate 
 part of it ... . such as Demetrius with his fellow- 
 craftsmen and associates." 
 
 There appears in the language of this very sensi- 
 ble man an ambiguity employed in describing the 
 goddess, or her image — ^-iionnS;. Jove-descended, 
 or fallen. For instance, supposing he might wish to 
 say, — the things signified by the image of the god- 
 dess, i. e. the jjowers of nature, descended from 
 Jove ; this, taking Jove for the supreme deity, would 
 be the truth ; but, no doubt, the popular belief was, 
 and the people would so understand the speaker, that 
 the image itself, the object of their worship, fell down 
 from Jove. If this be fact, it is an instance of the 
 esoteric and exoteric doctrines ; or, that the philoso- 
 pliei's, by expressions capable of two senses, intend- 
 ed to convey ideas of principles understood by 
 philosophers, in a sense different from what they in- 
 culcated on the people. It seems incredible that this 
 very rational public wi-iter could believe, that the 
 marble image now standing in the adytum of the 
 temple, should fall from heaven, in its present 
 wrought and allegorical state, thougli he might, per- 
 haps, when speaking in juiblic, call it "a divine im- 
 age ;" which expression its votaries were at liberty 
 to take literally, if they chose — as if wiought by the 
 hand of Jove ; while, in his own mind, he would 
 consider this " divine image" as an image represent- 
 ing divine things ; or things Avhich descended from 
 Jove. 
 
 I. DIBON, a city of Moab, and thought to be the 
 Dimon of Isaiah xv. 9. It was given to the tribe of 
 Gad by Moses, and afterwards yielded to Reuben, 
 Numb, xxxii. 3, 33, 34 ; Josh. xiii. 9. It was agaiu 
 occupied by the Moal)ites at a later period. Is. xv. 2 ; 
 Jer. xlviii. 18, 22. Eusebius says, it was a large 
 town on the northern bank of the river Arnon, 
 Numb, xxxiii. 45. Burckhardt speaks of a place 
 called Diban, about three miles north of the Arnon. 
 See Gad. 
 
 II. DIBON, a city of Judah : the same, perhaps, 
 as Debir, or Kirjath-Sepher, Neh. xi. 25. The LXX 
 call that ]jlace Dibon, which in Hebrew is Deber, 
 Josh. xiii. 26. 
 
 DIDRACHMA, a Greek word, signifying a jtiece 
 of money, in value two drachmas, about fourteen 
 pence English, or, more nearly, 25 cents. The Jews 
 were by law obliged, every person, to pay two 
 drachnjas, that is, half a shekel, to the temple. To 
 pay this, our Lord sent Peter to catch a fish, which, 
 probablv, had just swallowed such a coin. Matt, 
 xvii. 24—27. 
 
 DIDYMUS, a twin. This is the signification of 
 the Hebrew or Syriac word Thomas. See Thomas. 
 
 DIGIT, a finger (y^sN, Etzba,) a measure contain- 
 ing gg^ of an inch. There are four digits in a palm, 
 and six palms in u cubit. 
 
 DIKLAH, seventh son of Joktan, (Gen. x. 27.) 
 whose descendants are placed either in Arabia Fe- 
 lix, which abounds in palm-trees, called Dikla in 
 Chaldee and Syriac ; or in Assyria, where is the 
 town of Degla, and the riv(-r Tigris, or Dikkel. 
 
 DILEAN, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 38. 
 
 DIMNAII, a city of Zebulun, given to the Levites 
 of Merari's family. Josh. xxi. 35. 
 
 DIM ON AH, a town in south Judah, Josh. xv. 22. 
 
 DINAH, (laughter of Jacob and Leah, (Gen. xxx. 
 2L) born after Zei)ulun, and about A. 31. 2250. 
 When Jacob returned into Canaan. Dinah, then
 
 DIS 
 
 [349] 
 
 DIS 
 
 about the age of fifteen or sixteen, attended a festi- 
 val of the Shecheniites, to see the women of the 
 country, (Gen. xxxiv. 1, 2.) when Shcclieni, son of 
 Hamor the Hivite, prince of the city, ravisJied or se- 
 duced her, and afterwards desired his fatlier to pro- 
 cure her for liis wife. Dinah's brotliers, being 
 informed of what had passed, were much exasperat- 
 ed ; and liaving made insidious proposals to She- 
 chem, to his father Hamor, and to the inhabitants of 
 their city, slew and plundered them, and carried off 
 Dinah. Jacob, when informed of the occurrence, 
 cursed their anger and cruelty, xlix. 5 — 7. 
 
 DINAITES, a people who opposed the rebuilding 
 of the temple, Ezra iv. 9. 
 
 DINHABAH, a city of Edom, Gen. xxxvi. 32. 
 
 DIONYSIUS, the Areopagite, a convert of Paul, 
 (Acts xvii. 34.) and supposed to have been a citizen 
 of Athens. Dionysius is said to have been made the 
 first bishop of Athens; and after having labored, and 
 suffered much in the gospel, to have been burnt at 
 Athens, A. D. 95. The works attributed to him are 
 spurious. * 
 
 DIOSPOLIS, the city ofJiipitei; or Thebes. We 
 do not meet with this name in the sacred writings ; 
 but Nahum is thought to have intended it under the 
 name of No-Ammon. See Ammon-No. 
 
 DIOTREPHES, a person who did not receive 
 witli hospitality those whom the apostle had sent to 
 him, nor suffer others to do so. (See 3 John 9.) 
 
 DISCERNING of spirits, a divine gift mentioned 
 1 Cor. xii. 10, and which consisted in discerning 
 among those Avho professed to be inspired by God, 
 whether they were inspired by a good or an evil 
 spirit ; whether truly or falsely ; and also, probably, 
 whether lliey were sincere in their profession of 
 Christianity. This gift was of very great importance 
 under the Old Testament, when false prophets often 
 rose up, and seduced the people ; and also in the 
 primitive ages of the Christian church, when super- 
 natural gifts were frequent ; when the messenger of 
 Satan was sometimes transformed into an angel of 
 light, and false apostles, under the meek appearance 
 of sheep, concealed the disposition of ravening 
 wolves. 
 
 DISCIPLE signifies, in the New Testament, a be- 
 liever, a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. 
 
 DISEASES. Many kinds of disease are men- 
 tioned in Scriptui-e, and the Hebrews attributed 
 several of tliem to the devil. Diseases and death 
 are consequences of sin ; and the Hebrews, not 
 much accustomed to recur to physical causes, often 
 imputed them to evil spirits. (See Luke xiii. 16.) If 
 their infirmities appeared unusual, and especially if 
 iho cause were unknown to them, they concluded it 
 to be a stroke from the avenging hand of God ; and 
 to hitn the wisest and most religiotis had recourse 
 for cure. King Asa is blamed for ])lacing his confi- 
 dence in physicians, 2 Chrou. xvi. 12. Job's friends 
 ascribed all his distempers to God's justice. Paul 
 delivers the incestuous Corinthian to Satan "for the 
 destruction of the flesh :" that the evil spirit might 
 alflict him with diseases, 1 Cor. v. 5. (See Satan. )_ 
 The same apostle attributes the death and diseases of 
 many Corinthians to their communicating unwor- 
 thily, chap. xi. 30. He also elsewhere ascribes the 
 infirmities with which he was afflicted to an evil an- 
 gel ; " a thorn in the ffesh — an angel of Satan," 2 
 Cor. xii. 7. An angel of death slew the first-born of 
 the Egyptians ; a destroying angel wasted Sennach- 
 erib's army ; an avenging angel smote the people 
 
 of Israel with a pestilence, after David's sin. Saul 
 fell into a fit of deep melancholy, hvpocliondriaca! 
 depression, and it is said "an evil spirit came upon 
 him." Abimelech, king of Gerar, for taking Sarah, 
 the wife of Abraham, was threatened with death, 
 (Gen. XX. 3, 4.) and the Philistines were smitten with 
 an ignominious disease, for not treating the ark with 
 adequate respect, 1 Sam. v. 6, 7. These diseases, 
 and others that we read of, were evident interposi- 
 tions of Providence, by whatever agency they were 
 produced. 
 
 DISH. It has been remarked, on the subject of 
 the words rendered cruse by our translators, that 
 one of them seems to be totally diflTerent from that 
 which bids fairest to explain the story of the widow's 
 cruse of oil, or king Saul's cruse of water ; that 
 word it is here necessary to examine, with the de- 
 sign to determine its application. Tzclohith, (ninSi) 
 or TzcLAHATH, IS used to denote a vessel of some 
 capacity ; a vessel to be turned upside down, in order 
 that the inside may be thoroughly wiped ; (2 Kings 
 xxi. 13.) " I will wipe Jerusalem as a man loipeth a 
 DISH, turning it upside doivn." This implies, at least, 
 that the opening of such a dish be not narrow, but 
 wide ; that the dish itself be of a certain depth ; yet 
 that the hand may readily reach to the bottom of it, 
 and there may freely move, so as to wipe it thor- 
 oughly. This vessel was capable, also, of bearing 
 the fire, and of standing conveniently over a fire ; 
 for we read in 2 Chron. xxxv. 13, that " The priests 
 and others boiled parts of the holy offerings in pans 
 [tzelachoth] ; and distributed them speedily among 
 the people." Meaning, perhaps, that this was not 
 the very kind of dish or boiler which they would 
 have chosen, had time permitted a choice ; but that 
 haste and multiplicity of business made them use 
 whatever first came to hand, that was competent to 
 the service. This application of these vessels, how- 
 ever, shows that they must have been of considera- 
 ble capacity and depth ; as a very narrow or a very 
 small dish, would not have answered the purpose re- 
 quired. A kind of dish or pan, which appears to 
 answer these descriptions, is represented in the 
 " Estampes du Levant," in the hands of a confec- 
 tioner of the grand seignior's seraglio, who is car- 
 rying a deep dish, full of heated viands, (recently 
 taken off" the fire,) upon which he has put a cover, in 
 order that those viands may retain their heat and 
 flavor. His being described on the plate as a con- 
 fectioner, leads to the supposition that what he carries 
 are delicacies ; and to this agrees his desire of pre- 
 serving their heat. The shape of the vessel is evi- 
 dently calculated for standing over a fire ; and from 
 its form it may easily be rested on its side, for the 
 purpose of being thoroughly wiped. Now, a dish 
 used to contain delicacies, is most likely to receive 
 such attention ; for the comparison, in the text refer- 
 red to, evidently implies some assiduity and exertion 
 to wipe from the dish everv* particle inconsistent 
 with comj)lete cleanliness. [That the Hebrew 
 tzelachath means a dish in general, is obvious from 
 the passages where the word occurs. All that is 
 here said more than this, is mere fancy. R. 
 
 We are now prepared to see the import of Eli- 
 sha's direction to the men of Jericho, (2 Kings ii. 20.) 
 "Bring me a new — not cruse — but tzelochith" — 
 one of the vessels used in your cookery — in those 
 parts of your cookery which you esteem the most 
 delicate ; a culinary vessel, but of the superior kind ; 
 " and put salt therein," what you constantly mingle
 
 DIV 
 
 [ 350 
 
 DOC 
 
 iu your food ; Avliat readily mixes with water : and 
 this shall be a sign to you, that in your future use of 
 this stream, you shall find it salubrious, and fit for 
 daily service in preparing, or accompanying, your 
 daily sustenance. 
 
 There is a striking picture of sloth, sketched out 
 very simply, but very strongly, by the sagacious Solo- 
 mon, in Prov. xix. 24, and repeated almost verbatim, 
 in chap. xxvi. 15 : 
 
 A elothfiil man hideth his hand in the tzelachith ; 
 But will not re -bring it to his mouth. 
 
 A slothful man hideth his hand in the tzelachith — 
 It grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. 
 
 Meaning, he sees a dish, deep and capacious, filled 
 with confectionary, sweetmeats, &c. whatever his ap- 
 petite can desire in respect to relish and flavor ; and 
 of this he is greedy. Thus excited, he thrusts his 
 hand— his right hand— deep into the dish, and loads 
 it with delicacies ; but, alas ! the labor of hfting it up 
 to his mouth is too great, too excessive, too fatiguing: 
 he, therefore, does not enjoy or taste what is before 
 him, though his appetite be so far allured as to de- 
 sire, and his hand be so far exerted as to grasp. He 
 suffers the viands to become cold, and thereby to 
 lose their flavor; while he debates the important 
 movement of his hand to his mouth ; if he do not 
 rather totally forego the enjoyment, as demanding 
 too vast an action ! 
 
 DISHAN, and DISHON, sons of Seir, the Horite, 
 Gen. xxxvi. 21, 30 ; 1 Chron. i. 38, also 41, 42. 
 
 DISPENSATION, an authority to administer the 
 ordinances of the gospel, 1 Cor. ix. 17. Called the 
 dispensation of grace, (Eph. iii. 2.) and the dispensa- 
 tion of God, Col. i. 25. 
 
 DISPERSION. Peter and James wrote to the 
 Jews of tiie dispersion, 1 Pet. i ; Jam. i. 1. The 
 former directs his letter to those who were dispersed 
 in the countries of Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Asia, 
 Cappadocia ; but the latter more indefinitely addresses 
 the twelve tribes scattered abroad. — Not that all 
 the tribes were then dispersed, for Judea was yet fill- 
 ed with Jews ; (these epistles being written before 
 the war with the Romans;) but, after the captivities 
 into Assyria and Chaldea, there were many Jews of 
 all the tribes constantly resident in various places 
 throughout the East. This was called "The Dis- 
 persion. Nehemiah prays God to collect the disper- 
 sion of his people ; and the Jews said of Christ, 
 (John vii. 35.) "Will he sroinito the dispersed among 
 the Gentiles .5" 
 
 DIVAN, see Beds. 
 
 DIVINATION. The eastern people were al- 
 ways fond of divination, magic, the art of interpreting 
 dreams, and of acquiring the j)rescience of futurity. 
 When Moses published the law, this disposition had 
 long been common in Egypt, and the neighboring 
 countries, and to correct the Israelites' inclination to 
 consult diviners, wizards, fortune-tellers, and inter- 
 preters of dreams, it was forbidden them, under very 
 severe penalties ; and the true spirit of prophecy 
 was promised to them as infinitely superior. They 
 ivere to be stoned who pretended to have a familiar 
 spirit, or the spirit of divination ; (Dent, xviii. 9, 10, 
 15.) and the prophets are fidl of invectives against 
 the Israelites who consulted such, as well as against 
 false prophets, who seduced the people. 
 
 Divination was of several kinds ; by water, fire, 
 earth, air ; by the flight of birds, and their sing- 
 
 ing ; by lots, dreams, serpents, arrows, &:c. Sec 
 Arkow. 
 
 DIVORCE, or REPuni atioiN, was tolerated by Mo- 
 ses, for sufficient reasons, (Dent. sxi\'. 1 — 3.) but our 
 Lord has limited it to the single case of adultery, 
 Matt. V. 31, 32. There is great probability that di- 
 vorces were used among the Hebrews before the 
 law, since the Son of God says, that Moses permit- 
 ted them by reason only of the hardness of their 
 hearts; that is to say, because they were accustomed 
 to this abuse, and to prevent greater evils. Abraham 
 dismissed Hagar, on account of her insolence, at the 
 request of Sarah. We find no instance of a divorce 
 in the books of the Old Testament written since 
 Moses ; though it is certain, that the Hebrews sepa- 
 rated from their wives on trifling occasions. Sam- 
 son's father-in-law understood that, by his absence 
 from her, his daughter was divorced, since he gave 
 her to another, Judg. xv. 2. The Levite's wife, who 
 was dishonored at Gibeali, had forsaken her husband, 
 and would not have returned, had he not gone in 
 pin-suit of her, ch. xix. 2, 3. Solomon speaks of a 
 libertine woman, who had quitted her husband, the 
 director of her youth, and had forgotten the cove- 
 nant of her God, Prov. ii. 16, 17. The prophet ^l&l- 
 achi (ii. 15.) commends Abraham for not divorcing 
 Sarah, though barren ; and inveighs against the 
 Jew"s, who had abandoned " tlie wives of their youth," 
 Micah also (ii. 9.) reproaches them with having 
 "cast out their Avives from their pleasant houses, and 
 taken away the glory of God from tlieir children for 
 ever." 
 
 Josephus was of opinion (Anticj. lib. xv. cap, 11.) 
 that the law did not permit women to divorce them- 
 selves from their husbands. He believes Salome, 
 sister of Herod the Great, to be the first who j)Ut 
 away her husband ; though Herodias afterwards dis- 
 missed hers, (Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 7.) as did also 
 the three sisters of the younger Agrippa, and others, 
 theirs. 
 
 DIZAHAB, the name of a place, not far from tho 
 plains of Moab, mentioned Deut. i. 1. 
 
 DOCTOR, or Teacher, of the Lau-, may, per- 
 haps, be distinguished from scribe, as rather teaching 
 viva voce, than giving written oi)inioiiS. It is difficult, 
 Avhen the expression, " counsel learned in the law," 
 is used among us, to divest ourselves of the idea of 
 the political law and its administration ; but if we 
 could wave that idea, and restrict the jdirasc to learn- 
 ed in the divine law, we should, probably, not be far 
 from a just coucejition of what the doctors of tho 
 law were in Judea. It deserves notice, that Nicode- 
 mus, himself a doctor {(<nViaxa/.oi, teacher) of the law, 
 came to consult Jesus, whom lie complimented iu 
 the same terms as he himself was accustomed to : 
 "Rabbi, w'c know that thou art i^ut^.nnKXoc. a compe- 
 tent teacher — from God :" — and most probably add- 
 ing, " Pray what is your o|)inion of such and such 
 matters ?" q. d. " Our glosses have been too far- 
 fetched, too overstrained ; they have never satisfied 
 my mind: — pray let me liear your sentiments." So 
 our Lord among the doctors (Luke ii. 46.) not only 
 heard their opinions, but asked them (picstions — pro- 
 posing his queries in turn, and examining their an- 
 swers ; whether they were consonant to the law of 
 God : and the doctors, we find, were in ecstasies at 
 the intelligence of his mind, and the propriety of his 
 language and replies. 
 
 Doctors of the law were mostly of the sect of the 
 Pharisees ; but are distinguished from that sect, in 
 Luke v. 17, where it appears that the novelty of our
 
 DOG 
 
 [351 ] 
 
 DOU 
 
 Lord's doctrine drew together a great company of 
 law-doctors [yuuoStSitnyaXoi). 
 
 Doctors, or teachers, are mentioned among divine 
 gifts in Ephes. iv. 11, and it is possible, that the 
 apostle does not mean such ordinary teachers (or 
 pastors) as the church now enjoys : but, as he seems 
 to reckon them among the extraordinary donations of 
 God, and uses no mark of distinction, or separation, 
 between apostles, with whicii he begins, and doctors, 
 with which he ends, — it may be, that he refers to the 
 nature of the office of the Jewish doctors ; meaning 
 well-infonned persons, to whom inquiring Christian 
 converts migiit have recourse for removing their 
 douljts and difiiculties, concerning Christian observ- 
 ances, the sacraments, and other rituals, aiid for re- 
 cfiving from Scripture the demonstration that "this 
 is the very Christ ;" and that the things relating to 
 the Messiah were accomplished in Jesus. Such a 
 gift could not be very serviceable in that infant state 
 of the church, which, indeed, without it, would have 
 seemed, in this particular, inferior to the Jewish in- 
 stit!itious. To this agrees the distinction (Rom. xii. 
 7.) between doctors {teaching, '''/(*.Wi;<:)/ ) and exhort- 
 er5, ([. d. " he wiio gives advice privately, and resolves 
 douljts, &c. let him attend to that duty ; he who ex- 
 horts with a loud A'oice, (ru^iazu.ur)! ,) let him exhort" 
 with proper piety. The same appears in 1 Cor. xii. 
 ^8, where the apostle rauges,^/-sf, apostles, public in- 
 structers ; secondly, prophets, occasional iustructers ; 
 thirdly, (^tKVli^rt.rof,) doctors, or teachers, private iu- 
 structers. 
 
 DODAI, one of David's captains, over the course 
 of the second month, 1 Cliron. xxvii. 4. 
 
 DODANIiNI, the youngest son of Javan, Gen. x. 
 2. Several Hebrew MSS. read Rhodanim, and be- 
 lieve that he peopled the island of Rhodes. See 
 
 Df.DAX. 
 
 DOEG, an Edoinite, and Saul's chief herdsman. 
 Being at Nob, a city of the priests, when David came 
 thith(?r, and received provision from Ahimelech, he 
 reported this to Saul, who, thereupon, sent for the 
 priests, and massacred them, by the hand of Doeg, 
 to the num!:)cr of fourscore and five, 1 Sam. xxii. 16. 
 
 DOG, a well-known domestic animal, which was 
 he!;l in great contempt amojig the Jews. It was 
 worsliijjped by the Egyptians. 
 
 The state of dogs among the Jews was probably 
 much the same as it is now in the East ; where, hav- 
 ing no owners, they run about the streets in troops, 
 and are fed by charity, or by caprice ; or they live 
 on such offal as they can pick up. That they were 
 numerous and voracious in Jezreel, is evident Irom 
 the hii^tcry of Jezebel. (See that article.) 
 
 To compare a person to a dog, living or dead, was 
 a most degrading expression ; so David uses it, (1 
 Sam. ?cxiv. 14.) "After whom is the king of Israel 
 conic out ? after a dead dog?" So Mephiboslicth, {2 
 Sam. ix. 8.) "What is thy servant, that thou should- 
 est look upon such a dead dog as I am ?" The name 
 of dog sometimes expresses one who has lost all 
 modestj' ; one who prostitutes himself to abominable 
 actions ; for so several understand the injunction 
 (Deut. xxiii. 18.) of not offering " the hire of a 
 whore ;" or " the price of a dog ;" and EccUis. xiii. 
 18, " What fellowship is there between a pure and 
 sanctified person, (Eng. tr. the hyena,) and a dog ?" 
 Our Lord, in Rev. xxii. 15, excludes "dogs, sorcer- 
 ers, whoremongers, murderers, and idolaters" from 
 the new Jerusalem. Paul says, " Beware of dogs" 
 (Phil. iii. 2.) — of impudent, sordid, greedy professors ; 
 and Solomon, (Pi-ov. xxvi. 11.) and Peter, (2 Epist. 
 
 ii. 21.) compare sinners, who continually relapse into 
 sins, to dogs returning to their vomit. 
 
 [3Ir. Harmer remarks, that "the great exter- 
 nal purity which is so studiously attended to by the 
 modern eastern people, as well as the ancient," pro- 
 duces some odd circumstances with respect to their 
 dogs. 
 
 " They do not suffer them in their houses, and even 
 with care avoid touching them in the streets, which 
 would be considered as a defilement. One ^^■ould 
 imagine, then, that, under these circumstances, as 
 they do not appear by any means to be necessary in 
 their cities, however important they may be to those 
 that feed flocks, there should be very few of these 
 creatures found in those places. They are, notwith- 
 standing, there in great numbers, and croAvd their 
 streets. They do not appear to belong to jiarticuiar 
 persons, as our dogs do, nor to be fed distinctly by 
 such as might claim some interest in them ; but get 
 their food as they can. At the same time, they con- 
 sider it as right to take some care of them, and the 
 charitable people among them frequently give money 
 every weelc or month, to butchers and bakers, to feed 
 the dogs at stated times ; and some leave legacies at 
 their deaths, for the same purpose. This is Le 
 Bruyn's account; tom. i. p. 361." (Harmer's Obs. 
 i. p. 351.) 
 
 Dogs in the East being thus left to prowl about 
 without masters, and get their living generally as they 
 can, from the offals which are cast into the gutters, 
 are often on the point of starvation ; and then they 
 devour corpses, and in the night even attack hving 
 men, Ps. fix. 6, 14, 15 ; 1 Kings xiv. 11, al. *R. 
 
 DOORS, see Gates. 
 
 DOPHKAH, the ninth or tenth encampment of 
 the Israelites, Numb, xxxiii. 12. See Exodus. 
 
 DOR, or Dora, in Hebrew, Nephat-Dor, heights 
 of Dor, the capital of a district in Canaan, which Josh- 
 ua conquered and gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, 
 on this side Jordan, Josh. xii. 23; xvii. 11. 
 
 Dor was situated on a peninsula, which, from pro- 
 jecting into the Mediterranean sea, rendered the city 
 extremely strong, and very diflicult of attack ; espe- 
 cially on the land side. It pretended to be founded 
 by Dor, or Dorus, son of Neptune, assumed the title 
 of sacred, and navarchida ; and enjoyed the right of 
 asylum, and of being ^^ governed by its own ?«u'5." 
 
 " The modern name of Dor is Tortoura, and it is 
 about midway betv.ecn Csesarea Palestina and the 
 bay of Acre." Captain Mangles mentions extensive 
 ruins at Tortoura, but says they possess nothing of 
 interest. 
 
 DORCAS, Tabitha in Syriac, (Ihe gazelle.) See 
 Taeitha. 
 
 DOSITHEUS, an officer in the troops of Ju- 
 das Maccabseus, (2 Mac. xii. 19 — 21, &c.) sent to 
 force the garrison of Characa, in the country of the 
 Tubienians. 
 
 DOTHAN, or Dothaim, a town about twelve 
 miles north of Samaria, where Joseph's brethren 
 sold him to the IshmaeUtes, Gen. xxxvii. 17. Holo- 
 fernes' camp extended from Dothaim to Belmain, 
 Judith vii. 3. 
 
 DOUBLE has many significations in Scripture. 
 "A double garment" may mean a lined habit, such 
 as the high-priest's pectoral ; or a complete habit, or 
 suit of clothes, a cloak and a tunic, &c. Double 
 heart, double tongue, double mind, are opposed to a 
 simple, honest, sincere heart, tongue, mind, &;c. 
 Double, the counterpart to a quantity, to a space, to a 
 measure, &c. which is proposed as the exemplar.
 
 DOW 
 
 [ 352 ] 
 
 DRA 
 
 "Double money" — the same value as before, with 
 an equal value added to it, Gen. xliii. 12, 15. If a 
 stolen ox or sheep be found — the thief shall restore 
 double, that is, two oxen, or two sheej). For the 
 right understanding of Isa. xl. 2, " She hath receiv- 
 ed of the Lord's hand double for all her sins" — read, 
 the counterpart — that which fits, tlie commensurate 
 quantity, extent, or number of her sins ; that which 
 is adequate, all things considered, as a dispensation 
 of punishment. This passage does not mean 
 twice as much as had been deserved, double 
 what was just, but the fair, commensurate, ade- 
 quate retribution. The same is the meaning of 
 this phrase in other places, Isa. Ixi. 7 ; Jer. xvi. 18 ; 
 xvii. 18. 
 
 DOVE, a tame clean bird ; in its wild state called 
 a pigeon. It was ordained (Lev. xii. 8.) that when a 
 woman went to the lemple after child-bearing, she 
 should offer a lamb, and a dove or turtle ; or else a 
 young pigeon, or a young turtle. Numb. vi. 10. The 
 lamb was offered as a bm-nt-ofliering, the pigeon or 
 dove as a sin-offering. Or if she could not afford a 
 lamb, then she might offer two pigeons, or two tur- 
 tles. (See Luke ii. 24.) As it was difficult for all 
 who came from distant places to bring doves with 
 them, the priests permitted the sale of these birds in 
 the courts of the temple. Oiu' Lord one day entered 
 the temple, and with a scourge of cords drove out 
 those who there traded in pigeons. Matt. xxi. 12 ; 
 Mark xi. 15. [In Jer. xxv. 38 ; xlvi. 10 ; 1. 16, the 
 Hebrew word r\:v is also rendered by the Vidgate, 
 dove ; but it is here the fem. participle of the verb nr, 
 to oppress, and is used as an adjective, signifying op- 
 pressive. R. 
 
 The dove is used as a symbol of simplicity and in- 
 nocency. Matt. iii. 16 ; x. 16 ; Hos. vii. 11, &c. Noah 
 sent the dove out of the ark, to discover whether the 
 waters of the deluge were abated. Gen. viii. 8, 10. 
 He chose the dove, probably, because it was a tame 
 bird, and averse to carrion and ordure. 
 
 DOVES' DUNG. It is said, (2 Kings vi. 25.) that 
 dui-ing the siege of Samaria, " the fourth part of a 
 cab (little more than half a pint) of doves' dung was 
 sold for live pieces of silver ;" about twelve shillings 
 fiterling, or two and a half dollars. It is well known 
 that doves' dung is not a nourishment for man, even 
 in the most extreme famine ; and hence Josephus 
 and TJieodorct were of opinion, that it was bought 
 instead of salt, to serve as a kind of nianiu-e for the 
 purpose of raising esculent plants of quick vegeta- 
 tion. The general opinion since Bochart is, that it 
 was a kind of chick-pea, lentil, or tare, which has 
 very much the appearance of doves' dung, whence 
 it might be named. Great quantities of these are 
 sold in Cairo, to the pilgrims going to Mecca ; and 
 at Damascus, Belon says, " there are many shops 
 where nothing else is done but preparing chick-peas. 
 These, parched in a^copper pan, and dried, are of 
 great service to those who take long journeys." This 
 may account for the stock of them stored up in the 
 city of Samaria ; and the cab would be a fit measure 
 for this kind of pulse, which was the fare of the 
 poorer class of people. 
 
 DOWRY. Nothing <listinguishes more the nature 
 of marriage among us in Em-ope, from the same con- 
 nection when forming in the East, than the different 
 methods of proceeding between the father-in-law 
 and the intended bridegroom. Among us, the father 
 usually gives a portion to his daughter, which be- 
 comes the property of her husband ; and which often 
 makes a considerable part of his wealth ; but in the 
 
 East, the bridegroom offers to the father of his bride 
 a sum of money, or value to his satisfaction, before 
 he can expect to receive his daughter in marriage. 
 Of this procedure we have instances from the earli- 
 est times. When .Jacob had nothing which he could 
 immediately give for a wife, he purchased her, by 
 his services to her father Laban, Gen. xxix. 18. So 
 we find Shechem offers to pay any value, as a dowry 
 for Dinah, Gen. xxxiv. 12. In this passage is men- 
 tioned, a distinction still observed in the East: (1.) 
 " A dowry" to the family, as a token of honor, to 
 engage their favorable interest in the desired alli- 
 ance : (2.) "A gift" to the bride herself, e. g. of jew- 
 els and other decorations, a compliment of honor, as 
 Abraham's servant gave to Rebekah. We find king 
 Saul, (1 Sam. xviii. 25.) instead of wishing for a pe- 
 cuniary dowry from David, which David was sensi- 
 ble he could not pay in proportion to the value of 
 the bride, required one hundred foreskins of the 
 Philistines, thereby proposing his daughter in reward 
 of valor, as Caleb had formerly done his daughter 
 Achsah to whoever should take Kirjath-sepher ; that 
 is, he gave her, as a reward of honor, without re- 
 ceiving the accustomed dowry. Josh. xv. 16. The 
 dowry was esteemed so essential, that 3Ioses even 
 orders it, in a case where it might otherwise, per- 
 haps, have been dispensed with ; " If a man entice a 
 maid, that is not betrothed, he shall endow her to be 
 his wife ;" (Exod. xxii. 16.) he shall malie her the 
 usual nuptial present ; according to that rank which 
 he holds in the world, and to that station which his 
 wife might justly be expected to maintain; propor- 
 tionate, also, to that honor which he would have put 
 upon her, had he regularly solicited her family for 
 her ; that is, jewels, and other trinkets. " If her 
 father refuse his daughter," he shall pay monej', 
 "according to the dowry of virgins;" that is, what 
 the father of a virgin of that rank of life might 
 justly expect should have been offered for his 
 daughter when solicited in marriage. And this we 
 find was the proposal made by Shechem, in repara- 
 tion of the injury done to Dinah. 
 
 DRACHMA, a piece of money commonly reputed 
 to be equal in value to the denarius ; which is stat- 
 ed at seven pence three farthings, or near twelve 
 and a half cents. 
 
 DRAGON. This word, which frequently occurs 
 in the English Bible, generally answers to the He- 
 brew jn, ;'jp, and d^jh, though these words are some- 
 times rendered serpents, sen-monsters, and ivhales. 
 The Rev. James Hurdis, in a "Dissertation upon the 
 true meaning of the word z^r:-" contends, that in 
 its various forms it uniformly signifies the crocodile ; 
 an opinion which can be stipportcd by no authentic 
 facts, and by no legitimate mode of reasoning. Mr. 
 Taylor, who argues at groat length for restraining 
 the word to amphibious animals, is of opinion that it 
 includes the class of lizards, from the u'ater-newt to 
 the crocodile, and also the seal, the nianati, the 
 morse, &c. His arguments arc certainly ingenious 
 and deserving of attention ; hut they have failed to 
 convince us of the legitimacy of his deductions. 
 The subject is involved in much obscurity, from the 
 apparent latitude with which the word is employed 
 by the sacred writers. In Exod. vii. 9, et seq. Deut. 
 xxxii. 33, and Jer. li. 34, it seems to denote a large 
 serpent, or the dragon, properly so called ; in Gen. i. 
 21, Job vii. 12, and Ezek. xxix. 3, a crocodile or any 
 large sea animal ; and in Lam. iv. 3, and Job xxx. 
 29, the Heb. jn designates some kind of wild beast, 
 most probably the jackal or wolf, as the Arabic tee-
 
 DRAGON 
 
 [ 353 ] 
 
 DRAGON 
 
 nan denuti s. It is to the dragon, properly so called, 
 that wo shall now direct our attention. 
 
 The proper dragon, the Draco volans of Linnteus, 
 is a harmless s])ecies of lizard, found in Asia and 
 Africa. Tiiree kinds of dragons were formerly dis- 
 tinguished in India ; but they are unknown to mod- 
 em naturalists. 1. Those of the hills and mountains. 
 2. Those of the valleys and caves. 3. Those of the 
 fens and marshes. The first is the largest, and cov- 
 ered with scales, as resplendent as burnished gold. 
 They have a kind of beard hanging from their lower 
 jaw ; their aspect is frightful, their cry loud and 
 shrill, their crest bright yellow, and they have a pro- 
 tuberance on their heads the color of a burning 
 coal. 2. Those of the flat country are of a silver 
 color, and frequent rivers, to which the former never 
 come. 3. Those of the marshes are black, slow, and 
 have no crest. Their bite is not venomous, though 
 the creatures be dreadful. 
 
 The following description of the boa is chiefly ab- 
 stracted and translated from De Lacepede, by Mr. 
 Taylor, who considers it as the proper dragon of the 
 Scriptures. At any rate, some species of enormous 
 serpent seems to have been intended. 
 
 The BOA is among serpents, Avhat the liou or the 
 elephant is among quadrupeds ; he usually reaches 
 twenty feet in length, and to this species we must 
 refer those described by travellers, as lengthened to 
 forty or fifty feet, as related by Owen. Kircher 
 mentions a serpent forty palms in length ; and such 
 a serpent is refen-ed to by Ludolph, as extant in 
 Ethiopia. Jerome, in his life of Hilarion, denomi- 
 nates such a serpent, draco or dragon ; saying, that 
 they were called boas, because they could swallow 
 {boves) beeves, and waste whole provinces. Bosnian 
 says, entire men have frequently been found in the 
 gullets of serpents on the gold coast ; but the longest 
 serpent I have read of, is that mentioned by Livy, 
 and by Plinj% which opposed the Roman army un- 
 der Regulus, at the river Bagrada in Africa. It 
 devoured several of the soldiers ; and so hard were 
 its scales, that they resisted daits' and spears : at 
 length it was, as it were, besieged, and the military 
 engines were employed against it, as against a forti- 
 fied city. It was a hundred and twenty feet in 
 length. At Batavia was taken a serpent, which had 
 swallowed an entire stag of a large size ; and one 
 taken at Bunda had, in like manner, swallowed a 
 negro woman. 
 
 Lequat, in his Travels, says, there are serpents 
 fifty feet long in the island of Java. At Batavia they 
 still keep the skin of one, which, though but twenty 
 feet in length, is said to have swallowed a young 
 maid whole. The serpent quaka, or liboya, (boa,) is 
 unquestionably the biggest of all serpents ; some be- 
 ing eighteen, twenty-four, and even thirty feet long, 
 and of the thickness of a man in the middle. The 
 Portuguese call it Kobre de hado, or the roebuck- 
 serpent ; because it will swallow a whole roebuck or 
 other deer ; and this is performed by sucking it 
 through the throat, which is pretty narroA^ , but the 
 belly vastly big. Such a one I saw near Paraiba, 
 which was thirty feet long, and as big as a barrel. 
 Some negroes accidentally saw it swallow a roebuck, 
 whereupon, thirteen musketeers were sent out, who 
 shot it and cut the roebuck out of its belly. It is 
 not venomous. This serpent, being a very devour- 
 ing creature, greedy of prey, leaps from among the 
 hedges and woods, and, standing upright on its tail, 
 wrestles both with men and wld beasts ; sometimes 
 it leaps frQui the trees upon the traveller, whom it 
 45 
 
 fastens on, and beats the breath out of his body with 
 its tail. 
 
 From this account of the boa, it is, perhaps, not 
 improbable, that John had it in his mind when he 
 describes a persecuting power under the symbol of a 
 great red dragon. The dragon of antiquity was a 
 serpent of prodigious size, and its most conspicuous 
 color was red ; and the apocalyptic dragon strikes 
 vehemently with his tail ; in all which particulars it 
 perfectly agrees with the boa. " And there appear- 
 ed another wonder in lieaven, and behold a great 
 red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and 
 seven crowns upon his heads. And hie tail drew 
 the thirfl part of the stars of heaven, and did cast 
 them to the earth," Rev. xii. 3, 4, 15 — 17. The 
 number of heads here given to this creature is cer- 
 tainly allegorical ; as are also the ten horns, and the 
 seven crowns which are attached to them. But in 
 all these instances, says Paxton, it is presumed that 
 the inspired writer alludes either to historical facts 
 or natural appearances. It is well known, that there 
 is a species of snake called amphisbsena, or double- 
 headed, although one of them is at the tail of the 
 animal, and is only apparent. A kind of serpent, in- 
 deed, is so often found with two heads growing from 
 one neck, that some have fancied it might form a 
 species ; but we have, as yet, no sufiicient evidence 
 to warrant such a conclusion. Admitting, however, 
 that a serpent with two heads is an unnatural pro- 
 duction, for this very reason if might be chosen by 
 the Spirit of God, to be a jirototype of the apocalyp- 
 tic monster. 
 
 The horns seem to refer to the cerastes or horned 
 snake, the boa or proper dragon having no horn. 
 But this enormous creature has a crest of bright yel- 
 low, and a jirotuberance on his head, in color like a 
 burning coal, which naturally enough suggests the 
 idea of a crown. The remaining particulars refer to 
 facts in the history of the boa, or other serpents. 
 The tail of the gi-eat red dragon " drew the third 
 part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the 
 earth." The boa frequently kills his victim with a 
 stroke of his tail. Stedman mentions an adventure 
 in his " Expedition to Surinam," which furnishes a 
 very clear and striking illustration of this part of our 
 subject. It relates to one of these large serpents, 
 which, though it certainly differs from the red dra- 
 gon of Asia and Africa, combines several particulars 
 connected with our purpose. He had not gone from 
 his boat above twenty yards, through mud and water, 
 when he discovered a snake rolled up under the fall- 
 en leaves and rubbish of the trees ; and so well cov- 
 ered, that it was some time before he distinctly 
 perceived the head of the monster, distant from him 
 not above sixteen feet, moving its forked tongue, 
 while its eyes, from their uncommon brightness, ap- 
 peared to emit sparks of fire. He now fired ; but 
 missing the head, the ball went through the body, 
 when the animal struck round, and with such aston- 
 ishing force, as to cut away all the underwood around 
 him, with the facility of a scythe mowing gi-ass, and 
 by flouncing his tail, caused the mud and dirt to fly 
 over his head to a considerable distance. He return- 
 ed, in a short time, to the attack, and found the snake 
 a little removed from his former station, but very 
 quiet, with his head as before. Jyiug out among the 
 fallen leaves, rotten boughs, pad old moss. He fired 
 at him immediately ; av-i now, bemg but slightly 
 wounded, he sent out --uch a cloud of dust and dirt, 
 as our author decln/es he never saw but in a whirl- 
 wind. At the t^urd fire, the snake was shot through
 
 DRE 
 
 [354] 
 
 DRE 
 
 the head ; all the uegroes present declared it to be but 
 a young one, about half grown, although, on measur- 
 ing, he found it twenty-two feet and some inches, 
 and its thickness about that of his black boy, who 
 might be about twelve years old. 
 
 These circumstances account for the sweeping de- 
 struction which tlie tail of the apocalyptic dragon 
 effected among the stars of heaven. The allegorical 
 incident has its foundation in the nature and structure 
 of the literal dragon. The only of lie. circumstance 
 which requires explanation i^ the flood of water eject- 
 ed by the dragon, after he had failed in accomplish- 
 ing the destruction of the woman and her seed. The 
 venom of poisonous serpents is conunonly ejected 
 by a perforation in the fangs, or cheek teeth, in the 
 act of biting. We learn, however, from several facts, 
 that serpents have a power of throwing out of their 
 mouth a quantity of fluid of an injurious nature. 
 The quantity cast out by the great red dragon, is in 
 proportion to his immense size, and is called a flood 
 or stream, which the earth, helping the woman, 
 opened her mouth to receive. Gregory, the friend 
 of Ludolph, says, in his History of Ethiopia, " We 
 have in our province a sort of serpent, as long as the 
 arm. He is of a glowing red color, but somewhat 
 brownish. This animal has an offensive breath, and 
 ejects a poison so venomous and stinking, that a man 
 or beast within the reach of it, is sure to perish 
 quickly by it, unless immediate assistance be given. 
 At Mouree, a gi-eat snake being half under a heap 
 of stones and half out, a man cut it in two, at the 
 part which was out among the stones ; and as soon 
 as the heap was removed, the reptile, turning, made 
 up to the man, and spit such venom into his face, as 
 quite blinded him, and so he continued some days, 
 but at last recovered his sight." 
 
 The word dragon is sometimes used in Scripture 
 to designate the devil, (Rev. yW.freq.) probably on 
 account of his great power, and vindictive cruelty ; 
 though not without reference to the circumstances 
 attending the original defection of mankind. 
 
 DRAGON-WELL, the, (Neh. ii. 13.) lay east of 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 DREAM. The eastern people, and in particular 
 the Jews, greatly regarded dreams, and applied for 
 their interpretation to those who undertook to explain 
 them. We see the antiquity of this custom in the 
 history of Pharaoh's butler and baker, (Gen. xl.) and 
 Pharaoh himself, and Nebuchadnezzar, are also in- 
 stances. God expressly forbade his people from ob- 
 serving dreams, and from considting explainers of 
 them. He condemned to death all who pretended 
 to have prophetic dreams, and to foretell events, even 
 though what they foretold came to pass, if they had 
 any tendency to promote idolatry, Deut. xiii. 1 — 3. 
 But they were not forbidden, when they thought 
 they had a significative dream, to address the proph- 
 ets of the Lord, or the high-priest in his ephod, to 
 have it explained. Saul, before the battle of Gilboa, 
 consulted a woman who had a familiar spirit, " be- 
 cause the Lord would not answer hiin by dreams, 
 nor by prophets," ] Sam. xxviii. 6, 7. The Lord 
 frequently discovered his will in dreams, and enabled 
 persons to explain them. The Midianitcs gave credit 
 to dreams, as api)oars from that which a Midianite 
 related to his coMii.-mion ; and from whose interpret- 
 ation Gideon took a happy omen, Judg. vii. 13, 15. 
 „ The prophet Jeremiali rxxiii. 2,5, 28, 29.) exclaims 
 against impostors who] )retLT3dcd to have had dreams, 
 and abused the credulity of the people. The prophet 
 Joel (ii. 28.) promises from God, vliat in the reign of 
 
 the Messiah, the effusion of the Holy Spirit should be 
 so copious, that the old men should have prophetic 
 dreams, and the young men should receive visions. 
 The word signifies, likewise, those vain images be- 
 held in imagination while we sleep, which have no 
 relation to prophecy, Job xx. 8 : Isa. xxix. 7. (See 
 also Eccl. v. 3, 7.) 
 
 Dreams should be carefully distinguished from 
 visions : the former occurred during sleep, and, there- 
 fore, were liable to much ambiguity and uncertainty ; 
 the lattei", when tlie person, being awake, retains pos- 
 session of his natural powers and faculties. God 
 spake to Abimelech in a dream — but to Abraham by 
 vision. Jacob saw in a dream the method of pro- 
 ducing certain effects on his cattle ; and God told 
 Laban, in a dream, not to injure Jacob. Now, in 
 these and other instances of dreams, the subjects 
 dreamed of appear to be the very matters which had 
 occupied the minds of these persons while awake ; 
 and, when asleej). Providence overruled, or improved 
 their natural cogitations, to answer particular pur- 
 poses. But in the case of visions, the thing seen 
 was unexpected ; the mind was not prepared for it, 
 nor could it previously have imagined what was 
 about to occur. But to fix the distinction between 
 visions and dreams, we do not recollect more appro- 
 ]3riate instances than those furnished by the book of 
 Job. The vision is thus described, chap. iv. 12. 
 "Now a thing was secretly brought to me,stole upon 
 me, and mine ear received a little thereof." " In 
 thoughts from, of, visions of the night, when deep 
 sleep falleth on man, fear came upon me, and trem- 
 bling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a 
 spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh 
 stood up : it stood still, but I could not discern the 
 form thereof; an image was before mine eyes, there 
 was silence, and I heard a voice," &c. That is, his 
 senses were in exercise, but the image was too fine, 
 too aerial, for his complete discernment of it ; his 
 bodily organs were not defective, but the subject 
 surpassed their powers ; — probably the prophets had 
 additional or superior powers bestowed on them, 
 when they were enabled to behold visions. Now, a 
 dream is described (chap, xxxiii. 15.) as happening 
 " when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings 
 upon the bed." Perhaps it is neither easy nor neces- 
 sary to distinguish, always, when the word dream is 
 used, whether it may not denote a vision ; but it 
 shoidd seem likely that when the agency of an angel 
 is mentioned, that then more than a mere dream is 
 imphed ; as, to Jacob, (Gen. xxxi. 11.) and to Joseph, 
 Matthew i. 20 ; ii. 13, 19. 
 
 DREAMER is used as a word of reproach ; of 
 Joseph by his brethren, (Gen. xxxvii. 19.) and of 
 Shemaiah, Jer. xxix. 24. (See chap, xxvii. 9, and 
 Jude 8. See also Isa. Ivi. 10.) 
 
 DRESSES, or Garments. The Hebrews wore a 
 coat, or waistcoat, tunic, called njnj, chetoneth ; and a 
 cloak, called Si;'r, meil. The coat was their under 
 garment, next the skin, and the cloak their upper 
 one. These two garments made what Scripture 
 calls a change of raiment, (2 Kings v. L5, 22.) such as 
 those which Naaman brought as presents to Elisha. 
 The coat was commonly of linen ; and the cloak of 
 stuff, or woollen ; and as this was only a great piece 
 of stuff, not cut, then; were often many made, each 
 of a single piece, of which they used to make pres- 
 ents. [The mcil was, properly, not a cloak, but a long 
 and wide robe or tunic, without sleeves. R.] The 
 Hebrews never changed the fashion of their clothes, 
 that we know of; but they dressed after the manner
 
 DRESSES 
 
 [ 355 ] 
 
 DRESSES 
 
 of the country in which they dwelt. A white color, 
 or a purple, was in the most esteem among them. 
 Solomon advises him who would live agreeably, 
 (Eccl. ix. 8.) to let his garments be always white ; 
 and Josephus observes of this prince, that, being the 
 most splendid and magnificent of kings, he was com- 
 monly clotlied in bright and white garments. Angels 
 generally appeared in white ; and in our Saviour's 
 transfiguration, his clothes appeared as white as 
 snow. 
 
 It is well known that Christians newly baptized, 
 immediately after the rite, j)ut on white garments, 
 anciently, as symbolical of a new life, to be devoted 
 to holiness and piety. These garments they wore at 
 least a week publicly. Hence we read in the Reve- 
 lation of those who had washed their robes and 
 made them white ; and of those who should walk 
 with the Lamb, in white, being worthy ; and of being 
 clothed in white raiment, as a mark of having over- 
 come the world. This token of joy and gratuiatiou 
 was familiar at the time ; and to a certain degree it is 
 so still. Most virgins, when newly married, wear 
 white ; and that is thought becoming in them which, 
 in a widow who re-married, would be deemed 
 affectation. 
 
 Mention is made in Scripture of a coat of many 
 colors, (Gen. xxxvii. 3.) with which Joseph was 
 clothed ; as also Tamar, daughter of David ; (2 Sam. 
 xiii. 18.) but interpreters are divided about the signi- 
 fication of this word. Some translate it by a long 
 gown, reaching to the ankles, talaris, and this is the 
 more probable sense ; others, by a gowii striped with 
 several colors ; and others by a gown with large 
 sleeves. The Arabians wear very wide sleeves to 
 their coats, having a very large opening at the end, 
 which hangs sometimes down to the ground ; but at 
 the shoulder they are much narrower. 
 
 Some coats were without seams, woven in a loom, 
 and had no openings, either at the breast, or on the 
 sides ; but only at the top, to let the head through. 
 Such, probably, were the coats of the priests, (Exod. 
 xxviii. 32.) and tliat of our Lord, (John xix. 23.) 
 which the soldiers would not divide, but chose rather 
 to cast lots for. The women formerly made the 
 stuffs and cloth, not only for their own clothes, 
 but also for their husbands and children, Pi-ov. 
 xxxi. 13. 
 
 Moses informs us (Deut. viii. 4.) that the clothes 
 worn by the Hebrews in the wilderness did not wear 
 out. " Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither 
 did thy foot swell these forty years." Justin Martyr, 
 and some interpreters, following the rabbins, take 
 these words literally, and think that not only the 
 clothes of the Israelites did not grow old, or wear 
 out, but also that those of the children grew with 
 them, and constantly fitted them at every age ! But 
 others think, with much greater probability, that 
 Moses intended only that God so effectually provided 
 them with necessaries, that they did not want clothes, 
 nor had been forced to wear old or ragged clothes 
 in all their journey. 
 
 To distinguish the Israelites from other people, the 
 Lord commanded them to wear tufts, or fringes, at 
 the four corners of their upper garments, of a blue 
 color, and a border of galoon on the edges, Numb. 
 XV. 38 ; Deut. xxii. 13. From Matt. ix. 20, we see 
 that our Saviour wore these fringes ; for the woman 
 who had the issue of blood, promised herself a cure, 
 if she did but touch the hem, that is, the fringe, of his 
 garment. The Pharisees, still further to distinguish 
 themselves, wore these borders, or fringes, longer 
 
 than others, Matt, xxiii. 5. Jerome adds, that to make 
 a show of gi-eater austerity, they fastened thorns to 
 them, that when they struck against their naked legs, 
 they might be reminded of the law of God. 
 
 The garments of mourning among the Hebrews 
 were sack-cloth and hair-cloth ; and their color dark 
 brovv^i, or black. As the prophets were penitents by 
 profession, their common clothing was mourning. 
 Widows, also, dressed themselves much the same. 
 Judith fasted every day, except on festival days, and 
 the sabbath day, and wore a hair-cloth next her 
 skin, Judith viii. 6. The pi-ophet Elias, (2 Kings i. 
 7,8.) and John the Baptist, (Matt. iii. 4.) were clothed 
 in skins or coai-se stuff's, and wore girdles of leather. 
 Paul says, (Heb. xi. 37.) that the prophets wore 
 [melotes] sheep-skins, or goat-skins. The false proph- 
 ets put on habits of mourning and penitence, the 
 better to deceive the people, Zech. xiii. 4. 
 
 It is well known that red-colored garments were 
 the usual dresses worn by the frantic Bacchantes. It 
 is not, then, without a specific object, that the writer 
 of the Revelation describes the woman — the prosti- 
 tute — the mother of harlots, as "arrayed in purple and 
 scarlet color, and decked with gold, and precious 
 stones, and jjcarls — having a golden cup in her hand 
 — and drunken with the blood of the saints, and of the 
 martyrs," chap. xvii. His original readers would 
 sufficiently understand what power it was which the 
 merchants of the earth lamented, as no longer pur- 
 chasing her luxuries. 
 
 Presents of dresses are alluded to very fre- 
 quently in the historical books of Scripture, and in 
 the earliest times. When Joseph gave to each of his 
 brethren a change of raiment, and to Benjamin five 
 changes, it is mentioned without particular notice, 
 and as a customary incident. Gen. xlv. 22. Naaman 
 gave to Gehazi, from among the presents intended 
 for Elisha, who declined accepting any, two changes 
 of raiment; and even Solomon received raiment as 
 presents, 2 Chron. ix. 24. This custom is still main- 
 tained in the East, and is mentioned by most travel- 
 lers. The following extract from De la Motraye, 
 notices, as a peculiarity, that the grand seignior 
 gives his garment of honor before the wearer is ad- 
 mitted to his presence ; while the vizier gives his 
 honorary dresses after the presentation. This will, 
 perhaps, apply to the parable of the wedding gar- 
 ment, and to tlie behavior of the king, who expected 
 to have found all his guests clad in robes of honor, 
 (Matt. xxi. 11.) as also to Zech. iii. where Joshua, 
 being introduced to the angel of the Lord, stood before 
 the angel with filthy garments; who ordered a hand- 
 some robe to be given to him. Jonathan divested 
 himself of his robe, and his upper garment, even to 
 his sword, his bow, and his girdle — partly intending 
 David the greater honor, as having been apparel 
 worn by himself; l)ut principally, as it may be con- 
 jectured, through haste and speed, he being impa- 
 tient of honoring David, and covenanting for his 
 aftection. Jonathan would not stay to se7id for rai- 
 ment, but instantly gave David his own. The idea 
 of honor connected with the caffetan, appears also in 
 the prodigal's father, — ^'binng forth the best robe." 
 We find the liberality in this kind of gifts was con- 
 siderable.— Ezra ii. 69, " The chief of the fathers 
 gave one hundred priests' garments." Neh. vii. 70, 
 " The Tirshatha gave five hundred and thirty priests' 
 garments." — This would appear sufficiently singular 
 among us ; but in the East, where to give is to hon- 
 or, the gift of garments, or of any other usable com- 
 modities, is in perfect compUance with established
 
 DRO 
 
 [ 356 ] 
 
 DUL 
 
 sentiments and customs. " The vizier entered at 
 another door, and their ftxcellencies rose to sahite 
 him after their manner, wliicli was returned by a 
 httle iuclmiBg of the liead ; after whicli he sat down 
 071 the CORNER of Ms so/a, tvhich is the most honorable 
 place ; then his chancellor, his kiahia, and the chi- 
 aouz bashaw, came and stood before him, till coffee 
 was brought in ; after which M. de Chateauneuf 
 presented M. de Femol to hun,as his successor, who 
 delivered him the kuig his master's letters, compli- 
 menting him as from his majesty and himself, to 
 which the vizier answered veiy ol:)ligiugly ; then they 
 gave two dishes of coffee to their excellencies, with 
 sweetmeats, and afterwards the perfumes and sher- 
 bet ; then they clothed them with caffetans of a 
 silver brocade, with large silk flowers ; and to those 
 that were admitted into the apartments with them 
 they gave others of brocade, almost all silk, except 
 some slight gold or silver flowers ; according to the 
 custom usually observed towards all foreign minis- 
 ters." (De la iMotraye's Travels, page 199.) ''Caffe- 
 tans are long vests of gold or silver brocade, flowered 
 with silk ; which the grand seignior, and the vizier, 
 present to those to whom they give audience ; the 
 grand seignior, before, and the vizier after, audi- 
 ence." Idem. 
 
 Very few English readers, however, are sufficient- 
 ly aware of the importance attached to the donation 
 of robes of honor in the East. They mark the de- 
 gree of estimation in which the party bestowing them 
 holds the party receiving them ; and sometimes the 
 conferring or withholding of them leads to very seri- 
 ous negotiation, and misunderstandings. 
 
 For some remarks on, and descriptions of, tlie 
 dresses of the bride and bridegroom in Solomon's 
 Song, see the article Canticles. Mr. Taylor has 
 devoted much labor in attempts to elucidate several 
 passages of Scripture hi which articles of dress are 
 spoken of; but as his speculations do not admit of 
 abridgment, we can only thus refer to them. 
 
 To DRINK. This phrase is used sometimes 
 projicrly, sometimes figuratively. Its proper sense 
 needs no explanation. The wise man exhorts his 
 disciple (Prov. v. 15.) to "drink water out of his own 
 cistern ;" to content himself with the lawful pleasures 
 of marriage, without wandering in his affections. To 
 eat and drink is used in Ecclesiastes v. 18, to signify 
 people's enjoying tliemselves ; and in the gospel for 
 living in a conuuon and ordinary manner. Matt. xi. 
 18. The apostles say, they ate and drank with 
 Christ after his resurrection ; that is, they conversed, 
 and lived in their usual manner, freely, with him. 
 Acts X. 41. Jeremiah (ii. 18.) reproaches the Jews 
 with having had recourse to Egypt for muddy water 
 to drink, and to Assyria, to drink the water of their 
 river ; that is, the vviiter of the Nile and of the Eu- 
 phrates ; meaning, soliciting the assistance of tlioss 
 people. To drink blood, signifies to be satiated with 
 slaughter, E/.ek. xxxix. 18. Our Lord commands us 
 to drink liis blood and to eat iiis flesh: (John vi.) we 
 eat and (h-ink both figuratively, in the eucharist. To 
 drink wat(?r by measure, (Ezek. iv. 11.) and to buy 
 water to drink, (Lain. v. 4.) denote extreme scarcity 
 and desolation. On fast days the Jews abstained 
 from driidiiug during the whole day, l)elieving it to 
 be equally of the essence of a fast, to suffer thirst as 
 to sufler hunger. 
 
 DROMEDARY, a species of smaller camel, hav- 
 ing on their backs a kind of natural saddle, com- 
 posed of two great hunches. Persons of quality in 
 
 the East generally use dromedaries for speed ; and 
 we are assured that some of them can travel a hun- 
 dred miles a day. The animal is governed by a 
 bridle, which, being usually fastened to a ring fixed 
 in the nose, may very well illustrate the expression, 
 (2 Kings xix. 28.) of putting a hook into the nose of 
 Sennacherib, and may be further applicable to his 
 swift retreat. Isaiah (Ix. 6.) calls this creature, as 
 Bochart believes, biccuroth. Bichra, the feminine of 
 bicher, is taken for a dromedary, in Jer. ii. 23, by 
 Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. Bonaparte, 
 when commanding the French army in Egypt, 
 formed a miUtary corps moimted on dromedaries. 
 See further under Camel. 
 
 DRUMA, Gideon's concubine, and mother of 
 Abimelech, Judg. viii.31. 
 
 DRUNK, DRUNKENNESS, a well known and 
 debasing indisposition, produced by excessive drink- 
 ing. The first instance of intoxication on record is 
 that of Noah, (Gen. ix. 21.) who was probably igno- 
 rant of the effects of the expressed juice of the grape. 
 The sin of drunkenness is most expressly condemned 
 in the Scrijjtures, Rom. xiii. 13 ; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10 ; 
 Eph. V. 18 ; 1 Thess. v. 7, 8. Men are sometimes 
 represented as drunk with sorrovv, with aftlictions, 
 and with the wine of God's wratli, Isa. Ixiii. 6 ; Jer. 
 Ii. 57 ; Ezek. xxiii. 33. Persons under the influence 
 of superstition, idolatry, and delusion, are said to be 
 drunk, because they make no use of their natural 
 reason, Isa. xxviii. 7 ; Rev. xvii. 2. Drunkenness 
 sometimes denotes abundance, satiety. Dent, xxxii. 
 42; Isa. xlix. 26. To "add dnmkenness to thirst," 
 (Deut. xxix. 19.) is to add one sin to another, i. e. not 
 only pine in seci-et aiier idol-worshij), but openly 
 practise it. (See Stuart's Heb. Chrest. on this passage.) 
 
 DRUSILLA, the youngest daughter of Herod 
 Agrippa I. and sister of the younger Agrippa and of 
 Berniee, celebrated for her beauty and infamous for 
 her licentiousness. She was first espoused to 
 Epiphanes, son of Antiochus, king of Comagena, 
 on condition of his embracing the Jewish religion ; 
 but as he afterwards refused to be circumcised, Dru- 
 silla was given in marriage by her brother to Azizus, 
 king of Emessa. When Felix came as governor of 
 Judca, he persuaded her to abandon her husband 
 and her religion, and become his wife. Paul bore 
 testimony before them to the truth of the Christian 
 religion. Acts xxiv. 24. (See Joseph. Ant. xix. 9. 1 ; 
 XX. 7. 1,2.) *R. 
 
 DUKE. Tliis word, being a title of honor in use 
 in Groat Britain, and signilying a higher order of 
 nobility, is apt to mislead the reader, who, in Gen. 
 xxxvj. 15 — 43, finds a long list of dukes of Edom : 
 but the word ditke, froi;i the Latin dux, rnei-ely sig- 
 nifies a leader or chief, and the word chief ought 
 rather to have been preferred in our translation. (See 
 1 Chron. i. 51.) 
 
 DULCIMER, (Dan. iii. 5, 10.) an instrument of 
 music, as is usually thought; but the original word, 
 which is Greek, ("n.ip.u ;,<. symphony,) renders it 
 doubtful whether it really mean a uuisical instrument, 
 or a musical strain, chorus, or accompaniment of 
 many voices, or instruments, in concert and harmony. 
 It is difiicult to account for the introduction of this 
 Greek word into the Chaldee language, uidess we 
 supjiOHc that some musicians from Greece, or from 
 western Asia, had been taken captive by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, in his victories over the cities on the coast of 
 the Mediterranean, and that these introduced certain 
 of their own terms of art among the king's band of
 
 DUN 
 
 f 357] 
 
 DUNG 
 
 music ; as we now use much of the language of Ita- 
 ly in our musical entertainments. 
 
 [Tlie rabbins describe the sumponya of Daniel as 
 a sort of bagpipe, composed of two pipes connected 
 with a leathern sack, and of a harsh, screaming sound. 
 Even at the present day, tlje common pipe, or shalm 
 of the common people, (nearly resembling the haut- 
 boy,) is in Italy called zampogna, and in Asia Minor 
 sambonya. The clulcitner, by which the Hebrew is 
 improperly rendered in the English version, is an 
 instrument of a triangular form, strimg with about 
 fifty wires, and struck with an iron key, while lying 
 on a table before the performer. It is confined 
 mostly to puppet shows and itinerant musicians. R. 
 
 I. DUMAII, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 52. 
 
 II. DUMAII, a tribe and country of the Ishmael- 
 ites in Arabia, Gen. xxv. 14; Isa. xxi. 11. This is 
 doubtless the same which is still called by the Arabs 
 Duma the stony, the Syrian Duma, situated on the 
 confines of the Arabian and Syrian desert, with a 
 fortress. (See Gesenius Lex. Heb. Man. Lat. Nie- 
 buhr's Arabia, p. 344.) *R. 
 
 DUMB. (1.) One unable to speak by reason of 
 natural infirmity, Exod. iv. 11. (2.) One unable 
 to speak by reason of want of knowledge what to 
 say, or how to say it ; what proper mode of address 
 to use, or what reasons to allege on his own behalf, 
 Prov. xxxi. 8. (3.) One unwilling to speak, Ps. xxxix. 
 9. We have a remarkable instance of this venerat- 
 ing dumbness, or silence, in the case of Aaron, (Lev. 
 X. 3.) after Nadab and Abihu, his sons, were con- 
 sumed by fire. " Aaron held his peace ;" did not 
 exclaim against the justice of God, but saw the pro- 
 priety of the divine procedure, and humbly acquiesced 
 in it. 
 
 DUNG. The directions given to the prophet Eze- 
 kiel, (chap. iv. 12 — 16.) have been nuich misunder- 
 stood, and have also given occasion for many imper- 
 tinent ren)arks. In the following observations, the 
 disingenuousness of Voltaire on this subject is set in 
 a just light : — 
 
 " Monsieur Voltaire seems to be extremely scan- 
 dalized at this circumstance, for he has repeated the 
 objection over and over again in his writings. He 
 supposes somewhere that denying the providence of 
 God is extreme impiety ; yet in other places he sup- 
 poses the prophetic intimation to Ezekiel, that he 
 should prepare his bread with human dung, as ex- 
 pressive of the hardships Israel were about to under- 
 go, could not come from God, being incompatible 
 with his majesty: God, then, it naturally follows, 
 never did reduce by his providence any poor mortals 
 into such a state, as to be obliged to use human dung 
 in jireparing their bread ; never could do it. But 
 those who are acquainted with the calamities of hu- 
 man life will not be so positive on this point, as this 
 lively Frenchman. To make the objection as strong 
 as possible, by raising the disgust of the elegant jiart 
 of the world to the greatest height, he, with his usu- 
 al ingenuousness, supposes that the dung was to l)e 
 eaten with the bread prejjared after this manner, 
 which would form an admiral)le confection, Comme 
 il n^est point dhisage de manger des tcUes confitures 
 sur son pain, la pluspart des hommes trouvent ces com- 
 mandemens indignes de la Majeste Divitie. (La Raison 
 par Alphabet, Art. Ezekiel.) Tlie eating bread baked 
 by being covered up under such embers, woidd most 
 certainly be great misery, though the ashes were 
 swept and blo%vn ofiT with care ; but they could 
 hardly be said to eat a composition of bread and 
 human excrements. With the same kind of libertv. 
 
 he tells us that cow-dung is sometimes eaten through 
 all desert Arabia, {Lettre du Traducteur du Cantique 
 des Cantiques,) which is only true as explained to 
 mean nothing more than tha"t their bread is, not uu- 
 frequently, baked under the embers of cow-dung : 
 but, is eating bread so baked eating cow-dung?" 
 (Harmer, Observations.) 
 
 As every reader may not be acquainted with tiie 
 ordinary usages of the East, a few remarks may sug- 
 gest the value of fire, i. e. liiel ; which in all" parts 
 of Asia is considerable, and in some districts exces- 
 sive, while they will tend to set the passages in the 
 prophet in its true light. 
 
 "In Arabia," says Niebuhr, (vol. i. p. 91.) "the 
 dung of asses and camels is chiefly used for fuel, be- 
 cause these two species are the most numerous and 
 common. Little girls go about, gatheiing the dung in 
 the streets, and upon the highways ; they mix it 
 with cut straw ; and of this mixture make cakes, 
 which they place along the walls, or upon the de- 
 clivity of some neighboring eminence, to dry them 
 in the sun." But this is cleanliness itself compared 
 with the accounts of Touniefort, (vol. iii. p. 137.) who 
 reports of Georgia, — " where our tents were pitched, 
 for the first time, in the dominions of the king of 
 Persia [we could see] a great many pretty considera- 
 ble villages ; but all this fine country yields not one 
 single tree, and they are forced to burn cows' dung. 
 Oxen are very common here, and they breed them 
 as well/or their dung as for their flesh." Speaking 
 of Erzeroum, he says, (page 95.) " Besides the sharp- 
 ness of the winters, what makes Erzeroum very un- 
 pleasant, is, the scarcity and dearness of wood ; 
 nothing but pine wood is known there, and that they 
 fetch two or tlu-ee days' journey from the town : all 
 the rest of the country is quite naked — you see neither 
 tree nor busli : and their common fuel is cows' dung, 
 which they make into turfs ; but they are not com- 
 parable to those our tanners use at Paris ; much less 
 to those prepared in Pi-oveuce of the husks of the 
 olive. I don't doubt better fuel might be found, for 
 the country is not wanting in minerals ; but the peo- 
 ple are used to their cow-dung, and will not give 
 themselves the trouble to dig for it. 'Tis almost in- 
 conceivable what a horrid perfume this dung makes 
 in the houses, which can be compared to nothing but 
 fox-holes, especially the country houses ; everything 
 they eat has a stench of this vapor ; their cream 
 would be admirable but for this pulvilis ; and one 
 might eat very well among them, if they liad wood 
 for" the dressing their butchers' meat, which is very 
 good." 
 
 We find, then, that the use of such fuel is the or- 
 dinary custom of the country ; and that not only, or 
 chiefly, those who are outcasts from society, or are 
 " steeped in jjoverty to the very lips," use this dis- 
 gusting kind of fuel, but also the general level of the 
 inhabitants, in a city of considerable note and mag- 
 nitude. Lc Bruyn'is still n)ore particular : he says, 
 (j). 228.) "Wood is very dear in this country, and is^ 
 sold by weight ; they give you but twelve pounds of 
 it for four pence or five pence, and the same it is 
 with regard to coals. Whence it is they are obliged 
 to make use of turf, made of camels' dimg, cow-dung, 
 sheei)'s dung, horse-dung, and ass-dung. The chief 
 Armenians of Julfa do so as well as the rest, or else 
 the fire would cost more than the victuals ; whereas 
 they give but thirty pence for two hundred and 
 twenty, or two hundred and thirty, pound weight of 
 this turf. They use it more particularly for heating 
 of ovens, in which they bake most of their meats in
 
 DUS 
 
 [ 358 ] 
 
 DUST 
 
 this country, without trouble, and at a small expense. 
 They even apply human dung in this way." . . This 
 was in Persia also. 
 
 These extracts from Tournefort and Le BrujTi, 
 who are describing much the same country, deserve 
 our marked attention, as likely to illustrate the histo- 
 ry of the prophet Ezekiel. Le Bruyn assures us 
 that human dung is used to heat ovens for the pur- 
 pose of baking food, (consequently Mr. Harmer mis- 
 takes, when he says, " no nation made use of that 
 horrid kind of fuel,") and against this Ezekiel remon- 
 strates and petitions, till he procures leave to use a 
 fuel, which, though bad enough, is not quite so bad. 
 Does the prophet's solicitation for his personal relief 
 from that defilement, imply his hope ol the same al- 
 leviation, in respect to those whom he typified ? i. c. 
 the Jewish people. It may also be asked, whether 
 the custom, mentioned by Le Bruyn, may not tend 
 to determine in what country the prophet resided at 
 this time .-' — It is clear, he remarks, that he did not 
 live constantly at Babylon, though involved in the 
 Babylonisii captivity; and if he were carried to, and 
 stationed on, the confines of Persia, near to Georgia, 
 then, possibly, iu this very neighborhood, he re- 
 ceived the command which has been so unjustly 
 commented on by Voltaire ; which appears so very 
 unintelhgible, or so very wretched to us ; but which 
 would excite no astonishment m the country where 
 it was given. Perhaps Ezekiel, or his fellow Jews, 
 unaccustomed to this usage, were the only persons 
 likely to be scandaUzed at it. Let this consideration 
 have its due force. 
 
 DUNGHILL. We are informed by Plutarch, 
 that the Syrians were affected with a particular dis- 
 ease characterized by violent pains of the bones, ul- 
 cerations over the whole body, swelling of the feet 
 and abdomen, and wasting of the liver. This mala- 
 dy was in general referred to the anger of the gods ; 
 but was supposed to be more especially inflicted by 
 the Syrian goddess, on those who had eaten some 
 kinds offish deemed sacred to her. In order to ap- 
 pease the otlended divinity, the persons affected by 
 this disorder were taught by the priests to put on 
 sackcloth, or old Uittered garments, and to sit on a 
 dunghill ; or to roll themselves naked in the dirt as a 
 sign of humiliation and contrition for their offence. 
 (Menander apud Porphyrium; Plut. de Supersti- 
 tione ; Persius, Sat. v. ; Martial, Epigr. iv. 4.) This 
 will remind the reader of Job's conduct under his 
 affliction, and that of other persons mentioned in 
 Scripture as rolling themselves in the dust, &c. 
 
 DURA, a great plain near Babylon, where Nebu- 
 chadnezzar erected a colossal image of gold to be 
 worshipped, Dan. iii. L See Babylo.n. 
 
 DUST. The Hebrews, when mourning, strewed 
 dust or ashes on their heads, (Josh. vh. 6.) and in 
 their afflictions sat in the dust; or threw themselves 
 with then- faces on the ground, Isa, xlvii. 1. 
 
 Our Saviour conmianded his apostles to shake the 
 dust from off their feet against those who would not 
 hearken to them, nor receive them ; to show that 
 they desired to have no intercourse with them, and 
 that they gave them uj) to their blindness, misery, 
 and hardness of heart, Matt. x. 14 ; Mark vi. 11 • Luke 
 ix. 5. 
 
 Rain of dust. In Deut. xxviii. 24. God threatens 
 to punish Israel severely, by a rain of dust. It 
 maybe of use to inquire a little into the nature and 
 
 J)roperties of such a kind of rain ; and in this the fol- 
 owing extracts may assist. " Sometimes the wind 
 blows very high in those hot and dry seasons [in In- 
 
 dia] — raising up into the air, to a very gi-eat height, 
 thick clouds of dust and sand. . . . These dry showers 
 most grievously annoy all those among whom they 
 fall ; enough to smite them all with a present blind- 
 ness ; filling their eyes, ears, and nostrils ; and their 
 mouths are not free, if they be not also well guard- 
 ed ; searching every place, as well within as without 
 our tents or houses ; so that there is not a little key- 
 hole of any trunk, or cabinet, if it be not covered, 
 but receives some of that dust into it ; the dust forced 
 to find a lodging any where, every where, being 
 so driven and forced as it is by the extreme violence 
 of the wind." (Sir T. Roe's Embassy, p. 373.) To 
 the same purpose speaks Herbert: (p. 167.) "And 
 now the danger is past, let me tell you, most part of 
 the last night we crossed over an inhospitable, sandy 
 desert, where here and there we beheld the ground 
 covered with a loose flying sand, which, by the fury of 
 the winter weather, is accumulated into such heaps 
 as, upon any great wind, the track is lost ; and passen- 
 gers (too oft) overwhelmed and stifled : yea camels, 
 horses, mules, and otlier beasts, though strong, swift, 
 and steady in their going, are not able to shift for 
 themselves, but perish without recovery ; those roll- 
 ing sands, when agitated by the winds, move and 
 remove more like sea than land, and render the way 
 very dreadful to passengers. Indeed, in this place 
 I thought that curse fulfilled, where the Lord, by 
 Moses, threatens instead of rain to give them showers 
 of dust." 
 
 These instances are in Persia ; but such storms 
 might be known to the Israelites ; as, no doubt, they 
 occur also on the sandy deserts of Arabia, east of 
 Judea : and to this agrees Tournefort, who says, 
 "At Ghetsci there arose a tempest of sand ; in the 
 same manner as it happens sometimes in Arabia, and 
 in Egypt ; especially in the spring. It was raised by 
 a very hot south wind, which drove so much sand, 
 that one of the gates of the Kervanseray was half 
 stopped up with it; and the way could not be found, 
 being covered over, above a foot deep; the sand ly- 
 ing on all hands. This sand was extremely fine, and 
 salt, and was very troublesome to our eyes, even in 
 the Kervanseray, where all our baggage was covered 
 over with it. The storm lasted from noon to sunset ; 
 and it was so very hot the night following, without 
 any wind, that one could hardly fetch breath ; which, 
 in my opinion, was partly occasioned by the reflec- 
 tion of the hot sand. Next day I felt a great pain in 
 one eye, which made it smart, as if salt had been 
 melted into it," «&:c. Pt. ii. p. 139. 
 
 This may give us a lively idea of the penetrating 
 powers of the dust of the land of Egjpt; which 
 (Exod. viii. 16.) was converted into lice ; — also (chap, 
 ix. 8.) of the effect of the ashes of the furnace, 
 which Moses took, and sprinkled " up toward heaven 
 and (being driven by the wind to all parts, and en- 
 tering 'any where, and every where,') it became a 
 boil breaking forth in blains upon man, and upon 
 beast . . . the boil was even on the magicians, and on 
 all the Egyptians." The phraseology " from heaven 
 shall it come down upon thee," deserves notice ; 
 since we see that heaven, in this instance, signifies 
 the air only : why may it not be so taken where oth- 
 er things are said to come down from thence .'' as 
 rain, fire, lightning, hail, &c. so Gen. vii. 11 ; xix. 24; 
 xlix. 25 ; Josh. x. 11, &c. 
 
 The following is from the journal of Mr. Bucking- 
 ham ; it renders certain, what is above left as a con- 
 jecture : " Suez. — After liaving travelled all the morn- 
 ing in the bed of the ancient canal that formerly
 
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 [ 359 ] 
 
 DUST 
 
 connected the Red sea with the MediteiTanean . . . 
 we had entered upon a loose, shifting sand ; here we 
 found a firm clay mixed with gravel, and perfectly 
 dry, its surface incrusted over with a strong salt. On 
 leaving the site of these now evaporated lakes, we 
 entered upon a loose and shifting sand again, like 
 that which Pliny describes when speaking of the 
 roads from Pelusium, across the sands of the desert; 
 in which, he says, unless there be reeds stuck in the 
 ground to point out the line of direction, the way 
 could not he found, because the wind blows up the 
 sand, and covers the footsteps. The morning was 
 delightful on our setting out, and promised us a fine 
 day ; but the light airs from the south soon increased 
 to a gale, the sun became obscure, and as every hour 
 brought us into a looser sand, it flew around us in 
 such whirlwinds, with the sudden gusts that blew, 
 that it was impossible to proceed. We halted, there- 
 fore, for an hour, and took shelter under the lee 
 of our beasts, who were themselves so terrified 
 as to need fastening by the knees, and uttered in 
 their wailings but a melancholy symphony. I 
 know not whether it was the novelty of the situation 
 that gave it additional horrors, or whether the habit 
 of magnifying evils to which we are unaccustomed, 
 had increased its effect ; but certain it is, that fifty 
 gales of wind at sea appeared to me more easy to be 
 encountered than one amongst those sands. It is 
 impossible to imagine desolation more complete ; we 
 could see neither sun, earth, nor sky : the plain at 
 ten paces distance Avas absolutely imperceptible : our 
 beasts, as well as ourselves, were so covered as to 
 render breathing difficult ; they hid their faces in the 
 ground, and we could only uncover our own for a 
 moment, to behold this chaos of mid-day darkness, 
 and wait impatiently for its abatement. Alexander's 
 journey to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and the de- 
 struction of the Persian armies of Cambyses, in the 
 Lybian desert, rose to my recollection with new im- 
 pressions, made by the horror of the scene before 
 me ; while Addison's admirable lines, which I also 
 remembered with peculiar force on this occasion, 
 seemed to possess as much truth as beauty : 
 
 Lo, where our wide Numidian wastes extend, 
 Sudden the impetuous hurricanes descend ; 
 Which through the air in circling eddies play. 
 Tear up the sands, and sweep whole plains away. 
 The helpless traveller, with wild surprise, 
 Sees the dry desert all around him rise, 
 And, smothered in the dusty whirlwind, dies. 
 
 "The few hours we remained in this situation 
 were passed in unbroken silence : every one was oc- 
 cupied with his own reflections, as if the reign of 
 terror forbade communication. Its fury spent itself, 
 like the storms of ocean, in sudden lulls and squalls: 
 but it was not until the third or fourth interval that 
 our fears were sufficiently conquered to address each 
 other: nor shall I soon lose the recollection of the 
 im])ressive manner in which that was done. 'Allah 
 kereem !' exclaimed the poor Bedouin, although 
 habit had familiarized him with these resistless blasts. 
 'Allah kereem !' repeated the Egyptians, with terri- 
 fied solemnity ; and both my servant and myself, as 
 if Viy instinct, joined in the general exclamation. The 
 bold imagery of the eastern poets, describing the 
 Deity as avenging in his anger, and terrible in his 
 wrath, riding upon the wings of the wind, and breath- 
 ing his fury in the storm, must have been inspired by 
 scenes like these." 
 
 There is a remarkable figurative representation in 
 Job, (chap. XXX. 22,) thus rendered in our translation: 
 "Thou liftest me up to the wind ; thou causest me to 
 ride upo7i it, and dissolvest my substance ;" but it is 
 probable that after we have examined the phraseolo- 
 gy of the passage, its force may be further evident; 
 and it may receive additional illustration. " Thou 
 dost raise me up on high, into the air, by the agency 
 of, upon, the wind ; thou dost make me to ride^on it, 
 as on a chariot, or other vehicle ; and dost dissolve, 
 dissipate, my whole, my all ; all that I ever was ; all 
 that I ever possessed." Such is the power of the 
 original, whicli might perhaps be referred to a va- 
 por, raised by the wind, which, after being home 
 about among the clouds, is dissolved, and falls in 
 dew: but, (1.) the wind which raises it seems rather 
 to describe a storm, and during storms dew does not 
 perceptibly rise. (2.) The current of wind, which, 
 like a chariot, bears away the subject of its power, is 
 a vehement, powerful, rapid blast ; as we say, a high 
 wind ; and does not agree with the formation of dew, 
 which is a tranquil, deliberate process. The word 
 (jic, Pilel jjio mogig,) is applied to express the melt- 
 ing of a solid body ; as of the earth with rain, (Ps. 
 Ixvii.) and of the hills through intense heat, Nahum 
 i. 5 ; so Amos ix. 13. Mr. Scott has rendered the 
 passage. 
 
 Roused by almighty force a furious storm 
 Upcaught me, whirled me on its eddying gust. 
 Then dashed me down, and shattered me to dust. 
 
 Under these considerations, we may, perhaps, refer 
 the passage to a sand storm ; possibly, such as that 
 described by ]Mr. Buckingham, or such as is describ- 
 ed by the following information, which the reader 
 will not be displeased to peruse, as it stands high 
 among the most picturesque and most terrific de- 
 scriptions of the kind to be met with. " On the 14tli, 
 at seven in the morning, we left Assa Nagga, our 
 course being due north. At one o'clock we alighted 
 among some acacia-trees at Waadi el Ilalboub, hav- 
 ing gone twenty-one miles. We were here at once 
 surjjrised and terrified by a sight surely one of the 
 most magnificent in the world. In that vast expanse 
 of desert, from W. and to N. W. of us, we saw a 
 number of prodigious pillars of sand at different dis- 
 tances, at times laoviixg unlh great celerity, at others 
 stalking on with a majestic slowness : at intervals we 
 thought they wore coming in a very few minutes to 
 overwhelm us; and small quantities of sand did ac- 
 tually more than once reach us. Again they would 
 retreat so as to be almost out of sight, //le/r tops reach- 
 ing to the very clouds. There the tojis often sepa- 
 rated from the bodies; and these, once disjoined, rfis- 
 pcrsed in the air, and did not appear more. Some- 
 times they were broken near the middle, as if struck 
 with a large cannon shot. About noon they began 
 to advance with considerable swiftness u])on us, the 
 wind being very strong at north. Eleven of them 
 ranged alongside of us about the distance of three 
 miles. The greatest diameter of the largest appear- 
 ed to me at that distance as if it would measure ten 
 feet. They retired from us with a wind at S. E. 
 leaving an impression upon my mind to which I can 
 give no name ; though surely one ingredient in it 
 was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and as- 
 tonishment. It was in vain to think of flying; the 
 swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, could be of no 
 use to cany us out of this danger, and the full per- 
 suasion of this riveted me as if to the spot where I
 
 DUST 
 
 [ 360 ] 
 
 DUST 
 
 stood, and let tlie camels gain on me so much in my 
 state of lameness, that it was with some difficulty I 
 could overtake them. The whole of our company 
 were much disheartened, (except Idris,) and imagin- 
 ed that they were advancing into whirlwinds of mov- 
 ing sand, from which they should never be able to 
 extricate themselves ; but before four o'clock in the 
 afternoon, these phantoms of the plain had all of them 
 fallen to the ground and disappeared. In the evening 
 we came to Waadi Dimokea, where we passed the 
 night, much disheartened, and our fear more increas- 
 ed, wlien we found, upon wakening in the morning, 
 that one side was perfectly buried in the sand that 
 the wind hud blown above ns in the night. The sun, 
 shining through the pillars, which were thicker, and 
 contained more sand apparently than any of the pre- 
 ceding days, seemed to give those neai-est us an ap- 
 pearance as if spotted with stars of gold. I do not 
 thiuk at any time they seemed to be nearer than two 
 miles. The most remarkable circumstance was, 
 that the sand seemed to keep in that vast circular 
 space surroimded by the Nile on our left, in going 
 round by Chaigie towards Dongola, and seldom was 
 observed much to tiie eastward of a meridian pass- 
 ing along the Nile through the Magiran, before it 
 takes that turn ; whereas the simoom was always on 
 the opposite side of our course, coming upon us from 
 the south-east. The same appearance of moving 
 pillars of sand presented themselves to us this day. 
 
 in form and disposition like those we had seen at 
 Waadi Halboub, only they seemed to be more in 
 number, and less in size. They came several times 
 in a direction close upon us ; that is, I believe, with- 
 in less than two miles. They began, immediately 
 after sunrise, like a thick wood, and almost darken- 
 ed the sun : his rays, shining through them for near 
 an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire." 
 (Bruce's Travels, vol. iv. p. 553 — 555.) 
 
 If this conjecture be admissible, we see a magnifi- 
 cence in this imagery, not apparent before ; we see 
 how Job's dignity might be exalted in the air ; might 
 rise to great grandeur, importance, and even terror, 
 ill the sight of beholders; might ride upon the wind, 
 which beai"S it about, causing it to advance, or to re- 
 cede : and, after all, the wind, diminishing, might dis- 
 perse, melt, scatter, this pillar of sand, into the undis- 
 tinguished level of the desert. This comparison 
 seems to be precisely ada])ted to the mind of an 
 Arab, who must have ^een similar phenomena in the 
 countries around him. 
 
 [To ride upon the tvind, signifies in Arabic, "to be 
 carried away suddenly." Instead of "thou dissolv- 
 est my substance," others, as Gesenius, translate ; 
 "tho'- causest my prosperity to melt away ;" or if the 
 Kethib be followed, "thou causest me to melt away, 
 thou terrifiest me." But the common version, as 
 above illustrated, seems to be preferable. R. 
 
 E 
 
 EAGLE 
 
 EAGLE 
 
 EAGLE. By the Hebrews, the eagle was called 
 Tj'J, the lacerator ; and as tliis species of birds is em- 
 inent for rapacity, and tearing their prey in pieces, 
 the propriety of the designation is sufficiently oli- 
 vious. 
 
 There are several kinds of the eagle described by 
 naturalists, and it is [irobable that the Hebrew nesher 
 comprehends more tiian one of these. The largest 
 and noblest species with which we are acquainted, 
 is that called by Mr. Bruce, "the golden eagle," and 
 by liie Ethiopians, " Abou Auch'n," or father long- 
 beard, Irom a tuft of hair which grows below his 
 beak. From wing to wing, this l^ird measures eight 
 feet four inches ; and ti'om the tip of his tail to the 
 point of his beak, when dead, four feet seven inches. 
 Ol'all known birds, tlie eagle flies not only the high- 
 est, but also with the greatest rapidity. To this cir- 
 cumstance there are several striking allusions in th.e 
 sacred volume. Aniouir the evils threatened to the 
 Israelites in case of their disobedience, the prophet 
 names one in the following terms : " Tlie Lord shall 
 bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of 
 the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth," Deut. xxviii. 
 49. The march of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusa- 
 lem, is predicted in the same terms: "Behold, he 
 shall come up as clotids, and his chariots as a whirl- 
 wind: his horses are swifter than eagles;" (Jcr. iv. 
 13.) as is his invasion of IMoab also: "For thus saith 
 the Lord, Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall 
 spread his wings over Moab ;" (chap, xlviii. 40.) i. e. 
 he shall settle down on the devoted country, as an 
 eagle over its prey. See, also, Lam. iv. li) ; IIos. viii. 
 2 ;^ Ilab. i. 8. 
 
 The eagle, it is said, lives to a gi-eat age ; and, like 
 other birds of prey, sheds his feathers in the begin- 
 
 ning of spring. After this season, he appears with 
 fresh strength and vigor, and his old age assumes 
 the appearance of youth. To this David alludes, 
 when gratefully reviewing the mercies of Jehovah : 
 " Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that 
 thy youth is renewed like the eagle's ;" (J*s. ciii. 5.) 
 as does the prophet, also, when describing the reno- 
 vating and quickening influences of the Spirit of 
 God : " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as 
 eagles ; they shall run and not be weary ; and they 
 shall walk and not faint;" Isa. xl. 31. It has been 
 supposed that there is an allusion to the mounting of 
 the eagle in the prophet's charge to the people, to 
 mourn deeply, because of the judgments of God: — 
 " Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate chil- 
 dren ; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle ;" (Mic. i. 1(5.) 
 but we rather think that the allusion is to the natural 
 baldness of some particular species of this bird, as 
 that would be far more ajipropriate. The direction 
 of the prophet is to a token of mourning, whicli was 
 usually assumed by making bald the croion of the 
 head ; here, however, it was to be enlarged, extended, 
 as the baldness of the eagle. Exactly answering to 
 this idea is Mr. Bruce's description of the head of the 
 " golden eagle :" the crown of his head was bare or 
 bald ; so was the front where the bill and skull joined. 
 The meaning of the ])roplict, therefore, seems to be, 
 that the people were not to content themselves with 
 shaving the crown of the head merely, as on ordina- 
 ry occasions, but, under this special visitation of re- 
 tributive justice, were to extend the baldness over 
 the entire head. 
 
 We have to admire frequently the intimate ac- 
 quaintance which the writer of the book of Job dis-
 
 EAGLE 
 
 [361 ] 
 
 EAR 
 
 plays with many parts of animated nature. His ac- 
 count of the eagle is drawn up with great accuracy 
 and beauty. 
 
 Is it at thy voice tliat the eagle soars, 
 
 And niaketh his nest on high ? 
 
 The rock is the place of his habitation : 
 
 He dwells on the crag, the place of sti'ength. 
 
 Thence he pounces upon his prey ; 
 
 And his ej^es discern afar off. 
 
 Even his young ones drink do\vn blood ; 
 
 And wherever is slaughter, there is he. 
 
 Chap, xxxix. 27 — 30. 
 
 To the last line in this quotation, our Saviour 
 seems to allude in Matt. xxiv. 28. " Wheresoever 
 the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered to- 
 gether ;" that is, wherever the Jewish people, who 
 were morally and judicially dead, might be, there 
 would the Roman armies, whose standard was au 
 eagle, and whose strength and fierceness resembled 
 that of the king of birds, iu comparison with his 
 fellows, pursue and devour them. 
 
 In Deut. xxxii. 11. there is a beautiful compari- 
 son of the care and paternal affection of the Deity 
 for his people, with the natural tenderness of the 
 eagle for its young: 
 
 As the eagle stiiTeth up her nest ; 
 
 Fluttereth over her young ; 
 
 Expandeth her plumes, taketh them ; 
 
 Beareth them upon her wings ; 
 
 So JehoA'ah alone did lead him. 
 
 And there \Nas no strange god v'^h him. 
 
 In Lev. xi. 18. we read of th^' ''gier eagle"— Heb. 
 an-i, rdchdm ; but being associated with water birds, 
 as the swan, the pelican. ^Iie stork, &c. it has been 
 doubted whether any Amd of eagle is the bird intend- 
 ed. Most interpr^i^ers are willing, after Bochart, to 
 render the ITpftrew word rdchdm by that kind of 
 Egyptian vu)-*ui-e which is nov/ called rachami, and 
 is abundapc in the streets of Cairo, Vidhir percnopte- 
 rus. Some want a water- fo wl ; Dr. Geddes trans- 
 lates stor'c, but, in his critical remarks, doubts its pro- 
 priety, without, however, determining for any other 
 bird. Perhaps the king-fisher, or alcyone, is the bird 
 intended by the Jewish legislator, and this opinion is, 
 to some extent, countenanced by the ancient versions. 
 The tender affection of the bird, too, well agrees 
 with the import of the Hebrew word, Avhich is from 
 a root signifying tenderness and affection. See more 
 under Birds. 
 
 It must not be concealed, however, that this opin- 
 ion has its difficulties; and from a passage in the 
 book of Proverbs, (chap. xxx. 16.) in which the rdchdm 
 is mentioned, we shall, perhaps, be justified in con- 
 cluding for some species of the vulture kind. De- 
 scribing four things which are never satisfied, the 
 sacred writer mentions the grave, and the ravenous 
 rdchdm, unhappily rendered "the barren womb," in 
 our version. We close these remarks with Hassel- 
 quist's description of the Egyptian vulture, to which 
 we have before referred, and which is thought by 
 many writers to be the Hebrew rdchdm. " The ap- 
 pearance of tlie bird is as horrid as can well be im- 
 agined. The face is naked and wrinkled, the eyes 
 are large and black, the beak black and crooked, 
 the talons large and extended ready for prey, an(l 
 the whole body polluted with filth. These are qual- 
 ities enough to make the beholder shudder with 
 46 
 
 horror. Notwithstanding this, the inhabitants of 
 Egj^pt cannot be enough thankful to Providence for 
 this bird. All the places round Cairo are filled 
 with the dead bodies of asses and camels; and 
 thousands of these birds fly about and devour the 
 carcasses, before they putrify, and fill the air with 
 noxious exhalations." See under Birds. 
 
 EAR. " I will uncover thine ear," is a Hebraism, 
 by which is meant, I will reveal something to thee, 
 1 Sam. ix. 15 ; 2 Sam. vii. 27, inargin. The servant 
 who renounced the privilege of freedom, in the sab- 
 batical year, had his ear pierced with an awl, in the 
 presence of the judges, at his master's door, Exod. 
 xxi. 6 ; Deut. xv. 17. This practice continued in 
 Syria to the time of Juvenal : — 
 
 MoUes quod in aure fenesti'se, 
 
 Arguerint, licet ipse negem ? 
 
 Sat. I. 
 
 " which the soft slits in the ear will prove, though I 
 myself should deny it." The Psalmist sajs, in the 
 person of the Messiah, " Sacrifice and offering thou 
 didst not desire ; mine ears hast thou opened," Ps. 
 Ix. 5. Heb. Thou ha."* digged my ears ; thou hast 
 opened them, rcm'-^'ed impediments and made them 
 attentive ; i. (^ i/io" hast prepared me for obedience ; 
 or, thou ^"^st pierced them, as those of such ser- 
 vant'- were pierced, who chose to remain with their 
 ,«dsters. Paul reads, (Heb. x. 5.) "a body hast thou 
 prepared for me ;" and thus the LXX and the gene- 
 rality of the ancient fathers read the passage ; — 
 amounting to the same sense as above. " To have 
 lieaAy ears," is said of natural as well as of volun- 
 tary deafness. "Make the ears of this people lieaA-j'," 
 (Isa. vi. 10.) perhaps, repeat thy admonitions to 
 them till their ears are tired of them ; or tell them 
 that I will suffer them to harden their hearts, and 
 stop their ears against my word. Scriptui'e some- 
 times says the prophets do what they foretell only. 
 See Blindness. 
 
 EARING, an agricultural term. 
 
 There is a passage, (Gen. xlv. 6.) which, if it has 
 been occasionally misunderstood by a I'eader, may 
 be pardoned : — " Thei-e remain five years, in which 
 sliall be neither earing nor harvest." The fact is, 
 that earing is an old English word for ploughing ; — 
 the original word t:'>nn is that generally rendered 
 " ploughing," and why it should not be so translated 
 here we cannot tell, as earing now suggests the idea 
 of gathering ears of corn after they are arrived at 
 maturity ; whereas Joseph meaais to say, " There shall 
 be neither ploughing nor harvest during five years." 
 The reader will perceive that this variation of import 
 implies a totally different course of natural phenom- 
 ena in Egypt ; for the Nile must have risen so little 
 as to have rendered ploughing hopeless; or, its 
 waters must have been so abundant, as to have over- 
 flowed the country entirely, and to have annihilated 
 the use of the plough : moreover, if no ploughing, no 
 sowing: that is, harvest was not expected; conse- 
 quently it was not prepared for, in respect of corn. 
 No doubt but the Nile was deficient ; it did not rise ; 
 the peasants, therefore, did not plough ; and to this 
 agrees the account of an ancient author, that for nine 
 years together the Nile did not rise to half a harvest. 
 The same woid cTiomA. occurs, 1 Sam. viii. 12: — 
 "The king \^ill appoint your sons, to ear his ground 
 and to reap his harvest :" Heb. to plough his plough- 
 ing ; which sounds, to modern ears, at least, as a very 
 distinct branch of agriculture. We read, Exod. 
 xxxiv. 21, " Six days spend in labor, but on the sev-
 
 EAR 
 
 [ 362 ] 
 
 EAR 
 
 enth day rest : in earing time (ploughing time, bechd- 
 rish) and in harvest thou shalt rest." And in Isa. 
 XXX. 24. " The oxen hkewise, and the young asses 
 whicli ear the ground ;" — but in this place the word 
 in the original for ear is not, as heretofore, chaiish, 
 but nay, dbad, which signifies to labor in almost any 
 manner. On this subject it should be observed, that 
 our translation has used the word earing in the sense 
 of tillage, general labor, labor of any kind, bestowed 
 on the gi-ound, in Deut. xxi. 4 : " The elders shall 
 bring down the heifer into a rough valley, (ratlier to 
 the rough bank of a brook, or running water,) which 
 is neither eared nor sown" — read, which is not tilled, 
 cultivated in any manner; literally, "which has no 
 cultivation in it:" — the word is dbad here, also. 
 Though, in strict propriety, these two very distinct 
 Hebrew words ought to have been rendered by two 
 answerable English expressions, equally distinct ; 
 yet, these latter instances of the word eanng may 
 satisfy us what was the intention of our translators 
 when they used it, to represent that word which 
 should be rendered ploughing ; that is, that they 
 took it generally toi cultivation of any kind ; and 
 meant to imply (Gen. xlv.<^.) that Egj'pt should be 
 five years without any hopeful ^^xertions of agricul- 
 ture. Whether this be accurate, is another question, 
 as certainly there may be a cessation ur ploughing, 
 yet other labors designed to promote ferti'iVy j^^ay 
 be advanced. They meant, also, (1 Sam. viii. 1'a.\ to 
 say, The king will appoint your sous to till his lanut, 
 by some means ; whether that means be ploughing, 
 or any other. It follows, that. we ought to make 
 very great allowances for changes in our language 
 since the time of our translators, and not blame 
 them for the use of words iioiv become obsolete ; but 
 which, in their day, Avell expressed their meaning. 
 
 EAR-RINGS. We have a passage in Gen. xxxv. 
 4. which has been supposed capable of different 
 senses ; Jacob ordered his household to give up the 
 "stnsnge gods which were in their hands, and all 
 their ear-rings which were in their ears ;" — that is, 
 say sorne, in the ears of the strange gods ; while 
 others with more propriety say, in the ears of the 
 pp.'Kions of Jacob's family. To determine this ques- 
 tion, we subjoin an instance of ear-rings, which the 
 patriarch Jacob would surely have buried as deep 
 under ground, as he would any other instrument 
 of superstition : it is from Montfau^ou, Antiq. Expl. 
 vol. iii. Supp. "There was discovered at Porto, 
 when I was at Rome, in a vault mider ground, which 
 was made for the family Csesennia, two large stat- 
 ues ; one of a man di'essed like a senatoi*, the other 
 of a woman, in a Roman habit, with two gold pen- 
 dants in her ears ; one with the figure of Jupiter on 
 it, the other with that of Juno : and also the statue 
 of a little child, their sou. Aulus Csesennius Hermea 
 caused these statues to be made for himself and his 
 wife ; as the inscription infoniis us, which was found 
 near them. " See Amulet. 
 
 The word ear-ring sometimes occurs in the Eng- 
 lish Bible, when a similar ornament for the nose is 
 rather intended. 
 
 EARTH. This word is taken in various senses : — 
 (1.) For that gross element, which sustains and nour- 
 ishes us ; which nourishes plants, and fruit ; for the 
 continent, as distinguished from the sea. — (2.) For 
 that rude matter which existed in the beginning. 
 Gen. i. 1. — (3.) For tlie terraqueous glf)be, and its 
 contents. Psalm xxiv. 1 ; cxv. Ki. — (4.) For the in- 
 habitants of the earth, Gen. xi. 1. See also vi. 13 ; 
 Psalm xcvl. 1. — (5.) For the empire of Chaldea and 
 
 Assyria, Ezra i. 2. And (6.) for the land of Judea. 
 The restricted sense of this word to Judea and the 
 region around it, we apprehend to be more common 
 in Scripture than is usually supposed ; and this ac- 
 ceptation of it has great effect in elucidating many 
 passages, where it ought to be so understood. 
 
 To demand earth and water, was a custom of the 
 ancient Persians, by which they required a people 
 to acknowledge their dominion ; Nebuchodonosor, 
 in the Greek of Judith, (chap. ii. 7.) connnauds Holo- 
 fernes to march against the people of the West, who 
 had refused submission, and to declare to them, that 
 they were to prepare earth and water. Darius or- 
 dered his envoys to demand earth and water of the 
 Scythians ; and Megabysus required the same of 
 Amyutas, king of ^lacedonia, in the name of Darius. 
 Polybius and Plutarch notice this custom among the 
 Persians. Some believe, that these symbolical de- 
 mands denoted dominion of the earth and sea ; 
 others, that the earth represented the food received 
 from it, corn and fruits ; the water, drink, which is 
 the second part of human nourishment. Ecclesias- 
 ticus XV. 16. in much the same sense, says, "The 
 Lord hath set fire and water before thee ; stretch 
 forth thy hand unto whether thou wilt ;" and chap, 
 xxxix. 26. " Fire and water are the most necessary 
 things to life." Fire and water were considered by 
 the ancients as the fii-st principles of the generation, 
 birth, and presei'vation of man. Proscribed persons 
 were debarred from their use ; as, on the conti'ary, 
 ^^■*''es in their nuptial ceremonies were obliged to 
 toucli -,heui. 
 
 Earth, ju a moral or spiritual sense, is opposed 
 to heaven aari spirit. " He that is of the earth, is 
 earthy, and spt^^keth of the earth : he that cometh 
 from heaven is abc^-e all," John iii. 31. "If ye then 
 be risen with Christ, st> not your affections on things 
 on the earth," Col. ii. 1, z 
 
 EARTHLY, EARTHY. Having the affections 
 fixed on the affairs of this lifo : it is opposed to 
 heavenly-mindedness, spiritual, Jan. iii. 15 ; 1 Cor. 
 XV. 48. 
 
 EARTHQUAKE, a convulsion of the earth. 
 Scripture speaks of several earthquakes. One of 
 the most remarkable is that whicli swallowpd up 
 Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Numb. xvi. This was, i 
 no doubt, a miraculous event ; hut whether the mil-- I 
 acle consisted in the earthquake itself, or in the cir- 
 cumstances attending it, is not clear ; possibly there 
 would have lieeu an earthquake had not Israel been 
 encamped around that spot ; or had not Korah re- 
 belled ; but then Korah and his associates would 
 have escaped from it ; that is, the punishment might 
 be miraculous, though tlie earthquake were natural. 
 Another earthquake is that which happened in the 
 27th of Uzziah king of Judah, A. M. 3221, ante A. 
 D. 783. This is mentioned, Amos i. 1 ; Zecli. xiv. 5. 
 and in Josephus, who adds, that its violence divided 
 a mountain, which lay west of Jerusalem, and drove 
 one part of it four furlongs ; when it was stopjicd by 
 the wall on the east of the city, but not till the earth 
 had closed up the highway, and covered the king's 
 gardens. A very memorable earthquake is that 
 which happened at oiu- Saviour's death, (I\Iatt. xxvii. 
 51.) and many have thought, that it was perceived 
 throughout the world. Others think it was felt only 
 in Judea, or in the temple at Jerusalem. Cyril of 
 Jerusalem says, that tlie rocks on mount Calvaiy 
 were shown in his time, which had been rent asun- 
 der by this earthquake. Sandys and Maundrell 
 testify the same; and say that they examined the
 
 EAS 
 
 [ 303 ] 
 
 EAT 
 
 breaches in the rock, and were convinced tnat they 
 were effects of an earthqualie. It must have been 
 terrible, since the centurion and those with him, 
 were so affected by it, as to acknowledge the inno- 
 cence of our Saviour, Luke xxiii. 47. The word 
 earthquake is also used in a more Uniited sense, to 
 denote prodigious agitations of mountains, shocks of 
 the foundation of the universe, effects of God's pow- 
 er, Avrath, and vengeance, — figurative exaggerations, 
 which represent the greatness, strength, and power 
 of God, Psalm civ. 32 ; xviii. 7 ; xlvi. 2 ; cxiv. 4. It 
 sometimes figuratively expresses a dissolution of the 
 powei-s of government in a country, or state, Rev. 
 xvi. 18, 19. 
 
 EAST. The Hebrews express cast, west, north, 
 and south, by before, behind, left, and right ; accord- 
 ing to the situation of a man whose face is turned 
 to the rising sun. Hence forwards means towards 
 the east. 
 
 It appears from many places in the Old and New 
 Testaments, that the sacred writers called the prov- 
 inces around and beyond the Tigris and Euphrates, 
 (Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Persia,) Kedem, or the 
 East. Moses, who was educated in Egypt, and lived 
 long in Arabia, might probably follow that custom ; 
 especially as Babyloitia, Chaldea, Susiana, Persia, 
 much of Mesopotamia, and the rivers Euphrates and 
 Tigris, are, for the gi-eater pait of their course, east 
 of Palestine, Egj'^pt, and Arabia. Beside this, as those 
 who came from Armenia, Syria, Media, and Upper 
 Mesopotamia, entered Palestine and Egj^pt on the 
 east side, it was sufficient to wairant the Hebrews in 
 saying, that these people lay east of them ; and that 
 these countries were knoAvn among the Hebrews 
 under the name of the East, appeai-s from several 
 passages. Balaam says, (Numb, xxiii. 7.) that Balak, 
 king of Moab, had brought him from the mountains 
 of the East ; i. e. from Pethor on the Euphrates. 
 Isaiah says, (xli. 2.) that Abraham came from the 
 East into the land of Canaan ; and (xlvi. 11.) that 
 Cyrus should come from the East against Babylon. 
 In chap. ix. 12. he places Syria east of Judea. Dan- 
 iel says, (xi. 44.) Antiochus should be troubled with 
 news of a revolt of the eastern provinces ; i. e. the 
 provinces on the other side of the Euphrates ; a»^' 
 Matthew says, that the wise men who came to "'*^V" 
 ship Jesus, came from tiie East, chap. ii. 1. ^yl ""^ 
 confirms the opinion, that in the Script'-^ p'^yl^j the 
 East is often used for the provinces "O'ch he easter- 
 ly, though perhaps inclining to o^e north of Judea 
 and of Eg\'pt. It is remarked ^^^^^ tl"s word m the 
 Greek of MatthcAV, (ii. 1.) ^-'ves us no certain jdea of 
 the countiy whence the -^iagi came ; but it might not 
 be so in the original 6yro-Chaldaic document, from 
 which perhaps th^ apostle copied. In that language, 
 a certain cour-iT was most probably determined by 
 this appellat-^u- ^^^ know not whether the Talmud- 
 ists may 'lelp us in thia instance ; but they thus 
 speak • " fi'om Rekam to the East, and Rekam itself 
 is p.3 the East"- that is, excluded from the land of 
 Israel, eastward, and consequently is heathen land ; 
 if, then, Rekam adjoined the land of Israel, we need 
 not go very far to seek the East, which adjoined Re- 
 kam. We may ask also as to the Magi — What was 
 their Syriac title ? In the Gemara we have a story 
 of an Arabian informing a Jew that the Messiah was 
 born : — if this were a memorial of Eastern Arabia, it 
 may agree with the country east of Rekam ; which 
 would not greatly differ from the districts occupied 
 by the sons of Abraham, and called "the East," Gen. 
 XXV. C ; Judg. vi. 3. 
 
 We read (Gen. xi. 1, 2.) that mankind departed 
 Irom Kedem ; in our translation " the East ;" upon 
 which there has been much controversy. It would 
 be useless to detail the various conjectures of learn- 
 ed men as to the situation of Kedem. We have 
 seen that there are several districts in Scripture so 
 called ; some being close to Syria ; but for this 
 Kedem we must direct our researches to a country 
 east of Babylonia ; since the inhabitants of this coun- 
 try came thither after a journey "from the East." 
 [The country here meant is, unquestionably, that in 
 the vicinity of mount Ararat, where mankind first 
 settled after the deluge. To come from that coun- 
 try to Babylonia, it was necessary to keep along on 
 the east side of the Median mountains, and then issue 
 at once from the east upon the plain. (See Bryant's 
 Mythol. iii. p. 24 ; also 3Ir. Smith's letter under the 
 article Ararat.) R. 
 
 EAST WIND. See Wind. 
 
 EASTER. It is no honor to our translators, that 
 this word occurs in the English Bible, Acts xii. 4 ; it 
 should have been passover, which feast of the Jews 
 we well know. Easter is a word of Saxon origin ; 
 and imports a goddess of the Saxons, or rather of the 
 East, Estera, in honor of whom sacrifices being an- 
 nually offered about the passover time of the year, 
 (spring,) the name became attached by association 
 of ideas to tlie Christian festival of the resurrection, 
 which happened at the time of the passover ; hence 
 we say Easter-day, Easter- Sunday, but very improp- 
 erly ; as we by no means refer the festival then 
 kept to the goddess of the ancient Saxons. So the 
 present German word for Easter, Ostern, is referred 
 to the same goddess, Estera or Ostera. 
 
 EATING. The ancient Hebrews did not eat in- 
 differently with all persons ; they would have esteem- 
 ed themselves polluted and dishonored by eating 
 with those of another rp-^g'on, or of an odious pro- 
 fession. In Joseph''- i""e they neither ate with the 
 Egyptians, nor t^ Egyptians with them ; (Gen. xliii. 
 32.) nor in '~^^' Saviour's time, with the Samaritans, 
 John iv ^- The Jews were scandalized at his eating 
 ^yjtj, publicans and sinners, Matt. ix. 11. As there 
 were sevei-al sorts of meats, the use of which was 
 prohibited, they could not conveniently eat wth 
 those who partook of them, fearing to receive pollu- 
 tion by touching such food, or if by accident any 
 particles of it should fall on them. See Meats. 
 
 At their meals, some suppose they had each his 
 separate table ; and that Joseph, entertaining his 
 brethren in Egypt, seated them separately, each at 
 ~his particular table, while lie himself sat down sepa- 
 rately from the Egj ptians, who ate with him ; but 
 he sent to his brethren portions out of the provisions 
 which were before him. Gen. xliii. 31, etseq. Elka- 
 nah, Samuel's father, who had two wives, distributed 
 their portions to them separately, 1 Sam. i. 4, 5. In 
 Homer, each guest is supposed to have had his little 
 table apart ; and the master of the feast distributed 
 meat to each, Odyss. xiv. 446 seq. We are assured 
 that this is still practised in China; and that many in 
 India never eat out of the same dish, nor on the 
 same table with another person, believing they can- 
 not do so without sin ; and this, not only in their 
 own country, but when travelling, and in foreign 
 lands. 
 
 This is also the case with the Brahmins and vari- 
 ous castes in India ; who will not even use a vessel 
 after a European, though he may only have drank 
 from it water recently drawn out of a well. The 
 same strictness is observed by the more scrupulous
 
 EATING 
 
 [ 364 ] 
 
 EATING 
 
 amon<T the Mahometans; and instances have oeen 
 known of every plate, and dish, and cup, that had 
 been used by Christian guests, being broken inuue- 
 diately after their departure. 
 
 The ancient manners which we see in Homer, we 
 see likewise in Scripture, with regard to eating, 
 drinking, and entertainments. Tliere w^as great 
 plenty, but little delicacy ; gi-eat respect and honor 
 paid to the guests by serving them plentifully. Jo- 
 seph sent his brother Benjamin a portion five times 
 larger than those of his other brethren. Samuel 
 set a whole quarter of a calf before Saul ; Sam. ix. 
 
 24. The women did not appear at table in enter- 
 tainments with the men ; this woidd have been 
 an indecency ; as it is at this day throughout the 
 East. 
 
 The Hebrews anciently sat at table, but afterwards 
 imitated the Persians and Chaldeans, who reclined 
 on table-beds, or divans, while eating. As a knowl- 
 edge of this fact is of importance to a right under- 
 standing of several passages in the New Testament, 
 we shall offer some remarks upon it. The accom- 
 panying engraving repi-esents one of the common 
 eating tables. 
 
 (1.) The reader is rcc^uested to notice the construc- 
 tion of the tables, i. e. tlu«e tables, so set together 
 as to form but one. (2.) Aruv,nd these tables are 
 placed, not .teats, but couches, or 6eiU^ one to each ta- 
 ble ; each of these beds being callea 'Upaum, three 
 of these united, to surround the three tab'-w^ formed 
 the triclinium (three beds.) These beds were r<-.nied 
 of mattrasscs stuffed ; and were often highly onic. 
 mented. (3.) Observe the attitude of the guests ; 
 each reclining on his left elbow ; and therefore using 
 
 principally his right hand, that only (or at least 
 chiefly) being free for use. Observe also, that the 
 feet of the person reclining being towards the exter- 
 nal edge of the bed, they were much more readily 
 reached by any body passing, than any other part of 
 the person so reclining. 
 
 In circular or crescent-formed tables, the right ex- 
 tremity was die first jilace of honor, and the left 
 "^'tremity tlic second place of honor. We may sup- 
 posv. tjjg same of tlie square tricUnium. 
 
 ^i5-^v \ ,,,|k)ii,li:illwilll'l"''''""^*toill(if(/jiii,li;;ii,,,yA 

 
 EATING 
 
 [ 365 ] 
 
 EATING 
 
 For want of proper discriniinatiou and description, 
 in respect to the attitude at table, as before noticed, 
 several passages of the Gospels are not merely injur- 
 ed as to their true sense, but are absolutely reduced 
 to nonsense, in our English translation. So Luke 
 vii. 3G : " A woman in the city who was a sinner, 
 when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the phari- 
 see's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 
 and stood at iiis foot behind him, weeping; and began 
 to wash his feel with tears, and did wipe them with 
 tiie liairs of her head ; and kissed his feet, and 
 anointed them with the ointment." Now, surely, when 
 a person sits at meat, according to those ideas which 
 naturally suggest themselves to an English reader, 
 his feet, beinjj on the floor under the table, are before 
 him, not behind him ; and the impossibility of any 
 one standing at his feet behind him, and while stand- 
 ing, kissing his feet, wiping them, &c. is glaring. 
 However, by inspecting the engraving, the narration 
 becomes intelligible ; the feet of a person recumbent, 
 being outermost, are most exposed to salutation, or to 
 any other treatment, from one standing behind them. 
 The same observations apply to John xii. 3: "Laza- 
 rus was one who reclined at table [uvay.eiuhwr) with 
 Jesus ; and Blary anointed the feet of Jesus," &c. 
 
 Assisted by these ideas, we may better understand 
 the history of our Lord's washing his disciples' feet, 
 (John xiii. 5.) He poureth ivater into a basin, and go- 
 ing round the beds whereon the disciples reclined, 
 he began to tcash their feet, which lay on the external 
 edge of the couch, and to tvipe them ivith the towel 
 ivherewith he ivas girded, &c. (verse 12.) " after he had 
 taken his garments and was reclined again, he 
 said," &c. 
 
 It is not easy to ascertain precisely the form of the 
 beds anciently used among the Persians ; but, by re- 
 garding them as something like what our engravings 
 represent, we may see the story of Haman's petition- 
 ing Esther for his life, in nearly its true light. While 
 the king went into the garden, Haman first stood up 
 to entreat Esther to grant him his life ; and being 
 desirous of using even the most pathetic mode of 
 entreaty, he fell prostrate on the bed where the 
 queen was lying recumbent ; theking, that instant re- 
 turning, observing his attitude, and his nearness to 
 the queen, which was utterly contrary to female 
 modesty, and to royal dignity, exclaimed, ^^What! 
 will he also force the queen ! she being in my company, 
 in the palace V But, when Esther fell at the king's 
 feet, (chap. viii. 3.) we are to consider the king as 
 seated on the divan, or sofa, in a very diiferent at- 
 titude, and disposition of his person. See Bed. 
 
 This may be a proper place to notice the import of 
 some other expressions, which, appearing to be simi- 
 lar, might seem to infer the same attitude. So, 
 " Mary sat at Jesus's feet" to hear his discourse ; 
 while IMartha was cumbered about much serving. 
 Martha, standing before Jesus, said, " Lord, direct my 
 sister to help me," but Mary was sitting at the feet of 
 Jesus, close to the divan on which he sat ; where we 
 see clearly that both the sisters, one standing, the 
 other sitting, might be before Jesus, as he sat on the 
 divan. Sec Bed 
 
 It would be perhaps overstraining these remarks, 
 to apply them to some of those shghter incidents 
 which sacred history has recorded ; it is nevertheless 
 proper to notice, how justly John might be said to 
 "lie in Jesus's bosom" (John xiii. 23.) at the supper 
 table. Is it supposable, from circumstances, that our 
 Lord was not in the chief place of honor, (according 
 to the Greeks, the right extremity of the triclinium,) 
 
 as such a person could not have any one lymg in hk 
 bosom; or is it probable that the Jews esteemed 
 some other part, perhaps the left extremity, as the 
 place of honor ? It is certain that the Turks and 
 Chinese do so. 
 
 The tables which the Jews are represented as pu- 
 rifying by washing, (Mark vii. ^, are these kind of 
 beds, (j^Ana;.)— purifying, as if they had been polluted 
 by the recumbence of strangers ; unless it were cus- 
 tomaiy, as in point of neatness it ought to be to 
 wash the tables after every meal, and before they 
 received guests again. This, however, could not 
 extend to the bolsters and pillows, as they could not 
 be made sufiicieutly dry to receive guests, in so short 
 a time as intervened between one meal and another. 
 
 [The mode of reclining at table on couches was 
 common in the East, and also among the Greeks 
 and Romans. The general character of these meals 
 appears to have been the same in the latter nations 
 and among the Hebrews, and may be found described, 
 with references to the necessaiy classical authorities, 
 in Potter's Greek Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 375, seq. and 
 Adam's Rom. Antiq. Philad. 1807. p. 434, «eq. It 
 was at a later period, under the emperors, that the 
 semicircular couch, above represented, was intro- 
 duced. In still later times, the custom was adopted 
 which still prevails in the East, of sitting or rechn- 
 ing on the floor at meat, and at other times on 
 cusliions, etc. 
 
 The jjiesent mode of eating in the East is sho^v^l 
 in the following extracts from travellers. Dr. Jow- 
 ett, while on a visit to Deir el Kamr, not far from 
 Beyroot, has the following remarks : (Chr. Research- 
 es in Syria, &c. p. 210. Amer. ed.) " To witness the 
 daily family habits, in the house in which I lived at 
 Deir el Kamr, forcibly reminded me of Scripture 
 scenes. The absence of the females at our meals has 
 been already noticed. There is another custom, by no 
 means agreeable to a European ; to which, however, 
 that I might not seem unfriendly, I would have will- 
 ingly endeavored to submit, but it was impossible to 
 learn it in the short compass of a twenty days' visit. 
 There are set on the table, in the evening, two or 
 three messes of stewed meat, vegetables, and sour 
 milk. To me, the privilege of a knife and spoon 
 and plate was granted : but the rest all helped them- 
 selves immediately from the dish ; in which it was 
 no imcommon thing to see more than five Arab 
 fingers at one time. Their bread, which is extremely 
 thin, tearing and folding up like a sheet of paper, is 
 used for the purpose of rolling together a large 
 mouthful, or sopping up the fluid and vegetables. 
 But the practice which was most revolting to me 
 was this : when the master of the house found in 
 the dish any dainty morsel, he took it out with his 
 fingers, and applied it to my month. This was true 
 Syrian courtesy and hospitality ; and, had I been suf- 
 ficiently well-bred, my mouth would have opened to 
 receive it. On my pointing to my plate, however, 
 he had the goodness to deposit the choice morsel 
 there. I would not have noticed so trivial a circum- 
 stance, if it did not exactly illustrate what the Evan- 
 gelists record of the Last Supper. St. Matthew 
 relates that the traitor was described by our Lord 
 in these terms — He that dippeth his hand tvith me in 
 the dish, the same shall betray me, xxvi. 23. From 
 this it maj' be inferred that Judas sat near to our 
 Lord ; perhaps on one side next to him. St. John, 
 who was leaning on Jesus's bosom, describes the 
 fact with an additional circumstance. Upon hisask- 
 iiig. Lord, who is it ? Jesus answered. He it is to whom,
 
 EATING 
 
 [ 366 ] 
 
 ECB 
 
 I shall give a sop, ivhen I have dipped it. And when 
 he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the 
 son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into 
 him, xiii. 25 — 27. 
 
 Niebuhr's account is as follows: (Descr. of Arabia, 
 p. 52.) "The table of the orientals is arranged ac- 
 cording to their mode of living. As they always sit 
 upon the floor, a large cloth is spread out in the mid- 
 dle of the room upon the floor, in order that the bits 
 and crumbs may not be lost, or the carpets soiled. 
 [On journeys, especially m the deserts, the place of 
 this cloth is supplied by a round piece of leather, 
 which the traveller carries with him. Travels ii. p. 
 372.] Upon tliis cloth is placed a small stool, which 
 serves as a support for a large i-ound tray of tinned 
 copper ; on this the food is served up in various 
 small dishes of copper, well tinned within and with- 
 out. Among the better class of Arabs, one fiiids, 
 instead of napkins, a long cloth, which extends to all 
 who sit at table, and which they lay upon their laps. 
 AVhere this is wanting, each one takes, instead of a 
 napkin, his own handkerchief, or rather small towel, 
 which he always carries with him to wipe himself 
 with after washing. Knives and forks are not used. 
 The Turks sometimes have spoons of wood or horn. 
 The Arabs are so accustomed to use tlie hand instead 
 of a spoon, that they can do without a spoon even 
 when eating bread and milk prepared in the usual 
 manner. Other kinds of food, such as we commonly 
 eat with a spoon, I do not remember to have seen. 
 
 " It is, indeed, at first, very unpleasant to an Euro- 
 pean, just arrived in the East, to eat with people 
 who help themselves to the food out of the common 
 dish with their fingers; but this is easily got over, 
 after one has become acquainted with their mode of 
 life. As the Mohammedans are required, by their 
 i-eligion, very often to wash themselves, it is there- 
 fore even on this account probable, that their cooks 
 prepare their food with as much cleanliness as those 
 of Europe. The Mohammedans are even obliged to 
 keep their uails cut so short, that no impurity can 
 collect under them ; for they believe their prayers 
 would be without any effect, if there should be the 
 least iniinn'ity upon any part of the body. And 
 since, now, before eating, they always wash them- 
 selves carefullj-, and generally too with soap, it 
 comes at length to seem of less consequence wheth- 
 er they help themselves from the dish with clean 
 fingers, or with a fork. 
 
 "Among the sheikhs of the desert, who require 
 at a meal nothing more than pillau, i. e. boiled rice, a 
 very large wooden dish is brought on full ; and 
 around this one party after another set themselves, till 
 the dish is emptied, or they are satisfied. In Merdiu, 
 where I once ate with sixteen oflicers of the Wai- 
 wodc, a servant placed himself between the guests, 
 and had nothing to do, but to take away the empty 
 dishes, and set down the full ones which other ser- 
 vants brought in. As soon as ever the dish was set 
 down, all the sixteen hands were immediately thrust 
 into it ; and that to so nnich purpose, that rarely 
 could any one help himself three times. They eat, 
 in the East, with very great rapidity ; and at this meal 
 in Merdin, in the time of about twenty minutes, we 
 sent out more than fourteen empty dishes." *R. 
 
 In closing this subject, we may properly notice 
 the obligations which are considered by eastern peo- 
 ple to be contracted by eating together. Niebuhr 
 says, "When a Jiedouin slicikli eats bread with 
 strangers, they may trust liis fidelity and depend on 
 his protection. A traveller will always do well, 
 
 therefore, to take an early opportunity of securing the 
 friendship of his guide by a meal." The reader will 
 recollect the complaint of the Psalmist, (xh. 9.) pen- 
 etrated with the deep ingratitude of one whoin he 
 describes as having been his own familiar friend, in 
 whom he trusted — "who did eat of my bread, even he 
 hath lifted up his heel against me !" To the morti- 
 fication of insult was added the violation of all con- 
 fidence, the breach of every obligation connected 
 with the ties of humanity, with the laws of honor, 
 with the bonds of social life, with the unsuspecting 
 freedom of those moments when the soul unbends 
 itself to enjoyment, and is, if ever, off" its guard. 
 Under the article Covenant of Salt, we saw the 
 obhgation contracted by the participation of bread 
 and salt ; we now find, that among the Arabs, at least, 
 the friendship and protection implied attaches no 
 less to bread. Hence, in part, no doubt, the convivi- 
 ality that always followed the making of a covenant. 
 Hence, also, the severity of some of the feeUngs ac- 
 knowledged by the indignant man of patience, Job, 
 as appears in several passages of his pathetic expos- 
 tulations. It is well known that Arabs, who have 
 given food to a stranger, have afterwards thought 
 themselves bound to protect him against the ven- 
 geance, demanded by consanguinity, for even blood 
 itself. 
 
 EBAL, a mountain in Ephraim, near Shechem, 
 over against mount Gerizim, from which it is sepa- 
 rated by a valley of about two hundred paces wide, 
 in which stands the town of Shechem. Both moun- 
 tains are much alike in length, height, and form, and 
 their altitude is stated by 3Ir. Buckingham not to ex- 
 ceed 700 or 800 feet, from the level of the valley. 
 But if they are alike in these particulars, in others 
 they are very unlike ; for Ebal is barren, while 
 Gerizim is beautiful and fruitful. The Jews and 
 Samaritans have great disputes about tliem. (See 
 Gerizim.) Moses commanded Israel, that as soon 
 as they had passed the Jordan, they should go to 
 Shechem, and divide into two bodies, each compos- 
 ed of six tribes, one placed on, that is, adjacent to, 
 Ebal ; the other on, that is, adjacent to, Gerizim. 
 The six tribes on, or at, Gerizim, were to pronounce 
 blessings on those who should faithfully oliserve the 
 law ; and the six on mount Ebal, were to pronounce 
 curses against those who shoidd violate it, Deut. 
 xxvii. This Joshua executed. Josh. viii. 30, 31. 
 Moses enjoined them to erect an altar of unhewn 
 stones on mount Ebal, and to plaster them over, that 
 the law miglit be written on the altar ; but the Sa- 
 maritan Pentateuch, instead of Ebal reads Gerizim ; 
 because the altar and sanctuary of the Samaritans 
 were there. See Shechem. 
 
 EBED-MELECH, a eunuch or servant of king 
 Zedekiah, who being informed that Jeremiah was 
 imprisoned in a place full of mire, informed the king 
 of it, and was the means of his restoration to safety, 
 though not to liberty. For this Inmianity he was 
 promised divine protection, and after the city was 
 taken by Nelnizaradan he was preserved, Jeremiah 
 xxxviii. 7. 
 
 EBEN-EZER, sto7ie of help, a witness stone 
 erected by Samuel, of divine assistance obtained, 1 
 Sam. vii. 12. 
 
 EBER, see Heber. 
 
 EBODA, a to^^'n in Arabia Petrtea. Probably 
 Oboda, or Oboth, Numb. xxi. 10 ; xxxiii. 43, 44. 
 
 ECBATANA, the ancient capital of Media, built, 
 or, perhaps, enlarged and fortified, by Dejoces, or 
 Arphaxad, fourth king of the Medes. It was en-
 
 ECL 
 
 [ 367 ] 
 
 EDE 
 
 compassed with seven walls, of unequal heiglita; 
 the largest, according to Herodotus, (lib. i. cap. 98.) 
 was equal in extent with those of Athens ; tliat is, 
 178 furlongs, or nearly eight leagues, (Thucyd. lil). i.) 
 After the union of Media with Persia, Ecbatana be- 
 came tlic summer residence of the kings of Persia, 
 because of the freshness of the air. It still subsists, 
 under the name of Hamadan, in lat. 34° 53' N. long. 
 40° E. Its inhabitants are stated by Mr. Kinnier to 
 be about 40,000, including about GOO Jewish families. 
 It is supposed to be mentioned under the name of 
 Achmetha, Ezra vi. 2. 
 
 ECCLESIASTES. This word is feminine in 
 the Hebrew, and literally signifies, one who speaks in 
 public ; or, one tvho convenes the assembly. The 
 Greeks and Latins, not regarding the gender, render 
 it Ecclesiastes, an orator, one who speaks in pid)lic. 
 Solomon descrii)es himself in the first verse, "The 
 words of Koheleth, [Eng. Vers, 'the Preacher,'] the 
 sou of David, king of Jerusalem." He mentions his 
 works, his riches, his buildings, and his proverbs, or 
 parables, and that he was the wisest and happiest of 
 all kings in Jerusalem ; which description plainly 
 characterizes Solomon. This book is generally 
 thought to be the production of Solomon's repent- 
 ance, towards the latter end of his hfe. It proposes 
 the sentiments of the Sadducees and Epicureans in 
 their full force ; proves excellently the vanity of all 
 things ; the little benefit of men's restless and busy 
 cares, and the uncertainty of their knowledge ; but 
 concludes, " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole 
 matter : Fear God, and keep his commandments, for 
 this is the whole of man." In this all his obligations 
 terminate ; this is his only means to happiness, pres- 
 ent and future. In reading this book, care should be 
 taken not to deduce opinions from detached senti- 
 ments, but from the general scope and combined 
 force of the whole. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICUS, a book so called in Latin, 
 cither to distinguish it from Ecclesiastes, or to show 
 that it contains, as well as that, precepts and exhor- 
 tations to wisdom and virtue. The Greeks call it 
 " The Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach." It con- 
 tains maxims and instructions, useful in all states and 
 conditions of life. Some of the ancients ascribed 
 this work to Solomon ; but the author is much more 
 modern than Solomon, and speaks of several persons 
 who lived aller that prince. He mentions himself in 
 chap. i. 27 : " I, Jesus, the son of Sirach, have writ- 
 ten in this book the instruction of understanding and 
 knowledge." Chap. li. is inscribed, " A prayer of 
 Jesus, the son of Sirach." The interpreter of it out 
 of Syriac or Hebrew into Greek, says, that his 
 grandfather Jesus composed it in Hebrew ; I)ut we 
 have no authentic information who he was, nor 
 when he lived. He praises the high-priest Simon, 
 and speaks of him as not then living : but there were 
 more high-priests than one of this name. Neverthe- 
 less, it is probable, he means Simon 11. after whose 
 death those calamities befell the Jews, which might 
 induce the son of Sirach to speak as he does, chap. 
 xxxvi. and 1. The translator of it into Greek came 
 into Egypt in the thirty -eighth year of Ptolemy VII. 
 sm-namcd Euergetes, the second of that name ; as 
 he says in his preface. The author of the Latin 
 translation from the Greek is mdinown. Jerome 
 says, the church receives Ecclesiasticus for edifica- 
 tion, l)nt not to authorize any point of doctrine. 
 
 ECDU^PA, otherwise Aclizib, which see. 
 
 ECLIPSE. The Hebrews seem not to have phi- 
 losophized much on eclipses, which they considered 
 
 as sensible marks of God's anger. See Joel ii. 10, 
 31 ; iii. 1.5 ; Job ix. 7.— Kzekiel (xxxii. 7.) and Job 
 (xxxvi. 32.) speak more particularly, that God covers 
 the sun with clouds, wlien he deprives the eartli of 
 its light, by eclipses. Yet, when we read that "the 
 sun shall be turned into darkness ; and the moon in- 
 to blood," we can hardly avoid discernino- an ac- 
 quaintance with the appearance of those huninaries 
 while under eclipse. The interruption of the sun's 
 light causes him to appear black ; and the moon dur- 
 ing a total eclipse exliibits a copper color ; or what 
 Scripture intends by a blood color. See Daukxess. 
 
 ED, ivitness, the name given to the altar erected 
 by the two tribes and a half, who were settled l)e- 
 yond Jordan, Josh. xxii. 34. It was probably a 
 copy or repetition of that which was used among 
 the Hebrews, their brethren, and it was built to zvit- 
 ness to posterity the interest of these tribes in the 
 altar conunon to the descendants of the patriarch 
 Israel. 
 
 I. EDEN, a province in Asia, in which was para- 
 dise. "The Lord planted eastward a garden, pja j.?, 
 t?i Eden, and there he put the man whom he had 
 formed," Gen. ii. 8. The topography of Eden is 
 thus described : " And a river went out of Eden to 
 water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and 
 became into four heads. The name of the first is 
 Pison ; that is it which compasseth the whole land 
 of Ilavilah, where is gold . . . bdelliimi, and tlie onyx- 
 stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon ; 
 the same is it that compasseth the whole land of 
 Cush. And the name of the third river is Ilidde- 
 kel ; that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. 
 And the fourth river is Euphrates," ver. 10 — 14. 
 
 There is hardlj' any part of the world in ^vhich it 
 has not been sought : in Asia, in Africa, in Europe, 
 in America ; in Tartary, on the banks of the Gan- 
 ges, in the Indies, in China, in the island of Ceylon, 
 in Armenia ; under the equator ; in Mesopotamia, in 
 Syria, in Persia, in Babylonia, in Arabia, in Palestine, 
 in Ethiopia, among the Mountains of the IMoon ; near 
 the mountains of Libanus, Antilibanus, and Damas- 
 cus. Iluet places it on the river produced by the 
 junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, now called the 
 river of the Arabs ; below this conjunction and the 
 division of the same river, before it falls into the 
 Persian sea. He selects the eastern shore of this 
 river, which being considered according to the dis- 
 position of its channel, and not according to the 
 course of its stream, was divided into four heads, or 
 four different openings, that is, two upwards, the 
 Tigris and Euphrates, and two below, the Pison and 
 Gilion. The Pison, according to him, is the western 
 channel, and the Gihon is the eastern channel of the 
 Tigris, which discharges itself into the Persian gulf. 
 It is said that liochart was nnich of the same opin- 
 ion. (Phaleg. lib. i. cap. 4 ; De Anim. Sacr. part ii. 
 lib. V. cap. vi.) Other skilful men have placed Eden 
 in Armenia, between the sources of the rivei's, (1.) 
 Tigris, (2.) Euphrates, (3.) Araxis, (4.) Phasis, taken 
 to be the four rivers described by Moses. Euphra- 
 tes is expressly mentioned ; Hiddekel is the Tigris ; 
 the Phasis is Pison ; the Gihon is the Araxes. 
 
 The orientals thuik, that the terrestrial paradise 
 was in the island of Serendib, or Ceylon ; and that 
 when Adam was driven out of paradise, he was sent 
 to the mountain of Rahoim in this island, two or 
 three days' journey from the sea. The Portuguese 
 call this mountain Pico de Adamo, nr iiioiintain of 
 Adam, because it is thought that this first of men 
 was buried under it, after he had lived in repentance
 
 EDEN 
 
 [ 368 ] 
 
 EGL 
 
 a hundred and thirty years. The Mussulmans do 
 not believe that the paradise, in which Adam was 
 placed, was terrestrial, but that it was in one of the 
 seven heavens ; and that from this heaven he was 
 thrown down into the island of Ceylon, where he 
 died, after having made a pilgrimage into Arabia, 
 where he visited the place appointed for building 
 the temple of Mecca. — They say also, that when God 
 created the garden of Eden, he created there what 
 the eye had never seen, the ear has never heard, and 
 what has never entered into the heart of man to con- 
 ceive. That this delicious garden has eight doors ; 
 whereas hell has but seven : and that the porters 
 which have the care of them are to let none enter 
 before the learned, who make a profession of despis- 
 ing earthly, and of desiring heavenly, things. 
 
 The orientals reckon four paradises in Asia. (1.) 
 About Damascus, in Syria. (2.) About Obollah in 
 Chaldea. (3.) About the desert of Naoubendigian in 
 Persia, in a place called Sheb-Baovan, watered by 
 the Nilab. And lastly, in the isle of Ceylon, or Se- 
 rendib. We may perceive from hence, that the 
 opinion which places the terrestrial paradise about 
 Damascus, and near the sources of the Jordan, is no 
 novel opinion, nor peculiar to European writers — 
 Heidegger in the Lives of the Patriarchs, M. le Clerc, 
 father Abraham, and father Hardouin, having main- 
 tained it. 
 
 It may be inferred from a number of circum- 
 stances, that paradise was placed on a mountain, or at 
 least in a country diversified with hills, because only 
 such a country could supply the springs necessary 
 to form four heads of rivers ; and because all heads 
 of rivers rise in hills, from whence their waters de- 
 scend to the sea. Such a country has been found 
 in Armenia, Avith such an elevation, or assemblage 
 of elevations, also, as appeared to be requisite for 
 the purpose. On these principles, the Phasis was the 
 P'lson of Moses, and the similarity of sound in the 
 name seemed to confirm the opinion ; it was a nat- 
 ural consequence, that the Araxes should be the 
 Gihon ; since its waters are extremely rapid, and the 
 Greek name Araxes, like the Hebrew Gihon, denotes 
 the dart, or sivifl. [A full and satisfactory discussion 
 in favor of this theory is given by Prof. Stuart in 
 his Hebrew Cln-estomathy, on Gen. ii. 14, sq. R. 
 
 Such were the principles most generally enter- 
 tained among the learned ; when captain Wilford 
 came forth from his study of the Indian Puranas, 
 opened what was at least a new source of informa- 
 tion, and placed Eden on the Imaus mountains of 
 India. (Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 455. — Lond. 
 edit.) We give his closing remarks : — 
 
 " It appears from Scripture, that Adam and Eve 
 lived afterwards in the coimtrics to the eastward of 
 Eden ; for at the eastern entrance of it, God placed 
 the angel with the flaming sword. This is also con- 
 firmed ijy the Purunics, who place the progenitors 
 of mankind on the mountainous regions between 
 Cahul and the Ganges, on the banks of which, in the 
 hills, they show a j)lace where he resorted occasion- 
 ally for religious purposes. It is frequented by pil- 
 grims, and is called Swayambhuvasthan : I have not 
 been able yet to ascertain its situation, being but 
 lately acquainted with it ; but I believe it is situated 
 to the north-west of Sri-Nagar. At the entrance of 
 the passes, leading to the j)lace where I suppose was 
 the garden of Eden, and to the eastward of it, the 
 Hindus have placed a destroying ang(!l, who gener- 
 ally appears, and is represented like a cherub ; I 
 mean Garudfa, or the Eagle, upon whom Vishnu and 
 
 Jupiter are represented riding. Garud'a is repre- 
 sented generally like an eagle ; but in his compound 
 character, somewhat like the cherub, he is represent- 
 ed like a young man, with the countenance, wings, 
 and talons of the eagle. In Scripture, the Deity is 
 represented riding upon a cherub, and flying upon 
 the wings of the wind. Garud'a is called Vahan 
 (literally <Ae vehicle) of Vishnu or Juj^iter, and he thus 
 answers to the cherub of Scripture ; for many com- 
 mentators derive this word from the obsolete root 
 Charah in the Chaldean language, a woi-d implicitly 
 synonymous with the Sanscrit Vahan." 
 
 Mr. Taylor has bestowed much labor on an ex- 
 amination of this hypothesis, and declares himself 
 to be favorable to it. We give his concluding ob- 
 servations : — 
 
 The situation of Paradise, in Armenia, where the 
 heads of the Euphrates and Tigris spring, where the 
 head of the Araxes, and a branch of the Phasis, rise 
 not very distant from each other, according to the 
 best accounts we are able to procure of -that country, 
 (which, however, are not altogether satisfactorj^,) has 
 many plausibilities in its favor. Nevertheless, there 
 is this to be said against it, that mankind could not 
 journey f?-om the East to Babylon, if Armenia were 
 the seat of Noah's deliverance ; and if that seat were 
 adjacent to Paradise, as we have uniformly suppos- 
 ed. But the situation of Paradise on the Indian 
 Caucasus, or Imaus mountains, imites all those re- 
 quisites which are deemed necessary coincidences 
 with the Mosaic narration. Mountains furnish the 
 soiu-ccs of rivers ; many great rivers rise in these 
 mountains. Paradise furnished four rivers ; four 
 rivers rise in these mountains, in a vicinity sufiiciept- 
 ly near, though not now from the same lake. Man- 
 kind travelled frojn the East to Babylon ; these 
 mountains are east of Babylonia. [But for the proper 
 meaning of the East, and of the phrase travelled from 
 the East, see the article East, and also the letter of 
 Mr. Smith under the article Ararat. R. 
 
 II. EDEN. The prophet Amos (chap. i. 5.) speaks 
 of the "House of Eden," or "Beth-Eden," which is 
 thought to have been a house of pleasure in the 
 mountains of Lebanon, near to the river Adonis, and 
 about midway between Tripoli and Baalbek 
 
 EDER, a town of Judah, Josh. xv. 21. 
 
 EDOM, red, earthy, or of blood, otherwise Esau, 
 son of Isaac, and brother of Jacob. The name Edom 
 was given him, either because he sold his birthright 
 to Jacob for a mess of red pottage, or because of the 
 color of his hair and complexion. Gen. xxv. 25, 30. 
 Idumeea is named from Edom, and is often called 
 the land of Edom. See Esau and Ibvmjea. 
 
 EDOMITES. See Idum.sa. 
 
 I. EDREI, a town of Manasseh, east of Jordan, 
 (Josh. xiii. 31.) called likewise Edraea and Adra?a, 
 and perhaps Edera in Ptolemy, when speaking of 
 the towns in the Batana^a. Eusebius places it about 
 25 miles north from Bostri. 
 
 II. EDREI,' a town of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 37. 
 EGLAH, sixth wife of David, and mother of Ith- 
 
 rcam, 2 Sam. iii. 5. JMany are ol" opinion, that Eglah 
 and Michal are the same, and that she died in labor 
 of Ithream. But see 2 Sam. vi. 23. 
 
 EGLAIM, a city bejond Jordan, east of the Dead 
 sea, in the land of Moab, which Eusebius places 8 
 miles south of Ar, or Areopolis. Isa. xv. 8. 1 Sam. 
 xxv. 44. 
 
 I. EGLON, king of Moab, (Judg. iii. 12—15.) op- 
 pressed Israel eighteen years, A. M. 26G1 — 2(579. In 
 conjunction with the Ammonites and Amalekites, he
 
 EGY 
 
 [ 369 ] 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 advanced to the oity of palm-trees, or Jericho, or 
 Engedi, which he took, and wliere was his usual 
 residence. The Lord raised up Ehud to deliver 
 Israel from his oppression. 
 
 II. EGLON, a city of Judah, Josh. x. 3; xv. 39. 
 
 I. EGYPT, a celebrated country in Africa ; in 
 Hebrew called Mizraim, Greek yn'Yv.-iTOi, whence 
 the Latin JEgyptus, and the English Egypt and 
 Copt ; but tlie etymology of these names has not 
 been satisfactorily determhied. Mizraim was son of 
 Ham ; ^gyptus was, it is said, an ancient king of 
 this country, son of Belus, and brother of Armais. 
 The sous of Mizraim were Ludim, Anamim, Scha- 
 bim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusiin, and Casluhim, who peo- 
 ])led several districts of Egypt, or adjacent to it. 
 The word Mizraim, being of the dual number, may 
 express both Egypts, the superior and inferior, or the 
 two parts of the country, east and west, divided by 
 the is^ile. Cairo, the capital of Egypt, and even 
 Egypt itself, is still called Mezer by the Arabians. 
 But the natives call it Chemi, that is, the land of 
 Cham, or Ham, as it is also sometimes called in 
 Scrijiture, Psalm Ixxviii. 12 ; cv. 23 ; cvi. 22. The 
 prophet Micah (vii. 12. Heb.) gives to Egypt the 
 name of Mezor, or Matzor ; and rabbi Kimchi, fol- 
 lowed by several learned commentators, explains by 
 Egypt what is said of the rivers of Mezor, 2 Kings 
 xix. 24 ; Isaiah xix. 6 ; xxxvii. 25. Ileb. 
 
 Egj'pt was divided into forty-two names, or dis- 
 tricts, which were little provinces, or counties ; and 
 also into Upper and Lower. Upper Egypt was call- 
 ed Tbebais, from Thebes, its capital, and extended 
 south to the frontiers of Ethiopia. Lower Egypt 
 contained ])rincipally the Delta, and the country on 
 the coast of the Mediterranean. The Arabians call 
 Lower Egypt, Rib, or Rif ; Upper Egypt, Sals, or 
 Thebais; and the part between, Souf. The word 
 Rib, {Rahab,) occurs Psalm Ixxxvii. 4. "I will men- 
 tion Rahab ;" also Ixxxix. 10. Isaiah li. 9. The Avord 
 Souf occurs likewise, for Moses calls the Red sea 
 by this name. 
 
 In the time of Herodotus, Egypt was divided into 
 two parts, with distinct appellations : the one belong- 
 ing to Libya, the other to Asia ; and the same divis- 
 ion appears in Ibn Haukal ; who says, " The left 
 side of the Nile is called Khouf. — The opposite divis- 
 ion, on the right side, they call Zeif.^^ We may call 
 these divisions Western Egypt and Eastern Egypt ; 
 which may throw some light on the expression, 
 (Ezek. xxix. 10.) " I will make the land of Egypt 
 waste from the tower of Syene to the border of 
 Cush ;" Rieaning the Cusii on the Red sea. So that 
 this threat includes Eastern Egypt ; beginning, as 
 the Egyptians themselves began, "from the tower 
 of Syene," which is opposite to the island of Ele- 
 phantina, all along the confines of Cush — that is, run- 
 ning up the Red sea from the port of Berenice south, 
 to Suez and Colsum north. This gives a very dif- 
 ferent aspect to the following denunciation of the 
 prophet, (verse 11,) "No foot of man or beast shall 
 pass through it," (rather across it,) that is, from the 
 Nile to the Red sea, from Coptos to Berenice, or to 
 Kosscii-, as the caravans of merchants with their 
 goods were used to pass: — "neither shall it be in- 
 habited, forty years." We know of no such interval 
 in which this complete depopulation has been true 
 of Egypt, generally taken ; but it is very credible 
 tliat after the ravages of Nebuchadnezzar, and till 
 after the death of Cambyses, this track of mercantile 
 conveyance was stopped ; so that the foot of man 
 or beast did not pass that way in conveying goods. 
 47 
 
 The passage by this road was, however, afterwards 
 much promoted by the Ptolemies, when they reign- 
 ed in Egypt; and when explored by Belzoni, he 
 found traces of the stations taken by the ancient 
 Egyptian merchants, in this passage ; such as wells, 
 or tanks for holding water, remains of villages and 
 temples ; and, in the port of Berenice itself, ruins of 
 considerable structures, with others tolorablv entire 
 works for the security of the port, &c.also, cross 
 roads, demonstrating important and extensive inter- 
 course. By this distinction a great difticulty is re- 
 duced within the compass of high probability ; and 
 the rendering proposed by Prideaux, in correction 
 of our public version, becomes unnecessary. The 
 doctor would vary the words (not very agreeably to 
 the Hebrew) "from the tower of Syene" to — "Irom 
 Migdol, or Magdolmn, to Syene." JMagdolum was 
 at tlie extreme north of Egypt, and Syene in the ex- 
 treme south. But, wc have no proof, neither is it 
 credible, that the intervening country was ever total- 
 ly uninhabited by man or beast, during one j'ear, 
 much less during forty years, as threatened by the 
 prophet ; for this v.ould have been to have rendered 
 the whole inhabited land of Egypt a wilderness, a 
 desert, which is very unlikely. 
 
 The following allegorical characterization of Egypt 
 is from major Wilford. (Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 93. 
 Lend.) — "The parts of Barbara, towards the mouths 
 of the Nile, were inhabited by the children of Ra- 
 hu; — Rahu is represented, on account of his tyrannj^, 
 as an innnense river-dragon, or crocodile, or rather 
 a fabulous monster with four talons, called Graha, 
 from a root implying violent seizure : the word is 
 commonly interpi'eted hanger, or shark ; but in some 
 dictionaries, it is made synonymous to nacra, or croc- 
 odile ; and in the Puranas, it seems to be the crea- 
 ture of poetical fancy." This may be compared 
 with at least two passages of Scripture : first, Psalm 
 Ixxiv. 12—14. 
 
 God is my king of old. 
 
 Working salvation in the midst of the earth. 
 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength : 
 Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the wa- 
 ters. 
 
 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces. 
 
 The allusion is to the departure of Israel from 
 Egypt, to the division of the Red sea, anciently; and 
 Egypt is symbolized under the notion of a leviathan 
 with several heads. To a natural leviathan, the croc- 
 odile, one head had been suflicient : but a symboli- 
 cal leviathan may possess as many heads as com- 
 ports with the original object which is figuratively 
 alluded to. Thei-e is another passage where the 
 same imagery is adopted, Ezek. xxix. 3, 4. " I am 
 against thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great drag- 
 on that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath 
 said, RIy river is my own, I have made it for myself. 
 But I \vill put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause 
 the fish of thy rivers to stick to thy scales, and I will 
 bring thee uj) out of the midst of thy rivers." In this 
 l)rophecy Pharaoh is expressly named, so that we 
 have no difficulty in referring it to that prince. 
 Undoubtedly these allegories, by their similarity, 
 strengthen the idea of a connection between India 
 and Eirypt : and show that in ancient times it was 
 well understood, and adopted by the inspired writers. 
 Eor, what is this dragon, but the Rahu of India ? 
 
 Homer calls the Ni'le, Egyptus (Odyss. xiv. v. 258.) ; 
 and several of the ancients assert, that Egypt was a
 
 EGYPT 
 
 [370 ] 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 tract of laud produced by deposition of the mud of 
 this river, which regularly overflows the country. 
 
 The Egyptians boasted of being the most ancient 
 people in the world ; and the inventors of arts and 
 sciences. They conimiuiicated to the Greeks the 
 names of the gods, and their theology ; they exceed- 
 ed in superstition and idolatry, worshipping stars, 
 men, animals, and even plants. Moses informs us, 
 that the Hebrews sacrificed beasts whose slaughter 
 was considered by the Egyptians as an abomination : 
 (Exod, viii. 26.) and also that they would not eat 
 with the Hebrews, because they abhorred all shep- 
 herds. This country, properly speaking, was the 
 cradle of the Hebrew nation. Joseph being carried 
 thither and sold as a slave, was, by God's wisdom 
 and providence, established viceroy of Egypt. Hith- 
 er he invited his father and family, in number about 
 seventy persons ; after dwelling here 215 years, the 
 whole family and their people departed hence, in 
 number 603,550 men. The king of Egypt, however, 
 would not pern'iit them to leave his country, till he 
 was compelled by miracles and chastisements. And 
 after he had dismissed and expelled them, he repent- 
 ed, pursued them, and followed them into the Red 
 sea, where he perished. 
 
 The common name of the Egyptian kings was 
 Pharaoh, which signified sovereign power. History 
 has preserved the names of several of these kings, 
 and a succession of their dynasties. But the inclina- 
 tion of the Egyptian historians to magnify the great 
 antiquity of their nation, has destroyed their credi- 
 bility. See Pharaoh. 
 
 The inhabitants of Egypt may be considered as 
 including three distinctions : (1.) The Copts, or de- 
 scendants of the ancient Egyptians. (2.) The Fel- 
 lahs, or husbandmen ; which are supposed to repre- 
 sent the people in Scripture called Phul. (3.) The 
 Arabs, or conquerors of the country, including the 
 Turks, Mamelukes, &c. The Copts have seen so 
 many revolutions in the governing powers, [see 
 infra,] that they concern themselves very little about 
 the successes or misfortunes of those who aspire to 
 dominion. The Fellahs suffer so much oppression, 
 and are so despised by the Bedouins, or wandering 
 Arabs, and by their despotic rulers, that they seldom 
 acquire property, and very rarely enjoy it in security. 
 The Arabs hate the Turks ; yet the Turks enjoy 
 most offices of govei-nment ; though they hold their 
 superiority by no very certain tenure. 
 
 It is usual to include under the name Egypt, from 
 Syene, south, to the most northern point of the 
 coast adjacent to the mouths of the Nile. At Syene, 
 Ethiopia may be said to begin. The southern part 
 of this extent is extremely rocky and arid. During 
 this part of its course, the Nile is a single stream ; 
 where it divides into two or more streams, it em- 
 braces that part of Egypt which the Greeks named 
 the Delta, in the north of Egypt. This region ap- 
 pears to be a vast plain, yielding an abundance of 
 corn, and other ]iroductions, and interspersed with 
 numerous villages, built on eminences surrounded 
 by date-trees. On the banks of the Nile, the Arab 
 inhabitants cultivate water-melons, gourds, tobacco, 
 indigo, called nilth, a few fruits, and other vegeta- 
 bles ; also Indian corn. The water of the Nile not 
 only ft>rtilizes the lands included between its streams, 
 but also those on each side of its ext(!rnal channels, 
 «>ven where the inundation itself does not appear. 
 The Turks boast of Egypt as of the most beautiful 
 country in the world : one of them says, the soil is 
 for three mouths in the year white and sparkling hke 
 
 pearl, for three months black like musk, for three 
 more green like emeralds, and for three more yellow 
 as amber. It is not surprising to find the Israelites in 
 the wilderness i-egretting so excellent a country. The 
 ancient Egyptians had two crops of corn yearly from 
 the same gi-ound ; at present they get but one. After 
 barley-harvest they sowed rice, melons, and cucum- 
 bers. Egypt is said to have furnished to Rome, an- 
 nually, twenty millions of bushels of corn. Pliny 
 says, they sow early in November ; that they begin 
 their harvest in April, and end in IMay. Moses ob- 
 serves, that in the middle of March, when the Israel 
 ites departed out of Egypt, the barley and flax, being 
 far advanced, were spoiled by the hail ; but that the 
 wheat, being not so forward, was preserved, Exod. 
 ix. 31. The Egyptians sowed their barley and flax 
 in the beginning of November, after the waters of the 
 Nile had retired. The winter is very moderate. 
 The wheat-harvest was ended by Pentecost. 
 
 The heat of Egypt is excessive : Volney says, " The 
 Egj'ptians, who go almost naked, and are accustomed 
 to perspire, shiver at the least coolness. The ther- 
 mometer, which at the lowest, in the month of Feb- 
 ruary, stands at 8° or 9^ of Reaumur, (50 or 52 of 
 Fahrenheit,) above the freezing point, enables us to 
 determine with certainty, and we may pronounce 
 that snow and hail are phenomena which no Egyp- 
 tian has seen in fifty years." He says also, " Two 
 seasons only should be distinguished in Egypt ; the 
 spring and summer ; that is to say, the cold season, 
 and the hot. The latter continues from March to 
 November ; and from the end of February the sun is 
 not supportable for a European at nine o'clock in the 
 morning. During the whole of this season, the air is 
 inflamed, the sky sparkling, and the heat oppressive 
 to all unaccustomed to it. The body sweats profuse- 
 ly, even under the lightest dress, and in a state of the 
 most profound repose." (Trav. vol. i. p. 67, 68.) Dr. 
 Whitman says, " The night setting in, the company 
 retired to rest ; many of the men without doors, ac- 
 cording to the usual practice of the Arabs in the 
 sunmier season. They lie scattered over the plains, 
 like flocks of sheep, with the clothes they have taken 
 off" spread beneath them, and themselves covered 
 from head to foot by the large handkerchief, which 
 they wear in the day time across the shoulders," p. 
 331. This sleeping in the open air, and so lightly 
 covered, is among those customs which appear most 
 strange to Europeans ; l)ut it occurs frequently in 
 Scripture, and is adopted without hesitation through- 
 out the East. "The inhabitants of humid countries 
 cannot conceive how it i?. possible for a comitry to 
 subsist without rain ; but in Egypt, besides the quan- 
 tity of water which the earth imbibes at the inunda- 
 tion, the dews which fall in the night suffice for veg- 
 etation. The water-meU)ns aftbrd a remarkable 
 proof of this; for though they have frequently noth- 
 ing under them but a dry dust, yet their leaves are 
 always fresh. These dews, as well the ruins, are 
 more copious towards the sea, and less considerable 
 in })roportion to the distance from it ; but difler from 
 the latter by being more ai)undant in summer than in 
 winter. At Alexandria, after sunset, in tiie month 
 of April, the clothes exposed to the air, and the ter- 
 races, are soaked with dew, as if it had rained. Like 
 the rains, again, these dews are more or less plentiful, 
 according to the prevailing wind. The southerly 
 and the south-westerly ])roduce none; the north 
 wind produces a great deal ; and the westerly still 
 more. When rain falls in Egypt and Palestine, there 
 is a general joy ; the people assemble in the streets ;
 
 EGYPT 
 
 [ 371 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 thev sing, they are all in motion ; and shout ' ye Allah ; 
 yeMobarekP O God ! O blessed ! &c." (Volney's 
 Trav. vol. i. p. 56.) 
 
 On account of the scarcity of rain, " the best part 
 of Egyptian agriculture," says Niebuhr, "is the 
 watermg of their grounds. The water which the 
 husbandman needs, is often in a canal much below 
 the level of the land which he means to refresh. The 
 water he must therefore raise to an equality with the 
 surface of the grounds ; and distribute it over them 
 as it is wanted. Tlie great art of Egj'ptian husband- 
 ry is thus reduced to the having proper machines for 
 raising the water, and enough of small canals judi- 
 ciously chsposed to disfiihiUe it." (Trav. vol. i.p. 88.) 
 
 The great supi)ly of water in Eg} pt is from the 
 Nile, which river obtains its increase from Ethiopia 
 and Abyssinia, and upon the rise of which the fertility 
 of Egypt depends. The inhabitants suppose, that at 
 14 cubits rise, they may have an inferior harvest ; at 
 16, a very good one : but should it rise much higher, 
 there would not be time for the draining of the water 
 off the lands, in order to their reception of the seed. 
 These high risings do other mischief also ; such as 
 washiug away villages, &c. See Nile. 
 
 The history of Egypt is of consequence to the 
 proper understanding of events recorded in Scrip- 
 ture ; but the early part of it is extremely obscure, 
 and we are under the necessity of trusting to those 
 excerpts and fragments, which may be deemed foi-- 
 tuitous, rather than intentional. 
 
 There can be no doubt that Egypt was peopled 
 from the East ; but the tribes which first entered it, 
 seem to have been under no regular guide. We con- 
 ceive that Ham was intent on establishing himself in 
 Asia ; and that he actually founded there several po- 
 tent kingdoms. He might afterwards visit Africa; 
 and his son Mizraim might govern Egypt. How- 
 ever that was, we find Egj pt peopled in the days of 
 Abraham ; and governed also by a Pliai-aoh. There 
 is some reason to think that the Hamites, who settled 
 in the provinces allotted to the posterity of Shem, 
 ejected them from thence ; and were the cause of 
 their transmigration into Egj'pt. At least, appear- 
 ances indicate that the first Pliaraohs of Egypt spoke 
 the language of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph ; and 
 that Jehovah, the God of those patriarchs, was not 
 unknown to them. Between the period of Joseph's 
 elevation in Egj'pt, and the exodus of Israel, we' 
 place an invasion of Eg) pt by the Palli, from India, 
 and refer to this race that new " king which knew 
 not Joseph." We read little more of Egjpt in Scrip- 
 ture, for many ages ; not, indeed, till the kings of 
 Israel had political intercourse with that country. 
 
 The Egyptians claimed an antiquity of 10, 20, or 
 even 50,000 years. They afiirmcd that their coun- 
 try was originally governed by gods ; and that their 
 first mortal king was Menes. We might better judge 
 of the first assertion, if we knew what length of time 
 answered to that termed a year ; of the second, if we 
 knew whether the same word which is rendered 
 gods, did not also signify judges, as it does in the 
 Hebrew. From Menes the Egyptians deduced a list 
 of kings, comprising about 330, in 1400 years. 
 
 It is supposed that the mode of the ancient Eg}^l- 
 tian computation of years, contributed to swell their 
 chronology so immoderately. Palaephatus says, that 
 m remote ages they reckoned the duration of their 
 princes' reigns by days, not by years. And who will 
 warrant us, that they who came after, did not set 
 down years instead of days ? so that Hehos, son of 
 Vulcan, reigning 4477 days, was only twelve years. 
 
 three months, and four days, instead of 4477 yeais. 
 Diodorus Siculus says, some have suggested that 
 their year consisted only of one month," so that the 
 1200 years of every god's reign were reduced to 1200 
 months, or 100 years ; afterwards the Egj-ptian year 
 consisted of four months. This reducers the exces- 
 sive antiquity of the Egyptian dynasties to a reasona- 
 ble duration. It is further certain, that the dynasties 
 of Egypt were not all successive ; many of them 
 were collateral, and the greater part of the kings, 
 placed one after the other, were contemporary ; one 
 reigning in one part of Eg}pt, another in another. 
 These lists also bear seven different names, according 
 to the seven districts in which the dynasties subsist- 
 ed : viz. at This, Memphis, Diospolis, Thanis, Sethron, 
 Elephantina, and Sais. Before the time of Menes, 
 Lower Egypt was a marsh, not absolutely uninhabit- 
 able, perhaps not unfertile, yet unfit for the reception 
 of a dense population. 3Ienes controlled the coui-se 
 of the Nile, probably stopped up one of its branches, 
 and so obtained a length of solid gi'ound, and drained 
 the lower levels of the country. We learn, from 
 major Wilford's information concerning Egypt, ex- 
 tracted from the Indian Puranas, that those books 
 relate several circumstances of the early history of 
 this country. (Asiatic Researches, vol. iii.) — " Ta- 
 mah, or Saturn, had two wives. Age, and Decrepi- 
 tude," that is, he was an extremely old man. " Ta- 
 mah was expelled from Egypt exactly at the time 
 when Aramah, a gi-andson of Satya\Tata, died." 
 (P. 93.) — " Lower Egypt is called by the Puranas, the 
 Land of Mud; and they give a dreadful idea of it; 
 and even assert, that no mortal durst approach it." 
 (P. 96.) The Puranas say that the ocean anciently 
 covered Egypt ; but that the waters withdrew at the 
 prayer of a holy man, or Rishi, " for the ejjace of a 
 hundred yyanas, or 492 miles." (P. 104.) The 
 probability is, that this withdrawment of the waters 
 alludes to the fact of the draining of the lower coun- 
 try, by restraining the Nile to a single channel, pretty 
 far south. " The first inhabitants of Egypt found, 
 on their arrival, that the whole country about the 
 mouths of the Nile was an immense forest ; part im- 
 pervious, which they called Atavi, part uninhabited, 
 but practicable, which received the name of Aranya." 
 (P. 97.) These accounts agree, perfectly, with the 
 primitive state of all uninhabited countries ; and they 
 contribute to support the opinion, that Egypt was 
 peopled from India. See Philisti>'ES. 
 
 For the connection of the Egyptians whh the peo- 
 ple of Israel, the reader is referred to the historical 
 sketch under the aiticlc Hebrews. See also the 
 additions below. 
 
 Ezekiel (xxx. 13.) says, that there never any more 
 shall be a reigning prince of the Egj'ptian nation 
 over this country. Egypt was, indeed, to be a base 
 kingdom ; and what can be more base than a govern- 
 ment composed of rulers who have been slaves, and 
 the properties of others ? Governors, not hereditarj% 
 nor elective by the people, nor promoted according 
 to merit ; but rising by intrigue from the lowest sta- 
 tions, and degi-aded by the vilest of crimes, as well 
 political as personal. " Such is the case with Egvpt," 
 says Volney. " Deprived three and twenty centuries 
 ago of her natural proprietors, she has seen her fer- 
 tile fields successively a prey to the Persians, the 
 Macedonians, the Romans, the Greeks, the Arabs, 
 the Georgians, and, at length, to the race of Tartars, 
 distinguished by the name of Ottoman Turks. 
 Among so many nations, several of them have left 
 vestiges of their transient possession ; but, as they
 
 EGYPT 
 
 [372] 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 have been blended in succession, they have been so 
 confounded, as to render it very difficult to discrimi- 
 nate their respective characters. We may, however, 
 still distinguish the inhabitants of Egypt into four 
 principal races, of difiereut origin." (Travels, vol. 
 i. 74.) 
 
 These four he considers as, (1.) Arabs, the classes 
 of husbandmen and aitisans ; (2.) the Copts, the 
 Avriters, and government collectors ; (3.) the Turks, 
 who are masters of the country ; (4.) the fliamelukes, 
 who possess the authority over it, and who are a race 
 of slaves, bought in distant countries." .Surely the 
 country lorded over by slaves may be justly consid- 
 ered as " the basest of kingdoms !" 
 
 "When we reflect on "the revolutions which this 
 country lias undergone, and upon the length of time 
 during which it has been luider the dominion of 
 strangers, we can no longer be surprised at the de- 
 cline of its wealth and population. It has been suc- 
 cessively subdued by the Persians, the Greeks, the 
 Romans, the Arabians, and the Turks : — has enjoyed 
 no interval of tranquilhty and freedom, but has been 
 constantly oppressed and pillaged by the lieutenants 
 of a distant lord, who scarcely left the people bare 
 means of subsistence. Agricultui'e Avas ruined by 
 the miseries of the husbandman : and the cities de- 
 cayed with its dechne. Even at present, the popu- 
 lation is decreasing : and the peasant, although in a 
 fertile country, is miserably poor ; for the exactions 
 of government, and its officers, leave him nothing to 
 lay out in the improvement and culture of his lands ; 
 while the cities are falling into ruins, because the 
 same unhappy restraints render it impossible for the 
 ^ citizens to engage in any lucrative undertaking." 
 y "The Copts are descended from the ancient Egyp- 
 ; tians : and the Turks, on this account, call them, in 
 derision, " the posterity of Pharaoh." But their un- 
 couth figure, their stupidity, ignorance, and wretch- 
 edness, do little credit to the sovereigns of ancient 
 Eg>-pt. They have lived for 2000 years under the 
 dominion of different foreign conquerors, and have 
 experienced many vicissitudes of fortune. They have 
 lost their manners, their language, their religion, rnd 
 almost their existence. They are reduced to a small 
 number in comparison of 'the Arabs, v/lio have 
 poured like a flood over this country. Of the dimi- 
 nution of the numbers of the Copts, some idea may 
 be formed from the reduction of the number of their 
 bishoj)s. There were seventy in number at the peri- 
 od of the Arabian conquest. There are now only 
 twelve." (Niebuhr's Travels, vol. i. p. 104.) 
 
 [As both the country and the inhabitants of Egypt 
 occupy so prominent a place in the history of the 
 Jewish people, and almost every thing which relates 
 to them, goes directly to illustrate the Hebrew Scrip- 
 tures, it may not be improper to give here a more de- 
 tailed account of this important coimtry, than is 
 found in the preceding interesting, but "somewhat 
 meagre, article. 
 
 Egypt is, in the Old Testament, usually called 
 Mizraim, aAer the scconrl son of Ham, and grandson 
 
 by besieged place, fortress, defence. The ancient name 
 of the country among the inhabitants themselves, was 
 Chiini, or Chami, [Xflflli, or in the dialect of Upper 
 Eg}Tf. ^v7/.U/.) which tlic Hebrews probably pro- 
 nounced on, C/iam, or Ham, and ref<'rred to Ham, 
 the gi-andfather of Mizraini. The Eg>'})tian word 
 signified blacli, according to Plutarch ; (do Is. et Osir. 
 
 p. 3G4.) and the land was so called from the dark 
 color of its fruitful soil, manured by the slime depos- 
 ited by the inundations of the Nile. In the Old Tes- 
 tament the name of Rcthab, (arrogance) is sometimes 
 given to Egypt ; (Jer. xxx. 7, li. 9 ; Ps. Ixxxvii. 4 ; 
 Ixxxix. 11.) but it would seem to be only a poetical 
 epithet, apphed in consequence of the arrogance and 
 oppression experienced by the Jews from the Egj'p- 
 tians. The origin and meaning of the name Mgyp- 
 tus (whence Egi^'pt) is unknown. The present 
 Arabic name of this country, Misr, comes from the 
 Hebrew Mizraim. 
 
 The proper land of Egj^pt is, for the most part, a 
 great valley, through which the river Nile poma its 
 waters, e.\cendhig iu a siraiglil line from north to 
 south, and skirted on the east and west by ranges of 
 motm tains, which approach and recede from the 
 river more or less in different parts. Where this 
 valley terminates, towards the north, the Nile divides 
 itself, about 40 or 50 miles from the sea-coast, into 
 several arms, which enclose the so called Delta. The 
 ancients numbered seven arms and mouths ; the 
 eastern was that of Pelusium, now that of Tineh ; 
 and the western that of Canopus, now that of Abcii- 
 kir. As these branches all separate from one point 
 or channel, i. e. from the main stream, and spread 
 themselves more and more as they approach the 
 coast, they form with the latter a triangle, the base of 
 which is the sea-coast ; and having thus the form of 
 the Greek letter ^, delta, this part of Egypt received 
 the name of the Delta, which it has ever since re- 
 tained. The northern and southern points of Egypt 
 are thus assigned by the prophet Ezekiel, xxix. 
 10 ; XXX. G ; fi-om Migdol, i. e. Magdolum, not far 
 from the mouth of the Pelusian arm, to Syene, now 
 Essuan, namely, to the border of Ethiopia. Essuan is 
 also assigned by Greek and Araliian writers as the 
 southern limit of Egypt. Here, in north latitude 24° 
 2', the Nile issues from the granite rocks of the cata- 
 racts, and enters Egypt proper. The length of the 
 country, therefore, in a direct hne, is 112 geographi- 
 cal miles. The breadth of the valley, between Es- 
 suan and the Delta, is very unequal ; in some places 
 the inundations of the river extend to the foot of the 
 mountains ; in other parts there remains a strip of a 
 mile or two in breadth, which the water never covers, 
 and which is therefore always dry and barren. Origin- 
 ally the name Egj'pt designated only this valley and 
 the Delta ; but at a later period it came to include 
 also the region between this and the Red sea from 
 Berenice to Suez, a strong and mountainous tract, 
 with only a few spots fit for tillage, but better adapt- 
 ed to pasturage. It included also, at this time, the 
 adjacent desert on the west, as far as to the oases, 
 those fertile and inhabited islands in the ocean of 
 sand. The name Delta, also, was extended so as to 
 cover the districts between Pelusium and the border 
 of Palestine, and Arabia Petrrea, — the ancient desert 
 of Shur, now Djefar; and on the west it included the 
 adjacent tract as far as to the great deserts of Libya 
 and Barca, — a region of sand of three days' journey 
 east and west, and as many north and south. 
 
 The country around Syene and the catai'acts is 
 highly picturesque ; the other parts of Egypt, and 
 especially the Delt.a, are exceedingly uniform and 
 monotonous. The prospect, however, is extreme- 
 ly different, according to the season of the year. 
 From the middle of the spring season, when the har- 
 vest is over, one sees nothing but a grey and dusty 
 soil, so full of cracks and chasms, that he can hardly 
 pass along. At the time of the autumnal equinox,
 
 EGYPT 
 
 [ 373 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 the whole country presents iiuihing but an immeas- 
 urable surface of reddish or yellowish water, out of 
 whicli rise date-trees, villages, and narrow dams, 
 whicJi serve as a means of communication. After 
 the: waters have retreated, which usually remain only 
 a short time at this height, you see, till tlie end of 
 autumn, only a black and slimy mud. But in win- 
 ter, nature puts on all her splendor. In this season, 
 the freshness and power of the new vegetation, the 
 variety and abundance of vegetable [)roductions, ex- 
 ceed every thing that is known in the most celebrat- 
 ed parts of the European continent ; and Egypt is 
 then, from one end of the country to the other, noth- 
 ing but a beautiful garden, a verdant meadow, a field 
 sown with flov.ers, or a waving ocean of grain in the 
 ear. This fertility, as is well known, depends upon 
 the annual and regular inundations of the Nile. See 
 Nile. 
 
 The sky is not less uniform and monotonous than 
 the earth ; it is constantly a pure unclouded arch, of 
 a color and light more white than azure. The at- 
 mosphere has a splendor which the eye can scarcely 
 bear ; and a burning sun, whose glow is tempered 
 by no shade, scorches through the whole day these 
 vast and unprotected plains. It is almost a peculiar 
 trait in the Egyptian landscape, that although not 
 without trees, it is yet almost without shade. The 
 only tree is the date-tree, which is frequent; but 
 witii its tall, slender stem, and bunch of foliage on the 
 top, this tree does very little to keep oft' the light, and 
 casts upon the earth only a pale and uncertain shade. 
 Egypt, accordingly, has a very hot climate ; the 
 thermometer in summer standing usually at 80 or 90 
 degrees of Fahrenheit ; and in Upper Egypt still 
 higher. The burning wind of the desert. Simoom, or 
 Samiel, is also experienced, usually about the time 
 of tlic early equinox. The country is also not un- 
 frequently visited by swarms of locusts. See Lo- 
 custs. 
 
 The chief agricultural productions of Egypt are 
 wheat, durrah or small maize, Turkish corn or maize, 
 rice, barley, beans, cucumbers, water-melons, leeks 
 and onions ; also flax and cotton. The date-tree and 
 vine are frequent. The papyrus is still found in 
 small quantity, chiefly near Damietta ; it is a reed 
 about nine feet high, as thick as a man's thumb, with 
 a tuft of down on the top. The animals of Egypt, 
 besides the usual kinds of tame cattle, arc the wild ox 
 or buftalo in gi-eat numbers, the ass and camel, dogs in 
 multitudes without masters, the ichneumon, (a kind 
 of weasel,) the crocodile, and the hippopotamus ; for 
 which, see these articles respectively. 
 
 In tlie very eai-liest times, Egj-pt appears to have 
 already been regarded under three principal divisions ; 
 and writers spoke either of Upper and Lotcer Egyj)!; 
 or of Upper Egypt or Thebais, Middle Egypt, Hep- 
 tanomis or Ilcptapolis, and Loiver Egypt or the Del- 
 ta, including the districts lying east and west. The 
 provinces and cities of Egypt mentioned in the Bible 
 may, in like manner, be arranged under these three 
 great divisions. 
 
 1. Lower Egypt. The north-eastern point of this 
 was the Brook of Egypt, (see below,) on the border 
 of Palestine. The desert between this point, the Red 
 sea, and the ancient Pelusium, seems to have been 
 the desert of Shur, (Gen. xx. 1. al.) now ol-Djefar. 
 Sin, " the strength [key] of Egj^pt," Ezek. xxx. 15, 
 was probably Pelusium. The land of Goshen ap- 
 pears to have lain between Pelusium, its branch of 
 the Nile, and the Red sea, having been skirted on 
 the north-east by the desert of Shur ; constituting, 
 
 perhaps, a part of the province Raamses ; Gen. xlvii. 
 11. In this district, or adjacent to it, are mentioned 
 also the cities Pithom, Raamses, Pi-Beseth, and 
 On or IIeliopolis. In the proper Delta itself, lav 
 Taiiapanes, i. e. Taphne or Daphne ; Zoan, the 
 Tanis of the Greeks; Leontopolis, mentioned per- 
 haps in Is. xix. 18. To the west of the Delta was 
 Alexandria. 
 
 2. Middle Egypt. Here are mentioned Moph oi- 
 Memphis ; and Hanes, the Coptic Hues or Ehnes, 
 the Anysis of Herodotus, and Great Heracleopolis of 
 the Greeks. 
 
 3. Upper Egypt. The southern part of Egypt the 
 Hebrews appear to have called Pathros, (Jer. xliv. 
 1, 15.) The Bible mentions here only two cities, viz. 
 No, or more fully No-Ammon, for which the Seventy 
 put Diospohs, the Greek name for Thebes, the jnost 
 ancient capital of Egypt; (see Ammon and Thebes ;) 
 and Syene, the southern city and limit of Egypt. 
 
 The early history of ancient Egypt is involved in 
 great obscurity ; and this is not the place to enter 
 into its details. All accounts, however, and the re- 
 sults of all modern researches, seem to concur, in 
 representing culture and civilization as having been 
 introduced and spread in Egypt from the south, and 
 especially from Meroe ; and that the country in the 
 earliest times was possessed by several contemporary 
 kings or states, which at length were all united into 
 one gi-eat kingdom. A priesthood seems to have 
 governed the land ; and in some of the smaller states, 
 the head of the state Mas also a priest. Not long- 
 after the death of Jose])h, apparently, the Hyksos or 
 shepherds, most probably an Arabian nomadic tribe, 
 began their irruptions, and at last got possession of 
 the country. After they were driven out, the whole 
 land appears to have been again united under one 
 sovereign, and from this time, or (about 1100 B. C.) 
 to have enjoyed its greatest prosperity. The first 
 king of the 19th dynasty, as it is called by Manetho, 
 was the celebrated Sesostris, about 1500 B. C. His 
 successors are all called in the Bible, not by their 
 proper names, but by the general appellation Pha- 
 raoh, i. e. kings. The first who is mentioned by his 
 proper name is Shishak, (1 Kings xiv. 25, 26,) sup- 
 posed to be the Sesonchosis of Manetho, about 970 
 B. C. In the same century, Ethiopian kings reigned 
 over Upper Egypt ; of whom two are mentioned 
 in the Bible, viz. So, or Sevechus, (2 Kings xvii. 4.) 
 about 722 B. C. and Tirhaka, contemporary with Hez- 
 ekiah, 2 Kings xix. 9. The latter is said by Herodo- 
 tus, to have withdrawn from Egj'pt. (ii. 139.) After 
 this, the whole country was for a time under twelve 
 kings, (about 711 B. C.) who at length were all sub- 
 dued by Psammetichus, to whom allusion is made in 
 Isa. xix. 4. His son Necho is mentioned 2 Kings 
 xxiii. 29, seq. xxiv. 7, and elsewhere. The grandson 
 of Necho was Hophra, who is also often mentioned 
 in the Scriptures. This dynasty was overthrown by 
 Nebuchadnezzar, as announced by the prophets Jef- 
 emiah and Ezckicl. Jer. xliii. 10 — 13; xlvi. 13, seq. 
 Ezek. xxix. 18, seq. xxx. 10, seq. xxxii. 11, seq. 
 With these annunciations the reports of Arabian 
 writers distinctly agree. 
 
 Egypt was afterwards conquered by Cambyses, and 
 became a province of the Persian empire about 525 
 B. C. Thus it continued until conquered by Alex- 
 ander, 350 B. C., after whose death it formed, along 
 with Syria, Palestine, Lybia, &c. the kingdom of the 
 Ptolemies. After the battle of Actium, 30 B. C. it 
 became a Roman province. Since that time it has 
 ceased to be an independent state, and its history is
 
 EGYPT 
 
 [374] 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 incorporated with that of its different conquerors and 
 possessoi-s. Ill 640, it was conquered by the Arabs ; 
 and in later pei'iods has passed from the hands of the 
 caliphs under the power of Turks, Arabs, Kurds, 
 Mamelukes ; and since 1517, has been governed as a 
 province of the Turkish empire. 
 
 The division of the inhabitants which prevails in 
 Egypt, and especially the ancient division into castes, 
 has been spoken of above. 
 
 From the histories of Egjpt by Manetho, Herodotus, 
 Diodorus, Strabo, Plutarch, and others, and from the 
 modern discoveries of ChampoUion in hieroglyphics, 
 chronologists have been led to divide the Egyptian 
 empire into five periods. These are as follows: (1.) 
 The first begins witli the estabhshment of their gov- 
 ernment, and comprehends the time during which 
 all religious and political authority was in the hands 
 of the priesthood, who laid the first foundation of 
 the future power of Egypt, founding and embellish- 
 ing the great city of Thebes, building magnificent 
 temples, and instituting the mysteries of Isis, from 
 Mizraim to Menes. (2.) The second period begins at 
 the abolition of this primitive government, and the 
 first establishment of the monarchical government 
 by Menes. From this time commences what is gen- 
 erally called the Pharaonic age, and ends at the irrup- 
 tion of Cambyses. This is the most brilliant period 
 of Egyptian history ; during which Egypt was cover- 
 ed with those magnificent works which still com- 
 mand our admiration and excite our astonishment ; 
 and by the wisdom of its institutions and laws, and 
 by the learning of its priests, was rendered the most 
 rich, populous, and enlightened country in the world. 
 (3.) The third epoch includes the period of the Per- 
 sian dominion, about 200 years. (4.) The fourth 
 covers the reigns of the Ptolemies. (5.) The fifth be- 
 gins when Egypt became a Roman province, and 
 continues to the middle of the fourth^ceutury. 
 Compare Spiueto's Lectures on Hieroglyphics, p. 
 15, seq. 
 
 The religion of Egypt consisted in the worship of the 
 heavenly bodies and the powers of nature ; the priests 
 cultivated at the same time astronomy and astrology, 
 and to these belong probably the wise men, sorce- 
 rers, and magicians, mentioned Ex. vii. 11, 22. It 
 was probably this wisdom, in which 3Ioses also was 
 learned. Acts vii. 22. But the Egjptian religion had 
 this peculiarity, that it adopted living aniiiuds as sym- 
 bols of the real objects of worship. 
 
 The Egyptians not only esteemed many species of 
 animals as sacred, which might not be killed without 
 the punishment of death, but individual animals were 
 kept in temples and worshipped with sacrifices, as 
 gods. (See Apis.) But although this worship of ani- 
 mals was common throughout Egypt, yet it differed 
 in different parts of the country. There were but a 
 few species which all Egypt worshipped. The oth- 
 ers were sacred in one district, but not in another. 
 In one province, they might be killed and eaten ; in 
 another, the punishment of death was the price of 
 doing them an injury. (Herod, ii. 65, seq.) It was in 
 consequence of this, that the destruction of the first- 
 born in Egj^pt was made to extend also to the beasts. 
 Ex. xii. 12. 
 
 The language of the ancient Egyptians differed es- 
 sentially from all the Asiatic languages, as appears 
 from the remains of it still extant in the Coptic. This 
 last indeed has ceased to be a living language since 
 the eighth century ; for although the Copts continue 
 to form a distinct class in the Egyptian population, 
 yet, lilce the other inhabitants, they speak Arabic. 
 
 But then- fonner language still exists in their writings, 
 which are limited to a version of the Scriptures, 
 homilies, hves of the saints nd martyrs, and the like. 
 The language of these writings, however, is no long- 
 er the pure ancient Egyptian, but intermingles many 
 Greek words ; and also the Coptic alphabet is bor- 
 rowed from the Greek, with the addition of eight 
 letters, for sounds which could not be marked by the "^ 
 Greek characters. With the help even of the lan- 
 guage as found in these writings, learned men, par- 
 ticularly Jablonsky, Quatremere, and ChampoUion, 
 as well as others, have been able to illustrate the 
 meaning of many old Egyptian words which occur 
 in the Old Testament, and in Greek and Roman 
 writers. It cannot, however, be supposed, that the 
 language at the tiine of the introduction of Christian- 
 ity was in all respects the same as that spoken in the '' 
 times of the Pharaohs ; and this is confirmed by the 
 modern attempts to decipher the inscriptions on mon- 
 uments, and the language of papyrus rolls, from the 
 times o\^ the Pharaohs and Ptolemies. The language 
 of these difters from the Coptic, as was to be expect- 
 ed, in forms, flexion, and syntax. The subject will 
 be more fully developed, when the researches of 
 ChampoUion and others shall have been completed, 
 and laid before the public. For the connection or 
 resemblance between the ancient Egj'ptian and He- 
 brew alphabets, see professor Stuart's note in Grep- 
 po's Essay on the Hieroglyphic System, p. 267, to 
 which work also the reader, who wishes to obtain 
 further information respecting hieroglyphics, may be 
 referred. 
 
 The most extraordinary monuments of Egyptian 
 power and industry were the pyramids, which still 
 subsist, to excite the wonder and admiration of the 
 world. A description of these extraordinary strtic- 
 tures has generally been considered as matter of cu- 
 riosity, rather than as being applicable in illustrating , 
 the Scriptures, since there appears to be no allusion / 
 to them in the Bible. They have, however, by some, 
 been supposed to have been erected by the Israelites 
 during their bondage in Egypt. Josephus, indeed, 
 says expressly, that the Egjptians " treated the Is- 
 raelites inhumanly, and thought to wear them out by 
 various labors ; they caused them to divide up the 
 river into many cliauuels, to build walls around the 
 cities, and mounds to prevent the access of water 
 where it would become stagnant ; and hy building the J 
 pyramids, also, they diminished our people." (Antiq. 
 ii. 9. 1.) Whether Josephus made this statement on 
 the authority of a national tradition, or as a conjec- 
 ture of his own, cannot be determined. But the 
 tenor of ancient history in general, as well as the re- 
 sults of modern researches, is against the supposition 
 of the pyramids having been built by the Israelites ; 
 and they are usually assigned to a later period. I\Ir. 
 Taylor, however, has adopted the above hypothesis, 
 and attempts to support it by the arguments which 
 follow. Tlicy may stand here, as a specimen of that 
 kind of learning, which delights in doubtful and 
 shado^vy speculation, rather than in sober and judi- 
 cious research. *R. 
 
 Mr. Taylor conceives that Providence has left us 
 the pyramids, as everlasting monuments of the vera- 
 city of that Sacred History with which Ave are fa- 
 vored. In fact, that they are part, at least, of the 
 labors of the Israelites, previous to the exodus ; and 
 that they remain to witness the leading events of that 
 portion of the history of the sons of Jacob. The fol- 
 lowing considerations are advanced in support of 
 tills opinion :
 
 EGYPT 
 
 [375] 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 1. If we inquire what were the labors of the Israel- 
 ites for the Pharaohs, we find that they consisted in 
 making bricks, to be hardened m the sun, for such 
 bricks alone require the assistance of straw in their 
 composition, which material is particularly mentioned 
 by the officers of this people, Exod. i. 14. Now, it 
 appears from various travellers, that the internal con- 
 struction of these mighty masses consists, among 
 other materials, of brick of this description ; and 
 tliercby agrees with that circumstance of the sacred 
 nairative. This is true of the great pyramid, which 
 is usually visited ; but the pyramids of Sakkara, at 
 some distance, are wholly composed of sun-burnt 
 bricks, so that these are undeniable. 
 
 2. The nuiltitude, when in the wilderness, regret 
 the fisli which they ate in Egypt, freely, {gratis, not 
 at their o\\ii expense,) the cucumbers, the melons, 
 the leeks, the onions, the garlic. Numb. xi. 5. In 
 conformity with this, we are told by Herodotus, that 
 on tlie pyramid was an inscription, " expressing the 
 expense of the articles of food consumed by the la- 
 borers ; radishes, (the leeks, perhaps, of Scripture,) 
 onions, and garlic ; they cost 1,600 talents of silver." 
 No doul)t these vegetables were cheap enough ; so 
 that this considerable sum implies a prodigious num- 
 ber of workmen, employed during a great length of 
 time. Herodotus also admires the further sum which 
 must have been expended in food and clothes. 
 
 3. As to the nimiber of persons employed in their 
 erection, Diodorus Siculus says, that 360,000 work- 
 men, or slaves, were occupied twenty years in con- 
 structing the pyramid ofChemnis. Herodotus says 
 100,000 were employed in bringing stones ; 10,000 
 at a time, who relieved each other every three 
 months. It may be supposed, therefore, that the 
 number given by Diodorus, includes the whole of the 
 population employed in all departments, while the 
 number given by Herodotus is that employed in a 
 specific department ; but, that all were relieved every 
 three months, and that only a proportion of one 
 tenth was employed at a time, seems to have been a 
 kind of rule in the business. Now, it is very likely 
 that the Israelites were in this manner relieved ; for 
 we find, (Exod. iv. 27.) that the mother of Moses was 
 able to conceal him, when an infant, no longer than 
 three months. And Aaron was able to take a jour- 
 ney (which usually occupies two months, says Dr. 
 Shaw) to mount Horeb, to meet Moses, which, had 
 he been kept without intermission to his labor, would 
 have been impossible. Indeed, if the Israelites la- 
 bored in the field, they could not have been con- 
 stantly employed in building ; and that they did la- 
 bor in the field is evident from their possession of 
 great herds of cattle, when they went out of Egypt. 
 Add to this, that their profession was that of shep- 
 herds, that they were placed in the richest pasturage 
 in Egypt, that Moses stipulates that not a hoof should 
 be left behind, and that the very institution of the 
 passover-lamb implies the possession of flocks ; these, 
 with other circumstances, show clearly that the Is- 
 raelites must have had intervals of time, in which to 
 pay attention to their own property and business. 
 
 4. It is almost certain that the native Egyptians, or 
 the governing nation, at least, did not labor on these 
 structures ; for Diodorus Siculus says, (lib. i. cap. 2.) 
 "He [Sesostris] built .... he employed in these 
 works none of his own subjects, but only the lai)ors 
 of captives. He was even careful to engrave these 
 words on the temples, ' JVb Egyptian had a hand in 
 this structure.'' They say further, that the captives 
 brought from Babylon, unable to endure these labors, 
 
 found means to escape, and 
 Egj'ptians," &c. It is there 
 
 . made war against the 
 efore likely that the stran- 
 ger Israelites found in Egypt, by " the king who knew 
 not Joseph," and whose increasing numbers and 
 strength he dreaded, would be set to labor, though in 
 mere waste of their strength, on structures only useful 
 in a political view, rather than any of the uatiiral in- 
 habitants, towards wliom the same policy was not 
 necessary. This conduct was afterwards adopted by 
 Solomon ; (1 Kings ix. 27.) " Solomon built . . . of the 
 Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, &c. who were not of 
 the children of Israel did Solomon levy a triliute of 
 bond service — but of the children of Israel did Solo- 
 mon make no bondmen ; but they were men of 
 war," &c. 
 
 5. That it was anciently, as it still is in the East, 
 the custom to employ bondmen in buildhig, is noto- 
 rious ; we have therefore only to inquire, whether 
 this character was attached to the Israelites. It is 
 expressly attributed to them ; for they are said to be 
 brought out of the house of bondage ; (Exod. xx. 2.) 
 they are charged to remember they were bondmen 
 in Egypt, Deut. vii. 21 ; xv. 15. That the Israelites 
 did iiot make brick only, but performed other labors 
 of building, may be inferred from Exod. ix. 8, 10. 
 Moses took " ashes of the furnace," — no doubt that 
 which was tended by his people. — So Psalm Ixxxi. 6, 
 " I removed his shoulder from the hurden, and his 
 hands were delivered from the basket, i. e. basket of 
 burden," (not j9o/5, as in our translation,) and with this 
 rendering agree the LXX, Vulgate, Symmachus, and 
 others. It is recorded, indeed, that the Israelites 
 built cities for Pharaoh, and in such building they 
 might and must carry the burden, and the mortar- 
 basket, (analogous to our mortar-hod,) yet as their 
 delivery from these things is spoken of, as the fur- 
 nace is evidently not distant from the residence of 
 Pharaoh, and as there is no reason to suppose that 
 soon after they had built these cities they were dis- 
 missed ; these circumstances seem to coiToborate the 
 positive testimony of Josephus, that Israel was em- 
 ployed on the pyramids. We may, perhaps, attrib- 
 ute the omission of finishing the last pyramid to the 
 confusion consequent on the death of Pharaoh in 
 the Red sea, and the hatred which attended his 
 memory, among the genuine Egyptians, to which 
 race he did not belong ; but was usurper over them, 
 as he was a tyrant over Israel. 
 
 6. The space of time allotted to the erection of 
 these immense masses, coincides with what is usually 
 allotted to the slavery of the Israelites. Israel is un- 
 derstood to have been in Egypt 215 years ; of which, 
 Joseph ruled seventy years, nor was it till long after 
 his death, that the " new king arose who knew not 
 Joseph." If we allow about forty years for the ex- 
 tent of the generation which succeeded Joseph, added 
 to his seventy, there remain about a hundred and 
 five years to the exodus. Now — Herodotus tells us, 
 (lib. ii. cap. 124.) tliat " till the reign of Rampsinitus, 
 (the Ramesses of Scripture,) Egypt was not only 
 remarkable for its abundance, but for its excellent 
 laws. Cheops, who succeeded this prince, degene- 
 rated into the extremest profligacy of conduct. He 
 barred the avenues to every temple, forbade the 
 Egyptians from offering sacrifices, and next proceed- 
 ed to make them labor servilely for himself, by build- 
 ing the pyramids. Cheops reigned fifty years. 
 (Cap. 127.) His brother Chephren succeeded, and 
 reigned fifty-six years : he adopted a siiuilar conduct. 
 Thus for the space of 106 years, were the Egj'ptians 
 exposed to everv species of oppression and calamity ;
 
 EGYPT 
 
 [ 376 ] 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 not hanng in all this period permission to worship 
 in their temples. For the memory of these two 
 monarchs they have so extreme an aversion, that 
 they are not willing to mention their names. They 
 call their pyramids by the name of the shepherd Phili- 
 Tis, tvho at that time fed his cattle in those places. 
 Myceriuus succeeded Chephren ; disapproved his 
 father's conduct ; commanded the temples to be 
 opened, and the people, who had been reduced to 
 the most extreme affliction, were again permitted to 
 offer sacrifice." — Here are plain traces of a govern- 
 ment by a foreign family, and of a woi'ship contrary 
 to that which had been previously established in 
 Egypt, wliich agrees exactly with circumstances nar- 
 rated in Exodus. The historian relates that it lasted 
 106 years, in vvhich it coincides with the bondage- 
 time of the sons of Israel. 
 
 But there is information couched under the am- 
 biguous mention of the shepherd Philitis, which 
 should not escape us. liis clear, that the Egyptians 
 could not call the kings by whose order the pyramids 
 (plural) were built, by this name, in the hearing of 
 Herodotus, since they referred tliem to their kings 
 Cheops and Chephren ; besides wliicli, it would 
 seem that the shepherd Philitis had formerly, and 
 customarily, fed his cattle elsewhere. We may, 
 therefore, understand this passage thus : — They at- 
 tributed the labor of constructing these pyramids to 
 a shepherd who came from Philistia ; but who at 
 that time fed his cattle in the land of Egj-pt. Im- 
 plying, that they more readily told the appellation 
 of the workmen [the sons of Israel, the shepherd, 
 Gan. xlvii. 5.] employed in the building, than of the 
 kings by whose commands they were built. They 
 seem to have done the same in the days of Diodorus, 
 who remarks, " They admit that these works are 
 superior to all which are seen in Egypt ; not only 
 by the immensity of their mass, and by their pro- 
 digious cost, but still more by the beauty of their con- 
 struction ; and the workmen who have rendered 
 them so perfect, are much more estimable than the 
 kings who paid their cost : for the former have here- 
 by given a memorable proof of their genius and skill, 
 whereas the kings contributed only the riches left 
 by their ancestors, or extorted from their subjects. . . 
 They say, the first was erected by Armttus, the sec- 
 ond by Ammosis, the third by Inaron." Tlie first 
 name, Armceus, Mr. Taylor corrects into ArartifEus ; 
 that is, "the Syrian:" and then the title perfectly 
 coincides with the mention of the shepherd of Pal- 
 estine, by Herodotus. This passage being extreme- 
 ly curious, and perhaps never properly understood, 
 the original Greek is subjoined. (Diod. Sic. lib. i. 
 sect. 2.) 
 
 — T;,i' utyinrl^v noi^aai /.iyovciv 'Anuatov, ['^Qaiiatov,^ 
 ti^v Sc SivTtnuv 'AfiuaiOtv, rl^v 8i TQiTi^v ' Irao(7>ici. 
 
 This coincidence will appear more striking if the 
 names be considered distinct from their prefixes, 
 tor, if we compare them with the description of 
 Moses and Aaron, (Ex. vi. 26, 27.) we find them the 
 same, as near as traditionary pronunciation by na- 
 tives of diflferent coimtries could l)ring it : aMousin, 
 or haMousin, is hitMouseh, nz'v Mn : and inArona, or 
 hinArona, is hv Aaron, ]-.r.x Nin, which, where two 
 vowel sounds came together, took a consonant be- 
 t\v-cen them, when spoken, — hunAaron. This, there- 
 fore, confirms the supposition, that the Israelites 
 %vcre emj)loyed on the pyramids ; first, under the 
 appellation of the Syrian, or Aramean, (the very title 
 given to Jacob, "An Aramite ready to perish was 
 
 my father, he went down into Egypt . . . and the 
 Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and 
 laid upon us hard bondage," Deut. xxvi. 5.) — and 
 afl;erwards, under the names of the two most famous 
 principals of that people. 
 
 But beside the names of Moses and Aaron, the 
 builders, we may possibly find that the names of the 
 kings by whose order they were built, are also pre- 
 served, so far at least as by the help of Scripture 
 to afford assistance in this inquiry. " Rampsinitus, 
 (supposed to be the Remphis of the next paragraph, 
 from Diodorus Siculus) .... possessed such abund- 
 ance of wealth, that so far from surpassing, none of 
 his successors ever equalled him in affluence ;" saj's 
 Herodotus ; who also relates a history of his trea- 
 sury, from which the least we can gather is that it 
 was very extraordinary. ^^ Remphis, (son of Protheus,) 
 having succeeded his father, employed the whole 
 period of his reign in increasing his revenues, and 
 amassing gold and silver .... he left behind him 
 more riches than any of his predecessors ; for it is 
 said that in his coffers were found 400,000 talents," 
 Diod. Sic. lib. i. sect. 2. 
 
 Rawnesses or Hnii^nesses (Benjamin of Tudela 
 AVTites it Raghmesses ;t^usehms, Ramises ; Josephus, 
 Ramphaies ; and such differences indicate a foreign 
 origin) is the name of a town, (Exod. i. 11 ; xii. 37.) 
 apparently named after this king of Egypt ; and if 
 pronounced Rucmetses, it would be the Indian Ruc- 
 mavatsa. This elision is common in India, and ma- 
 jor Wilford adopts it himself, by supposing that the 
 Tamovatsa of this passage is the Timaus of the 
 Greek writers. Rucmavatsa was, say the Puranas, 
 NOT OF THE ROYAL RACE OF EcYPT ; but liis grand- 
 father Tamovatsadefcated the Egyptian king, " placed 
 himself on the throne of Misra, and governed the 
 kingdom with perfect equity : his son Bahya-vatsa 
 devoted himself to religion, having resigned his do- 
 minion to his son Rucmavatsa, who tenderly loved 
 his people, and so highly imjjroved this country, that 
 from his just revenues he amassed an incredible 
 treasure. His wealth was so great, that he raised 
 three rnountains called Rucmadi'i, Rajatadri, and 
 Retnadri ; or, the I\Iountai.\ of gold, of silver, and 
 of gems. Tlie author says, 7nountains, but it appears, 
 says major Wilford, from the context, that they were 
 fabrics. (The Arabs and Turks call them Djebel 
 Pharouni, Pharaoh's Mountains, to this day.) — There 
 can be httle or no doubt, that they are the three 
 pyramids near Misra-sthan, or IMemphis. Rucma- 
 vatsa was no tyrant to his own peoj)le, whom lie 
 cherished, says the 'Mahacalpa,' as if they had been 
 his own children ; but he might have compelled the 
 native Egyptians to work, for the sake of keeping 
 them employed, and suljduing their spirit. The first 
 Mas said to be of gold, because coated with yellow 
 marble ; the second of silver, because coated with 
 white marble ; the third of gems, because coated 
 with vai-iegated marble ;" or perhajjs marbles set in 
 some pattern. 
 
 Now, the opposite character of this Rucmavatsa 
 is what we should expect would be delivered by 
 writers of opposite nations. (].) He ivas a foreigner 
 introduced by conquest, tiierefore, " he knew not Jo- 
 seph," nor cared for any former services rendered 
 by that "Saviour of the (Egyptian) world." (2.) He 
 teiiderly loved his people — his own people, foreigners 
 like himself; but the Egyjitians were not so fond 
 of him, they rather banished his name from their 
 memoiy, and hated the mention of it. (3.) From his 
 just revenues he amassed treasures — but liis conquer-
 
 EGYPT 
 
 L377 ] 
 
 EIIU 
 
 ed subjects would describe this as iniquitous exac- 
 tion. (4.) This family shut up the temples ; and we 
 are sure they prohibited sacrilices in the instance of 
 Israel. This might be piety in the opinion of the 
 writers of the Mahacalpa; but the original Egyptians 
 would esteem it persecution for religion's sake, and 
 consequently wickedness of no connnon guilt. (5.) 
 He built three inountaitis : — rather three nioimtains 
 
 were built during the reign of his family 
 
 Ml these 
 
 he did not employ his own people, but partly the 
 native Egyptians, with oihei-s whom he found in the 
 country, (the rnixed multitude of Exod. xii. 38.) and 
 
 fjartly the Israelites, whom he wished to subdue by 
 abor. The character of this prince agi-ees suffi- 
 ciendy to prove his identity ; and it disagrees suffi- 
 ciently to prove, that on one side it is vie-.ved with 
 the eye of national and religious partialitj' ; on the 
 other, with the aversion of national and I'eligious ab- 
 horrence. The progress is as usual in these cases. — 
 Taxation accumulates wealth ; wealth is dissipated 
 in expensive buildings, and is accompanied by over- 
 driven slavery ; this issues in insurrection, and the 
 escape of the sufferers. Precisely parallel to this is 
 the occasion of the revolt of the ten tribes from the 
 family of Solomon, 1 Kings xii. 3, 4. 18 ; 2 Chron. 
 X. 4. It is impossible to refrain from observing how 
 aptly historical narration and geographical discus- 
 sion illustrate each other. And we form this general 
 conclusion, that so many coincidences justify us in 
 believing that the pyramids of Egypt were built 
 when Israel was in that land ; were partly construct- 
 ed by that people ; and that the labors they exacted 
 fostered that aversion of mind which the true Egyp- 
 tians entertained against the memories of their op- 
 pressor ; so that in later ages, the priests rather 
 mentioned, to inquiring foreigners, the names of the 
 operative builders, than of the kings Avhose treasures 
 had been expended on their construction. As to 
 the difference of names between Cheops and Rames- 
 ses ; probably one may be a title, or a name taken 
 on a certain occasion ; or one may be a Hindoo, the 
 other an Egyptian, appellation. At all events, we 
 know so little on this subject, that no objection can 
 be maintained from it, without further information. 
 
 The ])yramids are such extraordinary works, that 
 tliey justify extraordinary attention ; and having at- 
 tempted to ascertain their builders, we sliall subjoin 
 a i'ew remarks on their purpose. They have been 
 described as three mountains, but it appears from 
 the context, says major Wilford, that they were fab- 
 rics ; — and he adds, "As to the three stupendous 
 edifices, called viountains, from their size and form, 
 there can be little or no doid)t that they were the 
 three great pyramids near Misra-st'han or Memphis ; 
 which, according to the Purinas and to Pliny, were 
 built from a motive of ostentation, but, according to 
 Aristotle, were monuments of tyraimy." "The Bra- 
 mens never understood, that any pyramid in IMisra- 
 st'hala, or Egypt, was intended as a repository for 
 the dead ; and no such idea is conveyed by the Ma- 
 hacalpa, where several other pyramids are expressly 
 mentioned as places of worship. There are pyra- 
 mids now at Benares, but on a small scale, with sub 
 terranean passages imder them, which are said „ 
 extend many miles; when the doors, which i'^' 
 
 them, arc opened, we perceive only dar' . ^ , ' 
 1 • 1 J : ^ ' 1 ^iffruus no 
 
 which do not seem of great extent, and p . • • 
 
 longer resort to them, through fear o^'"^'"", ';,,;' ' 
 or of noxious reptiles. The narro^ passage, lead mg 
 
 to the great pyramid in Egypt 
 
 .vas designed to ren- 
 
 der the holy apartment less 
 49 
 
 ccessible, and to inspire 
 
 the votaries with more awe. On my describing the 
 great Egj'ptian pyramid to several veiy learned 
 Brahmens, they declared it at once to have been a 
 temple, appropriated to the worship of Padmaddvi, 
 anil that the supposed tomb was a trough, which, 
 on certain festivals, her priests used to fiil with the 
 sacred water and lotos-flowers." These sentiments 
 are repetitions of those which governed the builders 
 of Baliel, who proposed a tower, the top of which 
 "should be (sacred) to the heavens;" and these 
 Egyptian jiyramids were imitations of that in the 
 land of Shinar, and were intended for the same pur- 
 poses. (See Babf.l.) But, we must not pass that 
 colossal performance, the Sphinx, without remark- 
 ing that it greatly contributes to strengthen our ar- 
 gument. 
 
 The Sphinx is a figure composed of a lion's body, 
 and a woman or man's bosom, neck, and head. 
 This is perfectly agreeable to the notion of a foreign 
 nation, supposed to have overrun Egypt ; and it 
 forms an instance of the care taken to perpetuate 
 the insignia of the original country. In short, the 
 Hindoo conquerors (see Shem) placed it in front of 
 the pyramids, looking eastward, that it might con- 
 stantly recall the memory of the Sun-rising land. 
 The number of smaller pyramids, and of temples, 
 still existing in ruins around, demonstrate that here 
 was a prodigious establishment for national worship ; 
 such an one, no doubt, the builders at Babel contem- 
 plated ; but the want of stone in that country oblig- 
 ing them to use brick, the labors of the Pharaohs 
 have outlasted the efforts of the chiefs of Babylon. 
 
 But though it be admitted that the Israelites con- 
 tributed to erect the pyramids, it does not follow 
 that they cased them with their coating of marble or 
 g]-anite. That was, in all probability, performed by 
 professed artists; the stones were brought from a 
 distance, and doubtless required skill as well as labor 
 in their pre])aration and use. It is indeed a tradition 
 on the spot, that the Israelites dug out from the 
 rocks adjacent those grottos which show from 
 whence came the layei-s of stone which accompany 
 the rubble work ; and this may be true ; but the 
 granite, it is presumed, they did not cut. 
 
 EGYPT, BUOOK, or river of. This is frequent- 
 ly mentioned as the southern limit of the Land of 
 Promise, Gen. xv. 18 ; 2 Chron. vii. 8 ; Num. xxiv„e 
 Joshua XV. 4. Calmet is of opinion, that this v it by 
 Nile : remarking that Joshua (xiii. 3.) descie of the 
 the name of Sihor ; which is the true.nos (vi. 14.) 
 Nile; "the muddy river:" and thycause the east- 
 calls it the river of the wilderne^ffjja, or the wilder- 
 ern arm of the Nile adjoinetlatered the district by 
 ness, in Hebrew Araba, aiy'n. In answer to this, it 
 the Egyptians called j(Vasthe limit of Judea toward 
 is said that this strc-xXX, (Isaiah xxvii. 1,2.) "unto 
 Egypt; and that pt" render "to Rhinocorura ;" a 
 the river of \Iq[ adjacent to the Nile. Besides, it 
 tOAvn certjy dubious whether the power of the He- 
 is exti-^fion extended, at any time, to the Nile ; and 
 breAVj;,]^ it was over a mere sandy desert. But as 
 '.^s desert is unquestionably the natural boundary 
 of the Syrian dominions, no reason can be given 
 why the political boundary should exceed it. Such 
 an anomaly is an error against both nature and geo- 
 eranhv. We take the river of EgjTt, therefore, to 
 be the brook Besor, between Gaza and Rlunocorura. 
 See Josh. xv. 47. See Nile. 
 
 EHUD, son of Gera; a judge of Israel, who slew 
 Eglon, king of Moab, Judg. iii. 15.
 
 EL A 
 
 [ 378 
 
 ELATH 
 
 There is a circumstance in the history of Ehud 
 (Judg. iii. 15, &c.) which is well illustrated by an oc- 
 currence noticed by 3Ir. Bruce. " Ehud said, ' I 
 have a secret errand unto thee, O king !' who said, 
 ' Keep silence !' and all that stood by him ivent out 
 from before him. And Ehud canie unto him," &c. — 
 This seems to imply, that the delivery of messages 
 announced as seci-et was notliing uncommon, but 
 that the king's people knew their duty, and, on the 
 mention of such a thing, quitted the presence, as 
 good manners directed them. This idea of the fre- 
 quency of such messages accounts also for the non- 
 suspicion of Eglon, or of his attendants, respecting 
 tills communication of Ehud ; in fact, this part of 
 the history assumes much more the air of an ordina- 
 ry occurrence, after having read the passage from 
 Bruce, which renders the whole action so much the 
 easier ; as there can be no doubt that Ehud laid his 
 plan with strict attention to the manners of the times, 
 and conducted it, also, in correct conformity to the 
 modes prevalent in the king's court ; as might best 
 insure his purpose, might prevent suspicion of his 
 design, and might most effectually render detection 
 of it unavailing. — "I drank a dish of coffee, and told 
 him that I was bearer of a confidential message from 
 Ali Bey of Cairo, and wished to deliver it to him, 
 vnthout ivitnesses, whenever he jjleased. The room 
 was accordingly cleared, without delay, excepting his 
 secretary, who was also going away, when I pulled 
 him back by the clothes, saying, ' Stay, if you please ; 
 we shall need you to write the answer.' We were 
 no sooner left alone, than I told the aga that, .... I 
 wished to put it in his power, as he pleased or not, 
 to have witnesses of delivering the small present I 
 had brought him from Cairo." (Trav. vol. i. p. 153.) 
 EKRON, the most northern city of the Philistines, 
 allotted to Judah l)y Joshua, (xv. 45.) but afterwards 
 given to Dan, (xix. 43.) though it does not appear 
 that the Jews ever peaceably possessed it. It was 
 near the Mediterranean, between Ashdod and Jam- 
 nia, and is probably the ruined village now called 
 Tookrain. The Ekrouites were the first who pro- 
 posed to send back the ark, in order to be delivered 
 from those calamities which it brought on their 
 country, 1 Sam. v. 10. Baalzebub was adored at 
 Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2. 
 rnei-ELAH, Aholibamah's successor in the govern- 
 
 II. ^Edom, Gen. xxxvi. 41. 
 
 sassinateciH, a son of Baasha king of Israel ; as- 
 Kings xvi. d— Zimri, after reigning two years, 1 
 usurper, 2 Kings His son Hoshea killed Pekah, the 
 
 III. ELAH, a val.;?0. 
 
 ed when David fouglWli6''e the Israelites encamp- 
 three miles from Bethlehe?Jjath, (1 Sam. xvii. 19.) 
 
 I. ELAM, son of Shem, GPjhe road to Jaffli. 
 
 II. ELAM, the name of the- 22. 
 
 possessed by the Persians, (Gen. xiVPtrj originally 
 ed from the son of Shem above notice^.^"'^' ^° •'^'l- 
 took possession of the southern tract, east^l^^"^ Elain 
 phrates, and comprising the mountainous reJ^i? 1^"" 
 Khusistan and Louristan, is certain, not onlvhO^ 
 Scripture m which the inhabitants of these /egioil^ 
 are called Elam.tes, but also from heathen writers 
 who speak of the Elynnei as a people dwelHn^on' 
 
 included the whole of Susiana! The citv 
 -^^i, was in it, Dan. viii. 2. See Ely- 
 
 ELATH, or Eloth, a city of Edom on the east- 
 ern gulf of the Red sea, and which Smidts thinks 
 was named from Ela, a duke of Edom, who built it, 
 Gen. xxxvi. 41. Eloth was singularly varied in the 
 writing, and no doubt in the pi-onunciation, of its 
 name : ^lath, ^lana, Ada, Ailana, Ailas, Ailath, 
 Ailoth, Elath, Elana, Haila, Hailath, &c. Pliny says 
 it was called Leana, from the Leanites, a people 
 that dwelt on the shores of the Elanilic gulf, which 
 gulf was between Eloth and Gaza. In later ages 
 it was commonly called Elana, and was, according to 
 Jerome, the first port from which to sail from India 
 to Egypt. After the decease of Alexander, and the 
 wars consequent on his death, Elana was subject to 
 the kings of Egypt ; afterwards to those of Syria ; 
 then to the Romans, who, in the days of Jerome, 
 stationed the tenth legion there, 
 
 Ibn Ilaukal (Appendix to Eug. Ti-. of D'Arvieux,) 
 describes Ailah as "formerly a small town, with 
 some fruitful lands about it : it is the city of those 
 Jews who were turned into hogs and monkeys. It 
 stands upon the coast of the Red sea, pretty near the 
 road of the Egyptian pilgrims that go to Mecca. It 
 is now nothing but a tower, the residence of a gov- 
 ernor, who depends upon him of Grand Cairo. 
 There are now no longer any sown fields there. 
 There was foi'inerly a fort built in the sea, but it is 
 all gone to ruin, and the commander lives in the 
 tower we were just speaking of, which stands by the 
 water-side." This information is of consequence, 
 as it shows that the character of the country is 
 changed. It had formerly "fruitful lands;" it had 
 "sown fields." It had also "a fort built in the sea:" 
 but there would have been no occasion for a fort, 
 and still less for a fort in the sea, if it had not for- 
 merly been a seaport, and a place worth defending. 
 
 Describing the Red sea, the same writer says, (p. 
 353.) — " Leaving Madyan, it comes to Ailah, which 
 is under the 55th degree of longitude, and 29th of 
 latitude. From Ailah the sea bends southward as 
 far as Al-tour, which is mount Sinai, that by a very 
 high cape, jutting out into the sea, divides it into two 
 arms. From thence, turning back again northward, 
 it comes at last to Kolzum, which stands to the west 
 of Ailah, both of them having almost the same lati- 
 tude. Kolzum and Ailah are situate upon the two 
 ends of the sea we have been speaking of, and so are 
 we arrived at the northern Terra Firma. Among 
 the turnings and windings which this sea makes, 
 which we have just now been describing, the land 
 juts out on the south ; and the place where it parts 
 the sea is Al-tour, — mount Sinai, the longitude of 
 which is almost the same as that of Ailah. Ailah 
 stands upon the extremity of the eastern arm or 
 channel, and Kolzum ujion the extremity of the 
 western one. Ailah is more easterly than Kolzum. 
 What is between Kolzum and Ailah is mount Al- 
 tour, which is more southerly than Kolzum, and 
 Ailah lies at the end of the capo that runs out into 
 the sea. The sea flows between Al-tour and the 
 coast of Egypt, and shuts up the channel or arm, 
 upon the extremity of which Kolzum stands. Just 
 <5o between Al-tour and the shore of Ilegiaz there is 
 ■^tlier channel, upon the extremity of which the 
 r. J -^f Ailah stands. To go from Al-tour to either 
 J .|'^."-'DOsite lands is a very short passage by sea, 
 out Jt IS a.,j^^j^j^jjy jj^ longer way by the desert of 
 l-akiaii, becau.^ those who come from Al-tour to 
 go into Egypt u ^^ necessity pass round Kol- 
 zum ; or beyond At.., jf u, are going to Ilegiaz. 
 Al-tour is joined to the continent on the north side;
 
 ELATH 
 
 [ 379 ] 
 
 ELATH 
 
 but it is encompassed by the sea on the other three 
 sides." The following is flir. Bruce's account of the 
 eastern, or Elanitic, gulf of the Red sea: — "We 
 sailed from cape Mahomet, just as the sun appeared. 
 Wc passed the island of Tyrone in the mouth of the 
 Elanitic gulf, which it divides nearly equally into 
 two ; or, rather, the north-west side is the narrowest. 
 The direction of the gulf is nearly north and south. 
 I judge it to be about six leagues over. Many of the 
 Cairo ships are lost in mistaking the entry of the 
 Elanitic gulf for that of the Heropolitic gulf, or gidf 
 of Suez ; for, from the island of Tyrone, which is 
 not above two leagues from the main, there runs a 
 string of islands, which seem to make a semicircu- 
 lar bar across the entry from the point, where a ship, 
 going with a south wind, would take its departure ; 
 and this range of islands ends in a shoal with sunken 
 rocks, which reaches near five leagues from the main. 
 It is probable, that upon these islands the fleet of 
 Rehoboam perished when sailing for the expedition 
 of Ophir, 2 Chron. xx. 37." (Trav. vol. i. p. 241.) 
 
 [The country around the eastern, or Elanitic, gulf 
 of the Red sea, has been, until within a few years, 
 almost a terra incognita. One of the most important 
 of Burckhardt's discoveries, is said by his editor, Mr. 
 Leake, himself a traveller and man of science, to be the 
 ascertaining of " the extent and form of the Elanitic 
 gultj hitherto so imperfectly known, as either to be 
 omitted in the maps, or marked with a bifurcation at 
 the extremity, which is now found not to exist." 
 (Preface to Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, &c. p. v.) 
 It is to the same traveller, also, that we are first in- 
 debted for a Icnowledge of the existence of the long 
 valley, known by the names of El Ghor, and El Araba, 
 extending from the Dead sea to the Elanitic gulf, 
 and forming a prolongation of the great valley of the 
 Jordan ; thus indicating, that not improbably the 
 Jordan once discharged itself into the Red sea. See 
 Burckhardt's letter, inserted in the article Canaan ; 
 also, the extract below, from Riippell ; and compare 
 the articles Exodus and Jordan. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1816, that Burckhardt visit- 
 ed the peninsula of mount Sinai, and examined the 
 western coast of the Elanitic gulf, with the intention 
 of proceeding to Akaba, situated at its northern ex- 
 tremit3\ Having arrived, however, within sight of 
 that place, he found it impossible to proceed, because 
 of the hostile and perfidious character of the tribes 
 of Bedouins, in that vicinity, to whom his guides 
 were strangers. (Travels in Syria, &c. p. 508, seq.] 
 "The Alowein and the Omran are the masters of 
 the district of Akaba, intrepid robbers, who are to 
 this day entirely independent of the government of 
 Egypt. Through them we must imavoidably pass, 
 to roach Akal^a ; and Ayd [the guide] could not give 
 me the smallest hope of being able to cross their 
 valleys without being attacked ; — I saw little chance 
 of success, and knew, from what I had heard on my 
 journey, that the Omran not only rob but nnu-der 
 passengers. I had no alternative but to turn back ; 
 and, under these circumstances, I reluctantly deter- 
 mined to retrace my steps the next day." He had, 
 indeed, advanced too far already ; for the very next 
 day he and his three Arab guides were attacked by 
 n ]iarty of Bedouins, and escaped only afler killing 
 one of the latter. 
 
 " Akaba was not far distant from the spot from 
 whence we returned. Before sunset, I could dis- 
 tinguish a black line in the plain, where my sharp- 
 sighted guides clearly saw the date-trees suiTound- 
 ing the castle, which bore N. E. by E ; it could not 
 
 be more than five or 5ix hours distant. Before us 
 was a promontory ; and behind this, as I was told, 
 another, winch begins the plain of Akaba. The 
 castle IS situated at an hour and a half or two hours 
 fr,)m the western chain of liills, down which the 
 Hadji route leads; and about the same distance 
 from the eastern chain, a lower continuation of Tor 
 Hesma, a mountain which I have mentioned in my 
 journey through the northern parts of Arabia Pe- 
 trfea. The descent of the western mountain is very 
 steep, and has probably given to the place its name 
 of Akaba, which in Arabic means a cliti' or steep de- 
 clivity ; it is probably the Akabet Aila of the Arabian 
 geographers. [Compare the extract from Ibn Hau- 
 kal, above.] In Numbers xxxiv. 4. the " ascent of 
 Akrabbim" is mentioned, which appeai-s to corre- 
 spond very accurately to this ascent of the western 
 mountain from the plain of Akaba, Into this plain, 
 which surrounds the castle on every side except the 
 sea, issues the Wady el Araba, the broad sandy val- 
 ley which leads towards the Dead sea, and which I 
 crossed, in 1812, at a day and a half, or two days' 
 journey from Akaba. At about two hours to the 
 south of the castle, the eastern range of mountains 
 approaches the sea. The plain of Akaba, which is 
 from three to four hours in length, from west to east, 
 and, I believe, not much less in breadth northward, 
 is very fertile in pasturage. To the distance of 
 about one hour from the sea, it is strongly impreg- 
 nated with salt, but farther north sands prevail. 
 The casde itself stands at a few hundred paces from 
 the sea, and is surrounded with large groves of date- 
 trees. It is a square building, with strong walls, 
 erected, as it now stands, by sultan el Ghoury, of 
 Egypt, in the sixteenth century. The castle has 
 tolerably good water in deep wells. The pasha of 
 Egypt keeps here a garrison of about thirty soldiers, 
 to guard the provisions deposited for the supply of 
 the Hadji, [or annual caravan to Mecca,] and for the 
 use of the cavalry, on their passage by this route to 
 join the army of the Hedjaz. 
 
 " It appears that the gulf extends very little farther 
 east than the castle, distant from which one hour, in 
 a southern direction, and on the eastern shore of the 
 gulf, lies a smaller and half-ruined castle, inhabited 
 by Bedouins only, called Kaszer el Bedawy. At 
 about three quarters of an hour from Akaba, and the 
 same distance from Kaszer, are said to be ruins in 
 the sea, which are visible only at low water. They 
 are said to consist of walls, houses, and columns, 
 but cannot easily be approached, on account of the 
 shallows. I inquired particularly whether the gulf 
 did not form two branches at this extremity, as it 
 has always been laid down in the maps ; but I was 
 assured it had only a single ending, at which the 
 castle is situated. 
 
 "JMakrizi, the Egyptian historian, says, in his 
 chapter on Aila (Akaba), ' It is from hence that the 
 Hedjaz begins ; in former times it was the frontier 
 place of the Greeks ; at one mile from it is a trium- 
 phal arch of the Csesars. In the time of the Islam, 
 it was a fine town, inhabited by the Beni Omeya. 
 Ibn Ahmed Ibn Toulon (a sultan of Egypt) made 
 the road over the Akaba, a steep mountain before 
 Aila. There were many mosques at Aila, and many 
 Jews lived there ; it was taken by the Franks, dur- 
 ing the crusades ; but in 566, [of the Hegira,] Sala- 
 heddyn [Saladin] transported ships upon camels 
 from Cairo to this place, and recovered it from 
 them. Near Aila was formerly situated a large and 
 handsome town, called Aszyoun' (Ezion-geber)."
 
 ELATH 
 
 [ 380 ] 
 
 ELD 
 
 With better success, Mr. Riippell, in 182*^, visited 
 this region, and came to Akaba itself. His personal 
 observation goes to show the great general acmracy of 
 the iufoniiation collected liy Biirckhardt from the tes- 
 timony of others. He approached the plain from the 
 west, on the ronte of the Hadji, or great annual cara- 
 van from Egypt to Mecca, alluded to above. The 
 following is a translation of his remarks upon this 
 region. (Reisen, etc. Frankf 1829, p. 247, seq.) " On 
 this high table-land, we remarked, as we descended 
 by a steep path among the rocks, that we were ele- 
 vated at least fifteen hundred leer above the level of 
 the sea. The view from the terrace of this plateau 
 was very picturesque ; but probably produced the 
 greater effect on me, because we had behind us a 
 most hideous desert. From this point one beholds, 
 in the distance, the steep blue granite moimtains on 
 the other side of Akaba ; on the right, a section of 
 the deep-green sea. In the foreground, are wild and 
 ragged masses of dark primitive rocks ; on which 
 recline, in different parts, layers of yellowish shell- 
 limestone. On the left is the valley of Wady Aral)a, 
 through which the dry bed of a stream, shaded with 
 bushes, winds among luxuriant meadow-grounds. 
 
 " We occupied more than five hours in descending 
 from this high table-land to the sea-shore, on account 
 of the many windings of the road among wild masses 
 of porphyry rocks. In the more dangerous places, 
 the way is hewn out of the rock, thirty feet wide. 
 Here, also, an inscription records the founder of this 
 toilsome work ; who is doubtless annually remem- 
 bered with gratitude by the pilgrims upon their way 
 to Mecca. This declivity is called Djebel Mahemw ; 
 that on the other (eastern) side of the valley is named 
 Djebel Araba. 
 
 " Our way now followed, for an hour, in an easter- 
 ly direction, the sea-shore ; which here forms a salt 
 marsh. We then reached the site of an ancient town, 
 distinguished by many large mounds of rubbish, and 
 probably the remains of the ancient Ailat (Eiath) ; 
 on this point I afterwards received express confirma- 
 tion. The dry channel of the ¥/adyAraba separates 
 tliese ruins from the remains of a far more modern 
 .settlement, which lie scattered among date-trees. 
 These consist of low walls of rough stones laid in 
 clay. Some of these serve periodically as dwellings 
 lor the Bedouins. In the immediate vicinity, towards 
 the east, hes the castle of Akaba, among plantations 
 of date-trees. In form it is a square fortress, with 
 walls in good preservation, and octagonal towers at 
 the corners. It lies some hundred' paces from the 
 sea-s!iore. The pasha of Egypt keeps here a garri- 
 son of forty soldiers. The gateway is still further 
 defended by two bulwarks in the form of towers. 
 
 '•It has been a general opinion, that tlie sea of 
 Akaba forms here two bays. This, however, is in- 
 correct ; no one here knows any thing of such a 
 bifurcation. This information, however, was not 
 enough to satisfy mo ; I wished myself to visit in per- 
 son the eastern coast of the gulf. A good half hour 
 south-east of Akaba, 1 found, on an excursion along 
 the coatt, t!ic ruins of a castle called Kasser Bedowi ; 
 it is an Arabian building, probably erected before the 
 fortress of Akaba, to protect the caravan of pilgrims 
 to Mecca. From this point I could see a great j)art 
 of the eastern coast of the gulf; I afterwards visited 
 very particvdarly its western coast ; but I could no 
 where perceive any l)ays like those which have been 
 conjectured to exist here. In the region of Akaba 
 there is not a single boat or water-craft of any kind ; 
 the Arabs in fishing use only rafts made of tlie trunks 
 
 of palm-trees tied together. It was, therefore, inipos- 
 sihle for me to make any investigation respecting the 
 depth of the sea, or the nature of its bottom. 
 
 " On inquiring the name of the spot where the 
 above mentioned mounds of rubbish are situated, I 
 was told that it was called Djelena; probably the 
 ancient site of Ailat. I often wandered among these 
 ruins in various directions, but never met with any 
 thing of importance. 
 
 " In the court of the castle of Akaba is a walled-up 
 well, with excellent water; indeed, throughout this 
 wliole region, there is every where good water. I 
 took sonie pains to assure myself, that, at the lime of 
 ebb, on digging a foot deep in the sand which tlie sea 
 has just covered, the hole is instantly filled with most 
 excellent water for drinking. I often quenched, in 
 this way, my thirst during long walks; and it was so 
 much the more refreshing, because, during the time 
 of my stay in tliis place, the temperature of the air 
 was sometimes above thirty degrees of Reaumur, [or 
 one hundred of Fahrenheit.] The existence of this 
 water can be explained in no other way, than by sup- 
 posing a very copious filtration of the water which 
 collects in the Wady Araba, through the layer of sand 
 which covers the granite formation beneath." 
 
 Is it perhaps admissible here, to suppose that it is 
 the waters of the Dead sea, which continue thus to 
 filter through beneath the sands that have filled up 
 the ancient channel, in which the Jordan would 
 seem once to have flowed ? 
 
 "The environs of the castle of Akaba are very in- 
 secure ; in all my walks and excursions I was accom- 
 panied by several soldiers; the Hamaran Arabs 
 [Omran of Burckhardt] who dwell in this region, 
 are notorious on account of their faithless character. 
 The Tiu'kish gaiTison, however, described the dan- 
 ger, no doubt, as much greater than it really is, in 
 order thus to magnify the value of the protection 
 which they afibrded me." *R. 
 
 EL-BETH-EL, to the God of Bethel, the name 
 given by Jacob to an altar which he built, (Gen. xxxv. 
 7.) and which stood, probably, in the very spot where 
 he liad formerly seen the prophetic dream of the 
 ladder, chap, xxviii. 22. 
 
 ELD AD and MEDAD, were appointed by Moses 
 among the seventy elders of Israel, who were to as- 
 sist in the government : though not present in the 
 general assembly, they were filled with the Spirit of 
 God, equally with those who were there, and began 
 to prophesy in the camp. Joshua would have had 
 Moses forbid them, but he replied, "Enviestthou for 
 my sake ? Would God that all the Lord's people 
 were propliets, and that the Lord v.ould put his Spirit 
 upon them !" Numb. xi. 24 — 29. 
 
 ELDERS OF Israel, the heads of tribes, who,befcre 
 the settlement of the Hebrew commonwealth, had a 
 government and authority over their o^vn families 
 and the people. Wlien 3Ioses was sent into Egypt 
 to deliver Israel, he assembled the elders, and inform- 
 ed them, that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 had api)eared to him, Exod. iv. 29; xii. 21. Moses 
 and Aaron treated the elders as representatives of the 
 nation. W^hen the law was given, God directed 
 Moses to take the seventy elders, as well as Aaron, 
 and Nadab and Abihu, his sons, that they might be 
 witnesses, xxiv. 1, 9, 10. Ever afterwards, we find 
 this number of seventy, or rather seventy-two, ci- 
 ders ; six from each tribe. 
 
 Some have been of opinion that these seventy el- 
 ders formed a kind of senate in Egypt, for the better 
 governing the people while in bondage ; and that
 
 ELE 
 
 [ 381 
 
 ELE 
 
 from hence the famous Sanhedrim was derived in 
 later ages. But it is more credible, that in the begin- 
 ning they exercised, each over their respective tribe, 
 and all together over the whole people, a jurisdiction 
 only like that which fathers of families exercise over 
 their children ; founded on the respect and obedience 
 due to parents. Tlie commissioners appointed to 
 inspect in what manner the children of Israel per- 
 formed thoir tasks in Egypt, (called in Hebrew a1-|■Jt^', 
 Shotcnin,) were, according to some, the elders of Is- 
 rael, who judged and commanded the people. The 
 LXX translate scribes, that is, commissioners, who 
 had lists of those that worked, who appointed them 
 their tasks, and saw that they performed them. 
 
 After Jethro's arrival in the camp of Israel, Moses 
 made a considerable change in the governors of the 
 people. He established over Israel heads of thou- 
 sands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, that justice might 
 be readily administered to applicants ; difficult cases 
 only being referred to himself, Exod. xviii. 24, 25, 
 &c. Tiiis constitution, however, did not long con- 
 tinue ; for on the murnnn-ing of the people at the 
 encampment called the Graves of Lust, (Numb. xi. 
 24, 25.) Moses appointed seventy elders of Israel, to 
 whom God communicated part of that legislator's 
 spirit. 
 
 This judicial body appears to have continued, not 
 only during the life of Moses, but also under Joshua, 
 if not under the Judges. See Josh. ix. 15; xxiii. 
 xxiv. 1, 32. See Sanhedrim. 
 
 In allusion to the Jewish elders, the ordinary gov- 
 ernors of the Christian church are called elders, or 
 presbyters, and are the same as bishops or overseers, 
 Acts XX. 17. 28 ; Tit. i. 5. 7. 
 
 ELE ALEH, a town of Reuben, (Numb, xxxii. 37.) 
 placed by Eusebius a mile from Heshbon. 
 
 I. ELEAZAR, the third son of Aaron, (Exod. 
 xxvii. 1.) and his successor as high-priest, entered 
 the land of promise with Joshua, and is thought to 
 have lived there about twenty-five years. The high- 
 priesthood continued in his family to the time of Eli, 
 who was of Itliamar's family. Eleazar was buried 
 at Gabaath, [a hill,] belonging to Phinehas, his son, 
 in the tribe of Ephraim, Josh. xxiv. 33. — II. A son 
 of Aminadab, to whose care the ark was committed, 
 when sent back by the Philistines, 1 Sam. vii. 1. It 
 is beheved that Eleazar was a priest, or at least a 
 Levite, though his name is not inserted among the 
 Levites. — III. One of the three gallant men who 
 broke through the camp of the Philistines, to bring 
 David water from Bethlehem. He checked an army 
 of Philistines, and made great slaughter of them, 
 2 Sam. xxiii. 9 ; 1 Chron.xi. 12, 16, 17.— IV. Brother 
 to Judas IMaccabfeus, 1 Mac. vi. 43. — V. A venerable 
 old man of Jerusalem, who suffered death under the 
 persecution, and in the presence of Antiorhus Epiph- 
 anes, 2 3Iac. vi. vii. 1, 2. — VI. Son of Onias I. and 
 brother of Simon surnamed the Just. Simon having 
 left his son, Onias, too young to be high-priest, Ele- 
 azar exercised this charge nineteen years in his stead ; 
 from A. M. 3727 to 3744. There are several others 
 of this name in Scripture. 
 
 ELECT, ELECTION, see Predestination. 
 
 ELECTA was, as is generally believed, a lady of 
 quality, who lived near Ephesus, to whom John ad- 
 dressed his second Epistle, cautioning her and her 
 children against heretics, who denied the divinity of 
 Christ, and his incarnation. Some think Electa, 
 which signifies chosen, is not a proper name, but an 
 honorable epithet ; [elect lady, Eng. trans.] and that 
 the Epistle was directed to a church. The same 
 
 apostle salutes Electa, and her children, iu his third 
 Epistle ; but the accounts of this Electa are as per- 
 plexed as those of the former. 
 
 EL-ELOHE-ISRAEL, " To God the God of Is- 
 rael," the name of an altar built by Jacob iu a piece 
 of ground which he bought of Hamor, Shechem'a 
 father. Gen. xxxiii. 20. 
 
 ELEPH, a town of Benjamin, Josh, xviii. 28. 
 
 ELEPHANT, the largest of existing quadrupeds, 
 celebrated for his sagacity, faithfulness, and prudence. 
 Calmct is of opinion that the behemoth of Job xl. is 
 the elephant ; but this notion is generally held to be 
 untenable. See Behemoth. 
 
 Thei-e is frequent mention of elephants in the books 
 of Maccabees ; because, after the time of Alexander, 
 they were much used in the armies of the kings of 
 Syria and Egypt. We read, in 1 Mac. vi. 34, that the 
 elephants of Antiochus Eupator's army had the blood 
 of grapes and mulberries shown to them for the pur- 
 pose of animating them to the combat, and to accus- 
 tom them to the sight of blood. In 3 Mac. v. we see 
 that it was usual to intoxicate them by wine mixed 
 with incense, with the design that they should crush 
 the Hebrews to death under their feet. 
 
 The elephant yielded ivory, which is first mention- 
 ed in Scriptm-e in the reign of Solomon. If the forty- 
 fifth Psalm were written before the Canticles, and 
 befoi-e Solomon had constructed his royal and mag- 
 nificent throne, then that is the first mention of this 
 commodity. It is spoken of as decorating those 
 boxes of perfume, which contained odors employed 
 to exhilarate the king's spirits: "Ivory palaces by 
 which they have made thee glad." The application 
 of it as an article of elegance, appears also in 1 Kings 
 X. 18, where the throne of Solomon is described as 
 decorated with ivory, and inlaid with gold ; — the 
 beauty of these materials relieving the splendor, and 
 heightening the lustre of each other. Ivory is here 
 described as shengadul, "great tooth ;" — which shows 
 clearly that it was imported into Palestine in the 
 whole tusk. It was, however, ill described as a 
 tooth ; for tooth, properly so called, it is not, but a 
 weapon of defence, not imlike the tusk of a wild- 
 boar ; and for the same i)urposes as the horns of 
 other animals. This has prompted Ezekiel to use 
 another periphrasis for describing it ; and he calls it 
 "horns of tooth," xxvii. 15. But this also is hable to 
 great objection, since the idea of horns and teeth, to 
 those who had never seen an elephant, must have 
 been very confused, if not contradictory. The com- 
 bination, however, is ingenious ; for the defences 
 which furnish the ivory answer the purposes of 
 horns ; while, by issuing from the mouth, they uj-e 
 not unaptly likened to teeth, which they are called 
 among the dealers, who know perfectly well that the 
 elephant has teeth, expressly formed for mastication 
 of food ; grinders of no tritiing weight and dimen- 
 sions. Bocliai-t was desirous of finding elephants 
 themselves in Scripture, and inclined to read 1 Kings 
 X. 22, shcn-kahabim instead of shen-habbim ; but this 
 is much better broken into two words, shen, tooth, 
 and habenim, ebony wood ; for which ,we have the 
 authority of Ezek. xxvii. 15. As to beds and houses 
 of ivory, they can only mean beds adorned, not con- 
 structed, of ivory. (See Beds, arf/n.) Indeed, ivory 
 in every state is unfit for any use requiring firnmess. 
 See Ivory. 
 
 ELEUTHERUS, a river in Syria, which rises be- 
 tween Libanus and Antilibanus. After watering the 
 valley between these two mountains, it falls into the 
 Mediterranean sea, 1 Mac. xi. 7.
 
 ELI 
 
 [ 382 ] 
 
 ELI 
 
 ELEUTHEROPOLIS, a city of Judea, which, 
 though not mentioned in the sacred writings, must 
 have been very celebrated in the time of Eusebius 
 and Jerome. It was an episcopal city, Avhence these 
 authors estimated the distances and positions of other 
 cities. Josephus says it was twenty miles from Je- 
 rusalem, and Antoninus places it twenty-four miles 
 from Askalon, and eighteen from Lydda. Eusebius 
 says five miles from Gath, six from Lachish, twenty- 
 five from Gerar, twenty from Jattir, and eight from 
 Keilah. ^ ' S 
 
 I. ELI, the last of our Saviour's ancestors accord- 
 ing to the flesh, Luke iii. 23. 
 
 II. ELI, mi/ God. Our Saviour on the cross cried, 
 " Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani ;" My God, why hast thou 
 forsaken me ? See Psalm xxii. 1 ; Matt, xxvii. 4G. 
 
 III. ELI, a high-priest, of the race of Ithamar, 
 died A. M. 2888, having been forty years judge of 
 Israel, 1 Sam. iv. 18. He succeeded Abdon, and was 
 succeeded by Samuel in the government ; but in the 
 high-priesthood by his third son Ahitub. While Eli 
 judged the people, Samson was the deliverer and de- 
 fender of Israel. How Eh came to possess the high- 
 priesthood, and by what means that dignity was 
 transferred from Eleazar's family to that of Ithamar, 
 from which Eli was descended, we are not informed. 
 Some believe it was in consequence of the negligence, 
 minority, or want of proper qualifications, of Elea- 
 zar's family. Others, that this dignity was bestowed 
 on Eh as judge of Israel. That it was not done 
 without an express declaration of God's will, we may 
 gather from the language of the man of God, 1 Sam. 
 ii. 27, 28. Eli's great fault was his negligence, and 
 his indulgence of his sons. Instead of vigorously 
 punishing them, and i-emoving them from the sacred 
 ministry, he was satisfied with gently reprimanding 
 them. God admonished him by Samuel, then a 
 child, (iii. 1, 2, 3.) but he only replied, " It is the 
 Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." God 
 deferred the execution of his vengeance tAventy-seven 
 years, but at length Hophni and Phinchas, the sons 
 of Eli, were slain by the Philistines ; the ark of the 
 Lord taken ; and Eli himself hearing the melancholy 
 news, fell backward from his chair, and broke his 
 neck, iv. 12. 18. According to Josephus, he was 
 succeeded by Ahitub, his grandson ; but otliers say, 
 by Ahiah, who was certainly high-priest in tlie be- 
 ginning of Saul's reign, xiv. .3. 
 
 [That Eli was of the house of Ithamar, may be 
 deduced from 1 Chr. xxiv. 3, "Then David distributed 
 them, both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahim- 
 elech of the sons of Ithamar." This Ahimelech is 
 the same as the Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, who 
 escaped from the slaughter of the priests at Nob, 
 1 Sam. xxii. 20, seq. (See Ahimelech and Abiathar.) 
 His father is every where called the " son of Ahitub ;" 
 more properly his grandson, 1 Sam. xiv. 3; from 
 which same passage it appears that this Ahitub was 
 the son of Phinehas, and therefore grandson of Eli. 
 Of course, the Ahimelech of 1 Chron. xxiv. 3, behig 
 of the race of Ithamar, his ancestor Eli was also of 
 that race. With the above account corresponds the 
 statement of Josephus, Antiq. v. 11. 5. R. 
 
 I. ELIAKIM, son of Ililkiah, steward of the 
 household, or keeper of the palace under king Hez- 
 ekiah, 2 Kings xviii. 18. 
 
 II. ELIAKIM, king of Judah, suruamed Jehoia- 
 kim, succeeded his brother Jchoahaz, and did evil 
 before the Lord, 2 Kings xxiii. 34, 3.5. Sec Jeiioi- 
 
 AKIM. 
 
 ELIAS, see Elimh. 
 
 ELIASHIB, a high-priest, of the race of Eleazar, 
 who succeeded Joiakim, in the time of Nehemiah, A. 
 M. 3550. 
 
 ELIDAD, son of Chislon, of Benjamin, a deputy, ap- 
 pointed to divide the land of Canaan, Num. xxxiv. 21. 
 
 I. ELIEZER, Abraham's steward. The Mussul- 
 mans call him Dameschack, or Damascennis, and 
 believe him to have been a black slave given to 
 Abraham by Nimrod, at the time when he saw him, 
 by virtue of the name of God, walking out of the 
 midst of the flames, (Ur,) into which he had been 
 cast by his orders. (See Abraham.) Abraham 
 conceived such regard for Eliezei-, that he gave liim 
 the superintendence of his whole family ; and, before 
 the birth of his sons, designed him for his heir. — 
 When Abraham sent Eliezer into Mesopotamia, he 
 compelled him to swear that he would not take a 
 Canaanite for a wife to Isaac, but that he would take 
 one from among his relations. Eliezer went to the 
 city of Nahor, in Mesopotamia ; and from thence 
 brought Rebecca, Gen. xxiv. 
 
 The passage (Gen. xv. 2.) in which Abraham 
 speaks of Eliezer as his heir, has gi'eatly perplexed 
 commentators ; it stands thus in our translation, " I 
 go childless, and the steward of my house is this 
 Eliezer, of Damascus ;" but in the original it is, "And 
 the son of possession of my house, is this Damascener 
 Eliezer," [i. e. he who will possess my house, my prop- 
 erty after my death. In the next verse, the Hebrew 
 has son of my house, which our translators have prop- 
 erly given, by " one born in my house." Eleazar 
 might have been a relation of Abi-aham, and in pros- 
 pect his heir. R. 
 
 What is meant by the phrase, " son of my house," 
 which has been the stinnbling-block to translators, 
 is shown by the following extracts ; — " Since the 
 death of Ali Bey, the Beys and the Cachefs who 
 owed their promotion to his house, (that is to say, of 
 ivhom he had been the patron : among the Mamlouks, 
 thefreedman is called the 'child of the house,') had 
 repined in secret, at seeing all the authority passed 
 into the hands of a new faction." (Volney's Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 153, and the note.) " He had so multiplied 
 and advanced his freemen, that of the twenty-four 
 Beys, which should be their number, no less than 
 eight were of his household." — " At his death, 
 which happened in 1757, his house, that is, his en- 
 franchised slaves, divided among themselves, but 
 united against all others, continued to give the law." 
 (P. 112, ll3.) From tiiese extracts it is inferred, that 
 Eliezer, a Damascena by descent, had been born in 
 the house of Abraham, or had been purchased by 
 him, and had behaved so well, that his master gave 
 him his libertj^, and at length promoted him to the 
 superintendence of all his property. (See a similar 
 occurrence in the case of Joseph, Gen. xxxix. not to 
 quote the lihertini, or freedmen of later ages.) On 
 the decease of his master, this chief over Abraham's 
 property would, naturally enough, succeed to that 
 property ; for wlio could be his competitor ? Whether 
 Eliezer might live so long as to be again mentioned, 
 (Gen. xxiv. 3. "Abraham said unto his eldest servant 
 of his house, that ruled over all that he had,") we 
 know not ; liy his fidelity, he seems likely to have 
 been the same person, and it is usually so understood ; 
 but he is not there called the " son of the hoiise," pos- 
 sibly, because Abraham had now sons of his own 
 body, Ishmacl as well as Isaac, who were his natural 
 heirs. If it be supposed fliat this was not Eliezer, 
 the omission of his name in the history may counte- 
 nance that supposition.
 
 ELI 
 
 [ 383 ] 
 
 ELIJAH 
 
 II. ELIEZER, son of Moses and Zipporah, born 
 in Midian, while 3Ioses was in that country. He 
 had a son named Rehabiah, Exod. x\iii. 4 ; 1 Chron. 
 xxiii. 17. Some have thought that what is related, 
 (Exod. iv. 24, 25.) of an angel's meeting Moses, 
 when returning to Egypt, is to be understood, as if 
 this angel intended to kill EHezer, because he was 
 not circumcised. The Scripture does not say, ex- 
 pressly, whom the angel had a design to slay. There 
 are several other persons of this name in the Old 
 Testament. 
 
 ELIHU, one of Job's friends, descended from Na- 
 hor, (Job xxxii. 2 ; xxxiv. 1.) and one of the most re- 
 markable characters in Scripture. He is said to be 
 of Buz ; which, as the name of a place, occurs only 
 once in Scripture, (Jer. xxv. 23.) where it stands in 
 connection with Tema and Dedan, towns bordering 
 on Iduniea. The Chaldee paraphrase expressly de- 
 scribes him as a relation of AJjraham. He enters the 
 poem so late as chap, xxxii. and ojiens his discourse 
 with great modesty. He does not enlarge on any 
 supposable wickedness in Job, as having brought his 
 present distresses on him ; but controverts his replies, 
 his inferences, and his arguments. He observes on 
 the mysterious dispensations of Providence, which 
 he insists, however they may appear to mortals, are 
 full of wisdom and mercy ; that the righteous have 
 their share of prosperity in this life, no less than the 
 ^vicked ; that God is supreme, and that it becomes us 
 to acknowledge and submit to that supremacy ; since 
 " the Creator wisely rules the world he made ;" and 
 he draws instances of benignity from the constant 
 wonders of creation, of the seasons, &c. His lan- 
 guage is copious, glowing, and sublime ; and it de- 
 serves notice, that Elihu does not appear to have of- 
 fended God by his sentiments ; nor is any sacrifice 
 of atonement commanded for him as for the other 
 speakers in the poem. It is more than pardonable, 
 that the character of Elihu has been thought figura- 
 tive of a personage interposed between God and man 
 — a Mediator — one speaking " without terrors," and 
 not disposed to overcharge mankind. This senti- 
 ment may have had its influence on the acceptability 
 and preservation of the book of Job. 
 
 ELIJAH, or Elias, a prophet, of Tishbe, beyond 
 Jordan, in Gilead, was raised up by God, to oppose 
 idolatry, particularly the worship of Baal, which Jez- 
 ebel and Ahab supported in Israel. Elijah is intro- 
 duced as delivering an unwelcome message to Ahab : 
 " As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I 
 stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, 
 but according to my word." 1 Kings xvii. 1. Hav- 
 ing delivered this prediction, the Lord commanded 
 him to conceal himself beyond Jordan, near the brook 
 Cherith, where the ravens brought him food. After 
 a time, the brook which had supplied him with wa- 
 ter being dried up, God sent him to Zarephath, a 
 city of Sidon. Here he met a widow, whose cruse 
 of oil and barrel of meal were miraculously the means 
 of supporting the prophet, herself, and h«,'rson, for a 
 period of two years. During Elijah's abode with 
 this woman, her son died, and she, overwhelmed 
 with grief, entreated the assistance and interposition 
 of the prophet. Elijah, moved by her sorrow, took 
 the child in his arms, and cried to the Lord for the 
 restitution of its life. His prayer was heard, and the 
 child restored, ver. 2 — 24. During the time that 
 Elijah dwelt at Zarephath, the famine prevailing at 
 Samaria, Ahab sent people throughout the country 
 to seek pasturage for the cattle. Obadiah, an officer 
 of the king's household, being thus employed, the 
 
 prophet met him, and directed him to tell Ahab that 
 Elijah was there. The king came and reproached 
 him, as the troubler of Israel ; but Elijah retorted the 
 charge on him, and on his iniquities, and proposed a 
 sacrifice to be openly offered, which should deter- 
 mine between Jehovah and Baal. Ahab accepted 
 the challenge, and convened the people of Israel, 
 with 400 of the prophets of Baal. The latter sacri- 
 ficed, prayed, and cut themselves, but no answer was 
 given to them. Elijah ridiculed their folly with bit- 
 ter irony, and then offered his own sacrifice and 
 prayer. His sacrifice being consumed by fire from 
 the Lord, all the people fell on their faces, crying, 
 " The Lord he is the God." Elijah then ordered the 
 people to slay the prophets of Baal, according to the 
 law, and his directions were promptly obeyed. After 
 this, the prophet promised rain, which fell immedi- 
 ately, ch. xviii. Jezebel, wife of Ahab, being inform- 
 ed that Elijah had caused the prophets of her god to 
 be put to death, threatened him, that on the following 
 day his life should be sacrificed for theirs. The 
 prophet therefore fled to Beer-sheba, in the south of 
 Judah, and from thence into Arabia Petrsea. In this 
 journey he was again miraculously supported during 
 forty days and forty nights, until he came to Horeb, 
 the mount of God. Having taken up his abode in a 
 cave, the Lord inquired, "What dost thou here, 
 Elijali ?" The prophet complained of Israel's apos- 
 tasy ; but the Lord gave him tokens of his presence 
 — a tempest, an earthquake, a fire, a still small voice. 
 Elijah covered his face in his mantle ; and the Lord 
 again inquired, "What dost thou here, Elijah ?" to 
 which he answered as before. He was then desired 
 to return to the wilderness of Damascus, and anoint 
 Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel, and 
 Elisha, his disciple, to succeed himself The de- 
 sponding prophet was also encom-aged by being in- 
 formed that God had reserved seven thousand in 
 Israel, who had not bowed their knees to Baal. De- 
 parting from mount Horeb, Elijah went into the 
 tribe of Ephraim, and anointed EUsha to the prophet- 
 ic office, 1 Kings xix. 
 
 Some years after this, Ahab having seized Naboth's 
 vineyard, Elijah reproached him with his crime ; and 
 warned him of his own and Jezebel's violent deaths, 
 ch. xxi. xxii. 38. On another occasion, Ahaziah, king 
 of Israel, who had fallen from the platform of his 
 house, having sent to consult Baal-zebub, the god of 
 Ekron, whether he should recover, Elijah met the 
 messengers, reproached this criminal idolatry, and 
 foretold the death of the king. By the description 
 given of his person, Ahaziah knew it to be Elijah, 
 and, enraged at the prophet's boldness, sent to him a 
 captain, with fifty men, to apprehend him. These 
 being destroyed by fire from heaven, and also a sec- 
 ond fifty, the third captain entreated him to respect 
 his life and his jjeople's lives. The prophet accom- 
 panied him to the king, again denounced the divine 
 displeasure, and foretold his speedy death, 2 Kings i. 
 
 Understanding by revelation, that God would soon 
 translate him out of this world, Elijah was desirous 
 to conceal it from Elisha, but his companion refiised 
 to leave him. In passing the Jordan, the prophet 
 took his mantle and struck the waters with it, which 
 divided, and they passed over on dry ground. He 
 then said to Elisha, " Ask what I shall do for thee be- 
 fore I be taken away from thee." " I pray thee," said 
 Elisha, " let a double portion of thy spirit be upon 
 me ;" that is, obtain the gift of prophecy from God 
 for me, in the same measure that thou possessest it ; 
 for double may signify like ; or, give me a double
 
 ELI 
 
 [384] 
 
 ELI 
 
 share of thine inheritance, a double portion of thy 
 spirit, the gift of prophecy, and of miracles, in a de- 
 gree double to what I now possess : — the portion of 
 the first-born. " Thou hast asked a hard thing," 
 said Elijah, "nevertheless, if thou see me when I 
 am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee ; but if 
 not, it shall not be so." As they continued their 
 journey, a chariot and horses of fire suddenly sepa- 
 rated them, and Elijah was carried in a whirlwind 
 up to heaven, Elisha receiving his mantle, ii. 1 — 12. 
 
 Eight years after the miraculous ascension of 
 Elijah, a letter of reproof, admonition, and threaten- 
 ing, was brought from the prophet to Jehoram king 
 of Judah. Some believe, that this was written by 
 Elijah, after liis translation ; others, that it was sent 
 before that event, or that Jehoram dreamed of it. 
 IMay it not have been written prophetically by Elijah 
 before his death, but laid by, with orders not to be 
 produced till a certain time, or under certain events? 
 
 The author of Ecclesiasticus has an encomium on 
 the memory of this prophet, (chap, xlviii.) and Mala- 
 clii foretells the appearance of Elijah before " the 
 coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." 
 Our Saviour informs us, (Matt. xi. 14 ; xvii. 10 — 12.) 
 that this was fulfilled in the person of John the 
 Baptist. The evangelists relate, that at the transfig- 
 uration of our Saviour, Elijah and Moses both 
 appeared and conversed with him concerning his 
 future passion, Matt. xvii. 3 ; Mark ix. 3 ; Luke ix. 30. 
 Many of the Jews in our Lord's time believed him 
 to be Elijah risen from the dead, Matt. xvi. 14 ; 
 Mark vi. 15 ; Luke ix. 8. 
 
 ELIM, the seventh encampment of Israel in the 
 wilderness, where they found twelve fountains, and 
 seventy palm-trees, Exod. xv. 27. See Exodus. 
 
 ELIMELECH, of Bethlehem, husband of Naomi, 
 by whom he had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. 
 During a great famine he retired with his wife and 
 children into the country of Moab, where he died 
 after ten years, Ruth i. 1, &c. See Naomi, Ruth. 
 
 ELIONEUS, a high-priest of the Jews, who suc- 
 ceeded Matthias, son of Ananus, (A. M. 4047,) and 
 was the next year succeeded by Simon Cantharus. 
 
 L ELIPHAZ, sou of Esau and Adah, Gen. xxxvi. 
 10. He had five sons, Tcman, Omah, Zepho, Ga- 
 tam, and Kenaz, ver. 11. 
 
 II. ELIPHAZ, one of Job's friends, probably 
 a descendant of Ehphaz, son of Esau, Job iv. 
 1. lie was of Teman, in Iduiuea, (Jer. xlix. 7. 
 20 ; Ezek. xxv. 13 ; Amos i. 11, 12 ; Obad. 8, 9,) 
 aufl in the Greek versions of the poem, is described 
 as king of his city. His natural temper, as appears 
 by his speeches, was mild and modest ; he makes 
 tiie fii-st reply to the complaints of Job ; argues that 
 the truly good are never entirely forsaken by Provi- 
 dence, but that exemplary punishments may justly 
 be inflicted for secret sins. He denies that any man 
 is innocent, censures Job for asserting his freedom 
 from guilt, and exhorts him to confess his concealed 
 iniquities, as a probable means of alleviating their 
 punishment. His arguments are well supported, but 
 he is declared, at the close of the poem, to have 
 taken erroneous views of the divine dispensations ; 
 and Job ofTern a sacrifice on his account. 
 
 ELISABETH, the wife of Zachariah,and mother 
 of John the Baptist, was of the daughters of Aaron, 
 or the race of the priests, Luke i. .5. An angel fore- 
 told to her husband Zachariah the birth of John, 
 and Zachariah returning home, Elisabeth conceived. 
 During five months she concealed the favor God had 
 granted her; but the angel Gabriel discovered to the 
 
 Virgin Mary this miraculous conception, as an assur- ■ 
 ance of the birth of the Messiah, by herself, (See 
 Annunciation.) Mary visited her cousin Elisabeth, 
 and when she saluted her, the child with which 
 Elisabeth was pregnant leaped in her womb. When 
 her child was circumcised, she named him John ; 
 according to previous instructions from her husband, 
 Luke i. 39—63. 
 
 ELISEUS, the same as Elisha, in the English 
 Trans, of the New Testament. 
 
 I. ELISHA, son of Shaphat, and Elijah's disciple 
 and successor in the prophetic ofiice, was of Abel- 
 meholah, 1 Kings xix. 16. Elijah having received 
 God's command to anoint Elisha as a prophet, came 
 to Abel-meholah, and finding Elisha ploughing with 
 twelve pair of oxen, he threw his mantle over him. 
 Elisha left his oxen, and accompanied Elijah, chap. 
 xix. 19 — 21. We have observed in the article Eli- 
 jah, that Elisha was accompanying his master, when 
 the Lord took him up in a whirlwind ; and that he 
 inherited Elijah's mantle, with a double portion of 
 his spirit. He smote the Jordan and divided the 
 stream ; and cured the water of a rivulet near Jeri- 
 cho. Going afterwards to Bethel, the children of 
 the place ridiculed him, and Elisha cursing them in 
 the name of the Lord, two bears came out of a 
 neighboring forest, and, as Calmet says, devoured 
 two and forty of them, 2 Kings ii. 14 — 24. This, 
 however, is not credible. Siu'ely one child had ful- 
 ly satisfied the hunger of one bear. Happily our 
 own translation keeps clear of this error, and renders 
 " two she-bears tare these children," — not limb from 
 limb ; not " to death with blood and groans, and 
 tears ;" but scratched, clawed, wounded, tare them, 
 as the Hebrew root (j'pa) signifies. 
 
 The kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom, having 
 taken the field against the king of Moab, who had 
 revolted from Israel, were in danger of perishing by 
 want of water ; but, according to the words of Elisha, 
 they received a miraculous supply, 2 Kings iii. 13— 
 17. The widow of one of the prophets being re- 
 duced to great distress, and laiuenting that a creditor 
 of her husband was determined to take her two sons, 
 and sell them for slaves, Elisha multiplied the oil in 
 her house so abundantly, that by its produce she was 
 enabled to discharge the debt, iv. 1 — 7. Elisha went 
 frequently to Shvuiem, where a certain matron gave 
 him entertainment; and as she had no child, the 
 prophet promised her a son. His prediction was 
 accomplished, but some years afterwards, the child 
 died, and Elisha restored him to life, verses 8 — 37. 
 At Gilgal during a great famine, he corrected the 
 deleterious effects of a poisonous mess of pottage, 
 ver. 38 — 41. Naaman, suffering under a leprosy, 
 was directed by Elisha to Avash in the Jordan, by 
 which he was perfectly healed. The king of Assyr- 
 ia being at war with the king of Israel, could not 
 imagine how all his designs were discovered by the 
 enemy, but being told that the prophet Elisha reveal- 
 ed every thing, he sent troops to seize him atDothan. 
 EHsha, however, struck them with blindness, and led 
 them into the very city of Samaria. There he 
 prayed to God to open their eyes ; gave them meat 
 and drink, and sent them back to their master, chap, 
 vi. 8 — 23. Some time after, Benhadad, king of 
 Syria, besieged Samaria, and the famine became 
 extreme. Elisha promised abundance by the next 
 day ; and his prediction was verified by the flight 
 of the Syrians, 2 Kings vi. vii. 
 
 The Lord having determined to remove Jehoram 
 from the throne of Israel, and to transfer the sceptre
 
 ELN 
 
 [ 385 ] 
 
 ELZ 
 
 to Jehu, Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets 
 to anoint him king, chap. ix. Some time afterwards, 
 EHsha fell sick, and Joash king of Israel came to 
 visit him. The prophet desired him to bring a bow 
 and arrows, and bidding him to let fly an arrow, said, 
 " This is tlie arrow of the Lord's deliverance ; thou 
 shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek." Elisha desired 
 him again to shoot, which he did three times, and 
 then stojiped. The man of God said, " Thou shouldst 
 have smitten five or six times, then hadst thou con- 
 sumed Syria ; Avhereas, now thou shalt smite Syria 
 but thrice," chap. xiii. 14 — 19. This sign was ac- 
 complished in the event, ver. 25. 
 
 After the death of Elisha, a band of Bloabites in- 
 vaded the land ; and some Israelites, going to bury 
 a man in a field, saw them, and, being terrified, threw 
 the body hastily into Elisha's grave. The body hav- 
 ing touched his remains, received life, and the man 
 stood up, ver. 20, 21. This is noticed Ecclesiasticus 
 xlviii. 13, in the encomium on Elisha. 
 
 II. ELISHA, the fountain of, rises two bow-shots 
 from mount Quarantauia, and runs tlu-ough the plain 
 of Jericho, into the Jordan ; passing south of Gilgal, 
 and dividing into several streams. This is said to be 
 the fountain whose waters were sweetened by Eli- 
 sha, 2 Kings ii. 19 — 22. See Jericho. 
 
 ELISHAH, son of Javan, (Gen. x. 4.) from whom 
 the isles of Elishah are named, (Ezek. xxvii. 7.) is 
 believed to have peopled Elis in the Peloponnesus. 
 We find there the province of Elis, and a country 
 called Alisiuin, by Homer. Ezekiel, above, speaks 
 of the purple of Elishah, brought to Tyie. The 
 fish used in dyeing purple were caught at the mouth 
 of the Eurotas, and the ancients fj-equcutly speak of 
 the ])urple of Laconia. 
 
 ELISHAPHAT, son of Zichri, assisted Jehoiada 
 the high-priest to enthi-one the young king Joash, 2 
 Chron. xxiii. 1, &c. 
 
 EJjISHEBA, daughter of Amminadab, and wife 
 of Aaron. Mother of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and 
 Ithamar, Exod. vi. 23. 
 
 ELISHUA, son of David, born at Jerusalem, 2 
 Sam. v. 15. 
 
 ELIUD, son of Achim, and father of Eleazar. In 
 the genealogy of Jesus, Matt. i. 14, 15. 
 
 I. ELIZAFHAN, son of Uzziel, uncle of Aaron, 
 and head of the family of Kohath, Numb. iii. 30. 
 Piloses conunauded Elizaphan to carry the corpses of 
 Nadab and Abihu out of the camp. Lev. x. 4. 
 
 IT. ELIZAPHAN, son of Parnach, ofZobulun, a 
 dei)uty apjiointed to divide the land, Numb, x.vxiv. 25. 
 
 I. ELKANAH, {God created,) second sou of Ko- 
 rah, Exod. vi. 24; 1 Chron. vi. 26. 
 
 II. ELKANAH, father of the prophet Samuel; 
 1 Sam. i. 1. Several others oC the same name are 
 mentioned in 1 Chron. vi. and other places. 
 
 ELKOSH, a village in Galilee, the birth place of 
 the prophet Nahum, Nah. i. 1. It was shown in 
 Jerome's time, but almost in ruins. Thcophylact 
 says it is beyond Jordan. 
 
 ELLASAR. There was a city (mentioned by 
 Steplianus, de Urbibus) called Ellas, in Ccele-Syria, 
 on the borders of Arabia, where Arioch, one of the 
 confederate kings, (Gen. xiv. 9.) perlia})S commanded. 
 
 ELM. This word occurs but once in the English 
 Bible ; (Hos. iv. 13.) but the Heb. nS.v, aUh, is in every 
 other place rendered oak, which see. 
 
 ELN ATI! AN, son of Achbov, and father of Ne- 
 
 husta, mother of Jchoiakim king of Judali. He 
 
 opposed the king's burning of Jeremiah's jirophe- 
 
 cies ; and was sent into Egypt to bring back the 
 
 49 
 
 prophet Urijah, Jer. xxvi. 22 ; xxxvi. 12 ; 2 Kings 
 xxiv. 8. 
 
 ELOAH, or Elohim, one of the names of God. 
 Angels, princes, great men, judges, and even false 
 gods, are sometimes called Elohim. The connection 
 of the discourse assists us in deteiTnining the proper 
 meaning of this word where it occurs. It is the 
 same as Eloah ; one being singular, the other plural. 
 Nevertheless, Elohim is generally construed in the 
 singular, particularly when the true God is spoken 
 of; when false gods are spoken of, it is rather con- 
 strued in the plural. 
 
 [The Hebrew word Eloah comes from the verb 
 n'-iN, to venerate, adore, and signifies, therefore, ohject 
 of adoration. It is the same in all the Semitish lan- 
 guages, e. g. it is the Allah of the Arabians. The 
 name Jehovah, on the other hand, seems to be the 
 ineffable name of God. See Jekovah. R. 
 
 The Jewish critics find gi-eat mysteries in some of 
 these words, Eloi, Elolfi, Elohim, &c. which are 
 always written full, while others are written deficient, 
 as with the i [yod) or without it ; with the i [van) or 
 without it. They observe, too, that some of the let- 
 ters of the name Jehovah, are added to Sn, God, 
 but not all at the same time ; also, that Jehovah is 
 sometimes pointed with the vowel points of Elohim, 
 but Elohim never with the vowel points of Jehovah. 
 Whether the word Elohim be singular or plural, ad- 
 jective or substantive, or whether it have any root in 
 the HebrcAV language, they are not agreed. 
 
 I. ELON, a grove of oalis ; Elou-Mamre, Elon- 
 Moi-e, Elon-Beth-Chanan, the grove, or oak, of 
 Mamre, «fcc.— II. A city of Dan, Josh. xix. 43. — III. 
 The Hittite, father of Basheraath, wife of Esau, 
 Gen. xxvi. 34. — IV. Chief of a family of Zcbulun, 
 Numb. xxvi. 26. V. A judge of Israel, who suc- 
 ceeded Ibzan, and was succeeded by Abdon, Judg. 
 xii. 10. He %vas of Zebulun, and judged Israel ten 
 years ; from A. M. 2830, to 2840. 
 
 ELTEKEH, a city of Dan, given to the Levites 
 of Kohath's family. Josh. xix. 44 ; xxi. 23. 
 
 ELTEKON, a town of Judah, on the confines of 
 Benjamin, Josh. xv. 59. 
 
 ELTOLAD, a town of Judah, (Josh. xv. 30,) given 
 to Simeon, Joeh. xix. 4. 
 
 ELUL, one of the Hebrew months, (Neh. vi. 15.) 
 answering nearly to August, O. S. having only tAven- 
 ty-nine days. It was the twelfth month of the civil 
 year, and the sixth of the ecclesiastical. Others sup- 
 pose it to have included the time from the new moon 
 of September to that of October. 
 
 ELYMAIS, the capital of Elam, or the ancient 
 country of the Persians. 1 Mac. vi. 1. informs us, 
 that Antiochus Epiphanes, understanding there were 
 very great treasiu'cs in the temple at Elymais, deter- 
 mined to plunder it ; but the citizens resisted him 
 successfully. 2 Mac. ix. 2. calls this city Persepolis, 
 probal)ly because it formerly had been the capital of 
 Persia ; for Persepolis and Elymais w ere vei-y difler- 
 ent cities; the former situated on the Araxes, the lat- 
 ter on the EuloBUS. The temple which Antiochus 
 designed to pillage was that of the goddess Nanna?a, 
 according to I\[accabces ; Appian says a temple of 
 Venus ; Polybius, Diodorus, Josephus, and Jerome, 
 sav a tem])]e of Diana. See Parthians. 
 
 "ELYMiEANS. Judith i. 6. mentions Ariocli king 
 of the Elymrcans ; that is, probably, the ancient 
 kingdom of Persia, 
 
 ELYMAS, see Bar-Jesus. 
 
 ELZABAD, one of the thirty gallant men in Da- 
 vid's army, 1 Chron. xii. 12.
 
 EMBALMING 
 
 [ 386 ] 
 
 EME 
 
 EMBALMING. The ancient Egyptians and He- 
 brews embalmed the bodies of the dead. Joseph or- 
 dered the embalming of his father Jacob ; and his 
 physicians, employed in this work, were forty days, 
 the usual time, about it. Some think that embalm- 
 ing became necessary in Egypt in consequence of 
 the inundation of the Nile, whose waters overflow- 
 ing all the flat country nearly two months, obliged 
 the people all this while to keep their dead in their 
 houses, or to remove them to rocks and eminences, 
 which were often veiy distant. To which we may 
 add, that bodies buried before the inundation might 
 be thrown up by it ; a sandy moist soil not being 
 strong enough to retain them against the action of the 
 water. 
 
 When a man died, a coftin was made proportion- 
 ed to the stature and quahty of the dead person, and 
 to the price, in which there was a great diversity. 
 The upper exterior of the cofiin represented the 
 person who was to be enclosed in it. A man of 
 condition was distinguished by the figure on the 
 cover of the coflin ; suitable paintings and embellish- 
 ments were generally added. The embalmers' prices 
 varied; the highest was a talent, $1000; twenty 
 mincE was moderate ; the lowest price was small. 
 The process of embalming dead bodies among the 
 Egyptians was as follows : — A dissector, with a very 
 sharp Ethiopian stone, made an incision on the left 
 side, and hurried away instantly because the relations 
 of the deceased, who were present, took up stones, 
 and pursued him as a wdcked wretch, who had dis- 
 figured the dead. The embalmers, who were look- 
 ed upon as sacred officers, drew the brains through 
 the nostrils with a hooked piece of iron, and filled 
 the skull with astringent drugs ; they drew all the 
 bowels, except the heart and kidneys, through the 
 hole in the left side, and washed them in palm wine, 
 and other strong and astringent drugs. The body 
 was anointed with oil of cedar, myrrh, cinnamon, 
 &c. about thirty days, so that it was preserved en- 
 tire, without putrefaction, without losing its hair, 
 and without contracting any disagreeable smell ; and 
 was then put into salt for about forty days. Hence, 
 when Moses says that forty days were employed in 
 embahning Jacob, we understand him of the forty 
 days of his continuing in the salt of nitre •, not in- 
 cluding the thirty days engaged m the previous cer- 
 emonies, so that, in the whole, they mourned seventy 
 days for him in Egypt ; as INIoses observes. 
 
 The body was afterwards taken out of the salt, 
 washed, wrapped up in linen swaddling-bands dipped 
 in myrrh, and closed with a gum, which the Egyp- 
 tians used instead of glue. It was then restored to 
 the relations, who enclosed it in a cofiin, and kept it 
 in their houses, or deposited it in a tomb. Great 
 numbers of mummies have recently been found in 
 Egj'pt, in chambers or subterraneous vaults. 
 
 Those who could not defray such expenses as this 
 process involved, contented themselves with infusing, 
 by a syringe, through the fundament, a liquor ex- 
 tracted from the cedar, which they left there, and 
 wrapt up the body in salt of nitre. This oil preyed 
 on the intestines, so that when they took it out, the 
 intestines came along with it dried, but not putrefied. 
 The body, being enclosed in nitre, became dry. The 
 poor sometimes cleansed the inside by injecting a 
 liquor, after which they put the body into nitre for 
 seventy days to dry it. A recent discovery in Egypt 
 informs us, that the connnon people of that country 
 were embalmed by means of a bitumen, a cheap 
 material, and easily nianaged. With this the corpse 
 
 and its envelopes were smeared, with more or less 
 care and diligence. Sepulchres have been opened, 
 in which thousands of bodies have been deposited in 
 rows, one on another, without cofiins, preserved in 
 this manner. 
 
 It is observed concerning Joseph, that he was em- 
 balmed, and put into a coffin, in Egypt, (Gen. 1. 26.) 
 but the LXX, who lived in Egypt, by translating this 
 coffin (5000C, seem to allude to a stone receptacle, 
 sarcophagus, for the whole, including the mummy 
 chest, or proper coffin ; so that at the departure of 
 the people from Egypt, they had only to take the 
 mummy, with its case or coffin, out of this stone re- 
 ceptacle, or tomb, in which it had been preserved, 
 and by which it had been distinguished ; and this 
 being a public monument known to all, they w'ere 
 sure the body they carried with them was that of the 
 patriarch Joseph, and of no other person. 
 
 Scripture mentions the embalming of Joseph, of 
 king Asa, and of our Saviour. Josejjh doubtless 
 was embalmed after the Egyptian manner, as he died 
 in Egy])t. Asa was embalmed, or rather burnt, in a 
 particular manner. The Hebrew is literally, "They 
 laid him in the bed which they had filled with sweet 
 odors, and divers kind of spices ; and they burnt 
 odors for him with an exceeding great burning;" (2 
 Chron. xvi. 14.) as if these spices had been burnt" 
 near his body. But the generality of interpi-eters 
 believe, that he was burnt with spices in a bed of 
 state, similar to the Roman emperors in later times. 
 It seems certain, that dead bodies, of kings particu- 
 larly, were sometimes burnt ; and we know not 
 whether the custom were not derived from this in- 
 stance of Asa. Scripture notices of Jehoram, that 
 " his people made no burning for him like the burn- 
 ing of his fathers," 2 Chron. xxi. 19. Jeremiah 
 promises king Zedekiah, " According to the burning 
 of thy fathers, so shall they burn odors for thee." 
 The body of Saul was biu-nt after it had been taken 
 down from the walls of Bethsan ; biU this was, 
 probably, because of its state of corruption. 
 
 As to the embalming of our Saviour, the evangel- 
 ists inform us, that Joseph of Arimathea having 
 obtained his body, brought a white sheet to wrap it 
 in ; and that Nicodemus purchased a hundred 
 pounds of myrrh and aloes, with which they em- 
 balmed him, and put him into Joseph's own unfinish- 
 ed sepulchre, cut in a rock. They could not use 
 niore ceremony, because the night came on, and tlie 
 sabbath was just beginning. Nevertheless, the wo- 
 men who had foUowefl him from Galilee designed to 
 embalm liiui more perfectly at better opportunity 
 and leisure ; thoy remarked the place and manner of 
 his sepulchre, and bought spices for their purpose. 
 They rested all the sahhath-day, and on the first day 
 of the week, early in the monling, they went to the 
 sepulchre, but could not exocute their design, our 
 Lord having risen from the dead, lie had only been 
 rubbed with myrrh and aloes, wrapped up in swad- 
 dling-bands, and buried in a great sheet, his face ' 
 covered with a napkin. This is what we observe on 
 comparing the i)assages of John. We see bandages 
 of the same kind in the account of Lazanis's resur- 
 rection, with this diflerence, that there is no mention 
 of spices. John xix. 40 ; xx. 5. See Burial. 
 
 EMERALD, a precious stone, of » green color; 
 in Latin, smaragdiis ; which signifies rather a genus 
 of precious stones including the emerald as a spe- 
 cies. The emerald is ])laced (Exod. xxviii. 18.) on 
 the high-priest's pectoral. [Our English version 
 every where puts emerald for the Ileb. jsj, a kind of
 
 E M M 
 
 [ 387 ] 
 
 ENG 
 
 gem wliicli it is impossible to make out. In the 
 New Testament, it is put for the Greek Oftufiaydog, 
 Rev. iv. 3 ; xxi. 19. R. 
 
 EMERODS. The ark having been taken by the 
 Phihstines, and being kept at Ashdod, the hand of 
 God afflicted them with a painful disease, 1 Sam. v. 
 6. Interpretei-s are not agreed on the signification 
 of the original a'Soj», ophdlim, or omna, tehunm ; nor 
 on the nature of the disease. The Hebrew properly 
 signifies, that whicli is obscure and hidden, and most 
 interpreters think, that those painful tumors in the 
 fundament are meant, which sometimes turn into ul- 
 cers, i. e. the piles. Psal. Ixxviii. (>(J. The LXX and 
 Vulgate add to verse 9, that the Philistines made 
 seats of skins, upon which to sit with more ease, by 
 reason of their indisposition. Herodotus seems to 
 have had some knowledge of this history; but has 
 assigned another cause. He says, the Scythians hav- 
 ing plundered the temple of Askalou, a celebrated 
 city of the Philistines, the goddess who was wor- 
 shipped there afflicted them with a peculiar disease. 
 The Philistines, perhaps, thus related the story ; but 
 it evidently passed for truth, that this disease was an- 
 cient, and had been sent among them by some aveng- 
 ing deity. To remedy this suffering, and to remove 
 the ravages committed by rats, which wasted their 
 country, the Philistines were advised by their priests 
 and soothsayers to return the ark of God with the 
 following offerings : (1 Sam. vi. 1 — 18.) five figures of 
 a golden emerod, that is, of the part afflicted, and 
 five golden rats ; hereby acknowledging, that this 
 plague was the effect of divine justice. This advice 
 was followed ; andJosephus, (Antiq. lib. vi. c. l.)and 
 others, believed that the five cities of the Philistines 
 made each a statue, which they consecrated to God, 
 as votive offerings for their deliverance. This, how- 
 ever, seems to have originated from the figures of 
 the rats. The heathen frequently offered to their 
 gods figures representing those parts of the body 
 which iiad been diseased ; and such kinds of cxvotis 
 are still frequent in Catholic countries ; being conse- 
 crated in honor of some saint, who is supposed to 
 have wrought the cure : they are images of wax, or 
 of metal, exhibiting those parts of the body in which 
 the disease was seated. 
 
 EMESA, or Hamath, see Hamath. 
 
 E]\ni\I, ancient inhal)itants of Canaan, east of the 
 Jordan, wiio were defeated by Chedorlaomer at Sha- 
 veh Kiriathaim, or in the plain of Kiriathai'm, Gen. 
 xiv. 5. They were warlike, and of gigantic stature : 
 " great, many, and tall, as the Anakim." See Anah. 
 
 EMMANUEL, God with us. Isaiah, in his cel- 
 ebrated prophecy (chap, xi.) of the birth of the Mes- 
 siah from a virgin, says, this child shall be called, 
 that is, really be, " Emmanuel." He repeats this 
 wliile speaking of the enemy's army, which, like a 
 torrent, was to overflow Judea; " Thestretchin!,'Out 
 of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O 
 Emmanuel." Matthew informs us, that tliis jjroph- 
 ecy was accomplished in Jesus Christ, born of the 
 Virgin IMary, in whom the two natures, divine and 
 human, united ; so that he was really Emmanuel, or, 
 God with us. 
 
 I. EMMAUS, Hot BatkSyQ village, sixty furlongs, 
 or seven miles and a half, north-west of Jerusaleni, 
 celebrated for our Lord's conversation with two dis- 
 ciples who went thither on the day of his resurrec- 
 tion. Joseplms (de Bello, lib. viii. cap. 97.) says, that 
 Vespasian left 800 soldiers in Judea, to whoni he 
 gave the village of Emmaus, which was sixty fm-- 
 longs from Jerusalem. D'Arvieux states, (vol. vii. p. 
 
 259.) that going from Jerusalem to Rama, he took 
 the right from the high road to Rama, at some little 
 distance from Jerusalem, and "travelled a good 
 league over rocks and flint stones, to the end of the 
 valley of terebinthine trees," till he reached Emmaus. 
 " It seems, by the ruins which surrounded it, that it 
 was formerly larger than it was in our Saviour's 
 time. The Christians, while masters of the Holy 
 Land, re-established it a little, and built several 
 churches. Emmaus was not worth the trouble of 
 having come out of the way to see it. Ruins, indeed, 
 we saw on all sides ; and fables we heard from every 
 quarter, though under the guise of traditions. Such 
 is the notion of the house of Cleopas ; on the site of 
 which a great church was erected ; of which a few 
 masses of the thick walls remain, but nothing else." 
 
 II. EMMAUS, a city of Judea, twenty -two miles 
 from Lydda, and afterwards called Nicopolis. Here 
 were hot baths, in which, it was reported among the 
 iidiabitants, our Lord washed his feet, and to which 
 he communicated a healing virtue. 
 
 III. EMMAUS, a town near Tiberias, the " wann 
 mmeral baths" of which are still much frequented, 
 according to Dr. E. Clarke. (Trav. vol. ii. p. 463.) 
 The ancient name of Emmaus is still preserved in 
 its Arabic appellation, Hamam. The editor of the 
 Modern Traveller has collected together nearly every 
 thing that can be known concerning this place. 
 (Palestine, p. 254, seq. Amer. ed.) 
 
 EN, ]i;', ain, signifies a fountain ; for which reason 
 we find it compounded with many names of towns, 
 and places ; as en-dor, en-gedi, en-eglaim, en-shemish, 
 i. e. the fountain oi' dor — of gedi, &c. 
 
 ENABRIS, a place between Scythopolis and 
 Tiberias. 
 
 ENAIM, or Enam, a town of Judah, (Josh. xv. 
 34.) mentioned also in Gen. xxxviii. 14. where the 
 Vulgate reads, that Tauiar sat in a place where two 
 ways met ; Heb. she sal at Enaim ; LXX, she sat at 
 Enan by the ivay. English translation, she sat in an 
 open place lohich is by the way. Enan, or Enaim, sig- 
 nifies " the two welis," or " the double well ;" a very 
 likely place of rendezvous. 
 
 I. ENAN, father of Ahira of Naphtali ; (Numb. i. 
 15.) head of his tribe in the time of Moses. 
 
 II. ENAN. Ezekiel speaks of Enan, (chap, xlviii. 
 1.) or Hazar-Enan, as of a town well known ; the 
 northern boundary of the land. See also Numb, 
 xxxiv. 9. This may be Gaana. north of Damascus, 
 or Ina, mentioned by Ptolen^y, or Aennos in Peutin- 
 ger's tables, south of Damascus. Possibly likewise 
 the En-hazor of NapJitali, Josh. xix. 37. 
 
 ENCHANTMENTS, see Inchantments. 
 
 ENDOB, or ^NDOR, a city of Manasseh, (Josh, 
 xvii. 11.) placed by Eusebius four miles south of 
 jiiount Tabor, near Nain, in the way to ScythopoUs. 
 ilere tlie witch lived whom Saul consulted, 1 Sam. 
 xxviii. 12. 
 
 EN-EGLAIM. Ezekiel (xlvii. 10.) speaks of this 
 place in opposition to En-gedi: "The fishers shall 
 stand upon it from En-gedi, even to En-eglaim : they 
 shall be a place to spread forth nets." Jei-ome says, 
 En-eglaim is at the head of the Dead sea, where 
 the Jordan enters it. 
 
 I. ENGANNIM, a city in the plain belonging to 
 Judah, Josh. xv. 34. — II. A city of Issachar ; given 
 to the Levites of Gershom's family. Josh. xix. 21 ; 
 xxi. 29. 
 
 EN-GEDI. This name is probably suggested by 
 the situation among lofty rocks, which, overhanging 
 the valleys, are very precipitous. A fountain of pure
 
 ENO 
 
 [ 386 ] 
 
 ENS 
 
 %varer rises near the summit, which the iuiiabitauts 
 call En-gedi — the fountain of the goat — because it is 
 hardly accessible to any other creature. It was call- 
 ed also Hazazou-Tamar, that is, the city of palm- 
 trees, there being a gi"eat quantity of palm-trees 
 around it. It stood near the lake of Sodom, S. E. of 
 Jerusalem, not far from Jericho, and the mouth of 
 the river Jordan ; though later travellers place it 
 about the middle of the western shore of the lake. 
 In some cave of the wilderness of En-gedi, David had 
 an opportunity of killing Saul, who was then in 
 pursuit of him, 1 Sam. xxiv. The vineyards of 
 En-gedi are mentioned. Cant. i. 14. and the hills 
 around it produce, at present, the best wines of the 
 country. 
 
 EXGRAVIXG. This art of cutting precious 
 stones and metals is frequentlj' referred to in the Old 
 Testament Scriptures. Its origin and progress, as 
 connected with biblical inquiries, has been investi- 
 gated and illustrated with much ing( r.uity by Mr. 
 Landseer, in his "Sabeean Researches," j^assm. See 
 Seals, Writing. 
 
 EN-HADDAH, a toAra of Issachar, Josh. xix. 21. 
 Eusebius mentions a place of this name between 
 Eleutheropolis and Jerusalem ; ten miles from the 
 former place. 
 
 EX-HAZOK, a city of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 37. 
 Whether this be the Atrium Ennon, or Hazar-enan 
 of Ezekiel, (xlvii. 17 ; xlviii. 1.) and of Moses, 
 (Numb, xxxiv. 9.) it is difficult to determine. 
 
 EN-MISHPAT, Fountain of Judgment. Moses 
 says, (Gen. xiv. 7.) that Chedorlaomer and his allies, 
 having traversed the wilderness of Paran, came to 
 the fountain of ]\Iishpat, otherwise Kadesh. It had 
 not this name till Moses drew from it the ivaters of 
 stnfe ; and God had exercised his judgments on Mo- 
 ses and Aaron, Numb. xx. 13 ; xxvii. 14. See 
 ICadesh. 
 
 I. ENOCH, son of Cain, (Gen. iv. 17.) after whom 
 the first city noticed in Scripture was called. It was 
 east of Eden, and its name is thought to be preserv- 
 ed in Hanuchta, which Ptolemy places in the Susi- 
 ana. The spurious Berosus, and Adriclioniius after 
 liim, place the city Euochia, built by Cain, east of 
 Libanus, towards Damascus. 
 
 II. ENOCH, the son of Jared, was born A. M. 
 622, and begat 3Icthuselah, at the age of sixtv-five. 
 He walked with God ; and after he 1iad lived three 
 hundred and sixty-live years, " he was not, for God 
 took him," Gen. v. 24. Paid says, " B\ laith Enoch 
 was translated, that he should not see death, and was 
 not found, because God had trauslitcd him." Hcb. 
 xi. 5. 
 
 Jude (14, 15.) cites a passage from the book of 
 Enoch, which has much perplexed interpreters. The 
 question is, whether the ajiosile took this passage 
 from any book written by Enoch, which might b<; 
 extant in his time ; or, whether he received it by tra- 
 dition, or by revelation. It is most probable, he' read 
 it in a book attributed to Enoch, which though 
 apocry{)lial, miglit contain several truths ; among 
 ollicrs, this might be one, which Jude, favored with 
 a supernatural degree of discrimination, might use 
 to purposes of instruction. Justin, Athenagoras, 
 Irena;u3, Clemens Alexandrinus, Lactantius, and oth- 
 ers, borrowed an opinion out of tiiis book of Enoch, 
 that the angels had connection with the daughters of 
 men, of whom they had offspring. TertuUian, in 
 several places, speaks of this book with esteem ; and 
 would jjcrsuadc us, that it was preserved by Noah 
 during the deluge. It has, however, been rejected 
 
 by the church, and Origeu, Jerome, and Austin, 
 mention it as of no authority. Specimens of the 
 book of Enoch ha\e been brought into Europe from 
 Abyssinia by Mr. Bruce and others, and translations 
 of parts of it have been published. It should seem 
 to be foimded, as to its historical tenor, on the IMosaic 
 history of the antediluvians, and the judgments that 
 might naturally be expected to follov/ such enormous 
 wickedness, violences, audacities, and gluttonies, r.s 
 were then practised by the giants, or people in power. 
 The lower classes were represented in it, as being 
 extremely oppressed and ill treated ; and, perhaps, 
 the intention of the author was to inculcate on the 
 gi-eat, lessons of humanity towards their inferiors, 
 enforced by the instance of punishment infiictcd by 
 the deluge on criminals of the highest rank and the 
 greatest power. 
 
 The eastern people have preserved several very 
 imcertain traditions relating to Enoch, whom they 
 call Edris. Eusebius, from Eupoiemus, tells us, that 
 the Babylonians acknov, ledged Enoch as the invent- 
 or of astrology ; tliat he is the Atlas of the Greeks ; 
 that Methuselah was his son, and that he received all 
 his uncommon knowledge by the ministry of an 
 angel. 
 
 ENON, where John baptized, because "there was 
 much water there, (John iii. 23.) v»'as eight miles south 
 of Scythopolis, between Shalim and the Jordan. 
 
 ENOS, son of Seth, and father of Cainan, was 
 born A. M. 235, and died, aged 905 years, A. M. 1140. 
 Moses sajs that Enos began to call on the name of 
 the Lord ; that is, he was the inventor of religious 
 rites and ceremonies in worship, and formed the 
 public and external manner of honoring God. This 
 worship Avas preserved in his familj', while that of 
 Cain involved itself in irregularities and impieties. 
 Our translators say, " Then began men to call on 
 the name of the Lord," (Gen. iv. 26.) which several 
 Jews translate, "Then began men to profane llie 
 name of the Lord," — i. e. by calling on creatures and 
 idols. It may likewise be translated, " Then began 
 men to call themselves by the name of the Lord ;" 
 i. e. good men, to distinguish themselves from the 
 wicked, began to take the name of sons or servants 
 of God; forvthich reason Moses (Gen. A'i. 1, 2.) says, 
 tliat " the sons of God," that is, the descendants of 
 Enos, "seeing the daughters of n^en," &c. The 
 eastern people make the following additions to his 
 history : That Seth, his father, declared him sove- 
 reign prince and higli-i>riest of mankind, next after 
 himself; that Enos was the first Avho ordained pub- 
 lic alms for the poor, established public tribunals for 
 the administration of justice, and planted, or rather 
 cidtivated, the palm-tree. 
 
 EN-ROGEL, a fountain on the south-east side of 
 Jerusalem, on the boundary line between the tribes 
 of Jiidali and Benjamin, Josh. xv. 7 ; xviii. 16 ; 2 
 Sam. xvii. 17 ; 1 Kings i. 9. It would seem to have 
 been tlie same with the fountain of Siloam. 
 
 EN-SITEMESH, was on the frontiers of Judah 
 and Benjamin, (Josh. xv. 7.) but whetlier it was a 
 town or a fountain, is questionable. The Arabians 
 give this name to the ancient metropolis of Ecypt, 
 which the Hebrews caUed On, and the Greeks 
 Heliopolis. 
 
 ENSIGN, a military token or signal to be follow- 
 ed ; a standard. The ancient Jewish ensign was a 
 long pole, at the end of which was a kind of chafing- 
 dish, made of iron bars, which held a fire, and the 
 fight, shape, &:c. of which, denoted tlie partv to 
 whom it belonged. God says he would lift up an
 
 EPH 
 
 [ 389 ] 
 
 EPH 
 
 ensign, Isa. v. 26. Christ was an "ensign to the 
 people ; and to it shall the Gentiles seek," chap. xi. 
 10. The brazen serpent was lifted up on an ensign 
 pole ; and to this our Lord compares his own "lifting 
 up," (Jolin iii. 14.) in consequence of which he will 
 draw all inen to him, as men follow an ensign, chap, 
 xii. 32. 
 
 ENV^Y, a malignant disposition, or state of mind, 
 which grudges at the welfare of others, and would 
 willingly deprive them of their advantages. Rachel 
 envied the fertility of Leah ; (Gen. xxx. 1.) and Jo- 
 seph was envied by his brethren, Gen. xxxvii. 11. 
 Envy slayeth the silly, (Job v. 2.) is rottenness to the 
 bones; (Prov. xiv. 30.) in short, it defiles, destroys, 
 consumes both soul and body ; and is the very char- 
 acteristic of Satan, through whose envy of human 
 happiness, sin and death entered into the world. 
 
 EPAPHRAS was, it is said, the first bishop of 
 Colossc. He was converted by Paul, and contrib- 
 uted much to convert his fellow-citizens. He came 
 to Rome while Paul was there in bonds, and was 
 imprisoned with the apostle. Having imdcrstood 
 that false teachers, taking advantage of his absence, 
 had sown tares among the wheat in his church, he 
 engaged Paul, whoso name and autliority were rev- 
 erenced throughout Phrygia, to write to the Colos- 
 siaus, to correct tliem. In this epistle Paul calls 
 Epaphras his " dear fellow-servant, and a faithful 
 minister of Christ," chap i. 7 ; iv. 12 ; Philem. 23. 
 [It is, however, not improbable, that Epaphras is the 
 same person with Epajjhroditus ; the former name 
 being nierely contracted from the latter. R. 
 
 EPAPHROpiTUS, apostle, as Paul calls him, of 
 Philippi ; or, if we take the word apostolus literally, 
 a messenger of the Philippians, who was sent by that 
 church to carry money to the apostle, then in bonds; 
 and to do him service, A. D. 01. He executed this 
 commission with such zeal, that he brought on him- 
 self a dangerous illness, which obliged him to remain 
 long at Rome. The year follo\ving (A. D. 62) he 
 returned with haste to Philippi, having heard that 
 the Philippians, on receiving information of Ijis sick- 
 ness, were very much afflicted, and Paul sent a letter 
 to them by him, Phil. iv. 18. 
 
 EPENETUS, a disciple of Paul ; (probably one 
 of the first he converted in Asia ;) " the first fruits 
 of Asia;" in the Greek, "first fruits of Achaia," 
 Rom. xvi. 5. 
 
 I. EPHAH, the eldest son of Miuian, dwelt in 
 Arabia Petra^a, and gave name to the city Ephah, 
 by the LXX called Gsepha, or Gephar, because they 
 frequently pronounce the letter jr like a j. Ephah, 
 and the small extent of land around it, made j)art of 
 Midian on the eastern shore of the Dead sea, very 
 different from another country of this name on the 
 Red sea. Ptolemy speaks of a town called Ipj)oson 
 the eastern coast of the Dead sea, a little belo\v Me- 
 dian or Midian. The countries of Midian and 
 Ephah abounded in dromedaries and camels, Judg. 
 vi. 5 ; Isa. Ix. 0. 
 
 II. EPHAH, or Ephi, a mcasiu-e of capacity used 
 among the Hebrews, containing three pecks and 
 three pints. The ephah was a dry measure ; as of 
 barley (Ruth ii. 17.) and meal, (Numb. v. 15 ; Judg. 
 vi. 19.) and was of the same capacity with the bath in 
 liquids. (See Bath.) Sometimes it is confounded 
 with the satum or seali. 
 
 I. EPHER, second son of Midian, and brother of 
 Ephah, 1 Chron. i. 33. He dwelt beyond Jordan, 
 (1 Kings iv. 10.) and might people the isle of IJpher 
 in the Red sea, or the city of^ Orpha, in the Diarbekr. 
 
 Jerome cites Alexander Polyhistor and Cleodemue, 
 surnamed Malec, who affirm, that Ephir made an 
 incursion into Libya, conquered it, and called it after, 
 his own name, Africa. Hercules is said to have ac- 
 companied him.— II. Son of Ezra, 1 Cliron. iv. 17. 
 III. Head of a family of Manassites, 1 Chron. v. 24. 
 
 EPHESUS, a celebrated city of Ionia, in Asia 
 Minor, about 40 miles south of Smyrna ; chiefly fa- 
 mous for its temple of Diana, the magnificence of 
 which attracted a great concourse of strangers. Its 
 length was 425 feet, breadth 220 ; and it hatl a hun- 
 dred and twenty -seven pillars, 60 feet liigh, presented 
 by as many kings. All the provinces of Asia con- 
 tributed to the expenses of its building, and two 
 hundred years were employed on it. Paul first vis- 
 ited Ephesus, A. D. 54, (Acts xviii. 19, 21.) but after 
 a few days he went to Jerusalem, promising the 
 Jews of Ephesus to return ; wliich he did some 
 months afterwards, and continued there three years, 
 when he was obliged to leave the city on occasion of 
 a sedition, raised by Demetrius the silversmith. 
 From hence the apostle wrote his First Epistle to 
 the Coi-inthians. The Ephesiaus were addicted to 
 the study of curious arts, to magic, sorcerj^, and ju- 
 dicial astrology ; so much so, that Ephesian letters 
 [Ephesia grammata) became a proverbial expression 
 for magic characters. Certain Jews at Ephesus, 
 wlio assumed authority to exorcise persons possessed 
 with the devil, were ill treated by one of the possess- 
 ed, which so terrified several persons addicted to the 
 curious arts, that they publicly burnt their books re- 
 lating to such subjects, although of very considerable 
 value. Acts xix. 14, &c. The apostle, in his last jour- 
 ney to Rome, took Ephesus in his way, (A. D. 65.) and 
 Avliile he was prisoner at Rome, he wrote to the 
 Ephesians a very pathetic, elevated and sublime let- 
 ter. Aquila and Priscilla, with whom Paul had 
 lodged at Corinth, came from thence with him to 
 Ephesus, and made some stay there. Acts xviii. 2, 3. 
 18.) and Apollos, a Jew of Alexandria, preached 
 thei-e. The apostle John passed a great part of his 
 life at Ephesus, and died here ; as did the Virgin 
 Mary and Slary Magdalen, according to tradition. 
 
 Timothy, according to tradition, was made first 
 bishop of Ephesus by the apostle ; which, however, 
 did not prevent John from residing in the city and 
 performing apostolic functions. If it be true that 
 Timothy did not die till A. D. 97, it can scarcely be 
 denied tliat he was the angel of the church at Ephe- 
 sus, to whom a reprimand is addressed, Rev. ii. 1 — 5. 
 See Timothy. 
 
 Stephens the geographer gives this city the title of 
 Epiphancstate, or, "most illustrious ;" Pliny styles it 
 the " ornament of Asia." In Roman times it was 
 the metropolis of Asia; and of the city then extant, 
 Lj'simachus was the founder. Ephesus was greatly 
 damaged b\' an earthquake in the reign of Tiberius, 
 who repaired and embellished it. In the war be- 
 tween ftlithridates and the Romans, Ephesus took 
 part with the former, and massacred the Romans 
 who dwelt in it. Sylla severely punished this cru- 
 elty ; but Ephesus was afterwards treated with lenity, 
 and enjoyed its own laws, with other privileges. 
 About the end of the eleventh century it was seized 
 by a Turkish pirate, named Tangripermes, but he 
 was routed by John Ducas, the Greek admiral, in a 
 bloody battle. In 1306, it suffered from the exac- 
 tions of the gi-and duke Roger, and two years af- 
 terwards it surrendered to sultan Saysan, who 
 removed the uihabitants to Tyroeiuin, where they 
 were massacred. Theodorus Lascariis, a Greek,
 
 EPHESUS 
 
 [ 390 ] 
 
 EPHESUS 
 
 made himself master of it in 1206. The Mahome- 
 tans recovered it after 3283. Tamerlane, after the 
 battle of Angora, (A. D. 1401.) commanded the lesser 
 princes of Anatolia to join him at Ephesus ; and em- 
 ployed a whole month in plundering the city and its 
 adjacencies. Daccas says, that the gold, silver, jew- 
 els, and even the clothes of the inhabitants were car- 
 ried off. Shortly after, the city was set on fire, and 
 mostly burnt, in a combat between the Turkish 
 governor and the Tartars. In 1405 — 22, Mahomet I. 
 took Ephesus, since which it has continued in the 
 possession of the Turks. Dr. Chandler says, " The 
 inhabitants are a few Greek peasants, living in ex- 
 treme wretchedness, dependence, and insensibility ; 
 the representatives of an illustrious people, and in- 
 habiting the wreck of their greatness ; some in the 
 substructions of the glorious edifices which they 
 raised ; some beneath the vaults of the stadium, once 
 the crowded scene of their diversions ; and some by 
 the abrupt precipice, in the sepulchres which received 
 their ashes. Its streets are obscured and overgrown. 
 A herd of goats was driven to it for shelter from the 
 sun at noon ; and a noisy flight of crows from the 
 quarries seemed to insult its silence. We heard the 
 partridge call in the area of the theatre and of the 
 stadium. The glorious pomp of its heathen worship 
 is no longer remembered ; and Christianity, which 
 was here inirsed by apostles, and fostered by general 
 councils, until it increased to fulness of stature, bare- 
 ly lingers on in an existence hardly visible." (Trav. 
 p. 131. Oxford, 177.5.) 
 
 The Jews, according to Josephus, were very nu- 
 merous in Ephesus, and had obtained the privilege 
 of citizenship: of course the Christians, being con- 
 sidered as a sect of Jews, would be pretty secure 
 here from persecution by the pohtical powers ; as 
 Ephesus was aiitonomos — governed by its own laws. 
 
 The worship of the great goddess Diana was es- 
 tal)lished at Ephesus in a remote age, and it is relat- 
 rd, tliat the Amazons sacrificed to her here, on their 
 Y/ay to Attica ; Pindar says, in the time of Theseus. 
 Some writers afiirm that they fii-st set up her image 
 i..i;K:r an elm-tree ; or in a niche, which they formed 
 in the trui.k of an elm. The statue is said to have 
 been but sinall : the work, says Pliny, of Canitia, an 
 aneiont artist, and witnessing its great antiquity by 
 its attitude and form, having its feet closed together ; 
 like many Egy})tian statues still remaining. It was 
 of wood, by some reported to be cedar, by others 
 ebony. Mutianus, consul of Rome, (A. D. 75.) 
 affirmed, from his own observation, that it was made 
 of vine wood ; and that its crevices were filled with 
 Hard, to nourish and moisten the wood, and to pre- 
 serve it. It was gorgeously apparelled ; the vest 
 thrown over it being ricldy embroidered with sym- 
 bolical devices. Each hand was supported by a bar ; 
 most likely of gold. A veil hanging from the ceiling 
 of tiie temjile concealed it, except when the service 
 required its exposure. It is said, that this statue was 
 never changed, though the temple had been restored 
 seven times. The populace believed that it descend- 
 ed from Jupiter: it was, probably, an allegorical rep- 
 resentation of the powers and productions of nature, 
 generally ; but especially as displayed in the country 
 where the ark of deliverance discharged the crea- 
 tures it had contained. The priests of the goddess 
 wei-e eunuchs ; anciently assisted in their offices by 
 virgins. There were also the sacred herald, the in- 
 censer, the flute player, and the trumpeter. The 
 privilege of asylum was granted to the temple, fii-st to 
 the distance of one hundred and twenty-five feet : 
 
 Mithridates enlarged it to a bow-shot, and Mark An- 
 tony doubled it. Tiberius abrogated the privilege ; 
 it having been grossly abused. As the following in- 
 scription not only confirms the general history in 
 Acts xix. but even approaches to several sentiments 
 and phrases used by the sacred writer, we copy it, 
 verbatim, from Dr. Chandler : (Trav. p. 135.) 
 
 "to the EPHESIAN DIANA. 
 
 " ' Inasmuch as it is notorious, that, not only among 
 the Ephesians, but also every where among the Greek 
 nations, temples are consecrated to her, and sacred 
 portions ; and that she is set up, and has an altar 
 dedicated to her, on account of her plain manifesta- 
 tions of herself; and that besides, as the greatest 
 token of veneration paid her, a month is called by 
 her name ; by us Artcmision, by the Macedonians, 
 and other Greek nations, and in their cities, Aiiemi- 
 sifon : in which, general assemblies and Hieromenia 
 are celebi-ated, but not in the holy city, the niu"se 
 of its own, the Ephesian goddess : the people of 
 Ephesus, deeming it proper that the whole month 
 called after her name be sacred and set apart to the 
 goddess, have determined by this decree, that the 
 observation of it by them be altered. Therefore it is 
 enacted that in the whole month Artcmision the days 
 be holy, and that nothing be attended to on them, but 
 the yearly feastiugs, and the Artemisiac Panegyris, 
 and the HitTomenia ; the entire month being sacred 
 to the goddess ; for, from this improvement in our 
 worship, our city shall receive additional lustre, and 
 be permanent in its prosperity for ever.' — The person 
 who obtained this decree, appointed games for the 
 month, augmented the prizes of the contenders, and 
 erected statues of those who conquered. His name 
 is not preserved, but he probably was a Roman, as 
 his kinsman, who provided this record, was named 
 Lucius Phfenius Faustus. Tlie feast of Diana Avas re- 
 sorted to yearly by the lonians, with their families." 
 
 This evidence proves, that the disposition to cry 
 " Great is Diana of the Ephesians !" was by no means 
 confined to Demetrius and his fellow-craftsmen ; the 
 whole city was guardian, iieokoros, to the temple. 
 See Diana. 
 
 Tlie phrase, "nurse of its own" goddess, in this 
 decree, refers to a story of the birth of Diana in Or- 
 tygia, a beautiful grove of trees of various kinds, 
 chiefly cypresses, near E})hesus, on the coast, a short 
 distance from the sea. This place was filled with 
 shrines and images. A panegyris, or general assem- 
 bly, was held there amnially ; splendid entertain- 
 ments were provided, and mystic sacrifices solem- 
 nized. This place, with its embellishments, appears 
 no more. The extreme sanctity of the temple of 
 Diana inspired universal awe and reverence. It was, 
 for many ages, a repository of treasures foreign and 
 domestic. This ]iropcrty was deemed secure ; the 
 temple having l)een spared by Xerxes, who spared 
 scarcely any other ; but Nero removed many costly 
 oflFerings and images, and an immense quantity of 
 silver and gold. It was again plundered in the time 
 of Gallienus, A. D. 2G2, by Goths from beyond the 
 Danube, who carried off' a jjrodigious booty. The 
 temple was probably destroyed at the same time as 
 other heathen temples were, by an edict of Constan- 
 tine. But there is a possibility that the total ruin of 
 it was effected by an earthquake ; although, by way 
 of prevention, it was 'situated in a m.arsh : however 
 that might be, " we now," says Dr. Chandler, " seek
 
 EPHESUS 
 
 [ 391 ] 
 
 EPH 
 
 in vain for tlie temple ; tlie city is prostrate, and the 
 goddess is gone." 
 
 De la Motraye mentions some circumstances con- 
 cerning Ephesus, which we subjoin : "This renown- 
 ed city, with the finest temple that ever was conse- 
 crated to Diana, is reduced by the changes it has 
 niot with in the wars, and under the diflerent masters 
 it lias had, to five or six miserable houses inhabited 
 bv Greeks, and about as many by Turks, with a cas- 
 tle for some few of these, a poor church for the first, 
 and a mosque tolerably handsome for the latter, 
 which, as they say, was formerly a church consecrat- 
 ed to St. Jolm ; in short, it is nothing but a chaos of 
 noble ruins, which, with some inscriptions and basso 
 relievos, are the only marks of its ancient magnifi- 
 cence. I shall not add any thing to Avhat M. Spon 
 and so many other travellers have already said of 
 these ruins, only that there are almost nothing re- 
 maining, but subterraneous vaults and foundations 
 of hard stone, or of brick, well cemented, upon 
 which the temple was built." The "candlestick is," 
 indeed, "removed out of his place." Rev. ii. 5. 
 
 [In 1821, Mr. Fisk, the American missionarj^, vis- 
 ited the site of Ephesus, of which he gives the follow- 
 ing account : " We sent back our horses to Aiasaluck, 
 and set out on foot to survey the ruins of Ephesus. 
 The ground was covered with high grass or grain, 
 and a very heavy dew rendered the walking rather 
 unpleasant. On the east side of the hill we found 
 nothing worthy of notice ; no appearance of having 
 been occupied for buildings. On the north side was 
 the circus or stadium. Its length from east to west 
 is forty rods, or one stadium. The noi-th or lower 
 side was supported by arches which still remain. 
 The area, where the races used to be performed, is 
 now a field of wheat. At the west end was the gate. 
 The walls adjoining it are still standing, and of con- 
 siderable height and strength. North of the stadium, 
 and separated only by a street, is a large square en- 
 closed with fallen walls and filled with the ruins of 
 various edifices. A street running north and south 
 divides this square in the centre. West of the stadi- 
 um is an elevation of ground, level on the top, with 
 an innnense pedestal in the centre of it. What build- 
 ing stood tliere it is not easy to say. Between this 
 and the stadium was a street passing from the great 
 plain north of Ephesus into the midst of the city. 
 
 " I found on the plains of Ephesus some Greek 
 peasants, men and women, employed in pulling up 
 tares and weeds from the wheat. It reminded me 
 of Matt. xiii. 28. I addressed them in Romaic, but 
 founrl they understood very little of it, as they usual- 
 ly answered me in Turkish. I ascertained, however, 
 tiiat they all belonged to villages at a distance, and 
 came there to labor. Not one of them could read, 
 but they said, there were priests and a schoolmaster 
 in the Village to which they belonged, who could 
 read. I gave them some tracts, which they promised 
 to giv'e to their priests and schoolmaster. Tournc- 
 fort says, that when he was at Ephesus, there were 
 thirty or forty Greek families there. Chandler found 
 only ten or twelve individuals. Now no human be- 
 ing' hves in Ephesus; and in Aiasaluck, which may 
 be considered as Ephesus under another name, 
 though not on precisely the same spot of ground, 
 there are merely a few miserable Turkish huts. 
 ' The candlestick is removed out of his place.' ' How 
 doth the city sit solitary that was f\dl of i)eople.' 
 
 "While wandering among the ruins, it was impos- 
 sible not to think, with deep interest, of the events 
 which have transpired on this spot. Here had been 
 
 displayed, from time to time, all the skill of the archi- 
 tect, the musician, the tragedian, and the orator. 
 Here some of the most splendid works of man have 
 been seen in all their glory, and here the event has 
 shown their transitory nature. How interesting 
 would it be to stand among these walls, and have 
 before the mind a full view of the history of Ephesus 
 from its first foimilation till now ! We might observe 
 the idolatrous and impure rites, and the cruel and 
 bloody sports of pagans, succeeded by the preaching, 
 the prayers, the holy and peaceable lives of the first 
 Christians — these Christians martyred, but their reli- 
 gion still triumphing — pagan rites and pagan sports 
 abolished, and the simple worship of Christ instituted 
 in their room. We might see the city conquered 
 and reconquered, destroyed and rebuilt, till finally 
 Christianity, arts, learning, and prosperity, all vanish 
 before the pestiferous breath of 'the only people 
 whose sole occupation has been to destroy.' 
 
 "The plain of Ephesus is now very unhealthy, 
 owing to the fogs and mist which almost continually 
 rest upon it. The land, however, is rich, and the 
 surrounding country is both fertile and healthy. The 
 adjacent hills would furnish many delightful situa- 
 tions for villages, if the difiiculties were removed 
 which are thrown in the way by a despotic govern- 
 ment, oppressive agas, and wandering banditti." 
 (aiissionary Herald for 1821, p. 319.) *R. 
 
 EPHOD, an ornamental part of the dress worn by 
 the Hebrew priests. [It was worn above the tunic 
 and robe [meil) ; was without sleeves, and open below 
 the arms on each side, consisting of two pieces, one 
 of which covered the front of the body and the other 
 the back, joined together on the shoulders by golden 
 buckles set with gems, and reaching down to the 
 middle of the thigh. A girdle belonged to it, by 
 which it was fastened ai'ound the body. Ex. xxviii. 
 G— 12. R. 
 
 There were two kinds of ephod, one plain, of 
 linen, for the priests, another embroidered for the 
 high-priest. As there was nothing singular in that 
 of the priests, Moses does not describe it ; but that 
 belonging to the high-priest, (Exod. xxviii. G.) which 
 was composed of gold, blue, purple, crimson, and 
 twisted cotton, was a very rich composition of differ- 
 ent colors. On that part of the ephod, which came 
 over tlie shoulders of the high-priest, were two large 
 precious stones, on which were engraven the names 
 of the twelve tribes of Israel, six names on each 
 stone. Where the ephod crossed his breast, was a 
 square ornament called the pectoral, in Avhich were 
 set twelve precious stones, with the names of the 
 twelve tribes of Israel engraved on them, one on 
 each stone. (See Breastplate.) Calmet is of opin- 
 ion, that the ephod was peculiar to priests, and Je- 
 rome observes, that we find no mention of it in the 
 Scripture, except when priests are spoken of. But 
 some considerations render dubious this opinion. 
 We find that David wore it at the removal of the ark 
 from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem ; and 
 Samuel, although a Levite only, and a child, yet wore 
 the ephod, 1 Sam. ii. 18. The Jews held, that no 
 worship, true or false, could subsist without the 
 ])riesthood, or the ephod. Gideon made an ephod 
 out of the spoils of the Midianites, and this became 
 an offence in Israel. Micah, having made an idol, 
 did not fail to make an ephod, Judg. viii. 27 ; xvii. 5. 
 God foretold, by the prophet Hosea, (iii. 5.) that Is- 
 rael should long remain without kings, princes, sac- 
 rifices, altar, ephod, and teraphim. The ephod is 
 often taken for the pectoral ; and for the Urim
 
 EFH 
 
 [ 392 ] 
 
 EPI 
 
 and Thummim also ; because these were united 
 to it. 
 
 The Levites did not regularly wear the ephod : 
 Rloses appointed nothing particular with relation to 
 their dress. (See Levite.) But at the dedication of 
 Solomon's temple, the Levites and singing men, 
 who were not of the priests' order, were clothed in 
 fine linen. Josephus remarks, that in the time of 
 king Agrippa, a short time before the taking of Jeru- 
 salem by the Romans, the Levites desired that prince 
 to convene the Sanhedrim, in order to allow them 
 the privilege of wearing the linen stole, like the 
 priests. They flattered Agrippa that this would 
 contribute to the glory of his reign. Agrippa com- 
 plied ; but the historian observes, that this innovation 
 violated the laws of their country, which never had 
 been violated with impunity. Spencer and Cunteus 
 both affirm, that the Jewish kings had a right to wear 
 the ephod, and to consult the Lord by Urim and 
 Thummim. Their opinion they gi-ouud principally 
 on the behavior of David at Ziklag, who said to 
 Abiathar the high-priest, " Bring me hither the 
 ephod ; and Abiathar brought thither the ephod," 
 1 Sam. XXX. 7. The sequel favors this opinion, 
 " And David inquired at the Lord, saying. Shall I 
 pursue after this troop ? Shall I overtake them ? And 
 he answered him. Pursue ; thou shalt recover all," 
 ver. 8. We read likewise, (1 Sam. xxviii. G.) that 
 " Saul inquired of the Lord," and that " the Lord 
 answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, 
 nor by prophets," He consulted God by the Urim, 
 consequently he put on the ephod. But most com- 
 mentators are of opinion, that neither David, Saul, 
 nor Joshua dressed themselves in the high-priest's 
 ephod, to consult God in their own persons ; but, 
 that these passages signify only, "Put on the ephod, 
 and consult the Lord for me;" literally, "Bring the 
 ephod to me, and Abiathar caused the ephod to be 
 brought to David." Grotius believes, that the high- 
 priest turned the ephod, or pectoi-al, towards David, 
 that he might see what God should answer to him by 
 the stones on the breastplate. (See Uriji and 
 Thummim.) 
 
 EPHPHATHA, be opened, a Syriac word, v/hich 
 our Saviour pronounced, when he cured one deaf 
 and duml), Mark vii. 34. 
 
 EPHRA, a city of Ephraim, and Gideon's birth- 
 place. Its true situation is unknown ; but it is 
 tliought to be the same as Ophrah, Judg. vi. IL 
 
 L EPHRAIM, Joseph's second son, by Asenath, 
 Potiphar's daughter: born in Egypt, about A.M. 
 2294. Ephraim, with his brother Manasseh, was 
 presented by Joseph, his father, to the patriarch Jacob 
 on his death-bed. Jacob laid his right hand on 
 Ephraim, the yoimgest, and his left hand on Manas- 
 seh, the-cldest. Joseph was desirous to change this 
 situation of his hands; but Jacob answered, "I know 
 it, my son ; he (Manasseh) also shall become a peoj)le, 
 and he also shall be great ; but truly his younger 
 brother shall be greater than he," (Jen. xlviii. 13 — 19. 
 The sons of Ephraim having made an inroad on 
 Palestine, the inliahitants of Gath killed them, 1 
 CIn-on. vii. 20, 21. E|)hraim, their father, mourned 
 many days for them, and liis bretln-en came to com- 
 fort him. Afterwards, he iiad sons named Beriah, 
 Rephah, Resheph, anil Tela, and a daughter named 
 Sherah. His posterity multiplied in Egypt to the 
 number of 40,500 men, capable of bearing arms. 
 Numb. ii. 18, 19. Joshua, who was of this tribe, 
 gave the Ephraimites their portion between the 
 Mediterranean sea west, and the river Jordan east. 
 
 Josh. xvi. 15. (See Canaan.) The ark, and the tab- 
 ernacle, renijained long in this tribe, at Shiloh ; and, 
 after the separation of the ten tribes, the seat of the 
 kingdom of Israel being in Ephraim, Ephraim is fre- 
 quently used to signify that kingdom. Ephrata is 
 used also for Bethlehem, Mic. v. 2. The tribe of 
 Ephraim was led captive Ijeyondthe Euphrates, with 
 all Israel, by Salmaneser, king of Assyria, A. M. 3283, 
 ante A. D. 721. 
 
 II. EPHRAIM, a city of Ephraim, towards the Jor- 
 dan, whither it is probable, Jesus retired before his 
 passion, John xi. 54. This Ephraim was a city in 
 the confines of the land of Ephraim, (2 Chron. xiii. 
 19.) and was famous for fine flour. Josephus calls 
 Ephraim and Bethel, two small cities ; and places 
 the former not in the tribe of that name, but in the 
 laud of Benjaniin, near the wildei'ness of Judea, in 
 the way to Jericho. 
 
 III. EPHRAIM. The forest of Ephraim was east 
 of the Jordan, and in it Absalom lost his life, 2 Sam. 
 xviii. 6 — 8. It could not be far from Mahanaim. 
 
 I. EPHRATAH, Psalm cxxxii. 6, denotes, the lot 
 of Ephraim. See the latter part of the article 
 Ephraim I. 
 
 II. EPHRATAH, otherwise Bethlehem. See 
 Bethlehem. 
 
 I. EPIIRON, son of Zohar ; who sold the cave of 
 Machpelah to Abraham, Gen. xxiii. 6. 
 
 II. EPHRON, a city beyond Jordan, which Judas 
 Maccabseus took and sacked, 1 Mac. v. 40. 
 
 EPICUREANS, (Acts xvih. 18.) the name of a 
 celebrated sect of ancient philosophers, who placed 
 happiness in pleasure ; not in voluptuousness, but in 
 sensible, rational pleasiu'e, properly regulated and 
 governed. They denied a Divine Providence, how- 
 ever, and the inunortahty of the soul. They were so 
 named after Epicurus, a philosopher, whom they 
 claimed as founder of their sect ; and who lived 
 about 300 years before A. D. so that whatever his 
 doctrines originally were, the time that had elapsed 
 since his death, was sufficient to allow of their de- 
 basement; and his later disciples adopted the sensual 
 import of their master's expressions, rather than the 
 spiritual power of his principles. It is well known, 
 that they latterly were called " Epiciu-us's hogs ;" 
 (Hor. Epist. I. i. 4.) implying the sloth and sensuaUty 
 Off the sect. Against these debauchees the apostle 
 argues, that Providence governs all the affairs of 
 men, as connnunities, and as individuals ; that the 
 resurrection of one person (Christ) is proof of a sep- 
 arate state ; and that a future judgment, to be pre- 
 sided over by him, evinces the notice taken by the 
 Deity of virtue and vice, with the ultimate reward 
 and punishment of characters so op|)osite. 
 
 EPIPHANES, splendid, illustnous, an epithet 
 given to the gods, when appearing to men. Antio- 
 chus, brother of Seleucus, coming fortunately into 
 Syria, a little after the deatli of his brother, was re- 
 garded as some propitious deity ; and was hence 
 called Epiphancs — the illustrious. (See Antiociius 
 IV.) We call that festival Ei>iphany, on which the 
 church celebrates the adoration of the Messiah by 
 the Magi, or wise men. 
 
 EPIPHANIA, a city of Syria, on the river Orontes, 
 between Antioch and A]);uuca. Several of the an- 
 cients say, it was called IIau)ath, before Antiociius 
 E|)iphanes named it I'^ipiphania. Jerome and others 
 are of opinion, that it is Haniath the Great. He says, 
 that even in his time, the Syrians called Epiphania, 
 Emtnas. But, that this was Emesa, in Syria, see 
 IIamath.
 
 EPISTLE 
 
 393 ] 
 
 ESA 
 
 EPISTLE, a letter written from one party to an- 
 other ; but the term is eminently applied to those let- 
 ters in the New Testament which were written by 
 the apostles, on various occasions, to approve, con- 
 demn, or direct the conduct of Christian churches. 
 It is not to be supposed that every note, or memo- 
 randum, written by the hands of the apostles, or by 
 their direction, was divinely inspired, or proper for 
 preservation to distant ages ; those only have been 
 preserved, by the overruling hand of Providence, 
 from which useful directions had been drawn, and 
 might in nfter-ages be drawn, by believers, as from a 
 perpetual directoiy for faith and practice ; — always 
 supposing that similar circumstances require similar 
 directions. In reading an epistle, we ouglit to con- 
 sider the occasion of it, the circumstances of the par- 
 ties to whom it wasaddressed, the time when written, 
 the general scope and design of it, as well as the in- 
 tention of particular arguments and passages. We 
 ought also to observe the style and manner of the 
 writer, his mode of expression, the peculiar effect he 
 designed to produce on those to whom he wrote, to 
 whose temper, manners, general principles, and actu- 
 al situation, he might address his arguments, &c. 
 The epistles afford many and most powerful evi- 
 dences of the trutli of Christianity : they appeal to a 
 great number of extraordinary facts ; and allude to 
 principles, and opinions, as admitted, or as prevailing, 
 or as opposed, among those to whom they are ad- 
 dressed. They mention a considerable number of 
 persons, describe their simations in life, hint at their 
 connections with the churches, and by sometimes 
 addressing them, and sometimes recommending them 
 by name, they connect their testimony with that of the 
 writer of the epistle ; and often, no doubt, they gave a 
 proportionate influence to those individuals. Beside 
 this, it is every way likely, that individuals mentioned 
 in the epistles, would carefully procure copies of these 
 writings, would give them all the authority and all 
 the notoriety in their power, would communicate 
 them to other churches, and, in short, would become 
 vouchers for their genuineness and authenticity. 
 We in the present day, who possess these instructive 
 documents, may learn from them many things for 
 our advantage and our conduct; how to avoid those 
 evils which formerly injured the professors of true 
 religion ; and how to rectify those errors and 
 abuses to which time and incident occasionally gave 
 rise, or to whose spread and prevalence particular 
 occurrences or conjunctures are favorable. See 
 Bible, Canon, &c. 
 
 The epistles being placed together in our canon, 
 witliout reference to their chronological order, are 
 perused under considerable disadvantages ; and it 
 would be well to read them occasionally in connec- 
 tion with what the history in the Acts of the Apostles 
 relates respecting the several churches to which they 
 are addressed. This would also give us, nearly, 
 their order of time ; which should also be considered, 
 together with the situation of the writer ; as it may 
 naturally be infeu'ed that such compositions would 
 partake of the writer's recent and present feelings. 
 The epistles addressed to the dispersed Jews by John 
 and James, by Peter and Jiide, are very different in 
 their style and application from those of Paul written 
 to the Gentiles ; and those of Paul, no doubt, contain 
 expressions, and allude to facts, nuich more familiar 
 to their original readers than to later ages. For the 
 several e|)istles, see the articles of the respective 
 writers ; or those of the churches to which they are 
 addressed. 
 
 50 
 
 ER, Judah's eldest son, who married Tamar ; but 
 who, being wicked, brought himself to an untimely 
 end, Gen. xxxviii. 7. 
 
 ERASTUS, a Corinthian, and one of Paul's dis- 
 ciples, Rom. xvi. 23. lie was chamberlain of the 
 city, 'Oiy.ou'.fio;, that is, of Corinth, where Paul was 
 at that time; but of Jerusalem, according to the mod- 
 ern Greeks. He followed Paul to Ejihcsus, where 
 he was A. D. 56, and was sent l)y Paul to '.lacedonia 
 with Timothy, i)robal)ly to collect alms expected 
 from the brethren. They were both with him at 
 Corinth, A. D. 58, when he wrote his epistle to the 
 Romans, whom he salutes in both their names ; and 
 it is probable that Erastus afterwards accompanied 
 him till his last voyage to Corinth, in the way to 
 Rome, where he suffered martyrdom ; for then 
 Erastus remained at Corinth, 2 Tim. iv. 20. 
 
 ERECH, a city of Chaldea, built by Nimrod, 
 grandson of Cush, (Gen. x. 10.) and probably Aracca, 
 placed by Ptolemy in the Susiana, on the river Ti- 
 gris, below where it joins the Euphrates. Ammia- 
 nus calls it Arecca. From this city the Areettean 
 fields, which abound with naphtha, and sometimes 
 take fire, derive their name. The capital of the 
 province, under the Chaldeans and Assyrians, was 
 Babylon ; under the princes named Cosrhocs, it was 
 Madain ; and under the Arabians, Bagdat. It is 
 called Chaldea, or Babylonia, by the Greeks and 
 Latins. 
 
 ERI, son of Gad, and head of a family. Gen. xlvi. 
 16; Numb. xxvi. 16. 
 
 ESAR-HADDON, son of Sennacherib, and his 
 successor in the kingdom of Assyria, 2 Kings xix. 37. 
 Nothing is said of him in Scripture, except it is men- 
 tioned that he had sent colonists, to Samaria, Ezra 
 iv. 2. He is supposed to have been the Sardanapa- 
 lus of profane historians. He is said to have reigned 
 29 or 30 years at Nineveh, and thirteen years at Bab- 
 ylon ; in all, forty-two years. See Assyria. 
 
 ESAU, son of Isaac and Rebekah, was born A. M. 
 2168. When the time of Rebekah's delivery came, 
 she had twins ; (Gen. xxv. 24—26.) the first born 
 being hairy, was called Esau ; which signifies hairy. 
 The Other twin was Jacob. Esau delighted in hunt- 
 ing, and his father Isaac had a particular affection 
 for him. One day, Esau returning from the fields, 
 greatly fatigued, desired Jacob to give him some red 
 pottage, which he was then making. Jacob con- 
 sented, provided he would sell him his birthright. 
 Esau, conceiving himself weakened almost to death, 
 sold it ; and by oath resigned it to his brother, Gen. 
 xxv. 29—34. At the age of forty, Esau married two 
 Canaanitish women ; Judith, daughter of Beeri the 
 Hittite, and Bashemath, daughter of Elon, (Gen. xxvi. 
 34.) which were very displeasing to Isaac and Re- 
 bekah, because they "intermingled the blood of Abra- 
 ham with that of Canaanite aliens. Isaac being old, 
 and his sight decayed, directed Esau to procure him 
 delicate venison, by himting, that he might give him 
 his last blessing. Gen. xxvi). Esau, therefore, vyent 
 to the chase, but, during his absence, Jacob, disguised 
 by their mother Rebekah, obtained Isaac's blessing. 
 When Esau returned, he learned what had passed, 
 and, with weeping, mourned a secondary benediction 
 from his father. "Esau now contracted an aversion 
 against Jacob, and determined to slay him ; but his 
 designs were frustrated by Rebekah. 
 
 Esau settled in the mountains south of the Dead 
 sea, and becauie very powerful. When Jacob re- 
 turned from Mesopotamia, Esau received his mes- 
 sengers kindly, and came with four hundred men to
 
 ESD 
 
 394 ] 
 
 ESH 
 
 meet him. The two brothers embraced each other 
 tenderly. Esau offered to accompany his brother 
 over the Jordan ; but Jacob declined his offer, and 
 Esau returned to Seir, xxxiii. 
 
 The two brothers were present when their father 
 died ; but being both veiy rich in cattle, and the 
 country not affording pasture for all their flocks, they 
 separated ; Esau retiring to mount Seir, xxxvi. 6 — 8. 
 Esau had three wives ; Judith, or Aholibamah, Ba- 
 shemath, or Adah, Mahelath, or Bashemath. Judith 
 was mother of Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah ; Adah was 
 mother of Eliphaz ; and Mahelath, mother of Reuel, 
 ver. 2 — 5. AVe know nothing certain concerning the 
 death of Esau. King Erythros, from whom the Red 
 sea is said to have been named, and whose tomb was 
 show n in the isle of Tyrina or Aggris, is believed to 
 be Edom. Erythros in Greek signifies rerf, the same 
 as Edom in Hebrew. See Idumea. 
 
 ESDRAELON, a plain in the tribe of Issachar, 
 extends east and west from Scythopolis to momit 
 Carmel : it is called also the great plain ; the valley 
 ofJezreel; and the plain of Esdrela. 
 
 [The following notices of this plain by Dr. Jowett, 
 may not be uninteresting. After leaving Nazareth 
 for Jerusalem, he says: (Christian Researches in 
 Syria, &c. p. 146.) "Our road for the first three 
 quarters of an hour, lay among the hills which lead 
 to the plain of Esdraelon ; upon which, when we 
 were once descended, we had no more inconvenience, 
 but rode for the most part on level ground, interrupt- 
 ed by only gentle ascents and descents. This is that 
 ' mighty plain' — uiya rcfSior, as it is called by ancient 
 writers — which, in every age, has been celebrated for 
 so many battles. It was across this plain, that the 
 hosts of Barak chased Sisera and his nine hundred 
 chariots of iron : from mount Tabor to that ancient 
 river, the river Kishon, would be directly through the 
 middle of it. At present, there is peace ; but not 
 that most visible evidence of endiu-mg peace and 
 civil protection, a thriving population. We counted, 
 in our road across the plain, only five very small 
 villages, consisting of wretched mud-hovels, chiefly 
 in ruins ; and very few persons moving on the road. 
 We might again truly apply to this scene the words 
 of Deborah, (Judg. v. (), 7.) The hightvays were un- 
 occupied : the inhabitants of the villages ceased — they 
 ceased in Israel. The soil is extremely rich ; and, in 
 every direction, are the most picturesque views — the 
 hills of Nazareth to the north — those of Samaria, to 
 the south — to the east, the mountains of Tabor and 
 Ilermon — and Carmel, to the south-west. About four 
 o'clock in the afternoon, we arrived at the village of 
 Gennyn, which is situated at the entrance of one of 
 the numerous vales which lead out of the plain of 
 Esdraelon to the mountainous regions of Ephraim. 
 One of these passages would be the valley of .Tez]-eel ; 
 and from the window of the khan where we are 
 lodging, we have a clear view of the tract over which 
 the prophet Elijaii must have passed, when he gird- 
 ed up his loins, and ran before Ahali to the entrance 
 ofJezreel. But, in the ])rrKont day, no chariots of 
 Ahab or of Sisera, an; to bo soon — not even a single 
 wheel-carriage, of any description whatever." 
 
 In another place he remarks, (p. 222.) " To the south 
 of the chain of hills on which Nazareth is situated, 
 is the vast and cver-inemorablo jilain of Esdraelon. 
 We computed this plain to bo at least fifteen miles 
 square ; making allowance for some ajjparont irreg- 
 ularities, such as its running out, on the west, toward 
 mount Carmel, and on the opposit*; side toward Jor- 
 dan. We passed rather on the eastern side of the 
 
 middle of the plain, in our way to Gennyn. Although 
 it bears the title of ' plain,' yet it abounds with hjUs, 
 which, in the view of it from the adjacent mountains, 
 shrink into nothing. On this noble plain, if there 
 were perfect security from the government — a thing 
 now unknown for centuries — twenty-five good towns, 
 where we saw but five miserable villages, might 
 stand, at a distance of three miles from one another, 
 each with a population of a thousand souls, to the 
 great improvement of the cultivation of so bountiful 
 a soil. The land is not, indeed, neglected ; but let 
 none suppose, that, in this country, the greatest, or 
 any thing like the greatest possible profit is made of 
 the soil ; while wars, feuds, extortions, and all the 
 disadvantages resulting from Turkish government 
 and Arab rivalry are continually harassing the com- 
 mon people, and reducing husbandry and every 
 art to the lowest state of degradation." 
 
 This memorable plain has ever been a chosen place 
 for battles and military operations in every age. The 
 following rapid and brilliant sketch of the martial 
 events, which, during a period of thirty centuries, 
 have passed upon this spot, is from the pen of the late 
 Dr. C. D. Clarke, (Travels in Greece, Egypt, and the 
 Holy Land, ch. xv.) " Here it was that Barak, de- 
 scending with his ten thousand men from mount Ta- 
 bor, discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, even nine 
 hundred chariots of iron ; and all the people that 
 were with him, gathered from Harosheth of the Gen- 
 tiles, unto the river of Kishon ; when all the host of 
 Sisera fell on the sword, and there was not a man 
 left. Here also it was, that Josiah, king of Jiidali, 
 fought in disguise against Necho, king of Egypt, and 
 fell by the arrows of his antagonist. It has been a 
 chosen place for encampment in every contest carried 
 on in this country, from the days of Nabuchodonosoi-, 
 king of the Assyrians, (in the history of whose war 
 with Arphaxad it is mentioned as the great plain of 
 Esdrelom,) until the disastrous march of Napoleon 
 Buonaparte from Egypt into Syria. Jews, Gentiles, 
 Saracens, Christian Crusaders, and anti-Christian 
 Frenchmen, Egyptians, Persians, Druses, Turks, and 
 Arabs, warriors out of every nation which is imder 
 heaven, have pitclied their tents upon the plain of 
 Esdraelon, and have beheld the various banners of 
 their nations wet with the dews of Tabor and of 
 Hermon." *R. 
 
 ESDRAS, sec Ezra. 
 
 ESEK, the name of a well dug by the patriarch 
 Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 20. 
 
 E.SHBAAL, or Ishbosheth, fourth son of Saul, 
 1 Chron. viii. .33. The Hebrews, to avoid pronoun- 
 cing the word Baal (lord) used Bosheth (blushing, 
 confusion.) Instead of Eshbaal, they said Ish- 
 bosheth, 2 Sam. ii. 8. See Ishbosuetu. 
 
 I. ESHCOL, one of Abraham's allies in the valley 
 of Manu'c, who accom])anied him in the pursuit of 
 Chcdoriaonicr, Gen. xiv. 24. — II. A valley in the 
 south of Jndah, where the Hebrew spies cut a bunch 
 of grapes, as large as two mm covdd carrv. 
 i'^SHEAN, a town of Judah, Josh. xv. 52. 
 ESHTAOIi, a town of Dan ; thotigh it belonged 
 first to Judah, (Josh. xv. 33 ; Judg. xiii. 25 ; xvi. 31.) 
 Eusebius says, it was ten miles from Eleutheropolis, 
 towards Nicopolis, between Azotus and Askalon. It 
 is called by Jeronu', Asco. Eshtaol is thought to be 
 a village, now called by the Arabs Esdad, about fif- 
 teen miles south of Yebna. It is a wretched place, 
 composed of a few mud huts. 
 
 I'^SHTEMOA, or F.sitTEMOH, a town of Jndah, 
 Josh. xxi. 14: xv. 50; 1 Siim. xxx. 28. Euseinus
 
 ESS 
 
 [ 3115 
 
 ESSENES 
 
 says, it was a large town in the distiict ol'Eleuthero- 
 polis, north of that city. It was ceded to the priests, 
 1 Chron. vi. 57. 
 
 ESPOUSE, ESPOUSALS. This was a ceremo- 
 ny of betrotliing, or coming under obHgation for the 
 purpose of marriage ; and was a mutual agreement 
 hetwoen the two parties, whirh usually preceded the 
 marriage some considerable time. (See Marriage.) 
 The reader will do well carefidly to attend to the 
 distinction between espousals and marriage ; as es- 
 pousals in the East are frequently contracted years 
 before the parties are married, and sometimes in very 
 early youth. This custom is alluded to figuratively, 
 as between God and his people, (Jer. ii. 2.) to whom 
 he was a husband, (xxi. 32.) and the apostle says he 
 acted as a kind of assistant {pronuba) on such an oc- 
 casion : " I have espoused you to Christ ;" {2 Cor. xi. 
 2.) have drawn up the writings, settled the agree- 
 ments, given pledges, &c. of your union. See Isa. 
 liv. 5 ; Slatt. xxv. 6 ; Rev. xix. 
 
 ESSEXES, or Essenians, a Jewish sect. We 
 are not acquainted with the origin of the Essenes, or 
 the etyuiology of their name. Pliny says, they had 
 been many thousand yeai-s in being, living without 
 maiTiage, and without the other sex. The first book 
 of Maccabees (see Assideans) calls them Hasdauim, 
 and says, they were formed into a society before 
 Hircanus was high-priest. The first of the Essenes, 
 mentioned by Josephus, is Judas, in the time of 
 Aristobulus, and Antigonus, son of Hircanus. Sui- 
 das, and some othei-s, were of opinion, that the 
 Essenes were a branch of the Rechabites, who sub- 
 sisted before the captivity. Calmet takes the Chas- 
 dim of the Psalms, and the Assideans in the Macca- 
 bees, to be their true source. 
 
 Josephus gives the following account of the Es- 
 senes : They live in perfect union, and abhor volup- 
 tuousness as a fatal poison ; they do not marry ; but 
 bring up other men's children as if they were their 
 own, and infuse into them very early their own spirit 
 and maxims ; they despise riches, and possess all 
 things in common. Oil and perfumes are prohibited 
 their habitations ; they have an austere and mortified 
 air, but without affectation ; they always dress in 
 white ; they have a steward, who distributes to each 
 what he wants; they are hospitable to their own 
 sect ; so that they are not obliged to take provisions 
 with them on their journeys. The children which 
 they educate are all treated and clothed alike, and do 
 not change their dress till their clothes are worn out. 
 Their trade is carried on by exchange ; each giving 
 what is supei-fluous, to receive what he needs. They 
 do not speak before the sun rises, excepting some 
 prayers taught them by their fathers, which they ad- 
 dress to this luminary, as if to incite it to appear ; 
 afterwai-ds they work till the fifth hour, near eleven 
 o'clock in the morning. They then meet together, 
 eind, putting on hnen, bathe in fresh water, and retire 
 to their cells, where no strangei-s enter. From 
 thence they go into their common refectory, which 
 is, as it were, a sacred temple, where they continue 
 in profound silence ; they are sei-ved with bread, and 
 each has his own mess ; the priest says grace, after 
 which they eat : they finish their meal also with a 
 prayer ; they then pull off" their white clothes, which 
 they wore while at table, and return to their work 
 until the evening; at that time they come again to 
 the refectory, and bring their guests with them, if 
 they have any. They are religious observers of their 
 word ; their bare promise is as binding as the most 
 sacred oaths ; they avoid swearing, as they would 
 
 perjury ; their care of their sick is very particular, 
 and they never suffer them to want any thing; 
 they read carefully the writings of the ancients, and 
 thereby acqun-e the knowledge of plants, stones, 
 roots, and remedies. Before they admit any who 
 desire it into their sect, they put them to a year's pro- 
 bation, and mure them to the practice of the most 
 uneasy exercises ; after this term, they admit them 
 into the common refectory, and the place where tliey 
 bathe ; but not into the interior of tlie house until 
 after another trial of two years ; then they are al- 
 lowed to make a kind of profession, wherein they 
 engage by hon-ible oaths to obsene the laws of pietv, 
 justice, and modesty ; fidelity to God and then- 
 prince ; never to discover the secrets of the sect to 
 strangers ; and to preserve the books of their mas- 
 ters, and the names of angels, with great care. If 
 any one violate these engagements, and incur nota- 
 ble guilt, he is expelled, and generally dies of want ; 
 because he can receive no food from any stranger, 
 being bound to the contrarj^ by his oaths. Some- 
 times the Essenes, moved with compassion, receive 
 such again, when they have gi^en long and solid 
 proofs of conversion. Next to God, they have the 
 greatest respect for Moses, and for old men. The 
 sabbath is very regularly observed among them ; they 
 not only forbear from kindling any fire, or preparing 
 any thing, on that day, but they do not stir any mova- 
 ble thing, nor attend to the calls of nature. They 
 generally live long, owing to the simplicity of their 
 diet, and the regularity of their fives ; they show in- 
 credible firmness under torments; they hold the soul 
 to be immortal, and believe that souls descend from 
 the highest air into the bodies animated by them, 
 whither tliey are drawn by some natural attraction, 
 which they cannot resist ; and after death, they swifdy 
 return to the place from whence they came, as if 
 freed from a long and melancholy captivity. In re- 
 spect to the state of the soul after deatli, they have 
 almost the same sentiments as the heathen, who place 
 the souls of good men in the Elysian fields, and 
 those of the wicked in Tartarus. Some among them 
 are married ; in other respects they agree with the 
 other Essenes. They live separate from their wives 
 while pregnant. Slavery is esteemed by them an 
 injury to human nature ; wherefore they have no 
 slaves. Many of them were said to have the gift of 
 prophecy, which is ascribed to their continual read- 
 ing of the sacred writers ; and to their simple and 
 frugal way of living. They believe that nothing 
 happens but according to the decrees of God ; and 
 their sect is nearly related to that of the Pythago- 
 reans among the Greeks. There were women, also, 
 who observed the same institutions and practices. 
 
 Although the Essenes were the most religious of 
 then- nation, yet they did not visit the temple at Je- 
 rusalem, nor offer bloody sacrifices ; they were afraid 
 of being jiolluted by other men ; they sent their 
 oflTerings thither ; and themselves offered up to Grod 
 the sacrifices of a clean heart. Philo says, the Es- 
 senes were in number about four thousand in Judea; 
 and Pliny seems to fix their principal abode above 
 En-gedi, where they fed on the fruit of the palm- 
 tree. He adds, that they lived at a distance from the 
 sea-shore, for fear of being corrupted by the conver- 
 sation of strangers. Philo assures us, that in certain 
 cities some of them occasionally resided ; but that 
 they usually chose rather to dwell in the fields, and 
 apply themselves to agriculture, and other laborious 
 exercises, which did not take them from their soli- 
 tude. Their studies were the laws of Moses ; espe-
 
 ESSENES 
 
 [ 396 ] 
 
 EST 
 
 cially on sabbath days, on which they assembled in 
 their synagogues, where each was seated according 
 to his rank ; the elder above, the younger below. 
 One of the company read, and another of the most 
 learned expounded. They very much used symbols, 
 allegories, and parables, after the manner of the an- 
 cients. We do not see that our Lord has spoken of 
 them, or that he preached among them. It is not 
 improbable that John the Baptist Uved among them, 
 till he began to baptize and preach. The wilderness, 
 where Pliny places the Essenes, was not very far 
 from Hebron, which is thought by some to be the 
 place of John's birth. 
 
 The following particulars are from Philo, concern- 
 ing the Essenes, who may be called practical, to dis- 
 tinguish them from the Therapeutae, who may be 
 termed contemplative Essenians. Some employ them- 
 selves in husbandry ; others in trades and manufac- 
 tures, of such things only as are useful in time of 
 peace ; their designs being beneficial only. They 
 amass neither gold nor silver, nor make any large 
 acquisitions of land to increase their revenues, but 
 are satisfied with possessing what is requisite to re- 
 lieve the necessities of life. They are, perhaps, the 
 only men who without land or money, by choice 
 rather than by necessity, find themselves rich enough ; 
 because their wants are but few, and, as they under- 
 stand how to be content with nothing, as we may say, 
 they always enjoy plenty. You do not find an artifi- 
 cer among them who would make any sort of arms, 
 or warlike machines ; they make none of those 
 things, even in time of peace, which men pervert to 
 bad uses ; they concern themselves neither with 
 trade nor navigation ; lest it should engage them to 
 be avaricious. The method which they follow in 
 their explanation, is to unfold the allegorical mean- 
 ings of Scripture. Their instructions run principally 
 on holiness, equity, justice, economy, pohcy, the dis- 
 tinction between real good and evil ; of what is 
 indiflferent, what we ought to pursue, or to avoid. 
 The three fundamental maxims of their morality are, 
 the love of God, of virtue, and of our neighi)or ; they 
 demonstrate their love of God in a constant chastity 
 throughout their lives, in a great aversion from swear- 
 ing and lying, and in attributing eveiy thing that is 
 good to God, never making him the author of evil ; 
 they show their love to virtue in disinterestedness, in 
 dislike of glory and ambition, in renouncing pleas- 
 ure, in continence, patience, and simplicity, in being 
 easily contented, in mortification, modesty, respect 
 for the laws, constancy, and other virtues ; lastly, 
 their love to their neighbor appears in their liberali- 
 ty, in the equity of their conduct towards all, and in 
 their community of fortunes, on which it may be 
 proper to enlarge a little. 
 
 First, no one among them in particular is master 
 of the house where he dwells ; any other of the 
 same sect who comes thither, may be as much mas- 
 ter as he is. As thoy live in so'ciety, and eat and 
 drink in common, they make provision ibr the whole 
 community, as well for those who are j)resent, as for 
 those who come imlookcd for. There is a common 
 chest in each particular society, where every thing 
 is reserved which is necessary for the su[)port and 
 clothing of each member. Whatever any one gets 
 is brought into the common stock ; and, if any one 
 fall sick, so as to be disabled from working, he is 
 su|)plied with every thing necessary for the recovery 
 of his health, out of the common fund. The young- 
 er pay great respect to the elder, and treat them 
 almost in the same manner as children treat their 
 
 parents in their old age. They choose priests of the 
 most distinguished merit to be receivers of the es- 
 tates and revenues of their society, who likewise 
 have the charge of issuing what is necessary for the 
 table of the house. There is nothing singular or 
 aftected in their way of living ; it is simple and 
 imassuming. 
 
 It is surprising commentators and divines make 
 no reference to these peculiarities in the character, 
 manners, and principles of the Jewish sect of the 
 Essenes. The fact is, that, not being explicitly men- 
 tioned in the Gospels, they are usually disregarded. 
 In many respects they seem to have agreed with the 
 character of John the Baptist, as described or im- 
 plied in the Gospels. They are also described as 
 "having all things in common," no one of them 
 claiming personal property in goods, but referring 
 them to the whole community. This then abates the 
 singularity of the primitive church, of which we are 
 told, no one said that aught "of the things which he 
 possessed was his own, but they had all things in 
 common," Acts iv. 32. That is to say, these first 
 converts imitated the Essenes, a sect well known 
 among them ; they were in the city what the Essenes 
 were in the__desej-t. This also sets the behavior of 
 Ananias and Sapphira in a strong light ; since they 
 must have known perfectly well the custom of this 
 sect, and had, like them, made a profession of re- 
 nouncing riches. Observe, " the Essenes took no 
 provisions on their journeys ;" so the disciples ; (Mark 
 vi. 8; Luke ix. 3.) "they were hospitable;" (see 
 Rom. xii. 13 ; 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Titus i. 8 ; 1 Peter iv. 9.) 
 "they did not marry;" perhaps the fear that this 
 principle should be extended too far, ought to be 
 taken into our consideration, when we examine the 
 grounds of some of the apostle's advice, 1 Cor. vii ; 
 Heb. xiii. 14 ; 1 Tim. iv. 3. We may suppose, too, 
 that the Christian deacons resembled " the steward 
 among the Essenes, who distributed to every one 
 what he wanted." In short, if the reader will pe- 
 ruse with attention the articles Essenes and The- 
 RAPEUTiE, with these ideas in his mind, he will 
 perceive that this sect deserves a consideration which 
 it does not usually receive. A late ingenious writ- 
 er has endeavored to prove that the Essenes were, in 
 fact, a Christian society. (See Jones's Ecclesiastical 
 Researches.) 
 
 [It has been supposed by some, that oiu- Saviour 
 was educated among the Essenes ; as also John the 
 Baptist. But this is mere conjecture, and does not 
 harmonize with the other facts which are known. 
 John was indeed a J^Tazarite, (Luke i. 15,) like Samuel 
 and Samson, 1 Sam. i. 11 ; Judg. xiii. 5. R. 
 
 ESTHER, or Hadassah, of the tribe of Benja- 
 min, daughter of Abihail. Her parents being dead, 
 Mordecai, her uncle by her father's side, took care 
 of her education. After Ahasuerus had divorced 
 Vashti, search was made throughout Persia for the 
 most beautiful women, and Esther was one selected. 
 She found favor in the eyes of the king, and he mar- 
 ried her with royal magnificence, bestowing largesses 
 and pardons on his people, Esth. ii. Mordecai re- 
 fusing to honor Haman, he, in revenge, obtained an 
 order from the king to destroy the whole nation of 
 the Jews. Mordecai apprized Esther of the plot, 
 and by her means the danger was averted, (chap, iv.) 
 and Hainan executed, chap. vii. See Haman and 
 Mordecai. 
 
 The book of P'rther has always been esteemed 
 canonical both by Jews and (,'hristians; but the au- 
 thority of those additions in the Latin editions are
 
 ETH 
 
 [ 397 ] 
 
 EVA 
 
 disputed. The Greek copies are not uniform, and 
 differ much from the Hebrew ; while the old Latin 
 translations differ both from the Hebrew and from 
 the Greek. At the end of our printed Greek copies 
 we read, that in "the fourth year of Ptolemy and 
 Cleopatra, Dositheus, accompanied by his son Ptole- 
 my, carried the letter of Purim into Egypt, which 
 was said to have been translated into Greek by Ly- 
 siniachus jhe sou of Ptolemy." This Ptolemy is 
 believed to be Philometer, who died A. M. 3861, long 
 after Ptolemy Philadeiphus, in whose reign the ver- 
 sion of the LXX is supposed to have been made. 
 Lysiniachus was, probably, author of the additions 
 in the Greek of Esther. Clemens of Alexandria, 
 some rabbins, and many commentators, suppose the 
 original author of this book to have been Mordecai ; 
 and the book itself favors this opinion, saying, that 
 he wrote the history of this event. Others think it 
 was composed and placed in the canon by Ezra, or 
 by the great synagogue. The time of the history is 
 probablj' in the reign of Xerxes. See Ahasue- 
 RUS II. 
 
 ETAM, a rock to which Samson retired, Judg. xv. 
 8, 11. Probably near a city of the same name in 
 Judah, built by Rehoboam, (1 Chron. iv. 3, 33 ; 2 
 Chron. xi. 6.) which lay between Bethlehem and 
 Tekoah. Josephus speaks of a place of pleasure 
 called Hethan, distant from Jerusalem five leagues, 
 to which Solomon frequently retired. From hence, 
 probably, Pilate, some few years before the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, brought water tin'ough aqueducts 
 into the city, at a great expense ; in accom])lishing 
 which, he was forced to take a large compass round 
 the mountains lying in the way. See Cistern. 
 
 ETERNAL, ETERNITY. These words often 
 signify a very long time, and therefore must not al- 
 ways be understood literally ; so we find " eternal 
 mountains," to denote their antiquity. Gen. xlix. 26 ; 
 Deut. xxxiii. 15. God promises to David an " eter- 
 nal kingdom and posterity ;" that is, his and his son's 
 empire will be of long duration ; and even absolutely 
 eternal, if we include the kingdom of the Messiah. 
 But eternity, when God is the subject, always denotes 
 an absolute eternity. " The Lord ruleth for ever. I 
 lifl; up my hand to heaven, and swear, I live for 
 ever," eternally. The Son of God is called " Priest 
 for ever after the order of Melchisedec ;" his gospel, 
 "the eternal gospel ;" his redemption, "eternal re- 
 demption ;" his blood shed for us, "the blood of the 
 eternal covenant ;" his glory, " an eternal weight of 
 glory." For eternal punishment, see Hell. 
 
 ETHAM, the third station of the Israelites when 
 coming out of Egjpt, (Numb, xxxiii. 6 ; Exod. xiii. 
 20.) lay at the extremity of the western gulf of the 
 Red sea. 
 
 ETHAN, the Ezrahite, and son of Kishi, was one 
 of the wisest men of his time, except Solomon, 1 
 Kings iv. 31 ; Psal. Ixxxix ; 1 Chron. vi. 41. Ethan 
 was a principal master of the temple music, 1 Chron. 
 XV. 17, and other places. Ps. Ixxxix. is attributed 
 to him. 
 
 ETHANIM, a Hebrew month, (1 Kings viii. 2.) 
 after the captivity called Tizri. It is supposed to 
 answer to our September, O. S. See Jewish 
 Calendar. 
 
 ETH-B AAL, king of the Zidonians, father of Jeze- 
 bel, wife of Ahab, 1 Kings xvi. 31. 
 
 ETHER, a city twenty miles from Elcuthcropolis, 
 near Malatha, in "the south of Judah. Allotted first 
 to Judah, afterwards to Simeon, Josh. xv. 42 ; xix. 7. 
 
 ETHIOPIA, one of the great kingdoms in Africa, 
 
 part of which is now called Abyssinia. Ethiopia is 
 frequendy mentioned in Scripture under the name of 
 Cush ; but as there were several countries so named, 
 we should be careful to discriminate between them- 
 (See under Cush.) The Abyssinians are by some be- 
 lieved to have received the Christian faith from Mat- 
 thew, or Bartholomew, or Philip, or from queen 
 Candace's eunuch, who was baptized by Philip, one 
 of the seven deacons. Acts viii. 27. But these opin- 
 ions are unfounded. Matthew, we are told, preached 
 the gospel to the Ethiopians, that is, those above the 
 Araxes, near the Persians. Bartholomew preached 
 to the Indians, called by the ancients Ethiopians, that 
 is, in Arabia Felix. Philip the deacon, or the 
 eunuch, might preach the gospel to queen Candace, 
 who reigned in the peninsula of Meroe, which is 
 sometimes named Ethiopia. 
 
 [The various significations in which the name 
 Cush or Ethiopia is taken in the Old Testament, have 
 been discussed under the article Cush ; which see- 
 Ethiopia proper lay south of Egypt, on the Nile ; 
 and was bounded north by Egypt, i. e. by the cata- 
 racts near Syene ; east by the Red sea, and perhaps 
 a part of the Indian ocean ; south by unknown re- 
 gions of the interior of Africa ; and west by Libya 
 and deserts. It comprehended, of course, the mod- 
 ern countries of Nubia, or Senuaar, and Abyssinia. 
 The chief city in it was the ancient 3Ieroe, situated 
 on the island or tract of the same name, between the 
 Nile and Astaboras, not far from the modern Shendi. 
 
 The Ethiopian queen Candace, whose treasurer is 
 mentioned. Acts viii. 27, was probably queen of 
 Meroe, where a succession of females reigned, who 
 all bore this name. (Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 29.) As 
 this courtier is said to have gone up to Jerusalem to 
 worship, he was probably a Jew by religion, if not 
 by birth. There is a current tradition among the 
 Ethiopians themselves, that the queen of Sheba, who 
 visited Solomon, was called Maqueda, and that she 
 was not from Arabia, but was a queen of their own 
 country. They say, that she adopted the Jewish re- 
 ligion, and introduced it among her people ; and 
 that her son and successor, Monilek, (whom she is 
 said to have conceived by Solomon,) took the name of 
 David I. (Bruce's Trav. i. p. 524.) Christianity was 
 first introduced into Ethiopia about A. D. 330, by 
 Frumcntius, who became the first bishop of 
 Ethiopia. 
 
 The old Ethiopian language is a dialect of the 
 Arabic, having an al])hal)et of its own, and some 
 distinctive peculiarities ; thus, e.g. it is read froni left 
 to right, while the Arabic and all the other Scmitish 
 languages arc read from i-iglit to left. In the alj)ha- 
 bet, too, the vowels are represented by small hooks 
 or circles aijjjended in ditleront ways to the conso- 
 nants. It was in daily use so late as the 14th cen- 
 tury ; when it was suj)])lanted by the Andiaric dialect. 
 It still continues to be used in books ; but most of 
 the literature in it is of a religious and ecclesiastical 
 character ; among which the first place is due to the 
 Ethiopic version of the Scriptures. The principal 
 works on the language, literature, and history, of 
 Ethiopia, arc those of Ludolph. *R. 
 
 EVANGELIST, one who publishes good ncAvs ; 
 they therefore who write, as well as they who preach, 
 the gospel of Jesus Christ, are evangelists ; and in 
 general all who declare happy tidings. In Isaiah xli. 
 27, the Lord says, he will give to Jerusalem one who 
 bringcth good tidings — an evangelist. Philip the 
 deacon is" called an evangelist, Acts xxi. 8. Paul 
 speaks of evangelists, (Eph. iv. 11.) and ranks them
 
 EVI 
 
 [ 398 ] 
 
 EUP 
 
 after apostles and prophets. He exhorts Timothy to 
 perforin the duty of an evangelist. There were 
 originally evangelists and preachers, who, without be- 
 ing fixed to any church, preached wherever they 
 were led by the Holy Spirit. We commonly call 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, "the evangelists," 
 because they were the writers of the four Gospels, 
 which bring the glad tidings of eternal salvation to 
 all men. 
 
 EUCHARIST, thanksgiving, a word particularly 
 signifying the sacrament of tlie body and blood of 
 our Saviour Jesus Christ. Called euchmist, because 
 Christ, in the institution of it, gave thanks to God. 
 
 EVE, the name of the first woman : Chava, in He- 
 brew, is derived from the same root as chajim, life ; 
 because she was to be " the mother of all living." It 
 is supposed she was created on the sixtli day, after 
 Adam had reviewed the animals. See Adam. 
 
 Adam and Eve were placed in Paradise, and God 
 forbade them from touching one particular fruit. 
 But the envious evil one insidiously seduced Eve to 
 eat of the forbidden fruit ; and she afterwards se- 
 duced Adam. By tlius transgressing the prohibition, 
 they both I)ecame degraded ; and were punished by 
 expulsion from Paradise, and uy subjection to evils, 
 natural and moral. God said to Eve, " I v/ill greatly 
 multiply thy sorrow and thy conception ; in sorrow 
 thou shalt l)ring forth children, and thy desire shall 
 be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee ;" but, 
 at the same time, the Messiah and his 250wer were 
 foretold. Gen. iii. After i)eing expelled from Para- 
 dise, Eve conceived and brought forth Cain, saying, 
 " I have gotten a man from the Lord :" the year of 
 Eve's death is not known. It is presumed she died 
 about the same time as Adam, cii\ A. M. 930. The 
 eastern people have paid honors to Adam and Eve 
 as to saints, and have some curious traditions con- 
 cerning them. 
 
 EVENING. The Hebrews reckoned tico even- 
 ings ; as in the phrase between the evenings, Marg. Ex. 
 xii. 6 ; Num. ix. 3 ; xxviii. 4. In this interval the 
 passover was to be killed, and the daily evening sacri- 
 fice offered, Ex. xxix. 39 — 41, Hth. According to 
 the Caraites, this time between the evenings is the in- 
 terval from sunset to complete darkness, i. e. the 
 evening twilight, (comp. Deut. xvi. 6.) According to 
 the Pharisees, Josephus (B. J. vi. 9. 3.) and the i-ab- 
 bins, the first evening began when the sun inclined 
 to descend more rai)idly, i. e. at the ninth hour (Gr. 
 SfD.u /ifwnu ;) while the second or real evening com- 
 menced at sunset (Gr. ^f'^'/ o<j'iu.) Compare, also. 
 Matt. xix. 15, with verse 2.3. R. 
 
 EVI, a prince of Midian, killed in war. Numb, 
 xxxi. 8. A. M. 2.553. 
 
 EVILMERODACH, /ooZwA. Merodach, son and 
 successor of Nebuchadnezzar king of Bal)ylon. 
 Under this name there lies concealed, ])robably, a 
 Chaldee or Persian one of a different meaning ; which 
 the .Tews tlius perverted to show their hatred and con- 
 tempt of tlieir idolatrous oppressor, 2 Kings xxv. 7 ; 
 Jer. Hi. 31. Rvilmerodach, as some think, was im- 
 prisoned liy him. In this confinement he contracted 
 an acquaintance and friendshi|) with Jehoiakim king 
 of Judah, so that iimnediately after the king's death, 
 Evilmerodach, succeeding him, delivered Jehoiakun 
 out of prison, and placed him above all the other 
 kings, who were captives at Babylon. Evilmerodach 
 reigned two years, and was then murdered and suc- 
 ceeded by Neriglissar, his sister's husband ; then 
 by Laborosoarchod ; and lastly by Belshazzar. See 
 Assyria. 
 
 EUMENES, king of Bithynia and Pergamus, 1 
 Mac. viii. 8. Having joined the Romans in their 
 war against Antiochus the Great, he received in re- 
 compense the country of " the Indians, Medes, and 
 Lydians ;" as tlie text of the Maccabees reads ; but 
 it is probable we should read, " the lonians, Mysians, 
 and Lydians." 
 
 EUNICE, mother of Timothy, (2 Tim.i. 5.) was a 
 Jewess by birth, but married to a Greoli, who was 
 Timothy's father. Paul found, at Lystra, Eunice 
 and Timothy far advanced in grace and faith. 
 
 EUNUCH. In the courts of eastern kings, the 
 care of the beds and apartments is generally com- 
 mitted to eunuchs. The Hebrew saris signifies a 
 real eunuch, whether naturally boi-n such, or render- 
 ed such ; but in Scripture this word often doiotts an 
 officer belonging to a prince attending his court, and 
 employed in the interior of his ]jalace. Potiphar, 
 Pharaoh's eunuch or officer, and Josei)li's master, 
 liad a wife, Gen. xxxix. 1 — 7. God forbade his peo- 
 ple to make eunuchs ; and prohibited such to enter 
 into the congregation of the Lord, (Deut. xxiii. 1.) 
 that is, debarred them the ])ossession of some out- 
 ward privileges belonging to the Israelites. They 
 were looked on in the conmionwealth as dry and 
 useless wood ; and might say of themselves — " Be- 
 hold, I am a dry tree." But notwithstanding, " Tlius 
 saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sab- 
 baths, and take hold of my covenant, even unto them 
 will I give in mine house, and within my walls, a 
 place and a name better than of sons and daughters," 
 Isa. Ivi. 4. In the courts of the kings of Judah and 
 Israel, were officers called Serasim ; probably real 
 eunuchs, if they were slaves or ca])tives, bought from 
 foreigners ; but if they were Hebrews, their name 
 expresses simply their office and dignity. Our Sa- 
 viour (Matt. xix. 12.) speaks of men who "made 
 themselves eunuchs for tlie kingdom of heaven," 
 who, on some religious motive, renounced marriage 
 and carnal pleasures. Origen, and some ancient 
 heretics, construed our Saviom-'s words literally ; and 
 Eusebius informs us, that this was done so common- 
 ly by the inhabitants of Syria and Osroene, in honor 
 of the goddess Cybcle, that king Abgarus, to abolish 
 the practice, made a law, that they who were guilty 
 of it should have their hands cut off. 
 
 EUODIAS, a female disciple mentioned by Paul, 
 Philip, iv. 2. 
 
 EUPHRATES, a famous river of Asia, which has 
 its source in the mountains of Armenia, and runs 
 along the frontiers of Cappadocia, Syria, Arabia De- 
 serta, Chaldea, and Mesopotamia, and falls into the 
 Persian gulf. At present it discharges itself into the 
 sea in union with the Tigris ; but formerly it had a 
 separate channel. Moses says, (Gen. ii. 14.) the Eu- 
 ]>lirates was the fourth river whose source was in 
 Paradise. (See Eden.) Scripture often calls it, the 
 Great River, and assigns it for the eastern boundary 
 of that land which God promised to the Hebrews, 
 Deut. i. 7; Josh. i. 4. The Euphrates overflows in 
 sunnner, like the Nile, when the snow on the moun- 
 tains of Armenia begins to melt. The source of the 
 Euphrates, as well as that of the Tigris, being in the 
 mountains of Armenia, some of the ancients were of 
 ojjinion, that these two rivers rose from one common 
 s|)ring ; but at present their sources are distant one 
 fiom the other. The Arabians divide the Euphrates 
 into the larger and the lesser ; the larger, rising in the 
 Gordian mountains, discharges itself into the Tigris 
 near Anbar and Pelongiah. The smaller, whose 
 channel is oflen wider than that of the larger, runs 
 
 1
 
 EXC 
 
 [ 399 ] 
 
 EXCOMMUNICATION 
 
 towards Chaldea, passes through Corofali, and falls 
 into the Tigris, between Vassith and Naharvan, at 
 Carna, that is, the Horn, because, in reality, it is the 
 horn or confluence of the great and the little Eu- 
 phrates. Parsons, in his Travels in Asia, writes,— 
 " At Korna, on the extreme point of Mesopotamia, 
 the head of our vessel was in the Tigris, the stern in 
 the Euphrates, and the middle in the great river 
 where the two former unite. This point is reckoned 
 to be from Hellah about 180 English leagues." From 
 tlie lesser, a canal, dug by Trajan's order, i)asses into 
 the larger Euphrates. This is the Fossa Regia, or 
 Basiliusjluvius oi" the Greeks and Romans, by the 
 Syrians called .Yahar-Malca, through which the em- 
 ))eror Severus passed in his way to Ctesiphon on the 
 Tigris, when he besieged that city. The violence of 
 the Persian gulf causes a reflux of water thirty 
 leagues above the mouth of the Euphrates. The 
 Arabians are persuaded that the waters of this river 
 are very wholesome, and have virtue in curing dis- 
 eases. Between this river and the Tigris, which is 
 east of it, is Mesopotamia, and the land of Shinar ; 
 and east of the Tigris is Assyria. 
 
 The Mesopotamian Euphrates is a river of conse- 
 quence in Scripture geography, being the boundary 
 which separated Padan Aram from Syria, and the ut- 
 most limits, east, of the kingdom of the Israelites. It 
 \tas indeed only occasionally, that the dominion of 
 the Hebrews extended so far ; but it would appear, 
 that even Egj'pt, under Pharaoh Nccho, made con- 
 quests to the western bank of the Euphrates. Its 
 general course is south-east ; but in some places it 
 rims westerly, and approaches the Mediterranean, 
 near Cilicia. It is accompanied in most parts of its 
 (•ourse (about 1400 miles) by the Tigris. There are 
 many towns on its banks, which are in general rath- 
 er level than mountainous. The river does not 
 appear to be of any very great breadth. Otter says, 
 " When we passed the Euphrates, the 19th of March, 
 this river had only 200 common paces in width ; in 
 its height, it extends 500 or 600 paces into the plains 
 on the right." Thevenot observes, that near to Bir, 
 the Euphrates (July 3) seemed no larger tiian the 
 Seine at Paris ; but it was said to be very broad in 
 winter. Near Hellah, which marks tho situation of 
 the ancient Babylon, it was about four hundred feet 
 wide. 3Ir. Rich, in his memoir on Babylon, says, 
 the current was, at Hellah, at a medium, about two 
 knots (miles) per hour. The Euphrates now over- 
 flows the site of BaI)ylon, where, says sir R. K. 
 Porter, "its banks were hoary with reeds, and the 
 gray osier willows were yet there, on which the cap- 
 tives of Israel hung up their harps, and, while Jeru- 
 salem was not, refused to be comfortiMl." See 
 
 B.VBYLONIA. 
 
 EUPOLEMUS, son of John, an ambassador whom 
 Judas Maccaba?us sent to Rome, 1 Mac. viii. 17. 
 
 EtJROCLYDON, a dangerous wind in the Le- 
 vant, or eastern part of the Mediterranean sea. Acts 
 xxvii. 14. It is usually said that this wind blows 
 from the north-east; but perhaps it is what our sea- 
 men call a I,evanter, which is confined to no point 
 of the compass, but by veering to all points, is at- 
 tended with great danger. 
 
 EUTYCHUS, the name of a young man of Troas, 
 who, sitting in a window while the apostle l*aul was 
 preaching, slept, and fell from the third story, and 
 was taken u[) dead. Paul restored him to life, Acts 
 XX. 10. A. D. 57. 
 
 EXCOMMUNICATION, an ecclesiastical penalty, 
 by which they who incur the guilt of any heinous 
 
 sin, are separated from the church, and deprived of 
 spiritual advantages. There are two or three sorts 
 of excommunication. (1.) The greater, by which 
 the person offending is separated from the body of 
 the faithful ; thus Paul excommunicated the incestu- 
 ous Corinthian, 1 Cor. v. 1 — 5. (2.) The lesser, by 
 which the sinner is forbidden the sacraments. (3.) 
 That which suspends him from the company of be- 
 lievers ; which seems to be hinted at, 2 Thess. iii. G. 
 Augustin speaks in several places of this excom- 
 munication ; and Thcophylact says, that it was es- 
 teemed a great punishment. The primitive church 
 was very cautious in the use of excommunication ; 
 using it only for very serious and important reasons, 
 and always with great concern. The manner of ex- 
 communicating in the primitive church was this ; the 
 faithful separated themselves from those whose com- 
 pany the church had prohibited, without obliging 
 their superiors to proceed any further. In process 
 of time, however, the bishops used threatenings, 
 anathemas, and sentences of excommunication ; and 
 at last, to make these ceremonies more frightful, they 
 wei'e attended with actions proper for infusing ter- 
 ror, such as the lighting of wax candles, extinguish- 
 ing them, throwing them on the ground, and tram- 
 pling them under foot, while the bishop pronounced 
 excomnumication, thundering also curses against the 
 excommunicated. 
 
 The principal eflfect of excommunication is, to 
 separate the excommunicated from the society of 
 Christians, from the privilege of being present in re- 
 ligious a.ssemblies, from the eucharist, from attend- 
 ance at the prayers, the sacraments, and all those 
 duties by which Christians are connected in one so- 
 ciety and communion. An excommunicated person 
 is, with regard to the church, as a heathen man and 
 a publican. Matt, xviii. 17. But this excision from 
 Christian conununion does not exempt him from any 
 duties to which he is liable as a man, a citizen, a 
 father, a husband, or a king, either by the law of na- 
 ture and nations, or by the civil law. And when the 
 apostles enjoin men to have no conversation with the 
 excon)municated, not to eat with them, not even to 
 salute them, this is to be understood of offices of 
 mere civility, (which a man is at liberty to pay, or to 
 withhold,) and not of any natm-al obligations ; such 
 as are founded on i*.ature, humanity, and the law of 
 nations, 1 Cor. v. 1 — 5; 2 Tiiess. iii. 6 — 14 ; 2 John 
 10, 11. 
 
 Among the Jews we see excommunication prac- 
 tised in the times of Ezra and Neheniiah, with re- 
 gard to those who would not dismiss the strange 
 women whom they had married contrary to the law, 
 Ezra x. 10 ; Neh. xiii. 25 — 28. Our Saviour, speaking 
 to his apostles, foretold that the Jews, out of hatred 
 to him, would treat them ill, and excommunicate 
 them, "cast tiiem out of their synagogues." They 
 generally scourged the excommunicated persons, 
 befoie they expelled them out of their synagogues. 
 The act was preceded by censiu'e and admonition, 
 at first, privately ; if the guilty ])erson did not amend, 
 the house of judgment, the assembly of judges, de- 
 clared to him, with menaces, the necessity for his 
 reformation. If he continued obstinate on four sab- 
 bath days successively, his name and the nature of his 
 fault were proclaimed, in order to V)ring him to shame ; 
 and then, if he were incorrigible, he was excommu- 
 nicated. Our Saviour seems to allude to this prac- 
 tice, where he commands us to tell our brother of 
 his- fault between him and us alone; then — that we 
 should take witnesses with us in order to admon-
 
 EXO 
 
 r 400 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 ish him ; and lastly, — that we should inform the 
 church against him. And if, after this, he do not re- 
 turn to his duty, then we should look on him as a 
 heathen man and a pubhcan, Matt, xviii. 15 — 17. 
 
 The sentence of excommunication among the Jews 
 was conceived in these terms : " Let such an one be 
 in excommunication, or separation." The judges, or 
 the synagogue, or even private persons, had a right 
 to excommunicate ; but regularly, " the house of 
 judgment," or the court of justice, solemnly pi-o- 
 nounced the sentence. One particular person might 
 excommunicate another, and he might likewise ex- 
 conmiunicate himself; as they who bound them- 
 selves under a curse, neither to eat nor to drink till 
 they had killed Paul, Acts xxiii. 12. Beasts were 
 sometimes excommunicated : and the rabbins teach, 
 that excommunication has its effect even on dogs. 
 
 It has been a matter of siu'prise to some, that our 
 Saviour, whose design was to build hie church on 
 the ruins of Judaism, and who evidently attacked 
 the very foundations of the Jewish religious jjreju- 
 dices, was, notwithstanding, never excommunicated. 
 Perhaps the Jews might look on Christ and his fol- 
 lowers as a new sect ; and as it was not tiien a cus- 
 tom to excommunicate whole bodies, they might 
 receive the same indulgence as the Sadducees, 
 Essenes, Herodians, and Pharisees. See Anathema. 
 
 EXODUS, (from the Greek •' EiuSuc, going out,) the 
 term generally apphed to the departure of the Israel- 
 ites from Egypt, luider Moses, their divinely ap- 
 pointed leader and legislator. 
 
 There are a few things connected with the Exodus 
 which require illustration previously to our consid- 
 eration of the departure itself. 
 
 1. The true reason which actuated Moses in his 
 conduct, Avas, no doubt, the ultimate deliverance of 
 Israel from bondage ; but, what is the nature and im- 
 port of the apparent reason which he gives to Phara- 
 oh, in Exod. v. 1, 3. "to go three days' journey into 
 the desert, for the purpose of a festivity and sacrifice 
 to the God Jehovah ?" — Tliis may perhaps receive 
 elucidation, from the similar undertakings which are 
 actually accomplished every year, from Egypt, by 
 the caravan of Mecca ; and the question naturally 
 arises. Whether such a custom be as ancient as Mo- 
 ses ? — Did Moses reason with Pharaoh something 
 after this manner ? " We see other people journey 
 through your dominions, and many of your own sub- 
 jects also leave your dominions for a time, to perform 
 their worship in what they esteem a peculiarly sacred 
 place, whereas you do not suffer us to enjoy that lib- 
 erty ; but bind us continually to our burdens : we 
 also desire the same jjermission as they receive, and 
 propose to form a caravan of Israelites, who may 
 worsiiip the God of their fathers, in a place, and in a 
 manner of his own appointment, where we may be 
 secure from tlie profane interference of by-standers, 
 while performing our sacred services." To see the 
 force of this supposition, it must be observed, (1.) 
 That pilgrimages to certain cities and temples are of^ 
 most ancient date in Egypt, and, in fact, appear to 
 liave been interwoven with the original establish- 
 m;nits and institutions of that coimtry : — (2.) that the 
 pilgrimage to Mecca, in particular, though now the 
 juost famous, was not instituted by Mahomet ; he 
 found it already established among the Arabs. Its 
 antiquity is, beyond a doubt, very great ; as is also, 
 (3.) that of the Kaaba of Ishmacl ; and though we 
 may reject the Arabian tale of the origin of the well 
 Zemzem, and that of the miraculous deliverance of 
 Ishmael (instead of Isaac) from the knife of Abra- 
 
 ham, yet that Ishmael might dwell at Mecca, or in 
 the country adjacent, is unquestionable, and is suffi- 
 ciently credible : he might institute some kind of po- 
 litical, religious, or commercial meeting of the tribes 
 called Arabs, (for the descendants of Ishmael are 
 not the only Arabs,) which, after his death, they 
 might continue, for the same reasons as caused its 
 institution. (4.) As the Arabs do not carry the an- 
 tiquity of the Kaaba beyond Ishmael, we are led to 
 inquire whether the interval of time, between Ishma- 
 el and Moses, would be sufficient for the establish- 
 ment of such an institution as this annual concourse. 
 Might the tribes of Arabs settled in Egypt in the 
 days of JNIoses, and using this pilgrimage, be suffi- 
 ciently numerous to be observed, and to become a 
 precedent? Was the race of "kings that knew not 
 Joseph," foreigners, whose people were in the habit 
 of thus annually visiting, and confederating v.ith, 
 their former compatriots ? It should be remembered, 
 that commerce, no less than devotion, has a great 
 share in forming these caravans ; and we are sure 
 that caravans for commerce were customary long be- 
 fore the time of Moses, for to such a one travelling 
 into Egypt, from Gilead, was Joseph sold. Did not, 
 then, carjivans for connnerce, in those days, as they 
 do at present, furnisli the means of devotion, at par- 
 ticular places ? and did not such caravans either set 
 out from, or pass through, the land of Egypt from 
 the more westerly parts of Africa, as they now do, 
 so that their nature and their purposes were suffi- 
 ciently understood by Pharaoh ? [It must here be 
 remembered, tliat the above is mei-ely fanciful con- 
 jecture. R. 
 
 2. The places named, and the events of the jour- 
 ney of the Israehtes. — 
 
 (1.) It is said of the place from whence the Israel- 
 ites departed; (Exod. xii. 37.) "and the children of 
 Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth." See 
 also Numb, xxxiii. 3. — Where, and what, was this 
 Rameses? We are told, (Exod. chap. i. 11.) that the 
 Israelites built, for Pharaoh, treasure cities— Ra- 
 meses and Pithom. If, as has been generally suppos- 
 ed, Pithom was the ancient Pclusium, then it might 
 be the extremity of Pharaoh's dominions toward the 
 east, and proJjably Rameses was the extremity of his 
 dominions toward the west ; for in such frontier 
 shuations, it is natural to expect that fortified cities, 
 or magazines, would be placed. Now, in Nicbuhr's 
 map of the mouths of the Nile, on the western branch 
 of that river, and rather south of the canal which 
 goes to Alexandria, is a district, or village, named 
 Ramsis. If this mjiy be taken fis an indication of 
 the name and situation of the ancient Rameses, then 
 these two accounts of Moses express — that all the 
 Israelites, from the most distant parts of Pharaoh's 
 dominions, assembled, with their property, at the 
 proper station for the dejjarture of caravans, Succoth ; 
 which, indeed, we know must have been the fact ; 
 but which has not previously been discerned in the 
 Mosaic history. [With far more probability, Gesenius 
 regards the city of Rameses or Raamses as the capital 
 of the land of Goshen, and consequently situated to 
 the eastward of the Delta. This idea is also adopted 
 by Prof. Stuart ; who fixes the site of this city at 
 about half the distance between the Nile and Suez, 
 where the present village of Aboukeyshid is situated, 
 (in accordance with M. Ayme and lord Valentia,) 
 where are found extensive ruins. If thus located, 
 Rameses lay on the borders of the great canal ; or, if 
 this were not yet in existence, it lay on the great val- 
 ley or Wady, up which the watere of the Nile flow-
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [401 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 ed, so as sometimes nearly to meet those of the Bitter 
 lakes, which were connected with the Red sea. It 
 would thus have been about forty miles distant from 
 Suez. (Stuart's Course of Heb. Study, vol. ii. No. 1. 
 p. 173, Modern Traveller in Arabia, p. 185. Amer. 
 ed.) R. 
 
 (2.) Mr. Taylor supposes that Succoth, where the 
 Israelites assembled, may be placed at Birket-el-Hadj, 
 or Pilgrim's pool : here the caravans still assemble, 
 and hei-e that destined for Mecca waits the arrival of 
 the western pilgrims. The reasons are evident ; it 
 is at a convenient distance from Cairo ; it furnishes 
 water, and vegetation ; so that the same wants which 
 occur in all caravans, inclined, in fact obliged, the 
 ancient assemblage of Israel, as they now do the 
 modern assemblage of Arabs, to make it their tem- 
 porary residence. It appears also that Birket-el- 
 Hadj is considerably in advance towards Suez, and 
 consequently the journey is shortened in proportion. 
 [It is more probable, as Prof Stuart supposes, that 
 Succoth was merely a place of encampment, — di- 
 viding the distance between Rameses and Etham 
 (Adjerout,) i. e. about twenty miles from each. R. 
 
 We have seen under the article Caravan, that 
 Moses probably regulated the Israelites in an accu- 
 rate manner, and appointed proper officers. To ac- 
 complish this, the delay at Birket-el-Hadj would fur- 
 nish him advantageous opportunities, and, as the vari- 
 ous families arrived in succession, he might directly 
 order them to their stations. In fact, some delay is 
 implied in the name Succoth (booths); for, in gen- 
 eral, the caravans only pitch their tents here ; but if 
 the first comers of the Israelites, while waiting for 
 their kinsmen, built booths here, they might naturally 
 enough call their temporary town by this name — 
 " the booths." It is also probable, that having long 
 dwelt in houses, few were provided with tents ; so 
 that the erection of booths was the most convenient 
 mode of shelter in their power. This account of the 
 matter seems justified b}' the history ; (chap. xiii. 17.) 
 " When Pliaraoh had let the people go." So, verse 
 17. "And they took their journey from Succoth, and 
 encam|)ed in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness." 
 As nothing particular happened at Etham, little need 
 be said on it ; its situation, described as being hi the 
 edge of the wilderness, marks distinctly e^iough in 
 what direction we must look for it. We shal\ only 
 observe, that the nearer to the wilderness, in the direct 
 road towards the wilderness, (or the northern termi- 
 nation of the Red sea,) we place Etham, the better we 
 apply the description of it, as "in the edge of the 
 wilderness." 
 
 The chief difficulty which remains, is, to under- 
 stand correctly the command given in chap. \iv. 2 : 
 " TuRX and eiicamp."— It is supposed, then, that the 
 Israelites continued their route from Etham, toward 
 the desert, to somewhere about the place marked 
 with a turning-off in the map, and here turned to- 
 ward the sea, which lay to their right — "encamp be- 
 fore (Heb. in the face of) Pi-ha-hiroth." — The word 
 hiroth has usually been taken as a proper name ; but 
 Dr. Shaw justly renders it, ^^ the gullet " though he 
 did not perceive its direct application : Pi is the 
 mouth, i. e. the mouth of the gullet. — " Encamp in the 
 face (in front) of the mouth of the gullet, between 
 Migdol (the tower) and the sea." [Tlie word Pi-hn- 
 hiroth is more probably of Egyptian origin, denoting 
 a place of reeds, a salt marsh. R.] To ascertain this 
 Migdol or tower, we need not seek any distant town, 
 but nuist be guided by the nature of the country; at 
 the same time recollecting the orders given, " to 
 51 
 
 tuni." We may place this tower at Bir Suez, " the 
 well of water," because this well was worth protect- 
 mg by a tower, there being no other fresh water, 
 then known, in the neighborhood ; and nobody ac- 
 quamted with the value and scarcity of water in this 
 desert, will unagine a tower, if inhabited, could be 
 of use, or its inhabitants or garrison subsist, without 
 water. It was necessary, therefore, for the protec- 
 tion of this well for the use of the inhabitants at Baal- 
 zephon, that a tower should secure it. [It lies on the 
 route between Adjerout (Etham) and Suez, and is 
 situated just so that it corresponds with the description 
 here, on the supposition that Pi-ha-hiroth was near 
 the sea. R.] "Encamp ovei--against (Heb. in the 
 face of) Baal-zephon." — Baal-zephon is placed at 
 Suez, because it adjoins Pi-ha-hiroth; so that what- 
 ever station was "in the face of Pi-ha-hiroth,''^ was 
 also " in the face of Baal-zephon :" yet Pi-ha-hiroth 
 being more extensive than the town of Baal-zephon, 
 this repetition, descriptive of the position to be taken, 
 was neither useless nor redundant. That a town 
 should be established here anciently, appears every 
 way reasonable, from the same causes as now main- 
 tain the town of Suez, notwithstanding its numerous 
 inconveniences. Observe, also, "Encamp between 
 the tower and the sea ;" i. e. from Bir Suez to the 
 gulf, eastward, or from Bir Suez to the head of 
 the sea, southward, either of which may answer 
 the expression ; but if we say from Bir Suez to 
 the gulf, then the encamping from Baal-zephon to 
 the sea, is fi'om Suez, westward, along the head of 
 the sea-shore. While Moses was in this position, 
 Pharaoh approached ; and he might justly say of 
 the IsraeUtes, that " they were enclosed by the desert, 
 and the sea," as verse 9. — so that if he did not destroy 
 them by a vigorous attack, they must inevitably 
 perish by famine, while uwder his blockade. 
 
 We now come to the passage of the sea itself, and 
 shall do well accurately to analyze the narration. — 
 Moses said, " Fear not ! Stand still !" Here seems 
 to be an indication of intentional delay, as if time 
 and circuHistauces were not at this moment ready 
 or favorable. During this interval of waiting, " Mo- 
 ses cried unto the Lord," verse 15. In this conjunc- 
 ture, a strong easterly wind blowing all night, 
 divided the waters. — Now, the position of this gulf 
 being from south to north, an east or jierbaps north- 
 east wind was the most proper that coidd blow for 
 the purpose of dividing the gullet in the middle, and 
 thei-eby preserving a body of water, above and below, 
 i. e. north and south, of that division ; these waters 
 defended the passage, like a wall, on the right and 
 on tJie left, while the Israelites went over on dry 
 ground. " The Egyptians pursued to the midst of the 
 sea; but in the morning watch" — this point of time, 
 no doubt, was punctually expressed ; and would be 
 punctually understood by those accustomed to count 
 time by watches : it has lost that punctuality to us, 
 yet we may pretty correctly fix it at about three 
 o'clock in the morning, about which time — the sands, 
 tScc. of the oozy sea-bottom took olf the chariot 
 wheels of the Egyptians ; and now, the east wind 
 sinking, the waters returned from the north and 
 south, and overwhelmed the Egyptians ; whereas the 
 Israelites j)assed during the power of this strong 
 wind, which blew full in their faces. 
 
 Such seem to be the circumstances of this famous 
 passage ; the result of the whole is, that Providence 
 engaged natural means in accomplishing its purpose. 
 The strong east ivindis expressly recorded in the his- 
 torv ; and, again, in the thanksgiving song for this
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 402 J 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 deliverance, " Thou didst blow with thy wind." — Af- 
 ter reflecting on this, can it possibly be regarded as 
 any disparagement to the interference of the same 
 Providence, if advantage were also taken of the tide ? 
 Certainly not ; we ought rather to conclude, that all 
 natural advantages were taken, and that by these, and 
 over these. Providence operated. This idea seems 
 to receive suppoit from the command, to "stand 
 still," which may relate to the abatement of the wa- 
 ters by the falling of the tide in the gulf, as it does to 
 the rising of the wind for the division of the remain- 
 ing waters after the tide was out ; the two agents 
 were probably concurrent. 
 
 We are now ready for an inspection of the map 
 of the joui'ney from Egypt to the Red sea. 
 
 Nearly opposite to Mxzr-el-AUik, on the oth(r side 
 of the Nile, are the pyramids ; at which it is sup- 
 posed a considerable number of Israelites were en- 
 gaged in labor. Lower down the Nile, to tlie nortli, 
 lies the land of Goalien. The lines drawn from 
 these extremes to Birkei-el-Hadj, show the courses 
 of the Israelites to the place of rendezvous, in order 
 to join the main caravan. From Birket-el-Hadj, or 
 Succoth, to Etham the caravan takes the usual route 
 for the wilderness of Zin ; but, being past Etham, it 
 is ordered to turn towards Baal-zephon, where being 
 encamped, the army of Pharaoh is supposed to come 
 in sight; and here the Israelites arc evidently en- 
 closed, and unable to move to right or left, either 
 forward or backward. The gulf, it must be re- 
 marked, extended much farther north than is de- 
 noted by the shaded lines, and was wider toward the 
 eastern shore ; so that we may conceive of the Is- 
 raelites as crossing at least double the space marked 
 by being shaded ; but, as geometrical precision is 
 not our object, an extension of the shaded lines in 
 the map would have answered no good purpose. 
 The direction of the wind, with its fitness to divide 
 the gulf, is apparent. — The- following extracts are 
 translated from Niebuhr : ^p. 353, &c. French edit.) 
 " To go from Cairo to Suez requires thirty hours 
 and three quarters, and from the Nile recjuires one 
 hour more. The gi-eat caravan, wliich goes yearly 
 from Cairo to Mecca, assembles some days before it 
 sets off", at four leagues from Cairo, on tl)6 way to 
 Suez, near Birket-el-IIadj, a amall lake, which 
 receives the water of the Nile. A great caravan, 
 which is in liastc, may go from Birket-el-Hadj to 
 Suez in three days : we took 28 hours 40 minutes, 
 not reckoning the hours of rest. Every where on tlie 
 coast of Arabia, we met with indications that the 
 waters are withdrawn ; for instance, Masa, which all 
 the ancient authors mention as a port of Arabia, is 
 now at many leagues distance from the sea: near 
 Lobcia, and Djidda we see great hills filled with the 
 
 same kind of shells, and corals, as are now found 
 living in the sea : near Suez are petrifications of all 
 these things. I saw, at three quarters of a league 
 west of the city, a heap of shells, with living inhabit- 
 ants, upon a rock covered only at high water, and 
 shells of the same kind, uninhabited, upon another 
 rock of the shore, which was too high for the 
 tide now to cover it. Some thousand years ago, there- 
 fore, this Arabian gulf was much larger and ex- 
 tended much further north, especially that arm of 
 it near Suez, /or the shore of this extremity of the gulf 
 is very loiv. The breadth of the arm of the sea, 
 at Suez, is about 3500 feet [in its present state.] 
 Though it would much shorten tlic distance of their 
 way, no caravan now crosses this arm, nor could 
 the Israelites have crossed it without a miracle. Tho 
 attempt nnist have been nuicli njore diflicult to the 
 Israelites, some thousand years ago, the gulf being 
 tlien probably larger, deeper, and longer toivard the 
 north. At the lowest time of the tide, I crossed 
 when returning from mount Sinai, that arm of thu 
 sea, over to Kolsoum, upon my camel ; and the 
 Arabs who accompanied me, were only up to their 
 thighs in water. I did not find in this sea, south of 
 Suez, any bank or isthmus [reef] under water : from 
 Suez to Girondel, we sounded, and had at first four 
 fathom and a half; in the middle of the gulf, at three 
 leagues from Suez, we had four fathom ; and about 
 Girondel, near the shore, we jiad ten fathom. The 
 banks of the Red sea are pure sand, from Suez to 
 Girondel ; but lower to the south, I saw banks of cor- 
 al. Now, had the Israelites crossed the sea upon such 
 banks, they would have been gi-eatly incommoded 
 by them ; because they were very cutting, especially 
 to the hare feet, or to feet but slightly defended." — 
 What, then, must such rough banks have been to 
 the women, the children, and the cattle ? 
 
 It should be remembered, also, that the country 
 further to the south (where some have suj)posed the 
 Israeht^s passed) is so very roekj^, that if the Israel- 
 ites, marching on foot, with their cattle, women and 
 children, could have jouineyed by that road, Plia- 
 raoh's chariots could not have so journeyed, but 
 would have had few wheels, if any, left en them, by 
 the linie they had readied the banks of the sea ; — 
 not to insist on the diflerence between crossing a 
 smaller iJOrtion of the bed of the sea, that bed being 
 sand, and nearly level, with the water only 10 or 13 
 feet deep, and crossing a much longer distance, over 
 a bottom of coml rock, and the water fifty feet deep 
 at least. Those who say the magnitude of a miracle 
 is no object to Almightv Power, may be asked. 
 Which of the ways of Divine Wisdou), of which wc 
 have any knowledge, ai)]jears to justify the supposi- 
 tion of any su])erabundanre of power exerted, in the 
 production of any elTect, beyond what is necessary 
 to produce that eficct ? In what instance has such 
 waste of power been detected ? It is honorable to the 
 Divinity, to believe that Divine Wisdom so propor- 
 tions the necessary jiower, that it shall be amply con:- i 
 l)etent to the duty charged on it, but v.ithout an OA'er- I 
 plus, whose infructuous reserve, being unemjjloyed, 
 is mere idleness. But to return to our traveller : < 
 
 "Eusebius relates, after ancient traditions, that the 
 Israelites passed at Clysmn. The Clysma of tho 
 Greeks was apparently the Kolsoum of the Arabs, as 
 Bochart proves, in his Phaleg. (lib. ii. cap. lr<. p. 107, 
 lOSA Macrivi, Abulfeda, and the jjrtscnt inhabitants 
 of Suez, assure us that Kolsoum was near Suez. 
 The tide falls here three feet, or three feet and a half, 
 which, considering the shallowness of this water, is
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 403 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 a great proportion. Perhaps a thick fog hastened the 
 destruction of the Egyptians ; I cannot decide on 
 what was the pillar of cloud of Moses." 
 
 Such are the notices of Niebuhr; to which may be 
 added, that the Greek name Clysma signifies destruc- 
 tion ; and Kolsoum is of similar import in Arabic. A 
 very expressive appellation, sm-ely, if conunemora- 
 tive of this destruction of the ancient Egyptian army. 
 
 A further confirmation of the supposition, that here 
 the Israelites passed, may be drawn from tlic names 
 of the adjacencies mentioned in the Jiistor}', as Baal- 
 zephou, i. e. on the norlhtrn extremity of tlie Red sea 
 itself, or on tlio northern extremity of the gullet ; 
 either of which situations ascertains the part repre- 
 sented in the map. 
 
 We may now accompany the Israelites on their 
 journey, by presuming, that so many of them as were 
 employed on the pyraufiiis quitted Memphis, to ren- 
 dezvous at the Pilgrim's lake, where the caravan for 
 Mecca now assembles, a few miles east from Cairo. 
 Being joined by their kinsmen from the Delta, the 
 whole body moved easterly towards the wilderness. 
 [Professor Stuart supposes the general rendezvous to 
 have been at Rameses, half way between the Nile 
 and Suez. R.] We have already observed, that the 
 northern extremity of the Red sea advanced much 
 farther inland, anciently, than it does at present ; in- 
 deed, the gulf becomes yearly shallower ; and before 
 long, will be dry land. This is owing to the sands 
 driven by the easterly winds, from the continent of 
 Arabia, which have also, according to the best evi- 
 dence we can obtain, sliifted the sands in so long a 
 coin-se of ages, from their ancient stations, very much 
 westward. This circumstance will be found to have 
 considerable influence on the character of the wil- 
 derness into which the Israelites entered ; and not 
 less ou its extent. In all probabihty, in the days of 
 Moses, it did not begin so near to Egjpt as it does 
 now ; nor was it of that entirely sandy appearance, 
 or of that absolute barrenness, which it now is. In- 
 deed Egypt itself was anciently well covered with 
 tall and aoble trees on its eastern side ; which usual- 
 ly marks a powerful vegetation. It will follow, also, 
 that a district, affording food for a flock, as Moses 
 conducted his flock on mount Sinai, and the lumier 
 ous herds and flocks of the Israelites, (accustonx^d, 
 it nuist be i-ecollected, to the fertile pasture "f the 
 Delta,) was essentially different from the /^serts at 
 this time lying between Egypt and moun**'''"'^'- The 
 same causes which have diminishe<*' the depth of 
 ^vater at Suez, and daily operate t^ that effect, have 
 also contributed to ovcrsjjread -'le adjacent country 
 with an unproductive surface- The Red sea is con- 
 stantly retiring southward Kolsoum, whicli was a 
 port in the tiine of the c-iliplis, is now three quarters 
 of a mile iidand. It v probable, therefore, that Baal- 
 zephon, though no'*' represented as a town, by Suez, 
 was neverthelep» some miles further north. How 
 far Baal-zeph"'! was the same town which afterwards 
 was called -Serapiu, we know not ; but the probability 
 is, that P(i(tl and Serapis were the same deity, so that 
 the two names may refer to the same temple, under 
 difft-rent appellations in different ages. 
 
 Having already accompanied the Israelites in their 
 journey from Egypt to the Red sea, we shall here 
 only observe, that most probably the resting places 
 which had obtained names anciently arc still used as 
 resting places, though under other names ; and as 
 only Succoth, Etham, Pihahiroth, Migdol, and Baal- 
 zephon occur in this passage, thei'e needs no great 
 ukill to determine them. Succoth may be i)laced at 
 
 Birket el Hadgi, or Pilgi-im's pool, a few miles east 
 of Cairo. Etham was probably north of the present 
 Adjeroud ; perhaps near the Bitter lake, or fountains ; 
 though some, we believe, suppose Etham to be Ad- 
 jeroud itself D'Anville marks this " Calaat Adje- 
 roud," Sand-pit castle. Might this castle be the 
 Migdol or " tower " of the Hebrew historian ? Piha- 
 hivoth was the openhig of the present gulf of Suez ; 
 but probably further north. Baal-zephon miglit be 
 a town at the point of a gulf in the Red sea ; analo- 
 gous to Suez at present. As to INligdol, Dr. Wells 
 seems to have altogether mistaken its situation. The 
 Autonine Itinerary jjlaces Magdolo, whose name 
 coincides completely with the sacred books, nearly 
 half way between Sil6 and Pelusium, about twelve 
 miles from each : it was therefore rather in the north 
 of the isthmus of Suez than in the south where the 
 doctor places it. This is also confirmed by the order 
 in which Jeremiah ranges the towns inhabited by the 
 Jews, advancing from north to south : Migdol, 
 Tapanhes, (Daphne, near Pelusium,) Noph, or 3Ien- 
 nouf, that is, Memphis, Pathros; and this order, 
 equally with the distance from Pelusium, proves, 
 that the Migdol near Baal-zephon could not be Mag- 
 dolo. As the Hebrew Migdol signifies " a tower," 
 we ha\ e thought it might be a Calaat, or an erection 
 at a well, surrounded by walls ; which suits no less 
 the circumstances of the history, than a city of this 
 name would do. 
 
 The road taken by the Israelites was a regular and 
 customary ti-ack : during the first half of it, it was a 
 dii-ect road to Canaan ; and it effectually concealed 
 from Pharaoh what Moses uUiniately intended, till 
 after he had branched off" from this road into that 
 which led to mount Sin-ii- He appears to have 
 halted at Etham, " in the edge of the wilderness ;" 
 and after liis quitting this station, Pharaoh is inform- 
 ed that "the peop/e fled," and immediately prepared 
 to pursue and recover the fugitives. 
 
 [It has already been stated above, that a different 
 view reyt>ecting the rendezvous of the Israelites is 
 taken ^>y professor Stuart ; while in respect to the 
 pap^age of the Red sea he coincides with the view 
 Lcre expressed. See a full discussion in his Course 
 of HebreAv Study, vol. ii. Excursus iv. R. 
 
 No part of the history of the Israelites is more per- 
 plexing and obscure, in its geograjihy, than the 
 stations of this ])eople during their continuance in the 
 desert, and on their progi-ess toward Canaan. Geog- 
 raphers have, indeed, given us what they call " Maps 
 of the Travels of the Children of Israel," but these 
 have usually l)een constructed with so little resem- 
 blance to the actual dimensions and real features of 
 the country, to the necessities of a multitude, or to 
 probability, that they have more perplexed the in- 
 quiry than if it had been left entirely unattempted. 
 The following sketch of their route is given by Mr. 
 Taylor, as the result of a very laborious investigation : 
 it differs materially from that assumed by many re- 
 spectable writers, especially as to the return, by the 
 way of the Mediterranean sea. The reader will judge 
 of the proofs by which it is supported. [The hy- 
 pothesis alluded to cannot well be supported ; see 
 the additions at the end of this article. R. 
 
 It is necessary, in the first place, to fix a few prin- 
 cipal stations mentioned in the history, as points, if 
 not absolutely yet comparatively certain ; or at least 
 of sufficient probability to be considered as settled: 
 such are Baal-zephon or Suez ; Elim ; mount Sinai ; 
 Eloth or Ezion Gaber. These places being adniit- 
 ted, we may safely infer the station mentioned im-
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 404 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 mediately before, and that immediately after, each of 
 these. This will contribute greatly to ascertain the 
 general track, and will much reduce the number of 
 stations which want of information obhges us to 
 leave uncertain. 
 
 In Numb, xxxiii. we have a register of the stations 
 where the people encamped for any considerable 
 time : we identify those which, in the following list, 
 are marked with small capitals. Those marked in 
 italics, we cannot determine. Perhaps, the varia- 
 tions among the names which appear on comparison 
 might be accounted for, by sujjposing the camp ex- 
 tended to places which had different names, and that 
 the station was sometimes referred to one place, 
 sometimes to the other. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 11. 
 12. 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 15. 
 16. 
 17. 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 27. 
 28. 
 29. 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 32. 
 33. 
 
 34. 
 35. 
 36. 
 37. 
 38. 
 39. 
 40. 
 41. 
 42. 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 Ramesses. 
 
 SUCCOTH. 
 
 Etham . . . 
 
 Baal-zephon . . 
 
 Marah .... 
 
 Elim. 
 
 By the Red Sea. 
 
 I.N the Wilderness 
 
 OF ZiN .... 
 Dophkah. 
 Mush. 
 Rephidim. 
 Wilderness ofSiNAi 
 KibrothHataavah 
 
 Hazeroth .... 
 Rithmah. 
 Riinmon parez. 
 
 LiB.NAH. 
 RiSSAH. 
 
 Kehalathah. 
 
 INlooT Shapher. 
 
 IIaradah. 
 
 Makkeloth. 
 
 Tahath. 
 
 Tarah. 
 
 Mithcah. 
 
 Hashmonah. 
 
 Moseroth .... 
 
 Children of Jaakan 
 
 Hill Gidgad . . . 
 
 Jotbathah . . . 
 
 Ebro.vah. 
 EzioN Gaber. 
 Wilderness of Zin, or 
 
 Kadesh. 
 Mount Hor. 
 Zalmonah. 
 Piinon. 
 Oboth. 
 
 Ijc-abarim, near Moab. 
 Dibon Gad. 
 Almon Diblathaim. 
 Mount Abarim. 
 By Jordan, opposite 
 
 Jericho. 
 
 Exodus. 
 
 In the edge of the Wilder- 
 ness. 
 By the Red sea. 
 Wilderness of Shur. 
 
 Between Elim and Sinai. 
 
 SINAI Mount. 
 
 Quails brought from the 
 
 sea. 
 At Kadesh, many days. 
 Abode at Hazeroth. 
 
 Mosera, Deut. x. 6. 
 Children of J aakanjiyeZ/sq/". 
 Gudgadah, Deut. x. 7. 
 Jotbath, ib. a land of rivers 
 of waters. 
 
 To obtain a more easy conception of their respec- 
 tive situations and characters, we may divide these 
 stations into four parts. (I.) The journey from Egypt 
 
 to Sinai. (II.) Advance from Sinai to Kadesh Bar- 
 nea, in Palestine. (III.) Retreat to Ezion Gaber, 
 near Sinai. (IV.) From Ezion Gaber, eastwai'd, to the 
 passage of the river Jordan. From Egypt to Sinai 
 we are certain that Moses followed the customary 
 road still taken by caravans of pilgrims as far as 
 Suez or Baal-zephon ; that, from Sinai to Kadesh 
 Barnea, he did not forsake the regular tract ; that, in 
 retreating from Kadesh Barnea, westward, he also 
 took much the same course as is now taken by as- 
 semblages of people ; and, lastly, that the passage 
 from Ezion Gaber to the east of Jordan is at this 
 time in use. The roads thus fixed enable us to de- 
 termine some of the places mentioned in them; and 
 these will mutually confirm each other. 
 
 1. From Egypt to Sinai. — Succoth, Ave have al- 
 ready considered, as being fixed at Birket el Hadgi, 
 the usual place of the pilgrims' assembly ; a small 
 distance from Cairo. 
 
 The true situation of Baal-zephon was perhaps 
 some miles more northerly than its present repi-esen- 
 tative, Suez, as unquestionably this country has un- 
 dergone considerable changes in the lapse of ages, 
 and the sea is daily diminishing about it. 
 
 Marah is with great probability placed in the val- 
 ley of Girondel, of which Dr. Shaw saj^s : " Coroii- 
 del, I presume, made the soiuhern portion of the 
 desert of Marah ; from whence to the jioit of Tor, the 
 shore, which hitherto was low and sandy, begins now 
 to be rocky and mountainous, while that of Egypt is 
 still more impracticable ; and neither of them affords 
 any convenient place, either for the departure or the 
 landing of a multitude. Moreover, from Corondel 
 to Tor, the channel is ten or twelve leagues broad ; 
 too great a space, certainly, for the Israelites, in the 
 manner at least they were encumbered, to traverse in 
 one night. And at Tor, the Arabian shore begins to 
 wind itself (round what we may suppose to be Ptol- 
 emy's promontory of Paran) towards the gulf of 
 Eloth ; at the same time the Egyptian shore retires 
 so far to the south-west, that it can scarcely be per- 
 ceived. The Israelites, therefore, could neither have 
 landed at Corondel nor at Tor, according to the con- 
 jectures of several authors. Over against Jibbel At- 
 '<^^kah, at ten miles' distance, is the desert, as it is 
 calM, of Sdur, the same with Shur, (Exod. xv. 22.) 
 where *]^q Israelites landed, after tliey had passed 
 through Jve interjacent gulf of the Red sea. In 
 travelling fro-^i Sdur towards mount Sinai, we come 
 into the desert, ng it is still called, of iMarah, where 
 the Israelites met vith those bitter waters, or waters 
 of Marah, Exod. xv. ^\ And as these circumstances 
 did not happen till aftu- they had wandered three 
 days in the wilderness, »-c may probably fix it at 
 Corondel, where there is a s^all rill of water, which, 
 unless it be diluted by the dew^ and rains, still con- 
 tinues to be brackisii. Near this ylace the sea forms 
 itself into a large bay, called Berk el «-:orondel, which 
 is remarkable lor a strong current, tliat sets into it 
 from the northward. The Arabs preser-re a tradi- 
 tion, that a numerous host was formerly drtwned at 
 this place ; occasioned, no doubt, by what v,e are 
 informed of in Exod. xiv. 30, that 'the Israelites saw 
 the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore.' There is 
 nothing further remarkable, till we see the Israelites 
 encamped at Elim, (Exod. xv. 27 ; Numb, xxxiii. 9.) 
 upon the northern skirts of the desert of Sin, two 
 leagues from Tor, and near thirty from Corondel. I 
 saw no more than nine of the twelve wells that are 
 mentioned by IMoscs, the other three being filled up 
 by those drifts of sand, which arc common in Arabia.
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 405 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 Yet this loss is amply made up by the great increase 
 of the palm-trees, the 'seventy' having propagated 
 themselves into more than two thousand. Under the 
 shade of these trees is {Hammam Moxisa) the Bath of 
 Moses, which the inhabitants of Tor have in extraor- 
 dinary esteem and veneration ; acquainting us, that 
 it was here that Moses himself and his particular 
 household were encamped. We have a distinct 
 view of mount Sinai from Elim ; the Wilderness, as 
 it is still called, of Sin, lying betwixt us." 
 
 These extracts determine the places not only of 
 Marah, but of the Desert of Shur ; the Desert oj- 
 Marah; the promontory of Paran ; the Wilder- 
 ness OF Sin; and of Elim. These, therefore, will 
 not detain us. 
 
 Mount Sinai is thus described by the doctor : "The 
 summit of mount Sinai is somewhat conical, and not 
 very spacious, where the Mahometans, as well as 
 Christians, have a small chajjcl for public worship. 
 Here, we were shown the place where Moses fasted 
 forty days, (Exod. xxiv. 18 ; xxxiv. 28.) ichere he re- 
 ceived the laiv, (Exod. xxxi. 18.) where he hid him- 
 self from the face of God, (Exod. xxxiii. 22.) where 
 his hand ivas supported by Aaron andHur,atthe battle 
 xvithAmalek, (Exod. xvii. 9, 12.) besides many other 
 stations and places that are taken notice of in the 
 Scriptures." See Sinai. 
 
 Rephidimisby universal consent placed south-west 
 of Sinai. Dr. Shaw gives the following information 
 respecting it : " After we had descended, with no 
 small difficulty, down the western side of this moun- 
 tain, we came into the other plain that is formed by 
 it, which is Rephidim, Exod. xvii. 1. Here we still 
 see that extraordinary antiquity, the rock of Meribah, 
 (Exod. xvii. (3.) which hath continued down to this 
 day, without the least injury from time or accidents. 
 It is a block of granite marble, about six yards square, 
 lying tottering, as it were, and loose in the middle of 
 the valley ; and seems to have formerly belonged to 
 mount Sinai, which hangs, in a variety of precipices, 
 all over this plain. The monks show us several other 
 remarkable places round about this mountain ; as 
 where Aaron's calf was molten, Exod. xxxii. 4, (but 
 the head only is represented, and that very rudely,) 
 where the Israelites danced at the consecration of it, 
 (Exod. xxxii. 19.) where Korah and his company 
 were swallowed up, (Numb, xvi.32.) and where Elias 
 hid himself when he fled from Jezebel, 2 Kings viii. 
 9. But the history of these and other places is at- 
 tended with so many monkish tales, that it would be 
 too tedious to recite them." 
 
 2. From Sinai to Kadesh Barnea. — The desert of 
 Paran is thus described by Dr. Shaw : " From mount 
 Sinai, the Israelites directed their marches north- 
 ward, towards the land of Canaan. The next re- 
 markable stations, therefore, were in the desert of 
 Paran, which seems not to have commenced, till after 
 they departed from Hazeroth, three stations from 
 Sinai, Numb. xii. 16. Now as tradition hath pre- 
 served to us the names of Shur, Marah, and Sin, so 
 we have also that of Paran, which we enter at about 
 half way betwixt Sinai and Corondel, in travelling 
 through the midland road, along the defiles of what 
 were probably the 'Black mountains' of Ptolemy. 
 In one part of it, ten leagues to the northward of 
 Tor, there are several ruins, particularly of a Greek 
 convent (called the convent of Paran) which was not 
 long ago abandoned, by reason of the continual in- 
 sults they suffered from the Arabs. Here likewise 
 we should look for the city of that name, though, 
 according to the circumstances of its situation, as 
 
 they are laid down by Ptolemy, Tor, a small mati- 
 time village, with a castle hard by it, should rather 
 be the place. From the wilderness of Paran, Moses 
 sent a man out of every tribe, to spy out the land of 
 Canaan, (Numb. xiii. 3.) who returned to him, after 
 forty days, unto the same wilderness, to Kadesh 
 Barnea, Numb. xiii. 26; Deut. i. 19; ix. 23; Josh, 
 xiv. 7. This place, which in Numb. xiii. 3, 26 ; and 
 xxxiii. 36, is called Tzin Kadesh, or simply Kadesh, 
 was eleven days' journey from mount Iloreb, (Deut. 
 i. 3.) and, being ascribed both to the desert of Tzin 
 and Paran, we may presume that it lay near upon 
 the confines of them both." 
 
 To this we add the testimony of Niebuhr : " The 
 Arabs call plains, which lie somewhat low, Wadi, or 
 valleys, because water remains stagnant in them after 
 heavy rains. We rested under a palm-tree, in a 
 place called Aijoim Musa, Moses's Fountains. These 
 pretended fountains, are five holes in the sand, in a 
 well of very indifferent water, that becomes turbid 
 whenever any of it is drawn. As the holes bear the 
 name of Moses, the Arabs ascribe them to the Jewish 
 lawgiver. The Arabs set up our tents near a tree, in 
 the valley of Faran, and left us to amuse ourselves 
 there in the best manner we could, while they went 
 to see their friends in gardens of date-trees, scattered 
 over the valley. We were at no gi-eat distance from 
 our schiech's camp, which consisted of nine or ten 
 tents. We were informed that the ruins of an an- 
 cient city were to be seen in the neighborhood. But, 
 when the Arabs found us curious to visit it, they left 
 us, and would give us no further account of it. The 
 famous valley of Faran, in which we now were, has 
 retained its name unchanged since the days of Moses, 
 being still called Wadi Faran, the valley of Faran. 
 Its length is equal to a journey of a day and a half, 
 extending from the foot of mount Sinai to the Arabic 
 gulf In the rainy season it is filled with water ; and 
 the inhabitants are then obliged to retire up the hills ; 
 it was dry, however, when we passed through it. 
 That part of it which we saw was far from being 
 fertile ; but served as a pasture to goats, camels, and 
 asses. The other jiart is said to be very fertile ; and 
 the Arabs told us, that, in the districts to which our 
 Ghasirs had gone, were many orchards of date- 
 trees ; which produced fruit enough to sustain some 
 thousands of people. Fruit must, indeed, be very 
 plenteous there ; for the Arabs of the valley bring 
 every year to Cairo an astonishing quantity of dates, 
 raisins, peai's, apples, and other fruits, all of excellent 
 quality. Some Arabs, who came to see us, oftered 
 us fresh dates, which were yellow, but scarcely ripe. 
 The chief of our schiech's wives (for he had two) 
 came likewise to see us, and presented us with some 
 eggs and a chicken. One was placed at some dis- 
 tance from where our tents happened to be pitched, 
 in order to manage a garden of date-trees. The 
 other was our neighbor, and superintended the cattle 
 and servants." 
 
 These remarks were made in going to mount Si- 
 nai : the following were made on his return : " In 
 the afternoon of the 16th of September, we descend- 
 ed Jibbel Musa, and passed the night at the bottom 
 of that cliffy mountain, at the opening into the valley 
 of Faran. Next day, after advancing three miles 
 through the vale, Ave halted near the dwelling of our 
 schiech of the tribe of Said. Our Ghasirs left us 
 again, and went to see their friends in the gardens of 
 date-trees. Our Ghasu-s returned, and we continued 
 our journey on the 20tli of the month. On the day 
 following we had an opportunity of seeing a part of
 
 EXODUS 
 
 406 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 the road which we had passed by night when trav- 
 elhn^ to Jibbel 3Iusa. In this place, near a defile, 
 named Omzer-ridg-lein, I found some inscriptions in 
 unknown characters, which had been mentioned to 
 me at Cairo. They are com-sely engraven, apparent- 
 ly with some pointed instrument of iron, in the rock, 
 without order or regularity." 
 
 The reader will observe, (1.) the ruins of an an- 
 cient city. (2.) Ancient inscriptions, roughly cut. 
 As the sacred history marks the scenes of Kibroth 
 Hataavah, the " graves of lust," in the wilderness of 
 Paran, there is a possibility that here or hereabouts, 
 was the place of those events which gave that name 
 to this station. At any rate, this station could not be 
 far from the sea, as the quails are said to come flying 
 from the sea to it : and this fixes it in such a latitude 
 as is parallel to some part of the sea, if such be a cor- 
 rect view of the passage. But if, on the contrary, 
 the quails were flying to the sea, still this could not 
 be far off; as is implied in such a reference. 
 
 At mount Sinai, \?hpn intending to reach Canaan, 
 the sacred legislator Iiad the choice of three wajs. 
 The shortest and most direct, though tending a little 
 to the east, may be called for distinction sake the 
 northern. This, says Deut. i. 2, was eleven days' 
 journey, that is, from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea, by 
 mount Seir, direct. This was occupied by enemies 
 to Israel. The second road was the western ; the 
 same as they had taken from Egypt ; and this they 
 followed till they reached the confines of their ex- 
 pected country. But here they were repelled by the 
 faint-hearted reports of their spies, and by their own 
 folly and discontent. The third road from mount 
 Sinai was the eastern, this they took at last ; and by 
 this they penetrated into Canaan, in a direction dif- 
 ferent from that before attempted, but which probably 
 Moses had in view when he asked leave of Edom to 
 pass through his territories. It appeal's from this 
 that IMoses judged rightly of his people at first, that 
 war would have terrified them ; and that even afl;er 
 thry had been some time luidcr regulation, their 
 courage ^^ as very moderate, and their habits of sub- 
 mission very weak ; aft in the first instance, they 
 would not fight, in the nr^cond, they v.ould not obey. 
 But after this capricious generation was extinct, bet- 
 ter discipline produced better effects; and a muti- 
 nous spirit no longer prevailing, Joshua, the succes- 
 sor of Moses, effected his purpose on the east of 
 Canaan. It will be observed, that this change of the 
 jioint of attack changed also the enemy which was 
 to be attacked ; and the probability is, that the in- 
 habitants cast of Jordan became an easy pre}' in this 
 instance, as the descendants of these very Israelites 
 v.erc in after-ages. This easiness of subjection seems 
 to have been one character of this country. 
 
 We liave no traces by name of any other station of 
 the Israelites till we come to Libnah, and this we 
 presume to be the same which Joshua smote, (Josh. 
 X. 29, 30.) which he gave to the priests (xxi. 13.) 
 which revolted, (2 Kings viii. 22.) and against which 
 the king of Assyria fought ; (xix. 8.) from all which 
 texts it a])i)ears to be extremely south in the territo- 
 ries of Judah ; or extremely north in those of Edom. 
 It was probably west of mount llor; and affer the 
 repulse of Israel by the Canaanitcs, that Moses de- 
 sired the permission of Edom to pass through his 
 territories, in order to attack Canaan on the cast. 
 This Edom refiised ; and Israel was in no condition 
 to enforce the request, but was obliged to return 
 by the way of the Red sea, on the west ; and to 
 travel round the whole country of Edom by the 
 
 south, in order to get to the eastward of the river 
 Jordan. 
 
 3. Retreat from Ubnah to Ezion Gaber. — In oppo- 
 sition to other writers, Mr. Taylor considers the 
 present El-Arish as Rissah, the next station ; because 
 it is at no great distance west from Libnah, and be- 
 cause it yields that necessary article water. It is on 
 the road from Syria to Egypt, and is properly the 
 last station in Syria. It agrees perfectly with the di- 
 rection : (Numb. xiv. 25.) " Get you into the wilder- 
 ness by the way of the Red sea." Sandys says, 
 "Arissa is a small castle, environed with a few 
 houses ; the garrison consisting of 100 soldiers. This 
 place is something better than desert, and blessed 
 with good water. — The territory of Gaza begins at 
 Arissa." Thevenot says, " Riche (or Risiie) is a village 
 not far distant from the sea ; it hath a castle well 
 built of little rock stones, as all the houses are. They 
 have so many lovely ancient marble pillars at Riche, 
 that their coffee-houses and wells are made of them, 
 and so are their burying-places full." He had a storm 
 of rain here, which lasted thirty hours. Volneysays, 
 quitting Syria, "El-Arish is the last place where 
 water which can be drank is found. — It is three quar- 
 ters of a league from the sea, in a sandy country, as 
 is all that coast." As these travellers entered Syria 
 from Egypt, their testimony is less appropriate than 
 that of Mr. Morier, who entered Egypt Irom Syria, 
 and who accompanied the Turkish army. He thus 
 describes this station in his Journal of the March of 
 the Turkish Army through tlie Desert between Syria 
 and Egypt. " Feb. 5. The army began its march to- 
 wards Catieh in the afternoon, and encamped at 
 three hours' distance from El-Arish. An hour's 
 march is calculated at two miles and a half, Avhich is 
 about the rate that a camel travels at. Feb. 6. A 
 march of six hours : halted in the afternoon. Feb. 
 7. A march of nine hours. Feb. 8. Encamped at 
 Catieh : the French evacuated this ])lace j'esterday. 
 The road from El-Arish to Catieh lies through the 
 most inhospitable part of the desert which separates 
 Syria from Egjpt. The sand that covers it is fine, 
 and so white that the eyes sufler nuicli from the 
 strong glare jtroduced by the reverberation of the 
 sunbeams: and I should be inclined to attribute the 
 disorder of the eyes in that country to this cause, 
 combined with the irritation occasioned l)y the ni- 
 trous particles contained in the sand, of which clouds 
 are constantly blown aboiU by the least wind. But 
 that is not the only suffei-ing which the traveller in 
 those regions has to go through. The thirst, occa- 
 sioned by the excessive heat, increases by the alluring 
 but false hope of soon quenching it ; for the fiat sur- 
 face of the desert gives to the horizon an appearance 
 which the stranger mistakes for \^ater ; and, while he 
 is all anxiety to arrive at it, it recedes as a new hori- 
 zon discovers itself. The optical dccc])tion is so 
 strong, that the shadow of any object on the hoi-jzon 
 is apparently reflected as in water. [Comjiare Job vi. 
 19, 20; Isaiah xxxv. 7.] At the first halt after leav- I 
 ing El-Arish, the water was jialntable ; after that, it I 
 can only be so to those who experience all the tor- 
 ments of thirst : and it is dangerous to drink nuich 
 of it, as it occasions dysenteries. It is observed, that 
 wherever date-trees grow, there the v.ater is sweeter, 
 and it is invariably found by digging to the depth of 
 five or six feet in the sand. A party was generally 
 sent before the army, to dig wells where it was to 
 encamp. The impatience of the troops to satisfy 
 their tliirst was often jnoductive of very serious 
 quari'cls. The native Arabs that cross this desert in
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [407 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 all directions, carry their water with them in skins ; 
 but that resource would be attended with too many 
 difficulties for the supply of a large army: a great 
 nutuber of camels would be necessary to carry water 
 only for a day's consumption." 
 
 The reader will observe that at about seven miles 
 distance from El-Arish the Turkish army encamped ; 
 and that here only the water is palatable. The He- 
 brew word Kehalathah signifies "the place of assem- 
 bling:" now El-Arish itself is at present actually the 
 place of assembling, for a numerous body of people 
 which intends passing into Egypt ; as it was of the 
 Turkish army which Mr. Morier accompanied. 
 Nevertheless, it may be supposed that in ancient time 
 the wells at one stage nearer to Egj'pt were the sta- 
 tion for that purpose ; as there evidently is a distinc- 
 tion between Rissah and Kehalathah, though we 
 cannot ascertain the distance between them. It is, 
 however, clear, that where the Turkish army en- 
 camped, the Israelites might encamp ; and it is in- 
 different whether this station were a few miles more 
 or less in advance, as the course of the journey lies 
 the same way. 
 
 If we follow this track, the next station of the 
 Israelites is mount Shapher, or Sephir, another pro- 
 nunciation of Sepher. Sepher appears to have been 
 the ancient name of this mount, which is almost sur- 
 rounded by the sea ; and on which was afterwards 
 built a temple dedicated to Jupiter Cassius of the 
 Greeks, the ruling deity of the illustrious mountain ; 
 which is tlie same deity as was Avorshipped by the 
 inhabitants of the Sephers, or Sepharvaim ; (2 Kings 
 xvii. 31.) — Adrammelech, " the king of splendors," 
 or the " illustrious king." "Catieh," says Thevenot, 
 " is a village where there is a well of water, unpleas- 
 ant for drinking ; but two miles off is a well whose 
 water is good after it hath stood a little : at Catieh 
 we ate fresh fish half as long as one's arm, as broad 
 and thick as carp, and of as good a relish ; they did 
 not cost us five farthings apiece." "3Jouut Cassius, 
 or Catjeh, is a huge mole of sand, famous for the 
 templa of Jupiter and the se[»ulchre of Forapey," 
 says Sandys. It is probably alluded to under the 
 name of Catjeh, in Cant. iv. 2, so that, if this conjec- 
 ture be just, its name had been changed during the 
 interval from Moses to Solomon. 
 
 In further pursuing this route, the next station is 
 Haradah, to which no resemblance is found among 
 the names marked in the maps, except Haras, which 
 is the next village to Catieh ; but this is too slight a 
 circumstance to determine our judgment. 
 
 There is, however, a possibility that the present 
 " fountains of Mousa," not far from the head of the 
 lied sea, eastward, are the Mosera, or Moseroth, 
 of Holy Writ : for, tiiat they derived their name from 
 having been used by Moses, immediately after the 
 passage of the Red sea, is improbable, to say the 
 least ; as the sacred text assures us, the people "jour- 
 neyed three days into the wilderness, and found no 
 water, till they came to Marah," Exod. xv. 22. Now, 
 tliis was not the fact, if at that time Moses used 
 the wells of Mousa ; as these are but a few hours 
 from the place of his passage. But if they were the 
 Jloseroth of this place, then, as they were used by 
 Moses on this occasion, by a very easy corruption 
 they are now called Ain el Mousa, instead of Ain el 
 Mousera. This Mosera, if we take it either as the 
 well Nabd, or Ain el Mousa, is about seven or eight 
 miles from Suez. Niebuhr says of Suez, " The in- 
 habitants of this town draw their principal commod- 
 ities from Eg)pt, at the distance of three days' jour- 
 
 ney ; or from mount Sinai, distant five or six days' 
 journey ; or from Gaza, distant seven or eight days' 
 journey." — This implies that there is a direct road to 
 Gaza ; aiid if we reckon the stations from El-Arish, 
 that is, Rissah, to Moserah, we find them to be eight 
 or nine, which agrees with the distance to Gaza well 
 enough. Or, if we reckon forward to mount Sinai, 
 we find four or five stations, which also agrees with 
 the distance given by Niebuhr ; so that hereabouts 
 we may probably place jMoseroth (in the plural) 
 without much risk of error. This, however, depends 
 on the supposed difterence of the face of the country 
 between its ancient and its modern state. 
 
 We are now in the regular track of the caravans 
 to Mecca, and may presume to determine the ancient 
 stations by those in present use. The wells of the 
 children of Jaakan, however, we cannot determine, 
 as no wells are marked, in this course, after the well 
 Naba, till we come to Calaat el Nahal, " the castle at 
 the river," which appears to stand on a stream, 
 marked by D'Anville " torrent that has water," in 
 which it agrees with the description of Jotbathah, as 
 a " land of rivers or streams." 
 
 As the phrase Beui Jaakan is precisely according 
 to the present phraseology of the Arabs, it must not 
 be passed in silence. The Arabs are all of some 
 tribe; and this they express by saying they are 
 " sons — heni — of such an one ;" and the Beeroth 
 Beni Jaakan, ought therefore most certainly to have 
 been rendered " the wells of Beni Jaakan," meaning, 
 the wells belonging to the tribe so called. There can 
 be no doubt that the Israelites paid for the use of 
 these wells, as the Mecca caravan now does. 
 
 The stages adopted by the Mecca pilgrims are thus 
 mai-ked in Dr. Shaw's list : 
 
 Adjeroud hitter ivater 
 
 Rastywatter no water 
 Tear wahad no water 
 Callah Nahar good ivater 
 Ally no water 
 
 Callah Accaba good water 
 
 near Etham. 
 
 Jotbathah. 
 
 Ebronah. 
 
 near Ezion Gaeeb. 
 
 There is no doubt that the Elath of Scripture is 
 that Eloth which gave, and still gives, name to a gulf 
 of the Red sea; nor that Ezion Gaber, which is al- 
 ways mentioned A^ith Eloth, was nearly, or altogeth- 
 er, adjacent to it. It is probable, indeed, that Ezion 
 Gaber is the port intended by Dr. Shaw under the 
 name of Meeuah el Dsahab, "the port of gold," de- 
 rived from the gold imported here by Solomon ; but 
 the doctor's account of its situation is extremely im- 
 perfect, and his position for it seems rather to be 
 assumed by conjecture, than determined from valid 
 information. Mr. Taylor, therefore, places it near to 
 Eloth ; presuming, that neither of them stood pre- 
 cisely at the head of the gulf, that being of course too 
 shoal and sandy for the building and fitting of large 
 and stout ships'; but rather at some small distance 
 from it ; one on one side of the gulf, the other on the 
 other side, perhaps ; or, both might be on the same 
 side, though not close together. Having thus fixed 
 Ezion Gaber, we must seek Ebrona backwards, at 
 the distance of one station from it, that is, towards 
 Cati(-h ; it must therefore either be at Sat el Acaba, 
 where is good water ; or at Abiar Alaina ; but the 
 former of these seems to be the best situated for the 
 station of a numerous caravan. 
 
 Jotbathah is described as " a land of brooks of 
 water ; " with this description there is only one place, 
 at the distance of two stations from Eloth, which can
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 408 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 possibly agree. There is marked "a torrent of 
 water," and here is marked good water, on the author- 
 ity of Dr. Shaw. It will be observed that Jotbathah, 
 Ebrona, and Eloth, are precisely in the road now 
 taken by the caravans going to Mecca, and are sta- 
 tions of those caravans in their journey. This shows 
 clearly that the same considerations influenced the 
 Hebrew conductor formerly, as influence the caravan 
 bashaws of the present day. It leads us also to unite 
 the line of march from Catieh, and to seek the in- 
 tervening stations in various parts of that line, though 
 we cannot identify the places. 
 
 4. From Ezion Gaber, eastward, to the Jordan. — In 
 advancing from the station of Ezion Gaber, the next 
 place named is the Wilderness of Zin. We cannot 
 suppose, the progress of the IsraeUtes having lately 
 been wholly easterly, that they are now directed to 
 retrace their steps, and to take a westerly course for 
 Canaan : they must therefore take a north-easterly 
 course, till they arrive at the eastern side of the 
 Dead sea, and enter the country of Moab. That this 
 very path, or one not far distant from it, is now fol- 
 lowed by the pilgrims from Damascus to Mecca, is 
 certain ; but, as it is the most diflScult to ari-ange, or 
 describe, because rarely, if ever, taken by European 
 travellers, Mr. Taylor endeavors to compensate this 
 deficiency by other testimony. 
 
 Ishmael Abulfeda, sultan of Hamah, describing the 
 peninsula of Arabia, quotes Ibn Haukal, who says, 
 "From Ailah (Eloth) to Harah are three stations [of 
 the caravan ;] from Harah to Balaka (Balca) three 
 stations ; from Balaka to Masharik Houvran, six sta- 
 tions ; from Masharik Houvran to Masharik Goutah, 
 where the gardens of Damascus are, thi-ee stations." 
 Tliis agrees with the Mosaic history, which says, 
 from near Ezion Gaber to Kadesli in the Wilderness 
 of Zin, one station ; from Kadesh to mount Hor, 
 mai-ked by the Harah of Ibn Haukal, (possibly a res- 
 idence of some kmd on the northern face of the 
 mountain,) a second station. The third is Zalmouah ; 
 then Pimon, Oboth, and Ije Abarim, near Moab ; 
 which answer to the tln-ee stations from Harah to 
 Balaka, of the Arab writer. That this is the track of 
 the caravan, appears also from Volney, who says, 
 " Damascus is the rendezvous for all pilgrims from 
 the north of Asia. Their number every year 
 amounts to from 30,000 to 50,000 — this vast multi- 
 tude set out confusedly on their march, and travelling 
 by the confines of the desert, arrive in forty days at 
 Mecca. As this cai-avan traverses the country of 
 several independent Arab tribes, it is necessary to 
 make treaties with them. In general, the preference 
 is given to the trilie of Sardia, which encamps to the 
 south of Damascus, along tlie Hauran. South of 
 Damascus are the innncnse plains of the Hauran. 
 The pilgrims of IMecca, who traverse them for five 
 or six days' journey, assure us they find at every step 
 the vestiges of ancient habitations. The soil is a 
 fine mould without stones, and almost without even 
 the smallest pebble. What is said of its actual fer- 
 tility, perfe(;tly corresponds with the idea given of it 
 in the Hebrew writiugs. Wherever wheat is sown, 
 if the rains do not fail, it rf])ays the cultivator with 
 profusion, and grows to the height of a man. The 
 pilgrims assert also, that the inhabitants are stronger 
 and taller than the rest of the Syrians." This is fiu-- 
 ther proved from an extract inserted farther on ; and 
 leaves no doubt but the jiresent track of the caravan 
 is east of the Jordan ; the same as Moses took in 
 former ages. Compare p. 415 below. 
 
 The general result of what has been said is. First, 
 
 That Moses led his people to mount Sinai, for the 
 purpose of solemnly engaging them in devotion, and 
 consecration to the Deity who had appeared to him 
 there, (Exod. chap, iii.) and had given him this very 
 solemnity as a sign of further favors, verse 12. 
 Secondly, That having accomplished the sacred trans- 
 actions at Sinai, he led them northwards, until they 
 came within a moderate distance of the land prom- 
 ised to the patriarchs. This seems to have been ex- 
 ecuted by a pretty rapid march from Kibroth 
 Hataavah to Kadesh Barnea, principally after the 
 departure of the spies. Now, Kadesh Barnea must 
 have been some way, at least, in the rear of Hormah ; 
 for, as the Amalekites and Canaanites jjursued the 
 discomfited Israelites to that town, they would nat- 
 urally relinquish the pursuit as they approached the 
 camp of Israel. The fugitives also would unques- 
 tionably fly toward the grand encampment of that 
 nation "to which they were attached. It is clear, too, 
 that this battle was not out of the district of the 
 Amalekites, since these were engaged in it ; nor so 
 far from Canaan, but that a detachment of Canaan- 
 ites sent to watch the motions of Israel, contributed 
 to the victory. 
 
 After the events at Kadesh, the people are ordered 
 to turn and get them (again) by the tvay (the common 
 road) of the ivildemess by the Red sea — that is, into the 
 districts they had formerly quitted ; as appears by 
 their passing mount Sinai, in their route to Ezion 
 Gaber. 
 
 By invading Canaan on the east, after many years, 
 and crossing Jordan for that purj)ose, not only an 
 entirely different people was attacked now, from 
 what had been attempted formerly, but (1.) The in- 
 habitants east of Jordan not being succored by those 
 on the west, their subjection was inevitable. (2.) The 
 passage of the Jordan cut oflT the southern part of 
 Canaan from the northern part ; and being thus di- 
 vided, each division opposed less resistance, as they 
 could not act in concert ; and more force could be 
 employed against each, under their entire uncertain- 
 ty of what district would be next invaded. 
 
 The general character of the desert, the edge of 
 which was journeyed round, is thus described by 
 Volney. The road in which the people of Gaza 
 meet the caravans of Damascus, is the same, no 
 doubt, as that which Israel took from Akaba, or 
 Ezion Gaber, to the country of Moab. — He says, " A 
 branch of connnerce advantageous to the people of 
 Gaza, is furnished by the caravans which pass and 
 repass between Eg}'pt and Syria. The provisions 
 they are obliged to taJve for their four days' journey 
 in the desert produce a considerable demand for their 
 flour, oils, dates, and other necessaries. Sometimes 
 they correspond with Suez, on the arrival or depar- 
 ture of the Djedda fleet, as they f»e able to reach 
 that place in ten long days' journey. They fit out, 
 likewise, every year, a great caravan, which goes to 
 meet the pilgrims at Mecca, and conveys to them the 
 convoy, or Djerda, of Palestine, and sup])lies of va- 
 rious kinds, with difterent refreshments. They meet 
 them at IMaon, four days' journey to the south-east 
 of Gaza, and one day's joiu-ney to the north of 
 Akaba, on the road to Damascus. They also pur- 
 chase the plunder of the Bedouins ; an article which 
 would be a Peru to them, were these accidents more 
 fn^quent. In the desert by the east, we meet with 
 stri[)s of arable land, as far as the road to Mecca. 
 These are little valleys, where a few peasants have 
 been tempted to settle, by the waters, which collect 
 at the time of the winter rains, and by some wells.
 
 ' ^. J
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 409 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 They cultivate palm-trees, and doiira, under the pro- 
 tection, or rather exposed to the rapine, of the Arabs. 
 These peasants, separated from the rest of mankind, 
 are half savages, and more ignorant and wretched 
 than the Bedouins themselves. Incapable of leav- 
 iii"' the soil they cultivate, they live in perpetual 
 dread of losing the fruit of their labors. No sooner 
 have tiiey gathered in their harvest, than they hasten 
 to secrete it in private places, and retire among the 
 
 rocks which border on the Dead sea We cannot 
 
 be surprised at these traces of ancient ])opu]ation, 
 when we recollect that this was the country of the 
 Nabatheans, the most powerful of the Arabs ; and of 
 the Idumeans, who, at the time of the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, were almost as numerous as the Jews; as 
 appears from Josephus, who inlbrms us, that on the 
 first rumor of the march of Titus against Jerusalem, 
 thirty thousand Idumeans instantly assembled, and 
 threw themselves into that city for its defence. It 
 appears that, besides the advantage of being under a 
 tolerably good government, these districts enjoyed a 
 considerable share of the comuierce of Arabia and 
 India, which increased their industry and population. 
 We know that, as far back as the time of Solomon, 
 the cities of Atsioum-Gaber (Ezion-Gaber)and Ailah 
 (Eloth) were highly frequented marts. These towns 
 were situated on the adjacent gulf of the Red sea, 
 wiiere we still find the latter yet retaining its name. 
 This desert, which is the boundary of Syria to the 
 south, extends itself in the form of a peninsula be- 
 tween the two gulfs of the Red sea ; that of Suez to 
 the west, and that of El-Akaba to the east. Its 
 breadth is ordinarily thirty leagues, and its length 
 seventy. This great space is almost entirely filled 
 by barren mountains, which join those of Syria on 
 the north, and, like them, consist wholly of calcareous 
 stone ; but as we advance to the southward, they be- 
 come granitic, and Sinai and Horeb arc only enor- 
 mous masses of that stone. Hence it was the 
 ancients called this country Arabia Petrea. The 
 soil in general is a dry gravel, producing nothing but 
 thorny acacias, tamarisks, firs, and a few scattered 
 shrubs. Springs are very rare, and the few we meet 
 with are sometimes sulphureous and thermal, as at 
 Hammam-Faraoun ; at others, brackish and disagree- 
 able, as at El-Nal>a, opposite Suez ; this saline qual- 
 ity ])revails throughout the country, and there are 
 niines of fossil salt in the northern jiarts. In some 
 of the valleys, however, the soil, becoming better, as 
 it is formed of the earth Avashed from the rocks, is 
 cultivable, after the winter rains, and may almost be 
 styled fertile. Such is the vale of Djirandel, in 
 which there are even groves of trees. Such also is 
 the vale of Faran, where the Bedouins say there are 
 ruins ; which can be no other than those of the an- 
 cient city of that name. In former times, every ad- 
 vantage was made of this country that could be 
 obtained from it ; but at present, abandoned to na- 
 ture, or rather to barbarism, it produces nothing but 
 wild herbs. Yet, with such scanty provision, this 
 desert subsists three tribes of Bedouins, consisting of 
 about five or six thousand Arabs, dispersed in vari 
 ous parts." (Travels, vol. ii. p. 341.) 
 
 ADDITIONS BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 
 
 [There are some things in the preceding state- 
 ments which require remark, before we ])roceed to 
 give the grounds of a difterent view in respect to the 
 journeyings of the children of Israel, especially after 
 leaving mount Sinai. For the sites of Marah and 
 52 
 
 Elim, which seem to be incorrectly given above, see 
 the remarks below, on j). 410, 411. 
 
 What is said above of Rephidim, and of the rock of 
 Meribah, depends solely on the legends of the monks 
 of the monastery of mount Siuai ; and tlierclbre 
 may, or may not, be true. But in resj)ect to tiie wil- 
 derness of Faran, it seems hardly probable that this 
 is to be found in the Wady of Feiran or Faran, (as 
 is supposed above,) a large valley extending iiom the 
 vicinity of mount Sinai north-west to the gulf of Suez. 
 From Paran the sj)ies were sent out to survey the 
 land of Canaan ; (Num. xiii. 3.) and they rttunud 
 again "to the congregation of the childnn of Israrl, 
 unto the wilderness of Paran to Kadtsli ;" which 
 evidently implies that the desert of Paran was adja- 
 cent to Kadesh Barnea. Burckhariit therefore ji.siiy 
 remarks, (p. CI 8.) that " Paran UiUSt i)e iooketi U,r in 
 the desert west of Wady Wousa, and the touili <.f 
 Aaron, which is shown there ;" i. e. adjacent to Pal- 
 estine on the south. Besides, in removing from 
 Sinai, the Israelites went first three days' journ<y, 
 and then removed again twice, before diey pitehe(i 
 in the wilderness of Paran, (Num. x. 33;xii. K;.) — 
 which does not at all accord with the above hyiioth- 
 esis respecting Wady Feiran. 
 
 In respect to the three routes above suggested, 
 from Sinai to Canaan, they rest upon conjecture ; and 
 there is no probability that the Israelites returned 
 from Sinai over any portion of the route they had 
 travelled in reaching it ; they appear rather to have 
 taken a direct course towards Kadesh Barnea, as in- 
 deed is stated in Deut. i. 19. The Libnah mentioned 
 in Num. xxxiii. 20, appears to have been a station 
 somewhere near this ; — that it was the Libnah which* 
 Joshua afterwards smote, (Josh. x. 29, 30.) as is above 
 supjjosed, is not only not supported by any evidence, 
 but would seem to be impossible ; for this Libnah is 
 evidently spoken of as near Makkedah, and is so 
 marked in all maps, and was therefore situated in the 
 plain of Judah, a short distance south-west from 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 The command of Jehovah was, "Turn you, and 
 get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red 
 sea," Num. xiv. 25 ; and he also said to the Israel- 
 ites, "Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness ; and 
 your children shall wander in the wilderness forty 
 years ;" xiv. 32. Does this look like a command to 
 turn by the way of the Mediterranean sea, as is sug- 
 gested above ? ' Had the Israelites come in sight of 
 the Mediterranean, or even approached it, can wc 
 suppose this fact would not have been mention- 
 ed by the sacred historian ? Or that, had they re- 
 turned to the western head of the Red sea, the very 
 place where they had miraculously passed through 
 it, this too would have been passed over without any 
 notice ? How different from this is the representa- 
 tion of Moses, in Deut. ii. 1 ; "Then we turned (from 
 Kadesh Bannui,) and took our journey into the wil- 
 derness l)y the way of the Red sea, as the Lord 
 spake unto me ; and ice compassed 7uoimt Seir many 
 days ; i. e. the thirty-eight years of wandering in the 
 desert (verse 14) were speiit in traversing the eastern 
 part of it, adjacent to the Ghor and mount Seir; andnof 
 in traversing the western jiart between the Mediterra- 
 nean and Suez. Hence, the supposition above made, 
 that the station Mosera is the present "fountains of 
 Moses," nearly opposite Suez, falls to the ground. 
 See under Aaron. 
 
 We are now ]irepared to present the view which 
 we have taken of the journeyings of the Israelites 
 through the deserts, after having passed through the
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 410 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 Red sea near Suez, as we suppose. Indeed, this 
 point would seem now to be very clearly established, 
 after the researches of Niebuhr, with whose opinion 
 Burckliardt coincides, and the discussion of the tojj- 
 ic by Prof. Stuart in his Course of Hebrew Study, 
 above referred to. 
 
 From the passage of the Red sea to mount Sinai, 
 the stations of the Israelites mentioned between the 
 passage of the Red sea and Sinai, arc, (1.) IMarali, 
 after a march of three days througli the wilderness 
 of Shur. Here the water was bitter, and the Lord 
 showed Moses a tree, which when he had cast into 
 the waters, they were made sweet, Ex. xv. 22, seq. 
 (2.) Elini, with twelve wells of water, and seventy 
 palm trees, Ex. xv. 27. — (3.) Encampment by the 
 sea-shore, Num. xxxiii. 10. — (4.) The wilderness of 
 Sin, between Elim and Sinai, where manna was first 
 given, Ex. xvi. 1. — (5.) Dophkah. — (6.) Alush. — 
 (7.) Rcpliidim, called also Massah and Meribah, Ex. 
 xvii. 1 — 7. — (8.) Sinai. Among these, of Ilephidim 
 it can only be said, tliat it was near Sinai, probably 
 on tlie west . or nortll-^vest of that mountain ; in 
 wliicJi direction tlie Israelites must have approached 
 Sinai. Dophkah and Alush are not mentioned in 
 Exodus, and nothing more can be known about 
 them. The other stations it will be less difficult to 
 trace. We cannot do better than to take Buixkhardt 
 as our guide, who travelled over the same route in 
 tlie year 1816. As the whole subject is interesting, 
 our extracts will be copious. (See Burckhardt's 
 Travels in Syria, etc. p. 470, seq.) 
 
 On the 26th of A})ril, Burckliardt left Suez. " The 
 tide was then at flood, and we were obliged to make 
 the tour of the whole creek north of the town, which 
 at low water can be forded. [Here we suppose the 
 Israelites to have crossed.] In winter time, and im- 
 mediately after the rainy season, this circuit is ren- 
 dered still greater, because the low grounds to the 
 northward of the creek are then inundated, and be- 
 come so swampy, that the camels cannot pass them. 
 We rode one hour and three quarters in a straight 
 line northwards, after passing, close by the town, sev- 
 eral mounds of rubbish, which aftbrd no object of 
 curiosity except a few large stones, supposed to be 
 the ruins of Clijsma or Jlrsinoi'. We then turned 
 eastwards, just at the point where the remains of the 
 ancient canal are very distinctly visible ; two swell- 
 ings of the ground, of which the eastern is about 
 eight or ten i'cet higii, and the western somewhat 
 less, run in a straight line northwards, parallel with 
 each other, at the distance of about twenty-three feet. 
 They begin at a few hundred paces to the north- 
 west of high -water mark, from wlience northwards 
 the ground is covered by a saline crust. We turned 
 the point of this inlet, and halted for a short time at 
 the wells of Ayoun Mousa, the fountains of Moses, 
 under tlie date-trees. We rested [for the night] at 
 two hours and three (piarters from the wells, in the 
 plain called El Kordliye," Mr. Carne remarks, that 
 these fountains arc; a " few hours" distant from the 
 head of tlie creek aliove mentioned ; and this also 
 accords with iJurckhardt's statement ; for except the 
 one liour and tlireo quarters in the morning, and two 
 hours and three quarters in the afternoon, the rest of 
 tlie day was spent in jiassing lietween those two 
 points. Nieliuhr reckons them to be six miles south 
 of the point opposite .Suez, (Reiseb. i. p. 225.) 
 ♦-. Here, not improbably, the Hebrews rested, after the 
 passage through the sea ; when Moses and the peo- 
 ple sang their triumplial song. Hence "they went 
 out into tho wilderness of Shur, and went three days 
 
 in the wilderness, and found no wafer," Ex. xv. 22. 
 With this corresponds the account of Burckhardt. 
 '■'■ April 2Qth. We proceeded over a barren, sand j% 
 and gravelly plain, called El Ahtha, direction south 
 by east. For about an hour the plain was uneven ; 
 we then entered upon a widely extended flat, in 
 which we continued south-south-east. Low moun- 
 tains, the commencement of the chain of Tyh, run 
 parallel with the road, to the left, about eight miles 
 distant. At the end of four hours and a half, we 
 halted for a few hours in Wady Seder, which takes 
 its name of Wady only from being overflowed with 
 water when the rains are very copious. Its natural 
 formation by no means entitles it to be called a val- 
 ley, its level being only a few feet lower than that of 
 the desei-t on both sides. Some thorny trees grow 
 in it, but no herbs for pasture. We continued our 
 way south by east over the plain, which was alter- 
 nately gravelly) sandy, and stony. At the end of 
 seven hours and a half we reached W^ady Wardan, 
 a valley or bed of a torrent, similar in its nature to 
 the former, but broader. Near its extremity, at the 
 sea side, it is several miles in breadth. A low chain 
 of sand-hills begins here to the west, near the sea ; 
 and the eastern mountains apjiroach the road. At 
 nine hours and a half, south-south-east, the eastern 
 mountains form a junction with the western hills. 
 At ten hours we entered a liilly country ; at ten 
 hours and three quarters we rested for the night in a 
 barren valley among the hills, called Wady Amara. 
 We met with nobody in this route except a party of 
 Yeinbo merchants, who had landed at Tor, and were 
 travelling to Cairo. 
 
 '■'•April 27th. We travelled over uneven, hilly 
 ground, gravelly and flinty. At one hour and three 
 quarters, we passed the well of Howara, around 
 which a few date-trees gi-ow. Niebuhr travelled the 
 same route, but his guides probably did not lead him 
 to this Well, which lies among hills about two hun- 
 dred paces out of the road. The water of the well 
 of Howara is so bitter, that men cannot drink it ; 
 and even camels, if not very thirsty, refuse to taste 
 it." This well Burckhardt justly supposes to be the 
 Mai'ali of the Israelites; and in this opinion Mr. 
 Leake, Gesenius, and Rosenmiiller, concur. 
 
 " From Ayoun Mousa to the well of Howara we 
 had travelled fifteen hours and a quarter. Referring 
 to this distance, it ai)pears probable that this is the 
 desert of three days mentioned in the Scriptures to 
 have been crossed by the Israelites immediately after 
 their passing the Red sea ; and at the end of which 
 they arrived at Marali. In moving with a whole na- 
 tion, the march may well be supposed to have occu- 
 pied three days ; and the bitter well at ]Marah, \vhich 
 was sweetened by Moses, corresponds exactly to that 
 at Howara. This is the usual route to mount Sinai, 
 and was probably, tliercforo, that which the Israel- 
 ites took on their escape from Egyjjt, jirovided it be 
 admitted that they crossed the sea at Suez, as Nie- 
 buhr, with good reason, conjectures. There is no 
 other road of three days' march in the way from 
 Suez towards Sinai, nor is there arc any other well 
 absolutely bitter on the whole of this coast. The 
 complaints of the bitterness of the water by the chil- 
 dren of Israel, who had been accustomed to the 
 sweet water of the Nile, are such as may be daily 
 heard from the Egyptian servants and peasants who 
 travel in Arabia. Accustomed from their youth to 
 the excellent water of the Nile, there is nothing 
 which they so much regret in countries distant from 
 Egypt ; nor is there any eastern jieople who feel so
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 411 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 keenly tlic want ol" good water, as the present na- 
 tives of Egypt. ^V'ith respect to the means employ- 
 ed hy Moses to render the waters of the well sweet, 
 I have frequently inquired among the Bedouins in 
 different parts of Arabia, whether they possessed 
 any means of effecting such a change, by throwing 
 wood into it, or by any other process ; but I never 
 could learn that such an art was known. (See 
 Marah.) 
 
 "At the end of three hours we reached Wady 
 Ghareudel, which extends to the north-east, and is 
 almost a mile in breadth, and full of trees. The 
 Arabs told me that it may be traced through the 
 whole desert, and that it begins at no great distance 
 from El Arysh, on the IMediterranean ; but I had no 
 means of ascertaining the truth of this statement. 
 About half an hour from the place where we 
 halted, in a southern direction, is a copious spring, 
 with a small rivulet, which renders the valley the 
 principal station on this i-oute. The water is disa- 
 greeable, and if kept for a night in the water skins, 
 it turns bitter and spoils, as I have myself experi- 
 enced, having ])assed this way three times. If, now, 
 we admit Bir Howara to be the Marah of Exodus, (xv. 
 23.) then Wady Gharendel is probably Elim, with its 
 well und date-trees ; an opinion entertaineil by Nie- 
 buhr, who, however, did not see the bitter well of 
 Howara. The non-existence, at present, of twelve 
 wells at Gharendel must not be considered as evi- 
 dence against the just-stated conjecture ; for Niebuhr 
 says, that his companions obtained water here by 
 digging to a very small depth, and there was great 
 plenty of it when I passed. Water, in fact, is read- 
 ily found by digging, in every fertile valley in Arabia, 
 and wells are thus easily formed, which are ffUed uj) 
 again by the sands. 
 
 " The Wady Gharendel contains date-trees, tam- 
 arisks, acacias of different species, and the thorny 
 shrub Gharkad, the Pegamtm retusum of Forskal, 
 which is extremely common in this peninsula, and is 
 also met w'ith in the sands of the Delta on the coast of 
 the IMediterranean. Its small red berry, of the size 
 of a grain of the pomegranate, is very juicy and re- 
 freshing, much resembling a ripe gooseberry in taste, 
 but not so sweet. The x-Vrabs are very fond of it. 
 The shrub Gharkad delights in a sandy soil, and 
 reaches its maturity in the height of sunmier, when 
 the ground is parched up, exciting an agreeable sur- 
 prise in the traveller, at finding so juicy a berry pro- 
 duced in the driest soil and season. Might not the 
 berry of this shrub have been used by Moses to 
 sweeten the waters of Marah ? [The Hebrew in 
 Ex. XV. 25, reads: "And the Lord showed him a 
 tree, and he cast into the waters, and they became 
 sweet." The Arabic; translates, "and he cast of it 
 into the waters," &:c.] As this conjecture did not 
 occur to me when I was on the spot, I did not in- 
 quire of the Bedouins, whether they ever sweetened 
 the water with the juice of berries, which would 
 probably effect this change in the same manner as 
 the juice of pomegranate grains expressed into it." 
 See Marah. 
 
 From Elim the children of Israel "removed and 
 encamped by the Red sea," Num. xxxiii. 10 ; and 
 then "came into the wilderness of Sin, which is be- 
 tween Elim and Sinai," Ex. xvi. 1. From Elim, 
 Burckhardt says, " We continued in a south-east half 
 east direction, passing over hills ; and at the end of 
 four horns from our starting in the morning, we 
 came to an open, though hilly country, still slightly 
 ascending, south-south-east, and then reached, by "a 
 
 similar descent, in five hours and a half, Wady Os- 
 zaita, enclosed by chalk hills. From here we rode 
 over a wide plain south-east by east, and at the end 
 of seven hours and three quarters came to Wady 
 Thale. To our right was a chain of mountains, 
 which extend towards Gharendel. Proceeding from 
 hence south, we turned the point of the mountain, 
 and entered the valley called Wady Taybe, which 
 descends j-apidly to the sea. At the end of eight 
 hours and u half, we turned out of AVady Taybe into 
 a branch of it, called Wady Shebeyke, in which we 
 continued east-south-east, and halted for the night, 
 after a day's march of nine horns and a quarter." Is 
 this Wady Taybe, which " descends rapidly to the 
 sea," the place of encampment by the sea ? It would 
 be about eight hours, or twenty-four miles, from 
 Elim, a somewhat long journey for a multitude of 
 this kind ; but there does not seem to be a nearer 
 place of encampment "by the sea," inasmuch as a 
 " chain of mountains" runs along the coast to this 
 point. 
 
 From this spot Burckhardt was still four days in 
 reaching the convent at the foot of Sinai. The way 
 leads through several Wadys or valleys, and the trav- 
 eller passes from one to another of these valleys, 
 sometimes over elevated plains, and sometimes over 
 mountains of sand. At the end of the first day 
 (April 28th,) they "ascended with difficulty a steep 
 mountain, composed, to the very top, of moving sands, 
 with a very few rocks api)earing above the surface. 
 We reached the summit after a day's march of nine 
 hours and three quarters, and rested upon a high 
 plain, called Rand el Morah." On the third day, 
 (April 30th,) after a steep ascent and descent, which 
 occupied two hours, they continued to "descend into 
 the great valley called Wady el Sheikh, one of the 
 principal valleys of the peninsula. It is broad, and 
 has a very slight acclivity ; it is much frequented by 
 Bedouins for its pasturage. Whenever rain falls in 
 the mountains, a stream of water flows through this 
 wady, and from thence through Wady Feiran hito 
 the sea." May Ave not regard the country between 
 Wady Taybe and this great valley, which the Israel- 
 ites could hardly have failed to visit, as the desert of 
 Sin ? M. Riippel says in general of the route from 
 Wady Sheikh to Suez through the Wadys and desert 
 plains of Ramie, Hemar, Tie, and Gharendel, as being 
 very uninteresting, although described by many trav- 
 ellers. "In one word," he says, "it is a most fright- 
 ful desert, almost wholly without vegetation." (p. 269.) 
 
 If we regard this, then, as the wilderness of Sin, 
 the stations Dophkah and Alush may be supposed 
 to have been in the great valleys El Sheikh and 
 Feiran. The latter of these is a continuation of the 
 former, which connnenccs in the vicinity of Sinai, 
 on its north-western side, and is prolonged in a north- 
 westerly direction to the gulf of Suez. Burckhardt 
 fell into it on his retin-n, a little lower doAvn. " I 
 found it here," he says, "of the same noble breadth 
 as it is above, and in many parts it was thickly over- 
 grown with the tamarisk or Tarfa ; it is the only val- 
 ley in the peninsula where this tree grows at present, 
 in any great quantity ; though small bushes of it are 
 here and there met with in other parts. It is from 
 the Tarfa that the manna is obtained." p. 599. (See 
 Manna.) "We descended this valley north-west by 
 west, and at the end of four hours we entered the 
 plantations of Wady Feiran through a wood of 
 tamarisks. Tl*is is a continuation of Wady el 
 Sheikh, and is considered the finest valley of the 
 whole peninsula. From the upper extremity, an un-
 
 EXODUJj 
 
 [41^ ] 
 
 EXODLS 
 
 interrupted row of gardens and date plantations ex- 
 tends downwards for four miles. In almost every 
 garden is a well, by means of which the grounds are 
 irrigated the whole year round." (p. 602.) Tliis is the 
 valley desci-ibed above (p. 405.) by Niebuhr under the 
 name of Faran, through which the Israehtcs, doubt- 
 less, passed on their way to Sinai after leaving the 
 desert of Sin ; but which they probably did not pass 
 through on their way from Sinai to Kadesh, as it would 
 be far out of their direct course. Here they could 
 not want for water ; nor did they murmur on this ac- 
 count until they came to Rephidim, which was most 
 probably higher up among the mountains, and near 
 the western base of Sinai itself. 
 
 The upper region of Sinai forms an irregular cir- 
 cle of thirty or forty miles in diameter, possessing 
 numerous sources of water, a temperate climate, and 
 a soil capable of supporting animal and vegetable 
 nature. This therefore was the part of the peninsu- 
 la best adapted to the residence of nearly a year, dur- 
 ing which the Israelites were numbered, and received 
 their laws from the Most High. This tract is thus 
 described by Burckhardt. "The upper nucleus of 
 Sinai, composed almost entirely of granite, fornjs a 
 rocky wilderness of an irregular circular shape, in- 
 tersected by many narrow valleys, and fi-om thirty to 
 forty miles in diameter. It contains the highest 
 mountains of the peninsula, whose shagged and point- 
 ed peaks, and steep and shattered sides, render it 
 clearly distinguishable from all the rest of the coun- 
 try in view. It is upon this higliest i-egion of the 
 peninsula, that the fertile valleys are found, which 
 produce fruit-trees; they are principally to the west 
 and south-west of the convent, at three or four hours' 
 distance. Water, too, is always found in plenty in this 
 district ; on which account it is the place of i-efuge 
 of all the Bedouins, when the low country is parch- 
 ed up. I think it probable, that this upper country 
 or wilderness is, exclusively, the desert of Sinai so 
 often mentioned in the account of the wanderings of 
 the Israelites." In ajjproaching this elevated region 
 from the north-west, Burckhardt writes. May 1st, 
 "We now approached the central summits of mount 
 Sinai, which we had had in view for several days. 
 Al)riipt cliffs of granite from six to eight hiuidred 
 feet in height, whose surface is blackened by the sun, 
 surroimd the avenues leading to the elevated region, 
 to which the name of Sinai is specifically applied. 
 These cliffs enclose the holy mountain on three sides, 
 leaving the east and noitli-east sides only, tov>"ards 
 the gulf of Akaba, more open to the view. At the 
 end of three hours we entered these cliffs by a nar- 
 row (hifile about forty feet in breadth, with perpen- 
 dicular grjinite rocks on both sides. The gi-ound is 
 covered with sand and pebbles, brought down by 
 the torrent which rushes from the upper region in 
 the winter time." (Compare also the account of Nie- 
 buhr, Descr. of Araliia, p. 401.) 
 
 The general approach to Sinai from the same 
 quarter is thus described by Mr. Carnc (Letter i. 
 p. 208.) "A few hours more, and we got sight of 
 the mountains round Sinai. Their a])pearance was 
 magnificent. Wlien we drew near and emerged out 
 of a deep pass, the scenery A-^as infinitely striking; 
 and on the right e-xtended a vast range of mountains, 
 as far as the eye could reach, from the vicinity of 
 Sinai down to Tor [on the gulf of Suez.] They 
 were perfectly bare, but of graiul and singular form. 
 We had hoped to reach the confent i)y daylight, 
 buttlie moon had risen some time, when we entered 
 th') mouth of a narrow patis, where our conductors 
 
 advised us to dismount. A gentle yet perpetual as- 
 cent led on, mile after mile, up this mournful valley, 
 whose aspect was terrific, yet ever varying. It was 
 not above two hundred yards in width, and the 
 mountains rose to an immense height on each side. 
 The road wound at their feet along the edge of a 
 precipice, and amidst masses of rock that had fallen 
 from above. It was a toilsome path, generally over 
 stones placed like steps, probably by the Arabs ; and 
 the moonlight was of little service to us in this 
 deep valley, as it only rested on the frowning summits 
 above. Where is mount Sinai ? Avas the inquiry of 
 every one. The Arabs ])ointed before to Gebel 
 Mousa, the mount of Moses, as it is called ; but wo 
 could not distinguish it. Again and again, point 
 after point was turned, and v.e saw but the same 
 stern scener}^ But what had tlie beauty and soft- 
 ness of nature to do here ? IMount Sinai required 
 an appi-oach like this, where ail seemed to proclaim 
 the land of miracles, and to have been visited by the 
 terrors of the Lord. The scenes, as you gazed 
 around, had an unearthly character, suited to the 
 sound of the fearful trumpet, that was once heard 
 there. We entered at last on the more open valley, 
 about half a mile wide, and drew near this famous 
 mountain. Sinai is not so lofty as some of the 
 mountains around it ; and in its form thej'c is noth- 
 ing gniceful or peculiar, to distinguish it from others. 
 Near midnight we reached the convent." 
 
 M. Riippeli, in travelling from Akaba to the con- 
 vent, approached Sinni from the north-north-east, 
 through the Wadys Safraii and Salaka. "The na- 
 kedness of the landscape is frightfully mournful. 
 In the distance lay before lis a lofty chain of moun- 
 tains ; and three summits lift their heads above the 
 whole chain. That in the middle, directly before us 
 south, is Gebel IMousa or Sinai ; the south-western 
 is St. Catharine, the Horebof some. We penetrated 
 into this chain from the north ; very soon we turned 
 towards the east; all is here of perpendicular and 
 ragged granite formation. After some hours we 
 reached the walls of the convent of St. Cathaiine, 
 situated in a very narrow valley or chasm of the 
 mountains, which extends from north-^vest to south- 
 east. One chief object of my visit here was to de- 
 termine the geographical position of the convent by 
 means of lunar observations ; but the mountains 
 around the convent, especially to the south and 
 west, are so lofly and perpendicidar, that the moon 
 was visible only for a very short time ; and never at 
 the same time with the sun or planets." (p. 257.) 
 
 "The convent is situated," according to Burck- 
 hardt, "in a valley so narrow, th.at one part of the 
 building stands on the side of the [south] western 
 mountain, [Gebel Mousa,] while a space of twenty 
 paces only is left betv.een its walls and the eastern 
 mountain. The valley is open to the north, fiom 
 whence approaches the road from Cairo ; to the 
 south, close bcycnd the convent, it is shut u]) bj- a 
 third mountain, less steep than the others, over whith 
 passes the road to Sheru). The convent is an irreg- 
 ular quadrangle of about one hnndi-ed and thirty 
 paces, enclosed by hig'i and solid v.alls, built with 
 blocks of granite, and fortified by several small tow- 
 ers. The convent contains eight or ten small court 
 yards, some of which are neatly laid out in beds of 
 flowers and vegetables ; a few date-trees and cypress- 
 es also grow there, and great numbers of vines." (p. 
 541.) "In the convent arc two deep and copious 
 wells of spring water. A pleasant garden adjoins 
 the building, into which there Is a subteiraneous
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 41.3 ] 
 
 EXODLS 
 
 passage ; the soil is stony ; but in this chmate, 
 wherever water is plenty, the very rocks will pro- 
 duce vegetation. The fruit is of the finest quality." 
 (p. 544, 549.) According to tradition, the convent 
 dates from the fourth century, when the empress 
 Helena is said to have built a cliurch here ; but the 
 present l>uilding was erected by the emperor Justin- 
 ian, in the sixth century. 
 
 Directly behind the convent, towards the south- 
 west, (Niebuhr Reiscb. i. 247.) rises Gcbel Mousa, or 
 the proper Sinai ; the path to the simmiit of which 
 begins to ascend immediately behind the walls of the 
 convent. At the end of three quarters of an hour's 
 steep ascent is a small plain, on which is a large 
 building called the convent of St. Elia:^, formerly in- 
 habited, but now abandoned. "According to the 
 Koran and the ^Moslem traditions, it was in this part 
 of the mountain, which is now called Djebel Oreb, 
 or Horeb, that Moses communicated with the Lord." 
 (Burekhardt, p. 566.) Is not this, perhaps, the real 
 Horeb, v/hicJi indeed seems in tiie Scriptures to be 
 synonymous with Sinai ? From hence a still steeper 
 ascent of half an hour leads to the summit of Djebel 
 Mousa. The view liom this summit is very grand. 
 BIr. Carne says, "Sinai has four summils ; and that 
 of Mosps stands almost in the middle of the others, 
 and is not visible from below." (p. 221.) Burek- 
 hardt also speaks of a mosque on a lower peak, 
 about thirty i)aces distant from the church on the 
 proper suaunit, which is a plain of about sixty paces 
 in circund'erence. To the west-south-west of Sinai 
 lies mount St. Catharine, separated from the former 
 by a narrow valley, in which is situated a deserted 
 convent, called El Erbayin, or the convent of the For- 
 ty. The eastern side of mount St. Catharine is not- 
 ed for its excellent pasturage; herbs sprout up every 
 where between the rocks, and, as many of them are 
 odoriferous, the scent early in the morning, when 
 the dew falls, is delicious. A slow ascent of two 
 hours brought Burekhardt to the top of the mountain ; 
 "which, like the Djebel Mousa, terminates in asharj) 
 point. Its highest part consists of a single immense 
 block of granite, whose surface is so smooth, that it 
 is very difficidt to ascend it. Luxuriant vegetation 
 reaches up to this rock." (p. 574.) This mountain is 
 higher than that of Moses ; the view from its sum- 
 mit is of the same kind, onlj^ nuu-h more extensive, 
 than from the top of Sinai ; it commands a view of 
 some parts of the t^^■o gulfs of Akaba and Suez. It 
 is in this valley, between the two mountains, where 
 the convent El Erbayin stands, that tlic site of 
 Rephidim has been fixed by tradition ; about twenty 
 minutes' walk nortlnvard from tJiis convent is shown 
 the rock out of which water is said to have issued. 
 The valley is now called El Lcdja, is very narrow, 
 and extremely ntoiiy ; and at foriy minutes' walk 
 north-eastward from El Erbayin, it opens into the 
 broader valley which leads south-eastward to the 
 convent of St. Catharine. At this point, i. e. on the 
 northern side of Sinai, the valley has considerable 
 width, and constitutes, according to Mr. Carne, (j). 
 227.) a plain capable of containing a large nimiber of 
 people. Ho remarks, (p. 222.) "From the summit 
 of Sinai you see only iiniuujerable ranges of rocky 
 mountains. One generally places, in imagination, 
 around Sinai, extensive plains or sandy deserts, where 
 the camp of the hosts was placed, where the families 
 of Israel stood at the doors of their tents, and the line 
 was drawn round the mountain, which no one might 
 break through on pain of death. But it is not thus. 
 Save the valley by which we approached Sinai, 
 
 about half a niile wide and a few iniles in length, and 
 a small plain we afterwards passed through, [just 
 above mentioned,] there appear to be few open places 
 around the mount." He says further on, (p. 258,) 
 "We had not the opportunity of making the tour of 
 the whole of the region of Sinai ; yet we traversed 
 three sides of the mountain, [the east, west, and 
 north,] and found it every where shut in by narrow 
 ravines, except on the north, in which direction wc i 
 had first a|jproached it. Here there is, as before ob- ]/ 
 served, a valley of some extent, and a small plain, in 
 the midst of which is a rocky hill. These ap-pear to 
 have been the only places in which the Israelites 
 could have stood before the mount ; because on the 
 fourth [or south] side, though unvisited, we could 
 observe from the summit, were only glens or small 
 rocky valleys, as on the east and west." 
 
 Such is the most graphic account which the writer 
 has been able to compile, from the accoimts of trav- 
 ellers, of that celebrated region of which the summit 
 Djebel Mousa is the centre ; and which has now for 
 centuries been supposed to be the Sinaiof the Scrip- 
 tures, and the scene of the awful communications 
 between God and his covenant people of old, in the 
 giving of the law. It must not, however, be denied, 
 that the identity of thisnioimtain rests upon tradition, 
 strengthened indeed by its geographical position and 
 several other circumstances ; ^vhile some other cir- 
 cumstances seem to indicate a tradition of a still ear- 
 lier date in favor of another mountain, mount Serbal, 
 situated some distance to the west-north-west of 
 Djebel Idousa. According to Burekhardt, "it is sep- 
 arated from the u])per [region of] Sinai by some 
 valleys, especially Wady Ilebran ; and it forms, with 
 several neighboring mountains, a separate chistei', 
 terminating in peaks, the highest of which appears 
 to be as high as mount St. Catharine. It borders on 
 Wady Feiran," (p. 575.) He afterwards ascended 
 this mountain, and writes of it as follows: "The 
 fact of so many inscriptions being found upon the 
 rocks near the summit of this mountain, together 
 with the existence of the road [steps] leading up to 
 the jjeak, afTord strong reasons for jiresuming that 
 the Serbal v/as an ancient place of devotion. It 
 will be recollected iliat no inscriptions are found 
 either on the mountain of Moses, or on mount St. 
 Catharine. Fronj these circumstances, I am per- 
 suaded that mount Serbal was at one period the chief 
 place of j)ilgrimage in the peninsula; and that it was 
 then considered the moimtain where i\ioses received 
 the tables cf the law; iJioiigJi J am equally convinced, 
 from a perusal of the Scriptures, that the Israelites en- 
 camped in the upper Sinai, and that either Djebel Mou- 
 sa or the mcitnt St. Catharine is the real Horeb. At 
 present neither the monks of mount Sinai nor those 
 of Cairo consider mount Serbal as the scene of any 
 events of s;icred history ; nor have the Bedouins any 
 tradition among them respecting it," (j). 608, 609.) To 
 the opinion of this very intelligent nud judicious trav- 
 eller, formed from personal observation on the spot, 
 we may well yield our assent ; esj>eciaily as the 
 foundation of the present convent dates back to the 
 foiu'th century. 
 
 The children of Israel left Egypt on the fifteenth 
 day of the first month of the sacred year, on the 
 morning after the i)assover, (Nuuj.xxxiii. 'S'S.) that is 
 to say, about the middle of April. They reached 
 Sinai in the third month ; (Ex. xiii. 1.) and the ex- 
 pression, "the same da\^ came they to Sinai," would 
 seem to imply that they reached the mountain on the 
 fifteenth of the third month, or June, having been
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [414 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 jusl two months on the way. At any rate, it is man- 
 ifest that they did not travel every day ; and indeed 
 in most of the places mentioned, they probably re- 
 mained several days. In Rephidim, at least, several 
 important transactions took place, which imply a de- 
 lay of some time ; water was miraculously brought 
 from the rock ; the Amalekites were discomtited ; 
 Jethro visited Moses, and in consequence of his ad- 
 vice, a new arrangement of judges was introduced, 
 Ex. xvii. xviii. At Sinai the Israelites remained 
 during all the transactions recorded in the remain- 
 der ot the book of Exodus, in Leviticus, and in the 
 first nine chapters of Numbers. In Num. x. 11, it is 
 recorded, that "on the twentieth day of the second 
 month, in the second year, the cloud was taken up, 
 and the children of Israel took their journeys out of 
 the wilderness of Sinai." Their sojourn at Sinai 
 may, therefore, be counted from the fifteenth day of 
 June to the twentieth of 3Iay ; a j)eriod of eleven 
 months and five days, according to our mode of 
 reckoning ; but as they reckoned by lunar months, 
 the whole interval was in fact something less than 
 eleven of our montiis. 
 
 From Sinai to Kadesh, and the wandering in the 
 Desert. — Wc have now a more diflicult task, viz. to 
 determine the course and stations of the Israelites 
 after leaving Sinai, during all the years of wandering 
 in the desert, until their arrival on the bordere of the 
 promised land. Until they reached mount Sinai, the 
 Scripture accounts in Exodus and in Numbers 
 xxxiii. harmonize with each other ; and the country 
 has been visited and described by intelligent travel- 
 lers. But from this time onward, the accounts of 
 Scripture are aj)parently at variance with each other, 
 or at least do not obviously harmonize ; and the 
 country through which they passed is still a terra in- 
 cognita ; having been visited by no modern traveller, 
 except slightly. Burckhardt crossed the southern 
 part of this desert from near Wady Mousa to Suez 
 in 1812 ; and Seetzen travelled directly from Hebron 
 to Akaba ; but of his journey no account has reach- 
 ed the public. In order to arrive at a better under- 
 standing of the subject, it will be proper here to give 
 a general description of this whole region of coun- 
 try — a region of which very little has hitherto been 
 known, and on some ptu-ts of which the travels of 
 Burckhardt and others have shed nuich light. Our 
 information will be drawn principally from this in- 
 telligent traveller. (See his Travels in Syria, p. 401, 
 seq. ])assim.) 
 
 Of tiie two gulfs of the Red sea which enclose the 
 peninsula of mount Sinai, the western, or gulf of Su- 
 ez, runs in a general direction from south-south-east 
 to north-north-west, and terminates at Suez, in lat. 
 30° north, and long. 30° 12' east from Paris. The 
 eastern, or gulf of Akaba, runs nearly from south by 
 west to north i)y east, and ends at Akaba, in lat. 29° 
 30' north, and long. 32° 35' east fiom Paris. The 
 distance between these two extremities, therefore, is 
 about 143 degrees of longitiule in lat. 30°, or about 
 125 miles in a straight line, tending from west-north- 
 west to easl-;4outh-east. Tlw; above positions are 
 given from the chart of riii|)))eil, which was con- 
 structed from astronomical admeasiu'ement. The 
 peninsula included within these limits is filled up 
 with niotmtains, and narrow valleys, and desolate 
 plains. Of the mountains, the cliain, or elevated cir- 
 cle, of Sinai, as described above, is the chief. West 
 of this is the Serbal. "To the northwards of this 
 central region, and divided from it by the broad val- 
 ley called Wady El Sheikh, and by several minor 
 
 wadys, begins a lower range of mountains called 
 Zebeir, which extends eastwards ; having at one ex- 
 tremity the two peaks called El Djoze above the 
 plantations of Wady Feiran, and losing itself to the 
 east in the more open country towards Wady Sal. 
 Beyond the Zebeir northwards are sandy plains and 
 valleys. This part is the most barren and destitute 
 of water of the whole country. It borders on the 
 north on the chain of El Tyh, which stretches in a 
 i-egular line eastwards, parallel with the Zebeir, be- 
 ginning at Sarbout el Djemel. " (Burckh. }». 574.) 
 According to the map of Burckhardt, this chain be- 
 gins near the coast of the western gulf, bet^^•een 
 Wady Gharendel and W^ady Taybe, and extends 
 eastward ; towards the middle of the peninsula it di- 
 vides into two chains, which continue to run parallel 
 with each other, and terminate near the coast of the 
 eastern gidf, at some distance south of Akaba. But 
 low mountains, strictly the commencement of this 
 chain, appear on the left of the road opposite Suez, 
 about eight miles distant, and there run parallel \vitli 
 that road. (p. 471.) North of El Tyh, the great 
 Egyptian Hadj, a pilgrim road, passes from Suez to 
 Akaba over the desert. 
 
 The northern end of the gulf of Akaba is connected 
 with the southern exti-emity of the Dead sea by the 
 great valley, called towai'ds the north. El Ghor, and 
 towards tlie soiuh. El Araba, and forming a ]irolon- 
 gation of the valley of the Jordan, through which, 
 in all probability, in very ancient times, before the 
 overthrow of the cities of the plain, that river pour- 
 ed its waters into the Red sea. The course of this 
 valley is between south and south-south-west. Its 
 length from the Dead sea in about lat. 31° 5' to Aka- 
 ba in lat. 29° 30^, is therefore not far from 95 degrees 
 of latitude, or about 110 miles in a direct line. From 
 the extremity of the sea, (according to ]\Ir. Bankes 
 and his companions,) a sandy plain or flat extends 
 southward between hills, and on a level with the sea, 
 for the distance of eight or ten miles, where it is in- 
 terrupted by a sandy clift", from sixty to eighty feet 
 high, which traverses the valley like a wall, forming a 
 barrier to the waters of the lake ^\ hen at their great- 
 est height. Beyond this clift' the valley is prolonged 
 without interruption to Akaba. It is skirted on each 
 side by a chain of mountains ; but the streams which 
 descend from these, are in summer lost in their grav- 
 elly beds before they reach the valley below ; so that 
 the lower plain, or bottom of the great valley, is in 
 summer entirely without water, which alone can 
 produce verdure in the Arabian dcseits, and render 
 them habitable. Burckhardt crossed it opposite the 
 Wady Gharendel, which opens into it from the east, 
 about 40 or 50 miles north of Akaba. Here the 
 whole plain presented to the view an expanse of 
 shifting sands, whose surface was broken by innu- 
 merable undulations and low hills. The sand ap- 
 pears to have been brought from the shores of the 
 Red sea by the southerly winds ; and the Arabs in- 
 formed bin), that the valley continued to ]n-escnt the 
 same ap|)earanco towards the north. Numerous 
 Bedouin tribes encamp here in tiie winter, when the 
 torrents produce a copious .«n|)()ly of water, and a 
 few shrubs spring up upon their banks, affording 
 jiasturage to tlic sheep and goats. Our traveller was 
 one hour and a half in crossing the Wady Araba, 
 which would make it about five miles broad ; about 
 the same as the valley of the Jordan. In some 
 places the sand is very deep ; l)ut it is firm, and the 
 camels walk over it without sinking. The heat was 
 suftbcating, and it was increased l)y a hot wind from
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 415 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 the soutli-easi. There is uot the shghtest appear- 
 ance of a road, or of any other work of human art, 
 in this part of the valley, (p. 441.) At the southern 
 extremity of the valley, where it opens upon the plain 
 of Akaba,-Ruppell describes it, towards the end of 
 April (1822,) as shaded by bushes and covei-ed with 
 luxuriant pasturage. See in Elath. 
 
 The chain of mountains on the east of this great 
 valley, forming the continuation of those which sur- 
 round the eastern side of the Dead sea, is known in 
 different portions of it by the names of Djebal, or 
 mountains, Djebel Shera, and Djebel Hesma. The 
 first, or Djebal, extends from the Dead sea, or the re- 
 gion about Kerek, to the Avide valley El Ghoeyr, 
 whicli descends towards the west into the Ghor ; 
 this part is manifestly the ancient Gebal of the He- 
 brews and the Gebalene of the Romans. Djebel 
 Shera follows and extends to the soutli of the Wady 
 Gharendel above mentioned ; this name is the mount 
 Seir of Scripture, (which, however, probably com- 
 prised in general the whole chain,) and in this part 
 are situated the ruins of Petra, the ancient capital of 
 Edom, first discovered by Burckhardt. Farther 
 south Djebel Hesma forms the continuation of the 
 chain to the waters of the Elanitic gulf. The whole 
 of this tract seems to have constituted the ancient 
 Idumea or mount Seir. The mountains do not 
 cover a broad extent ; and beyond tliem, on the east, 
 lies the vast plain of the Arabian desert, which tlie 
 great Syrian caravan of pilgrims crosses on its way 
 to 3Iedina. It is covered with stones, especially 
 flints, and may projjerly be called a stony desert. 
 The road of the caravan lies along the western edge 
 of the plain, near the mountains. Burckhardt re- 
 marks of the mountains of Shera in particular, that 
 " they are considerably elevated above the level of 
 the Ghor, but they appear only as low hills, when 
 seen from the eastern plain, which is upon a much 
 higher level than the Ghor. This great valley [El 
 Ghor] seems to have a rapid slope towards the south ; 
 for the mountains on the east of it appear to increase 
 in height the farther we proceed southward, while 
 the upper [eastern] plain apparently continues upon 
 the same level." (p. 435.) Thus the mountains of 
 Hesma are apparentl}^ higher than any of the others 
 farther north. The whole of this rhain is intersect- 
 ed by many wadys or valleys descending from the 
 upper or eastern plain to the Ghor or El Araba. Not 
 far from Beszeyra in the Djebal, in passing over tlie 
 summit of a hill, Burckhardt remarks : " Here a fine 
 view opened upon us ; to our right we had the deep 
 valley of Wady Dhana, with the village of the same 
 name on its south side ; farther west, about four hours 
 from Dhana, we saw the great valley of the Ghor ; 
 and towards the east and south extended the great 
 Arabian desert." (p. 409.) The valley of Ghoeyr, 
 mentioned above, which divides Djebal from Shera, 
 " is a large, rocky and uneven basin, considerably 
 lower than the eastern plain, upwards of twelve miles 
 across at its eastern extremity, but narrowing to- 
 wards the west. It is intersected by numerous 
 wadys of winter torrents, and by three or four valleys 
 watered by rivulets which unite below and flow into 
 the great valley of the Ghor. The Ghoeyr is famous 
 for the excellent pasturage produced by its numer- 
 ous springs ; and it has, in consequence, become a 
 favorite place of encampment for all the Bedouins of 
 the Djebal and Shera." (p. 410.) The WadyMousa, 
 in which are the ruins of ancient Petra, is of the 
 same description ; so also the Wady Gharendel, above 
 Bpoken of, which empties itself into the valley El 
 
 Araba, in whose sands its waters are lost, and into 
 which It issues by a narrow passage, formed by the 
 approaching rocks, (p. 441.) 
 
 Respecting the chain of hills on the ivestem side 
 of the Ghor, we have much less information. Burck- 
 hardt remarks, that they contain no springs of water 
 whatever, (p. 442.) From the place where he crossed 
 the great valley, opposite the Wady Gharendel, he 
 " ascended the western chain of mountains. The 
 mountain directly opposite to [before] us ajjpeared 
 to be the highest point of the whole chain, as tin- as I 
 could see north and south ; it is called Djebel Beyane ; 
 the height of this chain, however, is not half that of 
 the eastern mountains. It is intersected by numerous 
 broad wadys, in which the Talh-tree grows ; the 
 rock is entirely silicious, of the same species as that 
 of the desert which extends from here to Suez. I 
 saw some large pieces of flint perfectly oval, three to 
 four feet in length, and about a foot and a half in 
 breadth. After an hour and a half of gentle ascent, 
 we an-ived at the summit of the hills, and then de- 
 scended by a short and very gradual declivity into 
 the western plain, the level of which, although higher 
 than that of the valley El Araba, is perha])s one 
 thousand feet lower than that of the eastern desert. 
 We had now before us an immense expanse of 
 dreary country, entirely covered with black flints, 
 with here and there some hilly chains rising from the 
 plain." (p. 444.) At Akaba, however, both the west- 
 ern mountain and plain are more elevated above the 
 bottom of El Araba. Riippell estimates the elevation 
 there to be not less than fifteen hundred feet. (Reisen, 
 p. 247.) See in Elath. 
 
 Thus it appears, that the country on each side of 
 the Ghor, beyond the mountains which skirt the val- 
 ley, is a vast and almost pathless desert. This west- 
 ern desert, lying north of the peninsula of Sinai, was 
 crossed by Burckhardt from the point where he en- 
 tered it, as described in the preceding paragraph, to 
 Suez. The time occupied in this journey was about 
 five days. A few extracts from his journal will best 
 point out the character of the country. He entered 
 the desert, as above mentioned, on the 27th of Au- 
 gust, 1812, toward evening. "Jiitg. 28th [first day.] 
 In the morning we passed two broad wadys full of 
 tamarisks and of Talh-trees. At the end of four 
 hours we reached Wady el Lahyane. In this desert 
 the water collects in a number of low bottoms and 
 wadys, where it produces verdure in winter time ; 
 and an abundance of trees with green leaves are 
 found throughout the year. In the winter, some of 
 the Arabs of Ghaza,as well as those from the shores 
 of the Red sea, encamp here. The Wady Lahyane 
 is several hours in extent ; its bottom is full of gravel. 
 The road from Akaba to Gaza passes here ; it is a 
 journey of eight long days. At the end of five hours 
 we issued from the head of Wady Lahyane again 
 upon the ])lain. Tiie hill on the top of this wady is 
 called Ras el Kaa, and is the termination of a chain 
 of hills, which stretch across this plain in a northern 
 direction for six or eight hours ; it projects like a 
 ])romontory, and serves as a landmark to travellers. 
 The plain which we now entered was a perfect flat, 
 covered with black pebbles. The high insulated 
 mountain, behind which Gaza is situated, bore from 
 hence north by west, distant three long davs' jour- 
 ney." (p. 445. scq.)~'' Aug. 29th [second day.] This 
 day we passed several wadys of Talh and tamarisk- 
 trees, intermixed with low shrubs. Direction west 
 by south. The plain is, for the greater part, covered 
 with flints ; in some places it is chalky. Wherever
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [416] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 the rain collects in winter, vegetation of trees and 
 shrubs is produced. In the midst of this desert we 
 met a poor Bedouin woman, who begged some water 
 of us. She was going to Alcaba, where the tents of 
 her family were, but had neither provisions nor water 
 with her, relying entirely on the hospitality of the 
 Arabs she might meet with on the road. She 
 seemed to be as unconcerned as if she were merely 
 taking a walk for pleasure. After an iminteri-upted 
 march of nine hours and a half, we reached a moun- 
 tain called Dharf el Rokob, which extends for about 
 eight hours from north-west to south-cast. At its 
 foot we crossed the Egyptian Hadj [or j.ilgrim cara- 
 van] road ; it passes along the mountain towards 
 Akaba, which is distant from hence fifteen or eight- 
 een hours. The level plain over which we had 
 travel lefl from Ras el Kaa terminates at Dharf el 
 Rokob. Westward of it the ground is more inter- 
 sected by hills and wadys, and here begins the desert 
 El Tij, [or of ivanderin^-s,] in which, according to 
 tradiiion, botb Jewisii and Mohammedan, the Israel- 
 ites wandered for several years, and from which be- 
 lief the desert takes its name." (p. 447, seq.) — ^^^ug. 
 SOih [third day.] We passed a chain of hills called 
 Odjme, running almost ])arallel with the Dharf el 
 Rokob. We had now reentered the Hadj route, a 
 broad, well-trodden road, strewed with tiie whitened 
 bones of animals that have died by the way. The 
 soil is chalky, and overspi-ead with black pebbles. 
 At the end of live hours and a half we reached Wady 
 Rouak. Here the term tuaiy is applied lo a narrow 
 strip of ground, the bed of a winter torrent, not more 
 than one foot lower than the Icvelof the plain, where 
 the rain water, from the inequalities of the surface, 
 collects, and produces a vegetation of low slirubs and 
 a few Talb-trees. The greater part of the wadys 
 from hence to Egypt are of this description. The 
 Coloquinlida grows in great abundance in a!' of them ; 
 it is used by the Arabs to make tindei'. In nine 
 hours and a half we passed a low chain of chalky 
 hills. On several parts of the road were holes, out 
 of which rock salt had been dug. At the end often 
 hours and a half we arrived in the vicinity of Nakhel, 
 (i. c. date-tree.) a fortified station of the Egyptian 
 Hadj. Our direction was still west by north. Na- 
 khel stands in a })lain, which extends to an immense 
 distance southward, but which terminates to the 
 north at fibout one hoiir's distance from Nakhel, in a 
 low ch;iin of moimtains. The fortress is a large 
 .square building, with stone walls, without any h.ab- 
 itations round it. Thp pasha of Egypt keeps hero a 
 garrison of about fifty soldiers." (p. 449, seq.) — '■'■Avg. 
 31s< [fourth day.] We marched for four lioin-s over 
 uneven groimd, and then reached a level plain, con- 
 sisting of rich n.'d earth, fit for culture, and similar to 
 that oftlie northern Syrian desert. We crossed sev- 
 eral wadys, in which we started a number of hares. 
 At every twenty j'ards lay heaps of bones of camels, 
 horses, and asses, by the side of the road. At the 
 end of ten hours and a half we reached the moun- 
 tainoiss country called El Theghar, or the mouths, 
 which forms a boimdary of the desert El Tv, an(l 
 separatrs it from the ])eninsula of mount Sinai. We 
 fiscended for half an iioiu- l)y a well-formed road, cut 
 in several places in the rock, and thmi followed the 
 windings of a valley, in .lO bed of a winter torrent, 
 gradually descending. On both sides of the Hadj 
 road we saw mnnerous heaps of stones, the tombs oi' 
 pilgrims who had fliod of fiitigue. At the end of 
 fifteen hours we alighted in a valley of th(! Theghar, 
 where we found an abimdance of shrubs and trees." 
 
 (p. 452.) — Sept. 1st, on the fifili day, the route lay 
 across the moving sands of the desert of Shur, which 
 lies around the head of the western gidf of the Red 
 sea, and our traveller encamped for the night about 
 two hours short of Adjeroud. 
 
 The same general view of this journey is given in 
 the letter of Burckhardt, inserted under the article 
 CanaaxV, p. 237. He there describes this desert as 
 "the most barren and horrid tract of country he had 
 ever seen." 
 
 In 1822, M. Riippell travelled from Suez to Aka- 
 ba, by the Hadj route, leaving Suez April 21st, and 
 ai-riving at Akaba on the 29th. To Nakhel or Negele, 
 his route was of course the same as that of Burck- 
 hardt, in an opposite direction. Farther east, the 
 country possesses the same character ; chalky hills 
 alternating with rolling plains. This tiresome mo- 
 notony is in one place interrupted by a steep clialky 
 mountain, near Dabt el Baggele, over which pious 
 Mussulmans have hewn a i)ass two hundred feet 
 long in the rock. East of this is a green valley, and 
 then the plain Darfureck, which is wholly without 
 vegetation, at least in the vicinity of the route. This 
 iiigh desert region is bounded on the east by the 
 mountains of reddish sandstone, which skirt the plain 
 of Akaba and the valley El Araba; and from which 
 the Hadj route descends by a steep path, in many 
 places hewn out of the rock. The general character 
 of this wide tract is given by Riippell in the words 
 —"a frightful desert." (p.- 241—247.) 
 
 To this general description of the whole country 
 between mount Sinai and Palestine, we have here 
 devoted the more attention, because this information 
 has no wJicre else been brought together, and be- 
 cause it all tends to illustrate the journeyings of the 
 Israelites after leaving Sinai. Their de))artui-e from 
 Sinai was on the 20tli day of the second month, in 
 the second year from the departure out of Egypt ; 
 (Numb. X. 11.) i. e. as we have seen above, not far 
 from the middle of May. The stations are thus 
 marked: — (1.) Three days' marcli to the wilderness 
 of Paran ; to Tabcrah, where part of the camp Vv'as 
 burned. Num. x. 12, 33; xi. 3.— (2.) To Kibroth-hat- 
 taavah, the graves of lust, xi. 34. This is a different 
 place from Taberali, although a departure from the 
 latter is not mentioned. Moses speaks of the two 
 places as distinct, Dent, ix, 22. — (3.) Hazeroth, xi, 35. 
 — (4.) Desert of Paran, i.e. Kadesh ; xii. 16; xiii. 26. 
 Here the spies returned ; and hence the people were 
 directed to turn and get them into the wilderness by 
 the way of the Red sea, xiv. 25, — (5.) We next read 
 (Num. XX. 1,) that they came into the desert of Zin 
 in the fi.rst month, to Kailesii, where they abode, and 
 Miriam died. Hence they sent to ask a passage 
 through Edom (xx. 14.) wiiich was refused. — (6.) 
 I^Iount Ilor, v/here Aaron died, xx. 22. After this 
 they journeyed by the v.'ay of the Red sea, (Ezion 
 Gal)er)to compass the huulof Edom, xxi. 4. 
 
 Witli this representation agrees also tliat in Deut. 
 i. -where there are said to be eleven days' journey from 
 Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Kadesh Karnea; 
 (verse 2.) and where it is said th;it the Israelites de- 
 parted from Hoieb and " v\'ent through all that great 
 and terrible wilderness, and came to Kadesh Barnea ;" 
 (verse 19.) after which they were commanded to turn 
 and take their journey into the wilderness by the 
 way of the Reel sea, versci 40. They are then de- 
 scribed as abiding many days in Kadesh, (i. 46.) and 
 afterwards as turning and taking their journey into 
 the wilderness by thc^ way of the Red sea, and com- 
 l)assing mount Seir many days ; and then as passing by
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [417 ] 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 Ezion-gaber, arouud Edoni, as before, Deut* ii. 
 1,8. 
 
 Thus far all harmonizes. But in the catalogue of 
 stations contained in Num. xxxiii. and which accords 
 with the preceding statements (except Taberah) as far 
 as to Hazeroth, there are no less than eighteen sta- 
 tions inserted between Hazeroth and Kadesh ; and 
 among these is Ezion-gaber, which is not mentioned 
 elsewhere until after the Israelites had left Kadesh, 
 and were about to compass Edom, Deut. ii. 8. How 
 is this account to be reconciled with the other state- 
 ments of the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy, 
 as above exhibited ? 
 
 Let us first examine the various references to time 
 which are to be found in these accounts. The Is- 
 raelites left Sinai about the middle of May, iu the 
 second year of their departure from Egypt, as we 
 have seen al)Ove ; and came by the way of the wil- 
 derness of Paran to Kadesh, according to Num. xiii. 
 26 ; apparently after eleven days (not necessarilj' 
 successive days) of marching, and by the way of mount 
 Seir, according to Deut. i. 2. From the wilderness 
 of Paran spies were sent out to the land of Canaan, 
 (Ex. xiii. 3.) who retumedafter forty days to Kadesh, 
 (xiii. 25, 26.) bringing with them a sample of the 
 grapes of the land ; it being " the time of the first ripe 
 grapes," xiii. 20. But we have seen in the article 
 Canaan, (pp. 241,242.) that grapes npen in Palestine 
 in July and August. We may therefore conclude, 
 that the Israelites were at Kadesh in August of the 
 second year ; there they rebelled on the report of the 
 spies, and received the threat from Jehovah, that 
 their carcasses should all fall in the wilderness, and 
 their children should wander in the desert forty 
 years ; and there they were commanded to turn back 
 into the wilderness, by the way of the Red sea. The 
 next movement, recorded in Num. xx. 1. is, that " the 
 whole congregation came into the desert of Zin in 
 the^r*^ month, and abode iu Kadesh." Does not 
 this indicate a return to Kadesh, after having once 
 left it ? Before, they left Sinai in the second month, 
 or May, and were in Kadesh in August; now, they 
 arrive at Kadesh in the Jirst month, or April. Here 
 Miriam now dies; the people murmur for water; 
 Moses and Aaron disobey God's command in regard 
 to the mode of performing the miracle in order to 
 procure it, and are told iu consequence that they 
 shall not enter the promised land ; Moses begs a pas- 
 sage through Edom, which is refused ; they then 
 journey from Kadesh to mount Hor, in the edge of 
 Edom, where Aaron dies in the fortieth year of the 
 departure from Egypt, on the first day of the fifth 
 month, Num. xx. xxxiii. .37, 38. These events all 
 immediately succeed each other, and directly follow 
 this last departure from Kadesh ; Aaron dies here in 
 fulfilment of the threat there given, and in all proba- 
 bility in the same year of this return to Kadesh. But 
 between the time of the return of the spies to Ka- 
 desh in August of the second year, and the death of 
 Aaron on the first day of the fifth mouth (correspond- 
 ing to August) of the fortieth year, there is an interval 
 of thirty-eight years. Again, in Deut. ii. 14, it is said, 
 that "the space in which we came from Kadesh-Bar- 
 nea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was 
 thirty-eight years." Must not this refer to the frst 
 departure from Kadesh, when they were commanded 
 to turn back and wander in the wilderness ; and not 
 to the last departure from that place, just before the 
 death of Aaron ? If so, then the coming to Kadesh in 
 the frst montli, (Num. xx. 1.) and that mentioned in 
 Num. xxxiii. .36, are the same, and refer to the sub- 
 53 
 
 sequent return of the Israelites to that station. And 
 as it is said in Deut. i. 46, that they abode in Kadesh 
 (the first time) many days; and as Aaron's death 
 took place in August, just thirty-eight years after,— 
 and they came to the brook Zered just thirty-eight 
 years after leaving Kadesh the first time, we may, 
 perhaps, infer that their first residence in Kadesh 
 continued for the same space of time, as their subse- 
 quent march from mount Hor to the brook Zered. 
 This, however, is a point of little comparative impor- 
 tance. 
 
 If, now, the death of Aaron occurred in the fifth 
 month of that sanie year, in the first month of which 
 the Israehtes returned to Kadesh, as there is every 
 reason to suppose ; i. e. the fortieth year of the de- 
 parture from Egypt, then there is an interval of more 
 than thirty-seven years, of which the history iu Num- 
 bers and Deuteronomy gives no account whatever ; 
 unless it be in the catalogue of stations contained in 
 Num. xxxiii. We have seen above that the arrival at 
 Kadesh, mentioned in this catalogue, corresponds to 
 the second sojourn at that place, as inferred above ; 
 and we may, therefore, without hesitation, assume 
 the eighteen stations, there named between Hazeroth 
 and Kadesh, as belonging to this interval of eight and 
 thirty years. These, of course, are not all the stations 
 occupied during that period ; only those probably 
 are noted where they abode for some time. From 
 Ezion-gaber to Kadesh, for instance, (Num. xxxiii. 
 36.) could not be much less than the "^vhole length of 
 the great valley of the Ghor — a distance of not less 
 than one hundred miles, whatever might be the ex- 
 act situation of Kadesh ; and of course in passing 
 from one to the other, there must have been several 
 intervening stations, although none are mentioned. 
 
 To this hypothesis there seem to be but tw o objec- 
 tions. First, that in Num. xxxiii. 18, we ought then 
 to read Paran or Kadesh, instead of Rithmah, as in 
 xii. 16 ; xiii. 26. Secondly, that Ezion-gaber, which, 
 in Num. xxxiii. 36, is put before Kadesh, is not else- 
 where mentioned until the Israelites came thither in 
 order to compass the land of Edom, Deut. ii. 8. 
 
 To the first of these objections it may be replied, 
 that Kadesh was the name not only of a city, but of 
 the tract of desert country adjacent to it ; as we shall 
 show more at large hereafter. It is, therefore, to be 
 taken as the desert of Kadesh (Ps. xxix. 8.) in the ac- 
 count of the first coming to it ; as indeed is suffi- 
 ciently obvious from the language of the passage it- 
 self. Num. xiii. 26. Rithmah is then to be regarded 
 as a place or station in this desert. Or, if we adhere 
 strictly to the statement in Deut. i. 2, that they came 
 to Kadesh after eleven stations, then Makheloth in 
 xxxiii. 25, is the station corresponding to Kadesh. 
 The solution is the same in either case. 
 
 To obviate the force of the second objection, it is 
 necessary to bear in mind the character and circum- 
 stances of the Israelitish people, as well as the char- 
 acter of the country in which they were now placed. 
 They were essentially a nomadic people ; their fa- 
 thers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had ever been so ; 
 they were emphatically Bedouins, removing with 
 their flocks and herds from place to place, as occasion 
 might require. In Egyj)t they had ever been shep- 
 herds, — their province of Goshen was adapted to 
 pasturage, and not to tillage ; and now, when they 
 had come out into the deserts, with their flocks and 
 herds, they w^ere still the nomadic race they had ever 
 been, — a people resembling those by whom these 
 desert plains, and valleys, and mountains, are pos- 
 sessed to this very day. Hence, according to the
 
 EXODUS 
 
 [ 418 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 command of God, they wandered in the desert ; and 
 their wandei-'mgs would be determined, like those of 
 the Arabs at present, by the opportunities of water 
 and pasturage. When the scanty " pastures of the 
 desert" failed in one place, they removed to another; 
 and they would naturally resort to those tracts, 
 where water, and consequently vegetation, were most 
 abundant. In the long period of eight and thirty 
 years, therefore, while thus removing iiom place to 
 place in the vast deserts between I'alestine and the 
 peninsula of Sinai, although they might not improb- 
 ably at times take up their residence in the desert El 
 Ty, according to tradition, as al)ove mentioned, yet 
 it is hardly to be sLii)posed that they would not also 
 sometimes visit the Gboi-, whicii even now is a fa- 
 vorite resort of the Bedouins in winter. Nor can 
 we well suppose, that they would not visit the same 
 place more than once ; since in these deserts the 
 wells and sj)rings of water are places of general re- 
 sort, and the pasturage^, which had been devoured in 
 one year, would be renewed in otlier years. If, then, 
 they" did thus visit the (j!hf)r, it wotUd be natural for 
 them, in this long interval, to visit also the southern 
 part of it, where it opens to a plain, and afiords lux- 
 uriant pasturage. Indeed, tlie list in Num. xxxiii. 
 seems to imply, that they did thus sojourn at times in 
 the Ghor or El Araba, and along its eastern skirts ; 
 for, in yerse 31, Mo.iernlh is mentioned, to which they 
 came before coming to Ezion-gaber. But in Dent. 
 X. 6, Aaron is said to ha; e died at Mosera, the same 
 as Moseroth, which of course must have been the 
 station adjacent to mount Ilor. But mount Hor lies, 
 as we know, on the east of the Glior, nearly halfway 
 from Akal)a to tin; Dead sea. Hence we may infer, 
 that this list of stations indicat(!s in general the move- 
 ments of the Israelites from north to south, and prob- 
 ably along the \ alley El Araba. Arriving at its 
 southein extremity, they returned to Kadesh, advan- 
 cing, ))robably, from station to station, in the same 
 occasional and leisure uumner. This return was a 
 part of their tiiirty-eight years of wandering; but 
 afterwards, when ihey had made an unsuccessful at- 
 tem])t from Kadesh to pass through the territory of 
 Edom, and found it necessary to march back to Ezi- 
 on-gaber, in ordei- to pass around mount Seir, we 
 may supimse that their march was more rapid, and 
 not so much regulated merely by a regard to an 
 abmidant supply of water and j)asturage. 
 
 In this maimer we may not only remove the difTi- 
 culty suggestf'd above, but also another difficulty 
 whicli has troubled conunentators. In Num. xxxiii. 
 .31, seq. the Israelites are said to have o('cui)ie<l tlie 
 stations IMoseroth, Bene-jaaknn, Hor-hagidgad, and 
 .Totbathah ; wiiiie iu Dent. x. <i, 7, these same sta- 
 tions are named in a dilVereiU order, — Beeroth of tlie 
 children of .laakaii, Mosera where Aaron died, Gud- 
 godah, and .lotbath. That these names are at bottom 
 the same, there can lie no doubt. But in Numbers 
 they are mentioned iu refen^nce to the first visit of lli(> 
 Hebrews, during th(^ long wandering southwards, be- 
 fore their retiuTi to Kadesh the second time ; while in 
 Deuteronomy, they lirwe rer(M-enc(> Ui thr serotid pas- 
 sage of the Israelites, wlien marclilng soutli in order 
 to compass the l;uid of Edom. It is easy to conceive, 
 how MosiM-otii and the wells of .laakan might lie in 
 stich n direction from each other, that a nomailic 
 tribe, wandering in ditTerent years southward along 
 the great valley, might at one time take the former 
 first in its way, and at another time, the hitter. 
 
 We have thus given a general view of the manner 
 in which we suppose the list of- tntlonsin Num. xxxiii. 
 
 i^to be harmonized with the other accounts of the 
 journeyings of the children of Israel ; and in so do- 
 ing have been led to give also an exhibition of the 
 general course of these journeyings and wanderings 
 themselves. It now remains to ascertain more par- 
 ticularly, if possible, the situations of some of the 
 principal stations, in order to obtain a more definite 
 idea of the route in general. Of the position of 
 Taberah, (Num. xi. 3.) Kibroth-hattaavah, (xi. 34.) 
 and Hazeroth, (xi. 35 ; xxxiii. 17.) we know nothing 
 further, than that they were stations between mount 
 Sinai and the wilderness of Paran, Num. x. 12; y 
 xii. 1(1. 
 
 The wilderness of Paran some have chosen to find 
 in the Wady Feiran or Faran, which extends north- 
 west from mount Sinai ; but this hypothesis has been 
 sufticiently confuted above, p. 409. This desert is 
 several times mentioned in Scripture, besides in these 
 chapters. It is said of Hagar, when Abraham sent 
 her away, that she wandered first in the wilderness 
 of Beer-sheba, and afterwards dwelt with Ishmael in 
 the wilderness of Paran, and took for him a wife out 
 of the land of Egypt, Gen. xxi. 14, 21. Beer-sheba, 
 as is well known, was at the soiUhern extremity of 
 Palestine. David, also, aftei' the death of Samuel, 
 retired into the wilderness of Paran, where also the 
 flocks of Nabal, who dwelt in the southern Carmel, 
 west of the Dead sea, arc represented as feeding, 
 1 Sam. XXV. 1, 14, seq. Both these notiCes go to 
 show that the wilderness of Paran lay on the south 
 of Palestine; the latter one would indicate that its 
 borders were ?iear Palestine ; while tlie former would 
 imjjiy that it also stretched far to the south and west, 
 including the pi-esent desert El Ty above described, 
 p. 416. Moses, in his farewell song, says, (Dent, 
 xxxhi. 2.) "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up 
 from Seir unto them ; he shined forth from mount 
 Paran ;" and Habakkuk also says, (iii. 3.) " God came 
 from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran." 
 In these descriptions of a theophcmia, God is repre- 
 sented as coming from the south, and the allusion is 
 in general to the thunders and lightnings of Sinai ; 
 but other mountains in the same direction are men- 
 tioned with it, — Seir and Paran. The location of 
 Seir, we know, was on the east of the Ghor; that of 
 Paran was, of course, in or adjacent to the desert of 
 that name. Was mount Paran, then, jierhaps, the 
 chain on the west of the Ghor, bordering the desert 
 of Paran on the east ? or was it rather the mountains 
 on the southern border of tlie desert, towards the 
 peninsula ? At any rate, it seems a necessary con- 
 clusion from the above notices, coupled with Num. 
 X. 12, 33, where the Israelites are said to have enter- 
 ed it in three days from Sinai, that the name Wilder- 
 ness of l*aran was ajiplied, probably as a general 
 flesignation, to the whole of the desert region lying 
 between Palestine and the |teninsula of Sinai on the 
 south, and lictwecn the Ghor on the east and the 
 desert of F'gypt on the west. Josephus also men- 
 tions a valley in this region with many caves, called 
 Phai-an. (Bell. .Tud. iv. !). 1.) Rusebius, too, speaks 
 of a Pharan through which the Israelites jiassecl ; but 
 places it, according to the translation of Jerome, 
 three flays' jouiney rust of Aila or Akaba. The 
 Greek of Eusebius, however, may just as well be 
 read so as to mean, that Aila was three days' journey 
 east of Pharan ; which would correspond entirely 
 with the view above given. (F'useb. Onomost. ed. 
 ri(>ric. p. 74.) 
 
 That Paran was a name given to this desert in a 
 very wide and j;eneral sense, is also apparent from
 
 EXODU?! 
 
 [ 419 
 
 i:XODL\- 
 
 the tact, tlial in Xiiiu. xiii. 2G, Kadesli is said to bt; 
 situated in it; while hi xx. 1, and other passages, 
 Kadesh is spoken of as being in the desert of Zin. 
 The conchision, thereforo, is, that the desert of Zin 
 was a portion of tlie great desert of Paran. The 
 wilderness of Zin lay around the south-western sliore 
 of the Dead sea, and extended .southward along the 
 Glior, as we know from Num. xxxiv. 4 ; Josh. xv. J. 
 It constituted, therefore, the north-east part of the 
 great desert of Paran ; Jiow far scnuh it extended, we 
 liave no means of aseertaining. There seems also to 
 have been hi it a station called Zin; (Josh. xv. 3.) 
 though the princi{)al jilace mentioned is Kadesh. 
 
 Kadesh, or, mor(; fully, Kadesh-lJarnca, (IJarnea 
 signi^es Jield ov plain of waudtring, like the .\rabic 
 El Ty,) is described in Num. xx. 15, as a city in the 
 " uttermost border of Kdom." It is mentioned as one 
 of the south-eastern limits of the territory of Israel, 
 Num. xxxiv. 4 ; Josh. xv. -i. In Josh. x. 41, it is 
 said, that Joshua smote the Canaanites from Kadesh- 
 liarnea even imto Gaza ; where Kadesh stands for 
 the eastern border of the children of Israel, as Gaza 
 for the western. It is also said to be eleven days' 
 journey from Horeb, by the way of mount Seir, Dent. 
 i. 2. All these notices compel us to jilace Kadesh 
 quite on the eastern side of the great desert of Paran ; 
 and especially the first, which says that it lay in the 
 " uttermost border ol' Edom." So mount Ilor is said 
 to be " by the coast of the land of Edom," Num. xx. 
 23; and "in the edge of the laud of Edom," xxxiii. 
 37. But we know that mount Horis situated on the 
 eastern side of the Ghor, at some distance ui) the 
 VVady Mousa, and therefore in mount Seir. Is, now, 
 the " uttermost border of Edom" equivalent to the 
 " coast" or " edge" of the laud of Edom ? and if so, 
 are we warranted in assigning a position to Kadesli 
 also on the eiist side of the Ghor, in the skirts of the 
 mountains of Edom? Or was it, perhaps, situated on 
 the westeim side of the Ghor, in some wady of that 
 region which no modern traveller has yet explored ? 
 But wherever the city itself was situated, it was of 
 sufficient importance to give its name to the tract of 
 desert country which lay around it ; and which is 
 therefore spoken of by the Psalmist as the desert of 
 Kadesh ; probably as synonymous with the desert of 
 Zin, Ps. xxix. 8. It is doubtless the desert of Ka- 
 desh, which i^ meant in Num. xiii. 20 ; Deut. i. 19 ; 
 since in the corresponding passage in Num. xxxiii. 
 18, we read Rithmah, probably a station in the 
 desert near to Kadesh. Burckhardt suggests, that 
 the great valley of tlie Ghor was jiossibly the Kadosh- 
 Barnea of the Scriptures ; in which suggestion Ro- 
 senmiiller coincides. This is not very improbable, 
 particularly if we may place the city Kadesh on the 
 eastern or even on the western border of this vallev. 
 (Burckh. Trav. in Syr. p. 443.) That Rithmah, or 
 the desert of Kadesh, whither the spies returned, 
 was in this valley, or possibly in some wady emending 
 from it westward, seems probable from the facts men- 
 tioned in Num. xiv. 40, seq. Avhere the Israelites are 
 said to have " got them up into the mountain," — " unto 
 the hill-top," not far from the camp ; and the " Ama- 
 lekites and Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, came 
 down and smote them, and discomfited them unto 
 Horriiah." 
 
 Of all the other stations mentioned in the wander- 
 ings of the children of Israel, until they came to the 
 brook Zered, the border of Moab, we can determine 
 the situation of only two. Moseroth, in Num. xxxiii. 
 31, is again mentioned as JVIosera in Deut. x. 6, and 
 is there said to be the place where Aaron died ; it 
 
 was tiierefore adjacent to mount Hor, and in or near 
 Wady Mousa, the site of the ancient Petra. (See under 
 Aakox.) Ezion-gaber, mentioned Num. xxxiii. 36, 
 Deut. ii. 8, was at the northern extremity of the 
 Elanitic gulf, near Akaba. The country around it 
 has been lully described under the articlo Ei.ath, 
 which see. 
 
 After these ample illustrations, it only remains to 
 collect into a summary view the; several facts which 
 we have endeavored to establish in respect to the 
 wanderings ol" Israel Irom Sinai, till they arrived at 
 the brook Zeied, and entered the territory of Moab. 
 Farther than this, it is not necessary to accompany 
 them ; as their subsccjuenl route is attended with no 
 special diliicullies, and all the places mentioned in it 
 ma\ be fouml described in this work under flieir 
 respecti\e articles. 
 
 About the juiddle of May, in the fourteenth mouth 
 Ji-um ilieii- d<!parture out of Egypt, the Israelites left 
 Sinai, and marched by a direct course to the vicinity 
 of Kadesh, by the way of mount Seir, Deut. i. 2. 
 Their route lay jirobablv from Sinai through the 
 Wady Safran and similar valleys, until they issued 
 upon the great plain or desert of Paran, and passed 
 along its eastern jiart, and perhaps for some portion 
 of the way in the valley of the Ghor, skirting mount 
 Seir, uniil they arrived in the district of Kadesh. 
 Here the spies were sent out; and on their retiu'n, in 
 August, the people mm'miu'ed, and were command- 
 ed to turn back and wander in the wilderness. After 
 remaining for some time in the vicinity of Kadesh, and 
 making some imsuccessful attacks upon the Canaan- 
 ites, (Deut. i. 41, seq.) they removed and commenced 
 that wandering nomadic life which continued for the 
 space of more than thirty-seven years ; during which 
 time they sojourned in diiferent parts of the great 
 desert west of the Ghor, (El Ty,) and in the Ghor it- 
 self, extending their removals in the latter to its 
 southern extiemity, from mount Hor (Mosera) to 
 Ezion-gaber, and afterwards removing again north- 
 ward, and being governed at all times in the choice 
 of their stations by a regard to water and pasturage, 
 until, at last, in the first month (April) of tlie fortieth 
 year from their departure out of Egypt, they found 
 themselves again at Kadesh. Moses having given 
 up all hojie of penetrating into Palestine from the 
 south, on the west of the Dead sea, and being proba- 
 bly unwilling to expose the people to a temptation 
 which might cause them to murmur a second time 
 against the Lord, endeavored to negotiate a passage 
 through the territory of Edom, which comprised 
 mount Seir, the chain which stretches along the east- 
 tM'u side of the Ghor from the Dead sea to Akaba, 
 and now known under the names of Djebal, Sliera, 
 and Hesma. Among the narrow valleys which 
 traverse this abrupt chain from west to east, that of 
 the Glioeyr, described on p. 415, above, furnishes a 
 passage that would not be extremely difficult. This 
 was, perhajis, the "king's way," by which Moses, 
 aware of the difficulty of forcing a passage, request- 
 ed permission of the Edomites to pass, on condition 
 of leaving the fields and vineyards untouched, and of 
 l^urchasing provisions and water from the inhabitants. 
 But Edoin refused, and " came out against him with 
 much people and a strong hand," Num. xx. 14, seq. 
 About this time, also, the Canaanites made hostile 
 demonstrations ; and soon after king Arad attacked 
 the Israelites, but was defeated. But the situation of 
 the latter, nevertheless, was now critical. Unable to 
 force their way in either direction, and surrounded 
 in a measure with enemies, the Edomite» in front
 
 EXODUS 
 
 420 
 
 EXP 
 
 towards the east, and the Canaanites and Amalekitea 
 on the north, and also on the west, if they chose to 
 make an attack from that quarter, — no alternative 
 remained for the Israehtes but to follow again the 
 great valley El Araba southwards, towards the Red sea. 
 In this journey Aaron died at mount Hor, and they 
 rested again at several stations which they had visited 
 in their former nomadic wanderings. Arrived at the 
 Red sea, they turned to the left and crossed the ridge 
 of mountains to the eastward of Ezion-gaber, where 
 Burckliardt remarked, from the opposite coast, that 
 the mountains were lower than elsewhere, (p. 500.) 
 It was in this part of their route that the Israelites 
 were discouraged on account of the way, and suffer- 
 ed Q:om serpents ; (Deut. xxi. 5, 6.) of which Burck- 
 hardt observed traces of great numbers on the oppo- 
 site side of the gulf, and some apparently very large, 
 (p. 499.) He was informed, "that the fishermen are 
 much afraid of them, and extinguished their fires in 
 the evening before they went to sleep, because the 
 light was known to attract them." (Comp. Deut. viii. 
 15.) The Israelites then issued into the great and 
 elevated plains, which are still traversed by the Syr- 
 ian pilgrims in their way to Mecca, and appear to have 
 followed northward nearly the same route which is 
 now taken by the Syrian Hadj, along the western 
 skirts of tliis gi-eat desert, near the mountains of 
 Edom ; see p, 415, above. On entering these plains, 
 Moses received the command, " Ye have compassed 
 this mountain long enough ; turn ye northward ; ye 
 are to pass through the coast of the children of Esau, 
 and they shall be afraid of you," Deut. ii. 3, seq. 
 The same people who had successfully repelled the 
 approach of the Israelites from their strong western 
 frontier, was alarmed now that they had come round 
 upon the weak side of the country. But Israel was 
 ordered " not to meddle" with the children of Esau, 
 but merely "to pass through their coast," and to 
 " buy meat and water of them for money," (ii. 6.) in 
 the same manner as the Syrian caravan of Mecca is 
 now supplied by the people of the same mountains, 
 who meet the pilgrims on the Hadj route. After 
 traversing the wilderness on the eastern side of Moab, 
 the Israelites at length entered that country, crossing 
 the brook Zered thirty-eight years after their first 
 departure from Kadesh, and about forty years from 
 the time of their departure out of Egypt. 
 
 In accordance with the views al)ove exhibited, the 
 several accounts given of the stations of the Israel- 
 ites in Num. x. seq. and Deut. i. ii. x. may all be 
 synoptically arranged with the list in Num. xxxiii. as 
 follows : 
 
 A. 
 
 Num. X. seq. Deuteron. 
 
 B. 
 
 Num. xxxiii. 
 
 From Sinai on the twentieth dav of the 
 
 SECOND month. 
 
 Tothe wilderuessof Paran. 
 
 1. Taberal), Num. xi. .3. 
 
 2. Kibroth-hattaavali, 
 
 Num. xi. 34. 
 
 3. Hazeroth, Num. xi. 35. 
 
 4. Region of Kadesh, in 
 
 the wilderness of Pa- 
 I'an, after eleven days 
 ofmarching,Nuni.xi. 
 16; xii. 2fi; Deut. i. 
 2, 19. 
 
 2. Kibroth-hattaavali, 
 
 verse 16. 
 
 3. Hazeroth, 17. 
 
 4. Rithmah, by Kadesh, 
 
 18. 
 
 ^. They turn back from 5. 
 Kadesh, and wander 
 in the desert, Num. 
 xiv. 25, seq. 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 11. 
 12. 
 13. 
 14. 
 15. 
 16. 
 17. 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 
 22. Return to Kadesh, 22. 
 
 Num. XX. 1. 
 
 23. Beeroth Bene Jaakan, 
 
 Deut. X. 6. 
 
 24. Mount Hor, Num. xx. 
 
 22, or Mosera, Deut. 
 X. 6, where Aaron 
 died. 
 
 25. Gudgodah, Deut. x. 7. 
 
 26. Jotbath, Deut. x. 7. 
 
 27. The way of the Red 
 
 sea, Num.xxi.4 ;froin 
 Elath and Ezion-ga- 
 ber, Deut. ii. 8. 
 
 Rimmon-Parez, 19. 
 
 Libnah, 20. 
 Rissah, 21. 
 Kehelathah, 22. 
 Mount Shapher, 23. 
 Haradah, 24. 
 Makheloth, 25. 
 Tahath, 26. 
 Tarah, 27. 
 Mithcah, 28. 
 Hashmonah, 29. 
 Moseroth, 30. 
 Bene-jaakan, 31. 
 Hor-hagidgad, 32 
 Jotbathah, 33. 
 Ebronah, 34. 
 Ezion-gaber, 35. 
 Kadesh, the city, 36. 
 
 24. Mount Hor, 37, 
 
 28. 
 29. 
 30. 
 31. 
 
 Zalmonah, 41. 
 Punon, 42. 
 Oboth, 43. 
 
 Ije-abarim, in the 
 border of Moab, 44. 
 
 30. Oboth, Num. xxi. 10. 
 
 31. Ije-abarim, in the wil- 
 
 derness east of Moab, 
 Num. xxi. 11. 
 
 32. The valley of Zered, 
 
 Num. xxi. 12; or the 
 brook Zered, after 38 
 years from the first 
 departure from Ka- 
 desh, Deut. ii. 13, 14. 
 
 EXODUS, BOOK or, the second of the sacred 
 books in the Old Testament, is so called, because it 
 contains the history of the departure of Israel out of 
 Egypt under Moses. It contains the history of the 
 birlh of Moses ; his education and flight ; his return ; 
 the plagues of Egy]>t ; the de}iarture of the Hebrews ; 
 the passjige of tjjc Red sea; the giving of the law; 
 the erection of tlie tabernacle ; and the celebration 
 of the second passover. It contains the history of 
 145 years, from the deatii of Joseph, A. M. 2369 to 
 A. M. 2514, the end of the first year after the going 
 out of Egypt. The Hebrews call this lx)ok nictf nSxi, 
 Veele Shanoth, brcausc it begins with these words. 
 
 EXORCISTS. From the Creek word ii»i;xrcciy, 
 to conjure, to use the name of God, with design to 
 expel devils from places or l)odi("s v.hich they pos- 
 sess. We see from the early ai)ologists of our reli- 
 gion, that the devils dreaded the exorcisms of Chris- 
 tians, who exercised great ])ower against those wicked 
 spirits. Tlie Jews had their exorcists, as our Lord 
 intimates, (Matt. xii. 27,) and as do also the apostles, in 
 Mark ix. 38 ; Acts ix. 13. 
 
 I. EXPIATION, tlie act of atoning for a fault. 
 The Hebrews had several sorts of expiatory sacri-
 
 EXP 
 
 [421 ] 
 
 EYE 
 
 fices ; — for sins of ignorance ; for purifications from 
 certain legal pollutions, as of a woman after child- 
 birth, or of a leper when healed ; so, also, those who, 
 having touched something impure, had forgotten or 
 neglected to purify themselves at the time and in the 
 manner which the law prescribed. These expiatory 
 sacrifices did not of themselves remit faults commit- 
 ted against God, nor take away the guilt of sin ; they 
 only repaired the legal and external fault, and secured 
 the transgressor from the temporal penalty with 
 which those faults were punishable. See Lev. iv. 
 27, &c. 
 
 For a sin-offering, a ram, a lamb, a kid, or two 
 pigeons might be offered ; or the poor might offer 
 meal. There were particular ceremonies, for the 
 high-priest, or a prince of the people, or when all the 
 people had committed trespasses. But in general, 
 they were nearly the same. The flesh of beasts, 
 offered for expiation, belonged exclusively to the 
 priests. See Sacrifice. 
 
 II. EXPIATION, THE GREAT DAY OF, was the 
 tenth of the month Tizri. The Hebrews call it Kip- 
 pur, or Chippur, pardon, or expiation, because the 
 faults of the year were then expiated. The princi- 
 pal ceremonies were the following. The high-priest, 
 after he had washed not only his hands and his feet, 
 as is usual at ordinary sacrifices, but his whole body 
 also, dressed himself in plain linen like the other 
 priests, wearing neither his ))urple robe nor the ephod, 
 nor the pectoral, because he was to expiate his own 
 sins with those of the people. He first offered a bul- 
 lock and a ram for his ovvii sins, and those of the 
 priests ; placing his hands on the heads of the victims, 
 and confessing his own sins, and the sins of his 
 house. Afterwards, he received from the princes of 
 the people two goats for a sin-offering, and a ram for 
 a burnt-offering, to be offered on behalf of the whole 
 nation. 
 
 The lot having determined which of the two goats 
 should be sacrificed, the high-priest put some of the 
 sacred fire of the altar of burnt-offerings into a cen- 
 ser, threw incense upon it, and entered with it, thus 
 smoking, into the sanctuary. After he had thus per- 
 fumed the sanctuary, he came out, took some of the 
 blood of the young bullock he had sacrificed, and 
 carrying that into the sanctuary, he dipped his fin- 
 gers in it, and sprinkled it seven times between the 
 ark and the vail, which separated the holy place from 
 the sanctuary, or most holy. He then came out a 
 second time, and at the foot of the altar of burnt-of- 
 ferings killed the goat which the lot had determined 
 to be the sacrifice. The blood of this goat he then 
 carried into the most holy jilace, and sprinkled it 
 seven times between the ark and the vail. Thence 
 he returned into the court of the tabernacle, and after 
 sprinkling both sides of it with the blood of the goat, 
 he came to the altar of burnt-offerings, wetted the 
 four horns of it with the bloodof the goat and young 
 bullock, and sprinkled it seven times with the same. 
 During the performance of this ceremony, none of 
 the priests, or people, were admitted into the taberna- 
 cle, or into the court. 
 
 The sanctuarj', the court, and the altar, being thus 
 purified, the high-priest directed the goat, which was 
 set at liberty by the lot, to be brought to him. This 
 being done, he put his hand on its head, and after 
 confessing his own sins, and the sins of tlie people, 
 he delivered the goat to a person, who was to carry 
 it to some desert place, and let it loose ; or, as others 
 think, throw it down some precipice. (See Goat, 
 SCAPE.) This being done, the high-priest washed 
 
 himself all over in the tabernacle, and putting on 
 other clothes, perhaps his pontifical dress, (that is, his 
 robe of purple, the ephod, and the pectoral,) he sac- 
 rificed two rams for a burnt-offering, one for himself, 
 the other for the people. 
 
 The gi-eat day of Expiation was a day of rest, and 
 strict fasting. Buxtorf and Calmet have collected 
 many particulars relative to the observance of this 
 solemnity by the modern Jews. 
 
 EYE. The Hebrews call fountains, eyes ; and 
 give the same name to colors. "And the eye (color) 
 of the manna was as the eye (color) of bdellium, 
 Numb. xi. 7. By an " evil eye," is meant, envy, 
 jealousy, grudging, ill-judged pai-simony. " To lay 
 their eyes on any one," is to regard him and his in- 
 terests. "To find grace in any one's eyes," (Ruth ii. 
 10.) is to win his friendship and good graces. 
 "Their eyes were opened," (Gen. iii. 7.) they began 
 to comprehend in a new manner. " The wise man's 
 eyes are in his head," (Eccles. ii. 14.) he does not act 
 by chance. " The eye of the soul," in a moral sense, 
 is the intention, the desire. God threatens to " set 
 his eyes" on the Israelites for evil, and not for good, 
 Amos ix. 4. Nebuchadnezzar recommends to Neb- 
 uzaradan that he would "set his eyes" on Jeremiah, 
 (xxxix. 12 ; xl. 4.) and permit him to go where he 
 pleased. Sometimes expressions of this kind are 
 taken in quite an opposi,:e sense, " Behold, the eyes 
 of the Lord are on the sinful kingdom, and I will de- 
 stroy it," Amos ix. 8. To be " eyes to the blind," or 
 to serve them instead of eyes, is sufficiently intelli- 
 gible. Job xxix. 15. The Persians called those offi- 
 cers of the cro^^^l who had the care of the king's 
 interests, and the management of his finances, " the 
 king's eyes." " I made a covenant with my eyes, 
 why then should I think upon a maid ?" a very ex- 
 l)f essive way of speaking, whose force would be im- 
 paired by any explanation, Job xxxi. 1. "Eye ser- 
 vice" is peculiar to slaves, who are governed by fear 
 only, and is to be avoided by Christians, Eph. vi. 6 ; 
 Col. iii. 22. The "lust of the eyes," or, "the desire 
 of the eyes," comprehends every thing that curiosity, 
 vanity, &c. seek after ; evei-y thing that the eyes can 
 present to men given up to their passions, 1 John ii. 
 16. " Cast ye awaj' every man the abomination of 
 his eyes," (Ezek. xx. 7, 8.) that is, let not the idols of 
 the Egj'ptians seduce you. Paul says, (Gal. iv. 15.) 
 that the Galatians would willingly "have plucked 
 out their eyes for him ;" expressing the intensity of 
 their zeal, affection, and devotion for him. In a con- 
 trary sense, the Israelites said to 3Ioses, " Wilt thou 
 put out the eyes of these men ?" Numb, xvi, 14. To 
 keep any thing as the ajjple of the eye, is to presei-ve 
 it with particular care. Dent, xxxii. lO. The eye and 
 its actions are very expressivelv transferred to God, 
 Zech. iv. 10 ; 2 Chion. xvi. 9 ; "Psal. xi. 4 ; Prov. xv. 
 3. Our Lord says, (3Iait. vi. 22.) " the light (or lamp) 
 of th(' body is the eye — if therefore thine eye be sin- 
 gle, (single — simple, clear, «.7/.ov--.) thy whole body 
 shall be full of light ; but if thine eye be evil — (dis- 
 tempered — diseased) thy Avhole body shall be full of 
 darkness." The direct allusion may hold to a lan- 
 tern, or lamp (Ai/ioc); — if the glaSs of it be clear, the 
 light will shine through it strongly ; but if the glass 
 be soiled — foul, but little light will pass through it. 
 They may not have had glass lanterns, such as vye 
 use, in the East, but they had others made of thin 
 linen, &c. which were very liable to receive spots, 
 stains, and foulnesses, that would hinder the passage 
 of the rays from the light within. So, in the natural 
 eye, if the cornea be singlf-, and the humors clear,
 
 EYE 
 
 [ 423 ] 
 
 EYE 
 
 ihft liglit "ill act correctly ; but if there be a film 
 over the cornea, or a cataract — or a skin between any 
 of the humors, the rays of light will not act on the 
 internal seat of sight, the retina. By analogy, there- 
 fore, if the mental eye, the judgment, be honest, vir- 
 tuous, sincere, well meaning, pious, it may be con- 
 sidered as enlightening and directing the whole of a 
 person's actions ; but if it be perverse, malign, biased 
 by undue prejudices, or drawn aside by improper 
 views — it darkens the understanding, perverts the 
 conduct of the party, and suffers him to be misled 
 by his unwise and his unruly passions ; as Saul was 
 towards David, see 1 Sam. xviii. 9, in lleb. ("Saul 
 eyed David," Eng. Trans.) 
 
 May there not be an allusion to distempers of the 
 eye, in Matt. vii. 3 ? " Why beholdest thou the mote 
 (the little black speck) which is in tliy brother's eye — 
 but considerest not the beam— (tlie almost cataract- 
 like film) which is in thine own eye ?" The word 
 translated mole, {y.'tQ<fo:, ) say some, signifies a little 
 splinter of wood ; othere say, a little seed : it may be 
 referred to a small film, or speck, the size of a seed, 
 floating in the eye, a disease known among medical 
 writers. The word Svy-o; signifies a beam, or rafter, 
 and, no doubt, is used parabolically : — but might it 
 not import a real disorder of the eye, far more inju- 
 rious to distinct vision than the mote ? This sense of 
 the phrase is independent of any parable which 
 might be used among the Jews, referring to a beam, 
 or large piece of wood, being in the eye. As if it 
 were said, " Why beholdest thou with affected supe- 
 riority and keenness of observation, the little seed-like 
 film which floats in thy brother's eye, but art insensi- 
 ble of the purblind state of thine own eye?" 
 
 There is an expression in Psal. cxxiii. 2, "the eyes 
 of servants look unto the hands of their masters," 
 &c. the proper force of which we are not likely to 
 perceive, unless acquainted with eastern customs. 
 
 Accustomed to the free mtei'course of conversation, 
 to the expression by words of our thoughts as they 
 rise within us, we relate every thing verbatim ; and 
 except a sentiment be openly conveyed by speech, 
 we attribute no bjame to those who do not regard it, 
 or understand it. On the same ])rinciple, the orders 
 we give our servants are directed to them in words, 
 and acco2-ding to our words we expect their obedi- 
 ence. But the case is altogether different in the 
 East ; gravity and silence, especially before superi- 
 ors, are there so highly esteemed, as denoting respect, 
 that many of the most important orders which a 
 master can give, or a servant can receive, are given 
 and received in profound silence. This mode of be- 
 havior is the basis of the Psalmist's rejjrescntation. 
 
 An illustration more happy than the following can 
 hanlly be expected. Some, indeed, have supposed 
 the chaskyiing hand of the master, or mistress, to be 
 that to whicli the servant attends; but it should be 
 remarked that the Psalmist is not complaining /o the 
 person who chastises him, but of the contempt and 
 scorn (not strictly persecution) of the jiroud. 
 
 " One can hardly imagine the respect, civility, and 
 serious modesty, tjiat is used among them [the east- 
 ern ladies] when they are visited by any one, as I 
 have been informed by some ladies of the Franks, 
 who have been witli several. No nuns, or novices, 
 pay more deference to their al)bess, or superior, than 
 the maid-slaves to their mistresses ; they are waited on 
 as are likewise their female visitors, with a surprising 
 order and diligence, even at tlie least wink of the 
 eye, or motion of the fingers, and that in a manner 
 not perceptible to strnngere, as \ have said of the 
 
 men elsewhere." (Motraye, vol. i. 249.) "Nobody 
 appears on horseback but the Grand Seignior, in the 
 second court, and they observe so respectful a silence, 
 not only in the palace, when the Grand Seignior Ik in 
 it, but the court yards, (notwithstanding the great 
 number of people who come there, especially into 
 the fij-st, where, generally, a number of servants wait 
 for their masters, who are either at the Divan, or in 
 some other part of the seraglio,) that if a blind man 
 should come in there, and did not know that the 
 most courtly way of speaking, among the Turks, is in 
 a low voice, and by signs, like mutes, which are gen- 
 erally understood by them, he would believe it unin- 
 habited ; and 1 have heard them say, in reference to 
 other nations, that two Franks, talking merely of 
 trifles, make nuich more noise than a hundred 
 Turks in treating about affairs of consequence, or 
 niaking a bargain ; and they add, in speaking against 
 our manner of saluting, by pulling off our hats, and 
 drawing our feet backward, that we seemed as if we 
 were driving away the flies, and wiping our shoes ; 
 and they extol their custom of putting their right 
 hand uj)on their heart, and l)owing a little, as being 
 much more natural and reasonable. When tliey sa- 
 lute a superior, they take the bottom of his caftan, or 
 vest, that hangs down to his ankles, and bending 
 down, they lift it about two feet, and kiss it." (P. 170.) 
 Baron du Tott gives a remarkable instance of the 
 authority attending this mode of commanding ; and of 
 the use of significant motions : — " The customary 
 ceremonies on these occasions were over, and Racub 
 [the new Vizier] continued to discourse familiarly 
 with the ambassador, when theMuzur-Aga (or High 
 Provost) coming into the hall, and approaching the 
 Pacha, whispered something in his ear ; and we ob- 
 served that all the answer he received from him was 
 a slight horizontal motion tvith his hand ; after which, 
 the Vizier, instantly resuming an agreeable snjile, con- 
 tinued the conversation for some time longer. We 
 then lefl; the hall of audience, and came to the foot 
 of the great staircase, wlicre we ren)oiuited our 
 horses : here, nine heads cut off, and placed in a row 
 on the outside of the fii-st gate, completely explained 
 the siGX which the Vizier had made use of in our 
 presence." (vol. i. p. 30.) 
 
 These extracts prove, that not only in private and 
 domestic concerns, but also in those of public impor- 
 tance, on occasions of life or death, inferiors in the 
 East do actually "look to the hands of their sujteri- 
 ors," and receive orders from them. The orientals 
 have even a kind of language for the fingers, and, by 
 various positions of them, they give silent orders to 
 their domestics, who are watching to receive them. 
 
 But this article has an aspect still more im]K)rtant 
 on a usage frequently alluded to in Scripture, and 
 regarded as nothing unconunoii, though it appear 
 strange to us. — No account of any such attendants on 
 the court of Judea, as diuni) men, ormiUes, occurs in 
 Scripture, but it is certain that the Grand Seignior 
 has a number of such persons ; " who," says Knolles, 
 (p. 1487.) " will vnderstand any thing that shall be 
 acted vnto them by signs and gestures ; and will 
 themselves, by the gesture of their eyes, bodies, 
 hands, and feet, deliuer matters of great diflicultie, to 
 the great admiration of strangers." 
 
 From this, and similar accounts, it may be inferred, 
 that language by signs forms a common and ordinary 
 manner of directing in the East ; — that the most dif- 
 ficidt matters are thus related ; and veiy probably by 
 means of the mutes, (in the Turkish seraglio, espe- 
 cially,) matters not alwavB of the most agreeable
 
 EYE 
 
 [ 423 
 
 EZE 
 
 nature, are communicated to personages in the most 
 important stations, whom they immediately concern. 
 
 The result of the whole is, that when the prophets 
 under the Old Testament were divinely directed to 
 act a portion of the information they had in charge 
 to communicate to the people, they did little or noth- 
 ing more than what was done every day, in the 
 countries where they resided. Action, as a system of 
 indication, was familiar to the spectators, and though 
 calculated to excite their curiosity and attention, it 
 was not, by its novelty, or singularity, either beyond 
 their understanding, or beside their application of it 
 to themselves, or to circumstances ; nor did it seem 
 crazy to tiieni ; as it might to us, who are not accus- 
 tomed to such a mode of comnumicating ideas. 
 When Isaiah says, he and his children are for signs ; 
 when Jeremiah found his girdle marred, as a s{g7i ; 
 — when Ezekiel was a sign to the people, in not 
 mourning for the dead, (chap, xxiv.) — in his remov- 
 ing into captivity, and digging through the wall, 
 (chap, xii.) — these and similar actions were not only 
 well understood, but they had the advantage of being 
 in ordinary use among the people to whom they were 
 addressed. 
 
 For some account of blinding the eyes, as a pun- 
 ishment, not unfrequently practised in the East, see 
 Blindness. 
 
 EYE-LIDS. As it is not customary among us for 
 women to paint their eye-lids, particularly, we do not 
 usually perceive>kthe full import of tiie expressions in 
 Scripture referring to this custom, which appears to 
 i)e of very great anticiuity, and which is still main- 
 tained in the East. So we read, (2 Kings ix. 30.) 
 " Jezebel painted iier face," Heb. " put her eyes in 
 paint :" more correctly, " she painted the internal 
 part of her eye-lids," by drawing between them a 
 silver wire, previously wetted, and dipped in the 
 powder oC phuc, (a rich lead ore,) which, adhering to 
 the eye-lids, formed a streak of black upon them, 
 thereby, apparently, enlarging the eyes, and render- 
 ing their effect more powerful ; invigorating their 
 vivacity. This action is strongly referred to by Jer- 
 emiah (iv. 30.) in our translation, "though thou rent- 
 rst thy face with painting ;" or, though thou cause 
 thine eye-lids to seem to be starting out of thine head, 
 through the strength of the black paint which is ap- 
 plied to them, yet shall that decoration be in vain. 
 Tlie powerful effect of this supposedly charming 
 addition is alluded to by the sagacious preceptor : 
 (I'rov. vi. 25.) "Lust not after her beauty (of the 
 strange woman) in thine heart ; neither let her cap- 
 tivate thee with her eye-lids" — which she has ren- 
 dered so large and briUiant by the assistance of art, 
 as to enchant beholders. So Ezekiel : (xxiii. 40.) " for 
 whom hast thou washed thyself, and hast colored — 
 painted — thine eyes — (eye-lids, rather) — and hast or- 
 namented thyself with ornaments ?" 
 
 [Many avuhors have mentioned the custom which 
 has prevailed from time immemorial among the fe- 
 males of the East, of tinging the eyes and edges of 
 the eye-lids with a powder, which, at a distance, or 
 by candle-light, adds much to the blackness of the 
 eyes. Lady M.W. Montague speaks of this custom. 
 (Letters, vol. ii. p. 32.) Pietro della Valle, the Italian 
 traveller, giving a description of his wife, who was 
 born in Mesopotamia, and educated at Bagdad, where 
 he married her, says : (Viaggi, tom. i. left. 17. ) " ller 
 eye-lashes, which are long, and, according to the cus- 
 tom of the East, dressed with stibium, as we oflen 
 read in the Holy Scriptures of the Hebrew women 
 of old, (Ezek. xxiii. 40.) and in Xenophon, of Asty- 
 
 ages the gi-andfather of Cyrus, and of the Medes of 
 that time, (Cyrop. i.) give a dark, and, at the same 
 time, majestic shade to the eyes." 
 
 Dr. Shaw affords us the following information: 
 (Travels, p. 294. fol ed.) "None of these ladies take 
 themselves to be completely dressed, till they have 
 tinged the hair and edges of their eye-lids with the 
 powder of lead ore. Now as this operation is per- 
 formed by dipping first into the powder a small 
 wooden bodkin, of the thickness of a quill, and then 
 drawing it afterwards, through the eye-lids, over the 
 ball of the eye, we shall have a lively image of what 
 the prophet (Jer. iv. 30.) may be supposed to mean 
 by rending the eyes with painting. The sooty color, 
 which is in this manner communicated to the eyes, is 
 thought to add a wonderful gi-acefulness to persons 
 of all complexions." 
 
 Similar is the testimony of Niebuhr: (Descr. of 
 Arab. p. 65.) "The females of Arabia," he says, 
 "color their nails blood red, and their hands and feet 
 yellow, with the herb Al-henna. (See Camphire.) 
 They also tinge the inside of their eye-lids coal-black 
 with kiichel, a coloring material prepared from lead 
 ore. They not only enlarge their eye-brows, but 
 also paint other figures of black, as ornaments, upon 
 the face and hands. Sometimes they even prick 
 through the skin, in various figures, and then lay 
 certain substances upon the wounds, which eat in so 
 deeply, that the ornaments thus impressed are ren- 
 dered permanent for life. All this the Arabian wo- 
 men esteem as beauty. Even men sometimes strew 
 kochel upon their eyes, under the pretext that it 
 strengthens the sight ; but thcy are regarded by the 
 more judicious as petits maitres.^'' 
 
 This custom is not confined to the Sheniitish mat- 
 rons alone. Captain Symes says, that " the Birmans, 
 both men and women, color their teeth, their eye- 
 lashes, and the edges of their eye-lids, with black. 
 The women of Hindostan and Persia, also, common- 
 ly practise the operation of coloring the eye-lashes. 
 They deem it beneficial as well as becoming. The 
 collyrium they use is called surma, the Persian name 
 of antimony."' (Embassy to Ava, vol. ii. p. 235.) 
 
 The ancients call the mineral, with which the eyes 
 are thus colored, stibium or antimony ; (Pliny xxxiii. 
 23.) the usual Hebrew name is ,-?id, puk, but in Ezek. 
 xxiii. 40, we find the verb hr^:i, kdchal, to color, &c. 
 to which the modern Arabic al cohol, or kochol, cor- 
 responds. This is described as a fine mineral pow- 
 der, usually a compound of lead ore and zinc, which 
 is moistened with oil or vinegar, etc. and laid upon 
 the inner part of the; eye-lids, so as to cause a small 
 black line to appear around the edge. (See Hart- 
 mann's Holiraerinn, Th. ii. p. 149, seq.) *R. 
 
 EZEKIEL, son of Buzi, a prophet of the sacer- 
 dotal race, was carried captive to Babylon by Neb- 
 uchadnezzar, with Jehoiachin king of Judah, A. M. 
 3405. He began his ministry in the thirtieth year of 
 his age, according to the general account ; but per- 
 haps' in the thirtieth year after the covenant was re- 
 newed with God in the reign of Josiali, (Ezek. i. 1.) 
 which answers to the Mh year of Ezekiel's captiv- 
 ity, A. M. 3409. He prophesied twenty years, to A. M. 
 3430 ; the fourteenth year after the taking of Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 When Ezekiei was among the captives on the 
 river Chebar, the Lord appeared to him in a vision, 
 on a throne, borne by four cherubim, supported by 
 four wheels, and appointed him the watchman of 
 his people. He was commanded to shut himself up 
 in his house, and forewarned, that he should be
 
 EZEKIEL 
 
 424 ] 
 
 EZR 
 
 seized, and bound with chains as a madmtm. 
 Wliile thus confined, God commanded him to delin- 
 eate on a brick, or piece of soft eaith, the city of 
 Jerusalem, besieged and surrounded with ramparts ; 
 to put a wall of iron between himself and the city ; 
 and to continue 390 days lying on his left side, anal- 
 ogous to the iniquity of the kingdom of Israel ; and 
 40 days on his right side, to signify the iniquities of 
 Judah. These 430 days denoted, also, the siege of 
 Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; its duration, and the 
 subsequent captivity, from the sacking of Jerusalem 
 in the reign of Zedekiah ; or, rather, in the fourth 
 year after this siege, when Nebuzaradan carried 
 away the remains of the Jews prisoners to Babylon, 
 A. M. 3420, until the death of Belshazzar, A. M. 
 3466, according to Usher ; or reckoning from the 
 taking of Jerusalem, in 3416 to 3457, which, accord- 
 ing to Calmet's computation, is the first year of 
 Cyrus's reign at Babylon. 
 
 Ezekiel was afterwards commanded to make as 
 many loaves of mixed corn as he was to continue 
 days Ij'ing upon his side, and to bake them with hu- 
 man excrements. (See Du.xg.) The prophet, express- 
 ing his reluctance to this, was permitted to substi- 
 tute cow-dung, signifying hereby, that the inhab- 
 itants of Jerusalem should be reduced, during the 
 siege, to the necessity of eating unclean bread, in 
 small quantity, and in continual terror. After this, he 
 was to cut off his hair, to divide it into three parts, — 
 to burn one part, to cut another to pieces with a 
 sword, and to scatter the rest in the wind ; hereby 
 typifying the fate of the people. The year follow- 
 ing, he was transported in spirit to Jerusalem, and 
 shown the abominations and idolatries committed 
 there ; God connnanding an angel to mark, as a 
 pledge of security, the penitents in the city, and other 
 angels to slay those not marked. Five years before 
 the last siege of Jerusalem, the Lord directed Eze- 
 kiel to prepare for escape, as it were from enemies, 
 by stealth ; as king Zedekiah should also do. He 
 subjoins a strong invective against false prophets and 
 false prophetesses, and those seduced by them. 
 
 During these predictions of the prophet in Meso- 
 pijtamia, Zedekiah king of Judah combined with 
 Egypt, Edom, and neighboring princes, to rebel 
 against Nebuchadnezzai-. The Babylonian prince 
 marched against Jerusalem, and besieged it, A. I\I. 
 3414 ; and on the same day, Ezekiel, who was two 
 hundred leagues from Jerusalem, declared the event 
 to his companions in captivity, and predicted to them 
 the ruin of their metropolis. " At this time the proph- 
 et's wife dying, God forbade him to mourn for her; 
 and the people inquiring the meaning of these figur- 
 ative actions, Ezekiel answered, that God was about 
 to deprive them of their temple, city, country, and 
 friends; and that they should not have even the sad 
 consolation of moiu-ning for them. 
 
 During the siege of Jerusalem, Ezekiel prophesied 
 against I'Igypt and Tyre. He was not informed that 
 Jerusalem was taken, till the fifth day of the tenth 
 month, A. M. 3417, about six months after the event ;/ 
 whence we may judge, that he was at that time in 
 some retired situation remote from Babylon. In the 
 evening of that day, the Lord opened the prophet's 
 mouth, to foretell, that the remains of the people 
 would be dispersed ; which happened four years 
 after. He also foretold the calamiticb of Sidon, Tyre 
 Edom, and Ammon, as they occurred five years after 
 the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 The siege of Tyre, and Nebuchadnezzar's war 
 against Egypt, are, next to the afiairs of the Jews 
 
 most remarkable in Ezekiel's writings. After these 
 melancholy visions, God showed him more consola- 
 tory events ; — the return from the captivity — the re- 
 building of the temple and city — the restitution of the 
 kingdom of Judah and Israel, &c. chap, xxxvi. 
 xxxvii. xxxviii. &c. 
 
 Jerome is of opinion, that as Jeremiah prophesied at 
 Jerusalem at the same time as Ezekiel did beyond 
 the Euphrates, the prophecies of the latter were sent 
 to Jerusalem, and those of the former into Mesopota- 
 mia, to comfort and encourage the captive Jews. 
 It is said by Epiphanius, that Ezekiel was put to 
 death by the prince of his people, because he exhort- 
 ed him to leave idolatry ; but it is difficult to say who 
 this prince could be. It is affirmed, that his body 
 was laid in the same cave in which Shem and Ar- 
 phaxad were deposited, on the banks of the Euphra- 
 tes. Benjamin of Tudela says, that his tomb is be- 
 hind the synagogue, between the Euphrates and the 
 Chebar, in a very fine vault built by Jehoiachin ; 
 that the Jews keep a lamp always burning there, and 
 boast that they possess the prophet's work, written 
 with his own hand, which they read every year on 
 the great day of expiation. 
 
 Josephus (Antiq. lib. x. cap. 6, 10.) says, that Eze- 
 kiel left two books concerning the captivity ; that 
 having foretold the ruin of the temple, and that 
 Zedekiah should not see Babylon, these writings were 
 sent to Jerusalem; circumstances which we do not 
 read in Ezekiel ; but which seem to favor the opin- 
 ion of Jerome. Athanasius believed, that one of two 
 books of Ezekiel was lost ; and Spinoza thinks, that 
 what we have of his writings is a fragment only ; 
 but there is i>o proof of all this ; nor do we knoAV 
 upon what authority Josephus made his assertion. 
 
 The writings of Ezekiel have been always acknowl- 
 edged canonical ; nor was it even disputed that he 
 was their author. The Jews, however, say, that the 
 Sanhedrim deliberated long, whether his book should 
 form part of the canon. The great obscurity of 
 his prophecy, at the beginning and the end, was ob- 
 jected ; and also what he says in chap, xviii. 2 — 20, 
 that the son should not bear the iniquity of his father ; 
 which was thought contrary to Moses, who says, the 
 Lord visiteth the sins of the fathers on the children 
 to the third and fourth generation. But this difficul- 
 ty was removed by Ananias. It may be observed, 
 that Moses himself says the same thing, in Deut. 
 xxiv. 16 : "The fathers shall not be put to death for 
 the children, neither shall the children be put to 
 death for the fathers: every man shall be put to 
 death for his own sin." 
 
 Ezekiel speaks of a resurrection, (ch. xxxviii. 1.) 
 and says that, having been conducted [in vision] into 
 a field of bones, the Spirit of God induced him to 
 prophesy to them, upon which they gradually re- 
 assembled and revived. 
 
 EZION-GABER, or Ezion-geber, a city of Ara- 
 bia Dcserta, on a gulf of the Red sea, called the 
 Elanitic gulf, and close by the city of Elafh. The 
 Israelites came fronj Ebrona to Ezion-gaber ; and 
 thence to the wilderness of Zin. At this port Sol- 
 oinon equipped his fleets for the voyage to Ophir, 
 Num. xxxiii. 35 ; Deut. ii. 8 ; 1 Kings ix. 26. See 
 Elath and Exodus. 
 
 EZRA, or EsDRAS, the famous Jewish high-priest 
 and reformer, was of a sacerdotal family ; by some 
 thought to be son of Jeraiah, the high-priest, who 
 was put to death at Riblatha by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 after the capture of Jerusalem; but as Calmet thinks, 
 only his grandson, or great-grandson. It is believed,
 
 EZRA 
 
 [425 ] 
 
 EZR 
 
 that the first return of Ezra from Babylon to Jeru- 
 salem was with Zerubbabel, in the beginning of Cy- 
 rus's reign, A. M. 3468, of which he himself wrote 
 the history. He was veiy skilful in the law, and 
 zealous for God's service ; and had, doubtless, a 
 great share in all the transactions of his time. 
 
 The enemies of the Jews procured from the court 
 of Persia an order, forbidding them to continue the 
 rebuilding of the temple, which they had resumed 
 after the death of Cyrus and Cambyses; but this 
 order being revoked in the beginning of the reign of 
 Darius Hystaspes, (A.M. 3485,) they proceeded, and 
 dedicated the ten)i)le in 3489, Ezra vi. Ezra, not- 
 withstanding, returned to Babylon, probably on some 
 affairs of his nation ; and in the seventh yeai* of Ar- 
 taxerxes Longimanus, (A. 31. 3537, ante A. D. 467,) 
 was sent baok to Jerusalem, with letters patent, per- 
 mitting all Israelites in his kingdom to return to 
 Judea, with all their gold and silver, the vessels of 
 tlie temple, and also offerings of the king and his 
 counsellors, to buy victims for the sacrifices. Arta- 
 xerxes commanded his treasurers in the provinces be- 
 yond the Euphrates to furnish Ezra with corn, wine, 
 oil, salt, or money ; granted inmmnities to the priests 
 and ministers of the temple ; and authorized Ezra 
 to appoint judges and magistrates, and to govern and 
 instruct those who returned to Jerusalem, chap. vii. 
 
 Ezra therefore assembled a great com])auy of Is- 
 raelites, and set forward for Jerusalem. x\t the banks 
 of the river Ahava, he sent to invite certain priests 
 and ministers of the temple, who were at Casiphia, 
 (probably in the Caspian mountains,) to return with 
 him ; 258 of whom joined him. He appointed a sol- 
 emn day to pray to God for a happy journey ; and 
 gave an account of the gold and silver vessels which 
 the king had restored. They proceeded on their 
 journey, in niunber 1775 men, and all arrived hap- 
 pily in Judca, A. 31. 3537, ch. viii. Ezra being in- 
 formed that both priests and Levites, magistrates and 
 common people, had married wives who were stran- 
 gers and idolaters, he rent his clothes, and having 
 taken his seat in the temple, continued absorbed 
 in grief and silence till the evening sacrifice. He 
 then put up prayers to God for thesinsof the people, 
 ch. ix. A groat multitude having flocked together, 
 lie engaged the principal of the people by oath, to 
 renew the covenant with the Lord, to dismiss their 
 strange wives, with their children, and directed all 
 of them to assemble, within three days, at the temple 
 for the same pur])ose, and with the same effect, ch. 
 X. Ezra had the principal authority in Jerusalem 
 till the arrival of Nehemiah. 
 
 In the second year of Nehemiah's government, the 
 people being assembled at the temple, during the 
 
 feast of tabernacles, Ezra was desired to read the 
 law, which he did from morning to noon, accompa- 
 nied by Levites, who stood beside him in silence. 
 The next day they desired information from him 
 how to celebrate the feast of tabernacles. This he 
 explained to them, and continued eight days reading 
 the law in the temple, which was followed by a sol- 
 emu renewal of the covenant, Neb. viii. ix. 
 
 Josephus says, Ezra was buried at Jerusalem ; but 
 the Jews believe that he died in Persia, in a second 
 journey to Artaxerxes, and show his tomb in the city 
 of Zanuiza. He is said to have lived nearly 120 years. 
 
 It is believed that Ezra was chiefly concerned in 
 revising and arranging the books of Scripture. He 
 had great zeal and knowledge, and having the spirit 
 of prophecy, it is very probable that he took great 
 pains in collecting the sacred writings and forming 
 the present canon. It is also thought that he assist- 
 ed in compiling both books of the Chronicles, and 
 added in all the books what appeared necessary for 
 illustrating, connecting, or completing them. Some 
 are of opinion that Ezra and 3Ialachi were the same 
 person ; and it is certain, that 3Ialachi is not so much 
 a proper as a comn)on name, — angel or messenger 
 of the Lord ; and that in Ezra's time, prophets were 
 called Malachias, or angels of the Lord. (See Hag. 
 i. 13. 3Ial. i. 1.) The fathers have cited .Malachi 
 under the name of angel. See 3Iai,achi. 
 
 There are four books in the Vulgate bearing the 
 name of Ezra or Esdras ; but the first only is ac- 
 knowledged to be his. This is certainly the work 
 of Ezra; and in it he relates events of which he was 
 witness, speaking often in the first person. The 
 second book is attributed to Nehemiah, and is called 
 after him in the English translation. It is admitted, 
 however,'that souie trifling matters have been added 
 to it, which cannot belong to Nehemiah ; as the 
 mention of the high-priest Jaddua, and king Darius, 
 Neh. xii. 22. The third book is the same in sub- 
 stance as the first, but interpolated. The fourth 
 book is written with art enough, as if Esdras himself 
 had composed it ; but the marks of falsehood are dis- 
 cernible throughout. It is not extant in Greek, and 
 it never was in Hebrew^ The Jews also ascribe to 
 Ezra certain regulations, blessings, and prayers ; and 
 some speak of a revelation, a vision or dream ; but 
 this is spurious. They have an extraordinary esteem 
 for him ; and say, if the law had not been given by 
 3Ioses, Ezra would have deserved to have been their 
 legislator. The 3Tahometans call him Ozair the son 
 of Seraiah. 
 
 EZRI, overseer of the gardens, or of the agricul- 
 tural and farming department under David, 1 Chron. 
 xxvii. 26. 
 
 F 
 
 FABLE 
 
 FABLE, a story destitute of truth. Paul exhorts 
 Timothy and Titus to shun profane and Jewish fa- 
 bles, (1 Tim. iv. 7 ; Tit. i. 14.) as having a tendency 
 to seduce men from the truth. By these fables some 
 understand the Gnostics' cabalistical interpretations 
 of the Old Testament. But the fathers, generally, 
 and after them most of the modern commentators, 
 interpret them of the vain traditions of the Jews, 
 especially concerning meats, and other things to be 
 54 
 
 FAC 
 
 abstained from as unclean, which our Lord also 
 styles "the doctrines of men," Matt. xv. 9. This 
 sense of the passages is confirmed by their context. 
 In another sense, the word is taken to signify an aj)- 
 ologue, or instructive tale, intended to convey truth 
 under the concealment of fiction, as Jotham's fable 
 of the trees, Judg. ix. 7 — 12. See Parable. 
 
 FACE. The Lord promised Moses, that his face 
 should go before Israel : " I myself," say the LXX,
 
 FACE 
 
 [ 426 1 
 
 FAl 
 
 but rather "the angel of my face/' This, and the 
 angel of his presence, (Isa. Ixiii. 9.) mean the Messi- 
 ah. See Word of the Lord. 
 
 Moses begged of God to show him his face, or to 
 manifest his glory. God replied, " I will make all 
 my goodness pass before thee ; and I will proclaim 
 the name of the Lord before thee ; — but thou canst 
 not see my face ; for there shall no man see me and 
 live," FiXod. xxxiii. The persuasion was very 
 prevalent in the world, that no man could support 
 the sight of Deity, Gen. xvi. 13 ; xxxii. 30 ; Exod. 
 XX. 19; xxiv. 11 ; Judg. vi. 22, 23. We read in 
 Numb. xii. 8. that " God spake mouth to mouth with 
 Moses, even apparently, and not in dark speeches." 
 And in Numb. xiv. 14. " The Canaanitcs have heard 
 that thou. Lord, art among this people, and seen face 
 to face." In Dcut. v. 4. God talked with tlie He- 
 brews "face to face, out of the midst of the fire." 
 All these phrases are to be imderstood as iutimating 
 that God manifested himself to the Israelites ; that he 
 made them hear his voice as distinctly as if he had 
 appeared to them face to face ; not that they actually 
 saw him. 
 
 The face of God sometimes denotes his anger, 
 Psal. Ixviii. 2. Sometimes it is used in a different 
 sense. To consider the face of any one, is to respect 
 his person, Prov. xxviii. 21. The judge ought to 
 shut his eyes, as not regarding any person whose 
 cause comes before him, and to open them only to 
 justice. Sometimes, to know thy face, signifies to 
 do a favor, Mai. i. 8, 9 ; Gen. xix. 21. "I have accept- 
 ed thee concerning this thing also." Heb. " I have 
 accepted thy face." To spit in one's face, is a sign of 
 the utmost contempt, Isa. i. 6 ; 3Iatt. xxvii. Q7. 
 
 We have an expression in Joel ii. 6 — " Before their 
 approach [the locusts'] the people shall be nuich 
 pained, all faces shall gather blackness ;" which is also 
 adopted by the prophet N-ihum, ii. 10. " The heart 
 nielteth, the knees smite together, much pain is in all 
 loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness^^ — 
 which sounds uncouth to an English ear ; but it is 
 elucidated by the following extract from Ock- 
 ley's history of the Saracens. (Vol. ii. p. 319.) 
 Mr. Harmer has referred this blackness to the effect 
 of hunger and thirst ; and Calmet to a bedaubing 
 of the face with soot ; a proceeding not very consist- 
 ent with the hurry of flight, or the terror of distress. 
 "Kmneil, the son of Ziyad, was a man of fine wit. 
 One day, Hejage made him come before him, and 
 reproached hiniy'ljecause in such a garden, and be- 
 foi-e such and such persons, whom he named to him, 
 he had made a great many imprecations against him, 
 saying, the Lord blacken his face, that is, fll him tvith 
 shame and confusion ; and wished that his neck was 
 cut off", and his blood shed." The reader will ob- 
 serve how ])erfectly this explanation agrees with the 
 sense of the passages above quoted. To gather black- 
 ness is equivalent to suffering extreme confusion, and 
 being overwhelmed with shame, or with terror and 
 dismay. — In justice to Kumcil, we ought not to omit 
 the ready turn of wit, which saved Iiis life. "It is 
 true," said he, " I did say such words in such a gar- 
 den ; but then I was under a vine-arbor, and was 
 looking on a hunch of grapes, that was not yet ripe : 
 and I wished if might be turned black soon ; that they 
 might be cut off, and l)o made wine of." We see, in 
 this instance, as the sagacious moralist remarks, that 
 "with the well-advised is wisdom ;" and that " the 
 tongue of the wise is health ;" that is, preservation 
 and safety. 
 
 [In both these passages, however, the Heb. nnxc. 
 
 pdrur, does not signify blackness, but brightness, 
 oeauty, comeliiiess, &c. The phrase is, therefore, 
 illustrated by Joel i. 10, wliere the stars are said "to 
 gather in, withdraiv their shining ;" so here, men's 
 faces are said " to gather in, withdraiv their bright- 
 ness, cheerfid expression," etc. i. e. grow pale with 
 fear before the judgments of God. R. 
 
 FAIR-HAVENS, (Acts xxvii. 8.) is called by Ste- 
 phen, the geographer, " the fair shore." It was, 
 probably, an open kind of roarf, not so much a port as 
 a bay, which did not afford more than good anchor- 
 age for a time, on the south-east part of Crete. Je- 
 rome and others speak of it as a town on the open 
 shore. 
 
 FAITH, a disposition of mind by which we hold 
 for certain the matter affirmed. This faith, which 
 produces good works, gives life to a righteous man, 
 Rom. i. 17 ; Hab. ii. 4. It may be considered, ei- 
 ther as proceeding from God, who reveals his truths 
 to man ; or from man, who assents to and obeys the 
 truths of God ; in both these senses it is called faith, 
 Rom. iii. 3. Faith is taken also for a firm confidence 
 in God, by which, relying on his promises, we ad- 
 dress ourselves without hesitation to him, whether 
 for pardt)n or other blessings, Matt. xvii. 20 ; James 
 i. 5, G. 
 
 Faith is a i-eliauce on testimony : if it be human 
 testimony, in reference to human things, it is not en- 
 titled to reception until after examination and con- 
 firmation. Human testimony, in reference to divine 
 things, must also be scrupulously investigated before 
 it be received and acted on ; since the grossest of all 
 deceptions have been imposed on mankind in the 
 name of God. Nor is testimony, assuming to be di- 
 vine, entitled to our adherence or affection, or obedi- 
 ence, uiuil after its character is proved to be genuine, 
 and really from heaven. The more genuine it is, 
 the more readily will it undergo and sustain the tri- 
 al ; and the more clearly will its character appear. 
 But after a testimony, a maxim, or a command, is 
 proved to be divine, it does not become a creature 
 so ignorant and so feeble as man, to doubt its possi- 
 bility, to dispute the obedience to which it is entitled, 
 or to question the beneficial consequences attached 
 to it, though not immediately apparent to human 
 discernment. 
 
 Faith has respect to evil as well as to good ; and 
 in this it differs from hope. Hope wishes for good 
 only ; — no man hopes for afflictions or evils. Hope 
 desires rewards only ; faith expects punishments as 
 well as rewards. Faith deters from bad conduct, 
 through fear, no less than through desire of advan- 
 tage ; hope allures through promises of blessings. 
 Faith is the full assm-ance or personal conviction, of 
 the reality of tilings not seen; it looks backward to 
 past ages, as well as forward to fiuurily. Hope looks 
 only forward. By faith w(; believe that the world 
 was originally created by (iod ; though we can form 
 no conception of, much less can we see, the matter 
 out of wliich it was composed. By faith we believe in 
 the existence of ancient cities, as IJahylou, Jerusalem, 
 &c. also of distant cities anil plaecs, as Rome, Egypt, 
 &c. also of persons formerly living, as Abraham, 
 David, our Lord Jesus Christ, &c. Faith antici- 
 pates things never seen as yet: so Noah, by faith, 
 iiuilt the ark, though no general deluge had ever 
 then been witnt^ssed ; so Moses, actuated by faith in 
 the descent of the INIcssiah from Israel, quitted the 
 honorsand pleasures of Egy])t ; and so every pious 
 Christian, believing that what God has promised he 
 is able to perform, looks forward with realizing
 
 FAS 
 
 427 ] 
 
 FAT 
 
 belief in the existence of heaven and of hell ; of re- 
 wards and punishments beyond the grave ; not sueh 
 as are restricted to this world ; but such as coincide 
 with the innnortality of the soul, and with the power 
 and wisdom of the supreme and universal Judge. 
 
 Faith is taken for honesty, fidelity in performing 
 promises, truth ; and in this sense it is applied both 
 to God and man. 
 
 FAITHFUL, an appellation given in Scripture to 
 professing Christians, to all who had been baptized ; 
 and it is used to this day in that apjilication in eccle- 
 siastical language. See 1 Cor. iv. 17 ; Eph. vi. 21 ; 
 Col. iv. 9 ; 1 Pet. v. 12 ; Acts xvi. 1, 15 ; 2 Cor. vi. 15 ; 
 1 Tim. V. 16. and many other passages. The apostle 
 directs Titus, (chap. i. 6.) that the children of the 
 bishops should be faithful ; no doubt, as examples to 
 the flock, of the dedication of the children of the 
 clergy to the most holy Trinity, by the introductory 
 orcUnance of Christianitv. 
 
 FAMILIAR SPIRITS, see Divination. 
 
 FAMINE. Scripture i-ecords several famines in 
 Palestine, and the neighboring counti'ies. Gen. xii. 
 10 ; xxvi. 1. The most remarkable one was that of 
 seven years in Egypt, while Joseph was governor. 
 It was distinguished for continuance, extent, and 
 severity ; particularly, as Egypt is one of the coun- 
 tries least subject to such a calamity, by reason of its 
 general fertility. Famine is sometimes a natural 
 effect, as when the Nile does not overflow in Egypt, 
 or rahis do not fall in Judea, at the customary sea- 
 sons, spring and autumn ; or wlieji caterpillars, 
 locusts, or other insects, destroy the fruits. The 
 
 Erophet Joel notices these last causes of famine, 
 [e compares locusts to a numerous and terrible 
 army ravaging the land, Joel i. Famine was some- 
 times an eflfect of God's anger, 2 Kings viii. 1, 2. 
 The prophets frequently threaten Israel with the 
 sword of famine, or with war and famine, evils that 
 generally go together. Amos (viii. 11.) threatens an- 
 other sort of famine : " I will send a famine in the 
 land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, 
 but of hearing the words of the Lord." 
 
 FAN, an instrument used in the East for winnow- 
 ing corn. Fans are of two kinds ; one a sort of fork, 
 having teeth, with which they throw up tlie corn to 
 the wind, that the chaff" may be blown away ; the oth- 
 er is formed to produce wind when the air is calm, Isa. 
 xxx. 24. Our Lord is represented as having liis fan in 
 his hand, in order to purge his floor. By the Chris- 
 tian dispensation, and the moral influence which it 
 introduced, men are ])laced in a state of trial, and 
 the rigbteous separated from the wicked, ]\Iatt. iii. 
 12. God's judgments are compared to a fan, (Jer. 
 XV. 7.) by these he subjects nations and indiviiluals to 
 the blast of his vengeance, and scatters and disperses 
 them for their sins. See Thrashing. 
 
 FASTING has, in all ages and among all nations, 
 been practised in times of mourning, sorrow, and 
 affliction. It is in some sort insi)ired by nature, 
 which, under these circumstances, refuses nourish- 
 ment, and suspends the cravings of hunger. We 
 see no example of fasting, properly so called, before 
 Moses ; whotiier the patriarchs had not observed it, 
 which yet is difficult to believe, since there were 
 great mournings among them, which are i)articularly 
 described, as that of Abraham for Sarah, and that 
 of Jacob for Joseph; or whether he did not think it 
 necessary to mention it expressly, is imcertain. It 
 appears by the law, that devotional fasts for expiation 
 of sins were common among the Israelites. Moses 
 passed forty days in fasting on mount Horeb, (Exod. 
 
 xxiv. 18 ; Deut. x. 10.) as did our Lord in the wilder- 
 ness, Matt. iv. 2 ; Luke iv. 2. The Jewish legislator 
 enjoined no particular fast ; but it is thought that the 
 gi-eat day of expiation was strictly observed as a fast. 
 Joshua and the elders of Israel remained prostrate 
 before the ark, from morning until evening, with- 
 out eating, after Israel was defeated at Ai, (Josh, 
 vii. 6.) and the eleven tribes which fouglit against 
 that of Benjamin, did the same, Judg. xx. 2(5. See 
 also 1 Sam. vii. 6; 2 Sam. xii. 16. The kin"- of Nin- 
 eveh, terrified by Jonah's preaching, ordered that not 
 only men, but beasts also, should continue without 
 eating or drinking ; should be covered with sackcloth, 
 and each alter their manner crj' to the Lord, Jonah 
 iii. 5, 6. 
 
 The Jews, in times of public calamity, appointed 
 extraordinary fasts, and made even the children at 
 the breast fast. See Joel ii. 16. They begin the 
 observance of their fasts in the evening alter sunset, 
 and remahi without eating until the same hour the 
 next day, or until the rising of the stars ; on the 
 great day of expiation, when they are more strictly 
 obliged to fast, they continue without eating for 
 twenty-eight hours. Men are obliged to fast from 
 the age of full thirteen, and women from the age of 
 full eleven years. Children from the age of seven 
 years fast in proportion to their strength. During 
 this fast, they not only abstain from food, but from 
 bathing, perfumes, and ointments ; they go barefoot, 
 and are continent. This is the idea which the 
 eastern people have generally of fasting ; it is a total 
 abstinence from pleasures of every kind. The prin- 
 cipal fast-days of the Jews may be seen in the Jew- 
 ish Calendar, at the end of the Dictionaiy. Be- 
 side those fasts, which are common to all Jews, 
 others, which are devotional, are practised by the 
 most zealous and pious. The Pharisee says, (Luke 
 xviii. 12.) " I fast twice a week," that is, on Thurs- 
 day, in memory of Moses' going up mount Sinai 
 on that day ; and on Monday, in memory of his 
 coming down from thence. It it said, that some 
 Pharisees fasted four days in the week ; and in the 
 Greek of Judith, we read, that she fasted every day, 
 except " the eves of the sabbaths, and the sabbaths ; 
 and the eves of the new moons, and the new moons ; 
 and the feasts and solemn days of the house of 
 Israel." 
 
 It does not appear by his own practice, or bj' his 
 commands, that our Lord instituted any particular 
 fast. When, howevei-, the Pharisees reproached 
 hini, that his disciples did not fast so often as theirs, 
 or as John the Bajjtist's, he rejjlied, " Can ye make 
 the children of the l)ride-chamber fast, while the 
 bridegroom is with them ? but the days will come, 
 when the bridegroom shall be taken awaj' from them, 
 and then shall they fast in those days," Luke v. 34, 
 35. Accordingly, the life of the apostles and first 
 l)elievers was a life of self-denials, of sufferings, aus- 
 terities, and fastings. Paul says, (2 Cor. vi. 5 ; xi. 
 27.) he had been, and still was, "in hunger and thirst, 
 in fastings often," and he exhorts the faithful to imi- 
 tate bini in his patience, in his watchings, in his 
 fastings. Ordinations and other acts of importance 
 in the church were attended with fasting and prayers. 
 The fasts of Wednesday and Friday, called stations 
 in the Romish church, and that of Lent, particularly 
 of the holy week, have been thought to be of early 
 institution. 
 
 FAT. God forbade the Hebrews to eat the fat 
 of beasts. "All the fat is the Lord's. It shall be a 
 perpetual statute for your generations throughout all
 
 FAT 
 
 [ 428 
 
 FEA 
 
 your dwellings, that ye neither eat fat nor blood," 
 Lev. iii. 16, 17. Some interpreters take these words 
 literally, and suppose fat as well as blood to be for- 
 bidden. Josephus says, Moses forbids only the fat 
 of oxen, goats, sheep, and their species, which agrees 
 with Lev. vii. 23. " Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of 
 ox, or of sheep, or of goats." The modern Jews 
 observe this, but the fat of other sorts of clean crea- 
 tures they think is allowed for use, conformably to 
 Lev. vii. 24. Others maintain, that the law, which 
 forbids the use of fat, should be restricted to fat sep- 
 arated from the flesh ; such as that which covers the 
 kidneys and intestines ; and this only in the case of 
 its being offered in sacrifice ; which is confirmed 
 by Lev. vii. 25. 
 
 Fat, in the Hebrew idiom, signifies, not only that 
 of beasts, but the rich or prime part of other things. 
 "He should have fed them also with the fat [Eng. 
 trans. Jinest] of wheat," Ps. Ixxxi. 16 ; cxlvii. 14. 
 Fat expresses also the source of compassion or mer- 
 cy. As the bowels are stirred at the recital of mis- 
 fortune, or at the view of melancholy and afflicted 
 objects, it has been thought that sensibility resided 
 principally in the bowels, which are commonly fat. 
 The Psalmist reproaches the wicked with shutting 
 up their bowels, feeling no compassion at the sight 
 of his extreme grief. " Mine enemies compass me 
 about, they are enclosed in their own fat," Psalm xvii. 
 9, 10. In another passage he says, they sinned with 
 affectation, almost like Jeshurun, who, when waxed 
 fat, kicked, and forgot God which made him, 
 Deut. xxxii. 15. "The fat of the earth," implies the 
 fruitfulness of the land. Gen. xxxvii. 28. Fat denotes 
 abundance of good things, Job xxxvi. 16 ; Psalm Ixiii. 
 5 ; Jer. xxxi. 14. 
 
 FATHER. This word is often taken in Scrip- 
 ture for grandfather, great-grandfather, or the founder 
 of a family, how remote soever. So the Jews call 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their fathers. Christ 
 is called son of David, though David was many 
 generations distant from him. By father is likewise 
 understood the institutor, the original practiser, or 
 master, of a certain profession. Jabal was "father 
 of such as dwell in tents, and such as have cattle." 
 Jubalwas "father of all such as handle the harp and 
 organ," or flute, &c. Gen. iv. 20, 21. Huram is call- 
 ed father by the king of Tyre ; (2 Chron. ii. 1.3.) and 
 (2 Chron. iv. 16.) even to Solomon, because he was 
 the ]irincipal workman, and chief director of their 
 undertakings. Father is a term of respect given by 
 inferiors to superiors, and by servants to their mas- 
 ters. The principal prophets were considered as 
 fathers of the younger, who were their disciples ; 
 "sons of the prophets," 2 Kings ii. 12 ; v. 13 ; vi. 21. 
 Joseph says, that God had made him "a father to 
 Pharaoh," had given him gi-eat authority in that 
 prince's kingdom : that Pharaoh looked on him as 
 his father, and had given him the government of his 
 house and dominions, — Grand Vizier. Rechab, 
 the founder of the Rechabitcs, is called their father, 
 Jer. XXXV. 6. A man is said to be a father to the 
 poor and orphans, when he supplies their necessities 
 and sympathizes witii their miseries, as a father 
 would do towards them, Job xxix. 16. God declares 
 himself to be the father of the fatherless, and the 
 judge of the widow ; (Psalm Ixviii. .5.) and he is fre- 
 quently called heavenly father, and simi)ly, father ; 
 eminently, the father, creator, preserver, aiicl protec- 
 tor of all, especially of those who invoke him, and 
 serve him. See Deut. xxxii. 6. 
 
 Since the coming of our Saviour, wo have a new 
 
 right to call God our father, by reason of the adop- 
 tion and filiation which he has merited for us, by 
 clothing himself in our humanity, and purchasing us 
 by his death ; " Ye have received the spirit of adop- 
 tion, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit 
 itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the 
 children of God," Rom. viii. 15, 16. The devil is 
 called the father of the wicked, and the father of 
 lies, John viii. 44. He deceived Eve and Adam ; he 
 introduced sin and falsehood ; he inspires his follow- 
 ers with his spirit and sentiments. The prophets 
 reproach the wicked Jews with calling idols, "my 
 father," Jer. ii. 27. They said so in efl'ect, if not in 
 words, since they adored them as gods. The hea- 
 then gave the name father to several of their divini- 
 ties ; — as to Jupiter, " father of gods and men ;" 
 father Jove, &c. and to Bacchus, Liber Pater, &c. 
 These appellations the idolatrous Jews repeated and 
 imitated. The father of Sichem, the father of Teko- 
 ah, the father of Bethlehem, &c. signify the chief 
 person who inhabited these cities ; or he who built 
 or rebuilt them. To be gathered to their fathers, to 
 sleep with their fathers, are common expressions, 
 signifying death ; and perhaps referring to interment 
 in the same sepulchre. Christ is called, (Isa. ix. 6.) 
 " the everlasting father," because by him, says Cal- 
 met, we are begotten in God for eternity ; he procures 
 life eternal to us, by adopting us to be sons of God, 
 and by the communication of his merits. The ex- 
 pression, however, is, "father of the everlasting (the 
 Gospel) age." Our Lord (Matt, xxiii. 9.) forbids us 
 to call any man " master," because we have one in 
 heaven. Rather, to call no man father, in the same 
 sense as the sons of the prophets called their teacher 
 father ; to follow no earthly leader ; to follow blindly 
 the dictates of no man, however eminent or digni- 
 fied ; but to obey God only. Not that we should 
 abandon, or despise, earthly fathers ; God requires 
 us to honor that relation ; but, when the glory of 
 God, or our salvation, is at stake, if our fathers or 
 our mothers are obstacles, we should say to them, 
 "We know you not;" and to God, "Doubtless thou 
 art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, 
 and Israel acknowledge us not : thou, O Loid, art 
 our father, our redeemer," Isaiah Ixiii. 16. Adam is 
 the father of the living ; Abraham is the father of the 
 fahhful ; called also the father of many nations, be- 
 cause many people sprung from him ; as the Jews, 
 Ishmaelites, Edomites, Arabs, 6cc. 
 
 FEAR, a painful apprehension of danger. In 
 the Scrij)tures, when spoken of as exercised towards 
 God, or in a religious sense, it means rather reverence, 
 veneration. It is sometimes used for the object of 
 fear ; as the fear of Isaac, that is, the God whom 
 Issac feared. Gen. xxxi. 42. God says that he would 
 send his fear before his pcoj)lc, to terrifj-and rlestroy 
 the inhabitants of Canaan. Job (vi. 4.) speaks of 
 the terrors of God, as set in array against him ; and 
 the Psalmist, (Ixxxviii. 15.) that he had suflercd the 
 terrors of the Lord with a troubled mind. The fear 
 of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; (Ps. cxi. 10.) 
 and to fear God, and keep his conunandments, is the 
 whole duty of man, Eccl. xii. 13. It deserves notice, 
 that true religion is more frequently described as the 
 fear of God in the Old Testament than in the New ; 
 one reason of which might be the temporal sanctions 
 annexed to the sovereignty of God, as it respected 
 the nation of the Jews ; and which, under the Gos- 
 pel, are not applicable to all nations of the earth to 
 whom the Gospel is sent, and to whom the moot 
 wonderful and supreme instance of divine love is
 
 TEA 
 
 [ 429] 
 
 FIG 
 
 now revealed. We read, that " God is love," and to 
 be loved ; not that God is fear, and to he feared, or 
 dreaded ; though we read of godly fear (Heh. xii. 
 28.) and of the fear of God, as showing itself in re- 
 ciprocal affection between Christian brethren, 2 
 Cor. vii. 1 ; Eph. v. 21. Compare Rom. viii. 15 ; 
 2 Tim. i. 7. 
 
 FEASTS. God appointed several festivals among 
 the Jews: (1.) To perpetuate the memory of gi-eat 
 events wrought in favor of them: the Sabbath com- 
 memorated the creation of the world ; the Passover, 
 the departure out of Egypt ; the Pentecost, the 
 law given at Sinai, &c. (2.) To keep them stead- 
 fast to their religion, by the view of ceremonies, and 
 the majesty of divine service. (3.) To procure them 
 certain pleasures and allowable times of rest; their 
 festivals being accompanied with rejoicings, feasts, 
 and innocent diversions. (4.) To give them instruc- 
 tion ; for in their religious assemblies the law of 
 God was read and explained. (.5.) To renew the 
 acquaintance, correspondence, and friendship, of 
 their tribes and families, which, coniing from distant 
 towns in the country, met three times a year, in the 
 holy city. For a description of these feasts, see Sab- 
 bath, Jubilee, Passover, Pe.ntecost, Trumpets, 
 Moon, Expiatio^j, Tabernacles, Purim, Ded- 
 ication. 
 
 Of the three great feasts of the year, (the Passover, 
 Pentecost, and that of Tabernacles,) the octave, or 
 the eighth day, w-as a day of rest as much as the 
 festival itself; and all the males of the nation 
 were obliged to visit the temple. But the law did 
 not require them to continue there during the whole 
 octave ; except in the feast of Tabernacles, when 
 they seemed to be obliged to be present for the 
 whole seven days. 
 
 In the Christian church we have no festival that 
 clearly ajipears to have been instituted by our Sa- 
 viour, or liis apostles ; but as we commemorate his 
 passion as often as we celebrate his supper, he has 
 hereby seemed to institute a perpetual feast. Chris- 
 tians have always celebrated the memory of his 
 resurrection on every Sunday. We see from Rev. i. 
 10. that it was commonly called "the Lord's day;" 
 and Barnabas, Ignatius, Justin, Irenspus, Tertullian, 
 and Origen, say, we celel)rate the eighth day with joy, 
 because on that day Jesus Clu'ist rose from the dead. 
 It appears from Scripture, that after the promulga- 
 tion of the Gospel, the apostles and Jewish Cliristians 
 kept the Jewish feasts ; but these, being national, did 
 not concern other nations ; nor could other nations 
 come from their distant residences to attend them at 
 Jerusalem. But, so early as we can trace, and cer- 
 tainly as early as the second century, the Gentile 
 Christians ke|)t certain feasts, analogous to those of 
 the Jewish Passover and Pentecost ; — that is to say, 
 Easter, or rather the Pascha, on which was conmiem- 
 orated the death and resurrection of Christ; and W'hit- 
 suntide, on which was commemorated the descent of 
 the Holy Spirit. This was a favorite time for re- 
 ceiving baptism ; and the white robes then worn by 
 the new converts, gave name to the season. Some 
 have thought that Easter was kept in the Christian 
 sense, by the apostles ; and that it is referred to in 
 1 Cor. V. 8. As no Jewish feast fell about Christmas, 
 there is no jirobability of any substitution in this fes- 
 tival, as in the others. 
 
 We sometimes read of the governor or master of 
 the feast. He gave directions to the servants, and 
 superintended every thing as he thought ])ro])er. 
 He tasted the wine, and distributed it to the guests. 
 
 The author of Ecclesiasticus thus describes his office ; 
 (chap, xxxii. 1, 2.) " If thou be made the master of a 
 feast, lift not thyself up, but be among them aa one 
 of the rest ; take diligent care of them, and so sit 
 down. And when thou hast done all thy office, take 
 thy place, that thou mayest be merry with them, and 
 receive a crown for the well-ordering of the feast." 
 This office is mentioned in John ii. 8, 9, upon which 
 Theophylact has a good remark: "That no one 
 might suspect their taste was vitiated, by having 
 drunk to excess, so as not to know water from wine 
 our Saviour orders it to be first carried to the eov- 
 ernor of the feast, who certainly was sober ; for those 
 who on these occasions are intrusted with this office, 
 observe the strictest sobriety, that they may be able 
 properly to regulate the whole." 
 
 FEASTS OF LOVE, see Agap^. 
 
 FEET, see Foot. 
 
 FELIX, see Claudius III. 
 
 FENCE. The Hebrews use two terms to denote 
 a fence of different kinds ; Tij,g-arfeV, or m-ij, gederah, 
 and n^ic'::, mesucdh. According to Vitringa, the latter 
 denotes the outer thorny fence of the vineyard ; and 
 the former, the inner wall of stones surrounding it. 
 The chief use of the former was to keep off men, and 
 of the latter, to keep off beasts ; not only from gar- 
 dens, vineyards, &c. but also from the flocks at night. 
 See Prov. xv. 19; xxiv. 31. From this root the 
 Phoenicians called any enclosed place guddir, and 
 jiarticularly gave this name to their settlement in the 
 south-western coast of Spain, which the Greeks 
 from them called ru<'<itna, the Romans, Gades, and 
 the moderns, Cadiz. In Ezek. xiii. 5, xxii. 30. gader 
 appears to denote the fortifications of a city ; and in 
 Ps. Ixii. 3. the wicked are coni]jared to a tottering 
 fence, and bowing wall ; i. e. their destruction cornea 
 suddenly upon them. Fenced cities were such as 
 were walled or fortified. 
 
 FERRET, a sort of weasel, which Moses declares 
 to be unclean. Lev. xi. 30. The Greek iivyuA,', is 
 composed of »i»s, a rat, and gale, a weasel, because 
 this animal has something of both. The Hebrew 
 n|-ijN, anaca, [Eng. trans.yerre^] is by some translated 
 hedgehog, by others leech or salamander ; by Bocharl, 
 lizard. It was most probablv a species of lizard. 
 
 FESTUS, PORTIUS, succeeded Felix in the 
 government of Judea, A. 1). 58. To oblige the Jews, 
 Felix, when he resigned his government, left Paul in 
 bonds at Cnesarea in Palestine, (Acts xxiv. 27.) and 
 when Festus arrived, he was entreated by the jirin- 
 cipal Jews to condemn the apostle, or to order him 
 up to Jerusalem ; they having conspired to assassi- 
 nate him in the waj'. Festus, however, answered, 
 that it was not customary with the Romans to con- 
 demn any man without hearing him ; and promised 
 to hear iheir accusations at Cjesarea. But Paul ap- 
 pealed to Ciesar ; and so secured himself from the 
 prosecution of the Jews, and the intentions of Fes- 
 tus. Finding how much robbing abounded in Judea, 
 Festus very diligently ])ursned the thieves ; and he 
 also su])pressed a magician, who drew the people 
 after him into the desert. He died in Judea, A. D. 
 (i2, and Albinos succeeded him. 
 
 FIELD, see Furrows. 
 
 FIG. The fig-tree is very common in Palestine 
 and the East ; and flourishes with the greatest luxu- 
 riance in those barren and stony situations, where 
 little else will grow. Figs are of two sorts, the 
 " boccore" and the " kermouse." The black and white 
 boccore, or early fig, is produced in June, though 
 the kermouse, the fig properly so called, which is
 
 FIG 
 
 [ 430 ] 
 
 FIG 
 
 preserved, and made up into cakes, is rarely ripe be- 
 fore August. There is also a long dark-colored ker- 
 niouse, that sometimes hangs upon the trees all 
 winter. For these figs generally hang a long time 
 upon the tree before they fall off; whereas the boc- 
 cores droj) as soon as they are ripe, and, according to 
 tlie beautiful allusion of the prophet Nahum, "fall 
 into the mouth of the eater, upon being shaken," ch. 
 iii. 12. Dr. Shaw, to Avhom we are indebted for this 
 information, remarks, that these trees do not proper- 
 ly blossom, or send out liowers, as we render mon, 
 Hab. iii. 17. They may rather be said to shoot out 
 thfir fniit, which they do like so many little buttons, 
 with their flowers, small and imperfect as they are, 
 enclosed within them. 
 
 When this intelligent traveller visited Palestine, in 
 the latter end of March, the boccore was far from 
 being in a state of maturity ; for, in the Scripture 
 expression, "the time of figs was not yet," (Matt. xi. 
 13.) or not till the middle or latter end of June. The 
 " time" here mentioned, is supposed by some authors, 
 quoted by F. Clusius, in his Hierobotanicon, to be the 
 third year, in which the fruit of a particular kind of 
 fig-tree is said to come to perfection. But this spe- 
 cies, if there be any sucli, needs to be fui-ther known 
 and described, before any argument can be founded 
 upon it. Dionysius Syrus, as he is translated by Dr. 
 Loftus, is more to the purpose : "it was not the time 
 of figs," he remarks, because it was the month 
 Nisan, Avhen trees yielded blossoms, and not fruit. 
 It frequently happens in Bar))ary, however, and it 
 need not be doubted in the Avarmer climate of Pales- 
 tine, that, according to the quality of the preceding 
 season, some of the more forward and vigorous trees 
 will now and then yield a few ripe figs, six weeks or 
 more before the full season. Something like this 
 may be alluded to by the prophet Hosea, when lie 
 says, he " saw theii- fathers as the first-ri])e in the 
 fig-tree at her first time ;" (ch. ix. 10.) and by Isaiah, 
 who, speaking of the beauty of Samaria, and her 
 rapid declension, says, she "shall be a fading flower, 
 and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which, 
 when he that looketh u])on it seeth, while it is yet in 
 his hand, he eateth it up," ch. xxviii. 4. 
 
 When the boccore draws near to perfection, then 
 the kermouse, the summer fig, or carica?, begin to be 
 formed, though they rarely ripen before August; at 
 which time there appears a third crop, or the winter 
 fig, as it may be called. This is usually of a much 
 longer shape and darker complexion than the ker- 
 mouse, hanging and ripening on the tree, even after 
 the leaves are shed ; and, provided the winter proves 
 mild and temperate, is gathered as a delicious morsel 
 in the spring. We learn from Pliny, that the fig-tree 
 was bifera, or bore two crops of figs, namely, the 
 boccore, as we may imagine, and the kej-mouse ; 
 though,what he relates afterwards, should intimate 
 that there was also a winter cro]). " Seri fructus per 
 hiemcm in arbore manent, ct a?state inter novas fron- 
 dcs et folia maturescunt." "Ficus altcrum edit 
 fructum," h<ays Columella, "et in hiemem seram dif- 
 ferct maturitntem." It is well known, that the fruit 
 of these prolific trees alwa} s precedes the leaves ; 
 and consequently, when our Saviour saw one of them 
 in full vigor having leaves, (Mark »i. 13.) he might, 
 according to the common course of nature, very 
 justly "look for fruit;" and haply find some boc- 
 cores, if not some winter fius likewise, upon it. But 
 the diflSculties connected with the narrative of this 
 transaction, will not allow of its dismission in this 
 Huimnarv manner. 
 
 Mr. Taylor conjectures that this tree was the syca- 
 more, which bears fruit several times in the year, 
 without observing any certain seasons, so that a per- 
 son cannot determine, without a close inspection, 
 whether it has fruit or not. But, to say nothing 
 against the authority by which the oi>^ij is here pro- 
 posed to be rendered " a sycamore," which has its 
 own proper appellation, avy.ouo^'^ia, (Luke xix. 4.) 
 the assumption seems inadequate to account for the 
 malediction which was levelled against it ; because it 
 is plain that such a tree might at that time have been 
 destitute of fruit, and yet by no means be barren. 
 Dr. Shaw's conjecture, therefore, seems to be the 
 most satisfactory ; namely, that as the fig always 
 puts forth the fruit before its leaves, and this was not 
 the season for figs, (rather fig harvest, for so the 
 words y.tciol); avy(->y import, our Saviour was justified 
 in expecting to meet Avith some on the tree. As Mr, 
 Bloomfield remarks. The whole difliculty results 
 from the connection of the two last clauses of the 
 13th verse: "And when he came to it he found 
 nothing but leaves — for the time of figs was not yet ;" 
 for the declaration, it was not yet fig harvest, cannot 
 be (as the order of the words secn^iS to import) the 
 reason why there was nothing but leaves on the 
 tree ; because, as we have seen, the fig is of that 
 tribe of vegetables on which the fruit ajipears before 
 the leaf. Certainly fruit, says Mr. Wiston, might be 
 expected of a tree whose leaves were distinguished 
 afar off, and whose fruit, if it bore any, preceded the 
 leaves. If the words had been, " he found nothing 
 but green figs, for it was not the time of ripe fruit," 
 says Campbell, we should have justly concluded that 
 the latter clause was meant as the reason of Avhat is 
 affirmed in the former, but as they stand, they do not 
 admit this interpretation. All will be clear, however, 
 if we consider, with the writer above referred to, that 
 the former of these clauses is parenthetical, and admit 
 such a sort of trajeciio as is not unfrequent in the 
 ancient languages. The sense of the ])assage Avill 
 then be as follows : " He came to see if he might 
 find any thing thereon ; (for it was not yet the time 
 to gather figs ;) but he found leaAcs only ; and he 
 said," &c. Similar inversions and trajections have 
 been pointed out by commentators in various other 
 parts of the New and Old Testaments, and Camp- 
 bell particularly notices one in this very Gospel : 
 (chap. xvi. 3, 4.) " They said, Who shall roll us away 
 the stone .'' and when they looked, the stone was 
 rolled awaj', for it was very great" — that is, "They 
 said, Who shall roll us away the stone ; for it Avas 
 very great." 
 
 [The fruit of the fig-tree is one of the delicacies of 
 the East; and is of course very often spoken of in 
 ScrijJture. Dried figs are probably like those Avhich 
 are brought to our oavu country ; sometimes, Iioav- 
 ever, they are dried on a string. We likcAvise read 
 of cakes offgs, (nSai) 1 Sam. xxv. 18 ; 1 Chron. xii. 
 4 ; 2 Kings xx. 7. These Avere ]}robal)ly formed by 
 pressing the fruit forcibly into baskets or other ves- 
 sels, so as to reduce them to a solid cake or lump. 
 In this Avay dates are still ))repared in Arabia. In 
 Djedda, Burckhardt remarks, (Travels in Arabia, p. 
 29.) arc "eight date-sellers; at the end of June the 
 ncAV fruit comes in; this lasts two months, after 
 Avhich, for the rcmaitider of the year, the date-paste, 
 called adjoiie, is sold. This is formed by pressing 
 the dates, Avhcn fidly ripe, into large baskets, so forci- 
 bly as to reduce them to a hard, solid paste or cake, 
 (;ach basket Aveighing usually about tAvo hundred 
 Aveight ; in the market, it is cut out of the basket, and
 
 FIR 
 
 [ 431 ] 
 
 FIRE 
 
 sold by the pound." He describes also smaller bas- 
 kets, weighing about ten pounds each. See under 
 Flago.n. R. 
 
 FIGURES, see Types. 
 
 To FIND, to meet with, is used sometimes for to 
 attack, to surprise one's enemies, to light on them 
 suddenly, &c. so Anah "found the Emim," Gen. 
 xxxvi. 24. (Sec Emim.) So the verb tojind is used 
 in Judg. i. 5. "They found Adonibezek in Bezek ;" 
 that is, they attacked him there. The Philistine 
 archers found king Saul ;- they reached him, hit him, 
 1 Sam. xxxi. 8. Sec also 1 Kings xiii. 24. It is said 
 of a man smitten by God, that he is no more found ; 
 he has disaj)peared. Comp. Psalm xxvii. 10 ; Job 
 vii. 10 ; XX. 9. To find favor in the sigjit of any 
 one, is an expressive form of speech common in 
 Scripture. 
 
 FINGER. The finger of God denotes his power, 
 his operation. Pharaoh's magicians discovered the 
 finger of God in some of the miracles of 3Ioscs, Ex- 
 odus viii. 19. That legislator gave the tables writ- 
 ten with the finger of God to the Hebrews, Exod. 
 xxxi. 18. The heavens were the work of God's 
 fingers. Psalm viii. 3. Our Lord says, he casts out 
 devils with the finger of God ; meaning, perhaps, by 
 his authority, Luke xi. 20. To put forth one's finger, 
 is a bantering gesture. If thou take away from the 
 midst of thee the chain or yoke wherewith thou 
 overwhelmest thy creditors, and forbear pointing at 
 them, and using jeering and insulting gestures, Isaiah 
 lix. 8. Some take this for a menacing gesture, as 
 Nicanor stretched out his hand against the temple, 
 threatening to burn it, 2 ]Mac. xiv. 33. 
 
 FIR, an evergreen tree, of beautiful appearance, 
 whose lofty iieight and dense foliage afford a spa- 
 cious shelter and shade. It is worth observing, on 
 the Heb. cna, berosh, how contradictorily the LXX 
 have rendered it, for want of established principles 
 of natural history — cypress, fir, myrtle, juniper. The 
 Chaldee reads fir constantly ; and it is likely this 
 translator should be quite as well acquainted with 
 the subject as any foreigner. The Hebrew word 
 seems, howe\er, to mean the cypress ; or possibly an 
 evergreen tree in general. 
 
 In 2 Sam. vi. 5, it is said, that " David and all the 
 house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner 
 of instruments made of fir-wood," &c. Mr. Taylor 
 inclines to think that the word beroshim in this pas- 
 sage, may express some instrument of music, rather 
 than the wood of which such instrument was made ; 
 but with his usual candor, he gives the following 
 passage from Dr. Burney's history of nuisic : " This 
 species of wood, so soft in its nature and sonorous in 
 its effects, seems to have been preferred by the an- 
 cients, as well as the moderns, to every other kind, 
 for the construction of musical instruments, j)articu- 
 larly the bellies of them, on which their tone chiefly 
 depends. Those of the harp, lute, guitar, harpsichord, 
 and violin, in present use, are constantly made of 
 fir-wood." 
 
 I. FI RE is often a symbol of the Deity, Deut. iv. 24. 
 He ai)pcared to Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John, in 
 the midst of fire ; the Psalmist describes his chariot 
 as a flame, (Psal. xviii. 9, 10.) and Daniel says (vii. 
 10.) that a fiery stream issued from before him. Fire 
 is a common symbol of God's vengeance, also; and 
 the effects of his wrath, as war, famine, and other 
 scourges, arc compared to fire. Fire from heaven 
 fell on victims sacrificed to the Lord, as a mark of 
 approbation ; but when Abraham made a covenant 
 with tii.^ Lord, a fire passed between the divided 
 
 pieces of the sacrifices. This was probablv the 
 Shekinah. * ^ 
 
 A perpetual fire was kept up in the temple, on the 
 altar of burnt-sacrifices, by burning wood continually 
 on It. In addition to this fire, there were several 
 kitchens in the temple, where the provisions of the 
 priests and the peace-offerings were dressed. 
 
 The Son of God says, that he had brought fire on 
 the earth, and desired nothing more tlian to have it 
 kindled ; (Luke xii. 49.) that is, to subject the laud of 
 Judea to judgments, in consequence of its wicked- 
 ness ; part of which was already begun in the do- 
 minions of the Romans. The sword of tliis people 
 would complete the punishment. He came to bap- 
 tize with the Holy Ghost and fire, (Matt. iii. 11.) and 
 to verify this prediction, the Holy Ghost descended 
 on his disciples in the form of tongues of fire, Acts 
 ii. 3. 
 
 Fire will one day consume this world, according 
 to Peter, 2 Epist. iii. 7, 12. The heathen had some 
 knowledge of this ; whether they received it from 
 the Hebrews, or from the sacred writings ; from tra- 
 dition, or from reasoning, and their knowledge of the 
 elements and the actual state of the earth, we know 
 not. Josephus speaks of an ancient tradition, that 
 before the deluge the sons of Seth had learned from 
 Adam that the world would be destroyed first by 
 water, afterwards by fire. Heraclitusheld, that after 
 it had passed through the flames, it would receive a 
 new birth amidst the fire ; the Stoics maintained the 
 same ; and Cicero particularly notices it in his book 
 De Nat. Deorum, (lib. ii.) as does Ovid, (Met. lib. i.) 
 
 The Chaldeans, Persians, and some other people 
 of the East, adored fire ; and there is a tradition that 
 Abraham was thrown into a fire, because he refused 
 to worship this element. See Zoroaster, Abra- 
 ham. 
 
 Few things are more shocking to humanity than 
 the custom of which such frequent mention is made 
 in Scripture, of making children pass through fire in 
 honor of Moloch ; a custom, the antiquity of which 
 appears from its having been repeatedly forbidden 
 by Moses, as Lev. xviii. 21, and, at length, in chap. 
 XX. 1 — 5. where the expressions are very strong, of 
 "giving his seed to Moloch." This cruelty, one 
 would hope, was confined to the strangers in Israel, 
 and not adopted by any native Israelite ; yet we af- 
 terwards find the kings of Israel, themselves, practis- 
 ing this superstition, and making their children pass 
 througli the fire. 
 
 There is a remarkable variation of terms in the 
 history of Ahaz, vvho, in 2 Kings xvi. 3, is said to 
 make " his son to pass through the fire, according to 
 the abomination of the heathen," i. e. no doubt, in 
 iionor of Moloch, — while, in 2 Chron. xxviii. 3, it is 
 expressed by " he burned his children in the fire." 
 Now, as the book of Chronicles is best understood, 
 by being considered as a supplementary and explan- 
 atory history to the book of Kings, it is rather sin- 
 gular, that it uses by much the strongest word in this 
 passage — for the ir)ii)ort of -\;'2i is, general!}, fo con- 
 sume, to clear off; so Psal. Ixxxiii. 14. " As the fire 
 burneth a wood," so Isaiah i. 31, and this variation of 
 expression is further heightened, by the word son 
 (who jjassed throiigh) being singular in Kings, but 
 |)Iural (sons) in Chronicles. It seems very natm-al to 
 ask, " If he burned his children in the fire, how could 
 he leave any posterity to succeed him?" 
 
 The rabbins have histories of the manner of pass- 
 ing through the fires, or between the fires, or into 
 eaves of fire ; and there is an account of an image,
 
 FIRE 
 
 [432] 
 
 FIRE 
 
 ■which received children into its arms, and let them 
 drop into a fire beneath, amid the shouts of the 
 multitude, the noise of drums, and other instruments, 
 to drown the shrieks of the agonizing infant, and 
 the horrors of the parent's mind. Waving further 
 allusion to that account at present, the following ex- 
 tract nif y afford a good idea, in what manner the 
 passing through, or over, fire, was anciently perform- 
 ed ; the attentive reader will notice the particulars. 
 "A still more astonishing instance of the superstition 
 of the ancient Indians, in respect to the venerated 
 fire, remains at this day in the grand annual festival 
 holden in honor of Darma Rajah, and called the 
 Feast of Fire ; in which, as in the ancient rites of 
 Moloch, the devotees walk barefoot over a glowing^ 
 Jire, extending forty feet. It is called the feast of 
 fire, because they then walk on that element. It 
 lasts eighteen dpys, during which time, those that 
 make a vow to keep it, must fast, abstain from wo- 
 men, lie on the bare ground, and walk on a brisk 
 fire. The eighteenth day, they assemble, on the 
 sound of instruments; their heads crowned with 
 flowers, the body bedaubed with saffron, and follow 
 in cadence the figures of Darma Rajah, and of Dro- 
 bede, his wife, who are carried there in procession. 
 When they come to the fire, they stir it, to animate 
 its activity, and take a little of the ashes, with which 
 they rub their foi-ehead, and when the gods have been 
 three times round it, they walk either fast or slow, 
 according to their zeal, over a very hot fire, extend- 
 ing to about forty feet in length. Some carry their 
 children in their arms, and others lances, sabres, and 
 standards. The most fervent devotees walk several 
 times over the Jire. After the ceremony the ])eople 
 press to collect some of the ashes to rub their fore- 
 heads with, and obtain from the devotees some of 
 the flowers with which they were adorned, and 
 which they carefully preserve." (Sonnerat's Trav- 
 els, vol. i. 154.) See 13aal. 
 
 This extract is taken from Maurice's "History of 
 Hindostan," (p. 448.) and it accounts for several ex- 
 pressions used in Scripture : such as causing children 
 (very young, perhaps) to pass through fire, as we see 
 they are carried over the fire, by wliich means, 
 though devoted, or consecrated, they were not de- 
 stroyed ; neither were they injiu-ed, except by being 
 profaned. It might, however, and jjrobably did, 
 happen, that some of those who ilius passed, were 
 hurt or maimed in the passing, or if not immediately 
 slain by the fire, might be burned in this superstitious 
 pilgrimage, in such a manner as to contract fatal dis- 
 eases. May we suppose, then, that while some of 
 the children of Ahaz passed safely over the fire, 
 others were injured by it, and injin-ed even to death ? 
 But this could not be the case with all of them ; as 
 beside Ilezekiah, his successor, we read of " Maa- 
 seiah, the king's son," 2 Chron. xxviii. 7. 
 
 [Similar rites are still practised by the Chinese 
 devotees. The following account is from the jour- 
 nal of Mr. Abeel, American missionary at Canton, 
 under date of April 14th, 1831. "This afternoon we 
 rode about six miles in the country and attended a 
 Chinese ceremony, which reminded us of the rites 
 of "Moloch, i)loo(ly king." It occiu-s on the birth- 
 day of the Taou gods, and is i)erf()rmed by rimning 
 barefoot, througli a lieaj) of ignited cjiarcoal. The 
 fire covered a space of abf)Ut 10 or 12 feet square, 
 and was i)robahly about 18 inches in height. It 
 threw out a sweltering heat, and kept the spectators 
 at some distance. The concourse was large, and 
 the crash of gongs almost deafening. When we 
 
 anived, we found two priests standing near the fire, 
 earnestly conning a book, and performing a variety of 
 acts which its pages appeared to prompt. One of 
 them held a cow's horn in his hand, with which he 
 occasionally assisted the noise. The other was more 
 actively engaged in burning paper, making his obei- 
 sance, sprinkling water upon the heap, and striking 
 it violently with a sword. During these ceremonies, 
 he frequently bowed to the gi-ound, and gazed up- 
 ward, with an expression of most intense earnest- 
 ness. There was something striking in the whole 
 appeaiance and conduct of the man. It was very 
 evident, that if not himself fully persuaded of the 
 presence and power of the being he invoked, he 
 well knew how to produce this persuasion in the 
 minds of the ignorant around him. 
 
 " The prescribed rites being performed, the priest 
 approached the jjile, went through a number of 
 antics, and dashed furiously througli the coals. A 
 passage was kept clear from the adjacent temple, and 
 as soon as the signal was given by the priest, a num- 
 ber of persons, old and young, came running with 
 idols in their hands, and bore them through the fire. 
 Othei-s followed, and among them an old man who 
 halted and staggered in the very jaws of death. The 
 scene was one of mad confusion, but its continuance 
 was short, and the crowd soon dispersed. It is 
 thought a test of the character of those who attempt 
 it; if they have a "true heart" and confidence in 
 the gods, they cannot receive injury. Some of them 
 pass through tlif^fire in fulfilment of a voav made in 
 time of danger or necessity. One of the votaries 
 last year fell in the midst of the fire, and was se- 
 verely burned." (Miss. Herald for 1832, p. 97.) *R. 
 
 Humanity would induce us to hope that the ex- 
 pression " burned," should l)e taken in a milder sense 
 than that of slaying by Jire ; and, perhaps, this idea 
 may be justified, by remarking the use of it in Exod. 
 iii. 2, 3, " the bush burned (uI-n^ n;'2) with fire, yet the 
 bush was not consumed (iy3' n'^)." The word, there- 
 fore, being capable of a milder, as well as of a strong- 
 er sense, like our English word, to bu7'n, it is desi- 
 rable, if fact would permit, to tal<e it in the milder 
 sense in the instance of Ahaz, and possiblj- in other.s. 
 Nevertheless, the Indian custom of widows burning 
 themselves to death with the body of their deceased 
 husbands, contributes to justify the harsher construc- 
 tion of the word to burn ; as the superstitious crueltj^ 
 which can deprive women of life, may easily be 
 thought guilty of equal barbarity in the case of chil- 
 dren. In fact, the drowning of children in the Gan- 
 ges, as an act of dedication, is common. 
 
 The narrative of Daniel and his three companions 
 being thrown into the fiery furnace, by oi-der of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, (Dan. iii.) has been thought to in- 
 volve some difficulties ; indeed Eichhorn selects this, 
 among other reasons, for divesting Daniel of the pro- 
 phetic character. The difficulty in the narrative, 
 however, results, it is more than probable, from our 
 want of information as to the form of the furnace, 
 or place of fire, in which the memorable occurrence 
 took place. An enclosed structure, similar to our 
 ovens or furnaces, is certainly incompatible with 
 some of the circumstances atteiulant upon the event; 
 but we are not com])elled to adhere to this notion. 
 Maundrell discovered, in Syria, near Tortosa, a sin- 
 gular structure, which was no doubt a temple of the 
 Phoenician and Chaldean idol, Baal, or the sun, 
 whose representative was fire, and which may be 
 very fairly supposed to represent, on a small scale, 
 the temple or court in which Nebuchadnezaar erect-
 
 FIRE 
 
 [ 433 1 
 
 FIRE 
 
 ed his image, and in which the flames were kmdled 
 for the Hebrew confessors. There was a court 
 
 of fifty-five yards 
 square, cut in the 
 natural rock ; the 
 sides of the rock 
 standing roimd it, 
 about three yards 
 high, supphcd tlie 
 place of walls. On 
 three sides it was 
 thus encompassed, 
 but to the north- 
 ward it lay open. 
 In the centre of this 
 area was a square 
 part of the rock 
 left standing ; being 
 three yards high, 
 and five yards and 
 a half square. This served for a pedestal to a throne 
 erected upon it. The throne was composed of four 
 large stones, two at the sides, one at the back, another 
 hanging over all at top, in the manner of a canopy. 
 The whole structure was about twenty feet high, 
 fronting toward that side where the court was open. 
 The stone that made the canopy was five yards and 
 three quarters square, and carved round with a hand- 
 some cornish. What all this might be designed for, 
 we cannot imagine ; ludess perhaps the coiu-t may 
 pass for an idol temple, and the pile in the middle 
 for the throne of the idol ; which seems the more 
 probable, in regard that Hercules, that is, the sun, the 
 great abomination of the Phoenicians, was wont to be 
 adored in an open temple. At the two innermost 
 angles of the court, and likewise on the open side, 
 were left pillars of the natural rock ; three of each at 
 the former, and two at the latter." (Journal, Sunday, 
 March 7.) 
 
 The account of the apocryphal writer of the his- 
 tory of this miracle says, that "the angel of the 
 Lord descended, and smote the flame of fire out 
 of the fin-nace, (or place of fire,) and made the mid- 
 dle of tlie furnace as if a moist, dewy, whistling 
 wind" were passing over it. Admitting this passage 
 of wind over it, it could not be a close building; and 
 this seems to be finally detennined by the recollec- 
 tion, that Nebuchadnezzar saw what occurred within 
 it ; which was absolutely impossible if it were en- 
 closed like our tile-kilns ; but, supposing it to be 
 open, like the place of fire in our engraving, he 
 might easily contemplate every occurrence of which 
 it was the scene. 
 
 This notion of an open furnace, or place of fire, 
 appears, then, to be of some consequence to the 
 proper understanding of the historJ^ It is more 
 congenial with the customs of the country, the idol- 
 atry of tlie people, and the supposed dignity of the 
 occasion. It leads us also to infer, that tlie transac- 
 tion passed in the very sight, so to speak, of the gold- 
 en image, in defiance of its influence and power, 
 which, no douln, were presumed to be most vigor- 
 ous, niost concentrated, within the precincts of its 
 own immediate residence : yet here, where most 
 competent to exertion, it was baffled, counteracted, 
 and defeated. 
 
 There is no just reason for doubting, as Mr. Tay- 
 lor sujjposes, from whom we have abridged these 
 observations, that the open temple, mentioned by 
 Maundrell, being in the country of Tyre and Bidon, 
 were used for the worshij) of the Tyrian Hercules, 
 55 
 
 the Baal of the East ; that is, the sun, wliose repre- 
 sentative on earth was elementary fire, (Jur see 
 under Baal,) This element, we l:now, was the pri- 
 mary deity of Chaldea, and the Chaldeans boasted 
 of their deity, as superior to ail cUiers, because he 
 was able to consume their reprecenlctic-nc, whether 
 in wood, stone, or metal. The iaentJty of these 
 deities was maintained by the Tyila^is also ; hence 
 we read, that to prevent his desertion from their city, 
 they chained the statue of Hercules to the &.>,zy of 
 Apollo, If, then, the deity of the Chaldeans v. :;c also 
 the deity of the Tyrians, doubtless the rites of his 
 worship were similar in both countries ; and since 
 we find an open court in Syria still remaining, it takes 
 off" the difliculty (if any were supposed) in cozisider- 
 ing an open court as the scene of religious rites ad- 
 dressed to the same deity in Chaldea, 
 
 It is probable enough that the history of the fiery 
 furnace is much more intelligible in the East than 
 among ourselves ; that the publicity of this execu- 
 tion would there be better understood ; that ths con- 
 test between (Baal) the deity fire, and Jehovah, 
 would there excite not merely the liveliest interest 
 throughout the nation, but, that the result of it vrould 
 produce the most general confusion on one sicie, and 
 the most vehement joy on the other ; also, that, when 
 the Chaldeans saw their national deity vanquished, 
 not by another element, as water, of which Ave have 
 a history, but by a protecting, preserving power infi- 
 nitely its superior, their perplexity Avoiddf be extreme ; 
 and they would feel their embarrassment with all 
 the tenderness of eastern sympathy, and the exqui- 
 site sensibility of eastern imagination. 
 
 There are among the eastern people, as ajready 
 noticed, traditions of a similar trial of Abraham by 
 Nimrod, and a similar deliverance. They might 
 confirm our remarks ; but for the present we draw 
 no other conclusion, than that of the open corstruc- 
 tion of the Chaldean place of fire : that the v.hcle 
 was transacted as a kind of sacrifice to the deity, 
 and in the immediate presence of his consecrated 
 image. 
 
 Hell-fire is clearly described in the Old Testa- 
 ment, Moses says, "A fire is kindled in my r.nger, 
 and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall con- 
 sume the earth with her increase, and set on firs the 
 foundations of the mountains." Here hell-fire or the 
 place of torment is placed in the deepest parts of 
 the earth. Isaiah is expi-ess : (xxxiii. 14.) " \Vho 
 among us shall dwell with devouring fire ? Who 
 among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ?" 
 Our Saviour speaks of eternal fire prejiarcd for the 
 devil, his angels, and reprobates ; and John (^lev. xx. 
 14, 15.) saw a lake of fire, into which the beast and 
 his false prophet were cast, and which Avas the por- 
 tion of infidels, murderers, and abominable persons. 
 But whether these expressions are to be understood 
 literally or metaphorically ; that is, whether the fire of 
 hell consists only in A'ehement anguish, and the 
 worm in remorse and despair, is what critics and 
 fathers arc much divided about. Origen, Ambrose, 
 Jerome, Gregory of Nice, and John Damascenus, say 
 expressly, that it is not a material fire, but that the 
 fire is bitterness for past sins, and the worm remorse 
 of conscience ; a sentiment still common among the 
 Greeks. But in the Latin church, the general opinion 
 is, that the danmcd are tormented with real frn, and 
 gnawed by a real worm, which does not die. If it be 
 asked. How can an elementary fire, or a living worm 
 operate on the soul, Avhich is a spiritual substance ? 
 Augustin replies. Why should not this be credible of
 
 FIR 
 
 [ 434 1 
 
 FIR 
 
 the soul when separated from the body, since the 
 mind of man, which certainly is not corporeal, does 
 acrually experience the pain of fire ? For, after all, 
 it is not the body which suffers heat, or cold, or pain ; 
 it is the soul, united to that body. And why should 
 mot devils, and the souls of the damned, be insepara- 
 bly linked to the fire that burns them, and tlie worm 
 which gnaws them, as well as our soul is during our 
 life-time united to our body ? It has been thought, 
 that there is an allusion in Isaiah Ixvi. 24. and IMai-k 
 jx. 44. to the different modes of consuming dead 
 bodies among the ancients; — by burning, and by 
 burial: q. d. ""the punishments in the future state 
 will not become extinct, as fire must needs be extin- 
 guished when the subject of it, that is, the body, is 
 consumed ; nor will they cease to exist, as the body 
 ceases to exist when it is wholly perished in the 
 earth, or wholly consumed by worms, which worms 
 themselves shall die ; but as the si)irit survives, so its 
 punishments shall continue." This interpretation 
 implies tiiat the punishments spoken of are wholly 
 spiritual, and existing independently of the body. 
 
 FIRMAMENT. Moses says, that God made a 
 firmament in the midst of the waters to separate the 
 inferior from the superior waters. By the word }»\-'t 
 rakta, the Hebrews understood the heavens, which, 
 like a solid and immense arch, served as a barrier 
 between the upper and lower waters, having win- 
 dows, through which, when oi)ened, the upper 
 waters descended and formed the rain. But we are 
 not to infer from this idea of the ancient Hebrews, 
 tliat it really was so ; in matters indifferent, the sa- 
 cred writei-s generally suit their expressions to popu- 
 lar conceptions. 
 
 FIRST. This word does not always signify pri- 
 ority of rank, or order, but sometimes before that, as 
 — John i. 15, 30, Gr. " He was first of me ;" he was 
 before mc. And chap. xv. 18. " If the world hate 
 you, ye know it hated me before it hated you," &c. 
 Our Saviour required his disciples " to seek first the 
 kingdom of God ;" i. e. before all things ; (Matt. vi. 
 33.) and Paul says, that God displayed his mercy 
 towards him, "who was the chief [first] of sinners," 
 and that in him first [eminently, wonderfully] "he 
 showed forth all long-suffering," 1 Tim. i. 15, 16. 
 
 FIRST-BORN. "^This phrase is not always to be 
 understood literally ; it is sometimes taken for the 
 prime, most excellent, most distinguished of things. 
 Thus, "Jesus Christ" is "the first-born of every 
 creature, the first-begotten, or first-born from the 
 dead ;" begotten of the Father before any creature 
 was produced ; the first who rose from the dead by 
 his own power. Wisdom says, that she came out of 
 the mouth of the Most High before he had produced 
 any creature, Ecclus. xxiv. 3 ; Isa. xiv. 30. " The 
 first-born of the poor," signifies the most miserable 
 of the poor ; Job xviii. 13. " the first-born of death," 
 the most terrible of deaths. After the destroying 
 angel had killed the first-born of the Egyptians, God 
 ordaine<l that all the Jewish first-born, both of men, 
 and of l)easts for service, should be consecrated to 
 him ; but the male children only were subject to this 
 law. If a man had many wives, he was obliged to 
 offer the first-born son by each one of them to the 
 Lord. The first-born were offered at the temi)le, 
 and redeemed for five shekels. The firstling of a 
 clean beast was offered at the temple, not to bo re- 
 deemed, but to be killed ; an unclean beast, a horse, 
 an ass, or a camel, was either redeemed or exchang- 
 ed ; an ass was redeemed by a lamb, or five shekels ; 
 if not redeemed, it was killed. Commentators hold 
 
 that the first-born of dogs were killed, because they 
 were unclean ; and that nothing was given for them 
 to the priests, because there Avas no trade or com- 
 merce in them. See Dent, xxiii. 18. 
 
 It has been questioned whether our Saviour, as 
 first-born of the Virgin, was subject to this law. 
 Some believe that he was not ; others, that by the 
 terms of the law he was. 
 
 The ceremonies of the Jews for the redemption 
 of their first-born, are as follows : If the child be a 
 boy, when he is thirty days old, a descendant of 
 Aaron is sent for, who is most agreeable to the fa- 
 ther ; and the company being met, the father brings 
 gold or silver in a cup or basin. The child is then 
 put into tlie priest's hands, who asks the mother 
 aloud, whether this boy is hers. She answers. Yes. 
 He adds, "Have you never had any other child, 
 male or female ; no untimely birth, or miscarriage ? " 
 She answers. No. "If so," says the priest, "this 
 child, as the first-born, belongs to me." Then turn- 
 ing to the father, he says, "If you desire to have liim, 
 you must redeem him." " This gold and this silver," 
 replies the father, " is offered to you for that purpose 
 only." The priest, turning to tlie assembly, says, 
 "This child, as the first-born, is therefore mine, ac- 
 cording to this law, — those who are to be I'cdeemed 
 from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to 
 thine estimation, for the money of five shekels," &-c. 
 — " but I am content with this in exchange." He 
 then takes two gold crowns, or thereabouts, and re- 
 stores the infant. If the father or riiother are of the 
 race of priests, or Levites, they do not redeem their 
 son. The first-born among the Hebrews, as among 
 all other nations, enjoyed particular privileges. See 
 
 BlRTIl-RIGHT. 
 
 In addition to the first-born of men and beasts 
 which were offered to the Lord, or were redeemed 
 by money, there was another kind of first-born, 
 which were carried to the temple, in order to fur- 
 nish the table for feasts of charity. Of this kind 
 mention is made in Deut. xii. 17, 18: "Thou mayest 
 not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn or 
 wine, or the firstlings of thy herds, or of thy flock, 
 nor any of thy vows . . . but thou must eat these 
 things before the Lord thy God in the place which 
 he shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, 
 thy man-servant and thy maid-servant, and the Le- 
 vite that is within thy gates." And again Deut. xii. 
 18. (See below.) 
 
 FIRST-FRUITS were presents made to God, of 
 part of the fruits of the harvest, to express the sub- 
 mission, dependence, and thankfulness of the offerers. 
 They were offered to the temple, before the crop 
 was gathered ; and, when the harvest was over, be- 
 fore any private persons used their corn. The first 
 of these first-fruits, oflbrcd in the name of the na- 
 tion, was a sheaf of barley, gathered on the fifteenth 
 of Nisau, in the evening, and threshed in a court of 
 the temple. After it was well cleaned, about three 
 pints of it were roasted, and poiuided in a mortar. 
 Over this was thrown a log of oil, and a handful of 
 incense ; and the priest, tal<ing the offering, waved it 
 before the Lord towards the four cardinal points, 
 throwing a handful of it into the fire on the altar, and 
 keeping the rest. After this, all wore at liberty to get 
 in the liarvest. (See Sueak.) When the wheat har- 
 vest was over, on the day of Pentecost, they offered 
 as first-fruits of another kind, in the name of the na- 
 tion, two loaves, of two assarons (about three pints) 
 of flour each, made of leavened dough. Joscphua 
 mentions only one loaf, and says it was served up to
 
 FIS 
 
 [435 ] 
 
 FIS 
 
 the priests that evening at supper, with the other 
 offerings; and that all were to be eaten that day 
 without leaving any thing. In addition to these 
 first-lruits, every private person was obliged to bring 
 his first-fruits to the temple ; but Scripture prescribes 
 neither the time nor the quantity. The rabbins say, 
 th(;v were obliged to bring at least the sixtieth part of 
 their fruits and harvest. The most liberal gave the 
 fortieth, the least liberal, the fiftieth or sixtieth. They 
 met in companies of four and twenty persons, to 
 carry their first-fruits in a ceremonious manner. The 
 company was preceded by an ox appointed for the 
 sacrifice, with a crown of olives on his head, and his 
 horns gilded ; and a player on the flute walked before 
 them to Jerusalem. The fii-st-fruits were of wheat, 
 barley, grapes, figs, apricots, olives, and dates. Each 
 carried his basket. The rich had gold or silver, 
 (Prov. XXV. 11, "a word fitly spoken is like apples of 
 gold, in pictures of silver," &:c. perhaps of first-fruits 
 carried in baskets of fillagree-work, on such a joyful 
 occasion,) the poor had wicker baskets. At Jerusa- 
 lem, the citizens came out to meet and to salute them. 
 When they arrived at the mountain on which the 
 temple was situated, each one, even the king him- 
 self, if he were there, took his basket on his shoul- 
 der, and carried it to the court of the priests ; the 
 Levites singing, "I will magnify thee, O Lord," &c. 
 Psal. XXX. He who brought the first-fruits, said, "I 
 profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am 
 come unto the country, which the Lord sware unto 
 our fathers for to give us ;" (Bcut. xxvi. 4, 5, &c.) and 
 then putting the basket on his hand, (the priest sup- 
 porting it at the bottom,) he continued — " A Syrian 
 ready to perish was my father," &c. He then put 
 his basket by the side of the altar, prostrated himself, 
 and went away. 
 
 There was, besides this, another sort of first-fruits 
 paid to God, Num. xv. 19, 21. When the bread in 
 the family was kneaded, a portion of it was set apart, 
 and given to the priest, or Levite, of the place : if 
 thei-e were no priest, or Levite, it was cast into tlie 
 oven and there consumed. The law had not fixed 
 the (juantity of this bread; but Jerome saj'^s, that cus- 
 tom and tradition had determined it to be between 
 the fortieth and sixtieth part of what was kneaded. 
 Philo speaks of this custom ; and Leo of Modena de- 
 clares, it was observed in his time. This is one of 
 the three precepts peculiar to the women, because 
 they generally make the bread. The rabbins hold 
 that no one is obHged to pay the fli-st-fruits, excepting 
 in the Land of Promise. 
 
 Those offerings are often called first-fruits, which 
 were brought by the Israelites from devotion, to the 
 temple, for the feasts of thanksgiving, to which they 
 invited their relations and friends, and the Levites of 
 their cities. The first-fruits and tenths were the most 
 considerable revenue of the priests and Levites. 
 
 Paul says, Christians have the first-fruits of the 
 Holy Sjjirit, a greater abundance of God's Spirit, 
 more perfect and more excellent gifls than the Jews. 
 " Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first- 
 fruits of them that slept," (1 Cor. xv. 20.) the first- 
 begotten from the dead, or the first-born of those who 
 rose again : the Thessalohians were, as it were, the 
 first-fruits whom God had chosen to salvation ; (1 
 Tliess. ii. 12.) chosen with a particular distinction, as 
 fnst-fruits were chosen from amidst the jnost ex- 
 quisite of the several fruits, with a design of offering 
 them to the Lord. 
 
 FISH, ji, dng, a general name in Scripture for 
 aquatic animals, which the Hebrews place among 
 
 reptiles. We have few Hebrew names, if any, for 
 particular fish. RIoses says in general, (Lev. xi. 9.) 
 that all sorts of river, lake, and sea fish may be eaten 
 if they have scales and fins ; others are unclean. 
 
 Some interpreters believe that the fish which 
 swallowed Jonah was a whale ; but others, with more 
 probability, suppose that it was a shark. 
 
 FISHERS are frequently spoken of by the proph- 
 ets, in their metaphorical discourses. A passage or 
 two requires notice. Jeremiah says, (ch. xvi. 16.) 
 "Behold, I will send for many (Q>jn, davvagim)/s/i- 
 ers, and they shall (oun, digvm) fish them ; and at'ter, 
 I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt 
 them from every mountain, and from every hill, and 
 out of the holes of the rocks." Mr. Taylor thinks 
 this would be more correct, if understood thus — " I 
 will send divers who sliall dive after them, or, take 
 them by wading, diving, plunging, following them 
 among the holes and crannies of the rocks, and 
 bringing them from thence." For it should seem, he 
 remai-ks, that the hunting associated with this fishing, 
 being an active pursuit, demands more than mere 
 angling, or fishing with nets, as its parallel ; neither 
 among holes of the rocks are nets of use ; but diving 
 is an active pursuit by water, as hunting is by land, 
 and seems to maintain the requisite association of 
 import in this passage. Diving for pearls was (and 
 is) practised in the East ; and, that diving is prac- 
 tised as one way of taking fish, is strongly implied in 
 the subsequent quotation from Niebuhr. 
 
 [There is no reason whatever for taking the word 
 fisher out of its usual sense ; — nothing can be more ap- 
 propriate than its being employed along with hunter, 
 as above. Still, a diver might, by possibility, be in- 
 cluded under it, as it is in English. R. 
 
 Is this the allusion of the prophet Ezekiel, (chap, 
 xlvii. 10^" And^s/jcj-s shall stand upon it, from En- 
 gedi to Eu-eglaim ; they shall be a place to spread 
 forth nets ?" Such is our translation ; but, reading 
 with the ken (ncy, amcru) shall gather, instead of 
 (ncj'j AMCDu) shall stand,the words may be rendered 
 thus: "And divers shall gather upon its banks ; and 
 from the kids' fountain to the calves' fountain, shall 
 be the extent of separations." But what does this 
 mean ? Mr. Taylor suggests, "They shall gather into 
 heaps, (the word signifies to compi-ess close together,) 
 as pearl oysters are gathered into distinct hillocks ; 
 and the ground appointed for such separate heajis 
 shall be fi'omjE7i-g-edi, the kids' fountain, to En-cglaim, 
 the calves' fountain." The prophet goes on to say, 
 this river shall also have all other kinds of fisH, in 
 the same number and variety as the ocean itself. If 
 this be the import of the place, then diviitg, as one 
 branch of fishing, is unilbrndy included in the deriv- 
 atives from the word dag ; and this idea increases 
 the symbolical riches of these prophetic waters. 
 
 Attaching the idea of diving to this word, gives a 
 decided import to a noun used ia Amos iv. 2 : " The 
 Lord God hath sworn that the days come .... lliat 
 he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity 
 with fish-hooks." Mr. Harmer (Obs. vol. iv. p. 199.) 
 enters at large into the rendering of this passage. 
 Mr. Taylor would render thus : " The Lord shall take 
 you (yourselves) away with, or among, or bcin" beat 
 forward by, prickles ; but those whom you leave behind 
 you shall be driven away by a diverts weapon ; an in- 
 strument equally sharp, and with points as numerous 
 and piercing as those used by divers to strike at the 
 fish which they pursue."— By this rendering, he ob- 
 serves, the idea of driving forward cattle is preserved 
 throughout the passage ; and the change of meta-
 
 FIT 
 
 [ 436 ] 
 
 FLA 
 
 phor, by allusion to fishing (i. e. angling) is avoided. 
 [The figure is here taken from the custom of taming 
 or subduing animals by placing hooks or rings in 
 their noses: Compare Is. xxxvii. 29, " Therefoi-e I 
 will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy 
 lips, and I will turn thee back by the way which thou 
 earnest." Why these hooks are here called fsh-hooks, 
 appears from Ezek. xxix. 4 ; Job xli. 2, — viz. because 
 it was customary to let the larger fish, when once 
 caught, hang in the water, being fastened by a hook 
 in the nose. See Bruce's Travels. Oedraann's 
 Samndungen, etc. V. 5. R. 
 
 " Of all the creatures which live in the water, the 
 Mahometans eat only fish, and not all sorts of them. 
 Those which are considered as pure and edible, ac- 
 cording to the books of the old Mahometan theologist, 
 ought to have been taken in nets, or with the hand, 
 while alive ; when the water being ebbed away, leaves 
 the siiores dry. Nevertheless, they take them, at 
 least in the Euphrates, Avith the hook, or w^ith a grain 
 which intoxicates them. Some have questioned 
 w hether a piece of fish, which swims on the water, 
 may be eaten ? and it is decided, that it is lawful 
 when there appears some mark that the fish was 
 killed by a knife, or by a sabre ; because then, it is 
 presumed, that the words bism alia akbar were pro- 
 nounced over it. I do not remember to have seen 
 fishes alive among tlie Mahometan fishermen. Those 
 of Djidda and Loheia only brought ashore such as 
 were dead : without a doubt they had cut their throats, 
 lest they should die of themselves, and so become 
 impure." (Niebuhr, Descrip. Arabic, p. 150. Fr. edit.) 
 Here we see that fish are taken by the hand ; tJiey 
 are also killed by sharp weapons, as a knife, or a sa- 
 bre ; and therefore other sharp and piercing instru- 
 ments, better adapted to the purpose than knives or 
 sabres, could hardly fail of being employed by fish- 
 ermen. Our translation mentions Jish-spea7-s, (Job 
 xli. 1.) but in the original it is another word. 
 
 FITCHES. There are tv/o words in the Hebrew 
 Bible which the English translators have rendered 
 ^fitches or vetches — ni'p K^tsach, and rit:^^ Kitssemeth ; 
 the latter probably denotes rye, or spelt ; we have now 
 to inquire about the former, which occurs only in 
 Isaiah xxviii. 25 — 27, and about which critics are not 
 agreed. Jerome, Maimonides, and the rabbins un- 
 derstand it of the gith, which was called by the 
 Greeks Mf>.aiSior, and by the Latins nigella; and 
 Rabbi Obdias de Bartemora expressly says, that the 
 barbarous or vulgar name of the nsp was iS^ij 7iielli, 
 nigella. Ausouius says the gith is " pungent as pep- 
 per ;" and Pliny adds, that its seed is good for sea- 
 so;!ing food, lie also states it to be of great use in 
 the bakehouse, and that it affords a grateful season- 
 ing to bread ; perhaps by sprinkling upon it, as we 
 do caraway and other small seeds. Some think 
 the f^ith to have been the same as our fennel, and 
 Eallcster is quoted as saying "gith is commonly 
 met with in gardens ; it grows a cubit in height, 
 sojnetim.es more. The leaves are small, like those of 
 fenml, the flcwer blue, which disappearing, the ovary 
 shov.s itseii' on the top, like those of a poppy, fur- 
 nished with little horns, oblong, divided by 'mem- 
 bra.ios into severe' partitions and cells, in which are 
 enclosed seeus c" p. vo;-y black color, not unlike 
 those of a lock, but very fragrant. But die cir- 
 cumstance of -ia'.leuter comparing the gith to the 
 fennel is decisive against the notion that it was this 
 part'c'iiar punt. 1'hat it ciussea with the fennel 
 may l^e reudily admitted ; but not that it was the 
 eaine. 
 
 FLAG. There are two words in the original, inN, 
 achit, and rjio, swpft, translated "flag," in our Bibles, 
 though not uniformly so ; for in Gen. xli. 2, 18, the 
 former word is rendered meadow, and in Jonah ii. 5, 
 the latter is translated iveeds. It probably denotes 
 the sedge or long grass, which grows in the meadows 
 of the Nile, very grateful to the cattle. The folloAving 
 is from Dr. Harris. Jerome, in his HebreAV questions 
 or traditions on Genesis, writes, '^Achi neque Grsecus 
 sermo est, nee Latinus, sed et Hebraeus ipse corruptus 
 est." The Hebrew vau (i) and jod (■>) being like one 
 another, and differing only in length ; the LXX in- 
 terpreters, he observes, wrote >nN, achi for inN, achu ; 
 and according to their usual custom, put the Greek / 
 for the double aspirate n. That the grass was well 
 known among the Egj'ptiaus, he owns in his com- 
 ment upon Isa. xix. 7, where the LXX render nny, 
 crof/i, paper reeds, TO Itxi to x^-^'Q^^ — "Cumaberuditis 
 qusererem, quid hie sermo significaret, audivi ab 
 ^gyptiis hoc nomine lingua eorum omne, quod in 
 palude virens nascitur appellari." 
 
 " We have no radix," says the learned Chappellow, 
 " for iHN, unless we derive it, as Schultens does, from 
 the Arabic achi, to bind or join together." Thus it 
 may be defined "a species of plant, sedge, or reed, so 
 called from its fitness for making ropes, or the like, 
 to connect or join things together ; as the Latin 
 'j uncus,' a bulrush, a jungendo, from joining, for the 
 same reason :" and some suppose that it is the plant, 
 or reed, growing near the Nile, which Hasselquist 
 describes as having numerous narrow leaves, and 
 growing about eleven feet high ; of the leaves of 
 which the Egyptians make ropes. It should, how- 
 ever, be observed, that the LXX, in Job viii. 11, ren- 
 der butomus, which Hesychius explains as "a plant 
 on which cattle are fed, like to grass ;" and Suidas, 
 as "a plant like to a reed, on which oxen feed." 
 These explanations are remarkable, because we read. 
 Gen. xli. 2, that the fat kine of Pharaoh fed in a 
 meadow, says our translation, on achu in the original. 
 This leads us to wish for information on what aquatic 
 plants the Egyptian cattle feed ; which, no doubt, 
 would lead us to the achu of these passages. 
 
 The word f(\o, siiph, is considered by Aben Ezra to 
 be "a reed growing on the borders of the river." 
 Bochart, Fuller, Rivetus, Ludolphus, and Junius and 
 Tremellius, render it by juncus carex or alga, and 
 Celsius thinks it the fucus or alga [sea weed"] Dr. 
 Greddes says, there is little doubt of its being the 
 sedge called " sari ;" which, as we learn from Theo- 
 phrastus and Plinj', gi-ows on the marshy banks of 
 the Nile, and rises to the height of almost two cubits. 
 This, indeed, agrees very well with Exod. ii. 3, 5, 
 and " the thickets of arundinaceous plants, at some 
 small distances from the Red sea," observed by Dr. 
 Shaw ; but the place in Jonah seems to require some 
 submarine plant. 
 
 FLAGON. In Cant. ii. 5, the bride says, "Stay 
 me with flagons ; comfort nic with apples." Some 
 kind of fruit would seem to be intended here by 
 flagons, in order to ])arallel the following versicle, 
 " comfort me Avith ai)ples ;" for as tiie latter is a fruit, 
 it seems necessary that the former should be a fruit 
 also. And as these apples are a round fruit, some- 
 thing of the melon kind may be intended, as extreme- 
 ly refreshing, sweet, and juicy; which seems to be 
 the ideas included — whether an apple, or a citron be 
 the fellow-fruit referred to. As one kind of gourd is 
 by us called flagon, so might another kind, but of a 
 similar genus, be formerly called. The word occurs 
 here without the insertion "of wine," but in Rosea
 
 FLE 
 
 [ 437 
 
 FLY 
 
 lii. 1, 10 added "of giapes,"— "Loving measures- 
 flagons of grapes." 3Iight these be grapes gathered 
 into gourds ? Or do they mean wine, as our trans- 
 lators have rendered them here ; and have inserted 
 the word wine in the other places— thereby fixing 
 them to this sense ? 
 
 [Tlie Hebrew word noTN, ashishah, every where 
 rendered in the English version /a^o?i, (2 Sam. vi. 
 19 ; 1 Cljron. xvi. 3 ; Hos. iii. 1 ; Cant. ii. 5.) means 
 ratlier a cake, especially of dried grapes, or raisins, 
 pressed into a particular form. These are mentioned 
 as delicacies, by which the weary and languid were 
 refreshed ; they were also offered to idols, Hos. iii. 1. 
 They differed from the pics, tsimmitk, (Ital. Simmuki,) 
 dried clusters of grapes not pressed into any form; 
 (1 Sam. XXV. 18.) and also from the cakes of Jigs ; 
 (see FiGS,SK6_^n.) We may compare the manner in 
 wliich with us cheeses are pressed in various forms, 
 as of pine-api)les, &c. and also the manncniu which 
 dates are prepared at the present day by the Arabs. 
 See under Figs. R. 
 
 FLAX, a well known plant, upon which the in- 
 dustry of mankind has been exercised with the great- 
 est success and utility. Moses speaks of the flax in 
 Egypt, (Exod. ix. 31.) which country has been cele- 
 brated, from time immemorial, for its production of 
 manufacture. The " fine linen of Egypt," wliich was 
 manufactured of this article, is spoken of for its su- 
 perior excellence, in Scripture, Prov. vii. 16 ; Ezek. 
 xxvii. 7. It was imder the stalks of this plant that 
 Rahab hid the spies. Josh. ii. G. In predicting the 
 gentleness, caution, and tenderness, with which the 
 Messiah should manage his administration, Isaiah 
 (xlii. 3.) happily illustrates it by a proverb, " The 
 bruised reed he shall not break, and the smoking flax 
 he shall not quench." — He shall not break even a 
 bruised reed, which snaps asunder immediately, 
 when pressed with any considerable weight ; nor 
 shall he extinguish even the smoking flax, or the wick 
 of a lamp, w hich, when it first begins to kindle, is 
 put out by every little motion. This is quoted in 
 Matt. xii. 20, where, by an easy metonymy, the mate- 
 rial for the thing made,^a.r, is used for the wick of a 
 lamp or taper ; and that, by a synecdoche, for the 
 lamp or taper itself, which, when near going out, 
 yields more smoke than light. — He will not put out 
 or extinguish the dying lamp. 
 
 FLESH is taken, literally, for the substance 
 which composes bodies, whether of men or animals. 
 Gen. vi. 13. The word flesh is also used to denote a 
 principle opposite to the spirit : " The flesh lusteth 
 against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and 
 these are contrary the one to the other," Gal. v. 17. 
 " Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of 
 the flesh," vcr. 16. To crucify tiie flesh with its 
 lusts ; not to fulfil the desires of the flesh ; the wis- 
 dom of the flesh, &c. are expressions which require 
 no explanation. " We are thy flesh and thy bone," 
 are familiar expressions to denote kindred and rela- 
 tionship, Gen. xxix. 14 ; xxxviii. 27. 
 
 The wise man says, that the flesh of the intempe- 
 rate is consumed by infamous diseases, Prov. v. 11. 
 See also Eccles. v. 6. Ecclesiasticus requires a pru- 
 dent man to separate his flesh from a prostitute, 
 chap. XXV. 26. In 2 Peter ii. 10, we read of" those 
 who walk after the flesh, in the lustof uncleanness ;" 
 and in Jude 7, of "going after strange flesh." In 
 both places reference is expressed to the vile prac- 
 tices of the Sodomites. In 2 Pet. ii. 7, we read of 
 "the filthy conversation of the wicked ;" and also of 
 their " unlawful deeds," ver. 8. The intention of the 
 
 sacred writers is clear ; though veiled for the sake of 
 decorum in a general term. 
 
 " Oh that we had of his flesh !" said Job's enemies, 
 even his domestics, in his affliction, chap. xxxi. 31. 
 They would have eaten him up alive, says Calmet; 
 thus they repaid with ingratitude his services to 
 them. But Job seems rather to describe his former 
 condition, as having been so honorable, that what- 
 ever was placed on his table was longed for as the 
 most desirable of its kind. So Rosenmiiller : " Did 
 not my domestics say. Who is there that is not filled 
 with his banquets ?" The Psalmist says, The w icked, 
 even mine enemies, came upon me to eat up my 
 flesh, Ps. xxvii. 2. Wisdom (xii. 5.) reproaches the 
 Canaanites with devouring man's flesh ; and Jere- 
 miah threatens the inhabitantsof Jerusalem that they 
 should be constrained to eat the flesh of their friends 
 and children. See also Lam. ii. 20; iv. 10; and 
 Ezek. v. 10. Josephus relates an instance of this 
 during the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. 
 
 The revolting custom of eating human flesh is still 
 common in many islands of the eastern seas. Some 
 eat their parents when they are old ; others eat Eu- 
 ropeans, wdieu they can seize them. The Peguans 
 sold human flesh publicly. In Wliidah, also, it is 
 said that human flesh is sold as food. 
 
 FLOOD, see Deluge. 
 
 FLORUS, (Gessius,) the last procurator of Judea, 
 succeeded Albinus in the government, A. D. 64. His 
 excesses exasperated the Jews beyond patience, and 
 forced them to rebel against the Romans, A. D. 66. 
 He is thought to have left Judjea, when Vespasian 
 went there, A. D. 67. 
 
 FLOUR, see Bread, Cakes, Offerings, &c. 
 
 FLUTE, a musical instrument, sometimes men- 
 tioned in Sci-ipture by the names Chalil, Machalath, 
 Masrokoth, and Uggab. The last word is generally 
 translated organ ; "but Calmet thinks it was nothing 
 more than a flute ; though his description of it corres- 
 ponds to " the Pandean pipes," which are extreme- 
 ly ancient, and were perhaps the original organ. 
 
 There is notice taken in the Gospels, of players on 
 the flute, [Eng. trans, mmstrels,] who were collected 
 at funerals. See Matt. ix. 23, 24. The rabbins sa)', 
 that it was not allowable to have less than two play- 
 ers on the flute, at the funeral of persons of the mean- 
 est condition, beside a professional woman hired to 
 lament ; and Josephus relates, that a false report of 
 his death being spread at Jerusalem, several persons 
 hired players on the flute, by way of preparation for 
 his funeral. In the Old Testament, however, we see 
 nothiiig like it. The Jews probably borrowed the 
 custom from the Romans. When it was an old wo- 
 man who died, they used trumpets ; but flutes when 
 a youiij^ woman was to be buried. 
 
 FLY, an insect well known ; in the law, declared 
 to be unclean, Lev. xi. 42. The Philistines and Ca- 
 naanites adored a god of flies, under the name of 
 Beelzebub. Wisdom xii. 8. 
 
 The Hebrew language has at least two words for 
 flies: the first is ardi, (Exod. ™i. 21 ; Psal. Ixxiii. 45 ; 
 cv. 31.) which the Seventy interpreters, who, by re- 
 siding on tlie spot, have had the best opportunity of 
 identifying, have rendered the dog-Jly ; the Zimb of 
 Abyssinia. Odiers suppose it to be the cock-roach, 
 an insect very common in the East. Another w ord 
 for a fly is, zehuh, (Eccles. x. 1.) which some have 
 conjectured might be the " great blue-bottle fly :" or 
 flesh-fly. Barbut says, (p. 298.) "This is one of the 
 numerous classes of" insects. Variety runs through 
 their forms, their structure, their organization, their
 
 FLY 
 
 [ 438 
 
 FLY 
 
 tnetamorj>lj»JS6s, their manner of living, propagating 
 their species, and providing for their posterity. Eve- 
 ry species is furnished with implements adapted to its 
 exigencies. What exquisiteness ! what proportion 
 in the several parts which compose the body of a 
 fly! What precision, what mechanism in the springs 
 and motion ! — Some are oviparous, otJiers viviparous ; 
 whicli latter have but two young ones at a time, 
 whereas the propagation of tlie former is by hun- 
 dreds. Flies are lascivious, troublesome insects, that 
 put up with every kind of food. When storms im- 
 pend, they have most activity, and sting with gi-eatest 
 force. They multiply most in hot, moist climates ; 
 and so great was formerly their numbers in Spain, 
 that there were fly-hunters commissioned to give 
 them chase." 
 
 Schindler, in his Lexicon, considers the Hebrew 
 word zebub, with its Chaldee and Arabic cognates, 
 as including the whole of winged insects; culex, the 
 gnat ; vespa, the wasp ; astrum, the gad-fly ; and 
 crabro, the hornet : this certainly implies the inclu- 
 sion of true flies, generally ; a species well known 
 to be sufficiently numerous. Moreover, that this 
 word should hardly be restrained to a single species 
 of fly, may be inferred from the pun employed in 
 playing on the appellation of the deity Beelzebub, 
 " Lord of flies," to convert it into Beelzebul, " Lord 
 of the dunghill ;" — alluding probably to the disposi- 
 tion of certain kinds of flies, which roll themselves 
 and their eggs in the filth of such places ; so that 
 the change of name has a reference, a degrading 
 reference, to the manners of the symbol of this deity, 
 including, no doubt, a sarcastic sneer at those of his 
 "worsliip])ers. The general import of this word may be 
 further argued from what Pliny tells us (lib. x. cap. 
 18.) concerning the deity Achorem, from the Greek 
 achor, which may be from the Hebrew Ekron or 
 Accaron, the city where Beelzebub, the "Lord of 
 flies," was worshipped. " The inhabitants of Gy- 
 rene," he saj'S, " invoke the assistance of the god 
 Achorem, when the multitude of flies produces a 
 pestilence ; but when they have placated that deity 
 by their offerings, the iiies perish immediately." 
 Whetlier only one species of fly pestered the Cyre- 
 nairuni does not appear. 
 
 The following description of the Zimb, the Ethi- 
 oi)ian FLY, {zebub) mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, 
 (chap. vii. 18.) is fm-nished by Mr. 13ruce. "This 
 insect is called Zimb ; it has not been described by 
 any naturalist. It is, in size, very little larger than a 
 bee, of a thicker pro[>orlion, and has wings, which 
 are broader than those of a bee, placed separate, 
 lilce those of a fly ; they are of ])ure gauze, without 
 color or sjjot upon them ; the head is large, the iipj)er 
 jaw or lip is siiarp, and lias at the end of it a strong 
 pointed hair, of about a quarter of an inch long; the 
 lower jaw has two of these pointed hairs; and this 
 pencil of hairs, when joined together, makes a resist- 
 ance to the finger, nearly equal to that of a strong 
 hog's brisU!\ Its legs are serrated on the inside, 
 and the wliole covered with brown hair or down. 
 As soon as this plague appears, and their buzzing is 
 heard, all tiio cattle forsake their food, and run wildly 
 about the plain, till they die, worn out with fatigue, 
 fright, and lumgor. No remedy remains, but to leave 
 the black earth, and hasten down to the sands of At- 
 bara ; and there they remain, while the rains last, this 
 cruel enemy never daring to pursue them farther. 
 
 "Though his size is immense, as is his strength, 
 and his body covered with a thick skin, defended 
 with strong hair, yet even the camel is not able to 
 
 sustain the violent punctures the fly makes with his 
 pomted proboscis. He must lose no time in remov- 
 ing to the sands of Atbara ; for, when once attacked 
 by this fly, his body, head, and legs, break out into 
 large bosses, which swell, break, and putrefy, to the 
 certain destruction of the creature. Even the ele- 
 phant and rhinoceros, who, by reason of their enor- 
 mous bulk, and the vast quantity of food and water 
 they daily need, cannot shift to desert and dry places, 
 as the season may require, are obliged to roll them- 
 selves in mud and mire ; which, when dry, coats 
 them over like armor, and enables them to stand 
 their ground against this winged assassin : yet I 
 have found some of these tubercles upon almost 
 every elephant and rhinoceros that I have seen, and 
 attribute them to this cause. 
 
 "All the inhabitants of the sea-coast of Melinda, 
 down to cape Gardefan, to Saba, and the south coast 
 of the Red sea, are obliged to put themselves in mo- 
 tion, and remove to the next sand, in the beginning 
 of the rainy season, to prevent all their stock of 
 cattle from being destroyed. This is not a partial 
 emigration; the inhabitants of all the countries, from 
 the mountains of Abyssinia northwai'd, to the con- 
 fluence of the Nile, and Astaboras, are once a year 
 obliged to change their abode, and seek protection 
 on the sands of Beja ; nor is there any alternative, 
 or means of avoiding this, though a hostile band was 
 in their way, capable of spoihng them of half their 
 substance. 
 
 " Of all those that have written upon these coun- 
 tries, the prophet Isaiah alone has given an account 
 of this animal, and the manner of its operation, Isa. 
 vii. 18, 19: 'And it shall come to pass, in that day, 
 that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the ut- 
 termost part of the rivers of Egypt. And they shall 
 come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate val- 
 leys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all 
 thorns, and upon all bushes.' — That is, they shall cut 
 off" from the cattle their usual retreat to the desert, 
 by taking possession of those places, and meeting 
 them there, where ordinarily they never come, and 
 which, therefore, were the refuge of the cattle. 
 
 " We cannot read the history of the plagues which 
 God brought upon Pharaoh by the hands of Moses, 
 without stopjjing a moment to consider a singularity, 
 a very principal one, which attended this plague of 
 the fly [Exod. viii. 21, &c.] It was not till this time, 
 and by means of this insect, that God said, he woidd 
 separate his peojile from the Egyptians. And it 
 would seem that then a law was given to them, that 
 fixed the limits of their liabitation. It is well known, 
 as I have repeatedly said, that the land of Goshen or 
 Geshen, the possession of the Israelites, was a land 
 of pasture, which was not tilled or sown, because it 
 was not overflowed by the Nile. But the land over- 
 flowed by the Nile was the black earth of the valley 
 of Egypt, and it was here that God confined the flics; 
 for, he says, it shall be a sign of this sejjaration of 
 the people, which he had then made, that not one 
 fly should be seen in the sand, or pasture-ground, 
 the land of Goshen ; and this kind of soil has ever 
 since been the refuge of all cattle, emigrating from 
 the black earth, to the lower ])art of Atbara. Isaiah, 
 indeed, says, that the fly shall be in all the desert 
 places, and, consequently, the sands ; yet this was a 
 particular dispensation of Providence, to a special 
 end, the desolation of Egypt, and was not a repeal 
 of the general law, but a confirmation of it ; it was 
 an exception for a particular purpose, and a limited 
 time.
 
 FOO 
 
 [439] 
 
 FOO 
 
 "I have already said so much on this subject, that 
 it would be tiring my reader's patience, to repeat any 
 tiling concerning him; I shall, therefore, content 
 mvself by giving a very accurate design of him, only 
 oliserving that, for distinctness sake, I have magnified 
 him something above twice the natural size. He 
 has no sting, though he seems to me to be rather of 
 the beo kind ; but his motion is more raj)id and sud- 
 den than that of the bee, and resembles that of the 
 gad-fly in England. There is something particular 
 in the sound or buzzing of this insect. It is a jarring 
 noise, together with a humming; which induces me 
 to believe it proceeds, at least in part, liom a vibra- 
 tion made with the three hairs at his snout. 
 
 "The Chaldee version is content with calling this 
 animal sim|)ly zebub, which signifies the fly in gene- 
 ral, as we express it in English. The Arabs call it 
 zimb in their translation, which has the same gen- 
 eral signification. The Ethiopic translation calls it 
 tsallsal)/a, which is the true name of this particular 
 fly in Geez, and was the same in Hebrew." (Bruce's 
 Travels, vol. i. p. 5 ; vol. v. p. 191.) 
 
 Thus, at length, we have the true signification of 
 a word which has embarrassed translators and com- 
 mentators, during two thousand years. The reason 
 is evident : the subject of it did not exist nearer than 
 Ethiopia ; — and who knew that it existed there ? or 
 who would go there to inspect it ? What shall we 
 say now to the difficulties in Scripture ? — are there 
 any, distinct from our o^vn want of information re- 
 specting them ? 
 
 FOOL and FOLLY, in Scripture, signify not only, 
 according to the literal meaning, an idiot, or one 
 whose senses are disordered ; the discourses and 
 notions of fools and madmen ; but also sin, and partic- 
 ularly sins of impurity, Psal. xxxviii. 5 ; 2 Sam. xiii. 
 12, 1.3. 
 
 The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, 
 I Cor. i. 20, 21 ; iii. 18, 19. The character of fool, 
 
 WISDOM. 
 
 Wisdom hath builded her house, 
 
 She hath hewn out her numerous ornamental pillars, 
 
 She hath killed her beasts, 
 
 She hath mingled her wine ; 
 
 She hath furnished her table ; 
 
 She hath sent forth her maidens ; 
 
 She crieth on the highest places of the city 
 
 " Wlioso is simple, let him turn in hither." , 
 
 To him who wanteth understanding, she saith, 
 
 " Come, cat of my bread, 
 
 And drink of the wine I have mingled, 
 
 Foi-sake the foolish and live, 
 
 And go in the way of Understanding ; 
 
 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, 
 
 And the years of thy life shall be many." 
 
 Thus Folly assumes the counterpart of Wisdom, 
 and invites no less generally ; but her invitation is 
 easily detected by due consideration, being very 
 difff.Tcnt from that of real wisdom. The conse- 
 quences of following the counsels of these contrasted 
 personages are very strongly marked, and are dia- 
 metrically opposite ; one tending to prolonged life, 
 the other to premature and violent dissolution. It 
 appears by the reference to the fatal ends of her 
 guests, that the gratification of illicit passion is what 
 Folly intends by " stolen waters," and " secret bread :" 
 this is the utmost cnjoj-mcnt she offers, and this en- 
 joyment terminates in death ! a description how 
 
 as well as the attribute folly, seems to be used in 
 the Proverbs in more than one sense ; sometimes it 
 seems to mean lack of understanding, and sometimes 
 perverseness of will. INlr. Taylor supposes that a 
 companionized picture of Wisdom and Folly is in- 
 cluded in the descrijnions presented in the ninth 
 chapter of the Proverbs. He thinks that the former 
 verses of the chapter contain a description of Wis- 
 dom personified of her actions, conduct, and beha- 
 vior : and that from verse 13 to 18 contains a 
 description of Folly, similarly personified ; who mim- 
 ics the actions, conduct, and behavior of Wisdom • 
 and so closely mimics them, that a person who will 
 not exercise deliberation and reflection, would as 
 readily be persuaded to follow the false, the iniposi- 
 tious goddess Folly, as to obey the true, the genuine 
 power of Divine Wisdom herself. That such per- 
 sonification is common in the Proverbs, and in Ec- 
 clesiastes, must be evident to every reader. 
 
 This idea may open the way also, he thinks, to a 
 true construction and correction of the passage, 
 which, as it stands at present, is obscure ; and, as 
 some think, corrupted. The LXX read, verse 13. 
 " A foolish and brazen-faced woman, she comes to 
 want a piece of bread ; she has no shame ;" the Chal- 
 dee reads, " she has no goodness." Some have sup- 
 posed that the word (nrro,) simplicity is redundant; 
 but if any word be redimdant, it was probably the 
 first word, "a woman," in which case, as the nouns 
 are of the feminine gender, and imply a woman, 
 without that distinctive description, the import of the 
 passage would stand thus : 
 
 " Simplicity is foolish and clamorous ;" or, " Folly 
 is clamorous — simplicity itself !" that is, extremely 
 simple ; and drives away knowledge of any valuable 
 kind from her. Yet she sits at the door of her house, 
 and imitates the actions of Wisdom ; as appears by 
 comparing these two personages, and their addresses, 
 to those who need instruction. 
 
 FOLLY. 
 
 Folly is stupid and clamorous. 
 
 Indeed, she repels all knowledge from her : 
 
 She sitteth at the door of her house. 
 
 On a throne in the high places of the city, 
 
 To call passengers who go right on their ways : 
 
 Saying, 
 
 " Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither :" 
 
 To him who wanteth understanding, she saith, 
 
 " Stolen waters are sweet ; 
 
 And bread eaten in secret is pleasant." 
 
 She invites him to her house of rendezvous, 
 
 But he knoweth not that the dead are there. 
 
 That her guests are in tlie depth of the grave. 
 
 Compare chap. v. 3 — 6. 
 
 applicable to great numbers of unhappy youth among 
 us ! Compare Flesh. 
 
 FOOT. By this word the Hebrews modestly ex- 
 press those parts which decency forbids us to name ; 
 e. g. " the water of the feet," urine. " To cover the 
 feet," to dismiss the refuse of nature. "The hair of 
 the feet," of the pubes. " Withhold thy foot from 
 being unshod, and thy throat from thirst ;" (Jcr. ii. 
 2.) i. e. do not prostitute yourselves, as you have 
 done, to strange people. Ezek. xvi. 25. "Thou hast 
 o])ened thy feet to every one that passed by." Feet, 
 in the sacred writers, often mean inclinations, afTcc- 
 tious, propensities, actions, motions. " Guide ray feet
 
 FOOT 
 
 [ 440 ] 
 
 FOW 
 
 in thy paths ;" keep my feet at a distance from evil : 
 "The feet of the debauched woman go down to death," 
 . — " Let not the feet of pride come upon me,"&c. 
 
 " A wicked man speaketh with his feet," (Prov. vi. 
 13.) i. e. he uses much gesture with his hands and 
 feet while talking, which the ancient sages blamed. 
 Ezekiel (xxv. (5.) reproaches the Ammonites with 
 clapping their hands aad stamping with their feet in 
 token of joy on seeing the desolation of Jerusalem. 
 He also describes similar motions as signs of grief, 
 because of the ruin of his people, chap. vi. 11. To 
 be at any one's feet, is used for obeying him ; being 
 in his service, following him, 1 Sam. xxv. 27. Moses 
 says, that " the Lord lov ed his people, and those that 
 sat down at his feet ;" who heard him, who belonged 
 to him, who were instructed in his doctrine (his pu- 
 jjils). Paul says, he was brought up at the feet of Ga- 
 maliel (as his scholar). Mary sat at our Saviour's feet, 
 and heard his word. Jacob said to Laban, (Gen. xxx. 
 30.) " The Lord hath blessed thee at my feet ;" which 
 Jerome translates ad introitum meum, ever since I 
 came to you, and undertook the conduct of your 
 flocks. To be under any one's feet, to be a footstool 
 to him, signifies the subjection of a subject to his 
 sovereign, of a slave to his master. " My foot stand- 
 eth right ;" I have pursued the paths of righteousness ; 
 or, rather, supposing a Levite to be the speaker. My 
 foot shall stand in the place appointed for the Levites 
 in the temple, in the court of the priests, where my 
 proper station is. Job says, (xix. 15.) he was " feet 
 to the lame, and eyes to the blind ;" he led one, and 
 supported the other. In another place, that God 
 had " put his feet in the stocks, and looked nar- 
 rowly to all his paths ;" like a bird, or some other 
 animal led along, with a foot fastened to a cord, and 
 unable to go the least step, but as he who guides it 
 pleases. Nakedness of feet was a sign of mourning : 
 God says to Ezekiel, " Make no mourning for the 
 dead, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet," &c. It 
 was likewise a mark of respect, Exod. iii. 5. Moses 
 put off his shoes to approach the biu-ning bush ; and 
 most commentators are of opinion, that the priests 
 served in the tabernacle with their feet naked, as 
 they did afterwards in the temple. The Talmudists 
 teach, that if they had but stei)ped with their feet 
 upon a cloth, a skin, or even upon the foot of one of 
 their companions, their service would have been un- 
 lawful. That, as the pavement of the temple was 
 of marble, the priests used to incur several inconve- 
 niences, because of the nakedness of their feet ; to 
 prevent which, in tlie second temple there was a 
 room in which the pavement was warmed. The 
 frequent ablutions aj)pointed them in the temple 
 seem to imply, that tlieir feet were naked. 
 
 It is also thought that the Israelites might not enter 
 this holy place, till they had put off their shoes, and 
 cleaned their feet. To this purpose Eccl. v. 1. is ap- 
 plied : " Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house 
 of God." Take care that your feet be clean. Mai- 
 monides says expressly, that it was never allowed to 
 enter the house of (Jod on the holy mountain with 
 shoes on, or with their ordinary clothes on, or with 
 dirty feet. 
 
 The Turks never enter their mosques till after they 
 liavc washed their feet, and their liands, and have 
 put off the outward covering of tlieir legs. The 
 Christians of Ethioi)ia enter their churches with their 
 shoes off, and the Indian Jhahmans and others have 
 the same respect for their pagodas and temples. 
 
 Wasiii.ng of Feet. (See also under Sandals.) 
 The orientals used to wash the feet of strangers. 
 
 who came off" a journey, because they commonly 
 walked with their legs bare, and their feet were de- 
 fended only by sandals. So Abraham washed 
 the feet of the three angels. Gen. xviii. 4. They 
 washed the feet of Eliezer, and those who accom- 
 panied him, at the house of Laban, (Gen. xxiv. 
 32.) and also those of Joseph's bi-ethren, when they 
 came into Egypt, Gen. xliii. 24. This office was 
 commonly performed by servants and slaves ; and 
 hencs Abigail answers David, who sought her in 
 marriage, that she should think it an honor to wash 
 the feet of the king's servants, 1 Sam. xxv. 41. 
 When Paul recommends hospitality, he would have 
 a widow assisted by the church, to be one who had 
 washed the feet of saints, 1 Tim. v. 10. Our Sa- 
 viour, after his last supper, gave his last lesson of hu- 
 mility, by washing his disciples' feet, John xiii. 5, 6. 
 " Then conieth he to Simon Peter ; and Peter saith 
 unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus an- 
 swered him. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part 
 with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my 
 feet only, but also my hands and my head." Our 
 Saviour's observation to Peter, "If I wash thee not, 
 thou hast no part with me," gave occasion to several 
 of the early Christians to believe, that the washing 
 of feet had something of the nature of baj)tism. 
 
 On Good Friday, the Syrians celebrate the festival 
 of washing of feet. The Greeks perform the sacred 
 Niptere, or holy washing ; and in the Latin church 
 this ceremony is practised. The bishops, abbots, 
 and princes in many places, practise it in person. 
 The council of Elvire, seeing the abuse that some 
 persons made of it, by putting a confidence in it for 
 remission of sins, suppressed it in Spain. 
 
 FORESKIN, see Circumcision. 
 
 FOREST, a woody tract of gi-ound. There were 
 several such tracts in Canaan, especially in the north- 
 ern parts. The chief of these were. 
 
 The Forest of Ephraim, near Mahanaim. See 
 Ephraim IV. 
 
 The Forest of Hareth, in Judah. 
 
 The Forest of Libanus. In addition to the 
 proper forest of Libanus, where the cedars grow, 
 Scripture thus calls a palace, which Solomon built 
 at Jerusalem, contiguous to the palace of the king of 
 Egypt's daughter ; and in which he usually resided. 
 All the vessels of it were of gold. It was called the 
 house of the forest of Libanus, probably from the great 
 quantity of cedar used in it, 1 Kings vii. 2 ; x. 27. 
 
 FORNICATION. This word is used in Scrip- 
 ture, not only for the sin of impurity, but for idolatry, 
 and for all kinds of infidelity to God. Adultery and 
 fornication are frequently confounded. Both the 
 Old and New Testaments condenm all impurity and 
 fornication, corporeal and spiritual ; idolatry, aposta- 
 sy, heresy, infidelity, &c. 
 
 FORTUNATUS, mentioned 1 Cor. xvi. 15, 17. 
 came from Corinth to E|)liesus, to visit Paul. We 
 have no particulars of his life or death, only that 
 Paul calls Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, the 
 first-fruits of Achaia, and set for the service of the 
 church and saints. They carried Paul's first epistle 
 to Corinth. 
 
 FOUNTAIN, a spring of water. The word is met- 
 aphorically used in Prov. v. 16. for a numerous pos- 
 terity ; and in Cant. iv. 12. the chastity of the bride 
 is denoted by a sealed fountain. "A fountain of liv- 
 ing water," or fountain of life, (Cant. iv. 15.) is a 
 source of living water, whether it S|)ring out of the 
 earth like a fountain, or rise in the bottom of a well. 
 
 FOWL ; the Hebrew qi;-, dph, which we translate
 
 FOX 
 
 [ 441 ] 
 
 FOX 
 
 fowl, from the Saxou/eon, to fly, is a word used to 
 denote birds in general. See Birds. 
 
 FOX, or Jackal. This animal is called in Scrip- 
 ture Hj'iK', probably from his burrowing, or making 
 holes in the earth, to hide himself, or to dwell in. 
 The LXX render it by uXdmr^l, the fox ; so the V^ul- 
 gate, vulpes, and our English translation, /ox. But 
 still, it is no easy matter to determine, whether the 
 animal intended be the common fox, or the jackal, the 
 little eastern fox, as Hasselquist calls him. Several 
 of the modern oriental names of the jackal, from 
 their resemblance to the Hebrew, favor the latter in- 
 terpretation ; and Dr. Shaw, and other travellers, 
 inform us, that while jackals are very numerous in 
 Palestine, the common fox is rarely to be met with. 
 
 We shall be safe, perhaps, under these circuin- 
 stances, in admitting, with Shaw and other crit- 
 ics and writers on natural history, that the Hebrew 
 Shual conprehended at least the jackal ; although 
 this animal has also his distinctive name in Hebrew, 
 viz. 'N, the jackal of the East. We shall first describe 
 this animal, and then notice those passages of Scrip- 
 ture in which he is spoken of. 
 
 The jackal, or Thaleb, as he is called in Arabia 
 and Egypt, is said to be of the size of a middling 
 dog, resembling the fox in the hinder parts, particu- 
 larly the tail ; and the wolf in the fore parts, espe- 
 cially the nose. Its legs are shorter than those of the 
 fox, and its color is of a bright yellow. There seems 
 to be many varieties among them ; those of the 
 warmest climates appear to be the largest, and 
 their color is rather of a reddish brown, than of that 
 beautiful yellow by which the smaller jackal is chief- 
 ly distinguished. 
 
 Although the species of the wolf approaches very 
 near to tliat of the dog, yet the jackal seems to be 
 placed between them ; to the savage fierceness of the 
 wolf, it adds the impudent familiarity of the dog. Its 
 cry is a howl, mixed with barking, and a lamentation 
 resembling that of human distress. It is more 
 noisy in its pursuits even than the dog, and more 
 voracious than the wolf. The jackal never goes 
 alone, but always in a pack of forty or fifty together. 
 These unite regularly every day, to form a combi- 
 nation against the rest of the forest. Nothing then 
 can escape them ; they are content to take up with 
 the smallest animals ; and yet, when thus united, they 
 have courage to face the largest. They seem very 
 little afraid of mankind, but pursue their game to the 
 very doors, testifying either attachment or appre- 
 hension. They enter insolently into the sheepfolds, 
 the yards, and the stables, and, when they can find 
 nothing else, devour the leather harness, boots, and 
 shoes, and nm off with what they have not time to 
 swallow. They not only attack the living, but the 
 dead. They scratch up with their feet the new- 
 made graves, and devour the corpse, how j)utri(l 
 soever. In those countries, therefore, where they 
 abound, they are obliged to beat the earth over the 
 grave, and to mix it with thorns, to prevent the jackals 
 from scraping it away. They always assist each 
 other as well in this employment of exhumation as in 
 that of the chase, and while at their dreary work, ex- 
 hort each other by a most mournful cry, resembling 
 that of children under chastisement; and Avhen they 
 have thus dug up the body, thay share it amicably 
 between them. Like all other savage animals, when 
 they have once tasted human flesh, they can never 
 after refrain from pursuing mankind. They watch 
 the burying grounds, follow armies, and keep in the 
 rear of rnravnns. Thev may be considered as the 
 ■ 56" 
 
 vulture of the quadruped kind ; every thing that once 
 had animal life seems equally agreeable to them ; the 
 most putrid substances are greedily devoured ; dried 
 leather, and any thing that has been rubbed with 
 grease, how insipid soever in itself, is sufiicieiu to 
 make the whole go down. Such is the character 
 which naturalists have furnished of the jackal, or 
 Egyptian fox : let us see what references are made 
 to it in Scripture. To its carnivorous habits there is 
 an allusion in Ps. Ixiii. 9, 10: "Those that seek 
 my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts 
 of the earth : they shall fall by the sword ; they shall 
 be a portion for foxes ;" and to its ravages in the 
 vineyard, Solomon refers in Cant. ii. 15: "Take us 
 the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines ; for 
 our vines have tender grapes." In Scripture, says 
 professor Paxton, the church is often compared to a 
 vineyard ; her members to the vines with which it is 
 stored ; and by consequence, the grapes may signify 
 all "the fruits of righteousness" which those mystical 
 vines produce. The foxes that spoil these vines must 
 therefore mean false teachers, who corrupt the purity 
 of doctrine, obscure the simplicity of worship, over- 
 turn the beauty of appointed order, break the unity 
 of believers, and extinguish the life and vigor of 
 Christian practice. These words of Ezekiel may be 
 understood in the same sense ; " O Jerusalem ! thy 
 prophets, (or, as the context clearly proves,) thy flat- 
 tering teachers, are as foxes in the deserts;" (cb. xiii. 
 4.) and this name they receive, because, with vu j.a e 
 subtlety, they speak lies in hypocrisy. Such tearliei"s 
 the apostle calls " wolves in sheep's clothing ;" 
 deceitful workers, who, by their cunning, subvert 
 whole houses ; and whose word, like the tooth of a 
 fox upon the vine, eats as a canker. 
 
 On one particular occasion, our Lord, speaking of 
 Herod, who had threatened to kill him, applies to 
 him metaphorically the name or character of the fox 
 or jackal : " Go, tell that fox, that crafty, cruel, insid- 
 ious, devouring creature, that jackal of a prince, who 
 has indeed expressed his enmity by his threats, as 
 jackals indicate their mischievous dispositions by 
 their barking, and who yelps in concert with other of 
 my enemies, jackal-like — go, tell him that I am safe 
 from his fury to-day and to-morrow ; and on the 
 third day I shall be completed, — completely beyond 
 his power ;" alluding, perhaps, to his resurrection on 
 the third day. There have been some doubts as to 
 the propriety of our Redeemer's speaking in such 
 terms of a civil ruler, whose subject he was, and whose 
 character he was therefore hound to respect and to 
 honor. For these scruples, however, there is no 
 groimd ; the character of Herod as a cruel, insidious 
 and crafty prince, was too notorious to be disguised 
 among any part of his subjects; and he who knew 
 his heart, as well as witnessed his conduct, could 
 speak ^vith certainty as to his dispositions and mo- 
 tives. Besides this, such metaphorical applications 
 as these are nuich more common in the East than 
 here, and would, therefore, not appear so strong to 
 our Lord's attendants as to us. This is shown by a 
 passage in Busbequius : (p. 58.) " They [the jackals, or 
 ciacals, as the Asiatics call them] go in flocks, and sel- 
 dom hurt man or beast; but get their food by craft 
 and stealth, more than by open force. Thence it is 
 ihat the Turks call subtle and crafty persons, especial- 
 ly the Asiatics, by the metaphorical name of Ciacals." 
 
 In Judges xv. 4, 5. we read, that "Samson went 
 and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, 
 and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in 
 the midst between two tails; and when he had
 
 FOX 
 
 [ 442 ] 
 
 FRO 
 
 set the brands on fire, he let them go into the stand- 
 ing corn of the Phihstiues, and burnt up botli the 
 shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vine- 
 yards and olives." This narrative has frequently 
 been made the butt of ridicule by the unbeliever in 
 divine revelation, who has asked with an air of tri- 
 umph, How could Samson catch so many foxes in 
 so short a time ? And when caught, how could he 
 make them the instruments of his revenge on tlie 
 Philistines, in the manner which the storj- rcjiresents ? 
 To this question we think several satisfactory replies 
 have been given ; but as they are still perthiaciously 
 urged, it becomes our Inisiness again to show, that 
 they possess no weigiit, as militating against the 
 claims which the history presents to our belief That 
 the species of fox, of which we are treating, is very 
 numerous in the East, we have already shown, by 
 the unimpeachable testimony of respectable travel- 
 lers ; to these we will add another, whoso impartial- 
 ity as a witness in favor of Scripture facts Avill not be 
 disputed. Volney says, "The wolf and the real Ibx 
 are very rare ; but thei'e is a prodigious quantity of 
 the middle species named Shacal, which in Syria is 
 called loanwee, from its howl ; they go in droves." 
 And again : " Jackals are concealed by hundreds in 
 the gardens, and among ruins and tombs." We ask, 
 then. Where was the difficulty for Samson to procure 
 three hundred of these animals, especially as the 
 time during which he had to provide them for his 
 purpose is not limited to a week or a month ? Be- 
 sides this, it should be recollected, that Samson at 
 this time sustained the highest office in the common- 
 wealth, and consequently could be at no loss for per- 
 sons to assist him in this singular enterprise. Having 
 secured the instruments by which he designed to 
 ruin the property of the oppressors of his country, 
 the next thing for consideration is the method by 
 which he eftected his purpose. 
 
 In considering the circumstances of this narrative, 
 there is some attention due to the nature and uses of 
 the torches, or flambeaux, or lamps, employed by 
 Samson in this procedure ; and perhaps, could we 
 identify the nature or form of these, the story might 
 be relieved from some of its uncoulhness. They 
 are called d''-ibS, lapadirn, or, ratlaer lampadim, as 
 the Chaldee and Syriac write it ; whoice the (?reek 
 lampos, and our lamp. Noav, these lamps, or burners, 
 were placed between two jackals, whose tails \vere 
 tied together, or, at least, there was a connection 
 formed between them by a cord ; this is the reading 
 of the LXX in the Complutensian. Possibly, then, 
 this cord was of a moderate length, and this biu-ner, 
 being tied in the middle of it, had something of tiie 
 effect which we have seen among ourselves, when 
 wanton malice has tied to the tail of a dog crackers, 
 squibs, &c. which, Ijeing fired, have worried the 
 poor animal to his den, where, supposing tliem still 
 to burn, they might set all aroiuid them on fire. We 
 know it is the nature of the jackal to roam about 
 dwellings and out-houses; this would lead them to 
 where the com of the Philistines was stonMl ; which 
 being ignited, would coMuiiuiiicale the conflagration' 
 in every direction. Hcsides this, the fire giving them 
 pain, they would natin-ally right each one his associ- 
 ate to which he was tied. This would keep them 
 among tiie corn longer than usual ; and few pairs 
 thus coupled would agree to return to the same den 
 as they had formerly occupied in the mountains ; so 
 that nothing coidd jie better adapted to ])r()duc'e a 
 general conflagration, than this expedient of comljiis- 
 tion — comtnunicating jackals. \Ve must therefore 
 
 siippose,^rs<, that these burners were at some dis- 
 tance from the animals, so as not to burn them. 
 Secondly, that they were of a nature to hold fire long, 
 without being consumed. Thirdly, that they were 
 either dim, in the manner of their burning, and their 
 fight ; or, perhaps, were not to be alarmingly distin- 
 guished by their illumination. They might burn dead, 
 as we say ; so that their effect might be produced 
 too late to prevent the mischief which attended them. 
 
 FRANKINCENSE, see Incense. 
 
 FRIEND is taken in Scripture for a neighbor in 
 general. Lev. xix. 18 ; Deut. xix. 4, 5 ; xxiii. 24, 25. 
 Saints are called friends of God ; but this title was 
 given eminently to Abraham ; (Gen. xxvi. 24.) the 
 Mahometans generally call him by this name ; and 
 they call Hebron, where they believe his tomb to be, 
 tlie city of the friend of God. The friend of the 
 bridegroom, is the brideman ; who does the honor.s 
 of the Avedding. 
 
 It is much to Ije regretted, thet our language has 
 not a more appropriate word than friend, by which 
 to render the Greek traii^o: .- which by no means 
 signifies friend in the sense of r; /".o?. This is desi- 
 rable in the pai-ablc of the laborers in the vineyard ; 
 (Matt. XX. 13; also chap. xxii. 12.) but it is absolute- 
 ly necessary in reference to the appellation given by 
 our Lord to the traitor Judas, (xxvi. 50.) v.ho cer- 
 tainly was not the friend of Jesus when he betrayed 
 him. The original word seems here to mean corn- 
 panion ; or, as our workmen call their fellow-work- 
 men, mate; as, "shop-mate," — a fellow-workman in 
 a shop; and "ship-mate," which merely means one 
 who sails in the same ship; but is far enough from 
 implying one to whom properly belongs the appella- 
 tion of friend ; or one for whom the smallest degree 
 of friendship is entertained ; for, in fact, a shii)-niate 
 may be an enemy. 
 
 J'ROG, a sniall and well known amphibious ani- 
 mal. Frogs were unclean ; Moses, indeed, does not 
 name them, but he includes them by saying. Ye shall 
 not eat of any thing that moves in the waters, unless 
 it have fins or scales. Lev. xi. 9. John (Rev. xvi. 
 13.) says, he saw three unclean sjjirits issuing out of 
 the false prophet's mouth like frogs; and Moses 
 brought on E^yjjt a plague of frogs, Exod. viii. 5, &c. 
 
 FRONTLETS are thus described by Leo of ]Mo- 
 dena: The Jews take four pieces of parchment, and 
 write with an ink n^.ade on purpose, and in square 
 letters, these four passages, one on each piece, (1.) 
 " Sanctify unto me all the lirst-born," &:c. Exod. 
 xiii. to the 10th verse. (2.) From verse 11 to 16: 
 " And when the Lord shall liring thee into the land 
 of the Canaanites," &c. (3.) Deut. vi. 4. "Hear, O 
 Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord," to verse 9. 
 (4.) Deut. xi. 13. "If you shall hearken diligently 
 unto my commandments," to verse 21. This they 
 do in obedience to the words of Moses : " These 
 commandnients sl)all be for a sign unto thee upon 
 thine hand, and for a memorial betwecMi thine eyes." 
 These four pieces are fiist- 
 
 ened together, and a square 
 fbriried of them, on which 
 the letter r is written ; then 
 a little square of !inrd calf's 
 skin is put at tite top, out 
 of which come two leath- 
 ern strings an inch wide, 
 and a ciU)it and a half, or 
 thereabouts, in length. 
 This square is put on the 
 middle of the -forehead, 

 
 FUL 
 
 [ 443 
 
 FLLFIL 
 
 and the strings, being girt about the head, make a 
 knot in the form of the letter t ; they are then 
 brought before, and fall on the breast. It is called 
 Teffila-schd-Rosch, the Tephila of the head. The 
 most devout Jews put it on both at morning and 
 noon-day prayer ; but the generality wear it only at 
 morning praj'er. Only the chanter of the synagogue 
 is obliged to put it on at noon, as well as mornuig. 
 
 It has been much disputed whether the use of 
 frontlets and phylacteries was literally ordained by 
 Moses. Tiiose who beheve their use to be binding, 
 observe, that the text speaks as positively of this as 
 of other precepts. Moses requires the comniand- 
 Mients of God to be Avritten on the doors of houses, 
 as a sign on their hands, and as an ornament on their 
 foreheads, Exod. xiii. 16. If there be any obligation 
 to write these connnandments on their doors, as the 
 ■text intimates, then it is said, there is the same for 
 writing them on their hands and foreheads. The 
 use of fyontlets was common in our Saviour's time, 
 not only in Judea, but also among the Indian Jews, 
 the Persians, and Babylonians. Indeed, long before- 
 that time, the doctors, whom the high-priest Eleazar 
 sent to Ptoleniy Philadelphus, king of Egj'pt, spoke 
 of the phylacteries, and referred the oriein of them 
 to Moses. 
 
 Others, on the contrary, maintain, that these pre- 
 cepts should be taken figuratively and allegorically ; 
 meaning, that the Hebrews should carefully preserve 
 the remembrance of God's law, and observe his 
 commands ; that they should always have them in 
 their " jnind's eye." Before the Babylonish captivi- 
 ty, no traces of them appear in the histoiy of the 
 Jews ; the prophets never inveigh against the 
 neglect of them ; nor was there any question con- 
 cerning them in the reformation of manners at any 
 time among the Hebrews. The almost general cus- 
 tom in the East of wearing phylacteries and front- 
 lets, determines nothing for the obligation or useful- 
 ness of the practice. Christ did not absolutely 
 condenm them ; but he condemned the abuse of 
 them in the Pharisees, their wearing them with 
 affectation, and larger than other Jews. The Caraite 
 Jews, who adhere to the letter of the law, and de- 
 spise traditions, call the rabbinical Jews "bridled 
 asses," because they wear these tepliiliin and front- 
 lets. See also Mezuzoth, and Phylacteries. 
 
 FRUIT. By this word is sometimes meant re- 
 ward, Prov. i. 31 : they shall receive the reward of 
 their bad conduct. "The fruit of the body," signi- 
 fies children, Ps. cxxxii. 12. " The fruit of the 
 lips," the punishment or reward of wortis, bad or 
 good, Isa. x. 12. "llncircumcised fruit," or impm-e 
 fruit, (Lev. xix. 23.) is the fi-uit of a tree newly plant- 
 ed, during the first three years. In the fourth year 
 it was offered to the Lord ; after which it was in 
 general use. 
 
 " The fruits of the Spirit," mentioned by Paul, are 
 love, joy, peace. Gal. v. 22. "The fruits of right- 
 eousness," mentioned by the same apostle, are sown 
 in peace, Phil. i. 11. Irregidar j)assions and carnal 
 dispositions produce the fruits of death : they are 
 mortal to the soul, James iii. 18 ; Rom. vii. 5. 
 
 FULFIL. This is one of the most difficult words 
 in the Bible, to treat within a narrow compass ; for 
 as it refers to something foretold, and there are many 
 modes of foretelling, as well as different degrees of 
 clearness, with which future events may be foretold, 
 we nauu-ally expect as many corresponding modes of 
 fulfilment as there are varieties in such predictions. 
 For instance, Ahijah the prophet foretold to the wife 
 
 of Jeroboam, that as soon as she got home, her child 
 should die ; this prediction received an instant and 
 direct fulfilment in the death of her child, 1 Kings 
 xiv. 17. Joshua foretold, that whoever would under- 
 take to rebuild Jericho, should begin it with the loss of 
 his first-born son, and finish it m ith the death of his 
 youngest ; this was not fulfilled for 500 years, and 
 we are uncertain whether it included the death of 
 the intermediate children ; but lliel of Bethel expe- 
 rienced its fulfilment. See Abiel. 
 
 Sometimes prophecy has a direct and sole refer- 
 ence to a certain fact to come to pass hereafter, at a 
 distant period ; but sometimes it refers (doubly) as 
 well to a fact which is appointed to take place at no 
 very distant period, as to another fact of which the 
 first is only a sign or earnest. (See Hezekiah.) So 
 that when the first fact has actually happened, the 
 prediction may be said in one respect to be fulfilled : 
 while in another respect it may be said to continue 
 unfulfilled ; because its complete and final accom- 
 plishment is not yet arrived. Many prophecies seem 
 to be in tliis state at present : they have been partly 
 fulfilled in past evcjits, and they are fulfilling now 
 progressively ; but their final and complete accom- 
 plishment is to be looked for hereafter. The Jewish 
 nation is a striking instance in proof of this obser- 
 vation. 
 
 Sometimes a remarkable phraseology, which has a 
 dii-ect reference only to one specific event, is said to 
 be fulfilled in another event : that is, the phrase may 
 be M ell applied to, may be remarkably illustrated by, 
 or may, indeed, in a loose and distant acceptation, be 
 refeiTed to the latter event ; which appears as another 
 and further fulfilment, though, strictly speaking, the 
 first fulfilment was enough to satisfy (and actually 
 did satisfy) the prophecy. The slaughter of the in- 
 fants at Bethlehem may be taken as an instance of 
 this nature ; for certainly the j)rophet Jeremiah 
 (xxxi. 15.) employed the phrase ol" "Rachel weeping 
 for her children, and refusing to be comforted," in 
 reference to an event much nearer to himself than 
 that to which the evangelist Mattliew applies it ; 
 though the latter event was a remarkable coinci- 
 dence, and the expression might readily be accom- 
 modated to it. 
 
 Sometimes a phrase which originally meant to 
 describe a particular man, or class of men, is said to 
 be fulfilled by a class of men distinct, and distant, 
 from those of whom it was first spoken ; because 
 the resemblance is so close, and their characters so 
 similar, that what was predicted of one, may very 
 aptly and expressively be applied to the other. So, 
 when the prophets complain of the perverseness of 
 the Jews in their days, the same kind of perverse- 
 ness in the days of the Messiah may naturally be 
 described by the same kind of language ; the import 
 of which is revived, or more powerfully fulfilled, in 
 the later application of it, though to a very distant 
 generation. 
 
 Proverbial expressions, which do not refer to any 
 specific occurrence, or fact, are said to be fulfilled 
 when an event hapj)ens — not which may be applied 
 or referred to them — but to which they may be ap- 
 plied or rcfeired as very similar and descriptive. 
 
 All these, and many other modes of fulfilment, are 
 expressed in Scripture ; and it requires attention to 
 distinguish whether a stricter or a looser sense is to 
 be put on the world fulfil. We ought also to re- 
 mark, that some things are said to be done, "that it 
 might be fulfilled ;" but in general, persons who were 
 absolutely engaged in fulfilhng prophecy, had no
 
 FUR 
 
 [ 444 ] 
 
 FUR 
 
 suspicion that their actions were in any degree pre- 
 dicted ; nor did they perceive the relation of them 
 to the pi-ophecy, or tlie prophecy to tliem, till after 
 the events which accomplished the prediction were 
 over. Still, it would seem, that our Lord did pur- 
 posely, and with design to fulfil former predictions, 
 use certain expressions, and perform certain actions. 
 So he rode on an ass, " that it might be fulfilled" 
 which was spoken by the prophet ; and Jesus him- 
 self knew that he was fulfilling this prophecy, but 
 his disciples did not know it ; they did not recollect 
 that Scripture contained any such passage ; still less, 
 that it thus described any part of the Messiah's char- 
 acter or conduct. This appears very remarkably in 
 John xix. 28. "After this, Jesus, knowing that all 
 things were now accomplished, that the Scripture 
 might be fulfilled, said, I thirst." 
 
 Time is said to be fulfilled, or filled up, in various 
 places of Scripture. Disposition of mind is said to 
 be fulfilled, Deut. i. 36 ; 1 Kings xi. 6. The coun- 
 sels of God are said to be fulfilled ; the law and the 
 prophets, &c. but these phrases require no ex- 
 planation. 
 
 FULLER'S FIELD, FULLER'S FOUNTAIN, 
 see RosEL, and Siloam. 
 
 FULLER'S SOAP, see Soap. 
 
 FULNESS, a word which is used to signify very 
 diflferent things ; but it usually denotes perfection, 
 completion, consummation. 
 
 FUNERALS, see Burial, and Dead. 
 
 FURNACE, a large fire used for melting and re- 
 fining metals, &c. but metaphorically taken for a 
 state of affiictiou. Thus, Egypt is called an " iron 
 furnace," with reference to Israel, Deut. iv. 20 ; Jer. 
 xi. 4- For some remarks on the i7iiraculous preser- 
 
 vation of the Hebrew youths in the fiery furnace, 
 see Fire. 
 
 FURROWS, openings in the ground, made by a 
 plough, or other instrument. The sacred writers 
 sometimes borrow similitudes from the furrows of 
 the field. Job xxxi. 38. " If my land cry against me, or 
 the furrows thereof complain ;" if I have employed 
 the poor to till my ground, without paying them for 
 their labor. "Thou waterest the ridges abundantly," 
 (Psal. Ixv. 10.) "thou settlest the furrows thereof ;" 
 Heb. thou brakest the clods of it, Eccles. vii. 3, says, 
 figuratively, " Sow not upon the furrows of unright- 
 eousness," for if thou sowest iniquity, thou shalt reap 
 all sorts of evils and misfortunes. See Gal. iv. 7; 
 Hosea x. 4. "Judgment springeth up as hemlock in 
 the furrows of the field." Judgment and wrath will 
 produce bitterness in thy fields (Vulgate.) Here is a 
 double metaphor, judgment, that is, the vengeance of 
 God ; it springs, it produces bitterness, bitter herbs, 
 as it were a ploughed field, ready to receive seed. 
 And verse 11, 12, 1 will make Judah plough, and 
 Jacob shall break the clods, and form the lurrows. 
 The ten tribes and Judah shall, one after the other, 
 endure the effects of my anger. But the prophet 
 adds, immediately, " Sow in righteousness, and reap 
 in mercy." 
 
 FURY is attributed to God metaphorically, or 
 speaking after the manner of men ; that is, God's 
 providential actions are such as would be performed 
 by a man in a state of anger. So that when he is 
 said to pour out his fury on a person, or on a people, 
 it is a figurative expression for dispensing afflictive 
 providences ; but we must be very careful not to at- 
 tribute human infirmities, passions, or malevolence 
 to the Deity. 
 
 G 
 
 GAB 
 
 GAAL, son of Ebed, having entered Shechem, to 
 assist it against Abimclech, the people amidst their 
 entertainments cursed the invader. Gaal advanced 
 to engage him, but was defeated, Judg. ix. 2G, A. 
 M. 2771. 
 
 I. GAASH, a mountain of Ephraim, north of 
 which stood Tiiiuiath-Serah, celebrated for Joshua's 
 tomb, (Josh. xxiv. 30.) which, Eusebius says, was 
 known in liis time. 
 
 II. GAASH, a In-ook or valley, (2 Sam. xxiii. 30.) 
 proljably at the foot of mount Gaash. 
 
 GAB A, a city at the foot of momit Carmel, be- 
 tween Ptolemais and Cesarea. Josej)hussays, it was 
 called the city of horsemen, because Herod gave it 
 to his veteran caValrJ^ Relaud is of opinion, that it 
 is the same as Caipha, or Ileplia ; but Eusebius 
 places a little town called Gaba, or Gabe, sixteen 
 miles from Cesarea in Palestine, on the side of the 
 great plain. It is mentioned only by Josephus, iii.2. 
 In Josii. xviii. 24, a Gaba is mentioned, which is 
 elsewhere called Gkba, which see. 
 
 GA BALA, see Gebal. 
 
 GABATHA, a town in the south of Judah, twelve 
 miles from EleutheropoJis, where the prophet Ha- 
 bakkuk's sepulchre was shown. 
 
 GABBATHA, /iig-^, or elevated. In Greek, X,9o- 
 arqroroi, paved tvith stones. This was the Hebrew 
 name of a place in Pilate's palace, (John xix. 13.) 
 
 GAB 
 
 from whence he pronounced sentence against our 
 Saviour. It was probably an eminence, or terrace, 
 paved with stone or marble, and of considerable 
 height. [It was properly a tesselated marble pave- 
 ment, or a pavement of mosaic work. From the 
 time of Sylla, ornamented pavements of this sort be- 
 came common among the wealthy Romans ; and 
 when they went abroad on military expeditions or to 
 administer the government of a province, they car- 
 ried with them pieces of marble ready fitted, which, 
 as often as an encamjiment was formed or a court of 
 justice opened, wen; regularly si)read around the 
 elevated tribiuial on which the commander or pre- 
 siding officer was to sit. Julius Ctesar followed this 
 custom in his expeditions. (See Sueton. Cses. 46. 
 Plin. II. N. XXXV. 25.) The word J'u;iuSh there- 
 fore refers to a raised tribunal of this sort. Others, 
 considering the origin of the word and the fact that 
 Josephus, in describing the exterior of the temple, 
 speaks of a pavement of this sort, (B. J. V. 5. 2,) 
 suppose that a particular i)art of Jerusalem is intend- 
 ed, pertaining, it would seem, to that part of the tem- 
 ple which was called the court of the Gentiles. 
 (Winer Bibl. Realw. p. 414.) R. 
 
 GABINIUS, (Aulus,) one of Pompey's generals, 
 who was sent into Judea against Alexander and An- 
 tigonus. (See Alexander, and Antigonus III.) 
 He restored Hircanus at Jerusalem, confirmed him
 
 GAD 
 
 [ 445 
 
 GAI 
 
 in the hign-priesthood, and settled governors and 
 judges in the provinces, so that Judea, from a mon 
 archy, became an aristocracy. He established courts 
 of justice at Jerusalem, Gadara, (or at Dora,) Ama- 
 tha, Jericho, and Sephoris ; that the people, finding 
 judges in all parts of the country, might not be 
 obliged to go far from their habitations. Some learn- 
 ed men are of opinion, that the establishment of the 
 Sanhedrim owed its origin to Gabinius. On return- 
 ing to Rome, Gabinius was prosecuted by the Syri- 
 ans, and exiled, ante A. D. 55. He was recalled by 
 Julius Csesar, and returned to Syria as triumvir, 
 about ante A. D. 41. He showed great friendship to 
 Phasael and Herod, and fell in the civil war. (Joseph. 
 Ant. xiv. 6—10 ; Bel. Jud. i. 6.) 
 
 GABRIEL, a principal angel. He was sent to the 
 prophet Daniel to explain his visions ; also to Zacha- 
 rias, to announce to him the future birth of John the 
 Baptist, Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21 ; x. 16; Luke i. 11, et 
 seq. Six months afterwards, he was sent to Naza- 
 reth, to the Virgin Mary, Luke i. 26, &c. (See An- 
 nunciation.) Probably, also, Gabriel was the angel 
 which appeared to Josej)h, when thinking to dismiss 
 the Virgin jMary ; also, on another occasion, enjoin- 
 ing him to retire to Egypt ; and, after the decease oi" 
 Herod, directed him to return into Judea. The 
 Cabalists say, Gabriel was master or preceptor to the 
 patriarch Joseph. 
 
 I. GAD, {prosperity, fortune,) son of Jacob and 
 Zilpah, Leah's servant. Gen, xxx. 9, 10, 11. Leah 
 called him Gad, saying, " Good fortune cometh !" 
 The Engl, translation reads a troop. Gad had seven 
 sons, Ziphion, Haggai, Shimi, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and 
 Areli, Gen. xlvi. 16. Jacob, blessing Gad, said, "A 
 troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at 
 the last," Gen. xlix. 19. Moses, in his last song, men- 
 tions Gad, " as a lion which teareth the arm with the 
 crown of the head," <Scc. Deut. xxxiii. 
 
 The tribe of Gad came out of Egypt, in number 
 45,650. After the defeat of the kings Ogand Sihon, 
 Gad and Reuben desired to have their allotment east 
 of Jordan, alleging their great number of cattle. 
 Moses granted their request, on condition that they 
 should accompany their brethren, and assist in con- 
 quering the land west of Jordan. Gad had his in- 
 heritance between Reuben south, and IManasseh 
 north, w ith the mountains of Gilead east, and Jordan 
 west. See Canaan. 
 
 n. GAD, David's friend, Mho followed him when 
 persecuted by Saul. Scripture styles him a prophet, 
 and- David's seer, 2 Sam. xxiv. 11. The first time 
 we find him with this prince, is, when in the land of 
 Moab, to secure his father and mother, (1 Sam. xxii. 
 5.) in the first year of his flight, and of Saul's perse- 
 cution., The prophet Gad warned him to return into 
 the land of Judah. After David had determined to 
 number his people, the Lord sent the ])rophet Gad to 
 him, who gave him his choice of three scourges : 
 seven years' famine, or three months' flight before 
 his enemies, or three days' pestilence. Gad advised 
 David to erect an altar to the Lord, in the thrashing- 
 floor of Oman, or Araunah, the Jeliusite. He wrote 
 a history of David's life, which is cited 1 Chron. 
 xxix. 29. 
 
 HI. GAD, a heathen deity, mentioned in several 
 passages of Scripture. He is apparently the same as 
 Baal, i. e. the planet Jupiter, the star of good fortune. 
 (See Baal.) We find a place in Canaan, called the 
 Migdal-Gad, Josh. xv. 37, and another in the valley of 
 Lebanon, called Baal-Gad, Josh. xi. 1 7. In Isaiah "ixv. 
 11, those who prepare the table for Gad are allotted to 
 
 the sword ; and those who furnish a drink-oflfenng 
 to Meni, to the slaughter. Perhaps these were ser- 
 vices to the powers of heaven, to conjure them to be 
 fevorable to the productions of the earth, &c, ; 
 therefore the subsequent threatening is famine. We 
 have, in various parts of England, the ceremonies of 
 the wassail bowl ; of going round the orchards, sing- 
 ing and sprinkling the trees on twelfth night ; wish- 
 ing them fertility, &c. Is this a relic of the services 
 prepared for Gad and Meni ? or may it, by resem- 
 blance, ser\e to illustrate them ? It seems' to be a 
 rite derived from deep antiquity ; as are many 
 others of which traces remain. See Baal, ad Jin. 
 and Meni. 
 
 Although the deity hitherto commemorated under 
 the nameof Gad, is masculine, we have a female di- 
 vinity, also, of this name in Hazar-Gaddah ; (Josh. 
 XV. 27.) and as Fortune is most commonly female, in 
 such statues and figures of her as remain, Ave need 
 not doubt but the Canaanites adored her under 
 this sex. 
 
 GADARA, surrounded, walled, a city east of the 
 Jordan, in the De- 
 capolis. Josephus 
 calls it the capital 
 of Persea ; and Pli- 
 ny (lib. V. cap. 16.) 
 places it on the riv- 
 er Hieromax, (Jar- 
 much,) about five 
 miles from its junc- 
 tion with the Jor- 
 dan. It gave name 
 to a district which 
 extended, probablj', 
 from the region of 
 Scythopolis to the 
 borders of Tiberias. Pompey repaired Gadara, in 
 consideration of Demetrius his freedman, a native 
 of it; and Gabinius settled there one of the five 
 courts of justice for Judea. Polybius says, that An- 
 tiochus the Great besieged this city, which was 
 thought to be one of the strongest places in the coun- 
 try, and that it surrendered to him on composition. 
 Epiphanius speaks of its hot baths. 
 
 The evangelists Mark (v. 1.) and Luke (viii. 26. 
 Gr.) say that our Saviour, having j)assed the sea of 
 Tiberias, came into the district of the Gadarenes. 
 Matthew (viii. 28.) calls it Gcrgasenes ; but as the 
 lands belonging to one of these cities were included 
 within the limits of the other, one evangelist might 
 say, the coimtry of the Gergasenes, another the 
 country of the Gadarenes ; either being equally 
 correct. 
 
 Mr. Baiikcs thinks that the place called Oom-kais, 
 where are sIioaaii numerous caverns and extensive 
 ruins, marks the site of Gadara ; but INIr. Bucking- 
 ham speaks of Oom-kais as Gamala. If Gadara be 
 properly understood as denoting a fenced protection, 
 the name might, witli great propriety, be common in 
 many jiarts ; and such retreats would be no less ne- 
 cessary at the northern extremities of the country, 
 than at the southern. See Geder. 
 
 GADDI, son of Susi, of Manassch, sent by Moses 
 to explore the land. Numb. xiii. 11. 
 
 GADDIEL, son of Sodi, of Zebulun, one of the 
 spies. Numb. xiii. 10. 
 
 I. GAIFS, the Greek form of the Latin name 
 Caius. He was Paul's disciple, (Acts xix. 29.) and 
 was probably a Macedonian, but settled at Corinth, 
 where he ciUertaincd Paul during his abode there,
 
 GAL 
 
 [ 446 J 
 
 GAL 
 
 Rom. xvi. 23. When the apostle went into Asia, 
 Gains and Aristarciuis accompanied him to Ephe- 
 sus, where they abode some time with him ; so that 
 in th"! sedition raised tliere about the great Diana, 
 the Ephesians ran to the lioiise of Gains and Aris- 
 tarchus, and dragged them to the tlieatre. 
 
 n. GAIUS, the person to wliom the apostle John 
 directed his third epistle, was, in the opinion of sev- 
 eral commentatoi-s, the same as we have just noticed ; 
 but othei-s think he is mentioned in Acts xx. 4, as 
 being of Derbe, in Lycaonia ; and consequently not 
 the Macedonian. The fact is, that the name was so 
 common in antiquity, that there is great difficulty in 
 fixing on any one as the person to whom John wrote. 
 He miglit be neither of those known to us in the 
 New Testament ; if we might be guided !)y his char- 
 acter, he is certainly the Gains of Corinth ; for Paul 
 describes him, not only as being his host, but also, 
 that of the whole chm-ch ; — not of the Corinthian 
 chin-ch, which could not need a host; but of the 
 whole Christian church, whether Jews or Gentiles 
 by nation ; whether in opinion followers of Peter or 
 of Paul. Such was his Christian benevolence, and 
 unrestricted hospitality. Now, this is the very vir- 
 tue for which the Gains to whom John wrote is 
 highly praised by the ajjostle, who could not have 
 described the host of the whole church in ternis 
 jnore appropriate than he uses of Gains. It would 
 also appear, that the Gains of Corinth was known at 
 Ephesus, he having been with Paul, and in gj-eat 
 personal danger ; and John, writing from Ephesus in 
 favor of certain travelling Christian brethren, might 
 probably take this opportunity of commending Gaius. 
 
 GALATLA, a province in Asia Minor, having Pon- 
 tus on the east, Bithynia and Paphlagonia north, 
 Cappadocia and Phrygia south, and Phrygia west. 
 The Gauls, having invaded Asia Minor, "in several 
 bodies, conquered this country, settled in it, and 
 called it Galatia, which, in Greek, signifies Gaul. 
 
 The apostle Paul preached several times in Gala- 
 tia ; first, A. D. 51, (Acts xvi. G.) afterwards, A. D. 54, 
 (Acts xviii. 2.3.) and formed considerable churches 
 there. It is probable he was the first who jn-eached 
 there to the Gentiles; but, possibly, Peter had preached 
 there to the Jews, since his first epistle is directed to 
 Hebrews, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, &c. 
 These Jews were jirobably the persons who occa- 
 sioned those differences in the Gaiatian church, on 
 account of wjjich Paul wrote his epistle, in which he 
 takes some pains to establish his character of apostle, 
 which liad been disjjuted, with intention to place him 
 belnw Petci-, who preached generally to Jews only, 
 and who observed the law. 
 
 In 2 Mac. viii. 20, it is said, that Judas Maccabosus, 
 exhorting his jjpople to fight valiantly against the 
 Syrians, related to them several instances of God's 
 protection ; among others, that which they had ex- 
 perienced in a !)attle fought in Babylonia, v/herein 
 6000 Jews killed 120,000 Galatians. We have no 
 particulars of the time or circiunstances of this de- 
 feat ; but it is probable, that the Galatians, settled in 
 Galatia, were not meant, but the Gauls, who at that 
 time overran Asia, as we have observed from Pausa- 
 nias : the Greek Galatai being taken equally for cither. 
 
 The Galatians v.-orsiii])pc(! the niotlicr of the gods. 
 Callimachus, in his hymns, calls them "a foolish 
 people;" and Hilary, himspjf a Gaul, as well as Je- 
 rome, describes them as Gnllo.'} indociles ; exjjressions 
 which may well excuse Paul's adflressing them as 
 "foolish," chap. iii. It was probably an appellation 
 given to tlieiri, current in their neighborhood. 
 
 The possessors of Galatia were of three different 
 nations, or tribes of Gauls: the Tolistobogi, the 
 Trocmi, and the Tectosagi. There are imperial 
 medals extant, on which these names are found. (See 
 Rosenmiiller Bib. Geogr. I. ii. 210, seq.) 
 
 It is of some consequence to maintain these dis- 
 tinctions. We have supposed that while Peter was 
 preaching in one part of Galatia, the aj)ostle Paul was 
 making converts in another part ; and that some, 
 claiming authority from Peter, propagated tenets not 
 conformable to the opinion of Paul ; to correct and 
 expose which was the occasion of Paul's epistle. It 
 is probable, that the different nations of Gauls fur- 
 nished partisans, whose overweening zeal far ex- 
 ceeded the doctrines of their instructers. Such has 
 ever been the character of the Gauls. Hence, while 
 they were at one time ready to pluck out their eyes, 
 if it might benefit their evangelical teacher, they 
 quickly relinquished his principles, and were as 
 readily brought to adopt another gospel, which in- 
 deed was not a gospel, but a continuation of unne- 
 cessary observances, to which they had already paid 
 too much attention. 
 
 Epistle to the Galatians. Some sup])ose that 
 this epistle is the first that was written by Paul. Its 
 early date was asserted by Marcion, in the second 
 century ; and Tertidlian represents the writer as a 
 "Neophytos," full of zeal, and not yet l)rought to be- 
 come a "Jew to the Jews, that he might gain the 
 Jews." Without adopting this sentiment, we may 
 conclude that Paul's first visit to the Galatians was 
 not long after his return to Antioch from the council 
 at Jerusalem, (Acts xvi.) when he and Silas went 
 through Phrygia and Galatia, &c. Calmet has fixed 
 this journey to A. D. 51, but Michaelis argues for 
 A. D. 49, and it would seem that this letter was writ- 
 ten very soon after the departure of the apostle from 
 his converts on this journey ; for he expresses his 
 wonder that they were so soon alienated from him, 
 tlieir spiritual father, chaj). i. 6. The apostle writes 
 this epistle in his own name, and in the names of the 
 brethren who were with him ; and who were, in all 
 l)robability, pei'sonally known to the Galatians, Acts 
 XV. 40; xvi. 2. This leads us to think, that it was 
 written before he went into Macedonia ; probably 
 from Troas, where the apostle made some stay, (Acts 
 xvi. 8.) and where he had books and parchments, 
 which he conmiitted to the care of Carpus. Others, 
 however, have supposed it to have been written at 
 Corinth, (Acts xviii.) about A. D. 51 or 52 ; or, at 
 Ephesus ; (Acts xviii. 23, 24.) — or, at the same time 
 with the e])istle to the Romans ; (Acts xx. 2, 4.) — or, 
 at Rome, which is most improbable: as the writer 
 mentions nothing of his bonds, as he does in all his 
 epistles written from hence ; nor could he, at that 
 time, have reproached the Galatians with being so 
 soon perverted from his principles. Sec more under 
 Paul. 
 
 GALBANUM, a gum, or sweet spice, and an in- 
 gredient in the incense binned at the golden altar, in 
 tlic holy place, Exod. xxx. 34. It is a juice, drawn 
 by incision from a ))lant, niuch like the large kind of 
 fennel. The smell is not very agreeable, esjjecially 
 alone. The word signifies— ^/rr/, unctuous, gummy. 
 [It is the gum of a plant growing in Abyssinia, Ara- 
 bia, and Syria, called by Pliny Slagonitis, (xii, 25.) 
 but supposed to i)e the same as the Buhon Galbanum 
 of Linna?us. The gum is unctuous and adhesive, of 
 a strong and somewhat astringent smell. R. 
 
 GALILEE, one of the most extensive provinces 
 into which the Holy Land was divided ; but it prob-
 
 GAL 
 
 [ 447 
 
 GAT 
 
 ably varied in its limits at different periods. It is 
 divided by the rabbins into (1.) The Upper ; (2.) The 
 Nether ; and, (3.) The Valley. Josephus limits Gal- 
 ilee west, by the city of Ptolemais and mount Carmel ; 
 on the south by the country of Samaria and Scytho- 
 polis ; on the east by the cantons of Hippos, Gadara, 
 and Gaulan ; on the north by the confines of the 
 Tyrians. Lower Galilee reaches in length from 
 Tiberias to Chabulon, or Zabulon, the frontier of 
 Ptolemais ; in width from Chaloth, in the great plain, 
 to Bersabec. The l;readth of Upper Galilee begins 
 at Bersabee, and extends to Baca, which separates it 
 from the Tyrians. Its length reaches from Telia, a 
 village on the river Jordan, to Meroth. But the ex- 
 act situation of these places is not known. 
 
 This province contained four tribes ; Issachar, 
 Zebulun, Naphtali, and Ashcr; a part also of Dan ; 
 and part of Perea, beyond the river. U[)per Galilee 
 abounded in mountains, and was termed " Galilee of 
 the Gentiles," as the mountainous nature of the 
 country enabled those who possessed the fastnesses 
 to maintain themselves against invaders. Strabo 
 (lib. xvi.) enumerates among its inhabitants Egyp- 
 tians, Arabians, and Phoenicians. Lower Galilee, 
 which contained the tribes of Zebulun and Aslier, 
 was sometimes called the Great Field, "the cham- 
 paign," Deut. xi. 30. The valley was adjacent to the 
 sea of Tiberias. Josephus describes Galilee as being 
 very j)opulous, containing two hundred and four 
 cities and towns, the least of which contained 15,000 
 inhabitants. It was also very rich, and paid two 
 lumdred talents in tribute. The natives were brave, 
 and made good soldiers ; they were also seditious, 
 and prone to insolence and rebellion. Their lan- 
 guage and customs differed considerably from those 
 of the Jiideaiis, Mark xiv. 70. 
 
 Josephus states that the Galileans were naturally 
 good soldiers, l>old and intrepid ; that they bravely 
 resisted the foreign nations around them ; that their 
 country was fruitful, and well cultivated ; and the 
 people laborious and industrious. The Galileans, 
 according to Josephus, agreed in all things with the 
 Pharisees ; but were distinguished by an excessive 
 love of liberty ; being strongly prejudiced with the 
 idea, that they ought to obey God alone as their 
 prince. Perhaps there was some reference to this, 
 in representing Jesus as a Galilean to Pilate, Luke 
 xxiii. 2. His accusers, to render him suspected of 
 this heresy, say, they found him perverting the na- 
 tion, and forbidding to give tribute to Ca?sar. 
 
 Om- Saviour was surnamed Galilean, (Matt. xxvi. 
 69.) because he was brought up at Nazareth, a city of 
 this province ; and it deserves notice, that he was so 
 addressed by liis bitter adversary the dying Julian : — 
 " Thou Itast conquered, O Galilean !" His disciples, 
 and Christians in general, were called Galileans after 
 their master, or because several of his apostles be- 
 longed to that province, Acts ii. 7. 
 
 Sea of Galilee. See Cinmereth, and Tiberias. 
 
 GALL. 3Ioses, in the name of God, threatens the 
 Israelites to make their grapes — " grapes of gall, and 
 their wine the poison of dragons," (Deut. xxxii. 32, 
 33.) i. c. to change the sweetness of their grapes into 
 bitterness, and their wine into poison ; v/liicli, instead 
 of cheering and nourishing, would intoxicate and 
 destroy them. In the story of Tobit, the gall of a 
 fish is used in curing his father's eyes, Tobit vi. 8 ; 
 xi. 8, 13. In Jeremiah viii. 11 ; ix. 15, to give water 
 of gall to drink, denotes very bitter affliction. Lam. 
 iii. 19. The Psalmist (Ixix. 21.) says, that his ene- 
 mies, or rather the enemies of the Messiah, offered 
 
 him gall to eat, and vinegar to drink. (See Myrrm, 
 and Wi^E.) " The gall of bitterness," (Acts viii. 23.) 
 signifies the most excessively bitter gall ; the most 
 desperate disposition of mind; the most incurable 
 malignity, as difiicult to be corrected as to change 
 gall into sweetness. 
 
 GALLIM, a city of Benjamin, having many foun- 
 tains, 1 Sam. XXV. 44 ; Isa. x. 30. 
 
 GALLIC, brother of Seneca the philosopher, and 
 proconsul of Achaia, A. D. 53. Like his brother 
 Seneca, he was put to death by order of Nero. 
 (Tacit. Ann. vi. 3 ; xv. 73.) The Jews being enraged 
 against Paul, for converting many Gentiles, dragged 
 him to Gallio's tribunal, who, as proconsul, generally 
 resided at Corinth, (Acts xviii. 12, 13.) and accused 
 him of "teaching men to worship God contrary to 
 the law." Paul being about to speak, Gallio told the 
 Jews, that "if the matter in question were a breach 
 of justice, or an action of a criminal nature, he should 
 think himself obliged to hear them ; but as the dis- 
 pute was only concerning their law, he would not 
 determine such differences." Sosthenes, the chief 
 ruler of the synagogue, was seized and beaten, before 
 Gallio's seat of justice, without his concerning himself 
 about it. 
 
 GAMAL A, a considerable town beyond Jordan, in 
 the Gaulanitis ; called Gamala, because its appear- 
 ance somewhat resembled the form of a camel. It is 
 not mentioned in Scripture. It is placed by Jose- 
 phus over against Tarichea, but on the opposite side 
 of the lake. Gamala was part of Agi'ippa's kingdom ; 
 but the inhabitants refusing to submit to him, it was 
 besieged, first by Agrippa's forces, and afterwards 
 by the Romans, who, after a long siege, took and 
 sacked it. Mr. Legh supposes the ruins of Oom- 
 Kais to mark the site of Gamala ; we have, however, 
 identified them with Gadara, which see. 
 
 I. GAMALIEL, son of Pedahzur, prince of Ma- 
 nasseh when the Israelites left Egypt, Numb. i. 10 ; 
 ii. 20 ; vii. 54. 
 
 II. GAMALIEL, a doctor of the law, a Pharisee, 
 and Paul's master. The Jews having brought Peter 
 before the assembl}^ of rulers, Gamaliel moved that 
 the apostles should retire ; and then advised the as- 
 sembly to take heed what they intended to do touch- 
 ing these men, and to treat them with lenity. Ga- 
 maliel's advice was followed ; and the apostles were 
 liberated. Acts v. 34. 
 
 GAMES, see Race. 
 
 GAMMADIIM, brave, valiant wan-iors. It is very 
 uncertain what people are meant by this term, in 
 Ezek. xxvii. 11. The learned Fuller supposes them 
 to be the people of Phcrnicia ; Ludolplius conjec- 
 tures that they were Africans; the Cha'.dee para- 
 phrase makes them Cappadocians ; and the Vulgate 
 renders the word " pygmies." Dr. Spencer thinks 
 they were images of the tutelar gods, like the lares 
 among the Romans, not al)ove a cubit in height. 
 [Many of the conjectures on this word are ridiculous. 
 It is liot necessary to understand it as the name of a 
 peo])le ; but rather as an adjective, brave, warlike. So 
 Gesenius. R. 
 
 GAREB, a hill near Jerusalem, (Jer. xxxi. 39.) the 
 situation of which is not known. 
 
 GARMENTS, see Dresses. 
 
 GATE. The gates or doors to the houses of the 
 Hebrews, with their posts, were generally of wood : 
 such were the gates of Gaza which Samson carried 
 away on his shoulders; (Judg. xvi. 3.) that is, the 
 gate, bars, posts, and locks, if there were any. " Gate" 
 is of>en used in Scripture to denote a place of public
 
 GAT 
 
 [ 448 
 
 GAZ 
 
 assembly, where justice was administered, (Deiit. 
 xvii. 5, 8 ; xxi. 19 ; xxii. 15 ; xxv. 6, 7, &c.) because, 
 as the Jews mostly labored in the fields, assemblies 
 were held at their city gates, and justice administered 
 there, that laborers might lose no time ; and that 
 country people, who had affairs of justice, might not 
 be obliged to enter the town. See Ruth iv. 1 ; Gen. 
 xxiii. 10, 18. [The gates of oriental cities were at 
 the same time the market-places, the place of justice ; 
 Prov. xxii. 22 ; Amos v. 10 ; xii. 15 ; there, too, peo- 
 ple assembled to spend their leisure hours, Gen. xix. 
 1. Hence " they that sit in the gate" is put for idlers, 
 loungers, who are coupled with drunkards, Ps. Ixix. 
 12. R. 
 
 Hence, also, " gate " sometimes signifies — power, 
 dominion ; almost in the same sense as the Turkish 
 sultan's palace is called the Porte. God promises 
 Abraham, that his posterity shall possess the gates 
 of their enemies — their towns, their fortresses, (Gen. 
 xxii. 17.) and Christ says to Peter, "Thou art Peter ; 
 and on tliis rock will I build my church, and the gates 
 of hell shall not prevail against it," Matt. xvi. 18. See 
 Hell, ad Jin. 
 
 It is remarked, that the idol Dagou, having fallen 
 before the ark, and the two hands of his statue hav- 
 ing fallen on the threshold of his temple, the priests 
 aftenvards forbore to tread on this part of the door- 
 way, 1 Sam. v. 5. The prophet Zephaniah, perha]is, 
 alludes to this custom of the Philistines, under the 
 expression of " Those who leap on " or over " the 
 threshold," chap. i. 9. 
 
 GATES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, (Psal. cxviii. 
 19.) those of the temple, where the righteous, the 
 saints, true Israelites, pay their vows and praises to 
 God ; where none enter but purified Israelites — a na- 
 tion of righteous men. 
 
 GATH, (a ivine-press,) acity of the Philistines, and 
 one of their five principalities; (1 Sam. v. 8 ; vi. 17.) 
 was famous for having given birth to Goliath. It was 
 18 miles south of Jopjia, and 32 Avest of Jerusalem. 
 David conquered Gath in the beginning of his reign 
 over all Israel, (1 Sam. xvii. 52.) and it con'tinued 
 subject to his successors till the declension of the 
 kingdom of Judah, 2 Sam. viii. 1. Rehoboam re- 
 built or fortified it, (2 Chron. xi. 8.) and it was after- 
 wards recovered by the Philistines, but Uzziah re- 
 conquered it. Josephus makes it part of the tribe of 
 Dan. Metheg or Metheg-Ammah (Metheg the 
 Mother) of 2 Sam. viii. 1, is explained in 1 Chron. 
 xviii. 1, by — " Gath and her daughters ;" Gath being 
 the mother, and Metheg the daughter. Or it may 
 be, that the district of Gath, and its dependencies, 
 was in David's titne called Metheg-Anunah ; which, 
 being unusual, or becoming obsolete, the author of 
 the Chronicles explains it to be Gath and its villages. 
 
 Jerome says, there was a large town called Gath, 
 in the way from Eleutheropolis to Gaza; and Euse- 
 bius speaks of another Gath, five miles from Eleu- 
 theropolis, towards Lydda, and, consequently, differ- 
 ent from that of which Jerome speaks. The former 
 author, also, s|)('akiMg of (iath-Hepher, the place of 
 the pro|)liet Jonah's i)irtli, says, it was called Gath- 
 Hepher, or Gath in the district of Hephcr, to distin- 
 guish it from others of the s;unc name. Gath signi- 
 fies a wine-press; wherefore it is no wonder that we 
 find several places of this name in Palestine, where 
 wine-presses were common. Calmct, who is follow- 
 ed by many subsequent writers, makes Gath to be 
 the most southern city of the Philistines, and Ekron 
 the most northern; when he supposes that Ekron 
 and Gath an' placed as the boundaries of their land, 
 
 1 Sam. v. 8, 10 ; xvii. 52. But, as Mr. Conder re- 
 marks, this phrase may be more properly interpreted 
 as intimating that Gath was the south-eastern border, 
 as Ekron was the north-eastern ; and this much better 
 accords \vith the sense of the passages. David had 
 a company of Gittite guards. 
 
 GATH-HEPHER was the birth-place of the 
 prophet Jonah, 2 Kings xiv. 25. Joshua (xix. 13.) 
 places it in Zebulun ; and Jerome says it was two 
 miles from Sephoris, or Diocesarea, on the way to- 
 wards Tiberias. 
 
 GATH-RIMMON, the wine-press of Rimmon, or of 
 the deity, whose symbol was the pomegranate. — I. A 
 city of Dan, (Josh. xix. 45.) which Jerome places ten 
 miles from Diospolis, towards Eleutheropolis. It 
 was given to the Korathites. — II. A town in the 
 half-tribe of Manasseh, west of Jordan ; given to the 
 Korathites, Josh. xxi. 25. — III. A city of Ephraim, 
 given to the Korathites, 1 Chron. vi. G9. 
 
 GAULAN, or Golan, a city of Bashan, from which 
 the small province of Gaulanitis was named. It was 
 given to the half-tribe of Manasseh, (Deut. iv. 43.) but 
 was ceded to the Levites of Gershom's family, and 
 became a city of refuge, Josh. xxi. 27. Eusebius 
 says, that in his time, the city of Gaulan was still con- 
 siderable, but he does not exactly describe its situa- 
 tion. It was in Upper Galilee, and Judas of Gaulan, 
 head of the Galileans, was a native of it. 
 
 GAZA, or AzzAH, (Gen. x. 19.) a city of the Phi- 
 listines, given by Joshua to Judah, Josh. xv. 47 ; 1 
 Sam. vi. 17. It was one of the five principalities of 
 the Philistines, towards the southern extremity of 
 Canaan. It was situated between Raphia and Aske- 
 lon, about 60 miles south-west of Jerusalem. Its 
 advantageous situation exposed it to many revolu- 
 tions. It belonged to the Philistines ; then to the 
 Hebrews ; recovered its liberty in the reigns of Jo- 
 tham and Ahaz ; but was leconquered by Hezekiah, 
 
 2 Kings xviii. 8. It was subject to the Chaldeans, 
 with Syria and Phoenicia ; and afterwards to the 
 Persians, and the Egyptians, who held it when Alex- 
 ander Jannanis besieged, took, and destroyed it, ante 
 A. D. 98. (See Ze])h. ii. 4.) A new town was after- 
 wards built, nearer to the sea, which is now existing. 
 Luke speaks (Acts viii. 2(5.) of Gaza as a desert 
 place ; meaning, most probably, the greater Gaza, 
 situated on a mountain twenty iniles from the sea; 
 not Little Gaza, or Majunia, which A\as very popu- 
 lous. Diodorus Siculus mentions old Gaza, and 
 Strabo notices " Gaza the desert," which agrees with 
 Acts viii. 26. The emperor Constantinegave Maju- 
 ma the name ofConstantia, in honor of his son ; and 
 granted it the honors and privileges of a city, inde- 
 pendent on Gaza. The emperor Julian deprived it 
 both of its name and its jirivileges. 
 
 Gaza was a city of great antiquity ; being noticed 
 among those cities which marked the boundaries of 
 the Canaanite territory. It was a frontier defence 
 against Egypt, and has at all times been a town of 
 importance. 
 
 The rabbins mention a street outside the city of 
 Gaza, where were shambles and an idol temyile ; as 
 also a place called the Leper's (Cloister. See 2 Kings 
 vii. 3, &c. Dr. Wittman gives the following de- 
 scrij)liou of the modern town : — 
 
 "Gaza is situated on an eminence, and is rendered 
 picturesque by the number of fine minarets which 
 rise majestically above the Iniildings, and by the 
 beautifiil date-trees interspersed. A very fine {)lain 
 commences about three miles from the town, on the 
 other side, in which are several groves of olive-trees.
 
 GEB 
 
 [ 449 ] 
 
 GEB 
 
 Advancing toward Gaza, the view becomes still more 
 interesting ; the groves of olive-trees extending to the 
 town, in front of which is a fine avenue of these trees. 
 About a mile distant from the town is a commanding 
 height. The soil in the neighborhood is of a superi 
 or quality. Much pasturage. On the east side of 
 the town is a small gateway, near to wliich, it is said, 
 Samson performed his exploit of carrying away the 
 gate of the city ; and where he threw down the 
 building which killed him and his adversaries. The 
 suburbs of Gaza are composed of wretched mud 
 huts ; but the interior of the town contains buildings 
 superior in appearance to those generally met with 
 in Syria. The streets are of a moderate breadth : 
 many fragments of statues, columns, &c. of marble, 
 arc seen in the town walls and other buildings. Oph- 
 thalmia and blindness are very prevalent. The sub- 
 urbs and environs of Gaza are rendered extremely 
 agreeable by a number of large gardens, cultivated 
 with great care, on the north, south, .ind west of the 
 town. Plantations of date-trees, also, are numerous. 
 The landing place of Gaza is an open beach, highly 
 dangerous to boats, especially if laden, a heavy surf 
 constantly beating on the shore. Quails are very 
 abundant in the neighborhood." 
 
 Gaza distinguishes itself on its medals as sacred, 
 and an asylum. Some of them have a key of a pe- 
 culiar sha]:)e, which seems to have been the appro- 
 priate symbol of the city. It is possible that, beside 
 the character of this city, as the key of Syria towards 
 Egj'pt, which it really is, the inhabitants might boast 
 of the excellence of a kind of key or bolt which was 
 proper to it. Whether such might or might not be 
 the fact, this representation may perhaps illustrate a 
 circumstance mentioned in Judges xvi. 2. The Ga- 
 zaites laid wait (or snares) for Samson, all night, in 
 the gate of the city, and were quiet, depending on the 
 impossibility of his opening the bolt of their city door 
 — but Samson, at midnight, took away the doors — 
 the two posts — BAR (bolt) and all — which had been 
 the reliance of the Gazaites for securing him. This 
 bolt is what Mr. Taylor thinks appears on the medals 
 of Gaza. The middle bar of the instrument is rep- 
 resented as shooting through that which crosses it ; 
 and this is precisely the application elsewhere of the 
 word rendered bar in this passage, as appears from 
 Exod. xxxvi. 33. " He made the middle bar to shoot 
 through the boards from one end to the other," which 
 is otherwise phrased, chap. xxvi. 28, " the middle bar 
 in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to 
 end." These two ideas are very consistent ; for if 
 Gaza prided itself on being the key of Syria, no doubt 
 but it would denote this character by employing on 
 its medals a key of that kind, which it considered as 
 the most secure and substantial. In modern times, 
 the arms of Gibraltar have been a key, that town 
 having been formerly esteemed the key of Spain. 
 GAZELLE, see Antelope. 
 GEBA. By comparing 2 Sam. v. 25. with 1 Chron. 
 xiv. 16, we find apparently the same place called 
 Geba and Gibeon ; for David is said, in Samuel, to 
 smite the Philistines from Geber to Gazer, which in 
 Chronicles is, " from Gibeon even to Gazer." That, 
 however, they were not the same city is manifest from 
 Josh. xxi. 17, whore " Gibeon with her suburbs and 
 Geba with her suburbs," are said to be given to the 
 Levites. They probably lay not far distant from one 
 another. ;Sce Gibeon.) That Geba is not the same 
 place as Gibeah of Saul, appears from Isaiah x. 29. 
 " They have taken up quarters at Geba ; Raniath is 
 afraid ; Gibeah of Saul is fled." Gibeah was near 
 
 Ramah, (Judg. xix. 13; comp. Hos. v. 8.) but it ap- 
 pears, that Geba is culled " Geba of Benjamin " in 1 
 Kings XV. 22, though Geba simply, in the parallel 
 passage, (2 Chron. xvi. 6.) on occasion of its being 
 mentioned among the cities rebuilt by Asa. Geba 
 seems to have been the northern limit of the kingdom 
 of Judah, (2 Kings xxiii. 8.) " From Geba to Beer- 
 sheba," seems to be, with respect to Judah, of the 
 same import as " from Dan to Beersheba" had been, 
 with respect to all Israel, when under one dominion. 
 
 I. GEBAL, a district, or perhaps a sovereignty, 
 south of Judah, and in south Idumea. Gebal signifies 
 a mountain ; and the denomination of Gebal is not 
 ancient, since it appears only in Psalm Ixxxiii. which 
 was written, probably, m the time of Jehoshaphat, 
 king of Judah. The country south of the Dead sea 
 and on the east of El Ghor, or great valley, bears the 
 same name to the j)resent day, Djebal, i. e. the ancient 
 Gebal, or the Gebalene of the Romans. See Burck- 
 hardt's Trav. in Syr. p. 401, seq. (See under Exodus.) 
 
 II. GEBAL, a city of Phoenicia, between Sidon 
 and Orthosia, on the shore of the Mediterranean, 
 (Ezek. xxvii. 9.) written by Stephens, Ptolemy, and 
 Strabo, Gabala ; by Pliny, Gabale ; and by the LXX, 
 Byblus. The city of Gebal has the important office 
 of " calkers" to the ships of Tyre assigned to it by 
 the prophet Ezekiel ; its chiefs are also character- 
 ized as wise. 
 
 This city was famous for its worship of Adonis, 
 who was believed to have been wounded by a boar 
 in mount Libanus. The river Adonis, whose waters 
 are at some seasons as red as blood, passes by it ; 
 and when this phenomenon appeared, the inhabitants 
 lamented Adonis, pretending their river to be colored 
 with his blood. See Adonis. 
 
 The best modern description of this city is given 
 by Mr. Maundrell, who calls it Jebilee : "Jebilee is 
 seated close by the sea, having a vast and fruitful 
 plain stretching round it, on its other sides. It makes 
 a very mean figure at present ; though it still retains 
 the distinction of a city, and discovers evident foot- 
 steps of a better condition in former times. In the 
 time of the Greek emperors, it was dignified with a 
 bishop's see, in which some time sate Severiau, the 
 grand adversary and arch-conspirator against Chry- 
 sostom. The most remarkable things that appear 
 here at this day, are a mosque, and an almshouse 
 just by it, both built by sultan Ibrahim. In the for- 
 mer his body is deposited. We were admitted to 
 see his tomb, though held by the Turks in great ven- 
 eration. We found it only a great wooden chest, 
 erected over his grave, and covered with a carpet of 
 painted calico, extending on all sides down to the 
 ground. In tliis mosque we saw several large in- 
 cense pots, candlesticks for altars, and church furni- 
 ture, being the spoils of Christian churches at the 
 taking of Cy|)rus. Close by the mosque is a very 
 beautiful bagnio, and a small grove of orange-trees, 
 under the shade of which travellers are wont to pitch 
 their tents in the summer time. Jebilee seems to 
 have had anciently some convenience for shipping. 
 There is still to be seen a ridge composed of huge 
 square stones, running a little way into the sea, which 
 api)ears to have been formerly continued further on, 
 and to have had a mole. Near this place we saw a 
 great many pillars of granite, some by the water side, 
 others tumbled into the water. There were others 
 in a garden close by, together with capitals of white 
 marble, finely varied : which testify, in some meas- 
 ure, the ancient splendor of this city. But the most 
 considerable antiquity in Jebilee, and greatest mon-
 
 GEH 
 
 [ 450 
 
 GEN 
 
 ument of its former eminency, is the remains of a 
 noble theatre, just at the north gate of the city. All 
 of it that is now standing is the semicircle. It extends 
 from corner to corner, just a hundred yards. In this 
 semicircular part is a range of seventeen round win- 
 dows, just above the ground; and berween the win- 
 dows all round were raised, on high pedestals, lai-ge 
 massy pillars, standing as buttresses against the wall, 
 both for the strength and ornament of the fabric ; but 
 these supporters are at present most of them broken 
 down. Within is a very large arena. On the west 
 side the seats of the spectators remain still entire, as 
 do likewise the caves or vaults which run under the 
 subsellia all round the theatre. The outward wall is 
 three yards three quarters thick, and built of very 
 large and firm stones ; which gi-eat strength has pre- 
 served it thus long from the jaws of time, and from 
 that general ruin which the Turks bring with them 
 into most places where they come." 
 
 GEBER, son of Uri, governor of Gilead, in the 
 reign of Solomon, 1 Kings iv. 19. 
 
 I. GEDALIAH, son of Ahikam, was made gov- 
 ernor of Palestine, by Nebuchadnezzar, after the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem and the temple ; (Jer. xl. xli. 
 2 Kings XXV. 22.) A. M. 3416. Jeremiah and many 
 Jews who had fled into Moab and Amnion, retired 
 to him at 3Iizpah. Gedaliah assured them of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar's protection, on condition that they lived 
 peaceably. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, of the royal 
 family of Judah, having been entertained at the table 
 of Gedaliah, the prince and his associates massacred 
 him, and all about him, as well Jews as Chaldeans. 
 
 II. GEDALIAH, son of Amariah, and grandfa- 
 ther of the prophet Zephaniah, Zeph. i. 1. 
 
 GEDER. This word signifies a wcdl, enclosure, 
 fortified place ; as do also the names in the following 
 articles, which are all derived from it. Geder itself 
 was an ancient Canaanitish place, in the plain of 
 Judah, (Josh. xii. 13 ;) and was probably the same 
 with the following Gederah. R. 
 
 GEDERAH, a city in the plain of Judah, (Josh. 
 XV. 36.) probably the same with the preceding Ge- 
 der, and with Beth-Gader, 1 Chron. ii. 51. It would 
 thence seem to have pertained to the family of 
 Caleb. R. 
 
 GEDEROTH, a place in the tribe of Judah, Josh. 
 XV. 41 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 18. R. 
 
 GEDEROTHAIM, a place in the plain of Judah, 
 Josh. XV. 36. R. 
 
 GEDOR, a city apparently in the sovuh of the 
 mountains of Judah, surrounded by fat pastures, and 
 formerly occupied by the Anialekites ; 1 Chi'on. iv. 
 39 seq. xii. 7 ; Josh. xv. 58. It is also the name of a 
 man, 1 Chron. viii. 31 ; ix. 37. R. 
 
 GEHAZI, Elisha's servant, almost continually at- 
 tended that prophet, and was concerned in whatever 
 happened to him ; till being overcome by avarice, he 
 solicited, and obtained, in the prophet's name, from 
 Naaman the Syrian, a talent of silver, and two 
 changes of garments, 2 Kings v. 20. His avarice, 
 however, was punished, for he was seized with a 
 leprosy, and quitted Elisha, The king of Israel 
 would sometimes make Gehazi relate the wonders 
 which God had wrought by Elisha, 2 Kings viii. 4, 
 5, &r. See Elisha. 
 
 GEHENNA, or Gehen.vom, or valley of Hinnom ; 
 or valley of the son of Hinnom, (see Josh. xv. 8 ; 
 2 Kings xxiii. 10. Heb.) a valley adjacent to Jerusa- 
 lem, through which the southern limits of the tribe 
 of Benjamin passed. Eusebius says, it lay east of 
 Jerusalem, at the foot of its walls ; but we are cer- 
 
 tain it also extended south, along the brook Kedron. 
 It is thought to have been the common sewer be- 
 longing to Jerusalem, and that a fire was always 
 burning there to consume the filth of the city. In 
 allusion to this circumstance, or to the fire kept up in 
 the valley in honor of Moloch, the false god, to whom 
 the Hebrews frequently offered human sacrifices, 
 and even their own children, (Jer. vii. 31.) hell is 
 called Gehenna, in some parts of the New Testa- 
 ment. Josiah, to poUute this place, and render it 
 odious, commanded all manner of ordure, and dead 
 men's bones, to be thrown into it, 2 Kings xxiii. 10. 
 
 After having been the scene of much cruelty, then 
 Gehenna became the receptacle of much pollution ; 
 so far it coincided in character with hell ; and the 
 perpetual fires that were kept burning there to con- 
 sume the filth of the city, added another similarity 
 to those evils attributed to the place of torment. The 
 combined ideas of wickedness, pollution, and pun- 
 ishment, compose that character which might well 
 justify the Syriac language in deriving its name of 
 hell from this valley of the sons of Hinnom. (Comp. 
 Matt. V. 22.) 
 
 [The name rsina, Gehenna, properly signifies the 
 valley of Hinnom, djh .vj, Ghe-Hinnom, (Jer. vii. 31.) a 
 valley just south of Jerusalem, running westward 
 from the valley of the Cedron, well watered, and in 
 ancient times, most verdant and delightfully shaded 
 with trees. It was here that the idolatrous Israel- 
 ites established the worship of Moloch, under the 
 form of a brazen image having the face of a bull ; 
 and to this image they offered their own children in 
 sacrifice, causing them to be consumed in a furnace of 
 fire into which they dropped from the arms of the 
 idol ; 1 Kings xi. 7 ; 2 Kings xvi. 3. The valley is 
 also called pdp, Tophet, (Jer. vii. 31,) from the drums, 
 rjn, Qion, which were beaten to drown the cries of the 
 victims. After the captivity, the Jews regarded this 
 spot with abhorrence, on account of the abomina- 
 tions which had been practised there, and following 
 the example of Josiah, (2 Kings xxiii. 10.) they threw 
 into it every species of filth, as well as the carcasses 
 of animals and the dead bodies of malefactors, etc. 
 To prevent the pestilence which such a mass would 
 occasion if left to putrify, constant fires were main- 
 tained in the valley in order to consume the whole ; 
 and hence the place received the appellation of Ge- 
 henna of fire. By an easy metaphor, the Jews, who 
 could imagine no severer torment than that of fire, 
 transferred this name to the infernal fire, — to that 
 part of Hades in which they supposed that demons 
 and the souls of wicked men were punished in eter- 
 nal fire. (See Jahn, § 411. Wetstein N. T. tom. i. p. 
 299.) R. 
 
 I. GEMARIAH, son of Hilkiah, was sent to Baby- 
 lon with Elasah, son of Shaphan, from Zedekiah, 
 king of Judah, to carry the tribute-money to Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. They carried also a letter from Jere- 
 miah to the Jewish captives at Babylon, warning 
 them against certain false prophets, who flattered 
 them with promises of a speedy return to Judea ; 
 (Jer. xxix. 3, 4.) about A. M. 3408. 
 
 II. GEMARIAH, the son of Shaphan, and a 
 counsellor to Jchoiakim, before whom Baruch read 
 Jeremiah's prophecies ; and who reported them to 
 the king, Jer. xxxvi. 12. 
 
 GENEALOGY. Never was a nation more cir- 
 cumspect about their genealogies than the Hebrews. 
 We find them in their sacred writings carried on for 
 upwards of 3500 years. In the evangelists we have 
 the genealogy of Christ, for four thousand years,
 
 GENEALOGY 
 
 [ 451 
 
 GENEALOGY 
 
 from Adam to Joseph his father, aud to Mary his 
 mother. It is observed in Ezra ii. 62, that such 
 priests as could not produce an exact genealogy of 
 their families, were not permitted to exercise their 
 sacred functions ; and Josephus says, that they had 
 an uninterrupted succession of priests for 2000 
 years ; that the priests were particularly careful to 
 presers^e their genealogies, not only in Judea, but 
 wherever they were. They never married but into 
 their own rank, and they had exact genealogical tables, 
 prepared from those authentic documents which were 
 kept at Jerusalem, and to which they had recourse. 
 
 It is observable that the genealogies recorded by 
 Ezra and Nehemiah vary in some paiticulars ; the 
 reason of which is thus assigned byPrideaux: "For 
 the true settUng of these genealogies, search was 
 made by Nehemiah for old registers, and having 
 among them found a register of the genealogies of 
 those who came up at first from Babylon, with Ze- 
 rubbabel and Joshua, he settled this matter accord- 
 ing to that, adding such as afterwards came up, and 
 expunging others whose families were extinguished : 
 and this hath caused the differences between the 
 accounts which we have of these genealogies in 
 Ezra and Nehemiah. For in the second chapter of 
 Ezra, we have the old register, made by Zerubbabel ; 
 and in the seventh of Nehemiah, from the sixth 
 verse to the end of the chapter, we have a copy of 
 it as settled by Nehemiah, with the alterations! have 
 mentioned." (Connect. &c. part i. book iv.) 
 
 Since the last war of the Romans against the Jews, 
 about thirty years after the death of our Saviour, and 
 particularly since their dispersion in the reign of 
 Adrian, they have lost their ancient genealogies ; and 
 perhaps not even one of the sacerdotal race can 
 produce his pedigree. 
 
 Genealogy of Jesus Christ. — The variations in the 
 genealogical tables of Matthew and Luke have been 
 discussed by almost every commentator from the 
 earliest times, and different methods have been pro- 
 posed for their solution. It is obviously impossible, 
 however, within the limits of an article of any rea- 
 sonable length, in a work like the present, even to 
 enumerate the various hypotheses that have been ad- 
 vanced on the subject. One thing is certain ; — that 
 they were derived from authentic sources, and were 
 at least sufficiently accurate to satisfy the persons 
 for whom they were more especially designed. It 
 cannot be believed for a moment, that in an affair of 
 60 much importance as that of an exhibition of the 
 evidence by which the descent of Jesus from Abra- 
 ham and David was to be proved, upon which, in 
 fact, his official character depended, and in which a 
 single error, accidental or otherwise, would have 
 been fatal — it cannot be believed that here the evan- 
 gelists would either have copied incorrectly, or have 
 wilfully falsified. Had they done so, the public regis- 
 tries, which were open to inspection, would have 
 enabled any one to expose the fraud ; and we may 
 be sure that among the enemies of the Redeemer, 
 men who denied his Messiahship, many would have 
 been found to undertake that which would so com- 
 pletely effect their wishes. That no such attempts 
 were made, furnishes a sufllicient guarantee of the 
 accuracy of these tables, whatever difficulties they 
 may present to modem readers. 
 
 In the article Generatio:^, Mr. Taylor has sug- 
 gested a different idea of the fourteen generations 
 of Matthew to that generally entertained ; yet being 
 desirous of doing justice to other modes of deter- 
 mining those generations, he gives the following 
 
 comparative Genealogy. [The following compara- 
 tive table IS constructed on the hypothesis, that Mat- 
 thew gives the genealogy of our Saviour through 
 Joseph his father ; while Luke exhibits that of his 
 mother Mary. R. 
 
 These names, Luke (iii. 34—38.) reckons alone ; going back twenty 
 degrees higher in the genealogy of Jesus than Matthew ; that it, 
 
 from Abraham to Adam 
 
 1 Adam. 
 
 2 Seth. 
 
 3 Enos. 
 
 4 Cainan. 
 
 5 Mehalaleel. 
 
 6 Jared. 
 
 7 Enoch. 
 
 8 Methuselah. 
 
 9 Lamech. 
 10 Noah. 
 
 GOD. 
 
 11 Shem. 
 
 12 Arphaxad. 
 
 13 Selah. 
 
 14 Heber. 
 
 15 Peleo. 
 
 16 Reu. 
 
 17 Serug. 
 
 18 Nahor. 
 
 19 Terah. 
 
 Matthew (i. 1—16.) and Luke (iii. 31—34.) reckon together 
 natural line of Jesua, from Abraham to David, as follows : 
 
 the 
 
 1 ABRAHAM. 
 
 2 Isaac. 
 
 3 Jacob. 
 
 4 JUDAH. 
 
 5 Pharez. 
 
 6 Hesron. 
 
 7 Aram. 
 
 8 Aminadab. 
 
 9 Nahshon. 
 
 10 Salmon. 
 
 11 BOAZ. 
 
 12 Obed. 
 
 13 Jesse. 
 
 14 David. 
 
 20 ABRAHAM. 
 
 21 Isaac 
 
 22 Jacob. 
 
 23 Jcdah. 
 
 24 Pharez. 
 
 25 Hesron. 
 
 «U iVRAM. 
 
 27 Aminadab. 
 
 28 Nahshon. 
 
 29 Salmon. 
 
 30 BoAZ. 
 
 31 Obed. 
 
 32 Jesse. 
 
 33 David. 
 
 Thejirst 14 generations mentioned by Matthew. 
 
 Matthew (i. 13—16.) reckons 
 in this line the ancestors of 
 
 Joseph. 
 
 Luke (iii. 33.) reckon! 
 in this Line the ancet- 
 tors of Mary. 
 
 34 Nathan. 
 
 35 3Iattatha. 
 
 36 Menan. 
 
 37 Meleah. 
 
 38 Eliakim. 
 
 39 JONAN. 
 
 40 Joseph. 
 
 41 Judah. 
 
 42 Simeon. 
 
 43 Levi. 
 
 44 Matthat. 
 
 45 JORIM. 
 
 46 Eliezer. 
 
 47 JosEs. 
 
 48 Er. 
 
 49 Elmodam. 
 
 50 COSAM. 
 
 The second 14 generations mentioned by Matthew. 
 
 1 Jechoniah, dying childless, his 51 Addi. 
 
 son, or nearest of kin, according 52 Melchi. 
 
 to Numb, xxviii. 8 — 11, is to be 53 Neri. 
 
 sought in 2 54 Salathiel.* 
 
 3 55 Zerubbabel. 
 7%e regal line of Solomon ends. 
 
 1 Solomon. 
 
 
 2 Rehoboam. 
 
 
 3 Abijah. 
 
 
 4 Asa. 
 
 
 5 Jehoshaphat. 
 
 6 Jehoram. 
 
 
 Ahaziah. ^ 
 
 omitted 
 
 Joash. > 
 
 by 
 
 Amaziah. 5 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 7 UZZIAH. 
 
 
 8 JOTHAM. 
 
 
 9 Ahaz. 
 
 
 10 Hezekiah. 
 
 
 11 Manasseh. 
 
 
 12 Ammon. 
 
 
 13 JOSIAH. 
 
 
 14 Jehoiakim. 
 
 
 * Where Luke (iii. 27.) calls Salathielson of Neri, understand tha 
 natural son. 
 
 Where Matthew (i. 12.) calls Salathiel son of Jechoniah, under- 
 stand his legal son, succeeding as nearest of kin ; perhaps, alio, by 
 adoption. See Apoptiow.
 
 GEN 
 
 452 
 
 GENERATION 
 
 4 Abiud. 
 
 5 Eliakim. 
 
 6 AZAR. 
 
 7 Zadoc. 
 
 8 ACHIM. 
 
 9 Eliud. 
 
 10 Eleazar. 
 
 11 Matthan. 
 
 12 Jacob. 
 
 13 JOSEPH.* 
 
 Ajuuit man of the house 
 and linenae of David. 
 (Matt. i. 19. Luke ii. 4.) 
 
 56 Rhesa. 
 
 57 Joanna. 
 
 58 JUDAH. 
 
 59 Joseph. 
 
 60 Shemei. 
 
 61 Mattathiah. 
 
 62 Maath. 
 
 63 Naggai. 
 
 64 EsTi. 
 
 65 Nahum. 
 
 66 Amos. 
 
 67 Mattathiah. 
 
 68 Joseph. 
 
 69 Jannah. 
 
 70 Melchi. 
 
 71 Levi. 
 
 72 Matthat. 
 
 73 Heli. 
 
 74 MARY. 
 
 .■? x-irgiti of the 
 house of David. 
 (Luke i. 27.) 
 
 14 JESUS CHRIST. 75 from ADAM. 
 
 The third 14 generations mentioned by Matthew. 
 
 * Where Luke (iii. 23.) calls Joseph son of Heli> understand liis 
 son-in-law by marriage of his daughter Mary ; but not excluding 
 adoption. See Adoption. 
 
 GENERATION. Besides the common accept- 
 ation of this word, as signifying race, descent, lineage, 
 it is used for the history and genealogy of a person ; 
 as Gen. v. 1. " The book of the generations of Ad- 
 am," i. e. the history of Adam's creation and of his 
 posterity. So Gen. ii. 4, " Tlie generations of the 
 lieavens and of the earth," i. e. their genealogy, so to 
 speak, the history of the creation of heaven and earth. 
 Matt. i. 1, "The book of the generation of Jesus 
 Christ," i. e. the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the histo- 
 ry of his descent and life. 
 
 " The present generation" comprises all those who 
 are now alive. M.att. xxiv. 34. " This generation 
 shall not pass away, till all iw fulfilled ;" some now 
 living shall witness the event foretold. Acts ii. 40. 
 " Save yourselves from this untoward generation ;" 
 from the punishment which awaits these perverse 
 men.— Sometimes also the word refei'S toy^fure ages ; 
 "To generation and generation," i. c. to future ages ; 
 Isaiah Jiii. 8. "Who shall declare his generation?" 
 who can emnnerate his i)ostcrity .'' i. c. He was cut 
 off by an untimely death, yet his posterity, his fol- 
 lower.s, shall be innumerable. 
 
 The Hebrews, like other ancient \ nations, some- 
 times computed loosely by generations. Thus Gen. 
 XV. 16. " In the fomtli generation thy descendants 
 shall come hither again." Deut. xxiii. 2. "A bastard 
 shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, 
 even to his tenth generation." The duration of a 
 gen«!ration is of course very uncertain ; indeed, it is 
 impossil)le to establish any precise liniit.s. Hence it 
 has been fixed by some at one hundred years; by 
 othera, at a hundred and ten ; liy others at thirty-three, 
 thirty, twenty-five, and even twenty years; being 
 neither uniform nor settled. It is, however, gener- 
 ally admitted, that a generation in the earliest periods 
 is to be reckoned longer than oni; in later times. 
 
 It is well known that the learned have been much 
 embarrassed to make out the even number of fourteen 
 generations in the genealogy of Christ, reckoned by 
 
 the evangelist Matthew ; (chap, i.) " So all the gen- 
 erations from Abraham to David, are' fourteen gen- 
 erations ; and from David unto the Babylonish 
 captivity, are fourteen generations ; and from the 
 Babylonish captivity to Christ, a.ve fourteen genera- 
 tions." Bishop Pearce proposes to read ^^ seventeen 
 generations" in the second number ; and others say, 
 "Cut out the whole." Upon this perplexing subject, 
 Mr. Taylor has the following remarks. [These re- 
 marks are suffered to remain here, although they are 
 built on very slight foundations, and amount to nothing 
 but conjecture after all. The best mode of recon- 
 ciling the two genealogies of our Lord is given 
 above. A very judicious view of tlie whole subject, 
 is given by Newcome in the notes to his Harmony 
 of the Gospels, which see. R. 
 
 It is notorious, (1.) that three princes of short 
 reigns are omitted, between Jehoram and Uzziah, in 
 verse 8. (2.) Some MSS. in order to make up the 
 number of ybur^een generations, insert in verse 11. 
 " And Jehoiakim begat Jechoniah." (3.) Other va- 
 riations of the numbers of these generations, are 
 well known to those who have investigated the sub- 
 ject. Now, to preserve the number o? fourteen gen- 
 erations in each class, is impossible, if we adhere to. 
 the historical succession of the kings, and refer the 
 word " generation" to natural descent. But let us 
 see the consequences, if we take the word " genera- 
 tion" as expressing a portion of time, or mean of 
 calculation, by the general (not individual) course of 
 human life. 
 
 " From Abraham to David is fourteen generations." 
 Now, a generation, in those early ages, might be 
 taken at 93, 80, or 70 years, in the former part of the 
 period ; and 60, 50, or 40 years, at the close of it. 
 If we take the average, or medium, it will be 65 
 years — for Abraham was born about ante A. D. 
 1996, and David ante A. D. 1085, making the inter- 
 val 911 years — which, divided by fourteen, gives 
 full sixty-five years to a generation. That about 70 
 years might denote a generation, in the days of 
 Abraham, seems probable from Gen.xv. 16. "In the 
 fourth generation — from thy posterity's going into 
 Egypt, or sei-vitude — they shall return to Canaan;" 
 the interval being about four periods of 70 years 
 each, i. e. 280 years ; for Joseph was sold ante A. D. 
 1729, and Israel entered Canaan, under Joshua, about 
 ante A. D. 1451. But if it should be thought a gen- 
 eration in the days of Abraham extended to a hun- 
 dred years, it will not affect the argument ; because 
 human life was proportionably diminished towards 
 the time of David. 
 
 It seems that forty years was not esteemed to be a 
 complete generation in the days of Moses, since 
 those sinners who had grieved God forty years in the 
 wilderness (Psal. xc\'. 10.) are considered as having 
 been cut off at an untimely period of life. From the 
 birth of David to tiie Bal)ylonish captivity, the medi- 
 um of fourteen generations approaches very near to 
 that of the regular estimate of generations among the 
 ancients, which were usually reckoned three to a 
 century, say 33 years. In this interval they are 
 about 36 years ; for David was born ante A. D. 1085, 
 and the deportation to Babylon was ante A. D. 581. 
 The difference is about 504 years ; which, divided by 
 fourteen, gives 36 years to a generation. From the 
 Babylonian captivity to Christ, the generations are 
 varied to forty or forty -one years each. 
 
 Now the Messiah was restricted by divine appoint- 
 ment, (1.) to the po.slcrity of Abraham. (2.) To the 
 family of David. (3.) To the then existing temple.
 
 t^ENERATlOK 
 
 453 
 
 GEINERATIUN 
 
 The preceding calculations are Uiken lioin the 
 beginning of the respective periods mentioned ; but 
 they should rather be taken from periods more im- 
 mediately connected with the pedigi-ee of tlie Messi- 
 aii. As liius : — From the covenant made with Abra- 
 ham, including "the blessing of all nations." &c. or 
 from the birth of Isaac, (ante A. D. 1893.) to the 
 revival of this promise, and the fixing of Messiah to 
 the family of David, (2 Sam. vii. 16.) about ante A. 
 D. 1044. This interval is 850 years ; which, divided 
 by 14, gives somewhere about 60 years to a genera- 
 tion. From the promise fixing the Messiah in the 
 family of David, [ante A. D. 1044,) to that of his 
 coming to visit his people, this temple, &c. (ante A. D. 
 520,) — the next great promise, at the commencement 
 of a new order of things, attaching the Messiah to 
 place and time — the interval is 524 years ; which di- 
 vided by 14, gives 37 years to a generation. The 
 remaining 520 years, from the promise made in hon- 
 or of the second temple, till Christ was brought to 
 that temple, evidently gives the same number of 37 
 years to a generation. 
 
 We believe it is usual in the English court of 
 chancery to reckon generations from 33 to 35 years, 
 but on some occasions the court reckons so low as 
 30 years. However, in estimating the genealogy 
 given by Matthew, we do not seek precisely legal 
 accuracy ; it is enough, if we show that the mode 
 of his computation may be explained, without refer- 
 ring to names of kings or descendants, admitted or 
 omitted, or to other circumstances which have per- 
 plexed the learned, which is what we have in view. 
 
 This leads to a tew observations; as, (1.) Our 
 Lord uses tlie term generation to express a period of 
 about 36 or 37 yeai's, when he says, "Tliis generation 
 shall not be passed away till Jerusalem be destroyed ;" 
 say A. D. 70. (2.) That fourteen periods of 37 years 
 each, reckoned upwards from Ciirist, bring us up to 
 the consecration of the second temple, being about 
 520 years. (3.) That fourteen periods of 37 years 
 each, (524 years,) from the consecration of the sec- 
 ond temple, reckoned upwards, bring us to that pe- 
 riod of David's reign, when he received the promise 
 that the Messiah should spring from his family. (4.) 
 That there were more ways than one of calculating 
 the time of the expected coming of the Messiah ; 
 and that ilie vetus et consta7is opinio of Suetonius and 
 Tacitus, that "about this time the king of the Jews 
 was expected," had more (we do not say better) 
 foundations than we know of, or are aware of: and 
 that it is very likely, when the ancient prophets exam- 
 ined to what period the Spirit that spake by them 
 refernnl, they might obtain (and might also comnni- 
 nicatc) much information, which has not come down 
 to us. Daniel's seventy weeks are closely connected 
 with our last period of fourteen generations. 
 
 The following are the sentiments of Montfaucon 
 on the period of time, intended among the ancients 
 by the word generation, and the use of it in calcula- 
 tion. " The ancients painted the several parts of 
 time under human forms ; as for example «i'wi and 
 •/ff', an age and a generation. The first of these 
 (the al'wi) is taken by the Greeks in vai'ious senses. 
 Jerome in his commentary on Ezekiel xxix. says, 
 that tiie word ca'coi, or age, is the space of 70 years ; 
 and may be reckoned about the full age of a man. It 
 is likewise often taken for the full term of a man's life ; 
 sometimes for an undeterminate time, and at other 
 times for eternity. As the Greeks had their jeit«, 
 generation, so the Latins also had their seculiim, or 
 generation ; concerning both which words there 
 
 have been great disputes, that is, as to the space of time 
 signified by them. For some would have tlije two 
 words (that is, secnlum or generation) to be equivalent 
 to, and to denote, a space of thirty years ; but at , 
 length custom prevailed, and determined the seculum I 
 to be a hundred years ; while the most common oi|in- 
 ion was, that the Greek (> ti f u) generation was no more 
 than THIRTY YEARS. I kuow not certainly whether i^e 
 Greeks ever represented their ()£ieu,) generation u!(j- 
 der a human form, as well as other parts of time ? 
 though it is very probable they did, considering that 
 in those days they expressed almost every thing so.\ 
 As to the custom of reckoning their years by gener- \ 
 atious, it is of great antiquity ; seeing we find Hero- \ 
 dotiis reckoning in that manner in several places." \ 
 (Sup. Antiq. Exp. vol. i. 8.) 
 
 Among the Syrians it appears to have been cus- 
 tomary to compute time by generations ; at least, it 
 occurs in several places in their writings. In Nor- 
 berg, (vol. i. p. 51, 53, 95.) we read, "After the lapse 
 of twenty-five generations, the world was visited by 
 water, and the sons of men by the progress of this 
 water were exiled from the body . . . except Nuh,, 
 the man, and Nuraito, his wife, also Schum, Jamiuu, 
 and Jafet, sons of that Nuh ; who were deliverec$! 
 from death by water, and by whom the world wai- 
 restored. From Schurbai and Scharhabil to th,<e 
 generation of Nuh were fifteen generations. . . Bilit 
 from Nuh and the ark until Ibrahim, who had tine 
 prophetic spirit, and imtil Mescho [Melchizedek/?]* 
 and until the city of Jerusalem was built, were six 
 generations. They also say, that, " From Adamj to- 
 Ram and Rud were thirty generations ; from these 
 to Scluirbai and Scharhabil were twenty-five ge Der- 
 ations." As it is evident, then, that the chrono'lbgy 
 of the Syriac sacred history was computed by }l;en- 
 erations, there is notliing unreasonable in assuniiUig,, 
 independently of the proofs previously given, tlu t in- 
 giving a genealogical epitome of that history, the 
 evangelist conformed his text to documents extariil in 
 the language in which he wrote. If this werel the 
 case, it follows, that all the embarrassments Oiaca- 
 sioned by the omission of three names in the g<Bnea- 
 logical table, have been unnecessary; and also, (with' 
 evidence little short of demonstration, that the ;'gene- 
 alogy formed part of Matthew's original ; audJ con- 
 sequently, is an integral part of his Gospel. 
 
 Let us now paraphrase the evangelist's -^ords^. 
 connecting the sense of the first witli tliat of the 
 seventeenth verse. " I said, in the begiun ing of my 
 discourse, that Jesus was 'the son of David ; the son 
 of Abraham :' and I have given you tabl 35i of his de- 
 scent, l>y which I have proved his rclati on to those 
 ancestors. Now, you might desire tiiat jl should say 
 something to justify the expectation of his coming- 
 about tills period of time. We know i t has been 
 disputed among our wise men, what numb sr of years,, 
 precisely, elapsed from Abraham to Davit. ! ; but it is^ 
 enough for iny purpose to observe that, hoA vever they 
 may difler as to a few years, (for no two • of them 
 agree,) they all reckon a period of time equi d to four- 
 teen generations, as they were then calculate d ; that is 
 to say, the time previous to the settlement of tl le kingly 
 office, and to the promise of the descent of t he Mes- 
 siah in the family of David, was fourteen gene rations r 
 and so, from David to the restoration from th( \} Baby- 
 lonish captivity, after the kingly office was su spend- 
 ed, when our hopes of Messiah revived, is ad mitted 
 to be fourteen generations, as they were then « 'calcu- 
 lated: and you will, with me, think it very rem arka- 
 ble, that from the time of the Babylonish capti vity. 
 
 1-.
 
 GEN 
 
 [ 454 
 
 GENTILES 
 
 to the appearance of the person, whose memoirs I 
 am about to write, was fourteen generations also : — 
 a coincidence certainly deserving attention, and on 
 ■which the universal expectation of our nation, that 
 th^y should again enjoy, about this time, a king of 
 tbsir own blood, has been (in some degree) found- 
 
 ,3." 
 
 ,- That there was really such a general expectation 
 pf a Jewish king at the time the ev£ingelist alludes 
 Jto, may be seen in the article Christ. 
 
 The design of Providence in giving us two geneal- 
 ogies of Jesus Christ, may be presumed to have 
 been to show that he was not only of the family of 
 David, but, as Luke remarks, (and it seems to be 
 the precise import of his word tutoio.-, chap. ii. 4.) 
 of the direct line, the elder branch of the family ; 
 and, in short, that very person who, if the exercise 
 of royalty had continued in the family of David, 
 would have legally sat on the throne : " The scep- 
 tre shall not depart from Judah, until he come whose 
 right it is ;" (Gen. xlix. 10.) that is, that person who 
 ought legally to sway the sceptre. Strange indeed, 
 that when he comes whose right it is, it should then 
 depart ; but such is the prediction ; and might there 
 not be a reference to this in the question of John 
 the Baptist, " Art thou he that should come ?" Matt. xi. 
 3. q. d. " Art thou he whom we expect shall deliver 
 [srael ?" as afterwards the apostles asked, " Lord, wilt 
 hou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel ?" 
 )ur Lord avoids a direct answer, yes, or no ; but 
 sys, " Go, tell John what you have seen ; no signs 
 
 "Oiexternal greatness ; but the blind receive sight 
 
 'C/W to the poor the gospel is preached : John will 
 tbnce infer, decidedly, that my kingdom is not of 
 ths world ; but is infinitely more beneficial to the 
 SOS of men, than if I assumed the most magnificent 
 iiDnarchy, as sovereign over Israel." See further in 
 tls article Shiloh. 
 
 GENESIS, the first of the sacred books in the Old 
 Testament, so called from the title given to it in the 
 Seotuagint, and which signifies "the book of the 
 geieration, or production," of all things. Moses is 
 geierally admitted to have been the writer of this 
 bodi ; and it is believed that he penned it after the 
 pronulgatiou of the law. Its authenticity is attested 
 oy t'ae most indisputable evidence, and it is cited as 
 an irspired record thirty-three times in the course of 
 the Scriptures. The history related in it comprises 
 a period of about 2369 years, according to the low- 
 est computation, but according to Dr. Hales, a much 
 larger peiiod. It contains an account of the crea- 
 tion ; the primeval state and fall of man ; the history 
 'of Adam and his descendants, with tlie progress of 
 religion and the origin of the arts ; the genealogies, 
 age, Bnd death of the patriarchs, until Noah; the 
 general defection and corruption of mankind, the 
 general deluge, and preservation of Noah and his 
 family in the ark ; the history of Noah and his family 
 subsequent to the time of the deluge ; the re-peo- 
 pHng and division of the earth among the sons of 
 Noah ; the building of Babel, the confusion of tongues, 
 and the dispt;rsion of mankind ; the lives of Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. 
 
 GENNESAliETII, a small district of Galilee, 
 tidjacent to the lake of the same name, or, as subse- 
 quently called, the sea of Tiberias, and described 
 by Josephus as being extremely fertile, and, in con- 
 sequence of the temperature of the air, abounding in 
 fruity of different climates. For a description of the 
 lake, see Tiberias II. 
 
 'GENTILES, a name given by the Hebrews to all 
 
 those that had not received the law. Those who 
 were converted, and embraced Judaism, they called 
 pi'oselytes. Since the promulgation of the gospel, 
 the true rehgion has been extended to all nations ; 
 God, who had promised by his prophets, to call the 
 Gentiles to the faith, witJi a superabundance of grace, 
 having fulfilled his promise ; so that the Christian 
 church is composed principally of Gentile converts ; 
 the Jews being too proud of their privileges, to ac- 
 knowledge Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Re- 
 deemer. In the writings of Paulj the Gentiles are 
 generally called Greeks; (Rom. i. 14, 16; ii. 9, 10; 
 X. 12 ; 1 Cor. i. 22, 24 ; Gal. iii.28.) and Luke, in the 
 Acts, expresses himself in the same manner, chap. vi. 
 1 ; xi. 20 ; xviii. 4. et al. Paul is commonly called 
 the apostle of the Gentiles, (1 Tim. ii. 7.) or Greeks, 
 because he, principally, preached Christ to them ; 
 whereas Peter, and the other apostles, preached gen- 
 erally to the Jews ; and are called apostles of the 
 Circumcision, Gal. ii. 8. 
 
 The prophets declared very particularly the calling 
 of the Gentiles. Jacob foretold that the Messiah, he 
 who was to be sent, the Shiloh, should be the ex- 
 pectation of the Gentiles ; and Solomon, at the ded- 
 ication of his temple, prayed for the stranger, who 
 should there entreat God. The Psalmist says (ii. 8.) 
 that the Lord shall give the Gentiles to the Messiah, 
 for his inheritance ; that Egypt and Babylon shall 
 know him ; (Ps. Ixxxvii. 4.) that Ethiopia shall 
 hasten to bring him presents ; (Ps. Ixxii. 9, 10.) and 
 that the kings of Tarshish, and of the isles, the kings 
 of Arabia and Sheba, shall be tributary to him. 
 Isaiah abounds with prophecies of a similar nature, 
 on which account he has justly been distinguished 
 by the name of the prophet of the Gentiles. 
 
 In the New Testament, we see that Gentiles came 
 to Jerusalem to worship. Some of these, a little be- 
 fore the death of our Saviour, addressed themselves 
 to Philip, desiring him to show them Jesus, John 
 xii. 20, 21. 
 
 Many of the fathers believed, that Gentiles, who 
 lived in a laudable manner, and observed the law of 
 natine, were saved ; and Paul (Rom. ii.) assigns 
 " glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh 
 good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." 
 Clemens Alexandrinus asserts, that the Gentiles had 
 two means for acquiring justification, the law and 
 philosophy ; the latter of which might at least dis- 
 pose them to justice, though it })roduced not perfect 
 righteousness. But if it be inquired whether hea- 
 thens have lived up to their knowledge ; that is, 
 whether, with proper knowledge of God, they have 
 loved him, given him glory, hoped in him, followed 
 the precepts of the law of nature, and observed them 
 as they ought to do, (with a view to God,) and de- 
 monstrated the power and exercise of these princi- 
 ples, by actions animated with grace and charity ; 
 whether they have practised the first and greatest 
 commandments, to love God with all their hearts, 
 and their neighbor as themselves ; we have much 
 reason to fear they will be found wanting. See 
 Philosophy. 
 
 Court of the Gentiles. Josephus says, that 
 there was, in the court of the temple, a wall, or bal- 
 ustrade, breast high, with pillars at certain distances, 
 with inscriptions on them in Greek and Latin, im- 
 porting that strangers were forbidden from approach- 
 ing nearer to the altar. 
 
 Isles of the Gentiles (Gen. x. 5.) evidently 
 denote Asia Minor and the whole of Europe, which 
 were peopled by the descendants of Japheth.
 
 GER 
 
 [ 455 ] 
 
 GEZ 
 
 / 
 
 GERAH, the smallest piece of money among the 
 Hebrews, twenty of which made a shekel, Exod. 
 XXX. 13. 
 
 GERAR. We find a city of this name so early as 
 Gen. XX. 1 ; xxvi, 1, 17. expressly stated to be a city 
 of the Philistines. The probability is, that some 
 wandering tribe of this people had settled here, be- 
 fore the great influx of their nation into these parts, 
 during the captivity of the Israelites in Egypt. As 
 Abraham himself was a pilgrim from a region not very 
 distant from their original country, they might, per- 
 haps, feel some kind of sympathy with him and for 
 him. He appears to have been, on the whole, on 
 good terms with the king of Gerar ; and Isaac lived 
 many years in the neighborhood. Gerar appears to 
 have' been a favorable station for flocks ; and it might 
 be called " the fixed residence," that is, not tents, but 
 buildings, by those who here abode, whether they 
 were, properly speaking, exiles or not. Gerar was 
 not far from Gaza, in the south of Judah. Moses 
 says, it lay between Kadesh and Shur ; and Jerome 
 states, that from Gerar to Jerusalem was three days' 
 journey. Moses also mentions the brook or valley 
 of Gerar, Gen. xxvi. 17. 
 
 GERASA, or Gergesa, a cii, east of the Jordan, 
 and in the Decapolis, Matt. vin. 28. Burckhardt, 
 Buckingham, and other writers consider the ruins 
 of Djerash to be those of the ancient Gerasa, They 
 are nearly 50 miles from the sea of Tiberias, and 
 nearly opposite to mount Ebal. 
 
 GERGESENES, or Girgashites, a people of 
 the land of Canaan, who settled east of the sea of 
 Tiberias, and gave name to a region and city. See 
 Gadara, and Gerasa. 
 
 GERIZIM, a mount in Ephraim, a province of 
 Samaria, between which and Ebal lay the city of 
 Shechem. (See Judg. ix. 7.) Gerizim was fruitflil, 
 Ebal was barren. God commanded that tho He- 
 brews, after passing the Jordan, should be so divided, 
 that six tribes might be stationed on mount Geiizim, 
 and six on mount Ebal. The former were to pro- 
 nounce blessings on those who observed the law of 
 the Lord ; the others, curses against those who should 
 violate it, Deut. xi. 29 ; xxvii. 12. 
 
 After the captivity, Manasseh, by permission of 
 Alexander the Great, built a temple on Gerizim, and 
 the Samaritans joined the worship of the true God to 
 that of their idols: "They feared the Lord, and 
 served their own gods, after the manner of the na- 
 tions whom they carried away from thence," 2 
 Kings xvii. .33. 
 
 The Samaritans maintain, that Abraham and Ja- 
 cob erected altars at Gerizim, and that here Abraham 
 prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac, Gen. xii. 6, 7 ; 
 xiii. 4 ; xxxiii. 20, They, too, afiirm, that God re- 
 quired the blessings to be given from mount Ge- 
 rizim, to those who observed his laws, and the curses 
 from Ebal, (Deut. xxvii. 12, 13.) and they further 
 cite from their Pentateuch the passage ; (Deut. xxvii. 
 4.) "When ye be gone over Jordan, ye shall set up 
 these stones, which I command you this daj^, in 
 mount Gerizim, [in the Hebrew copies, Ebal,] tliou 
 shalt plaster them," &c. (verses 12, 13 ;) thus making 
 Moses direct an altar to be erected in Gerizim instead 
 of Ebal. [They accuse the Jews of falsifying the text 
 in this passage, and of putting Ebal instead of Ge- 
 rizim, in order to deprive this mountain of the honor 
 of having been a place appointed for the public wor- 
 ship of Jehovah. The suspicion of falsifying the 
 text, however, falls much more heavily upon the Sa- 
 maritana than upon the Jews ; since they had a far 
 
 greater interest to change the reading Ebal into Ge- 
 rizim, than the Hebrews had to change Gerizim for 
 Ebal. For after tlie proposition of the Samaritans, 
 to take part in rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem, 
 had been rejected by the Jews, (Ezra iv. 1-— 3.) the 
 former erected a temple for themselves in mount 
 Gerizim, which is mentioned 2 Mace. vi. 2. By 
 changing the text, therefore, of this passage froii 
 Ebal to Gerizim, they wished to procure for their 
 temple the honor of standing on that mountain, 
 where, after the conquest of Canaan, the first public 
 religious transaction was to be performed. R. 
 
 This temple was built on Gerizim, and conse- 
 crated to the God of Israel, ante A. D. 332 ; and as the 
 mountain was very high, there were steps cut for the 
 convenience of the people. When Antiochus Epi- 
 phanes began to persecute the Jews, (ante A. D. 
 168,) the Samaritans entreated him, that their temple 
 upon Gerizim, which hitherto had been dedicated to 
 an unknown and nameless God, might be conse- 
 crated to Jupiter the Grecian; which was readily 
 canseuted to by Antiochus. 
 
 The temple was destroyed by John Hircanus, and 
 was not rebuilt till Gabinius was governor of Syria; 
 who repaired Samaria, and called it by his own 
 name. In our Saviour's time, this temple was in be- 
 ing ; and the true God was worshipped there, John 
 iv. 20. Herod the Great, having rebuilt Samaria, 
 and called it Sebaste, in honor of Augustus, would 
 have compelled the Samaritans to worship in the 
 temple which he had erected, but they constantly 
 refused ; and have continued to this day to worship 
 on Gerizim. See Ebal and Shechem. 
 
 GERSHON, son of Levi, and under Moses prince 
 of a family of the Levites, consisting of 7500 men, 
 Numb. iii. 21, &c. Their office, during marches, 
 was to cany the veils and curtains of the taber- 
 nacle ; and their place in the camp was west of the 
 tabernacle. 
 
 I. GESHUR, Geshuri, Geshurites, the name 
 of a district and people in Syria, of whose king Tol- 
 niai, David married the daughter, by whom he had 
 Absalom, 2 Sam. iii. 3 ; xiii. 37 ; xv. 8. It lay upon 
 the eastern side of the Jordan, between Bashan, 
 Maachah, and mount Hermon, and within the limits 
 of the Hebrew territory, (2 Chron. ii. 23 ; Deut. iii. 14 ; 
 Josh. xii. 5.) but the Israelites did not expel the in- 
 habitants. Josh. xiii. 13. That they were not con- 
 quered at a later period, appears from the fact of 
 their having a separate king. — The word Geshur sig- 
 nifies bridge, and corresponds to the Arabic Djisr ; 
 and in the same region, where, according to the 
 above data, we must place Geshur, between mount 
 Hermon and the lake of Tiberias, there still exists 
 an ancient stone bridge of four arches over the Jor- 
 dan, called Djisr-Bcni-Jakub, i. e. the bridge of the 
 children of Jacob. There seems to have been here 
 an important pass. *R. 
 
 II. GESHURI, Geshurites, a people in the south 
 of Palestine, near the Philistines, Josh. xiii. 2 ; 1 Sam. 
 xxvii. 8. R. 
 
 GETHSEMANE, the oil-prsss, a place at the foot 
 of the mount of Olives, over against Jerusalem, to 
 which our Saviour sometimes retired ; and in a gar- 
 den belonging to which he endured his agony; and 
 was taken by Judas, Matt. xxvi. 36. seq. It is an even 
 plat of ground, according to Maundrell, about 57 
 yards square. There are several ancient olive- 
 trees standing in it. (See the Missionary Herald for 
 1824. p. 66.) See Jerusalem. 
 
 GEZEZ, formeriy a royal city of the Canaanites,
 
 GIB 
 
 [456 ] 
 
 GIB 
 
 in d 1.? western part of the tribe of Ephrahn, from 
 whitch the Canaanites were not expelled, Josh. x. 33 ; 
 xvi. 3, 10. Judg. i. 29. It was nevertheless assigned 
 to the Levites, Josh. xxi. 21. Destroyed by the 
 Egyptians, it was rebuilt by Solomon, 1 Kings ix. 
 15^—17. R. 
 
 GIA H, a valley, probably not far from Gibeon, 
 which might be an outlet, as its name imports, from 
 a narrow and contracted road or country, to one 
 more open ; or it might be an eruption of water, as 
 i't were, from the mountain, 2 Sam. ii. 24. 
 
 GIANT, (Heb. Sdj, nephil, one ivho hears down 
 'Other men.) Scripture speaks of giants before the 
 flood ; " Ncphilim, mighty men who were of old, 
 men of renown," Gen. vi. 4. Aquila translates 
 nephilun, men who attack, who fall with impetuosity 
 on their enemies; which agrees very well with the 
 force cif the term. Symmachus translates it Ihui'uij 
 violent men, cruel, whose only rule of action is vio- 
 lence. Scripture sometimes calls giants Rephaim, 
 Gen. xiv. 5, &c. The Emim, ancient inhabitants of' 
 Moab, were of a gigantic stature, that is, Rephaim. 
 Job says, that the ancient Rephaim gi-oan under the 
 waters ; and Solomon, (Prov. ii. 18 ; ix. 18.) that the 
 ways of a loose woman lead to the Rephaim, and 
 that he who deviates from the ways of wisdom, 
 shall dwell in the assembly of Rephaim ; that is, in hell, 
 Prov. xxi. 16, &c. (See Gen. xiv. 5 ; Deut. ii. 11, 20 ; iii. 
 11, 13 ; Josh. xii. 4 ; xiii. 12 ; Job xxvi. 5.) The Ana- 
 kim, or sons of Anak, who dwelt at Hebron, were 
 the most famous giants of Palestine, Numb. xiii. .33. 
 
 The LXX sometimes translate ii2J, gibhor, giant, 
 though literally it signifies — a strong man, a man of 
 valor, a warrior. See in the LXX, Gen. x. 8 ; Ps. 
 xix. 5. Isa. iii. 2 ; xiii. 2; xlix. 24, 25 ; Ezek. xxxix. 
 18, 20. 
 
 It is probable that the first men were of a strength 
 and stature superior to those of mankind at present, 
 since they lived a much longer time ; long life being 
 commonly the effect of a strong constitution. Giants, 
 however, were no.: uncommon in the times of Josh- 
 ua and David, notwithstanding that the life of man 
 was already shortened, and, as may be presumed, 
 the size and strength of hiunan bodies proportiona- 
 bly diminished. Goliah was ten feet seven inches in 
 height, (1 Sam. xvii. 4.) according to Calmet ; but 
 this depends on the length at which the Hebrew 
 cubit is taken. 
 
 GIBBETHON, a city of the Philistines, given to 
 Dan, and allotted to the Levites, (Josh. xix. 44 ; xxi. 
 23.) and probably the same as the Gabatho of Jose- 
 phus. Baasha killed Nadab, son of Jeroboam, in 
 Gibbethon, 1 Kings xv. 27. 
 
 I. GIBEAH, {a hill,) a city of Benjamin, (1 Sam. 
 xiii. 15 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 29.) and the birth-place of Saul 
 king of Israel ; whence it is frequently called " Gib- 
 eah of Saul," 1 Sam. xi. 4 ; xv. 34 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 
 6 ; Isa. x. 29. Gibeah was also famous for its sins ; 
 particularly for tiiat conunittcd by forcing the young 
 Levite's wife, who went to lodge there ; and for the 
 war which succeeded it, to the almost entire exter- 
 mination of the tribe of Benjamin, Judg. xix. Scrip- 
 ture remarks, that this happened at a time when 
 there was no king in Israel, and when every one did 
 what was right ui his own eyes. Gibeah was about 
 seven miles north from Jerusalem, not far from Gibe- 
 on and Kirjatli-jearim. 
 
 II. GIBE Alt. There was another Gibeah in the 
 tribe of Judah, (Josh. xv. 57.) which, for distinction, 
 is written Gibeah, (with an n final in the Hebrew,) 1 
 Chron. ii. 49. 
 
 III. GIBEAH. Another Gibeah, which apper- 
 tained to Phiuehas, is rendered " hill" in our vsrsion, 
 (Josh. xxiv. 33.) where Eleazar was buried ; but in the 
 original it is "Gibeah of Phinehas." 
 
 GIBEON, the capital of the Gibeonites, who hav- 
 ing taken advantage of the oaths of Joshua, and the 
 elders of Isi-ael, which they procured by an artful 
 representation of belonging to a very remote country, 
 (Josh, ix.) were condemneu to labor in carrying 
 wood and water for the tabernacle, as a mark of 
 their pusillanimity and duplicity. Three days afl;er 
 the Gibeonites had thus surrendered to the Hebrews, 
 five of the kings of Canaan besieged the city of Gib- 
 eon ; but Joshua attacked and put them to flight, 
 and pursued them to Bethoron, Josh. x. 3, &c. 
 
 The Gibeonites v/ere descended from the Hivites, 
 and possessed four cities ; Cephirab, Beeroth, Kir- 
 jath-jearim, and Gibeon, their capital ; all of which 
 were given to Benjamin, except Kirjath-jearim, 
 which fell to the lot of Judah. The Gibeonites 
 continued subject to the burdens which Joshua im- 
 posed on tliem, and were very faithful to the Israel- 
 ites ; but Saul, through what enmity we know not, 
 destroye(\ a great number of them, 2 Sam. xxi. 1. In 
 the reign of David, the Lord sent a great famine, 
 which continued for three years, and which, the 
 prophelB informed him, would continue while Saul's 
 cruelty remained unavenged. David therefore per- 
 mitted the Gibeonites to put to death seven of Saul's 
 sons tO avenge the blood of their brethren ; after 
 which the famine ceased. 
 
 From this time there is no mention of the Gibeon- 
 ites, as a distinct people ; but Calmet supposes they 
 were included among the Nethinim, who were ap- 
 pointed for the service of the temple, 1 Chron. ix. 2. 
 Those of the Canaanites, who were afterwards sub- 
 dued, and had their lives spared, were added to the 
 Gibeonites. We see in Ezra viii. 20 ; ii. .58 ; 1 Kings 
 ix. 20, 21. that David, Solomon, and the princes of 
 Judah, gave many such to the Lord ; these Nethinim 
 being carried into captivity with Judah and the Le- 
 vites, many of them returned with Ezra, Zerub- 
 babel, and Nehemiah, and continued, as before, in 
 the service of the temple, under the priests and 
 Levites. 
 
 Gibeon stood on an eminence, as its name imports, 
 and was forty furlongs north from Jerusalem, ac- 
 cording to Josephus. [In 2 Sam. v. 25. it would 
 seem to be called Geba, as compared with 1 Chron. 
 xiv. 16 ; but it is to be distinguished from both Geba 
 and Gibeah, and lay to the northward of tliem. See 
 Geba. R. 
 
 We neither know when, nor by whom, nor on 
 what occasion, the tabernacle and altar of burnt- 
 sacrifices, made by Moses, in the wilderness, were 
 removed to Gibeon ; but towarfl tin? end of David's 
 reign, and in the l)eginning of Solomon's, they were 
 there, 1 Kings iii. 4, 5 ; I Chron. xxi. 29, 30. David, 
 seeing an angel of the Lord at Araunah's thrashing- 
 floor, was so terrified, that he had not time nor strength 
 to go so far as Gibeon, to offer sacrifice. Solomon 
 went to sacrifice at Gibeon, and there the Lord ap- 
 peared to him, 1 Kings iii. 4. 
 
 It is said (2 Sam.ii. 13.) that there was a pool in 
 Gibeon. Whether it were of any considerable ex- 
 tent, does not appear from this passage ; but there is 
 little doubt that it is the samc^ as " the great waters 
 that are in Gibeon," Jer. xli. 12. As this, then, was 
 probably a runnin 5 stream, the discovery of such a 
 one may contribute to distinguish and tuscertain the 
 city. There was also a great stone or rock here, (2
 
 GIL 
 
 [457] 
 
 GIL 
 
 Sam. XX. 8.) and also the great high place, 1 Kings 
 iii. 4. Eiisebius mentions a place called Gibeon, 
 which stood four miles west of Bethel. From Jer. 
 xli. 16, we may infer that after the destruction of Je- 
 rusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Gibeon became again 
 the seat of government. It produced prophets in the 
 days of Jeremiah, Jer. xxviii. 1. 
 
 GIBLITES, Josh. xiii. 5. See Gebal IL 
 GIDEON, son of Joash, ofManasseh; called also 
 Jerubbaal, that is, let Baal see to it, or let Baal contest 
 witli him who has thrown down his altar. After the 
 deaths of Deborah and Barak, the Israelites were 
 cruelly oppressed by Midiaii, for the deliverance 
 from which Gideon had an extraordinary call, which 
 was confirmed by a double miracle. After having 
 destroyed the altar and grove of Baal, he gatliercd 
 together 30,000 troops, for the purpose of attacking 
 the enemy. By divine direction these were reduced 
 first to 10,000, and subsequently to 300 ; with which 
 number Gideon, by stratagem, defeated the JMidian- 
 ites, and delivered Israel from their yoke, Judg. vi. 
 vii. The people of Succoth and Penuel, having re- 
 fused to supjily him and his warriors with bread 
 during his pursuit, were visited with exemplary pun- 
 ishment on his return from battle, viii. 1 — 17. The 
 Israelites after this victory solicited Gideon to become 
 their ruler. This he declined ; but taking the ear- 
 rings of the INIidianites from among the spoils, he 
 made an ephod — which became the occasion of idol- 
 atry to Israel, the cause of Gideon's ruin, and the 
 destruction of his house. He judged Israel nine 
 years, from A. JM. 2759 to 2768. He had 70 sons, 
 who were destroyed by Abimelech, their brother, 
 who afterwards reigned at Shechem, chap. viii. 18 ; 
 ix. 5. 
 
 GIDGAD, a mountain in the vvilderness of Paran, 
 between Bene-jaakan and Jotbathah, where the He- 
 brews encamped. Numb, xxxiii. .32. 
 
 I. GIHON, a fountain south-east of Jerusalem, 
 where Solomon was anointed king by Zadok and 
 Nathan. Ilezekiah ordered the waters of the upper 
 channel of Gihon to be conveyed to the west side of 
 the city, 1 Kings i. 33 ; 2 Cbron. xxxii. 30. It is 
 probably the same fountain which elsewhere is called 
 SiLOAM, which see. 
 
 II. GIHON, the name of one of the four rivers of 
 Paradise, (Gen. ii. 13.) which many have believed, 
 against probability, to be the Nile of Egypt. (See 
 Eden.) The Araxes, which has its source, as well 
 as the Tigris and Euphrates, in the mountains of 
 Armenia, and running with almost incredible ra- 
 pidity, falls into the Caspian sea, is supposed to be 
 the Gihon, which, in Hebrew, signifies — impetuous, 
 rapid, violent. Ecclesiasticus (xxiv. 27.) speaks of 
 the inundations of Gihon, in the time of vintage ; and 
 the Araxes swells towards the latter end of summer, 
 in consequence of the snow upon the mountains of 
 Armenia dissolving about that time. 
 
 GIL BO A, a ridge of mountains, memorable for the 
 defeat and deaths of Saul and Jonathan, (1 Sam. 
 xxxi.) running north of Bethshan or Scythopolis, and 
 forming the western boundary of that part of the 
 valley of the Jordan, between it and the great plain 
 of Esdraelon. They are said to be extremely dry 
 and barren, and are still called, by the Arabs, Djebel 
 Gilbo. (Bibl. Repository, vol. i. p. 599.) 
 
 I. GILEAD, a mountainous district east of the 
 Jordan, and which separated the lands of Amnion, 
 Jloab, Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, from Arabia 
 Deserta. 
 
 Jacob, returning from Mesopotamia, came in six 
 58 
 
 days to the mountains of Gilead, where Laban over- 
 took him, Gen. xxxi. 21. Here they made a cove- 
 nant, and raised a heap of stones as a monument of 
 It. Laban called it Jegar-Sahadutha ; but Jacob 
 called It Gal-haed, the heap of witness; whence 
 came the name Gilead. Eusebius says that mount 
 Gilead reached from Libanus to the land of Sihon, 
 king of the Amorites, which was given to the tribe 
 of Reuben. It must, therefore, have been above 
 seventy leagues from south to north, and have in- 
 cluded the mountains of Bashan, and perhaps, 
 also, those of the Trachonitis, Auran and Her- 
 mon. See also Jer. xxii. 6. Gilead, however, is 
 sometimes put for the whole of the country east of 
 the Jordan, between the river and Arabia. 
 
 The scenery of the mountains of Gilead is de- 
 scribed by Mr. Buckingham as being extremely 
 beautiful. The plains are covered with a fertile soil, 
 the hills are clothed with forests, and at eveiy new 
 turn the most beautiful landscapes that can be im- 
 agined are presented. The Scripture references to 
 the stately oaks and herds of cattle in this region are 
 well known. 
 
 [The name Gilead, as is said above, is sometimes 
 put for the whole country east of the Jordan. Thus 
 in Deut. xxxiv. 1, God is said to have showed Moses 
 from mount Nebo "all the land of Gilead unto Dan." 
 The proper region of Gilead, however, lay south of 
 Bashan, but probably without any very definite line 
 of separation. Bashan and Gilead are often men- 
 tioned together. Josh. xvii. 1, 5; 2 Kings x. 33, <S:c. 
 A i)art of Gilead was the district now called Belka, 
 one of the most fertile in Palestine. See the descrip- 
 tion of it by Burckhardt, inserted under the article 
 Bashan. 
 
 Mount Gilead, in the strictest sense, was doubt- 
 less the mountain now called Djebel Djelaad, or 
 Djebel Djelaoud, mentioned by Burckhardt, (p. 348.) 
 the foot of which lies about two hours' distance, or 
 six miles south of the Wady Zerka, or Jabhok. The 
 mountain itself runs from east to west, and is about 
 two hours and lialf (eight or ten miles) in length. 
 Upon it are the ruined towns of Djelaad and Djelaoud ; 
 probably the site of the ancient city Gilead of Hos. 
 vi. 8 ; elsewhere called Ramoth Gilead. Southward 
 of this mountain stands the modern city of Szalt. It 
 was probably in this mountain where Jacob andLaban 
 set up their monument, as above related. — In Judg. 
 vii. 3, those in the army of Gideon who are fearful, 
 are directed "to depart eai'ly from mount Gilead." 
 Some have, therefore, supposed, that there was an- 
 other mount Gilead near the plain of Esdraelon, where 
 Gideon then was. But there is elsewhere no allusion 
 to such a mountain ; and the hypothesis is unneces- 
 sary. The Hebrevv reads, " Let liim turn back again 
 from mount Gilead," i. e. from Gilead beyond Jordan, 
 whence the Midianites have come up, and whither 
 they must be driven back. *R. 
 
 II. GILEAD, son of Machir, and grandson ofMa- 
 nasseh, received his inheritance in the nioiuitains of 
 Gilead, whence he took his name. Numb. xxvi. 
 29, 30. 
 
 I. GILGAL, a celebrated place between the Jor- 
 dan and Jericho, where the Israelites first encamped, 
 after the jjassage of that river. Josh. v. 9. It con- 
 tinued to be the head-quarters of the Israelites for 
 several years, while Joshua was occupied in subdu- 
 ing the'land. Josh. ix. 6 ; x. 6, 9, 15, 43. A consid- 
 erable city was afterwards built there, (xv. 7.) which 
 became famous for many events. (1.) It was a reli- 
 gious station ; for we read (Judg. ii. 1.) that a " mes-
 
 GIR 
 
 [ 458] 
 
 GLO 
 
 nenger of the Lord came up from Gilgal." Comp. 2 
 Kings ii. 1. (2.) It was a station of justice ; for Sam- 
 uel in his circuit went yearly to Gilgal, 1 Sam. vii. 
 16. (3.) It was where the coronation of Saul was 
 performed, (1 Sam. x. 8 ; comp. 2 Sam. xix. 15, 40.) 
 and therefore a fit place for national business. Sac- 
 rifices were offered at Gilgal, 1 Sam. x. 8 ; Hos. xii. 11. 
 
 Gilgal was named upon the occasion of Joshua 
 circumcising the Israelites who had been wandering 
 during forty years in the wilderness. " The Lord 
 said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the 
 reproach of Egypt from off you : wherefore the 
 name of the place is called Gilgal, unto this day," — 
 the literal meaning of " Gilgal" being roZ/uiff, Josh. v. 
 2 — 9. Here Joshua placed the twelve stones that 
 were taken out of the Jordan, when the waters of 
 that river were miraculously divided, to form a [)as- 
 sage for Israel into the promised laud. The placing 
 of these stones, taken in connection with other simi- 
 lar acts mentioned in the early books of Scripture, 
 presents an interesting subject of inquiry, and leads 
 to conclusions of a singular nature. See Stones. 
 
 II. GILGAL, the city of an ancient Canaanitish 
 king, Josh. xii. 23. It is also mentioned by Moses 
 (Deut. xi. 30.) in order to designate the position of 
 Gerizim and Ebal, and was therefore probably not 
 far from Shechem. Gesenius and others suppose this 
 to be the same with the preceding Gilgal ; but there 
 is no hint that the Gilgal near Jericho was ever tlie 
 seat of a king. (Compare Josh. iv. 19, 20 ; v. 10.) R. 
 
 GILOH, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 51 ; 2 Sam. 
 XV. 12. 
 
 GIMZO, a city in the south of Judah, which the 
 Philistines took from Ahaz, 2 Chron. xxviii. 18. 
 
 GIRDLE. The Hebrews only wore a girdle when 
 at work, or on a journey. At these times, they girt 
 their clothes about them, as the eastern people now 
 do, as appears from many passages of the Old and 
 New Testaments. Our Saviour, preparing himself 
 to wash the feet of his disciples, " girt himself about 
 with a towel," John xiii. 4, 5. Soldiers also had 
 their belts generally girt about them, Ps. xviii. 39. 
 
 Belts were often made of ])recious stuffs. The vir- 
 tuous wife made rich girdles, and sold them to the 
 Canaanite or Phoenician merchants, Prov. xxxi. 24. 
 They were used both by men and women, Ezek. xvi. 
 10. We may judge of their value, by the kings of 
 Persia sometimes giving cities and provinces to their 
 wives, for the expense of their ginlles. (Plato Alcib. 
 Athen. 1.) Our Lord, in the Revelation, (i. 13.) ap- 
 peared to John with a golden girdle ; and the seven 
 angels, who came out of the temple, had similar ones. 
 On the contrary, the prophets, and persons secluded 
 from the world, wore girdles of skin or leather, 2 
 Kings i. 8 ; INIatt. iii. 4. In times of mourning, the 
 Hebrews used girdles of ropes, or sackcloth, as marks 
 of humiliation, Isa. iii. 24 ; xxii. 12. 
 
 The military girdle, or belt, of the Hebrews, did 
 not come over the slioulder, as among the Greeks, 
 but was worn upon the loins ; whence the expression 
 of "sword girded on the loins." They were gene- 
 rally rich ; and sometimes given as rewards to sol- 
 diers^2 Sam. xviii. 11. Job, exalting the power of 
 God, says, " He loosetlf the bond of kings, and gird- 
 eth their loins with a girdle," (chap. xii. 18.) where 
 we observe two kinds of girdles, (1.) the royal cinc- 
 ture ; (2.) the ordinary girdle. The girdle was used 
 as a purse, (Matt. x. 9; Hag. i. 6.) where the English 
 version has purse. 
 
 GIRGASHITES, see Gergesenes, and Canaan- 
 ITE9, p. 243. 
 
 GITH, a grain, by the Greeks called Melanthion, 
 by the Latins Nigella, because it is black. In our 
 tjanslation fitches or vetches, which see. 
 
 GITTITES, the inhabitants of Gath, Josh. xiii. 3. 
 Obed-Edom and Ittai are called Gittites, (2 Sam. vi. 
 10; XV. 19.) probably, because they visited David at 
 Gath, or because they were natives of Gittaim, a city 
 of Benjamin, 2 Sam. iv. 3. 
 
 GITTAIM, a town of Beniamin, 2 Sam. iv. 3; 
 Seh. xi. 33. 
 
 GITTITH, a word which occurs frequently in the 
 titles of the Psalms. The conjectures of interpreters 
 as to its import are various. Some think it signifies 
 a sort of musical instrument, invented at Gath ; oth- 
 ers that the Psalms with this title were sung during 
 the vintage. The word Gath, from which this is 
 the feminine gentile form, signifies wine-press. 
 
 GLEANING. The Hebrews were not permitted 
 to go over their trees or fields a second time, to gath- 
 er the fi-uit or the grain, but were to leave the glean- 
 ings for the poor, the fatherless, and the widow, Lev. 
 xix. 10 ; xxiii. 22 ; Deut. xxiv. 21. 
 
 GLORY, splendor, magnificence. The glory of 
 God, in the writings of Moses, denotes, generally, the 
 Divine presence, Exod. xxiv. 9, 10, 16, 17. Moses, 
 with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Is- 
 rael, went up mount Sinai, and "saw the glory of the 
 Lord." The glory of the Lord appeared (Exod. xvi. 
 7, 10.) to Israel in the cloud, also, when he gave them 
 manna and quails. Moses having earnestly begged 
 of God to reveal his glory to him, was answered that 
 he could not see his face and hve, Exod. xxxiii. 
 18, 22. 
 
 The ark of God is called the glorv of Israel ; and 
 the glory of God, (1 Sam. iv. 21, 22; Ps. xxvi. 8.) 
 and Calmet remarks that the Psalmist calls his in- 
 struments of music his glory, in Ps. xxx. 12 ; Ivii. 8, 
 but he perhaps rather means, his voice, his tongue. 
 The priestly ornaments are called " garments of 
 glory," (Exod. xxviii. 2, 40.) and the sacred vessels, 
 "vessels of glory," 1 Mac. ii. 9, 12. When the 
 prophets describe the conversion of the Gentiles, 
 they say, "the glory of the Lord" shall fill all the 
 earth ; or, the whole earth shall see " tlie glory of the 
 Lord." Paul terms the happiness of believers, "the 
 glory of the sons of God," Rom. v. 2 ; 2 Cor. iv. &c. 
 When the Hebrews required an oath of any man, 
 they said, " Give glory to God :" confess the truth, 
 give him glory, confess that God knows the most 
 secret thoughts, the very bottom of your hearts, Josh, 
 vii. 19 ; John ix. 24. " Children's children are the 
 crown of old men, and the glory of children are their 
 fathers," Prov. xvii. 6. "AVonian is the gloiy of 
 man," 1 Cor. xi. 7. 
 
 When God thought fit to call his servant Moses to 
 himself, he directed him to go up to mount Abarim. 
 And the Lord commanded him to take Joshua, say- 
 ing, "He is a man in whom is the spirit; lay thine 
 hand upon him, and set him before Eleazar, and be- 
 fore all the congregation, and give him a charge in 
 their sight. And thou shalt put some of thine honor 
 [Heb. gloiy] on him," Numb, xxvii. 20. The ques- 
 tion is, what was this glory ? Onkelos, and some rab- 
 bins, are of opinion, that Moses imparted to him that 
 lustre which surrounded his countenance after his 
 conversation with God ; that is, a part of it, Exod. 
 xxxiv. 29. Moses, they say, shincd like the sun, 
 and Joshua like the moon. But it may be better un- 
 derstood of that authority of which he stood in need, 
 for the government committed to him. 3Ioses gave 
 him his orders and instructions, that he might acquit
 
 GNA 
 
 [ 459 
 
 GO A 
 
 himself with dignity and honor. Part of his official 
 dress, also, which was proper to confer a kind of 
 glory, in the eyes of the multitude, might have been 
 given to him. 
 
 GNAT, a small insect well known. Several com- 
 mentators differ from our translators in the only 
 place where the latter use the word giiat (Matt. xxii. 
 §4.) by introducing another insect, more immediately 
 referable, as they suppose, to the subject there in- 
 tended. (See Camel.) — On the other hand the LXX, 
 Wisdom, Philo, Origen, and Jerome, consider the 
 insects which produced the plague translated of lice, 
 (Exod. viii. 16.) as rather being effected by gnats. It 
 will be remarked, that the miracles performed in 
 Egypt refer mostly, if not entirely, to the ^vater, and 
 to the air; gnats would be a mixture of both. Barbut 
 says of these creatures, "Before they turn to flying 
 insects, they have been in some manner fishes, under 
 two different forms. We observe in stagnant waters, 
 from the beginning of ]May till winter, small grubs, 
 with their heads downwards, their hinder parts on 
 the surface of the water ; from which part arises 
 sideways a kind of vent-hole, or small hollow tube, 
 like a funnel, and this is the organ of respiration. 
 The head is armed with hooks, that serve to seize 
 insects and bits of grass, on which it feeds. On the 
 sides are placed four small fins, by the help of which 
 the insect swims about, and dives to the bottom. 
 These larvae retain their form during a fortnight O}- 
 three weeks, after which period they turn to chrysa- 
 lids. All the parts of the winged insect are distin- 
 guishable through the outward robe that shrouds 
 them. The chrysalids are rolled up into spirals. 
 The situation and shape of the windpipe is then al- 
 tered ; it consists of two tubes near the head, which 
 occupy the place of the stigmata, through which the 
 winged insect is one day to breathe. After three or 
 four days' strict fasting, they pass to the state of gnats. 
 A moment before water was its element ; but now, 
 become an aerial insect, he can no longer exist in it. 
 He swells his head and bursts his enclosure. The 
 robe he lately wore turns to a ship, of which the in- 
 sect is the mast and sail. If at the instant the gnat 
 displays his wings there arises a breeze, it proves to 
 him a dreadful hurricane ; the water gets into the 
 ship, and the insect, who is not yet loosened from it, 
 sinks, and is lost. But in calm weather the gnat 
 foi-sakes his slough, dries himself, flies into the air, 
 and seeks to pump the ahmentary juice of leaves, or 
 the blood of man and beasts. It is impossible to be- 
 hold, and not admire, the amazing structure of its 
 sting, which is a tube, containing five or six spicula, 
 of exquisite minuteness ; some dentated at their ex- 
 tremity like the head of an arrow, others sharp-edged 
 like razors. These spicula introduced into the veins, 
 act as i)ump-suckers, into which the blood ascends 
 by reason of the smallness of the capillary tubes. 
 The insect injects a small quantity of liquor into the 
 wound, by which the blood becomes more fluid, and 
 is seen through the microscope passing through those 
 spicula. The animal swells, grows red, and does not 
 quit its hold till it has gorged itself. The female de- 
 posits her eggs on the water by the help of her mov- 
 able hinder part and her legs, placing them one by 
 the side of another, in the form of a little boat. This 
 vessel, composed of two or three hundred eggs, 
 swims on the water for two or tiiree days, after 
 which they are hatched. If storms arise, the boats 
 are sunk. Every month there is a fresh progeny of 
 these insects. Were they not devoured by swallows, 
 by other birds, and by several carnivorous insects, 
 
 the air would be darkened by them. Gnats, in this 
 country, however troublesome, do not bite so severe- 
 ty as the musketoe-flies of foreign parts. Both by day 
 and night these insects enter houses, and when peo- 
 ple are in bed and would sleep, they begin their 
 disagreeable humming noise ; by degrees they ap- 
 proach the bed, and often fill themselves with blood, 
 sucked from the suffering sleeper. Their bite causes 
 blisters in people of any delicacy. Cold weather 
 diminishes their activitj' ; but after rain they gather in 
 quantities truly astonishing. In the great heats of 
 summer, the air seems to be full of them. In some 
 places the inhabitants make fires before their houses 
 to expel these troublesome guests. Nevertheless, 
 they accompany the cattle when driven home ; and 
 they enter in swarms wherever they can. Forskal 
 describes the stinging gnat as being of the size and 
 general appearance of the common humming gnat. 
 "At Rosetta, Cairo, and Alexandria, are immense 
 multitudes ; they disturb sleep at night ; and can 
 hardly be kept out, unless the curtains be carefully 
 closed." Hasselquist says, (at Cairo,) "It was not in 
 the power of our janissary to protect us from the 
 gnats, so great are their numbers. The rice fields are 
 their breeding places, and they lay their eggs in a 
 marshy soil. They are smaller than those of Egypt, 
 but their sting is sharper; and the itching they cause 
 is insupportable. They are ash-colored, and have 
 white spots on the articulation of the legs." Sir R. 
 Wilson affirms, their bite was particularly venomous, 
 especially near Rosetta. " IMany of those disagreea- 
 ble animals, the Egyptians may say, are also inmates 
 of Europe, but in no other country are they so nu- 
 merous or so voracious as in Egypt." (Exped. Egypt, 
 p. 252.) 
 
 The reader will judge from these representations, 
 whether the gnat do not bid fair to be the Hebi-ew 
 aj3, Cinnim ; being winged, it would spread over a 
 district or counti*y, with equal ease as over a village 
 or a city, and would be equally terrible to cattle as to 
 men. It seems also to precede the dog-fly, or zimb, 
 with great propriety. (See Fly.) It should be added, 
 that the gnat abounds not in gi-eat rivers, but in 
 ditches, ponds, and repositories of water. Moses, 
 therefore, did not strike the hill, but clods of earth, as 
 the word rendered dust may import. 
 
 GNOSTICS. This name is not in the sacred 
 writings ; but the apostles Peter and Paul, in their 
 epistles, if they did not attack the heretics who after- 
 wards were known by this name, did certainly op- 
 pose those principles which afterwards produced the 
 Gnostic heresy. They professed to enjoy a higher 
 degree of gnosis, knowledge ; and regarded all those 
 who held to a literal interpretation of the Scriptures, 
 as simple and ignorant. (Comp. 1 Tim. i. 3 ; iii. 2.) 
 
 I. GOAT, (ij", -!•'>'"',) a well known animal, which 
 was used imder the law both tor food and for sacri- 
 fice. — The following is from Harme^ : — " Dr. Russell 
 observed two sorts of goats about Aleppo : one that 
 differed little from the common sort in Britain ; the 
 other remarkable for the length of its ears. ' The 
 size of the animals,' he tells us, 'is somewhat larger 
 than oui-s, but their ears are often a foot long, and 
 l)road in proportion. They were kept chiefly for 
 their milk, of which they yielded no inconsiderable 
 quantity.' (}). 52.) The present race of goats in the 
 vicinity of Jerusalem are, it seems, of this broad- 
 eared species, as I have been assured by a gen- 
 tleman that lately visited the Holy Land, (in 1774,) 
 who was struck with the difference between the 
 goats there, and those that he saw in countries not
 
 GOAT 
 
 460 ] 
 
 GOAT 
 
 far distant from Jerusalem. * They are,' he says, 
 ' black, black and white, and some gray, with re- 
 maikable long eai's, rather larger and longer than 
 our Welch goats.' This kind of animal, he observed, 
 in some neighboring places, differed greatly from the 
 above description, those of Balbec in particular, 
 which were generally, if not always, so far as he ob- 
 served, of the other species. These last, I presume, 
 are of the sort common in Great Britain, as those 
 about Jerusalem are mostly of the long-eared kind ; 
 and it should seem they were of the same long-eared 
 kind that were kept anciently in Judea, from the 
 words of the prophet, 'As the shepherd taketh out of 
 the mouth of the lion, two legs, or apiece of an ear: 
 so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell 
 
 in Samaria and in Damascus,' Amos iii. 12. 
 
 Though it is, indeed, the intention of the prophet to 
 express the smallness of that partof Israel that escaped 
 from destruction, and were seated in foreign coun- 
 tries ; jet it would liave been hardly natiu'al to have 
 supposed a shepherd would exert liimself to make a 
 lion quit a piece only of an ear of a common goat ; it 
 must be supposed, I should think, to refer to the 
 large-eared kind. It is rather amusing to the im- 
 agination, and a subject of speculation, that the same 
 species of goats should chiefly prevail about Jerusa- 
 lem, and the other at Balbec ; and that what are now 
 chiefly kej)t in the Holy Land, should have been the 
 same species that were reared there two thousand 
 five hundred years ago. Is it the nature of the 
 country, or the quality of the feed of it, that is the 
 occasion of the continuance of this breed, without 
 deviation, from very rrmote times ? Rauwolff ob- 
 served goats about Jerusalem with hanging ears, al- 
 most two feet long; (p. 234.) but he neither mentions 
 their being all, or mostly, of that species, nor that it 
 is another species that is most commonly kept in some 
 of the neighboring countries. 
 
 " Whether the kids of the two species are equally 
 delicious, travellers have not informed us ; but it ap- 
 pears from the Hariri, a celebrated writer of Meso- 
 potamia, that some kinds at least are considered as a 
 delicacy ; for, describing a person's breaking in upon 
 a great pretender to mortification, he foimd him with 
 one of his disciples entertaining themselves in much 
 satisfaction with bread made of the finest of flour, with 
 a roasted kid, and a vessel of wine before them. 
 This last is an indulgence forbidden by tlie Mahome- 
 tans, and with bread of the finest flour, proves that a 
 roasted kid is looked upon as a very great delicacy. 
 Tliis shows in what light we are to consider the 
 gratification proposed to be sent to Tamar, (Gen. 
 xxxviii. IG, 17.) the present made by Samson to his 
 intended bride ; (Judg. xv. 1.) and what was the com- 
 plaint made by the elder brother of the prodigal son, 
 that liis father had never given him a kid to entertain 
 his friends with : he might have enabled him to give 
 them some slight repast ; but never qualified him to 
 treat them with such a delicacy, Luke xv. 29." 
 
 The word goat is sometimes used metaphorically. 
 Om- Saviour says, that "at the day of judgment, the 
 goats [the wickcfl, the reprobate] shall be placed on 
 the left hand, and condemned to eternal fire," Matt. 
 XXV. 3^, 41. (See also Zech. x. 3; Isa. xiv. 3 in the 
 Heb. J or. 1.8.) 
 
 In Lev. xvii. 7, God commands that all animals, 
 designed to be sacrificed, shall be brought to the door 
 of the tabernacle : " And they shall no more offer 
 their sacrifice unto devils [literally, to goats] after 
 whom they have gone a whoring." 2 Chron. xi. 15, 
 says, "Jeroboam established priests for the hin-h 
 
 places, and for the goats and the calves he had made." 
 The Israelites would therefore seem to have made 
 the goat an object of idolatrous worship, like the 
 Egyptians. Herodotus says, (lib. i. cap. 46.) that at 
 Meiides, in Lower Egypt, both the male and female 
 goat were worshipped ; that the god Pan had the 
 face and thighs of a goat ; not that they believed 
 him to be of this figure, but because it had been cus- 
 tomary to represent him thus. They paid divine 
 honors, also, to real goats, as appears in the table of 
 Isis. The abominations committed during the feasts 
 of these infamous deities arc well known. 
 
 II. GOAT, Scape-Goat. On the great day of 
 expiation, the elders of the people presented two 
 goats, as offerings, for the sins of all Israel ; of which, 
 one was to be slain, the other banished into the wil- 
 derness ; as the lot determined. The latter was the 
 Azazel, or scape-goat, which, thus liberated, yet 
 loaded with the imprecations of the high-priest, ex- 
 pressing the sins of all the people, was like those 
 animals which the heathen consecrated to some of 
 their deities and then set at hberty. 
 
 The following ceremonies, the Jews say, were ob- 
 served relating to the scape-goat. Two goats were 
 led into the inner court of the temple, and presented 
 to the high-priest on the north side of the altar of 
 burnt-oflferings ; one being placed on his right, the 
 other on bis left hand. An mm was then brought 
 and set down between them, and two lots were cast 
 into it, of wood, silver, or gold, (under the second 
 temple, always of the last.) On one lot was en- 
 graved, ybr the Lord, on the other, ybr Azazel. After 
 the urn had been well shaken, the high-priest put 
 both his hands at once into it, and in each hand 
 drew out a lot ; that in his right hand decided the 
 fate of the goat placed on his right, — that in his left, 
 of the goat on his lefl hand. The Jews relate, that 
 during the whole pontificate of Simon the Just, the 
 lot which he drew with his right hand, was always 
 that inscribed for the Lord, which was taken as a 
 happy omen ; but after his death, sometimes the lot 
 for the Lord was in the right hand, sometimes in the 
 left. After drawing these lots, the high-priest fast- 
 ened a long fillet, or narrow piece of scarlet, to the 
 head of Azazel, the scape-goat. Under Simon the 
 Just, the Jews say, this piece appeared always white, 
 which was a divine favor, signifying that God grant- 
 ed the people remission of sins ; whereas, imder 
 other high-priests, it appeared sometimes white, and 
 sometimes of its natural color, scarlet. To this, they 
 apply the words of Isaiah : " Though their sins were 
 as scarlet, they shall be white as snow," &c. After 
 the sacrifice of that goat, which the lot had deter- 
 mined for the Lord, the sca])e-goat was brought to 
 the high-priest, who putting both his hands on its 
 head, confessed his own sins, and those of the people. 
 It is then supposed to have been taken into the wil- 
 derness by some fit person, and left on the brink of a 
 precipice, at a great distance from Jerusalem ; thus, 
 figuratively, carrying aw'ay with it all the sins of the 
 people of Israel, 
 
 The following curious ceremony, related by Mr. 
 Bruce, presents a striking relation to that of the 
 scape-goat : — 
 
 " We found that, upon some discussion, the garri- 
 son and townsmen had been fighting for several days, 
 in which disorders the greatest part of the ammuni- 
 tion in the town had been expended ; but it had 
 since been agreed on by the old men of both ))arties, 
 that nobody had been to blame on either side, but 
 the whole wrong was the work of a camel. A came),
 
 GOAT 
 
 [ 401 ] 
 
 GOAT 
 
 therefore, was seized, and brought ivithout the town, 
 and there a number on both sides having met, they 
 upbraided the camel with every thing that liad been 
 either said or done. The camel had killed men ; he 
 had tlireatened to set the town on fire ; the camel had 
 threatened to burn the aga's house, and the castle ; 
 he had cursed the grand signior, and the sheriffe 
 of jMecca; (the sovereigns of the two parties;) and, 
 the only thing the |)oor animal was interested in, he 
 had tlireatened to destroy the wheat that was going 
 to Mecca. After having spent great part of the af- 
 ternoon in upbraiding the camel, whose measure of 
 iniquity, it seems, was nearly full, each man thrust 
 him through with a lance, devoting him, diis manihus 
 et dins, bj' a kind of prayer, and with a thousand 
 curses upon his head. After wliich every man re- 
 tired, fully satisfied as to the wrongs he had received 
 from the camel ! The reader will easily observe in 
 this some traces of the Azazel, or scape-goat of the 
 Jews, which was turned out into the wilderness 
 loaded with the sins of the people, Levit. xvi. 21." 
 Such is the remark of Mr. Bruce, to which it is not 
 necessary to add. We remember an account of the 
 Hindoo ^ishummed Jug, or sacrifice of a horse, which 
 is greatly analogous to the above. 
 
 III. GOAT, Wild Goat. {'?-;\) There are three 
 places in Scripture where an animal of the goat kind 
 IS mentioned, either directly or by allusion, which it 
 is desirable to identify. — (1.) 1 Sam. xxiv. 2, "Saul 
 went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the 
 wild goats :" literally, on the superfices, or on the face 
 of the rocks of the yr'-tlim. (2.) Ps. civ. 18, "The 
 high mountains to the ibices are a refuge ; rocks are 
 the refuge to the saphanim." But (3.) there is a 
 third passage, (Job xxxix. 1.) where this creature is 
 more distinctly referred to, and its manners described 
 at greater length : in our translation, " Knowestthou 
 the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth ? 
 Canst thou mark when the hinds do calve ? Canst 
 thou number the months they fulfil? or, knowest 
 thou the time when they bring forth ? They bow 
 themselves ; they bring forth their young ones ; they 
 cast out their sorrows. Their young ones are in 
 good liking ; they grow up with corn : they go forth, 
 and return not to them." (4.) A fourth passage (Prov. 
 V. 19.) presents this creature (the yd-ulah,) in a femi- 
 nine form : " Let thy wife be as the loving hind, and 
 the pleasant roe." 
 
 These two last passages seem to be unhappily ren- 
 dered : for (1.) what is in one, the wild goat of the 
 rocks, is in the other, the pleasant roe ; a creature 
 so very different, that one rendering or the other 
 must be erroneous ; (2.) the wild goat of the rocks is 
 said to nourish its young with corn ; but corn is not 
 cultiv-ated on or about the rocks where these wild 
 goats are found ; and still more unfortunately, the ori- 
 ginal word, if taken in the sense of corn, denotes corn 
 which has been thrashed, and stripped of its husk : a 
 state of preparation every way ill associated with the 
 barrenness intended to be described, as marking the 
 residence of the wild goats of the rocks. We may, 
 without scruple, take the word for the ibex, or rock- 
 goat ; and to this agree all the manners attributed to 
 the creature in Scripture ; which describes it as in- 
 habiting rocks and mountains, and of a strongly affec- 
 tionate disposition. 
 
 It is proper in the first place to discharge the pas- 
 sage in Jol) from its corn ; in fact, the word render- 
 ed corn [bar, -\2] signifies a wild desert place, an ojien 
 clear country ; a roaming track. So, in Dan. ii. 38, 
 animals of a wild country have the epithet bar ; and 
 
 the Targums use it frequently in this sense ; bar and 
 bara, in the Chaldee form. This correction leads to 
 a different view of the passage. 
 
 Knowest thou the time of delivery of the ibices of 
 the rock ? 
 
 And the parturition of the hinds hast thou noted? 
 
 Hast thou numbered the months they fulfil? 
 
 And knowest thou the period when they bring forth? 
 
 They bow themselves ; they discharge their concep- 
 tions ; 
 
 They cast forth their burdens ; 
 
 Their offspring increase in strength ; 
 
 They augment in size in the wilds. 
 
 They go of!', and return to them [their dams] no more. 
 
 This paragraph, then, it appears, forms the con- 
 tinuation of one inquiry ; a representation perfectly 
 accordant throughout, which agrees Avith matter of 
 fact, and is therefore entitled to be received as 
 correct. The ibex being extremely rare, and inhab- 
 iting the highest and almost inaccessible mountains, 
 the descriptions of it have been very inaccurate and 
 confused. For the best description of its nature and 
 manners we are indebted to Dr. Girtanner and M. 
 Van Berchem. 
 
 From the information communicated by these two 
 writers, we learn that the ibex is now chiefly found 
 ujjou that chain of mountains which stretches from 
 Daiiphine through Savoy to the confines of Italy, 
 and principally on the Alps bordering on Mont 
 Blanc, which is the most elevated part of the chain. 
 Naturalists agi-ee in taking the specific character of 
 the ibex from the beard and the horns, which they 
 describe as knobbed along the upper or anterior sur- 
 face, and reclining towards the back. The male is 
 larger than the tame goat, but resembles it in the 
 outer form. The head is small in proportion to the 
 body, with the muzzle thick and compressed, and a 
 little arched. The eyes are large, round, and have 
 much fire and brilliancy. The horns are large, when 
 of a full size, weighing sometimes sixteen or eighteen 
 pounds, flatted before and rounded behind, with one 
 or two longitudinal ridges, and many transverse 
 ridges ; which degenerate towards the tip into knobs. 
 The color is dusky brown ; the beard long, tawny, 
 or duskj'. The legs slender, with hoofs short, hol- 
 low on the inside, and on the outside terminated by 
 a salient border, like those of the chamois. The 
 body is short, thick, and strong ; the tail short, naked 
 underneath, and the rest covered with long hairs, 
 white at the base and sides, black above and at the 
 end. The coat is long, but not ])cndant, ash-colorcd, 
 mixed -.vitli some hoary hairs ; a black list runs along 
 the back; and there is a black sjiot above and below 
 the knees. Its color, however, like that of other 
 animals, must necessarily vary according to its age 
 and to local circumstances. The female is one third 
 smaller than the male, and not so corpulent ; her 
 color is less tawny ; her horns are very small, and 
 not above eight inches long. In these, and in her 
 figure, she resembles a goat that has been castrated 
 while young. She has Wo teats, like the tame she- 
 goat, and never has any beard, unless perhaps in an 
 advanced age. 
 
 In a state of tranquillity, the ibex commonly carries 
 the head low ; but in running it holds it high, and 
 even bends it a little forward. It mounts a perpen- 
 dicular rock of fifteen feet at three leaps, or rather 
 three successive bounds. It does not seem as if it 
 found any footing on the rock, appearing to touch it
 
 GOAT 
 
 [ 462 ] 
 
 GOAT 
 
 merely to be repelled, like an elastic substance strik- 
 ing against a hard body. If it be between two rocks 
 which are near each other, and want to reach the 
 top, it leaps from the side of one rock to the other, 
 alternately, till it has attained the summit. 
 
 The ibices feed, during the night, in the highest 
 woods ; but as soon as the sun begins to gild the 
 summits, they quit the woody region, and mount, 
 feeding in their progress, till they have reached the 
 most considerable heights. They betake themselves 
 to the sides of the mountains which face the east or 
 south, and lie down in the highest places and hottest 
 exposures ; biU when the sun has finished njore than 
 three quarters of its course, they again begin to feed, 
 and to descend towards the woods ; to which they 
 retire when it is likely to snow, and wliere they al- 
 ways pass the wiiuer. They assemble in flocks, 
 consisting at the most often, twelve or fifteen ; or in 
 smaller numbers, according to iVI. Van Berchem ; 
 but Burckhardt says, of forty or fifty. 
 
 The females go with young five months, and pro- 
 duce in the last week of June, or the first of July. At 
 the time of parturition they separate from the males, 
 retire to the side of some rill, and generally bring 
 forth only one yoimg, though some naturalists aflirm 
 that they occasionally produce two. The female 
 shows much attachment to her young, and even de- 
 fends it against eagles, wolves, and other oiemies ; 
 she takes refuge in some cavern, and presenting her 
 head at the entrance of the hole, thus opposes the 
 enemy. 
 
 The season for hunting the ibex istoAvards the end 
 of summer, and in autiunn, during the months of 
 August and September, when they are usually in 
 good condition. None but the inhabitants of the 
 mountains engage in the chase ; for it requires not 
 only a head that can bear to look down from the 
 greatest heights without terror, address and sure- 
 footedness in the most difficult and dangerous passes, 
 and to be an excellent marksman, but also much 
 strength and vigor to supi)ort hunger, cold, and pro- 
 digious fatigue. 
 
 The reader will gather from these accounts, that 
 the rock-goat feeds on plants sufficiently distinct from 
 the nature of corn ; insomuch that corn may be con- 
 sidered as the food allotted by Providence for the 
 support of its young. Also, that the time of its gesta- 
 tion is known — being five months. But, direct proof 
 is still wanting of the afTcctionatc constancy of the 
 female ibex, which it has been supposed might be the 
 reference intended in Prov. v. 19. However, the 
 general natiu'e and habits of both sexes of this rock- 
 goat arc undoubtedly so similar, that the circumstan- 
 tial evidence to this effect is little short of ])ositive 
 testimony. Moreover, Pennant informs us, that " the 
 females at the time of parturition separate from the 
 males, and retire to the sific of some rill, to bring 
 foitli." This looks as if the females usually kept 
 company with the males ; and where the creature is 
 scarce, it is proliable they associate in pairs. Neither 
 is this probability diminished by observing that the 
 female ibex has usually one kid, very rarely two. 
 This, if admissible, sets aside the objection of Mi- 
 chaelis, who says, "The only passage, where nSj" 
 may appear not to agree with the iliex, is Prov. v. 19. 
 Tills difticulty may be removed, if it be possible, or 
 customary, among the orientals, to consider the fe- 
 male ibex as an emblem of a beautiful woman ; but 
 I cannot conceive how an animal so uncomely can, 
 in any language, be adopted as an image of the fair 
 sex." (Quest. No. 81.) 
 
 There is another species of ibex, the horns of 
 which are smooth. It inhabits the mountains of 
 Caucasus and Taurus, all Asia Minor, and perhaps 
 the mountains of India. It abounds on the inhos- 
 pitable hills of Laar and Khorasan in Persia. It is 
 an animal of vast agility, forMonardus saw onfe leap 
 from a high tower, and fall on its horns ; then 
 springing on its legs, leap about, without having re- 
 ceived the least hurt. Pennant thinks this may be 
 the origin of the tame goat. The female of this kind 
 is either destitute of horns, or has short ones. 
 
 [The S;"i, ydel, of Scripture, is doubtless the ibex or 
 mountain-goat, several families of which still feed 
 upon the scanty vegetation of the mountains in the 
 peninsula of Sinai. It is the Capra Jlrabic a, and is 
 called by the Arabs Beden. They exist also in great 
 numbers in the mountains east and south of the 
 Dead sea, the ancient moimt Seir. The following 
 account of them is from Burckhardt: (Travels in 
 Syria, «fcc. p. 405.) " In all the wadys south of the 
 ]>Iodjeb (Arnon,) and j)articularly in those of the 
 Modjeb and El Ahsa, large herds of mountain-goats, 
 called by the Arabs Beden, are met with. This is 
 the Steinbock, or Bouquetin, of the Swiss and Tyrol 
 Alps ; they pasture in flocks of forty or fifty together ; 
 great numbers of them are killed by the people of 
 Kerek and Tafyle, who hold their flesh in high esti- 
 mation. They sell the large knotty horns to the 
 Hebrew merchants, who carry them to Jerusalem, 
 where they are wrought into handles for knives and 
 daggers. I saw a pair of these horns at Kerek three 
 feet and a half in length. The Arabs told me that 
 it is very difficult to get a shot at them, and that the 
 hunters hide themselves among the reeds on the 
 banks of streams, where the animals resort in the 
 evening to drink. They also asserted, that, when 
 )iursued, they will throw themselves from a height of 
 fifty feet and more uj)on their heads without receiv- 
 ing any injury. The same thing is asserted by the 
 hunters in the Alps." 
 
 The same traveller relates the following incident 
 in ascending mount St. Catharine, adjacent to mount 
 Sinai, on the south-west: (p. 571.) "As we ap- 
 proached the summit of the mouiUain, we saw at a 
 distance a small flock of inoiunain-goats feeding 
 among the rocks. One of our Arabs left us, and by 
 a widely circuitous route endeavored to get to the 
 leeward of them, and near enough to fire at them; 
 he enjoined us to remain in sight of them, and to sit 
 down in order not to alarm them. He had nearly 
 reached a favorable spot behind a rock, when the 
 goats suddenly took to flight. They could not have 
 seen the Arab ; but the wind changed, and thus they 
 smelt him. The chase of the Beden, as the wild goat 
 is called, resembles that of the chamois of the Alps, 
 and requires as much enterprise and patience. The 
 Arabs make long circuits to snr])rise them, and en- 
 deavor to come upon them early in the morning, 
 when they feed. The goats have a leader, who keeps 
 watch, and on any sus])icious smell, sound, or object, 
 makes a noise, which is a signal to the flock to make 
 their escape. They have much decreased of late, if 
 we may believe the Arabs; who say that fifty years 
 ago, if a stranger came to a tent, and the owner of it 
 liad no shec]) to kill, he took his gun and went in 
 search of a Beden. They are, however, even now 
 more common here than in the Al|is, or in the moun- 
 tains to the east of the Red sea. I had three or four 
 of them brought to me at the convent, which I bought 
 at three fomths of a dollar each. The flesh is excel- 
 lent, and has nearly the same flavor as that of the
 
 GOD 
 
 463 ] 
 
 GOL 
 
 deer. The Bedouins make water-bags of their skins, 
 and rings of their liorns, which they wear on their 
 thumbs. When the Beden is met with in the plains, 
 the dogs of the hunters easilj^ catch him ; but they 
 cannot come up with him among the rocks, where 
 he can make leaps of twenty feet." *R. 
 
 GOATS' HAIR was used by Moses in making 
 the curtains of the tabernacle, Exod. xxv. 4, &c. 
 The liair of the goats of Asia, Phrygia, and Cilicia, 
 which is cut off, in order to manufacture stuffs, is 
 very bright and fine, and hangs to the ground ; in 
 beauty it almost equals silk, and is never sheared, but 
 combed off. The shepherds carefully and frequent- 
 ly wash these goats in rivers. The women of the 
 country spin the hair, which is carried to Angora, 
 where it is worked and dyed, and a considerable 
 trade in the article carried on. The natives attribute 
 the quality of the hair to the soil of the country. 
 
 GOB, a plain where two battles were fought be- 
 tween the Hebrews and Philistines, 2 Sam. xxi. 18, 19. 
 In 1 Chron. xx. 4, we read Gezer instead of Gob. 
 The LXX, in some copies, read Nob instead of Gob; 
 and in others, Gath. 
 
 GOD. This name we give to that eternal, infinite, 
 and incomprehensible Being, the Creator of all things; 
 vviio preserves and governs all, by his almighty power 
 and wisdom, and is the only proper object of worship. 
 God, properly speaking, can have no name ; for as 
 he is one, and not subject to those individual quali- 
 ties which distinguish men, and on wliich the differ- 
 ent denominations given to them arc founded, he 
 needs not any name to distinguish him from others, 
 or to jnark a difference between him and any, since 
 there is none like him. The names, therefore, w hich 
 we ascribe to him, are descriptions or epithets, wiiich 
 express our sense of his divine perfections, in terms 
 necessarily ambiguous, because they are borrowed 
 from liuman life or conceptions ; rather than true 
 names which justly represent his nature. (See Elohi.) 
 The Hebrews call God, Jehovah, or Jaho, which 
 they never pronounce ; substituting for it, Adonai, or 
 Elohim ; lords, masters : or El, strong : or Shaddai : or 
 Elion, the Most High : or El-Sabaoth, God of Hosts : 
 or Jail, God. In Exod. iii. 13, 14, the angel who 
 spoke in God's name, said to Moses, " Thus shalt 
 thou say, I AM hath sent me unto you :" I am He 
 who is ; or, I shall ever be He who shall be. See 
 Jehovah and Name. 
 
 GODLY, that which proceeds from God, and is 
 pleasing to him. It also signifies conformity to his 
 will, and an assimilation to his character, Ps. xii. 1 ; 
 Mai. ii. 15; 2 Cor. i. 12; Tit. ii. 12, &c. 
 
 GODS, False Gods. The name of God (Elohim) 
 is very ambiguous in the Hebrew Scriptures. The 
 true God is often called Elohim ; as are the angels, 
 judges, and sometimes idols and false gods. (See Gen. 
 L 1 ; Exod. xxii. 20 ; Ps. Ixxxvi. 8, also the follow- 
 ing passages in the Hebrew: Exod. xxi. 6; xxii. 8; 
 1 Sam. ii. 25; Exod. xxii. 28.) Josephus and Philo 
 beheve, that Moses, in the last passage, designed to 
 forbid the speaking evil of strange gods. Good Is- 
 raelites had so great an aversion and contempt for 
 strange gods, that they would not name them ; but 
 substituted some term of contempt : so, instead of 
 z-—'y, Elohim, they called them a'''?^'^N, elilim, nothings, 
 vanities, gods of no value. Sometimes they called 
 idols, ordwes ; Heb. c^iSj, gUhilitn. God forbids the 
 Israelites from swearing by strange gods, or pro- 
 nouncing their names in oaths, Exod. xxiii. 13. 
 Moses says, that the Israelites worshipped strange 
 gods, whom they knew not, and whom he had not 
 
 given to them, (Deut. xxix. 26.) gods who were not 
 their own ; gods to whom they did not belong ; 
 which increases the ingratitude, and the crime of 
 their rebellion. The Hebrew may be translated, 
 " strange gods, and who had given them nothing;" 
 When w-e compare this passage with others of 
 Scripture, God seems to have abandoned other na- 
 tions to strange gods, to the stars, to their idols, but 
 to have reserved his own people to himself; not that 
 he hereby excuses the idolatry of other people ; but 
 it is without comparison, less criminal than that of 
 the Hebrews. (Compare Deut. xxix. 26, with iv. 19 ; 
 xvii.3; Acts vii. 42 ; Jer. xix. 13; 2 Kings xvii. 16; 
 xxi. 3, 5 ; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 3, 5 ; Amos v. 25 — 27.) 
 
 GOG and MAGOG. W^e unite these two names, 
 because Scripture generally joins them. Moses (Gen. 
 X. 2.) speaks of Magog, son of Japheth, but says 
 nothing of Gog, who was prince of Magog, accord- 
 ing to Ezekiel xxxviii. xxxix. Magog, no doubt, sig- 
 nifies the country, or people ; and Gog signifies the 
 king ; but critics are much divided as to the people 
 and coiintry intended under these names. The 
 Scythians, the Goths, the Persians, and several other 
 nations, have been identified by inter])reters as the 
 3Iagog of the Scriptures ; but we incline to think 
 that it is a name given generally to the northern na- 
 tions of Em-ope and Asia ; or the districts north of the 
 Caucasus. — Calmet is of opinion, that Gog wasCam- 
 byses, king of Persia. He thinks Gog and 3Iagog, in 
 Ezekiel and the Revelation, (ch. xx. ?■ — 9.) are to be 
 taken allegorically, for princes who are enemies to 
 the church. By Gog in Ezekiel, many understand 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, the persecutor of the Jews; 
 and by Gog in the Revelation, Antichrist. 
 
 GOLAN, see Gaul on. 
 
 GOLD, a well-known valuable metal, found in 
 many parts of the world, but the greatest quantity of 
 which is obtained from the coast of Guinea. It is 
 spoken of throughout Scripture ; and the use of it 
 among the ancient Hebrews, in its native and mixed 
 state, and for the same purposes as at present, Avas 
 very common. The ark of the covenant was over- 
 laid with pure gold ; the mercy-seat, the vessels and 
 utensils belonging to the tabernacle, and those also 
 of the house of the Lord, as well as the drinking 
 vessels of Solomon, were of gold. 
 
 GOLGOTHA, (in Greek, y.Qanur. cranium, the top 
 of the skull, or head,) a small hill, or rising, on a greater 
 hill, or mount, north-west of Jerusalem ; so called, 
 either from its foi-m, which resembles a human skull ; 
 or because criminals were executed there. Here our 
 Saviour was crucified ; and near to it he was buried, 
 in a garden belonging to Joseph of Arimaihea, in u 
 tombcut in the rock. The emperor Adrian, when 
 he rebuilt Jerusalem, and called it ^Elia, profaned 
 the tomb, filling it up, and placing idols over it; but 
 the empress Helena had it cleansed, and built over it 
 a magnificent church. See Calvary and Sepul- 
 chre. 
 
 I. GOLIATH, a famous giant of Gath, (1 Sam. 
 xvi. 4, &c. A. M. 2941. ante A. D. 1063.) who defied 
 the Heorews, and was encountered and slain by 
 David. He was descended from Arapha ; that is. the 
 old Rephaim. 
 
 II. GOLIATH, another giant, killed by Elha- 
 nan, son of Jair, of Bethleheni, 2 Sam. xxi. 19. In 
 1 Chron. xx. 5, he is called the brother of Goliath 
 the Gittite ; but whether he were really his brother, 
 or only resembled him in the height of his stature, 
 and therefore his brother in the sense of being bis 
 equal, we know not.
 
 GOS 
 
 464 ] 
 
 GOSHEN 
 
 I. GOMER, the eldest son of Japheth, (Gen. x. 2.) 
 peopled a considerable part of Asia Minor, particu- 
 larly the region of Phrygia; the appellation of which 
 Bochart conceives, with great probability, to be a 
 translation into Greek of the Hebrew word Gomer, 
 "a coal:" Phrygia is literally the burnt country. 
 From these parts the descendants of Gomer emigrat- 
 ed, till Germany, France, and Britain, were peopled 
 by them. They still continue marked, if not distinct, 
 in the ancient Britons in Wales, who consider them- 
 selves to have emigrated from the Crimea, and by 
 that route, from the East ; a course which well agrees 
 with the hypothesis here proposed. In fact, as Mr. 
 Mansford remarks, under the names of Cinimerii, 
 Cimbri, Cymrig, Cumbri, Umbri, and Cambri, the 
 tribes of Gomerians extended themselves from the 
 Euxine to the Atlantic, and from Italy to the Baltic, 
 having to their original names, those of Celts, Gauls, 
 Galatfe, and Gaels superadded. 
 
 n. GOMER, a harlot, whom Hosea the prophet 
 married, Hos. i. 3. 
 
 GOMORRHA, one of the principal cities of the 
 Pentapolis ; consumed by fire from heaven. (See Sea 
 Dead.) The Hebrew reads Amora, or Homora ; but 
 the LXX frequently express the letter ain, y, byg*. 
 
 GOOD, agreeable, beautiful, perfect in its kind. 
 " God beheld all he had created, and it was very 
 good," (Gen. i. 31,) every creature had its proper good- 
 ness, beauty, perfection. " This man never prophe- 
 sieth good to me," (2 Chron. xviii. 7.) nothing agree- 
 able. A good eye signifies — liberality ; an evil eye — 
 a covetous, an envious person. 
 
 GOPHER WOOD. Bochart, Fuller, and some 
 other writers have maintained, that the gopher wood 
 of which the ark was made (Gen. vi. 14.) was cypress. 
 This is argued — First, from the appellation: for if, from 
 the Greek zr-TKoiaooc, be taken the termination inoug, 
 yi-.TLio and i^j gopher w'lW nearly reseml^le each other. 
 Secondly, because, as they prove from the ancients, 
 no wood is more durable against rot and worms. 
 Thirdl}', because, as Bochart particularly shows, the 
 cypress was very fit for ship-building, and actually 
 used for that purpose where it grew in sufficient 
 plenty. And lastly, because it abounded in Assyria, 
 where Noali probably built the ark. On the other 
 hand, Ascuarius, Munster, Taylor, and some other 
 critics, think the pine bids fairest to furnish the wood 
 described by the Hebrew word ; its relative gophrit 
 signifying sulphur, brimstone, &c. and no wood pro- 
 ducing ])itch, tar, turi)entine, and other inflammables, 
 in such quantities as the pine. After ^\\, gopher may- 
 probably be a general name for such trees as abound 
 with resinous inflammable juices ; as the cedar, cy- 
 press, fir-tree, pine, &c. 
 
 GOPHNA, GupHNA, or Gophnith, the princij)al 
 place of one of the ten toparchies of Judea. Josephus 
 genorally joins it with the Acrabatene ; and Eusebius 
 places it fifteen miles north of .lerusalem. 
 
 I. GOSHEN, the name of that tract of country in 
 Egy[)t, which was inhabited by the Isi-aelites from 
 the time of Jacob to that of Moses. It was most 
 probably the tract lying eastward of the Pelusian 
 arm of the Nile, towards Arabia, i. e. between that 
 arm on the one side, and the Red sea and the borders 
 of Palestine on the other. Conmientators, however, 
 have been greatly divided in respect to the situation 
 of Goshen. Cellarins, Shaw, and others, su|)pose it 
 to be the region around Hcliopolis, not fiir from the 
 modern Cairo; Bryant places it in the Saitic nome 
 or ])rovince; (Obs. on the Plagues of Egypt.) while 
 Jablonsky strangely endeavors to fix it near Heraclea 
 
 in Middle Egypt, on the western bank of the Nile ! 
 But most modern interpreters and travellers coincide 
 in the view above given, that it was the part of Egypt 
 eastward of the Delta ; so Michaelis, Gesenius, Ro- 
 senmiiller, Niebidir, and also the deputation of 
 French engineers sent by Bonaparte to explore this 
 country, and especially the route of the ancient canal, 
 while the French had possession of Egypt in 1799. 
 In accordance, also, with this view, professor Stuart 
 has treated of the subject in his Course of Hebrew 
 Study, Vol. II. Excursus ii. p. 158 ; to which the 
 reader is referred. The reasons on which this opin- 
 ion is founded may be briefly stated as follows : 
 
 1. The notices contained in Scripture itself. — (1.) 
 From Exod. xiii. 17, and 1 Chron. vii. 21, it appears 
 that the land of Goshen was adjacent to the land of 
 the Philistines, or at least nearer to it than the other 
 parts of Egypt. — (9.) In Gen. xlvii. 29, Joseph, it is 
 said, ivent up from Egypt to meet liis father on his 
 arrival in Goshen, — a mode of expression which is 
 always used in respect to those who go from Egypt 
 towards Palestine ; while those who go from Pales- 
 tine to Egypt are always said to go down. — (3.) Ac- 
 cording to Gen. xlv. 10, Goshen was not far off from 
 (was near to) the royal residence of the kings of 
 Egypt at that time, which according to Josephus was 
 Memphis, but according to Ps. Ixxviii. 12, was Zoan 
 or Tanis, on the second branch of the Nile, and 
 within the Delta. — (4.) The Israelites set off" from 
 Ramescs, (Ex. xii. 37.) the metropolis of Goshen, and 
 probably near the centre of the province, and reach- 
 ed the Red sea in three days ; or more probably in 
 two, if Etham lay at its northern extremity, in the 
 edge of the desert. This would have been impossi- 
 ble, had they come from the vicinity of the Nile. — 
 (5.) The probable sites of the cities built in Gosheu 
 by the Israelites, as Rameses and Pithom, are found 
 in this region. 
 
 2. With the above notices agree also those existing 
 in the ancient translators of the Scriptures, and in 
 other writers. — (1.) The Seventy, who made their 
 version in Egypt, and who are consequently of great 
 authority in every thing relative to that country, give 
 the Hebrew name in Gen. xlv. 10, hy r^niv 'yf^iaiila?, 
 Goshen of Jirabia, manifestly signifying that Goshen 
 was on the east of the Nile. Indeed the name of 
 Arabia was soirietimes applied to all that part of 
 Egypt and Ethiopia which lies between the Nile and 
 the Red sea ; and especially the so called Jlrahian 
 nome (n'v"- 'Ji^a^lac) was in the tract which we 
 assign to Goshen. (Ptolem. Geogr. vi. 8 ; Plin. v. 9.) 
 In another place, (Gen. xlvi. 28.) for the Hebrew 
 reading land of Goshen, they put j^k.t '//ne.'on Tii.'/./r ei'g 
 Yi',f' Patifnni',, to HeroopoUs in the land of Rameses ; 
 from which we may gather that the city of Heroopo- 
 lis was reckoned to Goshen, and that the whole 
 country was sometimes called Ramesc^s after its cap- 
 ital. — (2.) JosEpnus evidently reckons Heliopolis to 
 Goshen ; (Antiq. ii. 7. ().) following probably the Sep- 
 tuagint version of Ex. i. 11, where, in enmiierating 
 the cities built by the Israelites, in addition to Ra- 
 meses and Pithom, they mention also On, ivhirh is 
 Heliop(dis. On our hypothesis, this city might have 
 been in quite the south-western corner of Goshen. — 
 (3.) The authority of Saadias, the Arabic translator, 
 is here very great, as he was himself an Egyptian, 
 Fijumensis ; he always, for Goshen, ])uts Sedir. This 
 was the name of a fortress and of the region around 
 it, in the Egyptian province Sharkiyeh, in which also 
 was the nome Tarabin, (tin; Arabian nome of Ptole- 
 my,) as is shewn by De Sacy and also by Quatre-
 
 GOSHEN 
 
 f 465 ] 
 
 GOSHEN 
 
 mere. (Mem. siir I'Egypte I. p. 61.) In accordance 
 with this view is also the testimony of Makrizi, the 
 celebrated Arabian writer, who describes the land of 
 Goshen as being the country around Bilbeis, and 
 extending to the land of the Amalekites. 
 
 With the above hypothesis agrees well also the 
 general character of this district. It is in general not 
 ca[)able of tillage, because it lies for the most part 
 beyond the reach of the inundations of the Nile; but 
 it is so much the more adapted to the uses of noma- 
 dic shepiierds, such as were Jacob and his sons, and 
 was consequently for them the best of the land. (Gen. 
 xlvii. 6, 11.) So true was this, that even in later 
 times, after the conquest of Egypt by the Mohamme- 
 dans, the region around Bilbeis (the land of Goshen) 
 was assigned to the Arabian nomadic tribes, who had 
 taken part in the conquest, as their appropriate por- 
 tion. (Quatremere, Mem. I. p. 60.) 
 
 This tract of country in general, or isthmus, is 
 described by M. Roziere, a member of the French 
 deputation above-mentioned, as a vast plain, but little 
 elevated above tlie sea ; now and then having a roll- 
 ing surface ; interspersed also with hills, in general 
 small, steep on one side, and gradual on the other. 
 It is every where intersected by valleys, (wadys) wide, 
 but not deep, apparently made by the Nile and the 
 rains. In these, particularly during the rainy season, 
 there is abundance of grass, bushes, and other vege- 
 tation, on which the camels that cross the deserts in 
 caravans, are fed. In general, the whole plain is 
 covered with more or less of vegetation, excepting 
 those parts where drift-sands conipose the principal 
 part of the soil, or where there are salt lagoons, near 
 »vhich the whole soil is covered or mixed with saline 
 excrescences. 
 
 In February, 1827, the Rev. Mr. Smith, American 
 missionary, passed with a caravan direct from Bil- 
 beis to El Arish, on the borders of Palestine, across 
 the desert, and of course through the northern part 
 of the district of Goshen. From Bilbeis they travel- 
 led the first daj' over an immense plain of coarse 
 sand, almost entirely destitute of vegetation. " Af- 
 terwards," he observes, " the desert became uneven 
 and hilly, and presented a great variety of surface 
 and prospect as we advanced, the fine movable sand 
 increased, forming little hillocks around the shrubs, 
 and covering the tops of the highest hills with 
 inmiense drifts, formed and shaped in the same 
 manner as banks of snow. Several species of ever- 
 green shrubs, resembling our whortleberry bush, find 
 sustenance in the sand of the desert, and are scattered 
 in some places more, and in others less thickly, over 
 the whole of it. OC grass I saw none, except a little 
 in a very few places, growing in bogs, as if in 
 swamps. It is on the shrubs just mentioned, that 
 the Betlouins pasture their flocks. Of these we saw 
 none until the fifth day ; after that, many, which wen; 
 always composed of goats and sheep together, and 
 attended by females." (Stuart's Course of Heb. Study, 
 II. p. 165.) 
 
 A very striking feature of this region of country, 
 i. e. Goshen, is the gi-eat valley of Saba Byar, i. e. 
 seven wells, through which passed the ancient canal 
 that united the Nile with the Red sea. This canal 
 was found by the French engineers to be still in a 
 state of preservation in many parts of it. The first 
 section of it begins near the head of the Red sea, just 
 north of Suez, (see under Exodus, p. 410.) and runs 
 up through a low wady to the Bitter lakes, about 
 thirteen and a half miles'. The second section con- 
 sists of the basin of these lakes, which run in a north- 
 59 
 
 westerly direction about twenty-seven miles, and the 
 bottom of which is from twenty to fifty-four feet lower 
 than the high-water mark of the Red sea. The third 
 section of the canal runs from Serapeum, at the head 
 of these lakes, westward, through the above-mentioned 
 Wady Saba Byar, about thirty-nine miles, to Abasseh, 
 at the western end of the wady, wliere it joins the 
 valley of the Nile. The fourth and last section runs 
 from Abasseh to Bubastis, (Pi Besetli, Ezek. xxx. 17.) 
 which was on the Pelusiac, or eastern branch of the 
 Nile, about twelve miles from Abasseh. The whole 
 valley of Saba Byar, from Abasseh to Serapeum, is 
 subject to be overflowed by the Nile, when fully 
 swelled. In 1800, while the French were there, the 
 Nile not only flowed into the vallej-, but broke 
 through a gi-eat dyke near the middle of it, and pen- 
 etrated almost to the Bitter lakes. The water on this 
 occasion, in some parts of the valley, was from twen- 
 ty to thirty feet deep. The soil is consequently cov- 
 ered by the rich deposit of the Nile, and is of the 
 same character as that of the rest of Egypt near the 
 Nile, though not so deep. Sweet water is ev^ry 
 where found in it on digging a few feet. The canal 
 ran along the northern side of this valley, upon the 
 hill or ascent which bounds it on that side. 
 
 A similar, but more extensive, valley still farther 
 west is mentioned by Mr. Smith on his route from 
 Bilbeis to El Arish. Soon after leaving Bilbeis, they 
 struck off" to the right into the desert. Afterwards, 
 he says, " We passed one tract of land, the features 
 of which were so distinctly marked as to excite con- 
 siderable curiosity. It was a sort of valley, a little 
 lower than the surrounding country, into which we 
 descended, about ten and a half hours [some thirty- 
 five miles] from Bilbeis. It extends north-west and 
 south-east, descending towards the Nile, and naiTow- 
 ing in this direction. We were told that the Nile 
 occasionally flows up this valley to the spot where 
 we crossed it. Towards the south-east, it gradually 
 ascends, and widens into an immense plain, the lim- 
 its of which, in that direction, we could not discern. 
 From this plain, the eastern extremity of Suez 
 mountain, which now for the first time showed itself, 
 bore south by east. The soil of this tract was a dark 
 mould. I do not doubt that water might be found 
 in any part of it, by digging a few feet. Indeed, after 
 travelling upon it four and a half hours, [about four- 
 teen or fifteen miles] we came to a well only twelve 
 or fifteen feet deep, but sufficiently copious to water 
 the [two hundred] camels and fill the water-skins of 
 the whole caravan, and containing .the only sweet 
 water that we found in the desert, all the other wells 
 being brackish. It is called Mu Suair. Having 
 seen how extensively artificial irrigation is practised 
 in Egypt, I was easily persuaded that this whole tract 
 might once have been under the highest state of cul- 
 tivation." (Stuart 1. c. p. 166.) 
 
 Valleys or wadys like these would furnish to the 
 Israelites an abimdance of fertile soil to live upon, 
 with the opportunity of pasturing their flocks in the 
 surrounding deserts. That this was, therefore, the 
 best of the land of Egypt fo^the Hebrews, is manifest ; 
 that it was so also for the Bedouin tribes who helped 
 the Mohammedans to conquer Egypt, has been men- 
 tioned above ; and that at a still later period it was 
 regarded as one of the wealthiest portions of Egypt, 
 is apparent from a circumstance mentioned in De 
 Sacy's translation of Abdollatiph's Description of 
 Egypt. Appended to this work is a valuation of the 
 Egyptian provinces made in A. D. 1376, for the pur- 
 poses of taxation. The province Sharkiyeh (Go-
 
 GOS 
 
 [ 466 ] 
 
 GOSPEL 
 
 shen) is there said to contain 380 towns and villages, 
 and is valued at 1,411,875 dinars ; a valuation high- 
 er than that of any of the other provinces (except 
 one) either of Lower or Upper Egypt. (De Sacy, 
 Relat. d'Egypte, par Abdallatiph, p. 593, seq.) 
 
 As cities of Goshen, are mentioned Pithom and 
 Rameses; the former, probably the Patoiimos of the 
 Greeks, on the canal, at the western embouchure of 
 the Wady Saba Byar ; and the latter situated proba- 
 bly about the middle of that valley, at Aboukeyshid, 
 a place where ruins are still found. This is the 
 opinion of M. Rozi^re, and also of lord Valentia ; and 
 it is also adopted by professor Stuart. Other places 
 are also mentioned, as Succoth, Etham, Pi-hahiroth, 
 Baal-zephou, and iMigdol ; for which see these arti- 
 cles rcspectivelv, and also the article Exodus, p. 
 400, seq. *R. 
 
 •II. GOSHEN, a city and the territory around it 
 in the mountains of Judah, Josh. x. 41 ; xi. 16; xv. 
 51. R. 
 
 GOSPEL, Evayyi^.iot, good news. The subject of 
 the apostolic message is called the Gospel ; that is, 
 a good message, or glad tidings, as the same word is 
 Bometimes rendered, Luke ii. 10 ; Acts xiii. 32. It 
 is also called "the Gospel of peace," (Rom. x. 5.) 
 because it proclaims peace with God to guilty rebels 
 through Jesus Christ. "The word of reconciliation," 
 (2 Cor. v, 19.) because it shows how God is recon- 
 ciled to sinners, and contains the great motive or ar- 
 gument for reconciling their minds to him. " The 
 Gospel of salvation," (E])h. i. 13.) because it holds 
 forth salvation to the lost or miserable. " The Gospel 
 of the grace of God," (Acts xx. 24.) as being a dec- 
 laration of God's free favor and unmerited love and 
 good-will to the utterly worthless and undeserving. 
 " The Gospel of the kingdom," (Matt. xxiv. 14.) be- 
 cause it proclaims the power and dominion of the 
 Messiah, and the nature and privileges of his king- 
 dom, which is not of this world. — It is termed tlie 
 tridh, (John xviii. 37 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13 ; 1 John ii. 21.) 
 not only as being the most important of all truths, 
 and the testimony of God, who cannot lie, (1 John 
 v. 9.) but also because it is the accomplishment of 
 Old Testament prophecies, and the substance, spirit, 
 and truth of all the shadows and types of the former 
 economy. A general idea of the Gospel may also 
 be formed from the short summaries given of it in 
 various parts of the New Testament. Jesus sums 
 up the Gospel to Nicodcnius thus : " As Moses lifted 
 up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the 
 Son of man be lifted u]), that whosoever believeth 
 on liiin should not perish, but have eternal life. 
 For God so loved the world, tliat he gave his only- 
 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him 
 might not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii. 
 14, 15, 16. Paul gives several brief compendiums 
 of the Gospel, from which we siiall select the follow- 
 ing : " Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the 
 Gospel which I preached unto you — by the which ye 
 are also saved — how that Clirist ditnl for our sins 
 according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, 
 and that he rosi; again the third day, according to the 
 Scriptures," 1 (^or. xv. 1 — 5. "God hatii given to us 
 the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in 
 Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not im- 
 puting their trespasses unto them. For he hath 
 made him ( timorlm) a sin-oficring for us who knew 
 no sin, that W(! might be niad(t the righteousness of 
 God in him," 2 Cor. v. 19— 2L "This is a faithful 
 saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus 
 Chiidt catne imo the woiM to pave siuners, of whom 
 
 I am chief," 1 Tim. i. 15. John gives the substance 
 of the Gospel testimony in these words : "This is the 
 record {uuQzv(^ia, witness or testimony) that God hath 
 given unto us, eternal life ; and this life is in his Son. 
 He that hath the Son hath life," 1 John v. 11, 12. 
 Maclean. 
 
 The writings which contain the recital of our 
 Saviour's life, miracles, death, resurrection, and 
 doctrine, are called Gospels, because they include 
 the best news that could be published to mankind. 
 We have but four canonical Gospels — those of Mat- 
 thew, Mark, Luke, and John. These have not only 
 been generally received, but they were received 
 very early, as the standards of evangelical history ; 
 as the depositories of the doctrines and actions of 
 Jesus. They are appealed to under that character 
 both by friends and enemies ; and no writer im- 
 pugning or defending Christianity, acknowledges a 
 fifth Gospel as of equal or concurrent authority, al- 
 though there were many others which purported to 
 be authentic memoirs of the life and actions of Christ. 
 A full account of these spurious productions may be 
 found in Fabricius's Codex Apocryphus No\t Testa- 
 menti. Jones's well-known work in the Apocryphal 
 canon also gives an account of the principal of them. 
 
 The evangelist Luke, in the preface to his Gospel, 
 observes, that " maxNy" had taken in hand to draw 
 up histories of Christian events. He does not blame 
 these writers ; but rather associates himself with 
 them by the phrase, " It hath seemed good to me 
 also." Nothing could be more natural, than that 
 transactions which raised so much interest, among 
 the Jewish peoj)le especially, should excite the wishes 
 of those at a distance from the places where they 
 occurred, to receive that information which writing 
 only could correctly furnish. Paul, pleading before 
 Agrippa, ascribes to that prince a knowledge of Chris- 
 tian events ; and asserts, that "these things were not 
 done in a corner." What was so public and notori- 
 ous was, doubtless, in general circulation, as well 
 by writing as by report ; but, after the publication 
 of the four Gospels now extant, the former docu- 
 ments sunk into oblivion, and were no longer distin- 
 guished. 
 
 [The remarks which follow here are from the pen of 
 Mr. Taylor. They exhibit a view of the subject which 
 has been taken by some ; but which more thorough 
 investigation has shown to be untenable. For the 
 present state of the question as to the sources of the 
 striking resemblances, as well as striking diffei'- 
 ences, of the three first Gospels, see the additions 
 below. R. 
 
 There have been a variety of opinions respecting 
 the time and the order of the four Gospels ; but, 
 perhaps, the i)lan on which each of them is written, 
 lias not hitherto been sufficiently attended to, or as- 
 certained. 
 
 Matthew. — The following remarks on the Gos- 
 pel of Matthew may have their effect in solving 
 some difliculties of chronology, &c. 
 
 Let us suppose that JMatthew wrote his Gospel the 
 first of the four — not in one continued or orderly 
 narrative, but divided into books, according to the 
 different subjects, or classes of transactions. If this be 
 admissible, it removes entirely the chronological difB- 
 cultics which embarrass couunentators, in attempt- 
 ing to reconcile Matthew with Luke ; because it 
 supposes Matthew to associate similar facts in 
 one book, while Luke proposes "an orderly his- 
 tory," according to the course of events. The dif- 
 ferent plans of these writers led them to adopt differ-
 
 GOSPEL 
 
 467 ] 
 
 GOSPEL 
 
 ent arrangenients. This also furnishes a reason why 
 Luke might compose an orderly history, which 
 Matthew's, however correct, was not, he having no 
 such design ; while it reHeves Mark from the charge 
 of having abstracted Matthew. It has been main- 
 tained by many eminent critics, that Matthew wrote 
 his Gospel first in Syriac, and that it was afterwards 
 translated into Greek ; whether by himself is not 
 certain, though it is highly probable. Some of the 
 fathers date tJie writing of tliia Gospel eight years 
 after the death of Jesus ; while others date it fifteen or 
 even twenty years after. (See the additions below.) 
 
 Mark's Gospel may be considered, upon the tra- 
 ditionary testimony of antiquity, as a collection of 
 facts, gathered by him from authorities adduced by 
 Peter ; as well from his private discourse, as from his 
 public preachings. Now, it is not very likely that 
 these facts, which might be heard, or obtained, at 
 various times, and on various occasions, should be 
 arranged by the evangelist precisely in chronologi- 
 cal order. It would answer his purpose, if they 
 were accurately related, though but loosely connect- 
 ed, or, perhaps, not intentionally connected at all ; 
 that is, in reference to their order as a series of 
 events. But we see no reason why Mark might not 
 also avail himself of such written information as was 
 extant at the time ; such, for instance, as Matthew's 
 Gospel. This would account for the verbal resem- 
 blance observed between some parts of Matthew 
 and some parts of 3Iark ; while, elsewhere, Mark 
 might adhere to such facts as he had collected, and 
 to such expressions as he had adopted. To ex- 
 change these for others, when the histories were 
 the same, would have answered no valuable 
 purpose. 
 
 Luke. — It remains that we consider the Gospel by 
 this evangelist as the most regular in arrangement, 
 according to the order of facts ; and we ought to 
 reflect with the deepest gratitude on the pains taken 
 by him to acquire such a knowledge of the series of 
 Gospel events, as that which his history presents. 
 In fact, in his Gospel, no less than in his " Acts of 
 the Apostles," Luke displays manifest proofs of a 
 liberal and cultivated mind, and of ardent research 
 after truth. This is of great importance ; for on the 
 accuracy and research of Luke depend much of our 
 satisfaction, if not of our faith. See Luke. 
 
 A certain class of persons have manifested great 
 anxiety to get rid of the first two chapters of Luke, 
 in conjunction with part of the first chapter of Mat- 
 thew ; but it has never, perhaps, been suggested that 
 a question of the utmost importance rests exclusive- 
 ly upon these impugned portions of the sacred his- 
 tory. The people of the Jews expected, and with 
 the utmost propriety, that Messiah should be, (L) of 
 the tribe ofJudah; (2.) of the posterity of David ; 
 (3.) in the direct line of that prince ; so that, had he 
 enjoyed his own, as a descendant from David, his 
 right to the throne itself was unquestionable ; (4.) 
 born in David's town, Bethlehem of Judah. (Com- 
 pare John vii. 42; Matthew xxii. 42, 45; Mark xii. 
 35, 37.) 
 
 Now, it happens, that no other parts of tiie Gospels 
 will prove this fact ; so that if we had not these chap- 
 ters, whatever we might think of the person termed in 
 reproach "Jesus born at Nazareth," " Jesus the Naza- 
 rene," we could not prove that we received as the Mes- 
 Biah, Jesus born at Bethlehem ; we could not prove 
 that this person traced his descent from David, still 
 less in the immediate line, and direct descent, from 
 him ; we could not even prove that he was of the 
 
 tribe of Judah ; all which particulars are absolute- 
 ly indispensable in determining the person of 
 Messiah. And then what will follow?— That the 
 Jews, in rejecting Jesus born at Nazareth, as Mes- 
 siah, were perfectly laudable ; for he was defective 
 in a main branch of that evidence which was neces- 
 sary, indispensably necessary, to vindicate his claim 
 to this title. Supposing him to be born at Nazareth 
 he was not of Judah, but of Galilee ; he was not of 
 Bethlehem, by the terms of the affirmation ; he was 
 not descended from David, or at least there could be 
 no proof of it; for how should the town records of 
 Bethlehem concern themselves about a birth at 
 Nazareth ? — therefore he could not be the 3Iessiah. 
 It appears that those who were unacquainted with 
 the early history of Jesus, uniformly considered him 
 a Galilean, Matt. xxi. 11 ; Luke xxiii. 6, seq. John 
 vii. 41. They also unanimously described him as 
 born at Nazareth ; and this was a circumstance of 
 such direct opposition to a justly founded character- 
 istic mark of Messiah, that we cannot but approve of 
 Saul's opposing, with all his might, the prevalence of 
 of Jesus born, as he supposed at Nazareth. Indeed, a 
 prominent topic of discussion between those who fa- 
 vored and those who opposed Jesus, was — the place of 
 his birth ; and, unless we can prove negatively, that he 
 was not born at Nazareth, or in Galilee, as the Jews 
 affirm ; and positively, that he was born in Judah, 
 and in Bethlehem, of which our only proof lies in 
 these to-be-exploded chapters — we have no (com- 
 plete) rational evidence to produce, nor any (deci- 
 sive) reasons to justify us, in supporting our faith. 
 Such is the importance of the introductory chapters 
 to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. To disman- 
 tle the Gospels of any integral part is to injure the 
 religion of which they are the basis, in proportion 
 to the importance of that part ; and, if we be not 
 mistaken, a more vital part than what our attention 
 has now been directed to, can hardly be selected. 
 The genealogy in Matthew was necessary to evince 
 the descent of Jesus in the royal line of David, and 
 his right to the kingdom ; a right, that he constantly 
 refused to recognize during his life — and, being 
 asserted only after his decease, could give no just 
 umbrage to the ruling powers. That Avas a public 
 document. The genealogy in Luke was a private 
 document ; and his preservation of it coincides 
 with that accuracy which is characteristic of him. 
 
 John. — This Gospel is universally allowed to be 
 supplementary to the others. It abounds more in 
 instructive discourses than in narrative ; which is 
 easily accounted for, if we suppose John to have had 
 a knowledge of INIatthew and Luke's writings. He 
 would, naturally, not desire to load the public with 
 books, for the reasons assigned by him, at the close 
 of his own work. 
 
 There are many indications, in the Gospel by John, 
 that the writer had specially in view the refutation 
 of certain religious errors which were prevalent in 
 his time, (see Sabeans,) affecting both the divinity 
 and the humanity of the Son of God. 
 
 [The preceding remarks furnish only a very mea- 
 gre and one-sided view of a very interesting and im- 
 portant subject. But the very extent of the subject 
 itself precludes the possibility of doing it justice in a 
 work of this kind ; and these additions, therefore, 
 must be limited to a bare outline of the present 
 state of the question. 
 
 The four Gospels contain, in general, the record of 
 the birth, actions, teaching, death, resurrection, and 
 ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Mat-
 
 GOSPEL 
 
 [ 468 ] 
 
 GOSPEL 
 
 thew and Luke commence with his birth, as intro- 
 ductory to his ministry ; Mark and John omit this 
 introductory matter. Matthew, Mark, and Luke 
 all narrate the events of his ministry in a manner gen- 
 erally similar; while John contains mostly matter 
 not contained in the other three, and may, therefore, 
 be called supplementary to them. All four exhibit an 
 account of our Lord's death and the subsequent 
 events. Under these circumstances, a general re- 
 semblance would naturally be expected, especially 
 in the three first Gospels, as is, indeed, the fact ; but 
 then this resemblance, which is often manifested in 
 a literal identity, is also attended with very remark- 
 able differences, both in regard to chronological 
 order, and in respect to the facts themselves. It 
 has, therefore, ever been a favorite study of comment- 
 ators and interpreters of Scripture, to endeavor to 
 arrange the accounts given us in these different Gos- 
 pels, in such a manner as to show their harmony 
 with each other ; to place them together in such a 
 way, as out of the several disconnected accounts to 
 form one connected and harmonious whole in the 
 proper chronological order. Such an arrangement 
 is called a Synopsis or Harmony of the Gospels. 
 The first attempt of this kind is attributed to Tatian 
 or Theophilus of Antioch in the second century ; 
 his work is called Diatesseron, i. e. the/our. Others 
 were afterwards composed by Ammonius of Alex- 
 andria, about A. D. 220 ; by Eusebius of Ceesarea, 
 about A. D. 315; and in modern times by Osiander, 
 Jansenius, Winston, Lamy, Le Clerc, Doddridge, 
 Macknight, Priestley, Newcome, White, Griesbach, 
 De Wette, Liicke, H. Planck, and others. One 
 of the most judicious of these Harmonies, is that of 
 Newcome for the Greek, which has also been pub- 
 lished in Englisli. In all these attempts thei-e are 
 two gi-and difficulties to be overcome ; in which the 
 writers of harmonies have hitherto differed very 
 widely. The Jirst is, the duration of our Lord's 
 ministry, which Priestley and others, after Origen and 
 Clemens Alexandrinus, limit to one year and, perhaps, 
 a few months ; while Newcome and others suppose 
 it to have continued three years and a half, and to 
 have included four passovei'S. Sir Isaac Newton 
 makes it include five passovers. The second diffi- 
 culty is to ascertain the true chronological order ; and 
 on this point the opinions have been almost as nu- 
 merous as the writers; some assuming that Matthew 
 has strictly followed the order of time in his narra- 
 tion, and, therefore, accommodating the narrations 
 of the other evangelists to his ; _ others (as Mr. 
 Taylor above) adopting Luke as the standard of 
 ciironological order ; others again preferring Mark ; 
 and others, still, supposing that neither evangelist lias 
 adhered strictly to the order of time in his narrative. 
 Such is the opinion of Newcome : "In fact, chrono- 
 logical order is not precisely observed by any of the 
 evan{?eli.sts; St. John and St. Mark observe it most; 
 and St. Matthew neglects it most." (Pref to Harmo- 
 ny.) Indeed, it is every where obvious, as the same 
 writer remarks, "that the evangelists are more in- 
 tent on rejiresenting the substanceof what is spoken, 
 tiian the words of the speaker ; that they ne<rlect ac- 
 curate order in the detail of. particular incidents 
 though tiiey pursue a good general method ; that de- 
 tached and distant events are sometimes joined to- 
 gether on account of a sameness in tiie scene, the 
 persons, the cause, or the consequences ; and that in 
 such concise histories as the Gospels, transitions are 
 often made from one fact to another, without auv in- 
 timation that important matters intervened." (Ibid.) 
 
 The arrangement of the Gospels in a harmony 
 shows at once to the eye, that, both in the facts and in 
 the language, there is a very close resemblance be- 
 tween the three first Gospels ; and that the Gospel of 
 John is in a great measure supplementary to the others. 
 Indeed, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, sometimes cor- 
 respond word for word ; at other times, the sense and 
 general language are the same, with variations in the 
 single expressions. One needs only to open a Greek 
 Harmony, to be convinced of this fact. Still more 
 striking is the relation in which Mark stands to both 
 Matthew and Luke ; he has only tiventy-four verses 
 peculiar to himself; all the rest is found in the other 
 two. He seldom stands independently between the 
 two ; but follows sometimes one and sometimes the 
 other, or is the medium of harmonizing all the three. 
 According to bishop Marsh, in that which is com- 
 mon to all three, Luke never accords perfectly with 
 Matthew, except where Mark also accords with him ; 
 though, in such cases, Luke is sometimes nearer to 
 Matthew than Mark is. It is singular that Mark 
 sometimes has a mixed text, compounded from those 
 of Matthew and Luke. (See Matt. viii. 3 ; Mark i. 42 ; 
 Luke v. 13.— Matt. viii. 4 ; Mark i. 44 ; Luke v. 14.— 
 Matt. ix. 9 ; Mark ii. 3 ; Luke v. 27 ; and elsewhere.) 
 
 To account for these remarkable appearances, has 
 been a subject of deep interest to learned men, and 
 also of great research, especially during the last half 
 of the eighteenth century. It is obvious, that the re- 
 semblances can be accounted for only on two hy- 
 potheses, or by a union of the two, viz. (1.) that one 
 evangelist saw and copied from the others ; or (2.) 
 that they all three drew from a common source ; or 
 (3.) that they not only had this common source, but 
 also copied from each other. These hypotheses 
 seem, in themselves, very simple ; but to carry them 
 out and apply them in detail is attended with difficul- 
 ties which no writer has yet been able wholly to solve. 
 
 On the first hypothesis, some have adopted the or- 
 der of the canon, without further inquiry, and have 
 at once assumed that Mark made use of Matthew's 
 Gospel, which he abridged and corrected ; while Luke 
 corrected and supplied what he thought necessary in 
 both the others. So Grotius, 31ill, Wetstein, and 
 Hug. Storr held Mark's Gospel to be the oldest, and 
 the source of the others; while others ascribe the 
 same character to Luke. Griesbach showed from 
 observation, without regard to any theory, that Mark 
 extracted from both Matthew and Luke ; and he also 
 assiuned that Luke, in writing his Gospel, had some 
 reference to Matthew. To tiiis hypothesis, however, 
 there lie many difficulties in the way. Each evan- 
 gelist has every where something peculiar to him- 
 self; here and there he is more definite, exact, mi- 
 nute ; it is, therefore, difficult to see why a following 
 evangelist, who used and copied from him, should 
 make no use of these circumstances ; and why he 
 should rather adopt unnecessary changes of ex- 
 pression; and even sometimes expressions less definite 
 and a])propriate. Especially, if IMark compiled his 
 Gospel from those of Matthew and Luke, can we not 
 free him from the charge of want of plan and of mere 
 arl)itrary procedure? 
 
 Ul)on the other hypothesis, that of one common 
 soin-ce, some have assmned that this was the so call- 
 ed Gospel of the Hebrews ; but this assumption was 
 made on conjecture, and without knowing what this 
 Gospel of the Hebrews was. Others held the sup- 
 posed Hebrew Gospel of Matthew to be the primitive 
 source of all the others. Eichhorn first endeavored, 
 by a more definite conjectural theory, to remove the
 
 GOSPEL 
 
 [ 469 ] 
 
 GOU 
 
 difficulties. He assumed a certain original Gospel, 
 which existed and was used by the evangelists in 
 different editions or recensions ; that which they all 
 have in common is from the groundwork or body 
 of this original Gospel ; that which only two of nem 
 have in common, is from a recension with sot e ad- 
 ditions, which was used by both ; that which o iy one 
 has, is from another recension used by him alone, or 
 from some other source. This original Gospel he sup- 
 posed to be written in Aramaean ; and thus Avas able, 
 very naturally, to explain, how the three Gospels, as 
 being independent translations, might coincide in 
 similar terms and expressions. But still he could not 
 thus account for the remarkable coincidence in the 
 use of the same Greek words and expressions, some 
 of which are unusual and singular. Bishop Marsh, 
 therefore, (in the additions to his translation of Mi- 
 chaelis's Introduction,) improved Eichhorn's theory, 
 by supposing that there existed a Greek translation 
 of this Aramaean original Gospel, which Mark and 
 Luke used in the composition of their Greek Gospels ; 
 he supposed, too, that the Greek translator of Matthew 
 probably made use of the Greek texts of Mark and 
 Luke. These suggestions were afterwards adopted 
 in substance by Eichhorn. This theory for a time 
 made great noise in the theological world ; but when 
 it came to be seen, that a theory so complex and arti- 
 ficial, and requiring the aid of so many subordinate 
 theories, is utterly at variance with the simple char- 
 acter of the apostolic writings ; and that no hint oc- 
 curs of the existence of any such primitive Gospel, 
 which could be of such paramount authority ; on 
 these and other grounds, the good sense of the public 
 recoiled from this hypothesis ; and the only wonder 
 now is, how it could ever have been received with 
 so nuich favor. 
 
 On the whole, then, we must give up the hope of 
 finding any definite theory, which will entirely ac- 
 count for the close resemblances of the three first 
 Gospels, and at the same time solve the opposite diffi- 
 culties. We can only, in general, make the supposi- 
 tion, that the evangelists wrote down the traditionary 
 accounts (so to speak) which they had retained of the 
 actions and words of Jesus. In their teaching and 
 preaching, the apostles must necessarily often have 
 had occasion to relate the actions and repeat the dis- 
 courses of their Lord and Master ; these relations and 
 repetitions would naturally assume, at length, a defi- 
 nite shape, and were, no doubt, written down and 
 coi)ied among the Christian converts. But such 
 writings, thus coming into circulation, could not have 
 the sanction of apostolical authority ; and, therefore, it 
 would be very natural that the apostles themselves, 
 or those who were intimately connected with them, 
 should at length give a more full and complete ac- 
 count of all these things. It is to such previous 
 writings, and to such a state of things, that Luke 
 alludes, ch. i. 1. In this way, the writers would nat- 
 in-ally follow the same train as in their oral discoiu'ses, 
 and might, perhaps, make occasional use of writings 
 already extant. Thus far only can we safely go. 
 
 Gospel of Matthew. — The time when this Gos- 
 pel was written is very uncertain. All ancient testi- 
 mony, however, goes to show that it was published 
 l)cfore the others. Hug draws from internal evidence 
 the conclusion, that it was written shortly before the 
 siege and capture of Jerusalem by the Romans, when 
 they already had possession of Galilee, about A. D. 
 65. It has been much disputed, whether this Gospel 
 was originally written in Hebrew or Greek. The 
 unanimous testimony of ancient writers is in favor of 
 
 a Hebrew original, i. e. that it was written in the lan- 
 guage of Palestine and for the use of the Hebrew 
 Christians. But, on the other hand, the definiteness 
 and accuracy of this testimony is drawn into ques- 
 tion ; there is no historical notice of a translation into 
 Greek ; and the present Gospel bears many marks of 
 being an original ; the circumstances of the ige, too, 
 and the prevalence of the Greek language in Pales- 
 tine, seem to give weight to the opposite hypothesis. 
 Critics of the greatest name are arranged on both 
 sides of the question. 
 
 Gospel or Mark. — All the writers of the church 
 are unanimous in the statement, that Mark Avrote his 
 Gospel under the influence and direction of the apos- 
 tle Peter. The same traditionary authority makes it 
 to have been written at Rome, and published after the 
 death of Peter and Paul. 
 
 Gospel of Luke. — In like manner, Luke is said 
 to have written liis Gospel under the direction of Paul, 
 whose comj)anion he was on his journeys. Hug 
 supposes this Gospel to have been written at a late 
 period, after those of Matthew and Mark, and after 
 the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 Gospel of John. — The ancient writers all make 
 this Gospel the latest. Hug places its publication in 
 the first year of the emperor Nerva, A. D. 96, sixty- 
 five yeai"s after our Saviour's death, and when John 
 was now more than eighty years of age. This 
 would be about thirty years later than the Gospel of 
 Matthew. *R. 
 
 I. GOURD, Wild, a plant which produces leaves 
 and branches similar to garden-cucumbers, which 
 creep on the earth, and are divided into several 
 branches; Cuciimeres asinini. Its fruit is of the size 
 and figure of an orange, of a white, light substance 
 beneath the rind, and extremely bitter, 2 Kings iv. 
 39. It furnished a model for some of the carved 
 work of cedar in Solomon's temple, 1 Kings vi. 18. 
 Engl, version, knops. 
 
 II. GOURD OF JONAH. There is some diffi- 
 culty in ascertaining the plant intended by the He- 
 brew jV|i''|-', kikayon, and interpreters are greatly at 
 variance. Modern writers, however, almost all 
 agree, that it signifies the Pahna Christi, or Ricinus ; 
 in Egypt called Kiki ; a plant like a lily, having 
 smooth leaves scattered here and there, and spotted 
 with black ; the stem round and glossy ; and pro- 
 ducing flowers of various colors. Dioscorides says, 
 that one species of it grows like a large tree, and as 
 high as the fig. 
 
 Niebuhr ha.s the following remarks : — " I saw for 
 the first time, at Basra, the ])lant el-kheroa, mentioned 
 in Michaelis's " Questions." (No. 87.) It has the form 
 of a tree; the trunk appeared to me rather to resem- 
 ble leaves than wood; nevertheless, it is harder than 
 that which bears the Manias Jig. Each branch of 
 the kheroa has but one large leaf, with six or seven 
 corners. This plant was near to a rivulet, which 
 watered it amply. At the end of October, it had 
 risen, in five; months' time, above eight feet, and bore 
 at once flowers and fruit, ripe and unripe. Another 
 tree of this species, which had not had so much wa- 
 ter, had not grown more in a aaIioIc year. The flow- 
 ers and leaves of it, which I gathered, icithercd in a 
 few minutes ; as do all plants of a rapid growth. This 
 tree is called at iMeppo, Palma Christi.'' (Descrip. 
 Arab. p. 148, Fr. edit.) Volney, speaking of the vege- 
 tation of Eg}pt, says, " Wherever plants have water, 
 the rapidity "of their growth is prodigious. Whoever 
 has travelled to Cairo, or Rosetta, knows that the 
 species of gourd called kerra, will, in twenty-four
 
 GRA 
 
 l470] 
 
 GRA 
 
 hours, sond out shoots near four inches long." (Trav. 
 vol. i. p. 71.) 
 
 These descriptions agree well enough with the 
 plant of Jonah, and may be taken to identify the 
 species to which it belonged. 
 
 [Niebuhr, at the close of the passage above quoted, 
 further remarks : " The Jews mid Christians at Mo- 
 sul and Aleppo affirm, that el-kheroa is not the plant 
 which furnished shade for Jonah, but a species of 
 gourd, called el-kerrd, which has veiy large leaves, 
 and bears a very large fruit ; and Avhich does not last 
 more than about four months." R. 
 
 GOZAN, a river of Media, (2 Kings xvii. 6.) and 
 also a province, (chap. xix. 12 ; Isa. xxxvii. 12.) prob- 
 ably that through which the river ran. Salmaneser, 
 after he had subdued the ten tribes, carried them be- 
 yond the Euphrates, to a country bordering on the 
 river Gozan ; and Sennacherib boasts, that the kings 
 of Assyria had conquered the people of Gozan, 
 Haran, and others. Ptolemy places the Gauzanites 
 in ]Mesopotamia ; and there is a district in Media 
 called Gauzan, between the rivers Cyrus and Cam- 
 byses. 
 
 [The passage in 2 Kings xvii. 6, Gesenius trans- 
 lates thus: — "and placed them in Chalcitis (Halah) 
 and on the Chabor, (Habor,) a river of Gozan, and in 
 the cities of the Medes." This would make the ri\ er 
 to be the Chaboj-as, the Chebar of Ezekiel, which 
 empties into the Euphrates in tlie northern part of 
 Mesopotamia. This accords with the notice of 
 Ptolemy, (v. 18.) who calls the region lying between 
 the rivers Chaboras and Laocoras, by the name of 
 Gauzanitis, e.g. the Hebrew Gozan. In 1 Chron. v. 
 26, the name Hara is inserted between Chabor and 
 the river of Gozan, — which may be an error of tran- 
 scribers, as the reading of 2 Kings xvii. 6 seems cor- 
 rect and appropriate. In other places, too, Gozan is 
 mentioned along with and before otlier cities and 
 countries of JMesopotamia, 2 Kings xix. 42; Isa. 
 xxxviii. 12. According to Bochart, Habor, or Chabor, 
 is the mountain Chaboras, between Assyria and Me- 
 dia ;(Ptolem. Gecgr. vi. 1.) between this mountain 
 and tlic Caspian sea there is, according to Ptolemy, 
 (vi. 2.) a city and country called Gausania, with a river 
 of the same name, probably the present Kizzil-Ouzan 
 or Kizel-Ozan, which flows eastward into the Cas- 
 pian. (Sir R. K. Porter's Travels in Persia, i. p. 267.) 
 That this tract is the Gozan of Scripture is the opin- 
 ion of Rosenmiiller ; (Bibl. Geogr. I. ii. 102.) — and 
 the mention of it along with the "cities of the Medes" 
 would seem to indicate a remote district. See Ha- 
 bor. R. 
 
 GRACE is taken (I.) lor beauty, graceful form, 
 or agreeableness of person, Prov.'i. 9; iii. 22. (2.) 
 For favor, friendship, kindness. Gen. vi. 8 ; xviii. 3 ; 
 Rom, ix. 6 ; 2 Tim. i. 9. (3.) For ])ardon, mercy, un- 
 expected remission of offences, Eph. ii. .5 ; Col. i, 6. 
 (4.) For certain gifts of God, which he bestows free- 
 ly, when, where, and on whom he pleases; such are 
 the gifts of miracles, prophecy, languages, &c. (Rom. 
 XV. 1.5; 1 Cor. xv. 10; l^ph. iii. 8.)wliich are intend- 
 ed rather for the advantage of others, than of the 
 person who j)ossesscs them; though the good use he 
 makes of them may contribute to his sanctification. 
 (5.) For the gospel dispensation, in contradistinction" 
 to that of the law, Rom. vi. 14 ; 1 Pet. v. 12. (6.) 
 For a liberal and charitable dis|)osition, 2 Cni\\ iii, 7. 
 (7.) For eternal life, or final saivatio.n, 1 Pet. 1. 13. (8.) 
 There are several sorts of inward graces; for the "-races i 
 of the understanding may be called by this naine, as 
 well as the graces of the will. There are habituiil 
 
 graces, and actual graces. Augustin defines inward, 
 actual grace to be the inspiration of love, which 
 prompts us to practise according to what we know, 
 out of a religious affection and compliance. He says, 
 also that the grace of God is the blessing of God's 
 swet influence, by which we are induced to take 
 pleasi e in that which he commands, to desire and to 
 love it ; and that if God does not prevent us with this 
 blessing, what he commands not only is not perfected, 
 but is not so much as begun in us. Without the 
 grace of Christ, man is not able to do the least thing 
 that is good. He stands in need of this grace to begin, 
 continue, and finish all the good he does, or, rather, 
 which God does in him and with him, by his grace. 
 
 This gi-ace is free ; it is not due to us : if it were, 
 it would be no more gi-ace, but a debt, Rom. xi. 6. 
 It is in its nature an assistance so powerful and efii- 
 cacious, that it surmounts the obstinacy of the most 
 rebellious human heart, without destroying human 
 liberty. 
 
 There is no subject on which theologians have 
 written so lai-gely, as on the grace of God. Tlie dif- 
 ficulty consists in reconciling human liberty with the 
 operation of divine grace ; the concurrence of man 
 with the influence and assistance of the Almighty. 
 And who is able to set just bounds between these 
 two things ? Who can pretend to know how far the 
 privileges of grace extend over the heart of man, and 
 Avhat that man's liberty is, who is prevented, enlight- 
 ened, moved, and attracted by grace ? 
 
 Although the books of the Old Testament express 
 themselves very clearly with relation tp the fall of 
 man, his incapacity to good, his continual necessity 
 of God's aid, the darkness of his understanding, and 
 the evil propensities of his heart ; although all this is 
 observable, not only in the historical parts of the 
 Bible, but also in the prayers of the saints, and in the 
 writings of the prophets ; yet these truths are fai* 
 from being so cleai'ly revealed in the Old Testament 
 as in the New, 
 
 GRAIN, see CoRxV. 
 
 I. GRAPES, the fruit of the vine. The bunch of 
 this fruit cut in the valley of Eshcol, and brought on 
 a staff, between two men, to the camp of Israel, at 
 Kadesh-barnea, (Numb. xiii. 24.) may give an idea of 
 its excellence in that coutttry. Doubdan assures us, 
 that in the supposed valley of Eshcol there are .still 
 bunches of grapes often and twelve pounds' weight ; 
 and Forster says he was informed by a religious, who 
 had lived many years in Palestine, that there were 
 some in the valley of Hebron, so large that two men 
 could scarcely carry one of them. 
 
 Scripture speaks of the grapes of Sorek, which 
 were so called either because they grew in the val- 
 ley of Sorek, or because they had no stones, (See Isa. 
 ix. 9. Heb. ; Zech. i. 8.) See Souek. 
 
 Moses connnanded, that when the Israelites gath- 
 ered their grapes, those that fell, or were left on the 
 vine, should be for the poor. Lev. xix. 10. It was 
 permitted to peojile who were ])a8sing, to enter a 
 vineyard and eat of the grapes, but not to carry any 
 away, Dent. xxiv. 21,22; xxiii. 24. Some learned 
 men are of opinion, the jjrohibition against gleaning 
 grapes after tlit; vintage may signifv a second vin- 
 tage. Lev. xix. 10; Deut, xxiv. 21 ; Ecclus. 1. 16. 
 
 Scripture frequently describ-es a total destruction, 
 by the similitude of a vine wholly strlpi)ed ; without 
 a bunch of grapes being left for those who came 
 gleaning, Isa. xvii. 6 ; xxiv. 13. 
 
 "The blood of the grai)e" signifies wine, Gen. 
 xlix. 11. Tli'' vineyards of Sodom produced bitter
 
 GRA 
 
 [471 ] 
 
 GRASS 
 
 grapes ; probably because of the nitre and sulphur 
 with which the soil was impregnated, Deut. xxxii. 32. 
 
 "The fathers have eaten sour gi-apes,and the chil- 
 dren's teeth are set on edge," was a proverb, (Jer. 
 xxxi. 29 ; Ezek. xviii. 2.) importing that the fathers 
 sinned, but their children bore the punishineut. In 
 using this proverb, the Jews reproached God, who 
 punished in tliem those sins of which they pretended 
 they were not personally guilty. The Lord said, he 
 would cause this proverb to cease in Israel, and that 
 every one should suffer the punishment of his own 
 taults. 
 
 II. GRAPES, Wild, the fruit of a wild vine, Ca- 
 brusca, which, according to Pliny, bore a red grape 
 that never came to maturity. It is probably the Vitis 
 Cabrusra of Linnaeus, the wild claret-grape. The 
 fruit of the wild vine is called Oenanthes, or the 
 flower of wiue. They never ripen, and are good 
 only for verjuice. In Isaiah (v. 2, 4.) God complains 
 of his people whom he had planted as a choice vine, 
 an excellent plant, that he expected they would bear 
 good fruit, but had brought ^rth only wild grapes ; 
 Heh. fruit of a bad smell, and a bad taste. (See Gese- 
 nius's Comm. zu Jesu. v. 2.) 
 
 GRASS. The management of grass, as food for 
 cattle, in the East, the ideas connected with it, and 
 the similes drawn from it, or the allusions to the na- 
 ture of it, which there is extremely perishable, are so 
 different from the attention paid to that article of ag- 
 riculture among ourselves, and from the permanent 
 verdure of it in our own meadows, that Ave are in 
 constant danger of mistaking the representations 
 which refer to it in Scripture. " The internal area 
 of the theatre of Bacchus at Athens is now annually 
 sown with barley, which, as the custom here is, the 
 disdar aga's (commander of the garrison) horses eat 
 
 freen ; little or no grass being produced in the neigh- 
 orhood of Athens." (Stuart's Athens, vol. ii. p. 24.) 
 In general "they mow not their grass (as we do) to 
 make hay, but cut it off the ground, either green or 
 withered, as they have occasion to use it. And here 
 a strong argument, that may further and most infalli- 
 bly show the goodness of their soil, shall not escape 
 my pen ; most apparent in this, that when the gi'ound 
 there hath been destitute of rain nine months together, 
 and looks all of it like the barren sand in the deserts of 
 Arabia, ivhere there is not one spire of green grass to 
 be found, within a few days alter those fat and en- 
 riching showei'S begin to fall, the face of the earth 
 there (as it were by a new resurrection) is so revived, 
 and throughout, so renewed, as that it is presently 
 covered all over with a pure green mantle." (Sir T. 
 Roe's Voyage to India, p. 360.) To the same pur- 
 pose Dr. Russell speaks, in his account of Aleppo ; 
 and calls it "a resurrection of vegetable nature." 
 
 This rapidity with which grass grows in the East 
 may illustrate several passages of Scripture ; among 
 others the 16th verse of Psalm cxxix. "There shall 
 be a handful of corn sown in the earth, in the head 
 of the mountain, the fruit thereof shall gi-ow so tall, 
 that it shall shake as majestically as cedars of Leba- 
 non ; so from the city the people shall flourish in like 
 manner as the grass of the earth ;" — meaning, at 
 once as raj)idly and as extensively, as this vegetable 
 resurrection. The writers who have furnished these 
 extracts, agree in calling the renovation of vegetation 
 a resuiredion ; the idea had not escaped the proph- 
 ets : " Thy dead shall live ; with my corpse shall they 
 arise ; for thy dew is as the dew of herbage, and the 
 earth shall cast out her dead," Isa. xxvi. 19. 
 
 Grass is described in Scripture as feeble, perish- 
 
 ing, soon withered, (Ps. xxxvii, 2; cii. 4, 11 ; James 
 i. 11.) as not always coming to maturity, ( 2 Kings 
 xix. 26 ; Isa. xxxvii. 27 ; Ps. cxxix. 6.) as revived 
 by dew, (Deut. xxxii. 2; Prov. xix. 12.) and by 
 showers, 2 Sam. xxiii. 2 ; Ps. Ixxii. 6, 16. 
 
 Mr. Harmer has properly referred the words trans- 
 lated the kiyig's irioivings, in Amos vii. 1, to what 
 should have been the kmg's feedings ; agreeably to 
 the extract above given from Mr. Smart. They took 
 place probably in March. The same idea should be 
 attached to the passage, (Ps. Ixxii. 6.) "He shall 
 come down like rain on the mown gi-ass ;" it should 
 be "on the grass that has been /erf off:" The targum 
 here is remarkable, " grass eaten down by locusts." 
 
 Human life is compared to grass, (Ps' xc. 5.) . . . 
 "As the grass — tender risings of gi-ass — they are 
 changed : in the day-dawn it Jlourishes, and sprouts, 
 proceeding to established life ; — towards evening it is 
 plucked up, and is dry." So Ps. ciii. 15 ; Isa. xl. 6. 
 All flesh is tender gi'ass. The wicked are compared 
 to grass, (Ps. xcii. 7.) not of the weakly but of the 
 general kind, vegetables. These are exquisitely 
 beautiful poetical images. 
 
 There is a great impropriety in our version of Prov- 
 erbs xxvii, 25. "The hay appeareth, and the tender 
 grass showeth itself, and herbs of the mountains are 
 gathered." Now, certainly, if the tender grass is but 
 just beginning to show itself, the hay, which is grass 
 cut and dried, after it has arrived at maturity, ought 
 by no means to be associated with it ; still less to pre- 
 cede it. The accurate import of this word seems to 
 be the first shoots, the rising spires of grass. [The 
 passage, therefore, would be more appropriately ren- 
 dered thus : " The grass appeareth, and the green herb 
 showeth itself, and the plants of the mountains are 
 gathered." R. 
 
 Joel says, (ii. 22.) "Fear not, ye beasts of the field, 
 (that the earth shall be totally barren after the locusts 
 have devoured its produce,) because the pastures of 
 the wilderness do spring ;" do put forth the rudi- 
 ments of future pasturage, in token of rapid advance 
 to maturity. See also Deut. xxxii. 2, " As the small 
 rain on the first shoots of the grass." In hke man- 
 ner in Is. XV. 6, where the English version has hay, 
 it should be grass, thus: "The waters of Nimrim 
 shall be desolate (i. e. dried up) ; so that the grass 
 withereth, the green herb faileth, there is no gi-een 
 thing." 
 
 The anxiety of Ahab induced him to send all over 
 his kingdom to discover whether the brooks afforded 
 grass enough to save the horses alive. It seems he 
 hoped for the possibility of finding gi-ass ; i. e. not 
 grass left from a former gi-o\\lh, but fresh tender 
 shoots of grass just budding, 1 Kings xviii. 5. A 
 beautiful gradation of poetical imagery is used in 2 
 Kings xix. 26: "Their inhabitants were of small 
 power; they were dismayed and confounded; they 
 were as the tender plant of the field, and the green 
 herb ; as the gi-ass on the house-tops, and as com 
 blasted before it be grown up." 
 
 Here, as in several places. Scripture refers to grass 
 growing on the house-tops, but which coiyes to 
 nodiing. The following quotation will show the na- 
 ture of this: "In the morning the master of the 
 house laid in a stock of earth, which was carried up, 
 and spread evenly on the top of the house, which is 
 flat. The whole roof is thus formed of mere earth, 
 laid on, and rolled hard and flat. On the top of every 
 housi' is a large stone roller, for the jnirpose of 
 hardening and flattening this layer of made soil, so 
 that the rain may not penetrate ; but upon this sur-
 
 GRE 
 
 [472] 
 
 GREECE 
 
 face, as may be supposed, grass and weeds grow 
 freely. It is to such grass that the psahnist alludes, 
 as useless and bad." (Jowett's Christian Researches 
 in Syria, p. 89.) 
 
 GRASSHOPPER. It appears from the testimony 
 of Denon, that there are grasshoppers in Egypt; for 
 so we understand his " locusts which do no damage " 
 — but the creature intended by our public version, 
 under this name, is certainly a kind of locust. See 
 Locust. 
 
 GREECE, Heb. ]Ti, the same as '/^», '7u»i'a, Ionia. 
 This word, in Scripture, often comprehends all the 
 countries inhabited by the descendants of Javan, as 
 well in Greece as in Ionia and Asia Minor. After 
 the time of Alexander the Great, when the Greeks 
 became masters of Egypt, Syria, and the countries 
 beyond the Euphrates, the Jews included all Gen- 
 tiles under the name of Greeks. In the Old Testa- 
 ment, both Greece and Greeks are called Javan. 
 Isaiah says, (Ixvi. 19.) "The Lord shall send his am- 
 bassadors to Javan, who dwells in the isles afar off." 
 Ezekiel, (ch. xxvii. 13, 19.) that Javan, Tubal, and 
 Meshech came to the fairs at Tyi-e. Daniel, (xi. 2.) 
 speaking of Xerxes, says, " He shall stir up all 
 against the realm of Javan." Alexander the Great 
 ts described by the same prophet as "king of Javan," 
 chap. viii. 21 ; x. 20. Javan was a son of Japheth, 
 (Gen. x. 2, 4.) after whom that part of Greece called 
 Ionia was named. It is remarkable that the Hindoos 
 call the Greeks Yavanas, which is the ancient He- 
 brew appellation. They also regard them with a 
 contempt bordering on abhorrence. They are sel- 
 dom described in the Hindoo books, but as molest- 
 ing other people, who are better than themselves. 
 
 Greece, in its largest acceptation, as denoting the 
 countries where the Greek language prevailed, in- 
 cluded from the Scardian mountains north, to the 
 Levant, south ; and from the Adriatic sea west, to 
 Asia Minor east. Hence it is used by Daniel to 
 denote Macedonia ; whereas, we read in Acts xx. 2, 
 that Paul, passing through Macedonia, came to 
 Greece ; that is, Grecia Proper. In this more re- 
 stricted sense, Macedonia and the river Strymon 
 formed the northern boundary of Greece. The 
 Greeks were called Achsei, or Achivi, from AchiBus, 
 son of Jupiter ; hence the name of Achaia. They 
 were also named Hellenes, from a son of Deucalion. 
 It is probable, however, tiiat these names describe 
 distinct nations, or the inhabitants of Greece at dif- 
 ferent periods. The name lones is not only the most 
 ancient, but the most general. 
 
 [The Greek name of Greece in the New Testa- 
 ment is "£/./.ac, Hellas. The name Hellas is sup- 
 })osed to have been originally appropriated to a sin- 
 gle city in Thessaly, said to have been built by 
 Hellen, the son of Deucalion, and named from him- 
 self. It was afterwards applied to the region of 
 Thessaly, then to Greece exclusive of the Pelopon- 
 nesus, and at last to the whole of Greece including 
 the Pelo])onnesus, and extending from Macedonia to 
 the Mediterranean sea. The name of Greeks, i^'ny.u't, 
 by some is supposed to be derived from a people of 
 that name in the southern part of the country, a part 
 of whom migrated to Italy, and founded the colonies 
 of Magna Grczcia ; others suppose the name to have 
 come from I\>aixi',c, an ancient king of the country. 
 Ai)out the year 146 after Christ, the Romans under 
 Mummius conquered Greece, and afterwards divid- 
 ed it into two great provinces, viz. Macedonia, in- 
 cluding Macedonia Proper, Thessaly, Epirus, and 
 Illyricum ; and Achaia including all the country 
 
 which lies south of the former province. (See 
 AcBAiA.) In Acts XX. 2, Greece is probably to be 
 taken in its widest acceptation, as including the 
 whole of Greece Proper and the Peloponnesus. This 
 country was bounded north by Macedonia and Illyr- 
 icum, from which it was separated by the mountains 
 Acroceraunii and Cambunii ; south by the Mediter- 
 ranean sea ; east by the ^Egean sea ; and west by the 
 Ionian sea. It was generally known under the three 
 great divisions of Peloponnesus, Hellas, and Northei-n 
 Greece. 
 
 The Peloponnesus, more anciently called Pelasgia, 
 and Argos, and now the Morea, included the follow- 
 ing countries, viz. Arcadia, with the cities Megalopo- 
 lis, Tegasa, Mantinea ; Laconia v. Laconica, with the 
 cities Sparta, now Misitra, Epidaurus Limera ; Mes- 
 senia, with the cities Messene, Methone, now Modon ; 
 Elis, with the village Olympia and the city Elis; 
 Achaia, more anciently called iEgialea, or Ionia, with 
 its twelve cities, including the minor states of Sicyon 
 and Corinth ; Argolis, with the cities Argos and 
 Troezene. 
 
 The division of Hellas, which now constitutes a 
 great part of Livadia, included the following states 
 and territories, viz. Attica, with the city Athense, now 
 Atini, or Setines ; Megaris, with the city Megara ; 
 BcEotia, with the cities Thebfe, Platsese, Leuctra, 
 Coi'onea, Chperonea, Orchomenus ; Phocis, with the 
 cities Delphos, Anticyra ; Doiis ; Locris, with the 
 towns Thermopylae, Naupactus, now Lepanto ; ^Eio- 
 lia, with the cities Calydon, Chalcis, Thermis ; Acar- 
 nania, with the city Actium, now Azio. 
 
 The remaining division o{JVorthe7-n Greece includ- 
 ed the following territories, viz. Thessaly, more an- 
 ciently called Pelasgia, iEmonia, or Hellas, with the 
 cities Larissa, Larissa Cremaste, Phthia, Magnesia, 
 Methone, Pharsalus ; Epirus, more anciently Dodo- 
 nea, now Albania, with the cities Ambracia, Nicopo- 
 lis, Apollonia, Dyrrhachium, or Epidamnum. 
 
 The most important islands which belonged to 
 Greece were the following, viz. Euhaa, now Negro- 
 pont, with the cities Chalcis, Eretria, Carystus ; 
 Crete, now Candia, with the cities Cnossus, Gortyna, 
 Minoa, Cydonia ; the islands of the Archipelago, \.e, 
 the Cyclades, including Naxos, Paros, Delos, and 
 about fifty others ; the Sporades, including Samos, 
 Patmos, Rhodes, etc. the islands higher up the JEge- 
 an sea, as Samothrace, Lemnos, Lesbos, with the city 
 Mitylene ; and the Ionian islands, including Cythe- 
 rea, nowCerigo, Zacynthus, Cej)halonia, Ithica, now 
 Teaki, Leucadia, now Santa Maura, Pa.xos, Corcyra, 
 now Corfu. *R. 
 
 Scripture refers but little to Greece, till the time 
 of Alexander, whose conquests extended into Asia, 
 where Greece had hitherto been of no importance. 
 Yet that some intercourse was maintained with these 
 countries from Jerusalem, may be inferred from the 
 desire of Baasha to shut up all communication be- 
 tween Jerusalem and Jop])a, ^^ hicli was its port, by 
 the building of Ramah ; and from the anxiety of Asa 
 to counteract his scheme, 1 Kings xv. 2, 17. Greece 
 was certainly symbolized by a goat having a strong 
 horn between his eyes, Dan. viii. .5, 2L 
 
 After the establishment of the Grecian dynasties in 
 Asia, Judea could not but be considerably affected 
 by them, and the books of the Maccabees afford 
 proofs that they were. The Roman power super- 
 seded the Grecian establishments, but left traces of 
 Greek language, customs, &c. to the days of the 
 Herods, where the gospel history commences. By 
 the activity of the apostles, and especially of Paul, the
 
 GREECE 
 
 [473] 
 
 GUD 
 
 gospel was propagated iu those countries which 
 used tlie Grecian dialects ; hence, we are interested 
 in the study of this language, and of the peculiar 
 manners of the people by whom it was spoken. 
 
 From a consideration of the Grecian disposition, to 
 combine all wisdom in themselves, and to suppose all 
 others in darkness, to regard their own institutions 
 as supremely excellent, while they were enslaved by 
 superstition, we may discern, with gi-eater evidence, 
 the propriety of the cautions addressed to some of the 
 new converts to Christianity ; of the reprimands in- 
 tended for others ; of the exhortations directed to 
 all ; and of those pathetic entreaties which occasion- 
 ally animate the apostolic writings. We may also 
 safely conclude, that many hints are incidentally 
 dropped, many expressions used, and many remarks 
 made, with reference to local phrases, peculiarities, 
 and turusof thought ; to local institutions, and exist- 
 ing circumstances and opinions, of which we have 
 but a slight or imperfect knowledge. 
 
 Many flourishing churches were, in early times, 
 established among the Greeks : and there can be no 
 doubt but that they, for a long time, preserved the 
 apostolic customs with considerable care. At length, 
 however, opinions fluctuated considerably on points 
 of doctrine ; schisms and heresies divided the 
 church ; and rancor, violence, and even persecution, 
 followed in their train. To check these evils, coun- 
 cils were called, and various creeds composed. The 
 removal of the seat of government from Rome to 
 Constantinople, gave a preponderance to the Grecian 
 districts of the empire, and the ecclesiastical deter- 
 minations of the Greek church were extensively 
 received. 
 
 The Greek is the original language of almost all 
 the books in the New Testament ; but the sacred au- 
 thors have followed that style of writing which was 
 used by the Hellenists, or Grecizing Hebrews, blend- 
 ing idioms and turns of speech, peculiar to the Syriac 
 and Hebrew languages, very different from the clas- 
 sical spirit of the Greek writers. After Alexander 
 the Great, Greek became the common language of 
 
 almost all the East, and was generally used in com- 
 merce. As the sacred authors had ])rincipally in 
 view the conversion of the Jews, then scattered 
 throughout the East, it was natural for them to write 
 to them in Greek, that being a language to which 
 they were of necessity accustomed. [For the char- 
 acter of the Greek language of the New Testament, 
 see a celebrated essay by H. Planck, published in the 
 Biblical Repository, vol. i. p. 638, seq. and also 
 Winer's Grammar of the New Testament. For the 
 prevalence of the Greek language in Palestine, see 
 an essay by Hug, in the Bibl. Repos. vol. i. p. 530, 
 seq. R. 
 
 At this time, many Jews had two names, one 
 Greek, the other Hebrew; others Grecized their He- 
 brew names: of Jesus they made Jason ; of Saulus, 
 Paulus ; of Simon, or Simeon, Petros, &c. 
 
 GREEKS were, properly, the inhabitants of 
 Greece ; but this is not the only acceptation of the 
 name iu the New Testament. It seems to import, 
 (1.) Those persons of Hebrew descent who, being 
 settled in cities where Greek was the natural lan- 
 guage, spoke this language rather than their parental 
 Hebrew. They are called Greeks, to distinguish 
 them from those Jews who spoke Hebrew. (2.) Such 
 persons as were Greek settlers in the land of Israel, 
 or in any of its towns. After the time of Alexander, 
 these aUens were numerous in some places. 
 
 It seems that we have, in Mark vii. 26, the name of 
 Greek, applied not to a native, or an inhabitant of 
 Greece, but to a descendant of a Greek family set- 
 tled in Syria. We read that, " in the borders of 
 Tyre and Sidon, a woman who was a Greek, a Sy- 
 rophenician by nation," addressed our Lord. The 
 evangelist characterizes her as a Syrophenician, to 
 distinguish her from the Greeks of Europe. In the 
 parallel passage, (Matt. xv.21.) she is called a woman 
 of Canaan, and the liistory is said to pass in the 
 coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 
 
 GUDGODAH, a station of the Israelites in the 
 wilderness ; (Deut. x. 7.) called Hor-hagidgad, Numb, 
 xxxiii. 32. 
 
 H 
 
 HABAKKUK 
 
 HABAKKUK, one of the minor piophets. Of 
 his life we have no account, except in the apocry- 
 phal part of Daniel ; (Dan. xiv. 32, seq. in the Vul- 
 gate ;) according to which he must have lived in the 
 last years of the exile, in the palace of the king of 
 Babylon. This legend, however, carries with it its 
 own condenmation ; for this date accords in no de- 
 gree whatever with the contents of the book of Ha- 
 bakkuk. The latter necessarily presupposes the 
 commencement of the Chaldean period ; when this 
 people began to w^x powerful, and to become dan- 
 gerous to the Jewish nation. (See ch. i. 5, seq.) The 
 actual destruction of the Jewish state by the Chalde- 
 ans he seems not to have experienced ; at least there 
 is no allusion to it in his prophecy. We may, there- 
 fore, best regard him as cotemporary with Jeremiah ; 
 but rather with the earlier period of the latter's life. 
 
 The book of Habakkuk consists of three chaptei-s, 
 which all constitute one oracle ; or at least may prop- 
 erly be regarded as one. They contain complaints 
 60 
 
 HABAKKUK 
 
 * 
 
 over the calamities brought upon the Jews by the Chal- 
 deans ; together with the expression of strong desires 
 and hopes that these savage enemies will be requited. 
 T^e costume is highly poetical; the train of thought 
 something like the following : He begins with 
 lamentations over the cruelties exercised upon the 
 Jews, and then describes the rude and warlike Chal- 
 deans, (see that article,) and awaits an answer from 
 God, ch. i. The answer is, that deliverance is in- 
 deed still remote, but will certainly arrive at last, ch. 
 ii. Upon another prayer of the prophet, there fol- 
 loAvs in ch. iii. a solemn theophania, where God ap- 
 pears in his majesty in order to destroy the enemy 
 and set free the Jewish people. 
 
 This third chapter is one of the most splendid por- 
 tions of the prophetical writings; the language of it 
 rises to the loftiest flight of lyric poetry. 0° "le 
 giound of this portion of his prophecy, Habakkuk 
 may be placed in the fii-st rank of the Hebrew poets. 
 He is not entirely original ; for this chapter contams
 
 HAB 
 
 [ 474 ] 
 
 HAD 
 
 an imitation of earlier writings ; (Judg. v. 4 ; Ps. Ixvni. 
 7, seq.) but he is distinguished for the puritj' and ele- 
 gance of his diction, and the fire and vivacity of his 
 imagery. *R. 
 
 HABERGEON, [a coat of mail ; an ancient piece 
 (if defensive armor, in the form of a coat, descending 
 fi-om the neck to the middle, and formed of small iron 
 rings or mashes, linked into each other. It is also 
 written haubert, and hauberk. Our translators have 
 used this word (Ex. xxviii. 32 ; xxxi. 23.) for the 
 Heb. Ninr, tachara, which denotes a thick quilted 
 linen, ^oQ>,i. or garment furnished above with a coat 
 of mail. In other passages, habergeon stands for the 
 Heb. p>-ir, shirio7i, a coat of mail in general. So in 
 Job xli. 26. [Heb. 18.] for n^-\-c; shiryah, where the 
 context seems to require some offensive weapon, as 
 dart, javelin. R. 
 
 HABITS. Moses forbids women and men to in- 
 terchange their habits. The importance of these 
 laws will be apparent if we consider the manners of 
 the East. There the women continue secluded in 
 close apartments, to which men, who are strangers, 
 have no access. Some writers believe, that the pro- 
 hibition principally forbade those superstitious cere- 
 monies, which accompanied certain heathen festivals. 
 In the feasts of Bacchus, Venus and Mars, men dis- 
 guised themselves like women ; in the first, the 
 men put on women's clothes ; in the second, the 
 Avomeu put on men's. In the East, the men sacri- 
 ficed generally to the moon dressed in women's 
 clothes, and the women sacrificed to that deity 
 dressed in men's clothes ; because this planet was 
 adored both as a god and a goddess; and was 
 afiirmed to be of both sexes. This interpretation is 
 rendered probable by the declaration that " all who 
 do so are an abomination to the Lord." 
 
 A change of habit, and the washing of the clothes, 
 were enjoined on the Jews, to prepare them for ac- 
 tions of particular purity, Gen. xxxv. 2; Exod. xix. 
 10, 14. 
 
 To tear the clothes, as a token of mourning, is a 
 custom frequentl}' noticed in the sacred writings. 
 SeeMouRNKNG, or Burial, Dead. 
 
 The strange apparel mentioned in Zeph. i. 8, may 
 denote habits worn by the Heiirews in imitation of 
 strangers ; (or, in the faslnons of strangers ;) who, not 
 content with the stuffs and cloths, the colors and 
 dj'es, of their own country, must seek others among 
 strangers in Babylonia, Chaidea, Egypt, Tyre, &:c. 
 Some believe that the Hebrews not only imitated tJie 
 worship and superstitions of idolaters, but also wore 
 their hal)its in their sacrilegious ceremonies. Otiiers, 
 by " strange habits," suppose those to Ix; meant, which 
 were taken in pawn fiom the poor and unfortunate, 
 contrary to the prohibition of the law, which requu'ed 
 that they should be returned against night, Exod. 
 xxii. 26, 27. 
 
 The habit down to the foot, or that trails along the 
 ground, (Wisdom xviii. 24 ; Ecclus. xxvii. 8 ; Rev. i. 
 1.3.) signifies, literally, u habit or garment hangine 
 down to the fVot ; a loiirr, trailing habit, used on davs 
 of ceremony. In Wisdom, it rt.niotes the high-priest's 
 sacerdotal mantle. In Ecclesiasticus, a habit of hon- 
 or and distinction, allowed only to persons of dienitv. 
 In the Revelation, our Saviour apix-ared to John in'a 
 long habit, girt with a golden girdh'. See Dress. 
 
 HABOR, Chabor, Chaboras, a river in Mesopo- 
 tamia, which falls into the Euphrates, whither part 
 of Israel was transplanted. Ezekiel addresses his 
 prophecies from the river Ciiebar, or Ilabor. Our 
 translation takes Habor for a citv situated "liv the 
 
 river of Gozan ;" and major Rennell says there is 
 found in the country anciently named Media, in the 
 remote northern quarter, towards the Caspian sea, 
 and Ghilan, a considerable river named Ozan, or 
 Kizal-ozan. There is also found a city named Ab- 
 har, or Habor, situated on a branch of the Ozan ; and 
 it has the reputation of being exceedingly ancient." 
 (Herod, p. 395, 396.) This is probably the place 
 mentioned in Scripture. See Gozan. 
 
 HACHILAH, a mountain about ton miles south of 
 Jericho, where David concealed himself from Saul, 
 
 1 Sam. xxiii. 19. Jonathan Maccabseus built here 
 the castle of Massada. 
 
 I. HADAD, son of Bedad, succeeded Hushan, a3 
 king of Edom, (Gen. xxxvi. 35.) and obtained a vic- 
 tory over the Midianites in Moab. Tiie city where 
 he reigned was named Avith ; but its situation is not 
 known. 
 
 II. HADAD, king of Syria, reigned at Damascus 
 when David attacked Hadadezei-, another king of 
 Syria, 2 Sam. viii. Nicholas of Damascus states that 
 Hadad carried succors to Hadadezer, as far as the 
 Euphrates; where David defeated them both. (See 
 
 2 Sam. viii. 5.) 
 
 III. HADAD, son to the king of Edom, was car- 
 ried into Egypt by his father's servants, when Joab, 
 general of David's troops, extirpated the males of 
 Edom. Hadad, who was then a child, had a house 
 and lands given to him by the king of^ Egypt, who 
 married him to the sister of Tahpcnes his queen. 
 Hadad, being informed that David and Joab were 
 dead, returned into his own country, where he raised 
 disturbances against Solomon, 1 Kings xi. 17. 
 
 IV. HADAD, son of Baal-hanan, king of Edom. 
 He reigned in the city Pai, and after his death, 
 Edom was governed by dukes or princes, i Chron. 
 i. 51, &c. 
 
 The name of Hadad was long common to the 
 kings of Syria. 
 
 HADADEZER, king of Zobah, a country which 
 extended from Libanus to tlie Orontes. David de- 
 feated Hadadezer, and took 700 horse and 20,000 
 foot, 2 Sam. viii. 3. ante A. D. 1044. Seven years 
 afterwards, the king of the Ammonites dying, David 
 sent ambassadors to Hanuu his son, whh compli- 
 ments of condolence. The young prince affronted 
 his ambassadors, and called the neighboring princes 
 to his assistance, particularly Hadadezer; who, not 
 daring to declare openly against David, sent private- 
 ly into Mesojiotamia, and there hired troops for the 
 king of the Ammonites. These auxiliary forces, in 
 all jirobability, came after the battle had been won by 
 Joab, 2 Sam. x. 6, seq. 
 
 HADAD-RIMMON, a place in the valley of Me- 
 giddo, Zech. xii. 11. 
 
 HADAR, son and successor of Achbor, king of 
 Edom, reigned in the city Pai, Gen. xxxvi. 39. 
 
 HADASHAH, or Chadassa, a town in Judah, 
 (Josh. XV. 37.) which Eusebius says lay near Taphnse. 
 
 HADASSAH, see Esther. 
 
 HADES, see Hell. 
 
 HADID, or Chadid, a city of Benjamin, (Ezra ii. 
 33; Nehem. vii..37.) prol)al)ly the Adita or Adiadaol 
 Josephus, and of 1 Mac. xii. .38, xiii. 3, in Sephela, 
 or in the plain of Judah. Eusebius and Jerome 
 speak of two cities called Aditha, or Adi ; one near 
 Gaza, the other near Diospolis, or Lydda. But this 
 carries us too far from Benjamin. 
 
 HADRACH, or Adra, a city mentioned by Zecb- 
 ariah, (ix. 1.) who denounced d^-eadful threatenings 
 against it. Ptolemy notices a city called Adra, in
 
 HAG 
 
 [ 473 ] 
 
 HAI 
 
 lat. 68 |, long. 32 ^. It could not hp far from 
 Damascus; for Zechariah calls Damascus the bul- 
 wark, defence, and confidence of Hadrach. 
 
 HAGAR, an Egyptian servant belonging to Sarah, 
 who, being barren, gave her to Abraham for a wife, 
 that by her, as a substitute, she might have children. 
 Sarah having used her harshly, Hagar fled from the 
 dwelling of Abraham ; but an angel of the Lord, find- 
 ing her in the wilderness, commanded her to return. 
 She obeyed his voice, submitted to Sarah, and was 
 delivered of a sou, whom she named Ishmael. Four- 
 teen years after this, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. 
 When the child was weaned, Ishmael, who was then 
 eeventeen years of age, was observed bj' Sarah to be 
 teasing him ; in consequence of which she urged 
 Abraham to expel Hagar and her son. Abraham was 
 greatly afflicted at this proposal ; but the Lord com- 
 manded him to comply with Sarah's request. Ris- 
 ing early in the morning, therefore, Abraham took 
 bread and a bottle of Avater, and sent away Hagar, 
 with her son. The afflicted woman intended to re- 
 turn into Egj'pt, but lost her way, and wandered in 
 the wilderness of Beer-sheba. The water in her 
 bottle failing, she left Ishmael under one of the trees 
 in the wilderness, and, going a small distance from 
 him, sat down, saying, " I will not see him die ;" and 
 lifted up her voice and wept. The angel of the 
 Lord, however, comforted her, and showed her a well 
 of water. She retired to the wilderness of Paran, 
 where she settled. Ishmael became very expert at 
 the bow ; and his mother married him to an Egyp- 
 tian woman. We know not when Hagar died. 
 The Mussulmans and Arabians, who are descended 
 from Ishmael, speak highly in her conmiendatiou. 
 They call her " Mother Hagar," and maintain that 
 she was Abraham's lawful wife ; the mother of Ish- 
 mael, his eldest son, who as such possessed Arabia, 
 which very much exceeds, in their estimation, both 
 in extent and riches, the land of Canaan, which was 
 given to his younger son Isaac. 
 
 Hagar, according to Paul, may symbolize the syn- 
 agogue, which produces only slaves — the ofiapring 
 alwavs following the condition of the motlier, Gal. 
 iv. 2!. 
 
 HAGARENES, the descendants of Ishmael: 
 called also Ishmaelites and Saracens, or Arabians, 
 from their country. The name Saracens is not de- 
 rived, as some have thought, from Sarah, Abraham's 
 wife, but from Sahara, the desert ; Saracens, " in- 
 habitants of the desert." 
 
 HAGGAI, the tenth of the minor prophets, was 
 
 Srobably born at Babylon, whence he accompanied 
 ierubbabel. The captives immediately after their 
 return to Judea began with ardor to rebuild the 
 temple ; but the work was suspended fourteen years, 
 till after the death of Cambyses. Darius Hystaspes 
 succeeding to the empire, Haggai was excited by 
 God to exhort Zerubbabel, prince of Judah, and the 
 high-priest Joshua, son of Josedeck, to resume the 
 work of the temple, which had been so long inter- 
 rupted, {ante A. D. 521.) The remonstrances of the 
 prophet had their effect, and in the second year of 
 Darius, and the sixteenth year after the return from 
 Babylon, they resumed this work. Hag. i. 14 ; ii. 1. 
 The Lord commanded Haggai to tell the people, 
 that if any one recollected the temple of Solomon, 
 and did not think this to be so beautiful and njagnif- 
 icent as that structure was, he ought not to be dis- 
 couraged ; because God would render the new tem- 
 ple much more august and venerable than the for- 
 mer had ever been ; not in embellishments of gold 
 
 or Sliver, hut by the presence of the Messiah, the de- 
 sire of all nations, and by ilie glory which his coming 
 would add to it. 
 
 We know nothing of Haggai's death. Epiphani- 
 us asserts, that he was buried at Jerusalem among 
 the priests ; which might mduce us to believe that 
 he was of Aaron's family : but Haggai says nothing 
 of himself to favor this opinion. 
 
 HAGGITH, David's fifth wife, mother of Adoni- 
 jah, 2 Sam. iii. 4. 
 
 HAGIOGRAPHA. The Hebrews distinguish 
 the canonical books of the Old Testament into three 
 classes; {!.) the Law ; (2.) the Prophets; (3.) the 
 Hagiographa, or Chethubim. See Bible, p. 170. 
 
 HAHIROTH, whence Pi-hahiroth, as it is called 
 in Exod. xiv. 2, 9, but simply Hahu-oth, in Numbers 
 xxxiii. 8. See Exodus, p. 401. 
 
 HAI, or Ai, or Aijah, a city near Bethel, west. 
 The LXX call it Agai ; Josephus, Aina ; others, 
 Aiath. See Ai. 
 
 HAIL ! a salutation, importing a wish for the 
 welfare of the person addressed. It is now seldom 
 used among us ; but was customary among our Sax- 
 on ancestors, and imported as much as "joy to you ;" 
 or " health to you ;" including in the term health all 
 kinds of prosperity. 
 
 HAIL-Stojjes are congealed drops of rain, form- 
 ed into ice by the power of cold in the upper re- 
 gions of the atmosphere. HaU was among the 
 plagues of Egypt ; (Exod. ix. 24.) and that hail, 
 though uncommon, is not absolutely unknown m 
 Egypt, we have the testimony of Volney, who men- 
 tions a hail-storm, w hicL he saw crossing over mount 
 Sinai into that country, some of w hose frozen stones 
 he gathered; "and so," he says, "I drank iced water 
 m Eg>'pt." Hail was also the means made use of 
 by God, for defeating an army of the kings of Canaan, 
 Josh. X. 11. God's judgments are likened to a hail- 
 stoi-m, in Isaiah xxviii. 2. But the most tremendous 
 had mentioned in Scripture, or in any WTiter, is that 
 alluded to in Rev. xvi. 21 ; "Every stone about the 
 weight of a talent." (The Jewish talent was about 125 
 lbs.) How strong is this description ! In comparison 
 Avith it all accounts of hail-stones and hail-stonns 
 are diminutive. We have, in the Philosophical 
 Transactions, mention of hail as large as pullets' 
 eggs, and in America, hail-stones sometimes fall of 
 several pounds weight : but what is this to the weight 
 of a talent ! 
 
 HAIR. The law enjoined nothing respecting the 
 mode of wearing the hair. The priests had theirs 
 cut, it is said, eveiy fortnight, while in waiting at the 
 temple. They were forliidden to cut their hair in 
 honor of the dead ; that is, of Adonis ; though, on 
 other occasions of mourning, they cut it without 
 scruple. " Ye shall not round the corners of your 
 heads ;" in imitation of the Arabians, Ammonites, 
 3Ioabites, and the Edomites ; of the people of De- 
 dan, Tema, and Buz ; who did this, as it is said, in 
 imitation of Bacchus. The LXX translate, " Ye 
 shall not make sisoo of the hair of your head;" 
 the Hebrew word sisoc imports a lock of hau" of- 
 fered to Saturn. Lucian is an evidence, that the 
 Syrians oflTered their hair to their gods ; and it is 
 well knoM-n to have been conunon among other 
 people. 
 
 It was usual with the heathen to make vows, that 
 they would suffer their hair (or their beards) to grow, 
 till" they had accomplished certain things. Civdis, 
 having'taken arms against the Romans, vowed never 
 to cut his hair, which was of a red color, and which, 
 
 \
 
 HAM 
 
 476 
 
 HAM 
 
 out of mere artifice, he wore long, after the manuer 
 of the Germans, till he had defeated the legions. 
 (Tacitus, Hist. hb. iv.) This has some relation to 
 the law of the Nazarites, who were never to have 
 their hair cut, Numb. vi. 5, 9. 
 
 When a man was suspected of having a leprosy, 
 inspection was carefully made, whether the color of 
 his hair were changed, or if it fell ; this bemg one in- 
 dication of the disease. When he was healed, he 
 washed his body and his clothes, cut off the hair of 
 his head, and of his whole body, and presented his 
 offering at the door of the tabernacle. Lev. xiii. 4, 10, 
 31, 32, &c. But he did not enter into the camp till 
 eight days after, again cutting away all the hair off 
 his body, in demonstration of his desire not to leave 
 any place where the least pollution might remam 
 undiscovered, and uncleansed. Lev. xiv. 8, 9 The 
 Levites, on the day of their consecration to God's 
 service, shaved their whole bodies. 
 
 Black hair was thought to be the most beautiful. 
 Cant. V. 11. This was also the taste of the Romans ; 
 at least, in the days of Horace. 
 
 Plucking off the hair was a species of punishment. 
 See Punishment. 
 
 HALAH, a city or countiy of Media, to which the 
 kings of Assyria transplanted the ten tribes. It is 
 mentioned with Habor ; (2 Kings xvii. 6.) which 
 shows it to have been on the river Gozan. Hyde 
 supposes it to be Holwan ; Bochait thinks it to be 
 Calachene in Media. [Gesenius and Rosenmiiller 
 incline to the opinion of Hyde, and suppose it to be 
 the same as Calah, which see. R. 
 
 HALHUL, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 58.) thought 
 to be near Hebron. 
 
 HALI, Cali, or Chali, a city of Phoenicia, in 
 Asher, Josh. xix. 25. 
 
 HALLELUJAH, see Alleluia. 
 
 To HALLOW. (See Sanctification, Holt.) 
 To hallow, is to render sacred, set apart, consecrate. 
 The English word is from the Saxon, and is properly 
 to make holy ; hence hallowed persons, things, places, 
 rites, &c. ; hence, also, the name, power, dignity of 
 God, is hallowed ; that is, reverenced as holy. 
 
 HALT, to go lame on the feet or legs. Many 
 persons who were halt were cured by our Lord. 
 To halt betAveen two opinions, (1 Kings xviii. 21.) 
 should, perhaps, be to stagger from one to the other, 
 repeatedly ; but some say, it is an allusion to birds, 
 who hoi) from spray to spray, forAvards and back- 
 wards : — as the contrary influence of supposed con- 
 victions, vibrated the mind in alternate affirmation 
 and doubtfulness. 
 
 HAM, or Cham, burnt, sivarthy, black; the young- 
 est son of Noah. One day when Noah had drank 
 wine. Ham perceived his parent lying in his tent, 
 with his person exposed, which he ridicided. No- 
 ah, when he awoke and Avas informed of his sin, 
 said, " Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall 
 he be to his brethren." Ham \a%is father of Cush, 
 Misraim, Phut, and Canaan. It is believed that he 
 had Africa for his inheritance •, and that he peopled 
 it ; but he dAvelt in Eg\'pt. (See Egypt.) Afi-ica is 
 called "the land of Ham" in several places of the 
 Psalms. 
 
 Many writei-s have been of opinion, that the pos- 
 terity of Ham suggested the design, luid formed the 
 presumptuous projrrt, of building the tower of Ba- 
 bel. But this is Avithout jjroofs. 
 
 " In the Rozit ul Sufla it is written, tliat God be- 
 stowed on Ham nine sons — Hind, Sind, Zenj, Nubn, 
 Kanaan, Kush, Kopt, Berber, and Hebesh ; and 
 
 their children having increased to an immense mul- 
 titude, God caused each ti'ibe to speak a different 
 language ; Avherefore they separated, and each of 
 them applied to the cultivation of their owii lands." 
 (Asiatic Miscel. p. 148. 4to.) Most of these nations 
 may be traced with tolerable certainty. 
 Hind must be the origin of the Hindoos. 
 Sind, the origin of the nations bordering on the 
 Indus. 
 
 Zenj, may Ave place in Zanguebar in Africa, East ? 
 JVuba, father of the Nubians, more central in 
 Africa. 
 
 Kanaan, and Kush, the same as are well knoAvn 
 from Scripture. 
 
 Kopt, the Egyptians ; who, it appears, did not re- 
 ceive name from any town called Coptos, as the 
 learned haA^e usually said, but from a father of this 
 name, after Avhom such a town might be called. 
 
 Berber, Avhence the Barabari, beyond Nubia, and, 
 remotely, Barbary. 
 
 Hebesh, Abyssinia : its present name among the 
 Turks and Arabs is Habesh. 
 
 We find, then, that Hind, Sind, and Kanaan, with 
 more or less of Kush, remained in Asia, notwith- 
 standing Africa was the allotted portion of Ham. J 
 With this agrees, in part, the tradition of the Brah- / 
 mins, Avho acknoAvledge that they are not originally / 
 of India, but came into India through the pass of Her- ■ 
 idAvar, or HardAA^ar. This also contributes to account 
 for the existence of Hamite kingdoms, and poAverful 
 kingdoms, too, in western Asia. But the reader will 
 recollect, in perfect coincidence Avith this observation, 
 that " God caused each tribe to speak a different lan- 
 guage ; wherefore they separated." This restricts 
 the interference of Deity in the confusion of tongues 
 to the sons of Ham ; Avhich certainly accords with 
 the true import of the Mosaic history of that event : 
 not — all mankind on the face of the earth, but— all 
 the tribes connected with Shinar, and its population. 
 HAMAN, son of Hammedatha the Amalekite, of 
 the race of Agag ; or, according to other copies, of 
 Hamadath the Bugsean or Goggean ; that is, of the 
 race of Gog, or it may be read, Haman the son of 
 Hamadath, which Haman AA'as Bagua or Bagoas, 
 eunuch or officer to the king of Pei-sia. We have 
 no proof of Hainan's being an Amalekite ; but Es- 
 ther iii. 1. reads, of the race of Agag. In the apoc- 
 ryphal Greek, (chap. ix. 24.) and the Latin, (chap, 
 xvi. 6.) he is called a Macedonian. Ahasuerus, haA'^- 
 ing taken him into faA'or, promoted him above all 
 the princes of his court, avIio bent the knee to him 
 when he entered the palace. This Mordecai the 
 Jew declined, for Avhicli slight, Haman plotted the 
 extirpation of the whole JcAvish nation ; Avhich was 
 providentially prevented. He was hanged on a gib- 
 bet fifty cubits high, Avhich he had prepared for 
 Mordecai ; his house was given to queen Esther, and 
 his employments to Mordecai. His ten sons Avere 
 also executed. See Esther. 
 
 There is something so entirely different from the 
 customs of European civilization, in Haman's pro- 
 posed destruction of the JeAvish people, (Esther, 
 chap, iii.) that the mind of the reader, Avhen perus- 
 ing it, is alarmed into hesitation, if not into incredit- 
 lity. And, indeed, it seems barely credible that a king 
 should endure a massacre of so great a proportion of 
 his subjects — a Avliole nation cut off at a stroke ! 
 HoAvever, that such a proposal might be made, is 
 attested by a similar proposal made in later times, 
 which nan-owly escaped witnessing a catastrophe of 
 the same nature. M. De Peysonnel, in delineating 
 
 M
 
 HAM 
 
 [ 477 ] 
 
 HAN 
 
 the character of the celebrated Hassan Pacha, (who, 
 in the war of 1770, between Russia and Turkey, be- 
 came eminent as a seaman,) says of him, " He pre- 
 served the Greeks, when it was dehberated in the 
 council [of the grand signior] to exterminate them 
 entnely, as a punishment for their defection, and to 
 prevent their future rebellion : he obtained for them 
 a general amnesty, which he took care should be 
 
 faithfully observed, and this brought back a 
 
 great number of emigrants, and prevented the total 
 desertion of that numerous class of subjects, which 
 an unseasonable rigor would have occasioned, and 
 whicli must have depopulated the provinces, render- 
 ed a great part of the coimtry uncultivated, and de- 
 prived the fleet of a nursery of sailors." (Remarks of 
 Baron du Tott, page 90.) Political evils these, which, 
 nevertheless, would not have preserved the Greeks, 
 without the personal influence of the admiral ; — as 
 the consideration of similar evils could not restrain 
 the anger of Haman, and the misled confidential ca- 
 price of Aliasuerus. This account has subsequently 
 been confirmed by Mr. Elton, of Smyrna. 
 
 HAMATH, a celebrated city of Syria. [Hamath, 
 together with Jerusalem and Damascus, belongs to 
 the few places in Syria and Palestine, which have 
 retained a certain degree of importance from the 
 veiy earliest ages to the present time. The name oc- 
 cure in Gen. x. 18, as the seat of a Canaanitish tribe ; 
 and it is often mentioned as the northern limit of 
 Canaan in its widest extent. Num. xiii. 21 ; Josh. 
 xiii. 5; Judg. iii. 3. In David's time, Toi, king of 
 Hamath, was his ally, 2 Sam. viii. 9, 10. The As- 
 syrians became masters of this city and the neigh- 
 borhood about 753 B. C. 2 Kings xvii. 24 ; Is. x. 
 8, seq. Under the SjTO-Macedonian dynasty, the city 
 was called Epiphania. (Theodoret on Zech. ix. 1. 
 Jerome, Qutest. in Gen. x. 15. Comm. on Ezek. 
 xlvii. 15. Roscnm. Bib. Geogi*. I. ii. 313.) The na- 
 tives, however, continued to use the ancient name ; 
 which became current again in the middle ages. At 
 this period it was the residence of the celebrated 
 Arabian prince and writer Abulfeda. 
 
 Burckhardt describes Hamath as " situated on both 
 sides of the Orontes ; a part of it is built on the de- 
 clivity of a hill, and a part in the plain. The town 
 is of considerable extent, and must contain at least 
 30,000 uihabitauts. There are four bridges over the 
 Orontes m the town. The river supplies the upper 
 town with water, by means of buckets fixed to high 
 wheels, which empty themselves into stone canals, 
 supported by lofty arches on a level with the upper 
 part of the town. There are about a dozen of the 
 wheels ; the largest of them is at least seventy feet 
 in diameter. The town, for the most part, is well 
 built, although the walls of the dwellings, a few pal- 
 aces excepted, are of mud ; but their interior makes 
 amends for the roughness of their external appear- 
 ance. The principal trade of Hamath is with the 
 Arabs, who buy here their tent furniture and clothes. 
 The government of Hamath comprises about one 
 hundred and twenty inhabited villages, and seventy 
 or eighty which have been abandoned. The west- 
 em part of its territory is the granary of northern 
 Syria ; though the harvest never yields more than 
 ten for one, chiefly in consequence of the immense 
 numbers of mice, which sometimes wholly destroy 
 tlie crops." (Travels in Syria, &c. p. 147.) Abulfeda 
 also describes this city ; and does not forget the men- 
 tion of it in Scripture, nor its many water wheels. 
 
 Others have supposed that Hamath was the city 
 Emessa, also situated on the Oi-ontes farther south. R. 
 
 HAMMON, a city of Asher, Josh. xix. 28. Also 
 another in Naphtah, 1 Chron. vi. 76. 
 
 HAMMOTH-DOR, a city of the Levites, in 
 Naphtah, ceded to the famify of Gershom, Josh, 
 xxi. 32. 
 
 HAMONAH, a city where Ezekiel (xxxix. 16.) 
 foretold the burial of Gog and his people would be. 
 We know not any town of this name in Palestine. 
 Hamonah signifies multitude ; and the prophet in- 
 tended to slio\\, that the slaughter of Gog's people 
 would be so gi"eat, that the place of their burial might 
 be called Midtitude. 
 
 HAMOR, prince of Shechem ; father of young 
 Shechem, who ravished Dinah, the daughter of Ja- 
 cob, Gen. xxxiv. (See Dknah, and Shechem.) Ja- 
 cob, returning from Mesopotamia, set up his tents at 
 Shechem, and bought of Hamor, for the price of a 
 hundred kesitahs, or pieces of silver, (about $200,) 
 that part of the field where he had pitched his tents, 
 Gen. xxxiii. 18, seq. The bones of Joseph were af- 
 terwards buried there. Josh. xxiv. 32. 
 
 HAMUTAL, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, 
 wife of king Josiah, and mother of Jehoahaz and 
 Zedekiah, kings of Judah, 2 Kings xxiii. 31. 
 
 HANAMEEL, son of Shallum, a kinsman of 
 Jeremiah's, who sold the prophet a field at Ana- 
 thoth, Jer. xxxii. 7, &c. 
 
 HANANEEL, an Israelite who gave name to one 
 of the towers of Jerusalem, Neh. iii. 1 ; xii. 39; Jer. 
 xxxi. 38 ; Zech. xiv. 10. 
 
 I. HANANI, the father of the prophet Jehu, 1 
 Kings xvi. 7. 
 
 II. HANANI, a prophet, Avho came to Asa, king 
 of Judah, and said, "Because thou hast put thy 
 trust in the king of Syria, and not in the Lord, the 
 army of the king of Syria is escaped out of thine 
 hands," 2 Chron. xvi. 7. We knoAV not on what oc- 
 casion the prophet spake thus ; but Asa ordered him 
 to be seized and imprisoned. Some suppose him to 
 have been father to the prophet Jehu ; but this does 
 not appear fiom Scripture. Jehu prophesied in Is- 
 rael ; Hanani in Judah. Jehu was put to death by 
 Baasha, king of Israel, who died A. M. 3075 ; but 
 Hanani reproved Asa, king of Judah, Avho reigned 
 from A. M. 3049 to 3090. 
 
 I. HANANIAH, one of the three young men of 
 the tribe of Judah and of the royal family, who, be- 
 ing carried captive to Babylon, were selected for in- 
 struction in the sciences of the Chaldeans, and to 
 wait in Nebuchadnezzar's palace. His name was 
 changed to Shadrach ; and he became celebrated for 
 his refusal to worship the golden image set up by 
 Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. i. 11 ; iii. 4. 
 
 II. HANANIAH, son of Azur, (Jer. xxviii. 1.) a 
 false prophet of Gibeon, who, coming to Jeru- 
 salem in the fourth year of Zedekiah, king of 
 Judah, (A. 31. 3409,) ibretold to Jeremiah and 
 all the people, that within two years all the ves- 
 sels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar, 
 king of Babylon, had carried to Babylon, would 
 be "restored." At the same time Hananiah laid 
 hold of the chains (or yokes) which Jeremiah wore 
 about his neck, as emblems of the future captivity of 
 Jiulah, and, breaking them, said, "Thus saitii the 
 Lord, even so in two years' time will I break the 
 yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon." Jere- 
 miah answered, "Thou hast broken the yokes of 
 wood, but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron ; 
 thou shalt die this year, because thou hast taught 
 rebellion against the Lord." He did so. 
 
 HAND sometimes denotes the power and ven-
 
 HAND 
 
 [478] 
 
 HAND 
 
 geance of God. " The hand of the Lord was heavy 
 on theiii of Ashdod," aftei- they had taken the ark, 1 
 Sam. V. 6, 7. " Hand " is also used for parts, times, 
 or degrees. Daniel and his companions were ten 
 hands (niT> -i:-;) wiser than all the magi and di- 
 viners of Babylon, i. e. ten times, Dan. i. 20. To 
 pour water on any one's hands signiiies to serve him, 
 2 Kings iii. 11. (See Washing, and Baptism.) To 
 wash one's hands denotes innocence. Matt, xxvii. 
 24. The righteous washes his hands with the inno- 
 cent, (Ps. XX vi. 6.) in token ofinnocency. To kiss 
 one's hand, is an act of adoration, 1 Kings xix. 18 ; 
 Job xxxi. 27. (See Kiss.) To fill OHe''s hands, to 
 take possession of the priesthood, to perform the 
 functions of that office ; becaxise in this ceremony, 
 those parts of the victim which Avere to be offered, 
 were put into the hand of the new-made priest, Judg. 
 xvii. 5, 12 ; Lev. xvi. 32 ; 1 Kings xiii. 33. To lean 
 upon any one's hand is a mark of familiarity and su- 
 periority. The king of Israel had a confidant upon 
 whom he thus leaned, 2 Kings vii. 17. The king of 
 Syria leaned on the iiand or arm of Naaman, when 
 he went up to the temple of Rinunou, 2 Kings v. 18. 
 To stretch out the hand signifies (1) to chastise, to ex- 
 ercise severity, or justice, Ps. Iv. 11. God deliver- 
 ed his people out of Egypt with a stretched-out 
 hand, and an arm lifted up : by great power, by per- 
 forming many v.onders, and inflicting many chas- 
 tisements on the Egyptians, "The hand of • God is 
 still stretched out ;" he is still ready to strike, Isa. v. 
 25; ix. 12, 17. — (2) Mercy: "I have stretched out 
 mine hand [ejitreated] all the day long," toAvards an 
 ungrateful and rebellious people, Isa. Ixv. 2. " I 
 have called," says the wise man, " and ye have re- 
 fused : I have stretched out my hand, and no man re- 
 garded," Prov. i. 24. 
 
 Joining of hands, or placing one's hand in that of 
 another person, is a very common method of pledg- 
 ing oneself, making an alliance, or swearing fidelity, 
 Bruce says, " These were priests and mojiks of their 
 religion, and the heads of families ; so that the house 
 could not contain half of them. The great people 
 among them came, and, after joining hands, repeat- 
 ed a kind of prayer, of about two minutes long, [this 
 kind of oath was in use among the Arabs, or shep- 
 herds, as early as the time of Abraham, Gen. xxi. ■ 
 22, 23 ; xxvi. 28] by which they declai-ed themselves 
 and their children accursed, if ever they lifted their 
 hands against me, in the tell, (or field,) in the desert 
 or on the river ; or, in case that I, or mine, should 
 fly to them for refuge, if they did not protect us, at 
 the risk of their lives, their families, and their for- 
 tunes, or, as tliey emphatically expressed it, ' to the 
 death of the last male child among them.' (See 1 
 Sam. XXV. 22 ; 1 Kings xiv. 10 ; xvi. 11 ; xxi. 21 ; 2 
 Kings ix. 8.) Medicines and advice being given on 
 my part, faith and protection pledged on theirs, two 
 bushels of wheat and seven sheep were carried down 
 to the boat ; nor could Ave decline their kindness ; as 
 refiising a present in that country, is just as great an 
 affront as coming into the j)resence of a superior, 
 Avithout auv present at all," Gen. xxxiii. 10 ; Mai. i. 
 10; Matt. viii. 11. 
 
 There is a remarkable passage- in Prov. xi. 21, thus 
 r(Midreed by our translators, " Thouglt hand join in 
 hand, the Avicked shall not lie unpunished; but the 
 seed of the righteous shall be delivered :" i.e. though 
 they make many associations and oaths, and join 
 hands among themselves, (as formed part of the 
 ceremony of swearing among these shepherds of 
 Suakcm, as related by JTr. Bruce, yet thev shall 
 
 be punished." C. B. Michaelis proposes another 
 sense, " hand in hand" — my hand in your hand, i. e. 
 as a token of swearing, " the wicked shall not go un- 
 punished." — How far this sense of the passage is il- 
 lustrated by the foregoing and the following extract, 
 the reader will judge. — " I cannot help here accus- 
 ing myself of what, doubtless, may be Avell reputed 
 a very gi-eat sin. I Avas so enraged at the traitorous 
 part Avhich Hassan had acted, that, at j)arting, I 
 could not help saying to Ibrahim, 'Noav, shekh, I 
 have done every thing you have desired, Avithout 
 ever expecting fee or rcAvard ; the only thing I noAv 
 ask you, and it is probably the last, is, that you 
 avenge me upon this Hassan, avIio is every day in 
 your poAver.' Upon this, he gave me his hand, 
 saying, He shall not die in liis bed, or I shall never 
 see old age." (Bruce's Trav. vol. i. p. 199.) Bruce'a 
 conduct in this instance, seems, in some sense, simi- 
 lar to the behavior of David, when he gave charge 
 to his son Solomon, to execute that justice upon Jo- 
 ab and Shimei, Avhich he himself had been tumble to 
 do, by reason of the vicissitudes of his life and king- 
 dom ; and of the influence Avhich Joab, the general, 
 had in the army ; biU of Avhich the pacific reign of 
 Solomon would deprive him, 1 Kings ii. C. We 
 learn from Ockley that the custom is observed by 
 the Turks. [But in this passage (Prov. xi. 21.) the 
 second clause refers to the seed of the righteous ; the 
 parallelism requires, therefore, that the first clause 
 should refer tc the seed of the ivicked. Hence A. 
 Schtilteus and Rosenmliller translate : " From hand 
 to hand the Avicked shall not be impunished," i, e. 
 from generation to generation his seed shall see j^un- 
 ishment; in allusion to the descent of name, proper- 
 ty, &c. from hand to hand, father to son. This seems 
 more appropriate. R. 
 
 Perhaps, also, this joining of hands may add a 
 spirit to the passage, (2 Kings x. 15.) " Is thine heart 
 right, as my heart is with thy heart ? if it be, give 
 me thy hand" — " And he (Jehonadab) gave him 
 (Jehu) his hand ;" i. e. in token of affirmation ; "and 
 he (Jehu) took him (Jehonadab) up into his chariot." 
 So that it Avas not as an assistance to enable Jehona- 
 dab to get into the chariot, that Jehu gave him his 
 hand, but, on the contrary, Jehonadab gave his hand 
 to Jehu. This seems confirmed by A'erse 16 ; " So 
 thea' made hhn (Jehonadab) ride in his (Jehu's) 
 chariot," All these pronouns embarrass our trans- 
 lation, but they Avere perfectly understood by those 
 Avho kncAv the customs of their country. 
 
 Another thing deserves remark — the elcA'ation of 
 hands in SAA-earing : (Gen. xis. 22.) "I haA'e ;?y? vp 
 mine hand to the Lord," Deut. xxxii. 40 ; Ezek. xx. 
 28. This is the attitude of prayer also: (Psalm 
 xxviii, 2.) "Hear the voice of my supplication — 
 Avhen / lift up my hands tOAvard thy holy oracle ;" 
 again, (Psalm Ixviii. 4.) "IavIII lift vp my hands m 
 tiiy name," et al. This continued to be the attitude 
 of })rayer in Ncav Testament times : " I Avill that 
 men pray every Avhere, lijling up holy hands,''^ 1 Tim. 
 ii. 8. It is supposed tliat this lifting up the hand by 
 attendants on prayer, Avas a sign of their participa- 
 tion in the [)rayer oftercd. 
 
 The right hand Avas held up on all the occasions; 
 no doubt, as imi)lying the most active, the most rea- 
 dy member of tlie ])crson. Docs not this give us the 
 import of the passages, Psalm cxli\-. 8: " Their right 
 hand is a right hand of falsehood," that is, they lift 
 up their right hand in SAvearing to lies. — Isa. xliv. 
 20: "Is there not a lie in my right baud ?" am I not 
 swearing: to a falsehood ? ■
 
 HAR 
 
 [479 1 
 
 HAR 
 
 The reader will obserie how greatly Scripture is 
 illustrated by a knowledge of the customs of the 
 limes and places to which it refers : there are innu- 
 merable passages where the expression is only a 
 hint, but that hint implies consequences, to under- 
 stand which requires much information. 
 
 HANGING, see Punishment. 
 
 HANNAH, wife of Elkanah, who dwelt at Ra- 
 math, or Ramathaini, in Ephraim, 1 Sam. i. 2. El- 
 kanah going to Siiiloh, to worship there, took with 
 him his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Penin- 
 nah had children who accompanied her to the feast ; 
 but Hannaii had none. Elkanah, having offered his 
 sacrifice of pure devotion, made an entertainment 
 for his family before the Lord, and gave portions to 
 Peninnah for herself and children ; to Hannah, his 
 well-beloved wife, he gave but one portion, because 
 she had no child. Hannah became melancholy ; 
 and her rival Peninnah increased her affliction, by 
 reproaching her barrenness. Elkanah comforted 
 her ; but Hannah went alone privately to the taber- 
 nacle, and vowed, that if God would bless her with 
 a sou, she would give him to God all the days of his 
 life. As she was very fervent in her devotion, the 
 high-priest Eli conceived she had been drinking to 
 excess, and reproved her ; but upon being informed 
 of her purpose, prayed that the Gk)d of Israel would 
 gi'ant her petition. Hannah soon after conceived, 
 and had a son, whom she called Samuel, because 
 she had asked him of the Lord ; ante A. D. 1155. 
 Hannah did not again go to the temple or taberna- 
 cle till she had weaned her son ; when she brought 
 him thither, m compliance with her vow. Having 
 made her offering and prayer, she presented her son 
 to the Lord, committing him to Eli. She also com- 
 posed a hymn of thanksgiving, in which she exalts 
 the power of God's mercy, who dispenses fi'uitful- 
 ness or barrenness as he pleases, 1 Sam. ii. Her 
 subsequent history is not known. 
 
 HANNATHON, a city of Zebulun, Josh. xix. 14. 
 
 HANUN, son of Naliash king of the Ammonites, 
 is kno^^^l for his insidt to David's ambassadors, sent 
 to compliment him after his father's death, 2 Sam. x. 
 and 1 Chron. xix. David, exasperated at his dishon- 
 orable conduct, declared war against the Ammon- 
 ites, and sent Joab to invade them. The Ammon- 
 ites procured assistance from Sj^ria, and from be- 
 yond the Euphrates ; but Joab, giving part of the 
 aitny to his brother Abishai, attacked the Syrians, 
 while Abishai fought the Ammonites. They con- 
 quered both enemies. David, receiving intelligence 
 of this success, passed the river Jordan in person, 
 with the rest of his troops, and defeated the Syrians 
 in a battle. The year following, David sent Joab to 
 besiege Rabbath, their capital : when it was reduced 
 to extremities, he informed David, who came with 
 the rest of Israel, took the city, enslaved the inhabit- 
 ants, and carried off a gi-eat booty. 
 
 HAPIIARAIM, a city of Issachar, Josh. xix. 19. 
 Eusebius says, there was a place called Apharaim, 
 six miles from Legio, north. 
 
 HARA, a city or district of Media, to which the 
 Israelites of the ten tribes were transplanted by Ti<r- 
 lath-Pileser, 1 Chron. v. 2G. (See Haeor.) Accord- 
 ing to Bochart, it was the Jlria of Ptolemy and Stra- 
 bo, i. e. the capital of the modern Chorasan. It was, 
 at any rate, a place or province of the x\ssyrian em- 
 pire, perhaps Media Magna. 
 
 HARADAH, a camp station of Israel, Numb, 
 xxxiii. 24, See Exodus. 
 
 HARAM, see in Mordecai. 
 
 I. HARAN, eldest son of Terah, and father to 
 Lot, Milcah, and Iscah. He died before his father 
 Terah, Gen. xi. 27, seq. 
 
 II. HARAN, or Charr^, a city in Mesopotamia, 
 to which Abraham retreated after he had left Ur ; and 
 where Terah his father died, Gen. xi. 31, 32. Hither, 
 likewise, Jacob retired to Laban, when he fled from 
 his brother Esau, Gen. xxvii. 43. At Haran, Cras- 
 sus the Roman general was defeated and killed by 
 the Parthians. Harran, as it is now called, is situat- 
 ed in 36° 52' N. lat. and 39° 5' E. long, in a flat and 
 sandy plain, and is only peopled by a few wandering 
 Arabs, who select it for the delicious water which it 
 contains. 
 
 HARD imports difficult, sad, unfortunate, cruel, 
 austere, &c. Pharaoh overwhelmed the Israelites 
 with hard labor, with tasks that were difficult and 
 insupportable, Exod. i. 14. Ye are a people of " a 
 hard head," untractable, inflexible, indocile, Exod. 
 xxxii. 9. These sons of Zeruiah are "too hard for 
 me ;" treat me with insolence, with overbearing, 
 unseasonable cruelty. Nabal was "a hard and 
 evil-conditioned man ;" without humanity, gen- 
 tleness, or consideration, 1 Sam. xxv. 3. " I follow- 
 ed hard ways," an austere life ; my behavior was 
 morose. Psalm xvii. 4. " A hard heart," a hardened, 
 insensible mind. "A hard forehead," determined, 
 insolent. " I have made thy forehead hard against 
 their foreheads;" (Ezek. iii. 8.) the Israelites are 
 hardened to insensibility, have lost all shame ; but I 
 will make you still harder, still bolder in reproving 
 evil, than they are in committing it. Isa. 1. 7, "I 
 have made thy face like a rock," very hard ; for their 
 sins have become hard, and they are become in- 
 corrigible. 
 
 Hx\RE, an animal resembling a rabbit, but some- 
 thing larger. Moses ranks it among unclean crea- 
 tures, notwithstanding it chews the cud, because it 
 divides not the hoof. Lev. xi. 6. Naturalists gene- 
 rally say that the hare does not chew the cud ; but 
 Cowper, the poet, in his account of the three hares 
 he domesticated, asserts that they " chewed the cud 
 all day till evening." See Coney. 
 
 HAREM, see in Mordecai. 
 
 HARETH, a forest in Judah, to which David fled 
 from Saul, 1 Sam. xxii. 5. 
 
 HAROD, a well or fountain not far from Jezreel 
 and mount Gilboa, so called from the apprehensions 
 and fears of those who were here tried by Gideon, 
 Judg. vii. 1, 3, i. e. "Palpitation" of the heart, as a 
 symptom of alarm and terror. 
 
 H AROSHETH of the Gentiles, a city in the north of 
 Palestine, probably not far from Hazor, where Sisera, 
 who commanded the troopsof Jabiu, dwelt, Judg. iv. 2. 
 
 HARP. The ancient Hebrews called the harp 
 the pleasant harp ; and not only employed it in their 
 devotions, but in their entertainments and pleasures. 
 Those who have heard it, as animated by ancient 
 British vivacity, will probably be of opinion that it 
 was quite as well calculated for mirth as for solem- 
 nity. The harp was nearly the earliest, if not the 
 very earliest, instrument constructed for music. 
 David danced when he played on the harp ; so did 
 the Levitcs : it was, therefore, light and portable, and 
 its size was restricted within limits, which admitted 
 of that action, and of that manner of employment. 
 Such instruments have been found at Herculaneum. 
 
 [The harp played upon by David was the Heb. 
 11J3, kinnur, the Greek yivt'Qci. more properly called 
 a lyre. Josephus describes it as having ten strings, 
 and says it was struck with a plectrum or Jtey ;
 
 HAZ 
 
 480 ] 
 
 HEA 
 
 (Aiit. vii. 12, 3.) but this seems contrai-y to 1 Sam. 
 xvi. 23 ; xviii. 10 ; xix. 9, where David is said to 
 have played with the hand. Another kind of harp 
 mentioned in Scripture is the '•?2:, nebel, Greek Jii.^V.it, 
 Lat. nablia, which Josephus (1. c.) describes as 
 having twelve strings, and as played upon witli the 
 hand. Jerome says it had the form of a triangle, or 
 inverted Delta V, Ps. Ivii. 8. et al. — It is also men- 
 tioned as having sometimes ten strings, Ps. xxxiii.2 ; 
 cxliv. 9. (See Jahn, § 94.) R. 
 
 HASHMONAH, a station of the Israelites, Numb, 
 xxiii. 29, See Exodus. 
 
 HATACH, Esther's chamberlain, Esth. iv. 9. 
 
 HATE, HATRED, are not always to be taken 
 rigorously, but frequently signify merely a lesser de- 
 gree of love. " No one can serve two masters : for 
 he will hate the one, and love the other," (Luke xvi. 
 13.) he will neglect the service of one, and attach 
 himself to the other. " He who spareth the rod, 
 hateth his child," i. e. fathers often sjiare their chil- 
 dren out of excessive love to them ; but to forbear 
 correcting them is improper affection. " If any man 
 nave two wives, one beloved, and another hated," 
 or less beloved, Deut. xxi. 15. Thus Christ says, 
 (Luke xiv. 26.) he who would follow him, must 
 " hate father and mother," that is, love them less than 
 tois salvation ; must not prefer them to God. 
 
 I. HAVILAH, son of Gush, (Gen. x. 7.) according 
 to Bochart, peopled the country where the Tigris 
 and Euphrates unite, and discharge themselves to- 
 gether into the Persian gulf. This Calmet takes to 
 be the land of Havilah, (Gen. xxv. 18 ; 1 Sam. xv. 7.) 
 which extended to Shur, over against Egypt. [It ad- 
 joined the eastern limits of the Ishmaelites, (Gen. xxv. 
 18.) and also of the Amalekites, 1 Sam. xv. 7. Gese- 
 nius takes it for the Chaulotai of Strabo, (xvi, p, 728.) 
 near the Persian gulf. The name then probably extend- 
 ed westward over a wide extent ; indeed, so as to in- 
 clude the whole country to the bordei-s of Egvpt. R. 
 
 II. HAVILAH, son of Joktan, (Gem" x. 29.) 
 probably peopled Colchis, and the country encom- 
 passed by the river Pison, or Phasis, Gen, ii, 11, 
 There are in Armenia, aud in the territories of the 
 Colchians, the cities Cholva and Cholvata, and the 
 region of Cholobeta, noticed by Haiton, (See 
 Rosenm. Bibl. Geogr. I. i. 202.) 
 
 HAVOTH-JAIR. The Hebrew and Arabic Hn- 
 voth signifies cabins, or huts, such as belong to the 
 Arabians, and are placed in a circle ; such a col- 
 lection of them forming a hamlet or village. The 
 district mentioned in Numb, xxxii. 41 ; Deut. iii. 14,, 
 were in the Batansea, beyond Jordan, in the land of 
 Gilead, and Ijelonged to the half-tribe of 3Ianasseh. 
 
 HAURAN (Ezek. xlvii. 16.) was originally a 
 small district between Damascus and the sea of Ti- 
 berias ; but was afterwards extended, and under the 
 Romans was called Auranitis. It now includes the 
 ancient Trachonitis, the Djobel Haouran, Iturffa, 
 and part of Batan;ea, and is very minutely described 
 by Burckhardt. See Canaan, p. 236. 
 
 HAWK, a bird of prey, of which there are many 
 kinds ; it is very quick-sighted, ravenous, and bold. 
 It was declared imclean by the law, Lev. xi, 16; 
 Deut, xiv, 15, See Birds, p, 187, 
 
 HAY, see Grass, 
 
 HAZAEL. The prophet Elijah, (1 Kings xix. 15, 
 16.) being commanded by God to anoint Hazael to 
 be king of Syria, returned home for this purpose, 
 but it does not appear that he himself executed his 
 commission. Some years afterwards, (2 Kings viii. 
 7.) Hazael was sent by Benhadad, who lay ill, to in- 
 
 quire of Elisha whether he sliould recover. The 
 prophet, foreseeing the cruelty of Hazael, wept, and 
 said, " The Lord hath revealed to me that thou shalt 
 be king of Syria." Hazael returned to the king, his 
 master, and told him he would recover ; but the next 
 day he laid a cloth dipt in water over his person, 
 which caused his death ; and immediately ascended 
 the throne. Mr. Taylor thinks it probable that Ha- 
 zael did not intend the death of his master; and has 
 shown that an application of cold water to the per- 
 son is used in the East, in certain cases of fever. 
 However unamiable the character of Hazael was, 
 there is nothing in the text, we believe, which pos- 
 itively fixes this upon him as an act of mm-der. 
 Hazael, without delay, executed on Israel all the 
 evils which Elisha had foretold. When Jehu raised 
 the siege of Ramoth-Gilead, Hazael took advantage 
 of his absence, fell on his territories beyond Jordan, 
 and destroyed the land of Gilead, Gad, Reuben, and 
 Manasseh, from Aroer to Eashan. Many years 
 passed without his attacking the kingdom of Judah, 
 because it was more remote from Damascus ; but he 
 began to distress it in the reign of Joash, son of Je- 
 hoahaz. He took Gath, and marched against Jeru- 
 salem ; but Joash, perceiving himself imable to resist, 
 gave him all the money in his treasury, and in the 
 treasuries of the house of God, to purchase his for- 
 bearance. The year following, however, Hazael 
 retui-ned against Judah and Jerusalem, slew all the 
 princes, and sent a very rich spoil to Syria. The 
 S5'rian army was not numerous ; but God delivered 
 it up to the inhabitants of Judah ; and Joash him- 
 self was treated by the Syrians with great ignominj', 
 as was also the king of Israel. Hazael died about 
 the same time as Jehoahaz, king of Israel, (2 Kings 
 xVu.) and was succeeded by his son Benhadad, ante 
 A. D. 839. 
 
 HAZAR-GADDA, a city of Judah, lying far 
 south, Joshua xv. 27, 
 
 HAZAR-SHUAL, a city of Simeon, or Judah, 
 Josh. XV. 28 ; Neh. xi. 27. 
 
 HAZAR-SUSIM, a city of Simeon, (1 Chrou. iv. 
 31.) called Hazar-Susah, Josh. xix. 5, 
 
 HAZERIM, HAZEROTH, HAZOR, AZERO- 
 THAIM, are all names which signify villages or 
 hamlets ; and are often put before the names of places. 
 There is a town called Hazor in Arabia Petraea, in 
 all probability the same as Hazcrim, the ancient hab- 
 itation of the Hivites, before they were driven away 
 by the Caphtorim, (Deut, ii, 23.) who settled in Pal- 
 estine. It might, perlians, be the Hazeroth, where 
 the Hebrews encamped. Numb. xi. 35 ; xii. 16 ; 
 xxxiii. 15. 
 
 HAZEZON-TAMAR, a town (Gen. xiv. 7.) call- 
 ed Engaddi in Josh. xv. 62 ; 1 Sam. xxiv. 1 ; 2 
 Cliron. XX, 2 ; Cant, i, 14 ; Ezek, xlvii, 10. See 
 En-gedi, 
 
 I. HAZOR, a city of Naphtali, (Josh, xix, 36,) 
 probably the caj)ital of Jabin, the Canaanitish king, 
 taken by Joshua, after the great battle, in which he 
 defeated Jabin, and his allies near the waters of 
 Merom, Josh, xi, 7, 10, 11, It was afterwards forti- 
 fied by Solomon, 1 Kings ix, 15. 
 
 II. HAZOR, a city in Benjamin, Neh. xi. 33. 
 
 III. HAZOR, a region of Arabia, mentioned 
 along with Kedar, Jer. xlix. 28, 
 
 HEAD, a word which has several significations, 
 in addition to its natural one. To be at the head is 
 to command, conduct, govern, " Thou hast caused 
 men to ride over our heads," (Ps, Ixvi, 12,) subject- 
 ed us to masters. " Thou hast made me the head of
 
 HE A 
 
 [481 ] 
 
 HEB 
 
 the heathen," (Ps. xviii. 43.) advanced me to the 
 regal state. Moses says, the Lord shall make thee 
 the liead, and not the tail; (Deut. xxviii. 13.) thou 
 .shalt be always master, and never in subjection. 
 The stone which the builders rejected was placed in 
 the head of the corner, (Ps. cxviii. 22.) the first in 
 the angle, whether at the top of that angle to adorn 
 and crown it, or at the bottom to support it. The 
 groiuid at the head of all the streets, in the begin- 
 ning of the highways, Isa. li. 20. 
 
 In grief, mourners covered their heads, and cut 
 and plucked oft" their hair ; " Upon all heads bald- 
 ness,'' says the prophet Amos, (viii. 10.) sjjeaking of 
 unhappy times ; in prosperity they anointed their 
 heads with sweet oils : " Let thy head lack no [per- 
 finned] ointments," Eccl. ix. 8. To shake the head 
 at any one expresses contempt, Isa. xxxvii. 22. 
 
 HEAP. In early times, heaps of stones were 
 erected to preserve the memory of events. See 
 Stones. 
 
 HEAR or Hearing. This word is taken in several 
 senses in Scripture. It literally denotes the exercise 
 of that bodily sense, of which the ear is the organ — 
 to receive information by the ear, (2 Sam. xv. 10.) 
 and, as hearing is a sense by which instruction is 
 conveyed to the mind, and the mind excited to atten- 
 tion and obedience, so the ideas of attention and 
 obedience are gi'afted on the expression or sense of 
 hearing. God is said, speaking after the manner of 
 men, to hear prayer ; that is, to attend to it, and to 
 comply with request made in it, Ps. cxvi. 1. On 
 the contrary, he is said — not to hear, that is, not 
 comply with — the desires of sinnei-s, Jolm xi. 31. So 
 men are said to hear when they attend to, or com- 
 ply with, the requests of others, or obey the com- 
 mands of God, John viii. 47 ; x. 27 ; Matt. xvii. 5. 
 (Conip. Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19; Acts iii. 22.) 
 
 Other senses, attached to the woi'd heat; seem to 
 arise out of the foregoing, and may be i"eferi-ed to the 
 same ideas. To hear signifies to judge, to settle a 
 matter, 2 Sam. xv. 3. The caution to take heed how 
 we hear, or what we hear, as it includes application, 
 reception, and practice, was never more necessary 
 than in the present daj' among ourselves ; never was 
 the necessity greater for appealing "to tlie law and 
 to the testimony." 
 
 HEART, the seat of life in the animal body. The 
 Hebrews regarded the heart as the som-ce of wit, 
 I'.nderstanding, love, grief, and pleasure ; and hence 
 are derived many expressions: To find his heart, to 
 possess his heart, to incline his heart, to bind his 
 heart toward the Lord. A good heart, an evil heart, 
 a liberal heart, a heart which does a kindness freely, 
 voluntarily, generously, &c. To harden one's heart, 
 to lift up one's heart to God ; to beseech him to 
 cliange our stony hearts into hearts of flesh. To 
 love with all one's heart : to have but one heart and 
 one soul with another person. "To turn the hearts 
 of children to the fathers, and the hearts of fathei-s 
 to the children," (Luke i. 17.) to cause them to be 
 perfectly reconciled, kindly anectioned, and of the 
 same mind. To want heart, sometimes denotes to 
 want understanding and prudence, Hosea vii. 11. 
 " O fools, and slow of heart," (Luke xxiv. 25.) not 
 exerting reflection and understanding. The heart 
 of this people is stupified, destitute of imderstanding ; 
 (Matt. xiii. 15.) their heart is loaded with fat. 
 " Thou shalt speak to all that are wise-hearted," 
 (Exod. xxxviii. 3.) whom I have filled with the spirit 
 of wisdom. The false prophets speak from their 
 Jicart ; or, more probably, without their heart ; kuow- 
 61 
 
 ing their o\vn falsehood, (Ezek.xiii. 2.) who give out 
 their imaginations for true prophecies. To lay any 
 thing to heart, or set one's heart on any thing ; to 
 remember it, to apply one's self to it, to have it at 
 heart. " The righteous perisheth, and no one layeth 
 it to heart," (Jer. xii. 11.) no one concerns himself 
 about it. To return to one's heart ; to recollect 
 one's self. The heart is dilated by joy, and con- 
 tracted by sadness ; is broken by sorrow, grows fat, 
 and is hardened in prosperity." The heart some- 
 times resists truth. God opens it, prepares it, turns 
 it as he pleases. To steal one's heart, (Gen. xxxi. 
 20. ) to do a thing without one's knowledge. The 
 heart melts under discouragement ; forsakes one, 
 under terror ; is desolate, in amazement ; and fluc- 
 tuating, in doubt. To possess one's lieart, is to be n)as- 
 ter of its motions. To speak to any one's heart, is 
 to comfort him eflfectuallj^ to say pleasing and pene- 
 trating or affecting things to him. 
 
 The heart expresses the middle of any thing : 
 "Tyre is in the heart," in the midst, "of the sea," 
 Ezek. xxvii. 4. " We will -not fear, though the 
 mountains be carried into the heart of the sea," Ps. 
 xlvi. 2. " As Jonah was fJn-ee days and three nights 
 in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be 
 three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," 
 Matt. xii. 40. 3Ioses, speaking to the Israelites, says, 
 "And the mountain burnt with fire, unto the heart 
 of heaven ;" the flame rose as high as the clouds. 
 
 We should rend our hearts, and not our garments, 
 in mourning, Joel ii. 13. To obtain righteousness, 
 we must believe with the heart, Rom. x. 10. God 
 promises to give his people "an understanding heart, 
 and a heart fearing God." 
 
 HEATH, a well known shrub, that grows on bar- 
 ren moors; it "knows not when good cometh," does 
 not flourish in the spring, but towards the end of 
 summer. Men are likened to it, Jer. xvii. 6. It also 
 represents men in a destitute and concealed condi- 
 tion, Jer. xlviii. G. 
 
 HEATHEN. As it was customary with polished 
 nations to call all others barbarians, so it was custom- 
 ary with the Jews to call all other nations heathen ; 
 and to consider them as totally void of any knowl- 
 edge of God. See Gentile. 
 
 HEAVEN and Earth (Gen. i. 1.) are used to de- 
 note all visible things. 
 
 Heaven often denotes the air, and the firmament, 
 or expanse. (See Gen. xix. 24 ; i. 14 — 17, et al.) 
 
 The Heaven of Heavens is the highest heaven ; 
 as the song of song is the most excellent song; the 
 God of gods, or the Lord of lords, the greatest of 
 gods, or the supreme of lords. Paul mentions the 
 third heaven, (2 Cor. xii. 2.) which has always been 
 considered as the place of God's residence, the dwell- 
 ing of angels and blessed spirits. [The third heav- 
 en is the same as the highest heaven ; and both are 
 used to exjn-ess the idea of the highest exaltation and 
 glory ; q. d. God dwells not only in heaven, but 
 above the heavens, in the third, or very highest, 
 heaven. So the rabbins and the Mohammedans 
 make, in the same way, seven heavens. (Compare 2 
 Cor. xii. 2 ; Eph. iv. 10 ; Heb. vii. 26.) R. 
 
 For the Kingdom of Heaven, see Kingdom. 
 
 HEAVINESS of heart and ears, see Blindness. 
 
 I. HEBER, or Eber, son of Salah, was bom 
 A. 31. 1723. It has been thought that from Heber, 
 Abraham and his descendants were called Hebrews ; 
 but it is more probable, that this name was given to 
 Abraham and his family, because they came from 
 beyond (over) the Euphrates or some other river,
 
 HEB 
 
 [482] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 further east, into Canaan. Why should Abraham, 
 who was the sixth in generation from Heber, take 
 his name from this patriarcli, rather than from any 
 other of his ancestors ? Why not rather from Shem, 
 for example, who is styled by Moses, the father of 
 all the children of Heber ? Abraham is first called 
 a Hebrev/ about ten years after his arrival in the 
 land of Canaan, on occasion of the war with Che- 
 dorlaomer. The LXX and Aquila translate Heber, 
 Perates, or Peraites, whicli signifies a passenger, one 
 who came from beyond the river. See Hebrews. 
 
 n. HEBER, the Kenite, of Jethro's family, and 
 husband of Jael, who killed Sisera, Judg. iv. 17, &c. 
 Heber's tents and flocks were near the city of Hazor. 
 
 HEBREWS. The Hebrew writers regard this 
 term as a patronymic from Heber ; but, as we have 
 suggested under that article, it is more reasonably 
 considered to have been originally an appellative, 
 from •\2;', eber — " the country on the otlier side," and 
 hence " those who live on tiie other side," or come 
 from thence — a name which might very appropri- 
 ately be given by the Canaanites to tiie migrating 
 horde under Abraham, Gen. xiv. 13. It was the 
 l)roper name of the people, by which they were 
 known to foreigners ; and thus distinguished from 
 " the children of Israel," the common domestic name. 
 The name Hebrew is used in the Bible prmcipally by 
 way of antithesis to other nations. 
 
 The origin and history of this extraordinary people 
 is replete with instruction of the most important na- 
 ture, and should be attentively studied by every stu- 
 dent of the Bible. 
 
 At a very remote period of antiquity, when the 
 sacerdotal caste in Babylonia had begun to spread 
 idolatry even among the nomadic tribes of the land, 
 a man uamed Abraham, distinguished by wealth, 
 wisdom, and probity, in obedience to the commands 
 of the Deity, quitted the land of his fathers, and 
 journeyed with his family and his herds towards the 
 land of Canaan. His faith in the only God, and his 
 obedience to his will, were here rewarded by in- 
 creasing wealth and numbers. His son and grand- 
 son continued the same nomadic life, in Palestine, 
 which Abraham and his fathers had led. By a sur- 
 prising turn of fortune, one of the sons of Jacob, the 
 grandson of Abraham, became vizier to the king of 
 Egypt ; he brought his father and family to tliat 
 country, and a district in the north-east of Egyj)t 
 was assigned to them by the king, for the sustenance 
 of themselves, and their flocks and herds. 
 
 During 430 years their numbers increased exceed- 
 ingly. A new dynasty now filled the Egyptian 
 throne, and they feared the power of a numerous 
 ])eople attached to the former line, and dwelling in 
 the key of the land towards Asia. They sought, 
 therefore, to change their mode of life, and, by im- 
 posing heavy tasks u|)on them, to check their in- 
 crease, and gradually wear them out. 
 
 During this period of oppression, Moses was born. 
 The Egyptian monarch had ordered all the male 
 children of the Israelites to be destroyed at the birth ; 
 and the mother of Moses, after concealing him for 
 some time, was obliged to exjjose him. The daugh- 
 ter of the king found him, and reared him as her 
 own. As he grew uj), he was instructed in the se- 
 cret wisdom of the jjriests ; but neither knowledge, 
 nor the honors and splendors of the court, could 
 make him behold with indiflerence the state of his 
 native people. He mourned over their oppression, 
 and panted to behold them in their former happy 
 independence. 
 
 Seeing an Egj'ptian ill-treat an Israelite, he slew 
 him ; and, fearing the vengeance of the king, fled to 
 Arabia, where he led a shepherd's life, near Sinai, in 
 the service of an Arab sheikh. Whde here, he re- 
 ceived the command of God to lead his people out 
 of Egyjit: he returned thither, and, by performing 
 many wondrous deeds, compelled the reluctant mon- 
 arch to let his slaves depart. But Pharaoh repented, 
 pursued, and he and his whole army perished in the 
 waves of the Red sea. 
 
 During their long residence in Egjpt, the Israelites 
 had gradually been passing from the nomadic to the 
 agricultural life, and had contracted much of the im- 
 pure religious ideas and licentious manners of the 
 Egyptians. They were now to be brought back to 
 the simple rehgicn of their fathers, and a form of 
 government established among them calculated to 
 preserve them in the purity of their simple faith. It 
 ])leascd the Deity to be himself, under the name of 
 Jehovah, the KING of Israel, and their civil institu- 
 tions were to resemble those of the country they had 
 left, freed from all that might be i)rejudicial to the 
 great object in view, — that of making them a nation 
 of monotheistic faith. 
 
 In the midst of lightning and thunder, while Sinai 
 re-echoed to the roar, the first simple elements of 
 their future law were presented to the children of 
 Israel. No images, no hieroglyphics, were admitted 
 into the religion now given : ceremonies of signifi- 
 cant import were annexed, to employ the minds and 
 engage the attention of a rude people. There Avas 
 a sacerdotal caste, to whom the direction of all mat- 
 ters relating to rehgion and law (which were in this 
 government the same) was intrusted ; but they had 
 no dogmas or mysteries wherewith to fetter the 
 minds of the people ; and being assigned for their 
 maintenance, not separate lands, but a portion of the 
 produce of the whole country, their interest would 
 lead them to stimulate the people to agriculture, and 
 thus carry into effect the object of the constitution. 
 As priests, judges, advocates, and physicians, they 
 were of important service to the conmiunity, and 
 fully earned the tenth of the produce which was al- 
 lotted to them. Their division into priests and Le- 
 vites, was a wise jirovision against that too sharp 
 distinction which in Egypt and India prevailed be- 
 tween the sacerdotal and the other castes. The Le- 
 vites, being assigned some lands, formed a connect- 
 ing link between the j)ricsts and the cultivators. 
 
 Agriculture being the destination of the Israelites, 
 trade was discouraged ; for the fairs and markets 
 were held in the neighborhood of the heathen tem- 
 ples. But to compensate them for the prohibition 
 against sharing in the joyous festivities of the sur- 
 rounding nations, feasts Avere held three times in 
 each year, to commemorate their emancipation, the 
 giving of the law, and their abode in the desert. At 
 these festivals, all Israel was required to attend, that 
 the bonds of brotherhood might be kept up among 
 the tribes by participation in social enjoyment. 
 
 Thus, many years before Con-fu-tse gave the 
 Kings to the Chinese, long ere any lawgiver arose 
 in Greece, Moses, directed by God, gave to Israel, in 
 the wastes of Arabia, a constitution, the wonder of 
 succeeding ages, and even memorable for the influ- 
 ence it has exerted on the minds and institutions of 
 a large and im})ortant portion of mankind. 
 
 During forty years, till all the degenerate race who 
 had left Egy|)t had died off', JNIoses detained the Is- 
 raelites in the deserts of Arabia, accustoming them 
 to obey their law, and preparing them for the con-
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [ 483 ] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 quest of the land assigned as their possession. At 
 the end of that period, their inspired legislator led 
 them to the borders of tlie promised land, and, hav- 
 ing appointed Joshua to be his successor, he ascended 
 a lofty mountain to take a view of the country he 
 was not to enter: he there died, in the 120th year of 
 his age. Under the guidance of Joshua, Israel 
 passed the Jordan ; the God of Moses was with them, 
 and inspired them with valor to subdue their foes. 
 A speedy conquest gave them the land. No fixed 
 government had been appointed ; the j)eoi)le gradually 
 fell from the service of Jehovah to worship the idols 
 of the surrounding nations ; and Jehovah gave them 
 up to the power of their enemies. At times there 
 arose among them heroes, denominated yurfg-es, avIio, 
 inspired with patriotism and zeal for the law, aroused 
 the slumbering tribes, and led them to victory. 
 Then, too, arose that noble order of prophets, who, 
 in heaven-inspired strains of poetry, exalted the Mo- 
 saic law, and impressed its precepts, its rewards, and 
 threats, on the minds of the people. 
 
 After the time of the judges, the temporal and 
 spiritual dignities were, contrary to the intention of 
 the lawgiver, united, and the high-priest received 
 the sovereign power. This lasted but a short time : 
 in the person of the upright Samuel, a prophet, the 
 temporal was again divided from the spiritual dignity. 
 The sons of Samuel trod not in the steps of their 
 virtuous father. The prospect of being governed 
 by them, and the want of a military leader to com- 
 mand them, in their wars with the surrounding na- 
 tions, made the people call on Samuel to give them 
 a khig. He complied with their wishes, A\arning 
 them of the consequences of their desire, and ap- 
 ■pointed Saul. This monarch was victorious in war ; 
 but he disobeyed the voice of the prophet, and mis- 
 fortune ever after jjursued him. It pleased Jehovah 
 to take the kingdom from him, and Samuel anointed 
 the youthfid David to occupy his place. Saul was 
 seized with a melancholy derangement of intellect. 
 David, who was his son-in-law, won the affections 
 of the powerful tribe of Judah ; but while Saul lived, 
 he continued in his allegiance, though his sovereign 
 sought his life. At length Saul and his elder and 
 more worthy sons fell in battle against the Philistines, 
 and the tribe of Judah called their young hero to 
 the vacant throne. The other tribes adhered, during 
 seven years, to the remaining son of Saul. His 
 death, by the hands of assassins, gave all Israel to 
 David. 
 
 David was the model of an oriental prince, hand- 
 some in his person, valiant, mild, just, and generous, 
 humble before his God, and zealous in his honor, a 
 lover of music and poetry, himself a poet. Success- 
 ful in war, he reduced beneath his sceptre all the 
 countries iVom the borders of Egypt to the moun- 
 tains where the Eu[)hrates springs. The king of Tyre 
 was his ally ; he had ports in the Red sea, and the 
 wealth of commerce flowed, during his reign, into 
 Israel. He fortified and adorned Jerusalem, which 
 he made the seat of government. Glorious prospects 
 of extended empire, and of the diffusion of the pure 
 religion of Israel, and of happy times, floated before 
 the mind of the prophet king. 
 
 The kingdom of Israel was hereditary ; but the 
 monarch might choose his successor among his sons. 
 Solomon, supported by Nathan, the great prophet of 
 those days, and by the affection of his father, was 
 nominated to succeed. The qualities of a magnifi- 
 cent eastern monarch met in the son of David. 
 lie, too, was a poet ; his taste was great and splendid ; 
 
 he summoned artists from Tyre, (for Israel had none,) 
 and with the collected treasure of his father, erected 
 at Jerusalem a stately temple to the God of Israel. 
 He first gave the nation a queen, in the daughter of 
 the kmg of Eg} pt, for whom he built a particular 
 palace. He brought horses and chariots out of 
 Egypt, to increase the strength and the glory of his 
 empire. Trade and commerce deeply engaged the 
 thoughts of this polite prince: with the Tyrians, his 
 subjects visited the j)orts of India and eastern Africa ; 
 he built the city of Tadmore, or Palmyra, in the des- 
 ert, six days' journey from Babylon, and one from 
 the Euphrates, a point of union for the traders of 
 various nations. Wealth of every kind flowed in 
 upon Jerusalem ; but it alone derived advantage from 
 the splendor of the monarch : the rest of Israel was 
 heavily taxed. 
 
 On the death of Solomon, the tribes called on his 
 son to reduce their burdens : he haughtily refused, 
 and ten tribes revolted and chose another king. An 
 apparently wise, a really false, policy, made the kings 
 of Israel set up the symbolical mode of worship 
 practised in Egypt. Judah, too, wavered in her alle- 
 giance to Jehovah. A succession of bold, honest, 
 and inspired prophets reproved, warned, encouraged 
 the kindred nations, and a return to the service of the 
 true God was always rewarded by victor}' and better 
 times. At length, the ten tribes, by their vices and 
 idolatry, lost the divine protection : they were con- 
 quered, and carried out of their own country by the 
 king of Assyria, and their land given to strangers. 
 A similar fate befell the kingdom of Judah : the 
 house of David declined, and the king of Babylon, 
 Nebuchadnezzar, carried away the people to Baby- 
 lonia. On the fall of that state, seventy years after- 
 wards, Cyrus, king of Persia, allowed to return 
 to their own land a people whose faith bore some re- 
 semblance to the simple religion of the Persians, and 
 whose country secured him an easy access to Egypt. 
 Restored to their country, the Israelites, now called 
 Jews, became as distinguished for their obstinate at- 
 tachment to their law, as they had been before for 
 their facility to desert it. But the purity and sim- 
 plicity of their faith was gone ; they now mingled 
 with it various dogmas which they had learned dur- 
 ing their captivity. The schools of the prophets, 
 whence, in olden time, had emanated such lofty in- 
 spiration, simple piety, and pure morality, were at 
 an end ; sects sprang up among them, and the 
 haughty, subtle, trifle-loving Pharisees, tk^ worldly- 
 minded Sadducees, and the simple, contemplative 
 Essenes, misunderstood and misinterpreted the 
 pure, ennobling precepts of the Mosaic law. (Cabinet 
 Cyclop, part i. c. 2.) 
 
 During a period of nearly three hundred years, 
 after their return from Babylon, the Jews enjoyed 
 almost uninterrupted tranquillity, governed by their 
 high-priests, though subject first to Persia, then to 
 Syria. The persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes 
 raised up the vahant family of the Maccabees, who, 
 after a war of twenty-six years, succeeded in estab- 
 lishing the independence of Judea, and the sove 
 reignty of the Maccabees, or Asmoneans; — so called 
 from Asmoncus, father of Mattathias. These j)rince8 
 united in their persons the regal and sacerdotal dig- 
 nity, and governed the Jews for a period of 126 years^ 
 when the disputes between Hyrcanus and Aristobu- 
 lus gave a pretext for the interference of the Romans, 
 under Pompey, and Judea was reduced to a province 
 of the empire. Julius Caesar gave the prefecture of 
 the province to Antipater, an Idumean, who, at his
 
 HEBREWS* 
 
 [ 484 ] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 death, divided it between his sons Phasael and Herod, 
 but the latter was afterwards made sole ruler, by the 
 Roman senate, with the title of king. 
 
 During the reign of this cruel tyrant, misnamed 
 "the Great," the people groaned under numerous 
 oppressions, though he greatly added to the external 
 splendor of the country. At his death, which hap- 
 pened in the first year after the birth of our Saviour, 
 he divided his kingdom, by will, among his three 
 sons — Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip. These princes, 
 however, did not long maintain the Herodian dy- 
 nasty ; for about A. D. 44, Judea sunk to the rank of 
 a minor province, and the government was confided 
 to procurators sent from Rome, under whom it con- 
 tinued till the destruction of Jerusalem. After the 
 destruction of the once holy city, it was compre- 
 hended under the government of the presidents of 
 Syria, and the Jews continued subject to the Romans 
 till the reign of Adrian ; when they rebelled, and 
 were entirely dispersed. 
 
 The government of the Hebrews is, by Josephus, 
 called a theocracy ; by which he means a form of 
 government which assigns the whole power to God, 
 with the management of all the national aflairs — he, 
 in fact, being the proper king of the state. This 
 government, however, underwent several changes. 
 Calmet notices the legislator Moses ; his successor 
 Joshua ; the judges ; the kings, and the high-priests. 
 Under all these revolutions, God was considered as 
 the monarch of Israel ; but he did not exercise his 
 authority and jurisdiction always in the same man- 
 ner. In the time of Moses he governed immediately ; 
 for, on all emergencies, he revealed his will, M'hich 
 was put in execution. He dwelt among his people 
 as a king in his palace, or in the midst of his camp ; 
 always ready to give an answer when consulted, to 
 restrain those who transgressed his laws, to instruct 
 those who had difficulties about the sense of his or- 
 dinances, to determine those who were in suspense 
 about any important imdertaking. This was, prop- 
 erly, the time of the theocracy, in the strictest sense 
 of the term. Under Joshua and the judges it con- 
 tinued the same ; the former, being filled by the spirit 
 which animated IMoses, would undertake nothing 
 without consulting Jehovah ; and the latter were 
 leaders, raised up by himself, to deliver the Hebrews 
 and govern in his name. The demand of the peoj)le 
 ibr a king occasioned the prophet-judge great dis- 
 quietude, for he regarded it as a rejection of the the- 
 ocratic go^.'^rnment, 1 Sam. viii. 5, 7. God com- 
 plied with the wishes of the people, but he still 
 retained his own sovereign authority. He grants 
 them a king ; settles his rights ; disposes of him as he 
 pleases; and reproves him when he fails in obedi- 
 ence and submission. God "granted them a king in 
 his indignation, and took him away in his wrath," 
 Hosea xiii. 11. 
 
 Moses, in anticipation of this event, had prescribed 
 a number of reguliitions for the government of the 
 Hebrew kings, in which the principle of the theoc- 
 racy is fully recognized, Dent. xvii. 14, &c. The 
 monarchs were to be chosen by tiod ; to be instructed 
 by his priests ; to be submissive to his orders ; not to 
 undertake any thing of consequence Avitliout consult- 
 ing him ; and to be under such (le))endence on his 
 will that he might reject them, as he did Saul, when 
 they neglected their duty. When God promised 
 David to make the crown hereditary in his family, 
 it was a departure from tJie fiuidamental maxim of 
 the monarchy, that the kings should be elective, and 
 be placed over the people by God. 
 
 It must be admitted, that after this prince, the kings 
 of Judah and Israel governed according to their own 
 will ; and after the schism of Jeroboam, few of them 
 observed the rules of the theocracy. They would 
 not submit to restraint, but endeavored to cast off:* 
 that happy subjection to which the judges and the 
 first kings had submitted. All kinds of calamities 
 then poured in upon them and their subjects: they 
 were delivered as a prey to their enemies, and had 
 no peace or prosperity at home or abroad. God 
 visited them with a multitude of troubles, and at la&t 
 dispersed them into distant countries. To remind 
 them of their dependence, and bring them bacU to 
 their duty, however, the Lord raised up, from time 
 to time, prophets, full of zeal and courage, v.ho 
 boldly upbraided them with their prevarications and 
 impieties ; and who opposed themselves, like a wall 
 of brass, to whatever they committed contrary to the 
 rights of God. These holy men did not only appear 
 in Judah, whei-e the public worshij) of Jehovah was 
 maintained, but also in Israel, however schismastic 
 and polluted that might be. 
 
 It is obvious, therefore, that, notwithstanding the 
 almost general defection of the two kingdoms, God 
 still maintained his theocracy in them, as well by his 
 vengeance executed against wicked kings, as by those 
 good princes who obeyed his commands, and those 
 prophets whom he raised up, from time to time, till 
 the captivity of Babylon. 
 
 During the captivity, we are not to expect any cer- 
 tain form of government in Israel, nor any regular 
 polity. In vain the Jews pretend to find one beyond 
 the Euphrates, either before or since Cyrus's time. 
 We know of none that was well supported even after 
 the return from die captivity, during the time the 
 Hebrews were sidjject to the kings of Persia and of 
 Greece. During these times the government was a 
 kind of aristocracy, subordinate to the Persians and 
 the Grecians. The high-priest was at the head of 
 the principal people, whose power, being limited by 
 the sovereign authority, only extended to m.itters 
 relating to the law and religion. It was a kind of 
 voluntary or conventional jurisdiction, to which the 
 peojile submitted, so far as they pleased. 
 
 The Asnionean princes introduced a fifth period, 
 which presents a new aspect of government. After 
 the Maccabees had supported tiie religion of their 
 country, with great hazard of their lives, and had, 
 with extraordinary bravery, repelled the wicked com- 
 mands of Antiochus Epiphanes, they shook oft' the 
 yoke of the kings of Assyria, and, asserting their 
 liberty, took the title of princes of the Jews, and of 
 kings. By the consent of the people, they united the 
 high-priesthood to the supreme authority. Under 
 the government of these princes, we find evident 
 traces of the theocracy. The supreme governor was 
 invested with the sacerdotal character ; so that the 
 kingdom was what Closes calls "a kingdom of 
 priests;" (Exod. xix. C.) or, as Peter speaks, (1 Epist. 
 ii.9.) "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood." The 
 royal power, and the sacerdotal united, made a sin- 
 gular kind of polity, under princes entirely devoted 
 to the service of God, instructed in his laws, and in- 
 terested by the rules of politics to support them, and 
 to make the people observe them. Thoy could by 
 no possibility endure idolatry, ignorance, impiety ; 
 or those gross disoi-ders which had ])revailed under 
 the kings. So that the commonwealth of the Ile- 
 bre\As was never more in earnest to perform the laws 
 of God, or more exempt from those crimes denounced 
 by the prophets, than under the Asnionean princes.
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [485] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 Under their govcruiiient, the Romans did not in- 
 terfere witli religion : they even left a considerable 
 share of autiiority to the later princes of the Asmo- 
 nean race. Herod succeeded to the kingdom, under 
 tlie j)rotcction of the Romans, but he sacrificed every 
 thing to his ambition and politics ; and though he 
 made an outward profession of the Jewish religion, 
 he violated it on many occasions. The priests and 
 j)eople, however, continued firmly attached to it ; 
 and when Christ appeared, external religion was in 
 a flourishing condition. His preaching chiefly re- 
 proved the Pharisees, who, by their subtle distinc- 
 tions, and refinements on the law, had obscured its 
 true sense, and subverted its real intention. Our 
 Saviour exposed their hypocrisy, censured and cor- 
 rected their mistakes, restored primitive piety, and 
 gave the rules of a pure and sincere worship, in mind 
 and in truth. 
 
 The religion of the Jews may be considered in 
 different points of view, with respect to the diflferent 
 conditions of their nation. Under the patriarchs, 
 they were occasionally instructed in the will of God, 
 opposed idolatry and atheism, used circumcision as 
 the appointed seal of the covenant made by God with 
 Abraham, and followed the laws which reason, as- 
 sisted by the lights of grace and faith, discover to 
 honest hearts, who seriously seek God, his righteous- 
 ness, and truth. They lived in expectation of the 
 Messiah, the desire of all nations, to complete their 
 hopes and wishes, and fully to instruct and bless 
 tliem. Such was the religion of Abraham, Isaac, 
 Jacob, Judah, Joseph, &c. who maintained the wor- 
 ship of God, and the tradition of the true religion. 
 After the time of Moses, the religion of the Hebrews 
 became more fixed. Previously, every one honored 
 God according to his heart and judgment ; but now, 
 ceremonies, days, feasts, priests and sacrifices were 
 determined with great exactness. The legislator de- 
 scribed the age, sex, and color of certain victims ; 
 their number, qualities, and nature ; at what hour, 
 by whom, and on what occasions they were to be 
 offered. He prescribed the several purifications to 
 be used in preparing themselves for their approach 
 to things holy, and the legal impurities which forbade 
 their ajjproach ; the means of preventing, of avoid- 
 ing, and of expiating pollutions. He regulated the 
 tribe, the family, the bodily qualities, the habits, or- 
 der, rank, and functions of the priests and Lovites. 
 He specified the measures, metals, woods, and Avorks 
 of the tabernacle, or portable temple ; the dimensions, 
 metal, and figure of the altar, and its utensils ; in a 
 word, he omitted nothing which concerned the wor- 
 ship of God, who was the first and i)riucipal, or, more 
 properly speaking, the only object of the Jewish re- 
 ligion. 
 
 The long abode of the Hebrew's in Egjpt had 
 cherished in them a strong propensity to idolatry ; 
 and neither the miracles of Moses, nor his precau- 
 tions to withdraw them from the worship of idols, 
 nor the rigor of his laws, nor the splendid marks of 
 God's presence in the Israelitish camp, were able to 
 conquer this unhappy perversity. We know with 
 what facility they adopted the adoration of the golden 
 calf, when they had scarcely passed tlie channel of 
 the Red sea, where they had been eye-witnesses of 
 divinely preserving wonders ! 
 
 Moses delivered his laws in the wildeniess ; but 
 they were not all observed there. (See Deut. xii. 8, 9.) 
 The Hebrews did not circumcise tlie children born 
 during their wanderings, because of the danger to 
 which infants newly circumcised would have been 
 
 exposed ; and also because the people of Israel, uot 
 being then mingled with other nations, were not un- 
 der such a necessity of taking that sign, which was 
 instituted principally to distinguish them, Josh. v. 4, 
 5, 6, 7. 
 
 During the wars of Joshua against the Canaanites, 
 and before the ark of God was established in a fixed 
 place, it was difficult to observe all the laws of 3Ioses ; 
 and hence we sec under Joshua and the Judges, and 
 even in the reign of Saul, much laxity of conduct, 
 not observable imder David or Solomon, when the 
 Hebrews were at peace, and when there was more 
 easy access to the tabernacle. " In those days there 
 was no king in Israel, and every man did that which 
 was right in his own eyes," Judg. xvii. 5, G. Hence 
 Micah's ephod, at Laish, (cli. xviii. 31.) that which 
 Gideon made in his family, (ch. viii. 27.) the irregu- 
 larities of Eli's sons, (1 Sam. ii. 12, 13.) the crime of 
 the inhabitants of Gibeah, (Judg. xix. 22, &c.) and the 
 frequetit idolatries of the Israelites. 
 
 Saul and David, with all their authoi-ity, were not 
 able entirely to suppress such inveterate disorders. 
 Superstitions, which the Israelites did not dare to 
 exercise in public, were practised in private. They 
 sacrificed on the high places, and consulted diviners 
 and magicians. Solomon, whom God had chosen to 
 build his temple, was himself a stone of stumbling to 
 Israel. He erected altars to the false gods of the 
 Phoenicians, Moabites, and Ammonites ; and not only 
 permitted his wives to worship the gods of their ovax 
 country, but himself adored them, 1 Kings xi. 5 — 7. 
 Most of his successors showed a similar weakness. 
 Jeroboam introduced the worshij) of the golden 
 calves into Israel, which took such deep root that it 
 was never entirely extirpated. 
 
 By the captivity in Babylon the Hebrews were 
 brought to repentance, and renounced idolatry. 
 Henceforth they became devctjd to the service of the 
 true God, and no false gods were tolerated amongst 
 them. During the reign of the INIaccabecan princes, 
 however, another evil, equally pernicious in its effects 
 on genuine religion, sprung up among them. The 
 sect of the Pharisees, who divested the law of its 
 simplicity and purity, and superadded to it a number 
 of pernicious doctrines, said to have been preserved 
 by tradition from Moses, acquired great importance 
 in the state, and their opinions and observances had 
 the tendency of diverting the minds of the people 
 from the essence of religion — the pure and spiritual 
 worship of God, and attaching them to a number of 
 unmeaning, and to some immoral, ceremonies. At 
 the time of our Saviour's appearance, he found the 
 Hebrews divided, with few exceptions, into the two 
 sects of the Pharisees and the Sadducees ; the former 
 of whom made the law of God void by their tradi- 
 tion, and the latter of whom were a sort of religious 
 Epicureans. They denied the resurrection of the 
 dead, and the existence of angels and spirits. Never 
 had there been so much zeal and punctuality among 
 the Hebrews in the observance of their ritual, united 
 with so great an aversion to the rehgion of the heart, 
 which these were intended to promote. His remon- 
 strances, instructions, and denunciations Avere fruit- 
 less, as to the nation generally ; they pursued their 
 infatuated career, untii^ having filled up the measure 
 of their iniquity, they were given over by God to 
 those bitter punishments, which have rendered them 
 a by-word among all people. 
 
 The Hebrew ceremonial was of a typical charac- 
 ter ; prefiguring the priesthood and kingdom of Christ, 
 and the privileges and happiness of his people. Their
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 r 48G 1 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 bondage in Egypt, their miraculous deliverance, their 
 passage through the Red sea, their sojourning in the 
 wildei-ness, their entrance into the promised land, 
 their circumcision, ceremonies, priests, and sacri- 
 fices, were all predictive figures of Christ's coming, 
 of the establishment of Christianity, and of the wor- 
 ship, sacraments, and excellence of the gospel. (For 
 an account of the religious feasts, &c. of the Hebrews, 
 see the respective ai'ticles.) 
 
 The administration of justice among the Hel>rews 
 is a subject which demands some notice in a sketch 
 of their history. Under the patriarchs, sovereign ju- 
 dicial authority was vested in the heads of tribes or 
 famihes. They disinherited, banished, or inflicted 
 capital punishment, without being responsible to any 
 higher earthly power. (See Gen. xxi. — 14 ; xxxviii. 
 24 ; xlix. 7 ; xxii. 10.) Much of the patriarchal spirit 
 of the law was retained after the exodus, but Moses, 
 imder the immediate direction of God himself, was 
 appointed supreme judge. At the suggestion of 
 Jethro, the legislator relieved himself from some part 
 of his judicial duties, by appointing inferior judges 
 over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens ; reserving 
 the weightier or more important causes for himself, 
 Exod. xviii. 13 — 2(3. When the people became set- 
 tled in the land, every city appears to have had its 
 elders, who foi-med a court of judicature, with a 
 power of determining lesser matters in their respect- 
 ive districts, Deut. xvi. 18 ; xvii. 8, 9. (See also 
 Deut. xxi. 1 — 9.) According to the rabbins, every 
 city which contained a hundred inhabitants possessed 
 a court of judicature, consisting of three judges; but 
 those cities which were larger had twenty-three of 
 these ofiicers. But Josephus, in whose time those 
 courts existed, states that Moses ordained seven 
 judges, of known virtue and integrity, to be estab- 
 lisiied in every city, to whom two ministers were 
 added out of the tribe of Levi ; so that there were 
 in every city nine judges — seven laymen and two 
 Levites. ( Antiq. b. iv. c. 14 ; Wars, b. ii. c. 20.) The 
 Hebrew legislator enjoins the strictest impartiality on 
 the judges, in the discharge of their judicial func- 
 tions, and prohibits their taking of gifts under any 
 circumstances; (Exod. xxiii. 8.) reminding them, at 
 the same time, t!iat a judge sits in the seat of God, 
 and that, tlierefore, no inan should have any ])re- 
 eminence in his sight, neither ought he to be afraid 
 of any man in declaring the law, Exod. xxiii. 0, 7 ; 
 Lev. xix. 15 ; Deut. i. 17 ; xxi. 18—20. 
 
 From Deut. xvii. 8 — 11, we see that appeals lay 
 from the courts already mentioned to a supreme tri- 
 bunal. But the earliest mention of any such tribunal 
 is under the reign of Jehoshaphat, and whicli, it is 
 expressly stated, was erected for the decision of such 
 cases, 2 Chron. xix. 8 — 11. The Jewish writers in- 
 sist that this was the Sanhedrim, to which there are 
 so many allusions made in the New Testament, and 
 which they also assert to have existed from the time 
 of Moses, possessing the supreme authority in all 
 civil matters. Of this, however, there is no proof: 
 it was not instituted till the time of the Maccabees, 
 from which period it is frequently spoken of as the 
 supreme judicial tribunal. It consisted of seventy, 
 seventy-one, or seventy-two members, chosen from 
 among the chief priests, Levites, and elders of the 
 people, of whom the high-priest was the president, 
 and took cognizance of the general afllairs of the na- 
 tion. It gave judgment, however, only in the most 
 important causes, reserving inferior matters for the 
 lower courts, appeals from which, as we have before 
 stated, lay here. (Godwyn's Moses and Aaron, b. v, ; 
 
 Lightfoot's Prospect of the Temple, ch. xxii. ; Lamy's 
 Apparatus Biblicus, b. i. ch. 12 ; Michaehs on the 
 Laws of Moses, vol. i. p. 247, &c.) 
 
 Of judicial procedure, or form of process, as we call 
 it, our information is scanty. In the early period of 
 the Hebrew connnon wealth, the procedure was no 
 doubt very summary, as few rules are prescribed for 
 conducting it. Every man managed his own cause ; 
 1 Kings iii. 15 — 28. From a passage in Job, (xxix. 
 15 — 17.) Michaelis infers that men of wisdom and. 
 influence might be asked for their opinions in diflii- 
 cult cases, and that they might also interfere to assist 
 those who were not capable of defending themselves 
 against malicious accusers. The exhortation in Isa. 
 i. 17. he also thinks to have a reference to such a 
 practice. In criminal cases the judges' first business 
 was to exhort the accused person to confess the crime 
 with which he stood charged, " that he might have a 
 portion in the next life," Josh. vii. 19. The oath 
 was then administered to the witnesses, (Lev. v. 1.) 
 who offered their evidence against him ; afi;er which 
 he was heard in defence, John vii. 51. In matters 
 where life was concerned, one witness was not suf- 
 ficient ; (Numb. xxxv. 30 ; Deut. xvii. G, 7 ; xix. 15.) 
 but in those of lesser moment, particularly those re- 
 lating to money and value, it seems that a single wit- 
 ness, if unexceptionable, and upon oath, was enough 
 to decide between plaintiff" and defendant. From the 
 account of our Saviour's trial before the supreme 
 council, we see that witnesses were examined sepa- 
 rately, and without hearing each other's declaration, 
 and that it was necessarily in the presence of the ac- 
 cused. This is evident, from the contradiction in 
 the evidence of the two witnesses brought against 
 Jesus, (Mark xiv. 56, seq.) which would doubtless 
 have been avoided, had they been admitted into court 
 together. 
 
 Sentence having been pronounced on a person 
 found guilty of a capital crime, he was hurried away 
 to the j)lace of execution ; and in cases where the 
 punishment of stoning was inflicted, the witnesses 
 were compelled to take the lead, Deut. xvii. 7 ; Acts 
 vii. 58, 59. It was also customary for the judge and 
 the witnesses to lay their hands on the criminal's 
 head, saying, "Thy blood be upon thine own head." 
 In allusion to this usage, which was a declaration of 
 the justice of the sentence, the Jews alluded, when 
 they said, with reference to our Lord — "His blood 
 be upon us and our children," Matt, xxvii. 25. la 
 Matt. xxvi. 39, 42, where our Lord says, "Father, if 
 it be possible, let this cup pass from me," there is an 
 allusion to the practice which obtained of giving to 
 the malefactor a cup of wine, in which there was in- 
 fused a grain of incense, for the ])urpose of intoxi- 
 cating and stupifying him, that he might be the less 
 sensible of pain. For deciding in disputed cases of 
 property, where no other means remained, recourse 
 was had to the sacred lot, whicli was regarded as the 
 determination of God, Prov. xvi. 33 ; xviii. 18. It 
 was for this purpose that the urim and thummim 
 was employed ; as it was in criminal cases for the 
 discover}) of XliG guilty ; but never for convicting them. 
 
 During the times of the New Testament, the Roman 
 tribunal was the last resort, in cases of a criminal na- 
 ture. The Jews could put no man to death without 
 the consent of the govcrnoi-, (John xviii. 31.) though 
 they had the pov/er of inflicting inferior punishments, 
 and in most other respects lived according to their 
 own laws. Hence the allusions to the Roman law, 
 mode of trial, &c. in the New Testament are very 
 numerous; as (1.) crucifixion; (2.) hanging, or the
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [ 487 1 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 rope; (3.) stoning ; (4.) fire, or burning; (5.) tho tym- 
 panum, or wlih,jping; (6.) imprisonment; (7.) the 
 sword, or beheading ; (8.) precipitation, or stoning ; 
 (9.) rending to pieces by thorns, or treading under 
 tiie feet of animals; (10.) sawing asunder; (11.) suf- 
 focation in ashes; (12.) cutting oft" the hair; (13.) 
 bhn(hng the eyes; (14.) stretching on the wooden 
 horse. Several of these modes of pimishment were 
 introduced among the Hebrews in consequence of 
 their intercourse with surrounding nations, and are, 
 therefore, not to be attributed to their lawgiver. 
 
 For an account of the writing, language, books, 
 and htcrary composition of the Hebrews, the reader 
 is referred to the rcsj)ective articles ; as also for their 
 dress, houses, &c. See Language, Letters, Poe- 
 try, House, Dresses, (fcc. 
 
 The existence of the Hebrews as a people distinct 
 from all others, to this day, is a miracle of that in- 
 disputable kind which may well justify a few re- 
 marks. 
 
 1. They are spread iiito all parts of the earth ; being 
 found not only in Europe, but to the utmost extrem- 
 ity of Asia, even in Thibet and China. They abound 
 in Persia, Northern India, and Tartary, wherever our 
 travellers have penetrated. These are, as they as- 
 sert, probably, descendants of the tribes carried away 
 captive by the Assyrian monarchs. They are also 
 numerous in Arabia, in Egypt, and throughout 
 Africa. 
 
 2. These dispersions are of different epochs ; some 
 were voluntary, others forced. That many Hebrews 
 settled in Egypt from the days of Solomon, is very 
 credible. (See 1 Kings xi. 40 ; Jer. xli. xlii. et al.) 
 Many thousands were in Alexandria alone ; and we 
 learn from the Acts, that they had synagogues in 
 Cyrene, Libya, Sec. as well as throughout Greece and 
 Asia 31inor ; as Rome, and elsewhere in Italy, &c. 
 
 3. In most parts of the luorld their state is much the 
 same — one of dislike, contemjjt, or oppression. With- 
 in the last few years they have received more justice 
 at the hands of some of the European states ; but it 
 is evident that they hold their accessions by a very 
 precarious tenure. 
 
 4. Tlicy every where maintain observances peculiar 
 to themselves ; such as circumcision, performed after 
 their own manner, and at their own time of life, that 
 is, during infancy ; also the observance of a sabbath, 
 or day of rest, not the same day of the week as that 
 of nations which also observe a sabbath. They have 
 generally retained some remembrance of the pass- 
 over; but there are Jews who, not being included in 
 the plot of Haman, to destroy their nation, do not 
 connnemorate the Purim. This national constancy 
 demonstrates a most wonderful energy in the Mosaic 
 institutions ; which are still fresh and vigorous, and 
 not obsolete. 
 
 5. They are divided into various sects. Soine of 
 them are extremely attached to the traditions of the 
 rabbins, and to the multiplied observances enjoined 
 in the Talmud. Others, as the Caraites, reject tliese 
 with scorn, and adhere solely to Scripture. The 
 majority of the Jews in Europe, and those with whose 
 works we are mostly conversant, are rabbinists ; and 
 may be taken as representatives of the ancient Phari- 
 sees. But all Jews profess a veneration for their 
 sacred books ; and according to the best information 
 that can be obtained, they preserve them careluUy, 
 and iTad them with respect in their places of worship ; 
 to which, in all countries, they fail not to resort. 
 
 G. Tltey even/ ichere consider Judea as their proper 
 country, and Jerusalem as their metropolitan city. 
 
 Wherever settled, and for however long, they still 
 cherish a recollection or reference, unparalleled 
 among nations. They have not lost it; they will 
 not lose it ; and they transmit it to their posterity, 
 however comfortably they may be settled in any resi- 
 dence, or in any country. They hope against hope, 
 to see Zion and Jerusalem revive from their ashes. 
 
 7. The number of the Jewish nation was estimated, 
 a few years ago, for the information of Buonaparte, 
 at the following amount; but from what documents 
 we know not : 
 
 In the Turkish empire .... 1,000,OCO 
 
 In Persia, China, India, on the east 
 and west of the Ganges .... 300,000 
 
 In the west of Europe, Africa, Amer- 
 ica 1,700,000 
 
 Total 3,000,000 
 
 This number is probably verv far short of the truth. 
 Maltebrun estimates them at 4',000,000 to 5,000,000. 
 
 8. The long protracted existence of the Hebi-eics as 
 a separate people, is not only a standing evidence of 
 the truth of the Bible, but is of that kind which defies 
 hesitation, imitation, or parallel. Were this people 
 totally extinct, some might affect to say, that they 
 never existed ; or that if they did once exist, that they 
 never practised such rites as were imputed to them ; 
 or that they were not a numerous people, but a small 
 tribe of ignorant and unsettled Arabs. The care with 
 which the Jews preserve their sacred books, and the 
 conformity of those preserved in the East with those 
 of the West, as lately attested, is a satisfactory argu- 
 ment in favor of the genuineness of both ; and, further, 
 the dispersion of the nation has proved the security 
 of these documents; as it has not been in the power 
 of any one enemy, liowever potent, to' destroy the 
 entire series, or to consign it to oblivion. 
 
 There appears to have been a distinction or pre- 
 rogative generally attached to the appellation Hebrew, 
 in the early days of the gospel. Paul describes him- 
 self as a "Hebrew of the Hebrews," (Phil. iii. 5.) and 
 the Grecians are said to murmur against the Hebrews, 
 (Acts vi. 1.) though both parties \vere of the same 
 nation. It seems, therefore, that the residents in the 
 Holy Land, at least, if not the whole nation, pre- 
 ferred the name of Hebrew, as more honorable than 
 that of Jew, which was rather a foreign appella- 
 tion imposed upon them, especially out of their own 
 country. This discovers a propriety in Paul's ad- 
 dressing, as most res])ectful, his epistle "to the He- 
 brews," not " to the Jews." Perhaps, also, the con- 
 verts to Christianity retained this preference, and 
 declined being called Jews, as no longer piofessing 
 Judaism ; even while they acknowledged themselves 
 to be Hebrews by descent from the father of the 
 foithful. 
 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. — Neither the nature 
 nor the imiits of a dictionary will admit of a critical 
 dissertation on the controverted questions affecting 
 this sacred composition. The majority of critics 
 agree in referring it to the apostle Paul ; though sev- 
 eral writers of sound judgment and learning contest 
 the evidence on which this opinion is founded. For 
 satisfaction upon this subject, as well as upon the 
 language in which the epistle was WTitten, we must 
 refer to those authors who have professedly treated 
 upon them ; among these we may notice j.articular- 
 ly the work of professor Stuait. Omitting, then, 
 the question of the Pauline origin of the epistle, we
 
 HEB 
 
 488 ] 
 
 HE I 
 
 remark, that its canonical authority, and its genuine- 
 ness and authenticity, are so fully attested by the 
 strongest evidence, historical and internal, that they 
 may safely be pronounced unimpeachable. " That 
 the church, during the first century after the apos- 
 tolic age, ascribed it to some one of the apostles," re- 
 marks the writer to whom we have just referred, " is 
 clear, from the fact, that it was mserted among the 
 canonical books of the churches in the East and the 
 West ; that it was comprised in the Peschito ; in the 
 old Latin version ; and was certainly admitted by 
 the Alexandrine and Palestine churches. The ob- 
 ject of this epistle, which ranks amongst the most im- 
 portant of the new-covenant Scriptures, was to prove 
 to the Jews, from their own Scriptures, the divinity, 
 humanity, atonement, and intercession of Christ ; 
 particularly his pre-eminence over Moses and the 
 angels of God — to demonstrate the superiority of the 
 gospel to the law ; and the real object and design of 
 the Mosaic institutions — to fortify the minds of the 
 Hebrew converts against apostasy under persecu- 
 tion, and to engage them to a deportment becoming 
 their Christian profession. In this view, the epistle 
 furnishes a key to the Old Testament Scriptures. 
 (See the Bibl. Repository, vol. ii. p. 409.) 
 
 HEBRON, or Chebron, one of the most ancient 
 cities of Canaan, being built seven years befoi-e 
 Tanis, the capital of Lower Egypt, Numb. xiii. 22. 
 It is thought to have been founded by Arba, an 
 ancient giant of Palestine, and hence to have been 
 called Kirjath-arba, Arba's city, (Josh. xiv. 15.) which 
 name was afterwards changed into Hebron. The 
 Anakim dwelt at Hebron when Joshua conquered 
 Canaan, Josh. xv. 13. 
 
 Hebron, which was given to Judah, and became a 
 city of refuge, was situated on an eminence, al)Out 
 twenty-seven miles south of Jerusalem, and about 
 the same distance north of Beersheba. Abraham, 
 Sarah, and Isaac were buried near the city, in the 
 cave of Machpelah, Gen. xxiii. 7, 8, 9. After the 
 death of Saul, David fixed his residence at Hebron, 
 and it was for some time the metropolis of his king- 
 dom, 2 Sam. ii. 2 — 5. It is now called El Hhalil, 
 and contains a popidation of about 400 families of 
 Arabs, l<esidos a liundred Jewish houses. "They 
 are so mutinous," says D'Arvieux, " that they rarely 
 pay [the duties] without force, and commonly a re- 
 inforcement from Jerusalem is necessary. The peo- 
 ple are brave, and wlien in revolt extend their incur- 
 sions as far as Bethlehem, and make amends by 
 their pillage for what is exacted from them. They 
 are so well acquainted with the windings of the 
 mountains, and know so well how to post themselves 
 to advantage, that they close all the passages, and 
 exclude every assistance from reacliing the Souba- 
 chi. . . . The Turks dare not dwell here, believing 
 that they could not live a week if they attempted it. 
 The Greeks have a church in the village." The 
 mutinous character of this people, one would think, 
 was but a contimuttion of their ancient disposition ; 
 which might render them fit instruments for serving 
 David against Saul, and Absalom against David.— 
 The advantage they possessed in their knowledge of 
 the j)asscs, may account also for the protracted re- 
 sistance which David made to Saul, and the neces- 
 sity of the latter employing a considerable force in 
 order to dislodge his adversary. David was so well 
 aware of this advantage of station, that when Absa- 
 lom had possessed himself of Hebron, ho did not 
 think of attacking him there, hut fled in all haste 
 from Jerusalem, northward. [The Turks now dwell 
 
 there, and there is a Turkish governor. (See Mod. 
 Trav. Palestine, p. 182, seq.) R. * 
 
 HEIFER, (Red,) Sacrifice of. The order for 
 this service is given in Numb. xix. Spencer believes 
 it to have been instituted in opposition to Egyptian 
 superstition. Jerome and others think, that the red 
 heifer was sacrificed yearly ; but some of the rab- 
 bins maintain, that one only was burnt from Moses 
 to Ezra ; and from Ezra to the destruction of 
 the temple by the Romans, only six, or at most nine. 
 The ceremony is said to have been always j)erform- 
 ed on the mount of Olives, over against the temple, 
 after the ark was fixed at Jerusalem. See Red 
 Heifer. 
 
 Some authors suppose that the red heifer was one 
 of the sacrifices oftered in the name of all the peo- 
 ple. It was to be without blemish ; its blood was 
 sprinkled seven times towards the entrance of the 
 tabernacle ; the whole body was consumed ; and the 
 ashes used in purifying those who were polluted by 
 touching any dead body, or otherwise. Calmet 
 thinks the red heifer was a sacrifice for sin, but not 
 an oblation, that name being proper only to what 
 was offered solemnly to God on the altar of burnt- 
 offerings. When the red heifer was burned without 
 the camp, its ashes were gathered and preserved in 
 a clean place. Part of them were occasionally put 
 into water, with which all who had contracted legal 
 defileinent were to be sprinkled ; on pain of being 
 cut off" from the congregation. It was a water of 
 separation. The heifer was a type of Christ, Heb. 
 ix. 13. 
 
 HEIFERS. As the words ox and bull, in their 
 figurative sense, signify rich and ])owerful persons, 
 who live in affluence, who forget God, and contenm 
 the poor ; so by heifers are sometimes meant wo- 
 men who are rich, delicate, and voluptuous,- — who 
 make pleasure their god, Amos iv. 1 ; lies. iv. 
 16;x. 11. 
 
 HEIR, a person who succeeds by right of inherit- 
 ance to an estate, property, &c. But the princii)!es 
 of heirship in the East differ from those among us ; 
 so that children do not always wait till their parents 
 are dead, before they receive their portions. Hence, 
 when Christ is called, "heir of all things," it does 
 not imply the death of any former possessor of all 
 things ; and when saints are called heirs of the prom- 
 ise, of righteousness, of the kingdom, of the world, 
 of God, "joint heirs" with Christ, it implies merely 
 participants in such or such advantages, but no de- 
 cease of any party in possession would be under- 
 stood by those to whom these passages were ad- 
 dressed ; though among ourselves there is no actual 
 heirship till the parent, or proprietor, is departed. 
 
 Another principle in which the orientals difl^er 
 from us, is that which regulates the heirship of 
 princes and the succession to the throne. The fol- 
 lowing extracts will illustrate the subject: — 
 
 "The word sultcm is a title given to the Ottoman 
 princes, born while their fathers were in possession 
 of the throne, and to those of the Ginguissian fami- 
 ly. The epithet sultaii, therefore, is bestowed on 
 ]um who enjoys the ris;lit of siic cession ; and this, by 
 the Turkish law, belongs to the eldest of the family. 
 It is to be remembered, as has bc^fore been remark- 
 ed, that he nmst be born whWc, his father possesses 
 the throne.^' (Baron du Tott, vol. i. p. G5.) To these 
 principles we find an eastern prince appealing ; and 
 as he also states the reasons on which they are found- 
 ed, it may not be amiss to introduce his discourse on 
 this subject. " Zemes, sailing to Rhodes, was there
 
 HEL 
 
 [ 489 ] 
 
 HEL 
 
 honorably received by the great master, arid all 
 the rest of the knights of the order ; to whom, in 
 their publicke asseniblie three dales after, hee openly 
 declared the canses of the discord betwixt his broth- 
 er and him ; alledgiug for the color of his rebel- 
 lion, That although Baiazet was his elder brother, 
 yet that he was born tvhilst his father yet lined in pri- 
 %utte estate, vnder subiectiou and command, long be- 
 fore he possessed the kingdome, and so no king's 
 Bonne : whereas he himselfe was the Jirst borne of 
 his father, beeing an emperor, and so not heire of his 
 private fortune, (as was Baiazet,) but of his gi-eatest 
 honour and empire," &c. (Knolles's History of the 
 Turks, p. 442.) This usage will, perhaps, remove 
 the difficulty which presents itself in the Scripture 
 statement of the age of Hezekiah, when he ascended 
 the throne. If this prince were but 25 years old, 
 when he began to reign, as stated in 2 Cliron. xxix. 
 1. then he must have been born when his father 
 Ahaz was under 11 years of age — an almost natural 
 impossibility. But if we refer to this principle which 
 regidates the succession to the throne in the East, 
 and consider Hezekiah as having been the first born 
 after his father'' s accession, and " a son of 25 years," 
 estimating his age from that period, all will be natu- 
 ral and easy. It is obvious to remark, that compu- 
 tations of time, by descents, (as that of Christ, by his 
 genealogy,) are greatly aftected by this principle ; 
 since the length of lives, reigns, &c. when the suc- 
 cessor is not the eldest son, but the youngest, are 
 rendered obviously, and materially, imperfect by it. 
 See Adoption. 
 
 HELAM, a place celebrated for a defeat of the 
 Syrians by David, in which he took their horses and 
 chariots; (2 Sam. x. 17.) it would seem to have been 
 not far from the Euphrates. But in 1 Chron. xix. 
 17. instead of Helam (of which city wo have no 
 knowledge) we read (c;n>'^N, Alihem,) "David fell up- 
 on them ;" whicli Calmet takes to be the best reading. 
 
 HELBAH, or Chelba, a city of Asher ; (Judg. i. 
 31.) perhaps Helbon in Syria. 
 
 HELBON, a city of Syria famous for its wines, 
 (Ezek. xxvii. 18.) and probably the present Haleb, or, 
 as called in Europe, Aleppo. It is situated, accord- 
 ing to Russell, who has given a very full description 
 of it, in lat. 36° 11' 25" N. long. 37° 9' E. ; about 180 
 miles north of Damascus, and about 80 inland from 
 the coast of the Mediterranean sea. In 1822, Alep- 
 po was visited by a dreadful earthquake, by which 
 it was almost entirely destroyed. 
 
 HELIOPOLIS, a celebrated city of Egypt, called 
 in Coptic, the Hebrew, and in the English version. 
 On, Gen. xli. 45. The Egyptian name signifies light, 
 sun ; and hence the Greek name Heliopolis, which 
 signifies city of the su7i. The Seventy mention ex- 
 pressly that On is Heliopolis, Sept. Ex. i. 11. Jere- 
 miah (xliii. 13.) calls this city in Hebi-ew Beth-Shc- 
 viesh, i. e. house or temple of the sun. In Ezek. 
 XXX. 17, the name is pi'onounced Aven, which is the 
 same as On. The x'Vrabs call it Ain-Shcms, foimtain 
 of tlu? sun. All these names come from the circum- 
 stance, that the city was the ancient seat of the 
 Egyptian worship of the sun. Tims Joseph's father- 
 in-law, Potiphera, was priest at On, i. e. he was 
 doubtless a priest of the sun, as his name Poti-phera 
 denotes, viz. one who belongs to the sun. Strabo 
 visited the ruins of this city, the destruction of 
 wliich he refers to Cambyses, and saw there still 
 large buildings in which the priests dwelt. He re- 
 marks that the city was formerly the seat of priests 
 who occupied themselves with philosophy and as- 
 62 
 
 tronomy ; but that now they only took care of the 
 sacrifices and rites of worship. " The city," he says, 
 "lies upon an immense dike. In it is the tem- 
 ple of the sun, and the ox JMnevis, which is kept in 
 a chapel, and is worshipped by the inhabitants, hke 
 the Apis at 3Iemphis. At present the city is desert- 
 ed. The temple is very ancient, and in the Egyp- 
 tian style. Two obehsksof this temple, which were 
 the least injured, have been carried to Rome ; the 
 rest are still in their places." (xvii. 1. § 29.) To these 
 obelisks or images the prophet Jeremiah probably re- 
 fers, xliii. 13. These obelisks and ruins are also 
 mentioned by Abulfeda, and likewise by Abdollatif, 
 who gives a paj-ticular description of them. (Relation 
 de I'Egypte, ed. De Sacy, p. 180.) 
 
 The present state of these ruins is described by 
 Niebuhr: ("Reisebeschr. i. p. 98.) "The ruins of this 
 ancient city (Hehopoiis) lie near the village Matarea, 
 about two hours [six miles] from Cairo, towards the 
 nortli-enst. But nothing now remains except im- 
 mense dikes and mounds full of small pieces of mar- 
 ble, granite, and pottery, some remnants of a sphinx, 
 and an obelisk still standing erect. This last is one 
 single block of granite, covered on its four sides with 
 hieroglyphics. Its height above ground is 58 feet. 
 It belonged to the ancient temple of the sun." 
 
 Another Heliopolis is alluded to in Scripture un- 
 der the name of the " plain of Aven," or field of the 
 sun, Amos i. 5. This was the Heliojjolis of Ccele- 
 Syria, now Baalbeck. See Aven. *R. 
 
 HELL. The Heb. hii<z', Sheol, and the Gr."-'/rT,;?, 
 Hades, often signify the grave, or the place of depart- 
 ed spirits, Ps. xvi. 10 ; Isa. xiv. 9 ; Ezek. xxxi. 15. 
 Here was the rich man, after being buried, Luke 
 xvi. 23. The rebellious angels were also " cast down 
 into hell, and delivered unto chains of darkness," 2 
 Pet. ii. 4. These and many other passages in the 
 Old Testament show the fiuility of that opinion, 
 which attributes to the Hebrews an ignorance of a 
 future state. The Jews place hell in the centre of 
 the earth : they call it the deep, and destruction ; 
 they believe it to be situated under waters and 
 mountains ; they also term it Gehennom, or Gehen- 
 na, which signifies the valley of Hinnom, or the val- 
 ley of the sons of Hinnom, which was, as it were, 
 the common sewer of Jerusalem, where children 
 were sacrificed to Moloch. See Gehenna. 
 
 But the term hell is most commonly applied to the 
 place of punishment in the unseen world. Jews, 
 Mussulmans, and Christians have all depicted the hor- 
 rors and the punishments of hell as their several fan- 
 cies have conceived of it ; but without entering into 
 a discussion upon these topics, we may remark, that 
 Scripture is decisive as to the principal punishment, 
 consisting ii^ a hojjeless separation liom God, and a 
 privation of his siglit, and of the beatific vision. 
 
 The eternity of hell-torments is acknowledged 
 tliroughout Scripture : the fire of the damned will 
 never be extinguished, nor their worm die. (See 
 Fire.) But the Jews believe, that some among 
 them will not continue forever in hell. They main- 
 tain that c\ery Jew, not infected with heresy, or 
 who has not acted contrary to certain points men- 
 tioned by the rabbins, is not above a year in purga- 
 tory ; and that infidels only, or peo])le eminently 
 wicked, remain perpetually in hell. Manassch Ben 
 Israel names three sorts of persons who would be 
 damned eternally: (1.) Atheists, who deny the exist- 
 ence of God ; (2.) they who deny the divine author- 
 ity of the law ; (3.) they who reject the resurrection 
 of the dead. These people, though otherwise of
 
 HEN 
 
 [490 
 
 HER 
 
 moral lives, will be punished with endless tortures. 
 Other rabbius, such as Maimonides, Abarbanel, &c. 
 assert, that after a certain time, the souls of wicked 
 men will be annihilated. 
 
 As the happiness of paradise is expressed in 
 Scripture under the idea of a feast or wedding, sur- 
 rounded by abundant light, joy, and pleasure, so hell 
 is represented as a place of dismal darkness, where 
 is nothing but grief, satlness, vexation, rage, despair, 
 and gnashing of teetli. Tiie regret, remorse, and 
 despair of the damned are expressed by the rabbins 
 under the name of disorder in the soul : which is 
 what Isaiah (Ixvi. 24.) and Mark (ix. 43, 45.) mean 
 by that worm whicli gnaws and does not die. 
 
 "The gates of hell," mentioned by our Saviour, 
 (Matt. xvi. 18.) signily tiie power of hell ; for the 
 eastern people call the palaces of their j)rinces 
 gates. (See Gate.) The Jews say there are three 
 gates belonging to hell : the first is in the wilderness, 
 and by that Korah, Dathan, and Abiram descended 
 into hell : the second is in the sea ; for it is said that 
 Jonah, who was thrown into the sea, " cried to God 
 out of the belly of hell," Jonah ii. 3. The third is in 
 Jerusalem ; for Isaiah tells us that " the fire of the 
 Lord is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem," Isa. 
 xxxi. 9. — 1. Earth; 2. water; 3. fire. These are 
 evidently three modes of death, or destruction. 
 
 [The Sheol of the Old Testament or the Hades 
 of the New, according to the notions of the Hebrews, 
 was a vast subterranean receptacle, where the souls 
 of the dead existed in a separate state until the res- 
 urrection of their bodies. The region of the blessed, 
 or paradise, they supposed to be in the upper part of 
 this receptacle ; while beneath was the abyss or Ge- 
 henna, in which the souls of the wicked were sub- 
 jected to punishment, Is. xiv, 9, seq. Luke xvi. 23, 
 seq. (See Lowth, Lect. on Heb. Poetry, vii. Camp- 
 bell, Prel. Diss. vi. pt. 2. § 2, seq. § 19.) R. 
 
 HELLENISTS, « the Grecians," Acts vi. 1, et al. 
 They were called Hellenistical Jews, who lived in 
 cities and provinces where the Greek tongue was 
 spoken. Not being much accustomed to Hebrew or 
 Syriac, they generally used the Greek version of the 
 LXX, Ijoth in public and private, which was disap- 
 proved of by Hebraizing Jews, who could not en- 
 dure that the Holy Scriptures should be read in any 
 language beside their original Hebrew. This, how- 
 ever, was not the only difierence between the Hel- 
 lenistical and tlic Hebraizing Jews. The latter re- 
 proached their brethren witli reading Scripture af^er 
 the Egyptian manner, tliai is, from the left to the 
 right; whereas the rabbins say, that as the sun 
 moves from east to west, so they should read from 
 the right hand to the left. Tliisdifterence, howcAer, 
 produced no schism or separation. 
 
 HELMET, a piece of defensive armor for the 
 head. See Arms, and Armor. 
 
 I. HEMAN, of the tribe of Judah, celebrated for 
 his wisdom, lie floiM'islied Ik tore Solomon,! Kimrs 
 iv. 31 ; [v. 11 in the llcl).] 1 (;iir. ii. G. *R. 
 
 II. HEMAN, tlie son of Joel, a Koliathite, of the 
 tribe of Levi, a leader of the temple music, 1 Chr. vi. 
 a3; [18;] xvi. 41, 42. *R. 
 
 I1EML0("K. In Amos vi. 12, we read of " riglit- 
 I eousness turned into hemlock ;" the very same word 
 t which in clyip. v. 7. is rendered wormwood :" turn 
 i judgment to wormwood." This impropriety is 
 % obvious ; the word is usually rendered wormwood, 
 ~ "whicii see. 
 
 HENA, a city of !\Iesopotoml», the same, proba- 
 |)1\ , which was afterwards called .hin. situated on a 
 
 ford of the Euphrates, 2 Kings xviii. 34 ; xix. 13 ; Is. 
 xxxvii. 13. R. 
 
 HEPHER, a Canaanitish city with a king, subdued 
 by Joshua, Josh. xii. 17. 
 
 HERESY, (^llQcnic,) an option, or choice. It is 
 usually taken in a bad sense, for some fundamental 
 error in religion, adhered to with obstinacy. Paul 
 says that there should be heresies in the church, that 
 they who are tried might be made manifest, 1 Cor. 
 xi. 19. He requires Titus to shun, and even wholly to 
 avoid the company of a heretic, after the first and sec- 
 ond admonition. Tit. iii. 10. Luke speaks of the heresies 
 of the Sadducees and Pharisees, Acts v. 17 ; xv. 5. — 
 Christianity was called a sect or heres}', (Acts xxviii. 
 22.) for in the beginnhig it w^as scarcely looked upon 
 by strangers as any thing more than a sect of Juda- 
 ism ; and the primitive writers made no difficulty 
 of calling it, sometimes, a divine sect. Tertullus, 
 the advocate of the Jews, accused Paul with 
 being the head "of the sect of the Nazarenes," 
 Acts xxiv. 5. 
 
 From the beginning of the Christian church, there 
 have been dangerous heresies, which attacked the 
 most essential doctrines of our religion, such as the 
 divinity of Jesus Christ, his office of Messiali, the 
 reality and truth of his incarnation, the resurrection 
 of the dead, the liberty of Christians from legal cere- 
 monies, and many other points. The most ancient 
 of these heretics was Simon Magus, who desired to 
 buy the gift of God with money, (Acts viii. 9, 10.) 
 and W'ho afterwards set hnnself up for the Messiah, 
 God Almighty, the Creator. Cerinthus, also, and 
 those false apostles against whom Paul inveighs 
 in his epistles, who determined that the faithful 
 should receive circumcision, and subject themselves 
 to all the legal observances, are considered to be 
 heretics. Gal. iv. 12, 13, 17 ; v. 11 ; vi. 12 ; Phil. iii. 
 18. The Nicolaitans, who, it is said, allowed a 
 community of women, committed the most ignomin- 
 ious actions, and followed the superstitions of hea- 
 thenism, are charged by John (Rev. ii. 6, 15.) with 
 producing great disorders in the churches of Asia. — 
 At the same time there were false Christs and false 
 prophets. Paul speaks of Hymenseus and Alexander, 
 (1 Tim. i. 20.) and of Hymenaeus and Philetus, 
 (2 Tim. ii. '17.) who departed from the truth. He 
 foretold, that in the last times, some should forsake 
 the truth, and give themselves up to a spirit of error, 
 and to doctrines of devils, 1 Tim. iv. 1. Peter and 
 Jude foretell the same things, and herein only repeat 
 what Christ himself had said, that false Christs and 
 false prophets should come, who would seduce the 
 simple. 
 
 IIERMAS, a disciple mentioned Rom. xvi. 14, 
 was, according to several of the ancients, and many 
 learned modern interpretei-s, the same as Hernias, 
 whose works are said to be still extant. 
 
 HERMON, a mountain often mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture. In Dent.' iii. 9, it is said that Hermon is called 
 by the Sidonians Siiion and by tlie Auunonitcs She- 
 nir. In Dent. iv. 4H. it is also said to be called 
 mount Sio7i, (Heb. js^r, difierent from the Sion 
 of Jerusalem, which is written ;vs.) It is an 
 eastern arm of Anti-lihanus, branching oft" from the 
 former a little lower down than Damascus, and ex- 
 tending in a direction S. S. E. to the vicinity of the 
 lake of Tiberias. The northern part is lofty, and is 
 now called Djebel el Sheikh, and the southern, which 
 is lower, Djebel Heish. (See Rurckliardt, Trav. in 
 Syria, p. 313.) Some have, without good rea.son, sup- 
 po-ied, that there was anotlier Hennon, near mount
 
 HER 
 
 [ 491 ] 
 
 HEROD 
 
 Tabor; and have, therefore, improperly given this 
 name to the mountain of Gilboa, Ps. Ixxxix. 12. In 
 Ps. xlii. 6, the English version has Hermonites ; it 
 should be the Hermons, the word in Hebrew being in 
 the plural to denote a chain of mountains ; just as the 
 Alps are always spoken of in the plural. The psalm- 
 ist says in Ps. cxxxiii. 3, that the union of brethren 
 is pleasant " as the dew of Hermon, which descend- 
 ed upon the mountains of Zion," i. e. Jerusalem. — 
 This as it stands makes no sense, and the thing appar- 
 ently expressed is an impossibility. Our translators 
 have, therefore, justly and properly supplied the words 
 necessary to fill out the comparison ; " as the dew of 
 Hermon and as the dew which descended upon the 
 mountains of Zion." 
 
 We read in Judg. iii. 3, of a mount Baal-Hermon, 
 and in 1 Chr. v. 23, of a Baal-Hermon, which seems 
 to be a city near mount Hermon. The former, per- 
 haps, may be best taken as the name of a portion of 
 the mountain near the city Baal-Hermon. This lat- 
 ter appears to be the same as the city Baal-Gad (for- 
 tune) mentioned Josh. xi. 17; xii. 7; xiii. 5, and 
 which appears from these passages to have been situ- 
 ated on the northern confines of the territory of the 
 Israelites, in the vicinity of Lebanon, and, particu- 
 larly, under mount Hermon. Hence it appears 
 abundantly, that Baal-Gad cannot have been (as 
 Iken, Michaelis, and Rosenmiiller suppose) the same 
 with Heliopolis, or Baalbeck, but lay rather in the 
 vicinity of the source of the Jordan. Baalbeck lay 
 much farther to the north, in the great valley of 
 Coele-Syria, between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ; 
 and we no where read that Joshua extended his con- 
 quests thus far, or even to Damascus ; nor is it indeed 
 probable, from the nature of the country. He must, 
 then, have conquered mount Lebanon, which is no 
 where said of him ; but, on the contrary, it is express- 
 ly said, (Judg. iii. 3.) that the Hivites continued to 
 dwell in mount Lebanon, from Baal-Hermon to Ha- 
 raath, just as it is said in Josh. xiii. 5, that all Lebanon 
 toward the east, i. e. Anti-Lebanon, from Baal-Gad un- 
 der Hermon even to Hamath, remained unsubdued. *'R.. 
 
 I. HEROD, son of Antipater and Cypres, and 
 brother of Phasael, Joseph, Pheroras, and Salome. 
 He married (1.) Doris, by whom he had Antipater. 
 (2.) Mariamne, of the Asmonean family, by whom 
 he had Alexander, Aristobulus, Herod, Salampso, 
 and Cypros. (3.) Mariamne, daughter of Simon f'le 
 high-priest, by whom he had Herod, the husband of 
 Herodias. (4.) Malthace, by whom he had Arche- 
 laus, Philip, and Olympias. (5.) Cleopaua, by whom 
 he had Herod Antipas and Philip. (6.) Pallas, by 
 whom he had Phasael. (7.) Phncdra, by whom he 
 had Roxana. (S.) Elpis, by ivhom he had Salome, 
 who married one of tlie sons of Pheroras. He had 
 also two other wives, whose names arc not known. 
 
 Herod was born ante A. D. 72, and at the age of 
 twenty-five was ai)pointed governor of Galilee, with 
 the approbation of Hyrcanus. By his prudence and 
 valor he restored the peace of his ])rovince, which 
 had been interrupted by the depredations of hordes 
 of robbers, and procured the friendship of Sextus 
 Caesar, governor of Syria. The Jews, becoming 
 jealovis of the growing power of Antipater and his 
 sons, laid complaints against them before Hyrcanus, 
 and Herod was cited to appear and answer for his 
 conduct, at Jerusalem. Herod obeyed the summons, 
 but played his part so well that Hyrcanus advised 
 him to retire into Syria. After the death of Julius 
 Cfesar, Herod was appointed governor of Ccele- 
 Syria, by Cassius and Marcus Brutus, who promised 
 
 him the kingdom of Judea, when the war with Mark 
 Antony should terminate. 
 
 The invasion of Judea by the Partisans secured 
 to Herod the possession of the kingdom. The Par- 
 thians had taken Jerusalem, and placed Antigonus, 
 the nephew of Hyrcanus, on the throne, and carried 
 away Hyrcanus with tlieni as their prisoner. In this 
 emergence Herod hastened to Rome, intending to 
 ask the kingdom for bis brotlier-in-law, Aristobulus, 
 the brother of Mariamne ; bu| Antony was so willing 
 to advance Herod himself, and, withal, so accessible 
 to the influence of promises of remuneration, that a 
 decree was instantly proposed to the senate, import- 
 ing that in consideration of the dangers which might 
 arise from the Parthian invasion, it was expedient to 
 make Herod king of Judea. The senate did not hesi- 
 tate to confirm the deci-ee ; and at the breaking up 
 of the assembly, Antony and Augustus, placing Her- 
 od between them, and accompanied by the consuls 
 and magistrates, went in solenm procession to enrol 
 the decree in the capitol. The daj' concluded with 
 a sumptuous entertainment, given to Herod in the 
 house of Antony. In seven days after his amval 
 at Rome, Herod left Italy on his return to Judea. 
 
 On his arrival in Judea, he received so little assist- 
 ance from the Roman generals, that more than two 
 years elapsed before he commenced the siege of 
 Jerusalem. When the siege was so far advanced as 
 to render success no longer doubtful, Herod consum- 
 mated his marriage with Mariamne, the daughter of 
 Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, by a daughter of 
 Hyrcanus ; hoping by this union with the royal fam- 
 ily of the Asmoneans, to insure the afl^ection of the 
 Jews to his person. To pave the way for this union, 
 he divorced his former wife Doris, the mother of his 
 son Antipater : but if he sought the marriage at first 
 only from motives of interest, it became afterwards, 
 on his part at least, a union cemented by the strong- 
 est affection ; but the uncertainty of the wisest ef- 
 forts of mere human policy may be seen in the sub- 
 sequent events of his history ; for this marriage, 
 which seem<'d most conducive to his power, and 
 which he achieved by most unjust behavior to his 
 former >vife, proved to him the source of almost all 
 tlie Jiiiseries which he endured. 
 
 After a siege of six months, Jerusalem suiTender- 
 ed. The first acts of Herod's government were 
 marked with cruelty and revenge, yet not without 
 some tincture of generosity. He advanced to rank 
 and power those persons wii^had espoused his in- 
 terest, and conferred the behest distinction upon 
 Pollio and Sameas, as the reward of the counsel they 
 had given during the siege to deliver up the city. Of 
 the adherents of Antigonus, forty-five persons were 
 put to death, and the most vigilant search was made 
 that none should escape; the gates of the city being 
 guarded, and even the dead bodies searched as they 
 were carried out, lest the living should escape by 
 concealment among them. 
 
 Herod found the high-priest's office vacant. It 
 belonged of right to his brother-in-law, Aristobulus, 
 the son of Alexandra, the young man for whom, on 
 his flight to Rome, he at first intended to have asked 
 the kingdom ; but upon him Herod was afraid to 
 confer this honor, lest the influence attached to the 
 office should prove a source of danger to himself; 
 he therefore sent to Babylon for one Ananelus, a 
 man descended from the inferior families of the 
 tribes of Levi, and made him high-priest. The pride 
 of Alexandra could not brook such an insuh; and 
 she acquainted Cleopatra with the injury, through
 
 HEROD 
 
 [ 492 
 
 HEROD 
 
 whose influence with Antony, Ananelus was deposed, 
 and Aristobulus, now a youth of sixteen years of 
 age, made high-priest. Not long after, Herod se- 
 cretly determined to rid himself of Aristobulus ; and 
 his purpose was soon eifected while the youth was 
 bathing in the pools which adorned the gardens of 
 the palace at Jericho. Herod was hypocrite enough 
 to shed tears, and pretend sorrow for his death, and 
 further tried to conceal the murder by the most 
 magnificent display of expense at his funeral. Such 
 vanities could ill compensate Alexandra for the 
 loss of her son, or soothe her auger. She communi- 
 cated the particulars of the transaction to Cleopatra, 
 and found in her a most powerful ally. Antony was 
 on his way to Laodicea, and by the advice of Cleo- 
 patra, he summoned Herod to appear and answer be- 
 fore him. Herod obeyed the command ; but money 
 soon soothed the pretended indignation of Autonj', 
 and Herod returned to Jerusalem, having been receiv- 
 ed as a prince instead of condemned as a criminal. 
 
 When Herod was summoned to Laodicea, fearful 
 of the worst, he secretly commissioned his uncle Jo- 
 seph, in the event of his death, not to suffer Mariamne 
 to Uve, and become the partner of Antony. Joseph 
 communicated to her and to Alexandra the orders 
 which he had received. On the return of Herod, 
 his sister Salome, in revenge for some insult which 
 she had received from Mariamne, insinuated against 
 her own husband Joseph, the existence of a criminal 
 intercourse between them. The accusation was as 
 unfounded as it was mahcious, and Mariamne soon 
 assuaged the wrath of Herod ; but happening to re- 
 ply to some expression of his affection, that his 
 having given orders to put her to death, was no 
 proof of love, this betrayal of his secret instructions, 
 convinced Herod of the truth of the charge of illicit 
 intercourse with Joseph, and it was with difficulty 
 that he restrained himself from ordering her imme- 
 diate death : Joseph, however, was instantly executed, 
 without being heard in his defence. 
 
 The fall of Antony was justly a cause of alarm to 
 Herod : his friends despaired of his safety ; his at- 
 tachment to the rival of Augustus was commonly 
 known ; and his enemies rejoiced at the pro^pect of 
 his ruin. On his departure to visit Augustur., he 
 committed Alexandra and Marianme to the custody 
 " of his two friends, Joseph and Soeinus, with orders 
 that neither of tliem should be permitted to survive 
 the event of his death, lest the spirit of Alexandra 
 should disttu-b the settlement of the chief power in 
 the hands of his children. At Rhodes, Herod met 
 Augustus, whom he addressed in the tone of a man 
 conscious of having displayed towards his friend a 
 fidelity which u'as in the highest degree praise-wor- 
 thy : he did not palliate his conduct, but seemed 
 rather to lament that the assistance in money and 
 provisions which he had afibrded to his unfortunate 
 ally, was, if ])ossi!)le, less than his duty required. He 
 represented that he had been prevented from joining 
 actively in the war, but that he had (Jone all that was 
 in his power to advance the best interests of his 
 friend, and that if Antony had taken his advice, and 
 put Cleopatra aside, ho might still have lived, and 
 have been reconciled to Augustus. He proceeded 
 then to state of himself, that from his fidelity to An- 
 tony, Augustus might judge of his general disposition 
 to his friends; for that such as he was to Antony, he 
 was also to a^ll those to whom lie was bound by the 
 ties of gratitude and affection. Such openness and 
 generosity, seconded by liberal presents, both to Au- 
 gustus and all whp were about the person of the con- 
 
 queror, obtained for Herod the safety of his person, 
 and the security of his kingdom ; the possession of 
 which was confirmed to him by a second decree of 
 the senate. Augustus soon afler passed through 
 Judea, and was attended by Herod, who presented 
 him with the immense sum of 800 talents, and fur- 
 nished him with profusion. Herod naturally ex- 
 pected that none would rejoice so nuich at the happy 
 result of his interview with Augustus, as Marianme. 
 Soemus, however, having revealed to her the orders 
 of Herod, he found to his suqirise, that neither the 
 relation of the dangers which he had escaped, nor 
 the honors which he had i-eceived, excited the least 
 interest in her bosom. Hate and love by turns dis- 
 tracted him ; at one moment he determined to pun- 
 ish her with death ; at the next, his passion returned, 
 and disarmed his intention of its cruelty. The state 
 of Herod's mind could not be concealed from his 
 mother and his sister Salome, who viewed with bar- 
 barous exultation the changed temper of the king, as 
 affording them the fairest opportunity of revenging 
 upon Alexandra and Mariamne some words wliich 
 they had contemptuously spoken against the family 
 of Herod. The discord of Herod and Mariamne had 
 continued a whole year after liis return from Augus- 
 tus ; it happened one day that the king, retiring to 
 rest about noon, sought her company : she came, but 
 instead of requiting ids love v>ith corresponding 
 affection, she reproached him with the murder of 
 her father and her brother. The king naturally was 
 indignant, but his anger might have passed away, 
 had not Salome seized the opportunity which she 
 had long sought, to excite him to severity against his 
 wife, by suborning his cupbearer to assert that Mari- 
 amne had bribed him to give a certain potion, the 
 nature of which, however, he knew not. Herod 
 would not condemn his wife without the appearance 
 at least of a regular sentence : he therefore summon- 
 ed his most familiar friends, and accused her of ad- 
 ministering the potion. The result was a sentence 
 of death ; which Herod commuted into imprison- 
 ment. Salome, however, persuaded the king tliat the 
 death of Mariamne was necessary to secure himself 
 against the tumults of the i)opidace; and vW her ad- 
 vice she was led away to execution. Marianme met 
 her death displaying in her end a firmness of charac- 
 ter which coriTsprnded to her noble birdi. Herod, 
 ho'vever, soon felt all the miseries of a wounded 
 consc^nce, increased by the remembrance of ardent 
 love, lie sought for. pleasure in frequent banquets, 
 but it fled fn>m him ; imtil at last he declined all re- 
 gard to public business. Under j)retcnce of enjoying 
 the amusements of the chase, he retired from socie- 
 ty, and passed h.is days sorrowing in solitude ; in a 
 short time, thesufferingsof his mind brought on him 
 a fever and delirium, which baffled the skill of his 
 physicians; who, finding all lemedies ineffectual, 
 left him to his fiite. Whilst lalioring under this dis- 
 order, the king resided at Samaria. That he shoidd 
 recover from such an illness, appeared to be impossi- 
 ble. Alexandra, therefore, lost no tinu; m preparing 
 iTieasures to secure to herself the chief command, in 
 the event of his death, and marie proposals to the offi- 
 cers who were intrusted with the two forts jn Jeru- 
 salem, which commanded the temple and the city, 
 that for the sake of security under the present ca- 
 lamity of the king's illness, they should deliver up 
 the charge to herself and to Herod's sons. The offi- 
 cers were faithful to Herod, and sent him intelligence 
 of Alexandra's projiosal. The result was the imme- 
 diate execution of Alexandra.
 
 HEROD 
 
 [493] 
 
 HEKOD 
 
 In process of time Herod recovered from his ill- 
 ness, and a remarkable change took place in his 
 conduct : he threw off the mask of religion, and 
 labored zealously to remove all the prejudices of the 
 Jews in favor of the law of Moses, l)y introducing 
 among them the customs of heathen nations. All 
 his views seem to have been henceforth directed to 
 Romanize Judea. 
 
 The designs which he had manifestly formed 
 against their reUgion, and his violation of every cus- 
 tom dear to the Jews, were, however, considered by 
 many as sure forerunners of still more dreadftd evils. 
 Herod was, in name, their king, but, in deed, the en- 
 emy of their country, and their God. Ten men, 
 zealous for the law, conspired to assassinate him in 
 the theatre. The plan was discovered, and the con- 
 s[)iratoi"S were arrested, with daggers concealed about 
 their persons. Herod now understood the feelings 
 of the people, and found it necessary to increase his 
 fortifications for the security of his own person, and 
 to ])rovide against rebellions. He now planned the 
 restoration of Samaria, and fortified it, probably as a 
 balance to the strength of Jerusalem ; for he not only 
 rebuilt it, but peopled it wth inhabitants, calling it 
 Sebaste, in honor of Augustus, and erecting a temple, 
 which he dedicated to Ca'sar. These fortresses, with 
 many othei-s, were built for safety ; but to increase 
 the prosperity of his kingdom by trade, he entertained 
 and executed the grand design of converting the 
 tower of Strato into a city and seaport, which he 
 called Caesarea. The sums which he expended in 
 building cities and fortresses must have been im- 
 mense ; but he took care to prevent the Romans 
 from interrupting the completion of his designs, by 
 making his numerous dedications to Augustus seem 
 so maiij' public testimonies of his dependence upon 
 the emperor. In many instances, however, the 
 structures which he erected v»'ere monuments to the 
 memory of those Vvhom he loved. The city Anti- 
 patris he built as a testimony of his aflfection to his 
 father ; and dedicated to his mother's memory a 
 magnificent castle at Jericho, which, after her, was 
 called Cyprion. The tower of Phasael and Hippicus, 
 in the circuit of the walls of Jerusalem, were lasting 
 memorials of fraternal and friendly affection ; nor 
 was his love to the unfortunate IMariamne forgotten, 
 for the fairest tower in the walls bore her name. 
 
 When the indignation of the Jews at his conduct 
 Degan to disi)lay itself in ojien murmurs, Herod strove 
 to suppress the feelings of the people, by a most rigid 
 and vexatious system of police ; but finding this to 
 be in vain, he perceived that it would be better to 
 yield entirely to their prejudices ; and in proof of his 
 good will to their religion, he undertook to rebuild 
 the temple on the greatest scale of magnificence. In 
 a set oration he exposed his designs to them ; but so 
 great was tlicMr unwillingness to undertake the execu- 
 tion of such vast plans, as well as their suspicion lest 
 the building once begun should remain unfinished, 
 that Herod found himself obliged to make all his 
 preparations for the erection of the nev.' temple, I)c- 
 fore he could venture upon removing a single stone 
 of the old structure. The execution of tiiat part of 
 the former building which strictly constituted the 
 temple, and which comprehended the pdrch, the holy 
 place, and the holy of holies, occupied a space of not 
 more than eighteen months ; but the porticoes and 
 other works surrounding the temple were not com- 
 pleted until the lapse of a further space of eight 
 years. The adorning of the building occupiecl a 
 much longer time, as appears both from John ii. 20, 
 
 where we read of the disciples speaking to our Lord, 
 "Forty and six years hath this temple been building," 
 and also from Josephus, (Antiq. xx. 8.) where it is re- 
 lated, that whilst Gessius Florus was governor of 
 Judea, the works were completed, and eighteen thou- 
 sand artificers were discharged, who had been en- 
 gaged up to that time. 
 
 The dreadful troubles whicli arose from the dis-. 
 sensions of Herod's family, and which hastened his 
 death, compose a tragical story, the [)arallei to which 
 scarcely occurs in the annals of history. The par- 
 ticulars of its developement are related by Josephus 
 at great length ; but we cannot enter into the minute 
 details of the intrigues of female malice. By Mari- 
 amne he had two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, 
 whom he treated with affection ; purposing to leave 
 his dominions as an inheritance to one or both of 
 them. They were sent at an early age to Rome for 
 education, and their return to Judea was a cause of 
 great public joy ; but to Salome, and to all those who 
 had borne a part in the condemnation of Marianme, 
 the popularity of the young princes, and their as- 
 cendency over their father, occasioned the most 
 painful reflections upon the i)ast, accompanied with 
 forebodings of certain ynmishment. They saw no 
 way of escape, but in striving to alienate from them 
 the affection of Herod ; and for this pui"pose they 
 sedulouslj^ spread reports that the young men dis- 
 liked their father, and regarded him in no other 
 light than as the murderer of their mother. Their 
 machinations proved too successful, and Herod gave 
 orders for their death. (See Alexander.) Antipater, 
 who had now succeeded in removing out of the way 
 the sons of Marianme, became fearful lest Herod 
 should live long enough to discover the part he had 
 taken against his brotiiers, and determined at once to 
 plot his father's destruction. Pheroras, Herod's 
 brother, and all the females of the family of Herod, 
 Salome excepted, were willing to assist the ulterior 
 designs of this ambitious prince. The conspiracy, 
 however, did not escape the notice of Salome, who 
 watched their meetings, and gave constant intelli- 
 gence to Herod of the dangers which surrounded 
 him. 
 
 It was, at length, resolved by the conspirators to 
 despatch Herod by poison ; but Antipater, fearful of 
 discovery, procured a summons from Augustus to 
 Rome, that, being out of the way when the attempt 
 should be made, he might be the less suspected of 
 participation in the mmder. Herod, however, dis- 
 covered the plot which had been arranged for his 
 destruction. Antipater returned, and reached Se- 
 baste, before he suspected that liis share in the con- 
 spiracy had been discovered, and that he must pre- 
 pare to make his defence before Varus and the 
 council. The accusation was first made by Herod, 
 and proceeded in by Nicolaus Dainascenus. No 
 proofs of guilt coulil be stronger than those produced 
 against him. Having been condemned and thrown 
 into prison, an embassy was despatched to Csesar, to 
 acquaint him with the conviction of the accused, and 
 to request his final decision of the case. Whilst the 
 embassy was at Rome, Herod fell sick ; (Josephus, 
 de Bell. Jud. lib. i. c. 33.) and Judas and Matthias, 
 who were the chief among the teachers of the law, 
 in the belief that he could not recover, excited the 
 people to throw down the golden eagle, which the 
 king had, contrary to the laws and customs of the 
 nation, erected over the temple. The conspirators 
 were seized ; and Herod, though now so ill as to be 
 unable to sit up, assembled the members of his coua-
 
 HEROD 
 
 [ 494 ] 
 
 HER 
 
 Cil. They disclaimed any approval of the transac-- 
 tion, and recommended that the authors of it should 
 be punished ; upon which Herod gave orders to burn 
 Matthias alive, and all who were concerned in the 
 affair. Herod's disease soon after became more vio- 
 lent; his sufferings were painful in the extreme; 
 attended with ulcerations in the lower parts of the 
 body, and strong convulsions. His torments, instead 
 of moving him to repentance, seemed rather to excite 
 anew the cruelty of his temper ; for, having collected 
 together the chiefs of the Jewish nation, he shut them 
 up in the Hippodrome at Jericho, and gave orders to 
 Salome, as soon as he should be dead, to put them 
 all to death ; lest, in the joy at his decease, mourners 
 should be wanted for his funeral. In the meanwhile 
 the ambassadors returned from Rome, and brought 
 the permission of Ca?sar for the punishment of An- 
 tipater, either by exile or by deatli. The pleasure 
 which Herod derived from the success of his em- 
 bassy, for the moment, revived him ; but his ])ains 
 soon returned with such violence, that he made an 
 attempt to connuit suicide : the alarm created by the 
 event ran through the palace, and was heard by An- 
 tipatcr, who, concluding that his father's death occa- 
 sioned it, endeavored to bribe the jailer to permit his 
 escape ; but the man was faithful to his trust, and 
 communicated the proposal to the king, who ianne- 
 Jiately gave orders for his death, attaching to it a 
 command to bury him in an ignoble manner at Hyr- 
 cauium. Herod then, once again, made his will ; 
 giving the kingdom of Jud^a to Archelaus ; the 
 tetrarchy of Galilee and Persea, to Antipas ; Gauloni- 
 tis, Trachonitis, and Batanea, to Philip; and the 
 cities Jamnia, Azotus, and Phasaelis, besides very 
 considerable sums of money, to Salome. To each 
 one of his relations he bequeathed handsome estates 
 and legacies, leaving tijem in the possession of afflu- 
 ent wealth. His legacies to Augustus, and his wife 
 Julia, were worthy the acceptance of chiefs of the 
 Roman empire. 
 
 On the fifth day after the death of Antipater, 
 Herod died, having reigned thirty-four years from 
 the death of Antigoiuis, and thirty-seven from the 
 time of his investment by the Romans. Before the 
 report of his death was noised abroad, Salome and 
 Alexas dismissed those who were imprisoned in the 
 Hippodrome ; but as soon as the event Avas known 
 they assembled the soldiery in the amphitheatre, and 
 read to them the will of Herod. The troojjs pro- 
 claimed Archelaus king, and rent the air with shouts 
 of joy and prayers for his prosperous reign. 
 
 Josephus (xvii. 8.) thus sums up the character of 
 Herod : " He was a man universally cruel, and of an 
 vmgovernable anger; and though he trampled justice 
 under foot, he was ever the favorite of fortune. From 
 a private station, he rose to the throne. Beset on 
 every side with a thousand dangers, he escaped them 
 all ; and ])rolonged his life to the fnll boundary of 
 old age. They who considered what befell him in 
 the bosom of his own family, ])rononnced liim a man 
 most miserable ; but to himself he ever seemed most 
 prosperous, for, of all his enemies, there was not one 
 whom he did not overcome." Such is the history of 
 a prince whose name is familiar to us, from our 
 childhood, as the first ])erseciitor of our blessed 
 Lord, and the miu-derer of the infanta at Bethlehem. 
 The accoimt given of the transactions of his life will 
 evince, that if, according' to the judgment of the 
 world, he who reigns splendidly and fortunatelv, in 
 spite of all the difficulties opposed to his governmi'm, 
 be entitled to the attribute of greatness, that app'-!l;i- 
 
 tion has not been unjustly bestowed upon Herod. 
 (Encyclop. Metropol. Biog.) 
 
 n. HEROD PHILIP, see Philip. 
 
 III. HEROD ANTIPAS, see Antipas. 
 
 IV. HEROD AGRIPPA, see Agrippa. 
 HERODIANS, a sect of the Jews in our Saviour's 
 
 time, (Matt. xxii. 16 ; Mark iii. 6 ; viii. 15.) but as to 
 their particular character there is much diversity of 
 opinion. Dr. Prideaux has shown, that they held 
 doctrines distinct from those of the Pharisees and 
 Sadducees ; against which our Saviour cautious his 
 followers ; and he thinks tliere can be no doubt that 
 they were the creatures, or domestics, as the Syriac 
 version calls them, of Herod the Great. He judges 
 that their doctrines were reducible to two heads ; 
 (1.) a belief that the dominion of the Romans over 
 the Jews was just, and that it was their duty to sub- 
 mit to it ; (2.) that in the present circumstances they 
 might with a good conscience follow many heathen 
 modes and usages. It is certain these were Herod's 
 principles, who pleaded the necessity of the times, 
 for doing many things contrary to the maxims of the 
 Jewish religion. Calmet, however, thinks that the 
 characteristics of the Heiodians, as they may be 
 gathered from the Gospels, will agree to none but 
 the c'-isciples of Judas Gauloiiitis, who formed a sect 
 which was in its vigor in our Saviour's time. ■ 
 
 HERODIAS, daughter of Aristobulus and Bere- I 
 nice, and granddaughter of Herod tlie Great. Her ■ 
 first husband was her uncle Pliilij), by whom she had 
 Salome ; but he falling into disgrace, and being 
 obliged to live in private, she left him, and married 
 his brother Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, who 
 offered her a palace and a crowu. (See Philip.) As 
 John the Baptist censured this incestuous marriage, 
 (Matt. xiv. 3 ; Mark vi. 17.) Antipas ordered him to 
 be imprisoned. Some time aflerwards, Hcrodias 
 suggested to her dancing daughter, Salome, to ask 
 John the Baptist's* head, which she procured. (See 
 Antipas.) Mortified to see her husband tetrarch 
 only, while her brother Agrippa, whom she had 
 known in a state of indigence, was honored with the 
 title of king, Herodias persuaded Antipas to visit 
 Rome, and prociu'e from the emjjeror Cains the royal 
 title. Agrip[)a, however, sent letters to the emperor, 
 informing him that Herod had arms in his arsenals 
 for seventy thousand men, and by this means pro- 
 cured his banishment to Lyons. Herodias, who ac- 
 companied her husband to Rome, followed him in 
 the banishment she had thus brought upon him. 
 
 HERON. A wide latitude has been taken in the 
 rendering of the Hebrew ncjx, anaphah ; some critics 
 interpreting it of the crane, others of the curleiv ; 
 some of the kite, others of the woodcock ; some of 
 the peacock, some of the parrot, and some of the 
 falcon. But let not the reader be alarmed at this 
 diversity of rendering, since it is the necessary con- 
 sequence of the scantiness of references to the bird in 
 the sacred text, and the absence of all description of 
 its character and qualities, in those passages in which 
 it is spoken of. The truth is, it is only referred to 
 in the catalogue of birds prohibited by the Mosaic 
 code, (Lev. xi. 1!) ; Deut. xiv. 18.) and it is only from 
 the import of its name, or the known character of the 
 birds v.'ith which it isgroujjed, that we can form any 
 opinion of its specific character. That the creature 
 intended is some species of water-bird, there can be 
 little doubt, if we give the sacred writer any credit 
 for projM-iety in his grouping, or system in his ar- 
 rangement; but what that species may be, we are 
 unable to decide. See Bird, p. 188.
 
 HEZ 
 
 [ 495 ] 
 
 HIE 
 
 HESHBON, a celebrated city of the Amorites, 
 twenty miles east of Jordan, Josh. xiii. 17. It was given 
 to Reuben ; but was afterwards transferred to Gad, 
 and then to the Levites. It had been conquered from 
 the Moabites, by Sihon, and became his capital ; and 
 was taken by the Israelites a little before the death of 
 Moses, Num. xxi. 25; Josh. xxi. 39. After the ten 
 tribes were transplanted into the countr}^ beyond 
 Jordan, the Moabites recovered it. Pliny and Je- 
 rome assign it to Arabia. Solomon speaks of the 
 pool of Heshbon, Cant. vii. 4. The town still sub- 
 sists under its ancient name, and is situated, accord- 
 ing to Burckhardt, on a hill. (Travels, p. 365.) 
 
 HESHMON, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 27. 
 
 HETH, father of the Hittites, was eldest son of 
 Canaan, and dwelt south of the promised land, at or 
 near Hebron. Ephron, of Hebron, was of the race 
 of Heth ; and that city, in Abraham's time, was peo- 
 pled by the children of Heth. Some think there was 
 a city called Heth ; but we find no traces of it in 
 Scripture. 
 
 HETHLON, a city mentioned in Ezek, xlvii. 15, 
 xlviii. 1, as limiting the land of promise, north. 
 
 HEZEKIAH, king of Judah, succeeded his father 
 Ahaz, ante A. D. 726. (See Heir.) He destroyed 
 the high places, cut down the groves, and broke the 
 statues which the people had adored ; he broke also 
 the brazen serpent which Moses had made, because 
 the children of Israel burnt incense to it; he ordered 
 the great doors of the Lord's house to l)e opened and 
 repaired ; he exhorted the priests and Levites to pu- 
 rify the temple, and to sacrifice in it as formerly. As 
 the institution of the passoverhad been neglected, he 
 invited not only all his own subjects to keep it, but 
 likewise all Israel. Some ridiculed his proposal ; but 
 many observed it with great solemnity. Hezekiah 
 took care to maintain the good regulations which he 
 had established in the temple, and to provide for the 
 priests and ministers. Some years afterwards, Hez- 
 ekiah shook off" the Assyrian yoke, and refused to 
 pay tribute : he also defeated the Philistines, and de- 
 stroyed their country, 2 Kings xviii. 7; 2 Chron. 
 xxxii. He repaired and fortified the walls of Jeru- 
 saletn, laid in stores, appointed able commanders over 
 his troops, stopped up the springs without the city, 
 and put himself into a condition of making a vigorous 
 resistance. Sennacherib invaded Judah, and sub- 
 dued almost every town ; and Hezekiah, observing 
 that the kings of Egypt and Ethiopia, with whom he 
 had made an alliance, did not come to his assistance, 
 sent ambassadors to the Assyrian, desiring peace. 
 Sennacherib demanded 300 talents of silver, and 
 thirty talents of gold. To raise this sum, Hezekiah 
 exhausted his treasures, and pulled off" the gold plates 
 with which he had formerly overlaid the temple 
 doors. His infidelity to God, however, was severely 
 chastised ; for Sennacherib, instead of withdrawing 
 his troops, sent three of his principal officei-s from 
 Lachish, which he was besieging, to Jerusalem, 
 summoning it to surrender. Hezekiah sent Eliakim, 
 Shebnah, and Joah, to hear their projwsals, to whom 
 Rabshakeh addressed himself with extreme inso- 
 lence. Hezekiah, having heard of this, rent his 
 clothes, put on sackcloth, went to the house of the 
 Lord, and sent to the prophet Isaiah. Sennacherib, 
 sitting down before Libnah, was informed that Tir- 
 hakah, king of Egypt and Ethiopia, was marching 
 against him. He went, therefore, to meet Tirhakaii ; 
 and sent letters to Hezekiah, telling him not to place 
 his confidence in his God. Hezekiah, having re- 
 ceived these letters, wont up to the temple, and 
 
 spread them before the Lord ; whom he entreated to 
 deliver him from this insolent enemy. The Lord 
 heard his prayer, and sent the prophet Isaiah to in- 
 form him, that Sennacherib should not besiege Je- 
 rusalem. The very night after this prediction, an 
 angel of the Lord destroyed in the camp of the As- 
 syrians 185,000 men, which obliged Sennacherib to 
 retire to Nineveh. 
 
 Soon afterwards, Hezekiah fell dangerously ill, 
 and Isaiah, who visited him, said, "Thou shalt die." 
 Hezekiah, turning his face to the wall, prayed to 
 God, and Isaiah was commanded to return, saying, 
 "I have healed thee, and will add fifteen years to thy 
 life." (See Dial.) Hezekiah, after his recovery, 
 composed a song of thanksgiving, which Isaiah has 
 preserved, chap, xxxviii. 10, 11. 
 
 Merodach, or Berodach-Baladan, king of Babylon, 
 having heard of this miracle, sent letters and presents 
 to Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. The weak prince, 
 delighted with the respect implied in this embassy, 
 showed the envoys all his treasures, spices, and rich 
 vessels, and in fact concealed nothing from them. 
 Isaiah afterwai-ds foretold that a time would come, 
 Avhen all he had shown would be removed to Baby- 
 lon ; and when his sons would be made eunuchs in 
 the palace of that king. Hezekiah passed the latter 
 years of his life in tranquillity, laid up great riches, 
 conveyed water into Jerusalem, and died, ante A. D. 
 G98. The sacred writings praise his piety and merit ; 
 and Ecclesiasticus has an encomium on him, chap. 
 xlviii. 
 
 There are several other persons of the same name 
 mentioned in Scripture, but they are of no impor- 
 tance. 
 
 HIDDEKEL, see Eden. 
 
 HIEL, of Bethel, rebuilt Jericho, notwithstanding 
 the predictive curse of Joshua against the person who 
 sliould attempt it, and of which he experienced the 
 effects, by losing his eldest son Abiram, and his 
 youngest son Segub. See Abiram. 
 
 HIERAPOLIS, a city of Phrygia, not far from 
 Colosse and Laodicea, Colos. iv. 13. "Hierapolis, 
 (now called by the Turks Pambuck-Kula^i, or the 
 Cotton Tower, by reason of the white cliffs lying 
 thereabouts,) a city of the greater Phrygia, lies under 
 a high hill to the north, having to the southward of 
 it a fair and large plain about five miles over, almost 
 directly opposite to Laodicea, the river Lycus run- 
 ning between, but nearer the latter ; now utterly for- 
 saken and desolate, but whose ruins are so glorious 
 and magnificent, that they strike one with horror at 
 the first view of them, and with admiration too ; such 
 walls, and arches, and pillars of so vast a height, and 
 so curiously wrought, being still to be foimd there, 
 that one may well judge, that when it stood, it was one 
 of the most glorious cities not only in the East, but 
 of the world. The numerousness of the temples 
 there erected in the times of idolatry, with so much 
 art and cost, might sufficiently confirm the title of 
 the holy citi/, which it at first derived from the hot 
 waters flowing from several springs, to which they 
 ascribed a divine healing virtue, and which made the 
 city so famous ; and for this cause Apollo, whom 
 both Greeks and Romans adored as the god of med- 
 icine, had his votaries and altars here, and was very 
 probably their chief deity. In the theatre, which is 
 of a large compass and height from the top, there 
 being above forty stone seats, we found, upon a cu- 
 rious piece of wrought marble belonging to a por- 
 tal, these words, ^noJJS2Nl JPXH2, ' To Apollo 
 the chief president ;' a title peculiar to him. Where
 
 HIN 
 
 [ 496 ] 
 
 HIND 
 
 these springs rise is a very large bath, curiously paved 
 with white marble, about which formerly stood sev- 
 eral pillai-s, now thrown into it. Hence the waters 
 make their way through several channels which they 
 have formed for themselves ; oftentimes overflowing 
 them, and crusting the ground thereabouts, which is 
 a whitish sort of earth, they turn the superficial parts 
 into a tophus. Several tombs still remain ; some of 
 them ahiiost entire, very stately and glorious, as if it 
 had been accounted a kind of sacrilege to injure the 
 dead ; and upon that accoiyit they had abstained from 
 defacing their monuments — entire stones of a great 
 length and height ; some covered with stone, shaped 
 into the form of a cube ; others ridge-wise. On the 
 14th, in the morning, we set forward for Colosse, 
 where, within an hour and a half, we arrived." (Trav- 
 els by T. Smith, B. D. 1678.) 
 
 HIGH PLACES, (ni-a, Bamoth.) [The ancient 
 Canaanites, and other nations, worshipped their idols 
 upon hills and mountains, Deut. xii. 2. The Israel- 
 ites were commanded to destroy these places of idol 
 worship; but instead of this, they imitated the prac- 
 tice, and at first worshipped Jehovah in high places : 
 (1 Sam. ix. 12, seq. ; 1 Kings iii. 4.) and afterwards 
 idols, 1 Kings xi. 7 ; 2 Kings xii. 3 ; Is. xxxvi. 7, et 
 al. Here, also, they built chapels or temples, houses 
 of the high places, (1 Kings xiii.32; 2 Kings xvii. 29.) 
 and had regular priests, 1 Kings xii. 32 ; *2 Kings 
 xvii. 32. R.] The prophets reproach the Israelites 
 with want of zeal, for worshipping on the high places, 
 the destroying of which is a commendation given 
 but to few princes in Scripture ; though several of 
 them were zealous for the law. Before the temple 
 was built, the high places were not absolutely con- 
 trary to the law, provided God only was adored there. 
 Under the j udges, they seem to have been tolerated ; 
 and Samuel offered sacrifice in several places where 
 the ark was not present. Even in David's time, the 
 people sacrificed to the Lord at Shilo, Jerusalem, and 
 Gibeon. 
 
 The high places were much frequented in the king- 
 dom of Israel ; and on these hills they ofl;eu adored 
 idols, and committed a thousand abominations. 
 
 HIGH- WAY, see Causeway. 
 
 HILEN, a city of Judah, given to the Levites, 1 
 Chron. vi. 56. 
 
 HILKIAH. Several persons of this name occur 
 in Scripture, of which the following are the chief: — 
 (1.) The father of Jeremiah, Jer. i. 1.— (2.) A high- 
 priest, in the reign of Josiah, 2 Kings xxiii. 4, 8, 10. — 
 (.3.) The father of Eliakim, 2 Kings xviii. 18, 26; Is. 
 xxii. 20. 
 
 HIN, a Hebrew measure containing half a seah, or 
 the sixth part of a bath — one gallon and two pints. 
 The bin was a liquid measure ; as of oil, (Exod. xxx. 
 24; Ezek. xh'. 24.) or of wine, Exod.xxix. 40 ; Lev. 
 xxiii. 13. — The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to 
 drink an allowance of water, to the quantity of the 
 sixth part of a bin, (iv. 11.) that is, one pint and two 
 thirds. 
 
 HIND, or FE;\tAi,E Deer, (Heb. nSw, aydldh, and 
 rh^i*, ayelHh,) a lovely creature, and of an elegant 
 shape : she is more feeble than the hart, and is des- 
 titute of boras. It is not known, we believe, that tlie 
 hind is more sure-footed than the hart, although the 
 figure employed by both Daviil and Habakkuk seems 
 to indicate this as the fact. The royal psalmist, al- 
 luding to the security of his position, under the pro- 
 tection of his God, says, " He maketh my feet like 
 hinds' feet, and sctteth me u|)on my high places ;" 
 (Ps. xviii. 33.) and the prophet, reposing in the same 
 
 power, anticipates a full deUverance from his existing 
 troubles, and a complete escape from surrounding 
 dangers : " He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and 
 he will make me to walk upon mine high places," 
 Hab. iii. 19. 
 
 In our version of Ps. xxix. 9, we read, " The voice 
 of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discov- 
 ei'eth the forests." This passage has given rise to 
 considerable discussion among the learned, who are 
 much divided on its interpretation. Bishop Lowth 
 contends that this rendering agrees very little with 
 the rest of the imagery, either in nature or dignity ; 
 and dissents from the reasoning of the learned Bo- 
 chart on the subject. For m'^'W, hinds, the Syriac 
 appears to have read fuSn, oaks, in which words the 
 reader will perceive there is but the variation of one 
 letter. For this reading, bishop Lowth decides, re- 
 marking, that the oak, struck with lightning, admira- 
 bly agrees with the context. Dr. Harris thus versi- 
 fies the passage, according to Lowth's rendering: 
 
 Hark! his voice in thunder breaks, 
 And the lofty mountain quakes ; 
 Mighty trees the tempests tear, 
 And lay the spreading forests bare ! 
 
 We confess, however, that we are so averse from 
 conjectural emendations of the sacred text, that we 
 cannot admit them without the most obvious neces- 
 sity ; and that this necessity exists in the passage be- 
 fore us, we are not prepared to concede. It is a fact 
 well known, that the hind calves with considerable 
 difficulty, and in extreme pain. The writer of the 
 book of Job alludes to this circumstJince : " Canst 
 thou mark when the hinds do calve ? They bow 
 themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they 
 cast out their sorrows," chap, xxxix. 1, 3. Is it not 
 probable, then, that the parturition of this animal 
 may sometinjcs be promoted by awakening her fears, 
 and agitating her frame by the rolhng thunder ? — a 
 natural occurrence which is meant by the well-knoA%ii 
 Hebraism of "the voice of the Lord." The reader 
 may take his choice of these interpretations. In 
 Prov. V. 18, 19, Solomon admonishes the young man 
 to let the wife of his bosom be to him "as the loving 
 hind and jileasant roe ;" a beautiful allusion to the 
 mutual fondness of the stag and hind. 
 
 The only remaining passage of Scripture in which 
 this animal is mentioned, requiring illustration, is the 
 prophetic blessing jjronounced on Naphtali by the 
 dying patriarch — a passage which is involved in con- 
 siderable difficulty and obscurity. In our translation 
 it stands thus: "Naphtali is a hind let loose, he 
 giveth goodly words," Gen. xlix. 21. In adjusting 
 the sense of tlie text, little assistance is derivable from 
 the versions ancient or iiiodorn. One of the Greek 
 versions, the Vulgate, the Persian, the Arabic, Mon- 
 tanus, and, with a slight metajjhor, the Syriac, agree 
 in the sense of our translation. Whereas the Sep- 
 tuagint, Onkelos, Bochart, Houbigant, Durell, Dathe, 
 Michaelis, and Geddes, render, " Naphtali is a spread- 
 ing terebinth, producing beautiful branches." This, 
 it is true, renders the simile unitbrm, but should be 
 received with extreme caution, since it proceeds upon 
 an arbitrary alteration of the original text, wholly un- 
 supported by ancient MSS. [The first of these, or 
 the English version, is ])robably the correct one, ex- 
 cept that instead of let loose, the Heb. nnSc, sheh'thdh, 
 should be translated (as we say of any thing which 
 grows rapidly) shot tip, i.e. grown up in a slender 
 and graceful form. A fine woman is compared to 
 
 i
 
 HIV 
 
 [ 497 
 
 HOL 
 
 the roe or hind, (Prov. v. 19.) and also swift- footed 
 heroes, 2 Sam. ii. 18. Such are to be the descend- 
 ants of Naphtall: they are also to "give goodly 
 words," i. e. the tribe is to be distinguished for its 
 orators, prophets, poets, perhaps, also, for its singers, 
 etc. — The other sense above given is not a bad one ; 
 but it rests upon a change of reading in two of the 
 principal words. R. 
 
 HIPPOPOTAMUS, see Behemoth. 
 
 I. HIRAM, a king of Tyre, distinguished for his 
 magnificence, and for adorning the city of Tyre. 
 When David was acknowledged king by Israel, Hi- 
 ram sent ambassadors, with artificers, and cedar, to 
 build his palace, 1 Chron. xiv. 1, He also sent am- 
 bassadors to Solomon, to congratulate him on his 
 accession to the crown ; and subsequently supplied 
 him with timber, stones, and laborers for building 
 the temple, 1 Kings v. 1, seq. These two princes 
 lived in mutual friendship for many years. It is said 
 that in Josephus's time, their letters, with certain 
 riddles, which they proposed one to the other, were 
 extant. When Solomon had completed his works, 
 he presented to Hiram twenty towns in Galilee ; but 
 Hiram, not being pleased with them, called them the 
 land of Cabul, saying, " Are these, my brother, the 
 towns which you have given me?" 1 Kings ix. 10, 
 seq. See Cabul. 
 
 II. HIRAM, an excellent artificer in brass or cop- 
 per, who made the columns called Jachin and Boaz, 
 the brazen sea, the smaller brazen basins for the 
 ])riests, &c. 1 Kings vii. 13, 14. 
 
 HIRCANUS, see John. 
 
 To HISS expresses insult and contempt: "All 
 they, who shall see the destruction of this temple, 
 shall be astonished and shall hiss, and say. How 
 comes it that the Lord hath thus treated this city ?" 
 1 Kings ix. 8. Job, (xxvii. 23.) speaking of the wicked, 
 says, " They shall clap their hands at him, and shall 
 hiss him out of his place." I will make this city the 
 subject of ridicule and scorn ; " I will make it deso- 
 late and a hissing ; every one that passeth by shall be 
 astonished and hiss, because of all the plagues there- 
 of," Jer. xix. 8; xUx. 17; li. 13; Lam. ii. 15, 16; 
 Ezek. xxviii. 36 ; Zeph. ii. 15. 
 
 To call any one with hissing, is a mark of power 
 and authority. The Lord says, that in his anger he 
 shall hiss, and call the enemies against Jerusalem. 
 "He will hiss unto them from the end of the earth," 
 Isa. V. 26. He will bring them with a hiss from the 
 remotest countries. And ch. vii. 18, " The Lord shall 
 hiss for the fly," and shall bring it, " that is in the 
 uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee 
 that is in the land of Assyria." (See Fly.) Tlieodo- 
 ret and Cyril of Alexandria, writing on Isaiah, re- 
 mark, that in Syria and Palestine, those who looked 
 after bees drew them out of their hives, carried them 
 into the fields, and brought them back again with the 
 sound of a flute, and the noise of hissing. Zecha- 
 riah, (x. 8.) speaking of the return from Babylon, 
 says, that the Lord will gather the house of Judah, 
 as it were, with a hiss, and bring them back into their 
 own country ; which shows the ease and authority 
 with which he would perform that gieat work. 
 
 HITTITES, the descendants of Heth, inhabited 
 the country round Hebron, Gen. xxiv. 7, 10. (See 
 Ca.vaa.mtes, p. 244.) A man of Bethel went into 
 the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called 
 the name of it Luz, Judg. i. 26. 
 
 HIVITES, the descendants of Havseus, a son of 
 Canaan. The name, in the Chaldee, imports serpents ; 
 and we find people so called (Ophites) in many places. 
 63 
 
 Whether, as some suppose, the Hivites were Trog- 
 lodytes, and dwelt in caves, and from that circum- 
 stance derived their name by comparison with ser- 
 pents; or whether they were countrymen, high- 
 landers, mountaineers, especially in mount Lebanon, 
 as is indicated in Josh.xiii.3, writers are not agreed. 
 They might be of the widely spread serpent family 
 and nation, and yet dwell in mount Lebanon as their 
 abode, Gen. xxxiv. 2 ; xxxvi. 2. In Gen. xv. 15j the 
 Samaritan and LXX insert Hivite after Canaanite, 
 apparently with propriety. See Canaanites, p. 243. 
 
 HOBAB, another name of Jethro, the father-in- 
 law of Moses. The inspired legislator prevailed upon 
 him to accompany Israel when departing from mount 
 Sinai for the promised land. Numb. x. 29. Some 
 think that the Kenites, who dwelt south of Judah, 
 were the descendants of Hobab, Judg. i. 16 ; 1 Sam. 
 XV. 6. 
 
 HOBAH, the concealed, (Gen. xiv. 15.) is, probably, 
 some hollow, between moimtains, which effectually se- 
 cludes those who occupy it. It lay north of Damascus. 
 
 HOHAM, king of Hebron, one of the five who be- 
 sieged Gibeou, with Adonizedeck, and were hanged 
 by Joshua's orders. Josh. x. 
 
 HOLOFERNES, lieutenant-general of the armies 
 of Nabuchodonozor, king of Assyria, was sent against 
 Syria, at the head of a powerful army. He passed 
 the Euphrates, entered Cilicia and Syria, and sub- 
 dued almost all the provinces north of Judea, eveiy 
 where exercising cruelties, and endeavoring to have 
 his master worshipped as a god. Having resolved 
 to conquer Egypt, he advanced toward Judea, (Ju- 
 dith V.) when he was informed that the Jews were 
 preparing to oppose him ; and Achior, commander 
 of the Ammonites, represented to him that they were 
 a people protected in a particular manner by God, so 
 long as they were obedient to him ; and that, there- 
 fore, he should not flatter himself with the expecta- 
 tion of overcoming them, unless they had committed 
 some offence against their God. Holofernes, pro- 
 voked at this discourse, commanded his servants to 
 convey Achior before the walls of Bethulia; where 
 they tied him to a tree, and left him. In the mean 
 time, Holofernes commenced the siege of Bethulia, 
 and having cut off" the water, and set guards at the 
 only fountain near the walls, the city was reduced to 
 extremity, and resolved to suiTcnder, if God did not 
 send them succor in five days. Judith, being in- 
 formed of their resolution, conceived the design of 
 killing Holofernes in his camp, which she eflfected, 
 and delivered her people. See Judith. 
 
 I. HOLON, a city of refuge, belonging to the 
 priests, in the mountains of Judah, Josh. xv. 51 ; xxi. 
 15. Perhaps the same as Hilen, q. v. 
 
 IL HOLON, a city of Moab, Jer. xlviii. 21. 
 
 HOLY, HOLINESS. These terms sometimes 
 denote outward purity or cleanliness ; sometimes in- 
 ternal holiness. God is holy in a transcendent and 
 infinitely perfect manner. He is the fountain of 
 holiness, purity, and innocency. He sanctifies his 
 people, and requires perfect holiness in those who 
 approach him. He rejects all worehip which is not 
 pure and holy, whether internal or external. The 
 Messiah is called "the Holy One," (Ps. xvi. 10; Isa. 
 xli. 14 ; Luke iv. .34 ; i. 35 ; Acts iii. 14.) and holy is 
 the common epithet given to the third person of the 
 Trinity, the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The Israelites are generally called holy, because 
 they are the Lord's, profess the true religion, and are 
 called to hoUness, Exod. xix. 6; Lev. xi. 44, 45; 
 Numb. xvi. 3 ; Tobit ii. 18. Christians are declared
 
 HOLY 
 
 [ 498 ] 
 
 HOLY 
 
 holy, as being called to, and designed for, a more 
 excellent holiness, and having received earnests of' 
 the Holy Spirit in a more plentiful and perfect man- 
 ner. Luke, in the Acts, and Paul, in his epistles, 
 generally describe Christians under the name of 
 saints, or holy persons. 
 
 In the original, as well Greek as Hebrew, two 
 words are used, which appear under one, " holy," in 
 the English translation. But they are not synony- 
 mous ; for one seems to import what may be called, 
 for distinction's sake, "holiness imparted," that is, 
 external ; the other, " holiness inherent," that is, in- 
 ternal : — one seems to be passive, the other active : 
 one appertains to rites and ceremonies, the other to 
 character : one imports a strict separation from com- 
 mon things of the same kind and order ; whereas, 
 the other imports a condescension extended to others, 
 whether common or inferior. 
 
 Holiness by separation : — (L) Cleanliness of places. 
 The Hebrew word vip, kadesh, to which the Greek, 
 ayioc, answers, imports the opposite to foul, filthj', 
 defiled ; that is, clean : so we have (Deut. xxiii. 14.) 
 a precept for preserving the camp from excremen- 
 titious ordure, " for the Lord thy God walketh in the 
 midst of thy camp .... therefore shall thy camp 
 be holy, that he see no unclean thing in thee." So 
 Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxix. 5.) commands the Levites 
 to " sanctify the house of the Lord ;" that is to say, 
 "to carry forth the filthiness," &c. as immediately 
 follows. (2.) Cleanliness of persons : and this is by 
 avoiding pollution ; as, not eating unclean food, (Lev. 
 xi. 4L) also, by removing from a dead body, (chap. 
 xxi. 1.) in a case of the priests ; by purifying the per- 
 son and the clothes, Exod. xix. 10, 14, 22 ; comp. 
 Josh. iii. 5. In Numb. v. 17, what the Hebrew reads 
 "holy water," the LXX read "clean water;" and 
 this sense of free from pollution occurs in the Tar- 
 gums, as expressing the import of the Hebrew kadesh, 
 as Isa. Ixv. 5, " I am holier (cleaner) than thou." It 
 is also strongly implied in 1 Sam. xxi. 5, " the vessels 
 of the young men are holy ;" whether we take the 
 term vessels literally or figuratively. (3.) Separa- 
 tion, or preparation, for a special jiurpose. So Josh. 
 XX. 7, Eng. tr. " and they appointed," Heb. " sancti- 
 fied Kadesh in Galilee," &c. The mother of Micali 
 (Judg. xvii. 3.) had "wholly dedicated," Heb. "in 
 sanctifying had sanctified her silver," to jnakc an 
 idol. Hence the prophets Jeremiah, (vi. 4.) Joel, (iii. 
 9.) and Micah (iii. 5.) speak of preparing (sanctifying) 
 war. Hence k.adeshah is a woman sanctified to an 
 idol: a class well known throughout India: also, 
 kedeshim, of the male sex. (Comp. 2 Kings x. 20 ; 
 Isa. Ixvi. 17.) (4.) Holiness was sometimes tempo- 
 rary ; ceasing after a special purpose had been ac- 
 complished. Moses was directed to take off his 
 shoes, " for the place whereon he stood was holy 
 ground ;" (Exod. iii. 5 ; Acts vii. .33.) that is, holy for 
 the time being. Peter (2 Epist. i. 18.) speaks of the 
 " holy mount" of transfiguration ; that is, holy for the 
 time l)cing. In Lev. xxvii. ]4, Moses supposes that 
 a man had "sanctified his house," and afterwards 
 wished to redeem it : after it was redeemed, it could 
 be no longer holy. And when persons were sanctified 
 to qualify them for attending a sacrifice, as Jesse and 
 his sons, (1 Sam. xvi.5.) the sanctification eventually 
 ceased ; for only David was distinguished "from that 
 day forward." (Comp. Zeph. i. 7, margin.) (.5.) Ho- 
 liness by descent or parentage. The fir.st-!)orn son, 
 inheriting from the earliest ages tlie riglit to the 
 j)riesthood of the family, was, by pre-eminence and 
 destination, holy to the Lord, Exod. xiii.2; Luke ii. 
 
 23. Among the Israelites (Numb. iii. 12, 13.) the 
 tribe of Levi was afterwards substituted, and was 
 holy, inheriting the birthright holiness of the first- 
 born : the priests were more holy by descent, as 
 well as by office ; and the high-priest was most holy. 
 (6.) In these cases the Greek word ayiog uniformly 
 answers to the Hebrew word kadesh ; and it retains 
 the same meaning, but with considerable enlarge- 
 ment, in the New Testament, when denoting an as- 
 sembly of persons, of whatever nation or rank, sepa- 
 rated by profession from the heathen world : so Acts 
 XX. 32, " To give you an inheritance among all them 
 who are sanctified ;" — the whole Christian commu- 
 nity, in all parts, and all ages, of the world. (Comp. 
 xxvi. 18 ; Eph. v. 3; Col. i. 27.) Also, the members 
 of a certain Christian church or society, taken col- 
 lectively, (Rom. i. 7 ; xvi. 15 ; 1 Cor. i. 2 ; vi. 1, 2.) 
 though individuals among them might be doubtful or 
 irregular, (ch. vii.) or even criminal, as the incestuous 
 person ; (ch. v.) and this became a title given freely 
 and unreservedly, by the faithful at large, to each 
 other, during many ages. Nor is it wholly lost among 
 the Greeks. The teachers of Christianity were dis- 
 tinguished as a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual 
 sacrifices ; (1 Pet. ii. 5.) and the mystery of Christ is 
 said to be " now revealed to the holy apostles and 
 (new testament) prophets by the Spirit," Eph. iii. 5. 
 
 Now, if holiness be conferred for a temporary or 
 a special purpose, to which it is of course restricted, 
 the conjugal relation, already contracted, might be 
 sanctified specially to (or by) a wife, or a husband ; 
 that is, to its purposes, duties, and affections, without 
 conferring holiness generally. This idea may eluci- 
 date the true import of a passage (1 Cor. vii. 14.) that 
 has been too often wrested from its proper sense. 
 And, if holiness attached by descent, previous to the 
 law, and under the law, to the very last, it might, also, 
 and most justly, attach by descent from a Christian 
 parent, as the apostle determines : — " for the unbeliev- 
 ing husband is sanctified, to all the purposes of mar- 
 riage, through the believing wife ; and the unbelieving 
 wife is sanctified, to all the purposes of marriage, 
 through the believing husband ; else were your chil- 
 dren [that is, of the Corinthians, though church mem- 
 bers] unclean ; whereas, now they are holy." It should 
 be observed, also, that in the Jewish books, the chil- 
 dren of proselytes are called holy, as is shown by 
 Braunius, referred to by Schleusner, 5m6 voce «)"oc. 
 
 Holiness by charactei: — But there is another word 
 rendered holy by our translators, to which attention 
 is also due — " Onio; — the import of which may be best 
 understood from its application in the Old Testament 
 by the LXX, Prov. x. 29 : " The way of the Lord 
 is strength to the upright; l)ut destruction to the 
 workers of iniquity ;" it is evident from the contrast 
 of ideas in the passage, that "workers of good," 
 should stand opposed to workers of iniquity. " Even 
 a child is known by his doings, whether his work be 
 pure, and whether it be upright;" (xx. 11.) whether 
 the intention, the bias of his mind, be benevolent. 
 "The blood-thirsty hate the upright;" (xxix. 10.) — 
 the very o])posite to blood-thirsty, the beneficent. 
 We may now see the intention of the apostle in 1 Tim. 
 ii. 8, " 1 w ill tliat men j)ray every where, lifting up 
 holy hands," more than ayi<>i, that is, beneficent, pa- 
 cific, the very contrary to " wrath and squabbling." 
 If Christians at large should be thus kindly affec- 
 tioned, nuich more a Christian bishop, (Tit. i. 8.) 
 who must be — tpiXo^eror, the stranger's friend, — cptXu- 
 yit,9ov, the good man's lover, steady in his deport- 
 ment, just towards all, — 'Omoi, holy, mucli rather
 
 HON 
 
 [ 499 ] 
 
 HON 
 
 beneficeut, extending his bounty beyond the stran- 
 ger whose friend he is, or the good man of whom he 
 is the lover, to the miserable and the distressed. 
 The great Christian pattern is repeatedly denoted 
 by this term : (Ps. xvi. 10; Acts ii. 27; Heb. vii. 26.) 
 " Such an high-priest became us, who is holy ;" — 
 rather, extending universally the sympathies of his 
 compassion, his tenderness, his pity ; and, as such, 
 tiie distinguished object of prophecy ; — " thou wilt 
 not leave his soul in hell, nor suffer thine holy one — 
 thy commissioned agent, who went about doing 
 good — to see corruption." This term is applied a 
 second time to the Messiah, in full conviction that 
 it could apply to no other, as every hearer must ac- 
 knowledge. Acts xiii. 35. — as Clem. Alex, exclaims, 
 what benefits ( 'Oaia)do we not owe to Christ"! And 
 though our opinion differ from that of commentators, 
 (comp. Dr. Campbell's Dissert, vi.) we cannot but 
 think, that this term retains the same meaning in 
 Rev. XV. 4 ; xvi. 5 : " Who shall not fear thee, O 
 Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou only art be- 
 neficent !" 
 
 HONEY was formerly very plentiful in Palestine ; 
 and hence frequent expressions of Scripture, which 
 import that that country was a land flowing with 
 milk and honey. Moses says, that the Lord brought 
 his people into a land whose rocks drop oil, and 
 whose stones produce honey, Deut. xxxii. 13. (See 
 also Ps. Ixxxi. 16.) Modern travellers observe, that 
 it is still very common there, and that the inhabitants 
 mix it in all their sauces. Forskal says, the cara^ 
 vans of Mecca bring honey from Arabia to Cairo ; 
 and often in the woods in Arabia has he seen honey 
 flowing. It would seem that this flowing honey is bee- 
 honey, which may illustrate the story of Jonathan, 1 
 Sam. xiv. 27. Apparently, it could not be palm- 
 honey which Jonathan found ; for it was a honey- 
 comb, and so far out of his reach that it required the 
 [)Utting forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, 
 to be able to dip it into ■ the refreshing delicacy. 
 John Baptist, too, fed on wild honey, Matt. iii. 4. 
 There is, however, as incidentally alluded to above, 
 a vegetable honey that is very plentiful in the East. 
 Burckhardt, speaking of the productions of the Ghor, 
 or valley of the Jordan, says, one of the most inter- 
 esting productions of this place, is the Beyrouk honey, 
 or, as the Arabs call it, Assal Beyrouk. It was 
 described to him as a juice dropping from the leaves 
 and twigs of a tree called gharrab, of the size of an 
 oUve tree, with leaves like those of the poplar, but 
 somewhat broader. The honey collects upon the 
 leaves like dew, and is gathered from them, or from 
 the ground under the tree, which is often found com- 
 pletely covered with it. It is very sweet when fresh, but 
 turns sour after being kept for two days. The Arabs 
 eat it with butter ; they also put it into their gruel, and 
 use it in rubbing their water skins, for the purpose 
 of excluding the air. (Travels in Syria, p. 392.) 
 
 Children were fed with milk, cream, and honey, 
 (Isa. vii. 15.) which was the sweetest substance in 
 use before sugar was manufactured. The following 
 extracts will give a different idea of this mixture 
 from that generally entertained : — D'Arvieux, (p. 
 205.) speaking of the Arabs, says, " One of their 
 chief breakfasts is cream, or fresh butter, mixed 
 in a mess of honey : these do not seem to suit very 
 well together, but experience teaches that this is no 
 bad mixture, nor disagreeable in its taste, if one is 
 ever so little accustomed to it." The last words 
 seem to indicate a deUcacy of taste, of which 
 D'Arvieux was sensible in himself, which did not, at 
 
 once, reUsh this mixture. Thevenot also tells us, 
 that "the Arabs knead their bread-paste afresh; 
 adding thereto butter, and sometimes also honey." 
 (Part i. page 173.) [Burckhardt informs us, that " the 
 Hedjaz abounds with honey in every part of the 
 mountains. Among the lower classes, a common 
 breakfast is a mixture of ghee (melted butter) and 
 honey poured over crumbs of bread as they come 
 quite hot from the oven. The Arabs, who are very 
 fond of paste, never eat it w ithout honey. (Travels 
 in Arabia, p. 28.) R. 
 
 In 2 Sam. xvii. 29, we read of honey and butter 
 being brought to king David, as well as other 
 refreshments, " because the people were hungry, 
 weary, and thirsty." Considering the list of articles, 
 there seems to be nothing adapted to moderate thirst, 
 except this honey and butter ; for we may thus ar- 
 range the passage : the people were hungi-y, — to 
 satisfy Avhich were brought wheat, barley, flour, 
 beans, lentiles, sheep, cheese : the people were weaiy, 
 — to relieve this were brought beds ; the people were 
 thirsty, — to answer the purpose of drink was brought 
 a mixture of butter and honey ; food fit for break- 
 fast ; light and easy of digestion, pleasant, cooling, 
 and refreshing. That this mixture was a delightful 
 liquid appears from the maledictory denunciation of 
 Zophar: (Job xx. 17.) The wicked man "shall not 
 see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and 
 butter." Honey alone could hardly be esteemed so 
 flowing as to afford a comparison to rivers or tor- 
 rents ; but cream, in such abundance, is much more 
 fluid ; and mixed with honey, may dilute and thin it, 
 into a state more proper for running — poetically 
 speaking, as freely as water itself. " Honey and 
 milk are under thy tongue," says the spouse, Cant, 
 iv. 11. Perhaps this mixture was not merely a re- 
 freshment, but an elegant refreshment ; which height- 
 ens the inference from the predictions of Isaiah, and 
 the description of Zophar, who speak of its abun- 
 dance ; and it,, increases tlie respect paid to David, 
 by his faithful and loyal subjects at Mahanaim. 
 
 Honey was not permitted to be offered on the altar 
 of the Lord, (Lev. ii. 11.) for which various reasons 
 are assigned. Conjecture, however, has hitherto 
 been fruitless. But, though God forbade honey to 
 be offered in sacrifice, he commanded the first-fruits 
 of it to be presented to him ; these first-fruits and 
 offerings being designed for the support of the priests, 
 and not to be offered on the altar. By the word, li'jt, 
 debash, the rabbins and lexicographers understand 
 not only the honey of bees, but also the honey of 
 dates, or the fruits of the palm-tree, or the dates 
 themselves, from which honey is extracted; and 
 when God enjoins the first-fruits of honey to be 
 offered to him, the first-fruits of dates seem to be 
 meant; for generally, the produce only of fruits was 
 offered. 
 
 HONOR is taken not only for respect paid to su- 
 periors, but for real services : " Honor thy father and 
 thy mother;" (Exod. xx. 12.) i. e. not only show re- 
 spect and deference, but assist them, and perform 
 such services as they require. Balak, king of Moab, 
 said to Balaam, "I thought to promote thee to 
 great honor, but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee back 
 from honor," (Numb. xxiv. 11.) i. e. from reward. 
 " Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the 
 first-fruits of thine increase," (Prov. iii. 9.) i. e. tes- 
 tify your respect and obedience to him. " Honor" 
 also denotes that adoration which is due to God only, 
 Esth. xiii. 14, Apocrypha, Ps. xxix. 2, margin ; Mai. 
 i. 6 ; 1 Tim. i. 17,
 
 HOP 
 
 [ 500 
 
 HOR 
 
 HOPE, a confident expectution of future good. 
 Iji the New Testament, it is generally taken for hope 
 in Jesus Christ, hope of eternal blessings, hope of a 
 future resurrection : " Experience produceth hope, 
 and hope maketh not ashamed," Rom. v. 4, 5. Our 
 hope is founded on the patience and consolation 
 which we derive from the Scriptures. Faith, hope 
 and charity are the treasures of Christians, 1 Cor. 
 xiii. 13. Jesus Christ is all our hope ; (1 Tim i. 1.) 
 our hope in this life, and the next, arises from his 
 merits, blood, grace ; his promises, and his Spirit. 
 
 Hope is distinguished from faith by its desire of 
 good only ; and by its reference to futurity. Faith 
 contemplates evil as well as good, and refers to 
 things past, as well as to things future ; but this is 
 not the case with hope. We are, therefore, said to 
 be "saved by hope ;" by the hope, or conviction, or 
 desire, of unseen things ; and we read of the "full 
 assurance of hope," which may be taken as synony- 
 mous with cheerful and earnest expectation. 
 
 Hope, like all other graces, admits of degrees ; it is 
 sometimes feeble, but when it is the result of expe- 
 rience, it is confident, and proof against shame, or 
 hesitation ; it is sometimes limited to things near, or 
 to things likely ; but it also extends beyond this 
 world, to possessions laid up in heaven ; to glory, 
 immortality, and eternal life. It is repeatedly con- 
 nected with patience, with waiting, with expectation, 
 with rejoicing, and with reason ; for the hope of a 
 Cliristian, however it may refer to divine things, or be 
 founded on divine promises, or be derived from, and 
 promoted by, the sacred Spirit, is yet a reasonable 
 hope, and combines purity of heart and life ; that is, 
 obedience, with devout and fervent reliance on the 
 promises and perfections of God. 
 
 The hope of Israel was the end of the Babylo- 
 nish captivity, the coming of the Messiah, and the 
 happiness of heaven. The Lord is the hope of the 
 righteous ; their hope shall not be confounded ; the 
 hope of the ungodly shall perish ; it shall be without 
 effect ; or they shall live and die without hope. 
 Abraham against hope believed in hope, when, be- 
 ing advanced in years, God promised him a son. 
 The ])risoners of hope, (Zech. ix. 12.) are the Is- 
 raelites who were in captivity, but in hopes of de- 
 liverance. 
 
 HOPHNI and Phinehas, sons of Eli, the high- 
 priest, were sons of Belial ; that is, wicked and dis- 
 solute persons, 1 Sam. ii. 12. They knew not the 
 Lord, nor performed the functions of their ministry, 
 as they ought to have done ; lor when an Israelite 
 ]nu\ sacrificed a peace-offering, the son or servant of 
 the priest came while they were dressing the flesh, 
 and, holding a fork with three teeth in his hand, 
 he put it into the ])oi, and what he could take up 
 with it was the priest's portion. So, before the 
 fat was burnt, the priest's servant came, and said to 
 him wlio sacrificed, "Give me flesh to roast, for J 
 will jiave the flesh raw." " Let us first burn the fat, 
 according to custom," said he who sacrificed ; but 
 the servant r('])lie(l, " No ; you shall give it me in- 
 stantly, or I will take it by force," ver. 1.3 — 16. 
 Rightly to understand this transgression, it sliould be 
 observed, that the text refers not to burnt-offerings, 
 or sacrifices for sin, but to peace-ofterings, or those 
 presented from voluntary devotion. Tiio blood of 
 these, and also the fat. tlic kidneys, and the caul, 
 were offered to the Lord ; ail the rest of th(; sacrifice 
 belonged to the offerer : the prit'st's portion was the 
 right shoulder and the breast. Moses does not say, 
 ( Lev. vii. 31,32.) whether this should be given to him 
 
 dressed or raw ; but it appears from this place, that 
 it was not given to the priest till it was dressed ; and 
 that the priest had no right to demand it, till the fat 
 had been offered on the fire of the altar. 
 
 Some years aft;er these young men had entered 
 upon the office of the priesthood, (1 Sam. iii. 11, 12.) 
 the Lord threatened them and their father by the 
 young prophet Samuel ; and soon afterwards Hoph- 
 ni and Phinehas were slain in battle by the Philis- 
 tines, together with 30,000 men of Israel. See Eli. 
 
 HOPHRAH, or Apries, king of Egypt, in the 
 time of Zedekiah, king of Judah, and of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar the Great, king of Chaldsea, Jer. xliv. 30. 
 Zedekiah, being Aveary of the Baljylonish yoke, 
 made an alliance with Hophrah, king of Egypt, for 
 whicli Ezekiel reproaches him in very strong terms, 
 chap. xvii. 15. In the ninth year of his reign, Neb- 
 uchadnezzar came against Jerusalem, and took all 
 the cities of Judah except Lachish, Azekah, and Je- 
 rusalem, 2 Kings XXV. 1 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17; Jer. 
 xxxix. 1 ; Iii. 4. Hophrah advanced to his assistance ; 
 and Nebuchadnezzar marched against him. Jere- 
 miah, however, foretold (chap, xxxvii. 5, C.) that the 
 Egyptians would return without venturing a battle 
 against the Chaldeans, and also (chap. xliv. 30.) that 
 the king of Egypt should be delivered into the hands 
 of his enemies, as Zedekiah had been into ue hands 
 of Nebuchadnezzar. See also Ezekiel xxx. xxxi. who 
 describes the fall of Egypt in a very pathetic manner. 
 
 These predictions were executed, first against 
 Apries, or Hophrah, by Amasis ; and afterwards 
 against Egypt and the Egyptians, by Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, Afl;er the death of Hophrah, Nebuchadnezzar 
 destroyed Jerusalem, and then attacked Tyre, which 
 he took after a siege of thirteen years. During this 
 long siege, he was reduced to gi'eat difficulties, but 
 God promised him, by Ezekiel, the land of Egypt, ch. 
 xxix. 18,20; xxx. 1, 19. See Egypt, and Pharaoh. 
 
 HOR, a mountain in Arabia Petreea, on the con- 
 fines of Idumea, and forming part of mount Seir. 
 Here Aaron died and was buried, in the fortieth year af- 
 ter the departure from Egypt, Dent, xxxiii. 50 ; Numb. 
 XX. 26 ; xxvii. 13. A small building is shown in mount 
 Hor, which is said to be the tomb of Aaron. It is a 
 white building, surmounted by a cupola, and having 
 a descent of several steps into a chamber excavated 
 in the rock. See Aaron, p. 2 ; Canaan, p. 238 ; Ex- 
 odus, p. 418. 
 
 HORAM, a king of Gezer ; who, assisting the 
 king of Lachish, was defeated, and his country rav- 
 aged, Josh. X. 33. 
 
 HOREB, a mountain in Arabia Petrrea. See Si- 
 nai, and Exodus, p. 413. 
 
 HOR-HAGIDGAD, an encampment of Israel, 
 when coming out of Egypt, Numb, xxxiii. 32, 33. 
 See Exodus, p. 418. 
 
 HORITES, or Horims, an ancient people, 
 who dwelt in the mountains of Seir, Gen, xiv. 6. 
 The name imports dwellers in caves, Troglodytes. 
 They had princes, and were powerful before Esau 
 conquered their country, Deut. ii. 12, 22, The Ho- 
 ritos and the Edomites seem afterwards to have com- 
 posed but one people, Gen. xxxvi, 20. 
 
 HORMAH, a city taken from the Canaanites by 
 Judah and Simeon, (Judg. i. 17; Numb. xxv. 3.) and 
 originally called Zephath. 
 
 HORN, an eminence or angle, a corner or rising, 
 Isa. V. 1. By horns of the altar of burnt-offerings, 
 many understand the angles of that altar ; but there 
 were also horns or eminences at these angles, Exod. 
 xxvii. 2 ; xxx. 2. See Altar.
 
 HOR 
 
 [ 501 ] 
 
 HOS 
 
 As the aucieuts frequently used horns to hold 
 liquors, vessels containing oil, and perfumes, are 
 often so called, whether made of horn or not, 1 Sam. 
 xvi. 1 ; 1 Kings i. 39. Compare Alabaster. 
 
 The principal defence and strength of many beasts 
 are in their horns ; and hence the horn is often a 
 symbol of strength and power. The Lord exalted 
 the horn of David, and the horn of his people ; he 
 breaketh the horn of the -ungodly ; he cutteth off" the 
 horn of Moai) ; he cutteth off", in his fierce anger, all 
 the horn of Israel. He promises to make the horn 
 of Israel to bud forth ; to re-establish its honor, and 
 i-estore its vigor. There may be an allusion in these 
 passages, however, to a very counnon part of the fe- 
 male dress in some parts of the East. IMr. Buck- 
 ingham, describing the ornaments of a female at 
 Tyre, says, " She wore also on her head a hollow 
 silver horn, rearing itself ujjwards obliquely from 
 her forehead, being l"our or five inches in diameter 
 at the root, and pointed at its extreme ; and her ears, 
 her neck, and her arms were laden with rings, 
 chains, and bracelets. This peculiarity reminded 
 me very forcibly of the expression of the psalmist : 
 'Lift not up thine horn on high, speak not with a 
 stiff" neck. All the horns of the wicked will I cut 
 off", but the horns of the righteous shall be exulted ;' 
 (Ps. Ixxv. 5, 10.) similar illustrations of which, Bruce 
 had also found in Abyssinia, in the silver horns of 
 warriors and distinguished men." Kingdoms and 
 great powers are also described by the symbol of 
 horns, 1 IMac. vii. 46. In Dan. vii. viii. horns repre- 
 sent the power of the Persians, of the Greeks, of 
 Syria, and of Egypt. The prophet describes these 
 animals as having many horns, one of which grew 
 from another. In 1 Mac. ix. 1, the wings of an 
 army are called its horns. 
 
 HORNET, a kind of large wasp, which has a 
 powerful sting. The Lord drove out the Canaanites 
 before Israel by means of this insect, Deut. vii. 20 ; 
 Josh. xxiv. 12; Exod. xxiii. 28. (Compare Fly.) 
 For an illustration of the manner in which this might 
 be eff'ected, without at the same time injuring the Is- 
 raelites, it should be remarked, that the latter, in the 
 sandy wilderness, would escape this creature. 
 
 HORON, or Oronaim, a city of Arabia, whence 
 Sanballat came, Neh. ii. 10, &c. 
 
 HORONAIM, a toAvn of Moab, Isa. xv. 5 ; Jose- 
 phus Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 23 ; xiv. cap. 2. 
 
 HORSE, a domestic animal, well known, but not 
 so common among the Hebrews, till the time of Sol- 
 omon. God forbade the kings of Israel to keep 
 many horses, (Deut. xvii. ItJ.) and their judges and 
 ])rinces generally rode on mules and asses. 
 
 Josiah took away the horses which the kings of 
 Judah, his predecessors, had consecrated to the sim, 
 2 Kings xxiii. 11. This luminaiy was worshipped 
 over all the East, and was represented as riding in a 
 chariot, drawn by the most beautiful and swiftest 
 horses in the world, and performing every day his 
 journey from east to west, to enlighten the earth. 
 In Persia, and among the Massagetre, horses were sac- 
 rificed to the sun. (Herodot. Yih. i. cap. 55. Ovid Fast. 
 lib. viii. Xenoph. Cyropred. lib. viii.) It is thought 
 that those which Josiah removed from the tourt of 
 the temple, were appointed for a similar purpose. 
 
 HORSE-LEACH, or Blood-sucker. The im- 
 port of the Hebrew 7)p^'>•;, rendered horse-leach by 
 the LXX, the Vulgate, and the Targums, as well as 
 in the English, and other modem versions of Scrip- 
 ture, is by no means ascertained. " The alukdh, 
 [horse-leach,]" says .Solomon, " hath two daughters. 
 
 crymg. Give, give," Prov. xxx. 15. Bochart thmke 
 the translators have mistaken the import of one word 
 for that of one very similar, and that it should be 
 translated destini/, or the necessity of dying; to 
 which the rabbins give two daughters, Eden, or Par- 
 adise, and Hades, or Hell ; the first of which invites 
 the good, the second calls for the wicked. This in- 
 terpretation is thought to be strengthened by chap, 
 xxvii. 20 : " Hell and destruction [Hades and the 
 grave] are never satisfied." Professor Paxton, on 
 the other hand, contends that the common interpre- 
 tation is in every respect entitled to the preference. 
 Solomon, having in the preceding verses mentioned 
 those that devoured the property of the poor, as the 
 worst of all the generations he had specified, pro- 
 ceeds, in the fifteenth verse, to state and illustrate the 
 insatiable cupidity with which they prosecuted their 
 schemes of rapine and plunder. [Gesenius refers the 
 word to a fabulous monster of oriental superstition, 
 which sucks the blood of human victims, like the 
 vampyrc of western popular belief. Rosenmiiller 
 adheres to the sense leach. R. 
 
 As the horse-leach has two daughters, cruelty and 
 thirst of blood, which cannot be satisfied ; so the op- 
 pressor of the poor has two dispositions, cruelty and 
 avarice, which never say they have enough, but con- 
 tinually demand additional gratifications. 
 HOSAH, a town of Asher, Josh. xix. 29. 
 HOS AI, a jMophet or seer, in the time of Manasseh, 
 king of Judah, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 19, margin. The 
 Jews are of opinion, that Hosai and Isaiah are the 
 same person ; the LXX take Hosai in a general 
 sense for prophets and seers : the Syriac calls him 
 Hanan ; the Arabic Saphan. 
 
 HOSANNA, save now, succor now, make him vic- 
 torious ! is a form of blessing or wishing well. At 
 our Saviour's entrance into Jerusalem, when the 
 people cried Hosanna, their meaning was. Lord, 
 [)rcserve this son of David ; heap favors and bless- 
 ings on him ! Mr. Harmer is of opinion, (Obs. 
 vol. iii. p. 37.) that the people scattered rose leaves 
 in the way as he went. However, to say no more, 
 though rose leaves might possibly be attainable at that 
 early season, yet rose trees hardly grew on the pub- 
 lic Avay ; and besides, this does not give any reason 
 for the exclamations of hosanna, nor does it appear 
 to be connected with them. But in Levi's "Lingua 
 Sacra," under the article 2-\';, oreh, we find the follow- 
 ing extracted from the Talmud : " The willow (used 
 in the Feast of Tabernacles) is of the foundation of 
 the prophets ; that is, the prophets instructed the 
 people in the proper form and manner tliereof, as it 
 was delivered by tradition ; and which, having been 
 forgotten, was restored by the pro])he(s. Hence we 
 meet, in rabbinical Hebrew, with tiie jihrase 'the pre- 
 cept of the willow, on Hosanna the Great.' This is 
 the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles, when 
 each person has (carries) a branch of willow, and in 
 the prayer of the day, frequently makes use of the 
 word Iloshana ! save, we beseech thee ; whence 
 the willows used at that time are called the ' Hosha- 
 nuth.'" If this be correct, we see that the peoplo 
 aj)i)lie(l to our Lord a custom with which they were 
 well acquainted, and which, indeed, formed an annual 
 ceremony. 
 
 They formed, as they were used to do on Hosanna 
 the great, a procession ; and those in the leading di- 
 vision of it, cried, "Hosanna! blessed be the king of 
 Israel, who cometh in the name of the Lord ! Peace 
 in heaven ! Glory in the highest !" to which those 
 who brought up the rear, answered, " Blessed be
 
 HOS 
 
 [ 502 ] 
 
 HOSEA 
 
 the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the 
 name of the Lord ! Hosanna in the highest!" [the 
 great Hosanna] as we have been used to shout at our 
 Feast of Tabernacles. 
 
 Does not this history appear, under this elucida- 
 tion, to be a clearer reference of the Feast of Taber- 
 nacles to the Messiah than heretofore, and a reference 
 that was in some degree wanted ? Are not the 
 shouts of the multitude strong indications of what 
 they so earnestly looked for — a king to deliver tliem 
 from their present bondage ? Did the proj)liets liint 
 nt such a king, to be expected, when they appointed 
 the willows of the great Hosanna ? Is this tiie covert 
 meaning of the rulers of the synagogue, "Hearest 
 thou what these children say ? in allusion to a king 
 whom we expect ; which they refer to thee ?" And 
 is this the import of our Lord's answer, "Yea; did 
 you never hear the remark, that children will tell the 
 truth when men will not ; that when men are afraid, 
 or incredulous, the mouths of babes and sucklings 
 may strongly proclaim due and j)roper praise ?" 
 Was our Lord's action of driving the intruding deal- 
 ers from the temple an act of rojalty, coincident 
 with these acclamations, and national ideas, which 
 on this occasion he thought proper to exert, and to 
 which those concerned thought proper at this time 
 to submit, as unable to foresee how far the popular 
 feeling might extend ? 
 
 L HOSEA, son of Beeri, the first of the ujinor 
 prophets, and said to have been of Reuben, and a 
 native of Beelmeon, beyond Jordan. He lived in 
 the kingdom of Israel, and his prophecies for the 
 most part regard that state. The title of his works 
 says, he prophesied under the reigns of Uzziah, Jo- 
 tham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah ; and un- 
 der Jeroboam II. king of Israel ; which would em- 
 brace, at the very least, a period of 80 years. There 
 is nothing, however, to induce a belief that he proph- 
 esied so long ; besides that it is strange his prophecies 
 should be dated by the reigns of the kings of Judah, 
 when he did not live under their dominion. It is 
 therefore probable, that tiie title is not Hosea's, but 
 that the true beginning of his work is, " The begin- 
 ning of the work of the Lord by Hosea." Or the 
 specification may relate to his life rather than to his 
 prophesying. Calmet thinks he began to prophesy 
 about the end of the reign of Jeroboam II. king of 
 Israel. Jerome and otiiers believe Hosea to be the 
 oldest prophet whose writings are in our possession. 
 He saw the first captivity of the four tribes, by 
 Tiglath-pileser ; and the extinction of the kingdom 
 of Samaria, by Salmaneser. 
 
 In the third chapter of Hosea's prophecy, we read, 
 that the Lord directed him to take unto him "a wife 
 of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms ;" i. o. to 
 man-y a woman who had formerly lived a debauched 
 life, but who, after her marriage, should retire from 
 all bad conversation. Many interpreters, however, 
 shocked at the idea, have maintained that this was 
 only a parable ; and that the prophet called the wife 
 whom he married a prostitute, only with design of 
 awakening the attention of the Israelites ; or that 
 the whole was transacted in a vision. But the sequel 
 of the nan-ation sufficiently shows, that the marriage 
 was real, though figurative as to the things it sym- 
 bolized. 
 
 As the circumstances, however, appear sufficiently 
 strange to us, it may be worth while to add baron 
 
 du Tott's account of marriages by Capin; which 
 
 agrees with the relations of other travellers into the 
 East : " There is another kind of marriage, which, 
 
 stipulating the return to be made, fixes likewise the 
 time when the divorce is to take place. This con- 
 tract is called Capin ; and, properly speaking, is only 
 an agreement made between the parties to live to- 
 gether,ybr such a price during such a time." (Prelim- 
 inary Discourse, p. 23.) It is scarcely possible to 
 expect more direct illustration of the prophet's con- 
 duct than this extract affords. We learn from it 
 that this contract is a regular form of marriage, and 
 that it is so regarded, generally, in the East ; conse- 
 quently, such a connection and agreement coidd give 
 no scandal, in the days of Hosea, though it would 
 not be justifiable under Christian manners. The 
 prophet says — " So I bought her [my wife] to me, 
 for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley, 
 and a half homer of barley. And I said unto her. 
 Many days shall thou abide for me [Heb. sit ivilh me]. 
 Thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be 
 for another man ; so will I also be for thee." What 
 was this but a marriage by Capin, according to the 
 baron's accoimt ? And the prophet carefully lets us 
 know, that he honestly paid the stipulated price, that 
 he was very strict in his agreement, as to the behav- 
 ior of his wife, and that he also bound himself to 
 the same fidelity, during the time for which they 
 mutually contracted. It may easily be imagined 
 that this kind of marriage was liable to be abused ; 
 and tliat it was glanced at, and included, in our 
 Lord's prohibition of hasty divorces, need not be 
 doubted. 
 
 II. HOSEA, or Hoshea, son of Elah, and last 
 king of Israel. Having conspired against Pekah, 
 son of Remaliah, king of Israel, he killed him, and 
 seized his dominions. He did evil in the sight of 
 the Lord, however, though not equal to the kings of 
 Israel, who preceded him ; that is, say the Jewish 
 doctors, he did not restrain his subjects from going, 
 if they would, to Jerusalem, to worship ; whereas 
 the kings of Israel, his predecessors, had forbidden it, 
 and placed guards on the road to prevent it, 2 Kings 
 XV. 30. Salmaneser, king of Assyria, having intelli- 
 gence that Hosea meditated a revolt, and had con- 
 certed measures with So, king of Egypt, to shake 
 off" the Assyrian yoke, marched against him, and be- 
 sieged Samaria, which was taken after a siege of 
 three years, in the ninth year of Hosea's reign ; and 
 was reduced to a heap of ruins. The king of Assyria 
 removed the Israelites of the ten tribes to countries 
 beyond the Euphrates, ch. xvii. 3, 0. 
 
 The chronology of Hosea's reign is extremely per- 
 plexed, by the inconsistency of certain dates. It is said 
 in ch. XV. 30, that Hosea began to reign in the liventielh 
 year of Jotham, son of Uzziah ; (this was the fourth 
 of Ahaz; for Jotham his father died four years be- 
 fore, having reigned only sixteen years, ver. 32, 33.) 
 but in ch. xvii. 1, it is said, that Hosea began to reign 
 in the twelfth of Ahaz ; ver. 27. also allows Pekah to 
 have reigned but twenty years ; whereas, if the last 
 year of Pekah and the first year of Hosea concur 
 with the twentieth of Jotham, (ver. 30.) Pekah must 
 have reigned twenty -two years, since Jotham began 
 to reign in the second year of Pekah. To reconcile 
 these differences, Calmet suggests that Hosea con- 
 spired against Pekah in the twentieth year of that 
 prince, which was the eighteenth of Jotham's reign ; 
 and that it was two years longer before Hosea made 
 himself master of Pekali's dominions, and was ac- 
 knowledged king of Israel ; that is, in the fourth 
 year of Ahaz, and the twentieth of Jotham. In the 
 twelfth year of Ahaz, he reigned quietly over all 
 Israel, according to chap. xvii. 1.
 
 HOSPITALITY 
 
 [ 503 ] 
 
 HOSPITALITY 
 
 HOSPITALITY has ever been much in esteem 
 among civilized people. The ancient Greeks be- 
 lieved that the gods sometimes visited this world, 
 disguised like travellers, and their apprehensions of 
 despising some of these celestial visitors, instead of a 
 traveller, induced them to receive strangers w^ith 
 respect, and the rights of hospitality. 
 
 It is a very customary and a very desirable thing in 
 the East, to eat under the shade of trees ; and this 
 situation the inhabitants seem to prefer, to taking 
 their repasts in their tents or dwellings. Thus De 
 la Roque says, (p. 203.) "We did not arrive at the 
 foot of the mountain till after sunset ; and it was 
 almost night when we entered the plain ; but as it 
 was full of villages, mostly inhabited by Maronites, 
 we entered into the fii"st we came to, to pass the night 
 there. It was the priest of the place, who wished to 
 receive us; he gave us a supper under the trees, 
 before his little dwelling. As we were at table, there 
 came by a stranger, wearing a white turban, who, 
 aller having saluted the company, sat himself do%vii 
 to the table, without ceremony ; ate with us during 
 some time, and thus went away, repeating several 
 times the name of God. They told us it was some 
 traveller who, no doubt, stood in need of refresh- 
 ment, and who had profited by the opportunity, 
 according to the custom of the East, which is to ex- 
 ercise hospitality at all times, and toward all persons." 
 The reader will be pleased to see the ancient hospi- 
 tality of the East still maintained, and even a stran- 
 ger profiting by an opportunity of supplying his 
 wants. It reminds us of the guests of Abraham, 
 (Gen. chap, xviii.) of the conduct of Job, (chap. xxxi. 
 17.) and especially, perhaps, of that frankness with 
 which the apostles of Christ were to enter into a 
 man's house after a salutation, and there to continue 
 "eating and drinking such things as were set before 
 them," Luke x. 7. Such behavior would be con- 
 sidered as extremely intrusive, and indeed insupport- 
 able, among ourselves ; but the maxims of the East 
 would qualify that, as they do many other customs, 
 by local proprieties, on which we are incompetent to 
 deteiTnine. 
 
 It cannot be supposed, that the sluggard, who is 
 too lazy to feed himself, should be very forward in 
 feeding others. The discharge of the duties of hos- 
 pitality, though it has occasionally conferred the 
 honor and advantage of entertaining angels, actuates 
 him too rarely, and too feebly, to be mentioned ; in 
 fact, it is in him a nullity. But it may serve to 
 heighten the contrast with those noble spirits, who 
 light up the fires of hospitality to attract and to guide 
 the benighted traveller; and it is to the honor of the 
 Arabs, that the same feeling pervades all ranks, 
 thougli all ranks cannot show it equally. There is 
 something very pleasing in Niebuhr's description of 
 this custom: "The hospitality of the Arabs has 
 always been the subject of praise ; and I believe that 
 those of the present day exercise this virtue no less 
 than their ancestors did. It is true that in this 
 country, as in Europe, if a stranger is not known, no 
 one will entreat him to come in. Nevertheless, there 
 are in the villages of the Tehama, houses which are 
 public ; where travellers may lodge and be enter- 
 tained some days gratis, if they will be content with 
 the fare : they are very much frequented. We our- 
 selves were, during two hours, in one of these inns, in 
 the village of Menejze, in going from Loheia to Beit- 
 el-fakih : my servants, my camels, my asses, and all 
 my company received shelter. The sheich of the 
 village to whom this inn belonged \vas not satisfied 
 
 with visiting us, and offering us a better fare than 
 others ; he also entreated us to stop the night with 
 him. In another journey from Beit-el-fakih to Ta- 
 kaite, in company with a fakih, or man of letters, of 
 Arabia, although my fakih had no acquaintance with 
 the sheich, yet as a stranger he paid him his respects ; 
 hardly was he returned, when the sheich came him- 
 self to invite us to lodge with him; which we de- 
 clining, he sent us a good supper, which came 
 extremely a-propos. When the Arabs are at table, 
 they invite those who happen to come, to eat wth 
 them, whether they be Christians or Mahometans, 
 gentle or simple. In the caravans I have often seen 
 with pleasure a mule-driver press those who passed 
 to partake of his repast, and though the majority 
 politely excused themselves, he gave, with an air of 
 satisfaction, to those who would accept of it, a 
 portion of his little meal of bread and dates ; and I 
 was not a little surprised when I saw, in Turkey, 
 rich Turks withdraw themselves into corners to avoid 
 inviting those who might otherwise have sat at table 
 with them." 
 
 But, though the hospitality of the Arabs is general, 
 and not confined to the superior classes, yet we are not 
 to suppose that it admits of imposition, or is without 
 proper bounds. Of this we have a manifest instance 
 in the directions of our Lord to the apostles. Matt. x. 
 11. To send a couple of hearty men with appetites 
 good, and rendered even keen, by the effect of travel- 
 ling, to send two such to a family, barely able to 
 meet its own necessities, having no provision of 
 bread, or sustenance for a day beforehand, were to 
 press upon indigence beyond the dictates of pru- 
 dence, or the permission of Christian charity. Our 
 Lord, therefore, commands his messengers, "Into 
 whatsoever city or town ye enter, inquire who in it 
 is worthy ; and there abide till ye go thence." 
 "Worthy," uhog, this has no reference to moral 
 worthiness ; our Lord means suitable ; to whom 
 your additional board for a few days will be no in- 
 convenience, a substantial man. And this is exactly 
 the import of the same directions, given in Luke x. 
 5, 6 : "Into whatever oikia, house-establishment on 
 a respectable scale, residence afibrding accommoda- 
 tion for strangers, (the hospitalia of the Latins,) ye 
 enter, in the same remain : go not from house to 
 house, in search of superior accommodations ; though 
 it may happen that, after you have been in a town 
 some days, you may hear of a more wealthy individ- 
 ual, who could entertain you better. No ; in the 
 same house remain, eating and drinking such things 
 as they give ; — whatever is set before you." The 
 same inference is deduced from the advice of the 
 apostle John to the lady Eclecta, (2 Epist. 10.) "Il 
 there come any to you, and bring not this doctrine, 
 receive him not into your house." She was, there- 
 fore, a person of respectability, if not of rank ; mistress 
 of a household establishment, on a scale proper for 
 the exercise of Christian benevolence in a convenient 
 and suitable manner ; — of liberal heart, and of equally 
 liberal powei-s. Whoever has well considered the 
 difficulties to which travellers in the East are often 
 exposed to procure supplies, or even sufficient pro- 
 visions to make a meal, will perceive the pi-opriety 
 of these directions. Although it was one sign of the 
 Messiah's advent, that to the poor the gospel was 
 preached, yet it was not the Messiah's purpose to add 
 to the difficulties of any man's situation. He sup- 
 poses that a family-man, a house-keeper, might be 
 vvitiiout bread, obliged to borrow from a friend, to 
 meet the vvants of a single traveller; Luke xi. 5, "I
 
 HOU 
 
 504 ] 
 
 HOURS 
 
 have nothing to set before hira ;" no uncommon 
 case ; but, if this were occasioned by real penury, 
 the rights of hospitalitj^, however congenial to tlie 
 manners of the people, or to the feelings of the indi- 
 vidua , and however urgent, must be waved. 
 
 The primitive Christians considered one principal 
 part of their duty to consist in showing hospitality to 
 strangers; remembering that our Saviour had said, 
 whoever received those belonging to him, received 
 himself; and that whatever was given to such an 
 one, though but a cup of cold water, should not lose 
 its reward. Matt. x. 40, 41. They wei-e, in fact, so 
 ready in discharging this duty, that the very iieathen 
 admired them for it. They were hospitable to all 
 strangers, but especially to those of the household of 
 faith. Believers scarcely ever travelled without 
 letters of communion, which testified the purity of 
 their faith, and procured them a favoi-able reception 
 wherever the name of Jesus Christ was known. 
 Calmet is of opinion, that the two minor epistles of 
 John may be such letters of communion and recom- 
 mendation. 
 
 This article should not be closed without notice of 
 the obligations imderstood to be contracted by the 
 intercourse of the table. Niebuhr says, " When a 
 Bedouin sheich eats bread with strangers, they may 
 trust his fidelity and depend on his protection. A 
 traveller will always do well, therefore, to take an 
 early opportunity of securing the friendship of his 
 guide by a meal." This will bring to recollection the 
 complaint of the psalmist, (xli. 9.) penetrated with 
 the deep ingi-atitude of one whom he describes as 
 having been his own familiar friend, in whom he 
 trusted — "who did eat of my bread — even he hath 
 lifted up his heel against me !" To the mortifi- 
 cation of insult was added the violation of all confi- 
 dence, the breach of every obhgation connected with 
 the ties of humanity, with the laws of honor, with 
 the bonds of social life, whh the unsuspecting free- 
 dom of those moments when the soul unbends itself 
 to enjoyment, and is, if ever, off its guard. We have 
 seen the covenant contracted by the participation of 
 bread and sah. (See Covenant of Salt.) We now 
 find that, among the Arabs at least, the friendship 
 and protection implied attaches no less to bread. — 
 Hence, in part, no doubt, the conviviality that always 
 followed the making of a covenant. Hence, also, the 
 severity of some of the feelings acknowledged by the 
 indignant man of patience. Job, as appears in several 
 pas?;ages of his pathetic expostulations. It is well 
 known that Arabs who have given food to a stranger, 
 have afterwards thought themselves bound to protect 
 him against the vengeance demanded by consan- 
 guinity, for even blood itself. 
 
 HOURS. The ancient Hebrews did not divide 
 the day and night into hours, but into parts. The 
 word hour, in the Septuagint, signifies the seasons of 
 the year ; as in Homer and Hesiod. In the books of 
 Moses, and in otiier Hebrew writings, hour is used 
 for the time, or season. In Daniel, we find the Chal- 
 dee word nvj-, shaclh, which is translated hour, and 
 is derived from the verb shnah, which signifies to see, 
 to look, and hence the noun shadh properly means 
 a frlance, n moment of time. The books of Daniel, 
 Tobit, and Judith are the earliest in which wc find 
 the word hour used to signify a part either of day or 
 night. Daniel (iv. 19.) says he was about an hour 
 (properly a moment) considering king Nebuchadnez- 
 zar's vision. Tobit (xi. 14.) tells us, he continued 
 about half an hour in very great pain ; and also (xii. 
 22.) that after the nngel Raphael had discovered iiim- 
 
 self, they prostrated themselves for about two hours. 
 Judith (vii. 18.) declares that the people of Bethulia 
 spent many hours in crying to the Lord. The 
 Greeks knew nothing of the origin of hours among 
 foreign nations, and trace them no higher among them- 
 selves than the time of Anaximenes, or Anaximander, 
 in the reign of Cyrus, toward the end of the Babylo- 
 nish captivity. This author had travelled into Chaldea, 
 and might have brought from thence the manner of 
 dividing the day by hours. Herodotus says expressly, 
 that the Greeks received from the Babylonians the use 
 of the gnomon and dial. (See Dial.) And Xenophon 
 introduces Euthydemus, saying, that the sun discovers 
 to us the lioiu's of the day, and the stars the hotu's of 
 the night. Aristophanes also speaks of the gnomon 
 or index, and of hours. The result of what has been 
 said is, that the use of time-measurers, or sun-dials, 
 and the distribution of the day into hours, is more 
 ancient in the East than among the Greeks ; that the 
 author of the invention is not known, and that we 
 cannot tell in what manner the ancient Babylonians 
 and Chaldeans divided their hours of day and night. 
 
 We have already intimated that the Hebrews di- 
 vided the day and night into parts: some further 
 information may be useful. We derive it chiefly 
 from Godwin. 
 
 The night was divided into four quarters, or great- 
 er hours, termed watches, each watch containing 
 three lesser hours. The first they called the begin- 
 ning of the watches ; (Lam. ii. 19.) the second the 
 middle watch, (Judg. vii. 19.) not because there were 
 only three watches, as Drusius (on Judg. vii. 19.) 
 thinks, but because it lasted- till midnight ; the third 
 watch began at midnight, and continued till three 
 o'clock in the morning ; (Luke xii. 38.) the last, called 
 the morning watch, (Exod. xiv. 24.) began at three 
 o'clock, and ended at six in the morning. Matt. xiv. 
 24, 2.5. Tiiesc watches were also called by other 
 names, according to that part of the night which 
 closed each one. The first was called i!i; f, the ere??; the 
 second, utaon'xTiov,vudnig;ht ; the third, (ikiy.roootjvi la, 
 cock-croiving ; the fourth, :i(>c-i . the dawning. — Ye 
 know not when the master of the house will come, 
 (1.) at even, or (2.) at midnight, or (3.) at cock-crowing, 
 orX4.) at the dawning, Mark xiii. 35. The day was 
 also divided into four quarters, as appears by the 
 parable of the laborers hired into the vineyard, 3Iatt. 
 XX. The first quarter began at six o'clock in the 
 morning and continued till nine ; the second quarter 
 ended at twelve ; the third quarter at three in the 
 afternoon ; the fourth quarter at six at night. The 
 first quarter was called the third hour, (verse 3.) 
 the second quarter the sixth hour, (verse 5.) the third 
 quarter the ninth hour, (verse 5.) the last qiiartcr the 
 eleventh hour, ver.se 6. 
 
 This shows that the hours among the Jews were of 
 two sorts : some lesser, of which the day contained 
 twelve ; others greater, of which the day contained 
 four : the lesser are termed hours of the day, (John 
 ix. 9.) the gi-eater, houi-s of the temple, or hours of 
 prayer. Acts iii. 1. But in fact there were but three 
 liours of prayer, the third, the sixth and the ninth. 
 At the third hour the Holy Ghost descended upon 
 the ajjostles. Acts ii. 15. About the sixth, Peter went 
 up to the house-top to pray, Acts x. 9. At the ninth, 
 Peter and John went into the temple, Acts iii. 1. 
 
 The word hour, as previously stated, is used Avith 
 great latitude in Scripture: it seems to imply the 
 space of time occupied by a whole watch, in Matt, 
 xxvi. 40 ; Mark xiv. 37 : " What ! could ye not watch 
 one hoin-? one space of time allotted to that duty."
 
 HOU 
 
 [ 505 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 Rev. ill. 3, " If thou slialt not watch, thou shalt not 
 know what hour I will come upon thee." Matt. 
 xxiv. 43, 44 ; xxv. 13, " Watch, therefore, for ye 
 know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son 
 of man cometh." In addition to those instances 
 quoted above, these now given prove a connection 
 between the word hour and the period of a watch. 
 The same may be inferred from some of the follow- 
 ing passages, Luke xxii. 59: Peter having denied 
 his knowledge of Jesus to the guard, a new set of 
 guards came to relieve the former ; among them was 
 one who challenged Peter, about the space of one 
 hour, one watch, after his former denial. Fehx or- 
 dered Paul to be sent away at the third hour, perhaps 
 a military watch, of the night. Acts xxiii. 23. 
 
 The word hour is used with no less latitude in mod- 
 em languages. " The hours" arc the seasons of the 
 year in Italian ; and the four hours of the day, in 
 French, are morning, noon, evening, night. The 
 hours of divine service, or canonical hours, accord- 
 ing to the Roman ritual, contain three common hours ; 
 add to these the usual calculation of hours, and we 
 shall perceive, that, however the signification of this 
 word may have become fixed since the invention 
 and adoption of mechanical time-measurei*s among 
 us, yet it, in fact, expresses little beyond a definite 
 portion of time ; or a portion varying its limits, ac- 
 cording to the usages of places and nations. See 
 Day. 
 
 [The word how in Scripture signifies, one of the 
 twelve equal parts into ivhich each day ivas divided, 
 and which of course were of different lengths at dif- 
 ferent seasons of the year. This mode of dividing the 
 day prevailed among the Jews at least after the exile, 
 and perhaps earlier. Anciently, however, the usual 
 division of the day was into four parts, viz. the morn- 
 ing ; the heat of the day, commencing about the middle 
 of the forenoon ; midday ; and everting. In a similar 
 inamner the Greeks appear at first to hav^e divided the 
 (lay into only three parts, viz. ooSQog, y.aiQbg f/tnriufiQiri?, 
 and 'ianiQog, to which they afterwards added a fourtli 
 division, dei^.irb? xaiu.'.c. (Cf Sturz Lcx. Xenophont. 
 sub voc.) These divisions are wliat Socrates appears 
 to have in mind, when he speaks of hours of the day, 
 !!nd afterwards of hours of the night, Mem. iv. 3, 4. 
 Ths ancient Hebrews, as well ns ihe Greeks, appear 
 to hrive divided the night also into three jiarts or 
 watches, (pv^-axul. viz. the first ivatch, (Lam. ii. 19.) the 
 middle, or second tvatch, {3 ndg.vu. 19.) mul the 7norning, 
 or third watch, Ex. xiv. 24. But after the Jews 
 became subject to the Romans, they adopted the 
 Roman manner of dividing the night into four 
 watches, as above described. (Winer, liibl. Rcalw. p. 
 470, 081. Jahn, § 101.) R. 
 
 HOUSE, a place of residence. The purpose of a 
 hou5 • being for dwelling, and that of tents being the 
 same, they are called by one name [heth) in the 
 Hebrew. On the same principle, the tabernacle of 
 God, though only a tent, is sometimes called the 
 lemi)le, that is, the residence, of God. 
 
 Of the ordinary buildings, or houses, in the East, 
 the intelligent traveller Dr. Shaw has given a very 
 full and interesting description, of which we shall 
 hero avail ourselves, as it will tend to the illustration 
 of several passages in Scripture : — 
 
 " The general method of building, both in Barbary 
 and the Levant, seems to have continued the same, 
 from the earliest ages, without the least alteration or 
 improvement. Large doors, spacious chambers, 
 marble pavements, cloistered courts, with fountains 
 sometimes playing in the midst, are ci rtainlv conve- 
 64 
 
 niences very well adapted to the circumstances of 
 these climates, where the summer heats are generally 
 so intense. The jealousy, likewise, of these people is 
 less apt to be alarmed, whilst all the windows open 
 into their respective couits, if we except a latticed 
 window or balcony which sometimes looks into the 
 streets. It is during the celebration only of some 
 Zeenah, as they call a public festival, that these houses 
 and their latticed windows and balconies are left open. 
 For this being a time of great liberty, reveling, and 
 extravagance, each family is ambitious of adorning 
 both the inside and the outside of their houses with 
 their richest furniture ; whilst crowds of both sexes, 
 dressed out in their best apparel, and laying aside all 
 modesty and restraint, go in and out where they 
 please. The account we have (2 Kings ix. 30.) of 
 Jezebel's painting her face, tiring her head, and look- 
 ing out at a ivindow, on Jehu's public entrance into 
 Jezreel, gives us a lively idea of an eastern lady at 
 one of these Zeenahs, or solemnities. 
 
 "The streets of these cities, the better to shade 
 them from the sun, are usually narrow, with some- 
 times a range of shops on each side. If from these 
 we enter into one of the principal houses, we shall 
 first pass through a porch or gate-way, with benches 
 on each side, where the master of the family receives 
 visits and despatches business ; few persons, not 
 even the nearest relations, having a further admis- 
 sion, except upon extraordinary occasions. From 
 hence we are received into the court, or quadrangle, 
 
 which, lying open to the weather, is, according to the 
 ability of the o%vner, paved with marble, or such ma- 
 teriafs as will immediately carry off" the water into the 
 common sewers. There is som'ething very analogous 
 betwixt this open space in these buildings, and the 
 fmphivium, or Cava JEdium, of the Romans ; both of 
 them being alike exposed to the weather, and giving 
 light to the house. When much ])Cople are to 1 e 
 admitted, as upon the celebration of a marriage, tli(! 
 circumcising of a child, or occasions of the like 
 nature, the company is rarely or never received into 
 one of the chambers. The court is the usual place 
 of their reception, which is strewed, accordingl}', with 
 mats and carpets for their more commodious enter- 
 tainment. Now, as this i)art of the house is always 
 allotted for the reception of large companies, being 
 also called the middle of the house, literally answer- 
 ing to (to./^Vioi) "the midst" of Luke, (v. 19.) it is 
 probable, that the place where our Saviour and the 
 apostles were frequently ticcustomed to give their 
 instructions, rniglit have been in the like situation ; 
 i!;-^: ;s, in tlie area, or quadrangle, of one of this kind 
 of houses. Ill the siKumcr season, and upon tUl oc-
 
 HOUSE 
 
 [ 50G ] 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 casions when a large coiiipauy is lo be received, this 
 court is commonly sheltered from the heat or inclem- 
 ency of the weather, by a Velum, umbrella, or veil, 
 which, being expanded upon ropes from one side of 
 the parapet wall to the other, may be folded or 
 unfolded at pleasure. The psalmist seems to allude 
 either to the tents of the Bedouins, or to some 
 covering of this kind, in that beautiful expression, of 
 spreading out the heavens like a veil, or curtaiii. The 
 court is for the most part surrounded with a cloister ; 
 as the Cava Mdium of the Romans ^vas with a Peri- 
 styllium, or Colonnade ; over which, when the house 
 hath one or more stories, (and I have seen them with 
 two or three,) there is a gallery erected, of the same 
 dimensions with the cloister, having a balustrade, or 
 else a piece of carved or latticed work going round 
 about it, to prevent people from falling Iroiu it into 
 the court. From the cloisters and galleries, we are 
 conducted into large spacious chambers, of the same 
 length with the court, biu seldom or never commu- 
 nicating with one another. One of them frequently 
 serves a whole family ; particidarly when a father 
 indidges his married children to live with him ; or 
 when several persons join in the rent of the same 
 house. From whence it is, that the cities of these 
 countries, which in general are much inferior in 
 bigness to those of Europe, yet are so exceedingly 
 populous, that great numbers of people are always 
 swept away by the plague, or any other contagious 
 distemper. A mixture of families of this kind seems 
 to be spoken of by Maunonides, as hr is quoted by 
 Dr. Lightfoot on 1 Cor. x. 16. 
 
 "In houses of better fashion, these chambers arc 
 hung with velvet or damask from the middle of the 
 wall downwards, are covered and adorned with vel- 
 vet or damask hangings of white, blue, red, green, or 
 other colors, (Esth. i. 0.) suspended on hooks, or 
 taken down at pleasure : but the upper part is em- 
 bellished with more permanent ornaments, being 
 adorned with the most ingenious wreathings and 
 devices, in stucco and fret-work. The ceiling is 
 generally of wainscot, either very artfully painted, or 
 else thrown into a variety of panels, with gilded 
 mouldings, and scrolls of their Coran intermixed. 
 The prophet Jeremiah (xxii. 14.) exclaims against 
 Eomc of the eastern houses that were ceiled ivith 
 cedar and painted ivith vermilion. The floors are laid 
 with painted tiles or plaster of terrace ; but as these 
 people make little or no use of chairs, (either sitting 
 cross-legged, or lying at length upon these floors,) 
 they always cover or spread them over with carpets, 
 which for the most part are of the richest materials. 
 Along the sides of the wall, or floor, a range of nar- 
 row beds, or mattresses, is often placed upon these 
 cai-pets ; and for their further ease and convenience, 
 several damask or velvet bolsters arc placed on these 
 carpets or mattresses — indulgences that seem to be 
 alluded to by the stretching themselves upon couches, 
 and the sewing of pilloics to arm-holes, as we have it 
 expressed Amos vi. 4 ; Ezek. xiii. 18, 20. At one 
 end of each chamber, there is a little gallery, raised 
 three, four, or five feet above the floor, with a balus- 
 trade in the front of it, with a few steps likewise 
 leading up to it. Here they place their beds ; a 
 situation frequently alluded to in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, 
 
 "The stairs are sometimes placed in the porch, 
 Bometimes at the entrance into the court. When 
 there is one or more stories, they are afterwards 
 continued, through one corner or other of the gallery, 
 to the top of the house, whither they concfuct us 
 
 through a door, that is constantly kept shut, lo pre- 
 vent their domestic animals from daubing the tenacc, 
 and thereby spoiling the water which falls from 
 thence into the cisterns below the court. This door, 
 like most others we meet with in these countries, is 
 hung, not with hinges, but by having the jamb form- 
 ed at each end into an axletree, or pivot ; whereof 
 the uppermost, which is the longest, is to be received 
 into a correspondent socket in the lintel, whilst the 
 other falls into a cavity of the like fashion in the 
 threshold. The stone door so much admired and 
 taken notice of by Mr. Maundrell, in his Description 
 of the Royal Sepulchres at Jerusalem, is exactly of 
 this fashion, and very common in most places. 
 
 '• I do not remember ever to have observed the stair- 
 case conducted along the outside of the house ; neither, 
 indeed, will the coutiguhy and relation which these 
 houses bear to the street, and to each other, (exclusive 
 of the supposed privacy of them,) admit of any such 
 tvontrivance. However, we maj' go uj) or come down 
 them, by the stair-case I have described, without 
 entering into any of the offices or apartments, and, 
 consequently, without interfering with the business of 
 the house ; which will be explanatory enough of 
 Matt. xxiv. 17 : ' Let him that is upon the house-top 
 not come down to take any thing out of the house,' 
 provided the action there recorded requireth any such 
 interpretation. 
 
 " The top of the house, which is always flat, in 
 covered with a strong plaster of terrace ; from whence, 
 in the Frank language, it hath attained the name of 
 The Terrace ; a word made use of, likewise, in seve rsl 
 parts of these countries. It is usually surrounded by 
 two walls ; the outermost whereof is partly built over 
 the street, partly maketh the jiartition with the con- 
 tiguous houses, being frequently so low that one 
 may easily climb over it. The other, which I call 
 the parapet wall, hangs immediately over the court, 
 being always breast high, and answereth to the 
 npj'D (Vulg. Lorica,) Deut. xxii. 8, which we render 
 the battlements. Instead of this parapet wall, some 
 terraces are guarded in the same manner the galleries 
 are, with balustrades only, or latticed work ; in which 
 fashion probably, as the name seems to import, was the 
 [n2DU'] net, or lattice, as we render it, thatAhaziah (2 
 Kings i. 2.) might be carelessly leaning over, when he 
 fell down from thence into the court. For upon these 
 teriaccs several offices of the family are performed ; 
 such as the drying of linen and flax, (Josh. ii. 6.) the 
 prepai'ingof figs and raisins ; here, likewise, they enjoy 
 the cool, refreshing breezes of the evening; converse 
 with on{> another, and offer up their devotions. In 
 the Feast of Tabernacles booths were erected upon 
 them, Nell. viii. 16. When one of these cities is 
 built upon level ground, wc can pass from one end of 
 it to the other, along the tops of the houses, without 
 coming down into the street. 
 
 " Such, in general, is the manner and contrivance of 
 the eastern houses. And if it may be presumed that 
 our Saviour, at the healing of the j)aralytic, waa 
 preaching in a house of this fashion, we may, by 
 attending only to the structure of it, give no small 
 light to one circumstance of that history, which hath 
 lately given great otrence to some unbelievers. For, 
 among other pretended difllculties and absurdities 
 relating to this i'sfcA, it hath been urged, that, 'as the 
 uncovering or breaking up of the roof , (Mark ii. 4.) or 
 the letting a person douii through it, (Luke v. 19.) sup- 
 poses tlie lireaking up of tiles, rafters, &,c. so it was 
 well' (as the aiithor goes on in his ludicrous manner) 
 ' if Jesus and hia disciples escaped with only a broken
 
 HOUSE 
 
 [ 507 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 pate, by tlic falling of the tiles, and if tlie, rest were 
 not smothered with dust.' But that nothing of this 
 nature happened, will appear probable troni a difier- 
 ent construction that may be put upon the \^•ords in 
 the original. For it may be observed witii relation 
 
 to the words of Mark, (^ariiCiiiyaauv Tir OTfyt^t '7/18 )^ I , 
 
 >:ui i'iooi'iui'Tfg, &c.) that as nriyi; (no Icss, pei'liaps, 
 than tatlilo, the correspondent word in the Syriac 
 version) will denote, with propriety enough, any kind 
 of covering, the veil which I liave'nu'Utioned, as well 
 as a roof or ceiling properly so called ; so for the 
 same rea-son a.ioaTtYin may signify the imdoing or the 
 removal of such a covering. 'Eiuni"iairfi, [the same 
 word rendered Gal. iv. 15, "plucked out,"] which we 
 rendev breaking up, is omitted in the Cambridge MS. 
 and not regarded in the Syriac and some other ver- 
 sions ; the translators, perhaps, either not rightly 
 comprehending the meaning of it, or finding the con- 
 text clear without it. In Jerome's translation, the 
 correspondent word is patcfacientes, as if f^orii'Unrf; 
 was fiu'ther explanatory of « iff^'/cit'i • The same in 
 the Persian version is expressed by quatuor angulis 
 Itctuli totidem funihus minexis, as if *ioor^«iTf; related 
 either to the letting do^vu of the bed, or was prepara- 
 tory thereto ; to the making holes in it for the cords 
 to pass through. Though it is still more probable 
 that it should be joined with oriy);, and denote, agree- 
 ably to the correspondent word palefacientes in Je- 
 rome's translation, a further laying of it open, by 
 breaking or plucking up the posts, l)alustrades, para- 
 pet wall, or whatever else supported it. The con- 
 text, therefore, according to this explication, will run 
 thus: 'When they could not come at Jesus for the 
 press, they drew back the veil where he was,' or 
 they laid open that part of it especially (o-7« ;])) which 
 was spread o\'er the place where he was sitting, ' and 
 having removed (plucked away) whatever should 
 keep it extended, (and thereby hinder them from 
 doing their intended good office,) they let down the 
 bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.' For that 
 there was not the least force or violence offered to 
 the roof, and, consequently, that «£ooi i«)Tfc, no less 
 than antnTtyaaicr, will admit of some other interj)re- 
 tations than what have been given to them in our 
 version, appears from the parallel place in Luke, 
 where ^'i( ro>v y.eodfwn- y.adtjxav aihur (whicli we trans- 
 late, 'they let him down through the tiling,' as if that 
 had actually been already broken up) should be ren- 
 dered, ' they let him down over, along the side or by 
 the way of, the roof.' For, as xtoauoi, or tegulee, 
 which originally, perhaps, denoted a roof of tiles, 
 like those of the northern nations, were afterwards 
 applied to the Tedinn, or Ji'iia in general, so the 
 meaning of letting down a person into the house jser 
 tegidas, or Siu r«i yenanvir, can depend only on the 
 use of the preposition 3ta. Now, both in Acts ix. 25, 
 Ku9>]y.(xv [ai'roi] Si'a lov Tti/«c, and 2 Cor. xi. 33, '/«- 
 X^a!)iiv Slit Toil Tf//Hc, (where the like phraseology is 
 observed as in Luke,) ('/« is rendered in both places 
 by, that is, aloiig the side, or by the way, of the ivall. 
 By interpreting, therefore, fi<^ in this sense, <^iU Ton 
 xinutiwv y.aftt]y.ur urrur will be rendered as above, 'they 
 let him down over,' or ' by the way of, the wall,' just 
 as we may suppose M. Antony to have been, agree- 
 ably to a noted passage in Tally. An action of the 
 same nature seems to be likewise implied in what is 
 related of Jupiter, (Ter. Eun. iii. 5, 37.) where he is 
 Baid sese in hominem convertisse, atque per alienas 
 tegulas venisse clanculum per Impluvium. And of 
 the snake, which we learn, (Ter. Phorm. iv. 4, 47.) 
 per Impluvium decidisse de tegulis. What Dr. Light- 
 
 ibot also observes out of tiie Talmud, on Mark ii. 4, 
 will, by an alteration only of the preposition which 
 answers to iha, further vouch for this interpretation. 
 For, as it is there cited, 'when Rabh Honna tvas dead, 
 and his bier could not be carried out through the door, 
 tvhich was too straight and narrow, therefore' (in order, 
 as we may supply, to bury it) [■^S^v'^o tdd] 'they 
 thought good to let it down [juj im] through the roof, 
 or through the way of thereof,' as the doctor renders 
 it, but it should be rather, as in Sut twi y.iQuuwr, 
 or (^(u Tuii Tt'i^si, 'by the way of,' or 'over the roof,' 
 viz. by taking it upon the terrace, and letting it down 
 upon the wall, that way, into the street. We have a 
 passage in AulusGellius, exactly of the same purport, 
 where it is said, that if ' any person in chains should 
 make his escape into the house of the Flamen Dialis, 
 that he should be forthwith loosed ; and that his fet- 
 ters should be drawn up through the Impluvium, 
 upon the roof, (terrace,) and from thence be let down 
 into the highway or street.' When the use, then, of 
 these phrases, and the fashion of these houses, are 
 rightly considered, there will be no reason, I pre- 
 sume, for supposing any breach to have been made 
 in the tegid(E, or yiQcuoi , since all that was to be done 
 in the case of the paralytic, was, to carry him up to the 
 top of the house, either by forcing their way through 
 the crowd, up the stair-case, or else by conveying 
 him over soine of the neighboring terraces ; and 
 there, after they had drawn away the [ffT*'/>,] veil, to 
 let him down, along the side of the roof (through the 
 opening or Impluvium) into the midst (of the court) 
 before Jesus." 
 
 Such arc Dr. Shaw's remarks on this narrative ; 
 but there are some omissions which Mr. Taylor has 
 attem])ted to supply. 
 
 It should be premised, that, in general, houses in 
 the East are but one story high ; so that the men 
 who carried the paralytic had not far to mount with 
 him, nor far to lower him down from the roof to 
 which they had ascended. They went up the private 
 staii--case of the oleah, or attached building, which 
 was free from the crowd, because Jesus, being in the 
 interior, was distant from this entrance. In fact, Je- 
 sus was in the middle court of the house ; for Dr. 
 Shaw tells us, that the (to tuaor,) " the midst" of Luke, 
 is the el IVoost, the court allotted for the reception of 
 large companies, whereas, in our version, this " in tha 
 midst" seems to imply among the people, in the 
 midst of the crowd ; and that a large company was 
 now attending the discom-scs of Jesus, is plain from 
 the history. The mention of a middle court implies 
 a large house ; while the observation, that doctors of 
 the law and Pharisees were sitting by (who were 
 come from surrounding towns, and even from Jeru- 
 salem) agrees with an extensive building, inhabited 
 by a j)erson of consequence, who accommodated 
 these dignified visitors on this occasion ; — which 
 some have supposed was an appointed meeting of 
 these great men. Now, to a house of magnitude, a 
 private stair-case always is an appendage ; and is 
 next the porch, or street, says the doctor, "without 
 giving the least disturbance to the house." Up these 
 stairs, therefore, the bearers of the paralytic carried 
 him and his bed ; and so far over the (flat)roof of the 
 house, till they came to the middle court ; — but, when 
 arrived here, how shoidd they make known their 
 errand ? — they could not possibly shoiv the patient to 
 the people (nor communicate with any, not even 
 with Jesus himself) below them ; so they determined 
 on lettine him down over the parapet. Our patient 
 is now on the roof; (fo S^^'u .) but this roof was flat,
 
 HOUSE 
 
 [ 508 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 and even paved ; we must, therefore, absolutely pro- 
 hibit the idea of tiles covering this roof, which, with- 
 out such prohibition, will rise in the mind of English 
 readers. On the contrary, these men lifted up their 
 burden over the parapet, (say two feet in height,) and 
 having tied the four corners of the bed with cords, 
 they lowered him down the face of the wall, along 
 the painted tiles, with which that face was adorned, 
 into the middle court, where Jesus stood, teaching. 
 To establish this representation, we remark, that the 
 word xtQauog means a tile of a better kind, not a 
 brick-kiln tile, but an ornamental, painted piece of 
 pottery ; — a potter's production, which he has taken 
 pains with ; like the Dutch-tiles, or galley-tiles, of 
 our old-fashioned chimneys. Such is the kind of 
 tile which should be understood in this place ; and 
 that such are used to ornament the faces of the walls 
 of the internal court, we have the authority of Dr. 
 Shaw himself; who not only describes them, but 
 shows them very distinctly in his print. This de- 
 scription of the place where the event hapjjened, ex- 
 cludes at once every possibility of "breaking up tiles, 
 spars, and rat\ei-s" — every possibility of " Jesus and 
 his disciples escaping with only a broken pate, by the 
 falling of the tiles, and the rest being smothered with 
 the dust ;" which is the ludicrous language of a re- 
 marker on the miracles of Jesus ; but with what ju- 
 dicious ideas of this transaction let the reader now 
 judge; and let the reader judge, too, on the necessity 
 for accurate information on some minuticB, seemingly 
 unimportant, in order to vindicate, correctly and ade- 
 quately, the miracles of Jesus. 
 
 We now turn to the evangelist Mark's account of 
 this event, chap. ii. 4. Our translators say, " And 
 when the men who carried the paralytic could not 
 come nigh to Jesus for the press [read, through the 
 crowd] they uncovered the roof [u.iiaTtyaaav t/,7 
 or*/»;i) where he was; and when they had broken it 
 up, [iioqiiavTi;^) they let down the bed {y.qu^^'iaTor) 
 wherein the sick of the palsy lay." The first action 
 here, as it seems, is — they uncovered the roof, and 
 broke it up ; notwithstanding that Luke says, this oc- 
 curred in the middle court of a great house, which 
 court could have no roof. But Dr. Shaw tells us, 
 and we know from other sources, that the court was 
 covered by a canopy, as a shelter from the solar rays ; 
 and this is clearly expressed by the word Tt/);, ren- 
 dered roof, which should have been rendei-ed cover- 
 ing, or shade. This is the rendering of the Syriac 
 version ; tatlio, any kind of covering, and the phrase- 
 ology of the evangehst affords a kind of joarojiomasia, 
 or repetition of the same word ; as if we should 
 say, " they uncovered the covering" of the court ; 
 this conveys the idea, though the jihraseology is 
 not pleasant. To say simply, " remove the cover- 
 ing," though it marks the action, yet does not convey 
 the relation of the words to each other; hut, had this 
 relation of the words been expressed, our translators 
 could never have been understood as meaning " un- 
 roof the roof;" that would have appeared preposter- 
 ous ; a labor and a liberty not to bo taken by four 
 strangers, who might with strict propriety have 
 waited till the sermon was over. But if the braces of 
 this veil, as we suppose, were fastened to hooks, or 
 something similar, in the parapet wall, or into the 
 roof, or beams of the building, then the men. by im- 
 fastening one of these ijracos, would open the canopv 
 which prevented them from seeing below, and pre- 
 vented the people below from seeing them. This 
 opening would remove the obstruction to the pres- 
 
 ence of Jesus; and thus they would, strictly speak- 
 ing, uncanopy the canopy ; according to the phrase- 
 ology of the evangelist. 
 
 Our translators, having mentioned the roof, seem 
 to say, " they broke it up." — But this word [iioqi'^arrt?) 
 rather refers to the bed ; though whether it signifies 
 broke up may be questioned. It is omitted in the 
 Cambridge MS. and is not regarded in the Syriac 
 version ; the Persian version renders, " to the four 
 corners of the bed they attached cords." We find 
 the same word in Gal. iv. 15, vexiAereA plucked out — 
 but how can that be its meaning in this instance ? 
 The answer becomes easy, after we have considered, 
 that the evangelists use two words, both inaccurately 
 rendered bed. Luke's word (>;A()>,) signifies a kind of 
 truckle-bed ; that is, a bedstead, or a bed having a 
 frame- work round it ; whereas, Mark calls it krab- 
 baton, a bed consisting of a single carpet, or sacking, 
 only. Yet there is no contradiction between the 
 evangelists, because it was both these kinds of bed. 
 Let it be considered, first, that this man was " borne 
 of four" — which may safely be taken to imply one 
 bearer at each corner of his truckle-bed {x?.iyr); but 
 a truckle-bed was much too cumbersome to allow the 
 bearers to force their way through the passages lead- 
 ing to the inner court, and through the crowd assem- 
 bled ; they, therefore, carried this y.?.irr; up the private 
 stair-case, and having brought it to the [larapet next 
 to the inner court, they took out the sacking from the 
 bedstead; and this sacking, a mere ATa66afon, amere 
 hammock, they let down, with the patient on it, into 
 the court below. 
 
 The propriety of using a word which signifies 
 plucked out, is now clear ; for, in fact, they plucked 
 out the sacking from the bedstead ; and here comes 
 in the idea of the Persian translator, these four men 
 tied four cords to the krabbaton, one at each corner, 
 and lowered it into the court, through the opening 
 they had made in the canopy. Can we avoid reflect- 
 ing how deeply we are indebted to the evangelists, 
 whose different words, when properly understood, 
 mutually illustrate each other? Luke says, " Behold, 
 men brought a man in a bed, [y./.ln;,) and let him down 
 through (along) the tiling, with his couch" {y^.inSior) 
 — which answers preciselj' to the krabbaton — the 
 sacking, the hammock, of Mark. Nor is it difiicult 
 to arrange these narrations into one : " And behold, 
 for it is well worthy of notice, they came unto Jesus, 
 bringing one sick of the palsy, who, lying along in a 
 truckle-bed, [>;/./it;, Matt. ix. 2.] was borne by four 
 bearers, one at each corner of the bedstead ; and they 
 sought means to bring him in, with this encumbrance 
 of a bedstead, because the poor sufferer was unable to 
 walk, designing to lay him lieforc Jesus, as a remark- 
 able object of compjissiou. And when they could 
 not find by what way they might bring him in, and 
 could not even come near him (Jesus) because of the 
 nniltitude, they took the paralytic, in his bedstead, 
 and went uj) the private stair-case, by which they 
 entered on the roof of the house, and going along the 
 roof, till they arrived at the inner court, they loosed 
 some of the braces of the covering that was extended 
 over that court ; which braces were connected with 
 the parapet on the roof. And when they had sejia- 
 rated the sacking, (krabbaton) from the bedstead, 
 (;<;./i»;.) they tied a cord to each of the four corners of 
 the sacking, and let down this diminished bed, or 
 couch, {kliyiidion,) along the painted tiles, into the 
 middle court, direct before Jesus ; close to him, in 
 fact, so that he could not avoid seeing the patient ;
 
 HOUSE 
 
 509 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 nor could the people avoid looking up, to see where 
 the disabled sufferer came from." 
 
 We now resume Dr. Shaw's description of an 
 eastern house : — 
 
 " To most of these houses there is a smaller one 
 annexed, which sometimes rises one story higher 
 than the house ; at other times it consists of one or 
 two rooms only, and a terrace; whilst others, that 
 are built (as they frequently are) over the porch or 
 gateway, have (if we except the ground floor, which 
 they have not) all the conveniences that belong to the 
 house, properly so called. There is a door of com- 
 munication from them into the gallery of the house, 
 kept open or shut at the discretion of the master of 
 the family ; besides another door, which opens im- 
 mediately from a privy-stairs, (Luke xxiv. 17.) down 
 into the porch or street, without giving the least dis- 
 turbance to the house. These back-houses are known 
 by the name of Alee, or 01eah,(for the house, prop- 
 erly so called, is Dar, or Beet,) and in them strangers 
 are usually lodged and entertained ; in them the sons 
 of the family are permitted to keep their concubines; 
 and thither, likewise, the men are wont to retire, from 
 the hurry and noise of their families, to be more at 
 leisure for meditation or diversions ; besides the use 
 they ai-e at other times put to, in serving for ward- 
 robes and magazines. 
 
 "TheOleah (rcSj-) of Holy Scripture, being literal- 
 ly the same appellation, is accordingly so rendered in 
 the Arabic version. We may suppose it, then, to 
 
 have been a structure 
 
 I" *3 of the like contriv- 
 
 ance. The little cham- 
 ber, consequently, 
 that was built t)y the 
 Shunaniite for Eli- 
 sha ; (whither, as the 
 text instructs us, he 
 retired at his pleasure 
 without breaking in 
 on the jirivate affairs 
 of the family, or be- 
 ing in his turn inter- 
 rupted by them in his 
 devotions;) the sum- 
 mer chamber of Eg- 
 lon ; (which, in the 
 eame manner with these, seems to have had privy- 
 stairs belonging to it, through which Ehud escaped 
 after he had revenged Israel upon that king of Moab ;) 
 the chamber over the gate ; (whither, for the gi-eater 
 privacy, king David withdrew himself to weep for 
 Absalom ;) and that upon whose terrace Ahaz, for 
 the same reason, erected his altars ; seem to have 
 been structures of the like nature and contrivance 
 with these Olees. Besides, as each of tliese places, 
 called Oleah (n^Sv, or r^Sy) in the Hebrew text and in 
 the Arabic version, is expressed by ' .tfo<'ov, in the 
 LXX, it may be presumed, that the same word, 
 t'.TfOMor, where it occurs in the New Testament, im- 
 plieth the same thing. The upper chamber, there- 
 fore, (I'.TfOfooi,) where Tabitha was laid after her 
 death, and that where Eutychus fell down from the 
 third loft, besides other instances, may be taken for 
 so many of these back-houses, or Olees; as they are 
 indeed so called in the Arabic version. That V',7fomo> 
 denotes such private apartments as these (for garrets, 
 from the flatness of the roof, are not known in these 
 climates) seems likewise probable from the use of the 
 word among classic authors. For the >rr roMor where 
 Mercury and Mars (7Z. 77.184.) carried on their amours, 
 
 and where Penelope {Od. O. 515.) and the young vir- 
 gins kept themselves at a distance from the solicita- 
 tions of their wooers, appear to carry along with 
 them circumstances of gieater privacy and retire- 
 ment than are consistent with chambers in any other 
 situation. Further, that Oleah, or > .-,fn^w> , could not 
 barely signify a single chamber {canaculum) or 
 dining-room, but one of these contiguous houses, 
 divided into several apartments, seems to appear from 
 the circumstance of the altars which Ahaz erected 
 upon the top of his Olee. For, besides the sui)posed 
 privacy of his idolatry, (which could not have been 
 caiTied on undiscovered in any apartment of the 
 house, because under the perpetual view and obser- 
 vation, as it may be supposed, of the family,) if his 
 Oleah had been only one chamber of the [Beth ra] 
 liouse, the roof would have been ascribed to the 
 Beth, and not to the Oleah, which, upon this suppo- 
 sition, could only make one chamber of it. A cir- 
 cumstance of the like nature may probably be col- 
 lected from the Arabic version o( vTifQt'wr, in Acts ix. 
 39, where it is not rendered as in ver. 37, but Girfat ; 
 intimating, perhaps, that part or particular chamber 
 where the damsel was laid. The falling, likewise, 
 of Eutychus, from the third loft (as the context 
 seems to imply) of the Oleah (for there is no men- 
 tion made of a house) may be received, I presume, 
 as a further proof of this supposition. For it hath 
 been already observed that these Olees are built with 
 the same conveniences as the house itself; conse- 
 quently, what position soever the vti toojor may be 
 supposed to have, from the seeming etyniolog}' of 
 the name, will be applicable to the Olee as well as to 
 the house. The word ?'rrfOf*o> will admit of another 
 interpretation in our favor ; denoting not so much a 
 chamber remarkable for the high situation of it, (as 
 Eustathius and others after him gave in to,) but such 
 a building as is erected upon or beyond the Avails or 
 borders of another: just as the Olees are actually 
 contrived in regard to the house. Neither will this 
 interpretation interfere with the high situation that 
 f:ienc7,oy may be further supposed to have, from being 
 frequently joined with «i«,'i'«nf/i , or xuraSali en . Be- 
 cause the going in or out of the house (whose ground- 
 floor lieth upon the same level with the street) could 
 not be expressed by words of such import : whereas, 
 the Olees being usually built over the porch or gate- 
 way, a small staircase is to be mounted before we can 
 be said projierly to enter them, and consequently 
 iduitthfn and xaiuSaitfiy are very applicable to struc- 
 tures in such a situation. 
 
 "The eastern method of building may ftu-ther as- 
 sist us, in accounting for the particular structure of 
 the fen^plc or house of Dagon, (Judg. xvi.) and the 
 great number of people that were buried in the ruins 
 of it, by jMilling down the two principal pillars. We 
 read, (vor. 27.) that about "three thousand ])erson3 
 were upon the roof to behold while Samson made 
 sport." Samson nuist, therefore, have been in a court 
 or area below them ; and consequently the temple will 
 be of the same kind with the ancient Tfiun. or sacred 
 enclosiuTs, surrounded only in part or altogether 
 with sonie plain or cloistered buildings. Several 
 places and Dau-wdnas, as they call the coiu-ts of jus- 
 tice in these countries, are built in this fashion ; 
 where, upon their festivals and rejoicings, a great 
 quantity of sand is strewed upon the area for the 
 (Pello-wans) wrestlers to fall ujjon ; whilst the roof 
 of these cloisters, round about, are crowded with 
 spectators of their strength and agility. I have often 
 seen several hundreds of people diverted in this
 
 HOUSE 
 
 [ 510 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 manner upon the roof of the dey's palace at Algiers; 
 which, like many moi'e of the same quality and 
 denoniiuationj hath an advanced cloister, over against 
 the gate of the palace, (Esth. v. 1.) made in tlie fash- 
 ion of a large pent-house, supported only by one or 
 two contiguous pillars in the front, or else in the 
 centre. In such open structures as these, in the 
 midst of their guards and counsellors, are the baslias, 
 kadees, and other great officers, to distribute justice 
 and transact the public affairs of their provinces. 
 Here, likewise, they have their public entertainments, 
 as the lords and others of the Philistines had in the 
 house of Dagon. Upon a supposition, tlierelbrc, that 
 in the house of Dagon there was a cloistered struc- 
 ture of this kind, the pulling down the front or cen- 
 tre pillars only which supported it, would be attended 
 with the hke catastrophe that happened to the Philis- 
 tines." (Shaw's Travels.) 
 
 The doctor has not alluded to Peter's vision, (Acts 
 X. 9.) yet as that was on the top of the house, on the 
 terrace, we may see how fit a place it was lor sucli 
 n purpose ; as being, (1.) open to the heaven, whence 
 the sheet seemed to descend; (2.) private, and at that 
 time secluded, ht for prayer. David walked on his 
 terrace ; Nebuchadnezzar walked on his royal ter- 
 race, whence he could have a full prospect of " the 
 fjreat Babylon which he had built." Absalom defiled 
 lis father's wives on the terrace of the royal palace ; 
 that is, in the open sight of heaven and of men. 
 
 We have repeated intimations in Scripture, of a 
 custom which a\ ould be extremely inconvenient in 
 this country — that of sleeping on the top of the house, 
 exposed to the open air, and sky. Thus, " Samuel 
 came to call Saul aboiU the spring of the day, not to, 
 but ON, the top of the house, and communed with 
 him o.v the house-top," 1 Sam. ix. 2.5, 2G. So Solo- 
 mon observes, " It is better to dwell in a corner on 
 the house-top, than with a brawling woman in a wide 
 liouse," Prov. xxv. 24. "It has ever been a custom 
 with tliem, [the Arabs in the East,] equally connect- 
 ed with health and pleasure, to pass the nights in 
 summer upon the house-tops, which, for this very 
 purpose, are made flat, and divided from each other 
 by walls. We found this way of sleeping extremely 
 agreeable ; as we thereby enjoyed the cool air, above 
 the reach of gnats and vapors, without any other 
 covering than the canopy of the heavens, which un- 
 avoidably presents itself in different pleasing forms, 
 upon every interruption of rest, when silence and 
 solitude strongly dispose the mind to contemplation." 
 (Wood's Balbec, Introduction.) " I determined he 
 should lodge in a kiosk, on the top of my house, 
 where I kept him till his exaltation to the patriarch- 
 ate, which, after a long negotiation, my wife's brother 
 obtained, for a pretty large sum of money, to be paid 
 in new sequins." (Baron du Tott, vol, i. p. 8.3.) The 
 propriety of the Mosaic precept, (Deut. xxii. 8.) which 
 orders a kind of balustrade, or ])arapet, to surround 
 the roof, lest any man should fall thence, is strongly 
 enforced by this relation ; for, if we suppose a person 
 to rise in the night, without being fidly awake, he 
 might easily kill himself by falling from the roof 
 Something of the kind appears in the historyof Am- 
 aziah, 2 Kings i. 2. In several places we "^ read of 
 grass growing on the house-tops ; (see Grass ;) also 
 of persons on the house-top hastily escaping thence 
 without entering the house to secure thoir^jroperty 
 —as if hastily awaked out of sleep, by the clamors 
 of an invading enemy. 
 
 There remains to be noticed something of the in- 
 ternal structure of these houses; so far, at least, ns is 
 
 necessary to elucidate some occurrences mentioned 
 in Scripture. 
 
 " In one of the halls of the seraglio at Constanti- 
 nople," says De la 3Iotraye, " the eunuch made us 
 pass by several little chambers, with doors shut, like 
 the cells of monks or nuns, as far as I could judge 
 by one that another eunuch opened, which was the 
 only one I saw ; and by the outside of others." (Vol. 
 ii. p. 170.) " Assan Firally Bachaw — being summon- 
 ed by his friends — came out of a little house near the 
 towers, where he had been long hidden in his harem, 
 which, had it been suspected by the mufti, he had 
 not denied his fetfa to the emperor, for seizing his 
 person, even there." — " The harems are sanctuaries, 
 as sacred and inviolable, for persons pursued by jus- 
 tice, for any crime, debt, &c. as the Roman Catholic 
 
 churches in Italy, Spain, or Portugal ; though thr 
 grand seignior's power over his creatures is such, that 
 he may send some of his eunuchs even there, to ap- 
 prehend those who resist his will." (Vol. i. p. 242. 
 Note.) " The harems of the Greeks are almost as 
 sacred as those of the Turks ; so that the officers of 
 justice dare not enter, without being sure that a man 
 is there, contrary to the law : and if they should go in, 
 and not find what they look for, the woman may 
 ])miish, and even kill theni, without being molested 
 for any infringement of the law : on the contrary, the 
 relations would ha\e a right to n:akc reprisals, and 
 demand satisfaction for sucli violence." (j). 340.) 
 Those persons who have not seen the cells of monks, 
 or nuns, in foreign countries, may conceive of a long 
 gallery, or other sjjacious apartment, as a large hall, 
 or gallery, into wiiich the doors of the cells open. 
 So it appears, that in the East, also, we must first pass 
 througli a long hall, or gallery, before we can enter 
 the peculiar abode of any i)articular woman of the 
 harem. We may first i\\yp\y this mode of dwelling 
 toacircumstanc(> threatened by tlie prophet Micaiah, 
 to his oiiponent, Zedekiah, in 1 Kings xxii. 25, 
 " Thou slialt go into an inner chamber, to hide thy- 
 self" Our translators have put in the margin, " from 
 chamber to chamber." — The Hebrew is " chamber 
 xoithin chamber ;" which exactly agrees with the de-
 
 HOUSE 
 
 [ 511 ] 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 scription extracted from Motraye ; but it is new, to 
 consider this tlireat as predicting that Zedekiah 
 should fly for shelter to a harem ; (as we find Assan 
 Firally linchaw had done ;) that his fear should ren- 
 der him, as it were, effeminate, and that he should 
 seek refuge where it was not usual for a man to seek 
 it; where neither "the officers of justice," nor even 
 those of conquerors, usually penetrated. There is 
 an additional disgrace, a sting in these words, if this 
 be the intention of the speaker, stronger than what 
 has hitherto been noticed in them. Is not something 
 similar, also, related of Benhadad, in 1 Kings xx. 30, 
 "He Jed," and was so overcome with fear, that he 
 hid himself in " a chamber within chamber ?" As it 
 is very characteristic of braggarts and drunkards (see 
 verses 16, 18, &c.) to be mentally overwhelmed, 
 when in adversity, may we suppose that Benhadad 
 was now concealed in the harem? — The circum- 
 stances following do not militate against this suppo- 
 sition. That the word cheder means a woman's 
 chamber, appears from Judg. xv. 1, where Samson 
 says, "I wll go to my wife into her chamber" 
 (m-r.n.J (See also Cant. iii. 4.) 
 
 Does not this representation also illustrate the story 
 of Michal's stratagem to save David ? (1 Sam.xix. 12, 
 &c.] — in wliicli we observe, that, to effect his purpose, 
 Saul sent messengers to Michal ; but these messen- 
 gers treated the harem of Michal (the king's daughter) 
 with too much respect to enter it at first : but, being 
 subsequently authorized by Saul, they entered even 
 into her chamber, and during the delay occasioned 
 by their respect for the privacy of 31ichal, David es- 
 caped. How urgent was this order of Saul, which 
 thus, in the person of his daughter, violated the pro- 
 priety and decorum due to the sex ! A confirmation 
 of this idea may be deduced from baron du Tott ; in 
 whose work we find a sick prince confined to the 
 harem of his palace : " Krim Gueray [the cham of 
 the Crimea] was so weak, he scarceh^ could appear 
 in public ; but the artful physician declared it a salu- 
 tary crisis, describing the symptoms as they followed, 
 and warranted a cure. Krim Gueray, however, was 
 confined to his harem; and I was justly terrified at 
 his situation. I had lost all hope, and never expected 
 more to see the cham, when he sent for me, to come 
 and speak to him. I was introduced into his harem, 
 where I found several of his women, whose grief, and 
 the general consternation, had made them forget to 
 retire. I entered the apartment where the cham 
 lay . . . ." (Vol. i. part iii. p. 209.) 
 
 This sanctity of the harem agrees also with the 
 Btory of Jael and Sisera : — for, doubtless, Sisera ex- 
 pected the greatest security, by retiring into the pe- 
 culiarly private tent of Jael ; and certainly, if the 
 harems of the Greeks (a conquered and despised na- 
 tion) are now "almost as sacred as those of the 
 Turks," the private tent of the wife of Heber, the 
 Kenite, might have been esteemed a sanctuary, suf- 
 ficiently secure from intrusion among the Israelites, 
 with whom she was in alliance. 
 
 By means of this construction of cells, or chamber 
 within chamber, Mr. Taylor also proposes to elucidate 
 the account of Samson and Delilah, (Judg. xvi. 9.) 
 which is generally explained by means of an alcove 
 to contain the bed, in the chamber. But it is sub- 
 mitted, whether the idea of chamber within cham- 
 ber does not better suit this history than that of an 
 alcove, separating (or sejjarated from) part of the 
 chamber; — whether it do not allow more conve- 
 niences for concealment, as well as for requisite op- 
 erations, and is not more conformable to that decency, 
 
 of which the appearance, at least, was necessary to 
 deceive Samson, and to elude the consequences of 
 his ^vl•ath, if he had discovered his enemies in their 
 ambush. 
 
 There seems to be an allusion to the kind of cham- 
 bers {ivide house, house of chambers) which we have 
 been describing, in Prov. xxv. 24. q. d. " If a per- 
 son, by good fortune, should dwell in the most dis- 
 tant chamber of the gallery, from a quarrelling 
 woman, yet her contention will disturb the whole 
 dwelling, and every one of its inhabitants will suffer 
 by their troublesome neighbor, who will either spread 
 the flame of strife from chamber to chamber, or an- 
 noy the whole gallery by her brawls and squabbles." 
 
 The houses of the poorer class of people in the 
 East are very bad constructions, consisting of mud 
 walls, reeds, and rushes ; whence they become apt 
 comparisons to the fragility of human life ; and as 
 mud, slime, or at best unburnt brick, is used in form- 
 ing the walls, the expression (Job xxiv. 16.) of "dig- 
 ging through houses" is easily accounted for ; as is 
 the behavior of Ezekiel, (chap. xii. 5.) who dug 
 through such a wall in the sight of the people ; where- 
 by, as may be imagined, he did little injury to his 
 house, notwithstanding which, the symbol was very 
 expressive to tlie beholders, Niebuhr describes and 
 represents an Arabian hut, in Yemen, composed of 
 stakes, and plastered with clay. To such a one Job 
 seems to allude : (chap. iv. 19.) "God putteth no 
 confidence in his angels ; how much less in them 
 who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in 
 the dust ; who are crushed by a moth striking against 
 them I" He compares the human body and consti- 
 tution to one of these tenements of clay, by reason of 
 its speedy dissolution, under any one accident of the 
 many to which it is exposed. How uncertain is 
 health, strength, favor ! — a breeze of wind too strong, 
 a shower of rain too heavy, often produces disorders 
 which demolish the tenement. The appearance of 
 this hut seems to imply the very contrary of dura- 
 bility ; and, indeed, those houses made of merely 
 dried clay, are often endangered by a shower of rain, 
 if it be of any continuance. Such a house, only set, 
 as it were, on the ground, would easily be swept away 
 by one of those torrents which in the rainy season 
 burst from the hills, according to our Lord's descrip- 
 tion, in Matt. vii. 27. 
 
 Heaven is considered as the house of God : (John 
 xiv\2.) "In my Father's house are many mansions." 
 
 The grave is the house appointed for all the living, 
 Job XXX. 23 ; Isa. xiv. 18. 
 
 House is taken for the body: (2 Cor. v. 1.) "If 
 our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved ;" 
 if our bodies were taken to pieces by death. The 
 comparison of the body to a house is used by Mr. 
 Harmer to explain the similes, Eccl. xii. and is illus- 
 trated by a passage in Plautus, Mostell. Act i. Scene 2. 
 
 The church of God is his house: (1 Tim. iii. 15.) 
 " How thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house 
 of God, that is, the church of the living God." In 
 the same sense, Moses was faithful in all the house of 
 God, as a servant, but Christ as a son over his own 
 house ; whose house are we (Christians). But this 
 sense may include that of household, persons com- 
 ])osing the attendants, or retainers to a prince, &c 
 (See Household.) This intimate reference of house 
 or dwelling, to the adherents, intimates, or partisans 
 of the householder, is, probably, the foundation of 
 the simile used by the apostle Peter: (1 Epist. ii. 5.) 
 "Ye (Christians) as living stones are built up into a 
 spiritual house."
 
 HOUSEHOLD 
 
 [ 512] 
 
 HUM 
 
 HOUSEHOLD. The word house is frequently 
 used in Scripture to denote a family or household. 
 Thus the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house, Gen. 
 xii. 17. What is my house, that thou hast brought 
 me hitherto? 2 Sam. vii. 18. So Joseph (Luke i. 
 27 ; ii. 4.) was of the house of David, but more es- 
 pecially he was of his royal lineage, or family ; and, 
 as we conceive, in the direct line or eldest branch of 
 the family ; so that he was next of kin to the throne, 
 if the government had still continued in possession of 
 the descendants of David. (See also 1 Tim. v. 8.) 
 
 The following extracts have a bearing upon this 
 sense of the word house, and illustrate the passages 
 to which they are referred : " This Turk, accustomed 
 to see me employed by the grand seignior, intrusted 
 me with all his intended military operations, and 
 made no doubt but I should exert myself in the re- 
 duction of the rebels of the Morea. The army lie 
 had collected, the command of which he designed 
 for me, was only composed of volunteers ; his do- 
 mestics were of the number ; and this bod}' appeared 
 more animated with the expectation of plunder than 
 the love of glory." (Baron du Tott, vol. ii. p. 152, 
 part 4.) This extract is very similar to the history 
 in Gen. xiv. 14: "Abraham armed his trained ser- 
 vants, born in his house, [born among his property,] 
 three hundred and eighteen." The number of these 
 domestics can occasion no difficulty ; many grandees 
 in the East have at least an equal number in their 
 households, or under their orders. 
 
 As to the niunbers engaged by great men in the 
 East, either in the household, or in other services, 
 there is no room to doubt that they are very con- 
 siderable, and much beyond what European man- 
 ners are accustomed to. " The most powerful house 
 is that of Ibrahim Bey, who has about six hundred 
 Mamlouks. Next to him is Manrod, who has not 
 above four hundred ; but who, by his audacity and 
 prodigality, forms a counterpoise to the insatiable 
 avarice of his rival. The rest of the beys, to the 
 number of eighteen or twenty, have each of them 
 from fifty to two hundred. Besides these, there is a 
 gi-eat number of Mamlouks who may be called indi- 
 vidual, who, being sprung from houses which are ex- 
 tinct, attach themselves sometimes to one, and some- 
 times to another, as they find it their interest, and are 
 always ready to enter into the service of the best 
 bidder." (Volncy, vol. i. p. 116.) 
 
 Niebuhr says, (Descrip. Arab. p. 264,) "Bel arrab 
 ben Sultan, brother of Seif ben Sultan, two sons of 
 Seif ben Sultan, and proljably many other of the fam- 
 ily of former imams, live as private individuals in 
 the country of the imam ; nevertheless, so sufficiently 
 respectable, that Bel arrab is able to maintain, by his 
 revenues, from three to four hundred slaves ;" — con- 
 sequently, he nuist have many " born in his house ;" 
 and these he might arm, on occasion ; for Niebuhr 
 mentions, a few lines lower, that "the slaves and 
 soldiers of imam Seif ben Sultan had been infamous 
 robbers." 
 
 That the term house expresses property, see 1 
 Kings xiii.8, compared with Psalm cv. 21. " Joseph 
 had been over Potiphar's house, i. e. his property 
 generally, before he was placed, by Pharaoh, in the 
 same office of superintendence over the i-oyal prop- 
 erty, or house. 
 
 It should be observed, that in the New Testament 
 there are two Greek words which our translators 
 have rendered both house and household: in their 
 time usage did not separate them. The first {ulxog) 
 signifies the immediate family of the householder ; 
 
 the other (oixiix) includes his servants also ; and llicy 
 are not interchanged, in respect to persons, in the 
 original. Hence we never read of oiy.ia as being bap- 
 tized, but of oixo; only: the children following their 
 parents in this rite ; but not the servants their pro- 
 prietor, master, oi- mistress. 
 
 HUKOK, a city of Asher ; the same probably as 
 that of Naphtali, (Josh. xix. 34.) yielded to the Levites, 
 and assigned for a city of refuge, 1 Chron. vi. 75. 
 Some think it is the same with Helkath, Josh. xix. 
 25 ; xxi. 31. 
 
 HULDAH, a prophetess, wife of Shallum, who was 
 consulted by Josiah concerning the book of the law, 
 which had been found in the treasury of the temple. 
 See JosiAH. 
 
 HUMILITY is the virtue of Christ and Christians. 
 It consists in low thoughts of ourselves, founded on 
 the knowledge of our unworthiness, and our depend- 
 ence on God for every thing. " Learn of me," says 
 our Saviour, "fori am meek and lowly in heart," 
 Matt. xi. 29. Humility, though it be not overmuch 
 in favor auiong men, has many excellent things said 
 of it in Scripture : " Before honor is humility ;" (Prov. 
 XV. 33.) "by humility, and the fear of the Lord, are 
 riches, honor, and life," ch. xxii. 4. Humility is a 
 settled and permanent disposition of the mind, which 
 shows itself in external actions, and is very express- 
 ively alluded to by the apostle Peter: (1 Epist. v. 5.) 
 "Be clothed with humility" — as with an outer, de- 
 fensive garment, tied closely upon the wearer ; — 
 implying that the humility of Christians should con- 
 stantly be manifested in their deportment and beha- 
 vior — should constantly envelope every other grace, 
 or excellence, or amiable quality, which they may 
 possess or practise ; as a surtout envelopes inner gar- 
 ments ; like a strong covering, bound around them, 
 and attached to them by the firmest connections; by 
 connections proof against temptations, calamities, or 
 far more dangerous adversaries — prosperities. With 
 reference to Luke i. 48, it may be inquired, whether 
 the " low estate " of the Virgin referred to her dispo- 
 sitioii of mind or to her situation in life. The word 
 Tu.-rtho-oif occurs also in Actsviii. 33: "In his hu- 
 miliation his judgment was taken away." Also in 
 Philip, iii. 21 : "Who shall change the body of our 
 abasement ('vile body') to the likeness of his glorious 
 body." And James" i. 9, 10: "Let the humbled, 
 abased brother glory in his exaltation ; [Eng. tr. 
 "brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted"] 
 but the ricli in that he is abased, humbled, made 
 low." Now, in this passage it seems clearly to refer 
 to a disposition of mind ; for no man is called to re- 
 joice in loss of wealth, or of property : but he may 
 well and wisely rt^joice in receiving an humble dis- 
 position of mind, as a divine gi-acc, or which is im- 
 parted by divine grace, and which ^\ill lead him to 
 think less vainly, less superciliously of his riches than 
 previously, and to value them less. Moreover, if the 
 poor brother is to rejoice in attaining that state which 
 this person is to rejoice at (putting, then there seems 
 to be a contradiction in the spirit of the precepts: 
 but as one brother may i)ossess a mind exalted by 
 divine grace, yet continue poor in tlie world ; so an- 
 other brother may posst^ssa mind humbled by divine 
 grace, notwithstanding the temptation to which his 
 worldly riches subject him. This is, indeed, imprac- 
 ticable to man, but practicable to God. If this sense 
 of the word be admitted, it docs not follow from the 
 use of it in the Virgin's song, that her station in life 
 is described by it, determinately and exclusively, 
 whate^■er Erasmus might insist on.
 
 HUS 
 
 [ 513 
 
 HUS 
 
 That there may be a vicious or bastard kind of hu- 
 niiUty, or that humihty may exceed in degree or in 
 object, would appear from tlie apostle's caution (Col. 
 ii. 18.) against an overweening, voluntary humility, 
 a humility which might refer to the agents of God 
 what should be referred only to God himself. This 
 kind of supposititious humility has its origin in real 
 pride, " being vainly puffed up of a fleshly mind ;" 
 swelled by carnal and inadequate conceptions and 
 fancies, totally misbecoming the subject. 
 
 To humble signifies often to afflict, to subject, to 
 beat, to subdue, 2 Sam. viii. 1 ; Ps. Ixxi. 4. To hum- 
 ble a virgin, or a woman taken in war, signifies to 
 pollute her honor, Deut. xxi. 14; xxii. 24, 25; Lam. 
 V. 11; Ezck. xxii. 10. 
 
 HUNTING, To HUNT. Hunting is a kind of 
 apprenticeship to war, and an imitation of the haz- 
 ards and accurrences of the chase. Ninirod was a 
 mighty hunter before God, Gen. x. 9. He was a war- 
 rior, a conqueror, a tyrant, who subdued free people, 
 and who put to death those who would not submit 
 to his dominion. The prophets sometifnes depict 
 war under the idea of hunting: "I will send for 
 many hunters," says Jeremiah, "and they shall hunt 
 them from every mountain, and from every hill, and 
 out of the holes of the rocks," ch. xvi. 16. He speaks 
 of the Chaldeans, or Persians, who hunted or subdued 
 the Jews, and held them under their dominion. Some 
 are of opinion that these hunters are the Persians, 
 who set the Hebrews at liberty ; and, in a more ele- 
 vated sense, the apostles, who are, as it were, hunters, 
 that endeavored to take men with their preaching. 
 Ezekiel also (xxxii. 30.) speaks of the kings, who were 
 persecutors of the Jews, imder the name of hunters. 
 The psalmist thanks God for having delivered him 
 from the snares of the hunters, [Eng. tr. "fowler,"] 
 Ps. xci. 3. 3Iicah complains (vii. 2.) that every one 
 lays ambuscades for his neighbor, and that one brother 
 hunts after another to destroy him. Jeremiah (Lam. 
 iii. 52.) represents Jerusalem as complaining of her 
 enemies, who have taken her, hke a bird, in their nets. 
 
 L HUR, son of Caleb, of Esron, and, according to 
 Josephus, husband of Miriam, sister of Moses. We 
 know but few particulars concerning his life ; but by 
 the little which Scripture relates, we see that Moses 
 had a great affection for him. When he had sent 
 Joshua against the Amalekites, he went up the moun- 
 tain with Hur and Aaron, (Exod. xvii. 10.) and while 
 he lifted up his hands in prajer, Aaron and Hur sup- 
 ported his arms, to prevent their growing weary. 
 When he ascended mount Sinai to receive the law, 
 he referred the elders, if any difficulty should arise, 
 to Aaron and Hur, chap. xxiv. 14. Hur was the 
 father of Uri, and Uri was the father of Bezaliel. 
 
 II. HUR, a prince of Midiau, killed in an encoun- 
 ter between Phinehas and the Midianites, Numb. 
 xxxi. 8. 
 
 HUSBAND, a married man, the house-band, or 
 band which connects the whole family, and keeps it 
 together. Johnson refers the term to the Runic, 
 house-tonrfc, master of the house; but several of his 
 instances seem allied to the sense of binding together, 
 or assembling into union. So we say, to husband 
 small portions of things ; meaning, to collect and imite 
 them, to manage them to the greatest advantage, <S:c. 
 which is, by associating them together ; making the 
 most of them, not by dispersion, but by union. A 
 man who was beti-othed, but not actually married, 
 was esteemed a husband, Matt. i. 16, 20 ; Luke ii. 5. 
 A man recently married was exempt from going 
 out to war; (Deut. xx. 7; xxiv. 5.) yet we have, in 
 65 
 
 Homer, instances of yoimg men slain, whose brides 
 waited for them at home ; or, who had plighted their 
 troth to their spouses, but were never more to see them. 
 
 The husband is described as the head of his wife, 
 and as having control over her conduct, so as to su- 
 persede her vows, &c. Numb. xxx. 6 — 8. He is also 
 the guide of her youth, Prov. ii. 17. Sarah called 
 her husband Abraham lord ; a title which was con- 
 tinued long after, Hos. ii. 16 : [baali, my lord.] The 
 apostle Peter seems to recommend it as a tale im- 
 plying great respect, as well as affection, 1 Pet. iii. 6. 
 Perhaps it was rather used as an appellation in public 
 than in private. Our own word, master, (and so 
 correlatively mistress,) is sometimes used by married 
 women, when speaking of their husbands ; but the 
 ordinary use made of this word to ail persons, and 
 on all occasions, deprives it of any claim to the ex- 
 pression of particular affection or respect ; though it 
 M'as probably in former ages implied by it, or con- 
 nected with it ; as it still is in the instances of pro- 
 prietors, chiefs, teachers, and superiors, whether in 
 civil life, in polite arts, or in liberal studies. 
 
 HUSBANDMAN, one whose profession and labor 
 is to cultivate the earth ; to dress it, to render it fer- 
 tile, and generally to manage it. This is the most 
 noble, as well as the most ancient of all professions: 
 it was begun by Adam, resumed by Noah, and has 
 been always the most comfortable state of himian life. 
 
 God is compared to a husbandman, (John xv. 1 ; 
 1 Cor. iii. 9.) and the simile of land carefully culti- 
 vated, or of^ a vineyard carefully dressed, is often 
 used in the sacred writings. The art of husbandry 
 is from God, says the prophet Isaiah, (xxviii. 24 — 28.) 
 and the various operations of it are each in their sea- 
 son. The sowing of seed, the waiting for harvest, 
 the in-gathering when ready, the storing up in grana- 
 ries, and the use of the products of the earth, afford 
 many points of comparison, of apt figures, and simili- 
 tudes in Scripture. The course of husbandry in the 
 East differs greatly fromthat among us. SeeTnRASH- 
 I>'G, &c. 
 
 HUSHAI, the Archite, David's friend. Being in- 
 formed of Absalom's rebellion, and that David was 
 obliged to fly from Jerusalem, he met him on an emi- 
 nence without the city, with his clothes rent, and his 
 head covered with earth. David suggested, that if 
 he went with him, he would be a burden to him ; 
 but that he might do him important service, if he 
 remained, and pretended to be in Absalom's interest, 
 in order to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel, 2 Sam. 
 XV. 32, &c. Hushai, therefore, returned to Jerusalem, 
 and by defeating the coimsel of Ahithophel, and gain- 
 ing time for David, to whom he sent advices, was the 
 cause of Ahithophel's suicide, and of Absalom's mis- 
 carriage, chap. xvi. 16 — 19; xviii. 5, &c. 
 
 HUSH AM, king of Edom, successor to Jobab, Gen. 
 xxxvi. 34. 
 
 HUSKS, {KiQuTta, siliqua,) shells, as of peas or 
 beans. The prodigal son, oppressed by want, and 
 pinched by hunger, desired to feed on the husks 
 given to the hogs, Luke xv. 16. Most interpreters are 
 of opinion that the Greek word signifies carob-beans, 
 the fruit of a tree of the same name ; Ceratonia Siliqua 
 of Linnreus. There was a sort of wine or liquor, 
 nuich used in Syria, drawn from it, and the lees of 
 it were given to the hogs. The Greeks and Latins 
 both name carob-beans Ceratia ; and Pliny, as well 
 as the Vulgate, calls them Siliqu(P. This fruit is com- 
 mon in Palestine, Greece, Italy, Provence, and Bar- 
 bary : it is sufl^ered to ripen and grow dry on the tree ; 
 the poor eat it, and rattle are fattened with it. The
 
 HYJE 
 
 [514 ] 
 
 HYM 
 
 tree is of a middle size, full of branches, and abound- 
 ing with round leaves, an inch or two in diameter. 
 The blossoms are httle red clusters, with abundance 
 of yellowish stalks. The fruits are flat pods, from 
 half a foot to fourteen inches long, and an inch and 
 a half broad : they are brown at the top, sometimes 
 crooked, composed of two husks, separated by mem- 
 branes into several cells, and containing flat, shining 
 seeds, something like those of cassia. The substance 
 of these husks is filled with a sweetish, honey-like 
 kind of juice, not unlike that of the pith of cassia. 
 In all probability, its crooked figure occasioned its be- 
 ing called, in Greek, Keratia, which signifies little 
 horns. 
 
 HYACINTH. By this word we understand, (1.) a 
 precious stone ; (2.) a sort of flower ; and, (3.) a par- 
 ticular color. The flower hyacinth is not spoken of 
 in Scripture, but the color and the stone of this name 
 are. The spouse compares her beloved's hands to 
 gold rings set with hyacinth, (Cant. v. 14.) [Eng. tr. 
 beryl] ; and John (Rev. xxi. 20.) says, that the 
 eleventh foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem is of 
 a hyacinth [Eng. tr. jacinth]. There are four sorts 
 of hyacinths. The first is something of the color of 
 a ruby ; tlie second is of a gilded yellow ; the third 
 of a citron yellow ; the fourth the color of a granite. 
 The Hebrew of Candcles, instead of hyacinth, reads 
 the stone of Tarshish, v^v^n ; mentioned also in Exod. 
 xxviii. 20. [Eng. tr. beryl.] We do not certainly 
 know what stone it is ; but interpreters generally ex- 
 plain it of the chrysolite, or the yellov/ topaz of mod- 
 ern travellers. It took the name of Tarshish because 
 brought from that country, i. c. from the vicinity of Ca- 
 diz. Spain is rich in topazes, rubies, and other gems. 
 
 Of the hyacinth color — according to the most 
 learned interpreters, an azure blue, or very deep pur- 
 ple, like a violet color — Closes often speaks ; as Ex. 
 xxvi. 4, 31 ; Num. iv. 6, seq. ; also Ezek. xxiii. 6 ; 
 xxvii. 7, 24 ; where the English version renders, blue. 
 It was dyed w'ith the blood of a shell-fish ; in Latin, 
 murex, in Hebrew, chilson. 
 
 H YiEN A, a wild beast. The animal known to vis 
 as the hyfena is a quadruped almost as large as a 
 wolf, whose hair is rough, and its skin spotted or 
 streaked. Hyjenas were formerly produced at Rome 
 in the public games, and they arc represented on 
 ancient medals. Pliny speaks of the hyaena, but de- 
 scribes it in a fabulous manner ; (Nat. Hist. lib. viii. 
 cap. 30 ; lib. xviii. cap. 8.) as, that it changes its sex 
 every year, being one year male, and the next fe- 
 male ; and that from its eyes are taken precious 
 stones, called hyenfB. Aristotle and ^lian say, tliat 
 it makes dogs dumb with its shadow ; that it imitates 
 the speech of mankind, and deceives them, endeav- 
 oring to draw them out of their houses and devour 
 them. They add, that it has feet like a man's, and 
 no vertebrae in the neck. Busbequius, in his travels 
 to Amasia, (p. 70.) says the hyaena is almost like a 
 wolf, but not so tall ; that its hair is like that of a 
 wolf, except in being more bristling, and marked at 
 certain distances with great black spots. It has no 
 length of neck, but is forced to turn itself quite round 
 when it would look behind. Ft is very cruel and vo- 
 racious ; drags dead bodies out of their graves, and 
 devours them ; instead of teeth, has one continued 
 bone in the jaw. It is said to imitate tiie voice of a 
 man, and by this it often deceives travellers. 
 
 It is singular that a creature so well known in the 
 East as the hyiena is, should be so seldom mentioned 
 ill Scripture. It is understood to be named in two 
 jilycf'-j only ; the first is 1 Sam. xiii. IH, "the vnllcv 
 
 of Zeboim," which Aquila renders " of the hyeenas ;" 
 the second place is Jer. xii. 9, where the LXX render 
 the " speckled bird " of our translation by " the cave 
 of the hyaena." Bochart labors to introduce the 
 hyaena in this place, and Scheuchzer also inclines 
 this way. They would render, " My heritage is unto 
 me as a fierce hyaena ; all the beasts round about are 
 against her;" which is then entirely parallel with 
 verse 8. (See under Birds.) The hyaena is the ani- 
 mal most probable to be this tzebua, at present ; and 
 as such we receive it. " It is well known at Aleppo," 
 says Russel ; "lives in the hills, at no great distance 
 from town, and is held in great horror ; is the size 
 of a large dog ; is remarkably striped or streaked ; 
 has much similitude to the wolf, in nature and form ; 
 but has only four toes on each foot, in which it is 
 very nearly singular ; is extremely wild, sullen, and 
 ferocious ; will sometimes attack men ; rushes with 
 great fury on flocks and cattle; ransacks graves; 
 devours dead bodies, &c. ; is untamable." 
 
 We suggest the possibility that that very obscure 
 animal, the sheeb, may be the tzebua of this place. 
 Russel (vol. ii. p. 185.) gives the following account of 
 it : " The natives talk of another animal, named sheeb, 
 which they consider as distinct from the wolf, and 
 reckon more ferocious. Its bite is said to be mortal, 
 and that it occasions raving madness before death . . . 
 is like a wolf. . . is perhaps only a mad wolf. Long- 
 intervals elapse in which nothing is heard of the 
 sheeb. In 1772, the fore-part and tail of one was 
 brought from Spheery to Dr. Freer. It was shot 
 near Spheery ; was one of several that had followed 
 the Bassora caravan over the desert, from near Bas- 
 sora to Aleppo. Many persons in the caravan had 
 been bitten, all of whom died in a short time, raving 
 mad. It was reported that some near Aleppo were 
 bitten, and died in like manner ; but the doctor saw 
 none himself. The circumference of the body and 
 neck rather exceeded that of the wolf. Color yel- 
 lowish gray." As this creature was scarce, (never 
 seen by Dr. Russel or his brother,) this may account 
 for the rare insertion of it in Scripture, and the igno- 
 rance of travellers. It would seem rather to accord 
 with the accounts we sometimes see of mad wolves 
 or hyaenas. Were a mad dog to establish himself 
 in any person's house among us, would he and his 
 family not be terrified, and abandon it ? 
 
 HYMENiEUS was probably a citizen of Ephesus, 
 converted by some of the early discourses of Paul. 
 He fell afterwards into the heresy which denied the 
 resiuTection of the body, and said it was already ac- 
 complished, 2 Tim. ii. 17. Augustiu thinks that the 
 error of such opinions consisted in saying, there was 
 no resurrection beside that of the soul, which by 
 faith, profession, and ba])tism is revived from sin to 
 grace. Paul informs Timothy that he had excom- 
 municated Hymenaeus, and given him over to Satan, 
 1 Tim. i.20. Two years afterwards, Hymenaeus en- 
 gaged with Piulctus in some new error, 2 Tim. ii. 17. 
 We know nothing of the end of Hymenaeus. 
 
 HYMN, a religious song or poem. The word is 
 used as synonymous with canticle, song, or psalm, 
 which tlie Hebrews scarcely distinguish, iiaving no 
 particular term for a hynni, as distinct from a psalm 
 or canticle. Paul requires Christians to entertain one 
 another with "jisalms and hymns, and spiritual 
 songs." Matthew says, that Christ liaving supped, 
 sung a hynm, and Avent oiu. He probably recited 
 the hymns or jjsalms wliich the Jews used to sing 
 after the Passover, which they called the Halal ; that 
 is, the Hallelujah Psalms.
 
 HYPERBOLE 
 
 t 515 ] 
 
 HYPERBOLE 
 
 HYPERBOLIC language is among the loftiest 
 flights of poetic composition — of unrestrained imagi- 
 nation; and it prevails principally among those who 
 are in the habit of associating combinations of fan- 
 cied imagery ; or those who, being well acquainted 
 with the ideas drawn from natural things, which it 
 means to convey, readily admit such exalted phrase- 
 ology, because they understand its impoi-t and the 
 intention of the author who employs it. On the con- 
 trary, those who have little or no acquaintance with 
 the natural ideas meant to be conveyed by hyper- 
 bolical extravagances, are always surprised, and 
 sometimes shocked, when they meet with them in 
 works where simple truth is the object of the i-eader's 
 researches. Hyperbolic expressions are but rare in 
 Scripture, though figurative or poetic expressions are 
 abundant ; rare as they are, however, they have been 
 severely conunented on by infidels, and have occa- 
 sionally embaiTassed believers. There is certainly 
 some force in the reflection, " What would infidels 
 have said, had it pleased God to have chosen eastern 
 Asia, instead of western Asia, for the seat of revela- 
 tion ? What would they have thought of the most 
 correct truth, iiad it happened, under the influence 
 of such locality, to have been arrayed in the hyper- 
 bolic attire of that country .'" 
 
 By making western Asia the seat of revelation, a 
 medium is obtained between European frigidity, as 
 Asiatics would think it, and Asiatic hyperbole, as 
 Europeans would tliiuk it : so that the Asiatic may 
 find some similarity to his own metaphorical manner, 
 and suited to excite his attention ; while the Euro- 
 pean, who professes to be charmed witli the sim- 
 plicity of truth, may find hi Scripture abundance of 
 that simplicity, most happily adapted to his more 
 sober judgment, his more correct and better regu- 
 lated taste. Add to tins remark t^\-o other hints: 
 (L) There is no reason to think the Scrijnure writers 
 imitated, in any degree, the authors of the passages 
 produced below, though their mode of expression is 
 sometimes strikingly similar; (2.) that however, in 
 complimenting (or in describing) mortal men, kings, 
 and heroes, Indian poetry may succeed by the use of 
 hyperbole, yet the Hebrew writers, when describing 
 Deity, employ, beyond all controversy, a style much 
 more pleasing to genuine and correct taste. 
 
 Without supposing that all readers will feel the 
 effect intended to be produced by the foregoing re- 
 marks, it is hoped that the style of the following ex- 
 tracts may moderate the surprise of some at certain 
 poetic phrases which occur in Holy Writ. They are 
 transcribed from the Asiatic Researches: "Riches 
 and life are two things more movable than a drop 
 of water trembling on the leaf of a lotos, [the water- 
 lily,] shaken by the wind." For similar ideas, see 
 Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Job, &c. "Gospaat, king of 
 the world, possessed matchless good fortune : he was 
 lord of two brides, the earth and her wealth. When 
 his innumerable army marched, the heavens were so 
 filled with the dust of their fed, that the birds of the 
 air could rest upon it." (Compare Nahum i. 3, 
 " The clouds are the dust of his feet:') " At Mood- 
 goghreree, where is encamped his victorious army ; 
 across whose river a bridge of boats is constructed 
 for a road, which is mistaken for a chain of moun- 
 tains; where immense herds of elephants, like thick 
 black clouds, so darken the face of day, the people 
 think it the season of the rains; whither the princes 
 of the north send so many troops of horse, that the 
 dust of their hoofs spreads darkness on all sides ; 
 whither resort so many mighty chiefs of lumbocl- 
 
 weep, to pay their respects, that the earth sinks be- 
 neath the weight of their attendants." After this, 
 how flat and low is the fulsome boast of the haughty 
 Sennacherib ! 2 Kings xix. 24. " When the foot of 
 the goddess, with its tinkling ornaments, [compare 
 Isa. iii. 18, the Lord will take away the bravery of 
 their tinkling ornaments about their feet,] was planted 
 on the head of (the evil spirit) Maheeshasoor, all the 
 bloom of the new-born flower ol" the foimtain (the 
 lotos) was dispersed with disgrace by its superior 
 beauty. May that foot, radiant with a fringe of reful- 
 gent beams, issuing from its pure bright nails, [com- 
 pare Hab. iii. God's 'brightness was as the light; he 
 had horns coming out of his hand ;^ i. e. refulgent 
 beams issuing from the hollow of it ; ' where was 
 the concealment of his power,'] endue you with a 
 steady and unexampled devotion, oflTered up with 
 fruits ; and show you the way to dignity and wealth." 
 For other instances of resplendence attending Deity, 
 see the reflective lustre of Moses, Exod. xxxiv. 29, 
 and of our Lord, Mark ix. 15 ; also Acts ix. 3. It is 
 jjrobable that all these ideas may ultimately be re- 
 ferred to appearances of the Shekinah. See also 
 Rev. i. 15: "His eyes were as a flame of fire; his 
 feet resplendent as fine brass, burning in a furnace ; 
 his countenance as the sun shining in its strength ;" 
 so greatly was it radiant, &c. 
 
 The expression of Habakkuk, above quoted, is 
 nearly a transcript of the verse of Moses, Deut. xxxiii. 
 2 : " Fi-om his right hand issued [not a fery law, but] 
 fery streams — rather radiant streams of refulgent 
 splendor, tmto them." 
 
 " There the sun shines not, nor the moon and stars ; 
 there the lightnings flash not : how should even fire 
 blaze there ? Godirradiates all this bright substance ; 
 and by its efliilgence the imiverse is enlightened." — 
 (Compare Isa. Ix. 19.) "The sun shall be no more 
 thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon 
 give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto 
 thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory," 
 &c. — " The city liad no need of the sun, neither of the 
 moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did enlighten 
 it, and the Lamb is the light thereof," Rev. xxii. 
 
 Herodotus records a remarkable hyperbole, of 
 which he did not penetrate the meaning ; he inserts 
 it indeed, but professes his disbefief of it: "In Ara- 
 bia is a large river named Corys, which loses itself 
 in the Red sea ; from this river the Arabian king is 
 said to have formed a canal of the skins of oxen and 
 other animals, sewed together, which was continued 
 from the river to the desert, a journey of twelve days, 
 in three distinct canals." (Thalia ix.) Those who 
 have perused the article on bottles will be at no loss 
 to understand the nature of " the skins of oxen, &c. 
 sewed together," i.e. the Girba ; and the "canal" is, 
 probably, merely an hyperbolical expression for a 
 very long train of camels, &c. bearing a very plen- 
 tiful supply of water, and journeying in three di- 
 visions. We meet with an hyperbole exactly similar 
 in Ockley's History of the Saracens: (vol. i. p. 314.) 
 " Omar wrote to Amrou, acquainting him with their 
 extremity, and ordered him to supply the Arabs with 
 corn out of Egypt ; which Amrou did in such plenty, 
 that the train of camels, which were loaden with it, 
 reached in a continued line from Egj pt to Medina ; 
 so that when the foremost of them Avere got to Me- 
 dina, the latter part of the gang were still in the 
 bounds of Egjpt." — Now this, being a joiirney of 
 forty days, and six or seven degrees of latitude, is 
 evidently impossible, even if all the camels in the 
 world had been collected on the spot. It imports no
 
 HYS 
 
 [ 51(3 J 
 
 HYSSOP 
 
 more, in plaiu la/iguage, than that by the tune the 
 first troop of camels might be supposed to have 
 reached the place of their destination, the last troop 
 quitted Egypt. How necessary it is to understand 
 the figurative language of a people, which often, if 
 not commonly, arises from local peculiarities ! 
 
 HYPOCRITE, one who feigns to be what he is not; 
 one who puts on a false person, like actors in trage- 
 dies and comedies. The epithet is generally applied 
 to those who assume the appearances of a virtue, 
 without possessing the reality. Our Saviour accused 
 the Pharisees of hypocrisy. In the Old Testament, 
 the Hebrew t^jn, chaneph, which is rendered hypo- 
 crite, counterfeit, signifies also a profane, wicked 
 man ; a man polluted or coiTupted ; a man of im- 
 piety, a deceiver. Job viii. 13 ; xiii. 16, &lc. Jere- 
 miah (ui. 1 ; xxiii. 15.) uses the verb chanaph to ex- 
 press the infection, the pollution of the land of Judah, 
 caused by the sins of its inhabitants. 
 
 HYSSOP is an herb generally known, and often 
 
 mentioned in Scripture. It was commonly used m 
 purifications as a sprinkler. God commanded the 
 Hebrews, when they came out of Egypt, to take a 
 bunch of hj'ssop, to dip it in the blood of the paschal 
 lamb, and sprinkle the lintel and the two side-posts 
 of the door-way with it. Sometimes they added a 
 httle scarlet wool to it, as in the purification of lepers. 
 Hyssop is mentioned as one of the smallest of herbs, 
 1 Kings iv. 33. It is of a bitter taste, and grows on 
 the mountains near Jerusalem. Tlie hyssop of John 
 xix. 29, is probably what is called a reed or cane in 
 Mark xv. 36 ; Matt, xxvii. 48 ; or else this hyssop was 
 like a sponge imbued with the drink. It was per- 
 haps a handful gathered of the nearest herbs to the 
 spot, which might be mostly hyssop. Hasselquist 
 says, there grows out of the city, Jerusalem, near the 
 fountain of Solomon, (Siloam ?) a very minute moss ; 
 and he asks, " Is not this the hyssop ? It is at least 
 as diminutive as the cedar is tall and majestic." (Let- 
 ter, Sept. 92, 1751.) 
 
 IDD 
 
 IBEX, a wild goat. See Goat (Wild). 
 
 IBIS, (fiipji, yanskuph, Eng. trans, oivl,) an un- 
 clean bird, common in Egypt, Lev. xi. 17. Strabo 
 describes it as being like a stork ; some are black, and 
 others white. The Egyptians worshipped them be- 
 cause they devour the serpents, which otherwise 
 would overrun the country. It was a capital crime 
 to kill an ibis, though inadvertently. Cambyses, 
 king of Persia, being acquainted with this, placed 
 some of them before his army, while he besieged 
 Damietta. The Egyptians, not daring to shoot 
 against them, suffered the town to be taken. Mr. 
 Taylor is of opinion that the yanskuph is not the an- 
 cient ibis, but the Ardea ibis, described by Hassel- 
 quist. See Birds. 
 
 IBLEAIM, a tomi in the half-tribe of Manasseh, 
 east of Jordan ; (Josh. xvii. 11.) jMobably the Bileam 
 (1 Chron. vi. 70.) given to the Levites of Kohath's 
 family. 
 
 IBZAN, of Judah, the eighth judge of Israel, suc- 
 ceeded Jephthah, (A. M. 2823,) and died at Beth- 
 lehem, alter seven years' government, Judg. xii. 
 8—10. 
 
 ICHABOD, son of Phinehas, and grandson of 
 Eli, the high-priest. He was born at the moment 
 when his mother heard the fatal news of the ark 
 being taken ; whence he obtained his name, " Alas, 
 the glory .'" i. e. inglorious, 1 Sam. iv. 19 — 21. 
 
 ICONIUM, now called Cogni, or Konieh, formerly 
 the capital of Lycaonia, as it is now of Caramania, 
 in Asia Minor. Paul, visiting Icoiiium, (A. D. 45.) 
 converted many Jews and Gentiles ; (Acts xiii. 51 ; 
 xiv. 1, &c.) but some unbelieving Hebrews excited 
 a persecution against him and Jiarnabas, and they 
 escaped with difficulty. — He vuKhirtook a second 
 journey to Iconium, A. D. 51. 
 
 IDALAH, a city of Zebuhin, Josh. xix. 15. 
 
 I. IDDO, ("(-IN,) cliief of the Nethinim, in captivity 
 in Casiphia, (Ezra \ iii. 17.) who were invited by Ezra 
 to return to Jerusalem. 
 
 II. IDDO,(n^) chief of the half-tribe of Manas- 
 seh beyond Jordan, 1 Chron. xxvii. 21. 
 
 IDL 
 
 III. IDDO, (ny,) father of Barachiah, and grand- 
 father of the prophet Zechariah, Zech. i. 1. In Ezra 
 V. 1 ; vi. 14, Zechariah is called son of Iddo, accord- 
 ing to HebreAv usage. 
 
 IV. IDDO, (n;',) a prophet of Judah, who wrote 
 the history of Rehoboam and Abijah. It seems by 
 2 Chron. xiii. 22, that he had entitled his work Mid- 
 rash, or Inquiries. Josephus and others are of opin- 
 ion, that he was sent to Jeroboam, at Bethel, and 
 that it was he who was killed bv a lion, 1 Kings xiii. 
 
 IDLE, IDLENESS. These words are capable 
 of at least two senses; (1.) of an inevitable vacation 
 from employment, from want of opportunity ; (Matt. 
 XX. 3, 6.) (2.) of a criminal inattention to labor or 
 duty, when it ought to be discharged, Exod. v, 8. 17 ; 
 Prov. xix. 15, This idleness is a great evil; so we 
 read, 1 Tim. v. 13, "They learn to be idle . . . and 
 not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies." The 
 remedy for such idleness is, "let them not eat," 2 
 Thess. iii. 10. This leads us to the true import of 
 our Lord's words, (Matt. xii. 30.) "Men shall give 
 account for every idle word ;" meaning that vain 
 conversation which tends to injury, that inconsider- 
 ate discourse which is not only without advantage, 
 but actually pernicious. The rabbins have a prov- 
 erb, that " the Spirit of God never resides in a light 
 head, nor with idle wohIh ;" that is, unseemly dis- 
 course banishes the Holy Spirit. They say also, 
 " Against idle discourse a man must stop his ears," 
 as they do at hearing blas|)heiiiy. In short, vain 
 Avords, lies, follies, are what is meant by idle words. 
 The LXX use this word to translate' the Hebrew 
 which signifies lying; (Exod. v. 9; IIos. xii. 1; 
 Mic. i. 14; Hab. ii. 3 ; Zeph. iii. 13.) and the Latins 
 employ the word " useless" to the same import. [On 
 the <jf;fii( Ko/oi , etnpty ti'ord, of Matt. xii. 30, see Titt- 
 mann in the Bibl. Repository, vol. i. \>. 481. R. 
 
 In the sense of idle, as a relaxation from labor, the 
 best of men have their idle times, and their idle words ; 
 in the sense of idle, as vain, pernicious, impious, the 
 worst of men, only, indulge idle discourse, and indo- 
 lent, wastefid idleness. (Comp. Tit. i. 12 ; 2 Pet. i. 8.)
 
 IDOL 
 
 [6X7 ] 
 
 IDOL 
 
 IDOL, IDOLATRY. The Greek fi<5c.;o, sigui- 
 fies, in general, a representation, or figure. It is 
 always taken in Scripture in a bad sense, for repre- 
 sentations of heathen deities, whether men, stars, 
 or animals ; whether figures in relievo, or in painting, 
 or of what matter or nature soever. God forbids all 
 sorts of idols, or figures and representations of crea- 
 tures, formed or set up with intention of paying 
 superstitious worship to them, Exod. xx 3, 4. 
 
 The heathen had idols of all sorts, and of all kinds 
 of materials ; as gold, silver, brass, stone, wood, pot- 
 ter's earth, &c. Stars, spirits, men, aninaals, rivers, 
 plants, and elements were the subjects of them. 
 Some nations worshipped a rough stone. Such is 
 the black stone of the ancient Arabs, retained by 
 Mohammed. It is said by the prophet Amos (v. 26.) 
 that the Israelites, in their wanderings in the wilder- 
 ness, " bore the tabernacle of their IMoloch, and 
 Chiun their images, the star of their gods, which 
 they made to themselves." Stephen (Acts vii. 4-3.) 
 upbraids them with the same. It is thought, with 
 great probability, that Moloch and those other pagan 
 deities, which they carried with them in the desert, 
 wore borne in niches upon men's shoulders, or drawn 
 about in covered carriages, as we know the heathen 
 carried their idols in procession, or in pubhc marches. 
 
 The carrying of the images of the gods under tents, 
 and in covered litters, came originally from the 
 Egyptians, Herodotus speaks of a feast of Isis, in 
 which her statue was carried on a chariot witJi four 
 wheels, drawn by her priests ; and elsewhere of 
 another deity which was carried from one temple to 
 another, enclosed in a little chapel made of gilt wood. 
 Clement of Alexandria speaks of an Egyptian pro- 
 cession, in which they carried two dogs of gold, a 
 hawk, and an ibis ; and iMacrobius says, the priests 
 carried the statue of Jupiter of Meliopolis on their 
 shoulders, as the gods of the Romans were carried 
 in pomp at the games of the circus. The Egyptian 
 priests placed Jupiter Amnion in a little boat, whence 
 lnmg plates of silver, by the motion of which they in- 
 ferred the will of the Deity, and made their responses 
 to such as consulted them. The Egyptians and the 
 Carthaginians had little images, which were carried 
 on chariots, and gave oracles by the motion they 
 communicated to those carriages. The Gauls, as 
 we are informed by Sul|)icius Severus, carried their 
 gods abroad into the fields, covered with a white veil. 
 Tacitus speaks of an unknown goddess, who resided 
 in an island of the ocean, and I'or which the wor- 
 shippers kept a covered chariot, which none dared ap- 
 proach but her priest. When the goddess was placed 
 in it, two heifers were harnessed to it, who drew 
 it where they thought fit, and then brought it back into 
 her grove. They washed the chariot, and the veils 
 that covered it, and drowned the slaves that were em- 
 ployed in the service. Here are examples of gods 
 carried in niches and in chariots ; and the car of 
 Juggernaut, and others in the East Indies, will press 
 themselves on the mind of the intelligent reader. 
 The heathen also employed little temples of metal. 
 Diodorus Siculus speaks of two small temples of 
 gold ; and we know that there was, at Lacedoemon, 
 one entirely of brass, and therefore called Chalcotoi- 
 chos, or the house of brass. Victor, in his descrip- 
 tion of Rome, gives an accoimt of some of the same 
 metal in that city. Calmet thinks that the silver 
 temples of Diana of Ephesus, which were made and 
 sold by Demetrius the silversmith, were either small 
 models of the temple of this goddess, or niches in 
 which she was represented, for devotion. 
 
 Writers are not agreed about the origin of idolatiy, 
 or the superstitious worship paid to idols and false 
 gods. The book of Wisdom (xiii. 13, 14 ; xiv. 15 ; 
 XV. 7, 8.) proposes three causes of it :— First, The 
 love of a father, who, having lost his sou in an ad- 
 vanced age, to comfort himself, causes divine honors 
 to be paid to him. Secondly, The beauty of worlcs 
 engraved. Thirdly, The skill of an artificer in 
 potter's earth, who consecrates a statue of his owu 
 making, as if it were a deity. 
 
 A large number of writers on this subject are per- 
 suaded, that the first objects of idolatrous worship 
 were the sun, moon, and stars. 
 
 The order, the regularity, and the beauty of the 
 ordinances of the heavens, have been at all times 
 subjects of gratulation and wonder. Whether men 
 were rude or refined, in a social or a savage state, they y 
 
 felt the importance inseparable from the seasons of 
 the year, and gradually associated in their minds 
 the pei-iodical returns of those luminaries which at 
 first announced the returns of the seasons, and at 
 length were su|)posed to exert an influence over them. 
 The sun and the moon were, indisputably, the two 
 gi-eater lights of heaven ; to these the most powertul 
 influences were ascribed ; and the most important 
 obligations uni\'ersally acknowledged. They led on 
 the year and the months, with their respective pro- 
 ductions; they afforded means of calculating time, 
 and of defining periods ; and eventually, thej' con- 
 tributed to the formation of systems, and to exten- 
 sive combinations of numbers into nndtiples, pro- 
 gressions, and series. But in addition to these 
 principals, known to all as the sources of light, the 
 heavens presented, to the observant and intelligent, 
 various minor luminaries, the periods of which 
 were not only incommensurate among themselves, 
 but required long contiiuied investigation of their 
 appearances, to obtain materials for the theorj' of 
 their orl)its and motions. It had been well, had man- 
 kind stopi)ed here ; but, having acquired an elemeut- 
 arj' knowledge of the heavenly bodies and their 
 circuits, the misplaced gratitude of some, and the 
 pious credulity of others, attributed to them offices 
 for which their Creator never designed them, and 
 consequently never prepared them. The smallest 
 spark of ratiouality too powerfully illuminates the 
 human breast, to allow its possessor to conceive of 
 the Great Supreme, other than as a Spirit ol" incom- 
 prehensible attributes and infinite wisdom and pow- 
 ers ; a portion of which he at pleasure delegates to 
 the emanations of his creative Jiat, and which, in 
 fact, he has in some degree delegated to man, as a 
 rational creatiu'e ; and to beings much superior, in 
 degrees proportionate!}' higher. And where should 
 the imagination of man establish these superior be- 
 ings, if not in those celestial bodies, the aspects of 
 which were deemed propitious, or were thought to 
 be detrimental, beyond the interference of mortals, 
 or the ken of inhabitants of earth ? It was, then, 
 from attributing to the heavenly bodies the office of 
 mediators between man and the Supreme Deity, that 
 idolatry took its rise. It was from entreaties ad- 
 dressed to the circulating orbs of our system, from 
 solicitations beseeching their favorable acceptance 
 and report, of worship intended to be conciliatory, as 
 it respected themselves, and intended to be most pro- 
 foundly revci'ential as it respected the Self-existent, 
 the first Cause, and last End of being; who was J 
 
 indeed the only proper object of adoration, but who y^ 
 was supposed to be too high, too exalted, to be ap- 
 proached, immediately, by feeble man.
 
 IDOL 
 
 518 
 
 IDOL 
 
 Such was the state of things when the sacred pen- 
 man composed his history of the creation, in which 
 he describes, in direct terms, the origin and tlie offices 
 of the sun and the moon, but confines his account 
 of other celestial bodies to a single phrase, — " he 
 made the stars also." It was not because 3Ioses 
 was ignorant of the importance attached to the stars, 
 that he studied this brevity ; it was because he knew 
 it too well, and had too sensibly felt its evil conse- 
 quences, in the course of his own life, and had seen 
 them too extensively prevalent, to the great injury 
 of the world at large, and to the no small crimination 
 of that peculiar people over which he had now the 
 charge. This argument acquires additional streugtii 
 on a reference to the original text ; for the fact is, 
 that the stars are not spoken of, except as /being 
 placed under the power or influence of the two 
 greater lights : "And God made two great lights; 
 the gi'eater light to rule the day, and the lesser light 
 to rule the night ; the stars also," Gen. i. 16. 
 
 The jjeginnings of all arts, and of all practices, are 
 extremely simple, and it is impossible, from the 
 simple beginnings of practices founded on a mere 
 mental idea, so much as to conjecture in what they 
 may issue, when the ingenuity of man has refined 
 upon them, and they have been the study of succes- 
 sive generations. To suppose that every star, and 
 especially every revolving planet, was animated by 
 a resident angel peculiar to itself, was, doubtless, ac- 
 cepted as the happy thought of a mind deeply im- 
 bued with the learning of the age, with astronomical 
 knowledge in more than usual proportion, and per- 
 haps favored by some superior power, with a reve- 
 lation, by which it was enabled to penetrate into 
 mysteries far "beyond this visible diurnal sphere." 
 Nor less felicitous and convenient was the formation 
 of a symbolical representation of a star ; it required 
 no skill ; a mere effort of the hand was sufficient to 
 execute the design ; and the model once obtained, 
 the idol was constantly before the eye of the wor- 
 shipper, whether the original were above or below 
 the horizon. And yet, in these rude efforts originat- 
 ed that idolatry which eventually, like a flood, 
 overwhelmed the whole human race ; to which the 
 sacred books, though standing in direct opposition, 
 bear but too striking witness, and which to this day 
 retains its tyranny in some of its most odious and de- 
 structive forms. For the issue i)roved, that when the 
 stars and the ])lanets were once named, their idols 
 were named after them ; that when their idols were 
 formed, they gradually assumed the personal figure 
 of those intelligences whose names they bore, and 
 of which they became the human representatives. 
 Hence gods and goddesses of every descri])tion 
 and attribute; until at length their numbers became 
 incalculaljle, and their characters flagitious, and 
 "darkness covered the eartl), and gross darkness the 
 people." 
 
 A few thoughts on this inveterate moral malady 
 of the hmnan mind, from which no nation has been 
 wholly exempt, may with propriety introduce oiu- 
 views of the incidents recorded in Scripture. 
 
 The modern system of planetary worlds, of which 
 our earth is one, was not generally received, even if 
 it were known, in the early ages. The Persian sages, 
 for instance, adopted a scheme essentially differ- 
 ent ; and, perhaps, they received it from remote 
 antiquity. That scheme is expressed in the following 
 terms, in the Desdtir, which professes to contain the 
 sentiments of the prophets of Persia, including those 
 of Zoroaster, anterior to the time of Alexander the 
 
 Great. The notes enclosed in parentheses ( ) are 
 those of the Persian translator of the original work. — 
 " The simple being — of his own beneficence created 
 a substance free and unconfined, unmixed, immate- 
 rial — the chief of angels. By him he created inferior 
 heavens, and to each an intelligence, and a soul, and 
 a body ; as for example, Ferensa, (the intelligence of 
 the sphere of Keitvan {Saturn) also, Latinsa (its soul), 
 and Armensa (its body), And Anjumdad (the intelli- 
 gence of the sphere of Honnusd (Jupiter), and Nejma- 
 zad (its sold) and Shidarad (its body). And Behmenzad 
 (the intelligence of the sphere of Behrdm (Mars), and 
 Fershad (its soul), and llizbadwad (its body), And 
 Shadaram, (the intelligence of the sphere of the sun), 
 and Shadayam (its soul), and Nishadirsam (its body), 
 and Nirwan (the intelligence of the heaven q/W'cddd 
 ( Venus), and Tirwiin (its soul), and Rizwan (its body), 
 And Irlas (the intelligence of the sphere of Tir 
 (Mercury), and Firlas (its soul), and Warlas (its body). 
 And Fernush (the intelligence of the sphere of the 
 moon), and Wernush (its soh/), and Ardush (its body). 
 The heavy-moving stars are many, and each has 
 an intelhgence, a soul, and a body. And, in like 
 manner, every distinct division of the heavens and 
 planets hath its intelligence and its soul. The number 
 of the intelligences, and souls, and stars, and heavens, 
 Mezdam [only] knows." The reader will observe 
 the order of these intelligences: — Saturn, Jupiter, 
 Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon. It might 
 be compared with the systems of Ptolemy, and of 
 Tycho Bralie ; but that is not our present object. 
 The Persian proj)het proceeds to say, " The lower 
 world is subject to the sway of the upper world. In 
 the beginning of its revolution, the sovereigntj^ over 
 this lower world is committed to one of the slow- 
 moving stars, which governeth it alone for the space 
 of a thousand years; and for other thousands of 
 years each of the heavj-moving stars, and swift- 
 moving stars, becometh its partner, each for one 
 thousand years. Last of all, the moon becometh its 
 associate. After that, the first associate will get the J 
 sovereignly. The second king goeth through the / 
 same round as the first king; [for a thousand years ;] 
 and the others are in like manner his associates . . . 
 And imderstand, that the same is the course as to all 
 the others. When the moon hath been king, [when] 
 all have been associates with it, and its reign, too, is 
 over, one grand period is accomplished. After 
 which the sovereignty again returneth to the first 
 kmg, and in this way there is an eternal succession." 
 ...."After performing the worf^liip of Mezdam, 
 worship the ])lanets, and kindle lights unto them. 
 Makefgures of all the planets, and deem them proper 
 objects to turn to in worship .... that they may con- 
 vey thy prayers to Mezdam" ..." In prajer turn 
 to any side ; but it is best to turn to the stars, and the 
 light." 
 
 Here, undoubtedly, we have the origin of Sabiisni, 
 or the worship of the host of heaven, so often allud- 
 ed to in Scripture ; — and the real origin of teriTS- 
 trial idolatry also ; for, to those intelligences, first 
 worshipped imder the form of stars, were subse- 
 quently erected altars, temples, statues, and other 
 sacra. Their influences were sujtposed to be most 
 beneficial to those who most fervently worshipped 
 them ; nor was this all, for those who devoted them- 
 selves to the rites instituted in their honor, conceived 
 that they could, by their solicitations, (or incanta- 
 tions,) induce these celestial intelligences to favor 
 with their special presence and residence, the build- 
 ings, the figures, the emblems, consecrated to them
 
 IDOL 
 
 [ 519 ] 
 
 IDOL 
 
 upon earth ; and these gi'oss and deceptive imagina- 
 tions led the way to the vilest degradation of the 
 human heart and character. 
 
 Whatever might be the conceptions of the learned 
 and scientific among the orientals, who studied the 
 courses and properties of the heavenly bodies, their 
 mutual relations, and their alleged powers and influ- 
 ences, when they became objects of worship among 
 the multitude, they became also subject to their 
 caprice, superstition, and ignorance, as well as to 
 their depravity. Not long could the simple star 
 remain the sole representative of a celestial intelli- 
 gence ; the idea of personality prevailed over every 
 other, and with it combined the varied passions and 
 dispositions which form tiie character and distinguish 
 the persons of our species. But, most probably, the 
 progress, though rapid, was not instantaneous ; and 
 thougli too fatal in the issue, it was not, at first, con- 
 sidered as absolutely unlawful or unbecoming. There 
 was much to be said in favor of the doctrine, tliat the 
 planetary bodies governed the seasons ; that they 
 produced, and, consequently, that they bestowed, 
 abundant harvests, and plentiful supplies of the rich 
 and important productions of the field, the vineyard, 
 the orchard, and the garden. Nor did their operations 
 terminate here ; the increase of the fold was attrib- 
 uted to their agency ; together with that of cities, tribes, 
 and families. Precisely in this spirit is the argument 
 of the Israelites who jH-ofessed to ask counsel of 
 Jeremiah, the prophet of the Lord, but who acted in 
 direct opposition to it, when they not only determined 
 to go into Eg}'pt themselves, but carried the remon- 
 strating prophet along with them, Jer. xliv. What 
 had been their practices we learn from chaj). vii. 
 17, seq. 
 
 Seest thou not what these are doing, 
 
 In the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusa- 
 lem ? 
 
 The sons gather wood, 
 
 And the fathers kindle the fire. 
 
 And the women knead the dough. 
 
 To make cakes for the regency of the heavens, 
 [queen of heaven, Engl, tr.] 
 
 And to pour out libations to strange gods. 
 
 This is Blayney's translation ; who also reads chap, 
 xliv. 15, seq. in the following manner : " Then all the 
 men, who knew that their wives had burned incense 
 unto strange gods, and all the women who stood by, 
 a great company, even all the people that dwelt in 
 the land of Egj^pt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, 
 Baying, As for the word which thou hast spoken to 
 us in the name of Jehovah, we will not hearken unto 
 thee. But we will surely perform what is gone forth 
 out of our mouth, in burning incense to the regency 
 of the heavens, [queen of heaven,] and pouring out 
 libations thereunto ; like as we did, we, and our 
 fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of 
 Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, when we had 
 plenty of bread and were prosperous, and saw no 
 adversity. But from the time we left off to burn in- 
 cense to the regency of the heavens, and to pour out 
 libations thereunto, we have been in want of every 
 thing, and have been consumed by the sword and by 
 famine : and when we burned incense to the regency 
 of heaven, pouring out also libations thereunto, did 
 we, exclusively of our men, make cakes for it, wor- 
 shmping it, and pouring out libations thereunto ?" 
 
 From our imperfect acquaintance with the idola- 
 trous rite here described, this passage presents many 
 
 difiiculties. But, before we proceed further, it should 
 be observed, that our English margin, adopting the 
 readnig of the Complutensian, (vii. 18.) renders, the 
 frame or ivorkmanship of heaven : the LXX render, 
 T.} oTQaTta, the host of heaven ; but, in chap. xhv. 17—- 
 19, they render T.} (iaat/.laoiiTov otfjarov, the queen of 
 Jieaven. [Eng. mar g. frame or workmanship, in verse 
 17 ; queen, in verses 18, 19, according to the Com- 
 plutensian ; which strangely varies the reading in 
 these verses, though intending the same power.] 
 These variations are sufficient proofs of confusion ; 
 and that arising from a cause of no modern date. 
 But by the help of the second extract from the 
 Desatlr above, we may, perhaps, be able to explain 
 this. We there read that the planets, in succession, 
 obtain first as associates, afterwards as principals, the 
 office of king, each for a thousand years ; and that 
 the series ends with the moon. It is evident that 
 when a feminine planet is king, whether as associate 
 or as principji'. she would be called queen. Now the 
 moon is not feu inine ; but is addressed as " Lord of 
 moistures" — and is, in many languages, as well as in 
 these pncient Persian prayers, of the masculine gender. 
 It follows that Venus is the only planet which can be, 
 properly speaking, queen of lieaven ; and during her 
 millennium she M^ould be the countei-part of all the 
 characters described in this passage ; — a female regent, 
 enjoj'ing dominion, rule, or superiority ; a delegated 
 agent ; especially, in association with a slow-moving 
 star ; and, in such association, not only one of the host 
 of heaven, herself, but also, and especially, by her con- 
 nection with her principal, according to the frame, 
 workmanship, or organization of the celestial orbs in 
 their courses and mutual relations. 
 
 We see now the reason why the women were prin- 
 cipals in the idolatry so severely reproved by Jere- 
 miah ; they worshipped the female regent in her 
 grosser character of Venus Genetrix ; and are, there- 
 fore, threatened, in opposition to her character, with 
 the very annihilation of their desires : " I will pour 
 out my fury upon man and upon beast, and upon the 
 trees of the field, and upon the fruits of the ground ; 
 in short, on all the powers of increase, animal and 
 vegetable." 
 
 The prophet, in continuation, charges all the peo- 
 ple as parties to the idolatry practised in their country : 
 
 At that time, saitli Jehovah, shall they cast forth 
 The bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of 
 
 the princes. 
 And the bones of the priests, and the bones of the 
 
 prophets. 
 And the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of 
 
 their graves ; 
 And they shall spread them before the sun and the 
 
 moon. 
 And all the host of heaven, which they have loved. 
 And which they have served, and after which they 
 
 have gone, 
 And which they have served, and to which they 
 
 have bowed down, &c. 
 
 Here we have the sun, the moon, and the host of 
 heaven — the starSj generally ; but in 2 Kings xxiii. 5. 
 we have a more jiarticular enumeration — " They 
 burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, 
 and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven." 
 Here Baal is distinguished from the sun, (see Baal, 
 p. 121.) and the planets are clearly distinguished from 
 the fixed stars, though usually reckoned among the 
 host of heaven. As this text is the only one that
 
 IDOL 
 
 [ .520 
 
 IDOL 
 
 separates the planets from the host of heaven, it 
 deserves particular notice ; and the rather, as com- 
 mentators iuchne to consider Mazaloth, the w^ord 
 here, as being the same with Mazaroth in Job xxxviii. 
 31. Now Mazaroth, in Job, they interpret the zodiac, 
 ,on the authority of Chrysostom ; but, supposing the 
 twords to be distinct, as they stand in our Hebi-ew 
 JBibles, the English rendering of "the planets," may be 
 supported ; as this class of heavenly bodies is exactly 
 what is wanted in the order of the words ; that is, 
 according to the ancient Persian system, the swiftly- 
 moving stars, distinct from the slowly-moving stars. 
 
 It is remarkable that Manasseh, a tyrant who del- 
 uged Jerusalem with innocent blood, is said (2 Kings, 
 xxi. 9.) to have "seduced Israel to do more evil than 
 did the nations which the Lord destroyed before the 
 children of Israel ;" whereas, Moses cautions the 
 people — "Lest thou lift up thine eyes imto heaven, 
 and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the 
 stars, all the host of heaven, thou shor Jest be driven 
 to worship them." — It might be t' ought that the 
 terms should change places: it was not, however, 
 because Sabiism, the worship of the heavenly host, 
 was the only kind of idolatry known 'to the Hebrew 
 legislator, that he laid such a stress on this ; for the 
 connection of the passage shows that he equally 
 warned his charge against corrupting themselves by 
 making a graven image, the simiUtude of any figure, 
 the likeness of male or female, [of mankind,] the like- 
 ness of an}' beast that is on the earth, the likeness of 
 "any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of 
 any tiling that creepeth on the ground, the likeness 
 of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. 
 We infer, that images of all these were common 
 accessories to idolatry so early as the days of Moses. 
 
 When the imagination had discovered intelligences, 
 and consequently deities, in the celestial bodies, the 
 way was opened for peopling the earth also with in- 
 ferior deities ; and for believing the descent of the 
 superior, to take cognizance of the conduct and 
 affairs of mortals. The inferior deities are thus an- 
 nounced : — " Below the sphere of the moon was 
 made the place of the elements. Over the fire, the air, 
 the water, and the earth, were placed four angels — 
 Anirab, and Hirab, and Senurab, and Zehirab. . . . 
 Whatever things are compounded of the elements 
 are either impermanent or permanent. The imper- 
 manent are fog, and snow, and rain, and thunder, and 
 cloud, and ligh.tning, and such like. Over each of 
 these there is a guardian angel. The guardians of 
 the fog, and snow, and rain, and thunder, and clouds, 
 and lightning, are Milram, Silram, Nilram, Mehtas, 
 Betam, and Nisham, and so of others." The scheme 
 of idolatry is now complete; the man who wished 
 for rain implored it from the guardian angel of 
 the rain ; and to that guardian angel, or his prin- 
 cipal, he attributed the fertility of his fields, in 
 consequence of the heaven-descended showers. 
 True it is, that Jehovah claims to himself, in numer- 
 ous places in Scripture, the power of giving or of 
 vvithliolding rain ; and the prophet asks, (Jer. xiv. 
 22.) " Are there any among the vanities of the Gen- 
 tiles which can cause rain ? Or can the heavens 
 (the heavenly powers) give showers .' Art not thou 
 He, (the giver of rain,) O Lord our God ? Therefore 
 we will wait upon thee ; for thou hast made all these 
 things." Exactly analogous are the remonstrances 
 of the apostles : (Acts xiv. 17.) — "Turn from these 
 vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and 
 earth, and the sea, and all tilings that are therein : — 
 who hath not left himself without witness, in that he 
 
 did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful 
 seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." 
 But this history assists the progress of our argument ; 
 for, say the Lycaonians, " The gods are come down , / 
 to us in the likeness of men ;" — a current notion 
 among the heathen ; and it was no more than natural, 
 and just, that the superior deities should inspect the 
 conduct of the inferior, as well in person, as by their 
 agents ; (so Satan roamed over the earth, to make his 
 observations, and report ;) — nor less should they ex- 
 amine the maxims of men ; and punish transgressors, 
 or reward the obedient, in modes beyond the scrutiny 
 of common observation. The poets of Greece and 
 Italy furnish abundant proofs of this. But these 
 were incidental and uncei-tain visits ; there were 
 others which, by their regular returns, or by their 
 uninterrupted permanency, announced the constant 
 interposition of the supposed deity who presided over 
 that meteor, or that phenomenon ; insomuch, that 
 while, on some occasions, the heathen insisted that 
 "Jupiter is whatever exists, whatever you see," on 
 others he was merely the god of the atmosphere, and V 
 directed the operations of the rain, the snow, &c. as 
 supplicated by the earth. Egypt only was an excep- 
 tion ; and the exception confirmed the rule: 
 
 jTe propter nidlos fellus tua postidat imbres, 
 Arida nee pluvio supplicat herba Jovi. 
 
 Tibull. hb. i. Eleg. 7. 
 
 Among the most determinate and obvious gifts of 
 the gods, rivers held a distinguished place ; in fact, V 
 not a few of them were considered as gods them- 
 selves, and this probably arose, not merely from a 
 sense of the benefits they confer on a country, but 
 also from appearances somewhat striking and pecu- 
 liar in their sources. All who have read Homer — 
 and who has not read Homer? — know that the river 
 Scamander was esteemed a deity, and venerated as 
 divine. Herodotus says of tJie Persians, that they 
 held rivers in especial veneration, that they worship- 
 ped them, and oflered sacrifices to them ; nor would 
 they suffer any thing to be thrown into/^them, that 
 could possibly pollute their waters. The same notion 
 obtained among the Modes, the Parthians, and tBe 
 Sarmatians. The Nile was certainly consecrated in 
 Egypt, was called Father and Saviour ; (or protector ;) 
 was esteemed their prime national deity, and was 
 worshipped accordingly. They supposed it gave 
 birth to all their deities who were born, they said, on 
 its banks. That the Nile concealed its head, was 
 proverbial ; and something of tiie same kind was, it 
 is credible, believed of the other divine streams. 
 
 All know that Ida was the seat of the immortal 
 gods, of which Jove was the sovereign. But why, 
 and how, was the Scamander said to flow from him, 
 to be his offspring, &c. ? Dr. E. D. Clarke has set 
 this in a striking light. (Trav. vol. ii. p. 142.) On 
 ascending Gargarus, the chief sunnnit of Ida, he says, 
 " Our ascent, as we drew near the source of the river, 
 became steep and stony. Lofty summits towered 
 above us, in the greatest style of Alpine gi-andeur; 
 the torrent, in its rugged bed below, all the while 
 foaming on our left. Presentlj', we entered one of 
 the sublimcst natural amphitheatres the eye ever be- 
 held ; and here the guides desired us to alight. The 
 noise of waters silenced every other sound. Huge, 
 craggy rocks rose per])endicularly to an immense 
 heiglit ; whose sides and fissures, to the very clouds, 
 concealing their tops, were covered with pines, 
 trowing in every possible direction, among n variety
 
 IDOL 
 
 [521 ] 
 
 IDOL 
 
 of evergreen slu-ubs, wild sage, hanging ivy, mosg, 
 and creeping herbage. Enormous plane-trees waved 
 their vast branches above the torrent. As we ap- 
 proaclied its deep gulf, we beheld several cascades, 
 all of foam, pouring impetuously from chasms in the 
 naked face of a perpendicular rock. It is said the 
 same magnificent cataract continues during all sea- 
 sous of the year, wholly unaffected by the casualties 
 of rain or melting snow. That a river so ennobled 
 by ancient history should at the same time prove 
 equally eminent in circumstances of natural dignity, 
 is a iact worthy of being related ... it bursts at 
 once from the dark womb of its jiarent, in all the 
 greatness of the divine origin assigned to it by Ho- 
 mer : — where the voice of nature speaks in her most 
 awful tone ; where, amidst roaring waters, waving 
 forests, and broken precipices, the mind of man be- 
 comes impressed, as by the influence of a present 
 Deity. I climbed the rocks with my companions, to 
 examine more closely the nature of the chasms 
 whence the torrent issues. Having reached these, 
 we found, in their front, a beautiful natural basin, 
 six or eight feet deep, serviug as a reservoir for the 
 water in the first moments of its emission. It was so 
 clear, that the minutest object might be discerned at 
 the bottom. The copious overflowing of this reser- 
 voir causes the appearance, to a spectator below, of 
 different cascades falling to the depth of about foi"ty 
 feet : but there is only one source. Behind are the 
 chasms whence the water issues. We entered 
 one of these, and passed into a cavern. Here the 
 water appeared, rushing with great force beneath the 
 rock, towards the basin on the outside. It was the 
 coldest spring we had found in tiie country. . . . The 
 whole rock about the source is covered with moss. 
 Close to the basin gi-cw hazel and plane-trees ; above 
 w^ere oaks and pines ; all beyond was a naked and 
 fearful precipice." Such is the source of the river, 
 the offspring of Jove. On the summit of the moun- 
 tain whence it flows, the deities of classic antiquity 
 held their court, Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Venus, Mer- 
 cury, Diana, &c. who were, in short, the celestial in- 
 telligences of the planets transferi-ed to earth. 
 
 .The deities of Greece were not originally Greek ; 
 neither were they, strictly speaking, Egyptian ; but 
 India was'tTieir primary station ; — not the provinces 
 now called Bengal, but those more to the north, 
 Avhere rises the long chain of mount Himalaya, in all 
 /the pride of eternal snows, and endless peaks of ice. 
 Surrounded by these mountains, the highest in the 
 world, is the famous lake Mansaro\\'ara, whose ca- 
 pacious waters are deemed sacred by all the Brah- 
 minical tribes and their followers. Here also rise the 
 most famous rivers; the Bramahputra ; ("son of 
 Brahma," the deity ;) the Ganges, (Ganga, feminine ;) 
 who sprung from the head of the Indian Jove ; the 
 Indus, or Nilal), with its contributing streams ; and 
 the Gihoon, which runs northerly, a direction con- 
 trary from the former. As we are not able to offer 
 so particular an account of the sources of these rivers 
 OS Dr. Clarke has furnished of the sources of the 
 river Scamander, we must entreat the reader to bear 
 in mind the identity of the Grecian deities with those 
 of the original India, and to expect to meet them 
 again, in exactly the same situation, at tiie sunnnit of 
 a mountain, at the source of a stream, rendennl sa- 
 cred by their presence, and doubly sacred as being 
 their otTspring. — Change of name effects no change 
 of character. 
 
 A Plate of the Origin of the River Gauges in the 
 larger edition of Calmet, (No. LXXVI.) shows these 
 66 
 
 ideas in the form of an allegory, at once mythological 
 and geographical ; the principal deities of India are 
 represented on the summits of the Snowy mountains, 
 giving birth to the Ganges ; which, from those moun- 
 tains, falls from precipice to precipice, till it reaches 
 the entrance into the lower provinces, which it an- 
 nually overflows. The river is seen to issue from 
 the loot of Vishnu, the pervading spirit of the su- 
 preme, who here assumes a female form. Behind 
 her sits Nared, (Mercury,) playing on the bina, a 
 nnisical instrument, analogous to tlie lyre of Mercu- 
 r}' ; and before her dances Bhavani, (Venus,) ani- 
 mated no doubt by Nared's celestial melody ; near 
 Bhavani stands Brahma, (Jupiter,) who sanctions the 
 joyful occurrence by his presence. Adjacent are the 
 temples of Scheu Log; that is, of Siva, (the changer 
 of forms,) of Parvati, (Cybele,) the " general mother ;" 
 and in the sanctuary adjoining is Ganesa, with the 
 head of an elephant. Attached is a dwelling of Chi- 
 ven, and of the Bramins engaged in his service. 
 Another temple marked Beschan Log, " the residence 
 of Vishnu," is inhabited by the Bramins attached to 
 his worship. Here are worshipped Lachmi, wife of 
 Vishnu, the goddess of riches. A third structure, 
 Brem Log, " the residence of Brahma," v.as no doubt 
 the dwelling of Brahma, and of the Bramins attached 
 to him. It is said that this temple no longer exists ; 
 which, if true, seems to prove that the original draw- 
 ing of it was composed while it was standing; which 
 is allowing it considerable antiquity. Gaitris and 
 Sarsatis appear in the chapel of this convent ; the 
 last is the wife of Brahma, and the goddess of the 
 sciences, IMinerva. Sanoc Sanandam, the eldest of 
 her sons, is here in the chapel dedicated to his family. 
 The stream that issues from the foot of the goddess 
 dashes on the head of a deity, sitting at some distance 
 below, on a gi-eat rock ; and in the early part of its 
 course it is visited by Brahma, who i-eceives part of 
 the water into a patera or vase, as if he intended to 
 drink of it : and by this he confers additional sanctity 
 on the stream. From the head of the deity, the 
 water rebounds into another direction, and falls in a 
 cascade, or cataract, forming a mass of spray, where 
 it is received by seven men, the Richis, peculiarly 
 holy persons, or devotees ; and it seems that baptism, 
 by being wetted with the falling spray of this cataract, 
 is esteemed a very happy and sacred ablution ; and 
 is a kind of baptism very ancient among the Hindoos, 
 and others. These seven Richis are said to come 
 every seventh day of the week, to receive this falling 
 shower on thcirheads. From this cataract the river 
 proceeds to another rock, signified by the head of a 
 cow, and known under the name of " the Cow's 
 Mouth ;" through this rock it passes, and is received 
 into an octagon basin, apparently formed by art ; 
 leaving which, it continues its course to another fall, 
 near the city ofllordear, or Ilardwar, (Ileridwar,) 
 where it enters the fertile provinces of India. 
 
 The image of a female form, as giving birth to a 
 river, appears, with some variation, on medals of An- 
 tioch, of Carrlue, of Damascus, of Ptolemais, of Rhc- 
 sen, of Singara, of Shinar, of Tartus ; and in fact, en 
 coins of very many other cities; — cities of the great- 
 est antiquity, situated in the midst of deserts, and 
 wanting water themselves; cities very distant from 
 each other, and by no means likely to a[)propriate 
 each other's device. The inference is conclusive, 
 therefore, of a conunon and early origin of this type ; 
 and that origin couM be no other than the country 
 whence all these people drew their own ongm ; or, 
 derived from localities, the memory of which they
 
 IDOL 
 
 [ 522 ] 
 
 IDOL 
 
 all desired to preserve ; as in their religious rites, so 
 also on their public tokens. But if it be granted that 
 these people commemorated the country of their 
 common and early origin, and that origin was at, or 
 near, the sources of the Ganges, it will lead to a con- 
 clusion confirmatory of the opinion for a very eastern 
 position of Paradise, &(.c. (See Eden.) (The resem- 
 blance between the Hindoo and the Egyptian deities 
 will suggest themselves to the reader. See Asiatic 
 Researches, vol. i. p. 242.) 
 
 With these tokens we should also connect the tra- 
 ditionary accounts, which long continued among the 
 heathen, of that most memorable catastrophe, the 
 deluge. There can be no doubt, but what many 
 memorials of that event were popular, and even were 
 venerated, throughout Asia; and with little risk we 
 may affirm, that the country in which the second 
 gi'eat father of mankind resided, gave occasion to 
 various emblems, and to figures as well compound as 
 simple, which entered deeply and extensively into 
 the rituals and the mysteries of those tribes of his 
 descendants which formed colonies and obtained set- 
 tlements in distant parts. See Deluge. 
 
 It is proper to mention a reaction, to which some 
 of the principles now adduced have given occasion ; 
 it is that of placing in the heavens, in the form of 
 constellations, memorials of those transactions which 
 \ so greatly interested mankind. The constellation of 
 the ship, [Argo,] of the raven, of the dove, of the al- 
 tar, of the victim, and the sacrificer, bear no mcom- 
 petent witness to the history of the deluge. Orion 
 has been thought to be Noah ; and the asttrism of the 
 river, as Ptolemy calls it, the head of which river 
 commences at the foot of Orion, will be easily un- 
 derstood by the reader of the pi-eceding pages. As 
 we are not aware of any allusion to this reaction in 
 Scripture, it may be passed over with this slight no- 
 tice. But the subject may bear a few general re- 
 marks. The first remark is, that since idolatry had 
 v^ several sources, and more than one origin, it is not cor- 
 rect to refer all the idols of the Gentiles, without ex- 
 ception, to a single source. When Macrobius affirms, 
 that all deities run ultimately into the sun, he is cer- 
 tainly mistaken ; nor is Bryant less mistaken, when 
 he refers all deities to persons and events connected 
 with the deluge. Still, it must be admitted, that many 
 deities coalesce in the sun, and that many memorials 
 of the deluge became, evenuially, objects of venera- 
 tion, and gradually of worship. Nor must we forget 
 that the intelligences, or guardians of the elements, 
 &c. were multiplied, till every hill, and dale, and 
 tree, and grotto, had its titulary protector or protect- 
 ress. That the Magian notion of guardians over the 
 elements was by no means confined to Persia, is evi- 
 dent from the opinions of the Egyptians, w'ho, says 
 Porphyry, commenced the worship of Serapis hyjire 
 and water. Diodorus says, " The Egyptians esteemed 
 fire, which they called Hephaistus, to be a great god." 
 — They even thought it to be a living animal, en- 
 dowed with a soul, according to Herodotus, (lib. iii. 
 cap. IC.) And this might be independent of ref- 
 erence to the sun. Moreover, every traveller into 
 Greece and Italy knows abundance of caves, and 
 forests, and rills, which formerly were haunts of 
 dryads and nymphs. 
 
 A second remark is, that it is desirable, in reading 
 Scripture, and other historical writings, to distinguish 
 the species of idolatry alluded to, where it is possible. 
 For instance, the teraphim of Laban may be the 
 earliest idols mentioned; yet, whether they were 
 commemorative of the deluge, or of Noah, the prin- 
 
 cipal personage of the deluge, may be questioned. 
 The time seems to be too early ; and, probably, there 
 would be a feeling of opposition in the families de- 
 scended from Shem, to all the proceedings at Babel, 
 where, certainly, idolatry of the commemorative kind 
 was patronized. The teraphim were, doubtless, 
 guardjans : and Laban supposed that with them was 
 connected the prosperity of his residence and his 
 family. 
 
 The prophets allude to many idols which do not 
 occur in the historical books of Scripture ; and to 
 several among other nations than their own. It is 
 well to be able to distinguish these, because, for want 
 of such distinction, the threatenings directed against 
 them ai-e unintelligible ; or, at least, their forcible im- 
 port remains undiscerned. 
 
 The apostles and writers of the New Testament 
 had the same deities to contend against; but under 
 another form, and presented under the more elegant 
 fashion of Grecian skill. Hence the originals were 
 foi-gotten; Vishnu and Bhavani, Nared and Seres- ,/' 
 watti, gave place to Jupiter, to Venus, to Mercury, to 
 Ceres ; and the deities best known, held their court 
 on mount Ida, not on mount Meru, at the head of the 
 Scamander, not of the Ganges. Still, their attendant 
 emblems continued much the same ; the same ani- 
 mals marked their shrines ; and these gave occasion 
 to a worship addressed to brutes, to plants, to insects 
 — to every kind of absurdity, at which the mind re- 
 volted while it complied. We have, however, the 
 consolation of knowing, that as the western idols 
 disappeared before the light of the truth of the Gos- 
 pel, so the eastern idols, though the parents of the 
 other, will in time be expelled from their station ; and 
 their influence, their dominion, and their destructive 
 powers, will become matters of history and of won- 
 der to succeeding generations. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah has clearly predicted this, in his 
 threatening against pride and idolatry : (ch. ii. 20.) 
 
 Enter into the rock, and hide thee hi the dust, 
 For fear of the Lord, and the glory of his majesty. 
 
 For the day of the Lord of hosts is upon all that is 
 proud and loftj'. 
 
 And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 
 And they shall go into the caverns. 
 And into hollow places of the dust. 
 In that very day the chief shall cast 
 His idols of silver, and his idols of gold. 
 Which they had made for him to worship, 
 To the moles and to the bats, 
 To go into the clefts of rocks. 
 And into the cavities of the rugged rocks ; 
 For fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majes- 
 ty, &c. 
 
 Jiishop Lowth says, on this passage, " They shall 
 carry their idols with them into the dark caverns, old 
 ruins, or desolate places, to which they shall flee for 
 refuge ; and so shall give them up, and relinquish 
 them to the filthy animals that frequent such places, 
 and have taken possession of them as their proper 
 habitation." There is, however, a confusion of ideas 
 in this note of the learned author ; because, (1.) those 
 who fled, did not flee to old ruins, to ])laces already 
 ruined, already desolated, but to rocks ; (2.) their 
 " carrying their idols with them," in order to leave 
 them behind when they came out again — "relin- 
 quished them to the filthy animals" — seems directly
 
 IDOL 
 
 [ 523 ] 
 
 IDOL 
 
 contrary to the prophet's meaning ; which implies a 
 getting rid of these idols as fast as possible — instanta- 
 neously: neither is it very natural, after their fright is 
 over, to leave their deities behind them. Scheuchzer 
 has approached much nearer, probably, to the im- 
 port of the passage ; and, indeed, has given it fairly, 
 though without perceiving it : — " In that day men 
 shall cast do«ai (the idols) from the top of the altar to 
 the bottom of it ; and to avoid all occasion of defile- 
 ment and superstition, shall hide them in dark places, 
 and at the bottom of caverns." 
 
 The progress of error is generally from bad to 
 worse. We have seen idolatry addressed in the first 
 instance to the celestial luminaries ; next, it transfer- 
 red the intelligences with which it had animated 
 those luminaries, to the seats of their conspicuous 
 effects on earth, and invested with a thotisand im- 
 aginary powers the guardians which it appointed over 
 the permanent and non-permanent meteoric phe- 
 nomena of the globe we inhabit, and tho atmosphere 
 that surrounds it. We are now about to notice a 
 third step in this descending progress ; which leads 
 to consequences and practices more degrading to the 
 human mind, more fatal to human life, and more 
 detrimental to morals, than either of those which 
 preceded it. And yet, it seems difficidt to conceive 
 of notions more revolting to the good sense and feel- 
 ings of mankind, than those which attended the sec- 
 ond general declension, at which we have hinted. 
 What could be more base than the deification of dis- 
 eases, with their offensive accompaniments, " which 
 flesh is heir to ?" What can we think of rational be- 
 ings, who exalted to the rank of divinities — Fever, 
 Cough, Fear, Calumny, Envy, Impudence ; and even 
 ■^ the excrementitious discharges of the body, Cloacina, 
 Crepitus, and Mephitis? Our contempt for the sec- 
 ond series of deities strongly prompts us to wish, in 
 behalf of decorum, and the honor of human nature, 
 that mankind had stopped at the first : our abhor- 
 rence of the third series will still more strongly ex- 
 cite our regret that the folly of idolatry had not ter- 
 niinated with the second. The first may pass almost 
 for innocence, when placed in comparison with the 
 second ; the second may pass almost with indiffer- 
 ence, when placed in comparison with the third. 
 
 That mankind should retain a respect for depart- 
 ed worth, should tread with reverence the places 
 formerly inhabited by their gi-eat forefathers, should 
 venerate such memorials of them as bear the stamp 
 of antiquity and authenticity, is a natural sentiment, 
 neither despicable nor blamable. Hence the value 
 generally set on portraits and other recollections of 
 / tiie mighty dead, or of those who rendered tliem- 
 "* selves illustrious by the benefits they conferred, 
 whether such benefits were public or private, na- 
 tional or individual, intellectual or practical; whether 
 they improved the condition of man, by institutions 
 of the legislator, or the statesman, or by teaching the 
 most effectual processes of handicraft, of mechanics, 
 of agi-icvdture, or of domestic establishment. But of 
 all j)ersons who ever breathed, none could possibly 
 be so singularly distinguished beyond his compeers 
 as the patriarch Noah. His history was a tissue of 
 wonders of the most striking kind ; and his suffer- 
 ings and deliverance were of a nature to make aii 
 indelible impression on the minds of all who knew 
 them, of all who were interested in tliem. Add to 
 i this, the deference and obedience due to jjarcntal su- 
 I premacy ; — and it must be acknowledged, that the 
 I motives of unlimited respect to the great second 
 1 father of our race might be justified on some of the 
 
 noblest principles of humanity. But, not content 
 with this, his posterity, profoundly venerating his 
 piety, doubted not of his reception to celestial glory, 
 nor of the immortality that awaited him, when he ex- 
 changed his tabernacle of clay for a spiritual exist- 
 ence, nor of his power, connected with that spiritual 
 existence, nor of his good will to interpose that 
 power, in favor of those whose advantage he had 
 promoted, by all possible means, when on earth. In 
 short, their unbounded afi'ection, their sympathy, 
 their duty, their reverence, were not satisfied till they 
 had raised their father and benefactor to the rank of ^_^ 
 a deity ; and his name and person, and the repre- 
 sentations of his person, gradually assumed as well 
 the form as the fervency of the most direct, and 
 eventually of the most perverse, idolatry. The 
 events of his life were commemoi'ated by images, by 
 symbols, by expressive appellations infinitely varied, 
 by imitative processions, extensively practised, by 
 whatever art could devise, or ingenuity could exe- 
 cute, or language could express. By degrees, the 
 allusions, the processions, the symbols, the images, 
 though nothing more than shadows, were contem- ,y 
 plated as the substance; and i/icT/ remained long after 
 their original intention had been buried in the depths 
 of oblivion. 
 
 Will it be believed, that from the deification of the 
 best of men arose the custom of deifying the worst .' '' 
 that the apotheosis of eminent personages, who had 
 departed this life, was gradually abused and debased, 
 till the living also claimed divinity ; and to gods who 
 were yet to die, were erected temples, statues, altars, 
 and were consecrated priests, victims, and incense, 
 with all the pompous paraphernalia of sacrifice.' To 
 the most infamous of men, to murderers of fathers, 
 and murderers of mothers, to tyrants who shed blood 
 without limitation, and without remorse. — But it is 
 enough thus to glance at the magnitude and multi- 
 plicity of the crimes which history imputes to those 
 who, during life, were adored as immortals ; at once 
 the terror, the contempt, and the abhorrence of their 
 votaries. 
 
 The notion of the deities of heathenism being of 
 no sex, or of either sex, at pleasure, is so imperfectly 
 understood among us, that it requires a few "words 
 by way of elucidation. We shall instance the sun 
 and moon, chiefly, because nothing can be more re- 
 pugnant to our language, our established customs, 
 and our feelings, than to consider the sun as femi- 
 nine, and the moon as masculine. Milton, who is 
 good English authority, speaks of the sun and moon 
 as 
 
 Dispensing male and female hght, 
 Which two gi-eat sexes animate the world : 
 
 but in the German language, the moon is masculine, 
 der Mo7id, and the sun is feminine, die Sonne. An 
 Arabian poet says expressly. 
 
 To be in the feminine gender is no disgrace to the sun ; . ' 
 Nor to be of the masculine gender is any honor to the 
 moon. 
 
 In India, the moon is masculine, in the character 
 of the god Soma ; and we have already seen that the 
 moon is king, in its turn, among the heavenly bodies, 
 according to the notions of the ancient Chaldeans, as 
 stated in me Desatir. We must, therefore, fix in our 
 minds this intercommunity, or rather ad libitum as- 
 sumption of gender, among the pagan immortals, 
 before we can justly appreciate, or understand, though 
 imperfectly, certain passages of Scripture. Nor should
 
 IDOL 
 
 [ 524 1 
 
 IDOL 
 
 we be surprised to find Moloch, though king, as a 
 potentate, and though bearded as a male, yet merging 
 into a female, possessing female properties, with the 
 qualities and attributes of Venus herself, the goddess 
 of love and beauty. For instance ; 1 Kings xi. " Sol- 
 omon loved many strange women .... who turned 
 away his heart ... he went after Ashtoreth, goddess 
 of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the 
 Ammonites. . . . He built a high place for Moloch, the 
 abomination of the children of Amnion." It seems 
 clear, that Moloch is the same as Milcom, bearing the 
 same character ; and that Milcom is a goddess of the 
 Ammonites, no less than Ashtoreth, with whom she 
 is associated, is goddess of the Zidonians. By female 
 deities the heart of Solomon was turned av/ay. [This, 
 hov/ever, is no where said ; and the god Moloch, of 
 which Malcom and Milcom are only diflerent names, 
 is always niJisculine, and most probably represents 
 the planet Saturn. See Moloch. R. 
 
 It v/ill be naturally inferred, from what has been 
 adduced, that only a small portion of the depravities 
 of heathenism is known, where Christianity, the 
 greatest blessing ever offered to sufFcring humanity, 
 has prevailed. Happily, they have been suppressed 
 by public opinion, as well as by public law. Nor 
 should it be forgotten, that the better informed class 
 of heathen, alive to the feelings of natural conscience, 
 and of shame, endeavored 'o palliate these monsters 
 of immorality under the pretext of their being sym- 
 bolical stories, "cunningly devised fables," mytlios for 
 the initiated, and containing wonderful mysteries ! 
 only to be disclosed under the seal cf secx'ecy. To 
 what subterfuges will not the perversity of the 
 human mind have recourse, to evade the clear dic- 
 tates of unpolluted nature ! 
 
 It is impossible to ascertain the period at which the 
 worship of idols was introduced. Some of the rab- 
 bins say, that the descendants of Cain had introduced 
 it into the world before the flood. They believe 
 Enos to have been the inventor of it ; and in this 
 ' sense they explain Gen. iv. 26, which, according to 
 the Hebrew, may be thus interpreted — "Then the 
 name of the Lord was profaned ;" i.e. by giving it to 
 idols. But the old Greek interpreters and Jerome 
 understood it otherwise. Still tlierc is reason to think 
 tliat idolatry was common before the deluge ; the 
 inundation of wickedness intimated in the expression, 
 " All flesh had corru])ted its way," no doubt included 
 imj)icty of worship, as well as the infamous irregu- 
 larities of incontinence and violence. Josephus, and 
 many of the fathers, were of opinion that soon after 
 the deluge, idolatry became the prevailing religion ; 
 and certainly wherever we turn our eyes after the 
 time of Abi-aham, we see only a falsa worship. Tlie 
 patriarch's forefathers, and even himself, were en- 
 gaged in it ; as is evident from Josh. xxiv. 2, l4. 
 
 The Hebrews had no ])oculiar forr.i of idolatry ; 
 they imitated the superstitions of others, but do not 
 appear to have been inventors of any. When they 
 were in Egypt, they worshipped Egyptian deities ; 
 in the wilderness they worshipped those of the Ca- 
 naanitcs, Egj'ptians, Ammonites, and Moabites • in 
 Judea thos;; of the Ph(cnicians, Syrians, and olhv.\- 
 people around them. Rachel, probably, liad adored 
 idols at her father Laban';:, since she carried off his 
 teraphim, Gen. xxxi. HO. Jacob, after his return 
 from Mesopotamia, required his peo|)le to reject the 
 strange gods from among them, and also the super- 
 stitious pendants worn by them in tlieir ears, which 
 he hid under the turpentine-tree near Sichem. He 
 preserved his family in the worship of God while he 
 
 \/ 
 
 ■/ 
 
 hved ; but afler his death, part of his sons worship- 
 ped Egyptian deities. (See Josh. xxiv. 23.) 
 
 Under the government of the judges, they oflen 
 fell into idolatry. Gideon, after he had been fiivored 
 by God with so particular a deliverance, made an 
 ephod, which ensnared the Israehtes in unlawful 
 worsliip, Judg. viii. 27. Micah's Teraphim are well 
 known, and the worship of them continued in Israel 
 till the dispersion of the people, Judg. xvii. 5 ; xviii. 
 30, 31. Previously " the children of Israel did evil / 
 in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim. They ^ 
 forsook the Lord God of their fathers, .... and 
 followed other gods — of the gods of the people that 
 were round about them ; and bowed themselves unto 
 them: . . . and they forsook the Lord and served 
 Baal and Ashtaroth," Judg. ii. 11 . During the times 
 of Samuel, Saul, and David, the worship of God 
 seems to have been preserved pure in Israel. There 
 was corruption and irregularity of manners, but Ihtle 
 or no idolatry ; unless it is to be inferred from the 
 names given to some of Saul's sons — Ish-baal, or 
 Ish-bosheth, &c. Solomen, seduced by complaisance 
 to his strange wives, caused temples to be erected in 
 honor of their gods, and himself impiously offered 
 incense to them, 1 Kings xi. 5 — 7. He adored Ash- 
 taroth, goddess of the Phoenicians, Moloch, god of the 
 Ammonites, and Chemosh, god of the Moabites. Je- 
 roboam, who succeeded Solomon, set up golden 
 calves at Dan and Bethel, and made Israel to sin. 
 The people, no longer restrained by royal authority, 
 worshipped not only these golden calves, but all 
 the deities of the Phoenicians, Syrians, Ammonites, 
 and Moabites. Under the reign of Ahab, idolatry 
 reached its height. The impious Jezebel endeavored 
 to extinguish the worship of the Lord, by persecuting 
 his pro})licts, (who, as a barrier, still retained some 
 of the people in the true religion,) till God, incensed 
 at their idolatry, abandoned Israel to the kings of 
 Assyria and Chaldea, who transplanted them beyond 
 the Euphrates. Judah was almost equally corrupt- 
 ed. The descriptions given by the prophets of their 
 irregularities and idolatries, their abominations and 
 lasciviousness on the high places, and in woods con- 
 secrated to idols, fill us with dismay, and discover the 
 corruption of the heart of man. After the return 
 from Babylon, v/e do not find the Jews any more v^ 
 reproached with idolatry. They expressed much 
 zeal for the worship of God; and except some trans- 
 gressors under Antiochus Epiphanes, (1 Rlac. i. 12, 
 &c.) the people kept themselves clear from this sin. 
 
 There is one passage in the prophetic writings, 
 having a reference to this subject, wliicli requires a 
 more specific consideration than it has hitherto re- 
 ceived — we have had occasion to notice it incident- 
 ally once or twice already — we mean Amos v. 25, 
 26, quoted by Stephen, in Acts vii. 43. The follow- 
 ing is Doddridge's note on the latter text: — "The 
 learned De Dieu has a most curious and amusing, but 
 to us a very unsatisfactory, note on this verse. He 
 saw — and we wonder so many great conunentators 
 should not have seen — the absurdity of imagining, that 
 Rloscs Avotdd have sirffered idolatrous processions in 
 the wilderness. Therefore he maintains that Amoa 
 licre refers to a mental idolatry, by which, consider- 
 ing the tabernacle as a model of the visible heavens, 
 (a fancy, to be sure, as old as Philo and Josephus,) 
 they referred h, and the woi'ship there paid, to Mo- 
 loch, so as to nmke it in their hearts, in effect, his 
 shrine ; and there, also, to pay homage to Saturn, 
 whom he would prove to be the same withChiun, or 
 Remphan, who (as this critic thinks) might be called
 
 IDOL 
 
 [ 525 ] 
 
 IDOL 
 
 their star, because some later rabbins uut of iheir 
 great regard to the sabbatli, which was among the 
 heathen Saturn's day, have said niany extravagant 
 and ridiculous things in honor of that planet. Ca- 
 peilus hints at tiiis iiiterpretation too. But the vvox'ds 
 of tiic projihet, and of Stephen, so plainly express 
 makiii"- of images, and the pomp of their supersti- 
 tious ])rocessions, (sec Young on Idolatry, vol. i. p. 
 128 — 131.) that we think, if external idolatry is not 
 referred to here, it will be difficult to prove it was 
 ever practised. Wc conclude, therefore, considering 
 what was urged in the beginning of this note, that 
 God here refers to the idolatries, to which, i?i suc- 
 ceeding ages, they were gradually given up ; (after 
 having begun to revolt in the wilderness by the sin 
 of the golden calf;) which certainly appears (as Gro- 
 tius Juclly observes) from its being assigned as the 
 cause of their captivity ; which it can liardlybe con- 
 ceived the sin of their fathers in the wilderness, al- 
 most seven or eight hundred jears before, could 
 possibly be, though in conjunction with their own 
 wickedness, in following ages, God might (as he 
 threatened, Exod. xxxii. 34.) remember that. Com- 
 pare 2 Kings xvii. 10 ; xxi. 3 ; xxiii. 5." Such are 
 the embarrassments of the learned ! — Feeling these, 
 Mr. Taylor has submitted for consideration, whether 
 the nature and design of the sacred tents represented 
 on some ancient medals, may not contribute toward 
 elucidating the obscurity. The words of Amos, he 
 remarks, may bear the following interpretation (and 
 the quotation in the Acts may be I'endered to the 
 same effect): "£w< y/oit set up the succoth, booths, 
 tabernacles, temporary residences of your king [JMo- 
 loch] ; and of that Chiun you set up your images ; and 
 the star of your divinities which ye made, Ibrmed, in- 
 stituted, to yourselves." (Sec Chiun.) Now, if we 
 suppose that these succoth (booths) of the Israelites 
 were formed for the like purposes as those to which 
 we have alluded, and hke them might have been en- 
 titled to the honors of the neokorate, then we see 
 how easily any tents, or tabernacles, might be con- 
 verted into such receptacles whether in the camp, 
 or apart from it, or in retirements at a little distance 
 up the coimtry, and might be appropriated — conse- 
 crated to similar piu'poses, in a manner more or less 
 private. As these tents are distinguished by a pecu- 
 liar kind of ornament, or fringe, so might those of 
 their professed votaries be ; or if not, — yet they might 
 equally be considered as sacred to the impure di- 
 vinity, though appearing as oi'dinary tents, and under 
 this explanation, the notorious publicity of the taber- 
 nacles, the taking up, carrying in procession, &c. may 
 be dismissed from these passages. As to the "star," 
 as this was of small size, it might easily be con- 
 cealed, and carried about the person ; as we find 
 practised by the soldiers of Judas Maccabeus, (2 
 Mac. xii. 40.) also ear-rings, or other ornaments, thus 
 marked, might be worn as amulets, and carried with 
 superstitious intentions, as those of Jacob's family 
 (Gen. XXXV. 4.) in all probability were. Nothing was 
 more common among the heathen in all ages. 
 
 But a difficulty still remains ; on what occasion 
 had the Israelites thus transgressed, by setting up 
 tents to impure deities ? (1.) It is well known, that 
 in the instance of the golden calf " the people ate 
 and drank, and rose up to play," (Exdd. xxxii. G ; 1 
 Cor. X. 7.) which expression, play, is understood by 
 many conmientators in a profligate sense. (2.) By 
 the advice of Balaam (Numb. xxv. 1.) Balak, kin^- 
 of Moab, through the Midianitc women, seduced the 
 Israelites to commit whoredom with the daughters 
 
 of Moab; with wliom they had contracted acquaint- 
 ance, by a long stay in one place ; and these women 
 " called the people away, that is, from the camp to 
 their own privacies, their own residences, where 
 they ate of the sacrifices; were pampered, and 
 bowed down, not merely to their seducers, but to 
 their idols. In short, Israel joined himself by degi-eea 
 to the obscene Baal-peor:" and the immorality arose 
 to such a height, that one of the princes of Israel 
 brought it publicly home to his own tent, and was 
 severely punished for his open wickedness. Now, 
 whether on this occasion the Midianite women had 
 tents set up, at home, dedicated to the voluptuous 
 goddess ; whetlier they so consecrated their custom- 
 ary dwelling-tents for a time ; or whether the Is- 
 raelites tliemselves conseci-ated their own, or sepa- 
 rate tents, it will be admitted, that they set up, insti- 
 tuted, residences for criminal purposes, Avhere they 
 committed fornication, and where they worshipped 
 images, stars, &c. if they did not even cany them 
 about their persons ; which some might do, as gifls 
 of their paramours, or tokens of identification aud 
 cognizance by participants in the same practices. 
 No doubt, there were various degrees of guilt among 
 the individuals of the Israelitish nation. 
 
 On the Avhole, it is clear, (1.) That tents, or tern- >' 
 porary residences, were erected to Venus ; (2.) That ^ 
 the Israelites sinned by fornication ; (3.) Baal-peor 
 was an obscene deity ; and therefore it should seem, 
 tliat we risk little in referruig these tabernacles, not 
 so nuich to public processions, and carrjings about — 
 as to a vice at first practised privately, afterwards 
 spreading generally in the camp, and at length trans- 
 acted so publicly as to requu-e an equally general and 
 public punishment. The passage in Amos might be 
 understood to this effect : " I hate your feast days, 
 &c. because you do not keep my worship and ser- 
 vice pure, but, together with sacred solemnities, yott 
 practise injustice and iniquity ; just as your fathers 
 in the desert, who ofiered sacrifices, &c. to me very 
 pompously in public, but they did not serve me with 
 integrity — simply, me only, but, together with their 
 worship of me, they inconsistently, and at length, 
 notoriously, worshipped also impure deities ; the 
 same temper and spirit is in you, and therefore I 
 will punish you, by banishment from your country." 
 The quotation in the Acts coincides with this in 
 sense. 
 
 As the maintenance of the worship of the only 
 true God was one of the fundamental objects of the 
 Mosaic polity, and as that God was regarded as the 
 king of the Israelitish nation ; so Ave find idolatr)-, 
 that is, the worship of other gods, occupying, in the 
 Mosaic law, the first place in the list of crimes. It 
 A\-as indeed a crime, not merely against God, but 
 also against the fimdamentn^ kuv of the state, and 
 thus a sort of high treason. Among the command- 
 ments Avhich God gave to the people of Israel, the 
 first AA'as, "I Jehovah am thy God, Avho have brought 
 thee out of Egj'pt, the prison of slaves ; thou shalt 
 have no other god before my face," Exod. xx. 2, 3. 
 It is, therefore, the more necessary, that Ave under- 
 stand the true nature of this crime, and the light in 
 Avhich it is vicAved in the Mosaic laAV. The crime 
 to which Moses annexed the punishment of death, 
 consisted not in ideas and opinions, but in the ovcH 
 act of Avorshipping other gods. Though a man be- 
 lieved that there were more gods than one, he Avould 
 not, therefore, by the Mosaic statute, haA;e become 
 amenable to the magistrate, nor Avould an inquisition 
 have taken place.
 
 IDOL 
 
 [ 526 ] 
 
 IDOL 
 
 We must be careful, therefore, to distinguish 
 between two crimes, which, by the idiom of our 
 language, are sometimes comprehended under the 
 common name of idolatry, and whicli, even when 
 speaking about Israelitish matters, we ai"e very apt 
 to confound together. These are — (1.) The crime 
 of worshipping other gods besides the only true God, 
 to whom JNIoses gave the name of Jehovah ; this 
 was, properly speaking, the state crime already de- 
 scribed, and it is at the same time the greatest of all 
 offences agamst soimd reason and common sense. 
 (2.) Thecrimeofimag-e-worship, which is not always 
 idolatry, because not merely false gods, but even the 
 only true God, may be worshipped under the form 
 of an image. Thus the Israelites wanted to worship 
 under the similitude of a golden calf, the God who 
 had brought them out of Egypt, and Aaron, in pro- 
 claiming a festival on its being set up, expressly de- 
 nominated the God, in honor of whom that festival 
 was to be solemnized, Jehovah, Exod. xxxii. 4, 5. 
 Image worship, it is true, indicated a crime against 
 the true God ; but then it was not, if we may so 
 speak, high treason, or a crime against the funda- 
 mental law of the state ; nor is it so clearly and so 
 completely repugnant to sound reason, as the crime 
 of idolatry. 
 
 These two crimes, therefore, are in their natvn-e 
 extremely different, and the one of them is much 
 more heinous than the other. If, however, we read 
 the descriptions of them given Ijy Moses, we shall 
 not be apt to confound them ; for to serve other gods 
 besides Jehovah, or to serve the gods of strange na- 
 tions, and to make an image in order to serve it or 
 adore it, must strike us at the first glance as very 
 different modes of expression. 
 
 Idolatry, properly so called, was, as we have al- 
 ready mentioned, the greatest of all crimes against 
 the state itself, and expressly prohibited in the very 
 first of the commandments. Moses besides prohib- 
 ited every thing that was likely to give any occasion 
 or temptation to it, or to excite a suspicion of its be- 
 ing practised ; and the principal scope of his last 
 discourses in the book of Deuteronomy, is to warn 
 the Israelites against idolatry, and to exhort them in 
 the most tu'gent manner to the service of the only 
 true God. The curses, also, and blessings which he 
 proposes to tlie people in Lev. xxvi. and Deut. xxvii. 
 xxviii. and xxxii. turn chiefly on the transgression or 
 observation of this commandment. If any individual 
 Israelite worshippexl strange gods, he subjected him- 
 self to the punishment of stoning, Deut. xvii. 2 — 5. 
 This punishment may appear unnecessarily severe, 
 but it resulted from the principle of the Mosaic 
 polity. The only true God was the civil legislator 
 of the people of Israel, and accepted by them as 
 their king, and hence idolatry was a crime against 
 the state, and, tlierefore, just as deservedly punished 
 with death, as high treason is with us. Whoever 
 worshipped strange gods, shook at the same time 
 the whole fabric of tke laws, and rebelled against 
 him in whose name the government was carried on. 
 
 When a whole city became guilty of idolatry, it 
 was considered in a state of rebellion against the 
 government, and treated according to the laws of 
 war ; its inhabitants ar.d all their cattle were put to 
 death. No spoil was made, but every thing it con- 
 tained was burnt with itself; nor durst it ever be re- 
 built, Deut. xiii. 13 — 11). AVhether the children were 
 also to be put to death, is not expressly si)ecified in 
 the statute. The appropriate term by which the 
 punishment announced against any such idolatrous 
 
 city was expressed in the law, is (annn) Hecherim, to 
 consecrate to Jehovah ; or, as Luther i*enders it, to 
 put imder ban, to outlaw, or proscribe. It was re- 
 garded as wholly consecrated to Jehovah, for the 
 execution of its punishment ; the people being de- 
 voted to the sword, and the city itself consigned to 
 the flames, by way of an offering for its sins ; ac- 
 cording to what is said on the subject of spoil in 
 Deut. xiii. 15 — 17, " It shall be consumed as a burnt- 
 offering, of which nothing remains." 
 
 When it thus happened that the people, as a 
 people, brought guilt upon themselves by their idol- 
 atry, God reserved to himself the infliction of the 
 punishments denounced against that national crime, 
 which consisted in wars, famines, and other national 
 judgments; and when the measure of their iniquity 
 was complete, in the destruction of their polity, and 
 the transportation of the people into other lands, 
 Lev. xxvi ; Deut. xxviii. xxix. and xxxii. 
 
 For the crime of seducmg others to the worship 
 of strange gods, but more especially where a pre- 
 tended prophet, who could often naturally anticipate 
 what would come to pass, uttered predictions that 
 tended to lead the people into idolatry, the appointed 
 punishment was stoning to death, Deut. xiii. 2 — 12. 
 With regard to private seducers, although Moses in 
 other cases was far from encouraging informers, yet 
 such is here the rigor of his law, that it enjoins in- 
 forming without reserve upon every such seducer ; 
 even although it were a uterine brother, a son, a 
 daughter, a Avife, or one's best friend ; but it would 
 seem, at the same time, that no one was bound to 
 impeach a father, mother, or husband, at least they 
 are not particularized with the others mentioned in 
 Deut. xiii. 7, 8, 9. 
 
 All idolatrous ceremonies, and even some which, 
 though innocent in themselves, might excite suspicion 
 of idolatrj'^, were prohibited ; of these, human sacri- 
 fices are most conspicuous, as the most abominable 
 of all the crimes to which superstition is capable of 
 hurrying its votaries in defiance of the stronger feel- 
 ings of humanity. Against no other sort of idolatry 
 arc the Mosaic prohibitions so rigorous as against s/ 
 this; and yet we find it continued among the Israel- 
 ites to a very late period. For even the prophets 
 Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who sm-vived the ruin of the 
 state, and wrote in the beginning of the Babylonish 
 captivity, take notice of it, and describe it not as an 
 antiquated or obsolete abomination, but what was 
 actually in use a little before and even during their 
 own times. 
 
 Tlie other practices prohibited by Moses as idola- 
 trous, or as, at any rate, susjncious on account of 
 idolatrj', are the following: — (1.) The making linages ^ 
 of strange gods. This was already forbidden in the 
 case of the true God ; but the curse in Deut. xxvii. 
 15. seems to be esjiecially levelled against idolatrous 
 images. — (2.) Prostration before, or adoration of, such / 
 images, or of any thing else revered as a god, such / 
 as tiie sun, moon, and stars, Exod. xx. 5 ; xxxiv. 14; 
 Deut. iv. 19. I?ut prostrations before men, not held 
 as gods, were by no means prohibited ; but, as we 
 see from the writings of Moses himself, were very 
 common. Adorare is the Latin term applied to the 
 act of prostration ; and the Greeks, who, otit of na- 
 tional pride, commonly refused to pay that honor to 
 the Persian kings, expressed it by the word nQony.v- 
 ruv. It consisted in falling down on one's knees, and 
 at the same time touching the ground with the fore- 
 head. — (3.) Having altars or groves dedicated to idols 
 or images thereof By the Mosaic law these were
 
 ID9L 
 
 L 5^7 ] 
 
 IDU 
 
 all expressly to be destroyed ; (Exod. xxiv. 13 ; Deut. 
 vii. 5 ; xii. 3.) and cousidering the strange propensity 
 of mankind in those days to idolatry, it became 
 necessary to obliterate every such memorial of idol- 
 atrous practices ; else, in aftertimes, the sight of an 
 image, an idol god, might have excited such ideas of 
 its tiivinity, or have impressed men's minds witli 
 such superstitious terrors, as, in a consecrated grove, 
 would soon pass into prayer and veneration. This 
 rigor in the extermination of every remnant of 
 idolatry was carried so far, that by the statute of 
 Deut. vii. 25, 20, the Israelites durst not even keep 
 nor bring into their houses the gold and silver that 
 had been on any image, lest it should prove a snare 
 and lead them astray. Because, having been once 
 consecrated to an idol god, considering the prevalent 
 superstition as to the reality of such deities, some 
 idea of its sanctity, or some dread of it, might still 
 have continued, and have thus been the means of 
 propagating idolatry afresh among their chikh-en. 
 closes, therefore, declared it an abomination in the 
 sight of God, and warned them against bringing it 
 to their houses, lest it should, being itself accursed, 
 bring a curse upon them. Conformable to the SIo- 
 saic ])rohibition is the language of the prophecy of 
 Isaiah, in chap. xxx. 22, where he says, "The silver 
 and gold wherewith your graven and molten images 
 •were coated, you shall account imclean, and turn 
 from with aversion, as from a inenstruous woman, 
 saying. Begone." — (4.) Offering sacrifices to idols. — 
 (5.) Eating of offerings made to idols by other people, 
 who invited them to their oficring feasts ; in other 
 words, attending the festivals of other gods. — [6.) 
 Eating or drinking of blood ; Avhich naturally cre- 
 ated strong suspicions of idolatry, and was, therefore, 
 absolutely prohibited. — (7.) Prophesjing in the name 
 of a strange god. — (8.) All usages and ceremonies, 
 whereby a man dedicated himself to a strange 
 god. — (!).) Prostitution in honor of an idol, and 
 where the wages of such iniquity usually went to 
 the idol and its temple. — (10.) Imitation of the 
 idolatrous ceremonies of the Canaanites, and at- 
 tempting to transfer them into the worship of the 
 true God. 
 
 In fact, every audacious transgression of the cere- 
 monial lavr, in other words, of that law which pre- 
 scribed the usages of divine worship and the differ- 
 ent ceremonies of purification, that were to be per- 
 formed in different cases, was regarded as an aban- 
 donment of the services of the true God, and of 
 coirsc as a transition to the services of other gods 
 punished with extirpation, that is, with death, (Mi- 
 chaelis's Commentaries.) 
 
 Idolatrous marks and tokens. — We read in 
 the book of Revelation of a pei'secuting power that 
 prevailed so far as to " cause all, both small and 
 great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark 
 in their right hand, or in their forehead ; and that no 
 man might buy or sell save he that had the mark, or 
 the name of the beast, or the lunnber of his name," 
 chap. xiii. IG, 17. It may not strike English readers, 
 that this custom still prevails, in India, to this day. 
 The following extracts from Paolino's Voyage to the 
 East Indies will set it in its true light : " As the Pa- 
 gans, Mahometans, and Christians, in India, all wear 
 white cotton dresses, and made almost in the same 
 manner, you must look very closely at their forehead 
 or breast, if you wish to distinguish an idolater from 
 a Christian. The former have on the forehead cer- 
 tain marks which they consider as sacred, and by 
 which you may know to what sect they belong and 
 
 what deity they worship. They bear sucli marks In 
 honor of Brahma, on the forehead ; in honor of 
 Vishnu, on the breast ; and in honor of Siva, on the 
 arms. . . . They are called Shiuihamaijaga ; that is, 
 purification, purity." (Note, p. 17.) " When the 
 pagans after their ablutions paint marks of this kind 
 on their forehead, &c. they always repeat certain 
 forms of prayer, in honor of the deity to whom these 
 marks are dedicated. At the time of public ablu- 
 tions this is performed by the priest, who paints with 
 his finger the foreheads of all those who have already 
 purified themselves. At private lustrations each 
 person lays on the colors himself, without being un- 
 der the necessity of offering up prayers. No pagan 
 can assist in any part of divine worship without 
 being painted with the above marks." (p. 344, note.) 
 Some of these marks are not the most decent ; they 
 are numerous; have difiisrent appellations and forms, 
 and are painted with various colors and substances, 
 IIow far, when idolatry was triumphant, it was neces- 
 sary to adopt such marks in order to buy or sell, we 
 know not. It is certain, that they are objects of no 
 inconsiderable pride among devotees; and that they 
 never think themselves dressed to appear in public 
 without them. Nor must we imagine, that although 
 individuals are at liberty to adore what idol they 
 please, yet that the spirit of rivalship is unknown. 
 Thevenot uses strong language in allusion to this : 
 " There is a caste of Gentiles called Byragees, who 
 damn the yellow color ; and who in the morning put 
 white on their forehead, contrary to the custom of 
 other castes, w^ho have red put on by the Brahmins. 
 When a Gentile is painted with this red, he bows 
 his head three times, and lifts his joined hands thrice 
 up to his forehead ; and then presents to the Brah- 
 min rice and cocoa." But some of these marks are 
 drawn up the forehead in triple lines ; a white line, 
 or perhaps yellow on each side, and red (always) in 
 the middle ; which show s that these colors admit of 
 association. 
 
 IDUMEA, the name given by the Greeks to the 
 lafid of Edom, which extended, originally, from the 
 Dead sea to the Elanitic gulf of the Red sea. After- 
 wards it extended more to the south of Judah, to- 
 wards Hebron. The character and present state of 
 mount Seir, the ancient Edom, or Idumea, is described 
 in the article Exodus, p. 415. Besides this region, 
 the proper seat of the Edoinites, they appear to have 
 extended their conquests to the east and north-east 
 of Moab, and to have had possession of the country 
 of which Bozra was the chief city. To this they 
 of course had access through the intervening desert, 
 without crossing the countries of the Moabites and 
 Amorites. The capital of East Idumea was Bozra ; 
 the capital of south Edom was Petra, or Jectael, 
 The Idumeans, or Edoniites, were, as their name 
 implies, descendants of Edom, or Esau, elder brother 
 of Jacob. They were governed by dukes or princes ; 
 and afterwards by their own kings. Gen. xxxvi. 31. 
 They continued independent till the time of David, 
 who subdued them, in completion of Isaac's 
 )iroi)hecy, that Jacob should rule Esau, xxvii. 29, 30, 
 The Idum.Tans bore their subjection with gi-eat im- 
 patience, and at the end of Solomon's reign, Ifadad 
 the Edomite, who had been carried into Eg> pt dunng 
 his childhood, returned into his own country, where 
 he procured himself to be acknowledged king, 1 
 Kings xi. 22. It is probable, however, that he reigned 
 only in East Edom ; for that south of ,. cdea con- 
 tinued subject to the kings of Judah till the rei^ 
 of Jehoram, against whom it rebelled, 2 Cliron. xxi. ».
 
 IMA 
 
 [ 528 ] 
 
 IMAGE 
 
 Amaziahjkingof Judah, took Petra, killed 1000 men, 
 and compelled 10,000 more to leap from the rock on 
 which the city of Petra stood, xxv. 11. But these 
 conquests were not permanent. When Nebuchad- 
 nezzar besieged Jerusalem, the Idumseans joined 
 him, and encouraged him to raze the very founda- 
 tions of the city ; but their cruelty did not long con- 
 tinue unpunished. Five years after the taking of 
 Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar humbled all the states 
 round Judea, particularly Idumsea ; and John Hir- 
 canus entirely conquered the people, and obliged 
 them to receive circumcision and the law. They 
 continued subject to the later kings of Judea till the 
 destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Ultimately, 
 the Idumseans became mingled with the Ishmaelites, 
 and they were jointly called Nabatheans, from Na- 
 bath, a son of Ishmael. 
 
 IGNORANCE is taken, in Scripture, in several 
 senses. It denotes (1.) the absence of knowledge or 
 information, when the subject in question was truly 
 imknown. Lev. iv. 13. So Jonathan was ignorant of 
 Saul's oath, 1 Sam. xiv. 27. (See also 2 Sam. xv. 12.) 
 (2.) The absence of distinguishing knowledge, or the 
 not rightly discerning when the subject was known ; 
 (Lev. iv. 2, 3, 22 ; Numb. xv. 25 ; Heb. v. 12, 13.) that 
 is, for mistake, after having considered the subject ; 
 erring by incorrect judgment. Ignorance is some- 
 times simple, sometimes wilful ; or ignorance of the 
 power of God, while surrounded by the works of 
 God, ignorance of the will of God, while favored by 
 the word of God, ai-e inexcusable. 
 
 IJE-ABARIM, an encampment of Israel, east of 
 the land of Moab, Numb. xxi. 11. Jeremiah (xlix. 3.) 
 speaks of Hai, or Gai, which is Je, or Jai, in the land 
 of Moab. 
 
 IJON, a fortified place in Naphtali, 1 Kings xv. 20 ; 
 2 Chron. xvi. 4. 
 
 ILLYRICUM, a province lying to the north-west 
 of Macedonia, of which the old northern limits were 
 the two Pannonias, the Adriatic sea south, Istria west, 
 and Upper Mossia and ]Macedonia east ; so that Paul 
 (Rom. XV. 9.) preached in Syria, Phcsnicia, Arabia, 
 Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Galatia, Pon- 
 tus, Paphltigonia, Phrygia, Troas, Asia, Caria, Lycia, 
 Ionia, Lydia, the isles of Cyprus and Crete, Thracia, 
 Macedonia, Thcssalia, and Achaia. 
 
 I. IMAGE, or representation, of any thing. God 
 created man after his own image ; that is, as another 
 self upon earth, to exercise a dominion subordinate to 
 his. (See Adam.) Otherwise (Eccl.xvii. 3.) he created 
 him after his image, immortal, good, just, provident, 
 intelligent, &c. Lastly, God imprinted his image in 
 man, his holiness, virtue, wisdom. He created man, 
 gave him an earthly body and a reasonable soul ; as, 
 in after ages, his Word, his W^isdom, was to assume 
 the nature of man — body and soul. Adam, by sin, 
 disfigured his image of God, and forfeited the gifts of 
 grace and immortality; which Christ, by his Spirit, 
 forms anew in our hearts. God forbade the Hebrews 
 from making any image or representation of any 
 creature in heaven, or in earth, or in the waters, with 
 intent to worship it. jMoses and Solomon, however, 
 made cherubim over the ark, and in the tabernacle. 
 Moses made a brazen serpent; and Solomon cast 
 lions and oxen, and placed them in the temple. But 
 this was not with design that they should be wor- 
 shipped, though the brazen serpent of Moses did 
 receive worship. Who knows whether the oxen, 
 &c. of the temple might not have received the same 
 perverted attention, had they not been taken awav to 
 Babylon .= 
 
 Beside the common acceptation of the word image, 
 meaning a representation of something real, as of a 
 horse, an ox, a star, &c. this term is understood in 
 several other senses : Psalm Ixxiii. 20. sa}'s, " Thou 
 shalt dissipate their image," their shadow, their figure ; 
 thou shalt reduce them to nothing. Eliphaz says 
 (Job iv. 16.) that at midnight an image, a phantom, 
 appeared to him ; he heard, as it were, a voice, or 
 whisper. " Image " is sometimes taken in a contrary 
 sense, in opposition to a transient image, a phantom : 
 so " the law having a shadow of good things to come, 
 and not the very image of the things," it represented 
 these good things in a slight and superficial manner, 
 like shadows, which have nothing substantial and 
 permanent ; whereas the gospel represents the same 
 good things under a lively, solid, firm, stable, and real 
 figure ; the law was but a shadow, of which the gos- 
 pel is the reality. The law was an outline, a sketch ; 
 the gospel is a finished figure, whether picture or 
 statue. In Paul's epistles, Christ is called " the image 
 of the Father," (2 Cor. iv. 4.) " the image of the in- 
 visible God, the first-born of every creature," (Col. i. 
 15.) and "the brightness of his glory, the express 
 image of his substance," Heb. i. 3. This is not a 
 mere image and no more, a ray only ; but it is an 
 emanation from the Father, an eftluxof his light and 
 substance. The apostle requires that, "as we have 
 borne the image of the earthly, we should likewise 
 bear the image of the heavenly," 1 Cor. xv. 49. As 
 we have borne the image of sinful and ofl^ending 
 Adam, as we have imitated his sin and disobedience, 
 so we should endeavor to retrace on our souls the 
 features of the heavenly man, Christ Jesus; his obe- 
 dience, humility, patience, meekness, &c. ; or as the 
 passage, perhaps, more properly means, to be cast in 
 the mould, as a figure. 
 
 Image is often taken for a statue, figure, or idol. 
 The book of Wisdom, speaking of the causes of idola- 
 try, saj's, that a father, afiiicted for the death of his 
 son, made an image of him, to which he paid divine 
 honors. We read (Rev. xiii. 14, 15.) that God per- 
 mitted the beast to seduce men, whom it commanded 
 to make an image of the beast, w hich became living 
 and animated ; and that all who refused to adore it 
 were put to death. The images mentioned in Lev. 
 xxvi..30; Isa. xxvii.9, were, according to rabbi Solo- 
 mon, idols exposed to the sun, on the tops of houses. 
 Abenezra says they were portable chapels or temples, 
 in the form of chariots, in honor of the sun. 
 
 II. IMAGE OF Nebuciiadnezzar. The golden 
 colossus of Nebuchadnezzar has been considered as 
 an embarrassing subject, because measured l^y false 
 proportions. A proper understanding of its attitude 
 and accompaniments, however, may solve the diffi- 
 culties which have been collected out of the descrip- 
 tion given of it : " It was an image of gold : its heiglit 
 threescore cubits, and its breadth six cubits," Daniel, 
 chap. iii. The learned Prideaux felt very strongly 
 the embarrassment which arises from these dimen- 
 sions: he expresses himself thus: "This temple [of 
 Bolus] stood till the time of Xerxes ; but he, on his 
 return from the Grecian expedhion, demolished the 
 whole of it, and laid it all in rubbish, having first 
 plundered it of all its inunense riches, among which 
 were several images or statues of massy gold, and one 
 which is said by Diodorus Siculus to have been forty 
 foot high, which might, perchance, have been that 
 which Nebuchadnezzar consecrated in the plains of 
 Dura. Nebuchadnezzar's golden image is said, in- 
 deed, in Scripture, to have been sixty culiits, i. e. 
 ninety feet liigii ; but that must be understood of the
 
 IMAGE 
 
 [ 529 ] 
 
 IMAGE 
 
 image and pedestal both together. For that unage 
 being stated to have been but six cubits broad, or 
 thick, it is impossible that the image could have been 
 sixty cubits high. For that makes its height to be 
 ten times its breadth or thickness, which exceeds all 
 the proportions of a man ; no man's height being 
 above six times his thickness, measuring tlie slenderest 
 man living at his waist. But where the breadth of 
 this image was measured, is not said ; perchance it 
 was from shoulder to shoulder ; and then tlic pro- 
 portion of six cubits breadth will bring down the 
 height exactly to the measure which Diodorus hath 
 mentioned. For, the usual height of a man being 
 four and a half of his breadth between the shoulders, 
 if tlje image were six cubits broad between the shoul- 
 ders, it must, according to this proportion, have been 
 twenty-seven cubits high, which is forty foot and a 
 half Besides, Diodorus tells us, that this image of 
 forty foot high contained a thousand Babylonish 
 talents of gold ; w'hich, according to Pollux, who, 
 in his Onomasticon, reckons a Babylonish talent to 
 contain 7000 Attic drachmas, i. e. 875 ounces, this 
 [according to the lowest computation, valuing an 
 Attic drachm at no more than 7^d. or 15 cents; 
 whereas. Dr. Bernard reckons it to be 8\d. or 17 cents, 
 which would raise the sum much higher] amounts 
 to three millions and a half of our money. But if 
 we advance the height of the statue to ninety foot, 
 without the pedestal, it will increase the value to a 
 sum incredible ; and therefore it is necessary to take 
 the pedestal also into the height mentioned by Daniel. 
 Other images and sacred utensils were also in that 
 temple, all of solid gold." (Connect, p. 100, 101.) It 
 will be perceived that Prideaux supposes the image 
 itself to have been only forty feet high, while his 
 pedestal was Jijly feet high ; a disproportion of parts, 
 which, if not absolutely impossible, is utterly contra- 
 dictory to every principle of art, even of the rudest 
 art; and a fortiori of the more refined periods of art. 
 We have no instance of such disproportion remain- 
 ing. The arts had long been cultivated in India and 
 Egypt, and doubtless in Babylon, also. 
 
 Let us hear the original authors. Hei'odotus, who 
 saw the temple of Belus,is the best authority respect- 
 ing it: "The temple of Jupiter Belus, whose huge 
 gates of brass may still be seen, is a square building, 
 each side of which is two furlongs. In the midst rises 
 a tower, of the soUd depth and height of one furlong ; 
 upon which, resting as upon a base, seven other lesser 
 towers are built in regular succession. The ascent is 
 on the outside, which, winding from the ground, is 
 continued to the highest tower; and in the middle of 
 the whole structure there is a convenient resting 
 place. In the last tower is a large chapel, in which 
 is placed a couch, magnificently adorned ; and near 
 it a table of solid gold ; but there is no statue in the 
 place. In this temple there is also a small chapel, 
 lower in the building, which contains a figure of Ju- 
 piter, in a silting posture, with a large table before 
 him : these, with the base of the table, and the seat 
 of the throne, arc all of the purest gold; and are es- 
 timated, by the Chaldeans, to be worth eight hundred 
 talents. On the outside of this chapel are two altars ; 
 one is of gold, the other is of immense size, and ap- 
 ])ropriated to the sacrifice of full grown animals: 
 those only which have not yet left their dams may be 
 offered on the golden altar. On the larger altar, at 
 the anniversary festival in honor of their god, the 
 Chaldeans regidarly consume incense to the amount 
 of a thousand talents. There was formerly in this 
 temple a statue of solid gold, twelve cubits high : 
 67 
 
 this, however, I mention from the information of the 
 Chaldeans, not from my own knowledge." (Clio. 183.) 
 Diodorus Siculus, a much later writer, speaks to this 
 effect: (lib. ii.) "Of the tower of Jupiter Belus, 
 the historians who have spoken have given different 
 descriptions ; and this temple being now entirely de- 
 stroyed, we cannot speak accurately respecting it. 
 It was excessively high ; constructed through- 
 out whh great care ; built of brick and bitumen. 
 Semiramis placed on the top of it three statues of 
 massy gold, of Jupiter, Juno, and Rhea. Jupiter was 
 erect, in the attitude of a man walking: he was forty 
 feet in height, and weighed a thousand Babylonian 
 talents. Rhea, who sat m a chariot of gold, was of 
 the same weight. Juno, who stood upright, weighed 
 eight hundred talents." Diodorus proceeds to men- 
 tion many more articles of gold; among others, "a 
 vast urn, placed before the statue of Jupiter, which 
 weighed twelve hundred talents." 
 
 The reader will judge for himself respecting this 
 extract: it seems that the Babylonians, regretting 
 exceedingly the loss of their sacred treasures from 
 this temple, magnified both their value and their 
 importance, when speaking of them to inquiring 
 strangers. Diodorus acknowledges that "he could 
 not speak accurately respecting it." The relation of 
 Herodotus is the more credible, at least in these par- 
 ticulars : (1.) there was no statue in the highest chapel ; 
 but (2.) in another chapel there was a statue of Jupi- 
 ter [Belus] sitting ; (3.) the worth, not the iveight, was 
 calculated at so many talents; i. e. including the 
 labor, skill, preparation, and accompaniments of the 
 statue, its throne, &cc. (4.) the festival, in honor of the 
 god Belus, was annual ; and it was prodigious, since, 
 no doubt, the other offerings corresponded to that of 
 the incense — a thousand talents ! (5.) a statue of solid 
 gold, of twelve cubits, (eighteen feet,) is mentioned 
 by the historian as a thing barely credible : observe, 
 of solid gold ; yet a statue not solid, but an external 
 shell of that metal, as statues arc usually cast, might 
 have been very much larger, at much less expense 
 of gold. (6.) We conclude that Nebuchadnezzar 
 consecrated his image at an anniversary festival in 
 honor of his deity. 
 
 After stating these variations and embarrassments 
 of conception and description, it will be thought de- 
 sirable to obtain an idea of this image more accurately 
 approaching its true appearance and dimensions. The 
 following attempt has been made by Mr. Taylor. 
 
 In the first jilace, it is assumed that the taste of 
 scnlj)ture, in those ages, was much the same through- 
 out the' East, in Babylon and in Egypt; so that, by 
 what figures of equal antiquity now exist, in Egypt 
 for instance, we may estimate what was then adoj)ted 
 in Babylon, whoso works of art have perished. Sec- 
 ondly, that Nebuchadnezzar, having conquered and 
 ravagetl Egypt but a few years before this period, 
 had undoubtedly seen there the colossal statues of 
 that country, erected by its ancient monarchs ; and, 
 as these were esteemed not only sacred objects, but 
 also capital exertions of art, it is inferred that he 
 jiroposed to imitate these, as to their magnitude, and 
 to surpass them, as to their materials. These as- 
 sumptions being admitted, we proceed to examine 
 some of those colossi which still continue to orna- 
 ment Egypt. 
 
 Norden (plate 110) represents two colossal figures 
 which remain at the ancient Thebes, and thus de- 
 Scribes them :— "This figure. A, seems to be that of a 
 man ; the figure B that of a woman. They are about 
 fifty Danish feet in height, from the bases of the
 
 IMAGE 
 
 [ 530 ] 
 
 IMAGE 
 
 pedestals to the summit of the head ; from the sole of 
 the feet to the knees is fifteen feet ; the pedestals are 
 five feet in height, thirty-six and a half long, nineteen 
 and a half broad." He here speaks of perpendicular 
 height ; and this idea of perpendicular height has 
 contributed to embarrass Prideaux ; for it does not 
 seem to have occurred to him, that the prophet Daniel 
 rather means proportional height, when describing 
 that of the golden colossus. Suppose we understand 
 the prophet's description thus: "Nebuchadnezzar, 
 the king, made an image of gold, whose proportional 
 height, if it had stood upright, was sixty cubits ; but,^ 
 being in a sitting posture, conformable to the style of 
 Indian and of Egyptian art, in reference to their dei- 
 ties, it was little more than thirty cubits, or fifty feet, 
 perpendicular height; and its thickness, or depth, 
 measured from breast to back, [not its breadth, meas- 
 ured from shoulder to shoulder, as has been hitherto 
 understood, and as our translation renders,] was one 
 tenth part of its proportional height ; i. c. six cubits." 
 The proportion of a full-grown man, from breast to 
 back, is one tenth part of the height. — Since, then, 
 the accepting of this word in reference to depth, rather 
 than to breadth, reduces its application to a])propriate 
 and accurate measurement, no more need be said in 
 vindication of the version proposed. 
 
 But we have another image, generally called after 
 Nebuchadnezzar; namely, the statue seen by this 
 monarch in his dream, Dan. ii. 31, &c. It was very 
 large and terrible : its head was of gold, its breast 
 and its arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, 
 the legs of iron, and the feet partly of iron and partly 
 of clay. Calmet's explication is: — that the empire 
 of Nebuchadnezzar, i. e. of the Chaldeans, was rep- 
 resented by the head of gold ; the empire of the Per- 
 sians, founded by Cyrus, I)y the breast and arms of 
 silver; the empire of the Grecians, founded by Alex- 
 ander the Great, by the belly and thighs of brass ; 
 the empire of the Romans by the legs of iron : — or 
 rather, this empire being divided into two, is first, 
 that of the Seleucidae in Syria ; secondly, that of the 
 Lagidfe in Egypt. The attempts of the kings of 
 Egypt and Syria, to unite their interests by intermar- 
 riages, not succeeding, are represented by the feet 
 being partly of iron and partly of clay. The little 
 stone that issues from the mountain, and overturns 
 the statue, is the empire of the Romans, under which 
 appeared the Messiah, whose kingdom saw the fall of 
 the Roman colossus. 
 
 Others vary a little, supposing the ten toes to be the 
 ten kingdoms of the Roman empire. Mr. Taylor, 
 however, doubts very strongly whether any part of 
 this image should be extended beyond the empire of 
 Nebuchadnezzar ; for if so, why, he asks, add the 
 vision of the four beasts ? and why reveal to Nebu- 
 chadnezzar what in nowise concerned him or his 
 kingdom ? It is much more reasonable, he thinks, 
 to suppose that the first vision (the image) referred to 
 the political person (realm) of Nebucliadnezzar, and 
 is to be restricted to that empire of which Bal)ylon 
 was the head ; while the second vision, that of the 
 tree, referred to the human person of Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, and to events accomplished in himself. The 
 vision of the four beasts was a revelation to the 
 prophet, not to the statesman ; not to the king's officer 
 or attendant, but to a person commissioned to write 
 for general instruction and general advantage ; and 
 further, the prophet seems to be transported from 
 Shushan, or from his customary residence, to "the 
 great sea," in the Hebrew acceptation of that term, 
 the Mediterranean, where he was about midway be- 
 
 tween the eastern beast (Babylon) and the western 
 beast, (Rome,) so that he might readily be supposed 
 to refer to both, being so situated as to observe them 
 both ; independent of the circumstance of his seem- 
 ing to himself to be hereby stationed in his native 
 country, the holy land of Israel, which he does not 
 appear to have been in any other of his visions. 
 
 This view of the subject, if admitted, corrects the 
 representation of bishop Newton on the prophecies, 
 (who has but followed the opinions of others,) that 
 the tees of the image are the kingdoms into which 
 the (western) Roman empire was broken. No doubt 
 that Babylon is the golden head ; (crown, or rather 
 casque, if we suppose this figure to have been in 
 armor, like certain statues of the god Bel, which is 
 not improbable ;) the breast and arms of brass (that 
 is, the pieces of armor which covered the belly, and 
 himg down over the thighs, and which the Romans 
 formed into labels) are the empire of Alexander, who 
 made Babylon the seat of it, and whose successors 
 maintained their power in these countries; but, in- 
 stead of going out of Asia for the two thighs of brass, 
 we may take the Grecian mouarchy of Babylon, under 
 Seleucus, for one, and the Syrian monarchy, under 
 Antigonus, for the other. Theodorus, and the Par- 
 thians, under Arsaces, established themselves in the 
 eastern part of the dominions of Nebuchadnezzar ; 
 as, after a time, did the Romans in western Asia. To 
 the Parthian empire the Persian succeeded, east of 
 Babylon; and the Tui-kish to the Roman, west of 
 Babylon : so that no power rules (or has fbr many 
 ages ruled) at the same time over both these districts 
 of the ancient Babylonish dominion. Moreover, we 
 are assured, by every traveller who passes throngh 
 these coimtries, that the governing power is felt by 
 the inhabitants as iron which tramples on (them- 
 selves) the clay, under pretence of protecting it: — as 
 the armor on the feet, being made of iron, does not 
 combine with the foot it covers ; or as iron plates 
 may have clay between them, yet these substances 
 do not coalesce. That there exists no more union 
 between the inhabitants of these parts of the Turkish 
 government and those who govern them, than be- 
 tween iron and clay, is notorious, from the general 
 disposition of the country to revolt, in case the bold 
 attempt of Buonaparte, to overturn the Turkish power, 
 had not been stopped by the providential repulse he 
 received from sir Sidney Smith, at Acre. 
 
 The stateof the Turkish power, in these countries, 
 cannot, therefore, be better (metaphorically) ex- 
 pressed than by the words of the prophet: "And as 
 the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, 
 so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly 
 broken. And whereas thou sawcst iron mixed with 
 miry cla\, they, the governors, shall mingle them- 
 selves (by connections, marriages, &c.) among the 
 seed of ( Anusha) low men, as the inhabitants shall be 
 esteemed ; but they, the governors and the govenied, 
 shall not cleave one to another, shall not coalesce, 
 even as iron is not mixed a\ ith clay." How exactly 
 this is the case, wherever the Arabs are under the 
 yoke of the Turks, [the same in Egypt, and the same 
 also in Greece, in reference to the Greeks,] is too 
 notorious to require a word of proof; and could we 
 obtain equal information in respect to Persia, we 
 should discover precisely the same contradictory 
 feelings in that country ; as appears from the rela- 
 tion of Hanway, who, unhappily for himself, foimd 
 the Persian peasants too ready to revolt against their 
 then despot, the famous Nadir Shah. 
 
 The reader will understand, then, that although a
 
 I M P 
 
 [ 531 ] 
 
 I IVI P 
 
 part of the Roman empire may be referred to in this 
 figure, yet only the eastern part of that empire ; ex- 
 chiding all western dominion whatever. This prin- 
 ciple is supported, no less than others appear to be, 
 by those ancient interpretations wliich refer to the 
 Romans, (as Jerome, and others,) but does not allow 
 of that comparison between tlie ten toes of this image, 
 and tiie ten horns of the fonirth beast in chap. vii. to 
 which commentators have resorted. It considers 
 them as subjects independent of each other, and to 
 be explained by inde])endent history accordiuglj'. 
 
 It may be worth while here to insert the observa- 
 tion of Gibbon, that Babylonia was reckoned equal to 
 one third of Asia, in point of revenue, previous to the 
 time of Cyrus; and latterly, the daily tribute ])aid to 
 the Persian satrap was equal to an English bushel of 
 silver. If we ask, What is its present condition ? Mr. 
 Kinncir informs us, (p. 237.) "The mighty cities of 
 Nineveh, Babylon, Seleucia, and Ctesiphon have 
 crumbled into dust: the humble tent of the Arab 
 now occupies the spot formerly adorned with the 
 palaces of kings, and his flocks procure but a scanty 
 pittance of food amidst the fallen fragments of an- 
 cient magnificence. The banks of the Euphrates 
 and Tigris, once so prolific, are now, for the most 
 part, covered with impenetrable brushwood ; and the 
 inteiior of the province, wliich was traversed and 
 fertilized with innumerable canals, is destitute of 
 either inhabitants or vegetation." He adds in a note : 
 " Where private property is insecure, and where the 
 cultivator can never reckon on reaping the fruits of 
 his labors, industry can never flourish. The land- 
 holder, under the iron despotism of the Turkish gov- 
 ernment, is at all times liable to have his fields laid 
 waste, and his habitation pillaged by the myrmidons 
 of those in power." W^hat is this but the inconsis- 
 tent niixtui-e of iron and clay ? 
 
 I3I3IANUEL, see Emmanuel. 
 
 IMMORTALITY, in an absolute sense, belongs to 
 God only ; he cannot die. Angels are innnortal, but 
 God, who made them, can terminate their being ; 
 man is immortal in part, that is, in his spirit, but his 
 body dies ; inferior creatures are not immortal, they 
 die wholly. Thus the principle of immortality is 
 differently communicated, according to the Avill of 
 the communicator, who can render any creature im- 
 mortal by prolonging its life ; can confer immor- 
 tality on the body of man, together with his soul ; 
 and who maintains angels in immortality by main- 
 taining them in holiness. Holiness is the root of 
 immortality ; but God only is absolutely holy, as God 
 only is absolutely immortal. All imperfection is a 
 drawback on the principle of immortality ; only God 
 is al)solutely perfect ; therefore, only God is abso- 
 lutely innnortal. 
 
 IMPOSITION OF HANDS is understood in dif- 
 ferent senses in the Old and New Testaments. For 
 the ordination and consecration of priests and sacred 
 ministers, as well among the Jews as Christians, 
 Numb.viii.lO— 12; Actsvi.6; xiii.3; 1 Tim. iv. 14 ; 
 y. 22 ; 2 Tim. i. G. To signify the establishment of 
 judges and magistrates, on whom it was usual to lay 
 hands when they wei-e invested with their offices. 
 Numb, xxvii. 18. The Israelites who presented sin- 
 offerings at the tabernacle, confessed their sins while 
 they laid their hands upon those offerings, Lev. i. 4 ; 
 iii. 2 ; ix. 22. Witnesses laid their hands upon the 
 head of the accused person, (Dan. xiii. 34. Apoc.) as 
 if to signify that they charged on him the guilt of his 
 l)lood, and freed themselves from it. Our Saviour 
 laid his hands upon those children who were pre- 
 
 sented to him, and blessed them, Mark x. 16. We 
 find imposition of hands used also in confirmation, 
 Acts viii. 17; xix. (j. The apostles conferred the 
 Holy Ghost by laying their hands on those who 
 were baptized ; as the Israelites laid their hands on 
 the Levites, when they offered them to the Lord, to 
 be consecrated to his service. Numb. viii. 10, 12. 
 
 IMPURITY, Legal. There were several sorts of 
 impurity under the law of Moses. Some were vol- 
 untary, as the touching a dead body, or any animal 
 that had died ; or any creeping thing, or unclean 
 creature : or the touching things holy by one who 
 was not clean, or who was not a priest ; oi- the touch- 
 ing one who had a leprosy, one who had a gonor- 
 rhcEa, or one who was polluted by a dead carcass ; 
 a woman who had newly lain in, or was in her 
 courses, or was incommoded with an extraordinary 
 issue of blood. Sometimes these impurities were in- 
 voluntary ; as when any one unknowingly entered 
 the chamber of a person who lay dead, or touched 
 bones, or a sepulchre, &c. ; or, either by night or 
 day, suffered an involuntary pollution ; or such dis- 
 eases as pollute, as the leprosy, or a gonorrhoea ; or 
 the use of marriage, lawful or unlawful. Beds, clothes, 
 movables, and utensils, which had touched any thing 
 unclean, contracted a pollution, and often comnm- 
 nicated it. Legal pollutions were generally purified 
 by bathing, and continued only till the evening, when 
 the person polluted plunged over head and ears into 
 water; either with his clothes on, or else washed 
 himself and his clotlies separately. Some pollutions, 
 however, continued seven days, as that contracted by 
 touching a dead body ; others forty or fifty days, as 
 that of women lately delivered ; while others lasted 
 till the person was cured, as the leprosy or a gonor- 
 rhoea. Certain diseases excluded the patients from 
 all social intercouise, as the leprosy ; others excluded 
 only from the use of things holy, as the involuntary 
 touching of an unclean creature, the use of marriage, 
 &c. Others only separated the person from his rela- 
 tions in his own house, restraining such to a particu- 
 lar distance ; as women who had newly lain in, &c. 
 Many of these pollutions were purified by bathing ; 
 others wei-e expiated by sacrifices ; others by a cer- 
 tain water, or ley, made with the ashes of a red heifer, 
 sacrificed on the great day of expiation. When a 
 leper was cured, he went to the temple, and offered 
 a sacrifice of two birds ; one of which was killed, the 
 other liberated. He who had been polluted by touch- 
 ing a dead body, or by being present at a funeial, 
 was to be pmified with the water of expiation, on 
 pain of death. A woman who had been delivered of 
 a child, came to the tabernacle at the time prescribed, 
 and there offered a turtle-dove and a lamb for her i)u- 
 rification ; or two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons. 
 
 The impurities, which the law of Moses expressed 
 with so much accuracy and care, were figiu'es of 
 other more important impm-ities, meant to be pro- 
 hibited ; such as sins against God, or trespasses against 
 our neighbor. Believers under the Old Testament 
 well understood this difference ; and our Saviour 
 has strongly inculcated that outward and corporeal 
 pollutions do not render us unacceptable to God ; 
 but inward pollutions, such as infect the soul, and 
 violate piety, truth, and charity. 
 
 The regulations prescribed by Moses, relating to 
 impurity, are very numerous and perplexing ; but the 
 rabbinshave midtiplied them enormously, and thereby 
 have made the law a still more insupportable burden. 
 A great part of the Mislmah is occupied in resolving 
 cases of conscience on this subject. See Talmud.
 
 INC 
 
 [532] 
 
 TNCHANTMENTS 
 
 INCENSE, more properly Frankincense, an ar- 
 omatic and odoriferous gnra, which issues out of a 
 tree named by the ancients Thurifei-a ; its leaves i-e- 
 senible those of a peai'-tree, according to Theophras- 
 tus, and it grows in Arabia and around mount Leb- 
 anon. Incisions are made in it, in the dog-days, to 
 pi'ocure the gum. Male incense is the best ; it is 
 round, white, fat, and kindles on being put to the 
 fire. It is also called Olibanum. Female incense is 
 described as soft, more gummy, and less agreeable in 
 smell than the other. That of Saba was the best, 
 and most esteemed by the ancients, who speak of it 
 with great appi'obation. (See Rees' Cycloptedia, art. 
 Fran/djicense.) 
 
 The proper incense burnt in the sanctuary, was a 
 mixture of sweet spices, Ex. xxx. 34, seq. To offer 
 incense among the Hebrews was an office peculiar 
 to the priests ; for which purpose they entered into 
 the holy apartment of the temple, every morning and 
 evening. On the great day of expiation, the high- 
 priest burnt incense in his censer as he entered the 
 sanctuary, that the smoke which arose from it might 
 ])revent his looking with too much curiosity on the 
 ark and mercy-seat, Lev. xvi. 13. The Levites were 
 not permitted to touch the censers ; and Korah, Da- 
 than, and Abiram suffered a terrible punishment for 
 violating this prohibition. " Incense" sometimes sig- 
 nifies the sacrifices and fat of victims ; as no other 
 kind of incense was offered on the altar of burnt- 
 offerings, 1 Chron. vi. 49. For a description of the 
 altar of incense see the article Altar, p. 48. 
 
 INCEST, an unlawful conjunction of persons re- 
 lated within the degrees of kindred prohibited by 
 God and the church. In the beginning of the world, 
 and even long after the deluge, marriages between 
 near relations were allowed. God prohibits such 
 alliances, in Lev. xviii. 3. and the degrees of con- 
 sanguinity, within which the prohibition applied, are 
 detailed in ver. 6 — 18. 
 
 Most civilized people have held incest as an abom- 
 inable crime. (See 1 Cor. v. 1.) Tamar's incest with 
 her father-in-law Judah is well known. (See Ta- 
 MAR.) Lot's incest with his two daughters can be 
 palliated only by his ignorance, and the simplicity of 
 liis daughters, who seem to have believed, that afl;er 
 the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, there re- 
 mained no man upon the earth to perpetuate the race 
 of mankind. The manner of their procedure shows 
 that they regarded the action as unlawful, and that 
 they did not question but their father would have 
 abominated it, had they not put it out of his power 
 to detect it, by making him drunk, Gen. xix. 31, &c. 
 
 INCHANTMENTS. The law of God condemns 
 inchantments and inchantcrs. Several terms are 
 used in Scripture to denote inchantments. (1.) 
 Lahhash, {z'rh,) which signifies to mutter, to speak 
 with a low voice, like magicians in their evocations, 
 and magical operations, Ps. Iviii. 5. — (2.) Latim, 
 (aij^,) secrets, when Moses speaks of the inchant- 
 ments wrought by Pharaoh's magicians. — (3.) Ca- 
 shaph, (1^3,) meaning those who practise juggling, 
 legerdemain, tricks and Avitchery, deluding people's 
 eyes and senses, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6. — (4^) Hhabar, 
 (-i3n,) which signifies, properly, to bind, assemble, as- 
 sociate, re-unite ; this occurs principally among those 
 who charm serpents, who tame them, and make 
 those gentle and sociable, which before were fierce, 
 dangerous, and untractable, Deut. xviii. 1 1. 
 
 We have examples of each of these modes of in- 
 chanting. It was common for magicians, sorcerers 
 and inchanters to spcalc in a low \oice, or to whisper. 
 
 They are called ventriloqui, because they spake, as 
 one would suppose, from the bottom of their stomachs. 
 They affected secrecy and mysterious ways, to con- 
 ceal the vanity, folly, or infamy of their pernicious 
 art ; though their pretended magic often consisted in 
 cunning tricks only, as sleight of hand, or some natu- 
 ral secrets unknown to the ignorant. They affected 
 obscurity and night, or would show their skill only 
 before the uninformed, and feared nothing so much 
 as serious examination, broad daylight, and the in- 
 spection of the intelligent. 
 
 The inchantments of Pharaoh's magicians, in imi- 
 tation of the miracles wrought by Moses, were either 
 mere witchcrafl and illusion, by which they deceived 
 the eyes of the spectators ; or, if they performed 
 miracles, and produced real changes of the rods, of 
 the water of the Nile, &c. they did it by the applica- 
 tion of second causes to the production of effects, 
 which depend originally on the power of God ; and 
 by giving certain forms to, or impressing certain mo- 
 tions on, a created substance ; and as these changes 
 and motions were above the popularly known pow- 
 ers of nature, they were thought to be miraculous. 
 But God never permits miracles produced by evil 
 spirits to be such as may necessarily seduce us into 
 error ; for either he limits their power, as with Pha- 
 raoh's magicians, who were obliged to acknowledge 
 the finger of God in some instances, or they discover 
 themselves by their impiety, or bad conduct ; which 
 are the marks appointed by Moses for discerning a 
 false from a true prophet, Deut. xiii. 12, &c. 
 
 The inchantment of serpents, the cure of wounds 
 by charitis, fancied metamorphoses, &c. were com- 
 mon among the ancients. The psalmist speaks 
 (Ps. Iviii. 5.) of " the serpent, or deaf asp, that stop- 
 peth her ears, lest she should hear the voice of the 
 charmers, charming wisely ;" Heb. The voice of 
 those who speak low, and of those who make use of 
 charms with skill ; or the voice of him who tameth, 
 who softeneth serpents. The Lord (Jer. viii. 17.) 
 threatens the Jews, "Behold, I will send serpents 
 among you, which will not be charmed." Ecclesias- 
 tes (x. 11.) says, "A babbler is like those serpents 
 against which charms have no power." Job also 
 speaks of inchanters by whose power serpents were 
 burst asunder -. " Shall the inchanter cause the levia- 
 than to burst?" Job xl. 25. and Ecclus. xii. 13. 
 "Who will pity a charmer that is bitten with a ser- 
 pent ?" Augustin says that tlie Marsians, a ])eople 
 of Italy, had formerly the secret of inchanting ser- 
 pents : " Any one would say, that serpents understood 
 the language of this ])eople, so obedient do we see 
 them to their orders; as soon as the Marsian has 
 done speaking, they come out of their holes." Origen 
 and Eusebius speak of the charming of serpents as 
 being common in Palestine. 
 
 [The accounts given by travellers in Egypt and 
 the East, respecting the power which certain persons 
 possess of charming seri)ents by music or other 
 means, are too remarkable not to be inserted here ; 
 although a pi-obable solution of these appearances 
 has not yet been given. The facts, however, seem 
 too well attested to admit of doubt ; and they are 
 also, often alluded to by ancient writers. (Compare 
 Apollonius Rhodius, iv. 147. Ovid, Metamorph. vii. 
 153. Virgil JEn. vii. 753, seq.) See Asp. 
 
 Mr. Browne, in liis Travels in Africa, &c. (p. 83.) 
 thus describes the charmers of serpents: "Romeili is 
 an open place of an irregular form, where feats of 
 juggling are performed. The charmers of serpents 
 seem also worthy of remark ; their powers seem ex-
 
 INCHANTMENTS 
 
 [533 
 
 IND 
 
 traordinary. The serpent most common at Kahira, 
 [Cairo,] is of the viper class, and undoubtedly poison- 
 ous, if one of them enter a house, the chartner is 
 sent for, who uses a certain form of words. I have 
 seen three serpents enticed out of the cabin of a ship 
 lying near the shore. The operator handled them, 
 and then put them into a bag. At other times I have 
 seen the serpents twist around the bodies of these 
 Psylli in all directions, without having had their 
 fangs extracted or broken, and without doing them 
 any injury." 
 
 Niebuhr, in speaking of the puppet-shows and 
 sleight-of-hand tricks exhibited for the amusement of 
 the populace in Cairo, remarks : (Reisebeschr, i. p. 
 189.) " Others exhibit serpents dancuig. This may 
 ajjpear incredible to those who are unacquainted 
 with the natural propensities of these animals ; but 
 certain kinds of serpents seem to be agreeably atiected 
 by music. They raise their heads, when they hear 
 a drum, and this, their instinctive propensity to ele- 
 vate the head and part of the body and to make some 
 motions and turns, is called dancing.'''' 
 
 That some species of serpents have this sort of 
 musical ear, is also confirmed by Chardiu, in a manu- 
 script note on the " deaf adder" of Ps. Iviii. 4, 5. 
 (Harmer's Obs. iii, p. 305.) " Adders will swell at the 
 sound of a flute, raising themselves up on one half of 
 their body, turning the other part about, and beating 
 proper time ; being wonderfully delighted with mu- 
 sic, and following the instrument. Its head, before 
 round and long, like an eel, it spreads out broad and 
 flat, like a fan. Adders and serpents twist themselves 
 round the neck and naked body of young children, 
 belonging to those that charm them. At Surat, an 
 Armenian seeing one of them make an adder bite his 
 flesh, without receiving any injury, said, I can do 
 that ; and causing himself to be wounded in the hand, 
 he died m less than two hours." 
 
 In Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, (vol. i. p. 43.) we 
 find an account of the Cobra de Capcllo, or hooded 
 snake, (Coluber J^aja,) called also the spectacle snake ; 
 it is a large and beautiful serpent, but one of the most 
 poisonous known ; its bite occasions death usually 
 in less than an hour. (See under Cockatrice.) Of 
 this kind are the dancing serpents, which are carried 
 about in baskets throughout all Ilindostan by a certain 
 class of persons, who get their living in this way. 
 They give certain tones upon a flute, which appear 
 to produce an agreeable effect upon the serpents ; 
 since they seem to beat time, as it were, to the flute, 
 by a graceful motion of the head. They raise the 
 upper part of their body from the ground, and fol- 
 low the music in graceful curves, like the undulating 
 movements of a swan's neck. It is a fact sufficiently 
 well attested, that when any of these or of other 
 kinds of vipers have got into a house, and make havoc 
 among the poultry or other small domestic animals, 
 it is customary to send for one of these musicians, 
 who, by tones upon his flute or flageolet, finds out the 
 hiding-places of the serpents and alliu-es them to 
 their destruction ; indeed, so soon as tlie serpents 
 hear the music, they creep quietly out of their holes, 
 and are easily taken. This may serve to illustrate 
 Ps. Iviii. 4, 5. In regard to the dancing serpents, 
 the music seems essential to their motions ; fbr as 
 soon as it ceases, the serpent lies motionless ; and un- 
 less it is immediately replaced in its basket, the 
 spectators are in great danger. Mr. Forbes had a 
 drawing of a Co6ra de Capello, which danced for an 
 hour upon a table while he made the drawing. He 
 took it several times in his hand in order the better 
 
 to observe the hood and spectacles, not doubting but 
 that its fangs had been extracted. But the next da}', 
 in the market place, the same serpent bit a young 
 woman in the neck, who died in half an hour. 
 
 The following remarks are from Hasselquist's 
 Travels in Palestine, &c. (p. 76, 79, seq. Germ, edit.) 
 "The Egyptian jugglers can perform some feats, 
 which those of Europe are not able to imitate ; viz. 
 they can deprive serpents of their poison. They 
 take the most poisonous vipers in their naked hands, 
 play with them, place them in their bosom, and make 
 them perform all sorts of tricks. All this I have 
 often seen. The man whom I saw to-day, had only 
 a small ^iper: but I have seen him when he had 
 others three or four feet long, and of the very worst 
 species. I examined in order to see whether the 
 serpents had been deprived of their poisonous fangs ; 
 and convinced myself, by actual observation, that this 
 was not the case. . . . On the 3d of July, I received 
 at once, four different species of serpents, which I 
 described and preserved in spirits. They were the 
 Vipera vidgaris, Cerastes Alpini, Jacidus, Jlnguis 
 t)iarinus. They were brought me by a female, who 
 excited the astonishment of all of us Europeans, by 
 the manner in which she handled these most poison- 
 ous and dangerous animals, without receiving the 
 least injury. As she put them into the bottle in 
 which I intended to preserve them, she managed 
 them just as one of our ladies would handle their 
 ribands or lacings. The others gave her no diffi- 
 culty, but the vipers did not seem to like their intend- 
 ed dwelling ; they slipped out, before the bottle 
 could be covered. They sprang upon and over her 
 hands and naked arms ; but she betrayed no symp- 
 tom of fear. She took them quite tranquilly from 
 her body, and placed them in the vessel that was to 
 be their grave. She had caught them, as our Arab 
 assured us, without difficulty in the fields. Without 
 doubt she nmst possess some secret art or skill • but 
 I could not get her to open her mouth upon the 
 subject. This art is a secret even among the Egyp- 
 tians. The ancient Marsi and Psylli in Africa, who 
 daily exhibited specimens of the same art in Rome, 
 afford evidence of its antiquity in Africa ; and it is 
 a very remarkable circumstance, that such a thing 
 should remain a secret above two thousand years, and 
 be retained only by a certain class of persons." (See 
 also a similar extract from Bruce, imder Serpents, 
 Cerastes.) *R. 
 
 Music and singing, which is a kind of charm, were 
 sometimes used to cure certain diseases of the mind, 
 or at least diseases caused by disorder of the mind, 
 or of the passions. Galen (De sanitate tuenda, lib. i. 
 cap. 8.) says, that he had great experience in this, 
 and that he could produce the authority of iEscula- 
 pius, his countryman, who by melody and music re- 
 lieved constitutions impaired by too great heat. The 
 Hebrews, though a people extremely superstitious, 
 did not carry so far the use of charms and inchant- 
 ments in the cure of diseases, because they were re- 
 strained by their law, and because their kings and 
 priests were vigilant in preventing these misdoings. 
 Still we find traces of this superstition among them. 
 Saul employed music, David's harp, to procure relief 
 in his fits of melancholy. 
 
 INDIA, the appellation which the ancients appear 
 to have given to that vast region of Asia, stretching 
 east of Persia and Bactria, as far as the country of 
 the Sin(E ; its northern boundary being the Scythian 
 desert, and its southern limit the ocean. The name 
 is generally supposed to have been derived from the
 
 INH 
 
 [534 1 
 
 INK 
 
 rivfer Indus, which waters its western extremity, and 
 which signifies the Blue or Black river. Mr. Con- 
 der tliinks, however, that the extensive application of 
 the woi'd renders it more probable, that it was em- 
 ployed to denote the country of the Indi, or Asiatic 
 Ethiops ; answering to the Persian Hindoostan, or 
 the country of the Hindoos. The only place where 
 India is mentioned in Scripture is Esth. i. 1. 
 
 It is said in the passage above referred to, that 
 Ahasuerus reigned from India to Ethiopia. This 
 fixes the extent of the Persian dominions eastward to 
 the original station of the Hindoos, at the head of the 
 Indus. There is not, we believe, any memorial of 
 the Persian power having permanently maintained 
 itself east of the Indus, Alexander the Great only 
 having ever thought of establishing a dominion in 
 those countries. The Mahometans, mdeed, have so 
 done ; but then they have renounced the west. Na- 
 dir Shah penetrated to Delhi, but he returned to 
 Persia, and did not attempt to retain both I'egions 
 under his rule. 
 
 It will be seen in the article on idolatry, that we 
 liave assumed, as a principle, that India was the 
 great source of those observances which we find es- 
 tablished wherever our knowledge extends. It may 
 be necessary here to remark, in addition to what is 
 there said, that the Hindoos could not have adopted 
 religious rites from the Romans, the Greeks, the 
 Egyptians, or the Persians. Whoever has bestowed 
 a moment's attention on this people, must know, that 
 it would be in utter violation of their most sacred 
 tenets to do so ; and whoever recollects that the 
 sages of Greece travelled into India to learn wisdom, 
 will be confirmed in the persuasion, that others 
 derived information from them, not they from others. 
 In fact, all testimony brings letters, learning and 
 knowledge from the East. 
 
 INHERITANCE, a portion which appertains to 
 another, after some particular event. As the princi- 
 ples of inheritance differ in the East, from those 
 Avhich are established among ourselves, it is neces- 
 sary to notice tliem particularly. The reader will 
 observe, that there is no need of the death of the 
 parent in these countries, as tliere is among us, before 
 the children possessed their inheritance. (See Heir.) 
 Among the Hindoos, the rights of inheritance are 
 laid down with great precision, and with the strictest 
 attention to the natural claim of the inheritor in the 
 several degrees of affinity. A man is considered but 
 as tenant for life in his own property ; and, as all 
 opportunity of distributing his effects by will, after 
 his death, is precluded, hardly any mention is made 
 of such kind of bequest. By these ordinances, also, 
 he is hindered from dispossessing his children of his 
 j)ropcrty in favor of aliens, and from making a blind 
 and partial allotment in behalf of a favorite child, to 
 the prejudice of the rest ; by which the weakness of 
 parental affection, or of a misguided mind in its do- 
 tage, is admirably remedied. These laws strongly 
 elucidate the story of the prodigal son in the Scrip- 
 tures, since it appears from hence to have been an 
 immemorial custom in the East for sons to demand 
 their portion of iniieritance during their father's life- 
 time, and that the ])arcnt, however aware of the dis- 
 sipated inclinations of his child, could not legally re- 
 fuse to comply with the application. If all the sons 
 go at once in a body to their father, jointly request- 
 ing their respective shares of his fortune ; in that 
 case, the father is required to give equal shares of 
 the property earned by himself, to the son incapable 
 of getting his own living, to the son who has been 
 
 particularly dutiful to him, and to the son who has a 
 very large family, and also to the other sons who do 
 not lie under any of these three circumstances ; in 
 this case, he has not power to give any one of them 
 more or less than to the others. If a father has oc- 
 cupied any glebe belonging to his father, that was 
 not before occupied, he has not power to divide it 
 among his sons in unequal shares, as in the case of 
 property earned by himself (Halhed's Gentoo 
 Laws, p. 53.) 
 
 Our translators have frequently used the tenii in- 
 heritance in the sense of participation or property. 
 So Mark xii. 7, Let us kill the son, and the inherit- 
 ance, the property, shall be ovn-s. Acts xx. 32 ; xxvi. 
 18, An inheritance, participation, among those who 
 are sanctified. Eph. i. 18, The riches of the glory of 
 his inheritance, his immediate property, in the saints. 
 (Compare 1 Pet. i. 4.) So Abraham is spoken of 
 (Ezek. xxxiii. 24.) as inheriting the land ; which could 
 not be true, as his family had no previous possession 
 in Canaan ; and it is expressly contrary to Acts vii. 
 5, which says, Abraham had no inheritance there ; 
 but he had possessions, or property. (Comp. 2 Chron. 
 X. 16, et al.) 
 
 INIQUITY. This word means not oidy sin, but 
 the punishment of sin, and the expiation of it : " Aaron 
 will bear the iniquities of the people ;" he will atone 
 for them, Exod. xxviii. 38. The Lord " visits the 
 iniquities of the fathers upon the children ;" (Exod. 
 XX. 5.) he sometimes causes visible effects of his 
 wrath to fall on the children of criminal parents. 
 
 " To bear iniquity" is to endure the punishment 
 of it, to be obliged to expiate it. The priests bear 
 the iniquity of the people ; that is, they are charged 
 with the expiation of it, Exod. xxviii. 38 ; Lev. x. 17. 
 INKHORN. The prophet Ezekiel (chap. ix. 2.) 
 describes six men clothed in linen, and having each 
 a writer's inkhorn by his side, which may require 
 some explanation to occidental readers. The follow- 
 ing remarks are from Mr. Harmer : — 
 
 "The modern inhabitants of Egj'pt appear to 
 make use of ink in their sealing, as well as the Arabs 
 of the desert, who may be supposed not to have such 
 conveniences as those that live in such a place as 
 Egypt ; for Dr. Pococke says, that ' they make the 
 impression of their name with their seal, generally of 
 cornelian, which they wear on their finger, and 
 which is blacked when they have occasion to seal 
 with it.' This may serve to show us, that there is a 
 closer connection between the vision of John (Rev. 
 vii. 2.) and that of Ezekiel, (chap. ix. 2.) than com- 
 mentators appear to have apprehended. They must 
 be joined, I imagine, to have a complete view of 
 either. John saw an angel with the seal of the living 
 God, and therewith midtitudes were sealed in theiv 
 foreheads ; but to understand what sort of mark was 
 made there, you nuist have recourse to the inkhorn 
 of Ezekiel. On the other hand, Ezekiel saw a per- 
 son with an inkhorn, who was to mark the servants 
 of God on their foreheads, with ink, that is ; but how 
 the ink was to be applied is not expressed ; nor was 
 there any need that it should be, if in those times ink 
 was applied with a seal ; a seal being in the one case 
 plainly supjioscd ; as in the Apocalypse, the mention 
 of a seal made it needless to take any notice of any 
 inkhorn by his side. 
 
 " This position of the inkhorn of Ezekiel's writer 
 may a])pcar somewhat odd to a European reader ; but 
 the custom of placing it by the side, continues in the 
 East to this day. Olearius, who takes notice (Voy. 
 en Muscovie, &c. p. 857.) of a way that they have of
 
 INS 
 
 [ 535 ] 
 
 TRO 
 
 thickening their ink with a sort of paste they make, 
 or with sticks of Indian ink, which is the best paste 
 of all, a circumstance favorable to their sealing with 
 ink, observes — (Dr. Shaw also speaks of their writ- 
 ers suspending their iukhorns by their side. I should 
 not, therefore, have taken any notice of this circum- 
 stance, had not the account of Olearius led us to 
 something further) — that the Persians carry about 
 with them, by means of their girdles, a dagger, a 
 knife, a handkerchief, and their money ; and those 
 that follow the profession of writing out books, their 
 iiikhorn, their penknife, their whetstone to sharpen 
 it, their letters, and every thing the Muscovites were 
 wont in his time to put in their boots, which served 
 them instead of pockets. The Persians, in carrying 
 their inkhorn, after this manner, seem to have retain- 
 ed a custom as ancient as the daysof Ezekiel ; while 
 the Muscovites, whose garb was very much in the 
 eastern taste in the days of Olearius, and who had 
 many oriental customs among them, carried their 
 inkhorns and their papers in a very different man- 
 ner. Whether some such variation might cause the 
 Egj'ptian translators of the Septuagint version to ren- 
 der the woi-ds, a girdle of sapphire, or embroidery, on 
 the loins, I will not take upon me to affirm ; but I do 
 not imagine our Dr. Castel\ would have adopted this 
 sentiment in his Lexicon, (set Lowth on this place,) 
 had he been aware of this eastern f ustom : for witli 
 great propriety is the word keseth mentioned in this 
 chapter three times, if it signified an inkhorn, the 
 requisite instrument for sealing tliose devout moimi- 
 ers ; but no account can be given why this keseth 
 should be mentioned so oflen, if it only signified an 
 embroidered girdle." (Obs. vol. ii. p. 459.) It should 
 be recollected, also, tliat in the East the artisans carry 
 most of the implements of then- profession in the 
 girdle ; the soldier carries his sword ; the butcher 
 his knife ; and the carpenter Ids hammer and his 
 saw. 
 
 INNOCENT, INNOCENCE. The signification 
 of these words is well known. The Hebrews con- 
 sidered innocence as consisting chiefly in an exemp- 
 tion from external faults committed contrary to the 
 law ; hence they often join innocent with hands. 
 Gen. xxxvii. 22 ; Ps. xxiv. 4 ; xxvi. 6. " I will wash 
 my hands in innocency." And Ps. Ixxiii. 13, " Then 
 have I cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my 
 hands in innocency." Josephus admits of no other 
 sins than those actions which are put in execution. 
 Sins in thought, in his account, are not pimished by 
 God. To be innocent, is used sometimes for being 
 exempt from punishment. " I will not treat you as 
 one innocent;" (Jer. xlvi. 28.) literally, I will not 
 make thee innocent : I will chastise thee, but like a 
 kind father. Jeremiah (xlix. 12.) speaking to the 
 Edomites says. They who have not (so much) de- 
 served to drink of the cup of my wrath, have tasted 
 of it. Nahum (i. 3.) declares that " God is ready to 
 exercise vengeance, he will make no one innocent : 
 he will spare no one." Exod. xxxiv. 7. Heb. " Thou 
 shalt make no one innocent ;" no sin shall remain 
 unpunished. " With the pure, thou wilt show thy- 
 self pure," Ps. xviii. 26. Thou treatest the just as 
 just, the good as good ; thou never dost confound the 
 guilty with the innocent. 
 
 INSPIRATION, in the highest sense, is the im- 
 mediate communication of knowledge to the human 
 mind by the Spirit of God ; but it is commonly used 
 by divines, in a less strict and proper sense, to denote 
 such a degree of divine influence, assistance, or guid- 
 ance, as enabled the authors of the Scriptures to 
 
 connwunicate knowledge to others, without error or 
 inistake, whether the subjects of such communica- 
 tions were things then inuuediately revealed to those 
 who declared them, or things with which they were 
 before acquainted. Hence it is usually divided into 
 three kinds, — revelation, suggestion, and superintend- 
 ence. See Revelation. 
 
 INTERCESSION, an entreaty used by one per- 
 son toward another ; whether this person solicit on 
 his own account, or on account of one for whom he 
 is agent. Man intercedes with man, sometimes to 
 procure an advantage to himself, sometimes as a 
 mediator to benefit another ; he may be said to inter- 
 cede for another, when he puts words into the sup- 
 pliant's mouth, and directs and prompts him to say 
 what otherwise he would be unable to say ; or to say 
 in a more persuasive manner what lie miglit intend 
 to say. The intercession of Christ on behalf of sin- 
 ners, (Rom. viii. 34 ; 1 John ii. 1.) and the interces- 
 sion of the Holy Spirit, (Rom. viii. 26.) are easily il- 
 lustrated by this adaptation of the term. See Com- 
 forter. 
 
 IOTA, (, (Eng. tr.jot,) a letter in the Greek alpha- 
 bet, derived from the {>) jod of the Hebrews, or the 
 judh of the Syrians. Our Lord says, (Matt. v. 18.) 
 that every iota,Jo^, or titde, in the law, would have 
 its accomplishment ; which seems to have been a 
 kind of proverb among the Jews, meaning that all 
 should be completed to the uttermost. Iota is the 
 smallest letter in the Greek alphabet. 
 
 IR-MELACH, city oj salt, Josh. xv. 62. It stood 
 probably on the margin of the Salt sea, or lake As- 
 phaltites. 
 
 IR-NAHASH, city of the serpent, a city of Judah, 
 which some supposed to have been named from the 
 abundance of serpents in its neighborhood ; but more 
 probably from a person named Nahash, or from an 
 image of the animal, worshipped here, 1 Chron. 
 iv. 12. 
 
 IR-SHEMESH, city of the sun, a city in Dan, 
 (Josh. xix. 41.) supposed to be the same with Beth- 
 Shemesh, the temple of die sun, 1 Kings iv. 9. 
 
 IR-TAMARIM, city of palm-trees, that is, Jericho. 
 Dent, xxxiv. 3 ; Judg. i. 16 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 15. 
 
 IRAM, the last duke of Edom, of Esau's family, 
 Gen.xxxvi. 43. 
 
 IRIJAH, an officer who arrested the prophet Jer- 
 emiah as he was going to Anathoth, Jer. xxxvii. 
 13, &c. 
 
 IRON. Moses forbids the Hebrews to use any 
 stones to form the altar of the Lord, which had been 
 in any manner uTought with iron : as if iron commu- 
 nicated pollution. He says the stones of Palestine 
 are of iron, (Deut. viii. 9.) that is, of hardness equal 
 to iron ; or that, being smelted, they yielded iron. 
 " An iron yoke," (1 Kings viii. 51.) is a hard and in- 
 supportable dominion. " Iron sharpeneth iron," says 
 the wise man, " so a man sharpeneth the countenance 
 of his friend ;" i. e. the presence of a friend gives us 
 more confidence and assurance. God threatens his 
 ungrateful and perfidious people with making the 
 heaven iron, and the earth brass; that is, to make the 
 earth barren, and the air to produce no rain. Chariots 
 of iron are chariots armed with iron, with spikes, and 
 scythes. See Chariots. 
 
 The following extract from Bruce will diminish 
 the apparent strangeness of Zedekiah's conduct, 
 (1 Kings xxii. 11.) who made himself Horns of iron, 
 and said, "Thus saith die Lord, With these" milita- 
 ry insignia " shalt thou push the Syrians until thou 
 hast co^nsumed them." We are apt to conceive of
 
 ISA 
 
 [ 536 ] 
 
 ISA 
 
 these horns, as projectuig like bulls' hox-us, on each 
 side of Zedekiali's head. But how different from the 
 real fact ! Zedekiah, though he pretended to be a 
 prophet, did not wish to be thought mad, to which 
 imputation such an appearance would have subject- 
 ed him. He only acted the hero ; — the hero return- 
 ing in military triumph ; it was little more than a 
 flourish. " One thing remarkable in this cavalcade, 
 which I observed, was the head-dress of the govern- 
 ors of provinces. A large broad fillet was bound 
 upon their forehead, and tied behind their head. In 
 the middle of this was a horn, or conical piece of 
 silver, gilt, about four inches long, much in the shape 
 of our common candle extinguisliers. This is called 
 kern \}-\p\ or horn, and is only worn in reviews, or 
 parades after victory. This, I apprehend, like all 
 other of their usages, is taken from the Hebrews, and 
 the several allusions made in Scripture to it, arises 
 from this practice : — ' I said to the wicked, lift not 
 up the horn,' — ' Lift not up your horn on high ; 
 speak not with a stiff neck' — 'The horn of the 
 righteous shall be exalted with honor.' " 
 
 ISAAC, son of Abraham, was born A. M. 2108. 
 Sarah gave him this name, because when the angel 
 promised that she should become a mother, she, being 
 beyond the age of having children, privately laughed 
 at the prediction. When the child was born, she 
 said, " God hath made me to laugh, so that all that 
 hear will laugh with me." She suckled the child 
 herself, and would not suffer Ishmael to inherit with 
 him ; but prevailed on Abraham to tui-n him and his 
 mother Hagar out of doors. When Isaac was about 
 twenty-five years of age, the Lord tried Abraham, 
 and commanded him to sacrifice his son. Abraham 
 implicitly obeyed, and took Isaac, with two of his 
 servants, to the place which the Lord should show 
 him. On the third day, discerning this place, (sup- 
 posed to be mount Moriah,) he took the wood as for 
 a burnt-offering, placed it on his son Isaac, and took 
 fire in his hand, and a knife. As they went together 
 towai-d the mount, Isaac said, " Behold the fire and 
 the wood, but where is the victim for the burnt-offer- 
 ing?" Abraham answered, "My son, God will pro- 
 vide a victim for himself" Arrived at the appointed 
 place, Abraham put the wood in order, bound his 
 beloved Isaac as a victim, and taking the knife, 
 stretched forth his hand to kill him. But an angel 
 of the Lord prevented the sacrifice and provided 
 another victim. 
 
 When Isaac was forty years of age, Abraham sent 
 Eliezer, his steward, into Mesopotamia, to procure a 
 wife for him, from Laban, his brother-in-law's fami- 
 ly. Rebekah was sent, and became the wife of Isaac. 
 Being barren, Isaac prayed for her, and God granted 
 her the favor of conception. She was delivered of 
 tuins, named Esau and Jacob. Isaac favored Esau, 
 and Rebekah Jacob. Some years afterwards, a fam- 
 ine obliged Isaac to retire to Gcrar, where Abimelech 
 was king ; and, as his father had done previously, he 
 reported that Rebekah was his sister. Abimelech, 
 having discovered that she was his wife, reproved 
 him for the deception. Isaac grew very rich, and 
 his flocks multiplying, the Philistines of Gerar were 
 so envious, that they filled up all the wells which 
 Isaac's servants had dug. At the desire of Abime- 
 lech, he departed, and pitched his tent in the valley 
 of Gerar, where he dug ne\v wells, but was again put 
 to some difficulties. At length, he returned to Beer- 
 sheba, where lie fixed his liabitation. Here the Lord 
 appeared to him, and renewed the promise of blessing 
 him, and Abimelech visited him, to form an alliance. 
 
 Isaac, having grown very old, (137 years^and his 
 sight being extremely weakened, called Esau, his 
 eldest son, and directed him to procure for him some 
 venison. But while Esau was hunting, Jacob sur- 
 reptitiously obtained the blessing, so that Isaac could 
 only give Esau a secondaiy benediction. (See Jacob, 
 and Esau.) Isaac lived some time afler this, and 
 sent Jacob into Mesopotamia, to take a wife of his 
 OAvii family. He died, aged 188 years ; and was 
 buried with Abraham, by his sons Esau and Jacob. 
 The Hebrews say, that Isaac was instructed in the 
 law by the patriarchs Shem and Eber, who were 
 then living ; and that when Abraham departed, with 
 a design to sacrifice Isaac, he told Sarah, that he 
 was carrying his son to Shem's school. They be- 
 lieve, likewise, tliat Abi-aham composed their morn- 
 ing prayers, Isaac their noon prayers, and Jacob their 
 evening prayers. 
 
 ISAIAH was the son of Amos, who is thought by 
 some to have been of the royal family of Judah, but 
 without any good foundation. The conmiencement 
 of Isaiah's prophecies are dated by Calmet from the 
 death of Uzziah; and his death is fixed in the reign 
 of Manasseh, who ascended the throne ante A. D. 
 698. Isaiah's wife is called a prophetess ; (chap. viii. 
 3.) and thence the rabbins conclude, that she had the 
 spirit of prophecy. Bat it is probable, that the proph- 
 ets' wives were called prophetesses, as the pi-iests' 
 wives were called priestesses, only from the office of 
 their husbands. The Scripture mentions two sons 
 of Isaiah, one called " Shear-Jashub," the remainder 
 shall return ; the other " Hashbaz," hasten to the 
 slaughter. The first showed, that the captives carried 
 to Babylon should return, after a certain time ; the 
 second showed, that the kingdoms of Israel and Syria 
 should soon be ravaged. 
 
 The prophecies of Isaiah are divided by Calmet 
 into three parts ; the first, including six chapters, 
 which relate to the reign of Jotham ; the six follow- 
 ing to the reign of Ahaz ; and all the rest to the reign 
 of Hezekiah. The principal objects of Isaiah's 
 prophecies are, the ca[)tivity of Babylon, the return 
 of the Jews from that captivity, and the reign of the 
 Messiah. For this reason the sacred writers of the 
 New Testament have cited him more than any other 
 prophet ; and the fathers sa)'^, he is rather an evan- 
 gelist than a prophet. 
 
 In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, 
 king of Assyria, coming against Judea, Isaiah fore- 
 told the destruction of his army, and shortly after- 
 wards the miraculous lengthening of Hezckiah's life. 
 (See Hezekiah.) He next received orders from the 
 Lord to walk three yeais barefoot and without his 
 upper garment, to denote the approaching captivity 
 of Egypt and Ciish. 
 
 Tliere is a rabbinical tradition, that Isaiah was put 
 to death by the saw, in the begimiing of the reign of 
 Manasseh, the pretence of this impious prince for thus 
 executing him, being an expression in chap. vi. 1, "I 
 saw the Lord sitting on a throne ;" which he affirmed 
 to be a contradiction to Moses, (Exod. xxxiii, 20.) 
 " No man shall see me and live." But Gesenius, who 
 has traced this tradition to its source, has shown it to 
 be of a very doubtfid character. Some say that his 
 body was buried near Jerusalem, luider the fuller's 
 oak, near the fountain of Siioam ; whence it was re- 
 moved to Paneas, near the sources of Jordan, and 
 from thence to Constantinople, in the reign of The- 
 odosius the younger, A. D. 442. 
 
 Isaiah is esteemed to be the most eloquent of the 
 prophets. Jerome says, that his writings are, as it
 
 ISAIAH 
 
 [537 1 
 
 ISH 
 
 were, an abridgment of the lioly Scriptures, a collec- 
 tion of the most uncommon knowledge that the mind 
 of man is capable of; of natural philosophy, morali- 
 ty, and divinity. Grotius compares him to Demos- 
 thenes. In his writings we meet with the purity of 
 the Hebrew tongue, as in the orator, with the delicacy 
 of the Attic taste. Both are subhme and magnificent 
 in their style, vehement in their emotions, copious in 
 their figures, and very impetuous when they describe 
 things of an enormous nature, or that are grievous 
 and odious. Isaiah was superior to Demosthenes in 
 the honor of ilkistrious birth. What Quintihan (lib. 
 x. cap. 20.) says of Corvinus 3Iessala may be applied 
 to iiim, that he speaks in an easy, flowing n)anner, and 
 a style which denotes the man of quality. Caspar 
 Sanctius thiuks Isaiah to be more florid, and more 
 ornamented, yet at tiie same time more weighty and 
 nervous, than any writer we have, whether historian, 
 poet, or orator ; and that in all kinds of discourse he 
 excels every author, either Greek or Latin. The 
 prophet appears to justify this character even in our 
 common version ; but in the elegant diction of bishop 
 Lowth, he more eminently supports it. In addition 
 to the writings which are in our possession, Isaiah 
 wrote a book concerning the actions of Uzziah, 
 which is cited 2 Chron. xxvi. 22, and is not now 
 extant. 
 
 [The ciironological division of the prophecies of 
 Isaiah into three parts, as mentioned above, is of very 
 doubtful propriety ; since several of the chapters are 
 evidently transposed and inserted out of their chron- 
 ological order. But a very obvious and striking 
 division of the book into two parts, exists ; the first 
 part, including tlie first thirty-nine chapters, and the 
 i^econd, the remainder of the book, or chap. xl. — Ixvi. 
 The Jirst part is made up of those prophecies and 
 liistorical accounts, which Isaiah wrote during the 
 period of his active exertions in behalf of the present, 
 wi)en he mingled in the public concerns of the rulers 
 and the people, and acted as the messenger of God 
 to the nation in reference to their internal and exter- 
 nal existing relations. These are single prophecies, 
 published at different times, and on different occa- 
 sions ; afterwards, indeed, brought together into one 
 collection, but still marked as distinct and single, 
 cither by tiie superscriptions, or in some other obvi- 
 ous and known method. The second part, on the 
 contrary, is occupied wholly with the future. It was 
 apparently written in the later years of the prophet, 
 when Fifr had probably left all active exertions in the 
 theocracy to his younger associates in the prophet- 
 ical office. He himself transferred his contempla- 
 tions from the joyless present, into the future. In 
 this part, therefore, which was not, like the first, oc- 
 casioned by external circimistances, it is not so easy 
 to distinguish in like manner betw^een the different 
 single prophecies. The whole is more like a single 
 gush of prophecy. 
 
 The prophecies of the second part rjefer chiefly to 
 a twofold object. The prophet first consoles his 
 people by announcing their deliverance from the 
 Babylonish exile ; he names the monarch whom 
 Jehovah will send to punish the insolence of their 
 oppressors, and lead back the people to their home. 
 But he does not stop at this trifling and inferior de- 
 liverance. With the prospect of freedom from the 
 Babylonish exile, the prophet connects the prosj)ect 
 of deliverance from sin and error through the Mes- 
 siah. Sometimes both objects seem closely inter- 
 woven with each other; sometimes one of them ap- 
 peai-9 alone with particular clearness and prominencv. 
 68 
 
 Especially is the view of the prophet sometimes so 
 exclusively directed upon the latter object, that, filled 
 with the contemplation of the glory of the fipiritual 
 kingdom of God and of its exalted founder, he ^\ holly 
 loses sight for a time of the less distant future. In 
 the description of this spiritual deliverance, also, the 
 relations of time are not observed. Sometimes the 
 prophet beholds the author of this deliverance in his 
 humiliation and sorrows; and again, the remotest 
 ages of the Messiah's kingdom present themselTes to 
 his enraptured vision ; when man, so long estranged 
 from God, will have again returned to him ; when 
 every thing opposed to God shall have been destroy- 
 ed, and internal and external peace universally pre- 
 vail ; and when all the evil introduced by sin into the 
 world, will be for ever done away. Elevated above 
 all space and time, the prophet contemplates from the 
 height on which the Holy Spirit has thus placed him, 
 the whole developement of the Messiah's kingdom, 
 from its smallest beginnings to its glorious com- 
 pletion. 
 
 Until the latter part of the 18th century, Isaiah has 
 been universally regarded, both by Jews and Chris- 
 tians, as the sole author of the whole book which is 
 called by his name. Doederlein first uttered a defi- 
 nite suspicion against the genuineness of the second 
 part } a suspicion which Justi adopted more fully, and 
 endeavored to establish. From this time onward, all 
 the neological commentators of Germany have united 
 in regarding the second part of the book of Isaiah as 
 spurious, and as composed near the close of the Bab- 
 ylonish exile. The ablest attack upon its genuine- 
 ness, is thatof Gesenius, in his Commentary. Many 
 arguments are brought forward ; but the main point, 
 after all, with these interpreters, is, that denying, as 
 they do, divine inspiration and the power of prophe- 
 cy, they cannot admit the genuineness and antiquity 
 of this second part, without falling into self-contra- 
 dictions. The declarations contained in it are too 
 precise and definite to be regarded as mere sagacious 
 conjecture ; if, therefore, it was actually written by 
 Isaiah himself, before the exile, it follows that Isaiah 
 was a truly inspired prophet. To avoid this conclu- 
 sion, this part is pronounced spurious. All the ar- 
 guments brought forward to detract from its genu- 
 ineness have been very fully and ably reviewed by 
 professor Hengstenberg, in his Christology, and their 
 feebleness demonstrated. He has also subjoined 
 many strong arguments in favor of the genuineness 
 of the whole book. That part of his work which 
 relates to this subject has been translated and pub- 
 lished in the Biblical Repository, vol. i. p. 700, seq. 
 As his reasonings do not admit of abridgment, the 
 reader is referred to that work for further informa- 
 tion. *R, 
 
 ISHBI-BEN-OB, that is, Ishbi, the son of Ob, of 
 the giants, or Rephaim, carried a spear which 
 weighed 300 shekels, twelve pounds and a half 
 This giant, being on the point of killing David, who 
 was fatigued in the battle, was himself killed by 
 Abishai, son of Zeruiah, 2 Sam, xxi. 16, 17. 
 
 ISHBOSHETH, son of Saul, and also his suc- 
 cessor, Abner, Saul's kinsman, and general, so man- 
 aged, that Ishbosheth was acknowledged king at Ma- 
 hanaim by the greater part of Israel, while David 
 reigned at Hebron over Judah. He was 44 years of 
 age when he began to reign, and he reigned two 
 years peaceably ; after which he had skirmishes, 
 with loss, against David, 2 Sam. ii. 8, &c. Saul had 
 left a concubine named Rizpah, with whom Abner 
 was accused of having been intimate. Ishbosheth
 
 ISH 
 
 [ 538 ] 
 
 TSL 
 
 reproved hiiii, and Abner, being thereby provoked, 
 swore he would endeavor to transfer the crown 
 from the house of Saul to David ; but he was treach- 
 erously killed by Joab. Ishbosheth, informed of Ab- 
 ner's death, lost all courage ; and Israel fell into gi-eat 
 disorder. Ishbosheth was assassinated by two cap- 
 tains of his troops, who entered his house while he 
 was sleeping during the heat of the day : and cut- 
 ting off his head, they brought it to David at Hebron, 
 thinking to receive a considerable reward. David, 
 however, commanded the murderers to be killed, 
 and their hands and feet to be cut off, and hung near 
 the pool in Hebron. The head of Ishboshetli he 
 placed in Abner's sepulchre at Hebron. With this 
 prince terminated the roval family of Said, cmtr A. D. 
 1048. 
 
 I. ISHMAEL, son of Abraham and Hagar, was 
 bom A. M. 2094. The angel of the Lord appeared 
 to Hagar in the wilderness, when she fled from her 
 mistress, and bade her return, adding, " Thou shalt 
 bring forth a son, and call his name Ishmael, ' the 
 Lord hath hearkened ;' because the Lord hath hearil 
 thee in thy affliction. He shall be a fierce, savage 
 man, whose hand shall be against all men, and the 
 hands of all men against him." Hagar returned, 
 therefore, to Abraham's house, and had a son, 
 whom she named Ishmael. (See Hagar.) Four- 
 teen years after this, the Lord visited Sarah, and 
 Isaac being born to Abraham, by his wife Sarah, 
 Ishmael, who till then had been considered as the 
 sole heir, saw his hopes disappointed. Five or six 
 years afterwards, Ishmael displeased Sarah, who pre- 
 vailed on Abraham to expel him and his mother. 
 Hagar, with Ishmael, wandered in the wilderness of 
 Beersheba, and when reduced to great distress, a 
 voice from heaven said, " Fear not, Hagar, the Lord 
 hath heard the child's voice. ... I will make him the 
 father of a great people." They abode in the wilder- 
 ness of Paran, where Ishmael became expert in 
 archery, and his mother married him to an Egyptian 
 woman. He had twelve sons ; viz. Nabajoth, Kedar, 
 Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hader, or 
 Hadad, Tenia, Jetur, Naphish, Kedemah. He had 
 likewise a daughter named ]VIahalath,or Kashemath, 
 (Gen. xxxvi. 3.) who married Esau, Gen. xxviii. 9. 
 From the twelve sons of Ishmael are derived the 
 twelve tribes of the Arabians, still subsisting ; and 
 Jerome says that in his time they called the districts 
 of Arabia by the names of their several tribes. The 
 descendants of Ishmael inhabited from Havilah to 
 Shur, i. e. from the Persian gulf to the border of 
 Egypt ; and are usually mentioned in history under 
 the general name of Arabians and Ishmaelites. Since 
 the seventh century, they have almost all embraced 
 the religion of Mahomet. Ishmael died in the pres- 
 ence of all his brethren, (Gen. xxv. 18.) as the Vul- 
 gate renders ; or, according to another and better 
 translation, his inheritance lay to the eastward of that 
 of all his brethren. (Sec Gen. xvi. 12.) 
 
 Arabia was peopled by old Arabians, before the 
 sons of Ishmael settled there, and not till after long 
 disputes with the Giorhamides, the first possessors. 
 These old Arabians still subsist, but blended with the 
 Ishmaelites. See Arabia. 
 
 Mr. Taylor thinks that the phrase in the English 
 version, "he shall dwell in tlie presence of his breth- 
 ren," refers to the mode in which the Arabs pitch 
 their tents ; to illustrate which he adduces the follow- 
 ing extract from Thevenot: (part. ii. p. 148.) "The 
 basha's tent, pitched near Cairo, was a very lovely 
 tent, and reckoned to be worth ten thousand crowns. 
 
 It was very spacious, and encompassed round with 
 walls of waxed cloth. In the middle was his pavil 
 ion, of green waxed cloth, lined within with flowered 
 tapestry, all of one set. Within the precincts be- 
 hind, and on the sides of his pavilion, were cham- 
 bers and ofiices for his women. Round the pale of 
 his tent, within a pistol shot, were above two hun- 
 dred tents, pitched in such a manner, that the doora 
 of them all looked toAvards the basha's tent ; and it 
 ever is so, that they may have their eye always upon 
 their master's lodging, and be in readiness to assist 
 him, if he be attacked." Did not the basha dwell 
 ovei- against the faces of those who lodged in these 
 tents? and Avas not this one sign of his superiority ? 
 Did Ishmael, in Mke manner, announce his superi- 
 ority ? and if so, was this, in part at least, his dwell- 
 ingclosc over against the faces of all his brethren? 
 [That the Arabs often pitch their tents in a circle, ia 
 no doubt true, as is aftirmed also by D'Arvieux; but 
 this is not always the case, nor apparently is it usu- 
 ally so. A fine sketch of a Bedouin encampment, 
 where the tents are represented in a straight line, is 
 prefixed to Game's Letters from the East. R. 
 
 II. ISHMAEL, son of Nethaniah, of the royal 
 family of Judah, treacherously killed Gedaliah, 
 whom Nebuchadnezzar had established over the re- 
 mains of the people, in Judea, after the destruction 
 of Jerusalem; but was obliged to fly to Baalis, king 
 of the Ammonites, Jer. xli. 
 
 ISLANDS, ISLES. Considerable errors in sa- 
 cred geography have arisen from taking the word 
 rendered islands, for a spot surrounded by w'ater. It 
 rather imports a settlement ; that is to say, a colony or 
 establishment, as distinct from an open, unappropri- 
 ated region. Thus we should understand Gen. x. 5. 
 — "By these were the settlements of the Gentiles 
 divided hi their lands." The sacred writer evident- 
 ly had enumerated countries, which were not isles in 
 any sense whatever. So Job xxii. 30, "He (God) 
 shall deliver the island of the innocent," i. e. settle- 
 ment or establishment. Isa. xlii. 15, "I will make 
 the rivers islands;" — rather settleinents of human 
 population. In these places, and many others, the 
 true idea of the Hebrew word is establishments, or 
 colonies, understood to be at some distance from 
 others of a similar nature. The oases of Africa, 
 Avhich arc small districts comprising wells, verdure, 
 and i)opidation, surroinided by immense deserts of 
 sand, are called islands, in Arabic, to this day ; and 
 no doubt but such Avere so called by the Hebrews, 
 notAvithstanding that they had no stream of Avater 
 Avithin many days' journey aroinid them. 
 
 [Tlie Hebrew AA'ord •'N, Avhich is )nore commonly 
 translated isle, means strictly dry land, habitable coun- 
 try, in oppositio)! to AA-ater, or to seas and rivers. So 
 Is.xlii.1.5, "I Avill makethe rivers dry land," not 2s/a?jcfe, 
 AA'hich Avould make no sense. Hence, as opposed 
 to Avater iiigeneral, it means land adjacent to AA'ater, 
 either waip# or surrounded by it, i. e. maritime 
 coiuitn/, coast, island. Thus it means coast, Avhen 
 used of Ashdod ; (Is. xx. (i.) of Tyre; (Is. xxiii.2,6.) 
 of Peloponnesus, or Greece, (Ezek.xxvii.7.) " The isles 
 of Elishah." It means island AA-hcn used e. g. of 
 Caphtor, or Crete; (Jer. xlvii. 4.) also Ezek. xxvi. 6; 
 Jer. ii. 10; so also Esth. x. 1, Avhere the phrase isles 
 of the sea is in antithesis Avith the land or continent. 
 The plural of this Avord, usually translated islands, 
 Avas employed by the HebrcAvs to denote distant re- 
 gions beyond the sea, whethQv coasts or islands; and 
 especially the islands and maritime countries of the 
 west, Avhich had become indistmctly knoAAai to th«
 
 ITU 
 
 [ 539 ] 
 
 I VO 
 
 Hebrews, through the vo3'age3 of the Phoeuicieins ; 
 so Is. xxiv. 15 ; xl. 15 ; xlii. 4, 10, 12 ; li. 5 ; Ps. Ixxii. 
 10, et. al. In Ezek. x-xvii. 15, the East Indian Archi- 
 pelago would seem to be intended. R. 
 
 ISRAEL, who prevails with God, a name given to 
 Jacob, after having wrestled with him at Mahanaim, 
 or Penuel, Gen. .xxxii. 1, 2, and 28, 29, 30; Hosea 
 xii. 3. (See Jacob.) By the name Israel is some- 
 times understood the person of Jacob ; sometimes the 
 people of Israel, the race of Jacob ; and sometimes 
 the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes, as distinct 
 from the kingdom of Judah. 
 
 ISRAELITES, the descendants of Israel, called 
 afterwards Jews, [Judai,) I)ecausc, after the return 
 from the captivity of Babylon, the tribe of Judah 
 was the most numerous, and Ibreigners had scarcely 
 any knowledge of the other tribes. See Hebrews. 
 ISSACHAR, the fifth son of Jacob and Leah, was 
 born about ante A. D. 1749. He had four sons. To- 
 la, Phuvah, Job, and Shiniron, Gen. xlvi. 13. We 
 know nothing particular of his life. Jacob, blessing 
 him, said, " Issachar is a strong ass, couching down 
 between two burdens. And he saw that rest was 
 good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed 
 his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto 
 ti ibute." The Chaldee translates it in a quite contrary 
 sense, " He shall subdue provinces, and make those 
 tributary to him, who shall remain in his land." The 
 tribe of Issachar had its portion among the best parts 
 of the land of Canaan, along the great plain, or val- 
 ley of Jezreel, with the half-tribe of Manasseh to the 
 south, Zebidun to the north, the Mediterranean sea 
 west, and Jordan, with the south point of the sea of 
 Tiberias, east. See Ca.naax. 
 
 ITALY, a Latin word, which some derive from 
 Vitidus, or Vitida, because this country abounded in 
 calves and heifers ; but others, from a king called 
 Italus. We know not the ancient name of Italy in 
 the Hebrew language. Jerome has sometimes ren- 
 dered Chitlim, Italy, (Numb. xxiv. 24 ; Ezek. xxvii. 
 6.) and in Isa. Ixvi. 19, he translates Thubal, Italy, 
 though, according to others, the Tibarenians ai-c here 
 meant. In the New Testament, written in Greek, 
 there is no ambiguity in the word Italy ; it signifies 
 that country of which Rome is the capital. 
 
 [The Italian band mentioned in Acts x. 1, was 
 probably a Roman cohort from Italy, stationed at 
 CfEsarea ; so called to distinguish it from the other 
 troops, which were drawn from Syria, and the adja- 
 cent regions. (Compare Joseph, b. Jud. iii. 42.) R. 
 ITHAMAR, Aaron's fourth son, who, with his de- 
 scendants, exercised the functions of common priests 
 only, till the high-priesthood passed into his fairuly 
 in the person of Eli. The successors of Eli, of the 
 family of Ithamar, were Ahitub, Ahiah, Ahimelech, 
 and Abiathar, whom Solomon deposed, 1 Kings ii. 
 27. See Eli. 
 
 ITUREA, a province of Syria, or Arabia, beyond 
 Jordan, east of the Batanea, and south of Trachonitis ; 
 it seems to have been the same as the ancient Aura- 
 nitis, or modern Haouran ; or it was, perhaps, a gen- 
 eral name including Auranitis, Batanea, &c. Luke 
 (iii. 1.) speaks of Iturea ; and 1 Chron. v. 19, of the 
 Itureans, or of Jetur, who was one of the sons of 
 Ishmael, and gave name to Iturea. Early in his 
 reign, Aristobulus made war with the Itureans, sub- 
 dued the greater part of them, and obliged them to 
 embrace Judaism, as Hircanus his father had some 
 years before obliged the Idumseans to do. He gave 
 them their choice, either to be circumcised and em- 
 brace the Jewish religion, or to leave the country. 
 
 They chose the former. Philip, one of Herod's sons, 
 was tetrarch of Iturea, when John the Baptist en- 
 tered on his ministry, Luke iii. 1. 
 
 IVORY is first mentioned in the reign of Solo- 
 mon, unless, indeed. Psalm xlv. were written previ- 
 ous to his time, in which ivory is spoken of, as used 
 in decorating those boxes of perfume, whose odors 
 were employed to exliilarate the king's spirits. It is 
 probable that Solomon, who traded to India, first 
 brought thence elephants and ivory to Judea. "For 
 the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish, with the navy 
 of Hiram : once in three years came the navy of 
 Tarshish, bringing gold and silver and ivory," 1 Kings 
 X. 22 ; 2 Chron. ix. 21. It seems that Solomon had 
 a throne decorated with ivory, and inlaid with gold ; 
 the beauty of these materials relieving the splendor, 
 and heightening the lustre, of each other, 1 Kings x. 
 18. Ivory is here described as SiJ yc; shen gadol, 
 " great tooth," which clearly shows, that it was im- 
 ported in the whole tusk. It was, however, ill de- 
 scribed as a tooth, for tooth it is not, but a weapon of 
 defence, not unlike the tusks of a wild boar, and for 
 the same purposes as horns of other animals. This 
 has prompted Ezekiel (xxvii. 15.) to use another 
 periphrasis for describing it ; and he calls it jc rnjnp, 
 karnoth shen, " horns of teeth." This, however, is 
 liable to great objection, since the idea of horns and 
 of teeth, to those who have never seen an elephant, 
 must have been very confused, if not contradictoiy. 
 Nevertheless, the combination is ingenious, for the 
 defences which furnish the ivory, answer the pur- 
 poses of horns ; while, by issuing from the mouth, 
 they are not unaptly allied to teeth." Several of the 
 ancients have expressly called these tusks horns, par- 
 ticularly Varro, (de Ling. Sat. lib. vi.) The LXX 
 render the two Hebrew words by oSorra; i/.nfarTiyoi, 
 and the Vulgate denies eburneos. The Targum, how- 
 ever, in Ezekiel, separates nuip and \v, explaining 
 the former word by horns of the rock goats, and the 
 latter, by elephants^ teeth. 
 
 Cal)iuets and wardrobes were ornamented with 
 ivory, by what is called marquetry, Ps. xlv. 8. 
 These were named " houses of ivory ;" perhaps, be- 
 cause made in the form of a house or palace ; as the 
 silver ^'it^>l of Diana, mentioned Acts xix. 24, were in 
 the form of her temple at Ephesus ; and as we have 
 now ivory models of the Chinese pagodas or temples. 
 In this sense. Dr. Harris understands what is said of 
 the ivory house which Ahab made, 1 Kings xxii. 39, 
 for the "Hebrew word, translated house, is used, as 
 Dr. Taylor well observes, for a place, or case, where- 
 in any thing lieth, is contained, or laid up. Ezekiel 
 gives" the name of house to chests of rich apparel ; 
 (chap, xxvii. 24.) and Dr. Durell, in his note on Ps. 
 xlv. 8, quotes places from Hojmer and Euripides, 
 where tlie same appropriation is made. Hesiod 
 makes the same (Ap. rt. D. v. 96.) As to -'dwelling- 
 houses," the most we can suppose in regard to them 
 is, that they might have ornaments of ivory, as they 
 sometimcshave of gold, silver, or other precious ma- 
 terials, in such abundance as to derive an appellation 
 from the article of their dec-oration ; as the emperor 
 Nero's palace, mentioned by Suetonius, (Nerone, 
 c. 31.) was named, aurta, or golden, because overlaid 
 with gold. This method of ornainenting biiildings 
 or apartments was very ancient among the^ Greeks, 
 and is mentioned by Homer, Odyss. iv. v. 72. The 
 Romans sometimes ornamented their apartments in 
 like manner, as is evident from Horace, Carm. 1. ii. 
 Ode xviii. v. 1. 
 
 Our marginal translation of Cant. v. 13, renders th«
 
 IVOR! 
 
 [ 540 
 
 IVORY 
 
 Hebrew words " towers of perfiime," which Harnier 
 says, (Outlines, p. 165.) may mean vases, in which 
 odoriferous perfumes are kept. Amos(vi. 4.) speaks 
 of beds or sofas of ivory. (See Bed.) If we might 
 trust to Chaldee interpreters, the knowledge of ivory 
 would be much more ancient than we have supposed 
 it ; for this authority informs us, that Joseph placed 
 his father Jacob on a bed of ivory. This interpreta- 
 tion is not altogether to be rejected : for ivory might 
 be known in Egypt, either from Ethiopi«^ or by the 
 
 caravans from the central parts of Africa, or it might 
 be procured from India, by means of trading vessels, 
 or trading merchants ; and certainly its beauty and 
 ornaments should well become the residence of the 
 Nazir, or lord steward of the royal household of the 
 Egyptian Pharaohs. In Ezek. xxvii. 6, the benches 
 of Tyrian ships are said to be " made of ivory." The 
 meaning is, ornamented, probably, though Mr. Tay- 
 lor contends that " shrines" must be intended. 
 
 JAB 
 
 JABAL, son of Lamech and Adah, father of those 
 who lodge under tents, and of shepherds ; (Gen. iv. 
 20.) that is, instituter of those who, like the Arab 
 Bedouins, live under tents, and are shepherds. See 
 Father. 
 
 JABBOK, a brook eastof the Jordan, which takes 
 its rise in the mountains of Gilead, and falls into the 
 Jordan at some distance north of the Dead sea. It 
 separated the land of the Annnonites from the Gaula- 
 nitis, and that of Og, king of Bashan, Gen. xxxii.22, 
 23. It is now called El Zerka. 
 
 I. JABESH, father of Shalkun, the fifteenth king 
 of Israel, or of Samaria, 2 Kings xv. 10. 
 
 II. JABESH, a city in the half-tribe of Manasseh, 
 east of the Jordan, and generally called Jabesh- 
 Gilead, because situated at tlie foot of the inountains 
 so named. Eusebius places it six miles from Pella, 
 towards Gerasa. Jabesh-Gilead was sacked by the 
 Isi'aelites, because it refused to join in the war 
 against Benjamin, Judg. xxi. 8, and at a subsequent 
 period, Nahash, king of the Ammonites, besieged it, 
 but Saul dislodged him. In remembrance of this 
 service the men of Jabesh-Gilead carried off the 
 bodies of Saul and his son Jonathan, which the Philis- 
 tines had hung upon the walls of Bethsan, and buried 
 them honorably at their city, 1 Sam. xxxi. 11 — 13. 
 
 I. JABIN, king of Hazor, in tlie northern part of 
 Canaan, Josh. xi. 1, &c. Discomfited at the con- 
 quests of Joshua, who had subdued the south of 
 Canaan, he formed, with other kings in the northern 
 part along the Jordan, and the Mediterranean, and 
 in the mountains, a league offensive and defensive. 
 With their troops they rendezvoused at the waters 
 of Merom, but Joshua attacked them suddenly, 
 defeated them, and j)ursued them to great Zidon, 
 and the valley of Mizpeh. He lamed their horses, 
 burnt their chariots, took Hazor, and killed Jabin, 
 about A. M. 25.55. 
 
 II. JABIN, another king of Hazor, who oppressed 
 the Israelites twenty years, from A. M. 2699, to 2719, 
 Judg. iv. 2, &c. Sisera, his general, was defeated by 
 Barak, at the foot of mount Tabor ; and the Israelites 
 were delivered. 
 
 I. JABNEEL, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 11. 
 
 II. JABNEEL, a city of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 33. 
 JABNEH, or Jab.nia, v. city of the Philistines, 
 
 (2 Chron. xxvi. 6.) called JannVm, (1 Mac. iv. 15.) 
 and Jamneia, chap. 5. 58 ; 2 Mac. xii. 8. Its situation 
 may be gathered from the passage last cited, as being 
 not far from Jaffa, or Joppa. The following is Dr. 
 Wittinan's account of it : "Ycbna is a village about 
 twelve miles distant from Jaffa; in a fine ojjen plain 
 surrounded by hills and covered with herbage. A 
 
 J AC 
 
 rivulet formed by the rains supplies water. It is 
 conjectured that the rock Etam, where Samson was 
 surprised by the Philistines, was not far from Yebna. 
 North-east of Yebna is a lofty hill, from which is an 
 extensive and pleasing view of Ramla, distant about 
 five miics. On sloping hills of easy ascent, by which 
 the plains are bordered, Yebna, Ekron, Ashdod, and 
 Ashkalou, were in sight." (Comp. 2 Chi'on. xxvi. 6.) 
 
 Josephus says Jamnia was given to the tribe ol' 
 Dan. It was taken from the Philistines by Uzziali, 
 2 Chron. xxvi. 6. In 2 Mac. xii. 9, it is stated to be 
 240 furlongs from Jerusalem. 
 
 JACHIN, stability, the name of a brass pillar 
 placed at the porch of Solomon's temple. See Boaz. 
 
 JACINTH, see Hyacinth. 
 
 JACOB, son of Isaac and Rebekah, was born ante 
 A. D. 1836. He was twin-bi-other to Esau, and as 
 at his birth he held his brother's heel, he was called 
 Jacob, the heel-holder, one who comes behind and 
 catches the heel of his adversary, a deceiver. Gen. 
 XXV. 26. This was a kind of jjredictive intimation 
 of his future conduct in life. While Rebekah was 
 pregnant, Isaac consulted the Lord concerning the 
 struggling of the twins in her womb, and God de- 
 clared that she should have two sons, who should 
 become two great people ; but that the elder should 
 be subject to the younger. Jacob was meek and 
 peaceable, living at home ; Esau was more turljulent 
 and fierce, and passionately fond of hunting. Isaac 
 was partial to Esau, Rebekah to Jacob. Jacob hav- 
 ing taken advantage of his brother's necessity, to ob- 
 tain his birthright, (see Birthright,) and of his 
 father's infirmity, to obtain the blessing of primogen- 
 iture, \vas compelled to Hy into Mesopotamia, to 
 avoid the consequences of his brother's wrath. Gen. 
 xxvii. xxviii. On his journey the Lord appeared to 
 him in a dream, j)romised him his protection, and 
 declared his purpose relative to his descendants pos- 
 sessing the laud of Canaan, and the descent of the 
 Messiah through him, chap, xxviii. 10, See. Arriving 
 at Mesopotamia, he was received by his uncle Laban, 
 whom he served fourteen years for his two daugh- 
 ters, Rachel and Leah. 
 
 Jacob had four sons by Leah ; l)Ut Rachel, having 
 no children, gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob, who 
 by her had Dan and Naphtali. Leah also gave her 
 servant Zilpah to her husband, who brought Gad 
 and Aslier. After this Leah had Issachar and Zeb- 
 ulun, and Dinah, a daughter. At last the Lord re- 
 membered Raclicl, and gave her a son, whom she 
 called Joseph, chap. xxix. Jacob's family having 
 become numerous, and his term of service to Laban 
 being expired, he desired to return into his own
 
 JACOB 
 
 [ 541 ] 
 
 JACOB 
 
 country with his wives and children. Laban, 
 however, having prospered by his services, and 
 wisliing to retain him, proposed that Jacob should 
 take as his wages in future, the marked sheep and 
 kids of the flock. To this, Jacob assented, and, 
 by a singular stratagem suggested to him in a dream, 
 acquired so much propeitj, that Laban and his sous 
 became jealous of his prosperity ; and tlio Lord de- 
 sired him to return into his own country, chap. xxx. 
 25, &c. He took liis wives, therefore, liis children 
 and his cattle, and had performed three days' jour- 
 ney before Laban was aware of his departure. He 
 immediately pursued him, however, and overtook 
 Jacob on the seventh day of his pursuit, on the 
 mountains of Gilead. He reproached him for his 
 flight, and \n ith having stolen his gods, or teraphim, 
 which Rachel liad taken witliout her husband's 
 knowledge, chap. xxxi. (See Tkraphim.) Haviiig 
 come to a mutual explanation, Jacob and Laban en- 
 tered into a covenant, and then si-puratcd. Arriving at 
 the l)rook Jabbok, east of Jordan, Jacob, fearing that 
 Esau miglit retain his former resentment, sent him 
 notice of his arrival, Avith liandsome presents, and 
 Esau advanced with four hundred men to meet him. 
 After all his people had passed the brook JabGbk, 
 Jacob remained alone, on the other side, and wres- 
 tled with an angel in the form of a man, who, not 
 being able to prevail against Jacob, touched the 
 hollow of his thigli which innnediately witliered. 
 His name Avas also changed fi-om Jacob to Israel, 
 i. e. a prince with God. Jacob called the place 
 Peniel, saying, I have seen God face to face, yet my 
 life is i)reserved, chaj). xxxii. When Ei^au advanced 
 toward him, Jacob went forward, and threw him- 
 self seven times on the earth before him ; as did also 
 Leah and Rachel, with their children. The two 
 brothere tenderly embraced each other, and Jacob 
 prevailed upon Esau to accept his presents. Esau 
 returned home, and Jacob arrived at Succoth beyond 
 Jordan, where he dwelt some time. He afterwards 
 pa.ssed the Jordan, and came to Salem, a city of the 
 Shechemites, where he set up his tents, having pur- 
 chased part of a field for the sum of a hundred 
 kesitas or pieces of money, of the children of Hamor, 
 Shechem's father, chap, xxxiii. While Jacob dwelt 
 at Salem, his daughter Dinah was ravished by She- 
 chem ; and her brothei-s, Levi and Simeon, took a 
 crafty and severe revenge, by killing the Shechem- 
 ites, and pillaging their city, ciiaj). X-xxiv. Jacob, 
 dreading the resentment of the neiglilioring people, 
 retired to Bethel, where God commanded bin) to 
 stay, and to erect an altar. In preparation fur the 
 sacrifice which he aajis to oft'er tliere, he desired his 
 people to purify themselves, to change their clothes, 
 and to reject all the strange gods, which they might 
 have brought out of Mesopotamia. These he took, 
 and buried under an oak near Shechem. At his 
 sacrifice the Lord ai>])eared to him, and renewed 
 his promises of protecting him, and of multipl} ing 
 his family. After he had performed his devotions, 
 he took the way to Hebron, to visit his father Isaac, 
 who dwelt in the valley of Mamre. In the jom-ney 
 Rachel died in labor of Benjamin, and was bnried 
 near Bethlehem, where Jacob erected a monument 
 for her, (Gen. xxxv. l(i, 17.) and, proceeding to Heb- 
 ron, pitched his tents at the tower of Edar. He had 
 the satisfaction to find his father Isaac, and that 
 good patriarch lived twenty-two years with his son, 
 chap. xxxv. About ten years before the death of 
 Isaac, Joseph was sold by his brethren, and Jacob, 
 believing he had been devoured by wild beasts, was 
 
 afflicted in proportion to his tenderness for him. He 
 passed about rvventj^-tAvo years mourning for him, 
 but at length Joseph discovered himself to his breth- 
 ren in Egj'pt, chap, xliii. xliv. xlv. Being informed 
 that Joseph was living, Jacob awaked, as it were, 
 from slumber, and exclaimed, " It is enough ; Joseph 
 my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before 1 
 die." On his arrival in Egjpt, Joseph hasted to the 
 land of Goshen, and they embraced with tears. 
 Josej)Ii presented him to the king, and Jacob having 
 Avished him all happiness, Pharaoh asked him his age. 
 He answered, "The time of my pilgrimage is a hun- 
 dred and thirty years ; few and evil have ray years 
 been, in comparison of the age of my fathers," chap. 
 xlvi. 29, &c. 
 
 Jacob lived seventeen years in Egjpt, and some 
 time before his death adopted Ephraim and Manas- 
 seh, and directed that they should share the land of 
 Canaan, which God had promised him at Bethel. 
 Josepli placed his sons on each side of his father, 
 E})hraim on Jacob's left, and Mauasseh on his right 
 hand. But Jacob, directed by the spirit of prophecy, 
 laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, and his left 
 on Manasseh's. Joseph would have changed the 
 disposition of his hands ; but Jacob answered, 
 " I know what I do, my son." Thus he gave 
 Ephraim the pre-eminence over Manasseh ; which 
 the tribe always maiutamed, being, after Judab, 
 the most considerable in Israel. Jacob also fore- 
 told that God would bring his posterity back into 
 the land of Canaan, which was promised to their 
 fathers, and bequeathed to Joseph one portion above 
 his ))rethren, which he took from the Amorite with 
 his sword and his bow, chap, xlviii. 
 
 Some time after this, Jacob assembled his sons to 
 give them his prophetic blessing. He desired to be 
 buried in the cave over against Mamre, Avhere Abra- 
 ham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah were bmied ; and 
 then laid himself down and died. Jose])h embalmed 
 him after the manner of the Egyptians, and there 
 was a general lamentation for him in Egjpt seventy 
 days ; after which, Joseph and his brethren, with 
 the principal men of Egypt, carried him to the 
 burying-place of his fathers, near Hebron, chap. xlix. 
 
 There are two or three incidents in the life of this 
 patriarch Avhich require more pai'ticular notice than 
 they have received in this narrative. The bargain 
 concluded between him and Laban (Gen. xxx. 32.) 
 appears sufticiently singular to us ; and not a little 
 sarcasm has been iciltily wasted on the patriarch, tor 
 the cunning and depth of plan which he manifested 
 in this agreement; most, however, if not all, the lev- 
 ity has either been misapplied, or recoils oji the igno- 
 rance of those who have thought proper to indulge 
 it. Jacob, it is possible, (not certain,) might make 
 some alterations in the usual terms of such agree- 
 ments ; but they were, no doubt, understood to be 
 equally advantageous to one party, as to the other ; and 
 we find Jacob complaining of Laban, "He has 
 changed my wages ten times," verse 7. It would 
 a])pear, that there were general rules established by 
 custom, at least, if not by positive law, on this sub- 
 ject : but that y)rivate individuals might vary from 
 them by specific agreement, as they thought most 
 advantageous. The following extracts may enable 
 the reader to judge for himself: "If a person, with- 
 out receiving wages, or subsistence, or clothes, at- 
 tends ten milch cows, he shall select, for his own use, 
 the milk of that cow which ever produces most ; 
 if he attend more cows, he shall take milk, after 
 the same rate in lieu of wages. If a person attend
 
 JACOB 
 
 [542] 
 
 JACOB 
 
 ene hundred cows for the space of one year, without 
 any appointment of wages, he shall take to himself 
 one heifer of three years old ; and, also, of all those 
 cows that produce milk, whatever the quantity may 
 be, after every eight days, he shall take to himself 
 the milk, the entire product of one day." [That this 
 custom continued long, appears from the apostle's 
 appeal to it, (1 Cor. ix. 7.) " Who feedeth a flock, 
 and eateth not of the milk of the flock ?"] "If he 
 attend two hundred cows, the milk of one day, &c. 
 — also a cow and her calf. Cattle shall be delivered 
 over to the cowherd in the morning; the cowherd 
 shall tend them the whole day with grass and water, 
 and in the evening shall re-deliver them to the mas- 
 ter, in the same manner as they were intrusted to 
 him: if by the fault of the coAvherd, any of the cat- 
 tle be lost, or stolen, that cowherd shall rnake. it good. 
 If cattle suffer by thieves, tigers, pits, rocks, &c. if 
 the cowherd cry out no fault lies on him, the loss 
 shall fall on the owner. When employed night and 
 day, if any by his fault be hurt, he shall make it good. 
 When a cowherd hatli led cattle to a distant place to 
 feed, if any die of some distemper, notwithstanding 
 the cowherd applied the proper remedy, the cow- 
 herd shall carry the head, the tail, the fore foot, or 
 some such convincing proof taken from that animal's 
 body, to the owner of the cattle ; having done this, 
 hs shall be no further answerable : if he neglect to 
 act thus, he shall make good the loss." (Gentoo 
 Laws, p. 150, 151.) By this time we are prepared 
 to notice a much more dignified conduct in Jacob, 
 than perhaps we have been aware of. " The rams 
 of thy flock have I not eaten ; that which was torn 
 of beasts, though the laws and usages in such cases 
 would have authorized me, yet / brought not unto 
 thee the maimed limb, for a convincing proof of 
 such an accident : / bore the loss of the creature, in 
 silence ; of my hand didst thou also require the equiv- 
 alent for that ivhich tvas stolen by day, or even that 
 stolen by night, when I could not possibly prevent 
 the theft;! In short, to avoid words, I have borne much 
 more loss, than in strictness, and according to cus- 
 tom, I^need to have done," Gen. xxxi. 38, 39. 
 
 It may not be out of place to remark, that this rep- 
 resentation gives additional spirit to the valor of 
 David : " Thy servant kei)t his father's sheep, and 
 there came a lion and a beai', and took a lamb out of 
 the flock; and as I could not endure to be liable to 
 any imputation of negligence or of cowardice, though 
 the loss was not by my fault, and the laws would have 
 cleared me, yet / ran after the ivild beasts, and risked 
 my life, to recover my father's property," 1 Sam. 
 xvii. 34. See also Amos iii. 12 : " Thus saith the 
 Lord, As the shepherd recovereth out of the mouth 
 of the lion, two legs, or a piece of an ear," — in order 
 that he may cari\y to his owner " convincing proof 
 from the animal's body," of the accident that has 
 happened to it, that he Jiimself had neither sold nor 
 elain the creature, to his owner's injuiy. Is not this 
 tlie allusion ? — Is not the behavior of Jacob's sons 
 also founded on the same principle? Gen. xxxvii. 31. 
 "They took Joseph's coat, and dipped it in the blood 
 of a kid, and sent (not brought) it to their father — 
 saying. This have we found ; discern, now, whether 
 it be thy son's coat, or no. And Jacob knew it, and 
 said. It is my son's coat ; Joseph is, doubtless, rent in 
 pieces " by a wild beast. — Did )iot his brctliren thus 
 endeavor to send "convincing proof" of Josci)l)'s 
 hopeless fate; as they would have brought "the 
 head, the tail, or the fore foot of an animal " in the 
 true characteristic style of shepherds ? 
 
 Most readers, no doubt, have been used to consider 
 the case of Jacob, in his marriage with the two sis- 
 ters, Leah and Rachel, as not merely hard, but as 
 uncustomary and illegal ; perhaps, as scarcely bind- 
 ing. Gen. xxi. 21, seq. Had he not been imposed 
 upon by Laban, he would have married Rachel, but 
 would have declined Leah ; though, after having 
 married her, he would not divorce her. Admitting, 
 as extremely probable, that Laban's conduct was 
 more cunning than upright, yet the excuse he makes 
 for himself, we must acknowledge was founded in 
 fact ; though it leaves him guilty of not having ex- 
 plained the laws or usages of the country to Jacob. 
 On the contrary, he encouraged him to believe he 
 had bargained for one daughter to be his wife, and 
 afterwards deluded him by substituting another. Mr. 
 Halhed observes, in his preface to the Gentoo Laws, 
 (p. 69.) tliat " We find Laban excusing himself, for 
 having substituted Leah in the place of Rachel, to 
 Jacob in these words: 'It must not be so done in our 
 country, to give the youngest daughter before the 
 first-born.' This was long before Moses. So in this 
 compilation, it is made criminal for a man to give his 
 younger daughter in marriage before the elder ; or 
 for a younger son to marry while his elder brother 
 remains unmamed. 
 
 With regard to Jacob, it does not appear that in 
 his marriage of two sisters, there was at that time, 
 and in that country, what would be deemed a noto- 
 rious and flagrant breach of propriety, if, indeed, 
 there was any thing remarkable in it. We live in 
 days of happier refinement, than to tolerate such 
 connections ; but that such continued to be formed 
 in that country, long after the time of Jacob, is ascer- 
 tained by a history recorded of Omar, the second 
 caliph of the Mahometans after Mahomet. "While 
 he was on his journey, there came, at one of his 
 stages, a complaint beibre him, of a man who had 
 married two wives that were sisters both bj' father 
 and mother; a thing which the old Arabians, so long 
 as they continued in their idolatry, made no scruple 
 of, as appears from that passage in the Koran, where 
 it is forbidden for the time to come, and expressed in 
 such a manner as makes it evident to have been no 
 uncommon practice among them. Omar Avas very 
 angry, and cited him and his two wives to make 
 their a[)pearance before him forthwith. After the 
 fellow had confessed that they were both his wives, 
 and so nearly related, Omar asked liim ' What reli- 
 gion he mignt be, or whether he was a Mussulman.' 
 — ' Yes,' said the fellow. 'And did you not know, 
 then,' said Omar, ' that it was unlawful for j'ou to 
 have them, when God said, " JVeither marry two sisters 
 ANY MORE?"' (Koran, chap. iv. 277.) The fellow 
 swore, that he did not know that it was unlawful ; 
 neither was it unlawful. Omar swore, ' he lied, and 
 ho would make him ])art with one of them, or else 
 strike his head ofi".' The fellow began to grumble, 
 and said 'he wished he had never been of that reli- 
 gion, for he could have done very well without it ; 
 and never had been a whit better for it since he had 
 first professed it.' Upon which Omar called him a 
 little nearer, and gave him two l)lo\vs on the crown 
 with his stick, to teach him better manners, and learn 
 him to speak more reverently of Mahometanism ; 
 saying, ' O thou enemy of God, and of thyself, dost 
 thou revile Islam ; wliich is the religion that God, and 
 his angels, and apostles, and the best of the creation 
 have chosen?' and threatened him severely if he did 
 not make a quick despatch, and take which of them 
 he loved best. The fellow was so fond of them both,
 
 JAE 
 
 [543 J 
 
 JAM 
 
 that he could not tell which he had rather part with : 
 upon which, some of Omar's atteudauts cast lots for 
 the two women ; the lot falling upon one of them 
 three times, the man took her, and was forced to dis- 
 miss the other." (Ockley's Hist. Sarac. vol. i. p. 219.) 
 Had Jacob been questioned, which of the two sisters 
 he would have relinquished, we may readily con- 
 ceive his answer ; and yet, perhaps, in parting with 
 Leah and her children, he would have felt such a 
 pang as genuine affection only could feel. (See Gen. 
 xxx. 1, 2.) 
 
 ^\ ill this story throw any light on the precept of 
 Moses ? (Lev. xviii. 18.) " And a wife, to her sister, 
 thou shalt not take to vex her, during her life." Does 
 not this restriction look somewhat like Mahomet's in 
 the Koran, as if such practice had been common ? 
 Why else forbid it ? Does Moses forbid it, only when 
 it would i-ex the other sister ; but does he leave it as 
 before, if the lust sister did not remonstrate against 
 it ? or does lie take for gi-anted, that the first wife 
 must be vexed by the admission of a sister ? In the 
 stoi-)' of Omar's determination, it should seem that 
 both sisters were satisfied ; for, had one been vexed, 
 doubtless that had been the one to be put away. A 
 custom, though not identically the same, yet allied to 
 what we have mentioned, is plainly supposed in 
 Judg. XV. 2. Samson's father-in-law says, " I gave 
 thy wife to thy companion ; is not her younger sister 
 fairer than she ? take her, I pray thee, instead of 
 her." He certainly does not propose an imheard- 
 of connection, in this offer ; or a connection noto- 
 riously unlawful. 
 
 For Jacob's Well see the article Shechem. 
 
 JADDL'A, or Jaddus, high-priest of the Jews in 
 the time of Alexander the Great. See Alexander. 
 
 JAEL, or Jahel, wife of Heber the Keuite, killed 
 Sisera, general of the Canaauitish army. Having 
 fled to her tent, Jael took her opportunity, and, while 
 he was sleeping, drove a large nail, or tent-pin, 
 tin-ough his temples, Judg. iv. 17, 21. Why this 
 woman violated the sacred rites of hospitality, by 
 murdering her guest, does not appear. Scripture 
 hints at the relation of her family to 3Ioses by Ho- 
 bab, and no doubt he and his family had received 
 many advantages by means of Israel ; for so Moses 
 promised, " We will surely do thee good." Still, we 
 must consider the secluded and sacred nature of the 
 women's tent in the East, (see Te>t,) and that the 
 victor would not have intruded there ; the im])lied 
 pledge of security in the food Jael had given to Sise- 
 ra, which in the East is of considerable solenniity. 
 (See Eating.) — By way of apology, the rabbins say 
 that the words, " At her feet he bowed, he fell," (Sec. 
 (chap. V. 27.) imply, that he attempted rudeness to 
 her ; and that to resist such violation, she had re- 
 course to " the workman's hammer." But it should 
 be remembered, that a fugitive, as Sisera was, would 
 have had little inclination at such a time ; and it ap- 
 pears clearly that fatigue and sleep overpowered him. 
 We suggest as probable, (1.) that Jael had herself felt 
 the severity of the late oppression of Israel by Sisera ; 
 (2.) that she was actuated by motives of patriotism, 
 and of gratitude toward Israel ; (3.) that the general 
 character of Sisera might be so atrocious, that at any 
 rate his death was desirable. We find a similar 
 proceeding in the case of Judith, whose anxiety for 
 the deliverance of her people led her to the employ- 
 ment of artifice to accomplish her ])urposes. 
 
 [As to the morality ofthe proceeding of Jael, in put- 
 ting Sisera to death, we have no right to bring it to the 
 test of modern principles and occidental feelings. 
 
 We must judge of it by the feehngs of ih<,8e among: 
 whom the right of avenging the blood of a relative 
 was so strongly rooted, that even Moses could not 
 take it away. Jael was an ally by blood of the Is- 
 raelitish nation ; their chief oppressor, who had 
 mightily oppressed them for the space of twenty 
 years, now lay defenceless before her ; and he was 
 moreover one of those whom Israel was bound by 
 the connnand of Jehovah to extirpate. Perhaps, too, 
 she felt herself called to be the instrument of God in 
 working out for that nation a great deliverance, by 
 thus exterminating their heathen oppressor. At least, 
 Israel viewed it in this light ; and in this view, we 
 cannot reproach the heroine with that as a crime, 
 which both she and Israel felt to be a deed performed 
 in accordance with the mandate of Heaven. R. 
 
 JAGUR, a city in the south of Judah, Josh. xv. 21. 
 Its situation is not knoA\ii. 
 
 JAH, one ofthe names of God ; contracted from 
 Jehovah. It is compounded with many Hebrew 
 words; as Adonijah, Halleluiah, Malachia ; — God is 
 my Lord, Praise the Lord, The Lord is my king, &c. 
 
 JAHAZ, also Jahazah, and Jahzah, a city east of 
 Jordan, near to which IMoses defeated Sihon. It was 
 given to Reuben, (Deut. ii. 32.) and was situated to the 
 north, near Ar, the capital of Moab. It was given to 
 the Levites, Josh. xxi. 36 ; 1 Chron. vi. 78. 
 
 I. JAIR, of Manasseh, possessed the whole coun- 
 try of Argob beyond Jordan, to the borders of Geshur 
 and Maachathi, Judg. x. 3. He succeeded Tola in 
 the government of Israel, and was succeeded by 
 Jephthah. His govenmient continued twenty-two 
 years, from A. M. 2795 to 2817. (Comp. Numb, 
 xxxii. 41 ; Deut. iii. 14 ; Josh. xiii. 30 ; 1 Kings iv. 13 ; 
 1 Chron. ii. 22.) 
 
 II. JAIR, the eighth month of the Hebrew civil 
 year, and the second of the sacred year. It corre- 
 sponded partly to March and April. 
 
 JAIRUS, chief of the synagogue at Capernaum, 
 whose daughter was restored to life by Jesus, Mark 
 V. 22 ; Luke viii. 41, seq. 
 
 JAMBRES, a magician, who opposed Moses in 
 Egypt. See Janxes. 
 
 I. J^\]MES, surnamed Major, or the elder, to dis- 
 tinguish him from James the younger, brother of 
 John the Evangelist, and son of Zebedee and Sa- 
 lome, Matt. iv. 21 ; xxvii. 56; compare Mark xv. 40. 
 James was of Bethsaida in Galilee, and left his prop- 
 erty to follow Christ. His mother, Salome, was one 
 of those women who occasionally attended our Sa- 
 viour in his journeys, and one day desired that her 
 two sons might be seated at his right and left hand in 
 liis kingdom. Jesus rcphed, that this was only in the 
 appointment of his heavenly Father, Matt. xx. 21, 
 &c. James and John were oi-iginally fishermen, 
 with Zebedee their father, Mai"k i. 19. They were 
 witnesses of our Lord's transfiguration, (Matt. xvii. 
 1,2.) and when certain Samaritans refused to receive 
 him, James and John wished for fire from heaven 
 to consume them, Luke ix. 54. For this reason, it 
 is thought the name of Boanerges, or sons of thun- 
 der, was afterwards given to them. Some days after 
 the resiu'rection of our Saviour, James and John 
 went a fishing in the sea of Tiberias, where they 
 saw Jesus, and were afterwards present at the ascen- 
 sion of our Lord. James is said to have preached 
 to all the dispersed tribes of Israel ; but of this there 
 is no proof His martyrdom, by Herod Agrippa, is 
 related in Acts xii. 1,2; cir. A. D. 42, or 44, for the 
 date is not well determined. Clemens Alexandrinus 
 informs us, that the man who brought James before 
 
 V 
 
 . .f
 
 JAMES 
 
 [544 ] 
 
 JA3IES 
 
 the judges was so affected with his constancy in con- 
 fessing Christ, that he declared himself a Christian, 
 and was condemned, as well as the apostle, to be 
 beheaded. 
 
 II. JAMES, surnamed the Less, brother of our 
 Lord, (Gal. i. 19; Joseph. Ant. lib. xx. cap. 8.) was 
 son of Cleopas (or Alphseus) and Maiy, sister of the 
 Virgin Mary. (See Mark xv. 40 ; xvi. 1 ; compared 
 with John xix. 25.) He was consequently cousin- 
 german to Christ, and is therefore termed his brother, 
 in the wider sense of that word. Gal. i. 19. (See 
 Brother.) He was surnamed the Just, for the ad- 
 mirable holiness and purity of his life. By Clemens 
 Alexandrinus and Hegesippus he is said to have 
 been a priest, and to have observed the laws of the 
 Nazarites from his birth, eating or drinking nothing 
 capable of intoxicating ; but this is not credible. 
 Jerome assures us that the Jews so greatly esteemed 
 him, that they strove to touch the hem of his gar- 
 ment, and the Talmud relates several miracles said 
 to have been wrought by James, the disciple of Jesus 
 the carpenter. 
 
 Our Saviour appeared to James eight days after 
 the resiu-rection, 1 Cor. xv. 7. He was appointed 
 bishop of Jerusalem ; and we are assured by Euse- 
 bius, was at Jerusalem, and considered as a pillar of 
 the church, Avhen Paul first visited that city after his 
 conversion, Gal. i. 18. In the council of Jerusalem, 
 (A. D. 51.) James gave his vote last ; and the result 
 of the council was principally formed on what he 
 said ; who, notwithstanding that he himself observed 
 the ceremonies of the law, with his church, (comp. 
 Gal. ii. 11, 12.) was of opinion, that such a yoke was 
 not to be imposed on converts from among the hea- 
 then. Acts XV. 13. The progress of the gospel 
 alarmed the chief of the Jews, and Ananus, son of 
 Annas the high-priest, mentioned in the gospel, un- 
 dertook to put James to death, and accomplished his 
 purpose. 
 
 James was stoned by the Pharisees, and buried 
 near the temple, in the place where he had suffered 
 martyrdom, and where a monument was erected, 
 which was much celebrated till Jerusalem was de- 
 stroyed by the Romans. The wisest of the Jews 
 much disapproved this murder, and the behavior of 
 Ananus, of which they made complaints to king 
 Agrippa,Hnd to Albinus, the Roman governor of the 
 province. The latter threatened to punish his te- 
 merity ; and Agrippa divested him of the high- 
 priesthood, which he had exercised only three months. 
 Josephus is cited as affirming, that the war which 
 the Romans made against the Jews, and all the fol- 
 lowing calamities, were imputed to the death of this 
 just man. The ancient heretics forged writings. 
 
 which they ascribed to James, the brother of our 
 Lord ; but the church acknowledges his epistle only 
 as authentic. In this he argues principally against 
 the abuse which many made of Paul's principle, that 
 faith and not works justifies before God, strongly 
 maintaining the necessity of good works. 
 
 It is probable that James's strict observance of the 
 Mosaic institutions, contributed to his preservation 
 during many years at Jerusalem ; and shows the pru- 
 dence of those who desired him to preside in the 
 Christian church there ; as he would be least offen- 
 sive to the Jewish rulers, though an apostle ; nor 
 would he detract from the reputation of the national 
 rites among his own people. 
 
 The Epistle of James. — There are doubts to 
 which James the church is indebted for this Epistle. 
 The most ancient traditionary reports ascribe this 
 Epistle to James the ekler, the son of Zebedee, and 
 consequently the brother of John. He was one of 
 the three apostles in whom Christ placed the great- 
 est confidence, who alone were witnesses to the 
 raising of Jairus's daughter from the dead, to the 
 transfiguration of Christ, and to his agony in the gar- 
 den. In tlie Syriac version, undoubtedly one of the 
 oldest, and perhaps the best, into which the First 
 Epistle of Peter, the First of John, and the Epistle 
 of James, only, are admitted, there is a subscrip- 
 tion, according to the edition of Widmanstadt, to 
 this effect : — " In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 we here close the three Epistles of James, Peter, 
 and John, who were witnesses to the revelation 
 of our Lord, when he was transfigured on mount 
 Tabor, and who saw Moses and Ellas speaking 
 with him." To this Michaelis adds the subscrip- 
 tion to the edition of the Syriac version, pub- 
 lished by Tremellius, which is to the same pur- 
 port ; also, that of a manuscript of the old Latin 
 version, the Codex Corbiensis, which is. Explicit 
 Epistola Jacohi, filii Zehedesi. Coidd we depend 
 on these subscriptions, tlie question were settled ; 
 but all subscriptions are doubtful, and can justly 
 claim no great reliance. However, they show what 
 some, at least, thought anciently. James the elder 
 was beheaded about A. D. 43 or 44. " If, therefore, 
 he was the author of this Epistle," says Michaelis, 
 "it must have been the first written of all the Epis- 
 tles." But this opinion is not tenable, if the First 
 Epistle of John were written in Jerusalem, if it were 
 addressed to the visitants of that city, and if its ob- 
 jects were such as most proj)erly may be attributed 
 to the infant state of the church. (See Joh\.) A 
 comparison between these two Epistles might be 
 instituted with considerable effect. The coincidence 
 is more than accidental. 
 
 Sentiments of John. 
 
 God is Light, and in him is no darknesB at all. 
 1 John i. v. 
 
 Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his 
 brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of 
 compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God 
 in him ? My little children, let us not love in word, 
 neither in tongue ; but in deed and in truth, iii. 17. 
 
 Sentiments of James. 
 
 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from 
 above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, 
 with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of 
 turning, i. 17. 
 
 If a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of 
 daily food, and one of you say unto them. Depart in 
 peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye 
 give them not those things which are needful to the 
 body, what doth it profit ? ii. 15. 
 
 This commandment have we from him, That he If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the Scrip- 
 who loveth God, love his brother also. iv. 21. ture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, thou 
 
 dost well. ii. 8.
 
 JAN 
 
 [ 545 ] 
 
 JAP 
 
 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the 
 world. If any man love the world, the love of the 
 Father is not in him, for all that is in the world, the 
 lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride 
 of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world, ii. 15. 
 
 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not 
 unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life 
 for them that sin not unto death, v. 16. 
 
 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that 
 the friendship of the world is enmity with God ? 
 whoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is 
 the enemy of God. iv. 4. 
 
 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and 
 one convert him, let him know, that he who con- 
 verteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall 
 save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of 
 sins. V. 19. 
 
 It is not proper to do more than submit these pas- 
 sages to the reader, who will draw his own conclu- 
 sions from them. If they really were written by the 
 two brothers, these traces of similarity are easily ac- 
 counted for ; if they were the first published papers 
 in behalf of the Christian cause, they justify an addi- 
 tional portion of respectful consideration ; and if we 
 had the history of the time completely before us, we 
 should find them very suitable to the state of the 
 Jews in foreign parts. The "wars and fightings" 
 mentioned by James may well be thought those 
 which took place under Asinseus and Anileus, in Mes- 
 opotamia, &c. about A. D. 40, as described by Jose- 
 phus. If so, this Epistle must be placed after the 
 First Epistle of John. Those contests, with others 
 in various parts, might occasion the Epistle ; and the 
 Epistle might occasion the death of the author. To 
 examine the style or the phraseology of this tract, 
 would be out of place here. It may be observed, 
 liovvever, that the term "synagogue " applied to places 
 of worship, where Christians met, marks a very early 
 (late ; since that appellation was certainly not long 
 continued among believers. If it be thought, that 
 these places of worship were those which appertained 
 to the Jewish nation, as such, under the indulgence 
 of the governing powers, it agrees equally well with 
 an early date ; since it proves that the separation be- 
 tween Christians and Jews had not yet taken place. 
 The Jewish believers in Christ in foreign parts, con- 
 tinued to hold communion with their nation ; they 
 had not been expelled, neither had they, as yet, 
 withdrawn themselves. 
 
 [The attempt here made to refer the Epistle of 
 James to the elder apostle of this name, is by no ijieans 
 satisfactory in itself; nor does it accord with the tradi- 
 tion of the church, nor the results of critical research. 
 (Commentators are almost unanimous in ascribing it 
 to James the Less, and suppose it to have been writ- 
 ten just before his death, about A. D. 62. R. 
 
 JANNES and JAMBRES, two magicians who re- 
 sisted Moses, in Egypt, 2 Tim. iii. 8. As these names 
 are not found in the Old Testament, the apostle prob- 
 ably derived them from tradition. They are often 
 mentioned by Jewish and rabbinical writers. The 
 paraphrast Jonathan, on Numb, xxiii. 22, says they 
 were the two sons of Balaam, who accompanied him 
 to Balak, king of Moab. They are called by several 
 names, in several translations. Artapanus affirms, 
 that Pharaoh sent for magicians, from Upper Egypt, 
 to oppose Moses ; and Ambrosiaster, or Hilary the 
 Deacon, says, they were brothers. He cites a book 
 entitled Jannes and Mambres, which is also quoted 
 by Origen, and ranked as apocryphal by Gelasius. 
 There is a tradition in the Talmud, that Juhauni and 
 Mamr6, chief of Pharaoh's physicians, said to Moses, 
 " Thou bringest straw into Egypt, where abundance 
 of corn grew;" — To bring your magical arts hither, 
 is to as much purpose as to bring water to the Nile. 
 Numenius, cited by Aristobulus, savs, "Jannes and 
 69 
 
 Jambres were sacred scribes of the Egyptians, who 
 excelled in magic at the time when the Jews were 
 driven out of Egypt. These were the only persons 
 whom the Egyptians found capable of opposing 
 Moses, who was a man whose prayers to God were 
 very powerful. These two men, Jannes and Jam- 
 bres, were alone able to frustrate the calamities which 
 Moses brought upon the Egyptians." Pliny speaks 
 of the faction or sect of magicians, of whom he says 
 Moses, Jannes, and Jocabel, or Jotapa, were heads. 
 The Mussulmans have several particulars to the same 
 purpose. Their recital supposes, that the magicians 
 wrought no miracle, but only played conjuring tricks, 
 in which they endeavored to impose upon the eyes 
 of spectators. Moses, however, expresses himself as 
 if Pharaoh's magicians really operated the same ef- 
 fects as himself; so that Pharaoh and his whole court 
 were persuaded, that the power of their magicians 
 was equal to that of Moses, till those magicians, not 
 being able to produce lice, as Moses had done, were 
 constrained to acknowledge that the finger of God 
 was in the work, Exod. viii. 18, 19. 
 
 JANONAH, a city of Ephraim, on the frontiers 
 of Manasseh, Josh. xvi. 6. 
 
 JAPHA, a city of Galilee, near Jotapata, according 
 to Josephus. Probably the city called Japhia, (Josh. 
 xix. 12.") belonging to Zebulun. 
 
 JAPHETH, the enlarger, the eldest son of Noah, 
 though generally named last of the three brothers — 
 Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Japheth is known in 
 profane authors under the name of lapetus. The 
 poets (Hesiod, Theogonia) make him father of heaven 
 and earth, or of Titan and the earth. His habitation 
 was in Thessaly, where he became celebrated for his 
 power and violence. He married a nymph named 
 Asia ; by whom he had four sons, Hesperus, Atlas, 
 Epimetheus, and Prometheus, who are all very fa- 
 mous among the ancients. The Greeks believed 
 that Japheth was the father of their race, whence the 
 proverb, " As old as Japheth." It is very possible 
 that Neptune is a memorial or transcript of Japheth. 
 There is some resemblance in the character ; Nep- 
 tune is god of the sea, as Japheth is lord of the isles. 
 Saturn divided the world among his three sons, Jupi- 
 ter, Pluto, and Neptune; thus Noah distributed the 
 earth among Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Jupiter is 
 Ham, Pluto is Shem, and Japheth is Neptune. The 
 sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, 
 Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras, Gen. x. 4. Gomer was 
 probably father of the Cimbri, or Cimmerians ; Ma- 
 gog of the Scythians ; Madai of the Macedonians, or 
 of the Medes ; Javan of the louians and Greeks ; 
 Tubal of the Tibarenians ; Meshech, of the Musco- 
 vites, or Russians ; and Tiras, of the Thracians. By 
 the isles of the Gentiles, the Hebrews understood the 
 islands of the Mediterranean, and all other countries 
 to which they could go by sea only, ai Spain, Gaul, 
 Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, &c. 
 
 The descendants of Japhedi possessed all Europe,
 
 J AS 
 
 [ 5IG 
 
 JED 
 
 the islands in the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and 
 the northern parts of Asia. Noah, Avhen blessing 
 JapJietii, said, " God shall enlarge Japheth ; and he 
 shall dwell in the tents of Shem ; and Canaan shall 
 be his servant," Gen. ix. 27. This was accomplished 
 when the Greeks, and after them, the Romans, sub- 
 dued Asia and Africa, where were the dwellings and 
 dominions of Shem, and of Canaan. It is worthy of 
 remark, that the allusion to countries the most dis- 
 tant which occurs in the Bible, is in this prophetic 
 benediction of Noah, ^^God shall enlarge the enlarser'''' 
 (Japheth.) Now, as from the earliest ages, the eldest 
 son was, by his birthright, entitled to a double por- 
 tion of liis father's projjerty, it leads us to conceive 
 of such a distribution in this instance. 
 
 JAPHO, see Joppa. 
 
 JAREB, (Hos. V. 13; x. f).) the name of a king; 
 or more probably it signhies hostile, i. e. here, the 
 hostile king. Others make it the great king, viz. 
 the king of Assyria. (Compare 2 Kings xviii. 19.) 
 
 JASHER, Book of, see Bible, p. 171. 
 
 I. JARMUTH, a city of Issachar,given to the Le- 
 vites of Gershom ; it was a city of refuge, Josh. xxi. 29. 
 
 II. JARMUTH, a city of Judah, the king of 
 which was killed by Joshua, Josh. x. 5, etc. Jerome 
 places it four miles from Eleutheropolis, near Es- 
 thaol, in one place, but in another, ten miles, in the 
 way to Jerusalem. 
 
 JASHOBEAM, a son of Zabdiel, who commanded 
 twenty-four thousand men, who did duty in David's 
 court in the month Nisan, 1 Chron. xxvii. 2. Some 
 believe him to be Jashobeain son of Hachmoni, 
 which signifies the ivise, and was perhaps a surname, 
 
 1 Chron. xi. 11. In the corresponding passage in 
 
 2 Sam. xxiii. 8, we read: "The Tachmonite, that 
 sat in the seat, the head of the three, Adino of Ezni, 
 who lifted up his spear against eight hundred men, 
 whom he slew." But the text of Chronicles imports 
 that " Jashobeam, a Hachmonite, chief of the thirty, 
 lifted up his spear against three hundred, wI»om he 
 slew at one time." How are these statements to 
 be reconciled ? Jashobeam is the son of Hachmoni, 
 he kills three hundred men, and he is chief of the 
 thirty. Adino, on the contrary, is head of the three, 
 and kills eight hundred men. When we examine 
 the subject closely, however, it appears, that the dif- 
 ference proceeds only from some letters which are 
 read differently in the texts. Calmet would there- 
 fore correct the text in the second book of Sanuicl 
 thus: "Jashobeam, son of Hachmoni, head of the 
 thirty, he lifted up the wood of his spear against 
 three hundred men, whom he slew." TheSep- 
 tuagint reads, "Jeshbaal, son of Techemani, was 
 head of the three. This is Adino the Eznite, who 
 drew his sword against eight hundred." In the 
 Roman edition, Jebosthe the Canaanite, head of the 
 three, &,c. We cannot see from whence they took 
 Adino the Eznite, which is entirely su])erfluous in 
 this place. Another mode; of removing the dis- 
 crepancy, is by supposing that Jashobeam, the 
 Ilaclirnoiiite, died during David's life, and that Adino, 
 •'■" JCznite, was appointed in his place. And it is 
 
 the 
 
 remarked that 2 Sam. xxiii. 8, literally rendered, im 
 
 Eorts, "these are the names of the mighty men whom 
 'avid had — he who sirs in the seat of the Tachmo- 
 nite, that is, of Jashobeam the Hachmonite, who was 
 chief among the ca|)tains, he is Adino, the Eznite ;" 
 --who perhaps is the Adino, son of Shiza, (1 Chr. 
 xi. 42.) chief of the Reubenites, who had thirty under 
 him. Shiza might be the name of his family ; Eznite 
 that of his countrv. 
 
 JASHUB, or Shear-Jashub, son of Isaiah, Isa. 
 vii. 3. Shear-Jashub signifies the remainder shall re- 
 turn ; and the prophet, by giving his son this name, 
 intended to show, that the Jews, who should be car- 
 ried to Babylon, would return. 
 
 I. JASON, a high-priest of the Jews, and brother 
 of Onias III., was a man of unbounded ambition, 
 who scrupled not to divest his brother of the high- 
 priesthood, in order to seize that dignity himself, 
 sacrilegiously purchasing it of Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 Jason did all he could to abolish the worship of God 
 in Jerusalem, and to prevail with the very priests to 
 adopt the religion of the Greeks. He is to be con- 
 sidered as the cause of all the calamities which befell 
 the Jews under Antiochus. He died at Lacedemon, 
 a city in alliance with the Jews, to which he had 
 fled from Aretas, or Menelaus ; and his body re- 
 mained without burial, the greatest indignity that 
 could be offered to him. 
 
 II. JASON, Paul's kinsman, and his host at 
 Thessalonica, (Rom. xvi.l^l.) hazarded his life to pre- 
 serve him during a sedition in that city, Acts xvii. 7. 
 
 JASPPjR, in Latin, in Greek jaspis, in Hebrew 
 nD^'\jaspeh, a precious stone of various colors, as 
 purple, cerulean, green, &.c. Ex. xxviii. 20 ; Rev. iv. 3. 
 
 JATTIR, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 48.) after- 
 wards given to the Levites of Kohath's family, chap, 
 xxi. 14. Eusebius places it in the district of Daroma 
 toward the city of Malatha, twenty miles from 
 Eleutheropolis. 
 
 JAVAN, fourth son of Japheth, (Gen. x. 2, 4.) and 
 father of the lonians, or Greeks. See Greece. 
 
 JAVELIN, a kind of long dart, or light speai, 
 thrown as a missile weapon at the enemy. 
 
 JAZER, a city east of Jordan, and at the foot u'l' 
 the mountains of Gilead, given to Gad, and after- 
 wards to the Levites, Josh. xxi. 39. 
 
 JEALOUS, JEALOUSY, suspicions of infidelity, 
 especially as applied to the marriage state. God's 
 tender love toward his church is sometimes called 
 jealousy. Paul says to the Corinthians, that he is 
 jealous over them with a godly jealousy, that he might 
 present them as a chaste virgin to Christ. The word, 
 however, is frequently used to express the vindictive 
 acts of dishonored love. Thus the psalmist, (Ixxix. 
 5.) representing the church as smarting under divine 
 judgments, occasioned by her infidelity to God, says, 
 "How long. Lord, shall thv jealousy burn like fire?" 
 (See also 1 Cor. x. 22.) 
 
 Waters of Jealousy. — There is something ex- 
 tremely curious, if not inexplicable, in the solemn 
 process |)rpscrihed in Numb. v. 11 — 31. for the detec- 
 tion and punishment of a woman who had excited 
 her husband's jealousy, without aflording him the or- 
 dinary means of proving her infidelity. See Adul- 
 tery. 
 
 JEAKIM, mount, (Josh. xv. 10.) a boundary of the 
 inheritance of Judah. It was a woody mountain, 
 on which the city of Balah, or Kirjath-jearim, was 
 situated. 
 
 I. JEBUS, son of Canaan, and father of the Jehu- 
 sites, (Josh. XV. ()3.) who dwelt in Jerusalem, and in 
 the mountains around it. 
 
 II. JEIUiS, the ancient name of Jerusalem, de- 
 rived from Jehus, the son of Canaan, Judg. xix. 11. 
 See Jerusalem. 
 
 JEBUSITES, see JEBusI,andCANAANiTEs, p.24n. 
 
 JECONIAH, sec Jehoiachin. 
 
 JEDIAEL, of Manasseh, a brave man in David's 
 army, who abandoned Saul's party, (] Chron. xi. 45; 
 xii. 20.) niul came to David at Ziklag.
 
 JEH 
 
 [547 ] 
 
 JEHOIACHIN 
 
 JEDUTHUN, a Levite of Merari's family ; and 
 one of the four great masters of music belonging to 
 the temple, 1 Chrou. xvi. 41, 42. The name is 
 also put for his descendants, Jeduthunites, who occur 
 later as singers and players on instruments, 2 Chron. 
 XXXV. 15 ; Nell. xi. 17. So in the superscription of 
 Psalms xxxix. Ixii. Ixxvii. 
 
 JEGAR-SAHADUTHA, the heap of untness, a 
 name given by Laban to a heap or circle of stones, 
 which was erected by himself and Jacob, in witness 
 of an agreement made between them, Gen. xxxi. 47, 
 &c. The term is Chaldee, and it is usually thought 
 to prove that the Chaldee language was different from 
 the Hebrew. It might be so ; but wc should re- 
 member that Jacob gave two names to this place, 
 "Galeed, and Mizpeh." Might not Laban do the 
 same? varying the term, as IMizpeh differs from Ga- 
 leed ; for it does not appear that Laban, when speak- 
 ing afterwards, uses the Chaldee words, Jegar saha- 
 dutha ; but the Hebrew words which Jacob used, 
 *' tiiis (gal) heap be witness, and this [mizpeh) pillar 
 be witness." So that in these instances he certainly 
 retained his Hebrew. See Stores. 
 
 L JEHOAHAZ, son of Jehu, king of Israel, suc- 
 ceeded his father, ante A. D. 856, and reigned seven- 
 teen years, 2 Kings xiii. He did evil in the sight of 
 the Lord, like Jeroboam, son of Nebat, wherefore the 
 anger of the Lord delivered Israel during all his 
 reign to Hazael, king of Syria, and Bcnhadad, son of 
 Ilazael. Jehoahaz, overwhelmed with so many ca- 
 lamities, prostrated himself before the Lord; and the 
 Lord heard him, and sent him a saviour in Joash his 
 son, who re-established the affairs of Israel, and se- 
 cured his |)eople from the kings of Syria. Of all his 
 soldiers, Jehoahaz had left only 50 horsemen, 10 
 chariots, and 10,000 foot ; for the king of Syria had 
 defeated them, and made them like the dust of the 
 threshing-floor. Neither punishment nor mercy, 
 however, was sufficient to prevail with the Israelites 
 to forsake their evil ways. Joash, the successor of 
 Jehoahaz, was more fortunate than his father, but not 
 more pious. 
 
 II. JEHOAHAZ, or Shallcm, son of Josiah, king 
 of Judah, (Jer. xxii. 11.) succeeded his father, (2 
 Kings xxiii. 30 — 32.) though he was not the eldest 
 sou'. He was 23 years old when he began to reign, 
 and reigned about three months, [ante A. D. 609,) 
 when he was deposed by Necho, king of Egj'pt, who 
 loaded him with chains, and sent him into Egypt, 
 where he died, Jer. xxii. 11, 12. 
 
 There is a considerable difficulty in the chronology 
 of this prince's reign. In 2 Kings xxiii. 31, we read, 
 "That he was 23 years old when he began to reign, 
 and he reigned three months in Jerusalem." His 
 brother Jehoiakim succeeded him, being 25, ver. 36. 
 It is generally concluded from hence, that the people 
 placed Jehoahaz on the throne without following the 
 natural order of succession, he not being the eldest 
 son of Josiah. The reason of this preference is not 
 known, but it seems unquestionable, and a number of 
 conjectures have been offered for its solution. Is it 
 probable that Jehoiakim was born before Josiah's ele- 
 vation to the throne ? See Heir. 
 
 JEHOIACHIN, Jecomah, (Jer. xxvii. 20.) or Co- 
 NiAH, (Jer. xxxvii. 1.) son of Jehoiakim, king of Ju- 
 dah, and grandson of Josiah, reigned but three 
 months over Judah, 2 Kings xxiv. 8 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 
 9. It is believed that he was born about the time of 
 the first Babylonish captivity, (A. INI. 3398,) when Je- 
 hoiakim, or Eliakim, his father, was carried toBaliylon. 
 Ji'hoiakim afterwards returned, iind reignc.I ti I .\. 
 
 M. 3405, when he was killed by the Chaldeans in tne 
 eleventh year of his reign. Jehoiachin succeeded 
 him, and reigned alone three months and ten days ; 
 after having reigned ten years in conjunction with 
 his father. By this distinction, the above-cited pas- 
 sages are reconciled. In the second book of Kings, it 
 is said he was eighteen years of age when he began 
 to reign ; whereas in the Chronicles it is said he was 
 but eight ; that is, he was but eight years old when 
 he began to reign with his father, but eighteen when 
 he began to reign alone. The Kings and Chronicles 
 intimate, that the people set up Jehoiachin, or that they 
 acknowledged him as king in his father's room. But 
 Josephus (Antiq. lib. x. cap. 9.) says, Nebuchadnezzar 
 gave him the kingdom ; and some months after, fear- 
 ing he might revolt, to avenge the death of his father 
 Jehoiakim, he sent an army against him, which be- 
 sieged him in Jerusalem. Jehoiachin would not ex- 
 pose the town on his account ; he sent his mother 
 and his nearest relations as hostages to Nebuchad- 
 nezzar's generals, having first received a promise and 
 an oath from them, that they would not injure the 
 town or the hostages. Nebuchadnezzar, however, 
 ordered his generals to send the prince to Babylon, 
 with his mother, his friends, and all the youth and 
 trading part of the city, amounting to 10,832 jjcrsons. 
 The account in Kings is shorter, and differs from Jo- 
 sephus. It says, that the king of Babylon first sent his 
 generals and his army to ojien the siege of Jerusalem, 
 and afterwards was himself present at it ; that Jehoi- 
 achin went out of the city with his mother, his princes, 
 servants, and officers, and surrendered to Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, who took away the riches, and all the 
 best inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the number of 10,000, 
 leaving only the poor ; taking the king, the queen, &c. 
 7000 men of war, 1000 good artificers, and all that 
 were capable of bearing arms. Whether in the 
 10,000, the subsequent 8000 are to be comprehended, 
 we know not. It is credible, that Nebuchadnezzar's 
 view in transporting to Babylon all the good work- 
 men in iron, gold, silver, wood, &c. was to fill the 
 city of Babylon, which he had embeJlished and en- 
 larged. Tliis also was his aim in bringing whole na- 
 tions from other countries to Babylon, or Babylonia, 
 which he intended to make the most beautiful and 
 flourishing country in the world. 
 
 Jeremiah (xxii. 24.) mentions Jehoiachin as a very 
 bad prince, whose sins had incurred the indignation 
 of God. "As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah, 
 the son of Jehoiakim, were the signet upon my right 
 hand, yet would I j)luck thee thence," chap. xxii. 24. 
 "Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this mail childless, 
 a man that shall not prosper in his days ; for no man 
 of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of 
 David, and ruling any more in Judah," ver. 30. All 
 this was executed ; Jehoiachin succeeded in none of 
 his designs. He was taken and carried to Babylon, 
 where he died ; but it is supposed that he repented, 
 and that God treateil him with mercy ; for Evilmero- 
 dach, Nebuchadnezzar's successor, used him honora- 
 bly, took him out of prison, spoke kindly to him, and 
 ^placed his throne above the throne of other princes, 
 at his court, 2 Kings xxv. 27 ; Jer. lii. 31. The words, 
 Write this man childless, cannot be taken literally, 
 since we know that Jehoiachin was the fiuher of Sa- 
 lathiel, and other children, enumerated 1 Chron. iii. 
 17, 18. and Matt, i. 12. But the Hebrew word trans- 
 lated childless, is taken likewise for one who has lost 
 his children, who has no successor or heir. In this 
 sense, Jehoiachin, son of a king, and himself a king, 
 was as a man without is<ue, since no son succeeded
 
 JEH 
 
 [ 548 ] 
 
 JEH 
 
 hitn ill his kingdom : for neitiier Salathiel, who was 
 born and died in captivity, nor Zerubbabel, who re- 
 turned from Babylon, nor any of Jehoiachin's descend- 
 ants, sat on the throne of Judah. This is fairly im- 
 plied in the words, " No man of his seed (that is, 
 posterity) shall prosper ;" so that it appears he might 
 have seed ; but no one who should enjoy the royal 
 dignity. The passage should be rendered, " Write 
 this man forsaken, successorless." We know not the 
 year of his death. 
 
 JEHOIADA, by Josephus called Joadus, succeed- 
 ed Azariah in the high-priesthood, and was succeed- 
 ed by Zechariah. In 1 Chron. vi. 9, 10, Johanan 
 and Azariah seemed to be confounded with Jehoiada 
 and Zechariah. This high-priest, with liis wife Je- 
 hoshabeath, rescued Joash, son of Joram, king of 
 Judah, when but one year old, from the murderous 
 violence of Athaliah ; and concealed him in the tem- 
 
 gle. After seven years, he set him on the throne of 
 ►avid, 2 Kings xi. xii. and 2 Chron. xxiii. xxiv. 
 (See Atjhaliah, and Joash.) While Jehoiada lived, 
 and Joash followed his advice, every thing happily 
 succeeded. The high-priest formed a design of re- 
 pairing the temple, and collected considerable sums 
 in the cities of Judah ; but the Levites did not ac- 
 quit themselves of their commission with diligence 
 till after the king was of age, and the prince and the 
 high-priest united their authority in promoting the 
 design, 2 Kings xii. and 2 Chron. xxiv. 5, &c. Jehoi- 
 ada left a son, Zechariah, who was high-priest after 
 him, and was put to death by Joash, with an ingrati- 
 tude which has loaded his memory with eternal 
 ignominy, 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21. Jehoiada died, 
 aged one hundred and thirty, ante A. D. 834. He was 
 buried in the sepulchre of the kings at Jerusalem ; a 
 distinction due to those services which he had ren- 
 dered to the king, the state, and the royal family, 
 ver. 15. 
 
 JEHOIAKIM, or Eliakim, brother and successor 
 of Jehoahaz, king of Judah, was made king by Ne- 
 cho, king of Egypt, at his return from an expedition 
 against Carchemish, 2 Kings xxiii. 34 — 36. ante A. 
 D. 609. Necho changed his name from Eliakim to 
 Jehoiakim, and set a ransom on him of a hundred 
 talents of silver, and ten talents of gold ; to raise 
 which, Jehoiakim laid heavy taxes on his people. 
 He was twenty-five years old when he began to 
 reign, and he reigned eleven years at Jerusalem. He 
 did evil in the sight of the Lord, and Jeremiah (xxii. 
 13, &c.) reproaches him with building his house by 
 unrighteousness, with oppressing unjustly his sub- 
 jects, with keeping back the wages of those whom 
 he had employed ; with having his heart and his 
 eyes turned to avarice and inhumanity ; and with 
 following his inclination to barbarities and wicked 
 actions. The same prophet informs us, that he sent 
 men to bring the prophet Urijah out of Egypt, whith- 
 er he had fled ; that he put him to the sword, and 
 left him without burial, Jer. xxvi. 23. For these and 
 other crimes, the Lord threatens him with an unhap- 
 py end. He shall die, says Jeremiah, (xxii. 18, 19.) 
 and shall be neither mourned for nor regretted. 
 " He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn 
 and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem." After 
 about four years' subjection to the king of Egypt, 
 Jehoiakim fell rmder the dominion of Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, king of tlie Chaldeans, who, having recovered 
 what Necho had taken on the Euphrates, came into 
 Phoenicia and Judea, subdued Jerusalem, and sub- 
 jected it to the same burdens and conditions which 
 it suffered under the king of Egypt, 2 Kings xxiv. 1, 
 
 2. Jehoiakim was taken, and Nebuchadnezzar put 
 him in fetters, intending to carry him to Babylon ; 
 but he restored him to liberty, and left him in his 
 own country, on condition of paying a large tribute. 
 
 Thus, Daniel and Jeremiah are i-econciled with 
 the Kings and Chronicles. In 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6, 
 according to the Hebrew, it is said, that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar bound Jehoiakim in chains to carry him to 
 Babylon ; and Daniel relates, that the Lord delivered 
 Jehoiakim into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar ; that 
 that prince carried to Babylon a great part of the 
 vessels belonging to the house of God, with some 
 captives, among whom were Daniel and his com- 
 panions ; but he does not say that Jehoiakim was 
 carried there. The books of Kings and Chronicles 
 inform us, that Jehoiakim reigned eleven years at 
 Jerusalem, 2 Kings xxiii. 36; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 5. 
 Jeremiah says, that Nebuchadnezzar retook Carche- 
 mish from Necho, king of Egypt, in the fourth year 
 of Jehoiakim ; and elsewhere, that the first year of 
 Nebuchadnezzar agreed with the fourth of Jehoiar 
 kim. All these chronological marks evince that 
 Nebuchadnezzar did not come into Judea till A. M. 
 3399, which is the fourth year of Jehoiakim ; that 
 Jehoiakim was not carried into Babylon, but put in 
 chains in order to be removed thither, yet afterwards 
 was set at liberty, and left at Jerusalem ; and lastly, 
 that Jehoiakim was four years subject to Necho, be- 
 fore he became tributary to Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah having 
 dictated to Baruch the prophecies which he had pro- 
 nounced till that time, the scribe read them the year 
 following before all the people in the temple, Jer. 
 xxxvi. 1 — 10, 20 — 32. Jehoiakim was informed of 
 this, and, ordering the book to be brought to him, he 
 had a page or two read, and then destroyed the rest 
 by cutting and burning. He also gave orders for 
 seizing Jeremiah and Baruch ; but the Lord conceal- 
 ed them. 
 
 The prophet, having been commanded to have his 
 prophecies again written down, pronounced terrible 
 menaces against Jehoiakim, of which the king soon 
 expeiienced the truth. Three years afterwards, he 
 rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, who sent troops of 
 Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites into 
 all the country, who carried 3320 Jews to Babylon, 
 in the seventh year of Jehoiakim, A. M. 3401. Four 
 years afterwards, Jehoiakim himself was taken, slain, 
 and thrown into the common sewer, as Jeremiah had 
 predicted. He was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin, 
 ante A. D. 599, 
 
 JEHOIARIB, head of the first family of priests 
 established by David, 1 Chron. xxiv. 7. From 
 this illustrious family the Maccabees descended, 1 
 Mac. ii. 1. 
 
 JEHONADAB, see Jonadab. 
 
 I. JEHORAM, or Joram, (2 Kings xi. 2.) son and 
 successor of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, (2 Kings 
 viii. 16.) was born A. M. 3080, and associated with 
 his father in the kingdom, A. M. 3112. He reigned 
 alone after the death of Jehoshaphat, and died, ac- 
 cording to Usher, ante A. D. 885. His queen, Atha- 
 liah, daughter of Onni, engaged him in idolatry, and 
 other sins, which produced calamities throughout his 
 reign. Jehoram, being settled in the kingdom, be- 
 gan his career with the murder of all his brothers 
 whom Jehoshaphat iiad removed from public busi- 
 ness, and placed in the fortified cities of Judah. To 
 punish his impiety, the Lord permitted the Edomites 
 who had been subject to thr kings of Judah to revolt, 
 2 Kings viii. 20, 21 ; 2 Chron. xxi. 8, 9. Jehoram
 
 JEH 
 
 [ 349 1 
 
 JEH 
 
 marched against them and defeated their cavalry, but 
 could not subdue them: from that time thoy continued 
 free. About this time Libnah, a city of Judah, also 
 rebelled. The Philistines and Arabians ravaged the 
 territories of Judah, plundered the king's palace, and 
 carried away his wives and children, so that lie had 
 none remaining except Jehoahaz, the youngest. In 
 addition to this, God afflicted him with a cruel dysen- 
 tery, which tormented him two years, and brought 
 him to his grave. The people refused to pay him 
 the same honors as they had paid to his predecessors, 
 by burning spices over tlieir bodies. He was buried 
 in Jerusalem, but not in a royal sepulchre, ante 
 A.D. 885. 
 
 II. JEHORAM, king of Israel, see Joram II. 
 
 JEHOSHABEATH, see Jehosheba. 
 
 JEHOSHAFHAT, king of Judah, son of Asa, as- 
 cended the throne when aged thirty-five, and reigned 
 twenty-five years. He prevailed against Baasha, 
 kuig of Israel ; and placed garrisons in the cities of 
 Judah and Ephraim, which had been conquered b)' 
 his father. He demolished the high places and 
 groves, and God was with him, because he was faith- 
 I'ul. In the third year of his reign, he sent officers, 
 with priests and Levites, througliout Judah, with the 
 book of the law, to instruct the people, and God 
 blessed his zeal. He was feared by all his neighbors ; 
 and the Philistines and Arabians were tributaries to 
 him. He built several houses in Judah in the form 
 of towers, and fortified several cities. He generally 
 kept an army, or more probably an enrolled militia, 
 of 1,000,000 men, without reckoning the troops in his 
 strong holds. Scripture reproaches Jehoshaphat on 
 account of his alliance with Aliab, king of Israel, 1 
 Kings xxii. 44 ; 2 Chrou. xviii. 35. Beijig on a visit 
 to this wicked prince, at Samaria, Ahab invited him 
 to march with him against Ramoth-Gilead. Jehosh- 
 aphat consented, but asked first for an f pinion from 
 a prophet of the Lord. In the battle, the enemy 
 took him for Ahab, but he crying out, they discover- 
 ed their mistake, and he returned safely to Jerusalem. 
 The prophet Jehu reproved him sharply for assisting 
 Ahab, (2 Chron. xix. 1, &c.) and Jehoshaphat repair- 
 ed his fault by the regulations and good order which 
 he established in his dominions, both as to civil and 
 religious affairs ; by appointing honest and able judges, 
 by regulating the discipline of the priests and Le- 
 vites, and by enjoining them to perform punctually 
 their duty. After this, the Moabites, Anmionites, 
 and Meonians, people of Arabia Petriea, declared 
 war against him. They advanced to Hazazon-Ta- 
 mar, or En-gedi, and Jehoshaphat went with his 
 people to the temple, and offered up [)rayeis to God. 
 Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, encouraged the king, and 
 promised, that the next day he should obtain a victoiy 
 without fighting. This was fulfilled, for these people, 
 being assembled against Judah, quarrelled, and killed 
 one another ; so that Jehoshaphat and his army had 
 only to gather their spoils, chap. xx. 
 
 Some time afterwards, Jehoshaphat agreed with 
 Ahaziah, king of Israel, jointly to equip a fleet in the 
 port of Ezion-gaber, on the Red sea, in order to go 
 to Tarshish, ver. 35, 36. Eliezer, son of Dodovah, 
 of Mareshah, came to the king, and said, " Because 
 thou hast made an alliance with Ahaziah, God hath 
 disappointed thy designs, and thy ships are shattered." 
 Jehoshaphat continued to walk in the ways of the 
 Lord ; but did not destroy the high places ; and the 
 hearts of the people were not directed entirely to the 
 God of their fathers. — He died after reigning twenty- 
 five years, and was buried in the royal sepulchre. 
 
 His son Jehoram reigned in his stead, ante A. D* 
 889, 2 Chron. xxi. 1, &c. 1 Kings xxii. 42. 
 
 JEHOSHAPHAT, The Valley of, a narrow 
 glen which runs from north to south, between the 
 mounts Olives and Moriah, and through which flows 
 the Kidron. The prophet Joel (iii. 2, 12.) says, 
 "The Lord will gather all nations in the valley of 
 Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there." Je- 
 hoshaphat, in Hebrew, signifies the judgment of God ; 
 and tliere can be no doubt that the valley of Jehosh- 
 aphat, that is, of God^s judgment, is symbolical, as 
 well as the valley of decision, i. e. punishment, in the 
 same chapter. From this passage, however, the 
 Jews, and many Christians also, have been of opinion, 
 that the last judgment will be solemnized in the val- 
 ley of Jehoshaphat. See Jerusalem. 
 
 JEHOSHEBA, or Jehoshabeath, daughter of 
 Joram, and sister of Ahaziah, king of Judah. She 
 married Jehoiada the high-priest, and saved Joash, 
 then but a year old, from the fury of Athaliah, who mur- 
 dered all the princes of the royal family, 2 Kings xi. 
 1 — 3; 2 Chr. xxii. 11. See Joash, and Athaliah. 
 
 JEHOSHUAH, (Num. xiii. 16.) see Joshua. 
 
 JEHOVAH, the ineffable and mysterious name of 
 God. I appeared, says the Almighty, to Abraham, 
 and to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Al- 
 mighty, (Al-Shaddai,) but by my name Jehovah was 
 I not known to them. Shaddai signifies the almighty, 
 (or all bouutiftil,) Jehovah signifies the self-existent, 
 he who gives being and existence to others. Calmet 
 tliinks that when God declared to Moses, that he had 
 not made known his name Jehovah, he did not mean, 
 that former patriarchs had been ignorant of him, as 
 God the creator, the self-existing ; but that he had 
 not revealed this name, which so well expresses his 
 nature, and by which lie would afterwards be in- 
 voked ; and that where Closes uses the name when 
 speaking of times prior to this appearance, (Gen. iv. 
 26 ; xiv'. 22 ; xv. 7.) he uses it by way of anticipation, 
 and because, at the time when he wrote, the Jews 
 used the name Jehovah ; that is, he followed 
 the custom of his own time, not that of the 
 ]jatriarchs. 
 
 The Jews, after the captivity of Babylon, out of 
 superstitious respect for this holy name, ceased to re- 
 peat it, and forgot its true pronunciation. Calmet is 
 of opinion that the LXX were accustomed not to 
 pronounce it, since they generally render it Kyrios, as 
 our English, the Lord. Origen, Jerome, and Euse- 
 bius testify, that in their time the Jews left the name 
 of Jehovah written in their copies with Samaritan 
 characters, instead of writing it in the common Chal- 
 dee or Hebrew, which shows their veneration for the 
 holy name, and their fear lest strangers should dis- 
 cover and misapply it. These precautions, however, 
 did not hinder the heathen from misapplying it fre- 
 quently, as we learn from Origen and others. The 
 modern Hebrews affirm that Moses, by virtue of the 
 word Jehovah engi-aven on his rod, performed all his 
 miracles; and that Christ, while in the temple, stole 
 the inefl^able name, which he put into his thigh be- 
 tween the skin and the flesh, and by its power ac- 
 complished all the prodigies imputed to him. They 
 add, that we might be able to do as much as they did, 
 if we could attain the perfect pronunciation of this 
 name. They flatter themselves that the Messiah will 
 teach them this mighty secret. The Tetragramma- 
 ton, or four-lettered name, is called by Josephus, Ta 
 lf'H< yQuiiiiuTci, TO (fQiy.Tov oroiia fiiov — "the sacred let- 
 ters, the shuddering name of God ;" and Caligula, in 
 Philo, swears to him and the ambassadors his associ-
 
 JEH 
 
 [ 550 ] 
 
 JEIT 
 
 ates, by tlie God who was to them uxuTayoiiuaToi, of 
 unknown (unpronounceable) name. 
 
 [The Seventy have ahiiost uniformly given the 
 Hebrew nin", by Ki'^io;, Lord, as is also the case in the 
 English version ; tlie word Lord being there always 
 printed in small capitals. The Hebrew word is never 
 written with vowel-points of its own ; but with those 
 of sinSN', Elohirn.. Hence the true pronunciation, ety- 
 mology, and signification of the word are lost. For a 
 discussion of these points, see an article by professor 
 Stuart in the Biblical Repository, vol. i. p. 738, seq. R. 
 The Jewish cabalists have refined much on the 
 name Jehovah. The letters which comjjose it they 
 affirm to abound witli mysteries. He who pronounces 
 it shakes heaven and earth, and inspires the very 
 angels vritii terror. A sovereign authority resides in 
 it ; it governs the world ; is the fountain of graces and 
 blessings : the channel through which God's mercies 
 are conveyed to men. 
 
 The very heathen seem to have had some knowl- 
 edge of this great, ineffable name. We have an oath 
 in Pythagoras's golden verses. By him who has the 
 four letters — 'Afju^fn',-. On the frontispiece of a 
 temple at Dclpiii was inscribed, (says Euscbius,) 
 •' Thou art." The Egyptians on one of their tem- 
 ples inscribed, " I am." The heathen had names of 
 their gods, which they did not dare to pronounce. 
 Cicero produces an exan)ple in his catalogue of hea- 
 then deities, (de Nat. Deorum, lib. iii.) and Lucan 
 says, the earth v/ould have trembled had any one 
 pronounced thetn. 
 
 The Mussulmans frequently use the name Hu, or 
 Hon, which iias almost the same signification as Je- 
 hovah ; that is. He who is. They place this name in 
 the beginning of their rescripts, ])assports, and letters 
 j)atent ; they pronounce it often in their prayers ; 
 some so frequently and so vehemently, crying out with 
 all their strength, Hon, hou, hou, that at last they are 
 stunned, and fall into fits, which they call ecstasies. 
 
 It would be waste of time and patience to repeat 
 all that has been said on this incommunicable name ; 
 it rnay not be amiss, however, to remind the reader, 
 (L) that although if signifies the state of being, yet it 
 forms no verb. ("2.) It never assumes a plural form. 
 (3.) It does not admit an article, or take an affix. (4.) 
 Neither is it ])!aced in a state of construction with 
 otiier words; though other words may be in con- 
 struction with it. It is well rendereil in Rev. i. 4 ; 
 xi. 17, " He who is, and who was, and who is to 
 come ;" that is. Eternal, as the schoolmen speak, both 
 a park ante, and a parte post. (Comj). John viii. 58.) It 
 is usually marked in Jewish books, where it nuist be 
 alluded to, by an abbreviation— i, Yodh. It is also abbre- 
 viated in the term, n' Jah, which enters into the for- 
 mation of many Hebrew ai)Dellations. See Eloiiim. 
 .TEHOVAH nREH, Jehovah ivill provide. [Abra- 
 ham used this expression and gave this name to the 
 place where he had been on the point of slaying his 
 son Isaac, Gen. xxii. 14. The name was given in 
 allusion to his answer to Isaac's question, in verse 8, 
 that God would provide a victim. In reference to 
 this unexpected deliverance in a time of utmost need, 
 the same expression ])assed into a ])roverb among 
 the descendants of Abraham, the Hebrews, so that, 
 when in trouble and distress they wished to express 
 their trust in God, they said, ' In the mountain of the 
 Lord it will be provided,' i. e. as God had conq)as- 
 siou on Abraham, so will he have comjiassion on us. 
 The force of the sentence is lost in the English ver- 
 sion. R.] When we consider the building of the 
 temple of Solomon nearly adjacent, (if not on the verv 
 
 spot,) where " the Lord had chosen to put his name ;" 
 (Deut. xii. 5; 1 Kings xiv. 21 ; 2 Chron. xii. 13.) and 
 also the crucifixion of Jesus, at, or near, perhaps on, 
 this very spot, we cannot but tliink that such titles 
 not only commemorated past facts, hut predicted fu- 
 ture expectations. 
 
 JEHOVAH NISSI, Jehovah my banner. Anjong 
 the most perplexing })assages of Scripture is Exod. 
 xvii. 15, 16, " ^nd Moses built a7i altar, and called its 
 name Jehovah Nissi : Jehovah my banner, [in allu- 
 sion to the preceding battle with the Amalekites.l 
 And he said, Because the Lord hath sworn war tvith 
 Amalek — so our translation ; but the Hebrew is, " be- 
 cause of the HAND (S>) upon dd, kes, of Jehovah, war 
 against Amalek." The words are very difficult to 
 translate satisfactorily ; as appears by the variations 
 in the versions. [x\s the Hebrew now stands, cd, kes, is 
 probably a contraction for ndd, kisse, throne, and it is 
 so regarded by most interpreters. The sense, then, is 
 either as in our version, literal!}', " because the hand is 
 on the throne of Jehovah," i. e. Jehovah hath sworn by 
 himself, referring the haiid to Jehovah: or better, 
 perhaps, " because the hand, i. e. of the Anjalekites, 
 is against the throne of Jehovah," therefore there 
 shall be war against them. It is not, however, im- 
 probable, that CD, kes, is a corrupted reading for 
 DJ , nes, banner ; for then there would be a direct 
 allusion, in this verse, to the name of the altar in the 
 preceding one. (Compare Gen. xvi. 13.) R. 
 
 JEHOVAH SHALOM, Jehovah of peace, or of suc- 
 cess, a name given by Gideon to an altar which he built 
 in a place where an angel of Jehovah had a])])eared to 
 him, and saluted him by saying, " Peace be to thee," 
 Judg. vi. 24. Probably the name may be taken, (1.) 
 to Jehovah of peace, that is, taking peace for general 
 welfare, to the divine Protector, (2.) as the words are 
 usually rendered, Jehovah shall send j)eace ; that is, 
 we expect pros])erity under the auspices of Jehovah. 
 The phrase aj)pears to h.ave become, in after-ages, a 
 kind of proverb, as probably was the case with all 
 those remarkable titles, which are come down to us. 
 What else has been their preservation, when so many 
 thousand other titles have perished ? 
 
 JEHOVAH SHAMMAH, Jf/(oiYr/i is there; that is, 
 God^s city ; JehovuVs city ; a name given by Ezekiel to 
 a future holy city, which he describes in the close of 
 his ]irophecv, chap, xlviii. 35, margin. 
 
 JEHOVAH TZIDEKENU, Jehovah cur right- 
 eousness, Jcr. xxiii. G ; xxxiii. IG, margin. In the first 
 of these passages we read of a branch, a king, called 
 the Lord our righteousness ; in the second passage we 
 read, "This is the name wherewith ehe [Jerusalem] 
 shall be called, the Lord our righteousness." 
 
 JEHOZADAK, son and successor of Seraiali, 
 high-priest of the Jews, (1 Chron. vi. 14, 15; Ezra 
 iii. 2.) though it does not appear that he ever exer- 
 cised the sacred functions. He died at Babylon ; but 
 his son Joshua, or S^esus, returned from the captivity, 
 and assumed the sacerdotal dignity, after rebuilding 
 the temple, Ezra iii. 2 ; x. 18, &c. 
 
 I. JEHU, son of Hanaiii, was sent by God to Baa- 
 sha, king of^ Israel, to predict punishment for liis mis- 
 deeds, 1 Kings xvi. 1,4. "Him that dieth of Baa- 
 slia in the city, shall the dogs eat ; and him that diotli 
 of his in the fields, shall the fowls of the air eat." The 
 Vulgate adds that Baasha, incensed at this message, 
 I)Ut Jehu to death; but the Hebrew says, "Jehu 
 having declared to Baasha what the Lord had pro- 
 nounced against him, and that the Lord would treat liis 
 house as he had treated the house of Jeroboam; for 
 this he slew him :" leaving it doubtful whether Baa-
 
 JEHU 
 
 [ 551 
 
 JEP 
 
 sha slew Jeliu, or the Lord slew Baaslia. What 
 renders the latter more credible, is, that aljout thirty 
 years after tlie death of Baasha, we find Jehu, son of 
 Haiiani, again sent by God to Jehoshaphat, king of 
 Judali, 2 Chron. xix. 1, &c. Some tliink there were 
 two persons named Jehu, sons of Hanani ; but Cal- 
 met is of opinion that in the passage al)ovc quoted, 
 the death of Baasha, not that of Jehu, is intimated. 
 It is said in chap. xx. 34, that the rest of the acts of 
 Jehos!iaphat,Jirst and last, are written in the book of 
 Jehu, son of Hanani, wlio is mentioned in the book 
 of the Kings of Israel ; whence it appears, that the 
 propiiets employed themselves in recording the trans- 
 actions of their times, and that what Jehu had writ- 
 ten of this kind, was thought worthy to be inserted 
 in the J\Iemoii-s, in whicli the several events in every 
 prince's reign were registered. 
 
 II. JEHU, son of Jehoshaphat, and grandson of 
 Nimshi, captain of the troops of Joram, king of Israel, 
 was appointed by God to reign over Israel, and to 
 l)anisli the sins of the house of Ahab. The Lord had 
 ordered Elisha to anoint Jehu, (1 Kings xix. IG.) 
 wiiich order was executed by one of the sons of the 
 prophets, 2 Kings ix. 1, &c. The Lord declared his 
 will to Elisha concerning Jehu, ante A. D. 907 ; but 
 he was not anointed till twenty-three years after the 
 order given to Elisha. Jehu was at Ramoth-Gilead, 
 besieging the citadel of that i)lace, with the armj^ of 
 Israel, when a young prophet entered, who took him 
 aside, and when they were alone, poured oil on his 
 head, saying, "Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed 
 thee king over Israel ; thou shalt extirpate the house 
 of Ahal), and avenge the blood of the proi)hets slied 
 by Jezebel." The j)rophet instantly opened the door 
 and lied ; and Jehu, returning to his ofliccrs, declar- 
 ed to them what had passed, upon Avliich they rose 
 uj), and each taking his cloak, they made a kind of 
 throne, and sounding the trumpets, cried, " Long live 
 king Jehu!" ver. 11— L3. 
 
 Jehu instantly quitted the army, in order to sur- 
 prise Joram, who was at Jezreel. The king came 
 out to meet him, riding in his chariot, with Ahaziah, 
 king of Judah. Joram said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" 
 whi> answered, "What peace, so long as the whore- 
 doi is of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are 
 so many?" Joram immediately exclaimed, "We 
 are betrayed ;" and Jehu, drawing his bow, smote 
 him between his shoulders, and pierced his heart. 
 He then commanded his body to be thrown into the 
 portion of Naboth, the Jezreelite, to fulfil the predic- 
 tion of the prophet Elijah, ver. 15 — 26. 
 
 Jehu afterwards went to Jezreel, and as he entered 
 the city. Jezebel, who was at a window, said to him, 
 " Can he who has killed his master hope for peace ?" 
 Jehu immediately commanded some eunuchs, who 
 were above, to throw her out of the window, which 
 they did, and she was trampled to death under the 
 horses' feet. Her corpse was afterwards devoured 
 by dogs, so that when Jehu sent to have her buried, 
 they found only parts and bones, 2 Kings ix. 30, 
 &c. After this, Jehu commanded the inhabitants of 
 Samaria to slay all the late king's children, besides 
 which he slew all his relations and friends, the great 
 men of his court, and his priests, who were at Jez- 
 reel. On his way to Samaria, he met the relations of 
 Ahaziah, king of Judah, going to Jezreel to salute the 
 late king and queen's children, of whose dcaih they 
 were ignorant. Jehu ordered them to be massacred ; 
 and proceeding to the city, he slew all who remained 
 of Ahab's family. After this, he collected all the 
 priests and prophets of Baal, as if for a great festival. 
 
 and had the whole of them massacred. The statue 
 of Baal was ])ulled down, broken, and burnt; and the 
 temple itself destroyed, and converted into a draught- 
 house, chap. X. 15 — 27. 
 
 The Lord promised Jehu that his children should 
 sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation ; 
 but Scripture accuses him of following the sins of 
 Jeroboam, son of Nebat ; and the prophet Hosea 
 (i. 4.) threatens him, "Yet a little while, and I will 
 avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu." 
 He had, indeed, been the instrument of God's ven- 
 geance on the house of Ahab, but in what he had 
 done he had been impelled by the spirit of animosity 
 and ambition. He had followed his own passion, 
 rather than the will of God. He had not kept with- 
 in due bounds ; and God, therefore, while he reward- 
 ed his obedience, punished his injustice, ambition, 
 and idolatiy, and the blood unjustly spilt by him. He 
 reigned twenty-eight years over Israel, and was suc- 
 ceeded by Jehoahaz, his son, 2 Kings x. 35, 36. The 
 reign of Jehu was perplexed with war against Ha- 
 zael king of Syria, who ravaged the frontiers of Israel, 
 and wasted the whole country east of Jordan, and 
 the tribss of Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben. 
 
 JEKABZEEL, a village belonging to the tribe of 
 Judah, after the captivity, Neh. xi. 25. 
 
 JEPHTHAH, judge of Israel, successor to Jair, 
 was a son of Gilead by one of his concubines, Judg. 
 xi. 1, 2. Bemg driven from his father's house, 
 Jephthah retired into the land of Tob, where he be- 
 came captain of a band of rovers. At this time the 
 Israelites beyond Jordan, being oppressed by the 
 Ammonites, offered Jephthah the command. He 
 reproached them with their hijustice to him when 
 he was forced from his father's house ; but agreed 
 to succor them, on condition that, at the end of the 
 war, they would acknowledge him for their prince. 
 Having been acknowledged prince of Israel, in an 
 assembly of the people, Jephthah sent a message of 
 defiance to the king of the Ammonites, assembled 
 his troops, and afterwards marched against him, 
 vowing to the Lord, that if he were successful, 
 he would offer up a burnt-offering, and whatsoever 
 should first come out of his house to meet him. He 
 vanquished the Ammonites, and ravaged their land ; 
 but as he returned to his house, his only daughter 
 came out to meet him, with timbi-els and dances, and 
 thereby becains the subject of his vow. The tribe 
 of Ephraim, jealous of Jephthah, passed the Jordan 
 in a tumultuous manner, and, complaining that he 
 had not invited them to share in the war, threatened 
 to fire his house. Jephthah answered, that he had 
 .sent to desire their assistance, but that they did not 
 come. But he did more than reply ; he assembled 
 the people of Gilead, gave the Ejjhraimites battle, 
 and defeated them. The conquerors made them- 
 selves mastci-s of the fords of Jordan, and when an 
 Ei)hraimite desired to go over, the Gileadites asked, 
 "Art thou an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No;" 
 they said, Pronoimce, then. Shibboleth ; (wliich signi- 
 fies an ear of corn :) but if, instead of Shibboleth, he 
 said Sibbohnh, without an aspiration, he was imme- 
 diately killed. Forty-two thousand men of Ephraim 
 fell on this occasion. 
 
 Jei)hthah judged Israel six years, and was buried 
 in Mizpeh, in Gilead, Judg. xii. 7. Paul (Heb. xi. 
 32.) places him among the saints of the Old Testa- 
 ment, whose faith had distinguished them. The 
 fable of Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, seems 
 to have been borrowed from the history of Jephthah 
 aud his daughter.
 
 JEPHTHAH 
 
 [ 552 ] 
 
 JER 
 
 Jephthah's Vow. There is something so ex- 
 traordinary in Jephthah's vow, that notwithstanding 
 Scripture mentions it in clear terms, yet difficulties 
 perplex commentators. The Spirit of the Lord came 
 upon Jephthah, says the sacred writer, (Judg. xi. 29 
 —31, &c.) and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh ; 
 no doubt to gather troops, and form an army against 
 the Ammonites. "And he made a vow unto the 
 Lord, and said. If thou shalt without fail deliver the 
 children of Amnion into my hands, then it shall be, 
 that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my 
 house to meet me, when I return in peace from the 
 children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and 
 I will offer it up for a burnt- offering." He does not 
 say the first thing, the first animal, but — the first 
 person ; he does not say, barely, that he will vow, 
 consecrate, or offer him to the Lord, but adds that 
 he will offer him up for a burnt-offei-ing. This is 
 the true meaning of the text, and the fathers so ex- 
 plained it. Several modern interpreters, however, 
 translate thus : "And the thing which shall go forth 
 out of the doors of my house, when I return in 
 peace from making war with the Ammonites, that 
 shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up to him for 
 a burnt-offering." Jephthah, they remark, vows to 
 God whatever should come forth to meet him, wheth- 
 er man or beast, but not in the same manner ; that 
 is, if it be a man or woman, I will consecrate him 
 (or her) to the Lord ; if it be an unclean animal, I 
 will kill or redeem him. Would he have dared, say 
 they, to have offered a dog ? Could Jephthah be 
 ignorant, that the sacrifice of human victims was 
 odious to God ? Would not the principal men of 
 the nation, and the priests, have opposed such a sac- 
 rifice ? Supposing that he had devoted his daughter, 
 was he ignorant of the law which allowed him to 
 redeem her for a moderate sum of money ? " He 
 who shall have vowed his life to the Lord, shall pay 
 the price that shall be ordained ; a man fifty shekels ; 
 a woman thirty," &c. Lev. xxvii. 2, 3. But to this it 
 is replied, (I.) That this interpretation wrests the 
 meaning of the text, which says expressly, " He who 
 should come out to meet him should be the Lord's, 
 and should be offered up for a burnt-sacrifice." (2.) 
 No one attempts to justify either the precipitate vow 
 of Jephthah, or his literal execution of it. It is ad- 
 mitted that the vow was not according to knowledge, 
 and that God did not require such a victim. Jeph- 
 thah had done much better, had he asked forgive- 
 ness, and imposed on himself, with the advice of the 
 high-priest, some penalty proportioned to his fault. 
 (3.) The redemption of things devoted, which the 
 law permits, is not of things devoted by anathema, 
 but of such only as are devoted simply ; in the for- 
 mer case they are not redeemable. "No devoted 
 thing that a man shall devote unto the Lord, of all 
 that he hath, both of man and beast .... shall be sold 
 or redeemed .... none devoted which shall be de- 
 voted of men shall be redeemed ; but shall surely be 
 put to death," Lev. xxvii. 28, 29. (4.) The fathers 
 and many learned commentators have found no diffi- 
 culty ill acknowledging, that Jephthah did really 
 offer up his daughter for a burnt-sacrifico. Jose- 
 ph us (Antiq. lib. v. cap. 9.) expressly says he did so. 
 The Chaldeo yiaraphrast says, "He sacrificed her 
 without consulting the high-priest ;" and that "if he 
 had consulted him, he would have redeemed his 
 daughter with a sum of money." Ambrose, 
 Augustin, and others, disapprove the conduct of 
 Jephthah, and say, that in this particular, he did 
 what was forbidden by the law. Jerome and 
 
 Chrysostom believe, that God permitted the per- 
 formance of it, to punish the imprudent father for 
 his temerity. 
 
 This is the substance of Calmet's remarks on the 
 subject ; whether they are satisfactory, must be left 
 to the determination of the reader. We may ob- 
 serve, however, that the question, in some measure, 
 depends on the acceptance of the Hebrew particle 
 (i) in verse 3L The text may, without doing it vio- 
 lence, be rendered, "Whatever comes to meet me, I 
 will devote to the Lord, or I will offer him up a 
 burnt-sacrifice." Othei'wise, we may read, " What- 
 ever comes to meet me, I will devote to the Lord ; 
 AND I will offer up to him a burnt-sacrifice ;" although 
 the most obvious rendering is, " and I will offer up 
 to him that which comes out of my house ;" as Cal- 
 met. We ought further to notice, that Jephthah's 
 rashness had time to subside, since his daughter went 
 two months into the country to bewail her virginity, 
 (it is not said, her sacrifice,) which seems to mean 
 her consecration to God, which obliged her to re- 
 main single, without posterity. Moreover, the Israel- 
 ite women went yearly four times a year to mourn 
 for the daughter of Jephthah ; to lament her seclu- 
 sion from the world, and the hardship of her situa- 
 tion, cut off from domestic life and enjoyment. Now, 
 if in the course of two months nobody could have 
 suggested to Jephthah a ransom for his daughter, yet 
 surely she must have been alive, though dead to him 
 and his family, (she being his only child,) and to the 
 woi'ld, by her seclusion — if the Israelite women 
 went to condole for or with her. It should be ob- 
 served, also, that it is not said afterwards, that he 
 sacrificed her, but, " he did with her according to his 
 vow ;" and it is added, she kneiv no man. If she were 
 sacrificed, this remark is frivolous ; but if she were 
 consecrated to perpetual virginity, the idea coincides 
 with the visits of the Israelitish women. If there 
 were at this time women attenrlants at the taberna- 
 cle, as Calmet supposes, might not the daughter of 
 Jephthah have joined their companv ? 
 
 JEPHUNNEH, father of Caleb, of Judah, Numb, 
 xiii. 6. 
 
 JERAHMEEL, a district in the south of Judah, 
 possessed by the descendants of Jerahmeel, son of 
 Hezron, 1 Sam. xxvii. 10 ; xxx. 29. David told 
 Achish that he invaded the country of Jerahmeel, 
 while he was ravaging the territories of the Amalek- 
 ites, Geshuritps, and Jezrites. 
 
 JEREMIAH, son of Hilkiah, of a priestly family, 
 and a native of Anathoth, of Benjamin, Jer. i. 1. 
 Before his birth he was destined to be a prophet ; 
 but when God first sent him to speak to the kings 
 and princes, the priests and people of Judah, he ex- 
 cused himself by alleging his youth. This was in 
 the fourteenth year of his age , and the thirteenth 
 year of Josiah, ante A. D. 629. He prophesied till 
 after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, 
 (A. M. 3416,) and died, as is believed, in Egypt, two 
 years afterwards. Jeremiah preached viva voce, till 
 the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. When 
 God called him to the pro|)hetic ministry, he discov- 
 ered to hitn, that he should sufler much from the 
 Jews ; but he at the same time promised to inake 
 him as a wall of brass against the kings, princes, and 
 people of Judah. He also showed him, under the 
 figure of the branch of an almond tree, and that of 
 a pot heated by fire, blown up by a vehement north 
 wind, that Judea was threatened by a very great and 
 near calamity, from the Chaldeans, Jer. i. 11, &c. 
 We may say, that this is the general subject of his
 
 JEREMIAH 
 
 [ 553 
 
 JEREMIAH 
 
 prophecieB. They turn on tlie sins of Jiidah, and 
 their punishment by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 The prophet begins with a sharp invective against 
 the sins of Judnh, during the first year of Josiah's 
 reign, in whicii these prophecies were pronounced, 
 and before tliat prince had reformed liis dominions. 
 During this time Jeremiah endured great persecu- 
 tions, (2 Kings xxiii. 4, &c.) his very relations and 
 fellow-citizens of the little town of Anathoth threat- 
 ening to kill him if he continued prophesying. But 
 he forewarned them, too, that they should j)erish by 
 the sword, or by famine, chap. xii. — xvi. About this 
 time, God forbade tlie prophet from taking a wife, 
 ;uk1 having children in Jerusalem ; from entering 
 any house of mirth, or of mourning, to comfort those 
 in sorrow. Calmet is of opinion, that under the 
 reign of Shallum, Jeremiah received God's orders 
 to go to a potter's house, (chap. xvi. — xviii.) where 
 he observed a pot broken in the j)otter's hands, who 
 immediately made another of the same clay. Jere- 
 miah represented this as an indication of Judah's 
 reprobation, in whose place God would i-aise up an- 
 other people. To render this prophecy the more 
 striking, he was commanded to take an earthen 
 pitcher, and to break it before the j)riests and elders 
 of the people in the valley of Hinnom. From hence 
 he went up to the temple, where he confirmed all he 
 had said. Pashur, captain of the temi)le, seized and 
 confined him in a prison belonging to the temple, 
 till the next day, when he again foretold the cap- 
 tivity. 
 
 Jehoiakim, kingof Judah, having succeeded Shal- 
 lum, Jeremiah assured him, (chap, xxii.) that if he 
 would be steadfast in fidelity to God, there should 
 still be kings of Judah in his palace, with all the 
 lustre of their dignity ; but that if he persevered in 
 his irregularities, God would reduce that palace to a 
 wilderness. As Jehoiakim, instead of reforming, 
 abandoned himself to cruelty and avarice, and to the 
 i-aising of costly buildings, the prophet threatened 
 iiim with a miserable death, deprived of the honors 
 of burial. He further foretold against Coniah, 
 brother of Jehoiakim, that he should be delivered 
 to the Chaldeans, and that no prince of his family 
 should sit on the throne of Judah, ch. xxiii. Shal- 
 lum reigned about three months, Jehoiakim succeed- 
 ing him the same year, A. M. 3394. The prophecies 
 of Jeremiah against Jehoiakim may have been pro- 
 nounced A. M. 3395. 
 
 About this time, Jeremiah, going up to the temple, 
 foretold its destruction ; upon which the priests 
 seized him, and declared he deserved to die. The 
 princes being assembled to judge him, Jeremiah im- 
 dauntedly told them that he had said nothing but by 
 God's order ; and that unless they were converted, 
 they would soon see the accomplishment of his men- 
 aces. This affecting some of his judges, they dis- 
 missed him, and justified him by the example of the 
 prophet Micah, who had foretold the same event 
 under Hezekiah, without suffering fi)r it. 
 
 Before the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah 
 had prophesied against several people bordering on 
 Judea, (ch. xlvi. — xlix.) against the Egyptians, Philis- 
 tines, Tyrians, Phoenicians, Edomites, Ammonites, 
 and Moabites ; against Damascus, Kedar, Ilazor, 
 &c. for Jeremiah was appointed prophet of the Gen- 
 tiles, as Paul was " apostle of the Gentiles." The 
 prophet threatens all these people with the cup of 
 God's wrath ; and his propliecy was fulfilled after 
 the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. 
 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar 
 70 
 
 besieged Jerusalem, and took prisoners Jehoiakim 
 and others, among whom was Daniel. He designed 
 to carry them to Babylon ; but set Jehoiakim at lib- 
 erty. In this year Jeremiah again positively foretold 
 the captivity of the Jews, and its duration for seyenty 
 years, after which he declared that God would pun- 
 ish the Chaldeans and Babylonians in their turn. In 
 this year also, the prophet was ordered to write 
 what had been revealed to him, from the thirteenth 
 year of Josiah to this time, chap, xxxvi. He dic- 
 tated his prophecies to Baruch, and directed him to 
 read them in the temple, himself being in fetters by 
 the king's command. Baruch went to the temple, 
 and on the great day of expiation read, before the 
 concourse of people, the unwelcome predictions of 
 Jeremiah. The king was informed of the occnr- 
 rence, and Baruch was examined concerning the 
 manner in which this volume was dictated by Jere- 
 miah. The king heard three or four columns of the 
 prophecies read ; when, being enraged, he cut the 
 manuscript with a pen-knife, and threw it into the 
 fire, and commanded Baruch and Jeremiah to be 
 seized. Jeremiah received orders to dictate a second 
 time to Baruch, what had been thus burnt ; and God 
 added many new things. 
 
 In the seventh year, the prophet, by God's order, 
 brought the Rechabites into the temple, and presented 
 wine to them, which they declined drinking, because 
 Jonadab, their ancestor, had forbidden them. Jere- 
 miah took occasion from this circumstance to re- 
 proach the Jews with their want of submission to 
 God's laws, while the Rechabites showed so much 
 to the orders of their ancestor. Some short time 
 after, Jehoiakim was killed, and thrown by the Chal- 
 deans into a common sewer. His son Jehoaichin 
 succeeded him, and reigned only three months ; 
 when he, too, was taken by the Chaldeans, and car- 
 ried captive to Babylon. Zedekiah succeeded Je- 
 hoiachin. 
 
 The countries of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Tyre, and 
 Sidon sent ambassadors to Zedekiah in the begin- 
 ning of his reign. To each of these ambassadors, 
 Jeremiah gave a yoke to carry to their masters, with 
 orders to tell them from God, that whosoever should 
 refuse submission to Nebuchadnezzar, should be 
 compelled to yield it. He said the same to Zede- 
 kiah ; and as the prophet wore bonds and yokes on 
 his neck, hinting to the Israelites their approaching 
 captivity, Hananiah, a false prophet, laid hold of 
 them, and breaking them publicly, said, " Thus Avill 
 the Lord break the yoke which Nebuchadnezzar 
 would impose on the Jews." As Jeremiah was re- 
 tiring, God secretly directed him to return, and tell 
 Hananiah, that instead of the wooden yoke which 
 he had broken, Nebuchadnezzar would put on them 
 (the Jews) another of iron. The prophet added, 
 " Since you (H.-maniah) abuse the name of God with 
 your lies, you shall die before the end of this year." 
 He died within two months, chap, xxviii. 
 
 In the reign of Zedekiah, as Calmet supposes, 
 Jeremiah received God's orders to go to some cavern 
 near the Euphrates, and hide a linen girdle. Some 
 time afterwards he returned, and found the girdle 
 rotted ; prefiguring thereby God's desertion of Ju- 
 dah, which heretofore he had valued as a girdle. In 
 the fourth year of the same prince, Seraiah, Baruch's 
 brother, being sent to Babylon, probably to solicit of 
 Nebuchadnezzar the restitution of the vessels be- 
 longing to the temple, Jeremiah gave him his prophe- 
 cies against Babylon, with directions to read them 
 to the captive Jews ; and then to fasten them to a
 
 JEREMIAH 
 
 [ 554 ] 
 
 JEREMIAH 
 
 stone, and throw them hito the Euphrates, ch. I. li. 
 2—59, 61, 62. He wrote again to the same captives, 
 by Gemariah, whom the king sent to Babylon, ad- 
 vising them to settle in that country, and to build 
 houses, and marry, because their captivity was to 
 last seventy years. Shemaiah at Babylon wrote to 
 Zephaniah, one of the chief priests, and reproved 
 him for permitting Jeremiah to write these things. 
 Zephaniah read the letter to Jeremiah, and the 
 prophet wrote again to the captives of Babylon, and 
 foretold to Shemaiah, that he should die in captivity, 
 and that neither he, nor any of his posterity, should 
 see the deliverance of Judah. 
 
 While Nebuchadnezzar was besieging Jerusalem, 
 in the tenth year of Zedekiah, Jeremiah, who was 
 continually pi-ophesying adversities, was imprisoned 
 in the court of the palace. Hanameel, the son of 
 his uncle, visited him, and told him, that tlie right of 
 redeeming a certain field at Anatholh was his. Jere- 
 miah bought the field, sealed the writings, and paid 
 the money for it. He committed the writings to Ba- 
 ruch, to keep them, remarking that the time would 
 come when the land would be again cultivated and 
 inhabited. During the siege, the king and the in- 
 habitants of Jerusalem liberated their slaves, be- 
 cause it was a sabbatical year ; but Nebuchadnezzar 
 having witiulrawn, to oppose the king of Egypt, who 
 advanced to the relief of t!ie city, the king and people 
 seized again their slaves, rrgardlcss of their word, 
 or of the law of God, for which they were terribly 
 threatened by the [jrophet. After the siege was sus- 
 pended, Jeremiah's liberty was restored, and Zede- 
 kiah recommended himself to his prayers. The 
 prophet sent the king word, that Nebuchadnezzar 
 wnidd return against the city, that he would take it, 
 
 d reduce it to ashes. When he was retiring to 
 
 lathoth, the place of his nativity, the guards seized 
 him as a deserter, and the princes threw him into a 
 dungeon, where his life was in great danger. Zede- 
 kiah some time afterwards released him, and ordered 
 bread for him every day while there should be any 
 in the city. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar returned to the siege, and the 
 prophet continuing to foretell calamities, the great 
 men of Jerusalem complained to Zedekiah, who 
 permitted them to do with him what they pleased. 
 They let him down into a muddy well, where he 
 must have soon perished, if Ebedmelech had not 
 informed the king, who commanded him to be taken 
 out. He was kept in the court of the prison till the 
 city was taken, (chap, xxxviii.) when with other cap- 
 tives he was carried to Ramah. Nebuzaradan gave 
 him the choice of going to Babylon, or remaining in 
 Judea. The prophet chose the latter, and went to 
 Gedali.ah at Mizpeh, where they lived in security, 
 when Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, murdered Geda- 
 liah, chap. xl. xli. 
 
 Johanan having collected together a nimiber of 
 Jews at Bethlehem, they consulted Jeremiah, whether 
 they should stay in Judea, or retire into Egypt. The 
 prophet desired time to consult God ; and after ten 
 days he answered them, that if they w(!nt into Egypt, 
 they would there perish by tiie sword, famine, and 
 pestilence ; but that if they continued in Judah, God 
 would preserve them. The chiefs of the people as- 
 serted, that this answer j)roceeded not from God, but 
 from Baruch, to divert them from going into Egypt. 
 They resolved therefore to proceed, and ((impelled 
 Jeremiah and Baruch to accompany them. H(>re 
 the prophet uttered several predictions against the 
 Jews and Egyptians ; — among others, that Nebuchad- 
 
 nezzar would invade the country, describing the 
 very place where he would erect his throne ; — and 
 that God would give the king of Egypt into the 
 hands of the Chaldeans, as he had given Zedekiah, 
 chap. xlii. 
 
 The place of Jeremiah's death is uncertain. Seve- 
 ral of the ancients maintain, that he was put to death 
 at Taphnis in Egypt, by the Jews, who were enraged 
 at his menaces and reproaches ; and they explain 
 Heb. xi. 37. ("They were stoned,") as relating to his 
 death. Some think he returned into Judea ; others, 
 that he died in Babylon. 
 
 In addition to the book of Jeremiah's prophecies, 
 we have his Lamentations, in five chapters, which 
 are mournful songs, composed on occasion of those 
 calamities which befell Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. 
 He also wrote lamentations on the death of Josiali, 
 (2 Chron. xxxv. 25.) but they have not come down 
 to us. He is said by some also to be the author of 
 Ps. cxxxvii : and some believe that he, with Eze- 
 kiel, composed Ps. Ixv. Some have thought that 
 he compile^ the two books of Kings ; because the 
 last chapter of his prophecies is the same with the last 
 chapter of the Second Book of Kings. But the reason 
 of this a|)pears to be, that the last chapter of Jere- 
 miah was taken from the Second Book of Kings, 
 as a supplement to his prophecy. Jerome observes, 
 that Jeremiah's style is lower and more neglected 
 than some others of the prophets, (Isaiah's, for ex- 
 ample,) which he ascribes to the prophet's birth and 
 education at Anathoth, a village or little country 
 town. Other critics discover a sublimity and great- 
 ness in his Si"ylc. Grotius thinks, that his talent lay 
 prii!ci|)ally in touching and exciting the tender 
 passions ; and certainly, the Lamentations are a 
 masterpiece in this way. See Lamentations. 
 
 Mr. Ilarmer (vol. ii. p. 270.) has some remarks on 
 the double evidences of Jeremiali's purchase, (chap, 
 xxxii.) which passage he supposes he has illustrated, 
 by an extract from Chardin. His words are these ; 
 "Both the writings were in the hands of Jeremiah, 
 and at his disposal ; (ver. 14.) for what purpose, then, 
 were duplicates made ? To those unacquainted with 
 eastern usages, it must appear a question of some 
 difHculty. 'The open, or unsealed writing,' says an 
 eminent commentator, ' was either a copy of the 
 sealed deed ; or else a certificate of the witnesses, 
 in whose presence the deed or purchase was signed 
 and sealed.' But it still recurs, of what use was a 
 copy that was to be buried in the same earthen ves- 
 sel, and run exactly the same risk with the original ? 
 — Why were they s(>parate writings, and why was 
 one sealed, and not the other?" Mr. H. then quotes 
 from Chardin : " After a contract is made, it is kept 
 by the party himself, not tlu; notary ; and they cause 
 a ro])y to b(! made, signed by the notary alone, which 
 is shown on jirojier occasions, and never exhibit 
 the other." This illustration certainly leaves much 
 to be wished for; as ajipears byqtioting the ])assage : 
 "I bou']ht the fi(!l(l, subscribed the evidence, sealed 
 it, took witnesses, and weighed the money in the 
 balanccH. I took the evidence of the purchase, that 
 which was sealed according to law and custom, and 
 that which was open — I gave the evidence to Ba- 
 ruch, and I charg(Hl Baruch, Take these evidences, 
 the sealed and the open, and put them in an earthen 
 vessel, that they may continue uiany days; for thus 
 saith the Lor(l, Houses, and fields, and vineyards,
 
 JEREMIAH 
 
 [555 ] 
 
 JER 
 
 shall be possessed again in this land," ver. 44. "Men 
 shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, 
 and seal them, — and take witnesses, in the land of ■ 
 Benjamin." The incident receives illustration, pei-- 
 liaps, from the Gentoo law of boundaries, and limits, 
 wliicli is thus translated: — "Dust, or bones, or se- 
 boos, (bran,) or cinders, or scraps of earthenware, or 
 the liairs of a cow's tail, or the seed of the cotton 
 plant ; all these things above mentioned, being put 
 into an earthen pot filled to the brim, a man must 
 privately bury upon the confines of his own bound- 
 ;iry ; and there preserve stones also, or bricks, or 
 .'<ea sand ; either of these three things may be buried 
 hy way of landmark of the limits ; for all these 
 tilings, upon remaining a long time in the ground, 
 arc not liable to rot, or become putrid ; any other 
 thing, also, which will remain a long time in the 
 ground, without becoming rotten or putrid, may be 
 buried for the same purpose. Those persons who 
 by any of these methods can sliojv the line of their 
 boundaries, shall acquaint their sons with the respect- 
 ive landmarks of those boundaries; and, in the 
 same manner, those sons also shall explain the signs 
 of their limits to their children. — If all persons would 
 act in this manner, there could be no dispute con- 
 cerning limits and boundaries." Might not Jere- 
 miah's earthen pot, which would last, " without be- 
 coming rotten," many days, be destined to enclose 
 the purchase-deeds of this field, to be buried some- 
 where in the field itself, if possible ; in order for its 
 preservation, that it might be, at a fiiture period, an 
 evidence of the purchase ? — This seems to be 
 strengthened by the consideration, that, at the future 
 period foretold by the prophet, the inhabitants should 
 !)c restored to their own lands, and in order to re- 
 sume them, they should seek after such concealed 
 tokens of their forefathers' possession ; at which 
 time, being able to describe the nature of such ves- 
 sels, their situation and their contents, the identity 
 of the claimants, and their famihes, with the truth 
 of their claims, should appear undeniable. If this 
 pot were buried in the city of Jerusalem, the end 
 would be answered, (though not so completely,) 
 since Baruch might inform the proper heirs where 
 to seek it, and how to describe its contents. 
 
 We may remark, fiu-ther, on the method of seal- 
 ing, that the word here rendered seal does not re- 
 strictively imply a waxen seal, or a seal for evidence 
 only, but to close up, to secure, by some solid or 
 glutinous matter. So, Deut. xxxii. 34, " Is not this 
 laid up in store with me, and sealed up [closed up, 
 secured, for preservation) among my treasures ?" 
 In Job xxxviii. 14, a seal is mentioned as lieing made 
 of clay ; which, indeed, is customary in the East. 
 Suppose, then, this deed were enclosed in a roll of 
 some strong substance, pitched over, to j^rotect it 
 from water, or surrounded with a coat of firm clay, 
 for the same purpose, and placed at the bottom of 
 an earthen vessel; while the writing not thus en- 
 closed, or coated over, was laid among a quantity of 
 dry matters, " stones, bricks, or sea-sand," above the 
 vessel. In this case, both, or very probably one, of 
 them in an earthen vessel, well closed, and carefully 
 buried, might last a much longer period than seventy 
 years ; and the peculiarity of its contents might be 
 much longer remembered by those to whom it was 
 communicated, and who were concerned in claiming 
 the property. Whoever has been conversant with 
 the history of our civil wars, and of later times, inust 
 recollect many instances of pots of money and other 
 treasures found in such good condition, that had they 
 
 been accompanied by papers, they would have been 
 legible, and well preserved. Now, as Jeremiah 
 could not himself go out of his prison, he delivers 
 these d(;eds to Baruch, for the purjjose of their pres- 
 ervation from the general pillage, burning, &c. of 
 the city, when taken ; in which otherwise they had 
 little chance of escaping total destruction ; and, 
 probably, for the purpose of being buried, as above 
 described. 
 
 JERICHO, a city of Benjamin, about 20 miles 
 E. N. E. from Jerusalem, and 6 from Jordan, Josh, 
 xviii. 21. This was the first city in Canaan taken by 
 Joshua, (Josh. ii. 1, &c.) who sent spies thither, that 
 were received by Rahab, and preserved from the 
 king. Joshua received God's orders to besiege Jeri- 
 cho, soon after his passage over Jordan, and perhaps 
 on the evening before, or on the day of the first pass- 
 over, which the Hebrews celebrated in Canaan, chap, 
 vi. 1, &c. The manner of the siege was very ex- 
 traordinary. God connnanded them once a day for 
 seven successive days to march round the city. The 
 soldiers marched first, (probably beyond the reach 
 of the enemy's arrows,) and after them the priests, 
 ark, &c. On the seventh day they marched seven 
 times round the city ; and at the seventh, while the 
 trumpets were sounding, and all the people shouting, 
 the walls fell down. The first day, the rabbins say, 
 was (our) Sunday, and the seventh the sabbath day. 
 During the first six days the people continued in 
 profound silence ; but on the seventh, Joshua com- 
 manding them to shout, they all exerted their voices ; 
 and the walls being overthrown, they entered the 
 city, every man in the place opposite to him. The 
 city being devoted, (see Anathema,) they set fire to 
 it, and consecrated all the gold, silver, and brass. 
 Joshua then said, "Cursed be the man before the 
 Lord, who shall rebuild Jericho." Hiel of Bethel, 
 about 537 years afterwards, rebuilt it, (1 Kings xvi. 
 34.) and lost his eldest son, Abiram, and his young- 
 est son, Segub. See Abiram. 
 
 We are not to siqipose, however, that there was no 
 city of Jericho till the time of Hiel. There was a 
 city of palm-trees, the same probably as Jericho, under 
 the Judges ; (Judg.iii. 13.) and David's ambassadors, 
 who had been insulted by the Ammonites, resided at 
 Jericho till their beards were gi-own again, 2 Sam. 
 X. 4, 5. There was, therefore, a city of Jericho ; but 
 it stood, probably, in the neighborhood of the original 
 Jericho. Josep'hus distinguishes these two places 
 when he says, that in his time, near ancient Jericho, 
 which was destroyed by Joshua, there was a foun- 
 tain which abounded with water. But after Hiel ot 
 Bethel had rebuilt old Jericho, no one scrupled to 
 dwell there. Herod built a very beautiful palace 
 here ; and om Saviour wrought some miracles on a 
 visit to the city. 
 
 In the article Barri-nness, we have ventured to 
 associate Jericho with other towns producing abor- 
 tion ; and to what is there said may be added the 
 testimonyofJosephus, who says, (Bell. Jud.iv.8.J.) 
 "Near Jericho is a very plentiful spring; it riseth 
 near the old city ; of which spring there is a report 
 that, in former times, it did not only make the Iruits 
 of the earth and of the trees to decay, but also the ott- 
 spring of women; and was universally deleterious; 
 . . . ? but this was amended by Elisha .... these 
 waters have now so great a virtue in them, that 
 wherever they are conveyed, they P^-oduce very 
 speedy ripen/ss." To these observations on he 
 nature of the soil of Jericho, we may add, tha the 
 rabbins mention another place in the mountains of
 
 JERICHO 
 
 { 556 ] 
 
 JER 
 
 Judah, which they call Caphar-decaraiin, because 
 " unless the women departed from this town to some 
 other place, they could not bring forth male children," 
 — meaning they were liable to abortions. (Hieros. 
 Taanith, fol. 69. 1.) 
 
 Jericho was the second city in Judea : in its royal 
 palace Herod died ; it had also a hippodrome and 
 an amphitheatre. There is a tradition in the Jeru- 
 salem Talmud, that there were at least twelve thou- 
 sand priests at Jericho, ready to sui)ply any deficiency 
 that might occur at Jerusalem. (Conip. Luke x. 31, 
 32.) The wheat at Jericho was gathered before the 
 first fruits at Jerusalem ; as the productions of this 
 neighborhood were much forwarder in respect of 
 ripeness. 
 
 D'Arvieux thus describes the state of Jericho in 
 his time ; (A. D. 1659 ;) but it is likely that the village 
 he visited, and the same that is described by more 
 modern travellers, was at some distance from the 
 ancient town ; not a vestige of which now remains, 
 unless some tumuli, discovered by Mr. Buckingham, 
 three or fom- miles nearer to Jerusalem, may be sup- 
 posed to mark the course of its walls. " After having 
 travelled a quarter of a league in the plain, we en- 
 camped near to the gardens of Jericho, by the side of 
 a small brook ; and while our sujjper was jjreparing, 
 we Avalked in the gardens, and among the ruins of 
 Jericho. This very ancient city is now desolate, and 
 consists of only about fifty poor houses in bad con- 
 dition, wherein the laborers who cultivate the gardens 
 slielter themselves. The plain around is extremely 
 fertile ; the soil is middling fat ; but it is watered by 
 several rivulets, which flow into the Jordan. Not- 
 withstanding these advantages, only the gardens ad- 
 jacent to the town are cultivated. We saw here 
 abundance of those trees which are called in Arabic 
 Zacoum; they are furnished with thorns like acacias, 
 and resemble bushes. They bear fruits the size of 
 large plums ; the stone of which resembles a rough- 
 sided melon. These are pounded, and the kernel 
 yields an oil, which is a kind of balsam, perfectly 
 good against bruises, cold tumors, nervous contrac- 
 tions, and rheumatisms. We visited the fountain of 
 the prophet Elisha, which, for many ages, has fur- 
 nished water for the gardens ; it was formerly bitter, 
 but was healed by that prophet. The head of this 
 water is enclosed in a basin of a triangular shape, of 
 which each side is about three fatlioms in length. It 
 is lined with wrought stone, and is even paved in 
 parts. There are two niches in one of its sides, which 
 is higher than the others, and an orifice by which the 
 water issues, in a stream sufficient to turn a mill. It 
 is said that several sources discharge themselves into 
 the same basin ; but their depth prevents them from 
 being explored. In returning to our tents we passed 
 by some ruins on the side of a hill, where is a cistern 
 and some buildings, with a channel which conveys 
 to the Jordan the waters of a spring which issues 
 on the mountains of Quarantania." Maundrell calls 
 Jericho "a poor, nasty village of the Arabs." 
 
 The Plain of Jericho, in which the city lay, ex- 
 tends from Scythopolis to the bay of the Dead sea, 
 and is overhung on all sides l)v ridges of barren and 
 rugged mountains. The road from the city to Jeru- 
 salem IS through a series of rockv defiles, and the 
 surrounding scenery k of the most gloomv and for- 
 bidding aspect. "The whole of this road is held to 
 be the most dangerous in Pdestiiie ; and, indeed, the 
 very aspect of the scenery is Rufiicient, on the 'one 
 hand, to tempt to robbery and murder, and, on the 
 other, to occasion a dread of it in those who pass 
 
 that way. The bold projecting mass of rocks, the 
 dark shadows in which every thing lies buried below, 
 tlie towering height of the cliffs above, and the for- 
 bidding desolation which every where reigns around, 
 present a picture that is quite in harmony throughout 
 all its parts. With what propriety did our Saviour 
 choose this spot, as the scene of that delightful tale 
 of compassion recorded by St. Luke ! x. 30 — 34. 
 One must be amid these wild and gloomy solitudes, 
 surrounded by an armed band, and feel the impa- 
 tience of the traveller, who rushes on to catch a new 
 view at every pass and turn ; one must be alarmed 
 at the very stamp of the horses' hoofs, resounding 
 through the caverned rocks, and at the savage shouts 
 of the footmen, scarcely less loud than the echoing 
 thunder, produced by the discharge of their pieces in 
 the valleys ; one must witness all this upon the spot, 
 before that the full force and beauty of the admirable 
 story of the good Samaritan can be perceived. Here 
 pillage, wounds, and death would be accompanied 
 with double terror, from the frightful aspect of every 
 thing around. Here, the unfeeling act of passing by 
 a fellow creature in distress, as the priest and Levite 
 are said to have done, strikes one with horror, as an 
 act almost more than inhuman. And here, too, the 
 compassion of the good Samaritan is doubly virtuous, 
 from the purity of the motive which must have led to 
 it, in a spot where no eyes were fixed on him to draw 
 forth the jierformance of any duty, and from the 
 bravery which was necessary to admit of a man's 
 exposing himself, by such delay, to the risk of a simi- 
 lar fate to that from which he was endeavoring to 
 rescue his fellow creatui'e." (Buckingham's Travels, 
 p. 292, 293, 4to.) 
 
 JERIMOTH, or Jeremoth, one of the warriors 
 who came to David to Ziklag, 1 Chron. xii. 5. He 
 was the son of Becher, a Benjamite, vii. 8. — Also the 
 nam^ of several other persons. 
 
 I. JEROBOAM, son of Nebat, who made Israel to 
 sin, is often characterized in Scripture as the author 
 of the schism and idolatry of the ten tribes. His 
 mother was a widow, named Zeruah, and was born 
 at Zereda, in Epliraim. Jeroboam was bold and en- 
 terprising, and Solomon gave him a commission to 
 levy the taxes of Ephraim and Manasseh. As he 
 went out of Jerusalem, one day, the prophet Ahijah 
 met him, having on a new cloak, 1 Kings xi. 29, which 
 he rent in twelve jiieces, saying to Jeroboam, "Take 
 ten to thyself; for the Lord will rend the kingdom 
 of Solomon, and give ten tribes to thee," cmte A. D. 
 978. Jeroboam, who was previously disaffected, 
 soon began to incite the people to revolt ; but Solo- 
 mon liaving intelligence of his designs, he fled into 
 Egypt, and there continued till the death of the king. 
 His successor, Rehoboam, behaving in a haughty 
 and menacing manner, ten of the tribes separated 
 from the house of David ; and Jeroboam returning 
 from Egypt, they invited him among them to a general 
 assembly, in which they appointed him king over Is- 
 rael. He fixed his residence at Shechem, ante A. D.975. 
 
 Forgetting the fidelity due to God, Avho had given 
 him the kingdom, Jcrolioam resolved to make two 
 golden calves, in imitation, probably, of the god Apis ; 
 to place one at Dan, the other at Bethel. "Hence- 
 forth," said he to his jieople, "go no more to Jeru- 
 salem," chap. xii. (See Calves.) He apjiointed a 
 solemn tWiston the fiilceiith day of the eighth month, 
 to dedicate his new altar, and to consecrate his goldcH 
 calves. Jeroboam himself went up to the altar to 
 offer incense and saciilicts; (1 Kings xiii.) and just 
 at that time n man of God (generally believed to be
 
 JER 
 
 [557] 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 the prophet Iddo) camo from Judali to Bethel by 
 God s direction. Upon seehig Jeroboam at the altar, 
 he cried, "O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, A child 
 Bhall be born to the house of David, by name Josiah, 
 and upon thee shall he sacritice the priests of the 
 high places, who now burn incense upon thee : he 
 shall burn men's bones upon thee," &c. The king, 
 stretching out his hand, commanded the prophet to 
 be seized ; but the hand became withered, and he 
 could not draw it back. The altar was immediately 
 broken, and the fire, with the ashes, fell on the ground. 
 Then the king said, " Pray to God that he may re- 
 store my hand." The man of God besought the 
 Lord, and the king's hand was restored, chap. xiii. 
 This extraordinary event, however, did not recover 
 Jeroboam from his impiety ; this was the sin of his 
 family, and the cause of its extirpation. He died 
 after a reign of twenty-two years, {ante A. D. 953.) 
 and Nadab, his sou, succeeded him. 
 
 n. JEROBOAM the Second, king of Israel, was 
 son of Jehoash, and succeeded his father, ante A. D. 
 825. He reigned forty-one years, but walked in the 
 evil ways of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, 2 Kings xiv. 23. 
 He restored the kingdom of Israel to its splendor, 
 from Avhich it had fallen under his predecessors ; 
 reconquered those provinces and cities which the 
 kings of Syria had usurjjcd ; and extended his author- 
 ity over all the countries beyond Jordan, to the Dead 
 sea. The prophets Hosea, Amos, and Jonah prophe- 
 sied under his reign, and we see, by their writings, 
 that idleness, efleminacy, extravagance, and injustice, 
 at this time, polluted Israel ; that tlie licentiousness 
 of the people, in point of religion, was extreme ; that 
 ihey not only fiequented the golden calves at Dan 
 and Bethel, but Mizpeh in Gilead, Beersheba, Tabor, 
 Carmcl, Gilgal, almost all the higii places, and 
 wherever God had at any time appeared to the patri- 
 archs. At the same time, several articles of the cere- 
 monial law were observed. The first-fruits and tithes 
 were paid ; the feasts and sabbaths were observed ; 
 and Nazarit^s were consecrated ; Amos, chap. ii. iv. 
 V. viii. 
 
 JERUBBAAL, Gideon's surname, after he had 
 destroyed Baal's grove, and his father had said it was 
 Baal's business to avenge it, Judg. vi. 31, 32. 
 
 JERUEL, a wilderness west of the Dead sea, and 
 south of Judah, where Jehoshapiiat obtained a great 
 victory over the Ammonites, Moabites, Sec. It was 
 called the valley of Berachah, or blessing ; and lay 
 between Engedi and Tekoah, 2 Clnon. xx. 16 ; coin- 
 l)are Acrse 26. 
 
 JERUSALEM, Jebus, or Salkm, is generally sup- 
 I)osed to owe its origin to Melcliizcdek, who is called 
 king of Salem, (Gen. xiv. 18.) and avIio is thought to 
 ))ave founded it about the year 2023, and called it 
 Salem (peace). About a century aft(>r its foundation, 
 it was captured by the Jebusites, who extended the 
 walls, and constructed a castle, or citadel, on mount 
 Sion. By them it was called Jebus. In the conquest 
 of Canaan, Joshua put to death its king. (Josh. x. 23; 
 xiii. 10.) and obtained possession of the town, which 
 was jointly inhabited by Jews and Jebusites till the 
 reign of David, who expelled the latter, and made it 
 the capital of his kingdom, under the name of Jebus- 
 Salem, or (for the sake of euphony) Jerusalem. It 
 maintained its eminence for a period of 477 years, 
 when it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. During 
 the seventy years' captivity, it lay in ruins, after whicli 
 it was restored by Zerubbabel and his associates, and 
 continued 562 years, when it was finally destroyed 
 bv Titus. 
 
 When Judea was made a Roman province, under 
 the governor of Syria, the Romans kept a garrison in 
 the citadel Antonia. The last and fatal rebellion of 
 the Jews began by their besieging this fortress 
 whence they forced and destroyed the Roman garri- 
 son. The year following (A. D. 70) Titus besieged 
 the city, and reduced it to a heap of ruins. Josephus 
 remarks, that Titus commanded his soldiers to de- 
 molish the whole city, except three of the largest and 
 most beautiful towers — those of Phasael, Hippicus, 
 andMariamnc, which he was desirous of preserving, 
 as a monument of the valor and power of the Ro- 
 mans. He also left the city wall, on the western 
 side, as a rampart to the Roman camp and troops. 
 The rest of the city was so completely levelled, that 
 it scarcely appeared to have been inhabited. Jewish 
 authors assure us, that Terentius Rufus, whom Titus 
 left in command, ploughed up the ground on which 
 the temple had stood, that it might not be rebuilt: 
 the Roman laws prohibited the rebuilding of places 
 where this ceremony had been performed, without 
 permission from the senate. It is generally believed, 
 however, that this was not done till after the revolt 
 of the Jews under Adrian, down to whose time a 
 number of Jews certainly remained in the city. See 
 Adrian. 
 
 The city of Jerusalem is situated in 31° 50' north 
 latitude, and 35° 20' east longitude ; about twenty- 
 five miles west of Jordan, and forty-two east of the 
 iMediterranean ; 102 nnles south of Damascus, and 
 150 north of the Elanitic gulf of the Red sea. It wa» 
 built on four hills, called Sion, Acra, Moriah, and 
 Bezetha. Indeed, the whole foundation was a high 
 rock, formerly called Moriah, or Vision, because it 
 could be seen afar oft", especially on the south. Gen. 
 xxii. 2 — 4. The mountain is a rocky limestone hill, 
 with steep ascents on every side, except on the north ; 
 surrounded with a deej) valley ; again encompassed 
 with hills, in the form of an amphitheatre, Ps. cxxv. 2. 
 The accurate and minute account of Josephus is the 
 highest authority to which we can resort for ascer- 
 taining the form and limits of the Jewish capital. It 
 is as follows : " The city was built on two hills, which 
 are opposite to each other, having a valley to divide 
 them asunder; at which valley the corresjjonding 
 rows of houses on both hills terminate. Of these 
 hills, that which contains the upper city is much 
 higher, and in length more direct. Accordingly, it 
 was called 'the citadel,' by king David: he was 
 father of that Solomon who built this temple at tho 
 first ; but it is by us called ' the upper market place,' 
 But the other hill, which is called ' Acra,' and sustains 
 the lower city, is of the shape of the moon when she 
 is homed ; over against this there was a third hill, 
 but naturally lower than Acra, and parted, formerly, 
 from the other by a broad valley. In the time when 
 the Asmoneans reigned, they filled up that valley with 
 earth, and had a mind to join the city to the temple. 
 They then took ofl' part of the height of Acra, and 
 reduced it to a loss elevation than it was before, that 
 the temple might be superior to it. Now the valley 
 of the cheesemongers, as it was called, was that which 
 distinguished the hill of the upper city from that of 
 the lower, and extended as far as Siloam ; for that is 
 the name of a foimtain which hath sweet water in it, 
 and this in gi-eat plenty also. But on the outsides, 
 these hills are surrounded by deep valleys, and, by 
 reason of the precipices belonging to them on both 
 sides, are cveiy where im])a?sable." He afterwards 
 adds, " As thecity greAv more populous, it gradually 
 crept beyond its old limits, and those parts of it that
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 [ S58 J 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 stood northward of the tenij)le, and joined that hill to 
 the city, made it considerably larger, and occasioned 
 that hill which is in number the fourth, and is called 
 ' Bezetha,' to he inhabited also. It lies over against 
 the tower Antonia, but is divided from it by a deep 
 valley, which was dug on purpose. This new built 
 part of the city was called ' Bezetha' in our language, 
 which, if interpreted in the Grecian language, may be 
 called ' the new city.' " (Jewish Wars, book v. ch. 4.) 
 
 This account describes the gradual extension of the 
 holy city, from the time when the Jebusitcs were dis- 
 possessed, till the foundation of the northern walls 
 was laid by Herod Agrippa. It is evident that the 
 old city was built upon "Acra," and the "strong 
 hold of Sion" (2 Sam. v. 7.) upon the hill bearing that 
 name ; both of which were taken from the Jebusites 
 by David. After liaving possessed himself of these 
 important places, this munificent prince a[)propriated 
 the latter for the royal residence, and named it "the 
 city of David." The extent of this " upper city," as 
 it is called by Josephus, seems to be pointed out by 
 an expression in 2Sam. v. 9: "David built round 
 about, from Millo inward." Now, whether by " Millo" 
 we understand, Avith some critics, the " house of 
 Millo," which stood on the north-east of mount Sion, 
 or with others, the valley which divided the upper 
 and the lower city, and which was filled up by Solo- 
 mon, and called Millo, the meaning still ajipears to 
 l)e, that David built from one side of mount Sion 
 quite round to tlie opposite jiart. 
 
 Moriah, prop^^rly so called, which is the third hill 
 of Josephus, lay on the eastern side of Jerusalem, 
 over against mount Acra. This hill, on which Solo- 
 mon erected the temple, was originally divided from 
 Acra by a broad valley, subsequently filled up by the 
 Asmoneans, and thus joined to the lower city. The 
 valley which divided Sion irom Acra and Moriah is 
 called, by Josephus, " the valley of Cheesemongers," 
 and extended as far as Siloam. Across this valley 
 Solomon appears to have raised a causeway, leading 
 from the royal palace on mount Sion to tlie temple 
 on mount Moriah. The way was not level, but was 
 an easy ascent and descent from one mountain to the 
 other. Hence we read of " the ascent by which 
 Solomon went up to the house of the Lord," and of 
 "the causeway," or "going up." 
 
 On the cast of the city, and stretching from north 
 to south, stands the mount of Olives, facing the spot 
 formerly occupied by the temple, of which it com- 
 manded a noble prospect. It is separated from the 
 city by the valley of Jehoshaphat. On the west of 
 the city, and formerly without the walls, stood the 
 little hill of Calvary, or Golgotha. But so nnich has 
 the city moved in that direction, that it novv' stands in 
 its very centre. 
 
 When the city of Jerusalem became the capital of 
 the kingdom, and the chosen place of Jehovah's wor- 
 shij), every mean was used to render it impregnable, 
 by high walls, massy gates, and towers of observation 
 and annoyance. But of its fortifications we have 
 no particulars extant till after the captivity, when 
 Nehemiah recorded the portions, which the" several 
 individuals engaged in the work, repaired. This 
 document being of great importance in settling the 
 circuit of the city, and ils principal gates, we shall 
 attempt to follow the patriotic governor in his descrip- 
 tion. Beginning with the .<^^prp ^afe, (chap. iii. 1.) 
 which was on the east side of the city, in the neigh- 
 borhood of Bethcsda, and through which the sheep 
 destined for sacrifice were driven to the temple, we 
 travel along the cast wall, with our faces to the north, 
 
 and come to the tower of Meali, ver. L Turning the 
 north-east corner, we reach the tower of Hananeel ; 
 (ver. 1.) beyond which, further west, was the Jiah 
 gate ; (ver. 3.) and beyond this, again, the old gate, 
 ver. 6, The broad wall (ver. 8.) appears to have 
 been near the north-west corner ; and so named from 
 the lowness of the ground in that place, which re- 
 quired the wall to have a wide foundation, in order 
 to raise it to an equal height with the rest. But 
 although these are all the gates which were built by 
 Nehemiah on the north side of the city, they did not 
 constitute the whole number ; for we have three 
 others mentioned, viz. the gate of Benjamin, which 
 is generally placed near the north-east corner, be- 
 tween the sheep gate and the fish gate ; the gate of 
 Ephraim, which is placed between the fish gate and 
 the north-west corner; and the corner gate, which is 
 placed at the north-west corner. On turning the 
 north-west corner, and proceeding along the west 
 side of the city wall, our faces southwanl, we come 
 to the tower of the furnaces; (Neh. iii. 11.) then to 
 the valley gate ; (ver. 13.) a thousand cubits beyond 
 which stood the dimg gate ; (ver. 13.) and still further 
 south, the gate of the fountain ; (ver. 15.) so called 
 from its proximity to the lower fountain of Gihon. 
 There are no gates mentioned in the south outer 
 wall ; probably from the steepness of the mount there, 
 no public road could be made. But modern geogra- 
 phers mention three, as being within the city, in the 
 wall which separates it from mount Sion, viz. one 
 without any distinctive name on the east ; the middle 
 gate ; and Zion gate, on the west. On turning the 
 south-east corner, to travel along the cast side of the 
 city, we pass "the pool of Siloam, by the king's gar- 
 dens and the king's pool," which lay at some distance 
 from the city, on the right hand ; and the wall oppo- 
 site the stairs that led to the city of David, or Zion, 
 "the wall opposite the sepulchres and the house of 
 the mighty," within the city on the left, Neh. iii. 15, 
 16. Hence these are said to have been "at the turn- 
 ing of the wall," (ver. 19.) or near tlie south-east 
 corner. A little farther on, and at tlie place where 
 the inner wall, which divides between the city of 
 Zion, touches this outer wall, geographers place the 
 dung gate ; but although this be its })rcsent position, 
 it is evident from Nehemiah that it lay anciently on 
 the other side, where we have placed it. Farther to 
 the north was another "turning" or corner, where 
 was " the tower which lay out Trom the king's high 
 house, and near the court of the prison," ver. 24, 25. 
 There, ])robably, the priso7i gate, mentioned after- 
 wards by Nehemiah, (chap. xii. 39.) was situated. 
 And beyond that were the icater gate, (chaj). iii. 2().) 
 near which the waters of Etam, that were employed 
 in the temple servic(% escaped to the brook Kedron ; 
 the house gate, (ver. 28.) where Atiialiah, the queen, 
 was slain, (2 Chron. xxiii. 15,) on this side the water 
 gate, and joined to it by the wall that enclosed Ophel, 
 (Neh. iii. 27, 28.) and the gate Miphkad, (ver. 31.) on 
 the other side of the Wtater gate, not far from the sheep 
 gate, where we set out. Geographers ))lace other 
 two gates between Mi|)hkad and the sheep gate; 
 namely, the golden gate and the sheep gate ; but they 
 are of later date than the days of Nehemiah. During 
 tlie time that elapsed between the days of Nehemiah 
 and the destruction of the city by Titus, several im- 
 portant alterations were made in its fortifications. 
 Latterly it was enclosed by three walls, on those sides 
 that were not encompassed with impassable valleys. 
 A particular description of them is given by Josephus, 
 Wars, b. v. chap. 4.
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
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 JERUSALEM 
 
 Having given a slight sketch of the history and to- 
 pography of the city of Jerusalem, we proceed to a 
 more minute examination of its ichnography and 
 antiquities, as well as of some historical incidents 
 connected with it. 
 
 The alterations made by time on the face of the 
 earth, though considerable, arc not comparable to 
 those produced by the labors of man ; mountains, 
 rockis, and for the most part rivers, also, remain, not 
 greatly changed from their ancient appearances, 
 where only acted upon by the lapse of ages ; but 
 wiiere the devices and exertions of human art, and 
 the varying intentions of human purpose have been 
 directed, t|je consequent changes are striking, and 
 their effect in producing dissimilarity is wonderful. 
 Every city bears witness to the truth of this; but, as 
 very few cities, in addition to the character of society, 
 habitation or polity, add that of sanctity, we with 
 difficulty n)ake proper allowance for the power of 
 this principle, or for the various permanent effects 
 which inevitably follow it. Votaries who attribute 
 to a particular locality the character of sanctity, will 
 desire not only to honor, but also to adorn the sub- 
 ject of their consecration ; they will dignify the place 
 of their devotion to the utmost of their power — while 
 this very attention will excite rivalship and enmity: 
 and a place thus distinguished will be distinguished 
 also by the consequences of that enmity ; it will be 
 attacked and defended, destroyed and restored, with 
 a resolution and perseverance not always experienced 
 by establishments merely civil. Such has been the 
 lot of the ancient city of Jerusalem. We have already 
 stated that we consider the ancient Salem as the 
 nucleus of the succeeding Jerusjilem, the name of 
 which was compounded of the two more ancient ap- 
 pellations — Jebus-salem, or Jeru-salem. 
 
 Instances of a sacred precinct, or spot set apart for 
 worsJiip, giving rise to a town, are numerous, and the 
 progress is nothing more than natural ; yet must it 
 be carefully remembered, that every sacred jirecinct 
 is not a temple, nor does it imply the existence of a 
 temple ; for, in early ages, many places were allotted 
 for religious ceremonies, and for pidjlic worship, to 
 which no building ever was attached. Indeed, tribes 
 who constantly dwelt in tents, and were perpetually 
 removing from place to place, according to the sea- 
 sons, might consecrate particular patches of gi-ound, 
 and remarkable rocks or hills, but could have no 
 inducement to erect buildings upon them for pur- 
 poses of devotion. 
 
 To treat this inquiry properly, it must be assumed 
 that mount Moriah was one of those places esteemed 
 sacred. It afforded, probably, a plot of ground of 
 convenient size, for the resort of worshippers, and 
 this obtained repute on account of its character. Such 
 a separate hill-top being resorted to, at first a few 
 tents were pitched ; to these succeeded a few houses, 
 and, by degrees, the village increased to a town, until 
 at length the establishment assumed the importance 
 of a city. In one of these stages, probably that of a 
 small town, we first become acquainted with Salem ; 
 of which we read, that Melchizedec came forth from 
 it; that the valley of "Shaveh," or "the King's 
 Dale," was adjacent to it ; that it was considered as 
 a place peculiarly sacred, and where the word of the 
 Lord was communicated to the sons of men. It is 
 not easy to say with certainty whether this mount 
 Moriah be that on which Abraham offered up his son 
 Isaac, Gen. xxii. General opinion favors the affirma- 
 tive ; but general opinion is not decisive, though it 
 may be accepted as presumptive, evidence. This 
 
 would point to its acknowledged sanctity at a still 
 earlier period, for it appears tliat Abraliam did not 
 find an altar constructed on that mountain where he 
 sacrificed ; yet it was probably a consecrated place. 
 
 That many places were distinguished in the man- 
 ner described is well known in classic antiquity ; and 
 they are the most ancient high places ; a kind of 
 sacred establishments that afterwards occur fre- 
 quently enough in the history of the Hebrews. 
 
 The next event of importance to the city of Salem 
 is, apparently, in 2 Sam. v. G, &c. (but really the in- 
 cident of David's depositing there the head of Goli- 
 ah, happened some years earlier; of which hereaf- 
 ter). It might be asked, why David should wish to 
 establish himself in this city particularly. Was it 
 because here had been the scene of transactions in 
 ancient time, analogous to those which he meditat- 
 ed as proper for the seat of his sovereignty ? or be- 
 cause this was the place chosen by the Lord, an- 
 ciently, to put his name there ? Certainly this 
 presumed sanctity is at least plausible ; and it agrees 
 with the supposable motives by which the Jebusites 
 were induced to refuse David. The addition of the 
 royal residence could add nothing to its dignity, but 
 rather the contrary, in the opinion of those whose 
 veneration for it was inherited from their remote an- 
 cestors. But here it is necessary to inquire. Who 
 was this Jebusite which so tauntingly insulted David .'' 
 Looking back to Josh, xviii. 28, we find Jebusi the 
 name of Jerusalem, which is varied, in Judg. xix. 10, 
 to Jebus ; it is noticed also as one of the cities of the 
 Jebusites, a people "not of the children of Israel." 
 In Gen. x, 16, we read, that Canaan was the father 
 of the Jebusite ; and it seems tliat from the early age 
 to which that chapter refers, this family had been 
 settled here ; — a family unquestionably of the ancient 
 Canaanites, such as those with whom Abraham and 
 Isaac covenanted. 
 
 We are now prepared to assign reasons for two 
 circumstances which have strangely puzzled inter- 
 preters ; the first is, that in 2 Sam. xxiv. 23, Arau- 
 nali the Jebusite is called " king," (and in all copies 
 and all versions, as Geddes notes with surprise,) mean- 
 ing, probably, that he derived a pedigree from the an- 
 cient Canaanite kings of the place, and even at this 
 time held at least family authority over his clan, the 
 inhabitants of the town. Perhaps, too, the name 
 Oman given him (1 Chron. xxi. 18.) was his Hebrew, 
 or Jewish, name ; while Araunah was his Canaanite, 
 or Jebusite, appellation. The second circumstance 
 is of greater consequenci". We read (1 Chron. xxi. 
 29.) that the Jewish national altar, on which David 
 certainly ought to have sacrificed, was at this time 
 stationed at Gibeon. But if so, what could induce 
 the angel of the Lord to tell Gad, and Gad to tell 
 David, (verse 18.) that he should go up, and raise an 
 altar to the Lord, in the threshing-floor of Oman, 
 that is, Araimah, the Jebusite, unless here had been 
 a consecrated [jlace formerly ? Why did David go out 
 from his royal i)alace, mount Zion, and pass through 
 the interjacent city? Was there not ample space on 
 Zion, with plenty of conveniences, the king's owu 
 property, but lie niust, under perem|)tory direction, 
 go down mount Zion, and go up mount INIoriah, to 
 raise an altar on premises not his owu ? If this 
 threshing-floor adjoined the originally consecrated 
 spot on mount Moriah, then it was the nearest ap- 
 proach to that most ancient Fauum, which was in 
 David's power ; he could not enter this holy place 
 personallv ; but he sacrifices as near to it as possible, 
 close to "it. This threshine-floor he purchases of
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
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 JERUSALEM 
 
 Araunah (with cattle, &c.) for "fifty shekels of sil- 
 ver ;" but, afterwards, explaining to the Jebusite his 
 intention of building a magnificent temple on mount 
 Moriali, he obtains in addition, for that purpose, the 
 whole summit of tlie mountain, including the site of 
 ancient Fanum itself, from its natural guardian 
 Araunah, for " six hundred shekels of gold," 1 Chron. 
 xxi. 25. The price seems to have been very great ; 
 too great, indeed, for the mere value of the ground ; 
 but this view of the subject accounts for it, it was 
 sacred property, it would not have been ahenated, 
 even for the reception of a royal establishment or a 
 palace ; but as its sacred character was to be pre- 
 served and perpetuated, as additional religious honor 
 was the purpose for which it was resigned, objections 
 subsided. David obtained it for perpetual consecra- 
 tion, yet at a great price ; so that Araunah received, 
 on occasion of this transfer, fifty shekels of silver in 
 payment for his own private property ; and six hun- 
 dred shekels of gold as a consideration for the public 
 property of his family and of his people. Thus, 
 llie sacred character of the place marks it as the 
 proper station for an intercessory altar, under cir- 
 cumstances so urgent, extraordinary, and afflictive ; 
 while these very circumstances, in connection with 
 the impulse of piety, induce David to purchase it, and 
 Araunah to part with it ; perhaps not without reluc- 
 tance, and certainly at a price liberal, if not magnifi- 
 cent. The reader will turn to the map, and estimat- 
 ing the relative situations of mount Zion and mount 
 Moriah, he will perceive to what distance David pro- 
 ceeded from one, that he might erect an altar on the 
 other. It should be remarked, also, that David 
 afterwards brought the tabernacle-altar, &c. into his 
 own palace, mount Zion, and Solomon transferred 
 them to the temple on mount Moriah ; which seems 
 to manifest a pretty steady adherence on the part 
 of the Jebusite to the honor of his possession ; 
 which he did not relinquish, till every thing was 
 ready for constructing the intended temple. It 
 was too sacred to be inade a working place, 1 
 Kings vi. 7. 
 
 There is another passage, which must not be over- 
 looked in this inquiry. That it was customary for 
 victors to carry the trophies of their victory to the 
 temples of their deities, and there to consecrate them, 
 is well known. So we find the Philistines (1 Sam. 
 xxxi. 10.) suspending in triumph the bodies of Saul 
 and his sons on the walls of Beth-Shan ; but the 
 armor of Saul they deposited in the temple of Ash- 
 taroth. So also, (1 Sam. xvii. 54.) David carried the 
 head of Goliath in triumph to Jerusalem ; but he put 
 his armor in the sacred tent (not in David's own 
 tent, for he had none, being merely sent out on a 
 message, but) in the national tabernacle, for here we 
 find part of it (the sword) long after ; and from the 
 tabernacle he received it again, bytheliand of Ahim- 
 elech, 1 Sam. xxi. 9. Now, what could induce Da- 
 vid to carry the bloody trophy of his victory to Jeru- 
 salem, rather than to any other sacred, or jiublic, or 
 famous depository, unless Jerusalem were reno\vned 
 for sanctity ? Was the national ark there ? Was 
 this city at this time a royal residence ? No. Had it 
 a stronger claim than Bethlehem, where the victor 
 lived.' Not unless it were derived from superior 
 sanctity, under which all becomes easy ; and clear- 
 ly the subsequent proceedings of the Philistines with 
 the body of Saul, were but a repetition of David's 
 proceedings with the head of Goliatli. 
 
 The result of these considerations aftirms the 
 proposition, that here was a sacred place of wor- 
 
 ship from the most remote antiquity, and before 
 Solomon embellished this mount, by erecting his 
 temple on its summit. " The orientals," says Vol- 
 ney, " never call Jerusalem by any other name, than 
 Elkiids, the Holy. Sometimes adding the epithet 
 El-sheriff", the noble. This word, El-kuds, seems to 
 me the etymological origin of all the Cassiuses of 
 antiquity, which, like Jerusalem, were high places ; 
 and had temples and holy places erected on them." 
 (Vol. ii. p. 305.) 
 
 This extract confirms the opinion of the learned 
 Prideaux, that the Cadytis of Herodotus is the city 
 of Jerusalem. (See Connect, vol. i. p. 57, where he 
 traces the etymology of the word.) But it is remark- 
 able on another account : — for what reason did the 
 orientals call Jerusalem, the holt, so early as the 
 days of Herodotus, and why continue that title while 
 it is under their subjection, and in a low and dis- 
 tressed state, unless some peculiar holiness had been 
 generally attributed to it ? It accounts also for that 
 remarkable choice of expression, in Matt, xxvii. 53, 
 the saints arose " and went into the holy city.'''' So, 
 chap. iv. 5, "taketh him into the holy city." It does 
 not appear that the other evangelists have used this 
 appellation of Jerusalem. Is it a Syriasni, remain- 
 ing in Matthew ? It is proper, therefore, strongly to 
 urge the distinction between mount Zion the city of 
 David, and mount Moriah the city of Jerusalem. 
 These names are frequently used by theological 
 writers, as if they were identically the same place ; 
 whereas, one of them, Zion, was distinguished as 
 being the seat of the royal or kingly office ; the 
 other as being the seat of the national worship ; and 
 how frequently soever these may be associated by 
 the sacred writers, after the time of David, yet they 
 are not the same ; neither are they, strictly taken, 
 equivalent to each other, but are distinct, though 
 combined. 
 
 We have already stated that the city was built on 
 hills, and was encompassed with moimtains, (Ps. 
 cxxv. 2.) on a stony and barren soil. It was about 
 sixty furlongs in length, according to Strabo, lib. xvi. 
 Jerusalem had never been so large as when it was 
 attacked by the Romans. It was then thirty-ihreo 
 fin-longs in circumference : — nearly four miles and a 
 half. Joscphus informs us, that the wall of circum- 
 vallation, constructed by Titus, was thirty -nine fur- 
 longs ; or four miles, eight hundred and seventy-five 
 paces. Others describe a much larger extent. The 
 condition of Jerusalem in the time of Christ was 
 much the same as afterwards, when assaulted by the 
 Romans ; and what this was, Tacitus, being a Roman 
 and a military man, may inform us. He says, "Je- 
 rusalem stood upon an eminence, difficult of ap- 
 proach. The natiu-al strength of the place was in- 
 creased by redoubts and bulwark.s, \\ hich, even on 
 the level plain, would have made it secure from in- 
 sult. Two hills, that rose to a prodigious height, 
 were enclosed by walls, constructed with skill, in 
 some places projecting forward, in others retiring in- 
 wardly, with the angles so formed, that the besiegers 
 were always liable to be annoyed in flank. The 
 extremities of the rock were sharp, abrupt, and 
 craggy. In convenient places, near the summit, 
 towers were raised 60 feet high, and others, on the 
 declivity of the sides, rose no less than 120 feet^ 
 These works presented a spectacle altogether aston- 
 ishing. To the distant eye they seemed to be of 
 equal elevation. Within the city, there were other 
 fortifications enclosing the palace of the kings. 
 Above all was seen, conspicuous to vie\v, the to\ver
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 [ 561 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 of Antonia, so called by Herod in liouor of the tri- 
 umvir, wlio had been his friend and benefactor. The 
 temple itself was a strong fortress, in the nature of a 
 citadel. The fortifications were built with consum- 
 mate skill, surpassing in art, as well as labor, all the 
 rest of the works. The very porticos that surround- 
 ed it were a strong defence. A perennial spring sup- 
 plied the place with water. Subterraneous caverns 
 were scooped under the rock. The rain water was 
 saved in pools and cisterns. Since the reduction of 
 the place by Pompey, experience had taught the 
 Jews new modes of fortification ; and the corrup- 
 tion and venality that pervaded the whole reign 
 of Claudius favored all their projects. By bribery 
 they obtained permission to rebuild their walls. The 
 strength of their works plainly showed, that in pro- 
 foimd peace they meditated future resistance." (Ta- 
 citus, Hist. lib. v. Mr. Murphy's translation.) 
 
 These accoimts are particularly interesting-, be- 
 cause they clearly illustrate the natural strength of Je- 
 rusalem, and justify the boastings of the native He- 
 brews ; of which Scripture gives instances, as Ps. 
 cxxii. 3 ; cxxv. 2. Under these circumstances, how 
 very unlikely, perhaps even ridiculous, did the 
 prophecy of our Lord appear to the Jews, (Luke xix. 
 43.) every word of which opposes their confidence 
 in these defences. " Thine enemies shall cast a 
 trench about thee (rather raise acircumvallation) and 
 compass thee around — and shall keej) thee in on 
 every side — and shall lay thee even with the ground 
 — and thy children within thee — and they shall not 
 leave within thee one stone on another." It is not 
 impossible that this was literally fulfilled in every 
 particular, so far as regarded Jerusalem itself; though 
 certain towers, or even lines of houses, or streets, of 
 the cities, appended to the ancient town, might be 
 spared, to accominodate the Roman garrison sta- 
 tioned in the place. 
 
 Our Lord also foretold the present state of Jerusa- 
 lem, the Holy City, the Holy Temple, '• trodden 
 down by the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles 
 be fulfilled." It is necessary that we should fix this 
 idea in our minds, " till the times of the Gentiles be 
 fulfilled" — and then the probability is, that this same 
 spot which, diu-ing so many ages, has been distin- 
 guished, and still is distinguished, by consecration and 
 sanctity, though degraded, shall again enjoy favors 
 which will render it conspicuous. Different opin- 
 ions may be entertained respecting the nation of the 
 Jews, and consequentlj' respecting the fate of their 
 capital, Jerusalem ; but the result of these inquiries 
 is not adverse to the conjecture, that it is still to be the 
 scene of events foretold in prophecy, which will be 
 no less corroborative of faith, when thej' do happen, 
 than those events have been which are narrated in 
 history ; events which surely no one can properly 
 consider without feeling a persuasion, rising to ex- 
 pectation, of a somewhat ; though to describe, or to 
 detenuine, that somewhat may be diflRcult. 
 
 The places distinguished by any remarkable oc- 
 currence in the city of Jerusalem, may be distributed 
 into (1.) those well ascertained ; (2.) those credibly 
 supposed to be genuine ; (3.) those of little or no au- 
 thority. Among places the situation of which war- 
 rants our confidence, may be reckoned the Tcmj)le 
 with its courts, the pool of Bethesda, the house of 
 Pilate, or fort Antonia ; for it is credible that 
 Pilate had no house in Jerusalem, but his residence 
 as governor being at Csesarea, there also was his 
 palace ; and that when he came up to the great feasts 
 yearly, or on other occasions, he occupied the resi- 
 71 
 
 deuce of the commanding officer of the Roman gar- 
 rison in Jerusalem, which, no doubt, was fixed in 
 fort Antoma. Now, we know that fort occupied 
 the north side of the temple ; and here is shown 
 what IS denominated Pilate's house ; this, therefore 
 we may accept as such. Opposite to the house of 
 Pilate is the palace of Herod ; and tradition seems, in 
 this respect, to agree with history. The gate of Jus- 
 tice IS hkely to maintain the true situation of one of the 
 gates of the ancient city ; as may be inferred no less 
 from Its proximity to Calvary, the place of public exe- 
 cution, than from the direction ofthe roads leading to it. 
 The Iron gate is so generally thougln to be accurately 
 placed by travellers, that we concur in the opinion. 
 
 Most of the places without the city may be con- 
 sidered as certain, from their nature ; such as the 
 mount of Olives, the brook Kedron, the pool of Si- 
 loam, the Valleys, Calvary, «Scc, These being natu- 
 ral and permanent objects, cannot have chauged their 
 situation at all, nor their frirms, to any considerable 
 degree. It is also probable, that the spot where 
 Stephen is said to have been stoned, is not far from 
 where that fact happened ; because, he seems to 
 have been led from the presence of the council to 
 the nearest convenient opening without the sacred 
 precincts ; and the council sat not far from this cor- 
 ner of the temple, in the cloisters. The house of 
 INIark may be correct ; and possibly the houses of 
 Annas, and of Caiaphas, in the city of David, i. e. 
 mount Sion. 
 
 The reader will remember that the jealousy of 
 the Turks does not permit measurements of any 
 kind to be taken ; so that all plans of this city, 
 and its adjacencies, being composed in a jtrivate and 
 furtive manner, are liable to mis-recollections, and 
 to errors of a slighter nature. There is no opportu- 
 nity of surveying the city of Jerusalem, as the city 
 of London is surveyed, by a map. Still, those who 
 are used to estimate by the eye, or to calculate dis- 
 tances by the number of their steps, can form a judg- 
 ment sufficiently exact to guide our inquiries, if not 
 to satisfy precision ; and, in fact, the error of a few 
 yards, which is all that can happen, may well be ex- 
 cused ; and is of no great importance to general 
 purposes. We must also recollect, that, in the course 
 of so many ages during which Jerusalem has exist- 
 ed, the buildings, their foundations, repairs, and al- 
 terations, the sieges which the city has suffered, its 
 repeated conflagrations, and its numerous changes, 
 both public and private, have so altered the site, the 
 declivities, and the risings on which it stands, that 
 probably neither Herod nor Caiaphas, and certainly 
 neither David nor Solomon, could they now insj)ect 
 it, Avould recollect the very ground on which the 
 palaces stood, or which they labored to honor and 
 adorn ; — always excejiting the temj^le. 
 
 Having fixed the situation of the temple, and of 
 the Roman governor's residence, "C next inquire, not 
 so much where was the situation of the palace, that 
 is, the stated residence of the high^priest, as of that 
 building which the evangelists denote by the title of 
 the high-priest's hall ; in our translation, his " palace." 
 We mean to ask, whether some ofthe buildings in the 
 courts ofthe temple might not be thus denominated, 
 cither because Caiaphas had built them ; or much 
 rather, because here he sat in council with the San- 
 hedrim ; and being his public office, this might nat- 
 urally be named "the hall of the high-priest." To 
 justify this idea, we should recollect, that in the time 
 of our Lord, the Sanhedrim sat in some ofthe cham- 
 bers, rooms, or halls, of tlie cloisters around the
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 [562] 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 temple ; and indeed more than one of them was oc- 
 cupied as a court of justice ; for the court of twenty, 
 three (judges) sat in one room of the temple ; but 
 the Sanhedrim having quitted the room gazith forty 
 years before the destruction of the temple, because 
 they could no longer execute capital sentences, sat 
 now in the room hanoth, or tabernce, near the east 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 57, &c. 
 
 And they, holding Je- 
 sus in custody, led him to 
 Caiaphas the high-priest, 
 where the scribes and the 
 elders were assembled. 
 Peter followed at a dis- 
 tance, even to the hall 
 of the high-priest. Now 
 the chief priests, elders, 
 and all the Sanhedrim, 
 sought false witness 
 against him, to put hiin 
 to death. 
 
 Mark xiv. 53, &c. 
 
 And they led Jesus 
 away to the high-pi-iest : 
 and with him were as- 
 sembled ALL the chief 
 priests, and elders, and 
 scribes. And Peter fol- 
 lowed afar off, even into 
 the [court or) hall {atri- 
 um) of the high-priest. 
 And in the morning the 
 chief priests held a coun- 
 cil with THE WHOLE SaN- 
 
 These accounts evidently imply that the examina- 
 tion of Jesus passed in the regular and usual mode 
 before the Sanhedrim ; and had it been at an un- 
 usual place, would not at least one of the evangelists 
 have noticed that irregularity ? We observe, that 
 three of the evangelists use the word aj'A);j , hall, 
 (rather than palace, in the sense of residence,) but 
 Luke uses the word ohor, house; and this is, we 
 think, the only obstacle against admitting decidedly 
 that this hall of the high-priest was that suite of apart- 
 ments usually occupied, as a public coiu't, by him as 
 the public officer of his nation, with the Sanhedrim, 
 as his council, during their sittings. However, this 
 olxov does not compel us to accept this as the dwell- 
 ing of Caiaphas, who most probably did not dAvell 
 in the temple, or in any part of it ; and certainly at 
 whose dwelling-house the Sanhedrim, &c. could not 
 regularly assemble for purposes of judgment. In 
 this view the expressions of the evangelists are re- 
 markable ; they do not say, the house of Caiaphas ; but 
 the hall of the high-priest, say Matthew, Mark, and 
 John ; the house of the high-priest, says Luke, 
 which we need not scruple to consider as the official 
 hall where the high-priest sat at the head of the San- 
 hedrim. If there were any difficulty in accepting 
 the term house, used by Luke, (which we apprehend 
 there is not,) as signifying the same as the hall of the 
 high-priest, of the other evangelists ; yet, whoever 
 will recollect the extensive application of the He- 
 brew or Syriac word (n^) house, which Luke appears 
 to have translated in this passage, and the import of 
 the Greek term ohoc, when applied to buildings, and 
 to apartments, larger or smaller, in buildings, will 
 perceive at once that it cannot be talcen restrictively, 
 for a house to dwell in. We conclude, therefore, 
 that the Sanhedrim was convened, and held its sit- 
 tings on this occasion, in the same place as was usual 
 at this time ; which was in that room of the temple- 
 courts called hanoth. 
 
 The evangelists are understood to describe two 
 meetings of the Sanhedrim ; the firsl, over night ; the 
 second, early the next morning ; or, one long-con- 
 tinued sitting might have intervals, as some com- 
 mentators suppose. It should seem, that Judas had 
 made his bargain, not with the whole Sanhedrim 
 but with the chief rulers ; who, nevertheless, hav- 
 ing Jesus in their custody, assembled the Sanhedrim ; 
 (whether in private, by previous appointment, or by 
 
 gate, or the gate of Shushan. This information we 
 derive from the rabbins, through Lightfoot. 
 
 As this is a point of some consequence in estab- 
 lishing the principles assumed in the following narra- 
 tion, the reader will compare what the evangehsts 
 say respecting it. 
 
 Luke xxii. 54. 
 They took Jesus, and 
 led him to the house of 
 the high-priest {tov oIkok) 
 — Peter followed afar off: 
 they kindled a fire in the 
 midst of the HALL. And 
 when it became day, the 
 elders, &c. led him into 
 their Sanhedrim. And 
 
 the FULL BODY [ti /.f^.log) 
 
 of them arose, and led 
 him to Pilate, &c. 
 
 John xviii. 13. 
 
 They led Jesus away 
 first to Annas : . . . who 
 sent him bound to Caia- 
 phas, ver. 24. 
 
 That disciple went in 
 with Jesus into the hall 
 of the high-priest .... 
 ver. 15. Then led they 
 Jesus into the pretorium, 
 (or Roman hall of judg- 
 ment,) but did not go in 
 themselves, 28. 
 
 summonses sent by the usual officers ;) and when 
 that body was convened m the customary place of 
 its sittings, it consulted both publicly and privately, 
 put to the vote, resolved, and executed its resolution, 
 as it would have done the day before, or the day after, 
 on any other business within its jurisdiction. But 
 we suppose, the first assembling of the members by 
 night, or so very early in the morning as the second 
 meeting, was an accommodation to the emergency 
 of the occasion ; though it might also be designed 
 to secure a majority of those members who adopted 
 the sentiments of Caiaphas, on the political necessity 
 for cutting off Jesus. 
 
 We may now state pretty correctly the manage- 
 ment of this seizure of our Lord, by the priests. If 
 Jesus supped that night on mount Sion, as is usually 
 said, it follows, that he was at that time at a distance 
 from the temple, and in a place of security, in the 
 city ; but he voluntarily retired to a privacy, Geth- 
 semane, where he knew he could have no rescue or 
 assistance from any of his numerous friends in the 
 city ; and this was in strict conformity to his pre- 
 vious declarations, and to his perfect foreknowledge 
 of the event. Jesus (at supper, probably) having given 
 some hint that he designed to visit the garden of 
 Gethsemane that evening, Judas hies to the temple, 
 which was in his way thither ; or, if it be supposed, 
 that Caiaphas was now at his own dwelling on mount 
 Sion, the situation of that residence was equally 
 convenient for the purposes of Judas, who might, as 
 it were, instantly follow oiu- Lord's monition, " What 
 you do, do quickly," by stepping directly to the 
 high-priest's dwelling ; he acquaints the priests \A'hat 
 an admirable opportunity they would have for arrest- 
 ing Jesus, who would be within their reach at a 
 given time ; that they had only to go down the tem- 
 ple stairs, to cross the Kedron, and they might seize 
 him, before he was aware, and certainly before the 
 people, from any part of the town, could assemble 
 in his favor, or even know of his caption. To this the 
 priests assenting, they ordered out from the temple 
 a band, which seized Jesus in Gethsemane, and 
 brought him into those precincts of the temple, those 
 chambers, halls, or courts, where the Sanhedrim 
 usually sat. Here he was examined, adjured, guard- 
 ed, abused, and detained, till, having been adjudged 
 to death by the supreme council of his nation, they 
 remitted him to Pilate. Now Pilate, residing in fort
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 [ 563 ] 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 Antonia, which was close adjacent, (on the north 
 side of the temple,) and had various communications 
 with the courts of the temple, some more open, as 
 the great staircase, (Acts xxi. 40.) and others more 
 ])nvate, for convenience of the guards, garrison duty, 
 &c. the Sanhedrim could easily fill the courts of the 
 Ibrt and prctorium with their partisans, and, by such 
 liianagement, make their clamors appear to the 
 governor as the voice of the people of Jerusalem and 
 Judea, now assembled at the feast. The governor, 
 aware of this artifice, and desirous of gaining time, 
 among other reasons, sent Jesus through fort Anto- 
 nia, to Ilerod, whose palace was not far off. Herod 
 returned Jesus to Pilate, and Pilate returned him to 
 the Jews, who, by the Roman soldiers in fort An- 
 tonia, i)repared for his crucifixion. He was led, 
 therefore, along the Dolorous Way to Calvary, 
 just without the gate of Justice, and there exe- 
 cuted. , 
 
 On considering this order of events, does it not 
 assume an appearance of credibility, equally strong, at 
 least, as that which supposes Jesus to have been led 
 from Gethsemane, through the whole extent of the 
 city, to and from the house of Caiaphas, on mount 
 Sion, where the Sanhedrim were convened, though 
 not accustomed there to hold their sittings ? Is this 
 extent of perambulation consistent with the poHcy 
 of those who would not seize Jesus " on a feast-day, lest 
 there should be an uproar among the peo])le," and 
 v.lio had been sufficiently alarmed at the cries of Ho- 
 sannah ! a few hours before? And may this rapid 
 execution of the plan adopted by the high-priest 
 contribute to account for the notes of time recorded 
 by the evangelists, "q. d. " AU this was performed in 
 so short a space of time as a few hours ; — from over 
 night, to six o'clock the next morning." Is not this 
 the import of John's note of time, chap. xix. 14, as 
 if he had said, " It was about the sixth (Roman) hour 
 from the seizure of Jesus ?" — which was coincident 
 with the same time from the preparation of the pass- 
 over peace -offerings, to which Mr. Harmer would 
 refer this sixth hour. (Observations, vol. iii. p. 134.) 
 Suppose, too, that the soldiers mocked our Lord, in 
 fort Antonia ; whence they led him to be crucified : 
 (I\Iatt. xxvii. 3] .) " And, coming out (of the fort ?), they 
 found Simon the Cyrenian ;" to which Mark agrees ; 
 " they led him out, and pressed Simon, who was 
 passing ijy." Luke says nearly the same. 
 
 From this statement it results, that the seizure 
 of Jesus was conducted with all the privacy of fear, 
 that he was hurried to condemnation and execution, 
 with all the terrors of rulers who dreaded a popular 
 conunotion, after a decision agreed to by a partial 
 majority onl}', in the Sanhedrim ; and, when sen- 
 tence had been wriuig from the terrified mind of 
 Pilate, it was rapidly completed ; no delay, no re- 
 prieve, no after-consideration being permitted, to 
 clear the innocent sufferer, or to allay the anguish 
 of his friends. 
 
 The situation of Calvaiy demands peculiar atten- 
 tion, as being just without the gate ; — to which the 
 apostle alludes: (Heb. xiii. 12.) " Tesus also suffered 
 without the gate," &c. But it was so near the walls, 
 that possibly the priests from thence might see the 
 whole process of the execution, without hazarding 
 defilement either by too familiar intercourse with the 
 Roman soldiers, or by approaching the dead or dying 
 l)odies. Here they might safely quote, " He trusted 
 in God," &c. and here they might exclaim, " Let him 
 descend from the cross, and we will believe on him," 
 
 Matt, xxvii. 42 ; Mark xv. 32. Calvary appears to 
 have been a piece of waste ground, just on the out- 
 side of the city walls, or rather beyond the ditch that 
 surrounded those walls; being itself an elevation, 
 and about the centre of it, perhaps, an eminence of 
 small extent rising sometlung above the general level, 
 like a kind of knob in the rock, (the true Calvary,) 
 whatever was transacted here was conspicuous at a 
 distance. Thus the evangelist Matthew notes : (xxvii. 
 55.) " Many women of Galilee, beholding afar off;" 
 possibly from some rising ground on the other side 
 of the road, Mark xv. 40 ; Luke xxiii. 49. John ob- 
 serves, that the title put on the cross " was read by 
 many of the Jews ; the place where Jesus was cru- 
 cified being nigh the city." The two roads from 
 Bethlehem and Joppa meeting about this spot, and 
 both entering the city by this gate, would afford 
 enough of " those who passed by," i. e. travellers, 
 from the country, who might " revile Jesus," Matt, 
 xxvii. 39 ; Mark xv. 29. 
 
 Afler the destruction of the city by Titus, the his- 
 tory of Jerusalem presents little other than a series 
 of struggles and desolations. The same fatal persua- 
 sion, that it was the pecuHar residence of Deity, and 
 therefore could not be taken, continued to influence the 
 Jewish nation with expectations of recovering it. 
 Many of the Jewish Christians returned to the deso- 
 lated city, and were suffered to inhabit it. But in 
 the time of Adrian, (A. D. 134 to 179.) the Jews of 
 Judea and the neighboring countries rebelled ; and 
 the emperor completed tlie destruction of whatever 
 could remind them of their former polity. He for- 
 bade them from entering the city, on pain of death. 
 He built a new city, which he named "iElia Adria 
 Capitolina." He erected several temples to heathen 
 divinities ; and especially a very magnificent one to 
 Jupiter. He placed the figure of a hog over the gate 
 leading to Bethlehem ; and did his utmost to oblit- 
 erate the memorials of Christianity as well as of Ju- 
 daism. This state of things continued till the time 
 of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, (A. D, 
 306,) notwithstanding occasional commotions under 
 Antoninus, Septimus Severus, and Caracalla, Helena, 
 mother of Constantine, built many churches in 
 Judea, and in Jerusalem, about A, D, 326 ; and Julian, 
 who, after his father, succeeded to the empire of his 
 uncle Constantine, endeavored to rebuild the temple, 
 but his design (and that of the Jews, whom he pat- 
 ronized) was frustrated. A, D. 363. 
 
 The subsequent history of Jeinisalem may be dis- 
 missed in a few words : — In A, D. 613, it was taken 
 by Cosrhoes, king of the Persians, who slew 90,000 
 of the inhabitants, and demolished, to the utmost of 
 his power, whatever they (the Christians) had vene- 
 rated ; A, D, 627, Heraclius defeated Cosrhoes, and 
 Jerusalem was recovered by the Greeks ; nine years 
 aflerwards, it was taken from the Christians, by the 
 caliph Omar, afler a siege of four months, and con- 
 tinued under the caHphs of Bagdad till A, D. 868, 
 when it was taken by Ahmed, a Turkish sovereign 
 of Egypt. During the space of 220 years, it was 
 subject to several masters, Turkish and Saracenic, 
 and in 1099 it was taken by the crusaders under 
 Godfrey Bouillon, who was elected king. He was 
 succeeded by his brother Baldwin, who died 1118, 
 and having no son, his eldest daughter Melisandra 
 conveyed the kingdom into her husband's family. In 
 A. D, 1188, Saladin, sultan of tlie East, captured the 
 city, assisted by the treachery of Raymond, count of 
 Tripoli, who was found dead in his bed, on the
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 [564] 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 morning of the day in which he was to have delivered 
 up the city. It was restored, in 1242, to the Latin 
 princes, by Saleh Ismael, emir of Damascus ; they 
 lost it in 1291, to the sultans of Egypt, who held it 
 till 1382. Selim, the Turkish sultpn, reduced Egypt 
 and Syria, including Jerusalem, in 1517, and his son 
 Solynian built the present walls in 1534. It con- 
 tinues under tlie Turkish dominion, "trodden down 
 of the Gentiles." 
 
 Thus we see that Jerusalem was destined to be 
 subject to a neighboring power, either from the 
 nortli or from the south. Amidst so many revolu- 
 tions and destructions, it may ^vell be supposed that 
 few of its early antiquities retain their original ap- 
 pearance, or remain in a state to be recognized. 
 Some have been continued by means of reparations, 
 and r(^storations, by which the very heights and di- 
 mensions of the ground are changed. The mounts 
 Sion and 3Ioriah are greatly levelled from what they 
 once were ; and only the places around the city, as 
 the mount of Olives, the brook Kedron, &c. retain 
 their former character. 
 
 Of the modern city of Jerusalem we have several 
 very full and accurate accoimts in the writings of 
 intelligent travellers. We select the following, from 
 a German writer — Joh. Heinrich M<ayr — in the Re- 
 pcrtorium Theologicum, because it is concise, and 
 also because it is not likely to be known to many of 
 our readers : — 
 
 "To see the principal places, I was expected, as I 
 might conclude from the grimaces of the keepers, to 
 take off my boots ; but being resolved, once for all, to 
 rid myself of this inconvenience, I declared, that I 
 would rather see nothing and return, than every 
 where subject myself to this vexation. In which 
 resolution I was strengthened by the intimation of 
 the porter, that I might enter with them, who was 
 evidently fearful, that otherwise he would lose his 
 fee. I now found the same plan easily avail me 
 every where. 
 
 "The city of Jerusalem, which in the time of 
 Christ is said to have contained nearly three millions 
 of inhabitants (?), now included from twelve to fifteen 
 thousands. The circumference of the city itself, as 
 we may conceive, had j)roportionably decreased ; for 
 witiiin an hour I liad completed its circuit. It ap- 
 ])careil to me as if I were going roimd a very great 
 fortification ; and I could not explain to inysel'f, why 
 David, Solomon, and the kings of Israel in general, 
 here fixed their abode ; for the country is destitute 
 of attraction and desolate, girted all round by naked 
 blue rocks and clifts, witliout water, without level 
 ground, without any of the common recommenda- 
 tions of a country. Here and there, indeed, at this 
 season, (at the beginning of April,) the fields were 
 green ; but I was assured, that in June, not the 
 smallest vestige of this color would be seen, and that 
 when the heat began, not even a salad would be 
 found in the gardens. 
 
 " Tiic streets are mostly narrow, and the paving- 
 stones uneven, hard as marble ; and when it rains, 
 the path is as if composed of bits of soap ; it is, in- 
 deed, as slippery as if it were actually made of this 
 material ; for, in walking, a person needs be as care- 
 ful as if he were treading upon ice. 
 
 "From Solomon's temple, probably, the true 
 locale IS preserved : there, the elegant mosque now 
 magnificently raises itself, on a clear and airy heio-ht 
 on a free and roomy ])lace, as a foreground of'je- 
 rusalem. From the mount of Olives, this stui)endous 
 building forms a structure to wiiich notliing can be 
 
 compared ; but it is forbidden to any but a Mussul- 
 man to enter it. Sidney Smith, however, is reported 
 to have entered it with his followers, and when he 
 was asked to produce the firman, to have replied, 
 that he himself was the sultan, and therefore required 
 no firman ! [Dr. Richardson entered the mosque, of 
 which he has given a nnnute description in his 
 Travels.] 
 
 "It is also said, that since this event the Turks 
 have become in general more tractable. Before this, 
 it was common to spit in the faces of the Christians 
 and foreigners resident here, as they walked in the 
 street ; to say nothing of other like contumelies. It 
 has now ceased in a great degree ; in consideration 
 of which, however, more gold is extorted from the 
 Christians at Easter tlian formerly. When the French 
 advanced to the neighborhood, all the Christians were 
 thrown into prison : had they actually jjressed for- 
 ward to the city, these would have been all put to 
 death, without a* solitary exception. Their imprison- 
 ment, notwithstanding, continued for several months, 
 and the government availed itself of this circunjstance, 
 afterwards, to restore them to liberty on the payment 
 of money. 
 
 " David's palace, also, lies outside of the present 
 city, on the height of Sion. At pi-esent, it is con- 
 verted all round into a fortification, and a firman is 
 required before it can be entered. Nothing worthy 
 of notice is stated to be within it : but I did not en- 
 ter it. 
 
 "The convent of St. James, (St. Giacomo,) be- 
 longing to the Armenians, is of vast circumference ; 
 it is esteemed the most wealthy in the Levant. This 
 convent, as well as that of the Greeks, contains many 
 religious ciu'iosities. It is the prevailing custom to 
 adorn the walls of the churches with wliite and blue 
 China plates : this sight involuntarily reminded me 
 of the tile ovens which were formerly common among 
 us, and is very far from being prepossessing. The 
 appearance of the tnany inlays of mother-of-pearl 
 work on a dark ground is more beautifid and is far 
 better. 
 
 " The moimt of Olives, situated on the eastern side 
 of Jerusalem, offers a lovely prospect : on its very 
 summit is a mosque, where the ascension is declared 
 to have taken place. All the spots visited by the 
 Christians are guarded by Turks: everywhere the 
 cafiaro or tribute is paid to them, even if it be only a 
 few parahs. It is better to endure this than the in- 
 solence of these scoundrelly guardians. 
 
 "The moimt of Olives, probably, was in another 
 condition formerly. I had rej)rescnted it to myself 
 woody and full of bushes; but I found it bare, and 
 where there are buildings, of a yellowish earth : pos- 
 sibly not more than fifty olive-trees can be found upon 
 it. I occasionally met with some vines, almonds, 
 and fig-trees, which, however, as yet pushed forth no 
 leaves. In Switzerland, the mountain would only 
 be accounted a small hill; for in a quarter of an 
 hour I had ascended from its foot to its top. 
 
 " But there is a s])len(iid view on its summit to- 
 wards the east : in the distance, are seen the Dead 
 sea and the course of the Jordan, which empties it- 
 self into it ; the ruins of Jericho lie farther to the left, 
 and at its feet is Jerusalem. The mosque, on the site 
 of Solomon's temple, with the wide and sj)acious flat 
 soil and green country around it, raises itself magnifi- 
 cently with its dark cupola and blue porcelain orna- 
 ments above the groups lying in the back-ground, 
 and the roofless houses of Jerusalem, gradually rising
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 565 ] 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 in an amphitheatrical form. The structure ot' the 
 Turkish mosque is iu beautiful style ; tiie immense 
 court, and the brilliant and parti-colored hues of this 
 building, relieve both the monotony of the yellow 
 stones of the houses crowded together, and the high 
 wall of the same color \vhich surrounds the whole 
 with the multitude of its irregular towers. 
 
 " At a little distance below the top of the mount is 
 the Grotto of the Apostles, as it is called, Avhich, ac- 
 cording to ancient taste, is built under ground. This 
 building, with its twelve splendidly-turned arches, 
 which are gradually sinking into the morass, assured- 
 ly belonged formerly to the linest works ot" architec- 
 ture. Many similar remains of dwelhngs in this 
 j)lace, })art of them half sunk, part of them entirely 
 covered, prove that the mount of Olives might have 
 been in a very different condition some centuries or 
 thousands of years ago. Likewise at its foot is the 
 grotto of the IMadonna, almost entirely under ground : 
 its remains even now attest the grand and rich style 
 of its magnificent structure. Stairs, indeed, of white 
 marble, about thirty feet broad, consisting of fifty 
 steps, lead into this grotto, where the Greeks account 
 devotion and the service of God their peculiar em- 
 ployment ; all which, in fact, the burning lamps and 
 devices in all the environs of the exterior announce. 
 
 " On a festival, I descended for the second time to 
 inspect this beautiful building : I beheld much that 
 was brilliant in the ceremonies, the vestments, and 
 other ap|)endages of divine worship ; but when I re- 
 turned home, and perceived the whole street beset on 
 both sides by cripples, lame, blind, and beggars, who 
 personified nnscry itself, I was indignant at the 
 sanctified display of this external mockery, and the 
 entire want of the chief object — relief for the afilicted. 
 
 "Not far from this grotto, the Garden of Geth- 
 semane is said to have been situated ; eight fine 
 olive-trees, belonging to most ancient times, (whose 
 roots are surrounded with heaps of stones, and whose 
 preservation is effected by continual supplies of good 
 earth,) rear their heads on this memorable spot. 
 
 "The tomb of Absalom, as it is called, lies in the 
 lower part of this same place. It contains a tower, 
 in Gothic taste, which raises itself on high, and in 
 which a noble style may yet be recognized : never- 
 theless, the building appears much older than Gothic 
 architecture : by its side also are found several sub- 
 terranean apartments, of very great extent. Tradi- 
 tion avers these to have been the grottos or caves into 
 which the disciples fled after the capture of our Sa- 
 viour. Close to these cavities are shown the graves 
 of the kings and judges of Israel: they likewise 
 merely present fragments of arches and walls under 
 ru!)bish and earth. It is almost incredible, that the 
 Jews should not have suflicient public spirit to honor 
 these venerable remains, even if it were but in a tri- 
 fling degree. 
 
 "The entrance to these sepulchres woidd rather 
 induce us to conjecture a place which led to a cloaca 
 than to the catacombs of chiefs. In the very same 
 district is situated the burial-place of the Jews of the 
 present Jerusalem: — it comprises a circuit scarcely 
 to be walked round in half an hour — this cemetery is 
 covered with well-hewn, quadrangular flag-stones, 
 jilaced one upon the other, each being furnished with 
 inscriptions. Without the possession of a prophetic 
 spirit, it may be easily foreseen, that this quantity of 
 excellent stones will at some time become very usefiil 
 to the building of massive edifices. 
 
 " Between the mount of Olives and the hill on 
 which the city of Jerusalem rests, floAvs the brook 
 
 Cedron. Here also was my expectation disappoint- 
 ed. I had conceived it to myself much greater, and 
 found merely a ditch about two feet broad, which at 
 this time was almost, and in summer is totally, dry ; 
 but in winter it becomes like a wood-torrent, which 
 in one instant impetuously swells on its course, and 
 in the other disappears. 
 
 "Deeper down lies the spring of the Siloe : along, 
 stony flight of steps leads to it, far below the earth, 
 below which a ci-ystalline clear water springs up. 
 It is light, though somewhat saline ; yet it is uncom- 
 monly i)leasant, and tasted, in my opinion, like nfilk. 
 This spring is said to have an ebbing and flowing in 
 common with the ocean ; dui-ing six hours it is full, 
 and during six it is em])ty. (This is perhaps the 
 most satisfactory solution of the phenomenon which 
 has yet been given, and, if true, fully accounts for 
 every legend which the Arabians have written re- 
 specting it.) 
 
 " On the left hand, on the height, is situated the 
 village of Siloe ; there but little is seen of dwelling- 
 houses, which mostly consist of grottos or caves, 
 which are l)uilt in rocks. This place, whose wild 
 inhabitants are in every respect Turks, is a miserable 
 nest : — as far as it was possible to throw a stone, boys 
 from ten to twelve years of age were pelting us from 
 the heights." (For a description of the holy sepul- 
 chre, see Sepulchre.) 
 
 How unlike the ancient city is the modern Jerusa- 
 lem ! " From the daughter of Sion all her beauty is 
 departed ! " Dr. Clarke, who approached Jerusalem 
 from the direction of the Napolose, on which side it is 
 seen to the greatest advantage, has described its first 
 appearance in the most glowing terms. But his de- 
 scription is decidedly overcharged. Mr. JoUiffe says, 
 "Were a person carried blindfold from England, and 
 placed in the centre of Jerusalem, or on any of the 
 hills which overlook the city, nothing, perhaj)?, 
 would exceed his astonishment on the sudden re- 
 moval of the bandage. From the centre of the 
 neighboring elevations he would see a wild, rugged, 
 mountainous desert — no herds depasturing on the 
 summit, no forests clothing the acclivities, no water 
 flowing through the valleys ; but one rude scene of 
 melancholy waste, in the midst of which the ancient 
 glory of Judea bows her head in widowed desola- 
 tion. On entering the town, the magic of the name 
 and all his earlier associations would suffer a still 
 greater violence, and expose him to still stronger 
 disappointment. No ' streets of palaces and walks 
 of state,' no high-raised arches of triumph, no foun- 
 tains to cool the air, or porticos to exclude the sun, 
 no single vestige to announce its former military 
 greatness or commercial opulence ; but in the place 
 of these, he would find himself encompassed on 
 every side by walls of rude masonry, the didl uni- 
 formity of which is only broken by the occasional 
 |)rotrusion of a small grated window." The follow- 
 ing very sjjirited sketch of modern Jerusalem, from 
 the jK'u' of 3Ir. Buckingham, may close this account. 
 
 "Reposing beneath the shade of an olive-tree upon 
 the brow of this hill, (the mount of Olives,) we en- 
 joyed from hence a fine prospect of Jerusalem on the 
 opy)ositc one. This city occupies an irregular square, 
 of about two miles and a half in circumference. Its 
 shortest apparent side is that which faces the east, 
 and in this is the supposed gate of the ancient tem- 
 ])le, now closed up, and the small projecting stone on 
 which Mohanuned is to sit, when the world is to be 
 assembled to judgment in the vale below. The 
 southern side is exceedingly irregular, taking quite a
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 [ 566 ] 
 
 JES 
 
 zigzag direction ; the south-west extreme being ter- 
 minated by the mosque built over the supposed sep- 
 ulchre of David, on the summit of mount Sion. The 
 form and exact direction of the western and southern 
 walls are not distinctly seen from hence ; but every 
 part of this appears to be a modern work, and exe- 
 cuted at the same time. The walls are flanked at 
 irregular distances by square towers, and have bat- 
 tlements running all around on their sunnnits, with 
 loop-holes for arrows or musketry close to the top. 
 The walls appear to be about fifty feet in height, but 
 are not surrounded by a ditch. The northern wall 
 runs over slightly declining ground ; the eastern 
 brow runs straight along the brow of mount Moriah, 
 with the deep valle)' of Jehoshaphat below ; the 
 southern wall runs over the sunnnit of the hill as- 
 sumed as mount Sion, with the vale of Hinnom at its 
 feet ; and the western wall runs along on more level 
 groimd, near the summit of the high and stony 
 mountains over which we had first approached the 
 town. As the city is thus seated on the brow of one 
 large hill, divided by name into several smaller hills, 
 and the Avhole of these slope gently down towards 
 the east ; this view, from the mount of Olives, a po- 
 sition of greater height than that on which the high- 
 est . part of the city stands, commands nearly the 
 whole of it at once. 
 
 " On the north, it is bounded by a level and appar- 
 ently fertile space, now covered with olive-trees, 
 particularly near the north-east angle. On the south, 
 the steep side of mount Sion, and the valley of Hin- 
 nom, both show patches of cultivation and little gar- 
 den enclosures. On the west, the sterile summits of 
 the hills there barely lift their outlines above the 
 dwellings. And, on the east, the deep valley of Je- 
 hoshaphat, now at our feet, has some partial spots re- 
 lieved by trees, though as forbidding in its general 
 aspect as the vale of death could ever be desired to be, 
 by those who have chosen it for the place of their 
 interment. 
 
 " Within the walls of the city are seen crowded 
 dwellings, remarkable in no respect, except being 
 terraced by flat roofs, and generally built of stone. 
 On the south are some gardens and vineyards, Avith 
 the long red mosque of x\l Sakhara, having two tiers 
 of windows, a sloping roof, and a dark domfe at one 
 end, and the mosque of Sion and the sepulchre of 
 David in the same quarter. On the west is seen the 
 liigli, square castle, and palace of the same monarch, 
 near tlic Bethlehem gate. In the centre rise the two 
 cupolas, of unequal form and size ; the one blue, and 
 the other white, covering the church of the Holy 
 Sepulclire. Around, in different directions, are seen 
 the minarets of eight or ten mosques, amid an assem- 
 l)lage of about two thousand dwellings. And on the 
 cast i.i seated the great mosque of Al Harreni, or, as 
 called l)y Christians, the mosque of Solomon, from 
 being supposed, with that of Al Sakhara near it, to 
 occupy the site of the ancient temple of that splendid 
 and luxurious king." (Travels in Palestine, &c. 
 p. 203— yO.-), 4to.) 
 
 [The plan of Jerusalem whicli we have placed op- 
 posite the title-jjage of this work, is that given by Dr. 
 Jowett, who had ample opi)ortunity of testing its 
 correctness. It varies from most others in represent- 
 ing the Kidron as bending to the south-west after 
 passing the valley of Hinnom. Mr. Carne, liowever, 
 describes the stream from Siloa [the Kidron was dry 
 when he saw if] as ])assing down the valley of Je- 
 hoshaphat, and winding between rugged and deso- 
 late hills towards the wilderness of St. Saba. Ac- 
 
 cording to the same traveller, the convent of St. Saba 
 overlooks the deep and rugged glen through which 
 the Kidron flows in order to reach the Dead sea. 
 The bend of this stream to the south-west upon the 
 plan, therefore, is probably nothing more than a 
 winding of the valley. R. 
 
 JERUSALEM, The new. The city of Jerusalem 
 furnishes a metaphorical application of its name, in 
 an exalted and spiritual sense. The first hint of this 
 in the New Testament, occurs in Gal. iv. 25, where 
 the apostle refers to the formation of the Hebrew na- 
 tion into a church state, by the giving of the law from 
 Sinai; under which terrific and slavish dispensation, 
 the " Jerusalem that now is," he says, " continues ; 
 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother 
 of us all," Gentiles as well as Jews, (perhaps Uuvto^v 
 Hi'jtiQ^ the Universal Mother,) the formation of all 
 mankind, as it were, (not of a single nation,) into a 
 church state, beginning at Jerusalem, the city of 
 peace ; though properly originating in heaven, the 
 seat of the celestial Jerusalem, the mansion of com- 
 plete and uninterrupted tranquillity. The metaphor 
 is resumed and enlarged by the writer of the Reve- 
 lation : (Rev. iii. 12.) "The city of my God, the new 
 Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven, from 
 my God." It appears here, by its coming down from 
 heaven, to refer to the Christian establishment or 
 church, which now had taken place of the Jewish. 
 But the same writer afterwards employs it in a still 
 superior sense : (chap, xxi.) " And I saw a new 
 heaven, and a new earth : for the first heaven and 
 the first earth were passed away — and I saw the holy 
 city, new Jerusalem," ver. 1. This he describes at 
 large, (ver. 10, et seq.) in a strain of oriental meta- 
 phor, that can only agree to the celestial state : simi- 
 lar allusions to certain parts of its decorations are 
 found, Isa. liv. 11 ; Tobit xiii. 16. 
 
 This celestial city, called the holy city, and the 
 great city, was to have no temple, nor other pecu- 
 liarities of the Jewish service ; and the whole de- 
 scription of it, the dimensions, the parts, and the 
 properties of it, are symbolical in the highest degree. 
 The ncAV Jerusalem on earth should be carefully 
 distinguished from the new Jerusalem in heaA'en, in 
 explaining this book ; nor should it be forgotten, that 
 much of the scenery in it is conceived in the spirit 
 of one who had been familiar with the courts, altars, 
 &c. of that Jewish Jerusalem and temple, of which 
 he had lived to witness the destruction. 
 
 JESHANAH, a city of Ephraim, 2 Chron.xiii. 19. 
 Eusebius and Jerome place it seven miles north from 
 Jericho. 
 
 JESHIMON, perhaps the same as Hesmona, Ase- 
 mona, Esem, Esemon, and Esemona, a city in the 
 wilderness of Maon, belonging to Simeon; in the 
 south of Palestine, or Arabia Petra?a, 1 Sam. xxiii. 
 24. 
 
 JESHUA, or Joshua, son of Jozedck, the first high- 
 priest of the Jews, after their return from the Baby- 
 lonish captivity, Ezra iii. 2 ; iv. 3. His first care after 
 his arrival at .Jerusalem, was to restore the sacrifices, 
 to regulate the ofiiccs and orders of the jtriests and 
 Levites, and to rebuild the tenq)le, as far as the con- 
 dition of the Jews would allow of the work. The 
 prophets Haggai and Zechariali often mention Jesus, 
 or Joshua, son of Jozedek. Haggai (i. 1.) addresses 
 himself to him and Zerubbabel, exciting them to build 
 the temple afler the death of Cyrus and Cambyscs. 
 Zechariali relates, (chaj). iii. 1.) that the Lord showed 
 him the high-priest Joshua, son of Jozedek, standing 
 before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at
 
 JET 
 
 [567 ] 
 
 JEZ 
 
 his riglit hand to accuse liini. The same prophet 
 havhig seen a vision of two olive-trees,,which fur- 
 nished oil for the golden candlestick, through which 
 the oil ran into the lamps, the angel of the Lord told 
 him, tiiat these two olive-trees were Joshua, sou of 
 Jozcdek, and Zeruhbabel, sonof Salathiel, "who are 
 tlie two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the 
 whole earth." (See also Zech. vi. 11, and the article 
 Candlestick.) Jesus, son of Sirach, in Ecclesiasticus, 
 commends Jesus, (Joshua,) son of Jozedek, and Ze 
 rub!)abel, as signets on the Lord's right hand, chap, 
 xlix. 12. Joshua was succeeded in the high-priest- 
 hood by his son Joachim, who was high-priest in the 
 reign of Xerxes. 
 
 JESIIURUN, a poetical name given to Israel, in 
 Dviut. xxxiii. 5; xxxii. 15, Sec. Translators differ in 
 tJicir ideas of its meaning, some rendering it, the just, 
 or uprig}it ; others, the beloved ; others, taking it as a 
 diminutive, render it, "little Israel,''^ i.e. the beloved, 
 upright, little Israel. It is derived from -yv^, upright. 
 
 JESSE, son of Obed, and father of David, Eliab, 
 Abinadab, Shammah, Nethaneel, Raddai, and 
 Ozeni. David was the youngest son ; but became 
 the most illustrious, Ruth iv. 17, 22 ; 1 Chron. ii. 
 12 ; Matt. i. 5. 
 
 I. JESUS CHRIST, the son of God, the Messiah, 
 and Saviour of the world, the first and principal ob- 
 ject of the prophecies, who was prefigured and prom- 
 ised in the Old Testament, was expected and de- 
 sired by the patriarchs; the hope and salvation of 
 the Gentiles ; the glor)^, happiness, and consolation 
 of Christians. The name Jesus, or, as the Hebrews 
 pronoimce it, Jehoshuah, or Joshua, signifies, ^e tcho 
 shall save. No one ever bore this name with so 
 much justice, nor so perfectly fulfilled the significa- 
 tion of it, as Jesus Christ, who saves from sin and 
 hell, and has merited heaven for us by the price of 
 his blood. See Christ. 
 
 II. JESUS, or Joshua, which see. 
 
 III. JES[JS, surnamed Justus, see Justus II. 
 JETHRO, priest, or prince, of 3Iidian, (for the 
 
 Hebrew jn3, cohen, signifies a prince as well as a 
 priest,) the father-in-law of Moses. It is believed 
 that he was a priest of the true God, and maintained 
 the true religion, being descended from Midian, son 
 of Abraham and Keturah. Moses does not conceal 
 his alliance with Jethro's family, but invites him to 
 ofter sacrifices to the Lord, on his arrival in the camp 
 of Israel, as one who adored the sauie God, Exod. xviii. 
 1], 12. Some assert that he had four names, Jethro, 
 Raguel or Reucl, Hobab, and Ceni. Others, that Je- 
 thro and Raguel were the same person ; that Hobab 
 was son of Jethro, and brother of Zipporah ; and that 
 Ceni is a connnon name, signifying the country of 
 the Kenites, inhabited by the posterity of Hobab, 
 south of the promised land. The Hebrew hothen, 
 which Jerome translates kinsman, is used in Numb, 
 x. 29, and Exod. xviii. 1, 27, to denote the relation 
 between Moses and Hobab ; in Numbers, however, 
 Hobab is called son of Ragnel, whence others arc of 
 opinion that Raguel was the father of Jethro, and 
 Jethro the father of Hobab. On the other side, 
 Raguel gives Zipporah to Moses, Exod. ii. 2L The 
 signification of tlie Hebrew hothen not being fixed, 
 it is impossible to determine this question with cer- 
 tainty. Moses, having killed an Egyptian who ill- 
 treated a Hebrew, was obliged to fly from Egypt, in- 
 to the land of Midian, east of the Red sea, near the 
 gulf of Elam, where he mamed one of the daughters 
 of Jethro, After ho had been here forty years, he 
 saw the vision of the bm-niiig bush, and Jethro, mi- 
 
 derstanding the will of God, permitted him to return 
 to Egypt with his wife and children. Zipporah be- 
 ing obliged to return to her father, Jethro brought 
 her to Moses, at the foot of mount Sinai, about a year 
 arter the Hebrews came out of Egypt. Moses went 
 out of the camp to meet Jethro, and falling prostrate, 
 embraced him, introduced him into his tent, and re- 
 lated to him what the Lord had done for Israel. Je- 
 thro blessed God for it, offered burnt-offerings, and 
 peace-offerings, and ate with Moses, Aaron, and the 
 elders of Israel, in the ^presence of the Lord. The 
 next day, Moses sitting to judge Israel, from morn- 
 ing to evening, Jethro insisted that the fatigue was 
 too gi-eat, and advised him to appoint deputies for 
 lesser causes. 
 
 When the Israelites were decamping on their 
 journey, Moses importuned Jethro to accompany 
 them ; but he returned to Midian, leaving, as some be- 
 lieve, Hobab his son, to conduct the Israelites, Exod. 
 xviii. 5, 27. But Hobab was more probably Jethro 
 himself. 
 
 JEWELS, valuables, whether for store, or for ap- 
 parel. This word does not mean jewelry works, 
 gems, «Sz;c. but whatever is stored up in consequence 
 of its superior estimation. God calls his people jew- 
 els ; (Mai. iii. 17.) the lips of knowledge are a jewel, 
 Prov. XX. 15. 
 
 JEWS, the name borne by the Jews, among for- 
 eign nations, especially after the return from Baby- 
 lon, from Judah, their ancestor. See Hebrews. 
 
 JEZEBEL, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zi- 
 donians, and wife of Ahab, king of Israel, (1 Kings 
 xvi. 31.) introduced into the kingdom of Samaria the 
 public worship of Baal, Astarte, and other Phoenician 
 deities, which I'he Lord had expressly forbidden ; and 
 with this impious worship, a general prevalence of 
 those abominations which had formerly incensed God 
 agamst the Canaanites, to their utter extirpation. 
 Jezebel was so zealous, that she fed at her own table 
 four hundred prophets belonging to the goddess As- 
 tarte ; and Ahab in like manner kept four himdred 
 of Baal's prophets, as ministers of his false gods. 
 Jezebel seems to have undertaken the utter abolition 
 of the worship of the Lord in Israel, by persecuting 
 his prophets ; and she had destroyed them all, if a 
 part had not been saved by some good men. Elijah, 
 who lived at this time, having brought fire from 
 heaven on his burnt-offering, in sight of Ahab and of 
 all Israel, assembled at mount Carmel, and the peo- 
 ple having killed four hundred and fifty of Baal's 
 prophets, Jezebel sent to Elijah, declaring, that the 
 next day she would take care he should be despatched, 
 1 Kings xix. Some time afterwards, Ahab being 
 desirous to buy Naboth's vineyard, but meeting with 
 a refusal from him, Jezebel wrote in the king's name 
 to the principal men of Jezreel, requiring them to 
 accuse him of blaspheming God and the king, and 
 to pimish him capitally. These orders were but too 
 punctually exccvited. Ahab returning from Jezreel, 
 Elijah met him, and threatened his destruction in the 
 name of God ; and that Jezebel, who had been the 
 cause of this evil, shoidd be eaten by dogs in the 
 field of Jezreel ; or, according to the Hebrew, by the 
 outward Avail of Jezreel, These predictions were 
 verified, when Jehu had her thrown out of her Avin- 
 doAV, and left exposed by the outer Avail, 2 Kings ix. 
 35. " And they went to bury her, but they found no 
 more of her than the skull", and the f^<-^ and the 
 palms of her hands." (See Jehu.) To an English ear 
 it sounds very surprising, that, <luring the time of a 
 single me^l, "so majiy dogs should be on the spot,
 
 JEZEBEL 
 
 568 ] 
 
 JOA 
 
 ready to devour ; and should so speedily despatch 
 this business, in the veiy midst of a royal city, close 
 under the royal gateway, and Avhere a considerable 
 ti-ain of people had so lately passed, and, no doubt, 
 many were continually passing: this appears ex- 
 tremely unaccountable ; but we find it well account- 
 ed for by Mr. Bruce, whose information the reader 
 will receive Avith due allowance for the different 
 manners and ideas • of countries ; after which, this 
 rapid devouring of Jezebel will not appear so ex- 
 traordinary as it has hitherto done: "The bodies of 
 those killed by the sword were heAvn to pieces, and 
 scattered about the streets, being denied burial. I 
 was miserable, and almost driven to despair, at see- 
 ing my hunting dogs, twice let loose by the careless- 
 ness of my servants, bringing into the court-yard the 
 heads and arms of slaughtered men, and which I 
 could no way prevent, but by the destruction of the 
 dogs themselves : the quantity of carrion, and the 
 stench of it, brought down the hygenas in hundreds 
 from the neighboring mountains ; and, as few people 
 ill Goudar go out after it is dark, they enjoyed the 
 streets to themselves, and seemed ready to dispute 
 the possession of the city with the inhabitants. Often, 
 when I went home late from the palace, (and it was 
 this time the king chose chiefly for conversation,) 
 though I had but to pass the corner of the market- 
 place before the palace, had lanterns with me, and 
 was surrounded with armed men, I heard them 
 gi-unting by twos and threes, so near me, as to be 
 afraid they would take some opportunity of seizing 
 me by the leg. A pistol would have frightened them, 
 and made them speedily run, and I constantly carried 
 two loaded at my girdle ; but the discharging a pistol 
 in the night would have alarmed every one that 
 heard it in the town, and it Avas not now the time to 
 add any thing to people's fears. I at last scarcely 
 ever went out, and nothing occupied my thoughts 
 but how to escape from this bloody country, by way 
 of Sennaar, and how I could best exert my power 
 and influence over Yasine at Ras el Feel to pave my 
 way, by assisting me to pass the desert, into Atbara. 
 The king, missing me at the palace, and hearing I 
 had not been at Ras Michael's, began to inquire who 
 had been with me. Ayto Confu soon found Yasine, 
 who uiformed him of the whole matter. Upon this 
 I was sent for to the ]ralace, where I found the king, 
 without any body but menial servants. He immedi- 
 ately remarked, that I looked very ill ; which, indeed, 
 I found to be the case, as I had scarcely ate or slept 
 since I saw him last, or even for some" days before. 
 He asked me, in a condoling tone, what ailed me — 
 that, besides looking sick, I seemed as if soznething 
 had ruffled me, and put me out of humor. I told 
 him, that what he observed was true : that, coming 
 across the market-place, I had seen Za Mariam, the 
 Ras's door-k(;e])er, with three men bound, one of 
 whom he fell a-hacking to pieces in my presence, 
 and upon seeing me ruiming across the place, stop- 
 ping my nose, he called me to stay till he should 
 come and despatch the other two, for he wanted to 
 speak with me, as if he had been engaged about or- 
 dinary business ; that the soldiers, in coiisideration of 
 his haste, iimnediately fell uj)on the other two, whose 
 cries were still remaining in my ears ; that the hy- 
 renas, at night, would scar(;ely'lct me jjass in the 
 streets, when. I n-turned from th(^ palace ; and the 
 dogs fled into my house, to eat pieces of human carcasses 
 at their leisure." (Travels, vol. iv. p. 81, &c.) 
 
 Without supposing that Jf.-zreel was pestered with 
 hyrcnas, like Gondar, though that is not incredible, 
 
 we may easily admit of a sufficiency of dogs, accus- 
 tomed to carnage, which had pulled the body of 
 Jezebel to pieces, and had devoured it before the 
 palace-gate, or had withdrawn with parts of it to their 
 hiding-places. But, perhaps, the mention of the 
 head, hands, and feet, lieing left on the spot, indicates 
 that it had not been removed by the dogs, but was 
 eaten where it fell, (as those parts adjoined the mem- 
 bers most likely to be removed,) so that the prophecy 
 of Elijah was literally fulfilled, " in the portion of 
 Jezreel, shall dogs eat Jezebel." See Dogs. 
 
 This account illustrates, also, the readiness of the 
 dogs to lick the blood of Ahab, (1 Kings xxii. 38.) in 
 perfect conformity to which is the expression of the 
 prophet Jeremiah, (xv. 3.) " I will appoint over them 
 . . . the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls 
 of the heaven and the beasts of the earth, (the hyse- 
 nas of Bruce, perhaps,) to devour and destroy." It 
 also explains the mode of execution adopted by the 
 pi'ophet Samuel, with regard to Agag, king of the 
 Amalekites, whom Samuel thus addresses : "In like 
 manner as thy sword has made women barren, so 
 shall thy mother be rendered barren [childless] 
 among women," 1 Sam. xv. 33. If these Avoids do 
 not imply that Agag had ripped up pregnant women, 
 they at least imply, that he had hewed many prison- 
 ers to death ; for we find that " Samuel caused Agag 
 to be hewed in pieces before the face of the Lord in 
 Gilgal," directing that very same mode of punish- 
 ment (hitherto, probably, unadopted in Israel) to be 
 used towards him, which he had formerly used to- 
 wards others. The character of the prophet Samuel 
 has been vilified for cruelty on account of this histo- 
 ry ; with how little reason let the reader now judge ; 
 and compare a similar retributive justice on Adoni- 
 bezek, Judg. i. 7. 
 
 In Rev. ii. 20, the angel of Thjatira is reproached 
 with suffering Jezebel, "that woman who calleth 
 herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce the ser- 
 vants of Jesus Christ," &c. JezcVjel is in this place 
 a figurative name, and signifies some impious and 
 cruel v/oman, Avho dogmatized and domineered in 
 the chtu'ch. 
 
 I. JEZREEL, {ivhorn God plants,) a city of Judah, 
 Josh. XV. 56. 
 
 II. JEZREEL, son of Etam, of Judah, 1 Chron. 
 iv. 3. 
 
 III. JEZREEL, son of the prophet Hosea, i. 4. 
 In verse 11 there is an allusion to the meaning of the 
 name, which is there applied to Israel. 
 
 IV. JEZREEL, a celebrated city of Issachar, 
 (Josh. xix. 18.) in the great plain, between Legio 
 west, and Scythopolis cast. Ahab had here a pal- 
 ace ; and this city became famous on account of his 
 seizure of Naboth's vineyard, and the vengeance ex- 
 ecuted on Ahab, 2 Kings ix. 10, &c. Jerome says, 
 Jezreel was near IMaximianopolis ; and that not far 
 from it was a very long vale. Josejihus calls Jezreel 
 Azarius, or Azares. In the time of William of Tyre, 
 it was called Little Gerin. There was a fine foun- 
 tain in it. 
 
 JOAB, son of Zcruiah David's sister, and brother 
 of Abishai and Asahcl, was one of th<! most valiant 
 soldiers and greatest generals in David's time ; but he 
 was also one of the most cruel, revengeful, and im- 
 perious of men. He was commander in chief of his 
 troo])s, when David was king of Judah only, and was 
 always firm to his iiUerests. He signalized himself 
 at the battle ofGii)eon against Abner, (2 Sam. ii. 13, 
 14, &c.)but Asaiiel, his brother, was killed in that 
 engagement by Abner. To revenge his death, Joah
 
 JO A 
 
 [569] 
 
 JOB 
 
 treacherously killed Abner, who had come to Hebron 
 to make an alliance with David, and bring all Israel 
 to his obedience, 2 Sam. iii. 27, 39. David abhorred 
 the base action ; but did not dare to punish Joab, 
 who was too formidable. After David was acknowl- 
 edged king by all Israel, he besieged Jebus, and 
 promised to make captain-general of his army the 
 man who should first mount the walls, and beat off 
 the Jebusitcs, I Chron. xi. 6. Joab was the first who 
 appeared on the walls, and by his valor well merited 
 to be continued in his station. He subdued the Am- 
 monites, and procured the destruction of the brave 
 Uriah, at the siege of Rabbah, their capital, 2 Sam. 
 .\i. 17. He interceded for Absalom's return from 
 exile, and his restoration to favor. But thougli he 
 showed himself a friend to Absalom in his disgrace, 
 ho was his enemy at his rebelUon. He overcame him 
 in a battle near Mahanaim ; and being informed that 
 he himg by the hair on an oak, he pierced him to 
 death with his own hands, though he well knew that 
 David had given strict orders to preserve him. When 
 the king discovered too much sorrow for the death 
 of his son, Joab remonstrated with him. 
 
 When Adonijah, David's eldest son, aspired to the 
 throne, he carefully secured the friendship and assist- 
 ance of Joab, (see Adonijah,) who, by lending him- 
 self to the designs of the prince, increased David's 
 aversion from him, so that, when near his end, he 
 advised Solomon to punish him for the various mis- 
 demeanors of which he had been guilty. Sometime 
 after the death of David, Joab, being informed that 
 Solomon had caused Adonijah to l;e nut to death, 
 and had banished the high-priest Ai;i;itliar to his 
 country residence at Anathoth, thought it time to 
 jirovide for his own security. He fled into the tem- 
 ple, and laid hold on the horns of the altar, but Solo- 
 mon sent Benaiah, who put him to death at the foot 
 of the altar. He was buried by Benaiah in his own 
 house in the wilderness, 1 Kings ii. 28, seq. 
 
 JOACHIN, see Jehoiachi.v. 
 
 I. JOAKIM, high-priest of the Jews, succeeded 
 .loshua, son of Jozedek, his father, after the retui-u 
 from the captivity. 
 
 II. JOAKI3I,' son of Hilkiah, high-priest of the 
 Jews, in the reigns of Manasseh and Josiah ; more 
 generally known by the name Hilkiah, or Eliakim, 
 Judith iv. 6, 14. 
 
 JOANNA, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, (Luke 
 viii. 3.) was one of those women who followed our 
 Saviour, and assisted him with their property. Luke 
 observes that these women had been delivered by 
 Christ from evil spirits : or cured of diseases. It was 
 customary among the Jews, for men who dedicated 
 themselves to preaching, to accept services from 
 women of piety, who attended them without any 
 scandal. 
 
 I. JOASH, or Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, king of 
 Judah, was saved from the design of the impious 
 Atlialiah, by Jehoshebah, or Jehoshabath, daughter 
 of Joram, sister of Ahaziah, and wife of the high- 
 priest Jehoiada. In the seventh year, Jehoiada pro- 
 cured him to be acknowledged king, and so well con- 
 c(!rted his plan, that the young prince was jjlaced on 
 the throne, anil saluted king, in the temple, before 
 the queen had notice of it, 2 Kings xi. xii. Joash 
 received the diadem, with the book of the law, from 
 the hands of Jehoiada, the high-priest, who, in the 
 young king's name, made a covenant between the 
 Lord, the king, and the people, for their future fidelity 
 to God ; and also obliged the people to take an oath 
 to the king. Joash reigned forty years at Jerusalem, 
 72 
 
 and governed with justice and piety, so long as he 
 was guided by Jehoiada. In the king's minority, the 
 high-priest had issued orders for collecting voluntary 
 offerings to the holy place, with a design of repairing 
 the temple ; but his orders were ill executed, till the 
 twentieth year of Joash, who directed chests to be 
 placed at the entrance of the temple, and an account 
 to be given of what money was collected, that it 
 might be faithfully employed in reparations of the 
 house of God. Jehoiada dying at the age of a hun- 
 dred and thirty years, Joash was misled by the evil 
 counsels of his courtiers, who had before been re- 
 strained by the high-priest's authority. Tliey began 
 to forsake the temple of the Lord, and to woi-ship 
 idols and groves, or Asteroth, goddess of the groves, 
 which drew down wrath on Judah and Jerusalem, 
 The Spirit of God came upon the high-priest Zecha- 
 riali, sou of Jehoiada, who reprimanded the people ; 
 but they who heard him, stoned him, according to 
 orders from the king. It was not long before God 
 inflicted on Joash the just punishment of his ingi-ati- 
 tude to Jehoiada, and his son : Hazael, king of Syria, 
 besieged Gath, which belonged to Judah ; and, having 
 taken it, he marched against Jerusalem. Joash, to 
 redeem himself from the difficulties of a siege, and 
 from the danger of being plundered, took what 
 money he coidd find in the temple, which had been 
 consecrated by Ahaziah his father, Jehoram his 
 grandfather, and himself, with what he had in the 
 royal treasury ; all of which he gave to Hazael, to 
 staj' his hostilities. It is believed that the next year 
 the Syrian army marched again into Judah ; but Ha- 
 zael was not with it in person. The Syrians made 
 great havoc, defeated the troops of Joash, entered Je- 
 rusalem, slew the princes of Judah, and sent a great 
 booty to the king of Syria at Damascus. They treated 
 Joash himself with great ignominy ; and left him ex- 
 tremely ill. Shortly afterwards, his servants revolted 
 against him, and killed him in his bed, by which the 
 blood of Zechariah the high-priest was avenged. 
 He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal 
 sepulchre. 
 
 II. JOASH, king of Israel, son and successor of 
 Jehoahaz, was declared king in his father's life-time, 
 A. M. 3163. He reigned sixteen years, including the 
 two that he reigned with his father ; and though he 
 did evil in the sight of the Lord, and imitated Jero- 
 boam, son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, the Lord 
 re-established, during his reign, the aflliirs of the 
 kingdom of Israel, which had been thrown into very 
 great confusion under Jehoahaz his father. 
 
 Elisha falling sick, Joash went to visit him, and 
 wept before the prophet, who directed him to shoot 
 with arrows. The king shot three times, and ceased ; 
 he gained, therefore, only three victories over Syria, 
 
 Amaziah, king of Judah, having been victorious 
 over the Edomites, challenged Joash, saying, "Come, 
 let us see one another in the face ;" but Joash reprov- 
 ed him by the fable of the cedar, and the thistle of 
 Lebanon. Amaziah, however, would not take his 
 counsel, and was defeated, and taken in the battle. 
 Joash entered Jerusalem, and ordered four hundred 
 cubits of the city walls to be demolished, from the 
 gateof Ephraim to the corner-gate. He took all the 
 treasures of the temple and the royal palace, and re- 
 turned in triumph to Samaria, where he died in peace 
 soon afterwards, and was succeeded by Jeroboam, 2 
 Kings xiii. 10. 
 
 JOB, a patriarch celebrated for his patience, con- 
 stancy, piety, and virtue. He dwelt in the land of 
 Uz, or the Ausitis, in East Edom ; but there are dif-
 
 JOB 
 
 570 
 
 JOB 
 
 ferent opinions concerning his family and his time. 
 At the end of the Greek and Arabic copies of the 
 book of Job, and in the old Latin Vulgate, we read 
 these words, tfiere said to be taken from the Syriac : 
 "Job dwelt in the Ausitis, on the confines of Idumea 
 and Arabia ; his name at first was Jobab. He mar- 
 ried an Arabian woman, by whom he had a son, 
 called Ennon. He himself was son of Zerah, of the 
 posterity of Esau, and a native of Bozrali : so that he 
 was the fifth from Abraham. He reigned in Edom ; 
 and the kings before and after him reigned in this 
 order : Balak, the son of Beor, in the city of Dinha- 
 bah ; after him Job (otherwise called Jobab). Job 
 was succeeded by Husham, prince of Tcman. After 
 him reigned Hadad, the son of Bedad, who defeated 
 the Midianites in the fields of Moali. The name of 
 his city was Arith. Job's friends who came to visit 
 him were Eliphaz, of the posterity of Esau, and king 
 of Teman ; Bildad, king of the Shuhites ; and Zo- 
 phar, king of the Naamatliites." This is the most 
 ancient account of Job's genealog)'. Aristeus, Philo, 
 and Polyhistor acknowledged it to be true ; as did 
 the Greek and Latin fathers. The tradition is deriv- 
 ed, probably, from the Jews. In tracing the gene- 
 alogy, we find Job to have been contemporary with 
 Moses. 
 
 Abraham 
 
 . 
 
 
 ^ Isaac. 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 Jacob. 
 
 Esau. 
 
 
 Levi. 
 
 Reuel. 
 
 
 Amram. 
 
 Zerah, 
 
 
 Moses. 
 
 Jobab. 
 
 
 
 1 Chron. 
 
 .35—44 
 
 Job was a man of great probity, virtue, and religion, 
 and he possessed much riches in cattle and slaves ; 
 which at that time constituted the principal wealth 
 even of princes in Arabia and Edom. He had seven 
 sons and three daughters ; and was in great repute 
 among all people, on both sides of the Euphrates. 
 His sons, by turns, made entertainments for each oth- 
 er ; and when they had gone through the circle of 
 their days of feasting, Job sent to them, purified them, 
 and offered burnt-offerings for each one ; that God 
 might pardon any faults inadvertently conmiitted 
 against him during such festivities. He was wholly 
 averse from injustice, idolatry, fraud, and adultery ; 
 he avoided evil thoughts, and dangerous looks ; was 
 compassionate to the poor ; a father to the orphan, a 
 protector to the widow, a guide to the blind, and a 
 support to the lame. 
 
 God permitted Satan to put the virtue of Job to the 
 test ; at first giving him power over his property ; but 
 fori)idding him to touch his person. Satan began 
 with taking away his oxen ; a company of Sabeans 
 slew his husbandmen, and drove off all the beasts ; 
 one servant only escaping to bring the news. While 
 he was reporting this misfortune, a second came, and 
 informed Job that fire from heaven had consumed 
 his sheep, and those who kept them ; and that he 
 alone had escaped. A third messenger arrived, who 
 said, " The Chaldeans have carried away the camels, 
 have killed all thy servants, and I only am escaped." 
 He had scarcely concluded, when another came, and 
 said, "While thy sons and thy daughters were eating 
 and drinking in their eldest brother's house, an im- 
 petuous wind suddenly overthrew it, and they were 
 all crushed to death under the ruins ; I alone am es- 
 caped to bring thee this news." Job rent his clothes, 
 
 and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground 
 saying, " Naked came I out of my mother's womb, 
 and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, 
 and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name 
 of the Lord." 
 
 As Job endured these calamities without repining 
 against Providence, Satan solicited permission to af- 
 flict his person, and the Lord said, "Behold he is in 
 thine hand, but touch not his life." Satan, therefore, 
 smote him with a dreadful disease, probably the lep- 
 rosy ; and Job, seated in ashes, scraped oft" the cor- 
 ruption with a potsherd. His wife incited him to 
 " curse God, and die ; " but Job answered, " Shall we 
 receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not 
 receive evil ? " In the mean time, three of his friends, 
 having been informed of his misfortunes, came to 
 visit him — Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, 
 and Zophar the Naamathite. A fourth was Elihu 
 the Buzite, who from chap, xxxii. bears a distinguish- 
 ed part in the dialogue. (See Elihu.) They con- 
 tinued seven days sitting on the ground by him, 
 without speaking ; but at last Job broke silence, and 
 complained of his misery. His friends, not distin- 
 guishing between the evils with which God tries 
 those whom he loves, and the afflictions with which 
 he punishes the wicked, accused him of having in- 
 dulged some secret impiety, and urged him to re- 
 turn to God by repentance, and humbly to submit to 
 his justice, since he suffered only according to his 
 demerits. 
 
 Job, convinced of his own innocence, maintained, 
 that his sufferings were greater than his faults, and 
 that God sometimes afflicted the righteous only to 
 try them, to give them an opportunity of manifesting 
 or of improving their pious dispositions ; or because 
 it was his pleasure, for reasons unknown to mankind. 
 Elihu takes a middle path, referring strongly to the 
 sovereignty of God. To terminate the controversy, 
 the Deity appears in a cloud, and decides in favor 
 of Job ; but does not approve those harsh expres- 
 sions, which the extremity of his sorrow, and the 
 warmth of dispute, had excited. Job humbly ac- 
 knowledges his fault, and asks forgiveness. The 
 Lord condemns his friends, and enjoins them to ex- 
 piate their sins with sacrifices, offered by his hands. 
 He restores Job to health, gives him double the riches 
 which he before possessed, blesses him with a beau- 
 tiful and numerous family, and crowns a holy life 
 with a happy death. 
 
 The time in which this pious man hved is much 
 contested. But supposing him to have been contem- 
 porary with Moses, and fixing the time of his trial at 
 some years after the departure of the Hebrews out of 
 Egypt, (it cannot be placed earlier, because it is sup- 
 posed he speaks of this event,) he might have lived 
 till the time of Othniel. Sujiposing, for instance, that 
 he was afflicted seven years after the Exodus, (A. M. 
 2520,) and that he lived 140 years afterwards, lie must 
 have died in 26()0. 
 
 Tombs, called Job's, have been shown in several 
 places. TUe most celebrated is in the Trachonitis, 
 towards the springs of the Jordan, where for many , 
 ages a pyramid was believed to he Job's tomb. It is 
 ])laced between the cities of Teman, Shuah, and 
 Naamath, which are supposed to have been in this 
 country. Some writers have doubted whether there 
 ever was such a person as Job ; but there is no deny- 
 ing his existence without contradicting Ezekiel, To- 
 bit, and James, who speak of him as a holy man, and 
 hold him up as a true pattern of patience ; and with- 
 out opposing also thecurrent of tradition among botli
 
 JOE 
 
 [571 1 
 
 JOH 
 
 Jews and Christians. Others place his history as low 
 as the time of David or Solomon, and some even so 
 late as the captivity of Babylon; forgetting that he is 
 cited by Tobit and by Ezekiel as an azicient j)atriarch. 
 
 The Book of Job. — Various conjectures have 
 been made concerning the autlior of this book. The 
 original Avork was probably more ancient than the 
 time of Moses, and seems to have been written in the 
 old Hebrew, or perhaps the Arabic. Our present 
 copy is evidently altei-ed in its style, so as to have 
 transfused into it a Hebrew phraseology, resembling 
 that in the age of Solomon, to the writings of which 
 author the style bears a great resemblance. This 
 idea, for which we are indebted to Dr. J. P. Smith, 
 meets the difficulty that has been urged from the style 
 of the book, against its antiquity, and unites the dis- 
 cordant opinions that have been entertained on the 
 subject. It is written in verse, whose beauty consists 
 principally in noble expressions, bold and sublime 
 thoughts, lively emotions, fine descriptions, and great 
 diversity of character. We believe there is not in all 
 antiquity a piece of poetry more copious, more lofty, 
 more magnificent, more diversified, more adorned, or 
 more affecting. The author has practised all the 
 beauties of his art, in the characters of the four per- 
 sons whom he brings upon the stage. Tlie history, as 
 to the substance of it, is true ; the sentiments, reasons, 
 and arguments of the several persons are faithfully 
 expressed ; but the terms and tm-ns of expression are 
 the poet's own. 
 
 The canonical authority of the book of Job is gen- 
 erally acknowledged. Paul, in several places, seems 
 to quote the book of Job ; or, at least, to allude to it; 
 and James commends the patience of Job, which, he 
 says, was well known to those to whom he wrote. 
 
 JOCHEBED, wife of Amram, and mother of Mi- 
 riam, Moses, Euid Aaron. Several difficulties are start- 
 ed concerning the degree of relationship between 
 Amram and Jochebed, she being called in Ex. vi. 20, 
 the father's sister to Amram. Some assert that she 
 was the daughter immediately of Levi, and aunt of 
 Amram, her husband, because (Exod. ii. 1 ; Numb, 
 xxvi. 59.) she is called daughter of Levi. Others 
 maintain, that she was only cousin-gennan to 
 Amram, being daughter of one of Koliath's breth- 
 ren. The Chaldee, on Exod. vi. 20, says, she was 
 daughter of Amram's sister ; the LXX say, she was 
 the daughter of Amram's brother. Calmet thinks it 
 most probable, that Jochebed was only cousin-ger- 
 man to Amram ; because, (1.) had she been the im- 
 mediate daughter of Levi, the disproportion between 
 her age and A mram's would have been too great ; 
 (2.) marriages between aunt and nephew were forbid- 
 den by the law ; and we have no proof that they were 
 allowed previously ; (3.) by daughter of Levi, may 
 very well be meant granddaughter, according to the 
 style of the Hebrews. 
 
 L JOEL, the prophet Samuel's eldest eon, who 
 with his brother Abiah was jndge over Israel, 1 Sam. 
 viii. 1,2, &c. They exercised their jurisdiction in 
 Beersheba, in the south of Palestine. Their hijustice 
 induced Israel to desire a king. 
 
 II. JOEL, [one of the minor prophets. Of the cir- 
 cumstances of his life, and of the time in which he 
 Uved and prophesied, the Scriptures afford us no ac- 
 count whatever ; except what may be inferred from 
 different hints and circumstances contained in the 
 book itself From these it is clear, first, that he lived 
 in the kingdom of Judah, at a time when the temple 
 and the temple-worship still existed. (Compare chap. 
 I 14 ; ii. 1, 15, 32 ; iii. 1, seq.) We may, secondly, 
 
 infer very neai-ly the time in which he prophesied, 
 from the political circumstances and relations alluded 
 to. He adduces as the enemies of Judah, only the 
 Phenicians, Philistines, Egyptians, and Edomites. 
 (Compare ch. iii. 4, 19.) Neither the Syrians nor As- 
 syrians are mentioned. He must, therefore, in all 
 probability, have written before the time when the 
 Syrians and Assyrians had become formidable ene- 
 mies of Judah ; consequently before the time of 
 Isaiah. The same nations here mentioned are also 
 enumerated by Amos (ch. i.) as the enemies of the 
 Jewish state ; and we may, therefore, assume, that 
 the prophet Joel was nearly or quite contemporary 
 with him ; and lived, probably, under Uzziah. He 
 must, however, be placed somewhat early in the 
 reign of Uzziah, and rather before Amos; because in 
 the latter prophet the Syrians already appear as ene- 
 mies of Judah. Tills opinion is held by Vitringa, 
 Gesenius, Rosenmiiller, and others. Credner (1831) 
 places the date of tlie prophecy still earlier. Ber- 
 tholdt supposes the prophet to have lived under 
 Hezekiah ; but to this is opposed the fact that the 
 Assyrians are no where alluded to, who at that time 
 were so powerful and so much dreaded. Still less 
 probable is the supposition of those who place the 
 prophet under Manasseh ; since the latter was an 
 idolater, and had abrogated the worship of Jehovah. 
 
 The whole book is made up of one oracle. The 
 occasion of the prophecy was the devastation caused 
 by swarms of locusts, one of the most terrible of all 
 the plagues of the East. (See Locusts.) Such a 
 plague, accompanied with drought, the prophet viv- 
 idly describes in c. i, and subjoins warnings and 
 admonitions. He represents this calamity as a pun- 
 ishnient sent from God ; the locusts are a host which 
 God has sent, ii. 11. He admonishes to fasting and 
 penitence ; and promises them the removal of the 
 calamity and renewed fertility, ii. 21, seq. While 
 describing this returning plenty and prosperity, the 
 prophet casts his view forward on a future still more 
 remote, and predicts the outpourings of the Holy 
 Spirit, and the signs, and wonders, and spiritual pros- 
 perity of the Messiah's reign, ii. 28, seq. This pas- 
 sage is quoted by the apostle Peter, in Acts ii. 16, 
 seq. Returning to the immediate circumstances of 
 the kingdom of Judah, the prophet in c. iii. pro- 
 claims the vengeance which Jehovah will take upon 
 its enemies, — those who have hitherto trampled the 
 nation under foot; he will bring them together into 
 the valley of Jehoshaphat or judgment, (iii. 2, 14.) and 
 there sit in judgment upon them and punish them 
 with destruction. 
 
 Many commentators, as Jerome, Grotius, Bertholdt, 
 &c. have preferred to understand the description of 
 the swarms of locusts in c. i. as an allegory, and sup- 
 pose it is intended as a figurative representation of 
 the march of a hostile army, e.g. that of Sennacha- 
 rib. (Compare Amos vii. 1, seq.) In this way the 
 antithesis between the commencement and the end 
 of the book would become very striking ; but there 
 are no clear traces of any allegory or any metaphori- 
 cal sense whatever, and such an interpretation must 
 ever remain arbitrary, forced, and unnatural. 
 
 The style and manner of the book are excellent. 
 The language is jiure, elegant, and flowing. In short, 
 the book belongs among the most splendid exhibi- 
 tions of Hebrew poetry. 
 
 The best commentaries are by Pococke, in his 
 Works, vol. i ; Rosenmiiller, 1827 ; Justi, 1792 ; Cred- 
 ner, 1831. *R. 
 
 JOHANAN, high-priest, son of Azariah the high-
 
 JOH 
 
 [572] 
 
 JOHN 
 
 priest, and father of another Azai-iah, 1 Chron. ^^. 9, 
 10. Some believe him to be Jehoiada, the father of 
 Zechariah, in the reign of Joash, king of Judah, 2 
 Chron. xxiv. 11, &c. 
 
 I. JOHN, father of Mattathias, the celebrated Mac- 
 cabee, 1 Mac. ii. 1. 
 
 II. JOHN, a son of Mattathias, and brother of Ju- 
 das, Jonathan, and Simon Maccabseus. He was 
 treacherously killed by the sons of Jambri, as he was 
 conducting the baggage belonging to his brethren 
 the Maccabees to the Nebathites, their allies, 1 Mac. 
 ix. 36. 
 
 III. JOHN HIRCANUS, son of Simon Macca- 
 baeus, was by his father made governor of the sea- 
 coast of Judea, where he defeated Cendebeus, general 
 of Antiochus Sidetes, then besieging Tryphon in 
 Dora. He escaped from the intended slaughter of 
 the Maccabee family by his brother-in-law Ptolemy, 
 in which his father Simon fell ; after whose death, 
 John was acknowledged prince and high-priest of 
 his nation. He was attacked in Jerusalem by Antio- 
 chus ; but defended the city vigorously, and took occa- 
 sion of the Feast of Tabernacles to negotiate a peace ; 
 which he effected, paying the king a gi-eat sum of 
 money (300 talents) ; which, some say, he obtained 
 from David's sepulchre. John accompanied Antio- 
 chus in his war against the Parthiaus ; which, how- 
 ever favorable at first, at length issued in the defeat of 
 the king ; and John seized the opportunity to render 
 himself independent of the kings of Syria. In the 
 following year, he conquered the Idumeans, and 
 compelled them to receive circumcision after the 
 Jewish manner, with other Jewish rites. He sent 
 ambassadors to Rome, to renew the alliance with that 
 people ; and, some years afterwards, besieged Sama- 
 ria, which was taken by his sons Antigonus and Ar- 
 istobulus, after a year's resistance. John ordered the 
 city to be demolished, in which state it continued to 
 die time of Gabinius. He was now master of all Ju- 
 dea, Samaria, Galilee, and many frontier towns ; so 
 that he was one of the most powerful princes of his 
 time. At home, however, he was troubled by the 
 Pharisees, who envied his exaltation, and at length 
 their mutual ill-will broke out into open enmity. 
 John forbade the observance of such ceremonies as 
 were founded on tradition only ; and he enforced his 
 orders by penalties on the contumacious. He is said 
 to have built the castle of Baris, on the mount of the 
 temple, which became the palace of the Asmonean 
 princes ; and where the pontifical vestments were 
 kept. After having been high-priest twenty-nine 
 years, John died, ante A. D. 107. Josephus says he 
 was endowed with the spirit of prophecy, Antiq. lib. 
 xiii. 17, 18 ; xviii. 6. 2 Mac. iii. 11. et al. 
 
 IV. JOHN THE Baptist, the forerunner of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and son of Zacharias and Elisa- 
 beth, was born A. M. 4000, about six months before 
 Jesus Christ. His birth, name, and office were fore- 
 told to his father Zacharias, when he was perform- 
 ing his functions as a priest in the temple of Jerusa- 
 lem, Luke i. 10, 11, &c. (See Annunciation.) On 
 the eighth day afler the birth of the child, when the 
 time for circumcising him was come, they called him 
 by his father's name, Zacharias ; but his mother told 
 them his name should be John, which his father con- 
 firmed. The rliild grew, and was strengthened in 
 spirit, and dwelt in tiie wilderness till the day of his 
 manifestation to Israel, ver. 59 — 81. 
 
 Clirysostom and Jerome believe that John was 
 brought up from his infancy in the wilderness, where 
 he abode without eating or drinking, as Jesus says. 
 
 Matt. xi. 18, (that is, eating and drinking little, and 
 things of a plain kind,) and being clothed only with 
 camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, 
 Matt. iii. 4. (See Camel's Hair.) When he had ar- 
 rived at thirty years of age, God manifested him to 
 the world, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, A. D. 28 ; 
 and he began his ministry, by publishing the ap- 
 proach of the Messiah, in the country along and be- 
 yond Jordan, preaching repentance. He induced 
 many persons to confess their sins ; whom he baptized 
 in the river Jordan, exhorting them to believe in him 
 who was coming afler him ; and who would baptize 
 with the Holy Ghost and with fire. From this bap- 
 tism, John derived the surname of Baptist, or Bapti- 
 zer. Many persons became his disciples, exercising 
 themselves in acts of repentance, and urging it on 
 others. When Jesus presented himself to receive 
 baptism from him, John excused himself, saying, " I 
 need rather being baptized by thee ; " but Jesus de- 
 claring that it became them to fulfil all righteousness, 
 John complied. This was A. D. 30. The next day 
 John publicly announced Jesus, as the Lamb of God, 
 that taketh away the sins of the world, John i. 19 — 29. 
 
 Herod Antipas having married his brother Philip's 
 wife, John, wth his usual boldness, reproved him to 
 his face. Herod, incensed, ordered him into custody, 
 in the castle of Machaerus, where he remained a long 
 time, Herod fearing to do him further harm, know- 
 ing that he was much beloved by the people. He- 
 rodias, however, sought an opportunity of putting 
 him to death, which she accomplished (Matt. xiv. 
 1 — 12.) about the end of A. D. 31, or early in A. D. 
 32. Tlie Gospels do not say where John was buried ; 
 but in the time of Julian the Apostate, his tomb was 
 shown at Samaria, where the inhabitants opened it, 
 and burnt part of his bones ; the rest were saved by 
 some Christians, who carried them to an abbot of Je- 
 rusalem, named Phihp. (Eccl. lib. iii. cap. 3. Chronic. 
 Alex. p. 686.) 
 
 V. JOHN THE Evangelist, son of Zebedee, was 
 a native of Bethsaida in Galilee, and by trade a fish- 
 erman. Our Saviour called him and his brother 
 James, Boanerges, sons of thunder. It is believed 
 that John was the youngest of the apostles. Our Sa- 
 viour had a particular friendship for him, and he de- 
 scribes himself by the phrase of "that disciple whom 
 Jesus loved." He was present at the transfiguration, 
 and at the last supper, when he lay in his master's 
 bosom, who discovered to him who should betray 
 him, John xiii. 25 ; xxi. 20. Jesus also chose James 
 and John, with Peter, as witnesses of his agony in 
 the olive-garden. After the soldiers had seized his 
 master, it is believed that John was the disciple who 
 followed him to Caiaphas's house, where he went in, 
 and aflerwards introduced Peter. He attended our 
 Saviour to the cross ; and Jesus observing him, said 
 to his mother, " Woman, behold thy son ;" and then 
 to his disciple, " Behold thy mother," xix. 26, 27. 
 After the resurrection, and while several of the disci- 
 ples were fishing on the sea of Tiberias, Jesus appear- 
 ed on the shore, where John first discovered him, 
 and told Peter. TJiey came on shore, dined with 
 their risen Lord, arti after dinner, as John was follow- 
 ing him, Peter asked Jesus, what was to become of 
 John. Jesus answered, " If I will that he tarry till I 
 come, what is that to thee ? " — a remark which in- 
 duced the disciples to believe, that Jesus had said he 
 should not die. John himself, however, confutes this 
 opinion. The period referred to was, no doubt, the 
 punishment of Jerusalem, which this evangelist lived 
 to see ; not the general judgment, which is yet distant.
 
 JOHN 
 
 [573] 
 
 JOK 
 
 Within a few days after the apostles had received 
 the Holy Ghost, Peter and John went up to the tem- 
 ple, and near it cured a man lame from his birth. 
 Acts iii. 1 — 10. This miracle occasioned their im- 
 prisonjnent, but the next day they were liberated, 
 and forbidden to speak in the name of Jesus Christ. 
 They continued preaching, however, and were again 
 imprisoned several times. 
 
 Peter and John were sent to Samaria, to confer the 
 Holy Ghost on those whom Philip the deacon had 
 baptized. Acts viii. 5 — 14. John was of the council 
 of Jerusalem, and was evidently one of the pillars of 
 the church. It is believed that he preached to the 
 Partliians, and the Indians maintain, that he published 
 the gospel in that country. There is no doubt of his 
 preaching in Asia, and of his remaining some time at 
 Ephesus, and near it, though we do not know the 
 exact time. It could scarcely be before A. D. 66. 
 Jerome says, he founded and governed the churches 
 of \sia. 
 
 The emperor Domitian persecuted the church in 
 the fifteenth year of his reign ; (A. D. 95.) and John, 
 it is said, was carried to Rome, where he was plunged 
 into boiling oil, without being hurt, and afterwards 
 exiled to the isle of Patmos, in the ,^gean sea, where 
 he wrote his Revelations. (Se.e Apocalypse.) Domi- 
 tian being killed in A. D. 96, his successor, Nerva, re- 
 called all who had been banished ; and John returned 
 to Ephesus, A. D. 97, being about ninety years of 
 age. The bishops and Christians of Asia pressing 
 him to write what he had heard from our Saviour, he 
 complied, and wrote his Gospel, after a public fast 
 and prayei-s. His principal view in this nan-ation 
 was, to relate such things as might confirm the divin- 
 ity of the Son, in opposition to heretics of that time. 
 See Gospel. 
 
 John lived to a very great age, so that he could 
 scarcely go to the assembly of the church, without 
 being canned by his disciples. Being now unable to 
 make long discourses, his custom was to say, in all as- 
 semblies, to the people, "My dear children, love one 
 another." At length they grew weary of this con- 
 cise exhortation ; and when he was informed of this, 
 his answer was, "This is what the Lord commands 
 you ; and this, if you do it, is sufiicient." He died at 
 Ephesus, in the third year of Trajan, the lOOtli of 
 Jesus Christ, being then, according to Epiphanius, 
 ninety-four ; though some say he was 98 or 99; 
 others 104, 106, or 120. He was buried near that 
 city ; and several of the fathers mention his sepul- 
 chre as being there. 
 
 We have three Epistles by Joh.n. The first is a 
 kind of tract, designed to refute certain erroneous 
 doctrines, which had been propounded in the church, 
 similar to, if not the same with, those of the Cerintlii- 
 ans and the Gnostics. The second is addressed to a 
 lady of rank, named Electa ; or, as others think, to a 
 Christian church. The third letter is dire(;ted to 
 Gaius, whom John praises for hospitahty to the faith- 
 ful, and exhorts to continue his pious practice. It 
 should be remarked, that the intention of these two 
 epistles is directly contrary one to the other. In that 
 to Electa, the apostle cautions her against receiving 
 and patronizing travelling teachers who held not the 
 truth coiTectly ; whereas in that to Gaius, the apostle 
 greatly commends him for receiving travelling teach- 
 ers, generally ; censures Diotrephes for rejecting 
 some; and praises Demetrius for his candor. It 
 should seem, therefore, that these epistles are mis- 
 placed. If Gaius be Paul's host, the epistle to him 
 may be placed the earliest in point of time ; and to 
 
 this agrees the absence of allusion to heretical opiil-* 
 ions, which had not yet infected the church: but, in 
 later days, not a few discordant symptoms were prop- 
 agated, and consequently Christian hospitality was 
 exposed to imposition. It seems likely, also, that 
 Gaius, living at Corinth, was visited by sea, by John ; 
 but as John had met (probably) at Ephesus, with "the 
 children of Electa, whom he found walking in the 
 truth," to his great joy, and to their mother's praise, 
 it is very credible, if not rather certain, that this 
 lady lived at no great distance from that city, that is, 
 in Asia Minor ; so that notwithstanding his advanced 
 age, he might easily, "ha\ing many things to say, 
 come unto her, and speak face to face." Her sister 
 probably lived at Ephesus, near, or possibly with, the 
 apostle. 
 
 Several apocryphal writings are attributed to John ; 
 as, a book of his supposed travels, another of his acts 
 used by the Encratites, Manichees, and Priscillian- 
 ists ; a book concerning the death and assumption of 
 the Virgin, &c. John is generally surnamed "the 
 Divine," from the sublimity of his knowledge, par- 
 ticularly in the beginning of his Gospel. He is paint- 
 ed with a cup and a serpent issuing out of it, in allu- 
 sion to a story of poison given to him by some here- 
 tics in a glass, the venom of which he dis'pellecT under 
 the form of a serpent, by making a sign of the cross 
 over it. 
 
 VI. JOHN MARK, cousin to Barnabas, and his 
 disciple, was the son of a Christiai^oman named 
 Mary, who had a house in Jerusalem,'where the dis- 
 ciples and apostles met. Here they were at prayers 
 in the night, when Peter, who was delivered out of 
 prison by an angel, knocked at the door, (Acts xii. 15.) 
 and in the same house the celebrated church of Sion 
 is said to have been afterwards established. John at- 
 tached himself to Paul and Barnabas, whom he fol- 
 lowed to Antioch, and thence to Perga and Pamphy- 
 lia, where he left them, and returned to Jerusalem, 
 Acts XV. 38. A. D. 45. 
 
 Six years afterwards, he accompanied Barnabas to 
 the isle of Cyprus ; and, in A. D. 63, we find him at 
 Rome, performing signal services for Paul during his 
 imprisonment. The apostle speaks advantageously 
 of him, in Col. iv. 10, and again in his epistle to Phil- 
 emon, (ver. 24.) written A. D. 62. Two years after- 
 wards lie was in Asia, and with Timothy : Paul de- 
 sires him to bring him to Rome ; adding, that he was 
 useful to him for the ministry of the gospel, 2 Tim. 
 iv. 11. It is thought that John Mark died at Ephe- 
 sus ; but the year of his death, and the manner of it, 
 are unknown. 
 
 Calmet is of opinion, that John 3Iark is a different 
 person from 3Iark the evangelist ; but they are con- 
 sidered to have been the same person by Jones, Light- 
 foot, Wetstein, Lardner, 3Iichaelis, and Taylor. To 
 strengthen this opinion, Mr. Taylor remarks that it 
 should be observed, that throughout the Acts he is 
 spoken of as "John whose surname was Mark ;" that 
 is, Luke, writing in Italy, Latinizes ; it being custom- 
 ary for Jews, when in foreign countries, to use names 
 more familiar to those countries than their Hebrew 
 appellations ; and if Mark, as is beyond a doubt, ac- 
 companied Peter to Rome, he would be known there 
 by his surname only. 
 
 JOIADA, or Judas, high-priest of the Jews, suc- 
 ceeded Eliashib, or Joashib, who lived under Nehe- 
 miali, about ante A. D. 454, Neh. xiii. 28. 
 
 JOKMEAM, a city of Ephraim, afterwards given 
 to the Levites of Kohath's family, 1 Cliron. vi. 68. 
 
 JOKNEAM, a city of Zebuluu, given to the Le-
 
 JON 
 
 [574 1 
 
 JOX 
 
 Vitcs of Merari's family; (Josh. xxi. 34 ; xix. ll.)sur- 
 nained Jokneam, of Carmel, (Josh. xii. 22.) because 
 adjacent to that mountain. 
 
 JOKSHAN, second son of Abraham and Keturah, 
 (Gen. XXV. 2.) is thought to liave peopled part of 
 Arabia, and to be the person whom the Arabians call 
 Cahtan, and acknowledge as the head of their nation. 
 He dwelt in part of Arabia Felix, and part of Arabia 
 Deserta. This Moses expressly mentions, Gen. xxv. 6. 
 Jokshan's sons were Sheba and Dedan, who dwelt in 
 the same country, ver. 3. 
 
 JOKTAN, the eldest son of Eber, who had for his 
 portion all the land which lies "from 3Iesha, as thou 
 goest unto Sephar, a mount of the East," or Kedem, 
 Gen. X. 25. Mesha, Calmet takes to be the place 
 where JMasias was situated, in Mesopotamia, and 
 Sephar the country of the Sepharvaim, or Sephar- 
 enians, or Sapiorcs, or Serapares ; for these all de- 
 note the same ; that is, a people which, according 
 to Herodotus, were placed between the Colchians 
 and the 3Iedes. Now this was in the provinces 
 which Moses conunonly describes by the name of 
 Kedem, or the East. We find traces in this country 
 of the names of Joktau's sons, which is a further 
 confirmation of this opinion. These sons were Al- 
 mohad, Shaleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, 
 Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimeel, Sheba, Opliir, Havilah, 
 and Jobab, Gen. x. 2G, «fcc. The Arabians believe 
 that their country was originally peopled by Joktan, 
 the son of Eber, and brother of Peleg ; who, after 
 the division of languages, came and dwelt in the 
 peninsula of Asia, which might take its name from 
 Jarab the son of Joktan, or from a large plain in the 
 province of Tehema called Arabat. These ancient 
 Arabians lived here without mingling with other 
 people, till Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar, and 
 his sons, settled here, who, mixing with them, were 
 called INIos-arabes, or Most£E-arabes, that is, mixed 
 
 I. JOKTHEEL, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 38. 
 
 II. JOKTHEEL, obedience to the Lord, a ])lace 
 previously called Selah, which Amaziah, king of Ju- 
 dah, took from the Edomites, and which is supposed 
 to have been the city of Petra, the celebrated capital 
 of the Nabathaei, in Arabia Petraea, by the Syrians 
 called Rekem, 2 Kings xiv. 7. There are two places, 
 however, which dispute this honor, Kerek, a town 
 two days' journey south of Syalt, the see of a 
 Greek bishop, who resides at Jerusalem ; and Wady- 
 Mousa, a city wliich is situated in a deep valley at 
 the foot of mount Hor, and where Burckhardt and 
 more recent travellers describe the remains of a 
 magnificent and extensive c'lly. The latter is no 
 doubt the Petra described by Strabo and Pliny. See 
 Sela. 
 
 I. JONADAB, son of Shimeah, David's nephew. 
 He was a very subtle man, and the adviser of Amnon 
 in the violation of Tamar, 2 Sam. xiii. 3. 
 
 II. JOXADAB, or Jeho.nadab, son of Rechab, 
 and head of the Rechabites, lived in the time of Jehu, 
 king of Israel. He is thought to have added to the 
 ancient austerity of the Rechabites, that of abstinence 
 from wine ; and to have introduced the non-cultiva- 
 tion of their lands, 2 Kings x. I.'), 16. Jehu being 
 raised up to punish the sinsof Ahab's house, came to 
 Samaria, to destroy tli(! false propliets and priests of 
 Baal, where he met with Jonadal), whom he carried 
 with him to Samaria, and before him executed all that 
 remained of Ahab's family, with the ministere of 
 Baal's temple. 
 
 JONAH, son of Amittai, and one of the minor 
 
 prophets, was a Galilean, of Gath-hepher, which is 
 supposed to be Jotapata. Jonah was oi'dered first to 
 prophesy at Nineveh, which he endeavored to avoid 
 by voyaging to Tarshish ; but, being overtaken by a 
 storm, he was thrown overboard, and miraculously 
 preserved, by being swallowed by a large fish. This 
 fish, in the New Testament, is called y'lTo:, (Matt. xii. 
 40, Eng. tr. whale) ; but it more probably refers to 
 the large shark, common in the Mediterranean, the 
 Canis carcharius of naturalists, whose size and habits 
 correspond entirely to the representation given of 
 Jonah's being swallowed. The fish afterwards cast 
 him out again upon the land. The word of the Lord 
 a second time directed him to visit Nineveh. He 
 went thither, therefore, and walked through it for a 
 whole day, crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be 
 destroyed." The Ninevites believed his word, and 
 appointed a public fast, from the meanest of the 
 people to the greatest ; the king himself putting on 
 sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. God, being moved 
 with their repentance, did not execute at that time 
 the sentence pronounced against them. 
 
 Jonah, from a notion, probably, that his divine mis- 
 sion would be disputed, was atilicted at this result, 
 and complained to God that he had always ques- 
 tioned, whether, as being a God of mercy, he would 
 not yield to their prayers ; after which he retired out 
 of the city, and made a shelter for himself, waiting the 
 event. The Lord caused a. plant to grow over his 
 booth, (see Gourd,) but a worm bit its root, and it 
 withered. Jonah, being now exposed to the burning 
 heat of the sun, became faint, and desired that God 
 would take him out of the Avorld. The Lord said 
 unto him, "Hast thou reason to be thus concerned 
 at the death of a plant, which cost thee nothing, which 
 rises one night, and dies the next ; yet wouldest ihcu 
 not have me pardon such a city as Nineveh, in which 
 are 120,000 persons not able to distinguish their right 
 hand from their left ?" that is, children not arrived 
 at the use of reason ; nor having offended God by 
 actual sin. As children make, generally, about one 
 fifth part of the inhabitants of cities, it is presumed 
 that Nineveh contained above 000,000 persons. 
 
 We know not at what time Jonah foretold how 
 Jeroboatn II. king of Israel, should restore the king- 
 dom of Samaria, from the entrance of Hamath to the 
 Dead sea, (2 Kings xiv. 25.) whether before or after 
 his journey to Nineveh. Our Saviour mentions him, 
 (Matt. xii. 41 ; Luke xii. 32.) and says that the Nine- 
 vites should rise in judgment against the Jews, and 
 condemn them, because they rejiented at the preach- 
 ing of Jonah. When the Pharisees required a sign 
 from him, his answer referred them to that of the 
 prophet Jonah ; that is, his resurrection. 
 
 I. JONATHAN, a Levite, son of Gershom, and 
 grandson of Moses, d^^•elt some time at Laish, with 
 Micah, (Judg. xvii. 10.) ministering as a Levite, with 
 an ephod, and images, which Micah had made, and 
 placed in his house. Some years afterwards, six 
 hundred men, of the tribe of Dan, seeking a new 
 settlement in the territories of the tSidonians, engaged 
 Jonathan to accompany them. He settled at Dan, 
 where that tribe j)laced the images they had taken 
 out of Micah's house, and appointed Jonathan to be 
 their priest, and his son to succeed him, Judg. xviii. 
 30. Their idols remained at Dan while the ark of 
 the Lord was at^Shiloh, and till the captivity of Dan ; 
 that is, as Calm6t thinks, till the last year of Eli, the 
 high-priest, when the ark was taken by the Philis- 
 tines, ante A. I). 1110. But the captivity of Dan may 
 denote either the oppression of this tribe by the
 
 jor 
 
 [575] 
 
 JOPPA 
 
 Philistines, after the ark was taken, or the more 
 remarkable captivity of the ten tribes, which were 
 carried away beyond the Euphrates by the Assyrian 
 kings. 
 
 II. JONATHAN, son of Saul, and the faithful 
 friend of David, was a prince of great valor and 
 piety. During the war between Saul and the Philis- 
 tines, Jonathan, intent upon following up the victory, 
 with his armor-bearer, attacked the camp of the 
 enemy, and threw them into such disorder, that they 
 killed one another. Saul pursued the enemy, and 
 pronounced a curse on the man who should hinder 
 the pursuit by taking of food. Jonathan, who was 
 absent when this anathema was uttered, ate of some 
 honey which he found in the wood, and was only 
 saved from death by the firmness of the people, 1 
 Sam. xiv. 
 
 War breaking out between the Hebrews and the 
 Philistines, Saul and Jonathan encamped on mount 
 Gilboa with the army of Israel ; but their camp was 
 forced, their troops routed, and themselves slain, ch. 
 XXXI. ante A. D. 1055. The news being brought to 
 David, he mourned for a year, and composed a fune- 
 ral song to their honor, thus evincing his tenderness 
 toward his friend Jonathan, 2 Sam. i. He left a son 
 named INIephibosheth, on whom David conferred 
 various fav^ors. 
 
 III. JONATHAN, son of Abiathar, the high- 
 priest, who gave notice to Adonijah and his party, 
 near the fountain of Rogel, that David had declared 
 Solomon his successor, 1 Kings i. 42, 43. 
 
 IV. JONATHAN, or Jouanan, or John, high- 
 priest of the Jews, son of Jehoiada, and father of 
 Jeddoa, or Jaddus, celebrated in the time of Alexan- 
 der the Great, Neh. xii. 11. He lived under Ezra 
 and Nehemiah. He died, after having exercised the 
 high-priesthood thirty-two years, and was succeeded 
 by Jeddoa, his son. 
 
 V. JONATHAN, a scribe, and keeper of the pris- 
 ons in Jerusalem under Zedekiah, Jer. xxxvii. 15, 20. 
 He was very severe to the prophet Jeremiah, who 
 therefore earnestly desired Zedekiah that he might 
 not be sent back into that dungeon, where his life 
 was in danger. 
 
 VI. JONATHAN BEN UZZIEL, see Targum. 
 
 VII. JONATHAN, surnamed Apphus, son of 
 Mattathias, and brother of Judas Maccabfeus, w^as, 
 after the death of Judas, appointed general of the 
 troops of Israel, and, after a number of feats of valor, 
 was basely killed by Tryphon, ante A. D. 144, 1 Mac. 
 ii. &c. There are several other persons of this name 
 mentioned in Scripture, but they have no important 
 relation to such events as we are required to notice. 
 
 JOPPA. Japho, or Jaffa, is one of the most an- 
 cient seaports in the world ; its traditional history 
 stretching far back into the twilight of time. Pliny 
 assigns it a date anterior to the deluge. It was a 
 border town of the tribe of Dan, and is situated in a 
 fine plain, on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, 
 thirty miles south of Csesarea, and forty-five north- 
 west of Jerusalem. It owes all the circumstances of 
 its celebrity, as the principal port of Judea, to its 
 situation with regard to Jerusalem. — As a station for 
 vessels, its harbor is one of the worst on the coast. 
 Josephus speaks of it as "not fit for a haven, on 
 account of the impetuous south winds which beat 
 upon it ; which, rolling the sands that come from the 
 sea against the shores, do not admit of ships lying in 
 their station : but the merchants are generally there 
 forced to ride at their anchors on the sea itself" 
 D'Arvieux, however, is of opinion that this port was 
 
 anciently much superior to what it is at present. He 
 observed, in the sea, south of the port, the vestiges 
 of a wall, which extended to a chain of rocks at some 
 distance from the shore, by which the port was 
 formed, and protected against the violence of the 
 south-west winds. " This port," he remarks, "was, 
 no doubt, sufficiently good before it was filled up, 
 although its entrance was exposed to winds from the 
 north." As it was used by Solomon for receiving 
 his timber from Tyre, and by the succeeding kings 
 of Judah, as their port of communication with foreign 
 nations, they would unquestionably bestow upon it all 
 the advantages within their power. 
 
 The present town of Jaffa is seated on a promon- 
 tory, jutting out into the sea, rising to the height of 
 about 150 feet above its level, and offering, on all 
 sides, picturesque and varied prospects. Towards 
 the west is extended the open sea ; towards the south 
 spread fertile plains, reaching as far as Gaza ; towards 
 the north, as far as Carmel, the flowery meads of 
 Sharon present themselves ; and to the east, the hills 
 of Ephraim and Judah raise their towering heads. 
 The town is walled round on the south and east, 
 towards the land, and partially so on the north and 
 west, towards the sea. Mr. Buckingham describes 
 the approach to JaflTa as quite destitute of interest. 
 The towai, seated on a promontory, and facing chiefly 
 to the northward, looks like a heap of buildings, 
 crowded as closely as possible into a given space ; 
 and, from the steepness of its site, they appear in 
 some places to stand one on the other. The interior 
 of the town corresponds with its outward mien, and 
 has all the appearance of a poor village. The streets 
 are very narrow, uneven, and dirty ; and are rather 
 entitled to the appellation of alleys. The inhabitants 
 are estimated at between four and five thousand, of 
 whom the greater part are Turks and Arabs; the 
 Christians are stated to be about six hundred, con- 
 sisting of Roman Catholics, Greeks, Maronites, and 
 Armenians. The Latins, Greeks, and Armenians 
 have each a small convent for the reception of pil- 
 grims. 
 
 The high antiquity attributed to the town of 
 Joppa, as well as the remarkable circumstances con- 
 nected with its history, excites a laudable curiosity 
 regarding it. We have already stated that Phny 
 assigns its foundation to a period anterior to the 
 flood ; and a tradition is preserved, that here Noah 
 lived and built his ark. — Some authors ascribe its 
 origin to Japheth, son of Noah, and thence derive its 
 name. However fabulous such accounts may be 
 justly deemed, they aflibrd proofs of the great an- 
 tiquity of the place, having been recorded by histo- 
 rians, for so many ages, as the only traditions extant 
 concerning its origin. In the time of Pliny and of 
 Jerome the inhabitants pretended to exhibit the 
 marks of the chains with which Andromeda was 
 fastened to a rock. The skeleton of the huge sea- 
 monster, to which she was exposed, is said by Pliny 
 to have been brought to Rome by Scaurus, and there 
 carefully preserved. Pausanias, too, insists that near 
 Joppa was to be seen a fountain, where Perseus 
 washed off" the blood with which he had been cov- 
 ered from the wounds received in his combat with 
 the monster; and adds that, from this circumstance, 
 the water ever afterwards remained of a red color. 
 This fable has been ingeniously explained, by sup- 
 posing that this daughter of the'Ethiopian king was 
 courted by the captain of a ship, who attempted to 
 carrv her off", but was prevented by the interpositioa 
 of another more faithful lover. From this port the
 
 JOPPA 
 
 [576] 
 
 JOR 
 
 \ disobedient prophet embarked, to flee to Tarsus from 
 the presence of the Lord ; (Jonah i. 3.) and it is more 
 than probable, that the profane account of the sea- 
 monster may have some connection with the sacred 
 •one of the large fish that swallowed up the prophet. 
 Dr. E. D. Clarke has concluded, from the ribs of 
 iforty feet in length, and the other anatomical pro- 
 j^ortions given of the sea-monster to which Androm- 
 j|eda was exposed, that it was really a whale. These 
 •iconjectures, coupled with the foct of that fish having 
 been, from the earliest times, an object of worship at 
 Joppa, though it by no means proves the foundation 
 of this city before the deluge, as has been assumed, 
 gives the appearance of some affinity between the 
 accounts of the Jews and Gentiles regarding it. 
 
 In the wars of the Maccabees, when Judea was a 
 scene of gi-eat contention, a deed of treachery is laid 
 to the charge of the men of Joppa, in destroying the 
 innocent with the guilty. This was so completely in 
 the spirit of the early wars that deluged this country 
 with blood, as almost to justify the exemplary ven- 
 geance which was taken on their town for such an 
 act. It was burnt and exposed to pillage by Judas 
 Maccabseus, who called on God, the righteous judge, 
 to avenge him on the murderers of his brethi'eu, 
 2 Mac. xii. 3 — 7. About this time, Joppa appears as 
 sustaining a siege, and at length falling before the 
 arms of Jonathan, the high-priest, who had invested 
 it. It was soon afterwards entered a second time by 
 an officer of Simon, the brother of Jonathan, who had 
 been entrapped at Ptolemais. He had been elected, by 
 acclamation, to become the captain and leader of the 
 Jews, instead of Jonathan, and had sent down a force 
 from Jerusalem, to cast out those who were in Joppa, 
 and to remain therein, 1 Mac. x.74. It is afterwards 
 enumerated among the cities desired to be restored 
 to the Jews, by a decree of the Roman senate, after 
 having been taken from them by Antiochus, as ex- 
 pressed in a letter sent by the ambassadors of the 
 Jews, from Jerusalem to Rome. It was about this 
 time, also, peculiarly privileged by a decree of Caius 
 Julius CjEsar, imperator and dictator, in being ex- 
 empted from the yearly trii>ute, which all the other 
 cities of the Jews were obliged to pay, for the city 
 Jerusalem. Its history, in the days of the apostles, 
 is more familiar to us ; and the vision of Peter, who 
 saw a sheet descending from heaven, covered with 
 animals, clean and unclean, and heard a voice ex- 
 claiming, " Rise, Peter, kill and eat ;" as well as the 
 raisingof Tabitha, the female disciple, from the dead, 
 and the reception of the messengers from Csesarea 
 there, need only be mentioned to be remembered. 
 The history of the taking of this place from the 
 pirates, by Vespasian, (Joseph. Ant. iii. c. 9. s. 2.) is 
 worthy of being consulted ; particularly as the opera- 
 tions strikingly illustrate the local description by 
 which the account of them is accompanied, and 
 which is remarkable for its clearness and fidelity. 
 
 About two centuries after this, it was visited by 
 Jerome, who speaks of it undei- its original name of 
 Japho, which it still retained, with very little corrup- 
 tion, when it was held by the Saracens, into whose 
 hands it had fallen during the Syrian war. It was 
 necessarily a contested point with the crusaders, as 
 the port of debarkation for Jerusalem ; and it there- 
 fore figures in all the naval operations of their wars. 
 The rabbi Benjamin, who has been so often accused 
 of magnifying the numbers of the Jews, in all parts 
 of the world, with a view to enhance the importance 
 of his own nation, found here, about this period, only 
 one solitary individual, who was a dyer of linen, 
 
 seemingly the most common occupation of the labor- 
 ing Jews in those days, as that of money-changing is 
 at present. 
 
 After the last crusade of Louis IX. of France, Jaffa 
 fell, with the other maritime towns of Syria, under 
 the power of the Mamelouks of Egypt, who first shut 
 up the Franks within their last hold at Acre, and 
 soon after closed, by its capture, the bloody history 
 of these holy wars. In 1776, it again suffered all the 
 horrors of war, having its population, young and old, 
 male and female, barbarously cut to pieces, and a 
 pyramid formed of their bleeding heads, as a monu- 
 ment of a monster's victory. (Volney, Trav. vol. i. 
 p. 150.) Its history, since that period, is numbered 
 among the events of our own day. 
 
 I. JORAM, son of Toi, king of Hamath, was sent 
 to David by his father, to congratulate him on his 
 victory over Hadadezer, 2 Sam. viii. 10. 
 
 II. JORAM, or Jehoram, son of Ahab, king of 
 Israel, and successor to his eldest brother, Ahaziah, 
 who died without children, 2 Mings iii. 1, &c. He 
 did evil before the Lord ; but not like Ahab, his 
 father, and Jezebel, his mother. He removed the 
 statues of Baal which Ahab had erected ; but he con- 
 tinued to worship the golden calves. Mesha, king 
 of Moab, having refused to pay his tribute, Joram 
 warred against him, and invited Jehoshaphat, king 
 of Judah, to accompany him, who also brought the 
 king of Edom, his tributary. These princes advanced 
 through the wilderness of Edom ; but were soon in 
 danger of perishing for want of water, from which 
 they wei'e relieved by Elisha. The prophet after- 
 wards rendered very impoi-tant services to Joram, 
 during his wars with Syria, by discovering to him 
 the designs of Benhadad. During the siege of Sa- 
 maria, the famine was so terrible, that a woman ate 
 her own son. Joi-am, being informed of the calamity, 
 rent his clothes, wore sackcloth, and ordered a ser- 
 vant to go and cut off Elisha's head ; as if the cause 
 of these disti-esses had been with the prophet. Elisha, 
 who was then in his house, desired his friends to 
 hold the door, and to prevent such a person from 
 entering ; adding, that Joram was close at his heels, 
 to revoke the order. x\ccordingly, the king came 
 almost at the same instant, and complained to Elisha, 
 who comforted him, and foretold a great plenty for 
 the morrow, which came to pass, 2 Kings vii. 
 
 At the siege of Ramoth-Gilead, Joram, being dan- 
 gerously woimded, was obliged to return to Jezreel. 
 He left Jehu in command of his army, but he, having 
 been anointed king by a young prophet, hastened to 
 Jezreel, and destroyed Joram, (2 Kings ix.) in the 
 twelfth year of his reign, ante A. D. 884. 
 
 III. JORAM, see Jehoram II. 
 
 JORDAN, the principal river of Canaan. It was 
 formerly believed, chiefly on the authority of the 
 Jewish historian, that the soiu'ce of the Jordan was 
 in the lake Phiala, about 12 miles distant from Paneas 
 or Csesarea Philippi, whence it ])assed underground, 
 and emerged again from the cave of Paneas, in the 
 vicinity of the town. This double source of the river 
 is now, however, generally exploded. Burckhardt 
 says, it rises an hour and a quarter, or about 4 miles, 
 north-east from Panias, in the plain, near a hill called 
 Tel-el-Radi : it is soon after joined by the river of 
 Panias, which runs east of the Jordan for some dis- 
 tance, and the united streams, now a considerable 
 piece of water, fall into the Bahr-cl-Houly, or the 
 lake Merom, or Semechonitis, which has several 
 otjier tributary streams, and is, perhaps, better entitled 
 to be considered as the source of the Jordan than
 
 JORDAN 
 
 [577 ] 
 
 JOS 
 
 any other place to which this honor is assigned. 
 Leaving this lake, the river runs in a southerly direc- 
 tion for about 120 or 130 miles; in its way passing 
 through the lake of Tiberias, and loses itself in the 
 Dead sea. See Canaan, p. 232. 
 
 It is not to be expected that we should have a very 
 accurate description of the dimensions of this cele- 
 brated river, considering the great disadvantages 
 under which travellei-s are obliged to make their 
 observations. Modern writers vary much in their 
 accounts as to its breadth ; a comparison of their 
 statements induce a belief that it is about thirty yards 
 in breadth, having a very rapid current, and there- 
 fore discharging a great body of water. The course 
 and channel of the river are accurately described by 
 Maundrell, Burckhardt, and Buckingham. "The 
 whole of the plain," says the last mentioned writer, 
 "from the mountains of Judea on the west, to those 
 of Arabia on the east, may be called the vale of Jor- 
 dan, in a general way ; but in the centre of the plain, 
 which is at least 10 miles broad, the Jordan runs in 
 another, still lower valley, perhaps a mile broad, in 
 some of the widest parts, and a furlong in the nar- 
 rowest. There are close thickets all along the edge 
 of the stream, as well as upon this lower plain, which 
 would afford ample shelter for wild beasts ; and, as 
 the Jordan might overflow its banks when swollen 
 with rains, sufficiently to inundate this lower plain, 
 though it could never reach the upper one, it was, 
 most probably, from these that the lions were driven 
 out from the inundations, which gave rise to the 
 prophet's simile, 'Behold, he shall come up like a 
 lion from the swelling of Jordan, against the habita- 
 tion of the strong,' Jer. xlix. 19 ; 1. 44." (Trav. p. 313.) 
 Volney is positive as to this fact. He says, " In win- 
 ter it overflows its narrow channel ; and, swelled by 
 the rains, forms a sheet of water sometimes a quarter 
 of a league broad. The time of its overflowing is 
 generally in March, when the snows melt on the 
 mountains of the Shaik : at which time, more than 
 any other, its waters are troubled, and of a yellow 
 hue, and its course is impetuous. Its banks are cov- 
 ered with a thick forest of reeds, willows, and various 
 shrubs, which serve as an asylum for wild boars, 
 ounces, jackals, hares, and different kinds of birds." 
 (Travels, vol. ii. p. 300.) Burckhardt, however, is 
 more particular as to the exact course of the river: 
 " The valley of the Jordan, or El Ghor, which may 
 be said to begin at the northern extremity of the lake 
 of Tiberias, has, near Bysan, a direction of north by 
 east and south by west. Its breadth is about two 
 hours. The great number of rivulets which descend 
 from the mountains on both sides, and form numerous 
 pools of stagnant waters, produce, in many places, a 
 pleasing verdtn-e, and a luxuriant growth of wild 
 herbage and grass ; but the greater part of the ground 
 is a parched desert, of which a few spots only are 
 cultivated by the Bedouins .... The river Jordan, 
 on issuing from the lake of Tiberias, flows for about 
 three hours near the western hills, and then turns 
 toward the eastern, on which side it continues its 
 course for several hours. The river flows in a valley 
 of about a quarter of an hour in breadth, which is 
 considerably lower than the rest of the plain of the 
 Ghor : this low valley is covered with high trees of 
 a luxuriant verdure, which afford a striking contrast 
 with the sandy slopes that border it on both sides. 
 The river, where we passed it, was about eighty 
 paces broad, and about three feet deep : this, it must 
 be recollected, was in the midst of summer. In the 
 winter it inundates the plain in the bottom of the 
 73 
 
 narrow valley ; but never rises to the level of the 
 upper plain of the Ghor, which is at least 40 feet 
 above the level of the river." (Trav. p. 344, 345.) 
 
 [The general course of the Jordan has also been 
 described under the article Canaan, pp. 232 and 233, 
 in which latter passage the great valley El Ghor and 
 El Araba, stretching from the Dead sea to the Ela- 
 nitic gulf, is described. This is also done, with still 
 more particularity, under the article Exodus, p. 414. 
 Through this valley it is highly probable that the 
 Jordan, in very ancient times, jMusued its course to 
 the Red sea, until the convulsions occasioned by the 
 destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the sub- 
 sequent filling up of the bottom of the valley by the 
 drifting sand, caused the stoppage of its waters. See 
 under Canaan, p. 238, and Elath, p. 380. R. 
 
 The Talmudists say that " the waters of the Jordan 
 are not fit to sprinkle the unclean, because they are 
 mixed waters ;" meaning, mixed with the waters of 
 other rivers and brooks, which empty themselves into 
 it. The reader will compare with this the opinion 
 of Naaman the Syrian, (2 Kings v. 11, 12.) who prob- 
 ably had received the same notion. Perhaps, too, 
 this their inferiority was well understood, and not 
 forgotten by the prophet of Israel. 
 
 The regular passages over the Jordan were, (1.) 
 Jacob's bridge, between the lakes Merom and 
 Gennesareth, said to be the place where Jacob met 
 his brother Esau, and where he wrestled with an 
 angel. — (2.) A bridge at Chammath, at the issue of 
 the river from the lake of Gennesareth. — (3.) A ferry 
 at Beth-abara, 2 Sam. xix. 18 ; 2 Kings ii. 8. — (4.) It 
 is probable that there was another at Bethshan, or 
 Scythopolis. 
 
 The phrase " beyond Jordan," in the early books 
 of Moses and in Joshua, sometimes means the west 
 of the river; but subsequently, that is, when the 
 Hebrews had taken possession of the country, the 
 term has the opposite meaning, denoting the country 
 east of the river. 
 
 I. JOSEPH, son of Jacob and Rachel, was born 
 in Mesopotamia. He was favored by God, in his 
 youth, with prophetic dreams, and his father, Jacob, 
 loved him tenderly, and gave him a coat of many 
 coloi-s ; or rather a long robe, as a mark of partial 
 paternal aflfection. His brothers became jealous of 
 these marks of affection ; and Joseph unconsciously 
 increased the evil disposition in them, by accusing 
 them of some crime, or by reporting to his father 
 their wicked discourses; but, above all, by relating 
 to them certain dreams, in one of which he had seen 
 twelve sheaves, belonging to them, bow before his 
 sheaf, which stood upright in the field. His father 
 heard the relation without remark ; but his brethren 
 coidd not bear the allusion. Being sent by his father 
 to visit his brethren, they conspired against him, and 
 would have slain him; but Reuben opposing this, 
 they threw him into an old well, which bad no water ; 
 and soon after, perceiving a caravan of Midianhe 
 merchants going into Egy|)t, they sold him, and de- 
 ceived Jacob into a Wilief of his destruction by a wild 
 beast. 
 
 The merchants? carried Joseph into Egj^pt, and 
 sold him as a slave to Potiphar, an officer of Pha- 
 raoh, whose confidence he soon obtained, and was 
 by him made steward of his house, and director of 
 ail his domesric aflTairs, Gen. xxxix. But Potiphar's 
 wife, conceiving a criminal passion for him, solicited 
 him to gratify her desires ; and at Inst pressed him 
 so closelv, that he could only escape by leaving his 
 cloak in her possession. Seeing herself thus de-
 
 JOSEPH 
 
 [578 ] 
 
 JOSEPH 
 
 tipised, she cried out, and complained that the young 
 Hebrew had offered her violence, showing his cloak 
 as evidence against him. Potiphar, believing him to 
 be guilty, threw Joseph into prison, where by his 
 conduct he soon obtained the confidence of the war- 
 den, and was made overseer. It so happened that 
 two of the king's officers, his butler and baker, hav- 
 ing incurred his displeasure, were put into the sajne 
 prison with Joseph. Each of them had a dream in 
 reference to himself, which Joseph explained, and 
 his interpretation of both was fulfilled. The butler 
 was restored to his dignity, but did not remember 
 Joseph. Two years after this event, Pharaoh had 
 dreams by which he was pei-plexed, but which none 
 of his wise men were able to ex])lain. His butler at 
 length remembered Joseph, whom Pharaoli com- 
 manded to be brought into his presence. The king 
 related his dreams, and Joseph interpreted them ; 
 foretelling a prodigious plenty, which would be suc- 
 ceeded by exhausting famine ; to guard against the 
 consequences of which he recommended that a pru- 
 dent man should be appointed to lay up stores, dur- 
 ing the season of plenty. His counsel was approved 
 by Pharaoh, and himself appointed to the office. 
 The king also put his own ring on Joseph's finger, 
 clothed him in fine linen, or cotton, put a chain "of 
 gold about his neck, made him ride in the chariot 
 next to his own, and gave orders to proclaim liim 
 governor of all Egypt. He changed his name to 
 Zapimath-paaneah, which in Egyptian signifies 
 "Saviour of tha world," a liigh-sounding title, like 
 those given to oriental princes at the present day. 
 Joseph married Aseiiath, daughter of Potiplierah, 
 priest of On, or Heliopolis, by v/hom ho had two 
 sons, Manassch and Ej)hraim. 
 
 During the famine which had been foretold, and 
 which extended to Canaan, Jacob, reduced to extrem- 
 ities, sent his sons into Egypt to purchase corn, re- 
 taining only Benjamin, his beloved one, at home. 
 On their arrival they were introduced to Joseph, 
 and stated the nature of their errand. Joseph im- 
 mediately recognized his brethren, but being desirous 
 to obtain from tliem an artless statement of their 
 family circumstances, and especially an account of 
 his father Jacob and his brother Benjamin, he as- 
 sumed a great sternness of manners, affected to doubt 
 the tnuh of their story, and accused them of being 
 spies. This had.the desired effect ; the sons of Jacob 
 prostrated themselves before him, and related their 
 artless tale. Joseph, however, detained them three 
 days in custody, probably to observe them more nar- 
 rowly, or to awaken in them a proper sense of the 
 misconduct which had marked their past lives, and 
 then consented that they should, with the exception 
 of Simeon, return to their father, and bring back 
 Benjamin. Feelings of remorse were now awakened 
 in their minds, and they exclaimed with one voice, 
 " We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that 
 we saw the anguish of liis soid, when he besouglit 
 us, and wo would not hear; therefore is this distri;ss 
 come ui)on us." Jacob was greatly afflicted at the 
 command to send Benjamin into Egypt, the reason 
 for which lie could not comprehend, but after a se- 
 vere struggle with his feelings, consented that he 
 should d(!part with his brothers. They again arrived 
 in Egypt, and were introfluced into the presence of 
 Joseph, who, scarcely able to conceal the yearnings 
 of his affection towards Bi'njamin, ordered a dinner 
 to be prepared. After this they were sent off" on 
 their journey, but an expedient was resorted to by 
 Joseph again to bring them back. Their corn was 
 
 loaded, and in Benjamin's sack was concealed, by 
 Joseph's orders, his silver cup. Scarcely had they 
 left the city, therefore, when they were pursued, 
 charged with re ibery, and brought back trembling 
 into the presenc '. of their brother. The time had 
 now arrived for the discovery to be made. The 
 hearts of his brethren had been fully laid bare before 
 Joseph, and he felt convinced that they had deeply 
 bewailed and deprec&ted their former cruel demeanor 
 towards him. He threw off" his disguise, embraced 
 them with all the ardor of genuine affection, and 
 such a scene ensued as only the pen of inspiration 
 could jtirtray. (See Gen. xiiii. xliv. xlv.) Joseph im- 
 mediater,', with the approbation of Pharaoh, sent for 
 his father, and the land of Goshen was appropriated 
 for the residence of the family. 
 
 But we must glance at the affairs of Egypt during 
 this period, in relation to Joseph's adn)inistration. 
 During the years of famine the Egyptians necessa- 
 rily purchased their supplies of corn from the royal 
 granaries ; and in order to obtain these they parted 
 first with their mone}-, next with their cattle, and 
 then with their lands and persons. Their lands and 
 cattle were restored, on condition of the payment of 
 a fifth part of their crops to tlie king. 
 
 Joseph attended the death-bed of his venerable 
 parent, who gave to the two children of his favorite 
 son — Ephraim and Manasseh — portions among the 
 tribes, and assured Joseph that the Lord would again 
 bring his family into the land of his fathers. At this 
 time Joseph was about 56 years of age ; he is sup- 
 posed to have lived 54 years afterwards, and then 
 died in Egj^pt, " by faith iriaking mention of the de- 
 parting of the children of Israel, and giving com- 
 mandment concerning his bones " — i. e. that his 
 brethren should cany them up into Canaan when 
 they departed thence, Heb. xi. 22 ; Gen. xlvi. — I. 
 After his death, his body was put into a stone coffin, 
 and was cai'ried away at the exodus, Exod. xiii. 19. 
 The tribe of Ephraim buried it near Shechem, iu 
 the fi^ld which Jacob had given to Joseph, Josh, 
 xxiv. 32. 
 
 There are one or two incidents in the life of Jo- 
 seph that seem to require further notice than we 
 could give them in this brief narrative. 
 
 A difficulty has suggested itself to the minds of 
 some persons Avith reference to Joseph's cup, men- 
 tioned in Gen. xlv. 5. In oin- translntion it is said, 
 not only that it was the cup out of v,'hich he drank, 
 but the one also " whereby he divineth." Now, as 
 divination is by no means a study which reflects 
 honor on the character of Joseph, interpreters, who 
 are jealous of the patriarch's piety, give another ren- 
 dering to the passage — " and for which he woidd 
 aem'ch accurately." So ver. 5, instead of "know you 
 not that such a man as I can certainly diviiic'?" they 
 render, " I woidd search cnrefuUy ;" i. e. for the cup. 
 Without disputing these ideas, Mr. Taylor proposes 
 a diffi'rent import of the ))assage. Dining one day, 
 he remarks, with a relation, he took particular notice 
 of a SILVER CUP, used as a salt-cellar, which was a 
 present from a friend, who had j-eceived it from a 
 governor of Madras. This cuj) was three inches 
 long, and two inches and a third wide at the brim ; 
 which at bottom was diminished to an inch and 
 three quarters long, and an inch and one third wide. 
 It had two handles, one at each end ; and was orna- 
 mented with comjiartnients, filled with flowers, tfcc. 
 in relief, on the sides. The centre compartments 
 contained Arul)ic inscriptions, in relief also. It was 
 an inch and a half in depth ; and was cut oft'oblique-
 
 JOSEPH 
 
 579 ] 
 
 JOSEPH 
 
 ly at ihe corners. It was the custom, it seems, for 
 the town of Madras (probably not the Eiu-opean part 
 of it) to make every new governor, as a token of re- 
 spect, a present of a similar cup, out of which to 
 drink liis arrack after dinner. The governor's name 
 and titles, with those of the parties who presented 
 it, compose, ])robably, the Arabic inscriptions upon 
 it. Now such was, as he thijiks, Joseph's cup ; i. e. 
 like this, small, fit for the hand to cover and slip away ; 
 (turned Jjottom upward, it exactly fills the hand ; 
 thereby rendering Benjamin's theft plausible ;) it 
 was a cup used at table, in the cheerful hours of 
 drinking, after the meal was ended ; so that Benja- 
 min was charged with having abused the hospitality 
 and confidence of Joseph ; it was a cup of privilege, 
 such as the to^\^l could not be suj)posed to furnish 
 the fellow of; so that Benjamin could not pretend 
 he had bought it ; but all the citizens must have been 
 witnesses, that this was their present (properly in- 
 scribed) to their governor, and nmst have been in- 
 terested accordingly. [But tiiere is no necessity for 
 this far-fetched attempt at illustration. The Hebrew- 
 word D.-.J, narhash, translated to divine, has this mean- 
 ing also in the intellectual sense, i. e. to conjecture, 
 guess out, e. g. divine that some one would take the 
 cup, or who had got the cup. R. 
 
 This view of the subject absolves Joseph from the 
 crime and folly of divination. The following extract, 
 hoA\ever, may serve to shoAV that, at anv rate, a par- 
 ticular cup, annexed to his office by way of distinc- 
 tion, was neither peculiar to the ancient governor of 
 the Egyptian metropolis, nor to the modern governor 
 of ]Madras : " One day, Ras jMichael, [who was gov- 
 ernor of the province of Tigre, and jirime-minister 
 of tlie kingdom,] dining with Kasmati Gita, the 
 queen's brother, who was governor of Samen, and 
 drinking out of a coimiiou glass decanter, called 
 Brulhe, when it is the privilege and custom of the 
 governor of Tigre to use a gold cup ; being asked 
 why he did not claim his j)rivilege, he said, ' All 
 the gold he had ivas in heaven ,-' alluding to the name 
 of the mountain Samayat, where his gold \\as sur- 
 rendered, which word siguiiies heaven. The king, who 
 liked this kind of jests, of Avhich Michael was full, 
 on hearing this, sent him a gold cup, with a note 
 written, and placed within it, ' Happy are they who 
 place their riches in heaven ;' which Michael di- 
 rected to be engi-aved by one of the Greeks upon 
 the cup itself. What became of it, I know not ; I 
 saw it the first day he dined after coming fi-om coun- 
 cil, at his return from Tigre, after the execution of 
 Jlbba Salamana ; but I never observed it fit Ser- 
 braxos, nor since. I heard, indeed, a Greek say, he 
 had sent it as a present to a church of Saint JMicha^el, 
 in Tigr^." (Bruce's Travels, vol. ii. p. 657.) The 
 reader will notice the engraving, the inscription, on 
 this cup of privilege. 
 
 Joseph has been severely censured by some writei-s 
 for his method of procuring, for the king of Egj'jit, 
 the propei-ly and persons of the inhabitants in ex- 
 change for food ; but it should not be overlooked, 
 that the thought seemed to originate with the people 
 themselves, and that probably it was not uiicommon 
 in those times. The .subjoined extract from thc^ 
 Gentoo Laws, (p. 140.) will support this idea, and 
 inform us, fiirther, on what terms the slave might 
 regain that liberty which he had been induced to 
 pledge, in the hour of distress. This institute cer- 
 tainly differs in this respect from that of Joseph, who 
 laid a perpetual land-tax of four shillings in the pound 
 on the Egyptians, but suffered them to retain the use 
 
 of their property. " Whoevei", having received his 
 victuals from a person during the time of a famine, 
 hath become his slave, upon giving to his provider 
 whatever he received from him during the time of 
 the famine, and also two head of cattle, may become 
 free from his servitiule, according to the ordination 
 of Pacheshputtee IVIisr. — Approved. Chendusar 
 upon this head speaks thus : ' that he who has re- 
 ceived victuals during a famine, ;iiid hath, by those 
 means, become a slave, on giving two head of cattle 
 to his provider, may become free.' Whoever, having 
 been given up as a pledge for money lent, performs 
 service to the creditor, recovers his liberty whenever 
 the debtor discharges the debt; if the debtor neglects 
 to pay the creditor his money, and takes no thought 
 of the person whom he left as a pledge, that person 
 becomes the purchased slave of the creditor. Who- 
 ever, being unable to pay his creditor a debt, hath 
 borrowed a sum of money from another person, and 
 paid his fomier creditor therewith, and hath thus 
 become a slave to the second creditor ; or who, to si- 
 lence the importunities of his creditor's demands, 
 hath yielded himself a slave to that creditor, such kind 
 of slaves shall not be released from servitude, mitil 
 payment of the debts. 
 
 May not these principles suggest some sort of 
 reason why Pharaoh retained the Israelites in bond- 
 age ? i. e. that their fathers had originally been sup- 
 ported in Egjpt, and then- lives presened in time of 
 famme, by Egj'ptiau benevolence ? It is true, the 
 Pharaohs of the former dynasty might have consid- 
 ered the sustaining of Israel as a small return for 
 advantages derived by Egypt from the wisdom of 
 Joseph;" but this Pharaoh "knew not Joseph;" he 
 either was wilfully ignorant of past events, or disre- 
 garded, disacknowledged Joseph ; or was of a new 
 race, from a distant country, and treated as a fable 
 the services that "Saviour "of the Egjptian world" 
 had formerly rendered the kingdom. That the Is- 
 raelites were co)isidered in the light of bondmen 
 is openly acknowledged, " Thou shah say to thy son, 
 We were Pharaoli's bondmen, in Egjpt :" " Thou 
 shalt remember thou wast a bondman in the laud of 
 Egj'pt, and Jehovah, thy God, redeemed thee," 
 Deut. vi. 21 ; xv. 15. That bondmeu were taken for 
 debt appears from the fears of Jacob's sons: (Gen. 
 xHii. Id.) "Because of the money that was in our 
 sacks — he mav take us for boudnieu." So (chap, 
 xliv. 33.) Juda'h offers himself to be a bondman, in- 
 stead of Benjamin; and that this custom contmued 
 long after, we learn from 2 Kings iv. 1, where the 
 prophet's widow complains, "the creditor may take 
 my children for bond-slaves, we being unable to pay 
 liijii ;" and from Matt, xviii. 25 : "But, whereas, he 
 had not jjropcrtv to pay with, his lord connuanded 
 him to be sold," his wife, and his children, and all 
 that he had." 
 
 But another consideration presents itself in look- 
 ing at the payment imposed on the Egyptians by 
 Joseph. Was this the only tax they paid to Pharaoh 
 in support of his government ? If it were, it is much 
 more easily vindicated than some have thought; it 
 being evident that the nation could not repay what 
 they had received, in kind ; or, indeed, in any mode, 
 except by their productive labor, which operated as 
 an annuitv in favor of Pharaoh. 
 
 II. JOSEPH, son of Jacob, and giandson of 
 Matthan, husband of 3Iarv, and foster-father of 
 Christ, Matt. i. 15, 16. His age, and other circum- 
 stances of his life, excepting what are related m the 
 Gospels, are uncertain. Many of the ancients be-
 
 JOS 
 
 [ 580 
 
 JOSHUA 
 
 lieved that before his marriage with the Virgin, he 
 had a wife, named Escha, or Mary, by whom he liad 
 James the Less, and those who are called in Scrip- 
 ture, " brethren" of our Lord. But this opinion is 
 not maintainable, since Maiy the mother of James 
 was living at the time of our Saviour's passion, and 
 It IS not probable that she had been divorced by Jo- 
 seph, to marry the Virgin, or that he was married at 
 the same time to two sisters ; which is contraiy to 
 the law. Lev. xviii. 18. Joseph (Mati. i. 19.) was a 
 just man; (see AnxVunciation ;) his ordinary abode 
 was at Nazareth, particularly after his marriage ; and 
 he lived by labor, at a trade, (Matt. xiii. 55, Oi/ ovtuq 
 ioTiy 6 rot} rexTurog k'o;,) which has been generally 
 thought to be that of a carpenter. It is thought that 
 he died before Jesus entered upon his public ministry. 
 
 in. JOSEPH BARSABAS, the Just, Avho was 
 proposed to fill up the traitor Judas's place, Acts 
 i. 23. 
 
 IV. JOSEPH of Arimathea was a Jewish sena- 
 tor, and privately a disciple of Christ, John xix. 38. 
 He did not consent to the acts of the Sanliedrim, who 
 coudenmed Jesus ; and when our Saviour was dead, 
 he went boldly to Pilate and desired the body, that 
 he might bury it, Avliich he did, in his own tomb, 
 Mark xv. 43 ; 'John xix. 38, &c. 
 
 I. JOSES, sou of Mary and Cleophas, was brother 
 of James the Less, and nearly related to our Lord, 
 being son of the Virgin's sister, and of Cleophas, 
 Joseph's brother, 3Iark xv. 40, 47. 
 
 II. JOSES, see Barnabas. 
 
 I. JOSHUA, son of Nun, by the Greeks called 
 Jesus, sou of Nave, was of the tribe of Ephraim ; 
 and is connnonly called the servant of Moses. His 
 first name was Oshea, (Numb. xiii. 8, 16.) which 
 some believe Moses changed, by adding that of God 
 to it. Oshea signifies saviour ;*Jehoshua, </ie salva- 
 tion of God, or he will save. In the New Testament 
 he is ^called Jesus, wiiich signifies the same. Acts 
 vii. 45 ; Heb. iv. 8. Joshua displayed his valor 
 against the Amalekites, and routed their whole army. 
 When Moses went up mount Sinai, to receive the 
 law, and remained there forty days and forty nights, 
 Joshua abode with him, though in all probability 
 not in the same place, nor with the same abstinence ; 
 and when Moses descended from the mountain, 
 Joshua heard the noise of the people, shouting about 
 the golden calf, and thought it was the cry of battle, 
 Exod. xxxii. 17. 
 
 Joshua was very constant at the tabernacle of the 
 congregation ; of which he had the care and custody, 
 (Exod. xxxiii. 11.) and seems to have dwelt in or 
 near it. When tlie people came to Kadesh-Barnea, 
 he, with others, was deputed to survey the land of 
 Canaan ; and wlien these depiuies returned, and 
 represented tlie difiiculties of conquering the country 
 as extremely great, Joshua and Caleb maintained, 
 tiiat tlic conquest was easy, if the Lord were with 
 thcni. Tlic murnuu-crs were all excluded from the 
 land of promise ; but God promised Joshua and Ca- 
 lel) that they should enter and possess it. 
 
 When Moses was nr;ir his end, God conmianded 
 him to lay his bauds on Joshua, to communicate to 
 him part of his spirit, and his glory, that the people 
 might obey him. After the death of Moses, he took 
 the command of the Israelites; and after leading 
 them into the promised land, fiibduing their enemies, 
 and dividing the country among the tribes, he called 
 them together, recapitulated the favors they had re- 
 ceived from God, and exhorted them to continue 
 faithful. He then made a covenant on the part of 
 
 God with them, and the people reciprocally engaged 
 to sei-ve the Lord. Joshua wrote it in the book of 
 the law of the Lord ; and to preserve the memory 
 of this transaction, he erected a very large stone, 
 under the oak, near Shechem. He died, aged a hun- 
 dred and ten, A. M. 2570. 
 
 II. JOSHUA, a high-priest, see Jeshua. 
 
 III. JOSHUA, THE BOOK OF, is generally attributed 
 to the pei-son whose name it bears, though it con- 
 tains certain terms, names of places, and particu- 
 lar circumstances, which do not agree with his time. 
 These are accouiued for, by supposing that the book 
 has been revised, and that additions and corrections 
 were made by Ezra in his edition. 
 
 The Samaritans have a copy of this book, which 
 they preserve with respect, and use in support of 
 their pretensions against the Jews. It contains forty- 
 seven chapters, filled with fables and childish stories, 
 commencing where Moses chooses Joshua to succeed 
 him. It relates the history of Balaam ; of the war 
 of Moses against the Midianites, with the occasion 
 of it ; of Balaam's death ; of the death of Moses, 
 and the lamentation made for him. It relates the 
 passage of the river Jordan at large ; the taking of 
 Jericho ; and adds a great number of miracles which 
 are not in the genuine book of Joshua. It describes 
 a certain war which it mentions to have been carried 
 on against Saiibec, son of Heman, king of Persia, 
 with the addition of a thousand i'abulous circum- 
 stances. After the death of Joshua, it names one 
 Tei-fico, of the tribe of Ephraim, for his successor. 
 There are some other apocryphal works ascribed 
 to Joshua ; but they carry their own refutation. 
 
 Upon the miracle wrought at the word of Joshua, 
 recorded in Josh. x. 12 — 14, much has been written. 
 Objectors have urged that the language of Joshua, in 
 correspondence with which the miracle is said to 
 have occurred, is not in accordance whh the ascer- 
 tained economy of the universe ; and that if even 
 this objection could be disposed of, an unanswerable 
 one against the fact would remain, because such an 
 occurrence must have involved the whole system m 
 a common ruin. To these objections it has been re- 
 plied, (1.) that the Hebrew general expressed himself 
 in popular language, as, indeed, he was compelled to 
 do, unless he would have incurred the charge of in- 
 sanity ; and, (2.) that the miracle consisted in an ex- 
 traordinary refraction of the solar and lunar rays, 
 and did not imply any cessation of the motion of the 
 heavenly bodies. In support of this view of the 
 transaction, IMr. Taylor has an essay, the close of 
 which we lay before the reader. 
 
 It must be granted, that Joshua saiv the objects 
 respecting which he spake. E. g. that looking toward 
 the Sim, he beheld the place of that luminary, and 
 its rays shining abroad ; then turning towards the 
 place of the moon in the heavens, he beheld that 
 luminary also ; so that both luminaries were above 
 the horizon (therefore visible) at the time when he 
 uttered these words : " Thou sun — thou moon." 
 This supposition is reasonable enough, and, indeed, 
 imdeniable ; but its consequences are important, and 
 influence the whole history. It shows, (1.) that the 
 time of the year was about midsummer, when the 
 sun is at its highest northern station ; (2.) that it was 
 at nearly full moon, because then the moon would 
 be visible in the heavens at the close of the day ; 
 yet would shine all night till the next morning ; (3-) 
 that it was toward the close of day, because before 
 the evening of tlui day, there was no occasion for 
 the desire of prolonged light.
 
 JOSHUA 
 
 [581 ] 
 
 JOS 
 
 Now, if the light of the moon were wanted, she 
 could dispense that while pursuing her course ; so 
 that there was no need for her standing still, in order 
 to shine on any supposed spot, whether Ajalou, or 
 elsewhere. If the light of the sun were wanted, 
 his rays might be so hiflected as to enlighten parts 
 much more south than they otherwise would have 
 done ; and their motion might accompany that of 
 his orb along the horizon. Cousetiucutly, tliere was 
 no need for keeping him standing still, in order to 
 his shining on any particular spot, whether Gibeon, 
 or elsewhere. At London the length of the longest 
 day, and those adjacent to it, is sixteen hoiu'S and a 
 half; and the twilight (not night) is only seven hours 
 and a half: — if we transfer this idea from the latitude 
 of Loudon, 52 deg. 30 min. to that of Judea, 35 deg. 
 30 min. wo shall hnd that the longest day at Jerusa- 
 lem is about fifteen hours: to this add a twilight of 
 an hoiu" and a half; which doubled for evening and 
 mornmg, makes three hours ; in all eighteen hours of 
 natural light : — so that, to maintain tlie solar light, 
 during the remaining six hours, until it Avould natu- 
 rally have risen again in the morning, would answer 
 the nature and the purposes of the miracle. Having 
 adverted to the natm-al annual situation and effect 
 of the sun at midsunnuer, in the latitude of Loudon, 
 we may now perceive, that what was a miracle of 
 protracted light in Judea, would have been a much 
 less (a shorter) miracle at London ; since, had the 
 solar light by any means been elevated ten or fifteen 
 degrees, during an hour or two, it would have shone 
 all night upon London. Advancing, therefore, 
 toward the yio\e, if at the north of Scotland, or the 
 Shetland islands, the light had been elevated half 
 that quantity, and during half that time, it would 
 have siione all night there ; as at Iceland, Norway, 
 Sweden, &c. without any unusual elevation, it actu- 
 ally does shine all night at the midsummer time of 
 the year. This fact does not rest on astronomical 
 calculations only ; there are hundreds of witnesses 
 of it; any person who has been a Greenland voyage is 
 sufficient evidence, and will confirm it ; he will de- 
 scribe the course of the sun as circulating all round 
 the horizon, but not sinking below it ; not merely 
 during one night, but during a whole month, or two 
 months ; making perpetual day, and being constantly 
 visible. 
 
 It is well known that the cliief, if not the only, 
 objection, to this miracle is, that it disturbed the 
 whole progress of nature ; if it stopped the sun in 
 his course, it must, it is said, have made a double 
 day to a whole hemisphere ; and a double night to 
 the other hemisphere ; with all their attendant effects. 
 So, if it delayed the moon in her course, it must 
 have made this month (or lunar revolution) longer 
 than any other ; must have kept th(! tides stationary, 
 or have increased them so exceedingly where it was 
 high tide, that great inundations must have ensued ; 
 while the want of water would have been equally 
 felt where it was low water. The object of this 
 reasoning, then, is to show that the lunar orb was 
 not stopped one moment, but kept on her course ; 
 yet maintaining her brightest beams on the valley of 
 Ajalon, and the country adjacent, where the enemy 
 were flying ; — for the history itself expresses that 
 they did not stay all night in the valley of Ajalon, or 
 on any other spot, but fled to a great distance ; conse- 
 quently, when they were gone, the moon's light 
 might be spared from the valley. On the same prin- 
 ciple is suggested, the perfect indifference to Joshua, 
 whether the solar light were fixed in one point, or 
 
 whether it kept moving along the horizon ; provided 
 it gave him light, that was all he wanted ; and this 
 it would equally do, in motion, as at rest. 
 
 This statement of the subject answers, in Mr. 
 Taylor's opinion, every objection respecting the in- 
 jury done, l)y disturbing the progress of nature, since 
 it shows that, in fact, the progress of nature was 
 neither delayed nor accelerated, but maintained its 
 regular proceeding. The moon was not delayed in 
 her course ; neither was the sun, but his light kept 
 moving along the horizon that night, in Judea, as it 
 does now annually in the Shetland islands, or at 
 Tornea, in Lapland ; where the body of the sun 
 (which is not necessary in this miracle) is visible at 
 luidnight, before and after the solstice. 
 
 JOSIAH, son of Anion, king of Judah, and Jedi- 
 dah, daughter of Adaiah, of Boscath, (2 Kings xxii.) 
 began to reign when eight years of age, ante A. D. 
 641. He did right in the sight of the Lord, and 
 walked in the ways of David. He began to seek 
 after God fi-om the eighth year of his reign, which was 
 the sixteenth year of his age; and in the twelfth 
 year of his reign, he cleared Judah and Jerusalem 
 from high places, groves, idols, and superstitious im- 
 ages ; and visited, for the same purpose, the cities of 
 Ephraim, Manasseh, Simeon, and Naphtali, which 
 he is tliought to have held under the kings of Chal- 
 dca. lie next proceeded to repair the temple of 
 the Lord, which in the preceding reigns had been 
 neglected. As the workmen were removing the 
 money which had been offered by the Israelites at the 
 temple, the high-priest Hilkiah found in the treasury- 
 chamber "a book of the law of the Lord given by 
 IMoses," which is thought to have been the original 
 of the law, found either in some wall, or chest, — for 
 it ap])eais, that the ark was not then in the sanctu- 
 ary, since Josiah commands the priests to restore it to 
 its place, and forbids them to carry it about any 
 more. Josiah, having heard this book read, rent his 
 clothes, and sent to Huldah the prophetess for advice ; 
 after which he convened the elders of Judah and 
 Jerusalem, and went up with them to the temple of 
 the Lord. Here he read to them the book lately 
 found, and made a covenant with God, engaging to 
 Avaik in his ways, and to observe his precepts and 
 ordinances ; and he made the assembly promise the 
 same. He afterwards ordered the destruction of all 
 the i-emains of superstitious and idolatrous monu- 
 ments in Jerusalem and Judah : he cut off the 
 soothsayers, those who worshipped the stars, and 
 the sodomites ; and enjoined those priests who had 
 ofi'ered sacrifices on the high places, to desist. He 
 defiled Tophet and the valley of Hinnom, and pro- 
 faned all places which had been consecrated to 
 superstition and idolatry, filling them with dead 
 men's bones, and breaking down the statues which 
 were in tliem. lie dcmolisheil the altar erected by 
 Jeroboam at JJethel, and dug up the bones of the 
 false prophets and piiests of the golden calves, but 
 spared the sepulchre of the pro|)het whom the Lord 
 bad sent to prophesy against Jeroboam, 1 Kings xiii. 
 31, 32. Josiah afterwards commanded all his people 
 to keep the passover according to the law, and 
 Scripture says, that from the time of the judges, and 
 during the reigns of all the kings, no passover had 
 been kept like this; and that no king before Josiah 
 turned as he did to the Lord with all his heart, with 
 all his soul, and with all his strength. 
 
 Some years afterwards, Pharaoh Necho, king of 
 Egypt, desiring to pass througli Judea, to attack the 
 city of Carchemish on the Euphrates, Josiah opposed
 
 \ 
 
 JUB 
 
 [ 582 ] 
 
 JUBILEE 
 
 his passage at Megiddo, at the foot of Carmel, and 
 was mortally wounded ; he died at Jerusalem, ante 
 A. D. 610. The people mourned very much for his 
 death, and Jeremiah composed an elegy on the oc- 
 casion. Josiah was buried with the kings his pred- 
 ecessors at Jerusalem, and the people made Jehoa- 
 haz, or Shallum, one of his sons, king in his stead. 
 Jesus, the son of Sirach, speaks highly of king Josi- 
 ah, Ecclus. xlix. 1, &c. 
 
 There were several prophets in Judah while Josiah 
 reigned ; Jeremiah and Baruch, Joel and Zephaniah ; 
 as also the prophetess Huldah. Some critics have 
 been of opinion, that the Lamentations of Jeremiah, 
 which are now extant, were composed on the death 
 of Josiah ; and that these are the Lamentations men- 
 tioned in 2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25, which were so cel- 
 ebrated, that they continued to l)e sung long after. 
 But this opinion is certainly wrong. Tiie mourning 
 of the people on the death of this prince, passed, as 
 it were, into a proverb ; and the prophet Zecliariah, 
 (xii. 11.) speaking of the lamentation of future ages 
 at the death of the Messiah, alludes to that of Josiah, 
 as " the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valloj' of 
 Megiddo." 
 
 JOTBATHAH, an encampment of Israel, in the 
 wilderness, between Gidgad and Ebronah, Numb. 
 xxxiii. 34. See Exodus. 
 
 I. JOTHAM, Gideon's youngest son, escaped the 
 slaughter which the inhabitants of Ophrah made of 
 bis seventy brethren, Judg. ix. 5. The men and 
 soldiers of Shechem, having made Abimelech, who 
 had executed this bloody deed, king because he was 
 their countryman, Jotham went up to the top of 
 mount Gerizun, whence he addressed them in the 
 famous fable of the trees, and then fled to Beer. We 
 know not what became of him after this, but his 
 prediction against Shechem and Abimelech was 
 soon accomplished, Jiidg. ix. 5, &c. 
 
 II. JOTHAM, son and successor of Uzziah, or 
 Azariah, king of Judah, who having been smitten 
 with a leprosy for attempting to offer incense, (2 
 Chron. xxvi. 16, 17.) the government was committed 
 to Jotham his son, ante A. D. 783. After having gov- 
 erned twenty-live years he assumed the title of king, 
 and reigned alone sixteen years, to ante A. D. 742 ; so 
 that he governed Judah forty-one years. He did 
 right in the sight of the Lord, and imitated the piety 
 of his father Uzziah, but did not destroy the high 
 places. He built the great gate of the temple, and 
 other works on the walls of Jerusalem, in Ophel, and 
 also caused forts and castles to be erected in the 
 mountains and in the forests of Judah. The Am- 
 monites, who had been brought into subjection by 
 Uzziah his father, having attempted to revolt, he 
 deff^ated them, and imposed on them a tribute; of a 
 hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures 
 of wheat, with as many of barley. Towards the 
 end of his reign, the Lord sent Rezin, king of Syria, 
 and Pckah, king of Israel, against him ; and it ap- 
 pears from Isa. i. that Judah was in a very melan- 
 choly condition in the beginning of the reign of 
 Ahaz, liis son and successor. 
 
 JUBx\L, son of Lamech and Adah, and the inventor 
 of musical instnmients, Gen. iv. 21. 
 
 JUBILEE, a Hebrew festival, celebrated in the 
 fiftieth year which occurred after seven weeks of 
 years, or seven times seven years, Lev. xxv. 10. 
 Several commentators, however, maintain that it was 
 celebrated in the forty-ninth year, the last year of the 
 eeyenth week of years, and Lev. xxv. 8, "favors this 
 opinion : " Thou shall number seven sabbaths of 
 
 years, seven tunes seven years, and the space of 
 seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and 
 nine years." It is also remarked, that it would have 
 involved many inconveniences to have celebrated 
 the jubilee in the fiftieth year, after the sabbatical 
 rest of the forty-ninth year. Our limits will not per- 
 mit of entering into this controvers}', which, after all, 
 involves no question of moment. 
 
 If we were certain that the civil year began at a 
 different time from the ecclesiastical year, that 
 would solve the difficulty ; that is, the fiftieth year, 
 by one account, might begin before the forty-ninth 
 year, by the other account, was fully completed. Be- 
 sides, we know that any part of a year was reckoned 
 as a whole year, by the Hebrews, as it commonly is 
 in the East. 
 
 The jubilee year began on the first day of Tizri, 
 (the first month of the civil year,) and about the au- 
 tumnal equinox. During the year no one either 
 sowed or reaped ; but all were satisfied with what 
 the earth and the trees jn-oduced spontaneously. 
 Each resumed possession of his inheritance, whether 
 it were sold, mortgaged, or alienated ; and Hebrew 
 slaves of every description were set free, with their 
 wives and children. Lev. xxv. The first nine days 
 were spent in festivity, during which no one woiked, 
 and every one put a crown on his head. On the 
 tenth day, which was the day of solemn expiation, 
 the Sanhedrim ordered the trumpets to sound, anil 
 instantly the slaves were declared free, tand the lands 
 returned to their hereditary owners. This law was 
 mercifully designed to prevent the rich from oppress- 
 ing the poor, and reducing them to perpetual sla- 
 very ; and also to jirevent their getting possession of 
 all the lands by purchase, mortgage, or usurpation ; 
 that debts should not be multiplied too much ; and that 
 slaves should not continue, with their wives and chil- 
 dren, in perpetual bondage. Besides, Moses intend- 
 ed to preserve, as much as possible, the liberty of 
 persons, a due proportion of fortunes, and the order 
 of families ; as well as that the people should be 
 bound to their country, their lands, and inheritances; 
 and that they should cherish an afTection for them, 
 as estates descended from their ancestors, and to be 
 transmitted to their jjosterity. 
 
 There were several privileges belonging to the 
 jubilee year, which did not belong to the sabbatical 
 year ; though the latter had some advantage above 
 the former. The sabbatical year anmdled debts, 
 which the jubilee did not; but the jubilee restored 
 slaves to their liberty, and lands to their owners; be- 
 sides which, it made restitution of the lands imme- 
 diately on the beginning of the jubilee ; Avhcreas, in 
 the sabbatical year, debts were not discharged till its 
 close. Houses and other edifices built in walled towns 
 did not return to the ])ro[)rictor in the jubilee year. 
 
 After the captivity of Babylon, the Jews continued 
 to observe the sabbatical, l)ut not the jid)ilce, year. 
 Alexander the Great granted the Jews an exemption 
 from tribute every seventh year, by reason of the 
 rest which they then observed. But as the jubilee 
 was instituted only to prevent the utter destruction 
 of the partition made by Joshua, and the confusion 
 of tribes and families, it was no longer practicable as 
 before the dispersion of the tribes ; those which re- 
 turned from the captivity settling as they could, and 
 where they could, while a great number of famihes, 
 and perhaps whole tribes, continued in the place of 
 their captivity. Usher places the first jubilee afler 
 the promulgation of the law by Moses, A. M. 2609 ; 
 the second, A. M. 2658 ; the third, A. M. 2707.
 
 JUD 
 
 [583] 
 
 JUDAS 
 
 JUDAH, or Jehuda, the fourth son of Jacob and 
 liCah, was born in 3Iesopotamia, A. M. 2249. He 
 advised his brethren to sell Joseph to the IshmaeUte 
 merchants, rather than to imbrue their hands in his 
 blood. He married Shuah, daughter of a Canaanite, 
 named Hirah, and had three sons by her, Er, Onan, 
 and Shelah, Gen. xxxvii. 26. He married Er to a 
 young woman named Tamar; but Er died prema- 
 turel}'. Judah required Onan his second son to 
 marry his brother's widow, and to raise up seed to 
 him; but Onan eluded the purpose of his father, 
 and the law, and was punished with death. Judah, 
 being afraid to give Shelah his third son to Tamar, 
 amused her with promises, till at length she disguised 
 herself, and taking her seat in a way by which Judah 
 was to pass, she imposed upon his ignorance, and 
 obtained two children by him. See Tamar. 
 
 Judah was always considered as the chief of Ja- 
 cob's children, and his tribe was the most powerful 
 and numerous. The blessing given by Jacob on his 
 death-bed to Judah was as follows : "Judah, thou 
 art he whom thy brethren shall praise, thy hand 
 shall be on the neck of thine enemies, thy father's 
 children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a 
 lion's whelp ; from the prey, my son, thou art gone 
 up : he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an 
 old lion, who shall rouse him up ? The sceptre shall 
 not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between 
 his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the 
 gathering of the people be." This seems to imply 
 a transfer of the birth-right to Judah, Reuben having 
 forfeited it ; and it also includes a promise that the 
 regal power shoidd not go out of his family, and that 
 the Messiah should derive his birth from him. See 
 Shiloh. 
 
 The southern part of Palestine fell to the lot of 
 Judah. (See Canaan.) His tribe was at the exo- 
 dus composed of 74,600 men capable of bearing 
 arms. After the return from the captivity, this tribe 
 in some sort united in itself the whole Hebrew na- 
 tion, who from that time were known only as Judcei, 
 Jews, descendants of Judah. Judah, when named 
 in contradistinction to Israel, or the kingdom of the 
 ten tribes, or Samaria, denotes that of Judah, and of 
 David's descendants. One of the principal preroga- 
 tives of this tribe was, that it preserved the true re- 
 ligion, and the public exercise of the priesthood, 
 with the legal ceremonies in the temple at Jerusa- 
 lem ; while the ten tribes gave themselves up to 
 idolatry, and the worship of the golden calves. 
 
 I. JUDAS MACCABiEUS, son of Mattathias, 
 succeeded his father as captain of the people during 
 the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 Mac. iii. 
 1. He gave numberless proofs of his valor, and of 
 his zeal for God's law, by opposing those who for- 
 sook the Lord, and sacrificed to idols ; and at last 
 fell nobly in battle while opposing the Syrian army, 
 imder Bacchides. Calmet thinks that this great man 
 was one of the figures of the Messiah, the true Saviour 
 of Israel ; and in his opinion, the prediction of Isaiah 
 prophetically referred to him, as a figure of Christ : 
 (chap. Ixiii.) "Who is he that cometh from Edom, 
 with dyed garments from Bozrah ?" &c. 
 
 II. JUDAS ISCARIOT, being chosen by Christ 
 as one of his apostles, and appointed their treasurer, 
 was so wicked as to betray his Lord into the hands 
 of his enemies, for thirty shekels, about fifteen 
 dollars. 
 
 It has been disputed whether Judas partook of the 
 eucharist in the last supper. The affirmative of this 
 opinion is the most general, but it is not recommend- 
 
 ed by considerations of propriety or convenience. 
 That the feet of Judas were washed by our Lord is 
 clear ; and it is equally clear that our Lord marks 
 him as an exception, by saying, " Ye are clean ; but 
 not all." This action was in the introductory pan 
 of the supper. Subsequently, our Lord observes, "I 
 speak not of you all ; — but he that eateth bread with 
 me, hath lift up his heel against me." The traitor 
 was still more distinctly pointed at, when, as they re- 
 clined during the supper, the hand of Judas happened 
 to be placed on the table, at the same time as our 
 Lord's hand was so placed ; and to John he was 
 personally marked by the sop given to him, which 
 sop was dipped in the sauce composed of bitter herbs, 
 that accompanied the paschal lamb. A moment 
 after, he was discovered to all the company, by the 
 answer to his question, "Lord, is it I ?" This was 
 so instant on his receiving the sop, that the evange- 
 list John observes, " Jesus said to him, What yon 
 do, do directly ;" and " he, having received the sop, 
 went immediately out." It is therefore evident, that 
 Judas went out during the paschal supper, but the 
 eucharist was not instituted till after the paschal sup- 
 per had been concluded ; and the last action of that 
 supper was what gave opportunity to the institution 
 of the new rite. To suppose that Jesus would give 
 to Judas the sacramental cup in token of his 
 blood "shedybr the remission of sins," — of sins which 
 Judas had traitorously committed, or which he de- 
 signed traitorously to commit, — is to trifle with this 
 most solemn of subjects ; and, indeed, is a contradic- 
 tion to the evangelist, who says, "When he (Judas) 
 was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man 
 glorified," &c. He then gave warning to Peter of 
 his frailty ; and to all his disciples of their instability. 
 Some of the fathers seem to speak favorably of Ju- 
 das's I'epentance ; others think it absolutely defective 
 and unprofitable, since he despaired of mercy. Ori- 
 gen and Theophylact, writing on Matthew, say, that 
 Judas, seeing his master was condemned, and that 
 he could not obtain pardon fi'om him in this life, 
 made haste to get the start of him, and wait for him 
 in the other world, in order to beg mercy of him 
 there. 
 
 There are ome difficulties concerning the manner 
 in which Ju as died. Matthew says, simply, that 
 he hanged bin. self; whereas Luke (Acts i. 18.) says, 
 further, that "falling headlong, he burst asunder in 
 the midst, and all his bowels gushed out." This ap- 
 parent discrepancy has occasioned much controversy, 
 and various solutions have been offered. Mr. Hew- 
 lett, we think, has hit upon the true one. He consid- 
 ers the narrative of Luke to be supplemental to that 
 of Matthew's, and to state an additional fact. Mat- 
 thew having i-elated that Judas departed, and went 
 and hanged himself, Luke had not the least doubt 
 respecting the fact, but knew that all suicides, who 
 hang themselves, are cut down sooner or later by 
 those who find them. It is at this point that Mr. 
 Hewlett sui)poses the short, supplementary narrative 
 in the Acts to begin. The rope being cut, or untied, 
 (.Toi,i;,c jfioi/f'ioc,) "falling headlong," or rather, " fall- 
 ing on his face, he burst asunder," &c. It was 
 perfectly natural for Luke, on this occasion, if not as 
 an evangelist, yet as a physician, to relate, by way of 
 parenthesis, the pathological fact here recorded ; 
 which is so far from being incredible, that it is very 
 natural, and not unlikely to happen. A skilful phy- 
 sician informed Mr. Hewlett, that in cases of violent 
 and painful death there is usually an effiisiou of lymph, 
 or lymph mixed with blood, into the cavities of the
 
 JUD 
 
 [ 584 
 
 JUDEA 
 
 client »nd abdomen. If the body be kept till pu- 
 trescence takes place, a gas is evolved from the fluid 
 in such quantity as to distend enormously, and some- 
 times to rupture, the peritonaeum and abdominal 
 muscles : this effect has been observed in bodies 
 hung on gibbets in England ; and it would take 
 place much more I'eadily in warmer climates. 
 
 III. JUDAS, or JuDE, suruamed Barsabas, was 
 sent from Jerusalem, with Paul and Barnabas, to the 
 church at Antioch, to report the resolution of the 
 apostles at Jerusalem, concerning the non-observ- 
 ance of the law by the Gentiles, Acts xv. 22, 23. 
 A. D. 54. Some think, that this Judas was the 
 brother of Joseph, surnamcd also Barsabas, who 
 was proposed, with IMatthias, to fill up the place of the 
 traitor Judas, Acts i. 23. Luke says that Judas Barsa- 
 bas was a prophet, and one of the chief among the 
 brethren ; and it is also believed that he was one 
 of the seventy disciples. 
 
 IV. JUDAS, or JuDE, sumamed Thaddeus, or 
 Lebbeus, or the Zealot, is called the Lord's brother, 
 (Matt. xiii. 55.) because he was, as is believed, son of 
 Mary, sister to the Virgin, and brother to James the 
 Less. In the last supper he asked Jesus " how he 
 could manifest himself to his apostles, and not to the 
 world ?" Paulinus says, that he preached in Libya, 
 and seems to say, that his body remained there. Je- 
 rome affirms, that after the ascension, he was sent 
 to Edessa, to king Abgarus ; and the modern Greeks 
 say that he preached in that city, and throughout 
 Mesopotamia ; and in Judea, Samaria, Idumea, Syria, 
 and principally in Armenia, and Persia. But we 
 know no particulars of his life. 
 
 We have a canonical Epistle written by Jude, 
 arldressed to all the saints who are beloved by the 
 Father, and called by the Son, our Lord. It appears 
 by the 17th verse, where he cites the Second Epistle 
 of Peter, and thoughout the letter, in which he inti- 
 mates that the expressions of that apostle were al- 
 ready known to those whom he writes to, that he had 
 principally in view the converted Jews, who were 
 scattered throughout the East, in Asia Minor, and 
 beyond the Euphrates. lie contends against false 
 t'iachers, the Gnostics, Nicolaitans, and Siuionians, 
 'tvho corrupted the doctrine, and disturbed the peace 
 of the church. The date of the Epistle is uncertain ; 
 but Jude speaks of the apostles as of persons who 
 had l)een some time dead. He quotes the Second 
 Epistle of Peter, and alludes to Paul's Second Epis- 
 tle to Timothy ; whence it appears, that it was not 
 written till aftei-tho death of these apostles, and con- 
 sequently after A. D. 66. It is credible that he did 
 not write it till after the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 (Comp. Jude 17, with 2 Pet. ii. &c. ; and 2 Tim. iii. 
 1. with Jude 18.) 
 
 V. JUDAS G AULANITIS, or the Gaulanite, op- 
 posed the enrolment of the people made by Cyrenius 
 in Judea ; (see Cyrenius ;) and raised a very great 
 rebellion, pretending that the Jews, being free, ought 
 to acknowledge no dominion besides that of God. 
 His followers chose rather to suffer extreme torments 
 than to call any [tower on earth lord or master. The 
 same Judas is named Judas the Galilean, (Acts v. 
 .37.) because he was a native of the city of Ganiala 
 in the Gaulanitis, which was comprised in Galilee. 
 Calmet believes that the Herodians were the follow- 
 ers of Judaa. 
 
 JUDE, see Judas IV. 
 
 JUDEA, a province of Asia, successively called 
 Canaan, Palestine, the Land of Promise, the Land of 
 Israel, and Judea after the Jews returned from the 
 
 Babylonish captivity ; because then the tribe of Ju- 
 dah was the principal ; the territories belonging to 
 the other tribes being possessed by the Samaritans, 
 Idumeans, Arabians, and Philistines. The Jews, 
 when returned from the captivity, settled about Je- 
 rusalem, and in Judah, from whence they spread 
 over the whole country. 
 
 Judea may be considered as divided into four 
 parts : (1.) the western district, Palestine, inhabited 
 by the Philistines; on the east of this, (2.) the moun- 
 tainous district, called the hill country, (Josh. xxi. 
 11 ; Luke i. 39.) which the rabbins affect to call the 
 king's mountain ; whether because on the northern 
 part of this ridge Jerusalem is situated, or for any 
 other reason, is not known. East of these moun- 
 tains was, (3.) the wilderness of Judea, along the 
 shore of the Dead sea: (4.) the valleys, &c. west of 
 Jerusalem, towards the Mediterranean. Judea, no 
 doubt, derived its name from Judah, which tribe was 
 settled in the south of the land, and maintained its 
 kingdom after the northern tribes had been expatri- 
 ated. This circumstance, together with that of Ju- 
 dah being principally peopled with Israelites after 
 the return from the captivity, and being first settled, 
 on account of the temple being established in it, ac- 
 counts for the general name of Jews being given to 
 the Hebrew nation. Judea was one of the principal 
 divisions of the Holy Land in the days of Christ : it 
 included from the Mediterranean sea west, to the 
 Dead sea east, and was bounded north by Samaria, 
 and south by Edom, or the Desert. It is extremely 
 mountainous in some parts, as from Hebron to Jeru- 
 salem. West of these mountains is the principal ex- 
 tent of country ; but this has many hills. East of 
 them, running along the western shore of the Dead 
 sea, is a wilderness, viz. 
 
 The Wilderness of Judea. Here John Baptist 
 first taught, (Matt. iii. 1.) and Christ was tempted ; 
 probably towards the north of if, not far from Jericho. 
 Some parts of it were not absolutely barren or imin- 
 habited ; of other parts the following descriptions 
 are, we believe, very accurate. Dr. Carlyle, who 
 visited the monastery of St. Saba, which stands in 
 this wilderness, says, " The valley of St. Saba is an 
 immense chasm in a rifted mountain of marble. It 
 is not only destitute of trees, but of every other spe- 
 cies of vegetation ; and its sole inhabitants, except 
 the wretched monks in the convent, are eagles, tigers, 
 and wild Arabs." Chateauliriand describes it in 
 truly melancholy terms : " I doubt whether any con- 
 vent can be situated in a more dreary and desolate 
 sj)ot than the monastery of St. Saba. ... As we ad- 
 vanced, the aspect of the niouiUai?is continued the 
 same — that is, white, dusty, without shade, without 
 tree, without herbage, without luoss." Mr Bucking- 
 ham says, "Nothing can be more forbidding than the 
 aspect of the hills ; not a i)lade of verdure is to be 
 seen over their whole surface, and not the sound of 
 any living being isto be heard throughout their whole 
 extent." What a scene surrounded the Saviour 
 when he dwelt in tlii!? wilderness, with the wild 
 beasts ! Matt, iv ; Luke iv. See Canaan. 
 
 There are several medals of Judea extant, repre- 
 senting a woman (the daughter of Zion) sitting under 
 a palm-tree, in a mournful attitude, and having 
 around her a heap of arms, shields, &c. on which 
 she is seated. The legend is jvdjea capta. s. c. 
 This may remind us of the captives in Babylon, who 
 " sat down and wept." " Biu what is more remark- 
 able," says Mr. Addison, " we find Judea represented 
 as n woman in sorrow, sitting on the ground, in a
 
 o
 
 JUD 
 
 [ 585 ] 
 
 JUD 
 
 passage of tho prophet which foretells the very cap- 
 tivity recorded on these medals." (See Isa. iii. 26; 
 xlvii. 1.) 
 
 [The name Judcawasapplied in different ageseither 
 to the whole or to a part of Palestine. In the time 
 of David it denoted that portion of the country which 
 belonged to thctrihes of Judah and lienjaniin, Josh. 
 xi. 21 ; comp. verso 16 ; 2 Sam. v. 5 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 5. 
 Alter the secession of the ten trilies, the territory of 
 the kingdom of Judah was called Judea, inckuhng 
 the tracts belonging to Judah and Benjamin, and 
 also part of tliat which appertained to the tribes of 
 Dan and Simeon. Hence it became at length a gen- 
 eral name for the southern part of Palestine, A\hile 
 the northern part v/as called Galilee, and the middle 
 iSanjoiia. After the captivity, as most of those who 
 returned were of the kingdom of Judah, the name 
 Judea was applied generally to the vvhoh; of Pales- 
 tine, Hag. i. 1, 14 ; ii. 3. When the whole country 
 fell into the power of the Romans, the former divis- 
 ion into Galilee, Samaria, and Judea, seems to have 
 again become current. Josephns describes Judea 
 in his day as bounded north by Samaria, its northern 
 extremity being the village of Anouatli, east by the 
 Jordan, west by the Mediterranean, and south by the 
 territory of the Arabs. These boimdaries would 
 seem to include a part at least of Idumea. Judea in 
 this extent constitiued part of the kingdom of Herod 
 the Great, and afterwards belonged to his son Arche- 
 laus. When the latter was banished for his cruel- 
 ties, Judea was reduced to the form of a Roman 
 province, annexed to the proconsulate of Syria, and 
 governed by procurators, until it was at length given 
 as jiart of his kingdom to Herod Agrippall. During 
 all this time the boundaries of the province were 
 f iften varied, by the addition or abstraction of different 
 towns and cities. See Jos. B. J. iii. 3. 5, et passim. 
 Relundi Palsest. p. 31, 174, 178 ff. Jahn § 25. 
 § 13 ff. R. 
 
 JT'DGES (aiHor, shophetim) governed the Israel- 
 ites from Joshua to Saul. The Carthaginians, a col- 
 ony of the Tyrians, had likewise governors, whom 
 they called Suffetes, or Sophetim, with authority like 
 those of the Hebrews, almost equal to that of kings. 
 Some are of opinion, that the archontcs among 
 the Athenians, and dictators among tlie Romans, 
 were similar to the judges among the Hebrews. Gro- 
 tius compares the government of the Hebrews, under 
 the judges, to that of Gaul, Germany, and Britain, 
 before the Romans changed it. This cffice was not 
 hereditary among the Israelites; they were no more 
 than God's vicegerents. When the Hebrews desired 
 a king, God said to Samuel, " They have not reject- 
 ed thee, but they have rejected me, that I should 
 not reign over them," 1 Sam. viii. 7. (See also Judg. 
 viii. 23.) 
 
 The dignity of judge was for life, but the succes- 
 sion was not always constant. There were anar- 
 chies, or intervals, during which the commonwealth 
 .was without rulers. There were likewise long in- 
 74 
 
 tervals of servitude and oppression, under which the 
 Hebrews groaned, and were without either judges 
 or governors. Although God only did regularly ap- 
 point the judges, yet the people, on some occasions, 
 chose that individual who ajjpearcd to them most 
 proper to deliver them from oppression ; and as it of- 
 ten happened, that the oppressions which occasioned 
 recourse to the electionof a judge, were not felt over 
 all Israel, the power of such judge extended only over 
 that province which he had delivered. We do not 
 find that Jephthah exercised his authority on this side 
 Jordan ; nor that Barak extended his beyond it. 
 The authority of judges was not inferior to that of 
 kings : it extended to peace and war : they decided 
 causes with absolute authority ; but had no power 
 to make new laws, or to impose new burdens on the 
 people. They were protectors of the laws, defenders 
 of religion, and avengers of crimes, particularly of 
 idolatry : they were without pomp or splendor ; -dnd. 
 without guards, train, or equipage, unless their own 
 wealth might enable them to appear answerable to 
 their dignity. Their revenue consisted in presents 
 exclusively. — The time of the judges from Joshua 
 to Saul is 399 years. For their succession see the 
 Chronological Tables. See also Tribunals. 
 
 JUDGES, THE Book of, is by some ascribed to 
 Phinehas, by others to Ezra, or to Hezekiah, and by 
 others to Samuel, or to all the judges, who wrote 
 each the history of his time and judicature. But it 
 ajjpears to be the work of one author, who lived 
 after the time of the judges ; and he is generally 
 thought to be Samuel, for the following reasons : — 
 (1.) The author lived at a time when the Jebusites 
 were masters of Jerusalem, and consequently before 
 David, Judg. i. 21. (2.) It appears that the Hebrew 
 commouw'ealth was then governed by kings, since 
 the author observes, in several ])laces, that at such a 
 time, there was no king in Israel. 
 
 There are considerable difficulties, however, against 
 this opinion, as Judg. xviii. 30, 31 : "And the chil- 
 dren of Dan made Jonathan and his sons priests in the 
 tribe of Dan, until the day of the captivity of the 
 land. And they set them up Micah's graven image, 
 which he made, all the time that the house of God 
 was in Shiloh." Now, the tabernacle or house of 
 God was not at Shiloh till about the time of Samuel's 
 first appearance as a prophet ; for then it was brought 
 from Shiloh and carried to the camp, ■« here it was 
 taken by the Philistines ; and after this time it was 
 sent back to Kirjath-jearim, 1 Sam. iv. 4, 5, &c. ; vi. 
 21. As to the ca])tivity of the tribe of Dan, it can 
 scarcely, one would think, be understood of any 
 other than that under Tiglath-pileser, many hundred 
 years after Samuel, and, consequently, he could not 
 write this book ; imless it be supposed that this pas- 
 sage has been added since. 
 
 .tUDGMICNT is taken (1.) for the power of judg- 
 ing absolutely ; (Dent. i. 17; John v. 27. ) (2.) for 
 rectitude, e(|uity, and the other good qualities of a 
 judge ; (Ps. Ixxii. 1 ; xcix. 4 ; Ixxxix. 14.) (3.) the 
 vindictive justice and rigor of God's judgment. For 
 example, Exod. xii. 12 ; Ps. cxix. 84 ; Isa. xxvi. 9. 
 (4.) To do judgment and justice denotes the exer- 
 cise of all virtues — justice, equity, truth, and fidelity, 
 Gen. xviii. 19; Ps. cxix. 121 ; Isa. v. 7. (5.) Judg- 
 ment isoflen put for the laws of God, and particularly 
 for judicial laws, Exod. xxi. 1 ; xxiv. 3; Ps. cxivii. 
 20. (().) For a court of justice. See Tribunals. 
 
 It is not improbable, that the decisions given from 
 the oracle, or by the priests, in cases of difficulty,
 
 JUD 
 
 [ 586 ] 
 
 JUDITH 
 
 which had been brought to Jerusalem, according to 
 the law, formed, in process of time, a body of judg- 
 ments, distinguished as being divine : hence, in the 
 Psalms, we frequently read of the judgment of God 
 being according to truth, to justice, to equity ; mean- 
 ing, not his judgment, in the sense of punishment 
 inflicted on uidividuals, or on nations ; but his legal 
 or discriminative decisions. On the other hand, care 
 should be taken not to confound the divine judg- 
 ments in the sense of punishments — evils inflicted — 
 with those decisions which were merely judicial and 
 administrative. 
 
 Judgment is taken for the last judgment. " It is 
 appointed that all men should die, and that judgment 
 should follow," Heb. ix. 27. In Joel iii. 2, the Lord 
 says, " that he will gather together all the nations in 
 the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will enter into judg- 
 ment with them, to avenge his people, whom they 
 have oppressed." (See also Ecclus. xi. 9 ; Ps. cxliii. 2.) 
 
 Judgment of zeal. The Jews aflirm, that under 
 particular circumstances, when any one saw a Jew 
 offending against God, or violating the law, or even 
 if any one saw a heathen, who would engage the 
 people in irregularities, in idolatry, or in the breach 
 of God's laws, they might with impunity kill him ; 
 and, without any form of justice, remove this scandal 
 from the people. They cite the example of Phine- 
 has, son of Eleazar, who, having seen an Isi-aelite 
 enter the tent ofaMidianitish woman, took a javelin, 
 followed them, and killed them both, (Numb. xxv. 6, 
 &c.) and also the example- of Mattathias, the father 
 of the Maccabees, who, in his transport of zeal, 
 killed an Israelite while he was sacrificing to false 
 gods, 1 Mac. ii. 24, 25. But the inconveniences of 
 this sort of judgment are very evident : an inconsid- 
 erate multitude, a provoked Israelite, or a fanatic, 
 might believe themselves allowed to kill any man 
 whom they wildly fancy to be an enemy to the in- 
 terests of God and religion. With this mistaken 
 zeal the Jews stoned Stephen, they laid hands on 
 Paul, determined on his death, and more than forty 
 men made a vow, neither to eat nor drink tiU they 
 had killed him. James, bishop of Jerusalem, was 
 executed in this manner ; and Christ had not escaped 
 death in the temple, when they imagined he uttered 
 blasphemy, had he not retired, John viii. 59. 
 
 Judgment, Fountain of, is the same as the Foun- 
 tain of Kadesh, south of the land of promise, the 
 waters of which were called the Waters of Strife, be- 
 cause Moses was here contradicted and provoked by 
 the murmurs of the Israelites, It was also called 
 the Fountain of Judgment, as here God displayed 
 his displeasure against his prophet, and warned him 
 that he should not enter the promised land, because 
 he had not honored him in the eyes of Israel. Engl, 
 version, En-Mishpal. 
 
 JUDITH, of Reuben, daughter of Merari, and 
 widow of Manasseh, is celebrated for her beauty, and 
 for the deliverance of Bethulia, when besieged by 
 Holofernes. Being informed that Ozias had prom- 
 ised to deliver the town up, within five days, to Holo- 
 fernes, she sent for Chabris and Carmis, elders of 
 the people, and informed them of her purj)ose, but 
 without explaining the mode by which it was to be 
 effected. She then prayed, dressed herself in her 
 best apparel, and pretending to have fled froin the 
 city, went over to the cainp of Holofernes, and pros- 
 trated herself before him. As soon as he saw her, he 
 was captivated, and, ordering her to be raised, assured 
 her of protection. 
 
 Judith continued with Holofemes, but had liberty 
 
 of going out of the camp at night. On the foaith 
 day, he sent Bagoas, his eunuch, to invite her to ppf-s 
 the night with him. Judith went, decorated with nil 
 her ornaments, and Holofernes was so transporir d, 
 that he indulged largely in wine. In the evening, his 
 servants retired, and Bagoas shut the chamber doors 
 and departed. Holofernes, being overcome with 
 drink, slept very soundly. Judith, therefore, placed 
 her maid on the watch, and having put up her prayer 
 to God, took down the general's sabre, and, having 
 severed his head fi-om his body, wrapped him up in 
 the curtains of his bed, and, giving the head to her 
 maid, directed her steps to Bethulia. The head of 
 Holofernes being exhibited on the walls of the city, 
 his army was seized with dismay ; and their defeat 
 was so extraordinary, that the Avhole country was 
 enriched with their s])oils. The high-priest Jehoia- 
 kim came from Jerusalem to Bethulia, to compliment 
 Judith ; and every thing belonging to Holofernes was 
 presented to her, and aftervi^ards consecrated to the 
 Lord. Having lived 105 years at Bethvdia, and made 
 her maid free, she died ; and was buried with her 
 husband. All tlie people lamented for her seven 
 days, and the day on which the victory was obtained 
 ^'ias placed among the Hebrew festivals. 
 
 Thei'e is gi'eat dilficulty relating to the time of this 
 history. The Greek and Syriac seem to decide, that 
 it was after the captivity of Babylon ; but the Vulgate 
 may be explained as referring to a time preceding 
 that cajnivity. To remove all difliculties, and an- 
 swer all objections, seems impossible. Those who 
 maintain that the history of Judith passed before the 
 captivity, and in Manasseh's time, think it sufficient 
 to demonstrate, that there is nothing in the narrative 
 i-epugnant to this assertion. They supy)Ose the 
 Nabuchodonozor in the text to be the Saosduchinus 
 in Ptolemy ; that Arphaxad is the Phraortes of He- 
 rodotus ; that these two princes made war with one 
 another in the twelfth year of Saosduchinus ; that 
 Arphaxad being overcome, Saosduchinus sent Holo- 
 fernes to reduce by force those who refused to ac- 
 knowledge him for sovereign ; and that at this time 
 flianasseh, then recently delivered from ca})tivity, in 
 Babylon, now dwelt at Jerusalem, concerning him- 
 self little with the government, but leaving it mostly 
 to Joachim, or Eliakim, the high-priest. Supposing 
 all this, there is nothing in it against the laws of 
 history or chronology. The war between Nabu- 
 chodonozor and Arphaxad is j)!aced A. IM. 3347, 
 the expedition and death of Holofernes in 3348. 
 Manasseh was carried to Babylon in 3329. He re- 
 turned some years afterwards, and died in 336L 
 
 The opinion which places the history of Judith 
 after the captivity of Babylon is founded principally 
 on the authority of the Greek copy, which is cer- 
 tainly very ancient. Tliis translation says in chap. 
 iv. 2, "that the Israelites were newly returned from 
 the captivity, and all the people of Judea were lately 
 gathered together, and the vessels, and the altar, and 
 the house, were sanctified after the jjrofanation." 
 Achior, general of the Ammonites, says the same to 
 Holofernes: "They were destroyed in many battles 
 very sore, and were led captives into a land that was 
 not theirs ; but now they are returned to their God, 
 and are come up from the places where they were 
 scattered, and have possessed Jerusalem, where their 
 sanctuary is." This last passage is taken from the 
 Vulgate; but the Greek adds, "And the temple of 
 their God was overthrown ;" literally, reduced to the 
 pavement, or trampled under foot, " and their cities 
 were taken by the enemies, and they dwell again in
 
 JUL 
 
 587 ] 
 
 J US 
 
 the mountains which were not inhabited." It is in 
 vain to endeavor to correct the sense of these pas- 
 sages ; the bare reading of them naturally leads us to 
 say, that this history was translated after the return 
 from the captivity ; and thus almost all the ancients, 
 and many oi'thc moderns, have believed. Eusebius 
 places it in the reign of Cainbyses; Syncellus in that 
 of Xerxes ; Sulpitius Severus in that of Ochus ; oth- 
 ers under Antiochus Epiphancs, and in the time of 
 the Maccabees. 
 
 The last opinion, Calmet thinks, is the most easy 
 to maintain. Grotius, and other learned writers, are 
 of opinion that this book is rather a parabolical than 
 a real history ; [Praefatio ad Annotationes in LAhrum 
 Judith ;) and Prideaux almost gives u[) its authenticity, 
 in consequence of the historical difficulties it involves. 
 JULIA, a female Christian, mentioned Rom. 
 xvi. 15. 
 
 JUIJAS, a name given by Philip to Bethsaida, in 
 honor of Augustus's wife. See Bethsaida. 
 
 T. JULIUS C^SAR, the first Roman emperor, 
 had some connection with Jewish affairs, although 
 he is not mentioned in the New Testament. He was 
 the son of Lucius Ciesar and Aurelia, daughter of 
 Cotta, and born in the year of Rome (554 ; 98 j'ears 
 before Jesus Christ. After having passed through 
 tlie offices of tribune, quaestor, a'dile, high-priest, and 
 jtrretor or governor of Spain, he obtained the consul- 
 ship in the year of Rome 695, and chose the govern- 
 ment of Gaul, which he reduced into the form of a 
 province, after nini; or ten years of govcnnnent. 
 After the death of his daughter Julia, he went to war 
 with Pompcy, but when he entered Italy with his 
 victorious army, he so terrified his euennes, that they 
 fled. He set at liberty Aristobulus, king of Judea, 
 and sent him with two legions to support his inter- 
 ests in Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia. But Pompey's 
 party found jueans to poison him by the way. Alex- 
 ander, son of Aristobulus, had already levied troops 
 in Syria, to join his father, but Pompey sent orders 
 to Scipio in Syria, to have him killed, which was 
 done. Passing into Egypt, Ca?sar was shut up in 
 Alexandria, with some troops, where he was very 
 much embarrassed, and pressed by tlie Egyptian 
 army. He therefore sent Mithridates into Syria and 
 Cilicia, to procure succors ; and Antipater, father of 
 Ilerod tlie Great, who governed the high-priest Hir- 
 canus, prince of the Jews, engaged assistance for 
 him. He himself marched into Egjpt with 3000 
 men, and, joining Mithridates, they together attacked 
 Pelusium, which they carried ; and afterwai'ds ad- 
 vanced towards Alexandria, where Antipater induced 
 the Jews in the canton of Onion, to open the pas- 
 sages, and declare for Ca'sar, who obtained a com- 
 plete victor}', and thus became master of F^gypt. 
 Ccesar always preserved a grateful recollection of the 
 important service Avhich Antipater had rendered 
 him. He confirmed all the privileges of the Jews in 
 Egypt, and caused a pillar to be erected, on which 
 he ordered them all to be engraved, with the decree 
 which confirmed them. As he passed through Pal- 
 estine, Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, threw himself 
 at his feet, and represented to him in a very affecting 
 manner the death of his father and brother. The 
 first had been poisoned, and the second beheaded, 
 for supporting his interests. He desired to be re- 
 stored to his father's principality, and also com])lained 
 of the wrong done him by Antipater and Hircanus. 
 Antipater, however, who was still in Cesar's retimie, 
 justified their conduct. In his fifth and last consul- 
 ship, Cfesar permitted Hircanus to rebuild the walls 
 
 of Jerusalem, which Pompey had demolished. He 
 was killed March 15, ante A.D. 54. 
 
 II. JU^LIUS, a centurion of the cohort of Augus- 
 tus, to whom Fcstus, governor of Judea, committed 
 Paul, to be conveyed to Rome. Julius had great re- 
 gard for Paul, Acts xxvii. 1, &c. He suffered him 
 to land at Sidon, and to visit liis friends there ; and 
 in a subsequent jjart of the voyage he opposed the 
 violence of the soldiers directed against the prisoners, 
 generally, in order to save the apostle. When he 
 delivered his charge to the custody of die chief cap- 
 tain of the guard, tliere can be no doubt but that his 
 favorable report of the apostle contributed essentially 
 to the indulgences he afterwards met with, and by 
 which his imprisonment was greatly moderated. 
 
 J UNI A, or, as some copies read, Jujlia, is joined 
 with Andronicus, in Rom. xvi. 7, " Salute Andronicu3 
 and Junia, my kinsmen and fellow-prisoners, who are 
 of note among the apostles." 
 
 JUSTICE is generally put for goodness, equity ; 
 that virtue which renders to every man his due. 
 Sometimes for virtue and piety in general ; or for the 
 conjunction of all those virtues which make a good 
 man, Ezek. xviii. 5 — 9. It branches out into so many 
 significations, and is applied so differently to men 
 and things, that it deserves peculiar and even anx- 
 ious investigation. In general, it seems to refer to 
 some rule, law, or standard, by which a quality, an 
 intention, or an action, may be estimated. So Xen- 
 ophon speaks of a car as being just, meaning, what it 
 ought to be, fit for the use intended : and Pollux calls 
 good and fertile land just, and barren land unjust. 
 The same idea may be transferred to man. Hence 
 one Avho fulfils the law is a just man ; he answers 
 the intention of the lawgiver. Cicero says, justice is 
 used for conduct as it regards man, but piety is the 
 proper term as referring to God ; whence we may 
 learn that the heathen acknowledged the impotence 
 of man to equal what God had a right to expect; 
 though man might be just toward his fellow man. 
 Still, those who "hunger and thirst after righteous- 
 ness ;" who earnestly desire complete rectitude of 
 heart and life ; who endeavor after perfect conform- 
 ity with the rule of action, as well in the sight of 
 God as men, are pronounced blessed. 
 
 As parts of righteousness, or justice, due from 
 man to man, single virtues are sometimes put for the 
 whole ; as truth, clemency, integrity, &lc. So alms 
 are a species of righteousness, that is, from man to 
 man; so kindness and moderation, not j)ushing to the 
 utmost, whether of strictness or severit}', those de- 
 mands which we have a right to make on others ; or 
 not pressing them imseasonably, or at all events ; and 
 in these respects, and the like, it may Well be, that 
 our Lord insists on the righteousness of his disciples 
 surpassing that of the scribes and Pharisees, whom 
 he frequently brands with the appellation of hyp- 
 ocrites. 
 
 It requires considerable skill in the Greek language 
 to trace the correct import of this word in the seve- 
 ral places where it occurs, cither in its direct forms, 
 or in collateral phraseology ; and to distinguish when 
 it is used in a more classical or in a more Hebraical 
 sense : — not omitting its sacerdotal application, in va- 
 rious ])arts of holy writ. 
 
 We ought not to pass over a personification of the 
 justice of God, rendered " vengeance" in our public 
 version, but properly importing the power commis- 
 sioned by the Deity to punish malefactors, the divine 
 nemtsis. The barbarians said among themselves, 
 when they saw the viper fasten on the hand of Paul,
 
 J us 
 
 [ 588 ] 
 
 JUT 
 
 " No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though 
 he hatli escaped the sea, 3-et justice, divine justice, 
 sufFereth not to Uve," Acts xxviii. 4 ; a sentiment 
 which was founded in the nature of tilings, and in a 
 deep sense of the divine government, and which 
 was expressed in terms the evangehst has not scru- 
 pled to repeat. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION is a term wliich implies that 
 the party has been, or is, charged with some matter 
 of coni{)laint, from which he vindicates himself, or is 
 vindicated by another, either by producing proofs of 
 his innocence, or of his having already suffered the 
 penalty of that transgi-ession ; [autrefois acquit, of our 
 lawyers ;) or referring to some other person who has 
 allegations on his behalf, which \Aill effect his justifi- 
 cation. Justification, then, is a law term, that was 
 used in ancient times, and is greatly analogous to 
 our term acquitted. When sinners are charged with 
 their sins before God, they cannot in any wise prove 
 their innocence, since they are accused of only feona 
 JiJe crimes. They cannot say they have been for- 
 merly acquitted, Iji any other sense than by roference 
 to an expected pardon through God's grace, and Ids 
 proposals of mercy. Though some sins are evident- 
 ly punish-,d in this life, all are not, as is equally evi- 
 dent ; but the allegations which may be offered by a 
 mediator-party remain in full force. When an Is- 
 
 raelite had transgressed against any divine law, he 
 acknowledged his transgi-ession, brought his sacri- 
 fice to the altar, confessed over it his fault, thereby 
 symbolically transferring his guilt ; and the victim 
 was the substituted sufferer, which being sacnficially 
 offered, the offerer had complied with the appoint- 
 ments of the law ; so that should he be afterwards 
 charged with that crime, he might jjlead autrefois 
 acquit. But sacrifices were not in their nature capa- 
 ble of making absolute reconciliation between God 
 and man ; they could only refer to a nobler blood, 
 which should accomplish that perfectly which they 
 did imperfectly, should effectually vindicate the 
 guilty from the consequences of their guilt, and should 
 justify, when appealed to, from accusations of con- 
 science, of the world, of human laws, or of the divine 
 la\v, through the gracious acceptance of the divine 
 Lawgiver. 
 
 I. JUSTUS, surnamed Barsabas, see Joskph. 
 
 II. JUSTUS, a Jew, who was at Rome w ith Paul 
 (A. D. C2.) when he wrote to the Colossiaus. The 
 apostle says that Jesus, called Justus, and Marcus, 
 were his only fellow-workers unto the kingdom of 
 God, Col. iv. 11. 
 
 JUTTAH, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 55.) which 
 Calmet takes to be the Ithnam of Josh. xv. 23. Eu- 
 sebius places it eight miles from Hebron, east. 
 
 K 
 
 KAT 
 
 KED 
 
 KABZEEL, a city in the southern part of Judah, 
 (Josh. XV. 21.) called Jekabseel, Neh. xi. 25. 
 
 KADESH,Or KADESH-BAR?<EA,OrEN-MlSHPHAT, 
 
 (Gen. xiv. 7.) a city and desert around it, in the south- 
 eastern border of the promised land, Numb, xxxiv. 4 ; 
 Josh. XV. 3. Here 3Iiriam died ; (Numb. xx. 1.) and 
 here ]Moses and Aaron, distrusting God's power, when 
 they smote the rock at the waters of strife, were 
 appointed to die without the satisfaction of entering 
 the promised land. Numb, xxvii. 14. The king of 
 Kadesh was killed Jjy Joshua, (Josh, xii.22.) aucl the 
 city given to Judah. The situation of Kadesh has 
 hcim fullv treated of in the article Exodus, p. 419. 
 
 KADMONITES, (Gen. xv. 19.) a tribe of people 
 who inhabited the promised laud east of the Jordan, 
 about mount Hermon. They were descended from 
 Canaan the son of Ham. Caflmus, the founder of 
 Thebes in Bosotia, has been conjectured to have been 
 originally a Kadmonite, and his wife Ilennione to 
 have been so named from mount Hermon. The 
 Kadmonitcs, says Calmet, were Hivites : the word 
 llivitcs is derived from a root which signifies a ser- 
 pent ; and fable says, that Cadmus sowed serpents' 
 teeth, from which sprung up armed men ; because 
 he settled at Thebes, his Hivites, or Kadmonitcs, who 
 were valiant and martial. 
 
 I. KAN AH, a brook on the borders of Ephraim 
 and Maiiasseh, (Josh, xvi.8; xvii.9.) which falls into 
 the^Teditorranean, a few miles south of Ccsarea. 
 
 JI. KANAH, a city of Asher, Josh. xix. 28. 
 
 KARKAA, a town on the southern confines of the 
 tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 3. 
 
 KATTATH, the limit of the tribe of Zebulun, 
 (Josh. xix. 15.) in Judg. i. .30, called Kithron, which is 
 the same in sense. The A^dgate, LXX, Syriac, and 
 Arabic, render these names, which are from the 
 
 same root, by small, trifling, insignificant things : the 
 Chaldee to the same effect ; whence the name of this 
 city, perhaps, might be analogous to our name littlc- 
 toivn, Littleton. 
 
 I. KEDAR, a region in the desert of the Agarenes, 
 Gen. XXV. 13 ; 1 Chron. i. 29. 
 
 II. KEDAR, a city, as some think, called by Jose- 
 phus, Camala, Isa. xlii. 11 ; Ix. 7 ; Ezek. xxvii. 21 ; 
 Ps. cxx. 5 ; Jer. ii. 10 ; xlix. 28. 
 
 III. KEDAR, a son of Ishmael, (Gen. xxv. 13.) the 
 father of the Kedarenians, Cedrei, mentioned by 
 Pliny, (II. N. v. 11.) who dwelt in the neighborhood 
 of the Nabathfeans, in Arabia Deserta. These peo- 
 ple living in tents, it is not possible to show the place 
 of their habitation, because they often changed it. 
 Arabia Deserta is sometimes called Kedar ; but the 
 Kedarenians dwelt ])rincipally in the south of Arabia 
 Deserta, or in the north of Arabia Petra?a: there 
 were some as far as the Red sea. Cant. i. 5 ; Isa. 
 xlii. 11. 
 
 KEDEM, see East. 
 
 KEDEMAH, Ishmael's youngest son, who dwelt, 
 as did his brethren, east of the mountains of Gilead, 
 Gen. xxv. 15. The town of Kcdemoth might at first, 
 perhaps, belong to his descendants; ])ut we cannot 
 consider him as father of the Kadmonitcs; (Gen.xv. 
 19.) for these were ancient inhabitants of Canaan, 
 and already powerful in the time of Abraliani. 
 
 KEDEMOTH, a town of Reuben, east of the 
 brook Anion, (Josh. xiii. 18.) and one of the stations 
 of the Hebrews in the wilderness; (Deut. ii.2fi.) given 
 to the sons of Merari, the Linite, 1 Chron. vi. 79. The 
 name also included the desert around it. 
 
 I. KED£sH, a city in Judah, Josh. xv. 23. 
 
 II. KEDESH, a city in Naphtali, Josh, xii.22; 
 xix. 37 ; xxi. 32 ; Judg. iv. 6, 9 ; 1 Chron. vi. 76.
 
 KEY 
 
 [ 589 ] 
 
 KIN 
 
 III. KEDESH, a city in Issachar, 1 Chron. vi. 72 ; 
 called Kishion, Josli. xix. 20 ; xxi. 28. 
 
 IV. KEDESH NAPHTALI, called by Josephus 
 Cadesa, or Cjedesa, and in the Greek of Tobit (i. 2.) 
 Cadis, lay in Upper Galilee, above Naasson, having 
 Saplu.t to the north. It was given to Naphtali, and 
 afterwards ceded to the Lcvites of Gershoni's family, 
 (Josh, xix.37.) and became a city of refuge, Josh. xx. 7. 
 
 KEDKON, see Kidron. 
 
 KEIIELATllAH, an encampment of Israel in the 
 wilderness, Numb, xxxiii. 22. As it ajjpears to de- 
 note " the i)Iace of assembly," some have thought 
 the gathering and revolt of Korah, Dathan and Abi- 
 ram iiappened here. 
 
 KEILAH, a town of Judah, (Josh. xv. 44.) which 
 Eusebius i)laces seventeen miles from Eleutheropolis, 
 on the side of Hebron ; and Jerome eight miles from 
 the late city. It is said that the prophet Habakkuk's 
 tomi) was shown there. 
 
 KEMUEL, the third son of Nahor, and father of 
 the Syrians ; or rather of Aram, Gen. xxii. 21. He 
 had a son surnained "the Syrian," or "the Aram- 
 ite ;" for the Syrians were really derived from Aram, 
 a son of Sliem. Kemuel may have given name to 
 the Kamilitcs, a people of Syria Ijing west of the 
 Euphrates. 
 
 KENATII, a town of Manasseh, beyond Jordan, 
 (Numb, xxxii. 42.) named Nobah, after Nobah, an 
 Israelite, had conquered it. Eusebius places it in the 
 Trachonitis, about Bozra ; and Phny in the Decapolis, 
 lib. V. cap. 18. 
 
 I. KEN AZ, father of Othniel and Caleb, Josh. xv. 
 17; Judg. i. 13; iii. 9, &c. 
 
 II. KENAZ, the fourth son of Eliphaz, a duke, or 
 chief, of Edom, Gen. xxxvi. 1.5. 
 
 KENI, a region of the Philistine country, 1 Sam. 
 xxvii. 10 ; Judg. i. IG. " The children of the Kenite," 
 should be, according to the LXX, " of Jethro, the 
 Kenite.;' 
 
 KENITES, a people who dwelt west of the Dead 
 sea, and extended themselves far into Arabia Petrsea. 
 Jethro, the father-in-law of 3Ioses, was a Kenite, 
 and out of regard to him all of this tribe who sub- 
 mitted to the Hebrews wei-e suffered to live in their 
 OAvn countrj'. The rest fled, in all probability, to the 
 Edomites and Amalekites. (See 1 Sam. xv. 6.) The 
 lands of the Kenites were in Judah's lot. Balaam, 
 when invited by Balak to curse Isi-ael, stood on a 
 mountain, whence, addressing himself to the Kenites, 
 he said, " Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou put- 
 test thy nest in a rock ; nevertheless the Kenite shall 
 be wasted until x\shur shall carry thee away captive," 
 Numb. xxiv. 21. They were carried into captivity 
 by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 KENIZZITES, an ancient people of Canaan, 
 whose land God promised to the descendants of 
 Abraham, (Gen. xv. 19.) and who dwelt, it is thought, 
 in Idumaja. Kenaz, son of Eliphaz, probably took 
 his name from the Kenizzites, among whom he 
 settled. 
 
 KETURAH, Abraham's second wife, (Gen. xxv. 
 1, 2.) is thought by the Jews to be the same as Ha- 
 gar. We knownothingof her, except as the mother 
 of Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, 3Iidian, Ishbak, and 
 Shuah. Abraham gave presents to these, and sent 
 them east into Arabia Deseita. 
 
 KEY, an instrument freq\iently mentioned in 
 Scripture, as well in a natural as in a figurative sense. 
 The keys of the ancients were very difl'erent from 
 ours ; because their doors and trunks were general- 
 ly closed with bands, and the key served only to 
 
 loosen or fasten those bands. Chardin says, that a 
 lock in the East is like a little harrow, which enters 
 half way into a wooden staple, and that the key is a 
 wooden handle, with points at the end of it, which 
 are pushed into the staple, and so raise this little har- 
 row. A key was a symbol of power or authority. 
 Isa. xxii. 22, "And the key of the house of David 
 will I lay upon his shoulder : he shall open and none 
 shall shut ; he shall shut and none shall open," i. e. 
 he shall be grand master and principal officer of his 
 prince's house. Christ gives Peter authority in his 
 church, (Matt. xvi. 19.) the key of the kingdom of 
 heaven, the power of binding and loosing ; that is, of 
 opening and shutting ; for this frequently consisted 
 only, as we have said, in tying and untying. Isaiah 
 remarks, that Eliakim should wear his key upon his 
 shoulder, as a mark of office, of his power to open 
 and shut with authority. Callimachus says, that 
 Ceres carried a key upon her shoulder ; a custom 
 which appears very strange to us ; but the ancients 
 had large keys in the form of a sickle, and which, 
 from their w eight and shape, could not otherwise be 
 carried conveniently. 
 
 Christ reproaches the scribes and Pharisees with 
 having taken away the key of knowledge ; (Luke xi. 
 52.) that is, with reading and studying the Scriptures, 
 without advantage to themselves, and without dis- 
 covering to others tlie truth ; wliich in some sort 
 they held captive in unrigliteousness, Rom. i. 18. He 
 also says (Rev. i. 18.) that he has the key of death 
 and hell ; that is, power to bring to the grave, or to 
 deliver from it ; to appoint to life or to death. The 
 rabbins say, that God has reserved to himself four 
 keys ; the key of rain, the key of the grave, the key 
 of fruitfulness, and the key of barrenness. 
 
 KEZIZ, a valley, and perhaps a city, in Benjamin, 
 Josh, xviii. 21. 
 
 KIBEROTH-AVAH, or Kiberoth-hattaavah, 
 the graves of lust, was one of the encampments of Is- 
 rael in the wilderness, where they desired of God 
 flesh for their sustenance, declaring they were tired 
 of manna. Numb. xi. 34, 35. Quails were sent in 
 great quantities, but while the meat was in then- 
 mouths, (Ps. Ixxviii. 30.) God smote so great a 
 number of them, that the place was called the graves 
 of those who lusted. 
 
 KIBZAIM, a city of Ephraim, (Josh. xxi. 22.) but 
 as the name is in the dual form, it is probable there 
 were two cities comprehended under it, adjoining 
 each other. 
 
 KID, see Lajib. 
 
 KIDRON, a brook in the valley east of Jerusalem, 
 between the city and the mount of Olives, and which 
 discharges itself along the valley of Jehoshaphat, and 
 winding between rugged and desolate hills through 
 the wilderness of St. Saba, into the Dead sea. It has 
 generally but little water, and often none ; but after 
 storms, or heavy rains, it sw'ells, and runs with much 
 impetuosity. A branch of the valley of Kidron was 
 the sink of Jerusalem, and here Asa, Hezekiah, and 
 Josiah burnt the idols and abominations of the apos- 
 tate Jews, 2 Kings xxiii. 4. (See Gehenna.) The 
 blood poured out at the foot of the altar in the tem- 
 ple, as well as other filth, ran by a drain into the 
 brook Kidron ; a fact which confutes the notion, 
 that virtue was imparted to the pool of Bethesda 
 from the blood of the sacrifices, as some have sui)- 
 posed. (Babyl. Jom. 58. 2.) 
 
 KIN AH, a town of Judah, Josh. xv. 22. 
 
 KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is an expression used 
 m the New Testament, to signify the reign, dispen-
 
 KIN 
 
 [ 590 ] 
 
 KING 
 
 eation, or administration, of Jesus Christ. The an- 
 cient prophets, when describing the characters of the 
 Messiah, scarcely ever failed to use the name of king 
 or deliverer ; so that when they spoke of his huniili- 
 ations and sutferings, they interspersed hints of his 
 power, his reign, and his divinity. Thus Zachariah, 
 foretelling his entry into Jerusalem, says, " Behold, 
 thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and having 
 salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a 
 colt the foal of an ass." The Jews and the apostles, 
 accustomed to this way of speaking, expected the 
 kingdom of the Messiah to resemble that of a tempo- 
 ral king, exercising power on his enemies, restoring 
 the Hebrew monarchy, and the throne of l)avid to 
 all its splendor ; subduing the nations, and rewarding 
 his friends and faithful servants, in proportion to 
 their fidelity and services. Hence the contests among 
 the apostles about precedency in his kingdom ; and 
 hence the sons of Zebedee desired the two chief 
 places in it. Jesus, to prove that he was the true 
 Messiah, often declared, that the kingdom of heaven 
 was at hand, or was come ; and when he spoke of 
 Avhat was to happen after his resurrection, he said, 
 such a thing would be seen in the kingdom of heaven. 
 He frequently began his parables, " The kingdom of 
 heaven is like unto — a rich man — a father of a fami- 
 ly — a treasure," &c. 
 
 "The kingdom of heaven" sometimes denotes 
 eternal bliss, (Matt. vii. 21 ; xix. 14.) and sometimes, 
 and more frequently, the church of Christ, Matt.xiii. 
 47, 48. [Our Saviour designates usually by the phrase 
 kingdom of heaven, the community of those, who, 
 united through his Spirit under him, as their Head, 
 rejoice in the truth,.and enjoy a holy and bhssful life, 
 in communion with him. R. 
 
 The kingdom OF GOD is often synonymous 
 with the kingdom of heaven ; but in the Old Testa- 
 ment the kingdom, or reign, of God, signifies his in- 
 finite power, or, more properly, his sovereign author- 
 ity over all creatures, kingdoms, and hearts. Wisdom 
 says, (x. 10.) God showed his kingdom to Jacob ; i. e. 
 he opened the kingdom of heaven to him in showing 
 him the mysterious ladder by which the angels as- 
 cended and'desccndcd ; and Ecclesiasticus (xlvii. 13.) 
 says, God gave to David the covenant assurance, 
 or'pron)ise of the kingdoin, for himself and his suc- 
 cessors. 
 
 KING. The Israelites had no kings till Saul ; 
 having been governed, first, by ciders, as in Egypt ; 
 then by rulers of God's appointment, as Moses and 
 Joshua; then by judges, as Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, 
 Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Eli, Samuel ; and lastly, 
 by kings, as Saul, David, Solomon. For the succes- 
 sion of the kings, see the Chronological Tables. 
 
 After their return from captivity, (A.M. 34G8,) the 
 Jews lived under the dominion of the Persians 140 
 years, till Alexander the Great, who came to Jerusa- 
 lem, 3672. After his death, (3681,) Judea submitted 
 to the kings of Egypt, and then to the kings of Syria ; 
 but Antioclius E|)ii)hanes having forced them to 
 take arms fur the defence of their religion, in 3836, 
 the Maccabees recovered by degrees their ancient 
 liberty, and lived iudcpcndciit, from the government 
 of John Hircanus, in 3874, till Judea was reduced 
 into a province by the Romans. 
 
 In Scripture, the word king does not always imply 
 the same degree of power, or importance ; neither 
 does it im|)ly the magnitude of the dominion or ter- 
 ritory of this national officer. Many persons are 
 called kings in Scripture, whom we should rather 
 denominate chiefs or leaders ; and many single towns, 
 
 or towns with their adjacent villages, are said to have 
 had kings. Being unaware of this lower sense of the 
 word king, many persons have been embarrassed by 
 the passage. Dent, xxxiii. 4, 5, " Moses commanded us 
 a law — he was king in Jeshurun," or king among the 
 upright ; i. e. he was the principal among the assem- 
 bly of the heads of the Israelites. He was the chief, 
 the leader, the guide of his people, fulfilling the du- 
 ties of a king, though not king in the same sense as 
 David or Solomon. This also explains Gen. xxxiv. 
 31, "These kings reigned in Edom, before there 
 reigned any king over the children of Israel : for 
 Moses, though he was king in an inferior sense, yet 
 did not reign, in the higher sense, over the children 
 of Israel," the constitution not being monarchical 
 under him. These remarks will remove the surprise 
 which some persons have felt, at seeing that so small 
 a country as Canaan contained thirty-one kings, who 
 were conquered, (Josh, xii.9 — 24.) beside many who, 
 no doubt, escaped the arms of Joshua. Adonizedek, 
 himself no very powerful king, mentions seventy 
 kings, whom he had subdued and mutilated. (See 
 also 1 Kings iv. 20.) 
 
 Idolatrous nations, and even the Hebrews, some- 
 times called their gods kings ; thus, Moloch, Mil- 
 chom, Adi'amelech, and Anainelech, are names of 
 deities importing the title of king. The words of 
 Isaiah, (xxxvii. 13.) " Where is the king of Hamath, 
 and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of 
 Sepharvaim, Henah, and Ivah ? " seem parallel to 
 those of chap, xxxvi. 19, "Where are the gods of 
 Hamath and Arphad ? Where are the gods of Se- 
 pharvaim ?" In Amos i. 15, God threatens Milchom, 
 the god of the Moabites, with sending him and his 
 princes into captivity. In Scripture, God is called in 
 every page almost, the king of the Hebrews. See 
 Hebrews {gover7xment.) 
 
 King is used metaphorically by Job, (chap, xviii. 
 14.) "the king of terrors ;" i. e. death ; the ruler, the 
 supreme of terrors. So chap. xli. 34, " The Lcviatlian 
 is king ; i. e. chief, principal, superior over all the 
 children of pride ;" those who most pride themselves 
 on their stations, or qualities, are neveitheiess com- 
 pelled to acknowledge, that the Lcvir.tlinn is their 
 superior ; and to n.'frain from comparing, or equal- 
 ling, their powers to those 6f that tyrant of the 
 waters. Tlic word is also used figunuively by our 
 Lord : (John xviii. 37.) Pilate said, "Art ihou a king 
 then?" Jesus answered, "Thou sayest," thou cx- 
 ])ressest what is the fact ; I am a king, but not of this 
 world. Accordingly, in Rev. i. 15, we read of Jesus 
 Christ the prince of the kings of the earth, i. c. supe- 
 rior to all earthly monarchs ; — and in 1 Tim. i. 17, 
 of " The King eternal, iuuuortal ;" and again, (vi. 15.) 
 "Our Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed and only poten- 
 tate : King of kings and Lord of lords." See also 
 Rev. xvii. 14. This ap))lication of the title "king" 
 to our Saviour, subjected the primitive Christians to 
 many inconveniences ; as appears, among other 
 l)laces, from Acts xvii. 7, where they are accused of 
 acting " contrary to tlie decree of Ca'sar, saying, 
 there is another king, one Jesus." 
 
 King sometimes signifies government, such as a 
 king usually exercises ; even tliough it be not con- 
 ducted under one person. Rev. xvii. 10, "There 
 are (rather, have been) seven kings — forms of gov- 
 ernment ; five are fallen, one is ; the other is not 
 come ;" so ver. 12. 
 
 We may now proceed to give an account of the 
 j)er9on and office, with other circumstances con- 
 nected wath the Hebrew kings.
 
 KING 
 
 [ syi ] 
 
 KING 
 
 It appears to have been a maxim of the Hebrew 
 law, that the person of the king was inviolable, 
 whatever his ciiaracter may have been, 1 Sam. xxiv. 
 5 — 8 ; 2 Sam. i. 14. We have already seen, that by 
 the law of Moses the Israelitish monarchy was to be 
 hereditary, and the history of tlie Jews shows that 
 this law was strictly attended to. Nevertheless, it 
 appears from the history of David, that the succession 
 did not necessarily go by the right of primogeniture, 
 for he appointed Solomon as his successor, in pref- 
 erence to Adonijah, his elder brother. In this the 
 people yielded to the will of the king ; and that the 
 subjects really considered the right as inherent in 
 him, appears the more clearly from the circumstance, 
 that David at the time he caused Solomon to be an- 
 ointed, was scarcely more than nominally king, while 
 Adonijali, his eldest son, had Joab, the commander- 
 in-ciiief of the army, on his side. No sooner, how- 
 ever, was the king's mandate made known, than it 
 was obeyed, and Solomon seated on the throne. This 
 right, exercised by David in a matter undetermined 
 by tlic Mosaic laws, and which he i)robably derived 
 from a capitulation, wherein the Israelites, from their 
 great partiality to him, acceded to his wishes, in 
 order to have rather the best than the eldest of his 
 ?nns for their king, seems to have been the great 
 cause of all the commotions which arose during his 
 reign. His first-born sou was Anuion, whom Absa- 
 lom despatched, probably not so much to revenge 
 the disgrace of his beloved sister, Tamar, as to be- 
 come eldest son himself As soon as he was so, and 
 had regained his father's favor, he set on foot a re- 
 bellion ; because he saw that lie had otherwise no 
 chance of succeeding to the throne, from the pref- 
 ei'cnce his father gave to Solomon. He was slain in 
 battle : and then tlie eldest son, Adonijah, formed in 
 his father's old age a fresh conspiracy, in order to be- 
 come king. From all this it is plain, that such a 
 despotic right as allows a king thus to determine his 
 successor arbitrarily, and not according to an inva- 
 riable law, is extremely prejudicial to his own curi- 
 osit}', as well as to the peace of the state. After 
 David's time, we find none of the kings exercising 
 it ; because probably it had been altered, from an ob- 
 servation of its unhappy effects. 
 
 The inauguration of the king next demands our 
 attention. The first thing in this j)ompous ceremony 
 was the anointing. Godwyn, following the Talmud- 
 ical rabbins, asserts, that all kings were not anointed, 
 but those only in whom the succession was broken ; 
 and then the first of the family was anointed for his 
 successors, except in cases of dissension, where there 
 was required a renewed unction, for the confirmation 
 of his authority. There can be little doubt, however, 
 that all the kings were anointed ; hence, king and 
 anointed seem to have been used as synonymous 
 terms, 1 Sam. ii. 10; 2 Sam. i. 14, 21.' This an- 
 ointing was sometimes performed privately by a 
 pro])het, (1 Sam. x. 1 ; xvi. 1 — 13 ; 1 Kings xix. 16 ; 
 2 Kings ix. 1 — 0.) ancl was a symbolical j)rediction 
 that the person so anointed would, at some future 
 period, ascend the throne. After the monarchy was 
 established, this unction was performed by a )iriest, 
 (1 Kings i. 39.) at first in some i)ublic place, (1 Kings 
 i. 32 — 34.) and afterwards, in the temple, the monarch 
 elect being surrounded by his guards, 2 Kings xi. 
 12, 13 ; 2 Chron. xiii. Some are of opinion that he 
 was at the same time girded with a sword, Ps. xlv. 
 3. The manner of perfonning this ceremony ap- 
 pears to have been by pouring the oil upon the head, 
 I Sam. X. 1 ; 2 Kings ix. G. From these passages 
 
 it appears probable, that the kings were anointed in 
 the same plentiful manner, at their coronation, as the 
 priests were ; the ointment, or oil, was poured upon 
 the head in such a quantity, as to run down upon 
 the beard, and even to the skirts of the garment, 
 Ps. cxxxiii. 2. The next step was to place the di- 
 adem, or crown, upon the sovereign's head, and the 
 sceptre in his hand. To the former of these there is 
 an allusion in Ps. xxi. 3, "Thou preventest him (the 
 king) with the blessings of thy goodness ; thou settest 
 a crown of pure gold on his head ;" and also in Ezek. 
 xxi. 2(), and to the latter in Ps. xlv. 6, " Thy throne, 
 O God, is for ever and ever ; the scejjtre of thy 
 kingdom is a right sceptre." It aj)pears to have 
 been the custom of the Jewish kings, as well as those 
 of the neighboring nations, to wear the crown con- 
 stantly when they were dressed. Saul had a crown 
 or diadem when slain at the battle of Gilboa, (2 Sam. 
 i. 10.) as also the king of the Ammonites, when he 
 headed his army in battle, 2 Sam. xii. 30. When 
 the diadem was placed on the head of the monarch, 
 he entered into a solemn covenant with his subjects, 
 that he would govern according to the law ; (2 Sam. 
 V. 3 ; 1 Chron. xi. 3.) after which the nobles pledged 
 themselves to obedience, and confirmed the pledge 
 with the kiss of homage, or, as the Jews call it, the 
 kiss of majesty, 1 Sam. x. 1. This ceremony is 
 probably alluded to in the following passage of the 
 psalmist, " Kiss the Son, lest he be angry," &c. (Ps. 
 ii. 12.) that is, acknowledge him as your king, pay 
 him homage, and yield him subjection. Loucl ac- 
 clamations, accomj)anied with music, then follow- 
 ed, after which the king entered the citv, 1 Kings i. 
 39, 40; 2 Kings xi. 12, 19 ; 2 Chron. xxiii. 11. To 
 this j)ractice there are ntmierous allusions both in the 
 Old Testament (Ps. xlvii. 2 — 9 ; xcvii. 1 ; xcix. 9, &c.) 
 as well as in the New ; (Matt. xxi. 9, 10 ; Mark xi. 9, 
 10 ; Luke xix. 35, 38.) in which last cited passages 
 the Jews, by welcoming our Saviour in the same 
 manner as their kings were formerly, manifestly ac- 
 knowledged him to be the Messiah whom they ex- 
 pected. 
 
 The ceremonies attending the inauguration of a 
 king among the Abyssinians have evidently been de- 
 rived from the Hebrews. Of one considerable part 
 of this ceremony, however,"we find no direct men- 
 tion made as forming part of the installation of He- 
 brew monarchs, although there certainly appears to 
 be some allusions to such a practice in Psalms xxiv. 
 and xlv, 
 
 " On the 18th of March, (according to their ac- 
 count, the day of our Saviour's first comuig to Jeru- 
 salem,) this festival began. All the great officers, all 
 the officers of state, and the court, then present, were 
 every one dressed in the richest and gayest manner, 
 nor was the other sex bchind-liand in the splendor 
 of their appearance. The king, dressed in crimson 
 damask, with a great chain of gold about his neck, 
 his head bare, mounted on a horse richly caparison- 
 ed, advancoi.1 at the head of his nobility, passed the 
 outer coiut, and came to the paved way before the 
 church. Here he w:is met by a number of young 
 girls, daughters of the Umbares, or supreme judges, 
 together with many noble virgins standing on the 
 right and left of the court. Two of the noblest of 
 these held in their hands a crimson cord of silk, 
 somewhat thicker than a common whipcord, but of 
 a looser texture, stretched across from one company 
 to another, as if to sluU up the road b} which the 
 king was approaching the church. W'hen this cord 
 was prepared and drawn tight, about breast-high, by
 
 KING 
 
 [ 592 ] 
 
 KING 
 
 the gills, the king entered, advancing at a moderate 
 pace, curveting, and showing the management of his 
 horse. He was stopped by the tension of the string, 
 while the damsels on each side, asking who he ivas, 
 were answered, '/ am your king, the king of Ethiopia.^ 
 To which they replied, with one voice, '■You shall not 
 pass, you are not our king.^ The king then retires 
 some paces, and then presents himself as to pass, and 
 the cord is again drawn across this way by the young 
 women, so as to prevent him ; and the question 
 again repeated, 'JHio are youT The king answered, 
 '/ am your king, the king of Israel.' But the dam- 
 sels resolved, even on this second attack, not to sur- 
 render but upon their own terms : they again an- 
 swer, ^You shall not pass; you are not our king.'' 
 The third time, after retiring, the king advances with 
 a pace and air more determined ; and the cruel vir- 
 gins, again presenting the cord, and asking who he is, 
 he answers, '/ am your king, the king of Sion ;' and 
 drawing his sword, cuts the silk asunder. Inunedi- 
 ately upon this, the young women cry, ' It is a truth, 
 you are our king; truly you are the kiiig of Sion.'' 
 Upon which they begin to sing Hallelujah, and in 
 this they are joined by the court and army on the 
 plain ; fire-arms are discharged, drums and trumpets 
 sound ; and the king, amidst these acclamations and 
 rejoicings, advances to the foot of the stair of the 
 church, where he dismounts, and there sits down 
 upon a stone, which, by its remains, was apparently 
 an altar of Anubis, or the dog-star. At his feet there 
 is a large slab of freestone, on which is the inscrip- 
 tion mentioned by Poulet. 
 
 "The king is first anointed, then crowned, and is 
 accompanied half up the steps by the singing priests, 
 called Dipteras, chanting hymns and psalms. Here 
 he stops at a hole, made for the purpose, in one of the 
 steps, and there is fumigated with incense and myrrh, 
 aloes and cassia : divine service is then celebrated ; 
 and, after receiving the sacrament, he returns to the 
 camp, where fourteen days should be regularly spent 
 in feasting, and all manner of rejoicing, and military 
 exercise. After the king comes the Norbit, or keep- 
 er of the book of the law in Axum, supposed to rep- 
 resent Azarias, the son of Zadock ; then the twelve 
 Umbares, or supreme judges, who, with Azarias, ac- 
 company IMenilek, the son of Solomon, when he 
 brought the book of the law from Jerusalem, and 
 these are supposed to represent the twelve tribes. 
 After these follow the Albuna at the head of the 
 priests, and the Itcheque at the head of the monks ; 
 then the whole court, who pass through the aper- 
 ture made by the division of the silk which remains 
 still upon the ground. The king then gives and re- 
 ceives presents, according to established custom and 
 value ; of which a list is kept." (Bruce.) 
 
 This extract will, if we mistake not, serve to illus- 
 trate the forty -fifth Psalm, where the writer speaks of 
 things " touching the king." He is thus represented 
 as in great splendor, magnificently dressed, his sword 
 girded on his thigh, mounted on horseback, equipped 
 with the bow, &.c. anointed with the oil of gladness 
 above his fellows, his garments smelling with myrrh, 
 aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory j)alaces, (curious 
 inlaid boxes of ivory,) tlie virgins — " kings' daugh- 
 ters," on his one side, and his consort on the other, 
 the rich and honorable presenting gifts, and the ac- 
 clamations and rejoicing of the people. 
 
 The apparel of the Jewish monarchs was rich and 
 splendid. Hence our Saviour, speaking of the beauty 
 which God had imparted to the lilies of the field, re- 
 marks, " Even Solomon in all his glory was not ar- 
 
 rayed like one of these." Josephus and the rabbins 
 assert, that the robes of the Jewish kings were white ; 
 this, however, wants better support than their criti- 
 cisms upon the word /.auTtQvQ, which is applied by the 
 Greek writers to any gay color. Xenophon applies 
 the word to such as are clothed in purples, or who 
 are adorned with bracelets and jewels, and splendid- 
 ly dressed. It is much more probable that the king's 
 robes were made of purple and fine white linen, 
 Esth. viii. 15; Luke xvi. 19. The royal diadem 
 was made most probably of gold, the shape of which 
 resembled those worn by the ancient Romans, and 
 was inlaid with precious stones, 2 Sam. xii. 30; 
 Zech. vi. 11. Nor was the throne less magnificent. 
 That of Solomon was made of ivory, overlaid with 
 fine gold, raised on six steps, and adorned with the 
 images of lions, 1 Kings xi. 18 — 20. In noticing 
 the state and grandeur of the Jewish monarchs, we 
 must not omit mentioning their attendants and guards; 
 particularly the Cherethites and Pelethites, of whom 
 there is frequent mention in the histories of David 
 and Solomon. That they were soldiers, appears 
 from their making part of David's army, when he 
 marched out of Jerusalem on occasion of Absalom's 
 rebellion ; (2 Sam. xv. 18.) and likewise when they 
 were sent against the rebel, Sheba the son of Bichri, 
 chap. XX. 7. That they were a distinct class from 
 the common soldiers, is evident from their having a 
 peculiar commander, and not being under Joab the 
 general of the army, 2 Sam. viii. 16, 18. They 
 seem, therefore, to have been the king's body-guard, 
 like the prsetorian band among the Romans. These 
 guards ai)pear to have been skilful archers. The 
 Chaldee paraphrase every where calls them archers 
 and slingers. Their number may probably be gath- 
 ered from the targets and shields of gold, which Sol- 
 omon made for his guards ; which were five hundred, 
 1 Kings X. 16, 17, compared with 2 Chron. xii. 9 — 11. 
 
 The eastern monarchs, and indeed the whole of 
 their great men, were never approached but with 
 presents. This is particularly noticed by Solomon : 
 "A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth 
 him before great men," Prov. xviii. 16. Thus the 
 sons of Jacob were instructed to carry a present to 
 Joseph when they went down to Egypt, to buy food, 
 (Gen. xhii. 11, 26.) and in hke manner, the Magi who 
 came from the East to worship Christ, brought him 
 gold, frankincense, and myrrh, Matt. ii. 11. It was 
 also usual to pay them the most marked respect, by 
 prostrations to the groimd. Gen. xxxvii. 10 ; 1 Sam. 
 xxiv. 8 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 4. Morier informs us, that a 
 similar practice obtains amongst the Persians at the 
 present day : " As soon as we ajjproaclied the throne 
 of the Christian emperor," says Brands, "we were 
 obliged to kneel down, and slowly to bow oiu- heads 
 to the ground." Ovington tells us that " the mark 
 of respect which is paid to the kings in the East ap- 
 proaches very near to adoration. The manner of 
 saluting the great mogul is, to touch with the hand 
 first the earth, then the heart, and then to lift it above, 
 which is repeated three times in succession as you 
 ap|)roach him." The last honors paid the king were 
 at his death. The royal corpse, it is said, was carried 
 by nobles to the sepulchre, though it were at a 
 considerable distance. However this be, we read of 
 public mourning observed for good kings, 2 Chron. 
 XXXV. 24; Jer. xxii. 18; xxxiv. 5. Yet, notwith- 
 standing all this royal state and grandeur, they were 
 only God's viceroys, bound to govern according to the 
 statute-law of the land, whicli they, as well as their 
 subjects, were required to obey.
 
 KING 
 
 { 593 ] 
 
 KINGS 
 
 The king was forbidden keeping a large body of 
 ca\alry, or an innnoderate number of horses. These 
 were unnecessary for the defence oi' Palestine, being 
 a mountainous country, and could only be resorted 
 to for the purpose of conquest, than which nothing 
 could be more opposed to the views of the divine 
 Lawgiver. The king is forbidden "multiplying wives 
 to biinself, that his heart turn not away," (Deut. xvii. 
 17.) but no law was less observed than this. (See 2 
 Sam. iii 2 — 8< v. 13; ii. 8; :.v. 16, &r.) He was 
 Hkewise forbidden "greatly to multiply to himself 
 silver and gold," (Deut. xvii. 17.) lest lie should make 
 himself absolute and despotic. This prohibition, 
 however, did not extend to the formation of a public 
 treasury, or of one appropriated to the service of the 
 sanctuary and tabernacle. It oidy lay against the 
 king amassing treasures for his own use alone, lest he 
 should employ them as engines of despotism, and for 
 crushing the liberties of the people. In order that 
 the monarch migiit not be ignorant of religion and of 
 the Israelitisli law, he w^as commanded to have by 
 him a copy of the law carefully taken from the Le- 
 titical cxem{>lar.s, anil to rfad it daily, Deut. xvii. 
 18. Nor was a knowledge of the law enough ; he was 
 to govern by it, (Dout. xvii. 19, also 1 Kings xxi. 
 1- -IG.) and to rule his suljjects with lenity and kind- 
 ness, not as slaves but as brethren, Deut. xvii. 20. 
 
 Besides this original and fundament;d law", a spe- 
 cial capitulation was sworn to by the kings of Israel, 
 1 Sam. X. 25 ; 2 Sam. v. 3. Their power had, never- 
 theless, a tendency to despotism. They had the 
 right of making war and concluding peace ; they had 
 not only the power of life and death, but could, on 
 pariicular occasions, put criminals to death, williout 
 the formalities of justice, (1 Sam. xxi. 11 — 19; xxii. 
 J7, 18 ; 2 Sam. i. 5 — 15, Sec.) though they generally 
 administered judges, duly constituted, to hear and 
 determine causes in their name, 1 Chron. xxiii. 4 ; 
 xxvi. 29 — 32. In Jerusalem there might probably 
 bo superior courts, wherein David's sons presided, 
 (see Ps. cxxii. 5.) but no mention is made of a su- 
 preme tribunal erected in that city earlier than the 
 reign of Jehoshapliat, 2 Chron. xix. 8 — 11. It was 
 composed of priests and heads of families, and had 
 two presidents, one in the person of the high-priest, 
 and another who sat in the name of the king. Al- 
 though the kings enjoyed the privilege of granting 
 pardons to offenders at their pleasure, and in ecclesi- 
 astical affiiirs exercised great power, sometimes de- 
 posing or condemning to death even the high-priest 
 himself; (1 Sam. xxii. 17, 18; 1 Kings ji.26, 27.) and 
 at other times reforming great abuses in religion ; yet 
 this jjower was enjoyed by them not as absolute sove- 
 reigns in their own right, but as the viceroys of 
 Jehovah, who AAas the sole Legislator of Israel. 
 
 Concerning the royal revenues, Moses left no ordi- 
 nances, having ajjpointed no king; the following 
 particulars nniy be collected as the sources of these 
 revenues from the writings of the Old Testament: — 
 (1.) V'olimtary offerings, or presents, which were 
 made conformably to the oriental custom, Gen. 
 xxiii. 11 — 25 ; 1 SJmi. ix. 27 ; xvi. 20. This was the 
 most ancient source of the king's revenue, and was 
 probably abolished by David. (2.) One tenth ])art of 
 all the produce of all the fields and vineyards, was 
 given to the king. There is an alltision in Mai. i. 8, 
 and Neh. v. 18, to the custom of paying dues in kind 
 to jpfovernment, which obtains to this day in Abys- 
 sinia. (3.) The produce of the royal demesnes, con- 
 sisting of arable lands, vineyards, olive and sycamore 
 grounds, &c. which had originally been unenclosed 
 75 
 
 and uncultivated, or were the property of state crim- 
 inals confiscated to the sovereign : these demesnes 
 were cultivated by bondsmen, and perhaps also by 
 the people of conquered countries, (1 Chron. xxvii. 
 26 — 31 ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 10.) and it appears from 1 
 Sam. viii. 14 ; xxii. 7. and Ezek. xlvi. 17, that the 
 kings assigned jiart of their domains to their ser- 
 vants in lieu of salary. (4.) To the cultivation of 
 their demesnes, the kings must have required bond 
 services ; and accordingly we find these mentioned 
 by Samuel among the royal rights established by use 
 among the neighboring nations, 1 Sam. viii. 12, 16. 
 These services seem to have been increased by Solo- 
 mon, (1 Kings V. 17, 18.) and it was probably" Reho- 
 boam's having refused to lessen them that gave occa- 
 sion first to the complaints, and then to the rebellion, 
 of the ten tribes against him. (5.) Another source 
 of the king's revenue was the produce of the royal 
 flocks. The Arabian deserts being common to the 
 king and his subjects, for the pasturage of cattle, they 
 did not neglect to take advantage of this privilege, 
 but kept large herds of oxen, sheep, goats, asses and 
 camels there, 1 Chron. xxxvii. 29 — 31. (6.) Mi- 
 chaelis is of opinion that a passage in Amos (\nii. 1.) 
 refers to a royal right of mowing the pastures. If this 
 be correct, the kings must have arrogated, at this 
 time, the right of cutting the first and best gi-ass of 
 the public pastures, leaving only the after-growth to 
 the Israelitisli herdsmen. (7.) Not only did the most 
 considerable part of the plunder of the conquered 
 nations flow into the royal treasury, (2 Sam. viii.) but 
 the latter also paid tributes, which were imposed on 
 them jjartly in money and partly in agricultural prod- 
 uce, 1 Kings iv. 21 ; Ps. Ixxii. 10. It is probable, 
 from 1 Kings x. 14, that the Israelites also paid a tax 
 in money. (8.) Lastly, Solomon discovered a source 
 of revenue entirely new to the Israelitisli nionarchs, 
 and ^^■hich must have been very productive. As the 
 IMosaic law did not encourage foreign commerce for 
 the subject, it became an object of attention to the 
 cro\^^l. Michaelis is of opinion that Africa was cir- 
 cumnavigated by Solomon's fleets ; be this as it may, 
 it is certain that he carried on a most extensive and 
 lucrative trade in gold, silver, Egyptian horses, and 
 the byssus or fine linen of Egypt, 1 Kings x. 22, 28, 
 29. The foreign merchants, who carried on other 
 branches of trade, and passed through the dominions 
 of Solomon, paid him customs, which afl^orded a 
 considerable revenue to that monarch, 1 Kings 
 X, 15. 
 
 KINGS, Books of. The Vulgate has four books 
 under this name, viz. the two Books of Samuel and 
 those of Kings, as they stand in the English version, 
 and also in the Hebrew Bibles. Under this name the 
 Greeks cite them all four as the Books of Kingdoms, 
 the Latins as the Books of Kings. 
 
 The First Book of Kings, i. e. the First Book of 
 Samuel, in the English Bible, contains the history of 
 100 years; from the birth of Samuel, A. M. 2849, to 
 the death of Saul, in 2949. It comprises an account 
 of the birth of Samuel, the war between the Philis- 
 tines and Hebrews, in which the ark of the Lord was 
 taken ; the death of Eli, the high-priest, and of his 
 sons Hophni and Phinehas ; the restoration of the 
 ark by the Philistines ; Samuel's being acknowledged 
 judge of Israel ; Saul's election to be king, his suc- 
 cessfiil begimnng, his wars and victories ; his rejec- 
 tion ; the "anointing of David, his valor, his misfor- 
 tunes, his flight ; the war between the Phihstines and 
 Saul, with the death of that prince. 
 
 The Second Book of Kings, i. e. the Second Book
 
 KINGS 
 
 [594] 
 
 KINGS 
 
 of Samuel iu the English Bible, contains the history 
 of 39 years ; from the second anointing of David at 
 Hebron, A. M. 2949, to 2988, in which David ap- 
 pointed Solomon to be his successor, two years be- 
 fore his death, ui 2990. It includes an account of 
 David's being acknowledged king by tlie trilie of 
 Judah, while the other tribes of Israel obeyed Ishbo- 
 sheth, son of Saul. Ishbosheth being killed seven 
 years afterwards, (295G,) David was acknowledged 
 king of all Israel. He received the royal unction a 
 third time ; took Jerusalem from the Jebusites ; 
 brought back the ark from Kirjatli-jearim to the city 
 of David, and ilellated the Pliilistines, 31oabitcs, Syri- 
 ans, and Edomites, on several occasions. Ilamm, 
 king of the Annnonitcs, having insulted David's am- 
 bassadors, he made war on Hannn's country, and 
 subjected it. During this war David lived with Balh- 
 sheba, and |jrocured the murder of Uriah ; Nathan 
 reproved him for his adultery and murder; David 
 repented ; but God punished him by the rebellion of 
 Absalom. After t'lis contest, in which his unnatural 
 son perished miserably, David, being quiet in his do- 
 minions, ordered the people to be numberrd. The 
 Lord punished his curiosity with a plague. Lastly, 
 David prepared every thing necessary for the erection 
 of the temple. 
 
 The Third Book of Kings, or the First iu the Eng- 
 lish Bible, comprises the history of 121) years, from 
 Solomon's tuiointing, A. M. 2989, to tlie death of.Te- 
 hoshaphat, king of Judali, in 3115. It gives an ac- 
 count of Adonijah's aiming at the crown, of Solo- 
 mon's association with David in the throne, of David's 
 death, of the deaths of Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei ; 
 of the building the temple by Solomon ; of his riches, 
 wisdom, reputation, fall, and death ; of liis son Reho- 
 boam's alienating tlie minds of the Israelites; of the 
 separation of the ten trii)cs, and of their choice of Jero- 
 boam for their king; of Rehoboani's successors, 
 Abijam, Asa, and Jehoshaphat, who died A. M. 3115 ; 
 and of Jeroboam's successors, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, 
 Zimri, Omri, Tibni, Ahab, and Ahaziah, who died 
 in 3108. 
 
 The Fourth Book of Kings, or the Second in the 
 English Bible, includes the history of 227 years ; 
 from the death of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and 
 the beginning of Jehoram in 3115, to the beginning 
 of the reign of Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, who 
 delivered Jechoniah out of prison in 3443. 
 
 In the kingdom of Judah we fuid a few pious 
 l)rinces among many who were corrupt. Jehoslia- 
 ))hat was succeeded by Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, 
 Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, or Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, 
 Ilezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiali, Jehoahaz, Elia- 
 kim, or Jehoiakim, Jechoniah, or Jehoiachiu, Mat- 
 taniah, or Zedekiah, in whose reign Jerusalem was 
 taken by the Chaldeans, the temple burnt, and the 
 people carried to Babylon, A. M. 3416. After this 
 we read of the sad death of Gedaliah, whom the 
 Chaldeans had left in tlie country to govern the re- 
 mains of the people ; of their retreat into Egypt, and 
 the favor shown i)y Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, 
 to Jehoiachiu, or Jechoniah, king of Judah, whom he 
 took out of prison, and [)laced in his palace. In the 
 interval God raised up many pro))hets in Judah ; as 
 Iddo, Ahijah, Shemaiali, Hanani, Azariah, Jehu, 
 Isaiah, Jeremiah, /ej)lianlah, lluldah, Micaiah, Joel, 
 &c. The fourth book of Kings has |)reserved several 
 particulars of the lives of these great men, as well as 
 of the prophets who lived at the same time in the 
 kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes. This book pre- 
 sents a long succession of wicked princes in the king- 
 
 dom of Israel — Ahaziah, Jehoram son of Ahab Jehu, 
 Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam, Zachariah, Shallum, 
 Menahem, Pekaiah, Pekah, Hosea son of Elah, in 
 whose reign Samaria was taken by Salmanezer, and 
 the ten tribes carried captive into Assyria. Several 
 eminent prophets are named during this interval in 
 the kingdom of the ten tribes ; as Iddo, Oded, Ahijah, 
 Elisha, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, &c. 
 
 As to the author or authors of the four books of 
 Kings, critics are not agreed. Many asciibe the first 
 two to Sanuiel, whose name we find in their titles in 
 the Hebrew. The Jews assign him only twenty- 
 seven chapters in the first book, which include the 
 history of his life, and a recital of the actions of Saul 
 and David, while Samuel was living ; the rest they 
 believe was continued by Gad and Nathan, according 
 to 1 Chron. xxix. 29. This opinion is very probable ; 
 notwithstanding that we find certain remarks, which 
 do not properly belong to the time of Samuel, or the 
 time of Nathan : e. g. it is said, 1 Sam. iii. 1. that 
 while Samuel was living, "projihecy was rare in Is- 
 rael ;" which intiniates, that when the author wrote, 
 it was more frequent. 1 Sam. xiv. 23, Bethel is call- 
 ed Bethaven, or " the House of Iniquity ;" a name 
 not given to it till Jeroboam had set up one of his 
 golden calves there. The author observes also on 
 David's invading the Geshuritcs and Gezrites, that 
 "this country of old was well peopled, from Shur 
 even unto the land of Egypt ;" (1 Sam. xxvii. 8.) that 
 is, it was so in David's time, but not when the author 
 was living. In 1 Sam. ix. 9, they who formerly ^\■ere 
 called seers, were in his time termed nabi, or proph- 
 ets. Now in Samuel's time the name of seer was 
 counuon ; the author, therefore, of these books is 
 later than that prophet. He speaks of Sanuiel as of 
 a person dead long before, and praises hiu), 1 Sam. 
 xxviii. 3. He observes that the city of Ziklag be- 
 longed to the kings of Judah, ever since the cession 
 of it by Achish to David ; (1 Sam. xxvii. G.) which 
 remark must have been made after the separation of 
 the kingdoms of Judah and Israel ; and shows the 
 writer to have lived not only after Samuel, but after 
 David and Solomon. 
 
 From several other observations of this nature, 
 some have concluded, that David, Hezekiah, Jere- 
 miah, or Ezra, compiled these books from memoirs 
 composed in the time of Samuel and the prophets, of 
 David and Solomon ; and if we compare the difl:er- 
 ent characters of the books, we shall on one side see 
 that circumstances, facts, and remarks, are mostly the 
 same ; while the uniformity of the style, and the 
 course of the narration, prove that they both had one 
 author, who was contemporary with the ])ersons of 
 whom he speaks. On the other side, however, there 
 are circumstances which support the opinion, that a 
 later writer revised them, and added some particu- 
 lars, and certain terms, intended to explain what the 
 distance of time had rendered obscure. Now, if we 
 suppose that Ezra, an inspired author, had in his 
 hands original writings of Samuel, and the ancient 
 writers of Saul and David's times, that he digested 
 them into order, and connected them, all difticulties 
 are easily solved, and the seeming co)itradictions are 
 reconciled. That these works are authentic and 
 canonical it is not dis|)uted : both the Jewish and the 
 Christian church tmanimously receive them as in- 
 sy)ired Scripture : and Christ quotes them in the 
 Gos|)eI, Matt. xii. 3 ; Mark ii. 25 ; Luke vi. 3. There 
 arc much the same remarks to be made with relation 
 to the third and fourth books of Kings. Some have 
 imagined that David. Solomon and Hezekiah wrote
 
 KINGS 
 
 [ 595 ] 
 
 KIxXG 
 
 the liistory of their onvu reigns. Others, that the 
 prophets who lived under their government, in Is- 
 rael and Judah, took this office upon them ; as Isaiah 
 and Jcrennah, Gad and Nathan. We know that 
 several of the prophets wrote the lives of those kings 
 who reigned in their times ; and the names and writ- 
 ings of these prophets are mentioned in several 
 places of the books of Kings and Chronicles. Besides, 
 the memoirs and annals of the kings of .ludah and 
 Israel are cited in almost every ciiapter, and tiiese 
 included the particulars of those princes' actions, of 
 which the sacred hooks have handed down only 
 summaries and abridgments. 
 
 It must be admitted, therefore, that two descrip- 
 tions of writers were concerned in the books of 
 Kings. (1.) Those original, primitive and contemi)o- 
 rary authors, who wrote the annals, journals and 
 memoirs of their own times ; from which the matter 
 and substance of our sacred history has been formed ; 
 and from which the authors who came afterwards 
 have taken what they record. (See Seer.) These 
 ancient memoirs have not descended down to us, but 
 were certainly in the hands of those sacred penmen, 
 whose writings are in our possession, since tliey cite 
 them, and refer to them: but (3.) Who compiled and 
 digested these ancient writings ? and when did they 
 live .' It is generally believed that Ezra is the editor 
 of the books of Kings and Chronicles, as we have 
 them at present; and the jiroofs are these: (1.) The 
 author lived after the captivity of Babylon. At the 
 end of the fourth book of Kings he speaks of the re- 
 turn from that captivity, 2 Kings xxv. 2^, 23, &c. 
 (2.) He describes the ten tribes as still captive in As- 
 syria, whither they w ere carried as a punishment for 
 their sins. (3.) In the seventeenth cha])ter of tlie fourth 
 book of Kings, he introduces reflections on the ca- 
 lamities of Jutlah and Israel, which demonstrate that 
 he wrote aft:er the event. (4.) He refers almost 
 every where to ancient memoirs, which he had be- 
 fore him, and abridged. (.5.) The author, as far as 
 we are able to judge, was a priest, and much attach- 
 ed to the house of David. All these marks agree 
 well with Ezra, a learned and very inquisitive priest, 
 who lived during the captivity, and after it; who 
 might have collected a great number of documents, 
 of wliich time and the persecutions suffered by the 
 Jews, have deprived us. See Ezra. 
 
 There are a few particidars in these books which 
 do not seem to agree with the time of Ezra : he .says, 
 that in his time the ark of the covenant was still in 
 the temj)le, (1 Kings viii. 8.) that the kingdoms of 
 Judah and Israel were still subsisting, (chap. xii. 19.) 
 he speaks of the months Sif and Bui, (vi. 1, 37, 38.) 
 names which in the time of Ezra were no longer in 
 use. He also expresses himself throughout as a con- 
 temporary and as a writer wlio had witnessed what 
 he wrote. But these discrepancies may be easily 
 removed. Ezra generally transcribes word for word 
 the memoirs which he had in his possession ; and 
 this is a proof of his fidelity and honesty. In other 
 places, he inserts reflections or illustrations, which 
 naturally arise from his subject ; and this shows that 
 he was master of the subject on which he was en- 
 gaged, and that, being inspired, he was not afraid of 
 intermixing his own words with those of the proph- 
 ets, whose writings lay before him. 
 
 KING'S Mother. Nothing is more agreeable 
 than to establish the conjectures of learning and in- 
 genuity ; and a favorable opportunity for this i)ur- 
 pose, combining illustrations of a passage of Scrip- 
 ture, is afforded by the learned work of IMr. Raphael 
 
 Baruh, who thus expresses his sentiments ou the 
 passage, 1 Kings xv. 1, 2, 7, 8, collated with the same 
 facts in 2 Chron. xiii. 1,2: "There is a very re- 
 markable variation in this collation, in the name of 
 king Abijam's (or Abijah's) mother: in the book of 
 Kings she is called Maaca, the daughter of Absalom ; 
 and even in Chronicles, (chap. ix. 20.) she is also 
 called by this same name ; but in this passage, Chron- 
 icles calls her by the name of IMlcayau, the daughter 
 of Uriel, of Gibea. To solve this difficulty, 1 beg 
 leave to offer, that the title i?'.n an, {am ham-melek,) 
 king's motlHr;an(\ that of n-*^3.in, (/(ag--gc62>a//,) trans- 
 lated queen, (2 Kings x. 13 ; 2 Chron. xv. IG.) describe 
 one and the same thing: I mean, that the phrase, 
 " And his mother's name was," Sec. when ex{)ressed 
 on a king's accession to the throne, at the beginnino- 
 of his history, does not always imply, that the lady 
 whose name is then mentioned was the king's [natu- 
 ral] mother; I apprehend, tliat (v:n) ^ the king's 
 mother,' when so introduced, is only a title of honor 
 and dignity enjoyed by one lady, solely, of tlie royal 
 family at u time, denoting her to be the first in rank, 
 chief sultana, or queen dowager, whether she hap- 
 pened to be the king's [natural] mother or not. This 
 remark seems to be corroborated by the history of 
 king Asa, (1 Kings xv. 10, and 2 Chron. xv. IG.) who 
 was Abijah's son. In the book of Kings, at his ac- 
 cession, this same Miiaca, Absalom's daughter, is said 
 to be his mother, and Asa afterwards deprived her of 
 the dignity of ,-i-i^nj, {gebirah,) or chiefest in rank, on 
 account of her idolatrous proceedings. But it is cer- 
 tain that IMaaca was his grandmother, and not his 
 mother, as here described ; therefore, if we look upon 
 the expression of the King's Motherto be only a title 
 of dignity, all the difficulty will cease: for this Maaca 
 was really Abijah's mother, the dearly beloved wife 
 of his father Rehoboam, who, for her sake, appointed 
 her son, Al)ijah, to be his successor to the throne ; 
 but when Abijali caine to be king, that dignity of the 
 king's mother, or the first in rank of the royalfamily, 
 was, for some reason, perhaps for seniority, given to 
 Micayau, the daughter of I'riel of Gibea; "and after- 
 wards, on the death of IMieayau, that dignity devolv- 
 ed to ^laaca, and she enjoyed it at the accession of 
 Asa, her grandson, who afterwards degraded her for 
 her idolatry. This I subnnt as a rational way of 
 reconciling all these passages, which seem so con- 
 tradictory and repugnant to each other. The better 
 to prove this assertion, let it be observed, that in 2 
 Kings xxiv. 12, it is said, 'And Jehoiachim, the king 
 of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he and 
 his mother, and his servants, and his j)rinces, and his 
 officers ; and the king of Babylon took him,' &c. ; 
 and, verse 15, 'and he carried away Jehoiachim to 
 Babylon, and the king's mother, and tiie king's wives, 
 and his officers,' &c. Jeremiah, (xxix.2.) mentioning 
 the sam(> circumstances, says, ' After that, Jeconiah 
 the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes 
 of Judah, Sec. (le|)arted from Jerusalem.' Now 
 it is evident, that the queen, in this verse, cannot 
 mean the king's wife, as it would seem, by the trans- 
 lators' rendering always the word niojn, [hag-gehirah,) 
 (jueen ; but means the lady that is invested with that 
 dignity, of being called the king's mother ; the jihrase 
 mojn, {hag-gehirah,) in Jeremiah, corresponding with 
 -\hzri C3N, {amham-mclek,) the king's mother: and >cn, 
 AMMO, Lis mother, in Kings. The V^ulgate translates 
 the word moj {gebirah) (1 Kings xi. 1!', and 2 Kings 
 X. 13.) Regina, (1 Kings xv. 13.) Pnnceps, {2 Chron. 
 XV. 16.) D< posuit Imperio, (Jer. xxix. 2.) Domana, 
 (ibid. xiii. IH.) Dominatriei ; — and the English trans-
 
 Kl^G 
 
 [ 596 ] 
 
 KIR 
 
 lators always render it queen. That ' king's mother ' 
 was a title of dignity is obvious by 1 Kings ii. 19 : 
 ' Bathsheba, therefore, went in to king Solomon, to 
 speak unto him for Adonijah ; and the king rose to 
 meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down 
 on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the 
 king's mother, and she sat on his right hand ;' for it 
 was better to say, ' and caused a seat to be set for her : ' 
 but he says, ^for the king's mother ;' and, ])erhaps, it 
 was on this occasion that Bathsheba was first invest- 
 ed with the honor of that dignity." These conjec- 
 tures of Mr, Baridi are established beyond any rea- 
 sonable doubt, by the following extracts : " The Oloo 
 Kani is not governess of the Crimea. This title, the 
 literal translation of which is ' great queen,' simply 
 denotes a dignity in the harem, which the khan usu- 
 ally confers on one of his sistei-s ; or, if he has none, 
 on one of his daughters, or relations. To this dignity 
 are attached the revenues arising from several vil- 
 lages, and other rights." (Baron du Tott, vol. ii. p. 64.) 
 "On this occasion, the king crowned his mother 
 Blalacotawit ; conferring upon her the dignity and 
 title of Iteghe, the consequence of which station I 
 have often described : — i. e. as king's mother, regent, 
 governess of the king when under age." (Bruce's 
 Travels, vol. ii. p. 531.) " Gusho bad confiscated, in 
 the name of the king, all the queen''s [i. e. the Iteghe] 
 or king's mother's villages, which made her believe, 
 that this offer of the king to bring her to Gondar was 
 an insidious one. In order to make the bi-each the 
 wider, he had also prevailed upon the king's [natural] 
 mother to come to Gondar, and insist with her son 
 to be crowned, and take the title and estate of Iteghe. 
 The king was prevailed upon to gratify his [natural] 
 mother, under pretence that the Iteghe had refused 
 to come upon his invitation ; but this, as it was a pre- 
 tence only, so it was expressly a violation of the law 
 of the land, which permits of but one Iteghe, and 
 never allows the nomination of a new one, while the 
 former is in life, however distant a relation she 
 may be to the then reigning king. In consequence of 
 this netv coronation, two large villages, Tshemmera 
 and Tocussa, which belonged to the Iteghe, as ap- 
 pendages of her royalty, of course devolved upon the 
 king's OAvn mother, newly crowned, who sending her 
 people to take possession, the inhabitants not only 
 refused to admit her officers, but forcibly drove them 
 away, declaring tliey would acknowledge no other 
 mistress but their old one, to whom they were bound 
 by the lavrs of the land." (Ibid. vol. iv.'p. 244.) 
 
 From these exti-acts, we perceive, (1.) that the title 
 and ])lace of " King's mother " is of great conse- 
 quence ; and, in reading Bruce, we find the Iteghe 
 interfering much in public affairs, keeping a separate 
 palace and court, possessing great inliuence and au- 
 thority; (2.) that while any Iteghe is living, it is con- 
 trary to law to crown another; which accounts at 
 once for Asa's Iteghe, or king's mother, being his 
 grauilmother, the same person as held that dignity 
 before he came to the crown ; (3.) that this thlc oc- 
 curs also in other parts of the li'ast ; and is given 
 without consideration of natural maternity. (4.) It 
 should seem, tiiat " Queen," in our sense of the word, 
 is a title and station unknown in the royal harem 
 throughout the East. If it be taken at all, it is by 
 that wife who brings a son after the king's corona- 
 tion ; sucii son being presumptive heir to the crown, 
 his mother is sometimes entitled " Sultana Queen," 
 or "prime Sultaness;" but not with our English 
 ideas annexed to the title queen, (o.) That this pir- 
 son is called inditlavntly, "Queen," or "Iteghe," (-r 
 
 " King's Mother," even by Bruce ; whence arises the 
 very same ambiguity in our extracts from him, as 
 has been remarked in Scripture. This illustration 
 also sets in its proper light the interference of the 
 " queen," in the story of Belshazzar ; (Dan. v. 10.) 
 who, by her reference to former events, appears not 
 to have been any of the wives of Belshazzar ; neither, 
 indeed, could any of liis wives have come to that 
 banquet, (see Esther iv. 16.) or have appeared there 
 under those circumstances, even had such a one been 
 acquainted with the powers and talents of Daniel, as 
 a prophet, or as a public man, or servant of the king; 
 or, if intelligence of what passed at the banquet had 
 been carried into the harem, both of which ideas are 
 very unlikely. Whereas, the queen evidently speaks 
 with much influence, if not authority ; and was a 
 proper person to be informed, and consulted also, on 
 any emergency. Besides, as her palace was sej)arate 
 and distant from the king's, (though it might be 
 within the circuit of Babylon, and certainly was, at 
 this time, as Babylon was now under siege,) it allows 
 for the interval of confusion, conjecture, intj-oduction 
 of the wise men, &:c. befoi'e the queen's coming. 
 Accounts must have been carried to her, and her 
 coming from her own palace to the king's must have 
 taken up time. In order, therefore, to determine 
 who was this "queen," which has been a desidei-atum 
 among learned men, it is not enough to know, wlio 
 might be Belshazzar's wife, or wives, at the time : 
 but also who was Iteghe, or king's niother, before he 
 came to the crown ; and who, therefore, being well 
 acquainted with former events, and continuing in the 
 same dignity, might natiu'ally allude to tliem on this 
 occasion. Had inquiry into this matter been con- 
 ducted on these principles, in all probability, it had 
 been more conformable to the manners of the East, 
 and had superseded many ineffectual conjectures. 
 
 I. KIR, a city of Moab, probably the modern 
 Kerek, Isa. XV. 1. 
 
 II. KIR, part of Media, where the river Kyrus, or 
 Cyrus, flows, 2 Kings xvi. 9 ; Isa. xxii. 6 ; Amos i, 5 ; 
 ix.7. 
 
 KIR-HARESHETH, probably the same with 
 KiR. See Ar. 
 
 I. KIRIATH, a city in Judah, Josh. xv. 25. 
 
 II. KIRIATH, a city of Moab, Jer. xlviii. 24, 41 ; 
 Amos ii. 2. 
 
 III. KIRIATH, a city of Benjamin, Josh, xviii. 28. 
 KIRIATHAIM, a town beyond Jordan, ten miles 
 
 from Medaba, west, Josli. xiii. 19. 
 
 I. KIRJATHAIM, a city of Naphtali, 1 Chron. vi. 
 76, Thoueht to be the Karthan of Josh. xxi. 32. 
 
 II. KIRJATHAIM, a city of Moab, or partly iu 
 the lot of Reuben, Gen. xiv. 5 ; Numb, xxxii. 37 ; Josh, 
 xiii. 19; Jer. xlviii. 1, 23; Ezek. xxv, 9, 
 
 KIRJATH-ARBA, or Hebron, a city of Judah, 
 (Josh, XV, 13.) so called from its founder, Arba. See 
 Hebron. 
 
 KIRJATH-BAAL, a city in Judah, called also Kir- 
 jath-jearim, (Josh. xv. 60 ; xviii. 14 ; Jer. xxvi. 20,) 
 and also Baalah 
 
 KIRJATH-HUZOTH, the city of squares, was the 
 royal seat of Balak, king of IMoab ; and therefore may 
 well be supposed to have had handsome streets, &c. 
 Numb. xxii. 39. 
 
 KIRJATH-JEARIM, a city of the Gibeonites, 
 afterwards given to Judah. It was on the confines of 
 Benjamin, (Josli. xv. 9.) ai)out nine miles from Jeru- 
 salem, in the way to Lydda. Here the ark was 
 lodged for many years in tlie bouse of Abinadab ; till 
 David removed it to Jerusalem, 1 Chron. xiii.
 
 KIS 
 
 L S97 ] 
 
 KNE 
 
 KIRJATH-SANNAH, a city of Judah, Joshua 
 XV. 49. 
 
 KIR.IATH-SEPHER, the ciVy of books, otherwise 
 Debir, Kirjath-debir, the city of words, a city in the 
 trihe of Judah, afterwards given to Caleb. It was 
 taken by Otiniiel. to whom Caleb for Ids reward 
 
 fave his (laughter Achsah in marriage, Josh. xv. 15 ; 
 udg. i. 11, &c. This city was so called long before 
 Moses ; at least it would seem so by the manner of 
 mentioning it, \vhich proves that books were known 
 before that legislator, and that he is not the oldest 
 writer, as the fathers have asserted ; a character 
 which, it is to be observed, he never assumes. It is 
 possible that the Canaanites might lodge their records 
 in this city, and those few monuments of antiquity 
 which they had preserved ; or it might be something 
 like the cities of the priests in Israel, the residence 
 of the learned ; a kind of college. This idea re- 
 ceives confirmation from its other name Debir, which 
 designates an oracle ; and seems to hint at a seat of 
 learning ; an establishment, probably, of priests, for 
 the purpose of educating the younger members of 
 their body. The circumstance is very remarkable, 
 because it Occurs so early as the days of Joshua; 
 and is evidently an estabhshmont by the Canaanites, 
 pievious to the Hebrew invasion. It contributes, 
 therefore, greatly to prove that the origin of letters 
 was not the revelation of thcni to Moses on mount 
 Sinai, as some have imagined ; since, beside the si- 
 lence of Moses on that matter, we find indications of 
 their being already in use elsewhere. See Debir. 
 
 I. KISH, son of Abi Gibeon and Maachah, 1 
 Chron. viii. 30. 
 
 II. KISH, son of Ner, and father of king Saul, 
 1 Sam. ix. 1 ; 1 Chron. viii. 33 ; ix. 38, 39. 
 
 III. KISH, son of Abdi, a Levite of Merari's 
 family, 2 Chron. xxix. 12. 
 
 KISHION, a city of the tribe of Issachar, yielded 
 to the Levites of Gershom's family. Josh. xix. 20. It 
 is the same with Kedesh III. 
 
 KISHON, a brook which rises in the ])Iain of 
 Jezreel, near the foot of mount Tabor, x^fter pass- 
 ing through the great plain and receiving the waters 
 of various smaller streams, it passes along the foot 
 of mount Carmel, and discharges itself into the 
 Mediterranean, a short distance south of Acco, or 
 Acre, Judges v. 21. (See Carmel II.) For a more 
 particular account of the Kishon, see the Biblical 
 Repository, vol. i. p. 601. R. 
 
 KISS. There are in the language of Scripture, 
 kisses of friendship, adoration, homage, and respect ; 
 kisses of peace and reconciliation. Paul speaks fre- 
 quently of the kiss of peace, used among believers, 
 and given by them to one another, as a token of love 
 and union, publicly in their religious assemblies, 
 Rom. xvi. IG. See Adore. 
 
 Pharaoh tells Joseph, " Thou shalt be over my 
 house ; and upon thy mouth shall all my people 
 kiss ;" our translation reads, " according to thy word 
 shall all my j)cople be ruled ;" but places in the margin, 
 '• at thy word shall all my people kiss." AVe read in 
 Prov. xxiv. 26, "The lips shall be kissed that give 
 right words in answer ;" and as this seems to express 
 the same action as is referred to Joseph, it may be 
 proper to examine the import of the phrase. It is 
 
 Erobable that it refers, ultimately, to the mode of 
 issing the roll of a decree, or writing, which con- 
 tains the orders of a sovereign prince, as is still the 
 custom in the East, that is, the written orders of 
 Joseph should be treated with the same respect, by 
 inferior officers, as those of the king. The passage 
 
 in Proverbs is rendered by the LXX, " Lips shall 
 kiss those things that answer to right words ;"— that 
 IS, those writings, those decrees, which correspond 
 to principles of equity and justice, shall be treated 
 With the utmost reverence, even to kissing. The 
 mode of honoring a writing from a sovereign in the 
 East, is by kissing it, and then putting it up to the 
 forehead. See Letters. 
 
 It desen-es notice, that various parts of the person 
 were occasionally, and still are, kissed in the East ; 
 probably according to the degree of intimacy of the 
 parties, or to^ their relative stations— as the lips, the 
 liands, the feet, the garments, the earth where the 
 feet liad trodden, &c. and in many instances, things 
 sent by a superior to an inferior. So Isaac says to 
 his son, " Come near and kiss me ;" (Gen. xxvii. 26.) 
 so Joseph fell on his father's face, and kissed it ; 
 (Gen. 1. 1.) so Joab took Amasa by the beard, to kiss 
 it; (2 Sam. xx. 9.) and so the woman kissed the feet 
 of Christ, Luke vii. 45. We should remark, also, 
 that not only men who were related kissed each 
 other, as La'ban and Jacob, (Gen. xxix. 14.) Esau 
 and Jacob, (Gen. xxxiii. 4.) and Joseph and his 
 brethren; but Samuel kissed Saul, (1 Sam. x. 1.) as 
 a token of respect to the king elect ; in like manner, 
 when the Son is declared king, (Ps. ii. 12.) the 
 kings and judges of the earth are directed to kiss 
 him ; no doubt to show their submission, venera- 
 tion and affection. Jonathan and David kissed each 
 other, (1 Sam. xx. 41.) and "Absalom kissed any 
 man — of whatever rank, or situation — that came 
 near to him," 2 Sam. xv. 5. This custom long con- 
 tinued, for " the brethren fell on Paul's neck, and 
 kissed him," Acts xv. 37. This accounts, very natu- 
 rally, for the custom of the " kiss of peace," among 
 the primitive Christians ; which, however it might 
 seem to us to be unadvisable, was in those days es- 
 teemed merely as a mode of expressing affectionate 
 honor. It should be remembered, too, that the sexes 
 sat apart in Jewish and in Christian places of wor- 
 ship ; though the heathen took occasion from the 
 use of this salutation, to raise reports injurious to 
 Christian purity. It did not long continue to be 
 practised in public assemblies, being probably gradu- 
 ally relinquished. There is some reason, however, 
 to think that it continued among several of the sects 
 denominated heretics ; where it gave occasion to the 
 same reports of promiscuous embraces, as it had 
 done when in general use among Christians. 
 
 KITE, a bird of prey, and therefore placed by 
 3Ioses among the unclean birds. Lev. xi. 14. See 
 
 BlRPS 
 
 KITHLISH, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 40. 
 
 KITIION, a city of Zebulun, which that tribe 
 could not take from the Canaanites, Judg. i. 30. Ki- 
 tron is Sippor, (Sepphoris,) says Bab. Megill. (fol. 6. 
 1.) a very strong place, and the largest city in Gali- 
 lee. It is noted in the Talmuds for being a univer- 
 sity ; in which taught rabbi Judah the Holy, who 
 died here. 
 
 KITTIM, sou of Javan, and grandson of Noah, 
 Gen. X. 4. See Chittim. 
 
 KNEADING-TROUGHS. In the description of 
 the departure of the Israelites from Eg>fpt, (Exod. 
 xii. 34.) we read that "the people took their dough 
 before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being 
 bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders." 
 Persons who know how cumbersome our kneading- 
 troughs are, and how much less important they are 
 than many other utensils, may wonder at this state- 
 ment, and find a difficulty in accounting for it. But
 
 KNEADING-TROUGHS 
 
 [ 598 ] 
 
 KNO 
 
 this wonder will cease, when it is understood that 
 the vessels which the Arabs make use of, for knead- 
 ing the unleavened cakes they prepare for those who 
 travel in the very desert through which Israel passed, 
 are only small wooden bowls ; and that they seem 
 to use no other m their own tents for that purpose 
 or any other ; these bowls being used by them for 
 kneading their bread, and serving up theirprovisions 
 when cooked. It will appear, that nothing could be 
 more convenient than kneading-troughs of this sort 
 for the Israelites in their journey. Mr. Harmer, 
 however, expresses himself as being a little doubt- 
 ful, whether these were the things that Moses meant, 
 since it seems that the Israelites had made a pro- 
 vision of corn sufficient for their consumption for 
 about a month, which they were preparing to bake all 
 at once ; but which their own little wooden bowls, 
 used to knead the bread in they wanted for a single day, 
 could not contain, nor yet well carry a number of those 
 things they had borrowed of the Egyptians. Be- 
 sides, he adds. Dr. Pococke informs us, that the Arabs 
 actually carry their dough in something else ; for, after 
 having spoken of their coi)per dishes put one within 
 another, and their wooden bowls, in which they 
 make their bread, and which make up all the kitchen 
 furniture of an Arab, even where he is settled ; he 
 gives us a description of a round leather coverlet, 
 which they lay on the ground, and which serves 
 them to eat from. This piece of furniture has, he 
 says, rings round it, by which it is drawn together 
 with a chain, that has a hook to it, to hang it by. It 
 is drawn together, and in this manner they bring it 
 full of bread, and when the repast is over, carry it 
 away at once, with all that is left. (Vol. i. p. 182.) 
 Whether this utensil is rather to be understood by 
 the word translated kneading-troughs, than the Arab 
 wooden bowl, Mr. Harmer does not positively deter- 
 mine ; but he remarks that there is nothing, in the 
 other three places in which the word occurs, to con- 
 tradict this explanation. These places are Exod. 
 viii. 3 ; Dent, xxviii. 5 and 17. in the two last of 
 which places it is translated store. See also imder 
 Caravanserai. 
 
 Niebuhr's description of this travelling equipage, 
 in which we find a piece of furniture of the same 
 nature as that just spoken of, and suitable, not only 
 for the same purpose, but for others also, may be 
 useful. We observe, that this is usually slung on the 
 camels, in travelling ; which accounts for the re- 
 mark of the Israelite writer, tliat the people " carried 
 their kneading-ltags on their shoulders" knapsack- 
 fashion, bound up, that is, drawn close ; which may 
 be ascribed to two coincident causes, (1.) they had 
 not camels sufficient to transport the baggage of such 
 a numerous host; (2.) they were sent away with 
 speed, and had no time allowed them to procure 
 travelling animals for general accommodation ; tln^y 
 must either carry their food themselves, or relin- 
 quish it. " In the deserts through which we were 
 to travel, (says Niebuhr,) a tent and beds were indis- 
 pensably necessary. We had a neat collection of 
 kitchen utensils made of copper, and tinned without 
 and witliin. Instead of glasses, which are so liable 
 to be broken, we used also copper bowls completely 
 tinned. A bottle of thick leather served us as a ca- 
 raffe. Our butter we put up in a leathern jar. In 
 a wooden box, covered witii leather, and parted out 
 into shelves, we stored our spiceries of all sorts • and 
 in another similar box we laid our candl(>s ; in the 
 lid of the latter, we fixed an iron socket which served 
 us for a candl(?stick. We had large lanterns of folded 
 
 linen, with the lid and bottom of tin. For a table, 
 with table linen, we had a round piece of leather, 
 with iron rings at certain distances round it, through 
 which cords were passed, after our meals ; and the 
 table hung, in the form of a purse, upon one of our 
 camels. But we imprudently put our wine into 
 great flasks, called in the East damasjanes, and large 
 enough, each of them, to contain twenty ordinary 
 bottles. These vases are very liable to be broken by 
 the jolting of the camels, as we found by the loss of 
 a part of our wine. It is much better to put your 
 wine, when you are to carry it upon camels, into 
 goat-skin bottles. This species of vessels may at 
 first appear little suitable for the purpose ; but they 
 communicate no bad taste to the liquor, if the skins 
 have been properlj' dressed. The same vessels an- 
 swer best to carry the store of water that is requisite 
 in travelling through dry and desert countries." 
 (Vol. i. p. 163. Eng. edit.) The reader may now 
 have a much clearer idea of the article designed by 
 the Hebrew historian, than was possible for him to 
 conceive from the rendering of the English version 
 — kneading-trough. The notion of a kneading- 
 trough, and that of an open leather cover, forming a 
 bag, are so dissimilar, that it seems absolutely neces- 
 sary, were it only to avoid that ridicule to which 
 scepticism is ever promjjt, that a different word 
 should be substituted; a word more expressive of 
 the subject and utensil intended, and also of its state, 
 as "bound up." In fact, if proper terms were se- 
 lected to particularize, if not to describe, the utensils 
 of the East, as well domestic as others, with which 
 we are now much more intimately acquainted than 
 our worthy and venerable translators were, many of 
 the sneers that pass for wit, while they are nothing 
 better than sheer ignorance, would lose even that 
 shadow of support to their profaneness at which 
 they catch, for want of more ct)rrect information. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE. To consider this word fully, 
 would make a very extensive article : a few remarks 
 must suffice. (1.) It imports, to imderstnnd — to have 
 acquired information respecting a subject. (2.) It 
 implies discernment, judgment, discretion ; the power 
 of discrimination. It may be partial ; we see but in 
 part, we know but in part, 1 Cor. xiii, 9. (3.) To 
 have ascertained by experiment. Gen. xxii. 12. (4.) 
 It implies discovery, detection ; by the law is the 
 knowledge of sin, Rom. iii. 20. 
 
 Natural knowledge is acquired by the senses, by 
 sight, hearing, feeling, &c. ; by reflection ; by the 
 pro])er use of our reasoning powers; by natural 
 genius; dexterity improved by assiduity and culti- 
 vation into great skill. So of husbandry, (Isa. xxviii. 
 36.) of art and elegance, (Exod. xxxv. 31.) in the in- 
 stance of Bczaleel. Spiritual knowledge is the gifl 
 of God ; Init may be improved by study, considera- 
 tion, &c. 
 
 The jiriests' lips should keep knowledge ; (Mai. ii. 
 7.) not keep it to themselves, but keep it in store for 
 others ; to communicate knowledge is the way to 
 preserve it. 
 
 Knowledge is spoken of as an emblematical per- 
 son, as riches, and treasures, as excellency, and as the 
 gift of God. 
 
 " Knowledge pufloth up, but charity edifieth ; (1 
 Cor. viii. 1.) i. e. the knowledge of speculative and 
 useless things, which tend only to gratify curiosity 
 and vanity, which contribute neither to our own sal- 
 vation nor to our neighbor's, neither to the public 
 good, nor to God's glory ; such knowledge is much 
 more dangerous than profitable. The true science
 
 KOH 
 
 [ 599 ] 
 
 KOR 
 
 is that of salvation ; the best employment of our 
 knowledge is in sanctifying ourselves, in glorifying 
 God, and in edifying our neighbor : this is the only 
 sound knowledge. 
 
 God is the source and fountain of knowledge ; He 
 knows all things, at all times, and in all places. Jesus 
 Christ is possessed of universal knowledge ; knows 
 the heart of man, and whatever a])})crtains to his 
 mediatorial kingdom. Men know progressively ; 
 and ought to follow on to know the Lord ; what we 
 know not now we may know hereafter. Holy angels 
 know in a manner much sujierior to man ; and, oc- 
 casionally, reveal part of their knowledge to him. 
 Unholy angels may know many things, of which 
 man is ignorant. The great discretion of life and of 
 godhncss is, to discern what is desirable to be known, 
 and what is best unknown ; lest the knowledge of 
 " good lost and evil got," as in the case of our first 
 parents, should prove the lamentable source of innu- 
 merable evils. 
 
 Knowledge of God is indispensable, self-knowl- 
 edge is important, knowledge of otlicrs is desirable ; 
 to be too knowing in worldly matters is often acces- 
 sory to sinful knowledge ; the knowledge of oiu- 
 Lord Jesus Christ is a mean of escajjing the pollu- 
 tions which are in the world. Workers of iniquity 
 have no knowledge ; no proper conviction of the 
 divine presence. Some men are brutish in their 
 knowledge ; e. g. he who knows that a wooden 
 image is but a shapely-formed stum]) of a tree, yet 
 worships it ; he boasts of his deity, which, in fact, is 
 an instance of his want of discernment, degrading 
 even to brutality. Some are wicked in their knowl- 
 edge, "knowing the depths of Satan, as they speak," 
 Rev. ii. 20. Strange indeed ! that men should boast 
 of what is to their detriment, and pride themselves 
 on knowing that the absence of which wei'e their 
 greatest ftdicity ! 
 
 KOHATH, son of Levi, and father of Amram, 
 Jehar, Hebron, and Uzziel, Gen. xlvi. IL Kohath's 
 family was appointed to carry the ark and sacred 
 vessels of the tabernacle, while Israel marched 
 
 through the wilderness, Exod. vi. 18 ; Numb. W. 
 4 — 6, &c. 
 
 L KORAH, son of Esau and Aholibamah, suc- 
 ceeded Kenaz in part of the kingdom of Edom, 
 Gen. xxxvi. 1.5, 16. 
 
 IL KORAH, a son of Jehar, and head of the 
 Korites, a celebrated family among the Levites. 
 Korah being dissatisfied with the rank he held among 
 the sons of Levi, and envying the authority of Moses 
 and Aaron, formed a party against them ; in which 
 he engaged Datiian, Abiram, and On, with 2.^0 of the 
 jnincipal Levites, Numb. xvi. 1 — 3, &c. At the head 
 of these rebels, Korah complained to Moses and 
 Aaron, that they arrogated to themselves all author- 
 ity over the people of the Lord. Moses, falling with 
 his face upon the earth, answered them, " Let every 
 one of you take his censer, and to-morrow he shall 
 put incense into it ; and offer it before the Lord ; and 
 he shall be acknowledged priest whom the Lord 
 shall choose and approve." The next day Korah, 
 with 250 of his faction, presenting themselves with 
 their censers, the glory of the Lord appeared visibly 
 over the tabernacle ; and a voice was heard, " Sepa- 
 rate yourselves from among this congregation, that I 
 may consume them in a moment." Moses and Aaron, 
 hereupon, falling with their faces to the ground, in- 
 terceded for the people ; and the Lord conuiianded 
 them all to depart from about the tents of Korah, 
 Dathan, and Abiram. When the jjcople were re- 
 tired, Moses said, " If these uu'n die the comujon 
 death of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me ; 
 but if the earth open and swallow them up alive, 
 then ye shall know that they have blas])hemed the 
 Lord." As soon as he had spoken, the earth opened 
 and swallowed the rebels up, with all that belonged 
 to them. One thing whicli added to this sur])rising 
 occurrence was, that when Korah was swallowed 
 up in the earth, his sons were preserved. David ap- 
 pointed them their ofiice in the temple, to guard the 
 doors, and to sing praises. Several psalms are in- 
 scribed to them, under the name of Korah ; as the 
 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and the 84, 85, 87 88, 
 
 LAI 
 
 LAM 
 
 LABAN, son of Bethuel, and grandson of Nahor, 
 brother to Rebekah, and father to Rachel and Leah. 
 See Jacob. 
 
 LABOR is sometimes taken for the fruit of labor, 
 Ps. cv. 44, "And they inherited the labor of the 
 people." And elsewhere, " Let strangers spoil his 
 labor, and the first-fruits of their labors ;" that is, 
 what they have actpiired by their labor. 
 
 LACHISH, a city in the south of Judali, Josh. x. 
 23 ; XV. 39. It was rebuilt and fortified by Reho- 
 boam, 2 Chron. xi. 9. Sennacherib besieged but 
 did not take it, 2 Kings xviii. 17 ; xix. 8 ; 2 Chron. 
 xxxii. 9. 
 
 LAISH, a city in the northern border of Pales- 
 tine, acquired by the tribe of Dan, from whom it was 
 subsequently called Dan, Judg. xviii. 7, 29. (See 
 Dan.) The Laish mentioned Isa. x. 30. may, or may 
 not, be the Laish of Dan. The prophet commands 
 the daughter of Gallim to lift up her voice, so that it 
 may be heard to a distance ; but whether to so great 
 a distance as Dan, may be doubted. Indeed, it does 
 
 not appear for what purpose her screams should be 
 heard so far ofl^; but if this Laish wore a town nearer 
 to Gcba, Gibeal), and the other ])laces mentioned, 
 then this alarm might be intoided to reach Laish, 
 for the pur|)ose of inducing its inhabitants to join in 
 the general flight, 
 
 LAKE, a confluence of waters. The ])rincipal 
 lakes in Judea were the lake Asphaltitcs, or Dead 
 sea, the lake of Tiberias, and the lake Semechon, or 
 Merom. See the respective articles. 
 
 LAMB, the yoiuig of a sheep; but in Scripture it 
 sometimes comprehends the kid ; the Hebrews at 
 the passover were at liberty to choose either for a 
 victim. The original, seh, in general signifies a 
 youngling, whether of a goat or ewe. " A lamb of 
 a year old," may be interpreted a lamb of the year, 
 born in the year, but which does not stick ; for to 
 sacrifice the j)aschal iamb while it used the teat, or 
 to seethe it in the milk of its dam, was prohibited, 
 Exod. xii. 5 ; Lev. xxiii. 12. On other occasions the 
 law required, that the young should be left eight
 
 LAM 
 
 [ 600 
 
 LAM 
 
 days with its dam before it was offered, Exod. xxii. 
 30 ; Lev. xxii. 27. The prophets represent the Mes- 
 siah, in meekness, like a lamb which is sheared, or 
 carried to the altar, without complaint, Isa. liii. 7; 
 Jer. xi. 19. In the Revelation our Saviour is sym- 
 bolized as a lamb that had been sacrificed. The 
 wicked at the judgment are compared to goats, the 
 righteous to lambs. 
 
 LAMB OF GOD. By this name John the Bap- 
 tist called our Saviour, (John i. 29, 36.) to signify his 
 innocence, and his quality as a victim to be ofiered 
 for the suis of the world. Or, he might allude to 
 these Avords of the prophet : " He is brought as a 
 lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his 
 shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth," Isa. 
 liii. 7. If it were a little before the passover — then 
 the sight of a number of lambs going to Jerusalem 
 to be slain on that occasion, might suggest the idea ; 
 as if he had said, " Behold the true, the most excel- 
 lent Lamb of God," &.c. 
 ^ I. LA3IECH, son of Methuselah, and father of 
 Noah. He was 182 years old at the birth of Noah ; 
 and he liv'ed after it 595 years; his wliole life was 
 777; being born A. M. 874, and dying 1651. 
 
 II. LAMECH,son of MethusaeJ, an<l flither of Ja- 
 bal, Jubal, Tubal-Cain, and Naamah, Gen. iv. 18, 
 &c. He is conspicuous for his polygamy, of which 
 he is thought to be the author, having married Adah 
 and Zillah. There is some obscurity in Lamech's 
 address to his wives : " Hear me, ye wives of Lamech ; 
 have I slain a man to my wounding, a)id a young 
 man to my hurt ! If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, 
 truly Lamech seventy-seven fold." A tradition among 
 the Hebrews says, that Lamech, growing blind, when 
 hunting, killed Cain ignorantly, believing that he 
 killed some beast ; and that afterwards he slew his 
 own son Tubal-Cain, who had been the cause of this 
 murder, because he had directed him to shoot at a 
 certain place in the thicket whei-e he heard some- 
 thing stir. Other conjectures have been formed to 
 explain the passage, almost all equally uncertain and 
 absurd. Josephus says, Lamech had seventy-seven 
 sons by his two wives ; but Scripture mentions only 
 three sons and one daughter. [The following would 
 seem to be a more appropriate translation of La- 
 mech's address : " Hear me, ye wives of Lamech ; I 
 have slain a man who wounded me ; a young man 
 who smote me. If Cain, &c." It is not to be un- 
 derstood that Lamech had slain two ])crsons ; it is 
 merelv the repetition of poetic parallelism. R. 
 
 LAMENTATIONS of Jeremiah, a mournfid 
 poem, comjjosed by the prophet, on occasion of the 
 destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The 
 first two chapters principally describe the calamities 
 of the siege of Jerusalem ; the third deplores the per- 
 secutions which Jeremiah himself had sufiered ; the 
 fourth adverts to the ruin and desolation of the city 
 and temple, and the misfortune of Zedckiah ; and the 
 fifth is a kind of form of prayer for the Jews in their 
 captivity. At the close the prophet speaks of the 
 cruelty of the Edoniites, who had insulted Jerusalem 
 in her misery, and threatens them Avith the wrath of 
 God. 
 
 The first four chapters of the Lamentations are in 
 the acrostic form ; every verse or couplet beginning 
 with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in i-egular 
 order. The first and second chapters contain twenty- 
 two verses, according to the letters of the alphabet ; 
 the third chapter has trii)lets beginning with the same 
 letter ; and the fourth is like the first two, having 
 twenty-two verses. The fifth chapter i? not an acros- 
 
 tic. The style of Jeremiah's Lamentations is lively, 
 tender, pathetic and affecting. It was the talent of 
 this prophet to write melancholy and moving elegies ; 
 and never was a subject more worthy of tears, nor 
 written with more tender and affecting sentiments. 
 
 The Hebrews used to compose lamentations or 
 mournful songs on the death of great men, princes 
 and heroes, and on occasion of public miseries and 
 calamities. (See 2 Chron. xxxv. 25.) " Behold they 
 are written in the Lamentations." These, however, 
 are lost, but we have those which were composed by 
 David on the death of Absalom and Jonathan. The 
 prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, having fore- 
 told the desolations of Egypt, Tyre, Sidon and Bab- 
 ylon, made lamentations on their fall. It seems by 
 Jeremiah, that they had women hired to weep : " Call 
 for the mourning women, and send for cunning 
 women, and let them take up a wailing for us," &c, 
 (See Isaiah xiv. 4, 5 ; xv. xvi. ; Jer. vii. 29 ; ix. 10, 17 ; 
 xlviii. 32; Ezek. xix. 1 ; xxviii. 11 ; xxxii. 2.) 
 
 LAMPS are frequently mentioned in Scripture. 
 That with seven branches, which Moses placed in 
 the holy place, and those which Solomon placed after- 
 wards in the temple of Jerusalem, are described in 
 the article Ca>'dlestick. 
 
 This article will embrace the other kinds of lamps 
 or lanterns mentioned in Scripture. The subject, 
 though of the most familiar nature, has its difficulties 
 and its variations. 
 
 It is evident, that lamps intended for the interior of 
 dwellings, for what may be described as " chamber 
 use," are likely to be very different in construction, in 
 form, and in management also, from those which are 
 expected to meet the impulse of the open air, the 
 evening breeze, and, occasionally, the ruder blasts of 
 strong winds. The necessity for proper distinction 
 appeared urgent to Mr. Harmcr ; but as that inge- 
 nious writer refers only to the New Testament for 
 instances of t'le application of his remarks, there is 
 at least an ecpial necessity for ascertaining the kinds 
 mentioned in the Old Testament, nor less pi-opriety 
 in distinguishing them, and in maintaining that dis- 
 tinction, according to their application. 
 
 The following extract is from this writer's Obser- 
 vations : (vol. ii. p. 429, or iv. p. 274, Amer. ed.) 
 " Captain Norden, among other particulars he thought 
 worthy of notice, has given some account (part i. p. 
 83.) of the lamps and lanterns that they make use of 
 commonly at Cairo. ' The lamp,' he tells us, ' is of 
 the palm-tree wood, of the height of twenty-three 
 inches, and made in a very gross manner. The glass, 
 that hangs in the middle, is half filled with water, and 
 has oil on the top, about three fingers in dej)th. Tha 
 wick is preserved dry at the bottom of tlie glass, 
 where they have contrived a place for it, and ascends 
 through a pipe. These lamps do not give much 
 light ; yet they are very commodious, because they 
 are transpo)ted easily from one place to another. 
 With i-egard to the lanteiT.s, they have pretty nearly 
 the figure of tlie cage, and are made with reeds. It 
 is ;i. collection of five or six glasses, like to that of the 
 laiiif) which has been just described. They suspend 
 them by cords in the middle of the streets, when 
 there is any great festival at Cairo, and they put 
 painted pa])ir in the place of the reeds.' Were these 
 the huiterns that those who came to take Jesus made 
 use of.' or were they such lamps as these that Christ 
 referred to in the jiarable of the virgins ? or are we 
 rather to suppose that these lanterns are approjiriated 
 to the Egyptian illuminations, and that Dr. Pococke's 
 account of the lanterns of this country will give us a
 
 LAMP 
 
 [GOl ] 
 
 LAMP 
 
 better idea of the lanterns that were anciently made 
 use of at Jerusalem ? ' 13y night,' says that author, 
 (Descript. of the East, vol. i.) speaking of the travel- 
 ling of the people of Egypt, ' they rarely make use of 
 tents, hut lie in the open air, having large lanterns, 
 made like a pocket paper lantern, the bottom and top 
 being of copper, tinned over: and instead of paper, 
 they are made with linen, which is extended by 
 hoops of wire, so that when it is put together it serves 
 as a candlestick, &c and they have a con- 
 trivance to hang it up abroad, by means of three 
 staves.' It appears from travellers, that lamps, wax- 
 candles, torches, lanterns, and cresset-lights, (a kind 
 of movable beacon,) are all made use of among the 
 eastern people. (Thcvenot, part ii. p. 35 and 37 ; 
 Norden, part i. p. 124 ; Hanway.) I think also, that 
 there are only three words in the New Testament to 
 express these things by, of which /.v/rog seems to sig- 
 nify the conunon lamps that are used in ordinary 
 life, (Luke xv. 8.) which, according to Norden, aftbrd 
 but little light. JauTrac, which is one of the words 
 made use of, (John xviii. 3.) seems to mean any sort 
 of light that shines brighter than common, whether 
 torches, blazing resinous pieces of wood, or lamps 
 that are supplied with more than ordinary quantities 
 of oil, or other unctuous substances ; such as that 
 mentioned by Hanway, in his Travels, (vol. i. p. 223.) 
 which stood in the court-yard of a person of some 
 distinction in Persia, was sup])lied with tall^^v, and 
 •was sufficient to enlighten the wiiole pl"cc, as a sin- 
 gle wax-candle served for the iJIumiiiation of tlie 
 room where he was entertained ; and such, I presume, 
 were the lamps our Lord speaks of in the parable of 
 the virgins, which were something of the nattue of 
 common lamps, for they were supplied with oil ; but 
 then were supposed to be sufficient for enlightening 
 the company they went to meet, on a very joyful oc- 
 casion, wiiich required the most vigorous lights. 
 Sir J. Ciiardin, in his MS. note on Matt. xxv. 44, in- 
 forms us, that in many parts of the East, and in par- 
 ticular in the Indies, instead of torclies and flambeaux, 
 tlioy carry a pot of oil in one hand, and a lamp full of 
 oily rags in the other. This seems to be a very happy 
 ilhistratiou of this part of the parable. He observes, 
 in another of the MSS. that ihey seldom make use of 
 candles in the East, especially among the great ; 
 candles casting but little light, and they sitting at a 
 considerable distance from them. Ezek. i. 13, rep- 
 resents the light of lamps accordingly as very lively. 
 The other word, (r; wioc,) which occurs in John xviii. 
 3, is no where else to be found in the New Testa- 
 ment ; and whether it precisely means lanterns, as 
 our translators render the word, I do not certainly 
 know. If it do, I conclude, without nuicli hesitation, 
 that it signifies such linen lanterns as Pococke gives 
 an account of, j-ather than those mentioned by Nor- 
 den, which seein rather to be machines more proper 
 for illuminations than for common use ; and if so, the 
 evangelist perhaps means, that they came with such 
 lanterns as people were wont to make use of when 
 abroad in the night ; but lest the weakness of the 
 liglit should give an opportunity to Jesus to escape, 
 many of them had torches, or such large and bright 
 l)urning lamps as were made use of on nuptial solem- 
 nities, the more eftectually to secm'e him. Such was 
 the treachery of Judas ancl the zeal of his attendants !" 
 The remarks introduced in explanation of marriage 
 processions, (see Marriage,) have furnished materi- 
 als for a correct judgment on the nature and form of 
 the lamps used in evening perambulations, on such 
 public occasions. Mr. Harmer is more lia])py in rc- 
 7G 
 
 ferring those described by Chardin to the parable of 
 the virgins, than in some other of his conjectures. 
 To do this subject justice, it might be considered un- 
 der several distinctions: as, (1.) Rlilitary lamps, those 
 intended to meet the exigencies of night, in the exter- 
 nal air, Avhen the breeze is lively, or when the wind 
 is high. (2.) Domestic lamps, those intended for 
 service in the interior of a dwelling, or to be carried 
 about into all parts of it ; but not powerful enough to 
 resist a gale of wind in the open air. (3.) Lamps for 
 religious uses ; those hung up in temples, or deposit- 
 ed in the sacred recesses of edifices, public or private, 
 &c. We shall, however, attend only to the distinction 
 between lamps for the exterior, the open air ; and 
 lamps for the interior, domestic purposes. It is the 
 more necessary to institute a distinction of this kind, 
 because Scripture uniformly maintains it, by employ- 
 ing two very different terms to express artificial lights ; 
 as well in the Old Testament as in the New. We 
 might add, because Schleusncr has been somewhat 
 too liberal in his definition of the term lampas, of 
 which he says, " generatim omne, quod lucet, notat." 
 But whatever shines is not a lamp in Scripture, as 
 may appear from comparing certain passages. 
 
 1. We meet with the Hebrew term nifiS, lapid, 
 properly lampid, (whence the word lamp,) in that 
 remarkable history of the "smoking furnace and the 
 burning lamp," which ratified the covenant made 
 v/ith Abraham, (Gen. xv. 17.) where the meaning is 
 simply ajictme. The text observes, that, (1.) it was 
 after the sun w'as gone down, (2.) when it was dark, 
 what is rendered a furnace, passed ; and this is ex- 
 pressly noted as (3.) smoking. Whatever light, or 
 splendor, overcame the darkness of the evening, with 
 the much greater darkness occasioned by the density 
 of the smoke by which it was immediately surround- 
 ed, and in the centre of which it blazed, was certainly 
 n'ot feeble, or dim, but lively, vigorous, and even 
 powerful. The action took place in the open air ; 
 and this lamp, described as burning, v.-as competent 
 to resist, and more than resist, every impulse of the 
 atmosphere. With this we may compare the appear- 
 ances at the giving of the law, (Exod. xx. 18.) when 
 we read (ver. 21.) of " the thick darkness" where 
 God was ; of the 'mountain smoking," and of the 
 " thundcrings" — implying the concussion of dense 
 clouds — but, notwitiistanding these powerful impedi- 
 ments to the passage of light, yet tlie lampadhn — less 
 properly "lightnings" than glowing flames — distin- 
 guished themselves by the intensity and the continu- 
 ance of their eflulgence ; to the great terror of all the 
 peoj)le. The impropriety of rendering lampadim by 
 "lightnings," is evident, on considering a passage 
 where the two words meet, and must be distinguished 
 in the description of a majestic person, (Dan. x. G.) 
 whose countenance had the briglitness of lightning, 
 {p-\-2, the regular term for the flashes of this jnetcor,) 
 and his eyes were as lampadi of fire ; that is, glowing, 
 clear, steady, consjjicuous flames ; not vibrating, not 
 blazing, but compact and still. It would manifest a 
 deplorable deficiency in taste and propriety, to com- 
 pare an earthly production with these celestial ap- 
 pearances ; but whoever has contemplated a great 
 body of gas lights, purposely combined, will at least 
 be i)repared to admit the overpowering effulgence of 
 a brightness very difterent froRi that of lightning. 
 
 We nnist now descend Xn the humbler walks of 
 humanity. We read in Judg. vii. KJ, that the invent- 
 ive Gideon jxavc to his soldiers, at his sui-prise of the 
 Midianites, by night— " pitchers, and lamps within 
 the pitchers." There can be no doubt but what this
 
 LAMP 
 
 [602 ] 
 
 LAMP 
 
 hero would adopt the most powerful lights he could 
 obtain. Weak rush lights would not answer his pur- 
 pose. His intention was to make the most tremen- 
 dous noise possible with his trumpets ; and the most 
 terrific display of blazing brightness by means of his 
 lamps, suddenly beaming with malignant splendor, 
 in several parts of the Midianite host, at the same mo- 
 ment. They were, therefore, strong luminaries. AVe 
 may say the same of the lampid of Samson ; (Judg. 
 XV. 4.)-— it was a burner not to be extinguished by the 
 rude blast of night. Moreover, the lampid is made 
 an object of comparison in Isa. Ixii. 1, " I will not 
 hold my peace — till the salvation of Zion go forth as 
 a lamp that burneth." (Comp. Ezek. i. 13 ; Zech. xii. 
 6, et al.) Certainly, these comparisons imply a ve- 
 hement, or at least a glowing, brilliant illuminator. 
 
 There is a passage in Job xii. 5, which should be 
 illustrated in the present article ; but the critics are 
 by no means agreed on its import ; whether this at- 
 tempt to explain it be satisfactory must be left for 
 others to determine. Our translation reads, " He 
 that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despis- 
 ed in the thought of him that is at ease." Scott 
 renders, 
 
 Contempt pursues the fall'n ; exalted case 
 With scornful eye unhappy virtue sees. 
 
 Good takes an unjustifiable liberty with the text, 
 and transfers the first word of this verse to the end 
 of the preceding one : he reads. 
 
 The just, the perfect man, is a laughing-stock to the 
 
 proud ; 
 A derision, amidst the sunshine of the prosperous, 
 While ready to slip with his feet. 
 
 [The simplest interpretation, however, is that 9f 
 the common translation. The sense plainly is, that 
 a man in adversity is, to the prosperous man, as a 
 lamp about to expire, which gives but a fainter and 
 fainter light, and is, therefore, of no value. R. 
 
 The LXX have constantly rendered the Hebrew 
 term lampid by the Greek lampas ; which we shall 
 find employed in the New Testament, as well as in 
 the Old, to signify a light for exterior service. Hav- 
 ing noticed the effulgent appearances attendant on 
 celestial powers descending upon earth, we shall be 
 excused for calling the attention of the reader, in the 
 first place, to a like phenomenon in heaven, Rev. iv. 
 5. "Out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and 
 thunderings, and voices ; and there were seven lamps 
 of fire (sTTTu kaunctSti TTvnhc) burning before the throne, 
 which are the seven Spirits of God." Tliis appear- 
 ance is sufficiently explained by comparison with 
 what has been said on Exod. xx. 18. Again, in chap, 
 viii, 10, There fell from heaven a great star, burning 
 
 as it were a lamp, uari^n fiiyag xailiiurog we ?.au7T<jg ; — 
 the comparison implies a flame sufficiently vigorous 
 to resist the effect of the velocity with which the 
 meteor travelled, to resist the extinguishing powers 
 of the atmospliere, incalculably increased by that 
 velocity. Tho allusion is, probably, to a comet, said 
 to fall to the earth. Comets were reckoned among 
 stars by the ancients ; and the Romans sometimes 
 called a comet, /ax, a torch, or fax calestis, a heavenly 
 torch. The term lamp, however, adding the notion 
 of a long train of fire streaming behind it, seems more 
 appropriate in this place than iliat of torch. 
 
 The parable of the virgins (Matt, xxv.) can give us 
 no trouble, af\er what has been said : the allusion is 
 plainly, to lamps of sufficient strength to retain their 
 
 flame however agitated, whether by the bearer, or by 
 the wind. And the same we must conceive of the 
 lamps, not " torches," of John xviii. 3, where we read, 
 "Judas, having received a band of men and officers 
 from the chief priests and Pharisees, came with lan- 
 terns, and torches, and weapons" — uirutpavMv y.al ).uu- 
 jiudvif. The term phanos probably means a light- 
 holder, that is, having the light within it ; the term 
 lampas certainly means a luminary, having the light 
 on the outside ; but it is not easy to fix on the form 
 of the lamp. If this band of men and officers were 
 Roman soldiers, the lamp might b^the same as the 
 Romans employed in their armies ; one of which is 
 carried among other necessaries attending the army 
 of Trajan, at the commencement of his military ex- 
 pedition across the Danube, represented on his me- 
 morial pillar at Rome. It is a square pot (of iron, no 
 doubt) fixed on the end of a tall pole : it is close on 
 the sides, and open only at the top, in which it differs 
 from implements used for the same purposes by 
 modern inhabitants of the East. Major Hope says, 
 " A Turkish camp is lighted up, at night, by a kind of 
 large lanterns, formed of iron hoops, and fastened on 
 long poles. Several of these lights, in which rags 
 impregnated with grease, oil, or resinous substance, 
 are burned, are placed in front of the tent of each of 
 the pachas." — The gi-eater number implies the greater 
 dignity. 
 
 Baron clu Tott (p. iii. 114.) describes the means 
 used by the Turks to surprise their enemies as passing 
 strange : " The high treasurer, commanding a de- 
 tachment in the night, was lighted by the flame of 
 resinous wood, burning in iron chafing-dishes fixed 
 to long poles. He therefore got the surname of The 
 Blazer." If the detachment sent to seize Jesus were 
 Jewish guards, rather than Roman, it might be thought 
 that open cages, as Hill calls them, or chafing-dishes, 
 as Baron du Tott describes them, were the lamps 
 they cai-ried ; but the term does not appear to detei*- 
 mine their form or construction. 
 
 2. A lamp for domestic use is called ij, tj, iu, 
 J^er, JVir, or JViir, in the HebrcAV ; a word which is 
 frequently rendered "candle" in our version. It im- 
 ports apparently a weaker kind of light. We read of 
 the industrious woman, (Prov. xxxi. 18.) " Her can- 
 dle (nj) goeth not out by night." Whether the term 
 "candle" be unexceptionable here, might be ques- 
 tioned ; but, certainly, the busy housewife's light is 
 understood to be in the inside of her house. Candles, 
 among us, are columns of solid tallow, wax, &c. 
 surrounding a wick ; but in countries where oil is 
 plentifid, and especially in hot countries, the prefer- 
 ence will naturally be given to small, portable oil 
 lamps ; and perhaps it were to be wished that our 
 language afforded a diminutive to express this piece 
 of domestic furniture ; — as in Spanish, lampara, 
 lamparilla. When we read of the "golden candle- 
 stick," in Exodus and Leviticus, we naturally con- 
 nect with it the idea of a stand for holding candles, 
 but we find directions for trimming and filling the 
 lamps, which shows this idea to be erroneous. See 
 Candlestick. 
 
 This restriction of the term JsTtr to an interior light, 
 corrects the usual acceptation of a passage in Job 
 xxix. 3, which is commonly understood of the benefit 
 derived from the light of a lamp, by a man who is 
 walking abroad in a dark night ; thus rendered in our 
 English translation : 
 
 When his (God's) candle shinedupon my head, 
 And when by his light I walked through darkness.
 
 LAMP 
 
 [ G03 ] 
 
 LAMP 
 
 But Scott saw the application of this to a domestic 
 incident : " His candle, or rather his lamp, is probably 
 , an allusion to the lamps which hung from the ceiling 
 of the wealthy Arabs," He adds, ' The latter phrase, 
 ' by his light I walked through darkness,' refers, it is 
 likely, to the fires, or other lights, which were carried 
 before the caravans in their night travels through the 
 deserts," such as we have already noticed. — Good, 
 shghtly changing the tense of the verb, reads, 
 
 When he suffered his lamp to shine upon my head, 
 And by its ligljt I illumined the darkness ! 
 
 The reference is probably to the mode by which 
 the palaces and mansions of the great were iUuminat- 
 ed in ancient times, of which we have an excellent 
 descri[)tion in Lucretius, well known to have been 
 afterwards closely copied by Virgil. (De Rer. Nat. 
 ii. 24.) 
 
 Good's change of the agent has the air of an im- 
 perfection in this passage : after the action, or sup- 
 posed action, of Deity, the party honored siioidd be 
 perfectly quiet ; he should not affirm, " I illumined 
 the darkness." Job means to say, " I was admitted 
 to the intei-ior of his residence, his splendid abode ; 
 and lamps for interior illumination enabled me to pass 
 through those appr^c^ies to his presence, which, 
 without such irradiation, were absolute darkness." 
 This differs something from Scott's conception of the 
 latter verse ; yet, if the lights of that verse be refer- 
 red to those which stand l)efore the tents of Turkish 
 grandees, as already stated, the difl'erence would dis- 
 appear. Such luminaries would direct the person 
 who approached, however dark the night might be. 
 
 A similar concejjtion verifies the import of another 
 passage : 
 
 The light of the wicked shall be cast out, 
 And the spark of his fire shall not shine: 
 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, 
 And his candle shall be put out with him. 
 
 Job xviii. 5, 6. 
 
 " In his tabernacle" — rather, in his most splendid 
 tent ("^nx) ; that of his dignity and grandeur. " His 
 candle," rather his lamp, (-\j) "which is hung high 
 over him in the ceiling of his tent, even that shall be 
 extinguished." The term here, also, preserves its 
 import, as marking an interior light. Scott's note on 
 the passage is characteristic of the manners of the 
 country : " These metaphors denote, in general, the 
 splendor and festivity in which such men live. Thei'e 
 is, however, an allusion, we think, in the fifth verse, 
 to what an Arabian ])oet calls the^res of hospitality — 
 beacons lighted on the tops of hills by persons of dis- 
 tinction among the Arabs, to direct and invite trav- 
 ellers to their houses and table. Hospitality was 
 their national glory ; and the loftier and larger these 
 fires were, the greater was the magnificence thought 
 to be : a wicked rich man, therefore, would affect this 
 piece of state, from vanity and ostentation. Another 
 Araliian poet expresses the permanent prosperity of 
 his family almost in the very words of our author : 
 ' Neither is our fire, lighted for the benefit of the night 
 stranger, extinguished,' " It is but just to call tlie 
 attention of the reader to his choice between this illus- 
 tration anJ that we have above suggested from major 
 Hope. 
 
 This term occurs so frequently, that much time 
 iniglit be spent in tracing it ; but what has been said 
 is sufficient to justify the analogy that derives from 
 
 this domestic lamp the metaphor of life, and of re- 
 newed life, rather than from the external lamp, though 
 that wei-e much more powerful. So when we read 
 (2 Sam. xxi. 17.) that David's servants forbade his ex- 
 posing himself any more in battle — that thou quench 
 not the light (the lamp, nj) of Israel — this allusion to 
 the king's life is, with the greatest j)ropriety, drawn 
 from the domestic, the family lamp. Again, (1 Kings 
 xi. 3G,) God says, "And imto his son will I give one 
 tribe, that David my servant may have a light (tj, a 
 domestic lamj)) always before me in Jerusalem, the 
 city which I have chosen to put my name there," 
 This certainly implies the continuance of David's 
 fcUTiily ; but when the ten tribes were broken off from 
 his regal descendants, the simile would have been 
 without resemblance, in fact, contradictory, had it 
 referred to the splendid blaze of the more conspicu- 
 ous illuminator, the greater lamp. Hence arises 
 something of difficulty, to distinguish whether the 
 term be used literally, or metaphorically, in certain 
 passages. When we i-ead, that the light, the domes- 
 tic lamp, of the wicked shall be put out, we are not 
 always sure that it means a luminary ; it may mean 
 posterity — his family shall fail ; or, on the contrary, 
 what seems at first sight to imply posterity, may 
 refer to the light, the lamp of the tent, tabeniacle, or 
 dwelling. 
 
 We come now to the consideration of the repre- 
 sentative of this domestic lamp, in the New Testa- 
 ment, where, we believe, there is no instance of the 
 word laynpas being applied to an article of interior 
 use. uii'xto:, alight, whence /.i'/)(«, a light-holder, 
 badly rendered hi the English version, a candle, and 
 a candlestick, imports an illuminator proper to an 
 apartment ; and when we read (Rev. i. 12, &-c.) of the 
 "seven golden candlesticks," and of "one walking 
 in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks," we 
 should by no means conceive of loose, isolated can- 
 dlesticks, like those m use among ourselves, but of 
 the seven -branched lamp-stand, a principal article 
 of furniture in the Mosaic tabernacle. (See Can- 
 dlestick.) So we read (Matt. V. 15.) " Neither do 
 men light a candle, (/r/i or, a lamp,) and put it under 
 a bushel, (a measure less than a peck,) but put it on 
 a candlestick, {Xv/nar, a lamp-stand,) and it giveth 
 light to all in the house," This passage would read 
 more correctly, " Neither do they light the lamp, and 
 place it under a small measure, but on the lamp-stand, 
 and it is competent to give light to all the residence." 
 It seems to import the customary lamp of the family, 
 and one only ; like that of the poor widow, (Luke 
 XV. 8.) who,' having lost one piece of silver out often, 
 lights the lamp, {^I'/iov,) which she carries about 
 into all parts of her residence, searching everj' creek 
 and corner. The simplicity, not to say the poverty, 
 of the family, is very expressive in this simile ; they 
 surely would not conceal the only lamp they had. 
 A more wealthy establishment had many lamps, 
 Luke xii. 35, Let your loins be girded about, and 
 your lights («( ;.r/io., the lamps) brightly burning, 
 [xaiouhot, because fresh trimmed,) like servants ex- 
 pecting their lord's return from a wedding-feast, that 
 at whatever time of night he come home, they may 
 open to him instantly ; and be may find all tliuigs m 
 order. 
 
 These passages prove sufficiently that ^>'x'o? de 
 notes a household implement, a domestic lamp; a 
 lamp that shines in a dark place; (2 Pet. i. 19.) a 
 lamp, the services of which may be dispensed with 
 in the heavenly Jerusalem ; (Rev. xxii. 5.) for there 
 shall be no night there • and they need no candle,
 
 LAN 
 
 [ 604 ] 
 
 LAN 
 
 ;.(>)oi, lamp. No, the Lamb is tne lamp (o /.vxrog) 
 thereof, chap. xxi. 2.3. 
 
 The description given of John the Baptist may 
 seem to militate against this notion : lie was a burn- 
 ing and a shining light ; (John v. 35.) properly, he 
 was the lamp, 6 Ac^rvog, the burning and shining ; 
 also, he certainly was much in the desert, and at no 
 time very domestic. As to the term burning [y.aLuue- 
 10^,) Campbell dissents from the opinion of those who 
 would make it refer to the ardor, zeal, or power of 
 John's example : he observes, very projjerly, that a 
 lamp is used, not for warming people, but for giving 
 them light. And certainly, the good servants (Luke 
 xii. 35.) are not expected to have their lamps burn- 
 ing for the purpose of warmiug their lord, but for 
 cnlighteuing the apartments, or the passages to the 
 apartments, and giving him an honorable reception. 
 Moreover, since the days of Camj)bel!, we are able 
 to give a flunher account of John, whom his follow- 
 ers boasted of as the light, the apostle of light, (see 
 Zabiaxs,) insomuch, that the evangelist found it 
 necessary to say explicitly, "He was not that light ; 
 but came to bear witness," &c. Since, then, the 
 phrase was current among the Jews, concerning 
 John, our Lord takes it in their sense and application, 
 implying splendor, brilliancy ; but we may well 
 cjuestion, with Campbell, whether it implies heat, or 
 anything bej^ond the brightness of which a domes- 
 tic lamp is susceptbile. If this be correct, the other 
 part of the objection of course falls. 
 
 Another metaphorical use of this lamp respects 
 the eye ; the light, lamp, of the body is the eye, 
 (Matt. vi. 22.) but as the eyes of some have been 
 compared to burning lamps, [lampadiin,] should not 
 the same comparison be maintained here ? We ap- 
 prehend not ; because this lanip is imderstood to 
 illuminate only the body itself; not beyond it ; and 
 as a domestic lamp may enlighten all parts of a 
 house, being properly directed, so may the eye be 
 directed to all the members of the body, and inspect 
 them all in succession ; wliich it is not the intention 
 of the comparison employed by Daniel, and in the 
 Revelation, to express. 
 
 This article may be closed by remarking, that we 
 arc so much accustomed to the use of glass for trans- 
 parency, in every form and application, that it is 
 with some difficulty we conceive of a light-holder, 
 or lantern, as complete without it. Bnt v/e should 
 not forget the horn lanterns used by our carriers, 
 ostlers, watchmen, &c. horn being much safer, be- 
 cause less brittle, than glass ; and though it is certain 
 that the ancients had glass equally perfect with our 
 own, yet wc are at a loss to prove that they used it 
 in the construction of lanterns. That they employed 
 a transparent substance of some kind, is evident, 
 from a ship's lantern hanging from the aplustrum of 
 a vessel in v/hicli Trajan is voyaging. It seems to 
 distinguish the ship of the commander-in-chief; as 
 the vessels in company have it not. 
 
 The torches of antiquity were of all sizes, from a 
 foot in length to six feet ; and the largest of these 
 were employed not only in military aflairs, for sig- 
 nals, &z,c. but also in religious processions. It may 
 be questioned, whether lights of either of these kinds 
 arc really mentioned in Scripture, but as commenta- 
 tors have inclined to find i)oth torches and lanterns 
 there, they could not well be passed over without 
 notice. 
 
 LAND, in the Old Testament, often denotes the 
 coi-ntry of the Israelites, or the particular country, 
 or district, spoken of; the land of Canaan, the laud 
 
 of Egypt, the land of Ashur, the laud of Moab. " Be- 
 hold, my land is before thee ;" (Gen. xx. 15.) settle 
 where you please. In many places of our public 
 version the phrase " all the earth" is used, where 
 the meaning should be restricted to the land, or all 
 the land. 
 
 LANGUAGE. Several questions are proposed 
 on this subject, as (1.) Whether God was the author 
 of the original language. (2.) Whether Adam re- 
 ceived it from him by infusion ; or formed and 
 invented it by liis own industry and labor. (3.) 
 Whether this language is still in beiiig. (4.) Where 
 it is to be found. 
 
 The ancients, who were unacquainted with the 
 true history of the world's creation, affirm, that un- 
 der the happy reign of Saturn, not only all men, but 
 all terrestrial animals, birds, and even fishes, spoke 
 the same language ; that mankind, not sufficiently 
 sensible of their happiness, sent a deputation to Sat- 
 urn, desiring immortality, representing, that it was 
 not just that they should be without a prerogative 
 granted by him to serpents, which are yearly re- 
 newed by shedding their old skin, and assuming a 
 new one. Saturn, in great anger, not only refused 
 their request, but punished their ingratitude, by de- 
 priving them of that unity of language which kept 
 them associated. He confounded their language, 
 and thereby put them under a necessity of se})arating. 
 Hence we learn that the heathen attributed the con- 
 fusion of tongues to a divine interposition ; and so 
 far they confirm the history of what took place at 
 Babel. 
 
 Moses represents Adam and Eve as the stock 
 whence all nations spring. He describes them as 
 reasonable and intelligent persons, speaking, and 
 giving names to things. Now, if we admit God as 
 a Creator, there is no difficulty in acknowledging 
 him to be the Author of the language of the first man ; 
 and it is difficult to conceive of his attaining the 
 power of language without a divine inspiration. 
 There is scarcely any eastern language which has 
 not aspired to the honor of having been the original; 
 bat the majority of critics decide for the Hebrew, or 
 its cognate, the Arabic ; the conciseness, simplicity, 
 eneigy, and fertility of which ; their relation to the 
 most ancient oriental languages, wliich seem to de- 
 rive from them the etymologies of the earliest names 
 borne by mankind ; the names of animals, which are 
 all significant in them, and describe the nature and 
 property of the animals, (particulars not observed in 
 other languages ;) — all these characters uniting, in- 
 cline us much in lavor of their primacy and excellency. 
 The Hebrew has another privilege, that the most 
 ancient and venerable books in the world are written 
 in it. 
 
 Language is the medium of connnunication be- 
 tween the material animal life and the spiritual 
 rational power, in man ; it is the link that connects 
 the senses with the understanding. Whatever fac- 
 ulties we may suppose belong to animals, we see 
 no proof of their drawing inferences, conclusions, 
 and determinations consequent on the exercise of 
 language. In respect to vocal sounds man may 
 have taken hints and lessons from animals; but ani- 
 mals have taken no discursive lessons from man. It 
 is well worth while, then, to consider this invaluable 
 gift of the Almighty ; and the rather, as it forms 
 one of the chains of evidence that all the families of 
 mankind are derived from the same origin ; and are 
 made, as the apostle's expression is, " of one bloofl." 
 Late years have brought us acquainted Avith ancient
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 [605] 
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 languages which were formerly unknown to the 
 learned of Europe ; among them the most venerable 
 is the Sanscrit of India. Its structure if^, apparently, 
 too perfect, too refineil and artificial, to warrant our 
 admitting it as the first language of mankind ; yet in 
 point of antiquity, it may compete with the Hebrew, 
 as current in the days of Moses; and it is remarka- 
 ^e that the Mosaic writings seem to contain several 
 Avords of Sanscrit origin ; (chiefly in the history of 
 Baalam ;) which may give occasion to various re- 
 flections. 
 
 The following extracts from Niebuhr will show 
 the fate of language, when those who speak it are 
 subjected to foreigners of another tongue : never- 
 theless, that some remains of it may survive the 
 general wreck, in different places, is not incredible ; 
 and such an account, with the manner in which 
 it is preserved, is sul)joined from the same author : 
 "Many pcojtle living under the dominion of the 
 Arabians and Turks, have lost the use of their mother 
 tongue. 'i'lic Greeks and Armenians settled in 
 Egypt and Syria speak Arabic ; and the services of 
 their public worship are performed in two languages 
 at once. In Natolia, these nations speak their own 
 languages in several different dialects. The Turkish 
 ofliocrs sometimes extend their despotism to the 
 language of their subjects. A pacha of Kaysar, who 
 could not endure to hear the Greek language spo- 
 ken, forbade the Greeks in his pachalic, under pain 
 of death, to use any language but the Turkish. 
 Since that prohibition wjis issued, the Christmns of 
 Kaysar and Angora have continued to speak the 
 Turkish, and at present do not even understand their 
 original language." (Vol. ii. p. 259.) " In Syria and 
 Palestine, indeed, no language is to be heard but the 
 Arabic ; and yet the Syriac is not absolutely a dead 
 language, but is still spoken in several villages in the 
 paclialic of Damascus. In many places, in the 
 neighborhood of Merdin and Mosul, the Christians 
 stili speak in the Chaldean language ; and the inhab- 
 itants of the villages who do not frequent towns, 
 never hear any other than their mother tongue. 
 The Christians born in the cities of Merdin and 
 Mosul, although they speak Arabic, write in the Chal- 
 dean characters, just as the ]Maronites write their 
 Arabic in Syriac letters, and the Greeks write their 
 Turkish in Greek letters." 
 
 Many languages now spoken may be traced to 
 one common and primitive stock, as the original. 
 Sir W. Jones has demonstrated, that three great 
 branches of language are sufficient to account for all 
 the varieties extant : and this hypothesis forms a very 
 strong, as well as a new, argument in favor of tUo 
 Mosaic history of the early post-diluvian ages, 
 which represents the three great families as being 
 implicated in the confusion of languages at Babel. 
 But, should we allow a fourth branch, we shoidd do 
 violence to the narration of Moses. It is now, per- 
 haps, impossible to combine, or even to ascertain, 
 what words remaining in either, or in all, of the 
 three branches, should be considered as belonging 
 to the primitive language ; but, by way of showing 
 how words may sometimes be traced into difit>rent 
 dialects, to which at first sight they appear to have 
 little relation, the reader will accept the following 
 note from a popular work : " — Numberless in- 
 stances might be given, but our limits permit us to 
 produce only a few. In the Sanscrit, or ancient 
 language of the Gentoos, our signifies a day. (See 
 Halhed's preface to the Code of Gentoo Laws.) In 
 other eastern languages, the same word was used to 
 
 denote both ligld andjire. Thus in the Chaldee, ur 
 is fire ; in the Egj'ptian, or is the sim, or light ; (Plut. 
 de Osir. et Isid ;) in the Hebrew, aor ;is light ; in 
 Greek, c)in {aer) is the air, ol\en light; in Latin, aura 
 is the air, from the ^olic Greek ; and in Irish it is 
 aear." 
 
 From what appears on this subject, we may war- 
 rantalily suppose, (L) That the ancient Hebrew lan- 
 guage retained a considerable portion of original 
 words, and expressions, or modes of expression. (2.) 
 That some of these may occur in the Hebrew Strip- 
 tures. (;j.) That the sister dialects to the Hebrew, 
 the Chaldee, the Arabic, &c. may also have retained 
 many original words ; and when these radical words 
 are similar to those retained by the Hebrew, an ade- 
 quate knowledge of these languages cannot but con- 
 tribute essentially to our understanding of passages 
 where derivatives from such words occur in the 
 Hebrew. And this is particulai"ly fortunate, when 
 such words occur but once in Holy Scripture ; 
 when they have, as we may say, neither friend nor 
 brother in the Holy language, the advantage to be 
 derived from their relations, in foreign but kindred 
 dialects, becomes invaluable. See Letters. 
 
 [To the student of the Bible one of the most im- 
 portant subjects is the character and history of the 
 original languages in which that holy book was WTit- 
 ten. In respect to the original Greek of the New Tes- 
 tament, some remarks have been made, and the best 
 sources of information pointed out, under the article 
 Greece. For the Hebrew language a reference 
 has been made to the present article. The Hebrew 
 is but one of the cluster of cognate languages which 
 anciently prevailed in western Asia ; commonly 
 called the oriental languages, or in late years the 
 Sejnitish, or Shemitish, languages, as belonging partic- 
 ularly to the descendants of Shem. A proper knowl- 
 edge of the Hebrew, therefoi-e, implies also an ac- 
 quaintance with these other kindred dialects. The 
 principal source of information on these points is the 
 work of Gesenius entitled Geschichte der hehrliischen 
 Sprache und Schrift, History of the Hebrew Language 
 and Letters, liCipsic, 1815. An abstract of the re- 
 sults detailed in this work, accompanied with remarks 
 of his own, was given by professor Stuart in the In- 
 troduction prefixed to the first and second editions 
 of his Hebrew Grammar. From these sources the 
 following statements have been condensed. 
 
 Oriental or Shemitish Languages. — The lan- 
 guages of western Asia, though differing in respect 
 to dialect, are radically the same ; and have been so 
 as far back as any historical records enable us to 
 trace them. Palestine, Syria, Pheniria, Mesopo- 
 tamia, Babylonia, Arabia, and also Ethiopia, are 
 reckoned as the countries where the languages com- 
 monly denominated oriental have been spoken. Of 
 late, many critics have rejected the appellation on- 
 ental, as being too comprehensive, and substituted 
 that of Shemitish. Against this appellation, however, 
 objections of a similar nature may be urged ; for no 
 inconsiderable portion of those who spoke the lan- 
 guages in question, were not descendants of Shem. 
 It is doubtless a matter of indifference which appel- 
 lation is used, if it be first defined. 
 
 The oriental languages may be divided into three 
 principal dialects ; viz. the Aramaean, the Hebrew, 
 and the Arabic. — (1.) The Aramsean, spoken in 
 Syria, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia, or Chaldea, is 
 subdivided into the Syriac and Chaldee dialects, 
 sometimes called also the west and east AramiearL 
 —(2.) The Hebrew or Canaanitish dialect (Isa. xix.
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 [ 606 ] 
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 18.) was spoken in Palestine, and probably, with 
 little variation, in Phenicia and the Phenician colo- 
 nies, e. g. at Carthage and other places. The re- 
 mains of the Phenician and Punic dialects are too 
 few and too much disfigui-ed, to enable us to judge 
 with certainty how extensively these languages were 
 the same as the dialect of Palestine. — (3.) The Ara- 
 bic, to which the Ethiopic bears a special resem- 
 blance, comprises, in modern times, a great variety 
 of dialects as a spoken language, and is spread over 
 a vast extent of country ; but so far as we are ac- 
 quainted with its former st<ite, it appears, more an- 
 ciently, to have been limited principally to Arabia 
 and Ethiopia. 
 
 The Arabic is very rich in words and forms ; the 
 Syriac, so far as it is yet known, is comparatively 
 limited in both ; the Hebrew holds a middle place 
 between them, both as to copiousness of words and 
 variety of forms. 
 
 The Samaritan dialect appears to be made up, as 
 one might expect, (see 2 Kings xvii.) of Aramsean 
 and Hebrew. And the slighter varieties of Arabic 
 are as numerous as the provinces where the lan- 
 guage is spoken. In all tliese cases, however, we 
 connnonly name the slighter differences provincial- 
 isms rather than dialects. 
 
 It is uncertain whether any of the oriental or 
 Shemitish dialects were spoken in Assyria proper, 
 or in Asia Miuor. The probabihty seems to be 
 against the supposition that the x\ssyrians used them ; 
 and a gi'eat part of Asia Minoi-, before it was subju- 
 gated by the Greeks, most probably spoke the same 
 language with Assyria, i. e. perhaps a dialect of the 
 Persian. A small part only of this section of Asia 
 seem to have spoken a Shemitish dialect. (Gesen. 
 Geschichte, § 4. 1. and § 17. 3.) When western Asia 
 is described, therefoi-e, as speaking the Shemitish 
 languages, the exceptions just made are to be uni- 
 formly luiderstood. 
 
 Of all the oriental languages, the Hebrew bears 
 marks of being the most ancient. The oldest records 
 that are known to exist are composed in this lan- 
 guage ; and there are other reasons which render it 
 probable, that it preceded its kindred dialects. It 
 floiu'ished in Palestine, among the Phenicians and 
 Hebrews, uirtil the period of the Babylonish exile ; 
 soon after which it declined, and finally was suc- 
 ceeded by a kind of Hebrajo-Aramsean dialect, such 
 as was spoken in the time of our Saviour among the 
 Jews. (See Biblical Repository, vol. i. p. 309, '317.) 
 The west Aramaean had flourished before this, for a 
 long time, in the east and north of Palestine ; but it 
 now advanced farther west, and during the period 
 tliat the Christian churches of Syria flourished, it 
 was widely extended. It is at present almost a dead 
 language, and has been so for several centuries. 
 The Hebrew may be regarded as having been a dead 
 language, except among a small circle of literati, for 
 about the space of two thousand years. — Our knowl- 
 edge of Arabic literature extends back very little be- 
 yond tbe time of Mohammed. But the followers of 
 this pretended prophet have spread the dialect of the 
 Koran over almost half the population of the world. 
 Arabic is now the vernacular language of Arabia, 
 Syria, Egypt, and in a great measure of Palestine 
 and all the northern coast of Africa ; while it is read 
 and understood wherever the Koran has gone, in 
 Turkey, Persia, India, and Tartary. 
 
 The remains of the ancient Hebrew tongue are 
 contained in the Old Testament, and in the few 
 Phenician and Punic words and inscriptions that 
 
 have been here and there discovered. — The remains 
 of the Aramaean are extant in a variety of books. 
 In Chaldee, we have a part of the books of Daniel 
 and Ezra, (Dan. ii. 4 — vii. 28. Ezra iv. 8 — vi. 19, and 
 vii. 12 — 27.) which are the most ancient of any 
 specimens of this dialect. The Targum of Onkelos, 
 i. e. the translation of the Pentateuch into Chaldee, 
 affords the next and purest specimen of that language. 
 All the other Targums, the Mishna and Gemara are 
 a mixture of Aranisean and Hebrew. It has been 
 said that there are still some small districts in the 
 East, where the Chaldee is a vernacular language. ' 
 In Syriac, there is a considerable number of books 
 and MSS. extant. The oldest specimen of this lan- 
 guage, that we have, is contained in the Peshito, or 
 Syriac, version of the Old and New Testament. A 
 multitude of writers in this dialect have flourished, 
 (vid. Assemani Bibliotheca Orientalis,) many of 
 whose writings probably are still extant, although 
 but few have been printed in Europe. — In Arabic, 
 there exists a great variety of MSS. and books, histor- 
 ical, scientific and literary. The means of illustrat- 
 ing this living language are now very ample and satis- 
 factory. See TALMUD,and Versions. 
 
 It is quite obvious from the statement made above, 
 that a knowledge of the kindred dialects of the He- 
 brew is very important, for the illustration of that 
 language. Who can, even now, have a very ex- 
 tensive and accurate understanding of the English 
 language, that is unacquainted with the Latin, Greek, 
 Norman, French and Saxon ? Supposing, then, that 
 the English had been a dead language for more than 
 two thousand years, and that all the remains of it 
 were comprised in one moderate volume ; who 
 could well explain this volume, that did not under 
 stand the languages with which it is closely connect 
 ed ? The answer to this question will decide wheth 
 er the study of the languages, kindred with the 
 Hebrew, is important to the thorough understanding 
 and illustration of the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
 The relation of the Hebrew to the Aramaean and 
 Arabic is not such as exists between the Attic and 
 other dialects of Greece. The diversity is much 
 greater. It bears more resemblance to tlie diversity 
 between German and Dutch, or German and Swed- 
 ish. The idiom of all is substantially tlie same. 
 The fundamental words are of common origin. 
 But the inflections differ in some considerable meas- 
 ure : derivative words arc diverse in point of form ; 
 and not a few words have been adopted in each 
 of the dialects, which either are not common to the 
 others, or are used in a different sense. — The affin- 
 ity between the Chaldee and Syriac is very great, in 
 every i-espect. 
 
 The oriental languages are distinguished from 
 the western or Em-opean tongues, in general, by a 
 number of peculiar traits ; viz. (1.) Several kinds 
 of guttural letters are found in them, which we can- 
 not distinctly mark ; and some of which our organs 
 are inacapable of pronouncing, after the age of matu- 
 rity. — (2.) In general, the roots are trilitcral, and of 
 two syllables. By flir the greater part of the roots 
 are verbs. — (3.) Pronouns, whether i)ersonal or ad- 
 jective, are, in the oblique cases, united in the same 
 word with the noun or verb to Avhich they have a 
 relation. — (4.) The verbs have but two tenses, the past 
 and future ; and in general, there are no optative or 
 subjunctive moods definitely marked. — (5.) The 
 genders are only masculine and feminine ; and these 
 are extended to the verb, as well as to the noun. 
 (6.) For the most part, the cases are marked by 

 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 [ 607 1 
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 prepositions. Two nouns coming together, the latter 
 of which is in tlie genitive, the Jirst, in most cases, suf- 
 fers a change whicli indicates this state of relation, 
 while tlie latter noun remains unchanged ; i. e. the 
 governing noun suffers the change, and not the noun 
 governed. (7.) To mark the comparative and super- 
 lative dcTces, no special forms of adjectives exist. 
 From tliis observation the Arabic must be excepted, 
 which, for the most part, has an intensive form of 
 adjectives that marks botli the con)parative and su- 
 jjerjative. (8.) Scarcely any composite words exist 
 in these languages, if we except proper names. (9.) 
 \'erbs arc not only distinguished into active and pas- 
 sive, by their forms ; but additional forms are made, 
 by the inflections of the same verb with small varia- 
 tions, to signify the cause of action, or the frequency 
 of it, or that it is reflexive, or reciprocal, or intensive, 
 &c. (10.) Lastly, all these dialects (the Ethiopic ex- 
 cepted) are written and read from the right hand to 
 the left; the alphabets consisting of consonants only, 
 and the vowels being generally written above or be- 
 low the consonants. 
 
 Hebrew Language. — The appellation of Hebrew, 
 ('13;",) so far as we can learn from history, was first 
 given to Abraham by the people of Canaan among 
 w'hom he dwelt. Gen. xiv. 13. As the first names of 
 nations were commonly appellatives, it is quite prob- 
 able that this epithet was applied to Abraham be- 
 cause he came from beyond the Euphrates, -\2y 
 meaning over or beyond ; so that ^^3J.■, Hebrew, meant as 
 much as one who came from beyond the Euphrates. 
 But whatever extent of meaning was attached to the 
 appellation Hebrew before the time of Jacob, it ap- 
 pears afterwards to have i^een limited only to his 
 posterity, and to be synonymous with Israelite. 
 
 The origin of the llebrew language must be dated 
 further back than the period to which we can trace 
 the appellation Hebrew. It is plain from the history 
 of Abraham, tliat wherever he sojourned he found a 
 language in which he could easily converse. That 
 Hebrew was originally the language of Palestine ap- 
 pears plain, moreover, from the names of persons and 
 ])laces in Canaan, and from other facts m respect to 
 the formation of this dialect. E. g. the ivest is in 
 Hebrew z\ which means the sea, i. e. towards the 
 Mediterranean sea. As the Hebrew has no other 
 proper word for ivest, so it must be evident that the 
 language, in its distinctive and peculiar form, must 
 have been formed in Palestine. That this dialect was 
 the original language of mankind, is not established 
 by any historical evidence, which may not admit of 
 some doubt. But it seems highly probable, that if 
 the original parents of mankind were placed in Avest- 
 ern Asia, they spoke substantially the language which 
 has for mon3 than fifty centuries pervaded those coun- 
 tries. This probability is greatly increased, by the 
 manner in which the book of Genesis makes use of 
 appellatives, as applied to the antediluvians ; which 
 are nearly all explicable by Hebrew etymology, and 
 wovdd probably all be so, if we had that part of the 
 Hei)rew which is lost. 
 
 How far back then the Hebrew dialect in its dis- 
 tinctive form is to be dated, we have no sure means 
 of ascertaining. At the time when the Pentateuch 
 ■was written, it had reached nearly, if not quite, its 
 highest point of culture and gi-ammatical structure. 
 The usual mode of reasoning would lead us to say, 
 therefore, that it must, for a long lime before, have 
 been spoken and cultivated, in order to attain so much 
 regularity of structure and syntax. But reasoning on 
 this subject, except from facts, is very uncertain. 
 
 Many of the savage tribes in the wilds of America 
 possess languages which, as to variety in combina- 
 tions, declensions and expression, are said to surpass 
 the most cultivated languages of Asia or Europe. 
 Homer was as little embarrassed in respect to variety 
 of form, combination or structure, as any Greek poet 
 who followed a thousand years later. The best 
 pledge for the great antiquity of the Hebrew is, that 
 there never has been, so far. as we have any knowl- 
 edge, but one language substantially m western Asia ; 
 and of the various dialects of this, tlie Hebrew has 
 the highest claims to be regarded as the most ancient. 
 Sketch of the Hebrew language. — From the time 
 when the Pentateuch was composed lintil the Baby- 
 lonish exile, the language, as presented to us in the 
 Old Testament, wears a very uuiforin appearance ; 
 if we excei)t the variety of style, which belongs of 
 course to different writers. This period has been 
 usually called the golden age of the Hebrew. On ac- 
 count of this uniformity, many critics deny that the 
 Pentateuch could have been composed five hundred yj 
 years before the time of David and Solomon, or even 
 long before the captivity. They are willing to admit 
 the antiquity of a few laws, and of some fragments 
 of history in Genesis and some other books. But it 
 is against all analogy, they aver, that a language should 
 continue so nearly the same, as the Hebrew of the 
 Pentateuch and of the historical books, for a space of 
 time so great as this. And besides, they affirm, there 
 are many internal evidences of a later origin, con- 
 tained in occasional notices of later events, which ^ 
 could not possibly be known in the time of Moses. 
 
 In regard to this last allegation, only a single con- 
 sideration can be here stated. It may be safely ad- 
 mitted, that some things Avere added to the Pentateuch 
 by writers in later times ; such as a completion of the 
 genealogy of the Edomitish princes, Gen. xxxvi. an 
 account of the death and burial of Moses, Deut. 
 xxxiv ; and a few other things of a similar nature. 
 But the other allegation, that universal analogy, in 
 respect to other languages, renders it highly improb- 
 able that such uniformity in the Hebrew could have 
 been ])reserved, so long as from the time of IMoses 
 down to that of David, or down to the period of the 
 ca])tivity, we may be permitted to doubt ; for a greater 
 philological wonder than this, which so much excites 
 their incredulity, can be produced. 
 
 Dr. Marshman is very extensively acquainted with 
 the Chinese language, and has published a copious 
 grammar and dictionary of it, with a translation of . 
 the works of Confucius, which were written about 
 550 years before Christ, or, according to the Chinese, 
 much earlier. He asserts, that there is very little dif- 
 ference between the style of Confucius and that of 
 the best Chinese writers of the jjroscnt day. One , 
 
 commentary on his works was written 1500 years y / 
 after the text, and another still later, which Dr. 
 Marshman consulted. He found no difference be- 
 tween them and the works of Confiicius, except that 
 the original was somewhat more concise. The doc- 
 uments of this philologist, gathered from Chinese rec- 
 ords, prove that the written and spoken language of 
 the Chinese (nearly one fourth part of the human 
 race) has not varied, in any important respect for 
 more thati 2000 years. (Quarterlv Review, ]May, 
 1811, p. 401, &c. Marshman's Chinese Gram, in 
 var. loc.) In respect to seclusion from other nations, 
 the Jews bore a very exact resemblance to the Chi- 
 nese. Like them, they had no foreign commerce or 
 intercourse to corrupt their language. New inven- 
 tions and improvements in the arts and sciences there
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 [ 608 ] 
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 were not. What then was there to change the lan- 
 guage ? And why should not David and Solomon, 
 and others write in the same manner, substantially as 
 Moses did ? 
 
 In respect to the argument, which concludes against 
 the composition of the Pentateuch by Moses, because 
 there are some things in it, which, if written by him, 
 must be admitted to be predictions, it can here be 
 observed only, that if the inspiration of the Scriptures 
 be admitted, criticism has no right to reject it in any 
 investigations respecting these books ; for inspiration 
 constitutes one of ^the circumstances in which the 
 books were composed, and cannot, therefore, be omit- 
 ted in the critical consideration of them, without vir- 
 tually denying the fact of inspiration, and conducting 
 the investigation in an uncritical manner. 
 
 The second or silver age of the Hebi"ew, reaches 
 from the period of the captivity down to the time 
 when it ceased to be a living language. The distin- 
 guishing trait of Hebrew writings belonging to this 
 age is, that they approximate to the Chaldee dialect. 
 Nothing is more natural, than that the language of 
 exiles, in a foreign country for seventy years, should 
 approximate to that of their conquerors who held 
 them in subjection. To this period belong many of 
 tiie Psalms, and t!ie whole books of Jeremiah, Eze- 
 kiel, Daniel, Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi, Chronicles, 
 Ezra, Nehemiah, Esthei', and perhaps some others. 
 The books of Job and Ecclesiastes abound in Aramas- 
 isms ; and Canticles exhibits d considerable number. 
 The age of these three last books, as also that of Jo- 
 nah, Daniel, and the Pentateuch, has been the sub- 
 ject of animated contest among critics on the conti- 
 nent of Europe, for almost half a century. The 
 Chaldaisms, or Aramteisms, of the silver age, consist, 
 either in adopting both tlie form and meaning of 
 Aramaean words, or in preserving the Hebrew 
 form, but assigning to it an Aramaean signification. 
 (Ges. Gesch. § 10. 4, 5.) What is called the younger 
 or later Hebrew is somewhat distinct from Aramfe- 
 ism. It does not consist in using foreign words, but 
 in a departure from the customary idiom of the older 
 Hebrew, by the adoption of different expressions to 
 convey the same idea. E. g. the early Hebrew calls 
 the sheio-hread oijeh nnS ; the younger Hebrew orh 
 n:nj?c. The Hebrew of the Talmud, and of the 
 rabbins, has a close affinity with the later He- 
 brew. 
 
 All the books belonging to the second age are not 
 of tlie same character in respect to idiom. The book 
 of Job, if it be set down to a later age, though full of 
 Aramaeisms, in other respects is a peculiar example 
 of tlie ancient simplicity of diction. Such is the case 
 witli many Psalms, which belong, as their contents 
 plainly show, to the second period. Of the other 
 autliors comprised in this period, Jeremiah and Eze- 
 kicl merely b<M-(ler upon the silver age in regard to 
 diction. Esther, Canticles, Chronicles and Daniel 
 are strongly tinctured with the characteristics of later 
 Hebrew ; and the remaining later books are not less 
 strongly marked. Nearly lialf of the books of Daniel 
 and Ezra is composed in pure Clialdee. In general, 
 the earher Hebrew writers are entitled to preeminence 
 in respect to their compositions, when considered 
 merely in a rhetorical ponit of view. But still, among 
 the later class are some of most exquisite taste and 
 genius. Some parts of Jeremiah have scarcely been 
 excelled. Psalms cxxxix, xliv, Ixxxiv, Ixxxv ; several 
 of the Psalms of degi-ees, cxx, &c. Dan. vii, Sec. 
 and other parts of later authors, are fine specimens of 
 writing ; and some of them may challenge competi- 
 
 tion, in reespct to excellence of style, with the writ- 
 ings of any age or country. 
 
 The Hebrew language throughout, both earlier 
 and later, exhibits a twofold diction, viz. the prosaic 
 and the poetic. Hebrew poetiy, so far as we can as- 
 certain, never comprised any thing of the Roman and 
 Grecian measure of long and short syllables, and the 
 varieties of veree arising from this cause. Its distin- 
 guishing characteristics are four ; viz. a rhythmical 
 conformation of periods or distichs ; a parallehsm of 
 the same in regard to sense or expression ; a figura- 
 tive, parabolic style ; and a diction i)eculiar to this 
 species of composition. (See Lowth's Lectures on 
 Heb. Poetiy, Lee. xviii. — xx ; also the Introduction to 
 his Commentary on Isaiah. De Wette's Commentar 
 liber den Psalmen, Einleit. § 7.) 
 
 The poetic diction displays itself in the choice of 
 words, the meaning assigned to them, and the forms 
 which it gives them. In other respects, too, poetic 
 usage gives pecuUar liberty. The conjugations Piel 
 and Hithpael are sometimes used intransitively ; the 
 apocopated future stands for the common future ; the 
 participle is often used for the verb ; and anomalies in 
 respect to concord, ellipsis, &c. are more frequent than 
 in prose. 
 
 As the Aramaean dialect was learned by the Jews 
 during their captivity, and a mixture of this and the 
 Hebrew, ever after their return, was perhaps spoken 
 in Palestine by the people at large ; so it is evid-ent, 
 that many words of the old Hebrew, in consequence 
 of this, must fall into desuetude, and the meaning of 
 them become obscured. Of course, the later Hebrew 
 writers were obliged to avoid such words. A com- 
 parison of the books of Kings with those of the 
 Chronicles, where they are parallel, is full of instruc- 
 tion ill respect to this subject. It will be found, that 
 the author of the Chronicles has introduced the later 
 orthography and forms of words ; substituted new 
 words for old ones ; given explanations of the ancient 
 text from which he drew the materials of his history ; 
 and inserted grammatical glosses of the same, so as to 
 accommodate his slvle to the times in which he wrote. 
 (Ges. Gesch. § 12.)' 
 
 There is no i)robability that tlic Hebrew language 
 ceased, during the captivity, to be cultivated and un- 
 derstood, in a good degree, by tliose who ^^■ere well 
 educated among the Jews. TIic number of books 
 already extant in it at this period ; the reverence with 
 which they were regarded ; the care with which 
 they were jjreserved ; all render such a supposition 
 entirely inadmissible. Every nation subjected to a 
 foreign yoke and to exile, docs indeed gradually lose 
 its own language and approximate to that of its con- 
 querors. Yet the Jews, who held all foreign nations 
 in abhorrence, were less exposed to this tlian most 
 otliers would be. The fact, that after the return from 
 exile, so many authors wrote in the Hebrew dialect, 
 and for public use, demonstrates that the knowledge 
 of the language was not generally lost, altliough the 
 dialect spoken may have been a mixed one. After 
 the worship of God was renewed in the second tem- 
 |)le, the ancient Hebrew Scriptures were unquestiona- 
 bly used in it. In tiic synagogues, which appear to 
 have been erected not long after this, the Hebrew 
 Scriptures were always used. Even so late as the 
 time of the apostles, this was the case, (Acts xv. 21.) 
 as it has continued to be ever since. 
 
 How long the Hebrew was retained, both in writ- i 
 ing and conversation, or in writhig, after it ceased I 
 to be the language of conversation, it is impossible to 
 determine. The coins stamped in the time of th*
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 [ 609 ] 
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 Maccabees are all the oriental monuments we have, 
 of the period that elapsed between the latest canoni- 
 cal writers and the advent of Christ ; and the inscrip- 
 tions on these are in Hebrew. At the time of the 
 Maccabees, then, Hebrew Avas understood, at least as 
 the language of books ; perhaps in some measure also 
 among the better informed, as the language of con- 
 versation. But soon after this, the dominion of the 
 Seleucidae in Syria over the Jewish nation, uniting 
 with the fonner influence of the Babylonish captivity 
 to diffuse the Aramiean dialect among them, appears 
 to have destroyed the remains of proper Hebrew, as 
 a living language, and to have universally substituted, 
 in its stead, the Hebrseo-Aramnsan as it A^as sj)oken 
 in the time of our Saviour. A representation very 
 difterent from this has been made by the Talmudists 
 and Jewish grammarians; and, in following them, by 
 a multitude of Christian critics. This is, that the He- 
 brew became altogether a dead language during tlie 
 Babylonish exile ; which, say they, is manifest from 
 Neh. viii. 8. But as this sentiment is wholly built on 
 a mistaken interpretation of the verse, and as facts 
 speak so plaudy against such an opinion, it cannot be 
 admitted. (Ges. Gesch. § 13.) 
 
 From the time when Hebrew ceased to be vernac- 
 ular, down to the present day, a portion of tliis dialect 
 has been preserved in tlie Old Testament. It has 
 always been the subject of study among learned 
 Jews. Before and at the time of Christ, there were 
 flourishing Jewish academies at Jerusalem. Those 
 of Hillel and Shammai are the most celebrated. After 
 Jerusalem was destroyed, schools w^ere set up in 
 various places ; but particularly they flourislied at 
 Tiberias, until the death of rabbi Judah, suniamed 
 Hakkodcsh, or the Holy, the author of the Mishna, 
 about A. D. 230. Some of his pui)ils set up other 
 schools in Babylonia, which became the rivals of 
 these. The Bal)ylonish academies flourished imtil 
 near the tenth century. From the schools at Tiberias 
 and in Babylonia, we liave received the Targums, the 
 Talmud, the IMasora, and the Avrittcn vowels and ac- 
 cents of the Hebrew language. 
 
 The Mishna or second law, i. e. the oral traditions 
 of the fathers, was reduced to writing by rabbi Ju- 
 dah Hakkodesh, in the beginning of the third centurj-, 
 as above stated. This constitutes the text of both the 
 Jerusalem and Babylonish Talmuds ; and though 
 tinctiu'cd with AramKism, still exhibits a style of 
 He!)rew that is pretty pure. 
 
 The Gcmara or commentary on the Mishna is later. 
 The Jerusalem Gemara belongs, perhaps, to the latter 
 part of the third century ; that of Babylon is aliout 
 three centuries later. Both exhibit a very corrupted 
 state of the Hebrew language. Other Jewisli writings, 
 composed about this period, are similar as to tlieir 
 dialect. 
 
 The Targums, or translations of the Old Testament, 
 arc confessedly Chaldee ; but they are quite impure, 
 if you except that of Onkelos. See Versions. 
 
 The Masora consists of critical remarks on the text 
 of the Old Testament. A part of it is older than the 
 Targums ; but it was not completed, or reduced to its 
 present form, until the eighth or ninth centur\% Its 
 contents or criticisms show, that already the substan- 
 tial princii)lesof Hebrew grammar, and the analogical 
 structure of the language, had been an object of par- 
 ticular study and attention. 
 
 Among Christians, during the first twelve centuries 
 after the apostolic age, the knowledge of Hebrew 
 could scarcely be said to exist. Epi|)hanius, who be- 
 fore his conversion was a Jew, probably had a kuowl- 
 77 
 
 edge of the Hebrew tongue ; and perhaps Theodoret 
 and Ephrem Syrus whose native language was 
 Syriac, may have understood it. But among all the 
 fathers of the (christian churches, none have acquired 
 any reputation for tlie knowledge of Hebrew, except 
 Origen and Jerome. In regard to the former, it is 
 very doubtful whether he possessed any thing more 
 than a sujierlicial knowledge of it. (Ges. Gesch. § 27. 
 I.) But Jerome spent about twenty years in Pales- 
 tine, in order to acquire a knowledge of this tongue, 
 and has left the fruits of his knowledge Ijehind him, 
 in the celebrated translation of the Hebrew Scriptures 
 called the Vulgate. See Versions. 
 
 In consequence of the persecutions and vexations 
 of the Jews in the East, by Christians, and especially 
 by Mohammedans, in the tenth and eleventh centu- 
 ries, their literati emigrated to the west, and their 
 schools in Babjlonia were desti'oyed. The north of 
 Africa, but particularly Spain, and afterwards France 
 and Germany, became ])laces of resort for the Jews ; 
 and here, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, 
 almost all those important Jewish works in gi-ammar 
 and lexicography were composed, which have been 
 the means of [)reserving a knowledge of the Hebrew 
 language in the world, and eventually of rousing 
 Christians to the study of this sacred tongue. It was 
 during this period, that the Kimchis, Jarchi, Aben 
 Ezra, and Maimonides flourished ; and somewhat 
 later appeared Ben Gerson, Ben Melech, Abarhanel, 
 Elias Levita, and others ; who, by their philological 
 labors, prepared thc.Avay for the diflusiou of Hebrew 
 learning over th(; Christian world. 
 
 During tlie dark ages, the knowledge of Hebrew 
 appears to have been banished from the Christian 
 world, and to have been commonly regarded as a 
 proof of heresy. But in the fourteenth century, some 
 glimmerings of light appeared. The council at Vi- 
 enna, in A. D. 1311, ordered the establishment of 
 professorships of oriental literature in the universi- 
 ties. After this, slow but gradual progress was made 
 among Christians in the study of Hebrew, until the 
 sixteenth century ; when the reformation, opei-ating 
 with other causes, served to increase the attention 
 an:iong the learned to the original Scriptures. But 
 as yet, the study of Hebrew v.as embarrassed by 
 many Jewish traditions and conceits, which had been 
 propagated by the rabbins among their christian 
 pupils. Nor was it until about the middle of thd 
 seventeenth century, that Hebrew philology made 
 real advances, beyond tbe liniils by which it had as 
 yet been circumscribed. Dm ing this century, many 
 grammars and lexicons of llie Hebrew and its cognate 
 dialects were jnililishf d, which increased the means 
 of investigation for future philologists. In the first 
 part of the succeeding century, Sclmltens published 
 his philological works, which exhibited deeper re- 
 searches into the structure and nature of the She- 
 niitish languages than had hitherto appeared. The 
 a])])lication of the kindred dialects, especially of the 
 Arabic, to the illustration of the Hebrew, was urged 
 much l)eyoiid what had belore been done. Many 
 eminent ])hilologists were nurtured in his school at 
 Leyden. The great body of critics, almost until the 
 present time, have follo\%ed in the path A^hich ho 
 trod. Many of them have made an excessive use of 
 the Arabic languages in tracing the signijication of 
 Hebrew words. Some of the best lexicographers, 
 such as Eichhorn and ^lichaiilis, are not free from 
 this fault. 
 
 Of late years, a new and much better method of 
 Hebrew philology has commenced, and is still advan-
 
 LAO 
 
 [610] 
 
 LAV 
 
 cing, in a great measure, under the patronage and by 
 the labors of Gesenius at Halle. A temperate use of 
 all the kindred dialects is allowed by this method, or 
 rather enjoined, in illustrating the sense of words ; but 
 the most copious illustrations, borrowed from the 
 kindred languages, are those which respect the forms 
 of words, their significancy as connected witli the 
 forms, and the syntax of the Hebrew language. 
 There is reason to hope that the present age will 
 advance greatly beyond preceding ones, in respect 
 to a fundamental and critical knowledge of the 
 Shemitish languages. See further under Let- 
 ters L *R. 
 
 LAODICEA. There arc several citie-s of this 
 name, but Scripture speaks only of that on the con- 
 fines of Phrygia and Lydia. Its ancient name was 
 Diospolis, then Rhoas, and lastly, Laodicca. It 
 was situated on the river Lycus, not far above its 
 junction with the Meander ; and was the metropolis 
 of Phrygia Pacatiana. Paul had never been in this 
 city, nor had the Laodiceans ever seen his face in 
 the flesh ; (Col. ii. 1.) but on information from Epa- 
 phras their messenger, that false teachers had propa- 
 gated pernicious doctrines there and at Colossfe, he 
 wrote to the inhabitants of the latter, and desired 
 them, when they had read his letter, to send it to 
 the Laodiceans. He writes also, as is thought, in the 
 same epistle, that the Laodiceans should also send 
 their letter to the Colossians. " That ye likewise 
 read the epistle from Laodicea," xal Ti,r ix JaoStxila? 
 ha y.al vuug oriayvwrt , Col. iv. 16. This expression, 
 however, is ambiguous. It may either signify the 
 letter which the apostle wrote to Laodicea, or that 
 which the Laodiceans wrote to him. The letter to 
 the Laodiceans, which has been attributed to Paul, 
 is universally admitted to be spurious, 
 
 Laodicea was long an inconsiderable place, but it 
 increased towards the time of Augustus Cfesar. The 
 fertility of the soil, and the good fortune of some of 
 its citizens, raised it to greatness, Hiero, who adorned 
 it with many ofl^erings, bequeathed to the people 
 more than two thousand talents ; and though an in- 
 land town, it grew more ])otent than the cities on the 
 coast, and became one of tlie largest towns in Phrygia, 
 as its present ruins prove. Among the ruins seen 
 by doctor Chandler, was an oblong amphitheatre, 
 the area of which was about one thousand feet in 
 extent, with a number of other splendid ruins. 
 
 "Laodicea was often damaged by earthquakes, 
 and restored by its own opulence, or by the numifi- 
 cence of the Roman emperors. These resources 
 failed, and the city, it is probable, became early a 
 scene of ruin. About the year 1097, it was possessed 
 by the Turks, and submitted to Ducas, general of 
 the emperor Alexis. In 1 120, the Turks sacked some 
 of the cities of Phrygia by the Meander, but were 
 defeated by the emperor John Comnenus, who took 
 Laodicca, and repaired and built anew the walls. 
 About llGl, it was again unfortified. Many of the 
 inhabitants were then killed, with their bishop, or 
 carried with their cattle into captivity by the Turkish 
 sultan. In 1190, the German emperor Frederick 
 Barbarossa, going by Laodicea with his army toward 
 Syria on a croisade, was received so kindly, that he 
 prayed on his knees for the prosperity of the people. 
 About 1196, this region, with Caria, was dreadfidly 
 ravaged by the Turks. The sultan, on the invasion 
 of the Tartars in 1255, gave Laodicea to the Romans, 
 but they were imable to d<;fend it, and it soon re- 
 turned to the Turks. We saw no traces either of 
 houses, churches or mosques. All was silence and 
 
 solitude. Several strings of camels passed eastward 
 of the hill ; but a fox, which we first discovered by his 
 ears peeping over a brow, was the only inhabitant of 
 Laodicea." (Trav. p. 225.) 
 
 The grandeur of this city in A. D. 79, is sufiiciently 
 attested by these ruins ; whence we infer, that at the 
 date of the Epistle to the Colossians, (A. D. 60, or 
 61,) it was a place of consequence. Whether the 
 church here were numerous we know not ; but, 
 from the epistle iii the Revelations addressed to its 
 minister, it should seem to have fallen into a luke- 
 warm state, (about A, D. 96,) and it is threatened ac- 
 cordingly. It seems, also, that the Laodiceans boast- 
 ed of their wealth, and knowledge, and garments ; 
 which agi-ees with their history, that they were en- 
 riched by the fleeces of their sheep, and eminent in 
 polite studies, as evinced by the od6um, the theatre, 
 the amphitheatre, and the magnified sculptures, the 
 the remains of which are still desccrnible. 
 
 LAPIDOTH, the prophetess Deborah's husband, 
 Judg. iv. 4. 
 
 LAPWING, a bird by Moses declared to be un- 
 clean. Lev. xi, 19. It is about the size of a thi-ush ; 
 its beak is long, black, thin, and a little hooked ; its 
 legs gray and short. On its head is a tuft of feathers 
 of diffcz'ent colors, which it raises or lowers as it 
 pleases. Its neck and stomach are something red- 
 dish ; and its wings and tail black with white streaks. 
 See IBiRDs, p. 188. 
 
 LA.SHA. Moses, describing the limits of the land 
 of Canaan, says, that it reaches south to Lasha, Gen. 
 X. 19. The Chaldee and Jerome take this to be the 
 place Callirhoe, east of the Dead sea, where are 
 warm springs, (see Anah,) and this is the more proba- 
 ble opinion ; but Calmet thinks it is the city of Lasha, 
 Lusa, or Elusa, at nearly an equal distance between 
 the Dead sea and the Red sea. Ptolemy mentions 
 this city of Lusa, as do Stephens the geographer, 
 and Josephus. 
 
 LATTICE, see House, p. 506, 
 
 LAVER, Brazen. Moses was directed (Exod. 
 XXX. 18.) to make, among other articles of furniture 
 for the services of the tabernacle, a laver of brass. 
 This is not particularly described as to form ; but 
 the lavcrs made for the temple were borne by four 
 cherubim, standing u})on bases or pedestals mounted 
 on brazen wheels, and having handles belonging to 
 them, by means of which they might be drawn, and 
 conveyed from one place to another, as they should 
 be wanted. These lavers wei-c double, that is to say, 
 composed of a basin, which received the water that 
 fell from another square vessel above it, from which 
 they drew water with cocks. The Avhole work was 
 of brass ; the square vessel was adorned with the 
 heads of a lion, an ox, and a cherub ; that is to say, 
 of extraordinaiy hieroglyphic creatures. Each of 
 the lavers contained forty baths, or four bushels, forty- 
 one pints, and forty cubic inches of Paris measure. 
 There were ten made in this form, and of this ca- 
 pacity ; five of them were ])laccd to the right, and 
 five to the left of the temple, between the altar of 
 burnt-ofterings and the stei)s which led to the porch 
 of the temple. 
 
 In describing the laver made for the tabernacle, 
 the sacred writer says, Moses "made it of brass, and 
 the foot of it of brass, and of the looki7Tg-glasses of 
 the women assembling, which assembled at the door 
 of the tabernacle of the congregation," Exod. xxxviii. 
 8. The impropriety of introducing looking-glasses 
 here is obvious, since a laver of brass could never 
 have been formed out of these ; besides, our glass
 
 LAW 
 
 [611 ] 
 
 LAW 
 
 mirrors are quite a modern inveution. Dr. A. Clai-ke 
 conceives, therefore, that the Hebrew word rN-ic, ma- 
 roth, denotes mirrors simply, and here, mirrors of 
 pohsiied metal, such as were known to be in com- 
 mon use among the ancients; and which Dr. Sliaw 
 states to be stiU used by the Aralj women in Barl)ary. 
 (Jahii, Bib. Arch. § 132. Hartmaim. Hebrlierinn, ii. 
 p. '210. Adam's Rom. Antiq. p. 42:J.) 
 
 LAUGHTER i;5 an inthcationof joy, insult, mock- 
 ery, assurance, or admiration. Sarah in her trans- 
 port of joy called her son Isaac, that is, laughter, 
 Gen. xxi. 6. " At destruction and famine thou shalt 
 laugh ;" i. e. thou shalt not fear it, thou slialt be per- 
 fectly secure against those evils. God laughs at the 
 wicked ; he despises their vain efforts, Ishmael 
 laughed at Isaac ; he insulted him, he vexed him. 
 (See Gal. iv. 29.) Laughter in general implies re- 
 joicing. " There is a time to laugh, and a time to 
 ^vcep ;" that is, a time to rejoice, and a time to be 
 atHicted, Eccl. iii. 4. "Blessed are ye who weep 
 now, for ye shall laugh," Luke vi. 21, 25. " I said 
 of laughter," of joy, pleasure, " it is mad," Eccl. ii. 
 2. " Your laughter shall be turned into mourning ;" 
 your joy shall terminate in sorrow, repentance, re- 
 iMoi-sc, James iv. 9. Laughter does not become a 
 wi^e man. " A fool lifteth up his voice witli laugh- 
 ter, but a wise man doth scarcely smile a little. The 
 laughter of a fool is as noisy as the crackling of 
 thorns," Ecclus. viii. 8. Abraham's laughter, when 
 God promised him a son, was an expression of ad- 
 miration and gratitude, not of doubt ; the Scripture, 
 which relates it, does not disapprove of it, as it does 
 of Sarah's, Gen. xvii. 17. 
 
 LAW denotes in general a rule by which actions 
 are to be determined ; and is either natural or posi- 
 tive ; the former is founded on the unchangeable na- 
 ture of things, and is therefore immutable ; the latter 
 is founded on the circumstances in which rational 
 creatures may happen to be placed, and is therefore 
 changeable. The former is called moral ; the latter 
 ritual. 
 
 The rabbins pretend that Noah's sous received cer- 
 tain laws which compose the law of nature, and bind 
 all people, in all countries, Maimonides believes, 
 that the first six were given to Adam, and that God 
 added a seventh to Noah, Of these precepts the 
 first ordains submission to judges and magistrates ; 
 the second forbids blasphemy against God ; the third, 
 idolatry and sujierstition ; the fourth, incest, sodomy, 
 bestiality, and sins against nature ; tlie fifth, murder, 
 and all effusions of blood ; the sixth, thefi; ; the sev- 
 enth, the eating of the limb of an animal while liv- 
 ing, that is, of crude blood, &c, 
 
 A distinction is generally made between the law 
 of nature and positive laws. The law of nature is 
 i!n;)rossed on our hearts ; such are our obligations to 
 worship the Supreme Being, to honor our parents, to 
 obey superiors, to do to no man what we would not 
 have done to us, &c. Positive laws are of several 
 kinds; civil and political or ceremonial. Judicial, 
 civil and political laws regard principally the duties 
 of men in society, and the order and polity of the 
 state ; they restrain the violence of wicked men, de- 
 fied the weak from the oppression of the strong, 
 and regulate duties, rights and powers. Ceremonial 
 laws respect the external worship of God, the duties 
 of ministers and people towards God, and their re- 
 ci{)n)cal obligations to one another, with relation to 
 the Divine Being. 
 
 The law was given to the Hebrews, by the inter- 
 vention of Mosesj on mount Sinai, fifty days after 
 
 their departure out of Egypt, A. M. 9513, aiUe A.D. 
 1491. (See Exod. xx. &c,) 
 
 Some learned men have been of opinion, that 
 Moses in most of his laws intended either to imitate 
 those of the Egyptians, or to reverse their customs 
 and maxims, or to circiunscribe the Hebrews, to 
 prevent their falling into those errors, idolatries, and 
 superstitions, which they had seen in Egypt, Others, 
 on the contrary, have asserted, that the Egyptians 
 imitated, in part, at least, the Hebrew laws. Cal- 
 met most reasonably concludes, that there was a re- 
 ciprocal imitation ; bearing in mind that the practices 
 of the Mosaic laws, which oppose the superstition 
 of Egypt, were not instituted without design, and 
 that the Jewish legislator intended to cure the Is- 
 raelites of their proneness to idolatry, and to cor- 
 rect the evil habits which they had contracted in 
 Egypt, What was useful among those of Egypt, 
 might be retained ; and such as had been perverted, 
 might be restored to their purity. 
 
 The law of IMoses being the shadow only of good 
 things to come, (see Type,) but bringing nothing to 
 perfection, (Heb. x, 1 ; vii. 19,) it was necessary that 
 Jesus Christ should complete what was imperfect in 
 it, reform what abuses it tolerated, and fulfil what it 
 only jtromised and typified. This he has executed 
 witli great precision. He declares, (Matt. v. 17.) that 
 he came not to destroy the law, but to perfect it. He 
 has enlarged, modified, or restrained it, more par- 
 ticularly the explanations which the rabbins, and 
 masters in Israel, had given of it; explanations, 
 which were rather corruptions than illustrations, 
 Paul has, in some sort, finished what our Saviour 
 had begun ; or rather, he has set in their full light 
 the purposes of his Master, E, g, that the law of 
 IMoses is superseded or abrogated by the gospel; 
 that since the death of the Messiah the legal cere- 
 monies are of no obligation ; that believers are 
 no longer under the yoke of the law, but under 
 grace; (Rom. vi. 14.) that Christ has procured 
 for us the liberty of sons, instead of the spirit 
 of bondage, which reigned under the Old Testa 
 ment; in a word, that it is neither the law, nor 
 the works of it, that justify Christians, (Rom. viii.) 
 but faith animated by love, and accompanied with 
 good works, Gal. iv. 31 ; v. 13. When we say 
 that the gospel lias rescued us from the yoke of the 
 law, we understand only the appointments of the 
 ceremonial and judicial law ; not those moral pre- 
 cepts, whose oljligation is indispensable, and whose 
 observation is much more jjerfect, and extensive, and 
 enforced, under the law of grace, than it was under 
 the old law. 
 
 The Jews aflirm, that Moses received with the 
 written code, on mount Sinai, an oral law; that the 
 latter was given only by word of mouth, and has 
 been transmitted by the elders. They give a prefer- 
 ence to the oral law, before the written law ; for this, 
 they say, is in many places obscure, imperfect, or de- 
 fective, and could not be used as a rule without the 
 assistance of the oral law, which supplies all that is 
 wanting in the written law, and removes all ditficid- 
 ties. They therefore add to the written law the ex- 
 planations, modifications and glosses of the oral 
 law, and it is a sort of maxim among them, that the 
 covenant which God made with them at Sinai, con- 
 sists less in the precepts of the written law than in 
 those of the oral law ; and to the latter they gene- 
 rally give the preference. They say that the words 
 of the Levites are more lovely than those of the law ; 
 that the words of the law are sometimes weighty and
 
 LEA 
 
 [ G12 ] 
 
 LEE 
 
 sometimes light ; whereas those of the doctors are 
 always weighty ; that the words of the elders were 
 of greater weight thau those of the prophets. They 
 compare the sacred text to water, and the Mishna, or 
 Talmud, which contains their tradition, to wine ; or 
 tlic written law to salt, hut the Mishna and Talmud 
 to most exquisite spices ; the law is only, as it were, 
 the hody, hut the oral law or tradition, is the soid of 
 religion. They hav^e been justly reproached with 
 making the word of God of no effect by their tra- 
 ditions, Mark vii. 13. 
 
 Tiitt word " law" often implies the Scriptures of 
 the Old Testament. [In the Jewish division of the 
 Old Testament into the law, the prophets and the 
 hagiography, the law, or torah, designates the Penta- 
 teuch. R. 
 
 LAWYEHS. These functionaries, so often men- 
 tioned in the New Testament, w-ere men who de- 
 voted themselves to the study and explanation of the 
 Jewish law ; particularly of the traditionary or oral 
 law. They belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, 
 and fell under the reproof of our Saviour for hav- 
 ing taken from the people the key of knowledge. 
 They were as the blind leading the blind. See 
 Scribes. 
 
 L LAZARUS, brother of Martha and Mary, 
 dwelt with his sisters at Bethany, near Jerusalem; 
 and our Saviour sometimes lodged with them, when 
 he visited that city. While he was beyond Jordan 
 with his apostles, Lazarus fell sick ; and his sisters 
 sent information to him. He remarked, " This sick- 
 ness is not unto death, but for the glory of God ;" 
 and after two daj's he said to his disciples, " Lazarus 
 is asleep, but I go to awake him ;" meaning, that he 
 was dead, but that he would restore him to life. On 
 his arrival at Bethany, he found that he had been 
 already four days in the grave, but proceeding to the 
 sepulchre, he commanded those who stood by to 
 take away the stone ; and having returned thanks to 
 his Father for always hearing hiu), cried with a loud 
 voice, " Lazarus, come fortli !" Lazarus came forth 
 bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his face 
 wrajiped up in a napkin, and returned home to his 
 f imily, John xi. 
 
 Six days before his last passover, Jcsiis again vis- 
 ited Bethany, and Lazarus reclined at table with 
 hin). The Jews, observing that the resurrection of 
 Lazarus had made a great impression on the people's 
 minds, took a wicked and foolish resolution to effect 
 t!ie death of both. That part of their design which 
 related to our Saviour, they executed ; but Scripture 
 does not inform us what became of Lazarus. 
 
 n. LAZAPlUS. In Luke xvi. 1;>, Jesus in a para- 
 ble speaks of a poor man, named Lazurus, who lay 
 at a rich man's gate full of sores, and desired the 
 crumbs which fell from his table, without finding 
 relief or i)ity ; while the rich man enjoyed great 
 plenty, was clothed in purple and fine linen, and 
 iarcd sumptuously every day. I^azarus having died, 
 was carried liy angels into Abi'almm's bosom ; the 
 rich man also died, and while he was in hell amidst 
 his tormf'uts, he saw Lazarus afar off, and cried out, 
 Father Ai)raham, have pity on me, and send Laza- 
 rus, that iif; may dip the end of his finger in water 
 to refresh my tongue. But Abraliam answered him. 
 Son, thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, 
 and Lazarus his evil things; now he is happy, thou 
 art miserable. 
 
 LEAD is a very heavy metal, sufficiently well 
 known. The mode of ])urifying it from the dross 
 which is mixed with it, by subjecting it to a fierce 
 
 flame, and melting off its scoria, furnishes several al- 
 lusions in Scripture to God's purifying, or punishing, 
 his people. The prophet Ezekiel (xxii. 18, 20.) com- 
 pares the Jews to lead, because of their guilt, and 
 dross, from which they must be purged as by fire. 
 Mention is made of a talent of lead in Zech. v. 7, 8, 
 which probably was of a figm-e and size as well 
 known as any of our weights in ordinary use ; so 
 that though weights are usually called in Hebrew 
 stones, yet, perhaps, they had some of metal only ; 
 as this talent of lead, for instance. 
 
 Lead was one of the substances used for writing 
 upon by the ancients. See Book. 
 
 LEAH, wife of Jacob, and Laban's eldest daughter. 
 See Jacob. 
 
 LEAVEN was forbidden to the Hebrews, during 
 the seven days of the passover, in memory of what 
 their ancestors did, Avhen they went out of Egypt ; 
 they being then obliged to carry unleavened meal 
 with them, and to make bread in haste ; the Egyp- 
 tians pressing them to be gone, Exod. xii. 15, 19 ; 
 Lev. ii. 11. They were very careful in cleansing 
 their houses from it before this feast began. God 
 forbade either leaven or honey to be offered to him 
 in his temple ; that is, in cakes, or in any baked 
 meats. But on other occasions they might offer 
 leavened bi-ead, or honey. See Numb. xv. 20, 21, 
 where God requires them to give the first fruits of 
 the bread, which was kneaded in all the cities of Is- 
 rael, to the priests and Levites. Paul (1 Cor. v. 7,8.) 
 expresses his desire, that Christians should celebrate 
 their passover with unleavened bread ; which figu- 
 ratively signifies sincerity and truth. The apostle 
 here teaches us two things ; first, that the law which 
 obliged the Jews to a literal observance of the pass- 
 over is no longer in force ; secondly, that by un- 
 leavened bread, truth and purity of heart were de- 
 noted. 
 
 Paul alludes to the care with which the Hebrews 
 cleansed their houses from leaven, when he says, 
 "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ;" that is, 
 if there w^ere but a small portion of leaven in a quan- 
 tity of bread or paste, during the passover, it was 
 thereby rendered unclean, and was to be thrown 
 away and burned. Our Saviour (IMatt. xvi. 11.) 
 warns his apostles to avoid the leaven of the Phari- 
 sees, Sadducees, and Herodians ; meaning their doc- 
 trine. 
 
 LEBANON, see Libanus. 
 
 LEBAOTH, a town in Judah and Simeon, (Josh. 
 XV 32.) called Beth Lebaoth, in Josh. xix. G. 
 
 LEBB^US, otherwise Judas, or Thaddeus, brother 
 of James the Less, son of Mary, sister of the Vir- 
 gin, and of Cleo|)lias, and brother of Joseph. He 
 was married and had children. Nicephorus calls 
 his wife IMary. The Muscovites believe, that they 
 received the faith from him. Sec Judas IV. 
 
 LEBONAH,(Judg. xxi. 19.) a place which Maun- 
 drell takes for Chan-Leban, four leagues from Si- 
 chem soiuhward, and two from Bethel. 
 
 LEECH, see IIorse-leach. 
 
 LEEK, a pot-herb generally known. The He- 
 brews complained in the wilderness, that manna 
 grew insi])id to them; they longed for the leeks and 
 onions of I'^.gypt. Ilasselquist says the karrat, or 
 leek, is surely one of those after which the Israel- 
 ites repined ; for it has been cultivated in Egy|)t from 
 time immemorial. The favorable seasons for this 
 plant are winter and spring. The Egyptians are ex- 
 tremely fond of it. 
 
 LEES, fcEces. To drink up the cup of God's
 
 I.EII 
 
 [ G13 
 
 LEO 
 
 wrath, " even to the lees," is to drink die whole cup 
 to the iiottom, Ps. Ixxv. 8 ; Isa. li. 17 ; Ezek. xxiii. 
 34. The rabbins say that Zedekiah, the last king of 
 Judah, drank the lees of all the foregoing ages. 
 "The lees of tlic people," signifies the vilest part of 
 them, Isa. xlix. (J, 7. God threatens by Zephaniah, 
 to visit those who are settled on their lees ; i. e. hai"d- 
 cned in tiieir sins, Zepli. i. 12. 
 
 LEGIOX. The Roman legions were composed 
 each of ten cohorts, a cohort of fifty maniples, and a 
 maniple of fifteen men ; consequently, a full legion 
 contained six thousand soldiers. But the number 
 varied at diflercnt times. In the time of Polybius 
 it was 4200. (See Adam's Rom. Antiq. p. 367.) Jesus 
 cured a demoniac who called himself " legion," as 
 if possessed by a legion of devils, IMark v. 9. He 
 also said to Peter, who drew his sword to defend 
 him in the olive-garden : " Thinkest thou that I can- 
 not now pray to my Father, who shall presently 
 give me more than twelve legions of angels ?" Matt. 
 xxvi. 53. 
 
 LEGS are properly those limbs of an animal, by 
 which it moves from place to place ; yet, to mani- 
 fest the divine omnipotence, and that God is not 
 confined to one mode of action, many creatures have 
 )io legs!, though they move, (and some swiftly too,) as 
 serpents, worms, snails, &c. and various kinds of 
 fishes, which pass from one place to another, not 
 having even the rudiments of legs. Linnteus classes 
 some kinds of fishes by the situation of their fins, 
 which he considers as answering the jjurposes of 
 legs, or feet, to land-animals. But, beside being the 
 instruments of motion, the legs of the human frame 
 arc the supporters of the body, and great means of 
 strength they are, when in health, firm, stable, se- 
 cure. As such Scripture often alludes to them, Ps. 
 cxivii. 10. "Leg" is sometimes used modestly, in 
 the same manner as foot, which see. 
 
 LEHABIM, the third son of Mizraim, Gen. x. 1.3. 
 Soiiic think that Lehabim denotes the Libyans, one 
 of the most ancient people in Africa. In Nah. iii. 
 'J, and Dan. xi. 43, we find mention of the Lubim, 
 which the Vulgate and LXX. every where render 
 Libyans ; or, what comes to the same in Nahum and 
 Daniel, they render Nubians. It is clear that this 
 name describes colonies of Egyptians ; whether to 
 the west or south, is the question. (See Ludim.) It 
 is probable that we should restrain our researches 
 after them to the continent of Africa. Certainly we 
 ought to distinguish them from the Lydians of Lesser 
 AsTa. Till! Targum of Jerusalem reads Pentapoli- 
 tanos, which was a region in the country of Gy- 
 rene, including the cities of Berenice, Arsinoe, Ptol- 
 emais, and Cyrene ; and this is usually considered 
 as a very ])robable situation for the Lehabim. These 
 and the Lubim are doubtless the same. 
 
 LEIII, the jaw-bone. Samson, having vanquished 
 the Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass, after 
 the conflict threw away the jaw which had been his 
 weapon, and called the spot where it fell, "the 
 l)lace of the lifting up of the jaw-bone — Ramatii 
 L;hi." Becoming, soon after, very tiiirsty, he cried 
 to the Lord, and said, " It is thou, Lord, who hast 
 giv.>n this great deliverance into the hand of thy ser- 
 vant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the 
 lianils of the uncircumcised ?" Ui)on which God 
 opened one of the large teeth in lelii, the jaw-hone, 
 and a fountain sprung out of it, to allay Samson's 
 thirst ; and the place retained the name of Lehi, or 
 tlie Jaw-bone, Judg. xv. 18. To explain this, Cal- 
 niet remarks, that the Hebrews sometimes called 
 
 naked, sharp, and steep rocks, teeth, (1 Sam. xiv. 4, 5 j 
 Job xxxix. 28.) and that in this case God opened a 
 rock called IMachtes, or the Cheek-tooth, which was 
 at the place where Samson obtained his victory, and 
 which, for this reason, he called Lehi, the Jaw-bone. 
 This fountain issuing out of a rock called the Cheek- 
 tooth, at a place named Lehi, or the Jaw-bone, has 
 induced some to believe that it came immediately 
 out of a tooth-hole in the ass's jaw-bone, which 
 would be a surprising miracle indeed. But as Cal- 
 met explains the matter, the miracle of the fountain 
 issuing out of the rock at Samson's prayer is ac- 
 knowledged ; and wonders are not to be multiplied 
 without necessity. This opinion is adopted by Jose- 
 phus, by the paraphrast Jonathan, and by many 
 conmientators. The fountain subsisted long, and 
 still subsists, probably, in Palestine. Glycas, and 
 the martyr Antoninus, speak of it as in the suburbs 
 of Eleutheropolis. 
 
 Mr. Taylor has observed, that perhaps this foun- 
 tain gushed out at the very point in the rock where 
 the jaw-bone of the ass struck when thrown away 
 by Samson ; and thus, though the water really issued 
 from the rock, it might seem to issue from under the 
 jaw-bone. He queries, in fact, whether the violence 
 with which the jaw-bone was thrown away by Sam- 
 son, did not make a breach, or open a crevice in the 
 rock, from which issued water; that part of the rock 
 which before confined it being broken off". If this 
 be just, we see tie reason of the name of the foun- 
 tain, with the veracity of the remark, " it exists to 
 this day ;" which, if it had issued merely from the 
 alveole, the hole of a tooth in the jaw-bone of the ass, 
 is not within the compass of credibility ; as the 
 jaw itself nmst have perished in a few years at fur- 
 thest. 
 
 LENTIL, a species of pulse ; or a kind of beau. 
 We find Esau longing for a mess of pottage made of 
 leiitilcs, (Gen. xxv. 34.) and Augustin says, " Lentiles 
 are used as food in Egypt, for this plant grows abun- 
 dantly in that country ; which is what renders the 
 lentiles of Alexandria so valuable, that they arc 
 brought from thence to us, as if none were grown 
 among us." In Barbary, Dr. Shaw says, that " len- 
 tiles are dressed in the same manner as beans, dis- 
 solving easily into a mass, and making a pottage of a 
 chocolate color." This we find was the red pottage 
 which Esau, from thence called Edom, (z3nN, red, 
 Gen. XXXV. 30.) exclianged for his birthright. 
 
 LEOPARD, a fierce animal, spotted with a diver- 
 sity of colors ; it has small white eyes, wide jaws, 
 sharp teeth, round ears, a large tail ; five claAvs on 
 his fore feet, four on those behind. It is said to be 
 extremely cruel to man. Its name, Ico-pard, implies 
 that it has something of the lion and of the panther 
 in its nature. It seems from Scripture, that the 
 leopard could not be rare in Palestine. Isaiah, de- 
 scribing tiie iiap])y reign of the Messiah, says, (chap, 
 xi. n.) "The leopard shall lie down with the kid, and 
 the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together." 
 Jeremiah says, (chap. v. 6.) that the leopard lies in 
 ambuscade near the cities of the wicked ; that all 
 they who go out thence shall be torn in pieces by it. 
 And Hosca (chap. xiii. 7.) affirms that the Lofd will 
 be unto them as a lion, and as a leopard, lurking in 
 the way of the Assyrians, to devour those who jiass bj'. 
 Jeremiah speaks of the leopard's spots: "Can the 
 ^Ethiopian change his color, or the leopard his 
 spots ?" Scripture often joins the leopard with the 
 lion, as animals of equal fierceness. Habakkuk says, 
 (i. 8.) that the Chaldean horses are swifter than leop-
 
 LEP 
 
 [614] 
 
 LEPROSY 
 
 ards. T}j« spouse in tli6 Canticles speaks of the 
 inoimtains of the leopards, (Cant. iv. 8.) that is to 
 say, of mountains such as Libanus, Shenir, and Her- 
 nion, where wild beasts dwelt. Brocard says, that 
 the mountain called by the name of Leopards is two 
 leagues from Tripoli northwards, and one league 
 from Libanus ; biK we can scarcely believe that Sol- 
 omon in the Canticles had this mountain in view. 
 
 LEPER, a person afflicted with the leprosy. The 
 law excluded such from society ; banishing them into 
 the country, and to places uninhabited, Lev. xiii. 45, 
 46. This law was observed so punctually, that even 
 kings, under the disease, were expelled their pal- 
 aces, shut out of society, and deprived of the govern- 
 ment, as Uzziah, or Azariah, king of Judah, who 
 w^as afflicted with this malady for attempting to offer 
 incense in the temple, 2 Kings xv. 5 ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 
 20. When a leper was ciu-ed, he appeai-ed at the 
 city gate, and the priest examined whether he were 
 truly healed. Lev. xiv. 1, &c. After this he went to 
 the temple, took two clean birds, made a wisp with 
 a branch of cedar, and another of hyssoj), tied to- 
 gether with a scarlet riband made of wool ; an 
 earthen vessel was then filled with water, and one of 
 these birds was fastened alive to the wisp we have 
 mentioned. The leper who was cured killed the 
 other bird, and let the blood of it run into the vessel 
 filled with water. The priest then took the wisp 
 with the live bird, dipped both into the water tinged 
 with the blood of one of the birds, and sprinkled the 
 leper with it. After this the live bird was set at lib- 
 erty, and the person healed, and purified in this 
 manner, was again admitted to the society of the 
 healthy, and to the use of sacred things. 
 
 r>Iany commentators are of opinion, that Job's dis- 
 ease was a leprosy, but in a degree of malignity which 
 rendered it incurable, and produced a comphcation 
 of diseases. 
 
 LEPROSY. Moses mentions three sorts of lep- 
 rcL^ie;; ; in (1.) men ; (2.) houses ; and (3.) clothes. 
 
 1. Leprosy in men. This disease affects the skin, 
 and iiyinctimcs increases in such a manner, as to pro- 
 duce scurf, scabs, and violent itchings, and to corrupt 
 t'le whole mass of blood. At other times it is only a 
 deformity. Tlie Jews regarded the leprosy as a dis- 
 ease sent from God, and Moses prescribes no natural 
 remedy lor the cure of it. He requires only that the 
 diseased person should show himself to the priest, 
 and that the priest should judge of his leprosy ; if it 
 appeared to be a real leprosy, capable of being com- 
 municated to others, he separated the leper from the 
 company of mankind. He appoints certain sacri- 
 fices and particular ceremonies already mentioned 
 for the purification of a leper, and for restoring him 
 to society. The marks which Moses gives for the 
 l)ctter distinguishing a leprosy, are signs of the in- 
 crease of tiiis disease. An outward swelling, a pim- 
 ple, a white spot, bright, and somewhat reddish, 
 created just suspicions of a man's being attacked 
 with it. Wlien a bright spot, something reddisli or 
 whitish, a|)p(ared, and the hair of that place was of 
 a pale red, and tiie place itself something deeper than 
 the re#t of tiie skin, this was a certain mark of lep- 
 rosy. Those who have treated of this disease, have 
 made the same remarks, but have distinguished a re- 
 cent leprosy from one already formed and become 
 inveterate. A recent lc[)rosy may be healed, but an 
 invetertite one is incurable. Travellers who have 
 seen lepers in the East, say, that the disease attacks 
 prmcipaily the feet. Maundrell, who had seen lepers 
 in Palestine, says, that their feet are swcll;d like those 
 
 of elephants, or horses' feet swelled with the farcy. 
 The common marks by which, as physicians tell us, 
 an inveterate leprosy may be discerned, are these : 
 The voice becomes hoarse, like that of a dog which 
 has been long barking, and comes through the nose 
 rather than the mouth : the pulse is small and heavy, 
 slow and disordered : the blood abounds with white 
 and bright corpuscles, like millet-seeds ; is, in fact, 
 all a scurfy serum, without due mixture ; so that salt 
 put into it does not melt, and is so dry, that vinegar 
 mixed with it bubbles up ; the urine is undigested, 
 settled, ash-colored, and thick; the sediment like 
 meal mixed with bran : the face is like a coal half 
 extinguished, shining, unctuous, bloated, full of very 
 hard pimples, with small kernels round about the 
 bottom of them : the eyes are red and inflamed, and 
 project out of the head, but cannot be moved either 
 to the right or left : the ears are swelled and red, cor- 
 roded with ulcers about the root of them, and encom- 
 passed with small kernels : the nose sinks, because 
 the cartilage rots : the nostrils are open, and tlie pas- 
 sages stopped with ulcers at the bottom : the tongue 
 is diy, black, swelled, ulcerated, shortened, divided 
 in ridges, and beset with little white pimples; the 
 skin of it is uneven, hard and insensible ; even if a 
 hole be made in it, or it be cut, a putrefied sanies 
 issues from it instead of blood. Leprosy is very 
 easily communicated ; and hence Moses has taken so 
 much precaution to prevent lepers from communica- 
 tion with persons in health. His care extended even 
 to dead bodies thus infected, which he directed 
 should not be buried with others. 
 
 We can hardly fail of observing the character, and 
 terror in consequence, of this disease. How dreadful 
 is the leprosy in Scripture ! how justly dreadful, 
 when so fatal, and so hopeless of cure ! Mungo Park 
 states that the negroes are subject to a leprosy of the 
 very worst kind ; and Mr. Grey Jackson, in his "Ac- 
 count of Morocco," (p. 192.) informs us, that the spe- 
 cies of leprosy called jeddem, is very prevalent in 
 Barbar\'. " At 3Iorocco there is a separate quarter, 
 outside of the walls, inhabited by lepers only. Those 
 who are affected with it are obliged to wear a badge 
 of distinction whenever they leave their habitations, 
 so that a straw hat, with a very wide brim, tied on 
 in a particular manner, is the signal for persons not 
 to approach the wearer. Lepers are seen in many 
 parts of Barbary, sitting on the ground, with a 
 wooden bowl before them, begging. They inter- 
 marry with each other." 
 
 [To the above somewhat meagre account of this 
 terrible disease, it may not be improper to subjoin 
 the accounts given us by some other writers. The 
 following extract from Jahn's Archa?ology, as trans- 
 lated by professor Ujiham, affords, perhaps, sufficient- 
 ly full information : (see p. 180, seq.) 
 
 " The leprosy exiiibits itself on the exterior surface 
 of the skin, but it infects, at the same time, the mar- 
 row and the bones ; so much so tliat tlie fartiiest 
 joints in the system gradually lose their jjowers, and 
 the members fall together in such a manner, as to 
 give the body a mutilated and dreadful ai)])earance 
 From these circumstances, there can be no doubt, 
 that the disease originates and spreads its ravages 
 internally, before it makes its ai)j)eai"ance on the ex- 
 ternal parts of the body. Indeed, we have reason to 
 believe, that it is concealed in the internal parts of 
 the system a number of years, for instance, in infants 
 commonly till they arrive at the age of puberty, and 
 in adults as many as three or four years, till at last 
 it gives the fearful indications on the skiyi, of having
 
 LEPROSY 
 
 [615 1 
 
 LEPROSY 
 
 already gained a well-rooted and permanent exist- 
 ence. 
 
 " Its progress subsequently to its appearance on the 
 external surface of the body is far from being rapid ; 
 in a number of years it arrives at its middle, and in 
 a number after to its final, state. A person who is 
 leprous from his nativity may live filly years ; one 
 who in after life is infected with it may live twenty 
 years, but they will be such years of dreadful misery 
 as rarely fall to the lot of man in any other situation. 
 
 "The appearance of the disease externally, is not 
 always the same. The spot is commonly small, re- 
 sembling in its appearance the small red spot that 
 would be the consequence of a puncture from a 
 needle, or the pustules of a ringworm. The spots 
 for the most part make their appearance very sud- 
 denly, especially if the infected person, at the period 
 when the disease shows itself externally, happens to 
 be in great fear, or to be intoxicated with anger, 
 Numb. xii. 10 ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 19. They common- 
 ly exhibit themselves, in the first instance, on the 
 face, about the nose and eyes ; they gradually in- 
 crease in size for a number of years, till they become, 
 as respects the extent of siu'face which they embrace 
 on the skin, as large as a pea or bean. The white 
 S|)ot or pustule, morphea alba, and also the dark 
 S|iot, MORPHEA NIGRA, are indications of the existence 
 of the real leprosy. Lev. xiii. 2, 39 ; xiv. 56. From 
 these it is necessary to distinguish the spot, which, 
 whatever resemblance there may be in form, is so 
 different in its effects, called BohaJc, and also the 
 harmless sort of scab, which occurs under the word 
 rnsDT, 7)uspahath, Lev. xiii. 6 — 8, 29. 
 
 " Moses, in the thirteenth chapter of Leviticus, lays 
 down very explicit rules for the purpose of distin- 
 guishing between those spots which are proofs of 
 the actual existence of the leprosy, and those spots 
 which are harmless, and result from some other 
 cause. Those spots which are the genuine effects 
 and marks of the leprosj', gi-adually dilate themselves, 
 till at length they cover the whole body. Not only 
 the skin is subject to a total destruction, but the whole 
 body is affected in cveiy part. The pain, it is true, 
 is not very great, but there is a gi'eat debility of the 
 system, and great uneasiness and grief, so much so, 
 as almost to drive the victim of the disease to self- 
 destruction, Job vii. 15. 
 
 " Tiiere are four kinds of the real lepi-osy. The 
 first kind is of so virulent and powerful a nature, that 
 it separates tlie joints and limbs, and mutilates the 
 body in the most awful manner. The second is the 
 xchite leprosy. The third is the black leprosy, or Psora, 
 Deut. xxvii'i. 27, 35 ; Lev. xxi. 20—22. The fourth 
 description of leprosy is the alopecia, or red leprosy. 
 
 "The person wiio is infected with the leprosy, 
 however long the disease may be in passing through 
 its several stages, is at last taken away suddenly, and, 
 for the most part, unexpectedly. But the evils which 
 fall upon the living leper, are not terminated by the 
 event of his death. The disease is, to a certain ex- 
 tent, hereditarj-, and is transmitted down to the third 
 and fourth generation : to this fact there seems to be 
 an allusion in Exod. xx. 4 — 6 ; iii. 7 ; Deut. v. 9 ; xxiv. 
 8, 9. If any one should undertake to say, that in the 
 fourth generation it is not the real leprosy, still it will 
 not be denied, there is something, which bears no 
 little resemblance to it, in the shape of defective 
 teeth, of fetid breath, and a diseased hue. Leprous 
 j)ersons, notwithstanding the deformities and mutila- 
 tion of their bodies, give no special evidence of a 
 liberation from the strength of the sensual passions, 
 
 and cannot be influenced to abstain from the procre- 
 ation of children, when at the same time they clearly 
 foresee the misery of which their oflspring will be 
 the mheritors. The disease of leprosy is communi- 
 cated not only by transmission from the parents to 
 the children, and not only by sexual cohaliitation, 
 but also by much intercourse with the leprous person 
 in any way whatever. Whence Moses acted the 
 part of a wise legislator in making those laws, which 
 have come down to us, concerning the inspection and 
 separation of leprous persons. The object of these 
 laws will appear peculiarly worthy, when it was con- 
 sidered, that they were designed, not wantonly to fix 
 the charge of being a leper upon an innocent pcison, 
 and thus to impose upon him those restraints and 
 inconveniences which the truth of such a charge 
 naturally implies ; but to ascertain in the fairest and 
 most satisfactory manner, and to separate those, and 
 those only, who were truly and really leprous. As 
 this was the prominent object of his laws, that have 
 come down to us on this subject, viz. to secure a fair 
 and impartial decision on a question of this kind, he 
 has not mentioned those signs of leprosy which ad- 
 mitted of no doubt, but those only which might be 
 the subject of contention ; and left it to the priests, 
 who also fulfilled the office of physicians, to distin- 
 guish between the really leprous, and those who had 
 only the appearance of being such. In the opinion 
 of Hensler, (Gcschichte der abendlandischen Aussat- 
 zes, p. 273,) IMoses, in the laws to which we have 
 alluded, discovers a great knowledge of the disease. 
 Every species of leprosy is not equally malignant ; 
 the most virulent species defies the skill and power 
 of physicians. That which is less so, if taken at its 
 comniencement, can be healed. But in the latter 
 case also, if the disease has been of long continuance, 
 there is no remedy. 
 
 " Bohak.—SVe fi'ud mention, in the rules laid doivn 
 by Moses for the purpose of ascertaining the true 
 tokens of leprosy, of a cutaneous disorder, which is 
 denominated by 'him Bohak, and of Avhich there is a 
 slight mention above. It was thought by the trans- 
 lator, that it might be interesting to the reader to have 
 some further account of this disorder, and he has ac- 
 cordingly introduced here the answer of Niebuhr, 
 found at page 135 of his Description of Arabia, to the 
 inquiry of Michaelis on tliis subject. The words of 
 Moses, which may be found in Leviticus xiii. 38, 39, 
 are as follows : '■ If a man or woman have u'hite spots 
 on the skin, and the priest see that the color of these 
 spots is faint and pale, it is, in this case, the Bohak, 
 that has broken out on the skin, and they are clean.'' 
 A person, accordingly, who was attacked with this 
 disease, the Bohak, was not declared unclean, and 
 the reason of it was, that it is not only harmless in 
 itself, but is free from that infectious and hereditary 
 character, which belongs to the true leprosy. 
 
 "Niebuhr says, 'The Bohak is neither infectious 
 nor dangerous. A black boy at IMocha, who was at- 
 tacked with this sort of leprosy, had white spots here 
 and there on his body. It was said, that the use of 
 suli)hur had been for some time of service to this 
 boy, but had not altogether removed the disease.' 
 He then adds the following extract from the papers 
 of Dr. Forskal. ' May 15th, 1763, I myself saw a 
 case of the Bohak in a Jew at Mocha. The spots m 
 this disease are of unequal size. They have no sinn- 
 ing appearance, nor are they perceptibly elevated 
 above the skin ; and they do not change li.e color of 
 die hair. Their color is an obscure ifhite or some- 
 V. hat reddish. The rest of the skin of this patient
 
 LEPROSY 
 
 L 616 ] 
 
 LEPROSY 
 
 was blacker than that of the people of the countiy in 
 general, but the spots were not so white as the skin 
 of a European when not sunburnt. The spots in 
 this species of leprosy, do not appear on the hands, 
 nor about the navel, but on the neck and face ; not, 
 however, on that part of the head where the hair 
 grows very thick. They gradually spread, and con- 
 tinue sometimes only about two months ; but in some 
 cases, indeed, as long as two years, and then disap- 
 pear, by degrees, of themselves. This disorder is 
 neither infectious nor hereditary, nor does it occasion 
 any inconvenience.' ' That all this,' remarks Mi- 
 chaelis, ' should still be found exactly to hold at the 
 distance of three thousand five hundred years from 
 the time of Moses, ought certainly to gain some credit 
 to his laws, even with those who will not allow them 
 to be of divine authority.' (Commentaries on the 
 Laws of JMoses, Smith's translation, vol. iii. p. 283, 
 art. 210.) 
 
 "JMichaelis, in discussing the subject of leprosies, 
 expresses his gratitude to God, that the LepraArabum, 
 as it is termed by the learned, is known to the i)hy- 
 sicians of Germany only from books and by name. 
 But this disease, although it is very unfrequent in 
 Europe, indeed almost extinct, made its appearance 
 about the year 1730, on the western continent, and 
 spread its ravages among the sugar islands of the 
 West Indies, particularly Guadaloupe. The inhab- 
 itants of this island, alarmed and terriiied at the in- 
 troduction of so pernicious a disorder among them, 
 petitioned the court of France to send to the island 
 persons qualified to institute an inspection of those 
 who labored under suspicion of being infected, in 
 order that those who were in fact lepers, might be 
 removed into lazarettos. 
 
 "M.Peyssonel, who was sent to Guadaloupe on this 
 business, writes as follows on the third of February, 
 1757: 'It is now about twenty-five or thirty years 
 since a singular disease appeared on many of the in- 
 habitants of this island. Its commencement is im- 
 perceptible. There appear only some few white 
 spots on the skin, which, in the whites, are of a black- 
 ish red color, and in the blacks, of a copper red. At 
 first, they are attended neither with pain, nor any sort 
 of inconvenience ; but no means whatever will remove 
 them. The disease imperceptibly increases, and con- 
 tinues for many years to manifest itself more and more. 
 The spots become larger, and spread over the skin 
 of the whole body indiscriminately ; sometimes a 
 little elevated, though flat. When the disease ad- 
 vances, the upper part of the nose swells, the nostrils 
 become enlarged, and the nose itself soft. Tumors 
 appear on the jaws ; the eye-brows swell ; the ears 
 become thick ; the points of the fingers, as also the 
 feet and toes, swell ; the nails become scaly ; the 
 joints of the hands and feet separate, and drop off. 
 On the palms of the hands, and on the soles of the 
 feet, appear deep, dry ulcers, which increase rapidly, 
 and then disappear again. In short, in the last stage 
 of the disease, the patient becomes a hideous specta- 
 cle, and falls in pieces. These symptoms supervene 
 by very slow and successive steps, requiring often 
 many years before they all occur. The patient suf- 
 fers no violent pain, but feels a sort of lunnbuess in 
 his hands and fe(>t. During the whole period of the 
 disorder, tiiose afflicted witli it experience no ob- 
 structions in what are called the naturalia. They 
 eat and drink as usual ; and even when their fingers 
 and toes mortify, the loss of the mortified part is the 
 only consequence that ensues ; for tlie wound heals 
 of itself without any medical treatment or application. 
 
 When, however, the unfortunate wretches come to 
 the last period of the disease, they are hideously dis- 
 figured, and objects of the gi-eatest compassion. 
 
 " ' It has been remarked, that this horrible disorder 
 has, besides, some very lamentable properties ; as, in 
 the Jirst place, that it is htreditary ; and hence some 
 families are more affected with it than others : sec- 
 ondly, that it is infectious, being propagated by co- 
 ition, and even by long-continued intercourse : third- 
 ly, that it is incurable, or at least no means of cure 
 have hitherto been discovered. Mercurial medicines, 
 and diaphoretics, and all the usual prescriptions and 
 plans of regimen for venereal complaints, have been 
 tried, from an idea that the infection might be vene- 
 real, but in vain : for instead of relieving, they only 
 hastened the destruction of the patients. The med- 
 icines serviceable in lues venerea, had no other effect 
 than to bring the disease to its ac7ni ; inducing all its 
 most formidable symptoms, and making those thus 
 treated die some years sooner than other victims 
 to it.' " *R. ' 
 
 2. 7Vie leprosy of houses, mentioned in Lev. xiv. 
 34, &c. must have been known to the Israelites, who 
 had lived in Egypt, and must have been common in 
 the land of Canaan, whither they were going, since 
 Moses says to them : "When ye come into the land 
 of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, if there 
 be a house infected with a leprosy, he to whom the 
 house belongs shall give notice of it to the priest, who 
 shall go thither. If he sees as it were little holes in 
 the wall, and places disfigured with pale or reddish 
 spots, which in siglit are lower than the wall, he shall 
 go out of the house, and direct it to be shut up for 
 seven days. At the end of this time, if he find that 
 the leprosy is increased, he shall command the stones 
 infected with the leprosy to be taken away, and 
 thrown without the city into some unclean place. 
 New stones shall be put in the room of those which 
 were plucked out, and the wall shall be again rough- 
 cast. If the leprosy do not return, the house sliall 
 be thought clean ; but if it return, it is then an invet- 
 erate leprosy ; the house shall be declared unclean, 
 and immediately be demolished : all the wood, stone, 
 mortar and dust shall be cast out of the city into an 
 unclean place." 
 
 The rabbins and others conclude, that this leprosy 
 of houses was not natural, but was a [)imishment in- 
 flicted by God on wicked Israelites ; but Calmet is 
 of opinion that it was caused by animalcidrp, which 
 erode the stones like mites in a cheese. ]\light it be 
 similar to the dry-rot in timber ? Or, rather, it arose 
 more probably from the eftects of saltpetre, which 
 shows itself in greenish or reddisli spots on the walls 
 of stone houses, and spreads wider and wider. In 
 the long run it injures the walls ; and at all times cor- 
 rupts the air and is injurious to the health. Hence 
 the propriety of the strict regulations of Moses. (See 
 JMichaelis's Mos. Rccht, or Commentary on the Laws 
 of Moses.) 
 
 3. T/ie leprosy in clothes is also noticed by Moses, 
 as conunon in his time. lie says, if any greenish or 
 red spots be observed on any woollen or linen stuffs, 
 or on any thing made of skin, they shall be carried to 
 the priest, who shall shut them up for seven days ; 
 and if at the end of this time the spots increase, and 
 spread, he shall burn then), as infected with a real 
 leprosy. If these spots are not increased, the priest 
 shall conunand the clothes to be washed, and if he 
 after\\ards observe nothing extraordinary in them, 
 he shall declare them to be clean. If the gi-eenish or 
 red spots remain, he siiall order the garments so
 
 LET 
 
 [617] 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 spotted to be burnt, as unclean , or if they spread 
 and increase, he shall order the garment to be burnt ; 
 or if the place suspected of a leprosy be in color like 
 a singed garment, and deeper than the rest, this part 
 of the garment shall be taken away, and the rest pre- 
 served. Calmet thinks it very credible, that the lep- 
 rosy in clothes and skins was caused by vermin. 
 More probably it was a mould or mildew arising 
 from dampness. 
 
 LESHEM, probably Laish, or Dan. 
 
 LETECH, a Hebrew measure, half an omer ; con- 
 taining sixteen pecks, or four bushels, Hos. iii. 2. 
 
 LETTER, THE. Paul places the letter in oppo- 
 sition to the spirit ; a way of speaking very common 
 in the ecclesiastical style, Rom. ii. 27, 29 ; vii. 6 ; 
 2 Cor. iii. 6, 7. "God hath made us ministers of the 
 New Testament, not by the letter, but l)y the spirit ; 
 for the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth ;" that 
 is, the law of jMoses is incapable of giving life to the 
 soul, and justifying before God those who are most 
 servilely addicted to the literal observance of it. To 
 obtain holiness, we must join with it the spirit of faith, 
 hope and charity ; must supply what is deficient in 
 literal observances, by spiritual actions of a more 
 sublime, perfect and excellent nature ; for example, 
 instead of bloody sacrifices, the sacrifice of an humble 
 and contrite heart ; the mortification of the passions ; 
 death unto sin, &c. 
 
 L LETTERS. We know not who was the in- 
 ventor of letters and writing. All agree that it is an 
 admirable and divine art, to paint speech, and speak 
 to the eyes, and, by tracing out characters in diflTerent 
 forms, to give color and body to thought. Some 
 have been of opinion, that God, when he inspired 
 man with reason and speech, communicated to him 
 also a knowledge of writing. Josephus speaks of 
 certain columns, erected before the deluge, by the 
 sons of Seth, upon which they had written astro- 
 nomical observations and inventions. Adam and 
 Enoch have been reputed authors of certain books, 
 by some, who consequendy supposed that they had 
 the use of writing. Others maintain, that the use of 
 letters is much later : some give thehonor of them to 
 Abraham ; others, to Moses ; others, to the Phoenicians ; 
 others, to Saturn ; others, to the Egyptians. Others, 
 more rationally, divide the honor of the invention 
 among several, and acknowledge that it began 
 among the eastern people, and was much later 
 among those in the west ; that some inveqted, and 
 others perfected the invention ; that letters at first 
 were uncommon in their use, and imperfect in their 
 forms ; and that afterwards they were perfected, and 
 their use rendered more familiar. 
 
 The Egyptian writing was originally hieroglyphics, 
 or figures of animals, and other things, engraven on 
 stone, or painted on wood. This way of writing is, 
 perhaps, the most ancient ; and we still see many in- 
 stances of it on Egyptian obelisks and marbles. 
 Marsham is of opinion, that this way of writing was 
 invented by the second king of Memphis, Thauth, 
 whom the Greeks call the first Mercury ; and that 
 another Thauth, or the second Mercury, put into 
 common characters what the first had written in 
 hieroglyphics. All this was in times of the most re- 
 mote antiquity, if Menes, the first king of Memphis, 
 were Ham, the son of Noah. 
 
 Lucan affirms, that the Phoenicians invented the 
 common letters before the Egyptians were acquaint- 
 ed with the use of paper, or with the art of writing 
 in hieroglyphical characters ; (lib. iii.) it was probably 
 in imitation of the Phoenicians, therefore, that the 
 
 Egyptians used letters in their writing. Of this we 
 cannot be certain, but two things we know; first, 
 that there were great resemblances in tJie ancient 
 characters of the two people ; and secondly, that 
 Moses, who was instructed in all the learning of 
 Egypt, wrote in Phoenician characters. The old 
 Egyptian letters are at present unknown, though 
 many of them remain. This people lost the use of 
 their writing \yheu under the dominion of the Greeks, 
 and the Coptic, or modern Egyptian character, ia 
 formed from the Greek. 
 
 The Plioeuicians spread the use of their letters 
 throughout all their colonies. Cadmus carried them 
 into Greece ; the Greeks perfected them, and added 
 others. They communicated them to the Latins, and 
 after the conquests of Alexander, extended them over 
 Egypt and Syria. So that the Phoenician writing, 
 which is so ancient, and the parent of so many others, 
 would at this day have been entirely forgotten, had 
 not the Samaritans preserv^ed the Pentateuch of 
 Moses, written in the old Canaanite, or Hebrew, char- 
 acter ; by the help of which, medals, and the small 
 remains of Phoenician monuments, have been deci- 
 phered. 
 
 Some learned men, however, maintain that the 
 square Hebrew character still in use, is the same as 
 was used by Moses ; but the greater number suppose 
 that the Jews gradually abandoned the original 
 character while in captivity at Babylon, and that 
 ultimately Ezra substituted the Chaldee, which is 
 now used ; while the Samaritans preser^-ed their 
 Pentateuch, written in old Hebrew and Phoenician 
 characters. 
 
 It is generally said that the Hebrews have no vow- 
 els, and that to supply the want of them, they in- 
 vented the vowel-points, sometimes used by them iu 
 their books. The vowel-points are modern, and the 
 invention of the Massorets, probably from the sixth 
 to the eighth century. They are ten in number, and 
 express the five vowels according to their different 
 changes and pronunciations. The inquisitive reader 
 may find the substance of the dispute for and against 
 the antiquity of the vowel-points clearly and con- 
 cisely represented by Prideaux, in the first part of 
 his Connection, book v. and from thence may have 
 a distinct view of the chief arguments produced pro 
 and con in this controversy, by those eminent an- 
 tagonists, Capellus, the two Buxtorfs, &c. 
 
 [The subject of the Hebrew letters and vowel 
 points is too important to the biblical student, to be 
 passed over thus slightly. The best source of in- 
 formation on these topics is the work of Gesenius, 
 Geschichte der Heb. Sprache it. Schri/l, the results of 
 which are also given by professor Stuart in the In- 
 troduction to his Hebrew Grammar, first and second 
 editions. From this the following statements have 
 been condensed. See also La.nguage. 
 
 The origin of letters is lost in remote antiquity. 
 But in tracing the history of them, we arrive at a 
 very satisfactory degree of evidence, that in hither 
 Asia they originated among those who spoke the 
 Hebrew language ; that they passed trom them to the 
 Greeks ; and through these to th*" European nations 
 in general. The ancient Shemitish alphabets may 
 be divided into two kinds : 
 
 I. The Phanician character. To this belong: (a\ 
 Inscriptions discovered at Malta, Cyprus, &c. and 
 upon Phcenician coins, [b) Inscriptions upon Hebrew 
 coins, (c) Phoenico-Egyptian inscriptions on the ban- 
 dages of mummies, [d.) The Samaritan letters, (e) 
 The most ancient Greek alphabet.
 
 LETTERS 
 
 618 ] 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 n. The HehrcEo-Chaldaic character. To this be- 
 long : (a) The square character of our present He- 
 brew Bibles, [b) The Pahnyrene inscriptions, (c) 
 The old Syriac, or Estrangelo. (d) The old Arabic 
 or Kuiish character, which preceded the Nishi or 
 common character of Arabia at the present time. 
 
 To all these characters it is common, that they are 
 read from the right to the left ; and that the vowels 
 constitute no part of the aljiljabet, but are written 
 above, in, or below the line. The old Greek char- 
 acter is, in part, an exception to this remark. 
 
 There are three kinds of characters, in which the 
 remains of the ancient Hebrew are jjrescnted to us, 
 viz. (L) The squatx character incominon rise. 'J^his is 
 sometimes called tli(> Chaldee, or Assyrian, character, 
 because (as the Talmud avers, (Jem. Sanh. fol. 2L c. 
 2.) the Jews brought it from Assyria, or Babylon, on 
 their return from tin; captivity. — (2.) The inscription 
 character. This is found on ancient Hebrew coins, 
 stamped under the Maccabees. — ('3.) The SamaritaJi 
 character. This is only a variety, or degenerate kind, 
 of the inscription character. 
 
 Although it is highly probable, that the present 
 square character was introdiu'cd among the Jews by 
 means of the exile, yet it is not likely, that it usurped 
 the place of the more ancient character at once, but 
 came into gradual use, on account of its su})erior 
 beauty, and the tendency of the language towards 
 what was Aramaean. It is most probable, that tiie 
 inscription-character apjiroximates the nearest of all 
 the alphabets now knovvu, to the ancient Hebrew, or 
 Phoenician. The square character gradually ex- 
 pelled this from use among the Hebrews ; as the 
 Nishi did the Kufish among the Arabians ; the pres- 
 ent Syriac, the old Estrangelo among the Syrians ; 
 or the Roman type, the old black letter among the 
 English. The Pahnyrene inscriptions seem to mark 
 the character in transitu ; about one half of them 
 resembling the square character, and the other half 
 the inscription-letters. It was very natural for the 
 Maccabees, when they stamped coins as an inde- 
 pendent government, to use the old characters which 
 the nation had used when it was free and inde- 
 pendent. 
 
 The square character was the common one in the 
 time of our Saviour; as in Matt. v. 8, Yodh is evi- 
 dently referred to, as being the least letter of the 
 alphabet. It is highly probable, that it was the 
 common character in Hebrew MSS. when the Sept. 
 version was made ; because the departures from the 
 Hebrew text in that version, so far as they have re- 
 spect to the letters, can mostly be accounted for, on 
 the ground that the square character was then used, 
 and that the Jinal letters, which vary from the medial 
 or initial form, were then wanting. (Ges. Gesch. *S 
 40-43.) ^ 
 
 Manner of writing. — It has conunonly been ad- 
 vanced as an established position, that all the ancient 
 Greek and Hebrew MSS. are without any division 
 of words, i. e. are written continua serie. But the 
 Eugubinc tables, and the Sigean inscriptions, have 
 one or two points to divide words ; others, still more : 
 which, however, are not used at the end of lines, 
 nor when the words are very closely connected in 
 sense, as a preposition with its noun. Most of the 
 old Greek is written without any division of words. 
 Most of the Phoenician inscriptions are written in a 
 similar way, but not all. Some have the words sep- 
 arated by a point. In this manner, the Samaritan, 
 and the wedge-character among the Persians, are sep- 
 °-"*"'' The Kufish, or old Arabic, hud spaces be- 
 
 arated. 
 
 tween words. So have all known Hebrew MSS. 
 now extant. It is probable, however, that the scrip- 
 tio continua, i. e. writing without any division of 
 words, was found in the MSS. used by the LXX, 
 because many errors, which they have committed, 
 arise from an incorrect division of words. The 
 synagogue-rolls of the Jews, written in imitation of 
 the ancient Hebrew manuscripts, have no vowel- 
 points, but exhibit a small space between the words. 
 The Samaritan Pentateuch is also destitute of vow- 
 els, but divides the words. 
 
 The final letters with a distinctive form are not 
 coeval witii the alphabet. The LXX manifestly were 
 unacquainted with them ; as they often divide words 
 in a manner dift'erent from that which would accord 
 with tliese final letters. But the Talmud, Jerome, 
 and Epiphanius acknowledge them. 
 
 It can hardly be supposed that the square charac- 
 ter now in use, and which has become uniform in 
 consequence of appearing only in printed books, 
 was altogether immutable while it was transmitted 
 only by MSS. Jerome comjilains of the sniallness 
 of the Hebrew characters ; but whether this was 
 owing to the scril)e who wrote his manuscript, or to 
 the form of writing then generally used, cannot be 
 determined. From what Origen and Jerome both 
 say of the similaritj' and relation of Hebrew letters 
 to each otlier, it appears that the characters were 
 then essentially the same as thev now are. (Ges. 
 Gesch. § 4(3. l'.) 
 
 Hebrew ]MSS. exhibit two kinds of writing : 
 
 (L) The Tarn /e</er, probably so named from Tarn, 
 a grandson of Jarchi, about A. D. 1200, with sharp 
 corners and perpendicular coronulse, used particu- 
 larly in the synagogue-rolls of the German and Po- 
 lish Jews. — (2.) The Velshe letter ; such as we see in 
 the Hebrew Bibles of Simonis and Van der Hooght. 
 In MSS. however, this species of character has co- 
 ronulfe upon some of the letters. The Spanish 
 printed Hebrew character resembles the Velshe ; the 
 German resembles the Tain letter. The coronulse 
 in both are omitted. The Spanish letters are square 
 and upright ; the German, sharp-cornered and lean- 
 ing. The Italian and French Hebrew character is a 
 medium between both. 
 
 Hebrew vowels. — It has been mentioned that the 
 Shcmitish languages exhibit alphabets destitute of 
 vowels ; and that these, when added to the text of 
 any book, are placed above, in, or below the line of 
 the consonants. Tho question whether the tvritten 
 vowels of the Hebrew language were coeval with 
 the consonants, or at least very ancient, has been 
 agitated by many critics, for three centuries past, 
 with great interest and much learning. On the one 
 side it has been inaintainod, that the vowel-points are 
 coeval with the writings of the Old Testament, or at 
 least with the time of Ezra ; on the other, that they 
 are an invention of the Masorites, at some period be- 
 tween the fifth and tenth centuries. A few, however, 
 have taken a middle path, and maintained that some 
 of the vowel-points (probably three) are very ancient; 
 and that in the oldest IMSS. they were appended to 
 doubtful words. 
 
 The position that the written vowel signs are of 
 comparatively recent date, is now considered, by all 
 critics of any note, as settled. The principal reasons 
 for this opinion may be summarily stated, in a short 
 compass. 
 
 (1.) The kindred Shemitish languages anaen% had 
 no written vowels. The most ancient Estrangelo and 
 Kufish characters, i. e. the ancient characters of the
 
 LETTERS 
 
 619] 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 Syrians and Arabians, it is generally agreed, were 
 destitute of vowels. The Pahnyrene, and nearly all 
 the PhcEnician inspriptions, are destitute of tlieni. 
 Some of the Maltese inscriptions, however, and a 
 few of the PhcBnician, have marks which probably 
 were intended as vowels. The Koran was, at first, 
 confessedly destitute of them. The punctuation of it 
 occasioned great dispute among Mohammedans. 
 In some of the older Syriac writings is found a sin- 
 gle point, which, by being placed in different posi- 
 tions with regard to words, served as a diacritical 
 sign. The present vowel system of the Syrians was 
 introduced so late as the time of Tlieophiius and 
 Jacob of Edessa, about A. D. 800. Tiie Arabic 
 vowels were adopted soon after the Koran was 
 written ; but their other diacritical marks did not 
 come into use, imtil they were introduced by Ibn 
 Mokla about A. D. 900, together Avith the Nislii char- 
 acter now in conunon use. It siiould be added here, 
 that the inscriptions on the Hebrew coins have no vow- 
 el-points. — (2.) Jewish tradition generally admits, that 
 the vowels were not written until the time of Ezra. 
 — (3.) The synagogue-rolls of the Pentateuch, writ- 
 ten with the greatest possible care, and agreeably to 
 ancient usage as handed down by tradition, have 
 never had any vowel-points. — (4.) The LXX most 
 manifestly used a text destitute of vowel-points ; as 
 they have not only departed, in a multitude of in- 
 stances, from the sense of the pointed text, but even 
 pronounce the proper names in a manner dialectically 
 different from that in which they must be read, ac- 
 cording to the vowel-system. — (5.) No explicit men- 
 tion is made in the Talmud of vowel-points or ac- 
 cents ; not even in all the disputes among the rabbins 
 about the sense of words, wliich are there recorded. 
 Doubtful names of some kind of diacritical signs 
 have been pi-oduced from the Talmud, and repeat- 
 edly discussed ; but no definite and satisfactory proof 
 has been educed from them, that they respect ivritten 
 vowel-points. — (G.) The various readings in our He- 
 brew Bibles, called Keri, many of which are quite 
 ancient, have no reference to the vowel-points of 
 words. — (7.) Neither Origen nor Jerome makes any 
 mention of the present vowel-marks, or of any tech- 
 nical expressions of Hebrew grammar. Jerome 
 says expressly, that " the Hebrews very rarely use 
 vowels in the middle of words, but pronounce (ac- 
 cording to the will of the reader and flie difference 
 of countries) the same words witii differeiu soimds 
 and accents." (Epist. 126. ad f^vagr.) On Hab. iii. 
 5, he says of ■ij-', " tres l^i'« positaj sunt m lic- 
 bra;o absque ulla vocaJ^" I" ^ther places, he speaks 
 t){ a diver situs acc^tiium upon words; but wliether 
 he means a d-^rprence in pronouncing them, or that 
 some dia"'tical sign was occasionally used, which 
 he tin" names, it is difficult to determine. 
 
 Objections against this view of the subject 
 piay be readily answered. The allegation that a 
 language cannot be read without written vowels, is 
 certainly unfounded ; for hundreds of Jewish and 
 Arabic volumes are every day read, that were never 
 pointed ; not to mention, that in all the Shemitish lan- 
 guages there are unpointed books, manuscripts or 
 inscriptions. Nor has the olijection, that an alpha- 
 bet without vowels is an absurdity, any more weight ; 
 for the question is merely a matter of fact, not a dis- 
 cussion respecting what a perfect alphabet ought to 
 be. Besides, even in our own language, one of the 
 first principles in stenography is, to omit all the vowels, 
 and write ordy the consonants ; nor does any difficult}' 
 arise from this circumstance. 
 
 The allegation that the Targuins approximate 
 very closely to the sense of our present Hebrew text 
 as fiu-nished with vowpjs, is true ; but the inference 
 therefrom, that the Targumists must have used MSS. 
 with vowel-points, does not follow. On the contra- 
 ry, we may draw the conclusion with more proba- 
 bility, that the vowel-points were conformed to the 
 sense which the Targums gave. Both merely con- 
 vey the traditionary explications of the Jewish 
 schools ; and the same thing is done by Origen and 
 Jerome in their conunentaries. Ail that can be 
 proved by such arguments is, that the vowel-points 
 have faithfully transmitted to us the sense which 
 the Jews veiy early affixed to the words of the He- 
 brew Scriptures. 
 
 Laying aside Jewish traditionary stories, the first 
 certain marks of our present vowel-system may be 
 found in the Masora, compiled, though not conclud- 
 ed, about the fifth century. Most of the vowels are 
 there named. A few of the occidental and oriental 
 readings, collected in the eighth century and printed 
 in some of our Hebrew Bibles, respect the diacriti- 
 cal points ; e. g. two of them respect Mappik in He. 
 The various readings of Ben Asher and Ben Naph- 
 thali (about A. D. 1034) have exclusive regard to the 
 vowels and accents. The Arabic version of Saadias, 
 made about this time, is predicated upon a pointed 
 text ; and the Jewish grammarians of the ninth cen- 
 tury apjjear plainly to proceed on the ground of such 
 a text. The time when the vowel-system was com- 
 pleted cannot be definitely fixed, for want of histori- 
 cal data. Most probably, it was during the sixth or 
 seventh century. Probably, too, it first began, as the 
 accentuation of Greek did, in the schools ; and grad- 
 ually spread, on account of its utility in a dead lan- 
 guage, into a great part of the Hebrew manuscripts. 
 
 The importance of the vowel-points to learners, 
 can be fully estimated oidy by those who have stud- 
 ied Hebrew without and with the use of them. In 
 respect to their being a constituent part of the He- 
 brew language, it may be observed, (1.) That no 
 languas« can exist without vowels ; although it is 
 not necessary that they should be ivritten ; and ori- 
 ginally, as we have seen, they were not written in the 
 Hebrew. — (2.) It is certain that the vowel-points ex- 
 hibit a very consistent, deep, and fundamental view 
 of the structiue of the Hebrew, which cannot well 
 be obtained without them, by those who study it as 
 a dead language. — (3.) Comparison with the Syriac 
 and Arabic, the latter of which is a living language, 
 shows that the vowel-system, as to its principles, is 
 altogether accordant with the structure of those lan- 
 guages. — (4.) It is quite certain, from coniparing the 
 sense of th(! Hebrew Scriptiu-es as given in the Tar- 
 gums and in the version and notes of Jerome, that 
 the vowel-points do give us an accurate, and for the 
 most part, clear account of the manner in which the 
 Jews of the first four centuries of the Christian era 
 understood the text of the Old Testament. Indeed, 
 it is very remarkable, that there should be so exact a 
 coincidence between the vowel-system and com- 
 mentaries, or rather versions, of so remote an age; 
 and this only serves to show with how great exact- 
 ness the vowel-system has been arranged, agreeably 
 to the ancient Jewish ideas of the sense of the Old 
 Testament. The importance, then, of the written 
 vowels, as conveying to us a definite idea of the an- 
 cient commentary of the Jewish church, in regard 
 to a great number of difficult and dubious passages, 
 is obviously great.— (5.) The critic and interpreter, 
 being satisfied that the written vowel-system is not
 
 LETTERS 
 
 [ 620 ] 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 coeval with the composition of the Hebrew Scrip- 
 tures, will not feel himself bound to follow it in cases 
 where it makes no sense, or a sense inconsistent with 
 the context. 
 
 The unwary student who is betrayed into the 
 system of Masclef and Parkhurst, which rejects the 
 vowel-points of the Shemitish languages, can scarce- 
 ly conceive how much loss and disappointment he 
 will experience, by pursuing the study of Hebrew 
 in this method. Li a period of one year, the prog- 
 ress by the use of the vowel-points is considerably 
 greater than without them. In two years it is 
 doubled. Moreover, if the student uses the points 
 from the first, he will be able, with almost no trouble, 
 to pass to the reading of Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic. 
 One thing is pretty evident ; there never was, and it 
 may be doubted whether there ever will be, a thor- 
 ough Hebrew scholar, who is ignorant of the vowel- 
 system. 
 
 Hebrew accents. — The system of accents, as it now 
 appears in our Hebrew Bibles, is inseparably con- 
 nected with the present state of the vowel-points ; 
 inasmuch as these points are often changed by virtue 
 of the accents. The latter, therefore, must have 
 originated cotemporaneously with the written vow- 
 els ; at least, with the completion of the vowel- 
 system. Respecting the design of the accents, there 
 has been great diversity of opinion, and much dis- 
 pute. Three uses have been assigned them, viz. (1.) 
 To mark the tone-syllable of a woi-d. (2.) To mark 
 the interpunction. (3.) To regulate the reading or 
 cantillation of the Scriptures. This latter seems to 
 have been their primitive and most important use ; 
 just as similar marks are now found in the Koran to 
 indicate the manner in which it is to be read or can- 
 tillated. The cantillation must necessarily have 
 reference to the tone-syllables of every word ; and 
 also, in a greater or less degi-ee, to the divisions of 
 the sense ; and so far as this, the use of the accents 
 serves to mark these two particulars. *R. 
 
 The Hebrews have certain acrostic verses, which 
 begin with the letters of the alphabet, ranged in 
 order. 
 
 The most considerable of these is Psalm cxix. 
 which contains twenty-two stanzas of eight verses 
 each, all acrostic ; that is, the fii'st eight begin with a, 
 MepJi, the next eight witli a, Beth, and so on. Other 
 Psahns, as xxv. xxxiii. have but twenty-two verses 
 each, beginning with one of the twenty-two letters 
 of the alphabet. Others, as cxi. cxii. have one half 
 of the verse beginning with one letter, and the other 
 half with another. Thus : 
 
 .... Blessed is the man who feareth the Lord. 
 .... Who delighteth greatly in his commandments. 
 
 The first half of the verse begins with a, Aleph ; the 
 second with 2, Beth. The Lamentations of Jeremiah 
 are also in acrostic verse, as well as the thirty-first 
 chapter of Proverbs, from the eighth verse to the end. 
 The Jews use their characters not only for writing, 
 but for numbers, as did the Greeks, who, in their 
 arithmetical computations, fixed a numerical value 
 on their letters. But we do not believe the ancient 
 Hebrews did so, nor that letters were nmnerical 
 among them. The sacred authors always write the 
 numbers entire and withoiu abbreviation. We know 
 that some learned men have attempted to rectify 
 dates, or supply years, on a supposition that the let- 
 ters served for numerals in the Scripture ; Init it was 
 incumbent on them, first, to prove that the ancient 
 Hebrews used that manner. 
 
 n. LETTERS, written messages, or other com- 
 mimications, sent from one person to another, and 
 generally implying some matters of secrecy, or at 
 least, of importance. Norden states, that when he 
 and his company were at Essumi, an express arrived 
 there, despatched by an Arab prince, who brought a 
 letter directed to the Reys (or master of their barque.) 
 " The letter, however, according to the usage of the 
 Turks," says the author, " was open ; and as the 
 Reys was not on board, the pilot carried it to one of 
 our fathers to read it." (p. 109.) Sanballat sending 
 his servant, then, with an open letter, which is men- 
 tioned in Neh. vi. 5, does not appear an odd thing, it 
 should seem ; but if it were according to their 
 usages, why is this circumstance complained of, as it 
 visibly is ? Why, indeed, is it mentioned at all ? 
 Because, however, the sending letters open to com- 
 mon people may be customary in these countries, it is 
 not according to their usages to s5nd them so topeoplc 
 of distinction. So Pococke, in his account of that very 
 country where Norden was when his letter was 
 brought, gives us, among other things, in the 57th 
 plate, the figure of a Turkish letter put into a satin 
 bag to be sent to a great man, with a paper tied to it 
 directed and sealed, and an ivoiy button tied on the 
 wax. So Lady Montague says, the Bassa of Bel- 
 grade's answer to the English ambassador, going to 
 Constantinople, was brought to him in a purse of 
 scarlet satin. (Letters, vol. i. p. 13G.) The great 
 Emir, indeed, of the Arabs, according to D'Arvieux, 
 was not wont to enclose his letters in these bags, any 
 more than to have them adorned with flourishes ; but 
 that is supposed to have been attributable to the un- 
 politeness of the Arabs ; and he tells us, that when 
 he acted as secretary to the Emir he supplied these 
 defects, and that his doing so was highly acceptable 
 to the Emir. (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 58, 59.) Had 
 this open letter then come from Geshem, who was 
 an Arab, (Neh. vi. 1.) it might have passed unnoticed ; 
 but as it was from Sanballat, the enclosing it in a 
 handsome bag was a ceremony Nehemiah had reason 
 to expect from him, since he was a person of distinc- 
 tion in^he Persian court, and then governor of Judea ; 
 and the not observing it was the greatest insult, iu- 
 hinuating, that though Nehemiah was, according to 
 him, pieparing to assume the royal dignity, he should 
 be so far from acknowledging him in that character, 
 that he wou\d not even pay him the compliment 
 due to every per«on of distinction. If this be the 
 true representation of the affair, commentators have 
 given but a poor acoouni of it. Sanballat sent Ne- 
 hemiah a message, says one «f them, "pretending, it 
 is likely, special respect and kinOr^gs to him, inform- 
 ing him what was laid to his charge." ^Harmer Obs 
 vol. ii. p. 129.) ' ' 
 
 Contrast with this open letter to Nehen-.iah the 
 closed, rolled or folded letter sent by Sennache/ih to 
 Hezekiah, 9 Kings xix. 14. We read, verse 9, " He sc^t 
 messengers to Hezekiah, saying" — " And Hezekiah 
 received the letter at the hand of the messengers, 
 and read it : and Hezekiah went uj) into the house 
 of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord." It was 
 therefore folded or rolled, and no doidjt enclosed in 
 a proper envelope. Consider also the passage in 
 Isa. xxix. 11, "And the vision shall be to you, as the 
 words of a letter that is sealed — sealed up in a bag, 
 closely — which is given to a man of I<^arning to read, 
 but he says, ' It is sealed' — how should I know what 
 information it contains? I merely can discover to 
 whom it is directed ;" while the unlearned cannot 
 even read the address. We see such occurrences daily
 
 LEV 
 
 [621 ] 
 
 LEVIATHAN 
 
 in the streets of London ; messengers, sent with let- 
 ters, desire passengers to read the directions for them. 
 The messengers sent to Hezekiah are described as 
 saying, when in fact they say nothing ; but only de- 
 liver a letter containing the message. 
 
 It is proper to add something relative to the cus- 
 tomary kind of homage which, in the East, is paid 
 not only to sovereignty, but to communications of 
 the sovereign's will, whether by word or by letter. 
 " When the 3Iogul, by letters, sends his commands 
 to any of his governors, those papers are entertained 
 witli as much respect as if himself were present; for 
 the governor, having intelligence that such letters 
 are come near him, himself, with other inferior offi- 
 cers, rides forth to meet the Patamar, or messenger, 
 that brings them ; and as soon as he sees those let- 
 ters, he alights from his horse, falls down on the 
 earth, and takes them frotn the messenger, and lays 
 them on his head, wliereou he binds them fast : 
 then, retiring to his place of public meeting, he reads, 
 and answers them. (Sir Thomas Roe's Embassy, 
 p. 453.) This binding of these letters on his head is, 
 no doubt, to do them honor. What then shall we 
 think of the force of Job's expressions, chaj). xxxi. 
 35 : " O that mine adversary had Vvritten a book, roll, 
 accusation, 6i7/ ; surely I would take it on mj^ shoul- 
 der, and would bind it as a crown upon me," that is, 
 on my head. This idea, then, of the |)oet, was drawn 
 from real observation of life ; not irom fancy, but 
 from fact ; though to us it seems singidar, if not ex- 
 travagant. "The letter which was to be ])resented 
 to the new monarch was delivered to the general of 
 the slaves. It was put u[) in a purse of cloth of gold, 
 drawn together with strings of twisted gold and 
 silk, with tassels of the same ; and the chief minister 
 put his own seal [upon it, to close it.] Nor was any 
 omitted of all those knacks and curiosities, which 
 the oriental people make use of in making up their 
 epistles. The general threw himself at his majesty's 
 feet, bowing to the very ground ; then, rising ujjon 
 his knees, he drew out of the bosom of his garment 
 the bag wherein was the letter which the assembly had 
 sent to the new monarch. Presently he opened tJie 
 bag, took out the letter, kissed it, laid it on his fore- 
 head, presented it to his majesty, and then rose up." 
 (Chardin's Coron. of Soleiman, p. 44.) This is a 
 clear confirmation of the sense given to the passages 
 quoted in the article Kiss. 
 
 LEVI, the third son of Jacob and Leah, was born 
 in Mesopotamia, A. M. 2248, Gen. xxix. 34. After 
 Sichem, the son of Hamor, had violated Dinah, sis- 
 ter to Levi and Simeon, these two brethren fraudu- 
 lently engaged him to receive circumcision, and on 
 the third day, when the pain was greatest, they en- 
 tered the town, slew all the males, carried oft' their 
 sister Dinah, and pillaged the place, chap, xxxiv. 25, 
 26. This action was very displeasing to their father 
 Jacob, who characterized it as one of extreme cru- 
 elty and abhorrence. Gen. xlvi. 11 ; xlix. 5, (i. 
 
 Levi was, according to his father's ]irediction, 
 scattered over all Israel, having no share in the di- 
 vision of Canaan, but certain cities in the portions 
 of other tribes. He was not the worse provided for, 
 however, since God chose the tribe for the service 
 of the temple and priesthood, and bestowed on it 
 many privileges above the other tribes, in dignity, 
 and in the advantages of life. All the tithes, first- 
 fruits, and offerings, presented at the temple, as well 
 as several parts of all the victims that were offered, 
 belonged to the tribe of Levi. See Levites. 
 
 LEVIATHAN. This word (jn^S) occurs in four 
 
 places in the Old Testament, and is variously trans- 
 lated, whale, dragon, serpent, and sea-mouster; not 
 improperly, probably, since it appears to be employed 
 by the sacred writers to describe all these, and per- 
 haps other animals also ; though one description of 
 animal appears to be marked out more particularly 
 by the term. 
 
 Many of the old commentators were of opinion 
 that the whale was the animal described by Job ; 
 (chap, xli.) but Beza, Diodati, and some other writers, 
 contended for the crocodile, which interpretation 
 Bochart has since defended with a train of argument 
 
 which defies contradiction. (Hieron.iii. p. 737 774, 
 
 RosenmuUer.) It is a sufficient objection to the 
 whale tribes, says Dr. Good, that they do not inhabit 
 the Mediterranean, nnich less the rivers that empty 
 themselves into it. This family of marine monsters, 
 moreover, have neither proper snout nor nostrils • 
 they have a mere spiracle, or blowing hole, with a 
 double opening on the top of the head, which has 
 not hitherto been proved to be an organ of smell; 
 and for teeth, a hard expanse of horny laminse, 
 which we call whalebone, in the upper jaw, but 
 nothing of the sort in the under. The eyes of the 
 common whale, too, instead of answering the de- 
 scription here given, are most disproportionably 
 small, and do not exceed in size those of an ox. 
 Nor can this monster be regarded as of fierce habits, 
 or unconquerable courage ; for instead of attacking 
 the larger sea animals foi- plunder, it feeds chiefly on 
 crabs and medusas, and is often itself attacked and 
 destroyed by the ork or grampus, though less than 
 half its size. 
 
 The crocodile, on the contrary, is a natural in- 
 habitant of the Nile, and other Asiatic and African 
 rivers ; of enormous voi-acity and strength, as well 
 as fleetness in swimming ; attacks mankind, and 
 the largest animals, with most daring impetuosity; 
 when taken by means of a powerful net, will often 
 overturn the boats that surround it ; has, proportion- 
 ally, the largest mouth of all monsters whatever ; 
 moves both its jaws cquallj^, the upper of which has 
 not less than forty, and the lower than thirty-eight, 
 sharp, but strong and massy, teeth ; and is furnished 
 with a coat of mail so scaly and callous, as to resist 
 the force of a musket-ball in every part, except under 
 the belly. The general character of the leviathan, 
 in fact, seems so well to apply to this animal, in 
 modern as well as in ancient times, the terror of all 
 the coasts and countries about the Nile, that it is un- 
 necessary to seek further. 
 
 [The following extract of a letter from an Aujericaii 
 gentleman in Manilla, dated October 6, 1831, gives 
 a graphic view of llie strength and size of the croc- 
 odile : " 1 have recently been sick, but have passed a 
 month in the coimtry, and am entirely recovered. 
 I resided on a large plantation on the lake, about 
 thirty miles in the interior, and was treated with the 
 utmost attention and hospitality. I hunted deer and 
 wild boar with mucli success. My last operation in 
 the sporting line, was no less than killing an alligator 
 or crocodile ; which for a year or two before had in- 
 fested a village on the borders of the lake, taking oft' 
 horses and cows, and sometimes a man. Ha\ing 
 understood that he had killed a horse a day or two 
 before, and had taken him into a small river, I pro- 
 ceeded to the spot, which was distant, accompanied 
 by my host, closed the mouth of the river with strong 
 nets, and attacked the huge brute with guns and 
 spears. After something of a desperate battle, we 
 succeeded in driving him against the nets, where,
 
 LEVIATHAN 
 
 [ 622 ] 
 
 LEVIATHAN 
 
 being considerably exhausted by the wounds he had 
 received from balls and lances, he got entangled, was 
 dragged on shore, and the 'coup de grace' given to 
 him. He measured twenty feet in length, and from 
 eleven to thirteen feet in circumference, the smallest 
 part being eleven and the largest thirteen. The head 
 alone weighed two hundred and seventy-five pounds. 
 He had nearly the whole of the horse in him, and the 
 legs, with the hoofs, were taken out entire. This 
 capture has caused considerable sensation, not only 
 on the field of battle, but at IManilla, none of equal 
 size having been before seen ; and it is rarely that 
 any of small size are taken." *R. 
 
 The article which Calmet has furnished on the 
 leviathan, is very meagre and unsatisfactory ; we 
 have therefore availed ourselves of the able disquisi- 
 tion of Dr. Harris, who has bestowed more than his 
 orduiary labor upon the subject. 
 
 The chapter introduces two speakers in the shape 
 of dialogue, one of whom questions the other in re- 
 gard to such and such circumstances relating to the 
 leviathan ; and this continues till the twelfth verse ; at 
 v/iiich the description of leviathan commences. The 
 <lialogue is professed to be between the Almighty 
 Jeliovah and his servant Job. But whether it is Je- 
 hovah himself, or some one representing him, is not 
 to be inquired in this place. As it is, the person ap- 
 pears extremely well acquainted with the crocodile, 
 as he does also with the other animals described in 
 the thirty-ninth and fortieth chapters. The other 
 person of the dialogue appears to be one well know- 
 ing the worship paid to the crocodile : and the eleven 
 first verses are an exposure of the folly of making an 
 animal of a savage nature, and one whose head could 
 be pierced with fishhooks, a god. Of these eleven 
 verses, the first six appear to relate to the mode of 
 treatment received by the crocodile in the places 
 where he was worshipped ; the remaining five to his 
 treatment at Tentyra, and wherever he was consid- 
 ered as a destructive animal. At the twelfth verse 
 the description of leviathan commences, and is divid- 
 ed into three parts, and classed under the different 
 heads of, (L) v-\2, his parts ; (2.) nnuj la-i, great might ; 
 (3.) i3-i;i pn, his ivcU-armed make. Of these the first 
 and the third describe him as truly as a naturalist 
 would do. The second or middle part magnifies him 
 as a god. If, then, this second part be in honor of 
 the crocodile as God, then the person speaking it 
 must be either an inhabitant of Egypt, a worshipper 
 of that animal, or one well acquainted at least with 
 his worship ; or, perhaps, the whole chapter may be 
 altogetiier an argument, founded on the idolatrous 
 homage paid to this creature. 
 
 The following is the doctor's corrected version of 
 this description ; with explanations and references to 
 the crocodile : 
 
 Behold leviathan ! whom thou leadest about with 
 
 a hook, 
 Or a rope which thou fixest upon his snout. 
 
 It is no easy matter, says Mr. Scott, to fix the pre- 
 cise meaning of the several terms here used : they 
 seem, however, to denote, in general, the instruments 
 made use of, partly for the taking him alive in the 
 water, and partly for governing him when brought to 
 land. Herodotus expressly asserts, (1. ii. 70.) that 
 one of the modes by which this creature was occa- 
 sionally taken, in his time, was by means of a /looA:, 
 If/xiaznoyjX'iixu:, yvhich was baited with a dog's chine, 
 and thrown into the midst of the river ; the crocodile, 
 
 having swallowed which, was drawn on shore, and 
 despatched. 
 
 Hast thou put a ring in his nose, 
 
 Pr pierced his cheek through with a clasp ? 
 
 This has been usually supposed to refer to the 
 manner of muzzling the beast, so as to be able to lead 
 him about, by a hook or ring in the nostrils, as is 
 threatened Pharaoh under the emblem of the croco- 
 dile, Ezek. xxix. 4. But Mr. Vansittart thinks the 
 words here used expressive of ornaments ; and says, 
 " This second verse may be considered as expressive 
 of leviathan led about, not as a sight, but in his state 
 of divinity; and the y.'nxo;, a gold ring or ornament 
 worn at the nose ; for, in the eastern countries, nasal 
 rings are as frequent as any other ornaujeut what- 
 ever. The commentators and lexicographers, not 
 dreaming of applying Herodotus's account of the The- 
 baid crocodile to the illustration of leviathan, have 
 imagined only large rings for the purpose of chaining 
 leviathan. Herodotus says, the ears and fore feel 
 were the parts from which the ornaments were sus- 
 pended. But, as the ears do not appear capublc of 
 bearing ear-rings, from their lying extremely flat 
 upon the lower jaw, perhaps they were j)ut upon 
 other parts ; or the historian, hearing that the sacred 
 crocodile was adorned with ornaments, fixed them 
 naturally upon the ears and fore feet, as ear-rings and 
 necklaces were the most usual ornaments of the 
 Greeks. Very likely the ornaments were not always 
 put upon the same parts, but varied at diflierent times ; 
 and that in the time of the Hebrew writer, the nose 
 and the lips received the ornaments which, in the 
 days of the Greek historian, Avere transferred to the 
 ears and fore feet. The exact place of the ornaments 
 is, however, of no material consequence ; it is suffi- 
 cient for our jjurpose to know, that ornaments were 
 put upon the sacred crocodile, and that he was treated 
 with great distinction, and in some degree considered 
 a domestic animal. The three verses immediately 
 following, speak of him as such ; as entering into a 
 covenant of peace, being retained in subjection, &c. 
 
 Has he inade many supplications to thee ? 
 Has he addressed thee with flattering words ? 
 Hast thou, in return, made a league with bin), 
 And received him into perpetual service .' 
 
 The irony here is very apparent. The sacred poet 
 shows a Avonderful address in managing this deriding 
 figure of speech, in such a manner as not to lessen 
 the majesty of the great Being into whose mouth 
 it is put. 
 
 Hast thou played with him as a bird ? 
 Wilt thou encage him for thy maidens? 
 Shall thy partners si)rcad a banquet for him, 
 And the trading strangei-s bring him portions .-' 
 
 Job is here askeu how he will dispose of his cap- 
 tive ; whether he will retain him in his family for his 
 own amusement, or the diversions of his maidens; 
 or exhibit him as a spectacle to the Phoenician cara- 
 vans. But Mr. Vansittart gives quite another turn to 
 the verse. He thinks that the word onan, which I 
 have rendered " partners," signifies charmers (incan- 
 tatoi-es) ; hence rendered by the Chaldee Targum 
 N'lc'sn, ivise men ; and that it is to be a])plied to the 
 priests who had the charge of the sacred crocodile, 
 and might as well be called charmers of the croco-
 
 LEVIATHAN 
 
 [ 623 ] 
 
 LEVIATHAN ; 
 
 dile, as the psylli were of serpents; aiid o'Jj;j3, which 
 is at present rendered " merchants," may be formed 
 from •;:■:, prostravit, humilem reddere, and mean suppli- 
 ants, worshippers. Hence, he would understand it of 
 the PRIESTS making a feast, and the suppliants 
 going up to make offerings. 
 
 Hast thou filled liis skin with barbed u'ons, 
 Or his head with harpoons ? 
 
 The impenetrability of his skin is here intimated, 
 and is afterwards described at large. The attempt 
 to wound hiin with missile weapons is ridiculed. 
 This is a circumstance which will agree to no animal 
 so well as to the crocodile. The weapons mentioned 
 are undoubtedly such as fishermen use in striking 
 large fish at a distanc 
 
 Make ready ihy hana against him. 
 Dare the contest ; be firm. 
 Behold ! the hope of him is vain ; 
 It is dissipated even at his appearance. 
 
 The hope of mastering him is absurd. So formida- 
 ble is his very appearance, that the resolution of his 
 opposed is weakened, and his courage daunted. 
 
 None is so resolute that he dare rouse him. 
 Who then is able to contend with me ? 
 What will stand before me, yea, presumptuously ? 
 Whatsoever is beneath the whole heavens is mine. 
 I cannot be confounded at his limbs and violence. 
 Nor at his power, or the strength of his frame. 
 
 " However man may be appalled at attacking the 
 leviathan, all creation is mine ; his magnitude and 
 structure can produce no effect upon inc. I cannot be 
 appalled or confounded ; I cannot be struck dumb." 
 
 Job is, in this clause, taught to tremble at his dan- 
 ger in having provoked, by his murmurs and litigation, 
 the displeasure of the Maker of this terrible animal. 
 
 The poet then enters upon a part of the description 
 which has not yet been given, and which admirably 
 pairs with the detailed picture of the war-horse and 
 behemoth. Nor does he descend from the dignity 
 he had hitherto supported, by representing the great 
 Creator as displaying his o\\ai wonderful work, and 
 calling upon man to observe the several admirable 
 particulars in its formation, that he might be impress- 
 ed with a deeper sense of the power of his Maker. 
 
 Who vnW strip off the covering of his armor ? 
 Against the doubling of his nostrils who will advance ? 
 
 This verse is obscure. The first line, however, 
 seems to describe the terrible helmet which covers 
 the head and face of the crocodile. The translation 
 might be, " Who can uncover his mailed face ?" If, 
 in the days of Job, they covered their war-horses in 
 complete armor, the question will refer to the taking 
 off the armor ; and the scales of leviathan be repre- 
 sented by such an image. Then, the second line may 
 denote bridling him, after the armor is stripped off, for 
 some other service. 
 
 The doors of his face who will tear open ? 
 
 The rows of his teeth fire terror : 
 
 The plates of his scales, triumph ! 
 
 His body is like embossed shields ; 
 
 They are joined so close one upon another, 
 
 The very air cannot enter between them. 
 
 Each is inserted into its next ; 
 
 They are compact, and cannot be separated. 
 
 The mouth of the crocodile is very large ; and the 
 apparatus of teeth perfectly justifies this formidable 
 description. The indissoluble texture, and the large- 
 ness of the scales with which he is covered, are rep- 
 resented by the powerful images of these verses. 
 
 His snortings are the radiance of light ; 
 And his eyes as the glancing of the dawn. 
 
 Schulteus remarks, that amphibious animals, the 
 longer time they hold their breath under water, re- 
 spircso much the more strongly when they begin to 
 emerge ; and the breath, confined for a length of 
 time, effervesces in such a manner, and breaks forth 
 so violently, that they appear to vomit foith flames. 
 
 The eyes of the crocodile are small, but they are 
 said to be extremely piercing out of the water. Hence, 
 the Egyptians, comparing the eye of the crocodile, 
 when he first emerged out of the water, to the sun 
 rising from out of the sea, in which he was supposed 
 to set, made the hieroglyphic of sunrise. Thus Ho- 
 rns Apol. says, (lib. i. §65.) " When the Egyptians 
 represent the sunrise, they paint the eye of the croc- 
 odile, because it is first seen as that animal rises out 
 of the water." 
 
 From out of his mouth issue flashes ; 
 Sparks of fire stream out ; 
 From his nostrils bursteth fume, 
 As from the rush-kindled oven. 
 His breath kindleth coals ; 
 Raging fire spreadeth at his presence. 
 
 Here the creature is described in pursuit of his 
 prey on the land. His mouth is then open. His 
 breath is thrown out with prodigious vehemence ; it 
 appears like smoke, and is heated to that degree as to 
 seem a flaming fire. 
 
 The images which the sacred poet here uses are 
 indeed very strong and hyperbolical ; they are similar 
 to those in Ps. xviii. 8 : " There went a smoke out of 
 his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured ; coals 
 were kindled by it." Ovid (Metam. viii.) does not 
 scruple to paint the enraged boar in figures equally 
 bold: 
 
 Lightning issueth from his mouth. 
 
 And boughs are set on fire by his breath. 
 
 Silius Italicus (1. vi. v. 208.) has a correspondent 
 description. 
 
 In his neck dwelleth might : 
 
 And destruction exulteth before him. 
 
 Might and destruction are here personified. The 
 former is seated on his neck, as indicating his power, 
 or guiding his movements ; and the latter is leaping 
 and dancing before him when he pursues his prey, to 
 express the terrible slaughter which he makes. 
 
 The flakes of his flesh are compacted together 
 They are firm, and will in no wise give away. 
 His heart is as hard as a stone. 
 Yea, as hard as the nether mill-stone. 
 
 These strong similes may denote not only a ma- 
 terial, but also a moral, hardness — his savage and
 
 LEVIATHAN 
 
 [624 ] 
 
 LEV 
 
 unrelenting nature. iElian calls the crocodile "a 
 voracious devourer of flesh, and the most pitiless of 
 animals." 
 
 At his rising, the mighty are alarmed ; 
 
 Frighted at the disturbance which he makes in the 
 
 water, 
 The sword of the assailant is shivered at the onset, 
 As is the spear, the dart, or the harpoon. 
 He regardeth iron as straw ; 
 Copper as rotten wood. 
 The arrow cannot make him flee, 
 Sling-stones he deemeth trifling ; 
 Like stubble is the battle-axe reputed ; 
 And he laugheth at the quivering of the javelin. 
 
 These expressions describe, in a lively manner, the 
 strength, courage, and intrepidity of the crocodile. 
 Nothing frightens him. If any one attack him, neither 
 swords, darts, nor javelins avail against him. Travel- 
 lers agree, that the skin of the crocodile is proof 
 against pointed weapons. 
 
 His bed is the splinters of flint. 
 
 Which the broken rock scattereth on the mud. 
 
 This clause is obscure, and has been variously 
 rendered. The idea seems to be, that he can repose 
 himself on sharp-pointed rocks and stones with as 
 little concern as upon mud. 
 
 He maketh the main to boil as a caldron ; 
 He snuffeth up the tide as a perfume. 
 Behind him glittereth a pathway ; 
 The deep is embroidered with hoar. 
 
 To give a further idea of the force of this creature, 
 the poet describes the effect of his motion in the 
 water. When a large crocodile dives to the bottom, 
 the violent agitation of the water may be justly com- 
 pared to liquor boiling in a caldron. When swim- 
 ming upon the surface, he cuts the water like a ship, 
 and makes it white with foam ; at the same time his 
 tail, like a rudder, causes the waves behind him to 
 froth and sparkle like a trail of light. These images 
 are common among the poets. Thus Homer, (Odyss. 
 1. xii. V. 23.5.) as translated by Pope : 
 
 " Tumultuous boil the waves ; 
 
 They toss, they foam, a wild confusion raise ; 
 Like waters bubbling o'er the fiery blaze." 
 
 He hath not his like upon earth. 
 Even among those made not to be daunted. 
 He looketh upon every thing with haughtiness ; 
 He is king over all the sons of the fierce. 
 
 Mr. Good observes, that all the interpreters appear 
 to have run into an error in conceiving, that " the 
 sons of pride or haughtiness, in the original ynv >:2, 
 refer to wild beasts, or monsters of enormous size; it 
 is far more confounding to the haughtiness and exulta- 
 tion of man, — to tliat undue confidence in his own 
 power, which it is tlie very object of this sublime ad- 
 dress to humiliate, to have pointed out to him, even 
 among the brute creation, a being which he dares not 
 to encounter, and which laughs at all his pride, and 
 pomp, and pretensions, and compels him to feel in 
 all these respects his real littleness and inferiority. It 
 is difficult, perhaps impossible, to find a description 
 so admirably sustained in any language of any age or 
 
 country. The whole appears to be of a piece, and 
 equally excellent." 
 
 The word leviathan is also found in the original of 
 Job, chap. iii. 8, in our version I'endered " mourning." 
 Mr. Good has a long note, explaining the passage as 
 having a reference to ancient sorceries, and execrat- 
 ing incantations. Gesenius supposes it to refer to 
 the power of drawing out serpents from their lurk- 
 ing places by means of music. (See Inchantments.) 
 Mr. Scott's version and note are as follows : 
 
 Let them curse it that curse the day 
 Of those who shall awake leviathan. 
 
 To sill- up, or awake, leviathan is represented, in 
 chap. xli. 8 — 10, to be inevitable destruction. It Avas 
 natural to mention such a terrible casualty in the 
 strongest terms of abhorrence, and to lament those 
 who so miserably perished with the most bitter im- 
 precations on the disastrous day. Job here calls for 
 the assistance of such language, to execrate the fatal 
 night of his nativity. Or it luay have a reference to 
 the execration expressed by the Ombitse against the 
 Tentyrites. The Ombitae were the inhabitants of 
 Ombos, a town upon the right bank of the Nile, not 
 far from the cataracts of the ancient Siene, now As- 
 suan. This people were remarkable for the worship 
 of the crocodile, and the foolishly kind manner in 
 which they treated and cherished him. Their nearly 
 opposite neighbors, the Tentyrites, were, on the con- 
 trary, conspicuous for their hatred and persecution of 
 the same animal. The difl^erent mode of treatment 
 of this animal produced deadly feuds and animosities 
 between the two people, which Juvenal, in his fifteenth 
 Satire, ridicules most justly. He was an eye-witness 
 of the hostility described, residing as a Roman officer 
 at Syene. If there beany allusion to this in the pas- 
 sage before us, it would mean, " Let my birth be held 
 in as much abhorrence, as is that of those who are the 
 rousers of leviathan." 
 
 Between two neighboring towns a rancorous rage 
 Yet burns ; a hate no lenients can assuage. 
 
 Juv. Sat. XV. V. 35. 
 
 By leviathan, (Ps. Ixxiv. 14,) we may suppose Pha- 
 raoh to be represented, as a king of Egypt is called 
 by Ezekiel, (chap. xxix. 3.) " the great dragon [or 
 crocodile] that lieth in the midst of his rivers ;" and 
 if, says Mr. Merrick, the Arabic lexicographers quoted 
 by Bochart (Phaleg. I. i. c. 15.) rightly affirm that 
 Pharao, in the Egyptian language, signified a croco- 
 dile, there may possibly l)e some such allusion to his 
 name in these texts of the psalmist and of Ezekiel, as 
 was made to the name of Draco, when Herodicus, in 
 a sarcasm recorded by Aristotle, (Rhet. 1. ii. c. 23.) 
 said that his laws, which were very severe, were the 
 laws ovy. avdoM-nov aV.u c^()«xoi To?, non hominis sed draco- 
 nis. Moses Chorcnensis mentions some ancient 
 songs, which called the descendants of Astyages a 
 race of dragons, because Astyages in the Armenian 
 language signified a dragon, (1. i. c. xxix.) 
 
 LEVIRATE, see Marriage. 
 
 LEVITES. AH the descendants of Levi may be 
 comprised under this name ; but chiefly those who 
 were employed in the lower services in the temple, 
 by which tiiey were distinguished from the priests, 
 who were of the race of Levi, by Kohath, and were 
 employed in higher oflSces. The Levites were the 
 descendants of Levi, by Gershom, Kohath and Me- 
 rari, excepting the family of Aaron ; for the children
 
 LEV 
 
 [ 625 
 
 LIB 
 
 of Moses had no part in the priesthood, and were 
 only common Levites. God chose the Levites instead 
 of the lirst-born of all Israel, for the service of his 
 tabernacle and temple, Numb. iii. 6, &:c. They 
 obeyed the priests in the ministrations of the temple, 
 and' sung and jilayed on instruments, in the daily 
 services, &c. They studied the law, and were the 
 ordinary judges of the country ; but subordinate to 
 the priests. God provided for the subsistence of the 
 Levites, by giving to them the tithe of corn, fruit and 
 cattle; but they i)aid to the priests the tenth of their 
 tithes ; and as the Levites possessed no estates in land, 
 the titlies which the priests received from them were 
 considered as the first-fruits which they weretoufler 
 to the Lord, Numi). xviii. 21 — 24. 
 
 God assigned for the habitations of the Levites 
 forty-eight cities, with fields, pastures and gardens. 
 Numb. XXXV. Of these, thirteen were given to the 
 priests, sLx of which were cities of refuge. Josh. xx. 
 7 ; xxi. 19, &c. While the Levites were actually 
 employed in the temple, they were supported out of 
 the provisions kept in store there, and out of the daily 
 offerings. (See Deut. xii. 18, 19 ; xviii. 6—8.) The 
 consecration of Levites was without much ceremony. 
 (See Numb. viii. 5 ; 2 Chron. xxix. 34.) 
 
 The Levites wore no peculiar habit to distinguish 
 them from other Israelites, till the time of Agrippa, 
 whose innovation in this matter is mentioned by Jose- 
 phus, (Antiq. lijj. xx. cap. 8.) who remarks, that the 
 ancient customs of the country were never forsaken 
 with impunity. 
 
 The Levites were divided into different classes; 
 the Gershomites, Kohathites, Merarites and the 
 Aaronites, or priests. Numb. iii. «fcc. The Gershom- 
 ites were in number 7,500. Their office in the 
 marches through the wilderness was to carry the veils 
 and curtains of the tabernacle. The Kohathites 
 were in number 8,600. They were employed in carry- 
 ing the ark and sacred vessels of the tabernacle. The 
 Merarites were in number 6,200. They carried those 
 pieces of the tabernacle which coidd not be placed 
 on chariots. Thus we find that the whole number of 
 the Levites amounted to 22,300, of whom 8,580 were 
 fit for service, and 13,720 unfit, being either too old 
 or too young. Numb. iii. iv. When the Hebrews 
 encamped in the wilderness, the Levites were placed 
 round about the tabernacle ; Moses and Aaron at the 
 east, Gershom at the west, Kohath at the south, and 
 Merari at the north. 
 
 The Levites were not to enter upon their service 
 at the tabernacle till they were 2o years of age ; 
 (Numb. viii. 24.) or, as in chap. iv. 3, from 30 to 50 
 years old. But David fixed the time of service at 20 
 years. The priests and Levites waited by turns, 
 weekly, in the temple, 1 Chron. xxiii. 24 ; 2 Chron. 
 "xxxi. 17 ; Ezra iii. 8. 
 
 LEVITICl'S, the third book in the Pentateuch ; 
 called Leviticus, because it contains principally the 
 laws and regulations relating to the priests, Levites 
 and sacrifices. The Hebrews call it "the priests' 
 law ;" and also vayikra, because in Hebrew it begins 
 with this word, and he called. The first seven chap- 
 ters prescribe the ceremonies in offering burnt- 
 sacrifices, meat-offerings, bread and cakes, peace-of- 
 ferings or thanksgivings, and sin-offerings ; regulat- 
 ing what parts were to be consumed on the fire of 
 the altar, and what were to be given to the priest, 
 who offered them. This is followed by directions as 
 to the manner in which the priests were to be con- 
 secrated, and what sacrifices were to h(! offered on that 
 occasion. On occasion of the punishment of Nadab 
 79 
 
 and Abihu, Moses appoints the mourning of the 
 priests, and forbids them to drink wine while waiting 
 in the temple. Chapters xi. to xv. give rules for dis- 
 tinguishing beasts clean and unclean ; also relative to 
 the leprosy of men, of houses and of habits ; for the 
 purification of men indisposed with gonorrhcEa, and 
 of women after child-birth. After this, the ceremo- 
 nies on the day of solemn expiation are regulated ; 
 also the degrees of relation permitted or forbidden in 
 marriage. Then follow prohibitions of alliances with 
 the Canaanites, of idolatrj', theft, perjury, calumny, 
 hatred, Gentile superstitions, magic, divination, sooth- 
 saying, prostitution and adultery. Chapter xxii. no- 
 ticps the principal festivals in the year, (including the 
 story §f a man who was stoned to death for liaving 
 blasphemed the sacred Name,) the sabbatical and the 
 jubilee years, and some dkections relative to vows 
 and tithes. 
 
 This book is generally held to be the work of 
 Moses, though probably assisted by Aaron. It con- 
 tains the history of the eight days of Aaron and his 
 sons' consecration, A. M. 2514. 
 
 LIBANUS, or Lebaxo.n, a long chain of limestone 
 mountains, on the northern border of Palestine. It 
 consists of two principal ridges, the easterly ridge 
 being called Anti-Libanus by the Greeks. The 
 western ridge, or proper Libanus, runs nearly parallel 
 to the coast of the Mediterranean ; the eastern, or 
 Anti-Libanus, runs first east, but soon inclines in like 
 manner to the north. Between these two ridges is a 
 long valley called Coele-Syria, or Hollow Syria, the 
 Valley of Lebanon, (Josh. xi. 17.) at present Bukkah ; 
 it opens towards the north. The elevation of Leb- 
 anon is so great, that it is always covered in many 
 places with snow ; whence in all probability it derives 
 its name. It is composed of four enclosures of 
 mountains, which rise one on the other. The first is 
 very rich in grain and fruits ; the second is barren, 
 abounding in thorns, rocks and flints ; the third, though 
 higher than this, enjoys a perpetual spring, the trees 
 being always green, and the orchards filled with fruit : 
 it is so agreeable and fertile, that some have called it 
 a terrestrial paradise. The fourth is so high as to be 
 always covered with snow. Mr. Buckingham, who 
 ascended one of the highest parts of Lebanon, states 
 that it occupied him and his companions four hours 
 in reaching it, from the place where the cedars grow. 
 " From hence the view was, as may be easily ima- 
 gined, grand and magnificent. To the west we had a 
 prospect of all the side of Lebanon down to the plain 
 at its foot, and, beyond, a boimdless sea, the horizon 
 of which could not be defined, from its being covered 
 with a thick bed of clouds. . . . To the east we had 
 the valley of the Bukkah, which we could see from 
 hence was on a much higher level than the sea; the 
 descent to it on the ejist appearing to be about one 
 third less in depth than the descent to the plain at the 
 foot of Lebanon on the west, and scarcely more than 
 half of that to the line of the sea. The range of 
 Anti-Libanus, which forms the eastern boundary of 
 the Bukkah, was also covered with snow at its sum- 
 mit, but not so thickly as at this part of Libanus where 
 we were, and which seemed to us the highest point 
 of all. We could distinguish that from the north- 
 ward towards Balbek, the Jebel-el-wast was one 
 even range, without pointed summits like this, and 
 that from thence there extended two forks to the 
 southward, the eastern, or princijjal one, ending in the 
 groat Jebel-el-Sheik, or Jebel-el-Telj, of the Arabs, 
 the mount Hermon of the Scriptures ; and the west- 
 ern, or lesser one, in the point which I had passed in
 
 LIBANUS 
 
 [ 626 
 
 LIBANUS 
 
 going to Bauias, the valley between them being called 
 Wade Ityre. The range of Anti-Libanus, though of 
 less height tlian this, completely intercepted our view 
 of the country to the eastward of it; altliough, as l)e- 
 fore said, we were on the highest point of view which 
 it admits. Mr. Volney, therefore, must have ima- 
 gined the unhmited view which he says tliis mountain 
 affords across the eastern deserts to the Euphrates ; 
 and indeed, from his description altogether, botli of 
 the mountain and tlie cedars, there is reason to be- 
 lieve that he travelled Init little over it." (Travels 
 among the Arab Tribes, p. 477.) 
 
 D'Arvieux, in describing this mountainous* region, 
 .«iays, "These are not barren mountains, but almost 
 all well cultivated, and well peopled. Tlieir siftnmits 
 are in many places level, and form vast plains, 
 wherein are sown corn (comp. Ps. Ixxii. 16.) and all 
 kinds of pulse. They are watered by numerous 
 sources, and rivulets of excellent water, which diffuse 
 on all sides a freshness and fertility, even in the most 
 elevated regions. The soil of their declivities, and of 
 the hollows which occur betwc^ui them, is excellent, 
 and produces abundantly corn, oil and wine, which is 
 the best in Syria ; and this is praising it highly in a 
 single word. Drinkers, who esteem themselves 
 judges, make no difference between this wine and 
 that of Cyprus. Their j)rincipal riches, at present, is 
 the silk which they produce. They are inhabited 
 by Christians, Greeks and IMarouites ; also by Dru- 
 ses and Mahometans. The Christians here have 
 many privileges, and in some places complete liberty. 
 Though the mountains which compose Lebanon are 
 of this considerable extent, yet the vulgar restrain tlie 
 name to that district whereon the cedars grow ; (see 
 Cedars ;) and they give other names to otlier portions 
 which compose this famous mountain. After travel- 
 ling six hours in pleasant valleys, and over mountains 
 covered with different species of trees, we entered a 
 small plain on a fertile hill, wholly covered with 
 walnut-trees and olives, in the middle of which is the 
 village of Eden. This village has a bishop. In spite 
 of my weariness, I could not but incessantly admire 
 this beautiful country. It is, truly, an epitome of the 
 terrestrial paradise, of which it bears the name. . . . 
 We quitted Eden about eight o'clock in the morning, 
 and advanced to mountains so extremely high, that 
 we seemed to be travelling in the middle regions of 
 t!ic atmosphere. Here the sky was clear and serene 
 above us, while we saw, below us, thick clouds dis- 
 solving in rain and watering the plains." 
 
 Do la Roque, after commending in strong terms 
 the beauty of the valley watered by the Kadisha, 
 says, " In pursuing our route, and tracing up the 
 .source of this agreeable river, our sight was still 
 more gratified. The trees rise higher than before, 
 being tor the most part plantains, pines, cypresses, 
 and evergreen oaks, forming a continual assemblage 
 of verdure of different kinds ; among which peeps 
 out, from time to time, either a chapel or a grotto, al- 
 ways situated on some spot apparently im])ossible to 
 be attained, and absolutely astonishing to the sight. 
 We passed twice or thrice over th(> Kadisha, by 
 means of stone bridges, or of tre(>s laid along to form 
 a passage : we proceeded in this manner two or three 
 leagues, by a very easy and agreeable road, walking 
 almost constantly among grovels and covered alleys 
 formed by the hand of nature, and too abundant in 
 foliage to be penetrated by the rays of the sun. After 
 quitting the Kadisha, we continued to find every 
 where a wonderfid abimdance of water, issuing from 
 divers sources, t<M-Miing rivulets ; and proceediuir to 
 
 unite their waters with those of that river. Cano- 
 bin, the convent established on Lebanon, is a large, 
 irregular building, situated on the declivity of a high 
 mountain. Its environs are, nevertheless, very cheer- 
 ful; the lands adjacent are well cultivated, and are 
 adorned with hedges, gardens and vineyards. It 
 would be difficult to find any where superior wine 
 to that which Avas offered us: from which we de- 
 termined, that the reputation of the wine of Leba- 
 non, as alluded to by the prophet, (Rosea xiv. 7.) was 
 extremely well founded. These wines are of two 
 sorts ; the most common is the red ; the most exquis- 
 ite is of thii color of Vin Muscat, and is called golden 
 on ticcount of its color." 
 
 He mentions his fear, in some of his excursions, 
 of meeting with tigers, or with bears, which are in 
 great numbers on Lebanon ; and come down during 
 the night to drink. He also mentions the finding of 
 a quantity of eagles' feathers on the mountain, at the 
 cedars. 
 
 Lebanon furnishes many rivers and streams. The 
 first described by De la Roque is the Orontes, which 
 rises in the northern district, and during a course of 
 more than thirty leagues runs almost due north, pass- 
 ing Emesa and Apamea; then turning to the west, 
 it passes Antiocli and Seleucia ; its whole course be- 
 ing about seventy-five leagues. The river Eleuthe- 
 rus also rises in the heights of Lebanon. It falls in- 
 to the Mediterranean, between Orthosia and Tripo- 
 lis ; but is not easily ascertained, because four or five 
 rivers discharge themselves in this space. The 
 first, (pprhaj)s the Eleutherus,) about half way be- 
 tween Tortosa and Tripolis, is the Nahr Kibir, or 
 Great river ; the second, advancing toward Tripolis, 
 is the Nahr Abrach, Leper's river ; the third is Nahr 
 Acchar, red river ; and there is a fburth, less consid- 
 erable, called Alma Albarida, or the Cold waters. 
 Following the coast southward, we find the Nahr 
 Kadisha, or Holy river, which receives many streams, 
 by which it is greatly enlarged in its passage to the 
 sea. Among others, Ras Ain, Fountain Head, in it- 
 self a small stream, but is greatly swelled by the 
 melting of the snows, and furnishes a considerable 
 body of water. The next stream is the Nahr Ebra- 
 him, Abraham's river, which discharges itself about 
 two leagues from Jebilee ; it is the Adonis of the an- 
 cients. After this follows the Nahr Kelb, Dog's 
 river ; the Lycus, or Wolf's river, of antiquity. About 
 an hour and a half from this river is Nahr Bairuth, 
 so called because it is the nearest stream to the city 
 of Berytus. Between Berytus and Sidon is the Nahr 
 Darner, pronounced by Europeans d'./lmoui; the Jam- 
 yras of former times: the passage of it is very dan- 
 gerous during the rains. About a league south of Si- 
 don, is the river called Awle by the peasants ; by the 
 Franks called Fiumerc: its source is perhaps in An- 
 ti-Libanus. About an hour short of Tyre, is the 
 river Kasemicch, Avhich rises in Anti-Libanus, and 
 is increased by the waters of the Letani, which fiows 
 along the valley of Bekaa. The Barrady rises in 
 Anti-Libanus, not far from the territory of Damas- 
 cus, which city it visits; and being divided into 
 streams and canals, contributes to the delights of that 
 place, and its environs. A little river, called Banias, 
 (perhaps the Abana of Naaman, 1 Kings v. 12.) dis- 
 charges itself into the Barrady. After having pass- 
 ed Damascus, these streams issue in a large lake and 
 marsh(>s. The course of the Barrady is southerly. 
 The Jordan, too, has its source in Anti-Libanus, 
 in th(> region now called Wad-et-tein, which includes 
 the moimt Hermon of the ancients, not far from the
 
 LIBANUS 
 
 [ 627 ] 
 
 LIBANUS 
 
 celebrated spot which pagan antiquity called Pani- 
 um, or Paneas. See Jordan. 
 
 The following is Volney's account of this celebrat- 
 ed mountain: (Travels, vol. i. p. 293, 301.) "A 
 view of the country will convince us that the most 
 elevated jioint of all Syria is Lebanon, on the south- 
 east of Trijjoli. Scarcely do we depart from Lar- 
 neca, in Cyprus, which is tliirty leagues distant, be- 
 fore we discover its summit capjjcd with clouds. 
 This is also distinctly jicrceivaljle on the map, from 
 the course of the rivers. The Oroutes, which flows 
 from the mountains of Damascus, and loses itself 
 below Antioch ; the Kasmia, which, from the north 
 of Balbcc, takes its course towards Tyre ; the Jor- 
 dan, forced, by the declivities, towards the south, 
 j)rove that this is the highest point. Next to Leb- 
 anon, the most elevated part of the country is mount 
 Akkar, which becomes visible as soon as we leave 
 Marra in the desert. It appears like an enormous 
 flattened cone, and is constantly in view for two 
 days' journey. No one has yet had an opportunity 
 to ascertain the height of these mountains by the 
 barometer ; but we may deduce it from another 
 consideration. In winter their tops are entirely cov- 
 ered with snow, from Alexandretta to Jerusalem ; 
 but after the month of Mai'ch it melts, except on 
 mount Lebanon, where, however, it does not remain 
 the whole year, unless in the highest cavities, and 
 towards the north-east, where it is sheltered from 
 the sea winds, and the rays of the sun. In such a 
 situation I saw it still remaining, in 1784, at the very 
 time I was almost suftbcated with heat in the valley 
 of Balbec. Now, since it is well known that snow, 
 in this latitude, requires an elevation of fifteen or 
 sixteen hundred fathoms, we may conclude that to 
 i)e tiie height of Lebanon, and that it is consequent- 
 ly much lower than the Alps, or even the Pyrenees. 
 
 " Lebanon, which gives its name to the whole ex- 
 tensive chain of the Kesraouan, and the country of 
 the Druses, presents us every where with majestic 
 mountains. At every step we meet with scenes in 
 which nature displays either beauty or grandeur, 
 sometimes singularity, but always variety. When 
 we land on the coast, the loftiness and steep ascent 
 of this mountainous ridge, which seems to enclose 
 the country, those gigantic masses which shoot into 
 the clouds, inspire astonishment and awe. Shoidd 
 the curious traveller then climb these summits which 
 bounded his view, the wide-extended space which 
 he discovers becomes a fresh subject of admiration ; 
 l)ut completely to enjoy this majestic scene, he must 
 ascend to the very point of Lebanon, or the Sanniu. 
 There, on everv side, he will view an liorizon with- 
 out bounds ; while, in clear weather, the sight is lost 
 over the desert, wliich extends to the Persian gulf, 
 and over the sea which bathes the coasts of Europe. 
 He seems to command the whole world, while tlie 
 wandering eye, now surveying the successive chains 
 of mountains, transports the imagination in an in- 
 stant from Antioch to Jerusalem. 
 
 " If we examine the substance of these mountains, 
 we shall find they consist of a hard calcareous stone, 
 of a whitish color, sonorous like free-stone, and dis- 
 posed in strata variously inclined. This stone has 
 almost the same appearance in every part of Syria ; 
 sometimes it is bare, and looks like the peeled rocks 
 on the coast of Provence. The same stone, under a 
 more regular form, likewise composes the greater 
 
 Eart of Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, the mountains of the 
 •ruses, Galilee and mount Carmel, and stretches 
 to the south of the lake Asphaltites. The inhab- 
 
 itants every where build their houses and make lime 
 with it. I have never seen, nor heard it said, that 
 these stones contain any petrified shells in the upper 
 regions of Lebanon ; but we find, between Batroun 
 and Djebail, in the Kesraouan, at a little distance 
 from the sea, a (piarry of schistous stones, the flakes 
 of which bear the hnpressious of plants, fish, shells, 
 and especially of the sea onion. Iron is the only 
 niineral which abounds here ; the mountains of the 
 Kesraouan, and of the Druses, are full of it. Every 
 sunjmer the inhabitants work those mines which are 
 ochreous. 
 
 " It appears equally extraordinary and picturesque 
 to a European at Tripoli, to behold under his win- 
 dows, in the month of January, orange-trees loaded 
 with flowers and fruit, while the hoary head of Leb- 
 anon is covered with ice and snow. If in Saide, or 
 Tripoli, we are incommoded by the heats of July, in 
 six hours we are in the neighboring mountains, in 
 the temperature of March ; or, on the other hand, if 
 chilled by the frosts of December at Besharrai, a daj''s 
 journey brings us back to the coast, amid the flow- 
 ers of May. The Arabian poets have therefore said, 
 that ' the Sannin bears w inter on his head, spring on 
 his shoulders, and autumn in his bosom, Avhile sum- 
 mer lies sleeping at his feet.' " 
 
 [Mr. Fisk describes Lebanon in the folloAving man- 
 ner : "You would like, perhaps, to know how mount 
 Lebanon looks. It is not, as I used to suppose, one 
 mountain, but a multitude of mountains thrown to- 
 gether, and separated by very deep, narrow \alleys, 
 which seem to have been made merely for the sake 
 of dividing the hills. There are more trees on moimt 
 Lebanon than on the hills of Judea, yet there is noth- 
 ing which Americans would call a forest. Most of 
 the trees, where I have been, are either pines or fruit 
 trees. I have not yet seen the cedars. The roads 
 are had, worse and ivorst ; steep and rocky, I pre- 
 sume, beyond any thing you ever saw in Vermont, or 
 any where else. I generally ride a mule or an ass, 
 and it is often literally riding up and down stairs, for 
 a considerable distance together. These mountains 
 present a variety of the most )-ude, sublime and ro- 
 mantic scenery." (Missionary Herald for 1824, p. 
 135.) R. 
 
 From these descriptions the reader may conceive, 
 not only with what ardor Moses might desire to see 
 " that goodly mountain, even Lebanon," (Deut. iii. 
 25.) but what a supreme gratification a man who 
 had been all his life habituated to a flat and arid des- 
 ert, and to a low and level country, must have 
 felt, had he been permitted to enjoy the verdant 
 liills and murmuring cascades of Lebanon. The 
 renown of these paradises must have stimulated his 
 curiosity, as a man and a !)aturalist, independent of 
 his wishes as a sovereign and legislator for the wel- 
 fare and settlement of his people. 
 
 Almost all travellers wiio have visited these places 
 have felt and noti>-ed the propriety of the bride- 
 groom's address to the bride, (Cant. iv. 15.) in w hich 
 he cotnjKins her to "a fountain of gardens, a w^ell 
 of living waters, and streams from Lebanon ;" but 
 they have not observed the climax of this passage, 
 which appears to stand thus, (1.) a fountain, (2.) a 
 source,(.3.) luunerous and lively streams, communicat- 
 ing refreshment and pleasure, together w^ith fertility. 
 
 These descriptions may also contrii)Ute to place in 
 a new light a passage of the prophet Jeremiah, (chap, 
 xviii. 14.) which stands thus in our translation : "Will 
 a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh 
 from the rock of the field ; or shall the cold flowing
 
 LIBANUS 
 
 [ 628 ] 
 
 LIB 
 
 waters that come from another place be forsaken ?" 
 The whole of this verse no doubt refers to the same 
 object, moinit Lebanon, though to different things 
 which are found there. It may be supposed, that 
 the " cold flowing waters " of the prophet were the 
 Nahr el herd, or Nahr al barida of ftlaundrell and 
 De la Roque. 
 
 The prophet seems to think that no waters could 
 be so refreshing as those which flowed from recent- 
 ly thawing congelation ; and to persons who highly 
 value the addition of snow to their beverage, to cool 
 it, nothing could be more refrigerating than drinking 
 from streams which trickled down the sides of that 
 mountain, the great Syrian reservoir of snow and ice. 
 The narrations we have inserted show the vigor and 
 energy of these similes. 
 
 The reputation attached to the wine of Lebanon, 
 and the character given of it by travellers, render 
 very credible the idea that in this wine Damascus 
 traded with Tyre, (Ezek. xxvii. 18.) and that Helbon 
 was in the eastern part of Lebanon. The compar- 
 ison of the wine of Lebanon to Vin Muscat, by De 
 la Roque, includes, probably, the scent as well as the 
 color; and justifies the allusion of the prophet Ho- 
 sea, xiv. 7. 
 
 It is not easy to determine, with certainty, what 
 can be intended by the prophet Isaiah in the phrase, 
 " tlie glory of Lebanon ;" but very likely it refers to 
 the verdure constantly maintained on it, and to the 
 stately trees which cover it ; for so we may best ex- 
 plain Isa. XXXV. 2, the glory of Lebanon, magnificent 
 cedars, plantains, pines, cypresses, &c. the excellen- 
 cy of Carmel, " pines, oaks, olives and laurels," (see 
 Carmel,) and the meadow productions, flowers, 
 shrubs, &c. of Sharon. This agrees perfectly with 
 chap. Ix. 13, "the glory of Lebanon — the fir-tree, the 
 pine-tree, and the box-tree together." Perhaps, by 
 some scientific traveller, who has noticed the trees 
 growing upon Lebanon, we may ascertain those in- 
 tended by the prophet. Is it the cedar eminently ? 
 
 The discovery of eagles' feathers in great quanti- 
 ty by De la Roque, where they must have been drop- 
 ped by the birds themselves, serves to justify the idea 
 of the prophet Ezekiel, (chap. xvii. 2.) of "a great 
 eagle, with long wings, visiting Lebanon, and pluck- 
 ing oft' a branch from among the young twigs," &c. 
 (meaning Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the tem- 
 ple, and carried away its treasures.) It shows that na- 
 tiu-e was considered in this particular of the parable. 
 
 The bears which frightened De la Roque, and the 
 lions, which he says come down to the marshes of 
 Jordan to drink, may point out the quarter that fur- 
 nished those sanguinary animals which destroyed the 
 new settlers in the land of Israel, (2 Kings xvii. 25, 
 2G.) as the country is the same ; and it is likely that, 
 during the interval of population, these wild animals 
 sli<)ul(l have roamed over a greater tract of ccAuitry 
 than usual ; out of which »A\ey were not easily ex- 
 pelled. It is likely, too, that w1ipa\ the prophet threat- 
 ens that the king of Babylon shall come "as a lion 
 from the swelling of Jordan," (Jer. xlix. 19 ; 1.44.) 
 he may not so much allude to the stream of Jordan, 
 where it runs in a considerable body, between its 
 banks, as probably lions are rarely seen so low, but 
 to the marshes of Jordan, to which De la Roque says 
 they come down from the nrighboriiig mountains ; 
 which marshes being at some times dry, and at other 
 times overflowed, amuially, may justly be dc^scribed 
 as the swellings of Jordan. (Coinp. Zech. xi. ;?.) The 
 same place may also be intended under tliis descriji- 
 tion : (Jer. xii. 5.) " If thou hast run with the footmen, 
 
 and they have wearied thee, how canst thou contend 
 with horses ? And if in the land of peace (solid land, 
 firm footing) thou hast been wearied, how wilt thou 
 do, when called to exert thyself in such slippery and 
 uncertain footing as the marshes (swellings) of Jor- 
 dan are ? " — much resembling, probably, the bogs of 
 Ireland. The wild beasts enumerated by this trav- 
 eller, with such others as we may suppose inhabit, 
 or haunt, the various branches of this mountain, may 
 furnish the true import of the expression, (Hab. ii. 17.) 
 " The violence of Lebanon shall cover thee ; even 
 the terrific ravages of wild beasts ; " to which that 
 mountain affords shelter and covert. 
 
 Lebanon is certainly taken for cedars of Lebanon. 
 Thus Solomon's palace is called the "house of the 
 forest of Lebanon ;" it was supported, probably by 
 pillars of cedar, as luunerous as trees in a forest. 
 When we read "The fruit thereof shall shake like 
 Lebanon," we suppose the majestic cedars furnish 
 the simile: so, "He cast forth his roots as Lebanon," 
 not the mountain, but the cedars on it. The temple 
 of Jerusalem is also called Lebanon : " Open thy 
 doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy ce- 
 dars," says Zechariah, (xi. 1.) speaking of the future 
 desolation of the temple by the Romans. 
 
 Tower of Libanus. — Solomon (Cant. vii. 4.)coni- 
 pares his spouse's nose to "the tower of Lebanon, 
 which looketh towards Damascus." Travellers speak 
 of a tower seen on Libanus on the side next Damas- 
 cus, which seems to have been very high. Benja- 
 min of Tudela assures us, that the stones of this 
 tower, the remains of which he had seen, were twen- 
 ty palms long, and twelve wide. Gabriel Sionita says, 
 that it was a hundred cubits high, and fifty broad. 
 
 LIBATION, a word used in sacrificial language, 
 to express an affiision of liquors, ))oured upon vic- 
 tims to be sacrificed to the Lord. The quantity of 
 wine for a libation was the fourth part of a hin ; 
 rather more than two pints. Among the Hebrews 
 libations were poured on the victim after it was 
 killed, and the several pieces of it laid on the altar, 
 'ready to he consumed by the flames, Lev. vi. 20; 
 viii. 25, 26 ; ix. 4 ; xvi. 12, 20 ; xxiii. 13. They con- 
 sisted in offerings of bread, wine and salt. Paul 
 describes himself, says Calmet, as a victim about to 
 be sacrificed, the accustomed libations of meal and 
 wine being already, in a manner, poured upon him: 
 (2 Tim. iv. 6.) " For I am ready to be offered, and the 
 time of my departure is at hand." But it is probable 
 that the apostle refers to the manner of pouring out 
 the blood of the victims, at the foot of the altar, 
 which was the ceremony prescribed in the Hebrew 
 ritual, rather than to the libations poured upon the 
 victim, as practised by the heathen : — 'Eydi yuo ]]dij 
 n.intiofiai — For 1 am now pouring out, or going to be 
 poured out, as a lihalion. The same expressive sac- 
 rificial term occurs in Phil. ii. 17, where the apos- 
 tle represents the faith of the Philippians as a sac- 
 rifice, and his own blood as a libation poured forth 
 to hallow and consecrate it: — '--/aA' d' xul cihthtimi 
 
 1711 Tij Svnlii xul Asiror'jy/rj Ti't .iIotH'K rii<7,r. /«('(/(.) y.ai 
 
 ovyxulno) Trftciy rinr ; — the Strength and beauty of the 
 passage cannot be comprehended from a translation. 
 LIBERTINES, Synagogue of, Acts vi. 9. This 
 Synagogue of the Libertines obviously stands con- 
 nected with the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, both of 
 which were of African origin ; it is, therefore, most 
 probable that the l/ibertines were of African origin 
 also ; and without assenting to the entire history of the 
 liberation of the Jewish captives in Egypt, by Ptolemy 
 Phi'adelphus, in its utmost extent, as to their num- 
 
 i
 
 LIB 
 
 [ 629 1 
 
 LIF 
 
 bers, it is credible, that there may be sufficient truth 
 ia it, to justify our believing that many Jews and 
 Jewish families did obtain their liberty, by the mu- 
 nificence of that prince ; the descendants of which 
 freedmen, remaining in Egypt, would be known un- 
 der an appellation answering to the Latin, libertini. 
 Moreover, their residence would naturally connect 
 them with their fellow Africans, the Cyreniaus and 
 Alexandrians. They are evidently separated, by the 
 construction of the language, trom " those of Cilicia, 
 and of Asia : " and if Luke were of Cyrene, as is 
 thought, we see the reason why this conduct of his 
 compatriots excited his particular observation. It 
 has been thought by some writers that they were a 
 nation of Libertini. That there was a place in Af- 
 rica called Libertina, or some such name, is certain ; 
 for in the council of Carthage (c. 116.) two persons 
 iissumcd the title of Episcopus Ecclcsi(£ lAbcrtmcn- 
 sis. (See Kuinocl on Acts vi. 9.) 
 
 LIBERTY, as opposed to servitude and slavery, 
 denotes the condition of a man, who may act inde- 
 pendently of tiie will of another. There is frequent 
 mention of this liberty in Scripture. The Jews val- 
 ued themselves highly on their liberty ; and they 
 even boasted, in our Saviour's time, that they had 
 never been deprived of it, John viii. 33. This from 
 them was ridiculous ; since we know that they were 
 often subject to foreign powers, under the judges, 
 and afterwards to the kings of Assyria, Chaldea and 
 Pei-sia. They were at this very time, also, subject 
 to the Romans. It is however true, that the Israel- 
 ites, according to the intention of Moses, were never 
 to be reduced entirely to a state of bondage. They 
 might be sold, or fall into servitude among their 
 brethren ; but always hafl a power of redeeming 
 themselves, or procuring themselves to be redeemed 
 by their relations, or of being liberated in the sab- 
 batical year, or in the jubilee year. Probably, on 
 this account they boasted that they never had been 
 reduced to slavery. Paul speaks of the liberty of the 
 gospel, in opposition to the servitude of the law : 
 " We are not the children of the bond-woman, but 
 of the free," (Gal. iv. 31.) i. e. we are not derived from 
 Hagar, who with her descendants ai-e slaves, but we 
 are sons of Sarah the free-woman: we enjoy the 
 liberty of God's children, by virtue of the adoption 
 procured for us by Jesus Christ ; which liberty de- 
 livers us from the yoke of legal ceremonies, from 
 the obligation of observing purifications and distinc- 
 tions of meats, and many other practices, to which 
 the Jews were subjected, Rom. viii. 21; 1 Cor. x. 29; 
 2 Cor. iii. 17 ; Gal. ii. 4, 5 ; James i. 2.') ; ii. 12. 
 
 " Liberty to righteousness," in opposition to " the 
 bondage of sin," is part of the justification which 
 Cluist has procured for us; which we acquire by 
 faith in him, and preserve by a holy life, and the prac- 
 tice of Christian virtues ; or it is one effect of justifi- 
 cation by Christ. (Comp. Rom. vi. 20. Gr. and Eng. 
 margin.) 
 
 Liberty and Free-will, in opposition to con- 
 straint and necessity. Man is at liberty to do good 
 or evil ; (Ecclus. xv. 14, &.c.) there is, however, a great 
 difl^erence between our liberty of doing good and of 
 doing evil. We have in ourselves the unhappy lib- 
 erty of doing evil ; we are prompted to it by our con- 
 cupiscence, which indeed we ought always to resist, 
 yet shall not really and effectually resist, without the 
 assistance of God's grace ; whereas,to do good, though 
 we have the liberty of doing it, we cannot as we 
 should without the help of grace, which, without vi- 
 olating our libertv, incites us agreeably, gently, (nev- 
 
 ertheless, efficaciously,) to prefer what is pleasing to 
 God before wliat is desired by self-love and concu- 
 piscence. 
 
 3Ianasseh Ben Israel, a famous rabbi, says we 
 stand in need of the concurrence of Providence in 
 all virtuous actions ; and as a man, who is going to 
 take a heavy burden on his shoulders, calls some- 
 body to help him up with it, so the just man first en- 
 deavors to fulfil the law, while God, like the arm of 
 another person, comes to his assistance, that he may 
 be able to execute his resolution. This seems to be 
 exactly the idea of the apostle in Rom. viii. 26. which 
 he expresses by using the word cfituyru.uii^utuiiut, 
 which Doddridge renders "lendeth us his helping 
 hand ;" and which Macknight says properly signi- 
 fies " I bear together with another," by taking hold 
 of the thing borne on the opposite side, as persons 
 do who assist one another in carrying heavy loads. 
 Ambrose, very properly, refers this to the weak- 
 ness of our prayers (and of our minds too) without 
 such aid. 
 
 But we ought to acknowledge that very important 
 part of " preventing grace," which so arranges 
 circumstances as to chminish, or to disappoint, op- 
 portunities of doing evil. There is scarcely any 
 thing in life that more strongly and more intelligil)ly 
 calls for gratitude, than those preservations from evil, 
 those preventions of bad consequences, those coun- 
 teractions of perverse bias, of which every one must 
 be conscious, and none more conscious than the most 
 virtuous. (Comp. Da\id, 1 Sam. xxv. 32, sq.) 
 
 L LIBNAH, a city in the south of Judah, (Josh. 
 XV. 42.) given to the priests, and declared a city of 
 refuge, 1 Chron. vi. 54, 57. Eusebius and Jerome 
 say, it was in the district of Eleutheropolis. 
 
 II. LIBNAH, a station of the Israelites in the des- 
 ert. Num. xxxiii. 20. See Exodcs, p. 420. 
 
 LIBNATH, or, fully, SHIHOR-LIBNATH, a 
 stream near Carmel, on the borders of Asber ; ac- 
 cording to jMichaelis, Jliwius vitri, the glass river, 
 i. e. the Belus, from whose sands glass was first made, 
 Josh. xix. 26. R. 
 
 LIBYA, a province of Egypt, which is thought to 
 have been peopled by the descendants of Lehabim, 
 son of Mizraim, Gen. x. 13. It reached from Alex- 
 andria to Cyrene, and perhaps farther. In Nah. iii. 
 9, Lubim is rendered Libya, because of its connec- 
 tion with Phut, which implies Africa; and probably, 
 that part of Africa near and around Carthage, rather 
 than Nubia. Josephus says, "Phut was the con- 
 ductor of Libya, whose se'ttlements were froni him 
 called Phuta^i." It is beyond the river in the region of 
 Mauritania. By this name it is well known in the 
 Grecian histories ; adjacent to the region wliich they 
 call Phut." We read of the Lubim in 2 Chron. xii. 
 3 ; xvi. 8 ; Nah. iii. 9 ; Dan. xi. 43. Sometimes all Af- 
 rica is called Libya; but we believe it does not oc- 
 cur ill this sense in Scripture. 
 
 LICE, see Gnat. 
 
 LIFE, Future, Eternal Life, or simply Life, 
 signifies th<;^tate of the righteous after death, Matt, 
 vii. 14; xixrT6, 17. Jesus Christ is sometimes called 
 the Life, John xiv. 6 ; xi. 25. So, " In him was life ; 
 and the fife was the light of men," John i. 4. (See also 
 1 John V. 12.) He is the life of the soul ; he enlight- 
 ens it, fills it with graces, and leads it to eternal life. 
 He is himself the life of it, its sustenance, light and 
 liappiness. 
 
 In the Old Testament, God promises to those ^yho 
 observe his laws, long life and temporal prosperity ; 
 which were the figure and shadow of eternal hfe,
 
 LIF 
 
 [ 630 ] 
 
 LIL 
 
 and of those future blessings expressed more clearly 
 in the New Testament. The carnal Jews confined 
 their hopes to these transitory blessings ; but the 
 holy patriarchs, the prophets, and more enlightened 
 Hebrews, carried their views and expectations fur- 
 ther. Moses says, (Deut. XXX. 15, 19,20.) "See, I 
 have set before thee this day life and good, and death 
 and evil." 
 
 Wisdom, or a knowledge of truths relating to sal- 
 vation, is called " the wav of life," "the truth of life," 
 " the fountain of life ;" or " life," simply. As life is 
 the first of blessings belonging to the body, so wisdom 
 is the supreme happiness of the soul ; it promotes 
 our well-being in this world, and is the source of fe- 
 licity to eternity. The principal wisdom, the most 
 serious study, of the Hebrews consisted in the 
 knowledge of their law ; and hence the Holy Spirit 
 terms the law, as well as wisdom, life, and the source 
 of life ; and perhaps also because they both })roduce 
 the same effects for time and for eternity. 
 
 Life is sometimes used for subsistence ; thus it is 
 said in Mark xii. 44, that a poor widow, who put two 
 very small pieces of silver into the treasury of the 
 temple, gave moi-e than any of the rest, because it 
 was all she had, even all her living, or life. 
 
 We find an expression in Deut. xxviii. 66, and in 
 Job xxiv. 22, which requires explanation : "Thy life 
 shall hang in doul)t before thee, and thou shalt fear 
 day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy 
 life." Some of the fathers understood this of Christ, 
 crucified in the sight of the unbelieving Jews, who 
 rejected the belief of that Saviour who was their life 
 and salvation ; but the meaning is more likely to be, 
 " Ye shall be under perpetual fear and uneasiness, and 
 shall have no assurance of your own lives." The 
 words of Job must be interjireted in the same sense : 
 " He riseth up, and no man is sure of life." When 
 the wicked man appears most resolute, he shall not 
 be assured of his life ; or, according to the Hebrew, 
 when he riseth in the midst of his guards, he shall 
 not be sure of his life. 
 
 LIFE ; To LIVE. These words, as well as dealh, 
 and tod{e,are equivocal, and are understood properly 
 for the life of the body ; figuratively, for the life of 
 the soul ; for the life of faith, grace and holiness ; for 
 temporal life and life eternal. " A living soul " sig- 
 nifies a living animal, a living person : " my soul shall 
 live because of thee ;" (Geu. xii. 13.) my life will be 
 preserved in consideration of thee. "No man shall 
 see me and live ;" (Exod. xxxiii. 20.) that is, no man 
 can he able to sustain the splendor of my majesty, if 
 beheld by liis bodily eye. Jehovah was called the 
 living God, in oi)position to the gods of the Gentiles, 
 who were l)Ut dead men, stars or animals, whose 
 lives are transitorv ; whereas Jehovah is living, im- 
 mortal, and the Author of life to every thing ; in him 
 ^ve live ; from him we derive motion and existence. 
 Acts xvii. 28. 
 
 The "just man lives by faith," Rom. i. 17. Faith 
 gives life to the soul, but it must be animated by 
 chai-ity, and accompanied with works, Gal. v. 6 ; 
 James ii. 20. Even they who are dead in sin rise 
 again, and lead a new life, when they believe in Christ, 
 and put on Christ; and they who have a lively and 
 entire faith never die, or rather after death enjoy 
 eternal life, John xi. 25, 20. The letter kills, but the 
 Spirit makes alive, 2 Cor. iii. 6. The law cannot 
 rnake alive; (Gal. iii. 21.) it cannot connnunicate 
 righteousness, without gospel faith and charity. 
 
 In a figurative sense, " to give life " is used for de- 
 livering from great danger. The captives in Baby- 
 
 lon often ask of God, in the Psalms, to restore theni 
 to life, to deliver them from a state of death, of op- 
 pression, of trouble, under which they groaned. 
 (Comp. Psalm cxix. 25, 107.) 
 
 LIFE, Book of, see Book, p. 201. 
 
 LIFTING UP THE HANDS is, among the ori- 
 entals, a common part of the ceremony of taking an 
 oath : " I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord," 
 says Abraham, Gen. xiv. 22. And, "I will bring 
 you into the land concerning which I lift up my 
 liand," (Exod. vi. 8.) which I promised with an 
 oath. 
 
 To LIFT UP one's hand against any one, is to at- 
 tack him, to fight him, 2 Sam. xviii. 28; 1 Kings 
 xi. 26. 
 
 To LIFT UP one's face ill the presence of any one, 
 is to appear boldly in his presence, 2 Sam. ii. 22 ; 
 Ezra ix. 6. (See also Job x. 15 ; xi. 15.) 
 
 To lift up one's hands, eyes, soul or heart, 
 unto the Lord, are expressions describing the senti- 
 ments and emotion of one who prajs earnestly, or 
 desires a thing with ardor. 
 
 LIGHT, a subtile fluid, which creates in ns a sen- 
 sation of colors, and enables us to discern sui-round- 
 ing objects. 
 
 " Light " is often put figuratively for prosperity, as 
 night is for adversity: "The light shall shine upon 
 thy ways ;" i. e. God shall favor thy conduct. Thou 
 hast "lifted up on us the light of thy countenance ;" 
 i. e. thou hast granted us thy favor. 
 
 "The fight of the living" hterally signifies a happy 
 life, great prosperity ; but in a moral and spiritual 
 sense, it signifies the felicity of eternal life ; as the 
 misery of the wicked is described by the darkness of 
 death, Ps. hi. 13 ; cxxix. 12 ; cxlviii. 3, and Job 
 xxxiii. 30. God is styled " the Father of lights ;" 
 (James i. 17.) the Author of all graces ; and Jesus 
 Christ is called "the Light of the world;" "a Light 
 to enlighten the Gentiles," " Light of righteousness ;" 
 " the Light of life," John viii. 12 ; i. 8. (Comp. Isa. 
 Ix. 1.) The apostles are the light of the world, (Matt. 
 V. 14.) by showing forth the doctrines and gi-aces of 
 their divine Master. 
 
 LIGN-ALOES, see Aloes I. 
 
 LILY, ft:'ic, susan, or shushan, so called, perhajis, ; 
 by reason of the number of its leaves, which are six, v 
 in Hcb. ses, or shesh. There are lilies of different 
 colors, white, red, yellow and orange-colored. They 
 were common in Judea, and grew in the open fields. 
 " Consider the lilies of the field," says Christ, (Matt, 
 vi. 28.) " how they grow, they toil not, neither do 
 they spin ; yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his 
 glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, 
 if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day 
 is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not 
 much more clothe you, O ye of litdc faith ?" Luke xii. 
 27. Father Souciet aflirms, that Ihe lily mentioned 
 in Scripture, is the croivn imperial ; that is, the Per- 
 sian lily, the tusai of the Persians, the royal lily, or 
 lilinm basileium, of the Greeks. In reality it ap[)cars 
 from the Canticles, that the lily spoken of by Solo- 
 mon was red, and distilled a certain liquor. Cant. v. 
 13. The very learned Celsus, however, supposes it 
 to be the white lily, which the Arabs call susaiui. It 
 has a great resemblance to this pancratium, which in 
 whiteness surpasses lilies, and the most perfect white 
 produceable by the art of dyeing. White dresses 
 were formerly reserved for the masters of the sacri- 
 fices. May we hence conclude, says Forskal, that 
 this, as well as the purple, was an appendage to roy- 
 alty ? There are crown innerials with yellow flow-
 
 LIO 
 
 [ 631 
 
 LOC 
 
 ers ; but those with red are the most common. They 
 ure always bent dowuwai'ds, and disposed in the 
 maxincr of a crown at the extremity of the stem, 
 which has a tuft of leaves at the top. At the bottom 
 of each leaf of this flower is a certain watery humor, 
 forming, as it were, a very white pearl, which grad- 
 ually distils very clear and pure drops of water. This 
 vvattT is probably what the spouse in the Canticles 
 called myrrh. Judith speaks of an ornament belong- 
 ing to the women, which was called lily, Jud. x. 3. 
 What these lihes were, we cannot tell. In the judg- 
 ment of Grotius, they might be something which 
 hung about the neck. Perhaps lilia may be a fault 
 of the copyist, who, instead of monilia, bracelets, 
 which he did not understand, inserted lilia. The 
 Greek says pselia, and the Syriac the same, i. e. 
 chains, necklaces or bracelets. 
 
 LINE. To stretch a line over a city, is to destroy 
 it, Zech. i. 16; Jer. ii. 8. 
 
 LINEN, -\2, bad, the produce of a well-known 
 plant, flax, whose bark, being j)rcpared, serves to 
 make fine and much esteemed linen clothes. Another 
 sort of linen Scripture calls lt, shesh; (Gen. xli. 42.) 
 [and at a later period pz, huts, Greek i^iano^, bt/ssus, 
 1 Chron. xv. 27 ; Esth. i. (3, et al. This, however, is 
 strictly the fine Egyptian cotton, and the white cloth 
 made from it. This cloth, so celebrated in ancient 
 times, is still found wrapped around mummies; and 
 appears to have been about of the texture and quality 
 of the ordinary cotton sheeting of the present day. 
 Both these Hebrew words signify originally white. R. 
 
 LINUS, a Christian mentioned by Paul, (2 Tim. 
 iv. 21.) and whom Irenseus, Eusebius, Optatus, 
 Epiphanius, Augustin, Jerome and Theodoret aflirni 
 to have succeeded Peter as bishop of Rome. 
 
 It was not possible that Calmet could have access 
 to the Welsh Triads, which only within these few 
 years have appeared in English. Mr. Taylor thinks 
 there is little hazard in taking Linus for the British 
 Ci/Lli.n, brother of Claudia. [The only gi-ound for 
 this conjecture seems to be that each of these names 
 contains the three letters lin. R.] If so, it agrees with 
 the history that Christianity had made converts in 
 the family of Brennus, king of Britain, and Caracta- 
 cus, his son, then prisoners at Rome ; and the first 
 (Gentile) bishop of Rome was a Briton. See Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 LION, a well known and noble beast, frequently 
 spoken of in Scripture. It was common in Palestine, 
 and the Hebrews have seven words to signify the 
 lion in different ages, (1.) mj, gur, or gor, a young 
 lion, a whelp. (2.) i>03, kephir, a young lion. (3.) nx, 
 nnx, ari, or an/e/i, a young and vigorous lion. (4.) '?n;;', 
 shahal, a lion in the full strength of his age. (5.) ynz; 
 shahala, a vigorous lion. (6.) nuS, lebia, an old lion. 
 (7.) ;y% laish, a decrepit lion, worn out with age. But 
 these distinctions are not always used in speaking of 
 the lion. 
 
 " The lion of the tribe of Judah " (Rev. v. 5.) is 
 Jesus Christ, who sprung from the tribe of Judah, 
 and the race of David, and overcame death, the 
 vvorld and the devil. It is supposed by some, that a 
 lion was the device of the tribe of Judah: whence 
 this allusion. (Comp. Gen. xlix. 9.) 
 
 The lion " from the swelling of Jordan," (Jer. i.44.) 
 is, figuratively, Nebuchadnezzar marching like a lion 
 against Judea. He is compared to a lion bj-^ reason 
 of his strength and fierceness : to a lion driven by the 
 rising waters from the neighborhood of Jordan, 
 where he had lain amidst the thickets which cover 
 the banks of that river. (See Jordan.) A lion which 
 
 in his anger falls with fury on every thing he meets 
 in the fields. 
 
 Samson, on his way to Timnalh, having torn a 
 young lion to pieces with his hands, (Judg. xiv.) 
 found, as he afterwards passed by that way, that beeg 
 had made their honey in the skeleton, which was 
 then dried up. This furnished him with a riddle 
 which he proposed to the young men his compan- 
 ions at his wedding: "the devourer furnished meat, 
 and the strong yielded sweetness." See Samson. 
 
 David boasts, that he had killed a lion and a bear, 
 (1 Sam. xvii. 34, 35.) and Ecclesiasticus says, (xlvii. 
 3.) that he played with bears and lions, as he would 
 do with lambs. 
 
 Isaiah, (xi. 6.) describing the happy time of the 
 INIessiah, says, " The calf, the young lion and the fat- 
 ling shall lie down together, and a little child shall 
 lead them ;" and that " the lion should eat straw like 
 the ox ;" signifying the peace and happiness of the 
 church of Christ. 
 
 The roaring of the lion is terrible, (Amosiii. 8.) and 
 therefore it is said, " The king's wrath is as the roar- 
 ing of a lion; whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth 
 against his own soul ;" (Prov. xix. 12 ; xx. 2.) i. e. he 
 seeketh his own death. 
 
 LIP, in Hebrew, is sometimes used for the bank 
 of a river, for the border of a vessel or table. Josh, 
 iii. 8 ; 2 Chron. iv. 2. It also signifies language, 
 Gen. xi. 1 ; Exod. vi. 12, &c. " We will render thee 
 the calves of our lips," says Hosea ; (xiv. 2.) that is, 
 sacrifices of praise, instead of bloodj' victims. " I do 
 not send thee," says the Lord to Ezekiel, (iii. 5.) " to 
 a people deep of lip," of an unknown language. 
 
 LIZARD. Several species of lizards are well 
 known. There are some in Arabia, a cubit in length ; 
 but in the Indies there are some much longer. They 
 are still sometimes eaten, as they probably were in 
 Arabia and Judea, since Moses forbids them as food. 
 
 W^e find several sorts of lizards mentioned in 
 Scripture; tm<..'^, letah ; ur:n, hornet ; Px:C2r\,tinshemeth ; 
 (Lev. xi. 30.) and r---;', shemamiih. The third is trans- 
 lated mole ; but Bochart maintains that it is the 
 chamelion (which is a kind of lizard.) 
 
 LOAVES, see Bread. 
 
 LOCUST, a voracious insect, belonging to the 
 grasshopper or grylli genus, and a great scourge in 
 oriental countries. 
 
 Moses declares all creatures that fly and walk ou 
 four feet to be impure, but he excepts those which, 
 having their hind feet longer than the others, skip, 
 and do not crawl upon the earth. Afterwards (Lev. 
 xi. 22.) he describes four sorts of locusts, or, it may be, 
 the same sort in different states: — nai.v, arbeh ; zzyhpy 
 salam, h}nr\, hargol, and 2.in, hagab ; which Jerome 
 translates britchit.'t, atiacus, ophiomacus, and locusta. 
 
 On many occasions the locust has been employed 
 by the Almighty for chastising his guilty creatures. A 
 swarm of locusts were among the jilagucs of Egy])t, 
 when they covered the whole land, so that the earth 
 was darkened ; and they devoured ever}' green herb 
 of the earth, and the fruit of every tree which the hail 
 had left, Exod. x. 15. But the most particular de- 
 scription of this insect, and of its destructive career, 
 mentioned in the sacred A\Titings, is to be found in 
 Joel ii. 3 — 10. This is, perhaps, one of the most 
 striking and animated descriptions to be met with in 
 the whole compass of prophecy. The contexture of 
 the passage is extremely curious ; and the double de- 
 struction to be produced by locusts, and the enemies 
 of which they were the harbingers, is painted with 
 the most expressive force, and described with the
 
 LOCUST 
 
 [ 632 ] 
 
 LOCUST 
 
 most terrible accuracy. We may fancy the destroy- 
 ing army to be moving before us while we read, and 
 imagine that we see the desolation spreading. The 
 following extracts may furnish a commentary upon 
 this and other passages in the Holy Scriptures : — 
 
 " I never observed the mantes (a kind of locusts) 
 to be gregarious ; but the locusts, properly so called, 
 which are so frequently mentioned by sacred as well 
 as profane authors, are sometimes so beyond expres- 
 sion. TfvOse which I saw, anno 1724 and 1725, 
 were much bigger than our common grasshoppers, 
 and had brown spotted wings, with legs and bodies 
 of a bright yellow. Their first appearance was to- 
 wards the latter end of March, the wind having been 
 some time from the south. In the middle of April 
 their numbers were so vastly increased, tliat in the 
 heat of the day they formed themselves into large and 
 numerous swarms, flew in the air like a succession 
 of clouds, and as the prophet Joel expi-esses it, they 
 darkened the sim. When the wind blew briskly, so 
 that these swarms were crowded by others, or thrown 
 one upon another, we had a lively idea of that com- 
 parison of the psalmist, (Ps. cix. 23.) of being tossed 
 lip and down as the locust. In the month of May, 
 when the ovaries of these insects were ripe and tur- 
 gid, each of these swarms began gi-adually to disap- 
 pear, and retired into the Metijiah, and other adjacent 
 plains, where they deposited their eggs. These were 
 no sooner hatched in June, than each of the broods 
 collected itself into a compact body of a furloi;g or 
 more in square, and marching afterwards directly 
 forward towards the sea, they let nothing escape 
 them ; eating up every thing that was green and juicy, 
 not only the lesser kinds of vegetables, but the vine 
 likewise, thejig-tree, the pomegranate, the palm, and the 
 apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, (Joel i. 12.) in 
 doing which, they kept their ranks like men of war, 
 climbing over, as they advanced, every tree or wall 
 that was in their way ; nay, they entered into our very 
 houses and bed-chambers like thieves. The inhab- 
 itants, to stop their progi-ess, made a variety of pits 
 and trenches all over their fields and gardens, which 
 they filled with water ; or else they heajied up there- 
 in heath, stubble, and such like combustible matter, 
 which were severally set on fire upon the approach 
 of the locusts. But this was all to no purpose, for 
 the trenches were quickly filled up, and the fires 
 extinguished by infinite swarms succeeding one 
 another, whilst the front was regardless of danger, 
 and the rear pressed on so close, that a retreat was 
 altogether impossible. A day or two after, one of 
 these broods was in motion, others were already 
 hatched to march and glean after them, gnawing oit' 
 the very bark, and the young branches of such trees, 
 as had before escaped with the loss only of their fruit 
 and foliage. So justly have they been compared by 
 the pro}jhet to a great army, who further observes, 
 that the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and 
 behind them a desolate wilderness." (Shaw's Travels, 
 p. 187, 4to.) 
 
 Colonel Needham, who had lived some time in Ten- 
 eriffe, informed sir Hans Sloane, that in 1649 locusts 
 destroyed all the product of that island. They saw 
 them come from off the coast of l$arbary, the wind 
 being a Levant from thence. They flew as far as 
 they could ; then one alighted in the sea, and another 
 upon that, so that one after another they made a heap 
 as large as the greatest ship above water, and were 
 thought to be almost as many under. Those above 
 water, on the next day, after the sun's refreshing 
 them, took flight again, and came in clouds to the 
 
 island, from whence they had perceived them in the 
 air, and had gathered all the soldiers of the island 
 and of Laguna together, being 7000 or 8000 men, 
 who, laying aside their amis, some took bags, some 
 spades, and having notice by their scouts from the 
 hills where they alighted, they went forward, made 
 trenches, and brought their bags full, and covered 
 them with mould. This, however, did not do, for 
 some of the locusts escaped, or, being cast on the 
 shore, were revived by the sun, and flew about and 
 destroyed all the vineyards and trees. They ate the 
 leaves and even the bark of the vines where they 
 alighted. But all would not do ; the locusts remained 
 there for four months ; cattle ate them and died, and 
 so did several men ; and others struck out in blotches. 
 The other Canary islands were so troubled also, that 
 they were forced to bury their provisions. "I can- 
 jiot better represent their flight to you," says Beau- 
 jilau, "than by comparing it to the flakes of snow in 
 cloudy weather, driven about by the wind ; and whan 
 they alight upon the ground to feed, the plains are 
 all covered, and they make a murmuring noise as 
 they eat, and in less than two hoiu's they devour all 
 close to the ground ; then rising, they suffer them- 
 selves to be carried away by the wind ; and when 
 they fly, though the sun shines ever so bright, it is no 
 lighter than when most clouded. The air was so 
 full of them, that I could not eat in my chamber 
 without a candle ; (Joel ii. 2, 10.) all the houses being 
 full of them, even the stables, barns, chambers, gar- 
 rets, and cellars, ver. 9. I caused cannon-powder 
 and sulphvu' to be burnt to expel them, but all to no 
 purpose ; for when the door was opened an infinite 
 luimber came in, and the others went out, fluttering 
 about ; and it was a troublesome thing, when a man 
 went abroad, to be hit on the face by those creatures, 
 sometimes on the nose, sometimes the eyes, and 
 sometimes the cheeks, so that there was no opening 
 one's mouth but some would get in. Yet all this was 
 nothing, for when we were to eat, those creatures 
 gave us no respite; and when we cut a bit of meat, 
 we cut a locust with it ; and when a man opened his 
 mouth to j)ut in a morsel, he was sure to chew" one 
 of them. I have seen them at night, when they sit 
 to rest them, that the roads were fom* inches thick 
 of them, one upon another ; so that the horses would 
 not trample over them, but as they were put on with 
 much lashing, pricking up their ears, snorting and 
 treading fearfully. The wheels of our carts and the 
 feet of our horses bruising those creatures, there 
 came from them such a stink, as not only offended 
 the nose, but the brain. I was not able to endure 
 that stench, but was forced to wash my nose with 
 vinegar, and hold a handkerchief dipped in it contin- 
 ually at my nostrils. The swine feast upon them as a 
 dainty, and grow fat ; but nobody will cat of them so 
 fattened, only because they abhor that sort of vermin 
 that does them so much harm." (Gent.'s Mag. 1748.) 
 Mr. Morier says, "On the 11th of June, while 
 seated in our tents about noon, we heard a very un- 
 usual noise, that sounded like the rustling of a great 
 wind at a distance. On looking up we perceived an 
 immense cloud, here and there semi-transparent, in 
 other parts quite black, that spread itself all over the 
 sky, and at intervals shadowed the sun. These we 
 soon found to be locusts, whole swarms of them fall- 
 ing about us . . . These were of a red color, and I 
 should suppose are the red predatory locusts, one of 
 the Egyptian plagues ; they are also the 'great grass- 
 hopper,' mentioned by the prophet Nahum ; no doubt 
 in contradistinction to the lesser, chap. iii. 17. As
 
 LOCUST 
 
 [ 633 ] 
 
 LOCUST 
 
 soon as they appeared, tlie gardeners and husband- 
 men made loud shouts, to prevent their settling on 
 their e'ounds. It is to this custom that the proj)het 
 Jereniiali, perhaps, alludes, when he says, 'Surely I 
 will till thee with men, as with caterpillars, and they 
 shall lift up a sliout against thee,' chap. li. 14. They 
 seemed to be impelled by one conmion instinct, and 
 moved in one body, which had the appearance of 
 being organized by a leader, Joel ii. 7. Their 
 strength must be very great, if we consider what im- 
 mense journeys they have been known to make." 
 (Second Journey, p. 99.) 
 
 [In order to atibrd the fullest information respect- 
 ing these insects, which constitute so terrible a 
 scourge in oriental countries, the following extracts 
 from Niebuhr and Uurckhardt are here subjoined. 
 Each of these travellers relates only what he himself 
 saw. 
 
 Xiebuhr thus gives the sum of all the information 
 which he had collected respecting the locusts : 
 (Descr. of Arabia, p. 168, Germ, ed.) "Locusts are 
 very frequent in the East ; but still, not so much so, 
 jjerhaps, as is generally supposed in Europe. The 
 first great flight of locusts that we saw was at Cairo, 
 about the end of December, 17G1 ; and on the 9th of 
 January, 1762, there was another, in the same city, 
 still more terrible, which came with the south-west 
 wind, and consequently from over the Libyan desert. 
 Of these last great numbers fell upon the roofs of 
 the houses and in the streets, perlia|)s from being 
 fatigued with their long journey. After this I saw 
 no locusts in any great nun)ber until after our arrival 
 in Djidda. An immense swarm of them arrived at 
 this place in the night between the 10th and 11th of 
 November, 1762, brought by a west wind, and conse- 
 quently from across the Arabian gulf, which is here 
 very broad. Very many of them had Ibuiid their 
 gi-avcs in the water. On the 17th of the same month, 
 another flight of them arrived at Djidda, but not so 
 large as the former. In May, as the dates began to 
 ripen in Tehama, tliere came several times to Mocha 
 immense swarms, from the west or south ; conse- 
 quently across the Red sea. They commonly the 
 next day either turned back, or continued their jour- 
 ney eastwards to the mountainous parts of the coim- 
 try. The sea at Mocha, as is well known, is not very 
 broad ; nevertheless, the shore was sometimes thickly 
 covered with the dead locusts. In the beginning of 
 July, 1763, we saw innumerable multitudes of locusts 
 in the mountain Sumara, and on the way from thence 
 to Yerim. On the 17th of April, 1766, 1 fell in with, 
 so to speak, a nest of locusts. A large tract of lancl 
 near Tel el Hana, on the Avay between ]\Iosul and 
 Nissebin, was entirely covered with young locusts, not 
 yet much larger than a common fly. Their wings 
 were as yet scarcely to be seen ; and of the hinder 
 legs they seemed to have <Dnly the upper half. These 
 locusts arc saib to acfpiire their full size with aston- 
 ishing rapidity. Had there been in this country a 
 good police, it would have been easy to have de- 
 stroyed here multitudes of these insects, in their birth, 
 as it were ; and thus probai)ly have jireventcd much 
 damage. A heavy rain would probably also have 
 been fatal to these young insects ; for, wherever I 
 have seen locusts, there had been no rain for some 
 time ; and whenever rainy weather appeared, they 
 departed. 
 
 " Excej)t in the countries above mentioned, I have 
 
 seen no locusts, at least, not in such nmnbers as to 
 
 think it worth while to note them. The locust of 
 
 these swarms is the same that the Arabs eat ; and 
 
 80 
 
 also, as I remember to have, heard from Forskal, the 
 same which has been seen in Germany." 
 
 IJurckhardt ftrst fell in with locusts iii the Ilaouran, 
 not far from Bozra : (Travels in Svria, &ic. p. 238.) 
 " It was at Nacme that I saw, for" the fiist time, a 
 swarm of locusts : they so completely covered the 
 surface of the ground, that my horse killed numbers 
 of them at every step ; whilst I had the greatest dif- 
 ficulty in keeping from my face those that rose up 
 and flew about. This species is called, in Syria, the 
 Djcrad JVecljilyut, or flying locusts, being thus distin- 
 guished from the other species, called Djcrad Dsahhaf, 
 or devouring locusts. The forjner have a yellow borly, 
 a gray breast, and wings of i\ dirty white, with gray 
 spots. The latter, I was told, have a whitish gray 
 body, and white wings. The Nedjdyat are much 
 less dreaded than the others, because they feed only 
 upon the leaves of trees and vegetables, sparing the 
 wheat and barley. The Dsahhaf, on the contrary, 
 devour whatever vegetation they meet with, and are 
 the terror of the husbandmen ; the Nedjdyat attack 
 only the produce of the gardener, or the wild herbs 
 of the desert. I was told, however, that the offspring 
 of the Nedjdyat, produced in Syria, partake of the 
 voracity of the Dsahhaf, and like them prey upon the 
 crops of grain. 
 
 " The natural enemy of the locust is the bird Seme- 
 mar, which is of the size of a swallow, and devours 
 vast numbers of them. It is even said that the lo- 
 custs take flight at the cry of this bird. But if the 
 whole feathered tribe of the districts visited by locusts 
 were to unite their efforts, it would avail little, so 
 immense arc the numbers of these dreadful insects." 
 
 In Southern Africa, the plague of locusts would 
 seem to be not much less than in Asia. The follow- 
 ing is an extract frotii a newspaper published at 
 Cape Town, July 30, 1831 : " About a month ago an 
 innumerable swarm of locufets made their a])pearance 
 on the place of Mr. De ^Vaal, Field Cornet, Cold 
 Bokkeveld : the swarm covers more than a mile 
 square, when they settle on the grass or among the 
 bushes. An attempt was made to destroy them, by 
 setting fire to the buslies in the morning, before they 
 began to fly ; but although millions have been de- 
 stroyed in this manner, their number appears noth- 
 ing decreased. Towards the afternoon, if the weather 
 is warm, thej' arise, and appear to drive with the 
 wind. They do not rise liigh, but their thickness is 
 sucli as to darken the place over wiiich they fly ; 
 they come round and cover the house and offices, 
 and also the garden. When they settle, they cat the 
 place bare in a few minutes ; there is, however, grass 
 sufiicient to satisfy this immense multitude, without 
 any loss being felt. A cloud of them passed within 
 a few yards of my window yesterday afternoon, in a 
 train of many millions thick, and about an hour in 
 length ; they were so near that I could catch them 
 without going out : they vv'crc eagerly attacked by 
 the turkeys and other poultrj', which appeared to 
 feed deliciously upon tlicin. They have not as yet 
 done any harm to the crops, they being too young, 
 and the grass more enticing. In their flight, myri- 
 ads remain on the ground, which are devoured by 
 the crows, black-birds, &rc. The fear is, that the 
 eggs or spawn wiiich they leave, may produce equal, 
 if not more, at some future period, which may then 
 be destructive to the cro])s, after the grass begins to 
 dry and waste. In cold, rainy weather they remain 
 still ; it is only when it is fine and warm that they 
 move." *R. 
 
 Even England has been alarmed by the appear-
 
 LOCUST 
 
 [ 634 
 
 LOCUST 
 
 ance of locusts, a considerable number having visited 
 that country in 1748 : but they iiappily perished 
 without propagating. They have frequently entered 
 Italy and Spain, from Africa. In the year 591, an 
 immense army of them ravaged a considerable part 
 of the forjner country, and it is said tiiat nearly a 
 million of men and beasts were carried off by a pes- 
 tilence occasioned by their stench. 
 
 Such is the general history of the locust-swarms, 
 and their devastations : the following more particular 
 account of the manners of this insect and its noxious 
 qualities is translated from Rozier's Journal de Phy- 
 sique, Nov. 1786, p. 321, &c. It was furnislied by 
 M. Baron, Conseillcr en la Cour des Comptes, &:c. at 
 Montpelier : — 
 
 "These insects seek each otlior the tnonient they 
 are able to use their wings : after ti)eir union, tlie 
 female lays her eggs in a liole wliich she makes in 
 the earth ; and for this purpose she seeks hght 
 sandy earth, avoiding moist, compact and cultivated 
 grounds. A Spanisli author says, ' Sliould even a 
 million of locusts fall on a cultivated field, not one of 
 them may be expected to lay her eggs in it ; but if 
 there be in this space a piece of earth not cultivated, 
 though it be very small, thither they will all resort 
 for that purpose.' The sense of smelling is supposed 
 to direct this preference. The eggs lie all the win- 
 ter, till the warmth of spring calls them into hfe. 
 They appear at first in the form of worms, not larger 
 than a flea, at first whitish, tlien blackish, at length 
 reddish. They undergo several other changes: ac- 
 cording to the heat of the season and situation, is the 
 time of their appearance. ' I have seen,' says the 
 Spanish writer already referred to, ' at Almiera mill- 
 ions creep forth, in the month of February, because 
 this spot is remarkably forward in its productions. 
 In Sierra Neva^da they quit the nest in April ; and I 
 have observed that in La Mancha they were not all 
 vivified at the beginning of May.' lleat also pro- 
 motes their numbers ; for, if the heat be sufficient, 
 every egg is hatched ; not so if cold weather prevails. 
 Dryness favors the production of locusts; for, as this 
 insect deposits its eggs in the ground, enclosed in a 
 bag, and this bag is smeared with a frothy white 
 mucus, if the season be wet, this mucus becomes 
 rotten, the gi'ound moistens the eggs, and tlie whole 
 brood perishes. Eight or ten days' raiu, at the proper 
 season, is a certain deliverance from tlie l)roods com- 
 mitted to the earth. 
 
 "There is no doubt on the changes to which the 
 locust is subject. The same animal which appears 
 at first in the form of a worm, passes afterwards into 
 the state of a nymph ; and undergoes a third meta- 
 morphosis by quitting its skin, and becoming a per- 
 fect animal, capable of continuing its species. A lo- 
 cust remains in its nymph state 24 or 25 days, more 
 or less, according to the season : when, having ac- 
 quired its fiill growth, it refraitis some days from 
 eating; and, gradually bursting its skin, comes forth 
 a new animal, full of life and vigor. These insects 
 leap to a height two hundred times the length of their 
 bodies, by means of those powerful legs and thighs, 
 which are articulated near the centre of the body. 
 When raised to a certain height in the air, they 
 spread their wings, and arc so closely embodied to- 
 gether, as to form but one mass, intercejiting the rays 
 of the sun, almost by a total eclipse. 
 
 "In the south of France, besides the lal)ors of men 
 to discover the eggs of the locust, about September 
 and October, or in the month of March, they turn 
 troops of hogs into the groimds that are suspected of 
 
 concealing their nests, and these animals, by lurniiig 
 up the earth with their snouts, in search of a food 
 which they are fond of, clear away vast quantities. 
 In Languedoc they dig pits, into which they throw 
 them : — great care is necessary in destroying them, 
 that they are not hurtful after they are dead. The 
 infection spread by their corrupting carcasses is in- 
 sujjportable. Surius and Cornelius Gemma, both 
 mentioning a prodigious incursion of locusts in 1542, 
 report, that after their death, they infected the air 
 with such a stench, that the ravens, crows, and other 
 birds of prey, though hungrj^, yet would not come 
 near their carcasses. We have ourselves experi- 
 enced two years ago the truth of this fact ; the pits 
 where they had been buried, after twenty-four hours, 
 could not be passed." 
 
 Upon this information Mr. Taylor submhs the fol- 
 lowing remarks : 
 
 1. llcat and dryness are favorable to tlie increase 
 of locusts. We think, therefore, that when God 
 threatens to bring a plague of locusts over Israel, as 
 in Joel, (chap, ii.) it may imply also a summer of 
 drought. So we read, chap. i. verse 20 : " The rivers 
 of water are dried up ; the fire hath devoured the 
 pastures of the wilderness :" — and after tiie removal 
 of this plague : (chap. ii. 23.) " The Lord giveth the 
 former rain moderately . . . and the latter rain . . . and 
 will (by means, no doubt, of these showers) restore 
 the years that the locust hath eaten." Indeed, on 
 attentively penising that chapter, we shall find these 
 extracts to be direct comments upon it. Compare a 
 few verses: "Blow the trumpet . . . sound an alarm 
 ... let all the inhabitants of the land tremble ;" as at 
 Tenerifte, when the whole population watched the 
 flying invaders with the most painful anxiety. "A day 
 of darkness and gloominess . . of clouds . . of thick 
 darkness, as the morning spread on the mountains." 
 " They are like flakes of snow," says one writer, 
 " wiicn they fly : though the sun shines ever so 
 bright, it is no lighter than when most clouded :" — • 
 " they darken the sun, so that travellers could not de- 
 scry the town." " A great (rather a numerous) peo- 
 ple, and a strong:" — their numbers are noticed by 
 every writer. "The land is as the garden of Eden 
 before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness :" 
 — "they eat up all sorts of grain and grass, cabbage 
 leaf, lettuce, blossoms of apple and crab-trees, and 
 especially the leaves of the oaks, grassy rushes and 
 reeds," — " yea, and nothing shall escape them. The 
 appearance of them is as the appearance of horses. 
 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains 
 shall they leap :" — " You cannot conceive the noise 
 made by those insects in their flight." " Like the 
 noise of a flame of fire that devoureth stubble :" — 
 "they make a murmuring noise as they eat." "Be- 
 fore their face the people shall be much pained . . 
 They shall run like mighty men ; they sliall climb 
 the wall like men of war . . . They shall run to and 
 fro in the city ; they shall run upon the wall ; they 
 shall climb upon the houses; they shall enter in at 
 the windows, like a thief." See what is observed 
 from Beauplaii, of" every room being fiill ; and even 
 every dish of meat." After the terrible devastation 
 committed by these ravages, the Lord calls to re- 
 pentance ; and jiromises, on the penitential humilia- 
 tion of his people, to remove far oft" the northern 
 army ; and drive him into a land, barren and deso- 
 late, with his face toward the East sea, and his hinder 
 part toward the utmost sea: and his stink shall come 
 up and his ill savor. It is remarkable, that our ex- 
 tracts agree in recording the stink and ill savor of
 
 LOCUST 
 
 [ (;35 ] 
 
 LOCUST 
 
 the locust: "They leave behind tht'in nn intolerable 
 stench." " They leave a great stench behind them :" 
 and M. Baron gives strict orders concerning the ef- 
 fectual interment of these masses of corruption ; ob- 
 serving, "The infection lell by their carcasses is in- 
 supportable." 
 
 The prophet Nahum says of the locusts, that they 
 camj) in the hedges in the cold day, but when the 
 Bun ariseth tliey Hee awaj'. Every observer notices 
 the torpid effect of cold, and the invigorating powers 
 of heat, on the locust. 
 
 2. Anotiier remarkable j)nrticular appears to have 
 considerable connection with some things said on 
 Kxod. xvi. 13. that " in the morning, or evening, or 
 in misty weather, locusts do not see equally well, nor 
 fly so high ; they suffer themselves to be more closely 
 approached ; they are stiff' and slow in their motions ; 
 and are more easily destroyeil." This supjjorts rath- 
 er the opinion of those who consider the word stiav 
 as denoting a mist, or fog ; and think it possible that 
 the word stlavvn (Num. xi. 31.) may express those 
 clouds of locusts, which com])ose these flying armies. 
 The opposition of two winds was likely to produce 
 a calm, and a calm to cause a fog ; the lower flight 
 of the locusts, the gathering them during the even- 
 ing, all night, and the next morning, agree with these 
 extracts ; and the fatal effects (verses 3^3, 34.) while 
 the llesh was yet betweeu the teeth of the people, 
 seem to be precisely such as might be expected, from 
 the stench of the immense masses of locusts, spread 
 all abroad round about the camp. Coulil u more 
 certain way of generating a pestilence have been 
 adopted, considering the stench uniforn)ly attributed 
 to them, and the malignity attending such infection 
 as their dead carcasses so exposed nnist occasion ? 
 [Several interpreters have supposed that the word 
 rendered quails in Ex. xvi. 13. means a species of 
 locust ; but this opinion is now generally abandoned, 
 although supported by Ludoff" and Niebuhr. R. 
 
 As locusts are connnonly eaten m Palestine, and 
 in the neighboring countries, there is no difficulty 
 in supposing, that the word akrides, used by Matthew, 
 (Ni. 4.) speaking of the food on which John subsisted, 
 might signify these insects. The ancients affirm, 
 that in Africa, Syria, Persia, and almost throughout 
 Asia, the people did commonly eat these creatures. 
 Some nations were called Acridophagi, or eaters of 
 locusts, because these insects formed their principal 
 food. Clcnard, in a letter from Fez, (A. D. 1541,) 
 assures us, that he saw wagon-loads of locusts 
 brought into that city for food. Kirstenius, in his 
 notes on ]Mattliew, says, he was informed by his 
 Aral)ic master, that he had often seen them on the 
 ri\'er .lordau ; that they were of the same form as 
 ours, but larger ; that the uihabitants ])luck off" their 
 wings and feet, and hang up the rest till they grow 
 warm and ferment ; and that then they cat them, and 
 think them good food. A monk, who had travelled 
 into Egypt, assures us, that he had eaten of these lo- 
 custs, and that in the country they subsisted on them 
 four months in the year. More recent travellers cor- 
 roborate these statements. 
 
 [Niebuhr remarks that " it is no more inconcciva- 
 lilc to Europeans, that the Arabs should eat locusts 
 with relish, than it is incredible to the Araiis, who 
 have had no intercourse with Christians, that the 
 latter should regard oysters, lobsters, &c. as delica- 
 cies. Nevertheless, one is just as certain as the other. 
 Locusts are brought to market on strings, in all the 
 ciliesof Arabia, from Babehnandeb to Bassorah. On 
 
 mount Sumara 1 saw an Arab who had collected a 
 whole sack-full of them. They are prepared in dif- 
 ferent ways. An Arab in Egypt, of whom we re- 
 quested that he would inmicdiately eat locusts in our 
 presence, threw them upon the glowing coals ; antt 
 after he supjjosed they were roasted enough, he took 
 them by the legs and head, and devoured the re- 
 mainder at one mouthful. When the Arabs have 
 them in quantities, they roast or dry them in. an oven,, 
 or boil them and eat them with salt. The Arabs ii* 
 the kingdom of Morocco boil the locusts, and then 
 dry them on the roofs of their houses. One sees* 
 there large baskets-ftill of them in the markets. I 
 have myself never tried to eat locusts." (Descr. of 
 Arabia, ]). 17i, Germ, ed.) 
 
 Burckharilt also relates the fact in a similar man- 
 ner : (Travels in Syria, &c. j). Q39.) "The Be- 
 douins eat locusts, wliicli are collected in great quan- 
 tities in the beginning of April, -when the sexes 
 cohabit, and they are easily caught. After having 
 been roasted a little upon the iron plate on which 
 bread is baked, (see Bread, i*. 208.) they are dried in 
 the sun, and then put into krge sacks, with the mix- 
 ture of a little salt. They are never served up as a 
 dish, but every one takes a handful of them when 
 hungry. The peasants of Syria do not eat locusts ; 
 nor have I myself ever had an opportunity of tasting 
 them. There ai-e a few poor Fellahs in the Haou- 
 ran, however, who sometimes, pressed by hunger, 
 make a meal of them ; but they break oft' the head 
 and take out the entrails before they dry them hi 
 the sun. The Bedouins swallow them entire." 
 
 After these statements, there can surely be no dif- 
 ficulty in admitting "locusts "to have been the food 
 of John the Baptist, Matt. iii. 4. ■ R. . 
 
 There is a remarkable passage in Eccl. xii. 5. where 
 Solomon, describing the infelicities of old age, says, 
 according to our translation : " The grasshopper shall 
 be a burden ;" l>ut it is generally admitted, that the 
 words should be rendered " The locust shall burden 
 itself." TJjte Aord (jjn, /(rtg-ai) signifies a particular 
 species of locnst : in Arabic, the word implies to veil, 
 or hide, and it probably denotes a kind of hooded lo- 
 cust, or tlie lesser yellowish locust, which greatly re- 
 sembles our grasshopper. To this insect the preacher 
 compares "a dry, shrunk, shrivelled, crurni)ling, crag- 
 gy old man, his back-bone sticking out, his knees 
 projecting forwards, his arms backwards, his head 
 downwards, and the apophyses or bunching parts of 
 the bones in general enlarged." From this exact 
 likeness, says Dr. Smith, without all doubt, arose tho 
 fable of Tithomts, who, living to an extreme old age, 
 was at last turned into a grasshopper. This^oe/icaZ 
 use of the locust, as figurative of an old man, may 
 be justified by quoting the pictorial figurative applica- 
 tion of the same insect, to the same purpose. In tho 
 collection of gems in the Florentine gallery, (Plate 
 OG.) appear several instances, as it seems, of this 
 allegory. 
 
 Tlie one here copied, appears to be perfectly coin- 
 cident with what is imderstood to be the true import 
 of the royal preacher's expressions. It represents 
 an old man, under the emaciated figure of a locust, 
 which has loaded his shrunk stature, his drooping 
 wings, and his spindle shanks, with a suppHcatory 
 szicrifice to \'enus. In this gem, the idea of an old 
 man being signified by the locust, is conspicuous; 
 for he stands upright, so far as he can stand upright, 
 on his hinder legs ; over his shoulder he carries a 
 kind of yoke, with a loaded basket of off'erings at 
 
 \^
 
 LOCUST 
 
 [ 636 
 
 LOCUST 
 
 each end, (a veiy common instrument in representa- 
 tions of sacrifice,) 
 which he grasps 
 carefully with his 
 two fore legs (the 
 other fore legs being 
 omitted for the sake 
 of similarity,) and he 
 proceeds creeping 
 (not flying) on tip- 
 toe, staggei'ing to- 
 wards the column 
 which is consecrat- 
 ed, as appears by 
 evident insignia, to 
 the diviiiity of his 
 adoration. 
 
 Surely, these are 
 sufficiently remark- 
 able coincidences of imagination ; as will appear, on 
 analyzing the words of the passage in Ecclesiastes : 
 
 Shall crouch all the daughters of song : 
 
 And of that which is high they shall fear ; 
 
 And alarms [shall be] in the way ; 
 
 And shall drop off' the almond, 
 
 or be dismissed the watcher, 
 
 0?' be relinquished vigilance ; 
 
 And shall burden itself the locust ; 
 
 And abolished is enjoyment. 
 
 The Latin version of Pagninus gives the same 
 sense, " Et reprohahitur coitus, el onerahitur dorsum, et 
 dissipabitur concupisceniia." 
 
 The adoption of tiie same emblem of imbecility, 
 by persons so distant and different as the royal 
 preacher, and the engraver of this gem, at least mer- 
 its this remark ; but it seems also to favor the idea, 
 that such was a common figurative representation ; 
 and, if so, it may justify the inference that the other 
 parts of Solomon's description of old age were per- 
 fectly familiar to the reader in his day, though to ex- 
 plain them thoroughly now, requires no little share 
 of penetration. If this representation be thought 
 less conmion, it may be esteemed the more curious. 
 But the reason for allegorizing such a character un- 
 der tlie figure of a locust, may be gathered from a 
 note of M. Baron : " Ces insectes sont si fortement 
 joints dans I'accouplement, (pie les prenaut avec la 
 main, ils ne se separent point. lis restent ainsi dans 
 la ineme situation i)lusieurs heures, les jours et les 
 nuits entieres ; si vous tentez de les st'parcr, vous seu- 
 tez qu'ils font resistance, et ce ne pent etre qu'avec 
 effort (jue vous en venez a bout." This is a complete 
 vindication of the version adopted by Pagninus ; and, 
 being drawn from nature, shows how the same notion 
 might be expressed under the same similitude, as well 
 by other observers as by the sagacious Solomon. 
 
 No apology is necessary for adding the following : 
 "Barzillai was a very aged man, fourscore j^ears old. 
 And Barzillai said unto the king, How long" have I to 
 live "? Can I discern between good and evil ? Can 
 thy servant taste what I eat, or what I drink ? Can 
 I hear any more the voice of singing men and sing- 
 ing women ? Let thy servant return, to die in my 
 own city, and to be buried in the grave of my father, 
 and of my mother," 2 Sam. xix. 35. 
 
 -The sixth age shifts 
 
 Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, 
 
 V/ith spectacles en's nose, and pouch on's side ; 
 
 His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide 
 For his shrunk shank ; and his big manly voice, 
 Turning again towards childish treble, pipes 
 And whistles in his sound : Last scene of all. 
 That ends this strange eventful history, 
 Is second childishness and mere oblivion ; 
 Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing. 
 
 Shakspearc. 
 
 But there is another, and perhaps a more difficult, 
 application of the locust as an emblem, in the Book 
 of Revelation, chap. ix. The passage has generally 
 been thought singular, and has, indeed, been aban- 
 doned by most critics as desperate : — 
 
 "And there came out of the smoke, locusts upon 
 the earth ; and unto them was given power, as the 
 scorpions of the earth have power — and tlieir tor- 
 ment was as the torment of a scoifjion when he 
 striketh a man. And the shapes of the locusts were 
 like unto (1) horses prepared unto battle; and on 
 their heads were as it were (2) crowns like gold ; and 
 their faces were (3) as the faces of men ; and they 
 had hair (4) as the hair of women ; and their teeth 
 were (5) as the teeth of lions ; and they had breast- 
 plates as it were (6) breast-plates of iron ; and the 
 sound of their wings was as the sound of (7) chariots 
 of many horses, rushing to battle ; and they had 
 (8) tails like unto scorpions ; and there were stings in 
 their tails .... and (9) they had a king over them." 
 
 The following passage from Niebuhr serves in 
 part to explain this representation : (Descrip. Arab. p. 
 173.) "An Arab of the desert near Basra [Basso- 
 rah] informed me of a singvdar comparison of the 
 locust with other animals. The terrible locust of 
 chap. ix. of the Apocalypse, not then occurring to 
 me, I regarded this comparison as a jest of the Be- 
 douin [Arab], and I paid no attention to it, till it was 
 repeated by another from Bagdad. It was thus : — 
 He compared the head of the locust to that of the 
 horse (1, 6) ; its breast to that of the lion (5) ; its feet 
 to those of the camel ; its body to that of the ser- 
 pent ; its tail to that of the scorpion (8) ; its horns 
 [antennce'], if I mistake not, to the locks of hair of a 
 virgin (4) ; and so of other parts." [In like manner 
 locusts are called by the Italians cavallette, little 
 horses ; and by the Germans Heupferde. R. 
 
 Vie have numbered these sentences, that the eye 
 may more readily perceive their correspondences. 
 Every reader will wish that Niebuhr had been aware 
 of the similarity of these descriptions ; he might 
 then have illustrated, perhaps, every word of this 
 passage. It seems hiore natural to compare, in No. 
 5. their teeth to those of lions, than their breasts to 
 those of lions ; but this is more especially proper to 
 the Apocalyptic writer's purpose, as he already had 
 informed us of their resemblance to "horses j)repar- 
 ed for battle." As to the armor, &c. of horses pre- 
 pared for battle, in the East, Knolles informs us, that 
 the Mamelukes' horses were commonly furnished 
 with silver bridles, gilt trappings, and rich saddles; 
 and that their necks and breasts weie armed with 
 plates of iron. It is not therefore unlikely, that they 
 liad also ornaments resembling crowns of gold, to 
 which the horns of the locust might be, with propri- 
 ety, compared (2) : we find they had really "breast- 
 plates of iron ;" (6) and by their rushing on the ene- 
 my, and the use they made of their mouths, as 
 described by Knolles, the comparison of them to lo- 
 custs seems very applicable. Without entering into 
 the question, What these locusts prefigured ? the 
 reader will accept the following extracts from this old
 
 LOR 
 
 t 637 
 
 LOT 
 
 writer, (p. 75.) in which those who think that the 
 Tartar, or Turkisli, nation was intended by the locusts, 
 will not fail to discover many points of resemblance. 
 
 " About this time (when in the space of a few yeares 
 such nuitations as had not before of long beene 
 seen, chanced in diuers great Monarchies and States) 
 that the Tartars, or rather Tattars,' inhabiting the 
 lar^e cold and bare countries in the North side of 
 Asia, (of all others a most barbarous, fierce, and 
 necdie Nation,) stirred vp by their owne wants, and 
 the j)ersuasion of one Zingis, (or as some call him, 
 Caiigis,) holden amongst them for a great Prophet, 
 and now by them made their Leader, and honoured 
 bv the name of V lu-Chan, that is to say, the mightie 
 Ki-VG, (commonly called the great Cham,) flocking 
 together in number like the sand of the sea, and 
 conquering first their poore neighbours, of condition 
 and qualitie like themselves, and easie- enough to be 
 entreated with them to seekt then- better fortune, ?jA:e 
 swanncs of grasshoppers sent out to deuoiire the ivorld, 
 passed the high Mountaiue Caucasus, pait of the 
 Mountaine Taurus, of all the JMountaines in the 
 world the greatest ; which, beginning neere vnto the 
 Archijielago, and ending vpon the Orientall Ocean, 
 and running thorow many great and famous king- 
 domes, diuideth Asia into two parts ; ouer which 
 great ]\Iountaine, one of the most assured bounders 
 of nature, that had so many worlds of yeares shut 
 vp this rough and sauage peoTp\c, they now passing 
 without number, and comming downe as it were into 
 another World, full of such Nature's pleasant delights 
 as neuer were to them before scene, bare downe all 
 before them as they went, nothing beeing now able 
 to stand in their way." 
 
 It is remarkable, that Solomon says, (Prov. xxx. 
 27.) "The locusts have >"o king ;" but the locusts of 
 the Apocalypse have a king, and a dreadful king too — 
 Abaddon, — the destroyer. 
 
 LOD, (1 Cliron. viii. 12.) see Lvdda. 
 
 LOG, a Hebrew measure, which held five sixths 
 of a pint ; it is called the foin-th part of a cab, 2 
 Kings vi. 25 ; Lev. xiv. 10, 12, 24. 
 
 LOIS, Timothy's grandmother, whose faith is 
 commended by Paul, 2 Tim. i. 5. 
 
 LOOKING-GLASSES. Moses says, that the de- 
 vout women who sat up all night at the door of the 
 tabernacle in the wildei'ness, offered cheerfully their 
 " looking-glasses" to be employed in making a brazen 
 laver for the purifications of the priests, Exod. xxxviii. 
 8. These looking-glasses were, without doubt, of 
 brass, since the laver was made out of them. See 
 Laver. 
 
 LORD, DoTuinus ;^ Kvniog ; •>jnN, Adoni, or Adonai ; 
 Elohim, or Jehovah ; for the Greek and Latin inter- 
 pretei*s often put Kioto:, and Dominus, for all these 
 names. (1.) The name Lord belongs to God by pre- 
 eminence, and in this sense ought never to be given 
 to any creature. The Messiah as Son of God, equal 
 to the Father, is also often called Lord in the Scrip- 
 tures of the Old and New Testaments. (2.) This 
 name is sometimes given to angels ; whether as rep- 
 resenting the person of God, or as sent by God. 
 Daniel (x. 16, 17.) says to the angel, or, as he calls 
 him, to one who spoke to him imder a human form ; 
 " O my Lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned 
 upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how 
 can the servant of this my Lord talk with this my 
 Lord?" (3.) It is sometimes given to princes, and 
 other persons to whom we would show respect, 
 though the appellation Jehovah never is. — The word 
 Lord in the English version, when printed in small 
 
 capitals, stands always for Jehovah in the Hebrew. 
 See Jehovah. 
 
 LO-RUHAMAH, not obtaining mercy, a symbol- 
 ical name given by Hosea to his daughter, Hos. i. 6. 
 
 LOT, the son of Haraii, and nephew of Abraham, 
 followed his uncle from Ur, and afterwards from Ha- 
 ran, to settle in Canaan, Gen. xi. 31. A. M. 2082. 
 Abraham had always a great affection for him, and 
 when they could not continue longer together in Ca- 
 naan, because they both had lai-ge flocks, and their 
 shepherds sometimes quarrelled, (Gen. xiii. 6, 7.) he 
 gave Lot the choice of his abode. 
 
 About eiglit years after this separation, Chedor- 
 laomer and his allies having attacked the kings of 
 Sodom, and the neigliboring cities, pillaged Sodom, 
 and took many captives, among whom was Lot. 
 Abraham, therefore, armed his servants, pursued the 
 confederate kings, overtook them near the springs 
 of Jordan, recovered the spoil which they had taken, 
 and brought back Lot with the other captives. When 
 the sins of the Sodomites and of the neighboring 
 cities had called down the vengeance of God to pun- 
 ish and destroy them, two angels were sent to Sodom, 
 to forewarn Lot of the dreadful catastrophe that was 
 about to happen. They entered Sodom in the even- 
 ing, and in the morning, before day, they took Lot, 
 his wife, and his daughters, by the hand, and drew 
 them forcibly, as it were, out of their house ; saying, 
 " Save yourselves with all haste : look not behind you ; 
 get as fast as j^ou are able to the mountain, lest you 
 be involved in the calamity of the city." Lot en- 
 treated the angels, who consented that he might re- 
 tire to Zoar, which was one of the five cities doomed 
 to be destroyed. His wife, looking behind her, was 
 destroyed. 
 
 Lot left Zoar, and retired with his two daughtei-s 
 to a cave in an adjacent mountain. — Conceiving that 
 all mankind was destroyed, and that the world would 
 end, unless tlicy provided new inhabitants for it, they 
 made their father drink, and the eldest lay wtli him 
 without his perceiving it ; she conceived a son whom 
 she called Moab. The second daughter did the 
 same, and had Amnion. 
 
 Several questions are pro])osed concerning Lot's 
 wife being changed into a pillar of salt. Some are 
 of opinion, that being surprised and suffocated with 
 fire and smoke, she continued in the same place, as 
 immovable as .a rock of salt ; others, that a column 
 or monument of salt stone was erected on her grave ; 
 others, that she Avas stifled in the flame, and became 
 a monument of salt to posterity ; that is, a permanent 
 and durable monument of her imprudence. The 
 common opinion is, that she was suddenly petrified 
 and changed into a statue of rock salt, which is as 
 hard as the hardest rocks. 
 
 The words of the original, however, have been 
 much too strictly taken by translators. t>:, rendered 
 statue, by no means expresses form, but fixation, set- 
 tledness ; hence a military post ; (1 Sam. x. 5.) that 
 is, a fixed station *, and as the Hebrews reckoned 
 among salts both nitre and bitumen, so the term salt 
 here used, may denote the bitimiinous mass which 
 overwhelmed this woman, fixed her to the place 
 where it fell upon her, raised a mound over her, of a 
 height proportionable to that of her figure, and was 
 long afterwards pointed out by the inhabitants as a 
 memento of her fate, and a warning against loitering, 
 when divinely exhorted, Luke xvii. 32. 
 
 LOTS are mentioned in many places of Scripture. 
 God commanded, that lots should be cast on the two 
 goats, to ascertain which should be ■ crificed. (See
 
 LOTS 
 
 638 ] 
 
 LOW 
 
 Goat, scape.) He required, also, that the land of 
 promise should be divided by lot, (Numb. xxvi. 55, 
 56; xxxiii. 54; xxxiv. 13, &c.) and that the priests 
 and Levites should have their cities given to them by 
 lot. Josh. xiv. XV. xvi. In the time of David, the 
 twenty-four classes of the priests and Levites were 
 distributed by lot, to their order of waiting in the 
 temple, (1 Chron. vi. 54, 61.) and it would seem from 
 Luke i. 9. that the portions of daily duty were ap- 
 l^ointed to the priests by lot ; as Zechariah's lot was to 
 burn incense. In the division of the spoil after vic- 
 tory, lots were cast to determine the portion of each, 
 1 Chron. xxiv. xxv. The soldiers cast lots for our 
 Saviour's garments, as had been foretold by the 
 prophet; and after the death of Judas, lots were 
 cast to decide who should succeed in his place, 
 Acts j. 26. 
 
 The manner of casting lots is not described in the 
 Scriptures ; but several methods appear to have been 
 used. Solomon observes, (Prov. xvi. 33.) that " the 
 lot," pebble, " is cast into the lap," p>n2, mto the bo- 
 som, that is, probably, of an urn, or vase ; which leads 
 to a very different idea from lap — the lap of a per- 
 son : yet, had our translators used the word bosom, 
 which is a more frequent and coiTect import of the 
 word, they would have equally misled the reader, 
 had tliat bosom been referred to a person ; for it does 
 not appear tliat the bosom of a person, that is, of a 
 garment worn by a person, was ever used to receive 
 lots. But probably several modes of drawing lots, 
 or of casting lots, were practised. In support of this 
 remark it should be observed, that the same word is 
 not always used in the Hebrew to express the event 
 of a lot. In Lev. xvi. 8 — 10, the lot is said to ascend, 
 nSy, i. e. come up out of the vase, or urn. Our 
 translation says, "Aaron shall bring the goat on which 
 the Lord's lot fell," — but it is, "on which the lot as- 
 cended," the direct contraiy to falling. " But the 
 goat on which the lot ascended — to be the scape- 
 goat," &c. This compels us to dissent from the ex- 
 planation of the action, by Parkhurst, (Art. SiJ,) who 
 says, " The stone or mark itself which was cast into 
 the um or vessel, and by tlie leaping out of wliich 
 (when the vessel was shaken) Ijefore another of a 
 similar kind, tlie affair was decided." This is com- 
 pl( tcly inconsistent witli the action attributed (veiy 
 <::iilil)ly) to Simon the Just, of drawing oiU these 
 lot.; ; but it may well enough describe what i)assed in 
 the instance of llaman ; (Esth. iii. 7.) they cast Pur, 
 that is, the lot, before Haman, from day to day, and 
 from montli to month." They " cast " — rather per- 
 haps tliey caused to be cast, (-iid '^■'Dn,) which is very 
 different from drawing out. Also, the manner of 
 casting lots on Jonah ; (chap. i. 7.) iS'S% ^^ they cast 
 lots, and the lot fell, was cast, on Jonah." It cannot 
 ^vell be sujiposed that these mariners had on board 
 their ship the proper vase, with its accompaniments, 
 for performing this action with suitable dignity; but, 
 juore probably, something of the nature of our dice- 
 box was sufficient to answer their purpose. 
 
 We are now brought to a more accurate concep- 
 tion of the passage under consideration, in Mhich 
 neither of the words just noticed occurs, (Prov. xvi. 
 33.) but a very different one, (S::r,) the root of which 
 means to cast out, rather than to cast in. It is taken 
 sometimes, however, to express a casting in all direc- 
 tions ; and hence Mr. Taylor infers that the intention 
 of the royal preacher was to express an action of the 
 persoji who holds the lot vase ; that i?, strongly shak- 
 ing it, for the purpose of commingling the Avhole of 
 its contents to prevent all preference for one lot over 
 
 another, to the hand of him who is to draw : — Liter- 
 ally, " In a lot vase the lots are shaken in all direc- 
 tions; nevertheless, from the Lord is their whole 
 decision — judgment." 
 
 The wise man also acknowledges the usefulness 
 of this custom: (Prov. xviii. 18.) " The lot causeth 
 contentions to cease, and parteth between the migh- 
 ty." It is sometimes forbidden, however ; as, when 
 it is practised without necessity ; or wth superstition ; 
 or with a design of tempting God; or in things in 
 which there are other natural means of discovering 
 truth, reason and religion furnish better ways to guide 
 us. Haman (Esth. iii. 7, &c.) used lots, not only out 
 of superstition, but likewise in an unjust and crim- 
 inal matter, when he undertook to destroy the Jews. 
 Nebuchadnezzar did so iu a superstitious manner, 
 when, being on the way to Jerusalem, and Rabbath 
 of the Ammonites, he cast lots to determine which 
 of the two cities he should first attack, Ezek. xxi. 
 18, &c. 
 
 LOTS THE FEAST OF, SCO PuR Or PuRIM. 
 
 LOVE is a natural passion of the human mind ; 
 given to man for the most important purposes. It is 
 denominated from its object, as, (1.) Divine ?oj;e, love 
 to God, love to divine things, to whatever relates to 
 God, or is appointed or approved by him. Love is 
 generally excited in the mind by a sense of some 
 good, some excellence, real or supposed, in the object 
 beloved ; wherefore, as all good is supremely excel- 
 lent, absolutely certain and infinite, in God, he is en- 
 titled to our supreme affection. (9.) Brotherly love, 
 is an affection arising from a sense of participation 
 in certain enjoyments, benefits, &c. of which both 
 parties are conscious. In a family, brothers love each 
 othei", because they are conscious of their mutual re- 
 lation, of enjoying the same family advantages, priv- 
 ileges, (Sec. (3.) Christian brotherly love, is assimilated 
 to the sentiments and feelings of the former : it is a 
 sympathy actuated by a sense of communion in the 
 same hopes, the same fears, the same affections, the 
 same aversions, the benevolence of the same parent, 
 and the general and particular sympathies connected 
 w\\.\\ the principles of piety, the union of the Chris- 
 tian system, and the reciprocal kindnesses of tnily 
 renewed minds. 
 
 It is the excellence of the Christian system that it 
 ennobles, regulates, and directs this passion to jiroper 
 objects, and moderates it within due bounds. Find- 
 ing this principle in the human mind, it docs not 
 banish but encourage it ; does not depress but exalt 
 it ; does not abate but promote it. It is conducted 
 by piety to proper olyects, is animated with the no- 
 blest expectations, and is trained up for perpetual 
 exercise in a world where it shall be perfectly puri- 
 fied, perfectly extended, and perfectly rewarded. 
 
 LOVE-FEAST, see Agap.e. Eug. trans. Feasts 
 of charity, Jude 12. 
 
 LOW is taken for station in life, for disposition of 
 mind, for national depression, &c. As poverty of 
 station is not poverty of spirit, so lowliness of condi- 
 tion is not lowliness of luind ; neither is it always 
 connected with it. Nevertheless, it is a great bless- 
 ing which sometimes attends the dispensations of 
 Providence, that they abase a person in this world, 
 and bring him into a more suitable disposition of 
 mind, a more lowly habit of thought and conduct 
 than when his prosperity was high. So that if he 
 have occasion to regret the loss of temporal good», 
 he may have much greater reason to rejoice in the 
 acquisition of mental and spiritual advantages. See 
 
 HOMILITT.
 
 LUC 
 
 [ 639 ] 
 
 LUD 
 
 LOWER PARTS of the earth are, (1.) Valleys, 
 which diversify the face of the globe, and are evi- 
 dently lower than hills, which also contribute to that 
 diversity, Isa. xliv. 23. — (2.) The grave, which, being 
 dug into the earth, or into rocks, &c. is the lower 
 jjart of the earth, or that portion of it which is usu- 
 ally opened to men : this is sometimes called tlie 
 deep, or abyss ; and, indeed, it is secluded from our 
 cognizance, till we are called to visit " that bourn 
 from whence no traveller returns," Ps. Ixiii. 9 ; Eph. 
 iv. 9. — (3.) As to the phrase, "loiver parts of the 
 earth," (Ps. cxxxix. 15.) in reference to the mother's 
 womb, it is obscure. Perhaps there is a mark of as- 
 similation (o) dropped ; the word may include the 
 idea of a mere particle, an atom of earth, — " When I 
 was made in secret, when I was compacted into 
 form, i)ut together in the 7nost secret of places, [the 
 woml),) and endued with life, though a minute par- 
 ticle of clay, an atom of earth," as the fcrtus in the 
 embryo, the chick in the egg ; quasi animalcula in 
 semine. Sec. Or the passage may have reference to 
 the first formation of man from the dust of the earth. 
 Gen. ii. 7. It docs not appear necessary to take the 
 Hebrew word, rendered "lower parts," as expressing 
 the extremely deep, or central parts, in reference to 
 the general globe of the earth, (see Ps. Ixiii ; Ejih. iv. 
 9 ; Isa. xliv. 23.) so that the superficial dust of the 
 earth, of which man was made, being taken from the 
 moist valley, not from high hills, from a loamy soil, 
 not from granite rock, may be understood by the 
 phrase. If this be accepted, the psalmist may intend 
 to say, " The formation of my body, with its various 
 members, was not without thy knowledge, when I 
 was in the secret womb, completely constituted, 
 body, soul and spirit, (1 Thess. v. 23.) as wonderfully 
 now, by natural generation, as man was at first com- 
 pacted from the dust of the earth :" or, " as a ivonder- 
 ful microcosm, a world — a human world, Avith its 
 many secret combinations, and interior constructions 
 necessary to life ; as wonderful as the composition 
 of the globe itself!" Those acquainted with the 
 .■^peculations of the inquisitive on the mode of im- 
 jiregnation, will admit the truth of this representa- 
 tion, notwithstanding the unremitted labors of our 
 own hunters, the experiments of the curious Spal- 
 lanzani, and of a thousand others, which, probably, 
 would have been thouglit little, if any thing, short of 
 impiety among the Hebrews. " Tlie co7istruction of 
 my solid parts — my bones, &c. was not hidden from 
 thee, though formed in the inost secret place ; and they 
 became connected, compact, firm, under thy appoint- 
 ment and inspection, though originally a mere mole- 
 cule of moist matter." (Comp. Job x. 9 — 12.) 
 
 LUBIjM, the Libyans, always mentioned in con- 
 nection with the Egj'ptians and Ethiopians, 2 Chr. 
 xii ; 3, xvi. 8 ; Neh. iii. 9. See Libya, and Leha- 
 
 BIM. R. 
 
 LUCIFER. [" How art thou fallen from heaven, 
 O Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou cut 
 down to the gi-ound, which didst weaken the na- 
 tions!" Isa. xiv. 12. This is the only place where 
 the word Lucifer occurs in the English Bible, and it 
 is here evidently a])])licd to the king of Babylon. 
 The word signifies light-giver, and is the Latin epi- 
 thet of the planet Venus, or the morning star, — a 
 meaning which is also here expressly assigned to it 
 by the phrase "son of the morning." The Hebrew 
 word is ^S<n, Mil, which may either have the mean- 
 ing brilliant star, or it may be an imperative, signify- 
 ing lament, howl. It is taken in this latter sense by 
 the Syriac, Aquila and Jerome ; but the general 
 
 sense of the passage is thereby little changed ; it 
 would only read, " Howl, son of the morning," &c. 
 The former sense is preferred by the Sept. Vulg. 
 Targums, Rabbins, Luther, and the English version. 
 A brilliant star, and especially the morning star, is 
 often put as the emblem of a mighty prince. Num. 
 xxiv. 17. In Rev. ii. 28, it is said of Christ, " I will 
 give him [cause him to be] the morning star ;" and 
 in Rev. xxii. 16, Christ says of himself, " I am the 
 bright and morning star.'' The Arabs, also, ac- 
 cording to the Camoos, call a prince, the star of a 
 people. 
 
 Tertullian and Gregory the Great understood this 
 passage in Isaiah of the fall of Satan ; and from (his 
 circumstance the name Lucifer has since been ap- 
 plied to Satan. This is now the usual acceptation of 
 the word. *R. 
 
 The Arabians call Lucifer Eblis, and also Azazel, 
 which is the name of the scape-goat that was sent 
 into the wilderness, laden with the sins of the Jews. 
 They relate, that the angels, having God's order to 
 fall prostrate before Adam immediately after his crea- 
 tion, all complied, excepting Eblis, who obstinately 
 refused, alleging, that he and his companions having 
 been derived from the element fire, which is much 
 purer and more excellent than that of earth, of Avhich 
 Adam was formed, it was not just that they should be 
 obliged to pay submission to their inferior. Where- 
 upon God said to him, "Be gone from hence, for 
 thou shalt be deprived forever of my peace, and shalt 
 be cursed to the day of judgment." Eblis desired 
 of God that he would gi-ant him respite till the time 
 of the general resurrection ; but all the delay he could 
 obtain was till the soimd of the first trumpet, that at 
 which all men shall die, in order to rise again at the 
 second sound of the trumpet; that is, forty years 
 after. Eblis, therefore, died, according to the Ma- 
 hometans, but he will hereafter rise with all men, in 
 order to be plunged into flames. We relate these 
 idle traditions for no other reason but to show, that 
 the theology of the easteni people is but a corruption 
 of Christianity. 
 
 LUCIUS of Cyrene, mentioned Acts xiii. 1, was 
 one of the prophets of the Christian church at Anti- 
 och. While employed in his ministry with the 
 others, the Holy Ghost said, " Separate me Paul and 
 Barnabas," &c. Some think that Lucius was one of 
 the seventy. The disciple mentioned, (Rom. xvi. 21.) 
 and styled Paul's kinsman, is, probably, the same as 
 Lucius the Cyrenian. [He is by many supposed to be 
 the same with the evangelist Luke. See Luke. R. 
 
 LUD, the fourth son of Shem, (Gen. x. 22.) who is 
 said by Joseplnis to have peopled Lydia, a province 
 of Asia Minor. Arias Montanus places these Lndim 
 where the Tigris and Euphrates meet, and 31. le 
 Clerc, between the rivers Chaboras and Saocoras, 
 or Masca. 
 
 LUDIM, the son of Mizraim, (Gen. x. 13.) and also 
 the name of a people frequently mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture, Isa. Ixvi. 19 ; Jer. xlvi. 9 ; Ezek. xxvii. 10 ; xxx. 5. 
 We must, however, distinguish between the children 
 of Mizraim, (Gen. x. 13.) or rather, a people or colony 
 which had migrated from Egypt, and Lud the son of 
 Shem, in verse 22, noticed above. These African 
 Lydians are usually mentioned with Phul, Ethiopia 
 and Phut. They were also mercenary auxiliaries to 
 Tyre ; and we must therefore expect to meet with 
 them in a country which admits of all these particu- 
 lars. Bochart inclines to Abyssinia; but t!iis seems 
 to have other characters, and is justly rejected by 
 Michaehs. In Isaiah Ixvi. 19, Lud is associated with
 
 LUK 
 
 [ 640 ] 
 
 LUKE 
 
 Pul, or Phul, and desci-ibed as a nation which draws 
 the bow ; also Jer. xlvi. 19. In Ezekiel xxx. 5, it is 
 in our translation taken for Lydia, being, however, 
 mentioned with the mingled people, or Abyssinia ; it 
 is distinguished from that country, but plainly placed 
 in Africa. We may therefore admit of two countries 
 under this name. (1.) Lydia in Asia; and (2.) Lyd- 
 ia, or Ludim, in Africa. Josephus affirms, that the 
 descendants of Ludim had been long extinct, having 
 been destroyed in the Ethiopian wars. The Jerusa- 
 lem paraphrast translates Ludim, the inhabitants of 
 the Mareotis, a part of Egypt. The truth is, that 
 although these people were in Egypt, it is not easy to 
 show exactly where they dwelt. 
 
 LUHITH, a mountain, in the opinion of Lyra, and 
 the Hebrew commentators on Isa. xv. 5 : but Eusebius 
 thinks it to be a place between Areopolis and Joara ; 
 others suppose between Petra and Sihor. From 
 Jer. xlviii. 5, it is evident that it was an elevated sta- 
 tion, but wliether a town on a hill, or a place for 
 prospect, does not appear. It seems to be associated 
 with other places which we know to be towns. The 
 order of the places named is not tJie same in both 
 prophets, though both refer to the calamities of Moab, 
 to which dominion Luhith belonged. 
 
 LUKE, the Evangelist, is the author of the Gospel 
 bearing his name, and also of the Acts of the Apostles. 
 As Mr. Taylor has bestowed much labor on an histor- 
 ical biography of this evangelist, with a view to the 
 elucidation and authentication of several of the Scrip- 
 ture narratives, we shall lay before our readers the 
 most material parts of his dissertations. 
 
 It may be thought a somewhat singular mode of 
 treating the biographical history of an individual to 
 begin it with mention of his death ; but, in the present 
 instance, that becomes nothing less than a kind of 
 key to the greater incidents of his life ; for, as we 
 have no regular history of the party, but are obliged 
 to arrange incidental references to him, not recorded 
 with any such intention, it is of consequence to be 
 able to annex dates to those incidents, and to show 
 tlie propriety of certain circumstances connected 
 with them. On that propriety depends the cogency 
 of our arguments. 
 
 It passes uncontradicted, that the "Acts of the 
 Apostles" Avere completed and published A. D. 03, or 
 fi4 ; that Luke, not very long afterAvards, went over 
 into Acliaia, where he lived, perhaps, a year or two, 
 and died aged 84. He was, therefore, more than 
 fifteen years (but less than twenty) older than the 
 computed era of A. D. and, if we trace this calculation 
 upwards, we shall find it furnish notable coincidences. 
 For instance, Paul says, " At my first hearing all for- 
 sook me, no man stood with me ;" (2 Tim. iv. 16.) 
 yet Luke was with him at that time ; — why did he 
 not support the apostle ? No answer can be given to 
 this so rational, or so eflfectual, as the recollection, 
 that Luke was then eighty years old, (more or less,) 
 a time of life when many infirmities may become in- 
 nocent causes of absence in such a case, when the 
 person can afford but little assistance, at best ; an age 
 whiclrcven persecutors may feel some compunction, 
 if not reluctance, at bringing to the bar, and exposing 
 to danger from "the mouth of the lion." We may 
 also discover tokens of elderly weakness, in the cir- 
 cumstance, that whereas Paul and his company in- 
 tended to travel on foot from Troas to Assos, a short 
 but mountainous tract, (Acts xx. 13.) Luke preferred 
 proceeding by ship, as less fatiguing. He might be 
 now about seventy-four or seventy-five yean^ of ao-e. 
 The same consideration manifests the discretion of 
 
 the Christian missionaries in leaving Luke at Phihppi, 
 Acts xvi. 40. A. D. 51. (This appears from the change 
 of persons in the narrative ; compare verses 10 — 16.) 
 After what had happened, it was impossible for Paul 
 and Silas to remain in that city ; of the other brethren 
 Timothy was too young a man, not only as it con- 
 cerned the care and superintendence of an infant 
 church, but, as it is most likely that the family of Ly- 
 dia (in whose house they abode) consisted principally 
 of daughters, the residence of that young man in her 
 family, however pious he might be, was unadvisable. 
 No such objection lay against Luke: he was then 
 much beyond sixty years old ; an age whicii prevented 
 censure, while it bespoke prudence : and, accordinglj'^, 
 we find that under the charge of our intelligent as 
 well as pious evangelist, this church speedily became 
 flourishing, numerous, and composed of members 
 who had something to spare for their spiritual father ; 
 and fi-om whom their spiritual father would conde- 
 scend to accept what he declined from other churches 
 — an incident not to be overlooked. 
 
 Again, we read (Actsxiii. 1. A. D. 45.) that "there 
 were in the church that was at Antioch, certain proph- 
 ets and teachers : — as (1.) Barnabas, (2.) Simeon, 
 called Niger, (3.) Luciusof Cyrene, (4.) Manaen, who 
 had been brought up with Herod the tclrarch, and 
 (5.) Saul. It is inquired whether this Lucius were 
 Luke the evangelist. General opinion inclines to 
 the affirmative ; but the argument has never been so 
 clearly stated as it might be. There are two propo- 
 sitions necessary to be attended to, for the better un- 
 derstanding of this passage : the first is, that the AATiter 
 Latinizes ; the second is, that the names are ranked 
 according to seniority. There needs no other proof 
 that the writer Latinizes here than the appellation 
 Niger, given to Simeon. The import of this Latin 
 term certainly is — black, dark, deeply swarthy ; but, 
 unless Latin were the current language at Antioch, 
 (which we know it Avas not,) this is a translation of 
 the Greek term Melas, which denotes the same thing ; 
 and, therefore, is a verbal accommodation. But if 
 the writer Latinizes in the preceding name, it can oc- 
 casion no surprise if he also Latinizes in writing 
 Lucius instead of Luke ; and perhaps we may find, 
 before oin* inquiry terminates, that this is constantly 
 observed when Latins are expected to be the readers. 
 The second proposition is, that the names are ranked 
 according to the age of the parties. To establish this 
 we must reflect that Barnabas (though, perhaps, he 
 may be placed first in compliment to his being a su- 
 perintending visitor sent from Jerusalem) was brother 
 to Mary, who was herself advanced in life, being 
 mother of a son, John Mark, already old enough to 
 accompany his uncle on various journeys ; and to 
 choose firmly for himself the cause of his own con- 
 duct. Barnabas was also of a certain dignified and 
 majestic presence, proper to the currently understood 
 character of Jupiter, the father of the gods. Acts xiv. 
 12. This is inconsistent with the notion of his being 
 a young man. Moreover, as Mercury was son of Ju- 
 piter, according to tlu; heathen theogony, Barnabas 
 must have had the appearance of sufficient age, and 
 gravity, the natural attendant on age, to pass for the 
 father of Paul, whom the Lycaonians qualified as 
 Mercury ; for we cannot suppose that the mere elo- 
 quence of these missionaries was the sole cause of 
 these people's mistake : there must have been a suit- 
 able deportment, figure, and relative time of life also ; 
 and these conspicuous. The second on the list is 
 Simeon, surnamed the Black ; an epithet that well 
 agrees with the complexion of a native of Cyrene in
 
 LUKE 
 
 [641 ] 
 
 LUKE 
 
 Africa ; aiul, therefore, renders it extremely probable, 
 that this is Simon the Cyrenian, the father of Alex- 
 ander and Rufus, Mark xv. 21. It appears from Acts 
 xi. 19, 20, that among the believers dispersed at tJie 
 time of Stephen's martyrdom, were men of Cyrene, 
 who ti-avelled as far as Antioch, preaching the Lord 
 Jesus. Tlicre is, therefore, nothing to hinder onr 
 reckoning among them, Simon the Cyrenian, other- 
 wise Simeon the Black; but if so, and if the Rufus 
 whom Paul salutes, (Rom. xvi. 13.) with his mother, 
 were son of this Simeon, then he was, certainly, an 
 elderly ; nan ; since both his sons were ennnently dis- 
 tinguished in the church, when Mark composed his 
 Gos])el, and apparently long before. It is probable, 
 also, that Shneon was deceased, when Paul wrote to 
 the Romans, say A. D. 58. We come now to Lucius ; 
 and if he be Luke the evangelist — placing this transac- 
 tion in the year of Christ 45 — then Lucius exceeded 
 the age of sixty years ; consequently, he might 
 probably enough take precedence of Manaen, and 
 certainly of Saul, who at this time, as the most judi- 
 cious counnentators suppose, was not more than 
 aljout thirty-five. 
 
 Thus we have reduced to its true value one of Mi- 
 chaelis's two formiilable objections ; objections wliich 
 appeared to him insurmountable, against the identity 
 of Lucius and Luke. " Besides," says ho, " the name 
 of Lucius stands before that of Paul, an arrangement 
 wliich is incompatible with Luke's modesty, if he 
 himself were Lucius, for he Avould not tlien have 
 placed his own name before that of an apostle." Now, 
 this he had a very good right to do, without any im- 
 |)eachment of his modesty — in fact lie was obliged to 
 do so, if this were the arrangement of the church lists 
 at Aiuioch ; and if the order were determined by 
 seniorit}'. 
 
 And here wc ought not to overlook the wisdom of 
 the a[)pointment made by the Holy Ghost in uniting' 
 Barnabas and Saul in the same mission ; one was ch'' 
 eldest, the other the youngest, of the teachers at Anti- 
 och : the sedateness of one would temjier tlie nre of 
 tlie other : the character of Barnabas as a " son of 
 consolation," as a "good man," mild, courteous, a 
 man of experience, who had long been a companion 
 of the apostles, and was familiar with their views of 
 tilings, admirably combined with the fervor of his 
 younger friend, whose greater activity and prompti- 
 tude would induce and enable him to improve every 
 opening to " spend and be spent" in all directions, to 
 ilisccrn possible advantages, and to acton contingen- 
 cies, in cases which to his less vigorous partner might 
 appear dubious, if not imprudent ; or which he might 
 lliink himself, at least, not altogether competent to. 
 If liUke were about sixty years of age, when settled 
 at Antioch, whither he, a Cyrenian, had followed 
 some of his countrymen, he must have been about 
 forty-eight or fifty at the period of the crucifixion ; — 
 a time of life when the judgment is mature, when the 
 reasoning faculties are vigorous ; when the character 
 of the man is formed ; and when even the company 
 and associates of a person assimilate to the same 
 qualities with his OAvn ; for men of this number of 
 years seldom choose boys or youths for their confiden- 
 tial friends. Nor was it a boy, or a youth, who ac- 
 companied the disciple whose name is omitted in the 
 histoiy of the travellers walking to Emniaus ; it was 
 Cleophas, or Alpheus ; and Alpheus was the fatiier 
 of several of the apostles ; he was, therefore, in ad- 
 vanced life. If his sons were of age to be called to 
 that eminent station, their father was certainly not 
 under the age attributed by our calculation to Luke : 
 81 
 
 and forty-eight, or fifty, is likely to have been nearly 
 the corresponding years of these two confidential 
 intimates. 
 
 We are now arrived at that point of time when, 
 according to our intention to support the competency 
 oi Luke as an eye-witness to some of tlie facts he re- 
 cords, it is of importance to consider what evidence 
 of this his narrative affords. It is the earliest period 
 at which he can, with propriety, be mtroduced ; for 
 though some have placed him among the seventy, 
 yet every probability is against that notion. It ap- 
 pears that he was a native of Cyrene, not of Galilee ; 
 and, therefore, not likely to have been so employed. 
 To understand this properly, we must observe, that • 
 there assembled on the morning of the resurrection 
 a number of adherents to Jesus, beside the apostles : 
 for the women ran and told their wonderful tale "to 
 the eleven, and to all the rest (as Luke, and Luke only 
 distmctly observes) : — they believed them not :— How- 
 ever, Peter, starting up, ran to the monument, and 
 stooping down, he saw the linen clothes laid by them- 
 selves, and went away, wondering in himself at what 
 was come to pass." Nor was Peter the only one who 
 ran ; for we learn afterwards, from the traveller's re- 
 cital, that "certain (tue;, plural) of tJiose who were 
 with us went to the monument, and found it as the 
 women had rejiorted ; — but hJm they saw not." 
 Among this " rest," and this " us," we must place the 
 speaker ; but evidently, ivhoever the speaker was, 
 this was not the first time of his associating with this 
 company: he was, like his fellow-traveller Alpheus, 
 a well-known fncnd. These travellers quitted their 
 company after P<ter and John had returned ; in the 
 very height of their universal amazement. And, 
 going for Enmiaus, they debated, they argued with 
 each otJier, concerning these events. ' And as they 
 discoursed together and reasoned, controverted the va- 
 rious incidents, Jesus himself approached them, (theii 
 eyes were holden that they should not know him — 
 which implies that, otherwise, they would have 
 known him ; they, therefore, had a previous acquaint- 
 ance with him,) and said, "What are these subjects 
 which ye are bandying backwards and forwards, one 
 to the other, as ye walk and are sad ? " Alpheus an- 
 swering said, "Art thou the only stranger in Jerusa- 
 lem, who hath not known what hath t^aken place 
 there, in these days ? " He inquired what things ; 
 and they said — No, it was not they who said ; for Al- 
 pheus had spoken already, and it was now his com- 
 panion's turn to speak. The writer mentions the 
 name of AI])heus, distinctly enough, but the name of 
 his companion — the present speaker — he suppresses. 
 . . . And, further, to avoid introducing " I said," as 
 the fact really was, the writer takes a liberty with 
 grammar, anil puts that in the plural, which certainly 
 passed in the singular. This license betrays the 
 man ; the writer and the speaker are the same per- 
 son. The distinctness and accuracj' of the speech 
 mark more than mere second-hand narrative. The 
 subsequent oiiservation, "Did not our hearts burn 
 within us by the way ?" and the precision with which 
 the action of Jesus is described, "he made as though 
 he would have gone farther," are hints of participa- 
 tion, not of information. And they agree well with 
 the correctness of the historian who has told us, that 
 the, inscription on the cross was " written in letters of 
 Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew." How could lie 
 know this minute particular ? He must have been 
 in Jerusalem at the time, to see it. If he were in Je- 
 rusalem at that time, then we infer, at once, the com- 
 petency of Luke as an eye-wJtne.s9 to some of the
 
 LUKE 
 
 [642] 
 
 LUKE 
 
 facts be records ; which it ia the purport of the pres- 
 ent discussion to support. 
 
 Moreover, it is remarkable, that all appearances of 
 Jesus after his resurrection introduced by Luke are 
 in, or near, Jerusalem. He says nothing of what hap- 
 pened in Galilee, at the sea of Tiberias, or any where 
 else ; he confines his history to facts which came 
 within his own knowledge. Nor should we disre- 
 gard remarks that might be made on the early chap- 
 ters of the Acts, such as the ^vl-iter's acquaintance 
 with the number of the names recorded on the fii'st 
 Christian list ; "they were about 120;" his full re- 
 port of Peter's speeches; of the conduct of Caiaphas 
 and the Sadducees towards the apostles, and towards 
 the deacons, especially Stephen, whose speech he 
 records in a manner that proves he heard it; with 
 the action of the Jewish rulers, " they gnashed upon 
 him with their teeth," a minor circumstance, of no 
 importance whatever to the storj'', but, evidently, the 
 remark of a by-str.nder, made at the time. Nov>', if 
 we admit the residence of Luke at Jerusalem, when 
 Stephen was murdered, and v. Ijen the Holy Ghost 
 desceufled, &c. avc shall find it impossible to deny 
 his residence in tliat city a few weeks sooner, when 
 the crucilixion and the resurrection took place ; and 
 if he were, as every thing leads us to conclude, of the 
 number of the 120, ho -was certainly a believer of long 
 standing, and one of those who formed the "rest," 
 the ''us," the deeply imercEted and argumentative 
 associate of Alpheus, and ono oftiie company met 
 together with the apostles. U \-. too much to say, 
 that the medical knowledge of Lyk-.', contributed to 
 the confidential altercation between him and Alpiie- 
 us? that he knew the course of the wovmrt made by 
 the spt'ar under giveii circumstances, and iirgi\cd, as 
 he well might, on tjic impossibilities of the caso ? Is 
 it too much to say, that as Luke is the only Vvritor 
 who notices (chap, xxili. 49.) that "all the acquaint- 
 ance of Jesus stood whh the women, afar off," there- 
 fore, he himself was one of those acquaintance? 
 
 H' this train of argument be credible, we have as- 
 certamed two facts ; that Luke was of mature age, 
 at the time of the manifestation of the gospel ; and, 
 that he is by no means that mere reporter of what he 
 had learned from others, which some have supposed. 
 The reader will perceive, that by tracing the chro- 
 nology of Luke's life in an inverted order, we have 
 obtained a stronger conviction of the truth of the facts 
 stated, than others have allowed themselves to in- 
 dulge ; nevertheless, that these facts have already 
 been admitted, may appear from the words of the 
 equally cautious and learned Lardner: "It is proba- 
 ble, that he is Lucius, mentioned Rom. xvi. 21. If 
 so, he was i-elated to St, Pau.l the apostle. And it is 
 not unlikely, that that Lucius is the same as Lucius 
 of Cyrene, mentioned by name, Acts xiii. 1, and in 
 general with others, chap. xi. 20. It appears to me 
 very probable, that St. Luke was a Jew by birth, and 
 an early Jewish believer. This must be reckoned to 
 be a kind of requisite qualification for writing a 
 history of Christ, and the early preaching of his apos- 
 tles, to advantage ; which certainly St. Ijuke has per- 
 formed. He may, also, have been one of the two 
 whom our Lord met in the way to Emmaus, on the 
 day of his resurrection, as related Luke xxiv. 13 — 35. 
 He is expressly styled by the apostle his fellow-laborer, 
 Philem. ver. 24. If he !);• the person intended Col. 
 iv. 14, (which seems very probable,) he was or had 
 been by profession a physician. And he was greatly 
 valued by the apostle, who callg him beloved. He 
 ucoompanied Paul when he first went into Macedonia. 
 
 And we know, that he went with the apostle from 
 Greece, through Macedonia and Asia, to Jerusalem, 
 and thence to Rome, where he staid with him two 
 years of his imprisonment. We do not exactly know- 
 when Luke formed the design of writing his two 
 books ; but, probably, they are the labor of several 
 years. Nor can any hesitate to allow the truth of 
 what is said by some of the ancients, that Lidce, who 
 for the most part was a companion of Paul, had like- 
 wise more than a slight acquaintance with the rest of 
 the apostles." 
 
 It is proper, however, to state " the most material 
 objection" of Michaclis to the identity of Lucius and 
 Luke, in his own words : " St. Paul wiote his Epistle 
 to th(3 Romans from Corinth, and Lucius was with 
 him at the time ; for St. Paul sends a Sululation from 
 Lucius, Ron), xvi. 21. Couscqucully, if Lucas and 
 Lucius be one and the same person, the author of the 
 Acts of the Apostles must have been with St. Paul at 
 Corinth, when the Epistle to the Romans was writ- 
 ten. But it we attend to the mode of writing in the 
 Acts of the Apostles, we shall perceive that the author 
 
 of this book was not at this time in Corinlh 
 
 He staid behind at Philippi — he remained at Philippi 
 (probably with a view of edifying the newly-founded 
 community) during the whole of St. Paul's travels, 
 wh'ch are describefl in chapters xvii. xviii. xix. But 
 in this interval St. Paul wrote his Epistle to the Ro- 
 mans from Corinth ; and, therefore, the author of the 
 Acts was not with St. Paul when he wrote that Epis- 
 tle ; consequently, he was not the same person with 
 Lucius." 
 
 The consequence i-elied on by Michaelis in this 
 extract does not seesn to be strictly legitimate. Was 
 it absolutely necessary that Lucius should be present 
 with Paul in order to send his salutation to the Ro- 
 mans? We think not ; and the following arguments 
 mivy support this opinion. First, it is not impossible 
 thnt Luke might be with Paul at any given time or 
 plact, in the interval of Acts xvii. — xx. 5, though not 
 mentioned in these chapters ; for we learn, that re- 
 peated acts of intercourse took place between the 
 Philippians and ihe apostle ; as we read, Phil. iv. 
 10 — 18 : " Now yo, Pliilippians, know also that in the 
 beginning of the Gospel, when I dej)arted from 
 Macedonia, no church communicated with me as 
 concerning giving and receiving, but ye only ; for 
 even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my 
 necessity :" — " I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that 
 now, at the last, your care of me hath flourished 
 again ; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked 
 opportunity ;" — for " Epaphroditus, your messenger, 
 hath ministered to my wants," chap. ii. 25 — 30. That 
 similar communications reached the apostle at Cor- 
 inth is clear, from 2 Cor. xi. 8, 9 : "I robbed other 
 chiu'ches, tailing wages of them to do you service ; 
 and when I was present with you and wanted, I was 
 chargeable to no man ; for that which was lacking to 
 me the brethren which came from INIacedonia sup- 
 plied." Philippi, we know, was a chief city of Mace- 
 donia ; and if we allow the possibility that among 
 the brethren which came from IMacedonia, Luke 
 might, on some occasion, hr one, the possibility that 
 he might be present witli Paul, when he sent the 
 salutation of Lucius to the Romans, follows of course. 
 But, sccondUj, as we see that comnnmications from 
 Philippi to tlie apostles were fre(|uent, what should 
 hinder Luke from desiring Paul to insert his saluta- 
 tion to the Romans, though the evangelist were still 
 at Philippi ? He certniidy was acquainted with Paul's 
 intentions, genernlly, as the apostle writes to the Ro-
 
 lA'KE 
 
 [ 643 ] 
 
 LUKE 
 
 mans, (chap, i, 15.) '• Sow I m oiild uot have you ig- 
 norant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come 
 to you." — This often purposing was no secret ; and 
 admit that Luke might express his readiness to ac- 
 company Paul, and the reason of sending his sahita- 
 tion is evident. But this argument may be drawn 
 still closer ; for Luke was certainly informed of Paul's 
 intention at tiiis very time. The apostle writes to 
 the Romans, (chap. xv. 13.) " Whensoever I take 
 my journey into Spain, I will come to you, for I trust 
 to see you in my journey. But now I go unto Je- 
 rusalem, to minister untu the saints ; for it hath 
 ])leascd them of JMacedonia, to make a certain 
 contribution for tlie poor saints which are at Je- 
 rusalem. When, therefore, I have performed this, 
 I will come by you into Spain." Now this is, in 
 other words, what Luke relates in Acts xix. 21 : 
 " Paul purposed in spirit, when he had passed through 
 Macedonia, to go to Jerusalem ; saying. After I 
 have been there, I nuist also see Rome." By what- 
 ever means Luke knew of Paul's purpose in spirit to 
 see Rome, he might know of the epistle in prepara- 
 tion to be sent to the Romans, which ^vas, evidently, 
 the precursor to the execution of that intention ; and 
 by means of the frequent remittances from Philippi 
 to the apostle, he might easily express iiis desire to 
 be remembered to the Romans. Nor is there any 
 thing unlikely in the thought, that Paul himself com- 
 municated to Luke what he purposed in spirit ; and 
 that it was in some fiiendly letter to hini he should say, 
 
 1 must also see Rome. 
 
 A hint on the Latinizing of the evangelist's name 
 will conclude this part of the subject. We have 
 already seen this mutation take place at Antioch ; and 
 we ought to add, that, no doubt, much Latin was 
 spoken in this city ; it being the residence of the Ro- 
 man president of Syria, the seal of tribunitial power, 
 the metropolis of the East, and also the station of con- 
 siderable military forces. Nor would we forget, that 
 though Antioch was a Greek city, yet a coin of Ves- 
 pasian is somewhat distinguished by bearing the Latin 
 name Antiochia, inscribed aroimd a turreted female 
 head, the genius of the city. It was struck under 
 Mucianus, who lay there with an army, while Vespa- 
 sian, lately proclaimed emperor, was yet in Asia. It 
 is, therefore, possible, that Simeon was really called 
 Niger by the Roman part of the population at Antioch, 
 and by the Roman members of the church there, as 
 Luke might be called Lucius by them. These Latin 
 names the writer of the Acts retains, in conjpliment 
 to his Latin readers in Italy, where he finished his his- 
 torv ; and Paul adopts the name Lucuis when writ- 
 ing to the same [jcrsons, in bis Epistle to the Romans ; 
 although, when writing from Rome to the (creeks, he 
 inserts this appellation in its Greek form, Lucas, as 
 
 2 Tim. iv. 11, et aJ. 
 
 We have presumed that Luke, at our first acquaint- 
 ance with him, was of mature age, a reasoning and 
 considerate man ; and we fm-ther presume, a physi- 
 cian. Such was the companion of Alpheus. But 
 there is another personage of greater importance than 
 Alphcus, on whose account the character of Luke 
 peculiarly demands notice. For if we reflect, we 
 shall find that Mary, the mother of Jcsus,^ was of 
 much about the age of Luke ; (say nearly fifty years, 
 at the time of the crucifixion ;) that she was no less 
 reasoning and no less considerate than he was; and 
 that his profession of physician admitted access to 
 the confidence of the sex, without oflence. The in- 
 ference we wish to draw is, that this evangelist re- 
 ceived from the Holy Mother those papers which he 
 
 has preserved in the early part of his Gospel ; with 
 that information which enabled him to assert his " per- 
 fect understanding (or diligent tracing) of all things 
 connected with this history, from the very first." It 
 is probable, that this confidence was the result of 
 prolonged intercourse ; and, therefore, we cannot 
 possibly say at what, time it produced the effect we 
 have attributed to it. Leaving this uncertain, yet 
 placing it, as most convenient, in the interval from 
 the resurrection to the dispersion subsequent to the 
 martyrdom of Stephen, we shall lay before the reader 
 those arguments which may tend to establish our 
 general position, lelativc to Luke's veracity as an 
 historian, and his characteristic accuracy as a writer. 
 
 Nothing so fully establishes our confidence in a 
 writer, as a knowledge of his personal character. If 
 he be loose, inaccurate, heedless, we hardly know 
 how to trust him wlien he declares the most solemn 
 truths in the most solemn manner. If he be studious, 
 pai'ticidar, punctual, we pay a deference even to his 
 current discourse; and if he affirm a thing, we rest 
 satisfied of its truth and reality. But persons of 
 strict accuracy seldom trust to their memory entirely 
 on important affairs ; they make memoranda, or 
 keep some kind of journal, in which they minute 
 transactions as thej' arise ; so that, at after-periods, 
 they can refer to events thus recorded, and refresh 
 their memories bj' consulting their former observa- 
 tions. This, too, is customary, chiefly, if not wholl)'-, 
 among men of letters, men of liberal and enlarged ed- 
 ucation, men who are conversant with science, and 
 who know the value of hints made on the spot, /7ro 
 re nata. My first proposition is, that Luke the 
 evangelist was a person of learning, of accuracy of 
 character, and that he instanced this by keeping a 
 journal of events, of which we have traces in his writ- 
 ings. He did not trust to his recollection, but his 
 custom was, to make memoranda of interesting oc- 
 currences. 
 
 Let us try a few passages of his travels by this 
 proposition. We meet this evangelist in Acts xvi. 
 17, where he says, "Loosing from Troas, we came 
 toith a straight course to Samothracia, and the next 
 (day) to Neapolis, from thence to Philippi, a city of 
 the" first part of Macedonia, and a (Roman) colony." 
 These particulars are precisely such as a traveller 
 of education would insert in his pocket-book. 
 
 Acts xx. Memorandum of the company. 1. Sopater 
 of Berea — 2. Aristarchus — 3. Secimdus : these were 
 of Thessalonica — i. Gains ; he was of Derbe — and 
 5. Timothy, whom I know so well as to have no 
 need of marking his countiy — 6. Tychicus — 7. Tro- 
 phinms ; these were of Asia. These, going before, 
 tarried for us at Troas. — Memorandum of the time of 
 year. Vve sailed from I^hilippi, after the days of 
 unleavened bread ; as ^ye might say in modern Eng- 
 lish, directly afler Easter. — Memorandum of the time 
 occupied in the journey. We came imto them to Troas 
 in five days, where we abode seven days, &c. 
 
 Acts xxvii. At Ca-sarea went on board a ship be- 
 longing to Adraniyttiuni, Aristarchus, a Macedo- 
 nian, of Thessalonica, in our company, made sail 
 same day. Next day touched at Sidon, staid there 
 some little time, made sail again, wind contrary, 
 sailed under the lee of Cyprus, sailed across the sea 
 of Cilicia and Pamphylia, liore up for IMyra, in Lycia : 
 finding an Alexandrian vessel tliere, went on board 
 her ; sailed slowly ; after many days had hardly 
 made Cnidus, the wind being unfavorable ; sailed 
 under the lee of Crete, standing towards Salnione, 
 which we weathered with difficulty, and brought up
 
 LUKE 
 
 644 ] 
 
 LUKE 
 
 in a roadstead called the Fair Havens, near Lasea. 
 Not advisable to remain here , the opinion prevailed 
 to make for Phenice, said to be a good port of the 
 same island, Crete, over against Africa, but bearing 
 west-south-west of us. — It will be perceived, that 
 every idea of these extracts is in the original ; we 
 have done no more than put them into current 
 language, such as we find in books of travels. They 
 are mostly particulars of no consequence to the 
 main purport of the history ; but are evidently tran- 
 scripts, not from memory, but from memoranda. 
 The same we may say of the following. 
 
 Acts xxviii. 11. — After three mouths, we departed 
 in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the 
 isle (Malta), whose sign was Castor and Pollux ; 
 lauding at Syracuse, we tarried tliere three days ; 
 from thence, standing out to sea, and tacking fre- 
 quently, we came to Rcggio ; and after one day the 
 wind blew from the south, we came the next day to 
 Puteoli, tarried there seven days, went on to Appii 
 Forum, and the Three Taveins— arrived in Rome. 
 This repeated mention of days' journeys, is clearly a 
 continuation of the journal, and shows that the writer 
 had not lost it in the shipwreck at Malta. We often 
 find travellers preserving their papers when they lose 
 every thing else. 
 
 There are many other notes of time, &c. which 
 might corroborate our assertion ; but this specimen 
 we think sufficient, and is all we offer at present. 
 Hence the inference is undeniable, that the writer of 
 the " Acts of the Apostles " had, in composing that 
 work, written evidence, of the most accurate de- 
 scription, before him. 
 
 Let us see whether he maiiUains the same charac- 
 ter for precision in liis Gospel ; which he thus be- 
 gins — "In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar 
 (the emperor), Pontius Pilate being governor of 
 Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip 
 tetrarch of Iturea and the Trachouitis, Lysanias te- 
 trarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being high- 
 priests." — Could any man take greater pains to 
 insure precision, or to fix a date ? He does not 
 content himself with mentioning the year of the 
 emperor, or the king of the country, in which 
 the events he is about to narrate happened, but he 
 calls in, by way of corroboration, as it were, the evi- 
 dence of three sovereigns, for no other purpose than 
 that of marking the jieriod he intended ; they being 
 aflerwards dropped by him. — This shows clearly the 
 particularity of a writer ; of a man conversant 
 with written documents of the most correct and pre- 
 cise description ; one who trusted nothing to words, 
 or to memory. How extra precise should we think 
 the author, who dated a volume from Jamaica, " In 
 the fifteenth year of George III. such an one "be- 
 ing governor of Jamaica, such an one governor 
 of Barbadoes, such an one governor of Grenada, and 
 the Rev. M. and N. archbishops of Canterbury and 
 York." We should certainly conclude " this writer, 
 whatever else he is, is correctness itself." Moreover, 
 this method of notation is completely Egyptian, and 
 therefore answers, to us, the double purpose of con- 
 firming the opinion that Luke was "Lucius of Cy- 
 rene," and of the genuineness and authenticity of 
 this ])art of the Gospel. 
 
 We turn now to the preface of Luke's Gospel, and 
 we find it completely in union witli this strongly 
 marked exactness and precision : — " Whereas many 
 good people, and not to be blamed, have taken in hand, 
 but did not complete their intention, to |)ublish an 
 orderly narration of certain events, as they have been 
 
 delivered to us by those who, from the beginning of 
 these events, were (some of them) eye-witnesses, and 
 (others) parties concerned in them, promoters of them 
 by personal participation ; it has seemed good to me, 
 having accurately examined all points from a much 
 earlier period than they had done, iiideed from the 
 very first rise of the matter, to write an orderly his- 
 tory of these things ; and thereby to accomplish 
 that desirable purpose in which those writers have 
 failed." We say, this profession of correctness and 
 order is perfectly in character with the man Avho 
 tells us how many days he staid in such a place, in 
 what point the wind was, what was the name of the 
 ship he sailed in, on what occasion a council was 
 held in the vessel, and what were the language and 
 observations of the seamen, as to the bearing of the 
 port they intended to make, &c. This man could 
 not bear" the imperfections of the books which came 
 under his notice on a certain subject ; they did not 
 begin early enough, and they ended too soon. He 
 therefore determined to begin his history much 
 earlier, and to continue it nuich later. This he ac- 
 complislied in a manner which we shall see here- 
 after. 
 
 There is an instance of his accuracy and spirit of 
 research that ought not to pass imnoticed, (Acts 
 xxiii. 26.) where he gives us (translated, probably, 
 from the Latin) a copy of the letter which Claudius 
 Lysias sent to his excellency Felix the governor. 
 That this corresponds exactly with Roman letters 
 of the like kind, we know ; that the Greek is not the 
 original, will, we think, appear to any one who 
 reads it with this idea on his mind ; besides, that it 
 should seem most natural for Roman officers to 
 write to each other in their native language. And 
 what (additional) do we learn from this letter ? 
 Nothing at all ; had it been omitted, we should have 
 known the same facts as we know now ; but it was 
 not consistent with the researching spirit of this 
 writer to let it escape him ; it adds a written docu- 
 ment to his history ; and, very characteristically, he 
 procures a copy, and preserves it years, for future 
 service. 
 
 This argument is stated on two suggestions. If 
 Luke had no intention at this time of composing a 
 history, his procuring this letter was the effect of his 
 general character, and customary inquisitiveness ; 
 but if he had an intention at this time of composing 
 a history, his procuring it is an instance of his col- 
 lecting the most authentic materials possible for that 
 purpose. The same may be said relative to the 
 Songs of Mary and Zacharias, which he has pre- 
 served. 
 
 But if these poems be genuine, they contribute to 
 establish the genuineness of tlio history with wliich 
 they are connected. The anecdotes attaching to 
 them are such as could only have been known, after 
 the crucifixion, from Mary herself, Joseph being 
 dead ; and it is certain, that whoever gave Luke the 
 paj)ers might very easily give him further informa- 
 tion. The preservation of them supposed to he by 
 Mary, adds to the evidence of her being a consider- 
 ate person, and pondering events in her heart. But 
 the establishment of the early chaptere of Luke 
 becomes an argument for the authenticity of the 
 early chapters of Matthew. The most wonderful 
 circumstance alluded to l)y Matthew occupies a con- 
 siderable space in the narration of Luke; and if it be 
 admitted as authentic in this evangelist, no good 
 reason can be given for rejecting it from that evange- 
 list ; since wc sliould willingly receive it on the credit
 
 LUKE 
 
 645 ] 
 
 LUM 
 
 of any one of the four. If, then, the history in Mat- 
 thew must be exploded, let those who attempt it set 
 aside these events from Luke ; — but on close exam- 
 ination, they will find that there are in this writer's 
 history such natural and artless characters of authen- 
 ticity, such internal demonstrations of genuineness 
 and integrity, that if those who peruse them, even 
 with suspicion, or aversion, have any tolerable por- 
 tion of mental acumen, or critical skill, they will 
 abandon the undertaking. See Gospel. — Luke. 
 
 It imports nothing as to the character of these 
 papers, whether they were spoken first, and after- 
 wards reduced to writing, or first composed in writ- 
 ing, and afterwards published ; in either case, the 
 care and industry of Lidce in procuring them is the 
 saiue. They were composed, certainly not in Greek, 
 as we now have them, but in the language then 
 spoken in the country, the Syriac Hebrew ; and they 
 follow the rules of Hebrew poetry, as to the parallel- 
 isms of verbal construction. Luke, then, receiving 
 them in Syriac, translated them into Greek ; and thus 
 justifies the assertion in his preface, that he derived 
 his materials from those who were eye-witnesses of 
 the matters, as Mary was of Zacharias's prophecy, 
 and the facts in his family ; or were personal par- 
 ticipators in them, as Mary was in what concerned 
 herself. Of these very early events Luke, by his 
 diligence, obtained perfect understanding, and he in- 
 serts these documents, that Tlieo])hihis might know 
 the certainty of those things in which he had already 
 been instructed. That they are very hajjpily adapted 
 to this purpose, and have undeniable internal marks 
 of authenticity, nuist be evident to every careful 
 reader of them. 
 
 We have no design of enlarging on the life of 
 Luke ; i)ut would point out a few incidental allusions 
 to him, in their regular order. For, notwithstanding 
 what appears so conspicuously, his habitual correct- 
 ness and diligence, we, by placing him in the num- 
 ber of the 120, on whom the Holy Ghost fell, in a 
 visible form, insist on his unquestionable inspiration ; 
 and that in no ordinary degree. He was, in this re- 
 spect, though no apostle, yet equal to the apostles : 
 and there can be no doubt, but what the extraordi- 
 nary gifts of the Holy Spirit qualified him abundantly 
 for the discharge of every duty to which he might 
 be called, whether as a teacher or as a writer. 
 
 We suppose him, being a Cyrenian, to have felt a 
 speciaHnterest in the opposition raised by "those of 
 the synagogue of the Libertiui, of the ('yrenians, 
 and the Alexandrians (all Africans) against Stephen ; 
 which ended in the death of that proto-martyr. Acts 
 vi. 9. And here, perhaps, began his acquaintance 
 with the " young man, whose name was Saul." We 
 suppose him, also, to have sympathized nuich with 
 those who were scattered abroad on th(> ]iersecution 
 that followed the death of Stephen ; "some of whom 
 were men of Cyprus and Gyrene, who went as fin- 
 as Antioch," Acts xi. 20. But whether he (piitted 
 Jerusalem at this time, cannot be determined with- 
 out reserve. If he did, he was now a suflerer 
 through the persecution of that very man, Saul, with 
 whom he afterwards contracted the most confidential 
 intimacy. Little did either of them see the events 
 of a few years. 
 
 But whatever becomes of this conjecture, if he be 
 the same with Lucius, we nnist direct our attention 
 to Antioch, to wliich city some of the expelled Cyre- 
 nians certainly travelled. And here it may be prop- 
 er to notice a remarkable variation in Beza's ancient 
 MS. now at Cambridge, (Acts xi. 28.) where, instead 
 
 of There stood up one of them, (the prophets at An* 
 tioch, i. e. Agabus,) we read '■'■ And when we were 
 gathered aboid him, he said ,•" by which phraseology 
 the writer evidently expresses his own presence, 
 on the occasion, A. D. 4',]. It is, indeed, hazardous, 
 as Michaelis well observes, to confide in the reading 
 of a single MS. unsupported by any other ; yet it is 
 difficult to account for this insertion, if the transcri- 
 ber had no authority for it from the original before 
 him. Moreover, if Lucius be Luke, we certainly 
 find him among the teachers at Antioch, shortly 
 after ; i. e. in the following year, A. D. 44, as we 
 have already seen. 
 
 We conclude this article by remarking, that there 
 are no indications in the history that Luke was 
 merely an attendant on Paul in his travels, as many 
 writers maintain. His language is not consistent 
 with that opinion. He says, " A vision appeared to 
 Paid — and immediately we endeavored to go into 
 Macedonia, assuredly gathering, ovuiiifiuiorTes, col- 
 lecting the sentiments of the company, comparing 
 and uniting them in order to obtain a just inference, 
 that the Lord had calletl us to preach the gospel in 
 INIacedonia." The writer does not say, nor does he 
 mean, " Paul determined and we obeyed:" no; he 
 esteems himself equally entitled to give his opinion, 
 and e(|ually called to tliis expedition. Again at Phi- 
 lippi: " On the Sabbath-day, we sat down and spoke 
 to the women." And when Lydia was baptized 
 with her family, "she besought us, saying, If ye 
 hav(! judged, after a pro])er examination and consul- 
 tation together, that I should become faithful to the 
 Lord, come into my house, and abide there ; and 
 she constrained us." Luke means to inform his 
 readers, that he sat down and spoke to the women, 
 and that he gave an opinion on the conduct proper 
 to be observed towards Lydia. The voyage from 
 Philipi)i to Judca is, of course, expressed in the plu- 
 ral, ive and us. And when the company was arrived 
 at Jerusalem, says Luke, " Paul went in with us to 
 James and the elders :" the equality is perfect ; or if 
 any thing. Paid follows his company. In addition 
 to this, Paul's respectful mention of Luke is very ob- 
 servable. In writing to their common friend Phile- 
 mon, he calls him not his attendant, but his fellow-la- 
 borer, verse 24. In Col. iv. 14, he describes him as 
 Luke the beloved physician ; beloved generally, both 
 by you and by me. In writing to Timothy, (2 Epist. 
 iv. 11.) he mentions the various places to which he 
 had sent his attendants, Cresccns to Galatia, Titus to 
 Dalmatia, Tychicus to Ephesus, but Luke he had 
 jiot sent any'where. He was still in his company, 
 and only he ; partly, no doubt, from respect to his 
 great age ; and still more from deference to his char- 
 acter. The hypothesis gathers strength as we pro- 
 ceed. We have traced the evangelist, under the 
 names of Lucius and Luke, from Jerusalem to An- 
 tioch, from Antioch to Troas and Philippi ; again 
 from Philippi to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to 
 Malta, and to Rome. AVe have found him a learned, 
 confidential and considerate man, advanced in years, 
 endowed Avith the Holy Ghost from on high, an in- 
 spired teacher, a valuable companion and counsellor 
 of the apostle Paul ; a correct, judicious and spirited 
 writer, a man of research, and of no less fortitude 
 than composure. We now part with hiiu, at the 
 conclusion of his history, on his last remove into 
 Achaia; where he soon afler died, at the great age 
 of eighty-four. 
 
 LUMINARIES, Metaphorical. Among other 
 descriptions of the Messiah, he is called "a Light to
 
 LUN 
 
 [ 646 ] 
 
 LYD 
 
 enlighten the Gentiles ; and the GI017 of the people 
 of Israel." Jesus also describes John the Baptist as 
 " a burning and shining hght ;" and addressing liis 
 disciples as " the light of the world," he bids them 
 not conceal, but show their light, and be of use to 
 mankind, by their lustre. In conformity with this 
 idea, Paid says to the Philippians, " Ye shine as lights 
 in the world, holding forth the word of life ;" or, as 
 soins prefer to read it, "s/iiJie ye as lights." It has 
 indeed been said, that when the apostle directs the 
 Philippians to " shine as lights," he uses the word 
 (jc-)OT/o, which alludes to the light-Zioiwes raised on 
 various parts of a coast, where navigation required 
 their services, to direct the pilots of vessels in the 
 course they ought to steer. We have many such 
 along our coasts. The most famous in antiquity 
 was that of the Pharos at Alexandria. Under this 
 allusion, l»ie sacred writer may be considered as say- 
 ing, " Shine in the midst of bad j)ersonri, as light- 
 houses shine in a dark country ; Jioiding forth the 
 word of life, as light-houses hold forth their nightly 
 flames ; that I may stand er(.'Ct with confidence ; 
 may boast, may exult, in the day of Christ." But 
 Mr. Taylor is by no means satisfied thist these ac- 
 tive verbs are adequately understood, or that we do 
 justice to their full import, when we refer them to 
 subjects which rather suner certain things to be done 
 by their means, than are active in doing those things. 
 A building can hardly be said to hold Ibrtli, or to 
 hold fast ; but if we reflect that some of the PJiaroses 
 of antiquity were constructed in form of human 
 figures, we shall advance, he thinks, nearer to the 
 apostle's meaning. All the world has heard of the 
 Colossus at Rhodes ; that immense brazen figiu^e, 
 which stood across the entrance of the (inner) har- 
 bor, and under whose enormous stride vessels might 
 pass in full sail. This figiu-e held forth in one hand 
 a prodigious flame, which enliglitened the whole 
 port: by this it directed the distant mariner whose 
 attention it attracted, and who looked up to this light 
 for safety. 
 
 On the whole, then, Mr. Taylor thinks that Paul's 
 expression refers to luminary figures, rather than to 
 luminary buildings ; in which case his words, "shine 
 as luminaries, holding out the words of liA; ;" that 
 great Light, which, coming into the world, has iigbt 
 enough to enlighten every man, have peculiar S])irit 
 and propriety. — Nor is it certain, that the idea of a 
 figure has totally quitted him in the next sentence ; 
 when he says, "that in the diiy of Christ, J may 
 stand up with a stift'(npright) neck, and exult lliat I 
 have not labored in vain." Is not this the very atti- 
 tude of such a figure ? — Some propose to translate 
 " holdfast the word of life ;" but this loses the beauty 
 of t!ie passage, if it mcnj be supported by grammar, 
 which is not now investigated. 
 
 "The word Pharos was used in a metaphorical 
 sense," says Montfaucjon ; " any thing was called a 
 Pharos, which could enlighten and instruct ; every 
 man of letters, who could guide others. In this 
 sense the poet Ronsard says to Charles IX. of France, 
 *' Be my Pliaros, guide my sails through rolling 
 seas." — Might not this inctai)horical application have 
 been current in the first times of the gospel ? and if 
 80, does not the apostle adopt it ? 
 
 LUNATICS, a name given to those diseased per- 
 sons, whosuffiir most severely on the cJianges of the 
 moon ; for example, e])ileptical persons, or those who 
 have the falling sickness ; insane i)ersons, or those 
 tormented with fits of morbid melancholy ; as well as 
 persons possessed by the devil, for often those have 
 
 been believed to be really possessed by the deTil, 
 who were tormented only with great degrees of mel- 
 ancholy or fury. Jerome (in Matt. iv. 24.) is of opiji- 
 ion, that the lunatics in the gospel were possessed 
 persons, whom the people through mistake called 
 lunatics, because they saw them most tormented 
 during the change of the moon ; the devil affecting 
 to make them sufter most in these circumstances, 
 that simple people might impute the cause of it to 
 the moon, and from thence take occasion to blas- 
 pheme tlie Creator. Others maintain, that ail the 
 difference between an epileptic and a lunatic was, 
 that one was more disordered than the other. 
 Persons subject to epilepsies are not all equally at- 
 tacked. Some fall more frequently, others more 
 rarely ; some every day. Lunatics are affected 
 chiefly on the declension of the moon. (Comp. Matt, 
 xvii. 15.) See Demo>'s. 
 
 LUST, (1 John ii. 6.) the irregular love of pleas- 
 ure, riches or honors. Lust is not a sin ; but is tlio 
 effect and cause of sin: — the effect of original sin ; 
 the cause of actual sin. As in both Testaments, evil 
 desires, as w^eil as evil actions, are equally prescribed, 
 so the first care of every man AAho would pleaso 
 God should be to bridle his lust. 
 
 LUST, Graves of, (ni«rn-rn3,-i, Kibroth-hattaavah,) 
 an encampment of the Hebrews in the wilderness, at 
 Avliich they arrived, after they decamped from Sinai. 
 It v/as called the graves of lust, because 23,000 Is- 
 raelites died there, who w^ere smitten by God, be- 
 cause of eating to excess of quails, v.hich fell about 
 the camp, Numb. xi. 34; Deut. ix. 20, 22. 
 
 I. LUZ, a city of the Canaanites, in Benjamin, af- 
 terwards called Bethel, Gen. xxviii. 19 ; xxxv. 6; 
 Josh, xviii. 13; Judg. i. 23. 
 
 II. LUZ, a cit)' attached to the sons of Joseph, 
 near to Sichem, Josh. xvi. 2. It is principally on Josh, 
 xvi. 2, that the second of these places is distinguished 
 from the first. There might, however, be a small 
 distance between the place where Jacob slept, and 
 the ancient town of Luz ; and indeed the text in 
 Joshua, by alluding to mount Bethel, seems to sup- 
 pose, that the travelling patriarch slept on a hill apart. 
 
 III. LUZ, a city built by a man of Bethel, Avho, 
 while the tribe of Ephraim besieged his native town, 
 showed them a secret entrance, ^vhereby they took 
 it. For this service they spared him and his family ; 
 and he retired into the land of the Hittites, and built 
 Luz, Judg. i. 26. 
 
 LYCAONIA, a province of Asia Rlinor, having 
 Galatia north, Pisidia south, Cappadocia cast, and 
 Phrygia west. It a]>pears to have been within the 
 limits of Phrygia Mnjor, but was erected into a sep- 
 arate province by Augustus. Paul preached in Ly- 
 caonia, in the cities of Iconium, I>ystra and Derbe, 
 (Acts xiv. 6, &c.) and having cured a man who had 
 been lame irom his mother's womb, and had never 
 walked, the inhabitants of Lystra said, in the speech 
 of Lycaonia, "The gods an; come down to us in the 
 likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Juj>iter, 
 and Paul, Mercuriits, because he was the chief 
 speaker." This speech of Lycaonia is gener.nlly be- 
 lieved to have been a corruin Greek ; that is, Greek 
 mingled with a great deal oi'Syriac. 
 
 LYCIA, a ]irovince in the south-west of Asia Mi- 
 nor, having Phrygia and Pisidia on ti7e north, the 
 Mediterranean on the south, Pamphylia on the east, 
 and Caria on the west, 1 Mac. xv. 23 ; Acts xxi. 1 ; 
 xxvii. 5. Paul landed at the ports of Patara and 
 Myra in this province, in different voyages. 
 
 LYDDA, in Hebrew nS, Lud, or Lod, by the Greeks
 
 LYI 
 
 [ 647 
 
 LYS» 
 
 and Latins called Lydda, or Diospolis, is a city in 
 the way from Jerusalem to Csesarea Philippi. It lay 
 cast of Joppa four or five leagues, and belonged to 
 Ephraim. It seems to have been inhabited by the 
 Benjamites, after the Babylonish captivity, (Neh. \i. 
 35.) and was one of the three toparchies which were 
 dismembered from Samaria, and given to the Jews, 
 1 Mac. xi. 34. Peter, coming to Lydda, cured yEneas, 
 who was sick of the palsy, Acts i.\. 33, 34. The 
 Jews inform us, that after the destruction ct' Jeru- 
 salem, tliey set up academies in different parts of 
 Palestine, of which Lydda was one, where the fa- 
 mous Akiba was a professor, for some time. Ga- 
 inaliel succeeded him, and was obliged to retire to 
 Japlina. Lydda, says D'Arvieu.x, " is situated on a 
 plain, about a league from Rama. It is so entirely 
 ruined as to be at present but a miserable village, 
 noticeable only on account of the market which is 
 held here, once a week. The dealers resort to it 
 to sell the cotton and other commodities which they 
 have collected during the week. Hei"e was formerly 
 a handsome church, dedicated to St. George, a saint 
 who is equally in favor with Turks and Christians. 
 Dr. Wittman says, (Trav. p. 203, 205, January 12.) 
 *'I rode across the plains of Jaffa antl Lydda. We 
 approached the town of Lydda, or Loudda, and saw 
 the Arab inhabitants busily employed in sowing bar- 
 le}". The soil of these fine and extensive plains is a 
 rich black mould, which, with proper care and indus- 
 try, might be rendered extremely fertile. Lydda is 
 denominated by the Greeks Diospolis, the city or 
 temple of Jupiter, probably because a temple had 
 been dedicated in its vicinity to that deity. Since 
 the crusades it has received from the Christians the 
 name of St. George, on account of its having been 
 the scene of the martyrdom and burial of that saint. 
 In this city tradition reports that the emperor Jus- 
 tinian erected a church." 
 
 I. LYDIA, a woman of Thyatira, a seller of pur- 
 ple, who dwelt in the city of Philippi in 3Iacedonia, 
 (Acts xvi. 14, 40.) and w^as converted by Paul's 
 preaching. After she and her family had been bap- 
 tized, she offered her house to Paul and his fellow- 
 laborer so earnestly, that he was prevailed on bj' her 
 entreaties. This woman was not by birth a Jewess, 
 but a [)roselyte. 
 
 II. LYDIA, a celebrated kingdom of Asia Minor, 
 peopled by the sons of Lud, son of Shem, Gen. x. 
 23. We have very little notice of these Lydians in 
 Scripture. They are mentioned in Isa. Ixvi. 19, if 
 these be not rather the Lydians in Egjpt. (Comp. 1 
 Mac. viii. 7.) See Lud, and Ludim. 
 
 LYING is condemned in many places in Scrip- 
 ture, Exod. xxiii. I, 7 ; Lev, xix. 11 ; Prov. xii. 22 ; 
 xiii. 5 ; xix. ^ ; Wisd. i. 11 ; Eccl. vii. 13 ; xx. 10 ; 
 XXV. 23 ; Hos. iv. 1 ; Acts v. 4 ; Eph. iv. 25 ; James 
 v. 12. Our Saviour requires his disciples to be so 
 plain and sincere, that their word might be equivalent 
 to the most solemn oath ; and that in all their asser- 
 tions, they should say only, " It is," or " It is not," 
 Matt. V. 37. It 18 in vain, therefore, to attempt to jus- 
 
 tify some particular persons who have told lies ; 
 which persons are in other respects commended in 
 Scripture. It never praises their lying, but their 
 good actions. That which is in itself evil never 
 can become good. When Abraham calls Sarah his 
 sister, not his wife ; and Isaac says the same of Re- 
 bekah ; when Jacob, by a lie, defrauds Esau of his 
 father's blessing ; and when the Egjptian midwives 
 declare, that the Hebrew women are delivered with- 
 out their assistance ; they are not, any of them, in 
 these particulars, to be commended ; though the evil 
 whicli they committed might be mitigated by cir- 
 cumstances not known to us. When we condemn 
 lyi"o5 "^^'e do not condemn stratagems, hyperi)oles 
 or certain railleries and discourses ; or fables or 
 parables ; which custom and general consent do' not 
 rank among lies. 
 
 God is said to have put a lying spirit into the 
 mouths of false prophets ; that is", he permitted them 
 to follow the impressions of the evil spirit, 1 Kings 
 xxii. 23; Prov. xxiii. 3. "We have made lies our 
 refuge," (Isa. xxviii. 15.) i. e. we have placed our 
 confidence in falsehood ; in deceitful allies, or in the 
 delusive promises of false prophets; or, lastly, in the 
 assistance of idols, whom they call vanity and lyino-. 
 "The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies," (ver. 
 17.) i. e. the vain hopes, previously mentioned by the 
 prophet. "A deceived heart hath turned him aside, 
 that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not 
 a lie in my right hand ?" i. e. am I not In the wron?, 
 thus to adore wood ? Isa. xliv. 20 ; also Jer. viii. §. 
 Waters that fail, that lie, are those that flow part of 
 the year only ; they may be said to be false, for they 
 should flow perpetually, Jer. xv. IS. "Lying hills" 
 (Jer. iii. 24.) are those which, after they have made a 
 fine appearance to the eye, produce nothing. Hosea 
 says, (ix. 2.) The vine shall lie to them ; the vintage 
 shall fail ; and Habakkuk, (iii. 17.) that the olive- 
 trees shall lie ; that is, fail. The Latins have the 
 same way of speaking. 
 
 LYSANIAS, or Ltsias, tetrarch of Abilene, a 
 small province in Lebanon, (Luke iii. 1.) was prob- 
 ably son or grandson of another Lysanias known in 
 history, (Dio. lib. xhx. p. 44.) and put to death by 
 Mark Antony, who gave part of his kingdom to Cle- 
 opatra. See Abilexe. 
 
 I. LYSIAS, a Roman tribune, see Claudius 
 Lysias. 
 
 II. LYSIAS, a friend and relation of king Anti- 
 ochus Epiphanes, to whom he left the regencv of 
 Syria when he passed beyond the Euphrates. See 
 Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 
 LYSIMACHUS, brother of Menelaus, high-priest 
 of the Jews, who, in an attempt to pillage the treas- 
 ury of the temple, was killed, 2 Mac. iv. 39, 40. He 
 is sometimes reckoned among the high-priests, be- 
 cause he was vicegerent to his brother Menelaus ; hut 
 he never himself possessed that dignity. 
 
 LYSTRA, a city of Lycaonia, of which Timothy 
 was a native. It is now called Latik. See Lycaonia,
 
 [ 648 J 
 
 M 
 
 MAC 
 
 MACEDONIA 
 
 MAACAH, Maachah, Maachath, or Beth-Maa- 
 CHAH, a city and region of Syria, east and north of 
 the sources of Jordan, not far from Geshur, at the 
 foot of mount Hermon. It was called Abel-beth- 
 maachah, because Abel was situated in it. The Is- 
 raelites would not destroy the Maachathites, but per- 
 mitted them to dwell in the land, (Josh. xiii. 13.) and 
 their king assisted the Ammonites against David, 2 
 Sam. X. 8, 9. The lot of the half-tribe of Manasseh 
 beyond Jordan extended to this country, Deut. iii. 
 14; Josh. xii. 5. See Abel II. 
 
 I. MAACHAH, daughter of Abishalom, wife of 
 Rehoboam, king of Judah, and mother of Abijam, 
 his successor, 1 Kings xv. 2. In 2 Chron. xiii. 2, 
 she is called Micaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. 
 See King's Mother. 
 
 II. MAx\CHAH, the daughter of Abishalom, 
 wife of Abijam, king of Judah, and mother of Asa, 
 his successor, I Kings xv. 10, 13, 14. Asa de[)rived 
 her of the office of priestess of the groves. There 
 are several other persons of this name, mentioned 
 in the Old Testament. 
 
 MAACHATH, see Maacah. 
 
 MAALEH-ACRABBIM, the ascent of scorpions, 
 a mountain so called from the multitude of scorpions 
 that infested it, at the southern end of the Salt sea. 
 Numb, xxxiv. 4; Josh. xv. 3. See Acrabatene, II. 
 
 MACCABEES, a name assumed by a patriotic He- 
 brew and his descendants, who successfully resisted 
 the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes. (See Judas.) 
 It is generally supposed that their name was derived 
 from the inscription on their ensigns, or bucklers — 
 ■< 2 2 12, which begin these words, nin'' a^n'^N^ noc^ t, 
 Mi Camoca Be-elohim Yehovah; ( > a o c, Maccabei ;) 
 fVho is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods 'J (Exod. 
 XV. 11.) after the manner that the Romans put on 
 their ensigns, S. P. Q. R. Senatus Popidusque Ro- 
 maniis. 
 
 The Books of Maccabees are four in number; 
 the first two are esteemed to be canonical by the 
 church of Rome. The frst book contains the his- 
 tory of forty years ; i. e. from Antiochus Epiph- 
 anes to the time of Simon the high-priest ; from 
 A. M. 3829 to 3869. The second book contains a 
 compilation of several pieces, but is far inferior in 
 point of accuracy to the first. It comprises a his- 
 tory of about fifteen years ; from the execution of 
 Heliodorus's commission, who was sent by Seleucus 
 to fetch away the treasures of the temple, to the vic- 
 tory obtained by Judas Maccabfcus over Nicanor ; 
 from A. M. 3828 to 3843. The third book contains 
 the history of the persecution raised by Ptolemy Phi- 
 lopater against tiie Jews of Egypt, A. INI. 3787, and 
 should therefore be placed before the first book. 
 The fourth book is very little known. It is found in 
 the collected works of Josephus, under the title of 
 the Government of Reason, though it is rejected as 
 spurious by the best critics. It contains an embel- 
 lished account of the persecution of the Maccabean 
 family as related in 2 Mac. vi. vii. the scene of which 
 it places at Jerusalem. 
 
 MACEDONIA, a country of Greece, having 
 Thrace north, Thessaly south, Epirus west, and the 
 
 iEgean sea east. It is believed that Macedonia was 
 peopled by Kittim, son of Javan, (Gen. x. 4.) and 
 that by Kittim, in the Hebrew text, Macedonia is 
 often to be understood. (See Chittim.) Alexander 
 the Great, son of Philip, king of Macedonia, having 
 conquered Asia, and subverted the Persian empire, 
 the name of the Macedonians became famous 
 throughout the East ; and is often given to the Greeks, 
 the successors of Alexander in the monarchj', Esth. 
 (Apoc.) xvi. 10, 14. and 2 Mac. viii. 20. So also the 
 Greeks are often put for the JNIacedonians, (2 Mac. 
 iv. 36.) Paul, being called in a vision, while at Troas, 
 to preach the gospel at Macedonia, founded the 
 churches of Thessalonica and Philippi, Acts xvi. 9, 
 &c. A. D. 55. 
 
 The prophet Daniel describes JMacedonia under 
 the emblem of a goat with one horn, and it is there- 
 fore of great consequence that this symbol should be 
 proved to be that proper to Macedonia; for if this 
 country had no such emblem belonging to it, we must 
 look to another kingdom for a fulfilment of the 
 prophecy, which Avould be contrary to the truth of 
 history, and would produce inextricable confusion. 
 The following observations on an ancient symbol of 
 IMacedon, by Taylor Combe, Esq. F. A. S. will be 
 found useful : 
 
 "I had lately an opportunity of procuring an 
 ancient bronze figure of a 
 goat with one horn, which 
 was the old symbol of Mace- 
 don. . . It was dug up in Asia 
 Minor, and brought into this 
 country by a poor Turk. Not 
 only many of the individ- 
 ual towns in IMacedon and 
 Thrace employed this type, 
 but tlie kingdom itself of 
 Macedon, Avhich is the oldest 
 in Euroi)e of which we have 
 any regular and connected 
 
 iiistory, was represented also by a goat, with this 
 particularit}', that it had but one horn. Carnus, the 
 first king of the iMaccdonians, commenced his reign 
 814 years before the Christian era. The circum- 
 stance of his being led l)y goats to the city of Edessa, 
 the name of which, when he established there the 
 seat of his kingdom, he converted into yEgea, is well 
 worthy of remai-k : Urbem Edessam, oh memoriavi 
 muneris, Acgas, populem JEgeadas. (Justin, lib. vii. 
 cap. 1.) Hesychius says, that the Cretans call the goat 
 caranus. Xenophon informs us in his first book of the 
 Grecian histor}', that the word caranus signifies lord. 
 Now in the latter case tiie word caranus may seem 
 regularly to be derived from xu'hi, caput ; but in the 
 former example it must be deduced from A'ereji, {]-\p,) 
 the Hebrew word for a horn, or, which is the same 
 thing, from the Greek word xioac. This last ety- 
 mology will not aj)pear improbable, when we consid- 
 er the difference of pronunciation among the early 
 Macedonians, who were esteemed by the rest of 
 Greece as barbarians, and who, we are expressly 
 told, used a language diflferent from that which was 
 spoken in the southern parts of Greece. (Strabo, lib.
 
 MACEDONIA 
 
 [ 649 ] 
 
 MACEDONIA 
 
 vu. p. 327.) If, then, the above root be admitted,— and 
 for this the change of a single letter is only necessa- 
 ry, — it will appear, I say, that Caranus was so called 
 in conformity with an idea of power, wliich was an- 
 nexed to the word horn, even in the earliest period 
 of Macedonian history. In the reign of Arnyntas 
 the First, nearly 300 years after Caranus, and about 
 547 years before Christ, the Macedonians, on being 
 threatened with an invasion, became tributary to the 
 Persians. In one of the pilasters of Persepolis this 
 very event scenis to be recorded in a manner that 
 throws considerable light upon the present subject. 
 A goat is represented with an immense horn grow- 
 ing out of the middle of his forehead, and a man in 
 a Pei-sian dress is seen by his side, holding the horn 
 with his left hand, by which is signified the subjec- 
 tion of Macedon. A proverb in use at the present day 
 is grounded upon this ancient practice of signifying 
 conquest by the capture of the horns. " To take a 
 bull by the horns" is an equivalent phrase for "to 
 conquer." When Demetrius Phalereus was endeav- 
 oring to persuade Philip, the father of Perseus king 
 of Macedon, to make himself master of the cities of 
 Ithome and Acrocorinthus, as a necessary step to the 
 conquest of Peloponnesus, he is reported to have 
 used the following expression ; " Having caught hold 
 of both horns, you will possess the ox itself:" there- 
 by meaning, that if those cities which were the chief 
 defence of Peloponnesus were once taken, it could 
 not but happen that the conquest of Peloponnesus 
 would follow. (Strabo, lib. vii. p. 361.) .... 
 
 " In the reign of Archelaus of Macedon, (A. A. C. 
 413.) there occurs on the reverse of a coin of that 
 king, the head of a goat having only one horn. Of 
 this coin, so remarkable for the single horn, there are 
 two varieties ; one is engraved by Pellerin, and the 
 other is preserved in the cabinet of the late Dr. W. 
 Hunter. 
 
 "But the custom of representing the type and 
 power of a country under the form of a horned animal 
 is not peculiar to Macedonia. Persia was repi-esented 
 by a ram. Ammianus Marcellinus acquaints us, that 
 the king of Persia, when at the head of his army, 
 wore a ram's head made of gold, and set with pre- 
 cious stones, instead of a diadem. (Lib. xix. cap. 1.) 
 The type of Persia, the ram, is observable on a very 
 ancient coin, undoubtedly Persian, in Dr. Hunter's 
 collection. 
 
 "The relation of these emblems to Macedon and 
 Persia is strongly confirmed by the vision in the 
 prophet Daniel, (chap. viii. 3 — 8.) which, while it ex- 
 plains the specimens of antiquity before us, receives 
 itself in return no inconsiderable share of illustration. 
 The whole of this vision is afterwards ex})lained 
 by the angel Gabriel, verses 21 — 23. Nothing, cer- 
 tainly, is more directly applicable to overthrow the 
 joint empire of the Medesand Persians by Alexander 
 
 the Great, than are 
 these verses in the 
 book of Daniel ; 
 nor at the same 
 time can better 
 authority be re- 
 quired for the 
 true meaning of 
 the single-horned 
 goat, than may 
 be derived from 
 the same source. 
 There is a gem engraved in the Florentine collec- 
 tion, (plate 51.) which, as it confirms what has been 
 83 
 
 already said, and has not hitherto been understood, 
 I think worthy of mention. It will be seen by the 
 drawing I have made of this gem, that nothing more 
 nor less is meant by the ram's head with two horns, 
 and the goat's head with one, than the kingdoms of 
 Persia and Macedon, represented under their appro- 
 priate symbols. From the circumstance, however, 
 of these characteristic types being united, it is ex- 
 tremely probable that the gem was engraved after 
 the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great." 
 
 This testimony is of great value, especially to those 
 who know that the writer had the best means of in- 
 struction in numismatics, under his father, Dr. Combe, 
 who edited the publication of Dr. Hunter's Medals, 
 &LC. Mr. Taylor, however, has endeavored to col- 
 lect some additional circumstances. 
 
 The Macedonians are supposed by Dr. Mede to 
 have derived their origin from Media. Without de- 
 termining on the conclusiveness of the doctor's ety- 
 mologies, Mr. Taylor supposes that Media, a prov- 
 ince adjoining Persia, is much more likely to be al- 
 luded to, on the walls of Persepolis, a Persian pal- 
 ace, than Macedonia, a province very remote from 
 the seat of empire. The triumph of Persia over 
 Media, or any advantage gained over that country, 
 was of importance, and worth recording; but of 
 what importance was a triumph over Macedonia? 
 It is observable, also, that in the general jjrocession 
 which adorns the jialace of Persepolis, and which is 
 supposed to be a representation of the various prov- 
 inces of the empire, in the act of i)aying their an- 
 nual presents to the king, each of them being denot- 
 ed by its proper symbol, there appears the emblem 
 of two goats, each having only one horn. This 
 would be extremely embarrassing, if we did not 
 know that there were two Medias, the Upper and the 
 Lower; which as they were in some respects but 
 one province, though divided, so they are rejjresent- 
 ed by two goats walking together, but each directed 
 by his proper superintendent. He therefore con- 
 cludes that Media was symbolized by the single- 
 horned goat ; and that the iMacedonians, being de- 
 rived from thence, retained the symbol of their origi- 
 nal country. This will also explain the reason of 
 Daniel's perplexity on seeing the vision, as he could 
 not tell which of the two countiies, that in the East, 
 or that in the West, was intended as the conqueror 
 of Persia. It was most likely that he should think 
 of Media, unless informed to the contrary. 
 
 This medal is given in proof that Macedonia was 
 
 divided 'into several .provinces, four at least, when 
 under the Roman government. iNIany medals of the 
 first province are extant, mostly in silver, and they 
 enable us to assert, that the evangelist Luke (Acts 
 xvi. 12.) means not to describe Philippi as the first 
 or chief city of Macedonia, wliich was not true in 
 any sense ;' but as a city of the first Macedonia, 
 which is the correct import of his words. See 
 Philippi. 
 
 Among the medals of Macedonia is one with a 
 lion devouring a bull ; and it is remarkabh; that the 
 same subject is sculptured in very large figures on
 
 MAD 
 
 [ 650 
 
 MAG 
 
 the palace of Persepolis. What could induce Mace- 
 donia, a country where there are no lions, to adopt 
 this emblem? But if it were derived from the 
 East, then it contributes to prove the derivation of 
 this people from the same quarter; and wc must 
 look to the East for its explanation. 
 
 MACEDONIAN is in the Apocryphal books 
 sometimes used as an appellative, for an enemy to 
 the Jews. Thus, in the additions to the book of 
 Esther, it is said Haman was a Macedonian by na- 
 tion and inclination, or party ; that he was desirous 
 to transfer the empire of the Persians to the Mace- 
 donians ; that is, to the greatest enemies of the state. 
 
 MACH^RUS, or Macheroxte, a citj- and fort 
 beyond Jordan, in the tribe of Reuben, north and 
 east of the lake Asphaltites, two or three leagues 
 from Jordan, and not far from where that river dis- 
 charges itself into the Dead sea. This castle had 
 been fortified by the Asmoneans ; but Gabinius de- 
 molished it, and Aristobulus re-fortified it. Herod 
 the Great made it much stronger than before. Here 
 John the Baptist was im])risoued, and beheaded, by 
 order of Herod Antipas. (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 10, 11 ; 
 xviii. 7.) 
 
 MACHPELAH, or Machpbla, the name of the 
 plain in which the cave which Abraham bought of 
 Ephron was situated. Gen. xxiii. 9, 17. 
 
 MAD, MADNESS, insanity, or dein-ivation of 
 reason ; medically defined to be delirium without 
 fever. Our Lord cured, by his word, several who 
 were deprived of the exercise of their rational pow- 
 ers ; and the circumstances of their histories prove, 
 that there could neither be mistake nor collusion 
 respecting them. How far madness may be allied 
 to, or connected with, demoniacal possession, is a 
 very intricate inquiry ; and whether in the present 
 day (as perhaps anciently) evil spirits may not take 
 advantage from distemperature of the bodily frame, 
 to augment evils endured by the patient, is more 
 than may be affirmed, though the idea seems to 
 be not absolutely repugnant to reason. Nevertheless, 
 what may be, is probably different on most inquiries 
 from what we can prove really is. 
 
 The epithet mad is applied to several descriptions 
 of persons in Scripture; as (1.) to one deprived of 
 reason, Acts xxvi. 24; 1 Cor. xiv. 23. — (2.) To one 
 whose reason is depraved, and overruled by the fury 
 of his angry passions. Acts xxvi. 11. — (3.) To one 
 whose mind is perplexed and bewildered, so dis- 
 turlied that he acts in an uncertain, extravagant, ir- 
 regular manner, Deut. xxviii. 34 ; Eccl. vii. 7. — (4.) 
 To one who is infatuated by the vehemence of his 
 desires after idols and vanities, Jer. 1. .38. — or (5.) 
 After folly, deceit and falsehood, Hosea ix. 7. 
 
 David's madness (1 Sam. xxi. 1.3.) is by many sup- 
 posed not to have been feigned, but a real epilepsy 
 or falling sickness ; and the LXX use words which 
 strongly indicate this sense. It is urged in support 
 of this opinion, that the troubles which David un- 
 derwent iniglit very naturally weaken his constitu- 
 tional strength ; and that the force he suflR'red in 
 being obliged to seek shelter in a foreign co>n-t, would 
 disturb his imagination in the highest degree. 
 
 MADAI, the third son of Japlieth, (Gen. x. 2.) and 
 father of the Mcdes. Others suppose that Media is 
 too distant from the other countries peopled bv Ja- 
 pheth, and cannot be con)prehendcd under the name 
 of "The Isles of the Gentiles," which were allotted 
 to the sonsof Japheth. For these rensojis some learn- 
 ed men have been led to suggest, that Madai v.as 
 father of the Macedonians, whose country v.ns called 
 
 jEmathia, as if from the Hebrew or Greek Ei, an 
 island, and Madai ; q. d. the isle of Madai, (ii- >t<) 
 insula Madai. Near this country is mentioned a 
 people called Msedi, or Madi. This supposition, how- 
 ever, is too artificial, and is unnecessary. See Media. 
 
 MADMANNAH, or Medemene, a city of Simeon, 
 (Josh. XV. 31.) first given to Judah, very far south, 
 towards Gaza, Isa. x. 31 : 1 Chron. ii. 49. 
 
 MAGDALA, a tower, was not far from Tiberias; 
 it is sometimes called by the Jews "Magdala of Ga- 
 dara." From hence, probably, Mary of Magdala, or 
 Mary the Magdalene, was named. Matt, xxviii. 1 ; 
 Luke viii. 2. 
 
 I. MAGI, or Magians, is a name given to an an- 
 cient sect in Persia who are worshippers of fire. 
 Their later name is Parsees, or Guebres. They have 
 three books, which contain the whole of their reli- 
 gion, Zend, Pazend and Abesta, which they ascribe 
 to Abraham. Abesta is a commentary on the other 
 two. They maintain the existence of two principles ; 
 one,which they call Oromazd, the author ofgood ; and 
 the other, Aherman, the author of evil. They worship 
 fire in temples called Atesch-kana, or Atesch-kade ; 
 that is, the house of fire, where they carefully main- 
 tain the flame. To fire they give the name of bab, 
 i. e. part, because they acknowledge this element as 
 the principle of all things. The JMagi observe a 
 mjsterious and religious silence, when they wash, or 
 eat, having first said certain v/ords ; and to every 
 month of the year, to every day, star, mountain, mine, 
 collection of water, and tree, they ascribe particular 
 genii, angels created before man, who sinned by in- 
 fidelity and disobedience, and therefore were con- 
 fined to what they call the coiuitry of Genii, not 
 unlike to our notions of Fairy-Land. See Zoro- 
 aster, and Media. 
 
 They represent the good principle by light, the evil 
 principle by darkness ; tliey acknowledge both as 
 gods, and address prayers and adorations to them ; 
 yet thejf were divided in opinion, some thinking that 
 both had existed from eternity ; others, that only 
 the good principle was eternal, and the evil one cre- 
 ated. These two principles they believe to be in 
 continual opposition, and that they will so continue 
 to the end of the world, when the good principle 
 will prevail ; after which, each will have his own 
 distinct world ; the good reigning with all good peo- 
 ple, and the bad with all the wicked. 
 
 The principles of the most ancient Magi, though 
 still imperfectly known, have been lately communi- 
 cated to Europe in several translations from the 
 works of their sect, obtained from its adhei-ents in 
 India. Among these the most considerable is the 
 Zend-Avesta, attributed to Zoroaster ; translated into 
 French by M. Anquetil Du Perron, 4to, 3 vols. Paris, 
 1771. That this is really the work of the most an- 
 cient Zoroaster, and therefore of the Alagi, it would 
 be difficult to prove ; bin it contains the i)rayers, cer- 
 emonies and maxims of those who now call them- 
 selves his disciples, in India. It has some traces of 
 ancient simplicity and suj)erstition ; but interpolated 
 with much later and l)ur(lensoine additions and am- 
 plifications. More recently has been published at 
 Bombay, (1818,) by Mulla Firuz bin Kaus, the learn- 
 ed cliief j)riest of the Parsee religion at Bombay, 
 "The Desatir, or Sacred Writings of the ancient Per- 
 sian Prophets, with an English Translation." It is 
 written in a dialect now wholly extinct ; and would 
 have been unintelligible, but for the fortunate cir- 
 cumstance of being attended with a Persian trans- 
 lation and glossary. Among these writings is one
 
 MAO 
 
 [ 651 
 
 MAI 
 
 attributed to Zoroaster, who stands here as the thir- 
 teenth in order. The last is the fifth Sasan, who 
 lived in the time of Khosroo Parvez, who was con- 
 temporary Avith the emperor HeracUus; and died 
 only nine years before the destruction of the an- 
 cient Persian monarchy. No account is given 
 of the times of the other prophets, whose works 
 precede. 
 
 The doctrines inculcated in these writings are, the 
 eternity and self-existence of the Supreme Deity, 
 who created another intelligence, who made the 
 worlds, who made several heavens, and gave to each 
 a soul, and a body, also the stars ; (the planets and 
 the fixed stars, called slow-moving stars ;) that the 
 elements, meteors, &c. have each its guardian angel ; 
 that in a former state ferocious animals have been 
 guilty of crimes, for which they now suffer punish- 
 ment, in being hunted, &c. and that men who now 
 commit crimes, will be punished by becoming such, 
 or hke, animals, or vegetables, or minerals. The in- 
 effable attributes of Deity are emphatically celebrat- 
 ed in these works ; which contain much laudable 
 theism, but little or nothing of rites and ceremonies. 
 They direct that prayer be made to light, or fire, not 
 as being themselves deities, but as conveying the 
 sacrifice to divine intelligences. 
 
 II. MAGI, or Wise Men, who came to adore Je- 
 sus at Bethlehem, (3Iatt. ii. 1.) are commonly thought 
 to have been philosophers, whose chief study was 
 astronomy, and who dwelt in Arabia Deserta, or 
 Mesopotamia, which the sacred authors express by 
 the word East. (See Numb, xxiii. 7. and Kedem.) 
 [This name. Magi, is properly an appellation given, 
 among the Persians, to priests, wise men, philoso- 
 phers, etc. who devoted themselves to the study of the 
 moral and physical sciences, and particularly cultivat- 
 ed astrology and medicine. As they thus acquired 
 great honor and influence, they were introduced in- 
 to the courts of kings and consulted on all occasions. 
 They also followed them in warlike expeditions ; 
 and so much importance was attached to their advice 
 and opinions, that nothing Avas attempted without 
 their approbation. (See Xen. Cyr. iv. 5. 51. iv. 6. 11. 
 vii. 5. 57. Aelian. Var. Hist. ii. 17. iv. 10. Por- 
 phyr. de abstiu Anim. iv. 16. Strabo i. 43. xv. 1045. 
 Plin. Hist. Nat. xxiv. 29. xxix. .3.) R. 
 
 Caltnet is of opinion that the star seen by the 
 Magi was an inflamed meteor, in the middle of the 
 air, which, having been observed by them to be 
 attended with miraculous and extraordinary circum- 
 stances, was taken for the star so long foretold by 
 Balaam ; and that, afterwards, they resolved to follow 
 it, and to seek the new-born king, whose advent it 
 declared. It was, therefore, as he thinks, a light that 
 moved in the air before them, something like the 
 pillar of cloud in the desert. 
 
 MAGIC, that is, all those arts, the superstitious 
 ceremonies of magicians, sorcerers, enchanters, nec- 
 romancers, exorcists, astrologers, soothsayers, hiter- 
 preters of dreams, fortune-tellers, casters of nativi- 
 ties, &.C. are all forbidden by the law of God, wheth- 
 er practised to hurt or to benefit mankind. It was 
 also forbidden to consult magicians on pain of death, 
 Lev. xix. 31 ; xx. 6. Daniel speaks of magicians 
 and diviners in Chaldea, under Nebuchadnezzar, 
 (Dan. i. 20, &c.) of whom he names four sorts: 
 Chartumim, Asaphim, Mecasphim and Casditn, (chap. 
 ii. 2.) but their distinctions are not certainly known. 
 
 MAGOG, son of Japheth, (Gen. x. 2.) and father, 
 as is believed, of the Scythians and Tartars ; a name 
 which comprehends the Getee, the Goths, the Sar- 
 
 matiaiis, the Sacae, the Massagetae, and others. The 
 Tartai-s and 3Iuscovites possess the country of the 
 ancient Scythians, and retain several traces of the 
 names Gog and Magog. They were formerly called 
 Mogli, and in Tartary are the provinces Lug, Mon- 
 gug, Cangigu and Gigui ; Engui, Corgangui, Caigui, 
 &c. Gog and Magog have in a manner passed into 
 a proverb, to express a multitude of powerful, cruel, 
 barbarous and implacable enemies to God and his 
 worship. (See Gog.) The Arabians and other orien- 
 tal writers speak of the same people under the names 
 of Jagug and Magug. 
 
 Suidas says Magog is the Persians; whence we 
 might suppose, that Ezekiel, who describes the army 
 of Magog, intended the army of Xerxes. Josephus 
 says, the people named Magoges were so called from 
 their leader, Magog, who, by the Greeks, is called a 
 Scythian. It should seem, therefore, that Josephus 
 speaks of a name and a people well known in his 
 own time. And Ebedjesu, in the thirteenth century, 
 says, that Adeus planted Christianity "throughout 
 Persia, the regions of Assyria, Armenia, Media, Bab- 
 ylonia, the land of Huz, (in th'e south of Persia, not 
 far from the Tigris, whose metropolis is marked 
 Ahvaz in D'Anville, about lat. 40.) to the confines of 
 India, and even to the land of Gog and Magog ;" — 
 the country, evidently, which we now call Tartary. 
 Gog appears to describe the king, and Magog the 
 people. 
 
 MAHALALEEL, or Malaleel, son of Canaan, 
 of the race of Seth, Gen. v. 15, &c. 
 
 MAHALATH is the title of Psalms liii. and 
 Lxxxviii. "To the chief musician on Mahalath;" 
 which signifies a musical mstrument; probably a 
 stringed instrument to be accompanied by song. In 
 Ethiopic the corresponding word, Mahlet, signifies 
 song, psalm, but also i;t9aiia, a harp, guitar, etc. R. 
 
 MAHANAIM, the two camps or hosts, a city of the 
 Levites of the family of Merari, in Gad, on the 
 brook Jabbok, Josh. xxi. 38 ; xiii. 29, 30 ; 1 Chron. 
 vi. 80. Jacob gave it this name, because here he had 
 a vision of angels. Gen. xxxii. 2. It was the seat of 
 the kingdom of Ish-bosheth, after the death of Saul, 
 (2 Sam. ii. 9 — 12.) and thither David retired, during 
 the usurpation of Absalom, 2 Sam. xvii. xviii, &c. 
 In the Vulgate it is sometimes called simply Castra, 
 or the camp. Gen. xxxii. 2; 2 Sam. ii. 8, 12, 29; xvii. 
 24; xix. 32. xiSuoa, a harp, guitar, etc. R. 
 
 MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ, he hasteneth to 
 the prey, a name given to one of the sons of the 
 prophet Isaiah, by way of prediction ; (Isa. viii. 3.) 
 The prophet observes that his children were for signs 
 and wonders, and this name is evidence of the fact. 
 Of the same nature we are to consider Emmanuel, 
 and some other names. See Virgin. 
 
 MAHLAH, or Mahala, a daughter of Zelophe- 
 had, who with her sisters received their allotment 
 in the land of Canaan, because their father died 
 without male issue. Numb. xxvi. 33 ; xxvii. 1 ; Josh, 
 xvii. 3 ; 1 Chron. vii. 15. 
 
 MAHLON, son of Elimelech and Naomi, (Ruth 
 i. 2, &c.) who in the country of Moab married Ruth, 
 a 3Ioabite woman, but died without children : his 
 widow followed her mother-in-law Naomi to Beth- 
 lehem, where she married Boaz. 
 
 MAIMED implies the loss of a hmb or member; 
 oflen the absolute loss of it, not a suspension of its 
 use, by a contraction, or diminution. This total loss 
 is clearly the import of the original word, " If thine 
 hand or foot offend thee, out them off, and cast them 
 from thee — enter into life maimed — rather than hav-
 
 MAL 
 
 [652 ] 
 
 MAL 
 
 iug two hands," &c. Matt, xviii. 8. And this should 
 the rather be observed, to distinguish it from wither- 
 ed, contracted, &c. and because it may be asked, 
 what we should think of a person who could restore 
 a lost limb, or member. Perhaps we are not always 
 sensible of the full import of this word, when read- 
 ing the history of the miraculous cures performed 
 by our Lord. 
 
 MAKAZ, a city probably of Dan, (1 Kings iv. 9.) 
 supposed by Calmet to be the Maktesh, the jaw-tooth, 
 or En-hakkore, of Judg. xv. 19; Zeph. i. IL 
 
 MAKELOTH, an encampment of Israel in the 
 desert, Numb, xxxiii. 25, 26. 
 
 MAKKEDAH, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 4L) 
 which Eusebius places 8 miles from Eleutheropolis, 
 cast, Josh. X. 29. Called Maked, 1 Mac. v. 26, 38. 
 
 MAKTESH, nwrter, probably the name of a quar- 
 ter or district in or near Jerusalem, perhaps one of 
 the adjacent valleys, Zeph. i. IL *R. 
 
 MALACHI, the last of the twelve minor prophets, 
 and so little known that it is doubted whether his 
 name be a proper name, or only a generical one, sig- 
 nifying the angel of the Lord, a messenger, a proph- 
 et. It appears by Hag. i. 13. and Mai. iii. L that in 
 these times the name of Malach-Jehovah, messenger 
 of the Lord, was given to prophets. The IjXX have 
 rendered Malachi, his angel, instead of my angel, as 
 the original expresses ; and several of the fathers 
 have quoted Malachi under the name of " the angel 
 of the Lord." The second book of Esdras and Ter- 
 tuUian unite the name Malachi and angel of the 
 Lord. Origen thought that Malachi was an angel 
 incarnate, rather than a prophet; but this opinion is 
 insupportable. It is much more probable that Mal- 
 achi was Ezra ; and this is the opinion of the ancient 
 Hebrews, of the Chaldee paraplirast, of Jerome, and 
 of abbot Rupert. The author of the Lives of the 
 Prophets, under the name of Epiphanius Dorotheus, 
 and the Chronicon Alexandrinum, say, that Malachi 
 was of the tribe of Zebulun, and native of Sapha ; 
 that the name Malachi was given to him because of 
 his angelical mildness, and because an angel used to 
 appear visibly to the people, after the prophet had 
 spoken to them, to confirm what he had said. He 
 died very young, as they say, and was buried near 
 the place of his ancestors. 
 
 It appears certain that Malachi prophesied under 
 Nehemiah, and after Haggai and Zechariah, at a time 
 of great disorder among the priests and people of 
 Judah, whom he reproves. He inveighs against the 
 priests ; reproves the people for having taken strange 
 wives, for inhmnanity to their brethren, for too fre- 
 quently divorcing their wives, and for neglect of pay- 
 ing tithes and first-fruits. He seems to allude to the 
 covenant that Nehemiah renewed with the Lord, to- 
 gether with the ])ricsts and the chief of the nation. 
 Malachi is the last of the prophets of the synagogue, 
 and lived about 400 years before Christ. He i)roi)h- 
 esied of the coming of John the Baptist, and of the 
 two-fold coming of our Saviour, very clearly, ch. iii. 
 He speaks of the abolition of sacrifices under the 
 old law, and of the sacrifice of the new law, chap. 
 i. 10, 13; iv. 5,0. 
 
 MALCHUS, a servant of the high-priest Caiaphas, 
 who, in the garden of olives, among those sent to ap- 
 prehend Jesus, was struck by Peter, and had his right 
 ear cut ofl^, Joliii xviii. 10. 
 
 MALICE is a word which expresses not only that 
 evil disposition of the mind and heart, which we so 
 call, but also punishment and correction, 1 Sam. xx. 
 7 ; xx\. 17. (See also Isa. xl. 2.) Paul requires that 
 
 Christians should be children in malice, but men in 
 prudence and wisdom, 1 Cor. xiv. 20. 
 
 MALTA, or Melita, [Eng. tr.] a famous island 
 in the Mediterranean sea. It is thought to have been 
 named Melita, from the great quantity of honey found 
 there formerly. Its length is from east to west, and 
 its breadth from north to south. Its circumference 
 is about sixty miles, and is ascribed to Africa by ge- 
 ographers, because, if a line be draAvn from east to 
 west, it will be included in the African sea. Paul 
 suffered shipwreck on this island, and, with his com- 
 panions, was well used by the inhabitants. Acts xxviii. 
 Paul taking up a fagot of twigs to throw into the 
 fire, a viper that lurked in it, feeling the heat, seized 
 him by the hand ; but he, without any emotion, shook 
 it into the fire. The people expected every moment 
 to see him fall down dead ; and as this did not hap- 
 pen, they changed their sentiments, and began to 
 look upon him as some deity. Publius, the govern- 
 or of the island, received the apostle courteously ; 
 and his father being sick of a fever and bloody flux, 
 Paul healed him, and also restored many of the 
 islanders to health. When he and his company 
 sailed thence, the people abundantly supplied them 
 with necessaries for their voyage. Sevei-al of them 
 were converted by the preaching of Paul ; and the 
 house of Publius was changed into a church. 
 
 A native of this island informed Calmet that Mal- 
 ta was an ancient colony of the Carthaginians, and 
 liad always spoken the language of Africa, as it 
 continues to do. Hence those of Paul's company, 
 who were Greeks or Latins, called the Maltese bar- 
 barians. 
 
 We ought not to close this article, without hinting 
 at an opinion lately started, and supported by men 
 of very competent learning, that the Melita of the 
 Acts was an island in the Adriatic sea, on the coast 
 of Illyricum, now called Meleda. To prove this, the 
 course of the winds, the Euroclydon, with the other 
 circumstances of the voyage, have been closely ex- 
 amined. But it appears from the history, that the 
 same winds, the S. E. the E. S. E. and the E. were 
 equally likely to drive the ship to Malta, in a direct 
 course from Crete ; that the fears of the seamen, of 
 falling on the Syrtes (quicksands) the greater or the 
 lesser, were more than nugatory in that case, as they 
 were going farther and farther from them, towards 
 Meleda ; that it does not appear that ever the Ro- 
 mans had such an establishment at Meleda as war- 
 ranted the residence of a protos or pro-pretor there ; 
 and that it was to the last degree unlikely that " a 
 ship of Alexandria" should have chosen Meleda for 
 the purpose of " wintering in the island," which im- 
 plies her arrival before the stormy season : — all these 
 objections form a strong argument against the newly- 
 proposed opinion. 
 
 [The name Melita was anciently applied to two 
 islands ; one in the Adriatic sea on the coast of Il- 
 lyricum, now called Meleda; the other in the Med- 
 iterranean, between Sicily and Africa, now called 
 Malta. That the latter is the one on which Paul 
 suffered shipwrrck is probable, because he left the 
 island in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered 
 tliere on her voyage to Italy, rnd after touching at 
 Syracuse and Rliegium, landed at Piiteoli ; thus sail- 
 ing on a direct course. The other Melita would be 
 far out of the usual track from Alexandria to Italy; 
 and in sailing from it to Rhegium, Syracuse also 
 would be out of the direct course. The fact that 
 the vessel was tossed all night belbre the shipwreck, 
 in the Adriatic sea, does not militate against the prob-
 
 M A N 
 
 [653] 
 
 MANASSEH 
 
 ability of its aftenvarcfe being driven upon Malta ; 
 because the name Adria was applied to the whole 
 Ionian sea, which lay between Sicily and Greece. 
 So Strabo ii. p. 185. C. vii. p. 488. A. (See Wetstein 
 on Acts xxvii. 27. and Adria.) R. 
 
 MAMMON, a Chaldee word signifying riches. 
 Our Saviour says, we cannot at the same time serve 
 God and manmion ; (Matt. vi. 24.) that we ought not 
 to make ourselves adherents of mammon, or of the 
 riches of unrighteousness, that is, of worldly riches, 
 which are commonly the instruments of sin, and are 
 acquired too often by unrighteousness and iniquity. 
 
 MAMRE, the name of an Amorite in alliance with 
 Abraham, Gen. xiv. 13, 24. Hence the oaks of Mam- 
 re, (Engl. tr. plain of Mamre, Gen. xiii. 18 ; xviii. 1.) 
 or simply Mamre, (xxiii. 17, 19. xxxv. 27.) a grove near 
 Hebron. R. 
 
 3IAN, the generic name of the human race, (Gen. 
 i. 27.) who were created after the unage and likeness 
 of God. See Adam. 
 
 " A man of God " generally signifies a j)rophet ; a 
 man devoted to God ; to his service. Moses is called 
 [)eculiarly " the man of God," Deut. xxxiii. 1 ; Josh, 
 xiv. 6. Our Saviour frequently calls himself "the 
 son of man," in allusion, jjrobably, to the prophecy of 
 Daniel, in which the Messiah is spoken of, Dan. vii. 13. 
 
 MAN OF SIN, see Axtichrist. 
 
 MANAEN, a Christian prophet, and foster-brother 
 of Herod Antipas, (Acts xiii. 1.) was at Antioch with 
 other prophets, when the Holy Ghost said, "Separate 
 me Barnabas and Saul for the work whercunto I 
 have called them." It is conjectured that he was 
 one of the seventy disciples, but no particulars of his 
 life are known. 
 
 iM AN AHEM, tlie sixteenth king of Israel, was 
 originally general of the army of Zachariah. He 
 was at Tirzah when he heard of his master's murder, 
 and immediately marched against Shallum, who had 
 shut himself up in Samaria, whom he killed, and 
 then ascended the throne. He reigned in Samaria 
 ten years, and did evil in the sight of the Lord. Pul, 
 king of Assyria, having invaded Israel during the 
 reign of Manahem, obliged him to pay a tribute of a 
 thousand talents, which Manahem raised b}^ a tax on 
 all his subjects of fifty shekels a head. Manahem 
 slept with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah reigned 
 in his stead, 2 Kings xv. 13 — 32. 
 
 I. MANASSEH, the eldest son of Joseph, (Gen. 
 xli. 50, 51.) was born A. M. 2290, and named Manas- 
 seh, [caimng to forget,) because Joseph said, " God 
 has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's 
 house." When Jacob was about to die, Joseph 
 brought his two sons to receive his last blessing. 
 Gen. xlviii. 1, &c. Jacob adopted them ; made them 
 come to his bed-side, and kissed them. Joseph hav- 
 ing placed Ephraim at Jacob's left hand, and Manas- 
 seh at his right, Jacob put his right hand on Ephraim, 
 and his left on Manasseh ; which Joseph observiiip, 
 would have had him reverse. Jacob, however, said, 
 " I know what I am doing, my son ; the eldest shall 
 be father of a great people, but his younger brother 
 shall be greater than he." He continued to bless 
 them, and said, " In thee shall Israel be blessed, and 
 it shall be said, 'God make thee as Ephraim and as 
 Manasseh.'" The tribe of Manasseh came out of 
 Egypt, in number 32,200 men, upwards of twen- 
 ty years old, under the conduct of Gamaliel, son of 
 Pedahzur, Numb. ii. 20, 21. The tribe was divided 
 in the Land of Promise. One half settled east of 
 the river Jordan, and possessed the country of Ra- 
 shan, from the river Jabbok to mount Libniius: and 
 
 the other half settled west of Jordan, and possessed 
 the country between the tribe of Ephraim^ south, of 
 the tribe of Issachar, north, having the river Jordan 
 east, and the Mediterranean west, Josh. xvi. xvii. 
 See Canaan, pp. 232, 233. 
 
 II. MANASSEH, fifteenth king of Judah, and 
 son and successor of Hezekiah, (2 Kings xx. 21 ; 
 xxi. 1, 2 ; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 1, &c. A. M. 3306.) was 
 twelve years old when he began to reign, and reign- 
 ed fifty-five years. He did evil in the sight of the 
 Lord ; worshippediihe idols of Canaan ; rebuilt the 
 liigh places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed ; 
 set up altars to Baal, and jjlanted groves to false 
 gods. He raised altars to the whole host of heaven, 
 in the courts of God's house ; made bis son pass 
 through the fire in honor to Moloch ; was addicted 
 to magic, divinations, auguries, and other supersti- 
 tions ; set up the idol Astarte in the house of God ; 
 and finally involved his people in all the abomina- 
 tions of idolatry to that degree, that Israel committed 
 more wickedness than the Canaanites which the 
 Lord had driven out before them. To all these 
 crimes Blanasseh added cruelty, and shed rivers of 
 innocent blood in Jerusalem. 
 
 It is supposed that the prophet Isaiah raised his 
 voice loudly against those enormities. He had been 
 in great credit at court, in the reign of Hezekiah ; 
 and was probably of high birth. He is by many 
 thought to have been put to death by this wicked 
 king. See Isaiah. 
 
 The calamities which God had threatened, began 
 towards the 22d year of Manasseh's reign. The 
 king of Assyria sent his army against him, who, 
 seizing him among tlie briers and brambles where 
 he was hid, fettered his hands and feet, and carried 
 him to Babylon, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. When in 
 bonds, at Babylon, JManasseh humbled himself before 
 God ; who heard his prayers, and brought him back 
 to Jerusalem. Here he acknowledged the hand of 
 the Lord ; and we have a prayer which, it is affirm- 
 ed, he made in prison. The church, however, does 
 not receive it as canonical. He restored the wor- 
 ship of the Lord ; broke down the altars of the 
 false gods ; and abolished all traces of their idola- 
 trous worship; but did not destroy the high placi s, 
 which is the only thing Scripture reproaches him 
 with, after his return from Babylon. He caused Je- 
 rusalem to be fortified ; enclosed with a wall anoth- 
 er district, which in his time was built west of 
 Jerusalem, and which after his reign Avas called the 
 second city, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14. He also put gar- 
 risons into all the strong places of Judah. 31anas- 
 seh died at Jerusalem, and Avas buried in the garden 
 of his house, in the garden of Uzza, 2 Kings xxi. 
 18. His son Anunon succeeded him, A. M. 3361. 
 
 Many believe that the history of Holofernes hap- 
 pened luider 3Ianassoh. Sec Judith. 
 
 III. MANASSEH, husband of Judith, who lived 
 but a little while with her. He had been dead three 
 years when Holofernes' war began. Manasseh was 
 of the tribe of Simeon, and died in the time of bar- . 
 ley harvest, of a stroke of the sun, which had affect- 
 ed his head, Judith viii. 2, 3. 
 
 IV. MANASSEH, high-priest of the Jews, son 
 of John, and brother of Jaddus, succeeded Elcazar, 
 his great uncle, and was succeeded by Onias II. his 
 nephew. IManasseh married Nicaso, daughter of 
 Sanballat, governor of Samaria, and by his aid built 
 the temple on mount Gerizim, in which he became 
 the first high-priest. (Josephus xi. 7, 8. Compare 
 Neh. xiii.m) ' :v
 
 MANDRAKE 
 
 [ 654 
 
 M A N 
 
 MANDRAKE, a plant called in Hebrew o'Nin, 
 dudaim, (plural,) is a species of melon, of which the 
 ancients, and among others Josephus, have enter- 
 tained many strange conceits. There are two sorts : 
 the female, which is black, having leaves not unhke 
 lettuce, though smaller and narrower, which spread 
 on the ground, and have a disagreeable smell. It 
 bears berries something like services, pale, of a strong 
 smell, and having kernels within, like those of pears. 
 It has two or three very large roots, t^^^sted together, 
 white within, black without, and covered with a 
 thick rind. The other kind, or male mandrake, is 
 called morion, or folly, because it suspends the use of 
 the senses. It produces berries twice the size of 
 those of the female, of a good scent, and of a color 
 approaching towards saffron. Its leaves are white, 
 large, broad and smooth, like the leaves of the beech 
 tree. Its root resembles that of the female, but is 
 thicker and larger. This plant stupefies those who 
 use it; sometimes depriving them of understanding; 
 and often causes such vertigoes and lethargies, that if 
 those who have taken it have not present assistance, 
 they die in convulsions. 
 
 Pjthagoras was the first who conferred on the 
 mandrake the name of anthropomorphos, which be- 
 came ver\' general. On what account this name was 
 given is not certainly known ; Calmet states it to 
 have been because most of the roots are parted from 
 the middle downwards, somewhat resembling thighs 
 and legs. 
 
 From Gen. XXX. 14, 15, 16, we collect that the fruit 
 was ripe in wheat harvest. And thus Hasselquist, 
 speaking of Nazareth in Galilee, says, " What I found 
 most remarkable at this village, was the great num- 
 ber of mandrakes which grew in a vale below it. I 
 had not the pleasure to see this plant in blossom, 
 the fruit now (May 5th, O. S.) hanging ripe on the 
 stem, which lay withered on the ground. From the 
 season in which the mandrake blossoms, and ripens 
 fruit, ono might form a conjecture that it was Ra- 
 chel's dudaim. These were brought her in the wheat 
 harvest, which In Galilee is in the month of May, 
 about this time, and the mandrake was now in fruit." 
 (Travels, p. 160.) 
 
 From Cant. vii. 13, it appears that the dudaim 
 yielded a remarkable smell, at the same time as the 
 vines and pomegranates flowered, which in Judea is 
 about the end of April or beginning of IMay. It is 
 probable, therefore, that this circumstance of their 
 smell is to be referred to the fruit rather than to the 
 flower, especially as Brookes, who has given a par- 
 ticular description and a print of the plant, expressly 
 observes that the fruit has a strong nauseous smell, 
 though he says nothing about the scent of the flower. 
 And this circumstance y\\\\ in some measure account 
 for what Hasselquist remarks, that the Arabs at Naz- 
 areth call it by a name which signifies in their lan- 
 guage "the devil's victuals." So the Samaritan 
 chief-priest told Maundrcll, that the mandrakes were 
 plants of a large leaf, bearing a certain sort of fruit, 
 in shape resembling an apple, growing ripe in har- 
 vest, but of an ill savor, and not wholesome. But 
 then he added, that the virtue of tliein was to help 
 conception, being laid under the genial bed; and 
 that the women were often wont so to apply it at this 
 day, out of an opinion of its prolific nature. 
 
 From these accounts of the mandrake, it Is evident 
 that Rachel could not Avant them either for food or 
 fragrancy ; and from the whole tenor of the narra- 
 tion in Gen. xxx. compared with chap. xxix. 32— -34, 
 it appears that both she and Leah had some such 
 
 notion aa the Samaritan chief-priest entertained of 
 their genial virtue. And does not the Jewish queen's 
 mention of them in Cant. vii. 13, intimate something 
 of the same kind, and show that the same opinion 
 prevailed among the Jews in the time of Solomon ? 
 Nor was this opinion confined to the Jews; the 
 Greeks and the Romans had the same notion of 
 mandrakes. They gave to the fruit the name of 
 "Apple of Love," and to Venus that of Mandrago- 
 ritis. The emperor Julian, in his epistle toCaUxenee, 
 says, that he drank the juice of mandrakes to excite 
 amorous inclinations. And before him Dioscorides 
 had observed of it, " The root is supposed to be used 
 in philters or love-potions." On the whele, there 
 seems little doubt but this plant had a provocative 
 quality, and therefore its Hebrew name, dudaim, may 
 be properly deduced, says Calmet, from dudim, pleas- 
 ures of love. 
 
 [The mandrakes of the Bible have given rise to 
 much dispute and diversity of opinion among inter- 
 preters. It seems to have been a plant to which was 
 attributed the power of rendering barren women 
 fruitful. According to most of the ancient versions, 
 it was the ]\Iandragora, mandrake, [Atropa Mandra- 
 gora of Linn.) a plant of the genus Belladonna, with 
 a root like a beet, white and reddish blossoms, and 
 yellow apples, which ripen from IMay to July. To 
 these apples the orientals to this day attribute the 
 power of exciting to venery ; and they are called 
 poina amatoria, or love-apples. (See Schulz Leitun- 
 gen, &c. p. v. 197. D'Herbelot's Bibliotheque Orien- 
 tale, p. 17.) R. 
 
 MANEH,see Mina. 
 
 MANNA, a substance which God gave to the chil- 
 dren of Israel for food, in the deserts of Arabia. It 
 began to fall on Friday morning, the sixteenth day 
 of the second month, which from thence was called 
 Ijar, and continued to fall daily in the morning, ex- 
 cept on the sabbath, till after the passage over Jor- 
 dan, and to the passover of the fortieth year from 
 the exodus, that is, from Friday, June 5, A. M. 2513, 
 to the second day of the passover, Wednesday, May 
 5, A. M. 2553. It Avas a small grain, white, like 
 hoar-frost, round, and the size of coriander-seed, 
 Exod. xvi. 14; Numb. xi. 1. It fell every morning 
 with the dew, about the camp of the Israelites, and 
 in so great quantities during the whole forty j'earsof 
 their journey in the wilderness, that it was sufficient 
 to feed the entire multitude, of above a million of 
 souls, every one of whom gathered, for his share 
 every day, the quantity of an omer, i. c. about three 
 quarts. It maintained all this multitude, and yet 
 none of them found any inconvenience from the 
 constant eating of it. Every Friday there fell a 
 double quantity, (Exod. xvi. 5.) and though it putre- 
 fied and bred maggots when kept on auj^ other day, 
 yet on the sabbath it suffered no such alteration. 
 And the same manna that was melted by the heat 
 of the sun, when left in the field, was of so hard a 
 consistence when brought into the house, that it was 
 beat in mortars, and would even endure the fire. It 
 was baked in pans, made into i)aste, and so into 
 cakes. Numb. xi. 5. It is somewhat extraordinary 
 that Calmet should think the "entire multitude" of 
 Israel subsisted wholly on the manna. Certainly, the 
 daily sacrifices were offered ; and, no doubt, other 
 offerings, nflbrding animal food, on which tiie priests 
 and Levites subsisted, according to their ofiices. 
 Tiiat considerable flocks and herds accompanied the 
 camp of Israel is clear from various passages, and it 
 is equally clear these could not live upon manna.
 
 MANNA 
 
 [ 655 ] 
 
 MAO 
 
 Scripture gives to inauna the name of " bread of 
 heaven," and " food of angels ;" perhaps, as intimat- 
 ing its superior quality, Ps. Ixxviii. 25. There is a 
 vegetable substance called manna which falls in Ara- 
 bia, in Poland, in Calabria, in mount Libanus, and 
 elsewhere. The most common and the most famous 
 is that of Arabia, which is a kind of condensed 
 honey, found in the summer time on the leaves 
 of trees, on herbs, on the rocks, or the sand of Arabia 
 Petrcea. That wliich is gathered about mount Sinai 
 has a very strong smell, which it receives from the 
 herbs on which it falls. It easily evaporates, inso- 
 much that if thirty pounds of it were kept in an open 
 vessel, hardly ten would remain at the end of fifteen 
 days. Several writers think that the manna with 
 which the Israelites were fed was like that now found 
 in Arabia, and that the only thing that was miracu- 
 lous in the occurrence was the regularity of the sup- 
 ply, and its cessation on the sabbath. The Jews, 
 however, with the majority of critics, are of opinion 
 that it was a totally different substance from the vege- 
 table manna, and was specially provided by the Al- 
 mighty for his people. 
 
 Burckhardt says, that in the valleys around Sinai 
 the manna is still found, dropping from the sprigs of 
 soveral trees, but principally from the Gharrab. It 
 is collected by the Arabs, who make cakes of it, and 
 call it " Assal Beyrouk," or " Honey of Beyrouk." 
 (See Exod. xvi. 31.) The Arabs who collect it make 
 cakes of it ; so did Israel, loc. cit. Could a similar 
 manna be the wild honey on which John the Baptist 
 lived ? 
 
 [The following is Burckhardt's account of the 
 manna found near Sinai at the present day. Since his 
 time it has been ascertained by Dr. Ehrenberg and 
 M. Riippell, that the manna is occasioned by an in- 
 sect, which the former has particularly described. 
 That this, however, could not have been the manna 
 of the Israelites, is sufficiently obvious ; unless we 
 regard it as having been miraculously increased, and 
 its qualities miraculously changed, — a supposition 
 which involves as great an exertion of miraculous 
 power, as the direct bestoAvmeut of a different sub- 
 stance. (See Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, &c. 
 p. 599, seq.) 
 
 " The Wady el Sheikh, the great valley of western 
 Sinai, is in many parts thickly overgi-own with the 
 tamarisk ortarfa,(i/e(/?/5ar«ni^//iag-tof Linn.) It is the 
 only valley in the peninsula of Sinai where this tree 
 gi-ows, at present, in any great quantity ; though small 
 bushes of it are here and there met with in other 
 parts. It is from the tarfa that the manna is obtained. 
 This substance is called by the Bedouins maim, and 
 accurately resembles the description of mamia given 
 in the Scriptures. In the month of Juno, it drops 
 from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, 
 leaves and thorns, which always cover the ground 
 beneath that tree in the natural state ; the manna is 
 collected before sunrise, when it is coagulated ; but 
 it dissolves as soon as the sun shines upon it. The 
 Arabs clean away the leaves, dirt, etc. which adhere 
 to it, boil it, strain it through a coarse piece of cloth, 
 and put it in leathern skins: in this way they pre- 
 serve it till the following year, and use it as they do 
 honey, to pour over unleavened bread, or to dip their 
 bread into. I could not learn that they ever made it 
 into cakes or loaves. The manna is found only in 
 years when copious rains have fallen ; sometimes it 
 is not produced at all. I saw none of it among the 
 Arabs, but I obtained a small piece of the last year's 
 produce, in the convent (of mount Sinai), where", hav- 
 
 ing been kept in the cool shade and moderate tem» 
 perature of that place, it had become quite solid, and 
 formed a small cake ; it became soft when kept 
 some time in the hand ; if placed in the sun for five 
 minutes, it dissolved ; but when restored to a cool 
 place, it became solid again in a quarter of an hour. 
 In the season at which the Arabs gather it, it never 
 acquires that state of hardness which will allow of 
 its being pounded, as the IsraeUtes are said to have 
 done, in Num. xi. 8. Its color is a dirty yellow, and 
 the piece which I saw was still mixed with bits of 
 tamarisk leaves ; its taste is agreeable, somewhat ar- 
 omatic, and as sweet as honey. If eaten in any 
 considerable quantity, it is said to be slightly pur- 
 gative. 
 
 "The quantity of manna collected at present, even 
 in seasons when the most copious rains fall, is trifling, 
 perhaps not amounting to more than five or six hun- 
 dred pounds. It is entirely consumed among the 
 Bedouins, who consider it the greatest dainty which 
 their country affords. The harvest is usually in 
 June, and lasts for about six weeks. In Nubia and 
 in every part of Arabia, the tamarisk is one of the 
 most common trees ; on the Euphrates, on the Asta- 
 boras, in all the valleys of the Hedjaz and the Bedja, 
 it grows in great plenty. 
 
 " It is remarked by Niebuhr, that in Mesopotamia 
 manna is produced by several trees of the oak spe- 
 cies ; a similar tact was confirmed to me by the son 
 of a Turkish lady, who had passed the gi-eater part 
 of his youth at Erzerum in Asia jMinor ; he told me 
 that at iMoush, a town three or four days distant 
 from Erzerum, a substance is collected from the 
 tree which produces the galls, exactly similar to 
 the manna of the peninsula in taste and consistence, 
 and that it is used by the inhabitants instead of hon- 
 ey." (Compare Niebuhr's Descript. of Arabia, p. 145. 
 Germ, edition.) *R. 
 
 MANOAH, father of Samson, of the tribe of Dan, 
 and of the city of Zorah, Judg. xiii. An angel of 
 the Lord having appeared to his wife, and having 
 promised her a son, Manoah desired of the Lord that 
 he might see him who had thus appeared, that he 
 might know from him how to treat his son when 
 born. The Lord heard his prayer, and the angel ap- 
 peared again to his wife, being then in the fields; 
 who ran to acquaint her husband. Manoah went to 
 him, and obtained from him directions respecting his 
 son. Manoah then said, " My Lord, I pray you be 
 pleased to let us prepare you a kid." The angel re- 
 plied, " I must not eat any food ; but you may offer 
 it for a burnt-sacrifice to the Lord." Manoah said 
 to him, (not knowing him to be an angel,) "What is 
 your name ? that we may pay you honor and ac- 
 knowledgment, if that shall hajipcn which you have 
 foretold." He answered, " Why ask you my name? 
 which is a secret ;" or, " and he kept it secret." Ma- 
 noah therefore took the kid with the wine for the 
 libations, and put them on the fire which he had 
 lighted on a stone. As the smoke began to ascend, 
 the angel also ascended in the midst of the flame, 
 towards heaven. Manoah was alarmed upon the 
 discovery of the angelic nature of his visitant, but 
 was rallied by his wife. 
 
 MANSLAYER, see Refuge. 
 
 MAON, a city in the south of Judah, (Josh. xv. 
 55; 1 Sam. xxiii. 24, 25 ; xxv. 2'.) and about which 
 Nabal the Carmelite had great possessions. It was 
 very probably the Maan mentioned in the next ar- 
 ticle. 
 
 MAONITES; a tribe mentioned (Judg. x. 12.)
 
 MAR 
 
 [ 656 
 
 MAR 
 
 along with the Anialekites, Zidoniany, Philistines, 
 &c. In 2 Chr. xxvi. 7, they are called Mehunims, 
 and are mentioned along with the Arabians. There 
 is still a city Maan with a castle in x'Vrabia Petraea, 
 Bouth of the Dead sea and near Wady Mousa. (See 
 Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, &c. p. 437.) *R. 
 
 MARAH, bitterness. When the Israelites, coming 
 out of Egypt, arrived at the desert of Etham, they 
 there found the water to be so bitter, that neither 
 themselves nor their cattle could drink it, Exod. xv. 
 23. They therefore began to murmur against Mo- 
 ses, who, praying to the Lord, was shown a kind of 
 wood, which, being thrown into the water, made it 
 
 Eotable. This wood was called Alvali by the Ma- 
 ometans, who maintain that Moses had received a 
 Eiece of it, by succession, from the patriarchs, Noah 
 aving kept it in the ark, and delivered it to his pos- 
 terity. (D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, p. 105, col. 1. et p. 
 1022. col. 1.) The word alua has some relation to 
 aloes, which is a very bitter wood ; and some inter- 
 preters have hinted, that 3Ioses took a very bitter 
 sort of wood, on purpose that the power of God 
 might be the more remarkable, in sweetening these 
 waters. Josephus says, that this legislator used the 
 wood which he found by chance, lying at his feet. 
 [See more on this subject under the article Exo- 
 dus. R. 
 
 "El-vah, says Mr. Bi'uce, (Trav. vol. ii. p. 470.) is 
 a lai-ge village, or town, thickly planted with palm- 
 trees, the 'Oasis Parva' of the ancients, the last in- 
 habited place to the west that is under the jurisdiction 
 of Egypt ; it yields senna and coloqiiintida. The 
 Arabs call El-vah, a shrub or tree, not unlike our 
 hawthorn, either in form or flower. It was of this 
 wood, they say, that Moses' rod was made, when he 
 sweetened the waters of Marah. With a rod of this 
 wood too, say they, Kaleb Ibn el Waalid, the great 
 destroyer of Christians, sweetened these waters at 
 El-vah, once bitter, and gave it the name from this 
 miracle. A number of very fine springs burst from 
 the earth at El-vah, which render this small spot ver- 
 dant and beautifid, though surrounded with dreary 
 deserts on every quarter ; it is situated like an island 
 in tiie midst of the ocean." 
 
 We believe that our colonists who first peopled 
 some parts of America, corrected the qnalitics of the 
 water they fouiul there, by infusing in it branches of 
 sassafras; and it is understood that the first induce- 
 ment of the Chinese to the general use of tea, was 
 to correct the water of their rivers ; it follows, there- 
 fore, that some kinds of wood possess such a quality ; 
 and it may be, that God directed Moses to the very 
 wood |)roper for his purpose. But then it must be 
 confessed that the water of these parts continues 
 bad to this day, and is so greatly in want of some- 
 thing to improve it, that had such a discovery been 
 commimicated by Moses, it could hardly have been 
 lost. Niebuhr, when upon the spot where this mira- 
 cle was performed, inquired after wood capable of 
 this effect ; but could gain no information of any 
 Buch. It will not, however, from hence follow, that 
 Moses used a bitter wood, or even any ordinary 
 wood ; but, as Providence usually works by the proper 
 and fit means to accomplish its ends, probably the 
 wood used by Moses was, in some degree at least 
 corrective of that quality which abounded in the' 
 waters ; though, perhaps, it might itself have other 
 qualities equally bad, but of a different kind, (where- 
 fore it has been lost,) adapted, perhaps, to neutralize 
 the water, and so to render it potable. Sec Exodus 
 as above. . 
 
 That other water also stands in need of coiTection, 
 and that such correction is applied to it, appears from 
 a custom in Egypt, in respect to the water of the 
 Nile ; a custom which, being of great antiquity, might 
 have been familiar to Moses. " The water of the 
 Nile is always somewhat muddy ; but by rubbing 
 with bitter almonds, prepared in a particular manner, 
 the earthen jars in which it is kept, this water is ren- 
 dered clear, hght and salutary." (Niebuhr's Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 71.) Did these bitter almonds suggest the 
 idea of bitter wood ? 
 
 MARAN-ATHA, the Lord comes, a form of threat- 
 ening, cursing, or anathematizing among the Jews. 
 Paul pronounces Anathema Maran-atha against all 
 who love not our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. xvi. 22. 
 Commentators inform us, that Maran-atha is the 
 greatest anathema among the Jews, and equivalent 
 to Sham-atha, or Shem-atha, the name comes, or the 
 Lord comes : q. d. "Mayest thou be devoted to the 
 greatest of evils, and to the utmost sevei'ity of God's 
 judgments ; may the Lord come quickly to take 
 vengeance of thy crimes." But Selden and Light- 
 foot maintain, that Maran-atha is not found in this 
 sense among tlie rabbins, but that it may be under- 
 stood in an absolute sense : "Let him that does not 
 love our Lord Jesus Christ be anathema. The Lord 
 is come, the Messiah has appeared ; evil to whoso- 
 ever receives him not." See more under Anathema, 
 p. 58. col. 2. 
 
 MARESHAH, a fortified city of Judah; called 
 also Moresheth. The prophet Micah was a native 
 of this city. It was two miles from Eleutheropoiis ; 
 and near to it, in the vale of Zephathah, was fought 
 a famous battle between Asa, king of Judah, and 
 Zerah, king of Chus, in which Asa defeated a mil- 
 lion of men. Josh. xv. 44; 2 Chr. xi. 8; xiv. 9, 10 ; 
 Micah i. 1, 15. In the latter times of the Jewish 
 connnonwcaltli, Mareshah belonged to IdumiEa, as 
 did several other southerly cities of Judah. It was 
 peopled by the Jews, and their allies, in the time of 
 John Ilyrcanus. Alexander Jannseus took it from 
 the Arabians, and Pompey restored it to its first in- 
 habitants. Gabinius rebuilt it, and the Parthians 
 destroyed it in the war of Antigonus against Herod. 
 (Jos. Ant. xiii. xiv.) 
 
 I. INIARIAMNE, datighter of Alexander, son of 
 Aristobulus, and of Alexandra, daughter of Hyrca- 
 nus, high-priest of the Jews, was the most beautiful 
 princess of her age. She married Herod the Great, 
 by whom she had two sons, Alexander and Aristobu- 
 lus, and two daughters, Salampso and Cypros ; also 
 a son called Herod, who died young, during his stud- 
 ies at Rome. Herod was excessively fond of Ma- 
 riamne, who but slightly returned his ])assion ; and 
 at length cherished a deadly hatred towards him. 
 Herod had her ])ut to death ; but afterwards his affec- 
 tion for her became stronger than ever. Josephus 
 mentions a tower that Herod built in Jerusalem, 
 which he named Mariamne. See Herod. 
 
 II. MARIAMNE, daughter of the high-priest 
 Simon, and wife of Herod the Great; by whom she 
 had a son called Philip, who married first the famous 
 Herodias, who afterwards lived with Herod Antipas, 
 who put to death John the Baptist, Mark vi. 17 ; 
 Matt. xiv. 3. 
 
 I. MARK, the Evangelist, according to Papias 
 Irenteus and others, was the disciple and interpreter 
 of Peter, who speaks of him, as is thought, (1 Epist. 
 chap. v. 13.) as his son in the s|)irit ; probably because 
 he had converted him. The place and time at which 
 Mark wrote his Gospel are uncertain. Clemens Al-
 
 MAR 
 
 f G57 ] 
 
 MAR 
 
 exandrinus and others affirm that Peter gohig to 
 Rome, about A. D. 44, Mark accompanied him, and 
 there wrote his Gospel, at the request of tlie breth- 
 ren, wiio desired that lie would give them in writing 
 what he had learned from Peter by word of mouth. 
 And they add, tiiat when the apostle wiis informed 
 what his disciple had done, he commended his under- 
 taking, and gave his Gospel to be read in the churches, 
 as an authentic work. See Gospel. — Mark. 
 
 A number of things are related as connected with 
 the life and travels of Mark, after the close of the his- 
 tory in the Acts of the Apostles ; (see John Mark ;) 
 but as we have no means of attesting their truth, v/e 
 omit all further mention of them here. 
 
 Cahnet is of opinion that the Gospel of Mark is an 
 abridgment of that by Matthew. He often uses the 
 same terms, relates the same facts, and notices the 
 same circumstances. He sometimes adds particulars 
 which throw great light on Blatthew's te^it ; and 
 there are two or three miracles in Mark, which are 
 not in Matthew. (See chap. i. v. ix. xvi.) ButAvliat is 
 tlie most remarkable is, that he forsakes IMatthew in 
 the order of his narration, from chap. iv. 19, to chap, 
 xiv. 13, of that writer. In these places he pursues 
 ihe order of time as noted by Luke and John ; and 
 this has induced chronologers to follow Luke, Mark 
 and John, rather than Matthew. He opens his Gos- 
 pel with the preaching of John the Baptist, and omits 
 several parables-relatcd by INIatthew, (chap. xx. xxi. and 
 XXV.) as also several discourses of oiu- Saviour to his 
 disciples, and to the Pharisees, chap. v. vi. vii. xvi. xviii. 
 
 The origin of Mark's Gospel forms an interesting 
 subject of inquiry. We have seen that some of the 
 ancients were of opinion that it v/as v/rittcn under 
 the dictation of Peter ; but the grounds of this opinion 
 are not ascertained. If Blark were son to that Blary 
 (Acts xii. 12.) who resided at Jerusalem, and whose 
 house Wits the resort of the faithful, he must have 
 known many things which passed at Jerusalem, as 
 well as Peter himself He must also have been suf- 
 ficiently versed in the Syriac language, and able to 
 make use of whatever materials for true history were 
 in circulation, which, probably, were many, though 
 iiicomi)lcte, while he would receive others from 
 I'eter. It appears from his history that Mark was 
 much engaged in journeying ; sometimes with or for 
 Barnabas, at other times, with or for Paul, and Pe- 
 ter also. It is probable, that he composed his Gospel 
 at intervals of such journeys, as Luke also did ; and 
 he is no more an cpitomizer of Matthew than Luke 
 is, will) whom he agrees in many particulars. 
 
 MARKET. The Marker, or Forum, in the cities 
 of antiquity, was different from the market in our 
 English towns, where flesh meat, &c. is usually sold. 
 When Vv'e read (Acts xvii. 17.) of the apostle Paul dis- 
 puting with philosophers in the "market" at Athens, 
 we are aj)t to wonder what kind of pliiloso]ihers these 
 market-folks could be ; or whj- the disputants could 
 not engage in a place fitter for investigation and dis- 
 cussion of abstruse and dilficult subjects. So, when 
 we read that Paul and Silas, having expelled the Py- 
 thonic spirit, (Acts xvi. 19.) were led to the market- 
 place, and accused, we may not be aware of the fit- 
 ness of a market for the residence of a tribinial of 
 justice. But the fact is, that the forum was usually a 
 l)ublic market on one side only, the other sides of the 
 area being occupied by temples, theatres, courts of 
 justice, and other public buildings. In short, the fo- 
 rums were sumptuous squares, surrounded by deco- 
 rations &c. of various, and often of magnificent kinds. 
 Here the philosophers met, and taught : here laws 
 83 
 
 were p.romulgated ; and here devotions, js well as 
 amusements, occupied the populace. The nearest 
 approach to the composition of an ancient forum, is, 
 perhaps, Covent-gardcn, in London ; where there is 
 a market in the middle, a church at one end, a theatre 
 at one corner, and sitting magistrates close adjacent ; 
 under the piazzas, too, supjiosing them to be the re- 
 sort of philosophers, much philosoidiic discussion 
 might take place, and many an intricate subject might 
 be examined. In our climate, such a shelter from the 
 cold, or rain, would hardly be thought Fulficient ; but 
 in the East, it would be sought from the hcnt, and 
 the cool shade, or the covered settle, would be the 
 place chosen, no less than the sequestered groves of 
 Academus, at Athens. In short, if we add such a 
 school, or any other, for philosophical instruction, or 
 divinity lectures, we have nearly the composition of 
 an ancient forum, or market-place. This removes 
 entirely llie seeming incongruity between discourses 
 and disj)utations on the princijjles of theology and 
 Christianity, and those commercial avocations which 
 v.'e usually assign to a market-place. On the same 
 principle, v.iien the Pharisees desired salutations in 
 the niarliet-places, (Mark xii. 38.) it was not merely 
 from the coimtry people who brought their pi-oduc- 
 tions for sale, but, as they loved to be admired by 
 religious people at the temple, the synagogues, &c. 
 so they desired salutations from persons of conse- 
 quence, judges, magistrates, dignitaries, &c. in the 
 forum, in order to display their importance to the 
 peo])le, to maintain their influence, &c. 
 
 Marriage is, among the Hebrews, a matter of 
 strict obligation. They understand literally, and as 
 a prcce{)t, the v/ords addressed to our first parents : 
 (Gen. i. 28.) "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish 
 the earth." They believe that he who does not 
 marry his children, deprives God of the glory due to 
 him, becomes in some sort a homicide, desti-oys the 
 image of the first man, and is a reason why the Holy 
 Ghost Vv'ithdrav>'s liimself from Israel. This question 
 is mooted in the Talmud : "Who is he that prosti- 
 tutes his daughter?" It is answered, "The father 
 that keeps her too long in his house, or that marries 
 her to a!i old man." (Conip. 1 Cor. vii. 36.) The age 
 at vrhicii v.ediock becomes an obligation, with tiiem, 
 is twenty years ; though generally they marry their 
 childi-cu sooner. But if a father marry iiis daughter 
 before the age of puberty, which is at twelve years and 
 a half, slie may be separated from her husband for 
 any slight disgust. Still, the virgins were betrothed 
 very carlj' ; thougli not married till after twelve years 
 old; whence come these expressions, "the spou.se of 
 one's youth," (Prov. ii. 17.) or one espoused in early 
 life; also "the guide of one's youth," expressing a 
 hi'sband married j'oung. 
 
 In the fijst ages, marriages betvv"cen brothers and 
 sisters vrcrc necessarj', because of the small immber 
 of persons then in the world ; but after mankind had 
 become numerous, they were unlawful, and were 
 prohibited under great penalties. (See Incest.) 
 Hov/evor, the patriarchs long coiitinucd to espouse 
 their near relations, intending thereby to avoid alli- 
 ance with families corrupted by the worship of false 
 gods ; or to ])rcserve in their own families the wor- 
 ship of the true God, and the maintenance of the true 
 religion, of which they were the de})ositarics. For 
 this reason Abraham appears to have married his 
 half-sister, Sarah ; and also to have sent his steward 
 Eliezer to fetch a wife for his son Isaac from among 
 the daughters of his nephews. Jacob also espoused 
 the daughters of his uncle.
 
 MARRIAGE 
 
 [ 658 ] 
 
 MARRIAGE 
 
 From what has been said, it is easy to perceive why 
 cehbacy and barrenness was a reproach in Israel ; 
 and why the daughter of Jephthah went to bewail 
 her virginity ; (Judg. xi. 37.) that is, being compelled 
 to die unmarried and childless. 
 
 Young women, before their marriage, were called al- 
 MAH, virgin, i. e. perhaps, shut up, because they seldom 
 appeared in public. The manner in which a daughter 
 was demanded in marriage, may be seen in the in- 
 stance of Hamor and Sliechem, when they demanded 
 Dinah of Jacob: (Gen. xxxiv. 8, &c.) "The soul of 
 my son Shechem longeth for your daughter ; I pray 
 you, give her him to wife. Let me find grace in your 
 eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask 
 me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give 
 according as ye shall say unto me • but give me the 
 damsel to wife." See also (Gen. xxiv. 33.) the man- 
 ner in which Eliezer demands Rebekah for Isaac ; 
 and (Tobit vii. 10, 11.) the demand that Tobias made 
 of Sarah, the daughter of Raguel. The husband gave 
 a dowry to his wife, as a kind of purchase-money. 
 (See Dowry.) Before the conti-act, they agreed on 
 what ])ortion the man should give his bride, and what 
 presents to her father and brethren. Jacob served 
 seven years for Leah, and seven additional years for 
 Rachel ; (Gen. xxix.) and the sisters complain, some 
 years after, that their father Laban had applied their 
 portions to his own use. Gen. xxxi. 15. (See also 1 
 Sam. xviii. 25.) 
 
 The betrothing was performed either by a writing, 
 or by a piece of silver given to the bride, or by cohabit- 
 ation and consummation. This is the form of the 
 writing : " On such a day, of such a month, in such 
 a year, N. the son of N. has said to N. the daughter of 
 N. Be thou my spouse according to the law of Moses 
 and the Israelites, and I will give thee for the portion 
 of thy virginity the sum of two hundred Zuzim, as is 
 ordained by the law. And the said N. has consented 
 to become his spouse on these conditions, which the 
 said N. has promised to perform on the day of mar- 
 riage. To this the said N. obliges himself, and for 
 this he engages all his goods, even as far as the cloak 
 that he wears upon his shoulder. Moreover, he 
 promises to perform all that is generally intended in 
 contracts of marriage, in favor of the Israelitish 
 women. Witnesses N. N. N." The promise by a 
 piece of silver, and without writing, was made before 
 •witnesses, when the young man said to his mistress : 
 *' Receive this piece of silver as a pledge that you 
 shall become my spouse." Lastly, the engagement 
 by cohabitation, according to the rabbins, was allow- 
 ed by the law, (Deut. xxiv. 1.) but it had been wisely 
 forbidden, because of the abuses that might happen, 
 and to prevent clandestine marriages. After the 
 marriage was contracted, the young people had the 
 liberty of seeing each other, which was not allowed 
 to thein before ; and if, during this time, the bride 
 should trespass against that fidelity she owed to her 
 bridegroom, she was treated as an adulteress. Thus 
 the holy Virgin, after she was betrothed to Joseph, 
 having conceived our Saviour Jesus Christ, might 
 have been punished as an adulteress, if the angel of 
 the Lord had not satisfied Joseph. Between the 
 time of being espoused and the marriage, there fre- 
 quently passed a considerable interval ; whether be- 
 cause of the under-age of the pei-sons espoused, or for 
 other reasons of necessity or decency. When the 
 parties were agreed on tlic terms of marriage, and 
 the time was fit for completing it, they drew up the 
 contract. 
 
 The rabbins inform us, that before the temple of 
 
 Jerusalem was laid in ruins, the bridegroom and bride 
 wore crowns at their marriage. In Scripture we find 
 mention of the crown of the bridegroom, but not of 
 that of the bride ; and, indeed, the head-dress of the 
 women was by no means convenient for wearing a 
 crown. (Compare Isa. Ixi. 10; Cant. iii. 11.) "Go 
 forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king 
 Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother 
 crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the 
 day of the gladness of his heart." The modern Jews 
 in some places throw haudfuls of wheat on the newly- 
 married couple, particularly on the bride, saying, 
 " Increase and multi})ly." In other places they 
 mingle pieces of money with the wheat, which are 
 gathered up by the poor. 
 
 We see by the gospel, that the bridegroom had a 
 Paranymphus, or brideman, called by our Saviour 
 " the friend of the bridegroom," John iii. 29. A num- 
 ber of young people kept him company during the 
 days of the wedding, to do him honor ; as also young 
 women kept company with the bride all this time. 
 The companions of the bridegroom are expressly 
 mentioned in the history of Samson, (Judg. xiv. and 
 Cant. V. 1 ; viii. 13.) also the companions of the bride, 
 Cant. i. 4 ; ii. 7 ; iii. 5 ; viii. 4 ; Ps. xlv. 9, 14, 15. The 
 office of the brideman was to perform the ceremonies 
 of the wedding, instead of the bridegroom, and to 
 obey his orders. Some think that the Architriclinus, 
 or governor of the feast, at the marriage in Cana, was 
 the brideman, Paranymphus, or friend of the bride- 
 gi'oom, who presided at the feast, and had the care of 
 providing for the guests, John ii. 9. The friends and 
 companions of the bride sang the Epithalamium, or 
 wedding song, at the door of the bi-ide the evening 
 before the wedding. Ps. xlv. is an Epithalamium, 
 entitled " A song of rejoicing of the well-beloved." 
 The ceremony of the wedding was performed with 
 great decorum, the young people of each sex being 
 kept sepai-ate, in distinct apartments, and at diflferent 
 tables. The reservedness fo the eastern people to- 
 wards their women required this ; and we see proofs 
 of it in the marriage of Samson, in that of Esther, 
 and in the Canticles. The young men diverted them- 
 selves sometimes in proposing riddles, and the bride- 
 gi'oom appointed the prize to those who could ex- 
 plain them, Judg. xiv. 14. 
 
 The wedding ceremonies commonly lasted seven 
 days for a maid, and three days for a widow. So La- 
 ban says to Jacob, respecting Leah — "fiilfil her 
 week," Gen. xxix. 27. The ceremonies of Samson's 
 wedding continued seven whole days, (Judg. xiv. 17, 
 18.) as also those of that of Tobias, chap. xi. 12. 
 These seven days of rejoicing were commonly spent 
 in the house of the woman's father, after which they 
 conducted the bride to her husband's home. 
 
 Marriage, its forms, ami the ideas connected with 
 it, are so dissimilar in different places, that it is ex- 
 tremely difficult to form an adequate conception on 
 the subject. As a partial illustration of them, we 
 may state, on the authority of the Gentoo Code, that, 
 in India, there are eight forms of contracting matri- 
 mony. Some of these have little or no refin'ence to 
 customs alluded to in Scripture ; but others may af- 
 ford us information. We find among them the 
 customary dowry given by the proposed husband to 
 the bride's father, as in the case of Shechem, (Gen. 
 xxxiv. 12.) and of David, 1 Sam. xviii. 24. To this 
 may be referred the third and sixth forms. May not 
 the fourth form contribute at least to throw a new 
 light on the story of Judah andTamar? Gen. xxxviii. 
 Did Tamar contract a kind of marriage, by receiving
 
 MARRIAGE 
 
 [ 659 ] 
 
 MARRIAGE 
 
 " the pledges of— thy signet and thy bracelets, and the 
 staff that is in thine haud," as, at least, equally effica- 
 cious, and certainly more permanent and confidential 
 tokens, than " necklaces or strings of flowers ?" Did 
 'J'aaiar thus marry herself to Judah, thougli umvit- 
 tinghj in him ? From the expression, (ver. 26.) "He 
 knew her again no more," it would seem as if he 
 might lawfully have known her again had he pleased. 
 Although Tamar had been contracted to Er and to 
 Oiian, whether those marriages had been consummat- 
 ed may bear a question. When the forms of mar- 
 riage are so simple as tliose of the fifth class, we 
 need not be surprised at the ready giving of daughters 
 in marriage ; as occurs frequently in Scripture. Is 
 something hke it alluded to, Malachi ii. 11? The 
 seventh form illustrates Deut. xxi. 11, of marrying a 
 captive taken in war. The eighth form seems to re- 
 semble the provision made in Exod. xxii. 16. From 
 these ditferent kinds, and, as it were, ranks of mar- 
 riage, it appears that many ideas were attached 
 to the connection anciently, and in the East, which 
 diflor groatly from those attending our imiform rites 
 of contract ; but they are necessary to be well under- 
 stood, before we determine on certain passages of 
 Scripture history. 
 
 " Tho third form, Aish, is so called w hen the pa- 
 rents of a girl receive one bull and cow from the 
 biidegroom, on his marrying their daughter. The 
 fourth form, Kandehrub, is so called, when a man and 
 woman, by mutual consent, interchange their neck- 
 laces or strings of flowers, and both make agreement, 
 in some secret place ; as, for instance, the woman 
 says, ^ I am become your ivife,^ and the man says, '/ 
 acknowledge iV.' The ffth form, Perajaput, so called, 
 when the parents of a girl, upon her marriage, say 
 to the bridegroom, 'Whatever act of religion you 
 perform, perform it with our daughter;' and the 
 bridegroom assents to this speech. The sixth form, 
 Ashore, so called, when a man gives money to a 
 father and mother, on his marrying their daughter, 
 and also gives something to the daughter herself. The 
 seventh form, Rakhus, so called, when a man marries 
 a daughter of another, whom lie has conquered in 
 war. The eighth form, Peishach, so called, when, 
 before marriage, a man, coming in the dress and dis- 
 guise of a woman, debauches a girl, and afterwards 
 tho mother and father of the girl marry her to the 
 same man. 
 
 Mr. Harmer has the following observation, (No. 
 Ixiii. p. 513. vol. ii.) on the contracts for temporary 
 wives : " Sir J. Chardin observed in the East, that in 
 tlioir contracts for temporary wives, (which are known 
 to be frequent there,) which contracts are made be- 
 f )re the Kady, there is always the formality of a 
 measure of corn mentioned over and above tlie suzn 
 of money that is stipulated." It can scarcely be 
 thought, that tliis formality is recent in the East; it 
 may, possibly, be very ancient, as, apparently, con- 
 nections of this description are: if it could be traced 
 to patriarchal times, it woidd, perhaps, account for 
 Hosea's purchasing a woman imder this character, 
 "for fifteen pieces of silver, and a certain quantity of 
 barley," chap. iii. 2. 
 
 The observations of baron du Tott appear to illus- 
 trate, in some degree, the origin of this custom ; at 
 least, his account is amusing, and may serve to com- 
 plete the hints of Mr. Harmer: "I observed an old 
 man standing, singly, before his door. The lot [by 
 which was determined who should receive the newly- 
 arrived guest] fell upon him. The ardor of my 
 new liost expressed his satisfaction ; and no sooner 
 
 had lie shown me into a clean lower apartment, than 
 he brought liis wife and daughter, both icith their faces 
 UNCOVERKD ; the first carrying a basin and a pitcher, 
 and the second carrying a napkin, which she spread 
 over my hands after I had washed them." The bar- 
 on adds in a note, " We may observe, that the law 
 of Namakrem, of which I have spoken in my prelim- 
 inary discourse, is not scrupulously observed by the 
 Tartar women. We ought also to remark, that these 
 people have many customs, which seem to indicate 
 the origin of those that are analogous to them among 
 us. 3Iay we not also trace the motive of the nup- 
 tial crown, and the comfits which are used at the 
 marriages of Europeans, in the manner in which the 
 Tartars portion out their daughters? They cover 
 them with millet. In the origin of society, seed grain 
 ought necessarily to be the representing token of all 
 wealth. A dish, of about a foot in diameter, was 
 placed on the head of the bride ; over this a veil was 
 thrown, which covered the face, and descended to 
 the shoulders ; millet was then poured upon the dish, 
 which, falling, and spreading all around her, formed 
 a cone, with a base corresponding to the height of 
 the bride. Nor was her portion complete till the 
 millet touched the dish, while the veil gave her the 
 power of respiration. This custom was not favora- 
 ble to small people ; and, at present, they estimate 
 how many measures of millet a daughter is worth. 
 The Turks and Armenians, who make their calcula- 
 tions in money, still preserve the dish and the veil, 
 and throw coin upon the bride, which they call 
 'spilling the millet.' Have not the crown and the 
 comfits the same origin ? " (vol. i. p. 212.) If this be 
 accepted as a ])robable reference to the origin of the 
 custom of purchasing wives with seed corn, it may, 
 undoubtedly, be very ancient ; but it might have somo 
 relation to good wishes for a numerous progeny. So 
 among the Greeks, various fruits, as figs, or luUs, &c. 
 were thrown by the youthful attendants upon the 
 head of the bride, as an omen of fruitfulness ; and as 
 good wishes of tins kind were usual, (see Rebekah's 
 dismissal, Gen. xxiv. 60.) could any thing more aptly 
 allude to them ? Its antiquity may be, at least, as re- 
 mote under this idea as under the other. 
 
 As the circumstances of Hosea's behavior appear 
 sufficiently strange to us, it may be worth while to 
 add the baron's accoimt of marriages by Capin; 
 which agrees with the relations of other travellers into 
 the East : " There is another kind of marriage, which, 
 stipulating the return to be made, fixes likewise the 
 time when the divorce is to take place. This contract 
 is called Capin ; and, properly speaking, is only an 
 agreement made between the parties to live together, 
 for such a price, during such a time." (Preliminary 
 Discourse, p. 23.) It is scarcely possible to expect 
 more direct illustration of the prophet's conduct (Hos, 
 iii.) than this extract from the baron afibrds. W^e 
 learn from it that this contract is a regular form of 
 marriage, and that it is so regarded, generally, in the 
 East. Such a connection and agreement, then, could 
 give no scandal, in the days of Hosea, though it 
 would not be seemly under Christian manners. The 
 prophet says — " So I bought her [my wife] to me for 
 fifl;een pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley, and 
 a half homer of barley. And I said unto her. Many 
 days shall thou abide for me. Thou shalt not play 
 the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man ; so 
 will I also be for thee." What was this but a marriage 
 by Capin, according to the account above given? 
 And the prophet carefully lets us know, that he 
 honestly paid the stipulated price ; that he was very
 
 MARRIAGE 
 
 [ 660 ] 
 
 MARRIAGfi 
 
 strict in his agreement, as to thobehavior of hiswife ; 
 and that lie also bound himself to the same fidehtj-, 
 during tha time for which tliey mutually contracted. 
 It may easily be imagined that this kind of marriage 
 Avas liable to be abused ; and that it was glanced at, 
 and inchided, in our Lord's prohibition of hasty di- 
 vorces, need not be doubted. Had a certain writer 
 proceeded no further than to consider the direction, 
 " Let every man have [rctat7i] his own wife, and every 
 Avoinan have [retain] her own husband," (1 Cor. vii. 
 2.) as relating to marriages of such imperfect connec- 
 tion, (for this is not the only kind contracted v.ithout 
 much ceremony or delay,) both his work and his 
 piiiiciples would have been gainers by his prudence. 
 RIarriage Processions. — The procession accom- 
 panying the bride from the house of her father to 
 that of the bridegroom was generally one of great 
 pomji, according to the circumstances of the married 
 couple; and for this they often chose the night. 
 Hence, in the parable of the ten virgins that went to 
 meet tlie bi-ide and bridegroom (Matt, xxv.) it is said 
 the virgins were asleep ; and at midnight, being 
 av.'aked at the cry of the bridegroom's coming, tJic 
 foolish virgins found they had no oil to supply their 
 lamps ; which while they v/cnt to buy, the bridegroom 
 and his attendants passed by. 
 
 Mr. Taylor has collected very copiou.s information 
 relative to the marriage precessions among the oricn- 
 tr.l people, in Fragments 49, 557, and G74. Many of 
 the circumstances attending these v/ill be found to 
 contribute aid in the elucidation of two or three pas- 
 sages of Scripture, luit their value v/ould not justify us 
 in appropriating to them tlic space they v.'ould occupy. 
 "At a marriage, the procession of vvliich I saw some 
 years ago," says Sir. Ward, (Viev>' of !iis>. of Hindoos, 
 vol. iii. p. 171, 172.) " the bridegroom came from a 
 distance, and the bride lived at Scrampore, to which 
 place the bridegroom was to come by water. After 
 Avaiting two or three hours, at length, near midnight, 
 it was announced, as if in the very words of Scripture, 
 " Behold ! the bridegroom conieth ; go ye out to meet 
 him." All the persons employed now lighted their 
 lamps, and ran with them in 'their hands, to fill up 
 their stations in the pi-ocession ; some of them had 
 lost their lights, and were unprepared, but it was 
 then too late to seek them, and the cavalcade moved 
 forward to tlic house of the bride, at which place llie 
 company entered a largo rtuI splendidly ilhiniinatcd 
 area, belbre the house, covered with an av.-ning, v.Iicre 
 a great multitude of friends, dressed in their best ap- 
 parel, were seated upon mats. The bridegroom was 
 carried in the arms of a friend, and placed in a superb 
 scat in the midst of the coinpany, where he sat a siiort 
 time, and then vt^ent into t'je house, the door of which 
 Avas iimnediatel}'- shut, and giiardi^d by Sepoys. I 
 and others expostulated witli the door-keepers, 'but in 
 vain. Never was I so struck Avitli our Lord's beauti- 
 ful parable, as at this moment : — an-l the door was 
 shut:'' 
 
 In the beautiful para]»1c of our Lord, there are ten 
 virgins, Avho took their lamps, and Avent in a company 
 to me, t the bridegroom. Five of i!icm Avere loiss, 
 endu:3d Avith i)rudcnce and discretion; the other five 
 Avcre foolisli, thoughtless and inconpiderate. The 
 thoughtless took their lani])-;, but were so foolish as to 
 take only a little oil in tlu ni to serve the present oc- 
 casion. J?ut tiie prudi-nt, mindful of futurity, and 
 knoAving that the coming of the bri(bgrooin Avas un- 
 certain, as well as filling tlieir lamns, prudently took 
 a quantity of oil in their vessels to suj;]>Iy theii), that 
 th-y might be ready to go forth at a mohicni's warn- 
 
 ing. Having VA'aited long for the bridegroom, and he 
 not appearing, they all, tired Avith long Avatching, and 
 fatigued Avith tedious expectation, Avere overcome 
 Avitli sleep, and sunk into protbund repose. Bu.t lo ! 
 at midnight they Avere suddenly alarmed Avith a cry, 
 " The bridegroom, the bridegroom cometh ! Hasten 
 to meet and congratulate him." Roused Avith this 
 unexpected proclamation, they all got up and trim- 
 med their lamps. But the oil, in those that belonged 
 to the foolish virgins, being consumed, they Avere in 
 the utmost confusion AA-hcn they found them gone 
 out ; and having nothing in their vessels to trim them 
 Avith, they began to sec their mistake. In this ex- 
 tremity tiiey entreated their companions to impart to 
 them some of their oil, telling them that their lamps 
 Avere gene out. To these entreaties the prudent an- 
 swered, that they liad only provided a sufficient 
 quantity for tlieir own use, and therefore advised 
 them to go and purchase oil of those Avho sold it. 
 They departed accordingly, but Avhile absent on this 
 c]Tand, the bridegroom came, and the prudent vir- 
 gins, being prepared for his reception, Avent along 
 Avith him to the nuptial entertainment, and the doer 
 was shut. After some time the others returned, and, 
 knocking loud, supplicated earnestly for admission. 
 Bui the bridegi'oom repulsed them, telling them. Ye 
 pretended to be my friends, and to do me honor on this 
 occasion ; but ye have not acted as friends, for Avhich 
 reason I knoiv you not : I do not acknowledge you as 
 !ny friends, and Avill not admit strangers. 
 
 From another parable, in which a great king is 
 rejiresented as making a most magnificent entertain- 
 ment at the maniage of his son, (Matt. xxii.)Avc learn 
 that all the guests, Avho Avere honored Avitli an invita- 
 tion, Avere expected to be dressed in a manner suita- 
 ble to the splendor of such an occasion, and as a to- 
 ken of just respect to the nevv^-married couple ; and 
 th.at after the procession, in the evening, from the 
 bride's house, Avas concluded, the guests, before they 
 AA'erc admitted into the hall Avhere the entertainment 
 AA'as served up, Averc taken into an apartment and 
 vicAvcd, that it might be knoAvn if any stranger had 
 intruded, or if any of the company AAere apparelled 
 in raiment unsuitable to the genial solemnity they 
 Avere going to celebrate ; and such, if foimd, Avere 
 expelled the house Avith every mark of ignominy and 
 disgrace. From the knowledge of this custom the 
 folioAviug jiassage i-eceives great light and lustre. 
 When the king came in to see the guests, he discov- 
 ered among them a person Avho had not on a iced- 
 ding garment. He called him and said. Friend, hoAV 
 came you to intrude into my palace in a dress so un- 
 suitable to this occasion ? The man Avas struck 
 dun:b ; he had no ajiology to offer for this disrespect- 
 ful neglect. The king then called to his servants, 
 and bade them bind him hand and foot, to drag him 
 out of the room, and thrust him out into the midniglu 
 dark'iess. (Ilarv/cod.) 
 
 Levirate Marriages. There is one circumstance 
 connected Avith this subject among the HebrcAvs, that 
 should not be omitted here. The hnv of Moses 
 obliged one brother to marry the AvidoAV of another, 
 Avho died Avithout children, that he might raise up 
 seed to him. This is called Levirate. The custom 
 seems to have been in force, among the HebrcAvs and 
 Canaanites, belbre the time of Moses ; since Judah 
 gives Er his first-born, and Onan his second son, to 
 Tamar, and obliges himself to give her also Shelah, 
 his third son. The instance of Ruth, who married 
 Boaz, is an evidence of this practice under the judges. 
 Boaz was neither the father of, nor the nearest rela-
 
 IVIARRIAGE 
 
 [661] 
 
 MARRIAGE 
 
 tion to, Elinielecli, fjuher-in-law of Ruth, the widow 
 ofMahlou; yet ho marrietl licr, after the refusal of 
 the utxt of kill. Tlie rahhins suggest many excep- 
 tions and liiriitatious to this law ; as, that the obliga- 
 tion on the brother of marrying his sister-in-law, re- 
 panls only brothers boru of the same lather and 
 moilier; that it has respect only to the eldest I)rother 
 of the deceased ; and further, supposes that he was 
 not married ; for if he were married, he miglit either 
 ta!vc or leave his brother's widow. If the deceased 
 l)rot!icr had left a natural or adoptive son or daughter, 
 a grandson or granildaughter, the brother was imder 
 no oi)ligation to marry his widow. If the dead per- 
 son left many wives, the brother could marry but one 
 of them; if tlie deceased had many brothers, the eld- 
 est alone had a right to all his estate, and enjoyed the 
 property which his wife had brought him. They add, 
 that the marriage of the widow with her brother-in- 
 hnv was performed without solemnity, because the 
 widov/ of the brother who died not having children, 
 p:ussed for the brother-in-law's wife, without any oc- 
 casion for further ceremony. Notv.'ithstanding, cus- 
 tom required that this should be done in the presence 
 of two witnesses, and that the brother should give a 
 piece of money to the widow. The nuptial blessing 
 was added, and a writing to secure the wife's dower. 
 Some believe, that this law was not observed after the 
 Babylonish captivity, because, since that time, there 
 has been no distinction of inheritances among the 
 tribes. 
 
 The law was this, in case of a refusal by the broth- 
 er to marry the widow; (Deut. xxv. 7.) "If the man 
 like not to take his brother's wife, then let his broth- 
 er's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, 
 ' My husband's brother will not perform the duty of 
 a husband's brother ;' then shall his brother's wife 
 come unto him, in the presence of the elders, and 
 loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, 
 and shall say, ' So shall it be done unto that man that 
 will not build up his brother's house.' And his name 
 shall be called in Israel, 'The house of him who hath 
 had his shoe loosed.'" Remark, (1.) the word ren- 
 dered shoe {'-'];:, naal,) usually means sandal, i. e. a 
 mere sole held on the foot in a very simple manner ; 
 and is so understood by the Chaldee Targums, by 
 the LXX, and by the Vulgate. (2.) The primary and 
 radical meaning of the word rendered/ace ('jc, peni,) 
 is surface, the superficies of any thing. Mr. Taylor 
 suggests, then, that the directions of the passage may 
 be to this purpose ; the hrolhcr^s icife shall loose the 
 sandal from off the foot of her husband's brother, and 
 shall spit upon its face, or surface, (i. e. that of the 
 shoe,) and shall sa;/, &c. — in which case the ceremo- 
 ny is coincident with the following : 
 
 Touriiefbrt says, (vol. ii. p. 816.) "A woman may 
 d.'niand to be separated from her husband if he" de- 
 cline her intimacy ; "if the woman turn her slipper 
 upside down in presence of the judge it is a sign," 
 and is taken as evidence against her husband. " The 
 judge sends to look for the husband, bastinados him, 
 and dissolves the marriage." A more particular ac- 
 count of this ceremony is given by Aaron Hill : 
 (Travels, p. 104.) "The third divorce practised by 
 the Turks, is, when a man" withholds his personal 
 intimacy from his wife, "yet refuses to dismiss her. 
 Being summoned by her friends before a judge, and 
 forced to bring her with him to the same appearance, 
 when the charge is read against him, she is asked if 
 she will then affirm the truth of that accusation ? 
 Hereupon she stoops, and takins^ off her slip- 
 per, spits upon the sole ; and strikes on her hus- 
 
 band's forchoatl. Modesty requires no further con- 
 Hrmation from the female plaintiff; and sentence is 
 inunediately pronounced, in favor of the lady, who is 
 thenceforth free to marry as she pleases ; and is en- 
 titled, notwithstanding, to a large allowance from her 
 former consort's yearly income." 
 
 These ceremonies differ in some things, however ; 
 for in the case of complaint against her own husband, 
 for personal abstinence, the wife takes off her own 
 shoe and spits upon it; but in the case of complaint 
 against her husband's brother for refusing to be his 
 locum tenens, and declining her intimacy, she takes 
 otf his shoe and spits upon it. Moreover, the text 
 does not say she shall turn up the sole, and spit 
 upon it, (such inversion signifying a very different 
 matter, as may be seen in Busbequius, (Ep*. 169.) and 
 could have no place in the case of the husband's 
 brother,) but she shall spit upon <^e ycrce or upper 
 part of it, as an oath, affirmation, and evidence, of 
 his refusal " to build up his brother's house." It de- 
 serves notice that the appellative phrase which brands 
 the character of the refuser is not " the house of him 
 who had his shoe loosed, and ivas spit upon ;" but 
 the reference is to the loosing of the shoe only, the 
 more considerable disgrace being omitted. 
 
 This custom seems to be alluded to, with some va- 
 riation, in the case of Ruth's kinsman, (Ruth iv. 7.) 
 where it seems clearly to include the force of an 
 oath, "for to confirm all things." This form of an 
 oath, then, like that of placing the hand under the 
 thigh, apjicars sufficiently strange to us, yet, being 
 binding on those who took it, it might fully answer 
 its purpose. Why the sulijcct to which it alludes was 
 signified by the shoe in particulai", might possibly be 
 ascertained by an accurate attention to some of the 
 senses in which the word foot, or feet, is used, Jcr. ii. 
 25 ; Ezek. xvi. 25 ; Isa. vii. 20 ; xxxvi. 12 ; in Heb. S,-c. 
 
 Is there a gradation observable in the treatment of 
 more distant relatives, though the nearest of kin re- 
 maining, as in the case of Ruth? The man himself 
 plucked off his oicn shoe ; and gave it to his neighbor ; 
 it was not plucked off by the petitioner, nor was it 
 given to her ; but it was loosened, perhaps decent- 
 ly, and deliberately, by himself, and given by him to 
 his neighbor ; implying, probably, a smaller portion 
 of indignity, as the relation was more remote, and 
 his obligation to comply with the custom proportion- 
 ately less urgent. This affords an answer to Mi- 
 chaelis's question, (No. 59,) which Niebidu- has not 
 replied to. 
 
 Christ has restored marriage to its first perfection, 
 by banishing polygamy, and forbidding divorce, ex- 
 cept in the case of adultery, (Matt. v. 32.) nor leaving 
 to the parties so separated, the liberty of marrying 
 again, Luke xvi. 18. (See Divorce.) Our Saviour 
 blessed and sanctified marriage by being present 
 himself at the wedding at Cana, (John ii. 1, 2.) and 
 Paul declares the excellence of Christian marriage, 
 when he says, (Eph. v. 32.) " Let every one of you so 
 love his wife, even as himself, and the wife see that 
 she reverence her husband." " So ought men to 
 love their wives as their own bodies ; he that loveth 
 his wife, loveth himself. For this cause shall a man 
 leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto 
 his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a 
 great mystery ; but I speak concerning Christ and 
 the church." The union of husband and wife rep- 
 resents the sacred and sjjiiitual marriage of Christ 
 with his church. The same apostle assures us 
 (Heb. xiii. 4.) that " marriage is honorable in all, and
 
 MAR 
 
 [ 662 ] 
 
 MARY 
 
 the bed undefiled ; but whoremongers and aclultercra 
 God will judge." The New Testament prescribes 
 no particular cei'emony for the solemnizing of mat- 
 rimony; but in the church, a blessing has always 
 been given to the married couple. 
 
 MARRIAGE VEIL, see Veil. 
 
 MARS' HILL. Our translators have entirely 
 spoiled the narrative of the historian in Acts xvii. 19, 
 22, by rendering " they took Paul, and brought him 
 unto Areopagus .... then Paul stood in the midst 
 of Mars' hill." Now as Mars' hill is Areopagus trans- 
 lated, and as both Areopagus and Mars' hill signify 
 the same place, the same name ought to have been 
 preserved in both verses ; in which case the narra- 
 tive would have stood thus : — " They took Paul, and 
 brought him before the court of the Areopagitcs," or 
 the court which sat on Areopagus. . . . "and Paul 
 stood in the midst before the court of the Areopa- 
 gitcs, and said. Ye chief men of Athens." (See Are- 
 opagus.) The propriety of the apostle's discourse is 
 greatly illustrated by considering the important, the 
 senatorial, and even the learned, character of his 
 auditors. 
 
 MARTHA, sistei of Lazarus anAMary. Ui)on one 
 occasion, when our Saviour visited them at Bethany, 
 Rlartha was very busy in preparing supper, while 
 Mary sat at our Saviour's feet, hearing his doctrine 
 with great attention, Luke x. 38 — 42. Martha com- 
 plained, and wished Mary to rise and assist her. 
 But Jesus made answer, " Martha, Martha, you are 
 very busy and in much trouble to provide indifferent 
 and unnecessary things; there is but one thing 
 necessary, and Mary has chosen the better part, 
 which sliall not be taken from her." Some time 
 after this, Lazarus falling sick, the sisters sent word 
 to Jesus, who was then beyond Jordan ; but he 
 departed not thence till he knew Lazarus to be 
 dead. When he approached Bethany, Martha went 
 out to meet him ; expostulated with him on his de- 
 lay ; and professed her faith in him. Jesus bade 
 them bring him to Lazarus's tomb, and there raised 
 liini from the dead, John xi. 20, &c. (See Lazarus.) 
 Six days before his passion, Jesus, being at Bethany, 
 on his" way to Jerusalem, was invited to eat by a 
 Pharisee, called Simon the leper, John xii. Martha 
 attended upon the guests, of wliom Lazarus was one ; 
 and Mary poured a box of precious j)erfunie on the 
 head and feet of Jesus, Matt. xxvi. G, &c. This is 
 all we know of Martha. The Latins and Greeks 
 maintain, that she died at Jerusalem, as also Ma- 
 ry and Lazarus, and that they were all buried 
 there. 
 
 MARTYR, properly, denotes a witness ; in eccle- 
 siastical history, a witness, by the shedding of his 
 blood, in testifying the truth. Thus martyrs are dis- 
 tinguished from confessors, properly so called, who 
 underwent great afflictions for their confession of the 
 truth, but without suffering death. The term inartifr 
 occurs only thrice in the New Testament, Acts xxii. 
 20 ; Rev. ii. 13 ; xvii, G. 
 
 I. MARY, the wife of Joseph, the mother of Jesus, 
 was, it is said, daughter of Joachim and Anna, of the 
 tribe of Judah ; but Scripture mentions nothing of 
 her parents, not even their names, unless Ileli (Luke 
 iii. 23.) be the same as Joachim. She was of the 
 royal race of David, as was Joseph her husband ; and 
 was also cousin to Elisabeth, wife of Zechariah the 
 priest, Luke i. .5, 3G. The Greek text (Matt. i. 18.) im- 
 I)orts that Mary was espoused to Joseph, who, accord- 
 ing to the usages of the Hebrews, hail the same power 
 over her as if she were his wife. (See Marriage.) 
 
 Some time after the espousals the angel Gabriel ap- 
 peared to Mary, to acquaint hor, that she should be 
 
 the mother of the Messiah, Luke i. 26, 27, &c. Mary 
 asking how this could be, since she knew not man, 
 the angel replied, that "The Holy Ghost should 
 come upon her, and that the power of the Highest 
 should overshadow her." To confirm his message, 
 and show that nothing was impossible to God, he 
 added, that her cousin Elisabeth, who was both old 
 and barren, was then in the sixth month of her preg- 
 nancy. JMary answered, "Behold the handmaid of 
 the Lord ; be it unto me according to thy word." She 
 soon afterwards set out for Hebron, to visit her 
 cousin ; and as soon as Elisabeth heard the voice of 
 Mary, her child (John the Baptist) leaped in her 
 woinb ; she was filled with the Holy Ghost, and cried 
 out, " Blessed art thou among women," &c. Mary, 
 filled with acknowledgment and supernatural light, 
 })raised God, .saying, " My soul doth magnify the 
 Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Sa- 
 viour," &c, Mary continued with Elisabeth about 
 three months, and then returned to her own house. 
 
 When Mary was ready to lie in, an edict of Ccesar 
 Augustus decreed, that all subjects of the empire 
 should go to their own cities, to register their names, 
 according to their families. Joseph and Mary, who 
 were both of the lineage of David, went to Bethle- 
 hem, whence sprung their family. But while they 
 were here, the time being fulfilled in which Mary 
 was to be delivered, she brought forth her first-born 
 son, whom she wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and 
 laid in the manger of the stable whither they had 
 been compelled to take up their residence, as they 
 could find no place in the inn. (See Caravanserai.) 
 Angels made the event known to shepherds, who 
 were in the fields near Bethlehem, and who came in 
 the night to see Mary and Joseph, and the child in 
 the manger, and to pay him their adoration, Mary 
 took notice of all these things, and laid them up in 
 her heart, Luke ii. 19. A few days afterwards, the 
 Magi or wise men came from the East, and brought 
 to Jesus the presents of gold, frankincense and 
 myrrh. Matt. ii. 8, &o. The time of Mary's purifica- 
 tion being come, that is, forty days after the birth of 
 Jesus, she went to Jerusalem, to present her son in 
 the temple, and there to ofi'er the sacrifice appointed 
 by the law, for the pui-ification of women after child- 
 birth, Luke ii. 21. When Joseph and Mary were 
 about to return to their own country, Nazareth, the 
 angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, 
 bidding him retire into Egypt with ]\lary and the 
 child, because Herod designed to destroy it, ^latt. ii, 
 13, 14, Joseph obeyed the admonition, and contin- 
 ued in Egypt till after the death of Herod, when lie 
 retin-ned to Nazareth with his wife and the child, 
 
 Mary is only mentioned two or three times after- 
 wards in the sacred histoiy, Luke ii. 49; John ii. 1 ; 
 xix. 25 — 27, &c. She was with the apostles, no 
 doubt, at the ascension of our Savioiu", and continued 
 with them at Jerusalem, waiting the descent of the 
 Holy Ghost, After this time she dwelt with John 
 the evangelist, who regarded her as his own mother. 
 Some have believed that Mary finished her life by 
 martyrdom, from those words of Simeon, "A sword 
 shall pierce through thy own soul also," Luke ii. 35, 
 TheCatholic church has understood this literally, and 
 the Virgin is very often represented with a sword 
 thrust through her vitals. But this is generally and 
 more properly referred to her affliction, at beholding 
 her son's crucifixion : no history mentions her mar- 
 tyrdom.
 
 MARY 
 
 [ 663 
 
 MARY 
 
 [The following remarks and suggestions are from 
 the English editors of Calinet, and may pass for what 
 they are worth. On similar principles it would not 
 be very difficult to prove or disprove any historical 
 fact. R. 
 
 Traditions seldom or never retain, unadulterated, 
 for any length of time, the original truth liom which 
 they took their rise. Yet some of them convey in- 
 formation, thougii disguised, wliich more regular 
 history does not afford. Among these Mr. Taylor 
 classes the report, that Luke was a painter, and had 
 painted the portrait of the mother of our Lord ; con- 
 ceiving that wo find in the writings of this sacred 
 penman sucli a description of the Holy Mother, as 
 may justly be called her portrait; that is — the por- 
 trait of her character and mind, not of her person 
 and countenance. We are scarcely introduced to 
 tliis interesting personage, (cliap. i. 29.) when we are 
 told, that " she was troubled, and cast in her mind 
 what manner of salutation this siiould be." The w-ord 
 rendered troubled, does not import any deficiency of 
 natural courage, but simply tlie agitation of her mind, 
 dashing, as it were, backwards and forwards like 
 water ; now thinking well, now suspecting ill,of tliis 
 salutation. And to this sense agrees the word 
 SitXo'i'i^iiro, reasoning within herself, examining both 
 sides of the question, dialoguizing pro and con, as to 
 the nature of the present occurrence. A very natu- 
 ral action, surely, for a person of understanding and 
 manners ! And this character for reflection and 
 thought is retained by ^lary, where we next find her: 
 (chap. ii. 19.) she " kept all these things, and pondered 
 them in her heart." — She collected and preserved 
 these events in the storehouse of her mind, and lay- 
 ing them beside one another, compared them togeth- 
 er ; by this means they mutually served as objects 
 illustrative of each other. Again, verse 51, " She 
 kept all these sayings in her heart." But the form of 
 the verb here used is Snr/'ni, (before, it was nvrtTilnn,) 
 she closely watched, with all the affection of her 
 heart, all these sentiments, to see what turn they 
 would take. 
 
 Now, nothing of this depicturing of the character 
 of ]\Iary appears in any of the other evangelists ; 
 Luke alone has thus painted her. Moreover, this 
 character is perfectly agreeable to the warning given 
 her by Simeon, that a sword should pierce her re- 
 flective and considerate heart ; or rather, that a jave- 
 lin, thrown by a fierce hand, after having pierced 
 its object, should wound her deeply, in its further 
 course. It is ])crfectly agreeable, also, to the solici- 
 tude which, many years afterwards, induced her to 
 think her son, our Lord, overdid himself; that is, ex- 
 ceeded his strength, in labors, &c. We have seen a 
 ])icture of the mind of Holy Mary ; the evangelist 
 draws another of her actions. We have found her 
 thoMghtfid and reflective ; she was, also, discreet and 
 active ; for after her salutation, she determined to 
 put to the test the information she had received ; and 
 to judge by her own eyes and ears, whether her 
 elder friend Elisabeth had really " conceived a son in 
 her old age ;" and whether this was really the sixth 
 mouth of her pregnancy. Elisabeth had concealed 
 herself during five months, but this Mary did not 
 know ; Elisabeth's pregnancy might, however, be 
 reported in her neighborhood, and so the informant 
 of Mary might have told her no great news ; nothing 
 • worthy of being a sign in confirmation of what he 
 had predicted. It might also have been the third 
 month, or the eighth, in which case the imperfection 
 of the information would have been apparent. Mary 
 
 staid till she saw a son bom. Nothing, then, could 
 be so discreet as placing herself under the protection 
 of a person of the age and cliaiacter of Elisabeth. 
 Nor is this all ; for Rlary went in haste on this, to her, 
 extremely important business: it follows, that she 
 must have been in circumstances of life which permit- 
 ted this instant exertion. No person extremely poor, 
 no person in servitude, no person under any author- 
 itative control, could have made tliis hastyjouruey. 
 This, then, is another feature in the picture of Mary, 
 as drawn by Luke. But the infi'rence from Mary's 
 situation in life is of still greater consequence. That 
 education contributes essentially to form a thinking 
 mind, we know from every day's experience ; and 
 we have seen that such a mind was Mary's. It is 
 evident, also, from what is called her Song, that she 
 had read the Scriptures of the Old Testament with 
 attention ; and as reading was not (as it is not, at this 
 day) a common acquisition among women of the low- 
 est class in the East, the possession of it removes Mary 
 from that class, had we no other proof. It seems to 
 have been an error in critics to take Mary's Song for 
 a sudden vocal efl\ision,by instantaneous inspiration ; 
 there are so many allusions in it to passages of the 
 then extant Scriptures, that this appears to be im- 
 probable. It is not likely that instantaneous inspira- 
 tion should have repeated sentiments already record- 
 ed, and public to the whole nation. Something not yet 
 known, something looking forward, something of sufli- 
 cient consequence to justifj' its being revealed, is what 
 we should rather expect from such an afflatus of the 
 Holy Spirit. It will be observed, also, that the sacred 
 writer does not assert the instant insjiiration of 3Iary : 
 his words are, speaking of Elisabeth, she "was filled 
 with the Holy Ghost ;" and speakingof Zechariah, he 
 " was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied ;" 
 whereas,concerning Mary,hesays nothing of thekind; 
 but simply, " Mary said." This distinction of phrase is 
 not favorable to the notion of a sudden verbal inspi- 
 ration, in which the party speaking is the mere organ 
 of the Sacred Sj)irit. We know not whether it be 
 necessary to remind our readers, that to say, is often 
 used, when writing, not speech, is the subject. Wo 
 have the phrase among ourselves, " He says in this 
 letter" — " He tells us in such a place" — " Your cor- 
 respondent says that" — and that the same idea is an- 
 nexed to the verb to say, in Scripture, appears, 
 among many other places, from John i. 23. Isaiah 
 said, {that is, wrote,) vii. 38. The Scripture hath 
 said, Rom. vii. 7. The law hath said. Gal i. 9. As 
 we said (that is, wrote) before, so say (that is, write) I 
 again, &c. We may then consider the Song of 31a- 
 ry as composed — written — under the illumination of 
 the Sacred Spirit; and being committed to paper, it 
 comes under the principle w hich we have endeavored 
 elsewhere to establish, (see Luke,) that Luke sought 
 out and procured all the written documents which he 
 could obtain for his pur|)ose. The fact may be, that 
 during the residence of Mary with Elisabedi (three 
 inontlis or more) she penned this song ; and copies 
 of it were extant, one of which Luke employed in 
 his history. 
 
 Now, the acquisition of writing by a young Jewish 
 woman, adds to proofs already suggested, that Mary 
 was in respectable circumstances, and had received 
 a liberal education ; for we are not to attribute to 
 those times, and to that country, the same diffusion 
 of knowledge as obtains among ourselves. Writing 
 and reading were rare among the men, much more 
 rare among the women ; and the possession of them 
 seems to be decisive against that poverty which some
 
 MARY 
 
 [ 664 ] 
 
 MAS 
 
 have unwittingly attached to the condition of our 
 Lord and his parents. 
 
 We remark, further, that Luke is the writer who 
 last mentions Mary the mother of Jesus by name, 
 (Acts i. 14.) and she is the only woman whom he thus 
 distinguishes. On the whole, the inference is clear, 
 that we ai'e obliged to him for a portrait of this high- 
 ly distinguished person ; not indeed of her features, 
 but of her character and conduct: and thus the tra- 
 dition, of Avhich no critic has ever been a])le to make 
 any thing probable, may be explained with some ap- 
 pearance of consistency. 
 
 II. MARY, the mother of Mark, had a house in 
 Jerusalem, to which it is thought the apostles retired 
 after the ascension of our Lord, and where they re- 
 ceived the Holy Ghost. Tiiis house was on mount 
 Sion, and Epiphanius says, it escaped the destruction 
 of Jerusalem by Titus, and was changed into a very 
 famous church, which continued several ages. After 
 the imjjrisonment of Peter, the faithfid were assem- 
 bled in this house, praying, when Peter, delivered 
 by the ministry of an angel, knocked at the gate, 
 Acts xii. 5, 12. 
 
 III. MARY Cleophas, the sister of Mary the 
 mother of our Lord, was wife of Cleophas, and 
 mother of James the Less, and of Simon, brethren 
 of our Lord, John xix. 25; Luke xxiv. 10; Matt, 
 xxvii. 56, 61. She believed early on Jesus Christ, 
 and at length accompanied him in some of his jour- 
 neys, to minister to him, followed him to Calvary, 
 and was with the Virgin at the foot of his cross. She 
 was also present at his burial, and prepared perfumes 
 to embalm him. But going to his tomb on Sunday 
 morning very early, with other women, they learned 
 from an angel that he was risen, of which they in- 
 formed the apostles. By the way Jesus appeared to 
 them, and they embraced his feet, worshipping him. 
 The year of her death is not known. 
 
 IV. MARY, sister of Lazarus, who has been con- 
 founded with the woman mentioned Luke vii. 37, 
 39. See IMartha. 
 
 V. MARY Magdalen, one of the females who fol- 
 lowed Jesus, in company with his apostles, when he 
 preached the gospel from city to city. She took her 
 surname either from the town of Magdala in Gali- 
 lee, l)eyond Jordan, or from Magdolos, a tov/n at the 
 foot of mount Carmel, perhaps the Megiddo of Josh- 
 ua xvii. 11 ; 2 Kings ix. 27; xxiii. 29. Luke(viii.2.) 
 and Mark (xvi. 9.) oliserve, that she bad been deliv- 
 ered by Christ from seven devils. This some under- 
 stand literally ; others figuratively, for the crimes and 
 wickednesses of her past life. Others maintain, that 
 she had always lived in virginity, and consequently 
 was a different person from the sinner mentioned by 
 Luke, (chap. vii. 36.) and by the seven devils, they 
 understand a real jiossession, which is not inconsist- 
 ent with a recluse life. She followed Christ in his 
 last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, and was at 
 the foot of the cross with the Holy Virgin. She 
 continued on mount Calvary till our Saviour's death, 
 and saw him placed in his tomb ; after which she 
 returned to Jerusalem, to prepare to embalm him 
 after the sabbath was over, John xix. 25 ; INIark xv. 
 47. All the sabbath day she remained in the city, 
 and the next day, early in the morning, she went to 
 the sepulchre, with Mary the mother of James and 
 Salome, Mark xvi. 1, 2; Luke xxiv. 1, 2. Being 
 come to his tomb, they saw two angels, who informed 
 them that Jesus was risen. On this, Mary Magdalen 
 ran to Jerusalem, to acquaint the aj)ostles. Return- 
 ing to the sepulchre, and stooping forward to exam- 
 
 ine the inside of the tomb, she there saw two angels 
 sitting, one at the head and the other at the bottom 
 of the tomb. (See Sepulchre.) They asked her 
 why she wept. To which she replied, " They have 
 taken away my Lord, and I know not where they 
 have laid him." Immediately turning about, she saw 
 Jesus, who asked her what she looked for. She an- 
 swered, " Sir, if you have removed my Master, let 
 me know it, that I may take him away." Jesus said 
 to her, Mary ! Immediately she knew him, and cast 
 herself at his feet, to kiss them. But Jesus said to 
 her, " Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my 
 Father." q. d. You slrall have leisure to see me here- 
 after ; go now to my brethren, my apostles, and tell 
 them, I shall ascend to my God and their God ; to 
 my Father and their Father. Thus had Mary the 
 happiness of first seeing our Saviour after his resur- 
 rection. She related this to the apostles, but they 
 did not believe her, till her report was confirmed by 
 other testimony. 
 
 It has been thought by Calmet and others, that 
 "the sinner," mentioned in Luke vii. 36, was Mary 
 Magdalen ; but this is hardly credible, Magdalen be- 
 ing always named in company with women of the 
 best character and quality ; as (Luke viii.) with Jo- 
 anna, wife of Chuza, Herod's stewaid, and Susannah, 
 and many others. Generally she is named first of 
 her company, even before Mary tlie mother of Jesus, 
 Mark xv. 47. She was, also, a woman of property ; 
 she not only " ministered to Jesus of her substance," 
 while he was living, but she was one of those who 
 bought spices to embalm him after his death. Matt. 
 xxviii. 55, 56 ; Luke xxiii. 36 ; John xx. Probably 
 she was not young ; and, therefore, the story of her 
 following John to Ephesus is entitled to no attention ; 
 yet, as the name Mary was very common among the 
 Jews, some v/oman bearing it might accompany the 
 apostle, and give occasion to the mistake. 
 
 MASCHIL, which is a term found as a title to 
 some of the Psalms, imports 7ie that instructs or makes 
 to understand. Some interpreters think, that it sig- 
 nifies an instrument of music; but it is much more 
 probable that it signifies an instructive song. 
 
 MASH, the fourth son of Aram, (Gen. x. 23.) 
 called 3Ieshech in 1 Chron. i. 17. Bochart believes 
 he inhabited mount Masius in Slesopotamia, and gave 
 his name to the river Mazccha, whose source is 
 there. 
 
 MASHAL, a city of Asher, yielded to the Levitcs 
 of the family of (icrshom, (1 Chron. vi. 74.) is said by 
 Ensebius to ha%'e been in the vicinity of mount 
 Carmel near the sea. In Josh. xix. 26, it is called 
 Misheal ; and in xxi. 30, Mishal. 
 
 MASORA, see Language, p. 609. 
 
 MASREKAH, a city of Idumca, (Gen. xxxvi.36; 
 1 Chron. i. 47.) and probably a plantalion of vines. 
 
 MASSA, a name given to the c ncampmcnt of the 
 Hebrews at RephicHm, when the people, v.anting 
 water, began to murmur against Closes and the Lord, 
 as if they had doubted of his presence among them, 
 Exod. xvii. 2, &c. 
 
 MASSADA, a castle or fortress in the tribe of Ju- 
 dah, west of the Dead sea, or the lake As{)haltites, 
 not far from Engedi, situated on a steep rock, of very 
 difficult access. Jonathan the Asmonean, brother 
 of Judas Maccabfpus, fortified it against the kings of 
 Syria, and Herod the Great made it still more im- 
 pregnable. 
 
 It is mentioned by Josephus in his accoimt of the 
 last war of the Jews against the Romans, as having 
 been taken possession of by Eleazar, a grandson of
 
 M A T 
 
 [ 665 ] 
 
 M E A 
 
 the famous Judaa Gaulonites, at the head of the Si- 
 carii, or assassins. Flavins Sylva besieged the castle 
 with sucli vigor, that finding escape impossible, Elea- 
 zar prevailed upon his companions to kill one an- 
 other. The last that survived set fire to the castle. 
 This happened A. D. 71. (Joseph. Bell. Jud. vii. 
 28—33.) 
 
 MATTAN, son of Eleazar, father of Jacob, and 
 grandfather of Joseph, husband to the Virgin Mary. 
 Luke (iii. 23.) makes Heli, son of 3Iattan, to be father 
 of Joseph ; but it is thought that Heli is the same as 
 Joachim, father of Mary, and father-in-law to Joseph. 
 So that Matthew (i. 15, 16.) gives the direct geneal- 
 ogy of Joseph, and Luke that of Mary. 
 
 MATTANAH, an encampment of Israel, (Numb. 
 xxi. 18, 19.) which Eusebius says was on the Aruou, 
 twelve miles from Medaba, east. 
 
 L MATTATIHAS, son of John, of the family 
 of Joarib, and of the race of the priests, was the 
 first who opposed the persecution by Antiochus 
 Epipiianes, 1 Mac. ii. A. M. 3837. He had five sons, 
 who inherited their father's imdaunted sjjirit, and 
 made a determined stand against the oppressors of 
 their coimtry and the persecutors of their religion. 
 Mattathias and his sons being joined by the Asside- 
 aus, the most religious as well as valiant men of Is- 
 rael, they marched through the country, destroyed 
 the altars dedicated to false gods, circumcised the 
 children that had not received circumcision, hum- 
 bled the children of pride, and delivered the law 
 from its subjection to strangers, and from the power 
 of the king. Being near his death, Mattathias as- 
 sembled his sons, and exhorted them to be truly 
 zealous fur the law, and ready to sacrifice their lives 
 for the covenant of their ancestors. He was buried 
 at Modin, in the sepulchre of his ancestors, and all 
 Israel made a ereat mourning for him. 
 
 II. MATTATHIAS, son of Simon Maccabeus, 
 and grandson of Mattathias, was killed treacherously, 
 with his father and one of his brethren, by Ptolemy, 
 son-in-law of Simon, in the castle of Docus, 1 r>Iac. 
 xvi. 14—16. 
 
 MATTHEW, an apostle and evangelist, was sou 
 of Alplicus, a Galilean by birth, a Jew by religion, 
 and a publican by proiession, Mark ii. 14 ; Luke v. 
 27. The other evangelists call him only Levi, which 
 was his Hebrew name; but ho always calls himself 
 Matthew, which was probably his name as a publi- 
 can, or ofticer for gathering taxes. He does not 
 dissem!)le his former profession, thus exalting the 
 grace of Christ, which raised him to the apostleship. 
 His ordinary abode was at Capernamn, and his office 
 out of the town, at the sea of Tiberias, whence he was 
 called by Jesus to follow him. Matt. ix. S) ; Luke ii. 
 13, J4. It is probable that he had a previous knowl- 
 edge of the miracles and doctrine of Christ, whom 
 he might have heard preach. He was made an 
 apostle the same year he \vas converted, and, con- 
 sequently, he was called to the apostleship in the 
 first year of Christ's ministry. He is sometimes 
 named the seventh among the apostles, and some- 
 times the eighth. The most general opinion of both 
 ancients and moderns is, that he preached and suffered 
 martyrdom in Persia, or among the Parthians, or 
 in Caramania, which then was subject to the Par- 
 thians. 
 
 Matthew wrote his Gospel while in Judea, but 
 whether in the Hebrew or Syriac language, then 
 common in the country, or in Greek, cannot be dc- 
 ternnned. See Gospel. — Matthew. 
 
 I. MATTHIAS, one of those disciples who con- 
 ^4 
 
 tinned with our Saviour from his baptism to his 
 ascension, (Acts i. 21, 22.) and was after the ascension 
 associated with the eleven apostles. We know 
 nothing further of him. 
 
 II. MATTHIAS, son of Theophilns, high-priest 
 of the Jews, succeeded Simon, A. M. 3999, and after 
 one year was deposed by Herod the Great, because 
 he thought him engaged in the confederacy with 
 Matthias, son of Margaloth, and Judas, son of Sari- 
 pheus, who pulled down from over the gate of the 
 temple the golden eagle that Herod had set up. (Jo- 
 seph. Ant. xvii. 8.) 
 
 III. MATTHIAS, son of Ananus, high-priest of 
 the Jews, succeeded Simon Cautharus, A. D. 41. 
 (Jos. Ant. xix. 6.) 
 
 IV. MATTHIAS, son of Theophilus, and another 
 high-priest of the Jews, succeeded Jesus, son of Ga- 
 maliel, A. D. 65. (Joseph. Bel. Jud. v. 33.) 
 
 V. MATTHIAS, a Jew, of the party of the Mace- 
 donians, or Syrians, sent by Xicanor to Judas Mac- 
 cabaBus, with jiroposals of peace, 2 Mac. xiv. 19. 
 
 MAZZAROTH, Job xxxviii. 32. Our margin 
 properly supposes this word to denote the twelve 
 signs of the zodiac, a broad circle in the heavens, 
 comprehending all such stars as lie in the path of the 
 sun and moon. As these luminaries api)ear to pi-o- 
 ceed throughout this circle annually, so diflerent 
 parts of it progi-essively receive them every month ; 
 and this progression seems to be what is meant by 
 " bringing forth mazzaroth in his season," q. c\. 
 " Canst thou by thy power cause the revolutions of 
 the heavenly bodies in the zodiac, and the seasons 
 of summer and winter, which ensue on their prog- 
 ress into the regular annual or monthlv situations ?'* 
 
 MEASURE. See the general table of Weights, 
 Pleasures, and Money, of the Hebrews, at the end ol" 
 the Dictionary. Also the particular names of each, 
 as Shekel, Talext, Bath, Ephah, <S,:c. 
 
 MEATS. (See Axijials.) It does not appear 
 that the ancient Hebrews were very nice about the 
 seasoning and dressing of their food. We find 
 among them roast meat, boiled meat, and ragouts. 
 Meats that vvere offered were boiled in a pot, 1 Sam. 
 ii. 15. Moses (flxod. xxiii. 19; xxxiv. 26.) forbids 
 to seethe a kid in its mother's milk ; which may be 
 understood as forbidding to sacrifice it while it 
 sucked ; or that it should not be boiled in the milk 
 of its dam ; as the Hebrev.s explain it. They might 
 not kill a cow and its calf in the same day ; nor a 
 sheep, or goat, and its young one at the same time. 
 They might not cut olf a partof alivingwinimal to cat 
 it, either raw or dressed. If any lawful beast or bird 
 should die of itself, or be strangled, and the blood 
 not drain av.ay, they were net allowed to taste of it ; 
 and if in any bird was found a thorn, pin, or needle, 
 that had gored it ; or in any beast an impostluuiie, 
 or disease of tl:e entrails ; or if ii had been bitten by 
 any beast, they were not to cat cf it, Exod. xxii. 31 ; 
 Lev. V. 2 ; vii. 24 ; xvii. 15 ; xxii. 8. He that by in- 
 advertence should eat of any animal that died of 
 itself, or that was killed by any beast, was to be un- 
 clean till the evening, and was not purified till he 
 had washed his clothes. They ate of nothing dressed 
 by any other than a Jew, nor did they ever dress 
 their victuals with the kiichtn implements of any 
 but one of their own nation. 
 
 The prohibition of eating blood, or animals that 
 are strangled, has been always rigidly observed by 
 the Jews. They do not so much as cat an vg^, if 
 there appear tii«; least streak of blood in it. W'hen 
 an animal is to be killed, it must be performed by a
 
 MEATS 
 
 [ me ] 
 
 MED 
 
 ekilful person, because of the circumstances to be 
 observed. For the time inust be proper for the ac- 
 tion, and the knife must be very sharp, and without 
 notches, that the blood may run without interruption. 
 They let it spill itself upon the ground, or on ashes, 
 and afterwards take it up. They put the meat into 
 salt for an hour before they put it into the pot, that 
 the blood may run quite out ; otherwise they must 
 not eat the meat, except they roast it. They take 
 great care to cut away the sinew of the thigh of 
 such animals as they intend to eat, according to 
 Gen. xxxii. 22. And in several places of Germany 
 and Italy, the Jews will not eat any of the hinder 
 quarter, because great nicety is required in taking 
 away this sinew as it should be done ; and few 
 know how to do it exactly. They forbear eating 
 any fat of oxen, sheep, goats, or animals of this kind, 
 according to Lev. vii. 23, &c. but other kind of fat 
 they think is allowed them. See Fat. 
 
 In the Christian church, the custom of refraining 
 from things strangled, and from blood, continued 
 for a long time. In the council of the apostles, held 
 at Jerusalem, (Acts xv.) it was declared that converts 
 from paganism should not be subject to the legal cer- 
 emonies, but that they should refrain from idolatry, 
 from fornication, from eating blood, and from such 
 animals as were strangled, and their blood thereby 
 retained in their bodies ; which decree was observed 
 for many ages by the church. Augustin affirms, 
 that in the church they observed the distinction of 
 certain meats, so long as tho v/all of separation was 
 kept up between the Jews and the converted Gen- 
 tiles, and the Christian church, composed of these two 
 sorts of people, was not yet entirely formed ; but 
 that when there were no longer any Israelites ac- 
 cording to the flesh, there were no longer any persons 
 who made this distinction. 
 
 Meats offered to Idols, 1 Cor. viii. 7, 10. — At 
 the first settling of the church there were many dis- 
 putes concerning the use of meats offered to idols. 
 Some newly converted Christians, convinced that an 
 idol was nothing, and that the distinction of clean 
 and unclean creatures was abolished by our Saviour, 
 ate indifferently of -whatever was served up to them, 
 even among pagans, without inquiring whether the 
 meats had been offered to idols. They took the 
 same liberty in buying meat sold in the market, not 
 regarding whether it were pure or impure, accord- 
 ing to the Jews; or whether it had been offered to 
 idols. For among the heathen, as well as among 
 the Jews, there were several sacrifices, in which 
 only a part was offered on the altar ,^ the rsst belong- 
 ing to him who offered it, which he disposed of at 
 liis pleasure, or ate with his friends. But other 
 Ciiristians, weaker, or less instructed, were offended 
 at this liberty, and thought that eating of meat W'hich 
 had been offered to idols, was a kind of partaking in 
 that wicked and sacrilegious offering. This diver- 
 sity of opinion produced some scandal, to which 
 Paul thouglit it behoved him to provide a remedy, 
 Rom.xiv.20 ; Tit. i. 15. He determined, therefore, that 
 all things were clean to siich as were clean, and that 
 an idol was nothing at all. That a man might safely 
 catof whatever was sold in thf shambles, and need not 
 scrupulously inquire from whence it came ; and that 
 if an unbeliever should invite a behevor to cat with 
 him, the believer might eat of whatever was set be- 
 fore him, &c. 1 Cor. x. 25, &c. But at the same 
 time he enjoins, that the laws of charity and pru- 
 dence should be observed ; that believers should be 
 cautious of scandalizing or offending weak minds ; for 
 
 though all things might be lawful, yet all things 
 were not always expedient. That no one ought to 
 seek his own accommodation or satisfaction, exclu- 
 sively, but that each should have regard to that of 
 his neighbor. That if any one should warn another, 
 " This has been offered to idols," he should not eat of 
 it, for the sake of him who gave the warning ; not 
 so much for fear of wounding his own conscience, 
 as his brother's : in a word, that he who is weak, 
 and thinks he may not indifferently use all sorts of 
 food, should forbear, and eat herbs, Rom. xiv. 1, 2. 
 It is certain, however, that Christians generally ab- 
 stained from eating meat that had been offered to 
 idols, for in Rev. ii. 20, the angel of Thyatira is re- 
 proved for suffering a Jezebel in his church, who 
 called herself a prophetess, and seduced the servants 
 of God to commit impurity, and to eat meat that had 
 been consecrated to idols. Tertullian says, that 
 Paul has put the key of the flesh-market into our 
 hands, by allowing us the use of all sorts of meat, 
 except that which has been offered to idols ; and we know 
 that in the persecutions by the Roman emperors, 
 they often polluted the flesh sold in the sham- 
 bles, by consecrating it to idols, that they might re- 
 duce the Christians to the necessity of purchasing 
 that, or of totally abstaining from flesh. 
 
 MEDAD and ELDAD, two men who were among 
 those whom God inspired Avith his Holy Spirit, to 
 assist Moses in the government, Numb. xi. 26 — 30. 
 The Jews affirm, that they were brothers by the 
 mother's side to 3Ioses, and sons of Jochebed and 
 Elizaphan. 
 
 MEDAN, or Madan, the third son of Abraham 
 and Keturah, (Gen. xxv. 2.) is thought, with Midian 
 his brother, to have peopled the country of Midian 
 or Madian, east of the Dead sea. 
 
 MEDEBA, a city east of Jordan, in the southern 
 part of Reuben, (Josh. xiii. 16.) not far from Hesh- 
 bon. Isaiah (xv. 2.) assigns it to Moab, because the 
 Moabites took it from the Israelites ; whereas Jose- 
 phus ascribes it to the Arabians, because they made 
 themselves masters of it towards the conclusion of 
 the Jewish monarchy. The inhabitants of Medeba 
 having killed John Gaddis, brother of Judas Macca- 
 bseus, as he was passing to the country of the Naba- 
 theans, Simon and Jonathan, his brethren, revenged 
 his death on the children of Jambri, as they were 
 coiiducting a bride to her husband. Burckhardt 
 describes the ruins of this town, which still retains 
 its ancient name. 
 
 MEDIA, a country cast of Assyria, which is sup- 
 posed to have been peopled by the descendants of 
 Madai, son of Japheth, Gen. x. 2. Esther (i. .3, 14, 
 18, 19 ; X. 2.) and Daniel (v. 28 ; vi. 3, 12, 15 ; viii. 20.) 
 commonly put Madai for the 3Iedes, and so most 
 interpreters underetand it. The Greeks maintain, 
 that this country takes name from Medus, son of 
 Jledea ; and truly if what has been said under the 
 article IMadai may be relied on, or if this son of 
 Japheth peopled Macedonia, we must then seek an- 
 other origin for the people of Media. 
 
 JModia has been taken in sometimes a larger and 
 sometimes a narrower extent. Ptolemy makes its 
 limits to the north to be a part of the Caspian sea, 
 and thr mountains of the same name, and the Cadu- 
 sians ; the greater Armenia west : the countries of 
 the Parthians and Hyrcania east ; Persia, Susiana, 
 and a part of Assyria, south. Its capital was Ecba- 
 tana, Judith i. 1. This city is also mentioned Ezra 
 vi. 2, under the iianse of Achmetu. 
 
 [Ancient Media, called by the Hebrews Madai,
 
 MEDIA 
 
 [ 667 ] 
 
 MED 
 
 extended itself on the west and south of the Caspian 
 eea, from Aj-menia on the north to Farsistan or Per- 
 sia proper on tlie south ; and inchided the districts 
 now called Shirvan, Adserbijan, Ghilan, Masande- 
 ran, and Irak Adjenii. It covered a territory larger 
 than that of Spain, lying between 30 and 40 degrees 
 of north latitude; and was one of the most fertile 
 and eai-liest cultivated among the kingdoms of Asia. 
 It had two grand divisions ; of which the north-west- 
 ern was called Atropatene, or Lesser Media, and 
 the southern Gi-eater Media. The former corre- 
 sponds to the modern Adserbijan, now, as formerly, 
 a province of the Persian empu'e on the west of the 
 Caspian, surrounded by high mountains of the 
 Tauritic i-ange, except towards the east, where the 
 river Kur, or Cyrus, discharges its waters into the 
 Caspian. The greater Media corresponds principally 
 to the modern Irak Adjemi, or Persian Irak. 
 
 Media is one of the most ancient independent 
 kingdoms of which history makes mention. Ninus, 
 the founder of the Assyrian monarchy, encountered 
 in his wars a king of Media, whom he subdued, and 
 whose land he made a province of the Assyrian empire. 
 For five hundred and twenty years, the Medes re- 
 mained subject to the Assyrian yoke ; but at last, 
 when Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser began to de- 
 populate whole districts of western Asia, and trans- 
 port their inhabitants into the cities of the Medes 
 and other regions of interior Asia, the patience of 
 the Medes was exhausted. They rebelled ; and the 
 overthrow of Sennacherib before Jerusalem, his 
 subsequent flight and murder, and the confusion in 
 the Assyrian royal family, completed their deliver- 
 ance. Six years they passed in a sort of anarchy, 
 arising from internal dissensions and parties, until at 
 length, about 700 B. C. they found in Dejoces a 
 wise and upright statesman, who was proclaimed 
 king by universal consent. He reigned over Media 
 alone, whose six tribes he united into a single nation. 
 His son and successor, Phraortes, brought first the 
 Persians, and then all upper Asia, to the river Halys, 
 Cappadocia included, under the Median dominion. 
 He ventured afterwards to attack Assyria, and laid 
 siege to Nineveh ; but his army was defeated and he 
 himself killed. His successor, CyaxaRes, determined 
 to take vengeance on the Assyrians for his father's 
 death ; but as he was about to besiege Nineveh, he 
 received intelligence, that the Scythians had made 
 an irruption into Media. He marched against them ; 
 was defeated ; and it was not till after eight and twenty 
 years, that Media could free itself from the oppres- 
 sion of these rude and unexpected enemies. Cyax- 
 ares now appeared again before Nineveh, and con- 
 quered it, with the help of his ally, Nabopolassar, the 
 fii-st king of Babylon. Assyria now became a Medi- 
 an province. This widely extended Median empire 
 was inherited, after the death of Cyaxares, by his son 
 AsTYAGES ; who, thirty-five years afterwards, about 
 550 B. C. delivered it over to his grandson, Cyrus, 
 king of the Persians. (Herodot. lib. i. c. 95 — 130.) 
 
 In this way arose the Medo-Persian kingdom ; 
 and the laws of the Medes and Persians are always 
 mentioned by the sacred writers together, Esth. i. 
 9 ; X. 2 ; Dan. vi. 8, 12, et al. So also the annals of 
 the Medes and Persians are mentioned together, 
 Esth. X. 2. Indeed, from this time onward, the man- 
 ners, customs, religion and civilization of the Modes 
 and Pei-sians seem ever to have become more and more 
 amalgamated. And in general it would seem, as 
 we may gather from the ancient Zend writings, that 
 the Medes, Persians and Bactrians were originally the 
 
 same people, having in common one language, the 
 Zend, and one religion, the worship of Ornmzd, the 
 highest being, under the symbol of fire. The priests 
 of this religion, the Magi, were a Median race, to 
 whom were intrusted the cultivation of the sciences 
 and the performance of the sacred rites. Among 
 these, and, as is supposed, before the tiuic of Cyrus, 
 appeared Zerdusht, or Zoroaster, as a reformer, or 
 rather as the restorer of the ancient but now degen- 
 erated religion of light ; whose disciples have main- 
 tained themselves even to the present day in Persia 
 and India, under the name of Guebres. (See Rosen- 
 miiller, Bibl. Geogr. I. i. p. 289, seq.) *R. 
 
 Isaiah describes the Medes as instruments and ex- 
 ecutioners of God's decrees against Babylon, (chap, 
 xiii. 17, 18 ; xxi. 2, 3.) and Jeremiah (xxv. 25.) 
 speaks of the misfortunes which were to happen to 
 the Medes. He foretells, that they also, in their turn, 
 were to drink of the cup of God's wrath ; and it is 
 likely that Cyrus made them sufter the evils they 
 were here threatened with. 
 
 MEDIATOR. In covenants between man and 
 man, in which the holy name of God is used, 
 he is witness and mediator of all reciprocal prom- 
 ises and engagements. Thus Laban and Jacob 
 made a covenant on mount Gilead ; (Gen. xxxi. 49 — 
 54.) and when the elders of this place made a cove- 
 nant with Jephthah, they called on the name of the 
 Lord, Judg. xi. 10. When God gave his law to the 
 Hebrews, and made a covenant with them at Sinai, 
 a mediator was necessary, who should relate the 
 words of God to the Hebrews, and their answers to 
 him ; in order that the articles of the covenant be- 
 ing agreed to by each party, they might be ratified 
 and confirmed by blood, and by oath. Moses ou 
 this occasion was mediator between God and the 
 people, as Paul says, (Gal. iii. 19.) " The law was 
 added because of transgressions, and was ordained 
 by angels in the hand of a mediator." In the new 
 covenant which God has been pleased to make with 
 the Christian church, Jesus Christ is the mediator 
 of redemption. He was the surety, the sacrifice, 
 the priest, and the intercessor of this covenant. He 
 has sealed it with his blood, has proposed the terms 
 and conditions of it in his gospel, has instituted the 
 form of it in baptism, and the commemoration of it 
 in the sacrament of his body and blood. Paul, in 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, enlarges on this office 
 of mediator of the new covenant, exercised by Christ, 
 Heb. viii. 6 ; ix. 25 ; xii. 24. (See also 1 Tim. ii. 5.) 
 
 In all ages, and in all parts of the world, there has 
 constantly prevailed such a sense of the infinite ho- 
 liness of the supreme Divinit}^, with so deep a con- 
 viction of the imperfections of human nature, and 
 the guilt of man, as to deter worshippers from com- 
 ing directly into the presence of a Being so awful : — 
 recourse has therefore been had to mediators. 
 Among the Sabians the celestial intelligences were 
 constituted mediatois ; among other idolaters their va- 
 rious idols ; and tiiis notion still prevails in Hindostan 
 and elsewhere. Sacrifices were thought to be a kind of 
 mediators; and, in short, there has been a universal 
 feeling, a sentiment never forgotten, of the necessity 
 of an interpreter, or mediator, between God and 
 man. As Luther said — " I will have nothing to do 
 with an absolute God." 
 
 MEDICINE, or Physic, is an invention, by Jesus 
 son of Sirach, ascribed to God himself, Ecclua. 
 xxxviii. 1, &c. Scripture makes no mention of physi- 
 cians before the time of Joseph, who commanded his 
 servants, the physicians of Egypt, to embalm the body
 
 MEG 
 
 [ 666 
 
 M E L 
 
 of Jacob, Gen. 1. 2. The art of mediciue, however, 
 was very ancient in Egypt. They ascribed the in- 
 vention of it to Thaut, or to Hermes, or to Osiris, or 
 to Isis ; and some of the learned have tliought tliat 
 Moses, having been instructed in all the learning of 
 the Egyptians, must also have known the chief se- 
 crets of medicine. They also argue it from his in- 
 dications concerning diseases, the leprosy, infirmities 
 of women, animals, clean and unclean, &c. It does 
 not appear that physicians were common among the 
 Hebrews, especially for internal maladies, but for 
 wounds, fractures, bruises, and external injuries, they 
 had physicians, or surgeons, who understood the 
 dressing and binding up of woiuids, with the appli- 
 cation of medicaments. (Sec Jer. viii. 22 ; xlvi. 11 ; 
 Ezek. xxx. 21.) Asa, being diseased in his feet, and 
 having applied to physicians, is upbraided with it, as 
 contrary to that confidence which lie ought to have 
 had in the Lord, 1 Kings xv. 23 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 12. 
 Hezekiali, having a bile, probably a pestilential one, 
 was cure<l by Isaiah, on the application of a cataplasm 
 of figs, 2 Kings xx. 7; Isa. xxxviii. 21. But there 
 ■was no remedy known for the leprosj', or for dis- 
 tempers which were the consequences of inconti- 
 nence. When Job was afflicted with a very terrible dis- 
 temper, we hear no mention of recourse to physic or 
 to physicians ; his maladj' was looked upon as an im- 
 mediate stroke from the hand of God. The low 
 state of the art of niedicme, with the persuasion that 
 distempers were effects of God's augei-, or were caused 
 by evil spirits, was the reason that in extraordmary 
 maladies the sufferers applied to divmers, magicians, 
 enchanters, or false gods. Sometimes they applied to 
 the prophets of the Lord for cure ; or, at least, to 
 know whether they should recover or not. When 
 Ahaziah, king of Israel, by a fall from the roof of his 
 house, was gi-eatly hurt, he sent to considt the false 
 god Baal-zebub at Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2, &c. Jeremiah 
 (viii. 17.) speaks of enchantments used agauist the 
 biting of serpents, and other venomous animals. Ha- 
 zacl was sent by the king of Syria to consult Elisha 
 the prophet as to the issue of his distemper, 2 Kings 
 viii. 8. Naaman the SjTian came into the land of Is- 
 racl, to obtahi from Elisha a cure for liis leprosy, 2 
 Kings V. 5, G. And when our Saviour a])i)eared in 
 Palestine, although there can be no doubt that there 
 were i)liysieians in the country, it is evident that the 
 j)eoj)le placed but little confidence in them. (Comp. 
 Mai-k V. 26 ; Lyke viii. 43.) They brought to om- 
 Saviour and his apostles muhitudcs of dis'eased peo- 
 ple from all parts of the land. 
 
 iMEDlTATE, to think closely and seriously on 
 any thing. The chief emplovment of the just is to 
 meditate on the law of God day and night. Psalm i. 2. 
 
 MEEKNESS, a calm, serene temper of mind, not 
 easily ruffled or provoked ; a disposition that suffers 
 uijuries without desire of revenge, and quietly acqui- 
 esces in the dispensations and will of God,' Col. iii. 
 12. This temper of mind is admirably fitted to dis- 
 cover, to consider, and to entertain truth, (Jam. i. 
 21.) and is ranked among the fruits of the Spirit. Gal. 
 V. 23. 
 
 MEGIDDO, a city of Manasseh, (Josh. xvii. 11 ; 
 Judg. i. 27.) famous for the defeat of king Josiah, (2 
 Kings xxiii. 29, 30.) who was overcomi; and mortally 
 Avounded there by Pharaoh-necho, king of Egy|)t. 
 Herodotus, s])eaking of this victory, says that Neclio 
 obtained it at Magdolos. The watei-s of Megiddo are 
 mentioned in Judg. v. 19. 
 
 Megiddo was certauily in, or near, the great ])lain 
 of Esdraelon, which had been the scene of manv bat- 
 
 tles ; as of Gideon with the Midianites, of Saul with 
 the Philistmes, of Josiah with Pharaoh-necho, of Ju- 
 das Maccabseus with Tryphon ; (1 Mac. xii. 49, &c.) 
 as in later ages it was of combats between the Tar- 
 tars and Saracens. It is alluded to under this char- 
 acter. Rev. xvi. 16. For a I'uller accoimt of the to- 
 pography of Megiddo and its vicinity, see the Biblical 
 Repository, vol. i. j). 602. 
 
 MELCHISEDEC, king of justice, king of Salem, 
 and priest of the Most High God. Scripture tells us 
 nothing of his father, or of his mother, or of his gene- 
 alogy, or of his birth, or of his death, Heb. vii. 1 — 3. 
 AikI in this sense he was, as Paul says, a figure of 
 Jesus Christ, who is a priest for ever, according to the 
 order of Melchisedec ; and not according to the order 
 of Aaron, whose origin, consecration, life and death 
 are luiown. 
 
 When Abraham retmned from j)ursuuig the con- 
 federate kings, (Gen. xiv. 17.) Melchisedec came to 
 meet him as far as the valley of Shaveh, (afterwards 
 named the King's Valley,) and presented him refresh- 
 ments of bread and Avuie ; or he offered bread and 
 wine in sacrifice to tiie Loi-d, for he was priest of the 
 Most High God. And he blessed Abraham, saying, 
 " Blessed !)e Abraham of the Most High God, ]:(os- 
 sessor of heaven and earth ; and blessed be the Most 
 High God, Avho hath delivered thine enemies mto thy 
 hand." Abraham, desirous to acknowledge in him 
 the quality of priest of the Lord, offered him tithes of 
 all he had taken from the enemy. After this there is 
 no mention of the person of Melchisedec ; only the 
 psahiiist, (ex. 4.) speaking of the Messiah, says, " Thou 
 art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec." 
 Paul (Heb. v. 6, 10.) unfolds themysleiy of Melchise- 
 dec. . Fu-st, he exalts the priesthood of Christ, as a 
 priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec — who 
 in this quality, " in the days of his flesh, oftered uj) 
 prayers and supplications, Avith strong crying and 
 tears, imto him that Avas able to save him from death ; 
 and Avas heard in that he feared," ver. 7. He also 
 says, that our Savioiu- as a forerunner is entered for 
 us into heaven, being made a high-priest for ever after 
 the order of Melchisedec. " For," he adds, " to this 
 Melchisedec, king of Salem, and priest of the Most 
 High God, Abraham gave tithe. Now Melchisedec is 
 according to the mteiiiretation of his name ; firet, king 
 of (Tsec/e A") justice; secondly, king of {Salerii) peace ; 
 Avho is Avithout father, Avithout mothei", A\'itliout gen- 
 ealogy ; Avho has neither beginning nor end of life. 
 Consider, therefore, how gi-eat this Melchisedec is,sincc 
 Aln-aham himself gives him tithe, and receives his 
 blessing. Moreover, Levi, Avho (noAv) receives tithes 
 from others, paid them himself, as one may say, in 
 the person of Abraham, since he Avas in the loms of 
 Abraham his ancestor, when Mekhisedec met that 
 patriarch." 
 
 Jerome thought that Salem, of Avhich Melchisedec 
 Avas king, Avas not Jerusaleui, but the city of Salem, 
 near Scythopolis ; and Avliere he thinks Jacob arrived 
 after his passage over Jordan, Avhcn returning from 
 3Tesopotamia, Gen. xxxiii. 18. But the majority of 
 interpreters difter fi-om Jerome in this. 
 
 The j)erson of 3Ielchisedee presents an interesting 
 subject of in(iuiry. He has been variously sujjposed 
 to be the Holy Spirit, the Son of God, an angel, Enoch, 
 and Shem. [But the safest and most jirobable opin- 
 ion is that, which considers Melchisedec as a right- 
 eous and iieacefn! king, a AAorshipper and priest of 
 the Most High God, in the land of Canaan ; a friend 
 of Abraham, and of a rank elcAated above him. This 
 opinion, indeed, lies uoon the face of the sacred
 
 MEN 
 
 [ 669 ] 
 
 MER 
 
 record m Gen. xiv. and Heb. vii. ; and it is the only 
 one which ctin be defended on any tolerable groimds 
 of intei-i)retation. What can be more improbable 
 than all the opinions above enumerated ? The most 
 popular of them all, viz. that Melchisedec was Christ, 
 would of course force us to adopt the interj^retation 
 in Heb. vii. that 'Christ was like himself;' and that 
 a comparison is there formally instituted between 
 Christ and himself! the mere mention of which is its 
 ijest refutation. That Melchisedec was Shcni has 
 been very elaborately, but fancifully, su])poi1ed by 
 jMr. Taylor; for whose remarks those who may wish 
 to peruse them are referred to the quarto edition of 
 Calniet, Fragm. (360, seq. (See Stuart's Connn. on 
 the Ep. to the Hebrews, vol. ii. Excurs. iii. j). 364.) *R. 
 
 31ELITA, see Malta. 
 
 iMEMBER properly denotes a part of the natural 
 body, 1 Cor. xii. 12 — 25. Figuratively, sensual affec- 
 tions, like a body consisting of many members ; 
 (Roui. vii. 23.) also, true believers, members of 
 Christ's mystical body, as forming one society or 
 body, of which Christ is the head, Eph. iv. 25. 
 
 MEMPHIS, see NoPH. 
 
 MENAHEM, see .Manaiiem. 
 
 MENE, a Chaldean word, signifying he has num- 
 bered, or he has counted. At a least wliich Belsliazzar 
 gave to his courtiers and concubines, where he pro- 
 faned the sacred vessels of the teinjjle of Jerusalem, 
 which Nebuchadnezzar had carried to Babylon, 
 there appeared on the wail a form like a hand, writ- 
 ing these words, Mene mene, tekel, upharsin ; (God) 
 lias numbered, has weighed and divided. Daniel ex- 
 plained this ill-boding inscription to the king, Dan. 
 V. 25, seq. See Belshazzar. 
 
 MENI, an idol, worshipped by the idolatrous Jews 
 ill Babylon, and in honor of which, along with Gad, 
 they held festivals and lectisternia, Is. Ixv. 11. Meni, 
 in the opinion of the best interpreters, was most 
 probably the same as Astaitc or the planet Venus, 
 which occurs in the astrological mytholog}' as the 
 second star of fortune, along with the planet Jupiter, 
 (Gad, or Baal.) (See Astaroth I. and Baal, p. 121.) 
 Jeremiah (vii. 18 ; xliv. 17, 18.) speaks of her as 
 queen of lieavcn, and, with Isaiah, (Ixv. 11. Heb.) 
 shows that her worsliip was popidar in Palestine, 
 and among the Hebrews. She was worshipjjed by 
 the Phenicians and Carthaginians, froui whom Is- 
 rael learned her worship. Isaiah reproaches them 
 with setting up a table to Cad — fortune, good for- 
 tune, or the lord of fortune — and with making liba- 
 tions to Meni. Jeremiah says, that in honor of the 
 (lueen of heaven, the fathers light the fire, the moth- 
 ers knead the cakes, and the children gather the 
 wood to bake them. Elsewhere, the Israelites de- 
 clared to Jeremiah, that notwithstanding his remon- 
 strances, they would continue to honor the queen of 
 heaven, by oblations, as their fathers had done before 
 them ; and that ever since they had left off to sacri- 
 fice to the queen of heaven, they had been consumed 
 by the sword and by famine. [But it must not be 
 denied that many interpreters have referred both 
 Meni and Astarte to the moon ; of which the follow- 
 ing remarks may serve; as an illustration. R. 
 
 We see by Strabo, (lib. xii.) that men, the month, 
 or moon, had several tem])lcs in Asia Minor, and in 
 Persia, and tliat they often swore by the nifn of the 
 king, that is, by his' fortune. "As" the worship of 
 Diana Luna, or the moon, was very famous among 
 the Greeks and Romans, so was that of the god Lu- 
 nus in the East. There are a great many monu- 
 ments of him; be was named Men (M>',i) in Greek, 
 
 and honored by this name in Phrygia, wh^re was ft 
 place, accoi-ding to Athenaeus, (lib. iii. p. 47.) called 
 .'i/(,io^- y.wfi;, ' The Street of Men ;' that is, of the god 
 Lunus. Men also signifies a month in Greek ; and 
 there was a temple of Men, or Lunus, in this place. 
 We see also the god ]Men, or Lunus, on several medals 
 of the towns of Lydia, Pisidia and Phngia. On a 
 medal of Antiochus, struck in Pisidia, the god Lunus 
 hath a spear in one hand, and holds a Victory in the 
 other, and hath a cock, a symbol of the rising sun, at 
 his feet. Spartian, in his life of Caracalla, says, that 
 prince came to Carrhie [Charran] on his birth-day, 
 in honor to the god Lunus. He adds furtlier, that 
 the people of Carrhte did still say, what bad formerly 
 been written by learned authors, that 'they who call 
 the moon by a feminine word, and consider her as a 
 w-oman, will be always addicted to women and sub- 
 ject to their command ; but those who think tlie 
 moon to be a male god, will have the dominion over 
 women, and suffer nothing by their intrigues ;' hence 
 he concludes, that it conies to pass, that the Greeks 
 and Egyptians, though they name the njoon by a 
 Avord of the feminine gender, in common discourse, 
 yet in their mysteries they call him a male god." 
 (JMontfaucon, Antiq. Expl. Supp. vol. 1.) See Idol- 
 atry. 
 
 MEPHAATH, a city of Reuben, (Josh. xiii. 18.) 
 yielded to the Levites of the family of Merari, Josh. 
 XX i. 37. 
 
 I. JMEPHIBOSHETH, a son of Saul, and his 
 concubiue Rizpah, who was delivered by David to 
 the Gibeonites, to be hanged before the Lord, 2 Sam. 
 xxi. 8, 9. 
 
 II. MEPHIBOSHETH, a son of Jonathan, also 
 called Merih-baal. (See Merib-eaal.) Me])hibo- 
 sheth was very young when his father was killed in 
 the battle of Gilboa, (2 Sam. iv. 4.) and his nurse was 
 in such consternation at the new's, that she let the 
 child fall, who from this accident was lame all his 
 life. W^hen David found himself in peaceable pos- 
 session of the kingdom, he sought for all that re- 
 mained of the house of Saul, that he might show 
 them kindness, in consideration of the friendship 
 between him and Jonathan. He told IMephibosheth, 
 that for the sake of Jonathan his father, he should 
 have his grandfather's estate, and eat always at the 
 royal table, 2 Sam. ix. 1, &c. Some years after this, 
 wiien Absaloua drove his father from Jerusalem, 
 Mephibosheth ordered his servant Ziba to saddle him 
 an ass, that he might accompany David ; for being 
 lame, he could not go on foot. But Ziba himself 
 Avcnt after David, with two asses laden with pro- 
 visions, and reported that Mephibosheth staid at Je- 
 rusalem, in hoi)es that the people of Israel would 
 restore him to the throne of his ancestors. David, 
 thus deceived, said to Ziba, I give to you all that be- 
 longed to Mepl.iboshtth. When David returned to 
 Jerusalem in })eace, Mephibosheth api)eared before 
 him in deep mom-ning, having neither washed his 
 feet, nor shaved his beard, since the king went, and 
 David then discovered the truth. Nevertheless Ziba 
 continued to possess half his estate. Mephibosheth 
 left a son named Micha ; but the time of his death is 
 not known, 1 Chron. viii. 34. 
 
 3IERAB, or Merob, the eldest daughter of king 
 Said, was promised to David in marriage, in reward 
 for his victory over Goliath ; but was given to Adriel, 
 son of Barzlllai the Meholathite, 1 Sam. xiv. 49; 
 xviii. 17, 19. INIerab had six sons by him, who were 
 delivered to the Gibeonites and hanged before the 
 Lord. The text intimates, that die six men delivered
 
 MER 
 
 [ ero ] 
 
 MERCY-SEAT 
 
 to the Gibeonites, were sons of Michal, daughter of 
 Saul, and wife of Adriel ; but see under Adriel. 
 
 MERAIOTH, a priest of the race of Aaron, son 
 of Zerahiah, and father of Amariah, among the high- 
 priests, 1 Chron. vi. 6. 
 
 ME RAN, or Merrha, a people of Ai-abia, Baruch 
 iii. 23. 
 
 MERCURY, a fabulous god of the ancient hea- 
 then, the messenger of the celestials, and the deity 
 that presided over learning, eloquence, and traffic. 
 The Greeks named him Hermes, an interpreter, be- 
 cause they considered him as interpreter of the will 
 of the gods. Probably, it was for this reason that the 
 
 Eeople of Lystra, having heard Paul preach, and 
 aving seen him heal a lame man, would have offer- 
 ed sacrifice to him, as to then- god Mercury ; and to 
 Barnabas as Jupiter, because of his venerable aspect, 
 Acts xiv. 11. 
 
 MERCY, a virtue which inspires us with com- 
 passion for others, and inclines us to assist them in 
 their necessities. That works of mercy may be ac- 
 ceptable to God, as Christ has promised, (Matt. v. 7.) 
 it is not enough that tliey proceed fi-om a natural 
 sentiment of humanity, but they must be performed 
 for the sake of God, and from trulj- pious motives. 
 In Scripture, mercy and truth are commonly joined 
 together, to show the goodness that precedes, and 
 the faithfulness that accompanies, the promises ; or, 
 a goodness, a clemency, a mercy that is constant and 
 faithful, and that does not deceive. Mercy is also 
 taken for favors and benefits received from God or 
 man ; for probity, justice, goodness. Merciful men, 
 in Hebrew chasdim, are men of piety and goodness. 
 Mercy is often taken for giving of alms, Prov. xiv. 
 34 ; xvi. 6 ; Zach. vii. 9. 
 
 Mercy, as derived from misericordia, may import 
 that sympathetic sense of the suffering of another by 
 which the heart is affected. It is one of the noblest 
 attributes of Deity, speaking after the manner of men, 
 and explaining what, by suj)position, may pass in the 
 mind of God, by what passes in the human mind. 
 The object of mercy is misery : so God pities human 
 misery, and forbears to chastise severely : so man 
 pities the miseiy of a fellow man, and assists to di- 
 minish it : so public officers occasionally moderate 
 the strictness of national laws, from pity to the cul- 
 prit. But only those can hope for mercy, who ex- 
 press penitence, and solicit mercy: the impenitent, 
 the stul)born, the obdiu-ate, rather brave the avenging 
 hand of justice, than beseech the relieving hand of 
 mercy. 
 
 MERCY-SEAT. The Hebrew n-isD, capporeth, 
 comes from the verb caphar, to expiate, to pardon 
 eins ; to cover, to harden any thing. It may be ren- 
 dered, a covering ; and indeed it was the cover of 
 the ark of the covenant, or of the sacred chest in 
 which tlie laws of the covenant were contained. At 
 each end of this cover was a cherub of beaten gold ; 
 which, stretching out their wings towards each other, 
 formed a kind of throne, where the Lord was con- 
 sidered as sitting. Hence the Hebrews invoked him 
 sometimes as, he " who sitteth iipon the cheru- 
 bim." And perhaps, by translating capporeth by 
 propitiator^/ or tnercy-seat, it may be intimated, that 
 from thence the Lord hears the prayers of his ])eo- 
 ple, and pardons their sins; while, by translating it 
 oracle, as Jerome and others have done, they would 
 show, that from hence he manifested his will and 
 pleasure, and gave res])onses, as he did to Moses. 
 
 From the similitudes connected willi this term in 
 the New Testament, it is scarcely possible to attach 
 
 too much consequence to it ; nor can the few words 
 of Calmet do it justice, though they may contribute 
 to explain its nature and import. The root of the 
 term u-uaxvi, hilasko, signifies to placate, to pacify, to 
 at-one, to reconcile ; or that intenening, or medi- 
 ating power, or thing, or consideration, by which two 
 parties at variance are reconciled. So Heb. ii. 17, 
 "To make reconciliation, (i/.uny.ia^ai,) for the sins of 
 the people ;" and (Luke xviii. 13.) the publican prayed, 
 "God be merciful, i/.ao&i'jt. be reconciled to, be at 
 one with me, a sinner." (Comp. LXX. Psalm xxv. 11 ; 
 Ixxviii. 38; Dan. ix. 19.) l^he propitiation (^'/ufr^foc) 
 is properly an offering from one party to another, 
 which possesses the power, or property, or influence 
 of reconciling, or re-uniting those who have been 
 separated by oflences. It answers to nni'?D, 7emission, 
 forgiveness, (Psalm cxxx. 4 ; Dan. ix. 9.) and to 
 nnco, Numb. v. 8, " the ram of atonement, whereby an 
 atonement shall be made for his sins." So in 2 Mac. 
 iii. 33, certain of Heliodorus's friends prayed Onias 
 that he would call on the Most High to grant him his 
 life : " So the high-priest offered a sacrifice for a 
 man's restoration to health. Now, as the high-priest 
 was making an atonement," — rather the atonement, 
 [tov ['AUPfi'oy.) that is, by means of the sacrifice. And 
 this term is expressly applied to Christ, by the evan- 
 gelist John (1 Epist. ii. 2 ; iv. 10.) "He is a propitia- 
 tion, a means ofat-one-ment, for our sins, and not for 
 ours only, nor for those of the Jewish nation only, 
 as were the sacrifices offered on the day of expiation, 
 but for the whole world." — " God sent his Son to be 
 the propitiation for our sins," in other words "that 
 we might live through him," (verse 9.) that is, through 
 his death, as the propitiating, the mediating sacrifice. 
 By the way, this allusion seems to suppose the rite of 
 expiation to be in a course of performance, at the 
 time when this epistle was written. 
 
 Upon the whole, it seems that, if we read reconcil- 
 iation-residence, seat, or lid of the ark, we should 
 come the nearest to tlie true idea of this subject: for 
 it was not a seat from whence was dispensed mercy 
 only, but oracles ; and those were occasionally threat- 
 enings, i. e. until reconciliation was made ; but it was 
 the station of a person luiderstood to be there con- 
 stantly present, where he might be /•eco?2C77erf to those 
 who entreated him : this was the place for those who 
 wished for reconciliation to apply for it ; and this 
 reconciliation-seat was itself occasionally at-onc-ed 
 with the people, &:c. as when the blood of at-one- 
 ment was sprinkled upon it, on the great day of ex- 
 piation. The a])ostle declares, (Rom. iii. 25.) that 
 " God had set forth Jesus Christ to be an i'/.ar,T,]Q,ov, 
 a reconciliation-Ye»\<ie\ivc, through faith in his blood," 
 i. e. as God was understood to be constantly on the 
 mercy-seat of old, /Acre to be at-one-ed, so is he now 
 in Christ ; who is his residence for the same blessed 
 purpose — that of at-one-ment. 
 
 Hilasterion is certainly taken for the mercy-seat in 
 Heb. ix. 5, " And over it (the ark of the covenant) 
 the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat, 
 ('/«ffr),'(Jio)." Nevertheless, it may be doubted whether 
 Christ is, strictly speaking, assinnlated to the mercy- 
 scat itself, and not rather to the sacrifice by which 
 that mercy-seat was understood to be reconciled to 
 the people who had otVended. For it seems very 
 harsh to say, that the victim which eflectcd reconcil- 
 iation was the same with one of the parties to be 
 reconciled ; but the mercy-seat, accepted figuratively 
 for the Supreme Deity, who sat on it, was a party to 
 be reconciled. Moreover, the apostle, alluding to 
 the rite of expiation in the passage above quoted,
 
 MES 
 
 [671 ] 
 
 MESHA 
 
 (Rom. iii. 25.) says, " whom God hath set forth to be 
 a propitiation (''/anri.'oioi) through faith in his blood," 
 — the victim had blood ; but the mercy-seat had 
 none ; and to say that the blood sprinkled on the 
 mercy-scat, is the blood of the mercy-seat, is to force 
 a sense on the passage. Yet the term has been so 
 underetood by many; among whom, Theodoret, Le 
 Cleic and Luther ; for the other explanation are 
 the Vulgate version, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Eras- 
 mus, Sec. and it seems, on the whole, to be the 
 easiest, tlie most consistent, and the best supported 
 sense. 
 
 3IERIBAH, stn/e or contention, the name given 
 to the station at or near Rephidim, where the people 
 murmured for water, and Moses struck the rock, 
 where it gushed out, Exod. xvii. 1 — 7. Dr. Shaw 
 feels confident that he has discovered this extraordi- 
 nary stone, at Rephidim, and has furnished a partic- 
 lar account of it in his Travels. See Exodus, p. 405, 
 410, and Rephidim. 
 
 3IERI-BAAL, or Merib-baal, son of Jonathan ; 
 (1 Ciiron. viii. 34; ix. 40.) elsewhere called Mephi- 
 bosheth. This difference of name has most probably 
 arisen from some corrujJtion ; though many suppose 
 that the Hebrews scrupled pronouncing the name of 
 Baal ; so that instead of Mephi-baal or Meri-baal, 
 they chose to say Blephi-bosheth, or Meri-bosheth ; 
 Bosketh in Hebrew signifying shame, confusion. 
 
 MERODACH, an ancient king of Babylon, placed 
 among the gods, and worshipped by the Babyloni- 
 ans ; or more probably, according to the analogy 
 of the other Babylonian divinities, one of the planets, 
 e.g. Mars. Jeremiah (1. 2.) speaking of the ruin of 
 Babylon, says, " Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, 
 Merodach is broken in pieces, her idols are con- 
 founded, her images are broken in pieces." We find 
 certain kings of Babylon, whose names comprise that 
 of Merodach ; as Evil-Merodach, and Merodach- 
 Baladan. See Berodach. 
 
 MER03I, the waters of Merom, (Josh. xi. 5.) or 
 lake of Semechon, is the most northern of the three 
 lakes supplied by the river Jordan. It is situate in a 
 valley, called the Ard Houle, formed by the two 
 branches of mount Hermon. The lake is now called 
 after the valley, the lake of Houle. In summer this 
 lake is for the most part dry, and covered with shrubs 
 and grass, in which lions, bears, and other wild 
 beasts conceal themselves. See Jordan, and Ca- 
 naan, p. 232. 
 
 M EROZ, ( Judg. V. 23.) a place in the neighborhood 
 of the brook Kishon, whose inhabitants, refusing to 
 assist their brethren when they fought against Sisera, 
 were put under anathema. 
 
 MESECH, see Meshech. 
 
 I. MESHA, (Gen. x. 30.) the same, probably, as 
 mount Masius. The sons of Joktan possessed the 
 whole country between mount Masius and the moun- 
 tains of Sephar, or Sepharvaim. [Among all the 
 various conjectures as to the j)lace designated by tlie 
 name of Mcsha, that of Michaelis (Spicileg. pt. ii. 
 p. 214.) is still the most probable, viz. that Mesha is 
 the region around Bassora, which the later Syrians 
 called Maishon, and the Greeks Mesene. Under these 
 names they included the country on the Euphrates 
 and Tigris between Seleucia and the Persian gulf 
 Abulfeda mentions in this region two cities not far 
 from Bassora, called Maisan and Mushan. Here, then, 
 was probably the north-eastern border of the district 
 inhabited by the Joktanites. The name of the oppo- 
 site limit, Sephar, signifies in Chaldee shoi-e, coast, 
 and is probably the western part of Yemen, along 
 
 the Arabian gulf, now called by the Arabs Tehamah. 
 The range of high and mountainous country between 
 these two borders Moses calls 'the mount of the 
 east,' or eastern mountains, — in reference either to 
 Palestine or to Yemen, i. e. Sephar. It is also called 
 bv the Arabs Djebal, i. e. mountains, to the present 
 day. (See Rosenm. Bib. Geogr. III. p. 163.) R. 
 
 il. MESHA, king of Moab, (2 Kings iii. 4.) paid 
 Ahab, king of Israel, a tribute of a hundred thousand 
 lambs, and as many rams, with their fleeces. After 
 the death of Ahab, however, he revolted against Je- 
 horam, king of Israel, who declared war against him, 
 and called to his assistance Jehoshaphat, king of Ju- 
 dah, who, with the king of Idumea, then in subjec- 
 tion to him, marched against Mesha, and forced him 
 to retire to Areopolis, his capital. Here they besieged 
 him so closely that, not being able to escape through 
 the camp of the Idumseans, which he attacked, he 
 took his own son, the presumptive heir to his crown, 
 brought him upon the wall of the city, and was going 
 to sacrifice hun. The kbigs of Judah, Israel and 
 Edom, seeing this, retired without taking the town, 
 but making a great spoil in the land of Moab. 
 
 In a conununication from sir John Shore, now 
 lord Teigmnouth, the governor-general, to the socie- 
 ty at Calcutta, he mentions a custom of the Brahmins, 
 of sitting at a person's door, with some implement of 
 sviicide in their hands, and threatening to kill them- 
 selves, unless that which they demand be gi-anted to 
 them : this, when their demand is not excessive, is 
 usually complied with, through fear of their self-mur- 
 der. After w hich his excellency relates the following 
 histoiy, as it appeared on a trial before the English 
 court of justice. It will elucidate the otherwise un- 
 accomitable conduct of JMesha: — 
 
 " Beccliuk and Adher w ere two Brahmins, and ze- 
 mindars, or proprietors of landed estates, the extent of 
 which did not exceed eight acres. The vLlage in 
 which they resided was the property of many other 
 zemindars. A dispute w hich originated in a compe- 
 tition for the general superintendence of the revenues 
 of the village, had long subsisted between the two 
 brothers, and a person named Gowry. The oflScer 
 of government, who had conferred this charge upon 
 the latter, -was intimidated into a revocation of it, (by 
 the threats of the mother of Beechuk and Adher to 
 swallow poison,) as well as to a transfer of the man- 
 agement to the two Brahmins. By the same means 
 of intimidation, he was deterred from investigating the 
 comj)laint of Gowry, which had been referred to his 
 uiquiiy by his superior authority. But the immediate 
 cause 'which instigated these two Brahmins to murder 
 their mother, was an act of violence said to have been 
 committed by the emissaries of Gowry, (with or with- 
 out his authority, and employed by him for a difl^erent 
 purpose,) in entVring their house during their absence 
 at night, and carrying off forty rupees, the property of 
 Beechuk and Adher, from the apartments of their 
 women. Beechuk first returned to his house ; Avhere 
 his mother, his wife and his sister-in-law related 
 what had happened. He immediately condiicted his 
 mother to an adjacent rivulet, where being joined in 
 the gray of the morning by his brother Adher, they 
 called out aloud to the people of the village, that al- 
 though they would overlook the assault, as an act that 
 could not be remedied, yet the forty rupees must be 
 retinned. To this exclamation no ans\yer was re- 
 ceived ; nor is there any certainty that it was even 
 heard bv any person ; nevertheless, Beechuk, without 
 anv further hesitation, drew his cimeter, and at one 
 stroke severed his mother's head from her body ; with
 
 MESHA 
 
 [ c;2 ] 
 
 MES 
 
 the professed view, as entertained and avowed both 
 by parent and son, that the mother's sphit, excited by 
 tlie beating of a large drum durhig forty days, might 
 for ever haunt, tcu-viient, and pursue to death, Gowry 
 and the others concerned with him. The last words 
 which the mother pronounced were, that 'she Avouki 
 blast the said Gowry, and those concerned with him.' 
 The violence asserted to have been committed by jhc 
 emissaries of Gowiy, ui forcibly entering the female 
 apartments of Beechuk and Adher, might be deemed 
 an mdignity of high provocation ; but they appear to 
 have considered this outrage as of less importance 
 thau the loss of the money, which might, and would, 
 have been recovered, Avith due satisfaction, by appli- 
 cation to the court of justice at Benares. The act 
 which they perpetrated had no other sanction thau 
 what was derived from the local prejudices of the 
 place where they resided : il Avas a crime against 
 tlieir religion ; and the two brothers themselves quoted 
 an instance of a Brahmin, who, six or seven years be- 
 fore, had lost his casto, and all intercourse with the 
 other Brahmms, for an act of the same nature. But 
 in truth, Beechuk and Adher, although Brahmins, 
 had no knowledge or education suitable to the high 
 distmctions of their caste, of which they preserved the 
 pride only ; bemg as grossly ignorant and prejudiced 
 as the meanest peasants in any part of the Avorld. 
 They seemed surprised when they heard the doom 
 of forfeiture of caste pronounced against them by 
 a learned Pundit, and they openly avowed that so 
 far froin conceiving they had committed a barba- 
 I'ous crime, both they and their mother considered 
 this act as a vindication of their honor, not liable 
 to any religious penalty." (Asiatic Researches, 
 vol. iv.) 
 
 Sir John Shore gives two other instances of a like 
 nature ; one of which is, the murder of a daughter by 
 a Brahmin who Avas provoked liy an adversar}^ 
 These instances are all of Brahmins ; and probably 
 are not general in India ; but the idea connected Avit'h 
 them appears to be of ancieyit date, and are similar to 
 the action of the king of Moab, failuig in his attempt 
 to repulse his assailants ; " he took his eldest son, Avho 
 should have reigned in his stead, and offered him up, 
 a whole burnt-offering [ascension-offering] upon the 
 Avail. And great Avas the foaming Avith rage upon 
 Israel. And they (the kings of Edom and Judah) 
 Avent away from off him, and returned to their own 
 land." Does our extract suggest a reason why the king 
 of Moab offered his son on the wall — puljlicly ? i. e. 
 that it might plainly appear to the attacking armies to 
 Avhat straits they had reduced him, q. d. " You see the 
 whole process : the child l)rought out, the Avood, the 
 fire, the bloody knife ; Avhy will you force me to the 
 slaughter ? do you proceed ? let iiis imbittercd spirit 
 haunt you, terrify you, blast you even to death." If 
 these Brahmins thought they had such a right over 
 the life of th?ir mother, Avith her consent, might not 
 the kinn; of Moab think he had such a right o\-er the 
 life of his son ? avIio, perhaps, Avas hero enough volun- 
 tarily to suffer it, like the son of Idomencus, in Fene- 
 lon's T(>lomaohus. Also, fi-om Avlience Avas the 
 " foaming rage " against Israel ? no doubt from Moab, 
 thus deprived of her priuce; l)ut, probalily, also from 
 Edom, q. d. " These Israelites, not having sucli cus- 
 toms among themselves, despise our institutions ; they 
 push this king to extremities, and call his behavior 
 superstitious, ])rofanp, iui])ious ; Avhereas Ave, l)eing 
 aAvare of tliis custom, and indeed res|)ecting it, sym- 
 pathize Avith the distressed king, and bate those who 
 abommate what he is doing." Is not this a natural 
 
 solution of the difficui; y, Whence was this rage ? and 
 Avhy, and Avherefore Israel returned disgusted, as it 
 should seem, into their own land ? Did Edom also 
 suppose itself to be liamited by the spirit of this sac- 
 rifice, and, feeling this terroi", flee to avoid it, at the 
 same time cm-sing Israel, Avho had brought it upon 
 them ? If this conjecture be applicable, the king of 
 Moab did not merely by this sacrifice implore assist- 
 ance from his gods ; but he took this method of terri- 
 fying his adversaries, after his own jjersonal valor had 
 j)roved meffectual to deliver himself and his coimtiy 
 from them. 
 
 The reader Avill notice more particularly the ideas 
 of the Brahmins, as related by sir John Sbore, on the 
 disposal of the life of another person ; especially of 
 a parent's ])ower over the life of his child, (Avhicli, in 
 the instance given by sir John, A\'as Avithout the 
 child's consent, the daughter being an infant,) as per- 
 haps it may be found to bear pretty strongly on some 
 circumstances noticed ui Scriptiu'e. It is certain, t'hat 
 parental poAver extended even to the depriving a 
 child of life among the Romans, the Gauls, the Per- 
 sians, and other ancient nations. 
 
 I. MESHECH, or Meseck, the sbcth son of Japheth, 
 (Gen. x. 2.) supposed to be the father of the Moschi, 
 a people bctAvecn Iberia, Armenia and Colchis ; or, 
 as others believe, of the jMuscovites. (See Gen. x. 2 ; 
 Ezek. xxvii. 1-3 ; xxxii. 26 ; xxxviii. 2, 3 : xxxix. 1.) 
 
 II. MESHECH, a son of Aram, Gen. x. 23. 
 MESOPOTAMIA, the Greek name of Aram-na- 
 
 iiARAiM, a countiy betAveen the two rivers ; a famous 
 province, situated betAveen the rivers Tigris and Eu- 
 phrates, and celebrated m Scripture as the first dAvell- 
 ing of men after the deluge. It gaA'c birth to Phaleg, 
 Heber, Terah, Abraham, Nahor, Sarah, Rebekah, 
 Rachel, Leah, and the sous of Jacob. The plains of^ 
 Shinar were in this country ; and it was often called 
 JMesopotaniia Syria), because it Avas inhabited by the 
 Arameans, or SjTians ; and sometimes Padan-aram, 
 (Gen. xxviii. 2, &c.) the plains of Aram ; or Sede- 
 aram, the fields of Aram ; to distinguish the fertile 
 plains from the uncu!ti\ated mountains of the country. 
 Balaam, son of Beoi-, Avas of Mesopotamia, (Deut. 
 xxiii. 4.) Avhose king Chushanrishathaim subdued the 
 Hebrews after t!ic death of Joshua, Judg. iii. 8. Mes- 
 opotamia Avas afterwards seized by the AssjTians, and 
 continued united to the emjjire till its dissolution. It 
 frequently formed part of the Mcr^o-Pcrsian, Macedo- 
 nian and Parthian empires ; and is noAV comprised in 
 modern Persia. 
 
 MESSIAH, or Messias, anointed, a title given 
 principally, or by Avay of eminence, to that sovereign 
 deliverer fonnerly and still expected by the Jcavs. 
 (See Christ.) They used to anoint their kings, high- 
 priests, and sometimes prophets, Avhcn they Avere set 
 apart to their oflice ; and hence the ]ihrase, to anoint 
 for an employment, sometimes .signifies merely a par- 
 ticular designation or rlioice for such an employment. 
 Cyrus, Avho founded the empire of the Persians, and 
 wlio set the Jews at liberty, is called (Isa. xh'. 1.) " the 
 anointed of the Lord ;" and in Ezek. xwiii. 14, the 
 name of i\Iessiah is given to the king of Tyre. 
 
 But as we have already observed, Messiah is tlie 
 desisruation giv<^n by tlie Hebrews, eminently, to that 
 Saviour and Deliverer whom tliey expected, and Avho 
 Avas promised to tliem by all the prophets. As the 
 holy unction Avas given to kings, priests and proph- 
 ets, l)y describing the ]iromised Saviour of the world 
 under the name of Christ, Anointed, or Messiali, it 
 was sufficiently evidenced, that the qualities of king, 
 prophet and high-priest would eminently centre in
 
 31 EZ 
 
 673 ] 
 
 MIC 
 
 hiin ; and that he .should exercise them not only over 
 the Jews, but over all mankind ; and particularly over 
 those who should receive him as their Saviour. Peter 
 and the other believei-s, being assembled together, 
 (Acts iv. 27.) quote from Psalm ii, " Why did the 
 heathen rage, and the people unagiue vain things ? 
 The kuigs of the earth stood up, and the rulers gath- 
 ered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 
 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom 
 thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, 
 with the Gentiles, and the peo])le of Israel, were 
 gathered together." Luke says, (iv. 18.) that our Sa- 
 viour, entering a spiagogue at Nazaretli, opened the 
 book of the prophet Isaiah, where he read, " The 
 Spu'it of the Lord is upon me, because he hath an- 
 ointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." After 
 which he showed them, that this prophecy was ac- 
 complished in his o«-u person. Such, too, was the 
 uniform testimony of all the apostles. 
 
 It is not recorded that our Saviour Jesus Christ 
 ever received an external official unction. The imc- 
 tion that the prophets and the apostles speak of, is the 
 spiritual and internal unction of grace, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, of which the outward unction, with which 
 kings, ])riests and prophets were anciently anohited, 
 was but the figure or symbol. He united m liis own 
 person the offices of king, prophet and priest, and 
 eminently included in himself ^\ hatever the law and 
 the prophets had promised or prefigmed, that was 
 most excellent or most perfect. Christians, his disci- 
 j)lcs and his children, enjoy, in some sense, the same 
 prerogatives, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, 
 1 Pet. ii. 9. 
 
 The ancient Hebrews, being instructed by the 
 prophets, had clear notions of the Messiah ; but these 
 were gradually depra\ed, so that \vhen Jesus appeared 
 in Judea, the Jews entertained a false conception of 
 the Messiah, expecting a temporal monarch and con- 
 queror, -who shoidd remove the Roman yoke, and 
 subject the whole world. Hence they were scandal- 
 ized at the outward appearance, the himiility, and 
 seeming wealaaess of our Saviour ; and the modem 
 Jews, indulging still greater mistakes, form to them- 
 selves chimerical ideas of the Messiah, utterly im- 
 known to their forefathers. See Christ. 
 
 Our Saviour gave warning to his disciples, that 
 false prophets and false Messiahs should arise ; (3Iark 
 xiii. 22.) that they should perform signs and won- 
 ders, by which even the elect themselves would be m 
 danger. The event has verified his prediction. Every 
 age among the Jews has produced false prophets, and 
 false Christs, who have succeeded in deceiving many 
 of that nation. One appeared even in the age of 
 Christ himself; Simon Magus, who reported at Sa- 
 maria that he was the great power of God, Acts viii. 
 9. In the following century Barchocbebas, by his 
 impostures, drew down on the Jews the most terrilile 
 persecution ; and shice his tune several others have 
 appeared, and succeeded hi im])osing upon the credu- 
 lity of this infatuated people. 
 
 METHUSAEL, son of Mohujael, of the race of 
 Cain, Gen. iv. 18. 
 
 METHUSELAH, son of Enoch, (Gen. v. 21, 22.) 
 was born A.M. 687: he begat Lamech A. ]\I. 874, 
 and died A. M. 165G, aged 969 years ; tlic greatest 
 age attained by any man. The year of liis death was 
 that of the deluge. 
 
 MEZUZOTH is a name the Jews give to certain 
 
 pieces of parchment, which they fix on the door-posts 
 
 of their houses; taking literally what Moses says, 
 
 Deut. vi. 9, 11, 13, "Thou shalt'never forget the laws 
 
 85 
 
 of thy God, but thou shall ivrite them on 
 the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." 
 They pretend, that to avoid making 
 themselves ridiculous, by writing the 
 commandments of God without their 
 doors, or rather to avoid exposmg them 
 to pi-ofanation, they ought to write them 
 on parchment, and to enclose it. There- 
 fore they write tlicse words on a square 
 piece of prepared parchment, with a par- 
 ticidar ink, and a square kind of charac- 
 ter, Deut. vi. 4 — 9. " Hear, O Israel, the 
 Lord our God is one Lord," &c. Then 
 they leave a little space, and afterwards 
 go on, to Deut. xi. 13. " And it shall come 
 to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently to my com- 
 mandments," &c. as far as, "thou shalt w.ite them 
 upon the door-posts of thy house." After this they 
 roll up the parchment, put it into a case, and write 
 on it Shaddai, which is one of the names of God, and 
 then attach it to the doors of their houses and cham- 
 bers, and to the knocker of the door on the right 
 side. As often as they pass, they touch it in this 
 place with their finger, which they afi;erwarGS kiss. 
 The Hebrew mezuza properly signifies a door-post 
 of a house, but is a name also given to this roll of 
 parchment. 
 
 I. MICAH, the Morasthite, orof Mareshah,(q. v.) a 
 village near Eleutheropolis, in the south of Judah, is 
 the seventh in order of the lesser prophets. He 
 prophesied under Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, 
 kings of Judah, for about 50 years ; from about 
 A. M. 3245, or the beginning of the reign of Jotham, 
 to A. M. 3306, or the last year of Hezekiah. He was 
 nearly contemporary with Isaiah, and has some ex- 
 pressions in common with him. (Compare Isaiah ii. 2, 
 with Micah iv. 1, and Isaiah xli. 15, with Micah iv, 
 13.) The extant prophecy of Micah contains but 
 seven chapters. He first foretells the calamities of 
 Samaria; afterwards he prophesies against Judah 
 and Samaria; and then foretells the captivity of the 
 ten tribes, and then* return. The third chapter con- 
 tains a pathetic invective against the princes of the 
 house of Jacob, and the judges of the house of Is- 
 rael. We are infoniied by Jeremiah (xxvi. 18, 19, 
 &c.) that this prophecy was pronounced in the time 
 of Hezekiah, and that in the days of Jehoiakim it 
 protected Jeremiah from death, who ])i-ophesied 
 mtich the same things against Jerusalem as 3Iieah 
 had done. After these terrible denunciations, Micah 
 speaks of the reign of the Messiah. And as the 
 peaceable times which succeeded the return from 
 the Babylonish captivity, and which prefigured the 
 reign of the Messiah, were disturlied by a tempest of 
 short continuance, Micah foretold it in a manner 
 which agrees closely with what Ezekiel says of the 
 war of Gog against the saints, and which Cal:i;et 
 thinks had relation to the reign of Cambyses, or ihe 
 war of llolofernes. He also speaks particularly of 
 the birth of the Messiah (v. 2, 3, &c.) at Bethlehem, 
 whose dominion was to extend over the earth. Yhe 
 two last chapters contain a long invective agains. the 
 iniquities of Samaria, the fall of Babylon, and i re- 
 dictions of the reestabhshment of Israel, and in sr.ch 
 lofty tenns, as chiefly agree with the state of the 
 Christian church. 
 
 We know nothing authentic of Micah's death. He 
 has been, by some, confounded with 3Iicaiah son of 
 Imlah, who' lived in the kmgdom of the ten tribes, 
 under the reisn of Ahab, 
 
 II. P.IICAH, of Ephraim, son of a rich widow,
 
 MID 
 
 LG74 ] 
 
 MIL 
 
 who became an occasion of falling to Israel, (Judg. 
 xvii. xviii., by making an ephod (oi* priestly habit) and 
 images of metal, for a domestic chapel. He made 
 one of his own sons priest ; and afterwards a young 
 Levite. It is believed this happened in the interval, 
 after the death of Joshua, and the elders that succeed- 
 ed him, till Othniel judged Israel. During this time 
 the tribe of Dan, being straitened in their inheritance, 
 sent six hundred men to seek a more convenient 
 settlement. They passed by Micali's house, on the 
 mountains of Ephraim, and desired the Levite who 
 resided there, to inquire of the Lord about the suc- 
 cess of then- expedition. He answered tliem, that 
 the Lord would prosper their undertaking. They 
 came a second time to the house of Micah ; and hav- 
 ing persuaded the priest to join their party, they took 
 away the ephod and tlie graven images. See Dan. 
 
 MICAIAH, son of Imlah, of Ephraim, and a proph- 
 et, who lived in the time of Ahab. Having fore- 
 told the issue of this prince's expedition against Ra- 
 moth-Gilead, he was delivei'ed over to Anion, the 
 governor of Samaria, with orders that he should by 
 fed with the bread of gi-ief, and water of affliction, till 
 Ahab returned in peace. Micaiah answered, " If thou 
 return at all in peace, the Lord has not spoken by 
 me ;" and the event justified his prediction, 1 Kings 
 xxii. 7, seq. 
 
 MICHAEL, the name given to the archangel who 
 is represented as presiding over the Jewish nation. 
 (See AxGEL, p. 60.) Jude (9, 10.) speaks of his con- 
 tending with the devil, and disputing about the body 
 of Moses ; an expression which has given rise to 
 many opinions. Without detailing these, we i-emai-k, 
 that the opinion of Macknight seems to be the most 
 reasonable, and the least liable to exception. 
 
 In Dan. x. 13 — 21, and xii. 1, Michael, he remarks, 
 is spoken of as one of the chief angels, Avho took care 
 of the Israelites as a nation: he may, therefore, he 
 thinks, have been " the angel of the Lord," I)efore 
 whom Joshua the high-priest is said to have stood, 
 " Satan being at his right hand to resist him ; " (Zech. 
 iii. 1.) namely, ui his design of restoring the Jewish 
 church and state, called by Jude, 'the body of Moses,' 
 just as the Christian church is called by Paul ' the 
 body of Christ.' Zechariah adds, " And the Lord," 
 that is, the angel of the Lord, as is plain iVom ver. 1 
 " said unto Satan, The Lord rehuketh thee, O Satan ! 
 even the Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem, rebiiketh 
 thee ! " Dr. A. Clarke adopts this view of the \ms- 
 sage, and adds to the remarks of Macknight the tol- 
 lowing: "Among the Hebrews, g-ttp/i, body, is often 
 used for a thi7ig itself; so Rom. vii. 24, the body of 
 sin, signifies sin itself. So the body of Moses may 
 signify Moses himself; or that m which he was par- 
 ticularly concerned ; namely, his institutes, reli- 
 gion, &c. 
 
 MICHAL, daughter of Saul, and wife of David, 
 1 Sam. xviii. 20 ; xix. 11. See David, p. 335. 
 
 MICHMAS, a city of Ephraim, on the confines of 
 Benjainiii, (E/ra ii. 27; Neh. vii. 31.) called also 
 MICHMASII,^ 1 Sam. xiii. 2 ; Isa. x. 28. (Compare 
 Neh. xi. 31.) Eusebius says, it was, ui his time, a con- 
 siderable place, about nine miles from Jerusalem, to- 
 wards Rama. 
 
 MICIIMETHAH,or MAcnMETUATu, a city of the 
 half-tribe of Manasseh, on the; frontiers of Ephraim 
 and Manasseh ; over against Shechcin, Josh. xvi. G ; 
 xvii. 7. 
 
 MIDIAN, fourth son of Abraham and Keturah, 
 (Gen. XXV. 2.) and father of the Midianitos, mentioned 
 Numb. xxii. 4, 7 ; xxv. 15 ; xxxi. 2, &(*• whose 
 
 daughters seduced Israel to the worshipping of Baal- 
 peor. The Midianites, who were overcome by Ha- 
 dad, son of Bedad, king of Edom, (Gen. xxxvi. 35.) 
 and those who oppressed Israel, and were defeated by 
 Gideon, (Judg. vi. 1, &c. ; vii. 1, 2.) were also descend- 
 ed from him. Then- capital city was called Midian, 
 and its remains were to be seen m the tune of Jerome 
 and Eusebius. It Avas situated on the Anion, south 
 of the city Ar, or Areopolis. The Lord, intending to 
 punish the Midianites, because their daughters had 
 seduced Israel to the worship of Peor, directed Moses 
 to take a thousand men out of each tribe, imd send 
 them under the command of Phinehas, son of the 
 high-priest Eleazar, to execute vengeance upon them. 
 Phinehas marched, therefore, at the head of 12,000 
 men, having with him the ark of the covenant, ac- 
 cording to some commentators, and the trumpets of 
 the tabernacle. He defeated the Midianites, and 
 slew five of their kings, Levi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and 
 Rcba, who reigned over several cities of the countiy 
 of Midian, east of the Dead sea. The wicked prophet 
 Balaam was also involved in their misfortune, and lost 
 his life. The Israelites took the women, the children, 
 the flocks, and whatever belonged to the Midianites; 
 and bm-nt their cities, villages and forts. 
 
 [The original and appropriate district of the Midi- 
 anites seems to have been on the cast side of the Ela- 
 nitic branch of the Red sea ; where the Arabian geog- 
 raphers place the city Madian. But they appear to 
 have spread themselves northward, probably along the 
 desert cast of mount Seir, to the vicinity of the Mo- 
 abites ; and on the other side also, they covered a 
 territory extending to the neighborhood of mount 
 Sinai, (See Exod. iii. 1 ; xviii. 5 ; Numb, xxxi ; Judg. 
 vi. — viii.) In Gen. xxv. 2, 4, compared with verses 
 12—18, they are distinguished fi-om the descendants 
 oflshmacl; but elsewhere, the names Midianites and 
 Ishmaelites seem to be used as nearly synonymous. 
 (See Gen. xxxvii. 25, compared with verse 3G ; Judg. 
 vii. 12, compared with viii. 22, 24.) R, 
 
 MIGDOL, a tower. When the Israelites came out 
 of Egyj)t, the Lord commanded them to encamp over 
 against Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the Red sea, 
 over against Baal-zephon, Exod. xiv. 2. See Exo- 
 dus, 1).^ 401, 403. 
 
 MILCOM, see Moloch. 
 
 MILE. The Greek uihor, mile, (Matt. v. 41,) is 
 spoken of the Roman milliare, or mile, which contain- 
 ed 8 stacha or 1000 paces, i.e. about IGllf yards; 
 while the English mile contains 17G0 yards. (See 
 Adam's Rom. Ant, p. 503.) *R. 
 
 MILETUS, or Miletum, a city and seaport, and 
 the ancient capital of all Ionia. Paul, going from 
 Coruith to Jerusalem, in A. D. 58, passed by Miletus; 
 and as he went by sea, and so could not take Ephesus 
 in his way, lie desired the bishops of the church of 
 Ephrsus to meet him here. Acts xx. 18, 35. 
 
 This city was originally a colony of Cretans ; but 
 at length became so poworfiil, that it sent out settlers 
 to a great number of cities on the Euxine sea, and 
 many others on the continent. What most contributed 
 to its renown was a magnificent tcmjile of Apollo. 
 Dr. Chandler has an interestiurr account of the cit}'. 
 (Travels, j.. 14G— 141>.) 
 
 MILK. Moses forbids to seethe a kid in its moth- 
 er's milk, (Exod. xxiii. IP ; xxxiv. IG ; Dent. xiv. 21.) 
 which the Hebrews, generally, understand literally ; 
 though some acce|)t it metaphorically, as forbiddiiig 
 cruelty. Dent. xxii. G. 
 
 A land flowuig with milk and honey is a countiy 
 of extraordinary fertility. In the prophets the king-
 
 MIN 
 
 [ 675 1 
 
 MIR 
 
 dom of the Messiah is represented as a time of great 
 abundance, " when the mountains should flow with 
 milk and honey," Joel iii. 18. And Isaiah says, (Ix. 16.) 
 " Thou sliait also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and 
 shalt suck the breasts of kings." Paul compares his 
 converts to little children, to be fed with milk, and not 
 with solid food, (1 Cor. iii. 2 ; Ileb. v. 12.) and Peter 
 exhorts the faithful, " As new-born babes, to desire the 
 suicere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby," 
 1 Pet. ii. 2. 
 
 MILL. For a description of the hand-mills com- 
 nionlj' used iu the East, see Corx. 
 
 MILLENNIUM, a thousand years, the name ap- 
 plied to that period of the Christian church described 
 in Rev. xx. 4, during which many sound commenta- 
 toi-s have supposed that Jesus Christ will reign per- 
 sonally on the earth, and that the bodies of martyrs 
 and other eminent Christians will be raised from the 
 dead, and in this renewed state constitute the subjects 
 of his glorious kingdom. Other waiters, however, 
 understand those passages which refer to this blessed 
 era in a figtu'ative sense, and explam them of a period 
 in which Christianity shall eminently prevail, m its 
 purity ; annihilate paganism, idolatry, Alohannnedan- 
 ism, and all other false religions; and triumphantly 
 reign throughout all the earth. 
 
 MILLET, a kind of gram, of which there are several 
 species cultivated in Italy, Syria and Egypt. It is 
 used partly gi-een as fodder, and partly in the ripe 
 grain tor bread, &c. Ezekiel (iv.9.) received an order 
 from the Lord, to make himself bread with a mixture 
 of wheat, barley, beans, lentil and millet. '■'■ Durra" 
 says Niebidir, " is a kind of millet, made into bread 
 with camel's milk, oil, butter, &c. and is almost the 
 only food eaten by the common people of Arabia Fe- 
 lix. I found it so disagreeable, that I Avould willingly 
 have preferred ])lain barley bread." This illustrates 
 the appointment of it to the prophet Ezekiel, as a part 
 of his hard fare. 
 
 I. MILLO, a part of the citadel at Jerusalem ; or 
 more probably of the fortifications themselves, 2 
 Sam. v. 9 ; 1 Kmgs ix. 15, 24 ; xi. 27, al. The house 
 of Millo (2 Kings xii. 21.) is probably the same. R. 
 
 II. IMILLO, a place near Shechem. It is said, (Judg. 
 ix. G.) that the mhabitants of Shechem and those of 
 the house of Millo, made Abimelech, son of Gideon, 
 king. House is here put for place or dwelling. 
 
 MINA, a species of money, called in Hebrtw^ 
 maneh. We find this word only in the books ot" 
 Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, and hi Ezekiel, wiio tells us, 
 (xlv. 12.) that it was valued at sixty shekels, which, in 
 gold, made about 240 dollars, and in silver about 30 
 dollars. This is the Hebrew mam^ : but the Greek 
 or Attic mina, which is probably that mentioned in the 
 books of the Maccabees, anW in the New Testament, 
 is valued at a hundred dmchm8e,or about 13i dollars. 
 There was also a je-^^er mina, Aalued at seventy-five 
 drachma?. 
 
 ]MINCHA, a. Hebrew word, signifying an offering 
 of meal, cakes, or biscuits, ))resented in the tem|)le of 
 the Lord. The LXX sometimes preserve this word ; 
 but instead ofmincha, they read manna, which don])t- 
 less was the common pronmiciation in their time. We 
 find manim in Banich i. 10 : " Prepare ye manna, and 
 oft'er upon the altar of the Lord our God." Scripture 
 uses the word mincha, in the Hebrew, to express the 
 offerings that Cain and Abel made to the Lord of 
 their first-fruits, (Gen. iv. 3, 4.) for the presents made 
 by Jacob to his brother Esau, at liis return from 
 Mesopotamia ; (Gen. xxxii. 13, 16, 18, 20, 2^ for those 
 carried by the sons of Jacob to Joseph in Egypt, be- 
 
 fore he discovered hhnself to them ; (Gen. xliii. 11, 
 
 14, 24.) and for those that Ehud presented to Eglon, 
 kmg of Moab, Judg. iii. 15, 17, 18. (See also Mai. i. 
 10, 11.) 
 
 MIND, the understanding, or judgment ; that prin- 
 ciple which distinguishes the dift'erences of things, 
 lawful or imlawful, good or evil, 2 Cor. iii. 14 ; Tit. i. 
 
 15. It is sometimes supi)osed to be seated, or rather, 
 perhaps, to exercise itselij hi the heart, (Gen, xxvi. 35 ; 
 Deut. xviii. 6.) or in the memory, (Ps. xxxi. 12 ; Isa. 
 xlvi. 8.) or in the imaguiation, or will. These ramifi- 
 cations are all referable to the exercise of the imder- 
 standuig, in these depaitments of the intellectual fac- 
 ulties. 
 
 MINISTER, one who attends or waits on anoth- 
 er ; so Elisha was the minister of Elijah, (2 Kings iii. 
 11.) and Joshua the servant of Moses, Exod. xxiv. 13 ; 
 xxxiii. 11. And these persons did not feel themselves 
 degraded by their stations, but in due tune they suc- 
 ceeded to the offices of then* masters. In like man- 
 ner, John Mark was minister to Paul and Barnabas, 
 Acts xiii. 5. Christ is called a Minister of the true, 
 that is, the heavenly sanctuary. 
 
 The minister of the synagogue, (Luke iv. 20.) was 
 appointed to keep the book of the law, and to observe 
 that those who read iu it read correctly, &c. The 
 rabbins say, he was the same as the angel of the 
 church, or overseer. Lightfoot says, Baal Ai-uch ex- 
 pounds the chazan, or minister of the congregation, 
 by Sheliach hafzibbor, or angel of the congi-egation ', 
 aiid from this common plattbnn and constitution of 
 the synagogue, we may observe the apostle's expres- 
 sion of some elders ruling, and laboring in word and 
 doctrine ; others in the general affairs of the sjTia- 
 gogue. Allusions to the ofiicers of the Jewish syna- 
 gogue are often introduced by the WTiters of the New 
 Testament, and perhaps are hardly intelUgible to us, 
 who are not intimately acquainted with the constitu- 
 tions of those assemblies. 
 
 Ministers were servants ; not menial, but honorable. 
 Those who explain the word, and conduct the service 
 of God ; who dispense the laws, and promote the 
 welfare of the commimity. The holy angels, who, in 
 obedience to the divine commands, protect, preserve, 
 succor and benefit the godly, are all beneficial min- 
 isters to those who are under their charge, Heb. viii. 
 2 : Exod. XXX. 10; Lev. xvi. 15; 1 Cor. iv. 1 ; Rom. 
 xiii. 6 ; Ps. civ. 4. See Angel. 
 
 MINNL Jeremiah (li. 27.) invites the kings of 
 Minni, Ararat and Aschenaz to war against Babylon. 
 INIinni is thought to denote Minuas, a province of Ar- 
 menia. 
 
 MINNITH, a city beyond Jordan, four miles from 
 Heshbon, on the road to Philadelphia. It belonged 
 to the Ammonites when Jephthah made war against 
 them, Judg. xi. 33. Ezekiel says, that Judali carried 
 wheat of Minnith to the fairs of Tyre, Ezek.xxvii. 17. 
 
 IMINT, a garden herb, or pot herb, sufficiently 
 known. The Pharisees, desiring to distinguish them- 
 selves by a most scrupulous and literal observation of 
 the law," gave tithes of mint, anise, and cumin, Matt, 
 xxiii. 23. ' Om- Saviour does not censure this exact- 
 ness, but complains, that while they were so precise 
 in these lesser matters, they neglected the essential 
 commandments of the law. 
 
 MIRACLE, a sign, Avonder, prodigy. These terms 
 are commonly used in Scripture to (lenote an action, 
 event, or effect, superior (or contrary) to the general 
 and established laws of nature. And they are given, 
 not only to true miracles, wrought by saints or proph- 
 ets sent from God, by good angels, by the finger of
 
 MIRACLE 
 
 [ 676 ] 
 
 MIZ 
 
 God, or by the Son of God ; but also to the false 
 miracles of impostors, and to Avonders wrought by 
 the wicked, by false prophets, or by devils. Moses 
 speaks of the miracles of Pharaoh's magicians, in the 
 manner he speaks of those wrought by himself, in the 
 name and by the power of God ; our Saviour foretold 
 that false Christs and false prophets should perform 
 wonders capable of deceiving, were it possible, the 
 elect themselves; (Matt. xxiv. 24.) and John, in the 
 Revelation, (xiii. 13, 14.) speaks of a beast that came 
 out of the earth, which performed such prodigies, as 
 even to make fire descend from heaven on the earth, 
 which seduced many persons, &c. And in the same 
 book he speaks of demons, which shov/ed wonders, 
 to stimidate the khigs of the earth to make war on the 
 saints ; and also of a false prophet, who works mu'a- 
 cles, to seduce those who have received the mark of 
 the beast. Rev. xvi. 14 ; xix. 20. 
 
 Miracles and prodigies, therefore, are not always 
 sm-e signs of the sanctity of those who perform them ; 
 nor proofs of the truth of the doctrine they deliver ; 
 nor certain testimonies of their divine mission. The 
 Son of God not only permits but commands us to ex- 
 amine miracles, and those who perform them, (Matt. 
 xxiv. 23, 24.) and Moses (Deut. xiii. 1.) cautioned the 
 Israelites against listening to the words of certain 
 prophets, or dreamers of dreams ; adding, that the 
 Lord permitted them to prove his people, to kno>v 
 whether they loved the Lord their God with all their 
 heart, and with all their soul. It may, therefore, be 
 aflirmed, that the proof of miracles is not always un- 
 questionable. To the mission of him who works 
 miracles, must be joined the truth of the doctrine he 
 advances, the hoHness of his life, his good understand- 
 ing, and his concurrence with those whose life, mis- 
 sion and doctrine, have been already ascertained and 
 approved. His miracles must be strictly examined, 
 to see if they be true, and will staiid the test ; and are 
 not juggling tricks, or magical operations ; whether 
 they lead to God, to peace, to righteousness, to salva- 
 tion. If these marks and characters be found in him 
 who works miracles, we must allow such a one to be 
 a messenger from God. 
 
 Our Saviour complains (John iv. 48.) of the Jews: 
 " Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not be- 
 lieve." When they asked a sign from him, (Matt. 
 xii. 38.) he replied that they should see no other sign 
 but that of the prophet Jonah. He says (John xv. 
 24.) that if he had not performed among them such 
 miracles as were never before ]ierformed by man, 
 they would have had no sin ; and Nicodemus acknowl- 
 edged, (John iii. 2.) " No man can do these miracles 
 that thou doest, except God be with him." Such a 
 train of miracles, accompanied with so much innocence 
 and righteousness, with a doctrine so ])ure and divine, 
 could not be operations of falsity and delusion. When 
 Christ sent his apostles to preach the gospel among 
 the Jews, and among infidel nations, he gave them 
 the power of working miracles in his name, (Matt. x. 
 6, 8, Sec.) than which nothing so much contributed to 
 the propagation of the Christian faith. 
 
 The prejudices, obstinacy and incredulity of the 
 Jews must have been very extraordinary, not to yield 
 to the miracles of Christ and his apostles. The doc- 
 tors themselves could not give the lie to their own 
 eyes, or oppose what was so public and notorious ; 
 they could not directly deny the miracles, but chose 
 rather to ascribe them to Beelzebub. Tiie modern 
 Jews pretend, that Christ had stolen the name Jeho- 
 vah out of the tem])le, by which ho |)erfbrmed his 
 miracles. If this were true, could it be conceivable. 
 
 that God would favor an impostor with the gift of 
 working miracles, and such a long train of miracles, 
 and of so high degree, and by one who announced 
 the subvei-sion of the law and the Jewish religion ? 
 And would he permit him to transfer this power to his 
 disciples and apostles ? 
 
 MIRIAM, sister of Moses and Aaron, and daughter 
 of Amram and Jochebed. If she were the one who 
 was watching when her brother Moses was exposed 
 on the bank of the Nile, she might be ten or twelve 
 years old at that time. When Pharaoh's daughter 
 discovered the infant^ Miriam proposed to fetch a 
 nurse for the little foundling ; the princess accepted 
 the offer, and Miriam brought her own mother, Exod. 
 ii. 4, &c. It is thought that Miriam married llur, of 
 Judah ; but it does not appear that she had any clii!- 
 dren by him. 
 
 Miriam had thegifl of prophecy, as she insinuates 
 in Exod. xvii. 10, 11 ; Numb. xii. 2. After the {)as- 
 sage of the Red sea, she led the choir and dances of 
 the women, and repeated with them the canticle, 
 " Sing ye to the Lord," &c. which Moses sung in the 
 choir of men, Exod. xv. 21. When Zipporah, the 
 wife of Moses, arrived in the camp of Israel, fliiriam 
 and Aaron disparaged her, speaking against Moses on 
 her account. Numb. xii. The Lord punished Miriam 
 by visiting her with a leprosy. Her death happened 
 in the first month of the fortieth year after the exo- 
 dus, at the encampment of Kadesh, in the wilderness 
 of Sin, (Numb. xx. 1.) where Eusebius assures us that 
 in his time her sepulchre was to be seen. 
 
 MIRROR, see Looking-glass, 
 
 MISHAEL, one of the three companions of Daniel, 
 to whom Nebuchadnezzar gave the Chaldean name 
 of Bleshach, (Dan. i. 7.) and cast into the burning fur- 
 nace ; from which he was miraculously delivered. 
 
 MISHAL, and MISHEAL, see Mashal. 
 
 MISHPAT, judgment, a fountain, called also Ka- 
 desh, (Gen. xiv. 7.) which see. 
 
 MISHNAH, see Talmud. 
 
 MISR, a name given to the land of Egypt, which 
 see. 
 
 MITE, Gr. Af.TTor, a small piece of money, two of 
 which made a kodmntes, or the fourth part of the Ro- 
 man as. The as was equal to 3 ^\y farthings sterling, 
 or about 1^ cents. The mite, ?.f:iToy. therefore, would 
 be equal to about two mills, Luke xii. 59 ; xxi. 2. R. 
 
 l**riTHCAH, an encampment of Israel in the wil- 
 derness, between Tarah and Hashmonah, Numb. 
 xxxiii. 28, 29. 
 
 MITYLENE, the celebrated capital of the island 
 of Lesbos, through which Paul passed as he went 
 from Corinth to Jerusalem, A. D. 58, Acts xx. 14. 
 Now Castro. 
 
 I. MIZPAII, or Mr/.PEn, elevation, a city of Ju- 
 dah, (Josh. XV. 38.) south of Jerusalem, and north of 
 Hebron ; about six leagues from Jerusalem. Cahnet 
 thinks it is the Miz])ah of Eonjamin, where the He- 
 brews often assembled for pm-poses of devotion. (See 
 1 Kings XV. 22 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 0, &c.) 
 
 II. MIZPAH, or 3I1ZPEH, a city of Gad, in the moun- 
 tains of (jfilead, where Laban and Jacob made a cov- 
 enant, Gen. xxxi. 49. Jej)hthah dwelt here when he 
 mafle a covenant with the Isratilites on the-other side 
 Jordan, who chose him for their captain ; and here he 
 assembled his troops, Judg. xi. 11, 29, 34. It is 
 sometimes ascribed to Moai>, because the Moabites 
 conquered and kept it. 
 
 III. MIZPAII, or MizpEH. Joshua (xi. 3, 8.) speaks ot 
 the Hivites, who inhabited the country of Mizpeh, at 
 the loot of mount Hcrmon, and consequently towards
 
 MO A 
 
 [ 677 ] 
 
 MOL 
 
 the head of the Jordan. He adds, that the army of Ja- 
 bin and his alhes took refuge at Mizpah, to the east of 
 the city of Sidon ; which agrees with this position. 
 
 MIZRAIM, son of Ham, and fatlier of Ludim, 
 Ananiin, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim and Cas- 
 luhini, Gen. x. 6. He was father of the JMizraim, or 
 Egyptians. Mizraim is also put for the country of 
 Egypt ; thus it has three significations, which are 
 perpetually confounded and used promiscuously ; 
 sometimes denoting the land of Egypt, sometimes he 
 who first peopled Egypt, and sometimes the inhabit- 
 ants themselves. See Egypt. 
 
 3INAS0N, of Cyprus, a Jew, converted by Christ 
 himself; and one of the seventy. Acts xxi. 16. Paul 
 lodged at his house at Jerusalem, A. D. 58. 
 
 MOAB, son of Lot, and of his eldest daughter ; 
 (Gen. xix. 31, &c.) born about the time of the birth 
 oflsaac, A.M. 2108. 
 
 MOABITES, the descendants of Moab, son of Lot, 
 whose habitation was east of Jordan, and adjacent to 
 the Dead sea, on both sides the river Arnon, on which 
 their capital city was situated ; although tiie river Ar- 
 non was strictly and properly the northern boundary 
 of 3Ioab. This country was originally possessed by a 
 race of giants called Euiim, (Deut.ii. 11, 12.) whom the 
 Moabites conquered. Afterwards, tlie Amorites took 
 a part from the Moabites, (Judg. xi. 13.) but INIoscs 
 reconquered it, and gave it to the tribe of Reuben. 
 The Moabites were spared by Moses, as God had re- 
 stricted him ; (Deut. ii. 9.) but there always was a 
 great antipathy between them and the Israelites, 
 which occasioned many wars. Balaam seduced the 
 Hebrews to idolatry and uuclcanuess, by means of 
 the daughters of Moab, Numb. xxv. 1, 2. God or- 
 dained that this people should not enter into the con- 
 gregation of his people, or be capable of office, &c. 
 even to the tenth generation, (Deut. xxiii. 3.) because 
 they had the inhumanity to refuse the Israelites a 
 passage through their country, nor would supply them 
 with bread and water in their necessitj'. 
 
 Eglon, king of the Moabites, was one of the first 
 who oppressedlsraelafter the deadi of Joshua. Ehud 
 killed him, and Israel expelled the Moabites, Judg. 
 iii. 12. A. M. 2679. David subdued Moab and Am- 
 mon ; under which subjection they continued till the 
 separation of the ten tribes ; when they were attached 
 to the kings of Israel till the death of Ahab. Soon 
 after the death of this king, the Moabites began to re- 
 volt, 2 Kings iii. 4, 5. Mesha refused the tribute of a 
 hundred thousand lambs, and as many rams, which 
 till then had been customarily paid, either yearly or 
 at the beginning of every reign. The reign of Aha- 
 ziali was too short to allow of his invading them ; but 
 Jehoram, son of Ahab, and brother to Ahaziah, hav- 
 ing ascended the throne, intended reducing them to 
 obedience. He invited Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 
 to join him ; who, with the king of Edom, then his 
 vassal, entei'ed Moab, where they were almost on the 
 point of perishing with thirst, but were miraculously 
 relieved, 2 Kings iii. 16, Sec. We have little knowl- 
 edge of the Moabites after this time ; but Isaiah, at 
 the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah, threatens 
 them with a calamity which was to happen three 
 \ ears after his prediction, and whicli jjrobably referred 
 to the war of Shalmanescr, king of Assyria, against 
 \\w ten tribes, and the nations beyond the Jordan. 
 Amos (i. 13, &c.) also foretold great miseries to them, 
 which probably they suffered under Uzziah and Jo- 
 tham, kings of Judah; if not under Shalmaneser; (2 
 Chron. xxvi. 7, 8 ; xxvii. 5.) or, lastly, the war of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, five years after the destruction of 
 
 Jerusalem. Calmet belie-i'es that this prince carried 
 them captive beyond the Euphrates, as the prophets 
 had threatened ; (Jer. ix. 26 ; xii. 14, 15 ; xxv. 11, 12 ; 
 xlvhi. 47 ; xlix. 3, 6, 39; 1. 16.) ajid that Cyrus sent 
 them home again, as he did other captive nations. It 
 is probable that in the later times of the Jewish 
 republic, they obeyed the Asmonean kings, and after- 
 wards Herod the Great. 
 
 The principal deities of the Moabites were Chemosh 
 and Baal-peor. Scripture speaks of Nebo, of Baal- 
 meon, and of Baal-dibon, as gods of the Moabites ; 
 but it is likely these are rather names of jjlaces where 
 Chemosh and Peor were worshipped ; and that Baal- 
 dibon, Baal-meon, and Nebo, are no other than Che- 
 mosh adored at Dibon, or at Meon, or on mount Nebo. 
 
 For a description of the land of 3Ioab, see Canaan, 
 p. 237. 
 
 MODIN, a celebrated city or to^vu in the tribe of 
 Dan, whence came Mattathias and his family, the 
 Maccabees, (1 Mac. ii. 1, 15; ix. 19.) and which is 
 also famous for a battle fought there by a handful of 
 men, under Judas Maccabeeus, against Antiochus Eu- 
 pator, 2 Mac. xiii. 9, &c. 
 
 MOL ADAH, (Josh. xv. 26 ; xix. 2.) a city first given 
 to Judah, and alterwards to Simeon. It was in the 
 southerly part of Judah. 
 
 MOLE, an unclean animal, (Lev. xi. 30.) several 
 times referred to in Scriptiu-e. In the Vulgate and 
 in the English Bible, however, the word tenshemeth, 
 lizard or chameleon, is improperly translated mole, 
 this animal being called in Hebrew hholed. The only 
 passage requiring elucidation, in which the mole is 
 spoken of, is Isa. ii. 20, and this the reader will find 
 examined in the article Idols, p. 522. 
 
 MOLOCH, or 31ilcom, a god of the Ammonites, 
 to whom human sacrifices were offered. Moses in 
 several places forbids the Israelites, under the penalty 
 of death, to dedicate their children to Moloch, by 
 making tliem pass through the fire, (Lev. xviii. 21 ; 
 XX. 2 — 5.) and God himself threatens to pour out his 
 wrath agauist those who should be guilty of it. There 
 is great probability that the Hebrews were addicted 
 to the worship of this deity, even befoi-e their coming 
 out of Egypt, since Amos, (v. 26.) and after him Ste- 
 phen, (Acts vii. 43.) reproaches them with having 
 carried in the wilderness the tabernacle of their god 
 Moloch. (See Chiun.) Solomon built a temple to 
 jMoloch on the mount of Olives, (1 Kings xi. 7.) and 
 Manassch, a long time after, imitated his impiety, 
 making his son pass through the fire in honor of this 
 idol, 2 Kings xxi. 3, 4. Such idolatry v.as practised 
 chiefly in the valley of Tophet and Hinnom, east of 
 Jerusalem, Jer. xix. 
 
 Some are of opinion, that the devotees contented 
 themselves with making their children leap over a fire 
 sacred to Moloch ; by this action consecrating them 
 to that false deity ; and as by a lustration purifying 
 them ; this being a usual ceremony on other occasions 
 among the heathen. Others believe that they made 
 them i>ass between two fires opposite each other, 
 with the same intention ; but it is generally thought 
 that they really bmnt their children as sacrifices. See 
 Ps. cvi.'37; Isa. Ivii. 5; Ezek. xvi. 20, 21 ; xxiii. 37, 
 39, where it is positively asserted, that the Hebrews 
 sacrificed their children to devils, to Moloch, and to 
 strange gods. See Fire. 
 
 The rabbins assure us, that the idol Moloch was of 
 brass, sitting on a throne of the same metal, adorned 
 with a royal crowni, having die head of a calf, and liis 
 arms extended as if to embrace any one ; that when 
 they offered children to him, they heated the statue
 
 MON 
 
 [678 ] 
 
 MONEY 
 
 from within, by a great fire ; and when it was burning 
 hot, put the miserable victim within its arms, where 
 it was soon consumed by the violence of the heat ; 
 mid that the cries of the children might not be heard, 
 they made a great noise with drums and other instru- 
 ments about the idol. Others say, that liis arms were 
 extended, and reaching towai'd the groimd, so that 
 wlien they put a child within his arms, it immediately 
 fell into a great fire which was burning at the foot of 
 the statue. 
 
 There are various sentiments about Moloch : some 
 believe that it represented Saturn, to whom it is well 
 known that human sacrifices were offered. So Ge- 
 senius in his Comm. z. Jesa. ii. p. 343 ; comp. p. 
 327. (See also Chiu^j.) Others think he was Mer- 
 cury, others say Venus, others Mars, or Mithra. Cal- 
 met has endeavored to prove, that Moloch signified 
 the sun, or the king of heaven. (See also Selden, de 
 Diis Syris ; Spencer, de Legibus Hebrseorum Ritualib. 
 lib. ii. cap. 10. And Vossius, de Origine et Progrcssu 
 Idolatrife, lib. ii. cap. 5.) 
 
 MONEY. Scripture often speaks of gold, silver, 
 brass, of certain sums of money, of purchases made 
 with money, of current money, of money of a cer- 
 tain weight ; but we do not observe coined or stamped 
 money till a late period ; which induces a belief that 
 the ancient Hebrews took gold and silver only Iiy 
 weight ; that they only considered the purity of 
 the metal, and not the stamp. The most ancient 
 commerce was conducted by barter, or exchanging 
 one sort of merchandise for another. One man 
 gave what he could spare to another, who gave him 
 in return part of his superabundance. Afterwards 
 the more precious metals were used in traffic, as a 
 value more generally known and stated. Lastly, 
 they gave this metal, by public authority, a certain 
 mark, a certain weight, and a certain degree of al- 
 loy, to fix its value, and to save Ijuyers and sellers 
 the trouble of weighing and examining the coins. 
 
 Abraham weighed out four hundred shekels of 
 silver, to purchase Sarah's tomb ; (Gen. xxiii. 15, 16.) 
 and Scripture observes, that he paid this in current 
 money with the merchant. Joseph was sold by his 
 brethren to the Midianites for twenty pieces of silver, 
 (Gen. xxxvii. 28.) Heb. twenty shekels of silver. Tlie 
 brethren of Joseph brought back with them into 
 Egypt the money they found in their sacks, in the 
 same weight as before. Gen. xliii. 21. Isaiah de- 
 scribes the wicked as weighing silver in a balance, to 
 make an idol thereof, (chap. xlvi. 6.) and Jeremiah 
 (xxxii. 10.) weighs seventeen pieces of silver in a 
 pair of scales to pay for a field he had bought. Isaiah 
 says, "Come, buy wine and milk without money, 
 and witiiout price. Wherefore do ye weigh money 
 for that which is not bread ?" Amos (viii. 5.) repre- 
 sents the mei'chants encouraging one another to 
 make tlie cphah small, wherewitli to sell, and the 
 shekel great, wherewith to buy, and to falsify the 
 balances by deceit. 
 
 In these passages, three tilings only are mentioned : 
 (1.) The metal ; that is, gold or silver, and never coj)- 
 per, it not being used in traffic as money. (2.) The 
 weight, a talent, a shekel, a gerah or obolus ; the 
 weight of the sanctuary, and the king's weight. (3.) 
 The standard of pure or fine gold and silver, and of 
 good quality, as received by the mercliant. The im- 
 pression of the coinage is not referred to ; but it is 
 said, they weighed the silver, or other commodities, 
 by tlie shekel and by tlie talent. Tliis shekel, there- 
 fore, and this talent, were not fixed and determined 
 pieces of money, but weights applied to things used 
 
 in commerce. Hence those deceitfiil balances of 
 the merchants who would increase the shekel ; that 
 is, would augment the weight by which they weighed 
 the gold and silver they were to receive, that they 
 might have a greater quantity than was their due ; 
 hence the weight of the sanctuary, the standard of 
 which was preserved in the temple, to prevent fraud ; 
 hence those prohibitions in the law, " Thou shalt not 
 have in thy bag divers weights, [Heb. stones,] a great 
 and a small," JDeut. xxv. 13. Hence those scales that 
 the Hebrews wore at their girdles, (Hos. xii. 7.) and 
 the Canaanites carried in their hands ; to weigh the 
 gold and silver which they received in payment. 
 
 And it is to be observed, that in the original text 
 there is no mention of coined money, or of any thing 
 hke it. The gold and silver offered to Moses in the 
 desert, for the use of the tabernacle ; that which 
 was given to Aaron to make a golden calf; that of 
 which Gideon made an ephod ; that which tempted 
 Achan ; that which David left to Solomon ; and that 
 which Gehazi received from Naaman ; was only 
 gold or silver made into rings, bracelets, pendants, 
 vessels, or ingots. Not a word of coined money, of 
 any mark or impression ; nothing to show the form 
 of the money, or the figure represented upon it ; for, 
 generally, coined money has the impress of some 
 prince, some animal, flower, or other device. But 
 nothing of this kind occurs among the Hebrews. 
 
 It is true, that in the Hebrew (Gen. xxxiii. 19.) we 
 find Jacob bought a field for a hundred kesitahs ; 
 and that the friends of Job, (chap. xlii. 11.) after his 
 recovery, gave to that model of patience each a kesi- 
 tah, and a golden ])endant for the cars. We also find 
 there Dorics, (Heb. Darcm-onim, or Adarcmonim) and 
 Mina, StatertE, Oboli : but this last kind of money w"as 
 foreign, and is put for other terms, which in the He- 
 brew only signify the weight of the metal. The 
 kesitah is not well known to us ; some take it for a 
 sheep or a lamb ; others for a kind of money, having 
 the impression of a lamb or a sheep. BiU Cahnet 
 rather thinks it to be a purse of money. 
 
 "The practice of weighing mone}' is general in 
 Syria, Egypt, and all Tmkey. No j)iece, however 
 effaced, is refused there : the merchant draivs out his 
 scales and ivei^hs it, as in the days of Abraham, when 
 he purchased his sepulchre. In considerable pay- 
 ments, an agent of exchange is sent for, who counts 
 paras by thousands, rejects pieces of false money, and 
 weighs all the sequins, either separately or together." 
 (Volney, vol. ii. p. 425.) Does not tliis mention of 
 " an agent of exchange," give a new idea to the ex- 
 pression in Genesis, above referred to, " current 
 money with the merchant ; " i. e. such as was approv- 
 ed by a competent judge, whose business it was to de- 
 tect fraudulent coin, if offered in payment? On this 
 subject we may remark a much deeper inference than 
 is usually discovered in the question of our Lord to 
 the ill-designing Pharisees : — " Whose image and su- 
 perscription is this ? " For wo ought to observe, that 
 few, or none, of the eai-ly and truly Asiatic coins, had 
 any image, or representation, of the king on them ; 
 tiiat those of the original Jewish coinage, have the 
 jint, or jug, (of manna, say some,) or the vine, or sheaf 
 of corn, and the date when coined ; but no image of 
 any person, or power, (wliich the Jews Avould haAC 
 held unlawful,) as the Roman coinage universally had, 
 especially under the Cccsars. When, therefore, our 
 Lord commands, " Show me the tribute-money," and 
 asks, "Whose image is this?" by attributing cuirency 
 to the (Roman) image of Caesar, and appropriating 
 this (Roman) coin to the payment of his tribute, they
 
 MON 
 
 [ 679 ] 
 
 xMONTH 
 
 acknowledged Caesar's authority eind power ; thereby 
 answering their own question. And this inference 
 appears still more forcibly, when we i-ecoUect the utter 
 aversion of the Jewish nation from images at this 
 lime, and that the figures on the standards of the Ro- 
 man legions nearly occasioned an msun-ection. — In 
 this view, the idea of image is stronger than that of 
 suPERScRiPTio.N ; tliough, in fact, one accompanied 
 the other, tlie superscription, or epigraphus, being the 
 emperor's titles, usually inserted around his image, or 
 bust, as on our British coins. 
 
 " They [the Turks] stamp nothing on their money 
 (which IS all of gold and silver, and consists in the 
 sorts aforesaid) but the emperor^s name, and the year in 
 which it was coined. They receive, nevertheless, for- 
 eign coins, with figures of living things, which seems 
 contrary to their law." (De la Motraye's Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 154.) Here we find the Turks receiving, 
 through commercial policy, what the Jews were forced 
 to receive, and to pass current, by reason of their 
 subjection to the Roman emperor. It is also com- 
 mon, in tiie East, for coins to have some sentence on 
 them, such as, " God is great," &c. The Roman 
 coins had no such uiscription, but were purely heathen, 
 and solely presented the image and superscription 
 of Ciosar ; or if any figiu'e was added on the reverse, 
 it was that of some ideal or idolatrous deity. 
 
 It deserves notice, tliat the three evangelists who 
 record this story, insert the word image, (and, indeed, 
 they use coincidentally the same words,) which seems 
 to confirm the ideas above suggested. (See Matt. 
 xxii. 20 ; Mark xii. 16 ; Luke xx. 24.) 
 
 MONTH. The ancient Hebrews had no particu- 
 lar names for their months ; they said, the first, the 
 second, the third, &c. In Exod. xiii. 4 ; xxiii. 15 ; 
 xxxiv. 18, and Deut. xvi. l,we find 3o.s cin, Chodesh 
 Abib, or tiie month of the young ears of corn, or of 
 the new fruits ; which is, probablj^, the Egyptian 
 name of that month, which the Hebrews afterwards 
 called Nisan, and which was the first of the holy 
 year. Every where else this lawgiver designates the 
 months by their order of succession. In Joshua, 
 Judges and Samuel we see the same method. Un- 
 der Solomon (1 Kings vi. 1.) we read of the month 
 Zif, which is the second month of the holy year, and 
 answers to that afterwards called Jair. In the same 
 chapter we read of the month Bui, which is the eighth 
 of the holy year, and answers to JNIarchesvan, or Oc- 
 tober. Lastly, in chap. viii. 2, we read of the month 
 Ethanim, or the month of the valiant, which answers 
 to Tizri, the seventh of the holy year. 
 
 Critics are not agreed about the origin of these 
 names of the months. Scaliger thought Solomon 
 borrowed them from the Phoenicians, with whom he 
 had much intercoui-se. Grotius believes they came 
 from the Ciialdeaus ; and Hardouin deduces them 
 from the Egj-ptians. However this may be, we see 
 nothing of them, eitiier before or after Solomon. But 
 after the captivity of Babylon, the people continued 
 the names of the months as they had foiuid them 
 among the Chaldeans and Persians. 
 
 J^amts of the Hebrew months, according to the order of 
 the sacred and civil years. 
 
 Sacred. Civil. 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 1 ]03, 
 
 2 I'N, 
 
 3 ]^1p, 
 
 4 ntr, 
 
 Nisan, answering to March, O. S. 
 Ijar, April. 
 
 Siv&n, May. 
 
 Thanunuz, June. 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 JK, 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 ViSn, 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 nrn. 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 p»',-n 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 iSd3, 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 r\2P, 
 
 5 
 
 11 
 
 n2v, 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 -nN, 
 
 Ab, 
 
 Elul, 
 
 Tisri, 
 
 31archesvan, 
 
 Casleu, 
 
 Thebet, 
 
 Shebat, 
 
 Adar, 
 
 July. 
 
 August. 
 
 September. 
 
 October. 
 
 November. 
 
 December. 
 
 January. 
 
 February. 
 
 [Other interpreters, with greater propriety, reckon 
 the beginning of Nisan from the new moon of April, 
 and not of March ; and this varies the beginning of 
 the other months. (See Jahn's Archaeol. § 103. Wi- 
 ner, Bibl. Realworterb. p. 454.) R. 
 
 Originally, the Hebrews followed the same distri- 
 bution of their years and months as in Egypt. Their 
 year consisted of 365 days, and of twelve months, 
 each of thirty days. This appears by the enumera- 
 tion of the days of the year of the deluge. Gen. vii. 
 The twelfth month was to have thirty-five days, and 
 they had no intercalary month, but at the end of one 
 hundred and twenty years, when the beginning of 
 the year following was out of its place thirty whole 
 days.- 
 
 After the exodus, which happened in the month of 
 3Iarch, God ordained that the holy year, that is, the 
 calendar of religious feasts and ceremonies, should 
 begin at Nisan, the seventh month of the civil year, 
 (the civil year being left unchanged,) which the He- 
 brews continued to begin at the month Tisri (Sep- 
 tember). After the Babylonish captivity, the Jews, 
 being but a handful of people in the midst of others 
 surrounding them, complied with such customs and 
 manners of dividing times and seasons, as were used 
 by the people that ruled over them ; first, of the 
 Chaldeans ; afterwards, of the Persians ; and lastly, 
 of the Grecians. They took the names of the months 
 from the Chaldeans and Persians, and perhaps their 
 manner of dividing the year and the months. How- 
 ever, we cannot be sure of this, not exactly knowing 
 the form of the Chaldean months. But we see 
 plainly by Ecciesiasticus, (xliii. 6.) by the Maccabees, 
 by Josephus, (Antiq. lib. iii. cap. 10,) and by Philo, 
 (Vit. Mos. lib. iii.) that in their time they followed the 
 custom of the Grecians ; that is, their months were 
 lunar, and their years solar. 
 
 These lunar months were each of twenty-nine 
 days and a half; or, rather, one was of thirty days, 
 the following of twenty-nine, and so on alternately : 
 that which had thirty days was called a full or com- 
 plete month ; that which" had but twenty-nine days 
 was called incomplete. The new moon was always 
 the beginning of the month, and this day they called 
 jYeomenia, new-moon day, or new month. They did 
 not begin it from that point of time when the moon 
 was in conjunction with the sun, but from the time 
 at which she first became visible, after that conjunc- 
 tion. And to determine this, it is said, tiiey had 
 peo])le posted on elevated places, to inform the San- 
 hedrim as soon as possible. Proclamation was then 
 made, " The feast of the new moon ! The feast of 
 the new moon !" and the beginning of the month 
 was proclaimed by sound of trumpet. For fear of 
 any failing in the observation of that command, 
 which directed certain ceremonies at the beginning 
 of each montii, they continued the ,Yeomenia two 
 days ; the first was called " the day of the moon's 
 appearance," the other " of the moon's disappear- 
 ance." So say the rabbins : but there is great prob- 
 ability, that if this was ever practised, it was only in 
 provinces distant from Jerusalem. In the temple,
 
 MOO 
 
 [ 680 ] 
 
 MOR 
 
 and in the metropolis, there was always a fixed cal- 
 endar, or at least a fixed decision fiar festival days, 
 determined by the House of Judgment. 
 
 When we say that the months of the Jews an- 
 swered to ours, Nisan to March, Jair to April, &c. 
 we must be understood with some latitude ; for the 
 lunar months cannot be reduced exactly to solar 
 ones. The vernal equinox falls between the twen- 
 tieth and twenty-first of March, according to the 
 course of the solar year. But in the lunar year, the 
 new moon will fall in the month of March, and the 
 full moon in the month of April. So that the He- 
 brew months will answer partially to two of our 
 months, the end of one, and the beginning of the 
 other. 
 
 Twelve lunar months making but thi-ee hundred 
 and fifty-four days and six hours, the Jewish year 
 was short of the Roman by twelve days. To recover 
 the equinoctial points, from which this difference of 
 the solar and lunar year would separate the new 
 moon of the first month, the Jews every three years 
 intercalated a thirteenth month, which they called 
 Ve-adar ; the second Adar. By this means their 
 lunar year equalled the solar ; because in thirty-six 
 solar months there would be thirty-seven lunar 
 months. The Sanhedrim regulated this intercalation, 
 and the thirteenth month was placed between Adar 
 and Nisan ; so that the passover was always celebrat- 
 ed the fii-st full moon after the equinox. 
 
 MOON. The Lord created the sun and the moon 
 on the fourth day of the world, to preside over day 
 and night, and to distinguish times and seasons, Gen. 
 i. 1.5, 16. As the sun presides over day, so the moon 
 presides over night ; the sun regulates the course of 
 a year, the moon the course of a month ; the sun is, 
 as it were, king of the host of heaven, the moon is 
 queen. The moon was appointed for the distinction 
 of seasons, of festival days, and days of assembling. 
 Gen. i. 14 ; Ps. civ. 19. For the days of the New 
 Moon, see Neomenia. 
 
 We do not know whether the Hebrews understood 
 the theory of lunar eclipses ; but they always speak of 
 them in terms which intimate that they considered 
 them as wonders, and as eftects of the power and 
 wrath of God. When the prophets speak of the 
 destruction of empires, they often say, that the sun 
 shall be covered with darkness ; the moon withdraw 
 her light ; and the stars fall from heaven, Isa. xiii. 
 10 ; xxiv. 23 ; Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8 ; Joel ii. 10 ; iii. 15. 
 But we cannot perceive that there is any direct men- 
 tion of an eclipse. 
 
 Among the orientals in general, and the Hebrews 
 in particular, the worship of the moon was more 
 extensive, and more famous than that of the sun. 
 In Deut. iv. 19 ; xvii. 3, Moses bids the Israelites take 
 care, when they see the sun, the moon, the stars, and 
 the host of heaven, not to pay them any superstitious 
 worship, because they were only creatures appointed 
 for the service of all nations under heaven. Job 
 (xxxi. 26, 27.) also speaks of the same worship : " If 
 I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walk- 
 ing in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly 
 enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand," as a 
 token of adoration. The Hebrews worshipped the 
 moon, by the name of Meni, of Astartc, of the god- 
 dess of the groves, of the queen of heaven, &.c. (But 
 see under Astaroth I.) The Syrians adored her as 
 Astarte, Urania, or Coelestis ; the Arabians as Alilat ; 
 the Egyptians as Isis ; the Greeks as Diana, Venus, 
 Juno, Hecate, Bellona, Minerva, &c. Macrobius and 
 Julius Firmicus acquaint us, that men dressed like 
 
 women, and women dressed like men, sacrificed to 
 the moon. Maimonides thinks, that Moses intended 
 to forbid this, when he prohibited the sexes from ex- 
 change of habits. The moon was worshipped as a 
 god, and not as a goddess, in Syria, Mesopotamia 
 and Armenia. The Sepharvites called her Aname- 
 lech, the gracious king. Strabo calls her Meen ; as 
 does Isaiah, Ixv. 11. She was represented clothed 
 like a man ; and there are medals extant, on which 
 she is represented in the habit and form of a man 
 armed, having a cock at his feet, covered with a 
 Phrygian or Ai-menian bonnet. Spartian, in Cara- 
 calla, assures us, that the people of Charrce in Meso- 
 potamia believed, that such as held the moon for a 
 goddess, would be always in subjection to their 
 wives. He adds, that though the Greeks and Egyp- 
 tians sometimes called her goddess, yet they always 
 call her god in their mysteries. Several sorts of sac- 
 rifices were offered to the moon. We see in Isaiali 
 Ixv. 11, and Jeremiah vii. 18, that they offered to her 
 in the liigh ways, and upon the roofs of their houses, 
 sacrifices of cakes, and similar offerings. Thus the 
 Greeks honored Hecate, or Trivia, which is the 
 moon. Elsewhere they offered to her hiunan sacri- 
 fices. Strabo relates, that in the countries bordering 
 on the Araxes, they especially worshipped the moon, 
 who had there a famous temple. The goddess had 
 several slaves, and every year they offered one of 
 them in sacrifice to her, after having fed him daintily 
 the whole year before. Lucian speaks of like sacri- 
 fices, offered to the Sj'rian goddess, the Dea Coeles- 
 tis, that is, the moon. Fathers earned their children, 
 tied up in sacks, to the top of the porch of the tem- 
 ple, whence they threw tlicm down upon the pave- 
 ment ; and when the unfortunate victims moaned, 
 the fathers would answer, that they were not their 
 children, but young calves. 
 
 The Jews ascribed different effects -to the moon. 
 Moses speaks of the fruits of the sun and the moon, 
 (Deut. xxxiii. 14.) these being considered as the two 
 causes which produce the fruits of the earth. Some 
 commentators think, that the fruits of the sun are 
 those that come yearly, as wheat, grapes, &c. ; and 
 the fruits of the moon those that may be gathered at 
 different months of the year, as cucumbers, figs, &c. 
 
 MORASTHI, the country of the prophet Micah, 
 east of Eleutheropolis, Micah i. 1 ; Jer. xxvi. 18. See 
 Maresuah. 
 
 MORDECAI, son of Jair, of the raceof Saul, and 
 a chief of the tribe of Benjamin. He was carried 
 captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, with Jehoi- 
 acliin, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, A. M. 4305 ; 
 Esth. ii. 5, 6. He settled at Shushan. and there lived 
 to the first year of Cyrus, when it is thought he vis- 
 ited Jerusalem, with several other captives; but af- 
 terwards he returned to Shushan. Mordccai had a 
 niece called Edcssa, or Esther, the daughter of his 
 brother, whom he had adopted and brought up as his. 
 own daughter, after the death of his brother. After 
 Esther became the wife of Ahasuerus, (see Esther,) 
 Mordecai was constant at the palace gate to learn 
 news of the queen. During his attendance there he 
 discovered a conspiracy of two eunuchs to kill the 
 king; his service, however, was registered only, and 
 not rewarded. Ahasuerus raising Hainan to ho his 
 favorite, Mordecai refused to honor him ; and Haman 
 resented the indignity by endeavoring to exterminate 
 the whole Jewish people, for which he obtained a 
 decree from the king, but was defeated in his pur- 
 pose by Mordecai and Esther. 
 
 It is evident that the anxiety of Mordecai for
 
 MORDECAl 
 
 [681] 
 
 MOR 
 
 Esther was extreme ; but we cannot fully enter into 
 the circumstance of his walking day afler day, (chap. 
 ii. 11.) for a long period of time, probably upwards of 
 a year, without recollecting the extreme vigilance 
 with which the harems of the East are guarded. On 
 this subject Chardin says; "The place where the 
 women are shut uj) is sacred, especially among per- 
 sons of condition ; and it is a crime for any jjerson 
 whatever to be inquiring what passes within those 
 walls. The husband has there an absolute authori- 
 ty, without being obliged to give any account of his 
 actions. And 'tis said, that there are most bloody 
 doings in those places sometimes, and that poison 
 despatches a world of people, which are thought to 
 die a natural death." (p. 332.) "I could not learn 
 what was done more the rest of the night ; for I have 
 already informed you how difficult it is to be in- 
 formed of the transactions in those habitations, that 
 seem to be regions of another world. There are none 
 but women that can approach within a league of it, 
 or some black eunuchs, with whom a man may as 
 well converse as with so many dragons, that can dis- 
 cover those secrets ; and you may as well tear out 
 their hearts as a syllable upon that text. • You must 
 use a great deal of art to make them speak ; just as 
 we tame serpents in the Indies, till they make them 
 hiss and dance when they please." (p. 54. Cor. Soly- 
 nian.) 
 
 " And here we must observe, that Hahas the sec- 
 ond left behind him two sons ; or, at least, I never 
 heard that he left any more, nor is it known whether 
 he left any daughters or no. For what is done in 
 the women's apartment is a mystery concealed even 
 from the grandees and prime ministers. Or, if they 
 know any thing, it is merely upon the account of 
 some particular relation or dependence which the 
 secret has to some peculiar affair, which, of necessi- 
 ty, must be imparted to their knowledge. For my 
 part, I have sjiared neither pains nor cost to sift out 
 the truth, but I could never discover any more ; only, 
 tiiat they believed he never left any daughter behind 
 him that lived. A man may walk a hundred days, 
 one after another, by the house where the women are, 
 and yet know no more what is done therein, than at 
 the further end of Tartary." (p. G.) 
 
 We learn from these extracts, (1.) That to inquire 
 what passes in the harem is a crime. (2.) That it is 
 possible, "by a great deal of art," and iveighty rea- 
 sons, no doubt, to make the black eunuchs "speak," 
 on some occasions. (3.) That a man may walk a 
 hundred days, one after another, yet o!>tain no intel- 
 ligence from tlience. (4.) That " bloody doings " are 
 occasionally transacted there. 
 
 These hints may account for the conduct of I\Ior- 
 dccai, who ivalked every day before the court of the 
 ivomcii's house, to gather any intelligence that might 
 chance to come within his cognizance, respecting his 
 uiece. An English reader is apt to say, " Why did 
 not he visit her at once ?" or, "To be sure, when he 
 walked before the court, he inquired of the servants, 
 and they told him as a matter of course." No : he 
 walked, day afler day, if perchance he might make 
 some of these " dragons " in any degree tractable. In 
 like manner, the English reader may sufipose, that 
 (chap. ii. 22.) when " Mordecai told Esther the 
 queen "of the treason of the king's chamberlains, he 
 spoke to her personally. This, however, is not prob- 
 able : he sent her the intelligence by intervening 
 agents. And when Mordecai, in the utmost distress, 
 wished to connnnnicate with Esther, (chap. iv. 2.) 
 " he cried with a loud and bitter cry, even before the 
 8G 
 
 king's gate," which was the only means left lilm of 
 gaining attention from the attendants of the place ; 
 some of whom, coming out to him, returned and 
 told Esther, who was too far oft' to hear him. Esther 
 sent her own chamberlain, Hatach, (a confidential 
 person, no doubt,) to inquire from ftlordecai himself 
 the cause of his lamentation; and, by means of Ha- 
 tach, messages [)assed between them, which agrees 
 with what Chardin says, that it is possible on urgent 
 occasions to make these officers "s])eak." We learn, 
 also, that there are " bloody doings " in the harem ; 
 this agn!es with the remark of Mordecai, (chap. iv. 
 13.) "Think not that thou shall escape mi the A'lJJg'* 
 house, more than all the Jews." He certainly means 
 that llaman would procure her death, even in the 
 harem. 
 
 MORIAH, a mountain upon which the tem])le of 
 Jerusalem was built by king Solomon, 2 Chron. iii. 
 1. It is thought this was the place whei'e Abraham 
 intended to ofter up his son Isaac, (Gen. xxii. 2, 14.) 
 though this supposition is attended with some diffi- 
 culties. Instead of Moriah, the Samaritan reads 
 Moreh, in Genesis, as if God sent Abraham near to 
 Sichem, where certainly was a Moreh, Gen. xii. 6 ; 
 Deut. xi. 30. 
 
 The name of Moriah is thought to be derived from 
 a root implying height, or elevation ; and it is certahi, 
 from the descriptions given of Jerusalem, that it 
 stands on the highest hill in the neighborhood, and 
 is seen from a great distance. It is probable, there- 
 fore, that the idea of being seen from far, as if it lijled 
 itself tip, is included in the name Moriah, which we 
 may observe is in the feminine. Probably there is a 
 reference to this in those prophets, who say. The 
 mountain of the Lord's temple shall beexahed above 
 the (surroimding) hills, and all nations shall flow to 
 it, Isa. ii. 2 ; Mic. iv. 1. See Jerusalem. 
 
 MORROW. The word morrow denotes the next 
 succeeding period of light, which commences a little 
 before the rising of tlie sun, and is opposed to the 
 preceding period of darkness, as day is to night. 
 The Hebrew term J/d/i(/r, rendered J1/o?to«', signifies 
 the exchange of one thing for another. Light was 
 given instead of the preceding hours of darkness ; 
 during which the Spirit of God moved upon the face 
 of the waters. Gen. i. 2. The idea of the Hebrews, un- 
 der the word Mdhdr, may be further understood from 
 the two following passages: — "And the people stood 
 up all that day, and all night, and all day on the bior- 
 Rov/ :" which phrase our translation I'enders cdl the 
 next day, (Numb. xi. 32.) as opposed to night. "Rut 
 God prepared a woini {71 the risiufr of the dmvnforthe 
 7norroiv,'" or against the morrow, which is, in our 
 translation, when the mcrroiv rose the next day, Jonah 
 iv. 7. This ]>lirase shows that the Hebrew morroto 
 did not commence before the light. The Anglo- 
 Saxon moiroiv is, no doubt, derived from the eastern 
 Mdhdr ; and as it is evident from Tacitus and Julius 
 C.Tsar, that both the Germans and the Gauls com- 
 puted time in the meuner of the Hebrews, and other 
 eastern nations, there is the greater reason for sup- 
 posing that our ancestors used the word morroio ac- 
 cording to the idea of the Hebrew Mdhdr. The 
 Anglo-Saxon to morgen, our to-moiroio, is found in 
 the following passages: Exod. vii. 15 ; viii. 23 ; xvi. 
 23 ; xvii. 9 ; xxxii. 5 ; xxxiv. 2 ; Numb. xi. 18 ; 3Iatt. 
 vi. 30 ; Luke xiii. 32, 33, &c. 
 
 MORTAR. There is a ren)arkab]e passage m 
 Prov. xxvii. 22, "Though thou shouldest bray a fool 
 in a mortar among wheat, with a ])estle, yet will not 
 his foolishness depart from him." The mode of
 
 MOS 
 
 [ 68Q ] 
 
 MOSES 
 
 puuishiiieiit here referred to may be proved to exist 
 in the East, by positive testimony. 
 
 "Fanaticism has enacted, in Turkey, in favor of 
 the Ulemas, [or body of lawyers,] that their goods 
 shall never be confiscated, nor themselves put to 
 death, but by being bruised in a mortar. The honor 
 of being treated in so distinguished a manner, may 
 not, perhaps, be sensibly felt by every one ; examples 
 are rare ; yet the insolence of the Mufti irritated sul- 
 tan Osman to such a degree, that he ordered the mor- 
 tars to be replaced, which, having been long neglect- 
 ed, had been thrown down, and almost covered with 
 earth. This order alone produced a surprising 
 effect : the body of Ulemas, justly terrifietl, submit- 
 ted." (Baron du Tott, vol. i. p.' 28.) "As for the 
 guards of the Towers, who had let prince Coreskie 
 [a prisoner] escape, some of them were empayled, 
 and some were pounded, or beaten to pieces, in great 
 mortars of yron, wherein they doe vsually pound their 
 rice, to reduce it to meale.^' (Knolles's History of the 
 Turks, p. 1374.) 
 
 This last quotation is the very case in point ; ex- 
 cept that Solomon seems to suppose the fool was 
 pounded together with the wheat ; whereas, in this 
 instance, the guards were beaten to death, certainly, 
 without any such accompaniment. 
 
 " The 3Iahometans consider this office as so im- 
 portant, and entitled to such reverence, that the per- 
 son of a pacha, who acquits himself well in it, be- 
 comes inviolable, even by the sultan : it is no longer 
 permitted to shed his blood. But the divan has in- 
 vented a method of satisfying its vengeance on those 
 who are protected by this privilege, without depart- 
 ing from the literal expression of the law, by ordering 
 them to be pounded in a mortar, .... of which there 
 have been various instances." (Volney, vol. ii. p. 250.) 
 MOSERAH, or 3Io^eroth, (Numb, xxxii. 30.) a 
 station of tiie Israelites, near mount Hor. Burck- 
 hardt mentions a valley east of mount Hor, called 
 Wady Mousa, which is perhaps a corruption of Mo- 
 serah. See Exodus, p. 418, and Aaron, p. 2. - 
 
 MOSES, son of Amram and Jochebed, of the 
 tribe of Levi, was born in Egypt, A. M. 2433. In 
 consequence of the decree of Pharaoh for putting the 
 male children of the Hebrews to death, he was put 
 into a kind of vessel made of rushes, and laid on the 
 banks of tlie Nile. Here he was found by the daugh- 
 ter of Pharaoh, and placed unknowingly with his 
 mother to be nursed, Exod. ii. 1 — 9. 
 
 The princess named the infant Moses, [saved oat 
 of the water,) and adopted him for her son. Acts vii. 
 22. His own parents, however, who brought him 
 up, instructed him in the religion and expectations 
 of his forefathers; so that, when grown up, he pre- 
 ferred rather to partake with his people in their 
 afflictions, than to share in the pleasures of a court, 
 Heb. xi. 24—26. 
 
 Moses relates his own stoiy with great simplicity, 
 thus : (Exod. ii.) Being gi-own up he visited his breth- 
 ren, and seeing an Egjptian oppressing a Hebrew, 
 ho vindicated him, slew the Egyptian, and hid his 
 body in the sand. The transaction becoming known, 
 Pharaoh sought for iMoscs to put him to death ; but 
 he fled into the country of Midian, in Arabia Petra;a, 
 south of mount Sinai ; where he married Zipporah' 
 a daughter of Jethro, priest or prince of Midian. 
 
 Moses, employed in feeding the sheep of Jethro, 
 one day came to the mountain of Horeb, whore the 
 Lord appeared to him in a l)urning busli, and com- 
 missioned him, notwithstanding his reluctance and 
 hesitation, to deliver his peopk; Israel. See Aaron. 
 
 Being arrived in Egypt, Moses and Aaron carried 
 their message to Pharaoh, and demanded permission 
 for the Hebrews to go three days' journey into the 
 desert of Arabia, to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Pha- 
 raoh refused, and augmented the burdens of the peo- 
 ple, who complained to Moses, and he to the Lord. 
 The ten plagues followed ; and at midnight on the 
 fourteenth day of Abib, or Nisan, Moses led his peo- 
 ple out of Egypt. See Exodus. 
 
 Arrived in the Avilderness of Sin, or Zin, between 
 Elim and Sinai, the multitude, tii-ed with the length 
 of their journey, began to murmur against Moses, 
 saying, " Would to God we had died in Egj'pt, where 
 we sat at the flesh-pots, and where we ate bread in 
 abundance ! " The Lord promised to rain food from 
 heaven ; of which Moses informed the people, and 
 that very evening the camp of Israel was covered 
 with quails, brought thither by the wind. The next 
 (uorningthey saw all round the camp a kind of hoar- 
 frost, or little grains, of the color of bdellium, and of 
 the shape of coriander-seeds ; the manna. (See 
 Manna.) JMoses bade Aaron to fill an omer with 
 manna, and to lay it up before the Lord ; to remain 
 as a moninnent to future generations. 
 
 At Rephidim, the people, in want of water, mui-- 
 mured against Moses; but the Lord, by his ministry, 
 drew them water out of the rock of Horeb. The 
 Amalekites attacking Israel, Moses sent Joshua 
 against them ; he himself, at the same time, with 
 Aaron and Hur, being on an eminence, whence they 
 could see the engagement. While Moses held up 
 his hands toward heaven, Joshua had the advantage 
 over the enemy ; but when he held them down, the 
 Amalekites prevailed. Aaron and Hur, therefore, put 
 stones under him, that he might sit down, while each 
 of them supported his arms, that he might not be 
 tired. So the Amalekites were entirely defeated. 
 The Lord desired Moses to write an account of this 
 action in a book, and to instruct Joshua concerning 
 it, he having determined utterly to destroy the 
 memoiy of Amalek from under heaven. On the 
 third day of the third month from their coming out 
 of Egypt, they arrived at the foot of mount Sinai, 
 where they continued a year : here Moses was the 
 mediator of a covenant between God and his people. 
 See Law. 
 
 Coming down from the mountain, Moses declaied 
 to the people the laws he had received, and the arti- 
 cles of the covenant that the Lord would make with 
 them. The people answering, that they would per- 
 form whatever the Lord enjoined, Moses erected an 
 altar of unhewn stones, at the foot of the mountain, 
 and twelve monuments, or twelve other altars, in the 
 name of the twelve tribes of Israel. Having offered 
 sacrifices and peace-offerings, he took the blood of 
 the victims, poured half upon the altar, and the other 
 half into cups, and having read to the people the or- 
 dinances he had received from the Lord, and which 
 he had written in a book, he sprinkled all the people 
 with the blood that was in the cups. Thus was 
 concluded the solemn and celebrated covenant be- 
 tween the Lord and the children of Israel. 
 
 The Lord then commanded Moses to come up 
 again into the mountain, and to bring with hizn 
 Joshua, his servant, that he might instruct him in all 
 which he would have observed by the priests or 
 people, in the public exercise of religion ; all the parts 
 of which he distinctly aj)pointed. Descending from 
 the mount, Joshua heard the shouts and rejoicings 
 of the people, as if of an engagement with an enemy. 
 But Moses observed that it was not the sound of an
 
 MOSES 
 
 [ 683 ] 
 
 MOSES 
 
 alarm, but cries of joy. When they approached the 
 camp, they saw the golden calf, which had been 
 made, (see Calf,) and the people singing and danc- 
 ing about it. Moses indignantly threw down the 
 tables of stone he held in his hands, and broke them ; 
 and taking the calf, he reduced it to powder, and 
 scattered it into the water, which he made all the 
 congregation drink of. Moses severely rebuked 
 Aaron ; and, standing at the entrance of the camp, 
 he proclaimed, "Whoever is for the Lord, let him 
 join himself to me." AH the children of Levi as- 
 sembhng about him, he said, " Thus salih the Lord, 
 Let every one of you take his sword, and let him go 
 from j^ate to gate, across the camp, and slay even to 
 his brother, his friend, or his kinsman." They did 
 so, and that day there were slain about 3000 people. 
 
 The next day Moses remonstrated to the people on 
 the heinousness of their shi ; but told them he would 
 again ascend the mountain, and endeavor to obtain 
 forgiveness for them. He went up and entreated 
 the Lord to pardon them ; or otherwise, he begged 
 that he himself might be blotted out of the book of 
 the Lord. (See Book.) He also desired another 
 favor, wiiich was, that he might see his glory. The 
 Lord answered him, that he could not see his face, 
 for no man could support that sight ; but that he 
 would pass before the opening of the rock, where he 
 might hear his name, and see his train, as he passed 
 along. 
 
 Allerwards, Moses went up into the mountain, 
 and carried new tables of stone. There God re- 
 newed the decalogue, and gave several other com- 
 mandments. After forty days and forty nights, he 
 came down, bringing the two tables of testimony 
 with him, and caused proclamation to be made, that 
 whoever had any valuable metals, or precious stones, 
 thread, wool, furs, or fine wood, fit for the taber- 
 nacle, might offer them to the Lord. The Lord 
 commanded also, tiiat each Israelite should contrib- 
 ute half a shekel ; (about 25 cents ;) and that this 
 contribution might be regularly raised, Moses took 
 an account of the people, from twenty years old and 
 upwards; of whom there were found 603,550, each 
 of which paying a bekah or half shekel, the sum 
 amounted to 100 talents of silver and 1775 shekels, 
 or about $*150,000. Six whole months they worked 
 at the tabernacle, that is, from the sixth month of the 
 holy year, after their leaving Egypt, A. M. 2513, to 
 the first day of the first month of the following year, 
 2514. On the first day of Nisan, (April 21, according 
 to Usher,) the tabernacle of the congregation was set 
 up, and filled with the glory of the Lord, and on the 
 fourteenth, the Israelites celebrated the second pass- 
 over from their coming out of Egypt. About this 
 time, 31 OSes published the laws contained in the first 
 seven chapters of Leviticus, consecrated Aaron and 
 his sons, and dedicated the tabernacle with all its 
 vessels. 
 
 The first day of the second month of this year, 
 Moses took a second account of the people, in Avhich 
 the Levites were reckoned apart, and appointed to 
 the service of the tabernacle. The princes of the 
 tribes made their offerings to the tabernacle, each ac- 
 cording to his rank, and on his day, during the twelve 
 days of the dedication and consecration of this holy 
 place. Lastly, and about this time, Moses made sev- 
 eral ordinances relating to the purity to be observed 
 in holy things, and the manner of approaching the 
 tabernacle. 
 
 About the end of the year, Jethro, the father-in- 
 law of Moses, brought him his wife Zipporah, and 
 
 his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. Moses received 
 him with all respect, and by his persuasion commis- 
 sioned judges to assist in accommodating differences, 
 and minor suits. On the arrival of Zipporah in the 
 camp, Aaron, and Miriam his sister, spoke against 
 Moses, because his wife was an Ethiopian ; but the 
 Lord interposed in behalf of Moses, who was the 
 meekest man upon earth. See Aarojj. 
 
 It is not easy to determine, whether the sedition 
 of Korah, Dathan and Abiram happened after the 
 arrival of the Hebrews at Kadesh-barnca, or before. 
 (See Korah.) At Kadesh, where Miriam died, the 
 people murmured for water, which Moses and Aaron 
 supplied, by causing it to gush out of a rock. But 
 as they showed some distrust in the Lord, he con- 
 demned them to die in the wilderness, without en- 
 tering the Land of promise. Hence they called this 
 encampment Meribah, or waters of contradiction. 
 At Zalmonah, it is thought Moses erected the brazen 
 serpent, to heal those who had been bitten by fiery 
 serpents. Being come to mount Pisgah, in the des- 
 ert of Kedemoth, he despatched ambassadors to 
 Sihon, king of the Amorites, to solicit a passage 
 through his country, which being refused, Moses 
 gave him battle, overcame him, and took all his ter- 
 ritories. Some time afterwards, Og, king of Bashan, 
 marched against Moses, and fought with him ; but 
 he was conquered and his country taken. 
 
 While encamped in the plains of Moab, at Shittim, 
 Balak, king of Moab, invited Balaam to come and 
 curse Israel. But the sorcerer having rather blessed 
 than cursed them, he sent the daughters of Moab 
 into the camp, to tempt them to idolatry and forni- 
 cation. This wicked counsel had the desired effect ; 
 but Moses put to death all who had abandoned them- 
 selves to the worship of Baal-peor, to the number of 
 23,000, besides 1000 others who were executed by 
 the judges. After this, the Lord commanded JMoses 
 to make war against the Midianites, who had sent 
 their daughters, with those of 3Ioab, to debauch Is- 
 rael. Phinehas was appointed chief of the expedition, 
 with 12,000 chosen men, who routed the Midianites. 
 
 On the first day of the eleventh month of the for- 
 tieth year after the coming out of Egypt, Moses, be- 
 ing in the fields of Moab, and knowing that he was 
 not to pass over Jordan, made a long discourse to 
 the people, recapitulating all he had done, and all 
 that had happened from the coming out of Egypt. 
 He set before them the happiness that would attend 
 their constancy and fidelity, and the calamities which 
 would punish their prevarication. He put into the 
 hands of the priests and elders a copy of the law, 
 with an injunction to have it read solemnly every 
 seventh year in a general assembly of the nation. 
 He composed an excellent canticle or poem, in which 
 he exclaimed against their future iufidelitj', and 
 threatened them with all the evils that in after-ages 
 came upon them. A little before his death, he an- 
 nexed to each of the tribes a particular blessing, in 
 which he mingled several prophecies and predic- 
 tions. 
 
 At the beginning of the twelfth month, the Lord 
 commanded him to ascend mount Nebo, where he 
 obtained a view of the country, both on this side 
 and beyond Jordan. "So Moses, the servant of 
 the Lord, died there in the land of INIoab, over against 
 Beth-peor ; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre un- 
 to this day. And Moses was 120 years old when he 
 died : his eye was not dim nor his natural force abat- 
 ed. And the children of Israel wept for Mosea in 
 the plain of Moab thirty days." It is added, "There
 
 MOSES 
 
 [ 684 ] 
 
 MOU 
 
 arose not a prophet since like unto Moses, whom the 
 Lord knew face to face : in all the signs and wonr 
 ders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of 
 Eo-ypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to his 
 land: and in all that mighty hand, and in all the 
 great terror which Moses showed in the sight of 
 all Israel." 
 
 Moses is the most ancient writer of whom there 
 remain any authentic works. He has left us the 
 Pentateuch, or the five books— Genesis, Exodus, 
 Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy— which were 
 probably not originally separate works, as we find 
 them now. These books are acknowledged as au- 
 thentic and inspired, by both Jews and Christians. 
 Some difficulties have been started aboiU their author, 
 because a few later passages have been inserted. But 
 these additions make no alteration in the sense : they 
 are by way of illustration only. Sec Bibt.e. 
 
 In addition to the Pentateuch, tlie Jews ascribe to 
 Moses eleven Psalms, from ac. to c. ; but there is no 
 sufficient proof that these were all written by him. 
 The greater part of the titles of the Psalms are not 
 original, nor indeed very ancient, and some of tliem 
 are^vrongly placed. Besides, in these Psalms we find 
 the names of persons, and other marks, tliat by no 
 means agree with Moses. 
 
 Some of the ancients believe that Moses was the 
 author of the book of Job. Origen is of opinion, 
 that he translated it out of Syriac, or Arabic, into 
 Hebrew ; in which he is followed by many of the 
 moderns. 
 
 As to the death and burial of Moses, many diffi- 
 culties have been raised. Scripture tells us express- 
 ly, that IVIoses died, according to the word of the 
 Lord, Deut. ult. 5, 6. But as the Hebrew (n^ni ^o-h-;) 
 literally imports, upon the mouth of the Lord, the 
 rabbins have imagined that the Lord took away his 
 soul by a kiss. Others have maintained that he did 
 not die ; and some have supposed that he was trans- 
 lated into heaven. 
 
 The rabbins do not content themselves with the 
 miracles that Scripture relates of Moses, but add 
 many particulars of a spurious description ; as, for 
 example, that he was born circumcised ; that the 
 daughter of Pharaoh, who found him on the banks 
 of the Nile, was leprous, and that as soon as she 
 touched the ark in which the infant lay, she was im- 
 mediately cured ; that when it was known to Pha- 
 raoh that Moses had killed an Egyptian, he con- 
 demned him to lose his head; but God permitted 
 that his neck should become as hard as a pillar of 
 marble, and the rebound of the sword killed the ex- 
 ecutioner. 
 
 The history of Moses was so famous, for many 
 ages, in almost all countries, that it is no wonder writ- 
 ers of dift'erent nations have each represented it 
 after his own manner. The orientals, the ancient Gre- 
 cians, ttie Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Romans, 
 have all made additions to his history. Some of 
 them have improvefl on the miracles that the Scrip- 
 ture relates concerning his life ; others have dis- 
 guised his story by adding to it not only fiilse, but 
 mean and trifling, circumstances, of which we have 
 just given a specimen. Tlie character and life of 
 this legislator is, however, one of tlie fiiu'st subjects 
 for the pen of a philosophical historian, who is at the 
 same time a competent aiiti(]uary. 
 
 His institutes have not only lieen maintained for 
 several thousands of years, and by Jews, however 
 dispersed in all parts of the globe, but they retain a 
 vigor that promises a perpetuity, unless disturbed by 
 
 some omnipotent interference. They have with- 
 stood the fiiry of persecution, and the more danger- 
 ous snares of seduction. They are essentially the 
 same in China and in India as in Persia and in Eu- 
 rope. They may have been neglected, they may 
 have been interpolated, they may have been abused, 
 yet they are the same. Nor is the nation insensible 
 to its relation in all its branches : the priucii)le of 
 consanguinity is allowed and felt throughout. It is 
 impossible not to discern the hand of Providence in 
 the fete of this pooj)le. To assign too positively the 
 termination of the Mosaic institutions, were rash ; 
 for even supposing the general conversion of the 
 body of the Jewish nation to Christianity, it does not 
 follow that every rite established under the Mosaic 
 economy, should absolutely cease and determine. 
 
 MOTE, see Eye. 
 
 MOTH, an insect which fiies by night, and of 
 which there arc many kinds. As some of them are 
 particularly attached to woollen cloth, which they 
 consume, «&e. they are alluded to in Scripture under 
 that description. Job xiii. 28; Isa. 1.9; Jam. v. 9. 
 The moth is, as it were, a night butterfly, and is dis- 
 tinguished from the day butterfly by having its an- 
 tennre, or horns, sharp-pointed, not tufted. In Job 
 iv. 19, we read, " How much less in them v/ho dwell 
 in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust ; 
 which are crushed before the moth." The Hebrew 
 ry, oslt, is employed to describe the moth in other 
 passages of this poem, as ch. xiii. 28 ; xxvii. 18. and 
 elsewhere. This creature is usually taken for the 
 moth whicli consumes clothes and wool, by reducing 
 them to a dust and powder. But, perhaps, it is more 
 properly a moth-worm, for the moth itself is called 
 CD, ses, and is joined with vy, osh, in Isaiah li. 8. This 
 inoth-worm is one state of the creature, which first is 
 enclosed in an egg, whence it issues a worm ; after 
 a time it quits this worm state, to assume that of the 
 complete insect, or moth. It cannot be, then, to a 
 moth flying against a house and oversetting it, (as 
 Mr. Harvey conjectured,) that tliis comparison is in- 
 tended ; but to the gradual consumption of the dwell- 
 ing of the worm by its erosion; q. d. "As the 
 habitation of a worm is consumed by its inhabitant, 
 so is the person of man : it is no more capable of 
 resisting disease than a woollen cloth is cajiable of 
 resisting decay, when devoured and demolished by 
 the worm appointed to it ;" otherwise, "Crushed as a 
 feeble and contemptible insect is crushed ; as wc 
 crush a moth-worm, without reluctance or com- 
 punction." 
 
 MOTHER. This word is sometimes used for a 
 metropolis, the capital city of a country, or of a 
 tribe ; and sometimes for a whole people, 2 Sam. xx. 
 19. The synagogue is the mother of the Jews, as 
 the church is of Christians. Isaiah asks, (I. L) 
 " Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, 
 whom I have yiiit away?" that is, of the synagogue ; 
 and Paul, (Gal. iv. 20.) says, "Jerusalem which is 
 above, is free, which is the mother of us all." The 
 great Babylon, that is^ Rome, is called in the Rev- 
 elation, "the mother of harlots and abominations of 
 the earth," that is, of idolatry. Rev. xvii, 5. 
 
 A mother in Israel signifies a brave woman, whom 
 God uses to deliver his peojile. This name is given 
 to Deborah, Jtidg. v. 7. Wisdom calls herself the 
 mother of chaste love. The earth, to which at our 
 death we must all return, is called the mother of all 
 men, Ecclus. xl. 1. 
 
 MOUNTAINS. Judea is a mountainous coun- 
 try, but the mountains are generally beautiful, fruit-
 
 MOU 
 
 I 685 ] 
 
 MOU 
 
 fill and cultivaterl. Moses says, (Deut. xxxii. 13.) that 
 the rocks of its mountains produce oil and honey, 
 by a figure of speech, which elegantly shows their 
 fertility. He says, (Dcut. viii. 7, [).) that in the moun- 
 tains of Palestine spring excellent fountains; and 
 that their bowels yield iron and l)rass. He desired 
 earnestly of the Lord, that he might see the fine 
 nioiuitains of Judea and Libanus, Deut. iii. 25. The 
 most famous mountains mentioned in Scripture are, 
 Seir in Idumea — Horeb, near Sinai, in Arabia Pe- 
 trrea — Sinai, in Arabia Petrsea — Hor, in Idnmea — 
 GiLBOA, south of the valley of Jezreel — Neko, a 
 mountain of Abarim — Tabor, in Lower Galilee — 
 E.v-GEDi, near the Dead sea — Libanus and Anti- 
 i.iBANL's — Gerizim, ill Saiiiaria — Ebai,, near to Ge- 
 riziin — Gilead, beyond Jordan — Amalek, in Ephra- 
 iui — MoRiAH, where the temple was built — Paran, 
 in Arabia Petra?a — Gahash, in Ephraiiii — Olivet 
 — PisGAH, beyond Jordan — Hermon, beyond Jordan, 
 near Libanus — Carmel, near the Mediterranean 
 sea, between Dora and Ptolemais. There are many 
 other mountains, famous for having cities on them ; 
 as Hebron, Samaria, Nazareth, Gibeon, Shophim, 
 Shilo, &c. 
 
 The Hebrews frequently give to mountains the 
 epithet eternal, because they arc as old as the world 
 itself, Gen. xlix. 26 ; Deut. xxxiii. 15. They w ere 
 sonietiines retired to as places of securitj\ 
 
 Mountains and their pro])erties are frequently ob- 
 jects of comparison in Scripture — their elevation, 
 their stability, the breadth of their bases, &c. Many 
 extraordinary events narrated in sacred history, took 
 place on mountains, which seem to form, by their 
 very structure and appearance, proper places of 
 seclusion. 
 
 MOURNING. The Hebrews, at the death of 
 their friends and relations, gave all possible demon- 
 strations of grief and mourning. They wept, tore 
 their clothes, smote their breasts, fasted, and lay upon 
 the ground, went barefooted, pulled their hair and 
 beards, or cut them, and made incisions on their 
 breasts, or tore them v/ith their nails. Lev. xix. 28 ; 
 xxi. 5 ; Jer. xvi. 6. The time of mourning was 
 commonly seven days ; but it was lengthened or 
 shortened according to circumstances. That for 
 Moses and Aaron was prolonged to thirty days, which 
 Josephus says, ought to be sufficient for any wise 
 man, on the loss of his nearest relation, or his dear- 
 est friend. 
 
 During the time of their mourning, the near rela- 
 tions of tlie deceased continued sitting in their houses, 
 and ate on the ground. The food they took was 
 thought unclean, and even themselves were judged 
 im|)ure: "Their sacrifices shall be unto them as the 
 bread of mourners; all that cat thereof shall be fiol- 
 luted," Hos. ix. 4. Their faces were covered, and in 
 all that time they could not apply themselves to any 
 occupation, nor read the book of the law, nor say 
 their usual prayers. They did not dress themselves, 
 nor make their beds, nor uncover their heads, nor 
 shave themselves, nor cut their nails, nor go into the 
 bath, nor salute any body. Nobody spoke to them 
 unless they spoke first. Their friends commonly 
 went to visit and comfort them, bringing them food, 
 according to Prov. xxxi. G, 7: "Give strong drink 
 unto him that is ready to perish, and wine to those 
 that be of heavy heart. Let him drink and forget his 
 poverty, (or affliction,) and remember his misery no 
 more." (Compare Baptis:\i for the dead.) Ancient- 
 ly, they set bread and meat at the tombs of the dead, 
 that the poor might have the benefit of it, Tob. iv. 18 ; 
 
 Ecclus. XXX. 18 ; Baruch vi. 26, 31. They also went 
 up to the roof, or iipon the platform of their houses, 
 to bewail their mislbrtune: "Through all the cities 
 of Moab (says Isaiah) they shall gird themselves with 
 sackcloth : on the tops of their houses, and in their 
 streets, every one shall howl, weeping abimdantiv," 
 chap. XV. 3. And (xxii. 1.) speaking" to Jerusalem, 
 he says, " What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly 
 gone u|) to the house-tojjs ?" 
 
 They hired women to weep and mourn, and also 
 persons to j)lay on instruments, at the funerals of the 
 Hebrews. Persons in years were carri d to their 
 graves by sound of triinii)et, as Servius says, and 
 younger people by the sound of flutes. In Malt. ix. 
 23, we observe a company of jjlayers on the flute, at 
 the funeral of a girl of twelve years of age. All that 
 met a funeral procession, or a company cf mourners, 
 out of civility were to join them, and to mingle their 
 tears with those who wept. Paul seems to allude to 
 this custom when he says, " Rejoice with them that 
 do rejoice, and weep with them that weep," Rom. 
 xii. 15. And our Saviour in the gospel, "The men 
 of this generation are like unto children sitting in the 
 market-place, and calling one to another, and saying, 
 We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; 
 we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept," 
 Luke vii. 32; Matt. xi. 17. 
 
 When our Saviour was led away to his crucifixion, 
 the women of Jerusalem followed him, making great 
 lamentations, (Luke xxiii. 27.) and when the daughter 
 of Jephthah was devoted by her father, she went 
 with her companions upon the mountains, to lament 
 her leaving the world without being married, Jiulg. 
 xi. 38. In i'alestine and Syria, the women go out 
 into the burying-places at certain times, there to 
 mourn for the death of their near relations. 
 
 The mourning habit among the Hebrews was not 
 fixed either by law or custom. AVe only find in 
 Scripture, that they used to tear their garments — a 
 custom still observed ; but they tear a small part 
 merely, and for form's sake. Anciently, in times of 
 mourning, they alothed themselves in sackcloth, or 
 hair cloth, that is, in coarse or ill made clothes, of 
 brown or black stufi\ At this day, that they may not 
 appear ridiculous, they wear mourning after t!ie 
 fashion of the countries where they live, without be- 
 ing constrained to it by any law. 
 
 Mouse, or Rat, in Hebrew -\33;', Jlkbar, especially 
 FiELD-MousE. By many this 
 word is thought to denote the 
 Jerboa, an animal described by 
 Bruce, and which is classed by 
 the Arabs under the Fd .'Ikbar, 
 or the largest of the Mus monia- 
 nus. The accompanying en- 
 graving will alford a good idea 
 of this curious creature, which is 
 very dilTercnt from the common 
 mouse. But the Jerboa is more 
 probably the animal called in the 
 English translation conej/. (See 
 Coney.) The word rendered 
 mouse probably includes various species of these ani- 
 mals, some of which were eaten. Mosrs (Lev. xi. 
 29.) declared it to be unclean, which implies that it 
 was sometimes eaten ; avd Isaiah (Ixvi. 17.) re- 
 proaches the Jews with this practice. 3Iice made 
 great havcc in the fields af the Philistines, after that 
 people had taken tlie ark of the Lord, (1 Sam. v. 6, 
 &c.) which induced them to send it back with mice 
 and cmerods of goiil, as an atonement for the irrev-
 
 MUL 
 
 [ 6S6 ] 
 
 MUS 
 
 erence committed, and to avert the vengeance that 
 pursued them. The Assyrians, who besieged Be- 
 thulia, when they saw the Hebrews come out of the 
 ciry in order of battle, compared them to mice, say- 
 ing, " See, the mice are coming forth out of their 
 holes," Judith xiv. 12. Vulgate. 
 
 310UTH. It has been observed, on the article 
 Adore, that to kiss one's hand, and to put it to one's 
 mouth, was a sign of adoration. The Hebrews, by 
 Avay of pleonasm, often say, He opened his mouth, 
 and spoke, sung, cursed, &c. Also, that God opens 
 the mouth of the prophets, puts words into their 
 mouth, bids them speak what he inspires them with. 
 To inquire at the mouth of the Lord, is to consult 
 him, Josh. ix. 14. God says, that he will be a mouth 
 to Moses and Aaron, Exod. iv. 15. "We will call the 
 damsel, and inquire at her mouth ;" let us know Re- 
 bekah's sentiments of the matter. Gen. xxiv. 57. " Let 
 us hear what is in the mouth of Ahithophel," (2 
 Sam. xvii.) let us consult him about this aiFair. 
 
 To open the mouth, is often used emphatically 
 for speaking aloud, boldly, freely : (1 Sam. ii. 1.) "My 
 mouth is enlarged — opened — over my enemies," says 
 Hannah, the mother of Samuel. (Comp. Ezek. xxiv. 
 27 ; Isa. Ivii. 4.) In a contrary sense, to shut the 
 "mouth, to silence, is a mark of humiliation and afflic- 
 tion, Ps. cvii. 42 ; xxxviii. 14. "To set their mouth 
 against the heavens," (Ps. Ixxiii. 9.) is when they 
 speak arrogantly, insolently and blasphemouslv of 
 God. 
 
 God directs that his law should be always in the 
 mouth of his people ; i. e. that the Israehtes com- 
 mune frequently with one another about it. He for- 
 bids them so much as to pronounce the name of 
 strange gods, Exod. xxiii. 1.3. To speak mouth to 
 mouth, is a Hebraism, which we render by face to 
 face. Numb. xii. 8. Heb. "With one mouth," is with 
 common consent, Dan. iii. 51. To observe the mouth 
 of the king, is to hear his words with attention, 
 Eccles. viii. 2. To walk by the mouth of any one, is 
 to obey his orders. To transgi-ess against the mouth 
 of the Lord, is to disobey his commands. You shall 
 be justified by your own mouth ; you shall be con- 
 demned out of your own mouth : by the good or ill 
 use of your tongue. 
 
 Hosea says, (vi. 5.) the Lord has put the people to 
 death by the words of his mouth ; i. e. he foretold 
 death (or captivity) to them by his prophets. Isaiah 
 says of the Messiah, (xi. 4.) " He shall smite the earth 
 with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his 
 lips shall lie slay the wicked." These expressions 
 denote the absolute power of God, and that it re- 
 quires only one breath to destroy his enemies — per- 
 haps i)y his judicial sentence. The same prophet 
 says, (xlix. 2.) " He hath made my mouth like a sharp 
 sword." Thtse ways of speaking energetically ex- 
 press the sovereign authority of God. " From the 
 abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh ; (Matt, 
 xii. 34.) i. e. ou- discourses are the echo of the 
 sentiments of ouc hearts. It is not what enters 
 into the mouth tha, defileth the man ; it is neither 
 meat nor dnnk thai makes us unclean in the sio-ht 
 of God. "^ 
 
 MULBERRY-TREE. The word translated 7nul- 
 bernj-tree signifies hteially weeping, and indicates, 
 therefore, some tree which distils balsam or gum. 
 Tbe particular species is not known, 2 Sam. v. 23, 
 24; 1 Chr. xiv. 14, 15. In Ps. Ixxviii. 7, it is said 
 tiiat among other plagues with which the Lord vis- 
 ited Egypt, he destroyed their vines with hail, and 
 their mulberry-trees with frost. The English trans- 
 
 lation reads sycamore -trees ; which are common in 
 Egypt. They have a leaf nearly resembling that of 
 a mulberry-tree, and fruit something like figs ; hence 
 the word sycamore, from sycos, a fig or fig-tree, and 
 morns, a mulberiy-tree. See Sycamore. 
 
 MULE, the oftspring of two animals of different 
 species, as a horse and an ass. 
 
 There is no probability that the Jews bred mules, 
 because it was forbidden to couple creatures of dif- 
 ferent species, Lev. xix. 19. But they were not for- 
 bidden to use them. Thus we may observe, espe- 
 cially after David's time, that mules, male and 
 female, were common among the Hebrews : formerly 
 they used only male and female asses, 2 Sam. xiii. 
 29 ; xviii. 9 ; 1 Kings i. 33, 38, 44 ; x. 25 ; xviii. 
 5, &c. 
 
 Some have thought that Anah, son of Zibeon, of 
 the posterity of Seir, being in the desert, found out 
 the manner of breeding mules. This opinion was 
 much espoused by the ancients. But Jerome, who 
 notices it in his Hebraical questions on Genesis, 
 translates, " that Anah found hot waters." The Syri- 
 ac says, a fountain ; but rather it signifies a people 
 whom Anah surprised and defeated. See Anah. 
 
 MURDER. This crime among the Hebrews was 
 always punished by death, but involuntary homi- 
 cide was only punished by banishment. Cities of 
 refuge were appointed for involuntary manslaughter, 
 whither the slayer might retire, and continue in safety 
 till the death of the liigh-priest, Numb. xxxv. 28. 
 Then the offender was at liberty to return to his own 
 house, -if he pleased. A murderer was put to death 
 without remission : the kinsman of the mm-dered 
 person might kill him with impunity. Money could 
 not redeem his life ; he was dragged away even from 
 the altar, if he had taken refuge there. 
 
 When a dead body was found in the fields, and 
 the murderer was unknown, Moses commanded that 
 the elders and judges of the neighboring places 
 should resort to the spot, Dent. xxi. 1 — 8. The ci- 
 ders of the city nearest to it were to take a heifer, 
 which had never yet borne the yoke, and were to 
 lead it into some rude and uncultivated place, which 
 had not been ploughed or sowed, where they were 
 to cut its throat ; the priests of the Lord, with 
 the elders and magistrates of the city, were to come 
 near the dead body, and washing their hands over 
 the heifer that had been slain, they were to say : 
 " Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our 
 eyes seen it shed. Lord, be favorable to thy people 
 Israel, and impute not unto us this blood wliich has 
 been shed in the midst of our country." This cere- 
 mony may inform us what idea they had of the 
 heinousness of murder, and how much horror they 
 conceived at this crime ; also their fear that God might 
 avenge it on the whole country ; and the pollution 
 that the country was supposed to contract, by the 
 blood spilt in it, unless it were exi)iated or avenged 
 on him who had occasioned it, if he could be discov- 
 ered. (Comp. Psalm Ixxiii. 13, also the action of 
 Pilate, Matt, xxvii. 4.) 
 
 MURMURING, a complaint made for wrong sup- 
 posed to have been received. Paul forbids murmur- 
 ing, (1 Cor. X. 10.) as did also the wise man, Wisd. 
 i. 11. God severely punished the Hebrews who mur- 
 mured in the desert, and was more than once on the 
 point of forsaking them, and even of destroying them, 
 had not Moses appeased his anger by earnest prayer, 
 Numb. xi. 33, 34 ; xii. xiv. 30, 31 ; xvi. 3 ; xxi. 4—6 ; 
 Ps. Ixxviii. 30. 
 
 MUSIC The ancient Hebrews had a srreat taste
 
 MUSIC 
 
 [ 687 ] 
 
 MUSIC 
 
 for music, which they used in their religious services, 
 in their public and private rejoicings, at their feasts, 
 and even in their mournings. We have in Scripture 
 canticles of joy, of thanksgiving, of praise, of mourn- 
 ing ; epithalamiums, or songs composed on occasion 
 of marriage ; as the Song of Songs, and Psalm xlv. 
 which arc thought to have been composed to cele- 
 brate the marriage of Solomon. Also mournful 
 songs, as those of David on the deaths of Saul and 
 Aljner, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah on the 
 destruction of Jerusalem. Also Psalms to celebrate 
 the accession of a prince to his crown, as Psalm Ixii. 
 Songs of victory, triumph and gratulation, as that 
 which Moses sung after passing the Red sea, that of 
 Deborah and Barak, and others. The book of 
 Psalms is an ample collection of different pieces for 
 music, composed on all sorts of subjects by inspired 
 authors. 
 
 Music is very ancient. Moses says tlxit Jubal, who 
 lived before the deluge, was the father of those who 
 played on the kinnor, and the uggctb, Gen. iv. 21. 
 The kinnor manifestly signifies the harp, and uggab 
 the ancient organ ; answering to the Pandean pipes. 
 Laban complains that his son-in-law Jacob had left 
 him, without bidding him farewell, without giving 
 him an opportunity of sending his family away 
 " with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with 
 harp." Moses, having passed over the Red sea, com- 
 posed a song, and sung it with the Israelite men, 
 while iVIiriam, his sister, sung it with dancing, and 
 playing on instruments, at the head of the women. 
 He caused silver trumpets to bemade, to be soimded 
 at solemn sacrifices, and on religious festivals. Da- 
 vid, who had a great taste for music, seeing that the 
 Levites were numerous, and not employed, as for- 
 inerly, in carrying the boards, veils an(l vessels of 
 the tabernacle, its abode being fixed at Jerusalem, 
 ap[)ointed a great part of them to sing and to play 
 on instruments in the temple. 
 
 Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun were chiefs of the 
 music of the tabernacle under David, and of the 
 temple under Solomon. Asaph had four sons, Je- 
 duthun six, and Heman fourteen. These twenty -four 
 Levites, sons of the three great masters of the temple 
 music, were at the head of twenty -four bands of mu- 
 sicians, which served in the temple by turns. Their 
 number there was always gi'eat, but especially at the 
 chief solemnities. They were ranged in order 
 about the altar of bunit-sacrifices. Those of the 
 family of Kohath were in the middle, those of Me- 
 rari on the left, and those of Gershom on the 
 right hand. As the whole business of their lives 
 was to learn and to practise music, it must be sup- 
 posed that they understood it well ; whether it were 
 vocal or instrumental. 
 
 The kings also had their particular music. Asaph 
 was chief master of music to David. In the temple, 
 and in the ceremonies of religion, female musicians 
 were admitted as well as male ; they generally were 
 daughters of the Levites. Ezra, in his enumeration 
 of those whom he brought back with him from the 
 captivity, reckons 200 singing men and singing 
 women. In 1 Chron. xv. 20, the Hebrew says, that 
 Zechariah, Aziel and Shemiramoth presided over 
 the seventh band of music, which was that of the 
 young women. 
 
 As to the nature of their music, we can judge of it 
 only by conjecture, because it has been long lost. 
 Probably, it was a mixture of several voices, of which 
 all simg together in the same tune, each according 
 to his strength and skill ; without musical counter- 
 
 point, or those different parts, and that combination 
 of several voices and tunes, which constitute harmo- 
 ny in our concerts, or compounded music. Proi)ably, 
 also, the voices were generally accompanied by in- 
 strumental music. liut if we niay draw any conclu- 
 sions in favor of their music Irom its effects, its 
 magnificence, its majesty, and the lofty sentiments 
 contained in their songs, we must allow it great ex- 
 cellence. David, by his' skill on the harp, dispelled 
 the melancholy vapors of Saul. Subsequently, Saul 
 having sent messengers to apprehend David atNaioth 
 in Ramah, the messengers no sooner heard the sound 
 of the instruments of the prophets, than they were 
 transported (as it were) by a divine enthusiasm, to 
 engage in the service. Saul sent a second and a 
 third company after them, who did the same ; and 
 at last came thither himself, but was equally seized 
 by the divine Spirit, and began to experience pro- 
 phetic sensations even before he came to the place 
 where the prophets were assembled. The prophet 
 Elisha, finding himself agitated, caused a minstrel to 
 play before him, to calm his spirits into a temper fit 
 to receive the divine Spirit. 
 
 The musical instruments of the Hebrews are, per- 
 haps, what has been hitheito least understood of any 
 thmg in Scripture. Calmet considers them under 
 three classes : (1.) stringed instruments ; (2.) wuid in- 
 struments, or divers kinds of flutes ; (3.) different 
 kinds of drums. 
 
 Of struiged instruments, are the 7iabel, and the 
 psaltery, or psanneterim, Dan. iii. 5. These three 
 names apparently signify neai-ly, or altogether, the 
 same thmg. They considerably resembled the hai-p ; 
 the ancient cythara, or the ashur, or the ten-stringed 
 instrument ; both were nearly of the figiu-e a : but the 
 nablum, or psaltery, was hollow toward the top, and 
 played on toward the bottom ; whereas the cythara, 
 or ten-stringed instrument, was played on on the up- 
 per part, and was hollow below : both were touched 
 with a small bow, or fret, or by the fingers. The kin- 
 nor, or ancient lyre, had sometimes sLx, sometimes nine 
 strings, strung from top to bottom ; and sounded by 
 means of a hollow belly, over which they passed : 
 they were touched with a small bow, or fret, or by 
 the finger. The ancient symphony was nearly the 
 same as our viol. The sambnc was a strmged instru- 
 ment, which was nearly the same, it is thought, as 
 the modern psalterj\ 
 
 We discover in Scripture various soils of trumpets 
 and flutes ; of which it is diflicult to ascertain the 
 forms. The most remarkable of this kind is the an- 
 cient organ, in Hebrew vggab ; the ancient pipe of 
 Pan, now common among us. 
 
 Drums were of many kinds. The Hebrew- toph, 
 whence comes tympanum, is taken for all kinds of 
 drums or timbrels. The zahelim is commonly trans- 
 lated by the LXX and the Vulgate, cymbalo ; uistrii- 
 ments of brass, of a very clattering sound, made in 
 the form of a cap, or hat, and struck one against the 
 other, while held one in each hand. Later inteqireters 
 by zahelim understand the sistrum ; an instrument 
 anciently verj' common in Egvpt. It was nearly of 
 an oval figure, and crossed by brass wires, which 
 jingled upon being shaken, while then- ends were se- 
 cured from falling out of the frame, by their beads 
 being larger than the orifice which contained the 
 Avire. 
 
 The Hebrew mentions an instrument called shali- 
 shim, which the LXX translate cymbala ; but Jerome 
 sistra. It is found only 1 Sam. xviii. 6. The term 
 shcdishim suggests that it was of three sides, (trian-
 
 MUS 
 
 [ 688 ] 
 
 MUSTARD 
 
 gular,) and it might be that ancient ti-iaugular instru- 
 ment, which carrying on each side several rings, they 
 were jingled by a stick, and gave a sharp, rattling- 
 sound. The original also mentions mtzilothaiin, which 
 were of brass, and of a sharp sound. This word is 
 usually translated cymbala : some, however, render it 
 tintinahula, little bells, which is countenanced by 
 Zechariah xiv. 20, which sa3's, the time shall come 
 when on the meziloth of the horses shall be written, 
 "Holiness to the Lord!" We know that bells were 
 anciently worn by horses trained for war, to accustom 
 them to noise. 
 
 MUSTARD-Tree. The description which our 
 Lord has given of the sinapi, or mustard-tree, in Matt, 
 xiii. 31, 32, and the parallel passages, has given rise 
 to much conjecture. His words are, "A grain of 
 mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his 
 field ; which indeed is the least of all seeds : but 
 when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and 
 becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and 
 lodge in the branches thereof." In order to account 
 for the discrepancy which exists between this repre- 
 sentation and the character of the siiiapis nigra, or 
 common mustard plan it lias been supposed that iliis 
 may, in the more favorable climates of the East, ex- 
 ceed by far, in its dimensions and strength, that which 
 is found in these colder countries. Lighlfoot cites a 
 passage from the Talmud, in which a mustard-tree 
 is said to have been possessed of branches sufficiently 
 large to cover a tent ; and Scheuchzer describes and 
 represents a species of the plant several feet high, and 
 possessing a tree-like appearance. 
 
 In support of these conjectures. Dr. A. Clarke re- 
 marks, " Some soils, being more luxuriant than others, 
 and the climate much warmer, raise the same i)lant 
 to a size and perfection far beyond what a poorer 
 soil, or a colder climate, can possilily do." Herodo- 
 tus says, he has seen wheat and barley, in the country 
 of Babylon, which carried a blade full four fingers' 
 breadth, and that the iTiillet and sesamum grew to an 
 incredible size. The doctor states, that he has him- 
 self seen a field of common cabbages in one of the 
 Norman isles, each of which was from seven to nine 
 feet in height ; and one in the garden of a fiiend, 
 which grew beside an apple-tree, tliough the latitude 
 of the place was only about 48 deg. 18 min. nortli, 
 Wd^Jiftccn feet high. These facts, and several others, 
 which might be adduced, fully confirm. Dr. Clarke 
 thinks, the possibility of what our Lord says of the 
 mustard-tree, however incredible such a thing may 
 appear to those who arc acquainted only with the 
 productions of the northern regions and cold climates. 
 
 These ar^^ striking specimens of the great difference 
 which is found to o!)tain among productions of the 
 same species in different climates and countries; but, 
 then, their distinctive char.acter remains the same ; 
 whereas the reference in our Lord's parable implies 
 so essential a difference as, on these principles, to 
 convert an iT^'rbaceous plant into a tree, which de- 
 stroys the identity of its characfer. 
 
 For thepurpos;; of removing these difficulties, Mr. 
 Frost some time since pul>lished a work, in which he 
 maintains that the sinrtpi of the New Testament docs 
 not signify anysjjccies of the genus we now designate 
 sinapis, l)ut a species of the phi/lolftcra. We shall 
 transcribe some ]>assages from his work, and leave 
 the reader to form his own judgment as to the con- 
 clusive nature of the arguments. 
 
 " The seed of an herbaceous plant, for such is the 
 sinapis nigra, or common mustard, cannot possibly 
 produce a tree ; and however great a degree of alti- 
 
 tude and circumference the stem of common mustard 
 might attain, yet it could not afford support for 'fowls 
 of the air,' even allowing it to grow to the height of 
 eight feet, which it never does. 
 
 " Mustard seed is not the smallest of all seeds, as 
 the translation implies, because those of foxglove {di- 
 gitalis purpurea) and tobacco [nicotiana tabacum) 
 are infinitely smaller ; these are herbaceous as well 
 as mustard, [siiiapis nigra,) and even granting for a 
 moment that the common mustard seed was intended, 
 the above evidence would annul the validity of the 
 translation. This discordancy has been endeavored 
 to be reconciled by a reference to sinapis erucoides, 
 or shrubby mustard ; but even this has not the 
 smallest seed : and allowing, for the sake of argument, 
 that this shrub could, by luxuriance of soil and cli- 
 mate, increase in height and circumference, and 
 throw off large branches, the size of the seed would 
 remain the same, and the smallest of all seeds would 
 not apply." 
 
 Among other statements made, as to the size to 
 which the mustard plant will sometimes grow, Mr. 
 Frost notices one writer, who observes that he saw 
 one so large that it became a great bush, and was 
 higher than the tallest man he had ever seen, and that 
 he had raised it from seed. This our author readily 
 conceives to be true, but does not consider it as at all 
 explanatory of the subject, because an annual plant, 
 such as sinapis ?i?g'?-ais, cannot become even a shrub, 
 much less a tree. Having thus endeavored to prove 
 that the mustard seed of the New" Testament is not 
 procured from sinapis nigra, or any species of that 
 genus, he next proceeds to show the identity that 
 exists between kokkon sinapcos and phytolacca dode- 
 candra, which lie believes to be the dendron mega 
 of the Sci'iptures : " Phytolacca dodecandra grows 
 abundantly in Palestine ; it has the smallest seed of 
 any tree, and obtains as great, or even greater, alti- 
 tude than any othei' in that country, of which it is a 
 native. 
 
 "Common mustard is both used for culinary and 
 medicinal ])urposes ; so are several species of phyto- 
 lacca. It is rather remarkable, that the acridity of 
 the latter induced Linnanis to })lace that genus in the 
 natural order Piperitrp, whilst De Jussieu referred it 
 to the family Atriplices, which certainly bears out its 
 edible and acrid j)roperties. The North Americans call 
 Phytolacca dodecandra (commonly known in European 
 gardens by the name of American pokeweed) wild 
 mustai-fl. Muri-ay, in his Jlpparcdvs Medicaminum, 
 enters into a long history of the excellent quality of 
 the young shoots ; but remarks, that vvlien mature, 
 they cannot be eaten with im])unity. Linr.feus, in bis 
 Materia Medica, refers to the same circumstances. 
 Its being edible, may be inferred from the Greek term 
 lachanon, which occurs Malt. xiii. 32, and Mark iv. 32. 
 
 "Mustard seed is api)lied externally, as a Ftimu- 
 lant, in the form of a sinai)ism ; and the foliage of 
 Phytolacca dodecandra was used as an outward appli- 
 cation to cancerous tumors, 
 
 "Of the acrid qualities of phytolacca dodecandra 
 there can be no doubt; so that there appears a vei-y 
 strong analogy between the effects and i)roperties of 
 the general siiiapis and phytolacca ; besides which, I 
 have ascertained the existence of a fourth ultimate 
 chemical element, nitrogen, in the seed of a species 
 of Phytolacca. Nitrogen was said only to exist in 
 plants belonging to the natural orders Cruciatce and 
 Fungi, in the former of which the common mustard, 
 sinapis nigra, is jilaced." 
 
 Rlr. Frost then proceeds to sum uj) his argument,
 
 MY« 
 
 [ 659 ] 
 
 MYSTERY 
 
 showing that the phylolacca dodecandra is the tree 
 mentioned in the Gospels from the following circum- 
 stances : — 
 
 "Because it is one of the largest trees indigenous 
 to the country where the observation was made ; be- 
 cause it has the smallest seed of anj^ tree in that 
 counn-y ; because it is both used as a culinary vege- 
 table and medicinal stimulant, which counnon nius- 
 tard is also; because a species of the same genus is 
 well known in the United States, by tlie term wild 
 mustard ; because the ultimate chemical elements of 
 the seed sinapis nigra and phytolacca dodecandra are 
 the same." 
 
 In conclusion, the author adds the generic charac- 
 ters of the two vegetables, by which they arc seen, 
 botanically, to be very distinct families. 
 
 We must here express our regret that Mr. Frost 
 should have thought it unnecessary to furnish a prop- 
 er authentication, from the writings of accredited 
 eastern travellers, of the various statements he has 
 made relative to the phytolacca dodecandra. 
 
 MYNDUS, a maritime city of Caria, 1 Mac. xv.23. 
 
 iMYRA, a to\vn of Lycia, where Paul embarked 
 for Rome, on board a ship of Alexandria, Acts 
 xxvii. 5. 
 
 MYKRH, Myrrua, a gum yielded by a tree com- 
 mon in Arabia : which is about five cubits high ; its 
 wood hard, and its trunk thorny. Scripture notices 
 two kinds, one which runs of itself, without incision ; 
 the other a kind which was employed in ])erfumes, 
 and in embalming, to preserve the body from cor- 
 ruption. The Magi, who came from the East to 
 worship Christ, offered to him myrrh. Matt. ii. 11. 
 
 In the Gospel (Mark xv. 23.) is mentioned myrrh 
 and wine, or wine mingled with ni) rrh, which was 
 offered to Jesus previous to ins crucifixion, and in- 
 tended to deaden in him the anguish of his sufier- 
 ings. It was a custom among the Hebrews to give 
 such kind of stupefying liquors to persons who were 
 about to be caj)itally punished, Prov. xxxi. 6. Some 
 have thought that the myrrhed wine of Mark is the 
 same as the " wine mingled with gall " of Matthew ; 
 but others distinguish them. They suppose tiie 
 myrrhed wine was given to our Lord from a senti- 
 ment of sympathy, to jjrevent him from feeling too 
 sensibly the pain of his sufferings; while the pota- 
 tion mingled with gall, of which he would not drink, 
 was given from cruelty. Others, however, think 
 tliat Matthew,writing in Syriac, used the word marra, 
 which signifies either myrrh, bitterness or gall ; 
 which the Greek translator took in the sense of gall, 
 and Mark in the sense of myrrh. Wine mizigled 
 with myrrh was highly esteemed by the ancients. 
 
 JMVRTIil'^, a beautiful evergreen tree, growing 
 wild throughout the southern parts of Elurojie, north 
 of Africa, and temperate parts of Asia ; principally 
 on the sea-coast. The leaves are of a rich and jjoI- 
 ished evergreen ; the flowers white, with sometimes 
 a tinge of red externally; and the berries are of the 
 size of a small pea, violet or whitish, sweetish, and 
 with the aromatic flavor which distinguishes the 
 whole y)lant. These are eaten in the Levant, Isa. 
 xli. 19^ Iv. 13; Zech. i. 8; x. 11. *R. 
 
 MYSIA, a ])rovince of Asia Minor, bounded north 
 by the Propontis; west by the Egean sea ; south by 
 Lydia ; and east by Bithyuia. Paul preached in 
 this country, Acts xvi. 7, 8. 
 
 MYSTERY, a secret. All false religions have 
 their mysteries ; that is, certain things kept jn-ivate, 
 not to be dividged, or exposed indifferently to all ; 
 but known only to the initiated. The pagans had 
 
 their mysteries, but they were mysteries of iniquity; 
 shameful mysteries, concealed because their ex- 
 posure would have rendered their religion contempti- 
 ble, ridiculous and odious. If men of sense and 
 honor had known what was practised in the mys- 
 teries of certain false deities, they would have ab- 
 horred them. (SeeBibl.Repository, ii. p.261.) Scrip- 
 ture often speaks of the infamous mysteries of 
 Astarte, Adonis and Priapiis, wherein a thousand 
 infamous actions were ])raetised, and called religion. 
 Baruch speaks of the prostitutions practised in honor 
 of Venus at Babylon, chap. vi. 42, 43. The whole 
 religion of the Egyptians was mysterious; but these 
 pretended mysteries were invented subsequently, to 
 conceal the folly and vanity of it. They could not 
 vindicate, for example, the adoration paid to brutes, 
 but by saying that their gods had sometimes assumed 
 these shapes. In the Maccabees, mention is made 
 of the mysteries of Bacchus, of the ivy insprinted on 
 every one that was initiated therein, jmd of the gar- 
 lands of iv}' worn by those who assisted at these 
 ceremonies, 1 Mac. vi. 7 ; 2 Mac. vi. 7. Asa, king 
 of Judah, would not sufler the queen his mother to 
 continue to preside over the mysteries of Priapus, 
 1 Kings XV. 13. No doubt but they gave mysterious 
 and secret reasons for the worship of Moloch, and 
 for offering hun::an sacrifices to him. It was, perhaps, 
 a perverse imitation of Abraham's intended sacrifice 
 of Isaac. The Phcenieiaus assigned a reason, not 
 unlike this, for their cruel sacrifices to Hercules and 
 to Saturn. 
 
 Taking the term mysteiy in another sense for typ- 
 ical, or predictive, we may say that the religion of 
 the Jews was full of mysteries ; the whole i r'' n 
 was a mystery, according to Augustin. Itrepres...^.,od 
 the people of Christ, and the Christian religion. 
 Whatever hajipened to them, whatever they prac- 
 tised, all that was commanded, or forbidden them, 
 v.'as figurative, according to Paul. Their sacrifices, 
 their priesthood, their purifications, their abstinence 
 from certain sorts of food, included mysteries which 
 have been explained by Christ and his apostles. 
 The passage over the Red sea symbolized baptism. 
 The brazen serpent prefigured the cross and death 
 of Christ. Sarah and Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael, de- 
 noted the two covenants. The tabernacle and its 
 vessels hinted at the worship of God in the Christian 
 church. The priesthood of Aaron has been admi- 
 rably explained by Paul of the j)riesthood of Christ ; 
 who himself discovered the mystery of Jonah's 
 being three days in the whale's belly ; that of the 
 manna which represented his body and blood ; and 
 that of the union of Adam and Eve. The reproba- 
 tion of the Jews, and the adoption of the Gentiles, 
 were intimated in a huiulred passages of Scripture ; 
 by Hagar and Sarah, by Ishmael and Isaac, by 
 Epbraim and Klanasseh, by Saul and David, by Ai)sa- 
 lom and Solomon, and even by Moses and Aaron, who 
 were not jjermitted to enter the land of promise. 
 
 The pro])hecies concerning the person, the com- 
 ing, the character, the death and jiassion of the ]\Ies- 
 siah, appear in a multitude of jdaces in the Old 
 Testament; but Hguratively and mysteriously. TJie 
 actions, the words, the lives of the prophets, were 
 a continual and general ])rophecy, concealed from 
 the people, and sometimes from the prophets them- 
 selves, and not explained and discovered till after 
 the birth and death of Christ. These mysteries, too, 
 were dispensed so wisely, that the first served as a 
 foundation for the second, and the succeeding illus- 
 trated those that ]>receded. Daniel is much more
 
 MYSTERY 
 
 [ 690 
 
 MYSTERY 
 
 explicit than the earlier prophets ; Haggai, Zecha- 
 riah and Malachi speak of the coming, of the death, 
 and of the priesthood of Jesus Christ, and of the 
 calling of the Gentiles, more distinctly than the 
 prophets before them. 
 
 The word mystery is also taken for secrets of a 
 higher order, supernatural ; for those the knowledge 
 of which God has reserved to himself, or has some- 
 times communicated to his prophets and friends. Dan- 
 iel gives to God the name of" revealer of mysteries ;" 
 he tells Nebuchadnezzar, that only God who reigns in 
 heaven can reveal hidden mysteries, things to come. 
 
 Our Saviour says to his disciples, (Matt. vi. 7.) 
 that they are peculiarly happy, because God has re- 
 vealed to them the mysteries of the kingdom of 
 heaven. Paul often speaks of the mystery of the 
 gospel, of the mystery of the cross of Christ, of the 
 mystery of Christ which was unknown to former 
 ages, of the mystery of the resurrection, &c. Mys- 
 tic Babylon, the great harlot, had written on her 
 forehead, mystery, to show that she represented 
 not any particular woman, but a corrupted and idol- 
 atrous people. 
 
 The mysteries of the Christian religion, as the in- 
 carnation of the Word, his hypostalical union with 
 his human nature, his miraculous birth, death, res- 
 urrection, ascension, his grace, and the manner of its 
 operation in our hearts, the resurrection of the dead, 
 &c. are objects of faith to all true Christians. 
 
 These, then, were called mysteries, the doctrine 
 of the gospel, the tenets of Christianity, and the 
 Christian sacraments; not only because they includ- 
 ed secrets which had not been known, if the Son 
 of God and liis Holy Spirit had not revealed them, 
 but also because they were not opened indifferently 
 to every body, according to the advice of Christ to 
 his aposdes, " Give not that which is holy unto the 
 dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine." 
 Preachers in their sermons, and ecclesiastical writ- 
 ers in their books, did not fully express themselves 
 on all the mysteries. They said enough to be un- 
 derstood by the faithful ; while to the pagans they 
 were secrets, mysteries. This precaution continued 
 long in the church. 
 
 The Greek word mystery is expressed by the 
 Latin word sacramentum ; denoting the sacraments 
 and mysteries of the Christian church. "God has 
 made known unto us the mystery of his will ;" his 
 incarnation, his coming, his gospel. 
 
 So far Calmet: but the word mystery has been so 
 I'epeatedly discussed, and the import of it, apparent- 
 ly, so often perverted, that it demands a few addi- 
 lional remarks. What follows is from Mr. Taylor. 
 
 We never hear the word mystery, v/ithout thinking 
 of the old English term maisteries ; c. g. the mais- 
 terie of the Merchant Taylors, the maisterie of the 
 Cordonniers, (cordwainers,) and of other arts and 
 trades. In fact, the terra is still currotitly used in 
 the city of London : "the art and mystery of," occurs 
 in the indentures of apprenticeship, used in most 
 branches of business ; meaning, that which may be 
 a difficulty, or even an impossibility, to a stranger, 
 to a novice, to a person only beginning to consider 
 the subject, but which is perfectly easy and intelUgi- 
 ble to a master of the business; whose j)ractice, and 
 whose understanding, have l)een long cultivated by 
 habit and ajiplication. Or mystery may be defined 
 a secret : and a secret will always remain such to 
 those who use no endeavors to discovei' it. Wc often 
 hear it said, such a person holds such a mode of ac- 
 complishing such a business, a secret. Now, imagine 
 
 one who wishes to knoAV this secret ; he labora, 
 strives, &c. but unless he proceed in the right mode, 
 the object still continues concealed : suppose the 
 possessor of this secret shows him the process, 
 teaches him, gives him information, &c. then that 
 secret (mystery) is no longer mysterious to him ; but 
 he enjoys the discovery, and profits accordingly ; 
 while others, not so favored, are as much in the dark 
 respecting this peculiar process, as he was. 
 
 Secrets may be considered as various : some are 
 known to a few, but are unknown to the many ; some 
 are kept closely a long time, but are revealed in 
 proper season ; some are kept entirely, totally, and 
 never are revealed ; some are of a nature not to be 
 investigated by us ; and some so far surpass our pow- 
 ers, that however familiar their effects may be to our 
 observation, yet their principles, causes, progresses, 
 and distributions, exceedingly perplex our under- 
 standing, and confine us to probabilities, inference 
 and conjecture. We might instance this in electricity, 
 galvanism, magnetism, attraction or gravitation, &c. 
 
 We entreat that this familiar illustration of the 
 Vt'ord mystery may not be despised because of its 
 familiarity ; as we incline to think, that it is not far 
 from a scriptural acceptation of the term. Let us 
 see its effect when applied to Scripture examples, 
 1 Tim. iii. 16. " Great is the mystery, secret, of god- 
 liness;" that is, a thing not to be comprehended at 
 first sight ; nor until after many reflections, and much 
 consideration. Rom. xi. 25, " I would not have you 
 ignorant of this mystery, secret, that blindness in 
 part hath happened to Israel;" strange indeed, if 
 mystery denoted something utterly incomprehensible 
 and inexplicable, that the apostle should wish them 
 not 1o be ignorant of it ! that lie should instantly 
 open to them this mystery ! To the Jews, indeed, it 
 was still a secret ; and they did not believe the fact, 
 that they labored under any blindness at all ; while 
 to the apostle, and among his fellow Christians, the 
 mystery was clear and well understood. 1 Cor. xv. 
 16, "Behold, I show you a mystery — we shall not 
 all sleep " — change the phraseology ; " Behold, I tell 
 you a secret, we shall not all sleep ;" could the apos- 
 tle mean to show them a thing utterly incompre- 
 hensible ? 1 Cor. xiii. 2, the apostle speaks of a 
 man's understanding all mysteries ; that is, they were 
 easy to him, though not so to others. In 1 Cor. xiv. 
 2, he alludes to a man who, discoursing in a lan- 
 guage foreign to his auditors, may in the Spirit speak 
 mysteries : he may tell all manner of secrets in a for- 
 eign language ; but while he himself understands 
 perfecdy well his own meaning, and what he says, 
 yet his subjects of discourse, with all his explanations 
 of those subjects, will continue secrets to such as 
 are ignorant of the language he uses. " We speak 
 the wisdom of God in a mystery," says the apostle ; 
 (1 Cor. ii. 7.) that is, the wisdom hitherto kept 
 secret ; but now the secret is explained, is opened, is 
 let out; not indeed to the princes of the world ; to 
 them it is as much a secret as ever ; but God by his 
 Spirit hath given us information respecting it, and by 
 that we know and understand it. " Stewards of the 
 mysteries of God," that is, persons intrusted with 
 some of the secrets of God, for the benefit of his 
 church, 1 Cor. iv. 1. 
 
 So the calling of the Gentiles separately from the 
 Jews, was a mystery, a secret, which no Jew would 
 have thought of, or would have believed, had not 
 God o])rncd, and cxj)lained, and enforced it, by his 
 Spirit, &c. ; (Eph. iii. 3 — 6.) nor would any Gentile : 
 it would have remained unknown, unsuspected.
 
 MYSTERY 
 
 [691 ] 
 
 MYS 
 
 Mystery signifies also an allegory, that is, a mode 
 of information under which partial instruction is 
 given, a partial discovery is made, but there is still a 
 cover of some kind, wliich preserves somewhat of 
 secrecy : tliis the person who desires to know the 
 secret thoroughly must endeavor to remove. So the 
 mystery of tlie seven stars, (Rev. i. 20.) is an allegory 
 representing the seven Asiatic churches under the 
 figure, or symbol, of seven burning lamps. So the 
 mystcr}', " Babylon the Great, is an allegorical rep- 
 resentation of the spiritual Babylon, spiritual idolatry, 
 spiritual fornication, &c. and to this agrees the ex- 
 pression afterwards, " I will tell thee the mystery of 
 the woman ;" that is, I will explain to thee the allego- 
 ry of this figure. Rev. xvii. 5, 7. 
 
 We appreliend that, originally, the fathers under- 
 stood the word in this sense ; so the mystery of the 
 sacrament of the Lord's body and blood, is the fig- 
 urative representation of the Lord's body. But the 
 mysteries among the heathen in time perverted this, 
 and the true idea of the word mystery, into senti- 
 ments not merely unscriptural, but unwarrantable and 
 unwise. It may be proper here to state that the 
 heathen mysteries continued to be performed with 
 great pomp, during the second and third centuries of 
 Christianity ; and were not wholly suppressed till the 
 emperor Theodosius closed the temples, more than 
 a hundred years later. 
 
 Nevertheless, it cannot be denied, that there are 
 mysteries, in the highest sense of the word, in Nature, 
 Providence and Grace. The union of the human 
 soul and body is a profound secret : the origin of life 
 is a profound secret : the cause, manner, &c. of 
 thought is a deep secret. So are many dispensations 
 of Providence : why goodness should suffer and 
 evil prosper, is a secret : and why one is called 
 and another lefl^ is a secret of secrets, a mystery of 
 grace ! 
 
 If the ways and works of God are mysteries, we 
 may justly expect to find his attributes, his essence, 
 
 his perfections, his nature, inscrutable mysteries to 
 us, poor worms of mankind! Could we suppose — 
 pardon the supposition — tliat God were inclined to 
 instruct us in this, it would be (as we are constituted 
 at present) teaching us a maisterie, which we have 
 no faculties capable of learning ; it would be speak- 
 ing to us in a language of which we could never 
 comprehend a word ; it would be overwhelming us 
 with too mighty, too extensive, too profound, too ex- 
 alted, discoveries, unless we were previously endued 
 with the attributes and qualities of the divine nature ; 
 with immensity, infinity, ubiquity, omniscience, eter- 
 nity, in short, with deity ! 
 
 Now, since none denies the existence of God, be- 
 cause he cannot comprehend his nature and essence, 
 which is a mystery ; so none ought to deny exertions 
 of his power, goodness, wisdom, &c. because they 
 imply the exercise of what is secret to mankind in 
 general : and this principle, which is undeniable in 
 nature, ought to be equally undeniable in religion. 
 In short, what relates to God may, rather must, al- 
 ways include much of mystery. Even the most 
 direct and profound intercourse between the human 
 powers, and their ineffable Creator, mental emotions, 
 prayer and praise, may be secrets, that is, mysterious 
 services, but not, therefore, less devout, or less ac- 
 ceptable. 
 
 MYSTICAL. The mystical sense of Scripture is 
 that which is gathered from the terms or letter of va- 
 rious passages, beyond their literal signification. For 
 example, Babylon signifies literally a city of Chaldea, 
 the habitation of kings who persecuted the He- 
 brews, and who were overwhelmed in idolatry and 
 wickedness. But John, in the Revelation, gives 
 the name of Babylon, mystically, to the city of Rome. 
 So Jerusalem is literally a city of Judea ; but mys- 
 tically, the heavenly Jerusalem; the habitation of 
 the saints, &c. The serpent is, literally, naturally, a 
 venomous reptile, but mystically is the devil, *he old 
 serpent, &c. 
 
 N 
 
 NAA 
 
 I. NAAMAH, daughter of Lamech and Zillah, and 
 sister of Tubal-cain, (Gen. iv. 22.) who is believed to 
 have found out the art of spinning wool, and of 
 making or enriching cloth and stuffs. 
 
 II. NAAMAH, an Ammonitess, wife of Solomon, 
 and mother of Rehoboam, 1 Kings xiv. 21. 
 
 NAAMAN, a general hi the army ofBenhadad, 
 king of Syria, who, being afflicted with a leprosy, was 
 cured by washing seven times in the Joi-dan, agreea- 
 bly to the command of Ehsha the prophet, 2 Kings 
 V. (Comp. Lev. xiv. 7, &c.) 
 
 The prophet having refused to receive a present 
 offered to him by Naaman, the latter begged that he 
 might be permitted to carry home two mules' burden 
 of the earth of Canaan, assigning as a reason, that 
 henceforth he w^ould serve no God but Jehovah. It 
 seems that his intention was to build an altar in Syria 
 formed of that holy ground, as he conceived it to be, 
 to which God had assigned the blessing of his pecu- 
 liar presence, that he might daily testify his gratitude 
 for the great mercy which he had received, that he 
 might declare openly his renunciation of idolatry, and 
 that he might keep a sort of communication, by simil- 
 
 NAAMAN 
 
 itude of worship, with the people who inhabited the 
 land where Elisha dwelt, who had so miraculously 
 cured him. This is perfectly consistent with the 
 precept, (Exod. xx. 24.) "An altar of earth shalt thou 
 make unto me;" and it is very credible, that the 
 temporary altars were usually of earth ; especially on 
 the high places. To such an altar, apparently, Elijah, 
 afler repairing it, added twelve stones, in allusion to 
 the twelve tribes of Israel, 1 Kings xviii. 31. See, 
 however, another suggestion in respect to this pas- 
 sage, under Baptism, p. 143. 
 
 Elisha having consented to this request, Naaman 
 again addressed the prophet thus : " In this thing the 
 Lord pai-don thy servant, that when my master goeth 
 into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he 
 leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house 
 of Rimmon ; when I bow down myself in the house 
 of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this 
 thing." And Elisha said to him, " Go in peace." 
 This passage has given rise to many scruples. Many 
 commentators think, that Naaman only asks leave to 
 continue those external services to his master Ben- 
 hadad, which he had been used to render him, when
 
 X A H 
 
 [ 692 
 
 X A I 
 
 he entered the temple of Rimnion ; and that Elisha 
 suffered him to accompany the Idng into the temple, 
 provided he paid no worship to the idol. Others, 
 translating the Hebrew in the past tense, suppose that 
 Naaman mentions only his former sin, and asks par- 
 don for it. 
 
 NAARATII, a city of Ephraim, (Josh. xvi. 7.) 
 about five miles distant from Jericho. 
 
 NABAL, a rich but churlish man, of the tribe of 
 Judah, and race of Caleb, who dwelt in the south of 
 Judah, and who had a very numerous flock on Car- 
 mcl, but refused to give David and his followers, in 
 their distress, any ])rovisioiis, though modesdy re- 
 ([uested to do so. David, resenting this harsh treat- 
 ment, so contrary to the usages of eastern hospitality, 
 armed 400 of his people, and resolved to })ut Nabal 
 and his family to the sword. In the interim, however, 
 one of Nabal's servants acquainted hir; wife Abigail 
 with what had passed, and she, as a wise and pru- 
 dent woman, having justified David's people, pre- 
 pared provisions and refreshments, with which she 
 appeased David. On her return home, Abigail ajj- 
 prized Nabal of the danger he had brought himself 
 into, and her account had such effect on his mind, 
 that he became as immovable as a stotio, and died in 
 ten davs, 1 Sam. xxv. 25, &c. 
 
 NAIJATHEANS, or Nabathemans, Arabians 
 descended from Nebajoth. Their country is called 
 Nabathiiea, and extends from The Euphrates to the 
 Red sea, the chief cities of which are Petra, the capital 
 of Arabia Deserta, and IMedaba. 
 
 NABONASSAR, the first king of Babylon. See 
 Babylon, ]). 138. 
 
 NABOPOLASSAR, see Nebuchadnezzar I, 
 
 NABOTII, an Israelite of Jezreel, who lived under 
 Ahab, king of Israel, and had a vineyard in Jezreel, 
 near to the king's palace, which he refusing to trans- 
 fer to the king, was, by the conunand of Jezebel, 
 falsely accused of blasphemy, condenmed,and stoned 
 to death, 1 Kings xxi. Jezebel immediately went to 
 the king, and wished him joy of the vineyard, of 
 which Ahab instantly took possession. See Ahab, 
 Jezebel, and 2 Kings ix. 10. 
 
 NACHON. The floor of Nachon (2 Sam. vi. G.) 
 was either so called from the name of its proprietor; 
 or, which is more probal)le, the Hebrew denotes the 
 prepared floor, that is, die floor of Obed-edom, which 
 was near, and was ])repared to receive tlie ark. This 
 place, wherever it might be, was either in Jerusalem, 
 or very near Jerusalem, and near the house of Obed- 
 edom, in that city. 
 
 I. NADAB, son of Aaron, and brother of Abihu, 
 who offered incense to the Lord with strange, that 
 is, common, fire, not with that which had been mi- 
 raculously lighted on tlie altar of burnt-offerings, was 
 slain by the Lord together with his brother, Lev. x. 9. 
 
 II. NADAB, son of Jeroboam I. king of Israel, 
 succeeded his father A. M. 5050, and reigned hut two 
 years, being assassinated while besieging Gibbethon, 
 by Baasha, son of Ahij;di, of. the tribe of Issachar, 
 who usurped his kingdom. Scripture says Nadab 
 did evil in the sight of the Lord, 1 Kings xv. 25. 
 
 NAHAL/\L, and Nahalol, a city of Zebulun, 
 (Josh. xix. 1-5.) yielded to the Levites, and given to 
 the family of Merari, Josli. xxi. 35. The children of 
 Zebuhm did not maki; themselves complete masters 
 of it, but permitted the Canaanites to dwell in it, 
 Judg. i. 30. 
 
 NAHALIIiL, un encampment of the Israelites in 
 the wilderness, (Numb. xxi. 19.) wliich Eusebius 
 places on the Arnon. 
 
 I. N AH ASH, a king of the Ammonites, who, be- 
 sieging Jabesh-Gilead, was defeated and killed by 
 Saul, 1 Sam. xi. The piece of mutilating barbarity 
 proposed to the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, by Na- 
 hash, " that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and 
 lay it for a reproach upon Israel," perhaps by alter- 
 ing the name of the town to that of " those who have 
 lost their right eyes," is worthy of notice. We must, 
 however, recollect, that the loss of the eyes is a pun- 
 ishment regularly inflicted on rebels and others in the 
 East. Mr. Han way, in his " Journey in Persia," gives 
 very striking instances of this practice; the cruelty 
 of wliich, and the sight of the streaming blood, were 
 felt by that gentleman as a m.an of humanity and a 
 Christian must feel them. See Blind, p. 195, 19G. 
 
 II. NAHASH, a king, of the Ammonites, and a 
 friend to David ; probably son to the above, 2 Sam. 
 xvii. 27. 
 
 III. NAHASH, father of Abigail and Zeruiah, is 
 thought to be the same as Jesse, father of David. 
 (Comp. 2 Sam. xvii. 25, and 1 Chron. ii. 13, 15, 16.) 
 Tiiis perhaps nnght be the siu-name of Jesse, the 
 father of David. Others think that Naliash is the 
 name of Jesse's wife ; biu the first explication seems 
 to be the best. 
 
 NAHASSON, sou of Aminadab, and head of the 
 tribe of Judah at the exodus. Numb. vii. 12, 13. 
 
 I. NAHOR, son of Serug, and father of Terah, was 
 born A. M. 1849, and died aged 148 years, Gen. ix. 
 22 24. 
 
 il. NAHOR, son of Terah, and brother of Abra- 
 ham, Gen. xi. 26. He married Wilcah, daughter of 
 Haran, by whom he had several sons — Huz, Buz, 
 Kemuel, Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bcthiiel. 
 Nahor fixed his habitation at Haran, which is, there- 
 fore, called the city of Nahor, Gen. xxiv. 10. 
 
 NAHUM, the seventh of the twelve minor proph- 
 ets. The circumstances of Nahum's hfe are un- 
 known. His prophecy consists of three chapters, 
 which form one discourse, in which he foretells the 
 destruction of Nineveh, in so powerful and vivid a 
 manner, that he seems to have been on the very spot. 
 
 Opinions are divided as to the time in which Na- 
 hum prophesied. Josei)hus says, he foretold the fall 
 of Nineveh 115 years before it happened, which 
 makes him contemporary with Ahaz. The Jews say, 
 that he prophesied under Manasseh ; Clemens Alex- 
 andrinus places him between Daniel and Ezekiel, and, 
 consequently, during the captivity. The best inter- 
 preters, as Gesenius, Rosen mliller, and others, 
 ado t Jerome's ojiinion, that he foretold the de- 
 struction of Nineveh in the time of Hezekiah, and 
 after the war of Sennacherib in Egypt, mentioned by 
 Berosus. Nahum speaks of the taking of No-ammon, 
 of the haughtiness of Rabshakeh, and of the defeat of 
 Scnnachc>ril>, as things that were passed. He supposes 
 that the tribe of Judah were still in their own country, 
 and that they there celebrated their festivals. He no- 
 tices also the cajnivity and dispersion of the ten trilies. 
 
 NAIL. Few things are more perjjlexing to dis- 
 tant strangers than those which are of daily o(^ciu'- 
 rence in their owii coimtry ; their very familiarity 
 renders them beneath the notice of persons where 
 they are practised, svho, therefore, seldom report them, 
 but where tl>ey are not j)ractised, simple as they are 
 in themselves, they occasion much perplexity to those 
 who wjsh to understand what they read. Om- ti-ans- 
 lation renders by one word, 7iail, what the Hebrew 
 emi)loys two words to denote ; a distinction which 
 seems to imjjort a difference. 
 
 (1.) The nail of Jael's tent, or rather the tent-pin,
 
 NAIL 
 
 [ G93 ] 
 
 NAM 
 
 with which she killed Sisera, is called nn^, yathed ; it 
 was formed for penetrating earth, or other liard sub- 
 stance, when driven by sufficient force, as with a 
 hammer ; it includes the idea of strength. So, in 
 Isa. xxii. 23, the idea is that of strength : " I will fasten 
 him as a nail (ini) in a siu-e place," that is, he shall be 
 strong enough to support whatever is suspended on 
 him. This illustrates an allusion of the jn-ophet 
 Zechariah, X. 4, "The Lord hath made (Judah) his 
 flock of sheep, &c. which are naturally timid, as 
 martial as a horse trained to battle ; yea, out of Judah 
 shall come the chief for the corner, (a hero,) out of 
 Judah shall come the strong nail, or pike-head, (ir>,) 
 which shall effect whatever is requisite, by Ibrce or 
 strength ; out of him shall come the battle-bow, 
 with powers augmented by additional vigor; out of 
 him shall come the general regulator, (the commander- 
 in-chief, perhaps,) at once ;" meaning, most probably, 
 different ranks of men, (the lower class, the nail, hum- 
 ble but strong ; a superior class, the battle-bow,) 
 which, combined in their proper stations, should com- 
 pose a formidable army. Observe, too, these shall 
 come at once, without much disciplining; without 
 that exi)eriencc in former wars, which is usually 
 necessary to form the complete military character. 
 
 We add Chardin's account of the manner of fasten- 
 ing nails in the East: "They do not drive whh a 
 hammer the nails that are put into the eastern walls; 
 the walls are too hard, being of brick ; or if they are 
 of clay, they are too mouldering ; but they fix them in 
 the brick- work as they are building. They are large 
 nails, with square heads like dice, well made, the ends 
 bent so as to make them cramp-irons. They com- 
 monly place them at the windows and doors, in order 
 to hang upon them, when they like, veils and cur- 
 tains." (Harmer, vol. i. p. 19L) 
 
 (2.) But we have another word for nails, which 
 seems to imply ornament, rather than strength ; or 
 something of dignified stability. So we read, 2 Chron. 
 iii. 9, "The weight of the nails (nnrac, mismeroth) 
 was fifly shekels of gold." These nails, then, being 
 of gold, were used to adorn the holy place, no less 
 than to strengthen it. We have the same word, 
 though varied, in 1 Chron. xxii. 3. David prepared 
 iron in abundance for the nails, (Qn:ar, viismerim,) 
 designed to ornament, no doubt, the leaves of the 
 doors of the sanctuary entrance ; for, had the inten- 
 tion been only to fasten these doors, what need of so 
 great a quantity ? 
 
 Observe how Ezra employs his simile, chap. ix. 8 : 
 " The Lord leaves us a remnant to escape, to give us 
 a nail — not an ornamental nail, not a golden stud, but 
 a yathed, a nail of support in his holy place." Can any 
 thing be less arrogant, than assimilation to such a 
 nail ? 
 
 But the idea of Eccl. xii. 11, seems to be the reverse 
 of this: "The words (sayings) of the wise are as 
 goads," sharp, piercing, penetrating, stimulating, 
 when taken each one by itself; but wlicn combined 
 they are like ornamental nails {mismeroth) planted in 
 a regular order, and disposed in symmetrical rows, 
 or patterns, as those were in the holy place, or those 
 in the doors of the sanctuary. 
 
 This gives also the true import of the expression, 
 Isa. xli. 7 : " The image is ready for joining together," 
 thati9,thc junctures fit accurately to each other, now 
 Jix them to each other ; and he strengthens it, by 
 driving in ornamental nnils, nails of the best kind, 
 {mismerim,) or, at least, flat-headed nails, not brads ; 
 that it should not start, be separated, fall to pieces." 
 This is very different from the usual notion of the 
 
 passage, but is supported by Jer. x. 4 : " They deck 
 the image with silver and with gold ; with ornamental 
 nails, {mismeroth,) and with piercings ; they bind it 
 tightly together, compact it, brace it up, and add 
 to the whole a delicate coat of paint, for complete 
 decoration;" as we know was customary in early 
 antiquity. 
 
 NAIN, a city of Palestine, where Jesus restored a 
 widow's son to life, as they were carrying him out to 
 be binied. Eusebius says, it was in the neighborhood 
 of Endor and Scythopolis ; and elsewliere, that it was 
 two miles from Tabor, south. The brook Kishon 
 ran between Tabor and Nain. 
 
 NAIOTII, a town near Ramah, where David 
 withdrew to avoid the violence of Saul; and where 
 Samuel, with the sons of the prophets, dwelt, 1 Sam. 
 xix. 23. 
 
 NAKEDNESS. This term, besides its ordinary 
 and literal meaning, sometimes signifies, void of suc- 
 cor, disarmed. So, after worshipping the golden 
 calf, the Israelites found themselves naked in the 
 midst of their enemies. "Nakedness of the feet "was 
 a token of respect. Moses put off his shoes to ap- 
 proach the burning bush. Most commentators are 
 of opinion, that the priests served in the tabernacle 
 and temple with their feet naked ; which idea is 
 countenanced by the fact, that in the enumeration 
 that Moses makes of the habit and ornaments of the 
 priests, he no Avhere mentions any dress for the feet. 
 Some also maintain, that the Israelites might not 
 enter this holy place, till they had put off their shoes, 
 and cleaned their feet. (See Eccles. v. 1.) "Naked- 
 ness of the feet" sometimes expresses what delicacy 
 would conceal. Lam. i. 9. 
 
 "Nakedness "should in many places be understood 
 as our word undressed ; — not fully, or proj>erly, or 
 becomingly clothed. A king having on only his 
 under-clothing, is undressed, that is, naked, for a 
 king ; though his garb might suit a laborer. When 
 the apostle says, (1 Cor. iv. 11.) " To this present hour 
 we are naked," he does not mean absolute nakedness, 
 in the same sense as Job says, (i. 21.) "Naked came 
 I out of my mother's w^omb, and naked shall I return ;" 
 but he means unprovided with suitable clothing. To 
 the same efiect, a nation, or people, is said to be made 
 naked ; (Exod. xxxii. 25 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 19.) " Asa 
 made Judah naked ; " unprovided with means of re- 
 sisting the enemy. So the walls of Babylon are said 
 to be made naked ; (Jer. li. 58.) that is, strijjped of their 
 towers and other defences ; and a tree in the wilder- 
 ness is described as naked, deprived of its verdure, its 
 foliage, Jer. xlviii. 6. In warm countries slight cloth- 
 ing, or even nakedness, is more endurable than with 
 us; but when nakedness is put absolutely, it usually 
 intends a shameful discovery of the person ; ruthless 
 privation of necessaries, degradation, misery. 
 
 "Naked" is put for discovered, known, manifest. 
 So Job xxvi. (j, " Hell is naked before him ; " the 
 sejudchro, the unseen state, is open to the eyes of 
 God. Paid says in the same sense, " Neither is there 
 any creature that is not manifest in his sight ; but all 
 things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with 
 whom we have to do," Heb. iv. 13. 
 
 The nakedness of Adam and Eve was unknown, 
 that is, unfelt ; they were unconscious of it, before 
 they sinned. They were not ashamed at it, because 
 concupiscence and irregular desires had not yet excit- 
 ed the flesh against the spirit. They were exempt 
 from whatever indecency might now happen among 
 their descendants on occasion of nakedness. 
 
 NAME. " The name," without any addition, sig-
 
 NAIVIE 
 
 [ 694 ] 
 
 NAP 
 
 nifies the name of the Lord, which, out of respect, 
 was not pronounced. " The Israelitish woman's son 
 blasphemed the name," Lev. xxiv. 11. "The name 
 of God " often stands for God himself, his power, or 
 majesty. Our assistance, or strength, and hope, is in 
 the name of God, in his goodness, power, &c. To 
 take the name of God in vain, (Exod. xx. 7.) is to 
 Bwear falsely, or without occasion ; or to mingle the 
 name of God in our discourses, or oaths, either falsely, 
 rashly, wantonly, unnecessarily, or presumptuously. 
 God forbids to "make mention of the names of other 
 gods," Exod. xxiii. 13. It is doing them too much 
 honor to swear by their names, to take them as wit- 
 nesses of what we affirm, as if they were really some- 
 thing. The Hebrews hardly ever pronounced the 
 name Baal ; they disfigured it, by saying Mephibo- 
 sheth, or Meribosheth,'instead of INIephibaal, or Meri- 
 baal ; where Bosheth signifies something shameful or 
 contemptible ; instead of saying Elohim, they said 
 Elihm, gods of filthiness. 
 
 To give a name is a token of command and author- 
 ity. A father gives names to his children, a master 
 to his slaves, to his animals. It is said, (Gen. ii. 23.) 
 that Adam gave name to his wife and to all the animals, 
 and that the names he gave them became their true 
 names. God changed the name of Abram, Jacob and 
 Sarai, as a token of honor, an addition, expressing his 
 particular regard towards those whom he receives, 
 more especially, into the number of his own. Hence 
 he gave a name, even before their birth, to some per- 
 sons whom he appointed, and who belonged to him in 
 a particulai* manner: e. g. to Jedidiah, or Solomon, 
 son of David, to the Messiah, to John the Baptist, &c. 
 
 God, speaking to Moses, promises to send his angel 
 before him ; and says, " My name is in him," Exod. 
 xxiii. 21. He shall act, he shall speak, he shall pun- 
 ish in my name ; he shall bear my name, he shall be 
 my ambassador, he shall receive the same honors as 
 belong to me. And in effect, the angel that spake to 
 Moses, that appeared to him in the bush, that gave 
 him the law on mount Sinai, speaks and acts always 
 as God himself; and Moses always gives him the 
 name of God : " Thus saith the Lord," and " The Lord 
 spake to Moses," &c. 
 
 To know any one by his name, (Exod. xxxiii. 12.) 
 expresses a distinction, a friendship, a particular famil- 
 iarity. The kings of the East had little connnunica- 
 tion with then* subjects, and hai'dly ever appeared in 
 public ; so that when they knew their servants by 
 name, vouchsafed to speak to them, to call them, and 
 to admit them into their presence, it was a gi*cat mark 
 of favor. In many eastern countries the true per- 
 sonal name of the king is unknown to his subjects ; 
 in Japan, to pronounce the emperor's real name is 
 punishable ; his general name, as emperor, is held to 
 be sufficiently sacred. Titles often became names, 
 or parts of names ; by these titles many sovereigns are 
 known in history ; and varying with incidents and 
 occurrences, they occasion great confusion. 
 
 Those who in the assemblies were called by their 
 names, (Numb. xvi. 2.) were principals of the people, 
 the heads of tril)es ; or those who had some great 
 employment, or particular dignity. 
 
 God, speaking of the fixed place where his temple 
 should be built, calls it " The place which the Lord 
 shall choose to place his name there," Deut. xiv. 23 ; 
 xvi. 2. There his name should be solenmly invoked ; 
 this place should have the honor of bearing the name 
 of the Lord, of being consecrated to his service and 
 worship. These expressions show the veneration of 
 the Hebrews for whatever in any wise belonged to God. 
 
 "Name" is often put for renown or reputation. 
 The name of Joshua became famous over all the 
 country ; (Josh. vi. 27.) and God said to David, when 
 he reproached him with the crime he had committed 
 with Bathsheba, " I have made thee a great name, 
 like unto the name of the great men that are in the 
 earth ; " (2 Sam. vii. 9.) I have given you honor and 
 reputation, equal to that of the gi-eatest of mon- 
 archs. 
 
 " To raise up the name of the dead," (Ruth iv. 5, 
 10, &c.) is said of the brother of a man who died 
 without children, when his brother married the 
 widow of the deceased, and revived his name in Israel, 
 by means of the children which he might beget ; and 
 which were deemed to be children of the deceas- 
 ed. In a contrary sense to this, to blot out the name 
 of any one, is to exterminate his memory ; to extirpate 
 his race, his children, works, or houses, and in general 
 whatever may continue his name on the earth, Ps, ix. 
 5 ; Prov. x. 7. 
 
 Isaiah (iv. 1.) describes a time of calamity and dis- 
 grace in Israel, in which men should be veiy scarce : 
 he says, " In that day seven women shall take hold of 
 one man, saying. We will eat our own bread, and 
 wear our own apparel ; only let us be called by thy 
 name, to take away our reproach." Take us for 
 wives, and let us be called your spouses. The Lord 
 complains in Ezekiel, that his spouses (Judah and 
 Israel) are become prostitutes, though they hole his 
 name ; they defiled his holy name by abominationa 
 and idolatry. 
 
 God often complains that the false prophets prophe- 
 sied in his name ; (Jer. xiv. 14, 15 ; xxvii. 15, &c.) 
 and Christ says, (Matt. vii. 22.) that in the day of judg- 
 ment many shall say, " Lord, Loi'd, have we not 
 prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out 
 devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works ?" 
 He also says, (Mark ix. 41.) whosoever shall give a 
 cup of cold water in his name, shall not lose his re- 
 ward ; and he that receives a prophet or a just 
 man, in the name of a prophet or a just man, 
 shall receive a recompense in proportion to his good 
 intention, Matt. x. 41. In all these instances the 
 " name" is put for the person, for his service, his sake, 
 his authority. So names of men are sometimes put 
 for persons. Rev. iii. 4, " Thou hast a few names 
 even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments." 
 And chap. xi. 13, seven thousand men perished in the 
 earthquake, — names of men, Gr. Perhaps this should 
 be considered as implying men of name, persons of 
 consequence, nobles, &c. It is probable, also, that 
 this phrase contains some allusion to a list or cata- 
 logue of names ; veiy credibly, of eminent persona, 
 for we find it in Acts ii. 15, expressing the apostles and 
 principals of the Christian church — " The number of 
 the names was about a hundred and twenty." There 
 were many thousands of followers of Jesus in Jerusa- 
 lem ; but the apostles, the Seventy and some others, 
 enough to make up about the number stated, were 
 the principals. 
 
 There were certain mysterious notions connected 
 with the names of individuals ; hence, in calling a 
 muster-roll of soldiers, the sergeants always began 
 with names of good oinen, as Felix, Faustus, &c. 
 analogous to our Good-luck, Happy, &c. Also, the 
 number comprised in the letters of a name was mys- 
 terious, as that of Antichrist. See that article. 
 
 NAOMI, wife of Elimelech, and mother-in-law of 
 Ruth. See Ruth. 
 
 NAPHTALI, the sixth son of Jacob, by Bilhah, 
 Rachel's handmaid. Gen. xxx. 8. We know but few
 
 NAV 
 
 [ 695 ] 
 
 NAE 
 
 particulars of the life of Naphtali. His sons were 
 Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem, Gen. xlvi. 24. 
 Tlie patriarch Jacob, when he gave his blessing, said, 
 as it is in the English Bible, " Naphtali is a hind let 
 loose ; he giveth goodly words," Gen. xlix. 21. 
 For an illustration of this passage, see the article 
 Hind. 
 
 NAPHTUHIM, the fourth son of Mizraim, Gen. x. 
 13. He dwelt in Egypt, and probably peopled that 
 
 Sart of Ethiopia, between Syene and Meroe, of "which 
 Tapata, or Napatea, was the capital. 
 NARCISSUS, a freedman and favorite of the Ro- 
 man emperor Claudius, who possessed great influ- 
 ence at court, Rom. xvi. 11. 
 
 NATHAN, a famous prophet, who lived under 
 David, and had much of the confidence of that 
 prince, whom he served in a number of ways. (See 
 2 Sam. xi. xii. &c.) The time and manner of Na- 
 than's death are not known. 1 Chron. xxix. 29, no- 
 tices that he, with Gad, wrote the history of David. 
 There are several other persons of this name men- 
 tioned in Scripture ; one of them a son of David, 
 2 Sam. V. 14. 
 
 NATHANAEL, a disciple of Christ, the manner 
 of whose convei-sion is related John i. 46, &:c. He 
 is probably the same as Bartholomew. See Bar- 
 tholomew. 
 
 NATION, all the inhabitants of a particular coun- 
 try, (Deut. iv. 34.) a country or kingdom, (Exod. 
 xxxiv. 10 ; Rev. vii. 9.) countrymen, natives of the 
 same stock, (Acts xxvi. 4.) the father, head, and ori- 
 ginal of a people, (Gen. xxv. 23.) the heathen, or 
 Gentiles, Isa. Iv. 5. See Gentiles, or Heathen. 
 
 NATURE, in Scripture, expresses the course of 
 things established in the world. So a crime is said 
 to be against nature, because it is contrarj' to what is 
 established by the Creator, Rom. i. 26 ; Judg. xix. 
 24. Paul says, to engraft a good olive-tree into a wild 
 olive, is contrary to nature ; (Rom. xi. 24.) the cus- 
 tomary order of nature is thereby in some measure 
 inverted. " Nature " is also put for natural descent ; 
 (Gal. ii. 15 ; Eph. ii. 3.) and for common sense, nat- 
 ural instinct, 1 Cor. xi. 14. The nature of animals 
 is that by which they are distinguished from other 
 creatures, and from one another, James iii. 7. 
 
 Peter informs us that our Saviour has made us 
 partakers of a divine nature ; he has merited for us 
 the character of children of God, and grace to prac- 
 tise godliness, &c. like our Father who is in heaven. 
 (Comp. 1 John iii. 1.) 
 
 NAVIGATION was little cuhivated among the 
 Hebrews, till the days of their kings : Solomon had 
 a fleet, but he had not sailors equal to the manage- 
 ment of it; no doubt, from their want of habit. Mo- 
 ses mentions nothing of navigation, and David, it 
 should seem, rather acquired his great wealth by land 
 commerce than by sea voyages. It is not easy to 
 say what assistance the wisdom of Solomon contrib- 
 uted to his fleet and officers on the mighty ocean. 
 Perhaps his extensive knowledge of natural things 
 first suggested the plan of these voyages. We know 
 that Judea had ports on the Mediterranean, as Joppa, 
 &c. but probably the coast, during the days of the 
 judges, was in the hands of the Philistines, to the ex- 
 clusion of Hebrew mariners ; and this accounts for 
 the means by which the Philistines, on so narrow a 
 slip of land, could become jwwerful, and could occa- 
 sionally furnish immense armies, because they were 
 free to receive reinforcements by sea. In later ages 
 the Greeks and Romans invaded Syria by sea, and the 
 intercourse between Judea and Rome was direct • as 
 
 we learn from the voyage of Paul, &c. Comp. 
 Joppa. 
 
 There were also many boats and lesser vessels 
 employed in navigating the lakes, or seas, as the 
 Hebrews called them, which are in the Holy Land ; 
 and there must have been some embarkations on the 
 Jordan ; but the whole of these were trifling ; and it 
 appears, that though Providence taught navigation 
 to mankind, yet it was not the design of Providence 
 that the chosen people, and the depositaries of the 
 Messiah, should have been other than a settled or 
 local nation, attached to one countiy, to which coun- 
 try, and even to certain of its towns, peculiar privi- 
 leges were attributed in prophecy, and by divine ap- 
 pointment. The legal observances, distinction of 
 meats, &c. were great impediments to Jewish sailors, 
 and prevented their attainment of any great skill in 
 navigation. 
 
 NAZARENE, see Nazarite. 
 
 NAZARETH, a little town of Zebulun, in lower 
 Galilee, west of Tabor, and east of Ptolemais ; cele- 
 brated for having been the residence of Christ for 
 the first thirty-three years of his hfe, (Luke ii. 51.) 
 and from which he received the name of Nazarene. 
 After he had begun his mission, he sometimes 
 preached here in the synagogue, (Luke iv. 16.) but 
 because his countrymen had no faith in him, and 
 were oflTended at the meanness of his origin, he did 
 not many miracles among them, (Matt. xiii. 54, 58.) 
 and fixed his habitation at Capernaum for the latter 
 part of his life, Matt. iv. 13. Nazareth is situated on 
 high gi-ound, having on one side a precipice, from 
 whence the Nazarenes one day attempted to throw 
 down our Saviour, because he upbraided them with 
 their unbelief, Luke iv. 29. 
 
 Nazareth is upon the side of a barren, rocky eleva- 
 tion, facing the east, and commanding a long valley, 
 of a round, concave form, and encompassed with 
 mountains. The place is shown where the house of 
 the Holy Virgin stood ; but the house itself, say the 
 Catholics, was transported by angels to Loretto ! Dr. 
 E. D. Clarke, who describes Nazareth, mentions the 
 village of Sephoury, in which is shown the house of 
 St. Anna, the mother of the Virgin Maiy, five railea 
 from the town ; the fountain near Nazareth, called 
 the " Virgin Mary's fountain ;" the gi-eat church, or 
 convent, at that time the refuge of wretches afilicted 
 with the plague, hoping for recovery from the sanc- 
 tity of the place ; Joseph's workshop, converted into 
 a chapel ; the synagogue wherein Jestis is said to 
 have preached, now a church ; the precipice, whence 
 the inhabitants would have thrown our Lord, con- 
 cerning which " the words of the evangelist are re- 
 markablv explicit ; and it is, probably, the precise 
 spot alluded to in the text of Luke's Gospel."— A 
 stone, that is said to have served as a table to Christ 
 and his disciples, is an object of woi-ship to the super- 
 stitious of Galilee. 
 
 [The following description of Nazareth, and the 
 "brow of the hill " on which it stood, is given by Dr. 
 Jowett, (Chr. Researches in Syria, p. 128, Amer. ed.) 
 " Nazareth is situated on the side, and extends near- 
 ly to the foot, of a hill, which, though not very high, 
 is rather steep and overhanging. The eye naturally 
 wanders over its summit, in quest of some point from 
 which it might probably be that the men of this place 
 endeavored to cast ourSaviour doAvn, (Luke iv. 29.) 
 but in vain : no rock adapted to such an object ap- 
 pears. At the foot of the hill is a modest, simple 
 plain, surrounded by low hills, reaching in length 
 nearly a mile ; in breadth, near the city, a hundred
 
 NAZARETH 
 
 f.96 ] 
 
 NAZ 
 
 and fifty yards ; but farther on, about four hundred 
 yards. On this plain there are a few oUve-trees, and 
 fig-trees, sufficient, or rather scarcely sufficient, to 
 make the spot pictui-esque. Then follows a ravine, 
 which gradually grows deeper and narrower ; till, 
 after walking about another mile, you find yourself 
 in an immense chasm, with steep rocks on either side, 
 from whence you behold, as it were beneath your 
 feet, and before you, the noble plain of Esdraelon. 
 Nothing can be finer than the apparently inmieas- 
 urable prospect of this plain, bounded to the south 
 by the mountains of Sanjaria. The elevation of the 
 hills on which the spectator stands in this ravine is 
 very great ; and the whole scene, when we saw it, 
 was clothed in the most rich mountain-blue color 
 that can be conceived. At this spot, on the right 
 hand of the ravine, is shown the rock to which the 
 men of Nazareth are supposed to have conducted 
 our Lord, for the purpose of throwing him down. 
 With the Testament in our hands, we endeavored to 
 examine the probabilities of the spot ; and I confess 
 there is nothing in it which excites a scruple of in- 
 credulity in my mind. The rock here is perpendicu- 
 lar for about fifty feet, down which space it would be 
 easy to hurl a person who should be tuiawares brought 
 to the summit ; and his perishing would be a very 
 certain consequence. That the spot might be 
 at a considerable distance from the city, is an idea 
 not inconsistent with St. Luke's account"; for the ex- 
 pression, thrusting Jesus out of the city, and Icadins; 
 him to the broiv of the hill on ivhich their city ivas bniti, 
 gives fair scope for imagining, that, in their rage and 
 debate, the Nazarcnes might, without originally in- 
 tending his murder, press ujion him for a considera- 
 ble distance after they had quitted the synagogue. 
 The distance, as already noticed, from modern Naz- 
 areth to this spot is scarcely two miles — a space, 
 which, in the fury of persecution, might soon he 
 passed over. Or should this appear too considera- 
 ble, it is by no means certain but that Nazai-cth may 
 at that time have extended through the princi])al 
 part of the i)lain, which I have described as lying 
 before the modern town : in this case, the distance 
 passed over might not exceed a mile. It remains 
 only to note the expression — the broiv of the hill, on 
 ivhich their city was built: this, according to the mod- 
 ern aspect of the sjjot, would seem to be the hill north 
 of the town, on the lower slope of which the town is 
 built ; but I apprehend the word hill to have in this, 
 as it has in very many other passages of Scripture, a 
 nnich larger sense ; denoting sometimes a range of 
 mountains, and in some instances a whole mountain- 
 ous district. In all these cases the singular word 
 "/iz7/," "gebel," is used, according to the idiom of the 
 language of this country. Thus, Gebcl Carinyl, or 
 mount Carmel, is a range of mountains : Gebcl Lib- 
 nan, or motmt Lebanon, is a mountainous district of 
 more than fifty miles in length ; Gebcl ez-Zcitun, the 
 mount of Olives, is certainly, as will be hereafter 
 noted, a considerable tract of mountainous country. 
 And thus any jx'rson, coming from Jerusalem an'd 
 entering on the plain of Esdraelon, would, if asking 
 the name of that bold line of mountains v,liich bounds 
 the north side of the plain, be informed that it was 
 Gebel JSfasra, the hill of Nazareth ; though, in Eng- 
 lish, we should rail them the moimtains of Nazareth. 
 Now the spot shown as illustrating Luke iv. 29, is 
 in fact, on the very brow of this lofty ridge of moun- 
 tains ; in comparison of which, the" hill upon which 
 the modern town is built is bin a gentle eminence. 
 I can see, therefore, no reason for thinkinr other- 
 
 wise, than that this may be the real scene where our 
 divine Prophet, Jesus, experienced so great a dis- 
 honor from the men of his own country, and of his 
 own kindred." R. 
 
 NAZARITE, or Nazarene, may sigifify, (1.) An 
 inhabitant of Nazareth ; or a native of that city. (2.) 
 A sect of Christians. (3.) A man under a vow to ob- 
 serve the rules of Nazariteship ; whether for Ins 
 whole life, as Samson, and John the Baptist ; or for 
 a time, as those in Numb. vi. 18 — 20 ; Amos ii. 11, 12. 
 (4.) A man of distinction and dignity in the court of 
 a prince. (Compare the Bibl. Repository, ii. p. 388.) 
 
 (1.) The name of Nazarene is given to Christ, not 
 only because of his having lived the greater part of 
 his life at Nazareth, and because that place was con- 
 sidered as his country, Init also because the prophets 
 had foretold that "he should be called a Nazarene," 
 Matt. ii. 23. We find no particular place in the 
 prophets, expressly afiirming, that the JMessiah should 
 be called a Nazarene ; and Alaithew only mentions 
 the proi)hets in general. Perhaps he would infei 
 that the consecration of Nazarites, and their great 
 purity, was a type and j^rophecy referring to our 
 Saviour; (Numb. vi. 18, 19.) or, that the name Nazir, 
 or Nazarite, [separated,] given to tlie ]}atriarch Jo- 
 seph, had some reference to Christ, Gen. xlix. 26; 
 Dent, xxxiii. 16. Jerome was of opinion, that jMat- 
 thew alludes to Isa. xi. 1 ; Ix. 21 : " There shall come 
 forth a rod oiU of the stem of Jesse, and a branch 
 (Heb. Mezer) shall grow out of his roots." This branch, 
 or Nezer, and this rod, are certainly intended to de- 
 note the Messiah, by the general consent of the fa- 
 thers and inter})reters. Or, jjossibly, in a more general 
 sense, "He shall be vilified, despised, neglected," as 
 every thing was that came from Nazareth ; and this 
 might be a kind of prophetic proverb. 
 
 (2.) It may reasonably be doubted, whether the Naz- 
 arenes or Nazaraeans spoken of in early ecclesiastical 
 history were heretics : it is more probable, that they 
 were descendantsoftheoriginal Jewish Christians,and, 
 as Jews, were too harshly treated by those who should 
 have been their Gentile brethren. They must have 
 been well known to Jerome, who lived longin Judea, 
 and who thus describes them in several places. 
 Mentioning Hebrews believing in Christ, he says 
 they were anathematized for their rigid adherence to 
 the ceremonies of the Jewish law, which they min- 
 gled with the gospel of Christ: "They so receive 
 Christ, that they discard not the rites of the ancient 
 law." He also describes the Nazarenes as persons 
 " viho believed in Christ the Son of God, born of the 
 Virgin Mary," in whom the orthodox believe ; but 
 v,ho wore nevertheless so bigoted to the Mosaic law, 
 that they were rather to be considered as a Jewisli 
 sect, than a Christian. 
 
 (3.) A Nazarite, under the ancient law, was a man 
 or woman engaged by a vow to abstain from wine 
 and all intoxicating liquors, to let the hair grow, not 
 to enter any house polluted by having a dead body 
 in it, nor to he present at any funeral. If, by accident, 
 any one should have died in their jiresence, they re- 
 commenced the whole of their consecration and Naz- 
 ariteship. This vow generally lasted eight days, 
 sometimes a month, and sometimes during theil- 
 whole lives. When the time of Nazariteship was 
 expired, the priest brought the person to the door of 
 the tem|)le, who there offered to the Lord a he-lr-mb 
 for a burnt-ofix-ring, a she-lamb for an expiatory sac- 
 rifice, and a ram for a ])eace-ofiering. They offered 
 likewise loaves and cakes, with wine for libations. 
 After all was sacrifired and offered, the priest, or
 
 NEB 
 
 [ 697 ] 
 
 NEB 
 
 some other person, shaved the head of the Nazarite 
 at the door of the tabernacle, and burnt his hair on 
 the fire of the altar. Then the priest put into his 
 hands the shoulder of the ram roasted, with a loaf 
 and a cake, which the Nazarite returning into the 
 hands of the priest, he offered them to the Lord, lift- 
 ing them up in the presence of the Nazarite. From 
 this time the offerer might drink wine, his Naza- 
 riteship being accomplished. Perpetual Nazarites, 
 as Samson and John the Baptist, were consecrated 
 to their Nazaritesliip by their parents, and continued 
 all their lives in this state, without drinking wine, or 
 cutting their hair. Those who made a vow of Naz- 
 aritesliip out of Palestine, and could not come to the 
 temple when their vow was expired, contented them- 
 selves with observing the abstinence required by the 
 law, and cutting off their hair in the place where 
 they were. The offerings and sacrifices prescribed 
 by Moses, to be offered at the temple, by themselves, 
 or by others for them, they deferred, till a conve- 
 nient opportunity. Hence Paul, being at Corinth, 
 having made the vow of a Nazarite, he had his hair cut 
 off at Cenchrea, but deferred the complete fidfilment 
 of his vow till he came to Jerusalem, Acts xviii. 18. 
 
 When a person found he was not in condition 
 to make a vow of Nazariteship, or had not leisure 
 fully to perform it, he contented himself by contribut- 
 ing to the expense of the sacrifices and offerings of 
 those who had made, and were fulfilling, this vow ; 
 by which means he became a partaker in such Naz- 
 ariteshi]). Josephus, magnifying the zeal and devo- 
 tion of Herod Agrippa, says, he caused several Naz- 
 arites to be shaven. Maimonides says, that he who 
 would partake in the Nazariteship of anothei-, went 
 to the temple, and said to the priest, " In such a time 
 such an one will finish his Nazariteship ; I intend to 
 defray the charge attendiiig the shaving off his hair, 
 either in part, or in whole." When Paul came to 
 Jerusalem, (A. D. 58, Acts xxi. 23, 24.) James, with 
 other brethren, advised that, to quiet the minds of the 
 converted Jews, he should unite with four persons, 
 who had vows of Nazariteship, and contribute to 
 their charges and ceremonies ; by which the people 
 would perceive, that he did not disregard the law, as 
 they had been led to suppose. 
 
 (4.) Nazarite expresses a man of great dignity : 
 hence the patriarch Joseph is called a Nazai-ite, a 
 prince, among his brethren ; (Gen. xlix. 26.) Engl. tr. 
 separated from his hrethren. Nazarite in this sense is 
 variously understood. Some think it signifies one 
 who is crowned, chosen, separated, distinguished ; 
 iN'ezer in Hebrew signifying a crown. The LXX 
 translate, a chief, or him that is honored. Nazir was 
 a name of dignity in the courts of eastern princes. 
 In the court of Persia, the Nezir is superintcndejic- 
 general of the king's household, the chief officer of 
 the crown; the high steward of his family, treasures 
 and revenues. (Chardiu, Govcrnmenioftho Persians, 
 ch. .5.) In this sense Joseph was Nezir of the house 
 of Pharaoh. Moses also gJves to Joseph the title of 
 Nazir, speaking of the tribes of his two sons, Ephraim 
 and Manasseh, Deut. xxxiii. 16. 
 
 NEAPOLIS, now called Napoli, (Acts xvi. 11.) a 
 maritime city of Macedonia, near the borders of 
 Thrace, whither Paul came from the isle of Samo- 
 thracia. From Neapolis he went to Philijipi. 
 
 NEBAJOTH, a son of Ishmael, (Gen. xxv. 13 ; 
 xxviii. 9.) the father of the Nabatheans, (q. v.) a peo- 
 ple of Arabia Petrsea, who lived by plunder and trade, 
 Is. Ix. 7. R. 
 
 NEBAT, or Nabath, of Ephraim, of the race of 
 
 Joshua, and father of Jeroboam, the first king of the 
 ten tribes, 1 Kings xi. 26. 
 
 I. NEBO, a city of Reuben, (Numb, xxxii. 38.) 
 taken by the Moabites, who held it in the time of 
 Jeremiah, Jer. xlviii. 1. 
 
 II. NEBO, a city of Judah, (Ezra ii. 29 ; x. 43 ; 
 Neh. vii. 33.) probably the village Nabau, eight miles 
 south of Hebron, which was forsaken in the time of 
 Eusebius and Jerome. 
 
 III. NEBO, a high mountain east of the Jordan, 
 where Moses died, and forming one of the mountains 
 of Abarim, Deut. xxxii. 49; xxxiv. 1. 
 
 IV. NEBO, an idol of the Babylonians, Isa. xlvi. 1. 
 [In the astrological mythology of the Babylonians, 
 this idol probably represented the planet Mercury. 
 He is regarded as the scribe of the heavens, who re- 
 cords the succession of celestial and terrestrial events; 
 and is related to the Egyptian Hermes and Anubis. 
 He was also worshipped by the ancient Arabians. 
 The extensive prevalence of this worship among the 
 Chaldeans and Assyrians, is evident from the many 
 compound proper names occurring in the Scriptures, 
 of which this word forms part ; as Nebuchadnezzar, 
 Nebuzaradan, Nebushasban ; and also in the classics, 
 as Naboned, Nabonassar, Nabopolassar, &c. (See 
 Geseuius, Comm. zu Jesa. ii. p. 342.) R. 
 
 I. NEBUCHADNEZZAR, or Nabopolassar, 
 father of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, was a Chal- 
 dean, and was the first monarch of Babylonia who 
 made himself independent of Assyria. See Baby- 
 LOiMA, p. 138. 
 
 II. NEBUCHADNEZZAR, son and successor of 
 Nabopolassar, succeeded to the kingdom of Chaldea, 
 A. M. 3399. He had been some time liefore asso- 
 ciated in the kingdom, and sent to recover Carche- 
 mish, which had been wrested from the empire by 
 Necho, king of Egypt. Having been successful, 
 he marched against the governor of Phopuicia, and 
 Jehoiachim, king of Judali, tributary to Necho, king 
 of Egypt. He took Jehoiachim, and put him in 
 chains, to carry him captive to Babylon ; hut after- 
 wards he left him in Judea, on condition of his pay- 
 ing a large tribute. He took away several persons 
 from Jerusalem ; among others, Daniel, Hananiah, 
 Mishael, and Azariah, all of the royal family, whom 
 the king of Babylon had carefully educated in the 
 language and learning of the Chaldeans, that they 
 might be em!)lovcd at court. 
 
 Nabopolassardying about the end of A. M. 3399, 
 Nebuchadnezzar, who was then either in Egypt or 
 in Judea, h.T^teued to Babylon, leaving to his gene- 
 rals tJio care of bringing to Chaldea the captives 
 taken in Syria, Judea, Phoenicia, and Egypt ; for, 
 according to Berosus, he had subdued all these 
 comitries. He distributed these captives into several 
 colonies, and in the temple of Belus he deposited the 
 sacred vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, and other 
 rich spoils, 
 
 Jehoiachim, king of Judah, continued three years 
 in fealty to Nebuchadnezzar, and then revolted ; but 
 after three or four years, he was besieged and taken 
 in Jerusalem, put to death, and his body thrown to 
 the birds of the air, according to the predictions of 
 Jeremiah. See Jehoiachim. 
 
 In the mean time, Nebuchadnezzar, being at Baby- 
 lon, in the second year of his reign, had a mysterious 
 dream, in which he saw a statue composed of seve- 
 ral metals; the interpretation of which was given by 
 Daniel, and procured his elevation to the highest post 
 in the kingdom. See Damel, and Image of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar.
 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR 
 
 698 
 
 NEH 
 
 Jehoiakin, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, having re- 
 volted against Nebuchadnezzar, was besieged in Je- 
 rusalem, forced to surrender, and taken, with his 
 chief officers, captive to Babylon ; also his mother, 
 his wives, and the best workmen of Jerusalem, to the 
 number of ten thousand men. Among the captives 
 were Mordecai, the uncle of Esther, and Ezekiel the 
 prophet. Nebuchadnezzar also took all the vessels 
 of gold which Solomon made for the temple and the 
 king's treasui-y; and set up JMattaniah, Jeconiah's 
 uncle by the father's side, whom he named Zede- 
 kiah. Zedekiah continued faithful to Nebuchad- 
 nezzar nine years, at the end of which time he rebel- 
 led, and confederated with the neighboring princes. 
 The king of Babylon came into Judea, reduced the 
 chief places of the country, and besieged Jerusalem; 
 but Pharaoh Hophra coming out of Egy})t to assist 
 Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar v»cnt to meet him, and 
 forced him to retire to his own country. This done, 
 he resumed the siege of Jerusalem, and was 390 days 
 before the place. In the eleventh year of Zedekiali, 
 (A. M. 3419,) the city was taken, and Zedekiah, being 
 seized, was brought to Nebuchadnezzar, who was 
 then at Riblali in Syria. The king of Babylon con- 
 flemned him to die, caused his children to be put 
 to death in his presence, and then bored out his 
 eyes, loaded him with chains, and sent liim to 
 Babylon. 
 
 Tiiree years after the Jewish war, Nebuchadnezzar 
 besieged Tyre, which siege lasted thirteen years. But 
 during this interval he attacked the Sidouians, Moab- 
 ites, Ammonites, and Idumeans, wliom he treated 
 much as he had done the Jews. Tyre was taken 
 A. M. 2432. Ithobaal, the king, was put to death, aiul 
 Baal succeeded him. The Lord, to reward the army 
 of Nebuchadnezzar, which had been so long before 
 Tyre, assigned to them Egypt and its spoils, and they 
 returned in triumph to Babylon, with a vast number 
 of captives. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, being at peace, applied himself 
 to the adorning, aggrandizing, and enriching of Bab- 
 ylon with the most magnificent buildings. Al^out 
 this time he had a dream of a great tree, loaded with 
 fruit, which an angel, suddenly descending from 
 heaven, commanded should be cut down, and the 
 branches, leaves and fruit be scattered. The trunk 
 and the root were to be preserved in the eartli, and it 
 was to be bound with chains of iron and brass, among 
 tiie beasts of the field, for seven years. The kino- 
 consulted all his diviners, but nonc'c-ould explain his 
 dream, until Daniel informed him, that it respected 
 himself. " You," says Daniel, "arc represented by 
 the great tree ; you are to be brought low, to be re- 
 duced to the condition of a brute, &c. but you shall 
 aftervvards be restored." About a year afterwards, 
 as Nebuchadnezzar was walking on his palace at 
 Babylon, he began to say, " Is not this Babylon the 
 Great, which I have built in the greatness of my 
 power, and in the brightness of my glory ? " But ho 
 had hardly pronounced the words, when he was 
 struck by a distemper or distraction, which so jier- 
 verted his imagination, that he thought himself to be 
 metamorphosed into an ox ; and assumed the man- 
 ners of that animal. After having been seven years 
 in this state, God restored his understanding to him, 
 and he recovered his royal dignity. 
 
 His repentance, however, was not sincere; for in 
 the year of his restoration, he erected a golden statue, 
 whoso height was sixty cubits, in the plain of Dura, 
 in Babylon. Having appointed a day for the dedica- 
 tion of this statue, he assembled the principal officers 
 
 of his kingdom, and published by a herald, that ail 
 should adore it, at the sound of music, on penalty of 
 being cast into a burning fiery furnace. The three 
 Jews, companions of Daniel, would not bend the knee 
 to the image. Daniel probably was absent. Nebu- 
 chadnezzar commanded Shadrach, Meshach and 
 Abednego to be called, and he asked them why they 
 presumed to disobey his orders. They replied, 
 that they neither feared the flames, nor any other 
 penalty ; that the God whom only they would wor- 
 ship knew how to preserve them ; but that if he 
 should not think fit to deliver them out of his hands, 
 they would, nevertheless, obey the laws of God rathei' 
 than men. 
 
 Hearing this, the king caused them to be bound, 
 and to be thrown into the furnace, which being ve- 
 hemently heated, the flame consumed the men who 
 cast them in ; but an angel of the Lord abated the 
 flames, so that the fire did not affect them. Nebu- 
 chadnezzar was much astonished, and said to his no- 
 bles, " Whence is it that I see four men walking in 
 the midst of the flames ? and the fourth is like a son 
 of God." Then, approaching the furnace, he called 
 the three Hebrews, who came out of the furnace, to 
 the great astonishment of the whole court. The 
 king now gave glory to the God of Shadrach, Me- 
 shach and Abednego ; and he exalted the three He- 
 brews to great dignity in the province of Babylon, 
 Dan. iv. 1, &c. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar died this year, A. M. 3442, after 
 having reigned 43 years. 
 
 NEBUZAR-ADAN, general of Nebuchadnezzar's 
 armies, and chief officer of his household. 
 
 NECHO, king of Egypt, carried his arms to the 
 Euphrates, where he conquered the city of Carche- 
 mish. He is known not only in Scripture, but in He- 
 rodotus, who says that he Avas sou of Psammetichus, 
 king of Egy[)t, and that having succeeded him in the 
 kingdom, he raised great armies, and sent out great 
 fleets, as well on the Mediterranean as the Red sea ; 
 that lie fought the Syrians near the city of Mig- 
 dol, obtained the victory, and took the city Cadytis, 
 which some think to be Jerusalem. Josiah, king of 
 Judah, being tributary to the king of Babylon, op- 
 posed Necho, and gave him battle at Megiddo, where 
 he received the wound of which he died; and Necho 
 passed forward, widiout making any long stay in 
 Judea. On his return, he halted atRililah, in Syria ; 
 and sending for Jehoahaz, king of the Jews, he de- 
 posed him, loaded him with chains, and sent him 
 into Egypt. Then coming to Jerusalem, he set up 
 Eliakim, or Jehoiakim, in liis place, and exacted the 
 payment of one hundred talents of silver and one 
 talent of gold. Jeremiah (xlvi. 2.) acquaints us, that 
 Carchciviish was retaken by Nabopolassar, king of 
 Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiachiui, king of 
 Judah; so that Necho did not retain his conquest 
 above four yi-ars. Josephus adds, that the king of 
 Babylon, pursuing bis victory, brought under his 
 dominion the whole country, between the river Eu- 
 l)hratcs and Egypt, exceptin«; Judea. Thus Necho 
 was again reduced within the limits of his own 
 country. 
 
 NEGINOTH, a term which is read before some 
 of th(! Psalms, and signifies stringed instriuucnts of 
 nuisic, to be played on by the fingers. The titles of 
 these Psalms may be translated, A Psalm of David to 
 the master of nmsic, who presides over the stringed 
 instruments. 
 
 NEHEMIAH, the son of Hachaliah, was born at 
 Babylon during the captivity. He was, according to
 
 NEHEMIAH 
 
 [ 699 
 
 NEHEMIAH 
 
 some, of the race of the priests ; according to others, 
 of the tribe of Judah,and of the royal family. Those 
 who maintain the former opinion, support it by 2 
 l\lac. i. 18, 21, where it is said, Nehemiah the priest 
 offered sacrifices ; and by Esdras x. 10, where he is 
 reckoned in the number of the priests. Those who 
 believe that he was of the race of the kings of Judah, 
 say, (1.) That Nehemiah having governed the repub- 
 lic of the Jews for a considerable time, there is great 
 probability he was of that tribe of which the kings 
 always were. (2.) Nehemiah mentions his brethren 
 Hanani, and other Jews, who, coming to Babylon 
 during the captivity, acquainted him witli the sad 
 condition of their country. (3.) The office of cup- 
 bearer to the king of Persia, to which Nehemiah was 
 promoted, is a proof that he was of an illustrious 
 family. (4.) He excuses himself from entering into 
 the inner part of the temple, probably because he was 
 not of the sacerdotal order. This last argument, 
 however, appears to be very inconclusive. As to 
 the iMaccabecs, where he is mentioned as a priest, it 
 is answered, that the Greek text does not affirm liiui 
 to be a priest, but only that he ordered the priests to 
 jjerform their functions. As to his singing among 
 the priests, this he might do in quality of governor, 
 wliich gave him at least equal rank with the priests. 
 Lastly, the name of Nehemiah is found in no cata- 
 logue or genealogy of Hebrew priests. 
 
 Scripture gives him the name, or title, of Tirsha- 
 tha, that is, cup-bearer ; which office he held at the 
 court of Artaxerxes Longimanus. He liad a great 
 afiection for the country of his fathers, though he 
 had never seen it ; and one day, as some Jews re- 
 cently come from Jerusalem acquainted him with 
 the miserable state of that city, in its destruction, he 
 fasted, prayed, and humbled himself before the Lord, 
 entreating that he would be favorable to the design 
 he had conceived of asking the king's permission to 
 rebuild Jerusalem. The coui-se of his attendance at 
 court having arrived, he presented the cup to the 
 king, according to his duty, but with a dejected 
 countenance. The king observed it, and thought he 
 had some evil design ; but Nehemiah discovering the 
 occasion of his disquiet, Artaxerxes gave him leave 
 to go to Jerusalem, and to repair its walls and gates ; 
 but appointed him a time to return. 
 
 Nehemiah arrived at Jerusalem with letters and 
 full powers, but was there three days before he 
 0[)ened the occasion of his journey. On the night 
 of the third day he went round the city and viewed 
 the \valls. After this, he assembled the chief of the 
 pcojile, produced his commission and letters, exhort- 
 ed them to undertake the rei)airing of the gates and 
 walls of the city ; and inuuediately all began the work. 
 The enemies of the Jews only scoffed at them at fii-st, 
 but afterwards, seeing the chief breaches repaired, 
 they used stratagems and threats to deter Nehemiah. 
 He therefore ordered part of his people to stand to 
 their arms behind the walls, while others worked, 
 having also their arms near them. His enemies then 
 liad recourse to craft and stratagem, endeavoring to 
 draw him into an ambuscade in the fields, v\here they 
 jiroposed to finish their dispute at an amicable con- 
 ference. Nehemiah, however, defeated all their 
 stratagems, and continuing his work, completed it in 
 fifty-two days. 
 
 The walls, towers and gates of Jerusalem having 
 been dedicated with solemnity and magnificence, 
 Nehemiah separated the priests, the Levites, and the 
 princes of the people, into two companies, one of 
 which walked to the south, and the other to the 
 
 north, on the top of the walls. These two compa- 
 nies, which were to meet at the temple, were accom- 
 panied with music, vocal and instrumental. Having 
 entered the temple, they there read the law, offered 
 sacrifices, and made great rejoicings ; and the Feast 
 of Tabernacles happening at the time, it was cele- 
 brated with great solemnity. Nehemiah, observing 
 that the city was too large for its present inhabitants, 
 ordered that the chief of the nation should there fix 
 their dwelling ; and caused them to draw lots, by 
 which a tenth part of the whole people of Judali 
 were obliged to dwell at Jerusalem. 
 
 Nehemiah then applied himself to the reforming 
 of such corruptions as had crept into public affairs. 
 He embed the inhumanity of the great, wlio held in 
 slavery and subjection the sons and daughters of the 
 poor or unfortunate, keeping also the lands, which 
 the poor had mortgaged or sold to them. He also 
 imdertook to dissolve the marriages with strange and 
 idolatrous women, whom he sent away ; obliged the 
 people punctually to pay the ministers of the Lord 
 their due ; and enjoined the priests and Levites to 
 strict attendance on their respective duties and func- 
 tions. He enforced the observation of the sabbath, 
 and would not permit strangers to enter the city to 
 buy and sell, but kept the gates shut duruig the whole 
 day. To perpetuate as much as possible these reg- 
 ulations, he engaged the chief men of the nation sol- 
 emnly to renew their covenant with the Lord ; and 
 an instrument to this effect was drawn up, and 
 signed by the chief of the priests and the people. 
 
 We read in 2 INIac. i. 19, &c. that Nehemiah sent 
 to search for the holy fire, which, before the captivi- 
 ty of Babylon, the priests had hidden in a dry and 
 deep pit: not finding any fire there, but only a thick 
 and muddy water, he sprinkled this upon the altar ; 
 and presently the wood which had been so sprinkled, 
 took fire as soon as the sun began to shine, which 
 miracle coming to the knowledge of the king of Per- 
 sia, he caused the place to be encompassed with 
 walls where the fire had been hidden, and granted 
 great favors and privileges to the priests. It is re- 
 corded in the same books, that Nehemiah erected a 
 library, in which he placed whatever he could find, 
 either of the books of the prophets, of David, or of 
 such princes as had made presents to the temple. 
 After having fulfilled his conunission, he returned to 
 Babylon, according to his promise to king Arta- 
 xerxes, about the thirty-second year of that prince ; 
 but afterwards he revisited Jerusalem, where he died 
 in peace, having governed the people of Judah about 
 thirty j-ears. 
 
 The second book, which in the Latin Bibles bears 
 the name of Esdras, bears, in the Hebrew and English 
 Bibles, the name of Nehemiah. Its author speaks 
 almost always in the first person ; and at first reading 
 one would think he had written it day by day ; but 
 if we read it with due attention, we may observe sev- 
 eral things which could not have been written by 
 Nehemiah. For example, memorials are quoted, in 
 which were registered the names of the priests m tho 
 time of Jonathan, sou of Ehashib, and even to tho 
 times of Jaddus, who lived under Darius Codoman- 
 nus, and under Alexander the Great. It is therefore 
 very probable, that Nehemiah wrote memoii-s of his 
 government, which are cited 2 3Iac. ii. 13, and that 
 from these memoirs this book has been compiled. 
 
 Whiston supposes that Nehcmiah's library, with 
 augmentations, continued in the temple till the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem by Titus; from which prince 
 Josephus received a copy of the Hebrew Scriptures,
 
 NEO 
 
 [700] 
 
 NET 
 
 fuller iu many respects than our common copies. 
 Tliis may be true, at least, so far as concerns the 
 preservation of the original writings of Nehemiah 
 himself. 
 
 NEHILOTII, a word found at the beginning of 
 the fifth Psalm, and which signifies the dances, or 
 more probably the futes. The title of the fifth Psalm 
 may be thus translated, " A Psalm of David, address- 
 ed to the master of music presiding over the dancers, 
 or over the flutes." 
 
 NEHUSHTAN, a name given by Hezekiah king 
 of Judali to the brazen serpent that Moses had set up 
 in the wilderness, (Numb. xxi. 8.) and which had 
 been preserved by the Israehtes to that time. The 
 superstitious people having made an idol of this ser- 
 pent, Hezekiah caused it to be burnt, and in derision 
 gave it the name of JVehushtan, q. d. this little brazen 
 serpent, 2 Kings xviii. 4. 
 
 Neighbor signifies a near relation, a fellow 
 countryman, one of the same tribe or vicinage ; and 
 generally, any man connected with us by the bonds 
 of humanity, and whom charity requires that we 
 should consider as a friend and relation. At the time 
 of our Saviour, the Pharisees had restrained the 
 meaning of the word neighbor to those of their own 
 nation, or to their OAvn friends ; holding, that to hate 
 their enemy was not forbidden by the law, Matt. v. 
 43 ; Luke x. 20. But our Saviour informed them, 
 tliat the whole world were neighbors ; that they 
 ought not to do to another, what they would not have 
 done to themselves ; and that this charity extended 
 even to enemies. See the beautiful parable of the 
 good Samaritan, the real neighbor to the disti-essed, 
 Luke X. 29. 
 
 God is a neighbor near to those who fear him, and 
 cailuponhim, Ps. Ixxxv. 9; cxlv. 18. He gives them 
 tokens of his presence and protection : "Am I a God 
 at hand, and not a God afar off? " am 1 one of those 
 gods that men have made not above two days ago ? 
 am not I an eternal God ? Otherwise, I am a neigh- 
 bor God, that sees every thing, knows every thing, 
 and not an absent or a distant God, Jer. xxiii. 23. 
 (Comp. Elijah and Baal's prophets.) 
 
 NEOMENL\, (Col. ii. IG.) a Greek word, signify- 
 ing the first day of the moon or month ; in the Engl, 
 tr. new 7noon. The Hebrews had a particular vene- 
 ration for the first day of every month, for which 
 Closes appointed peculiar sacrifices, (Numb, xxviii. 
 11, 12.) but he gave no orders that it should be kept 
 as a holy day, nor can it be proved that the ancients 
 observed it so ; it was a festival of merely voluntary 
 devotion. (See Moxth.) It appears that even from 
 the time of Saul they made, on this day, a sort of 
 family entertainment, since David ought then to have 
 been at the king's table ; and Saul took his absence 
 amiss, 1 Sam. xx. 5, 18. Moses insinuates, that be- 
 sides the national sacrifices then regularly offered, 
 every private person had his particular sacrifices of 
 /devotion. Numb. x. 10. The beginning of the month 
 / was proclaimed by sound of trumpet, at the offering 
 of solemn sacrifices, ibid. But the most celebrated 
 neomenia was that at the beginning of the civil year, 
 or first day of the month Tizri, Lev. xxiii. 24. This 
 was a sacred festival, on which no servile labor was 
 performed. In the kingdom of the ten tribes, the 
 people used to assemble at the houses of the proph- 
 ets, to hear their instructions, 2 Kings iv. 23 ; Isa. i. 
 13, 14. Ezekiel says (xlv. 17 ; see also 1 Chron. xxiii. 
 81 ; 2Chron. viii. 13.) that the burnt-offerings offered 
 on the day of the new moon, were provided at the 
 king's expens?, and that on this day was to be opened 
 
 the eastern gate of the court of the priests, ch. xlvi. 
 1,2. 
 
 Spencer has a long dissertation on the neomenia, or 
 new moons, in which he shows that the Gentiles hon- 
 ored the first day of the month, out of veneration to the 
 moon. Hewouldinfer,that theHebrewsborrowedthis 
 practice from strange and idolatrous people. But he 
 byno means proves this; and it is muchmore probable, 
 that, without any design of imitating the Hebrews, the 
 Gentiles thought fit to honor the moon at the begin- 
 ning of the month, that is, her first appearance. 
 
 NERGAL. Among the gods of the transplanted 
 heathen, (2 Kings xvii. 30.) we find some, the etymol- 
 ogy of whose names would never lead us to conjec- 
 ture by what image, or figure, they might be repre- 
 sented. The rabbins, indeed, have occasionally told 
 us their nature, and sometimes their symbols ; but 
 rabbinical authority is not always satisfactory. It is 
 hardly to be supposed, that on many subjects the 
 present Jewish literati have really any tradition ex- 
 tant among them ; and, in many instances, we may 
 well hesitate in admitting the accuracy of what they 
 report as traditionary information derived from their 
 forefathers. Nevertheless, we inay consider their 
 description of Nergal as an instance either of their 
 correctness or of their Judgment. This god, they 
 tell us, was worshipped under the figure of a cock ; 
 and, to make a pair of the species, Succoth Be>oth, 
 they say, was worshipped as a hen and chicken. 
 For this latter conjecture we find no authority ; but 
 the former seems to be more plausible. 
 
 [The researches of Gesenius on the subject of the 
 astrological mythology of the Assyrians and Babylo- 
 nians, go to show that the idol JVergal represents the 
 planet Mars, Avhich was ever the emblem of blood- 
 shed. Mars is named, by the Zabians and Arabians, 
 ill-luck, misfortune. He was represented as holding 
 in one hand a drawn sword, and in the other, by the 
 hair, a human head just cut off; his garments were 
 blood red ; as the light of the planet is also reddish. 
 His temple among the Arabs was painted red ; and 
 they offered to him garments sprinkled with blood, 
 and also a warrior, (probably a prisoner,) who was 
 cast into a pool. It is related of the caliph Hakem, 
 that, in the last night of his life, as he observed the 
 stars, and saw the planet Mars rise above the horizon, 
 he murmured between his lips, "Dost thou ascend, 
 thou accursed shedder of blood? then is my hour 
 come ! " and at the moment the assassins sprang upon 
 him from their hiding place. (Barhebrseus, p. 220.) 
 
 The name Nergal appears also in the proper names 
 Nergalsharezer, Neriglassar. The assertion of the 
 rabbins above mentioned, that this idol Avas repre- 
 sented under the form of a cock, may have arisen 
 from the fact that in the Talmud the similar word 
 Sjjip, terngdl, signifies cock ; or from a Persian ety-. 
 mology proposed by some, viz. ner-gal, i. e. male bird, 
 cock. Gesenius inclines to regard it as a mere con- 
 ceit. (Coram, zu Jesa. ii. p. 344.) *R. 
 
 NERGAL-Sharezer, an officer of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, Jer. xxxix. 3. 
 
 NETHINIM, given, or offered, servants dedicated 
 to the sei-vice of Uie tabernacle and temple, to per- 
 form the most laborious offices ; as carrying of Avood 
 and water. At first the Gibeonites were destined to 
 this station ; afterwards, the Canaanites who surren- 
 dered themselves, and whose lives were spared. We 
 read, in Ezra viii. 20, that the Nethinim were slaves 
 devoted by David, and other princes, to the service 
 of the temple; and in Ezra ii. 58, that they were 
 slaves given by Solomon : the children of Solomon's
 
 NIC 
 
 [701 ] 
 
 NIC 
 
 servants. From 1 Kings ix. 20, 21, we see that he 
 had subdued the remains of the Canaauites, and it is 
 very jH-obable, that he gave a good number of them 
 to the priests and Levites, for the temple service. 
 The Nethinim were carried into captivity with the 
 tribe of Judaii, and great numbei-s were placed not 
 far from the Caspian sea, whence Ezra brought 220 
 of tlicni into Judea, ch. viii. 17. Those who fol- 
 lowed Zerubbabel, made up 392, Neh. iii. 26. This 
 number was but small in regard to their offices ; so 
 that we find afterwards a solemnity called Xylopho- 
 ria, in which the people carried wood to the temple, 
 with great ceremony, to keep up the fire uf the altar 
 of burnt sacrifices. 
 
 NETOPHA, a city and district between Bethle- 
 hem and Anathoth, Ezra ii. 22 ; Neh. vii. 26 ; Jer. xi. 
 8 ; 1 Chron. ix. 16. 
 
 NETTLE. There are two words rendered nettle 
 in the English Bible : cncp, kimosh, (Prov . xxiv. 31 ; 
 Isa. xxxiv. 13 ; Hos. ix. 6.) about which there is no 
 dispute ; and Snn, chdri'd, (Job xxx. 7; Prov. xxiv. 31 ; 
 Zeph. ii. 9.) which we have no means of identifying, 
 but which cannot be a nettle. Mr. Good, after Dr. 
 Stock, translates the passage in Job : 
 
 Among the bushes did they bray ; 
 Under the briers did they huddle together, 
 
 and remarks, "Why Junius and Tremelhus, and 
 Piscatoi-, should render Snn by urtica, and our com- 
 mon lection after them by nettle, I know not. In 
 almost everj' other place in which the word occui-s, 
 it is uniformly rendered as it ought to be, thorns, 
 brambles, briers." 
 
 NEW is used for extraordinary or unusual. (See 
 Judg. V. 8 ; Numb. xvi. 30.) God promises a new 
 heaven and a new earth, at the time of the Messiah, 
 (Isa. Ixv. 17 ; Ixvi. 22.) that is, a universal renovation 
 of manners, sentiments and actions, throughout the 
 world. This passage is also referred to the end of 
 the world ; when will commence a new heaven and 
 a new earth ; not that the present heaven and earth 
 will be annihilated ; but the air, the earth and the 
 elements will be more perfect, or at least, together 
 with the inhabitants, shall be of a nature superior to 
 those vicissitudes and alterations that now afiect these 
 elements. God also promises to his people " a new 
 covenant, a new spirit, a new heart ;" and this prom- 
 ise was fulfilled in the covenant of grace, the gos- 
 pel, Ezck. xi. 19 ; xviii. 31 ; xxxvi. 26. 
 
 NEW MOON, see Neomenia. 
 
 NIBIIAZ, a god of the Avim, or Hivites, 2 Kings 
 xvii. 31. The Jewish interpreters say the name 
 means latrator, barker, (from n3J,) and affirm that this 
 idol had the shape of a dog. Historical traces have 
 also been found of the ancient worship of idols in 
 the form of dogs among the Syrians. In the Zabian 
 books Nibhaz occurs as the Lord of darkness ; which, 
 according to the character of the Assyrian-Chal- 
 dean mythology, would point to an evil planetary 
 demon. R. 
 
 I. NICANOR, a general in the armies of Anti- 
 ochus Epiphanes, who was thrice defeated, and at 
 last slain by Judas Maccabeus. See Antiochus 
 Epiphanes. 
 
 II. NICANOR, one of the first seven deacons, 
 who were chosen and appointed at Jerusalem soon 
 after the descent of the Holy Ghost, on occasion of 
 a division among the believers, into those who spoke 
 Greek, and those who spoke Hebrew, or Syriac, 
 Acts vi. 5, &c. Nothing particular is known of him. 
 
 III. NICANOR, a king of Syria, who ascended 
 the throne A. M. 3854. See Demetrius, II. 
 
 NICODEMUS, a disciple of Jesus Christ, a Jew 
 by nation, and by sect a Pharisee. He was one of 
 the senators of the Sanhedrim, (John iii.) and at first 
 concealed his belief in the divine character of our 
 Lord. Afterwards, however, he avowed himself a 
 believer, when he came with Joseph of Arimathea 
 to pay the last duties to the body of Christ, which 
 they took down firom the cross, embalmed, and laid 
 in the sepulchre. 
 
 NICOLAITANS, see below in Nicolas. 
 
 NICOLAS, a proselyte of Antioch, that is, con- 
 verted from paganism to the religion of the Jews. 
 He afterwards embraced Christianity, and was 
 among the most zealous and most holy of the first 
 Christians; so that he was chosen for one of the first 
 seven deacons of the church at Jerusalem, Acts vi. 5. 
 
 His memory has been tarnished in the church by 
 a blemish, from which it has not been possible hith- 
 erto to clear him. Certain heretics were called Nic- 
 olaitans, from his name ; and though perhaps he had 
 no share in their errors, nor their irregularities, yet 
 he is suspected to have given some occasion to them. 
 The early writers inform us that he had a wife who 
 was very handsome, and that, in imitation of those 
 who aimed at a high degree of perfection, he left 
 her, to live in a state of continence. Epiphanius 
 says he did not persevere in this resolution, but took 
 his wife again, and, in order to justify his conduct, 
 advanced principles contrary to truth and pmity. 
 He plunged himself into irregularities, and gave rise 
 to the sect of the Nicolaites, to that of the Gnostics, 
 and to several others, who followed the bent of their 
 natural passions to crimes and wickednesses. 
 
 In this statement Epiphanius is supported by Ire- 
 nseus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Hilary, Gregory of 
 Nyssa, Phylaster of Bressa, Jerome, Cassian, Gregoiy 
 the Great, Pacian, pope Gelasius, Gildas, and several 
 moderns, who say that Nicolas the deacon was the 
 author of the impious and infamous sect of the Nico- 
 laitans. Clemens Alexandrinus, however, who is 
 more ancient than Epiphanius, expresses much 
 esteem for Nicolas ; and relates the affair otherwise. 
 The apostles, he says, having reproached Nicolas, as 
 being too jealous of his wife, he introduced her be- 
 fore them, and declared that any one might espouse 
 her that pleased. This declaration, made in pure 
 simplicity, and without reflection, was only designed 
 as a proof that his attachment and passion for his 
 wife did not overcome him ; but such as were glad 
 to catch at the pretence of his authority, screened 
 themselves under what he had done, in order to pal- 
 liate and vindicate their irregularities. These here- 
 tics grounded themselves, says Clement, on a word 
 that Nicolas let fail, that "the flesh ought to be 
 abused." By which he meant nothing else, but that 
 we ought to control and suppress our inclinations to 
 sensuality and concupiscence ; whereas, these disci- 
 ples of pleasure explained the words according to 
 their own sensuality, and not according to the mean- 
 ing of Nicolas. Augustin, Victorinus Petaviensis, Isi- 
 dorus, and the council of Tours, also acquit him ; 
 and the Apostolical Constitutions, and the interpo- 
 lated lettei-s of Ignatius the martyr, affirm that the 
 Nicolaitans falsely assumed his name. Upon the 
 whole, it is highly probable either that the Nicolaitans 
 falsely assumed the name of Nicolas, or that they took 
 their rise from another person of the same name. 
 
 The Lord (Rev. ii. 6, 15.) condemns the actions 
 and doctrine of the Nicolaitans. He says he hates
 
 NIL 
 
 [70^ 
 
 NILE 
 
 them ; commends the bishop of Ephesus that he 
 abhors them ; and reproaches the bishop of Perga- 
 mus that soine of his church adopted theii- doctrine. 
 [In regard to the Nicolaitans, a more probable 
 supposition is, that the appellation is not here de- 
 rived from a proper name, but is symbolical ; and 
 that it refers to the same persons who are said, in 
 Rev. ii. 14, to hold the dodnne of Balaam ; since the 
 Greek name NixUaos, Nicolas, corresponds to the 
 Hebrew zyhi, Balaam, and signifies to overcome, se- 
 duce, a people. The allusion, then, would be to false 
 and seducing teachers like Balaam ; and refers more 
 particularly, perhaps, to those who opposed the de- 
 cree of the apostles in Acts xv. 29. (Compare the use 
 of Jezebel in Rev. ii. 20.) R. 
 
 I. NICOPOLIS, a city of Epirus, on the gulf of 
 Ambracia ; where Paul passed his winter, A. D. 64. 
 He wrote to Titus, then in Crete, to come to him 
 liitlier. Tit. iii. 12. Some are of opinion, that this 
 Nicopolis, however, was not that of Epirus, but that 
 of Thi'ace, on the borders of Macedonia, near the river 
 Nessus. But the former is the prevailing opinion. 
 
 II. NICOPOLIS, a name given to Emmaus, a 
 city of Palestine, under the emperor Alexander, son 
 of Mammseus. 
 
 NIDDUI, the lesser sort of excommunication used 
 among the Hebrews. He who had incurred this, 
 was to withdraw himself from his relations, at least 
 to the distance of four cubits. It commonly contin- 
 ued thirty days. If it was not then taken oftj it might 
 be prolonged for sixty, or even ninety, days. But 
 if within this term the excommunicated person did 
 not give satisfaction, he fell mto the cherem, which 
 was the second sort of excommunication ; and thence 
 into the third sort, called schammatha, the most terri- 
 ble of all. See Excommunication, and Anathema. 
 
 NIGER, the surname of Simon, (Acts xiii. 1.) who 
 was a prophet and teacher, and one who laid his 
 hands on Saul and Barnabas, for the execution of 
 that office to which the Holy Ghost had appointed 
 them. Some believe he is that Simeon the Cyre- 
 iiian, who carried the cross of Christ to mount Cal- 
 I'ary ; but this opinion is founded only on a simili- 
 tude of names. Epiphanius speaks of one Niger 
 among the seventy disciples of our Saviour. 
 
 NIGHT. The ancient Hebrews beguu their artifi- 
 cial day in the evening, and ended it the next day 
 evening ; so that the night preceded the day ; whence 
 it is said, (Gen. i. 5.) evening and morning one day. 
 They allowed twelve hours to the night and twelve 
 to the day ; but these hours were not equal, except at 
 the equinox. At other times, when the hours of the 
 nigiit were long, those of the day were short, as in 
 •winter ; and contrariwise, when the hours of night 
 were short, as at midsunmier, the hours of the day 
 were long hi proportion. See Hours. 
 
 "Night" is put for a time of afl3iction and ad- 
 versity, (Ps. xvii. 3 ; Isa. xxi. 12.) as also for tlie 
 time of death, (John Lx. 4.) for the end of the world, 
 1 Thess. V. 2. 
 
 Children of the day, and children of the night, in 
 a moral and figurative sense, denote good men and 
 wicked men, Christians and Gentiles. The disciples 
 of the Son of God are children of light; they belong 
 to the light, they walk in tlie light of gospel truths ; 
 whUe children of the night walk in the darlmess of 
 ignorance and infidelity, and perform only works of 
 darkness. " Ye are all the children of tiie light, and 
 the children of the day ; we are not of the night nor 
 of darkness," 1 Thess. v. 5. 
 
 NILE, the river of Egj'pt, whose fountains are in 
 
 the mountains of Abyssinia towards the north, 
 whence it proceeds, and afterwards winds about to 
 the east, passing into a great lake, and thence run- 
 ning towards the south. It waters the countiy of 
 Alata, where it has several falls, continues its course 
 far into the kingdom of Goiam, then winds about 
 again, from the east to the north ; and at length, run- 
 nuig northward, enters Egypt at the cataracts, which 
 are waterfalls made by meeting with rocks, of the 
 length of two hundred feet. 
 
 After passing these rocks, the Nile flows directly 
 through the valley of Egypt. Its channel, according 
 to Villamout, is about a league bi'oad. Eight miles 
 below Cairo, it is divided into two arms, which make 
 a triangle, whose base is at the Mediterranean sea, 
 and which the Greeks call the Delta, because of its 
 figure, l\. These two arms are divided into others, 
 which discharge themselves into the Mediterranean, 
 whose distance from the top of the Delta is about 
 twenty leagues. These branches the ancients com- 
 monly reckoned to be seven mouths, Septemplicis 
 ostia JVili. Ptolemy makes them nine, others four, 
 others eleven, others foui-teen. Others maintain, 
 that there are no more than the mouths of Damietta, 
 of Rosetta, and of the two canals, one of which 
 passes by Alexandria. 
 
 Several have thought that the Nile was the Gihou, 
 one of the four rivers mentioned by Moses, as flow- 
 ing from the terrestrial paradise. But this opinion 
 is not to be supported, since the other rivers are too 
 far from the Nile. Yet the inhabitants of the king- , 
 dom of Goiam call this river Gihon. The Abyssini- / 
 ans call it Ab Euchi, Abay, or the father of rivers. /, 
 The negroes call it Tami. Homer, Diodorus Sicn- ' 
 lus and Xenophon testify, that its ancient name was 
 Egyptus, and Homer mentions it by no other name. 
 Diodorus says, it took the name of Nilus, after a king 
 of Egypt, called by that name. Pliny relates the 
 opinion of king Juba, who affirmed that the Nile 
 had its source in Mauritania ; that it appeared and 
 disappeared in different places, first hiding itself 
 under ground, and then showing itself again ; that 
 in this country it was called Niger, and in Ethiopia 
 it had tlie name Astapus ; that about Meroe it was 
 divided into two arms, of which the right was called 
 Astusapes, and the left Astaborus ; and lastly, that 
 it obtained the name of Nile only below Meroe. 
 Pliny, Plutarch, Dionysius the geographer, and some 
 others, testify that it was also named Siris. Dionys- 
 ius says, that the Ethiopians call it Siris, and that 
 after it passes Syena, it has the name of Nilus. In 
 Scripture the Nile has seldom any other name but 
 the river of Egypt. Joshua and Jeremiah express it 
 by the name Silior, or the river of troubled v/ater : 
 " What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink 
 the water of Sihor?" says Jeremiah. (But see 
 SiHOR.) The Greeks give it the name of Melas, 
 which also signifies black, or troubled. And indeed 
 travellers inform us that the water of this river is 
 generally something muddy, but it is easily fined by 
 throwing into it some almonds or skinned beans. 
 Servius, explaining that ve-:-se of Virgil, where, speak- 
 ing of the Nile, lie says, 
 
 Et viridera iEgyptum nigra fcECundat arena, 
 
 Georg. iv. 291. 
 
 observes, that the ancients called the Nile, Melo. 
 Melo in Hebrew signifies/uZ/, which may well agree 
 with the Nile, because of its great floods, which con- 
 tinue for about six weeks in the heat of summer, and 
 overflow Egypt. 
 
 I
 
 NILE 
 
 [ 703 ] 
 
 NILE 
 
 Diodorus Siculus observes, that the most ancient 
 name by which the Grecians knew tlie Nile, is 
 Oceanus. It had also the name of A igle, afterwards 
 of yEg\'ptus, and lastly of Niliis, from king Nileus. 
 The Egj'ptians paid divine honor to the Nile, and 
 called it Jupiter Nilus ; for which reason, perhaps, 
 the Lord sometimes threatens to smite the river of 
 Egypt, to dry it up, and kill its fishes ; as it were to 
 show the Egyptians the vanity of their worship, and 
 the impotence of their pretended deity, Isa. xi. 15 ; 
 Ezek. xxix. 3, &c. 
 
 Scripture, marking the limits of the Land of 
 Promise, sometimes puts the river or the stream of 
 Egypt for its southerly limits : "From the entering 
 m of llamath, inito the river of Egy])t," 2 Chron. vii. 
 8. Or " from the channel of the river (Euphrates) 
 unto the stream of Egypt," Isa. xxvii. 12. Some in- 
 terpreters, however, justly doubting whether the 
 dominion of the Israelites extended to the Nile, have 
 properly supposed that the stream of Egyj)t was a 
 stream that fell into the Mediterranean sea, between 
 Riiinocorura and Gaza, which is called in Scripture 
 the river of the wilderness, Amos vi. 14. See Egypt, 
 River of. 
 
 The Arabians and other orientals often give the 
 Nile the name of a sea, and the surname or epithet 
 of Faidh, which is common also to the Euphrates, 
 because these two rivers, by then- overflowing, in- 
 crease the fertihty of the countries they pass through. 
 They also give it the name of Mobarek, blessed, as 
 well because of the fruitfulness it occasions to the 
 land, as the fecundity it is thought to procui-e to the 
 women. 
 
 When the Nile rises only to the perpendicular 
 height of twelve cubits, a famine necessarily follows 
 in Egj'pt ; nor is the famine less certain, if it should 
 exceed sixteen cubits ; so that the just height of the 
 inundation is between twelve and sixteen cubits. 
 
 The Nilometer is a pillar erected in the middle of 
 the Nile, on which are marked degrees measuring 
 the ascent of the water. There were several of 
 these in different places. At this day there is one in 
 the island which divides the Nile into two arms, one 
 of which passes to Cairo, and the other to Gizah. 
 M. d'Herbelot notices several others, built or repau-ed 
 by the reigning caliphs. The Nile overflows yearly 
 in the month of August, in the higher and middle 
 Egypt, where it hardly ever rains. But in lower 
 Egypt the flood is less sensible and less necessary, 
 becau.se it frequently rains there, and the country is 
 sufficiently watered. It is less sensible, because they 
 make fewer dikes, or receptacles for the water there, 
 and the inundation spreading itself equally over the 
 country, does not rise higher than a cubit through the 
 whole Delta. Whereas in higher and middle Egypt, 
 they have deep canals, to receive the waters of the 
 river. They make a breach in these dikes by au- 
 thority of the pacha, and when one district is sufii- 
 ciently watered, the dike is stopped up, and another 
 opened. The Egyptians have often contentions, 
 village against village, which shall have the first dis- 
 triliution of the waters ; and when the overflowing 
 comes as they desire, they celebrate a great festival 
 throughout the country. 
 
 When the waters are subsided, the culture of the 
 land is easy. The seed is cast on the mud, and with 
 little tillage produces great plenty. The mud which 
 the Nile brings is earth washed away from the banks 
 in its course ; which same mud, covering the land- 
 marks and furrows of the fields, obliges the proprie- 
 tors to have recourse to the line and the measuring 
 
 rod. to measure out their lands and inheritances 
 every year anew. See Egypt, p. 370, 371. 
 
 " Some descriptions of Egj pt would lead us to 
 think that the Nile, when it swells, lays the whole 
 province under water. The lands adjoining imme- 
 diately to the banks of the river are indeed laid under 
 water, but the natural inequality of the ground hin- 
 ders it from overflowing the interior country. A 
 great part of the lands would therefore remain bar- 
 ren, were not canals and resenoirs formed to receive 
 water from the river, when at its gi-eatest height, 
 which is thus conveyed every where dirough the 
 fields, and reserved for watering them, when occa- 
 sion i-equires." (Niebuhr's Travels, vol. i. ]>. 87.) 
 
 " It is to be remarked, that though this water be- 
 comes thick, by washing off the clayey soil over 
 which it passes, it appears, when drank, as light and 
 limpid as the clearest; the Egyptians themselves 
 believe it is nourishing, and say, whoever drinks of 
 the river will never remove to any great distance 
 from its banks. The divine honors which the an- 
 cient Egyptians paid to the Nile, and for which the 
 plenty it occasions may be some justification, are, in a 
 manner, still preserved luider the Mahometans ; they 
 give this river the title of Most Holy, they likewise 
 honor its increase with all the ceremonies practised 
 by pagan antiquity." (Baron du Tott, vol. ii. p. 24. 
 part 4.) 
 
 The superior veneration paid to the eastern or 
 Abyssinian branch of this celebrated river appears 
 from the variety of names given to it, as well as from 
 the import of these names ; of this Mr. Bruce gives a 
 full account, from whicli we shall only quote a part. 
 By the Agows it is named Gzeir, Geesa, orSeir; 
 the first of which terms signifies a god. It is like- 
 wise called Ab, father ; and has many other names, 
 all implying the most pi'ofound veneration. In Go- 
 jam it is named Abay, which signifies overflowing. 
 By the Gongas, on the south of mounts Dyre and 
 Tagla, it is called Dahli ; by those on the north, 
 Koass, both of which imply dog-star. Formerly the 
 Nile had the name of_SiriSj_boTlT~beTore and after it 
 enters Beja, which the Greeks imagined was given 
 to it on account of its black color during the inim- 
 dation ; but Mr. Bruce assures us tha.t the river has 
 no such color. He affirms, with great probability, 
 that this name in the country of Beja imports the 
 river of the dog-star, on the vertical appearance of 
 which this river overflows : " and this idolatrous 
 worship (says he) was probably part of the reason of 
 the question the projjhet Jeremiah asks: ' What hast 
 thou to do in Egypt to drink the watei-s of Seir, or 
 the water profaned by idolatrous rites?'" The in- 
 habitants of the Barabra call it Bahar el Nil, the sea 
 of the Nile, iu contradistinction to the Red sea, for 
 Avhich they have no other name than Bahar el Mo- 
 loch, or the Salt sea. The junction of the three 
 groat rivers, the Nile, flowing on the west side of 
 Meroe ; the Tacazze, which washes the east side, and 
 joins the Nile at Maggiran, in north latitude 17 de- 
 grees ; and the Mareb, which falls into this last 
 somotliing above the junction, gives the name of 
 Triton to the Nile. The ancient name Egyptus, 
 given it in Homer, is supposed to have been derived 
 from its black color; but Mr. Bruce derives it from 
 Y Gypt, the name given to Egypt in Ethiopia, that 
 is, the country of canals. 
 
 We also quote from Mr. Bruce Avhat I"^ lias said 
 concerning the natural operation by which the tropi- 
 cal rains are produced ; which are now universally 
 allowed to be the cause of the annual overflowing
 
 NILE 
 
 [ 704 1 
 
 NILE 
 
 of this and other rivers. "The air is so much rari- 
 fied by the sun, during the time he remains almost 
 stationary over the tropic of Capricorn, that the winds 
 loaded with vapors rush in upon the land from the 
 Atlantic ocean on the west, the Indian ocean on the 
 east, and the cold Southern ocean beyond the Cape. 
 Thus a great quantity of vapor is gathered, as it 
 were, into a focus ; and as the same causes continue 
 to operate during the progress of the sun northward, 
 a vast train of clouds proceeds from south to north, 
 which is sometimes extended much farther than at 
 other times. — In April all the rivers in the south of 
 Abyssinia begin to swell, and greatly augment the 
 Nile, which is further enlarged by the vast quantity 
 of water poured into the lake Tzana. In the begin- 
 ning of June the rivers are all full, and continue so 
 while the sun remains stationary in the tropic of 
 Cancer. This excessive rain, which woidd sweep 
 off the whole soil of Egypt into the sea, were it to 
 continue without intermission, begins to abate as the 
 sun turns southward ; and on his arrival at the ze- 
 nith of each place, on his passage towards that quar- 
 ter, they cease entii'ely. Immediately after the sun 
 has passed the line, he begins the rainy season to the 
 southward. There are three remarkable appear- 
 ances attending the inundation of the Nile. Every 
 morning m Abyssinia is clear, and the sun shines. 
 About nine a small cloud, not above four feet broad, 
 appears in the east, whirling violently round as if 
 upon an axis ; but, aiTived near the zenith, it first 
 abates its motion, then loses its form, and extends 
 itself greatly, and seems to call up vapors from all 
 the opposite quarters. These clouds, having attained 
 nearly the same height, rush against each other with 
 gi-eat violence. The air, impelled before the heavi- 
 est mass, or swiftest mover, makes an impression of 
 its form on the collection of clouds opposite ; and 
 the moment it has taken possession of the space 
 made to receive it, the most violent thunder possible 
 to be conceived instantly follows, with rain : after 
 some hours the sky again clears, with a wind at 
 north, and is always disagreeably cold when the ther- 
 mometer is below sixty-three degrees. The second 
 thing remarkable is the variation of the thermome- 
 ter. When the sun is in the southern tropic, thirty- 
 six degrees distant from the zenith of Gondar, it is 
 seldom lower than seventy-two degrees ; but it falls 
 to sixty degrees, and sixty-three degrees, wlien the 
 sun is immediately vertical ; so happily does the ap- 
 proach of rain compensate the heat of a too scorch- 
 ing sun. The third is that remarkable stop in the 
 extent of the rain northward, when the sun, that has 
 conducted the vapors from the line, and should 
 seem now more than ever to be in possession of 
 them, is here overruled suddenly ; till, on his return 
 to Gorri, again it resumes the absolute command 
 over the rain, and reconducts it to the line, to fur- 
 nish distant deluges to the southward. The river, 
 passing through the kingdom of Sennaar, the soil of 
 which is a red bole, becomes colored with that 
 eartli ; and this mixture, along with the moving 
 sand of the deserts, of which it receives a great 
 quantity when raised by the wind, precipitates all 
 the viscous and putrid matters which float in the 
 waters ; whence Dr. Pococke judiciously observes, 
 that the Nile is not wholesome when the water is 
 clear and green, but when so red and tm-bid that it 
 stains the water of the Mediterranean." 
 
 The following account is from father Vansleb, 
 whose remarks were made at Cairo : — 
 
 " This is remarkable of Nilus : (1.) That it begms 
 
 to increase and decrease on a certain day precisely, 
 (2.) That when it first increaseth it grows green. 
 (3.) That afterwards it appears red ; and (4.) That 
 it changeth its channel sometimes. The day in 
 which it begins to increase is yearly the twelfth day 
 of June, on which day they observe the feast of St. 
 Michael the archangel : — on this day the drops fall. 
 Now these drops are nothing else, according to the 
 judgment of the inhabitants, but the mercies and 
 blessings of God. As soon as this dew is fallen, the 
 water begins to be corrupt, and assumes a greenish 
 color; this color increases more and more, till the 
 river appears as a lake covered all over with moss. 
 This color is to be seen not only in its great chan- 
 nel, but also in all the ponds and branches that come 
 from thence : only the cisterns keep the water pure. 
 Some years this green color continues about twenty 
 days, and sometimes more, but never above forty. 
 The Egyptians call this time, when the river is 
 green, it chad raviat, for they suffer much, because 
 the water is corrupt, without taste, and unwhole- 
 some ; and good water is very rare. As soon as the 
 green color is gone, the river Nilus begins to be- 
 come red, and very muddy: it is then no doubt but 
 the fermentation is passed, and that the waters of 
 Ethiopia are arrived in Egypt, which are of that 
 color, because of the red earth which the furious 
 torrents from the mountains can-y into the river ; for 
 it is not possible that the land of Egypt, Avhich is 
 very black, should give it that color. In the year 
 1673, in the beginning of July, the water began to 
 be red, and so continued till the end of December, 
 the time when the river returns to its ordinary di- 
 mensions. The Egyptians believe that the river 
 Nilus decreaseth also at a certain day, Sept. 24. 
 
 " The waters of this river cause an itch in the skin, 
 which troubles such as drink of them when the river 
 increases. This itch is very small, and appears first 
 about the arms, next upon the stomach, and spreads 
 all abotU the body, Avhich causeth a giievous pain. 
 This itch comes not only upon such as drink of the 
 river ; but such as drink of the Avaters of the cisterns 
 filled with the river water. It lasts about six weeks. 
 When the river runs over, it makes a great destruc- 
 tion ; it carries away not only great pieces of the 
 bank, but destroys sometimes towns and villages 
 near to it." 
 
 The prophet Nahum calls this river by the name 
 of a sea, when describing the rampart of populous 
 No, which, hesays, "was the sea, and her wall was 
 from the sea." This may appear very extraordinary 
 to British readers : but the account of Ibn Haukal, 
 who uses the same phraseology, will justify it. He 
 thus writes: (sir W. Ouseley's trans, p. 34.) "In 
 this sea there are islands, to which one may pass in 
 boats or vessels. Of these islands are Teneis and 
 Damiat. In each of these, agriculture is practised, 
 and cattle are kept : and the kind of clothes called 
 rekia come from these places. " The waters of this 
 sea are not very considerable, and vessels move on 
 it by the help of men. . . . From the borders of this 
 sea, to those of the sea of Syria, it is all sand." 
 
 In these passages the mouths of the Nile, the lakes 
 adjacent to them, the marshes, &c. appear to be 
 called seas, in the Arabic ; as such collections of 
 water also are in the Hebrew. 
 
 " The Nile," says Ibn Haukal, (sir W. Ouseley's 
 trans, p. 3L) " produces crocodiles, and the fish 
 sekenkour : and there is also a species of fish called 
 raadah, which if any person take in his hand while it 
 is alive, that person will be affected by a trembling
 
 NIM 
 
 [705 ] 
 
 NIN 
 
 of his body : when dead this fish resembles other 
 fishes. The crocodile's skin is so hard, that it resists 
 the blows of all weapons when stricken on the back : 
 they therefore wound him under the arm-pits and 
 between the thighs. The sekenkour is a species of 
 that fish, (the crocodile,) but the crocodile has hands 
 and feet : and they use the sekenkour in medicinal 
 and culinary preparations." 
 
 It deserves notice that the crocodile is liere reck- 
 oned a fish, though it is, as we well know, a lizard ; 
 and the sekenkour, or skinkore, or skink, of Euro- 
 pean naturalists, is referred to the same genus, that 
 is, of fishes, though that also is a lizard, is amphibi- 
 ous, and is found in various countries of the East. 
 It appears that the ancient Hebrews also included 
 lizards in the division of Tannim, which comprised 
 not only fishes but amphibia; creatures using the 
 water, generally ; and even serpents. The crocodile, 
 therefore, being called a fish by this Arab writer, we 
 need not hesitate to admit the same idea among the 
 learned Hebrews. 
 
 NI3IRAH, Beth-Nimrah, house of limpid ivaters, 
 and NiMRiM, a city of Gad, or rather of Reuben, east 
 of the Dead sea, Numb, xxxii. 3. Jeremiah (xlviii. 
 34.) speaks of Nimrim and its pleasant waters; Isa- 
 iah (xv. G.) also mentions the waters of Niuirim. 
 [Burckhardt mentions the niins of A mn'n, probably 
 the same as the ancient Nimrah, or Niim"im, as 
 being on the eastern side of the Dead sea, towards 
 its northern part. (Trav. in Syria, &c. p. 391.) *R. 
 
 NIMROD, son of Cusli, "and a mighty hunter 
 before the Lord," Gen. x. 8, 9. He was the first who 
 began to monopolize power on the earth, and gave 
 occasion to the proverb, "Like Nimrod, the great 
 hunter before the Lord." His hunting was not only 
 of wild beasts, but also to subdue men, to reduce 
 them under his dominion. Ezekiel (xxxii. 30. Vulg.) 
 gives the name of hunters to all tyrants. The foun- 
 dation of the empire of Nimrod was at Baliylon ; 
 and, very probably, he was among the most eager 
 undertakers of the tower of Babel. He built Baby- 
 lon at, or near, that famous tower, and from thence 
 he extended his dominion over the neighboring 
 countries, and Erech, Accad and Calneh, in the land 
 of Sliinar. Moses adds, according to the English 
 version : " Out of that land went forth Ashur, and 
 '^bnilded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 
 and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah ; the same 
 is a great city." This Bochart and others under- 
 stand still of Nimrod, and translate, "From this 
 place he went out to go into Assyria, where he built 
 Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen;" that is, 
 when Nimrod had established the beginning of his 
 empire at Babylon, and in the land of Sliinar, he 
 advanced towards Assyria, where he built poworfid 
 cities, as so many fortresses, to keep the people in 
 subjection. Comp. Assyria, p. 113, col. 2. 
 
 INIany interpreters regard Nimrod as the same 
 with Helus, founder of the kingdom of Babylon, and 
 with Ninus, founder of that of Nineveh. (See As- 
 syria, p. 113, Babylonia, p. 138.) Profime authors 
 have embellished the history of Bacchus with several 
 circumstances taken from that of Nimrod, The 
 name Nebrodeus, or Nebrodus, given to Bacchus, 
 is perhaps derived from Nembrod, or Nimrod, 
 though the Greeks derive it from a goat-skin, with 
 which they pretend Bacchus was clothed. The 
 name Bacchus may also be derived from Bar-chus, 
 "son of Cush ;" because Nimrod was indeed the 
 son of Cush. The Greeks gave to Bacchus the name 
 of hunter, just as Moses gives it to Nimrod. The 
 89 
 
 expeditions of Bacchus into the Indies are formed 
 on the wars of Nimrod in Babylonia and Assyria. 
 To Nimrod is imputed the invention of idolatrous 
 worship paid to men. 
 
 NINEVEH, the capital of Assyria, was founded 
 by Ashur, son of Shem ; or more'probably by Nim- 
 rod, son of Cush; for in Gen. x. 11, Moses seems 
 to refer to Nimrod, mentioned above. However 
 this may be, Nineveh was one of the most ancitrit, 
 famous, potent and extensive cities of the world. 
 It is very difiicult to assign the time of its founda- 
 tion ; but it cannot have been long after the building 
 of Babel. It stood on the banks of the Tigris; and 
 in the time of the prophet Jonah, who was sent 
 thither under Jeroboam the second, king of Israel, 
 and, as Calmet judges, under the reign of Pul, father 
 of Sardanapalus, king of Assyria; its circuit was 
 three days' jom-nej^ Diodorus Siculus says, it was 
 150 stadia in length, 90 stadia in breadth, and 480 
 stadia in circuit ; that is, about seven leagues long, 
 three leagues broad, and eighteen leagues round. 
 Its walls were a himdred feet high, and so broad, 
 that thnoe chariots could drive abreast upon them. 
 Its towers, of which there were fifteen hundred, 
 were each two hundred feet high. 
 
 Some place it on the west, others on the east, bank 
 of the Tigris. At the time of Jonah's mission, (Jo- 
 nah iv. 11.) it was reckoned to contain more than 
 120,000 persons, " v/ho could not distinguish their 
 right hand from their left ;" that is, young children. 
 By this computation, there ought to have been then 
 in Nineveh more than 000,000 persons. 
 
 Nineveh, which had long been mistress of the East, 
 was first taken by Arbaces and Belesis, under the 
 reign of Sardanapalus, in the time of Ahaz, king of 
 Judah, about the time of the foundation of Rome, 
 A. M. 3257. It Avas taken a second time by Cyaxares 
 and Nabopolassar, from Chinaladin, king of Assyria, 
 A. M. 3378, after which it no more recovered its 
 former splendor. It was entirely mined in the 
 time of Lucian of Samosata, who lived under the 
 emperor Adrian. It was rebuilt under the Persians, 
 but was destroyed by the Saracens about the seventh 
 century. 
 
 Profime histories say, that Ninus founded Nine- 
 veh. The sacred authors make frequent mention of 
 Nineveh and its kings, Tiglath-pileser, Sennacherib, 
 Shalmanezar, and Esar-haddon. Tobit lived in 
 this city. Nahum and Ze{)haniah foretold its ruin 
 in a very particular and pathetic manner, which 
 Tobit re[)eated. The behavior of Jonah at Nine- 
 veh is well known ; with the signal repentance of 
 the Ninevites ; which is even commended in the 
 gospel. Matt. xi. 41 ; Luke xi. 32. 
 
 Several writers are of o])inion that the ruins on 
 the eastern bank of the Tigris, opposite to the town 
 of Mosr.l, point out the site of the ancient Nineveh. 
 IMr. Rich, who was resident at Bagdad, describes on 
 this s|)ot an enclosure of a rectangular form, corre- 
 s{)onding with the cardinal points of the compass, but 
 the area of which is too small to have contained a 
 larger town than IMosul. The boundary of this en- 
 closure, which he supposes to answer to the palace of 
 Nineveh, may be perfectly traced all aroimd, and 
 looks like an embankment of earth or rubbish, of 
 small elevation ; and has attached to it, and in its 
 line, at several places, mounds of gi-eater size and 
 solidity. The first of these forms the south-west 
 angle ;' and on it is built the village of Nebbi Yunus, 
 where they show the tomb of the prophet Jonas. 
 The next," and largest of all, is the one which Mr,
 
 N O A 
 
 [ 706 ] 
 
 NOAH 
 
 Rich supposes to be the monuineut of Nimis, and is 
 situated near the centre of the western face of the 
 enclosure, being joined hke the otliers l)y the boun- 
 dary wall ; the natives call it Koyunjuk Tepe. Its 
 form is that of a truncated pyramid, with regulaf- 
 steep sides and a flat top ; and is composed of stones 
 and eartl), the latter predominating sufficiently to ad- 
 mit of the summit being cultivated by the inhabitants 
 of the village of Koyunjuk, which is built on it at 
 the north-east extremity. The measurements of this 
 mound were 178 feet for the greatest height, 1850 
 feet the length of the summit east and west, and 1147 
 for its breadth north and south. Out of a mound in 
 the north face of the boundary v.as dug, some time 
 since, an immense block of stone, on which were 
 sculptured the figures of men and animals. So re- 
 markable was this fragment of antiquity, that even 
 Turkish apathy was roused, and the pacha and most 
 of the principal people of AIosul came oiit to see it. 
 One of the spectators particularly recollected among 
 the sculptures of this stone, the figure of a man on 
 horseback, with a long lance in his hand, followed by 
 a great many others on foot. These ruins seem to 
 attest the former existence of some extensive build- 
 ings on the spot, but whether belonging to the ancient 
 Nineveh will admit of considerable doubt. 
 
 NISAN, a Hebrew mouth, partly answering to our 
 March ; and which sometimes takes from February 
 or April, according to the course of the moon. It 
 was the seventh month of the civil year; but was 
 made the first month of the sacred year, at the com- 
 ing out of Egypt, Exod. xii. 2. In Moses it is called 
 Abib. The name Nisan is oidy since the time of 
 Ezra, and the i-eturn from the captivity of Babylon. 
 See the Jewish Calexdar, and Months. 
 
 NISROCH, or Nesroch, a god of the Assyrians, 
 2 Kings xix. 37. The LXX call him Nesrach ; Jo- 
 sephus, Araskes; and the Hebrew of Tobit, publish- 
 ed by Munster, Dagon. [According to the etymology, 
 the name would signify eagle. Among tlie ancient 
 Arabs, also, the eagle occurs as an idol. (See Gese- 
 nius, Heb. Lex.) R. 
 
 NITRE, a sort of salt, or of salt-petre, a mineral al- 
 kali, common in Palestine, Arabia and Egypt. The 
 Hebrews call it Nether, and use this word to express 
 a salt proper to take spots out of cloth, and even from 
 the face. The wise man says, (Prov. xxv. 20.) "As 
 he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and 
 as vinegar upon nitre ; so is he that singcth songs to 
 a heavy heart." That is, he makes bad worse who 
 deprives the shivering wretcii of a garment in cold 
 weather ; so doth he who singeth songs to a heavy 
 heart : vinegar poured on nitre makes a great ebul- 
 lition ; merriment, jollity and song are equally oiu 
 of time, unsoothing, unsuitable to a mind overwhelm- 
 ed with profound grief. Jeremiah, speaking to his 
 people under the image of a faithless and abandoned 
 spouse, says, " Though thou wash thee with nitre, 
 and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is mark- 
 ed before me, saitli the Lord God." Thou art too 
 much polluted in my eyes ever to be made clean. 
 This passage proves the use of nitre, to purify from 
 outward spots and bhMuislics. The nitre conunou 
 among us, from which gunpowder is made, is appa- 
 rently not the nitre of the Scriptures ; it is nearer, we 
 believe, to sal-ammoniac. 
 
 NO, or No-Ammon, a city of Egyj)t. See Ammox I. 
 
 NOACHID^, a name given to the children of 
 Noah, and in general, to all men not of the chosen 
 race of Abraham. 
 
 NOAH, repose, or rest, son of Lnmech, was born 
 
 A. M. 1056. Amidst the general corruption of man- 
 kind, he found favor in the eyes of the Lord, ami 
 received a divine command, to build an ark for the 
 saving of his house from the general deluge which 
 the Lord was about to bring upon the earth. (See 
 Arx, and Deluge.) After having left the ark, Noah 
 oficred as a burnt-sacrifice to the Lord one of all the 
 j)iu-e animals that had been preserved. His sacrifice 
 was accepted, and the Lord promised to bi'ing no 
 more a deluge over the earth ; of which promise the 
 sign lie gave to Noah was the rainbow. 
 
 Noah, being a husbandman, cultivated the vine ; 
 and having unwarily intoxicated himself by drinking 
 of wine, he fell asleep in his tent. Ham, the father 
 of Canaan, discoveruig him in this condition, made 
 sport of him, and jeered with his two brothers; who 
 going backwards, covered their father's nakedness, 
 by throwing a mantle over him. Noah awaking, and 
 knowing what Ham had done, foretold the doom of 
 slavery to Canaan and his posterity ; while he bless- 
 ed his other sous. 
 
 Noah lived after the deluge 350 years ; his whole 
 life being 950 years. He died A. M. 2006, leaving 
 three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, (sec their arti- 
 cles,) among whom, according to the conmion opin- 
 ion, he divided the v/hole world, giving to Shem 
 Asia, to Ham Africa, and to Japheth Europe. 
 
 Peter calls Noah a preacher of righteousness, (2 
 Pet. ii. 5.) because, before the deluge, he was inces- 
 santly declaring, not only by his discourses, but by 
 his unblamable life, and by building the ark, in which 
 he was employed 120 years, the coming of the wrath 
 of God, Matt. xxiv. 37. The passage in 1 Pet. iii. 18 
 — 20, has been the theme of much controversy. 
 Several of the ancient fathers took the words literal- 
 ly ; as if Christ after his death had really preached 
 to those men, who before the deluge were disobedi- 
 ent to the preaching of Noali. Others, by prison, 
 understand the bod}', which is, as it were, the prison 
 of the soul. Others, that Christ, by his Spirit, with 
 whicli Noah was replenished, preached by the mouth 
 of that patriarch to the unbelievers before the deluge, 
 whose souls Avere then in the prison of the body ; 
 but at the time when Peter wrote, Vi'ere in the prison 
 of hell. The last interpretation seems to be the most 
 natural. It is certain, that the term "^e went and 
 ])reaclied," may signify only "/(e preached;" as in 
 Eph. ii. 15, "he came and preached peace to you who 
 v.erc afar off, — not in person ; but by his agents, hia 
 apostles. In this sense Noah, in his day, was an 
 agent of Christ, being actuated by his Spirit. It is 
 probable, that as fallen angels arc described as being 
 held in chains of darkness, imto judgment, so diso- 
 bedient hiunan spirits may be described as being iu 
 prison, that is, reserved to future judgment. (Comp. 
 Job xxvi. 5. as usually unilerstood.) 
 
 Several learned men have observed, that the pa- 
 gans confounded Saturn, Deucalion, Ogygcs, the god 
 Ccelus or Uranus, Janus, Proteus, Prometheus, Ver- 
 tinnnup, Bacchus, Osiris, Vadimon, and Xisuthrus, 
 with Noah. See Ark, p. i>5. 
 
 The fable of Deucalion and his wife Pyrrlia, is 
 manifestly derived from the history of Noah. Deu 
 cation, by the advice of his fiither, built an ark, or 
 vessel of wood, in which he stored all sorts of pro- 
 visions necessary for life, anrl eiUci-ed it with his wife 
 Pyrrha ; to secure themselves from a deluge, that 
 drowned nearly all Greece. All the people ahnost 
 of this country were destroyed, none cscaj)ed I'Ut 
 those who took refuge on the tops of the higiiest 
 mountains. When the flood was over, Deucalion
 
 NOP 
 
 [ 707 
 
 X O T 
 
 came out of his ark, and found himself on mount 
 Parnassus. Tliei-e he offered sacrifices to Jupiter, 
 who sent Mercury to him to know what he desired. 
 He requested that he might become the restorer of 
 mankind, which Jupiter gi-anted to huu. He and 
 Pyrrha were ordered to cast stones behind them, 
 which immediately became so many men and wo- 
 men. The name Nuraito, given to the wife of Noah 
 by tlic Syro-Chaldee, is derived from the Syriac, xiij, 
 which signifies fire ; hence PyiTha (fire) is, by the 
 Greeks, said to have been the name o the wife of 
 Deucalion; and so far the Grecian story rests on au- 
 thority more oriental than itself. E])iphanius has a 
 i-eference to this derivation: he calls hiiv "Noria, 
 said to be the wife of Noah, whose name is, by inter- 
 pretation, Pyrrha." There is also, much allegory 
 couched under the names of Deucalion's father, Pro- 
 metheus, (foresight,) by whom she was advised to 
 build a vessel, and Pyrrha's father, Epimethcus, 
 whose wife was Pandora, accomplished by gifts from 
 all the gods, with her box of evils, in which, when 
 opened, remained only Hope, &c. 
 
 NOB, a sacerdotal city of Benjamin or Ephrain), 
 not far from Diospolis. When David was driven 
 awaj' by Saul, he came to Nob, the priests of which 
 city were slain by Saul, 1 Sam. xxii. 9, &c. ; xxi. 
 0, &c. 
 
 NOBLEMAN, John iv. 46. This was probably 
 an officer of Herod's court, and of considerable dis- 
 tinction ; not an hereditary nobleman. The word 
 paaiXlxo; signifies a servant of the kinf; ; as the Syriac 
 and Arabic versions render it. Many have conjec- 
 tured that this nobleman, or royal servant, was Cluiza, 
 Herod's steward, whose wife is thought to have been 
 converted on this occasion, and afterv.ards to have 
 become an attendant on Jesus, Luke viii. 3. 
 
 NOD, vagabond, a country so called, whither Cain 
 withdrew after his fratricide. Gen. iv. IG. Jerome 
 and the Chaldee have taken the word Nod in the 
 sense of an appellative, a vagabond, or fugitive. 
 
 NOON, the middle time of the daj', when the sun 
 is highest in his daily course ; in modern language, 
 when he is direct south, on the meridian of any place, 
 1 Kings xviii. 27; Ps. Iv. 17. This time of the day 
 being the brightest, is made a subject of comparison 
 in several places of Scripture, Job v. 14 ; Ps. xxxvii. 
 6. The apostle Paul says, the brightness in which 
 he beheld the Lord Jesus, was superior to that of the 
 sun at noon. Acts xxvi. 13. 
 
 NOPII, a city of Egypt, (Isa. xix. 13 ; Jer. ii. IG ; 
 xliv. 1 ; xlvi. 14 ; Ezek. xxx. 13, IG.) generally be- 
 lieved to have been the same with Moph, the ]\Ienouf 
 of the Copts and vVrabs, that is, Memphis. Mem])hjs 
 is the Greek form of the Egyptian name, which, ac- 
 cording to Plutarch, signifies the port of the good; it 
 was therefore a compound word, inen being an aflix, 
 and nouf, or noph, being the distinguishing appellative. 
 It is sometimes found with the article prefixed, in 
 the form of Panouph, that is, Pi-,Vouf JVoif, as 
 ]\Ir. Conder remarks, is evidently no other than the 
 god XioLifig, the ^^Ya^odaluvif of the Egyptian Pan- 
 theon. 
 
 The situation of Memphis, formerly the capital of 
 Egypt, has been a subject of considerable dispute, 
 and has afforded materials for long and laborious in- 
 vestigation by the learned. Sicard and Shaw fix its 
 site at Djezeh, or Gizeh, directly opposite to Old 
 Cairo. This opinion, however, has been controvert- 
 ed by Pococke, D'Auville, Niebuhr, and other writ- 
 ers and travellers, who place Memj)his more in the 
 direction of Metrahen,', about 15 miles farther south, 
 
 on the bank of tiic Nile, at the entrance of liie plain 
 of mummies, at the north of which the pvramidsare 
 l)laced. (See Brucc's Travels; the Fragments to 
 Calmet, No. 54G ; and the Modern Traveller, Egypt, 
 vol. i. p. 339—352, Engl. ed. Rosenmuller, Bib!. 
 Geog. iii. 290.) 
 
 Memphis was the residence of the ancient kings 
 of Egypt, till the times of the Ptolemies, who com- 
 monly resided at Alexandria. The jirophcls, in the 
 places above referred to, foretell the miseries 3Iem- 
 phis was to sufior from the kings of Chaidca and 
 Persia, and they tiirealen the Israelites who should 
 retire into Egypt, or should have recourse to the 
 Egyptians, that they should perish in that countrv- 
 In this city they {"cd the ox Apis ; and Ezekiel says, 
 that the I.ord will destroy tiie idols of Memphis, 
 chap. xxx. 13, IG. ]\Iemphis retained its splendor 
 till it was conquered bv tlie Arabians in the 18th or 
 19th year of the llegira, A. D. G4] . Amrou-Ben-As, 
 who took it, built another near it, which was called 
 Fusthath, from the general's tent, which had long oc- 
 cu])ied tliat place. The Fatimite cahphs, becoming 
 masters of Egypt, added another city, which they 
 named Caherah, " the victorious," the "present Grand 
 Cairo, which is built on the eastern shore of the 
 Nile. 
 
 NORTH. As it was customary for tlie Hebrews 
 to consider the cardinal points of the heavens in ref- 
 erence to a man m hose face was turned toward the 
 east, the north was consequently to his left hand. 
 The north wind dissipates rain, (Prov. xxv. 23.) but 
 this must depend on the situation of a place ; as in 
 different places the same wind has different effects. 
 NOSE. The Hebrews commonly place the seat of 
 anger in the nose ; since the efiect of anger is of\en 
 hard breathing, and in aiu;nals, snorting. " There 
 went up a smoke out of his nostrils," 2 Sam. xxii. 9 ; 
 Ps. xviii. 8. "The anger of the Lord and his jeal- 
 ousy shall smoke against that man," Deut. xxix. 20. 
 " Out of his nostrils goeth smoke," Job xli. 21. The 
 ancient Greek and Latin authors speak much after 
 the same manner. 
 
 Solomon alludes to the custom of women wearing 
 golden rings in their nosti'ils, when he says, (Prov. 
 xi. 22.) "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a 
 fair woman without discretion." And Ezekiel, (xvi. 
 12.) " I will put a jewel on thy forehead, [Heb. nose,] 
 and ear-rings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown 
 upon thine head." They also put rings in the nos- 
 trils of oxen and camels, to guide them by: "I will 
 put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips," 
 2 Kings xix. 28. '(See also Job xli. 2.) 
 
 NOTHING is sometimes put in opposition to body, 
 solidity, or mass. It is also put for vacuity, and for 
 what is not sensible. Job says, (xxvi. 7.) " he stretch- 
 eth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth 
 the earth upon nothing," upon the vacuimi. Isaiah 
 says, (xl. 22. Vulg.) " God spreads out the heavens as 
 nothing;" he extends them in the air in invisible 
 space. The wise man says, (Wisd. ii. 2. Vulg.) We 
 are born of nothing, and in some sense shall return 
 to nothing again. We shall disappear from the face 
 of the eai-th, as if we had never been there. And 
 Isaiah says, (xli. 24.) "Behold ye are of nothing, and 
 your works of nought ; an abomination is he that 
 chooseth you." 
 
 Idols are often called nothings, non-entities. "Ye 
 which rejoice in a thing of nought," Amos vi. 13. 
 And Esther, (Apoc. xiv. 11.) "O Lord, give not thy 
 sceptre unto them that be nothing;" deliver not over 
 thy people to those gods that are nothing. Paul says.
 
 NUM 
 
 [ 708 ] 
 
 NUN 
 
 " We knov/ that an idol is nothing in tlie world," 1 
 Cor. viii. 4. To bring to nothing is to exterminate, 
 to destroy ; utterly to root out any thing. 
 
 NOVICE, or Neophite, newly sown, ov planted, a 
 name given to new converts to Christianity, or to 
 those newly baptized. Paul advises (1 Tim. iii. G.) 
 that a novice should not be made a bishop, "lest, be- 
 ing lilted u[) with ])ride, he fall into the condemnation 
 of the devil." As Luciter, being puffed up with 
 those eminent qualities he possessed, became proud 
 and insolent, and was therefore precipitated into hell, 
 so a man who finds himself suddenly exalted in dig- 
 nity, easily flatters himself, and conceits that he has 
 more real worth than others ; that tliere is great oc- 
 casion for liis services, &c. Hence arise presump- 
 tion and pride, and then follows the judgment of God, 
 v/ho always humbles the proud. Tlie term Neo- 
 phyte continued to be used among the primitive 
 Christians during several ages, as appears from the 
 tombstones of children, &c. who died wlien recent- 
 Iv ba|)tized. 
 
 ' NUMBERS, THE BOOK OF, isthe third of the Pen- 
 tateuch. The Hebrews call it -lanM, Vayedabber, [and 
 
 he spoke,) because in the Hebrew it begins with these 
 words. Some Jews call it -\2-\v2, Bemidhar, [in the 
 desert,) because it includes the history of the Israel- 
 ites' journeying in the wilderness. The-Greeks, and 
 after them the Latins, call it the book of Numbers, 
 because the first three chapters contain the number- 
 ing of the Hebrews and Levites, which was perform- 
 ed separately, after the erection and consecration of 
 the tabernacle. 
 
 The people, having departed from Sinai on the 
 twentieth day of the second month of the second 
 year after their coming out of Egyjjt, went to the 
 wilderness of Paran, and thence to Kadesh, Avhence 
 they sent spies to view the Land of Pi'omise. At 
 their return the people were discouraged ; for which 
 God condemned them to die in the desert. And 
 having journeyed thirty-nine years in the wilderness, 
 they arrived at last at the plains of Moab, beyond 
 Jordan. What happened during this interval, is re- 
 corded in the book of Numbers. 
 
 NUN, son of Elishamah, and father of Joshua, of 
 the tribe of Ephraim. The Greeks give him the 
 name of Nave instead of Nun. 
 
 O 
 
 OAK 
 
 OAK. The religious veneration paid to this tree, 
 by the original natives of Britain, in the time of the 
 Druids, is well known to every reader of English 
 history. We have reason to think that this ven- 
 eration Avas brought from the East; and that the 
 Druids did no more tlian transfer the sentiments their 
 progenitors had received in oriental countries. It 
 Avovdd appear that the patriarch Al)raham resided 
 under an oak, or a grove of oaks, which our transla- 
 tors render the plain of Mamre ; and that he ]ilanted 
 a grove of this tree. Gen. xxi. 23. In tact, since in 
 hot countries nothing is more desirable, or more re- 
 freshing, than tlie shade of a tree, we may easily sup- 
 pose the inhabitants would resort for such enjoyment to 
 
 Whei-e'er the oak's thick branches spread 
 A deeper, darker shade. 
 
 Oaks, and groves of oaks, were esteemed proper 
 places for religious services ; altai-s were set up under 
 them, (Josh. xxiv. 2G.) and probably, in the East, as 
 well as in tlie West, appointments to meet at coii- 
 ppicuous oaks were made, and many affairs transact- 
 ed, or treated of, under their shade, as we read in 
 Homer, Theocritus, and otlier j)oet3. 
 
 It was common among the Hebrews to sit under 
 oaks, Judg. vi. 11; 1 Kings xiii. 14. Jacob buried 
 idolatrous images under an oak, (Gen. xxxv. 4.) and 
 Deborah, Rcbekah's nurse, was,buried under one of 
 these trees, chap. xxxv. 8; 1 Chron. x. 12. Abime- 
 lech was made king under an oak, Judg. ix. 6. Idol- 
 atry was j)ractise(l under oaks, Isa. i. 29 ; Ivii. 5 ; 
 Hosea iv. 13. Idols were made of oaks, Isa. xliv. 14. 
 
 There are several kinds of oak in the F.ast, as Tour- 
 nefort observes: one of whicii he calls "tlie fairest 
 si)ccies of oak in tlie world ;" and descrilies it as 
 growing in tiie isle of Zia. He says also, of Anatolia, 
 (vol. iii. p. 2!>8.) " Beside the common oaks, and that 
 which bears the Vclanedc, we saw several other kinds 
 in the valleys." It is very reasonable to suppose that 
 more than one kind is mentioned in Scripture. 
 
 OAT 
 
 ]hi<, AUn is tne general name for oak, the mention 
 of which occurs frequently ; the Chaldee iS^N, Men, 
 seems also to be a species of oak, Dan. iv. 7, &c. 
 [The word nSx, rendered oak in our version, is proper- 
 ly terebinth. Gen. xxxv. 4 ; Judg. vi. 11, 19. See 
 Terebinth. R. 
 
 The famous oracle of Dodona stood among oaks ; 
 whicli tree was sacred to Jupiter, who often on med- 
 als, &c. wears an oaken garland : sacra Jovi Qiieixits. 
 
 OATH, a solemn affirmation, accompanied by an 
 appeal to the Supreme Being. God has prohibited 
 ail false oaths, and all useless and customary swear- 
 ing in ordinary discourse ; but when the necessity 
 or importance of a matter recjuires an oath, he allows 
 to swear by his name. 
 
 Among the Hebrews an oath was administered by 
 the judge, who stood up, and adjured the party, who 
 was to be sworn. To this mode of administering an 
 oath Moses alludes, when he says, (Lev. v. 1.) "If a 
 person sin, hearing the voice of swearing, that is, of 
 adjuration, being called on to witness, whether he 
 hath seen or known of the transaction then in judg- 
 ment," &c. And this we take to be the true import 
 of Prov. xxix. 24, " Whoso is partner, accomplice, 
 even after the fact, with a thief, liateth his own soul : 
 he heareth the voice of cursing, that is, the adjura- 
 tion by the judge, when inquiry is making after the 
 truth of a fact, but docs not discover his knowledge 
 of the matter :" consequently, he is guilty of j)erjury. 
 (See 1 Kings viii. 31 ; 2 Chron. vi. 22.) In this man- 
 ner our Lord was adjured by Caiaphas, Matt. xxvi. 
 63. Jesus had remained silent under long examina- 
 tion, when the high-priest rising up, knowing he had 
 a sure mode of obtaining an answer, said, "I adjnre 
 thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether 
 thou be the Christ," &c. To this oath, thus solemn- 
 ly administered, Jesus confessed a good confession. 
 That the high-priests had this power, see Exod. xxii. 
 11 ; Lev. V. 1 ; Prov. xxix. 24 ; xxx. 9. Probably, 
 they might thus interfere only on occasions of some
 
 OATH 
 
 [ 709 ] 
 
 OATH 
 
 moment, ami wlien the most solemn kind of oath 
 was necessary. 
 
 An oatli is a solemn appeal to God, as to an all- 
 seeing witness, and an almighty avenger, if what we 
 say be false, Heb. vi. 16. It is an act of religious 
 worship ; whence God requires it to be done in his 
 name, (Dcut. x. 20.) and points out the manner in 
 whicli it ouglit to be administered, and the duty of the 
 j)erson who swears, Ps. xv. 4 ; xxiv. 4 ; Jer. iv. 2. 
 An oath in itself is not unlawful, either as it is a re- 
 ligious act, or as God is called on to witness. See 
 
 C'OVE.VA.NT. 
 
 God himself is represented as confirming his prom- 
 ise by oath, (Heb. vi. 13.) and thus conforming him- 
 self to what is practised among men, chap. v. 16, 17. 
 The oaths forbidden (iMatt. v. 34, 35; Jam. v. 12.) 
 refer only to the unthinking, hasty and vicious prac- 
 tices of the Jews; otherwise, Paul would have acted 
 against the command of Christ, Rom. i. 9 ; 2 Cor. i. 
 2.3. Neither atheists nor Epicureans, who deny, the 
 former the being, the latter the providence, of God, 
 can take an oath administered, and be bound by it, 
 from the very form of an oath, which declares the 
 omniscience and primitive justice of God. That per- 
 in is obliged to take an oath, whose duty requires 
 im to profess the truth. As we are bound to mani- 
 "st every possible degree of reverence towards God, 
 iie greatest care is to be taken that we swear neither 
 /ashly nor negligently in making promises. To neg- 
 lect performance is perjury; unless the promise be 
 contrary to the law of nature ; in which case no oath 
 is binding. A person is guilty of perjury who takes 
 an oath in a sense tUfferent from that in which it is 
 (lawfully) tendered: such simulation and dissimula- 
 tion, or mental reservation, is contrary to the law of 
 nature, because a violation of duty. To swear by a 
 creature is simply unlawful, fi-om the nature of an 
 oath, which implies omniscience and omnipotence in 
 the party appealed to, and sworn by, perfections in- 
 competent to any creature. 
 
 ^¥e find Joseph using an extraordinary kind of 
 oath, as it appears to us; (Gen. xlii. 15.) "As Pharaoh 
 liveth," or, by the life of Pharaoh. This custom of 
 swearmg by the king still continues m the East. The 
 most sacred oath among the Persians is " by the king's 
 head," says Hanvvay, (Trav. vol. i. p. 313.) and 
 among other instnncps of it, we read in the Travels 
 of the Ambassadors, (p. 204.) "There were but sixty 
 horses for ninety-four persons. The Mehemander 
 (or conductor) swore by the head of the king (which 
 is the greatest oath among the Persians) that he could 
 not possibly find any more." And Thenevot says, 
 (Trav. p. 97, jiart ii.) "His subjects never look upon 
 him but wiili fear and trembling, and they have such 
 respect for him, and pay so bliiul an obedience to all 
 his orders, that how unjust soever his commands 
 might be, they perform them, though against law 
 both of God and nature. Nay, if they swear by the 
 king's head, their oath is more authentic, and of 
 greater credit, than if they swore by all that is most 
 sacred in heaven and upon earth." These instances 
 seem allied to that very common oath in Scripture, 
 "As the Lord liveth:" and it should seem, that as 
 this oath could not be taken without naming the 
 name of God, which the later Jews regarded as a 
 profanation, that they gradually introduced the cus- 
 tom of swearing (not judicially) by sacred things, as 
 heaven, the temple, the gold of the temple, the altar, 
 &rc. all which om- Lord forbids, and refers oaths to 
 the gi-eat object of swearing, God; or, if the subject 
 in debate be too trivial to call upon God about, then 
 
 swear not at all ; use no subterfuge, no lesser oatb, 
 but either aftirm, or deny, simply. 
 
 Our Lord further says^ thou shalt not swear by thy 
 head, as some we see are accustomed to do by the 
 king's head. The apostle Paul observes, " men ver- 
 ily swear by a greater than themselves;" as those 
 no doubt understood they did, who sware by the 
 king. 
 
 Grievous curses are promulgated against false 
 swearers, and false oaths are among the greatest 
 abominations before both God and man. (1.) That 
 a person swear lawfully, he must swear by the Most 
 High God, since only the Most High God can judge 
 of the sincerity of his affirmation, which is the es- 
 sence of an oath : to swear by any person or thing 
 not omniscient to know, and omnipotent to remuner- 
 ate, is to trifle with an oath. (2.) The veracity of an 
 oath is its essence : to preserve this veracity we should 
 swear only on due deliberation, only on actual knowl- 
 edge, only agreeably to justice and equity: openh', 
 candidl)', with due circumspection, and if necessary, 
 with due inquiry and explanation. (3.) The end of 
 an oath is to glorify God, by acknowledging his attri- 
 butes of holiness, justice, truth, knowledge, &c. and 
 to appease man, by determining controversy, clear- 
 ing the innocent, satisfyuig our brethren, or discharg- 
 ing our own consciences : and an oath should be "an 
 end of all strife ! " — If such be the essence and nature 
 of oaths, what apology shall be made for profane 
 swearing.' swearing without an object, and to no 
 avail ; for who credits such asseverations beyond 
 what they would credit simple assertion ? 
 
 We have in Gen. xxi. 28. a curious account of a 
 ceremony practised by Abraham, in respect to Abim- 
 elech : "Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock 
 by themselves, and Abimelech said to Abraham, 
 What mean these seven ewe lambs, which thou hast 
 set by themselves ? And he said. For these seven ewe 
 lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be 
 a witness unto me [in my behalf] that I have digged 
 this well : wherefore he called that place Beersheba, 
 because they there sware both of them. Thus they 
 made a covenant at Beersheba." — Beersheba may sig- 
 nify the well of the oath, or the well of the seven. 
 IMr. Taylor inclines to the latter signification, from 
 having read the following, in Bruce's Travels : — 
 
 "All that is right, Shekh, said I ; but suppose your 
 people meet us in the desert, in going to Cosseir, or 
 otherwise, how should we fare in that case ? Should 
 we fight .' — I have told you, Shekh, already, says he, 
 cursed be the man who lifts his hand against you, or 
 even does not defend and befriend you to his own 
 loss, even were it Ibrahim, my own son." Then, 
 after some conversation — "The old man muttered 
 something to his sons, in a dialect I did not then un- 
 derstand ; it was that of the shepherds of Suakem ; 
 and a little after, the whole hut a^ as filled with peo- 
 ple. These were priests and monks of their religion, 
 and the heads of famihes ; so that the house could not 
 contain half of them. The great people among tliczn 
 came, and, after joi.xing hands, repeated a kind of 
 prayer of about two minutes long; [this kind of oath 
 was in use among the Arabs, or shepherds, as early 
 as the time of Abraham, Gen. xxi. 22, 23 ; xxvi. 28.] 
 by which they declared themselves and their children 
 accursed, if ever they lifted their hands against me, 
 in the tell, [or field,] in the desert, or on the river ; 
 or, in case that I, or mine, should fly to them for ref- 
 uge, if they did not protect us, at the risk of their 
 lives, their families, and their fortunes, or, as they 
 emphatically expressed it, ' to the death of the last
 
 OATH 
 
 [ 710 
 
 OBS 
 
 male child among them.' (See 1 Sam. xxv. 22 ; 1 
 Kings xiv. 10; xvi. 11; xxi. 21; 2 Kings ix. 8.) 
 Medicines and advice being given on my part, faith 
 and protection pledged on theirs, two bushels of 
 wheat and seve.v sheep were carried down to the 
 boat ; nor could we decline their kindness ; as refus- 
 ing a present in that country is just as gi-eat an affront 
 as coming into the presence of a superior without 
 any present at all," Gen. xxxiii. 10, 11 ; Mai. i. 20 ; 
 Matt. viii. 11. 
 
 There is a remarkable passage in Prov. xi. 21, thus 
 rendered by our translators, " Though hand join in 
 hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished ; but the 
 seed of the righteous shall be delivered ; " i. e. though 
 they make many associations, and oaths, and join 
 hands among themselves, (as formed part of the cere- 
 mony of swearing among these shepherds of Suakem,) 
 yet they shall be punished. But Michaelis proposes 
 another sense of these words, " hand in hand " — my 
 hand in your hand, i. e. as a token of swearing, "the 
 wicked shall not go unpunished." — How far this 
 sense of the passage is illustrated by the foregoing 
 and the following extract, the reader will judge : 
 
 " I cannot here help accusing myself of what, 
 doubtless, may be well reputed a very great sin. I 
 was so enraged at the traitorous pai-t which Hassan 
 had acted, that, at parting, I could not help saying to 
 Ibrahim, 'Now, Shekh, I have done every thing you 
 have desired, without ever expecting fee or reward ; 
 the only thing I now ask you — and it is probably the 
 last — is, that you avenge me upon this Hassan, who is 
 every day in your power. Upon this, he gave me 
 HIS HAND, saying, He shall not die in his bed, or I 
 shall never see old age." (Bruce's Travels, vol. i. 
 p. 199.) 
 
 We may remark further on this extract, that though 
 Bruce's reflections do not applaud his conduct in this 
 instance, yet it seems, in some sense, similar to the 
 behavior of David, when he gave charge to his son, 
 Solomon, to execute that justice upon Joab and Shi- 
 mei, which he himself had been unable to do by 
 reason of the vicissitudes of his life and kingdom ; 
 and of tlic influence which Joab, the general, had in 
 the army ; l)ut of which the pacific reign of Solomon 
 would deprive him, 1 Kings ii. 6. 
 
 Perhaps, also, this joining of hands may add a spirit 
 to the passage, 2 Kings x. 15 : "Is thine heart right, 
 as my heart is with thy heart ? " says Jehu to Jehona- 
 dab ; " if it be, give me thine hand " — " And he (Jeho- 
 nadab) gave him (Jehu) his hand;" i. e. in token of 
 affirmation ; " and he (Jehu) took him (Jehonadab) up 
 into his chariot." So, then, it was not as an assist- 
 ance to enable Jehonadab to get into the chariot, that 
 Jehu gave him his hand, but, on the contrary, Jehona- 
 dab gave his hand to Jehu. This seems confirmed 
 by verse 16, " So they made him (Jehonadab) ride 
 in his (Jehu's) chariot." All these pronouns embar- 
 rass our translation, but they were perfectly under- 
 stood by those who knew the customs of their 
 country. 
 
 This sense of the passage is further confirmed by 
 the following extracts from Ockley's History of the 
 Saracens : — 
 
 " Several [of the Mahometan chiefs] came to Ali, 
 and desired him to accept the government. He re- 
 solved not to accept of their allegiance in private ; for 
 they proffered to give him their hands (the customary 
 ceremony then in use among them, on such occasions) 
 at his own house; but he would have it performed at 
 the mosque. Telhaand Zobein came, and offered him 
 their hands, as a mark, or token, of then* approbation. 
 
 Ali bade them, if they did it, to be in good earnest, 
 otherwise he would givehis ownhand to either of them 
 that would accept of the government ; which they 
 refused ; and gave him theii-s." (Vol. i. p. 4.) Again 
 (p. 36.) : — " Telha, being wounded in the leg, ordered 
 his man to take him up behind him ; who conveyed 
 him into a house in Bassora, where he died. But, 
 just before, he saw one of All's men, and asked him 
 if he belonged to the emperor of the faithful. Being 
 informed that he did. Give me then, said he, your hand, 
 that I may put mine in it, and by this action renew 
 the oath of fidelity, which I have already made to 
 Ali." (See 1 Sam. xxii. 17 ; 1 Chron. xxix. 24, marg. 
 or orig. ; Lam. v. 6 ; 2 Kings xiv. 5 ; xv. 19.) 
 
 Whoever recollects the mode of swearing allegi- 
 ance, or doing homage for provinces, anciently used 
 between sovereigns and vassals, (as by the kings of 
 England to those of France, while England held 
 provinces in that country,) will find considerable re- 
 semblance in it to this eastern usage. The vassal put 
 both his hands into the hands of his sovereign, repeat- 
 ing words to this efl:ect : " Thus I do thee homage, 
 for such or such a province," &c. After which he 
 withdrew his hands. This was repeated according 
 to the number of fiefs or provinces held. 
 
 OBADIAH. There are several persons of this 
 name mentioned in the Old Testament : it is only 
 necessary, however, that we should notice the proph- 
 et. It is not certain when he lived, but it is probable 
 that he was contemporary with Jeremiah and Eze- 
 kiel, who denounced the same dreadful judgments on 
 the Edomites, as the punishment of their pride, vio- 
 lence, and cruel insultings over the Jews, after the 
 destruction of their city. The prophecy, according 
 to Usher, was fulfilled about five years after the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem. 
 
 OBED-EDOM, son of Jeduthuu, a Levite, 1 Ohron. 
 xvi. 38. He had a numerous family, (1 Chron. xxvi. 
 4.) because the Lord blessed him. After the death of 
 Uzzah, David, terrified at that accident, durst not re- 
 move the ark into the apartment he had provided for 
 it in his palace, but left it in the house of Obed-Edom, 
 near the place where Uzzah was struck. The presence 
 of the ark became a blessing to Obed-Edom, which 
 encouraged David some months afterwards to remove 
 it to the place he had appointed for it. Obed-Edom 
 and his sons were assigned to thp kppping of the doors 
 of the temple, 1 Chron. xv. 18, 21. In 2 Sam. vi. 10, 
 Obed-Edom is called the Gittite, probably, because 
 he was of Gath Rimmon, a city of the Levites beyond 
 Jordan, Josh. xxi. 24, 25. 
 
 OBIL, an Ishmaelite, and master of the camels 
 under David, 1 Chron. xxvii. 30. 
 
 OBLATION, see Sacrifice. 
 
 OBOTH, .in encampment of the Hebrews in the 
 wilderness of Arabia Petraea. See Exodus. 
 
 OBSCURE is put for adversity. (See Night, and 
 Darkness.) An obscure, dark, or sad countenance is 
 opposed to a serene and open one. Christ u])braids 
 the Pharisees, that they had obscure or sad aspects 
 (Matt. vi. 16, (7zi'(5()w.TO() when they fasted. AndNa- 
 hum, (ii. 10.) speaking of the destruction of Nineveh, 
 says, their faces were as black as a pot ; (Ileb.) as if 
 they had blacked their faces with soot. Some travel- 
 lers affirm that, by way of mourning, the orientals 
 daub their faces with the black of a kettle. Joel al- 
 ludes to this custom : (chaj). ii. 6.) " All faces shall gath- 
 er blackness." [In these passages, however, the more 
 appropriate translation is, " All faces shall withdraw 
 their light," i. e. their cheerfulness, cheerful expres- 
 sion ; all countenances shall become pale with fear ;
 
 OFF 
 
 [711 ] 
 
 OFFERINGS 
 
 just as it is said in the context that the stars shall 
 withdraw their hght. R. 
 
 Obscure places denote tlie grave, (Ps. cxliii. 3.) 
 " The enemy hatii made me to dwell in darkness, as 
 those who have been long dead." In Ps. Ixxiv. 20, 
 we read, "The dark places of the earth are full of the 
 habitations of cruelty," which some midcrstand of the 
 obscure places of prisons, in which tyrants often keep 
 the weak and unfortunate ; liecause the obscure of 
 the earth, the poor Israelites, are reduced to captivity 
 in the houses of the Babylonians. 
 
 In great calamities, the sun is said to be obscured, 
 and the moon to be covered with darkness. Matt. xxiv. 
 21) ; Luke xxiii. 45. (See also Nah. iii. 19 ; Jer. xiv. 2.) 
 
 Obscurity of the heart and mind, is put for the wil- 
 ful ignorance and hardness of the Jews, Rom. i. 21 ; 
 Eph. iv. 18. 
 
 ODED, a prophet of the Lord, (2 Chron. xxviii.9.) 
 who, being at Samaria, when the IsraeUtes returned 
 from the war against Judah, with their king Pekah, 
 and brought 200,000 captives, went to meet them, and 
 remonstrated effectually with them ; ho ilmt the 
 princijjal mun in Samaria took care of them, gave 
 them clothes, food, and other assistances, with horses, 
 because the greater part of them were exhausted, and 
 ini.able to walk. Thus they conducted them to Jeri- 
 cho, on the confines of Judah. 
 
 OFFENCE may be either active or passive. We 
 may give offence by onr conduct, or we may receive 
 offence from the conduct of others. We should be 
 veiy careful to avoid giving just cause of offence, that 
 we may not prove impediments to others in their re- 
 ception of the truth, in their progress m sanctification, 
 in their peace of mind, or in their general course 
 toward heaven. We should abridge or deny our- 
 selves in some things, rather than, by exercising our 
 liberty to the utmost, give uneasiness to Christians 
 weaker in mmd, or weaker in the faith, than ourselves, 
 1 Cor. X. 32. On the other hand, wc should not take 
 offence witliout ample cause ; but endeavor, by our 
 exercise of charity, and perhaps by our increase of 
 knowledge, to think favorably of what is dubious, as 
 well as honorably of what is laudable. 
 
 It was foretold of the Messiah, that he should be 
 " a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence." Per- 
 haps predictions of this kind are among the most 
 valuable which Providence has preserved to us ; as 
 we see by them, that we ought not to be discouraged 
 because the Jews, the natural people of the Messiah, 
 rejected him, and still reject him ; since the very 
 offence they take at his humiliation, death, &c. is m 
 perfect conformity to, and fulfilment of, those proph- 
 ecies which foretold, that however they might profess 
 to wish for the gre.at deliverer, yet when he came 
 they would ov^erlook him, and stumble at him. 
 
 OFFERINGS. The Hebrews had several kinds 
 of offerings, which they presented at the temple. 
 Some were free-will offerings ; others were of oIjU- 
 gation. The first-fruits, the tenths, and the sin-offer- 
 ings were of obligation : the peace-offerings, vows, 
 olieriugs of wine, oil, bread, salt, and other things, 
 made to the temple, or to the ministers of the Lord, 
 were offerings of devotion. The Hebrews called of- 
 ferings in general Corban ; but the offerings of bread, 
 snlt, fruits, and liquors, as wine and oil, presented to 
 the temple, they called Mincha. Sacrifices are not 
 properly offerings : nor are they generally included 
 under this name. Offerings of grain, meal, bread, 
 cakes, Iruits, wine, salt, oil, were common in the 
 temple. Sometimes these offerings were alone ; 
 sometimes they accompanied the sacrifices. Honey 
 
 was never offered with sacrifices, but it might be 
 presented alone, as first-fruits. Lev. ii. 11, 12. 
 
 There were five sorts of offerings called Mincha, or 
 Korhan Mincha, Lev. ii. 1. (1.) Fine flour, or meal. 
 (2.) Cakes of several sorts, baked in the oven. (3.) 
 Cakes baked on a plate. (4.) Another sort of cakes 
 baked on a plate with holes in it. (5.) The first-fruits 
 of the new corn, which were offered either pure and 
 without mixture, or roasted, or parched in the ear, or 
 out of the ear. The cakes were kneaded with oil- 
 olive, or fried in a pan, or only dipped in oil afi;er 
 they were baked. The bread offered to the altar 
 was without leaven ; for leaven was never oftered on 
 the altar, nor with die sacrifices. Lev. ii. 11, 12. Rut 
 they might make presents of common bread to the 
 priests and ministei's of the temple. These offerings 
 were appointed iu favor of the poor, who could not 
 afford the charge of sacrificing animals. Those also 
 who offered living victims were not excused from 
 giving meal, wine and salt, which were to accompany 
 the greater sacrifices. Those wlio offered only obla- 
 tions of bread, or of niuid, ottered also oil, incense, 
 salt and wine, which were iu a manner their season- 
 ing. The priest in waiting received the offerings 
 from the hand of him who brought them, laid a part 
 on the altar, and reserved the rest for his own sub- 
 sistence, as a minister of the Lord. Nothing was 
 wholly burnt up but the incense, of which the priest 
 retained none. (See Lev. ii. 2, 13 ; Numb. xv. 4, 5.) 
 
 When an Israelite offered a loaf to the priest, or a 
 whole cake, the priest broke it into two parts, setting 
 aside that part he reserved to himself, and breaking 
 the other into crumbs, poured on it oil, salt, wine and 
 incense, and spread the whole on the fire of the altar. 
 If these offerings were accompanied by an animal 
 for a sacrifice, this portion was all thrown on the 
 victim, to be consumed with it. 
 
 If the offerings were ears of new corn, (wheat or 
 barley,) these ears were parched at the fire, or in the 
 flame, and rubbed in the hand, and then offered to 
 the priest in a vessel ; over the grain he put oil, in- 
 cense, wine and salt, and then burnt it on the altar, 
 first having taken his own portion. Lev. ii. 14, 15. 
 
 The most of these offerings were voluntary, and 
 of pure devotion. But when an animal was of- 
 fered in sacrifice, they were not at liberty to omit 
 them. Every thing proper was to accompany the 
 sacrifice, and what served as seasoning to the victim. 
 In some cases the law required only offerings of corn, 
 or bread ; as when they offered the first-fruits of har- 
 vest, whether offered solemnly by the nation, or as 
 the devotion of private pcisons. 
 
 As to the quantity of meal, oil, wine or salt to ac- 
 company the sacrifices, we cannot see that the law 
 determines it. Generally, the priest threw a handful 
 of meal, or crumbs, on the fire of the altar, with wine, 
 oil and salt in proportion, and all the incense. The 
 rest belonged to himself; the quantity depended on 
 the liberality of the offerer. We observe, that Moses 
 appoints an assaron, or the tenth part of an ephah of 
 meal, for those who had not wherewith to offer the 
 appointed sin-offerings. Lev. v. 11 ; xiv. 21. In the 
 solemn offerings of the first-fruits for the whole na- 
 tion, they offered an entire sheaf of corn, a lamb of a 
 year old, two tenths or two assarous of fine' meal 
 mixed widi oil, and a quarter of a bin of wine for the 
 libation. Lev. xxiii. 10, &c. Numb. v. 15. 
 
 In the sacrifice of jealousy, when a h;-.-band ac- 
 cused his wife of infidelity, the husband offered the 
 tenth part of a satum of barley meal, without oil or 
 incense, because it was a sacrifice of jealousv.
 
 OIN 
 
 [ 712 
 
 OLI 
 
 Offerings of fruits of the earth, of bread, wine, oil 
 and salt, are the most ancient of any that are known, 
 Gen. iv. 3, 4. Cain offered to the Lord fruits of the 
 earth, the first-fruits of his labor. Abel offered first- 
 lings of his flock, and of their fat. 
 
 The heathen religion has nothing more ancient 
 than these sorts of offerings made to their gods. The 
 difference between the offerings of meal, wine and 
 salt, with which the Greeks and Latins accompanied 
 their bloody sacrifices, and those used by the Hebrews 
 in their temple, consisted, chiefly, in that the Hebrews 
 cast the oblations on the flesh of the victim, being 
 already offered and laid on the fire, whereas the 
 Greeks put them on the head of the victim while 
 alive, and when just going to be sacrificed. 
 
 OG, king of Bashan, was a giant of the race of the 
 Rephaim. We may judge of his stature by the length 
 of liis bed, Avhich was long preserved in Rabbath, the 
 capital of the Ammonites, Dent. iii. IL See Bed. 
 
 Moses says, (Numb. xxi. 33.) thatafter having con- 
 quered Sihon, king of tlie Amorites, he advanced to- 
 ward the country of Bashan ; where Og reigned, who 
 marched against him to Edrei, with all his subjects. 
 Og was conquered, and slain, with his children, and 
 all his people. Og and Sihon were the only kings 
 that withstood Moses. Their country was given to 
 the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Ma- 
 nasseh. 
 
 OIL. The Hebrews commonly anointed them- 
 selves with oil ; they anointed also their kings and 
 high-priests. See Anointing. 
 
 Isaiah calls an eminence, or vineyard, that was 
 fruitful and fat, a horn, the son of oil, chap. v. 1. In 
 chap. X. 27, he says, that God would destroy the 
 yoke of the Israelites, by the quantity of oil that he 
 would pour thereon. He would take from it all its 
 roughness and hardness. The high-priest Joshua, 
 and the prince Zerubbabel, are called sons of oil ; 
 (Zech. iv. 14.) that is, each of them had received the 
 sacred unction. Job, speaking of the condition of 
 his first prosperity, says that the rocks were then 
 fountains of oil to him. Job xxix. 0. 
 
 Tlie oil of gladness (Ps. xlv. 7 ; Isa.lxi. 3.) was the 
 perfumed oil with which the Hebrews anointed them- 
 selves on days of rejoicing and festivity. Moses says 
 (Deut. xxxii.' 13.) that God made his people to suck 
 oil and honey out of the rocks ; that is, that in the 
 midst of dreary deserts, he abundantly provided them 
 with all things not only necessary, but agreeable. 
 The olive-tree shall fail to bring forth fruit, says Hab. 
 iii. 17. James directs that the sick should be anoint- 
 ed with oil in the name of the Lord, by the elders of 
 the church. Jam. v. 14. 
 
 OINTMENT. As perfumes are seldom made up 
 among us in the form of ointment, but mostly in that 
 of essence, while ointments areratlier medical, we do 
 not always discern the beauty of those comparisons 
 in Scripture, in which ointments are mentioned. 
 "Dead flies, though but small insects, cause the oint- 
 ment of the apothecary (it shoidd be, the fragrant 
 unguent of the perfumer) to emit a fetid vapor ; so 
 does a small proportion of folly, or perverseness, over- 
 come, [jrevail above, overpower by its fetor, the fra- 
 grance of wisdom and glory," Eccl. x. 1. 
 
 We read of ointments for the head ; (Eccl. ix. 8.) 
 our own pomatums, some of which are pretty strongly 
 essenccd, may indicate the nature of these, as being 
 their representatives in this country. 
 
 Ointments and oils were used in warm countries 
 after bathing ; and as oil was the first recipient of 
 fragrance, probably from herbs, &c. steeped in it, 
 
 many kinds of unguents not made of oil (olive oil) 
 retained that appellation. As the plants imparted 
 somewhat of their color as well as of their fragrance, 
 hence the expression green oil, &c. in the Hebrew. 
 See Anointing, and Alabaster. 
 
 OLD, ancient. We say the Old Testament, by way 
 of contradistinction from the New. Moses was the 
 minister of the Old Testament, of the old age of the 
 letter ; but Christ is the Mediator of the New Testa- 
 ment, or of the new covenant ; not of the letter, but 
 of the spirit, Heb. ix. 15 — 20. 
 
 The old man, (Rom. vi. 6.) the old Adam, iii a 
 moral sense, is our derived corrupted nature, which 
 we ought to crucify with Jesus Christ, that the body 
 of sin may die in us. In Col. iii. 9, the apostle enjoins 
 us " to put off" the old man with his deeds, and to put 
 on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge 
 after the image of him that created him." And in 
 Eph. iv. 22, we are instructed to " put off the old man 
 which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." 
 
 The old leaven is concupiscence, and adherence to 
 the literal and ceremonial observances of the law. 
 Paul advises (1 Cor. v. 8.) "to keep the feast, not with 
 old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and 
 wickedness ; but with the unleavened bread of sin- 
 cerity and truth." Our Saviour expresses almost the 
 same thing, when he says (Luke v. 37.) that " no man 
 putteth new wine into old bottles, else the new wine 
 will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles 
 shall perish." 
 
 The old fruits and the new, which succeed one 
 another, (Lev. xxv. 22 ; xxvi. 10 ; Cant. vii. 13.) de- 
 note great abundance. You shall have so much 
 that, to make room for the new, you shall be obliged 
 to remove the old. 
 
 Old age is promised as a blessing by God, to those 
 who maintain obedience to his commands ; and it is 
 probable that Providence did, and still does, watch 
 over and prolong the lives of eminently pious men. 
 It was formerly thought a great blessing to come to J 
 the grave in a good old age, or " as a shock of corn 
 fully ripe ;" and though "they are not to bo heard, 
 which feign that the old fathers did look oidy for 
 transitory promises," yet we think we may venture to 
 say they did on various occasions exj)ect peculiar 
 mercies from God, even in this life ; and that their 
 expectations were not disappointed. Old age was 
 entitled to peculiar honor, and no doubt, when men / 
 lived to the age of several hundred years, the wisdom 
 they must needs have acquired, the influence they 
 must needs have possessed over the younger part 
 of the community, must have been much greater 
 than they are among ourselves. Very venerable must 
 have been the personal appearance of a patriarch of 
 three or fovu' hundred years, or even of half that age, in 
 the eyes of his family, and of his descendants, whether 
 immediate or remote. 
 
 There is nothing more decidedly recorded tlian the 
 respect paid among the ancients to old age ; of which 
 Grecian story afibrds higidy pleasing proofs ; and 
 that it was equal among the orientals we learn from 
 varioiis allusions in the book of Job, the Proverbs, &c. 
 
 Old is spoken of what is decaying ; (Tsa. 1. ; Heb. 
 viii. 13.) of what has been destroyed ; (2 Pet.li. 5.) of 
 former times, Lam. i. 7. 
 
 OLIVE-TREE. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ro- 
 mans, (xi. 24.) distinguishes two kinds of olive-trees ; 
 (1.) the wild and natural; and (2.) those mider care 
 and culture. The cultivated olive-tree is of a moder- ■ 
 ate height, its trunk knotty, its bark smooth, and ash- 
 colored ; its wood is soUd and yellowish ; the leaves
 
 OLI 
 
 [ 713 
 
 OMR 
 
 are obloug, almost like those of the willow, of a green 
 color, dark on the upper side, and white on the under 
 side. In the month of June it puts out white flow- 
 ers that grow in bunches. Each flower is of one 
 piece, widening upwards, and dividing into four 
 parts ; the fruit oblong and plump. It is first green, 
 then pale, and when it is quite ripe, black. In the 
 flesh of it is enclosed a hard stone, full of an oblong 
 seed. The wild olive is smaller in all its parts. 
 
 When Noah sent forth the dove out of the ark, it 
 brought back to him a small olive-branch with its 
 leaves, (Gen. viii. 11.) wlfu^h w^•ls a token to the pa- 
 triarch that the waters of the deluge were sunk away. 
 In the tem])le of Jerusalem, Solomon made of olive- 
 wood the cherubim, and the portal tliat ijarted the 
 sanctum from the sanctuary, 1 Kings vi. 23, 33. Eli- 
 phaz (Job .\v. 33.) compares a wicked man to a vine 
 which sheds its blossoms, and to an olive whose 
 flowei-s fall before their season, and consequently 
 brings no fruit. The sacred writers often use similes 
 taken from the olive. 
 
 OLIVES, MouxT OF, is situate east of Jerusalem, 
 and separated from the city by the brook Kidron, and 
 the valley of Jehoshaphat. On this mount Solomon 
 built temples to the gods of the Ammonites and jMoab- 
 ites, out of complaisance to his wives, 1 Kings xi. 7, 
 Hence the mount of Olives is called the mountain of 
 Conniption, 2 Kings xxiii. 13. Josephus says, it is 
 five stadia (or furlongs) from Jerusalem. Luke says, 
 a sabbath-day's journey ; i. e. about eight furlongs, 
 Acts i. 12. The mount of Olives has three summits, 
 ranging from north to south ; from the middle sum- 
 rait our Saviour ascended into heaven ; on the south 
 summit Solomon built temples to his idols ; the north 
 summit is distant two furlongs from the middlemost. 
 This is the highest, and is commonly called Galilee, 
 or Viri Galiltei, from the expression used by the an- 
 gels, Ye men of Galilee. 
 
 In the time of king t^zziah, the mount of Olives 
 was so shattered by an earthquake, that half the earth 
 or the western side fell, and rolled four fiwlongs, or 
 five hundred paces, toward the opposite mountain on 
 the east ; so that the earth blocked up the highways, 
 and covered the king's gardens. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. 
 ix. cap. 11, and Zech. xiv. 5.) 
 
 Thougli this mount was named from its olive-trees, 
 yet it abounded in other trees also. It was a station 
 for signals, which were communicated from hence 
 by lights and flames, on various occasions. They 
 were made of long staves of cedar, canes, pine wood, 
 with coarse flax, which, while on fire, were shaken 
 about till they w'ere answered from other signals. 
 
 What is said in Midras Tellim, by Rab. Janna, is 
 extremely remarkable : "The Divine Majesty stood 
 three years and a half on mount Ohvet, saying, ' Seek 
 ye the Lord, while he may be found; call on 
 him while he is near.' " Is this the language of 
 a Jew ? 
 
 The names of the various districts of this mount 
 deserve attention, as, (1.) Geth-semane, the place of 
 oil-presses ; (2.) Bethany, the house of dates : (3.) 
 Bethphage, the house of green figs, and, probably, 
 other names in diflferent places. The Talmudists 
 say, that on mount Olivet were shops, kept by the 
 children of Canaan, of which shops some were in 
 Bethany : and that under two large cedars which 
 stood there, were four shops, where things necessary 
 for purification were constantly on sale, such as doves 
 or pigeons for the women, &c. Probably, these 
 shops were supplied by country persons, who hereby 
 avoided paying rent for their sittings in the temple. 
 90 
 
 The mention of these residences implies that this 
 mount had various dwellings upon it. 
 
 There was also a collectron of water at Bethany on 
 tliis mount, which was by some used as a place of 
 purification. 
 
 The small building, erected over the place of as- 
 cension, is contiguous to a Turkish mosque, and is in 
 possession of the Turks, who show it for profit; and 
 subject the Christians to an amiual contribution for 
 permission to oflSciate within it on Ascension day. 
 From the mosque is a fine and commanding view of 
 Jerusalem, momit Sion and the Dead sea. 
 
 Dr. Clarke found on the top of the mount of Olives 
 a vast and very ancient crypt, in " the shape of a cone, 
 of inmiense size ; the vertex alone appearing level 
 with the soil, and exhibiting by its section at the top 
 a small circular aperture ; the sides extending l)elow 
 to a great depth, lined with a hard red stucco." He 
 thinks it to have been an idolatrous construction, per- 
 haps as old as Solomon, and profaned by Josiah, 2 
 Kings xxiii. 13. The number of ciypts about Jeru- 
 salem is well deserving attention. If Solomon built 
 this crypt, he might, as the Jews say he did, construct 
 one of the same kind for the reception of the ark, &c. 
 in case of danger; but this must continue undecided 
 till the "times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." 
 
 " So commanding is the view of Jerusalem afforded 
 in this situation, (says Dr. Clarke,) that the eye roams 
 overall the streets, and around the walls, as if in the 
 sun-ey of a plan or model of the city. The most con- 
 spicuous object is the mosque, erected upon the site 
 and foundations of the temple of Solomon." Hence 
 the observation of the evangelist, (Luke xix. 37.) that 
 Jesus beheld the city, and wept over it, acquires ad- 
 ditional force. "Towards the south appears the lake 
 Asphaltites, a noble expanse of water, seeming to be 
 within a short ride from the city; but the real dis- 
 tance is much greater. Lofty mountains enclose it 
 with prodigious grandeur. To the north are seen the 
 verdant and fertile pastures of the plain of Jericho, 
 watered by the Jordan, whose coui-se may be distinct- 
 ly discerned." (Travels, vol. ii. p. 572.) 
 ' 03IEGA, (<2,)the last letter of the Greek alphabet; 
 Alpha, J, and Ome^a, Si, therefore, include all ; the 
 fii'st and the last. See Alpha. 
 
 OMER, or GoMER, a measure of capacity among 
 the Hebrews ; the tenth part of an ephah, a little 
 more than five jiints. 
 
 OMRI, or Amri, was general of the army of Elah, 
 king of Israel ; but being at the siege of Gibbethon, 
 and hearing that his master Elah was assassinated by 
 Zimri, who had usurped his kingdom, he raised the 
 siege, and, being elected king by his army, marched 
 against Zinu'i, attacked him at Tirzah, and forced 
 him to burn himself and all his family, in the palace 
 in which he had shut up himself. Zimri reigned but 
 seven days, A. IM. 3075, 1 Kings xvi. 9. After his 
 dealh, half of Israel acknowledged Omri for king, the 
 other half adhered to Tibni, son of Gineth ; which 
 division continued four years. When Tibni was 
 dead, the yteople united in acknowledging Omri as 
 king of all Israel, who reigned twelve years ; six 
 years at Tirzah, and six at Samaria, 1 Kings xvi. 
 
 Tirzah had previously been the chief residence of 
 the kings of Israel, but when Omri purchased the 
 hill of Shomeron, (1 Kings xvi. 24, about A. M. 
 3080,) he there built a new city, which he called Sa- 
 maria, from the name of the first possessor Shemer, 
 or Shomer, and there fixed his royal seat. From 
 this time Samaria was the capital of the kingdom of 
 the ten tribes.
 
 ONO 
 
 [ '14 ] 
 
 OPH 
 
 Omri did evil before the Lord, and his cr'.aies ex- 
 ceeded those of his predecessors. He walked iu ail 
 the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and died at Sa- 
 maria, A. M. 3086. His successor Avas Aliab. 
 
 ON, or Heliopolis, a city of Egypt, by Ptolemj" 
 called Onion ; On, Gen. xli. 45 ; xlvi. 20 ; and Beth 
 Shemesh, the temple of the sun, Jer. xliii. 13, which 
 agrees with the Egyptian idea of the name. Sec 
 Heliopolis, I. 
 
 ONAN, sou of Judah, and grandson of the patri- 
 arch Jacob, was given in marriage to Tamar, after 
 the death of his brother Ur, but was destroyed by 
 the Lord, for refusing to comply with the law of the 
 Levirate, Gen. xxxviii. See Marriage. 
 ^^^^.fONESBIUS, (Phiiem. verse 10.) a Phrygian by 
 J ^nation, and ^tms to Philemon. Having run away 
 ^ S fi'om his master, and also having robbed him, (Phiiem. 
 ^ i verse 18 ; Chrysost. Prolog.) he went to Rome about 
 '^ ^ A. D. 61, while Paul was there in prison the first 
 
 f^; A time. As Onesimus knev." the apostle by repute, 
 ^(his master Philemon being a Christian,) he sought 
 ; ^ him out, acquainted him with his transgression, 
 « ^v^pAvncd his flight, and did him all the service Phile- 
 Vinon himself could have done, had he been at Rome. 
 ^ ^ Paul brought him to a sense of the greatness of his 
 ^ j crime, instructed, converted and baptized him, and 
 - s'^' s-tit him back to his master Philemon, with a letter 
 inserted among Paul's epistles ; which is univer- 
 sally acknowiedged as liis. 
 
 Philemon, it is related, not only received Onesimus 
 as a faithful servant, but as a brother and a friend ; 
 V ,^^ and after a little lime, he sent him back to Rome, 
 that he might continue his services to Paul, in his 
 prison. From this time Onesinius's employment 
 was in the ministry of the gospel. The x\postoli- 
 eal Constitutions report that Paul made him bishop 
 of Berea iu JMacedouia. The martyrologies call him 
 apostle, and say he ended his life by martyrdom. 
 The Roman martyrology mentions him as being made 
 bishop of Ephesus, by Paul, after Tmiothy. Others 
 add, that it was he whom Ignatius tJie 3Iartyr speaks of, 
 as bishop of Ephesus, A. D. 107 ; but this wants proof. 
 
 OXESIPHORUS, (a Tim. i. 16.) a Christian who 
 acme to Rome A. D. 65, while the apostle Paul w as 
 imprisoned there for the faith, and at a time W'heu 
 almost every one had forsaken him, 2 Tim. i. 16, 18. 
 Having found Paul in i)onds, after long seeking him, 
 he assisted him to the utmost of his power; for 
 which the apostle wishes all sorts of benedictions on 
 himself and his family. 
 
 1. Oi"VL\S, son of Jaddus, was made high-priest 
 of the Jews A. 3L 3682, and governed the Hebrew 
 republic twenty years, to A. 31. 3702. He had had 
 two sons, Simon ami Eleazar. Simon, surnamed 
 the Just, succeeded him. (Joseph. Ant. xi.ult.) 
 
 H. ONLAS, a son of Simon the Just, succeeded 
 TManasseh in the high-priesthood, A. JL 3771. and 
 held it to 3785. (Josejjh. Ant. xii. 3, 4.) 
 
 in. ONI AS, a son of Simon II. high-priest of the 
 Jews, was established in the priesthood A. ?ir. 3805. 
 (Joseph. Ant. xii. 4.) 
 
 I V. ONIAS, or Menelaus, whom Joscphus (Antiq. 
 lib. xii. cap. 4, 5.) describes as son to Simon the Just, 
 was created high-priest A. M. 3832, and put to death 
 in 3842. 
 
 ONO, a city of Benjamin : built or re-built iiy the 
 family of Elpaal, of Benjamin, 1 Cinon. viii. 12. It 
 was five miles from Lod, or Lydda, also built by 
 Benjamites. In Neh. vi. 2, we have meiuion of 
 
 "The Plain of Ono," which 
 from the citv. 
 
 probably was not far 
 
 ONYCHA. The Hebrew n^nc, Shecheleth, (Exod. 
 XXX. 34.) which Jerome, after the LXX, translates 
 onychuuis, others understand of labdanum, or of 
 bdellium. But the greater part of commentators 
 explain it by the onycha or odoriferous shell, a 
 shell like that of the shell-fish purpura. The ony- 
 cha is fished for in watery places of the Indies, 
 where the spica nardi grows, which is the food of 
 this fish, and what makes its shell so aromatic. The 
 best onycha is found in the Red sea, and is white and 
 large. The Babylonian is black and smaller, ac- 
 cording to Dioscorides. [The onycha is the Blatta 
 Byzantina of the shops. It consists of the cover or 
 lid of a species of muscle, which, when burnt, emits 
 a musky odor. R. 
 
 ONYX was the eleventh stone in the high-priest's 
 pectoral, Exod. xxviii. 20. It is a kind of flesh- 
 colored agate, whence it has obtained the name of 
 onyx, or the nail. See SARDorJYX. 
 
 OPHEL was a clifl^, or acclivity, a part of mount 
 Zion, on the east, not far from mount Moriah. Jo- 
 tham, king of Judah, made several buildings on 
 Ophel, 2 Chron. xxvii. 3. Manasseh, king of Judah, 
 built a wall west of Jerusalem and the fountain Gi- 
 hon, beyond the city of DaA-id, from the fish-gate to 
 Ophel, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14. At the return from the 
 captivity, the Nethinim dwelt at Ophel, Neh. iii. 26 ; 
 xi. 21; Micah (iv. 8.) mentions the tower of Ophel: 
 " And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of 
 the daughter of Zion:" Heb. " And thou tower of 
 the flock, Ophel, daughter of Zion." There was at 
 Jerusalem a sheep-gate, and a tower of Ophel. 
 
 I. OPHIR, a son of Joktan, whose descendants 
 peo[)led the district between Mesha and Sephar, a 
 mountain of the East, Gen. x. 26, 30. See Mesha. 
 
 II. OPHIR, a country to which the vessels of 
 Solomon traded, and as to the situation of which 
 there lias been much discussion. All the passages 
 in which it is mentioned have been examined, (1 
 Kings xxii. 48, compared with 2 Chron. xx. 36; also 
 1 Kings ix. 28 ; x. 22.) and it has been observed, that 
 the so called ships of Tarshish went to Ophir ; that 
 these ships sailed from Ezion-geber, a port of the 
 Red sea; (1 Kings xxii. 48; ix. 26; x. 22.) that 
 three years were required for the voyage ; that the 
 fleet returned freighted with gold, peacocks, apes, 
 spices, ivory and ebony ; (1 Kings ix. 28 ; x. 11, 12; 
 compare 2 Chron. viii. 18; ix. 10, &:c.) that the gold 
 of Ophir was in the highest esteem ; and that the 
 country of Ophir more abounded widi gold than any 
 other then known. Upon these data inter])reters 
 have undertaken to determine the situation of Ophir, 
 but almost all have arrived at different conclusions. 
 
 Josephus places it in the Indies, and says it is 
 called the gold country, by which he is thought to 
 mean Chersoucsus Aurea, now known as Malacca, 
 a peninsula ojipositc to the island of Sumatra. Lu- 
 cas Holsteuius thinks we must fix on India generally, 
 or on the city of Supar in the island of' Celebes. 
 Others place it in the kingdom of Malabar, or in 
 Ceylon ; that is, tlie island of Tapro!)ana, so famous 
 among the ancients, an oj>inion which Bochart has 
 labored to support. Lipcnius places it beyond the 
 Ganges, at Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Siam, Bengal, 
 Peru, &c. Others, as Huet and Bruce, have j)laced 
 it at Sofala, iu South Africa, where mines of gold 
 and silver have been found, which apjiear to have 
 been anciently and extensively worked, and to this 
 hypothesis Gespuius inclines. Roscnmiiller and 
 others suppose it to be southern Arabia. 
 
 From these statements it w ill be seen, that there is
 
 OR A 
 
 [715 ] 
 
 ORACLE 
 
 room for considerable diversity of opinion as to tlie 
 geographical situation of Ophir ; and, indeed, the 
 best writers are of opinion that it must ever remain 
 a matter of mere conjecture. 
 
 OPHNI, a city of Benjamin, (Josh, xviii. 24.) and 
 thought to bo the samcasGophni, or Gophna, which 
 was about 15 miles from Jei'usalem, towards Na- 
 p louse, or Shechem. 
 
 I. OPHRAH, a city of Benjamin, Josh, xviii. 23 ; 1 
 Sam. xiii. 17. Instead of this Micah Ijas Aphrah, i. 10. 
 
 II. OPHRAII, a cityof lAIanasseh, the birth place 
 of Gideon, Judg. vi. 11 ; viii. 27 ; ix. 5. 
 
 OPPRESSION is the spoiling or taking away of 
 men's ])roperty by constraint, terror, or ibrce, with- 
 out having any right thereto ; working on the igno- 
 rance, weakness, or fearfulness of the oppressed. 
 Men are guilty of opi)ression when they ofter violence 
 to the bodies, ))roperty, or consciences of others ; 
 when they crush or overburden others, as the Egyp- 
 tians did the Hebrews, Exod. iii. 9. There may be 
 oppression which maligns the character, or studies 
 to vex another, yet does not affect his life : as there 
 is much persecution, for conscience' sake, which is 
 not fatal, though distressing. 
 
 ORACLE, a name sometimes given to the lid or 
 covering of the ark,the mercy-seat, (see Mercy-seat,) 
 and also to those supernatural communications of 
 which such frequent mention is made in Scripture. 
 
 Among the Jews we distinguish several sorts of 
 oracles. (1.) Those delivered viva voce; as when 
 God s])ake to Moses face to face, and as one friend 
 speaks to another. Numb. xii. 8. | (2.) Prophetical 
 dreams ; as those which God sent to Joseph, fore- 
 telling his future greatness, Gen. xxxvii. 5, 6. (3.) 
 Visions ; as when a prophet in an ecstasy had su- 
 pernatural revelations. Gen. xv. 1 ; xivi. 2. (4.) The 
 response of IJrim and Thummini, which accom- 
 panied the ephod, or the pectoral worn by the high- 
 jn-iest, Numb. xii. 6 ; Joel ii. 28. This manner of 
 inquiring of the Lord was often used, from Joshua's 
 time to the erection of the temple at Jerusalem, (1 
 Sam. xxiii. 9 ; xxx. 7.) after which they generally 
 consulted the prophets. 
 
 The Jews pretend that upon the ceasing of proph- 
 ecy, God gave them what they call Bath-kol, the 
 daughter of the voice, which was a supernatural 
 manifestation of the divine will, either by a strong 
 inspiration or internal voice, or by a sensible and ex- 
 ternal voice, heard by a number of persons sufticient 
 to bear testimony to it ; such as the voice heard at 
 the baptism of Christ. 
 
 In the early period of the Christian church the 
 gifts of ])rophecy and inspiration were frequent ; after 
 that time the greater part of the heathen oracles fell 
 into contempt and silence. 
 
 Some have ascribed to demons all the oracles of 
 antiquity ; others impute them to the knavery of the 
 priests and false prophets. 
 
 The most famous oracle of Palestine was that of 
 Baal-zebub, king of Elo-on, which the Jews them- 
 selves consulted, 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 6, 16. There were 
 also oracular Teraphim, as that of Micah ; (Judg. 
 xvii. 1, 5.) the ephod of Gideon, (viii. 27, &c.) and the 
 false gods adored in the kingdom of Samaria, which 
 had their false prophets, and consequently their 
 oracles. Hosea (chap iv. 12.) reproaches Israel with 
 consulting wooden idols, as does the book of Wis- 
 dom, (xiii. 16, 17.) and the prophet Habakkuk, ii. 19. 
 
 The Hebrews, living in the midst of idolatrous 
 people, accustomed to receive oracles, to have re- 
 course to diviners, [magicians and interpreters of 
 
 dream?, ^^ ould have been under a more l»owerfuI 
 temptation to imitate these impieties and supersti- 
 tions, if God had not afforded to them certain means 
 of knowing some future events by priests and proph- 
 ets, in their most urgent necessities. Thus, when 
 Moses had forbidden the Israelites to consult magi- 
 cians, witches, enchanters and necromancers, he 
 j)romised to send them a prophet of their own nation, 
 who should instruct them, and discover to them the 
 truth. Dent, xviii. 10, 11,15, Sec. These orj\cles of 
 truth had no necessary connection with time or 
 place, or any other circumstance ; or with the per- 
 sonal merit of the individual by whom they were 
 uttered. The high-priest, clothed with the ephod 
 and })ectoral, gave a true answer, whatever may 
 have been his personal character. 
 
 The fatliers inform us, that at the coming of the 
 Messial], the oracles of the heathen were struck 
 dumb ; and it is certain that since the preaching of 
 the gospel, the empire of the devil is much contract- 
 ed and weakened, and the most famous oracles ai-e 
 fallen into disuse. This silence of the oracles, how- 
 ever, did not happen all at once ; John, (Rev. xiii. 5, 
 6, 13.) describing a persecution of the church, speaks 
 of signs, woudei-s and delusions, which the deceiver 
 and his accomplices should produce, to excite men 
 to worship the image of the beast, and to entice them 
 to idolatry. 
 
 It may, however, assist us in forming a right no- 
 tion of oracles, to separate them into two classes ; 
 those which are proper oracles, and those which are 
 oracles in a qualified sense only. The witch of 
 Endor was no oracle, though iiregularly applied 
 to by Saul, when he could obtain no answer from 
 the instituted means of consulting the Lord. The 
 hag Erichto, in Lucan's Pharsalia, was no ora- 
 cle, as no temple, &c. was extant in her cave. Nor 
 is that properly an oracle, which consists in catching 
 up words which fall from certain persons. Most 
 persons will recollect that Alexander the Great, by 
 the false pronunciation of a Greek word by the priest 
 of Ammon, {'' fi .-rcu-Sioc: instead of 'Si Tiai-S'ior,) was 
 made to pass for son of Jupiter, Slog, says Plutarch. 
 When, too, he visited the Delphic prophetess on a 
 wrong day, and urged her, she at length complied, 
 saying, " Thou art irresistible, my son ! " " That is 
 all I want," answered Alexander ; " to be irresistible is 
 enough." These are not oracles ; though policy 
 and flattery might make them pass for such. 
 
 The most ancient oracle on record, probably, is 
 that given to Rebekah, (Gen. xxv. 22.) but the most 
 complete instance is that of the child Samuel, 1 Sam. 
 iii. The place was the residence of the ark, the 
 regular station of worship. The manner was by an 
 audible and distinct voice: "The Lord called Sam- 
 uel ; and the child mistook the voice for that of Eli, 
 (an(i this more than once,) for he did not yet know 
 the word of the Lord:" the subject was of high na- 
 tional injportance ; no less than a public calamity, 
 with the ruin of the first family in the land. Nor 
 could the child have auy inducement to deceive Eli ; 
 as in that case, he would have rather invented some- 
 thing flattering to his venerable superior. This com- 
 municative voice, issuing from the interior of the 
 sanctuary, was properly an oracle. 
 
 The highest instances of oracles are those voices 
 which, being formed in the ah- by a power superior 
 to nature, bore testimony to the celestial character 
 of the divine Messiah; as at his baptism, (Matt. iii. 
 17 ; Mark i. 2 ; Luke iii. 22.) and again at his trana- 
 figuration ; (Matt. xxii. 2 ; Luke ix. 29.) " And this
 
 ORACLE 
 
 [ 716 ] 
 
 ORD 
 
 Toice that came fi'oni heaven," says Peter, " we 
 heard," 2 Epist. i. 18. Nothhig can exceed the 
 grandeiu" and majesty of tliese oracles ; and they 
 could not but forcibly impress the minds of all who 
 witnessed them. 
 
 Now, it should be observed, that these communi- 
 cations were marked by simplicity and distinctness : 
 they were the most remote possible from ambiguity 
 ami double meaning : they spake out their purport 
 explicitly. 
 
 Prophetic impulses, or communications, are with 
 less propriety called oracles : as when Samuel went 
 to Bethlehem, to anoint the future king of Israel, 
 his own opinion fixed on Eliab, " Surely, the Lord's 
 anointed is before him ;" but the Lord corrected 
 his judgment ; not by an audible voice, which must 
 have been heard by all the company, but by some 
 internal monition, 1 Sam. xvi. 6. It will appear, 
 also, that in the time of Saul and David, when appli- 
 cation for advice was made to the oracle, it could 
 only be given in a regular manner to one pai-ty, as 
 there were not two tabernacles, and two arks of the 
 covenant, with which sacred objects the oracle was 
 connected. Neither were there two high-priests' 
 pectorals, on which the names of the tribes were 
 written. The priest who did not wear these names 
 on his breast, could not inquire as representative of 
 the tribes of the whole nation ; and by Avhat means 
 he received an answer is uncertain. It coidd not be, 
 as some have supposed, by radiation of the letters on 
 the precious stones ; since he did not wear them. 
 We read very little, or nothing, of oracles given by 
 the high-priest, in succeeding ages. When Jehosha- 
 phat desired Ahab to " inquire at the word of the 
 Lord to-day," there is no mention of an oracle, as con- 
 nected with the established worship in Israel, (1 
 Kings xxii.) nor do we read that when the copy of 
 Moses' law was found in the temple at Jerusalem, king 
 Josiah applied to the oracle for advice. Neither did 
 Zedekiah, king of Judah, though the very exist- 
 ence of his country depended on the policy he 
 adopted ; and no crisis could have been more im- 
 portant. 
 
 Dreams, visions, the bath-kol, &c. are not properly 
 oracles ; nor is the sentiment uttered by Caiaphas, 
 which recommended the policy of cutting off one 
 man, even though no malefactor, rather than haz- 
 arding the fate of the nation, an oracle. It was a 
 maxim of a statesman, applicable to the designs of 
 Providence ; but not properly an oracle. It is prob- 
 able, that oracles are extremely ancient among 
 the heathen : they were known before the Trojan 
 war, as appears from Homer ; and Ovid makes 
 Deucalion consult an oracle, immediately after his 
 dehige. 
 
 The reader will perceive in all this the intention 
 to establish a strong distinction between the oracles 
 of the Bible, and those promulgated by the heathen. 
 When Cru'sus a|)plied to tliii oracle of ApollcJ at 
 Delphi, toknow whether he s^iould attack Cyrus, he 
 received for answer, 
 
 Croesus transgi-essus Halym maxima regna perdct : 
 
 or, as Cicero quotes it, 
 
 Croesus Halym penetrans magnam pervertet opum 
 vim: 
 
 " If Croesus crosses the river Halys he will overthrow 
 a great empire." This he understood of the empire 
 of Cyrus ; the event proved his own overthrow. 
 
 The same ambiguity attends the famous reply of the 
 same oracle to Pyrrhus : 
 
 Aio te, .^acida, Romanos vincere posse ; 
 
 I do pronounce that Rome 
 Pyrrhus shall overcome ; 
 
 which maybe interpreted to mean, either that Rome 
 should overcome Pyrrhus, or that Pyrrhus should 
 overcome Rome. Whoever reads Herodotus and 
 Pausanias carefully, will find most of their oracles — 
 and they record many — either so dark as to be unin- 
 telligible, or so equivocal as to bear whatever in- 
 terpretation policy might be pleased to impose upon 
 them. 
 
 The heathen drew auguries from almost every 
 thing : from the flight of birds ; from the manner of 
 certain chickens feeding ; and above all from the 
 entrails of victims, offered in sacrifice. This most 
 ridiculous superstition was not lawfully practised 
 among the Jews ; their sacrifices were simply offered 
 to the Deity. It was, however, customary in the 
 East. Thus, the king of Babylon not only divined 
 by arrows, and consulted images, but he looked in 
 the liver, Ezek. xxi. 21. Nor should we forget, that 
 it is equally to the credit of Christianity, that sur- 
 rounded, as the Christians were, by the most invet- 
 erate of oracular prejudices and impostures, no such 
 mummery profaned their assemblies. The reader has 
 only to compare Lucan's description of the violences 
 practised on the priestess at Delphi, the furious con- 
 tortions of her person, or Virgil's of the Sybil at 
 Cumoe, with the calm observation of the apostle, 
 " The spirits of the prophets are subject to the proph- 
 ets," with his injunctions of order, on various occa- 
 sions, and with his strict prohibition of indecent 
 forwardness in women, while at worship, indecorous 
 exposure of their persons, disorderly dress, &c. to 
 evince this. 
 
 It is well to know, that in the remains of several 
 heathen temples, though in ruins, there are traces of 
 the secret ways of access, which the priests possessed, 
 undiscovered by the spectators. Dr. E. D. Clarke 
 found such in a temple at Argos ; also a secret 
 chamber, in an oracular cave at Telmessus. A pri- 
 vate staircase still exists, leading to the Adytum, in 
 the temple of Isis, at Pompeii ; imdoubtedly for 
 oracular purposes. To do this subject justice 
 here, is impossible ; some able pen, well acquainted 
 with the charlatanerie of ancient days, might render 
 it equally amusing and instructive to not a few among 
 our own nation, ^\ho have opportimities of knowing 
 better — very much better — than their practice im- 
 plies. 
 
 ORDINANCE, an institution established by law- 
 ful authority. Religious ordinances must be insti- 
 tuted by the great institutor of religion, or they are 
 not binding: minor regulations are not properly 
 ordinances. Ordinances, once established, are not to 
 be varied by human caprice, or mutability. Tlie 
 original ordinance seems to have been sacrifice, to 
 which praise and jirayer were naturally appended. 
 Circumcision was an ordinance appointed to Abra- 
 ham and his family : baptism and the cucharist are 
 ordinances under the gospel. 
 
 Human ordinances, established by national laws, 
 may be varied by other laws, because tiie inconve- 
 niences arising from them can only be determined by 
 experience. Yet Christians are bound to submit to 
 these institutions, when they do not infringe on those 
 established by divine authority ; not only from the
 
 OSS 
 
 r 717 J 
 
 OST 
 
 consideration, that if every individual were to oppose 
 national institutions, no society could subsist, but by 
 the tenor of Scripture itself Nevertheless, Chris- 
 tianity does not interfere with political rights, but 
 leaves individuals, as well as nations, in full enjoy- 
 ment of whatever advantages the constitution of a 
 country secures to its subjects, 
 
 The'coui-se of nature is the ordinance of God ; and 
 every planet obeys that impulse \\hich the divine 
 Governor has impressed on it, Jer. x.xxi. 30. 
 
 OREB, a prince of the 31idianites, killed with Zeeb, 
 anotlier prince of the same people, Judg. vii. 25. 
 
 ORIENTAL LANGUAGES, see Language, 
 p. 605. 
 
 ORION, one of the brightest constellations of the 
 southern hen)isphere. The Heb. Si^;:, Chesil, signi- 
 fies, according to the best interpreters and the ancient 
 versions, the constellation Orion, which, on account 
 of its supposed connection with storms and tempests, 
 Virgil calls nimbosus Orion. In Job xxxviii. 31, fet- 
 ters are ascribed to him ; and tiiis coincides with the 
 Greek fable of the giant Orion, bound in the heav- 
 ens. R.] It also marks the west. Hence the LXX 
 on Job IX. 9, and Theodotion on Amos v. 8, translate 
 it vesperum. 
 
 ORPAH, a Moabitess, wife of Chilion, son of 
 Elimelech and Naomi. Chilion, the husband of Or- 
 pah, being dead, she lived with Naomi, her mother- 
 in-law ; who returning into her own country, Orpah 
 was prevailed on to stay in >Ioab, but Ruth followed 
 Naomi to Bethlehem, Ruth i. 9, 10, «Scc. See Ruth. 
 
 ORPHAN. The customary acceptation of the 
 word orphans is well known to be that of "children 
 deprived of their parents ;" but the force of the Greek 
 word (joifutu'':, (rendered comfortless in our transla- 
 tion, John xiv. 18.) implies the case of those who 
 have lost some dear protecting friend ; some patron, 
 though not strictly a father : and in this sense it is 
 used, 1 Thess. ii. 17, "We also, brethren, being taken 
 away from our care over you," a-jivufurtndiiTfg. Cor- 
 responding to this import of the word, it might be 
 used b}' our Lord, in the passage of John's Gospel 
 referred to ; and a very lively comment on it may 
 perhaps be inferred from the following remark ; es- 
 pecially if there were in the court of Herod, or of the 
 kings of Syria, or other western Asiatic monarchs, an 
 order of soldiery of the same description ; which is 
 by no means impossible. "The soldiers of Nadir 
 Shah are obliged to keep Yetims at their own ex- 
 pense. Yetim signifies an orphan: but these are 
 considered as servants, who, wlien their masters die, 
 or fall in battle, are ready to serve as soldiers." (Han- 
 way's Travels in Persia, vol. i. p. 172.) May we 
 now paraphrase our Lord's sentiment ? — " Vou are 
 about to sec your master die, fall, as it wer.'>, in bat- 
 tle ; and might imagine that it would be your duty 
 to succeed into my place, and to maintain the bloody 
 conflict, till you also fell, as I had fallen ; but I will 
 not (long) leave you in that anxious situation : I will 
 again return to you, and lead you on to victory under 
 my protection and patronage : I will not now leave 
 you Yetims; though most of you may, at distant pe- 
 riods, close your lives as gallant soldiers in this noble 
 warfare, after your master's example." There seems 
 notiiing inconsistent with the affection of Jesus to 
 his followers, in this explanation. 
 
 OSPREY, a kind of eagle, whose flesh is forbid- 
 den. Lev. xi. 1-3. It is thought to be the black eagle ; 
 erhaps the JVisser Too/coor described by Bruce. See 
 "iRDS, p. 186. 
 
 OaSTFRAGE. 'a-\D. peres,^ an unclean bird, (Lev. 
 
 S 
 
 xi. 13 ; Deut. xiv. 12.) but as to its identity interpreters 
 are not agi-eed. Some read vnlture, others the blcu:k 
 eagle, otliers tha falcon. The name peres denotes to 
 crush, to break ; and this name agrees with our ver- 
 sion, which implies "the bone-breaker;" a name 
 given to a kind of eagle, from its habit of breaking 
 the bones of its prey, after it has eaten the flesh. 
 Onkelos uses a word which signifies naked, and leads; 
 us to the vulture : and, indeed, if we were to taket 
 the classes of birds in any thing like a natural order, 
 in Lev. xi. the vulture should follow the eagle as aa 
 unclean bird. The Sejnuagint interpreter also ren- 
 ders vulture ; and so do Munster, Schindler, and the 
 Zurich versions. See Birds, p. 186. 
 
 OSTRICH. This singular bird is designated by 
 three several appellations in the Hebrew Scriptures, 
 each of which is, as usual, taken from some particu- 
 lar quality which it possesses, or habit to which it iy 
 addicted. 
 
 The first of these, ]y, yden, is frequently translated 
 in our version, most improperly, by owl ; a rendering 
 which deprives several passages in which it occurs 
 of all their strength and propriety. (See Job xxx. 29 ; 
 Isa. xiii. 21 ; Mic. i. 8.) In Lev. xi. 16, and Deut, 
 xiv. 12, this bird is called — uj-^n p3, "the daughter of 
 the ostrich ;" in both these ])assages our translation 
 reads " owl." In Job xxxix. 13, &c. where the ostrich 
 is particularly described, it is called jj-i, a name which 
 seems to be taken from its cry, or from the whirring 
 noise made by its wings when it runs. 
 
 The ostrich is considered to be the largest of birds, 
 and the connecting link between quadrupeds and 
 fowls. Its head and bill somewhat resemble those 
 of a duck ; and the neck may be compared to that 
 of a swan, but that it is much longer ; the legs and 
 thighs resemble those of a ben ; but are very fleshy 
 and large. The end of the foot is cloven, and has 
 two very large toes, w'hich, like the leg, are covered 
 with scales. These toes are of unequal sizes ; the 
 largest, which is on the inside, being seven inches 
 long including the claw, which is near three fourths 
 of an inch in length, and almost as broad ; the other 
 toe is but four inches long, and is without a claw. 
 The height of the ostrich is usually seven feet, from 
 the head to the ground; but from the back it is only 
 four ; so that the bead and the neck are above three 
 feet long. From the head to the end of the tail, 
 wiien the neck is stretched in a right line, it is seven 
 feet long. One of the wings, with the feathers 
 stretched out, is three feet in length. The plumage 
 is generally white and black, though some of them 
 are said to be gray. There are no feathere on the 
 sides of the thighs, nor under the wings. The lower 
 half of the neck is covered with smaller feathers than 
 those on the belly and back, and the head and upper 
 ])art of the neck are covered with hair : at the end 
 of each wing, there is a kind of spur, resemblingthe 
 quill of a porcupine, about an inch long; and about a 
 foot lower down the wing is another of the same de- 
 scription, but something smaller. 
 
 The ostrich has not, like most other birds, feath- 
 ers of various kinds ; they are all bearded with de- 
 tached hairs or filaments, without consistence and 
 reciprocal adherence. The consequence is, that they 
 cannot oppose to the air a suitable resistance, and 
 therefore arc of no utility in flying, or in directing 
 the flight. Besides the peculiar structure of her 
 wings, the ostrich is rendered incaj^able of flight by 
 her enormous size, weighing seventy-five or eighty 
 poun'ds ; a weight which would require an immense 
 power of wing to elevate into the air.
 
 OSTRICH 
 
 [718] 
 
 OSTRICH 
 
 The ostrich is a native only of the torrid regions 
 of Africa and Arabia, and has furnished the sacred 
 wi'iters with some of their most beautiful imagery. 
 
 The ostrich was aptly called by the ancients a 
 lover of the deserts. Shy and timorous in no com- 
 mon degree, she retires from the cultivated field, 
 where she is disturbed by the Arabian shepherds 
 and husbandmen, into the deepest recesses of the 
 Sahara. In those dreaiy wastes, she is reduced to 
 subsist on a few tufts of coarse gi-ass, which hei-e and 
 there languish on their surface, or a few other soli- 
 tary plants equally destitute of nourishment, and, in 
 the psalmist's phrase, even " withered before they are 
 grown up." To this dry and parched food may per- 
 haps be added, the great variety of land snails, which 
 occasionally cover the leaves and stalks of these 
 herbs, and which may afford her some refreshment. 
 Nor is it improbable, that she sometimes regales her- 
 self on lizards and serpents, together witli insects 
 and reptiles of various kinds. Still, however, con- 
 sidering the voracity and size of this came! bird, (as 
 it is called in the East,) it is wonderful how the little 
 ones should be nourished and brought up, and espe- 
 cially how those of fuller growth, and much better 
 qu^'ified to look out for themselves, are able to 
 subsist. 
 
 The attachment of this bird to the barren solitudes 
 of the Sahara is frequently alluded to in the Holy 
 Scriptures ; particularly in the propliecies of Isaiah, 
 where the word yden, as before observed, ought to 
 be rendered the ostrich. In the splendid palaces of 
 Babylon, so long the scenes of joy and revelry, the 
 prophet foretold, that the sliy and timorous ostrich 
 should fix her abode ; than which a greater and more 
 affecting contrast can scarcely be presented to the 
 mind. 
 
 When the ostrich is provoked, she sometimes 
 makes a fierce, angry, and hissing noise, with her 
 throat inflated, and her mouth open ; when she meets 
 with a timorous adversary that opposes but a faint 
 resistance to her assault,- she chuckles or cackles like 
 a hen, seeming to rejoice in the prospect of an easy 
 conquest. But in the silent hours of night, she as- 
 sumes a quite different tone, and makes a veiy dole- 
 ful and hideous noise, which sometimes resembles 
 the roaring of a lion ; at other times that of the bull 
 and the ox. She frequently groans, as if she Vv^ere 
 in the greatest agonies ; an action to which the 
 prophet l)cautifully alludes: " I Avill make a mourn- 
 ing like the ostrich," Mic. i. 8. The Hebrew term is 
 derived from a verb which signifies to exclaim with 
 a loud voice : and may therefore be attributed with 
 sufficient propriety to the ostrich, whose voice is 
 Joud and sonorous ; especially, as the word does not 
 seem to denote any certain, determined mode of 
 voice or sound peculiar to any one particular spe- 
 cies of animals, but one that mav be applicable to 
 them all. 
 
 Dr. Brown confirms this account in every particu- 
 lar : he says, the cry of the ostrich resembles the voice 
 of a hoarse child, and is even more dismal. It can- 
 not, then, but appear mournful, and even terrible, to 
 those travellers who plunge with no little anxiety 
 into those immense deserts, to whom every living 
 creature, man not excepted, is an object of fear, and 
 a cause of danger. 
 
 Not more disagreeable, and even alarming, is the 
 hoarse moaning voice of the ostrich to the lonely 
 traveller in the desert, than were the speeches of 
 Job's friends to that afflicted man. Of their harsh 
 and groundless censures, which were continually 
 
 grating his ears, he feelingly complains: "I am a 
 brother to dragons, and a companion to [ostriches] 
 owls." Like these melancholy creatures, that love 
 the solitary place, and the dark retirement, the be- 
 reaved and mourning patriarch loved to dwell alone, 
 that he might be free from the teazing impertinence 
 of his associates, and pour out his sorrows without 
 restraint. But he made a wailing also like the drag- 
 ons, and a mourning like the ostriches ; his condition 
 was as destitute, and his lamentations as loud and in- 
 cessant, as theirs. Or he compares to those birds 
 his unfeeling friends, who, instead of pouring the 
 balm of consolation into his smarting wounds, added 
 to the poignancy of his giief by their inhuman con- 
 duct. The ostrich, even in a domestic state, is a rude 
 and fierce animal ; and is said to point her hostility, 
 with particular virulence, against the poor and desti- 
 tute stranger that happens to come in her way. Not 
 satisfied with endeavoring to push him down by run- 
 ning furiously upon him, she will not cease to j)eck 
 at him violently with her bill, and to strike at him 
 with her feet, and will sometimes inflict a very seri- 
 ous wound. The dispositions and behavior of Job's 
 friends and domestics were equally vexatious and 
 afflicting ; and how nmch reason he had to com]jlain, 
 will appear from the following statement: "They 
 that dwell in mine house, and my maidens, count me 
 lor a stranger ; I am an alien in their sight. I called 
 my servant, and he gave me no answer ; my breath 
 is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the 
 children's sake of mine own body; yea, young chil- 
 dren despised me, all my inward friends abhorred 
 me. Upon my right hand rise the youth ; they push 
 away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways 
 of their destruction. They mar my path, they set 
 forward my calamity, they have no helper. They 
 come upon me as a Vv ide breaking in of waters, in the 
 desolation they roll themselves upon me," ch. xxx. 
 12, 14. 
 
 We now pass on to the very correct and poetical 
 description of the ostrich which is found in the thir- 
 ty-ninth chapter of the book of Job. The version of 
 the passage is from the pen of Dr. Harris, who has 
 also furnished some of the illustrations : for the re- 
 maining part we ai'e indebted to professor Paxton 
 and Dr. Shaw. 
 
 The wing of the ostrich tribe is for flapping. 
 
 The word which our English Bible renders pea- 
 cock, is one of the Hebrew names of the ostrich. The 
 peacock was not known in Syria, Palestine, or Ara- 
 bia, before the reign of Solon)on, who first in)ported 
 it. It was originally from India. Besides, tlie os- 
 trich, not the peacock, is allowed on all hands to be 
 the subject of the following parts of the description. 
 And while the w hole character, says Mr. Good, pre- 
 cisely applies to the ostrich, it should be observed, 
 that all the western Arabs, from Wedinoon to Sen- 
 naar, still denominate it ennim, with a near approach 
 to the Hebrew name here employed. Neither is the 
 peacock remarkable for its wing, but for the beauties 
 of its tail: whereas, the triumphantly expanded, or as 
 Dr. Shaw terms it, the quiverins; expanded iving, is 
 one of the characteristics of the ostrich. "When I 
 was abroad," says this entertaining writer, "I had 
 several opportunities of amusing myself Avith the 
 actions and behavior of the ostrich. It was very di- 
 verting to observe with what dexterity and equipoise 
 of bddy it would play and frisk about on all occasions. 
 In the heat of the day, particularly, it would strut 
 along the sunny side of the house with great majesty.
 
 OSTRICH 
 
 [ 719 ] 
 
 OSTRICH 
 
 It would be perpetually fanning and priding itself 
 with its quivering expanded wings, and seem, at every 
 turn, to admire and be in love with its own shadow." 
 
 But of the stork and falcon for flight. 
 
 The argument drawn from natural history ad- 
 vances from quadrupeds to birds ; and of birds, those 
 only are selected for description which arc most 
 common to the country in which the scene lies, and, 
 at the same time, are most singular in their proper- 
 ties. Thus, the ostrich is admirably contrasted with 
 the stork and the eagle, as aflbrding an instance of a 
 winged animal totally incapalile of flying, but endued 
 with an unrivalled rapidity of running, compared 
 with birds whose flight is proverbially swift, power- 
 ful and persevering. Let man, in the pride of his 
 wisdom, explain or arraign this difference of con- 
 struction ! Again, the ostrich is peculiarly opposed 
 to the stork, and to some species of the eagle, in an- 
 other sense, and a sense adverted to in the verses 
 immediately ensuing ; for the ostrich is well known 
 to take little care of its eggs or its young ; while, not 
 to dwell upon the species of the eagle just glanced 
 at, the stork has ever been, and ever deserves to be, 
 held in proverbial repute for its jjarental fondness. 
 
 It xxvAY be remarked, that " the eagle spreading 
 abroad her wings, and taking her young upon them," 
 is mentioned, Deut. xxxii. 11, as an example of care 
 and kindness. So that this passage maj' implj^, that 
 the wings of the ostrich, however wonderful for their 
 plumage, arc neither adapted for the flying of the 
 possessor, nor for the shelter of her young ; and so 
 are peculiarly different from those of all other bu-ds, 
 and especially those most remarkable for their flight 
 and other particulars. 
 
 She leaveth her eggs on the ground, 
 
 And warmeth them in the dust ; 
 
 And is heedless that the foot may crush them, 
 
 Or the beast of the field trample upon them. 
 
 As for the stork, " the lofty fir-trees are her house ;" 
 but the improvident ostrich depositeth her eggs in 
 the earth. She buildeth her nest on some sandy 
 hillock, in the most barren and solitary recesses of 
 the desert, exposed to the view of every traveller, 
 and the foot of every wild beast. 
 
 Our translators appear, by their version, which is 
 confused, to have been influenced by tlie vulgar 
 error, that the ostrich did not herself hatch her eggs 
 by sitting on them, but left them to the heat of the 
 sun ; probably understanding av»"i as of a total dere- 
 liction ; whereas the original word ocnn signifies 
 actively that she heatcth them, — namely, by incuba- 
 tion. And Mr. Good, who also adopts this opinion, 
 observes, that there is scarcely an Arabian poet who 
 has not availed himself of this peculiar character of 
 the ostrich in some simile or other. Let the follo"\v- 
 ing suffice, from Nawabig, quoted by Schultens : 
 
 There are who, deaf to nature's cries. 
 On stranger tribes bestow their fooxl : 
 
 So her own eggs the ostrich flies. 
 And, senseless, rears another's brood. 
 
 This, however, does not prove that she wholly 
 neglects incubation, but that she deserts her eggs, 
 which may be because frighted awaj'. The fact is, 
 she usually sits upon her eggs as other birds do ; but 
 then she so often wanders, and so far in search of 
 food, that frequently the eggs are addle by means of 
 
 her long absence from them. To this account wc 
 may add, when she has left her nest, whether through 
 fear or to seek food, if she light upon the eggs of 
 some other ostrich, she sits upon them, and is un- 
 mindful of her own. Leo Africanus says, they lay 
 about ten or a dozen at a time ; but Dr. .Shaw ob- 
 serves, that by the repeated accounts which he had 
 received from his conductors, as well as from Arabs 
 of difl'erent places, he had been informed that they 
 lay from thirty to fifty. He adds, " We are not to 
 coiisider this large collection of eggs as if they were 
 all intended for a brood. They are the greatest part 
 of them reserved for food, which the dam breaks, 
 and disposeth of according to the number and crav- 
 ings of her young ones." 
 
 Mr. Barrow denies that the ostrich lays so many 
 eggs as is here stated ; and remarks, that, being a 
 polygamous bird, and several females laying their 
 eggs in one nest, to the number of ten or twelve each, 
 has occasioned this mistake as to the number of eggs 
 laid by the female ostrich. 
 
 She hardeneth herself for that which is not hers; 
 Her labor is vain, without discrimination. 
 
 Our translation renders this verse, " She is hard- 
 ened against her young ones, as though they were 
 not hers," &c. ; whence it has been inferred, that she 
 is destitute of all natural affection toward her young ; 
 an opinion v.hicli has been zealously controverted by 
 Buffbn. Mr. Vansittart, in his remarks upon this 
 clause, argues that the text is not intended to indi- 
 cate any want of care for her young; but, as the 
 eggs are set upon by several female ostriches alter- 
 nately, the young are the joint care of the parent 
 birds, without disci imination. The same Hebrew 
 word, he remarks, occurs but once, besides in this 
 place, throughout the Old Testament, and that is Isa. 
 Ixiii. 17, where the prophet refers to God's casting 
 ofl^ his people, and taking strangers in their place, 
 and is exactly what is applicable to this passage in Job. 
 
 We think, however, that this nice criticism upon 
 the text is altogether uncalled for, since the very facts 
 cited by BuflTon, from Leo Africanus and Kclbd, are 
 decisive against the French naturalist's reasoning, 
 and corroborative of the accuracy of the English 
 translators. The testimony of Dr. Shaw is still more 
 to the purpose : 
 
 " On the least noise or trivial occasion," says the 
 doctor, " she forsakes her eggs, or her young ones ; 
 to which, perhaps, she never returns ; or if she does, 
 it may be too late either to restore life to the one, or 
 to preserve the lives of the others. Agreeable to this 
 account, the Arabs meet sometimes with whole nests 
 of these eggs undisturbed; some of them are sweet 
 and good, others are addle and corrupted ; others, 
 again, have their young ones of different growth, ac- 
 cording to the time it may be presumed, they may 
 have been forsaken of the dam. They often meet 
 with a few of the little ones no bigger than well- 
 grown pullets, half starved, straggling and moaning 
 about, like so many distressed orphans, for their mo- 
 ther. In this manner the ostrich may be said to be 
 hardened against her young ones, as though they icere 
 not hers ; her labor, in hatching and attending them 
 so far, beijig vain, ivithout fear, or the least concern 
 of what becomes of them afterwards. This want of 
 affection is also recorded. Lam. iv. 3, 'The daughter 
 of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the 
 wilderness ;' " that is, by apparently deserting their 
 own, and receiving others in return. Hence, one of 
 the great causes of lamentation was, the coming in
 
 OSTRICH 
 
 [ 720 
 
 OZI 
 
 of strangers and enemies intoZion, and possessing it. 
 Thus, in the twelftli verse of this chapter, it is said, 
 "The kings of the earth, and all the inhal)itants of 
 the world, would not have believed that the adver- 
 sary aiid the enemy should have entered into the 
 gates of Jerusalem ;" and in ch. v. 2, " Our inherit- 
 ance is tiu'ned to strangers, our houses to aliens." 
 
 With reference to the phrase, " her labor is vain," 
 Mr. Vansittart remarks, while eggs are laid, and 
 young ostriches produced, it can never be correct ; 
 and if the mother did even drive her young ones 
 from her, still it could not be said that her labors had 
 not been successful; because, while there was a 
 young brood remaining, it would be evident that she 
 had been prosperous. Labor in vain, he further re- 
 marks, must either be that which is not productive, 
 or else what profits not the person who labors, or 
 otherwise, what profits another who does not labor. 
 This, he conceives, is the case with the ostrich in the 
 interpretation here suggested ; and is, moreover, the 
 true signification of the Hebrew phrase. The same 
 phrase occm-s. Lev. xxvi. 16, "Ye sow your seed in 
 vain, for another shall reaj) it," not yourselves. Like- 
 wise, Isa. Ixv. 21 — 23, "They shall build houses and 
 inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards, and 
 eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and an- 
 other inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat ; 
 they shall not labor in vain ;" that is, profitless for 
 themselves, and for the good of others. And again, 
 ch. xlix. 4, " Then I said, I have labored iri vain ; I 
 have spent my strength for nought and in vain ;" that 
 is, when he had departed from'the worship of Jeho- 
 vah, and had been given up to the service of the 
 gods of the nation, and conspquently to their advan- 
 tage, and not his own. It is in this sense that Jlr. 
 Vansittart proposes to understand the Hebrew woi-d. 
 whichis not a forced signification, and is moreover the 
 exact peculiarity and property of the ostrich intended 
 to be marked. 
 
 Because God hath made her feeble of instinct. 
 And not imparted to her understanding. 
 
 Natural affection and sagacious instinct are the 
 grand instruujents by which Providence continueth 
 the race of other animals ; but no limits can be set to 
 the wisdom and power of God. He prescrveth the 
 jjreed of the ostrich without those means, and even 
 in a penury of all the necessaries of life. 
 
 In her private capacity, she is not less inconside- 
 rate and foolish, particularly in the choice of food, 
 which is often highly detrimental and pernicious to 
 her ; for she swallows every thing greedily and in- 
 discriminately, whether it be pieces of rags, leather, 
 w^ood, stone or iron. They are particularly fond of 
 their own ordure, which they greedily cat up as soon 
 as it is voided ; no less fond are they of the dung of 
 hens and other ])oultry. It seems as if their ojnic, as 
 well as their olfactory nerves, were less adetiuate and 
 conducive to their safety and preservation, than in 
 other creatures. The divine Providence in this, no 
 less than in other respects, " having deprived them of 
 wisdom, neither hath it imparted to them understand- 
 mg." This part of her character is fidly admitted 
 by BuiTon, who describes it in nearly the same terms. 
 
 Yet at the time she haughtily assumes coura"-e ; 
 She scorneth the horse and his rider. 
 
 Dr. Durell justifies this translation, observing, that 
 the ostrich cannot soar as other birds ; and therefore 
 the words in our version, " when she liftelh up her- 
 self," cannot be right ; besides, the verl) n-i^ occurs 
 
 only in this place ; and in Arabic it signifies to lake 
 courage, and the like. 
 
 Notwithstanding the stupidity of this animal, says 
 Dr. Shaw, its Creator hath amply provided for its 
 safety, by endowing it with extraordinary swiftness, 
 and a surprising apparatus for escaping from its 
 enemy. They, " when they raise themselves up for 
 flight, laugh at the horse arid his rider." They aft<)rd 
 him an opportunity only of admiring at a distance the 
 extraordinary agility, and the stateliness, likewise, of 
 their motions, the richness of their plumage, and the 
 great propriety there was in ascribing totheniflnea;- 
 pandcd quivering tving. Nothing, certainly, can be 
 more entertaining than such a sight ; the wings, by 
 their rapid but unwearied vibrations, equally serving 
 them for sails and oars ; while their feet, no less as- 
 sisting in conveying them out of sight, are no less in- 
 sensible of fatigue. 
 
 The surprising swiftness of the ostrich is expressly 
 mentioned by Xenophon, in liis Anabasis ; for, speak- 
 ing of the desert of Arabia, he states that the ostrich 
 is frequently seen there ; that none could take them, 
 the horsemen who pursue tliem soon giving it over ; 
 for they escaped far awaj', making use both of their 
 feet to run, and of their wings, when expanded, as a 
 sail to waft them along." This representation is con- 
 firmed by the wj-iter of a voyage to Senegal, who 
 says, " She sets off" at a hard gallop ; but, after being 
 excited a little, she expands her wings as if to catch 
 the wind, and abandons herself to a speed so great, 
 that she seems not to touch the ground." " I am per- 
 suaded," continues that writer, "she would leave far 
 behind the swiftest English courser." Buflx)n, also, 
 admits that the ostrich runs faster than the horse. 
 These unexceptionable testimonies completely vindi- 
 cate the assertion of the inspired writer. 
 
 OTHNIEL, son of Kenaz of Judah, Josh. xv. 17. 
 Scripture says, Othniel was brother to Caleb, (Judg. 
 i. 1-3.) meaning, probably, near relations, as cousins ; 
 for it is not likely they were literally brothers, 
 since Othniel married the daughter of Caleb. See 
 
 ACHSAH. 
 
 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites not exter- 
 minating the Canaanites, and not continuing in their 
 fidelity to the Lord, he delivered them to Chushan- 
 Rishathaini, king of Mesopotamia, to whom they 
 continued in subjection eight years, Judg. iii. Then 
 they cried to the Lord, who raised them up for a de- 
 liverer Othniel, who, being filled with the Spirit of 
 God, judged Israel ; and the country had rest forty 
 years. That is to say, it was in peace the fortieth 
 year after the peace that Joshua had jjrocured for it, 
 A. r>I. 2960, ten years before his death. The year 
 of Othniel's death is unknown. 
 
 OVEN, sec Bread, p. 208. 
 
 OWL, an unclean bird, Lev. xi. 17. When Isaiah 
 speaks of Babylon as reduced to a wilderness, he says 
 that the owls shall answi'r one another there, (chap, 
 xiii. 22.) and the psalmist says, that in his aflliction, 
 he was as the owl sitting alone on the house-top, Ps. 
 cii. 7. Interpreters, however, are not agreed on the 
 signification of the Hebrew words translated ow^l, as 
 may be seen under the article Ostrich. The owl 
 was consecrated to Minerva, and on this account was 
 honored by the Athenians, Avho represented it on 
 their medals. 
 
 OX, see Bull. 
 
 OZEM, sixth son of Jesse, and brother of David, 
 1 Chron. ii. 15. 
 
 OZIAS, son of Micha, of Simeon, chief of Bethu- 
 lia, when it was besieged by Holofernes. See Judith.
 
 [721 ] 
 
 PAL 
 
 PADAN ARAM, the plains of Aram, or Syria. See 
 Mesopotamia, and Syria. 
 
 PALESTINE, taken in a limited sense, denotes 
 the country of the Phihstines, or Palestines ; which 
 was that part of the Land of Promise extending along 
 the Mediterranean sea, from Gaza south to Lydda 
 nortli. The LXX were ot opinion tliat the word 
 Philistiim ^v■hich they generally translate Allophyli, 
 signified strangers, or men of another tribe. Pales- 
 tine, taken in a more general sense, signifies the whole 
 country of Canaan, as well beyond, as on this side, 
 Jordan ; though frequently it is restrained to the 
 country on this side that river: so that in later times 
 the words Judea and Palestine were synonymous. 
 We find also the name of Syria- Palestina given to the 
 Land of Promise, and even sometimes this province 
 is comprehended in Ccele-Syria, or the Lower Syria. 
 Herodotus is the most ancient writer known whrf 
 speaks of Syria-Palestina. He places it between 
 Phoenicia and Egypt. See Ca>-aa>-. 
 
 PALM, a measure of a hand's, or four fingcis' 
 breadth, or 3.C48 inches, Hebr. nss, Tephach ; LXX, 
 naXaiia, Exod. XXV. 25. The Heb. Zereth, pit, (LXX, 
 ^,Ti5.iu/', Exod. xxviii. 16.) is often translated palm, 
 tliough it signifies a span or lialf-cubit, and contains 
 three ordinary palms ; which ought to be observed, 
 that two measures so unequal may not be confound- 
 ed. Jerome sometimes translates Tephach by four 
 fingers, and sometimes by a palm ; but he always 
 renders Zereth by palmus ; and the Septuagint by 
 Spithame. Goliath was in height six cubits and a 
 Zereth ; that is, six cubits and a half, making eleven 
 feet ten inches and something more. We find in 
 Isa. xl. 12, an expression that proves the Zereth, or 
 palm, to signify the extent of the hand from the end 
 of the thumb to the end of the little finger. "Who 
 hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, 
 and meted out heaven with a span?" a Zereth. 
 
 PA[.MER-WORM. Bochart is of opinion that 
 the Hebrew au, gdzdm, is a kind of locust, furnished 
 witli very sharp teeth, with which it gnaws off grass, 
 corn, leaves of trees, and even their bark. The Jews 
 sup[)ort this idea, by deriving the word from gdzaz, 
 to cut, to shear, to mince ; and Pisidias compares a 
 swarm of locusts to a sword with ten thousand edges. 
 Such is also the ojjinion of most commentators. But 
 notwithstanding this, the LXX read z^Ikt;;, and the 
 Vulgate eruca, or caterpillar, which rendering is sup- 
 ported by Ftdler. Miciiaelis also agrees witii this 
 notion, and thinks the sharp and cutting teeth of the 
 caterpillar, which, like a sickle, clear away all before 
 them, might give name to tiiis insect. Caterpillars 
 also begin their ravages before locusts, which seems 
 to coincide with the nature of the creature here in- 
 tended : " That which the palmer-worm hath left 
 hath the locust eaten ; and that which the locust 
 hath left hath the cankerworm eaten ; and that which 
 the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten," 
 Joel i. 4. 
 
 PALM-TREE. This tree is called i-rn, tdmdr, 
 
 from its straight, upright growth, for which it seems 
 
 more remarkable than any other tree : it sometimes 
 
 rises to the height of a hundred feet. 
 
 The palm is one of tlie most beautiful trees of the 
 
 91 
 
 PALM-TREE 
 
 vegetable kingdom. The stalks are generally full of 
 rugged knots, which are the vestiges of the decayed 
 leaves : for the trunk is not solid like other trees, but 
 its ^ntre is filled with pith, round which is a tough 
 bani^ fi-dl of strong fibres when young, which, as the 
 tree grows old, hardens and becomes ligneous. To 
 this bark the leaves are closely joined, which in the 
 centre rise erect, but after they are advanced above 
 the vagina that surrounds them, they expand very 
 wide on every side the stem, and, as the older leaves 
 decay, the stalk advances in height. The leaves, 
 when the tree has grown to a size for bearing fruit, 
 are six or eight feet long ; ai'e very broad when 
 spread out, and are used for covering the tops of 
 houses, and similar purposes. 
 
 The fruit, v/hich is called "date," grows below the 
 leaves in clusters ; and is of a sweet and agreeable 
 taste. The learned Kjempfer, as a botanist, an anti- 
 quary and a traveller, has exhausted the whole sub- 
 ject of palm-trees. The diUgent natives, sajs i\Ir. 
 Gibbon, celebrated, either in verse or prose, the 3G0 
 uses to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves and 
 the fruit were skilfully applied. The extensive im- 
 portance of the date-tree, says Dr. Clarke, is one of 
 the most curious subjects to which a traveller can 
 direct his attention. A considerable part of the in- 
 habitants of Egypt, of Arabia and Persia, subsist 
 almost entirely on its fruit. They boast also of its 
 medicinal virtues. Their camels feed upon the date 
 stone. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, 
 bags, mats and brushes ; from the branches, cages 
 for their poukry, and fences for their gardens ; from 
 the fi!)res orthe boughs, thread, ropes and rigging; 
 from the sap is prepared a spirituous liquor ; and the 
 body of the tree furnishes fuel : it is even said, that 
 from one variety of the palm-tree, the "phoenix far- 
 iaifera," meal has been extracted, which is found 
 among the fibres of the trunk, and has been used for 
 food. 
 
 Several parts of the Holy Land, no less than of 
 Idumrea, tliat lay contiguous to it, are described by 
 the ancients to have abounded with date-trees. Ju- 
 dea, particularly, is typified in several coins of Ves- 
 pasian, by a disconsolate woman sitting under a 
 palm-tree. Upon the Greek coin, likewise, of his 
 son Titus, struck upon a like occasion, we see a 
 shield suspended upon a palm-tree, with a victory 
 writing upon it. The same tree, upon a medal of 
 Domhian, is made an emblem of Neapolis, formerly 
 Sichcm, or Naplosa, as it is now called ; as it is like- 
 wise of Sephoris, or Sepphoury, according to the 
 present name, the metropolis of Galilee, upon one of 
 Trajan's. It may be presumed, therefore, that the 
 palm-tree was formerly much cultivated in the Holy 
 Land. 
 
 In Deut. xxxiv. 3. Jericho is called "the city of 
 palm-trees, because, as Josephus, Strabo and Pliny 
 have remarked, it anciently abounded with them: 
 and so Dr. Shaw states that there are several of them 
 yet at Jericho, where there is the convenience they 
 require of being often watered ; where likewise the 
 climate is warm, and the soil sandj-, or such as they 
 thrive and delight in. At Jerusalem, Sichem, and 
 other places to the northward, however. Dr. Shaw
 
 PALM-TREE 
 
 ( 72a ] 
 
 PALM-TREE 
 
 states that he rarely saw above two or three of them 
 together ; and even these, as their fruit rarely or ever 
 comes to maturity, are of no further service, than 
 (like the palm-tree of Deborah) to shade the retreats 
 or sanctuaries of their sheikhs, as they might for- 
 merly have been sufficient to supply the solemn pro- 
 cessions with branches. (See John xii. 13.) Fi'om 
 the present condition and quality of the palm-trees 
 in this part of the Holy Land, Dr. Shaw concludes that 
 they never were either numerous or fruitful here, and 
 that, therefore, the opinion of Reland and otherSg^hat 
 Pha?uicia is the same with "a country of date-tflfes " 
 does not appear probable ; for if such a useful and 
 beneficial plant had ever been cultivated there to ad- 
 vantage, it would have still continued to be culti- 
 vated, as in Egypt and Barbary. 
 
 In the latter country, in the maritime, as well as in 
 the inland parts, there are several large plantations 
 of the palm-tree ; though such only as grow in the 
 Sahara bring their fruit to perfection. Dr. Shaw, to 
 whom we are so greatly indebted for our acquaint- 
 ance with the natural history of the East, informs us 
 that they are propagated chiefly from the roots of 
 full grown trees,which, if well transplanted, and taken 
 care of, will yield their fruit in the sixth or seventh 
 year ; whereas those which are raised immediately 
 from the kernels, will not bear till about the sixteenth 
 year. This method of raising the ipoini, or palm, 
 and particularly the fact that when the old trunk 
 dies, there is never wanting one or other of these 
 offsprings to succeed it, may have given rise to the 
 fable of the phcenix dying, and another arising from 
 its ashes. 
 
 It is a singular fact that these trees are male and 
 female, and that the fruit which is produced by the 
 latter will be dry and insipid without a previous 
 communication with the former. In the month of 
 March or April, therefore, when the sheaths that re- 
 spectively enclose the young clusters of the male 
 flowers, and the female fruit, begin to opeife at which 
 time the latter are formed, and the former are mealy, 
 they take a sprig or two of the male cluster, and in- 
 sert it into the sheath of the female ; or else they take 
 a whole cluster of the male tree, and sprinkle the 
 meal or farina of it over several clusters of the female. 
 The latter practice is common in Egypt, where they 
 have a number of males; but the trees of Barbary 
 are impregnated by the former method, one male be- 
 ing sufficient for four or five hundred females. 
 
 The palm-tree arrives at its greatest vigor about 
 thirty years after transplantation, and continues so 
 seventy years afterwards, bearing yearly fifteen or 
 twenty clusters of dates, each of them weighing fif- 
 teen or twenty pounds. After this period, it begins 
 gradually to decline, and usually falls about the latter 
 end of its second century. " To be exalted," or " to 
 flourish like the palm-tree," are as just and proper ex- 
 pressions, suitable to the nature of this plant, as "to 
 spread about like a cedar," Ps. xcii. 11. 
 
 The root of the palm-tree produces a great num- 
 ber of suckers, which, spreading upward, form a 
 kind of forest. It was under a little wood of this 
 kind, as Calmet tliinks, that the prophetess Deborah 
 dwelt, between Ramah and Bethel, Judg. iv. 5. And 
 probably to this multiplication of the palm-tree, as he 
 suggests, the prophet alludes, when he says, " The 
 righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree," (Ps. xcii. 
 12 ; comp. Ps. i. 3.) rather than to its towering height, 
 as Dr. Shaw supposes. 
 
 The palm is much fonder of water than many 
 other trees of the forest, and this will account for its 
 
 flourishing so nmch better in some places than others^. 
 When Moses and his people on their way to the 
 promised land arrived at Elirn, they found twelve 
 wells of water by the side of seventy palm-trees, 
 Exod. XV. 27. And we learn from sir Robert Wil- 
 son, (History of the Expedition to Egypt, p. 18.) that 
 when the English army landed in Eg-ypt, in 1801, to 
 expel the French from that country, sir Sidney Smith 
 assured the troops that wherever date-trees grew, 
 water must be near ; and so they found it on digging 
 usually within such a distance that the roots of the 
 tree could obtain moisture from the fluid. Burck- 
 hardt confirms this statement in several places. 
 (Travels in Syria, &c. p. 473, 523, 531, 562, &c.) 
 
 The prophet Jeremiah, describing, in a fine strain 
 of irony, the idols of the heathens, says, "They are up- 
 right as the palm-tree," (chap. ix. 5.) which Calmet 
 takes to be an allusion to their shape, remarking, 
 from Diodorus Siculus, that the ancients, before the 
 art of carving was carried to perfection, made their 
 images all of a thickness, straight, having their hands 
 hanging down, and close to their sides, the legs join- 
 ed together, the eyes shut, with a very perpendicular 
 attitude, and not unlike the body of a palm-tree, 
 ^uch are the figures of those ancient Egyptian statues 
 that still remain. The famous Greek architect and 
 sculptor Daedalus set their legs at liberty, opened their 
 eyes, and gave them a more free and easy attitude. 
 
 The straight and lofty growth of the palm-tree, its 
 longevity and great fecundity, the permanency and 
 perpetual flourishing of its leaves, and their form, 
 resembling the solar rays, makes it a very proper em- 
 blem of the natural, and thence of the divine light. 
 Hence in the holy place or sanctuary of the temple, 
 (the emblem of Christ's body,) palm-trees were engrav- 
 ed on the walls and doors between the coupled cherubs, 
 1 Kings vi. 29, 32, 35 ; Ezek. xli. 18, 19, 20, 25, 26. 
 Hence, at the Feast of Tabernacles branches of palm- 
 trees were to be used, among others, in making their 
 booths. (Comp. Lev. xxiii.30 ; Neh. viii. 15.) Palm 
 branches were also used as emblems of victory, both by 
 believers and idolaters. The reason given by Plutarcli 
 and Aulus Gellius, why they were so among the latter, 
 is the nature of the wood, which so powerfully re- 
 sists incumbent pressure. But, doubtless, believers, 
 by bearing palm-branches after a victory, or in 
 triumph, meant to acknowledge the supreme Author 
 of their success and prosperity, and to carry on their 
 thoughts to the Divine Light, the great conqueror 
 over sin and death. (Comp. 1 Mac. xiii. 51 ; 2 Mac. 
 x. 7; John xii. 13; Rev. vii. 9.) And the idolaters, 
 likewise, probably used palms on such occasions, not 
 without respect to Apollo or the sun, to whom, 
 among them, they were consecrated. Hence, prob- 
 ably, we have the name of a place, " Baal-Tamar," 
 (Judg. XX. 33.) Tamar being, as we have said, the 
 name of the palm-tree ; it being so called in honor of 
 Baal or the sun, whose image, it may be, was there 
 accompanied by this tree. Herodotus states that 
 there were many palm-trees at Apollo's temple, at 
 Brutus, in Egypt; and that at Sais, in the temple of 
 Minerva, or Athena, (a name for die solar light,) there 
 were artificial colunms in imitation of palm-trees. 
 
 In Cant. vii. 7, the statue of the bride is compared 
 to a palm-tree, which conveys a pleasing idea of her 
 gracefulness and beauty. So Theocritus compares 
 Helen to a cypress-tree in a garden ; but Ulysses 
 makes almost the very same comparison as that of 
 Solomon, by likening the princess Nausicaa to a 
 young palm-tree growing by Apollo's altar in Delos. 
 
 It is probable that Tamar, (Ezek. xlvii. 19, &c.) or
 
 PAR 
 
 [ 723 ] 
 
 PAR 
 
 Tadniov, (1 Kings ix. 18.) built in the desert by Sol- 
 omon, and afterwards called Palniyni l)y the Greeks, 
 obtained its name from the number of palm-trees 
 which grew about it. 
 
 As the Greek name for this tree signifies also the 
 fabulous bird, called the phcEnix, some of the fathers 
 have supposed that the psalmist (xcii. 12.) alludes to 
 the latter, and on his authority have made the phoe- 
 nix an emblem of a resurrection. TertuUian calls it 
 a full and striking emblem of this hope. But the 
 tree, also, seems to have been considered as emblem- 
 atical of the revivification of the human body, from 
 its being found in some burial places in the East. 
 In our colder climate, we have substituted the yew- 
 tree in its place. 
 
 PALSY, a disorder which deprives the limbs of 
 motion, and makes them useless to the patient. Our 
 Saviour cured several paralytics by his word alone. 
 (See Matt. iv. 24 ; viii. G ; ix. 2 ; Mark ii. 3, 4 ; Luke 
 V. 18.) The sick man who was lying near the pool 
 at the sheep-market, for thirty-eight years, was a par- 
 alytic, John v. 5. 
 
 PAMPHYLIA, a province of Asia Minor, having 
 Cilicia east, Lycia west, Pisidia north, and the Med- 
 iterranean south. It is opposite to Cyprus, and the 
 sea between the coast and the island is called the sea 
 of Pamphylia. The chief city of Pamphylia was 
 Perga, where Paul and Barnabas preached, Acts xiii. 
 13 ; xiv. 24. 
 
 PAPER, PAPYRUS, see Book, p. 200, 201. 
 
 PAPHOS, a famous city of the isle of Cyprus, 
 where Paul converted the proconsul Sergius Paulus, 
 and struck with blindness a Jewish sorcerer, called 
 Bar-jesus, who would have hindered his couvereion. 
 Paphos was at the western extremity of the island. 
 Acts xiii. 6, A. D. 44. 
 
 PARABLE, naoa^o::,:, (Heb. Q>'-rc, Meshdlim,) 
 from the verb nnQu^'iu/J.iir, which signifies to compare 
 things together, to form a parallel or similitude of 
 them with other things. What we call the Proverbs 
 of Solomqji, which are moral maxims and sentences, 
 the Greeks call the Parables of Solomon. And when 
 Jerome would express the poetic and sententious 
 style of Balaam, (Numb, xxiii. 7, 18, &c.) he says, he 
 began to speak in a parable. In like manner, when 
 Job answers his friends, it is said, he began to take 
 up his parable. Job xxvii. 1 ; xxix. 1. The parabol- 
 ical, enigmatical, figurative and sententious way of 
 speaking, was the language of the eastern sages and 
 learned men ; and nothing was more insupportable 
 than to hear a fool utter parables, Prov. xxvi. 7. 
 
 The prophets employed parables, the more strong- 
 ly to impress prince and people with their threaten- 
 ings or their ])romises. Nathan reproved David 
 under the parable of a rich man who had taken away 
 and killed the lamb of a ])oor man, 2 Sam. xii. 2, 3, 
 &c. The woman of Tekoah, who was hired by 
 Joab to reconcile the mind of David to Absalom, 
 proposed to liim the parable of her two son& who 
 fought together, and one having killed the other, they 
 were going to put the murderer to death, and so to 
 deprive her of both her sons, 2 Sam. xv. 2, 3, &c. 
 Jotham, son of Gideon, addressed to the Shcchemites 
 the parable of the brai7ible of Liljanus, whom the 
 trees chose for king, Judg. ix. 7, 8, &c. Our Saviour 
 most frequently addressed the people in ]iarables ; 
 thereby verifying the prophecy of Isaiah, (vi. 9.) that 
 the people should see without knowing, and hear 
 without understanding, in the midst of instruc- 
 tions. Jerome observes, that this manner of instruct- 
 ing and sjjeaking by similitudes and parables, was 
 
 common in Syria, and especially in Palestine. It is 
 certain that the ancient sages employed this style 
 almost to aflfectation. 
 
 Some parables in the New Testament may perhaps 
 be supposed to be true histories; as that of Lazarus 
 and the wicked rich man ; that of the good Samari- 
 tan ; and that of the Prodigal Son. In others, our 
 Saviour seems to allude to souie points of history in 
 those times ; as that describing a king who went into 
 a far countr}', to receive a kingdom; which may hint 
 at the history of Archelaus, who, after the death of 
 hisTather Herod the Great, went to Rome, to receive 
 from Augustus the confirmation of his father's will, 
 by which he had bequeathed the kingdom of Judea 
 to hini. 
 
 The word parable is sometimes used in Scripture 
 in a sense of reproach and contempt. God threatens 
 his people to scatter them among the nations, and to 
 make them a parable (English translation, ?l proverb) 
 to the people, 2 Chron. vii. 20. So that when any 
 one would express a nation hated of God, and which 
 has suflTered his fierce anger, he shall say. May you 
 become like Israel ! , 
 
 PARACLETUS, a title given to the Holy Spirit 
 by our Saviour, John xiv. 16. See Comforter. 
 
 PARADISE. This word signifies a garden or 
 forest of trees, a park, in which sense it is used, Neh. 
 ii. 8 ; Eccles. ii. 5 ; Cant. iv. 13. 
 
 The Septuagint use the word Paradisus, (Gen. ii. 
 8.) when they speak of the garden of Eden, in which 
 the Lord placed Adam and Eve. This famous gar- 
 den is indeed commonly known by the name of "the 
 terrestrial paradise," and there is hardly any part of 
 the world in which it has not been sought. See Edex. 
 
 In the New Testament, paradise is put for a place 
 of delight, where the souls of the blessed enjoy hap- 
 ])iness. Thus our Saviour tells the penitent thief oti 
 the cross, (Luke xxiii. 43.) " To-day shalt thou be with 
 me in paradise;" i.e. in the state of the blessed. 
 Paul, speaking of himself in the third person, says, 
 (2 Cor. xii. 4.) " I knew a man that was caught up 
 into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which 
 it is not lawful for a man to utter." And again our 
 Lord says, (Rev. ii. 7.) "To him that overcometh 
 will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the 
 midst of the paradise of God." The Jews commonly 
 call paradise "the garden of Eden ;" and they ima- 
 gine that at the coming of the Messiah they shall here 
 enjoy an earthly felicity, in the midst of delights ; 
 and that, till the resurrection, and the coming of the 
 INIessiah, their souls shall continue here in a state 
 of rest. 
 
 PARALLELISM, see Poetry. 
 
 PARAN, El-parak, or Pharan, a desert of Ara- 
 bia Peti-aea, south of the Land of Promise, and north- 
 west of the gulf Elanitis. (See the situation of this 
 desert fully discussed under Exodus, ]). 418.) Che- 
 dorlaomer and his allies ravaged the country, to the 
 plains of Paran, (Gen, xiv. G.) and Hagar, being sent 
 from Abraham, retired into the wilderness of Paran, 
 where she lived with her son Ishmael, Gen xxi. 21. 
 The Israelites, having decamped from Sinai, came 
 into this desert, (Numb. x. 12.) and thence Moses sent 
 out spies to inspect the Land of Promise, ch. xiii. 3. 
 When David was persecuted by Saul, he withdrew 
 hito the wilderness of Paran, near Maon, and south 
 of Carmel, 1 Sam. xxv. 1, 2. The greater part of 
 the habitations of this countrv, it is said, were dug in 
 the rocks; and liere Simon of Gerasa gathered 
 together all that he took from his enemies. 
 
 Paran was also the name of a city of Arabia Pe-
 
 PAR 
 
 [ 724 1 
 
 PAR 
 
 trsea, three days' journey from Elah, or Ailat, east, 
 Dent. i. 1 ; 1 Kings xi. 18. But see Exodus, p. 418. 
 
 PARCHMENT, see Book, p. 201. 
 
 PARDON, entire remission of punishment due to 
 guilt. God extends mercy as his darling attribute, 
 and mercy delighteth in pardoning. God is said to 
 multiply pardons, to be ready to pardon, to pardon 
 for his name's sake, &c. Various similes are used 
 to denote the nature of pardon ; as, to take away in- 
 iquity, to cover sin, to blot out sin, to cast sins behind 
 the back, not to remember them, &c. Man is Uable 
 to recollect transgressions, after having parddhed 
 them, but God pardons effectively and completely. 
 The gospel furnishes the noblest motive to us to 
 pardon others ; " even as God for Christ's sake hath 
 pardoned us." 
 
 PARENT, a name properly given to a father or a 
 mother, but extended also to relations by blood, espe- 
 cially m a tlirect line, upAvard. Scripture commands 
 children to honor their parents, (Exod. xx. 12.) i. e. 
 to obey them, to succor them, to respect them, to give 
 them all assistance that nature, and then* and our cir- 
 cumstances, require. Christ (Matt. xv. 5, 6.) con- 
 demns that corrupt explication which the doctors of 
 the law gave of this precept ; by teaching that a child 
 was disengaged from the obligation of supporting and 
 assisting his parents, when he said, " It is a gift by 
 w^hatsoever thou mightcst be profited by me ; q. d. I 
 am no longer master of my own estate ; it is cousscrat- 
 ed to the Lord." gee Corean. 
 
 Marriages among parents and relations were for- 
 bidden v;itliiu certain degrees. Lev. xviii. 
 
 PARLOR, that room m a house where the master 
 or his f-vmi'y customarily speak Vv'ith visitors ; but 
 whether the word rendered parlor has always this 
 import in the Hebrew, may be doubtful. (Compare 
 Judg. iii. 20 ; 1 Sam. L\. 22!) 
 
 PARMASHTA, the seventh son of Haman ; slain 
 by the Jews, with his fatlier, Esth. ix. 9. 
 
 PAR^iENAS, one of the first seven deacons, Acts 
 vi. 5, 6. 
 
 PARSHANDATHA, the eldest son of Haman, put 
 to death with his fathei-, Esth. ix. 7. 
 
 PART, PORTION. " The Lord is the portion of 
 mine inheritance," Ps. xvi. 5. " Thou art my refuge, 
 and my portion in the land of the living," Ps. cxlii. 5. 
 And Israel is the part, or portion of the Lord, his pe- 
 culiar people: "The Lord's portion is his people, 
 Jacol) is the lot of his inheritance," Deut. xxxii. 9. 
 But with this ciilTereuce ; God makes and constitutes 
 the happiness of his people, but his people cannot 
 augment God's happiness or glory. Part or portion 
 also signifies recompense or correction. " This is the 
 portion of a Avicked man from God, and the heriiage 
 appointed unto him by Gocl," Job xx. 29. ''They 
 shall I^e a portion for foxes," Ps. Ixiii. 10. " Upon 
 the Avicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, 
 and an horrible tempest ; this shall be the portion of 
 their cup," Ps. xi. 6. This is their part or portion, 
 and the just punishment of their iniquity. The Lord 
 shall "appoint him his portion Avith the hypocrites," 
 Malt. xxiv. 51. 
 
 PARTHIA is thought to have been originally a 
 province of ]\Iedia, on its eastern side, Avhich was 
 raised into .a distinct kingdom by Arsaccs, ante A. D. 
 250. It soon extended itself over a great part of the 
 ancient Persian empu-e, and is frequently put for that 
 empire in Scripture, and other ancient Avritings. Par- 
 thia maintained itself against all aggressors for nearly 
 500 years, but in A. D. 226, one of the descendants 
 of the ancient Persian kings united it to the ancient 
 
 empire, and Persia resumed its ancient name and 
 dynasty. 
 
 The Parthians Avere celebrated, especially by the 
 poets, for their mode of fighting, Avhich consisted in 
 discharging theii- arroAvs while they fled. They 
 Avould seem to have borne no A'ery distant resem- 
 blance to the modem Cossacks. It is said the Par- 
 thians were either refugees or exiles from the Scythian 
 nations. Jews fi-om among them Avere present at 
 Jerusalem at the Pentecost, Acts ii. 9. 
 
 PARTRIDGE. The HebrcAV name of this bird is 
 Nip, kore, the caller. Forskal mentions a partridge 
 Avhose name, in Arabic, is hurr ; and Latham says, 
 tliat in the province of Andalusia, in Spain, its name 
 is churr, both taken, no doubt, from the Hebrew. 
 The German hunters also say of the partridge, " It 
 calls." As this bird is so Avell knoAA^l in every part 
 of the Avorld, a particular description is unnecessary. 
 There are only tAvo passages of Scripture in which 
 the partridge is mentioned ; but these Avill repay our 
 attentive examination. The first occurs in the his- 
 tory of DaAad, Avhere he expostulates Avith Saul con- 
 cerning his unjust and foolish pureuit : " The king of 
 Israel is come out to seek a flea, as Avhen one doth 
 hunt a partridge on the momitains," 1 Sam. xxvi. 20. 
 The learned Bochart objects to the partridge in this 
 place, and contends that the kore is more likely to 
 be the Avoodcock, since the partridge is not a 
 mountain bird. This, hoAvever, is a mistake ; there 
 is a species of the partridge AAhich exactly an- 
 SAA^ers to the description of David ; and those of Ba- 
 rakonda, in particular, are said to choose the highest 
 rocks and precipices for their residence. 
 
 " The Arabs have another though a more laborious 
 method of catching these birds ; for, obserA'ing that 
 they become languid and fatigued after they haA^e 
 hastily been put up once or twice, they immediately 
 run in upon them, and knock them down Avith their 
 zerwattys, or bludgeons." It Avas precisely in this 
 manner Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon him, 
 and putting him up from time to time, in hopes he 
 should at length, by frequent repetitions, destroy him. 
 In addition to this method of taking the partridge, 
 Dr. ShaAv states, that the Arabs are Avell acquainted 
 AA^th that mode of catching them Avliich is called tun- 
 nelling ; and to make the capture of them the greater, 
 they Avill sometimes place behind the net a cage, Avith 
 some tame ones Avithin it, Avhich, by their perpetual 
 chirping and calling, quickly bring doAvn the coacvs 
 that are Avithin hearing, and thereby decoy gi-eat 
 numbers of them. This, he remarks, may lead us 
 into the right interpretation of Ecclus. xi. 30, Avhich 
 Ave render " like as a partridge taken [and kept] in a 
 cage, so is the heart of the proud ;" but should be, 
 " like a decoy partridge in a cage, so is," &:c. 
 
 The other passage in Avhich this bird is mentioned, 
 is Jer. XA'ii. 11 : "As the partridge sittcth on eggs, and 
 hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not 
 by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and 
 at his end shall be a fool." It seems to be clear hero 
 that this bird sitteth on eggs not its oicn, to correspond 
 to the getting of riches not by right ; from these eggs 
 it is driven aAA'ay, leaving them in the midst of his days, 
 before the time of hatching is expired. But Avhy 
 should it be said of the partridge, rather than any 
 other bird, that it sitteth and hatcheth not ? The rea- 
 son is plain, when it is knoAA-n that this bird's nest, 
 being made on the ground, the eggs are frequently 
 broken, by the foot of man or other animals, and she 
 is oflen obliged to quit them, by the presence of in- 
 truders, AA'hich chills the eggs and renders them un-
 
 PAS 
 
 [725] 
 
 PASSOVER 
 
 fruitful. Rain and moisture also may spoil them. 
 Observing tiiat Biiftbn makes a separate species of 
 the bartavclla, or Greek partridge, 3!r. Taylor pro- 
 poses that as tlie proper bird meant in these passages. 
 To tiie red partridge, and principally to the bartavella, 
 must be referred all that the ancients have related of 
 the partridge. Aristotle must needs know the Greek 
 partridge better than any other, since this is the only 
 kind in Greece, in the isles of the Mediterranean ; 
 and, according to all appearance, in that part of Asia 
 conquered by Alexander. Belon informs lis, that 
 the bartavclla keeps ordinarily among the rocks; but 
 Las ihe instinct to descend into the plain to make its 
 nest, in order that the young may find at the birth a 
 ready subsistence. It has another analogj' with the 
 common hen ; this is, to sit upon (or hatch) the eggs 
 of strangers for want of its oivn. This remark is of a 
 long standing, since it occurs in the sacred book. 
 No\v if, in the absence of the proper owner, this bar- 
 tavella partridge sits on the eggs of a stranger, when 
 that stranger returns to her nest, and drives away the 
 intruder before she can hatch them, the partridge 
 60 expelled resembles a man in low circumstances, 
 Avho had possessed himself, for a time, of the prop- 
 erty of another, but is forced to relinquish his acqui- 
 sition, before he can render it profitable ; which is 
 the simile of the prophet, and agrees, too, with this 
 place. 
 
 PARVAIM, the name of a region, (2 Chron. iii. 6.) 
 thought to be the same as Ophir. 
 
 PASDAjNIMIM, a place m the tribe of Judah, (1 
 Chron. xi. 13.) called Ei)hes-daimnim, 1 Sam. xvii. 1. 
 PASSION. This word has several vcrj" different 
 significations. First, it signifies the passion or suf- 
 fering of Christ: " To whom also he showed himself 
 alive after his passion," Acts i. 3. Secondly, it signi- 
 fies shameful passions, (Rom. i. 2G.) to which those 
 are given up, whom God abandons to their own de- 
 sh'es, Rom. vii. 5 ; 1 Thess. iv. 5. 
 
 PASSOVER, (Pascha, hdd, a passing over,) a name 
 given to the festival established in commemoration of 
 the comuig forth out of Egypt, (Exod. xii.) because, 
 the night before their departure, the destroymg angel, 
 who slew the first born of the Egyptians, passed over 
 the houses of the Hebrews without entering them, 
 they beuig marked with the blood of the lamb, which, 
 for this reason, was called the Pasc^hal lamb. 
 
 The month of the exodus from Egj'pt (called Abib 
 in IMoses, afterwards called Nisan) was ordained to 
 be thereafter the first month of the sacred or ecclesi- 
 astical year ; and the fourteenth day of this mouth, be- 
 tween the two evenmgs, that is, between the sun's 
 decline and its setting — according to our reckoning, 
 between three o'clock in the afternoon and six in the 
 evening, at the equinox — they were to kill the ])aschal 
 lamb, and to abstain from leavened bread. The day 
 following, being the fifteenth, reckoned from six 
 o'clock of the preceding evening, was the grand feast 
 of the passovcr, which continued seven days ; but only 
 the first and the seventh day were peculiarly solemn. 
 The slain lamb ought to be without defect, a male, 
 and of that year. If no lamb could be found, they 
 might take a kid. They killed a lamb or a kid in each 
 family ; and if the number of the family were not 
 sufficient to eat the lamb, they might associate two 
 families together. 
 
 With the blood of the lamb they sprinkled the door- 
 posts and lintel of every house, that the destroying 
 angel, beholding tlie blood, might pass over them. 
 They were to eat the lamb, the same night, roasted, 
 with unleavened bread, and a salad of wild lettuces. 
 
 or bitter herbs. It was forbidden to eat any part of it 
 ra^v or boiled ; nor were they to break a bone ; but it 
 \\as to be eaten entire, even with the head, the feet, 
 and the bowels. If any thing remained to the day 
 following, it was thrown into the fire, Exod. xii. 46 ; 
 Num. ix. 12 ; John xix. 3(). They who ate it were 
 to be in the posture of travellers, having their loins 
 girt, shoes on then- feet, staves in their hands, and 
 eating in a hurry. This last part of the ceremony was 
 !jut little obseiTed ; at least it was of no obligation after 
 the niglit m which they came out of Egj'pt. During 
 the whole eight days of the passover, no leavened 
 bread was to be used. They kept the first and last 
 days of the feast ; but it was allowed to dress victuals, 
 which was forbidden on the sabbath day. 
 
 The obligation of keeping the passover was very 
 strict ; so much so, indeed, that Calmet tliinks, who- 
 ever should neglect it was condemned to death, Num. 
 ix. 13. Those who had any lawful impediment, as 
 a journey, sickness, or luicleanness, voluntary or in- 
 voluntary, were to defer the celebration of the pass- 
 over till the second month of the ecclesiastical year, 
 the fourteenth day of the month Jiar (which answers 
 to April and May.) We see an example of this 
 postponed passover under Hezekiah, 2 Chi'on.-xxx. 
 2, &c. 
 
 We may add, that the oriental Christians, and es- 
 pecially the Syrians, insist that on the year that Christ 
 died, the feast was celebrated on the thirteenth of 
 Adar, being Saturday, that it began at the conclusion 
 of the Friday before, and that our Saviour anticipated 
 it by a day, celebrating it on the Friday, (beginning 
 from the evening of the Thursday before,; because 
 he was to suffer on the Friday. 
 
 The ceremonies with which the modern Jews cel- 
 ebrate their passover are described by Leo of Modena. 
 (Part iii. cap. 3.) The feast continues a week, but the 
 Jews out of Palestine extend it to eight days, accord- 
 ing to an ancient custom, by which the Sanhedrim 
 sent two men to observe the first appearance of the 
 new moon, who immediately gave notice of it to the 
 chief of the council. For fear of error, they kept two 
 days of the festival. One was called dies latentis lu- 
 ncB ; the other, dies apparentis luncE. So that the first 
 two days of the passover, and the last two also, are 
 sacred, both from labor and business. But it is al- 
 lowed to prepare victuals, and to remove from place to 
 place whatever they have occasion for. For the four 
 intervening days it is only forbidden to work ; and they 
 are distinguished from working-days only by some 
 particulars. Will not these two days reconcile the 
 day on which our Saviour kept the passover, ^ynh 
 that of other Jews? — It cannot be thought that the 
 priests at the temple would loll the lamb for any body 
 before the proper time. 
 
 During the eight days of the feast, the Jews eat 
 only unleavened bread, and it is not allowed them to 
 have m their custody any leaven, or bread leavened. 
 They examine all the house with a very scrupulous 
 care, to reject whatever may have any ferment in it. 
 See Leavex. 
 
 AVhile the temple Avas in being, the Jews sacrificed 
 a lamb in the tem])le, between the two evenmgs ; (that 
 is, after the noon of the .30th of Nisan, from about two 
 o'clock to six in the evening;) private persons brought 
 them to the temple, and there slew them ; they then 
 oflered the blood to the priests, who poured it out at 
 the foot of the altar. The person himself, or a Levite, 
 on this occasion, might cut the throat of a victun, but 
 the effusion of the blood at the foot of the altar was 
 appropriate to the priest.
 
 PASSOVER 
 
 [726] 
 
 PAT 
 
 As to the Christian passover, the Lord's supper, it 
 was instituted by Christ, wlien, at the last passover 
 supper he ate with his apostles, he gave them a sign 
 of his body to eat, and a sign of his blood to drink, 
 under the species of bread and wine ; prefiguring 
 that he should give up his body to the Jews and to 
 death. The paschal lamb which the Jews killed, 
 tore to pieces, and ate, and whose blood preserved 
 them from the destroying angel, was a type and figure 
 of our Saviour's death and passion, and of his blood 
 shed for the salvation of the world. Thert; has been 
 a cUversity of sentiment, and of practice, about the 
 celebration of the Christian passover. From the time 
 of Polycarp the churches of Asia kept Easter-day on 
 the fourteenth day of the moon of March, whatever 
 day that might happen upon, in imitation of the 
 Jews ; whereas the Latin church kept it on the Sun- 
 day following the fourteenth day of the moon of 
 March. Polycarp came to Rome and confen-ed with 
 Anicetus on this subject; but neither of them being 
 able to convince the other, they thought they ought 
 not to flisturb the peace of the church about a matter 
 of mere custom. The dispute, however, gi-ew warm 
 under the pontificate of Victor, about A. D. 188, and 
 the Asiatics continuing their practice, and Polycrates, 
 bishop of Ephesus, w-ith the other bishops of Asia, 
 having written to the pope a long letter in support of 
 their opinion, Victor sent letters through all the 
 churches, by which he declared them excommuni- 
 cated ! The other chiu-ches did not approve of this 
 rigor, and notwithstanding his sentence, they contin- 
 ued in communion with those who still kept Easter 
 on the fourteenth day of the moon of March. At the 
 council of Nice, A. D. 325, the greater part of the 
 churches of Asia were found to have insensibly fallen 
 into the practice of the Romans. The council, there- 
 fore, ordained, that all the churches shoidd celebrate 
 Easter-day on the Sunday following the fourteenth 
 day of the moon of March ; and the emperor Con- 
 stanline caused this decree to be published through 
 the Roman empire. Those who continued the old 
 practice were treated as schismatics, and had the name 
 of (^uarto-decimans, or partisans of the 14th day, 
 given tlicm. 
 
 It lias been thought a famous question, whether 
 oiu- Saviour kept the legal and Jewish passover the 
 last year of his life. Some have thought that the 
 supper he ate with his disciples on the evening when 
 he instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, 
 was an ordinary meal, without a paschal lamb. 
 Others, that he anticipated the passover, keeping it 
 on the Thursday evening, while the other Jews kept 
 it on the Friday. Others have advanced that the 
 Galileans kept "the passover on Thursday, as Christ 
 did ; but that the other Jews kept it on Friday. It 
 is, however, the most general opinion of the Clu'is- 
 tian churcii, as well Greek as Latin, that our Saviour 
 kept the legal passover on the Thursday evening, as 
 well as the rest of the Jews. The principal diffi- 
 culty in tlie way of this opinion is found in the Gos- 
 pel of John, who says that Jesus being at the table 
 with his disciples, "before the feast of the passover, 
 when Jesus knew that his hour was come," &c. 
 John xiii. 1, &c. And afterwards, when the Jews 
 had led Jesus to Pilate, he observes, that " they 
 themselves went not into the jndgment-hall, lest they 
 should be defiled, but that tliey might eat the pass- 
 over," John xviii. 28. And again, that Friday was 
 "the preparation of the passover," and that the Sat- 
 lu-day following was the great day of the feast, " the 
 eabbath day; for that sabbath day was a Iiigh day," 
 
 John xix. 14,^. — Why so, if not because it was the 
 passover ? Hence Calmet, in a very elaborate disser- 
 tation on our Saviour's last passover, has endeav- 
 ored to show, that our Saviour did not celebrate 
 the passover the last year of his life ; or, at least, 
 that the Jews celebrated it on Friday, the day of 
 Christ's dead], and that he died on Calvary at the 
 same hour that the Jews offered the paschal sacri- 
 fice in the temple ; so that the substance and the 
 shadow coincided. In this opinion he is supported 
 by several of the ancients. 
 
 The word pascha, or passover, is taken, (1.) For 
 the passing over of the destroying angel. (2.) For 
 the paschal lamb. (3.) For the meal at which it was 
 eaten. (4.) For the festival instituted in memory of 
 the coming out of Egypt, and the passage of the de- 
 stroying angel. (5.) For all the victims offered 
 during the paschal solemnity. (6.) For the unleav- 
 ened bread eaten during the eight days of the pass- 
 over. (7.) For all the ceremonies of this solemnity. 
 PASTOR, a shepherd who watches, defends, feeds, 
 heals, &c. a flock, whether his own property, or 
 committed to his charge. The office of shepherd is 
 applied figuratively to God and to Christ, Gen. xlix. 
 21 ; Ps. xxiii. 1; Ixxx. 1 ; Isa. xl. 11 ; Zech. xiii. 7; 
 John X. 14. Christ is the shepherd, inspector, or 
 overseer and guardian of souls, 1 Pet. ii. 25. Min- 
 isters of God's word are shepherds, Jer. xxiii. 4 ; 
 Eph. iv. 11 ; 1 Pet. v. 1 — 4 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 1, &c. 
 Kings are in Homer called " shepherds of men," &c. 
 and governors are alluded to under this character, 
 Jer. X. 21 ; xii. 10. See an instance, 2 Sam. vii. 8 ; 
 " I took thee (David) from following sheep, to be 
 ruler — royal shepherd — over my people Israel," &c. 
 PATARA, a maritime city of Lycia, where Paul, 
 going from Philippi to Jerusalem, found a ship 
 bomid for Phoenicia, in which he sailed, Acts xxi. 1, 
 A. D. 58. 
 
 PATH, the general course of any moving body. 
 So we say, the path of the sun in the heavens ; and 
 to this the wise man compares the path of the just, 
 which is, he says, like day -break ; it increases in light 
 and splendor till perfect day. It may be obscure, 
 feeble, dim, at first, but afterwards it shines in 
 full brilliancy, Prov. iv. 18. The course of a man's 
 conduct and general behavior is called the path in 
 which he walks, by a very easy metaphor : and as 
 when a m^i walks from place to place in the dark, 
 he may be glad of a light to assist in directing his 
 steps, so the word of God is a light to guide those in 
 their course of piety and duty, who otherwise might 
 wander, or be at a loss for direction. Wicked men 
 and wicked women are said to have paths full of 
 snares. The dispensations of God are his paths, 
 Ps. XXV. 10. Tlie jn-ecepts of God are paths, P.s. 
 xvii. 5; Ixv. 4. The phenomena of nature arc patlis 
 of God ; (Ps. Ixxvii. 19 ; Isa. xliii. IG.) and to those 
 depths which are beyond human inspection, the 
 course of God in his providence is likened. If his 
 paths are obscure in natm-e, so they may be in provi 
 deuce, and in grace too. May he show us, with increas- 
 ing clearness, " the path of life !" See Causeway. 
 
 PATHROS, (Jer. xliv. 1, 15 ; Ezek. xxix. 14; xxx, 
 14.) one of the tliree ancient divisions of Egypt, viz 
 Upper Egypt, which Ezckiel speaks of as distinct 
 from Egypt and die original abode of the Egyptians ; 
 as indeed Ethiopia and Upper Egypt really were 
 Ezckiel threatens the Pathrusim with entire ruin. 
 The Jews retired thither, notwithstanding the re- 
 monstrances of Jeremiah ; and tlie Lord says, by 
 Isaiah, that he will bring them back fro)n thence.
 
 PAU 
 
 [ nr ] 
 
 PAUL 
 
 PATIENCE, endurance, calmness of mind, under 
 lisappointment or suffering. The patriarch Job is 
 commended, because, amid the misfortunes which 
 l.lod i)ermitted to afflict him, he did not behave im- 
 patiently, James v. 11. The patience of God, (1 Pet, 
 iii. 20.) which invites our conversion, and delays to 
 punish us, is the effect of his mercy, and of his infi- 
 nite power. The patience of the poor, whicii sliail 
 not be lost (Ps. ix. 18.) — also, thou art my patience 
 and my God (Ps. Ixxi. 5.) — is another thing ; for 
 patience in this place rather signifies hope and ex- 
 pecliilion. The hope which the poor has placed in 
 God, sliall not be in vain. Matt, xviii. 26 ; Luke xviii. 
 7. They bring forth fruit with patience ; (Luke viii. 
 15.) i. e. amid sufferings, whicli exercise their pa- 
 tience, and perfect it; with perseverance. Not 
 unlike this is the expression, "In your patience pos- 
 sess ye your souls," — keep your minds quiet ; and 
 your self-possession shall enable you to save your 
 lives out of pressing dangers. 
 
 PAT3I0S, an island of the yEgean sea, to which 
 tlie apostle and evangelist John was banished, A. D. 
 94, Rev. i. 9. In this island he is said to have had 
 his revelation, recorded in the Apocalypse. (But see 
 under Apocalypse.) The island is between the 
 island of Icaria, and the promontory of Miletus, or 
 between Samos and Naxos, and is now called Pati- 
 nio, or Patmosa. Its circuit may be five and twenty 
 or thirty miles. It has a city called Patmos, with a 
 harbor, and some monasteries of Greek monks, who 
 show a cave, now a chapel, where they pretend that 
 John wrote his Revelations. 
 
 PAVEiMENT, see Gabbatha. 
 
 PAUL, originally named Saul, was of the tribe of 
 Benjamin, a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, and a Phari- 
 see by sect. He was first a persecutor of the church, 
 but afterwards a disciple of Christ, and the apostle 
 of the Gentiles. He was a Roman citizen, (Acts 
 xxii. 27, 28.) because x\ugustus had given the free- 
 dom of Rome to the freemen of Tarsus, in consider- 
 ation of their firm adherence to his interests. His 
 parents sent him to Jerusalem, where he studied the 
 law at the feet of Gamaliel, a famous doctor. Acts 
 xxii. 3. He made very great progress in his studies, 
 and his life was blameless before men ; being very 
 zealous for the full observation of the Mosaic law. 
 His zeal persecuted Jesus Christ in his members, (1 
 Tim. i. 13.) and when the proto-martyr Stephen was 
 stoned, Saul was not only consenting to his death, 
 but he even stood by, and took care of the clothes of 
 those who stoned him. Acts vii. 58,59. This hap- 
 pened A. D. .33, some time after our Saviour's death. 
 At the time of the persecution against the cluu'ch, 
 after the death of Stephen, Saul was one who show- 
 ed the most violence in distressing believers. Gal. i. 
 13; Acts xxvi. 11. He entered their houses, and 
 forcibly seized men and women, and sent them to 
 prison. Acts viii. 3 ; xxii. 4. In the synagogues he 
 caused those to be beaten who believed in Jesus 
 Christ, compelling them to blaspheme the name of 
 the Lord. Having received credentials from the 
 high-priest Caiaphas, and the elders of the Jews, to 
 the chief Jews of Damascus, with power to bring 
 with him to Jerusalem all the Christians he should 
 find there, he departed, ftdl of threats, and breathing 
 out slaughter. But on the road, near Damascus, and 
 about noon, himself and his company were encom- 
 l)assed by a great light from heaven, the splendor of 
 which struck them to the gi-ound, and Saul heard a 
 voice saying to him, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou 
 me ?" Saul answered, " Who art thou. Lord ?" The 
 
 Lord replied, " I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou 
 persecutest ; it is hard for thee to kick against 
 the pricks." Saul, in consternation, asked, " Lord, 
 what is it that thou wouldest have me to do .^" Jesus 
 bade him go to Damascus, where he should learn 
 his will. 
 
 Saul now, though his eye-lids were open, yet had 
 no sight ; his companions, therefore, led him by the 
 hand to Damascus, where he continued three days, 
 unable to see, or to take nourishment. On the third 
 day, the Lord commanded Ananias, a disciple, to 
 find him out, to lay his hands on him, and to cure his 
 blindness. This was done, and Saul was baptized, 
 and filled with the Holy Ghost; after which he con- 
 tinued some time with the disciples at Damascus, 
 preaching in the synagogues, and proving that Jesus 
 was the Messiah. 
 
 Saul subsequently went into Arabia, (Gal. r. 17.) 
 probably in the neighborhood of Damascus, then 
 under the government of Aretas, king of Arabia. 
 After a while, he returned to Damascus, and preach- 
 ed the gospel ; but the Jews, unable to bear its 
 growing progress, resolved to put Saul to death. 
 The apostle, however, escaped, by being let down 
 along the wall in a basket, (Acts ix. 24. A. D. 37.) 
 the third year after his arrival at Damascus. Vis- 
 iting Jerusalem to see Peter, the disciples were fear- 
 ful of intercourse with Saul, not believing him to be 
 a real convert. Gal. i. 18. But Barnabas having in- 
 troduced him to the ajwstles, Saul related to them 
 the manner of his conversion, &c. From Jerusalem 
 he went to Cfesarea of Palestine, and thence to his 
 own country. Tarsus. 
 
 Here he continued for five or six years, from A. D. 
 37 to 43 ; when Barnabas being sent to Antioch by 
 the apostles, and finding many Christians there, he 
 went to Tarsus to seek Saul, and brought him to An- 
 tioch, where they continued a year. Acts xi. 20, 25, 26. 
 Diu'ing this time there happened a great famine in 
 Judea, and the Christians of Antioch having made 
 collections to assist their brethren at Jerusalem, they 
 deputed Paul and Barnabas to carry their offering 
 thither, A. D. 44. Having returned to Antioch, it 
 was intimated to them by the prophets in this church, 
 that God had appointed them to carry his word into 
 other places. The church, therefore, after fasting 
 and pra)^er, with the prophets Simeon, Lucius and 
 Manaen, laid their hands on them, and sent them to 
 preach whither tlie Holy Ghost- should conduct 
 them. It is thought to have been about this time, 
 (A. D. 44,) that Paul, being enraptured into the third 
 heaven, saw ineffai)le things, 2 Cor. xii. 2 — 4. 
 
 Paul and Barnabas went first to Cyprus, preaching 
 in the synagogues of the Jews. At Paphos (A. D. 
 45.) they found a Jewish magician called Bar-jesus, 
 who did all he could to prejudice the proconsul, 
 Sergius Paulus, against the Christian faith. As a 
 punishment, Paul deprived him of sight for a time, 
 and the proconsul, who had witnessed the miracle, 
 became a convert. From Cyprus Paul and his com- 
 pany went to Perga in Pamphylia, where John Mark, 
 Barnabas's cousin, left them to return to Jerusalem. 
 Making no stay at Perga, they came to Antioch in 
 Pisidia, where, being desired to speak in the syna- 
 gogue, Paul, in a long discoiu'se, showed that Jesus 
 was tlie Messiah foretold by the prophets ; and that 
 he rose again the third day. He was desired to 
 speak upon the same subject the next sabbath day, 
 when .almost all the city came together to hear. The 
 Jews, seeing this concourse, and being moved with 
 envy, opposed what Paul said, upon which the apos-
 
 PAUL 
 
 [ 728 ] 
 
 PAUL 
 
 ties turned from them to go to the Gentiles. From 
 Antioch they went to Iconium, preached in the syn- 
 agogue, and converted a number both of Jews and 
 Gentiles, God confirming their mission by many 
 miracles. In the mean time the Jews having in- 
 censed the Gentiles against them, and threatening to 
 stone them, they retired to Lystra and Derbe, cities 
 of Lycaonia. At Lystra they restored a cripple 
 called jfEneas, in consequence of which the people 
 declared, that " the gods had descended in human 
 shape ;" and were with much difficulty restrained 
 fi'om offering sacrifice to them. 
 
 Shortly after, however, some Jews of Antioch in 
 Pisidia and of Iconium, coming to Lystra, animated 
 the people against the apostles, and the rabble stoned 
 Paul, and drew him out of the city, thinking him to 
 be dead. But the disciples gathering about him, he 
 rose up, and the next day went for Derbe. Having 
 here also preached the gospel, they returned to Lys- 
 tra, to Iconium, and to Antioch of Pisidia; to Pam- 
 phylia, and Perga, thence they went down to Attalia, 
 and sailed for Antioch in Syria, whence they had 
 departed a year before. Upon their arrival, they re- 
 lated to the church the great things God had done 
 by their means. 
 
 Luke omits the actions of Paul, from A. D. 45 to 
 the time of the council at Jerusalem, A. D. 50. 
 There is great probability that, during this interval, 
 the apostle preached from Jerusalem to Illyricum, as 
 he asserts, (Rom. xv. 19, 20.) without making any 
 stay in places where others had preached before him. 
 He says, in general, that he had endured more la- 
 bors than any other apostle, and had suflTered in more 
 prisons ; was often very near to death, sometimes 
 on the water, sometimes among thieves ; sometimes 
 from the Jews, and sometimes from false brethren 
 and perverse Christians. He was exposed to great 
 hazards, as well in cities as in deserts. He suffered 
 hunger, thirst, nakedness, cold, fastings, watchings, 
 and the fatigues inseparable from long journeys, un- 
 dertaken without any prospect of lumian succor ; 
 in this very difl^erent from the good fortune of some 
 who lived by the gospel, and who received subsist- 
 ence from those to Avliom they preached it. He 
 made it a point of honor to preach gratis, working 
 with his hands, that he might not be chargeable to 
 any ; he having learned a trade, (as was usual among 
 the Jews,) which was, to make tents for soldiers. 
 During this course of preaching, he five times re- 
 ceived from the Jews thirty-nine stripes ; was twice 
 beaten with rods by the Romans ; thrice he suffered 
 shipwreck, and had passed a night and a day in the 
 deep. This is differently interpreted. Some think 
 he was actually a night and a day at the bottom of 
 the sea, God having there miraculously preserved 
 him, as heretofore Jonah. Others that he was hid- 
 den for a night and a day at the bottom of a well, 
 after his danger at Lystra, where he had been stoned. 
 Others, that at Cyzicus he was put into a prison 
 called liythos, or the deep — for this is the term used 
 by Paul, without adding sea to it, as in the Vulgate. 
 But the greater part of the fathers, and several mod- 
 erns, suppose that after a shipwreck the apostle was 
 a day and a night in the sea, struggling against the 
 waves; which seems to be the most reasonable 
 opinion. Paul had suffered all this before A. D. .58, 
 wlien he wrote his Second Epistle to the Corinthi- 
 ans, 2 Cor. xi. 25. 
 
 Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch, when some 
 persons, coming from Judca, presumed to teach, that 
 it was essential to salvation to use circumcision, and 
 
 other legal ceremonies. Paul and Barnabas with- 
 stood these new doctors, and it was agreed to send a 
 deputation to Jerusalem, about this question. Paul 
 and Barnabas were deputed, and at Jerusalem they 
 reported to the apostles the subject of their mission^ 
 who decreed, that the Gentiles should only avoid 
 idolatry, fornication, the eating of things strangled, 
 and blood. Being returned to Antioch, the deputies 
 assembled the disciples, and read the decree, A. D. 
 51. Some time afterwards, Peter, also coming to 
 Antioch, lived with the converted Gentiles, witliout 
 scruple ; but certain brethi-en coming from Jerusa- 
 lem, he separated himself from the Gentiles, for 
 which Paul publicly censured him. Gal. ii. 11 — 16. 
 
 On this journey to Jerusalem, Paul declared the 
 doctrine he preached among the Gentiles, in the 
 presence of Barnabas and Titus, with Peter, James 
 and John ; who could find nothing exceptionable in 
 it. They saw with joy the grace that God had given 
 to him, and recognized his appointment as apostle of 
 the Gentiles. After he and Barnabas had continued 
 some time at Antioch, Paul proposed to his com- 
 panion to visit the cities where they had planted the 
 gospel. Barnabas consented ; but wished to take 
 John Mark with them. This was opposed by Paul, 
 and caused a separation between them. Barnabas 
 and John Mai-k went together to Cyprus ; and Paul, 
 taking Silas, crossed Syria and Cilicia, and came to 
 Derbe, and afterwards to Lystra. Here they found 
 a disciple called Timothy, son of a Jewish mother, 
 but of a Gentile father, whom Paul circumcised, that 
 he might not offend the Jews, and took him with 
 him. They went over the provinces of Lycaonia, 
 Phrygia, and Galatia, to Mysia ; and coming to Troas, 
 the apostle had here a vision of a nian habited like 
 a Macedonian, who entreated him to pass over into 
 that province. Embarking, therefore, at Troas, they 
 sailed to Neapolis, a city of Macedonia, near the 
 frontiers of Thrace, and came to Philippi, where they 
 found some religious women, among v,fhom was 
 Lydia. On another day, meeting with a maid-ser- 
 vant, who was possessed with a spirit of Python, 
 Paul commanded this spirit, in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, to come out of her. The spirit obeyed ; 
 but her masters, who made a great profit by her 
 enthusiastic powers, accused Paul and Silas before 
 tbe magistrates, who ordered them to be whi})ped 
 with rods, and sent to prison. Towards midnight, 
 as they were singing hymns to God, there was a 
 great earthquake, the fovmdations of the prison were 
 shaken, all the doors flew open, and the fetters of the 
 prisoners were burst asunder. The jailer awoke, 
 and seeing all this, drew his sword with intention to 
 kill himself, but was prevented by Paul ; and upon 
 a profession of his faith in Christ, was baptized, with 
 his family. In the morning the magistrates sent 
 orders to release his prisoners : but Paul refused to 
 depart, unless the magistrates, who had i)ublicly 
 whipped them, being Roman citizens, came them- 
 selves and fetched them out. This having been 
 done, Paul and Silas went first to Lydia, and com- 
 forted the brethren at her house ; and then departed 
 from Philippi. 
 
 Passing through Amphipolis and Apollouia, they 
 came to Thessalonica ; where Paul, according to his 
 custom, preached in the synagogue on three sabbath 
 days. The Jews .having raised a tunudt in the city, 
 the brethren conducted Paul and Silas towards Be- 
 rea, where a great number were converted. The 
 Jews from Thessalonica, however, having followed 
 them tliither, and anuiiated the mob against then%
 
 PAUL 
 
 [729] 
 
 PAUL 
 
 they were forced to withdraw ; and went on to 
 Athens. 
 
 Disputing with the Athenian philosophers, they 
 hroiiglit Paul before the Areopagus, (see Areopagus, 
 and Altar,) where he made liis defence ; meaning 
 to instruct tliein respecting the "Unknown God." 
 While here, Timothy came fi-om Berea to Athens, 
 according to tlie request of Paul, and informed him 
 of tlie persecution whicli afflicted the Cluistians of 
 Tliossalonica, wliich obliged the apostle to return 
 liim to Macedonia, that he miglit comfort tliem. 
 After tills, he went to Corinth, where he lodged with 
 Aquila, a tent-maker ; and l)eing of the san)e trade, 
 the apostle worked with him. Here ho made sev- 
 eral converts, and baptized Stephanus and his familj', 
 with Cris]>us and Gains, 1 Cor. i. 14, 1(>, 17 ; xvi. 15. 
 Silas and Timothy came to Corinth, (Acts xviii. 5 ; 
 1 Thess. iii. 6, 9, A. D. 52.) and brought him great 
 comfort, by acquainting him with the prosperous 
 state of the disciples of Thessalonica. Shortly after 
 this, he wrote his First Epistle to the Thcssalonians, 
 A. D. 52. 
 
 The Second Episde to the Thcssalonians was 
 wi-itten not long after the first, and Paul, encouraged 
 by the presence of Silas and Timothy, pi-osecnted 
 tlie work of his ministry with new ardor. The Jews, 
 however, opposing him with blasphemous and op- 
 jirobrious words, he shook his clothes at them, and 
 said, "Your blood be upon jour own head. From 
 henceforth I go to the Gentiles." He then quitted 
 the house of Aquila, and went to lodge with one 
 Titus Justus, originally a Gentile, but one that feared 
 God. In the mean time, the Lord encouraged him 
 by a vision, and told him, that he had much people 
 in Corinth. 
 
 Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, being at Corinth, the 
 Jews brought Paul to his tribunal ; but Gallio would 
 not meddle widi disputes foreign from his office. 
 After having been at Corinth eight months, Paul sailed 
 for Jerusalem, to be present at the Feast of Pentecost. 
 Before he went on board the vessel, he cut off his 
 hair at Cenchrea, a port of Corinth ; because he had 
 completed a vow of Nazariteship. He arrived at 
 Ephesus with Aquila and Priscilla, whence he went 
 to Csesarea of Palestine, and thence to Jerusalem. 
 Having performed his devotions, he came to Antioch, 
 and made a progress through the churches of Galatia 
 and Phrygia, retm-ning to Ephesus, where he abode 
 three years ; from A. D. 54 to 57, Acts xix. At 
 Ephesus he found some disciples who had been ini- 
 tiated into the baptism of John the Baptist. Paul 
 instructed then), baptized them with the l)a|)tism of 
 Jesus Christ, and laying his hands on them, they 
 received the Holy Ghost. He taught daily in the 
 school of one Tyrannus, and omitted no opjjortunity, 
 either by night or by day, to visit private houses, to 
 confirm believers, and convince unbelievers ; work- 
 ing with his hands, that he might not be burthensome 
 to any. During liis abode here, he suffered much, so 
 that, as he informs us, he, after the manner of men, 
 " fought with beasts." Here he wrote his Epistle to 
 the Galatians, and also his First Epistle to the Co- 
 rinthians. 
 
 Before he left Ephesus, the Christians were disturb- 
 ed by a sedition raised by Demetrius, a silversmith, 
 whose chief trade consisted in making little models 
 of the temple of Diana. This man, fearing that the 
 labors of the apostle would destroy his craft, tampered 
 with the other workmen and silversmiths ; the spirit 
 of mutiny spread among the people, and presently 
 the whole city was in an uproar. The town-clerk by 
 92 
 
 his happy address appeased the tumult, and Paul, 
 taking leave of the disciples, departed with Timothy 
 into Macedonia. Here Titus visaed him, and inform- 
 ed him of the good effects of his letter among the 
 Corinthians ; which induced him to write a second 
 letter to that church. 
 
 Having jiassed through Macedonia, Paul came into 
 Achaia, visited the church at Corinth, and having 
 received their alms, as he was on the point of retmii- 
 ing into Macedonia, he wrote his Epistle to the Ro- 
 mans. At last he came into Macedonia, intending to 
 be at Jerusalem at the Pentecost. He staid some 
 time at Philippi, where he celebrated the passover; 
 from hence he embarked, and came to Troas, where 
 he continued a week, edifying the disciples. At Mi- 
 letus, the elders of the church of Ejjhesus came to 
 see him, to whom he delivered an admirable charge, 
 and then embarked for Tyre, whence he proceeded 
 to Cajsarea. While here, the prophet Agabus arrived 
 from Judea ; and having taken the apostle's girdle, he 
 bound his own hands and feet with it, saying, "Thus 
 shall the Jews of Jerusalem bind the man who owns 
 this girdle, and shall deliver him up to the Gentiles." 
 The brethren upon hearing this would have dissuaded 
 the apostle from going iqi to Jerusalem, but he 
 resisted their entreaties, and declared his readiness to 
 die in the service of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 At Jerusalem the brethren received him with joy ; 
 and the day following he went to see James, at whose 
 house he gave an account of what God had done 
 among the Gentiles by his ministry. James informed 
 him, that the converted Jews were strongly prejudiced 
 against him, and advised that he should join himself 
 to four men in Jerusalem, who had a vow of Naza- 
 riteship, contribute to the charges of their purifica- 
 tion, and offer with them the offerings and sacrifices 
 ordained in such cases. See Nazarite. 
 
 Paul, following this advice, went the next day into 
 the temple, and made known to the priests his inten- 
 tion. The Jews of Asia, however, observing hhn in 
 the temple, inflamed the people against him, and 
 would have killed him, had not Lysias, the tribune of 
 the Roman garrison, rescued him. Paul desired per- 
 mission to speak to the people. Having obtained 
 this, the apostle related the manner of his conversion, 
 and his mission from God to preach to the Gentiles. 
 At his mentioning the Gentiles, the Jews cried out, 
 "Away with this wicked fellow out of the world, for 
 he is n'ot worthy to live ! " Perceivmg the people to 
 be further exasperated by the apostle's address, the 
 tribune brought him into the castle, and ordered that 
 he should be put to the question by scourging; 
 but being bound, Paul asked the trdwne whether it 
 were lawful to scourge a Roman citizen before he 
 had been heard. This aj)peal produced its desired 
 effect • the apc-'tle was unboimd, and the tribune, 
 assembling t^-c priests and chiefs of the Jews, brought 
 Paul l)efo><-' them, that he might know the occasion 
 of this tcunult. After having surveyed the assembly, 
 the ."jpostle said, " Brethren, I have lived iji all good 
 cfHiscience before God until this day." At which 
 words, Ananias, son of Neijedeus, the chief-priest, 
 ordered him to be smitten on the face. Indignant at 
 this unlawful proceeding, Paul exclaimed, "God shall 
 smite thee, thou whited wall ; for sittest thou to judge 
 me after the law, and forgetting the duty of a judge, 
 commandest me to be smitten contrai7 to the law ?" 
 Those present rebuked him for reviling God's high- 
 priest, but die apostle excused himself by saying, that 
 he did not know he was the high-priest. Perceiving 
 that he had no hooe of obtaining an impartial judg-
 
 PAUL 
 
 [ 730 ] 
 
 PAUL 
 
 ment, the apostle availed himself of a circumstance 
 to break up the sitting. Knowing that part of the 
 assembly were Sadducees, and part Pharisees, he 
 cried out, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a 
 Pharisee ; for the hope and resurrection of the dead 
 I am now called in question." This increased the 
 clamor to such a degree that the tribune interfered, 
 and with his soldiers brought Paul out of the assem- 
 bly into the castle ; and the following night the Lord 
 appeared to the apostle to encourage him. Having 
 learnt that more than forty Jews had engaged them- 
 selves by oath not to eat or drink till they had killed 
 him, the apostle acquainted the tribune with it, 
 who gave orders that the night following he should 
 be sent to Csesarea, to Felix the governor. Five days 
 after his arrival, Ananias the high-priest, with a dep- 
 utation of the council, came to Caesarea, bringing with 
 them Tertullus, an advocate, to plead against Paul, 
 who easily refuted all their calumnies ; and Felix put 
 off the cause. Some days afterwards the governor 
 and his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, desired to 
 hear Paul. The apostle was brought before them, 
 and spoke of justice, charity, and of the last judg- 
 ment, so earnestly, that Felix vvas terrified, cut short 
 his discourse, and referred him to a leisure time. In 
 hopes that Paul would purchase his liberty, he 
 used him well ; and had frequent conversations 
 with him. 
 
 Two years thus passing away, Felix transferred the 
 government to Portius Festus ; and being willing to 
 oblige the Jews, he left Paul in prison. Festus, being 
 come into his province, after three days went up to 
 Jerusalem, whither the chief priests desired him to 
 Bend for Paul, they having plotted to destroy him by 
 the way ; but Festus told them they might come to 
 him at Caesarea. Here the Jews accused the apostle 
 of several crimes ; but he so well defended himself, 
 that Festus could find nothing that deserved punish- 
 ment. He proposed to him to go to Jerusalem, and 
 be tried there ; but Paul answered, that he was now 
 at the emperor's tribunal, where he ought to be tried ; 
 and he appealed to Csesar. 
 
 King Agrippa, with his queen Berenice, having 
 come to Caesarea to salute Festus the governor, men- 
 tioned Paul's case, observing that he did not know in 
 what his guilt consisted, nor how he should represent 
 his affair to the emperor. Agrippa desiring to hear 
 him, Festus sent for him publicly, on the morrow, 
 and Paul related to Agrippa the manner of his con- 
 version ; spoke to him of Jesus Christ, of his charac- 
 ter, and his resurrection. While he was enlarging 
 on these things, Festus exckimed, "Paul, you are be- 
 side yourself; overmuch learning distracts you !" " I 
 am not distracted, most noble Festus," replied the 
 apostle, " but speak the words of cober truth." Paul 
 continued his discourse, and such was the i)ower 
 with wiiich he appealed to the constjence of the 
 king, that he at length declared, "AlmotJt thou per- 
 suadest me to become a Christian ! " "I .-ould to 
 God," said Paul, "that you and all were, not only 
 almost, but altogether, such as I am, except tli^se 
 bonds," 
 
 As it was resolved to send Paul into Italy, he was 
 taken on board a ship of Adramyttium, for Myra in 
 Lycia, where iiaving found a ship bound for Italy, 
 they sailed. But the season being far advanced, (it 
 was at least the latter end of September,) and tlic wind 
 proving contrary, they arrived with difficulty at the 
 Fair-havens, in Crete. Paul advised them to winter 
 here ; but the master resolved to steer for Phcnice 
 another harbor of the same island. As they proceeded, 
 
 the wind increased to a violent storm, and after four- 
 teen days, the vessel was wrecked on the island of 
 Malta, where the inhabitants received them with great 
 humanity. Acts xxviii. 
 
 Having i-emained on the island three months, dur- 
 ing which time the apostle wrought several miracles, 
 they again embarked, and arrived at PuteoH, where 
 Paul found some Christians, who detained him seven 
 days. The Roman Christians, having been informed 
 of Paul's approach to their city, came to meet him aa 
 far as Appii-Forum, and the Three-Taverns. At 
 Rome he was allowed to dwell where he pleased, 
 having a soldier to guard him, joined to him with a 
 chain. Soon after his arrival, Paul met the chief of 
 the Jews, to whom he explained the kingdom of God, 
 endeavoring to convince them, from Moses and the 
 prophets, that Jesus was the Messiah. 
 
 Paul dwelt two years at Rome, in a hired lodging, 
 where he received all who would visit him, preach- 
 ing the kingdom of God, and the religion of Christ, 
 without interruption. His captivity contributed to 
 the advancement of religion, and he converted several 
 persons even of the emperor's court, Phil. i. 12, 14, 
 18 ; iv. 22. It has been said, that he had a corre- 
 spondence by letter with Seneca, the philosopher ; but 
 the letters now extant are rejected by every body, as 
 utterly unworthy either of the writers. The Chris- 
 tians of Philippiin Macedonia, having sent Epaphro- 
 ditus, with money and other assistance, in their name, 
 (Phil. ii. 25 ; iv. IS.) the apostle returned by hiin a 
 letter to the Philippians, in which he thanks them for 
 their seasonable relief, &c. Onesimus, a slave of 
 Philemon, at Colosse, in Phrygia, having run away 
 from his master, came to Rome, found out Paul, and 
 was very serviceable to him. Being converted, the 
 apostle sent him back to his master with a letter, 
 (about A. D. 62.) and also a letter to the believers in 
 the city of Colosse. 
 
 It is not known by what means Paul was delivered 
 from prison, though there is great probability that the 
 Jews durst not prosecute him before the emperor. 
 It is certain, however, that he was set at liberty A. D. 
 63, when he went over Italy, and, according to some 
 of the Fathers, passed into Spain. He also went into 
 Judea ; to Ephesus, where he left Timothy ; to Crete, 
 where he preached, and fixed Titus. Probably, he 
 also visited the Philippians. according to his promise ; 
 (Phil. ii. 24 ; i. 25, 26.) and it is believed, that from 
 Macedonia he wrote his First Epistle to Timothy, 
 about A. D. 64. Some time afterwards, he wrote to 
 Titus, in Crete ; desiring him to come to him at 
 Nicopolis, A. D. 64. The year following he went into 
 Asia, and at Troas he left a cloak and some books, 
 with Carpus his host. Thence he visited Timothy, 
 at Ephesus; and at Miletum, he left Trophimus sick, 
 2 Tim. iv. 20. He again went to Rome, A. D. 65. 
 (See the additions below.) 
 
 Chrysostom says, it was reported that the aj)ostle, 
 going to see a cup-bearer and a concubine of Nero, 
 made a convert of the concubine, which so provoked 
 the emperor, that he put Paul in prison. At his first 
 appearance the apostle was forsaken by all, (2 Tim. 
 iv. 16.) but in his prison lie was greatly assisted by 
 Onesiphorus, who found him after much inquiry. In 
 this prison he wrote his Second Epistle to Timothy, 
 which Chrysostom regards as the apostle's last testa- 
 ment. It is, perhaps, the most sublime and most diffi- 
 cult of all his writings. 
 
 The great apostle at last consunmiated his martyr- 
 dom, about A. D. 66, being beheaded at a place called 
 th^ Salviau Waters. He was buried on the Ostian
 
 PAUL 
 
 [731] 
 
 PAUL 
 
 way, where a magnificent church was afterwards 
 built. 
 
 It is well known that commentators have diftered 
 on the reason of the change of name of the apostle 
 from Saul to Paid, Acts xiii. 9. Some have supposed 
 that lie adopted the name of his illustrious convert 
 Sergius Paulus : others, as Origen, that he was called 
 Saul among the Jews, but Paul, his Roman name, 
 among the Gentiles ; may it not, however, be an ad- 
 missiljle conjecture, that he cliose the name oi' Paul 
 by which to be ba})tized ; and thereby showed his 
 entire renunciation of his former Jewish notions, and 
 his renovation into Christian life under a new appel- 
 lation ? This new name, signifying "little," was 
 probably taken from the same motives as induced the 
 apostle afterwards to describe himself as " one born 
 out of due time ; the least among the apostles ; " and 
 " less than the least " of all saints. To this it may be 
 answered, that long after his baptism we find him still 
 called by the name of Saul, so that under this idea, 
 we must allow that he went by either name, indiffer- 
 ently ; or by botli names, for a time. Luke's words 
 seem best to agree with this, " Saul, who also is Paul ;" 
 the custom of having, and using, two names, was not 
 uncommon at the time ; so Luke was Lucius, John 
 was Mark, Simon was Peter, &c. But whether the 
 change of name at baptism be strictly applicable to 
 the instance of Paul or not, it should seem to be de- 
 rived from the earliest ages, and practised, as a demon- 
 strative proof of a desire to manifest that "old things 
 were passed away, and all things were become new." 
 The party who received new life, received also a new 
 name ; he contracted new relations, and esteemed 
 himself, in more than a metaphorical sense, " a new 
 man." This explains how easy it was for some to 
 err, by "saying that the resurrection was past al- 
 ready." 
 
 [The foregoing is all from Calmet, with the excep- 
 tion of the last paragraph, which is from his English 
 editor. It must, however, be remembered, that in 
 regard to the events of Paul's life after he had " dwelt 
 two whole years in his own hired house" at Rome, we 
 have no certain accounts ; and that the stories above 
 alluded to of his subsequent travels in Italy, Spain, 
 and even Britain, all rest on uncertain traditions. 
 Still, it was a veiy generally received opinion, in the 
 earlier centuries, that the apostle was acquitted and 
 discharged from his imprisonment at the end of two 
 yeai-s ; and that he afterwards returned to Rome, 
 where he was again imprisoned and put to death. 
 (Euseb. Hist. Ecc. ii. 22; Jerome de Script. Eccles. 
 cap. v.) This would seem, however, to be not so 
 much tradition, as an exegetical assumption in order 
 to explain certain passages in the Second Epistle to 
 Timothy ; e. g. 2 Tim. iv. 6, compared with Phil. ii. 
 24. In respect to what Paul undertook between his 
 first and supposed second imprisonment, there is no 
 certain tradition. That sooner or later he died as a 
 martyr under Nero's reign, seems to be generally ad- 
 mitted. (Euseb. Hist. Ecc. ii. 25 ; Clemens, Rom. Ep. 
 1 ad Corinth, c. v.) It is said above that Paul was 
 set at liberty A. D. 63, which would require the be- 
 ginning of his imprisonment to be placed in A. D. 01 ; 
 and Lardner adopts the same chronology. Other in- 
 terpreters, however, as Hug, De Wette, etc. fix the 
 commencement of his imprisonment at Rome in A. D. 
 63, and his acquittal in A. D. 65. 
 
 The following chronological table of the principal 
 events in Paul's life may be of use in directing and 
 assisting inquiries into this most interesting portion of 
 history. The different chronologies of Hug, De 
 
 Wette, Kuinoel and Lardner are here presented side 
 by side ; and thus the table, while it shows the general 
 agreement of chronologers, shows also that it is im- 
 possible to arrive at entire certainty in this respect ; 
 or, indeed, any nearer than to assign the principal 
 dates to an interval of two or three years, within which 
 the events may be regarded as having certainly taken 
 place. 
 
 Hug. De Wette. Kuinoel. Lardner 
 
 Paul's conversion, Acts ix. 
 (21st year of Tiberius, 
 Hug.) A. D. .36 38 40 36 
 
 He goes into Arabia, (see 
 Arabia, p. 88, col. 2.) 
 and returns to Damas- 
 cus ; (Gal. i. 17.) at the 
 end of three yeai-s in all, 
 he escapes from Damas- 
 cus and goes to Jerusa- 
 lem, Acts ix. 23, seq. 39 43 89 
 
 From Jerusalem Paul goes 
 to Cilicia and Syria, Acts 
 ix. 30;Gal. i.21. From 
 Antioch he is sent with 
 Barnabas to Jerusalem 
 to carry alms. Acts xi. 30. 45 44 44 
 
 The fii-st missionaiy jour- 
 ney of Paul and Barna- 
 bas from Antioch, con- 
 tinued about two years, 
 (Acts xiii. xiv.) com- 
 mencing 45 45 
 
 After spending several 
 years in Antioch, (Acts 
 xiv. 28.) Paul and Bar- 
 nabas aie sent a second 
 time to Jerusalem, to 
 consult the apostles re- 
 specting circumcision, 
 etc. Acts XV. 2. 53 52 52 50 
 
 The Jews expelled from 
 Rome A. D. 52—54; 
 Paul, on his second mis- 
 sionary journey, (Acts 
 XV. 40.) after passing 
 through Asia Minor to 
 Europe, finds Aquila and 
 Priscilla at Corinth, Acts 
 xviii. 2. 54 54 51 
 
 Paul remains eighteen 
 months in Corinth, Acts 
 xviii. 11. After being 
 brought before Galho, 
 he departs for Jerusalem 
 the fourth time, and then 
 goes to Antioch, Acts 
 xviii. 22. (Kuinoel sup- 
 poses him to be impris- 
 oned at Jerusalem.) 56 56 57 
 
 The apostle winters at 
 Nicopolis, (Tit. iii. 12, 
 Hug,) and then goes to 
 Ephesus, Acts xix. 2. 57 58 53 
 
 After a residence of two 
 years or more at Ephe- 
 sus, Paul departs for 
 Macedonia. 59 50 56 
 
 After wintering in Achaia, 
 Paul goes the fifth time 
 to Jerusalem, where bs
 
 PAUL 
 
 [ 732 ] 
 
 PAUL 
 
 Hug. De Wetle. Kninoel. Lanlncr. 
 
 is imprisoned, Acts xx. 
 xxi. CO 
 
 The apostle remains two 
 years in prison at Cesa- 
 rea, and is then sent to 
 Rome, where he arrives 
 in the spring, after win- 
 tering in Malta, Acts 
 xxiv, 27 ; xxv. — xxviii. 63 
 
 The history in Acts con- 
 cludes, and Paul is sup- 
 posed to have been set 
 at liberty. 65 
 
 Probable martyrdom of 
 Paul and Peter. 
 
 60 
 
 58 
 
 63 
 
 65 
 
 60 61 
 
 62 63 
 
 65 
 
 Epistles of Paul. — There are fourteen Epistles in 
 the New Testament usually ascribed to Paul, begin- 
 ning with that to the Romans and ending with that 
 to the Hebrews. Of these the first thirteen have 
 never been contested ; as to the latter, many good 
 men have doubted v/helher Paul was the aiUhor ; 
 although the current of criticism seems now to be 
 turning in favor of this opinion. (Compare Bibl. Repos. 
 vol. ii. p. 409.) These epistles are among the most 
 important of the primitive documents of the Christian 
 religion, even apart from their inspired character ; and 
 although they were all evidently written without great 
 premeditation, and have reference mostly to transient 
 circumstances and temporary relations ; yet they every 
 where bear the stamp of the great and orighial mind 
 of the apostle, as purified, elevated and sustained by 
 the influences of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The order in which these epistles stand in our Bi- 
 ble, seems to have arisen from a sort of assumed or 
 supposed rank among the various churches to which 
 they were addressed. 
 
 The following is Lardner's arrangement of the epis- 
 tles of Paul, with the places where they were written, 
 and the date: — 
 
 Epistles. Places, 
 
 J.D. 
 
 1 Thessalonians, 
 
 Corinth, 
 
 52 
 
 2 Thessalonians, 
 
 do. 
 
 52 
 
 C end of 52 
 
 Galatians, 
 
 Corinth orEphesus, ^ orbegin- 
 
 
 
 ( ning of 53 
 
 1 Corintliians, 
 
 Ephesus, 
 
 begmning of 56 
 
 1 Timothv, 
 
 Macedonia, 
 
 56 
 
 Titus, 
 
 do. or near it, 
 
 near end of 56 
 
 2 Corinthians, 
 
 do. 
 
 about Oct. 57 
 
 Romans, 
 
 Corinth, 
 
 " Feb. 58 
 
 Ephesians, 
 
 Rome, 
 
 " April, 61 
 
 2 Timothy, 
 
 do. 
 
 " May, 01 
 
 Philij)j)ians, 
 
 do. 
 
 before end of 62 
 
 Colossians, 
 
 do. 
 
 62 
 
 Philemon, 
 
 do. 
 
 " 62 
 
 Hebrews, 
 
 do. 
 
 spring, 63 
 
 Hug in his Introduction presents us with the foUon-- 
 ing arrangement : — 
 
 Epistles. 
 
 Places. 
 
 1 Thessalonians, 
 
 Corinth, 
 
 2 Thessalonians, 
 
 do. 
 
 Titus, 
 
 Ei)hesus, 
 
 Galatians, 
 
 do. 
 
 1 Corinthians, 
 
 do. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 54 
 55 
 50 
 57 
 59 
 
 2 Corinthians, 
 
 Macedonia, 
 
 
 59 
 
 1 Timothy, 
 
 do. 
 
 
 59 
 
 Romans, 
 
 Corinth, 
 
 
 60 
 
 Ephesians, 
 
 Rome, 
 
 
 61 
 
 2 Timothy, 
 
 do. 
 
 
 61 
 
 Colossians, 
 
 do. 
 
 
 61 
 
 Philemon, 
 
 do. 
 
 
 61 
 
 Philippians, 
 
 ^-- \ or 
 
 end of 61 
 beginning of 62 
 
 Hebrews, 
 
 do. 
 
 beginning of 62 
 
 Character of Paul. — The apostle was in all respects 
 an extraordinary man. Educated in the straitest sect 
 of the .Jewish religion, and trahied in all the dogmas 
 and severe discipline of the Pharisees, his ardent mind 
 could rest satisfied with no ordinary attainments; 
 he aspired to a high degree of learning and sanctity, 
 and was accordingly, as he informs us, (Phil. iii. 6.) 
 " touching the righteousness that is in the law, blame- 
 less." When, therefore, he was first brought in con- 
 tact with the teachersof Christianity, and found them 
 disregarding and op})osing that morality and those 
 dogmas which he had embraced and been taught to 
 venerate, he " verily thought in himself that he ought 
 to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus," 
 Acts xxvi. 9. Nor could he, now or afterwards, ever 
 rest satisfied with a mere speculative sense of duty ; 
 his burning zeal burst forth in en M-getic action ; and 
 it was in the midst of tlie " havoc " which he made of 
 the church, that the Lord .Tesus met him on the way 
 to Damascus, and at a stroke subdued his haughty 
 spirit. No change could be more sudden ; yet it was 
 total and permanent. The whole current of his ardent 
 and powerful feelings was arrested ; and henceforth 
 rolled onward with no less energy and power in the 
 op})osite direction. The persecutor was now ready 
 and willing to suffer persecution. In perils on the 
 land and on the sea, in daily exposure to death, his 
 bold, undauiUed, irrepressible arrlor knew neither 
 interru))tion nor decay. It bore him onward un- 
 wearied and undismayed ; while his only support 
 and hope was in that Lord whom once he persecuted ; 
 his only business, to spread v/ide abroad the knowl- 
 edge of that Saviour's love ; his only object, the sal- 
 vation of immortal souls ; and the only prize at 
 which he aitned, a crown of glory beyond the skies. 
 
 Paul appears to have surpassed most, or perhaps 
 all, of the other apostles, in his enlarged views of the 
 spiritual nature of the religion of Christ, and of its 
 pm-ifyingand ennobling influence upon the heart and 
 character of those who sincerely profess it. Most of 
 the other apostles and teachers aj)pear to have clung 
 to .Tudaism, to the rites and ceremonies and dogmas 
 of the religion in which they had been educated, and 
 to have regarded Christianity as intended to be en- 
 grafted upon the ancient stock, which was yet to re- 
 main as the trunk to su])port the new branches. Paul 
 secius to have I)een among the first to rise above this 
 narrow view, and to regart! Cl'.ristianity in its true 
 light, as a universal religion. While others were for 
 converting all those who embraced the new religion 
 into Jews, by imposing on them the yoke of all the 
 Jewish observances, it was Paul's endeavor to break 
 down tb(! middle wall of separation between Jcavs 
 and Gentilce, and sbo^ thorn that they were all "one 
 in Christ." To this end all his lal)ors tended ; and, 
 ardent in the pursuit of this great object, he did not 
 hesitate to censure the time-serving Peter, and to ex- 
 pose hisownlife to the prejudices of his countrymen. 
 Indeed, his five years' imprisonment at Jerusalem, 
 Cesarea and Rome arose chiefly from this cause. *R
 
 PEA 
 
 [ 733 ] 
 
 PEL 
 
 PAVILION is a word which usually gives the 
 idea of an edifice, small but handsome ; it is therefore 
 unhappily used in 1 Kings xx. 12, 16, "Benliadad 
 and others were drinking in pavilions" where the 
 Heb. is booths. The suttling booths of the army is 
 much more likely to be the proper descri|)tion of 
 those places of intemperance. This Benliadad must 
 have been a man of an unworthy spirit ; a braggado- 
 cio, as ajjpears by his inconsiderate orders ; a drunk- 
 ard, as appears from his history ; and a coward, as 
 appears from his hiding place. 
 
 PEACE is a word used in Scripture in different 
 senses. Generally, for quiet and tranquillity, public 
 or i)rivate ; but often for prosperity and happiness of 
 life ; as To " go in peace ; " To " die in peace ; " " God 
 give you peace;" "Peace be within this house;" 
 "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." Paul in the 
 titles of his Epistles genei'ally wishes grace and peace 
 to the faithful, to whom he writes. Our Saviour rec- 
 ommends to his disciples, to have peace with all men, 
 and with each other. God promises his pcojjle to 
 water them as with a river of peace, (Isa. Ixvi. 12.) 
 and to make with them a covenant of j)cace, Ezek. 
 xxxiv. 25. [The Hebrew word shalom, usual!}' trans- 
 \atedpcace, means, properly, health, prosperity, loelfare. 
 It id the same as the salam of the modern Arabs, 
 and is in like manner used in salutations. R. 
 
 PEACOCK. The fleet of Solomon that went to 
 Ophir brought a great number of peacocks, (1 Kings 
 X. 22.) but whetlier from Ophir itself, or from any 
 other place on their return, is uncertain. The pea- 
 cock is a tame and well-known bird, distinguished 
 by the beauty of its plumage. It has a very long tail, 
 divei-sified with seveial colors, and adorned with 
 marks at equal distances, in the form of eyes. It has 
 a little tuft or crown on its head ; and its wings are 
 mixed with azure and gold color. Its cry is so very 
 harsh and disagreeable, that it is said to have the 
 head of a serpent, the train of an angel, and the voice 
 of a devil. 
 
 PEARL. The Arabians, Persians and Turks, use 
 the word Merovarid to signify pearls, from which the 
 word Margarites, or Margarita, used by the Greeks 
 and Latins, seems to be derived. The finest pearls 
 are fished up in the Persian gulf, and on the coast of 
 Bahrein, so called from the city of that name, on the 
 borders of Arabia ; and, Idumsea and Palestine being 
 not far distant, it is not to be wondered at that pearls 
 were well known to Job, and the Hebrews. They 
 are also found in other places ; and many are now 
 brought from America. They are sometimes found 
 in common oysters. It is an ancient error, that |)earls 
 arc formed of the dew, and that they are soft in the sea. 
 
 Our Saviour forbids his apostles to cast their pearls 
 before swine, (Matt. vii. 6.) i. e. Expose not the sa- 
 cred truths and mysteries of religion to the raillery 
 of profane libertines and hardened atheists. The 
 author of Ecclesiasticus means the same thing, where 
 he advises us not to speak when we find the persons 
 to whom we speak are not disposed to hear, Ecchis. 
 xxxii. (5. 
 
 Pearls are certainly very different things from pre- 
 cious stones ; yet the Greek term, margarites, seems 
 to be used, in a more genei'al sense f'or jewels, or 
 splendid gems. So, above, cast not your pearls — 
 jewels, diamonds, if known to the ancients, would 
 answer the import of the passage as well as jiearls. 
 So, the parts of a building, pearls ; but pearls are un- 
 fit things for walls and gates; (Rev. xxi.) many kinds 
 of precious stones are more suitable ; and perhaps 
 the pai-able of the merchant seeking goodly pearls, 
 
 (Matt, xiii.) might be understood in a more extensive 
 sense, as importing valuable jewels of whatever kind« 
 Such appears to be the application of the Chaldee 
 and Arabic words, which yet properly signify pearls. 
 
 PEKAH, son of Remaliah, and general of the 
 army of Pekahiah, king of Israel, He conspired 
 against his master, (2 Kings xv. 25.) A. M. 3245, at- 
 tacked him in the tower of his royal palace of Sama- 
 riii, being seconded by Argob and Arieli, (perhaps 
 the cities of Argob and Areopolis,) and having slain 
 him, he reigned in his place twenty years. Under the 
 reign of this wicked king, Tiglath-pileser^ king of As- 
 syria, came hito the country, and took Ijon, Abel- 
 beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, antl all 
 the country of Naphtali, and carried the inhabittuns 
 into Assyria. Iloshea, son of Elah, at length con- 
 spired against Pekah, slew him, and reigned in his 
 stead. 
 
 PEKAHIAH, son and successor of Menahem, 
 king of Israel, (2 Kings xv. 22, 23. A. M. 3243,) was 
 a wicked prince, and reigned but two years. Pekah, 
 son of Remaliah, conspired against him, and killed 
 him in his own palace. 
 
 PELEG, son of Eber, was born A. M. 1757. His 
 father named him Peleg, (division,) because in his 
 time the earth was divided, Gen. x. 25 ; xi. 16. 
 Whether Noah had begun to distribute the earth 
 among his descendants, some years before the build- 
 ing of Babel ; or that Peleg was born the year that 
 Babel was begun ; or that Eber, by a spirit of proph- 
 ecy, named his son Peleg, some years-before this time ; 
 or that the name was given to him at a later period 
 of his life, as a commemorative appellation, on recol- 
 lection, is not certainly known ; though it seems most 
 likely that he was not born at the time of the disper- 
 sion. At the age of 30 years Peleg begat Reu ; and 
 died at the a^e of 239. 
 
 PELETHITES. The Pelethites and the Chere- 
 thites were famous under the reign of David, as the 
 most valiant men of his army, and the guards of his 
 person. [The name comes from he Hebrew rSc, to 
 run, to go swiftly ; and they seem, therefore, to have 
 been the royal 7nesse7rgers ; just as the Cherethites 
 (from n3, to cxd, to cut off, etc.) were the king's exe- 
 cutioners. The Pelethites and Cherethites are always 
 mentioned together, and appear to have constituted 
 the king's body-guard. See Cherethites. R. 
 
 PELICAN. The Hebrew name of this curious 
 bird, rap, kaath, avomiter, is evidently taken from its 
 manner of discharging the contents of its bag or 
 pouch, for the purj)ose of satisfying its own hunger 
 or that of its young. The pelican is a bird much 
 larger than the swan, and something resembling it in 
 shape and color. The principal difference, and that 
 which distinguishes it from all others, is its enormous 
 bill and extraordinary ijouch. From the point of the 
 bill to the opening of the mouth, there is a length of 
 fifteen inches ; and under the chap is a bag reaching 
 the entire length of the bill to the neck, and capable, 
 it is said, of liolding fifteen quarts of water. When 
 this pouch is empty it is not seen ; but when filled, 
 its great bulk an(i singular appearance may easily be 
 conceived. The i)elican, says Labat, has strong 
 wings, furnished with thick plumage of an ash color, 
 as are the rest of the feathers over the whole body. 
 Its eyes are very small when compared to the size of 
 its head ; there "is a sadness in its countenance, and 
 its whole air is melancholy: it is as dull and reluc- 
 tant in its motions as the flamingo is sprightly and 
 active. It is slow of flight ; and when it rises to fly 
 performs it with difficultv and labor. Nothing, as it
 
 PEL 
 
 734 1 
 
 PEN 
 
 would Seem, but the spur of necessity could make 
 these birds change their situation, or induce them to 
 ascend into the air ; but they must either starve or 
 fly* When they have raised themselves about thirty 
 or forty feet above the surface of the sea, they turn 
 their head with their eye downwards, and continue 
 to fly in that posture. As soon as they perceive a iish 
 sufficiently near the surface, they dart down upon it 
 with the swiftness of an arrow, seize it with unerring 
 certainty, and store it up in their pouch. They then 
 rise again, though not without great labor, and con- 
 tinue hovering and fishing, with their head on one 
 side as before. In feeding its young, the pelican 
 squeezes the food deposited in its bag, into their 
 mouths, by strongly compressing it upon its breast 
 with the bill ; an action, says Shaw, which might 
 well give occasion to the received tradition and report 
 that the pelican, in feeding her young, pierced her 
 own breast, and nourished them with her blood. See 
 Birds, p. 187. 
 
 This writer is of opinion, that the Hebrew kaath 
 cannot mean the pelican, because that bird is describ- 
 ed in Ps. cii. 6 ; Isa. xxxiv. 11, and Zeph. ii. 14, as a 
 bird of the wilderness, where this fowl must inevitably 
 fiteirve ; because its large webbed feet, and capacious 
 pouch, with the manner of catching its food, which 
 can only be in the water, show it to be entirely a 
 water tbwl. But this objection, as Bochart has 
 shown, proceeds upon a supposition, that no water 
 was to be met with in the deserts ; which is a mis- 
 take, since Ptolemy places three lakes in the inner 
 parts of Marrnorica, which was extremely desert. 
 Besides, it is well known that the ono-crotalus, or 
 pelican, does not always i-emain by the water ; but 
 sometimes retires far from it, as Damir affirms ; and 
 in a passage from Isidore, in whicii this bird is said 
 to live in the solitude of the river Nile, an inhospita- 
 ble desert; and, indeed, its monstrous pouch seems 
 to be given it for this very reason, that it might not 
 want food for itself or its young ones, when at a dis- 
 tance from the water. 
 
 The writer of the hundred and second psalm alludes 
 to the lonely situation of the ])elican in the wilder- 
 ness, as illustrative of the poignancy of his grief at 
 witnessing tiie desolation of his country, and the 
 prostration of her sacred altars. 
 
 BELLA, a city beyond Jordan, placed by Pliny in 
 the Decapolis, and by Stephanus in Coele-Syria. 
 There is nothing inconsistent in this, however, nor 
 in what others afiiru), that Pella was in Perea, in 
 Batanea, or in the country of Basan. Perhaps, also, 
 when Josophus (Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 23.) speaks of 
 Pella, in the country of Moab, he means tlie city of 
 which we are speaking, which was situated in Perea, 
 in Batanea, in the country of Basan, which profane 
 authors sometimes call Ccele-Syria, and in the coun- 
 try which belonged to the Ammonites, the brethren 
 and allies of the Moabitcs ; unless he confound Pella 
 with Ahlla, in the country of Moab, called by Moses 
 Abel-Shittim, (Numb, xxxiii. 49.) and by Josephus, 
 Abila. Pella was situated between Jabesh and Ge- 
 rasa, six miles from the former. It was also one of 
 the ten cities of the Decapolis, Matt. iv. 25 ; Mark v. 
 20. It is not otherwise mentioned in the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 Josephus relates, that under the reign of Alexander 
 Jannaeus, the Jews were masters of Pella, and de- 
 stroyed it because the inhabitants would not embrace 
 Judaism. The first Christians having been fore- 
 warned by our Saviour that Jerusalem should be de- 
 molished, took refuge at Pella, as related by Eusebius, 
 
 as soon as they saw the fire of war against the Ro- 
 mans kindled. 
 
 PEN, a well known instrument for writing with. 
 Reeds were formerly employed for this purpose in- 
 stead of quills. The third book of the Maccabees 
 says, that the writers employed in making a list of 
 the Jews in Egypt, produced their reeds quite worn 
 out. Baruch wrote his prophecies with ink ; (Jer. 
 xxxvi. 4.) and, in 3 John 13, the apostle says, he did 
 not design to write with pen (reed) and ink. The 
 Arabians, Pei-sians, Turks, Greeks, and other orien- 
 tals, still write with reeds. 
 
 From the size and general appearance of some of 
 the ancient reeds, as preserved in pictures found at 
 Herculaneum, we may perceive how easily the same 
 word (aor, shebet) might denote the sceptre, or badge 
 of authority, belonging to the chief of a tribe, and 
 also a pen for writing with. For, although the two 
 instruments are sufficiently distinct among us ; yet, 
 where a long rod of cane, or reed, perhaps, was (like 
 a general's truncheon, or baton, in modern days) the 
 ensign of command, and a lesser rod of the same na- 
 ture, was formed into a pen and used as such, they 
 had considerable resemblance. This may account for 
 the phraseology and parallelism, in Judg. v. 14 : 
 
 Out of Machir, came down governors (legislators): 
 Out of Zebulun, they that hold the shebet of writers. 
 
 The ancients also used styles to write on tablets 
 covered with wax. The psalmist says, (Ps. xlv. 1.) 
 " My tongue is the pen of a ready writer." The He- 
 brew signifies rather a style, which was a kind of 
 bodkin, made of iron, brass, or bone, sharp at one end, 
 the other formed like a little spoon, or spatula. The 
 sharp end was used for writing letters, the other end 
 expunged them. The writer could put out, or cor- 
 rect what he disliked, and yet no erasure appear, and 
 he could write anew as often as he pleased on the 
 same place. On this is founded that advice of Hor- 
 ace, of often turning the style, and blotting out, 
 "Soepe stylum vertas iteriun, qua5 digna legi sint 
 scripturus." 
 
 Scripture alludes to the same custom; (2 Kings 
 xxi. 13.) " I will blot out Jerusalem as men blot out 
 writing from their writing tablets." I will turn the 
 tablets, and draw the style over the wax, till nothing 
 ap|)ear ; not the least trace. Isaiah (viii. 1.) received 
 orders from the Lord, to write in a great roll of 
 parchment, with the style of a man, what should be 
 dictated to him. It is asked. What is meant by this 
 style of a man ? It could not be one of these styles of 
 metal ; they were not used for writing on parchment. 
 It is probable, that the style of a man, signifies a 
 manner of writing which is easy, simple, natural and 
 intelligible. For generally the prophets expressed 
 themselves in a parabolical, enigmatical and obscure 
 style. Here God intended that Isaiah should not 
 speak as the prophets, but as other men used to do. 
 Jeremiah says, (viii. 8.) the style of the doctors of the 
 law is a style of eiTor, it writes nothing but lies. 
 Literally, "The pen of the scribes is in vain." They 
 have promised you peace, but behold war. He says, 
 "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and 
 with the point of a diamond. It is graven upon the 
 table of their heart ;" or, engraven on their heart, as 
 on writing tablets. The Hebrew says, a graver of 
 shamir. 
 
 PENIEL, or Penuel, a city beyond Jordan, near 
 the ford on the brook Jabbok, where Jacob, on hii 
 return from Mesopotamia, rested, and wrestled with
 
 fEN 
 
 [735] 
 
 fENTATEUCH 
 
 an angel, Gen. xxxii. 30. Subsequently, the Is- 
 raelites built a city in this place, which was given to 
 the tribe of Gad. Gideon, returning from the pur- 
 suit of the Midianites, overthrew the tower of Peniel, 
 (Judg. viii. 17.) and slew the inhabitants, for having 
 refused sustenance to him and his people, in a ver}' 
 insulting manner. Jeroboam, son of Nebat, rebuilt 
 the town, 1 Kings xii. 25, A. M. 3030. 
 
 PENIiViVAH, the second wife of Elkanah, the 
 father of Samuel, 1 Sam. i. 2, <Scc. See Han.nah. 
 
 PENNY is usually put in the English translation 
 for the Greek drachma and the Roman denarius, both 
 of which were equal in value to seven-pence three 
 farthings, sterling, or about 14 cents. As this was a 
 single coin, perhaps we should do well, in translating, 
 to express it by a coin of our own, as near to it in 
 value as possible ; say, for instance, a six-pence, or a 
 shilling. Read in this way, the passages — " When 
 the Lord of the vineyard had agreed with the labor- 
 ers for six-pence (or a shilling) a day ;" — " Show me 
 the tribute money ; and they siiowed him a six-pence 
 (or shilling) ; " — "Two hundred shillings' worth of 
 bread is not enough for this multitude ; " the good 
 Samaritan took out two shillings, and gave them to 
 the keeper of the khan. Something like this is abso- 
 lutely necessary in Rev. vi. 6, "A small measure (or 
 pint) of wheat for a shilling." As the pEissage now 
 stands it indicates great plenty to an English reader ; 
 whereas, it really is descriptive of a most distressing 
 scarcity. Let this article stand in proof of the pro- 
 priety of being acquainted with the minutiae in Scrip- 
 ture ; for who sees any hint at a famine in " a meas- 
 ure of wheat for a penny ? " Former times, indeed, 
 even in England, have given a laborer his choice of a 
 measure of wheat, or a penny, for his wages ; but the 
 difference in the value of money rendei-s this recol- 
 lection very improper in our days. Nor is it less hn- 
 proper, at the present time, to suppose the Lord of the 
 vineyard would so greatly undervalue the hire of la- 
 borers, as to pay them only a penny for the day's 
 work ; it sounds like an avaricious advantage taken 
 of the necessities of the poor; when, in fact, it is di- 
 rectly the reverse, a bounty, a liberality. 
 
 PENTATEUCH, thejive books, the books of Moses ; 
 that is. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deute- 
 ronomy. (See their proper articles, and also Moses.) 
 Some critics have disputed that Moses was the author 
 of the Pentateuch, upon the following grounds : — 
 
 There are in it, (1.) several things that agree neither 
 to the age nor the character of this legislator. The 
 author speaks of Moses much to his advantage ; (see 
 Numb. xii. 3.) and he speaks always in the third per- 
 son. (2.) The author sometimes abridges his narra- 
 tion, like a writer who collected from ancient me- 
 moirs. Sometimes he inteiTupts the thread of his dis- 
 course ; e. g. he makes Lamech the bigamist say, 
 (Gen. iv. 23.) " Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, 
 hearken unto my speech ; for I have slain a man to 
 my wounding, and a young man to my hurt ; " with- 
 out informing us previously to whom this relates. (3.) 
 Such observations as Gen. xii. 6, cannot be reconcil- 
 ed to the age of Moses, since the Canaan ites con- 
 tinued masters of Palestine during all the time of 
 Moses. So, also, the passage out of the book of the 
 Wars of the Lord, quoted Numb. xxi. 14, seems to 
 have been inserted afterwards, as also the fii-st verses 
 of Deuteronomy. (4.) The account of the death of 
 Moses, at the conclusion of the same book, cannot 
 have proceeded from his own pen ; and the same may 
 be obs«rv«d of other passages, in which it i» said, that 
 
 the places mentioned lay beyond Jordan ; that the bed 
 of Og was at Ramah to this day ; that the Havoth, or 
 cities, of Jair, were known to the author, though prob- 
 ably they had not that name till after the time of 
 Moses, Numb, xxxii. 41 ; Deut. iii, 14. (5.) It is ob- 
 served, also, that some parts are defective. Thus, in 
 Exod. xii. 8, we find Aloses speaking to Pharaoh, 
 where the author omits the beginning of his discourse, 
 which is found in the Samaritan cojjy. In other 
 places, also, the Samaritan adds what is deficient in the 
 Hebrew text ; and its additions seem to be so well 
 connected with the rest of the discoui-se, that it is dif- 
 ficult to separate them. (6.) There are, it is said, 
 certain expressions in the Pentateuch, which can 
 hardly agree with Moses, who was born and educated 
 in Egypt ; as, what he says of the earthly paradise, of 
 the rivers that watered it ; of the cities" of Babylon, 
 Erech, Resen and Calneh ; of the gold of Pison ; of 
 the bdellium, and of the stone of Sohem, found in 
 that country. These particulars, it is thought, prove 
 that the author of the Pentateuch lived east of the 
 Euphrates. 
 
 These objections, however, are easily disposed of. 
 The additions, the dislocations, and the omissions, re- 
 ferred to, will not determine that Moses was not the 
 author of the books. They only prove that some 
 amendments have been made, either by addine, or by 
 expunging. God has suffered that the sacrecl books 
 should not be exempted from such alterations as pro- 
 ceed from the hands of copiers, or which are conse- 
 quences of great length of time. If a slight addition, 
 or change, in the text of an author, be thought suffi- 
 cient to deprive him of his labors, what writer could 
 remain in possession of his work even a single 
 century ? Besides, to divest Moses of a possession he 
 has maintained for so many ages, as author of the 
 Pentateuch ; a possession supported by the joint tes- 
 timony both of the synagogue and the church ; of the 
 sacred writers both of the Old and New Testaments; 
 of Jesus Christ and his apostles, certainly requires 
 proofs beyond reply, i. e. conclusive demonstrations ; 
 whereas the objections are even below convincing 
 arguments. 
 
 So far Calmet, but since his time, the question of 
 the originals of the Pentateuch has been discussed, 
 with great acumen, and much critical investigation. 
 The result seems to be not that those documents 
 were composed, or arranged, since the days of Moses, 
 (except so far as concerns Ezra's revision for his edi- 
 tion,) but that they existed before Moses, and were 
 combined and regulated by him ; perhaps, some of 
 them were translated from more ancient memoirs, 
 presened in the families of Shem, Abraham, and the 
 Hebrew patriarchs. As these came far east of the 
 Euphrates, the objections derived from that incident 
 are completely obviated by this supposition ; and the 
 others dwindle into insignificance, by our better ac- 
 quaintance with the ancient history of persons and 
 places. 
 
 It may be admitted, for instance, (1.) that the book 
 of Genesis contains various rep)etitions, or double 
 narratives of the same early events; (2.) that these 
 duplicate narratives, when closely compared, present 
 characteristic differences of style ; (3.) that these dif- 
 ferences are too considerable, and too distinct, to ad- 
 mit of any other explanation, than that of different 
 originals, taken into association. This may be justi- 
 fied by a short extract from Eichhorn's comparison of 
 the two supposed original documents used by Mosea 
 containing histories of the deluge.
 
 PEN [ 736 ] PEO 
 
 Record in which the tiame Jehovah occurs. Record in which the name for God is Elohim. 
 
 Gen. vi. 5. And Jehovah saw tliat the wickedness 
 of man was great on the earth, and that every imagi- 
 nation of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con- 
 tinually. 
 
 7. And Jehovah said, I will destroy man Vvhom I 
 have created, from the face of the earth, both man 
 and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of 
 the air ; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 
 
 vii. 2. Of eveiy clean beast thou shalt take to thee 
 by sevens, the male and his female ; and of beasts 
 unclean, by two, the male and his female. 
 
 3. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and 
 the female, 
 to keep seed alive on the face of the earth. 
 
 5. And Noah did according to all that Jehovah had 
 commanded him. 
 
 1. And Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou, and 
 all thy house, into the ark. 
 
 S. And Noah was six hundred years old, when the 
 flood of waters was upon the earth. 
 
 Gen. vi. 12. And the Elohim saw the earth, and 
 behold it was corrupt ; for all flesh had con-upted his 
 way on the eaith. 
 
 15. And the Elohim said to Noah, the end of all 
 flesh is come before me ; for the earth is filled with 
 violence through them ; and behold, I will destroy 
 them from under heaven. 
 
 vi. 19. And of every living thing, of all flesh, two 
 of every sort shall then bring into an ark, to keep 
 them alive with thee ; they shall be male and female. 
 
 20. Of fowls after their kuid, and of cattle after 
 their kuid, of every creeping thing upon the earth 
 after his kind : two of every sort shall come unto thee, 
 to keep them alive. 
 
 22. Thus did Noah ; according to all that the Elo- 
 him had commanded him, so did he. 
 
 18. And thou shalt come into the ai-k, thou and thy 
 sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 
 
 vii. 11. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in 
 the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, 
 the same day v.ere all the fountains of the great deep 
 broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 
 
 In this manner the ingenious author of this hypoth- 
 esis proceeds to compare other passages. The 
 reader will remark, that the most particular account 
 is contained in that document in which the deity is 
 denoted by the term Elohim ; and this is its general 
 character throughout. The system, however, is not 
 without its difiiculties ; but for a discussion of these 
 we must refer to those writers who have professedly 
 treated on the subject. 
 
 PENTECOST', {mvTtxooT,:, the fiftieth ; day\s un- 
 derstood,) a feast celebrated the fiftieth day after tiie 
 sixteenth of Nisan, which was the second day of the 
 feast of the passover. Lev. xxiii. 15, IG. The He- 
 brews call it the feast of weeks, (Exod. xxxiv. 22.) 
 because it was kept seven weeks after the passover. 
 They then offered the first-fruits of their wheat har- 
 vest, whicli at tliat time was completed. Dent. xvi. 9, 
 10. These first-fruits consisted in two loaves of un- 
 leavened bread, of two assarons of meal, or of three 
 pints of meal each. Lev. xxiii. 16, 17. Some inter- 
 preters think, that each family was obliged to give two 
 loaves for first-fi-uits ; but others maintain, with more 
 reason, that they offered but two loaves in the name 
 of tiie whole nation. This is sufiiciently marked by 
 Joseph Lis, who puts but one loaf of two assarons. In 
 addition to these, they presented at the temj)le seven 
 lambs of that year, one calf, and two rams, for a burnt- 
 oflTering, two lambs for a peace-oflering, aiul a goat 
 for a sui-offering. We do not find that the Pentecost 
 had an octave, though it was one of the three great 
 solemnities, in which all the males were to appear be- 
 fore the Lord. 
 
 The Feast of Pentecost was instituted, first, to 
 oblige the Israelites to repair to the tem])le of the 
 Lord, and there to acknowledge his dominion over 
 their country, and their labors, by offering to him 
 the first-fruits of all their harvests. Secondly, to 
 commemorate, and to rend(u- thanks to God for, the 
 law given from mount Sinai, on the fiftieth day after 
 their coming out of Egy|)t. 
 
 The Christian church also celebrates the Feast of 
 Pentecost, fifty days, or seven weeks, after the pass- 
 over, or the resurrection of oiu- Saviour. After the 
 ascension of Christ, the apostles having retired to a 
 
 house at Jerusalem, (which, it is said, was that of 
 Mary the mother of John, on m.ount Sion,) they 
 there waited for the Holy Ghcst, whicli our Saviour 
 had promised. On the day of Pentecost, about the 
 third hour of the day, (nine o'clock in tlie morning,) 
 suddenly they heard a great noise, like the rushing of a 
 mighty wind, from heaven, which filled the whole 
 house where the apostles were assembled. At the 
 same time there ai>peared among them, as it were, 
 tongues of fire, parted, or cloven, and resting on each 
 of them; they were all immediately filled with the 
 Holy Ghost, and began to speak different tongues 
 or languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 
 ii. 1 — 3. There were then at Jerusalem some pious 
 Jews of all nations, who were astonished to hear 
 such a variety of languages; but others (probably 
 Jews of Jerusalem) mocked, saying, " These people 
 are full of new wine." Peter, therefore, took u}) 
 their defence, and said, "These persons are by no 
 means drunk, for it is yet but the third hoiu* of the 
 day : (on festival days they did not eat before noon, 
 especially they tasted nothing- before nine in the 
 morning, which was an hoiu- of prayer :) but this 
 is the accomplishment of what vras spoken by Joel," 
 (ii. 28.) " I will pour out my S])irit upon all flesh," 
 &c. And then, " whoever shall call on the name 
 of the Lord shall be saved," &c. Those who heard 
 Peter were moved with compunction, ami said, 
 "Brethren, what must we do?" Peter answered 
 them, "Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, to obtain the remission of sins, and you shall 
 also receive the Holy Ghost," &c. They submit- 
 ted, and that day were baptized about 3000 souls. 
 A. D. 33. 
 
 PEOR, or Phogor, a famous mountain beyond 
 Jordan, which Eusebiiis places between Ileshbon 
 and Livias. The mountains Nebo, Pisgah and Peor, 
 were near one another, and probably of the same 
 chain of mountains ; and Cocceius thinks it imports a 
 naked height, or, as we say, an open prospect, so 
 a mountain free from impediments ; what stands 
 unsheltered ; jilainly to be seen ; the vertex of a high 
 hill. It was tiie name of a mountain, standing very 
 favorably for a distant prospect ; " a prospect station
 
 PER 
 
 [737 ] 
 
 PER 
 
 in an open place," Numb, xxiii. 28. We may say 
 the same of Beth Peor, (Deut. iii. 29.) which appears 
 to have been on an eminence ; as the valley in which 
 Israel abode was over against it, chap. iv. 46. It was 
 a temple, we may suppose, with a village at least 
 around it. 
 
 PEREA, from Gr. jiiour, beyond, signifies the 
 country beyond Jordan, or east of that river, espe- 
 cially on the south. Josephus says that it had its 
 limits, at Philadelphia east, the Joi-dan west, Ma- 
 cheron south, and Pella north. Sometimes the word 
 Perea is taken in a more extensive signification, for 
 the whole country beyond Jordan. It was enclosed 
 on the east by mountains, which divided it from 
 Arabia Deserta. The name does not occur in Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
 PEREZ-UZZA, the breach of Uzza, the name of a 
 place, 2 Sam. vi. 8. Uzzah is spelt diflferently, 
 where the reason of the appellation is assigned, 1 
 Chron. xiii. 11. See Uzza. 
 
 PERFECTION. The Son of God commands his 
 disciples {3Iatt. v. 48.) to be perfect, even as their 
 Father in heaven is perfect. Not that we can ever 
 attain his perfection, but we ought constantly to be 
 making advances towards it: we ought always to 
 propose it to ourselves as oiu- pattern, in the exer- 
 cise of all virtue, and especially his mercy and char- 
 ity. Hence Luke s<nys, in the parallel passage, " Be 
 ye, therefore, merciful, as your Father also is merci- 
 ful," Luke vi. 36. In Matt. xix. 21, our Saviour 
 saysj that he who would be perfect must forsake all 
 and follow him ; and in Luke vi. 40, that the disciple 
 who would arrive at perfectiosi must become like 
 his master. Paul often exhorts his discij)les to be 
 perfect ; that is, to acquire the perfection of Chris- 
 tianity, to be convinced of the excellenceof it, and to 
 practise its triuhs, 1 Cor. i. 10 ; xiv. 10, &c. 
 
 In the Old Testament, the words perfect and per- 
 fection answer to the Hebrew words Thum and 
 Thdmmim, which properly signify entire and com- 
 plete ; without blemish or defect ; irreprehensible, 
 perfect. Thus it is said, (Gen. vi. 9.) "Noah was a 
 just man, and perfect in his generations." And God 
 says to Abraham, (Gen. xvii. 1.) " I am the Almighty 
 God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect." And 
 speaking to his people, (Deut. xviii. 13.) "Thou shall 
 be perfect with the Lord thy God." In all these 
 places, perfect is put for a character without re- 
 proach ; imreprovable, sincere. So to serve God 
 with a perfect heait, is to serve him faithfully, purely, 
 not admitting a rival. Perfect joined with knowl- 
 edge, law, charity, work, &c. signifies whatever may 
 make those things coinplete, finished, entire, with- 
 out deficiency. Paul says, (Heb. vii. 19.) "The law 
 made nothing perfect ;" i. e. it may be said to give 
 only sketches of things ; to enjoin things of less per- 
 fection than what the gospel requires. 
 
 PERFUMES ; the use of perfumes was common 
 among the Hebrews, and the orientals generally, be- 
 fore it was known to the Greeks a/id Romans. 
 l\Ioscs also speaks of the art of the i)crlumor, in 
 Egypt, and gives the composition of two perfumes, 
 (Exod. XXX. 25.) of which one was to be ofl'cred to 
 the Lord, on the golden altar ; and the other (Exod. 
 XXX. 34, &c.) to be used for anointing the high-priest 
 and his sons, the tabernacle, and the vessels of di- 
 vine service, l^xod. xxx. 23. The former of these, 
 called incense, was composed of stacte, the onyx, or 
 odoriferous shell-fish, of galbauuni, and incense", each 
 of equal weight. It was sacred and inviolable, and 
 it was forbidden, on pain of death, for anv man 
 93 
 
 whatever to use it. The other perfume was rather 
 an unction, to anoint the priests and sacred vessels 
 of the tabernacle. It was composed of the best 
 myrrh 500 shekels, of cinnamon 250 shekels, of can- 
 na aromatica a like quantity, of cassia aromatica 500 
 shekels ; and 1 hin of oil-olive. God reserved this 
 ointment, or perfume, for his own service ; and 
 whoever should make it, either for himself or another, 
 was to be cut off from his peo])le. 
 
 The Hebrews had also perfumes for embalming 
 their dead. The coniposition is not exactly known, 
 but they used myrrh, aloes and other strong and as- 
 tringent drugs, proper to prevent infection and cor- 
 ruption. See Embalmixg. 
 
 In addition to these perfumes, there are others 
 noticed in Scripture. Those, for example, which 
 king Hezekiah preserved in his repositories. "The 
 spices and precious ointment ;" (2 Kings xx. 13.) and 
 those burned with the body of king Asa, 2 Chron. xvi. 
 14. Judith perfumed her face when she was to ap- 
 pear before Holofernes ; and they prepared the vir- 
 gins which were to appear before the kings of Persia, 
 for six months together, by the use of oil of myrrh, 
 and for six other months, by various perfumes and 
 sweet-scented oils, Esth. ii. 12. The spouse in the 
 Canticles commends the perfumes of her lover ; who 
 in return says, that the perfumes of his spouse sur- 
 pass the most excellent odors. He names particu- 
 larly the spikenard, the canna aromatica, cinnamon, 
 myrrh and aloes, as composing these perfumes. The 
 voluptuous woman described by Solomon (Prov. vii. 
 17.) says, that she had perfumed both her duan and 
 her bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. The 
 book of Wisdom (ii. 7.) encourage one another to 
 the use of the most luxurious and costly perfumes. 
 Isaiah rejiroaches Judea, whom he describes as a 
 faithless spouse to God, as being painted and per- 
 fumed to ])lease strangers: (Isa. Ivii. 9.) "Thou 
 wentest to the king with ointment, and didst in- 
 crease thy perfumes;" and Ezekiel (xxiii. 41.) seems 
 to accuse the Jews with having profaned the odors 
 and perfumes, whose use was reserved to sacred things, 
 by applying tliem to their own use: "Thou satest 
 upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, 
 whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine 
 oil." Amos (vi. 6.) inveighs against the rich men of 
 Ephraim, who drank costly wines, and perfumed 
 themselves with the most precious oils. The wo- 
 man-sinner (Luke vii. 37.) and jMary Magdalen (John 
 xii. 3.) anointed our Saviour's feet with costly per- 
 fume. That of Mary 3Iagdalen was spikenard. 
 
 These instances show the taste of the ancient He- 
 brews, which was, and still is, the taste of the orien- 
 tals, who made much use of scents and perfumes. 
 They prove, also, tliat both men and women used 
 them, and that wise and serious men condemned the 
 too fi-c(iuont and affected use of them. It may also 
 be observed, that to abstain from perfumes, scents 
 and unctions, was esteemed a part of mortification, 
 (See Ivsth. xiv ; 2 Dan. x. 3.) 
 
 Solomon says, "that dead flies cause the ointment 
 of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor :" 
 i. e. as one dead fly is sufficient to spoil the scent of 
 a whole box of perfumes; so one fault is enough to 
 destroy a man's good name. 
 
 PERGA, a city of Pamphylia, Acts xiii. 14. This 
 is not a maritime city, but situated on the river Ces- 
 tus, at some distance" from its mouth. It was one of 
 the most considerable cities in Pamjjhylia ; and 
 when that province was divided into two parts, this 
 citv became the metropolis of one part, and Sid6 of
 
 PER 
 
 PER 
 
 the other. There was, ou a neighboriug niouutaiii, 
 a very famous temple of Diana, surnamed Pergsea. 
 from the city. 
 
 PERGAMOS, (now Bergamo,) a city of Mysia, in 
 Asia Minor, and the residence of the Attalian princes. 
 Tliere was here collected by the kings of this 
 race a noble library of 200,000 volumes, \vhich was 
 afterwards transported to Egypt by Cleopatra, and 
 added to the library at Alexandria. Hence the Latin 
 name ptrgamentum for parchment. Our Lord 
 (Rev. ii. 12.) speaks to the angel, or bishop, of l^ei- 
 gamus thus : " I know thy works, aiul where thou 
 dwellest, even Avhere Satan's seat is ; and thou bold- 
 est fast my name," &c. 
 
 PERJURY. The law of God severely con- 
 demned perjury, false oaths, vows and promises 
 made without an intention to perform them. Lev. 
 xix. 12 ; Exod. xxiii. 13. Perjury otlends against 
 the veracity and justice of God himself, and is a 
 groat insult on his majesty, iiy appealing to him as a 
 witness to a lie, and engaging his mighty name in 
 commission of a crime. Moses (I^ev. v. 4, 5, G ; vi. 2, 
 3.) seems to appoint sacrifices to atone for perjury ; 
 V, liicli is contrary to Paul, who assures us, that the 
 sacrifices and ceremonies of the law did not really 
 remit sins, but only purify legal faults, Heb. vii. 18 ; 
 Gal. ii. 16; Rom. viii. 3; Heb. ix. 9, 13. It must, 
 ih.refore, be ))resumed, that the sacrifices ordaine(i 
 by 31oscs, regarded only theignoranceor temerity of 
 liir.1 who had made a rash promise, or a secret oath, or 
 ](i-o;nis:'. Or he supposes, tliat he who was permitted 
 1:1 Oiler such a sacrifice, had already expiated his 
 sin, iiy a perfect repentance and contrition ; of which 
 the prescribed external sacrifice is only the public 
 acknowledgment, or ratification, as we may say, to 
 satisiy for faults committed, by approaching holy 
 things in a state of defilement. The wilful perjurer 
 was punished by' the sentence of the judges, when 
 lie wa3 found a'niitv. (See Lev. v. 1 ; xix. 8 ; xx. 17, 
 19, 20; xxiv. 1.5 ; Numb. ix. 13.) 
 
 PERIZZITES, or Pheres^i, ancient inhabitants 
 (if Palestine, who had mingled w|th the Canaanites, 
 or were themselves descendants of Canaan. They 
 :ippear to have had no fixed habitations, and lived 
 soinetimes in one country and sometimes in another. 
 Tliere were some of them on each side of the river 
 Jordan, in the mountains, and in the plains. In sev- 
 eral places of Scripture the Canaanites and Perizzites 
 are mentioned cd the chief people of the country ; 
 as in the time of Abraham and Lot, Gen. xiii. 7. 
 The tribe oi' Ephraim complaining to Joshua, that 
 they were too much confined in their }>ossession, he 
 bade tliem go, if tliey pleased, into the mountains of 
 the Perizzites and Rcphaim, and there clear the land, 
 cultivate and inhabit it, Josh. xvii. 15. Solomon 
 subdued the remains of these people, which the Is- 
 raclit-'^s had not rooted out, and made them tribu- 
 tary, 1 Kings ix. 20, 21 ; 2 Chron.viii. 7. The Periz- 
 zites arc mentioned by Ezra, after the return from 
 iJabyion; and several Israelites had married wives 
 from among tlieni, Ezra ix. 1. See Canaanites, 
 p. 244. 
 
 PERSECUTION has in all ages been the jjortion 
 of good men. Cain persecuted Abel ; Joseph was 
 persecuted iiy his brethren; David Iiy Saul; Elijah 
 ;uid Elisha by Ahab ; the i>rophets by the kings and 
 people of their time ; our Saviour by llerod, and the 
 chief of the Jews; John tiie Baptist and the apostles 
 by the enemies of piety, truth and justice of every 
 description. It is a maxim laid down by the apostfc 
 tint all tiuise who will lead a ffodiv life shall siiiler 
 
 persecution ; (2 Tim. iii. 12.) but our Lord pro- 
 nounces them happy, Matt. viii. 3 — 10. 
 
 PERSIA, (in Heb. did, Phars, Ezek. xxvii. 10.) a 
 vast region in Asia, the south-western province of 
 which appears to have been the ancient Persia, and 
 is still called Pharsistan, or Fars. The Persians who 
 became so famous after Cyrus, the founder of their 
 monarchy, were anciently called Elamites ; and in 
 the time of the Roman emperors, Parthians. See 
 Parthians. 
 
 The Arabians say, that Fars, the fadier of the Per- 
 sians, was son of Azaz, or Arphaxad, son of Shem. 
 Others derive him from Japheth ; but the Persians 
 derive their origin fi-om Kaiumarath, who is among 
 them what Adam is with us. They assure us that 
 they have always had kings of their own nation, 
 whose succession has never been long interrupted. 
 The Dilemites, the Curdes, and even the oriental 
 Turks, according to some authors, are descended 
 from the Persians. The Dilemites inhabit the shores 
 of tiie Caspian sea, called also the sea of Dilem, from 
 that nation ; the Curdes are scattered in Assyria, to 
 wliich they give the name of Kurdistan ; and the 
 Turks have withdrawn beyond the river Oxus, into 
 Turkestan. 
 
 Authors speak differently of the religion of the an- 
 cient Persians. Herodotus says, "They liad neither 
 temples, nor statues, nor altars. They look on it as 
 folly to make or to suffer any, because they did not 
 believe, as the Greeks, that the gods were of human 
 origin." They sacrificed to Jupiter on the highest 
 mountains, and gave the name of God to the Avhole 
 circuit of the heavens. They sacrificed also to the 
 sun, and the moon, and the earth ; to the fire, and 
 the water, and the winds. They originally knew no 
 other gods but these, but subsequently they have 
 learned from the Assyrians and the Arabians, to sac- 
 rifice to Urania, or celestial Venus ; whom the As- 
 syrians call Militta, the Arabians, Alitta, and the 
 Persians, Mithra. 
 
 The modern Persians I'efer their religion to Abra- 
 ham, whom some confound with Zoroaster, and 
 others will have to i)e the master of Zoroaster. 
 They think the world was created in six days ; that 
 in the beginning God created a man and a woman, 
 from whom mankind are derived : that there are 
 several terrestrial paradises, one universal del- 
 uge, one Moses, one Solomon. All this, without 
 doubt, is taken from the histoiy of the Jews, and 
 from the traditions of the Mahometans. 
 
 They hold, says D'Herbelot, one eternal God, 
 called in their language Jesdan, or Oromazdes, who 
 is the true God, called by the Arabians Allah, the 
 author of all good ; also another god, produced by 
 darkness, whom they name Aherman, (properly the 
 Eblis of the Arabians, or the devil,) the author of all 
 evil. They have a very great veneration for light, 
 and a great aversion from darkness. God the C'rea- 
 tor of all things has produced light and darkness, and 
 from a mixture of these two, of good and evil, of gen- 
 eration and corruption, the composition and decom- 
 position of the pans of the workl is effected and will 
 always continue, till light withdrawing itself on one 
 si(ie,"and darkness on the other, shall cause a destruc- 
 tion and dissolution. This is the substance of the 
 doctrine of Zoroaster, wliich is still maintained by the 
 Magians, or Giiebres, who worship fire; and who 
 always, when they jiray, turn themselves towards tiie 
 rising sun. 
 
 Tlie early history of the Persians, like that of most 
 of the oriental nations, is uivolved in doubt or per'
 
 PERSIA 
 
 ray ] 
 
 PET 
 
 plexity. Wo have already suggested their descent 
 from Shein, tiirrmgh his son Elani, after whom they 
 were originally named. It is probable that they en- 
 joyed their independence for several ages, with a mo- 
 narchical succession of their o\;ii ; until they were 
 subduetl by the Assyrians, and their country attached 
 as a j)rovinco to that empire. This event is adum- 
 brated in Pei-sian history by the invasion of a Ibreign 
 tyrant, named Zobruk. From this period, !)otli sscicd 
 iind protane writers distinguish the kingdom of the 
 Medes from that of the Pei-sians. It is not improba- 
 ble that, during this j)eriod, petty revolutions might 
 have occasioned temporary disjunctions of Persia 
 Irom its sister kingdom, and that the Persian king 
 was quickly again made sensible of his true allegiance. 
 Such an event appears to have occurred in the reign 
 of Pharaoh, who defeated the revolted Persiant^, and 
 reduced them to a more complete subjection. 
 
 Dejoces, the father of Phraoites, is said to have 
 built the city of Ecbatana, and to have estal)lished its 
 government. But it is probable that it was ibunded 
 before this alleged period, jmd only strengthened and 
 extended by Dejoces. Dejoces was killed in an ac- 
 tion with Nebuchadnezzar king of Assyria, as related 
 in the book of Judith, and was succeeded by his son 
 Piuiiortes. Phraortes afterwards subdued the Persians 
 and other Asiatic nations. He ultimately was killed 
 before the walls of Nineveh. 
 
 Cyaxares, his son, succeeding to the throne of 
 Media, undertook to be revenged upon the Assyrians. 
 He defeated them, and led the ]\Iedes a second time 
 to the walls of Nineveh. His success was impeded 
 by his being called off by some invading Scythians ; 
 but he afterwai'ds renewed his attempts, and de- 
 stroyed that great city, 612 B. C. See Media, 
 
 Media, having vanquished her gi-eat rival, enjoyed 
 a long interval of peace, during the reign of Astyages, 
 son of Cyaxares. But his successor, Cyaxares the 
 second, united with the Persians against the Bab- 
 ylonians, and gave the command of the combined 
 armies to Cyrus, who took the city of Babylon, 
 killed Belshazzar, and terminated that kingdom, 
 538 B. C. 
 
 Cyiiis succeeded to the thrones of Media and Per-. 
 sia, and completed the union between those countries. 
 He extended his dominion beyond the greatest limits 
 of that of the kings of Assyria. It may be worthy of 
 remark, that, previous to this union, Daniel speaks of 
 the law of the Medes and Persians beuig the same. 
 The union was effected B. C. 536. The principal 
 events, relating to Scripture, which occurred during 
 the reign of Cyrus, were the restoration of the Jews, 
 the rebuilding the city and temple, and tlie subduc- 
 tion of Babylon. Of the successors of Cyrus, differ- 
 ent accounts are given by different histories. The 
 Persian annals give four, from Cyrus to Artaxerxes ; 
 the sacred annals ^i»e, and the Grecian six. The 
 order of princes as given in the book of Ezra is, Cy- 
 rus, Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, Darius, Artaxerxes; 
 Xei-xes, who reigned between Darius and Artaxerxes, 
 being omitted to be mentioned, because nothing im- 
 portant in the Jewish history occin-rcd during his 
 reign. Ahasuerus was Cambyses, the son of Cyrus. 
 He was too much engrossed with Egyptian affairs 
 to pay much regard to the Jews ; and during his 
 reign the progress of their works at Jerusalem was 
 nearly suspended. His successor, Artaxerxes, was the 
 usurper Smerdis the Magian, by whose decree a total 
 stop was put to the buildings at Jerusalem. The next, 
 according to Scripture succession, is Darius, called, 
 by profane historians, Darius Hystaspes. He em- 
 
 powered the Jews to resume the works at Jerusalem, 
 and likewis-- granted them other piivileges; by virtue 
 of which, the temple, which had been twenty veai's 
 in building, wjts completed. 
 
 Xt2xcs, the successor of Darius, is briefly men- 
 tioned in Scripture, by Daniel, as the fourth king 
 from Cyrus, who, "by his streneih, and through his 
 great riches, should stir up all against the realm of 
 Grccia." That he invaded Greece with an immense 
 army, is known to e\-ery one in the least acquainted 
 with ancient history. He contuiucd the privileges 
 which his father Darius had granted to the Jews. 
 
 Arlaxei-xes, called by the Greeks Longimanus, from 
 the length of liis hands, and Ahasuerus in the book 
 of Esther, is rendered memorable principally on the 
 account of the fnendship he evmced to the Jews, 
 whicli it is thought proceeded from the intercession 
 of Esther, his queen. 
 
 [Later interpreters, however, have come to different 
 results in regard to several of these kings. These 
 may be seen under the articles Artaxerxes I. and 
 particularly under Ahasuerus II. R. 
 
 With Ariaxerxes the histoiy of Persia, as relating 
 to the Scriptures, termhiates. Persia, howe\ er, is still 
 a country to which we may recur for an illustration 
 of the maimers and usages described in the Scriptures. 
 The chai-acter of the Persian government is absolute- 
 ly despotic. The fiat of the king, which in reality is 
 the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth 
 not, is as positive and innnutable as at the period 
 when Daniel wrote ; ;uid has exerted a coiTespond- 
 ing and \ery marked influence on the manners and 
 customs of the people. 
 
 PERSIS, a Roman lady, whom Paul salutes, 
 (Rom. xvi. 12.) and calls his beloved sister. 
 
 PESTILENCE, or Plague, in the Hebrew 
 tongue, as in most others, expresses all sorts of dis- 
 tempers and calamities. Tlie Hebrew not, Deber, 
 which properly signifies the plague, is extended to all 
 epidemical and contagious diseases. The prophets 
 generally connect together the sword, the pestilence 
 and the famine, as three evils which generally accom- 
 pany each other. 
 
 The pestilent man (Prov. xv. 12. Vulg.) is the 
 scorner, the pretended free-thinker, who diverts himself 
 with the simplicity of good people, and with the timid- 
 ity of pious souls. The seat of the sconier, mentioned 
 in the first Psalm, is the seat of such pernicious people. 
 Solomon in many places cautions his readers against 
 their discomvses. The scorner loves not hiiu that re- 
 proves him, Prov. xix. 25. The correction of such 
 scoffers is gi-eat instruction tor the weak, the low, the 
 foolish, and, generally, those that want liglit and un- 
 derstanding. Tertullus, thf? advocate of the Jews, 
 says, (Acts xxiv. 5.) that Paul was a pestilent fellow, 
 a common disturber and mover of sedition, because 
 he maintained that Jesus was the Christ. Jeremiah 
 gives to Babylon the name of the contagious moun- 
 tain, because it spread the infection of idolatry and 
 superstition through the whole world. The ftlessiah 
 says, (Hosea xiii. 14.) " O death, I will be thy plagues ; 
 O grave, I will be thy destruction." Jerome trans- 
 lates it. And in Psalm xci. 3, the Hebrew has, "He 
 shall deliver thee from the snares of the hunter, and 
 from the dangerous pestilence." 
 
 PETER, the apostle, was born at Bethsaida, and 
 was son of John, Jona, or Joanna, and brother of An- 
 drew, John i. 42, 43. His original name was Simon 
 or Suneon, but when our Saviour called him to the 
 aposdeship, he added the name Cephas, that is, (in 
 Syriac,) a stone or rock ; in Greek and Latin, Petra,
 
 PETER 
 
 [ '^0 ] 
 
 PETER 
 
 whence Peter. He was man-ied ; and dwelt witii 
 his mother-m-law, and his wife, at Capernaum, on 
 the lake of Gemiesareth, Mark i. 29 ; Matt. viii. 14 ; 
 Luke iv. 38. Andrew, having been called by Christ, 
 met his brother Sinion,and prevailed upon him to come 
 to Jesus, John i. 41. (A. D. 30.) After havmg passed 
 one day with our Saviour, tliey returned to their or- 
 dmary occupation, of fishing, though it is thought 
 they were present with hiiu at the marriage ofCana 
 in Galilee. Towards the end of the same year, Jesus, 
 being on the shore of the lake of Gennesareth, while 
 Peter and Andrew were busy washing their nets, 
 (Luke v. 1, &c.) entered their boat, and bade Peter 
 throw out his nets into the sea, in order to fish. Pe- 
 ter obeyed, though he had been fishing the whole 
 night without success. The fish taken at this draught 
 were so many, that their own vessel, and that of 
 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were filled. 
 The miracle so impressed the miiid of Peter, that he 
 threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and said, "Depart 
 from me. Lord, for I am a siiuier." Jesus, ho%vever, 
 bade them follow him, and promised to make them 
 fishers of jnen. The four quitted their boats and fol- 
 lowed him. 
 
 Jesus, coming to Capernaum some time afler this, 
 (Luke iv. 38 ; Matt. viii. 14.) entered the house of 
 Peter, where his mother-in-law lay sick of a ferer. 
 He immediately healed her ; and she assisted to sen^e 
 them. A little while before the feast of the passover 
 of the following year, (A. D. 32.) after he returned into 
 Galilee, he chose twelve apostles, among whom Peter 
 has the first place. 
 
 Upon one occasion, as our Saviour was iieEir Caesa- 
 rea Philippi, he asked his apostles, whom men took 
 him to be. Matt, xvi. 13, 14. They answered, some 
 took him for John the Baptist, others Elias, others 
 Jeremiah, or one of the old prophets. " But whom do 
 you say that I am ?" inquired Jesus. Simon Peter 
 answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living 
 God." Jesus said to him, " Happy are you, Simon, 
 son of Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this 
 to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Yoiu- name 
 is Peter, [rock,] and on this rock I will build my 
 church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
 it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heav- 
 en, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be 
 also bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose 
 on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." (See Key.) About 
 eight days after this, he was transfigured on a moun- 
 tain, and had with him Peter, James and John, whom 
 he showed a glimpse of his gloiy. Peter, being in an 
 ecstasy, and seeing Moses and Elias with Jesus, ex- 
 claimed, " Lord, it is good for us to be here ; if you 
 please, we will make three tents, one for you, one 
 for IMoscs, and one for Elias !" Matt. xvii. Luke 
 ix. 28. 
 
 One day, as Jesus was speaking concerning the for- 
 giveness of injuries, (Matt, xviii. 21, 22.) Peter asked 
 him how often they niust forgive ; whether seven 
 times. Jesus answered. Seventy times seven. On 
 another occasion, (Matt. xix. 27.)^ as he was speaking 
 of the dangei- of riches, Peter said to him, " Lord, we 
 have left all to follow thee ; what reward shall we 
 have ?" Jesus answered, " An hundred-fold, even in 
 this world, and in the other world eternal life." 
 
 On the Wednesday liefore his passion, as they sat 
 on the mount of Olives, he, with the other apostles, 
 asked Jesus, when the tem|)le was to be destroyed. 
 On Thursday he was sent with John to j)repare for 
 the passover; and in the evening, wiien Jesus was at 
 table, and began to speak of him who should betray 
 
 him, Peter made signs to John, to ask him who this 
 could be. After supper, the disciples disputed who 
 should be the greatest ; upon which Jesus, laying 
 aside his garments, waslied their feet, to give them 
 an example of humility. Peter reluctantly consent- 
 ed, and that not till after Jesus had told him that if 
 he did not wash his feet, he could have no part in 
 him, John xiii. 6 — 10. Just before the apprehension 
 of our Lord, he cautioned Peter of his danger: "Pe- 
 ter, Satan has desired to sift you as men sift wheat : 
 — but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not 
 fail ; and when you are converted, confirm your 
 brethren." Peter declared he was ready to follow 
 his Master every where, even to death ; but Jesus 
 foretold to him, that he would abjure him three times 
 that very night, before the cock should crow. When 
 supper was ended, our Saviour went to the garden 
 of Olives, taking Peter, James and John apart, as 
 witnesses of his agony. Here Peter, though he had 
 lately shown so much resolution, fell asleep with the 
 rest ; which occasioned Jesus' affectionate reproof: 
 — " Do j'ou sleep, Simon ? Could you not watch with 
 me one hour?" Mark xiv. 37 ; Matt. xxvi. 40, &c. 
 
 Judas having come out with the soldiers to seize 
 Jesus, Peter drew his sword, and cut oft' the right 
 ear of Malchus, servant to the high-priest ; which 
 Jesus perceiving, bade him put up his sword, adding, 
 those who fight with the sword perish by the swoi-d ; 
 and at the same time healing Malchus's ear, John 
 xviii. 10, tS:c. Jesus being led to the house of^Caia- 
 phas, Peter followed at a distance, and mingled with 
 the soldiers and servants in the hall. While warm- 
 ing himself at the fire, a maid-servant said, " Surely 
 this man was with Jesus of Nazareth !" But Peter 
 answered, "I know not what you say; I do not 
 so much as know the man." A short time afterwards, 
 another maid recognized him. But Peter denied it 
 with an oath ; as he did a third time. At this mo- 
 ment the cock crowed the second time, and Jesus, 
 being in the hall, and not far from Peter, turned and 
 looked on him, which bringing to his remembrance 
 that Jesus had said to him, before the cock crowed 
 twice he should deny him thrice, he rushed out of 
 the house and wept bitterlv, Matt. xxvi. 73, 75; 
 Mark xiv. 30, 72. 
 
 It is said that his compunction was so acute that 
 he remained in secret, and in tears, during the whole 
 time of our Saviour's passion (Friday and Saturday;) 
 but on Sunday morning Jesus being risen, and Mary 
 having been at the tomb, and not finding the body of 
 Jesus, she ran into the city, to tell Peter and John 
 that tlieir Master was taken away. The two disci- 
 })les ran to the sepid(;hre, and Peter saw the linen 
 clothes in which the body had been wrapped. They 
 returned to Jerusalem, not understanding what had 
 come to pass ; but on the same day our Saviour ap- 
 peared to Peter, John xx. ; Luke xxiv. 12, 34, &c. ; 
 Mark xvi. 7. 
 
 Some days after this, while Peter with some oth- 
 ers of the aposdes were fishing on the lake of Gen- 
 nesareth, Jesus visited and dined with them ; and 
 after dinner gave to Peter the memorable and im- 
 pressive charge, " Feed my sheep ;" adding, " I tell 
 you for a truth, that when you were young, you 
 girded yourself and went where you pleased; but 
 now you are old, another shall gird you, and lead 
 you where you would not go." 
 
 From this time, I'etcr's zeal in his Master's service 
 was unabatinir, and his boldness not to be subdued. 
 On the day of Pentecost, he stood forth in the defence 
 of his brethren, who were charged by the unthinking
 
 PETER 
 
 [ ?41 ] 
 
 PETER 
 
 Jews with drunkenness, and so powerfully urged the 
 completion of the prophecies in the person of Jesus, 
 that a great number were converted," Acts ii. When 
 taken Lefbre the Sanhedrim, with his companion 
 John, in consequence of having healed the cripple, 
 at the Beautiful gate of the temple, he boldly and un- 
 dauntedly charged that corrupt body vvitii having 
 crucified the Messiah, and refused, at the risk of his 
 lite, to refrain from preaching the truth to the people. 
 Acts iv. 
 
 Upon several other occasions, Peter was subjected 
 to imprisonment and scourging, in consefpience of 
 his zeal and fervor in the service of his divine Mas- 
 ter ; but none of these things moved him, nor retard- 
 ed his labors in publishing the gospel. After having 
 visited Samaria, where Philip had been declaring the 
 word of life, and conferring the Holy Spirit upon 
 many of those who had believed, Peter visited the 
 disciples from city to city. At Lydda, he cured 
 iEneas, who had been paralytic for eight years. At 
 Joppa, he restored Tabitha to liic. And at Cpesarea 
 of Palestine, he opened the door of faitii to the Gen- 
 tiles, by converting and baptizing the family of Cor- 
 nelius, a man who feared God, and desired to be 
 instructed in the gospel. Acts ix. 10. 
 
 Upon his return to Jerusalem, his iellow a[)0stles, 
 who did not yet fully understand the economy of 
 God, in his purposes toward the Gentiles, charged 
 hinr with a violation of the law, in his intercourse 
 with the uncircumciscd ; Peter, however, related the 
 whole affair to them from the beginning, which led 
 them to rejoice and glorify God, in that he had also 
 granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life, Acts xi. 
 
 It is thought that soon after this, Peter went to An- 
 tioch, where he founded a Christian church, A. D. 
 3G; and after visiting Asia Minor, Bithynia, Cappa- 
 docia, Pontus, and perhaps some of the provinces 
 further north, he returned to Jerusalem, where he 
 was, A. D. 44, at the passover. In this year, Herod 
 Agrippa began a persecution against the church, in 
 which James the greater, brother of John, was slain, 
 and Peter apprehended for the purpose of being put 
 to death. On the very night before he was to have 
 been executed, however, and while he was sleeping 
 loaded with chains, between two soldiers, the angel 
 of the Lord awoke him, opened the prison, and 
 brought him out into the street. At the house of 
 Mary the mother of John, he found many of the 
 faithful assembled at prayer, on his belialf, and they 
 all glorified God for his deliverance. Acts xii. 
 
 He soon afterwards left Jerusalem, and we lose 
 sight of him, till the council at Jerusalem, A. D. 51. 
 At Antioch, Peter, as his custom had l)een, ate and 
 drank with the Gentiles, without regarding the Mo- 
 saic distinctions of meats. But when some convert- 
 ed Jews from Jerusalem arrived, being unwilling to 
 offend them, he separated himself from the convert- 
 ed Gentiles. Paul, however, fearing this might be 
 interpreted as if meant to revoke and annul what he 
 had determined in the council of Jerusalem, ex- 
 postulated with him on the impropriety of such a 
 course, and Peter submitted to his judgment, Gal. 
 ii. 11. 
 
 From this time, little is known of Peter. Eusebius 
 informs us that Origen, in the third tome of his Ex- 
 position on Genesis, wrote to this puri)osc : " Peter 
 is supposed to have preached to the Jews of the dis- 
 persion in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Ca|)padocia 
 and Asia. And at length, coming to Rome, was cru- 
 cified with his head downwards; himself having de- 
 sired that it might be in that manner." Some learned 
 
 men think, that Peter, in the latter part of his life, 
 went into Chaldea, and there wrote his First Epistle ; 
 because the salutation of the church at Babylon is 
 sent in it. But their opinion is not supported by the 
 testimony of ancient writers. Lai-dner says, " It 
 seems to me, that when Peter left Judea, he went 
 again to Antioch, the chief city of Syria. Thence 
 he might go into other parts of the continent, par- 
 ticularly Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and 
 Bithynia, which are expressly mentioned at the be- 
 ginning of his First Epistle. In those countries he 
 might stay a good while. It is veiy likely that he 
 did so ; and that he was well acquainted with the 
 Christians there, to whom he afterwards wrote two 
 epistles. When he left those parts, I think he went 
 to Rome ; but not till after Paul had been in that 
 city, and was gone from it." 
 
 Many ancient writers have said, that Peter waa 
 crucified at Rome, while Nero persecuted the Chris- 
 tians. And their opinion has been espoused by 
 learned men, both Pajjists and Protestants. Some, 
 however, part'T'ularly Scaliger, Salmasius, Spanheim, 
 and others, deny that Peter ever was at Rome. If 
 the reader wishes to see the evidence from antiquity, 
 on which Peter's having been at Rome rests, he will 
 find it fiilly set forth by Lardner, who concludes his 
 inquiry as follows : " This is the general, uncontra- 
 dicted, disinterested testimony of ancient writers in 
 the several jiarts of the world, Greeks, Latins, Syri- 
 ans. As our Lord's prediction concerning the death 
 of Peter is recorded in one of the foiu* Gospels, it is 
 very likely that Christians would observe the accom- 
 plishment of it, which must have been in some place. 
 And about this place, there is no difference among 
 Christian writers of ancient times. Never any other 
 place was named, besides Rome ; nor did any other 
 city ever glory in the martyrdom of Peter. It is not 
 for our honor, nor for our interest, either as Chris- 
 tians or Protestants, to deny the truth of events as- 
 certained by early and well-attested tradition. If any 
 make an ill use of such facts, we are not accountable 
 for it. We are not, from a dread of such abuses, to 
 overthrow the credit of all history, the consequences 
 of which would be fatal." (Macknight.) 
 
 Epistles of Peter. — We have two epistles attrib- 
 uted to Peter, by the common consent of the Chris- 
 tian church. The genuineness of the First has never 
 been disputed, and is referred to as his accredited 
 work, by several of the apostolical fathers. Com- 
 mentators have been divided in opinion, as to the 
 persons to whom this Epistle was primarily address- 
 ed ; the best sustained hypothesis is, that it was in- 
 tended for the Jewish and Gentile believers, indis- 
 criminately, who were resident in the provinces 
 enumerated in the introductory verses. It was writ- 
 ten from Babylon, but whether the Chaldean or the 
 Egyptian Babylon, cannot be determined. (See Bab- 
 ylon.) The Second Epistle was addressed to the 
 same |>crsons as the former one ; its general design 
 being to confirm the doctrines which had been de- 
 livered in that, and to excite the Christian converts 
 to a course of conduct becoiTiing in every respect 
 their high jHofession of attachment to Christ. 
 
 Mr. Taylor conjectures that the First Epistle of 
 Peter might be a kind of response to the Epistle of 
 Paul to the Galatians. It is remarkable, he observes, 
 that the tenor of this address is altogether indepen- 
 dent of any respect to the Mosaic economy ; that is 
 scarcely alluded to, certainly, it is not recommended. 
 Nevertheless, it is evident from the energy of the 
 writer's expressions, (chap. v. 12.) " I have written to
 
 PHA 
 
 I 742 ] 
 
 PHARAOH 
 
 you, exhorting you, and strongly testifying that this 
 IS the true grace of God in which ye stand," that he 
 felt a constraining necessity for clearly stating, as it 
 were, under his hand, those principles which some, 
 in their excess of zeal for legal observances, had 
 confused, not to say impaired. And these persons 
 were known to him: he does not mention them, but 
 he corrects them : neither does he mention Paul, but 
 he supports him. In his Second Epistle, however, 
 he names Paid explicitly, and reminds his readers 
 that this apostle had written an epistle " to them," iii. 
 15. We have no evidence, however, of any epistle 
 written by Paul to Pontus, Cappadocia, Asia or 
 Bithynia : he wrote to the Galatians, and to them 
 only. [But if Paul wrote to the Hebrews, they were 
 of the same nation as those to v/hom Peter writes in 
 their dispersion. See the Bibl. Repository, vol. ii. 
 p. 412, seq. R.] It is a hazarded o])inion of Mac- 
 knight, that " the persons to whom Peter's Epistles 
 were sent were, for the most part, Paul's con\erts." 
 Surely not. Peter says, (i. 16.) " We made known to 
 you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," 
 and then he alludes to the transfiguration ; which 
 he repeats, as what he had heretofore related to 
 them. Paul could not do this. 
 
 There is no mark of time in the First Epistle by 
 which to fix its date. The Second fixes itself to a 
 period not long before the decease of the writer. The 
 interval between them might be longer or shorter. 
 If we assign an early date to the First, we must con- 
 sider well where Sylvanus, if he were Paul's Silas, 
 could be at the time : if we assign a later date, we 
 must find circumstances so adjusted as to allow that 
 Paul should receive, from the Sylvanus of Peter, the 
 satisfaction of perusing Peter's Epistle, and of seeing 
 corrected the errors of those who were misleading 
 the Galatians. Each of these propositions has its 
 difficulty, and must not be rashly determined on. It 
 is clear, that Peter, when he wrote his Second Epis- 
 tle, knew that Paul's writings were numerous ; though 
 it seems advisable to take the term all 'his Epistles,' 
 rather generally than absolutely, rather loosely than 
 strictly. 
 
 PETRA, the capital of Idumea. See Sela. 
 
 PHARAOH. It has generally been supposed, that 
 the term " Pharaoh" is not employed by any Greek 
 authors, prior to the establishment of Christianity ; 
 but only occurs in Scripture, and in the works of the 
 Jewish historian, Josephus. Dr. Willan, however, 
 has shown, from some passages in the Euterpe of 
 Herodotus, that this ancient writer intended to ex- 
 press in Grecian characters the same word, which is 
 originally Egyptian ; and that he has also very satis- 
 factorily explained its meaning. Josephus, in his 
 Jewish Antiquities, (b. viii. ch. vi.) says, "The title 
 of Pharaoh tvas applied to the kings of Egy])t, from 
 Menes to the time of Solomon, but not afterwards ; 
 the word signified a king, in the Egyjitian language." 
 According to the information received by Herodotus 
 and Diodorus Siculus, from the Hierophants of 
 Egypt, that country had been governed during a pe- 
 riod of] 8,000 years, first by its principal divinities, 
 and afterwards by a dynasty of heroes, or demi-gods, 
 the offspring of the former ; and lastly, by a series of 
 mortal princes, wiio reigned during another |)eriod 
 of more than 14,000 years, conunencing with Menes, 
 and terminating with Psanunenitus, when Egypt be- 
 came a province of the Persian empire. Herodotus 
 Bays, from Menes, the first mortal king, to Sethos, 
 priest of Vulcan, (contemporary with the Assyrian 
 monarch Sennacherib and with Hezekiah, prince 
 
 of Judah,) the Egyptian priests told him, "a period 
 of 11,340 years, or 341 generations, had elapsed, in 
 which there had been as many high-priests, and the 
 same number of kings ; and, during that time, no di- 
 vinity had appeared under a human form." The mor- 
 tal i)rinces, who are said to have succeeded the goda, 
 were denominated by the Egyptians, Pharaohs, or 
 Pharaons ; or, as Herodotus writes it, Pirums, Heb. 
 n>'-'3, Paroh. He sav/ colossal statues of them, and 
 their contemporary high-priests, in the spacious 
 temple at Thebes, where the pi-iests informed him, 
 "that each of those colossal figures was a Pirumis, 
 descended from a Piromis ; and further asserted, 
 that this had imiformly occurred to the number of 
 341, in which series there was neither a god nor a 
 hero." He further remarks, that Piromis, in the 
 Egyptian language, is expressive of dignity and 
 excellence {r(u/.oxitya,9lu): it seems, therefore, analo- 
 gous to the title of Augustus, conferred bj' the Ro- 
 man senate on Octavius Csesar, and retained by his 
 successors in the empire. 
 
 Mr. Bryant, in his " x\nalysis of Ancient Mytholo- 
 gy," has made a distinction between Pharaon, as the 
 word is written by Josephus, and the Pirum of He- 
 rodotus. The former term, he thinks, is compounded 
 of /'Aland ourah, implying "the voice of Orus ;" be- 
 cause "it was no unusual thing, among the ancients, 
 to call the words of their prince, the voice of God." 
 The observations of Herodotus and Josephus, so far, 
 however, coincide, as to make it evident they meant 
 the same title, or denomination, although they may 
 have both, perhaps, somewhat altered the original 
 word, by expressing it in the characters of their re- 
 spective languages. The Greek writers, in general, 
 disfigure the names of foreign places and persons, by 
 adding the usual terminations of their own nouns, by 
 transposing consonants, and by inserting vowels, in 
 order to soften words of a hai'sh sound ; thus, the 
 name of the Persian king, Khosrou, is by them ex- 
 pressed Koiiros ; Ardshir is Artaxerxes ; Baal is 
 Belus ; Addir-Dag is Atergatis ; Zeratusht is Zoroas- 
 ter ; Phrat, or A])hrat, is Euphiates ; Ashur is Assyr- 
 ia ; Ashdod is Azotus ; and Ja])ha is expressed Jopp^. 
 An instance of a change similar to that of Pharaoh 
 and Pirom, occurs in the name of the Egyptian king 
 Hophra, who is called by Herodotus ajui Diodorus, 
 Apries. In a treatise " On Providence," written by 
 Synesius, the celebrated bishop of Cyrenc, there is a 
 passage which coincides with and illustrates the ob- 
 servations of Herodotus. He says, " The father of 
 Osiris and Typhon was, at the same time, a kuig, a 
 priest, and a i)hilosopher. The Egyptian histories, 
 also, rank him among the gods ; for the Egyptians 
 are disposed to believe, that many divinities reigned 
 in succession, before their country was governed by 
 men, and before their kings were reckoned in a gen- 
 ealogical series by Peirom, after Peiroin." 
 
 Hence it appears that Pharaoh is a title signifying 
 dignity, honor, exaltation. May it not be analogous 
 to the title of highness among ourselves ? The read- 
 er will notice the customaiy, and perhaps inevitable, 
 variations made by the Greeks, in writing, and, no 
 doubt, in pronouncing, oriental names ; because it 
 may tend to moderate our sur[)rise at those variations 
 of certain names of the Old Testament, which occur 
 in the New TestaunMit, and which is especially no- 
 ticeable in the genealogies of Matthew and Luke. 
 
 [The word Pharaoh, according to Josephus, (Ant. 
 viii. 6. 2.) mid in the Co|)tic, (Jaljlonsky, Opusc. i. p. 
 374.) signifies king ; and comes from the Coptic word 
 ouro with the article pi, \\z.pi-ouro,pouro, phouro, i. e.
 
 PHARAOH 
 
 743 
 
 PHA 
 
 THE KKNG. The Hcbrcws, in adopting this word into 
 their own language, (as also in the name Moses,) gave 
 it a form adapted to a Hebrew etymology, and pre- 
 sening at the same time, as nearly as possible, the 
 original signification of the name. Hence theyAvrote 
 it rf\-;:, as if from y-\s, leader, prince. (See the Bibl. 
 Repository, vol. i. p. 581.) 
 
 Bochart supposes that Pharaoh signifies a crocodile ; 
 and it is a somewhat strikmg coincidence, that Cham- 
 pollion has found, that the word ouro, with the article 
 pi-ouro, is the Egj'ptian name of the sei-pent or dragon 
 LFi-a?us, which is pointed out on all the monuments 
 as a characteristic sign of Egyptian sovereigns. This 
 is a singular congruity ; and it seems to explain the 
 true signification of the title Pharaoh, and the reason 
 why this symbol is placed upon the royal head-dresses. 
 (See Greppo's Essay on the Hieroglyphic System, 
 &c. p. 85.) Does not this afford some illustration of 
 the passage in Ezek. xxLx. 3 ? " Behold I am against 
 thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that 
 lieth m the midst of his rivei-s," &c. 
 
 Of the kings of Egypt there are not less than eleven 
 or twelve mentioned in Scripture, all of whom bore 
 the general title of Pharaoh, except three. Along 
 with this title, two of them have also other proper 
 names, Necho and Hophra. The following is their 
 order: some of them have been identified, by the la- 
 bors of ChampoUion, with kings whose proper names 
 we know from other som'ces ; while others still re- 
 main in obscurity. 
 
 1. Pharaoh, (Gen. xii. 15, seq.) in the time of Abra- 
 ham. (Greppo, p. 89.) 
 
 2. Pharaoh, the master of Joseph, Gen. xxxviii. 
 36 ; xli. &c. Some suppose that the Pharaoh to 
 whom Joseph became prime minister, was the 
 son of the one mentioned iii Gen. xxxviii. 36. 
 (Greppo, p. 91, seq.) 
 
 3. Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph, and under 
 whom Moses was born ; perhaps Ramses Mei- 
 amoun, Ex. i. 8, seq. (Greppo, p. 94.) 
 
 4. Pharaoh, under whom the Israelites left Egjpt, 
 and who perished in the Red sea, Ex. v. — xiv. 
 Probabty Amenophis. (Greppo, p. 97, seq.) 
 
 5. Pharaoh, in the time of David, 1 Kings xi. 
 19 — 21. Perhaps Psonsenes. (Greppo, p. 112, 
 seq.) 
 
 6. Pharaoh, the father-in-law of Solomon; 1 Kings 
 iii. 1 ; vii. 8 ; ix. 16, 24. Probably Osochor. 
 (Greppo, p. 114.) 
 
 7. Shishak, near the end of Solomon's reign, and 
 under Rehoboam, 1 Kings xi. 40 ; xiv. 25, 26 ; 
 2 Chron. xii. 3. Sesonchosis. (Greppo, p. 117.) 
 From this time onward the proper names of the 
 Egyptian kings are mentioned m Scripture. 
 
 8. Zerah, the Ethiopian, 2 Chron. xiv. 9, seq. 
 Rosenmiiller, with good reason, supposes him to 
 have been a chief of the Arabian Ethio])ia, hav- 
 ing no connection with Egvpt. (See Cush, p. 
 323. Greppo, p. 120.) 
 
 9. So, or Sevechus, contemporary with Ahaz, 2 
 Kings xvii. 4. (Greppo, p. 124.) 
 
 10. TiRHAKA, kuig of Ethiopia and Egypt, in the 
 time of Hezekiah, 2 Kings xix.9 ; Isa. xxxvii. 9. 
 Probably the Tearcho of Strabo, and the Taradcs 
 of Manctho. (Greppo, p. 125.) 
 
 1 1. Pharaoh Nkcho, in the time of Josiali, 2 Kings 
 xxiii. 29, 30, seq. ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 20 — 24, seq. 
 .'Vec/)0, the son of Psannnetichus. (Greppo, p. 127.) 
 See Egypt, p. 373. 
 
 12. Pharaoh Hophra, contemporary with Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, Jer. xliv. 30. He was the grandson 
 
 of Necho, and is the Apries of Herodotus. See 
 Apries. (Greppo, p. 129.) 
 
 (See, in respect to all these kings, the article Egypt, 
 p. 373, seq. and Rosenmiiller's Bibl. Geograph. vol. 
 iii.) *R. 
 
 PHARISEES. This was the most celebrated and 
 influential of the Jewish sects Ln the time of our Sa- 
 vioin-, but its origin, like that of its antagonist and rival 
 body the Sadducees, is involved m obscurity. The 
 prophet Isaiah, indeed, as Brlicker remarks, found 
 among the Jews in his tune several appearances of 
 the spirit and character which afterwards distinguished 
 this sect ; (Isa. Iviii. 2, 3 ; Ixv. 5.) but, as he adds, we 
 have no proof tliat they existed as a distinct body in 
 the prophetic age ; nor do we find any traces of them 
 prior to the tune of the fii'st Ptolemies, when oral tra- 
 ditions, together with allegorical interpretations of the 
 written law, ^vere mtroduced. Although we meet 
 with no satisfactory evidence of the existence of the 
 sect of the Hasidaei, which Scaliger (Eleuch. Trihse- 
 res, cap. xxii. p. 170. Reland. Antiq. Sac. p. 2. cap. 
 ix. § 13.) supposes to have been the foundation of the 
 Pharisaic sect, the writer just cited thinks there can 
 be little reason to doubt that it arose soon after the 
 return from the Babylonish captivity, in consequence 
 of the uitroduction of traditionaiy institutions and al- 
 legorical mteqjretations. That it was established, and 
 had acquired great authority, in the time of Hyrcanus, 
 and of his sons, Aristobulus and Alexander, has al- 
 ready been stated in the article Alexander, III. The 
 Jewish historian, who washimself of this sect, speaks 
 of it as flourishing in the time of Jonathan the high- 
 priest, together with those of the Sadducees and Es- 
 senes, which invalidates the conjecture of Basnage, 
 that the Pharisaic sect owed its rise to the separation 
 which took place between the schools of Hillel and 
 Shammai; for the Jewish -smters agree that these 
 celebrated doctors did not flourish earlier than a hun- 
 ch'ed years before the Christian era. 
 
 But although the exact time of the first appearance 
 of the Pharisaic sect cannot be ascertamed, its origin 
 may easily be traced back to the same period when 
 the Sadducean heresy arose. From the time that the 
 notion of supernumeraiy acts of self-denial, devotion 
 and charity was mtroduced under the sanction of the 
 traditionary law, a wide door was open for supersti- 
 tion, religious pride and hypocrisy. Whilst, on the 
 other hand, some would despise the weakness, or the 
 affectation, of professing to be pious and holy beyond 
 the prescription of the written law, others, through a 
 fanatical disposition, or that they might provide them- 
 selves with a convenient cloak for their vices, would 
 become scrupulous obsei-vers of the traditional insti- 
 tutions. And when these pretenders to extraordinaiy 
 sanctity saw that many of those who obsen-ed only 
 the written kn\ , not only disclaimed all works of su- 
 pererogation, but even renounced the hope of future 
 rewards, they would think it necessarj- to separate 
 themselves into a distinct body, that they might the 
 more successfully display their sanctity and piety. 
 These conjectures are confinncd by the name of the 
 sect, which is derived from tlie word on', to separate. 
 Their separation consisted chiefly in certain distinc- 
 tions respecting food, clothing, and religious ceremo- 
 nies. But this docs not seem to have inten-upted the 
 uniformity of religious worship, in which the Jewg 
 of everv sect appear to have always united. 
 
 The" peculiar character and spirit of Pharisaism 
 consisted in the strict obsenance of the oral law, 
 which they believed to have been delivered to Moses 
 by an archangel, during his forty days' residence in
 
 PHARISEES 
 
 [ 744 ] 
 
 PHARISEES 
 
 mount Sinai, and to have been by him committed to 
 seventy elders, who transmitted it to posterity. Their 
 superstitious reverence for this law, and tlie apparent 
 sanctity of manners which it produced, rendered them 
 exceedingly popular. The multitude, for the most 
 pai't, espoused their intei'est ; and the gi-eat, who 
 feared theia* artifice, were frequently obliged to court 
 their favor. Hence they obtained the highest offices 
 both in the state and the priesthood, and had great 
 weight both in public and private affairs: in some in- 
 stances they proved so ti'oublesome to the reigning 
 powers, as to subject themselves to severe penalties. 
 Hyrcanus and Alexander restrained then- increasing 
 influence, and treated them with gi-eat rigor. Under 
 Alexander, they regained their consequence ; the dis- 
 sensions between the schools of Hillel and Shammai, 
 (see Alexandra,) a little before the Christian era, in- 
 creased their number and power ; and they continued, 
 till the destruction of Jerusalem, to enjoy the cliief 
 rooms in the Sanhedrim and the synagogue. After 
 that period, when the other sects were dispersed, the 
 Pharisees resumed then- authority ; and though the 
 name has been dropped, then* tenets and customs have 
 ever since prevailed among the Jewish rabbinites ; so 
 that, at this day, except the Karaites, scarcely any 
 Jews are to be found who are not, in reality, of the 
 Pharisaic sect. 
 
 The principal dogmas of the sect were these : — The 
 oral law, delivered from God to Moses, on mount 
 Sinai, by the angel Metraton, and transmitted to pos- 
 terity by tradition, is of equal authority whh the 
 written law. By obsei-ving both of these laws, a man 
 may not only obtain justification with God, but per- 
 form meritorious works of supererogation. Fasting, 
 alms-giving, ablutions and confessions are sufficient 
 atonements for sin. Thoughts and desires are not 
 sinful, unless can-ied into action. God is the Creator 
 of heaven and earth, and governs all things, even the 
 actions of men, by his providence. Man can do noth- 
 ing without divine influence ; which does not, liow- 
 ever, destroy the freedom of the human will. The 
 soul of man is spiritual and immortal. In the invisi- 
 ble world, beneath the earth, rewards and punishments 
 will be dispensed to the virtuous and vicious. The 
 wicked shah be confined m an eternal prison, but the 
 good shall obtain an easy return to life. Besides the 
 soul of man, there are other spirits, or angels, both 
 good and bad. The resurrection of the body is to be 
 expected. (Joseph. Ant. Jud. 1. xiii. c. 9 ; I. xviii. c. 9. 
 Bell. J. 1. ii. c. 12.) 
 
 It appears, from many passages in the Jewish rab- 
 bins, that they held the doctrine of the migration of 
 souls from one body to another ; and it is" probable 
 that they derived it from the ancient Pharisees, and 
 tliese from the oriental philosophers. This metem- 
 psychosis is, however, to be understood in the Pvtha- 
 goric, and not in the Stoic, sense. The Jews, proba- 
 bly, borrowed this error from the Egyptians. There 
 is no reason, as some writers have done, to consider 
 the sect of the Pharisees as a branch of the Stoic 
 school. For though the Pliarisees resembled the Sto- 
 ics in their affectation of peculiar sanctitv, their notion 
 of Divine Providence was essentially different from 
 the Stoical doctrine of Fate; and their cast of man- 
 ners arose from a diflTfront source; that of the Stoics 
 being derived from their idea of the nature of the 
 soul, as a particle of the di\ine nature; and tiiat of 
 the Pliarisees, from a false persuasion that tiie law 
 might be fulfilled, and justification with God obtained, 
 by ceremonial observances. 
 
 The peculiar manners of this sect are sti-on-dv 
 
 marked hi the writings of the evangelists, (Matt. vi. 
 ix. XV. xxiii. ; Lulie vii. &c.) particularly their exact- 
 ness in obsei-vmg the rites and ceremonies of the law, 
 both written and traditionary ; the rigor of their dis- 
 cipline in watchings, fastings and ablutions ; their 
 scrupulous care to avoid every kind of ritual impuri- 
 ty ; their long and frequent prayers, made not only in 
 the synagogues and temple, but in the public streets ; 
 their broad phylacteries on the borders of then- gar- 
 ments, in which were written sentences of the law ; 
 their assiduity in making proselytes ; their ostenta- 
 tious charities ; and, under all this show of zeal and 
 piety, their vanity, avarice, licentiousness and impie- 
 ty, which called forth many severe rebukes from our 
 Saviour. These representations are confirmed by the 
 testimony of the Jewish writers themselves. The 
 Talmudic books mention several distinct classes of 
 Pharisees, under characters which show them to have 
 been deeply immersed in the idlest and most ridicu- 
 lous superstitions. Among these were the Truncated 
 Pharisee, who, that he might appear in profoimd 
 meditation, as if destitute of feet, scarcely lifted them 
 from the ground ; the Mortar Pharisee, who, that his 
 meditations might not be disturbed, wore a deep cap 
 in the shape of a mortar, that would only permit hun 
 to look upon the ground, at his feet ; and the Striking 
 Pharisee, who, shutting his eyes as he walked, to 
 avoid the sight of women, often struck his head 
 against the wall. Such wretched expedients did 
 sonje of these hypocrites make use of to captivate 
 the admiration of the vulgar. (Briicker's Philoso- 
 phy, by Enfield.) 
 
 The sect of the Pharisees, as already hinted, was 
 not extinguished by the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
 the dispersion of the Jews ; for the greater part of 
 those now extant are of this sect, and equally devoted 
 to their traditions, Avhich they call the oral law. 
 They leave ev^ry thing to destiny, except what de- 
 pends on human liberty. They say that all things 
 are in the hand of heaven, except the fear of God ; 
 that is, that in the exercise of acts of piety they have 
 free will, and may voluntarily determine themselves 
 to good or evil. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, in his additions to Calmet, (whose ac- 
 count of this sect we have altogether rejected, be- 
 cause of its prolix and unsatisfactory nature,) suggests, 
 that we are so much accustomed to consider the 
 Pharisees as public and leading men in the Jewish 
 government, that we usually overlook the circum- 
 stance, that the people also, the mass of the nation, 
 were Pharisees; — that is, of that party, as contradis- 
 tinguished from the Sadducees, the Essenes, &c. 
 So Paul says, " I am a Pharisee, the son of a Phari- 
 see ;" (Acts xxiii. 6.) but we have no i-eason to sup- 
 pose that he, or his fannly, had ever had any share 
 in the government. He appeals to one of their dis- 
 tinguishing tenets — "For the hope and resurrection 
 of the dead, I am now called in question." This 
 was felt by those of the Pharisees who were in office ; 
 who took this occasion to triumph over their antago- 
 nists the Sadducees, by ariruing, " If as])iritual exist- 
 ence, whether a pure s|)irit, or a departed human 
 spirit, have spoken to this man — as he affirms — let 
 us not fight against God." This was not the first 
 mortification suffered by the Sadducees, on account 
 of Christianity, for we read (Acts iv.) that "the 
 priests, the captains of the temple, and the Saddu- 
 cees, [not the Pharisees,] imprisoned the apostles, 
 Ijeing grieved that they taught, in the recent instance 
 of Jesus, to which they appealed in proof of their 
 doctrine, the resurrection of the dead." Hence we
 
 PHI 
 
 [745] 
 
 PHI 
 
 find Gamaliel, a Pharisee, speaking in behalf of the 
 apostles ; wlicreas, we never find a Sadducec uttering 
 a syllable in their favor, or showing them any mercy ; 
 it was, no doubt to a certain degree, favorable to the 
 church at Jerusalem, that the power of the Sadducees 
 was counterbalanced by their fear of the Pharisees. 
 
 It will naturally be imagined, that a sect which 
 held the existence of spu-its separate from the 
 body, would be best disposed towards the doctrine 
 of a risen Saviour, and accordingly we find, that the 
 Jewish Christian church was greatly composed of 
 Pharisees, (Actsxv. 5.) who insisted on the universal 
 necessity or observing the Mosaic institutions. They 
 would iiave imposed on the Gentiles those rituals 
 which themselves adhered to, being Hebrews. The 
 same spirit animated the body of Jewish believers 
 long after ; " Thou seest, brother, said James to Paul, 
 (Acts xxi. 20.) how many thousands of Jews there 
 are who believe, and they are all zealous of the law," 
 that is, zealous Pharisees, though Christian believers. 
 Nor was this disposition subdued, till after the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem had rendered the observance 
 of the legal ceremonies impossible. The Pharisaic 
 Christians retained the national rites : the bishops of 
 their church were circumcised ; and the children 
 were both circumcised and baptized ; as they are at 
 this day, where the churches are descendants of an- 
 cient Jewish converts. 
 
 It would seem, from the Talmud, that there were 
 at least seven distinctions, or sects, among the Phari- 
 sees. So Paul says, "according to the most strict, 
 the straitest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee." 
 Some were, probably, less severe in their opinions 
 than othei-s. 
 
 PHARPAR,a river of Damascus. See in Abana. 
 
 PHASAEL, eldest son of Antipater the Idumcean, 
 and brother of Herod the Great. See Antipater, I. 
 
 PHEBE, see Phcebe. 
 
 PHENICE, or Phenicia, see Ph(enicia. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, a city of Lydia, in Asia Minor, 
 where was one of the seven Asiatic churches. Rev. 
 iii. 7. Philadelphia was so called from Attalus Phil- 
 adelphus, king of Pergamus, by whom it was found- 
 ed. It stood on a branch of mount Tmolus, by the 
 river Cogam us, about twenty-eight miles east of Sar- 
 dis. It greatly suffered by frequent earthquakes, 
 owing to its vicinity to Catakekaumene ; and it was 
 anciently matter of surprise, that it was not on this 
 account abandoned. It is now a mean but consid- 
 erable town, of large extent, with a population of 
 about 1000 Greek Christians, who have a resident 
 bishop, and about 20 inferior clergy. (See Mission- 
 ary Herald, 1821, p. 25.3, seq.) 
 
 PHILE3ION, a rich citizen of Colosse, in Phrygia, 
 who, Calmet thinks, was converted to the Christian 
 faith, with Apphia his wife, by Epaphras, a disciple 
 of Paul ; but it would appear from the expression in 
 Philem. verse 19, "Thou owestto me even thy own- 
 self, besides," that Philemon was really a convert of 
 Paul ; unless we could admit that the apostle had 
 formerly been the means of saving his life ; for which 
 we have no warrant. Some have supposed that 
 Archippus was son to Philemon ; and as the apostle 
 terms him, "our fellow soldier," it is possible, that 
 the connection had been of long standing, and con- 
 sequently, much intercourse might have taken place 
 between Paul and Philemon, distinct from any refer- 
 ence to Philemon's situation at Colosse. Lightfoot 
 has this thought; and Michaelis adopts it; but if 
 Archippus were companion of Paul the aged, he was 
 too old to be son to Philemon : not to insist, that no 
 94 
 
 reason can be assigned why this son is distinguished 
 from the rest of Philemon's family. He might be 
 brother to Philemon, (or to Apphia,) and, living with 
 him, is placed after Apphia; but before the young 
 members of the family, to whom he was uncle. This 
 conjecture seems to be the most probable; and itagrees 
 with the suj)posable time of life at which Archippus 
 had (lately) been chosen to an office of deaconship. 
 
 Though it is usually said that Paul had converted 
 and baptized Onesimus, the run-away slave of Phi- 
 lemon, (see Onesimus,) at Rome ; yet from the phrase 
 (Col. iv.9.) " who is one of you," it is natural to infer, 
 that Onesinuis had professed Christianity before his 
 elopement ; (so Epaphras is called one of themselves, 
 chap. i. 7.) otherwise, he could be no member of the 
 church at Colosse : and very likely, this transgression 
 of a professor had not only rnortified Philemon ex- 
 tremely, but had scandalized the church, and had 
 become publicly notorious among the heathen also. 
 
 Philemon was undoubtedly a man of property ; and 
 like Gains, the lady Eclecta, and Phcebe, he exercised 
 great hospitality towards Christian brethren, espe- 
 cially evangelists. But from the direction of the 
 apostle "to prepare him a lodging" (comp. P.Iac- 
 knight, et al. in loc.) in a hired house, in the city, 
 wiiere he might receive all visitors, it would appear 
 that Philemon's premises were not very extensive. 
 
 Philemon might have been a deacon in or of the 
 churches at Cotosse, but the term "fellow laborer" 
 is not sufficient to prove that he was a bishop ; though 
 it implies a previous personal knowledge, and per- 
 haps much confidential communication, between the 
 parties. If we might add a personal knowledge of 
 Philemon, by those also who salute him in Paul's 
 letter, — Timothy, Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, De- 
 mas, Luke, — it 'would greatly heighten our concep- 
 tion of this good man's character, and suggest a vari- 
 ety of occasions on which he might have rendered 
 the brethren services equally extensive and important. 
 
 PHILETUS, an apostate Christian, mentioned l)y 
 Paul in connection with Hymeuseus, 2 Tim. ii. 16. 
 
 I. PHILIP, or Herod-Philip, (Mark vi. 17 ; Luke 
 iii. 19 ; Matt. xiv. 3.) son of Herod the Great. See 
 Herod-Philip. 
 
 II. PHILIP, the apostle, was a native of Bethsaida, 
 in Galilee, and was called by our Saviour, at the be- 
 ginning of his ministry, (Jo'lm i. 43, 44.) and about a 
 year afterwards was appointed an apostle. He is sev- 
 eral times mentioned in the Gospels, but the incidents 
 in his life do not require to be enlarged upon. 
 
 III. PHILIP, the second of the seven deacons, 
 (Acts vi. 5.) is thought to have been of Caesarea in 
 Palestine. (See Acts xxi. 8, 9.) After the death of 
 Stephen, nearly all the Christians, except the apostles, 
 having left Jeiusalem, and being dispersed in several 
 places, Philii) went to preach at Sebaste, or Samaria, 
 where he ])erfbrmed several miracles, and converted 
 many j)crsons. Acts viii. He baptized them ; and sent 
 to the apostles at Jerusalem, that they might come 
 and communicate the Holy Ghost to them. Some 
 time after this, Philip was by an angel commanded to 
 travel on the road that leads from Jerusalem to Old 
 Gaza in the way to Egypt. Philip obeyed, and there 
 met with an Ethiopian eunuch, belonging to Candace, 
 queen of Ethiopia, whom he converted and baptized. 
 (See Acts viii. 26.) Being come out of the water, the 
 Spirit of the Lord took him away, and we subse- 
 quently find him at Azotus. He preached the gospel 
 in all the cities he passed through, till he returned to 
 Ccesarea of Palestine, where he probably spent the 
 remainder of his days.
 
 PHILIPPi 
 
 [ 746 
 
 PHI 
 
 PHILIPPI, a city of Macedonia, so called from 
 Philip, king of Macedon, who repaired and beautified 
 it ; whence it lost its former name of Dathos. In A cts 
 xvi. 12, Luke says, " We came to Philippi, which (say 
 our translators) is the chief city of that part of Macedo- 
 nia, and a colony :" but this translation requires cor- 
 rection, to this effect: "Philippi, a city of the frst 
 part of Macedonia ;" Macedonia Prima. The prov- 
 ince of Macedonia had undergone several changes, 
 and had been divided into various portions, which 
 had received various names. At one time it was in 
 SIX divisions ; at another, it was united with Achaia, 
 as Sc,xtus Rufus observes; and on its conquest by 
 Paul us Emilius, it was divided into four provinces, 
 as appears from Li\^. We have however nothing to 
 do with any other than the first division of it. Luke 
 says, " They came to Philippi, a city of the first part 
 of Macedonia ;" and Mr. Taylor has produced a medal 
 which reads, MAKEJONS2N ITP£2TH2, "of the 
 first part of Macedonia ;" which is a complete justifi- 
 cation of the evangelist's description of this district. 
 We ought further to observe, says Mr. Taylor, that 
 though our present copies read noojTij r^g, the Syriac 
 version and Chrysostom read nQwrr,?, aud as this is 
 the reading of the medal, as it agrees with matter of 
 fact, and delivers us from some ambiguities, we risk 
 little in recommending this reading; and its corre- 
 spondent rendering "Philippi, a city of the frst part 
 of Macedonia ;" for, in fact, Amphipolis was (or had 
 been] the chief city of tlie district in wliicli Philippi 
 stoocl. (Livy, lib. xlv. c. 29.) Further, the sacred 
 writer says, Philippi was "a colony ;" intending, no 
 doubt, a Roman colony ; but as this was a favor 
 Philip])i seems to have had little reason to expect, 
 having formerly opposed the interest of iheCcCsarean 
 imperial family, the learned have been embarrassed 
 by the title here given it. However, after long per- 
 
 f)lexities among the critics, Providence brought to 
 ight some coins, in which it is recorded under this 
 character : and one of which makes exj)ress mention, 
 that Julius Caesar liimself had l)estowed the dignity 
 and advantages of a colony on the city of Philippi, 
 which Augustus afterwards confirmed and augment- 
 ed. The legend is, cohonia xvoiista JULia PHiLip;;r. 
 This corroborates the character given to Philippi i)y 
 Luke ; and proves that it had lieen a colony for many 
 years, though no author but liimself, whose writings 
 have reached us, has mentioned it under that charac- 
 ter; or has given us reason to infer at what time it 
 might be thus honorably distinguished. [It is, how- 
 ever, more probable that the reading of the Greek is 
 correct, since there are no various readings ; and 
 Philippi is called the ^frst or chief city" of that part 
 of Macedonia, perhaps from some peculiar privileges 
 bestowed upon it, aufl not as being the capital of that 
 division of the country ; since this honor belonged to 
 Amphipolis in the first division, and to Thessalonic^ in 
 the second. (See Kuinoel on Acts xvi. 12.) R. 
 
 Paul preached hero A. D. 52, and converted several 
 inhabitants; among others, Lydia, a seller of ))ur|)le. 
 He also cast out a Pythonic spirit from a servant mr.id, 
 in consequence of which her masters stirred up the 
 whole city against him, and the magistrates caused 
 him and Silas to l>e seized, whipped, and put into the 
 prison. 
 
 This ill treatment seems to have been recollected 
 by Paul, with a resentment not common to him. He 
 says to the Thessalonians, "We had suffered before, 
 and were shamefully entreated at Philippi." It should 
 seem that the military officers of the colony had as- 
 sumed a ")ower that did not belong to them ; and Paul 
 
 resented their proceedings with the feelings of a sol- 
 dier, as well as of a Roman citizen : — he therefore 
 humbled them in a public manner ; but he did not 
 forget their shameful usage of him and his compan- 
 ion, Silas. 
 
 The converted Philippians were always full of grat- 
 itude for the faith they had received from God, by 
 the ministry of Paul. They assisted him on several 
 occasions; (Phil. iv. 16.) sent him money while in 
 Achaia ; and being informed that he was a prisoner 
 at Rotne, they sent a deputation to him bv Epaphro- 
 ditu^, their bishop, (Phil. iv. 12, 18. A. D. 6U who 
 went a second time, and carried with him the Epistle 
 which is still remaining; and in which the apostle 
 conunends their liberality, and shows great acknowl- 
 edgment for their readiness. This church was left 
 by Paul and Silas, under the ministrations and direc- 
 tion of Luke, whose age and experience qualified him 
 for that difficult office. He continued there a long 
 while, ])robably several years, though he modestly 
 omits all mention of his services. (Comp. Acts xvi. 
 11, et seq. with chap. xx. 6.) 
 
 PHILISTINES, a people that came from the isle 
 of Caphtor (see Caphtor) into Palestine, (Amos ix. 
 7; Jer. xlvii. 4.) being descendants from the Caph- 
 torim, who were derived from the Casluhim, children 
 of fllizraim, (Gen. x. 13, 14.) father of the Egyptians. 
 Moses says (Deut. ii. 23.) that the Caphtorim, being 
 come out of Caphtor, drove out the Avim, which 
 dwelt from Hazerim to Azzah, (or Gaza,) and dwelt 
 in their stead. It is therefore only since the time of 
 the Avim, (or Avites,) or Canaanites, that the Philis- 
 tines came into Palestine, and possessed that country. 
 
 The name of these people is not Hebrew. The 
 Septuagint generally translate it by 'Akklupv/.oi, stran- 
 gers. The LXX sometimes translate Cherethivi by 
 Cretai, Creies, (ooid, I{Q>;rai.) See Ezek. xxv. 16; 
 Zeph. ii. 5, 6. 
 
 The Philistines were a powerful people in Pales- 
 tine, even in Abraham's time, (A. M. 2083.) since they 
 had then kings, and considerable cities. They are 
 not enumerated among the nations devoted to exter- 
 mination, whose temtory the Lord assigned to the 
 Hebrews, proliably because they were not of the 
 cursed seed of Canaan. Joshua, however, did not 
 hesitate to give their land to the Hebrews, and to at- 
 tack them by command from the Lord, because they 
 possessed various districts promised to Israel. But 
 these conquests must have been ill-maintained, since 
 under the Judges, at the time of Saul, and at the be- 
 ginning of the reign of David, the Philistines had 
 their kings and their lords. Their state was divided 
 into five little kingdoms, or satrapies, and they op- 
 pressed Israel during the government of the high- 
 priest FA\, that of Samuel, and during the reign of 
 Saul ; for about 120 years, from A. M. 2848 to 2960. 
 Sliamgar, Samson, Samuel and Said opposed them, 
 and were victorious over them with great slaughter, 
 at various times, but did not reduce their power. 
 They maintained their indejiendence till David sub- 
 dued them, (2 Sam. v. 17 ; viii.) from which time they 
 continued in subjection to the kings of Judah, down 
 to the reign of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, (about 
 246 years,) from A. M. 2960 to A. M. 3116, when 
 they revolted, 2 Chron. xxi. 16. Jehoram made war 
 against them, and probably reduced them to his obe- 
 dience ; because it is observed that they revolted 
 again from Uzziah, who kept them to their duty 
 during his whole reign, 2 Chron. xxvi.6, 7. During 
 th<? unfortunate reign of Ahaz, the Philistines made 
 great havoc in the territory of Judah ; but his son and
 
 PHI 
 
 [747 ] 
 
 PHCE 
 
 successor Hezekiah again subdued thern, 2 Chron. 
 xxviii. 18; 2 Kings xviii. 8. They regained their 
 full hberty, however, under the later kings of Judah ; 
 and we see by tlie menaces uttered against tlieni by 
 tlie prophets Isaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Jcremiali and 
 Ezekiel, that they brought many calamities on Israel, 
 for which God threatened to punish them with great 
 misfortunes. They were partially subdued by Esar- 
 Haddon, king of Assyria, and afterwards by Psam- 
 meticus, king of Egypt ; and there is great probabil- 
 ity that they were reduced by Nebuchadnezzar, as 
 well as the other people of Syria, Phoenicia and Pal- 
 estine, during the siege of Tyre. They afterwards 
 fell under the dominion of the Persians, then under 
 that of Alexander the Great, who destroyed Gaza, 
 the only city of the Phoenicians that dared to oppose 
 him. After the persecution of Antiochus EjMphanes, 
 the Asmoneans took several cities from tliem, which 
 they subjected, and Tiyphon, regent of the kingdom 
 of Syria, gave to Jonathan the government of the 
 whole coast of the Mediterranean, from Tyre to 
 Egypt ; consequently, all the country of the Phi- 
 listines. The name Palestine comes from Philistine, 
 although these people possessed but a small part of 
 this country. See Palestine. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY. Paul cautions the Colossians 
 lest any man spoil them through philosophy, Col. ii. 
 8. In Acts xvii. 18, it is related, that when this 
 apostle came to Athens, he there found Epicurean 
 and Stoic philosophers, who made a jest of his dis- 
 courses ; and in many places of his Epistles, he op- 
 l)oses the supposed wise men, and the false wisdom 
 of the age — that is, the pagan philosophy — to the 
 wisdom of Jesus Christ, and the true religion, which 
 to the philosophers and sophists seemed to be mere 
 folly, because it was built neither on the eloquence 
 nor the subtilty of those who preached it, but on the 
 power of God, and on the operations of the Holy 
 Ghost, which actuated the heai'ts and minds of 
 believers. 
 
 About the time that the several sects of philosophei-s 
 were formed among the Greeks, as the Academics, the 
 Peripatetics, and the Stoics, there arose also among 
 the Jews several sects, as the Essenes, the Pharisees 
 and the Sadducees. The Pharisees had some resem- 
 blance to the Stoics, the Sadducees to the Epicureans, 
 and the Essenes to the Academics. The Pharisees 
 were proud, vain and boasting, like the Stoics: the 
 Sadducees, who denied the immortality of the soul, 
 and the existence of spirits, freed themselves at once, 
 like the Epicureans, from all solicitude about futurity: 
 the Essenes were more moderate, more simple and 
 religious, and therefore approached nearer to the Ac- 
 ademics. 
 
 The philosophers, against whom Paul inveighs, in 
 his Epistle to the Romans, boasted the extent of their 
 knowledge, the purity of their morality, the eloquence 
 of their writings, the strength of their reasonings, and 
 the subtilty of their arguments. Their weaknesses 
 were pride, curiosity, presumption, hypocrisy, anil)i- 
 tion. They ascribed every thing to humati reason, 
 and would be thought superior in all things. Although 
 their lives were disorderly, shameful, and even inju- 
 rious to human nature, yet they would pass on the 
 world for good men ; and while boasting of their 
 knowledge of God, they dishonored him by their 
 actions. To them the apostle opposed the humility 
 of the cross of Christ, the force of his miracles, the 
 purity of his moral doctrines, the depth of his mys- 
 teries, and the evident proofs of his mission. 
 
 Many of the ancient fathers maintain, that the an- 
 
 cient heathen philosophers had nothing valuable but 
 what they borrowed from the Hebrews : — that they 
 had drawn from the fountain of the prophets ; that by 
 the subtile artifice of the devil, some principles of 
 truth slipped into their writings, in order to undermine 
 the truth at such time as God should manifest it to 
 the world. Eusebius has devoted two entire books, 
 (lib, xi. xii.) of his gi-eat work of the Gospel-Prepara- 
 tion, to show that Plato had taken the principal things 
 of his j)hilosophy and theology from the sacred books 
 of the Jews. 
 
 I. PHINEHAS, son of Eleazar, and grandson of 
 Aaron, was the third high-priest of the Jews, (A. M. 
 2571, to about A. M. 2590,) and is particularly com- 
 mended in Scripture for zeal, in vindicating the glory 
 of God, when the Midianites had sent their daughters 
 into the camp of Israel, to tempt the Hebrews to for- 
 nication and idolatiy. Numb. xxv. 7. For his con- 
 duct upon this occasion, the Lord promised the priest- 
 hood to Phinehas by a perpetual covenant ; evidently 
 including this tacit condition, that his children should 
 continue faithful and obedient. It continued in the 
 race of Phinehas, down to the liigh-priest Eli, for about 
 335 years, when it j)assed into the family of Ithamar ; 
 and again reverted to the family of Eleazar under the 
 reign of Saul, who, having put to death Abimelech 
 and the other priests of Nob, gave the high-priesthood 
 to Zadok, of the race of Phinehas. The priesthood 
 continued in his family until after the captivity of 
 Babylon, and even to the destruction of the temple. 
 
 We read also of another memorable and zealous 
 action of Phinehas, (Josh. xxii. 30,31.) when the Isra- 
 elites beyond Jordan had raised upon the banks of 
 the river a vast heap tor an altar, those on the other 
 side, fearing they were gouig to forsake the Lord, and 
 to set up another religion, deputed Phinehas and other 
 chief men, to inform themselves of their reason for 
 erecting this monument. When they found that it 
 was only in commemoration of their union and com- 
 mon origin, Phinehas praised the Lord, saying. We 
 now know that the Lord is with us, since you are 
 not guilty of that prevarication of which we suspect- 
 ed you. 
 
 Under the pontificate of Phinehas the story of Mi- 
 cah happened, ( Judg. xvii.) also the conquest of Laish 
 by the tribe of Dan, (Judg. xviii. 27.) and the enor- 
 mity committed on the wife of the Levite of mount 
 Ephraim, Judg. xix. Phinehas's successor was Abi- 
 ezer, or Abisluiah, Judg. xx. 28. 
 
 II. PHINEHAS, son of Eli, the high-priest, and 
 brother of Hophni. See Eli, and Hophni. 
 
 PHQ^^BE, a deaconess of the church in the east- 
 ern port of Corinth, Cenchrea. It is most likely, 
 from what the apostle says of Plwebe, that "she had 
 been a succorer of many, and of myself also," (Rom. 
 xvi. 1, 2.) that she was a woman of property, not to 
 say, of distinction. Cenchrea was a port of consid- 
 erable commerce ; and as it is clear that Phoebe went 
 to Rome on important business in which the faithful 
 at Rome might assist her, it is probable also, that 
 she was engaged in trade on her own account ; 
 something like Lydia of Philippi. That she was much 
 in the confidence of the apostle, cannot be doubted ; 
 and, we think, from the import of the term rendered 
 succorer, (patroness,) she may be taken for the coun- 
 terpart of the hospitable Gains, " mine host, (says 
 Paul,) and the host of the whole church." (Compare 
 the second and third Epistles of John.) A laudable 
 emulation ! Gains at Corinth ; and Phoebe at its 
 neighboring port, Cenchrea. 
 
 PHGENICIA, or Phoenice, a province of Syria,
 
 PHY 
 
 [ 748 ] 
 
 PIL 
 
 which, hi its more ancient and extenaed sense, com- 
 prehended a narrow strip of country extending near- 
 ly the whole length of the eastern coast of the Med- 
 iterranean sea, from Antioch to the borders of Egypt. 
 But Phoenicia Proper was included between the cities 
 of Laodicea and Tyre, and comprehended only the 
 territories of Tyre and Sidon. Before Joshua con- 
 quered Palestine, this country was possessed by Ca- 
 naanites, sons of Ham, divided into eleven families, 
 of which the most powerful was that of Canaan, the 
 founder of Sidon, and head of the Canaanites, prop- 
 erly so called, whom the Greeks named PhcEnicians. 
 Only these preserved their independence under 
 Joshua ; also under David, Solomon, and the suc- 
 ceeding kings: but they were subdued by the kings 
 of Assyria and Chaldea. Afterwards, they succes- 
 sively obeyed the Persians, Greeks and Romans. At 
 this day, Phoenicia is in subjection to the Otto- 
 mans, not having had any national or native kings, 
 or any independent form of government, for more 
 than two thousand years. The name Phoenicia is 
 not in the books of Hebrew Scripture ; but only in the 
 Maccabees and the New Testament. The Hebrew 
 always reads Canaan. Matthew, who wrote perhaps 
 in either Hebrew or Syriac, calls the same person a 
 Canaanitish woman, (chap. xv. 22.) whom 3Iark, 
 writing in Greek, calls a Syro-phoenician, or a Phoe- 
 nician of Syria; because Phoenicia then made apart 
 of Syria; also to distinguish the people from the 
 Phoenicians of Africa, or the Cai-thaginians, which 
 was a colony from the original country. See further 
 under Tyre. 
 
 PHRYGIA was the largest kingdom of Asia Mi- 
 nor ; it had Bithynia north, Pisidia and Lycia south, 
 Galatia and Cappadocia east, and Lydia and Mysia 
 west. Christianity was planted in this country by 
 Paul, Acta xvi. 6 ; xviii. 23. 
 
 PHUT, the third son of Ham, (Gen. x. 6.) is thought 
 to have peopled either the canton of Phtemphu, 
 Phtemphti, or Phtembuti, of Phny and Ptolemy ,whose 
 capital was Thara in Lower Egypt, inclining towards 
 Libya ; or the canton called Phtenotes, of which Bu- 
 thas was the capital. The propiiets often speak of 
 Phut. In the time of Jeremiah, (xlvi. 9.) this province 
 was subject to Necho king of Egypt ; and Nahum 
 (iii. 9.) reckons them among those who ought to come 
 to the assistance of No-Ammon. The Arabic ver- 
 sions by Phut understand a peo|)lc in Southern 
 Egypt, if not ratlier in Nubia : these might come 
 down the Nile, to assist No-Aumion. Accoi'ding to 
 Josephus, (Ant. i. 6, 2.) Phut is Mauritania, where 
 there is a river of that name. 
 
 PHYGELLUS, a Christian of Asia, who, being at 
 Rome while Paul was there in prison, (A. D. 65.) 
 forsook him with Hermogenes, in his necessity, 2 Tim. 
 i. 15. 
 
 PHYLACTERIES were little rolls of parchment, 
 in which were written certain words of the law, and 
 were worn upon tlieir foreheads, (see Frontlet,) and 
 upon the wrist of their left arm, by the Jews. Tiic 
 custom was founded on a mistaken interpretation of 
 Exod. xiii. 9: "And it shall be for a sign unto thee 
 upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine 
 eyes." And verse 1(5 : "And it shall be for a token 
 upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine 
 eyes." 
 
 Leo of Modena informs us particularly about these 
 rolls. (Ceremonies of the Jews, p. i. cap. 11. n. 4.) 
 Those that were to be fastened to the arms were two 
 rolls of parchment written in square lettei-s, with an 
 ink made on purpose, and with much care. They 
 
 were rolled up to a point, and enclosed in a sort 
 of case of black calf-skin. 
 They then were put upon a 
 square bit of the same 
 leather, but something stift- 
 er, whence hung a thong 
 of the same, of about a 
 finger's breadth, and a cu- 
 bit and a half long. These 
 rolls were placed at the 
 bending of the left arm, and 
 after the thong had made 
 a little knot in the form 
 of the letter •>, Yodh, it was 
 
 wound about the arm in a spiral line, which ended 
 at the top of the middle finger. It was called Teffila 
 shel-yad, or the Tefiila of the hand. 
 
 PHYSIC, PHYSICIAN, see Medicine. 
 
 PIBESETH, see Bubastis, and Egypt, p. 373. 
 
 PIGEON, see Dove. 
 
 PI-HAHIROTH, the mouth or pass of Hiroth, one 
 of the stations of the Israehtes in the wilderness. See 
 Exodus, p. 401. 
 
 PILATE was sent to govern Judea in the room of 
 Gratus, (A. D. 26 or 27,) and governed this province 
 ten years. He was of an impetuous and obstinate 
 temper, and gave occasion to troubles and revolts 
 among the Jews. Luke (xiii. 1.) acquaints us, that he 
 had mingled the blood of some Galileans with their 
 sacrifices, but the occasion on which this was done is 
 not known. 
 
 Pilate repeatedly endeavored to deliver our Sa- 
 viour from the Jews, knowing that they accused him 
 capitally only from malice and envy. His wife also, 
 who had been disturbed with dreams, sent and desir- 
 ed him not to participate in condemning that just 
 person. In order to eflfect his purpose, he adopted 
 several expedients: (1.) He required legal accusation, 
 evidence, and conviction ; and in default of these, he 
 jjroposed to refer his condemnation to the Jews ; who 
 had not, as he well knev/, the power of inflicting a 
 capital punishment, John xviii. 29, 31. (2.) He at- 
 tempted to appease the Jews, and to give them some 
 satisfaction, by whipping our Saviour. (3.) He tried 
 to take him out of their hands, by offering to deliver 
 him, or Barabbas, on the festival day of the passover. 
 (4.) He wanted to discharge himself from pro- 
 nouncing judgment against him, by sending him to 
 Herod king of Galilee. (5.) When he saw all this would 
 not satisfy the Jews, and that they even threatened 
 him, saying he could be no friend to the emperor, if 
 ho let Jesus go, he caused Avater to be brought, 
 washed his hands before all the people, and publicly 
 declared himself innocent of the blood of that just 
 person. Yet at the same time he delivered him up 
 to the soldiers, that they might crucify him. This 
 was enough to justify Christ, and to show that Pilate 
 held him to be innocent ; but it was not enough to 
 vindicate the conscience and integi'ity of a judge, 
 whose duty it was, as well to assert the- cause of op- 
 pressed innocence, as to punish the guilty criminal. 
 
 He ordered to be put over our Saviour's cross, as 
 it were, an abstract of his sentence, and the niotive of 
 his condemnation, "Jesus of Nazareth, king of tlie 
 Jews," written in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Some 
 of the Jews remonstrated to Pilate, that he ought to 
 have Avritten "Jesus of Nazareth, pretended king of 
 the Jews." But Pilate answered ihem peremptorily, 
 " What I have written, I have A\Titten." Towards 
 evening he gave leave to take ihe bodies down from 
 the crosses, that they might not continue there the
 
 PIL 
 
 [749] 
 
 PIS 
 
 following day, being the passover, and a sabbath day. 
 He also granted the body of Jesus to Joseph of Ari- 
 mathea, that he might pay the last duties to it. When 
 the priests came to desire him to set a watch about 
 the sepulciire, lest the disciples should steal Jesus 
 away by night, he answered, they had a guard, and 
 might place it there themselves. Tins is the sub- 
 stance of what the Gospels relate concerning Pilate. 
 
 Justin 3Iartyr, TetruUian, Eusel)ius, and several 
 others, ancients and moderns, assure us, that it w;is 
 the custom for Roman magistrates to send to the em- 
 peror copies of all verbal proces^s and judicial acts 
 which passed in their several provinces ; and that 
 Pilate, in compliance with this custom, having report- 
 ed to Tiberius what had occurred rekituig to Jesus, 
 the emperor wrote an account of it to the senate, in a 
 nmnner which induced a suspicion that he thought 
 favorably of Jesus, and was not unwilling tlicy should 
 decree divine honors to iiini. But the senate differed 
 from this opinion, and the matter dropj)ed. It ap- 
 l)ears by what Justin says of these Acts, that they 
 mentioned the miracles of Christ ; and even that the 
 soldiers had divided his giu-mcnts among them. Eu- 
 sebius intimates that they spoke of his resurrection 
 and ascension. Tertullian and Justin refer to these 
 documents with so much confidence, as would induce 
 a belief that they had copies of them in their hands. 
 Neither Eusebiiis nor Jerome, however, who were 
 both inquisitive and understanding })ersons, nor any 
 later author, seems to have seen them ; at least, not 
 the true and original Acts. For those now extant are 
 not authentic, being neither ancient nor uniform. 
 (See Fabricius, Cod. Apoc. N. T. p. 214, seq.) 
 
 Pilate became odious both to the Jews and Samar- 
 itans, for the severity and cruelty of his administra- 
 tion ; and being accused by the latter before Vitellius, 
 the governor of Syria, he was removed from his 
 office, and sent to Rome to answer their accusations 
 before the emperor. (Joseph. Antiq. xviii. c. 3, and c. 
 4, 1.) Before his arrival, Tiberius was dead ; and Pilate 
 is said to have been banished by Caligula to Vienna, 
 in Gaul, and there to have died by his own hand. 
 (Euseb. Hist. Ecc. ii. 7, 8.) He is described, by Philo 
 the Jew, as a judge accustomed to sell justice; and 
 for money to prouoimce any sentence that was desir- 
 ed. He mentions his rapines, his injuries, his mur- 
 ders, the torments he inflicted on the innocent, and 
 the persons he put to death without form or process. 
 In shoii, he seems to have been a man that exercised 
 excessive cruelty diu*ing all the time of his govern- 
 ment. 
 
 PILGRIM denotes, properly, one who is going 
 forward to visit a holy place, w ith design to pay his 
 solenm devotions there. Whether pilgrimages arc as 
 ancient as the days of Jacob, we know not; but if 
 they were, it gives a very expressive sense to the 
 words of that good old man, who calls the years of 
 his life "the days of his pilgrimage ;" and is [lerfectly 
 consistent with the apostle's observation, that the an- 
 cient patriarchs " confessed they wire strangers and 
 pilgrims on earth," Heb. xi. 3. 
 
 PILLAR, a column or supporter. A pillar of cloud, 
 a pillar of fire, a pillar of smok(>, signify a cloud, a 
 lire, a smoke, which, rising up toward heaven, forms 
 an irregular column. The pillars of heaven, (Job 
 xxvi. 11.) and the pillars of the earth, (Job ix. G; Ps. 
 Ixxv. 3.) are metaphorical expressions, by which the 
 heavens and the earth are compared to an edifice 
 i-aised by tlie hand of God, and founded upon its basis 
 or foundation. This a|)peai-s from the ])assage in 
 JuIj, (xxxviii. 4 — G.)" Where wast thou when 1 laid 
 
 the foundations of the earth ? Declare, if thou hast 
 understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, 
 if thou knowest ? or who hath stretched the Une upon 
 it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened, 
 or who laid the corner-stone thereof?" 
 
 James, Cephas and John " seemed to be pillars of 
 the church," Gal. ii. [). " Huii that overcometh, will I 
 make a pillar in the tenqjle of my God ;" (Rev. iii. 12.) 
 i. e. he shall be the sui)port, strength and ornament 
 of the house of God. The church of Jesus Christ is 
 called by Paul (1 Tim. iii. 15.) "thei)illai' and ground 
 of the truth." When the Lord sent Jeremiah to 
 preach to the nations, he said to him, (Jer. i. 18.) " Be- 
 hold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and 
 an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole 
 land ; able to withstand all the efibrts of thine enemies, 
 and incapable of yielding to their violence." 
 
 PILLOW, a cushion for the head or arm. See 
 Bed, p. 155. 
 
 PINE, a well-known tree, of the nature of the fir. 
 It is spoken in Scripture of a tree growing on mount 
 Lebanon, (Isa. xU. 19 ; Ix. 13.) which the Vulgate calls 
 lUmus, elm; [)robably a species of platanus or plane- 
 tree. In Isa. xliv. 14, the Vulgate reads pinus, but 
 the English Bible has ash. *R. 
 
 PINNACLE of the temple. When the devil had 
 tempted Jesus in the desert, (Matt. iv. 5.) " he took 
 him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle 
 of the temple ; and said to him. If thou be the Sou of 
 of God, cast thyself down," &c. This pinnacle Cal- 
 met supi)oses to be the galleiy, or ]jarapet, on the top 
 of the buttresses, which surrounded the roof of the 
 temple, properly so called ; and he remarks, that iu 
 Palestine the roofs of all houses were covered with 
 terraces, or platforms ; around which was a low wall, 
 to prevent any one falling dow n, Deut. xxii. 8. Jose- 
 phus, too, says, the roof of the temple was defended by 
 tall golden spikes, to hinder birds from alighting upon 
 it, that they might not defile it widi their dung. It is 
 by no means probable, however, that the temptation 
 of Jesus to throw himself down among the people at 
 worship, took jdace on any part of the high roof of 
 the temple. It is much more likely that the place 
 was in some more accessible part, to which there w as 
 a passage by stairs ; for, as to the very vague, though 
 common notion, of the person of Jesus being can-ied 
 through the air by the power of the devil, it is by no 
 means credible. 'The account given by Hegisippus 
 of the death of James the less, may illustrate this in- 
 cident of the temptation. He went U]) into a gallery, 
 whence he could be heai'd by the people, and from 
 wiience he was thrown downi, without being instantly 
 killoil. [The summit or roof of the ])rincipal porch 
 of the temple, next the southern wall of the court of 
 the Gentiles, is sjiid by Josephus (Antiq. xv. 11. 5. B. 
 J. v. 5. 2.) to ha\ e been 500 cubits above the bottom 
 of the valley below, and may well be considered aS 
 the pinnnch spoken of. R. 
 
 PIRATHON, a city of Ephrahn in mount Amalek, 
 whence cinie Abdon, judge of Israel, Judg. xii. 15. 
 Bacchides caused it to be fortified. It is called Pha- 
 rathoin, in 1 Mac. ix. .50. 
 
 PISGAH, a mountain beyond Jordan, in Moab, a 
 sunuiiit, or peak, rising from, or among, a series of 
 lower hills, and probably Nebo, Pisgah and Abarim 
 make but one chain, over against Jericho, on the road 
 from Livias to Heshbon. (See Abarim.) In the 
 Hebrew text, (Deut. xxxiv. 1 — 3.) the prospect enjoy- 
 ed by Moses from Pisgah reaches from Dan, north, 
 to Zoar, south ; but in the Samaritan Pentateuch, it 
 is much more extensive : "All the land from the river
 
 PL A 
 
 [750] 
 
 PLE 
 
 of Egypt, to the river, the great river Euphrates, to 
 the utmost sea." This was the extent of Solomon's 
 dommioDs ; and the utmost bounds of the royal 
 power of the kings of Israel. But another use may 
 be made of this passage, not without its importance. 
 Could this whole district be seen from any other 
 mountain than Pisgah ? Was this the same extent as 
 was shown by the tempter to our Lord, when excit- 
 ing his ambition ? "All this, the utmost bounds that 
 ever were enjoyed by the ancient kings of thy nation, 
 from whom thou art descended ; all the whole king- 
 dom and dominion of thine ancestors, will I give 
 thee, if," &c. This may account for the term used 
 by Luke, (iv. 5.) rendered m our version, "all the 
 world." 
 
 PISIDIA, a province of Asia Minor, lying mostly 
 on mount Taurus, and having Lycaonia on the north, 
 Pamphylia south, Cilicia and Cappadocia east, and 
 the province of Asia west. Paul preached at Anti- 
 och, its capital, (Actsxiii. 14.) and throughout Pisidia, 
 xiv. 24. 
 
 PISON, or Phison, one of the four great rivers that 
 watered paradise, (Gen. ii. 11, 12.) and which ran 
 through all the land of Havilah, where excellent gold 
 is found. It has, of coiu'se, been placed as variously 
 as the garden of Eden, to which article the reader is 
 referred. Eusebius and Jerome call it the Ganges ; 
 Josephus calls it Gotha ; and Solomon, the commen- 
 tator, calls it the Nile. 
 
 PITHOM, one of the cities built by the children of 
 Israel for Pharaoh in Egypt, during their servitude, 
 Exod. i. 11. This is probably the Pathumos men- 
 tioned by Herodotus, (lib. ii. 158.) which he places on 
 the canal made by the kings Necho and Darius, to 
 join the Red sea with the Nile. We find also, in the 
 ancient geographers, that there was an arm of the 
 Nile called Pathmeticus, Phatmicus, Phatnicus, or 
 Phatniticus. Bochart says that Pithom and Ramcs- 
 t<es are about five leagues above the division of the 
 Nile, and beyond this river; but this assertion has no 
 proof from antiquity. Marsham will have Pithom to 
 be the same as Pelusiimi, or Damietta. (See Rosen- 
 miiller Bibi. Geogr. iii. j). 269.) 
 
 PLAY, To PLAY. The Hebrews use this word 
 to express all kinds of diversions, as dancing, sportive 
 exercise, toying, and amusements proper for recreat- 
 ing and diverting the mind. The Avord pni', tsahhak, 
 which signifies to play, is commonly used for laugh- 
 ing, mocking, jeering, insulting. When Sarah saw 
 Ishmael play with her son Isaac, she was offended at 
 it: it was a ])lay of mockery and insult, or, perhaps, 
 of squabbling, ns in 2 Sam. ii. 14. Let the young 
 people (or soldiers) get up and play before us — show 
 their skill at their weapons — let them fight, as it were, 
 by way of play ; but the event shows that they fought 
 in good earnest, since they were all killed. We see 
 another kind of play in Exod. xxxii. 6. When the 
 Israelites had set up the golden calf, they began to 
 dance about it, and to divert themselves: "The peo- 
 ple sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." 
 When Samson was delivered by Dalilah into the 
 hands of the Philistines, they bored out his eyes, 
 put him in prison, and some time after made him 
 play before them ; that is, divert them by the tricks 
 they played him, and by the motions he was forced 
 to make, to avoid them, and to screen himself from 
 their insults, Judg. xvi. 25. The women vviio came 
 out to meet David and Saul, when they returned 
 victorious from the slaughter of Goliath, danced and 
 played on instruments, and showed their mirth after 
 a thousand manners, 1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7. In the pro- 
 
 cession at the removal of the ark from the house of 
 Obed-Edom to the palace of David, he danced with 
 great alacrity, played on instruments, and testified 
 his joy before the Lord, 2 Sam. vi. 5, 21. And when 
 Michal upbraided him for not observing the gravity 
 suitable to his rank, he answered, " I will play before 
 the Lord, and will be still more vile iia my own eyes." 
 Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, opening her heart 
 before the Lord, says, I have never associated my- 
 self with those that play, Tob. iii. 17. And Jere- 
 miah, (xv. 17.) " I have never haunted the assemblies 
 of those that are given to play and diversion." The 
 same prophet, comforting the daughter of Sion, tells 
 her the time shall come in which she shall be rebuilt, 
 and again shall divert herself in dancing with her 
 equals, ch. xxxi. 4. Solomon represents Wisdom as 
 playing before the Lord, and taking her pleasure in 
 living among men, Prov. viii. 30, 31. 
 
 There is no mention in Scripture of any particular 
 sorts of plays ; neither games of hazard, nor theatrical 
 representations, nor races either of horses or chariots, 
 nor combats of men or of beasts. The Israelites 
 were a laborious people, who confined almost all 
 their diversions to the pleasures of the country, and 
 to those of the festivals of the Lord, their religious 
 journeys, and their enjoyments in the temple. 
 
 This observation, however, refers to the time when 
 the law was maintained ; the ancient periods of the 
 Hebrew republic. For when they grew irregulai-, 
 they adopted the utmost excesses of idolatrous na- 
 tions ; their wicked and shameful sports and diver- 
 sions. From the time of the Grecians, after the death 
 of Alexander the Great, under the government of the 
 kings of Syria in Judea, they began to study the 
 sports and exercises of the Grecians. There were 
 gymnasia, or schools of exercise, in Jerusalem, and 
 places where they practised the exercises of the 
 Greeks, wrestling, racing, quoits, &:c. 1 Mac. v. 16 ; 
 2 Mac. iv. 1.3 — 15. And when the Romans succeeded 
 the Greeks, Herod built theatres and amj)hitheatres 
 in the cities of Palestine, and instituted all sorts of 
 games. « 
 
 PLEDGE, a security or assurance given for the 
 performance of a contract. When a man of veracity 
 pledges his word, his affirmation becomes an assur- 
 ance that he will fulfil what he has j)romised. But 
 as the word of every man is not equally valid, in 
 matters of importance, it becomes necessary that a 
 valuable article of some kind should be deposited, as 
 a bond on his part. So Judah gave pledges to Tamar, 
 Gen. xxxviii. 17. Under the law the taking of ])ledge3 
 was regulated : the mill-stone was not to be taken in 
 pledge, (Deut. xxiv. 6.) nor was the person taking a 
 pledge to enter the house to fetch it, (ver. 10.) nor to 
 detain necessajy raiment after sunset; (ver. 12.) nor 
 was the widow's raiment to be taken in pledge, ver. 
 17. How mild, how benevolent are these directions ! 
 and we find some reproached that they take their 
 brother's pledge, (Job xxii. 6.) that they take the wid- 
 ow's ox in pledge, (xxiv. 3,9.) that they do not restore 
 the pledge, (as the law directed, Deut. xxiv. 18.) Ezek. 
 xviii. 7, 12 ; xxxiii. 15. To understand Amos ii. 8, 
 "They lay themselves down on clothes laid to pledge, 
 by every altar," observe, how galling tliis must be to 
 the owners, to see carpets, &c. used in idolatry, car- 
 ried abroad, laid under idolntrously sacred trees, &c. 
 What insolence in the lender who held these pledges ! 
 what mortification to the borrower who had delivered 
 them ! to see his property (1.) published and (2.) pro- 
 faned. (See Hanner, vol. iv. p. 377.) 
 
 PLEIADES, seven stars, anciently in the Bull'i
 
 POE 
 
 [751 ] 
 
 POETRY 
 
 tail ; but ou modern globes in the shoulder, and which 
 appear at the beginning of spring. Job speaks of the 
 Pleiades, (chap. xxxviii.31 ; ix. 9.) and of the Hyades, 
 which are seven other stars in the Bull's head, and 
 mark out the east point and the spring : " Canst thou 
 bind the sweet influence of the Pleiades .' " Hebrew 
 nco, Chimah ; Can you hinder the Pleiades from rising 
 in their season ? He gives them the name — the sweet 
 influences of Chimah, because of the agreeableness of 
 the spring season. Jerome has translated Chimah, by 
 flyades, (Job ix. 9.) and by Pleiades, (Job xxxviii. 31.) 
 and by Arcturus, the Bear's tail, Amos v. 8. Aquila 
 sometimes translates it in the same manner. The 
 Bear is one of the most northern constellations ; but 
 Chimah rather signifies the Pleiades. 
 
 POETRY of the Hebrews. No point of criticism 
 has been more discussed among the learned than that 
 concerning Hebrew poetry ; and yet we cannot say 
 the matter is exhausted, or the difficulty cleared. We 
 cannot pretend to know the true pronunciation of 
 the Hebrew language ; and consequently we cannot 
 perceive either the harmony of tiie words, or the 
 quantity of the syllables, which constitute the beauty 
 of the vei-ses. Nor have we in Hebrew, as we have 
 in Greek and Latin, rules for ascertaining the quan- 
 tity of the syllables, the number of feet, or the cadence 
 and construction of verses ; and yet it is plain that 
 the Hebrews observed these things, at least in some 
 measure, since in their poems we observe letters added 
 to, or cut off from, tlie ends of words; which evinces 
 submission to the rhythm, the number, or the measure 
 of syllables. 
 
 From the manner in which Josephus, Origen, 
 Eusebius and Jerome have spoken of the Hebrew 
 poetry, it should seem that in their time the beauty 
 and rules of it were well known. Josephus affirms 
 in several places, that the songs composed by Moses 
 are in heroic verse, and that David composed several 
 sorts of verses and songs, odes and hymns, in honor 
 of God ; some of which were in trimeters, or verses 
 of three feet, and others in pentameters, or verses of 
 five feet. Origen and Eusebius adopted the same 
 sentiment ; but whether out of deference to the 
 opinion of Josephus, or whether of their own judg- 
 ment, is uncertain. Origen well understood the 
 Hebrew, and Eusebius was one of the most learned 
 men of his time. 
 
 Le Clerc composed an ingenious dissertation, to 
 show, that the Hebrew poetry was in rhyme much 
 like the French or English. Others maintain, that in 
 the old Hebrew verses there is neither measure nor 
 feet ; and Scaliger affirms, that this language, as well 
 as that of the Syrians, Arabians and Abyssinians, is 
 not capable of the restraint of feet or measures. Much 
 of the Arabic poetry bears evidence of an origin cog- 
 nate with the Hebrew; nor are the maxims of our 
 British Druids, conveyed ui sententious verses, for the 
 greater accuracy of memory — and they were commit- 
 ted to memory, not to writing — altogether dissimilar. 
 The first thing remarkable, in Hebrew poetry, is a 
 duplication of phraseology, so constructed, that the 
 memory, by recollecting one member of the sentence, 
 could not fail of recollecting the other. The earliest 
 specimen extant exemplifies this throughout. La- 
 mech, the first man who married two wives, intent 
 on calming their apprehensions for his safety, does 
 not say, in plain prose, "No one will be so unjust as 
 to kill me for this trifling transgression ;" but he puts 
 his argument into verse ; and by this means it has 
 been preserved, because the memory retained it with 
 ease and certainty ; the names of the parties, once 
 
 known, recall the whole when repetition is conteni' 
 plated. 
 
 Adah arid Zillah, hear my voice ; 
 
 Ye iinves of Lamech, hearken to my speech ; 
 
 Have I slain a man in bloody contest, 
 
 A young man in violent assault ? 
 
 If Cain shall be avenged seven times. 
 
 Much more Lamech seventy-seven times. 
 
 The first column, if read separately, opens the his- 
 tory ; but the second column, by its duplication of 
 phraseology, perfects the series of thoughts, and con- 
 verts the whole into verses, and poetry. ThisdupU- 
 cation is so proper to Hebrew poetry, that a Hebrew 
 poet would not be content to say, " Yoiuhand beauty 
 shall be laid in the dust ; " but he would singularize 
 these qualities ; he would distinguish and repeat 
 them : e. g. 
 
 Youth shall be laid in the dust ; 
 
 And beauty shall be consumed in the grave. 
 
 This is more explicit, has greater strength, as well 
 as greater correctness ; for beauty is not mvariably 
 conjoined with youth ; and there is beauty proper to 
 mature life, and even to old age. The ideas, then, 
 are not precisely the same ; yet they are so exquis- 
 itely similar, that the recollection of one brings the 
 other to mind, instantly. Something like this we 
 have in Isa. Iv. 10. He does not say, " As the rain 
 and the snow (plural) descend (plural) from heaven, 
 and thither they (plural) do not return ; " but he keeps 
 the entire passage in the singular, and thereby much 
 increases its strength. 
 
 Verily, like as the rain descendeth yroni above., 
 And the snow descendeth from the heavens ; 
 And thither it doth not return ; — 
 So shall my word be. 
 
 The reader will observe the brevity, the compact- 
 ness obtained by the poet, in this construction of his 
 verse ; to express his thoughts completely requires 
 the insertion of the words marked in italics ; yet the 
 omission of these words occasions no confusion, no 
 interruption, because the property of descending 
 from the atmosphere is common both to rain and 
 snow. To the original readers, in the Hebrew lan- 
 guage, this was still clearer ; yet in translation, simi- 
 lar supplements or repetitions are often necessary to a 
 correct view of the poet's intention. So Balaam says, 
 3Iicah vi. 5 : 
 
 Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah ? 
 Wherewith shall I bow myself unto the High God ? 
 Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings ? 
 Shall I bow myself unto him with calves of a year 
 old? 
 
 This supplementary repetition gives the sentiment 
 at full ; and in very many places of Scriptiue the 
 critic must observe these elisions of words, and feel 
 them too; though the ppet may disregard them ; and 
 even deem the critic fastidious. This may be further 
 evinced by an instance in which the supplement is 
 taken, not from a preceding, but from a following, 
 sentence : Samson says. 
 
 With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps have 
 
 I smitten ; 
 With the jaw-bone of an ass, a thousand men have I 
 
 smitten. 
 
 The sense of the first verse is imperfect, till the 
 close of the second verse completes it. There can
 
 POETRY 
 
 [ 752 ] 
 
 POETRY 
 
 be no doubt but what this parallelism was esteemed 
 a beauty ; we find it practised by the polite and saga- 
 cious Solomon, to a considerable extent, in the pref- 
 ace to his Proverbs ; the intention of which book is, 
 he tells us. 
 
 To know wisdom and instruction ; 
 
 To perceive the words of understanding; 
 
 To receive the instruction of wisdom, 
 
 Justice, and judgment, and equity : 
 
 To give subtilty to the simple ; 
 
 To the young man knowledge and discretion : 
 
 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning ; 
 
 And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise 
 
 counsels ; 
 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation ; 
 The words of the wise and their dark sayings. 
 
 The ear sufficiently judges, that in these verses 
 there is rhythm, though not rhyme ; consequently 
 there must be in the original, metrical feet, and poet- 
 ical cadence : though we know not hoAv to demon- 
 strate them, having no adequate information to guide 
 us in the correct pronunciation of the language. If 
 what may be called private, simple, or personal poetry, 
 be metrical, undoubtedly that which was intended for 
 musical accompaniment, was emphatically so ; and 
 especially, when the tune, or air, existed before the 
 poem, the poem was bound to conform to the prog- 
 ress, the extent, and the expression, of the previous- 
 ly fixed notes, or intonations, whether vocal or instru- 
 mental ; by these it was absolutely governed. And 
 if such composition were also intended for public 
 performance, by a numerous band, by various instru- 
 ments playing in concert, the connection between the 
 poetry and the music must needs be intimate and 
 entire. This appears to have been the case, in the 
 instances of several of the psalms ; and as these were 
 performed in two parts, by responsive choirs, and 
 possibly a third part was performed by a still fuller 
 chorus, the necessity of metrical arrangement was 
 imperative ; for, if this were neglected, the whole 
 would present a mass of inexpressibly discordant 
 confusion. 
 
 Among those psalms which demonstrate this alter- 
 nation of song, is the cxxxvi. where the burden, "for 
 his mercy endureth for ever," certainly was not 
 uttered by the same persons, or band, as uttered the 
 leading theme. So we read, Ezraiii. 13, the Levites, 
 &c. sang this song, together, hy course, or alternately ; 
 and the people shouted with a great shout when they 
 })raised the Lord ; that is. Hallelujah ! Ps. cxxxv. 
 also, evidently was performed in several parts. In 
 short, we find this responsive manner in the time of 
 Moses, who, with the men, sang one })art of his ode, 
 while Miriam, with the women, sang the ajiswering 
 strjiins ; and this, no doubt, continued to be the cus- 
 tom, to the latest period of the Hebrew polity. 
 
 Of the longer poems of Sacred Writ, Solomon's 
 Song is a beautiful performance ; while the book of 
 Job, the longest of all the Hebrew poems, is most 
 sublime. Late writers have done much to illustrates 
 it ; yet nnich remains to 1)0 done. We must here 
 conclude these brief and imperfect hints on the sub- 
 ject of Hel)rew poetry. Those wlio desins further in- 
 formation, may cous\ilt bisliop Hare's Metrical Ver- 
 sion of the Psalms, supjiorti'd l)y Drs. Grey, Ed- 
 wards, &ic. and op|)os<(l by bishop Lowth, whose 
 Lectm-es on Hel)rew Poetry deservedly enjoy an es- 
 talilished reputation : to these should be added bishop 
 Jebh's Sacred Literature, sir W. Jones's Dissertation 
 on the Asiatic Poetrv, with others. 
 
 [The subject of Hebrew poetry is too important to 
 the biblical student, to be passed over with the 
 meagre notice above given. Indeed, of all the Jine 
 arts, poetry alone was cultivated among the Hebrews ; 
 and was carried to a high degree of perfection. The 
 poetry of this people was almost wholly lyric ; — 
 whether didactic, sententious, or prophetic, it was 
 still LYRIC. Now the essence of lyric poetry is the 
 vivid expression of internal emotions. It is, thei-e- 
 fore, subjective ; in opposition to epic poetry, which 
 treats of external objects, and is therefore objective. 
 The chief subject of Hebrew poetry was religion, and 
 then patriotism ; which, under the theocracy, was 
 very nearly allied to religion. The most obvious and 
 striking characteristic of the poetry of the Hebrews, 
 is sublimity. Religious poetry was in ancient times 
 almost peculiar to the Jews; the little that is found 
 among other ancient nations, as e. g. the Orphic 
 Hymns, is not worthy of comparison with it. So also 
 the Koran, which is an attempted imitation of the 
 jioetical parts of the Old Testament. The present 
 prevailing views of the nature of Hebrew poetry, 
 of its rhythm, &c. were first proposed by bishop 
 Lowth in his Lectures on the Poetry of the Hebrews. 
 (Lect. xviii. — xx.) He was followed by Herder, in 
 his Spirit of Hebrew Poetry ; sir William Jones, on 
 Asiatic Poetry ; and more recently by Thomas Camp- 
 bell, in the first volumes of the New Monthly Maga- 
 zine. Mr. Campbell, however, has drawn chiefly 
 fi-om Herder. (See also De Wette's Commentar 
 Liber die Psalmen, Einleitung.) 
 
 Diction and Rhythm. — Hebrew poetiy diflTers from 
 Hebrew pi-ose in three respects. (1.) In the peculiar 
 poetical nature of the contents ; of which the char- 
 acteristics are sublimity, boldness, abruptness, lofty 
 metaphors, &c. (2.) In the peculiarities of the poetic 
 dialect or diction, which, however, are not so striking 
 as among the Greeks and Romans. They consist in 
 the use of different words, significations of words, 
 granunatical forms ; and in syntactical peculiarities, in 
 which latter the difference is greater than in Latin, or 
 in modern languages. For the most part, the poetical 
 idioms of the Hebrew are the common ones in the 
 kuidred dialects, the Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic. 
 This circumstance goes to show the importance of 
 an acquaintance with these latter. (3.) In rhythm, 
 which difters from metre ; the latter importing a meas- 
 ure of syllables or feet, the former a harmonious 
 arrangement of words and members. The question 
 lias been much agitated in modern times, whether the 
 Hebrews had any measure of syllables, or prosody, 
 or metre. Josephus and Jerome affirm that they 
 had ; and some have thought they had discovered it. 
 (See De Wette, Einl. § vii.) The best theories on this 
 side are tho;-^ of Jones and Bellermann ; but some- 
 thing new appears on this general topic, in Germany 
 at least, almost eveiy year. It is, however, the oj)in- 
 ion of those best acquainted with the subject, that the 
 Hebrews had no prosody, i. e. no measure of sylla- 
 bles. Their rhythm consisted only in the synnnetry 
 or corresj)ondence of the larger members. 
 
 Rhythm may be of three species, viz. (1.) It may 
 consist merely in the syllables, or in a succession of 
 poetical feet, as dactyles, &c. without any larger 
 pauses or members. (2.) It may also exist, where the 
 poetical feet or measures of syllables are neglected, but 
 a certain measiu'e of the larger members or clauses is 
 found. This last is tlit! rhythm of the Hebrews ; as also 
 of the ol<l (jJerman Meistersingers. (3.) The third and 
 most j)erfect form of rhythm comprises both the others, 
 and appears in Greek, Roman and modern poetry.
 
 POETRY 
 
 [753] 
 
 POE 
 
 The rhythm of Hebrew poetry, then, consists in the 
 PARALLELISM of thc members, (as it is (•ailed by 
 Lowth,) of which the fundamental princijjle is, tiiat 
 evei'y verse must consist of at least two corresponding 
 parts or members. (See Lowth, Lect. xix. De \Vette, 
 Eini. §. vii.) 
 
 Laws of Parallelism. — The parallelism of Hebrew 
 poetry occurs either in the thought, or solely in the 
 form. Of the former there are three kinds, viz. 
 
 1. Synonymous ; where the two members express 
 the same idea ui dificrent, but closely, and often 
 literally, corresponding words : c. g. 
 
 Ps. viii. 4. What is man, that thou art mindful of 
 him ? 
 And the son of man, that thou dost visit 
 him ? 
 
 ii. 1. Why do the heathen rage ? 
 
 And the people imagine a vain thing ? 
 ii. 4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ; 
 
 The Lord shall have them in derision. 
 Job vi. 5. Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass ? 
 
 Or loweth the ox over his fodder ? 
 
 So also the song of Latnech, quoted above, Gen. 
 iv. 23. and Job vii. 1, seq. 
 
 2. Antithetical ; where an antithesis of thought is 
 ex})ressed by corresponding members : e. g. 
 
 Prov. xiv. 11. The house of the wicked shall be over- 
 thrown ; 
 But the tabernacle of the upright shall 
 flourish. 
 XV. 1. A soft answer turneth away wrath ; 
 But grievous words stir up anger. 
 
 (Compare Virgil. Ecl.iii. 8.) 
 
 3. Synthetic ; which is a mere juxtaposition ; or 
 rather the thought is carried forward in the second 
 member with some addition ; the correspondence of 
 words and construction being as before : e. g. 
 
 Ps. xix. 7. The law of the Loi-d is perfect, convert- 
 ing the soul : 
 The testimony of the Lord is sure, making 
 wise the simple. 
 
 8. The statutes of the Lord are right, re- 
 
 joicing the heart : 
 The commandment of the Lord is pure, 
 enlightening the eyes. 
 
 9. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring 
 
 for ever ; 
 The judgments of the Lord are true and 
 righteous altogether. 
 
 Merc rhythmical parallelism is that in which i^-* 
 similarity or correspondence of thought exists :.'"'i't 
 the verse is divided by the co'sura, as it we-'S 'Jito 
 corresponding niembers. This is tlie most -■ni]>ertect 
 species of parallelism ; and may be coMP'ifed witii 
 the hexameter, divided by the cpesnrn; e. g. 
 
 Ps. ii. 6. Yet have I set my king 
 
 Upon my holy liiU of /ion. 
 iii. 2. Many there be which say of my soul. 
 There is no help for him in God. 
 
 This is most common in the book of Lamentations ; 
 where there is hardly any other species of paral- 
 lelism. 
 
 Thus far we have had regard to the simplest and 
 
 most perfect ])arallelisms of two members ; such as 
 
 are more usually found in the Psalms, Job, &c. Jiut 
 
 in the prophets and a few of the psalms, we find a less 
 
 95 
 
 regular, and sometimes compound parallelism. Thus 
 the parallelism is irregulai-, when one member is 
 shorter than the other ; as Hosea iv. 17 : 
 
 Ephraim is joined to idols: 
 Let him alone. 
 
 Of compound parallelisms there are various kinds ; 
 as when the verse has three members ; and the two 
 first correspond to the third : e. g. 
 
 Ps. liii. G. O that the salvation of Israel were come 
 
 out of Zion ! 
 When God bruigeth back the captivity of 
 
 his people, 
 Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be 
 
 glad. 
 
 Or when the verse has four members ; of which the 
 first and third correspond to the second and fourth : 
 e.g. 
 
 Ps.xxxi. 10. For my life is spent with grief. 
 And my years with sighing ; 
 My strength faileth because of muie 
 
 iniquity, 
 And my bones are consumed. 
 
 Or the veree may have four parallel members ; as 
 
 Ps. i. 1. Blessed is the man 
 
 Who walketh not m the coimsel of the 
 
 ungodly. 
 Nor standetli in the way of sinners, 
 Nor sitteth in the seat of scornei's. 
 
 We may name Psalms ii. and xv. as affording exain- 
 ples of most of the species of poetic parallelism. 
 
 In the common manuscripts and editions of the 
 Hebrew Bible, the members of the parallelisms in the 
 poetical parts are not written or printed separately ; 
 but the accents serve to divide them. In the editions 
 of Kennicott and Jahn, however, the members are 
 printed separately. It is matter of regret, that this 
 mode was not adopted in our English version ; since 
 the common reader has now often no means of dis- 
 tinguishing, whether that which Jjo reads is Hebrew 
 poetry, or Hebrew prose. Jiideed, a good translation 
 ought to adhere closelv'O theybrm of the original, and 
 not give it a foreign ^-ostume. Hence the mere paral- 
 lelism should be exliibited, without metre, and gene- 
 rallv withouf ^eet. 
 
 The ^T<reccding principles refer solely to the 
 rhxithi^ of Hebrew poetry. Besides this, there are 
 oth'i" peculiarities ; e. g. the strophe, as in Ps. xlii. 
 Aliii j where verses 5, 11, and 5, are a burden or re- 
 frain, repeated at the end of each strophe. So also 
 the alphabetic psalms and jjoems ; (see Letters ;) and 
 the psalms of degrees, in which the chief words of 
 each verse are taken up and repeated at the begin- 
 ning of the next verse. (See Degrees, and Psalms.) 
 Paronomasia, or the correspondence of like sounding 
 words, a species of rhyme, occurs seldom in the 
 Psalms ; it seems too feeble and trivial for lyric poetiy. 
 The prophets employ it more frequently. *Il. 
 
 POETS. The Hebrew poets were meir inspired 
 of God; and among them we find kings, lawgivers 
 and prophets. Moses, Barak, David, Solomon, Hez- 
 ekiah. Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and most of the proph- 
 ets, composed poems, or pieces in verse ; the most 
 pompous, the most majestic, and the most sublime. 
 The expression, the sentiments, the figures, the 
 variety, the action, every thing is surprising. 
 
 Paiil gives a pagan poet the name of prophet ; (Tit.
 
 P OM 
 
 [ 754 ] 
 
 POO 
 
 i. 12, " One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, 
 said," &c.) because, among the heathen, poets were 
 thought to be inspired by Apollo. They spoke by 
 enthusiasm. Oracles were originally delivered in 
 verse. Poets were interpreters of the will of the 
 gods. The poet quoted by Paul, is Epimenides, 
 whom the ancients esteemed to be inspired, and fa- 
 vored by the gods. 
 
 The same apostle quotes the poet Aratus, a native, 
 as well as himself, of Ciiicia : (Acts xvii. 28.) JVe are 
 the children [the race) of God. This is part of a longer 
 passage, whose import is, " We must begin from 
 Jupiter, whom we must by no means forget. Every 
 thing is replete with Jupiter. He fills the streets, the 
 public places, and assemblies of men. The vvhule 
 sea and its harbors are full of this god, and all of us 
 in all places have need of Jupiter." It was certainly 
 not to prove the being or to enhance the merit of 
 Jupiter, that Paul quotes this passage. But he has 
 delivered out of bondage, as we may say, a truth 
 which this poet had uttered, without penetrating its 
 tiiie meaning. The apostle used it to prove the ex- 
 istence of the true God, to a people not convinced of 
 the divuie authority of the Sci-iptures,and who would 
 have rejected such proofs as he might have derived 
 from thence. 
 
 The son of Sirach, intent on praising eminent men, 
 enumerates bards or poets ; who were, he says, " Lead- 
 ers of the people by their counsels, and by their 
 knowledge of learning meet for the people ; wise and 
 eloquent in their instructions: such as found out 
 musical tunes, and recited verses in writing," Ecclus. 
 xliv. 4. It is evident that he considered them as of 
 great importance to the community ; and we know 
 that they were of great antiquity, for Moses, himself a 
 poet, refers to those who spoke in proverbs, (Numb. 
 xxi. 27.) of which he inserts a specimen. Jacob was 
 a poet, as appeara fl-om his farewell benediction on 
 his song. And it appears to be extremely probaljlo 
 that the honorable ajjpellation Nebi, equally denoted 
 a propliet, a poet, and a musician, as tlie poets princi- 
 pally were. 
 
 Poets, like oi\\fn- men, could only draw comparisons 
 from objects with which tl^ey were conversant ; hence 
 we have in Scripture many aMiisions to the phenomena 
 of nature, as extant in the couni/.^^ where the writers 
 resided — storms, tempests, earthquoij(3s tlumder and 
 lightning, &c. The shepherd king describes tlie 
 Lord as his shepherd, who leads him ik security • 
 not as his steersman, who brings him safely ii^^ poj.^ ! 
 for he was little acquainted with nautical aK,ji;.., 
 Very few are the descriptions of the sea, or its iuhau. 
 itants, in Job, although the writer ransacks earth and 
 heaven, with wonderful science. Poets who dwelt 
 in tents have little reference to extensive architecture. 
 But to xmdcrstand their language, it is necessary to 
 ac([uire as intimate a knowledge as possible of the 
 things ihoy knew ; and even when they treat of things 
 spiritual or celestial ; because these are signified by 
 means of ten-estrial objects or incidents ; and the just 
 jinderstanding of one n)ay lead to a just understand- 
 ing of the other. Divine inspiration itself, however 
 superhuman it may be, must, nevertheless, speak to 
 men in the language of men, or the instruction it 
 means to convev will continue a perfect blank. 
 
 POLYGAMY, see Marriagk. 
 
 POLYGLOTT, sec Bibi.f, p. 177. 
 
 POMEGRANATE, thr, punica granatum of 
 Linnpeus ; called also mrdum granatum, that is, 
 granate apple, (pomme granate,) whence its name. 
 The tree grows wild in Palestine and Syria, as gen- 
 
 erally in the south of Europe, and north of Afii*'a. 
 It is low, with a straight stem, reddish bark, mriny 
 and spreading branches, lancet-formed leaves, hvnv- 
 ing large and beautiful red blossoms. The fruit is of 
 the size of an orange, of a tawny brown, with a tliick 
 astringent coat, containing abundance of seeds, each 
 enveloped in a distinct, very juicy, crimson coat, 
 whose flavor in a wild state is a pure and very strong 
 acid ; but in the cultivated plant, sweet and highly 
 grateful. (Compare Cant. iv. 13 ; Numb. xiii. 23 ; 
 Deut. viii. 8.) Artificial pomegranates were also used 
 as ornaments on the robe of the high-priest, (Ex. 
 xxviii. 33,) and also as an architectural ornament, 1 
 Kings vii. 18. *R. 
 
 PONTUS, a province in Asia Minor, having the 
 Euxine sea north, Cappadocia south, Paphlagonia 
 and Galatia west, and the Lesser Armenia and Colchis 
 east. It is thought that Peter preached here, because 
 he addresses his First Epistle to the faithful of this 
 and of the neighboring provuices. 
 
 POOR. This word often denotes the humble, af- 
 flicted, mean in their own eyes, low in the eyes of 
 God. Not so much a man desfitute of the good 
 things of the earth, as a man sensible of his spiritual 
 misery and indigence, who applies for succor to the 
 mercy of God. In this sense the greatest and richest 
 men of the world are level with the pooi'est, in the 
 eyes of God. 
 
 In Exodus xxiii. 3, Moses forbids the judges " to 
 countenance a poor man in his cause ;" or as in Lev. 
 xix. 15, " Thou slialt not respect the person of the 
 poor, nor honor the pereon of the mighty ; but in 
 righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor." In a 
 word, judge without respect of ])ersons ; have only 
 truth and justice before your eyes ; consider that you 
 stand in the place of God on the earth. 
 
 One of tlie characters of the Messiah Avas, to judge 
 the poor, (Ps. Ixxii. 2, 4.) and to preach the gospel to 
 them, Isa. xi. 4 ; Matt. xi. 5. Hence, Jesus chose 
 disciples that v/ere poor, and the greater part of the 
 first believers were really poor men, as we may see 
 in their history. 
 
 Solomon says, (Prov. xxii. 2.) " The rich and poor 
 meet together ; " they are like each other in one 
 thing — God created them both ; and both riches and 
 poverty are of his bestowing. Hence the rich should 
 not be supercilious, nor the poor despondent ; both 
 are equal in the eyes of God, Prov. xxix. 13. Amos 
 (viii. 6.) reproaches the Israelites with having sold the 
 poor for a contemptible price ; as for shoes and san- 
 dals. Probably tlie rich actually thus sold their poor 
 debtors, for things of no value, James (ii. 1.) seems 
 ■^o carry the obligation of not respecting persons so far 
 ^^ '■•o allow no mark of distinction to persons in power, 
 or 111 -.jvil dignities, in the public assemblies of reli- 
 gion, r^ it this ought to be understood of an inward 
 pi•eferel^co,^^JKl of the sentiments of the heart, rather 
 than of extcniB.1 marks of respect. It is never allow- 
 ed a Christian lo prefin' a rich man l)efi)re a poor 
 man, only because he is rich, and to think better of 
 him, to judge him more worthy of esteem and con- 
 sideration, rather than he who has not the same ad- 
 vantages of the goods of fortune. 
 
 Poverty was considered by the Jews as a great evil 
 and a punishment from God". Job speaks of it as of 
 a prison, and a state of l)oii(bge, clia]). xxxvi. 8. And 
 Isaiah (xlviii, 10.) compares it to a funiace or cruci- 
 ble, wherein metals are ))urified. God tried Job and 
 Tobit by jioverty : they looked lieyond the old cove- 
 nant ; they knew the value of suffering, of humilia- 
 liou, of indigence ; they knew how to make a right
 
 POT 
 
 [755] 
 
 P R A 
 
 use of them, and to convert them to their greatest 
 advantage. They were poor in spirit, m the disposi- 
 tion of their hearts, before God made them sutfer 
 actual poverty. Comp. Humility. 
 
 Nothing is more earnestly recommended in Scrip- 
 ture than aims and compassion to the poor. Moses 
 would have them admitted to the religious feasts 
 celebrated in tiie temple, Deut. xvi. 11, 12. lie or- 
 dered, that in the fields, in the vineyards, and upon the 
 trees, something should be left for them ; (Lev. xix. 
 10; xxiii. 22.) that in the sabbatical years, and the 
 years of jubilee, all should be left for the poor, the 
 widow, and the orphan, Exod. xxiii. 11. Ho com- 
 manded to lend to the poor, and observeil, that they 
 should never be wanting in the country, but that the 
 people should always have opportunity to bestow 
 their alms, Deut. xv. 8, 9. That if any j)ledge were 
 taken from the poor, the lender shall not enter the 
 house to take it by force, (Deut. xxiv. 12, 14.) and 
 that if the poor be forced to give his goods or his 
 clothes, they shall be restored to him at night, that he 
 may have wherewith to cover himself Our Saviour 
 has carried this point of the law, concerning alms- 
 giving, to its perfection ; lie practised it himself, rec- 
 ommended it to his disciijles, and has inspired his 
 servants with the tenderest charity towards the poor. 
 He advised those who would m earnest become his 
 discijdes, to sell all they had, and give to the poor. 
 Matt. xix. 21. He gives excellent rules for practising 
 charity and avoiding \aiu-glory and ostentation, which 
 otherwise may occasion our losing all the fruits of 
 our charitv. Matt. vi. 1 — 4. 
 
 POTIPHAR, an officer of the court of Pharaoh, 
 king of Egypt, (Gen. xxxvii. 36,) general of his 
 troops, according to the Vulgate ; but chief of his 
 executioners or body-guards, according to the Hebrew. 
 Potiphar bought Joseph as a slave from the Midian- 
 ites, who had taken him of his brethren ; and seeing 
 all things prosper in his hands, he gave him the 
 superintendence of his whole property. His wife, 
 however, taking an imlawful liking to Joseph, solicited 
 Iiim to the crime of adulteiy ; and, Joseph repulsing 
 Jier, her love changed into hatred, and she accused 
 him to her husband, who put Joseph into prison ; 
 where his delegate, who had charge of the prisoners, 
 transferred this care to Joseph. See Joseph. 
 
 POTSHERD, a broken fragment, or piece of an 
 earthen vessel ; not a brittle pot only, but a piece of 
 a j)ot ; a ])ot already broken, Isa. xlv. 9. 
 
 POTTER, a maker of earthen vessels, of which 
 there is frequent mention madein Scripture. Jeremiah 
 (xviii. 3.) represents him while at work as sitting on 
 two stones ; and Ecclesiasticus (xxxviii. 29, 30.) says, 
 " So (loth tlic potter sitting at his work, and turning 
 the wheel al)out with his feet ; who is always carefully 
 set at his work, and makcth all his work by number; 
 he fushioneth the clay with his arm, and boweth down 
 his strength before his feet." When God would 
 show his dominion over men, and his irresistible 
 power over their hearts, he has recourse to the simili- 
 tude of a potter, who makes what he pleases of his 
 clay ; of this a vessel of honor, of that a vessel of dis- 
 honor : now forming it, then breaking it ; now pre- 
 serving it, and then rejecting it. (See Ps. ii. 9 ; Eccliis. 
 xxxiii. 1.3 ; Rom. ix. 21 ; Jer. xviii. 2, 3, &c.) 
 
 P0TT1<:R'S-FIELD, a piece of ground tiiat was 
 bouglit with the money for which Judas sold our Sa- 
 viom- Christ, but which he brought back again to the 
 temple. (See Aceldama.) It is south of mount 
 Sion, about a stone's cast from the pool of Siloam, 
 and i:5 surrounded by walls, in length seventy cubits, j 
 
 in breadth fifty ; ana is covered with a vault, with 
 seven openings above, to let do^vn the bodies which 
 are to be there buried. 
 
 We read in the Mishna (Tract, de Sanhedr. cap. vi. 
 n. 14, 15.) that they did not allow malefactors, or such 
 as were executed for crhnes, to be buried in the 
 tombs of their fathers, except their flesh had first 
 been consumed in other places, appointed for the pun- 
 ishment of such offenders. For this reason, perhaps, 
 Joseph of Arimathea begged the body of Jesus from 
 Pilate that he might deftosit it in a private sepul- 
 chre, l>efore it could be taken to this public burying- 
 place ; where he might have been undistinguished 
 from common criminals. 
 
 POVERTY has been sanctified by Christ in his 
 own person, and in that of his parents ; in that of his 
 apostles, and of the most perfect of his disciples. 
 Agur besought the Lord to give him neither 
 poverty nor riches, (Prov. xxx. 8.) looking on each 
 extreme as a dangerous rock to virtue. See Poor. 
 
 POWER, the ability of performing a thing. It is 
 in a sovereign degree an attribute of Deity. God is 
 all-powerful. It means sometimes a right, privilege, 
 or dignity ; (John i. 12.) sometimes absolute author- 
 ity ; (IMatt. ix. 0.) sometimes the exertion, or act of 
 power, as of the Holy Spirit, (Eph. i. 19.) of angels, or 
 of Inunan governments, magistrates, &c. (Rom. xiii. 
 1.) and perhaps it generally includes the idea of dig- 
 nitj', superiority. So the body is so^vn in weakness, 
 but raised in power, dignity, honor. (For the word 
 power in 1 Cor. xi. 10, see the article Veil.) 
 
 PRAISE is one of the noblest acts of worship, and 
 one which seems to be a direct, simple, unsophisticat- 
 ed dictate of nature ; insomuch that it is wonderful 
 how any possessed of rational powers can omit tliis 
 delightful duty. If prayer, to which praise is the 
 counterpart, can be neglected; if a sense of wants, 
 necessities, transgressions and dangers, may not be 
 sufficiently strong to excite prayer, yet it is sui'ely very 
 ungrateful not to notice the benefits we have enjoyed 
 or are enjoying. What we are in the actual posses- 
 sion of, ought at least so far to affect us, as to render 
 us grateful to that hand wliich bestows them, that 
 hand which might bestow far different distributions 
 to us. What character is so odious among men as 
 that of the ungrateful ? What so common in respect 
 to God ? Those who deny the being of God maj^, to 
 be sure, withhold thanks for mercies received ; but 
 that any who acknowledge the divine attributes 
 should be thus insensible, is most astonishing ! 
 
 PRAYER, directed to God, is the ordinary convey- 
 ance of graces received from him. The prayers of 
 a just man arc of great power, Jam. v. IG, 17. The 
 saints under both covenants prayed ; Jesus Christ 
 himself, our gi-eat example, taught us to pray, to show 
 that thereby we honor G<k1, and draw on ourselves 
 !iis favors and graces. Paul, in most of his Epistles, 
 entreats the faithfid to pray for him ; or offers to God 
 his ])raycrs for them. 
 
 From the promulgation of the law, the Hebrews 
 did not uitermit ])ublic prayer in the tabernacle, or 
 ii) the temple, as ojiportmiity returned. It consisted 
 in offering the evening and morning sacrifices, every 
 day, accompanied by prayers by the priests and Le- 
 vites in that holy edifice. Every day they offered 
 sacrifices, incense, offcruigs, and first-fruits ; they 
 performed ceremonies for the redemption of the first- 
 born, or the purification of pollutions ; in a word, the 
 peoi)le came thither from all iiarts to discharge 
 their vows, and to satisfy their devotions, not only 
 on great and solemn days, but also on ordinaiy
 
 PRE 
 
 [756] 
 
 PREDESTINATION 
 
 dayg ; but nothing of this was performed without 
 pi-ayer. 
 
 The psahnist (cxix.) says, he prayed to God, or 
 praised him, seven times a day. And, (Fs. Iv.) 
 " Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and 
 cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice." Daniel (vi. 
 10.) bent his knees three times a day, and wor- 
 shipped the Lord, opening his windows, and turning 
 himself toward Jerusalem. The Levites, appointed 
 to guard the temple, lifted up their hands in the 
 night-time, and eiicoui'agcd one another to adore the 
 Lord, Ps. cxxxiv. 2. The psalmist says, (Ps. cxix. 
 62.) that he arose in the middle of the night, to praise 
 the Lord, and Nehemiah (ix. 3.) mentions four hours 
 of ])rayer on a fast-day. 
 
 During the captivity, Ezra, observing that several 
 Jews mingled foreign terms with their prayers, which 
 were not suitable to the sanctity of that exercise, 
 composed eighteen benedictions, which every Israel- 
 ite is obliged to learn, and to repeat daily. A little be- 
 fore the destruction of the temple, the rabbi Gama- 
 liel added a nineteenth, against apostates and here- 
 tics ; under these names meaning the Christians. 
 Ezra also fixed the time for prayer, according to 
 Maimonides. 
 
 In tiie Jewish prayers we observe, in general, their 
 length, and their battology, or tedious repetitions, 
 which Christ reproves: (Matt. vi. 7.) "When ye 
 pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do ; for 
 they think they sliall be heard for their nnich speak- 
 ing." Secondly, as to their posture. They gen- 
 erally pray sitting, or stooping with their faces to- 
 warrl the ground. They stretch out their feet and 
 their hands, and make a loud cry. Christ prayed 
 thus in the garden of Olives: "Who in the days of 
 his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and sup- 
 plication:^, Vv'ith strong crying and tears," Heb. v. 7. 
 Thirdly, they think that prayers supply the place of 
 sacrifices, which ceased at the destruction of the 
 temple and its altars ; they give them the same name, 
 and impute to them the same efficacj^ 
 
 It is very likely that the prayers of the first Chris- 
 tians were formed on the model of those of the Jews. 
 In the Lord's prayer, our Saviour princi})ally in- 
 tended to oppose its brevity to theit battologv. Paul 
 (Ephes. vi. 18 ; 1 Tiiess. v. 17 ; 1 Tim. ii. 8^ directs 
 that believers should pray in all places, and at all 
 times, lifting up pure hands towards heaven, aiul 
 blessing God for all things, whether in eating, drink- 
 ing, or any other action ; and that every thing be 
 done to the glory of God, 1 Cor. x. 31. "in a word, 
 our Saviour has recommended to us to pray with- 
 out ceasing, Luke xvlii. 1 ; xxi. .313 
 
 PREDESTINATION, To PREDESTINATE,' 
 sometimes signifies merely a designation, or appoint- 
 ment of a particular thing to a particular use ; "or of 
 a certain jierson to a certain office or employment. 
 Rut, in theological language, predestination expresses 
 the design formed by God, from all eternity, of 
 bringing by his grace certain persons to fajth and 
 salvation, while he leaves others to their infidelity. 
 Divines agree, that predestination to salvation is of 
 mere. favor, but opinions are divided concerning it. 
 Some regard it as merely gratuitous; others believe 
 thftt God ibrmed his jiredcstination on a view of 
 future merits in the elect.^ Austin, and the most 
 celebrated schools of the Latin church, hold predes- 
 tination to be of mere favor. Some Greek fathers, and 
 some Latin divines, adlifre to predestination fomuled 
 on foreknowledge. Augusfin says, predestination is a 
 foreknowledge and preparation of efficacious mcar.v, 
 
 in virtue of which, the elect are most certainly saved ; 
 and he was fully persuaded of the gratuitousness of 
 predestination, in its uttermost extent. 
 
 The ancient Hebrews wei'e persuaded, as well as 
 we are, that God had foreknowledge of what every 
 person should be, do and become. This is included 
 in the very notion of God, his providence, and his 
 infinite knowledge. God says to Jeremiah, (i. 5.) 
 " Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee ; and 
 before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sancti- 
 fied thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the 
 nations." But when we endeavor to form a just 
 idea of their system of predestination, and how they 
 reconciled grace and free-will, the attempt is not 
 very easy. The author of the book of Wisdom, 
 Avhom several have thought to be Philo, make Solo- 
 mon thus speak : (chap. viii. 19, 20.) "I was a witty 
 child, and had a good spirit : yea, rather, being good, 
 I came into a body undefiled." The apostles (John 
 ix. 2.) proposed a question to Christ, when they saw 
 a man born blintl, whether his condition was as a 
 punishment for his own sins, or for those of his pa- 
 rents. They therefore had a notion, that his soul 
 had a previous existence, and had offended God, be- 
 fore it animated the present body. 
 
 Chrysostom, who may be considered as the ora- 
 cle and the mouth of the Greek church, maintained, 
 that God did not reject nor predestinate men on 
 account of their past good or bad actions, but on 
 foreknowledge of their future merits or demerits : 
 " Whence is it (says he, on Rom. ix. 13.) that Jacob 
 is beloved, and Esau hated ? It is because one is 
 good, and the other is bad. And whence is it, that, 
 before their .birth, God determined that the elder 
 should be in subjection to the younger.^ It is be- 
 cause God has no need to stay for the event of things, 
 as we must do, to judge whether a man shall be 
 good or bad ; he sees that even before he is born. 
 It was by the effect of his prescience, that he chose 
 Jacob and rejected Esau. He knew before their 
 birth what they would one day prove. When he 
 chose l^Iatthew, there were several i)ersons who ap- 
 peared better than he: but by his infinite penetration, 
 he knew how to discover the value of that jewel, 
 that then lay upon a dunghill." In another place 
 (Ilomil. Ixxx. in Matt, xxv.) he says, that the king- 
 dom of heaven was prepared for the elect from the 
 begimnng of the world, and before they were born, 
 because God foreknew what they would be. And 
 writing on those words of the psalmist, (cxxxix. 2.) 
 " Thou understandest my thought afar off," he thus 
 I'easons : Some people are absurd enough to say, such 
 an one is a good man, because God has chosen him 
 and loved him ; and such another is wicked, because 
 God hated him. But the prophet here tells us, on 
 the contrary, that God ])rovesus by our works. Ho 
 knows whether avc will be virtuous or no, even be- 
 fore our birth ; and by that he gives us proofs of his 
 prescience : he confirms it by our works, for fear it 
 should be imagined, that his prescience was the 
 cause of our virtue. 
 
 The Greek fiuhcrs, after Chrysostom, have ex- 
 pressed themselves much in the same manner, and 
 the modern Greeks have followed the sentiments of 
 the fathers before them. 
 
 This, however, is a very diflicult subject. We 
 may certainly conclude, that when God proposes au 
 en(l, lie also proposes the means; when he appoints 
 an effect, he also a|)])oints the causes. Now where 
 is the essential dift'ercnce, if we say, God foresaw 
 the elect would be holy, therefore chose them ; or
 
 PRE 
 
 [ 757 ] 
 
 PRI 
 
 God chose the elect, to make them holy ? hoc.iiise 
 since their holiness is not from themselves, but from 
 him, he must determine to bestow on them that which 
 they have notoftiiemselves. The difference, therefore, 
 is in the order oidy, that is, whether God determined 
 to elect A. B., pin-posing his holiness, or determined 
 to make A. B. lioly, purposing his election. But ol)- 
 serve, that God's determination to render A. B. holy 
 is, in fact, an election of hiuj ; an election which 
 implies salvation ; and since this principle places an 
 election of the party previous to its effects, it seems 
 to be much more reasonable than (contingency in any 
 shape. Especially, considering that all things are 
 known to God, from the beginning to the end, so 
 that he has no need to stay till a certain event has 
 taken place before he can adjust the following event, 
 but in his divine, infinite and intimate foreknowledge 
 of things, that which is to follov/ is equally present 
 with liim, as that which is to precede. And, doubt- 
 less, we had better on this subject not only think and 
 speak with the most profbimd reverence, feeling our 
 ignorance, and our scanty powers ; but endeavor to 
 persuade ourselves thoroughly of the iiifinite good- 
 ness, wisdom and love of God, and bind om-selves to 
 submit heartily to these attributes, and their opera- 
 tion=:, rather than to perplex ourselves, and to render 
 ourselves unhappy, about appointments whose con- 
 catenation and universal influence arc infinitely be- 
 j^ond our ken. If wei^ee one single link in the chain 
 of the divine government, considered as compounded 
 of cause and effect, what proportion does this bear 
 to that infinitely prolonged combination of things, 
 of which the divine mind only is capable of survey- 
 ing at once both tlie extremes, and, together Avith the 
 extremes, every connecting link, every acting cause, 
 and every produced effect, from the most trivial, as 
 we call it, to the most considerable, in our estimation ! 
 We say, in oin* estimation, because there is no lesser 
 and greater in the sight of God ; but each, being ap- 
 pointed by him, isof cfpial consequence in his appoint- 
 ment, and is equally valued by his infinite wisdom. 
 
 PRESS. This word is often used in Scripture 
 not only for the machine by which grapes are 
 squeezed, but also for the vessel, or vat, into which 
 the wine runs from the press ; that in which it is re- 
 ceived and preserved. Whence proceed these ex- 
 pressions: he digged a wine-press in his vineyard ; — 
 four presses shall run over with ivine ; thy presses shall 
 urst out with new ivine ; to draw out of the press ; 
 Zecb they slew at the ivine-press of Zceb. It was a 
 kind of sid)terrancous cistern, in which the wine 
 was received and kept, till it was put into jars or 
 vessels, of earth or wood. 
 
 AVe read in several titles of the Psalms, as viii. 
 Ixxxi. Ixxxiv. "for the presses," [on Gittith, Eng. 
 tr.) which is difl'ei-ently exj)lained. Some think that 
 these Psalms are songs of rejoicuig for the vintage, 
 and were chiefly sung at the Feast of Tabernacles, 
 after the harvest and the vintage. Others suppose, 
 that gittith signifies an instrument of music, invented 
 or used, perhaps, at Gath, and hence called Gittith. 
 See the article Gittith. 
 
 PRETORIUM, a name given in the Gospels to 
 the house in which dwelt the Roman governor of 
 Jerusalem, Mark xv. 16. (Compare Matt, xxvii. 27 ; 
 John xviii. 28, 33.) Here he sat in his judicial ca- 
 pacity, and here Jesus was brought befi)re him. 
 This was properly the palace of Herod at .Terusalem, 
 near the tower of Antonia, with which it had com- 
 munication. Here the Roman procurators resided 
 whenever they visited Jerusalem ; then- head-quar- 
 
 ters being properly at Cesarea. The pretorium or 
 palace of Herod (Engl.tr. judgment hall) at Cesa- 
 rea is also mentioned. Acts xxiii. 3.'). (See Joseph 
 Antiq. xv. !•. 3.) Paul speaks also of the pretorium 
 (or ])alace) at Rome, in which he gave testimony to 
 Christ, Phil. i. 13. Some think, that by this he 
 means the palace of the emperor Nero ; and others, 
 that he means the i)lace where the Roman praetor 
 sat to administer justice, that is, his tribunal. It is 
 certain that the emperor's palace did not bear the 
 name of tribunal ; but Paul, being accustomed to 
 call by this name the governor's palace at Jerusalem, 
 might give it to the enq)eror's at Rome. Othei-s have 
 maintained, with greater probability, that under the 
 name of the pretorium at Rome, Paul would express 
 the camp of the pretoriau soldiers, whither he might 
 have been carried by the soldier that always accom- 
 panied him, and who was fastened to hmi by a chain, 
 as the manner was among the Romans. 
 
 PRICKS. The Greek word xhTQor signifies prop- 
 erly a stimulus, a goad, with which oxen were driven 
 from behind. Hence the proverbial expression, 
 TTOi'i; y.ivTnov '/.axTtLiir, to kick ogainst the goad, ap- 
 plied to those who rashly ofter resistance to one who 
 is more powerful than themselves, and thus expose 
 themselves to severe retribution, Acts ix. 5 ; xxvi. 
 14. The expression is common to the Greeks, Ro- 
 mans and Hebrews, e, g. Pindar, Pyth. ii. 193. 
 ^schyl. Again. 1633. Eurip. Bacch. 791. Terent. 
 Phormio i. 2. 27. Ammian. Marcell. xviii. 5. (See 
 Kuinoel on Acts ix. 5.) *R. 
 
 PRIDE is a sin very odious to God and man, and 
 Scripture condemns it in a multitude of places. 
 What, hideed, is displayed in the whole sacred his- 
 tory but the pride, presumption and vanity of men 
 overthrown ? What else, but the humility, the meek- 
 ness, the acknowledgment of human weakness, exalt- 
 ed, supported and recompensed. " God resisteth the 
 proud, and giveth grace to the humble. A man's 
 pride shall bring him low ; but honor shall uphold 
 the humble in spirit. Pride goeth before destruction; 
 and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better is it to be 
 of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the 
 spoil with the proud." 
 
 " Pride " is also put for the hardness and insolence 
 of a sinner, in opposition to sins of infirmity or igno- 
 rance : " But the soul that doeth aught presumptu- 
 ously, the same reproacheth the Lord ; and that soul 
 shall be cut off from among his people," Numb. xv. 
 30. And Deut. xvii. 12, "" And the man that will 
 do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the 
 pnest, or unto the judge, even that man shall die." 
 The Lord treated the Egj'ptians with rigor, because 
 they acted with ])ride and insolence toward the He- 
 brews, Exod. xviii. 11. Job ami the psalmist have 
 distinguished Pharaoh by the name of the proud, (Job 
 xxvi. 12 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 10.) and Isaiah (li. 9.) uses the 
 same expression, to mark his destruction. Ezekiel 
 says (xxxii. 12.) the Chaldeans shall destroy the ])ride, 
 the insolence, the cruelty of Egypt. (SeeNeh.ix.16,29.) 
 
 Scri])tiu'e reproaches the Moabites with their pride ; 
 and points them out under the name of children of 
 haughtiness, or pride ; for so we translate Numb, 
 xxiv. 17, " He shall destroy all the children of pride," 
 (Eng. Shcfh,) or haughtiness ; which is confirmed by 
 Jer. xlviii. 29, "We have heard the pride of^ Moab, 
 (he is exceeding proud,) his loftiness and his arro- 
 gancy, and his pride and the haughtiness of his heai-t." 
 (Comp. Numb. xxi. 28, with Jer. xlviii. 45. Heb. 
 Also Isa. xvi. 6.) 
 
 The pride of Jordan expresses the inundations of
 
 PRI 
 
 [ 758 ] 
 
 PRIEST 
 
 that river, Jer. xii. 5 ; xiii. 9 ; xlix. 19 ; Zech. xi. 3. 
 See Jordan. 
 
 Tlie pride and the proud often represent Babylon 
 and the Babylonians; Isa. xiii. 19, "And Babylon, the 
 glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' ex- 
 cellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom 
 and Gomorrha." Jeremiah, (1. 31, 32.) speaking of 
 the king of Babylon, says, "Behold, I am against 
 thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord of hosts; for 
 the day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And 
 the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall 
 raise him up : and I will kindle a fire in his cities, 
 and it shall devour all round about him." (See Ps. 
 cxix. 21, 51, 69, 78, 85, 122.) 
 
 PRIEST, liom the Greek, Presbyter, properly sig- 
 nifies an elder, or old man. The Hebrew is jno, Cohen. 
 In the Old Testament, the priesthood was not an- 
 nexed to a certain family, till after the promulgation 
 of the law by 3Ioscs. Before that time, the first-born 
 of each family, the fathers, the princes, the kings were 
 born priests, in their own cities, and in their own 
 houses. Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham and Job, 
 Abhnelech and Laban, Isaac and Jacob, offered, per- 
 sonally, their own sacrifices. In the solemnity of the 
 covenant made by the Lord with his people, at the 
 foot of mount Sinai, Moses performed the office of 
 mediator, and young men were chosen from among 
 Israel to perform the office of priests, Exod. xxiv. 
 5, 6. But after the Lord had chosen the tribe of 
 Levi to serve him in his tabernacle, and the priest- 
 hood was annexed to the family of Aaron, then the 
 right of offering sacrifice to God was reserved to the 
 priests of this familj^. Numb. xvi. 40. The punish- 
 ment of Uzziah, king of Judah, (2 Chron. xxvi. 19.) 
 is well known, who, having presumed to offer incense 
 to the Lord, was suddenly smitten with a leprosy. 
 However, it seems that on certain occasions the 
 judges and kings of the Hebrews offered sacrifice to 
 the Lord, especially before a constant place of wor- 
 ship was fixed at Jerusalem. See 1 Sam. vii. 9, 
 where Samuel, who was no priest, offered a lamb for 
 a bumt-sacrificc to the Lord. See also chap. Lx. 13, 
 where it is said, that this prophet was to bless the 
 offering of the people ; which should seem to be a 
 function appropriate to a priest. Lastly, 1 Sam. 
 xvi. 5, he goes to Bethleheui, where he offers a sac- 
 rifice at the anointing of David. 
 
 Saul himself offered a burnt-offering to the Lord, 
 perhaps as being king of Israel, 1 Sam. xiii. 9, 10. 
 Elijah also offered a burnt-offering on mount Carmel, 
 1 Kings xviii. 33. David sacrificed at the ceremony 
 of bringing the ark to Jerusalem, (2 Sam. vi. 13.) and 
 at the floor of Araunah, 2 Sam. xxiv. 25. And Sol- 
 omon went up to the brazen altar at Gibeon, and 
 there oftered sacrifices, 2 Chron. i. 6. We know 
 that such passages are commonly explained, by sup- 
 posing that these princes offered their sacrifices by 
 the hands of the priests ; but the text by no means 
 favors such cxi)lioation ; and it is very natural to im- 
 agine, that in the quality of kings and heads of the 
 people, they had the privilege of performing some 
 sacerdotal functions on certain extraordinary occa- 
 sions. So we see David consulted the Lord, by the 
 priestly ephod ; and on another occasion he gave a 
 solemn benediction to the people. His son Solomon 
 did the same, 1 Sam. xxiii. 9; xxx. 7 ; 2 Sam. vi. 14, 
 18 ; 1 Kings viii. .55, 5G. 
 
 The Lord having reserved to himself the first-born 
 of Israel, because he had preserved them from the 
 hand of the destroying ang(>l in KgV])!, by way of 
 exchange and compensation, he accepted the tribe of 
 
 Levi for the service of his tabernacle, Numb. iii. 41. 
 Thus the whole tribe of Levi was appointed to the 
 sacred ministry, but not all in the same manner ; for 
 of the three sons of Levi, Gershom, Kohath and 
 Merari, the heads of the three great families, the 
 Lord chose the family of Kohath, and out of this 
 family the house of Aaron, to exercise the functions 
 of the priesthood. All the rest of the family of 
 Kohath, even the children of Moses, and their de- 
 scendants, remained among the liCvites. 
 
 The high-priest was at the head of all religious 
 affairs, and was the ordinary judge of all difficulties 
 that belonged thereto, and even of the general justice 
 and judgment of the Jewish nation, Deut. xvii. 8 — 
 12 ; xix. 17 ; xxi. 5 ; xxxiii. 9, 10 ; Ezek. xliv. 24. 
 He only had the pi'ivilege of entering the sanctuary 
 once a year, on the day of solemn expiation, to make 
 atonement for the sins of the whole people. Lev. xvi. 
 2, &c. He was to be born of one of his own tribe, 
 whom his father had married a virgin ; and was to 
 be exempt from corporal defect. Lev. xxi. 13. In 
 general, no priest who had any defect of this kind 
 could offer sacrifice, or enter the holy place, to pi-e- 
 sent the shew-bread. But he was to be maintained 
 by the sacrifices offered at the tabernacle. Lev. xxi. 22. 
 
 God had appropriated to the person of the high- 
 priest the oracle of his truth : so that when he was 
 habited in the proper ornaments of his dignity, and 
 with the urim and thummim, he answered questions 
 proposed to him, and God discovered to him secret 
 and future things. He was forbidden to mourn for 
 the death of any of his relations, even for his father 
 or mother ; or to enter into any place where a dead 
 body lay, that he might not contract, or hazard the 
 contraction of uncleanness. He could not marry a 
 widow, nor a woman who had been divorced, nor a 
 harlot ; but a virgin onl}^ of his own race. He was 
 to observe a strict continence during the whole time 
 of his service. 
 
 The ordinary priests sei'ved immediately at the 
 altar, killed, skinned and offered the sacrifices. 
 They kept up a perpetual fire on the altar of burnt- 
 sacrifices, and in the lamps of the golden candle- 
 stick in the sanctuary : they kneaded the loaves of 
 shew-bread, baked them, offered them on the golden 
 altar in the sanctuary, and changed them every sab- 
 bath day. Every day, night and morning, a priest, 
 appointed by casting of lots at the beginning of the 
 week, brought into the sanctuary a smoking censer 
 of incense, and set it on the golden table, otherwise 
 called the altar of incense. 
 
 The priests were not suffered to offer incense to 
 the Lord with strange fire ; that is, with any fire but 
 what was taken from the altar of burnt-sacrifices. 
 Lev. X. 1, 2. God chastised Nadab and Abihu with 
 severity for having failed in this. The priests and 
 Levites waited by the Aveck, and by the (juarter, in 
 the temple. They began their week on the sabbath, 
 and ended it on the next sabbath, 2 Kings xi. 5, 7. 
 Moses fixed the age at which they were to enter on 
 the sacred ministry at twenty-five or thirty years, 
 and they were to end it at fifty, Numb. viii. 24 ; iv. 
 3 ; 1 Chron. xxiii. 24 ; 2 Chron. xxxi. 17 ; Ezra iii. 
 8. Those who dedicated themselves to perpetual 
 service in the temph^ were well received, and main- 
 tained by the daily offerings, Deut. xviii. 6 — 8. 
 
 The Lord had given no lands of inheritance to the 
 tribe of Levi, in the Land of I'romise. He intended 
 that they should l)e suj)i)orted by the tithes, the first- 
 fruits, the ofl'erings made in the temple, and by their 
 share of the sin-off(!rings and thanksgiving-offerings,
 
 PRIEST 
 
 [759] 
 
 PRIEST 
 
 sacrificed in the temple ; of which certain parts were 
 appropriated to them. Jn the peacc-otterinffs they 
 had the shoulder and the breast ; (Lev. vii. .33, .'34.) 
 in tlie sin-oft'erings they burnt on the altar the fat 
 that covei-s the bowels, the liver and the kidneys ; the 
 rest belonged to themselves, Lev. vii. 6, 10. The 
 skin or fleece of every saci-ifice also belonged to 
 them ; and this alone was no mean allowance. 
 When an Israelite killed any animal for his own use, 
 he was to give the priest the shoulder, the stomach 
 and tlie jaws. Dent, xviii. 3. He had also a sliare 
 of the wool when sheep were shorn, Deut. xviii. 4. 
 All the first-born, both of man and beast, belonged to 
 the Lord, that is, to his priests. The men were re- 
 deemed lor five shekels. Numb, xviii. 15, 16. The 
 first-born of impure animals were redeemed or ex- 
 changed. The clean animals were not redeemed, 
 but were sacrificed to the Lord, their blood being 
 sprinkled about the altar ; the rest belonged to the 
 priest. The first-fruits of trees, that is, those of the 
 fourth year, belonged also to the priests^- Numb, i^vi 
 13 Lev. xix. 23, 24. 
 
 The people offered at the temple the first-fruits of 
 the earth ; the quantity being fixed by custom to be- 
 tween the fortieth and sixtieth part. They offered 
 also Avhatever any one had vowed to the Lord. 
 They ga\ e also to the priests and Levitcs an allow- 
 ance out of their kneaded dough. They also had the 
 tithe of the fruits of the land, and of all animals 
 which passed under the shepherd's crook. Lev. xxvii. 
 31, 32. When the Levites had collected all the tithes 
 and all the first-fruits, they set apart the tithe of this 
 for the priests, Numb, xviii. 2(j. Thus, though the 
 priests had no lands or inheritances, they lived in 
 great plenty. God also provided them houses and 
 accommodations, by appointing forty-eight cities for 
 their residence, Numb. xxxv. 1 — 3. In the precincts 
 of these cities they possessed a thousand cubits be- 
 yond the walls. Of these forty-eight cities, six were 
 appointed as cities of refuge, for those who had com- 
 mitted casual and involuntary manslaughter. The 
 priests had thirteen of these cities ; the others belonged 
 to the Levites, Josh. xxi. 10. 
 
 A principal employment of the priests, next to at- 
 tending on the sacrifice^ and the temple service, was 
 the instruction of the people, and the deciding of 
 controversies ; distinguishing the several sorts of 
 leprosy, divorce causes, the waters of jealousy, vows, 
 causes relating to the law and uncleannesses, &c. 
 " For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and 
 they should seek the law at his mouth : for he is the 
 messenger of the Lord of hosts," Mai. ii. 7. They 
 publicly blessed the peoj)le in tiie name of the 
 Lord. In time of war their duty was to carry the 
 ark of the covenant, to consult the Lord, to sound the 
 holy trumpets, and to encourage the army, Numb. x. 
 8, 9 ; Deut. xx. 2. 
 
 The consecration of Aaron and of his sons was per- 
 formed by Moses in the desert with great solemnity, 
 he performing the office of consecrating [)riest, Exod. 
 xl. 12 ; Lev. viii. It is doubtful whether at every 
 new consecration of a high-priest all these ceremo- 
 nies were repeated. It is probable they contented 
 themselves with clothing the new high-priest in the 
 liabit of his predecessor, as at the death of Aaron, 
 Numb. XX. 25, 2G. Yet some think they gave him 
 unction also, which might be till the Babylonish cap- 
 tivity, though there is no proof of the fact. We 
 know, that after this, Jonathan the Asmonean con- 
 tented himself with putting on the high-priest's habit 
 at the Feast of Tabernacles, iu order to take possession 
 
 of this dignity, 1 Mac, x. 21. (Joseph. Antiq. Ub. xiii. 
 cap. 5.) 
 
 As to the ordinary priests, we know not of any par- 
 ticular cerenioiiy used at their connccration. They 
 
 were admitted to the exercise of their function by 
 " filling their hands," as Scripture speaks ; that is, by 
 making them perform the offices of their order. Nor 
 is it certain whether any thing was required more 
 than ordinary sanctification, that is, exemption from 
 legal defilements and uncleanness. But when the 
 priests had fallen away from the Lord, or had been 
 long without jierforming their office, (as under some 
 of the later kings of Judah, as Ahaz, Anion and 
 Manasseh,) they thought it necessary to sanctify 
 again such absentee priests. This happened under 
 itezekiah and Josiah ; when the number of them 
 that were sanctified not being sufficient for the great 
 number of sacrifices offered, they were forced to 
 em])loy the Levites in flaying the sacrifices ; for the 
 Levites were much sooner sanctified than the priests, 
 2 Chron. xxix. 34 ; xxxv. 11. The Hebrew reads, 
 " For the Levites were upright of heart, to sanctify 
 themselves, rather than the priests ;" that is, they 
 showed more zeal and readiness. 
 
 The Hebrew priesthood passed from the family of 
 Ithamar into that of Eleazar, as the Lord had declared 
 to the high-priest Eli, 1 Sam. ii. 30. (See Eli.) But 
 the family of Eli possessed it long. This high-priest 
 was succeeded by his third son Ahitub, or, according 
 to others, Ahijah, to whom succeeded Ahimelech, 
 slain by Saul, with the other priests at Nob. Saul 
 then gave the high-j)riesthood to Zadoc. But Abia- 
 thar, son of Ahimelech, having adhered to the in- 
 terests of David, was continued in possession of the 
 high-priesthood in the kingdom of Judah. So that 
 for a good part of David's reign, the high-priesthood 
 was exercised by two high-priests, Zadoc and Abia- 
 thar ; Zadoc of the family of Eleazar; Abiathar of 
 the family of Ithamar. Towards the end of David's 
 reign, Abiathar having adhered to the party of Ado- 
 nijah against Solomon, he was disgraced and, Zadoc 
 alone was acknowledged as high-priest. He then be- 
 gan to exercise his high-priesthood at Jerusalem, hav- 
 ing before only performed the functions of it on the 
 altar at Gibeon, 1 Kings ii. 26, 27 ; 1 Chron. xvi. 39. 
 
 The Hebrew word cohen, which signifies ;9nes<, is 
 sometimes used for a prince. In Exod. ii. 16, it is 
 said that Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, was 
 priest (p3, cohen) of Midian ; that is, according to 
 some, prince, or governor, of his city. In 2 Sam. 
 viii. 18, it is said, the sons of David were priests, 
 [cohenim,) that is, princes ; and considered in the 
 country as priests. The Septuagint say, they were 
 jlx'}.uQX<.tt, principal courtiers ; chiefs of the court. 
 The author of the first book of Chronicles (xviii. 17.) 
 explains this, by saying, they were the nearest at the 
 king's hand. They had the chief employments at 
 court. 
 
 The Christian priesthood is the substance and 
 truth, of which that of the Jews was but a shadow 
 and figure. Christ, the everlasting priest, according 
 to the order of Melchisedec, abides for ever, as Paul 
 observes ; whereas the priests, according to the 
 order of Aaron, were mortal, and therefore could not 
 continue long, Ileb. vii. 23, &c. The Lord, to ex- 
 press to the Hebrews what great flivors he would 
 confer on them, says he woidd make them kings and 
 priests, Exod. xix. 6. And Peter repeats t! is prom- 
 ise to Christians, or rather he tells them, that they 
 are in truth what Moses promised to Israel, 1 Pet. iL 
 9. '(See also Rev. i. 6.)
 
 PRIEST 
 
 t 760 ] 
 
 PRIEST 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE HIGH-PRIESTS OF THE HEBREWS. 
 
 1. Succession from the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 2. Succession from 
 1 Chron. vi. 3—15. 
 
 3. Succession from 
 Joseph. Ant. lib. v. 
 c. 15 ; lib. X. c. 11. 
 
 4. Succession from the Jewish 
 Chronicle, Seder 01am. 
 
 1. Aaron, brother of Moses, created high- 
 
 1. Aaron. 
 
 1. Aaron. 
 
 1. 
 
 Aaron. 
 
 priest, A. M. 2514, died 2552, ante A. D. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1452. 
 
 
 
 
 
 2. Eleazar, A. M. 2552, died about 2571, 
 
 2. Eleazar. 
 
 2. Eleazar. 
 
 2. 
 
 Eleazar. 
 
 ante A. D. 1433. 
 
 
 
 
 
 3. Phinehas, about A. M. 2571, died about 
 
 3. Phinehas. 
 
 3. Phinehas. 
 
 3. 
 
 Phinehas. 
 
 2590, ante A. D. 1414. 
 
 
 
 
 
 4. Abiezer, or Abishua. ^ ^^^^^^. ^^^^ 
 
 4. Abishua. 
 
 4. Abiezer. 
 
 4. 
 
 Eli. 
 
 5. Bukki. 
 
 5. Bukki. 
 
 5. 
 
 Ahitub. 
 
 6. Uzzi. 
 
 6. Uzzi. 
 
 6. 
 
 Abiathar. 
 
 7. Eh, of the race of Ithamar, created in 
 
 7. Zerahiah. 
 
 7. Eh. 
 
 7. 
 
 Zadok. 
 
 A. M. 2848, died in 2888, a7ite A. D. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1116. 
 
 
 
 
 
 8. Ahitub I. 
 
 8. Meraioth 
 
 8. Ahitub. 
 
 8. 
 
 Ahimah, under Reho- 
 boam. 
 
 9. Ahiah. He hved in A. M. 2911, or 2912. 
 
 9. Amariah. 
 
 9. Ahimelech. 
 
 9. 
 
 Azariah, under Abiah. 
 
 10. Abiinelech, or Abiathar, slain by Saul 
 
 10. Ahitub I. 
 
 10. Abiathar. 
 
 10. 
 
 Jehoachash, under Je- 
 
 in A. M. 2944, ante A. D. 1060. 
 
 
 
 
 hoshaphat. 
 
 11. Abiathar, Ahimelech, or Abimelech, un- 
 
 11. Zadok L 
 
 11. Zadok. 
 
 11. 
 
 Jehoiarib, under Jeho- 
 
 der David, from A. M. 2944, to 2989, 
 
 
 
 
 ram. 
 
 ante A. D. 1015. 
 
 
 
 
 
 12. Zadok I. under Saul, David and Solo- 
 
 12. Ahnuaaz. 
 
 ]2. Ahimaa. 
 
 12. 
 
 Jehoshaphat, under 
 
 mon, from A. M. 2944, till about 3000, 
 
 
 
 
 Ahaziah. 
 
 ante A. D. 1004. 
 
 
 
 
 
 13. Ahimaaz, under Rehoboam, about A. M. 
 
 13. Azariah. 
 
 13. Azariah. 
 
 13. Jehoiadah, under Joash. 
 
 3030, ante A. D. 974. 
 
 
 
 
 
 14. Azariah, under Jehoshaphat; probably 
 
 14. Johanan, 
 
 14. Joram. 
 
 14. 
 
 PhadaiaJi, under Joash. 
 
 the Amariah of 2 Chron. xix. 11. About 
 
 1 Chron. vi. 
 
 
 
 
 A. M. 3092, ante A. D. 912. 
 
 9,10. 
 
 
 
 
 15. Johanan, perhaps Jehoiada, in the reign 
 
 15. Azariah. 
 
 15. Issus. 
 
 15. 
 
 Zedekiah, under Ama- 
 
 of Joash, 2 Chron. xxiv. 15, in A. M. 
 
 
 
 
 ziah. 
 
 3126. Died aged 130. 
 
 
 
 
 
 16. Azariah, perhaps the Zechariah, son of 
 
 16. Amariah. 
 
 16. Axiora. 
 
 16. 
 
 Joel, under Uzziah. 
 
 Jehoiada, killed A. M. 3164, ante A. D. 
 840. 
 17. Amariah, perhaps Azariah, under Uzzi- 
 
 
 
 
 
 17. Ahitub II. 
 
 17. Phideas. 
 
 17. 
 
 Jothan, under Joatham. 
 
 ah, in A. M. 3221, ante A. D. 783. 
 
 
 
 
 
 18. Ahitub II. ? under Jotham, king of 
 
 18. Zadok II. 
 
 18. Sudeas. 
 
 18. 
 
 Uriah, under Ahaz. 
 
 19. Zadok II. I Judah. 
 
 19. Shallum. 
 
 19. Julus. 
 
 19. 
 
 Neriah, under Heze- 
 kiah. 
 Hosaiah, luider Manas- 
 
 20, Uriah, under Ahaz ; he lived in A. M. 
 
 20. HUkiah. 
 
 20. Jotham. 
 
 20. 
 
 3265, ante A. D. 739. 
 
 
 
 
 seh. 
 
 21. Shallum, father of Azariah, and grand- 
 
 2L Azariah. 
 
 21. Uriah. 
 
 21. 
 
 Shallum, under Anion. 
 
 father of Hilkiah. 
 
 
 
 
 
 22. Azariah, in the time of Hezekiah, 2 
 
 22. Seraiah. 
 
 22. Neriah. 
 
 22. 
 
 Hilkiah, under Josiah. 
 
 Chron. xxxi. 10. about A. M. 3278, ante 
 
 
 
 
 
 A. D. 726. 
 
 
 
 
 
 23. Hilkiah, under Hezekiah. 
 
 23. Jehozadak. 
 
 23. Odeas. 
 
 23. 
 
 Azariah, under Jehoia- 
 kim and Zedekiah. 
 
 24. Eliakim, or Joakim, under Manasseh, 
 
 24. Joshua. 
 
 24. Saldum. 
 
 24. 
 
 Jehozadak, after the 
 
 and at the time of the siege of Bethulia, 
 
 
 
 
 taking of Jerusalem. 
 
 A. M. 3348. He lived under Josiah to 
 
 
 
 
 
 3380, and longer. Called Hilkiah. Vide 
 
 
 
 
 
 Baruch i. 7. 
 
 
 
 
 
 25. Azariah, ])erhaps Neriah, father of Se- 
 
 
 25. Hilkiah. 
 
 25. Jesus, son of Jehozadak, 
 
 raiah and of Baruch. 
 
 
 
 
 after the captivity. 
 
 26. Seraiah, the last high-priest before the 
 
 
 26. Seraiah. 
 
 
 
 captivity of Babylon, put to death A. M. 
 
 
 
 
 
 3414, ante A. T>. .590. 
 
 
 
 
 
 27. Jehozadak, during the captivity from 
 
 
 27. Jehozadak. 
 
 
 - 
 
 A. M. 3414 to 3469, aiite A. I). .535. 
 
 
 
 
 
 28. Joshua, or Jesus, the son of Jehozadak; 
 
 
 28. Jesus, or 
 
 
 
 returned from Babylon, A. M. 3468 ante \ 
 
 Joshua. 
 
 
 
 A. D. 536. 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 '
 
 PRI 
 
 [761 ] 
 
 PRI 
 
 CONTINUATION, COLLECTED FROM EZRA, NEHEMIAH AND JOSEPHUS. 
 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 32. 
 33. 
 
 34. 
 35. 
 
 36. 
 
 37. 
 38. 
 39. 
 40. 
 41. 
 42. 
 43. 
 44. 
 45. 
 
 46. 
 
 47. 
 
 48. 
 49. 
 50. 
 51. 
 52. 
 53. 
 
 54. 
 55. 
 
 Joachim, under the reign of Xerxes, Joseph. 
 
 Antiq. lib. xi. cap. 5. 
 
 Eliasib, Joasib, or Chasib, under Nehemiah, in 
 
 A. M. 3550, ante A. D. 454. 
 
 Joiada, or Juda, Neh. xii. 10. 
 
 Jonathan, or John. 
 
 Jeddoa, or Jaddus, who received Alexander the 
 
 Great at Jerusalem, in A. M. 3673 ; died in 3682, 
 
 ante A. D. 322. 
 
 Onias I. made high-priest in A. M. 3681, gov- 
 
 eined 21 years ; died in 3702, ante A. D. 302. 
 
 Simon I. called the Just, in A. M. 3702, or 3703 ; 
 
 died in 3711, anle A. D. 293. 
 
 Eleazar, in A. i\L 3712. Under this pontiff, they 
 
 tell us, the translation of the LXX was made, 
 
 about A. M. 3727; died in 3744, ante A. D. 
 
 260. 
 
 Manassch, in A. M. 3745; died in 3771, ante 
 
 A. D. 233. 
 
 in A. M. 3771 ; died in 3785, ante 
 
 A. I\I. 3785; died in 3805, ante 
 
 Onias II. 
 A. D. 219 
 Simon II, 
 A. D. 199. 
 
 Onias III. in A. M. 3805 ; deposed in 3829, died 
 in 3834, ante A. D. 170. 
 
 Jesus, or Jason, in A. M. 3830 ; deposed in 3831, 
 ante A. D. 173. 
 
 Onias IV. otherwise Menelaus, in A. M. 3832 ; 
 died in 3842, ante A. D. 162. 
 Lvsimachus, vicegerent to Menelaus, killed in 
 a'. M. 3834, ante A. D. 170. 
 Alcimus, or Jacimus, or Joachim, A. M. 3842 ; 
 died in 3844, ante A. D. 160. 
 Onias V. Not at Jerusalem ; but he retired into 
 Egypt, where he built the temple Onion, in A. M. 
 3854, ante A. D. 150. 
 
 Judas Maccabeus, restored the altar and the sac- 
 rifices, in A. M. 3840 ; died in 3843, ante A. D. 
 161. 
 
 Jonathan the Asmonean, brother to Judas Mac- 
 cabeus, created high-priest in A. M. 3843 ; died 
 in 3860, ante A. D. 144. 
 
 Simon Maccabeus, made in A. M. 3860 ; died 
 in 3869, ante A. D. 135. 
 
 John Hircanus, made in A. M. 3869 ; died in 
 3898, ante A. D. 106. 
 
 Aristobulus, king and pontiff of the Jews; died 
 in A. M. 3899, ante A. D. 105. 
 Alexander Janneus, king and pontiff 27 years, 
 from A. M. 3899 to 3926, ante A. D. 78. 
 Hircanus, high-priest 32 years in all, from A. M. 
 392() to 3958, ante A. D. 46. 
 Aristobulus, brother to Hircanus, usurped the 
 high-priesthood ; three years and three months, 
 from A. M. 3935 to 3940, ante A. D. 64. 
 Antigonus, his son, also usurped the priesthood, 
 in prejudice to the rights of Hircanus ; possessed 
 it ft)r three years and seven months, from A. M. 
 3964 to 3967, when he was taken by Sosius, 
 ante A. D. 37. 
 
 Ananeel of Babylon, made high-priest by Herod 
 in 3968, till 3970, ante A. D. 34. 
 
 PRIESTHOOD. We may distinguish four kinds 
 of priesthood. (1.) That of kings, princes, heads of 
 families, and the first-born. This may be called a 
 natural priesthood, because nature and reason teach 
 us, that the honor of offering sacrifices to God should 
 08 
 
 Aristobulus, the last of the Asmoneans ; did aot 
 enjoy the pontificate a whole year. Died in 
 A. M. 3970, ante A. D. 34. 
 Ananeel was made high-priest a gecond time in 
 A. M. 3971, ante A. D. 33. 
 Jesus, son of Phabis ; deposed in A. M. 3981. 
 ante A. D. 23. 
 
 Simon, son of Boethus ; made in A. M. 3981 ; 
 deposed in 3999, ante A. D. 5. 
 Matthias, son of Theophilus ; made in A. M. 
 3999, ante A. D. 5. 
 
 Joazar, son of Simon, son of Boethtis ; made in 
 A. M. 4000, the year of the birth of Jesus Clirist, 
 four years ante A. D. 
 
 Eleazar, brother to Joazar, made in A. M. 4004. 
 A. D. 1. 
 
 Jesus, son of Siali ; made in A. M. 4009. 
 Joazar made a second time in A. M. 4010, de- 
 prived in 4016, A. D. 13. 
 
 Ananus, son of Seth, 11 years, from A. M, 
 4016, to 4027, A. D. 24. 
 
 Ishmael, son of Phabi ; made in A. M. 4027, 
 A. D. 24. 
 
 Eleazar, son of Ananus ; made in A. M. 4027, 
 A. D. 24. 
 
 Simon, son of Camithus ; made in A. M. 4028, 
 A. D. 25. 
 
 Joseph, surnamed Caiaphas ; made in A. M. 
 4029, till 4038, A. D. 35. 
 
 Jonathan, son of Ananus ; made in A. M. 4038, 
 till 4040, A. D. 37. 
 
 Theophilus, son of Jonathan ; made in A. M. 
 4040, deposed in 4044, A. D. 41. 
 Simon, surnamed Cantharus, son of Sunon Boe- 
 thus ; made in A. M. 4044, A. D. 41. 
 Matthias, son of Ananus ; made in A. M. 4045, 
 A. D. 42. 
 
 Elioneus, made in A. M. 4047, till 4048, A. D. 
 45. 
 
 Simon, son of Cantharus ; a second time aiade 
 high-priest, A. M. 4048 ; deposed the same 
 year. 
 
 Joseph, son of Caneus ; made in A. M. 4048, 
 till 4050, A. D. 47. 
 
 Ananias, son of Nebedeus ; made in A. M. 4050, 
 till 4066, A. D. 63. 
 
 Ishmael, son of Phabius ; made in A. M. 4066, 
 A. D. 63. 
 
 Joseph, surnamed Cabei ; the same year, A M. 
 4066. 
 
 Ananus, son of Ananus ; the same year, A. M. 
 4066. 
 
 Jesus, son of Ananus, made in A. M. 4067, A.D. 
 64. 
 
 Jesus, son of Gamaliel ; the same year, A. M. 
 4067. 
 
 Matthias, son of Theophilus; made in A. M. 
 4068, till 4073, A. D. 70. 
 
 Phnnnias, son of Samuel ; made in A. M. 4073, 
 A. D. 70 ; which is the year of the destructica 
 of the temple of Jerusalem by the Romans, and 
 of the abolition of the Jewish priesthood. 
 
 belong to the most mature in understanding, and the 
 greatest in dignity. (2.) The priesthood, according 
 to the order of Melchisedec, which does not diflTer 
 from that now mentioned, but in its dignity; be- 
 cause Melchisedec was raised up of God to represent 
 
 56. 
 
 57. 
 
 58. 
 59. 
 60. 
 
 61. 
 62. 
 
 63. 
 64. 
 65. 
 66. 
 67. 
 68. 
 69. 
 70. 
 71. 
 72. 
 
 73. 
 74. 
 75. 
 
 76. 
 77. 
 78. 
 79. 
 80. 
 81.
 
 PRO 
 
 [ 762 ] 
 
 PRO 
 
 the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Or the priesthood 
 of Melchisedec combined in the same person the right 
 of the kingly and of the priestly offices, with that of 
 the first-born, to exercise the priesthood ; or he was 
 at once king, priest and prophet, that is, authorita- 
 tive teacher, in every sense of the term. (See 3Iel- 
 CHisEDEC.) (3.) The priesthood of Aaron and his 
 family, which subsisted as long as the religion of the 
 Jews. (4.) The priesthood of Jesus Christ, and of 
 the new law, which is infinitely superior to all oth- 
 ers, in its duration, its dignity, its prerogatives, its 
 object, and its power. The priesthood of Aaron was 
 to end, but that of Jesus Christ is everlasting. That 
 of Aaron was limited to his own family, was exer- 
 cised only in the temple, and among only one peo- 
 ple ; its object was bloody sacrifices and purifications, 
 which were only external, and could not remit sins ; 
 but the priesthood of Jesus Christ includes the entire 
 Christian church, spread over the face of the whole 
 earth, and among all nations of the world. The 
 Epistle to the Hebrews should be considered by 
 those who would comprehend the excellence of the 
 priesthood of the new law above that of the law of 
 Mrses, Heb. iv. 14, &c. also chap. v. — ix. (See 1 
 Pet. ii. 5—9.) 
 
 PRINCE is sometimes taken for the chief, the 
 principal ; as the princes of the families, of the 
 tribes, of the houses of Israel ; the prmces of the 
 Levites, of the people, of the priests ; the princes of 
 the synagogue, or assembly ; the princes of the chil- 
 dren of Reuben, of Judah, &c. Also, for the king, 
 the- sovereign of a country, and his principal officers : 
 the princes of the army of Pharaoh ; Phichol, prince 
 of the army of Abimelech : Potiphar was prince or 
 chief of the executioners or guards of the king of 
 Eg\'pt ; and Joseph was in prison with the prince of 
 the* bakers, &c. The prince of the priests some- 
 times denotes the high-priest actually in office, (2 
 Mac. iii. 4 ; Matt. xxvi. 57.) or he who had formerly 
 possessed this dignity. Sometimes, he who was at 
 the head of the priests, waiting in the temple ; (Jer. 
 XX. 1 ; xxix. 25 — 27 ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 8.) or an in- 
 tendant of the temple, or the head of the sacerdotal 
 families. The prince of the city had in the city the 
 same authority as the intendant of the temple had in 
 the temple : he took care of the preservation of the 
 peace, and good order, 2 Chron. xviii. 25 ; xxxiv. 8. 
 'ihe prince of this world is the devil, who boasts of 
 having all the kingdoms of the earth at his disposal, 
 John xii. 31 ; xiv. 30 ; xvi. 11. 
 
 PRISCA, or Priscilla, (2 Tim. iv. 19.) a Chris- 
 tian woman, well known in the Acts, and in Paul's 
 Epistles ; sometimes placed before her husband 
 Aquila. Their house was so thoroughly Christian- 
 ized, that Paul calls it a church. From Ephesus 
 they went to Rome, where they were when this 
 apostle wrote his Epistle to the Romans, A. D. 58. 
 In chap. xvi. 5, he salutes them first, with great 
 commendations. They returned into Asia some 
 time afterwards, and Paul, writing to Timothy, de- 
 sires him to salute them on his account, 2 Tim. iv. 
 19, A. D. 65. It is thouglit they died here. See 
 Aquila. 
 
 PROCHORUS, or Procorus, one of the first 
 seven deacons. Acts vi. 5. 
 
 PRODIGAL, profuse, wasteful, extravagant. The 
 reader, no doubt, has always discerned tenderness 
 and affection in ihe manner in which the father, in 
 the parable of the Prodigal Son, (Luke xv.) receives 
 the young man, his son, when returning home ; but 
 the honor implied in some circumstances of his re- 
 
 ception, acquires additional spirit, from an occur- 
 rence recorded by major Rooke. English readei-s, 
 observing the " music and dancing," heard by the elder 
 son, are ready to imagine that the family, or a part of 
 it, was dancing to the music, because such would be 
 the case among ourselves ; whereas, the fact is, that not 
 only a band of music, but a band of dancers also, ac- 
 cording to eastern usage, was hhed, whose agility was 
 now entertaining the numerous company of friends, 
 invited by the father on this joyful occasion. This, 
 then, is an additional expression of honor done the 
 prodigal ; and to our Lord's auditory, would convey 
 the idea, not merely of the delight expressed by the 
 father on his son's arrival, but also, that he treated 
 him as if he had come back fi-om some honorable 
 pilgrimage ; (as from Mecca, in the subjoined ex- 
 tract ; for so we find Hadje Cassim acting on account 
 of his son's amval from thence ;) that he forgot his 
 misbehavior in going away, and felt only his wisdom 
 in returning; that besides treating him with the best 
 in the house, he had put himself to further expenses, 
 and had introduced him honorably, not only to his 
 familj" again, but to his friends around, whom he had 
 assembled to gi-ace his reception. "Hadje Cassim, 
 who is a Turk, and one of the richest merchants in 
 Cairo, had interceded in my behalf with Ibrahim 
 Bey, jit the instance of his son, who had been on a 
 pilgrimage to Mecca, and came from Juddah in the 
 same ship with me. The father, in celebration of his 
 son^s return^ gave a most magnificent fete on the even- 
 ing of the day of my captivity, and, as Soon as I was 
 released, sent to invite me to partake of it ; and I 
 accordingly went. His company was very numer- 
 ous, consisting of three or four hundred Turks, who 
 were all sitting on sofas and benches, smoking their 
 long pipes ; the room in which they were assembled 
 was a spacious and lofty hall, in the centre of which 
 was a band of nmsic, composed of five Turkish in- 
 struments, and some vocal performers ; as there 
 were no ladies in the assembly, you may suppose it 
 was not the most lively party in the world ; but being 
 new to me, was for that reason entertaining." (Trav- 
 els in Arabia Felix, page 104.) This, too, adds a 
 spirit to the elder brother's expression : " Thou never 
 gavcst me a kid, that I might make merry xvith my 
 friends :" — and as this fHe was given in the evening, 
 it agrees with the circumstance of the elder brother's 
 return from the field ; implying, no doubt, his labors 
 there, which certainly are not forgotten by himself, 
 when he says, " These many years do I serve thee." 
 Now, if the Jews were alluded to in the person of 
 the eider son, we may see how characteristic this 
 language is of that nation ; and if the Gentiles were 
 meant by the prodigal, it cannot be unpleasing to us, 
 who arc Gentiles by nature, to form a higher esti- 
 mate than heretofore of the honors bestowed on that 
 disobedient wanderer bv his father. 
 
 PROFANE. (See Defile, and Holy.) When 
 Jerusalem is compared fo th'; temple, the soil of tlie 
 city is called profane; (Ezek. xlviii. 1.5.) that is, ap- 
 pointed to common uses, and for a habitation of 
 laics. In 2 Mac. xii. 2.3, the heathen that composed 
 the army of Timotheus, are called profane ; and Paul 
 marks as profane such novel words and expressions 
 .•Ls are needlessly introduced into religion, 1 Tim. vi. 
 20. To profane the temple, to profane the sabbath, 
 to profane the altar, are common expressions, to de- 
 note the violation of the repose of the sabbath ; the 
 entering of foreigners into the temple ; irreverences 
 committed there; impious sacrifices offered on the 
 altar of the Lord, &c. To profane the statutes, or
 
 PRO 
 
 [ roo ] 
 
 ? RO 
 
 the commandments of God, is to transgress and vio- 
 late them, Ps. Ixxxix. 31. To profane the covenant, 
 or promises sworn to by an oath, is to frustrate them, 
 or not perform them, Ps. Ixxxix. 34. 
 
 PROMISE, a declaration, or assurance of some 
 future good. The word is, in the New Testament, 
 usually taken for the promises mafle by God to 
 Abraham and the patriarchs, to send them the Mes- 
 siah. In this sense Paul commonly uses it. Gal. iii. 
 16; Rom. iv. 13. et passim. In Acts vii. 17, the time 
 of the promise, is the time of the coming of the Mes- 
 siah. The children of the promise are, first, the 
 Israelites descended from Isaac, in opposition to the 
 Isiimaelites descended from Ishmael and Hagar ; 
 (Rom. ix. 8; Gal. iv. 28.) secondly, the Jews con- 
 verted to Christianity, in opposition to the unbeliev- 
 ing Jews. Christians enjoy the promises made to 
 the patriarchs, from which the unbelieving Jews 
 have fallen. The Holy Spirit of promise, which 
 Ciiristians have received, (Eph. i. 13.) is that which 
 God has promised to those who believe, and which 
 is the pledge of their everlasting happiness. The 
 first commandment with promise, (Eph. vi. 2.) is, 
 "Honor thy father and thy mother;" to which God 
 has subjoined this promise, "Their days shall be 
 multiplied on the earth." The promises, in general, 
 denote eternal life, which is the object of a Chris- 
 tian's hope, Heb. xi. 13. The ancient patriarchs 
 were heirs of the promises by their faith and their 
 patience, Heb. vi. 12. All the promises of God are 
 accomplished and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. i.20. 
 
 The word promise is sometimes taken in our Eng- 
 lish version for the thing promised, as well as for the 
 terms in which the engagement to confer a favor is 
 made. So we read, (Heb. xi. 13.) that the patriarchs 
 died in faith, "not having received the promises;" 
 whereas they certainly had received the promises, but 
 not the things promised ; and this is the more unfortu- 
 nate, in this place, as we read immediately afterwards, 
 that " Abraham had received the promises," that is, 
 the birth of his son and heir, Isaac. 
 
 Promises always refer to future good ; and in this 
 they difier from threatenings, which always refer to 
 evil : they differ also, inasmuch as threatenings may 
 be alleviated ; but promises must be fulfilled. No 
 man would claim the execution of threatenings ; but 
 a promise gives a right of claim to the party to be 
 benefited. The fulfilment of promises may be de- 
 layed, as that which assured Abraham of posterity : 
 they may be executed by means not apparent at the 
 time. Man should be extremely cautious in making 
 promises, lest he may fail in power to accomplish 
 them ; not so God, who has all power, at all times, 
 and cannot be taken unprepared. 
 
 PROOF, trial, temptation. God proved the Is- 
 raelites to see if they would walk in his ways, Exod. 
 
 XX. 20. After he had proved them and afflicted them> 
 he had pity on them, Deut. viii. 16. As gold and 
 silver are tried in the furnace, so God proves the 
 heart, Prov. xvii. 3. 
 
 PROPHECY, the foretelling of such events as 
 could be known only to God. It is beyond dispute 
 that there is a Power which governs the world ; 
 which raises one fatnily to the throne, and one na- 
 tion to the supremacy ; and then, when this has 
 answered the purposes for which it was exalted, 
 transfers the sceptre of rule to a stranger, and pro- 
 duces, from obscurity into reputation and splendor, 
 another person, or another people ; maintains this 
 also, during its appointed time, and when that time 
 is expired, suffers it gradually to decay ; or directs a 
 new ambition to wrest from its enfeebled hand, and 
 its j)alsied head, the ensigns of royalty, and the to- 
 kens of dignity. 
 
 It is said, " Kingdoms rise and fall by accident ; " 
 and it is asked, " If no superior power interfered, 
 would not their changes be just the same ? " It is 
 sufficient for us, without adverting to what might be, 
 to answer, by what is ; and this subject deserves at- 
 tention. We have seen infidel writers criticise books 
 they had not read, (or had read years ago, and so 
 criticise by memory ; or had read them so superfi- 
 cially, as scarcely amounts to a reading,) and then 
 retail unfounded observations and dogmatical re- 
 marks on what they should (by way of answer) be 
 entreated first to understand. 
 
 We maintain, that if we find certain events pre- 
 dicted, long before they happened ; if they be so 
 clearly described, that when completed, the descrip- 
 tion determinately applies to the subject ; if they be 
 related by persons entirely unconcerned in the 
 events, and expecting to be removed from the stage 
 of life long before they take place ; then we demon- 
 strate that some power superior to humanity has 
 been pleased to impart so much of its designs, and 
 counsels, as are referred to hi such predictions. 
 And where is the unfitness of this? May not a king, 
 if he please, acquaint a person with his intention, 
 that aft;er such an one has been governor of a prov- 
 ince for so many years, he designs to send such 
 another to be governor after him ? or that after A 
 has held such an office during his appointed time, 
 B shall succeed him ? If this be nothing startling, or 
 uncommon, in human concerns, let us see how this 
 simple idea applies to the divine government of the 
 world. One clear instance may justify this state- 
 ment ; and this instance we select from the prophet 
 Daniel, because its coincidence with history is un- 
 questionable ; but other subjects are capable of the 
 same enumerative demonstration : we say demonstra- 
 tio7i ; for who, by the power of mere human facul- 
 ties, could foresee such contingencies ? 
 
 INSTANCE OF PROPHECY COMPARED WITH HISTORY : 
 
 THE CHIEF INCIDENTS ONLY BEING SELECTED, AND NUMBERED. 
 
 Prophecy of Four Kingdoms, represented by Four 
 Beasts. 
 
 THE FIRST BEAST. 
 
 1. A lion, 
 
 2. having eagle's wings ; 
 
 3. the wings were plucked. 
 
 Corresponding Events, in their Historical Order. 
 
 a'Ssyrian empire. 
 
 1. The Babylonian empire ; 
 
 2. Nineveh, &c. added to it — but 
 
 3. Nineveh was almost destroyed at the fall of 
 
 Sardanapalus ;
 
 PRO 
 
 [ 764 
 
 PRO 
 
 4. it was raised from the ground, 
 
 5. and made to stand on the feet eis a man, 
 
 6. and a man's heart [intellect] was given to it. 
 
 Dan. chap. iv. 
 
 THE SECOND BEAST. 
 
 1. A ram, 
 
 2. which had two horns, 
 
 3. both high, 
 
 4. but one higher than the other, 
 
 5. the highest came up last ; 
 
 6. the ram pushed north, west, south, 
 
 7. did as he pleased, and became great. 
 
 THE THIRD BEAST. 
 
 1. A he goat 
 
 2. came from the west, 
 
 3. gliding swiftly over the earth ; 
 
 4. ran unto the ram in the fury of his power, 
 
 5. smote him, 
 
 6. brake his two horns, 
 
 7. cast him on the ground, 
 
 8. stamped on him, and 
 
 9. waxed very great. 
 
 10. When he was strong, his gi-eat horn was bro- 
 
 ken, and 
 
 11. instead of it came up four notable ones, 
 
 12. towards the four winds of heaven ; 
 
 13. out of one of them a little horn waxed great 
 
 14. toward the south and east; 
 
 15. which took away the daily sacrifice, and cast 
 
 down the sanctuary, &c.' 
 Dan. chap. \'iii. 3 — 12. 
 
 Tliese events are jirefigured by different emblems, 
 though to the same pui7)ose, in other parts of this 
 prophet ; and it is probable they refer to the heraldic 
 insignia of the nations they concern. (Comp. Mace- 
 donia.) 
 
 PROPHET. Scripture often gives to prophets 
 the name of men of God, or of angels (that is, mes- 
 sengers) of the Lord. The verb nibba, which we 
 translate to prophesy, is of very great extent. Some- 
 times it signifies to foretell what is to come ; at other 
 times to be inspired, to speak from God. God says 
 to Moses, (Exod. vii. 1.) "Aaron thy brother shall be 
 thy prophet ;" he shall explain thy sentiments to the 
 people. Paul, (Tit. i. 12.) quoting a heathen poet, 
 calls him a prophet. Scripture does not withhold 
 the name of prophet from impostors, although they 
 falsely boasted of inspiration. As true prophets, 
 when filled by the energy of God's Spirit, were 
 sometimes agitated violently, similar motions were 
 called j)rophesying when exhibited by persons who 
 were filled with a good or evil spirit, 1 Sam. xviii. 
 10. Saul, being moved by an evil spirit, prophesied 
 in his house. Dancing, oV playing on instruments, 
 is also sometimes called prophesying: "Thou shalt 
 meet a company of prophets (says Samuel to Saul) 
 coming down from the high i)lace, uitli a psaltery, 
 and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp before then), 
 
 4. yet this empire vras again elevated to power, 
 
 5. and seemed to acquire stability under Nebu- 
 
 chadnezzar, 
 
 6. who laid the foundation of its subsequent policy 
 
 and authority, 
 
 PERSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 1. Darius ; or the Persian power, 
 
 2. composed of Media and Persia, 
 
 3. both considerable provinces, 
 
 4. Media the more powerful : yet this most powerful 
 
 5. Median empire, under Dejoces, rose after the 
 
 other ; 
 
 6. and extended its conquests under Cjnnis over 
 
 Lydia, &c. west ; over Asia north ; over Baby- 
 lon, &c. south ; and 
 
 7. ruling over such extent of country, was a great 
 
 empire. 
 
 GRECIAN EMPIP.E. 
 
 1. Alexander, or the Greek power, 
 i. came from Europe (west of Asia); 
 
 3. with unexampled rapidity of success 
 
 4. attacked Darius furiously, and 
 
 5. beat him — at the Granicus, Issus, &c. 
 
 6. conquered Persia and Media, &c. 
 
 7. mined the power of Darius, 
 
 8. insomuch that Darius was murdered, &c. 
 
 9. Alexander oven-an Bactriana, to India ; 
 
 10. but died at Babylon, in the zenith of his fame 
 
 and power ; 
 
 11. his dominions were parcelled among Seleucus, 
 
 Antigonus, Ptolemy, Cassander (who had 
 been his officers) : 
 
 12. in Babylon, Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece. 
 
 13. Antiochus the Great succeeded by Antiochus 
 
 Epiphanes, 
 
 14. conquered Egypt, &c. 
 
 15. and endeavored utterly (o subvert the Jewish 
 
 polity : polluting their temple, worship and 
 sacrifices, to the utmost of his power. 
 
 and they shall prophesy. And the Spirit of the 
 Lord shall come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy 
 with them, and sbalt be turned into another man," 
 1 Sam. X, 5, 6. So we read, 1 Chron. xxv. 1, that 
 the sons of Asaph were appointed to prophesy upon 
 harps. 
 
 The term prophesy is also used (1 Cor. xi. 4, 5 • 
 xiv. i, &c.) for "explaining Scripture, speaking to 
 the church in public ; probably because they who 
 exercised these functions were regarded as under 
 the direction of the Holy Spirit. So it is said in 
 Acts xiii. 1, that .ludas and Silas were prophets; that 
 there were in the church at Antioch certain prophets 
 and teachers ; that is, official instructers. God has 
 set in the church, first, apostles, then prophets, 1 
 Cor. xii. 28. (See also Eph. ii. 20 ; Rev. xviii, 20 ; 
 Acts xxi. 9.) 
 
 The usual way by wliich God communicated his 
 will to the prophets was by inspiration, which con- 
 sisted in illuminating the mind, and exciting them to 
 proclaim what the Lord had dictated. In this sense 
 we acknowledge as prophets all the authors of the 
 canonical books of Scripture, both of the Old and 
 New Testaments. God also communicated infor- 
 mation to the prophets by dreams and visions. Joel 
 (ii. 28.) promises to the people of the Lord that their 
 young men should sec visions, and their old men
 
 PROPHET 
 
 [ 765 ] 
 
 PROPHET 
 
 have prophetic dreams. Peter (Acts x. 11, 12.) fell 
 into an ecstasy at noon-day, and had a revelation 
 importing the "call of the Gentiles. The Lord ap- 
 peared to Abraham, to Job, and to Moses in a cloud, 
 and discovered his will to them. His voice was 
 eomelimes heard articulately. Thus, he spoke to 
 Moses in the burning bush, and on mount Sinai, and 
 to Samuel in the night. 
 
 We have in the Old Testament the writings of 
 sixteen prophets ; that is, of four greater ami twelve 
 lesser pro[)hets. The four greater prophets are 
 Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The Jews 
 do not properly place Daniel among the prophets, 
 because (they say) he lived in the splendor of tem- 
 poral dignities, and led a kind of life different from 
 other prophets. The twelve lesser prophets are, 
 Hosca, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Jonah, Nahum, 
 Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and 
 Malachi. 
 
 Chronological order of the prophets, according to 
 Calmet. 
 
 1. HosEA, under Uzziah, king of Judah, who began 
 
 to reign A. M. 3194 ; and under Jotham, Ahaz 
 and Hezekiah, kings of Judali, and under Jero- 
 boam II. king of Israel, and his successors, to 
 the destruction of Samaria, A. M. 3283. 
 
 2. Amos, imder Uzziah, A. M. 3219, and about six 
 
 years before the death of Jeroboam II. king of 
 Israel, A. M. 3220. 
 
 3. Isaiah, at the death of Uzziah, and at the begin- 
 
 ning of the reign of Jotham, king of Judah, 
 A. M. 3246 ; to the reigu of IManasseh, A. M. 
 330G. 
 
 4. Jo>AH, under the kings Joash and Jeroboam II. 
 
 in the kingdom of Israel ; about the same time 
 as Hosea, Isaiah and Amos. Jeroboam II. 
 died A. 31. 3220. 
 
 5. MiCAH, under Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, 
 
 kings of Judah. Jotham began to reign A. M. 
 3235, and Hezekiah died A. M. 3306. Micah 
 was contemporaiy with Isaiah, but began later 
 to prophesy. 
 
 6. Nahum, under Hezekiah, and after the expedi- 
 
 tion of Sennacherib, that is, after A. M. 3201. 
 
 7. Jere:miah, in the thirteenth year of Josiah, king 
 
 of Jiulah, A. M. 3375. Jeremiah continued to 
 propiiesy under Shallum, Jchoiakim, Jeconiah 
 and Zedekiah, to the taking of Jerusalem by the 
 Chaldeans, A. M. 3416. It is thought he died 
 two years afterwards in Egypt. 
 
 8. Zephaniah, at the beginning of the reign of Jo- 
 
 siah, an 1 before the twenty-eighth year of that 
 prince, \. M. 3381 ; and even before the taking 
 of Nine eh, A. 31. 3378. 
 
 9. Joel, ui er Josiah, about the same time as 
 
 Jeremia/i and Zephaniah. [But see under 
 Joel. R. 
 
 10. Daniel was taken into Chaldea, A. 31. 3398, the 
 
 fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. He 
 prophesied at Babylon to the end of the cap- 
 tivity, A. 31. 34G8, and perhaps longer. 
 
 11. Ezekiel was carried captive to Babylon with 
 
 Jeconiah, king of Judah, A. 31. 3405. He be- 
 gan to prophesy in A. 31. 3409. He continued 
 till toward the end of the reign of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, who died A. 31. 3442. 
 
 12. Habakkuk, in Judea, at the beginning of the 
 
 reign of Jehoiakim, about A. 31. 3394, and be- 
 fore the coming of Nebuchadnezzar in 3398. 
 
 13. Obadiah, in Judea, after the taking ot Jerusa- 
 
 lem, A. 31. 3414, and before the desolation of 
 Idumea, (as we believe,) in 3410. 
 
 14. Haggai returned from the captivity A. M. 3468, 
 
 and prophesied the second year of Darius, son 
 of Hystaspes, A. 31. 3484. 
 
 15. Zechariah prophesied in Judea at the same 
 
 time as Haggai, and seems to have continued 
 after him. 
 
 16. 3Ialachi has no date to his prophecies. If he 
 
 Avere the same as Esdras, which is very proba- 
 ble, he may have prophesied under Nehemiab, 
 who returned into Judea, A. 31. 3550. Sec the 
 articles of these prophets. 
 Beside these, there are many whose names appear 
 in Scripture, but of whom we have no writings 
 remaining. 
 
 The Prophetesses are, (1.) Miriam, sister of 3Toses. 
 (2.) Deborah. (3.) Hannah, the mother of Sam- 
 uel. (4.) Abigail. (.5.) Huldah. (6.) Esther. 
 (7.) The midwives of Egypt, w^ho preserved the 
 first-born of the Hebrews. 
 
 After 3Ialachi, there were no prophets in Israel, ks 
 before ; so that in the time of the 3Iaccabees, (1 3Iac. 
 iv. 46. ante A. D. 164.) when the altar of burnt-sacri- 
 fices was demolished, which had been profaned by 
 the GentiiCS, the stones thereof were set aside, till a 
 prophet should arise to declare what should be done 
 with them. 
 
 The pro) Iiets were the divines, the philosophers, 
 the instruct 'rs, and the guides of the Hebrews in 
 piety and virtue. They generally lived retired, in 
 some country retreat, or in a sort of community, 
 where they and their disci])les were employed in 
 study, prayer and labor. Their habitations were 
 plain and sinij)l •. They exercised no trade for gain, 
 nor did they nn. 'ertake any work that was too labo- 
 rious, or inconsis^tent with the repose their employ- 
 ment required. Elisha quitted his plough, when 
 Elijah called him to the j)iophetic office, 1 Kmgs 
 xix. 20. Zechariah (xiii. 5.) speaks of one who is no 
 prophet, but a husbandman. Amos says (vu. 14.) he 
 is no prophet, but a herdman, and a gatherer of 
 sycamore fruit. 
 
 " lOlijah was clothed with skins, and girded with a 
 girdle of leather, 2 Kings i. 8. Isaiah wore sack- 
 cloth, that is, a coarse rough habit, of a dark brown 
 color, which was the ordinary clothing of the proph- 
 ets. Zechariah says, (xiii. 4.) speaking of the false 
 prophets who im=*ated externally the true proi)het3 
 of the Lord, that " they should" not wear a rough 
 garment to deceive." In Rev. xi. 3, the two w itnesses 
 are clothed in sackcloth. Their poveity was con- 
 spicuous in their actions. They received ])resents 
 of bread, fruits and honey ; or the first-fruits of the 
 eartii ; as being ])ersons who possessed nothing 
 themselves. The woman of Shunem, who enter- 
 tained Elisha, put into the prophet's chamber no fur- 
 nitiu-e but what was plain and necessary, 2 Kings iv. 
 10. The sa?ne prophet refuses the rich presents of 
 Naaman, and drives away from his presence Gehazi, 
 who had received them," 2 Kings v. 26. Their fru- 
 gality a})pears throughout their history. It is well 
 known what is related of the wild gourds, that one 
 of the prophets caused to be boiled for the refresh- 
 ment of his brethren, 2 Kings iv. 38, 40. The angel 
 gave to Elijah only bread and water for a long 
 journev, 1 Kings xix. 6. Obadiah, governor of 
 Ahab's household, gave bread and water to the
 
 PROPHET 
 
 [766] 
 
 PRO 
 
 prophets whom he fed in the caves, 1 Kings 
 xviii. 4. 
 
 The prophets were not observers of ceUbacy ; 
 Samuel had children, and Isaiah had a wife, called 
 the prophetess, chap. viii. 3. Hosea (i. 2, &c.) re- 
 ceived orders to marry. (See Hosea.) But there 
 were no women, or wives, in the societies of the 
 prophets. Neither Elijah nor Ehsha had any that 
 we hear of; and we see with what reserve the wo- 
 man who entertained Elisha spoke to him ; and that 
 by the interposition of Gehazi, 2 Kings iv. 27. The 
 prophets were exposed to the railleries, the insults, 
 the persecutions, and the ill treatment both of kings 
 and_ people, whose vices and in-egularities they un- 
 dertook to reprove ; and Paul acquaints us, that many 
 of them died violent deaths, Heb. xi. 35, &c. 
 
 In several parts of the Old Testament we find 
 mention made of '■'■ Books of the Prophets,''^ which are 
 quoted as authorities for certain histories ; which 
 books, thus referred to, are usually lives and actions 
 of the kings; not records of any chronological peri- 
 od of time. The very same custom seems to be re- 
 1/ tained in Abyssinia, where a pei-son is especially ap- 
 pointed to the office of Recorder ; and, if the same 
 consequence were anciently attached to that office 
 among the Hebrews, as is now in that country, we 
 may safely rely on the authenticity of the narration, 
 and the integrity of the narrator. Perhaps, too, we 
 may discern reasons why Scripture sometimes re- 
 frains from condemning certain crimes ; as it is not 
 the duty of the historiographer to comment on the 
 king's actions ; though we may safely add, that suc- 
 ceeding providences, recorded in such histories, are 
 usually comments sufficiently explicit, independent 
 of their connection as cause and effect. The follow- 
 ing is from Bruce : — 
 
 "The king has near his person an officer who is 
 meant to be his Historiographer. He is also 
 keeper of his seal : and is obliged to make a journal of 
 the king's actions, good or bad, without comment of his 
 own upon th^m. — This, when the king dies, or at least 
 soon after, is delivered to the council, who read it 
 over, and erase every thing false in it, whilst thev sup- 
 ply every material fact that may have been ozriitted, 
 whether purposely or not." (Travels, vol. ii. p. 596.) 
 
 It is remarkable that the tide Seer occurs princi- 
 pally, if not altogether, imder tlie regal government 
 of Israel. We )neet with it first in reference to the 
 prophet Samuel, (1 Sam. ix. 9.) such persons having 
 been previously called prophets. 3Iay it be ques- 
 tioned whether Samuel was not the first acknowledged 
 offi.cial writer of annals ? i. e. on? attached to the 
 king's person, so far at least as to be confessedly en- 
 
 t gaged as such, in the royal service. Indeed, as Saul 
 was the first king, Samuel, alone, could be the first 
 recorder imder the crown. Hence probably his 
 books are preserved, as the first of their kind, the ex- 
 emplars of all others. Gad, " David's seer," (1 Chron. 
 xxi. 9.) Heman, "the king's seer," (1 Chron. xxv. 5, 
 perhaps after Gad's demise,) Iddo " the seer," (2 Chron. 
 ix.29; xii. 15.) and Jeduthun, "the king's seer," (2 
 Chron. xxxv. 15, &c.) all seem to have occupied the 
 post of regal historiographer. Whence other writers 
 of memoirs might also be called seers. This idea 
 is corroborated by what is remarked of Manasseh : 
 (2 Chron. xxxiii. 19.) " His prayer, and his pardon, his 
 sin, his trespass, his high jjlaces, gi-oves, graven im- 
 ages, &c. behold they are written among the remarks, 
 words, of the seers^ If this be admitted, then we see 
 the importance of these officers, as " keepers of the 
 king's seal ;" and the reason for the distinction be- 
 
 tween prophet and seer ; why a person might be a 
 prophet only, i. e. from God ; or a seer only, i e. a 
 writer of memoirs, or both together. 
 
 [The distinction here attempted to be made be- 
 tween prophet and seer, has no foundation in the bib- 
 lical representations. For the character of the proph- 
 ets generally, of their inspiration and of their proph- 
 ecies, see an article by professor Haystenburg, in the 
 Biblical Repository, vol. ii. p. 138 ; and another by 
 professor Stuart, in the same work, vol. ii. p. 217. R. 
 
 PROSELYTE, a name given by the Jews to those 
 who come to dwell in their countrj', or who embrace 
 their religion, not being Jews by birth. 
 
 They distinguish two kinds of proselytes. The 
 first, proselytes of the gate ; the others, proselytes of 
 justice. The first dwelt in the land of Israel, or even 
 out of that country, and without obliging themselves 
 to circumcision, or to any other ceremony of the law, 
 feared and worshipped the true God, observing the 
 Noachical rules, or what the rabbins call the seven 
 precepts of JVoah. Of this number was Naaman the 
 Syrian, Nebuzar-adan, general of Nebuchadnezzar's 
 army, Cornelius the centurion, the eunuch of queen 
 Candace, and some others mentioned in the Acts. 
 
 The rabbins teach, that a proselyte of habitation, 
 or of the gate, must promise under an oath, in the 
 presence of three witnesses, to keep the seven pre- 
 cepts of the Noachidse ; that is, according to them, 
 that law of nature to which all the nations of the 
 world are obliged ; the observation of which might 
 secure them salvation. The Jews say, that proselytes 
 of the gate have ceased in Israel, ever since the ob- 
 servation of the jubilee has been left off, and the tribes 
 of Gad, of Reuben, and of Manasseh, on the other 
 side Jordan, were led captive by Tiglath-pileser. But 
 this is not accurate ; since we see many proselytes in 
 the time of Christ, who reproaches the Pharisees with 
 compassing sea and land to make a proselj'te ; and, 
 after this, making him a greater sinner than he was 
 before. Matt, xxiii. 15. Luke (Acts ii. 11.) speaks of 
 a great number of proselytes, and of those who feared 
 God, at Jerusalem, when the Holy Ghost descended 
 upon the apostles. 
 
 The privileges of proselytes of the gate were, first, 
 that by the observation of the rules of natural justice, 
 and by avoiding idolatiy, blasphemy, incest, adultery 
 and murder, they might through grace hope for eter- 
 nal life. Secondly, they might dwell in the land of 
 Israel, and share in the outward prosperities of it. It 
 is said they did not dwell in the cities, but only in the 
 suburbs and villages. But it is certain, that the Jews 
 often admitted into their cities, not only proselytes of 
 habitation, but also Gentiles and idolaters, as ajipears 
 by the reproaches, on this accoimt, throughout the 
 Scriptures. In the time of Solomon there were in 
 Israel 153,600 of these proselytes, whom he compelled 
 to hew wood, to draw water, to cut stones, and to 
 cariT burdens for the building of the temple, 2 Chron. 
 ii. 17, 18. They were Canaanites, who had contin- 
 ued in the country since Joshua's time. 
 
 Proselytes of justice were those converted to Ju- 
 daism, who had engaged to receive circumcision, and 
 to obsene the whole lawof 3Ioses. Thus they were 
 admitted to all the prerogatives of the people of the 
 Lord, as well in this life as the other. The rabbins 
 inform us, that before circumcision was administered 
 to them, and they were admitted into the religion of 
 the Hebrews, they were examined about the motives 
 of their conversion ; whether the change were volun- 
 tary, or whether it proceeded from interest, fear, am- 
 bition, &c. Maimonides assures us, that under the
 
 PRO 
 
 [ 767 ] 
 
 PRO 
 
 happy reigns of David and Solomon, they received 
 no proselytes of justice, because there was reason to 
 fear, that the prosperity of these princes, rather than 
 any love to reUgion, made them converts to Judaism. 
 The Talmudists say, that proselytes are, as it were, 
 the canker and rust of Israel, and that very great 
 caution must be taken not to admit them too readily. 
 
 When the proselyte had been well instructed, they 
 gave him circumcision ; and when the wound was 
 healed, they gave him baptism, by plunging his whole 
 body into a cistern of water, by one immersion. This 
 ceremony, being a judicial act, was to be performed 
 in tiie presence of three judges, and could not be 
 done on a festival day. The proselyte also caused 
 circumcision and baptism to be administered to his 
 slaves, under thirteen years of age : those of that age, 
 or older, could not be compelled ; but he must sell 
 them, if they were obstinate in not embracing Ju- 
 daism. Female slaves were only baptized if they 
 would become converts ; if not, they were to be sold. 
 Baptism was never repeated, neither in the person of 
 the proselyte, though he should afterwards apostatize, 
 nor in that of his children, born to him after baptism, 
 unless they were born from a pagan woman ; in 
 which case, they were to be baptized as pagans, be- 
 cause they followed the condition of their mother. 
 (See Buxtorf, Lex. Rab. Chald. Talm. col. 407, seq. 
 Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. and Kuinoel on Matt. iii. 6. 
 Selilen de Jure Nat. et Gent. ii. 2.) 
 
 Boys under twelve years of age, and girls under 
 thirteen, could not become proselytes, till they had 
 obtained the consent of their parents, or in case of 
 refusal, the concurrence of the officers of justice. 
 Baptisin in respect of girls, had the same effect as 
 circumcision in respect of boys. Each of them by 
 means of this, received (as it were) a new birth ; so 
 that those who were their parents before, were no 
 longer regarded as such after this ceremony ; and 
 those who before were slaves, now became free. 
 Children born before the conversion of their father, 
 had no right to inherit. If a proselyte died without 
 having had children after his conversion, his estate 
 belonged to the first occupier, and not to the public 
 treasury. When proselytes became Jews, the rab- 
 bins teach that they received from heaven a new 
 soul, and a new substantial form. 
 
 It is thought that our Saviour alluded to the bap- 
 tizing of proselytes, when he told Nicodemus, (John 
 iii. 5 — 10.) that for those who Avould obey his law, it 
 was necessary they should be born again. When 
 Nicodemus appeared surprised at this, our Saviour 
 replied, " Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest 
 not those things ? " as though he would infer, that his 
 language had nothing extraordinary in it, since the 
 baptism of proselytes was practised every day in 
 Israel. 
 
 PROVERBS, a name given by the Hebrews, in 
 common with that of parables or similitudes, to moral 
 sentences, maxims, comparisons or enigmas, express- 
 ed in a poetical, figurative and sententious style. 
 Solomon says, that in his time, maxims of this sort 
 were the chief study of the learned : " A wise man 
 win endeavor to understand a proverb, and the inter- 
 pretation ; the words of the wise, and their dark say- 
 ings," Prov. i 6. Jesus, son of Sirach, says,(Ecclus. 
 xxxix. 1 — .3.) "He will keep the sayings of the re- 
 nowned men, aiid where subtile parables are, he will 
 be there also : he will seek out the secrets of grave 
 sentences, and be conversant in dark parables." The 
 queen of Sheba came to see Solomon, to prove him, 
 and to propose dark riddles to him, 1 Kings x. 1. 
 
 Hiram, king of Tyre, (they say,) kept a correspond- 
 ence, by letters, with Solomon, and also proposed 
 enigmatical questions to him, and explained those 
 that were proposed to him by Solomon. 
 
 The Proverbs of Solomon are, without doubt, the 
 most valuable part of his works: he says they were 
 fruits of his most profound meditations, and of his 
 most excellent wisdojn, Eccles. xii. 9. Here we find 
 rules for the conduct of persons in all conditions of 
 life; for kings, courtiers and men of the world; for 
 masters, servants, fathers, mothers and children. 
 Some have doubted whether Solomon alone were 
 the author of the Proverbs. Grotius thinks he had a 
 compilation made for his own use, of whatever was 
 extant, excellent in point of morality, from all the 
 ancient writers of his own nation ; that under Heze- 
 kiah this collection was enlai-ged, by adding what 
 had been written since Solomon ; and Eliakim, 
 Shebna and Joah, he thinks, completed the collec- 
 tion, 2 Kings xviii. 18. But these conjectures are 
 not supported by proof. The fathers and interpret- 
 ers ascribe the whole book to Solomon. True it is, 
 we may obsen'e some differences of style and method 
 in this book. The first nine chapters, entitled "The 
 Proverbs of Solomon," are written as a continued 
 discourse, and may be considered as a preface. lu 
 chap, x., where we see the same title again, the style 
 changes to short sentences, which have little connec- 
 tion with each other, and which, generally, contain a 
 kind of antithesis. In chap. xxii. ver. 17, we find a 
 new style, approaching nearer to that of the first nine 
 chapters ; to chap. xxiv. ver. 23, there is a new title ; 
 {To the wise; or. Further sayings of the ivise ;) and 
 their style is short and sententious. Chap. x.\v. we 
 read, " These are also proverbs of Solomon, which 
 the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out," 
 And, doubtless, it was on this authority that Grotius 
 advanced this collection to have been made by Elia- 
 kim, Shebna and Joah, famous men under the reign 
 of Hezekiah. In chap. xxx. 1, we read, " The words 
 of Agur, the son of Jakeh ;" and the title of chap, 
 xxxi. is, "The words of king Lemuel." 
 
 From all this it seems certain, that the book of 
 Proverbs is a collection of Solomon, compiled by sev- 
 eral hands: but we cannot conclude hence, that it is 
 not the work of Solomon, who, being inspired by 
 divine Wisdom, composed no less than three thou- 
 sand proverbs, 1 Kings iv. 32. Several persons 
 might make collections of them ; Hezekiah among 
 others, as mentioned chap, xxv., and Agur, Isaiah 
 and Ezra might do the same. From these collec- 
 tions might be composed the work which we now 
 have ; and nothing is more reasonable than this sup- 
 position. It is no where said, that Solomon himself 
 had made a collection of proverbs and sentences. 
 The title, " Solomon's Proverbs," rather shows the 
 author than the compiler. The rabbins generally 
 maintain, that king Hezekiah, observing the abuse 
 the people made of several works of Solomon, 
 chiefly those which contained the virtues of plants, 
 and secrets of natural philosophy, he suppressed sev- 
 eral of these works, and only preserved those that 
 are handed down to us. 
 
 PROVIDENCE, divine superintendence. It is a 
 tenet of the Christian and Jewish religions, that God 
 disposes and governs all things by his providence ; 
 that this providence is eternal and infinite; that it 
 extends over every thing, to the hairs of our heads, 
 to the most minute animals, to herbs of the field. 
 The atheists, whose sentiments are combated by Sol- 
 omon, in his book of Ecclesiastes ; and the Saddu-
 
 PSA 
 
 768 ] 
 
 PSALMS 
 
 cees, who arose afterwards, denied this providence, 
 and maintained, tliat men are the only causes of their 
 own happiness or misfortune, according to their good 
 or ill use of their liberty. 
 
 But these notions are rejected by the generality of 
 the Jews; though they do not agree among theiii- 
 selves in explaining the effects of providence. Mai- 
 monides seems to think, that providence does not act 
 in the moving of a ]eaf, or in the production of a 
 worm ; but that whatever relates to the production 
 of animals, or things of minor importance, is by 
 chance. Moreover, the generality of the .Tews hold, 
 that mankind enjoy a perfect liberty as to good or 
 evil; and that whatever happens to a man is in 
 recompense for his good actions, or in punishment 
 for his bad ones. 
 
 " Say not before the angel. There is no providence ; 
 lest God should be provoked against you, and destroy 
 all the works of your hands." Thus speaks the book 
 of Ecclesiastes, v. 6. Take care how you deny in 
 secret a providence ; your angel will be a witness of 
 your most secret thoughts, and God will punish you. 
 The Hebrew expresses this : " Say not before the an- 
 gel, It is a fault of ignorance ;" why should you expose 
 yourself to the anger of the Lord by your words, and 
 lose all the lai)or of your hands? See AriCEL. 
 
 PSALMS, THE BOOK of; in Hebrew, Sepher Te- 
 hillim, the book of hymns. In the Gospels it is vari- 
 ously named, "The Book of Psalms," "The Prophet," 
 or " David," from the name of its principal author. 
 It is justly esteemed to be a kind of abstract of the 
 whole Scripture ; a general library, in which we 
 may meet with whatever is requisite for salvation. 
 Tb«* sacred history instructs us, says Ambrose, that 
 the prophecies declare future events, the reproofs 
 restrain the wicked, and the precepts persuade them, 
 but the Psalms produce all these effects. Agreeable- 
 nes^ and usefulness are here so happily blended, that 
 it is not easy to decide which is most prevalent. 
 
 The Hebrews commonly divide the Psalter into 
 five books; at the end of each of which we read the 
 same conclusion, and which is thought to have been 
 put there by Ezra, or by those who had the care of 
 collecting the sacred books after the captivity of 
 Babylon. The first book ends at our fortieth psalm ; 
 the second at the seventy-first ; the third at the 
 eighty-eighth ; the fourth at the hundred and fifth ; 
 the fifth at the hundred and fiftieth. The first four 
 books conclude with these words, "Amen, Amen." 
 The fifth with "Hallelujah." 
 
 The number of canonical Psalms has always been 
 fixed at 150; for the hundred and fifty-first (in the 
 Greek) has never been received as canonical. But 
 though the number of the whole has been agreed 
 upon, there is a variety in their distribution. The 
 Jews make two of the ninth, (according to the Vul- 
 gate and Sept.) and begin their tenth at ver. 22, Ps. 
 ix. " Why standest thou afar off, O Lord ? " so that 
 from this place to Ps. cxiii. their citations and num- 
 bers are different from the Latin and Greek. The 
 Protestant churches, and the English version, follow- 
 ing this division of the Hebrews, quote the Psalms in 
 like manner. 
 
 It is a tradition among the Hebrews and Chris- 
 tians, that Ezra is, if not the only, yet the princij)al, 
 collector of the book of Psalms." Eusebius, Hilary, 
 Theodoret, the author of the Synopsis printed under 
 the name of Afhanasius, venerable Bede, and several 
 others, give him this honor. There was, before the 
 captiAity, however, a collection of the Psalms of 
 David, since Hezekiah, when he restored the worship 
 
 of the Lord in the temple, caused the Psalms of Da- 
 vid to be sung there, 2 Chron. xxix. 25, 26, &c. la 
 the library that Nehemiah erected at Jerusalem, he 
 deposited the Psalms of David, 2 Mac. ii. 13. 
 
 Speculative men have given themselves much 
 trouble on the order and disposition of the Psalms ; 
 but, as Jerome observes, it is impertinent to expect 
 in the Psalter a chronological series of canticles, 
 which have relation to certain events of history, smce 
 it is not the custom of authors of lyrics to observe 
 such order ; and indeed, a very little examination of 
 the text and spirit of tlie Psalms will convince us, 
 that those who made the collection had simply in 
 view to preserve these canticles as they found them, 
 with a i-eligious and exact scrupulosity, without either 
 retrenching what had been already repeated, or sup- 
 plying what might seem deficient, or connecting 
 what had been separated, or separating what had 
 been improperly joined. 
 
 The authority and inspiration of the book of Psalms 
 have always been acknowledged by both Jews cr.d 
 Christians. 
 
 One thing, however, creates a difficulty with miaiy 
 persons of piety ; namely, that in the Psalms we 
 sometimes find what seem to be imprecations against 
 the wicked, and the enemies of the prophet. The 
 fathers and interpreters, however, commonly explain 
 these passages as jiredictions of their calamities ; as 
 if it were said, that they should certainly perish, if 
 they continued in their disorderly courses ; or let 
 them perish, if they will not be converted. Chrysos- 
 tom says, in these passages the psalmist does not so 
 much deliver his own sentiments, as those of others. 
 
 According to the titles of the Psalms — which, how- 
 ever, are not to be implicitly relied upon, several of 
 them having been added by transcribers and others 
 — seventy-two bear the name of David ; fifty are 
 without the name of their aulhoi*. 
 
 Psalms inscribed to the sons of Korah, are from 
 xlii. to xlix. also Ixxxiv. to Ixxxviii. 
 
 Inscribed to Solomon, Ixxii. and cxxvil. 
 
 Imputed to Ethan, Ixxxix. 
 
 To Jeduthun, Ixxvii. 
 
 To Moses, xc. 
 
 To Asaph, I. and Ixxiii. to Ixxxiii. 
 
 Ascribed in the Septuagint and Vulgate to 
 Adam, xci. 
 
 To Melchizedec, cix. 
 
 To Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Ixiv. 
 
 To Jeremiah, cxxxvi. which is also ascribed to 
 David. 
 
 To Haggai and Zechariah, cxi. and cxlv. 
 
 [The book of Psalms is the poetical antholo^ of 
 the Hebrew nation, containing productions of differ- 
 ent authors in different ages. The Hebrew name is 
 ">SnP, fe/ii'/Z/m, praises; which is not altogether ap- 
 propriate, because many of the psalms arc rather 
 elegiac ; but this name was probably given, because 
 hymns in praise of God constitute the greater part 
 of the book. Most of the psalms have the superscrip- 
 tion -ncir, mizmor, a poem, song. This word is rendered 
 in the Septuagint by t^a^- I'o?, psalmus, i.e. a song 
 sung to music, a Jyric poem. The Greek y.'ce::T,'(iior, 
 psallcrion, means a strinfred instrument ; hence by a 
 metaphor the book of Psalms is called Psalter. (For 
 the poetical characteristics of the Psalms, see the ar- 
 ticle Poetry, p. 75L) Our attention will here be 
 principally directed to their arrangement and classi- 
 fication, and to the inscriptions, the authors, and th» 
 'eneral characteristics of the Psalms.
 
 PSALMS 
 
 [ 769 ] 
 
 PSALMS 
 
 Classification. — Some writers, as Aiigusti, have 
 classified the Psahiis according to their {esthetic or 
 prosodic cliaracter, into odes, elegies, etc. The 
 method of De Wette is preferable, who divides them 
 according to their contents. In this way we may 
 make six classes. (Compare De Wette's Commentar, 
 Einl.§i.) 
 
 L Hymns in praise of Jehovah ; Tehillim in tlie 
 proper sense. These are directed to Jeliovah from 
 various motives and views ; c. g. as the God of all na- 
 ture, and the Creator of the universe, Ps. viii. civ. ; 
 as tlie Protector aird Patron of Israel, Ps. xix. xxix. 
 xxxiii. ; or of individuals, witli tlianksgiving for de- 
 liverance from evils, Ps. xviii. xxx. xlvi. xlvii. ; while 
 others refer to the more special attributes of .Jeliovaii, 
 Ps. xc. cxxxix. These psalms express thouglits of 
 the highest sublimity in respect to God, nature, etc. 
 
 II. Temple Hymns; sung at the consecration of 
 the temple, the entrance of the ark, etc. or intended 
 for the temple service, Ps, xxiv. cxxxii. So a\so pil- 
 grim songs, sung by those who came up to worshij) 
 in the temple, etc. e. g. the so called Songs of Degrees, 
 Ps. cxxii. si'q. i^ec Degrees. 
 
 III. Religious and moral songs of a general char- 
 acter ; containing the poetical expression of emotions 
 and feelings, and therefore su&;'ec/ii;e ; e.g. confidence 
 in God, Ps. xxiii. Ixii. cxxv. ; devotedness to God, 
 Ps. xvi. ; longing for the worship of the temple, Ps. 
 xlii. xliii. ; prayers for the forgiveness of sin', Ps. li. 
 etc. — So also didactic songs; the poetical expression 
 of some truth, maxim, etc. Ps. i. xxxiv. cxxviii. — xv. 
 xx.xii. 1. etc. This is a numerous class. 
 
 IV^. Elegiac Psalms, i.e. lamentations, psalms of 
 complaint ; generally united with prayer for help. 
 This class has several subdivisions, viz. 
 
 (1.) The lamentations of particular individuals, 
 Ps. vii. xvii. xxii. lii. Iv. Ivi. &c. 
 
 (2.) National lamentations ; where the poet la- 
 ments over the circumstances of the nation, mostly 
 in a religious view. Most of these psalms are of a 
 late date ; and none of them are from David ; Ps. 
 xliv, Lxxx, cxxxvii, etc. Some are both individual 
 and national, Ps. Ixxvii. cii, 
 
 (3.) These sufferings of the nation and of individ- 
 uals inspire a melancholy view of life in general ; 
 hence many psalms are general complaints against a 
 wicked world, Ps. xii. xiv. xxxvi. 
 
 (4.) Psalms, the authors of which attempt to reply 
 to the complaining views of the preceding class, and 
 satisfy them of the goodness of God, etc. Ps, Ixiii. 
 Ixxiii, So the Book of Job. This whole class com- 
 prises aI)out one third of the whole number of 
 Psalms. 
 
 V. Odes to kings, patriotic hymns, etc. Ps. xlv. 
 Ixii. — xxi. ex. — XX. etc, 
 
 V'l. Historical Psalms, in which the ancient history 
 of the Israelites is repeated in a hortatory manner, 
 Ps. Ixxviii. ex. cvi. cxiv. 
 
 The pro|)hetic psalms are here distributed among 
 these various classes. Perhaps they might with more 
 propriety constitute another ss^paratc class. 
 
 Inscriptions. — With the exception of twenty-five 
 psalms, — hence called orphan psalms, — all the rest 
 have inscri|)tions of various kinds, and often very 
 difficult of interpretation. They refer to the differ- 
 ent kinds of song, the melody or rhythm, the instru- 
 mental accompauiment, the choir who shall ]jerform, 
 etc. These are mostly very obscure; because the 
 music and musical instruments of the Hebrews are 
 almost wholly unknown to us. Of more particular 
 importance are those inscriptions, which profess to 
 97 
 
 designate the author or historical occasion of many 
 of the psalms. The genuineness of these has been 
 much contested in modern times ; the principal ar- 
 guments on both sides are the following, viz. 
 
 For the genuineness of the inscriptions it is said : 
 (1.) That it is the custom of oriental poets to prefix 
 their names to their various poems ; so the Arabians. 
 This is no doubt true in a sense ; but then, the man- 
 ner of doing this is different from that of the Psalms; 
 Arabic poems commence with "The poet saitli," &c. 
 — (2.) The inscriptions are found in the Septuagint. 
 But this merely ])roves that they are as old as the 
 Sejjtuagint, i. e. about 330 years before Christ. (See 
 (4.) in the next paragraph.) 
 
 Jigainst the genuineness of the inscriptions, or at 
 least of many of them, it is said : (1.) That many of 
 them are in direct contradiction Avith the contents of 
 the psalms to which they are prefixed, and therefore 
 cannot have proceeded from the author ; as e. g. 
 when those are ascribed to David, which have refer- 
 ence to the exile ; as Ps. xiv. 7 ; li. 18 ; Ixix. 36 ; or 
 when a psalm ascribed to David exhibits Chaldee 
 words and forms, as Ps. cxxxix. David's style was 
 pure. — (2.) Others do not well accord with the con- 
 tents and occasion of the Psalms ; as Ps. 1. lii. liv. 
 Ivi. Ivii. lix. — (3.) In several instances it can be shown 
 how the error, whi('h lies at the bottom, arose. Thus 
 in Ps. cxxvii. which is ascribed to Solomon, the first 
 verse speaks of a building, which was assumed to be 
 the tcmjile ; hence the transition was easy to Solo- 
 mon as the author. Psalm xxx. is said to be for the 
 "dedication of the house of David ;" which has arisen 
 out of the 7th verse. — (4.) The Septuagint has many 
 more inscriptions than the Hebrew text. Hence it 
 follows, that as the collectors or translators of the 
 Psalms certainly affixed some inscriptions according 
 to their own conjectures, so they may probably have 
 prefixed others, if not all, in the same manner. Thus 
 the Septuagint and Vulgate ascribe some psalms to 
 Adam, Melchisedek, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, 
 Zechariab, &c. (See the list given above, p. 768.) 
 
 The residt of the whole is, that many of the inscrip- 
 tions cannot well be genuine ; and therefore the 
 others become suspicious. We cannot rt7_;/ upon any 
 one, when it does not accord with the contents of the 
 psalm. They are probably conjectural assumptions 
 of the later collectors, possessors, etc. of tlie book of 
 Psalms; perhaps mostly out of the exile, or not long 
 after it. On these grounds, our English translators 
 have very properly se]iarated the inscriptions from 
 the body of the Psalms ; (in the Hebrew they are 
 united with them ;) and given them merely as inscrip- 
 tions. 
 
 Authors and Age of the Psalms. — Most of those 
 psalms which are assigned to an author, are ascribed 
 to David and to his contemporaries, chiefly Levites 
 and singers out of David's scliool. Psalm xc. is at- 
 tributeci to Moses. To David are assigned seventy- 
 one i)salms in the Hebrew, and in the Se])tuagint 
 eleven more; of these many cannot be his. The 
 character of David's ])salms is g-nerally elegiac and 
 expressive of a soft and pensive melancholy ; but he 
 is also, on various occasions, sublime ; as in Ps. xviii. 
 xxix. &c. — Twelve are ascribed to Asaph ; eleven to 
 the sons of Korah ; two to Solomon ; and one to each 
 of the singers Ileman and Ethan. (Ixxxviii. Ixxxix.) 
 Those which are anonymous or pseudonyuKMis, (e. g. 
 xiv,) are jirobably all later than David ; and are imi- 
 tations of his style and manner. The rabbins have 
 the custom to reckon all anonymous psalms to that 
 author who has been last named ; thus Ps, xci, — c.
 
 PSALMS 
 
 [ /70 ] 
 
 PSALMS 
 
 which are orphan Psalms, they assign to Moses, be- 
 cause he is named as tlie author of Ps. xc. whicli 
 next precedes these. Many of these later j)salnis are 
 probably from pious, persecuted prophets and others 
 in the time of the kings ; some from the exile, and 
 others later still, containing recollections of the exile ; 
 (compare Ps. cxxiii. cxxiv. cxxvi. cxxxvii.) Later 
 than about this period, none would seem to have been 
 written ; though some interpreters have, as they 
 thought, found traces of the Maccabean age in the 
 book of Psalms. 
 
 The language of the Psalms in the Hebrew is very 
 pure ; and exhibits the characteristics of the best ages 
 of the Hebrew literature. Still there is a perceptible 
 difference between the earlier and later i)salms; in 
 the former, the language is harsher and more difficult ; 
 as is the case also in the older Latin writers, Ennius 
 and Plautus ; — in the latter, the language is more easy 
 and flowing. The same difference is perceptible in 
 the earlier and later prophets. In the later i)salms 
 there are also, here and there, Chaldaisms. They 
 resemble most, in this respect, the books of Job, 
 Proverbs, Isaiah, etc. 
 
 Arrangemenl. — The whole collection of the Psalms 
 appears to have first existed in Jive books ; after the 
 example, perhaps, of the Pentateuch. Each book 
 closes with a doxology. 
 
 Book I. comprises Psalms i. — xli. 
 '• 11. " " xlii.— Ixxii. 
 
 " in. " " Lxxiii.— Ixxxix. 
 
 " IV. " « xc— cvi. 
 
 " . V. « " cvii.— cl. 
 
 Theorigincd collection would seem to havecompris- 
 ed Psalms i. — Ixxii. (Seethe subscription, Ps. Ixxii. 20.) 
 As to arrangement, there seems, in jiart, to have been 
 a plan ; and in part it is accidental. (L) Psahns of the 
 same author are placed together ; though other psalms 
 of the same autiiors also stand separately. So also 
 psahns of similar contents are sometimes together, 
 and sometimes separate. Thus Ps. iii. — xli. are all 
 ascribed to David ; Ps. xlii.— xlix. are songs of the 
 Korahites ; Ps. lxxiii. — Ixxxiii. all belong to Asaph. 
 But there are other psalms of all these authors. 
 (2.) One psalm occurs twice, Ps. xiv. comp. Ps. liii. 
 Some occur as })arts of other psahm., o. g. Ps. Ixx. 
 forms also a part of Ps. xl. So also some jisalms arc 
 repeated from other books of Scripture ; thus Ps. 
 xviii. is th(! same with 2 Sam. xxii. A few psalms 
 are compiled by bringing together versus out of other 
 psalms and jwems, — a sort of cento ; e.g. Ps. cxiiv. 
 All these general api>earances are best explained l)y 
 the hypothesis of a gradual origin of the whole book 
 out of particular collections, each smaller collection 
 preserving its own arrangement. Thus, if we suppose 
 Ps. i. — Ixxii. to have been the principal collection, 
 then the other three books may have been collected 
 at different times, and appended to it. The time of 
 tlieso collections cannot be determined. It would 
 seem, however, to liave been not before the exile ; 
 since the first book contains psalms ai)parcntlv of 
 that date. 
 
 The Septuagint and Vulgate differ from the He- 
 brew ni the division and enumeration of the Psalms. 
 They unite Ps. ix. and x. of the Hebrew into one, as 
 Ps. IX ; hence tlio numbering of the Sei)tuairint and 
 Vulgate, from Ps. ix. onward, is one behind the He- 
 brew. In like manner they unite Ps. cxiv. and cxv. 
 into one, as Ps. cxiii ; but also divide Ps. cxvi. into 
 two, as Ps. cxiv. and cxv. Again tlicy divide Ps. 
 cxlvii. into two, as Ps. cxlvi.and cxivii. ; so that from 
 Pti. cxiviii. inclusive, their enumeration is the same 
 
 with that of the Hebrew. The English, and most 
 other modern versions follow the Hebrew ; and 
 indeed some editions of the Septuagint, as that of 
 Mill, have also been acconnnodated to the Hebrew. 
 The above difference should be borne in mind in ex- 
 amining references to the Psalms, made by Catholic 
 writers. 
 
 The character and value of the Psalms, so far as 
 they contain the expression of religious and moral 
 affections, are, perhaps, higher than those of any other 
 book of the Old Testament. They exhibit the 
 sublimest conceptions of God, as the Creator, Pre- 
 server and Governor oftJie imiverse; to say nothing 
 of the prophetical character of many of them, and their 
 relation to the Messiah, anil the great plan of man's 
 redemption. They present us, too, with the most 
 perfect models of cijild-like resignation and devoted- 
 ness, of unwavering faith, and confidence in God. 
 Luther, in his itreface to the Psalter, has the follow- 
 ing beautiful language : " Where canst thou find 
 nobler words of joy, than in the Psalms of praise and 
 thanksgiving? There thou mayst look into the hearts 
 of all good men, as into beautiful and pleasant gar- 
 dens ; yea, as into heaven itself. How do grateful 
 and fine and charming blossoms spring up there, 
 from every kind of pleasing and rejoicing thoughts 
 towards God and his goodness! — Again, where canst 
 thou find more deep or mournful words of sorrow, 
 than m the Psalms of lamentation and wo ? There 
 thou mayst look again into the hearts of all good 
 inen, as upon death, yea, as if into hell. How dark 
 and gloomy is it there, from anxious and troubled 
 views of the wrath of God ! — 1 hold, however, that 
 no better or finer book of models, or legends of 
 saints and martyrs, has existed, or can exist on earth, 
 than the Psalter. For we find here, not alone what 
 one or two saints have done, but what the Head of 
 all saints has done, and what all holy men still do; 
 in what attitude they stand towards God, and towards 
 their friends and enemies ; and how they conduct 
 themselves in all dangers and sufferings. And be- 
 sides this, all sorts of divine doctrines and precepts 
 are contained in it. — Hence it is, that tlie Psalter is 
 THE EOOK of all good men ; and every one, whatever 
 his circumstances may be, finds in it psalms and 
 words suited to his circumstances, and which are to 
 him just as if they had been p>U there on his 
 very account ; and in such a way, that iie him- 
 self could not have made or found or wished for 
 better." *R. 
 
 Psalms of Degrees is a name given to fifteen 
 psalms, from cxx. to cxxxiv. In the Hebrew, it is A 
 song of tflscents ; in the Chaldee, A song that ivas sung 
 upon the steps of the abyss. This ex])lication is 
 founded on a tradition of the Hebrews, which relates 
 that, when they were laying the foundations of the 
 temple, at the return from the caj)tivity, tlieie came 
 out of the earth a yn'odigioiis (piantity of water, to the 
 height of fiflecn cubits ; and would have drowned the 
 whole world, if Achitophel — the famous Achitophel 
 who hanged himself in the time of David, about five 
 hundred years before — hail not stojipcd its progress, 
 by writing the ineffable name of Jehovah on the fifteen 
 steps of the temple! To the same event they refer 
 Psalm cxxx. But whence have these Psalms this 
 denomination ? Sonieintrrpreters think it is because 
 they were sung on the steps of the temi)le ; others 
 translate the Hebrew by Psalms of Elevation ; because 
 (they say) they were sung with an exalted voice, or 
 because at every ])salm the voice was raised. Calmet 
 however, refers tiieni to tho asccut of Israel from the
 
 PUB 
 
 [771 ] 
 
 PUR 
 
 captivity of Babylon ; remarking that Scripture com- 
 monly applies the phrase, to ascend, to express this 
 return. Thus Cyrus, in his proclamation, (Ezrai. 3, 
 5; ii. 2; vii. 5, G.) says, "Who is among you of all 
 his people ? His God be with him, and let him go up 
 to Jerusalem." And a good number of persons pre- 
 sented themselves to go up, says Ezra, i. 11 ; ii. 1. 
 Sheshhazzar iraM^/i< up — with them of the captivity, 
 that were brought ujj from Babylon to Jerusalem. 
 "Now these are the children of the province, that 
 went up out of the captivity," Ezra vii. 6, 7, 9. " This 
 Ezra went up from Babylon. And there went uj) 
 BOJnc of the children of Israel. For on the first day 
 of the first month, was the beginning of the going up 
 from Babylon." In Psalm c.xxii. which is one of the 
 Psalms of Degrees, it is said, "wliither the tribes go 
 up " (to Jerusalem). And Jeremiai), (xxvii. 22.) fore- 
 telling the return from the captivity, says, " Then will 
 I bring them up, and restore them to this place." 
 Ezekiel (xxxix. 2.) expresses himself in the same 
 maimer. These expressions, showing that the He- 
 brews used the term to go np, when they spoke of 
 their journeying from Babylon to Jerusalem, Calinet 
 thinks it is very natural to call those Psalms of Ascent 
 which were composed on occasion of liieir deliver- 
 ance from the captivity of Babylon ; whether to ini- 
 |)lore this deliverance from God, or to return thanks 
 for it after it had taken place. It is certain that they 
 have all some relation to this great event. They men- 
 tion it in several places ; and the greater part of them 
 cannot be otherwise explained. 
 
 [The above is the opinion of Calmet. Other more 
 probable ones see under the article Degrees. R. 
 
 PTOLE3IAiS, see Accho. 
 
 PTOLEMY, the name of all the kings of Egypt, 
 fi'om Ptolemy, son of Lagus, to the conquest of Egypt 
 by the Romans ; that is, from A. M. 3t)31 to 3974 ; or 
 fiom the death of Alexander to the death of Cleopatra, 
 spouse of Mark Antony. See Egypt. 
 
 PUBLICAN, an ofticer of the revenue, employed 
 in collecting taxes. Among the Romans there were 
 two sorts of tax receivers: some were general re- 
 ceivers, who in each province had deputies, who col- 
 lected the revenues of the empire, and accounted to 
 the emperor. These were men of great consideration 
 in the government; and Cicero says, that among 
 these were the flower of the Roman knights, the or- 
 nament of the city, and the strength of the common- 
 wealth. But the deputies, the under-farmers, the 
 commissioners, the publicans of the lower order, 
 were looked upon as so many thieves and pickpock- 
 ets. Theocritus being asked. Which was the most 
 cruel of all beasts, answered, "Among the beasts of 
 the wilderness, the bear and the lion ; among the 
 beasts of the city, the publican and tlie parasite." 
 Among the JeW'S, also, the name and profession of a 
 publican was excessively odious. They could not, 
 without the utmost reluctance, see publicans exacting 
 tributes and impositions laid on them l)y foreigners — 
 the Romans. The Galileans, or Herodians, the dis- 
 ciples of Judas the G'aulonite, especially submitted 
 to this with the greatest impatience, and thought it 
 even \mlawful. Those of their own nation who lui- 
 dertook this oflice,they looked upon as heathen. (See 
 Matt, xviii. 17.) It is even said, they would not allow 
 them to enter the temple, or the synagogues : to par- 
 take of the i)ublic prayers, or offices of judicature ; 
 'or to give testimony in a court of justice. 
 
 There were many publicans in Judea in the time 
 of our Saviour ; Zacclieus, probably, was one of the 
 principal receivers, since he is called " chief among 
 
 the publicans;" (Luke xix.2.) but INIatthewwas only 
 an inferior publican, Luke v. 27. The Jew^ re- 
 l)roached Jesus w ith being a " friend of publicans and 
 sinners, anfl eating with them," Luke vii. 34. And 
 our Saviour told the Jews, (Matt. xxi. 31.) that harlots 
 and publicans should be preferred before them in the 
 kingdom of heaven. In the parable of the publican and 
 Pharisee, who prayed at the same lime in the temple, 
 we see with wliat humility his condition inspired the 
 publican, Luke xviii. 10." He keeps alar off, and 
 probably dared not so much as enter the court of the 
 peoj)le. Zacclieus assured our Saviour, who had 
 done lam the honor to visit his house, tliat he was 
 ready to give half of his goods to the poor, and to re- 
 turn fourfold whatever he had unjustly acquired, 
 (Luke xix. 8.) in conformity with the Roman laws, 
 which required, that when any farmer was convicted 
 of extortion, he should render four times the value of 
 what he had extorted. 
 
 PUBLIUS, a wealthy inhabitant of Malta, when 
 Paul was shipwrecked on that island, A. D. 60, Acts 
 xxviii. 7 — 9. Piiblius received the apostle and his 
 company into his house very kindly, and entertained 
 them three days with great humanity. In acknowl- 
 edgment, Paul restored to health the father of Pub- 
 lius, who was ill of a fever and bloody flux. It is 
 said, that not only Publius and his father, but the 
 whole island also, was converted to the Christian 
 faith. 
 
 PUDENS, mentioned by Paul, (2 Tim. iv. 21.) is 
 thought by the ancients to have been a Roman sena- 
 tor, converted by Peter. But there is reason to think 
 they confound liim with another Pudens, a senator, 
 said to be father of Praxedus and Prudentiana, in 
 the time of pope Pius, above a hundred years after- 
 wards. The Greeks put him in the list of "the seventy 
 disciples, and say, that after the death of Paul, he was 
 beheaded by Nero. Some think that Claudia, men- 
 tioned by Paul after Pudens, was his wife. 
 
 I. PUL, king of Assyria, (2 Kings xv. 19.) came 
 into the laud of Israel in the tune of Menahem, to 
 assist him, and confirm him in tiie kingdom, Hos. v, 
 13. The king of Israel gave him a thousand talents 
 of silver, and Pul continued in the country till it was 
 paid. He is the fii-st king of Assyria mentioned in 
 Scripture. See Assyria, p. 113. 
 
 II. PUL, a people and district of Africa, supposed 
 by Bochart to be the island Phila?, in the Nile, not 
 far from Sycne, (Isa. Ixvi. 19.) on which are remains 
 and ruins of verj' noble and extensive temples, built 
 by the ancient Egyptians. Its Egyptian name was 
 Pilak;. whence the Greek name, and probably the 
 Hebrew, is derived. 
 
 PULSE, all those grains or seeds which grow in 
 pods, as beans, jieas, &c. The ancient Hebrews 
 used parched chick-peas as a common provision 
 when liiey took the field, 2 Sam. xvii. 28. 
 
 PUNOiV, or Phlwon, a station of the Hebrews in 
 the wilderness, (Numb, xxxiii. 42, 43.) called Phaeno, 
 Pliaino, and Metallo-phtenon, because of its mines of 
 metals. Eusebius says, it was between Petra and 
 Zoar. Athanasius says, these mines of Phanos were 
 so dangerous, that murderers, condemned to work 
 there, lived bu* a few days. We find bishops of 
 Phenos in the subscriptions of the councils. 
 
 PUR, or PuRi.M, that is, lots, is a solemn feast of 
 the Jews, on tRe J4th and 15th of the month Adar, 
 instituted in memory of the lots cast by Hainan, the 
 enemy of the Jews, (Esth. iii. 7.) for the execution of 
 his design to destroy all the Jews of Persia, but 
 which issued in causing his own ruin, and the pres-
 
 PUR 
 
 [772] 
 
 P YT 
 
 ervation of the Jews, who had time to avert the 
 blow, by means of Esther. See Esther, Haman, and 
 3I0RDECA1. 
 
 This feast, as the Jews observe it, has much resem- 
 blance to the ancient Bacchanalia of the pagans. 
 Pleasures, diversions and excess make, as it were, 
 the very essence of it. The spirit of revenge which 
 animated the Jews of Shushan against their enemies 
 has passed undiminished to their posterity, who 
 abandon themselves to it without measure and without 
 bounds. They allow the drinking of wine to excess, 
 because they say it was by making king Ahasuerus 
 drink that Esther procured the deliverance of the 
 Jews. They compel all to be present at the syna- 
 gogue, man, woman, child and servant, because all 
 shared in the deliverance, as all were exposed to the 
 danger. 
 
 PURIFICATIONS were of many kinds among 
 the Hebrews, according to the several kinds of im- 
 purities contracted. See Baptism, Leprosy, Dead, 
 Nazarites, &c. 
 
 PURITY, see Holy. 
 
 PURPLE. It is related that the fine purple color 
 was discovered by Hercules Tyrius, whose dog having 
 by chance eaten a shell-fish called murex, or purpura, 
 and returning to his master with his lips tinged with 
 a purple color, occasioned the discovery of this ore- 
 
 cious dye. Purple, however, is much more ancient 
 than the Tyrian Hercules, since we find it mentioned 
 by Moses in several places. It comes from the sea- 
 muscle, no^(fiQa purpura, and isof reddish orcriinson 
 purple hue, Heb. jcjin. There was another species 
 of bluish purple, or purple blue, made from a species 
 of snail, conchylium, helix ianthina, of Linnseus, Heb. 
 -nS^n. This word is usually rendered in the English 
 Bible by blue. Moses used much wool of this crim- 
 son purple color in the work of the tabernacle, and 
 in the ornaments of the high-priest. It was the color 
 used by princes and great men, by way of distinction, 
 Judg. viii. 26 ; Luke xvi. 19 ; Dan. v. 7. We see by 
 Jeremiah and Baruch, that the Babylonians clothed 
 their idols in habits of a purple and azure color, Jer. 
 X. 9 ; Baruch vi. 12, 71. 
 
 PUTEOLI, the wells ; now Pozzuoli, a city in the 
 Campania of Naples, on the northern side of the bay, 
 eight miles north-west from that city. It was a colony. 
 Here Paul abode seven days, Acts xxviii. 13. 
 
 PYGARG, Sept. 77 (Vc)'"'- ivhite-rump. This is 
 properly the name of a species of eagle, (see Rees' 
 Cyclop.) but is applied in Deut. xiv. 5, to a quadruped, 
 apparently a species of gazelle or antelope, Heb. pi:>n. 
 So the Syriac version and Targums. Both the Arabic 
 versions give it by a species of mountain goat. See 
 Ajvtelope. *R. 
 
 a 
 
 QUAIL 
 
 auE 
 
 QUAIL. There has been a difference of opinion 
 among learned men with respect to what creature is 
 intended by the Hebrew selaiiim, which we render 
 quails, Exod. xvi. 13, &c. Our English translators 
 are supported by the Septuagint, Josephus, Philo, 
 ApoUinarius, and the rabbins, among the ancients ; 
 and by Bochart, Hasselquist, Shaw, Harmer, Gese- 
 nius, Rosenmiiller, and the majority of commentators 
 among the moderns. On the other hand, the learn- 
 ed Ludolph insists these selavim were locusts, in 
 which he has been followed by Scheuchzer, bishop 
 Patrick, Niebuhr and others. To institute an inquiry 
 into the respective claims of these conflicting opinions, 
 would occupy more space than we can approjjriate 
 to the subject. The arguments which have been ad- 
 duced in favor of the bird, we believe to have a 
 decided advantage over those on the other side, inde- 
 pendent of the testimony of the psalmist, which we 
 think should be regarded as conclusive. Describing 
 the merciful interposition of God in behalf of his 
 chosen people, during the time that they were wander- 
 ing in the great desert, this sacred writer refers in un- 
 equivocal language to the miraculous supply of the 
 selavim, which he denominates feathered fowls, 6ph 
 canaph, a term never applied to insects. "He caused an 
 east wind to l)low in the heaven ; and l)y his power he 
 brought on tlie south wind ; he rained flesh also upon 
 them as dust, and feathered fowls like tiie sand of 
 the sea; and let fall in the midst 'of their camp, 
 and round about their habitations." Ps. Ixxviii. 
 2G— 28. 
 
 The oriental quail is a bird of jiassagc, and about 
 the size of a turtle-dove, Hasselquist states that it is 
 plentiful near the shores of the Dead sea and the Jor- 
 dan, and in the deserts of Arabia ; and Diodorus 
 affirms that it is caught in innnense numbers about 
 
 Rhinocolura ; countries through which the Israelites 
 passed in their way to the Promised Land. 
 
 On two occasions the demands of the murmuring 
 Hebrews were supplied with quails ; and, on each 
 occasion, the event is distinctly referred to the mi- 
 raculous interposition of God, Exod. xvi. 12, 13; 
 Numb. xi. 31. On the former occasion, the birds 
 were scattered about the camp only for a single day ; 
 but on the latter, they came up from the sea for the 
 space of an entire month. The great numbers of the 
 selamm which are said to have been provided for the 
 people, has been regarded as almost incredible ; but 
 without sufficient reason, as may be shown, without 
 resorting to the siqiposition that they were created 
 for this express occasion. Varro asserts that turtles 
 and quails return from their migrations into Italy in 
 immense numbers; and Solinus adds, that when they 
 come within sight of land, they rush forward in large 
 bodies, and with so great imjjetuosity, as often to en- 
 danger the safety of navigators, by oversetting the 
 vessels. Hence it appears that this part of the narra- 
 tive is perfectly credible ; and that the miracle con- 
 sisted in these immense flocks being directed to a 
 particular spot, in the extreme emergency of the 
 people, by means of "a wind from the Lord," Numb, 
 xi. .31. % 
 
 QUARREL, a brawl or contest. Solomon com- 
 pares him who meddles with the quarrels of people 
 unknown, to one who takes a dog by the ears, and so 
 rashly exj)Oses himself to be bitten. This is gener- 
 ally the case ; but it should not be concluded from 
 hence, that we ought never to try to reconcile neigh- 
 bors. It nuist be attempted, however, with much 
 prudence, caution and ciiarity, for fear of increasing 
 the evil we undertake to appease. 
 
 QUEEN, a king's wife. This is the general ac-
 
 QUE 
 
 [7^3] 
 
 QUEEN 
 
 ceptation of the term queen ; but it seems to be used 
 by the orientals in another sense, and corresponds to 
 the official title of " king's mother." A knowledge 
 of this circumstance will remove several discrepancies 
 in the historical books of the Old Testament, which 
 have greatly perplexed the commentatoi-s. See the 
 article King's Mother. 
 
 QUEEN OF HEAVEN, a name which the He- 
 brew idolaters gave to the moon. Jeremiah (vii. 17. 
 &c.) says, " The children gather wood, and the fathers 
 kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to 
 make cakes to the queen of heaven." And chap. xliv. 
 16 — 18, the disobedient Israelites say to the same 
 prophet, "We will certainly do whatsoever thing 
 goeth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the 
 
 queen of heaven. For since we left off to bum in- 
 cense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink- 
 offerings unto her, we have wanted all thinsrs, and 
 have been consumed by the sword and by famine." 
 Calmet thinks it to be the Meni of Isa. Ixv. 11, who 
 was worshipped as the moon, Astarte, Trivia, Hecate. 
 Diana, the heavenly Venus, and Isis, according to 
 different superstitions. They placed altars to her on 
 the platforms or the roofs of their houses, at the cor- 
 ners of the streets, near their doors, and in groves. 
 They offered her cakes kneaded with oil or honey, 
 and made libations to her, with wine and other 
 liquors. The rabbins think they printed on these 
 cakes the resemblance of a star or half-moon. See 
 Idolatry. 
 
 R 
 
 RAB 
 
 RA 
 
 RAAMAH, the fourth son of Cush, who peopled 
 a coimtry of Arabia, whence were brought to Tyre 
 spices, precious stones and gold. Tliis country is 
 thought to have been in Arabia Felix, at the entrance 
 of the Persian gulf. Gen. x. 7 ; Ezek. xxvii. 22. The 
 Sept. in Genesis have Regina ; according to Ptolemy, 
 a city on the Persian gulf. 
 
 RAAMSES, or Ramesses, a city built by the He- 
 brews, during their servitude in Egypt, and which 
 probably took its name from a king of Egypt, Gen 
 xlvii. 11 ; Exod. i. 11. It was situated in the land of 
 Goshen ; and appeai-s to have been the capital of that 
 country. It was most probably the same with Hero- 
 opohs, situated on the great canal between the Nile 
 and Suez, where are now the loiins of Aboukeyshid. 
 See in Exodus, p. 400. 
 
 RAB, Rabbi, Rabbin, Rabban, or Rabbam ; a 
 name of dignity among the Hebrews, given to mas- 
 ters and doctors, to chiefs of classes, and to the prin- 
 cipal officers in the court of a prince : e. g. Nebuzar- 
 adan, general of the army of king Nebuchadnezzar, 
 is always called Rah Tabachhn, master of the execu- 
 tioners, or guards, 2 Kings xxv. 8, 20, d passim ; Jer. 
 xxxix. 9, 10, et passim. Esther (i. 8.) says, that 
 Ahasuerus appointed a Rab of ftis court over every 
 table of his guests, to take care that nothing should 
 be wanting. Daniel (i. 8.) speaks of Ashpenaz, the 
 Rab Sarisim, that is, Rab of the eunuchs of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, and of the Rah of the Saganim, or chief 
 of the governors, or peers, cliap. ii. 48. This prophet 
 was himself preferred to be chief interj)retcr of 
 dreams, or Rab of the Chaiiumim, Dan. v. 11. It 
 appears that the title came originally from the Chal- 
 dees ; for before the captivity, when mention is made 
 of Judea, we find it used only in reference to the 
 officers of the king of Babylon. 
 
 Rab, or Rahban, properly signifies master, or one 
 who excels in any thing ; Rabbi, or Rabbani, is my 
 master. Rabbin is the plural. Thus Rab is of greater 
 dignity than Rabbi. There were several gradations 
 among the Jews before the dignity of Rabbi, as 
 among us before the degree of doctor. The head of 
 a school was called Hacham, or wise ; he who aspired 
 to the doctorship had the name of Barhur, or Elou; 
 and he frequented the school of the Hacham. When 
 further advanced he had the title of Chabar of the 
 Rab, or master's companion, and when perfectly 
 skilled m the knowledge of the law and traditions. 
 
 he was called only Rab, or Rabin, and Moreno, our 
 master. There seems to be an allusion to soipething 
 of this sort in Matt. x. 24 ; Luke vi. 40 : " The disciple 
 is not above his master ; but it is enough for the fin- 
 ished disciple to be as his master," or to be his mas- 
 ter's companion. 
 
 The Hacham Rab, or master Rabbi, decided differ- 
 ences, determined tilings allowed or forbidden, and 
 judged in religious and even in civil controversies. 
 He celebrated marriages, and declared divorces. He 
 preached, if he had a talent for it ; and was head of 
 the academies. He had the first seat in the assem- 
 blies, and in the synagogues. He reprmianded the 
 disobedient, and could even excommunicate them. 
 In the schools they sat on raised chairs, and their 
 scholai-s were seated at their feet. Hence (Acts xxii. 
 3.) Paul is said to have studied at the feet of Rabbi 
 Gamaliel. Philo affirms that among the Essenes, the 
 children sat in the schools at the feet of their masters. 
 Ambrosiaster, on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 observes, that in their schools the Rabbins sat in 
 their chairs, the most advanced of their scholars sat 
 by them on benches, and the juniors sat on the 
 ground on mats. Hence the Jews are used to say to 
 riieir children, by way of proverb, " Roll yourselves 
 in tlie dust of your master's feet ;" instead of saying. 
 Frequent their schools diligently, and sit down at 
 their feet. Our Saviour upbraids the Rabbins and 
 masters of Israel with vanity, and eagerness to occupy 
 the fii-st places at feasts, and the head seats in the syn- 
 agogues ; also, with their being saluted in the streets, 
 and desiring to be called Rabbi, my master. 
 
 The studies of the Rabbins are either the text of 
 the law, or the traditions, or the Cabala ; these three 
 objects form so many different sorts of Rabbins. 
 Those who chiefly npply to the letter of Scripture, 
 are called Caraites, i. e. Literalists. Those who chief- 
 ly study the traditions and oral laws of the Talmud, 
 are called Rabbinists. Those who give themselves to 
 their secret and mysterious divinity, letters and num- 
 bei-s, arc called Cabalists, i. e. Traditionaries. 
 
 RABBATH, or Rabbat-Ammox, or Rabbath of 
 THE children OF Ammon, aflcrwai'ds called Phila- 
 delphia, by Ptolemy Philadelphus, the capital of the 
 Annnonitfs, was siniatie in the mountains of Gilead, 
 near the source of the Anion, beyond Jordan. It was 
 famous even in the time of Moses, Dent. iii. 11. 
 When David declared war against the Ammonites,
 
 R AC 
 
 [ 774 
 
 RACE 
 
 his general, Joab, laid siege to Rabbath-Ammon, 
 whei*e the brave Uriah lost his life by a secret order 
 of his prince ; when the city was reduced to the last 
 extremity, David himself went thither, that he might 
 have the honor of taking it. From this time it be- 
 came subject to the kings of Judah ; but the kings 
 of Israel subsequently became masters of it, with the 
 tribes beyond Jordan. Towards the conclusion of 
 the kingdom of Israel, Tiglath-i)ileser having taken 
 away a great part of the Israelites, the Ammonites 
 were guilty of many cruelties against those who re- 
 mained ; for which the prophets Jeremiah and Ezc- 
 kiel pronounced very severe prophecies against 
 Rabbath, their capital, and against the rest of the 
 country, which probably had their completion five 
 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. Antiochus 
 the Great took the city about A. M. 3786. It is now 
 called Amman, and is about 15 miles S. E. of Szaet. 
 Burckhardt found three extensive rums, which he has 
 described. (Trav. in Sj^ria, etc. p. 357.) 
 
 RABBATH-MOAB, see Ar. 
 
 RABBI, see Rab, and Doctor. 
 
 RABBITH, a city of Issachar, Josh. xix. 20. 
 
 RABBONI, a diminutive from Rabbi, (John xx. 
 16.) or mil master. See Rab. 
 
 RAB-MAG, a general officer of Nebuchadnez- 
 zar's ai-my, at the taking of Jeixisalem, Jer. xxxix. 3. 
 A. M. 3416. It means more probably chief of the 
 jnagi, a dignitary who had accompanied the king of 
 Babylon in his campaign. 
 
 RAB-SARIS, or Rab-sares, an officer sent with 
 Rab-shakeh and Tartan, to summg^n Hezekiah, 9 
 Kings xviii. 17 ; Jer. xxxix. 3. It signifies the chief 
 of the eunuchs. 
 
 RAB-SHAKEH, or Rae-saces, that is, the chief 
 butler or cup-hearer, was an officer sent by Sennache- 
 rib, king of Assyria, to summon Hezekiah to surrender 
 to his troops, which he did, in a very haughty and 
 insolent manner, telling him, in Hebrew, that he 
 ought not to put confidence, either in the king of 
 Egypt, or in the Lord, who had ordered Senna- 
 cherib to march against Judea, 2 Kings xviii. 17. 
 After this Rab-shakeh returned to his master, who 
 had quitted the siege of Lachish to meet the king of 
 Egypt, then coming to assist Hezekiah. But in this 
 march the destroying angel slew 185,000 of llie anny 
 of Sennacherib ; and he was obliged to hasten back 
 to Nineveh, where he was slain by his own sons, 
 Isa. xxxvii. 36, &c. ; 2 Kings xix. 35 — 37. See Sen- 
 nacherib, 
 
 RACA, a word derived from the root pn, rik, vain, 
 trlfing, witless, brainless ; otherwise, beggarly, ivorth- 
 less. It is thus translated by the Vulgate, in Judg, 
 XL 3. in the English, i'«i?i vien. The word includes 
 a strong idea of contemj)!. Christ says, (Matt. v. 22.) 
 whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be con- 
 demned by the council, or Sanhedrim. Lightfoot 
 assures us, that in the Jewish books, the word Raca 
 is a term of the utmost contempt; and that it used to 
 be pronounced with certain gestures of indignation, 
 as spitting, turning away the head, &c, 
 
 RACE, RUNNING, The numerous allusions in 
 the writings of Paul to the races and games estab- 
 lished in Greece, re(|uire some acquaintance with 
 the nature and laws of those institutions, to render 
 such passages intelligible. It may therefore be 
 proper to adduce a few remarks concerning them. 
 
 The apostle says, (1 Cor. ix. 24.| "Know ye not 
 that they who run in a race, mn all, but one (only) 
 receiveth the prize ? so run that ye may obtain. 
 And every one who striveth is temperate," &c. 
 
 Also 2 Tim, ii, 5, "If a man strive for masteries, yet 
 is he not crowned except he strive lawfully." (See 
 also Heb, xii, 1 ; Gal, v, 7, &c,) 
 
 " Such as obtained victories in any of these games, 
 especially the Olympic, were universally honored, 
 nay, almost adored. At their return home they rode 
 in a triumphal chariot into the city, the walls being 
 broken down to give them entrance ; which was 
 done (as Plutarch is of opinion) to signify, that walls 
 are of small use to a city that is inhabited by men 
 of courage and ability to defend it. At Sparta they 
 had an honorable post in the ai'my, being stationed 
 near the king's pei"sou. At some towns they had 
 presents made to them by their native city, were 
 honored with the first place at shows and games, 
 and ever after maintained at the public charge. 
 Cicero reports, that a victory in the Olympic games 
 was not much less honorable than a triumph at 
 Rome, Happy was that man esteemed, who could 
 but obtain a single victory ; if any person merited 
 repeated rewards, he was thought to have attained 
 the utmost felicity of which human nature is capa- 
 ble ; but if he came oft' conquei'or in all the exercises, 
 he was elevated above the condition of men, and his 
 actions styled wonderful victories! Nor did their 
 honors terminate in themselves, but were extended 
 to all about them ; the city that gave them birth and 
 education Avas esteemed more honorable and august : 
 happy were their relations, and thrice happy their 
 parents. It is a remarkable story which Plutarch 
 relates of a Spartan, v/lio, meeting Diagoras, that had 
 himself been crowned in the Olympic games, and 
 seen his sons and grand-children victors, embraced 
 him, and said, 'Now die, Diagoras; for thou canst 
 not be a god ! ' By the laws of Solon, a hundred 
 drachms were allowed from the public treasury to 
 every Athenian who obtained a prize in the Isthmian 
 games ; and five hundred drachms to such as were 
 victors in the Olympian, Afterwards, the latter of 
 these had their maintenance in the Prytaneum, or 
 public hall of Athens," 
 
 The niiTa&?.or, Pentathlon, or Qidnquertium, (five 
 games,) consisted of the five exercises contained in 
 this verse : 
 
 ^■i/.uu, nuiu>Xit>ir, diay.oi , uxoiTa, 7tu/.ijy, 
 
 leaping, runniyjg, throtving, darting, wrestling. 
 
 Instead of rfariiHg-, some mention boxing; others 
 speak of exercises different from those mentioned. 
 For Pentathlon seems to have been a common name 
 for any five sorts of exercise performed at the same 
 time. In all of them there were some customs that 
 deserve our observation, Dromos, Jquiioc, the exer- 
 cise of rimjnng-, was in great esteem among the an- 
 cient Grecians, insomuch, that such as prepared 
 themselves for it, thought it worth their while to use 
 means to burn or ])arch their s})lecn, because it was 
 believed to be a hindcrance to them, and retard them 
 in their course. Homer tells us, that swiftness is 
 one of the most excellent endowments a man can be 
 blessed withal : — 
 
 No greater honor e'er has been attained. 
 
 Than what strong hands, or nimble feet, have gained. 
 
 Indeed, all those exercises that conduced to fit men 
 for war, were more especially valued. Swiftness 
 was looked ui)on as an excellent qualification in a 
 warrior, both because it serves for a sudden assault 
 and onset, and likewise for a nimble retreat • and
 
 RAC 
 
 [ 775 ] 
 
 RACHEL 
 
 therefore it is not to be wondered at, that the constant 
 character which Homer gives of Achilles is, that he 
 was swift of foot ; and in the Holy Scripture, David, 
 in his poetical lamentation over those two great cap- 
 tains, Saul and Jonathan, takes particular notice of 
 this warlike quality of theirs : "They were swifter 
 than eagles, stronger than lions," 2 Sam. i. 23. 
 
 Those persons who designed to contend m these 
 games were obliged to repair to the public gymna- 
 sium, at Elis, ten months before the solemnity, where 
 they jirepared themselves by continual exercises. No 
 man who hatl omitted to present himself in this man- 
 ner was allowed to contend for any of the prizes; 
 nor were the accustomed rewards of \ ictory given to 
 such persons, if by any means they inti-oduced them- 
 selves, and overcame their antagonists. No person 
 who was himself a notorious criminal, or nearly 
 related to any such, was permitted to contend ; and 
 further, if any person were convicted of bribing his 
 adversary, a severe fine was laid upon him. Nor 
 were these precautions alone thought a sufficient 
 guard against evil an<l dishonorable contracts and un- 
 just practices, but the contenders were obliged to 
 swear, that they had spent ten \vhoIe months in pre- 
 paratory exercises ; and both they, their fathers and 
 brethren, took a solemn oath, that they would not, by 
 any sinister or unlawful means, endeavor to stop the 
 fair and just proceedings of the games. (Potter's Antiq. 
 Grsec.) 
 
 The rewards given in these games have been thus 
 rendered into English by Addison, fi-om the Greek : — ■ 
 
 Greece, in four games thy martial youth were trained. 
 For heroes two, and two for gods ordained ; 
 Jove bade the olive round his victor wave ; 
 Phoebus to his an apple-garland gave ; 
 The pine Palsemon ; nor with less renown, 
 Archemorus conferred the parsley crown. 
 
 (Anc. Med. Dial. 2.) 
 
 Compare with these fafling vegetable cro^vns that 
 immortal life which the gospel oflfers as a prize to 
 the victor ; in order to understand the apostle's com- 
 parison, 1 Cor. ix. 25 ; 1 Pet. v. 4. 
 
 RACHAL, a city of Judah, to which David sent 
 some of the spoil taken from those enemies wIjo had 
 plundered Ziklag, 1 Sam. xxx. 29. 
 
 RACHEL, a daughter of Laban, and sister of Leah, 
 was married to Jacob, by whom she had Joseph and 
 Benjamin. She died in childbirth with the latter^^ 
 whom she named Ben-oni, son of mj pain ; but Jacob 
 named him Benjamin, or (he son of nvj right hand. 
 See Jacob. 
 
 The prophet Jeremiah, (xxxi. 1.5.) and after him. 
 Matthew, (ii. IS.yiiave, as it were, revived Rachel, in 
 the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, descended from 
 Joseph, son of R.achel. "In Rama (or, on the liigh- 
 places) was there a voice heard, lamentation and 
 weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for 
 her children, and would not be comforted, because 
 they are not." This was fulfilled, when these tribes 
 were carried into cajitivity beyond the Euphrates ; 
 but Matthew has accommodated the words to the 
 lamentations of the mothers iifliethlehem, when Herod 
 slew their children. Then Rachel, who was buried 
 there, might be said to renew her cries and lamenta- 
 tions for the death of so many infant innocents, sac- 
 rificed to his jealousy and cruelty ! 
 
 It may be well to notice the objection which Mr, 
 Levi and others have m-ged against this application 
 of the prophet's language. It is said tiat the lamen- 
 
 tation of Rachel, referring only to the carrying away 
 of captives to Babylon, and being connected with a 
 promise of their return, is not of that description to 
 justify such an application of it. The passage stand* 
 thus, Jer. xxxi. 15 : — 
 
 Thus saith the Lord ; 
 A \oice was heard m Ramab, 
 Lamentation and bitter ^veeping ; 
 Rachel weeping for her children. 
 Refused to be comforted, because they wor« not. 
 
 Thus saith the Lord ; 
 Refrain thy voice from weeping. 
 And thine eyes from teai-s: 
 
 For thy Avork shall be rewarded, saith the Lord : 
 And they shall come again from tlie land of the 
 
 enemy. 
 And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, 
 That thy children shall come again to their own 
 
 border. 
 
 This passage certainly closes with hopeful and 
 grateful ideas ; so far, therefore, as the prophet apos- 
 trophizes the tender mother of the tribes of Joseph 
 and Benjamin, he addresses consolation to her : not 
 so the evangelist ; whose metaphorical Rachel de- 
 plores her children hopelessly cut oW, and departed 
 for ever. To remove this seeming discrepancy, 
 Mr. Taylor oflers the following remarks, on the 
 authority of Le Brnyn — (1.) that it is customary 
 for mothers in the East to seek the graves of their 
 deceased children, in order to weep over them; 
 meaning to infer, that this being a custom in the 
 East at present, it was the same anciently ; so that, in 
 point of lamentation, any mourning mother might 
 have answered the allusion of the evangelist as Ra- 
 chel : (2.) that it is proljable high places or hills, a 
 little way out of the towns, were usually the scenes 
 of such lamentations, anciently ; as we find by sev- 
 eral passages in the Old Testament ; and that such 
 weepings are now maintained in the same places ; 
 the same customs, for the most part, prevailing in 
 modern as in ancient times : (3.) that the word Ra- 
 mah signifies high places in general ; and that any 
 high place, the usual scene of such maternal lamen- 
 tation, would have answered the evangelist's purpose 
 in reference to mourning mothers: (4.) that Rachel 
 was buried at, or near, Ramah, (Gen. xxxv. 9 ; xlvii. 
 7; 1 Sam. x. 2.) where the Israelites were assembled 
 to be carried into captivity; (Jer. xl. 1.) (5.) that the 
 same custom of women's weeping for their children 
 was probably m;untaiued in the evangelist's time at 
 Ramah near Bethlehem, as Le Brnyn found at Ra- 
 mah near Lydda ; and that Ramah being a high 
 place fit for the purpose, and such high places being 
 selected as scenes of maternal lamentation. 
 
 From these considerations it will follow, that there 
 is nothing forced or constrained in the reference of 
 Mat4licw, to a moiu-ning of mothers over their chil- 
 dren, and refusing to be comforted ; since such was, 
 as it still is, the custom of the vicinity. The allusion 
 to this custom would be still more conspicuous, if it 
 were, as no doubt it was, maintained at Rachel's Ra- 
 mah ; and the apostrophe to Rachel would be still 
 more impressive, if those mournings were exhibited 
 in an open and high place, or spot of ground, adja- 
 cent to her tomb, or the memorial of it. To call 
 such mournings, mournings of Rachel, (not to say 
 that this name might actually be given to them, by 
 the pco|)]e, in the days of Matthew, who, as he wrote 
 in the language of'the country, certainly was ac- 
 quainted with the customs of the country, as well
 
 RAH 
 
 776 
 
 RAI 
 
 local as general,) from the place in which they were 
 performed, can scarcely be called a poetical license. 
 
 These remarks set in a very easy light the accom- 
 modation employed by the evangelist ; who, cer- 
 tainly, selects Rachel as a mother of the most affec- 
 tionate character ; and instances in her, though long 
 since dead, that grief which living mothers felt, and 
 under which living mothers lamented. This seems 
 to justify, also, the expression of the evangelist, 
 " Then was fulfilled the language of Jeremiah the 
 prophet ;" for if Rachel lamented, according to the 
 usage of the vicinity, on account of the departure of 
 her children into captivity ; if, when they were not 
 slain, but only deported, she ■was, as it were, raised 
 by the impulse of poesy, out of her tomb, to grieve, 
 to lead with elevated hands, and plaintive voice, the 
 lamentations of the weeping mothers; surely when 
 her children were really slain, she might well break 
 the bonds of silence, by loud and bitter cries, ex- 
 pressing those agonies which rent her sympathetic 
 bosom : she might preside over the sorrows, the pub- 
 lic sorrows, which such occasion demanded, and 
 which, after similar privations, were expected, ac- 
 cording to established usage. In short, if the prophet 
 had any right to raise the dead, on account of a cir- 
 cumstance of temporary, but not hopeless, distress, 
 the evangelist had at least equal, not to say greater, 
 right to employ the same metaphor, on occasion of a 
 slaughter, neither alleviated by hope of return, nor 
 by possibility of future restoration ; but in every sense 
 fatal: a cruel instance of tyrannical jealousy, and of 
 vindictive anticipation. This was a fulfilment of the 
 allusion and intent of Jeremiah, much beyond that 
 marked by the prophet himself; it was a deeper 
 completion of his words ; a more entire termination 
 of his sentiment, founded, like his, on local custom, 
 and, like his, supported by the dailj^ occurrences of 
 time and place, and by the general manners of the 
 readers for whom his narration was intended. 
 
 To conclude, we are justified by the evidence ad- 
 duced, in assuming that the mothers of the infants 
 slaughtered at Bethlehem did subsequently, and cer- 
 tainly, visit their tombs, and lament with loud ex- 
 clamations over the remains of their tenderly beloved 
 offspring. Admitting this, where is the incongruity 
 of imagining, that the mother of the adjacent tribe, 
 though interred many years ago, should be recalled 
 from that interment, by the poetical imagination of 
 the prophet, to officiate in the distress of her daugh- 
 ters deprived of their children ? And if this be ])er- 
 mitted to the prophet, on what principle shall it be 
 refused to the evangelist ? 
 
 It is impossible to place any dependence on the 
 antiquity of the tomb now shown as that of Rachel, 
 near Bethlehem. It stands within six or seven paces 
 of the field of Ephrata ; about forty paces out of the 
 high road. On a hill a little farther on, to the right, 
 are ruins of a tower and houses; "They tolcj us," 
 says D'Arvieux, "that they were the remains of the 
 little town of Ramah, of which Jeremiah speaks in 
 his 'Lamentations:' and where Herod caused the 
 innocent babes to be slain ; as also in the neighbor- 
 hood." If this tradition l)c correct, and the evan- 
 gelist's words incline to support it, then the poetical 
 resuscitation of Rachel has a closer alliance with the 
 facts of the history than has been usually imagined. 
 
 RAGAU, (Luke iii. 35.) the same with Reu, which 
 see. 
 
 RAGUEL, see Jethro. ^i 
 
 I. RAHAB, a woman of Jericho, who receiverr 
 and concealed the spies sent by Joshua, Josh. ii. 1 
 
 She is called a harlot. When the spies had entered 
 her house, notice was given to the king of Jericho, 
 who sent to her to produce the men ; but she extend- 
 ed to them the protection of hospitality, hid them, 
 and told the messengers, that such men had been at 
 her house, but that when the gates of the city were 
 shutting, they went out. When the messengers had 
 returned, Rahab went up to the terrace, or roof of 
 her house, where the spies were concealed, and ob- 
 tained from them an oath, that when the Lord had 
 delivered the country mto their hands, they would save 
 the Uves of her and her family. She then let them 
 down by a rope, her house adjoining the walls of the 
 city, advising them to return by the mountains, for 
 fear of meeting those who had been sent in quest of 
 them ; and to continue on the mountains three days, 
 in which time the messengers would return, after 
 which they might proceed. The spies followed her 
 counsel, and arrived at Joshua's camp, to whom they 
 related all they had discovered at Jericho, and their 
 promises to Rahab. When Joshua took the city, he 
 sent the two spies to the house of Rahab, to bring her 
 and her family out safe. Rahab is supposed after- 
 wards to have married Salmon, a prince of Judah, 
 by whom she had Boaz ; from whom descended 
 Obed, Jesse and David. Thus Christ condescended 
 to reckon this Canaanitish woman among his ances- 
 tors. Paul magnifies her faith, Heb. xi. 31 . 
 
 II. RAHAB. The psalmist speaks of another 
 Rahab : (Ps. Ixxxvii. 4.) " I will make mention of 
 Rahab and Babylon, to them that know me." Also, 
 Ps. Ixxxix. 10 : " Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces." 
 Isaiah (li. 9 ; and xxx. 7.) uses the same word to de- 
 note the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in the 
 Red sea. And Jobxxvi. 12: "By his understanding 
 he smiteth through the proud ;" (Heb. Rahab.) It 
 seems thus to be a poetical appellation for Egypt, par- 
 ticularly of the Delta, which is still called Rib, or Rif. 
 M. D'Herbelot says, that the name Rif is given to that 
 part of Egjqit which begins at Cairo, and lies to the 
 north, that is, the Delta. Jerome and the ancient Greek 
 interpreters have often translated Rahab hy pride, or 
 the proud. , But many have misimderstood the origi- 
 nal, as referring to Rahab, the woman of Jericho. 
 
 RAIN. It would seem by several expressions in 
 Scripture, that the ancient Hebrews imagined rain to 
 be derived from certain great reservoirs above the 
 heavens, wliicli Moses calls the superior waters, in 
 contradistinction from the inferior waters of the sea. 
 He says, that, at the deluge, "All the fountains of the 
 great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven 
 were opened." And Hosea affirms, (ii. 21.) that in 
 times of great drought the clouds cry to the Lord, 
 beseeching him to permit the waters which he keeps 
 in his treasuries and repositories to fall into and re- 
 plenish them. In other jilaccs of Scripture, the 
 clouds are described as great bodies, filled with wa- 
 ters, supplied to them from the firmament. Even the 
 dews are represented as [)rocee(ling from the supe- 
 rior waters, " His heavens shall drop down dew," 
 Deut. xxxiii. 28; Job xxxvii. 11; xxxviii. 87 ; Ps. 
 xviii. 11 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 12. The sacred writers often 
 speak of the former rain, and the latter rain, Deut. xi. 
 14. (So IIos. vi.3.) The rabbins, and the generality 
 of interpreters, are of opinion, that the former rain, 
 called in Hebrew mr, jorch, signifies the rain of the 
 autumn, which falls from the middle of October to 
 the first of December; and that the latter rain, called 
 in Hebrew rip'^c, malkasit, signifies the rain of the 
 spring, which falls in March and April. The Jews 
 began their year at autumn, wliich gives probability
 
 RAM 
 
 [ 777 ] 
 
 RAV 
 
 to this opinion ; but Calmet thinks that joreh signifies 
 the rain of spring, and malkash that of autumn. In 
 Judea it commonly rained 'lut in two seasons, spring 
 and autumn. Jore/i is a' .ays put first, and malkash 
 afterward. Tlie Scptuagint have taken it in the 
 sense of Calmet ; and Hesiod has expressed the rain 
 of the spring antl autunm in words of the same im- 
 port as those used by the Septuagint. He calls 
 annov mi,iooy, the rahi of the spring; and o-Tcinooi 
 ou(iQof, the rain of autumn. [Oyier. et Dies, lib. ii.) 
 
 Moses, describing the land of Canaan, and its ad- 
 vantages over Egypt, says, (Deut. xi. 10, 11.) it is a 
 country of hills and valleys, watered by rain from 
 heaven. Hence it is that God promised the Israel- 
 ites, to send them rain in due season, Lev. xxvi. 3. 
 On the other hand, he threatens them, if they depart 
 from their fidelity to God, that he will send them 
 showers of sand and dust, Deut. xxviii. 24. See 
 Ddst. 
 
 The Hebrews often compare wise and instructive 
 discourse to rain, Deut. xxxii. 2 ; Ecclus. xxxix. 9 ; 
 Job xxix. 21. 
 
 RA3I, or Battering Ram, a well known engine 
 of war, mentioned in Ezek. iv. 2 ; xxi. 22. and used 
 by Nebuchadnezzar at the siege of Jerusalem. 
 
 RAMAH. This Avord signifies an eminence ; from 
 hence are so many places in Palestine named Ramah, 
 Ramath, Ramatha, Ramoth, Ramathaim, and Rania- 
 than. Sometimes the same place is called by one or 
 other of these names indiscriminately, ail signifying 
 the same. Sometimes Rama, or Ramoth, is joined to 
 another name, to determine the place of such city, 
 or eminence ; and it is sometimes put simply for a 
 high place, and signifies neither city nor village. 
 
 I. RAMAH, a city of Benjamin, between Gaba 
 and Bethel, toward the mountains of Ephraim, six 
 miles from Jerusalem north, and on the road from 
 Samaria to Jerusalem. Baasha, king of Israel, caused 
 it to be fortified, to obstruct the passage from the 
 land of Judah into that of Israel. This is probably 
 the Ramatha, or Ramathaim-zophim, of the prophet 
 Samuel, 1 Sam. i. 1, 19 ; ii. 11, &c. (See RaxMathaim.) 
 It was on tlie frontiers of Ephraim and Benjamin ; 
 and frontier cities were often inhabited by both tribes. 
 It is also very probable, that Jeremiah speaks of this 
 Ramah, (chap, xl.) when he says, Nebuzaradan, who 
 commanded the Chaldean army, having found him. 
 among the captives at Ramah, whither they had 
 been all brought, set him at liberty. Of the same 
 place he explains the prophecy (chap. xxxi. 15 — 17.) 
 in which the Lord comforts Rachel, on account of 
 the taking her children of Ephraim and Maiiasseh 
 into captivity. See Rachel. 
 
 II. RA^L\H, a city in mount Ephraim, the birth- 
 place of Samuel; probably identical with the Ramah 
 of Benjamin. (See Roseimiiiller's Bibl. Geogr. II. ii. 
 p. 186, and also the preceding article.) 
 
 III. RA]\IAH, a city about thirty miles north-west 
 of Jerusalem, on the road to Joppa. M. le Bruyn 
 describes the fine reservoirs of water to be seen here, 
 and many otiior marks of antiquity. He says it is 
 but four leagues from Jaffa, or Joppa, and stands in 
 a plain and even country : he also says, that Lydda 
 is on one side, and about three miles from Rama. 
 (See Arimathea.) Eusebius and some others seem 
 to have thought that this city is the Ramath of Sam- 
 uel, or Ramathaim-zophim, of the mountains of 
 Ephraim. But this opinion cannot be supj)ortcd. 
 
 RAjMATHAIM, the two Ramathas ; probably, 
 because the city was divided into two parts. It was 
 also called Zophim, because of a family of Levites 
 98 
 
 dwelling there, who were descended fi^-om Zoph. It 
 was probably the same with Ramah I. and II. 
 
 RAMATH-LEHI, or Ramath-lechi, the height 
 of the jaw-bone, or the cast of the jaw-bone, the name 
 of the place where Samson threw the jaw-bone on 
 the ground, with which he had beaten the Philistines. 
 Probably this is the Lehi of Judg. xv. 9. See Lehi. 
 
 RAMESSES, see Raamses. 
 
 RAMOTH, a famous city in the mountains of 
 Gilead ; often called Rainoth-Gilead ; and sometimes 
 Ramath-mizpeh, or the Watch-tower, Josh. xiii. 26. 
 The Vulgate makes it two cities, Ramoth and Mas- 
 phe. It belonged to Gad, was assigned to thc Le- 
 vites, and became one of the cities of refuge beyond 
 Jordan, Deut. iv. 43 ; Josh. xx. 8 ; xxi. 38. It was 
 famous during the reigns of the later kings of Israel, 
 and was the occasion of several wars between these 
 princes and the kings of Damascus, who had con- 
 quered it, and fi"om whom the kings of Israel en- 
 deavored to regain it, 1 Kings xxii ; 2 Kings viii. 28, 
 29 ; 2 Chron. xxii. 5. Jehoram, king of Judah, was 
 dangerously wounded at the siege of this jjlace ; 
 Jehu, son of Nimshi, was here anointed king of Is- 
 rael, by a prophet sent by Elisha ; (2 Kings ix.) and 
 Ahab was killed in battle with the Syrians before it, 
 2 Chron. xviii. 3. Eusebius says, Ramoth was fif- 
 teen miles from Philadelphia, east ; but Jerome 
 places it in the neighborhood of Jabbok, and, con- 
 sequently, north of Philadelphia. 
 
 RANSOM, a price paid to recover a person or 
 thing, from one who detains that person or thing in 
 captivity. Hence prisoners of war, or slaves, are 
 said to be ransomed, when they are liberated in ex- 
 change for a valuable consideration. Whatever is 
 substituted or exchanged, in compensation for the 
 party, is his ransom ; but the word ransom is more ex- 
 tensively taken in Scripture. A man is said to ran- 
 som his life, (Exod. xxi. 30.) to substitute a sum of 
 money instead of his life ; (chap. xxx. 12 ; Job xxxvi. 
 18 ; Ps. xlix. 7.) and some kinds of sacrifices might 
 be regarded as ransoms, that is, as substitutes for the 
 offerer. In like manner, Christ is said to give him- 
 self a ransom for all; (1 Tim. ii. 6; Matt. xx. 28; 
 Mark x. 45.) a substitute for them, bearing sufferings 
 in their stead, undergoing that penalty which would 
 otherwise attach to them. (See Rom. iii. 24 ; vii. 
 23 ; 1 Cor. i. 30 ; Ephes. i. 7 ; iv. 30 ; Heb. ix. 15.) 
 Comp. Redeemer. 
 
 RAPHAEL, one of the seven archangels which 
 stand continually before the throne of God, ready to 
 perform his commands, Tobit xii. 15. 
 
 RAPHIA, a fiimous city on the Mediterranean, be- 
 tween Gaza and Rhinocorura, famous for the victorj' 
 of Philopator, king of Egypt, over Antiochus the 
 Great, king of Syria, 3 Mac. i. 11. 
 
 RAVEN, a well-known bird of prey ; unclean by 
 the law, Lev. xi. 15. When Noah sent the raven 
 out of the ark, to see if the waters were withdrawing 
 from covering the earth, it did not return to him, 
 Gen. viii. (J, 7. When the prophet Elijah retired 
 near the brook Cherith, the Lord fed him for some 
 time by means of ravens, who brought him bread 
 and flesh, morning and evening, 1 Kings xvii. 5. See 
 Elijah. 
 
 The blackness of the raven is proverbial : " His 
 locks are bushy and black as a raven," Cant. v. 11. 
 
 The wise man says, (Prov. xxx. 17.) "The eye 
 that mocketh at his father, and dcspiseth to obey his 
 mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and 
 the young eagles shall eat it." 
 
 RAVISH, the taking away of any thing from
 
 REA 
 
 [778 ] 
 
 REG 
 
 any one by violence, Prov. xi, 24 ; Gen. xxxiv. 2 ; 
 xxi. 21. 
 
 RAZOR, an instrument for shaving the hair from 
 the face, head, &c. The psahnist compares the 
 tongue of Doeg (Ps. Hi. 2.) to a sharp razor, start- 
 ing aside from what should be its true operation, to 
 a bloody purpose and effect. The prophet threatens 
 to shave, that is, to scrape with violence, to despoil 
 very closely, to leave nothing untouched, with a 
 hired razor, that is, by a person who will be paid, a 
 power who fights for plunder, the cities and prov- 
 uices of Judah, &c. every part of them ; the hair of 
 the head, the hair of the beard, and the hair of the 
 feet, Isa. vii. 20. (Sec Foot.) Shaving was a sign 
 of mourning ; (see Shaving ;) but shaving by a 
 stranger, a foreigner, an enemy, was a sign of cap- 
 tivity ; and it probably alludes to a custom of the 
 Jieathen priests, who (at least those of Egypt, as 
 Herodotus testifies) shaved themselves eveiy day or 
 two, all over, as well the body, as the head and 
 l)eard. If this were also -a custom among the Baby- 
 lonians, as is very credible, then the application and 
 force of this metaphor is clear. 
 
 In reference to this " shaving by a razor that is 
 hired," Mr. Taylor thinks it likely that there is an 
 implication of contempt as well as suffering included 
 in it, as the ofiice of a barber ambulant has seldom 
 been esteemed of any dignity, either in the East or 
 in the West. That the allusion is not unknown at 
 present in Asia, appears from a song, whose versifi- 
 cation, if none of the best, yet was popular, " being 
 bawled about the streets of Aleppo, after the retreat 
 of Nadir Shah from Mosul, in the year 1743." 
 
 Tahmas, where is he ? where is he ? 
 An iron mace between his shoulders ; 
 May a razor shave his beard ! 
 Jlnd a sivord ait off his head ! 
 Tahmas, where is he ? where is he ? 
 
 (Russell's Aleppo, note 5. vol. ii. p. 393.) 
 
 As Nadir had failed of his pm*pose, contempt was 
 likely to be vented by his enemies in this triumphant 
 ballad. 
 
 REAPING is such a natural employment in agri- 
 culture, that it almost glides of itself into a metaphor- 
 ical action, at once expressive, and easily under- 
 stood. To cut down corn, to gather fruits, when 
 come to maturity ; to receive the natural effects, or 
 consequences, or rewards, of good or bad actions, 
 have many points of similitude, which are readily 
 comprehended by all, and furnish frequent allusions 
 in Scripture. 
 
 REASON is that intellectual power by which we 
 apprehend and discover truth, whether contained in 
 first principles of belief, or in the arguments and 
 conclusions from those principles, by which truth 
 not intuitive is investigated. Much has been writ- 
 ten by some theologians against the use of reason in 
 matters of religion ; but we apprehend that their rea- 
 soning has, in many cases, proceeded on a false as- 
 sumption, if^ tlieology be considered as a science, 
 just like any other series of truths connected as 
 principles and conclusions, it must evidently be the 
 work of reason to apprehend and connect them. On 
 religious as well as other subjects, faith can never go 
 beyond the principles on which reason, in one way 
 or other, more or less directly, can judge of truth. 
 Any otlier o[)inion would involve the monstrous 
 proposition, tliat we may, agreeably to a rational 
 nr.Turo, believo without a reason ; a proposiiio}). 
 
 which does not offer greater violence to our con- 
 stitution than to the spirit of that religion which 
 is not of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound 
 mind. 
 
 The term reason has a diversified application in 
 the sacred writings. It signifies that faculty of the 
 soul by which we apprehend and judge of truths, 
 (Dan. iv. 36.) a proof, ground, or argument, (1 Pet. 
 iii. 15.) the act of conferring, disputing, or arguing, 
 (Matt. xvi. 8.) and the fitness of things. Acts vi. 2 ; 
 xviii. 14. 
 
 REBA, Rebe, or Reb, a prince of the Midianites, 
 killed in the war that Moses, by order fi'om the Lord, 
 waged against them by the hand of Phinehas, son 
 of the high-priest Eleazar, for the punishment of 
 their crime in seducing Israel, Numb. xxxi. 8 ; Josh, 
 xiii. 21. 
 
 REBEKAH, a daughter of Bethuel, and wife of 
 Isaac, Gen. xxiv, 15, &c. She lived with her hus- 
 band twenty years without having children ; but, in 
 answer to his prayers, she became pregnant with two 
 children. These struggling together in her womb, 
 and giving her great uneasiness, she consulted the 
 Lord, who told her that two nations were in her 
 womb, and that the elder should be subject to the 
 younger. At the birth of the children, the first, be- 
 ing ruddy and hairy, they named Esau ; the other 
 holding in his hand the heel of his brother, they 
 called him Jacob, the Heeler. Esau delighted in 
 hunting ; but Jacob was a plain, homely man. See 
 Jacob, Esau, and Isaac. 
 
 The conduct of Rebekah in reference to her sons 
 was highly culpable. The year of her death is un- 
 certain ; but she certainly died before Isaac, because 
 it is said that he was put into the tomb with Rebekah 
 his wife ; which tomb was the same with that in 
 which Abraham and Sarah were buried, and after- 
 wards Jacob and Leah, Gen. xlix. 31 ; xxxv. 29. 
 
 I. RECHAB and BAANAH, assassins of Ishbo- 
 sheth, son of Saul, 2 Sam. iv. 2, seq. 
 
 II. RECHAB, the father of Jouadab, and of the 
 Rechabites. It is not known in what time this Re- 
 chab lived, nor what was his origin. We read, in 
 1 Chron. ii. 55, that the Rechabites were originally 
 Kenites, and that they were singers in the house of 
 God. The Hebrew has, " porters and the obedient, 
 that dwell under tents ; these are those that are 
 called Kenites, who are descended from Hemath, 
 chief of the house of Rechab." The Kenites de- 
 scended from Midian, son of Cush, by Hobab, or 
 Jethro, father-in-law of Moses. They entered the 
 Pi-omised Land with the Hebrews, and dwelt in the 
 tribe of Judah, about the Dead sea. They were dis- 
 tinguished from the Israelites by their retired life, 
 and by their dislike of cities and houses. Some have 
 thought that Hobab, or Jethro, was the founder of 
 the Rechabites ; that Rechab was one of his names ; 
 that Jonadab, in the time of Jehu, was one of his 
 posterity; and that Heber the Kenite followed the 
 customs of the Rechabites. Serrarius distinguishes 
 the ancient Rechabites, descended from and insti- 
 tuted by Jethro, from the new Rechabites of Jonadab, 
 son of Rechab, in the time of Jehu. However this 
 may be, Scripture acquaints us, (Jer. xxxv. 6, 7.) that 
 Jonadab, son of Rechab, in the time of Jehu, king of 
 Israel, laid an injunction on his posterity not to drink 
 wine, not to build houses, not to plant vineyards, to 
 have no lands, and to dwell in tents all their lives. 
 This they continued to observe for above 300 years ; 
 but in the last year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, 
 Nebuchadnezzar coming to besiege Jerusalem, the
 
 RED 
 
 779 ] 
 
 REF 
 
 Rechabites were forced to take refuge in the cit}', 
 still, however, lodging in tents. During tliis siege, 
 Jeremiah received orders from the Lord, to invite 
 them into the temple, and to offer them wine to drink. 
 But they answered, " We will drink no wine ; for so 
 Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded 
 us," &.C. Then came the word of the Lord unto 
 Jeremiah, reproving Judah, saying, " The words of 
 Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his 
 sons not to drink wine, are performed ; yet I have 
 spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but ye 
 hearkened not unto me." And then, directing his 
 discourse to the Rechabites, he says, "Because 
 ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your 
 father, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not 
 want a man to stand before me for ever," Jer. xxxv. 
 2, seq. 
 
 The Rechabites were, probably, led captive, after 
 the taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans ; since we 
 read in the title of Ps. Ixx. that it was sung " by the 
 sons of Jonadab, and by tlie principal captives," 
 which were Ezekiel and Mordecai, carried away by 
 the Chaldeans beyond the Euphrates, after the taking 
 of Jerusalem under king Jehoiakim. They returned 
 from their captivity, and settled in the city of Jabez, 
 beyond Jordan ; as appears by 1 Chron. ii. 55. No 
 further mention is made of the Kenites in the books 
 written after the captivity of Babylon. 
 
 Some have suggested that the Assideans of the 
 Maccabees, (1 Mac. ii. 42 ; vii. 13 ; 2 Mac. xiv. 6.) 
 were successors and followers of the Rechabites. 
 Othei-s have confounded them with the Essenes. 
 But certain it is, that the manner of life of the Es- 
 senes, which is well known, was very different from 
 that of the Rechabites. The former had fields, and 
 dwelt in houses ; but had neither wives nor children ; 
 and performed no religious ceremonies with the 
 other Jews at Jerusalem : all which was contrary to 
 the practice of the Rechabites. 
 
 RECONCILIATION, see Expiation, and 
 Atonement. 
 
 REDEEMER, a name given by way of eminence 
 to Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. In the 
 law of Moses, (Lev. xxv. 25, 47, 48.) it is given to him 
 who has the right of redemption in an inheritance, 
 or even to a near kinsman, who may redeem it from 
 a stranger, or any Jew who had bought it. Moses 
 ordained, that neither estates in land, nor the per- 
 sons of the Hebrews, should be sold forever; but 
 that every one might resume the possession of his 
 estate, or his personal liberty, in the sabbatical year, 
 and at the jubilee. But without waiting for these 
 years, when any relation was rich enough, and had 
 power to redeem the goods or liberty of his brother, 
 the law enabled him to do so. And this it calls the 
 right of redemption ; giving also the name of re- 
 deemer to the relation who claimed this right, Lev, 
 xxv. xxvii. 
 
 We see an instance of the practice of this law in 
 the history of Ruth, Ruth ii. 20 ; iii. 9, &c. Boaz, 
 being one of the nearest relations of Elimelech, mar- 
 ried Ruth, the heiress of Elimelech, and thei-eby re- 
 entered into the possession of her estate. Jeremiah 
 redeemed the field of his nephew Hanameel, which 
 was on the point of being sold to another, Jer. 
 xxxii. 7, 8. 
 
 The same person was also called The Redeemer of 
 Blood, (Eng. tr. The Revenger of Blood,) who had a 
 right to revenge the blood of his murdered kinsman. 
 Numb. xxxv. 12, 19, 21 ; Deut. xix. 6, 12. To curb 
 the resentment of these avengers, or redeemers, God 
 
 appointed cities of refuge throughout Israel. See 
 Refuge, and First-born. 
 
 RED HEIFER. The particulai-s relative to this 
 sacrifice, which was an eminent type of our Saviour, 
 (Heb. ix. 14.) will be found in Numb. xix. Spencer 
 thinks, that the ceremony was designed in opposition 
 to the Egyptian superstitions. But Mr. Taylor re- 
 marks, that though the Apis of Egypt was black, yet 
 the Apis of India is " red-colored ;" and consequently, 
 the Hebrew red heifer could not be in opposition to 
 this ; which is the original of the Egyptian super- 
 stition. (See Apis.) The virtue of purifying from 
 defilement by contact with a dead body, did not re- 
 side in the abundance of water with which the per- 
 son previously washed himself; but in the ashes of 
 the heifer, however small their quantity, with which 
 he was baptized by sprinkling, Heb. ix. 10, 13, 14. 
 It is no improbable conjecture, that the dispute be- 
 tween the disciples of John and the Jews about 
 purifying (John iii. 25.) turned on this point, "How 
 could simple water — water having no ashes in it — 
 purify ?" and the Baptist, in another place, pleads 
 the authority of "him who sent me to baptize with 
 simple water." As no heifer can be burnt under the 
 present condition of the Jews, it follows, that they 
 cannot, on their own legal principles, be fully puri- 
 fied from the defilement communicated by the dead ; 
 they wash their clothes, the furniture of their apart- 
 ments, then- rooms, &.c. but the ashes are still wanting, 
 for the purification of their persons. See Heifer. 
 
 RED SEA, see Sea. 
 
 REED. Ezekiel (xl. 3.) and John (Rev. xi. 1.) speak 
 of a measuring-reed ; the former saying, it was in length 
 six cubits and a hand-breadth ; or rather, six cubits 
 and six hand-breadths ; that is, six Hebrew cubits, each 
 larger by a hand-breadth than the Babylonish cubit. 
 
 REFUGE, cities of. To provide security for 
 those who should undesignedly kill a man, the Lord 
 commanded Moses to appoint six cities of refuge, or 
 Asyla, that whoever should have thus spilt blood, 
 might retire thither, and have time to prepare his 
 defence before the judges ; and that the kinsmen of 
 the deceased might not pursue and kill him, Exod. 
 xxi. 13; Numb. xxxv. 11, &c. Of such cities there 
 were three on each side Jordan. On the west, were 
 Kedesh of Naphtali, Hebron and Shechem ; on the 
 east, Bezer, Golan and Ramoth-Gilead, Josh. xx. 7, 
 8. These cities served not only for Hebrews, but for 
 all strangers Avho resided in the country, Deut. xix. 
 1 — 8. The Lord also commanded, that Avhen thft 
 Hebrews should multiply and enlarge their land, 
 they should add three other cities of refuge. As 
 tliis command was never fulfilled, the rabbins say, 
 that the Messiah will accomplish it. 
 
 Maimonides, from the traditions of the ancients, 
 assures us, that all the fortj'-eight cities, appointed 
 for habitations of the priests and Levites, were also 
 cities of refuge ; and that all the difference betw-een 
 them was, that the six cities appointed by the law, 
 were obliged to receive and lodge refligees gratis ; 
 whereas the other cities might refuse to admit such 
 as fled to them, and were not obliged to lodge them 
 gratuitously. Besides the cities of refuge, the tem- 
 ple, and especially the altar of burnt-offerings, en- 
 joyed the privilege of an asylum. Those who took 
 sanctuary in the tom])le, were immediately examined 
 by the judges ; and, if found guilty of murder, they 
 were forced away, even from the altar, and put to 
 death without the temple. But if found innocent, 
 they had a guard appointed, to conduct them safely 
 to some city of refuge.
 
 REFUGE 
 
 [ 780 ] 
 
 REFUGE 
 
 The cities of refuge were to be of easy access ; and 
 every year, ou the fifteenth of Adar, the magistrates 
 inspected tlie roads, to see that they ^vere in good 
 condition, and tliat there were no impediments. At 
 every division of the road was a direction-post, on 
 which was written, Refuge, Refuge, for the guidance 
 of him wlio was fleeing for security. They were to 
 be well supplied with water and provisions. It was 
 not allowed to make any weapons there, that the re- 
 lations of the deceased might not procure arms to 
 gratify their revenge. It was necessary that whoever 
 took refuge there should understand a trade, that he 
 might not be chargeable. They used to send some 
 prudent and moderate persons, to meet those who 
 were pursuing the culprit, in order to dispose them 
 to clemency and forgiveness, and to await the decis- 
 ion of justice. 
 
 At tifie death of the high-priest, the refugee might 
 quit the city in which he was. But though the man- 
 slayer had fled to the city of refuge, he was not ex- 
 empt from the power of justice. Numb. xxxv. 12. 
 An information was lodged against him ; and he was 
 summoned before the judges and the people, to 
 prove that the murder was truly casual and involun- 
 tary. If found innocent, he dwelt safely in the city 
 to which he had retired ; if otherwise, he was put to 
 death, according to the law. Scripture is not very 
 express, whether the affiiir came under the cogni- 
 zance of the judges of the place where the murder 
 was committed, or of the judges of the city of refuge, 
 to which the murderer had fled. (Comp. Deut. xix. 
 II, 12; Josh. XX. 4, .% 6 ; Numb, xxxv. 2.5.) But it 
 appears from the passage of Joshua, that the fugitive 
 underwent two trials: first in the city of refuge, 
 where the judges sun)marily examined the affair; 
 secondly in his own city, where the magistrates ex- 
 amined the cause more strictly. If the latter judges 
 declared him innocent, they reconducted him under 
 a guard to the city of refuge. 
 
 In Europe we do not discover that distinguished 
 wisdom in the institution of the cities of refuge 
 which there really is. With us, murder or man- 
 slaughter is prosecuted so regularly, that we are apt 
 to overlook the policy of this national appointment. 
 It deserves notice, too, that the ajjpropriation of cer- 
 tain cities for the purposes of refuge, seems peculiar 
 to the IMosaic dispensation : we read nothing of it in 
 Egypt ; and there is at this time no trace of it in the 
 East, notwithstandiug the utility of such appoint- 
 ments might deservedly have preserved the custom 
 among those who had once known it. Travellers 
 inform us, that such is the irritable and vindictive 
 spirit of the Arabs and other inhabitants of hot cli- 
 mates, that if one sheikh should seriously say to anoth- 
 er, " Thy bonnet is dirty," or " The wrong side of thy 
 turban is out," nothing l)ut blood can wash away the 
 rej)roach ; and not merely the blood of the offender, 
 but that also of all the males of his family ! In several 
 districts in Arabia, the relations of a person who has 
 been slain, have leave either to accept a couiposi- 
 tion in monei/, or to require the murderer to surrender 
 himself to justice, or even to wreak their vengeance 
 upon his \vho\r familij. They think little of making 
 an assassin be punished, or even }iut to death, by the 
 hands of justice ; for this would be to deliver a family 
 of an unworthy member, who deserved no such fa- 
 vor at their hands. Hence " the Arabs rather avenge 
 themselves as the law allows, upon the family of 
 the murderer, and seek an opportunity of slaying its 
 hend, or most consideral)le person, whom tii(;y regard 
 as being properly the person guilty of the crime, as it 
 
 must have been committed through his negligence, 
 in watching over the conduct of those under his in- 
 spection. In the mean time, the judges seize the 
 murderer, and detain him till he has paid a fine of 
 two hundred crowns. Had it not been for this fiine, 
 so absurd a law must have been long since repealed. 
 From this time, the two families are in continual fears, 
 till some one or other of the murderer^s family be slain. 
 JVo reconciliation can take place hetwtcn them, and the 
 quarrel is still occasionally reneived. There have been 
 instances of such family feuds lasting forty years. If, 
 in the contest, a man of the murdered person's family 
 happens to fall, there can be no peace until two 
 others of the murderer's family have been slain." 
 (Niebuhr's Travels in Arabia, p. 197, &c.) 
 
 How much milder, more considerate, more politic, 
 more humane, vvas the institution of cities of refuge ! 
 which not only gave opportunity to the aggressor to 
 escape, and to the avenger to cool ; but took from 
 either the determination of the case, and, after a 
 proper hearing, adjudged the accidental slayer of his 
 neighbor to security, yet to confinement, till the high- 
 priest died ; at which period, not only might the of- 
 fence be in part forgotten, but be regularly and hon- 
 orably passed over; especially, among the general 
 mourning on that event, and the general interest of 
 the nation in it. We see that the spirit of revenge 
 disquiets both parties ; but on such a solemn occa- 
 sion, both parties might honorably forego their ani- 
 mosity, without any " fear of fighting, or any disturb- 
 ance of sleep ;" so that this appointment was, per- 
 haps, of equal advantage to both culprit and avenger. 
 
 [The custom of blood-revenge appears to have 
 been an institution, or we may almost say a principle, 
 very early introduced and practised among the no- 
 madic oriental tribes. So firmly was this practice es- 
 tablished among the Israelites before their entrance 
 into the promised land, and probably also even before 
 their sojourning in Egypt, that Moses was directed 
 by Jehovah not to attempt to eradicate it entirely ; 
 but only to counteract and modify it by the institu- 
 tion of cities of refuge. The custom of avenging the 
 blood of a member of a family or tribe, upon some 
 member of the tribe or family of the slayer, still ex- 
 ists in full force among the modern Bedouins ; the 
 representatives, in a certain sense, of the ancient 
 Isra(;lites in the desert. Tliis indeed is stated in the 
 extract from Niebuhr above quoted ; and is confirm- 
 ed by the following extract from Burckhardt. During 
 his journey in the penmsula of mount Sinai, Burck- 
 hardt employed two Arab guides ; Hamd, a young 
 man of great courage, resolution and fidelity ; and 
 his uncle Szaleh, who proved to be dishonest and a 
 coward. On the northern part of the eastern coast, 
 towards Akaba, he had also employed an old fisher- 
 man, Ayd, jis guide, one of the most intelligent and 
 trustworthy Arabs he had met. The next day, after 
 tm-ning back, without reaching Akaba, this little party 
 ^^ as attacked by four Bedouins; but saved through 
 the ])resence of mind displayed by Ayd and Hamd ; 
 whilst Szaleh fled as fast as possible. In the fray, 
 one of the robbers was stabbed by Hamd, and after- 
 wards died. (Travels in Syr. &c. p. 513, seq.) The 
 following was the result of the affair: (ibid. p. 
 539, seq.) 
 
 " Hamd, afraid of being liable to pay the fine of 
 blood, if it should become known that the robber had 
 fallen by his hand, had juadc us all give him our sol- 
 enm ])romise not to mention any thing of the affair. 
 When I discharged him and Ayd at the convent, [of 
 mount Sinai,] I made them both some presents,
 
 REG 
 
 1781 ] 
 
 REGENERATION 
 
 which they had well deserved, particularly Hamd ; 
 this he was so imprudent as to mention to his uncle 
 Szaleh, who was so vexed at not receiving a present, 
 that he immediately di\iilged all the circumstances of 
 our rencounter. Hamd, in consequence, was under 
 the greatest apprehensions from the relations of the 
 robber ; and having accompanied me on my return 
 to Cairo, he remained with me some time there, in 
 anxious expectation of hearing whether the robber's 
 blood was likely to be revenged. Not hearing any 
 thing, he then returned to his mountain ; foin- montlis 
 after which, a party of Omran, to which ti-ibe the 
 robbers had belonged, came to the tent of the sheikh 
 of the Towara, to demand the fine of blood. Tlie 
 man had died a few days after receiving the wound ; 
 and although he was a robber, and the first aggressor, 
 the Bedouin laws entitled his relations to the fine, if 
 they waived the right of retaliation. Hamd was there- 
 fore glad to come to a compromise, and paid them 
 two camels (which the two principal sheikhs of the 
 Towara gave him for the purpose) and twenty dol- 
 lars, which I tliought myself bound to reimburse to 
 him, when he afterwards called on me at Cairo. This 
 was the third man Hamd had killed in skirmish ; but 
 he had paid no fine for the others, as it was never 
 known who they were, nor to what tribe they be- 
 longed. 
 
 " Had Hamd, whom every one knew to be the per- 
 son who had stabbed the robber, refused to pay the 
 fine, the Omran would, sooner or later, have retaliated 
 upon himself or his relations ; or perhaps upon some 
 other individual of the tribe ; according to the custom 
 of these Bedouins, who have established among them- 
 selves the law of ' striking sideways.' " How far su- 
 perior to this was the Mosaic institution of cities of 
 refuge ! *R. 
 
 REGENERATION is used in two senses by the 
 sacred authors of the New Testament : (1.) for that 
 spiritual birth received from grace ; (2.) for that new 
 life we expect at the resurrection. Properly speak- 
 ing, there are only two places where the term regen- 
 eration (.Ta;.(/)'fifO('u) occurs; Matt. xix. 28. and Titus 
 iii. 5 : the first refers to a change of state, the second 
 to a change of profession. It will be of advantage, 
 therefore, to notice the import of this term in other 
 writei-s. It is compounded of na/.n, again, and 
 yivioic, generation, or origin. It is used by Greek 
 writers to express the state of the earth in the spring, 
 when the face and appearance of nature is renovated, 
 and the crops and vegetables, coi-n, &c. are regener- 
 ated in the successors of those of tlie last year. Trees, 
 however, are not regenerated ; but their leaves and 
 fruits are ; nature having formed tlie buds and germs 
 previous to the winter, which, after the winter, put 
 themselves forth, open, and spread themselves. 
 Cicero, writing to Atticus, expresses the state and 
 dignity to wliich he was re-appointed after his return 
 from exile, by the term regeneration. Josephus, 
 speaking of tlie Jews who were made acquainted by 
 Zorobabel with the edict of Darius, permitting their 
 return to Jerusalem, says, — " They gave thanks to 
 God — and for seven days they continued feasting, and 
 kept a festival for the rebuilding and restoration, 
 regeneration, of their country." It i§ this last passage, 
 principally, that induces Schleusner to interpret 
 Matt. xix. 28, of a renovation of the minds and charac- 
 ters of the Jews and Gentiles by means of the gospel. 
 The Syriac translates, in the new age. This is per- 
 fectly agreeable to the phrases, the age to come, the 
 world to come, the Father of the future age, the age of 
 the Messiah, &c. which were familiar and customary 
 
 among the Jews, previous to and at the time of 
 Chi-ist. In this acceptation, the term regeneration 
 must be construed with the preceding words ; and it 
 is consistent with 2 Pet. iii. 13 ; 2 Cor. v. 17. But 
 others incline to construe these words with the fol- 
 lo\ving part of the sentence, and so refer them to the 
 grand renovation of all things, at Christ's second com- 
 ing ; (comp. Acts iii. 21.) and particularly to God's 
 children being born again, as it were, from their 
 gi"aves : that is, resurrection is regeneration. (Comp. 
 Acts xiii. 33.) Either way the passage is metaphori- 
 cal ; but, as it was intended to be understood by the 
 hearers, it seems most proper to explain it in that 
 sense which was most likely to strike those hearers 
 as consonant with phrases then current. This seems 
 to establish the verbal meaning in coincidence with 
 Schleusner. A more exalted meaning might be 
 couched under the term, and might even be present 
 to the mind of the speaker ; but the hearers would 
 be most likely to understand its import according to 
 its application by their native historian Josephus. 
 
 The second place in which the word occin-s (Titus 
 iii. 5.) alludes, beyond all question, to the rite of bap- 
 tism. Our translators have taken the term connected 
 with it, for the fluid with which that rite is adminis- 
 tered ; or the action by which it is performed ; but 
 the general course of the Greek language rather leads 
 to the vessel containing the fluid. But in whatever 
 sense that term might be taken, it is clear that regen- 
 eration, in this place, means a professional or ritual 
 changeof life, of personal habits, of objects, purposes 
 and endeavors. It is the external profession of those 
 intentions of which the renewii^g of the Holy Spirit, 
 mentioned in connection with it, is the prime mover 
 and promoter; the outward and visible sign, of which 
 the actuating principle is the inward and spiritual 
 grace. The fathers have uniformly employed the 
 term regeneration to signify baptism ; and this is so 
 evident, that Phavorinus says expressly, referring to 
 this place, the holy rite of baptism is called regeneration. 
 It is so used by Justin Martyr, and other early Chris- 
 tians. Baptism was always thought to denote a res- 
 urrection, a transplantation, a change of manners, of 
 society, of interests and of cares, as those who are 
 "risen with Christ," who are "alive from the dead," 
 with whom "old things are passed awaj^, and aU things 
 are become new," &c. 
 
 Very different is the term used, (John iii. 4, 5, &c.) 
 it is there ysri'ti-Sij uwydsr, born again, or, as some 
 prefer, born from above. But this latter acceptation 
 seems inconsistent with the following conversation, 
 and the objections raised by Nicodemus, " How can 
 a man [yfiry^^r.tai) be born again when he is old? 
 Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, 
 and be born ? " " He must," says Jesus, " be 
 born of water and Spirit." Ritually, i)rofcssionally, 
 or externally, of water ; internally, or actuatingly, of 
 the Spirit ; that is, renewed in the spirit, disposition 
 or habit of his mind ; in this sense he is "a child of 
 God ; " " born of God ; " God is his flither, &c. 
 
 Though these terms are currently used promiscu- 
 ously and indiscriminately, yet this appears to be an 
 incorrectness; which probably would appear inore 
 striking, if proper care were taken to distinguish ac- 
 curately between the terrestrial and the celestial king- 
 dom of God; the professional or temporal kingdom 
 of grace, and the ultimate or eternal kingdom of 
 glory, iScc. 
 
 The term used by Peter, (1 Epist. i. 3.) who thanks 
 God for his abundant mercy by which he regenerates 
 us, [utayiyyilaac) in a lively or life-giving hope, by
 
 REH 
 
 [ 782 ] 
 
 REM 
 
 the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, seems 
 to come very near to the import of TraXiyY^y^oia. It 
 seems to imply, that mankind, the Jews especially, 
 had once possessed the hope of a glorious immortality, 
 but had lost it ; this is revived, re-animated, re-begot- 
 ten in us, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ ; nor 
 should it be forgot, tliat whoever was baptized, pro- 
 fessed conversion to, and commemoration of, a risen 
 Saviour. A man totally dead could be no Saviour ; 
 the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting, 
 were, in that case, no better than cunningly devised 
 fables, and the " hope of worms," as the Christians 
 were reproached by their adversaries. 
 
 REHABIAH, eldest son of Eliezer, and grandson 
 of Moses, 1 Chron. xxiii. 17 ; xxvi. 25. He and his 
 brethren were Levites, and treasurers of the temple. 
 
 I. REHOB, father of Hadadezer, king of Syria, of 
 Zobah, 2 Sam. viii. 3. 
 
 II. REHOB, also Beth-Rehob, a city or district 
 of Asher, (Josh. xix. 28.) given to the Levites of the 
 family of Gershom, 1 Chron. vi. 75 ; Josh. xxi. 31. 
 It was m Syria, on the road to Hamath, (Numb. xiii. 
 21 ; 2 Sam. x. 6, 8.) and, probably, between Libanus 
 and Anti-libanus, or at the foot of Anti-libanus. The 
 city of Laish, or Dan was situate in the canton of 
 Rehob, or, as the Hebrews call it, Rechob, Judg. 
 xviii. 28. 
 
 REHOBOAM, the son and successor of Solomon, 
 by Naamah, an Ammonitess, 1 Kings xii. xiv. 20, 21 ; 
 1 Chron. xi. xii. He was forty-one years old when 
 he began to reign ; and was therefore born in the 
 first year of his father's reign. He ascended the 
 throne A. M. 3029, and reigned seventeen years at 
 Jerusalem. He died A. M. 3046. 
 
 The indiscretion of this prince caused ten of the 
 tribes to revolt, and thus occasioned the founding of 
 the kingdom of Israel. (See Jeroboam.) Rehoboam, 
 finding the reunion of the tribes hopeless, applied 
 himself to the strengthening his kingdom against 
 Jeroboam. He fortified and stored several cities ; as 
 Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Shoco, Adul- 
 1am, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Aze- 
 kah, Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron. The number of 
 his subjects was considerably increased by the priests 
 and Levites, from the cities and territories of Jerobo- 
 am, who, seeing that this new king abolished the estab- 
 lished worship of the Lord, and made priests for his 
 golden calves, withdrew into the land of Judah and 
 Benjamin, that they might attend in the temple at 
 Jerusalem. Rehoboam and his people, however, did 
 not continue faithful to the Lord above three years. 
 They did evil, and provoked him by their wickedness, 
 more than their fathers had done ; committing all 
 the wickedness and abominations of the Canaanites, 
 whom the Lord had driven out. 
 
 Rehoboam married 18 wives, and had 60 concu- 
 bines ; Iiy whom he had 28 sons, and 60 daughters. 
 In the fifth year of his reign, God sent against Judah 
 Shishak, (or Sesac,) king of Egypt, who cairied oflT 
 all the treasure of the house of the Lord, the king's 
 treasures, and the golden bucklers made by Solomon, 
 laying waste also the whole country, 2 Chron. xii ; 
 1 Kings xiv. 25. The ])rophet Shemaiah went to 
 attend Rehoboam, and the princes of Judah who 
 were with him in Jerusalem, and said to them from 
 the Lord, " You have forsaken me, and I, in my tiun, 
 have forsaken you, and delivered you into the hands 
 of Shishak." The princes being convinced of the 
 justice of these reproaches, humbled themselves; 
 and God promised to Shemaiah, that he would not 
 utterly abandon them, but only make them sensible 
 
 of the difference between serving the Lord, and be- 
 ing subject to a foreign power. 
 
 After the departure of Shishak, Rehoboam made 
 brazen bucklers, instead of those of gold, which the 
 king of Egypt had taken away ; and when he went 
 to the temple, his guards carried them before him. 
 The history of Rehoboam was written at length, by 
 the prophets Shemaiah and Iddo ; but their accounts 
 are not come to our hands ; nor any particulars of 
 those constant wars which were between him and 
 Jeroboam. Rehoboam was buried in the city of 
 David, and was succeeded by his son Abijah, who, 
 speaking of his father, says, he was an ignorant 
 prince, unskilled in the art of government, a weak 
 man, and without courage, 2 Chron. xiii. 7. Solo- 
 mon seems to have had this son, his successor, be- 
 fore his eyes, when he said, (Eccl. ii. 18, 19.) " Yea, 
 I hated all my labor which I had taken under the 
 sun, because I should leave it unto the man that 
 should be after me ; and who knoweth whether he 
 shall be a wise man or a fool ? Yet shall he have rule 
 over all my labor wherein I have labored, and 
 wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. 
 This is also vanity." 
 
 REHOBOTH, one of the cities of Assyria, Gen. 
 X. 11. 
 
 REHUM, a chief officer of the king of Persia at 
 Samaria. His title of dignity in Hebrew is Beil 
 Team, Lord of the decree, probably chancellor, or chief 
 secretary, &c. He was the chief officer of the king 
 of Persia, who commanded in Samaria and Palestine. 
 He wrote to Artaxerxes, (Smerdis,) the successor of 
 Cambyses, to oppose the re-building of the temple 
 of Jerusalem, Ezra iv. 9. 
 
 REINS, or KiDNETS. The Hebrews often make 
 the reins the seat of the aflfections, and ascribe to 
 them knowledge, joy, pain, pleasure ; hence in Scrip- 
 ture it is so often said, that God searches the heart 
 and the reins. Elsewhere, the Scripture unputes to ^ 
 the reins, love and the fountain of generation, 1 
 Kings viii. 19. God upbraids the Jews with having 
 him enough in their mouths, but not in their reins 
 and hearts, Jer. xii. 2. In trouble and in fear the 
 reins are disturbed and tremble. They faint away, 
 (Nah. ii. 10.) and are relaxed, Dan. v. 6 ; Ezek. xxix. 7. 
 The psalmist says, that his reins have encouraged and 
 excited him to praise the Lord, (Ps. xvi. 7.) and Jer- 
 emiah, (Lam. iii. 13.) that the Lord had sent the 
 daughters of his quiver into his reins; that is, he has 
 pierced me with his arrows ; he hath exhausted his 
 whole quiver upon me : the daughters of the quiver 
 is a poetical expression for arrows. Metaphorically 
 it is said, (Dent, xxxii. 14.) the fat of the reins of 
 wheat, to signify the finest flour : Vulgate, marrow 
 of wheat. 
 
 REKEM, a king of the Midianitcs in Arabia, who 
 gave his name to the city afterwards called by the 
 Greeks Petra. He was slain by Phinehas, for the 
 abomination of Baal-peor, Numl). xxxi. 8. 
 
 RELIGION is taken in three senses in Scripture: 
 (1.) For the external and ceremonial worshij) of the 
 Jewish religion, Exod. xii. 43. (2.) For the true re- 
 ligion ; the best manner of serving and honoring God, 
 Jam. i. 27. (3.) For superstition, which see. 
 
 REMALIAH, father of Pekah, king of Israel, 2 
 Kings XV. 25. 
 
 REMEMBRANCE, or Memory. God requires 
 that we should keep his conimandments in remem- 
 brance. He tells Moses (Exod. xvii. 14.) that he 
 " will utterly put out the remembrance oi Amalek 
 from under heaven ;" that is, he will destroy him so
 
 R E M 
 
 [ 783 ] 
 
 RKj> 
 
 entirely, that no further mention shall be made of 
 him, as a people. He says,(Ps. xxxiv. 16.) that " the 
 face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut 
 off the remembrance of them from the earth." And 
 Ps. ix. 6. " Thou hast destroyed cities, their memo- 
 rial is perished with tliem." On the contrary, God 
 has promised to the righteous and just, that their 
 memory shall be blessed, and shall never perish. 
 
 RExMISSION is sometimes taken for the year of 
 jubilee, or the sabbatical year, in which the slaves 
 were set at liberty, and in which every one returned 
 into his own inheritance. (So in the Vulgate, Lev. 
 XXV. 10; Numb, xxxvi. 4; Deut. xv. 1.) It is also 
 used for pardon of sin. The gospel says, that "John 
 did baptize in tlie wilderness, and preach the bap- 
 tism of repentance, for the remission of sins, Mark 
 i. 4 ; Luke iii. 3. And that the blood of Jesus Christ 
 was shed, to procure remission of our sins, Eph. i. 7 ; 
 Col. i. 14 ; Matt. xxvi. 28. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable, says Mr. Taylor, that 
 the term pardon of sin, does not occur in the New 
 Testament ; but we read of re)nission avK] forgiveness. 
 Certainly these words, with the ideas they represent, 
 are allied ; yet there seems to be some distinction 
 preserved between them. When the observation is 
 made, " Tliis man who takes upon him to forgive sins, 
 blasphemeth: who can forgive sins but God?" it 
 should seem as if our Lord had said, "Thy sins are 
 remitted ;" but that term would not have justified the 
 inference made. When John preached the baptism 
 of repentance for the remission of sins, and when 
 our Lord gave power to his apostles, "Whose soever 
 sins ye remit, they are remitted ;" we cannot sup- 
 pose that either of these parties invaded an ac- 
 knowledged prerogative of God. If the remission 
 of sins by the apostles was declaratory, if John the 
 Baptist was the prophet of the Highest, to give the 
 knowledge of salvation to his people, by the remis- 
 sion of their sins; if, in consequence of the confession 
 of sins made previous to baptism by John, that projihet 
 remitted sins by baptism, that is, declared them to 
 be remitted ; if Peter advised the Jews to be baptized 
 in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; 
 then we must admit that the exercise of this jiower 
 by men, was by no means identical with the for- 
 giveness of sins, which appertains to God only. 
 Under the law there was no remission of sins with- 
 out shedding of blood ; that is, until the proper sac- 
 rifices were offered, tiie priest could not pronounce 
 the transgi'essor free from the consequences of his 
 transgressions : under the gospel no blood was shed 
 by John, or by the apostles ; but the blood of Jesus 
 Christ was shed for many, for the remission of sins ; 
 and remission of sins was preached in his name. 
 
 The term li<ffni:, rendered remission, signifies to 
 announce liberty to the captive, (Luke iv. 18.) to re- 
 lease the obligation of a debt, as in the sabbatical 
 year, Deut. xv. 3. The term ctip'n.ut, rendered ybrg-ire, 
 is, with the greatest propriety, addressed to God ; 
 "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" — 
 " Father, forgive them, for they know noi what they 
 do:" and the power of forgivmg, "Son, be of good 
 ■cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee, assumed by our Lord, 
 was greatly superior to that of announcing remission, 
 conf^n-ed on the apostles ; and could be becoming 
 only in a personage infinitely above them in dignity 
 and power. 
 
 REMPHAN. Amos (v. 26.) upbraids the Hebrews 
 with having carried, during their wanderings in the 
 wilderness, " the tabernacle of their Moloch, the im- 
 age of their idol, and the star of their god." Stephen, 
 
 (Acts vii. 43.) quoting this passage, says, " Ye took up 
 the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god 
 Remphan." See Chiun, and Moloch. 
 
 REPENTANCE is generally taken for that con- 
 trition, compunction, regret, or sonow which rises in 
 us, after having done something contrary to our 
 duty ; joined to a sincere resolution of avoiding the 
 like m future. It is also taken for the works of peni- 
 tence ; fasting, weeping, alms, and works of satisfac- 
 tion ; that is, retribution. There is a false repentance, 
 as that of Antiochus Epiphanes, of Judas Iscariot, of 
 Pharaoh, of Saul, of Ahab. Judas wanted confi- 
 dence in the mercy of God, and therefore fell into 
 despair. Antiochus had no sincere contrition. Pha- 
 raoh and Saul were teirified, but not moved by a true 
 repentance ; they conthiued hardened, and changed 
 neither their minds nor their manners. Ahab was 
 indeed touched, but he wanted perseverance in rec- 
 titude. 
 
 Samuel says to Saul, (1 Sam. xv. 29.) " The strength 
 of Israel will not lie, nor repent, for he is not a man, 
 that he should repent." That is, he will not change 
 his resolution, as men make resolutions, and then re- 
 pent of them, and perform them not. He has passed 
 his sentence against you, and will not annul it. Paul 
 says, in the same sense, the gifts and calling of God 
 are without repentance. That is, God does not re- 
 voke his favors; he never forsakes us first; never 
 changes his mind. 
 
 The Book of Wisdom (v. 3.) represents the wicked 
 in another life, as repenting and bewailing ; seized 
 with compunction and despair, at seeing good men in 
 honor, while they themselves are in trouble. We 
 know that in another life, repentance and remorse 
 are useless. See the parable of the rich man and 
 Lazarus, Luke xvi. 24. 
 
 The sacred wTiters often represent God as a king, 
 moved w'ith regret or repentance, or relenting for 
 having suffered, or having resolved on certain things. 
 So Moses says, (Gen. vi. 6, 7.) God repented that he 
 had made man, seeing the wickedness of his actions 
 had proceeded to such extremity. So (1 Sam. xv. 
 11.) he repented of having made Saul king; not as if 
 he had conceived any regret at what he had done, or 
 that he repents of having taken a false step, as a man 
 does when he perceives he has committed an eiTor. 
 God is not capable of repentance in this sense. But 
 sometimes he changes his conduct towards those who 
 are unfaithful to him, and, after having treated them 
 with disregarded mercy, he corrects them with de- 
 served severity. 
 
 God is said to repent of evil he was about to inflict, 
 when, moved with compassion toward the miserable, 
 or entreated by their prayers, or affected by their re- 
 pentance, he remits the punishment of their sins, and 
 does not execute his threatenings against them. 
 Thus it is said, (Ps. cvi.) 45, that he repented accord- 
 ing to the multitude of his mercies, and that he 
 caused his people to find favor in the eyes of those 
 to whom he had given them up into bondage. And 
 in Jeremiah xviii. 8, the Lord declares, that if his 
 people repent of their evil doings, he Avill also repent 
 of the evil which he designed to inflict on them; 
 that is, he would treat them favorably ; but, on the 
 contrary, if his people would not obey his com- 
 mands, he would repent of the good he intended 
 them. 
 
 These expressions are used after the manner of 
 men, and in accommodation to human language, be- 
 cause in no other way can we conceive of the actions 
 of Deitv. When human passions are ascribed to
 
 REP 
 
 [ 784 
 
 RES 
 
 God, there is no intention of representing him as af- 
 fected by such weaknesses ; but those ascriptions are 
 intelligible to us, and are understood as metaphors, 
 and figures of speech ; always remembering that 
 thi-eatenings are conditional, and may be either re- 
 voked or abated. Not so promises, unless expressed ; 
 they may be depended upon for full realization. 
 
 The baptism of repentance is that wiiich John 
 the Baptist preached to the Jews, when he baptized 
 them m Jordan, and exhorted them to " bring forth 
 fruits worthy of repentance," Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark i. 4 ; 
 Luke iii. 3. 
 
 REPHAIM, ancient giants of Canaan, of whom 
 there were several families. It is commonly sup- 
 posed they descended from an ancestor called Re- 
 phah, or Rapha ; but others miagine that the Avord 
 properly signified giants, in the ancient language of 
 this people. There were Rephaim beyond Jordan, 
 at Ashtaroth Karuaim,in the time of Abraham, Gen. 
 xiv. 5. Also some in the time of Moses. Og, khag 
 of Bashan, was of the Rephaim. In the time of 
 Joshua, some of then* descendants dwelt in the land 
 of Canaan, (Josh. xii. 4 ; xvii. 15.) and we hear of 
 them in David's time, in the city of Gath, 1 Chron. 
 XX. 4 — 6. The giants Goliath, Sippai, Lahmi and 
 others, were remains of the Rephaim. Their magni- 
 tude and strength are well known in Scripture. 
 
 The valley of the Rephaim, or giants, was fa- 
 mous in Joshua's time, and also in David's, Josh. xv. 
 8 ; xviii. 16 ; 2 Sam. v. 18, 22 ; 1 Chron. xi. 15 ; xiv. 
 9. It is placed as one limit of the portion of Judah. 
 It was near Jerusalem, and it may be doubted wheth- 
 er it belonged to Judah or to Benjamin, because of 
 the contiguity of these two tribes. Eusebius places 
 it in Benjamin ; but Josh. xviu. 16, and those pas- 
 sages of the books of Samuel where it is mentioned, 
 hint that it belonged to Judah, and was south or 
 west of Jerusalem, towards Bethlehem and the 
 Philistines. 
 
 REPHIDIM, a station or encampment of Israel in 
 the desert, Exod. xvii. 1. Here the people wanting 
 water, began to murmur against Moses, saying, 
 " Why have you brought us out of Egj^pt, to kill us 
 with thirst in this desert?" 3Ioses then cried to the 
 Lord, who said, " Take the people to the rock of 
 Horeb, with the elders : I shall be there on the rock 
 before you ; you shall strike it with your rod, and 
 water shall gush out, that the people may drink." 
 This ]Moses did, and the place was called Tempta- 
 tion, because of the complaints of Israel, who there 
 tempted the Lord, saving. Is the Lord among us or 
 not ? 
 
 Rephidim could not be far from Horeb, because 
 God ordered Moses to go from thence to the rock of 
 Horeb, to give the people water. And this same 
 water seems to have served the Israelites, not only in 
 the encampment of Rephidim, and in that of mount 
 Sinai, but also in other encampments. Paul says, 
 (1 Cor. X. 4.) that this rock followed them in their 
 journey ; and that it was a figure, or type of Christ. 
 "For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed 
 them, and that rock was Christ." This miracle at 
 Rephidim hajjpoied A. M. 2513, in the second 
 month after the tleparture from Egypt. And here 
 Joshua obtained a famous victory over the Amalek- 
 ites, while Moses lifted up his hands toward heaven 
 Exod. xvii. 8 — 10. See Exodus, p. 400. 
 
 REPROACH is used in two senses; (1.) for the 
 disgrace or confusion that any one suffers in himself; 
 (2.) for that which he causes in another. Amono- 
 the Hebrews, to be uncircumcised was Pt reproach : 
 
 and when Joshua circumcised those born in the 
 wilderness, he tells them, " I have rolled away the 
 reproach of Egypt from off you," Josh. v. 9. Bar- 
 renness was a reproach ; and hence Rachel, on the 
 birth of a second son, says, " The Lord has taken 
 away my reproach," Gen. xxx. 23. Isaiah says, (iv. 
 1.) that the time shall come when men shall be so 
 scarce in Israel, that seven women shall lay hold of 
 one man, and shall say to him, " We ask you noth- 
 ing for our maintenance, only deliver us fi-om the 
 reproach of sterility and a single life : take us as 
 wives," &c. The Lord struck the Philistines with a 
 shameful malady in ano, and thereby loaded them 
 with reproach, Ps. Ixxyiii. 66. 
 
 Servitude, slavery, poverty, subjection to enemies, 
 extraordinary diseases, as the leprosy, &.c. were reck- 
 oned reproaches, because they were supposed to be 
 the effect of cowardice, or idleness, or bad manage- 
 ment ; or to be inflictions sent from God, to punish 
 injustice and impiety. The Lord, in many places, 
 threatens his people to make them a reproach and a 
 proverb, which has been fulfilled in numerous in- 
 stances, by the servitudes with which the Jews have 
 been overwhelmed, and by the misfortunes which 
 have happened to them. The psalmist often com- 
 plains, that God had made him a reproach to 
 those about him ; who insulted over his misfortunes 
 and disgrace. 
 
 " Not to take up a reproach against our neighbor," 
 (Ps. XV. 3.) is not to listen to slanders and calumnies 
 brought against him. David took away the reproach 
 from Israel, by slaying Goliath, 1 Sam. xvii. 26 ; 
 Ecclus. xlvii. 4. Jeremiah says, " I was ashamed, 
 yea, even confounded, because I did bear the re- 
 proach of my youth," chap, xxxi. 19. "Thou hast 
 brought the shame of my youthful faults upon me ; 
 thou hast showed me the horror of them, and hast 
 made me bear the pain and confusion arising from 
 them." And Isaiah, (liv. 4.) " Thou shalt forget the 
 shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the re- 
 proach of thy widowhood any more." He speaks 
 to the tribe of Judah, after the return from the cap- 
 tivity. Thou shalt no longer remember the reproach 
 thou hast suffered among foreign nations. 
 
 REPROBATION is equivalent to rejection, which 
 always implies a cause — " Reprobate silver shall 
 men call them ;" (Jer. vi. 30.) that is, they are baso 
 metal, counterfeit coin. Where all are equally un- 
 worthy, if 5ome be preferred to lienor, the rest ma^f 
 be said, in a sense, to be reprobated, that is, left 
 where they were ; their condition is not worse, but 
 it is not improved; nevertheless, those only can be 
 said to be rejected, who liave been offered, either by 
 themselves, or by other*; ; God never rejects any who 
 offer themselves, but those who, by continuing in 
 sin, reject the offej-ed mercy of God, reprobate them- 
 selves ; they say unto God, " Depart from us, for we 
 desire not the knowledge of thy ways." 
 
 REPTILES, animals that have no feet, or such 
 short ones, that they seem to creep, or crawl, on the 
 ground. Serpents, worms, locusts and catei-pillars 
 arc taken for reptiles. The Hebrews piU fishes also 
 among reptiles, (they having no feet,) whatever be 
 their nature, or shajie. Gen. i. 21 ; Lev. xi. 46 ; Ps. 
 Ixix. 34, «fcc. This name is sometimes also extended 
 to such land animals, as are not of the same nature 
 with the great beasts for sei-vice, nor of the larger 
 wild beasts. In a word, "to creep upon the earth" 
 is sometimes used for moving, or going to and fro, as 
 all four-footed creatures do. * 
 
 RESEN, a city of Assyria, between Nineveh and
 
 RES 
 
 [785] 
 
 RES 
 
 Calah, (Geu. x. 12.) on the river Chaboras iu Meso- 
 potamia. 
 
 RESEPH, a city taken by the king of Assyria, 
 2 Kings xix. 12 ; Isa. xxxvii. 12. 
 
 RE;;PECT of perso.ns. God appointed that the 
 judo-es should pronounce sentence without respect of 
 persons, Lev. xLv. 15 ; Deut. xvi. 17, 19. Tiiat they 
 should consider neitlier the poor nor the rich, the 
 weak nor tlie powerful ; but should attend only to 
 truth and justice. God has no respect of persons. 
 And the Jews complimented our Saviour, that he 
 told the truth, without respect of persons, without 
 fear, 3Iatt. xxii. lu. (See Isa. xxxii. 1 — 16.) Jude, 
 (ver. 16.) instead of the phrase, "to have respect of 
 persons," has " to admire persons." 
 
 Our English term respect seems to imply some 
 kind of deference or submission to a party : but this 
 is not always the proper meaning to be annexed to it 
 in Scripture. When we read, (Exod. ii. 2.5.) " God 
 had respect to the children of Israel," it can only ex- 
 press his compassion and sympathy for them : when 
 God had respect to the offering of Abel, (Gen. iv. 4.) 
 it imports to accept favorably, to notice with satisfac- 
 tion. (Comj). 1 Kings viii. 28 ; Numb. xvi. 15.) 
 
 REST, or Repose, was enjoined upon the Israelites 
 on tlie sabbath-day, for the glory of God ; in that he 
 rested after the six days of creation. See Sabbath. 
 
 Rest also signifies a fixed and secure habitation. 
 You shall go before j'^our brethren, " until the Lord 
 shall give rest to your brethren, as well as to you, in 
 the land which they are going to make a conquest 
 of," Deut. iii. 20. And Deut. xii. 9, " For ye are not 
 as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which 
 the Lord your God giveth you." You are not as yet 
 settled in that land which j'ou are to possess. Naomi 
 says to Ruth, " JMy daughter, shall I not seek rest for 
 thee, that it may be well with thee ? " (Ruth iii. 1.) i. e. 
 I shall endeavor to procure you a settlement. David, 
 speaking of the ark of the covenant, which till his 
 time had no fixed place of settlement, says, " Arise, O 
 Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength," 
 Ps. cxxxii. 8. And Ecclus. xxxvi. 1.5, " O be mer- 
 ciful unto Jerusalem, thy holy city, the place of thy 
 rest." 
 
 In a moral and spiritual sense, rest denotes the 
 fixed and permanent state of repose enjoyed by the 
 blessed in heaven ; and to this Paul makes an appli- 
 cation of what is said of the settlement of the Is- 
 raelites in tiio Land of Promise ; " I ssvare to them 
 in my wrath, that they should not enter into my 
 rest," that is, into the land of Canaan, Ps. xcv. 11. 
 Therefore, says Paul, (Ileb. iii. 17—19; iv. 1—3.) as 
 they could not enter therein by reason of their unbe- 
 lief, let us be afraid of imitating their example : for 
 we cannot enter but bv faith," «fec. 
 
 RESTITUTION. ' Natural justice requires that 
 we should repair whatever injuries we have done to 
 our neighbor, whether in his person, property, or 
 reputation. The law of Moses prescribed, (Exod. 
 xxi. 23 — 25; Lev. xxiv. 20 ; Deut. xix. 21.) "life for 
 life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for liand, foot 
 for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, 
 stripe for stripe." Also, that they should render five 
 oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep ; 
 (Exod. xxii.) or that the thief should be sold, to make 
 restitution for his theft : that if he had taken away 
 any beast of service, as an ox, an ass, or even a 
 sheep, he should restore it two-fold ; that whoever 
 should damage the field of another, should rejiair the 
 damage, according to an estimate. He who, by ig- 
 norance, should omit to give to the temple what was 
 99 
 
 appouited by the law, for example, in the tithes or 
 first-fruits, was obliged to restore it to the priests, 
 and to add a fifth part beside ; over and above , 
 which, he was bound to ofler a ram, for his expia- 
 tion. Nehemiah prevailed with all those Israelites 
 to make restitution, who had taken interest of their 
 brethren, (Neh. v. 10, 11.) and Zacclicus (Luke xix. 8.) 
 promises a four-fold restitution to all from whom he 
 had extorted, in his oflice as a publican. The Ro- 
 man laws condemned to a four-fold restitution all 
 who were convicted of extortion or fraud. Zaccheus 
 here imposes that penalty on himself, to which he 
 adds the half of his goods ; which was what the law 
 did not require. 
 
 He who had killed a beast, as an ox, was to render 
 another for it, or the value of it, Lev. xxiv. 18, 21. 
 
 The Jews expected Elias in the day of the Messi- 
 ah, who was to restore all things. Matt. xvii. 11 ; Mai. 
 iv. 5, 6. And Peter (Acts iii. 21.) calls the last day 
 the day of restitution of all things. At the end of the 
 world Christ will unite the church with the syna- 
 gogue, the Jew Avith the Christian, tlie Christian 
 with the Gentile : then all things will be restored to 
 a perfect union, and there will be but one shepherd 
 and one flock. 
 
 RESURRECTION, revival from the dead. The 
 belief of a resurrection is an article of religion com- 
 mon to Jew and Christian ; and is expressly taught 
 in both Testaments. We speak not here of that mi- 
 racidous resurrection, which consists in reviving for a 
 time, to die again afterwards ; as Elijah, Elisha, 
 Christ, and his apostles, raised some from the dead ; 
 but of a general resurrection of the dead, which will 
 take i)lacc attho end of the world, and which will be 
 followed by an immortality either of happiness or of 
 misery. So the psalmist says, (xvi. 10.) " For thou 
 wilt not leave my soul in hell, [the grave,] neither 
 wilt thou suffer "thine holy one to see corruption." 
 Job xix. 25—27, " For I know that my Redeemer 
 liveth, and that he shall stand in the latter day upon 
 the earth. And though after my skin, worms destroy 
 this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God : whom I 
 shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and 
 not another : though my reins be consumed within 
 me." Ezekiel, also, in his vision of a gi-eat quantity 
 of bones in a large field, which, at tlie breath of the 
 Spirit of the Lord, began to unite, to be covered with 
 flesh, nerves and skin, and at last to revive, has left 
 us a proof and an assurance of a general resurrec- 
 tion, Ezek. xxxvii. (See also Isa. xxvi. 19.) The 
 Book of Wisdom (chap. iii. iv. 15.) speaks of it in a 
 veiy lively manner ; and in the INIaccabecs, we see 
 the'saine truth maintained still more expresslv, 2 Mac. 
 vii. 9, 14, 23, 29 ; Heb. xi. 35. 
 
 Wlien our Saviour appeared in Judea, the resur- 
 rection from the dead was received as a principal 
 article of religion by the whole Jewish nation, except 
 the Sadducees, whos? error our Saviour has effectu- 
 ally confuted. lie has jiromised his faithful servants 
 a complete state of ha]>piness after the general resur- 
 rection ; and he arose himself from the dead, to give, 
 among other things, a jiroof in his oV(n person, a 
 pledge, a pattern of the future resurrection. Paul, in 
 almost all his Ejiistles, speaks of a general resurrec- 
 tion ; refutes those who denied or opposed it ; proves 
 it to those who had difficulties about it ; in some de- 
 gree explains the mystery, the manner, and several 
 circumstances of it;"says", that to doiy it, is the same 
 as to deny our Saviour's resurrection ; and that, if 
 we were not to rise again from the dead, we should 
 be of all men the most miserable, 1 Cor. xv.
 
 RESURRECTION 
 
 [ 786 
 
 REIT 
 
 Some of the aucient fathers acknowledged a two- 
 fold resun-ection : (1.) that which is to precede the 
 Messiah's reign of a thousand years upon earth ; (2.) 
 that which is to follow the reign of a thousand years, 
 and to begin the reign of the saints in a state of ever- 
 lasting happiness. This sentiment they borrowed 
 from the Jews ; it is found clearly enough in the 
 second book of Esdras, iv. 35 ; vi. 18, &c. in the 
 Testament of the twelve patriarchs, and in several of 
 the rabbins. 
 
 It is inquired, what will be the nature of bodies 
 when raised, what their stature, their age, their sex ? 
 Christ tells us, (Matt. xxii. 30.) that affer the resur- 
 rection men shall be as the angels of God ; that is, 
 according to the fathers, they shall be immortal, in- 
 corruptible, and in some sort spiritual ; yet without 
 losing the qualities of bodies, as we find our Saviour's 
 body, after his resurrection, was tangible, and had 
 flesh on his bones, Luke xxiv. 39. 
 
 The schoolmen have discussed the doctrine of the 
 resurrection with great subtilty and minuteness; but 
 there are several questions connected with it, as it 
 appears in Scripture, which comprise much greater 
 importance than those so assiduously treated by 
 them. That some notion of a resurrection was in 
 circulation among the Jews, appears from the per- 
 plexity of Herod the tetrarch. Matt. xiv. When he 
 heard of the fame of Jesus, he said, " This is John 
 the Baptist ; he is risen from the dead, and therefore 
 mighty works do show forth themselves in him." 
 How could he conceive of a resurrection of John, 
 when he knew that he had been decollated, that his 
 head was in the keej^ing of Herodias, and that his 
 body had been buried by his disciples? verse 12. It 
 could not be a corporeal resurrection ; the body with- 
 out tjie head was undoubtedly imperfect, and inca- 
 pable of life. And if Herod supposed (as some say) 
 that the soiU of John animated the body of Jesus, 
 how v,-as that a resurrection ; and what could be his 
 reasons for imagining that, in such a case, " mighty 
 works" would be wrought by a soul returned to 
 earth from the abode, or the state, of separate spirits ? 
 
 Very confused, undoiditedly, were the notions of 
 the best instructed of the disciples of Jesus on this 
 subject. When PeKn-, James and John, as they 
 came down from the mount of Transfiguration, were 
 charged to preserve secrecy as to what they had wit- 
 nessed, " till the Son of man should bo risen from 
 the dead," tliey cross-examined each otlier as to the 
 import of this phrase. They could not think them- 
 selves enjoined to silence till the general resurrection ; 
 undoubtedly they should all be dead long enough 
 befci-3 that : and as to the particular resurrection of 
 the Son of man, they were completely at a loss, since 
 they, in common witli other Jews, had heard out of 
 the law, that the Messiah abideth for ever. This 
 was explained to John (first, apparently) and to Pe- 
 ter, (John XX. 8.) and this " questioning among them- 
 selves," might be no bad preparative lor that convic- 
 tion. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, 
 (Luke xvi.) the passage of a separate spirit from a 
 state of felicity to tliis world, is plainly supposed to 
 be possible ; and the phrase "rising from the dead," 
 is used in a manner to show that it was common and 
 current at that time among that people. 
 
 The doctrine of a general resurrection as an article 
 of faith, is expressly acknowledged by Martha, at the 
 grave of Lazarus, (John xi. 24.) and" it is clear, that 
 no individual can receive according to the deeds 
 done in the body, unless the l)ody be party to ihe 
 sent' nee as well ns to the deeds. 
 
 But the conceptions of both Jews and Gentiles 
 were exceedingly gross and obscure on a doctrine so 
 contrary to universal experience. They inclined too 
 much to the notion of a corporeal resurrection, to a 
 renovated term of sensual enjoyment, to terrestrial 
 pleasures, a freedom from the evils of life, but a par- 
 ticipation in its joys and advantages ; a pi-olongation 
 of being, in its favorable sense, on earth ; but again 
 to close and terminate. Of a resurrection of the 
 body to eternal life, properly speaking, and in a state 
 of perfect holiness and glory, superior to the delights 
 of sense, they appear to have had no idea : hence the 
 Gentiles, especially, both ridiculed and hated the 
 doctrines held and enforced by the disciples of 
 Jesus. 
 
 It was the opinion of Chrysostom, that the philos- 
 ophers addressed by Paul at Athens, (Acts xvii. 18.^ 
 took Jesus and the resurrection, 'Ayaoraair, for a god 
 or deified man, and a goddess or deified principle. 
 Dr. Hammond adopts this idea, and is followed by 
 later writers. It is countenanced by their expression 
 — " he seems to be a setter forth of foreign demons," 
 that is, of departed spirits existing in a separate and 
 more exalted state, but exercising great power in this 
 lower world. 
 
 Undoubtedly, Paul was the best qualified of all 
 men to describe the glories of the resurrection-body 
 of Christ ; for, during his abode on earth, Christ sus- 
 pended, or suppressed, those glories ; and the ap- 
 pearances of Christ, seen by the writers of the Apoc- 
 alypse, being in vision, and that vision emblematical 
 and mysterious, they will not bear arguments so co- 
 gent as the manifestation in the way to Damascus. 
 Paul repeatedly asserts that " he had seen the Lord," 
 — that he had been commissioned by him ; he reports 
 a long communication that took place, (Actsxxvi. 13 
 — 18.) and he aflirms the excessive refulgence of the 
 splendor from the body of Jesus, its effects on his 
 companions, and more especially on himself, in whom 
 it produced blindness ; that is, perhaps, the cornea 
 of the eye was so greatly indurated, that its transpa- 
 rency was lost ; nor was the power of seeing restored 
 to the eye, till after the original cornea had peeled 
 oflf, in the form of scales. 
 
 It may well be supposed that preeminence in point 
 of splendor is conferred on the resurrection-body of 
 Christ ; nor should we press too closely the words of 
 John, " We shall be like him, when we shall see him 
 as he is." Nevertheless, we may modestly conjec- 
 ture, that a glory somewhat similar will be attached 
 even to the bodies of saints ; though it becomes us to 
 confess that our ignorance on all celestial subjects is 
 rendered the more sensible, by the very communica- 
 tions with which we have been favored by divine 
 revelation itself. We are more conscious of our 
 ignorance, incompetency and weakness, than the 
 uninstructed heathen, or the partially instructed He- 
 brews, could possibly be. We repose our confi- 
 dence on the infinite power of our 3Iaker, we receive 
 the doctrine simply as an article of divine revela- 
 tion ; and, notwithstanding the difllcultics of the 
 subject, and the ))ower of opposing appearances, 
 we rejoice in hope ofthcs;loni of God. 
 
 REU, or Ragau, (Luke iii. 35.) son of Peleg, Gen. 
 xi. 18, 19. His fatlicr was then thirty years old. He 
 begat Serug, being thirty-two years old, A. M. 1819, 
 and died at the age of two hundred and thirty-nine 
 yeai-s, A. M. 2026. It is not impossible, that the city 
 of Rages, and the plain of Ragau, might take their 
 names from Reu, or Ragau ; for these are the same 
 in the Hebrew. The difference depends on the pro-
 
 REV 
 
 [787 ] 
 
 REV 
 
 nlinciation of the letter y ain, or gnain, Gen. xi. 18 ; 
 1 Chron. i. 25. 
 
 REUBEN, {behold! a son;) so called in reference 
 to the sentiment of his mother, " The Lord hath 
 looked on my affliction ;" the eldest son of Jacob and 
 Leah ; born A. M. 2246, Gen. xxix. 32. Reuben, 
 having defiled bis father's concubine Bilhah, lost his 
 birth-right, and all the privileges of primogeniture. 
 Gen. XXXV. 22. When Joseph's brethren had taken 
 a resolution to destroy him, Reuben endeavored by 
 ail means to dehver him. He proposed to them, to 
 let him down into an old water-pit, which had then 
 no water; that afterwards lie might take liim up 
 again, and restore him to his father Jacob. His 
 brethren took the advice ; but while Reuben was at 
 some distance, they sold Joseph to a party of Ish- 
 maelites. Reuben going to tlie pit, and not finding 
 him there, tore his clothes, and bewailed his broth- 
 er's loss. 
 
 Jacob, wlien dying, warmly reproached Reuben 
 with his crime committed with Bilhah ; saying, 
 " Reuben, thou art my first-l)orn, my might, but un- 
 stable as water, thou slialt not excel, because tliou 
 vventest up to thy father's bed ; then defiledst thou 
 it." Moses, before his death, said of Reuben, (Deut. 
 xxxiii. 6.) " Let Reuben live and not die, yet let his 
 number be but small." His tribe was never very 
 numerous, nor very considerable in Israel. They 
 had their inheritance beyond Jordan, between the 
 brooks Anion south, and Jazer north, having the 
 mountains of Gilead east, and Jordan west. (See Ca- 
 naan.) The time of Reuben's death is unknown. 
 
 REUEL, son of Esau and Bashemath, daughter of 
 Ishmael, was father of Nabath,Zerah, Shammah and 
 Mizzah, Gen. xxxvi. 4, 17. 
 
 REUMAH, concubine to Nahor, the brother of 
 Abraham ; was mother of Tebah, Gaham, Thahash 
 and Maachah, Gen. xxii. 24. 
 
 REVELATION, an extraordinary and supernatu- 
 ral discovery made to the mind of man ; whether by 
 dream, vision, ecstacy, or otherwise. Paul, alluding 
 to his visions and revelations, (2 Cor. xii. 1, 7.) speaks 
 of them in the third person, out of modesty ; and de- 
 clares, that he could not tell whether he were in the 
 body or out of tlie body. Elsewhere he says, that 
 he had received his gospel by a particular revelation : 
 (Gal. i. 12.) again, that he did not go to Jerusalem 
 after his conversion by the mere motion of his own 
 mmd, but in consequence of a revelation, Gal. ii. 2. 
 
 " Revelation " is used to express the manifestation 
 of Jesus Christ to Jews and Gentiles; (Luke ii. 32.) 
 the manifestation of the glory with whicii God will 
 glorify his elect and faithful servants at the last 
 judgment ; (Rom. viii. 10.) and the declaration of his 
 just judgments, in his conduct both towards the elect, 
 and towards the reprobate, Rom. ii. 5 — 1(). There is a 
 verj' noble application of the word revelation to the 
 consummation of all things, or the revelation of Jesus 
 Christ in his future glory, 1 Cor. i. 7 ; 1 Pet. i. 13. 
 
 Revelation, book of, see Apocalypse. 
 
 REVENGE, the return of an injury, from a desire 
 of hurting the object. Hence it is generally said, tiiat 
 when Scripture says that God revenges himself, it 
 speaks after a popular manner : the meaning is, he 
 vindicates the injuries done to his justice and his 
 majesty, and tf) the order established by him in the 
 world ; yet without any emotion of displeasure. He 
 revenges the injuries done to his servants, because 
 he is just, and because order and justice must be pre- 
 served. It may, however, be remarked, that our lan- 
 guage maintains a distinction between the terms 
 
 revenge and avenge, although it is too often over- 
 looked. That God may avenge, that is, punish in 
 proportion to sins committed, is the indefeasible con- 
 sequence of his infinite justice, of his moral govern- 
 ment, holiness, &c. but to revenge seems rather the act 
 of a man when he inflicts an injury on another, com- 
 mensurate, in his estimation, to the injury he has re- 
 ceived from that other, and in this he is likely to be 
 guilty of excess. It is, therefore, not without pain 
 that we read of God's revenging, since a disposition 
 to revenge, or a spirit of revenge, is very improperly 
 imputed to Deity, and we cannot be too cautious on 
 this subject. To avenge a broken law, to avenge the 
 injuries sustained by tlie widow and fatherless, that 
 is, to punish those who oppress them in proportion 
 to demerit, is no more than justice, and may be ac- 
 complished in various ways; possibly, even without 
 inflicting evil on the culprit — but by bringing him to 
 a penitent ssnse of his misconduct, inducing him to 
 make restitution, to make amends, to compensate for 
 damages, and to resolve on better conduct for the 
 future, &c. In short, it should seem that determina- 
 tion to avenge, is a pure and simple wish to do justice 
 or to see justice done; while the desire to revenge 
 springs from pride, or self-love, and is a human in- 
 firmity actuated by passion, vehemently assuming 
 the character of retaliation, vexing, or injuring the 
 object of it. 
 
 In the Old Testament, God appears to have tole- 
 rated revenge in certain cases, to avoid greater evils : 
 " An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, &c. Exod. 
 xxi. 24. The relations of a man who had been killed 
 might take revenge on the murderer. Numb. xxxv. 
 16 — 18, &:c. (See Refuge.) However, God has suf- 
 ficiently declared, that vengeance belongs only to 
 him, Deut. xxxii. 35. He forbids malice and revenge 
 in express terms ; he will not allow us to keep any 
 resentment in our hearts against our brethren. Lev. 
 xix. 17, 18. And when God seems to have estab- 
 lished the lex talionis, he does not thereby allow of 
 revenge, but sets limits to it. He does not, as Au- 
 gustin remarks, intend to provoke to anger, but to 
 stop the progress and consequences of it. 
 
 " The day of vengeance " sometimes expresses the 
 day of judgment, in which God will take vengeance 
 on all his enemies ; sometimes the day of vengeance 
 stands for the punishment God exercises on his ene- 
 mies, when their iniquities have attained their full 
 measure, Exod. xxxii. 34 ; Isa. xxxiv. 8 ; Ixi. 2 ; Ixiii. 
 4 ; Luke xxi. 22. 
 
 REVENGER, or Revenger of Blood, is a name 
 given in Scripture to the man who had the right, ac- 
 cording to the Jewish jiolity, of taking revenge on 
 him who had killed one of his relations. If a man 
 had been guilty of manslaughter, involuntarily and 
 without design, he fled to a city of refuge. See the 
 subj<>ct fully treated under Refuge. 
 
 Reverence, a respectful, submissive disposi- 
 tion of mind, arising from affection and esteem, from 
 a sense of superiority in the person reverenced. 
 Hence children reverence their fathers, even when 
 their fathers correct them by stripes ; (Heb. xii. 9.) 
 hence subjects reverence their sovereign ; (2 Sam. ix. 
 6.) hence wives reverence their husbands; (Eph. v. 
 33.) and hence all ought to reverence God. We 
 reverence the name of God, the house of God, the 
 worship of God, &c. ; we reverence the attributes of 
 God, the commands, dispensations, &c. of God ; and 
 we ought to demonstrate our reverence by overt acts, 
 auch as are suitable and becoming to time, place and 
 circumstances ; for though a man may reverence
 
 REZ 
 
 [ 788 ] 
 
 RIG 
 
 God in his heart, yet unless he behave reverentially, 
 and give proofs of his revei-ence by demeanor, con- 
 duct and obedience, he will not easily persuade his 
 fellow mortals, that his bosom is the residence of this 
 divine and heavenly disposition ; for, in fact, a rev- 
 erence for God is not one of those lights which burn 
 under a bushel, but one of those whose sprightly lus- 
 tre illuminates wherever it is admitted. — Reverence 
 is, strictly speaking, perhaps, the internal disposition 
 of the mind, (pu.'Joc; (Rom. xiii. 7.) and honor, t/io;, 
 the external expression of that disposition. 
 
 REWARD, a recompense, requital, retribution for 
 some service done ; the fruit and benefit of labor. It 
 is of several kinds : as mental, — the reward of a good 
 action is enjoyed in reflection, satisfaction, a sense of 
 having been useful, &c. — pecuniary, or profitable, 
 such as is due to laborers for their work ; (1 Tim. v. 
 18 ; Job vii. 2.) a gift, or acquisition to counterbalance 
 an injury, Prov. xxi. 14 ; xxii. 4. Rewards are not 
 always conferred by Providence on good men in this 
 life, but their reward is in heaven. Matt. v. 12 ; Luke 
 vi. 23. The essence of reward being satisfaction, a 
 reward given freely, a reward pronqited by grace 
 and favor, is a donation not claimaljle by the party 
 who receives it, on account of his own merit, but is 
 bestowed in kindness by the giver ; and therefore, 
 though in strictness it is not reward for work done, 
 yet it is no less a remuneration, and is at once a gift 
 and a satisfaction. "Raphelius has shown, (says Dr. 
 Doddridge,) that ulaSog not only signifies a reward of 
 debt, but also a gift of favor ; and that the phrase 
 uiadov doQf:yi[v occurs in Herodotus: so that a reward 
 of grace, or favor, is a classical as well as a theologi- 
 cal expression." (Note on Rom. iv. 4.) 
 
 I. REZIN, a king of Syria, who combined with 
 Pekah, king of Isi-ael, to invade Judah, 2 Kings xv. 
 37, 38 ; xvi. 5, 6. A. M. 3262. (See also 2 Chron. 
 xxviii. 5 — 7.) The first year of Ahaz they besieged 
 Jerusalem ; but not being able to take it, they wasted 
 the countiy around, and withdrew. The yt ar fol- 
 lowing they returned, and the Lord delivered up to 
 them the army and the country of Ahaz. Alter this, 
 they separated their troops ; and Rezin carried away 
 much plunder and many captives to Damascus. 
 About the same time, he took Elath, on the Red sea ; 
 whence he drove out the Jews, and settled Idumeans 
 in their room, who, probably, had engaged him to 
 undertake the war. The Hebrew and the Vulgate 
 (2 Kings xvi. G.) seem to Intimate, that he conquered 
 Elath for the Syrians. But the tenor of the discourse 
 sufticicntly shows, that we ought to read, " for the 
 Idumeans:" and that the Hebrew should be read 
 Edom, not Aram. The difference between these two 
 words in the original, is hardly perceivable : cnx'^, 
 Leedoin, instead of d-in-<, Learam. Ahaz, finding 
 himself not strong enough to withstand Rezin and 
 Pekah, applied to' Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, 
 and with a very large sum of money bought his" as- 
 sistance. Tiglath-pileser marched against Damascus, 
 took the city, and slew Rezin : he also carried away 
 his people to Kir; probably the river Cyrus in Ibe- 
 ria, 2 Kings xvi. 1). 
 
 II. REZIN, a Jew, who retm-ned from Babylon, 
 Ezra ii. 48; Neh. vii. .W. 
 
 REZON, son of I^liadah, revoltcfl from his master 
 Hadadezer, king of ZoI»ali, while David made war 
 against him; and, heading a band of robbers, made 
 inroads into the coiuitiy about Damascus, T Kings xi. 
 23. He at last became master of that city, and was 
 acknowledged king. Whether this was (luring the 
 reigns of David and Solomon, Rezon being tributary 
 
 to them ; or whether it was not till near the end of 
 Solomon's reign, we have no means of determining. 
 
 RHEGIUM, a city of Italy, in the kingdom of Na- 
 ples, on the coast near the south-west extremity of 
 Italy, opposite to Messina in Sicily. It is now called 
 Reggio. The ship in which Paul was on his way 
 to Rome, touched here, Acts xxviii. 13, 14. 
 
 RHODA, a young maid of the household of Mary, 
 the mother of John Mark, Acts xii. 13, 14. 
 
 RHODES, an island and famous city of the Le- 
 vant, the ancient name of which was Asteria, Ophi- 
 usa and Etheria. Its modern name alludes to the 
 great quantity and beauty of the roses that grew 
 there. It is chiefly famous for its brazen Colossus, 
 which was 105 feet high, made by Chares of Lyndus : 
 it stood across the mouth of the harbor of the city 
 Rhodes, and continued perfect only fifty-six years, 
 being thrown down by an earthquake, under the 
 reign of Ptolemy Energetes, king of Egypt, who be- 
 gan to reign ante A. D. 244. When Paul went to 
 Jerusalem, A. D. 58, he visited Rhodes, Acts xxi. 1. 
 
 RIBLAH, a city of Syria, in the country of Ha- 
 math, the situation of which, however, is unknown. 
 Jerome has taken it for Antioch of Syria, or for the 
 countiy of Hamath, or Emmas, which was sfill in his 
 time the first stage of those who travelled from Syria 
 into Mesopotamia. However, this lies under great 
 difficulties. Antioch was at a distance from Emesa ; 
 nor was it on the road from Judea to Mesopotamia. 
 When Moses describes the eastern limits of the Land 
 of Promise, (Numb, xxxiv. 10.) he says, " Ye shall 
 point out j^our east border from Hazar-enan to She- 
 pham. And the coast shall go down froiri Shepham 
 to Riblah, on the east side of (the founiain) Ain ; and 
 the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the 
 side of the sea of Cinnereth (Tiberias) eastward. 
 And the border shall go down to Jordan ; and the 
 goings out of it shall be at the Salt sea (or the Dead 
 sea)." The name of Daphne is not in the Hebrew : 
 but the Chaldee paraphrasts and Jerome explain the 
 fountain of Riblah by that of Daphne, near Antioch. 
 Ezekiel draws the northern bounds of the Land of 
 Pronnse from the Mediterranean sea to Hazar-enan, 
 or Atrium Enan. He says, the city of Hamath limits 
 the Holy Land toward the north ; and its southern 
 limits go through the middle of Hauran, Damascus, 
 and the mountains of Gilead. He does not mention 
 Riblah, but Hamath ; in theterritory of which Riblah 
 was situate, Ezek. xlvii. 1(5, seq. 
 
 [The Babylonians, in their incursions into Pales- 
 tine, were accustomed to take their way over Ha- 
 math and Ribla. Mr. Buckingham mentions a place 
 Bebla, about 30 miles south of Hamath, on the Oron- 
 tes, in Avliich the ancient Riblah is doubtless to be 
 recognized. (Travels among the Arab tribes, Lond. 
 1825, p. 481.) R. 
 
 Riblah, as a residence, was one of the most agree- 
 able of Syria; whence it was selected by the kings of 
 Babylon. Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, stayed 
 here, on his return from his expedition against Car- 
 chemish ; (2 Kings xxiii. 33.) and having sent for Je- 
 hoahaz, king of jud.ih, he here deprived him of the 
 royal dignity, and jiromoted Jehoiakim. Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, khig of Babylon, continued at Riblah, while 
 his general Nebuzaradan besieged Jerusalem; and 
 after the reduction of that city, Zedekiah, with the 
 other prisoners, was brought to Riblah, where his 
 eyes were put out, 2 Kings xxv. 6, 20 ; Jer. xxxix. 5; 
 lii. 9. 
 
 RIGHT-HAND flenotes power, or strength; 
 whence Scripture generally imputes to God's right-
 
 RIGHT-HAND 
 
 [ 789 ] 
 
 RIG 
 
 hand, the effects of his omnipotence, Exoa. xv.6. Ps. 
 xxi. 8 ; xliv. 3, &c. ; Matt. xxvi. 64 ; Col. iii. 1 ; Heb. 
 i. 3; X. 12. 
 
 The right-hand commonly denotes the south, as 
 the left-hand denotes the north. For the Hebrews 
 speak of the quarters of the world in respect of a 
 person, whose face is turned to the east, his back to 
 the west, his right-hand to the south, and his left- 
 hand to the north. Thus Kedem, which signifies 
 before, denotes also the east ; and Achor, which sig- 
 nifies behind, marks the west ; Yamin, the right- 
 hand, is the south ; and Shemol, the left-hand, the 
 north. For example; "Doth not David hide him- 
 self with us in strong holds in tiie wood, in the hill 
 of Hachilah, which is on the south of .Teshimon ?" 
 Heb. on the right-hand of Jeshimou, 1 Sam. xxiii. 
 19, 24. 
 
 The accuser was commonly at the right-hand of 
 the accused, (Ps. cix. 6.) and hence, Satan stands at 
 the right-hand of the high-priest Joshua, to accuse 
 him, Zech. iii. 1. But, often, in a quite contrary 
 sense, to be at any one's right-liand, signifies to defend, 
 to protect, to support him, Ps. xvi. 8 ; cix. 31 ; cviii. 6. 
 
 "To depart from the law of God, neither to the 
 right-hand nor to tlie left," is a frequent Scripture 
 expression, meaning a sti-ict adherence to it: neither 
 attempting to go beyond it, and doing more than it 
 requires ; nor doing less: we must observe it closely, 
 constantly, invarial'iy : as a traveller, who does not 
 quit his way, cither to the right or the left, lest he 
 should lose it entirely. 
 
 Our Savioiu*, to show with what privacy we 
 should do good works, says, (Matt. vi. 3.) " That our 
 left-hand should not know what our right-hand 
 does." Above all things we should avoid vanity and 
 ostentation in alms and beneficence. 
 
 To give the right-hand is a mark of friendship. 
 Paul says, that James, Cephas and John gave him 
 the right-hand of fellowship. Gal. ii. 9. And in the 
 Books of the Maccabees this expression occiu-s very 
 often. See Hand. 
 
 In taking an oath, the Hebrews Ijfted up their 
 right-hand, Isa. Ixii. 8 ; Gen. xiv. 22 ; Deut. xxxii. 
 40. See Oath. 
 
 This article might be extended to an inconvenient 
 length : it is, however, worth while to become ac- 
 quainted with some of the distinctions allotted by 
 Scripture to the right-hand. AVhen Jacob called 
 Benjamin the son of my right-hand, as the margin 
 reads, it certainly denoted a special degree of affec- 
 tion for that child of his beloved Rachel ; and when 
 he purposely crossed his hands, so as to lay his right- 
 hand on the head of Ephraim, (Gen. xlviii. 14.) this 
 token, indicating greater prosperity, was readily un- 
 derstood by Joseph, as it was intended by his father. 
 When we read (1 Cliron. xxix. 24.) on occasion of 
 the inauguration of Solomon, that "all the sons of 
 David gave the hand unto Solomon as king ;" we 
 shouldunderstand the right-hand, given in token of 
 allegiance and submission. In like manner of Baby- 
 lon, (Jer. 1. 15.) " She has given her hand," that 
 is, her right-hand, has pledged her fidelity ; and the 
 same in Lam. v. G, " We have given the hand, the 
 right-hand, protesting thereby our submission, to the 
 Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with 
 bread." When Abraham says, (Gen. xiv. 22.) " 1 
 have lifted up my hand to the Lord, and I cannot 
 retract," he certainly means that he had sworn to 
 the Lord, by lifting up his right-hand. What, then, 
 can we think of those of whom it is alleged, (Ps. 
 cxliv. 8.) their right-hand is a right-hand of false- 
 
 hood ; their oath is not to be taken ; or of those who 
 are so besotted as to worship gods of their own 
 rnaking, and never to question whether there be no 
 lie in their right- hand ; where truth, fidelity, and 
 even scrupulous accuracy, should be maintained 
 without intermission, Isa. xliv. 20. 
 
 The right-hand was stretched forth as an action 
 of address, whether of entreaty, (as Prov. i. 24 ; Isa. 
 Ixv. 2.) or of oratory, (as Acts xxvi. 1.) or of protec- 
 tion, direction, &c. 
 
 The right-hand, especially, was lifted up in prayer ; 
 and it deserves notice that every figure delineated by 
 the early Christians, remaining in their sepulchres, 
 or elsewhere, intended to represent the action of 
 prayer, has the hands — but especially the right-hand 
 — lifted up, solemnly and steadily. 
 
 As much of the labor of life is performed with the 
 right-hand, and as most of our Lord's hearers were 
 laboring men, we ought not to pass without notice 
 the emphatic nature of his advice — " If thy right- 
 hand cause thee to offend, cut it off," Matt. v. 30. 
 The inducement could not be slight, nor the con- 
 viction trivial, that could effect a loss and a suffering 
 exyn-essed by this figurative language. 
 
 To seat a person at the right-hand is a token of 
 peculiar honor ; so Bathsheba, as the king's mother, 
 was placed at the right-hand of Solomon: (1 Kings 
 ii. 19 ; comp. Ps. xiv. 9.) and when Christ is said to 
 be seated on the right-hand of God, (Acts vii. 55; 
 Rom. viii. 34 ; Col. iii. 1.) it imports unequalled dig- 
 nity and exaltation. 
 
 it is evident, that when a hand, or the right-hand, is 
 attributed to Deity, the expression should be taken 
 only after the manner of men. Deity has neither 
 right-hand nor left-hand ; but the strength, the skill, 
 the power of man lying much, and principally, in his 
 right-hand, the idea is U-ansf erred to God, by an in- 
 evitable, and therefore a justifiable, liberty of speech. 
 
 RIGHTEOUS, and RIGHTEOUSNESS, are 
 terms taken in several senses in Scripture. As 
 for (1.) absolute perfecfion of rectitude and holi- 
 ness ; in which sense they are applied to God, who 
 always observes the very strictness of equity, as well 
 from the justice of his own nature, as in regard to 
 his creatures, Job xxxvi. 2 ; John xvii. 25. (2.) 
 The truth and faithfulness of God, in performing his 
 promises, the rectitude by which he is governed in 
 making and in fulfilling his promises. (3.) The 
 righteousness of Christ, the righteousness acceptable 
 to God, the manner of becoming righteous in the 
 sight of God, are other acceptations of the words. 
 (4.) Righteous is spoken comparativelij of men. No 
 man is absoliucly righteous ; but he who pracfises 
 justice, cquitj', integrity, in his conduct, behavior, 
 dealings. Sec. is comparatively righteous. Whoever 
 in his course of life "walks in all the ordinances and 
 commandments of the Lord, blameless," is so far 
 righteous. Hence some persons in Scripture are 
 called righteous, as Noah ; (Gen. vii. 1 — 9.) that is, a 
 man of integrity and holy maimers. So Abraham 
 supposes (Gen. xviii. 23.) there might be fifty right- 
 eous in Sodom, men who were not profligates like 
 the Sodomites in general ; and this sense is frequent 
 in the Psalms, &c. Alms are called righteousness. 
 Matt. vi. 1. (5.) Righteousness in the New Testa- 
 ment is a])plied to God ; to Christ the righteous, (1 
 John ii. 1.) and to men ; but as men have, at best, 
 but a broken, damaged, and imperfect righteousness, 
 this word is applied to men in a very limited and 
 qualified sense; and also with respect to a better 
 righteousness than merely human ; that obtained by
 
 RIN 
 
 [ 790 
 
 RIZ 
 
 faith ; that fi'eely bestowed by God, and as bestowed, 
 eo received, through Christ. (6.) Righteousness de- 
 notes tlie ordinances of God, Matt. iii. 15 ; xxi. 32. 
 (7.) Righteousness is sometimes much the same as 
 holiness. Acts X. 35 ; Eph. v. 9. The rigiiteousness 
 of the Pharisees, which was in their own eyes excel- 
 lent, was precise to superstition, yet was imperfect 
 and worthless before God, Luke xviii. 9 ; Matt. ix. 
 13. To acknowledge as righteous, to pronounce 
 righteous, that is, to acquit. See Justification. 
 
 I. RIMMON, a city of Zebulun, 1 Chron. vi. 77. 
 The same with Rimmon-Methoar, Josh. xix. 13. 
 
 II. RIMMON, a rock to which the children of 
 Benjamin retreated, Judg. xx.45 ; xxi.l3 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 2. 
 
 III. RIMMON, an idol of Damascus, wliere he 
 had a temple, 2 Kings v. 18. It is thought this god 
 was the sun, named Rimmon, or high, because of 
 his elevation. Grotius takes it for Saturn, because 
 that planet is the most elevated. 
 
 IV. RIMMON, a city in the tribes of Judah and 
 Simeon, Josh. xv. 32 ; xix. 7 ; 1 Chron. iv. 32 ; Neh. 
 xi. 29 ; Zecli. xiv. 10. 
 
 V. RIMMON, the father of Baanali and Rechab, 
 the murderers of Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. iv. 5, 9. 
 
 RIMMON-METHOAR, a city of Zebulun, Josh, 
 xix. 13. The same with Rimmon I. above. 
 
 RIMMON-PAREZ, an encampment of Israel in 
 the wilderness ; from Rithmah they came to Rim- 
 mon-parez, and from hence went to Libnah, Numb. 
 xxxiii. 19. See Exodus. 
 
 RINGS, ornaments for the ears, nose, legs, or fin- 
 gers. The antiquity of rings appears from Scripture 
 and from profane authors. Judah left his ring with 
 Tamar, Gen. xxxviii. 18. When Pharaoh commit- 
 ted the government of Egypt to Joseph, he gave him 
 his ring from his finger. Gen. xli. 42. After the' vic- 
 tory of the Israelites over the Midianites, they offer- 
 ed to the Lord the rings, the bracelets, and the golden 
 necklaces, taken from the enemy. Numb. xxxi. 50. 
 The Israelitish women wore rings, not only on their 
 fingers, but also in their nostrils and their ears. (See 
 Bracelets.) James distinguishes a man of wealth 
 and dignity by the ring of gold on his finger, Jam. 
 ii. 2. At the return of the prodigal son, his father 
 ordered a handsome apparel for his dress, and that a 
 ring should be put on his finger, Luke xvi. 22. And 
 when the Lord threatened king Jeconiah with the 
 utmost etfects of his anger, he tells him, that though 
 he wore the signet or ring upon his finger, yet he 
 should be torn off, Jer. xxii. 24. See Seal. 
 
 The ring was used chiefly to seal with, and Scrip- 
 ture generally assigns it to princes and great i)er- 
 sons ; as the king of Egypt, Josejjh, Ahaz, Jezebel ; 
 king Ahasuerus, his favorite Haman, Mordecai, king 
 Darius, &c. 1 Kings xxi. 8 ; Estli. iii. 10, &c. ; Dan. 
 vj. 17. The patents and orders of these princes 
 were sealed with their rings or signets, an impression 
 from which was their confirmation. 
 
 The ring was one mark of sovereign authority. 
 Pharaoh gave his ring to Joseph, as a token of au- 
 thority. When Alexander the Great gave his ring 
 to Perdiccas, it was understood as nominating hiiii 
 his successor. Wlien Antiochus Epiphanes was at 
 the point of death, he committed to Philip, one of 
 his friends, his diadem, his royal cloak and his ring, 
 that he might give them to his successor, young An- 
 tiochus, 1 Mac. vi. 15. Augustus, being very ill of a 
 distemper which he thought mortal, gave his ring to 
 Agrippa, as to a friend of the greatest integrity. 
 
 We read of magical rings, to which several extraor- 
 dinary effects were ascribed, either as preservatives 
 
 against certain evils, or for procuring certain advan- 
 tages and good fortune. 
 
 The rings and pendants for the ears, so frequent 
 in Palestine and Africa, were probably superstitious 
 rings, or talismans. When Jacob arrived at Canaan, 
 on his return from Mesopotamia, he ordered his 
 people to deliver to him " all the strange gods which 
 were in their hand, and all their ear-rings which 
 were in their ears," (Gen. xxxv. 4.) which seems to 
 insinuate, that those strange gods were superstitious 
 and magical figures, engraven on their rings, their 
 bracelets, and the pendants in their ears. Some 
 commentators, however, think that these rings and 
 pendants were upon the hands and in the ears of 
 their false gods. See Ear-rings, and Ajmulets. 
 
 RIPHATH, second son of Gomer, and grandson 
 of Japhet, Gen. x. 3 ; 1 Chron. i. 6. The learned 
 are not agreed what countiy was peopled by the de- 
 scendants of Riphath. 
 
 RISSAH, an encampment of Israel in the wilder- 
 ness. They came from Libnah to Rissah, and from 
 Rissah they went to Kehelathah, Nimib. xxxiii. 22. 
 See Exodus. 
 
 RITHMAH, another encampment of Israel. 
 From Hazeroth they arrived at Rithmah, whence 
 they went to Rimmon-parez, Numb, xxxiii. 18. See 
 Exodus. 
 
 RIVER, a running stream of water. The He- 
 brews give the name of the river, without addition, 
 sometimes to the Nile, sometimes to the Euphrates, 
 and sometimes to the Jordan. The tenor of the dis- 
 course must determine the sense of this uncertain 
 and indeterminate way of sjieaking. They give also 
 the name of river to brooks and rivulets that are not 
 very considerable. 
 
 The principal rivers and brooks of Palestine were 
 the Jordan, the Anion, the Jabbok, the Cherith, the 
 Sorek, the Besor, the Kishon, the brook of Jezreel, 
 the brook of Reeds or of Kanah, the Barrady, or Aba- 
 nah and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus. See their 
 proper articles. 
 
 The name of river is sometimes given to the sea ; 
 hence Jonah says (ii. 5.) he was surrounded by the 
 rivers ; that is, the waters of the sea, currents. Ha- 
 bakkuk, (iii. 8, 9.) speaking of the passage through 
 the Reel sea, says, " The Lord divided the waters of 
 the rivers." So the psalmist, (Ixxiv. 15.) "The Lord 
 dried up the rapid rivers," or the rivers of strength. 
 And Psalm xxiv. 2, " The Lord hath founded the 
 earth upon the sea, and established it ujion the riv- 
 ers :" which signifies the same in both places. He- 
 rodotus relates, that when Xerxes cast bonds into the 
 Hellespont, and ordered it to be whipped, he said to it, 
 " It is with good reason that nobody offers sacrifices to 
 thee, O thou deceitful and turbulent river." See Sea. 
 
 RIZPAH, the daughter of Aiah, concubine to 
 Saul ; soon after whose death, Abncr, the general 
 of his army, fell in love with Rizpah, and took her. 
 Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, who reigned at Maha- 
 naiin, and was sui)j)orted in liis regal state, only by 
 the credit of Abner's valor, resented this act, and 
 upbraided him with it. Abner was so irritated at 
 his reproaches, that he vowed to ruin Ishbosheth, 
 and join David, 2 Sam. iii. 7, 11. 
 
 Saul having put to death, upon some occasion, a 
 great number of the Gibeonites, God, to punish their 
 massacre, sent a famine into Israel, which lasted 
 three years, 2 Sam. xxi. 1, 3, &ic. from A. M. 2983 
 to 2986. To expiate this guilt, David delivered to 
 the Gibeonites Arnioni and Mephibosheth, two sons 
 of Saul by Rizpah, and five sons of Michal, daughter
 
 ROC 
 
 [791] 
 
 ROG 
 
 of Saul, by Adriel, son of Barzillai ; or rather by 
 Phalticl ; (1 Sam. xxv. 44.) all of whom were 
 hanged on the mountain near Gibeah, at the begin- 
 ning of barley-harvest. Rizpah, upon receiving the 
 intelligence, took a sackcloth and spread it upon the 
 rock, where she continued from the beginning of 
 harvest, till water from heaven fell on them ; or till 
 the Lord sent his rain on the earth, and restored its 
 former fertility. She hindered the birds froin tearing 
 the bodies by day, and the ravenous beasts from de- 
 vouring them by night. When this was related to 
 David, he was moved with compassion, and sent for 
 the bones of Saul and Jonathan, which were at Ja- 
 besh-gilead, and deposited them in the tomb of Kish, 
 the father of Saul, at Gibeah ; together with the 
 bones of the seven men who had been executed by 
 the Gibeonites. 
 
 ROCK, a large and natural mass of stone. Pales- 
 tine, being a mountainous country, had many rocks, 
 which were part of the strength of the country; for 
 in times of danger the people retired to them, and 
 found refuge against sudden irruptions of their ene- 
 mies. When the Bcnjamites were overcome and 
 almost exterminated by the other tribes, they secured 
 themselves in the rock Rimmon : (Judg. xx. 47.) and, 
 during the oppression of Israel by the Midianites, 
 they were forced to hide themselves in cavities of the 
 rocks, Judg. vi. 2. 
 
 Samson, we are told, (Judg. xv. 8.) took his station 
 in the rock Etam, whence he sufTered himself to be 
 dislodged by the persuasion of his bretliren, not by 
 the force of his enemies ; and David, it is said, re- 
 peatedly hid himself in the caves of rocks. It ap- 
 pears that rocks are still resorted to, in the East, as 
 places of security, and some of them are even capa- 
 ble of sustaining a siege, at least equal to any the 
 Philistine army could have laid to the residence of 
 Samson. So we read in De la Roque : (p. 205.) 
 " The grand seignior, wishing to seize the person 
 of the emir, gave orders to the pacha to take him 
 prisoner : he accordingly came in search of him, 
 with a new army, in the district of Choui ; which is 
 a part of mount Lebanon, wherein is the village of 
 Gesin, and close to it the rock which served for re- 
 treat to the emir. It is named in Arabic Magara 
 Gesiji, i. e. 'the cavern of Gcsin,' by which name it 
 is famous. The pacha pressed the emir so closelv, 
 that this unfortunate prince was obliged to shut 
 himself up t;i the clejl of a great rock, with a small 
 number of his officers. The pacha besieged him 
 here several months ; and was going to blow up the 
 rock by a mine, when the emir capitulated." Thus 
 David might wander from place to place, yet find 
 many fastnesses in rocks, or caverns, in which to 
 hide himself from Saul. Obsen-e, too, that this cleft 
 in the rock is called a cavern ; so that we arc not 
 obliged always to suppose that what the Scripture 
 calls caves or caverns were under ground ; though 
 such is the idea conveyed by our English word. \V'e 
 may remark also, that before the invention of gun- 
 powder, fastnesses of this kind were, in a manner, 
 absolutely impregnable ; and, indeed, we have in 
 Bruce accounts of very long sieges sustained by in- 
 dividuals and their famihes, or adherents, upon 
 rocks ; and which at last terminated by capitulation. 
 The idea of retiring to rocks for security ; of con- 
 sidering the protection of God as a rock, &:c. which 
 often occurs in Scripture, will now appear extremely 
 natural. 
 
 The number of caves, and dwelling places in 
 rocks, which late travellers have discovered, as well 
 
 in parts of Judea as in Eg\'pt, greatly exceeds what 
 had formerly been supposed. Many of these are 
 still occupied as retreats by the inhabitants ; and 
 Deuon gives an account of skirmishes and combats, 
 fought in the grottoes or caverns of Egypt, by the 
 Ai-ab residents, against their invaders under Buona- 
 parte. On the east of the Jordan, as Seetzen re- 
 ports, entire families, with their cattle and flocks, 
 take possession of caves and caverns in rocks and 
 secluded places, where they arc not easily discov- 
 ered, and whence they could not easily be dislodged. 
 The people inhabiting on the Persian gulf lived in 
 the same manner. For this reason they were called 
 in Greek TocyAoc^t rai. Troglodytes, that is, people 
 who dwell in caves and mountain grottoes. Those 
 that inhabited the desert about Tekoah, lodged in 
 caverns dug in the earth, says Jerome. The Idu- 
 means liad their abodes in clefts of the rocks. Jer. 
 xlviii. 28, "O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities 
 and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that 
 maketh her nests in the sides of the hole's mouth." 
 Hither the Moabites used to retreat, in times of 
 calamity. The Kcnites, who dwelt south of the Dead 
 sea, had similar dweUings: "And he looked on the 
 Kenites, and said. Strong is thy dwelling place, and 
 thou puttest thy nest in a rock," Numb. xxiv. 2L 
 
 In Isa. li. 1, God says to the Jews, "Look unto 
 the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the 
 pit whence ye are" digged ;" that is, to Abraham and 
 the patriarchs, your ancestors. 
 
 Moses says, that God would give the Hebrews a 
 country, whose rocks and stones should supply them 
 with plenty of honey and oil, Dcut. xxxii. 13. " He 
 made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out 
 of the flinty rock." The psalmist says, (Ixxxi. 16.) 
 speaking of the miracle by which Moses drew water 
 out of the rock, " With honey out of the rock should 
 I have satisfied thee." In Palestine the bees often 
 store up their honey in holes of the rocks ; and it is 
 to this that the Scripture alludes. Job says, (xxix. 
 6.) in the same sense, that in his prosperity, "the 
 rock poured out rivers of oil," because olive-trees 
 generally grew on stony mountains. 
 
 For a description of the most eminent rocks men- 
 tioned in Scripture the reader is referred to their re- 
 spective articles. See also Skpclchre, and Tomb. 
 
 ROD. This word is variously used in Scripture. 
 (1.) For the branches of a tree; (Gen. xxx. 37.) 
 (2.) For a staft' or wand ; (Exod. iv. 17, 20.) (3.) 
 For a shepherd's crook ; (Lev. xxvii. 32.) (4.) For 
 a rod, properly so called, which God uses to correct 
 men ; (2 Sam." vii. 14 : Job ix. 34.) (5.) For a roval 
 sceptre, Eslh. iv. 11; Ps. xlv. G ; Heb. i. 8. The 
 empire of tlie Messiah is represented by a rod of 
 iron, to express its power and might, Ps. ii. 9 ; Rev. 
 ii. 27 ; xii. 5 ; xix. 15. (6.) For a young sprout, or 
 branch, to distinguish the miraculous birth of the 
 Messiah from a virgin mother, (Numb. xxiv. 17.) 
 " There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scejitre 
 (or rod) shall rise out of Israel." And Isaiah saj-s, 
 (xi.) " There shall come forth a rod out of the stem 
 of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." 
 In Jer. i. 11, the watchful rod, according to the He- 
 brew, is a branch or rod of an almond-tree. This 
 tree flourishes the earliest of any ; and the Lord in- 
 tended to denote by it Nebuchadnezzar, who was 
 just then ready to pour his forces upon Judea. (7.) 
 For a tribe or" people, Ps. Ixxiv. 2; Jer. x. IG. 
 
 ROE. It is probable that the Hebrew ^ax, tzebi, 
 which is translated roe, in the English Bible, ia the 
 gazelle, or antelope. See ^V>vtelope,
 
 ROM 
 
 [ 792 ] 
 
 ROME 
 
 ROGEL, a fountain near Jerusalem, in Judah, 
 Josh. XV. 7 ; xviii. 16 ; 2 Sam, xvii. 7 ; 1 Kings i. 9. 
 It was the fullers' fountain, in which, probably, the 
 articles were washed, by treading with the feet. It 
 seems to have been not far from the fountain Silo- 
 am. (See Rosenmiiller's Bibl. Geogr. II. ii. p. 253.) 
 
 ROGELIM, a place in Gilead, beyond Jordan, 
 where Barzillai, the friend of David, lived, 2 Sam. 
 xvii. 27 ; xix. 32. 
 ROLL, see Book. 
 
 ROME, ROMANS. Jerome seems to have 
 thought that Chittim was put for Italy in Numb, 
 xxiv. 24, where Balaam says, " And ships shall come 
 from the coasts of Chittim, and shall afflict Ashur 
 and Eber." He translates, " Ships shall come from 
 Italy." But this ought rather to be referred to the 
 Greeks, who, under Alexander the Great, invaded 
 the Hebrews, at that time under the Persians. The 
 Greeks overthrew the Persian empire, but were 
 themselves overthrown by the Romans. Jerome 
 says, (on Ezek. xxvii. 6.) that the workmen of Tyre 
 used what came from the isles of Italy, to make 
 cabins for the captains of Tyrian ships. But what 
 rarities could there be in these islands of Italy, that 
 were not in Phoenicia and the neighboring prov- 
 inces? (See Chittim.) Bochart has displayed all his 
 learning to support the opinion of the rabbins, who by 
 Chittim understand Rome and Italy ; and he shows, 
 that in this country are found cities named Cethim 
 and Echetia, as also a river called Cethus ; but he also 
 brings good proofs that Chittim imports Macedonia. 
 The Jews, according to the rabbins, generally 
 called the Romans Idumeans ; and the Roman em- 
 pire, the cruel empire of Edoni. It is difficult to 
 conceive their reason, since Italy and Rome are far 
 from Idumea, and have never had any affinity with 
 the Idumeans. When the more learned rabbins 
 are asked for a reason, they maintain, with great as- 
 surance and obstinacy, that the Idumeans embraced 
 Christianity, settled themselves in Italy, and there 
 extended their dominions. 
 
 The Roman empire is generally thought to be de- 
 noted in Dan. ii. 40, by the kingdom of iron, which 
 bruises and breaks in pieces all other kingdoms ; but 
 Calmet thinks it is rather the empire of the Lagidfe 
 in Egypt, and of the Seleucidse in Syria. 
 
 In the books of the Old Testament written in He- 
 brew, we find no mention of Rome, Romans, or 
 Italy. But in the IMaccabees, and in the New Tes- 
 tament, they are often mentioned. 1 Mac. viii. 1, 2, 
 "Judas had heard of the fame of the Romans, that 
 they were mighty and valiant men, and such as 
 would lovingly accept all that joined themselves 
 unto them, and make a league of amity with all that 
 came unto them ; and that they were men of great 
 valor. It was told him also of their wars and noble 
 acts, which they had done among the Galatians, and 
 how they had conquered them, and brought thorn 
 under tribute." Judas had also been informed of 
 their conquests in Spain, &c. that they had subdued 
 Philip and Perseus, kings of Macedonia, or Chittim, 
 and Antiochus the Great, king of Syria ; that they 
 had deprived him of various provinces ; and had 
 also reduced the Greeks, who attempted to resist 
 them ; in a word, that they confirmed in their king- 
 doms all whom they desired should reign, or de- 
 prived those of their crowns whom they intended to 
 punish. Nevertheless, that none of them wore the 
 diadem or the purple, but that they had a senate, 
 consisting of three hundred and twenty senators, 
 who consulted every day aboiU the affairs of the re- 
 
 public ; and that they committed every year tlie sove- 
 reign magistracy to one person, who commanded 
 through all their territories, and thus all were obedi- 
 ent to one, without envy or jealousy. 
 
 The first alliance between the Jews and the Ro- 
 mans was made ante A. D. 162. — Some years after 
 this, {ante A. D. 144.) Jonathan, brother of Judas 
 Maccabeus, finding the ojjportunity favorable, sent a 
 deputation to Rome, to renew this alliance. Simon 
 Maccabeus, also, sent to Rome an ambassador called 
 Numenius, Avhh a present of a great golden buckler, 
 1 Mac. xiv. 24, ante A. D. 149. Before this, [ante 
 A. D. 163, 2 Mac. xi. 34—36.) Quintus Memmius 
 and Titus Manilius, the Roman legates, being sent 
 into Syria to settle some affairs with Antiochus Eu 
 pator, interested themselves in promoting the tran 
 quiUity of the Jews. 
 
 The Romans took the city of Jerusalem three 
 times : first by the arms of Pompey, ante A. D. 63 ; 
 by Sosius, ante A. D. 37; by Titus, A, D. 70, 
 when both the city and the temple were destroyed. 
 They reduced Judea into a province ; that is, they 
 took from it the privilege of being a kingdom, and 
 of having kingly government. First, after the ban- 
 ishment of king Archelaus, son of Herod the Great, 
 A. D. 16, and this continued to A. D. 37. It was 
 again reduced to a province after the death of king 
 Agrippa, A. D. 43 ; and it remained in this condition 
 till it was entirely overthrown. 
 
 The term Roman is used (1.) as denoting a person 
 native or inhabitant of the city of Rome ; or at least, 
 of the country around that metropolis ; as in the 
 Epistle to the Romans. (2.) For the power of the 
 Roman government: (John xi. 48.) "The Romans 
 shall come and take away both our place and nation." 
 Acts xxv. 16, " It is not the manner of the Romans 
 to deliver any man to die, till we have heard his de- 
 fence," chap, xxviii. 17, &c. (3.) For a person who 
 possessed the privileges attached to the citizenship of 
 Rome: (Acts xxii. 25.) "Is it lawful for you to 
 scourge a man who is a Roman, he being as yet un- 
 condemned?" Paul, who pleads this privilege, was 
 not actually a Roman, by having been born at Rome, 
 or in Italy. Some think, that bemg born in a city 
 favored with the conununication of the privileges of 
 the imperial city, he was competent to claim Roman 
 exemptions by his birth-right; being a native of a 
 municipium — a city thus favored, and born of pai'ents 
 thus entitled. Others think that Paul's father had 
 been rewartled with this privilege, for services ren- 
 dered to the Romans, whether of a militaiy or other 
 nature ; which would render it so much the more 
 disgraceful to degrade, by the treatment of a slave, a 
 man entitled to especial marks of honor. This might 
 he the fact, as such a reward was received by many 
 Jews, about this time. 
 
 The Valerian law forliade that a Roman citizen 
 should be bound : the Sempronian law forbade that 
 he should be scourged, or beaten with rods. If any 
 man falsely claimed the privileges of a Roman citi- 
 zen, he was severely punished ; by the emperor 
 Claudius with death. 
 
 Romans, Epistle to the. — This is placed before 
 the other Epistles of Paul, not because it was first 
 composed in order of time, but because of the dignity 
 of the imperial city, to which it is directed, or of the 
 excellence of its contents ; or of the magnificence 
 and sublimity of the mysteries of which it treats. It 
 passes for the most exalted and the most difficult of 
 all Paul's Epistles. Jerome (Epist. 151. cap. 8.) was 
 of opinion, that not one book only, but many volumes
 
 ROMANS 
 
 [793 ] 
 
 110 s 
 
 were necessary, for a full explanation of it. And 
 some have thought, that Peter had chiefly this Epis- 
 tle in his eye, when he said, (2 Pet. iii. 15, 16.) "As 
 our beloved brother Paul also, accordmg to the wis- 
 dom given unto him, hath written unto you. As also 
 in all his ej)istlcs, speaking in them of these things ; 
 in which ai-e some things hard to be understood, 
 which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as 
 they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own de- 
 struction." But others, with good reason, think 
 Peter rather refers to Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 (See Bibl. Repositorj', vol. ii. p. 412, seq.) Or, per- 
 haps, to what were earlier written, and to countries 
 nearer to those addressed by Peter. The dates of 
 the Epistles must be considered in this reference, 
 
 Paul's design, in his Ejjistle to the Romans, is to 
 terminate certain domestic disputes, which then pre- 
 vailed among tlie believers at Rome, and divided the 
 converted Jews and Gentiles into two parties. The 
 Jews insisted on their bu'thright, and the promises 
 made to their fiithers ; on account of which they as- 
 sumed a certaiii prioritj' or preference over the con- 
 verted Gentiles, whom they regarded as foreigners 
 and interlopers, out of pure favor admitted into the 
 society of believei-s, and to the participation of Chris- 
 tian privileges. The Gentiles, on the other hand, 
 maintained the merit of their sages and philosophers, 
 the prudence of their legislators, the purity of their 
 moralit}', and their exactness in following the law of 
 nature. They accused the Jews of infidelity toward 
 God, and violation of his laws. They aggravated their 
 faults, and those of their fathers, which had excluded 
 the greater part of them from the inheritance of the 
 .saints, from the faith, &c. as witnessed by their own 
 Scriptures, &c. 
 
 To terminate these contentions, Paul applies him- 
 self to restrain the presumption of both parties. lie 
 shows that neither could pretend to merit, or had rea- 
 son to glory,or boast of their calling ; which proceeded 
 from the mere grace and mercy of God. He proves 
 that even if the Jews had observed the law of Moses, 
 and the Gentiles the law of nature, this could not have 
 merited for either tlie gi-ace they had received. That 
 nothing but faith in Jesus Christ, enlivened by chai-ity 
 and good works, can justify us. He answers objec- 
 tions by arguments taken from these principles, e. g. 
 the gratuitous vocation, or the non-vocation, of Jew 
 anfl Gentile ; the insufficiency of the works of the law 
 v/ithout faith; the superiority of the Jews above the 
 Gentiles; and the infallibility of the promises of God. 
 This introduces a discussion of predestination and 
 reprobation, which makes a principal part of this 
 Episile, and contains some of the greatest difficulties 
 in it. 
 
 In chapters xii. — xv. the apostle gives excellent 
 rules of morality, concerning mutual harmony, mutual 
 forbearance, and reciprocal condescension to infirmi- 
 ties, for fear of scandalizing or offending one another 
 by indiscreet liberties. He describes the false apostles, 
 and exhorts believers to avoid them. Chap, xvi, con- 
 tains salutations and commendations, addressed to 
 particular y)ersons. 
 
 This Epistle was ^VTitten A. D. 58, in Corinth, 
 whenc:; Paul was immediately to depart, to carry to 
 Jerusalem some collections made for the saints, 
 Phccbe, a deaconess of the church of Cenchrea, near 
 Corinth, wtus the bearer of it. No doubt has ever 
 been made of its authenticity; and though it was 
 addressed to the Romans, yet it was written in Greek. 
 Tertius was Paul's secretary on this occasion. 
 
 The Marcioniics made great defalcations in the 
 100 
 
 Epistles of Paul, especially in this to the Romans, of 
 winch they suppressed the last two chapters. There 
 is much probability that Paul designed to finish this 
 Epistle at the end of the fourteenth; but afterwards 
 added the concluding chapters. At the end of the 
 fifteenth chapter, we find tliis conclusion : " Now the 
 God of peace be with you all. Amen ;" which seems 
 to show that the letter was then finished. We see the 
 same conclusion no less than three times in the six- 
 teenth chapter, (verses 20, 24, 27.) which leads us to 
 imagine that these additions were composed at inter- 
 vals. Probably, while waiting for an opportunity of 
 sending it off, whether by Phoebe, or by any other 
 safe hand. 
 
 Paul is supposed to have visited Rome twice. 
 First, A, D, 61 or 63, when he appealed to Caesar; 
 and then A, D, 65, a year before his martyrdom, 
 which happened in A, D, 66. See Paul, 
 
 ROOF, see House, p, 506, seq, 
 
 ROOT, Covetousness is the root of all evil, 1 Tim, 
 vi, 10, That is, the origin, the cause, the occasion. 
 Lest any root of bitterness trouble you, Heb, xii, 15, 
 
 The root may also denote the race, the posterity, 
 Prov, xii, 3, The root of the just shall not be dis- 
 tm"bed, shall not fail. And Jeremiah, (xii. 2.) 
 " Whence do the wicked prosper in all things ? Thou 
 hast planted them, and they have taken root." In 
 Daniel, and in the Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 the persecutor of the Jews, is represented as a yoimg 
 sprout or sucker, or root of iniquity, proceeding from 
 the kings, the successors of Alexander the Great, 
 And Jesus Christ, in his humiliation, is described as 
 a root ill nourished, growing in a dry and barren soil, 
 Isa, hii, 2. Chap, xi. 1, 10, he is called the root of 
 Jesse. (See Rom. xv. 2.) 
 
 In the contrary sense, Paul says, (Rom. xi. 16 — 18.) 
 that the Jews are, as it were, the root that bears the 
 tree into which the Gentiles are grafted. And that 
 the patriarchs are tb.e pin"e and holy root of which 
 the Jews are, as it were, the branches. Jesus Christ 
 is the root on which Christians depend, and from 
 which they derive life and subsistence, Col. ii, 7. 
 
 ROSE, a well-known shrub. It is evident from 
 Ecclus. xxiv. 14, that the rose was a favorite with 
 the Jewish people, and also, that " the rose of Jeri- 
 cho" was a very different plant from that now bear- 
 ing the same name. In Cant. ii. 1, Solomon has 
 chosen the rose to represent the matchless excellences 
 of the bride : " I am the rose of Sharon ;" but the 
 Septuagint and Jerome, instead of rose, render, "the 
 flower of the fields." The Chaldee, however, which 
 has been folIo^^■e(l by most western interpreters, calls 
 it (in Canticles) the rose; and circimistanccs seem to 
 determine it to be the wild rose, the uncultivated 
 flower, which thereby corresponds to the lily in the 
 next verse. But beside this rose, Scheuchzer refers 
 to Hillorus, who rather seeks this flower among the 
 bulbous-rooted plants, and declares for the asphodel, 
 whose flowers resemble those of the lily. It is very 
 fragrant, and Homer and Hesiod praise it. Ilesiod 
 says it grows commonly in woods ; and Homer calls 
 the Elysian fields, " meads filled with asphodel ;" 
 words which agree with the sentiment of Solomon 
 here, if we take Sharon (as seems projjcr enough) for 
 the common fields : " I am the aspiiodel of the 
 meadows (or woods) ; the lily of the valleys," or places 
 not cultivated as a garden is. [Gesenius pronounces 
 for the derivation from Ssj, a bulb, with n prefixed, as 
 is often the case. The ancient versions, as the Sep- 
 tuagint, Vulgate, and also the Targum on Isaiah, 
 render it hy Libj, or Xarcissm ; of which the latter
 
 RUF 
 
 794 ] 
 
 RUN 
 
 is to be preferred. The Syriac, however, renders it 
 by a word signifying the Colchichum autumnaU, a 
 bulbous, crocus-like plant, with flowers of white and 
 violet. We may, therefore, assume it to be either the 
 Narcissus or the Colchicum. R. 
 
 RUE, a well-known garden herb. Our Savioiu- 
 reproaclies the Pharisees with their superstitious 
 affectation of paying the tithe of rue, which was not 
 in reality subject to the law of tithe, while they 
 neglected the more essential parts of the law, Luke 
 xi. 42. 
 
 RUFUS, son of Simon the Cyrenian, who assisted 
 our Saviour in earning his cross, Mark xv. 21. Ru- 
 fus probably was famous among the tirst Christians, 
 since IMark names him with distinction. Is this the 
 Rufus whom Paul salutes with his mother? Rom. 
 xvi. 13. Polycarp, in his letter to the Philippians, 
 Avritten A. D. 107, proposes Ignatius and Rufus as 
 models and patterns of jmtience. 
 
 There is more attached to the character of the Rufus 
 mentioned in Rom. xvi. than appears at fii'st sight ; 
 inasmuch as Paul calls the mother of Rufus " his 
 mother." Now, she could not be the natural mother 
 of Paul, unless Paul and Rufus were brothers; nor 
 could she be the motljer-iii-iav/ of Paul by natural 
 relation to his v/ife, unless Rufus were brother-in-law 
 to Paul; but of such connection we have no account, 
 nor even surmise. It should seem to folloAV, that the 
 term mother, in this place, imports that a great degi'ee 
 of intimacy had existed between Paul and the mother 
 of Rufus, and that she had favored him with those 
 attentions and services, truly maternal, which a 
 mother might have done ; and therefore the apostle 
 salutes her son Rufus and herself under this affec- 
 tionate recollection. 
 
 This leads again to an inquiry where this intimacy 
 could have taken place. To answer which, we must 
 recollect, that if Rufus were son of Simon the Cyre- 
 nian, as Mr. Taylor maintains, and if Simeon the 
 teacher at Antioch were that Simon, then, as we know 
 that Paul was long at Antioch, where the wife of Sim- 
 eon was with her husband, we see the time, place and 
 occasion of the services rendered by the mother of 
 Rufus to Paul ; and of the mutual kindness and inti- 
 macy between tliem. We know that Simon must 
 liave been at Antioch, an old man, the oldest of all the 
 teachers settled there ; for Avhich reason he is placed 
 first on the list ; doid)tless, bis wife also was well 
 stricken in years ; and very probably, her son Rufus 
 and Paul were about the same age ; so that, relatively, 
 they might both by familiarity be called by her, her 
 sous ; and both might pay her that respect, which in 
 one was duty, and in tb.e other deference and regard. 
 
 As to the residence of this pious woman at Rome 
 with her son Rufus, we may v/ell suppose that her 
 jnisband Simon was dead at Ar.tioch ; and that she 
 accompanied her son to the capital of the empire, 
 where many Jews had settled. In what capacity 
 Rufus (hvelt at Rome, we have no means of deter- 
 mining. If lie were a Cln-istian teacher, as his father 
 was, it should appear that he visited Philipj)! in his 
 journeyings, where he suffered many adversities ; for 
 Polycarp speaks of—" patience, wiiich yc have seen 
 .set forth brforc your eyes, in the blessed Ignatius, and 
 Zozimus, and Rufus, and in Paul himself." This 
 association of persons contri!)utes to confirm to Rufus 
 the (character of teacher ; and to mark him as the 
 same Rufus, elect in the Lord, ^^■ith whom Paid was 
 familiar; — his brother, not only by profession and 
 grace, but also by intimacy, and, perhaps, by constant 
 rf-sidencp in the same family. 
 
 RULE, RULERS. These words are applied to 
 different stations of authority. God ruleth over all, 
 and the proud Nebuchadnezzar was degi-aded from 
 his throne till he acknowledged this truth, Dan. iv. 
 26. The Messiah rules among the sons of men, and 
 even rules, in power, over his enemies, (Ps. ex. 2.) 
 but in goodness over liis people. Adam ruled over 
 the creatures in paradise, as their superior ; over his 
 wife, after the fall, as the guardian sex, and the reg- 
 ulator of propriety and restraint. lie reigned also 
 over his posterity, as their king and judge, governing 
 their social conduct as their common lather. Hus- 
 bands rule their wives and their own families. Pas- 
 tors rule the churches which they teach. Princes 
 and nobles rule to wherever their power extends ; 
 and sovereign rule is over all for the benefit and ad- 
 vantage of its subjects. In proportion as the s}3here 
 of regulating aiuhority is enlarged, it requires greater 
 energy of mind, greater capability of apprehension, 
 greater fortitude, and greater i-ectitude, to discharge 
 the duties attached to its importance, its dignity and 
 its influence. 
 
 Nothing can describe greater unhappiness than to 
 be subject to the rule and caprice of babes, (Isa. iii. 
 4.) of servants, (Lam. v. 8.) of women, (Isa. iii. 12.) of 
 the wicked, Prov. xxviii. 15 ; xxix. 2. 
 
 The ruler of Joseph's house (Gen. xliii. 16.) is his 
 house steward ; his domestic inspector and regulator : 
 the ruler of the people is the civil or judiciary magis- 
 trate : (Exod. xxii. 28.) thou shalt not revile the ruler 
 of thy people, especially in the discharge of his 
 oftlce. 
 
 RUMA, a city spoken of l)y Josephus, as a village 
 of Galilee, 2 Kings xxiii. 36. Probably the same 
 with Arumah, Judg. ix. 41. 
 
 RUMP of the sacrifices. Moses ordained that the 
 rump and fat of the sheep offered for peace-ofterings 
 should be given to the fire of the altar, Exod. xxix. 
 22; Lev. iii. 9 ; vii. 3 ; viii. 25 ; ix. 19. The rump 
 was esteemed the most delicate part of the animal, 
 being the fattest. Travellers, ancient and modern, 
 speak of the rumps or tails of certain breeds of sheep 
 in Syria and Arabia, as weighing twenty or thirty 
 pounds. Herodotus says that some may be seen three 
 cubits, or four feet and a half long; they drag upon 
 the gi-ound ; and for fear they should be hurt, or the 
 skin torn, the shepherds put under the tails of these 
 sheep little carriages, which the animals draw after 
 them. The pagans had also such regard for the 
 rumps or tails, that they always made them a part of 
 their sacrifices. In the Description de I'Egypte, (large 
 folio, Paris, 1820,) is inserted a plate of an Egyjjtian 
 ram, remarkable for the enormous size of the tail ; 
 the weight of which exceeds forty-four pounds, Fr. 
 
 To R UN is used metaphorically not only for rapid- 
 ity, but for perseverance : " So run that ye may ob- 
 tain "the crown, the reward. " I therefore so run, 
 as not incorrectly," not passing over the boundaries, 
 the limits of the course. Ileb. xii. 1, " Let us run 
 with patience, perseveringly, steadily, the race set 
 before us." To run to excess of riot, (1 Pet. iv. 4.) is 
 to pursue with avidity, to follow, with prolonged atten- 
 tion, sensual gratifications, indulgences, &c. As men 
 when running, especially when running for a prize, 
 labor with great diligence, earnestness and intensity, 
 the apostle uses this Avord to run, to express the 
 course of his conduct among his Christian converts; 
 his continued behavior towards them, (Gal. ii. 2.) 
 "lest by any means I liad run, or should hereafter 
 run, in vain" — lest my ministerial labors should suf- 
 fer under the imputation of improper motives, con-
 
 RUT 
 
 f 795 
 
 RUTH 
 
 duct or management. The same apostle also says to 
 his Galatian roiiverts, (chap. v. 7.) " Ye did run well, 
 who did hinder yon ?" Ye did run with speed and 
 vigor ; who cainu across your course, and so drove 
 you back in your CIn-istian race, your profession of 
 godliness? See Race. 
 RUSH, see Flag. 
 
 RUTH, a Moabitess, who, liaving married Chilion, 
 eon of ElinicJech and Naomi, who had settled in 
 Moab, was left a widow, without children. Naomi, 
 having lost her luishand and two sons, was desirous 
 to return to Bethlehem, her own coiuitry. Her two 
 daughtei'S-in-law oft'ered to attend her. Orpah, h'ow- 
 evcr, was persuaded to continue in Moab, but Ruth 
 accompanied Naomi to Bethleliem. This happened, 
 according to Usher, under Shaingar, about 120 years 
 after Joshua. At Bethlehem, Ruth went out to glean, 
 and providenlially entered the field of a rich citizen 
 of Bethlehem, named Boaz, related to Elimelech, 
 her father-in-law. When Boaz came to see his har- 
 vesters, he found Ruth, and bestowed favors upon 
 her. In the evening she told Naomi of his civilities, 
 who blessed God that he had put such sentiments in 
 JJoaz's heart, and acquainted Ruth that this was their 
 kinsman. At the end of harvest she desired Ruth to 
 go and lie at the feet of Boaz, who winnowed his 
 corn ; and to do what he should advise. She went 
 accordingly, and Boaz, awaking in the night, became 
 alarmed. His kinswoman, however, said, "I am 
 Ruth, thine handmaid ; spread, thei-efore, thy skirt 
 over thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman." 
 Boaz acknowledged her right, but suggested that 
 there was a nearer than himself, adding, that if he 
 should refuse to marry her, he woidd himself take 
 her to wife. The next day Boaz went to the gate of 
 Bethlehem, and cited before the elders of the city the 
 nearest kinsman to Elimelech ; on whom the duty 
 devolved of marrying Ruth, the widow of Chilion. 
 This person declining it, Boaz insisted that he should 
 renounce his right, which he willingly did, and then 
 Boaz declared his resolution to marry her himself. 
 
 Thus Ruth became the wife of Boaz, by whom she 
 had a son called Obed, who was father to Jesse, and 
 grandfather to king David. 
 
 The Book of Ruth, which contains this history, 
 is placed in our Bibles between the book of Judges 
 and the books of Samuel, as being the sequel of the 
 former, and an introduction to the latter. Jerome 
 informs us that the Jews added it to the book of 
 Judges, because the transactions it relates happened 
 hi the time of the Judges of Israel, Judg. i. 1. And 
 several of the ancient fathers make but one book of the 
 Judges and Ruth. But the modern Jews conmionly- 
 place in their Bibles, after the Pentateuch, the five 
 Megilloth; (1.) The Song of Solomon ; (2.) Ruth ; 
 (3.) The Lamentations of Jeremiah ; (4.) Ecclesiastes; 
 (5.) Esther. Sometimes Ruth is placed the first of 
 the five, sometimes the second, and sometimes the 
 fifth. 
 
 The scope of the author of this book, is to trace the 
 genealogy of David ; and in all probability, he was 
 the same author as composed the first book of Sam- 
 uel ; in which, because he could not conveniently 
 place this genealogy of David, he chose rather to give 
 it separately. The writer observes, at the beginning 
 of his work, that the history he was about to relate 
 happened when the Judges governed Israel ; there- 
 fore, they ceased to govern it when he wrote. He 
 also speaks of David at the end of his book ; which 
 shows, that, at the earliest, it must have been Avritten 
 in the time of David. Besides, we have observed 
 two ways of speaking in it, or particular phrases, 
 which are only found in the books of Samuel and of 
 the Kings: the first is, "The Lord do so to me, and 
 more also," Ruth i. l7. (Comp. 1 Sam. iii. 17 ; xiv. 
 44 ; XX. 23 ; 2 Sam. iii. 9, 35 ; xix. 13 ; 1 Kings ii. 
 23 ; xix. 2 ; xx. 10 ; 2 Kings vi. 31.) The second, 
 " I have discovered to your ear ;" for 1 have told you, 
 Ruth iv. 4. (Comp. 1 Sam. xx. 2 ; 2 Sam. vii. 27.) 
 
 The canonicalness of this book was never disputed ; 
 and Ruth the Moabitess is in the genealogy of our 
 Saviour, Matt. i. 5. 
 
 S 
 
 SAB 
 
 SABAOTll, or rather Tsabaoth, a Hebrew word, 
 signifying hosts or armies ; Jehovah Sabaoth, is The 
 Lord of Hosts; whether we understand the host of 
 heaven, or the angels and ministers of the Lord, or 
 the stars and planets, which, as an army ranged in 
 battle array, })erform the will of God ; or, lastly, the 
 people of the Lord, both of the old and new covenants, 
 which is tridy a great army, of which God is the 
 general and commander. 
 
 The Hebrew Tsai!»a is often used, also, to signify the 
 service his ministers perform to God in the tem{)le ; 
 because they are there, as it ,were, soldiers or guards, 
 attending the coiut of their prince. Numb. iv. 3, 93, 
 30, &c. This word is also used to express the duty 
 of the women who watched at the floor of the taber- 
 nacle, and kept guard there during the night-time, 
 Exod. xxxviii. 8. 
 
 SABBATH, rest; God, having created the world in 
 six days, rested on the seventh ;"(Gen. ii. 2, 3.) that is, 
 he ceased IVom producing new beings in this creatioc ; 
 and because he had rested on it, he blessed or sa-'Cti- 
 fied it, and appointed it in a peculiai* mannc'- tor his 
 
 SABBATH 
 
 worshi]). The Hebrews, afterwards, m consequence 
 of this designation, and to preserve the memory of the 
 creation, sanctified, by his order, the sabbath day, or 
 the seventh day of the week, abstaining from all work, 
 labor and servile employment, and applying them- 
 selves to the service of the Lord, to the study of his 
 law, and to prayer. 
 
 The days of "sabbath are taken sometimes for all 
 the Jewish festivals. "Keep my sabbaths," (Lev. 
 xix. 3, 30.) that is, my feasts; as the Passover, Pente- 
 cost, Feast of Tabernacles, &c. 
 
 It is disjjuted, wliCther, frotn tlie beginning of the 
 world, God gaveihe law of the sabbath ; and wbether 
 this dav was also observed, at least among the more 
 pious of tf-o first men, as the patriarchs, before the 
 promulgation of the law ; — whether this be the sense 
 of t'-ose words, (Gen. ii. 2.) "And God blessed the 
 St v-enth day, and sanctified it " ? — Some fathers, and 
 some Jewish doctors, have asserted the affirmative ; 
 and Manasseh Ben-Israel assures us that, according 
 to the tradition of the ancients, Abraham and his pos- 
 terity, having preserved the memory of the creation,
 
 SABBATH 
 
 [ 796 
 
 SABBATH 
 
 observed the sabbath also, in consequence of the nat- 
 ural law to that purpose. It is also believed that the 
 religiou of the seventh day is preserved among the 
 pagans, and that the observation of this day is as old 
 as the world itself. Philo says that the sabbath is not 
 a festival peculiar to any one peojile or country, but is 
 common to the whole world ; and that it may be 
 named the general and public festival, and that of the 
 nativity of the world ; and Josephus advances, that 
 there is no city, Greek or barbarian, nor any nation, 
 where the religion of the sabbath was not known. 
 Aristobulus quotes Homer and Hesiod, who speak of 
 the seventh day as sacred and venerable. Clemens 
 Alexandrinus speaks of the sabbath in the same terms 
 as Aristobulus, and he adds some passages fi-om the 
 ancients, who celebrate the seventh day. Some be- 
 lieve that Job observed the sabbath day ; because at 
 the end of seven days he offered a sacrifice to the 
 Lord on account of his children. Job i. 2, 5. Some 
 rabbins inform us that Joseph also observed the sab- 
 batli in Egypt. 
 
 But the contrary opinion is not without its sup- 
 porters. The greater part of the fathers and com- 
 mentators hold, that the sanctification of the sabbath, 
 mentioned by Moses in the beginning of Genesis, 
 signifies only that appointment then made of the 
 seventh day, to be afterwards solemnized and sancti- 
 fied by the .Tews ; nor docs it appear from any pas- 
 sages of Scripture, that the ancient patriarchs observ- 
 ed the sabbath ; or that God designed to oblige them 
 thereto, before the law. Philo says that the Hebrews, 
 having forgotten the day of the creation of the world, 
 were again reminded of it, when God, having caused 
 it to rain manna all the other days of the week, with- 
 held it on the sabbath day. As to the seventh day, 
 which was honored by some pagans, and of which 
 they have spoken, as of a holy day, it was either ded- 
 icated to Apollo, or it Avas an imitation of the Jewish 
 sabbath, which some pagans held in honor, either out 
 of superstition or devotion. 
 
 Ezekiel (xx. 12, 20.) says expressly, that the sab- 
 bath, and the other feasts of the Jews, are signs given 
 by God to his people, to distinguish them from other 
 nations ; "I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign be- 
 tween me and them, that they might know that I am 
 the Lord tiiat sanctify them." And again, "Hallow 
 my sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between me 
 and you, that ye mav know that I am the Lord your 
 God." And Moses, "(Dent. v. 15.) "The Lord hath 
 brought thee out of Egypt, therefore the Lord thy 
 God connnaiidcd thee to keep the sabbath day." 
 Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Eusebius and Bernard 
 advance, as a matter not to be doubted, that neither 
 the patriarchs before the deluge, nor those after, ob- 
 served the sabl)ath. L'enseiis says exjjressly, that 
 Abraham had faith, and was called the friend of God, 
 yet neither was circumcised, nor observed the sabbath. 
 "(See Selden, de Jure Nat. et Gent. lib. iii. cap. 18 — 
 15 ; and Spencer, de LegibwsHeb. lib. i. cap. iv. sec. 7.) 
 
 God gave the precejit of the ?abbath to tiie Hebrews 
 at INIarnh, one month after their CtMjiing out of Egypt, 
 Abib 15, A. M. 251.'). Manna bega^ to fall, accord- 
 ing to several of tlie fathers, on the Suh<Iay, six days 
 before the pal)l)ath ; but according to othivs, on the 
 very eve of the sabbath. However this niRy be, it 
 was probably on occasion of the mamia, that God 
 commanded the Hebrews to observe the seventh daj ; 
 aud not to go out to gather any on that day, for that 
 none would fall. The same command of celebrating 
 the sabbath occurs several times in the law, Exod. 
 xx. 8 — 11 ; Lev. xxiii. 3; Deut. v. 12. 
 
 In Exod. xxxi. 13 ; xxxv. 2, it is said, that God 
 established his sabbath among the children of Israel, 
 as a sign to make them remember that he is the Lord 
 who sanctifies them. Adding that whosoever shall 
 pi-ofane the sabbath shall be punished with death. 
 We see the execution of this law on the man who, 
 having gathered wood on tlie sabbath day, and was 
 stoned, Numb. xv. 32, 35. On other holy days it was 
 allowed to light a fire, and to dress victuals ; but this 
 was expressly forbidden on the sabbath day, Exod. 
 xxxv. 2, 3. The rabbins confine this jirohibition to 
 servile works only ; as to bake bread, to dress meat, 
 to Ibrge metals, &c. They suppose that for such sort 
 of works, it is forbidden to light a fire, but not tor one 
 to warm himself. 
 
 On the sabbath d.ay the ministers of the temple 
 entered on their week ; and those a\ ho had attended 
 the foregoing week, went out. They placed on the 
 golden table new loaves of shew^-bread, and took away 
 tiie old ones. Lev. xxiv. 8. Also, on this day were 
 oftered particular sacrifices of two lambs for a burnt- 
 oftering, with the wine and the meal. The sabbath 
 was celebrated, as the other festivals, from evening to 
 evening. 
 
 The first obligation of the sabbath expressed in the 
 law, is to sanctify it ; (Numb, xxviii.9, 10 ; Exod. xx. 
 8.) " Remember to sanctify the sabbath day." It is 
 sanctified bj' doing good works in it ; by prayers, 
 praises and thanksgivings, by public and private 
 worship of God, by the study of his law, by justice 
 and innocence, and tranquillity of mind. The secon(i 
 .obligation is that of rest : " Thou slialt do no work on 
 the sabbath." Meaning any servile or laborious woi-k, 
 that might fix the mind, and interrupt that attention 
 which is due to God, and which is necessary when 
 we pay acceptable worship to him. The Jews have 
 varied about the manner in which they ought to ob- 
 serve the rest of the sabbath. In the time of the 
 Maccabees they durst not so much as defend them- 
 selves from an enemy on this day, even in the most 
 pressing necessity, 1 Mac. ii. 32, 33, &c. Since that 
 time they have not scruj)led to take arms, and stand 
 on their necessary defence. But it may be seen by 
 Josephus, that they would not attack their enemies, 
 nor hinder them from advancing their works ; nor 
 would they march with their armies, even in time of 
 war, or i)i the enemy's country, on the sabliath day. 
 (Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 3 ; xiii. cap. 1. 16.) In the time of 
 oui' Saviour, they would water their cattle, or take out 
 of a ditch a beast that had happened to fall in on the 
 sabbath day; but by a false delicacy they could not 
 bear with our Saviour's healing the sick on that day, 
 Matt. xii. 11, 12. Since that time they have deter- 
 mined, that a man might give food to a beast that had 
 fallen into a pit, but must not take him out on that 
 day. The Jews complained of our Saviour's disciples, 
 who, passing through the corn-fields on the sabbath 
 day, gathered some ears of corn, and ndjbed them 
 between their hands, in order to eat the grain. This 
 action, however, our Saviour excused, from the neces- 
 sity of the thing, and because they had need of nour- 
 ishment; adding, that the priests themselves in the 
 temple do work, which, every where else, and in every 
 one else, would be esteemed a violation of the sab- 
 bath ; that the Son of man was Lord of the sabbath ; 
 and that the sabbath was niatle for man, not man for 
 the sabbath. 
 
 The rabbins reckon thirty-nine primary ])rohibi- 
 tions, which ought to be observed on the sabbath, and 
 seveifil other secondary ones dependent on tliem. 
 Their humber is, in fact, so great, that it is almost im-
 
 SABBATH 
 
 [ 797 ] 
 
 SABBATH 
 
 possible to keep tliein ail ; and the rabbins affirm, that 
 if the pc;ople of Israel could keep but two sabbaths 
 as they ought to be kept, they should soon see them- 
 selves delivered from the evils under which they groan. 
 Their scrupulosity even forbids to peel or to roast an 
 ni)i)l(- ; to kill a flea, a fly, or other insect, if it is so 
 big that the sex may be distinguished ; to sing, or to 
 j)lay on an instrument, so loud as to awaken a child. 
 Yet, notwithstanding all this, the Samaritans jiretend, 
 that the Jews arc not religious enough in their obser- 
 vation of the sabbath. As for them, they will not 
 light a fire on this day : they abstain from the use of 
 marriage : they do not stir from their places, save only 
 to go to the house of the Lord : they employ them- 
 selves wholly in reading the law, in prayers and 
 thanksgivings. (Letter of the Samaritans to JMr. 
 Huntington.) 
 
 Of all the festivals God has enjoined, there are 
 none of which the Jews are so jealous, or of which 
 they speak so magnificently, as of the sabbath. They 
 call it their spouse, because God lias given it to 
 them, specially, exclusive of all other nations. Leo 
 of Modeua, who alone is equivalent to all the modern 
 Jews, says, the rabbins have reduced all that is for- 
 bidden on the sabbath day, to thirty-nine heads, each 
 of which have their circumstances and dependences. 
 But they are of little importance, and their enumera- 
 tion would occupy much space. 
 
 Such profane authors as have venturt d to speak of 
 the origin of the sabbath, have shown their ignorance 
 of Jewish afl'airs. Tacitus thought they observed 
 the sabbath in honor of Saturn, to whom Saturday 
 Avas consecrated by the pagans. But Plutarch as- 
 serts that it was kept in honor of Bacchus, who is 
 called Sabbos ; and because in the festivals of this 
 false deity they used to cry Sahoi. Apion, the gram- 
 marian, mair.tained that the Jews celebrated the 
 sabbath in memory of their being cured of a shame- 
 ful disease, which in the Egyptian language was 
 called Sabbosis. Pagan authors speak pretty fre- 
 quently of the fast of the sabbath ; as if the Jews 
 had ordinarily fasted on this day ; whereas fasting 
 was utterly forbidden on the sabbath. 
 
 The obligation of devoting a portion of our time 
 to God, to be employed in his worsliip and service, is 
 founded on natural right and reason. The law had 
 fixed this to the seventh day, that is, the sabbath, for 
 the nation of the Jews. It is beheved by some that 
 the apostles, to honor the day of our Saviour's resur- 
 rection, determined it to every seventh da}% and fixed 
 it on the Sunday, that is, the first day of the week 
 among the Hebrews ; and the day dedicated to the 
 sun among the pagans. The change of the day, 
 however, is rather to be gathered from the [)ractice of 
 the Christian church, than as clearly enjoined in the 
 New Testament. It appears that believers came to- 
 giHlier on this day to break bread, that collections 
 for the poor were then made, and put into the gen- 
 eral treasury of the church ; (as we understand 1 Cor. 
 xvi. 2.) tliat on this day exhortations and discourses 
 were made to the people ; and in short, we have the 
 various parts of public worship noted, as being per- 
 formed on this day. It will follow, that we may 
 safely imitate those examples which the apostles and 
 primitive Christians have left us; and whatever ob- 
 ligations the Jews might lie under to the observance 
 of the Saturday sabbath, they do not bind Christians ; 
 because those obligations were natural, not general ; 
 and were commemorative, in some degree, of Israel- 
 itish events, in which others have no interest ; where- 
 as, the resurrection sabbath commemorates au event 
 
 in which all Christians throughout the world are in» 
 terested, and for which no equal mode of commem- 
 oration can be devised. We have then good exam- 
 ple and strong propriety in behalf of our observation 
 of the Lord's day, as a religious festival, though not 
 as a Jewish sabbath ; and the same principles in- 
 fluenced the Christians of early ages. 
 
 We are informed by Eusebius, that from the be- 
 ginning the Christians assembled on the first day of 
 the week, called by them the " Lord's day," for 
 the [)urposes of religious worship, "to read the 
 Scriptures, to preach, and to celebrate the Lord's 
 supper ;" and Justin Martyr observes, "that, on the 
 Lord's day, .ill Christians in the city, or country, 
 meet together, because that is the day of our Lord's 
 resurrection, and then we read the writings of the 
 apostles and prophets ; this being done, the president 
 makes an oration to the assembly, to exhort them to 
 imitate and to practise the things they have heard ; 
 then we all join in prayer, and alter that we celebrate 
 the sacrament. Then they who are able and willing 
 give what they think proper, and what is collected is 
 laid up in the hands of the president, who distributes 
 it to orphans and widows, and other necessitous 
 Christians, as their wants require." (See 1 Cor. xvi. 
 20.) A very honorable conduct and worship ! would 
 to God it were more prevalent among us ; with the 
 spirit and \nety of primitive Christianity! 
 
 John says, (Rev. i. 10.) " I was in the spirit on the 
 Lord's day ;" so called, doubtless, to preserve the 
 remembrance of his resiuTcction, which was the 
 completion of oin* redemption. Barnabas, in liis 
 Epistle, says, that we joyfully celebrate the eighth 
 day, in memory of the resurrection of our Saviour, 
 because it was on this day he rose again, and as- 
 cended into heaven ; and Ignatius the martyr, in his 
 letter to the Magnesians, would have us honor this day 
 of the Lord, this day of the resurrection, as the first 
 and most excellent of days. 
 
 A Sabbath Day's Journey. — " Pray ye that your 
 flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath 
 day," says our Saviour to his disciples, when dis- 
 coursing to them of the approaching destruction of 
 Jerusalem, Matt. xxiv. 20. And Luke informs us, 
 (Acts i. 12.) that the mount of Olives was distant 
 from Jerusalem about a sabbath day's journey. The 
 rabbins generally fix tliis distance at two thousand 
 cubits. Josephus says, that the moimt of Olives was 
 five stadia from Jerusalem, which makes six hun- 
 dred and twenty-five paces. Thus the journey that 
 was allowable on a sabbath day was about six or 
 seven hundred paces, or something more. Origcn 
 says that the journey of a sabbath day is one mile 
 or two thousand cubits. The Jews also used to 
 make a mile consist of two thousand cubits ; so that 
 their cubit nuist be two feet and a half, since their 
 mile contains a thousand paces, or five thousand feet, 
 taking their paces at five feet each. Maimonides 
 will have it, that he who does not know exactly the 
 distance of a ])lace, may walk on the sabbath day 
 two thousand moderate jjaces, which makes a thou- 
 sand geometrical paces of five feet each. Epipha- 
 nitis says, (Hseres. Ixvi.) that the Jews believe they 
 are forbidden from walking on the sabbath day 
 above six stadia, or seven hundred and fifty paces. 
 The Syriac translator of the Acts of the Apostles 
 puts about seven stadia for a sabbath day's journey ; 
 which is according to what some rabbins say, that a 
 mile is seven stadia and a half. 
 
 The Second Sabbath after the First (LuKe 
 vi. 1.) is au expression which has much divided com-
 
 SAB 
 
 [ 798 ] 
 
 SAB 
 
 mentators. Some have taken it for the second, others 
 for the last, clay of unleavened bread ; and some, for 
 the day of Pentecost. The Passover was the first 
 sabbath, according to them, and Pentecost the sec- 
 ond. Others have thought, that the first grand sab- 
 bath was the first sabbath of the civil year, in the 
 month Tizri ; and that the second grand sabbath 
 was the first of the holy year, or of the month Nisan. 
 But Joseph Scaliger, who is followed by most com- 
 mentators, supposes it to have been the first sabbath 
 which followed the second day of unleavened bread. 
 Indeed, the Greek word (^fUTfou.rocuroc properly means 
 thejirst after the second. This second day of the Pass- 
 over was a festival, in which the fruits of the harvest 
 w^ere offered to God, Lev. xxiii. 5, 9. From this 
 second day, the Jews thus reckoned their sabbaths 
 from the Passover to Pentecost ; the first was called 
 the first [sabbath] after the second [day of unleavened 
 bread.] Tlie second was called the second [sabbath] 
 after the second [day of unleavened bread.] The 
 third was called the third [sabbath] after the second 
 [day of unleavened bread.] And so of the rest, 
 as far as the seventh [sabbath] after the second 
 [day of unleavened bread.] This seventh sabbath 
 immediately preceded Pentecost, which was cele- 
 brated the fiftieth day after the second day of un- 
 leavened bread. 
 
 The Preparatio.v for the Sabbath is the Fri- 
 day before ; for as it was forbidden to make a fire, to 
 bake bread, or to dress victuals, on the sabbath day, 
 they provided on the Friday every thing needful for 
 their sustenance on the sabbath. 
 
 SABBATICAL YEAR was to be celebrated 
 among the Jews from seven years to seven years, 
 when the land was to rest, and be left without cul- 
 ture, Exod. xxiii. 10 ; Lev. xxv. 2, 3, &c. They 
 were then to set slaves at liberty, and each was to 
 re-enter on his inheritance that had been alienated. 
 God appointed the observation of the sabbatical year, 
 to preserve the remembrance of the creation of tlie 
 world ; to enforce the acknowledgment of his sove- 
 reign authority over all things, particularly over the 
 land of Canaan, which he had given to the Hebrews, 
 by delivering up the fruits of their fields to the poor 
 and the stranger. It was a kind of tribute wliich 
 tlicy paid for it to the Lord. Besides, he intended 
 to ineuicate humanity on his people, by commanding 
 that they should resign to the slaves, to tlie poor, to 
 strangers and to brutes, the produce of their fields, 
 of their vineyards, and of their gardens, Lev. xxv. 
 2, &c. 
 
 It has been much disputed, at what season of the 
 year the sabbatical year began. Some have been of 
 <.i)inion, that it began on the first month of the sa- 
 cred year, that is, Nisan, or in the spring. Others 
 think it i)ogan at the first montli of the civil year, or 
 Tizri (Sei)tembor). Moses does not explain himself 
 on this matter very clearly. He says only, that the 
 land shall not be cidtivated, and that there shall be 
 n' harvest that year. In Palestine, the time of sow- 
 ing wheat and i)arley was in autunni ; barley-harvest 
 began at the Passover, and wheat-harvest at Pente- 
 cost. Therefore, to enter into the spirit of the law 
 for observing the rest of the sabbatical year, that the 
 land may not remain two years without cultivation, 
 we must necessarily begin it at autumn, after the 
 crops were gathered : they did not till the land in 
 aiUutnn, and they had no liarvest after the winter ; 
 butlhe autumn following they began again to cultivate 
 the land, that they might reap their harvests in the 
 spring and summer following. 
 
 In the sabbatical year all debts were remitted, and 
 slaves were set at liberty, Dent. xv. 12; Exod. xxi. 2. 
 But were debts absolutely forgiven, or was the pay- 
 ment of them only sus])ended ? Several think, that 
 this remission was absolute, and that all debts were 
 totally extinguished in the sabbatical year. The 
 caution of rich men, noticed by Moses, (IDeut. xv. 9.) 
 who would not lend to their brethren at the approach 
 of the sabbatical year, seems to prove, that after this 
 year nothing w'as to be hoped for from their debtors. ^ 
 For if the payment of debts were only suspended till 
 this year was over and past, it would not have been 
 a sufficient motive to hinder them from lending. As 
 there was no lending for interest in the case, which 
 was forbidden to the Hebrews toward their brethren, 
 as it could only be a simple loan, the creditor might 
 require it again either before or after the sabbatical 
 year, on the supposition of those who think that the 
 remission was not absolute. Others, as the rabbins 
 and Grotius, distinguish between debts mortgaged on 
 security (the contracts of which included a clause of 
 perpetual debt) and simple contracts ; the last being 
 for ever acquitted on the sabbatical J'ear, but not the 
 others. Menochius also thinks, that the remission of 
 debts was general and absolute, but not of loans or 
 deposits. This regarded only the natural Hebrews, 
 or proselytes to Judaism, and not strangers. 
 
 I. SABEANS, the inhabitants of the country 
 called Seba, Heb, n^d. This appears to have been 
 the great island or rather peninsula of Meroc, in 
 northern Ethiopia, or Nubia, formed between the 
 Nile and the Astaboras, now Atbara. Upon this pe- 
 ninsula lay a citj^ of the like name ; the ruins of 
 which are still visible a few miles north of the mod- 
 ern Shendy. (Rlippel's Reiscn, p. 85.) Meroe was a i 
 city of priests, whose origin is lost in the highest an- 
 tiquity. (See Egypt, p. 373.) The monarch was. 
 chosen by the priests from among themselves; and 
 the government was entirely theocratic, being man-; 
 aged by the priests according to the oracle of Jupiter 
 Ammon. This was the Seba of the Hebrews, accord- 
 ing to Josephus, (Antiq. ii. 10.2.) who mentions, at 
 the same tune, that it was conquered by Cambyses, 
 and received from him the name Meroe, after his sis- 
 ter. With this representation accord the notices of 
 Seba and its inhabitants, in Scriptiu-e. In Gen. x. 7, 
 their ancestor is said to be a son of Cush, the progen- 
 itor of the Ethiopians. In Isa. xliii. 3, and Ps. Ixxii. 
 10, Seba is mentioned as a distant and wealthy couu- '^j 
 try ; in the foniier passage it is connected with Egypt [ 
 and Ethiopia ; and Meroe was one of the most im- ' 
 portant commercial cities of interior Africa, (Heeren's 
 Ideen, II. i. p. 397.) Finally, in Isa. xlv. 14, the Sa 
 beans are said to be tall of stature. In like manner, 
 Herodotus (iii. 20.) says of the Ethiopians, among 
 whom the Sabeans arc to be reckoned, that they v.cro 
 "the tallest of men;" and Solinus affh-n::s, (Poly- 
 hist. c. 30.) tliat " the Ethiojiians are twelve feet high"." 
 This shows at least a coincidence between the ac- 
 counts of Scripture and of profane writers ; and goes 
 to confirm the testimony of Josei)hns above given, 
 that Seba was the same with Meroe. *R. 
 
 II. SABEANS, the inhabitants of the country 
 called Sheba, Heb. .s3L". There are no less than 
 three persons of the name of Sheba mentioned in 
 Scripture as the ancestors of tribes. (1.) A grandson 
 of Cush, Gen. x. 7. — (2.) A son of Joktan, Gen. x. 
 28. — (3.) A son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by 
 Keturah. The similarity of the names Joktan and 
 Jokshan, in the two last cases, would almost lead to 
 the supposition, that these two Shebas were the
 
 SAC 
 
 [ 799 
 
 SAC 
 
 same pei-son. At any rate, tliey all seem to have set- 
 tled in Arabia Felix, probably in the southern part 
 of it ; and even if they were originally ditt'ereut jier- 
 sons, yet they would appear to have been at a later 
 period confounded ; and the name Sabeans to have 
 lieen aj)plied indiscriminately to the descendants of 
 all. Indeed, in Job i. 15, where the Sabeans are said 
 to have j»limdered Job, the name seems to stand for 
 Arabians, or Arab robbers, generally. 
 
 The Sheba of Scripture appears to be the Saba of 
 Strabo, (xvi. 4. 2.) situated towards the southern part of 
 Arabia, at a distance Ironi the coast of the Red sea, 
 tJie capital of which was Mariaba, or Mareb ; whence 
 A bulfeda affirms that Mareb and Saba were synony- 
 mous names. (See Bibl. Repos. No. 8. Art. 2. fourth 
 note.) The queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon, (1 
 Kings X. 1, seq ; 2 Chron. L\. 1, seq.) and made him 
 picsents of gold, ivory and costly spices, was most 
 probably the mistress of this region ; indeed, the 
 Sal)eans were celebrated, on account of their impor- 
 ttuit commerce, in these veiy products, among the 
 Greeks also, (Strabo, ibid.) Isa. Ix. G ; Jer. vi. 20 ; 
 Ezek. xxvii. 22 ; Ps. Ixxii. 10, 15 ; Joel iv. 8 ; Job vi. 
 19. The tradition of this visit of the queen of Sheba 
 to Solomon, has maintained itself among the Arabs; 
 Wiio ca'l her Baikis, and affirm that slic became the 
 wife of Solomon. The 27th Sura of the Koran has 
 taken up this tradition and probably exaggerated it. 
 She is also registered in the series of the sovereigns of 
 Yemen. (Pococke's Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 277.) 
 
 It woidd seem that the two names Seba and Sheba, 
 Hcb. N3D and n33, have often been confounded ; and 
 hence, Sheba has often been referred to Ethiopia, the 
 proper location of Seba. In this way the queen of 
 Sheba is also often regarded as queen of Ethiopia, 
 even by the Ethiopituis themselves, ^^■ho also have 
 traditions respecting her. See more on this subject 
 under Sheba ; and also the article Ethiopia. *R. 
 SABTAH, the third son of Cush, (Gen. x. 7.) peo- 
 pled part of Arabia Fcelix, where is a city called 
 Sal>ta, and a people called Sabatheans. 
 
 SABTECMA, Mh son of Cush, who also peopled, 
 as is thought, part of Arabia, or some country toward 
 Assyria, or Armenia, or Caramania ; for in all these re- 
 gions are found traces of the name Sabtccha, Gen. x. 7. 
 SACK, SACK-CLOTH. These are pure He- 
 brev/ vvor:!:-, and have spread into almost all lan- 
 guages. Sack-cloth is a very coarse stuff*, often of 
 iiair. In great calamities, in penitence, in trouble, they 
 wore sack-cloth about their bodies, 2 Sam. iii. 31. 
 "Gird yourselves with sack-cloth, and mourn for 
 Abner." — "Lot us gird ourselves with sack-cloth ; 
 and let U3 go, and implore the clemency of the king 
 of Israel," 1 Kings xx. 31. Ahab rent his clothes, 
 put on a shirt of hair cloth next to his skin, fasted, 
 and lay upon sack-cloth, 1 Kings xxi. 27. When 
 Mordecai was informed of the destruction threatened 
 to his nation, he put on sack-cloth, and coveied his 
 head with ashes, Esth. iv. Job says, that he sewed a 
 sack over his flesh, chap. xvi. 15. The prophets 
 were often clothed in sack-cloth ; and generally in 
 coai-se clothing. The Lord bids Isaiah j)ut oft" the 
 sack-cloth from about his body, and to go naked, 
 Isa. XX. 2. Zechariah says, (xiii. 4.) that false proph- 
 ets should no longer ])rophesy in sack-cloth, to de- 
 ceive the simple. John (Rev. xi. 3.) says, that the 
 two prophets of God sliould prophesy 1200 years, 
 clothed in sack-cloth. Baruch intimates, that this 
 habit of sack-cloth was that in which good people 
 clothed themselves when they went to prayers, Ba- 
 ruch iv. 20. But sack-cloih was mouniing, as ap- J 
 
 j)ears from numerous passages of Scripture ; and it 
 is very credible, also, that it was used for enwrapping 
 the dead, when about to be buried, fe'b that its be- 
 ing worn by survivors was a kind oi asshnilation to 
 the shroud, or dress, of the departed ; as its being 
 worn by penitents was an implied confession of what 
 their guilt exposed them to, that is, death. This we 
 gather from an expression of Chardin, who, in his 
 description of Ispahan, says — Kel Anayet, the Shah's 
 buflbon, made a shop in the seraglio, "which he 
 filled with piecesofthat coarse kindofstuft'of which 
 winding-sheets for the dead are made." x\nd again 
 —"the sufferers die by hundieds ; — mortuary urap- 
 ping-cloth is doubled in price." So that, however, in 
 later ages, some eastern nations might bmy in linen, 
 yet others still retained the use of a coarser material, 
 that is, sack-cloth. 
 
 In times of joy, or on hearing good news, those 
 who were clad in sack-cloth tore it from their bodies, 
 and cast it from them, Ps. xxx. 11. 
 
 SACKBUT, a wind musical instrument, like a 
 trumpet, which may be lengthened or shortened. 
 Italian trombone. R. 
 
 SACRIFICE was an offering made to God on 
 his altar, by the hand of a lawful minister. Sacrifice 
 differed from oblation : in a sacrifice there was a real 
 change or destruction of the thing offered ; w hereas 
 an oblation was but a simple offering or gift. As 
 men have always been bound to acknowledge the 
 supreme dominion of God over them, and over w hat- 
 ever belongs to them, and as there have always been 
 persons who have conscientiously acquitted them- 
 selves of this duty ; we may affirm, that there have 
 always been sacrifices in the world. Adam and his 
 sons, Noah and his descendants, Abraham and his 
 posterity. Job and Melchisedec, before the Mosaic 
 law, offered to God real sacrifices. That law did 
 but settle the quality, the number, and other cir- 
 cumstances of sacrifices. Before that, they offered 
 fruits of the earth, the fat or the milk of animals ; 
 the fleeces of sheep ; or the blood and the flesh of vic- 
 tims. Every one pursued his own mode of acknowl- 
 edgment, his zeal, or his devotion : but among the 
 Jews, the law appointed wdsat they were to offer, 
 and in what quantities. Before the law, every one 
 was priest and minister of his own sacrifice ; at least 
 he was at liberty to choose w hat priest he pleased, 
 in offering his victim. Generally, this honor be- 
 longed to the most ancient, or the head of a family, 
 to princes, or to men of the greatest virtue and in- 
 tegi-ity. But after 3Ioses, this was, among the Jews, 
 confined to the fainilj- of Aaron. 
 
 It is disputed, whether, at first, there were any 
 other sacrifices than burnt-oflTerings: no other ap- 
 pear in Scripture. The Talmudists assure us, that 
 Abel offered only holocausts, consuming the flesh of 
 the victim by fire ; because it was not allowed to eat 
 it. Grotius is of opinion, that this patriarch did not 
 off"er a bloody sacrifice. The text of Moses informs 
 us, (Gen. iv. 4.) that he offered " of the firstlings of 
 his flocks, and of the fat thereof." 
 
 We are told by Servius, that the ancients put no 
 fire to sacrifices, but obtained it by their prayei-s ; and 
 most of the fathers think it was thus that God ac- 
 cepted the sacrifice of Abel : he consumed it, say 
 they, by fire from heaven ; which favor was not 
 vouchsafed to Cain's sacrifice. In the same manner 
 he consumed the sacrifices offered at .Vaiun's conse- 
 cration, those offered by Gideon, those offered by 
 Solomon, at the dedication of his temple, those of 
 Elijah on mount Carmel, and those offered by the
 
 SACRIFICE 
 
 [ 800 ] 
 
 SACRIFICE 
 
 Maccabees, at restoring the worship of the temple, 
 after the profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 
 The Hebrews had properly but three sorts of sac- 
 rifices ; (1.) the burnt-offering or holocaust ; (2.) the 
 sacrifice for sin, or sacrifice of expiation ; (3.) the 
 pacific sacrifice, or sacrifice of thanksgiving. Be- 
 side these, were several kinds of oflerings, of corn, 
 of meal, of cakes, of wine, of fruits ; and one manner 
 of sacrificing, which has no relation to any now 
 mentioned, that is, the setting at liberty one of the 
 two sparrows offered for the purification of leprous 
 persons ; (Lev. xiv. 4, 5, &c.) also the scape-goat, 
 which was taken to a distant and steep place, whence 
 it was thrown, Lev. xvi. 10, 26. These animals, 
 thus left to themselves, were esteemed victims of 
 expiation, loaded with the sins of those who offered 
 them. 
 
 The holocaust was offered and burnt up, on the 
 altar of burnt-offerings, without any i-eserve to the 
 person who gave the victim, or to the priest Avho 
 killed and sacrificed it ; only the priest had the skin ; 
 for before the sacrifices were offered to the Lord, 
 their skins were flayed off, and their feet and entrails 
 were washed. (See Lev. vii. 8.) 
 
 The sacrifice for sin, or for expiation, or the puri- 
 ficafion of a man wIk) had fiillen into any offence 
 against the law, was not entirely consimied on the 
 fire of the altar. No part of it returned to him who 
 had given it, but the sacrificuig priest had a share of 
 it. If it were the high-priest who had offended 
 through ignorance, he offered a calf without blem- 
 ish ; he brought it to the door of the tabernacle, put 
 his hand on the head of the sacrifice, confessed his 
 sin, asked pardon for it, killed the calf, &c. (See 
 Lev. iv. V.) If it were the whole people which had 
 offended, they were to offer a calf, in like manner. 
 The elders shall bring it to the altar of the tabernacle, 
 shall put their hands upon its head, confess tlieir 
 offence, &c. If it be a prince of the people who had 
 offended, he shall offer a goat, shall bring it to the 
 door of the tabernacle, shall put liis hands upon its 
 head, shall confess his sin, &.c, Calniet remarks, 
 that though Moses orders a goat, it is understood, 
 that they might offer a ram. (See Lev. vii. 1 — 4, and 
 compare Lev. v. 6, 7.) If it be a private jierson who 
 has committed an offence, he shall make an offering 
 of a sheep, or ashe-goat without blemish, shall present 
 it to the pri(>st at the door of the tabernacle, sball put 
 his hands upon the head of the sacrifice. The priest 
 shall sacrifice it, &c. (See Lev. iv. v.) But if he be not 
 of ability to offer a sheep, or a she-goat, he sliall offer 
 two turtles, or two young pigeons ; one for his sin, 
 the other for a burnt-offering. That which is for the 
 burnt-offering, shall be entirely consumed on the fire 
 of the altar. That which is to be offered for his sin, 
 shall be presented to the priest, who shall kill it, 6cc. 
 If the person was extremely poor, he might offer the 
 tenth part of an ephah of meal, that is, a little more 
 than a gallon of meal, without oil or spice. He ])re- 
 sented it to the priest, who took a handful of it, and 
 threw it on the fire : the rest was for iiimself. (For 
 other circumstances belonging to this subject, see 
 Lev. v. 1.5, 16 ; vi. 1 — 3.) When a ram was offered, 
 his rump, or tail, wjis burnt along with the rest of the 
 fat. But if it were a goat, the fat only was burnt. 
 Lev. vii. 2, 3. See Rump. 
 
 The peace-offering was offered to return thanks to 
 God for benefits; or to solicit favors from him ; or to 
 satisfy private devotion ; or simply, for the honor of 
 God. The Israelites offered this when they pleased; 
 no law obliged them to it. They were free to choose 
 
 what animal they would, among such as were al- 
 lowed to be sacrificed. No distinction was observed 
 of age, or sex, of the victim, as in the burnt sacrifices, 
 and the sacrifices for sin. Lev. iii. The law only re- 
 quired that the victim should be without blemish. 
 He who presented it came to the door of the taberna- 
 cle, put his hand on the head of the victim, and killed 
 it. The priest poured out the blood about the altar 
 of burnt sacrifices : he burnt on the fire of the altar 
 the fat of the lower belly, that which covers the kid- 
 neys, the liver and the bowels. And if it were a 
 lamb, or a ram, he added to it the rump of the animal, 
 which, in that country, is veiy fat. Before these 
 things were committed to the fire of the altar, the 
 priest put them into the hands of the offerer, then 
 made him lifi; them up on high, and wave them 
 toward the four quarters of the world, the priest sup- 
 porting and directing his hands. The breast and the 
 right shoulder of the sacrifice belonged to the priest 
 that performed the service ; and it appears, that each 
 of them were put into the hands of him who offered 
 them ; though Moses mentions only the breast of the 
 animal. After this, all the rest of the sacrifice be- 
 longed to him who presented it, and he might eat it 
 with his family and friends, at his pleasure, Lev. viii. 
 30, <kc. 
 
 The sacrifices or offerings of meal, or liquors, 
 Avhich were offered for sin, were in favor of the poorer 
 sort, who could not afford to sacrifice an ox, or goat, 
 or sheep. Lev. vi. 14, &c. They contented them- 
 selves with offering meal or flour, sprinkled with 
 oil, with spice (or frankincense) over it. And the 
 priest, taking a handful of this flour, with all the 
 frankincense, sprinkled them on the fire of the altar; 
 and all the rest of the flour was his own : he was to 
 eat it withotit leaven in the tabernacle, and none but 
 priests were to partake of it. As to other offerings, 
 fruits, wine, meal, wafei-s, or any thing else, the priest 
 always cast a part on the altar, the rest belonged to 
 him and the other priests. These offerings were 
 always accompanied with salt and wine, but were 
 without leaven. Lev. ii. 
 
 Sacrifices, in which they set at liberty a bird, or a 
 goat, were not properly such ; because there was no 
 shedding of blood, and the victim remained alive ; 
 e. g. the s])arrow offered for the purification of a leper, 
 or of a house spotted with leprosy. Lev. xiv. A 
 couj)le of sparrows were presented to the priest, or 
 two clean birds, with a bundle of hyssop, tied Avith a 
 scarlet string. The priest killed one of the birds 
 over ninning water, which was in a clean and new 
 earthen vessel ; afterwards, tying the living sj)aiTOw 
 to the bundle of cedar and hyssop, with the tail turn- 
 ed towards the handle of the vessel, he plunged it in 
 the water mingled with the blood of the first spar- 
 row ; sprinkled the leper, or the house, with it, and 
 then set the living sparrow at liberty, to go where it 
 pleased. 
 
 T'he other animal set at libeHy was a goat ; on the 
 day of solemn expiation. See Goat, Scape. 
 
 Sacrifices of birds were offered on three occasions. 
 (1.) For sin, when the person offering was not rich 
 enough to provide an animal for a victim. Lev. v. 7, 
 8. (2.) For purification of a woman after her lying-in, 
 Lev. xii. 6, 7. When slie could offer a lamb and a 
 young pigeon, she gave both ; the lamb for a burnt- 
 offering, the pigeon for a sin-oflliring. But if she 
 were not able to offer a lamb, she gave a pair of 
 turtles, or a pair of young j)igeons ; one for a burnt- 
 offrring, the other for a sin-offering. (3.) Tiiey 
 offered two spaiTows for those who were purified
 
 SACRIFICE 
 
 [ 801 
 
 SAC 
 
 from the leprosy ; one was a burnt-offering, the other 
 was a scape-sparrow, as above. Lev. xiv. 4, &c. 
 49—51. 
 
 For the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, see Pass- 
 over. 
 
 The perpetual sacrifice (Exod, xxix. 38 — 40 ; 
 Numb, xxviii. 3.) was a daily offering of two lambs on 
 the altar of burnt-offerings ; one in the morning, the 
 other in tlic evening. Tliey were burnt as holocausts, 
 but by a small fire, that thoy might continue binning 
 the longer. The lamb of the moniing was offered 
 about sunrise, after the incense was burnt on the 
 golden altar, and before any other sacrifice. That 
 in the evening was oftei-ed between tiie two cven- 
 iu.<TS, that is, at the decline of day, and before night. 
 With each of these victims was offered half a pint 
 of wino, half a pint of the purest oil, and an assaron, 
 or about three pints, of the finest flour. 
 
 Such were the sacrifiros of the Hebrews ; sacrifices, 
 indeed, veiy imperfect, and altogether incapable, in 
 themselves, to jxn-ify the soul ! Paul has described 
 these and other ceremonies of the law, " as weak and 
 beggarly elements," Gal. iv. 9. They represented 
 grace and purity, but they did not communicate it. 
 They convinced the sinner of the necessity to purify 
 himself, and make satisfaction to God ; but they did 
 not impart hoUness to him. Sacrifices were only 
 prophecies and figures of the true sacrifice, which 
 eminently includes all their virtues and qualities ; be- 
 ing at the same time holocaust, a sacrifice for sin, and 
 a sacrifice of thanksgiving ; containing tiie whole 
 substance and efificacy, of which the ancient sacrifices 
 were only representations. The paschal lamb, the 
 daily burnt-offerings, the offerings of flour and wine, 
 and all other oiilations, of whatever nature, promised 
 and represented the death of Jesus Christ. See 
 further on Covenant. 
 
 The sacrifice of a humble and contrite heart is 
 that Vvdiich, on our i)art, constitutes the whole merit 
 of what we can offer to God, Ps. li. 17. " The sacri- 
 fices of God are a broken spirit ; a broken and a con- 
 trite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." The Jews, 
 without thes3 dispositions, could not present any 
 offering agreeable to God ; and he often explains 
 himself on this matter in the prophets, Ps. xl. 6 : Jsa. 
 i. 11—14 ; Jer. xxxv. 15 ; Amos v. 21, 22 ; Hos. xiv. 
 2—4 ; Jool ii. 12, 13, &c. ; Ps. li. 16. 
 
 The A'cry natural notion common to mankind, that 
 whatever wo most value must be offered to God, has 
 prevailed in several nations, so far as to induce them 
 to offer human sacrifices. But it is not agreed who 
 first intro:'.uced this custom. Some ascribe it to Ilus, 
 or Saturn, who, they say, practised it among the 
 Pha-nicians, offering up to the gods his own son 
 Jfihoud, whom he had by the nymph Anabrcth. 
 Philo insinuates that the custom of offering such 
 sacrifices v/as known in Canaan before Abraham ; 
 and some learned men think, that the example of 
 theso people abated much of that horror Aliraham 
 would otherwise have had, at the intention of sacri- 
 ficing his own son. But it is much more probable, 
 that Al)raham's example, misunderstood and ill ap- 
 plied, gave rise to this custom. Some learned men 
 have thought, that among the Canaanitcs and Mo- 
 abites, they contented themselves with making their 
 chilflren pass through the flames, or between two 
 fires, which they called histrarc per ignem. No doubt 
 they often did so ; but often they really consumed 
 them in the flames. Moses (Lev. xviii. 21.) forbids 
 this practice, though we afterwards read of a son of 
 king Ahaz. who had been offered to Moloch, and vet 
 101 
 
 reigned after his father, 2 Kings xvi. 3, compared with 
 ch. xviii. 1. 
 
 In Lev. XX. 1 — 3, it is said, " Whosoever he be of 
 the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn 
 in Israel, that giveth any of his seed to Moloch, he 
 shall surely be put to death, the people of the land 
 shall stone him with stones. And I will set my face 
 against that man, and will cut him off from among his 
 people; because he hath given of his seed unto Mo- 
 loch, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy 
 name. And if the people of the land do any ways 
 hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his 
 seed unto Moloch, and kill him not, then I will set my 
 face against that man, and against his family, and will 
 cut him oft', and all that go a whoring after him, to 
 commit whoredom with Aloloch, from among their 
 people." Moses repeats these prohibitions, Deut. 
 xviii. 10. It appears, however, from Amos v. 26, 
 that the people did not forbear, even in the desert, to 
 carry with them a tent consecrated to Moloch. 
 
 It is beyond all doubt that the Canaanites put their 
 children to death in honor of their^ods, Ps. cvi. 37. 
 Jeremiah (xix. 5.) says, " They have built also the high 
 places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire, for burnt- 
 offermgs unto Baal." (See also chap, xxxii. 35.) For 
 these crimes God drove out the Canaanitcs. (See Deut. 
 xviii. 10, 12; Wisd. xii. 5.) 
 
 The Pha'uicians, arenmantof the Canaanites, con 
 tinuctl this barbarous custom, which they justified by 
 the example of Ilus, or Saturn, as above ; and carried 
 it with their colonies into Africa, where it long con- 
 tinued. When Gelo, king of Sicily, conquered the 
 Carthaginians, by the treaty he made with them, he 
 obliged them to renounce the custom of sacrificing 
 their children to Saturn ; and Justin assures us, that 
 Darius imposed the same commands on them by an 
 embassy, to leave off human sacrifices. But notwith- 
 standing this, they continued them till the procon- 
 sulate of Tiberius, v»ho caused the priests of Saturn 
 to be hanged on trees around their temples. Diodorus 
 Siculus gives a description of Saturn, as adored by 
 the Carthaginians : the figure was of brass ; the hands 
 of which were turned backward, and bending toward 
 the ground ; so that when they put upon his arms a 
 child, to be consecrated to him, he immediately fell 
 into a pan of burning coals beneath, and died mise- 
 rably at the foot of the statue. 
 
 It would be to little purpose to accumulate exam- 
 ples ol' human victims. Porphyry assures us, that 
 the book of Sanchouiathon was full of them. They 
 v/ere frequent, not only in Phoenicia, in Palestine, in 
 the countries of Annnon and Moab, in Idumea, in 
 Arabia, and in Egypt; but also in Gaul, among the 
 Scythians, the Thracians, in the islands of Rhodes, 
 Chios and Cyprus; even among the Athenians; and 
 also in India, the South sras, and America. In fact, 
 they have been practised in all parts of the world, 
 with very few exceptions. 
 
 As to v.'hat is affirmed, that Ahaz had the same 
 son for his successor, whom he had caused to pass 
 through the fire in honor to ?iloloch, no pi'oof can bo 
 given of this. It is true, his successor was Hezekiah ; 
 but he might have had several other sons. We know 
 another of his sons, vvhose name was Maaseiah, who 
 was ])ut to death at the command of the king of 
 Israel, 2 Chron. xxviii. 7. 
 
 SACRILEGE, the action of profaning holy things, 
 or of committing outi-age against holy tilings, or holy 
 persons. Theft, or abuse, or profanation of sacred 
 tilings, is sacrilege. Scripture gives the name of sac- 
 rilege to idolatry, and to other crimes which more
 
 SAD 
 
 [ 802 ] 
 
 SAI 
 
 directly insult the Deity. He is called sacrilegious, 
 who commits an impiety, a profanation of holy 
 things ; who usurps sacred offices ; who approaches 
 the sacraments unwortliily ; who plunders or pillages 
 things dedicated to God, &c. 
 
 SADDUCEES, one of the four principal sects of 
 the Jews, and chiefly distinguished by their opinion 
 concerning angels and spirits. They did not deny 
 that man had a reasonalile soul ; but they maintained 
 that this soul was mortal ; and, by a necessary conse- 
 quence, they denied the rewards and punishments of 
 another life. They affirmed, also, that the existence 
 of angels, and a bodily resurrection, were illusions, 
 Acts xxiii. 8 ; Matt. xxii. 23 ; Mark xii. 18 ; Luke 
 XX. 27. Epiphanius, and after him Augustin, ad- 
 vance, that they denied the Holy Spirit ; but neither 
 Josspiius, nor the evangelists, accuse them of this 
 error. It has been also imputed to them, that they 
 thouglit God to be corporeal, and that they did not 
 receive the prophets. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive how they could deny the 
 existence of angels, jet receive the books of Moses, 
 where frequent mention is made of angels, and of 
 their appearance. The ancients do not acquaint us 
 how they solved this difficidty. It may be they con- 
 sidered angels, not as individual beings, and subsist- 
 ing of themselves, but as powers, emanations, or 
 qualities inseparable from the Deity, much as the 
 Kim- beams are inseparable from the sun. Or they 
 may have held angels to be mortal, as they thought 
 human spirits to be. 
 
 But it is more likely, as Mr. Taylor remarks, that 
 w'hen the Sadducees are charged with denying the 
 existence of angels, we misajiply the term ; intending 
 by it celestial angels, whereas they meant it of dis- 
 embodied human spirits. This accounts easily, he 
 thinks, for their reception of the Pentateuch, in which 
 appearances of celestial angels are recorded, and for 
 oiu' Lord's reference to the continued existence of 
 the human spirits of Abraham, &c. His argument 
 is — "the Deity declares himself God of Abraham — 
 therefore, Abraham continues to exist — that is, in a 
 state of spiritual, separate existence; for, if he were 
 entirely dead, the Deity would be God of a non-ex- 
 istence, which is absurd." The Sadducees were 
 constantly in opposition to the Pharisees, though they 
 could agree when measures important to both were 
 to be taken. 
 
 As the Sadducees acknowledged neither punish- 
 nient nor recompense in another life, they were in- 
 exorable in chastising the wicked. They observed 
 the law themselves, and caused it to be observed by 
 others, with the utmost rigor. They admitted none 
 of the traditions, explications, or modifications of the 
 Pharisees : they kept only to the text of the law ; 
 and maintained, that only what was written was to be 
 observed. 
 
 The Sadducees are accused of rejecting all the 
 books of Scripture, exce])t those of Moses ; and to 
 siqiport this, it is observed, that oin- Saviour uses no 
 Scripture against them, but passages out of the Pen- 
 tateuch. ]Jut Scaliger produces good proofs to vin- 
 dicate them from this. lie observes, that they did 
 not appear in Israel till after the number of the holy 
 books was fix(;d, and that if they had been to choose 
 out of tlie canon, the Pentateuch was less favorable 
 to them than any other book, since it often mentions 
 angels and tlieir ap])earauce. Besides, the Saddu- 
 cees were present in the temple, and at other reli- 
 gious assemblies, where the books of the prophets 
 wore read, as well as those of Moses. They held 
 
 the chief offices in the nation ; and many of the 
 priests were Sadducees. Would the Jews have suf- 
 fered these employments to be filled by persons who 
 rejected the greater part of their Scriptures ? Besides, 
 Manasseh-ben-Israel says expressly, that indeed they 
 did not reject the prophets, but that they explained 
 them in a sense vei-y different from that of the other 
 Jews. 
 
 Josephus assures us that they denied destiny, or 
 fate ; alleging, that these were only sounds void of 
 sense, and that all the good or evil we experience, is 
 in consequence of the good or evil side we have 
 taken, by our free choice ; that God was far from 
 doing or from knowing evil ; and that man was ab- 
 solute master of his own actions. This was really to 
 deny a Providence, and, on this foundation, we know 
 not what could be the religion of the Sadducees; or 
 what influence over terrestrial things they could as- 
 cribe to God. However, as it is certain they were 
 not only tolerated, but admitted to the high-priest- 
 hood itself, we have strong proof of the low state of 
 rehgion among the Jews. 
 
 John Hircanus, high-priest of the nation, separated 
 himself in a signal manner from the sect of the Phar- 
 isees, and went over to that of the Sadducees. It is 
 said, also, he stricdy commanded all Jews, on pain of 
 death, to receive the maxims of this sect. Aristobu- 
 lus and Alexander Jannseus, son of Hircanus, con- 
 tinued to favor the Sadducees ; and Abraham-ben- 
 dior, Cabbala and Maimonides assure us, that under 
 these princes they possessed all the offices of the 
 Sanhedrim, and that there remained, on the part 
 of the Pharisees, only Simon, son of Secra. Caia- 
 phas, who condemned our Saviour, was a Sadducee, 
 (Acts iv. 1 ; V. 17.) as was Ananus the younger, who 
 put to death James, brother of our Lord. At this 
 day, the Jews hold as heretics that small number of 
 Sadducees which are found among them. 
 
 SADOC, son of Azor, father of Achim, and one of 
 the ancestoi-s of Jesus Christ, Matt. i. 14. 
 
 SAFFRON, a well-known flower, of a bluish color, 
 in the midst of which are small yellow threads, of a 
 veiy agreeable smell. Solomon (Cant. iv. 14.) joins 
 it with other aromatics ; and Jeremiah is made to 
 speak of cloths of a safiron color, Lam. iv. 5. The 
 passage, however, rather signifies purple or crimson. 
 
 SAINT is a term sometimes put for the people of 
 Israel, sometimes for Christian believers. The fac- 
 tion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram said to Moses and 
 Aaron, (Numb. xvi. 3.) "Ye take too much upon you, 
 seeing all the congregation are holy (or saints) every 
 one of them, and the Lord is among them." And in 
 several places of Scripture, the Hebrews are called a 
 holy nation : " Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of 
 priests, and a holy nation," Exod. xix. 6 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; 
 Deut. vii. 6; xiv. 2, 21. Nothing is more frequent 
 in Paul than the name of saints given to Christians, 
 Rom. i. 7 ; viii. 27, 28 ; xii. 13 ; xv. 25, 32 ; xvi. 2, 
 &c. But it is, probably, never given to any, after 
 the promidgation of the gospel, who had not been 
 baptized. In this acceptation it continued, during 
 the early ages of Christianity ; nor was it applied to 
 individuals declared to be saints by any other act of 
 the church, till various corruptions had depraved the 
 primitive principles. The church of Rome assumes 
 the power of making saints, or of beatification ; that 
 is, of announcing certain departed s|)irits as objects 
 of worship, and from which the faithful may solicit 
 favors. A notion worthy of the dark ages in which 
 it originated. Saints signifies, in particular, good 
 men, and the servants of God. Prov. ix. 10 "The
 
 SAL 
 
 [ 803 
 
 SALOME 
 
 knowledge of the holy (or saints) is understanding." 
 Prov. XXX. 3, " I neitiier learned wisdom, nor have the 
 knowledge of the holy, or saints." Ps. xxxiv. 9, " O 
 fear the Lord, ye his saints ; for there is no want to 
 them that fear him." Ps. xvi. 2, 3, " My goodness 
 extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in the 
 earth, and to tlie excellent, in whom is all my de- 
 light." Saints is often put for angels: (Job v. L) 
 "To which of the saints wilt thou turn?" — "And, 
 behold, he putteth no trust in his saints ; yea, the 
 heavens are not clean in his sight," chaj)! xv. 15." 
 Daniel says, (iv. 13, 23.) " An holy one (or saint) came 
 down from heaven." And Moses, (Deut. xxxiii. 2, 3.) 
 "The Lord shined forth from mount Paran, and 
 came with ten thousands of saints." See Holy. 
 
 SALAH, or Saleh, son of Arphaxad, born in the 
 thirty-fifth year of his father, A. M. 1693. He begat 
 Eber at thirty years old, and died, aged 433 years, 
 A. M. 2126, Gen. xi. 12, &c. 
 
 SALAMIS, the chief city of the isle of Cyprus, 
 visited by Paul and Barnabas, A. D. 44, when they 
 converted Sergius Paulus, Acts xiii. 5. It was situ- 
 ated on the south-east side of the island, and was 
 afterwards called Constantia. 
 
 SALATHIEL, son of Jeconiah, and father of Ze- 
 rubbabel, (1 Chron. iii. 17.) died at Babylon during 
 the captivity. He was also son of Neri, according to 
 Luke iii. 27, who makes him to have descended from 
 Solomon by Nathan ; whereas Matthew (i. 12.) de- 
 rives him from Solomon by Rehoboam. In Sala- 
 thiel were united the two branches of this illustrious 
 genealogy ; so that Salathiel was, according to Calmet, 
 son to Jeconiah, according to the flesh, as appears 
 ff-om the Chronicles, which say, that Jeconiah had 
 two sons, Assir and Salathiel, at Babylon ; and son of 
 Neri by adoption, or by having married the heiress 
 of Neri's family ; or as issue of the widow of Neri, 
 he being dead without children. In either of these 
 cases he would be son of Neri accoi-ding to the law. 
 Luke does not say in what sense he was son to Neri. 
 See Genealogy, and Adoption. 
 
 SALCHAH, a city of the kingdom of Og, in the 
 country of Bashan, beyond Jordan, toward the north- 
 ern extremity of the portion of Manasseh, Deut. iii. 
 10; 1 Chron. v. 11 ; Josh. xii. 5; xiii. 11. 
 
 I. SALEM, peace, a name given to Jerusalem, 
 which see. 
 
 XL SALEM, a city of the Shechemites, where Ja- 
 cob arrived at his return from Mesopotamia, Gen. 
 xxxiii. 18. Eusebius and Jerome notice this city ; 
 but some commentators translate the Hebrew, " Ja- 
 cob came safe and sound to a city of Shechem." 
 Shalom may signify, safe, in health, in peace, &c. 
 
 III. SALE3i, or Salim, a place where John the 
 Baptist baptized on the Jordan, (John iii. 23.) the 
 situation of which, however, is unknown. 
 SALMANESER, see Shalmaneser. 
 SAL3ION, son of Nahshon, married Rahab, by 
 whom he had Boaz, A. M. 2.553, 1 Chron. ii. 11, 51, 
 54 ; Ruth iv. 20, 21 ; Matt. i. 4. He is named " the 
 father of Bethlehem ;" that is, his descendants 
 peopled Bethlehem ; or he greatly improved and 
 adorned it : he was, as we say, "the making of that 
 town :" or he was the chief man, l)y office ; the 
 Abyssinian shum of a town. 
 
 SALMONE, or Salmona, the name of a promon- 
 tory which forms the eastern extremity of the isle of 
 Crete, Acts xxvii. 7. 
 
 I. SALOME, daughter of x\ntipater, and sister of 
 Herod the Great, one of the most wicked of w^omen. 
 She first married Josei)h, whom she accused of fa- 
 
 miliarities with Mariamne, wife of Herod, and thus 
 procured his death. She afterward married Costo- 
 barus ; but being disgusted with him, she put him 
 away, a license till then unheard of among the 
 Jews, whose law (says Josephus) allows men to put 
 away their wives, but does not allow women equal 
 liberty. After this, she accused him of treason 
 against Herod, who })ut him to death. She caused 
 much division and trouble in Herod's family, by her 
 calumnies and mischievous informations ; and she 
 may be considered as the chief author of the death 
 of the princes Alexander and Aristobulus, and of 
 their mother Mariamne. She afterwards conceived 
 a violent passion for an Arabian prince, called Sil- 
 Iseus, whom she would have married against her 
 brother Herod's consent ; and even after she had 
 married Alexas, her inclination for Sillseus was no- 
 torious. Salome survived Herod, who left her by 
 will, the cities of Jamnia, Azoth and Phasaelis, with 
 50,000 pieces of money. She favored Antipas against 
 Archelaus, and died A. D. 9, a little after Archelaus 
 had been banished to Vienne in Dauphiny. Salome 
 had five children by Alexas — Berenice, Antipater, 
 Calleas, and a son and a daughter, whose names are 
 not mentioned. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xv. 4 — xvii. 
 cap. 8.) 
 
 II. SALOME, a daughter of Herod the Great and 
 Elpide, who married one of the sons of Pheroras. 
 (Joseph. Antiq. xvii. 1.) 
 
 III. SALOME, the dancer, daughter of Herodias, 
 and of Herod-Philip, first married Philip, her uncle, 
 and afterwards Aristobulus, son of Herod, king of 
 Chalcis, by w-hom she had three sons, Herod, Agrip- 
 pa and Aristobulus. (Jos. Ant. xviii. 7.) When He- 
 rodias left Pliilip, her daughter Salome accompanied 
 her, and by her cunning prociu'ed the death of John 
 the Baptist. See Antipas I, and Herodias. 
 
 Nicephorus and Jletaphrastes state that Salome 
 accompanied her mother Herodias, and her father- 
 in-law Herod, in their banishment to Yienne in 
 Dauphiny ; and that tiie emperor having obliged 
 them to go into Spain, as she passed over a river that 
 was frozen, the ice broke under her feet, and she 
 sunk in up to her neck; when the ice uniting again, 
 she remained thus suspended by it, and suffered the 
 same punishment she had made John the Baptist un- 
 dergo. But none of the ancients mention this ; and 
 it is contrary to Josephus, who tells us, she first 
 married Philip the tetrarch, son of Herod the Great 
 and Cleopatra, who died about A. D. 33 or 34, and 
 afterwards Aristobulus, son of Herod, king of 
 Chalcis, her cousui-german, by whom she had sev- 
 eral children. Thus she lived above thirty years 
 after the exile of her father-in-law. 
 
 IV. SALO^IE, wife of Zebedee, mother of James 
 Major and John the Evangelist, one of those holy 
 women who attended our Saviour in his journeys, 
 and ministered to him, Matt. xxvii. 56. She request- 
 ed of Jesus, that her two sons, James and John, 
 might sit one on his right hand, and the other on his 
 left hand, when he sliould possess his kingdom ; 
 (comp. Matt, xxvii. 56, with Mark xv. 40.) but the 
 Son of God answered, " Ye know not what ye ask ; 
 to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to 
 give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is 
 prepared by my Father." 
 
 Salome gave a strong jjroof of her faith, when she 
 followed Christ to Calvary, and did not forsake him 
 even at the cross, Mark xV. 40 ; Matt, xxvii. 55, 56. 
 She was also one of those women who brought per- 
 fumes to embalm him, and who came for this pur-
 
 SAL 
 
 [ 804 ] 
 
 SAL 
 
 pose to the sepulchre on Sunday morn.ng early, 
 Mark xvi. 1, 2. Entering into the tomb, they saw an 
 aiigel, who informed them, that the Saviour was 
 risen ; and on their way back to Jerusalem, Jesus 
 appeared to them, and said, " Be not afraid ; go tell 
 my brethren, that they go in'to Galilee, and there 
 shall they see me." 
 
 Some give to Salome the name of Maiy ; butthere 
 is no proof of her being so called : and what some 
 frivolous histories relate of the three Marys, Mary, 
 the mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of James, and 
 Mary Salome, deserves no consideration. 
 
 SALT was appointed to season all sacrifices that 
 were offered to God, Lev. ii. 1.3. Christ alludes to 
 this, when, speaking of the sufferings of the dan;ined, 
 he says, "E\ery one shall be salted with fire, and 
 every sacrifice shall be salted with salt," Mark ix. 49. 
 But though this may be the allusion, there is consid- 
 erable difficulty in ascertaining its precise import. 
 The phrase " salted with fire," is (to us, at least) un- 
 usual, especially as it stands in our version. Mr. 
 Taylor suggests that the mu should be taken com- 
 paratively "as every sacrifice should be salted with 
 salt :'" or adv^ersatively, as it often is, " but every sac- 
 rifice shall be salted \vith salt," to render it accepta- 
 ble, according to the divine law. Possibly, a phrase 
 used by Ignatius, in his Epistle to the J.iagnesians, 
 may afford some light on the passage. "Lay aside 
 therefore the old, and sour, and evil leaven, and be 
 ye changed into the new leaven, which is Jesus 
 Christ. Be ye salted in him, lest any one among you 
 :=hould be corrupted ; for by your savor ye shall be 
 judged." It is evident that the correct doctrines of 
 the gospel are spoken of, as giving an agreeable sa- 
 vor to the " living sacrifices " of believers, whose good 
 conduct, in consequence, evinces their entire preser- 
 vation from coriTiption. In Syria, where there are 
 salt lakes, it is most likely that comparisons, and 
 even proverbs, were taken from the properties of the 
 article they furnished. So we read, " Salt," that is 
 in its genuine state, "is good; but, if it have lost its 
 saltness, wherewith will ye season it?" l)ow restore 
 it to any relish ? The surface of the salt lakes, also, 
 the thinner crust of salt, next the edges of the lakes, 
 afi:er rains, and especially after long-continued rains, 
 loses the saline particles, which are washed away and 
 dried off, yet it retains the form and appearance of 
 salt, like the most perfect. For this reason, those 
 who go to gather salt fi-om the lakes, drive their 
 horses and carts over this worthless matter, (and 
 consequently trample it ir.to mere mud and dirt,) in 
 order to get some distance into the lake, where the 
 salt is better ; and often they are obliged to dig away 
 the surface from thence, to obtam the salt pure and 
 jjungent. 
 
 We sec from Ezek. xvi. 4, ll;at anciently they 
 rubbed new-born children %yith salt, which Jerome 
 thought was to dry up the humidity, and to close the 
 pores of the skin. Galen says, that salt hardens the 
 skin of children, and makes them more firm. — Avi- 
 csnna acquaints us, that they bathed children with 
 Avater in which salt had been dissolved, to close up 
 the navel, and to ha'rden the skin. Others think, it 
 was to hind^!- any corruption that might proceed 
 from cutting off the navel-string. 
 
 The propliet Elislia, being desired to sweeten the 
 Vv'atera of the fountain of Jericho, required a new 
 vessel to be brouglit to him, and salt therein, 2 Kings 
 ii. 2L Ho threw this salt into the spring, and said, 
 "T!i;^s saitii the Lord, I have healed these waters ; 
 and in future they shall net occasion either death or 
 
 barrenness." And in reality, the v/aters became good 
 for drinking. Naturally the salt must have increased 
 the brackishness of the fountain ; but the prophet 
 purposely selected a remedy that seemed contrary to 
 the effect he would produce, that the mhacle might 
 become the more evident. 
 
 The wise man reckons salt in the number of things 
 the most necessary for life ; (Ecclus. xxxix. 31.) and 
 Job asks if any one could eat that which is not rel- 
 ished with salt ? metaphorically, vigor of sentiment, 
 understanding. 
 
 Salt is the symbol of wisdom: "Let your speech 
 be always with grace, seasoned wilh salt," Col. iv. 6. 
 And our Saviour says, "Have salt in yourselves, and 
 have peace one with another." Hence we read of 
 attic salt, that is, attic wit, or sharpness, mental intel- 
 ligence, (Sec. 
 
 Salt is also the symbol of peiiietuity and incorrup- 
 tion. Thus they said of a covenant, " It is a cove- 
 nant of salt for ever, before the Lord," Numb, xviii. 
 19. And elsewhere, "The Lord God of Israel gave 
 the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to 
 him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt," 2 Chrcn. 
 xiii. 5. See Covenant of Salt. 
 
 Salt is the symbol also of ban-enuess and sterility. 
 When Abiinelech took the city of Shechem, he de- 
 stroyed it, and sowed the place with salt, that it might 
 always remain desert, Judg. ix. 45. Zephaniah (ii. 
 9.) threatens the Ammonites and Moabitcs, from the 
 Lord ; " i\Ioab shall be as Sodom, and the children 
 of Ammon as Gomorrha, even the breeding of net- 
 tles, salt-pits, and a perpetual desolation." (See Ps. 
 cvii. 34 ; Jer. xvii. 6.) 
 
 Lastly, salt is the symbol of hospitality ; also of 
 that fidelity due from servants, friends, guests and 
 officers, to those who maintain them, or who receive 
 them at their tables. The governors of the prov- 
 inces beyond the Euphrates, writing to king Arta- 
 xerxes, tell him, " Because we have maintenance 
 from the king's palace," &c. which, in the Chaldee, 
 is, " Because we are salted with the salt of the pal- 
 ace," Ezra iv. 14. 
 
 SALT SEA, or Dead Sea, see Sea. 
 
 SALT, Valley of. Interpreters generally place 
 this valley south of the Dead sea, towards Idumea ; 
 because it is said (2 Sam. viii. 13.) that Abishai there 
 killed 18,000 Idumeans, and Joab 12,000 ; (1 Chron. 
 xviii. 12 ; Ps. Ix. title ;) and long after that, Amaziah, 
 king of Judah, killed 10,000, 2 Kings xiv. 7 ; 2 Chron. 
 XXV. 11. David beat the Idumeans in the Valley of 
 Salt, as he returned from Syria of Zobah. [This 
 valley Avould seem to be either the northern ])art 
 of the great valley El Ghor, leading south from the 
 Dead sea ; (see Exodus, p. 414 ;) or perhaps some 
 smaller valley or ravine opening into it near the 
 Dead sea. The whole of this region is strongly im- 
 pregnated with salt, as appears from the reports of 
 all travellers. According to captains Irby and Man- 
 gles, " a gravelly ravine, studded with bushes of 
 acacia and other shrubs, conducts [from the west] to 
 the great sandy plain at the southern end of the Dead 
 sea. On entering this plain, the traveller has on his 
 right a continued hill, composed jjartlj' of salt and 
 partly of hardened sand, running south-east and 
 north-west, till, after proceeding a few miles, the 
 plain opens to the south, bounded, at the distance of 
 about eight miles, by a sandy cliff from sixty to 
 eighty feet high, which traverses the valley El Ghor 
 like a wall, forminga barrier to the waters of the lake 
 when nt their gi-catest height." On this plain, be- 
 sides the saline appearance left by the retiring of the
 
 SAL 
 
 [ 805 ] 
 
 SAL 
 
 waters of the lake, the travellei-s noticed, lying on the 
 ground, several large fragments of rock-salt, which 
 led ihciii to examine the hill, on the rigiit of the 
 ravine by whicii they had descended to the plain, de- 
 scril)cd above, as composed partly of salt and partly 
 of hardened sand. They found the salt, in many in- 
 stances, hanging from the clift's, in clear perpendicu- 
 lar [)oints, resembling icicles. They obsen'ed also 
 strata of salt of considerable thickness, having very 
 little sand mi.xed with it, genei'ally in perpendicular 
 linos. During the rainy season, the torrents appar- 
 ently bring down immense masses of this mineral. 
 Was, then, this " gravelly ravine," perhaps, ilie par- 
 ticular "Valley of Salt?" or was this term applied 
 more generally to this whole plain, which exhibits 
 similar characteristics ? 
 
 Strabo mentions, that to the southward of the Dead 
 sea there are towns and cities built entirely of salt ; 
 and "although," add the travellers, "such an account 
 seems strange, yet when we contemplated the scene 
 before us, it did not seem incredible." The sea had 
 thrown up at high-water mark a quantity of wood, 
 with which the travellers attempted to make a fire, 
 in order to bake some bread ; but it was so impreg- 
 nated with salt, that all their efforts were unavailing. 
 The track, after leaving the salt-hill, led across the 
 barren flats of the back-water of the lake, then left 
 partially dry by the effects of evaporation. They 
 passed six drains running into the sea ; some were 
 w'et, and still draining the di-eaiy level which they 
 intei-sected ; othei-s were drj'. These had a strong 
 marshy smell, similar to what is perceivable on most 
 of the muddy flats in salt-water harbors, but by no 
 means more unpleasant. On the southern extremity 
 of the eastern shore, salt is also deposited by the 
 evaporation of the water of the lake. The travellers 
 found several of the natives peeling off a solid layer 
 of salt, several inches thick, with which they loaded 
 their asses. At another point, also, where the water, 
 being shallow, retires or evaporates rapidly, a con- 
 siderable level is left, encrusted with a salt that is but 
 half dried and consolidated, appearing like ice in the 
 commencement of a thaw, and giving way nearly 
 ankle deep. All these appearances are surely sufii- 
 cient to justify the appellation of Plain or Valley of 
 Salt. (See the Mod. Traveller, Palestine, p. 188, 199, 
 eeq. Amer. ed.) *R. 
 
 SALVATION. This w'ord is taken in several 
 senses in Scripture. (1.) For etenial happiness and 
 salvation, the object of our hopes and desires. Thus 
 it is said, " To give knowledge of salvation to his 
 people," Luke i. 77. " The gospel of your salvation," 
 Eph. i. 13. " Godly sorrow worketh repentance to 
 salvation," (2 Cor. vii. 10.) that is, leans to eternal life. 
 (2.) For deliverance, or victoiy : " Shall Jonathan die, 
 who hath wrought this great salvation in Lsrael ? " 
 1 Sam. xiv. 45. (3.) For praise and benediction given 
 to God : " Alleluiah, salvation, and gloiy, and honor, 
 and power unto the Lord our God. . . . Salvation to 
 our God which sitteth on the throne, and unto the 
 Lamb," Rev. vii. 10; xix. 1. 
 
 The Hebrews rarely use concrete terms, as they 
 are called, but often abstract terms. Thus, instead 
 of saying, God saves them, and protects them ; they 
 say, God is their salvation. So, a voice of salvation, 
 tidings of salvation, the rock of salvation, the shield 
 of salvation, a horn of salvation, a word of salvation, 
 &c. is equivalent to a voice declaring deliverance ; 
 the joy tiiat attends escape fi-oni a great danger; a 
 rock where any one takes refuge, and is in safety ; a 
 buckler that secures from the attack of an enemy ; a 
 
 horn or ray of glory, of happiness and salvation, &c. 
 Tbus, to work great salvation in Israel signifies to 
 deliver Israel from some imminent danger, to obtain 
 a great victory over enemies. 
 
 There is some difiiculty, as Mr. Taylor remarks, 
 in restraining the terms save and salvation, to their 
 primitive import, in certain passages of Scripture. 
 When Peter exhorts the Jews, (Acts ii. 40.)" Save 
 yourselves from this untoward generation," he means, 
 fron) the calamities with which their nation would 
 soon be vieited ; and this expectation he authorizes 
 by the declaration of the projjhet Joel, of the won- 
 ders in heaven, &c. who adds, " Whosoever sliall 
 call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved ;" as, in 
 fact, all Christians were, l)y withdrawing from Jeru- 
 salem, at the time of its siege. (Compare 3Iatt: x.22 ; 
 xxiv. 13 ; Mark xiii. 13.) Yet Paul quotes this pas- 
 sage in a different sense, (Rom. x. 13.) implying that 
 tvhoever, whether Jew or Greek, " shall call on the 
 name of the Lord, shall be saved ;" certainly not 
 from the miseries of Jerusalem, but from the conse- 
 quences of sin. 
 
 Nor is it less diflicult to say, he adds, in what sen.=e 
 all Israel shall be saved, Rom. xi. 26. It cannot mean 
 all the nation that ever existed ; since thousands of 
 them were marked by misery, within a few years 
 from the date of this Epistle ; neither can it mean 
 eternal salvation, since not all Israel was worthy of 
 that felicity. It may refer, he thinks, to that happy 
 time, when the Jews, as a nation, shall acknowledge 
 the gracious Deliverer come out of Sion ; and shall 
 be brought into a state of gi'ace, leading to salvation, 
 unless frustrated by personal transgression, &c. 
 (Comp. chap. ix. 27, " a remnant shall be saved," &c.) 
 
 When we read (1 Tim. ii. 15.) that "women shall 
 be saved in child-bearing," w'e must take the term in 
 a qualified sense, since all women are not so saved. 
 And when we are told (1 Cor. iii. 15.) that "if any 
 man's work be burned, he himself shall be saved ;" 
 it is necessary to avoid the sense of certainty in the 
 English term shall, and to consider the expression as 
 importing may be saved rather than must be saved. 
 It becomes, therefore, all students of the Bible, to 
 examine carefully the intention of the writer, in pas- 
 sages where this term (or its cognates) occurs ; and 
 not to quote at random, as if to be saved ahvays in- 
 tended eternal salvation, since it may intend only 
 temporal salvation, or a state of offered salvation, or a 
 state of grace leading to salvation, or salvation begun 
 but not yet completed. It may refer to personal 
 safety, to spiritual deliverance, or to natural prosper- 
 ity. Some may believe to the saving of the soul, 
 (Heb. X. 39.) others, as Noah in his ark, may effect 
 the saving, i. e. the presei-vation, of their families, 
 chap. xi. 7. 
 
 The Garments of Sai.vatio.n (Isa. Ixi. 10.) refer 
 to the habits of joy and festivity, woni on festival 
 days, and after receiving a signal favor fi-om God, as 
 after deliverance from great danger. 
 
 SALUTATION, greeting, hailing. The antiquity 
 of the salutation, " Peace be with you," and the un- 
 derstood conclusion, that if a pereon enjoy peace, all 
 is well with him, appears from the earliest accounts 
 we have of patriarchal behavior ; as Gen. xxix. 6, 
 "Is there peace (health) to him ? " (Laban) — they an- 
 swer, " Peace." So, Jacob directs Joseph, " Go, see 
 the peace (welfare] of thy brethren," xxxvii. 14. So, 
 the spies of Dan (Judg. xviii. 15.) "came and asked 
 the Levite of peace ;" i. e. saluted him ; and even in 
 the camp, David " asked his brethren of peace ;" i. e. 
 saluted them, 1 Sam. xvii. 22. The reader may rec-
 
 SAM 
 
 [ 806 ] 
 
 SAMARIA 
 
 ollect niauy instances of this pnraseology, but none 
 more memorable than our Lord's departing salutation, 
 as recorded by the evangelists : — " Peace I leave with 
 you ; not as the world giveth," in their ordinary salu- 
 tations, " give I unto you," but in a more direct, per- 
 manent, appropriate manner ; on principles, and with 
 authority, infinitely superior, I bless you with this 
 heavenly gift, John xiv. 27. 
 
 " The Arabs of Yemen," says Niebuhr, " and es- 
 pecially the highland ers, often stop strangers, to ask 
 tvhence they come, and luhitlier they are going. 
 These questions are suggested merely by curiosity ; 
 and it would be indiscreet, therefore, to refuse to 
 answer." (Travels, vol. i. p. 302.) Does not this ex- 
 tract suggest the true import of that expression of our 
 Lord, which has seemed, to some, to favor a rude- 
 ness of behavior ; which, surely, so far from being 
 congenial to the precepts and mannere of the gospel, 
 is inconsistent with them ? We mean the passage, 
 Luke X. 4 : " Salute no man by the way." — Now the 
 power of the word {aon:aor,n3a) rendered ^^ salute," im- 
 pli'^.s, " to draw to one's self, to throw one's arms over 
 another, and embrace him closely." — Less strictly 
 taken, it signifies to salute, as rendered in our ver- 
 sion ; but may not the prohibition, in our Lord's di- 
 rections to the seventy, have some reference to such 
 a custom as we find among the Arabs of Yemen ? 
 q. d. "Do not stop any man, to ask him whence he 
 comes, and wliither he is going ; do not loiter and 
 gossip with any whom you may accidentally meet 
 on your journey ; do not stop strangers to receive 
 information, of no value when you have received it; 
 but rather make all proper speed to the towns 
 whither I have sent you, and there deliver your good 
 tidings ? " Seen in this light, there is no breach of 
 decorum, of friendship, or of good manners, implied 
 in this command ; but, on the contrary, merely a 
 very proper prohibition of what, at best, is imperti- 
 nence, and what, under the then circumstances, 
 would have been injurious to matters of real impor- 
 tance. 
 
 Is tlsere any allusion to such intrusive inquisitive- 
 ness in John xvi. 5, " None of you asketh me. Whither 
 goest thou ?" 
 
 SAMARIA, the capital city of the kingdom of Is- 
 rael, that is, of the ten tribes. It was built by Omri 
 king of Israel, who began to reign, A. M. 3079, and 
 died 308G, 1 Kings xvi. 24. He bought the hill Sa- 
 maria of Shemer, or Shomeron, for two talents of 
 silver, about $3,000. Before Omri, ^he kings of Is- 
 rael dwelt at Shechem, or at Tirzah. 
 
 Samaria was built on an agreeable and fruitful hill, 
 in an advantageous situation, twelve miles from Do- 
 thaim, twelve from Merrom, and four from Atharoth. 
 Joscphus says, it was a day's journey from Jerusalem. 
 Tliough built on an eminence, it must have had 
 ^^•ater in abundance ; since we find medals struck 
 tlicre, on which is represented the goddess Astarte, at 
 whose feet is a river. 
 
 The kings of Israel omitted nothing to render this 
 city the strongest, the finest, and the richest possible. 
 Ahab here built a palace of ivory, (1 Kings xxii. 39.) 
 and Amos (iii. 15; iv. 1, 2.) describes it inider Jero- 
 boam II. as a city sunk in excess of luxiu-y and effem- 
 inacy. Ben-hadad, kingof Syria, built public places 
 or streets, probably for traffic, where his pc^ople dwelt, 
 to promote commerce, 1 Kings xx. 34. His son Ben- 
 hadad besieged it, under the reign of Aliab, but was 
 defeated by a handful of young men. What is very 
 remarkable, and yet very common, is, that the king 
 of Syria's flatterers would ascribe the shame of their 
 
 defeat, not to the pi'ide and drunkenness of their 
 king, but to the interposition of the gods of the Jews : 
 " Their gods are gods of the hills, (say they,) there- 
 fore they were sti'onger than we ; but let us fight 
 against them in the plain, and surely we shall be 
 stronger than they." The following year Ben-hadad 
 brought an army into the field, probably with a de- 
 sign to march against Samaria; but his army was 
 again destroyed, 1 Kings xx. 26, 27. Some years 
 after this, (2 Kings vi. 24 ; vii. 1—4. A. M. 3119,) he 
 came again before Samaria, and reduced it to such 
 extremities by famine, that a mother was forced to 
 eat her own child ; but the city was relieved by a 
 striking interposition of Divine Providence. It was 
 besieged by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, in the 
 ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, which was the 
 fourth of Hezekiah, king of Judah ; (A. M. 3280 ;) 
 and it was taken three years after, 2 Kings xvii. 6, 7, 
 &c. The prophet Hosea (x. 4, 8, 9 : xiv. 1.) speaks 
 of the cruelties exercised by Shalmaneser ; and Mi- 
 cah says, (i. 6.) the city was reduced to a heap of 
 stones. The Cuthites sent byEsarhaddon to inhabit 
 the country of Samaria did not think it Avorth their 
 while to repair the ruins of this city, but dwelt at 
 Shechem, which they made their capital. 
 
 However, the Cuthites rebuilt some part of Sama- 
 ria, since Ezra speaks of its inhabitants, Ezra iv. 17 ; 
 Nell. iv. 2. The Samaritans, being jealous of the fa- 
 vors Alexander the Great conferred on the Jews, re- 
 volted from him, while he was in Egypt, and burnt 
 alive Andromachus, whom he had left governor. 
 Alexander took Samaria, and sent Macedonians to 
 inhabit it ; giving the country around it to the Jews ; 
 and, to encourage them to cultivate it, he granted 
 them exemptions from tribute. But the kings of 
 Egypt and Syria, who succeeded Alexander, deprived 
 them of this country. 
 
 Alexander Balas, king of Syria, restored to Jona- 
 than Maccabaeus the cities of Lydda, Ephrem and 
 Ramatha, which he separated from the country of 
 Samaria. And the Jews i-esumed the full possession 
 of it under John Hircanus, who took Samaria, and 
 ruined it, according to Josephus, sothat the river ran 
 through its ruins, A. M. 3995. It so continued to 
 A. M. 3947, Avhen Aulus Gabinius, proconsul of 
 Syria, rebuilt it, and named it Gabiniana. But it was 
 very inconsiderable, till Herod the Great restored it 
 to its ancient lustre, and gave it the Greek name of 
 Sebaste, (m Latin Augusta,) in honor of the emperor 
 Augustus, who had given him the proprietory of it. 
 
 The New Testament speaks but little of Samaria ; 
 and when it does mention it, it is rather in respect of 
 the countiy than of the city. When it is said (Luke 
 xvii. 11 ; John iv. 4.) our Lord passed through the 
 midst of Samaria; the meaning is, through the midst 
 of the country of Samaria. And again, "Then 
 Cometh he to a city of Samaria called Sychar." Hei-e 
 Jesus had a conversation with a woman of Samaria, 
 that is, with a Samaritan woman of the city of Sj'- 
 char. After the death of Stephen, when the disci- 
 ples were dispersed through the towns of Judca and 
 Samaria, Philip the deacon withdrew into the city of 
 Samaria, where he made converts, (Acts viii. ]— -3.) 
 and when the apostles heard that this city had re- 
 ceived the word of God, they sent Peter and John 
 thither, to communicate tiie Holy Ghost. Samaria 
 is never called Sebaste in the New Testament, though 
 strangers hardly knew it l)y any other name. Jerome 
 says it was thought Obadiah was buried at Samaria. 
 They also showed there the tombs of Elisha and of 
 John the Baptist.
 
 « A M 
 
 [807] 
 
 SAMARITANS 
 
 The country of Samaria lies between Judea and 
 Galilee. It begins, according to Josephus, at a town 
 called Ginea, in the great plain, and ends at the to- 
 parchy of Acrabateue. Samaria, under the first 
 temple, was the name of a city ; under the second, 
 of a country. Rabbi Benjamin, of Tudela, says, " Se- 
 haste is Samaria, where the palace of Ahab, king of 
 Israel, is still known. Now that city was on a 
 mountain, and well fortified, had springs, well wa- 
 tered land, gardens, paradises, vineyards and olive- 
 yards. Distant eiglit miles is Neapolis, that is, Sy- 
 chem, in mount Ephraim. It is seated in a valley 
 between the mountains Gerizim and Ebal ; in it are 
 about a hundred Cutheans, observing the law of 
 Moses only ; they are called Samaritans ; and have 
 priests of the seed of Aaron. They sacrifice in the 
 temple on mount Gci-izim on the day of the passo- 
 ver, and on feast days on the altar built there of the 
 stones set up by the children of Israel, when they 
 passed over Jordan." 
 
 The following is the account of the modern city, as 
 given by Richardson : " Its situation is extremely 
 beautiful, and strong l)y nature ; more so, I think, than 
 Jerusalem. It stands on a fine large, insulated hill, 
 compassed all round by a broad, deep valley ; and, 
 when fortified, as it is stated to have been by Herod, 
 one would have imagined, that in the ancient system 
 of warfare, nothing but famine would have reduced 
 such a place. The valley is surrounded by four 
 hills, one on each side, which are cultivated in ter- 
 races to the top, sown with grain and planted with 
 fig and olive-trees, as is also the valley. The hill of 
 Samaria, likewise, rises in terraces to a height equal 
 to any of the adjoining mountains. 
 
 "The present village is small and poor, and, after 
 passing the valley, the ascent to it is very steep ; but, 
 viewed from the station of our tents, is extremely in- 
 teresting, both from its natural situation, and from 
 the picturesque remains of a ruined convent of good 
 Gothic architecture. 
 
 "Having passed the village, towards the middle of 
 the first terrace, there is a number of columns still 
 standing. I counted twelve in one row, besides 
 several that stood apart, the brotherless remains of 
 other rows. The situation is extremely delightful, 
 and my guide informed me that they belonged to the 
 serai or palace. On tlie next terrace there are no re- 
 mains of solid building, but heaps of stone and lime, 
 and rubbish mixed with the soil in great profusion. 
 Ascending to the third, or highest terrace, the traces 
 of former buildings were not so numerous, but we 
 enjoyed a delightful view of the surrounding country. 
 Tlic eye passed over the deep valley that comi)asses 
 the hill of Sebaste, and rested on the mountains be- 
 yond, that retreated as they rose with a gentle slope, 
 and met the view in every direction, like a book laid 
 out for perusal on a writing desk. 
 
 "From this lofty eminence we descended to the 
 south side the hill, where we saw the remains of a 
 stately colonnade, that stretches along this beautiful 
 exposure from east to west. Sixty columns are still 
 standing in one I'ow ; the shafts are plain, and frag- 
 ments of Ionic volutes, that lie scattered about, testify 
 the order to which they belong. These are probably 
 the relics of some of the magnificent structures with 
 which Herod the Great adorned Samaria. None of 
 the walls remain." 
 
 SAMARITANS. The account given of these 
 people by Calmet is extremely j)rolix, and by no 
 Jiieans satisfactory. We shall, therefore, omit it en- 
 lirely, and supply its place by a narrative deduced 
 
 from sources, many of which were not Known at the 
 time when Calmet wrote. 
 
 The Samaritans were descended from the remnant 
 of the Israelites not carried away into captivity, and 
 afterwards intermixed with Gentiles from the neigh- 
 boring parts of Assyria, especially the Cuthi, who J 
 had come to colonize and occupy the vacant situa- 
 tions of the former inhabitants. In this new colony 
 idolatry was introduced and permitted from the very 
 first ; yet so as to worship Jehovah in conjunction 
 with the false gods, 2 Kings xvii. 29. When, after- 
 wards, Cyrus permitted the Jews to return from cap- 
 tivity and rebuild their temple, the Samaritans, who 
 wished to form a union in religious matters with the 
 Jews, requested that the temple might be erected at 
 the common labor and expense of both nations. But 
 Zerubbabel, and the other Jemsh rulers, rejected 
 their request, urging that Cyrus had committed the 
 work to thtm only, and had charged the governors 
 of Samaria to keep away from the place, and only 
 assist the Jews out of the public revenues of the 
 province. The Samaritans, however, said they were ' 
 at liberty to ivorship there, since the temple had been 
 erected for the worship of the Supi-eme Being by all 
 the human race. When the Samaritans had received 
 this repulse fi-om the Jews, they felt much mortified, 
 and laid wait for revenge ; they endeavored to ob- 
 struct the restoration of the temple, and the increase 
 and prosperity of the Jewish state by various meth- 
 ods. Hence originated a mutual hatred between the 
 nations, which was afterwards kept up and increased 
 by the revolt of Manasseh, and the erection of the 
 temple on mount Gerizim. For Manasseh, a brother 
 of Jaddus, the high-priest, had, contrary to the laws 
 and customs of the nation, taken in marriage the 
 daughter of Sanballat, the ruler of Samaria, (Neh. 
 xiii. 23, seq.) and when the Jews, indignant at this, 
 had ordered that he should divorce her as an alien, 
 or no longer approach to the altar and the sacreel 
 institutions, he fled to his father-in-law, a high-priest, 
 who alienated many from the religious worship of 
 the Jews, and by gifts and promises drew over great 
 numbers, and even some of the priests, to the Samar- 
 itan part)'. But now that the temple was erected on 
 mount Gerizim, still greater contentions arose be- 
 tween the Jews and Samaritans concerning the jo/crce 
 of divine ivorship. For the Samaritans denied that 
 the sacred rites at Jerusalem were pure and of divine 
 ordination : but of the temple on ii\punt Gerizim they 
 afiirmed that it was holy, legitin:iate, and sanctioned 
 by the presence of the Deity. The Samaritans, more- 
 over, only received the books of Closes. The rest of 
 the sacred books (since they vindicated the divine 
 worship at Jerusalem) they rejected, as also the whole 
 body of the traditions, keeping solely to the letter. 
 From these causes the Jews were inflamed to the 
 most rancorous hatred towards this rival nation; in- 
 somuch that to many of them the Samaritans were 
 objects of greater detestation than even the Gentiles. 
 (See Luke x. 33.) It is no wonder, then, that there 
 should have been such a constant reciprocation of 
 injuries and calumnies as had served to keep up a 
 perj)etual exasperafion between the tsvo nations. 
 The fault, however, was not all on the side of the 
 Jews ; for (as we learn from Bartenora ad Roscha- 
 scliana, ii. 2, cited by Schoettgen) the Samaritans in- 
 flamed this enmity by taking every opprtunity of 
 injuring, or at least offering provocations to the Jews. 
 The following anecdote may serve as an example : — 
 " When the time of the new moon was just at hand, y^ 
 the Jews had a fire kindled on the highest mountainSj
 
 SAMARITANS 
 
 [ 808] 
 
 SAMARITANS 
 
 to warn those who were afar off of the exact time of 
 the novilunium. What did the Samaritans do ? Why, 
 in order that they might lead the Jews into an error, 
 they themselves, during the night-time, kindled fires 
 on the mountains. Therefore, the Jews were obliged 
 to send out trusty and creditable persons, who should 
 give out the time of the new moon, as observed by 
 the Jerusalemitish Sanhedrim, or defined by other 
 persons to Avhom that office was committed." The 
 Samaritans, however, did not entei-tain so much 
 hati'ed towards the Jews, as the latter did towards 
 the former; nor did they deny towards them the 
 offices of humanity. (See Luke ix. 53 ; x. 32.) Jesus, 
 however, disregarded, nay discountenanced, this ha- 
 tred, and as he did not hesitate to eat with tax-gath- 
 erers, so neither did he avoid intercourse with Samar- 
 itans. 
 
 Dr. Wait has a paper, in his Repertorium Theo- 
 logicum, on the notions entertained by the Samari- 
 tans of a Messiah, which contributes some valuable 
 information, derived from a coirespondence which 
 took place, some years since, between two Samaritan 
 priests and two of oiu* own countrymen, who, under 
 a. pious fraud, as it is termed, but which was wholly 
 indefensible, elicited the religious opinions of the res- 
 idents at Napolose, or Samaria, and also obtained 
 copies of the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua. 
 From this correspondence. Dr. Wait remarks, it is 
 evident that many of the opinions we have been ac- 
 customed to cherish respecting the Samaritans are 
 decidedly false, having proceeded directly from the 
 enmity of the Jews, and the fictions of the rabbinical 
 pages ; being utterly unauthorized by Josephus and 
 his contemporaries, and absolutely repugnant to those 
 conclusions, which the Scriptures would induce us 
 to di-aw fi-om the little which they have recorded of 
 them. 
 
 That the Samaritans had a clear notion of the 
 coming of a Messiah, is quite manifest from the con- 
 versation which occuiTed between our Saviour and 
 a woman of this nation, as recorded in John iv. 
 But the source whence they derived that knowledge 
 it is somewhat difficult to determine. They could 
 not, as Dr. Wait observes, have been indebted to the 
 Pentateuch alone for it ; they must have exti'acted 
 this information from other sources, and forced iso- 
 lated passages of the Pentateuch in subsequent times 
 to have become its authorities. W^e vainly scrutinize 
 the Pentateuch for a single prophecy of Christ's death 
 and resurrection ; and yet it appears from some of 
 their MSS., that the Samaiitans believed, that their 
 Messiah should die and rise from the dead. If the 
 Samaritans contemporary with our Saviour deduced 
 these opinions at all from Scripture, they must have 
 deduced them from prophecy ; and if no such prophecy 
 exists in the Mosaic books, it will follow, that they 
 could not have been ignorant of the prophecies which 
 were uttered after the institution of the monarchy, 
 although the present race rejects these writings from 
 the canon. 
 
 From all that Dr. Wait has been enabled to collect 
 of their modern religious ceremonies, we find them 
 strictly observant of the law; on the sabbath, they 
 only go to the "house of Jehovah to pray, to give 
 thanks, and to read the law." They still solemnize 
 the passover with ihe most scrupulous attention ; they 
 eat unleavened bread for the s|)ace of seven days, and 
 on the seventh re])air to Gerizim. From the day 
 succeeding the sabbath of the ordinance of un- 
 leavened bread, they count fifty days to that suc- 
 ceeding the seventh sabbath ; they also celebrate the 
 
 feast of first-fruits, on which they also go to the " Ev- 
 erlasting Mount." They observe the feast of the 
 seventh month, the tenth day of which is the day 
 of expiation, on which all, from man to child, afflict 
 themselves and read the law. On the fifteenth day 
 of the seventh month, they carry fruits and boughs 
 of palms and other trees and thus proceed to Geri- 
 zim ; — they likewise keep the feast of the eighth day, 
 and purify themselves from occasional uncleanness. 
 Every morning and evening they pray towards then* 
 sacred mountain, throwing then* faces to the ground ; 
 and in whatever part of the globe they may be, 
 thither they direct themselves at their prayers. In 
 fact, they rigorously adhere to the letter of the law ; 
 but they are not Karaites, for their epistles mention 
 this sect with contempt. Illience, then, did they 
 receive the notion of a Messiah"? We have seen, that 
 they could scarcely have received it from the Penta- 
 teuch ; for even the most determinate passages, 
 which they cite as their authorities, would, if consid- 
 ered exclusively of others, hardly have suggested to 
 a people denying the other canonical books, those 
 minute ideas of the promised Prophet which they 
 undeniably entertained. But these ideas are so 
 approximated to the language of the Jewish prophets, 
 that one of three hypotheses, says the doctor, must 
 be correct : either that, at some unrecorded period, 
 they were borrowed from thence, or, which is neaily 
 equivalent, that these prophecies, by means of indi- 
 viduals travelling from the one kingdom to the other, 
 were made known to the servants of the true God 
 in Israel, or that the prophets of Israel themselves 
 delivered oracles respecting the Slessiah, which, 
 though now lost, were nevertheless the sources of 
 this Samaritan knowledge. 
 
 These three causes, he remarks, may have, indeed, 
 produced conjointly the effect: — the two latter may 
 be supported by the following argimients. The 
 worship of Jehovah was never totally extinct in 
 Israel ;— in Elijah's days, many still adhered to the 
 Avorship of their forefathers; and in the most degen- 
 erate times of Israelitish apostasy, the accredited 
 prophets of Jehovah were even summoned, on emer- 
 gencies, to give counsel to those monarchs who had 
 proscribed the faith to which they were devoted. 
 Some, therefore, among the severed tribes, remained 
 true to the religion of Moses, even in the worst eras 
 of defection ; yet, however observant they may have 
 been of the law, we can scarcely presume, that the 
 political dissension between the kingdoms of Judali 
 and Israel, would allow them to frequent the temple 
 in Jerusalem at the divinely instituted festivals. For 
 the erection of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel 
 was expressly designed to prevent this national inter- 
 course ; nor is it any where recorded, that Elijah, or 
 EHsha, or one of the sons of the Israelitish prophets, 
 became an attendant on the worship of Jehovah 
 within the h.oly city. Independently, however, of 
 these particulrtrs, we may argue, that the law was 
 always rigidly observed by some members of the ten 
 tribes. Hence Friedrich forcibly argues, that this 
 })rcservation of the true religion, in Vthatever degree 
 it may have been, affords a strongly jiresumptive evi- 
 dence, that the [Samaritan] Pentateuch nnist have 
 been edited before the days of Jerol)oam ; without 
 this assumption, it would be difficult to imagine how 
 the observance of the law could have survived the 
 persecutions and turmoils of those ages, how other- 
 wise it was not OAcrwhelmed by the superstitions 
 of the neighboring nations, and did not sink beneath 
 the weight of ever-galling oppressions. Moreover,
 
 SAMARITANS 
 
 [ 809 ] 
 
 SAMARITANS 
 
 the same reason, which induced them to reject the 
 other Scriptural books, (from which we should, ;jer- 
 haps, except that of Joshua,) would also have induced 
 them to reject the Pentateuch itself, had they not 
 been antecedently in possession of it, and therefore 
 been most fully assured, that it was not a production 
 of late date: since, therefore, their defection from 
 Judali and Benjamin occurred in the reign of Jero- 
 boam, wc must, on this account, conclude it to have 
 been edited long before, and to have been in circula- 
 tion before the separation of the tribes. If then they 
 thus had the books of Moses, we may argue them to 
 Jiave been acquainted with those Psalms of David, 
 which had been sung in the tabernacle and the tem- 
 ple, and these Psalms were replete with the expecta- 
 tions of the Messiah. Consequently, after their 
 abscission from Judah, they could not have failed to 
 have carried away with tb.em these vivid hopes and 
 ardent expectations, and to have transmitted them to 
 their descendants. What, then, is more natural, than 
 to suppose, that when they rejected the other canon- 
 ical books, they ingrafted these ideas, elsewhere 
 received, on their interpretations of them? — for, in 
 fact, they must have seen the promises partially 
 accomplished in the extent of dominion which David 
 and Solomon acquired. That passover, wliich was 
 celebrated in the daj^s of Josiah, which Israel at- 
 tended at Jerusalem, (2 Kings xxiii; 2 Chron.xxxv.) 
 manifestly proves to us, how deeply the true religion 
 was rooted in those who had not deflected from it, 
 and likewise oflfers to us an epoch, to which we may 
 refer the first of the three hypotheses. To this we 
 may also a(M that period, when the second temple 
 was erected, during which there was an intercourse 
 between the Jews and the Samaritans, (Jos. Ant. xiii. 
 17.) who, doubtless, imparted to the Samaritans 
 those opinions, in which they had been educated. 
 These periods, therefore, either separately or con- 
 jointl}', are adequate to the solution of the difficulty ; 
 nor can we err in maintaining, that at one, or another, 
 or all of these, the doctrines and expectations of 
 Judah respectmg the Messiah were circulated in 
 Samaria. 
 
 Wc have no reason to believe, that tiicse who 
 selected Gerizim as their place of religious worship, 
 in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, were infected 
 with idolatry : the sacred page authorizes us not in 
 such a conclusion, nor can we retrace the allegation 
 to a legitimate and historical source. We are no 
 where informed to what deity Sanballat dedicated 
 his temple ; we nowhere read of its appropriation to 
 idols. Josephus says nothing of IManasseh's apostasy ; 
 therefore, wc presume the Samaritan temple to have 
 b^en dcdicatetl to the true God. Had it been dedi- 
 cated to an Assyrian idol, or to the Baal-Berith, who 
 once had a temple at Sichein, and, like the Zfi; ony.,oi 
 of the Greeks, and Deus Fidius of the Romans, was 
 accounted the God of oaths and covenants, can we 
 suppose, that so many Jews, just emigrated from 
 Babylonian of)pression, would have flocked to it, or 
 hnve followecl the priesthood and fortunes of Manas- 
 S3h ? P.iore than one hundred and sixty years after 
 its erection, the Jewish historian called it «r<.'j)i noi ; 
 could lie liave so called it, if it had been dedicated to an 
 idol 7 
 
 Our more immediate inquiry, however, respects 
 the Samaritans after the erection of Sanballat's tem- 
 ple ; between whom and the Jews the chief points 
 of dispute lay, in their rejection of all the canonical 
 books, except the Pentateuch, and their affirmation, 
 102 
 
 that Gerizim was the only place where God could 
 be acceptably worshipped. Cellarius, Hottinger, and 
 even Reland, seem, in some degree, as Dr. Wait 
 remarks, to have been lefl astray on tliis point ; the 
 fable of the brazen bird, which the Romans erected 
 on Gerizim, on the authority of the Samaritan chron- 
 icle, if it were not the Roman eagle, was evidently a 
 tradition compounded of the nti^'N of the men of 
 Hamath, and the inij of those of Ava. Some of their 
 statements, indeed, refer their first copy of the law to 
 the thirteenth year after the settlement of the Israel- 
 ites in Canaan, which they aver to have been made 
 by Abishua the son of Phinehas ; but this can only 
 be regarded as an idle pretension, which is not even 
 accredited by all the Samaritans. Of the antiquity 
 of their copies there can be no doubt, any more than 
 of the frauds, of which they were guilty in certain 
 passages. Yet, although they have corrupted the 
 Pentateuch by occasional interpolations, the value 
 of their copy is evinced by some readings, which 
 appear to supply lacuna? in the Hebrew, and by the 
 great accordance between its chronology and that of 
 the Septuagint. The Jews admit, that Ezra aban- 
 doned the old Samaritan characters, and introduced 
 the Assyrian, or Chaldee, wherefore the Samaritans 
 still call theirs the Hebrew, or the characters of the 
 Sacred language, and say, that " the Jewish Books 
 were written by Ezra." So violent has the ani- 
 mosity respecting the Pentateuch ever been be- 
 tween these two claimants of if, that when Saa- 
 diah's Arabic version appeared, (whom they desig- 
 nate as the doctor of Faium,) Abu Said was deputed 
 to commence a Samaritano-Arabic version in oppo- 
 sition to it, a copy of which is in the Bibliotheque 
 du Roi, at Paris. 
 
 IMaimonides himself, v/ho, perhaps, was the most 
 unbiased ^niter among the Jews, admits their rigid 
 practice of the law, and, even whilst he is relating the 
 tale of the dove, evidently seema disinclined to be- 
 lieve it. Josephus, also, (Ant. ix. 14.) bore the same 
 testimony to them. 
 
 So scrupulous are they still respecting the insti- 
 tutes of the lawgiver, that on the sabbaths they kin- 
 dle no fires, nor even on their festivals ; they affinn 
 their priests to be Levites, but regret that they have 
 no liigh-priest of the race of Phinehas, offeritig, in 
 their epistles, should such an individual be found, to 
 install him in his office. 
 
 The separation, indeed, at the time of the erection 
 of the second temple, was merely occasioned by tlie 
 intermarriages with foreigners, which Ezra and 
 Nehemiah forbade ; those who were willing to repu- 
 diate their foreign wives remaining at Jerusalem — 
 those who were resolved to retain them emigrating 
 to Samaria. But however requisite this allowance 
 may have been to the formation of a new state, it is 
 no where recorded, that the Samaritans persevered 
 in the practice ; yet, from hence, they received in 
 the Jewish writings the appellation of cJ^o Culhites, - 
 and had the stigma indelibly fixed upon them by 
 their rivals. 
 
 Had such been their practice in our Saviour's 
 time, he assuredly would have alleged it ag^ainst their 
 i^.ational pretensions in his discourses witJi the Samar- 
 itan woman. His words are simply, "Ye \vorship 
 ye know not what : we know Avh-ic we worship ; for 
 salvation is of the Jews," John iv. 22. These, view- 
 ed in their connection, musc have had a reference to 
 their notions of a Messiah,— probably also to their 
 ai.plication of biblical passages to his ad%-ent,— and
 
 SAMARITANS 
 
 [810] 
 
 SAMARITANS 
 
 accordingly, the woman (v. 25.) so understood them. 
 They also partially related to the question, whether 
 Gerizim or Jerusalem were the proper place of wor- 
 ship, and appear to have alluded to the indistinct 
 conceptions of the legal types and ceremonies, wliich 
 the Samaritans, unaided by the other books of Scrip- 
 ture, must have had. The Samaritans worshipped 
 " they knew not what ;" for, believing the advent of 
 the Messiah, they rejected the prophetic books, which 
 illustrated and determined it ; they assented to the 
 FACT, without knowmg either its nature or object, 
 whereas the Jews, to whose line he was restricted, 
 had opportunities of ascertaining from the prophets 
 criteria, which would have designated him at his 
 appearance to every unprejudiced reasoner. (Repert. 
 Theol. p. 1—10.) 
 
 [(For the Samaritan language, see Languages, 
 ORIENTAL, p. 606; and Letters, p. 618.) There 
 exists a copy of the Hebrew Pentateuch preserved 
 by the Samaritans in their own character ; and also 
 a Samaritan translation of the Pentateuch. The 
 value of these has been critically discussed by Gese- 
 riius, in his work entitled de Pentateuchi Samar. 
 origine, indole, et auctoritate, Hal. 1815 ; the results of 
 which have also been given to the public by professor 
 Stuart, in an article in the N. A. Review, April, 1826. 
 Biul. Repos. vol. ii. No. 8. (See also Winer, de Ver- 
 sionis Pent. Samar. indole, Leips. 1817 ; and the arti- 
 cle Versions below.) 
 
 It is well known that a small remnant of the Sa- 
 maritans still exists at Naplous, the ancient Shechem. 
 Great interest has been taken in them by the learned 
 of Europe ; and a correspondence has several times 
 been instituted with them, which, however, has 
 never led to results of any great importance. It was 
 commenced by Joseph Scaliger in 1559 ; and again, 
 after a century, by several learned men in England, 
 in 1675 ; and by the celebrated Ludolf in 1685. Of 
 late years, the orientalist De Sacy, of Paris, has again 
 held correspondence with them ; and has recently 
 published all that is known respecting them, and all 
 their letters, in a work entitled Correspondence des 
 Samaritaines, &c. Paris, 1829. They have often 
 been visited, of late years, by travellers ; and the best 
 account we have of them and of their present cir- 
 cumstanceS; is from the pen of the late American 
 Missionary, the Rev. P. Fisk, under date of Nov. 19, 
 1823. (See Missionary Herald, 1824, p. 310.) 
 
 " After taking some refreshment, we went to visit 
 the Samaritans, having first sent to the kohen, or 
 •priest, to know if a visit would be agreeable. His 
 name is Shalmar ben Tabiah. His first name he 
 sometimes pronounces Salomei-. I believe it is the 
 same as Solomon, which the Jews in Jerusalem now 
 pronounce Shloma. He received us in a neat apart- 
 ment, and we immediately entered into conversa- 
 tion. Ten or twelve other members of the sect soon 
 came in. Our conversation was in Arabic. They 
 represent the number of their houses to be 20 or 30, 
 — about 60 pay the capitation tax. They say there 
 are no other Samaritans in this country, but they are 
 quite disposed to think they are numerous in other 
 parts of tiic world. In Paris they suppose they 
 were very numerous, until, in a time of war between 
 the French atid some other nation, the Samaritans 
 were dispersed. They say that there are, however, 
 four still livmg in V-.uis. They inquired whether 
 there are any SamaritUMs in England, and seemed 
 not at all gratified when we told them no. On 
 learning that I was from Aiherica, they uiquired if 
 there arc Samaiitans there. 1 told them no ; but 
 
 they confidently asserted the contrary, and that there , 
 are also many in India. They maintain that they 
 are the lineal descendants of Jacob : the kohen and 
 his sons, only, of the tribe of Levi ; one family from 
 the tribe of Benjamin ; four or five fi-om Manasseh, 
 and the rest from Ephraim. We asked what they 
 would do for a priest, if the kohen and his sons 
 should die, and thus the tribe of Levi become extinct. 
 They replied, (bazah ma beseer,) " This does not hap- 
 pen." They all speak Arabic, but their books and 
 public prayers are in Samaritan. They call theii" 
 language Hebrew, and that which we call Hebre\y, 
 they call Jewish; for they say their language is 
 the true Hebrew in which the law was given. The 
 difference consists in the use of a different al- 
 phabet and diflTerent pronunciation. They go three 
 times a year to moimt Gerizim to worship, but 
 do not offer sacrifices there now, as they did for- 
 merly, lest they should be molested by the Turks. 
 But they offer their sacrifices in a more private way, 
 in the city. We understood them to say, that they 
 have no daily sacrifice. We visited their synagogue. 
 It is a small, dark, but neat room, with an altar, but 
 without seats. We were obliged, before entering, to 
 pull off not only our over-shoes, but also our slip- 
 pers, which are not prohibited even in mosques ; 
 and Mr. Jowett was obliged to take off an outer gar- 
 ment, which he wears, that is lined with fur. No 
 person can approach the altar, except the kohen 
 and his sous. They expect a Messiah, who is to be 
 a Prophet and King, but a mere man, to live 120 
 years, as Moses did, and to reign at Naplous over all 
 the world. Those who do not receive him, are to 
 be destroyed with the sword. The promise con- 
 cerning the woman's seed does not, they believe, 
 refer to the Messiah ; but that, concerning a prophet 
 like unto Moses, does refer to him, as does also that 
 concerning Shiloh, Gen. xlix. 10. They admit the 
 sense of this passage as given in our translation, and 
 try to show that there is still a sceptre somewhere in 
 the hands of Judah. The Messiah will come when 
 Israel repent. They say the story of the separation 
 between Israel and Judah, under Jeroboam and Re- 
 hoboam, is a lie of the Jews. The city of Luz, or 
 Bethel, they say, was on mount Gerizim, Gen. xxviii. 
 19. Jebus, they say, was also on this mount, and 
 that Judges xix. 10, as it stands in our copies, is not 
 true. 
 
 " The next day we renewed our visit to the Samar- 
 itans. We had yesterday requested to see their an- 
 cient copy of the law. The kohen objected, but after 
 much persuading, and indirectly presenting the mo- 
 tive which generally prevails m this country, i. e. the 
 offer of money, he at last consented to show it to us 
 this moming. In order to do it, he said he must 
 first bathe, and then put on a particular dress for the 
 occasion. On our arrival at the synagogue, we 
 waited a short time, and he appeared, entered the 
 synagogue, approached the altar, kneeled and put his 
 face to the floor, then opened the little closet which 
 contained the holy book, kneeled and put his face to 
 the floor again, then brought out the brass case, 
 which contained the roll, and opened it so as to show 
 us the manuscript, but we were not allowed to touch 
 it. It is in the Samaritan character, and the kohen i 
 says it was written by Abishua, the grandson of 
 Aaron, thirteen years after the death of Moses, and 
 3260 years ago. (See 1 Chron. vi. 4.) Another brass 
 case stood near this, containing an exact copy of the 
 original manuscript, said to have been made 800 
 years ago. On a shelf, in the synagogue, were a
 
 SAM 
 
 [ 811 
 
 SAMSON 
 
 considerable number of copies of the Samaritan Pen- 
 tateuch. We saw also the relic of the Polyglott 
 Bible mentioned by Maundrell. The Bible of the 
 Samaritans contains only the five books of Moses. 
 They have, however, Joshua and Judges, but in sep- 
 arate books. They say that since Joshua there has 
 been no prophet. He was the disciple of Moses, and 
 inferior to him. David was king in Jerusalem, but 
 not a projjhet. We inquired whether the Samari- 
 tans held it lawful to read the books of Christians. 
 They said there was no law against it, and we left 
 with them one Testament in Arabic, and another in 
 Hebrew." *R. 
 
 SAMGAR-NEBO, a general officer in Nebuchad- 
 nezzar's army, Jerem. xxxix. 3. 
 
 SAMLAH, king of Masrekah, in Idumea, Gen. 
 xxxvi. 36. 
 
 SAMOS, an island of the Archipelago, on the 
 coast of Asia Minor, opposite Lydia, from which it 
 is separated by a narrow strait. The island was 
 devoted to the worship of Juno, who had there a 
 magnificent temple. It was also celebrated for its 
 valuable potteries, and as the birth-place of Pythag- 
 oras. The Romans wrote to the governor in favor 
 of the Jews, in the time of Simon Maccabaeus, 1 
 Mac. XV. 23. Paul landed here when going to Jeru- 
 salem, A. D. 58, Acts XX. 15. 
 
 SAMOTHRACIA, an island in the Egean sea; 
 so called because it was peopled by Samians and 
 Thracians. It was an asylum for fugitives and 
 criminals. Paul, departing from Troas, for Mace- 
 donia, arrived first at Samothracia, Acts xvi. 11. 
 
 SAMSON, son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, 
 Judg. xiii. 2, &c. A. M. 2848. His mother had been 
 long barren, when an angel of the Lord appeared to 
 her, telling her she should have a son ; but she must 
 take care not to drink intoxicating liquor, or to eat 
 any impiu-e food ; that she must use the same care 
 witli regard to her son ; and must consecrate him to 
 God from his infancy, as a Nazaritc, and not let a 
 razor come upon his head: adding, "For he shall 
 begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philis- 
 tines." Samson was born in the following year, 
 and the Spirit of God gave him extraordinary 
 strength of body. One day, as he went to Timnath, 
 a Philistine city, he saw a young woman, whom he 
 desired his father and mother to obtain for him as a 
 wife. They remonstrated that she was not of their 
 own natioiii ; but he persevered, and the young 
 woman was contracted to him. Upon a subsequent 
 journey to Timnath, he saw a young lion, which he 
 seized and tore in pieces, as if he had been a young 
 kid ; and some time after, returning thither, to cele- 
 brate his marriage, he stepped aside to see the car- 
 cass of the lion. He found it dried up, and a swarm 
 of bees lodged in it, which had there formed a honey- 
 comb, of which he took a part. At his wedding-feast 
 he proposed a riddle to this effect : 
 
 " The gi-eedy cater yields to others meat. 
 
 And savage strength now offers luscious sweet." 
 
 His companions continued to the seventh day, lost 
 in conjecturing its meaning ; wliQn, partly by threats, 
 and partly by entreaties, they urged the bride to get 
 the secret from her husband. Before sunset on this 
 day they came to Samson saying, 
 
 " What sweeter flows than honey o'er the tongue ? 
 Whose strength exceeds a lion's, wild and young ? " 
 
 His reply was, that if they had not ploughed with 
 his heifer they coidd never have expounded his rid- 
 
 dle; meaning that they had abused him by too inti- 
 mate fiuniliarity with his wife, and that she had been 
 unfaithful to him. 
 
 He paid the fine expected on accoimt of the riddle, 
 but left his wife, and returned to his father. Some 
 time after, the woman married the principal bride- 
 man at her former wedding, and Samson's anger be- 
 ing subsided, he returned to see her, bringing a kid 
 with him as a present. But her father refiising to 
 admit him, he went and caught three hundred foxes 
 or jackals, (see Fox,) which he tied tail to tail, putting 
 between each pair a fire-brand, which he fired, and 
 turned them into the corn-fields of the Philistines; 
 where the flames made a great havoc, not sparing 
 even the vines and the olive-trees. When the Phi- 
 listines knew it was Samson who had done this, to 
 revenge the afi'ront received from his father-in-law 
 at Timnatli, they burned the man and his daughter. 
 
 In a combat, Samson slew a great number of Phi- 
 listines. The narrative of tliis exploit (Judg. xv. 8.) 
 cannot but appear obscure to the English reader, as, 
 indeed, it has been thought by translators in general. 
 Samson smote the Philistines " hip and thigh, with a 
 great slaughter." Hip under thigh, say some ; leg 
 under thigh, say others; or leg against thigh, or leg 
 over, or upon, thigh ; as tlie words literally express. 
 These are not all the varieties of interpretation which 
 this passage has experienced. Mr. Taylor proposes 
 to illustrate the expression by the following extracts: 
 
 " It appears probable, from the following circum- 
 stances, that the exercise of wrestling, as it is now 
 performed by the Turks, is the very same that was 
 anciently used in the Olympic games. For, besides 
 the previous covering of the paltestrse with sand, 
 that the combatants might fall with more safety, they 
 have their pellowan bashee, or master wrestler, who 
 like the 'AywioGcViK of old, is to observe and superin- 
 tend over the jura palaestros, and to be the umpire in 
 all disputes. The combatants, after they are anoint- 
 ed all over with oil, to render their naked bodies the 
 more slippery, and less easily to be taken hold of, 
 first of all look one another steadfastly in the face, as 
 Diomede or Ulysses does the palladium upon antique 
 gems ; then they run up to, and retire from, each 
 other several times, using all the while a variety of 
 antic and other postures, such as are commonly used 
 in the course of the ensuing conflict. After this pre- 
 lude, they draw nearer together, and challenge each 
 other, by clapping the palms of their hands Jirst upon 
 their oivn knees or thighs, then npon each other, and 
 ajlenvards upon the palms of their respective antag- 
 onists. The challenge being thus given, they imme- 
 diately close in and struggle with each other, striving 
 with all their strength, art and dexteritj', (which are 
 often very extraordinary,) who shall give his antago- 
 nist a fall, and become the conqueror. During these 
 contests I have often seen their arms, and legs, and 
 thighs, so twisted and linked together, {catenatce pa- 
 l(£strfE, as Propcrtius calls it,) that they have both fallen 
 together, and left the victory dubious ; too difficult 
 sometimes for the pellowan bashee to decide. TTu- 
 /.aiaT[c-itJirt))TOi [a tcrestler not to be throivn) occurs 
 in ancient inscriptions, (Murat. torn. ii. page 627.) 
 The 7iai.li, therefore, being thus acted in all the parts 
 of it with open hands, might very properly, in contra- 
 distinction to the cfBstus, or boxing, receive its name 
 ui'nTov TTuXaiarov, from struggling U'ith open hands. 
 VV' d have a most lively picture of tliis ancient gym- 
 nastic exercise upon an antique urn, in Patin's Imp. 
 Roman. Numismata, page 122 ; and likewise upon a 
 coin of Treboniauus Gallus, the figure of which is
 
 SAMSON 
 
 [612] 
 
 SAM 
 
 exhibited in Vaillant, Numism. Imper. Gi-sec." 
 (Shaw's Travels, page 217.) In like manner, Pitts 
 informs us—" They have [at Algiers] a comical sort 
 of wrestling. . . . There comes one boldly into the 
 ring of people, and strips all to his drawers: he turns 
 his back to the ring, and his face towards his clothes 
 on the gi-ound. He then stretcheth on his i-igktknee, 
 and then throws abroad his arms three times, clap- 
 ping his hands together as often, just above the 
 ground : . . . . then makes two or three good springs 
 into the middle of the ring, and there he stands with 
 his left hand to his left ear, and his right hand to his 
 left elbow. This is his challenge ; his antagonists do 
 the same. After which the pUewans face each other, 
 and then both at once slap their htmCts on their thighs, 
 and then clap together, and then lift them up as high 
 as their shoulders, and cause the palms of their hands 
 to meet, and with the same dash their heads one 
 against anotiier three times, so hard, that many times 
 
 the blood runs down They'll come as often 
 
 within five or six yards one of another, and clap their 
 hands to eacii other, and then put forward the left leg, 
 bowing their body, and leaning witli the left elbow on 
 the left knee, for a little while looking one at the other 
 
 like two fighting cocks, then at it they go At 
 
 their byrams, or festivals, those which are their most 
 famous pilewans, come in to show their parts, before 
 the Dey, eight or ten together. They are the choice 
 of all the stout wrestlers." (Account of Algiers, 
 page 168.) 
 
 Do not these challengers well deserve the descrip- 
 tion of leg-and-thigh-men, or shoulder-and-thigh- 
 men ? Their very attitudes seem to have furnished 
 their name, which seems, indeed, correctly expressive 
 of them. Now, as we learn, that occasionally the 
 most famous of these are selected and engaged, is 
 there any thing unlikely in the supposition, that the 
 Philistines assembled their best wi-estlers, and most 
 notorious combatants, to engage the famous Samson ? 
 that these, fighting in the manner desci-ibed by Pitts 
 and Dr. Shaw, are denoted by the expression, " hip- 
 and-thigh-men ? " i. e. those who made a profession 
 of wrestling, and who Avere esteemed eminent in that 
 exercise. 
 
 [After all, the expression he smote them hip and 
 thigh, which occurs no where else in Scrijjture, seems 
 here to be merely proverbial, implying that he smote 
 them wholly, entirely. So Gesenius. R. 
 
 After this, Samson retired into the rock Etam, in 
 Judah ; but was taken by tlie people of Judah and 
 led bound to the Philistines. The Spirit of the Lord, 
 however, animating Samson, he snapped his cords, 
 and happening to find the jaw-bone of an ass, he, with 
 this weapon, slew a thousand Philistines; and, throw- 
 ing away the jaw-bone, he gave t'.uit ))lace the name 
 of Ramath-lehi, that is, the lifting up of the jaw-bone. 
 Being overcome with extreme thirst, and crying to 
 the Lord, tlic Lord opened a rock called ]\iaktcsh, 
 that is, the jaw-tooth, wlience water gushed out to 
 assuage his tliirst. See Lehi. 
 
 After tliis, Samson went to Gaza, a city of the Phi- 
 listines, where he took up his lodgings with a harlot, 
 or movi'. prol)ably a woman who kept a public house. 
 The PliilistiiK.'S, knowing of his arrival, sot a guard 
 about the house, and anotlirr at the gates of the city, 
 to kill him as lie went out in tlie morning. But Sani- 
 .';on, rising at midnight, wont off, and took away the 
 two gc.tos of the city, and tlie gate-posts, bar and 
 chain, and carried them up tlie hill which is towards 
 Hebron. 
 
 Some time aflcr\vards, he became attached to a 
 
 woman called Delilah, who dwelt in the valley of 
 Sorek. Many have thought, that Samson took her 
 as his wife, but this does not appear to have been 
 the fact. The Philistines bribed this woman, to dis- 
 cover in what his extraordinary strength consisted. 
 He amused her for a considerable time, pretending 
 that it lay sometimes in one thing, and sometimes in 
 another; and when the Philistines were ready to 
 seize him, he burst his bonds asunder. At last she 
 obtained the secret, that his strength lay in his haii-, 
 which had never been shorn. This she cut off, as 
 he lay sleeping in her lap, after the common oriental 
 fashion ; and the Phihstines instantly seizing him, 
 bound him, and put out his eyes. They took him to 
 Gaza, shut him up in prison, and made him grind at 
 the mill, as a base and contemptible slave. 
 
 In this usage we discover a degree of vindictive 
 contempt, which perhaps was the ?ic plus idira of 
 contumely on the part of the Philistines. Samson 
 being blind, yet of great strength, they made him 
 grinder for the prison. Grinding was women's v.ork, 
 therefore severely degradhig; it was simple work, 
 requiring no art ; it was laborious work, in which 
 his strength was of service ; and thus, by drudging 
 for them, in this menial employment, he earned a 
 mortifying livelihood for himself In this view, Sam- 
 son was worse used tlian Jol) (xxxi. 10.) sujjposes 
 his wife might be ; "Lc/ mytvifehe so degraded that, 
 instead of having her corn ground for her, she shall 
 perform that servile office herself ; not for herself, or 
 for me, the lawful object of her affectionate care, but 
 let her g-?-i7u/ /or another." Samson, the hero, em- 
 ployed on woman's work ! a vilely fit employment 
 for Delilah's deluded lover ! he ground too for others, 
 for those in prison with himself; Samson, the hero, 
 labors, as Isaiah predicts the virgin daughter of Bab- 
 ylon should labor : " Come doiim, sit in the dust ; sit 
 on the ground ; there is no chair for thee : take the 
 mill-stones, and grind meal: nay more, whereas wo- 
 men who grind usually sing while grinding, sit thou 
 silent, and get into darkness ; retire into some dark 
 hole and corner, endeavoring to obtain a partial con- 
 cealment of thy vexation and disgrace," chap, xlvii. 1. 
 
 Samson continued in prison at Gaza about a year, 
 and, his hair growing again, (Judg. xvi. 22.) God 
 restored to him his strength. Shortly afterwards the 
 pi-inces of the Pliilistines met in a general assembly, 
 in the temple of their god Dagon, to return him 
 thanks for having delivered to them this their fornii- 
 dable enemy ; and after they had ended their feast, 
 the}' ordered Samson to be brought in that he might 
 contribute to their sport. When they had insulted 
 him as long as they thought fit, he desired his guide 
 to let him rest himself against the ])i!!ars that sup- 
 ported the tem|)le, which was then liill of people, 
 both above and below the galleries. (See House.) 
 Calling on the name <'f the Lord, and laying hold of 
 the two ])illars, by which the temple was supported, 
 one in his right hand and the other in liis left, he 
 said, "Let me also die with the Philistines;" and 
 violently shaking the pillars, the temple fell, and kill- 
 ed about three thousand persons. Samson lived in 
 the whole about thirty -eiaht years ; and was judge of 
 Israel about twenty, Judg. xvi. 20. A. M. 2867 to 
 2887. 
 
 SAMUEL, son of Elkanah and of IJannali, of the 
 tribe of Levi, and of the family of Kohath, was a 
 })rophct and judge of Israel for uiany years, 1 Sam. 
 i. 1, &c. 1 Cbron. vi. 23. His father, 'Elkan.-di,dv,'. It 
 at Ramatliaim-Znphim, or the city of Ratnath-'., 
 inhabited by Levilcs of the family of Zophai, or Ziiph,
 
 SAMUEL 
 
 [813 ] 
 
 SAMUEL 
 
 a descendant of Kohatli, and Samuel himself dwelt 
 there the greater part of his time. 
 
 The circunistauces connected with the birth and 
 early life of Samuel are of a peculiarly interesting 
 nature. It was at the time when Eli was presiding 
 us high-priest at Shiloh, that Hannah, the wife of 
 Elkanah, having gone to the usual sacrificial feast at 
 Shiloh, availedherseif of an opportunity to "pour out 
 her soul" before God, at the tabernacle; requesting 
 the removal of the reproach she daily suffered from 
 Peninnah, her copartner in the embraces, though far 
 her inferior in the affections, of Elkanah, by the be- 
 stowal of a son. The fervent, yet silent manner of 
 her appeal induced Eli to mistake her emotions for 
 intoxication, with which he precipitately accused her ; 
 but upon the circumstance being explained, he as read- 
 ily retracted, and changed the language of unchari- 
 tableness into that of benediction. The acceptance of 
 Hannah's prayer was at length corroborated by the 
 birth of a son, whom her piety and her gratitude con- 
 curred to name Sauuiel, that is, "asked of God." 
 Having been devoted as a Nazarite from his infancy, 
 in compliance with his mother's vow when she asked 
 him of the Lord, he was, while in his infancy, ])re- 
 sented to Eli, for the service of the tabernacle, by 
 whom he was invested with the distinguishing ephod, 
 ch. ii. 
 
 The extraordinary character of Samuel soon began 
 to be developed, in a commission Avhich he received 
 immediately from heaven, to denounce his displeas- 
 ure against Eli, for his criminal remissness with re- 
 gard to his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, whose 
 libertine baseness was scarcely reproved, and not at 
 all restrained, by parental authority. The spirit of 
 the aged priest upon the occasion demands notice, 
 and deserves imitation : " It is the Lord," he exclaim- 
 ed, " let him do what seemeth him good." The ap- 
 pearance of a ])rophet like Samuel in this period of 
 suspended revelations, awakening in the bosoms of 
 the almost desponding Israelites the liveliest antici- 
 pations, they immediately adopted measures to dis- 
 enthral themselves from Philistine subjugation ; but 
 they were defeated with the loss of four thousand 
 men. x\s they imputed this disaster to the absence 
 of the ark, it was fetched into the camp amidst great 
 exultations, but a second overthrow involved the loss 
 of thirty thousand foot, (among whom were Hophni 
 and Pliinehas,) and above all of the ark, which the 
 enemy captured ; intelfigencc of which latter calamity 
 being suddenly comnnmicated to Eli, he fell back- 
 wardh!, "and his neck brake, and he died." The 
 Philistines had but little cause to triumph in the cap- 
 tivity of the ark. This sacred possession was carried 
 into the temple of Dagon, to whom they ascribed their 
 victory ; and the ])riests, upon entering the national 
 shrine, the next morning, found their god fallen to the 
 ground before the ark. ImpiUing this circumstance 
 to accident, they again set up the statue. The fol- 
 lowing day the image was discovered again fallen, 
 and the head and hands broken upon the threshold of 
 his own temple, so as to leave the trunk only remain- 
 ing. The ])eople themselves were smitten with griev- 
 ous bodily diseases, which pursued them from city to 
 city, wherever they transported the ark, until tiiey 
 restored it, with conunemorative offerings, to the 
 Israelites, (see Dago.n,) chap. iv. — vi. 
 
 The cajjtivity of the ark, and the consequent sus- 
 pension of the public services at Shiloh, tended to the 
 increasing debasement and degeneration of the peo|)le, 
 which only stimulated our eminent jn-ophet and ruler 
 to exert his energies to accomiilish a general refor- 
 
 mation, by whose means an assembly was at length 
 convened at Mizpeh, for the purpose of publicly re- 
 nouncing their sins, and returning to God by fasting, 
 humiliation, sacrifice and prayer. This solenmity 
 excited the apprehensions of their enemies, who 
 accordingly determined upon frustrating their plans, 
 by coming suddenly upon them ; but as their repent- 
 ance was sincere, and their consequent reconciliation 
 to offended goodness immediate, the Supreme Being 
 declared himself in their favor after Samuel's sacri- 
 fice and intercession : the Philistines were panic- 
 struck by a tremendous thunder-storm, and by their 
 flight and dispersion enabled the pursuing Israelites 
 ultimately to dictate terms of peace ; m connnemora- 
 tion of which deliverance, Samuel erected a monu- 
 mental memorial, which he called Ebenezer, or " the 
 stone of help." 
 
 While victory had now rendered the Israehteg 
 secure from external attacks, the proper administration 
 of justice, by their illustrious governor, conferred 
 u})on them internal prosperity and happiness. Sam- 
 uel exercised his judicial authority with evident 
 advantage to all classes of the community, and by 
 annual circuits took upon himself the inspection and 
 regulation of civil affairs. He moreover erected a 
 public altar of worship, as the best substitution for 
 the deserted ordinances of Shiloh ; and to him have 
 been ascribed those institutions which were called 
 the schools of the prophets, of which we cannot at this 
 distance of time collect any very exact information. 
 They appear to have been originally established in 
 the cities of the Levites, which were diffused through 
 the different tribes, for the sake of facilitating the plan 
 of general instrucfion. In these seminaries the 
 prophets devoted themselves to the study of the law, 
 were taught the art of psalmody, and awaited the call 
 into public life under the superintendence of one of 
 the same class, venerable for wisdom or years. Age, 
 however, relaxed the vigor of his administration ; and 
 Samuel, in consequence of appointing his two sons, 
 Joel and Abiah, to execute his office, soon found, by 
 the complaints of die elders, that he had devolved it 
 into unworthy hands. He was in consequence solicit- 
 ed to appoint a king over them, that they might enjoy 
 a similar form of government to that of other nations. 
 This was no doubt as offensive a i-equest to Samuel, 
 as it was an impious and ungrateful one toward their 
 supreme Lord and Benefactor. He at once, there- 
 fore, applied to God, in the exigency, who directed 
 him to comply with their desires, after a solemn pro- 
 test against their proceedings, chap. vii. viii. ' 
 
 The introduction of Saul, the son of Kish, to Sam- 
 uel, and the several circumstances which attended 
 his election to royalty, furnish remarkable illustrations 
 of the ever active agency of Providence ; controlling 
 eveiy seeming casualty, and subordinating to its 
 plans the most trifling coincidences. Saul and his 
 servant were despatched in ])ursuit of his father's 
 asses, which had strayed from home ; and having 
 arrived at Kamah, at llie instigation of the latter, 
 Samuel was inquired after, for information respecting 
 them. The prophet had been already jirepared for 
 the visit, and instructed how to act by a divine inti- 
 mation. Treating him, accordingly, with marked 
 distinction and respect, he first held a conference with 
 Saul in the evening, probably to explain the secret 
 designs of Providence, and in the ensuing morning, 
 after sending the servant to a ])roper distance, pro 
 ceeded to anoint him the future king of Israel, giving 
 him prophetic information of some other events in 
 which he would be personally interested. This ap-
 
 SAMUEL 
 
 I 814 
 
 SAMUEL 
 
 pointment, it must be remarked, was now only a 
 private transaction, but calculated to satisfy him with 
 regard to the divine decision of the lot by which he 
 was subsequently chosen at Mizpeh. To that place, 
 whither the ark was conducted, Samuel convened 
 the people ; and when the lot was cast, which suc- 
 cessively pointed to the tribe of Benjamin, the family 
 of Matri, and the person of Saul, his majestic appear- 
 ance so well seconded the recommendatoiy speech of 
 Samuel, that he at once gained, with few exceptions, 
 the univei-sal attachment. He very soon signalized 
 himself by rendei'ing prompt and effectual succor to 
 the mhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, who were besieged 
 by the Ammonites, and on the very point of a sur- 
 render ; a victory which, by enhancing his fame, gave 
 him a triumph over his secret enemies. A general 
 meeting was accordingly called by Samuel, at Gilgal, 
 where the election of Saul was confirmed, with the 
 accompaniment of public sacrifices and rejoicings. 
 Having now wholly to resign the government into 
 the hands of the person he had himself anointed for 
 the oflice, Samuel concluded his more public life by 
 an oration, truly characteristic of his integrity of prin- 
 ciple and his piety of mind. He challenged the peo- 
 ple to produce any instances of peculation or inequity 
 fluring his administration ; i-ecapitulated some of the 
 facts of their past history, which were illustrative of 
 the consequences of cUsobedience, and intimated the 
 impropriety of their conduct in desiring a king ; 
 appealing to a miraculous attestation of the displeas- 
 ure of God, by calling for a thunder-storm in that 
 season of wheat harvest, when it was so unusual ; 
 suggesting, at the same time, the goodness of God in 
 determining not to forsake them if they did not finally 
 renounce his authority, chap. ix. — xii. 
 
 In the second year of Saul's reign, hostilities were 
 renewed against the Philistines. The king, having 
 repaired to Gilgal, waited with impatience for Samuel 
 to assist in presenting burnt-offerings, till at length, on 
 the seventh day, the services were ordered to proceed 
 before his arrival ; which occasioned a severe rebuke 
 from the prophet, and an assurance that his precipi- 
 tation would ultimately prove subversive of his 
 dominion. Shortly after this, another instance of 
 Saul's disobedience occurred ; he was commanded 
 by God, through Samuel, to destroy utterly the nation 
 of the AjTialekites, but under the pretence of offering 
 sacrifice, he spared the most valuable portion of the 
 spoil, together with Agag, their king. This produced 
 a severe remonstrance from Samuel, who turned ab- 
 ruptly away from his excuses ; and when Saul seized 
 his garment, which rent in his hands, Sanmel took 
 occasion to declare, that the Lord had rent the king- 
 dom of Israel from him, and had bestowed it upon 
 another. The king's urgent solicitations, however, 
 induced at length a compliance with his wish that 
 Samuel would join him in a public act of worship ; 
 after which the prophet slew Agag, and departed to 
 Ramah, never more to hold any personal communi- 
 cation with Saul. Still, however, he retained an 
 affection for the king, and long and deeply lamented 
 his misconduct ; till he was roused from unavailing 
 grief by a message from heaven, desiring him to goto 
 Bethlehem, and bestow the royal unction upon David, 
 his distinguished successor, to whom we devote a 
 subsequent article, ch. xiii. — xv. 
 
 After the lapse of a few years from this period, in 
 which David was encountering the relentless malig- 
 nity of Saul, we find Samuel still at Ramah, and 
 accompanying David to Naioth, a school of the 
 prophets, as a temporary a.sylum, where the Scripture 
 
 nan'ative of his life closes. He died about four years 
 before Saul, upwards of ninety years of age, A. M. 
 2944, deeply lamented by the whole nation. His re- 
 mains were interred at Ramah, the place of his usual 
 residence, ch. xix. 23, 24 ; xxv. 1. 
 
 Samuel was a character unquestionably of the very 
 first class ; of irreproachable integrity, undaunted 
 foi-titude, unabating zeal, unaffected and unblemished 
 piety ; sincere as a friend, gentle as a man, virtuous 
 as a judge, and holy as a prophet. In the Chronicles 
 he is stated to have assisted in distributing the Levites 
 appointed by David for the temple sei-vice, and as 
 having enriched the tabernacle by spoils taken from 
 the enemies of Israel. He is said also to have written 
 the history of David, in conjunction with the prophets 
 Nathan and Gad, which, of course, can be understood 
 only of his early transactions. The first twenty 
 chapters of the first book that appears under his name, 
 are with the utmost probability ascribed to him by the 
 Talmudists ; and he was the first in the unbroken 
 chain of prophets, that extended to the days ofMala- 
 chi, and that " foretold," according to the testimony 
 of St. Peter, (Acts iii. 24.) "of" the final establish- 
 ment and triumphs of Christianity. (Ency. Met. art. 
 Samuel.) 
 
 About two years after the death of Samuel, the 
 Philistines having invaded the territories of Israel 
 with a powerful army, Saul with his troops took a 
 position on the eminences of Gilboa ; but being over- 
 come by consternation at the multitude of his enemies, 
 he resolved to consult some witch or sorceress, to 
 foreknow the event of the war. His servants were 
 therefoi-e sent in quest of a woman possessed of a 
 familiar spirit, the Lord having refused to answer him 
 by dreams, or by urim, or by prophets. Having dis- 
 covered an enchantress at En-dor, about two or three 
 leagues from Gilboa, Saul disguised himself, and vis- 
 ited her, with a small attendance, and desired her to 
 raise the ghost of Samuel. She had recourse to her 
 charms, and when the ghost appeared, she screamed 
 violently, and said, " Why have you deceived me, for 
 you are Saul ? " Saul, however, encouraged her to 
 declare what she saw. " I see (said she) gods [elohim, 
 in the sense of magistrate, chief, or prince, &c.] 
 coming out of the earth ;" adding, that he had the 
 appearance of " an old man covered with a mantle." 
 By this description Saul recognized Samuel, and 
 bowed himself to the earth. Samuel inquired why 
 he had been distm-bed. To which Saul answered, 
 that, being in great difficulties, and not knowing whom 
 to address, because God gave him no answer, he had 
 resorted to the present undertaking. Sam\iel con- 
 firmed all his fears, declaring that the kingdom should 
 be taken from him, and given to David, his son-in- 
 law ; that Israel should be delivered into the hands 
 of their enemies the Philistines; and that Saul and 
 his sons should die on the morrow, 1 Sam. xxviii. 
 
 On this narrative there has been much controversy, 
 first, as to whether the ghost of Sanuiel did really ap- 
 pear to Saul, and next, if the appearaiice were real, 
 whether it was effected by the power of the devil, or 
 the art of magic ? Our limits, however, will not per- 
 mit of even a mei*e outline of the arguments on either 
 side. Calmet says the most probable opinion is, tiiat 
 Samuel really appeared to Saul ; not by the magical 
 charms of the sorceress, or by the power of the devil, 
 but by the almighty power of God, who, to punish 
 Saul, might permit Samuel to appear, and discover 
 to him his last and greatest calamity. Mr. Taylor 
 takes a different view of the subject, and in the article 
 Witch, has labored to Drove that the supposed ap-
 
 SAN 
 
 [815] 
 
 SAN 
 
 pearance was a mere juggling trick upon tne part of 
 the woman. The text, however, gives no counte- 
 nance to tills notion ; but, on the coutraiy, it is said, 
 in verse 14, that " Saul perceived that it was Samuel 
 himself." 
 
 To Samuel are ascribed the Book of Judges, that 
 of Ruth, and the First Book of Samuel. There is, 
 indeed, great probabiUty that he was the author of 
 the first twenty-four chapters of the first of Samuel, 
 since they contain nothing but what he might have 
 written, and in which he was not a principal agent. 
 IIo\vever, in these chapter, there is some trifling ad- 
 ditions, probably inserted after his death. We read, 
 (1 Chron. ix. 22.) that he assisted m regulating the 
 distribution of the Levites made by David for the ser- 
 vice of the temple, which Cahnet suggests may be 
 explained by saying, that David pursued the order 
 settled by Samuel, during his administration, after the 
 death of the high-priest Eli ; or, as Mr. Taylor thinks, 
 he may have left in MS. some plan for such a purpose. 
 We read also, (1 Chron. xxvi. 28.) that Samuel en- 
 riched tiie tabernacle of the Lord, by magnificent 
 presents, and by valuable spoils, taken from the ene- 
 mies of Israel. Also, (1 Chron. xxLx. 29.) that he 
 wrote the history of David, in conjunction with the 
 prophets Nathan and Gad. Probably he might write 
 the beginning of his history, which the other prophets 
 continued and concluded ; for Samuel was dead 
 before David came to the throne. The first two 
 Books of Kings bear the name of Books of Samuel ; 
 but, it must be evident that he could not be the 
 author of the second of these Books, which contains 
 transacfions after his death. Neither could he write 
 the latter end of the first, since his death is mentioned 
 in chap. xxv. It is said (chap. x. 25.) of the' First 
 Book of Samuel, that this prophet wrote in a book, 
 "the manner of the kingdom," describing the rights, 
 prerogatives, and revenues of the king, and the extent 
 ol'his power and authority; a repetition of what he 
 had proposed, viva voce, a little before to the people. 
 See further under Kings, Books of. 
 
 Samuel began the chain of the prophets which was 
 never broken from his time to that of Zechariah and 
 Malachi, Acts iii. 24. 
 
 SANBALLAT, chief, or governor, of the Cuthites, 
 or Samaritans, and a great enemy to the Jews. 
 When Nehcmiah came fi'om Shushan to Jerusalem, 
 (Neb. ii. 10, 19. aiite A. D. 454.) and began to rebuild 
 the walls of Jerusalem, Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem 
 taunted him, and sent to inquire on what authority he 
 undertook this euter{)rise ; and whether it were not a 
 revolt against tiie king. Nehemiah, however, pro- 
 ceeded with vigor in his undertaking, and completed 
 the wails of the city. 
 
 Finding that they could not succeed against the 
 Jews by the course they had pursued, Sanballat, To- 
 biah and Geshem sent to Nehemiah, to desire him to 
 meet them in the field, that they might make an alli- 
 ance, and swear inviolable friendship. But Nehemi- 
 ah perceived this was only a stratagem, as he did also 
 a subsequent attempt to ensnare him, and escaped in 
 both cases. 
 
 Nehemiah being obliged to return to king Arta- 
 xerxes at Shushan, (Neh. xiii. G, 28. A. M. 3563, ante 
 A. D. 441,) in his absence, the high-priest Eliashib 
 married his grandson Manasseh, son of Joiada, to a 
 daughter of Sanballat, and allowed Tobiah, a kinsman 
 of Sanballat, an apartment in the temple. Nehemiah, 
 at Ills return to Jerusalem, (the exact year of which is 
 not known,) drove Tobiah out of the temple, and 
 would not sufter IManasseh, the high-priest's grand- 
 
 sou, to continue in the city, nor to perform the func- 
 tions of the priesthood. Manasseh,being thus expelled, 
 retired to his father-in-law, Sanballat, who provided 
 him the means of exercising his priestly office on 
 mount Gerizim, on the following occasion. See 
 Gerizim. 
 
 When Alexander the Great came into Phoenicia, 
 and invested Tyre, Sanballat abandoned the interests 
 of Darius, and went, at the head of 8000 men, to offer 
 his service to Alexander, who readily received him, 
 and gave liim leave to erect a temple on mount Ge- 
 rizim, where he constituted his son-in-law Manasseh 
 the high-priest. Sanballat must have been at this 
 time very old, for 120 years before (A. M. 3550) he 
 was governor of the Samaritans. Indeed, some have 
 been of opinion that the Sanballat who lived in the 
 time of Alexander was different from he who so 
 eagerly opposed Nehemiah ; but Calmet sees no 
 necessity for admitting this. Howevci-, Josephus 
 makes Sanballat a Cuthite originally, and does not 
 mention him who withstood Nehemiah. The wife 
 of Manasseh he calls by the nameof Nicaso, and says 
 that Sanballat died nine months after he had submitted 
 to Alexander. 
 
 Dr. Prideaux, however, rejects the solution of this 
 difficulty, by two Sanballats, and endeavors to recon- 
 cile the history to truth and probability, by showing 
 a mistake in Josephus. This author makes Sanballat 
 to flourish in the time of Darius Codomannus, and to 
 build his temple upon mount Gerizim by license from 
 Alexander the Great ; whereas it was performed by 
 leave from Darius Nothus, in the fifteenth year of 
 his reign. This removes the difficulty arising from 
 the great age of Sanballat, and allows him to be con- 
 temporary with Nehemiah, as the Scriptui-e history 
 requires. 
 
 SANCTIFY of\en signifies to prepare. Thus 
 Joshua says to the people, (chap. iii. 5.) " Sanctify 
 yourselves, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders 
 among you." Prepare yourselves to pass over Jordan. 
 In Isa. xiii. 3, the Lord calls the Medes his sanctified. 
 I have appointed, and, as it were, consecrated them 
 to be the executioners of my vengeance against Bab- 
 ylon. (See also Numb. xi. 18; Josh. vii. 13; Jer. vi. 
 4 ; xii. 3 ; li. 27, 28 ; Joel i. 14 ; Mic. iii. 5 ; Zeph. i. 7.) 
 Comp. Holy. 
 
 We desire of God, that his name may be sanctified, 
 or hallowed ; that is, honored, praised and glorified 
 throughout the world ; especially by those who have 
 the happiness of knowing him. Let them sanctify it 
 by their good lives, their fidelity, their submission to 
 his orders ; and they who know him not, that they 
 may obtain the knowledge of him, may hear his word, 
 may become obedient to his instructions. Sec. We 
 may apprehend yet better what is meant by sanctify- 
 ing the name of God, by the opposite to it ; that is, 
 profaning the name of God, by vain swearing, blas- 
 pheming, ascribing his name to idols ; by furnishing 
 wicked men and infidels with occasion of blasphem- 
 ing it by our bad lives, and scandalous conversa- 
 tion, &c. 
 
 It is said, " I will be sanctified in them that come 
 nigh me ; " (Lev. x. 3.) in his priests, when, by the ter- 
 rible and exemplary punishment of Nadab and Abihu, 
 the Lord showed what purity he required in his ser- 
 vants, and what pimctual exactness he expected in his 
 service. The Lord complains, in another filace, that 
 Moses and Aaron did not sanctify him bclurc Israel : 
 "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the 
 eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not 
 bring this congregation into the land which I have
 
 SAN 
 
 t 816 
 
 SAN 
 
 given them," Numo. xx. 12. And how did they not 
 sanctify him ? By showing some distrust in his woi-ds : 
 " Because ye believed me not." God sanctified the 
 seventh day, that is, consecrated it to his sei-vice, Gen. 
 ii. 3. He sanctified all the first-born ; (Exod. xiii. 3.) 
 he commands that they should be offered to him ; as 
 it were, consecrated to his service. Moses sanctifies 
 the Israelites, and by bathing, by abstinence from the 
 use of the marriage bed, by the [)urity of their clothes, 
 he prepares them for appearing before the Lord, for 
 entering into a covenant with him, Exod. xix. 10 ; 
 xiv. 12. 
 
 Those who approach to holy things are sanctified ; 
 for example, it is allowed to the priest only to ofter 
 sacrifices at the altar, Exod. xxix. 37 ; xxx. 29 ; Lev. 
 vi. 18, 27. Compare Lev. xxii. 15, 16, whei-e God 
 expressly forbids that the people should eat of the 
 sanctified things. 
 
 We have in Haggai (ii. 12.) a remarkable instance 
 of the contrariety between the communication of 
 holiness or sanctification, and that of pollution. The 
 prophet is directed to ask the priests concerning the 
 law — "If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his gar- 
 ment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, 
 or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy ? " And 
 the priests answered, " No." " But," said Haggai, " if 
 any one who is unclean by a dead body, touch any of 
 these, shall it be unclean.^" They said, " It shall be 
 unclean." So that the principle of pollution was 
 much more readily communicated than that of sanc- 
 tification ; — for instance, to persons and to things 
 which were in the same apartment, or house with a 
 dead body, though they had not touched it: but 
 iioly flesh did not communicate sanctification, beyond 
 that which it touched: it might sanctify the skirt of 
 tiie garment that carried it, but it communicated no 
 virtue to any thing beyond it. 
 
 SANCTUARY. By this name that part of the 
 temple of Jerusalem was called, which was the most 
 secret and most retired; in which was the ark of the 
 covenant; and where none but the high-priest might 
 enter, and he only once a year, on the day of solemn 
 expiation. The same name was also given to the 
 most sacred part of the tabernacle set up in the wil- 
 derness, which remained till some time after the 
 building of the temple. Sec Taberxaclk, and 
 Temple. 
 
 Sometimes the word sanctuary is used generally for 
 the temple, or the holy place, the strurtvn-e appointed 
 for the public worship of the Lord. It should seem 
 also, that Moses uses it instead of the Holy Land. 
 Exod. XV. 17, "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant 
 them in the mountain of thy inheritance, in the place, 
 O liOrd, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in ; 
 in the sanctuary, O Lorfl, which thy hands have estab- 
 lished." And in Lev. xx. 3, of those who offer their 
 children to Moloch, he says, they "defile my sanctu- 
 ary, and profane my holy name." He forbids the 
 high-priest to go out of the temple, to mourn for his 
 relations, Lev. xxi. 12 : " Neither shall he go out of 
 the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God." 
 The temple is liere denoted by its princii)al part. It 
 is believed that sanctuary is put for heaven, in Deut. 
 xxvi.15: "liook from the dwelling of thy sanctuary," 
 from the high heaven. 
 
 SAND. A similitude taken from the aggregate 
 sand of the sea, is often used, to express a very great 
 multitude, or a very great weight ; or from a single 
 sand, something very mean and trifling. God prom- 
 ises Abraham and Jacob to multiply their posterity as 
 the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea, Gen. 
 
 xxii. 17 ; xxxii. 12. Job (vi. 3.) compares the weight 
 of his misfortunes to that of the sand of the sea. Sol- 
 omon says, (Prov. xxvii. 3.) that though sand and 
 gravel are very heavy things, yet the anger of a fool 
 is much heavier. And Ecclesiasticus says that a fool 
 is more insupportable than the weight of sand, lead 
 or iron, Ecclus. xxii. 15. 
 
 The prophets magnify the omnipotence of God, who 
 has fixed the sand of the shore for the boundaries of 
 the sea, and has said to it, " Hitherto shalt thou come ; 
 but here thou shalt break thy foaming waves, and 
 shalt pass no farther," Jer. v. 22. 
 
 Om- Saviour tells us, (Matt. vii. 26.) that a fool lays 
 the foundation of his house on the sand ; whereas a 
 wise man founds his house on a rock. Ecclesiasti- 
 cus says, (xviii. 8.) that the years of the longest life of 
 man are but as a drop of water, or as a grain of sand. 
 And Wisdom says, (vii. 9.) that all the gold in the 
 world, compared to wisdom, is but as the smallest 
 grain of sand. See Rain, and Pillars. 
 
 SANDALS, [Heb. D>Sp ; Gi: moS/j^aTa, aavduX.a. 
 The sandals or shoes of the orientals were in ancient 
 times, and are still at the present day, merely soles of 
 hide, leather, or wood, fastened to the bottom of the 
 foot by two straps, one of which passes around the 
 great toe, on the fore part of the foot, and the other 
 around the ankle. Niebuhr says, (Descr. of Arabia, 
 p. 63, Germ, ed.) " The shoes of the Arabs, of the 
 middling and lower classes, consist only of a sole, 
 with one or two straps over the foot, and one around 
 the ankle. These straps are by no means so long as 
 those which painters are accustomed to assign to the 
 oriental costume. The Arabs sometimes wear in their 
 houses Avooden sandals or slippers with high heels, i/ 
 which are common throughout the East. These are 
 worn also by ladies of rank in Egypt and Turkey." 
 These were probably also not unknown among the He- 
 brews. It is easy to see now, why the Hebrew prophets 
 could speak so contemptuously of the value of a ^aj'r 
 of shoes, i. e. sandals, Amos ii. 6 ; viii. 6. 
 
 The sandals of females were often ornamented ; 
 and it is not impossible that these may have resem- 
 bled the slippeis or shoes of modern orientals, which 
 cover also the upper part of the foot, and are usually 
 made of morocco leather, Judith x. 6 ; xvi. 9 ; Ezck. 
 xvi. 10. (Compare the article Badgers' Skins.) 
 
 It is not customary in the East to wear slices or 
 sandals in the houses ; hence they are always taken 
 off on entering a house, and especially temples and 
 all consecrated places. Hence the phrase to loose 
 one^s shoes or sandals from off one^s feet, Ex. iii. 5 ; 
 Deut. XXV. 9, etc. To loose and bind on the sandals 
 was the business of the lowest servants ; and a slave, 
 newly bought, commenced his service by loosing the 
 sandals of his new master, and carrying them a certain 
 distance. (Talmud Kiddush,22. 2.) Disciples, how- 
 ever, performed this office for their master, and ac- 
 counted it an honor ; but the rabbins advise, not to do 
 it before strangers, lest they should be mistaken for 
 servants. Hence the expressions of John the Baptist, 
 that he was " not worthy to loose or to bear the san- 
 dals of Jesus," Matt. iii. 11 ; IMark i. 7. As stockings 
 are not worn in the East, the feet in sandals become 
 dusty and soiled ; accordingly, on entering a house 
 and "putting off the sandals, it was customary to wash 
 the feet. This was also the business of the lowest 
 servants. On visits, slaves presented the water ; but 
 to guests of distinction, the master of the house per- 
 formed this office, Gen. xviii. 4, 5; Luke vii. 44. 
 (Comp. John xiii. 4.) The poor, of course, often went 
 barefoot ; but this was not customary among the rich,
 
 AN 
 
 [ 817 
 
 SAR 
 
 except as a sign of mourning. See further under 
 Foot, the section Washing of the Feet. 
 
 In contracts, the seller drew off his sandals and 
 gave them to the buyer, in confirmation of the bar- 
 gain, Ruth iv. 7. The loosing of the sandals was 
 also a ceremony when a man refused to marry the 
 widow of his deceased brother, Deut. xxv. 9. *R. 
 
 Writers say, that when Hercules became slave to 
 Omphaie, she used to give him concction with her 
 sandal, which was the most degrading and effemi- 
 nate kind of correction. So Lucian makes Venus say 
 of Cupid, "Already I have given him some correc- 
 tion ; and taking him on my knee, have chastised 
 him with my sandal." But JMr. Hlorier, in his Second 
 Journey to Persia, (p. 8.) mentions a servant of the 
 ambassador who was "abundantly beaten on the 
 back with a stick, and on the mouth with a shoe 
 heel," which he further explains, p. 95. The king 
 of Persia examined some of his officers, who not an° 
 swering as he desired, he exclaimed, "Call the 
 Ferashes, and beat these rogues till they die. The 
 Ferashes came and beat them violently ; and when 
 they attempted to say any thing in their own defence, 
 they smote them on the mouth with a shoe, the heel 
 of which was shod with iron." He adds in a note, 
 " This use of the shoe is quite characteristic of the 
 eastern manners described in Scripture. The shoe 
 was always considered as vile, and never was allowed 
 to enter sacred or respected places ; and to be smit- 
 ten with it, is to be subjected to the last ignominy. 
 Paul was smitten on the mouth by the orders of 
 Ananias : " (Acts xxiii. 2.)— whether this were with 
 a shoe, may deserve consideration ; such i";nominy, 
 if lliat were the case, might well excite Paul's auger, 
 and excuse his threat. 
 
 SANHEDRIM, or Beth-dix, house of judgment, 
 was a council of seventj'-one or seventy-two senators, 
 among the Jews, who determined the most important 
 affairs of the nation. The room in which they met, 
 according to tJie rabbins, was a rotunda, half of which 
 Avas built without the temple, and half v/ithin ; the 
 latter part being that in which the judges sat. The 
 JVasi or president, who Avas generally the high-priest, 
 sat on a throne at the end of the hall, his deputy, or 
 vice-president, called M-betk-din, at his right-hand, 
 and the sub-deputy, or Hakam, at his left; the other 
 senators being ranged in order on each side. Most 
 of the members of this council were priests or Le- 
 vites, though men in private stations of life were not 
 excluded. 
 
 The authority of the Sanhedrim was verj' extensive. 
 It decided causes brought before it by appeal from 
 inferior courts ; and even the king, the high-priest, 
 the prophets, were imder its jurisdiction. The 
 general affaii-s of the nation were also brouglit before 
 this assembly. The right of judging in capital cases 
 belonged to it ; and this sentence could not be pro- 
 nounced in any other place, but in the hall called 
 Lishcath-haggazith ; from whence it came to pass, 
 that the Jews were forced to quit this hall, when the 
 power of life and death was taken out of their hands, 
 forty yeai-s before the destruction of their temple, 
 and three yeara before the death of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The raV)bins insist that the Sanhedrim subsisted in 
 their nation, constantly, from the time of Moses, 
 (Numb. xi. 16.) to the destruction of the temple by the 
 Romans. But this is strongly contested. Petau 
 fixes its origm at the time when Gabinius, governor 
 of Judea, erected tribunals in the five principal cities, 
 of Jerusalem, Gadara, Amathus, Jericho, and Sepho- 
 ra, or Seohoris. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xix. cap. 1(\ ; ' 
 103 
 
 de Bello, lib. i. cap. 6.) Basnage fixes its origin to 
 the time of Judas Maccabseus, or tliat of his brother 
 Jonathan. This question, however, cannot be de- 
 termined. We have no proof of its very early 
 existence. 
 
 Our Saviour (Matt. v. 22.) distinguishes two tribu- 
 nals : " Whosoever is angry with his brother without 
 a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment ;" that is, 
 the tribunal of the twenty-three judges. "And who- 
 soever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in dan- 
 ger of the council ; " that is, of the great Sanhedrim, 
 which had the right of life and death, at least 
 generally, and before this right was taken away by 
 the Romans. Some think that the jurisdiction of the 
 council of twenty-three extended to life and death 
 also ; but it is certain that the Sanhedrim was supe- 
 rior to that council. (See also Mark xiii. 9 ; xiv. 55 ; 
 XV. 1 ; Luke xxii. 52, 66; John xi. 47; Acts iv. 1.5, 
 21, wliere mention is made of the S.ynedrion.) 
 
 [The Tahnudists do, indeed, speak of a tribunal or ^ 
 
 Sanhedrim of twentj^-three judges ; but no such tri- ^4 
 bunal is mentioned by Josephus. He, howev^ 
 speaks of a tribunal of^ seven judges, which existed m 
 each town, and took cognizance of smaller oflfences, 
 which is called i yniou, judgment or court of justice 
 in Matt. v. 21, 22 ; and which also seems intended 
 by aviidoioi, council, in Matt. x. 17; Mark xiii. 9. 
 (See Joseph. Antiq. iv. 8, 14 ; Jahn's Bib. Archseol. 
 § 245.) R. 
 
 SAPPHIKA, a Christian woman, and wife of An- 
 anias- They having conjointly sold a field, which 
 ^^•as tlieir property, brought a part of the price, and 
 laid it at the feet of the apostles, as if it had been the 
 whole, resenting the rest. For this prevarication 
 they were both struck with sudden death, Acts v. 
 See Anamas. v 
 
 SAPPHIRE, a precious stone often mentioned in 
 Scripture, Exod. xx^aii. 18 ; xxxix. 11. Job says 
 (xxviii. 6.) there are places whose stones are sap- 
 phires ; that is, sapphires are veiy common there. 
 Pliny says that the best come out of Media : perhaps 
 out of the countiy of the Sapires, or from the mount 
 of Sepliar mentioned by Moses, Gen. x. 30 ; Ezek. i. 
 26; X. 1.- Tiie oriental sapphire is of a skj^ blue 
 color, or a fine azure ; hence, the prophets describe 
 the thrpne of God, as the color of a sapphire ; that is, 
 of a celestial blue or azure, Exod. xxiv. 10. It is 
 next in hardness and value to the diamond. 
 
 I. SARAH, or Sarai, wife of Abraham, and 
 daughter of Terah his father, but by another mother ; 
 since Abraham afsseiis, (Gen. xii. 13 ; xx. 12^ that 
 she was really his sister, the daughter of his father, 
 but not the daughter of his mother. Terali might 
 have had several wives at once, according to the 
 custom of the country ; or he might have married 
 again, after the death of Abraham's mother, by which 
 latter wife he might have had Sarai. This opinion 
 Calmct prefers to that which makes Sarah the same 
 as Iscali, daughter of Haran, niece of Abraham, and 
 gi-anddaughtcr of Terah, (Gen. xi. 29.) which is the 
 opinion of Josephus, and many commentators. 
 
 Sarai was bom A. 31. 2018, and married Abraham 
 before he left Ur : ujjon quitting which he agreed 
 with Sarah, that she should call herself his sister, 
 being afraid she should be taken away from him, and 
 that he might be put to death on her account, if she 
 were known to be his wife. 
 
 The principal incidents in Sarah's life having been 
 detailed in the article Abraham, it is unnecessary to 
 repeat them here. 
 
 When God made a covenant with Abraham, and
 
 SAT 
 
 [ 818 
 
 SATAN 
 
 instituted circumcision, he changed the name of 
 Sarai, or My Princess, into that of Sarah, or Princess ; 
 and promised Abraham a son by her, which was 
 fulfilled in due time. Sarah lived to the age of 127 
 years. She died in the valley of Hebron, and Abra- 
 ham came to Beer-sheba to mourn for her, after 
 which he bought a field of Ephron the Hittite, 
 wherein was a cave hewn in the rock, which the 
 Hebrew calls Machpelah, where Sarah was buried. 
 
 II. SARAH, daughter of Raguel and Anna, of the 
 tribe of Naphtali, and wife of Tobit, Tob. iii. 
 
 SARDIS, now called Sort, a city of Asia Minor, 
 formerly the capital of Croesus, king of the Lydians, 
 is situated at the foot of the famous mount Tmolus, 
 on the north, having a spacious and delightful plain 
 before it, watered with several streams that flow 
 from the neighboring hill to the south-east, and with 
 the Pactolus, i-ising from the same, on the east, and 
 increasing with its waters the stream of Hermus, into 
 which it runs. It is now a pitiful village ; but, for 
 the accommodation of travellers, it being the road 
 for the caravans that come out of Persia to Smyrna 
 with silk, there is a large khan built in it, as is usual 
 in most of these towns. The inhabitants are for the 
 most part shepherds, who look to those numerous 
 flocks and herds which feed in the plains. 
 
 To the southward of the town are very considera- 
 ble ruins still remaining, which reminds us of what 
 Sardis was, before earthquake and tli« sword had 
 caused those desolations which have visited it. ' 
 
 The Turks have a mosque here, which was fornierly 
 a Christian church ; at the entrance of which are 
 several curious pillars of polished marble. Some 
 few Christians live among them, working in gardens, 
 or otherwise employed in such like drudgery. The 
 church in Sardis was reproached by our Saviour for 
 its declension in vital religion. It had a name to 
 live, but was really dead, Rev. iii. 
 
 Mr. Taylor has collected several medals of Sardis, 
 which show that this city was the seat of various 
 games, and other exercises of a popular nature. 
 
 SARDIUS, or Ruby, the Hebrew cmN, Odem, red- 
 ness. Tlie Sardius is reddish, approaching to white, 
 as a man's nail, Exod. xxviii. 17 ; xxxix. 10 ; Ezek. 
 xxviii. 13; Rev. xxi. 20. It is more commonly 
 known by the name of camelian. 
 
 SARDONYX ; as if a sardius united to an onyx ; 
 a species of gem exhibiting the reddish color of the 
 carnelian (sardian) and the white of the chalcedony, 
 intermingled, either in shades, or in alternate stripes. 
 Rev. xxi. 20. (See Rees' Cyclop, art. Gems.) R. 
 
 SARGON, a king of Assyi-ia, successor of Shal- 
 maneser, Isa. xx. 1. See Assyria, p. 114, col. 1. 
 
 SARID, a boundary city of Zebulun, Josh. xix. 
 10, 12. 
 
 SATAN. This Hebrew word is used in the 
 general sense of an adversary, an enemy, an accuser. 
 (See 1 Sam. xxix. 4 ; 1 Kings xi. 14, 23, 24 ; v. 4.) 
 At other times Satan is put for the devil. Job i. 6, 7, 
 11 ; Ps. cix. 6 ; Zech. iii. 
 
 Mr. Taylor has some remarks as to the probability 
 of loyal angels being, occasionally, agents of punish- 
 ment ; and also makes a distinction between loyal 
 and rebellious angels — hinting that loyal angels may 
 punish for crimes committed, though they may not 
 tempt to their Commission. (Compare Angel.) This 
 suggests the idea that j)imishmcnt, in itself, may be 
 perfectly free from malice toward the party sufferiii"' 
 under it; and may even consist with nuich sorrow 
 on account of the necessity for its infliction, and much 
 sympathy with the sufferer. Whereas, to propose 
 
 temptations, to provoke and stimulate to the commis- 
 sion of evil, by delusive representations of its pleas- 
 ures or its profits ; — or by taking advantage of natural 
 passions, propensities, &c. or of accidental circum- 
 stances, of time, place, situation, character, opportu- 
 nity, &LC. is utterly abhorrent from the character, 
 station, duty, nature and disposition of a holy and 
 loyal angel. Mr. Taylor applies these ideas also in 
 reference to Satan, and thence endeavors to ascertain 
 the precise import of several passages of Scripture, 
 where the agent of punishment, simply taken, seems 
 to be the person referred to, by the term Satan. The 
 following are some of his remarks : — 
 
 The Prologue to the Book of Job certainly sup- 
 poses that the angel of punishment by office, appeared 
 in the court of heaven ; and if Satan be simply con- 
 sidered as the minister of punishment, under divine 
 direction, and sometunes (as in the case of Job) the 
 minister of probation only, rather than of punishment 
 (though even Job deserved some punishment, as he 
 acknowledges) — there is no reason why he should be 
 ashamed of his oftice, any more than judges are, 
 who, though frequently ministers of punishment, are 
 not, therefore, excluded from the royal presence ; but, 
 on the contrary, their office is considered as dignified 
 and honorable : i. e. punishment without malevolence 
 does not pollute the inflicter. Consider also the de- 
 struction of Sodom, Gen. xix. — of Egypt, Exod. xii. — 
 of Sennacherib, 2 Kings xix. 35, also. Josh. v. 13 ; 
 Job xxxiii. 22 ; Ps. vii. 13. 
 
 The following passages are from the New Testa- 
 ment. Will this distinction explain 1 Cor. v. 5, q. d. 
 " As the design of punishment is reformation of the 
 sufferer, I command you — not, yourselves, to molest 
 the party, but— <o deliver such a transgi-essor unto Sa- 
 tan, the proper angel of punishment ; that he, by his 
 castigations and afflictions, may bring the criminal to 
 a sense of his duty ; even chould those afflictions ter- 
 minate in the destruction (of liis person ; perhaps, 
 rather, of his fleshly powers, or appetite) of the flesh, 
 in order that the more important part of the man, the 
 spirit, may be saved in the day of the appearance of our 
 Lord Jesus." This passage seems to include an allu- 
 sion to the same principles as those above suggested, 
 because, (1.) The criminal is he who had conmiitted 
 fornication ; and such fornication as the Gentiles 
 abominated ; (2.) the sense ofoXedQor, rendered desti~uc- 
 tion, is loss, injury, exitium sirages ; whatever is per- 
 nicious ; and ultimately deadly ; death : — so that it 
 seems closely to con-espond to the consumption, and 
 toasting debility of person, of the former article, 
 (though indeed there, we conceive, the allusion is 
 both to person and property,) as it arises from the 
 same cause, and (without repentance) would have 
 the same fatal issue. (3.) That nu^c, flesh, has the 
 meaning here intended needs no proof; and this 
 aflTords a glimpse of the punishment inflicted on the 
 Corinthian; he suffered defeat, imjiotence, in that 
 very article by which he had transgressed. — Is this 
 the import of 1 Tim. i. 20 ? Hymeneus and Alex- 
 ander, I have delivered, put into the hands of Satan, 
 the angel of punishment, that they may learn the les- 
 son (as we teach children at school, by the terror of 
 the rod, 7iai8ivdu)Ot) not to bla.tpheme. — Is this what 
 the apostle had in view in his own case ? 2 Cor. 
 xii. 7, Lest I should be exalted above measure, there ivas 
 given, favorably, kindly, to 7ne a thoryi in the flesh, a 
 bodily infirmity, an agent of Satan, {<jyYf>-o? 2'«Tni,)of 
 punishment, or rather of probation, and exercise of 
 patience, faith, &c. to produce humility. Upon this 
 infirmity, i. e. for its removal, or at least its modera-
 
 SATAN 
 
 [ 819 
 
 SATAN 
 
 tion, that it might not appear to be, nor be prolonged 
 as a punishment, nor operate as an impediment to 
 the usefulness of my ministry, / besought the Lord 
 rcpeateilly. If so, this case is analogous to the pro- 
 bation of Job, under tlie agency of Satan. Hence 
 we see, as the pious Mr. Henry might say, that afflic- 
 tions, i. e. sufferings, are not always injlictions, i. e. 
 punishments. 
 
 Having concluded, from these instances, that we 
 risk notliing in supposing that loyal angels may some- 
 times he em|)loyed in offices of jjunishment — punish- 
 ment included in the kind purpose of reformation — 
 Mr. Taylor proceeds to inquire whether some things 
 are not said of a Satan of a different kmd ; or, at least, 
 whether Scri{)ture does not allude to circumstances 
 utterly in-econcilable with the character of holy and 
 happy spirits, under any official capacity or employ- 
 ment whatever. 
 
 Matt. iv. ], 3, &c. " Jesus was teinpted of the dev'i]" 
 i. e. to sin ; to despair, to pride, &c. Matt. v. 37, 
 " Let your discourse be simple and direct: for oaths 
 and swearing, &c. come from the evil one." So the 
 words may signify as they stand ; but some copies 
 read explicitly, /rom the devil. Matt. xii. 26, "If Sa- 
 tan cast out Satan ; " this cannot signify two messen- 
 gers of punishment sent from the same beneticent 
 Deity ; as it implies a contradiction, an opposition, in 
 the purposes of these Satans. Matt. xiii. 39, "The 
 enemy that sowed the tares, which shall be bin-ned, 
 is the devil." Mark iv. 15, " Satan cometh and 
 taketh away the word sown in their hearts," &c. 
 John viii. 44, " The devil was a murderer from the 
 beginning ; he is a liar, and the father of it," verse 41. 
 "Ye do the deeds of your father ; who pi-ompts you 
 to murder me," verse 40. ■ Acts v. 3, " Why has Sa- 
 tan filled thine heart, — io lie to the Holy Ghost ? " 
 Rom. xvi. 20, "The God of peace shall shortly bruise 
 Satan under your feet." — Not the holy angel of pun- 
 ishment, but an adversary of the soul, &a. 1 Cor. 
 vi. 3, " We — human persons — shall judge — condemn 
 — angels:" — surely not holy angels; — but, "though 
 we are but men, yet our piety shall condemn the im- 
 piety of our sujieriors by nature," 2 Cor. xi, 14, 
 " False apostles transforming themselves into apos- 
 tles of Christ, and no marvel ; for Satan himself is 
 transformed into an angel of light" — consequently he 
 is no holy angel ; for a holy angel can neither need, 
 nor suffer, such transformation ; which is, evidently, 
 spoken of as contrary to nature. 2 Thes. ii. 9, "The 
 working of Satan with all lying wonders, and deceiv- 
 ableness of unrighteousness." Jam. iv. 7, " Resist the 
 devil, and he will flee from you." 2 Pet. ii. 4, " God 
 spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down 
 to hell ; and delivered them into chains of darkness, 
 until the judgment." Jude 6, " The angels which 
 kejn not their first estate, he hath resei-ved in ever- 
 lasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of 
 the great day." The passage, Rev. xx. 2. [liiSQuy-oiTa 
 r'ov tupii' Till' uo^aiOT, iig ion dtufioXog y.al ^uruiuc o nXa ■ 
 r<3i) as Mr. Taylor somewhat quaintly remaiks, 
 might almost pass for a modern indictment, in ivhich 
 special care is taken to identify the culprit, by a suffi- 
 cient number of aliases. An angel frem heaven 
 having the key of the prison of the abyas, and a great 
 chain, to secure- his prisoner, " apprehended the 
 dragon, alias, the serpent, the old one ; alias, the 
 devil ; alias the Satan ; alim the seducer of the 
 world" — who was sentenced to a thousand years' 
 imprisonment. Can this passage possibly be descrip- 
 tive of a loyal and honest character ? Throughout 
 the book the same idea may be observed. 
 
 Now it is demonstrable that no holy angel would 
 tempt the Son of God, nor promote lies, murders, de- 
 ceivableness, unrighteousness, cursing and swearing, 
 hypocrisy, &c. all which are attributed to a Satan, 
 i. e. the devil. Perhaps, after we have well consid- 
 ered this double usage of the word Satan, we shall 
 more readily attend to its probable histoiy. Much 
 has been said respecting the word Satan ; and that 
 the ideas connected with it are subsequent to the 
 Babylonish captivity; in proof of the contrary, the 
 late bishop of Llandaff has referred to Ps. cix. 6, 
 " Let Satan stand at his right hand ; " as well as to 
 the " Satans the sons of Zeruiah," 2 Sam. xix. 22. 
 Mr. Taylor adds, that it appeai-s, by the story of 
 Balaam, above quoted, that the word was used long 
 before ; and that it answers perfectly well to the sense 
 of adversary. Nor is it clear on what principles, in 
 the case of Baalam, it can be rendered accuser, unless 
 it might be understood thus — "the angel of the Lord 
 stood in the way, to remonstrate against his proceed- 
 ing ; " i. e. to accuse him of his criminal intention ; 
 for so we find he does : and, indeed, he rather re- 
 monstrates and accuses, than punishes It may 
 
 be queried, therefore, (1.) Whether in early ages, e.g. 
 under the Hebrew republic, the word Satan signified 
 much, if any thing, more, than simply an adversary, 
 an accuser, a remonstrant ; one who " takes to task," 
 as our familiar expression is ; but, (2.) After the in- 
 stitution of monarchy, such an agent of punishment 
 being a constant attendant on a court, the capigi, 
 hacha, mezuwar, or chief executioner ; (see 1 Sam. 
 xxii. 17 ; 2 Kings xxv. 8 ; Jer. xxxix. 11, 12 ; lii. 12 ; 
 Dan. ii. 14.) often also the accuser, was an idea which 
 became involved in the word Satan : then, (3.) Be- 
 cause this accuser received a proft from the spoils 
 of criminals condemned, the sense of rejoicing in the 
 condemnation of those accused became gradually 
 connected with the word : and, (4.) It being notori- 
 ous that such an one who had exercised this office of 
 punisher, had beheld with pleasure the commission 
 of crimes, and had laid temptations in the way of 
 culprits, whom he hoped afterwards to punish, and 
 to turn their spoils to his profit ; all these ideas at 
 length united in the word Satan ; an adversary, who 
 accuses, and who takes such delight in accusation, 
 that he tempts unwary souls to ti-ansgi-ess, for the 
 sake of enjoying the gi-atification attending their pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 If this history of the word be admissible, we may 
 perceive much stronger ideas attached to it in later 
 ages than anciently ; or, perhaps, a milder and a 
 stronger sense, according to circumstances ; and this 
 statement not only refutes those who affirm that it 
 was altogether a Babylonish term, and of Babylonish 
 import ; but it shows, (1.) How an adversary, a 
 Satan, might " rise up against Israel, and prompt 
 David to number the people ;" how David might be 
 •'a Satan to the Philistines ;" (1 Sam. xxix. 4.) how 
 " Hadad and Rezon might be Satans against Solo- 
 mon ; " (1 Kings xi. 23.) and in this simple original 
 sense of the word, how Peter might be "a Satan" to 
 Christ (Matt. xvi. 23.) — he might take him to task, 
 remonstrate, &c. unseasonably. (2.) It sliows how a 
 loyal angel might perform the office of a minister of 
 punishment; and be honored whJle so doing, and 
 this supposition cannot be relinquished : — and, (3.) 
 Since these are human ideas transferred to celestial 
 and spiritual existences, and since we have found so 
 gi-eat depravity among mankimd as rejoicing in the 
 sufferings of others, what forbids our transferring this 
 idea also to a spiritual being .' We should reroem-
 
 SATAN 
 
 [ 820 ] 
 
 SAU 
 
 ber, that even in treating celestial subjects, we must 
 conform to human ideas, as we must adopt human 
 language ; notwithstanding we are aware that what- 
 ever is human is absolutely incompetent to the sub- 
 ject under discussion. This sense of an accuser, 
 seeking for materials and occasions of accusation, 
 illusti-ates 2 Cor. ii. 11, "To whom ye forgive, I for- 
 give ; lest Satan should circumvent us ; " should ex- 
 plore, and discovei', a somewhat which he may form 
 into an accusation, (should libel us, as the Scotch 
 law-term is,) and should find it in our want of har- 
 mony, and concord : " for we are not ignorant of his 
 devices,'''' his meditations and plots, which are always 
 directed to the discovery of imperfections and faults 
 among brethren, and to derivii'g advantage from 
 them in the way of accusation. The apostle seems 
 to reason on the same principle : (1 Coi*. vii. 5.) " If 
 married persons separate by consent for a time, yet 
 let it not be for too long ; lest before the expiration 
 of that time, Satan should, in some unguarded mo- 
 ment, take advantage of natural passions, and tempt 
 by soliciting to incontinency — either, (1.) of the par- 
 ties with each other ; who thereby might break the 
 vow or engagement, by which they were separated, 
 and so their consciences be wounded, as for a crime; 
 or, (2.) either of the parties with another person." 
 But, perhaps, this passage should be read thus: 
 " Defraud not one the other, [except ivith consent, fyc.) 
 lest Satan tempt you, and the issue of liis temptation 
 be incontinency ; to the commission of which, over- 
 prolonged or enforced continency might furnish him 
 an advantage ; though designed to the very contrary 
 by the parties." 
 
 Satan is also said " to go about seeking whom he 
 may spoil, as a lion prowls around a habitation or a 
 fold, seeking whom he may devour." These ideas, 
 with some others, the reader may perhaps discover 
 in the following quotation, Avhich seems to be strongly 
 descriptive of some parts, at least, of the character of 
 Satan : " The Bostandgi Bachi, who, of all the ex- 
 terior officers of the seraglio, is most frequently in the 
 presence of his master, and whose duty it is to give 
 him an account of all irregularities and disorders ; 
 and who frequently goes his roimds to discover them, 
 in one of his maritime excursions liappened to come 
 as far as Buyukdera. (Compare the Prologue to the 
 Book of Job.) The moon began to apjjear, and a 
 dead calm invited us to go upon the Avater ; Avhen 
 the confused cries at a distance, of persons beaten, 
 and others beating thtm, proclaimed the arrival of the 
 Bostandgi Bachi. Mice are not more in haste to run 
 away at the approach of a cat, than all the women 
 now were to hide themselves. The dragoman's lad}', 
 and Madame du Tott, who had nothing to fear, alone 
 dared to abide the coming of this great officer, who 
 quickly made his appearance m a barge manned with 
 four-and-twenty rowers. He had been to chastise 
 the irregularities of some drunken persons, and lay 
 liold of some women, a little too gay, Avho had fallen 
 under his notice. ... A fisherman, being inten-ogated 
 which Avay the Bostandgi Bachi had taken, spread a 
 still greater alarm, by informing us, tliat after having 
 landed, without noise, at the kiosk of a Grecian lady, 
 and listened for some minutes to the conversation 
 which passed in it, that officer, accompanied by 
 several of his attendants, had scaled the windows. . . . 
 Further intelligence relieved the comj)any from the 
 anxiety of impatient curiosity — ' Lay aside your fears,' 
 said the bringer of it, to one of tiie strangei-s of our 
 party ; ' your cousui and her friend have been let off 
 for all the diamonds, trinkets and money they had about 
 
 them ; there was no room for hesitation ; the Bos- 
 tandgi Bachi sui-prised them ; ordered them to be 
 taken on board his barge, and conveyed to prison ; 
 his avarice at length rendered him tractable, but he 
 has left them much less pleased with their evening's 
 entertainment than they expected to have been.' As 
 we passed by the houses on the shore, we amused 
 ourselves by making remarks on their possessors, 
 who, fi-om their kiosks, made the like remarks on us ; 
 and I collected, as we went along, a gi-eat deal of in- 
 formation, which had it been known to the Bostandgi 
 Bachi, he would have derived from it a considerable 
 advantage." (Du Tott, part i. 43, 101.) 
 
 If we knew precisely how closely the assemblies 
 of the first Christians were watched by the heathen, 
 probablv we might better understand the term angels 
 in 1 Gov. xi. 10. Pliny's letter to Trajan, (A. D. 106,) 
 seems to hint at spies of more than one description ; 
 he mentions libellus sine auctore, an information with- 
 out a name annexed : alii ab indice nominaii. Chris- 
 tians were not acctised by name by a regidar informer, 
 and Trajan's answer apparently alludes to secret 
 agents sent oid. Conquirendi non sunt, they arc not 
 to be sought for. Were not these spies, whose object 
 was cruel ]>rofit, derived from detected improprieties, 
 Satans ? The vile rejjorts afterwards raised of 
 Cbristian worship possibly originated in neglect of 
 the apostle's caution. 
 
 The Synagogue of Satan (Rev. li. 9, 13.) proba- 
 bly denotes the unbelievuig Jews, the false zealots for 
 the law of Moses, who at the beginning were the 
 most eager persecutors of the Christians. They Avere 
 very numerous at Smyrna, Avhere Polycaq) Avas 
 bishop, to Avhom John Avrites. 
 
 The Depths of Satan (Rev. ii. 24.) were the 
 mysteries of the Nicolaitans, and of the Simonians, 
 who concealed their errors under deep abstruseness ; 
 they spoke of certain intelligences Avhich created the 
 Avorld, but Avere in opposition to the Creator. They 
 taught a profound knowledge of the natiu'e of angels, 
 and their diffi^rent degi-ees. They had secret books 
 Avritten m an abstruse and mysterious manner ; and 
 these it is thought John calls " depths of Satan." 
 
 SATYRS, Avild men, or imaginary animals, half 
 man and half goat, poetically introduced by Isaiah, 
 (xiii. 21 ; xxxiv. 14.) as dancing among the ruins of 
 Babylon. It is remarkable, that the present inhabit- 
 ants of that country still lielieve in the existence there 
 of Satyrs. (See under Babylon, p. 134, col. 1.) R. 
 
 I. SAUL, king of Idumea, (Gen. xxxvi. 37.) Aves 
 of Rehoboth, and succeeded Samlah of Masrekah. 
 
 II. SAUL, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, 
 Avas the first king of the Israelites. His history being 
 so intimately connected Avith that of Samuel and 
 David, has lieen, in many respects, very fully given 
 under those articles ; but there are a fcAV ad(Htional 
 particulars Avhich call for notice. 
 
 When Saul had strengthened himself in the king- 
 c^om, he carried his arms abroad, against the enemies 
 of \iis nation, among Avhom AA-ere Moah, Aniinon, 
 Edoiii, Philistia, and the kings of Zobah in Syria. 
 In all hia expeditions he AAas victorious ; but having 
 at length dkobeyed the orders of God, relative to the 
 Amalekites, Samuel declared his rejection, and the 
 appointment of another teethe throne of Israel. 
 
 In Saul's last battle Avith the Philistines, his sons 
 Jonathan, Abinadab und Malchishua were slain. 
 He was himself dangerously AAounded ; and believing 
 his state to be desperate, he desired his armor-beareV 
 to kill him. This being refused, he fell upon his 
 own sword, and died, after a reign of forty years.
 
 SAUL 
 
 [821 ] 
 
 SCA 
 
 His armor was carried by the Pliilistines to the tem- 
 ple of Ashtaroth ; and tlicy hung his l)ody against 
 the walls of Beth-shan, probably opposite to the chief 
 street; because it is said ui 2 Sam. x.\i. 12, that his 
 body was hung up in the street of this city; and in 1 
 Chron. x. 10, that his head was fastened in the tem- 
 ple of Dagon. Wlien the inhabitants of Jabesh-gile- 
 ad were informed of these indignities, they went by 
 night and took down tiie bodies, and brought them 
 into their city beyond Jordan, where they burnt the 
 remains of the flesh, and buried the bones, which 
 were, several years afterwards, removed by David 
 into the sepulchre of Kisli, at Gibeali, 2 Sam. xxi. 
 12 — 14. Ish-boshetli, tiie fourth son of Saul, suc- 
 ceeded him ill the kingdom, and reigned beyond 
 Jordan, over eleven tribes ; David reigning over the 
 tribe of Jndah. 
 
 The character of Saul is that of a gloonij', appre- 
 hensive, melancholy man ; and after taking, without 
 success, what remedies were customary, liie servants, 
 or physicians, (see Gen. 1. 2.) finding his case beyond 
 the reach of their art, thought proper to represent it 
 as a visitation from on high ; yet to recommend the 
 use of music, as a recipe whose eflcicts might be 
 favorable. The event justified their expectations; 
 and the amusementj the sympathy, and the enjoy- 
 ment of Saul, while his attention was engaged, i)ro- 
 duced an interval of disease, which gradually im- 
 jnoved to convalescence. Calmet does not consider 
 Saul as a maniac, but as an hypochondriac, whose 
 low spirits were relieved by the cheerful and animat- 
 ing vibrations of the young shepherd's careless harp : 
 the sprightly effusions 
 
 Of linked sweetness long drawn out, 
 With wanton heed, and giddy cunning, 
 The melting voice through mazes running, 
 Untwisting all the chains that tie 
 The hidden soul of harmony. 
 
 How well adapted the unstudied strains of a shep- 
 herd swain, whose harp, at the same time, was bold 
 ^through the courage of its master, free through his 
 "native wood-notes wild," and sedate through his 
 piety ; how well such a remedy was adapted to 
 the cure of Saul, may be estimated by a moment's 
 reflection. See 2 Kings iii. 15, for the tranquillizing 
 effects of the harp in the instance of the prophet 
 Elislia. 
 
 It is a singular fact, that there is preserved in the 
 second volume of the Asiatic Researches, in a trans- 
 lation from the Persian, an abridgment of the history 
 of the Afghans, a people of India, generally admitted 
 to be of Israelitish origin, in which tliey are repre- 
 sented to be the descendants of Saul, the first king 
 of Israel. The extract is too long to be introduced 
 here ; it must suffice to say, that it comprises a tol- 
 erable abridgment of the history, as recorded in 
 Samuel ; resembling it in many particulars, yet vaiy- 
 ing from it in others. We have clearly mentioned, 
 among other incidents, the loss of the ark, the pre- 
 sumption of the Philistines, the fall of Dagon, the 
 catUe which brought the ark to Bethshemcsh, the 
 application of the people to Samuel for a king, the 
 description of the person of Saul, the loss of the asses, 
 (or cow, as it is here,) Saul seeking them, the behav- 
 ior of the sons of Belial to him, the valor of David, 
 the death of Saul, and the appointment of David to 
 the kingdom of Israel. 
 
 It is said, (1 Sam. xv. 12.) that Saul, after the de- 
 feat of the Amalekites, " set him up a place," i. e. a 
 
 monument on Carmel. This was, probably, some 
 heap of stones, or a column, to preserve the memoiy 
 of his victory. The author of the Hebrew traditions 
 on the Books of Kings says, that Saul's triumphal 
 arch was composed of branches of myrtle, palm 
 and olive-trees. 
 
 SAUL, the Hebrew name of Paul. See Paul. 
 
 SAVIOUR is a name eminently appropriated to 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, who was prefigured by those 
 to whom the Old Testament gives the appellation, as 
 Joshua, the judges of Israel, the kings David, Solo- 
 mon and Josiah, and tlie other great men raised up 
 to deliver the people of God, as Mattathias, Judas 
 ]\Iaccaba?us, and the rest. The pro[)hets have de- 
 scribed Jesus under the name of Saviour in many 
 places : as Isa. xii. 3, " With joy shall ye draw water 
 out of the wells of salvation," or of the Saviour. 
 " The Lord shall send them a Saviour, even a great 
 one, and he shall deliver them," chap. xix. 20. " I, 
 even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no 
 Saviour," chap, xliii. 11. And the apostles and sa- 
 cred writers of the New Testament generally give to 
 him the name of " the Saviour," by way of eminence. 
 When the angel foretold his birth, he said he should 
 be called Jesus, that is, a Saviour, assigning, as the 
 reason, that he should "save his people from their 
 sins," Matt. i. 21. (See also John iv. 42 ; Acts xiii. 
 23 ; Philip, iii. 20, &c. See Salvation.) The ex- 
 pression of the Samaritans, (John iv. 42.) with regard 
 to our Saviour, is particularly strong. " We know^ 
 that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the 
 world," where the articles prefixed to the nouns have 
 a special force in them, together with a general im- 
 port. It is somewhat unhappy that the term prince 
 has been adopted in connection with Saviour, in Acta 
 v. 3], since it suggests the notion of temporal priority', 
 not to say of temporal authority. It is rendered in 
 the margin author, and seems to denote properly a 
 leader, the first of a company, or body of followers. 
 " Him (Jesus) hath God exalted to be leader — pre- 
 cursor of his followers into heaven — also Saviour, by 
 giving repentance to Israel, and remission of sins." 
 Christ is called the " Saviour of the body," in Eph. 
 v. 23, where the comparison is to the head, which is 
 the protector, the guardian of the whole person ; that 
 which completes, governs and superintends the 
 entire man. The Saviour is said to be expected from 
 heaven, (Phil. iii. 20 ; Titus ii. 13.) and in short, the 
 title of Saviour is so connected with Deity, that it 
 seems to be impossible to separate them, and to draw 
 the line of distinction between them, (Titus i. 3 ; ii. 
 10; iii. 4 ; 2 Pet. i. 1 ; Jude 35, et al.) and this, inde- 
 pendent of the rule of Greek syntax, developed and 
 applied by the late Mr. Granville Sharpe, and subse- 
 quently by other writers, though strongly coiTobo- 
 rated by it. 
 
 God often takes to himself the name of Saviour of 
 Israel, (1 Sam. xiv. 39.) and David calls him, his 
 strength and his Saviour, 2 Sam. xxii. 3. "There ia 
 no Saviour beside me," says the Lord, in the prophet 
 Hosea, xiii. 4. And Isa. xvii. 10, "Thou hast forgot- 
 ten the God of thy salvation," or thy Saviour. And 
 in truth, God is the Saviour of saviours, the God of 
 gods ; without him there is neither salvation nor de- 
 liverance, nor succor. He raised up savioui-s to his 
 people, in the persons of Otimiel ; (Judg. iii. 9.) 
 Ehud, (iii. 15.) &c. Obadiah (21.) promises that 
 the Lord will send saviours on the mountain of Sion, 
 to judge the mountain of Esau ; meaning, probably, 
 the Maccabees, who subdued the Idumeans. 
 
 SCANDAL, a snare, an incumbrance. In Scrip-
 
 SCA 
 
 [ 822 
 
 SCH 
 
 lure, and in ecclesiastical authors, it is put for any 
 thijig that a man finds in his way, which may occa- 
 sion him to trip. Thus Moses (Lev. xix. 14, apud 
 LXX) "forbids to put a stumbling-block (or scandal) 
 before the blind ; that is, neither wood, stone, nor 
 any thing else, that may make him stumble or fall. 
 In Exod. xxiii. 33, he forbids the Israelites to make 
 a covenant with the Canaanites, for fear they should 
 be perverted to idolati-y, which would be a great 
 snare, or scandal to them. Calmet remarks that the 
 Greek word ^x^vSu/.or, or UQunaouua, or SxchXar, an- 
 swers to the Hebrew Spdc, Micshol, which signifies 
 fall, ruin, sin, what hinders from walking, and makes 
 one fall ; wliich comes from the root S^d, cdshal, to 
 fall, to tumble ; and in the conjugation Hiphil, signi- 
 fies to cause to fall, to overthrow, to lay snares, &c. 
 In a moral sense there is active and passive scandal. 
 The first is that which our words or actions may oc- 
 casion to others ; from their evil tendency, or their 
 pernicious influence. Christ affirms, " It must needs 
 be that offences come;" or scandals must of neces- 
 sity ai-ise. But he adds, " Wo to that man by whom 
 the offence cometh. If your hand or foot is a cause 
 of scandal to you, cut it off, and cast it from you ; 
 you had much better enter the kingdom of God 
 without hand or foot,- than be cast into outer dark- 
 ness with all your limbs entire," Mark ix. 43. He 
 says, "Moreover, have a care of offending (scandal- 
 izing) one of these little ones that believe in me ; it 
 were better for him who occasions a scandal to such, 
 that a mill-stone were hung about his neck, and he 
 were cast into the sea." Jesus Christ was to the 
 Jews a scandal, and a rock of offence, against which 
 they struck ; on which they have fallen, against 
 which they are broken. John says, (1 Epist. ii. 10.) 
 " He who loveth his brother abideth in the light," 
 and no scandal, no impediment, or obstacle, against 
 which he might strike his foot, occurs to him, be- 
 cause he sees and avoids such things ; whereas, 
 he who walketh in darkness may strike himself 
 against an impediment, a tree, or a post, or may fall 
 into a ditch, or, at least, may kick his foot against a 
 log of wood, or against a stone, because he does 
 not discern those causes of injury which lie in his 
 way. 
 
 Mr. Taylor suggests that an erroneous self-persua- 
 sion of safety, a delusive contempt of danger, seems 
 to belong to the term scandal. So Ps. Ixix. 22 ; Rom. 
 xi. 9, " Let their table — a good thing in their esteem 
 — be made a snare, and a trap, and a scandal to 
 them." So Deut. vii. 16, "Thou shalt not serve 
 their gods — however beneficial such service might 
 seem to thee — lest it become a snare (scandal, LXX) 
 to thee." When we read, that the Jews were scan- 
 dalized at the mean family of Christ, (Matt. xiii. 57 ; 
 Luke vii. 2.3.) it implies mistake, since his family was 
 truly royal; at the doctrine of the cross, (Gal. v. 11.) 
 it implies mistake, since the resurrection had re- 
 moved that cause of scandal ; and also at the perse- 
 cutions suffered by Christians, since that was really 
 their glory, &c. 
 
 Christ hss promised to remove out of his kingdom 
 every thing that causeth scandal, Matt. xiii. 41. 
 
 SCAPE-GOAT, see Goat. 
 
 SCARLET, a color much prized by the ancients ; 
 Exod. XXV. 4; xxvi. 1,31, 3fi. It is assigned as a 
 merit of Saul, that he clothed the daughters of Israel 
 in scarlet, 2 Sam. i. 24. So the diligent and virtuous 
 woman is said to clothe her household in scarlet, Prov. 
 xxxi. 21. This color was obtained from the xuxxog, 
 i. e. coccus Uicis of Linnaeus, a small insect found 
 
 on the leaves of the quercus cocciferus in Spain 
 and the countries on the eastern part of the Mediter- 
 ranean, which was used by the ancients for dyeing a 
 beautiful crimson or deep scarlet color, and was 
 supposed by them to be the berry of a plant or tree. 
 It is the kermcs of the Materia Medica. As a dye it 
 has been superseded in modern times by the cochi- 
 neal insect, coccus cactus, which gives a more brilliant 
 but less durable color. (See Jalin, § 119. Rees' Cy- 
 clop, art. Coccus, and Kermes.) *R. 
 
 SCEPTRE, (-jor, Shebet.) This word properly 
 signifies, (1.) A rod of any kind, as in No. 4. below. 
 Thus a rod of command, a staff of authority, a scep- 
 tre ; it is placed in the hand of kings, of governors 
 of a province, or of the chief of a people. Jacob 
 foretold that "the sceptre should not depart from 
 Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until 
 Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of 
 the people be;" (Gen. xlix. 10.) and Balaam, fore- 
 telling the coming of the Messiah, says, "A sceptre 
 shall rise out of Israel, Numb. xxiv. 17. (See Shi- 
 loh.) Baruch speaks of the sceptre put by the 
 Bal)ylonians in the hands of their gods, chap. vi. 13. 
 It is given also to scribes, and to commissaries, 
 who keep a list of troops, Judg. v. 14. The proph- 
 ets often speak of the sceptre of dominion ; (Isa. xiv. 
 5 ; xix. 11, 14.) and Amos represents sovereign power 
 by him that liolds the sceptre, Amos i. 5, 8. 
 
 (2.) The sceptre is put for the rod of correction, for 
 the sovereign authority that punishes and humbles. 
 Ps. ii. 9, "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron," 
 that is, an iron sceptre. The wise man often uses 
 the Hebrew word Shebst, to express the rod with 
 which the disobedient son and the intractable ser- 
 vant are disciplined, Prov. xxii. 15. 
 
 (3.) The word Shebet is very often taken for a 
 tribe ; probably, because the princes of each tribe 
 carried a sceptre, or a wand of command, to mark 
 their dignity. The LXX and Vulgate generally 
 translate tribe ; but they sometimes preserve the 
 word sceptre. (LXX, 1 Sam. ix. 21 ; x. ]9 — 21 ; xv. 
 17 ; 1 Kings viii. 16 ; xi. 13, 32, 35 ; xii. 20, 21. Vul- 
 gate, see Numb, xviii. 2 ; Jer. Ii. 19. See also the 
 English Bible.) 
 
 (4.) The Hebrew Shebet signifies a shepherd's 
 wand, (Lev. xxvii. 32.) the truncheon of a wan-ior, 
 or any common staff, (2 Sam. xxviii. 21.) the dart, 
 javelin, or lance of a soldier, (2 Sam. xxviii. 14.) the rod 
 or staff with which they thi-ash the smaller grain, Isa. 
 xxviii. 27. 
 
 SCEVA, chief of the priests, (Acts xix. 14.) or of 
 the synagogue, at Ephesus. 
 
 SCHISM, from S^toiia, which Signifies rupture, 
 or division. When Jeroboam revolted against Rc- 
 hoboam, and was acknowledged king by the ton 
 tribes, he made a schism, separated from the religion 
 of the Lord, forsook the communion of Judah, and 
 no longer frequented the temple, which was the 
 chosen and appointed place, to offer worship to the 
 Lord. The .Tews at this day look on the Caraites as 
 schismatics, because they do not receive their tra* 
 ditions. 
 
 The only passages in the New Testament where 
 the word schism occurs, are, 1 Cor. i. 10 ; xi. 18, and 
 xii. 25, and in each one of them it denotes aliena- 
 tion of affection among the members of the same 
 body, or divisions in a church, and not separation 
 from it. . > 
 
 SCHOOLMASTER. The Greek word peda- 
 gogue now carries with it an idea approaching to con- 
 tempt: with no other word to qualify it, it excites the
 
 CO 
 
 [823 ] 
 
 SCO 
 
 idea of a pedant, wno assumes an air of authority over 
 others, wliich does not belong to him. But among 
 tlie ancients a pedagogue was a person to whom 
 thi!y committed the care of their children, to lead 
 theni, to observe them, and to instruct them in their 
 lirsc rudiments. Thus the office of a pedagogue 
 nearly answered to that of a governor or tutor, who 
 constantly attends his pupil, teaches him, and forms 
 liis manners. Paul (1 Cor. iv. 15.) says ; " For 
 though yon have ten thousand instructers (peda- 
 gogues) in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers." 
 Representing himself as their father in the faith, 
 since he had begotten them in the gospel. The ped- 
 agogue, indeed, may have some power and interest of 
 his pupil, but he can never have the natural tenderness 
 of a father for him. To the Galatians, the apostle 
 says, (iii, 24, 25.) "The law was our schoolmaster 
 (pedagogue) to bring us to Christ." It pointed out 
 Christ in the Scriptures, the figures, the prophecies, 
 of the Old Testament: but since we are advanced 
 to superior learning, and are committed to the tuition 
 of the faith wliich we have em!)raced, we have no 
 longer need of a schoolmaster, or })edagoguc ; as 
 such are of no further use toyoungpersons when ad- 
 vanced to years of maturity. " But after that faith is 
 come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster — ped- 
 agogue." Mr. Taylor remarks, that the term school- 
 master by no means expresses a person cmi)loye(l to 
 accompany youth to school from home, and from 
 school to home again ; and adds, that the Greek 
 word dii^^inxuAuc, or teacher, approaches much nearer 
 to the notion of a schoolmaster, and is distinguished 
 accordingly by Plutarch, dc Puerorum Educatione, 
 X. 9. Among the great number of slaves jjossessed 
 by certain families, it was customary to intrust the 
 care of the children of the family to some confiden- 
 tial slave, who superintended their conduct, and di- 
 rected their proceedings. A domestic usher, then, . 
 may be thought to resemble the ancient pedagogue : 
 an(l, for females, the duenna of foreign countries. 
 That such an attendant is more proper to early youth 
 than to matiu-e manhood, is obvious. Another class 
 of instructers were called by the Greeks paidomatheis, 
 teachers of children. (Quint, lib. i. cap. 11.) 
 
 SCORPION. It is generally admitted that the 
 Hebrew word D-yy;, akrdb, denotes the scorpion, which 
 is the largest and most malignant of all the insect 
 tribes. It somewhat resembles the lobster in its 
 general apjjearance, but is much more hideous. 
 Those found in Euro])e seldom exceed four inches 
 in length, but in the tropical climates it is no uncom- 
 mon thing to meet with them twelve inches long. 
 There are few animals more formidable, and none 
 more irascible, than the scorpion ; but happily for 
 mankind, they are equally destructive to their own 
 species, as to other animals. Goldsmith states, that 
 Maupertuis put about a hundred of them together in 
 the same glass; and they scarcely came into con- 
 tact, when they began to exert all their rage in mu- 
 tual destruction ; so that in a few days there re- 
 mained but fourteen, wliich had killed and devoured 
 all the rest. But their malignity is still more appar- 
 ent in their cruelty to their offspring. He enclosed 
 a female scorpion, big with young, in a glass vessel, 
 and she was seen to devour them as fast as they 
 were excluded. There was only one of the number 
 that escaped the general destruction, by taking 
 refuge on the back of its parent ; and this soon after 
 revenged the cause of its i)rethren, by killing the old 
 one in its turn. Such is the terrible nature of this 
 insect ; and it is even asserted, that when placed in 
 
 circumstances of danger, from which it perceives no 
 way of escape, it will sting itself to death. Surely 
 3Ioses, says Mr. Taylor, very properly mentions 
 scorpions among the dangers of the wilderness, Deut. 
 viii. 15. And what shall we think of the hazardous 
 situation of Ezekiel, who is said to dwell among 
 scor|)ions, (chap. ii. 6.) — people as irascible as this 
 terrible insect; nor could our Lord select a fitter 
 contrast; "If a son shall ask of bis father an eg': 
 will he give a scorpion.'" Luke xi. 11,12. But 
 the passage most descriptive of the scorpion, is Rev. 
 ix. 'S — 10, in which it is to be observed, that the sting 
 of these creatures was not to produce death, but pain 
 so intense that the wretched sufferers should seek 
 death, (ver. G.) rather than submit to its endurance. 
 Dr. Shaw states, that the sting of scorpions is not 
 always fatal ; the malignity of their venom being in 
 proportion to their size and complexion. The tor- 
 ment of a scorpion when he striketh a man is thus 
 described by Dioscorides, as cited by Mr. Taylor : 
 "When the scorpion has stung, the place becomes 
 inflamed and hardened ; it reddens by tension, and 
 is ])ainful by intervals, being now chilly, now burn- 
 ing. The pain soon rises high, and rages some- 
 times more, sometimes less. A sweating succeeds, 
 attended by a shivering and trembling: the extremi- 
 ties of the body become cold; the groin swells; the 
 bowels expel their wind ; the hair stands on end ; the 
 members become j)ale, and the skin feels throughout 
 it the sensation of a perpetual prickling, as if by 
 needles." Our Saviour gave his disciples power to 
 tread on these terrible creatures, and to disarm them 
 of their power of hurting, Luke x'. 19. 
 
 It may be necessary to remark on the contrast 
 which our Lord draws between a scorjiion and an 
 egg, that the body of this insect is much like an egg ; 
 especially those of the white kind, which is the first 
 species mentioned by iElian, Avicenna, and others ; 
 and Bochart has shown that the scorpions of Judea 
 were about the size of an egg. 
 
 The Jews used whips on some occasions, which 
 were called, from the suffering they occasioned, 
 scorpions. To these it is probable the haughty Re- 
 lioboam alluded, when he menaced the house of 
 Israel with increasing their oppressions, 1 Kings 
 xii. 11. 
 
 SCOURGE, or Whip. The jjuuishmcnt of 
 scourging was very common among the Jews. jMo- 
 ses ordains, (Deut. xxv. 1 — 3.) that "if there be a con- 
 trc.vei-sy between men, and they come to judgment, 
 then the judges may judge them. And if the wicked 
 man were found worthy to be beaten, the judge A\as 
 to cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his 
 face, according to- his fault, by a certain number, but 
 not exceeding forty stripes. There were two ways 
 of giving the lash ; one with thongs or whips, made 
 of rope-ends, or straps of leather ; the other with 
 rods or twigs. The offender was stripped from his 
 shoulders to his middle, and tied by his arms to a low 
 pillar, that he might lean forward, and the execu- 
 tioner the more easily strike his back. Some main- 
 tain that they never gave more nor less than thirty- 
 nine strokes, but that in greater faults they struck with 
 proportionate violence. Others think, that when the 
 fault and circumstances required it, they might 
 increase the number of blows. Paul informs us (2 
 Cor. xi. 24.) that at five different times 1 e received 
 thirty-nine stripes from the Jews; which seems to 
 imply that this was a fixed number, not to be exceed- 
 ed. The apostle also clearly shows, that correclion 
 with rods was different from that w ith a w hip ; for
 
 SCR 
 
 [ 824 ] 
 
 SCR 
 
 he says, "Thrice was I beaten with rods." And when 
 he was seized by the Jews in the temple, the tribune 
 of the Roman soldiers ran and toolv him out of their 
 bands ; and, desiring to know the reason of the tumult, 
 he ordered him to be tied and stretched on the ground, 
 to put him to the question, by beating him with rods, 
 (Acts xxii. 24, 25.) for thus the Romans commonly 
 put prisoners to the question. The bastinado was 
 sometimes given on the back, at others on the soles 
 of the feet. 
 
 The rabbins affirm that punishment by the scourge 
 was not ignominious ; and that it could not be ob- 
 jected as a disgi-ace to those who had suffered it. 
 They maintain, too, that no Israelite, not even tlie 
 king, or the high-j)riest, was exempt from tliis law. 
 This must be understood, however, of the v/hipping 
 inflicted in their synagogues, which was rather a 
 legal and particular penalty, than a public and shame- 
 ful correction. Philo, speaking of the manner in 
 which Flaccus treated the Jews of Alexandria, says, 
 he made them suffer the punishment of the whip, 
 which (he remarks) is not less insupportable to a free 
 man, than death itself. Our Saviour, speaking of the 
 pains and ignominy of his passion, commonly puts 
 his scourging in the second place, Matt. xx. 19 ; Mark 
 X. 34 ; Luke xviii. 32. 
 
 SCRIBE, {-\SD, Sopher ; 'LXX, rQauuaTH'c, Gram- 
 mateiis,) a word very common in Scripture, and hav- 
 ing several significations. (1.) A clerk, v.Titer or sec- 
 retary, which constituted an important employment 
 in the court of the kings of Judali, in which Scrip- 
 ture mentions the secretaries as officers of the crown. 
 Seraiah was scribe or secretary to David ; (2 Sam. 
 viii. 17.) Shemaiah exercised the same office under 
 the same prince; (1 Chron. xxiv. G.) Elihoreph 
 and Ahiah were secretaries to Solomon ; (1 Kings 
 iv. 3.) Shebna filled the same office vmder Hezekiah, 
 (2 Kings xix. 2.) and Shaphan under Josiah, 2 Kings 
 xxii. 8—10. 
 
 (2.) A scribe is put for a commissary or muster- 
 master of an army, who reviews the troops, keeps the 
 list or roll, and calls them over. It is said, (Jj^idg. v. 
 14.) that in the war of Barak against Sisera, " Out of 
 Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun 
 they that bear the staff" of a leader." In the reign of 
 Uzziah, king of Judah, is found Jeil the scribe, who 
 had imder his hand the king's armies, 2 Chron. xxvi. 
 11. Jeremiah speaks of a scribe as prince or chief of 
 the soldiers, who superintended the military exercises 
 of the newly raised troops, chap. lii. 25 ; 2 Kings xxv. 
 19. (Heb.) the scribe, prince of the army, who made 
 the people of the country go to war. Judas directed 
 the scribes to stand on the banks of the brook that 
 the army was to cross ; to let no one remain beyond 
 the water, but to cause all to pass over, to the war, 1 
 Mac. V. 42. 
 
 (3.) Scribe is put for an able and skilful man, a 
 doctor of the law, a man of learning, or one who uu- 
 dei-stands affixirs. Jonathan, David's uncle by the 
 father's side, Wiis "a counsellor, a wise man, and a 
 scribe," 1 Chron. xxvii. 32. Baruch, the disciple and 
 secretary of Jeremiah, is called ascribe ; so is Gema- 
 riah, son of Shaphan ; and Elisliama, who lived under 
 the reign of Josiah, Jer. xxxvi. 10, 12, 20, 2G. Jesus, 
 son of Sirach, says, (Ecclus. x. .5.) " In tlie hand of 
 God is the prosperity of man, and upon the person of 
 the scribe shall he lay his honor." Great commenda- 
 tion is given in Scriptme to Ezra, who is celebrated 
 as a skilful scribe, "a ready scribe in the law of IMo- 
 ses," Ezra vii. 6. The scribes of the peo])le, fre- 
 quently mentioned in the Gospels, were jiuljlic writers, 
 
 and professed doctors of the law, which tney read 
 and explained to the people. 
 
 Some place the origin of scribes under Moses ; but 
 the name does not appear till imder the judges, J udg. 
 V. 14. Others think that David instituted them, when / 
 he established the several classes of the priests and 
 Levites, (1 Chron. xxiv. 6.) though Epiphanius places 
 their origin at the same time with the sect of the Sad- 
 ducees. Mention is made in Acts xxiii. 9, of scribes 
 that were of the party of the Pharisees, which has 
 induced some to believe, that all scribes were Phari- 
 sees. This is a mistake ; they did not compose any - 
 particular sect. 
 
 He who is called a doctor of the law in Matt. xxii. 
 35, is called a scribe, or one of the scribes, in IMark 
 xii. 28. As the knowledge of the Jews, at that time, 
 chiefly consisted in Pharisaical traditions, and in ap- 
 plying them to explain Scripture, the greater number 
 of doctors of the law, or scribes, were Pharisees*, 
 and we almost always find them united in Scripture. 
 They all valued themselves on their knowledge of the 
 law, and on their studying and teaching it ; they had 
 the key of knowledge, and sat in Moses's chair, Luke 
 xi. 52 ; Matt, xxiii. 2. 
 
 SCRIPTURE, or Writing, is a term generally 
 used to denote the sacred books of the Old and New 
 Testaments. " Did ye never read in the Scriptures ? " 
 Matt. xxi. 42. " How then shall the Scriptures be 
 fulfilled ? " Matt. xxvi. 54. " All Scripture is given 
 by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, 
 for reproof, for correction, for instruction in right- 
 eousness," 2 Tim. iii. 16. See Bible. 
 
 The reception of the books of the New Testament 
 into the canon of Scripture, is of much importance 
 to us, and it should be well understood, that in this 
 the primitive Christians were extremely scrupidous. 
 As the pieces which compose the New Testament 
 were published at divers times, and were written in 
 places very distant from one another, in languages, 
 also, not mutually intelligible to the inhabitants of 
 these distant countries, we cannot wonder that some 
 should be slow in making their way to general recep- 
 tion ; or that some were never generally received. 
 Those published in the West were, for a time, little 
 known in the East, and vice versa. In like manner, 
 those wi-itten in the Syriac language, could be imder- 
 stood by the Greeks, only by means of an accurate 
 ti'anslation ; nor could the Syrians understand those 
 written in Greek without similar assistance. It will 
 follow, that the non-acquaintance of either party, or 
 even the non-admission by either party, is not, in 
 itself, a sufficient reason for rejecting a tract, that 
 was generally acknowledged, where it was belter 
 kno\yn. 
 
 But by the early fathers, and by men the most com- 
 petent to investigate the subject, and the most worthy 
 of our confidence, the books of the present canon 
 were not all esteemed to be equally authentic. By 
 Eusebius of Cresarea, before any canon was estab- 
 lished by authority, they were divided into three 
 classes. (1.) Those universally received, as the four 
 Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles 
 of Paul, one Epistle of Peter, one of John. (2.) Those 
 doubted of by some, as the Epistle to the IlebreAvs, 
 and the Revelation. (3.) Those doubted of by many, 
 or contradicted by most; as the Epistle of Jatnes, 
 the Second Epistle of Peter, that of Jude, and the | 
 Second and Third of John. To this third class Eu- 
 sebius seems, in another })assage, to refer the Revela- 
 tions. It was certainly doubted of by many; it has 
 conliiiucd to be doubted of: and I uthcr, in the pref-
 
 SEA 
 
 [ 825 ] 
 
 SEA 
 
 ace to his translation, strongly questions its canonical 
 autliority. The rule of the church seems to have 
 been, lo'admit no book into the New Testament that 
 was not tiie work of an apostle, or derived from an 
 apostle ; hence the GosjjcIs of Mark and Luke were 
 said to be derived from the apostles Peter and Paul, 
 (though some suppose, that being historical only, and 
 not dogmatical, they formed an excej)tioii to the 
 rule.) TJie Epistleof James was doubted of, because 
 some questioned whether it were written hy James 
 the apostle, or by another James. That of Jude was 
 long excluded; and even lately, Michaelis rather 
 negatives its canonical authority, proof of its compo- 
 sition by an apostle being very delicient. The Sec- 
 ond and Third Epistles of John, being v.rittcn to pri- 
 vate j)crsons, were but little known in early ages; 
 and we cannot wonder that they long continued 
 not generally acknowledged. On the whole, the 
 scrupulous diligence and judgment of the early 
 Christians in selecting that series of books v.'hich 
 afterwards formed the canon of the New Testament, 
 must give us equal satisfaction and pleasure. Suc- 
 ceeding ag-es have gradually received what formerly 
 was deemed questionable ; and our present canon 
 is certainly more com|)Iete than that of the first 
 Christians, not only because of their hesitation, but 
 because the difficulty of procuring copies of the New 
 Testament entire was very gi-eat v/hile they existed 
 in manuscript only. See Bible. 
 
 SCYTHOPOLIS, a name of Betushea.x, which 
 see. 
 
 SEA. The Hebrews give the name of sea (=', 
 yam) to any great collection of water; as, (1.) to a 
 lake or a pool. Thus we have the sea of Galilee or 
 of Tiberias, the Dead sea, &c. (2.) To great rivers, 
 as the Nile, the Euphrates, the Tigris, &c. which, by 
 their magnitude, or by the extent of their overflow- 
 ings, seem little seas, or great lakes. (See Isa. xi. 15 ; 
 xviii. 1, 2 ; xxi. 1 ; Jer. U. 36, 42, &c.) Tlie following 
 are the principal seas mentioned in Scripture. 
 
 1. The great sea, the western sea, or the sea 
 of the Philistines, generally denotes the Mediterra- 
 nean, wliich lay west of the Land of Promise. The 
 sea is often put for the west, as the right is put for 
 the south. Gen. xii. 8; xiii. 14, et passim. On the 
 Mediterranean they floated the timber cut dov»n from 
 mount Libanus, which was brought to Joppa, for 
 building the temple, &c. 
 
 2. The sea of Suph, or the Red sea, lies between 
 Araltia on the east, and Egypt and Abyssinia on the 
 west, and is in length about 1400 miles. It is by 
 some thought to have been called the sea of Suph, or 
 the weedy sea, because of the great quantity of reeds 
 or sea-wrack found at its bottom, and on its slicres. 
 Others, however, and among them is Bruce, think it 
 derived its name from the great quantity of coral 
 found in it. Pliny says, it obtained the name of the 
 Red sea, in Greei; Erythrea, from a king called Ery- 
 thros, v.'lio reigned in Arabia, and whose tomb 
 was seen in the island Tyrine, or Agyris. Several 
 learned men believe, that this king Erythros is Esau, 
 or Edom ; Edom, in Hebrew, signifying red or rud- 
 dy, as I'^rythros (loes in Greek. But the dwelling 
 of Edom was east of Canaan, towards Bozra ; and 
 Calmet is therefore of opinion, that this name was 
 not given it till after the Idumeans, the descendants 
 of Edom, had spread themselves westward as far as 
 the Red sea. It might then receive the name of the 
 sea of Edom, which the Greeks rendered Thalassa 
 Erythrea, or the Red sea. That part of the sea 
 where the Israehtes passed, is thought to have been 
 
 104 
 
 near Kolsum, tlie sea about which bears the name of 
 Bahr al Kolsum, or the sea of destruction, and is in 
 width about three leagues, and in depth varies from 
 9 to 14 fathoms. 
 
 The term Bed sea appeal's to be improperly 
 adopted in Numb. xxi. 14. (See in Bible, p. 170, col, 
 2.) So also in Dent, i. 1, where it should be in the 
 plain "over against Suph." Here our translators 
 confess, by their italics, that they have inserted the 
 word sea between Paran, Toy)heI, &:c. and by this in- 
 sertion the geograpliy is sadly confused. It is evi- 
 dent, that a station which was in any tolerable sense 
 over against tiie Red sea, could not possibly be near 
 to Paran, nor to Hazeroth ; neither could it be 
 " eleven days' journey from Horeb, by the way of 
 mount Seir ; " that is, at Kadesh Barnea. 
 
 3. The Dead sea. Salt sea. Eastern sea, sea of 
 Sodom, or sea of the wilderness, or plain, is the lake 
 Asphaltites, which is situated in the southern part of 
 Judea, and which occupies the site of the cities of 
 Sodoin, Gomorrha, Admah and Zeboim. Its real 
 size, we believe, is not yet ascertained, for we are 
 not aware that any modern traveller has measured 
 it; and the measurements of Josephus, who found it 
 seventy-two miles long, and eighteen broad, arc still 
 refen'ed to. Diodorus aflirms that it is sixty-two 
 miles long, and seven and a half bread ; but the calcu- 
 lation of Pliny is much greater, for he says, it is one 
 hundred long, and twenty-five wide, in the broadest 
 part. Maundrell considers it seventy-t^vo miles long, 
 and eighteen or twenty in breadth. Pococke agrees 
 with Diodorus, and Dr. Clarke with Joseyjhus ; and 
 the abbe Maritti, \vho seems to have paid much 
 attention to its peculiarities, maintains that it is one 
 hundred and eighty miles in circuit. We cannot but 
 consider it singular that its dimensions should not 
 have been more perfectly ascertained. 
 
 The waters of the Dead sea are clear and limpid, 
 but uncommonly salt, and even bitter. Their specific 
 gravitj' exceeds that of all other v/aters known. Jose- 
 phus and Tacitus say that no fish can live in it ; and 
 according to the concurring testimony of several trav- 
 ellers, those can-ied thither by the Jordan instantly 
 die. Maundrell, nevertheless, states, that he found 
 some shell-fish resembling oysters en the shore, and 
 bishop Pococke was informed that a monk had seen 
 fish caught in the water : these arc assertions, how- 
 ever, that require further corroboration. The mud is 
 black, thick and fetid, and no plant vegetates in the 
 v.atei-, whicli is reputed to have a petrifying quality. 
 Branches of trees, accidentally immersed in it, are 
 speedily converted into stone, and the curious in 
 Jerusalem then collect them. Neiiher do plants grow 
 in the immediate vicinity of the lake, where every 
 thing is dull, cheerless and inanimate ; whence it is 
 supposed to have derived the name of the Dead sea. 
 But the real cause of the absence of animals and 
 vegetables, Volney aflirins, is owing to the saltness 
 and acridity of the water, infinitely surpassing what 
 exists in other seas. The earth surrounding it is 
 deeply impregnated with the same saline qualities, 
 too predominant to admit of vegetable life, and even 
 the air is saturated with them. The waters are clear 
 and incorruptible, as if holding salt in solution, nor is 
 the presence of this substance equivocal, lor Dr. 
 Pococke found a thin crust of salt upon his face after 
 bathing in the sea, and the shores where it occasion- 
 ally overflows, are covered with a similar crast. 
 Galen considered it completely saturated with 
 salt, for it would dissolve no more, when thrown 
 into it.
 
 SEA 
 
 [ 826 ] 
 
 SEA 
 
 There are mines of fossil salt in the south-west 
 bank, from which specimens have been brought to 
 Europe ; some also exist in the declivities of the 
 mountains, and have provided, from time immemo- 
 rial, for the consumption of the Arabs and the city of 
 Jerusalem. Great quantities of asplialtum appear 
 floating on the surface of the sea, and are rlriven by 
 the winds to the east and west bank, where it remains 
 fixed. Ancient authors inform us, that the neighbor- 
 ing inhabitants were careful to collect it, and went 
 out in boats, or used other expedients for that pur- 
 pose. On the south-east bank are hot springs and 
 deep gullies, dangerous to the traveller, were not 
 then- position indicated by small pyramidic edifices 
 on the side?. Sulphur is likewise found on the edges 
 of the Dead sea, and a kind of stone, or coal, called 
 7nusca, by the Arabs, which, on attrition, exhales an 
 ijitolerable odor, and burns like bitumen. This 
 stone, whicli also comes fi-om the neighboring moun- 
 tains, is black, and takes a fine polish. Mr. Maun- 
 drell saw pieces of it two feet square, in the convent 
 of St. John in the wilderness, carved in has relief, and 
 polished to as great a lustie as black marble is capa- 
 ble of The inhabitants of the country employ it in 
 paving churches, mosques, courts, and other places 
 of public resort. In the polishing its disagreeable 
 odor is lost. The citizens of Bethlehem consider 
 it as endued with antiseptic virtues, and bracelets of 
 it are worn by attendants on the sick, as an antidote 
 against disease. As the lake is at certain seasons 
 covered with a thick dark mist, confined within its 
 own limits, which is dissipated by the rays of the 
 sun, spectators have been induced to allege that black 
 and sulphureous exhalations are constantly issuing 
 from the water. They have been no less mistaken 
 in supposing, that birds attempting to fly across are 
 struck with pestiferous fumes. Late and reputable 
 travellers declare, that numerous swallows skim 
 along the surface, and from thence take up water 
 necessary to build their nests ; and on this head 
 Heyman and Van Egmont made a decisive experi- 
 ment. They carried two sparrows to the shore, and 
 having deprived them of some of the wing feathers, 
 after a short flight both fell in, or rather on, the sea ; 
 but so far from expiring there, they got out in safety. 
 An unconnnon love of exaggeration is testified in all 
 the older narratives, and in some of modern date, of 
 the nature and properties of the lake. Chateau- 
 briand speaks of a "dismal sound proceeding from 
 this lake of death, like the stifled clamors of the 
 people engulfed in its waters ! " — that its shores pro- 
 duced fruit beautiful, but containing nothing but 
 ashes ; that it bears upon its surface the heavier metals. 
 These and a thousand other stories of a like charac- 
 ter, have been perpetually repeated with barely any 
 foundation of truth. Among other facts apparently 
 unaccountable, has been ranked that of this lake 
 constantly receiving the waters of the Jordan with- 
 out overflowing its banks, seeing thjit there is no 
 visible outlet. Some have therefore conjectured the 
 possibility of a subterraneous communication with 
 the Red sea ; others, more ingenious, are of opinion, 
 that the daily evaporation is sufficient to carry oft' all 
 the waters discharged into it, which is a simple solu- 
 tion of the apparent paradox. See Jordan, p. 577, 
 and Ei.ATH, p. 380. 
 
 A small quantity of the water of the Dead sea, 
 brought to Britain by Mr. Gordon of Clunie, at the 
 request of the late sir Joseph Banks, was analyzed 
 by Dr. Marcet, It was perfectly transparent, and 
 deposited no crystals on standing in close vessel. Its 
 
 taste was peculiar, bitter, saline and pungent. Solu- 
 tions of silver produced from it a very copious pre- 
 cipitate, showing the presence of marine acid. 
 Oxalic acid instantly discovered lime in the water. 
 Solutions of barytes produced a cloud, showing the 
 existence of suipluu-ic acid. 
 
 The specific gravity was ascertained to be 1.211, 
 which is somewhat less than what had been found 
 by Lavoisier, being 1.240, in a portion submitted to 
 his examination. From different experiments in the 
 analyses which we refer to, the result proved the 
 contents of 100 grains of water to be 
 
 Muriate of lime .... 3.920 
 
 Muriate of magnesia 
 Muriate of soda . . 
 Sulphate of hme . . , 
 
 10.246 
 
 10.360 
 
 0.054 
 
 24.580 
 
 Whence it appears that this water contains about 
 one fourth of its weight of salts in a state of perfect 
 desiccation ; but if these salts be desiccated only at 
 the temperature of 180° they will amount to 41 per 
 cent, of the water. (Edin. Cyclop, vol. ii. p. 559.) 
 
 The Dead sea is said, in sacred writ, to have arisen 
 from the exercise of divine wrath against the cities 
 of Sodom and Gomorrha, for their unexampled 
 iniquity. Five cities, all governed by kings, were 
 involved in the general destruction, then overwhelm 
 ing the fertile vale of Siddim where they stood. 
 Some writers, among whom is Mr. Home, (Introd. 
 vol. iii. p. 71, 2d edit.) are of opinion that these cities 
 were destroyed by lightning having set fire to the 
 bituminous substances with which they suppose the 
 place to have abounded ; or else to have been effected 
 by a volcanic eruption in the neighborhood. This 
 notion, however, seems to have been taken up with- 
 out sufficiently considering that the existence of 
 these materials in the neighborhood of the vale of 
 Siddim is incompatible with the description which 
 the inspired writer gives of the nature of the soil 
 aboiU these parts. Nothing can be more certain, 
 than that those places where brimstone and salt are 
 found, are naturally most barren and unfruitful. 
 Hence the sacred writers, to represent unfruitful and 
 desolate places, describe them as abounding with 
 these materials. (See Dent. xxix. 22 — 24 ; Judg. ix. 
 45 ; Jer. xvii. 5, 6 ; Zeph. ii. 9.) On the contrary, 
 the vale of Siddim is represented as a fruitful vale, 
 well watered every where, and hence highly adapted 
 to the pasturage of cattle ; (Gen. xiii. 10, 11.) for 
 which reason it was chosen by Lot in preference to 
 any other part of the land. Gen. xiii. 9. From 
 which it appears that the sulphur or brimstone, and 
 the salt and saline matter, as well as the indications 
 of subterraneous fires, which are to be found about 
 the Dead sea now, are rather the effects of the de- 
 struction poured upon the spot, than the natural pro- 
 ductions of the place before that event. (Wells's 
 Geog. vol. i. p. 154, 8vo.) 
 
 [The general features of the Dead sea, and its 
 shores, especially at the southern extremity, have 
 been described in different articles. See, especially, 
 Canaan, p. 233 ; Exodus, p. 414 ; Salt, valley of, 
 p. 804. R. 
 
 The Tongue of the Sea, is that which runs into 
 the land ; as we call tliat a tongue, or neck of land, 
 which advances into the sea. Josh. xv. 5; xviii. 19; 
 Isa. xi. 15.
 
 SEA 
 
 [ 827 
 
 SEA 
 
 The brazen or molten Sea, made by Solomon 
 
 for the temple, was a vessel which stood in the tem- 
 ple, and contained three thousand baths, according 
 to 2 CInon. iv. 5, or two thousand badis, according 
 to 1 King?^ vii. 2G. Calmet thinks this may be recon- 
 ciled, by saying that the cup or bowl contained two 
 tliDUsand baths, and tiie foot, which was hollow, a 
 thousand more. It stood on its foot now mentioned, 
 besides which it was supported by twelve oxen of 
 brass. 
 
 Mr. Taylor expresses his dissatisfaction with the 
 solution of the difficulty, relative to the capacity of 
 this vessel, as just given from Calmet, and devotes a 
 very considerable article (Fragm. 254) to its investi- 
 gation; of which we shall give the substance. 
 
 Calmet, as we have seen, supposes that the bowl, 
 or cavity, held 2000 baths, and the foot or hollow, 
 1000 more, — but what could be the use of this hol- 
 low ? Not, surely, to contairi so much water ; it 
 must have been for the purposeof furnishing it when 
 it wanted ; but in this case, the cocks si)ouId be 
 placed at the bottom of it, which they are not in Cal- 
 met's engraving. 
 
 In proposing his solution, Mr. Taylor offers the 
 following reniaiks: 
 
 (1.) No figure of this sea yet published has pre- 
 served a proper inlet and outlet for the necessary 
 body of water, which was not stagnant, but flowing, 
 as is evident from two considerations: (1.) that most, 
 if not all, of the Jewish purifications, were ])erform- 
 cd over i-nnning water ; (2.) the Jerusalem Talmud 
 and Maimonides agree, that a pipe of water came 
 into the Brazen sea out of the well or fountain Etarn, 
 and constantly flowed from it, for the use of the 
 priests who ministered at the altar. 
 
 (2.) The construction of a fountain implies pipes, 
 &c. for forcing the water upwards, and correspond- 
 ing |)ipes for passing the water through (or at least 
 among) the oxen, &c. around the basin. It seems 
 piansible, therefore, he suggests, that the writer of 
 the Chronicles does not merely state the quantity of 
 water which the basin held, but that also which was 
 necessary to work it, to keep it flowing as a foun- 
 tain ; that which was necessary to fill it and its ac- 
 companiments. This opinion he supports by point- 
 ing out the different phraseology used in the two 
 passages. In 1 Kings vii. 26, it contained, compre- 
 hended, held 2000 baths ; but in 2 Chron. iv. .5, two 
 words are used, one as before, " it held " tho olher, 
 " it received." Now the writer, as he remarks, would 
 not have used two words, adding a second word, 
 merely to signify the same thing ; there was, then, a 
 difference l)etween this receiving:; and this holding. 
 When playing as a fountain, and when all its parts 
 were filled for that purpose, they, together with the 
 sea itself received 3000 baths ; whereas the sea exclu- 
 
 sively held only 2000 baths when its contents were 
 restricted to those of the circular basin : " It received, 
 and held, three thousand baths." 
 
 But being unwilling to rest upon mere assumption, 
 3Ir. Taylor refers to the " Fountain of the Lions," 
 now extant in the Moorish palace at Granada, usually 
 called by its Arabic name, Alhamhra, and which 
 bears a curious resemblance to the brazen sea. 
 
 This fountain is composed of twelve lions, hold 
 ing the niace of Solomon's twelve oxen, " their liinder 
 parts turned inward ; " and three toward eacli corner 
 of the heavens, of course. Solomon's l)asin stood 
 upon the oxen, and this basin is supported by pillars, 
 which pillars enter the hinder parts of the animals, 
 and through the pillars the water j)asses into the 
 animals. Whether Solomon's basin had these j)il- 
 lars we know not ; but as it stood upon the oxen, (no 
 doubt, at their hinder parts, which were turned 
 inward,) the opportunity for communication by pipes 
 is obvious. In the centre of this basin rises a 
 smaller one, or cup, which is indeed the fountain, 
 and supplies water to the larger. It is imj)ossible to 
 determine whether Solomon's had any cup like this ; 
 but, if it had, the diflference between 2000 baths and 
 3000 baths is accounted for at once, and with at least 
 as much propriety as the " hollow foot " of Calmet 
 accounts for it. Such a cup, adding nothing to the 
 external measure of the basin, might be omitted in 
 the account. However, not to insist on this, it must 
 be recollected, says our author, that to supply the 
 rising column of water, of considerable diameter, 
 and, no doubt, of a majestic elevation ; to supply also 
 the discharge of twelve lesser fountains from the 
 mouths of the oxen — as in tliis instance from the 
 mouths of the lions — together with what was con- 
 tained in the various pipes, may well be thought to 
 require half as much water as was held by the basin 
 itself; so that the water necessary to supply the 
 whole, or what was received by the entire fountain 
 when at work, was 3000 baths ; v.'hile the basin 
 alone held only 2000 baths. 
 
 Without affecting to determine whether Solomon's 
 basin had a cup, Mr. Taylor inquires, whether it is 
 absolutely certain, from the arrangement of the pas- 
 sages in the original, that the same brim which had 
 knobs compassing it, " ten in eighteen inches," is the 
 same as that which was " wrought like the brim of 
 a cup, with flowers of lilies ? " The ornaments of 
 the cup of M-hambra are like those of flowers ; those 
 of the basin are different ; might it not be so in Solo- 
 mon's brazen sea ? 
 
 This solution seems greatly preferable to the suppo- 
 sition, that one writer iiieans dry-measure baths, and 
 the other liquid-measure baths ; or that the bath had 
 varied in its quantity after the time of Solomon ; 
 since the foundation of this explanation is matter of 
 fact, and since the coincidence of ideas between 
 Solmnon'sand the Moorish fountain is striking. (See 
 Swinburne's Travels in Spain, p. 178.) 
 
 The fountain inay serve to answer another ques- 
 tion, which has been raised on the manner of cast- 
 ing Solomon's brazen sea — How such an immense 
 body could be cast at once'} This difficulty has 
 arisen from taking as certain that the sea was strictly 
 a circle ; whereas the Arabian fountain, though 
 circular, is divided into twelve faces, each face being 
 itself a plane, and forming an angle with the next. 
 If this were the fact also with respect to Solomon's 
 sea, then we perceive how easily each face might be 
 cast separately, and aflerwards the whole be united ; 
 notwithstanding which few persons, if any, would
 
 S E A^i,. 
 
 [ 828 ] 
 
 SEAL 
 
 hesitate in describing it as a round basin. This 
 •would determine, too, that Solomon's oxen stood, 
 like the Moorish lions, one to each face, with equal 
 intervals between them, all round the circumference, 
 and not, as might be gathered from the description, 
 three together, each three facing a cardinal point of 
 the heavens, which has been the sentiment of the 
 rabbins, and is adopted by Calmet and others. 
 
 Is there an allusion to the brazen sea as a founjuin, 
 in Zecli.xiii. 1, "/?i that day there shall be a fountain 
 opened, not merely to the priests in divine service in 
 the temple, but it shall be free to the house of David, 
 and to the inhabitants of Jerusaltm in general, to the 
 whole nation. Sec. for cleansing of sin and unclean- 
 ness," &c. ? 
 
 SEAH, a Hebrew measure, containing about two 
 gallons and a half, liquid measure ; or about a peck 
 and one pint, dry measure. 
 
 SEAL, SEALING. The allusions and references 
 to seals and sealing are very frequent in the sacred 
 writings. Seals or signets were in use at a very 
 early period ; and they were evidently of various 
 kinds, so tiiat the same expression, as it might at 
 iirst sight be thought, has a diversity of meaning, 
 determinable by its connection on application. 
 
 The principal use of seals was for authentication, 
 and they appear to have been worn by the parties to 
 whom they respectively belonged. The seal of a 
 private person was usually worn on his finger, or on 
 his v/rist, or in a bracelet, being small in size. The 
 seal of a governor was worn by him, or carried about 
 his person, in the most secure manner possible. The 
 royal seal was, (1.) personal, to the king ; (2.) public, 
 to tlie state ; in other words, the seal of the king, and 
 the seal of the crown : tlie fu-st the king retained ; 
 the latter he delivered to the proper officer of state. 
 So tar our own usages enable us to comprehend 
 clearly the nature of this important instrument. 
 
 The art of writing is so generally diffused among 
 us, that we think meanly of an individual who has 
 not acquired that noble qualification ; and we can 
 scarcely conceive or a governor, or a king, who is 
 destitute of the accomplishment, being fit for dis- 
 charging the duties of his office. We must, therefore, 
 recollect, that in the East the art of writing is prac- 
 tised by a body of men whose skill is the mean of 
 their livelihood, and who engross almost the whole of 
 its practice. The civil governor may be considered 
 as never authenticating by signature ; but to give 
 validity to an order, he stamps it with an impression 
 of the seal which he wears, and this sufficiently de- 
 notes, to all who inspect it, that he has been informed 
 of tlie contents, and has confirmed them by his stamp 
 manufd. This shows the vast consequence of this 
 implement ; for, should an order, under the govern- 
 or's seal, command the death of A. B. that person 
 would be treated as a criminal, and executed on the 
 warrant thus authenticated. Or, should an order, 
 llius authenticated, conmiand the disbursement of a 
 considerable s:nn of monev, the treasurer would dis- 
 burse it. and Justify himself by this authority. So 
 that, in fact, whoever possesses'this seal possesses all 
 the power of the real ownr-r, all the resources of the 
 countiy, Sec. Hence we may in some degree esti- 
 niate the incautious confidence of Judah, who gave 
 liis seal to Tamar, by which act he, witii his property, 
 was placed entirely in her power; and we may also 
 perceive the fidelity of Tamar, who made no ill use 
 of this authority. 
 
 Seals were usually made of silver, but others were 
 of inferior metals; and some of precious stones. The 
 
 form of their cutting must also oe properly under- 
 stood, because such seals as are in use among our- 
 selves would very ill answer the purpose of stamp- 
 ing or marking. Were they dipped in a thick kind 
 of ink, (printer's ink, for example,) they would im- 
 pruit on paper the mark of their flat superficies, 
 leaving blanks corresponding to the hollows which 
 formed the letters. It is necessary, therefore, that 
 seals which are to be thus dipped should have the 
 inscriptions upon them raised, so that these inscrip- 
 tions iTiay hold the ink, and imprint on the paper the 
 forms of the letters which compose them. In this 
 manner the excise stamps on a variety of articles 
 which pay duty in Britain are cut and conducted ; 
 also post-marks on letters, letters for marking linen, 
 and, universally, types used for printing. 
 
 The nature of the inscription is another thing re- 
 quiring notice. It is not enough that they consist of 
 the initials of the owner's name ; they contain, espe- 
 cially when they belong to a person of consequence, 
 a description of his office, residence, &c. and, as a 
 long line of ancestry is reckoned to increase the 
 honor of an individual, this in the East is displayed 
 on some of their seals with a parade (as we should 
 call it) verging on affectation and ostentation. Some 
 of them have additions which seldom occupy our 
 cipher seals, such as inscriptions, mottoes, sentences, 
 apophthegms of moral wisdom, and sentiments, 
 pious or political ; which answer in some measure to 
 the mottoes of our coats of arms, luit extended to 
 lengths which custom among us forbids. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, from whom these remarks are a:bridged, 
 has selected the following Scri[)ture references to 
 seals and sealing. 
 
 We read in Est, viii. 8, " W^rite in the king's name, 
 and seal it with the king's [seal] ring; for the writ- 
 ing ^^hich is written in the king's name, and sealed 
 with the king's ring, no man may revei-se." (See 
 also ver. 10.) It clearly appears that the king's ring 
 [called n;'3'J tabaath] had a seal in it; this also is the 
 name of Pharaoh's ring; and we read (chap. iii. 10.) 
 that the king took off his ring from his hand, and 
 gave it to Hainan, empowering him thereby, at his 
 pleasure, to authenticate his ccnunancls with the 
 stamp of royal authority. 
 
 Precisely the same action is that of Pharaoh with 
 respect to Joseph : (Gen. xli. 42.) " And Pharaoli 
 took off his ring {tabaath) from his hand, and gave 
 it, and placed it on the hand of Joseph;" from 
 which moment th.e power of life and death, and of 
 civil government, althougli vested in the king, was 
 transferred to Joseph ; and since this ring is called iiy 
 tiie same name as the former, we may justly conclude 
 that it was of the same i;ature. But here arises a 
 query. It is said these rings were worn on the hand 
 — were they woni on the wrist? or, being worn on 
 the finger, are they said to have been worn on the 
 hand ?' 
 
 We have, however, an earlier instance of a seal — 
 and it should seem to be a seal-ring, as being the 
 property of the wearer, knouni by an appropriate in- 
 scription — in the instance of Judah, (Gen. xxxviii. 
 18.) who left with Tamar his seal or signet, called 
 ':^nr\) hofhdm. That this was a ring ap|)ears likely 
 from the consideration of Judah's wearing it about 
 his person. The word is used, too, in Jcr. xxii. 24, 
 "Though Coniah, son of Jehoiakim, were a {hothdm, 
 cnin) ring on my right hand ; " and we have in Dau. vi. 
 17,(18, Heb.) the act of sealing described by it, " And 
 a stone was brought and placed on the mouth of the 
 den, and the khig sealed it {n-z-r^) with his ring (-pi;-)
 
 SEAL 
 
 [ 899 ] 
 
 SEA 
 
 and the princes also sealed with their rings." Hence 
 it a|)|)ears that wc liavc tliree words to denote a seal, 
 or rutlier three different kinds of seals, denoted by 
 three very distinct and different words. (1.) Hothdm, 
 which is used the earliest, we believe, in the instance 
 of Jiidah ; it denotes a seal of such a kind as a pri- 
 vate pei-son nii^dit carry about him. (•^.) Tabaaih, a 
 seal which we rind worn by kings, as by Pharaoh 
 and Aha.stierus, (3.) Izkd, a seal employed both by 
 the king and his princes ; and thcrelbrc not appro- 
 priate restrictively to royalty. It is not said that this 
 article was worn about the person. 
 
 Hothdm, 31 r. Taylor takes to be a general word 
 for seal ; and he thinks it means a precious stone, 
 cut in the n)anner of seals. So we read, Exod. 
 xxviii. 11 : "Two onyx stones, the work of ail" engra- 
 ver in stone, (seal-cutter,) engraved, or cut in, with 
 the engravings, incisions, of a hothd)n." The same, 
 (ver. ^l.) "The names of the children of Israel 
 (twelve) were to be upon the twelve stones of the 
 pectoral, like the engravings of a hothdm ; each stone 
 containing one name : " also ver. JiU, " And thou slialt 
 make a plate (flower) of pure gold, and shalt make 
 incisions — openings ; that is, shalt engrave upon it 
 like the engraving of a hothdm, " Holiness to the 
 Lord." The same phrase (chap, xxxix. 6.) expresses 
 that the onyx stones were engraven with the engrav- 
 ings of a hothdm; (also ver. 14.) and it deserves i-e- 
 niark, how carefully these articles are descrilicd as 
 being wrought with a peculiar, or at least with a dis- 
 tinct, species of engraving. Now, certainly, there 
 coidd have been no room for this distinction, if no 
 more than one manner of engraving letters had been 
 known at that time. This, we see, was cut into the 
 uietal, or jewel, or seal ; it was used in engraving the 
 name of the proprietor on the seal belonging to him ; 
 it was used by j)rivate persons ; and it was com- 
 irionly known and understood. This remark has its 
 influence on the rjucstion of the origin of writing. 
 But we read in Exod. xxxii. 16, that the tables of 
 the law contained writing engraved {c\-\-) upon them. 
 What kind oi^ engraving was this ? It happens that 
 the word occurs only in this place; the LXX render 
 it i!i>:ij>.::viiii:ii)], which, if it be from the vcrb>^oAu,-7Te), 
 may signify cut out, or rather c/n'sd/e;/, that is, hollow 
 lines, wrought in stone by a chisel, (or something 
 answering the purpose of that instrument,) and driven 
 by a mallet, as zo/..;.Trijo is understood to signify ; in- 
 strumentum lapicidarum malleo simile, a hammer. 
 This, |)ossibly, was the idea intended to be conveyed 
 by those interpreters ; at least it is the idea which 
 arises from their rendering. But the apostle seems 
 to have been diss<itisfied with the term, for he says, 
 (2 Cor. iii. 7.) "If the ministration of death written 
 with letters engTfli'C7i on stones (nTfrL-.fo'Kf'ii; iv/.idoic) 
 was glorious," he has ])refen'ed a word of more 
 general signirication ; formed, imaged, typified, in any 
 manner. Under this uncrertainty the English word 
 chiselled may express this maimer till a better is sug- 
 gested. The residt of these inquiries is, that the de- 
 vices, or marks, of certain seals, were incuse cut into 
 the metal ; while those of others were raised for the 
 purpose of stam[)ing. 
 
 Among the representations of seals collected by 
 Mr. Taylor, is one from Tavernier, being that of the 
 iirst minister of state of some oriental prince. The 
 seal, in the original, is set on the back of the patent, 
 no man daring to affix his seal on the same side as 
 the king's; and this Mr. Taylor thinks may give the 
 true bearing of the apostle's expression : (2 Tim.ii. 19.) 
 The foundation of God slandeth sure, having this motto 
 
 around the seal— ih'is inscription, " The Lord knoweth 
 them ivho are his." And this inscription is on the en- 
 closed, the folded, side of the patent, not visible to us ; 
 whereas, on the open side, the exposed pai-t of the 
 patent, is the counter inscription, " Let all ivho name 
 the name of Christ depart from iniquity ;" — this char- 
 acter is conspicuous to all, and, as it were, a continu- 
 ation of the former, its counteii)art, and in perfect 
 coincidence with it. The notion of a writing fully, 
 amply confirmed, (that is, a royal patent,) suits this 
 passage, he remarks, extremely well, even lietter than 
 that of a foundation stone ; for how can the inscrip- 
 tion on sucli a stone be open for inspection ? or why 
 two mottoes ? and, as appears, one on one side of it, 
 the other on the other side ? The serurilif of God — 
 h'lsbond abideth sure, absolutely inmiovable ; its seal- 
 motto is, "The Lord knows, approves, them who are 
 his." This idea of a seal on the back of a writing, 
 seems to be that of the apostle John, also : (iii. 33.) 
 "He who hath received his (the Messiah's) testimony 
 has set to, added, his seal, vouching — not j)roperly 
 confirmirig — the veracity of God." 
 
 Cncumcision was a seal, or a token in confirmation 
 of a previous engagement. The Corinthians were 
 seals of the apostle's ministiy, conclusive evidences, 
 like seals to a deed. In general the gifts of God, the 
 Holy Spirit, &c. were tokens of validity, given for 
 confirmation of a delegated power to parties possess- 
 ing them. 
 
 Sealing. — It is necessary to observe, that the meth- 
 od of sealing, mentioned in the sacred writings, does 
 not restrictively imply a waxen seal, or a seal for evi- 
 dence only, but to close iip, to secure, by some solid, or 
 glutinous matter. So Dent, xxxii. 34, "Is not this 
 laid up in store with me, and sealed u]) [closed up, se- 
 cured, for preservation] among my treasures?" In 
 Job xxxviii. 14, a seal is mentioned as being made of 
 claif ; which, indeed, is customary in the East ; and 
 in Jer. xxxii. 14, a similar practice seems referred to, 
 with regard to a certain deed which was enclosed in 
 a roll of some strong substance, pitched over, to pro- 
 tect it from water, or surrounded with a coat of firm 
 clay, to the same purpose, and placed at the bottom of 
 an earthen vessel ; Avhile a writing not thus enclosed, 
 or coated over, was laid among a quantity of dry mat- 
 ters, "stones, bricks, or sea-sand," above the vessel. 
 
 That the word translated sealing may propeily be 
 understood of closing, or cementing, which is allied to 
 sealing in the East, ap])ears in part from the following 
 extract from Niebuhr: (vol. ii. p. 261.) — " They sign 
 their letters with a sort of cipher, to prevent the pos- 
 sibility of counterfeiting their sieiiatures: at least the 
 great and the learned do so. . . Their letters folded are 
 an inch in breadth, and the leaves are pasted together 
 at one end. They cannot seal them, for wax is so 
 soft in hot countries, that it cannot retain an imjfrcs- 
 sion. See further under Clay, and Book, p. 202. 
 
 SEAT. The seat of Moses, on whicti the scribes 
 and Pharisees sat, expresses the authority of the doc- 
 tors of the law, and their office of teaching. Our Lord 
 conunanded that they should be heard, and rcs])ect- 
 ed ; but he forl)ade that their actions should be made 
 precedents, or themselves taken for examples. The 
 seat of the scorncr, mentioned in the first Psahn, al- 
 ludes to the abominable discourse, and the licentious 
 manners, of libertines, who coiTupt equally Iw their 
 scandalous example and conduct, as by their loose 
 principles. The Hebrew says scorners, revilers, 
 those ])retended free-thinkers, who deride the sim- 
 plicity of plain and honest minds. Solomon often 
 speaks of them in his Proverbs, and carefully guards
 
 SEE 
 
 [ 830 ] 
 
 SEI 
 
 his ])upil against theu- dangerous tongues, Prov. i. 22 ; 
 iii. 34 ; ix. 7, 8, 12 ; xiii. 1 ; xiv. 6 ; xv. 12 ; xix. 25 ; xx. 
 1, &c. Tlie seat of honors, (Ecckis. vii. 4.) is the 
 chief places in the synagogues, which the Pharisees 
 assumed ; (Matt, xxiii. 6.) the seat prepared for Joh in 
 tlie assemblies ; (Job xxix. 7.) the seat or throne of the 
 king, and that of God, are clear enough. The throne 
 belongs to God, and to the king ; the seat of honor to 
 tlie friends of the king, and to great men. (Compare 
 Bed.) 
 
 SEBA, or Saba, son of Cush, Gen. x. 7. See un- 
 der Sabeans, I. 
 
 SEBASTE, see Samaria. 
 
 SEBAT, the fifth month of the Jewish civil year; 
 and the eleventh of the ecclesiastical year ; from the 
 new moon of February to that of March ; or, accord- 
 ing to others, corresponding to our January, O. S. 
 (See Month.) They begin in this month to number 
 the years of the trees they planted, the fruits of which 
 were esteemed impure till the fourth year, Zech i. 7. 
 See Jewish Calendar, at the end of the volume. 
 
 SECACAH, a southern city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 
 61.) in the desert. 
 
 SECRET, see Mystery. 
 
 SECT, a Latin word which has the same signifi- 
 cation as the Greek word Hceresis, though the sound 
 is not so offensive to us. Among the Jews there 
 were four sects, distinguished by their practices and 
 opinions, yet united in communion with each other, 
 and with the body of their nation, viz. the Pharisees, 
 the Sadducees, the Essenians, and the Herodians. 
 (See the respective articles.) Christianity was origi- 
 nally considered as a new sect of Judaism ; hence 
 Tertullus, accusing Paul before Felix, says, that he 
 was chief of the seditious sect of the Nazarenes ; 
 (Acts xxiv. 5.) and the Jews of Rome said to the 
 apostle, when he arrived in this city, that "as to this 
 sect, it was every where spoken against," Actsxxviii. 
 22. Peter (2 Epist. ii. 1—10.) foretells that fiilse 
 teachers should arise among them, " who privily 
 shall bring in damnable heresies, (or sects,) even de- 
 nying the Lnrfl that bought them, and bring upon 
 themselves swift destruction." He adds, that these 
 people, being great lovers of themselves, are not afraid 
 to introduce new sects ; where the word sect is taken 
 in the same sense as heresy. 
 
 Among the Greeks, the philosophers were divided 
 into different sects ; as the Academics, the Stoics, the 
 Peripatetics, the Cynics, the Epicureans, &c. The 
 Jews, in imitafion of the Greeks, began to divide 
 themselves into sects, about the time of the Macca- 
 bees; and it seems as if the Corinthians had a mind 
 to introduce something like this into Christianity, 
 when they boasted, I am a disciple of Peter, I of 
 Paul, I of Apollos, 1 Cor. i. 12 ; iii. 22, &c. 
 
 SECUNDUS, a disciple of Paul, (Acts xx. 4.) but 
 we know nothing of his life, further than that he was 
 of Thessalonica, and followed the apostle from 
 Greece into Asia, A. D. 58. 
 
 SEED, the prolific principle of future life, is taken 
 in Scri|)ture for posterity, whether of man, beasts, 
 trees, &c. all of which are said to be sown and to 
 fructify, as the means of producing a succeeding 
 generation, Jer. xxxi. 27. Hence seed denotes an in- 
 dividual, as Seth, in the stead of Abel, (Gen. iv. 25. 
 et al.frcq.) and the whole line of descent ; as the seed 
 of Abraham, of Jacob, &c. the seed-royal, &c. much 
 in the same acceptation as children. Tlie seed of 
 Abraham denotes not only those who descend from 
 him, by natural issue, but those who imitate his 
 character, (Rom. iv. 16.) for, if he be " the father of 
 
 the faithful," then the faithful are his seed, by char- 
 acter, independent of natural descent ; and hence the 
 Messiah is said to see his seed, though in fact, Jesus 
 lefl no children by descent, but by grace or conver- 
 sion only, Isa. liii. 10. This is occasionally restricted 
 to one chief, or principal, seed, one who by excel- 
 lence is the seed ; as the seed of the woman, (Gen. 
 iii. 15; Gal. iii. 16.) the seed of Abraham, the seed of 
 David, meaning the most excellent descendant of the 
 woman, of Abraham, of David, Or, understand by 
 the "seed of the woman," the offspring of the female 
 sex only ; as verified in the supernatural conception 
 of Jesus, (Matt. i. 18, &c. ; Luke i. 26, (S:c.) and of 
 which the birth of Abraham's seed (Isaac) was a 
 figure. 
 
 Seed is taken figuratively for the word of God ; 
 (Luke viii. 5 ; 1 Pet. i. 23.) for a disposition becoming 
 a divine origin, (1 John iii. 9.) and for truly pious 
 persons, Matt. xiii. 38. 
 
 SEEING, To SEE. This is said, not only of the 
 sense of vision, by which we perceive external ob- 
 jects, but also of inward perception, of the knoM'ledge 
 of spiritual things, and even of the supernatural sight 
 of hidden things ; of prophecy, visions, ecstacies. 
 Whence it is that those persons were formerly called 
 seers, who afterwards were called Nabi, or prophets ; 
 and that prophecies were called visions. See 
 Prophet. 
 
 The verb to see, is used to express all kinds of 
 sensations. It is said (Exod. xx. 18.) that the Israel- 
 ites saw voices, thunder, lightnings, the sound of the 
 trumpet, and the whole mountain of Sinai covered 
 with clouds or smoke. To see good, or goods, is to 
 enjoy them ; " I believed to see the goodness of the 
 Lord in the land of the living," Ps. xxvii. 13, i. e. I 
 hope that God will bring me back into my own coun- 
 try, into the land of Judea, where I shall live in peace 
 and prosperity. Job says, (vii. 7.1 " I shall die, and 
 see no more ; I shall no longer enjoy the good things 
 of this world." And the psalmist says, (Ps. iv. 6.) 
 " There be many that say, who will show us any 
 good ?" that is, to enjoy any happiness in this life. 
 
 To see the face of the king, is to be of his council, 
 his household, or to ap])roach him. The kings of 
 Persia, to maintain their respect, and majesty, seldom 
 permitted their subjects to see tliem,and hardly ever 
 showed themselves in jndjlic ; none but their most 
 intimate friends, or their familiar domestics, had the 
 honor of beholding their faces, Esth. i. 10, 14. Fre- 
 quent allusion is made to this custom in Scripture, 
 which mentions the seven principal angels that see 
 the face of the Lord, and appear in his presence. 
 See Rev. i. 4, and Angel. 
 
 SEER, see Prophet. 
 
 I. SEGUB, son of Ilezron, father of Jair, 1 Chron. 
 ii. 21, 22. 
 
 II. SEGUB, ason of Hiel of Bethel, who, having 
 undertaken to rebuild Jericho, was punished by the 
 death of Abiram, his first-born son, who died as be 
 was laying the foundation ; and by the death of Se- 
 gub his younger son, when he hung up the gates of 
 the city, 1 Kings xvi. 34. See Hiel, and Jericho. 
 
 I. SEIR, the Horite, whose dwelling was east and 
 south of the Dead sea, in the mountains of Seir, 
 where at first reigned his descendants. Gen. xxxvi. 
 21—30 ; 1 Chron. i. 38, &c. The posterity of Esau 
 afterwards possessed the mountains of Seir, and Esau 
 himself dwelt there when Jacob returned from Mes- 
 opotamia, Gen. xxxii. 3; xxxiii. 14; xxxvi. 8, 9. 
 Moses informs us, (Deut. ii. 12.) that Esau made war 
 with the Horites, and destroyed them. Seir must
 
 SEL 
 
 [831 ] 
 
 SEN 
 
 have lived very early, since his children were already 
 a powerful and numerous people in the time of Abra- 
 ham, before the birth of Isaac, when Chedorlaomer 
 and iiis confederates came to make war against the 
 kings of Pentapolis, Gen. xiv. G. 
 
 II. SEIR, a mountainous tract, stretching from the 
 soutiiern extremity of the Dead sea, to the gulf of 
 Ezion-Geber. Mount Hor formed part of Scir, and 
 the only part that retained its original name. Mouut 
 Seir is more particularly described under the article 
 Exodus, p. 415. 
 
 There would seem to have been a mountain on the 
 frontiers of Judah and Dan, bearing the name of 
 Seir, Josh. xv. 10. 
 
 SELA, the name of a place mentioned in 2 Kings 
 xiv. 7, where it is said that Amaziah, king of Judah, 
 slew ten thousand men of Edom, in the valley of 
 Salt, and took Sela by war, and called the name of 
 it Joktheel. Sela, in Hebrew, signifies a rock, and 
 answers to the Greek word Petra ; whence it has 
 been reasonably inferred that the city bearing this 
 name, and which was the celebrated capital of Ara- 
 bia Petrea, is the place mentioned by the sacred his- 
 torian. There are two places, however, which con- 
 tend for the honor of having been the capital of the 
 Nabatheans, or Agarenians — Kerek, and Wady 
 Mousa ; but the extensive ruins which have been dis- 
 covered in the latter place, has induced most writers 
 to consider this as the site of the ancient Petra, though 
 in opposition to the traditions of the people who in- 
 habit the country. Mr. Mansford hasfollowde those 
 writers who think that both Kerek and Wady Mousa 
 appear to have been called Petra by the Greeks, and 
 each to have been the capital of the country, though 
 in different ages. In proof that the former was so 
 called, he remarks, that when the expedition of the 
 MacedonianGreeks, which Antigonus sent against the 
 Nabathrei, under the command of his son Demetrius, 
 first penetrated into this country, we are informed by 
 Diodorus that this people placed their old irien, 
 women jmd cliildren, upon a steeji rock, having only 
 one access to the summit, and situated three hundred 
 stadia beyond the lake Asphaltites. Now, both the 
 description and position of this place agree with 
 Kerek, as described by Burckhardt ; while the city 
 of Wady Mousa is twice the above-mentioned dis- 
 tance from the lake, Jind stood in a deep glen, instead 
 of on a precipitous rock. He conceives, however, 
 that in process of time, and probably from increase 
 of commerce, or for Iietter security, or as lying in a 
 more direct route from iIk; Red sea to the Mediter- 
 ranean, the new city was built in Wady Mousa, the 
 nrobal)le site of a former city of the Edomites, to 
 which the name of the old capital was transferred, 
 and with equal propriety, for here, too, all was rock ; 
 while the old city was distinguished by its indigenous 
 name of Kerek, moulded by the Greeks into Charax. 
 The remains in the valley of Wady IVIousa, which 
 are described by Burckhardt and Legh, and by cap- 
 tains Irby and Mangles, attest the splendor of the 
 former city. At the western end of the valley, the 
 road ascends to the high platform on %\hicli mount 
 Hor and the toni!) of Aaron stand ; in the vicinity of 
 which Josephus and Eusebius agree in pl;icing the 
 ancient Petra. See a full description of Wady ."Nlousa 
 under Canaa.v, p. 2-38, 2.39. 
 
 SEL AH, a musical term, which occurs frequently 
 in the Psalms, and is found also in Hab. iii.3, 9, 13. It 
 usually occiu's at the end of a period or strophe ; but 
 sometimes at the end only of a clause. According to 
 Gesenius, this difficult word may be explained in 
 
 three different ways ; either directly, as symphony, (so 
 the Sept. diuH'uyuu.) or as pause of the song, when the 
 instruments strike up, i. e. symphony, as before ; or 
 again, some supjiose the word to consist of ihe initial 
 letters of three words, signifying da capo,repeat, etc. 
 This last mode Gesenius rejects, but does not decide 
 in respect to the others. (See his Lexicon.) R. 
 
 I. SELELCTA, a name given by king Seleucus to 
 the city of Gadara, which see. 
 
 II. SELEUCIA, a city cf Syria, on the Mediter- 
 ranean, near where the river brontes falls into it- 
 Paul and P.arnabas embarked at Scleiicia, for Cy- 
 prus, Acts xiii. 4. The coins of this citv are remark- 
 able for exhibiting lour different eras :" first, that of 
 the Seleucida?, in the year of Rome, 442 ; that of its 
 own laws, 645 of Rome, under the reign of Antio- 
 chns VIII.; that of Pcmpey,in the year of Rome, C90; 
 and that of Augnstus, in the year "of Rome, 72.3. 
 
 SELLING. The Hebrews might sell their own 
 liberty ; and lathers might sell that of their children, 
 Lev. XXV. .39. If your brother sells himself to you 
 because of his poverty, yon shall not o])press him, 
 nor sell him again as a slave : he shall abide with you 
 only as a workman for hire. Maimonides says, that 
 a Hebrew could not sell his liberty, but in extreme 
 necessity. Exod. xxi. 7, "If a man sell his daughter 
 to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the man- 
 servants do." Her master shall not dismiss her, as a 
 man-slave is dismissed at the sabbatical year. He 
 shall take her as his wife, or shall marry her to his 
 son. If he care to do neither of these, he shall set 
 her at liberty." The Hebrews sold also insolvent 
 debtors, and their children. Matt, xviii. 25; 2 Kings 
 iv. 1. To sell freemen for slaves, was a crime 
 which the law punished with death, P'xod. xxi. 16 ; 
 Dent. xxiv. 7. Esau sold his birthright ; and for 
 this, it appears, Paul calls him profane. Heb. xii. 16. 
 "Thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of 
 the Lord," said the prophet Elijah to Ahal), (] Kings 
 xxi. 20, 25.) and the wicked Israelites mentioned in 
 1 Mac. i. 16, sold themselves as slaves to sin, being 
 subject to their evil inclinations, as slaves are to their 
 masters. These expressions were familiar to the He- 
 brews, and hence Paul, speaking of himself, or rather 
 of mankind in his own person, says, (Rom. vii. 14.) 
 " I am carnal, sold under sin ; the slave of concupis- 
 cence and of sin by nature, but set at liberty by the 
 grace of Jesus Christ." The difference is, that Ahab 
 sold himself; that is, freely, voluntarily ; whereas 
 Paul was sold ; that is^ against his will, by force, by 
 constraint of circumstances, not of choice. 
 
 SEM, see Shem. 
 
 SEMOOM, see Wind 
 
 SENIR, mount Hermon w^as so called by the 
 Amorites, Deut. iii. 8, 9 ; 1 Chron. v. 23. 
 
 SENNACHERIB, king of Assyria, son and suc- 
 cessor of Shalmaneser, began to reign, A. I\I. 3290; 
 and reigned but four years, 3294. Hezekiah, king 
 of Judah, having shaken off the joke of the Assyri- 
 ans, by which Ahaz, his father, had suffered under 
 Tiglath-pileser, Sennacherib marched an aimyagainst 
 him, and took all the strong cities of Judah. Heze- 
 kiah, seeing he had nothing left but Jerusalem, which 
 he, perhaps, found it difficult to preserve, sent am- 
 bassadors to Sennacherib, then at the siege of La- 
 chish, saying, " I have committed a fault ; but with- 
 draw your army out of my territories, and I will bear 
 whatever you shall impose upon me." St unacherib 
 demanded three hundred talents of silver, and thirty 
 talents of gold, which Hezekiah remitted to him. 
 Sennacherib received the tribute, but refused to leave
 
 SEP 
 
 [ 832 ] 
 
 SEPULCHRE 
 
 Judea. He sent from Lachish to Jerusalem three of 
 his chief officers, Tartan, Rab-saris and Rab-shakeh, 
 to summon Hezekiah to surrender ; in doing winch 
 they uttered many blasphemies against God. In the 
 mean time Sennaciierib quitted tlie siege of Lachish, 
 and went in person to that of Libnah, whence he 
 wrote to Hezekiah, urging him to return to liis duty, 
 and to follow the example of so many other nations 
 that had submitted. Hezekiah entreated tlie Lord, 
 who sent a destroying angel against the Assyrian 
 artny, and slew in one nigiit 185,000 men, 2 Kings 
 xix. 35. Sennacherib retuined with all speed to 
 Nineveh, where, while he was paying adorations to 
 his god Nisroch, in the temple, his two sons Adram- 
 melech and Sharezer slew him, and fled into Arme- 
 nia. Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead, A.M. 
 3294, 2 Kings xix ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 2L 
 
 ]\Iost commentators are of opinion, that the army 
 of Sennacherib was destroyed before Jerusalem, pre- 
 paring for the siege of this city. But Calmet seems 
 to think, from Isa. x. 24 — 26, that he did not form 
 the siei'e of Jerusalem ; but that this calamity befell 
 him in his marcn against Tirhakah. 
 
 The Babylonian Tahnud attirms, that lightning 
 was the agent employed upon this occasion ; and the 
 Targums, or Chaldee paraj)hras8s, are quoted, as as- 
 serting the same thing. Other writers beheve, that 
 the Assyrians perished by means of a hot wind, 
 which God caused to blow against them ; a wind 
 verj^ common in those parts, (Thevenot, Voyage, 
 part i. lib. ii. 20 ; part ii. lib. i. 20; ii. 16.) and which 
 makes great ravages, stifling thousands of persons in 
 a moment, as often happens to those great caravans 
 of Waliometans, which go pilgrimages to Mecca. 
 Jeremiah (Ii. 1.) calls it a destroying wind ; and the 
 threatening by Isaiah, (xxxvii. 7.) to Sennacherib, 
 "Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall 
 hear a rumor," seems also to allude to it. [Many in- 
 terpreter have thus reierred the catastrophe of 
 Sennacherib to the simoom, whose destructive rav- 
 ages have been long celebrated by oriental travellers. 
 More recent and accm-ate accounts, however, have 
 shown the fallacy of these stories respecting the 
 simoom ; and this hypothesis, therefore, falls to the 
 gi'ound. See Winds. R, 
 
 SEPHER, probably the coast of Southern Arabia, 
 Yemen, (See under Mesha.) The sons of Joktan had 
 their dAveliing "from Mesha, as thou goest unto Se- 
 phar, a mount of the east," Gen. x. 30. 
 
 SEPHARVAIM. When ^halmaneser, king of 
 Assyria, carried away Israel from Samaria to beyond 
 the Euphrates, he sent people in their stead into Pal- 
 estine, among whom were the Sepharvaim, 2 Kings 
 xvii. 24, 31. [That Sepharvaim was a small district 
 under its own king, is apparent from 2 Kings xix. 
 13; Isa. xxxvii. 13. It may with most probability be 
 assigned to Mesopotamia ; because it is named along 
 with other places in that region ; and because Ptole- 
 my (v. 18.) mentions a city of a similar nan^ip, Sip- 
 phara,as the most southern of Mesopotamia. Below 
 this city, he adds, the Euphrates divides itself into 
 two branches, of which the eastern goes to Selencia, 
 and the western to Babylon. Probibly the Sipphara 
 of Ptolemy is the citif of the Sippareiies mentioned by 
 Abydemes, for whom he says Nebuchadnezzar 
 caused a lake to be dug, and the water of the Eu- 
 l)l)rates turned into it. (Euseb. Pnep. Evan", ix 
 14.) R. ' 
 
 SEPTUAGINT, the most ancient Greek version 
 of the Scriptures. For a particular account of this, 
 see the article Versions. 
 
 SEPULCHRE, a place of burial. The Hebrews 
 were always very carefid about the burial of their 
 dead. Many of their sepulchres were hewn in rocks ; 
 as that bought by Abraham for the burying of Sarah ; 
 (Gen. xxiii. 4, 6.) those of the kings of Judah and Is- 
 rael ; and that in which our Saviour was laid on 
 mount Calvary. Sometimes their graves were (lug 
 in the ground ; and commonly without their towns. 
 Our Saviour (Matt, xxiii. 27.) says, that the Pharisees 
 were like whited sepulchres, which appeared fine 
 without, but inwardly were full of rottenness and cor- 
 ruption ; and Lightfoot has shown, that every year, 
 on the fifteenth of February, the Hebrews whitened 
 them anew. In Luke (xi. 44.) Christ coni|)ares the 
 Pharisees to "graves which a))pear not, so that men 
 w^'ilk over them without being aware of it ;" not 
 knowing that these places are unclean ; so that they 
 contract an involuntary impurity. See Buri*l. 
 
 ?ilr. Taylor has devoted several Fragnieiits to a 
 consideration of the ancient sepidchres of various 
 nations, and especially to the sepulchre of our Saviour 
 on mount Calvaiy. He has collected much curious, 
 and, to the antiquarian and historian, much useful 
 information ; but a great deal of it is useless for the 
 elucidation of Scripture. We shall make such selec- 
 tions as the nature of this work requires. 
 
 If is more than possible, that if we could discrimi- 
 nate accurately the meaning of Avords employed l-y 
 the sacred writers, we should find them adai)ted with 
 a surprising precision to the subjects on which they 
 treat. Of this the various constructions of sepulchres 
 might, probably, aflbrd convincing evidence; and, 
 perhaps, it is a leading idea in ]iassages v.here it has 
 not hitherto been observed. The numerous refer- 
 ences in Scripture to sej)ulchres sup{)osed to be well 
 ))eo])led, would be misapplied to nations which 
 burned tlieir dead, as the Greeks and Romans did ; 
 or to those who committed them to rivers, as the 
 Hindoos ; or to those who ex})osed them to birds of 
 prey, as the Parsees : nor would the phrase " to go 
 down to the sides of the ])it " be strictly applicable to, 
 or be, properly, descri])tive of, that mode of limial 
 which prevails among ourselves. Single graves, ad- 
 mitting one body only, in width, or in length, have 
 no openings on the sides to which other bodies may 
 be said to go down : nor are such excavated ajiart- 
 ments customary in this country, as arc foimd in 
 the East. 
 
 Nor is it unlikely that the mode of burial is used as 
 the means of distinction among certain nations or 
 countries, by the sacred writers; as might be in- 
 stanced in an almost slngulai" passage of the prophet 
 Ezekiel, chap, xxxii. 
 
 Son of man, lament over the multitude of Egypt, 
 
 And describe them as cast down, even herself, 
 
 And the daughters of the famous nations. 
 
 Unto the land of the regions below, 
 
 Vv'ith them that go down to the pit. 
 
 Why wast thou so sprightly.' in hopes of escaping, 
 
 Down ; and lie with the iu)cncumcised : 
 
 In the midst of those slain by the sword, fall thou ; 
 
 To the sword she is given ; 
 
 Drag her down ; ancl all her multitude shall follow. 
 
 The gods-heroes from the midst of the shades address 
 
 him, with his coadjutors. 
 (They have (long since) gone down : 
 They lie uncircumcised, slain with the sword.) 
 
 Ashur is there, and all her assembly : 
 Encucling her in her sepulchral cavern ;
 
 SEPULCHRE 
 
 [ 833 ] 
 
 SEPULCHRE 
 
 All of them slain ; having fallen by the sword : 
 
 To wliom are assigned each his grave, in the sides of 
 the pit ; 
 
 So was her assembly around her sepulchre 
 
 (All of them slain, having fallen by the sword,) 
 
 Who communicated terror in the land of the living. 
 
 There is Elam and all her crowd, encircling her sep- 
 ulchre ; 
 
 (All of them slain, having fallen by the sword ;) 
 
 Who have gone down uncircumcised into the regions 
 below : 
 
 They communicated their terror in the land of the 
 living. 
 
 Yet have they borne their shame with them that go 
 down to the pit. 
 
 In the midst of the slain they have set her place of 
 repose. 
 
 In the midst of her crowd, encircling her in her se- 
 pulchral cavern ; 
 
 All of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword ; 
 
 Although they caused terror in the land of the living, 
 
 Yet have they borne their shame with them that go 
 do\\Ti to the pit. 
 
 In the midst of the slain his place is appointed. 
 
 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude. 
 
 Her surrounding graves, her sepulchres ; 
 
 (All of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword ;) 
 
 Though they communicated their terror in the land 
 of the living. 
 
 Yet they shall not lie with the heroes, the fallen of 
 the uncircumcised. 
 
 Who [3Ieshech, Tubal] are gone down to the shades, 
 each with his weapons of war, 
 
 And they have given to their swords places under 
 their heads ; 
 
 But their iniquities shall lie heavy upon their bones : 
 
 Though tlie terror of the mighty in the land of the 
 living. 
 
 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncir- 
 cumcised. 
 
 And shalt lie with those who are slain by the sword. 
 
 There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes. 
 Which with their heroisms are given places beside 
 
 those slain with the sword : 
 They shall lie down with the uncircumcised, 
 Even with them that go down to the pit. 
 
 There arc the princes of the North [Zephon] all of 
 
 them. 
 And all the Zidonians ; 
 
 Which are gone down with the slain, in their terrors, 
 Notwithstanding their heroisms they are ashamed ; 
 And they lie uncircumcised, among those slain by the 
 
 sword. 
 And bear their confusion with those that go down to 
 
 the pit. 
 
 These shall Pharaoh see, 
 
 And shall be comforted over all his multitude, slain 
 by the sword, 
 
 Pharaoh and all his army, 
 
 Saith the Lord God : 
 
 Because I have communicated my terror in the land 
 of the living ; 
 
 And have caused him to lie in the midst of the uncir- 
 cumcised. 
 
 Among them who are slain by the swore, 
 
 Pharaoh, and all his multitude, 
 
 Saith the Lord God. 
 
 105 
 
 The changes of persons, and genders, and phrases 
 in these verses are extremely perplexing, and equally 
 unaccountable ; and a strict representation of the 
 passage, verbatim, would be less intelligible than this 
 looser version. Here we have Ashur or Assyria, 
 Elam or Persia, Meshech and Tubal, the present 
 Muscovy and Siberia, also Edom, the Zidonians and 
 the countries adjacent, north of Sidon, perhaps as far 
 as Antioch, &c. (certainly, not intending the north 
 of Europe,) — and though the condition of these is 
 described, generally, in nearly the same terms, yet 
 there are remarkable variations introduced by the 
 prophet. From the sepulchres of the kings, yet ex- 
 tant in Egypt, we know that the sovereigns were, as 
 we may say, buried in society, many sepulchres 
 encircling the area, and several chambers in one 
 sepulchre. Of the Assyrian sepulchres we know 
 but little, that country being almost new to our re- 
 searches ; yet we have every reason to confide in the 
 correctness of the prophet, who speaks of the sides 
 of the pit (that is, the cells in those sides) as being 
 inhabited. Persia, we know, cut sepulchres in rocks, 
 of which evidences are yet remaining. Not so 
 (probably) Meshech and Tubal; they threw up vast 
 barrows over their valiant leaders ; tlieir followers 
 who fell with them shared in the saice highly raised 
 mound : they made a point of honor of burying their 
 weapons and military ornaments with the dead ; and 
 their swords are found under the headsof their skel- 
 etons to this day : — Suaque arrna viro, as Virgil 
 speaks. Dr. Clarke's notices (and views) of the nu- 
 merous barrows in the steppes of Russia, are suffi- 
 cient evidence on this subject ; and the phrase " In- 
 iquities (ravages, perhaps) shall lie heavy on their 
 bones," is an allusion to the weight of earth under 
 which they are deposited. It is the very contrary of 
 the ancient wish ; " Light lie the earth upon thee." 
 The sepulchres of Edom are illustrated by what our 
 countrymen have found in the ancient Petra. The 
 princes of the north of Syria and of Asia Minor have 
 left wonderful proofs of their powers in excavating 
 rocks, of which every day affords new discoveries. 
 (See the publications of the Dilettanti Society of 
 modern Travellers — Dr. Claike, Burckhardt, Legh, 
 Irby and Mangles, Beaumont, Walpole, &c.) Those 
 of the Zidonians have been described by Maundrell, 
 Shaw, and others. Dr. Shaw describes the cryptos 
 at Latikea, or Laodicea, in the northern part of Syria, 
 as being sepulchral chambers, hollowed in the rocky 
 ground, some of which are ten, others twenty or 
 thirty, feet square, but not proportionate in height. 
 The descent into them is artfully contrived. A range 
 of narrow cells, wide enough to receive a sarcophagi, 
 and long enough for two or three, runs along the 
 sides of most of them, and appear to be the only pro- 
 vision that has been made for the reception of the 
 dead. . . . The sepulchral chambers near Jebilee, 
 Tortosa, and the Serpent n.oimtain, together with 
 those that are commonly called the Royal sepulchres 
 at Jerusalem, are all of them exactly of the same 
 workmanship and contrivance with the cryptse of 
 Latikea, 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that the prophet omits 
 the sovereign of Babylon. Was this because Baby- 
 lon, being built on marshy ground, afforded no op- 
 portunity for excavating sepulchres in rocks? It does 
 not appear that such sepulchres could he formed in 
 that city. What places of interment have hitherto 
 been discovered, are in erections above ground. Mr. 
 Rich mentions them ; but he found them in masses 
 of brick work. Still, it is impossible to overlook the
 
 SEPULCHRE 
 
 834 ] 
 
 SEPULCHRE 
 
 sublime ode of the prophet Isaiah, addressed to this 
 poteiuate, an ode which has been often admired for 
 its sublimity, chap. xiv. Tlie prophet speaks of the 
 king of Babylon as brought down to hell [the shades 
 below] and to the sides of the pit. Tiiis, however, 
 may be principally a poetical antithesis to the pre- 
 ceding verse, which records his desire of ascending 
 above die heights of the clouds, and emulating the 
 Most High. And, unless we take the passage in this 
 qualified sense, we shall find it scarcely possible to 
 reconcile it with the enlarged particulars in the fol- 
 lowing verses : — 
 
 All the kings of the nations — all of them 
 
 Lie in glory ; every one in his own house — sepul- 
 chre. 
 
 But thou art cast out of thy grave, like an abomi- 
 nable branch ; 
 
 Like the raiment of the slain, thrust through with 
 a sword. 
 
 That go down to the stones of the pit; 
 
 As a carcass that is trodden under feet, 
 
 Thou shall not be joined with them in burial. 
 
 The strongest possible opposition is here intended 
 by this elevated writer. Taking the sepulchre of 
 Pharaoh Necho, as described by Belzoni, for an in- 
 stance of the posthumous glory of the kings of the 
 nations, of the house appertaining to each, respect 
 ively, we feel more sensibly the degradation of the 
 monarch whose preponderance had been terrific to 
 all his neighbors, and whose ambition urged him to 
 aspire at divinity. The personification of Sheol, the 
 region of the dead, appears to be more than ever 
 striking ; with the company roused to meet this dead 
 monarch. The diflerence of personages imagined 
 by these prophets as addressing the descending 
 kings, would justify the investigation of critics, but 
 demands a discussion too extensive for this place. 
 
 Dr. Clarke discovered, and has fully described, a 
 number of sepulchres similar to those spoken of by 
 Maundrell, which extend along the side of the ravine 
 to the south-west and west of inount Sion. He de- 
 scribes them as a series of subterranean chambers, 
 hewn with considerable art, each containing one or 
 many repositoi-ies for the dead, like cisterns carv^ed 
 in the rock, upon the sides of the chambers. The 
 doors are so low, that to look into any one of them, 
 it is necessary to stoop, and in some instances to 
 creep on hands and knees. (See Luke xxiv. 12.) 
 
 Mr. Maundrell's description of the se[)nlchre called 
 that of the kings of Judah, may be useful for illus- 
 trating some passages of Scripture: — 
 
 "The next place we came to was those famous 
 grots called the sepulchres of the kings ; but for what 
 reason they go by that name is hard to resolve ; for it 
 is certain none of the kings, either of Israel or Jiidah, 
 were buried here, the Holy Scripture assigning otjier 
 places for their sepulchres : unless it may bo thought 
 perhai)3 that llezekiah was hero interred, and that 
 these were the sepulchres of the sons of David, men- 
 tioned 2 Chron. xxxii. .33. Whoever was buried 
 here, this is certain, that the place itself discovers so 
 great an expense, both of labor and treasure, that we 
 may well sii|)pose it to have been the work of kings. 
 You approach to it at the east side through an entranctc 
 cut out of the natural rock, which admits you into an 
 open coiu't of about forty i)ace3 square, cut down into 
 the rock with which it is encompassed instead of 
 walls. On the south side of the court is a portico 
 nine paces long and four broad, hewn lilicwiiio out 
 
 of the natural rock. This has a kind of architrave 
 running along its front, adorned with sculpture, of 
 fruits and flowers, still discernible, but by time much 
 defaced. At the end of the portico, on the left hand, 
 you descend to the passage into the sepidchres. The 
 door is now so obstructed with stones and rubbish, 
 that it is a thing of some difficulty to creep through 
 it. But within you arrive in a large, lair i-oom, about 
 seven or eight yards square, cut out of the natural 
 rock. Its sides and ceiling are so exactly square, and 
 its angles so just, that no architect, with levels and 
 plummets, could build a room more regular. And 
 the whole is so firm and entire, that it may be called 
 a chamber hollowed out of one piece of marble. 
 From this room, you pass into, I think, six more, one 
 within another, all of the same fabric with the first. 
 Of these the two innermost are deeper than the rest, 
 having a second descent of about six or seven stepa 
 into them. In every one of these rooms, except the 
 first, were coffins of stone placed in niches in the 
 
 sides of the chambers. They had been at first cov- 
 ered with handsome lids, and carved with garlands ; 
 but now most of them were broke to pieces, by sac- 
 rilegious hands." (Travels, p. 76.) 
 
 The cave of Machpelah, which Abraham l)onght, 
 (Gen. xxiii. 9.) Was probably a double cave, an exte- 
 rior chamber opening into another interior; not un- 
 like those first described by Maimdrell. If so, it 
 might easily afterwards receive others of Abraham's 
 family. 
 
 We have seen that these sepulchres are occasion- 
 ally divided into chambers ; and to such a chamber 
 of death the wise man compares the chamber of the 
 adidteress ; (Prov. vii. 27.) " .S7ie causes to/all, like as, 
 as surely as, inany and great tvounds cause him to fall 
 who has received them : and even strong men arc ab- 
 solutely slain by her. The way to the sepidchre is her 
 house, her first, or outer, clianiber is like the open 
 coiut that leads to the tomb ; descending to the cham- 
 bers of death" is the further entrance into her apart- 
 ment : her private chamber, penetralia, is like a sepa- 
 rate recess in a sepulchre. The wiiler varies this 
 representation in chap. ix. 18, " And he (the thought- 
 less youth) is not aware that the Rephaim, giants, the 
 most terrible of men, are there [in the house of the 
 adulteress] inviting, calling him, soliciting him, to en- 
 ter the tomb." Tliis is a bold prosopopeia, raising, 
 as it were, the dead, which had been slain by means 
 of prostitution, Aviiose de])arted spirits entice the 
 thoughtless youth to make one among them. 
 
 Some of 'the tombs in Egypt which Norden has 
 copied, much resemble our country graves in Eng- 
 land ; some of them seem to be clusters of graves.
 
 SEPULCHRE 
 
 [ 835 ] 
 
 SEPULCHRE 
 
 occupied, it may bo siipi-osed, by individuals of the 
 saniL- family ; othei-s are buildings of at least one story 
 in height, and, by their doors and windows, or open- 
 ings, seem as if they might, on occasion, accommo- 
 date the living ; as indeed we find by several travel- 
 lers who have taken refnge in them that they do. 
 TJiis will elucidate the circumstances of the demo- 
 niacs, who dwelt among the tombs, (Matt. viii. 28, 
 d al.) and we see how readily they might serve 
 as luibitations to those nidiappy sufterers. They 
 show, also, the propriety of our Lord's comparison 
 of tiie Pharisees to whited, embellished, beautified, 
 sepulchres ; handsome without, but })olliUcd with- 
 in : and the opportunities which persons professing 
 extraordinary zeal for God, or regard for his servants, 
 might have, of " garnishing the sepulchres of the 
 righteous," as well as of rejiairing, or "building, the 
 tomhs of the prophets ;" (Matt, xxiii. 27.) while at the 
 same time as they j)ai(l imsolicited, and even extrav- 
 agant honors to the dead, they detracted, desi)ised, or 
 persecuted the living ; who addressed them with 
 messages of the divine will, with authority superior 
 to that of those whom they professed, by such soli- 
 citous attentions, to admire and to venerate. 
 
 Some erection certainly, though probably of much 
 smaller dimensions than many of these, did Jacob 
 construct over the gi\ive of Rachel ; perhaps a simjjle 
 pillar within an enclosure, Gen. xxxv. 20. Tliat 
 called the tomb of Rachel, near Bethlehem, has no 
 just pretensions to such remote antiquity. 
 
 The reader will recollect the descri|)tive epithet of 
 Job, (chap. XXX. 23.) which, perhaps, may be thus un- 
 derstood : "in like innwier (that is, as the pillar of 
 sand is dissolved) thou will turn my face, or direct my 
 passage toward death ; and toivard the house ivhich has 
 long been, and ever is in continual preparation to re- 
 ceive all the livinsc" Exactly conformable is the 
 psalmist's idea : (v. 9.) "The throat of the wicked is 
 an open sepulchre," ever ready to devour ; constantly 
 gaping to receive all comers: and to this Jeremiah 
 very forcibly likens the quiver of the Chaldeans: "It 
 is an open sepulchre" — certain death ; insatiable ; 
 Bwallovving up all. Hell, the grave, and destruction, 
 are never full, (Pro v. xxvii. 20.) but keep continually 
 crying. Give, give, ch. xxx. 15, 16. 
 
 The representations which Le Bruyn has given of 
 some sepulchres, cut at considerable heights into the 
 rock, at Naxi Rustam, near Persepolis, in Persia, 
 shows that they must have been works of great labor 
 and expense, beyond the powei"s of ordinary persons, 
 and must have employed many lal)orers, anil for a 
 long time. Vain desire of somewhat permanent! 
 Vain solicitude for a kind of terrestrial, posthumous 
 immortality ! This gives a spirit to the expostulation 
 of the prophet Isaiah (chap. xxii. 1(5.) with Shebna 
 the treasurer: — "What hast thou here? what lasting 
 settlement dost thou expect? that thou hast hewn 
 thee out a sepulchre, here, like as one heweth out at 
 a great height his sepulchre ; that ciUteth out at a 
 great expense a habitation, for himself, after death, a 
 dwelling, a residence, iu the solid rock: it shall be 
 fruitless; for the Lord shall toss thee, as a ball, into a 
 large country, where thou shalt die," &c. It may be 
 thought, that Shebna had actually constructed a 
 magnificent monument, sibi et svis, as the Latins 
 speak : the contrast of such stability, with the roll- 
 ings of a ball into a far country, is very strong. That 
 Shebna meant to settle where he built his sepulchre; 
 that he connected the idea of security with it, is very 
 credible. Will this apply to the phraseology of Ba- 
 laam : (Numb. xxiv. 21.) "He said of the Kenites, 
 
 Strong is thy dwelling-place, where tliou passfst thy 
 liti; : and thou placest in a rock thy nest, wherein 
 thou dost projjose to abide after thy decease, thcit is, 
 thy sepulchre: notwithstanding this thou shalt be 
 tcasted," &c. It is by no means certain that this is 
 the true sense ; because, we often read ui Scripture 
 of inhabitants of rocks — nevertheless, this sense may 
 be included; especially when we consider the strong 
 affection of the orientals toward the places of sepul- 
 ture appropriated to their families. (See 2 Sam. xix. 
 33 ; Neh. ii. 3.) 
 
 From the general constructions of these sepulchres, 
 we see the propriety of Scripture allusions to their 
 various paits ; as to the gates of hell — of hades, the 
 unseen world ; the lotvest hell — hades, &c. We see 
 also the attention bestowed on his sepulchre bj' the 
 party himself, while living. It is very probable that 
 sepulchres in gardens were generally cut into rocks ; 
 not dug (like graves) in the earth, but into the heart 
 of a rock; hence Samuel was buried 'in his own 
 house, that is, garden, probably, at Ramah, 1 Sam. 
 XXV. 1. Manasseh was buried in the garden of his 
 house, (2 Kings xxi. 18.) and (ver. 26.) Anion was 
 buried in the sepulchre in the garden of Uzzah. 
 Hence the sepulchre of Lazarus (John xi. 38.) is ex- 
 plained — distinguished — as being a cave ; a chamber 
 somewhat sunk into the ground ; and hence, we find, 
 Joseph of Arimathea had jirepared his se])u]chre iu 
 his garden, and had cut it into a rock ; chamber 
 within chaml)er, according to custom. See Bcrial. 
 
 It is customary, when a sepulchre is not in a garden, 
 to surround it witli fragrant herbs, flowers, &c. ; hence 
 the allusions to favorable situations for sepulchres, 
 "The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him." 
 
 If the reader will bear in mind these distinct kinds 
 of sepulchres, he will find many places in Scripture 
 become more intelligible by means of such discrimi- 
 nation, since what is descriptive of one kind, is inap- 
 plicable to others. 
 
 We find in Scripture various appellations given to 
 the sepulchre ; among others, that of the house ap- 
 pointed for all living — the long home of man — and the 
 everlasting habitation. These are capal)le of much 
 illustration from antiquity. The following are from 
 Montfaucon : " We observed, in the fifth volume of 
 our antiquity, a tomb, styled there, as here, Qitietori- 
 lun, a resting-place. There it is styled Clymenis 
 (^uietorium. (^uiescere, to rest, is often said of the 
 dead, in epitaphs. Thus we find, in an ancient 
 writer, a man speaking of his master, who had been 
 long dead and buried : Cujus ossa bene quicscant ! 
 May his bones rest iu peace ! We have an instance 
 of the like kind in an inscription in Gruter, (p. G96.) 
 and in another, (p. 954.) Fecit sibi reqxiietorium ; He 
 made himself a resting-place." (See Job iii, 13, 
 17, 18; xvii. 16.) " This resting-place is called fre- 
 quently, too, AN ETERNAL HOUSE. ' III Ms life-time 
 he built himself an eternal house,' says one epi- 
 taph, 'He made himself an eternal house with his 
 l)atrimony,' says another. ' He thought it better 
 (says another epita])h) to build himself an eternal 
 HOUSE, than to ilesire his heirs to do it ;' and another, 
 'He ])ut an inscri|)tion upon his eternal house,' 
 And another, ' He made a perpetual house for his 
 good and amiable companion.' They thought it a 
 misfortune, when the bones and ashes of the dead 
 were removed from their place, as imagining the 
 dead suffered something by the removal of their 
 bones. This notion occasioned all those precautious 
 used for the safety of their tombs, and the curses 
 they laid on those who removed them."
 
 SER 
 
 836 ] 
 
 SERPENT 
 
 This may be further illustrated by reference to 
 those inscriptions on the tombs at Palmyra, which 
 have been explained by Mr. Swinton ; (Phil. Ti-ans. 
 vol. liii. p. 276, &c.) and it is important to remark, 
 that the Palmyrenians w^ere so strongly assimilated 
 to the Jewish nation, as to be all but Jews in many 
 of their peculiarities, as they really were Jews in 
 some of them. 
 
 Solomon (Eccl. xii. 5.) calls the tomb {ch^' r o, beth 
 olam) the house of ages, or of long duration ; and Mr. 
 Swinton reads the beginning of a Punic inscription, 
 found in the island of Malta, thus: {—hy nD mn, heder 
 heth olam) the chamber of long home. [This] " cham- 
 ber of the house of ages [or the long home] is the sepul- 
 chre of an upright man deposited [here] in a most sound 
 sleep. — The people, having a great affection for him, 
 were vastly concerned ivhen Hannibal, the son of Bar- 
 melec, was interred.''^ This is the very expression of 
 Solomon, and justifies the sense of the words, as used 
 in our version. It is worthy of observation, too, that 
 the figure to denote death is — a deep sleep ; a sound 
 sleep. In this sense our Lord spake, " Our friend 
 Lazarus sleepeth ; I go to awake him out of sleep (and 
 this gives the spirit of the disciples' answer, " Lord, 
 if he sleep, he shall do well ;" sound sleep being a fa- 
 vorable symptom in sick persons.) "The maid is 
 not dead, but sleepeth," &c. The word sleep, we 
 snp[)ose, was capable of so much ambiguity, as not 
 instantly, or infallibly, to strike our Lord's hearers in 
 the sense he intended by it. 
 
 The sepulchre, or tomb, of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 was on mount Calvary, north-^yest of Jerusalem, and 
 was, as already observed, hewn out of a rock, John 
 xix. 41. What is now shown for it, is a kind of 
 small chamber, the interior of which is almost square ; 
 its height from bottom to top is eight feet one inch, 
 its length six feet one inch, and its breadth fifteen 
 feet ten inches. The entrance, which looks towards 
 the east, is but four feet high, and two feet four 
 inches wide. The place where the body of our 
 Saviour is said to have been laid, takes up one side 
 of this cave ; it is raised from the ground to the 
 height of two feet four inches ; its length is five feet 
 eleven inches, and its breadth two feet eight inches, 
 placed lengthwise fi-om east to west, and is incrusted 
 with white marble. Dr. Clarke has contested the 
 location of our Lord's sepulchre in this place, but his 
 objections have been replied to in the ai-ticle Cal- 
 vary. 
 
 I. SERAIAH, a scribe, i. e. secretary of state, or 
 register, to David, 2 Sam. viii. 17. 
 
 II. SERAIAH, father of Ezra, Ezra vii. 1. Several 
 other persons of this name occur. 
 
 SERAPHIM denotes a kind of angels, which en- 
 circle the throne of the Lord. Those described by 
 Isaiah (ch. vi. 2.) had each six wings ; with two of 
 which he covered his face, with two his feet, and 
 with the two others flew. They cried to one another, 
 and said, " Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts! 
 the whole earth is full of his glory ! " 
 
 SERGEANTS, (Acts xvi. 35 ) properly Roman 
 lictors, public servants wlio bore a bmidle of rods 
 before the magistrates of cities and colonies as insig- 
 nia of their office, and who executed the sentences 
 which they pronounced. (See Adam's Rom. Antiq. 
 p. 178.) R. 
 
 SERGIUS PAULUS, proconsul or governor of 
 the isle of Cyprus, was converted by the ministry of 
 Paul, A, D. 44, or 45, Acts xiii. 7. 
 
 SERPENT. The craft and subtlety of this reptile 
 are frequently dwelt on in tlu- sacred writings, ns 
 
 qualities by which it is eminently distinguished. 
 Moses says it was more subtle than any beast of the 
 field which the Lord God had made ; (Gen. iii. 1.) 
 and our Saviour points to its wisdom as furnishing a 
 model for imitation to his disciples. Matt. x. 16. We 
 may enumerate seven kinds of serpents as known to 
 the Hebrews, as follow : (1.) Epheh, ryyoti, the viper, 
 Isa. lix. 5. (2.) AcsHUB, 31C3}', the adder, Ps. cxl. 3. 
 (3.) Pethen, pd, the adder, Ps. Iviii. 4. (4.) Tzepha, 
 }'DX, or ijjiijx, TzEPHONi, not the fabulous cockatrice, 
 but a common serpent, Isa. xi. 8. (5.) Kippos, nsp, 
 according to Bochart, tho Acontias, or dart-snake, 
 Isa. xxxiv. 15. (6.) Shephiphon, )ui;c', the Ce- 
 rastes, Gen. xlix. 17. (7.) The Saraph, t^nr, a flying 
 serpent. Numb. xxi. 8. 
 
 Som.e of these Mr. Taylor has illustrated ; the 
 others continue obscure. 
 
 (1.) The Epheh, of the Hebrews, he takes to be the 
 El Effah of the Arabs ; of which Mr. Jackson ob- 
 serves, in his account of Marocco, " It is the name of 
 a serpent remarkable for its quick and penetrating 
 poison ; it is about two feet long, and as thick as a 
 man's arm, beautifully spotted with yellow and 
 brown, and sprinkled over with blackish s{)ecks, 
 similar to the horn-nosed snake. They have a wide 
 mouth, by which they inhale a great quantity of air, 
 and when inflated therewith, they eject it with such 
 force as to be heard at a considerable distance. 
 These mortal enemies to mankind are collected by 
 the Aisawie [serpent- conjurers] in a desert of Suse, 
 where their holes ai-e so numerous, that it is difficult 
 for a horse to pass over it without stumbling." 
 
 (2.) The Pethen is in all probability the Bagtasn of 
 the Arabs : it is described by M. Forskal as being 
 "wholly spotted (in blotches) black and white. A 
 foot in length ; nearly two inches thick ; oviparous. 
 Its bite is instant death ; the body of the wounded 
 person swells greatly." See Asp. 
 
 Having suggested the idea that this Beetcen is the 
 Peten of the Hebrew Scriptures, 3Tr. Taylor sug- 
 gests that it may be strongly related to, if not a 
 variety of, the Coluber Lebttinus of Linnaeus ; and 
 under that persuasion, he extracts first M. Forskal's 
 description of this serpent, and then adds something 
 from Hasselquist. Linnaeus was the first naturalist 
 who mentioned it. The length of its body less than 
 a cubit ; its tail four inches ; toward the neck thinner, 
 an inch and a half thick. Head broad, depressed, 
 subcordated. Scales of the back obtuse-oval, flat, a 
 ridge rising in the middle, carinated. Back rising in 
 dos d''ane [not round.] Color, upper part gray, or 
 dinarily four transverse bands, alternately crossing. 
 The middle of them verging to yellow, but the sides 
 to deep brown, or black. Underneath whitish, and 
 closely spotted with black dots. Scida abdom. 152. 
 Squamae caud. 43.'" "Obs. Its bite produces lethar- 
 gy, is fatal and incurable. Two of these serpents 
 were sent me from Cyprus, by my friend Petr. Sjelvi, 
 interpreter to the French embassy at Cairo. The 
 species is not [but] small : is it therefore the Jlspic of 
 the ancients ? so it is now called by the literati of 
 Cyprus ; but the common people call it Kii/i, {yov(p};,) 
 deaf" (Forskal.) Hasselquist says, "I saw two 
 kinds of \ipers at Cyprus, one called ^spic, of which 
 it is said, (1.) that it contains a venom so penetrating 
 as to produce a universal gangrene, of which a man 
 djes in a few hours ; (2.) that the better to catch his 
 ])rev, it tal<es the color of the ground on wliich it 
 lies! They said of the other, (1.) that it has a great 
 antipathy to the former, and destroys it ; (2.) that 
 they eat one another; (3.) that they feed on larks,
 
 SERPENT 
 
 [ 837 
 
 ?ERPENT 
 
 sparrows, &c. of which I myself am wiuiess." These 
 serpents, Mr. Taylor thinks, are not unlike in size to 
 the Beeteen ; one is a foot in length, the other is under 
 eighteen inches ; one is nearly two inches thick, the 
 other, where narrow, one and a half. One is spotted, 
 black and white, the other is gray, black and white 
 in bands. Both are fatal. The gangrene follows 
 their venom, as in other serpents. The epithet deaf is 
 observable ; for in Ps. Iviii. 4, deafness is ascribed to 
 the Peten. It is also mentioned in Job xx. 14. 
 
 (3.) The Sdraph, or flying ser|)enl, derives its name 
 from a root which signifies to bum, either on account 
 of its vivid fiery color, or from the heat and burning 
 pain occasioned by its bite. In Numb. xxi. 6, &c. 
 we read that these venomous creatures were employ- 
 ed by God to chastise the unbelieving and rebellious 
 Israelites, in consequence of which many of them 
 died, the rest being saved from the eftects of the 
 calamitous visitation, through the appointed medium 
 of the brazen serpent, which Moses was enjoined to 
 raise upon a pole in the midst of the camp, and which 
 was a striking type of the promised Saviour, John 
 iii. 14, 15. In Isa. xiv. 29, and ciiap. xxx. 6, the 
 same word, with an additional epithet, is used, and 
 is translated in our Bible " fiery flying serpents ; " 
 and if we may rely on the testimony of the ancients 
 a cloud of witnesses may be produced, who speak 
 of these flying or winged ser()ents, altlaough we do 
 not find that any of them affirm they actually saw 
 such alive and flying. Miciiaelis, however, was so 
 far influenced by these testimonies, that in his eighty- 
 third question, he recommends it to travellers to in- 
 quire after the existence and nature of flying ser- 
 pents. In conformity with these instructions, Nie- 
 buhr communicated the following information : (Pe- 
 scription de I'Arabie, p. 186.) "There is at Bakra a 
 sort of serpents which they call Heic sursiirie, or 
 Heie thidre. They commonly keep upon the date- 
 trees ; and, as it would be laborious for them to come 
 down from a very high tree in order to ascend 
 another, they twist themselves by the tail to a branch 
 of the former, which, making a spring by the motion 
 they give it, throw themselves to the second. Hcn(ie 
 it is that the modern Arabs call them flying serpents, 
 Heie thidre. I know not whether the ancient Arabs 
 of whom Michaelis speaks in his eighty-third ques- 
 tion, saw any other flying serpents." Niebuhr refers 
 also to lord Anson's report of flying serpents in the 
 island of Quibo. The passage is as follows: "The 
 Spaniards, too, informed us, that there was often 
 •foimd in the woods a most mischievous serpent, called 
 the flying snake, which, they said, darted itself from 
 the boughs of trees on either man or beast that came 
 within its reach, and whose sting they took to be in- 
 evitable death." (Voyage, by Walter, p. 308. Bvo. 
 1748.) After citing these passages, we may conclude 
 that the sdraph meopheph mentioned in the passages 
 we have referred to, was of that species of serpent, 
 which, from their swift darting motion, the Greeks 
 called Acontias, and the Romans Jacidus ; and to 
 these the term meopheph seems as properly applica- 
 ble in Hebrew, as Volucer, which Lucan applies to 
 them in Latin, Jaculique volucres. 
 
 (4.) The Cerastes, or Horned Viper, is among the 
 most deadly of the serpent tribe, and is tlistinguished 
 by the peculiarity of its horns. It is numerous in 
 Egypt and Syria, so that it could not escape the 
 notice and allusions of the sacred writei-s. Mr. Bruce 
 has published a figure of this serpent, with a consid- 
 erable account of its manners, part of which we shall 
 fxtract. He savs "There is no article of natural 
 
 history the ancients have dwelt on more than that 
 of the viper, whether poets, physicians, or historians. 
 All have enlarged on the particular sizes, colors, and 
 qualities, yet the knowledge of their manners is but 
 little extended. 
 
 " I have travelled across the Cyrenaicum in all di- 
 rections, and never saw but one species of viper, 
 which was the Cerastes, or Horned Viper ; neither 
 did I ever see any of the snake kind that could be 
 
 mistaken for the viper One name under which the 
 
 Cerastes goes, is equivocal, and has been misunder- 
 stood in Scripture ; that is, tseboa, which name is 
 given it in Hebrew from its different colors and spots. 
 And hence the Greeks have called it by the name of 
 hytena, because it is of the same reddish color, mark- 
 ed with black spots, as that quadruped is. And the 
 same fable is applied to the serpent and the quadru- 
 ped, that they change their sex yearly The 
 
 Cerastes hides itself all day m holes in the sand, 
 where it lives in contiguous and similar houses to 
 those of the jerboa ; and I have already said, that I 
 never but once found any animal in this viper's belly 
 but one jerboa in a gravid female Cerastes. 
 
 " The Cerastes moves with great rapidity, and in 
 all directions, fbrwai'ds, backwards and sideways. 
 When he inclines to surprise any one who is too far 
 from him, he creeps with his side towards the per- 
 son, and his head averted, till, judging his distance, 
 ho turns roiuid, springs upon him, and fastens upon 
 the part next to him ; for it is not true what is said, 
 that the Cerastes does not leap or spring. I saw one 
 of them at Cairo, in the house of Julian and Rosa, 
 crawl up the side of a box, in which there were 
 many, and there lie still as if hiding himself, till one 
 of the people who brought them to us came near 
 him, and, though in a very disadvantageous posture, 
 sticking, as it were, perpendicular to the side of 
 the box, he leaped near the distance of three feet, and 
 fastened between the man's fore finger and thumb, 
 so as to bring the blood. 
 
 "Of the incantation of serpents, there is no doubt 
 of its reality. The Scriptures are full of it. All that 
 have been in Egypt have seen as many different in- 
 stances as they chose. Some have doubted that it 
 was a trick, and that the animals so handled had 
 been trained, and then disarmed of their power of 
 hurting ; and, fond of the discovery, they have rested 
 themselves upon it, without experiment, in the face 
 of all antiquity. But I will not hesitate to aver, that 
 I have seen at Cairo (and this may be seen daily 
 without trouble or expense) a man who came from 
 above the catacombs, wiiere the pits of the mummy- 
 birds are kept, who has taken a Cerastes with his 
 naked hand from a number of others lying at the 
 bottom of the tub, has i)ut it upon his bare head, 
 covered it with the common red cap he wears, then 
 taking it out, put it in his breast, and tied it about his 
 neck like a necklace ; after which it has been applied 
 to a hen, and bit it, which has died in a few minutes ; 
 and, to complete the experiment, the man has taken 
 it by the neck, and beginning at its tail, has ate it as 
 one would do a carrot or a stock of celery, without 
 
 any seeming repugnance lean myself vouch, 
 
 that all the black people in the kingdom of Sennaar, 
 whether Funge or Nuba, are perfectly armed against 
 the bite of either scoqiion or viper. They take the 
 Cerastes in their hand at all times, put them in their 
 bosoms, and throw them to one another, as childreo 
 do apples or balls, without having irritated them by 
 this ustige so much as to bite." See Inchantments. 
 
 The Cerastes is well known under the name of
 
 SERPENT 
 
 [ 838 ] 
 
 SERPENT 
 
 *' Horned Viper," and is distinguished by two small 
 honis, one over each eye. It was adopted as a hiero- 
 glyphic among the Egyptians, and appears not only 
 on obelisks, columns ot" temples, statues, and walls 
 of palaces, hut on mummies also. 
 
 The Cerastes have always been considered as ex- 
 tremely cunning, both in escaping their enemies, and 
 in seizing their prey ; they have been named insidious; 
 and it is reported of them that they hide themselves 
 in holds adjacent to the highways, and in the ruts of 
 wheels, in order more suddenly to spring upon pas- 
 sengers. 
 
 Calmet, as we have seen, thinks the Shephiph6n,to 
 which the tribe of Dan is compared, (Gen. \l'\x. 17.) 
 might be the Cerastes ; and it is so rendered by the 
 Vulgate. Michaelis observes, that this serpent is 
 called by the orientals, " the lier m ambush.''' Pliny 
 says, that "the Cerastes hides its whole body in the 
 sand, leaving only its horns exposed ; which attract 
 birds, who su[)pose them to be grains of barley, till 
 they are undeceived, too late, by the darling of the 
 serpent upon them." 
 
 Michaelis, however, finds a difficulty in the mode 
 of attack used by the Hebrew Shephiphun on " the 
 heels of a horse, so as to make his rider fall back- 
 ward." He supposes that the phrase restrictively 
 means, that the horse throws the rider off behind him ; 
 and says, "I should be curious to know how that is 
 accomplished. Connnentators commonlv say, be- 
 cause the horse rears up when wounded in the heel. 
 Perhaps they are bad horsemen. In such circum- 
 stances, a horse would kick rather than rear up on 
 his hind legs ; and the rider would be thrown over 
 his neck, rather than over the crupper." Mr. Taylor 
 admits the force of this observation, and therefoi-e 
 doubts whether the word rendered backward should 
 be restrictively so taken. He proposes to explain the 
 phrase by supposing, that when the Cerastes bites 
 the horse in one of his legs, the horse kicking out 
 that leg, and his rider perceiving the cause, would, to 
 avoid the serpent, throw himself off on the further 
 side of the horse from where the serpent was ; and 
 this, he thinks, sufficiently meets the meaning of the 
 Hebrew word. 
 
 There is another circumstance in which Dan 
 probably resembled the Cerastes — that of feeding full, 
 and then sinking into torpidity. The inducements 
 held out by the spies of the Danites, (Judg. xviii. 9, 
 10.) are precisely adapted to a tribe ofthis character ; 
 and the end of this chapter informs us, that they set 
 up the graven image, had their priests, and here they 
 remained, "till the day of the captivity of llie land," 
 that is, distant from interference with the general 
 affairs of Israel, and determinately settled, aj)art 
 from their brethren. (Sec vei-ses 7, 28.) 
 
 For an account of the other serpents enume- 
 rated above, the reader is referred to the respective 
 articles. 
 
 Interpreters have largely speculated concerning 
 the nature of that serpent which tem])ted Eve. Some 
 have thought, that serpents originally had feet and 
 speech ; but there is no probability that this creature 
 was ever otherwise than it now is. Besides, it can- 
 not be doubted, but that l)y the serpi-nt, (ATachash,) 
 we are to understand tlie devil, who merely employed 
 the serpent as a vehicle to seduce the first woman. 
 Gen. iii. 1.3. (See Balaam.) In the curse of God 
 on the serpent, he told him that the seed of the 
 woman should bruise his head ; {Rosh ;) because, the 
 serpent having his heart und^r his throat, the readi- 
 est way to kill hira is m crush or cut off his head. 
 
 Another part of the curse was, that it should feed on 
 dust. Gen. iii. 14. Isaiah also says, (Ixv. 15.) "Dust 
 shall be the serpent's meat." And Micah, (vii. 37.) 
 " They shall hck the dust like a serpent." It is true, 
 that se'rpents eat flesh, birds, frogs, fish, fruits, grass, 
 &.C. But as they continually creep on the earth, it 
 is impossible butthat their food must often bedefilcd 
 with dust and dirt. Some may really eat earth, out 
 of necessity ; or earth-worms, which they cannot 
 swallow- without much dirt. 
 
 The worship of the serpent is observable through 
 all pagan antiquity. The Babylonians, in Daniel's 
 time, worshipped a dragon, which was demolished 
 by this prophet. It is Avell known that worship was 
 paid to the serpent at Epidaurus; also the manner 
 in which they pretended he was brought to Rome. 
 The Egyptians sometimes represented their gods 
 with the bodies of serpents; and they i)aid an idola- 
 trous worship to those odious and dangerous crea- 
 tures, which they called their good geniuses. They 
 regarded them as symbols of medicine, of the sun, of 
 x\pollo. They were committed to the charge of 
 Ceres and Proserpine ; and Herodotus says that in 
 his time, near Thebes, were to be seen tame ser- 
 pents, consecrated to Jupiter, 
 
 One would have supposed, says Mr. Taylor, re- 
 marking uj)on this custom, that the entire brood of 
 the serpent would have been execrated, and abhorred 
 by all mankind ; and that the mere proposal to wor- 
 ship this re])tile would have raised the detestation of 
 the whole human race ; but fact justifies us in saying, 
 that no kind of worship has been more popular. 
 How can this be accounted for ? This he proceeds 
 to investigate, by considering, (1.) The serpent as 
 denoting or producing evil : (2.) The serpent as de- 
 noting or producing good ; which, contradictory as 
 it may appear, yet is founded on fact. (3.) The ser- 
 pent as denoting a faujily or nation ; and, (4.) The 
 serpent as denoting a behig of supernatural powers. 
 
 That the serpent tribe, from possessing the most 
 active powers of destruction, has been considered as 
 a source of evil, or as producing calamitj', is well 
 known. In India the destroying power, or death, is 
 signified by the serpent. In classic antiquity, the 
 giants who attemjited to scale heaven are figured as 
 half serpents; and in the northern mytholog}-, Lolc, 
 the genius of evil, is styled " the father of the great 
 serpent: the father of death ; the adversary, the ac- 
 cuser ; the deceiver of the gods," &c. (Northern 
 Antiq. vol. ii. p. 190.) The coincidence of these 
 titles with those of the Satan of Scripture is very 
 striking. Scripture descriptions of the serpent are 
 notoriously applicable to a j^roducer of evil. 
 
 On the other hand, the serpent has always been 
 admired for its motion ; jjossessing neither hands 
 nor feet, nor other exterior members adapted for 
 making progress, its action is nevertheless agile, 
 speedy, and even ra|)id ; it springs, leaps, and bounds, 
 or climbs and glides, not merely with ease, but with 
 alacrity. Solomon observes this, in Prov. xxx. 19, 
 and others have equally remarked it as exciting sur- 
 prise and wonder. The ser})ent, also, sheds its skin 
 yearly, and after this mutation seems, by the splen- 
 dor of its colors, and the vivacity of its motions, to 
 have acquired new life. 
 
 The serpent is still domesticated in many of the 
 dwellings of the natives of Eastern India ; and the 
 ladies of Western Africa carry him in their bosoms. 
 It is true, the serpent tribe divides into those which 
 are haiTnless, and those Avhich are malignant; but 
 the malignant in India, at least, enjoy eaual orivi
 
 SER 
 
 [ 839 ] 
 
 »HA 
 
 leges \vith the harmless, Pausanias says, "All the 
 dragons, [large serpents,] and particularly that spe- 
 cies vviiich is of the clearest yellow, are esteemed 
 sacred to Esciilapins, and are familiar with mankind." 
 (Lib. ii. cap. 23.) Pliny also speaks of the Esculapian 
 snake, which is commonly fed, and resident in 
 houses, (S:c. (Lib. x.xix. ca[). 4.) Escnlapiiis was 
 adored in Epid'iurus under the form of a serpent ; 
 under which form he is said to have been brought to 
 Rome, A. U. 4()3. Tiie Egy|)tians, as ^ve have said, 
 had a small serpent which they called Agathodemon, 
 that is, "good genius;" and Eusebius says the same 
 of the Phoenicians. 
 
 From these and many other instances which might 
 be referred to, it is evident that the serpent has been 
 acknowledged under the contradictory cliaracters of 
 a promoter of good, and a promoter of evil ; and has 
 also been regarded as belonging to a rank of beings 
 superior to man. 
 
 That Scriptiue usually presents the serpent under 
 au evil designation is admitted ; but possibly those 
 embarrassments which have arisen from the history 
 of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, might be 
 removed, by accepting the benevolent character of 
 the serpent. Why must his malignatit powers be 
 presented to us, wlien considering this instance of 
 sanative virtue ? Why slioukl Israel be {trohibited 
 from considering him (symbolically) in the same light 
 as other nations then and afterwards did? Why 
 should he not be saviour to them, on this occasion, 
 (symbolically,) as well as to Gentiles? Why may 
 not Moses adopt the favorable notion of this rejjtile, 
 as well as the unfavorable ? Difl not all antiquity do 
 the same ? And if all antiquity did so, why should 
 we be startled at it here ? We know well, that when 
 pressed, by enemies to revelation, to explain how the 
 serpent, the very essence of evil, coidd, on this occa- 
 sion, be connected with the idea of restoration, 
 Christian divines have given various answers, on 
 other principles ; all of which may be proper ; nor 
 are they superseded by this favorable reference of 
 the symbol. If this be admitted, then we may dis- 
 cern, as Mr. Taylor observes, greater propriety in 
 our Lord's allusion to this histoiy than we have pre- 
 viously been aware of. " As Moses lifted up the ser- 
 pent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man 
 be lifted up,"— add, "And I, if I be lifted up, will 
 drav/ ALL men to me " — meaning, " They shall look 
 unto ME, and be saved, even all the ends of the earth." 
 Not merely the Jewish nation, to whom, in one in- 
 stance, a symbolic serpent proved salutary, but the 
 Gentiles also ; all men ; those who have been used 
 to consider the serpent as a good genius, who have 
 adopted it as their ensign and distinction, they shall 
 in future " look to jie and be saved." 
 
 SERUG, the son of Reu, and father of Nahor, 
 Gen. xi. 20—2:3. 
 
 SERVANT. This word, in Scripture, generally 
 signifies a slave ; because, among the Hebrews, and 
 the neighboring nations, the greater part of the ser- 
 vants were such, belonging absolutely to their mas- 
 ters, who had a right to dispose of their persons, 
 goods, and, in some cases, even of tht;ir lives. See 
 Slave. 
 
 Sometimes, however, the word merely denotes a 
 man who voluntarily dedicates himself to the service 
 of another. Thus, Joshua was the servant of Moses, 
 Elisha of Elijah, Geliazi of Elisha, and Peter, 
 Andrew, Philip, &c. were servants of Jesus Ciu-ist. 
 Tlie servants of Pharaoh, of Saul, and of David, were 
 their subjects in general ; and theii" domestics in par- 
 
 ticular. So the Philistines, Syrians, and other nations 
 were servants of David ; i. e. they obeyed and paid 
 him tribute. 
 
 The servants of God are those who are devoted to 
 his service, and obey his written word. 
 
 SETH, a son of Adam and Eve, was born A. M. 
 130, (Gen. v. 3, 6, 10, 11.) and at the age of 125 begat 
 Enos. He died A. M. 1042, and was the chief of 
 " the children of God," (Gen. vi. 2.) who preserved 
 the true religion and piety, which the descendants of 
 Cain had abandoned. 
 
 SEVEN. As from the beginning this was the 
 number of days in the week, so it has ever in Scrip- 
 ture a sort of emphasis attached to it, and is very 
 often and generally used as a round number, or, as 
 some would say, a perfect number. Clean beasts were 
 taken into the ark by sevens, Gen. vii. The years of 
 plenty and famine in Egypt were marked by sevens, 
 Gen. xli. With the Jews, not only was there a seventh 
 day sabbath, but every seventh year was a sabbath, and 
 every seven times seventh year was a jubilee. Their 
 great feasts of unleavened bread and of tabernacles, 
 were observed for sere?! days ; the number of animals 
 in many of their sacrifices was limited to serejj. Tlie 
 golden candlestick had sere?i branches. Seven priests 
 with seven trumpets went aronnd the walls of Jericho 
 seven days ; and sei'e?i times seven on the seventh day. 
 In the Apocalypse we find seven churches addressed ; 
 seveti candlesticks, seven spirits, sei'e?i stars, seven 
 seals, seven trumpets, sei;e« thunders, seven vials, 
 seven plagues, and seven angels to jjour them out. 
 
 Seven is often put for any round or whole number, 
 just as we use ten, or a dozeri. (So in 3Iatt. xii. 45 ; 
 1 Sam. ii. 5; Job v. 19; Prov. xxvi. Ki, 25; Isa. iv. 
 1 ; Jer. xv. 9.) In like manner seven times or sei'cn 
 fold means q/7e?7, abundantly, completely, Gen. iv. 15, 
 24 ; Lev. xxvi. 24 ; Ps. xii. (J ; Ixxix. 12 ; Matt, xviii. 
 21. And seventy times seven is still a higher super- 
 lative, Matt, xviii. 22. *R. 
 
 SHAALABBIN, or Shaalbim, a city of Dan, 
 (Josh. xix. 42.) adjoining to Ajalon and Heres, (Judg. 
 i.35.) and near the cities of Makas and Bethshemesh. 
 
 SHAARAIM, a city of Simeon, (1 Chron. iv. 31.) 
 apparently the Sharaim of Judah, (Jcsh. xv. 36.) 
 which was transferred to Simeon. 
 
 SHADDAI, one of the Hebrew names of God, 
 which the LXX and Jerome generally translate 
 Almighty. Job more frequendy uses it than any 
 other of" the sacred writers. It is sometimes joined 
 with El, which is another name of God, El-Shaddai, 
 God-Almighty, Gen. xvii. 1. 
 
 Shaddai has been derived from the Arabic n-ic, to 
 ascend, or sit in the highest place ; and in this view it 
 is synonymous with (ir'^y) Most High, h has also 
 been derived fi-om nr, to be strong, to prevail ; which 
 sense the Vulgate and our translators give. Gen. 
 xvii. 1. Others derive it from '-xl-, he that is siiffi- 
 cient, all-bountiful, or all-siifficient. These derivations 
 are far more suitable than that from i-c, to desd'oy, 
 which Calmet adoi)ts. But it seems the most natural 
 to take the word ^-lu• as the /)/i'?-a/is excellentice, of the 
 singular form -;•, mighty; cognate with the Arabic 
 shadid, •^^-<z; mighty, violent. 
 
 SHADOW, the privation of light by an object in- 
 terjiosed between a limiinary and the surface on 
 which the shadow appears. But it is credible that 
 what we call spots in the sun arc alluded to in 1 
 John i. 5, under the term shadows, or darkness ;such 
 defects, says the apostle, may be in the sun, but there 
 are none in God. A shadow, falling on a plane, fol- 
 lows the course of the body which causes it • hence
 
 3HA 
 
 [ 840 ] 
 
 3HA 
 
 it is often extremely swift, as that of a bird flying, 
 which very rapidly, indeed instantly, appears, and 
 disappears from observation ; human life is compared 
 to this, 1 Cor. xxix. 15. 
 
 As the shadow of a man, &c. when it falls on the 
 ground, is of different lengths at different times of 
 the day, and as the time of the day was originally 
 estimated by this, the first sun-dial, so it is very natu- 
 ral that the hireling, who wished his day of labor 
 ended, should desire the shadow, (Job vii. 2.) mean- 
 ing the long shadow falling on the ground, and issu- 
 ing in the shadow of night itself. Indeed, it seems 
 to have been customaiy in later ages, to estimate the 
 time of the day by the length of the shadow; so we 
 have in Aristophanes, Concion : " When the letter 
 of the alphabet denoted the shadow to be ten feet 
 long, it was time to think of dressing and going to 
 supper," that is, the sun began to grow low ; for 
 twelve feet was the full length of the shadow. (Conip. 
 Ps. cii. 11; Jer. vi. 4.) 
 
 An Arab, when relating the history of his day's 
 march, says, " We started at day-break, we rested at 
 noon near the water, we set out again, when a man's 
 shadow was equal to his length, and after sunset we 
 alighted and slept, in such or such a place." This is 
 still the eastern phraseolgy, as remarked by Burck- 
 hardt, Trav. vol. i. p. 480. 
 
 Shadow is also taken for unsubstantial ; so Job 
 says, " My members are a shadow ; " (xvii. 7.) that is, 
 they are diminished to a total, or comparative, priva- 
 tion of substance. Hence, tbe Mosaic economy is 
 called a shadow, a very obscure representation of 
 things, which in the gospel are clearly revealed. But 
 it is thought that this word (Heb. x. 1.) alludes to 
 the sketch of an artist or painter, who first forms 
 (with chalk) on his canvass, the rude outlines of his 
 subject, a just visible, rough, merely indicative repre- 
 sentation of what is to be afterwards finished correct- 
 ly and carefully. To this is strongly opposed the 
 complete image, the beautiful statue exhibited in the 
 gospel ; yet this statue, be it remembered, is not liv- 
 ing, not animated; the full perfection of life, morion, 
 sensibility and happiness is reserved for the world 
 of bliss and glory, the celestial state. 
 
 Shadow is taken for the obscurity of night, for the 
 total absence of light in a night of clouds; and hence 
 "the shadow of death," intense darkness ; to which 
 add, the horror which naturally attends the tomb, 
 and the unexplored regions of death ; the valley of 
 the shadow of death ; gloom and dismal terrors, ter- 
 rors fatal and perpetual. 
 
 Shadow is also taken in a sense directly contrary 
 to this, because in countries near the tropics, every 
 spot exposed to the burning heat of the sun is dan- 
 gerous to health, therefore nothing is more accepta- 
 ble than shade, nothing more refreshing, or more 
 salutary ; hence the shadow of a great rock is desira- 
 ble in a land of weariness ; (Isa. xxxii. 2.) hence 
 shadow signifies protection; (Isa. xxx. 2; Dan. iv. 
 12 ; Hos. iv. 13.) hence the shadow of wings in a 
 bird is protection also, and hence the shadow, that is, 
 protection of God, Ps. xvii. 8 ; Ixiii. 7 ; xci. 1 ; Isa. 
 xlix. 2. Perhaps the word shade, however, might in 
 these places be preferable to shadow, and would pre- 
 serve a distinction. 
 
 SHADRACII, the Chaldean name given to Ana- 
 nias, a companion of Daniel, at the court of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, Dan. i. 7. See Ananias. 
 
 SHALISHA, or Baal-Shalisa, is mentioned in 
 1 Sam. ix. 4, and Baal-shalisha, 2 Kings iv. 42. It 
 was fifteen miles from Diospolis, in the canton 
 
 Thamnitica, north of Jerusalem. See Baax-Sha- 
 
 LISHA. 
 
 I. SHALLUM of Naphtali, chief of the family, 
 Numb. xxvi. 49. 
 
 II. SHALLUM, son of Jabesh, or a native of Ja- 
 besh, who treacherously killed Zechariah, king of 
 Israel, and usurped his kingdom. He held it only 
 one month, when Menahem, son of Gadi, killed him 
 in Samaria. Scripture says, that Shallum was the 
 executioner of the threatenings of the Lord, against 
 the house of Jehu, 2 Kings xv. 10. A. M. 3232. 
 
 III. SHALLUM, son of Tikvah, or Tickvath, or 
 native of Tickvah, husband of the prophetess Hul- 
 dah, who lived under Josiah, king of Judah, 2 Kings 
 xxii. 14. 
 
 IV. SHALLUM, fourth son of Josiah, king of 
 Judah, (1 Chron. iii. 15 ; Jer. xxii. 11.) and the same 
 as Jehoahaz, was made king after the death of Josiah. 
 The kiiig of Egypt carried him prisoner into Egypt, 
 2 Kings xxiii. 30, 31, 34. See Jehoahaz. 
 
 V. SHALLUM, son of the high-priest Zadok, and 
 uncle of Hilkiah the high-priest, 1 Chron. vi. 12, 13. 
 He is called Meshallum in 1 Chron. ix. 11. He lived 
 in the time of Hezekiah or of Ahaz. He seems to 
 be the Salom of Baruch i. 7. 
 
 VI. SHALLUM, son of Korah, 1 Chron. ix. 19, 
 31. He was spared in the desert, when the earth 
 opened and swallowed up his father, Numb. xvi. 31. 
 His descendants had an office in the temple, to take 
 care of the cakes that were fried there. — There are 
 several other persons of the same name mentioned in 
 the Old Testament ; but nothing is known of them. 
 
 SHALMANESER, king of Assyria, succeeded 
 Tiglath-pileser, and had Sennacherib for his successor. 
 He ascended the throne A.M. 3276, reigned 14 vears, 
 and died A. M. 3290, 2 Kings xvii. 3. It is probable 
 that he is called Enemessar, in the Greek of Tobit, 
 (i. 2.) and Shalman, in Hosea x. 14. Scripture re- 
 ports that he came into Palestine, subdued Samaria, 
 and obliged Hoshea, son of Elah, to pay him tribute ; 
 but in the tliird year, being weary of this exaction, 
 Hoshea combined secretly with So, king of Egypt, 
 to remove the subjection. Shalmaneser brought an 
 army against him, ravaged Samaria, besieged Hoshea 
 in his captital; and notwithstanding his long resist- 
 ance three years, (2 Kings xvii. xviii. 9, 10.) he took 
 the citj', put Hoshea into bonds, and carried away 
 the people beyond the Euphrates. He thus ruined 
 the city and kingdom of Samaria, which had subsist- 
 ed 254 years, from A. M. 3030, to 3283. 
 
 Profane authors say, that this prince made war 
 against the Tyrians. That Eleleus, king of Tyre 
 seeing the Philistines were much weakened by their 
 war with Hezekiah, king of Judah, took this oppor- 
 tunity of recovering to his obedience the city of Gath, 
 which had revolted from him. The Gittites, fearing 
 the power of the king of Tyre, had recourse to Shal- 
 maneser, who marched with all his forrcs against the 
 Tyrians. At his approach, the city of Sidon, Akko, 
 afterwards Ptolemais, (now Acre,) and the other mar- 
 itime cities of Phcnicia, submitted to him. The 
 Tyrians, however, witli only twelve ships, having in 
 a sea-fight defeated the united fleet of tlie Assyrians 
 and Phenicians, acquired so great a rej)utation at sea, 
 and became so formidable, that Shalmaneser durst no 
 more engage them by sea. He withdrew, therefore, 
 into his own dominions, but left a great part of his 
 army to besiege Tyre. The besiegers made but a 
 slow progress, in consequence of the brave resistance 
 of the besieged. The troops of Shalmaneser stopped 
 up the aqueducts, and cut the pipes that brought the
 
 SHA 
 
 [ 841 ] 
 
 SHE 
 
 water into the city, which i-educed the Tyrians to 
 the last extremity, but they dug wells, juul by this 
 means held out five years longer. In the mean time, 
 Shalmane.ser dying, they were delivered from the 
 siege. Usher places this siege A. M. 3287. See As- 
 syria, p. 114. 
 
 SHAME, a bashfulness arising from a self-convic- 
 tion of guilt; an affliction of mind, occasioned by a 
 sense of impropriety, whether of conduct or of ap- 
 pearance. This is the natural conscfpience of proper 
 reflection on j)ast misconduct, behavior, or turpitude 
 of any kind. Shame in this sense is an expression 
 of uneasiness. Shame is also an expression of con- 
 temi)t from others, a charge of misconduct, of im- 
 propriety, trom some who endeavor to bring to shame, 
 to render ashamed, the subject of their charge, 
 whether such a charge be true or false. 
 
 Shame denotes an idol ; a thing which will make 
 ashamed those who trust in it ; and of which they 
 ought to be ashamed, even while they worship it. 
 For the import of that shame, see Baal-peor. 
 
 To uncover the shame, ignominy, or nakedness of 
 a person, are synonymous terms, Lev. xviii. 15, 17, 
 Sec. Isaiah (xx. 4.) threatens the Egyptians, that 
 they should be led away captive, without any thing 
 to cover their shame or nakedness. The golden 
 calf worshipped by the Israelites in the wilderness, 
 is called by Moses, (Exod. xxxii. 25.) a filthy shame, 
 an idol of dross and filth. Paul (Rom. i. 2C.) calls 
 shameful or vile affections, those ignominious and 
 bruitsh passions, which were indulged by the carnal 
 pagans. Prov. iii. 35, " Shame shall be the promo- 
 tion of fools ;" that is, their promotion shall be their 
 own shame, and the disgrace of those who jiromote 
 them. Prov. ix. 7, " He that reproveth a scorner, 
 getteth to himself shame ;" he loses his labor, and 
 shall only get discredit or calumny, abuse and dis- 
 grace, a retort neither courteous nor considerate. 
 Ps. Ixxxiii. 1(5, " Fill their faces with shame ;" re- 
 prove tiiem, O Lord, and then let them fall into dis- 
 grace. When the Syrians took king Joash captive, they 
 executed shameful judgments against him ; they 
 treated him shamefully, made him suffer corrections 
 that were shameful, not befitting the dignity of a 
 king, 2 Ciiron. xxiv. 24. 
 
 SHAIMGAR, son of Anath, the third judge of Is- 
 rael ; after Ehud, and before Barak, Judg. iii. 31. 
 Scripture only says that he defended Israel, and 
 killed six hundred Philistines with an ox goad. 
 From the peace obtained by Ehud, (A. IM. 2679,) 
 Vv'liom Shamgar succeeded, till the servitude under 
 the (^anaanites, A. M. 2(399, are twenty vears. 
 
 SHA:\niUTIl of Israh, a general of David and 
 Solomon, who commanded 24,000 men, 1 Chron. 
 xxvii. 8. 
 
 I. SHAMIR, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 48. Some 
 copies of the LXX read Saphir instead of Shamir. 
 
 II. SHAMIR, a city of Ejjhraim, in the mountains 
 of tiiis tribe, where dwelt Tola, judge of Israel, 
 Judg. X. 1. 
 
 S'lIAIMMAI, son of Rekem, and father of Maon, 
 (1 Cin-on. ii. 44.) a city of Araijia Petrea, near Beth- 
 shur, on the south of Judah. ' 
 
 SHAPHAN, son of Azaliah, secretary of the tem- 
 ple in the time of Josiah, 2 Kings xxii. 12 ; 2 Chron. 
 xxxiv. 20; Jer. xxix. 3; xxxvi. 1; Ezck. viii. 11. 
 Shaphau informed Josiah of the discovery of the 
 book of the law of the Lord in the temple. We find 
 several sons of Shaphan, viz. Ahikim, Elasa, Gama- 
 riah and Jezoniah ; but we cannot say they are all 
 Bons of the same Shaphan. 
 106 
 
 I. SHAPHAT, of Abel-meholah ; father of the 
 prophet Elisha, 1 Kings xix. IG; 2 Kings iii. 11. 
 
 II. SHAPHAT, son of Shemaiah, (1 Chron. iii. 
 22.) of the roval family of David, bv Jechoniah. 
 
 III. SHAPHAT, son of Adlai, who had the chief 
 care of David's cattle in Basan, 1 Chron. xxvii. 29. 
 
 SHAPHER, a mountain in the desert of Paran, 
 an encam])ment of Israel in the desert, between 
 Kehalathah and Haradah, Numb, xxxiii. 23. 
 
 SHARAI3I, a city of Judah, afterwards given to 
 Simeon, Josh. xv. 36; 1 Sam. xvii. 52; 1 Chron. 
 ii. 54. 
 
 I. SHAREZER, second son of Sennacherib, 2 
 Kings xix. 37. 
 
 IL SHAREZER, see Nergal-Sharezer. 
 
 SHARON. This name was almost proverbial to 
 express a place of extraordinary beauty and fruitful- 
 ness, Isa. xxxiii. 9 ; xxxv. 2. It was properly the 
 name of a district south of mount Carmel, along the 
 coast of the Mediterranean, extending to Caesarea and 
 Joppa. It was extremely fat and fertile, Josh. xii. 
 18 ; Cant. ii. 1 ; 1 Chron. xxvii. 29 ; Isa. xxxiii. 9 ; 
 xxxv. 2 ; Ixv. 10 ; Acts ix. 35. Some have unneces- 
 sarily assumed a Sharon beyond Jordan, in the coun- 
 try of Basan, and in the tribe of Gad, 1 Chron. v. 
 16. But Reland maintains, that there was no Sharon 
 beyond Jordan, and that the tribe of Gad may 
 have come to feed their flocks as far as Joppa, Cfe- 
 sarea and Lydda ; which, as Calmet remarks, seems 
 incredible, because of the distance of the jilaces, 
 and because the country of Basan was itself very fine 
 and fruitful. 
 
 IModern travellers give the name of Sharon to the 
 plain between Ecdippe and Ptolemais. 
 
 SHAVEH, THE Valley of, or " valley of the king," 
 (Gen. xiv. 17.) was probably near Jerusalem, because 
 Melchisedec, with the king of Gomorrha, came to 
 meet Abraham, at his return from the defeat of the 
 five kings, as far as this valley. 
 
 SHAVING. The practice of shaving the beard 
 and hair, and sometimes the whole body, was very 
 common among the Hebrews, Numb. viii. 7 ; Lev. xiv. 
 8, 9. The Levites on the day of their conseci-ation, 
 and the lepers at their purification, shaved all the 
 hair off their bodies. A woman taken prisoner in 
 wai", when she married a Jew, shaved the hair off 
 her head, (Dent. xxi. 12.) and the Hebrews generally, 
 and also the nations bordering on Palestine, shaved 
 themselves when they mourned, and in times of 
 great calamitv, whether public or private, Isa. vii. 
 20 ; XV. 2 ; Jer. xli. 5 ; xlviii. 37 ; Baruch vi. 30. 
 God commanded the priests not to cut their hair or 
 beards, in their mournings. Lev. xxi. 5. It may be 
 proper to observe, that among the most degrading of 
 punishments for women, is the loss of their hair ; 
 and the aposde hints at this: (1 Cor. xi. 6.) "If it be 
 a shame for a woman to be sliorn, or shaven," &c. 
 See Hair, and Beard. 
 
 SHEAF, Lev, xxiii. 10—12. The day after the 
 feast of the Passover, the Hebrews brought into the 
 temple a sheaf of corn, as the first-fruits of the bar- 
 ley-harvest, with accompanying ceremonies. On 
 the fifteenth of Nisan, in the evening, when the feast 
 of the first day of the Passover was ended, and the 
 second day begun, the house of judgment deputed 
 three men to go in solenmity, and gather the sheaf of 
 barley. The inhabitants of the neighboring cities 
 assembled to witness the ceremony, and the barley 
 was gathered into the territory of Jerusalem. The 
 deputies demanded three times, if the sun were set ; 
 and they were as often answered, It is. They after-
 
 SHE 
 
 [ 842 1 
 
 SHEBA 
 
 wards demanded as many times, if they might have 
 leave to cut the sheaf; and leave was as often granted. 
 They reaped it out of three different fields, with three 
 different sickles, and put the eai-s into three boxes, 
 to carry them to the temple. 
 
 The sheaf, or rather the three sheaves, being 
 brought into tlie temple, were thrashed in the court. 
 From this they took a full omer, that is, about three 
 pints of the grain ; and after it had been well win- 
 nowed, parched and bruised, they sprinkled over it a 
 log of oil, to which they added a handful of incense; 
 and the priest who received this offering waved it 
 before the Lord, toward the four quarters of the 
 world, and cast part of it on the altar. After this 
 every one might begin his harvest. 
 
 SHEAR-JASHUB, the remnant shall return, an 
 allegorical name given by the prophet Isaiah to one 
 of his sons, Isa. vii. 3. 
 
 I. SHEBA, son of Raamah, (Gen. x. 7.) who, it is 
 thought, inhabited Arabia Felix, whei'e his father 
 Raamah dwelt. See Sabeans II. 
 
 II. SHEBA, son of Joktan, (Gen. x. 28.) whom 
 Bochart places in Araliia Felix. See Sabeans II. 
 
 III. SHEBA, son of Jokshan, (Gen. xx v. 3.) prob- 
 ably dwelt in Arabia Deserta, or thereabouts. Cal- 
 met thinks, with Bochart, that they were the descend- 
 ants of this Sheba, which took away Job's cattle. 
 See Sabea.ns II. 
 
 IV. SHEBA, Queen of, (1 Kings x. 2 Chron. ix.) 
 called queen of the South, (Matt. xii. 42 ; Luke xi. 
 3L) was, according to some, a queen of Arabia; but 
 according to others, a queen of Ethiopia. (See Sa- 
 beans II.) Josephus says, that Saba was the an- 
 cient name of the city of Meroe, and that the queen, 
 of \vhom we are speaking, came thence ; which 
 opinion has much prevailed. The Ethiopians still 
 claim this princess, as their sovereign, and say, that 
 her posterity reigned there for a long time. The 
 eunuch of queen Candace, who was converted and 
 baptized by Philip, (Acts viii. 27.) was an officer 
 belonging to a princess of the same country — Etlii- 
 opia. 
 
 Mr. Bruce has given the history of the queen of 
 Shoba, and her descendants, from the Abyssinian his- 
 torians; but he thinks the eunuch of Candace (Chan- 
 dake) was an officer of the queen Hendaqui, whose 
 territories lie beyond the great desert, south of Syene, 
 in upper Eg}'pt. 
 
 The visit of this queen to Solomon is one of the 
 most remarkable events of his reign ; and as it ap- 
 pears to have had important consequences in her own 
 country, we insert Mr. Bruce's account, as related in 
 the annals of Abyssinia: — 
 
 "It is now that I am to fulfil my promise to the 
 reader, of giving him some account of the visit made 
 by the queen of Sheba, (it should properly be Saba, 
 Azab, or Azaha, all signifying South,) as we errone- 
 ously call her, and the consequences of that visit — 
 the foundation of an Ethiopian monarchy, and the 
 continuation of the sceptre in the tribe of Judah, 
 down to tliis day. We are not to wonder, if the pro- 
 digious Jiurry and flow of business, and the immense- 
 ly valuable transactions they had with each other, 
 had greatly familiarized the Tyrians and Jews, with 
 tlieir correspondents the Cushites and Shepherds, on 
 the coast of Africa. This had gone so far, as very 
 naturally to have created a desire in the queen of 
 Azab, the sovereign of that country, to go herself and 
 see the application of such immense treasures that 
 had been exported from her country for a series of 
 years, and the prince who so magnificently employed 
 
 them. There can be no doubt of this expedition, 
 as Pagan, Arab, Moor, Abyssinian, and all the coun- 
 tries round, vouch it pretty much in the terms of 
 Scripture. 
 
 "Many (such as Justin, Cyprian, Epiphanius and 
 Cyril) have thought this queen was an Arab. But 
 Saba was a separate state, and the Sabeans a distinct 
 people from the Ethiopians and the Arabs, and have 
 continued so till very lately. We know, from history, 
 that it was a custom among the Sabeans, to have 
 women for their sovereigns in preference to men, a 
 custom which still subsists among their descendants. 
 Her name, the Arabs say, was Belkis ; the Abyssini- 
 ans, Macqueda. Our Saviour calls her queen of the 
 South, without mentioning any other name, but gives 
 his sanction to the truth of the voyage. ' The queen 
 of the South (or Saba, or Azab) shall rise up in the 
 judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it ; 
 for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to 
 hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and, behold, a greater 
 than Solomon is here,' Matt. xii. 42 ; Luke xi. 31. 
 No other particulars, however, are mentioned about 
 her in Scripture ; and it is not probable our Saviour 
 would say she came from the uttermost parts of the 
 earth, if she had been an Arab, and had near 50 deg. 
 of the continent behind her. The gold, tiie myrrh, 
 cassia and frankincense were all the produce of her 
 own country. 
 
 " Whether she were a Jewess or a pagan is uncer- 
 tain ; Sabaism was the religion of all the East. It 
 was the constant attendant and stumbling-block of 
 the Jews ; but considering the multitude of that peo- 
 ple then trading from Jerusalem, and the long time 
 it continued, it is not improbable she was a Jewess. 
 ' And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame 
 of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she 
 came to prove him with hard questions,' 1 Kings x. 
 1, and 2 Chron. ix. 1. Our Saviour, moreover, 
 speaks of her with praise, pointing her out as an ex- 
 ample to the Jews, Matt. xii. 42 ; Luke xi. 31. And, 
 in her thanksgiving before Solomon, she alludes to 
 God's blessing on the seed of Israel for ever, (1 Kings 
 X. 9 ; 2 Chron. ix. 8.) which is by no means the lan- 
 guage of a pagan, but of a person skilled in the ancient 
 history of the Jews. She likewise appears to have 
 been a person of learning, and that sort of learning 
 which was then almost peculiar to Palestine, not to 
 Ethiopia. For we see that one of the reasons of her 
 coming was to examine whether Solomon was really 
 the learned man he was said to be. She came to 
 try him in allegories, or parables, in which Nathan 
 had instructed Solomon. 
 
 "The annals of Abyssinia, being very full upon 
 this point, have taken a middle opinion, and by no 
 means an improbable one. They say she was a pa- 
 gan when she left Azab, but being full of admiration 
 at the sight of Solomon's works, she was converted 
 to Judaism in Jerusalem, and bore him a son, whom 
 she called IMenilek, and who was their first king. 
 However strongly they assert this, however dangerous 
 it would be to doubt it in Abyssinia, I will not here 
 aver it for truth, nor mucii less still will I positively 
 contradict it, as Scripture has said nothing about it. 
 The Abyssinians, both Jews and Christians, believe 
 the forty-fifth Psalm to be a prophecy of this queen's 
 voyage to Jerusalem ; that she was attended by a 
 daughter of Hirarn's from Tyre to Jerusalem, and 
 that the last part contains a declaration of her having 
 a son by Solomon, who was to be king over a nation 
 of Gentiles. 
 
 " To Saba, or Azab, then, she returned with her
 
 SHEBA 
 
 [843] 
 
 SHEBA 
 
 son Menilek, whom, after keeping him some years, 
 she sent back to his father to be instructed. Solo- 
 mon did not neglect his charge, and he was anoint- 
 ed and crowned king of Ethiopia, in the temple of 
 J Jerusalem, and at his inauguration took the name of 
 David. After this, he returned to Azab, and brought 
 with him a colony of Jews, among whom were many 
 doctors of the law of iMoses, particularly one of each 
 tribe, to make judges in his kingdom, from whom 
 the present Umbares (or supreme judges, three of 
 whom always attend the king) are said and believed 
 to be descended. With these came also Azarias, 
 the son of Zadok the priest, and brought with him a 
 Hei)rew transcrij)! of the law, which was delivered 
 into his custody, as he bore the title of Nobrit, or high- 
 priest ; and this charge, though the book itself was 
 burnt with the church of Axum in the Moorish war 
 of Adel, is still continued, as it is said, in the lineage 
 of Azarias, who are Nebrits, or keepers of the church 
 of Axum, at this daj'. All Abyssinia was thereupon 
 converted, and the government of the church and 
 state modelled according to what was then in use at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 " Hy the last act of the queen of Sheba's reign she 
 settled the mode of succession in her country for the 
 future. First, she enacted, that the crown should be 
 hereditary in the family of Solomon for ever. Sec- 
 ondly, That alter her, no woman should be capable of 
 wearing that crown or beingqueen, but that it should 
 / descend to the heir male, however distant, in ex- 
 clusion of all heirs female whatever, however near ; 
 and that these two articles should be considered as 
 tlie fundamental laws of the kingdom, never to be 
 altered or abolished. And, lastly. That the heirs 
 male of the royal house shoidd always be sent pris- 
 oners to a high mountain, where they were to con- 
 tinue till their death, or till the succession should open 
 to them. 
 
 " The reason of this last regulation is not known, 
 it being peculiar to Abyssinia ; but the custom of 
 having women for sovereigns, which was a veiy old 
 one, prevailed among the neighboring shepherds in 
 the last century, and for what we know prevails to 
 this day. It obtained in Nubia till Augustus's time, 
 when Pctreius, his lieutenant in Egypt, subdued her 
 country and took the queen Candace prisoner. 
 It endured also after Tiberius, as we learn from St. 
 Philip's baptizing the eunuch, (Acts viii. 27, 38.) 
 servant of queen Candace, who must have been suc- 
 cessor to the former ; for she, when taken prisoner 
 by Petreius, is represented as an infirm woman, hav- 
 ing but one eye. (This shows the falsehood of the 
 roniark Strabo makes, that it was a custom in Meroe, 
 if their sovereign was any way mutilated, for the 
 subjects to imitate the imperfection. In this case 
 Candace's subjects would have all lost an ej'e, Strabo, 
 lib. xvii. p. 777, 778.) Candace, indeed, was the 
 name of all the sovereigns, in the same manner as 
 Caesar was of the Roman emperors. As for the last 
 severe part, the punishment of the princes, it was 
 jjrobahly intended to prevent some disorders among 
 the princes of her house, that she had observed fre- 
 quently to happen in the house of Dovid, (2 Sam. 
 xvi. 22 ; 1 Kings ii. 13.) at Jerusalem. 
 
 "The queen of Saba having made these laws 
 irrevocable to all her posterity, died, after a long 
 reign of foity years, in 986 before Christ, placing her 
 son IMeniIek lipon the throne, whose posterity, the 
 annals of Abyssinia would teach us to believe, have 
 ever since reigned. So far we must indeed bear 
 witness to them, that this is no new doctrine, but has 
 
 been steadfastly and unifomily maintained from their 
 earliest account of time ; first when Jews, then in 
 later days, after they had embraced Christianity. 
 We may further add, that the testimony of all the 
 neighboring nations is with them upon this sultjcct, 
 wiiether they be friends or enemies. They only dif- 
 fer in name of the queen, or in giving her two names. 
 As for her being an Arab, the objection is still easier 
 got over. For all the inhabitants of Arabia Felix, 
 esjiecially those of the coast opposite to Saba, were 
 reputed Abyssinians, and their country part of Abys- 
 sinia, fi-om the earliest ages to the Mahometan con- 
 quest and after. They were her subjects ; first Sa- 
 bean pagans like herself, then convened (as the tra- 
 dition says) to Judaism, during the time of the build- 
 ing of the temple and continuing Jews from that 
 time to the year 622 after Christ, when they became 
 Mahometans. 
 
 " Of their kings of the race of Solomon descended 
 from the queen of Saba, the device is a lion passant, 
 proper upon a field gules, and their motto. Mo Anha- 
 sa am J\"{zilet Solomoti JVeg-orf^ Jude ; which signifies, 
 'The Lion of the Race of Solomon and Tribe of Ju- 
 dah hath overcome.' " (So far Mr. Bruce, vol. i. p. 
 471, &c.) 
 
 On the motto of the Abyssinian kings, Mr. Taylor 
 remarks, that we find allusions to it in Scripture. It 
 appears to have originated from the simile in Gen. 
 xlix. 9, and to this motto, or title, a reference he 
 thinks may be found in Ps. 1. 22, " Consider this, ye 
 that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and thei'S 
 be none to deliver :" — where the phrase differs from 
 Ps. vii. 2, ii\ which place, the psalmist speaks of be- 
 ing himself toni in pieces. (See Micali v. 8.) He 
 also thinks there is a direct quotation of this motto 
 in Rev. v. 8, "Tlielion of the tribe of Jndah hath pre- 
 vailed," or overcome ; so that the comparison of a 
 chief of the tribe of Judah to a lion, is not only sanc- 
 tioned by the original comparison in Genesis, but ap- 
 pears to have been constantly kept in memory, and 
 preserved by a public and authoritative memoi'ial ; 
 in fact, by national and royal insignia. 
 
 Mr. Bruce adds the following information, which 
 shows the practicability of the queen of Sheba's jour- 
 ney. Indeed journeys of a much greater length are 
 now annually made, in order to visit Mecca ; and it 
 is very credible, that the antiquity of similar journeys 
 is very gi'eat. 
 
 "In the g^tle reigns of the Mamalnkes, before the 
 conquest of Egv^pt and Arabia by Selim, a caravan 
 constantly set out from Abyssinia directly for Jerusa- 
 lem. Tliey had then a treaty with the Arabs. This 
 caravan rendezvoused at Hamayen, a small territory 
 abounding in provisions, about two days' journey 
 from Dobarwa, and nearly the same from Masuah : it 
 amounted sometimes in number to a thousand pil- 
 grims, ecclesiastics as well as laymen. They travel- 
 led by very easy journeys, not above six miles a day, 
 halting to perform divine service, and setting up their 
 tents early, and never beginning to travel till towards 
 nine in the morning. They had hitherto passed in 
 perfect safety, with drums beatuig, and colors flying, 
 and in this way traversed the desert by the road of 
 Suakem." (Travels, vol. ii. p. 158.) 
 
 V. SHEBA, a city of Simeon, Josh. xix. 2. 
 
 VI. SHEBA, son of Bichri, of Benjamin, a turbu- 
 lent fellow, who, after the defeat of Absalom, when the 
 tribe of Judah came to David, and brought him over 
 the river Jordan, on his way to Jeiiisalem, sounded a 
 trumpet, and proclaimed," "We have no share in 
 David." Israel, in consequence, forsook David, and 

 
 SHE 
 
 [ 844 ] 
 
 SHECHEM 
 
 followed Sheba, 2 Sam. xx. 1, &c. When the king 
 arrived at Jerusalem, he sent Abishai in pursuit of the 
 traitor. Joab also took soldiers, and, crossing the 
 country north of Jerusalem, he arrived at Abel-beth- 
 maacah, a city at the entrance of the pass between 
 Libauus and Anti-libanus, to which Sheba had re- 
 tired. Joab besieged the place ; but a discreet woman 
 inhabiting the city, having persuaded the people to 
 cut off Sheba's head, and to throw it over the wall, 
 Joab and his army retired. 
 
 SHEBARIM, a place near Ai and Bethel, Josh, 
 vii. .5. 
 
 SHEBAT, see Sebat. 
 
 SHEBNA, a secretary to king Hezekiah, who was 
 sent with Joah and Asaph, to hear the proposals of 
 Rabshakeh, 2 Kings xviii. 18, 26. 
 
 SHEBUEL, the eldest son of Gershom, son of 
 Moses, had the care of the treasures of the temple, 
 1 Chron. xxiii. 16 ; xxvi. 24. 
 
 I. SHECHEM, son of Hamor, prince of the 
 Shechemites, seduced Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, 
 as she went to see a festival of the Shechemites, Gen. 
 xxxiv. A. M. 2265. He afterwards obtaineil her in 
 marriage, on condition that he, and all the men of 
 Shechem, should be circumcised. This was agreed 
 to ; but on the third day, when the wounds of the 
 cu-cumcision were at the worst, Simeon and Levi, 
 the two brotliers of Dinah, entered Shechem, and 
 slew all the males, and afterwards, with their breth- 
 ren and domestics, plundered the city. It is proba- 
 ble that this prince gave name to the city of She- 
 chem. 
 
 II. SHECHEM, SicHAR, or Sychem, (Acts vii. 16.) 
 a city of Benjamin, Josh. xvii. 7. Jacob bought a 
 field in its neighborhood, which, by way of overjilus, 
 he gave to his sou Joseph, who was buried here, Gen. 
 xlviii. 22. In its vicuiity was Jacob's well or foun- 
 tain, at which Christ discoursed with the woman of 
 Samaria, John iv. .5. After the ruin of Samaria by 
 Shalniaueser, Shechem became the capital of the 
 Samaritans ; and Josephus says, it was so in the time 
 of Alexander the Great. At the present day, it is 
 also the seat of the small remnant of the Samaritans. 
 (See Samaritans.) It is 10 miles from Shiloh, 
 and 40 from Jerusalem, towards the north. The 
 following is Dr. Clarke's description of this city and 
 its neighborliood : — 
 
 " The view of the ancient Sichem, now called Na- 
 polosc, otherwise Neapolis, and Napol^s, surprised 
 lis, as we had not expected to find a city of such 
 magnitude in the road to Jerusalem. It seems to be 
 the metropolis of a very rich and extensive country, 
 abounding Avith provisioiis, and all the necessary ar- 
 ticles of iifo, in much greater profusion tiian the town 
 of Acre. Wliite bread was expcs.d for sale in the 
 streets of a quality superior to any that is to be found 
 elsewhere throughout the Levant. The govei-nor of 
 Napolose received and regaled us with ail the mag- 
 nificence of an eastern sovereign. Refreshments, of 
 every kind known in the country, were set before us ; 
 and when we supposed the list to be exhausted, to 
 our very great astonishnicnt a most sumptuous din- 
 ner was brought in. Nothing seemed to gi'atify our 
 host more, tlian that any of his guests sliould eat 
 heartily ; and, to do him justice, every individual of 
 the party ought to have possessed the apjiotite often 
 hungry pilgrims, to satisfy his Avishes in this respect. 
 There is nothing in the Holy Land finer than a view 
 of Napolose, from the heights arotuid it. As the 
 traveller descends towards it from the hills, it a])pears 
 luxuriantly embosomed in the most delightful and 
 
 fragi-ant bowers, half concealed by rich gardens, and 
 by "stately trees collected into groves, all around the 
 bold and beautiful valley in which it stands. Ti-ade 
 seems to flourish among its inhabitants. Their 
 principal employment is in making soap ; but the man- 
 ufactures of the town supply a very widely extended 
 neighborhood, and they are exported to a great dis- 
 tance, upon camels. In the morning after our arrival, 
 we met caravans coming from Grand Cairo, and 
 noticed others reposing in the large olive plantations 
 near the gates. 
 
 "The history of Sichem, referring to events long 
 prior to the Christian dispensation, directs us to an- 
 tiquities, which owe nothing of their celebrity to any 
 traditional aid. The traveller, directing his footsteps 
 towards its ancient sepulchres, as everlasting as the 
 rocks wherein they are hewn, is jjermitted, on the 
 authority of sacred and indelible record, to contem- 
 plate tlie spot where the remains of Joseph, of Elea- 
 zar and of Joshua were severally deposited. If any 
 thing connected with the memory of past ages be 
 calculated to awaken local enthusiasm, the land 
 around this city is preeminently entitled to consid- 
 eration. The sacred story of events transacted in the 
 fields of Sichem, from our earliest years, is remem- 
 bered with delight ; but with the territory before our 
 eyes where those events took place, and in the view 
 of objects existing as they were described above 
 three thousand years ago, the grateful impression 
 kindles into ecstasy. Along the valley we beheld 
 "a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead," 
 (Gen. xxxvii. 25.) as in the days of Reuben and Ju- 
 dah, " with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, 
 and myrrh," who would gladly have purchased an- 
 other Joseph of his brethren, and conveyed him, as 
 a slave, to some Potiphar in Egypt. Upon the hills 
 around, flocks and herds were feeding, as of old ; nor 
 in the simple garb of the shepherds of Samaria was 
 there any thing repugnant to the notions we n\ay en- 
 tertain of the appearance presented by the sons of 
 Jacob. It was indeed a scene to abstract and to ele- 
 vate the mind ; and, under emotions so called fortli 
 by every circumstance of powerful coincidence, a 
 single moment seemed to concentrate whole agrs of 
 existence. The Jews of the twelfih century ac- 
 knowledged that the tomb of Joseph then existed in 
 Sichem, although both the city and the tomb were 
 the possession and boast of a peoj^le they detested 
 ' The town,' says rabbi Benjamin, ' lies in a vale, be- 
 tween mount Gerizim and mount Ebal, where there 
 are above a hundred Cutlia:ans, who observe only 
 the lawof Moses, whom men call Samaritans. They 
 have priests of the lineage of Aaron, who rests in 
 peace, and those they call Aaronitcs ; who never 
 marry but vt^ith persons of the sacerdotal family, that 
 thcipncn/ not be confounded with the people. Yet these 
 priests of their law offer sacrifices and Iiurnt-ofler- 
 ings in tlicir congregations, as it is written in the law, 
 (Dent. xi. 29.) ' Thou shalt put the blessing on mount 
 Gerizim.' They therefore jiftirm, that this is tlie 
 liouse of the Sanctuary ; and they ofler burnt-offer- 
 ings both on the Passover, and on oilier fVstivals, on 
 the altar which was built on mount Gerizim, of those 
 stones which the children of Israel set up after they 
 had passed over Jordan. They pretend that they are 
 descended from the triiie of" Ei)In-aim, and 'have 
 anions; them the sepulchre of Joseph the Just, tlir son of 
 our father Jacob, who rests in peace, according to 
 that saying, the bones also of Joseph, tvhich the children 
 of Israel broitf^ht vp with them ont of E^ypt, buried 
 they in Shechem.'' 3Iaundre!l notices "the tomb of Jo-
 
 SHECHEM 
 
 [ 845] 
 
 SHE 
 
 seph, still bearing its name, unaltered, and venerated 
 even by the 31oslcms, who have built a small tem- 
 ple over it. Its authenticity is not liable to contro- 
 vei-sv ; since tradition is, in this respect, maintained 
 on tiie authority of sacred Scripture; and the vene- 
 lation paid to it by Jews, by Christians, and by JMa- 
 bometans, has preserved, in all ages, the remem- 
 brance of its situation. Ilavinjr shown, on a former 
 occasion, that tombs were the origin of temples, it is 
 not necessary to dwell on the utter improbability of 
 their being Ibrgotten among men who approached 
 them as places of worship. The tomb of Joshua 
 was also visited by Jewish pilgrims in the twelfth 
 centiuy. This is proved by the Hebrew Itinerary 
 of I'etachias, who was contemporary with Benjamin 
 of Tudela ; and its situation, mai-ked by him with the 
 utmost precision, is still as familiar to the Jews of 
 Palestine, as the place where the temple of Solomon 
 originally stood. It was, in fact, in the midst of a 
 renowned cemetery, containing also the sepulchres 
 of other patriarchs; particularly of one, whose syna- 
 gogue is mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela, as being 
 in the neighborhood of the warm baths of Tiberias. 
 These tombs are hewn in the solid rock, like those 
 of Telmessus in the gulf of Glaucus, and are calcu- 
 lated for duration, equal to that of the hills wherein 
 they have been excavated." (p. 513.) 
 
 " The i)riucipal object of veneration is Jacob's 
 well, over which a church was formerly erected. 
 This is situated at a small distance fi-om the town, in 
 the road to Jerusalem, and has been visited by pil- 
 grims of all ages ; but particularly since the Christian 
 era, as the place where our Saviour revealed himself 
 to the woman of"Samaria. The spot is so distinctly 
 marked by the evangelist, and so little liable to un- 
 certainty, from the circumstance of the well itself, 
 and the features of the country, thtat, if no tradition 
 existed for its identity, the site of it could hardly be 
 mistaken. Perhaps no Christian scholar ever atten- 
 tively read the fourth chapter of John, without being 
 struck with the numerous internal evidences of truth 
 which crowd upon the mind in its perusal. \V'^ithin 
 so small a compass it is impossible to find in other 
 writings so many sources of reflection and of inter- 
 est. Independently of its importance as a theolo- 
 gical document, it concentrates so much information, 
 that a volume might be filled with the illustration it 
 reflects on the history of the Jews, and on the geog- 
 raphy of their country. AU that can be gathered on 
 these subjects from Josephns seems but as a comment 
 to illustrate this chapter. The journey of our Lord 
 from Judea into Galilee, the cause of it, his passage 
 through the territory of Samaria, his approach to tlie 
 metropolis of this country, its name, his arrival at the 
 Amorite field which terminates the narrow vallej' of 
 Sichem, the ancient custom of halting at a well, the 
 female employment of drawing water, the discijjles 
 sent into the city for food, by which its situation out 
 of the town is obviously implied ; the question of the 
 woman referring to existing prejudices which sepa- 
 rated the Jews from the Samaritans ; the depth of the 
 well, the oriental allusion contained in the expression, 
 Hiving ivater ;' the history of the well, and the cus- 
 toms thereby illustrated, the worship upon mount 
 Gerizim ; all these occur within the space of twenty 
 verses : and if to these be added, what has already 
 been referred to in the remainder of the same chaj)- 
 ter, we shall perhaps consider it as a record, which, 
 in the words of him who sent it, ^ we may lift up our 
 eyes, and look upon, for it is white already to harvest.^ " 
 (I'ravels. p. 517.) 
 
 [The situation of the city is vei7 romantic. The 
 following is Dr. Jowett's notice of it in 1823; and is 
 coupled with a scene illustrative of Scripture man- 
 ners : (Chr. Researches in Syr. p. 147. Amer. ed.) 
 "It was about an hour after mid-day that we had our 
 first view of the city of Naiilous, romantically situated 
 in a deep valley, between the mountains of Ebal on 
 our left and Gerizim on the right. There is a kind 
 of sublime horror in the lofty, craggy and barren as- 
 pect of these two mountains, which seem to face each 
 other with an air of defiance, especially as they stand 
 contrasted with the rich valley beneath, where the 
 city appears to be embedded on either side in green 
 gardens and extensive olive-grounds, rendered more 
 verdant, by the lengthened periods of shade which 
 they enjoy from the mountains on each side. 
 Of the two, Gerizim is not wholly without culti- 
 vation. 
 
 " We had always been informed, that the facility of 
 passing by way of Nablous depended very much on 
 the character of the governor of the city. Our case 
 was singular ; for we had to learn Avhat kind of re- 
 ception a city without a governor would give us, the 
 governor having died this very inorning. On com- 
 ing w ithin siglit of the gate, we perceived a numerous 
 company of females, who were singing in a kind of 
 recitative, far from melancholy, and beating time with 
 their hands. If this be mourning, I thought, it is of 
 a strange kind. It had indeed, sometimes, more the 
 air of angry defiance. But on our reaching the gate, 
 it was suddenly exchanged for most hideous plaints 
 and shrieks, which, with the feeling that we were en- 
 tering a city at no time celebrated for its hospitality, 
 struck a very dismal impression upon my mind. 
 They accompanied us a few paces ; but it soon ap- 
 peared that the gate was their station ; to which, 
 having received nothing from us, thej' returned. We 
 learnt, in the course of the evening, that these were 
 only a small detachment of a very numerous body of 
 cunning women, who were filling the whole c\i\ \\\x\\ 
 their cries — taking up a wailing, with the design, as 
 of old, to make the eyes of all the inhabitants run 
 down with tears, and their eyelids gush out luith icalers, 
 Jer. ix. 17, 18. For this good service, they would, 
 the next morning, wait upon the government 
 and principal persons, to receive some trifling 
 fee." *R. 
 
 SHEEP. [The Hebrew name of this animal is 
 T\v, seh, a word which is merely a noun of unity, and 
 has no plural. The noun of plurality or multitude 
 is jNi-, tson, which includes all small cattle, as sheep, 
 goats, (SiTc. like the English word^ocA-5. R. 
 
 In its present domestic state, the sheep is of all an- 
 imals the most defenceless and inoflensive. With 
 its liberty it seems to have been deprived of its swift- 
 ness and cunning ; and what in the ass might rather 
 be called jjaticnce, in the sheep appears to be stupid- 
 ity. With no one quality to fit it for self-preserva- 
 tion, it makes vain efforts at all. Without swiftness 
 it endeavors to fly ; and without strength sometimes 
 ofters to oppose. But it is by human art alone that 
 the sheep is become the tardy, defenceless creature 
 that we find it. In its wild state it is a noble and act- 
 ive animal, and is every way fitted to defend itself 
 against the numerous dangers by which it is sur- 
 rounded. 
 
 Of the Syrian sheep there are two varieties: the 
 one called Bedouin sheep, which differ in no respect 
 from the larger kinds of sheep among us, except that 
 their tails are something longer and thicker ; the oth- 
 ers are those often mentioned by travellers on ac-
 
 BHERP 
 
 [ 846 ] 
 
 SHEEP 
 
 count of their extraordinary taiis ; and this species 
 is by far the most numerous. The tail of one of 
 these animals is very broad and large, terminating in 
 a small appendage that turns back upon it. It is of 
 a substance between fat and marrow, and is not eaten 
 separately, but mixed with the lean meat in many of 
 theii- dishes, and also often used instead of butter. A 
 common sheep of this sort, without the head, feet, 
 skin and entrails, weighs from sixty to eighty pounds, 
 of which the tail itself is usually fifteen pounds or 
 upwards ; but such as are of the largest breed, and 
 have been fattened, will sometimes weigh above one 
 hundred and fifty pounds, and the tail, alone, fifty ; a 
 thing to some scarcely credible. To preserve the 
 tails from being torn by the bushes, &c. they fix a 
 piece of thin board to the under ])art, wliere it is not 
 covered with thick wool, and some have small wheels 
 to faciUtate the dragging of this board after them ; 
 whence, with a little exaggeration, the story of hav- 
 ing carts to carry their tails. (Russell's Aleppo, 
 p. 51.) 
 
 The sheep or lamb was the common sacrifice un- 
 der tlie Mosaic law ; and it is to be remarked, that 
 when the divine legislator speaks of this victim, he 
 never omits to appoint, that the rump or tail be laid 
 whole on the fire of the altar. The reason for this is 
 seen in the extract just given from Dr. Russell, from 
 which it appears that tliis was the most delicate part 
 of the animal, and therefore the most ])roper to be 
 presented m sacrifice to Jehovah. JMr. Street, how- 
 ever, wlio is cited by Dr. Harris, considers this pre- 
 cept to have had respect to the health of the Israel- 
 ites ; observing, that " bilious disordei-s are very fre- 
 quent in hot countries ; the eating of fat meat is a 
 gveiit encouragement and excitement to them ; and 
 though the fat of the tail is now considered as a deli- 
 cacy, it is really unwholesome." 
 
 In a domesticated state, the sheep, as already no- 
 ticed, is a weak and defenceless animal, and is, there- 
 fore, altogether dependent upon its keeper for pro- 
 tection as well as support. To this trait in their 
 character, there are several beautiful allusions in the 
 sacred writings. Thus, Micaiali describes the desti- 
 tute condition of the Jews as a flock "scattered upon 
 the hills, as sheep tliat have not a shepherd ;" (1 Kings 
 xxii. 17 ; see also Matt, ix.36.) and Zechariah pro])h- 
 esied, that when the good she|)herd should be smit- 
 ten and removed from his flock, the sheep should be 
 scattered, Zech. xiii. 7. To the disposition of these 
 animals to wander from the fold, and thus abandon 
 themselves to danger and destruction, there are also 
 several allusions made by the inspired writers. Da- 
 vid confesses that he had imitated tbeir foolish con- 
 duct: "I have gone astray like a lost sheep ;" and 
 conscious that, like them, he was only disposed to 
 wander still further from the fold, he adds, "seek thy 
 servant," Ps. cxix. 176. Nor was this disi)osition to 
 abandon the paternal care of God peculiar to David, 
 for the prophet adopts similar language to depict the 
 dangerous and awful condition of the entire species: 
 " All we like sheep have gone astray : we have turned 
 every one to his own way," Isa.'liii. 0. It was to 
 seek these "lost sheep," scattered abroad, and having 
 no sheftherd, that the blessed Redeemer came into 
 the world. He is "the good shei)herd, who gave bis 
 life for the sheep," (John x. 11.) and his ])Pople, 
 though formerly "as sheej) going astray," have now 
 " retin-ned to the shepherd and bishop of their souls," 
 1 Pet. ii. 25. His care over them, and their security 
 under his protection, is most beautifiilly and affect- 
 ingly described ill the chapter which we just now 
 
 cited. "He calleth his own sheep by name, and 
 leadeth them out. And when he putteih forth his 
 own sheep, he goeth before tliem, and the sheep fol- 
 low him : for they know his voi(;e. And a stranger 
 will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they 
 know not the voice of strangers. 1 am the door of 
 the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves 
 and robbers ; but the sheep did not hear them. I 
 am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be 
 saved, and shall go in and out, and find jiasture. The 
 thief Cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to 
 destroy: I am come that they might have life, and 
 that they might have it more abundantly. I am the 
 good shepherd ; the good shepherd giveth his life for 
 the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the 
 shepherd, whose own the rheep are not, seeth the 
 wolf coming, and leavctli the sheep, and fleeth ; and 
 the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 
 The hireling fleeth, because he is an liireling, and 
 careth not for the sheep. I am the good shej)herd, 
 and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As 
 the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father; 
 and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other 
 sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them also I 
 must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there 
 shall be one fold, and one shepherd," John x. 3 — 16. 
 
 The sprightly and plajful inclination of the lamb 
 lias passed into a proverb. To their gambols in the 
 pasture, there is an allusion in a bold buta))propriate 
 figure, in the cxiv. Psalm : "The mountains skipped 
 like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ailed 
 thee — ye inoimtains, that ye skipped like rams ; and 
 ye little hills like lambs ?" The meek and harmless 
 disposition of this animal has occasioned it to be se- 
 lected by the Holy Spirit, as a fit type of the Son of 
 God and Saviour of the world. The lamb in the 
 ))aschal feast, which was roasted whole, and feasted 
 upon by each family of redeemed Israelites, and 
 whose blood sprinkled upon the door posts of their 
 houses, preserved them from the sword of the de- 
 stroying angel, was a lively representation of him 
 "who gave himself for our sins, according to the will 
 of God and our Father;" whose blood has been shed 
 for the expiation of human guilt; and upon whom 
 every redeemed Israelite feeds and lives by faith, 
 John vi. 51 — 55. He is "the Lamb of God, who 
 taketh away the sin of the world," (John i. 29.) the 
 necessity and efficacy of whose atonement was strik- 
 ingly prefigured bj' the daily sacrifices of the Mosaic 
 ritual. 
 
 There is a remarkable passage in the history of 
 Jacob, as recorded in Gen. xxx. 31, &c. relative to 
 the gestation and birth of these animals, which would 
 perhaps, be deemed an un))ardonable omission to pass 
 by; and yet, we far we shall be able to collect little 
 that will satisfy the mind of the inquisitive on the 
 subject. The reader is i-eciucstcd to have the passage 
 before him, while })erusing the following observa- 
 tions upon it, chiefly taken from Calmet and Dr. A. 
 Clarke. 
 
 It is extremely difficult to find out, from tlie 32d 
 and 35th verses, in ii'hat the bargain of Jacob with 
 his father-in-law i)ro|)("Hy consisted. It appears 
 from ver. 32, that Jacob was to have for his wages 
 all the spccklerl, spotted tu](\ bi-own, nmovg the sheep 
 and the goats; and of course, that all those which 
 were not parti-colored, should be considered as the 
 property of l.aban. But in ver. 35, it appears that 
 Laban separated all the parti-colored cattle, and de- 
 livered them into tli«> hands of his own sons ; which 
 seems as if he had taken these fur his own property, 
 
 f 

 
 SHEEP 
 
 [ ^-17 ] 
 
 SHE 
 
 and left the othei-s to Jacob. It has oeen conjectured 
 that l.abnn, ibr the greater security, wlicn lie luid 
 separated the parti-colored, whicli by the agreement 
 belonged to Jacob, (see ver. 32.) pnt them under the 
 , care of his own sons, while Jacob fed the flock of 
 Laban, (ver. SG.) three days' journey being between 
 the two flocks. If, therefore, the flocks under the 
 care of Laban's sous brought Ibrth young that were 
 all ol' one color, these were pnt to the flocks of Laban, 
 under the care of Jacob; and if any of the flocks un- 
 der Jacob's care brought forth ;;«/-/i-co/ortrf young, 
 they were put to the flocks belonging to Jacob, under 
 tlie care of Laban's sons. This coujectiu'e is not 
 satisfactory, and the true meaning appears to be this: 
 Jacob had agreed to take all the |)arti-colored for his 
 wages. As he was now only tefi-wj?n'?jof to act u[)on 
 this agreement, consequently none of the cattle as 
 yet belonged to him : therefore Lal)an separated from 
 the flock (ver. 35.) all such cattle as Jacob might 
 afterwards claim in consequence of his bargain ; for 
 as yet he had no right : therefore .1 u'ob commenced 
 his service to Laban with a flock that did not contain 
 a .single animal of the description of those to which 
 he might be entitled ; and the others were sent away 
 imder the care of Laban's sons, three clays' journey 
 from those of which Jacob had the care. The bar- 
 gain, therefore, seemed to be wholly in favor of La- 
 ban ; and to turn it to his own advantage, Jacob 
 made use of the stratagems afterwards mentioned. 
 This mode of interpretation removes all the apparent 
 contradiction between the 32d and 35th verses, with 
 which commentators in general have been grievous- 
 ly jierplexed. From the Avhole account we learn, 
 that Laban acted with great prudence and caution, 
 and Jacob with gvaai judgment. Jacob had already 
 served fourteen years, and had got no patrimony 
 whatever, though ho had now a family of twelve 
 children, eleven sons and one daug;hter, besides his 
 two wives and their two maids. It was high time 
 that he should get some projjerty for these ; and as 
 his father-in-law was excessively parsimonious, and 
 would scarcely allow him to live, he was in some sort 
 obliged to make use of stratagem to get an equiva- 
 lent for his services ; but this he pushed so far, as to 
 ruin his father-in-law's flocks, leaving him nothing 
 but the refuse. (See ver. 42.) 
 
 So far Dr. Adam Clarke : but from ch. xxxi. 12, 
 &c. it seems clear that the stratagem which was re- 
 sorted to by Jacob, and which we are about to con- 
 sider, was ado[)ted by him under divine direction, 
 the reason for which is there distinctly assigned. 
 
 The cxjiedient was this : " He took him rods of 
 green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut-tree, and 
 pilled white streaks iu them, and made the white 
 appear which wns in the rods. And he set the rods 
 which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in 
 the watering-troughs, when the flocks came to drink, 
 that they sho.uld conceive when they came to drink." 
 The consequence of this is stated to be, that "the 
 flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth 
 cattle ring-straked, speckled and spotted," ch. xxx. 37 
 — 39. Now, in this process there does not a|)|)ear to 
 have been any thing miraculous, or out of the ordi- 
 nary course of nature. It is a fact attested by both 
 ancient and modern philosophers, as well as our con- 
 stant experience, that whatever makes a strong im- 
 pression on the mind of a female iu the time of con- 
 j ception and gestation, will have a corresponding 
 I hifluence on the mind or body of the foetus. Nor is 
 ( it any objection to this fact, that we know not how to 
 j account for the effect, on i-ational principles. 
 
 There is an art, which, in their piedness, shares 
 
 With great creating nature. — 
 
 Yet natuie is made better by no mean, 
 
 But nature makes that mean : 
 
 The art itself is nature. Winter's Tale. 
 
 By the name of sheep, Scripture often understands 
 the people. Ps. Ixxix. 13, " We are thy people, and 
 the sheep of thy pasture ;" also, " O shepherd of Israel, 
 thou that leddest Joseph like a flock." Our Saviour 
 says, that he was sent only to the lost shee]) of Israel, 
 Matt. XV. 24. The righteous are often com|);ired to 
 sheep exposed to the violence of the wicked, to the 
 fury of the wolves; to slaughter, Ps. xliv. 22. At the 
 last judgment, the just (represented by sheep) shall 
 be at the right hand of the sovereign Judge, and put 
 in possession of heaven. Our Saviour describes de- 
 ceivers as wolves in sheep's clothing, Matt. vii. 15. 
 
 The sheep-folds, among the Israelites, apjiear to 
 have been generally houses, or enclosures, walled 
 roimd, to guard the sheep from beasts of prey by 
 night, and the scorching heat of noon. John x. 1 — 5 
 is a curious passage, in reference to the subject of 
 this article, and deserves attention. 
 
 SHEKEL, to iveigh, a Hebrew weight and money, 
 Exod. xxx. 23, 24 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 26. The word "is 
 used to denote the weight of any thing, as iron, hair, 
 spices, &c. Among the different opinions, concern- 
 ing its weight and value, Caln.et adheres to that of 
 M. le Pellener, who says it weighs half an ounce, or 
 four Roman drachmae ; that is, nine pennyweights, 
 three grains ; and that the shekel of silver was worth 
 two shillings three-pence farthing and a half, sterling, 
 or about 50 cents ; perhaps nearest 52A cents. Moses 
 and Ezekiel say, it Avas worth twenty oboli, or twen- 
 ty gerah, Numl). xviii. 16; Ezek. xlv. 12. 
 ' The shekel of gold was half the weight of die 
 shekel of silver ; and was worth eighteen shillings 
 and three-pence, sterling, or about $4. " The shekel 
 of the sanctuary" has been thought to have been 
 doid)le the connnon shekel, but this wants proof. 
 Calmetdiinks it was the same as the conuiion shekel, 
 the words "of the sanctuary" being added to express 
 a just and exact weight, according to the standard kept 
 in the temple or tabernacle. 
 
 [The shekel was properly and only a weight, which 
 it has been attempted to fix at 96 Paris grains, or also, 
 as above stated, at 9 pwt. 3 gr. Troy. It was used 
 especially in weighing uncoined gold and silver, Gen. 
 xxiii. 15, 16. In such cases the word shekel is often 
 omitted in the Hebrew, as in Gen. xx. 16 ; xxxvii. 
 28, where our translators have supplied the word 
 pieces, but improperly, because coined money was 
 not then known, (See Money.) Between the sacred 
 shekel, (Ex. xxx. 1.5.) and the shekel after the king^s 
 tceight, (2 Sam. xiv. 26.) there woidd seem to have 
 been a diflt>reuce ; (see Absalom ;) but this difference 
 cannot now be determined. The first coin which 
 bore the name of shekel was struck after the exile in 
 the time of the Maccabees, (1 IMac. xv. 6.) and bore 
 the inscription shekel of Israel. The value was aliout 
 50 cents ; and it is the coin mentioned in the New 
 Testament by the name of a«>''C'""- (Matt. xxvi. 15, 
 etc.) where our translators have rendered it by pieces 
 of silver. R. 
 
 SHEKINAH, a word siaiufymit the dwelling, the 
 abiding. It does not occur in tlie Bible ; but nothing 
 is more frequently mentioned in the Avn:!;;gs of the 
 Jews, than the Shekinah, bv which they understand 
 the presence of the Holy Spirit. In the Targums, and 
 Chaldee paraphrases, \ve find the names Jehovah, or
 
 SHE 
 
 [ 848 ] 
 
 SHE 
 
 God ; Memra, or the Word ; and Shekinah, or the 
 Holy Spirit. They suppose the Holy Spirit speak- 
 ing and communicating itself to men by revelation ; 
 (1.) in the prophets ; (2.) in the Urim and Thummim 
 of the high-priest's breast-plate ; (3.) in what tiie 
 Hebrews call Bath-col, or the daughter of the 
 voice. The Shekinah is the presence of the Holy 
 Spirit, which resided in the temple of Jerusa- 
 lem ; and which, the rabbins say, drove thence the 
 princes of the air, and communicated a particular 
 sanctity. 
 
 Tlie Shekinah was the most sensible symbol of the 
 presence of God among the Hebrews. It rested over 
 the propitiatory, or over the golden cherubim, which 
 were attached to the propitiatory, the covering of the 
 ai-k. Here it assumed the appearance of a cloud ; and 
 from hence God gave his oracles, as some think, 
 when consulted by the high-priest on account of his 
 people. Hence Scripture often says, God sits on the 
 cherubim, or between the cherubim ; that is, he gives 
 the most evident tokens of his divine presence, by 
 answering from hence the inquiries of Israel. The 
 rabbins affirm, that the Shekinah first resided in the 
 tabernacle prepared by Moses in the wilderness, into 
 which it descended on the day of its consecration, in 
 the figure of a cloud. It passed from thence into the 
 sanctuary of Solomon's temple, on the day of its ded- 
 ication by this prince, wliere it continued till the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, and the temple, by the 
 Chaldeans, and was not afterwards seen there. 
 
 The presence of the Holy Spirit, by the appearance 
 of the Shekinah, is frequently referred to in the New 
 Testament. It appeared at the baptism and transfig- 
 uration of Jesus, and is called the excellent glory by 
 Peter, 2 Epist. ii. 10. The idea of a radiance, or 
 glory, a mild effulgence, seems to be always annexed 
 to it. The Shekinah may be " the glory of the Lord," 
 spoken of 2 Cor. iii. 18, under the allusion of being 
 distributed to believers, as it really was at the time of the 
 descent of the "cloven tongues like as of fire," which 
 sat on each of the hundred and twenty, (Acts ii.) and 
 on the assembly at Cornelius's, Acts x. 44 ; xi. 15. It 
 might also be "the glory of the Lord," (Luke ii. 9.) 
 and " the tabernacle of God with men," Rev. xxi. 3. 
 In short, we find it frequently ; but always gentle, 
 and, as it were, lambent; not fierce or vindictive, as 
 exemplified at the burning bush, (Exod. iii.) where 
 the whole was enveloped, but nothing consumed. 
 
 SHELOMITH, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of 
 Dan, was mother of that blasphemer who was con- 
 demned to be stoned. Lev. xxiv. 10, 11. 
 
 SHELUMIEL, son of Zurishaddai, the prince of 
 Simeon, came out of Egypt at the head of 50,000 men 
 who. carried arms. Numb. i. 6; vii. 3G ; x. 19. 
 
 SHEM, son of Noah, (Gen. vi. 10.) was born A. 31. 
 1558, 93 years before the deluge, and was, probably, 
 younger than Japheth, and older than Ham. (See 
 Japhetu.) In consequence of his condn.ct upon the 
 occasion of Ham's discovering his father's nakedness, 
 Noah predicted blessings on Sheni, saying, " The Lord 
 God of Shem i)c blessed, and let Canaan be the slave 
 of Shem." His great prerogatives were, that from his 
 race was to proceed the Messiah, and that the wor- 
 ship of the true God was to be preserved among his 
 posterity. At 100 years of age he begat Arphaxad, 
 and died aged 600 years. 
 
 Shem had five sons, Elam, Asher, Arphaxad, Lud 
 and Aram, who peopled the finest provinces of the 
 East. (See their articles.) The principal design of 
 Moses being to give the history and laws of the Jews, 
 he has carried the genealogy of Shem further than the 
 
 genealogies of the other sons of Noah, who were not 
 his immediate object. 
 
 I. SHEMAIAH, a prophet who was sent toReho- 
 boam, king of Judah, with a message from God, to 
 forbid his war against Israel, 2 Chron. xi. 2. Some 
 years after this, Shishak, king of Egypt, came in hos- 
 tile array into Judea, against Rehoboam, and took the 
 best places of his kingdom. The prophet Shcmaiah 
 told Rehoboam, and the princes of Judah, who had 
 retired into Jerusalem, that they liad forsaken the Lord, 
 and now he in his tiu'n would forsake them, and deliver 
 them into the hands of Shishak. The king and the 
 princes, being in a consternation, answered," The Lord 
 is just ;" but, they humbling themselves, God moder- 
 ated his anger and their sufferings. Shemaiah wrote 
 the history of Rehoboam, 2 Chron. xii. 15. 
 
 II. SHEMAIAH, son of Nathaniel, secretary of the 
 temple, (1 Chron. xxiv. 6.) probably the same as 
 Shemaiah, descendant of Elizaphan, 1 Chron. xv.8, 11. 
 
 III. SHEMAIAH, son of Delaiah, a false prophet in 
 the time of Nehemiah,who, being corrupted by Sanbal- 
 lat, and the other enemies of Nehemiah, would have 
 persuaded him to retire into the temple, Neh. vi. 10. 
 
 IV. SHEMAIAH, a false prophet who lived at Bab- 
 ylon, Jer. xxix. 24, 31, 32. Jeremiah having sent 
 prophecies to the captive Jews at Babylon, Shemaiah 
 wrote back to the people of Jerusalem to decry the 
 prophet; and to Zephaniah, prince of the priests, and 
 to the rest of the priests, to reproach them for not seiz- 
 ing and imprisoning Jeremiah as an impostor. Jere- 
 miah in his turn wrote back to the Jews in captivity : 
 "The Lord says, against Shemaiah the Nehelamite, 
 and against his posterity ; — non<3 of his race sliall ever 
 sit in the midst of the people, and he shall not share in 
 the hap]>iness of my peo{)le." There are several other 
 unimportant persons of the same name mentioned in 
 the Old Testament. 
 
 SHEMEBER, king of Zeboiim, and one of the 
 five confederates defeated by Chedorlaomer and his 
 allies, Gen. xiv. 2. 
 
 SHEMER was the name of the person who sold 
 the mount of Somer to Omri, king of Israel, uj;on 
 which he built the city of Samaria, 1 Kings xvi. 24. 
 The name of Semcr, or Somer, is also given to the 
 mountain itself. See Samaria. 
 
 SHEMIDA, son of Gilead, of Manasseh, and head 
 of a family. Numb. xxvi. 32; 1 Chron. vii. 19. 
 
 SHEMINITH, in the titles of Ps. vi. xii. and in 
 1 Chron. xv. 21. It means properly octave, and seems 
 to have been not an instrument, but a part in music ; 
 perhaps the lowest. *R. 
 
 SHEMITISH LANGUAGES, see Languages, 
 p. 605. 
 
 I. SHEMUEL, son of Ammihud, prince of Simeon, 
 Numb, xxxiv. 20. 
 
 II. SHEMUEL, a son of Thola, 1 Chron. vii. 2. 
 SHENIR, or Senir, the name given to mount 
 
 Hermon by the Amorites, Dent. iii. 9 ; 1 Chron. v. 23 ; 
 Ezek. xxvii. 5. 
 
 SHEOL, see Hell. 
 
 SHEPHAM, apparently a city of Syria, and the 
 pastern limit of the Land of Promise, Numb, xxxiv. 
 10, 11. 
 
 SHEPHERDS, or Pastors. When the patriarch 
 Joseph invited his father and brethren to settle in 
 Egypt, he bade them tell Pharaoh tlH>y were shepherds 
 or breeders of sheep, that they might have the land of : 
 Goshen assigned for thtjir habitation ; because, he i 
 added, the Egyptians hold shepherds in abomination, i 
 See Egypt. 
 
 Abel was a keeper of sheep, (Gen. iv. 2.) as were
 
 SHI 
 
 [849] 
 
 SHI 
 
 the cheater number of the ancient patriarchs. When 
 men hegan to iiiuUiply, and to follow different em- 
 l)!oyiiii'nts, Jabel, son of Lameeh and his wife Adah, 
 was acknowledged as father, that is, founder, of shep- 
 herds and noniades. Gen. iv. 20. God sometimes 
 takes the name of Shepherd of Israel, (Isa. xi. 11.) and 
 kings, both in Sej-ij)ture, and ancient writers, are dis- 
 tinguished by the title of shepherds of the people. 
 Tin; j)rophet3 olten inveigh against the shepherds of 
 Israel, against the kings who feed themselves and 
 neglect their flocks; who distress, ill-lreat, seduce 
 and lead ihem astray. (See Ezek. .xxxiv. 10, sq. ; Num. 
 xxvii. 17; 1 Kings xxii. 17; Isa. xl. 11; xliv. 28; 
 Judith xi. 15.) 
 
 The Lord says, (Isa. Ixiii. 11.) that he brought his 
 people through the Red sea, with their shepherds; 
 that is, Moses, Aaron and the chief of the people at 
 their head. Micah says, (v. 5.) that the Lord shall 
 raise saven shepherds over his people, and an eighth 
 over the land of Assyria, to bring from thence the 
 people of Israel. These seven or eight shepherds are 
 taken to be the seven princes confederate with Darius, 
 son of Hystaspes, who killetl Smerdis the Magian, 
 who had seized the empire of Persia, after the death 
 of Cambyscs. 
 
 The Messiah is often called a shepherd. " I will 
 set up shepherds over them, w^hich shall feed them," 
 Jer. .xxiii. 4, 5. Isaiah (xl. 11.) speaks in the same 
 manner: "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, 
 he shall gather the lambs with his arms, and gently- 
 lead those that are \vith young." And Zechariah 
 (xiii. 7.) says, "Awjke, O sword, against my shep- 
 herd, against the man that is my fellow, saith tiie 
 Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep 
 shall be scattered, and I will tuni my hand upon the 
 little ones." Christ refers this passage to his passion, 
 (Matt. xxvi. 31.) and elsewhere takes en himself the 
 title of thf; good shepherd, who gives his life for his 
 sheep, John X. 11, 14, 15. Paul calls him the great 
 shepherd of the sheep, (Hcb. xiii. 20.) and Peter 
 gives him the appellation of prince of shej)herds, 1 
 Epis. v. 4. 
 
 In the passage just referred to, our Saviour says, 
 l!ic good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep; 
 that he knows them, and they know him ; that they 
 hear his voice, and follow him ; that he goes before 
 thr^n ; that no one shall force them out of his hands, 
 au:l that he calls them by their name. These, how- 
 ever, being all incidents taken from the custom of the 
 country, are by no means so striking to us as they 
 must have been to those who heai'd our Lord, and 
 wlio every day witnessed such methods of conducting 
 this domesticated animal. The hireling, or bad shep- 
 herd, forsakes the sheep, and the thief entei-s not by 
 the door of the sheep-fold, but climbs in another wav. 
 
 SHEREZER, a Jew of Babylon, who, with Regem- 
 melec!), consulted tlie priests of the temple concern- 
 ing the fast of the fifth month, Zech. vii. 2. 
 
 SHESHACH, see Babylon, p. 129. 
 
 SHESHAf, a giant, a son or descendant of Anak, 
 driven from Hebron, with his brethren Ahiman and 
 Talmni, by Caleb, son of Jephunneh, Josh. xv. 14. 
 
 SHESHBAZZAR, a prince of Jiidah, to whom 
 Cyrus restored the sacred vessels of the temple which 
 had been carried to Ba!)vlon by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 Ezra i. 8. 
 
 SHEW BREAD, see Bread. 
 
 SHIBBOLETH. Aftpr Jephthah had beaten the 
 
 Ammouitrs, the iTien of Ephraim were jealous of the 
 
 advantage obtained by the tribes beyond Jordan, and 
 
 complained loudly that thev had not been called to 
 
 107' 
 
 that expedition. Jephthah answered with much 
 moderation ; but that did not prevent the E|)hraimite3 
 from using contem|>tucus language toward the men 
 of Gilead. They taunted them with being only fugi- 
 tives liom Ephraim and ]\Ianasseh, a kind of bastards, 
 that belonged to neither of the two tribes. A war 
 ensued, and the men of Gilead killed a gi-eat number 
 of Ephraim; after which they set guards at all the 
 jjassLS of Jordan, and when an Ephraimite who had 
 escaped, came to the river side, and desired to pass 
 over, they asked him if he were not an Ephraimite? 
 If he said No, they bade him pronounce Sfiihlohth ; 
 but he pronouncing it SibboUtk, according to the dic- 
 tion of the Ep,hraimires, they killed him. In this way 
 there fell 42,000 Ephraimites, Judg. xii. This inci- 
 dent shoidd not be ])assed over widicut observing, 
 that it affords proof of dialectical variations among 
 the tribes of the same nation, and speaking the same 
 language, iu those early days. Tiiere can be no won- 
 der, therefore, if we find in later ages the same word 
 written different ways, according to the pronunciation 
 of diflferent tribes, or of different colonics or residents 
 of the Hebrew ])eople : whence various pointings, Szc. 
 That this continued, is evident from the peculiarities 
 of the Galilean dialect, by which Peter was discover- 
 ed to be of that district. 
 
 The term Shibboleth signifies an ear of corn, and 
 also stream. Iu this case it is probably to be taken in 
 the latter sense, as the Ephraimites would thus be 
 understood to ask permission to pass over the stream. 
 (Comp. Ps. Ixix. 15; Isa. xxvii. 12. Heb.) 
 
 SHIBMAH, or Sibmah, a city of Reuben, Numb, 
 xxxii. 38 ; Josh. xiii. 19. Isaiah" (xvi. 8, 9.) speaks of 
 the vines of Sibmah, v.hich were cut down by the 
 enemies of the Moabites ; for that i)eople had taken 
 the city of Sibmah, (Jer. xlviii. 32.) and others of 
 Reuben, after this tribe was carried into captivity 
 by Tiglath-pileser, 1 Chron. v. 26; 2 Kings xv. 29. 
 Jerome says that between Heshbon and Sibmah there 
 was hardly the distance of five hundred paces. 
 
 SHICRON, a city of Jiidah, (Josh. xv. 11.) thcught 
 to have been yielded to Simeon. 
 
 SHIELD, a ])iece of defensive annor. (See Ar- 
 mor.) God is often called the shield of his peof)le, 
 (Gen. XV. 1 ; Ps. v. 12.) as are also j)rinces and great 
 men, 2 Sam. i. 21. 
 
 SHIGGAION, (Ps. vii. title,) and SniGio>-oTH, 
 (Hab. iii. 1 ;) probably 50J?.g, or song of praise ; per- 
 lians some paiticular species cf ode. R. 
 
 SHIHOR-LIBNATH, see LiE.xAxn. 
 
 SHILOAH, see Siloam. 
 
 L SHILOH. This term is used (Gen. xlix. 10.) to 
 denote the PJessiah, the coming of whom Jacob fore- 
 tells in these words: "The sceptre shall not depart 
 from Junah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, 
 until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering 
 of the people be." It nuist be admitted, however, 
 that the signification of the word is not well ascertain- 
 ed. Sonie translate, "The sceptre shall not depart 
 from Judali till he comes to whom it belongs." 
 Others, till the coming of the peace-maker, or the 
 pacific, or of prosperity, {shalah signifying to be in 
 peace, or ]irospcrity.) Some of the rabbins ha^e taken 
 the name Shiloh for a city of this name iu Palestine, 
 and render, "the sceptre shall not he taken from 
 Judah, till it comes to Shiloh." " It has ceased, it has 
 finished," says Le Clerc, "till it be taken from him, 
 to be given to Saul, at Shiloh." But, as Cahnet asks, 
 where is it said, that Saul was acknowh dged king, 
 or consecrated at Shiloh ? And if it be imderstood 
 of Jeroboam, son of Ncbat, the matter is equally un-
 
 SHILOII 
 
 [ S50 ] 
 
 sni 
 
 certain. Scripture mentions no assembly at Shiloli 
 that admitted him king. 
 
 The Septuagint read y'^z; shcllu, that is, (iS irs) He 
 whose it is, he to whom it belongs, meaning the scep- 
 tre before mentioned, as Capelliis observes ; ibr iu tlie 
 original and best edition of their version, as Justin 
 Martyr affirmed, this iSm was rendered, He for whom 
 it is reserved, as it now stands in the Alexandrian 
 manuscript. The Samaritan copy has r\'--y, wiiich is 
 the same in the Chaldee dialect as i'?;;-. Onkelos, the 
 Jerusalem Targum,tiie Syriac, the Arabic and Aquila, 
 si)eak the same sense. According to this reading, 
 then, the sense is this : The sceptre shall not depart 
 from Judah, nor a governor from between his feet, imtil 
 He shall have come, ivhose right the sceptre is, and until 
 the nations shall obey him, that is, have been governed 
 by him. A prediction wliich, as Mede well observes, 
 was afterwards applied and explained by our Saviour 
 liimself, in those words, "And this gospel of the 
 kingdom [of Christ] sliall be preached in all the 
 world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall 
 the end come ; " (Matt. xxiv. 14.) that is, the end of 
 the Jewish state. 
 
 But how did the sceptre depart from Judah when 
 Shiloh came ? First, it actually had departed in the 
 transference of the public government to the Herod 
 family, and by the intrusion of the Romans. This is 
 usually held to be an adequate answer to the prophecy ; 
 but Mr. Taylor thinks there is a better: — Our Lord 
 was the o>'ly branch of David's family entitled to rule, 
 and he dying without issue, the ruling branch of Da- 
 vid's family became extinct ; so that, after his death, 
 there was no longer any possibility of the contiim- 
 ance of the kingly office, in the direct proper line of 
 David. The person who should have held the sceptre 
 was dead: the direct descent of the family expired 
 with him ; and, consequently, the sceptre was boiia 
 fide departed: since, (1.) it was actually swayed by a 
 stranger, and strangers, ( Herod and the Romans,) and, 
 (2.) no one who could possibly claim it, though he 
 might have been of a collateral branch of David's 
 liouse, coidd have been the direct legal claimant by 
 birthright. 
 
 This statement appears to be supported by the 
 manner in which the sons of David by Bathsheba are 
 recorded: (2 Sam. v. 14.) "These sons were born to 
 David, after he was king in Jerusalem, Shammuah, 
 Shobab, Nathan, Solomon:" which, in 1 Chron. iii. 
 5. are thus reckoned, "Shimra, Shobab, Nathan, Sol- 
 omon, four, ofBathshua [Rathsheba] the daughter of 
 Auimicl." Now we know that David had ])roniised 
 Bathsheba that one of her sons should succeed him: 
 Shimea died in his infancy ; (2 Sam. xii. 15, &c.) 
 nothing is recorded of Shobab; perhaps he also died 
 young. This reduces the sons of Bathsheba to two- 
 Nathan and Solomon. For what reason Solomon (the 
 younger) was ))refi;rred before Nathan (the elder) we 
 know not, imless on account of the promise of God 
 referred to below ; but we ought to coni;ider, (1.) that 
 none of the sons of David, born before he reigned in 
 Jerusalem could claim succession to his ivhole king- 
 dom, on the princi|)les adopted in the East. (See 
 Genealogy.) (2.) That the first sons born to liim in 
 Jerusalem, appear to be by his connection with Bath- 
 sheba: so that in one of them, as first born after he 
 was there established king over all Israel, the natural 
 right to the crown vested, by usage. But, (3.) we 
 find (2 Sam. vii. 12.) that the son who should proceed 
 out of the bowels of David, was to be his successor. 
 The question is, whether Solomon was born at this 
 time, or whether, as this promise respected a future 
 
 event, Solomon was not begotten after it and in ful- 
 filment of it? However that might be, it is very 
 credible that the sons of David, by Bathsheba, were 
 reduced to two, Nathan and Solomon ; and that, what- 
 ever right Nathan might have to the crown, descend- 
 ing in his line, centred in Heli, the father of Mary ; 
 as Solomon having actually reigued, transmitted the 
 crown in his posterity, in which line it centred in 
 Joseph. The union of these two lines (and we know 
 of no third line to o])pose them) was com])leted in the 
 person of Jesus; and when lie expired, the claims of 
 both lines of descent expired with him. 
 
 This agrees perfectly with the ancient rendering, 
 " he whose right it is ;" for, (1.) the right and title had 
 long lain dormant, and involved in obscurity, till the 
 enrolment at Bethlehem brought it forth, though, no 
 doubt, very cautiously, to light : (2.) though it vested 
 in the ancestors of Josejih, after the return from the 
 captivity, yet another branch also had its claims: so 
 that (.3.) Jesus was \he first person who, by uniting in 
 himself the claim of both lines of descent from Da- 
 vid, could be especially denoted and described, as he 
 whose indisputable and unequivocal right it was to 
 occupy the throne of the whole Hebrew nation. See 
 Gexealogy. 
 
 II. SHILOH, or Silo, a famous city of Ephraim, 
 (Josh, xviii. xix. xxi.) 12 miles from Shechem, acco)-(J- 
 ing to Eusebius, or 10, according to Jerome. Here 
 Joshua assembled the people to make the second dis- 
 tribution of the Land of Promise, (Josh, xviii.) and 
 here the tabernacle of the Lord was set up, when they 
 were settled in the country, ch. xix. 5L The ark and 
 the tabernacle continued at Shilfth, from A. M. 25G0, 
 to A. M. 2888, when it was taken by the Philistines, 
 under the adiriinistralion of the high-priest Eli. At 
 Shiloh Samuel began to prophesy, (1 Sam.iv. l.)and 
 here the prophet Ahijah dwelt, 1 Kings xiv. 2. J( r- 
 eniiah foretold that the tem])le of Jerusalem should be 
 reduced to the same condition as Shiloh was, Jcr. vii. 
 13, ]4; xxvi. 6. 
 
 SHIMEAH, brother of David, and fiulier of Jona- 
 than and Jonadab, 2 Sam. xiii. 3; xxi. 21. — There 
 were others of this name, of whom nothing particular 
 is known. 
 
 SHIMEI, son of Gera, a kinsman of Said, who, 
 when David was obliged to retire from Jerusalem, 
 began to curse him, and to throw stones, 2 Snm. xvi. 
 5. When he retmned to Jerusalem, however, after 
 the defeat and death of .Al salom, Shimci hastened 
 with the men of Judah, and with a thoiisar.d men of 
 Benjamin, and threw himself at his feet, iuii)lcring 
 him to forgive his fault. Abishai, son of Zeruiah, ex- 
 ])ostulated in an angry manner, but David disapproved 
 Abishai's zeal, and jircinisrd Shimoi, with an oath, 
 that he would not put liim to death. He kept his 
 promise, but before his death he reconunruded to Sol- 
 omon not to let Shimei go entirely im|iunislied, but to 
 exercise his discretion upon him. Solomon confined 
 Shimei to Jerusalem, where he dwelt for three years, 
 when some of his slaves ran away, aiul took sanctuary 
 with Acliish in Gath. Shimei followed, and brought 
 them to Jerusalem ; but the king, being inlbrmed of 
 it, had him ])ut to death. 
 
 The conduct of both David and Solomon, in rela- 
 tion to Shimei, having been frequently carped at, the 
 folloAving remarks upon their conduct by Mr. Taylor 
 are worthy attention : — 
 
 David's charge to Solomon refers to three persons 
 of three diflTerent descriptions; (1.) to Jcab ; who is 
 clearly consigned to punishment; (2.) to the sens of 
 Barziilai, who aie cleaily recommended to favor;
 
 SHI 
 
 fssn 
 
 SHIP 
 
 and (3.) to Shimei, who is neither sentenced to pun- 
 ishirietit, absolutely, nor to safety, absolutely ; but is 
 recoiiiniended to be treated according to his eventual 
 demerits. Thus understood, the passage reads to this 
 effect: — "Shiinei did not slied blood, as Juab did ; he 
 only curssd uie with a grievous curse ; and tiiat I for- 
 gave him, swearing to him by the Lord. Now 1 would 
 advise thae not to let him go at large with im|)unity. 
 nor(^) to bring down his hoary head to the grave by 
 bloo.iy execution ; but do as thy wisdom shall direct 
 th;!c," — i. e. steer a middle course. Solomon's sulise- 
 quent conduct proves the accuracy of this view of the 
 |)assag;;: he conlin'.>d Shimei to Jerusalem, where he 
 was under strict insj)eclion and vigilance ; and when 
 he had violated the conditions of his safety, he was 
 l)unislied for his ])resumption ; which illustrates the 
 observation of David, " for thou art a wise sovereign, 
 and knowest in what manner to treat a man who is a 
 rebel in his heart, therefore dangerous to thy crown ; 
 yet on'.' who l)as been solemnly pardoned by me for 
 his tbrmer misconduct; and who has not miscon- 
 ducted himself towards thee." There are several 
 oth?r persons of the same name, but of no imi)ortancc. 
 
 SHIMSHAI, a secretary who, with Rehum, the 
 chancellor, wrote to Artaxerxes against the Jews, re- 
 CHUtly returned from captivity, Ezra iv. 8. A. M. 
 3470. 
 
 SHINAR, a province of Babylonia, and thought 
 !ty some writers to be the plain between the rivers 
 Eu})hrates and Tigris, Gen. x. 10; Is. .\i. 11 ; Zech. v. 
 11. S^e Mesopotamia. 
 
 SHIP. Among the perplexities which occur in 
 reading the sacred Scriptures, none are greater than 
 those which arise from the use of technical words and 
 phrases, terms peculiar to c-^itain professions, and em- 
 ployed in their own restricted and appropriate sense. 
 Few persons of one business understand the direc- 
 tions, or the descriptive aj)pellations, of another ; few 
 are the land-men who understand properly the terms 
 used by seamen even in oin* own nautical country ; 
 and should a voyager insert verbatim tlie orders given 
 by the captain or otficers, on board the ship in which 
 he sailed, what projjortion of his readers, who were 
 not maritime men, would com])rehend their mean- 
 ing? These remarks will suggest an apology for er- 
 roi-s committed by men of learning in translation; 
 and they may restrain those sneers, which um"eflect- 
 ing persons sometimes throw out against such de- 
 scriptions of nautical affairs, in our version of the 
 sacred writings, which involve obscurities or other 
 difficulties. Among the most i)rominent of tliese 
 instances is the history of Paul's voyage, in Acts 
 xxvii. and which has been thought so utterly irrecon- 
 cilable with the nature of things, that some writers, 
 in exposing the ignorance of the author of this book 
 on sea affairs, have exposed themselves to the impu- 
 tation of, at least, equal ignorance in learning; and 
 of more than equal inconsiderateness, if not perverse- 
 ness of mind. 
 
 The sacred jiistorian says, (verse 29.) "Fearing lest 
 they should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four 
 anchors out of the stern." This has been thought to 
 be an insurmountable objection. Four anchors! 
 when our largest men-of-war would have but two ; 
 and, certainly, would not cast four anchors, and all 
 four from the stern ! But, if we inquire into the form 
 and construction of these anchors, and if it should 
 appear, that they were not Uke oin- own, the subject 
 will assume a different asjjcct. And such is the mat- 
 ter of fact. Instead of translating «;;<",'«; rinnanu:. 
 " four anchorr-," it should have been rendered "the 
 
 four-fluked anchor,'" the anchor •\\hich had four points, 
 flukes, for holding the ground. We have such an- 
 chors represented in books of antiquities, and we 
 know further, that such are used in the East, to tliis 
 day, from representations furnished by Bruce and 
 Norden. Understand Luke, therefore, as saying, 
 " We threw out the best anchor we had ; that "most 
 likely to hold the ground, and to kerj) us from driving ; 
 even the four-fluked anchor, that it might hold us 
 back fiom striking against the rocks," and the sup- 
 posed absurdity disa|)pears at once. If the sailors 
 let go but one anchor, from the stern, they might 
 faiily enough, as verse 80 informs us, ju-etend to carry 
 out other anchors (whether fbur-fluked, or not) from 
 the prow of the ship : i. e. affecting to moor the ves- 
 sel head and stern. 
 
 The next difficulty is well stated in Doddridge's 
 note on the passage: (verse 40.) "'JF/fen they had 
 iveighed the anchors, they committed the ship to the sea.^ 
 Some rather choose to render this, that having cut 
 [away] the anchors, they left them iri the sea : and the 
 original indeed is dubious, and will admit of either 
 
 sense: r/ty/fAci rt; Tu: uyxi'iju;, livif ii: rlr ^u/.uonat. 
 
 (See De Dieu, in loc.) Loosing the rudder-hands ; 
 iai\ri; zug i(vxT)niui Twr ni fV.- I'oii . Dr. Beuson ob- 
 serves, agreeably to the judgment of Grotius, that 
 their ships in those days had commonly two rudders, 
 one on each side, which were fastened to the ship by 
 bands or chains ; and on loosing these bands, the 
 rudders sunk deeper into the sea, and by their weight 
 rendered tlie ship less subject to be overset by the 
 winds. (Hist. vol. ii. page 256.) But it seems rather, 
 that the rudders had been fastened before, when they 
 luid let the vessel drive; and were now loosened, 
 when they had need of them to steer her into the 
 creek : and after they had just been throwing out 
 their corn to lighten the ship, it is not easy to suppose 
 they shoidd immediately contrive a method to in- 
 crease the weight of it. That they had frequently two 
 rudders to their ships, Bochart and Eisner have con- 
 firmed by several authorities. (See Bochart. Hieroz. 
 Part. ii. lib. 4. cap. 1. page 453. and Elsu. Observ. 
 vol. i. page 488, 489.") 
 
 The rudder-bands were, as ]Mr. Taylor has shown 
 from the representations still extant of ancient ships, 
 a kind of brace for the purpose of keejfing the rud- 
 der steady, and preventing its action against the side 
 of the vessel ; in fact, without some such confine- 
 ment a current of water rushing from imder the ship, 
 against the broad part of the rudder, woidd cari'y it 
 away, in spite of the strongest arm that might endeav- 
 or to retain it. At the same time, the bands ];re- 
 vented that entire play, or freedom of the instrument, 
 which was occasionally necessary. These, then, 
 were knocked off, says Luke; so that the steersman 
 had greater scope for the exertions of his arms, as 
 circimistances required, tlian he could possibly have 
 while they remained in their places. 
 
 There are two words used to describe vessels in 
 Isa. xxxiii. 21. "Therein shall go no galley [^ni, 
 ship] with oai-s ; nor gallant ship" [T^i addir] ; where 
 tzi seems to be the name of a capacious vessel, a ves- 
 sel of considerable tonnage, (See also Numb. xxjv,24; 
 Ezek, xxx. 9; Dan. xi. 30.) In Jonah i. 5, we have 
 another word, sephineh, for a ship : "Jonah had de- 
 scended into the sides of sephineh ; " but this seems 
 to be a Chaldee word. Here are, then, several kinds 
 of ships, whicli were known to the Hebrews. 
 
 The most complete description of an ancient ship, 
 however, is that finnished by the jirophet Ezckrcl, 
 (ch. xxvii.) wJieu couii)aring the commercial city of
 
 6H0 
 
 [ 859 ] 
 
 SHU 
 
 Tyre to one of those magnificent constructions, by 
 means ot'wliich she carried on her commerce. 
 
 For tlie Ships of Tarshish, see Tarshish. 
 
 SHIPHRAH, one of the midwivcs of Egypt, who 
 preserved the Hebrew children, Exod. i. 15. 
 
 SHISHAK, a king of Egypt, who declared war 
 against Rehoboam king of Judah, in the fifth year of 
 Lis reign. He entered Jiidea with an innumerable 
 multitude of i)eople, out of Egypt, the countries of 
 Lubim, of Suchim, and of Cush, captured the strong- 
 est places in the country, and carried away from Je- 
 rusalem the treasures of the Lord's house, and of the 
 king's palace, as well as the golden bucklers of Sol- 
 omon. Jeroboam having secured the friendship of 
 Shishak, his territories were not invaded, 2 Cliron. 
 xii. ; 1 Kings xiv. 25, 2G. See Euypt, p. 373, and 
 Pharaoh. 
 
 SHITTIM, a valuable kind of wood, of which 
 Moses made the greater part of the tables, altars and 
 planks belonging to the tabernacle. Jerome says, 
 " The shittim wood grows in the deserts of Arabia, 
 that it is like white thorn in its color and leaves, but 
 not in its size, for the tree is so large, that it affords 
 very long planks. The wood is hard, tough, smooth, 
 without knots, and extremely beautil'ul ; so that tlie 
 rich and curious make screws of it for their presses. 
 It does not grow in cultivated places, nor in any 
 other places of the Roman empire, but only in the 
 deserts of Arabia." He also says, that shittun wood 
 resembles white thorn, and is of admirable beautj', 
 solidity, strength and smoothness. From this de- 
 scription, it is thought he means the black Acacia, 
 which is found in the deserts of Arabia, and ihe 
 wood of wiiich is very common about mount Sinai, 
 on the mountains which border on the Red sea, and 
 is so hard and solid as to be almost incorruptible. It 
 is by no means certain, however, that the Acacia is 
 the word described by the Hebrew shittim. The 
 LXX, unable to identify it, have rendered the word, 
 "incoiTU])til)le wood." 
 
 SHOBACH, general of the army of Hadadezer, 
 king of Syria, was defeated by David at Helam, 2 
 Sau). X. 1(>, tScc. 
 
 SHORT, son of Nahash, of the city of Kabbah, 
 came with Barzillai to meet David when he fled from 
 Absalom, and brought him rcfresluuents, 2 Sam. 
 xvii. 27. 
 
 SHOCOH, see Socoh. 
 
 SHOES, ^mong the Hebrews, women of fashion 
 and property wore very valuable shoes, of which the 
 instance of Judith affords proof, chap. xvi. 9. The 
 military shoe, as we see from Moses, was sometimes 
 of metal, (l)eut. xxxiii. 25.) and from the description 
 of the armor of Goliali, we find he had boots of brass, 
 1 Sam. xvii. 6. Homer gives to his heroes boots of 
 brass, others of copper. In the army of Antiochus the 
 Great, luxury was so great, that most of the soldiers 
 had golden nails under their shoes. See Saxdal. 
 
 SHOULDER. To give or lend the shoulder, for 
 bearing a bm-den, signifies to submit to servitude; 
 Gen. xlix. 15. The |)reacher advises his j)upil to 
 submit his shoulder to the yoke of wisdom, Ecclus. 
 vi. 2(). Baruch (ii. 21.) advises the captive Jews at 
 liabylon to submit tli! ir shoulders to king Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, that tb y might live more comfortably under 
 his government. In a contrary sense, Scri|)ture calls 
 that a rebellious shoulder, (Neh. ix. 29.) which will 
 not submit to the joke. (See Zeph. iii. 9.) 
 
 .Marks of honor and command were worn on the 
 shoulder; and Job, (xxxi. 36.) when he desires of 
 God to decide his cause: "Surely I would take it 
 
 upon my snoulder, and bind it as a crown to me." 
 Isaiah (ix. 6.) says, that the Messiah shall bear tlie 
 insignia of his government on his shoulder; and 
 God promises Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, to give him 
 "the key of the house of David, and to lay it ujion his 
 shoulder." 
 
 The respect paid by oflfering the shoulder of ani- 
 mals to God, and to men of distincticn, as the most 
 delicate jiart, should not be overlooked. So the 
 shoulder of the heave-oftering, at the consecration of 
 priests v,as to be sanctified, (Excd. xxix. 27.) aiullhc 
 shoulder of the Nazarite's offering was to be waved, 
 Numb. xvi. 19. So Samuel showed a mark of the 
 greatest respect to Saul, by reserving the shcidder 
 tor his eating, (1 Sam. ix. 24.) i. e. he treated him as 
 king elect. It is probable that the right shoulder l.ad 
 the preeminence ; and this became the projierty ef 
 the priest who officiated. (Compare Lev. vii. 32, 34 ; 
 viii. 25 ; Lx. 21 ; x. 14.) 
 
 I. SHUAH. of Ashcr, daughter to Heber, 1 Chrcn. 
 vii. 32. 
 
 II. SHUAH, daughter of Hirah the Adullamite, and 
 wife of the patriarch Judah. She was mother cf Er, 
 Onan, and Shelah, Gen. xxxviii. 2. 
 
 SHUAL, a country in Israel, which the Philistines 
 invaded in the time of Saul, (1 Sam. xiii. 17.) but the 
 situation of it is no: known. 
 
 SHUBAEL, son cf Amram, and father of Jehdei- 
 ah, (1 Chron. xxiv. 20.) was head of the thirteenth 
 order among the twenty-four famihes of the Levitcs, 
 1 Chron. xxv. 20. 
 
 SHUHAM, son of Dan ; head of a family. Numb. 
 xxvi. 42. In the parallel passage, Gen. xlvi. 23, it is 
 
 HCSHIM. 
 
 SHULAMITE, or Sulamith, the name cf the 
 bride in Canticles, vi. 13. See Caxticles, p. 249. 
 
 SHUMATHITES were the iidiabitantsof Sliema, 
 (Josh. XV. 26.) or sons of Shobal, 1 Chron. ii. 53. 
 
 SHUNEM, a city of Issachar, Jcsh. xix. 18. The 
 Philistines encamped at Shunem, in the great field 
 or plain of Esdraelcn ; (1 Sam. xxviii. 4.) ir.d Saul 
 encamjjed at Gilbna. Eusebius places Shiinem five 
 miles south of Tabor. He also mcnticns a place 
 called Sanim, in Acrabatene, in the neigliborhcod cf 
 Sebaste, or Samaria. 
 
 SHUR, a city in Arabia Pctrara, which cave ramc 
 to the desert of Shur, Gen. xvi. 7 ; Exod. xv. S2 ; 1 
 Sam. XV. 7 ; xxvii. 8. See Exodus, p. 4C4. 
 
 L SHUSHAN, (Ps. Ix.) or Shoshaxnim, (Ps. xlv. 
 Ixix.) the name of a musical instrument. Tlie word 
 signifies a lily, or lilies ; and if the instrument were so 
 named from its similarity to this flower, we might 
 understand the cymbal. 
 
 II. SHUSHAN, or Susan, the capital city cfElam, 
 or Persia, (Dan. viii. 2.) on the river Ulai. It was the 
 winter residence of the Persian kings, after Cyrus?. 
 Here Daniel had the vision of the ram and he-goat in 
 the third year of Belsliazzar, Dan. viii. Neiiemiah 
 was also at Shushan, when lie obtained from Arla- 
 xerxes permission to return into Judea, and to rej air 
 the walls of Jerusalem, Neh. i. 1. 
 
 The ])resent Shouster, the capital of Chuzistan, is 
 generally believed to be the ancient Susa ; but Mr. 
 Kinneir rather thinks the ruins about thirty-five miles 
 west of Shouster are those cf that ancient residence 
 of royalty, "stretching not less, perliaj)S, than twelve 
 miles from one extremity to the other. They occufiy 
 an inmicnse space between the rivers Kerali and 
 .^bzal ; and, like the ruins of Ctesi|)hon, Paliylon 
 and Kufu, consist of hillocks of earth and ndibish 
 covered with broken pieces of brick and colored tile.
 
 SIO 
 
 [853] 
 
 SIL 
 
 The largest is a mile in circumference, and nearly 
 one iuuKlreil feet in height; anoiher, not quite so 
 high, is (loii!)le tiie circuit. Tiiey are formed of clay 
 and pieces of tile, with irreguhu' layers of brick and 
 mortar, rive or six feet in ildekness, to serve, as it 
 should seem, as a kind of prop to tiie mass. Large 
 blocks of marble, covered with hieroglyjdiics, are not 
 mjfrequently here discovered by the Arabs, when 
 digging in s;.'arcli of hidden treasure; and at the foot 
 of llie most elevated of the pyramids (ruins) stands 
 the tomb of Daniel, a smnll and apparently a modern 
 building, erected on the spot where the relics of that 
 pro()het are believed to rest." 3Iajor Rennel coin- 
 cides in the opinion that these ruins represent the 
 aticient Shnsa ; but Dr. Vincent determines for 
 Shouster. The site of Shusa is now a gloomy wil- 
 derness, infested by lions, hyaenas, and other beasts 
 of |)rey, the dread of whom compelled Mr. Monteith 
 and 31r. Kimieir to take slielter for the night within 
 the walls that encompass Daniel's tomb, a small mod- 
 ern building, which is supposed to mark the site of 
 the prophet's place of se|niltme. 
 
 SIBHECHAI, a hero in David's army, who killed 
 ill e giant Saph, in the battle of Gob, or Gazer, 2 Sani. 
 xxi. 18. 
 
 SIBAIATT, see Shibmah. 
 
 SIKRAIM, or Sabarim, the northern boundary of 
 the Land of Promise. Exekiel s.iys, (cliaj). xlvii. IG.) 
 it lay between the confines of Hamath and Damascus. 
 
 SICIL\K, see Shechem. 
 
 SIDOX, or ZiDO.v, now called Saide, is a celebrat- 
 ed city of PhcEuicia, on the Mediterranean sea, north 
 of Tyre and S.-n-ejita. It is one of the most ancient 
 cities in the world, (Gen. xlix. L'3.) and is believed to 
 have been foundeil by Sidon, the eldest son of Ca- 
 narni. In the time of Homer, the Sidonians were 
 enfment for their trade and conmierce, their wealth 
 and prosperity. Upon the division of Canaan among 
 the triites ijy Joshua, Sidon fell to the lot of Asher ; 
 (Josh. xix. 28.) but that tribe never succeeded in ob- 
 taining possession, Jitdg. i. 31. The Sidoifians con- 
 tinn;;il long under their own govermnent and kings, 
 though sometimes tributary to the kings of Tyre. 
 They were subdued, successively, by the Babylonians, 
 Egyptians, Seleucidse and Romans, the latter of 
 whom deprived them of their freedom. Many of the 
 inlialtitan.ts of Sidon became followers of our Saviour, 
 (Mark iii. 8.) and there was a Christian church there, 
 when Paul visited it on his voyage to Rome, Acts 
 xxvii. 3. It is at jiresent, like most of the other 
 Turkish towns in Syria, dirty and fidl of ruins, 
 though there is a considerable trade carried on there. 
 Its present population is estimated at from 8000 to 
 10,000. 
 
 Among the incdals of Sidon collected by Mr. Tay- 
 lor, are some with a Greek inscri|)tion, "to the Sido- 
 iiian goddess," which agrees exactly with the appel- 
 lation in 1 Kings xi. 5, 33 : " Ashtoreth, goddess of 
 the Sidonians." They have also Phoenician inscrip- 
 tions on them, and the date is supposed to be 155 — 
 183, from the era of the Seleucidne. 
 
 SIGN, a token, or whatever serves to express, or 
 represent, another thing. Thus the Lord gave to 
 Noah the rainbow, as a sign of his covenant, (Gen. ix. 
 12, 13.) and for the same pm-pose he appointed cir- 
 cumcision to Abraham, Gen. xvii. 11. (See also 
 Exod. iii. 12 ; Juilg. vi. 17.) In Isa. vii. 18, the word 
 is used for a prophetic siiriilitnde, ''Behold, land the 
 children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs 
 and for wonders in Israel." (See also Ezek. iv. 3, 
 and Eve, adjin.) 
 
 SIHON, king of the Aniorites, on refusing passnge 
 to the Hebrews, and coming to attack them, was him- 
 self slain, his army routed, (Ninnb. xxi. 21 — 24; 
 Dent. i. 4; ii. 24, 2(j, 30; Ps. cxxxv. 11 ; cxxxvi. 19.) 
 and his dominions distributed among Israel. 
 
 SIHOR, a river, by some thought to be the Nile; 
 but more probably the little river in the south of Ju- 
 dah. (See Josh. xiii. 3, and Egvpt, River of.) [In 
 Is. xxiii. 3, and Jer. ii. 18, this name must necessarily 
 be understood of the Nile. R. 
 
 SILAS, (Acts XV. 22.) and Silva.nus, (2 Cor.i. 19.) 
 the former naine being a contraction of the latter ; 
 one of the chief men among the first disciples, and 
 thought by some to have been of the number of the 
 seventy. On occasion of a dis()ntcat Antioch, on the 
 observance of the legal ceremonies, Paul and Barna- 
 bas were chosen to go to Jerusalem, to advise with 
 the apostles ; and they retmiied with Judas and Silas. 
 Silas joined himself to Paul ; and after Patd and 
 Barnabas bad separated, (Acts xv. 37 — 41. A. I). 51,) 
 he accom|)anied Paul to visit the churches of Syria 
 and Cilicia, and the towns and provinces of Lycaonia, 
 Phrygia, Galatia and Macedoina, &:c. See Paul. 
 
 Silas was very iisefid in jneaching the gospel, (2 
 Cor. i. 19.) and some refer to him what Paul says to 
 the Corinthians: (2 Cor. viii. 18, 19.) " .^nd we have 
 sent with him the brother, whose |)raise is in the gos- 
 pel, throughout all the churches ; and not that only, 
 but who was also chosen of the churches to travi I 
 with us, with this grace which is administered by us 
 to the glory of the same Lord," &c. Peter convey- 
 ed bis First Epistle to the persons to whom he ad- 
 dressed it by ilie hand of Silas, whom he calls "a 
 faith fid brother." 
 
 SILK. The question whether silk were known to 
 the ancients may seem, at first sight, to have little re- 
 lation to biblical inquiry ; but it leads to matters of 
 some inq)ortance. For when we read in the Acts, of 
 Lydia. a seller of ])urple, we are naturally led to in- 
 quire what was the subject of that color ; wr.s it 
 woollen, or linen, or cotton ? To answer these ques- 
 tions properly, demands some ])revioi!s inquiry. It is 
 certain that silk was nnported into Europe, ages be- 
 fore the silk-worm that produces it; and it much 
 resembled the hanks, known at present, inform,coIcr 
 and substance. In this state it was called holoscrica, J 
 or whole silk ; and a method was discovered of sep- 
 arating tiie threads, and working them up again, in a 
 thinner state, so that when woven the web resembled 
 the modern gauze. It appears that Pam|)hila, a 
 woman of Coa, first j)ractispd this art ; and that the 
 Coan vests, which were so transparent as to be called 
 by a poet "woven air," were of this niamifacture ; 
 though it is possible that they might originally be of ,. 
 cotton, or fine nnislin. Silk was manufactured at Tyre "* 
 and Berytus, as well sin!J:ly, as intermixed with other 
 materials. If so, it might easily form dresses for the 
 use of the rich man in the parable, who wore pm-ple. 
 But this leads to iiKpiiry, whether ])ur|de were silk. 
 
 It is well known that the dress of the Roman no- 
 bility was purjde ; but Aimnianus Marcellinus com- 
 plains that "the celebrated silk of the Seres ancieinly 
 composed the dress of the Roman nobility, but was, 
 ill his dajs, the extravagant and indiscriminate cloth- 
 ing of the lower ranks." Here the silk is syiicny- 
 mous with ])urple ; or it is stained with jjurple ; as 
 in the Hippolytusof Seneca, .Act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 Juvenal says, that " formerly the provinces were 
 not jjlundered of their |)ropeity, of conchiflia Coa, tlio 
 |)m-ple dyed at Coa ; vestes Coat conchyliatct, that is, 
 purpura in/ccte, says a commentator. These, as we
 
 SILK 
 
 [854] 
 
 SIM 
 
 have seen, might be of silk. It may well be thought, 
 lliat silk, in different states, would receive different 
 appellations; in its entire state /io/ose?-!'c!tm, in another 
 state bijssus, in its thiiniest and dyed state hysginum, 
 or homb\jcinum, wliich certainly was a state of ex- 
 treme tliinness ; whence we hud Martial alluding to 
 its transparency : (viii. 68.) "Feniineuni hicet sic ])er 
 bonibycina cori)us." And Apnleius (3Ietam. x.) no- 
 tices the same. Isidorus, in his Glossary, explains 
 boiiibjjcijiare, by "to make purple;" bombycinatores, 
 by "those who dye purple." Suidas also says, '■'•bys- 
 sus is dyed purple ; " and Hesychius explains byssinon 
 by porjihynon, purple. It is true that these authorities 
 are mostly later than Luke ; yet, if we may rely on 
 them, they prove sufficiently that the "purple" of that 
 sacred writer might be silk. 
 
 If these notions be correct, they illustrate the ex- 
 treme effeminacy of the rich man in the parable ; 
 they add to our acquaintance with the history of 
 Lydia ; they show the prodi^jality of the mother of 
 harlots, (Kev. xvii. 4.) who was clad in purple and 
 scarlet ; silk of the most costly and gaudy colors, the 
 favorite dress of public prostitutes; nor less the cause 
 of the lamentations of the merchants, who had lost 
 her custom for " purple, and silk, and scarlet ;" (chap, 
 xviii. 12.) that is to say, for silk in hs thimier and dyed 
 state, the bombycina already described ; also silk in 
 its more solid texture, and |)erhaps tissued or bro- 
 caded ; or rather enriched with gold, silver, and pearls, 
 as Mr. Morier describes the dress of the queen of 
 Pereia: "rendered so cumbersome by the quantity 
 of jewels embroidered on it, that she could scarcely 
 move under its weight. Her trowsers, in paiticidar, 
 were so engrafted with pearl, that they looked more 
 like a piece of mosaic than wearing apparel." (Trav. 
 vol. ii. p. 01.) 
 
 That silk is expressly mentioned in this passage of 
 the Revelation, under the term sericum, is clear; also, 
 that the royal dress of Herod Agrippa, which reflect- 
 ed the rays of light in such a manner as to give him 
 the apj)earauce of a deity, though covered with gold, 
 was of silk, is not improbable. Further evidence that 
 silk was known, and in fact, was common, though 
 costly, among the ancients, miglif be deduced from 
 the Hcrculaueiun |)ictures ; the changing and inter- 
 woven colors of certain dresses — transparent dresses, 
 worn by thn women dancers, exceed what may be 
 thought possible in cotton. 
 
 Further, otu' translators render Prov. xxxi. 22, 
 *'She luaketh herself coverings of ta])eslry, [brocaded, 
 suppose,] her clothing is silk and jjurple." Not ])ur- 
 ]>le iu th3 sent-e of bombj'cina or gauze, ])erhaps, (un- 
 less any HU|)pnse this gauze was a traiispai'ency ov( )• 
 the silk petticoat, as the term rendered "clothing" 
 denotes,) but, referring to the Tyrian dye, the color. 
 It s^ems difficult to deny that if Solomon's ships 
 sailed to India, they might import specimens of silk; 
 l)ut how lar the article could be used by "virtuous 
 women" generally, may be questioned; however 
 closely such good housewives might resemble " mrr- 
 cliant ships which bring their ladinjr fiom afar." Yet, 
 if silk were known in Judea, intiie days of Solomon, 
 it might with much certainty be su|)|)0scd to be 
 known to Ezekiel, (chap. xvi. 10, 13.) or it might be 
 known to him in Persia, although of great rarity in 
 Judea ; for Aristotle describes silk as an Assyrian 
 manufacture. OiU' translators have with great judg- 
 niPiit restricted to the margin of Gen. xli. 42, " Pha- 
 raoh arrayed Joseph in vestures of silk." It is more 
 probuble that "fine linen, as in the text, (or the calico 
 muslui of moderu days,) is the article there intended. 
 
 Perhaps, in those early days the production of silk 
 was restricted to China. 
 
 SILOAM, SiLOE, or Siloa, s fountain under the 
 walls of Jerusalem, on the east, between the city and 
 the brook Kidrou. It is, no doubt, the same as En- 
 rogel, or the fuller's fountain, Josh. xv. 7 ; xviii. 16; 
 2 Sam. xvii. 17 ; 1 Kings i.9. Josephus often speaks 
 of the waters of Siloam, and says, that when Nebu- 
 chadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, thry increased ; and 
 that the same hajipened when Titus besieged the 
 city. Isaiah (viii. 6.) intimates, that the waters of 
 Siloam flowed gently and without noise: "Foras- 
 much as this people refiiseth the waters of Siloah, 
 that go softly." 
 
 Reland says (Antiq. Heb. j)art iv. cap. 6.) that there 
 was a custom of drawing water out of the fomitain 
 of Siloam, and pouring it out before the Lord, in the 
 temjjle, at the time of evening sacrifice ; and to this 
 there seems to be some alkision in John vii. 37. That 
 Siloam was the nearest fountain, and not far from the 
 temple, appears by our map of Jerusalem, which also 
 contributes to the better understanding of the narra- 
 tive of the man blind from his birth, who was direct- 
 ed by our Lord to " wash in the pool of Siloam." 
 Whiston connected the last verse of John viii. with 
 the first of chap. ix. thus — " Jesus concealed himself, 
 and withdrew from the Jews, who woidd have stoned 
 him, and went out of the temple, ]iassing thrciigh the 
 midst of them, and passed on — in that manner — and as 
 he passed on, he saw a man blind from his birth . . . 
 to whom he said, 'Go wash in the pool of Siloam.' " 
 — Now, if otu' Lord went out of the temple by one of 
 the west gates into tl'e city, then he might meet with 
 this blind man pretty -lose to the temple ; aixl mcst 
 likely he sent him to Siloam, as the nearest fciirtain 
 in wliich he might wash : so that there was no affecta- 
 tion in our Lord's conduct, (such as directing him 
 through the most public streets of the city, in order 
 to give this cure the greater notoriety,) biu a simpli- 
 city, readiness and neatness, very agreeable to his 
 general character ; whilt^, at the same time, it con- 
 tinued that allusion to the benefits derivable from the 
 pool of Siloam, (which is, by interpretation sent,) 
 which our Lord had made in the former chapter. 
 
 [The following description of the fountain of Silo- 
 am is from the jourral of Messrs. Fisk and King, 
 under date of April 28, 1823: "Near the south-east 
 corner of the city, [Jerusalem,] at the feet of Zion 
 and Moriah, is the pool of Siicah, (See Nch. iii. ]^.) 
 whose waters flow with gentle murmur frem i;rd(r 
 the Holy mountain of Zicn, or rather from under 
 0|)hel, havii^g Zion on the west, and Mcriah on the 
 noith. The very fountain issues frcm a rock, twer.ty 
 or thirty feet below the surface of the grcurd, to 
 which we descci^ded by two fliglits of steps. Here 
 it flows out without a single tnurn.ur, ar.el n|prr.rs 
 clear as crystal. From this ])lace it wir.ds its way 
 several rods under the mountain, then makes its 
 ap|)carance with gentle gurgling, ai.d, fcrniing a 
 beautiful rill, takes its way down into the valley, 
 towards the scuth-east. We drank of the water, 
 both at the fountain, and from the stream, ai:d 
 found it soft, of a sweetish taste, and plef:sant. The 
 fountain is caffed in Scri|)ture the "Pool of Siloam." 
 It was to this, that the blind man went, and washed, 
 and came seeinff, John ix. 7 — 11." (ftlissiotary 
 Herald, 1824, p. 66.) R. 
 
 SILVANUS, see Silas. 
 
 SILVER, one of the precious metals. See Mo.nkt 
 and Shekel. 
 
 I. SIMEON, son of Jacob and Leah; born A. M.
 
 SIM 
 
 [ 855 ] 
 
 SIM 
 
 2247, Gen. xxix. 33. lis was brother to Dinali, and 
 with Levi reveng d the afl'ront Shechein ofiered to 
 har. (S-:3 SHi:ciiEM.) It is thought tliat Simeon 
 showed most iiiluimauity to his brother Jossph, and 
 advisxl liis brothers to kill him, Gau. xxxvii. 20. 
 This coiij JCtiir.; is founded on Joseph's keeping him 
 j»rison:r in Egypt, (Geti. xhi. 24.) and tr,:aling him 
 with morj rigor than ih^ rest ofiiis brethren. 
 
 Tin tribes of Sim on .-uid Levi were scattered, and 
 disj).'r.sed in Israel, in conformity with tiie prediction 
 of Jaco!), Gin. xlix. 5. Levi had no compact lot, or 
 |)ortiou ; and Sinuon received for ids portion only a 
 dis;rict dismembered from the tribe of Judah, (.Josh, 
 xix.) widi some other lands they overran in the 
 moiintuns of Seir, and in the desert of Gedor, 1 
 Chron. iv. 24, 39, 42. The Targum of Jerusalem, 
 and tlie rabbins, followed by some ancient fathers, 
 believe, that the greater i)art of the scribes, and men 
 learned in the law, were of ihis tribe ; and as these 
 were dispersed throughout Israel, we see another 
 accouii)lishment of Jacob's prophecy; for although 
 Jacob meant the disptnsion of Simeon and Levi as 
 an evil, a degradation, yet Providence might over- 
 rule it to be an honor. So Levi had the |)ricsthood, 
 and Simeon the learning, or writing authorily, of 
 Israel, whereby both these tribes were honorably dis- 
 persed among the nation. 
 
 The SDHs of Simeon were Jemucl, Jamin, Ohnd, 
 Jachin, Zoliar, and Shaul, (Exod. vi. 15.) whose de- 
 scendants amoinited to 5i),300 men at the exodus; 
 (Xuml). i. 22.) but only 22,200 entered the Land of 
 Promise, the rest dying in the desert, because of 
 Uieir nniruiurings and impiety, Numb. xxvi. 14. Tlie 
 ])Ortion of Simeon was west and south of that of Ju- 
 dah ; having the tribe of Dan and the Philistines 
 north, the Mediterranean west, and Arabia Petrea 
 south, Josh. xix. 1 — 9. 
 
 II. SIMEON, uncls of Mattathias, father of the 
 Maccabees, of the race of the priests, and of the pos- 
 terity of Phinehas, 1 Mac. ii. 1. 
 
 in. SLMEON, a i)ious old man at Jerusalem, fidl 
 of iha Holy S|)irit, who was expecting the redemp- 
 tion of [srael, Luke ii. 2.5, &c. It had been revealed 
 to him, that he should not die, before he had seen 
 the Christ of the Lord ; and he therefore came into 
 the temple, ])ronipted by iiisjjiration, just at the time 
 when Joseph and l^Iary presented our Saviour there, 
 in ol)odience to the law. Simeon took the child in 
 his arms, gave thanks to God, and blessed Joseph 
 and Marv. We know nothing further concerning him. 
 
 IV. SLMEON, or Si.mo.n, son of Cleophas and 
 M:iry, and probably the same whom Mark names 
 Simon, ch. vi. 3. It is prob;(l)le that he was among 
 the first disciples of Christ. .After the death of James 
 (A. D. G2.) the apostles, the disciples, and the kindred 
 ofCln'ist assemble;!, to nominate a successor in the 
 church of Jerusalem, and unanimously elected Sim- 
 eon. (Euseb. Hist. Ecc!. lib. iii. cap. 32.) He ])roba- 
 bly withdrew with the rest of the faithfid to Pella, 
 beyond Jordan, during the war of the Jews against 
 the Romans. Eusebius says that when the emperor 
 Trajan made strict inquiry for all who were of the 
 race of David, Simeon was accused before Atticiis 
 the governor of Palestine. He adds, that he endiu'ed 
 many tortures, and at last was crucified, about A. D. 
 107, after he had governed the church of Jerusalem 
 about 43 years. 
 
 I. SLNION TME Just, higli-priest of the Jews, was 
 promoted to this dignity, A. M. 3702, or 370.3, and 
 died A. M. 3711. He was son and successor of 
 Onias 1. (Joseph. Ant. xii. 2.) 
 
 II. SIMON, another high-priest of the Jews, son 
 of Onias II. was advanced to the high-priesthood, 
 A. M. 378.5, and died A. M. 3805, Eccks. 1. 1,2, 3. 
 There are several other high-priests of the Jews 
 bearuig this name, mentioned by Josephus. 
 
 III. SIMON MACCABEUS, son of Mattathias, 
 and brother of Judas and Jonathan, was chief, prince 
 and i)ontiffof the Jews, frou) A.M. 38G0 to 38{:9, 
 and was succeeded by John Hircanus, his son. Si- 
 mon contributed greatly by his valor and wisdom to 
 advance the happiness of liis nation, and to rendtr it 
 ])rosperous and secure. He took Joppa, and made 
 a harbor of it to improve the tr.tde of the Jews ; and 
 everyway extended the limits of his country. He was 
 at length treacherously killed by his son-in-laW 
 Ptolemy, son of Ambubus, 1 Mac. ii. G5, et passim. 
 
 IV. SIMON, of the tribe of Benjamin, and sujjir- 
 intendent of the temi)le, 2 Mac. iii. 4, 5. 
 
 V. SIMON THE Cyre.man, father of Alexander 
 and Rufus, was compelled by the Jews to carry tho 
 cross after Jesus, Matt, xxvii.32; Mark xv. 21. But 
 nothing is known of him further. 
 
 VI. SIMON TiiE Ca.naamte, or Simon Zelotes, 
 an apostle of Jesus Christ. Luke gives him the sur- 
 name of Zelotes, the zealot, (Luke vi. 15 ; Acts i. 13.) 
 which is supposed by some to be a translation of the 
 surname Canaanite, given him by the other evange- 
 lists, IMatt. x. 4 ; Mark iii. 18. The particulars of his 
 life are unknown ; nor does it appear where lie 
 preached, or where he died. See Zelotes. 
 
 VII. SI3ION the Pharisee, with whom Jesus 
 dined, after he had raised the child of the widow of 
 Nain, Luke vii. 36, A. D. 31. While they were at 
 table, a woman, noted lor her ill life, entered the 
 room, y)oured perfume on the feet of Jfsus, wiped 
 them with her hair, and washed them with her tears. 
 Simon was disjdeased with her conduct, but was 
 reproved by Jesus ; who forgave the sinner, and 
 condeunied the unforgiving Pharisee by a similitude. 
 
 VIII. SIMON the Leper dwelt at Bethany, near 
 Jerusalem, (Matt. xxvi. 6; Mark xiv. 3; John xi. 12.) 
 and Jesus, condng thither a few days before his pas- 
 sion, was invited to eat with him. Lazarus, who 
 had been raised from the dead sometime before, was 
 at table with them, and Martha, his sister, wts very 
 busy in atteiidance. 31ary, the other sister of Laza- 
 rus, to show her love and respect for our Saviour, 
 brought a box of perfumes, which she poured on his 
 feet. 
 
 IX. SIMON NIGER, or the Black, (Acts xiii. 1.) 
 was among the [)rophets and teachers of the Chris- 
 tian church at Antioch. Some think he was Simon 
 the Cyrenian ; but there is no other proof of this, 
 than the similitude of names, which Calmct thinks 
 is not a good one, since Luke always calls Simon the 
 Cyrenian by the name of Simon ; but Simon Niger, 
 by the name of Simeon. Mr. Taylor remarks, how- 
 ever, that if Calmet could think, as he did, Simeon, 
 bishop of Jerusalem, to be the same as Simon our 
 Lord's cousin, it could require no great exertion to 
 infer the identity of Simon the Cyrenian with Simon 
 Niger. Besides, it is certain that Luke, who calls 
 Simon Peter by the name of Simon, also calls him 
 Simeon, in reporting the speech of James, Acts xv. 
 14. If, then, Simon and Simeon denote the same 
 person in this instance, why may they not in the in- 
 stance of Simon the Cyrenian and Sir.ion >,iger? 
 
 X. SIMON the Ta.nner, a person at Jopi)a, in 
 whose house Peter lodged, when the messengers 
 from Cornelius the centurion came to him. Acts x. 
 
 XI. SIMON MAGUS, or the Sorcerer. Philip
 
 SIMON MAGUS 
 
 [ 856 ] 
 
 SIN 
 
 the deacon, coming to preach at Samaria, (Acts viii. 
 5 — 13.) couverred many, and among otiiers this 
 Simon also believed, and was baptized. The apos- 
 tles Peter and John subseqnently communicated the 
 Holy Spirit to those baptized by Piiilip; at which 
 Simon offered money to tliem, saying, "Give me 
 also this power." Peter rei)lied with great indigna- 
 tion, "Thy money perish with thee, .... thou art 
 in the gall of l)itternpss, and in the bond of iniquity." 
 Luke adds, (Acts viii. 9 — 11.) that Simon had ad- 
 dict>;d himself to magic before Pliiiip came to Sama- 
 ria, anil by his im|)ostures and enchantments had 
 seduced the people, who said, " This man is the great 
 power of God." 
 
 Irsnaeus says, that after Peter had rejected, with 
 horror, iiis proposal of selling the power of imparting 
 the Holy Sj)irit, Simon fell into much greater errors 
 and abominations ; applying himself to magic more 
 than ever, t iking pride in withstanding the apostles, 
 and infecting a great number of ])ersons with hisim- 
 j)ious errors. For this purpose, it is said, Ife left 
 Simariu, and travelled through several provinces; 
 seeking |)!ac s where the gospel had not yet reached, 
 that liJi might prejudice tiie minds of men against it. 
 
 At Tyre, Theodoret says, he l)ought a public pros- 
 titute, called Selene, or Helene, and carried her with 
 him, committing crimes in secret with her. Having 
 run through several pravinces, and made himself ad- 
 mired by vast numbers of persons, for his false mira- 
 cles and impostures, he came to Rome in the time 
 ofthe emperor Claudius, about A. D. 41, where it is 
 said by Justin that he was honored r.s a deity by the 
 Rom;uis, and by the senate itself, who decreed a 
 statue to him, in the isle of Tiber, with this inscrij)- 
 tion — To Simon, the holy God. Siviorii Deo sancto. 
 This fact, however, is disputed by able critics, who 
 think Justin mistook a statue dedicated to Scmo 
 Sa.n:us, a pagan deity, for one erected Simoni sancto. 
 
 As to the heresies of Simon ; in addition to those 
 imputed to him, Acts viii. 10, the fathers accuse him 
 of |)retending to be the great power of God ; of 
 affirming that he came down as the Father in re- 
 spect of the Samaritans, as the Son in respect ofthe 
 Jews, and as the Holy Spirit in res|)rct of the Gen- 
 tiles; but that it is indifferent wiiich of these names 
 he went by. Jerome quotes these l)las])hcmons ex- 
 pressions out of one of his books: "I am the word 
 of God ; I am the beauty of (jod ; I am the comfort- 
 er; J am the Almighty ; I am the whole Essence of 
 God." Ho was tlie inventor of the iEons, which 
 were so many persons of whom they composed tlioir 
 deity. His Helene he called the first intelligence, the 
 mother of all things, and sonietimes, the Holy Ghost, 
 Prunica, or Minerva. He said, that by this first in- 
 telligence he had originally a design of creating the 
 angels ; but that slie, knowing this will of her father, 
 had descended lower, and had produced the angels, 
 and the other spiritual powers, to whom she had 
 given no knowledge of her father ; that these angels 
 and powers had afterwards iliade angels and men ; 
 tliat HelcMi had jjassed successively into the bodies 
 of various women ; among others into that of Helen, 
 wife of Mcnelaus, who occasioned the war of Troy ; 
 and at last into the body of this Helen of Tyre. 
 
 He did not acknowledge Christ to b(> tlie Son of 
 God, but considered him as a rival, and pretended 
 himself to be the Christ. He believed not the resur- 
 rection of the body, but barely a resurrection ofthe 
 soul. He taught that men need not trouble them- 
 selves about good works, all actions being indiffer- 
 ent, and that the distinction of actions into good and 
 
 evil was only introduced by the angel?, to render 
 men subject to them. He rejected the law of Moses, 
 and said he had come to abolish it. He ascribed the 
 Old Testament to the angels ; and tho\igh he every 
 where declared himself an enemy to angels, yet he 
 paid them an idolatrous worship, pretending, that 
 men could not be saved, without offering to the su- 
 preme Father abominable sacrifices, by means ofthe 
 principalities that he placed in each heaven. He 
 offered them his sacrifices ; not to obtain assistance 
 from them, but to prevail Avith them that they might 
 not oppose men. The sect of heretics which were 
 called Simonians were descended from him. (De 
 Tillemont, Hist. Eccl. torn. ii. § 5.) 
 
 SIMOOM, see Wi-VDS. 
 
 SIMPLE is sometimes taken in an ill sense, in 
 Scripture. Paul (Rom. xvi. 19.) would hav^ the 
 Romans "wise vmto good, and simple concerning 
 evil ; that is, discerning in their choice of good : but 
 avoiding whatever has the appearance of evil, as 
 children who, without much reasoning, fly from 
 every thing that does but seem hurtful to them. We 
 read, (Prov. xxiii. 3.) " A wise man foreseeth the evil ; 
 but the sim])le [the unthinking, the heedless] pass en 
 and are [)unished," Simi)le is sometimes ojjposed 
 to dece|)tion ; to an unjust, or a wicked jierson. It 
 stands for sincerity, fidelity, innocence, candor. In 
 this sense Jacob is called a plain, or simple, man, 
 Gen. XXV. 27. Wisdom is given to the simple, Prov. 
 i. 4 ; xxi. 11. 
 
 Simple is capable of a good, a bad, or an indiffer- 
 ent meaning. Simidicity of mind is integrity, inno- 
 cence of intention, &c. (Rom. xvi. 19.) honesty, can- 
 dor, xii. 8. Weak sim|)licity, on the contrary, is 
 credulous, easily in)pcsed on, easily deluded. Prov. 
 xix. 15 ; XX. 3, The simple believe every word, re- 
 port, rumor ; the siinple pass on and are punished : 
 they do not look before them, or take ])roper steps to 
 avoid evil. Wisdom invites the simple, tlie nnin- 
 ibrmed, the unstudied, to learn of her, to ))artake of 
 her refreshments, and to be revived by her delica- 
 cies, Prov. ix. 4. (See also Ps. xix. 7 ; cxvi. G ; Ezek. 
 xlv. 20; 2 Cor. i. ]2; xi. 3.) 
 
 I. SIN, or ZiN, a desert south ofthe Holy Land, 
 in Arabia Petrea, the wilderness of Sin. Scripture 
 distinguishes two deserts of Sin, one being writtt ii p:, 
 sin, with samech ; the other, ;<y, ta'??, with tzade. The 
 former was near Egypt, on the const ofthe Reii sea, 
 Exod. xvi. 1 ; xvii. 1. The latter is also south of 
 Palestine, but toward the Dead si a, Dent, xxxii. ."^i ; 
 Numb. xiii. 21; xxvii. 14; xxxiv. 3; Josh. xv. 3. 
 See Exodus, p. 419. 
 
 II. SIN, (Fzek. XXX. 15, Ifi.) the city Pelusium, in 
 Egypt, the easternmost city of that kingdom, situated 
 among marshes, and now inundated by the Mediter- 
 ranean. (See Rosenm. Bib. Geogr. iii. 244.) R. 
 
 IlL SIN, or SixiM, (Isa. xlix. 12.) is thought by 
 ]\Ir. Taylor, Dr. Morrison, and other writers, to be 
 China, which Dr. Hagar, in two very learned tracts, 
 has attempted to prove was well known to the 
 Greeks, in early ages; and that the trade in silk was 
 the life and soul of their intercourse with it. So also 
 Gesenius. 
 
 SIN is any thought, word, desire, action, or omis- 
 sion of action, contrary to the law of (Jod, or defec- 
 tive when compared with it. The Hebrews have 
 several words for expressing sin. They think, for 
 example, that (1.) tnc-, Chataath, signifies a sin com- 
 mit ed against, a t)osi(ive precept; (2.) rr,-c'y, ^sha- 
 math, n. sin connnitted against a negative | recejit ; 
 and (3.) hjj;', Shegagah, a sin of ignorance, forget-
 
 SIN 
 
 [857 ] 
 
 SIV 
 
 fulness, omission, or inadvertency. But it is certain 
 that tliese terms are often used interchangeably, and 
 that Scripture seldom observes such a distinction. It 
 often calls very great sins by the name of ignorance, 
 or folly ; and at other times gives the name of sin to 
 faults of inadvertency. 
 
 Sin often denotQS the sacrifice of expiation, or the 
 sacrifice for sin — the sin-ofiering. Lev. iv. 3, 25, 29 ; 
 V. (') ; vii. 2 ; Ps. xl. G ; Rom. viii. 3. Paul says, for 
 example, that God was pleased that Jesus, who knew 
 no sin, should be our victim of expiation : " for he 
 hath made him to be sin [a sin-oficring: sin, by 
 analogy of ideas] for us, who knew no sin ; that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in him," 2 
 Cor. V. 21. In conformity with this idea, some, for 
 sin lieth at the door, (Gen. iv. 7.) read, thou shouldest 
 lay a sin-oflering. 
 
 God was not the author of sin, or of death, the 
 consequence of sin ; but sin and death entered the 
 world by "the malice of the devil, Wisd. i. 13, 14 ; ii. 
 24. Adam, by his disobedience, rendered all his pos- 
 terity depraved, guiltj' before God : his sin involved 
 them all in death ; through him we are born children 
 of iniquity, and are inclined to evil from the womb, 
 1 Cor. XV. 31, 22 ; Rom. v. 12 ; vi. 23 ; Ps. Ii. 5 ; Rom. 
 iii. 23; Gen. viii. 21. Our Saviour, by his death, has 
 recovered life for us ; his obedience has reconciled 
 us to God ; and he has merited for us the character 
 of children of God. 
 
 TuE SIX AGAINST THE HoLT Ghost is differently 
 explained by the fathers and interpreters. We be- 
 lieve Athanasiustohave been the nearest to the truth. 
 He thinks tliis sin was chargeable on the Pharisees, 
 because ihcy nuiUciously inifjuted the ^vorks of Christ 
 to the power of the devil, though they could not but 
 be convinced in their own minds, that tliey were 
 effected Iw a good spirit. This also involved a denial 
 of the divinity of the Son, which was clearly proved 
 by his works, works performed by the divine power 
 of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 SINAI, a mountain in Arabia Petrea, in tlie penin- 
 sula formed by the two northern arms of the Red 
 sea, and rendered memorable as the spot where the 
 law was given to Israel by the hand of Moses, Exod. 
 xix. (fcc. There is considerable difliculty in determin- 
 ing the particular sj)ot honored by the Deity for the 
 promulgation of his will to his chosen people, and 
 distinguished in the sacred writings as mount Sinai. 
 According to Burckhardt, Sinai is a prodigious pile of 
 mountains, com})rehending many separate peaks, and 
 extending thirty or forty miles in diameter. A peak 
 in this mountain group, called Djebcl Mousa, tlio 
 mount of Moses, is pointed cut by tradition as the 
 scene of the wonderful occurrences recorded in 
 Exod. XX. and a higher elevation, separated from it 
 by a deep cleft, and called mount St. Catherine, from 
 a ridicidous legend relative to the miraculous inter- 
 ment, on its summit, of tli ; saint bearing this name, 
 is considered to be the mo'.nitain called lloreb, and 
 which is frequently spoken oCas belonging to the same 
 aggregation of mountains as Sinai. (Comp. Deut. v. ; 
 Exod. XX.) ]Mr. Conder (Mod. Trav. Arabia, p. 144, 
 seq. Amer. ed.) has carefully examined and com- 
 pared the accounts of Burckhardt and other writers 
 with the Scripture referenoes to Sinai ami lloreb, 
 but without arriving at any satisiiictory result. (For 
 a full account of Sinai, see Exodus, p. 412, seq.) 
 
 SINCERITY, truth and uprightness; an agree- 
 ment of the heart and tongue. Sincerity is opposed 
 to double mindedness, or deceit, when tlie senti- 
 ments of the heart are contrary to the language of the 
 108 
 
 hps. The Latin word sincenis is derived from sine 
 anil sera, without wax ; honey separated from the 
 wax ; that is, perfectly pure honey. In Scripture 
 sincere signifies pure, Avithout mixture. Paid (Phil, 
 i. 10.) would have the Philippians to be pure, their 
 behavior innocent, free from offence, " That ye may 
 be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ." 
 And*Peter (2 Epist. iii. 1.) exhorts the pure, sincere 
 mind of the faidiful. Paid sjjcaks (1 Cor, v. 8.) of 
 sincerity and truth, or of purity and truth, in opposi- 
 tion to the leavened bread of iniquity. He reproaches 
 the false apostles with not jireaching Jesus Christ 
 sincerely, purely, with upright and disinterested 
 sentiments, Phil. i. 15. 
 
 SINITE, the descendants of the eighth son of Ca- 
 naan, who dwelt in the region of mount Lebanon, 
 Gen. X. 17. 
 
 I. SION, a name given (Deut. iv. 48.) to one of the 
 elevations of the mountain-ridge called Hermon, 
 which see. 
 
 II. SION, the name of one of the mountains on 
 which the city of Jerusalem was built, and on which 
 the citadel of the Jebusites stood when David took 
 possession of it, and transferred his court thither 
 from Hebron, wlience it is frequently called the city 
 of David ; and from his having deposited the ark 
 here, it is also frequently called " the holy hill." (See 
 Jerusalem.) When Dr. Richardson visited this 
 spot, one part of it supported a crop of barley, and 
 another was undergoing the labor of the i)lougli, in 
 which circumstance we have another remarkable in- 
 stance of the fulfilment of propliecj' — "Therefore 
 shall Zion for your sakes be ploughed as a field, and 
 Jerusalem shall become heaps," Mic. iii. 12. 
 
 SIRION, see Hermon. 
 
 SISERA, a general in the army of Jabin, king of 
 Ilazor, (Judg, iv. 2.) was sent by his master against 
 Barak and Deborah, who occupied mount Tabor 
 with an amiy. He marched with 900 chariots 
 armed with scythes, and a gi-eat number of infantry ; 
 but, entangling himself among broken ground, was 
 attacked by Barak, at the head of 10,000 men, and 
 entirely routed. Sisera himself fled on foot towards 
 Ilarosheth of the Gentiles. Approaching the tent of 
 Heber, the Kenite, Jael, wife of Hrber, desired him 
 to entei-, and hide himself; but while he was asleep, 
 she drove a tent nail through his temples with a ham- 
 mer, and fastened him to the ground. See Jafl. 
 
 SISTER. In the style of the Hebrews, sister has 
 equal latitude with brother. It is used, not only for 
 a sister by natural relation, from the same father and 
 mother, but also for a sister by the same father only, 
 or by the same mother cnlj^, or a near relation only. 
 Matt. xiii. 5G; Mark vi. 3." S;u-al) is called sister to 
 Abraham, (Gen. xii. 13; xx. 12.) tliougli only his 
 niece, according to some, or sister by the father's 
 side, according to others. In Leviticus, (chap, xviii. 
 18.) it is forbidden to wed the sister of a wife ; i. e. to 
 marry two sisters ; or, according to some inter]n'eters, 
 to marry a second wife, having one already. Literally, 
 "Thou shalt not take a wife over her sister to afilict 
 her ; " as if to forbid polygamy. Sometimes the word 
 sister ex|)repses a resemblance of conditions and of 
 inclinations* Thus the projihets call Jerusalem the 
 sister of Sodom, and of Samaria, because that city de- 
 lighted in the imitation of their idolatry and iniquity, 
 Jer. iii. 8, 10 ; Ezek. xvi. 45. So Christ describes 
 those who keep his commandments as his brothers 
 and his sisters. Matt. xii. 50. 
 
 SITTING, see Bed, and Eating. 
 
 SIVAN, the na.ne of a Hebrew month ; the third
 
 SLA 
 
 [ 858 
 
 SLI 
 
 of the holy year ; the nhith of the civil year, Bai-ucli 
 i. 8. See Jewish Calendar, infra. 
 
 SLANDER, an evil report not justly founded ; or 
 a rumor without authority, to the disadvantage of 
 another. This is a much gi-eater sin, and more op- 
 posed to the true charities of Christianity, than many, 
 to judge by their unregulated discourses, seem to be 
 awai'e of. (Compare Scandal.) 
 
 SLAVERY, compulsory servitude. To punish 
 he indignity i-eceived from his son Ham, Noah fore- 
 told the slavery of his descendants. Gen. ix. 25. The 
 descendants of Abraham always valued themselves 
 on then- liberty. " We have never been servants to 
 any," said the Jews, John viii. 33. And Paul magni- 
 fies the liberty of the true children of Abraham, as 
 being really free, born of a free mother, in opposition 
 to the race of Ishmael, born of a mother who was a 
 slave. Gal. iv. 31. The Hebrews have, however, 
 been sulyect to several princes ; to the Egj'ptians, the 
 Philistines, the Chaldeans, the Grecians, and the 
 Romans. But tiiis is not slavery, in the strict sense 
 of the word. 
 
 Moses notices two or three sorts of slaves among 
 the Hebrews ; who had foreign slaves, obtained by 
 captui-e, by purchase, or boi-n in the house. Over 
 these, masters had an entire authority ; thoy might 
 sell them, exchange them, punisli them, judge them, 
 and even put them to death, without public pi'ocess. 
 In which the Hebrews followed the rules common 
 to other nations. 
 
 In Exodus xxi. Moses -enacts regulations concei-n- 
 ing Hebrew slaves: " If thou buy a Hebrew servant, 
 six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall 
 go out free for nothing." He adds, " He shall have 
 at going out the same clothes he had at coming in, 
 and his wife shall go out with him." The Hebrew 
 has it, " If he come in by himself [with his body] he 
 shall go out by himself; if he were married, then his 
 wife shall go out with him. If his master have given 
 him a wife, and she hath borne him sons or daugh- 
 ters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, 
 and he shall go out by himself" [with his Ijody.] 
 " If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, 
 my wife, and my children, I will not go out ^ree ; 
 then his master shall bring him unto the judges [Heb. 
 gods] ; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto 
 the door-post, [of his master's house,] and his master 
 shall bore his ear througli with an awl, and he sliall 
 serve him for ev'er ; " (Deut. xv. 17.) according to the 
 commentators, till tlie j^ear of jubilee ; for then all 
 slaves, without exception, recovered their liberty. 
 The rabbins add, that slaves were set free also at the 
 death of their masters, and did not descend to their 
 heirs. 
 
 "If a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, 
 [or a slave,] she shall not go out as the men-servants 
 do," Exod. xxi. 7. The laws just mentioned do not 
 concern her. There is another kind of jurisprudence 
 for Hebrew girls, than for men or boys. A father 
 could not sell his daughter for a slave, according to 
 the ral)bins, till she was at the age of puberty, and 
 unless he were reduced to the utuiost indigence. 
 Bt'sides, when a mnstor liouglit an Israelite girl, it 
 » was always svith pr('Suuii)tion that he, or his son, 
 would take her to wife. Hence Moses adds, " If she 
 plcaso not her master," and he does not think fit to 
 marry her, he shall set her at liberty ; or, according 
 to the Hebrew, "Ho shall let her be redeemed. To 
 sell her into a strange nation he sliall have no power, 
 i^seeiug he hath dealt deceitfully with her," as to the 
 ', Spngagcmcnt iiii])ricd, at Hast, of taking In r to wife. 
 
 " If he hath betrothed her unto his sou, he shall deal 
 with her after the manner of daughters," Exod. xxi. 
 9, 10. He shall take care that his son uses her as 
 his wife, that he does not despise or maltreat her. If 
 he make his son marry another wife, he shall give 
 her her dowry, her clothes, and compensation for 
 her virginity ; or, accoi'ding to the Hebrew, " If he 
 make his son marry another wife, he shall not dimin- 
 ish the clothes, the maintenance, or the habitation of 
 the former;" intending, it is thought, that the master 
 who bought her, and made his son marry her, if his 
 son njarries a second wife, he shall take care that he 
 treats this first woman as his wife ; that he allow her 
 food and raiment, and perform the duties of mar- 
 riage to her as to his true wife ; if he do not, "then 
 shall she go out free without money." If the father 
 of a family who had bought an Israelite maid did not 
 marry her, nor make his son marry her ; or if he 
 would dismiss her after he had kept her for some 
 time, he was bound to find her a husband, or to sell 
 her to another Hebrew master, on the same condi- 
 tions that he had taken her himself; giving her a 
 portion, her clothes, and the price of her virginity, 
 agreeable to custom, or as regulated by the judges. 
 
 A Hebrew might fall into slavery several waj'S : 
 (1.) If reduced to extreme poverty, he might sell him- 
 self, Lev. XXV. 39. (2.) A father might sell his chil- 
 dren as slaves, Exod. xxi. 7. (3.) Insolvent debtors 
 might be delivered to their creditors as slaves, 2 
 Kiugs iv. 1. (4.) Thieves not able to make restitu- 
 tion for their thefts, or the value, were sold for the 
 benefit of the sufterers, Exod. xxii. 3. (5.) They 
 might be taken prisoners in war. (G.) They might 
 be stolen, and afterwards sold for slaves, as Joseph 
 was sold by his brethren. (7.) A Hebrew slave 
 redeemed from a Gentile by one of his bi'ethren, 
 might be sold by him to another Israelite. 
 
 VVhen Samuel declares to the Hebrews the rights 
 and prerogatives of a king, (1 Sam. viii. 16, 17.) he 
 says, " He shall take your slaves, and your maids, 
 anti you yourselves shall be subject to him as slaves." 
 And Goliatli says to the Israelites, (1 Sam. xvii. 8, 9.) 
 "Am not I a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? 
 Choose you a man for you, and let hiu) come down 
 to me. And if he be able to fight with me, and kill 
 me, then \\\\\ we be jour servants. But if I prevail 
 against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our ser- 
 vants, and serve us." See Servant. 
 
 SLEEP, SLEEPING, SLUMBERING, is taken 
 (1.) for the natural sleep or repose of the body ; (2.) 
 for the moral sleep of the soul ; supineness, indo- 
 lence, stupidity ; (3.) for the sleep of death. (See 
 Jer. li. .39 ; Dan. xii. 2 ; John xi. 11 ; Ephes. v. 14; 
 2 Pet. ii.3: Prov. xxiii. 21. 
 
 SLIME, (Gen. xi. 3.) a bituminous production, 
 procured from pits in the earth, out of which it 
 issues, oftrn in considerable quantities. (See Bitu- 
 men.) Slime pits were jjits yielding bitumen. 
 
 SLING, an instrument of cords, used to throw 
 stoiu's by the arm, with violence ; the invention of 
 which is ascribed to the Phenicians, or to the inhab- 
 itants of the islands Baleares, now called IMajorca and 
 Minorca. The Hebrews made great use of the sling, 
 Judg. XX. 16 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 49 ; 1 Chron. xii. 2 ; 2 
 Chron. xxvi. 14. 
 
 There is a remarkable simile employed by the 
 roj^al sage, in Prov. xxvi. 8, "As he who bindeth a 
 stone in a sHug, so is he who giveth honor to a fool ;" 
 i. e. he counteracts his own intention. But tlie mar- 
 gin reads, perha|)s, more correctly, " As he who put- 
 teth a precious stone among a heap of atones," that
 
 so 
 
 [ c'Sl) ] 
 
 SOD 
 
 is, pebl)le* ; §o is honor completely overwhelmed by 
 base coiupaiiions, if" given to a fool. 
 
 SMELL. Jacob said to his sons, after the slaughter 
 of tiie Sheeheniites, (Gen. xxxiv. 30.) "Ye have 
 troubled me, to make me to stink among the inhabit- 
 ants of tlie land " — Ye ha^e given me an ill scent, or 
 snieil, among this peo])le. The Israelites in a simi- 
 lar manner complained to Moses and Aaron, (Exod. 
 v. 2L) " The Lord look upon yon, and judge, be- 
 cause you liave made our savor to be abhorred in 
 the eyes of Pharaoli, and in the eyes of his servants." 
 This manner of speaking occurs frequently in the 
 Hebrew. In a contrary sense, Paul says, (2 Cor. ii. 
 15, IG.) " \Yc are inito God a sweet savor of Christ, 
 in them that are saved, and in them that ])erish ; to 
 the one we are the savor of death unto death, and 
 to the other the savor of life unto life." 
 
 In the sacrifices of the old law, the smell of the 
 burnt-oft'erings is represented in Scripture as agreea- 
 ble to God : (Gen. viii. 21.) " And thou slialt burn 
 the whole ram upon the altar ; it is a burnt-offering 
 unto the Lord ; it is a sweet savor, an ofleringjnade 
 by tire unto the Lord." The same thing, by analogy, 
 is said of prayer: (I's. cxli. 2.) " Let my prayer ha 
 set forth before thee as incense ; and the lifting up of 
 my bunds, as the evening sacrifice." And John, in 
 allusion to this service of the Old Testament, repre- 
 sents the twenty-four elders with " golden vials full 
 of odors, which are the prayers of tlie saints," 
 Rev. v. 8. 
 
 SMITE, to strike. The word is often used for to 
 kill. Thus, David smote the Philistine ; i. e. he killed 
 Goliatii. The Lord smote Nabal and LJzziah ; he put 
 tliem to death. To smite an army, is to conquer it, 
 to rout it entirely. To smite witii the tongue, is to 
 load with injuries and reproaches, with scandalous 
 reflections. To smite the thigh, denotes indignation, 
 trouble, astonishment, Jer. xxxi. 19. 
 
 SMY'RNA, a city of Ionia, in Asia Minor, situated 
 on tlie Archipelago, and having a fine harbor. Our 
 Lord, by the mouth of John, addresses the angel or 
 bishop of Smyrna, (Rev. ii. 8 — 10.) who is thought to 
 have been Polycarp, the martyr, who was put to 
 death, A. D. 166. Smyrna is still a place of great 
 consideration, having a great foreign trade, and a 
 population of about 140,000. 
 
 SNOW, being extremely white, forms a frequent 
 object of comparison in Scriptm-e, Exod. iv. 6 ; 
 Numb. xii. 10 ; 2 Kings v. 27. Snow is enume- 
 rated among the stores in the treasury of God, 
 his atmospherical meteors, &c. The expression in 
 Prov. XXV. 15, " As the cold of snow in the time of 
 harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them who send 
 him ; for he rcfresheth the soul of his masters," seems 
 to refer to tlie cooling effect of snoAV on the wines 
 drank in the East ; or to what in Italy is termed 
 alfresco, that is, snow put into \vatcr to cool it, pre- 
 vious to its l)eing drank, whicii is esteemed ex- 
 tremely rcfreshmg. This removes the apparent 
 contradiction of this passage with chap. xxvi. 1. 
 As snow, that is, a fall of snow, in summer, is 
 nnnatural, and ill-timed, so honor is not seemly 
 for a fool ; but it is quite out of character, out of 
 season. 
 
 SO, king of Egypt, made an alliance with Hoshea, 
 king of Israel, and promised him assistance, yet gave 
 none, nor prevented Slialmaneser king of Assyria 
 from taking .Samaria, and subverting the kingdom, 
 2 Kings xvii. 4. 
 
 Usher and Mai-sham think So to be Sabacon,king 
 of Ethiooia. who is taken for the first king of the dy- 
 
 nasty of Ethiopians in Egjpt, and who, according to 
 Usher, began to reign A. M, 3277, having taken and 
 burnt alive Bocchoris king of this country. He reigned 
 eiglit years, and had for his successor Sevechus, whom 
 Usher thinks to be the Sethon of Herodotus, lib. ii. 
 cap. 141. [But see the article Egypt, p. 373; and 
 also under Pharaoh. R. 
 
 SOAP, or Fuller's Soap, named in Hebrew 
 borith, signifying the cleanser, is by some supposed to 
 be a salt, extracted from the earth, called by the Arabs 
 bora. But others prefer a vegetable, in accordance 
 with the LXX, who render .roia^ or tow, an herb. 
 The ancients certainly emjdoyed vegetables, and the 
 salt extracted from them, lor the purpose of washing 
 linen. Dioscorides and Pliny mention the struthion 
 as so employed, and the Persians use this plant as 
 soap. The kali, soda, salsola kali, or barilla, is called 
 in the London Pharmacopoeia, natron ; and there 
 seems to be sufKcient reason to consider it as the 
 borith-p\ant of Jeremiah, (ii. 22.) at least it is the best 
 known to us of those plants which possess the prop- 
 erty of cleansing, either by themselves or their salts. 
 In its wild state it rises about a foot in height ; the 
 leaves are long, nairow and prickly, the flowers 
 whitish or rose-color. It is found on the sea-shore, 
 and is considered as a sea-weed. The best, burned 
 into a hard mass of salt, comes fi-om Alicant in Spain. 
 Combined with fat, it forms soap, the cleansing vir- 
 tues of which are well known in everv familv, Jer. ii. 
 22 ; Mai. iii. 2. 
 
 SOBRIETY is commonly taken tor the opposite 
 to intemperance ; sometimes also for moderation, 
 modesty, and that virtue which chooses the golden 
 mean, Rom. xii. 3. Paul (1 Tim. ii. 9.) would have 
 women dress themselves "in modest apparel, v^ith 
 shame-facedness and sobriety," as decency requu-es. 
 The word sobriety is also taken for vigilance in 1 Tim. 
 iii. 2, " A bishop must be vigilant, sober," prudent, 
 moderate. We have, however, no English w^ord that 
 pro])erly exjiresses the whole meaning of the tenn 
 rendered sober. It imports steadiness of mind, prr- 
 dence, the poAver of forming a just estimate of things: 
 a sense of what is becoming ; which dificrs, accord- 
 ing to time, place and circumstances ; together with 
 a suitable behavior and conduct. 
 
 SOCOH, or SH0C0H,a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 35 ; 
 1 Sam. xvii. 1.) which Rehoboam afterwards forti- 
 fied, 2 Chron. xi. 7. Eusebius says, there were two 
 cities of this name, the higher and the lower, nine 
 miles from Eleutheropolis toward Jerusalem. It is 
 also the name of a man, 1 Chron. iv. 18. 
 
 SODOM, the capital city of the Pentapolis ; and 
 for some time the dwelling-place of Lot, Gen. xiii. 
 12, 13. Its crim-^s, however, were so enormous, that 
 God destroyed it by fire from heaven, with three 
 neidiboring cities, Gomorrha, Zeboim and Admah ; 
 which were as wicked as itself. Gen. xix. A. 31. 2107. 
 The plain in which they stood was pleasant and 
 fruitful, like an earthly paradise, but it was first 
 burned, and afterwards "ovei-flowed by the waters of 
 the Jordan, which formed the present Dead sea, or 
 lake of Sodom. The jjrophets mention the destruc- 
 tion of Sodom and Gomorrha, or allude to it, and in- 
 timate, that these places shall be desert, and dried up, 
 and uninhabited ;( Jer. xlix. 18 ; 1. 38.) that they shall 
 be covered with briei-s and brambles, a land of salt 
 and sulphur, where can be neither planting nor sow- 
 inir. Dent. xxix. 22; Wisd. ii. 9; Amos ^v- U- 
 Throughout Scripture the ruin of Sodom and Go- 
 morrha is represented as one of the most signal 
 effects of God's anger. See Sea, Dead.
 
 SOLOMON 
 
 [ 8G0 
 
 SOLOMON 
 
 SOLOMON, sou of David and Bathsheba, was 
 born A. M. 2971, ante A. D. 1033. The Lord loved 
 him, and sent the prophet Nathan to give him the 
 name of Jedidiah, that is, Beloved of the Lord, 2 Sam. 
 xii. 24, 25. David gave him an education propor- 
 tionate to the gi'eat designs for which God had or- 
 dained him ; and on Adonijah's assumption of power 
 (see Adonijah) he was anointed king, inaugurated 
 amid the acclamations of the people, and placed on 
 the throne. David's death being at hand, he earnest- 
 ly i-ecommended to Solomon a strict fidelity and piety 
 towards God ; the punishment of Joab and Shimei ; 
 but a favorable regard to Barzillai, who had succored 
 him in his distress. He put into his hands plans for 
 building the temple with many regulations civil and 
 sacred ; and in a general assembly of the people, and 
 of the great men, he delivered to him his gold, silver 
 and valuable materials, collected for building the 
 temple, and exhorted all present to make each an 
 offering to the Lord, according to his abilities. 
 
 From this time Solomon entered on full possession 
 of tlie kingdom. His first act of importance was to 
 put his brother Adonijah to death, on account of his 
 having intrigued to obtain the throne. He also ban- 
 ished the high-priest Abiathar to his country-house, 
 because he had been of Adonijah's party, and put 
 Joab to death. 
 
 Being confirmed in his kingdom, Solomon con- 
 tracted an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and 
 married his daughter, whom he brought to Jerusalem. 
 He appointed her apartments in the city of David, 
 till he should build her a palace, which he did some 
 years afterwards, when he had finished the temple. 
 It is thought, that on occasion of this marriage, Solo- 
 mon composed the Canticles, which are a kind of 
 epithalamium, and also Psalm xlv. Scripture speaks 
 of the daughter of Pharaoh, as contributing to per- 
 vert Solomon to idolatry, 1 Kings xi. 1, 2 ; Neh. xiii. 
 26. Having presented a thousand burnt-offerings to 
 the Lord, at Gibeon, God appeared to him in a dream, 
 and said, " Ask of me what you desire." Solomon 
 besought to have a wise and understanding heart, and 
 such qualities as were necessary for the government 
 of the people committed to him. This request was 
 agreealile to the Lord, and was fully granted. He 
 enjoyed a profound peace throughout his dominions; 
 Judah and Israel lived in security ; and his neighbors 
 either paid him tribute, or were his allies. He ruled 
 over all the countries and kingdoms, from the Eu- 
 phrates to the Nile, and his dominions extended even 
 beyond the Euphrates. He had abundance of horses 
 and chariots of war. He exceeded the orientals and 
 the Egyptians in wisdom and prudence ; he was the 
 wisest of mankind, and his reputation spread through 
 all nations. He composed, or collected, three thou- 
 sand proverbs, and one thousand and five canticles. 
 He was acquainted with the nature of plants and 
 trees, from the cedar on Lebanon to the hyssop on 
 the wall ; also of beasts, of birds, of reptiles, of fishes. 
 There was a concourse of strangers from all coun- 
 tries to hear his wisdom, and ambassadors from the 
 most remote princes. He made gold and silver as 
 common in Jerusalem as stones in tjie street, and 
 cedars as plentifid as the sycamores in the valley. 
 
 Hiram, king of Tyre, sent ambassadors to congrat- 
 ulate his accession to the crown, and subsequently 
 assisted him in building a temple to the Lord, which 
 was comj)leted in seven years. There were em- 
 ployed in this great work, 70,000 proselytes, de- 
 scendants of the ancient Canaanites, in carrying bur- 
 dens ; ^'0,000 in cutting stones out of the quarries; 
 
 and 3600 overseers of the works ; besides 30,000 Is- 
 raehtes in the quarries of Libanus. It was dedicated 
 A. M. 3001, and to render the ceremony the more au- 
 gust, Solomon appointed the eighth day of the seventh 
 month of the holy year, and the first of the civil year. 
 The ceremony continued for seven days, at the end 
 of which the Feast of Tabernacles commenced, and 
 continued seven days longer ; so that the i)eople con- 
 tinued at Jerusalem fourteen or fifteen days, from the 
 eighth to the twenty-second of the seventh month. 
 
 When the ark was placed in the sanctuary, while 
 the priests and Levites were celebrating the j)raises 
 of the Lord, the temple was filled with a miraculous 
 cloud; so that the priests could no longer continue 
 there, nor jierform the functions of their ministry. 
 Solomon prostrated himself on liis throne with his 
 face to the ground ; and then, rising up, and turning 
 toward the sanctuary, he addressed his prayer to God, 
 and besought him, that the house which he had built 
 might be acceptable to him ; that he would bless and 
 sanctify it, and liear the prayers of those who should 
 entreat him from this holy place. He besought him 
 also to fulfil the promises he had made to David his 
 servant, in tavor of his family, and of the kings his 
 successors, and then turning himself to the people, he 
 blessed them. Fire coming down from heaven, con- 
 sumed the victims and burnt-sacrifices on the altar, 
 and the glory of the Lord filled the whole temple. 
 On this occasion there were sacrificed 22,000 oxen 
 and 120,000 sheep for peace-offerings; and the altar 
 of burnt-offerings not being suflicient for all these 
 victims, the court of the people was consecrated for 
 the purpose. The Lord -appeared a second time to 
 Solomon in a dream; probably in the night that fol- 
 lowed the first day of the dedication, assured him that 
 he had lieard his prayer, and chosen the temple to 
 be his house of sacrifice. He also promised to bless 
 him and his posterity, if they were constant in his 
 worship ; if not, to piuiish them, and destroy the 
 sacred edifice. 
 
 Solomon afterwards built a sumptuous palace for 
 himself, and another for his queen. He also built 
 the walls of Jerusalem, and the place called Millo, in 
 the city ; repaired and fortifi.ed Huzcr, Megiddo, 
 Gezer, the two Beth-horons, upper and lower, and 
 Baalath, and Palmyra, in the desert of Syria. He 
 also fortified the cities where he had magazines of 
 corn, wine and oil, and those where his chariots 
 and horses were kept. He brought under his gov- 
 ernment the Hittites, the Hivites, the Amorites and 
 the Perizzites, which remaiiied in the land of Israel, 
 and made tlieni tributaries and laborers on the pub- 
 lic works. 
 
 Solomon also extended the commerce of the coun- 
 try, and imported largely of foreign produce. He 
 fitted out a fleet at Ezion-gebcr, and at Elath, on the 
 Red sen, and in conjunction with Hiram, king of 
 Tyre, who furnished him mariners, traded to Ophir 
 for ivory, ebony, precious wood, peacocks, apes, and 
 other cmiosities. His annual revenues were &jQ 
 talents of gold, without reckoning the tributes from 
 kings and nations, or those paid l)y Israelites. 
 The bucklers of his guards, and the throne ho sat on, 
 were overlaid with gold ; and all the vessels of his 
 table, and the utensils of his palaces, were of the same 
 material. From all parts he received presents, ves- 
 sels of gold and silver, precious stuffs, spices, arms, 
 horses and nndes ; the whole earth clesiring to sec 
 his face, and to hear the wisdom which Godhad put 
 into his heart. 
 
 The later actions of his life, however, inflicted a
 
 SON 
 
 [861 ] 
 
 SOU 
 
 deep disgrace on his cnaiacter. He took wives and 
 conciibinos, to tlie iiiunber of 1000, from among the 
 Moabites, Ammonites, Idnmeans, Sidonians and liit- 
 tites, who j)erverted liis heart, so that ho worshipped 
 Ashtoreth of the Sidonians, Moloch of tlie Anunon- 
 itcs, and Chemo.sh of the Moabites, to whom he biiih 
 temples on the mount of Olives. These sins i^roiiglit 
 on him the judgments of the Lord, who said to him 
 in a dream, " Since yon have not ke{)t my covenant, 
 nor obeyed my commandments, J will rend and di- 
 vide your kingdom, and will give it to one of your 
 servants." IJeibre his death, he saw the commence- 
 ment of revolt, in the troubles raised by Jeroboam, 
 and lladad the Idmnean. He died, after he had 
 reigned tbrty years, (A. M. 3029, ante A. D. 975,) at 
 about 58 years of age. His history was written by 
 the prophets Nathan, Ahijah and Iddo ; and he was 
 buried in the city of David. Rehoboam his son 
 reigned in his stead, but not over all Israel. See 
 Rehoboam. 
 
 Of all the worlvs composed by Solomon, we liave 
 noUiing remaining but his Proverbs, Ecclesiastcs, and 
 the Canticles. Some have ascribed to him the book 
 of Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus. (See the articles.) 
 The Jews think he was the author of Psalm Ixxii. 
 " (live the king tiiy judgments, O God, and thy 
 righteousness unto the king's son," &c. And Psahn 
 c.wvii. " Except the Lord buiid the house," &c. 
 
 S0L03I0N'S SONG, see Canticles. 
 
 SUN, a word used in several senses, both in the 
 Old and New Testaments. It denotes (1.) the imme- 
 diate ()fF8i)rh!g. (2.) Grandson : so Labau is called 
 son of Nahor, (Gen. xxix. 5.) whereas he was his 
 grandson, being the son of Betluiel : (Gen. xxiv. 29.) 
 Mephiboshetli is called son of Saul, though he was 
 the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, 2 Sam. xix. 24. 
 (3.) Remote descendants: so we have the sons of Is- 
 rael, many ages after the primitive ancestor. (4.) Son- 
 in-law : — There is a son born to Naomi, Ruth iv. 17. 
 (5.) Son by adoption, as Ephraim and Manasseh, to 
 Jacob, Gen. xlviii. (See Adoption.) (6.) Son by na- 
 tion ; sons of the East, 1 Kings iv. 30 ; Job i. 3. (7.) 
 Son by education ; that is, a disciple ; Eli calls Sam- 
 uel his son, 1 Sam. iii. G. Solomon calls his disciple 
 his son, in the Provcriis, often ; and v»'e read of the 
 sons of the prophets, (1 Kings xx. 35, et al.) that is, 
 those under a course of instruction for ministerial 
 service. In nearlv tlie same sense a convert is called 
 son, 1 Tun. i. 2 ; Titus i. 4 ; Philem. 10; 1 Cor. iv. 
 15 ; 1 Pet. V. 13. (8.) Son by disposition and con- 
 duct, as sons of Belial, (Judg. xix. 22 ; 1 Sam. ii. 12.) 
 unrestrainable persons ; sons of the niighty, (Ps. 
 xxix. 1.) heroes; sons of the band, (2 Chron. xxv. 13.) 
 soldiers rank and file ; sons of the sorceress, who 
 stuiiy or practise sorcery, Isa. Ivii. 3. (9.) Son in 
 reference to age ; son of one year, (Exod. xii. 5.) that 
 is, one year old ; son of sixty years, &c. The sami; 
 in rafcrence to a beast, Micaii vi. (!. (10.) A produc- 
 tion, or offspring, as it were, from an}^ |)arent ; sons 
 of the burniug coal, that is, s|)arks, which issue from 
 burning wood. Job v. 7. Son of the bow, that is, an 
 arrow, (Job iv. 19.) because an ari*ow issues from a 
 bow ; but an arrow may also issue from a quiver, 
 therefore son of the quiver. Lam. iii. 13. Son of the 
 floor, thrashed corn, Isa. xxi. 10. Sons of oil, (Zech. 
 iii. 14.) the branches of the olive-tree. (11.) Son of 
 beating, that is, deserving beating. Dent. xxv. 3. Son 
 of death ; that is, desei-ving death, 2 Sam. xii. 3. Son 
 of perdition : th.at is, deserving perdition, John xvii. 
 12. (12.) Son of God, by excellence above all : Je- 
 sus the Son of God. Mark i. 1 ; Luke i. 15 ; John i. 
 
 34 ; Rom. i. 4 ; Heb. iv. 14 ; Rev. ii. 18. The only- 
 begotten ; and in this he differs from Adam, who was 
 son of God, by immediate creation, Luke iii. 18. 
 (13.) Sous of God, the angels, (Job i. G ; xxxviii. 7.) 
 perhaps so called in respect to their possessing |)ower 
 deli'gated from God ; his deputies, his vicegerents, 
 and in that sense among others his offspring. (14.) 
 Genuine Christians, truly pious persons ; perhajjs 
 also so called in reference to their possession of ])rin- 
 ciples comnuH)icated from God by the Holy Sphit, 
 which, correcting every evil bias, and subduing every 
 perverse propensity, gi-adually assimilates the party 
 to the tenqjer, disposition and conduct, called the 
 imago, likeness or resemblance of God. Believers 
 are sons of God. (See John i. 12 ; Phil. ii. 15 ; 
 Rom. viii. 14 ; 1 John iii. 1.) (15.) Sous of this 
 world (Luke xvi. 8.) are those who by their over- 
 weening attention to the things of this world, demon- 
 strate their jn-inciples to be derived from the world ; 
 that is, worldly-minded persons. Sons of disobedi- 
 ence (Eph. ii. 2 ; v. G.) are persons whose conduct 
 proves that they are sons of Belial, of unrestrainable- 
 ness, sons of libertinism. Sons of hell. Matt, xxiii. 5. 
 Sons of the devil. Acts xiii. 10. 
 
 In addition to these senses in which the word sou 
 is used in Scripture, there are others, which show 
 the extreme looseness of its application. So, when 
 we read of sons of the bride-chamber, (Matt. ix. 15 ; 
 Mark ii. 19.) it merely indicates the youthful compan- 
 ions of the bridegroom, as in the instance of Samson. 
 And when the Holy Mother was committed to the 
 care of the apostle John, (John xix. 3G.) the term soa 
 is evideutlv used w ith ereat latitude. 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON, see Canticles. 
 
 SOOTHSAYER, see Divination, and Magic. 
 
 SORCERER, see Divination, and Magic. 
 
 I. SOREK, a place where Delilah dwelt, not far 
 from Zorah and Eshtaol, Samson's usual abode, 
 Judg. xvi. 4. 
 
 II. SOREK, Vine of, a finer and nobler species 
 of vine, yielding, according to the rabbins, the small 
 sweet grapes which seem to have no seeds or kernels, 
 and which are still called in Marocco Scrki. The 
 word, however, may signify red grapes. (See Niebuhr 
 Descr. Arab. p. 147. Germ, edit.) The English ver- 
 sion gives the word by choice, noble, &c. Gen. xlix. 
 11; Isa. V. 2; Jer.ii. 21. R. 
 
 SORROW. This jiassion contracts the heart, 
 sinks the spirits, and injures the healtli. Scripture 
 cautions against it, (Prov. xxv. 20 ; Eccles. xiv. 1 — 
 3 ; XXX. 24, 25 ; 1 Tlicss. iv. 13, &c.) but Paul dis- 
 tinguishes two-sorts of sorrow ; one a-godly the other 
 a worldly sorrow. 2 Cor. vii. 10, " Godly sorrow 
 worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented 
 of; but the sorrow of the world wo;kcth death." So, 
 the wis<!man (Eccles. vii. 3.)says that the grave and 
 serious air of a master who rejjrovcs, is more profita- 
 ble than tlie laughter and caresses of those \\ho flat- 
 ter. Our Lord upbraid;'*! that comiterfeit air of sor- 
 row and mortification, whidi the Pharisees affected 
 when they fasted ; and cautioned his disciples against 
 all such affectation, which proposes to gain the ap- 
 probation of men, M.att. vi. IG. 
 
 SOSIPATER, a disciple of Berea, mentioned by 
 Paul, (Rom. xvi. 21.) and who was his kinsman, as 
 some think. 
 
 SOSTHENES, the chief of the synagogue of 
 Corinth, who was beaten by the Gentiles, when the 
 Jews carried Paul before Gallic, the pro-consul, 
 Acts xviii. 17. 
 
 SOUL. This Avord is very equivocal, in the style
 
 SPA 
 
 [ 862 
 
 SPI 
 
 cf the Hebrews. It is taken, (1.) For the soul which 
 animates mankind ; for tliat wliich animates beasts ; 
 or for a living person ; (2.) For the life, Gen. xxxii. 
 30. (3) For desire, love, inclination, Numb. xi. 6. 
 
 When God had formed the body of man out of the 
 dust, {Gen. ii. 7.) he " breathed into his nostrils the 
 breath of life, and man became a living soul," a liv- 
 ing being. This breath of life has been considered 
 by some, as the principle of animal life in man, 
 which, they say, is nothing different from that of 
 beasts. God gives to men and to brutes a breath of 
 life, or a vivifying spirit ; "All flesh in which is the 
 l)reatli of life died ;" (Gen. vi. 17.) all living animals, 
 sentenced to die by the waters of the deluge. This 
 spirit of life God withdraws at his pleasure, and 
 brings all flesh to corruption, says Job, xxxiv. 14, 15. 
 The psalmist, (civ. 29.) speaking of animals, to which 
 God gives existence, says, " Thou takest away their 
 breath, they die and return to their chist." So Solo- 
 mon : (Eccles. xii. 7.) " Then shall the dust return to 
 the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto 
 God vv'lio gave it." And Paul, spealving to the phi- 
 losophers of Athens, says, God " giveth to all life, and 
 !)rcatl!, and all things," Acts xvii. 25. 
 
 But, beside this spirit, which is the principle of an- 
 imal life, common to men and brutes, which is dis- 
 persed after death, there is in man a spiritual, reason- 
 able and immortal soul, the origin of our tlioughts, 
 dcsu-es and reasonings, which distinguishes us from 
 the brute creation, and in wliich chieflj^ consists.our 
 resemblance to God, Gen. i. 26. This must be spir- 
 itual, because it thinks ; it must be immortal, because 
 it is spiritual. And though Scripture ascribes both 
 to man and beast a soul, spirit, or life, it allows to 
 man alone the privilege of understanding, the luiowl- 
 cdge of God, wisdom, immortality, hope of future 
 happiness, and of eternal life. It threatens men, 
 only, with punishment in another life, and with the 
 pains of hell . 
 
 The immortality of the soul is a fundamental doc- 
 trine of revealed religion. The ancient patriarchs 
 lived and died persuaded of this truth ; and it was in 
 the hope of another life that they received the prom- 
 ises. When Balaam desired that his death might be 
 like that of the just, (Numb, xxiii. 10.) he must have 
 meant in the hope and expectation of a hap])y resur- 
 rection. Another decisive proof, that the Israelites 
 believed in the immortality of the soul, is found in 
 their persuasion, tliat the souls of the dead sometimes 
 api)eared after their decease ; as Samuel to Saul, (1 
 Sam. xxviii. 13 — 15.) and Jeremiah to Judas Macca- 
 beus, 2 Mac. XV. 14. When the apostles saw Christ 
 walking on the sea, they took liim for an a[)paritiou ; 
 (Matt. xiv. 2G.) and after his resurrection he referred 
 to this current belief, Luke xxiv. 39. 
 
 The Sadducees, who denied tliis immortality and 
 resurrection, were regarded by their nation as a kind 
 of licretics and innovators. Those of wlicin Solomon 
 expresses the sentiments, (Eccles, iii. If), 20.) were 
 confuted by Solomon himself, who says, (Eccl. xii. 
 7.) "Tlien shall the dust return to the earth as it was, 
 and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." 
 
 SPAIN comprehended in ancient usage the mod- 
 ern kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, i. e. the whole 
 Spanish peninsula. In the time of Paul it was sub- 
 ject to the Romans, and was frequented by many 
 Jews. In Rom. xv. 24, 28, Paul expresses his inten- 
 tion of visiting Spain •, but there is no good evidence 
 that he was ever permitted to fullil bis purpose. R. 
 SPARROW. The Hebrew word tzippor is used 
 not only for a sparrow, but for all sorts of clean birds. 
 
 or such whose use was not forbidden by the law, and 
 especially for the smaller birds ; and in most of the 
 passages where sparrow is read, we may understand 
 a bird of any kind. 
 
 SPIDER, a well-known insect, remarkable for the 
 thread which it spins, and with which it forms a web 
 of curious texture, but so frail that it is exposed to be 
 broken and destroyed by the slightest accident. To 
 the slenderncss of this filmy workmanshiji Job com- 
 pares the hope of the wicked, chap. viii. 14. This, 
 says Mr. Good, was doubtless a proverbial allusion ; 
 and so exquisite, that it is impossible to conceive any 
 figure that can more fully describe the utter vanity of 
 the hopes and prosperity of the wicked. 
 
 " Deceiving bliss! in bitter shame it ends; 
 His prop a cobweb, which an insect rends." 
 
 So Isaiah says, " They weave the web of a spider ; 
 of their webs no garment shall be made ; neither 
 shall they cover themselves with their works," chap, 
 lix. 5. 
 
 The greater part of modern interpreters, among 
 whom are our own translators, suppose this insect to 
 be intended by Solomon in these words, " Tlie spider 
 taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces," 
 Prov. XXX. 28. But the wise man uses a different 
 word from the common name of this creature, (se?na- 
 7nith, and not accahish,) and subjoins a description, 
 which, in one particular, is by no means applicable 
 to it ; for, although several ancient writers have given 
 fingers to the spider, not one has honored her with 
 hands. An ancient poet has accordingly taught hei 
 to say, 
 
 Nulla mihi mauus est, pedibus tameu onmia fiunt. 
 
 Had Solomon intended to describe the spider, i;e 
 would not have merely said, " She taketh hold Avith 
 her hands," but, she spins her thread, and weaves her 
 toils ; circumstances assuredly much more worthy of 
 notice ; nor would he have said that she takes up her 
 abode in kings' palaces, when she moi'c frequently 
 constructs her dwelling in the cabins of the poor 
 where she resides in greater security and freedom. 
 The opinion of the celebrated Bochart, that the newt, 
 a species of small lizard, is meant, seems, in every 
 respect, entitled to the preference. (Hieroz. vol. ii 
 p. 510.) This reptile answers to the description 
 which the royal preacher gives of her form and hab- 
 its, and is, according to the testimony of ancient and 
 modern writers, found to take up its abode in the 
 dwelling-houses, in the East. 
 
 SPIKENARD. Mr. Taylor has given a very fidl 
 account of this plant, in his Fragments, (Nat. Hist. 
 No. 33.) derived from the Dissertations of sir William 
 Jones, and Drs. Blane and Roxburgh. 
 
 The spikenard (Heb. -nj, nerd, or nard,) js a i)lant 
 belonging to the order of gramina, and is of different 
 species. In India, whence the best sort comes, it 
 grows as common grass, in large tufts close to each 
 other, in general from three to four feet in length. 
 So strong is its aroma, which resides principally in 
 the husky roots, that wiien trodden upon, or other- 
 wise liruised, the air is filled with its fragrance. Dr. 
 Blane, who jjlanted some of the roots in his garden, 
 at liUcknow, states, tliat in tlie rainy season it bhot 
 up spikes about six feet high. 
 
 Tlie description of the JVardiciis Indica which is 
 given by Pliny, not exactly corresponding witli the 
 specimen procured by Dr. Blane, this gentleman very
 
 SPIKENARD 
 
 [ 863 
 
 SPI 
 
 reasonaDiy supposes that other plants of an inferior 
 description, and more easily procurable, used to be 
 substituted for it, and that it is of one of these spuri- 
 ous nards that the Roman naturalist speaks. Horace 
 mentions a JVardiis Assyria, and Dioscorides speaks 
 of a JWtrdus Synaca, as a species ditterent from the 
 Indica, which certainly was brought from .some of 
 tlie remote parts of India ; for both Dioscorides and 
 Galen, by way of fixing moi-e precisely the country 
 whence it couies, call it also J^''ardits Gaiigites. 
 
 Tliis plant was iiighly valued among the ancients, 
 both as an article of luxury, and as a medicine. The 
 Unguentum .Yardinum, or ointment manufactured 
 from the nard, was the favorite perfume used at the 
 ancient baths and feasts ; and it appoai-s from a pas- 
 sage in Horace, that it was so valuable, mat so much 
 of it as could be contained in a small box of precious 
 stone was considered a sort of equivalent for a large 
 vessol of wine ; and a handsome cpiota fdr a guest to 
 contribute to an entertainment, according to the cus- 
 tom of antiquity. 
 
 This leads us to notice the narrative of the evan- 
 gelist, of "a woman, having an alabaster box of oint- 
 ment of spikenard, very precious ; and she brake the 
 box and poured it on liis [Christ's] head," Mark xiv. 
 3. In verse 5, this is said to have been worth moi-e 
 than three hundred pence (denarii); and John (ch. 
 xii. 3.) mentions ^^ a. pound of ointment of spikenard, 
 very costly ;" — the houso was filled with the odor of 
 the ointment; — it was worth three hundred pence 
 (denarii.) As this evangelist has determined the 
 quantity, a pound, — and the lowest value (for Mark 
 says more) was nearly forty dollars, we may safely 
 suppose that this was not a Syrian production, or 
 made from any fragi-ant grass growing in the neigh- 
 boring districts ; but was of the ti-uc Indian spike- 
 nard, " very costly." In the answer of our Lord on 
 this occasion, there seems also to be some allusion to 
 the remoteness of the country whence this unguent 
 was brought, " Wheresoever this gospel shall be 
 preached throughout the whole world, this also that 
 she hath done, shall be spoken of for a memorial of 
 her," Mark xiv. 9. As much as to say, " This unguent 
 came fiom a distant country, to be sure, but the gos- 
 pel sliall spread to a niucli greater distance, yea, all 
 over the world ; so that in India itself, whence this 
 composition came, shall the memorial of its ajsplica- 
 tion to my sacred person be mentioned with honor." 
 Tlie idea of a far comitry, connected with the oint- 
 ment, seems to have sucgested that of " all the 
 world." 
 
 In Cant. iv. 13, 14, the spikenard is twice men- 
 tioned in a pectdiar manner : "Cam)ihire with spike- 
 nard, spikenard with saflion." Why should this 
 plant be twice named .' a question to which no satis- 
 factory answer can be given, unless we suppose, with 
 the writer just named, that the fi.rst ?;ar^/ means the 
 Syrian and Arabian jdant, wjiich no doubt was fa- 
 miliar to Solomon, and the second, the Indian nard, 
 true spikenard. If this be adniitted, tlie passage is 
 clear, and it is probable that the latter word merely 
 wants some discriminating epithet, answering to spike, 
 which transcribers,uot understanding, have dro|)ped ; 
 or that a difterent mode of pronunciation distin- 
 guished the names of these two plants when men- 
 tioned in discoin-se. In the printed copies the words 
 are differently l)ointed,and what is still more deserv- 
 inir attention is, that the first word is nardim, plural; 
 whereas the second seems to be put absolutely, nard, 
 or the nard, singular. 
 
 From a si?))ilar use ef this word in the sin<!:ular 
 
 form, in Cant. i. 12, "While the king sittetn at his 
 table, my sjiikenard senrieth forth the smell thereof," 
 Mr. Taylor inchnes tothiidvthat this nard was in the 
 form of an essence, in a small bag, or a number of 
 sprigs of the fragrant grass, worn like a nosegay iu 
 the iiosom of the bride. What seems to strengthen 
 the idea is, that the different perfumes mentioned in 
 connection with it are all flowers in their natural 
 state. 
 
 SPIRIT (Heb. r,n, ruach ; Greek, JTicviiu) is a 
 word employed in various senses in Scripture. (1.) 
 For tlie Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy 
 Trinity, who inspired the prophets, who animates 
 good men, jiours his unction into our hearts, imparts 
 to us life and comfort ; and in whose name we are 
 baptized, as well as in that of the Father and the Son. 
 When the adjective holy is applied to tlie term spirit, 
 we may safely take it as here explained ; but there 
 are many jilaces where it must betaken in this sense, 
 although the term holy is omitted. (2.) Breath, res- 
 piration, animal life, common to men and animals: 
 this God has given, and this he recalls when he 
 takes anay life. Gen. vii. 15 ; Numb. xvi. 22 ; Job xii. 
 10. (3.) The rational soul which animates us, and 
 preserves its being, after the death of the body. 
 That spiritual reasoning and choosing substance, 
 which is capable of eternal happiness. (See Socl.) 
 (4.) An angel, a demon, a soul separate from the body. 
 It is said, (Acts xxiii. 8.) that the Sadducees denied 
 the existence of angels and sphits. Christ, appearing 
 to his disciples, said to them, (Luke xxiv. 30.) " Han- 
 dlenie, and see ; for a spirit laath not flesh and bones, 
 as je see me have." Heb. i. 14, good angels are 
 called ministering spirits. It is said (1 Sam. xvi. 14 ; 
 xviii. 10 ; xix. 9.) that " the evil spirit from God came 
 upon Saul." And in the gospel the devils are often 
 called "unclean spirits, evil spirits, spirits of dark- 
 ness," &CC. (5.) Spirit is sometimes taken for the dis- 
 position of the mind or intellect ; because it was 
 presumed, that the good or evil inclinations of these 
 jiroceeded from good or bad spirits. So, a spirit of 
 jealousj', a spirit of fornication, a spirit of prayer, a 
 spirit of infirmity, a spirit cf wisdom and understand- 
 ing, a spirit of fear of the Lord, &c. Numb. v. 14; 
 Hos. iv. 12; Zech. xii. 10; Luke xiii. 11 ; Eccles. 
 XV. 5 ; Isa. xi. 2. 
 
 DISTI^'GUISHI^'G, or Discernkvg, of spirits, was 
 a gift of God, which consisted in discerning whether 
 a man were really inspired by the Spirit of God, or 
 was a false jn-ophet, an impostor, who only followed 
 the inqiulse of his own spirit, or of Satan. Paul 
 si)eaks (1 Cor. xii. 10.) of the discerning of spirits, as 
 being among the miraculous gifts granted by God to 
 the faithful, at the first settlement of Christianity. 
 And John exhorts lielievers not to believe every 
 s|)irit, but to try the spirits, whether they wei-e of 
 God ; brcausc many false ])rophets had gone out into 
 the world, 1 Kpist. iv. 1. 
 
 To QiENCH THE SpiRiT (1 Thcss. V. 19.) is a met- 
 aphorical expression easily understood. The Si)irit 
 may be quench(-d, (1.) by forcing, as it were, that di- 
 vine agent to withdraw from us, by sin, irregularity 
 of maimers, vanity, avarice, negligence, or other 
 crimes contrary to charity, truth, peace, and his other 
 gifts and qualifications. (2.) The Spirit might have 
 been quenched by such actions as caused God to take 
 away his supernatural gifts and lavors, such as 
 prophecy, the gift of tongues, the gifi of healing, &:c. 
 For though these gifts were of mere grace, and God 
 might communicate them sometimes to doubtful 
 I characters, yet he has offen granted them to the
 
 SPIRIT 
 
 [ 864 ] 
 
 STA 
 
 prayers of the faithful ; and has taken them away, to 
 punish their misuse or contempt of them. 
 
 To GRIEVE THE SpiRiT, (Eph. iv. 30.) may also be 
 taken to refer either to an internal grace, habitual or 
 actual, or to the miraculous gifts, with which God 
 favored the primitive Christians. \Ve grieve the 
 Spirit of God, by withstanding his holy inspirations, 
 the motions of his grace ; or by hviug in a lukewarm 
 and incautious manner; by despising his gifts, or 
 neglecting them ; by abusing his favors, either out 
 of vanity, curiosity or indifference. In .1 contrary 
 sense, (2 Tim. i. 6.) we stir up the Spirit of God 
 which is in us, by the practice of virtue, by our com- 
 pliance with his inspirations, by fervor in his service, 
 by renewing our gratitude, &c. 
 
 The spirit, as o])posed to the flesh, is put for the 
 sold by which we are animated : (Gen. vi. 3.) "My 
 Spirit shall no longer abide in man, because he is but 
 flesh :" i. e. I will destroy mankind, I will take from 
 them uiy breath which I gave them, the soul that I 
 infused into them ; because they are all carnal, de- 
 based by vile inclinations, by brutish passions ; be- 
 cause, in a word, " all flesh have corrupted their way 
 upon the earth ;" they have in a great measure for- 
 gotten that they are reasonable creatures, and have 
 plunged themselves into the state and condition of 
 beasts. Or it ma}^ mean. My Spirit shall not strive 
 with man — to correct him, to repel his w^ickedness : 
 no ; but I will chastise liim severely : his violent in- 
 clinations shall feel no check from the gentle admo- 
 nitions of my benevolent Spirit, but shall have their 
 own way — his flesh shall not be thwarted, br.t shall 
 prove his ruin — at least, after such a respite as I have 
 appointed. 
 
 Spirit, in the moral sense, is opposed to the flesli : 
 (Rom. vii. 25.) " With the mind, or spirit, I myself 
 serve die law of God ; but with the flesh the law of 
 sin." And chap. viii. 1.3, " If ye Vive after the flesh, 
 ye shall die ; but if ye through the spirit do mortify 
 the deeds of the ijody, ye shall live." Also, Gal. v. 
 19, 22, " Now the works of tlie flesh are manifest, 
 which are these ; adulter}, fornication, uncleanness, 
 lasciviousness," &c. " But the fruit of the spirit is 
 love, joy, peace, long-suftering, gentleness, goodness, 
 faith, meekness, temperance." 
 
 The Spirit of Christ, which animates true Chris- 
 tians, the children of God, and distinguishes them 
 from the children of darkness, who are animated by 
 tlie sj)irit of tb.e world, is the gift of grace, of adop- 
 tion, the Holy Spirit poured into om- hearts, which 
 emboldens us to call God, " My Fatlier, my Father," 
 Rom. viii. 5. Those who are influenced by this 
 Spirit " have crucified the flesh, with its afiections 
 and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in 
 the Spirit," Gal. v. 2.") ; Rom. viii. 9. " Ye are not in 
 the flesh, l)ut in the Spirit, if so be that tlie Spirit of 
 God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the 
 Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." The Spirit of 
 Christ animated the prophets, and inclined them in- 
 dustriously to inquire at what time those events 
 should happen, which they foretold concerning his 
 passion and glory, 1 Pet. i. 11. 
 
 After referring to the article Soul, it maybe proper 
 to suggest, that whatever language describes spiritual 
 existence is particularly obscure ; and so must con- 
 tinue to mortals. Nothing can be less olnious than 
 in what consisted the gift of the Holy Si)irit us im- 
 parted by the hands of the apostles. That this power 
 was restricted to them, only, is remarkable, since it 
 might be thought the 120 were no less ciualified to 
 bestov/ it. That it was given to many, pcrhai)s to 
 
 most new converts, insomuch that many hundreds, 
 not to say thousands, must have participated in it, is 
 equally remarkable : but this general reception of it 
 rendei-s many things applicable to the primitive 
 churches,andChristians, and justlysaid ofthem, which 
 it would be presumptuous to apply to any since their 
 day. And although some of the powers enjoyed by 
 the primitive Christians are enumerated in certain 
 places of the Epistles, yet we are not much enlight- 
 ened on the subject, though it was so clear and con- 
 sjMcuous anciently. Were any, or all, of these pow- 
 ers in any case imparted to females ? 
 
 There is a passage in 1 Pet. iii. 19, referring to the 
 spirits in prison, the 'difficulties of which no hypoth- 
 esis has yet completelj"^ solved. In the first place, it 
 should be remarked, that the apostle distinguishes 
 between spirits (.TiE?'i(«ff/) f-jKl gouls {^ir/ai): the souls 
 w ere saved by the ark ; the spirits were shut up in 
 prison. He seems to refer to the same thing as Job, 
 (?:xvi. 5.) "The giants (Rephaim) groan under the 
 watei-s ;" that is, says Scott, the mightj' men of re- 
 nown in the old world, who filled the earth with vi- 
 olence, and perished by the deluge. Admitting this 
 reference, the apostle points at " the spirits in prison 
 ever since the flood." The difficulty remains, that 
 Christ is said to go, "he went and preached," to those 
 who were afterwards destroyed, because of their un- 
 belief and disobedience. But whether this of neces- 
 sity means a personal action may be doubited ; for it 
 is said of Christ, (Eph. ii. 17.) "He came and 
 preached to you who were afar off" — which is not 
 true of Christ, personally ; he preached by his agents. 
 Admit that he also preached by his agents in the 
 days of Noah, by that patriarch, himself, with others, 
 and the passage loses much of its eui.])arrassment. 
 Christ, by his Spirit imparted to Noah, endeavored 
 to reclaim the antediluvians ; but they, persisting in 
 their iniquities, lost their lives in the deluge ; their 
 spirits, meanwhile, being confined in piison, await the 
 great day of judgment. Noah, believing, and acting 
 on his belief, was saved from the general destruction. 
 Those criminals abused the icng-suiTering of God ; 
 Noah took advantage of it to his salvation. 
 
 STACHYS, a disciple of Paul, by whom he is 
 honorably mentioned, (Rom. xvi. 19.) but v.'c know 
 no particulars of his life th.at can be relied upon. 
 
 STACTE, a drug, which was one of tlie four iii- 
 gredients composing the sacred perfume, Exod. xxx. 
 34, 35. It is understood to be the prime kii:d of 
 myn-h ; and as the Heb. properlj^ signifies a drop, 
 some think it to be myn-h distilling, dropping, from 
 the tree, of its own accord, without incision. So 
 Pliny, speaking of the trees v/hence myrrh is pro- 
 duced, says, " Before any incision is made, they 
 exude of their own accord what is called stacte, to 
 which no kind of myrrh is preferable." (Nat. Ilist, 
 lib. xii. cap. 15.) The rabbins suppose it to be the 
 opohalsam ; others, storax. 
 
 STADIUM, a measure of length, a furlong, which 
 consisted of one hundred and tweiuy-five geometri- 
 cal paces. Eight furlongs make a mile. See the 
 Table of 3Ieasurcs at the end of the volume. [The 
 Roman stadium was nearly equal to the English fur- 
 long, and contained 201.45 yards. This is the sta- 
 dium probably meant in the New Testament, since 
 the Jews were then sul)ject to the Romans, and had 
 constant intercourse with them. R. 
 
 Stadium is also taken for the place in which were 
 performed jjiiblic exercises of running. St. Paul 
 alludes to these, 1 Cor. ix.24 : "They which run in a 
 race [in stadio) run all, but one receiveth the prize."
 
 STE 
 
 [ 865 ] 
 
 STE 
 
 These places were called stadia, because they were 
 distinguished into courses, or distances, by certain 
 resting places ; so that some of the racers run but one 
 distance, some two or more, each according to his 
 strength. 
 
 STAR. Under the name of stars, the Hebrews 
 comprehended all constellations, planets and heav- 
 enly bodies ; all luminaries, except the sun and moon. 
 The psalmist, to exalt the power and omniscience of 
 God, says, "He numbers the stars, and calls them by 
 their names." He is described as a king taking a re- 
 view of his army, and knowing the name of every 
 one of his soldiers. To express a very extraordinary 
 increase and n)ultiplication, Scripture uses the simil- 
 itude of the stars of heaven, or of the sands of the 
 sea, Gen. xv. 5 ; xxii. 17 ; xxvi. 4 ; Exod. xxxii. 13, 
 &c. In times of disgrace and public calamity, it is 
 said, the stars withhold their light ; that they are cov- 
 ered with darkness ; that they fall from heaven, and 
 disappear. These figurative and emphatic expres- 
 sions, which refer to the governing powers of nations, 
 are only weakened and enervated by being ex- 
 plained. 
 
 To caution the Hebrews against the idolatry that 
 prevailed over almost all the East, of worshipping the 
 sun, moon and stars, IMoses informs them (Gen. i. 14 
 — 16.) that God gave the stars their being, and se])a- 
 rated them from that mass of matter which he cre- 
 ated ; and Job (xxxviii. 7.) describes them as praising 
 the Creator at the beginning of the world. 
 
 The beaut} and splendor that men observed in the 
 stai-s ; the great advantages they derived from them ; 
 the wonderful order apparent in their courses ; the 
 influence ascribed to their returns, in the production 
 and preservation of animals, fruits, plants and mine- 
 rals, have induced almost all people to impute to them 
 life, knowledge, power, and to pay them a sovereign 
 worship and adoration. See Idolatry. 
 
 The sacred books seem to ascribe knowledge to 
 the stars ; hence wc are told that they ])raised the 
 Lord, (Job xxxviii. 7.) and elsewhere they are excited 
 to this. These expressions, however, are popular, or 
 poetical, and are not to be understood literally ; for 
 then we must admit, that the earth, the trees, the 
 waters, are animated and intelligent, since we find in 
 Scriptiu-e expressions that import as much. All the 
 creatures glorify God, bless the Lord, and obey him, 
 each in its way. 
 
 The star foretold by Balaam, (Numb. xxiv. 17.) 
 was, according to the modern Jews, king David, who 
 conquered the Moabites, and reduced them under his 
 obedience. But the paraphrasts Onkelos and Jona- 
 than explain it of the Messiah, as the natural sense 
 of the passage. The Jews were so well convinced 
 of this, at the time of Christ, and afterwards, that the 
 famous impostor Bar-chaliba caused himself to be 
 called Bar-cocheba, " son of the star," pretending to 
 be the Messiah ; which involverl the Jews of Pales- 
 tine in a revolt, that completed the ruin of their un- 
 fortunate nation. 
 
 STATER, a Greek coin of the value of one shekel. 
 Matt. xvii. 37, in the Greek. It was worth about 50 
 cents. 
 
 STEPHANAS, a Christian of Corinth, whose fam- 
 ily Paul baptized ; probably about A. D. 52, 1 Cor. i. 
 16. He was forward to the service of the church, 
 and came to Paul at Ephesus, 1 Cor. xvi. 15, 17. 
 
 STEPHEN, the first Christian martyr, was prob- 
 ably a Hellenistic Jew, and Epiphanius thinks he 
 was among the 72 disciples ; but this is not probable. 
 He is always put first among the deacons in the 
 109 
 
 church at Jerusalem ; and it is believed he had 
 studied at the feet of Gamaliel. He was full of the 
 Holy Spirit, and of zeal, and performed many mira- 
 cles, Acts vi. 5. Some of the synagogue of the freed- 
 mcn, of the Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others, dis- 
 puting with him, and being unable to withstand his 
 wisdom and spirit, suborned false witnesses, to tes- 
 tify, that they had heard him blaspheme against 
 Moses and against God, and drew him before the 
 Sanhedrim. Stephen appeared in the midst of this 
 assembly, with a countenance like that of an angel ; 
 and upon the high-priest asking him what he had to 
 answer, he denied that he had said any thing against 
 Moses or the temple — but he showed that the Jews 
 had always opposed God and his prophets ; upbraid- 
 ed them with the hardness of their hearts, with their 
 putting the prophets to death, and with slaying the 
 3Iessiah himself. His boldness enraged the unbe- 
 lieving Jews ; but Stephen, lifting up his eyes to 
 heaven, said, "I see the heavens open, and the Son 
 of man standing at the right hand of God." Unable 
 to endure any more, his enemies cried out, stopped 
 their cars, and falling upon him, drew him out of the 
 city, and stoned him ; the witnesses laying down their 
 clotlies at the feet of a yoimg man called Saul, then 
 one of the most eager persecutors of the Christians, 
 but afterwards one of the most zealous preachers of 
 Christianity. Stephen called upon the Lord, and 
 said, " Lord, impute not this sin to them ;" after which 
 he fell asleep in the Lord, and some pious persons 
 took care to bury him, and accompanied his funeral 
 with great mourning. Acts viii. 2. 
 
 STEWARD, one who manages the affairs, or su- 
 perintends the affairs of another. Thus Eliezer was 
 the steward of Abraham's house ; (Gen.xv.2.) Chris- 
 tian ministers are the stewards of God over his church 
 or family, (Tit. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. iv. 1,2.) and believers are 
 stcw'anls of his gifts and graces, to dispense the bene- 
 fits of them to tlie world, 1 Pet. iv. 10. 
 
 On reading the parable of the unjust steward, who 
 defrauds his principal by collusion with his debtors, 
 (Luke xvi.) we find it concluded by what seems to be 
 a strange expression : (ver. 12.) " If ye have not been 
 faithful in that which is another man's, w/io shall give 
 you that ivhich is your own ?" Certainly that which is 
 a man\^ oivn he may naturally expect should be given 
 him; for who has a right to withhold it? The pro- 
 priety of the j)hrase, therefore, and the inferential con- 
 nection of the sentiment w ith the parable, is not clear 
 to a general reader ; but the following custom of the 
 Turks (as related by Aaron Hill, Travels, p. 77.) may 
 contribute to its better understanding : " It is a com- 
 mon custom with the merchants of this country when 
 they hire a broker, book-keeper, or other [confiden- 
 tial] servant, to agree, that he sliall claim no wages; 
 but, to make amends for that unprofitable disadvan- 
 tage, they give them free and uncontrolled authority 
 to cheat them every way they can, in managing their 
 business ; but with this proviso, that they must never 
 exceed the ])rivileged advantage of ten per cent. All 
 under that, which they can fairly gain in settling of 
 accounts with their respective masters, is properly 
 THKiR OWN ; and by their masters' will is confirmed 
 to their i)ossession." He proceeds to say, " The ser- 
 vant knowing he has nothing to depend on but these 
 profits puts himself upon a wily method of over- 
 reaching others, in the goods he buys by order of his 
 master. His master, on the other hand, well knows 
 that unless he watches carefidly his servant's man- 
 agement, he will probably go beyond the tolerated 
 limits o^ ten per cent.'"
 
 STEWARD 
 
 [ 86G 
 
 8T0 
 
 This kind of allowance, though appearing extreme- 
 ly singular to us, is both ancient and general in the 
 East. It is found in the Gentoo Laws : (chap, ix.) " If 
 a man has hired any person to conduct a trade for 
 him, and no agreement is made in regard to wages, 
 in that case, the person hired shall receive one tenth 
 of the profit." " If the person be hired to attend cattle, 
 he shall receive one tenth of the milk. If the person 
 be hired for agricultiu'e, one tenth of the crop. If he 
 plough the ground, receiving victuals, one fifth of the 
 crop : if he receive no victuals, one third." (Halhed's 
 Code of Gentoo Laws, p. 140.) 
 
 We see, then, that Mr. Hill has been too severe in 
 describing the taking of such an allowance as a 
 "cheating" of the principal; since he admits, it has 
 that principal's permission, and is " a privileged ad- 
 vantage." We see, too, that the Gentoo laws admit 
 a detention of one third part, in certain cases, as pay- 
 ment for a servant's labor and attention. 
 
 The phrase which appears so offensive to us, now 
 assumes its true import: — "If you have not been 
 found faithful in the administration of your principal's 
 property, how can you expect to receive your oivn 
 share (as the word may signify) of that advantage 
 Avhich should reward your labors ? If you liave not 
 been just toward him, why, or how, do you expect he 
 should be just toward you ?" May not this i)rincip]e 
 set the conduct of the unjust steward in a different 
 light from what it has hitherto appeared in ? (1.) W^e 
 see that this steward had a right to expect from his 
 master the value of a share of this oil and wheat, as 
 his due : — But if his master had once got possession 
 of this value, he might have seized it in compensation 
 for former deficiencies : the steward prevents this, by 
 negotiating with the debtors themselves, before their 
 accounts are inspected by his master. (2.) The stew- 
 ard had a right to a portion of the value, but he takes 
 abundantly more than his due; and then carries in 
 the mutilated account to his master, as if it ^vcre the 
 produce of the whole, not accountingfor the quantity 
 reserved by him for his future dependence in the 
 hands of those who, having had their share of the 
 fraud, might return the advantage by receiving this 
 unjust agent into their habitations. (3.) The steward's 
 master conunends him as having adoj)ted an expedi- 
 ent not easily to be detected, but, in fact, a cunning 
 contrivance ; being evidently founded in custom and 
 equity ; readily enough to be represented as merely 
 doing himself that justice which, as he might say, his 
 master denied him ; and, as to the quantity he with- 
 holds, he might plead somewhat analogous to what is 
 provided for in the Gentoo laws, wliich, we see, in 
 some cases allow of one third as a compensation for 
 extraordinary care and trouble. 
 
 May our Lord's inference be thus understood ? 
 "This steward could only expect that his friends 
 would receive and maintain him, so long as what he 
 could claim of this value, or stock, of oil or of wheat, 
 lasted : when that was exhausted, they would desire 
 Ins absence; but, contrary to this, I advise you, by 
 your management of worldly riches, to makefriend's 
 — friends who may receive you into, not temporary, 
 but lasting residence ; who may welcome yoiirairival, 
 not into a mere transitory shelter, but into an ever- 
 abiding felicity. I |)ress this upon you, because riches 
 arc so slippery, so jjcrverting, so delusive, that they 
 may well be calhid deceitful : and they I)ut too often 
 are allurements to unrighteousness — to unrighteous 
 modes of actiuiring them, and to unrighteous modes 
 of disposing of them; but if they be used with a dis- 
 position of mind contrary to that of this unjust steward, 
 
 if, instead of being wickedly withheld, they be justly 
 and liberally circulated, and, as it were, brought to 
 account, the benevolence of true piety will direct them 
 to such salutary purposes, as may lay many worthy 
 but necessitous persons under great obligations: and 
 these, should you be involved in distress here below, 
 will do their utmost to soothe and relieve you ; or they 
 will hereafter congratulate your happy reception into 
 never-ending beatitude and glory." 
 
 [This passage (Luke xvi.9.) is more properly taken 
 impersonally ; the phrase "that they may receive you " 
 being equivalent to "/Aa< ye may he received into ever- 
 lasting habitations" &c. Impersonal verbs of this form 
 are frequent in Greek ; e. g. Luke xii. 20, "This night 
 SHALL THEY REQUIRE thy soul of tlice," in the Greek, 
 for "thy soul shall be required of thee," &c. R. 
 
 STOICS, a sect of heathen philosophers, so named 
 from the Greek otou, a porch, or portico, because 
 Zeno, its founder, held his school in a porch of the 
 city of Athens. They placed the supreme happiness 
 of man in living agreeably to nature and reason ; 
 affecting the same stiffness, patience, apathy, austerity 
 and insensibility, as the Pharisees, whom, according to 
 Joseiilius, they much resembled. They were consid- 
 erable at Athens when Paul visited that city. Acts 
 xvii. 18. 
 
 STONES. For the names of the precious stones 
 which were in the high-priest's breastplate, (Exod. 
 xxviii. 17, &c.) the reader may see their articles, and 
 Breastplate. 
 
 Corker Stone, or head stoiie of the corner, is that 
 put at the angle of a building, whether at the founda- 
 tion or on the top of the wall. (See Corner Stone.) 
 Our Saviour, though rejected by the Jews, was the 
 corner stone of the church, (Ps. cxviii. 22.) and the 
 stone that binds and unites the synagogue and Gen- 
 tiles in the union of one faith, Acts iv. 11 ; Isa. xxviii. 
 IG ; Eph. ii. 20 ; 1 Pet. ii. 6 ; Matt. xxi. 42 ; Mark xii. 
 10; Luke XX. 17. The Hebrews sometimes gave the 
 name of stone, or rock, to kings or princes, and also 
 to God himself. 
 
 Moses forbids the HebreW'S to set up in their coun- 
 try any stone that is exalted, or remarkable. Lev. 
 xxvi. 1. The text may be translated by "a stone for 
 sight ;" a land-mark that stands on an eminence, or 
 in some great road, to be seen from a distance. Strabo 
 (lib. xvii.) mentions such stones on the highways in 
 Egypt ; and he says also, there are several remarkable 
 and eminent stones iijion Libanus. The Syrians and 
 Egyptians had such respect for them that they almost 
 adored them. They anointed them with oil, as may 
 be seen in Apuleius, kissed and saluted them. It is 
 probable that this worship is what Moses intended to 
 prohibit ; for heaps of stones, raised in witness of 
 memorable events, and to preserve the remenjbrance 
 of matters of great importance, are the most ancient 
 monumeius among the Hebrews. In early ages, 
 these were used instead of inscriptions, pyramids, 
 medals or histories. Jacob and Laban raised such a 
 moniunent on mount Gilead,in memory of their cov- 
 enant. Gen. xxxi. 4G. Joshua erected one at Gilgal, 
 of stones taken out of the Jordan, to preserve the 
 memorial of his miraculous passage; (Josh. iv. 5 — 7.) 
 and the Israelites beyond Jordan raised one on the 
 banks of that river, as a testimony that they constituted 
 but one nation with their brethren on the other side, 
 Josh. xxii. 10. 
 
 Ill illustration of this practice, Mr. Taylor quotes 
 from Chardiu the following passage: — "Upon the left 
 hand of the road are to be seen large circles of 
 hewn stone ; which the Persians affirm to be a great
 
 STONES 
 
 [ 867 ] 
 
 sue 
 
 eign that the Caous, making war in Media, held a 
 council in that place ; it being the custom of those 
 people, tliat every officer that came to tlie council, 
 brought with him a stone to serve him instead of a 
 chair: these Caous were a sort of giants. What is 
 most to be admired, after observation of tliese stones, 
 is this, that they are so big that eight men can hardly 
 move one ; and yet tliere is no place from whence 
 they can be imagined to have been fetched, but from 
 the next mountains, which are six Icasrues oft'." 
 (p. 371.) 
 
 This extract deserves notice on two accounts : (1.) 
 The Persian notion of stones being used instead of 
 chairs, at a council, nmst have had some origin; and 
 must also have been customaiy at some time in that 
 country : — the sitting upon stones, tiien, could not have 
 been always totally unknown in Mesopotamia, where 
 Laban resided, and Jacob with him ; and what was 
 customary at a council, might be practised at a cove- 
 nant agreement, as in the case of Laban and Jacob. 
 (1.) The rescml)lance of those circt.f.s of Inrge 
 stones to the Druidical monuments of Great Britain 
 (Stonehenge, Abury, &c.) is striking ; and tiie finding 
 structures so similar in regions so distant, diMuonstrates 
 the extensive sj)read and influence (if not the identity) 
 of that religion, the exercise of which had occasioned 
 their erection. (Fragments 166, 734 — 73G.) 
 
 In the Fragments just referred to, Mr. Taylor has 
 collected much information relative to heaps and cir- 
 cles of stones, Avholly or partly remaining, in differ- 
 ent parts of Great Britain, and elsewhere, for the 
 pur|)ose of throwing light on a practice so often al- 
 luded or referred to in the Old Testament, and espe- 
 cially in connection with Gilgal, a religious station, in 
 the early period of the Israelitish history. The prac- 
 tice of raising and consecrating stones in commemo- 
 ration of memorable events connected with religion, 
 which lias so extensively prevailed in various parts of 
 the world, and among people altogether dissimilar in 
 their general character and habits, he considers as 
 affording a striking proof that the religion of mankind 
 was originally the same, in its objects, its principles 
 and its rites : and that, to wherever the original tribes 
 of men migrated, with their natural fathers at their 
 head, or wherever they settled, they retained those 
 religious customs, notions and references, which they 
 jiad received as part of their patrimony, in the land 
 of their primary residence. 
 
 Rough and unformed stones were considered to be 
 more pure and fit for sacred uses than those that were 
 hewn. Moses directed (Exod. xx. 25.) an altar to be 
 raised to the Lord, of rough stones ; not of hewn ones, 
 which he declared to be polluted. (See also Deut. 
 xxvii. 5 ; Josh. viii. 31, 32 ; Ezra v. 8 ; 1 Mac. iv. 
 46,47.) 
 
 "A heart of stone " may be understood several 
 ways. Job, (xli. 24.) speaking of the behemoth, says, 
 his heart is as hard as stone,. as impenetrable as an 
 anvil ; q. d. he is of a very extraordinary strength, 
 boldness and courage. The heart of Nabal became 
 as a stone, when he comprehended the danger he had 
 incurred by his imprudence, (1 Sam. xxv. 37.) i. e. 
 his heart became inunovable like a stone ; it was 
 contracted or convulsed, and this convulsion occa- 
 sioned his death. Ezekiel says, (xi. 19 ; xxxvi. 26.) 
 the Lord will take away from his people the heart of 
 stone, and give them a heart of flesh ; i. e. he will 
 convert them, and inspire them with milder and more 
 gi-acious feelings. Nearly in the same sense, John 
 the Baptist said, (Matt. iii. 9.) God was able to raise 
 up to Abraham children from the stones of the desert. 
 
 Daniel, speaking of the kingdom of the Messiah, 
 compares it to a small stone loosened from the moun- 
 tain, by no mortal power, that struck upon the feet 
 of the colossus which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his 
 dream, and afterwards filled the whole earth, Dan. 
 ii. 34. 
 
 STONING was a punishment much in use among 
 the Hebrews, and the rabbins reckon all criznes as 
 being subject to it, whicii the law condemns to death, 
 without expressing the particular mode. They say, 
 that when a man was condenuied to death, he was 
 led out of the city to the place of execution, and there 
 exhorted to acknowledge and confess his fault. He 
 was then stoned in one of two ways, either stones 
 were thrown upon him till he died, or he was thrown 
 headlong down a steep place, and a large stone rolled 
 upon his body. To the latter mode it is supposed 
 there is a reference in Matt. xxi. 44. 
 
 STORK, ciconin, Heb. m'on, from ion, kind, good; 
 probably so called because of tlie tenderness which it 
 is said to manifest towards its parents ; never, as is 
 reported, forsaking them, but feeding and defending 
 them in their decrepitude. The stork is a bird of pas- 
 sage : (Jer. viii. 7.) "The stork in the heavens know- 
 eth her appointed times ; and the turtle, and the crane, 
 and the swallow, observe the time of their coming." 
 Jerome and the LXX sometimes render the Hebrew 
 word by herodius, the heron ; sometimes by pelican 
 or kite ; but there can be very little doubt that it des- 
 ignates properly the stork. ]\ioses places it among un- 
 clean birds. Lev. xi. 19 ; Deut. xiv. 18. The psalmist 
 says (civ. 17.) " As for the stork, the fir-trees are her 
 house." In the climate of Europe, she commonly 
 builds her nest on some liigh tower, or on the top of 
 a house ; but in Palestine, where the coverings of the 
 houses are flat, she builds in high trees. Profane 
 authors speak much of the piety of the stork, and its 
 gratitude to its parents. Ambrose says, that for this 
 reason the Romans called it avis pia ; (Hexremer. lib. 
 v. c. 16.) and Publius calls it pietatis cidtrix. (Apud. 
 Petron. Vide Bochart de Animal Sacr. torn. ii. 
 lib. ii. c. 29.) 
 
 Ciconia enim grata, peregrLna, hospita, 
 Pietatis cultrix, gracili-pes, crotalistria. 
 
 The stork has the beak and legs long and red ; it 
 feeds on serpents, frogs and insects. Its plumage 
 would be wholly white, but that the extremities of its 
 wings, and some small part of its head and thighs, are 
 black. It sits for the s])ace of thirty days, and lays 
 but four eggs. They migrate to southern countries 
 in August, and return in the spring. They ai"e still 
 the objects of much veneration among the common 
 people in some parts of Europe. *R. 
 
 I. SUCCOTH, tents, tabernacles, the first encamp- 
 ment of the Israelites, after they left Egypt, Exod. 
 xii. 37. See Exodus, p. 401. 
 
 II. SUCCOTH, a city east of the Jordan, between 
 the brook Jabok and that river, and where Jacob 
 set up his tents on his return from Mesopotamia, 
 Gen. xxxiii. 17. Joshua assigned the city sul>sc- 
 qucntly built here to the tribe of Gad, Josh. xiii. 27. 
 Gideon tore the flesh of the principal men of Suc- 
 coth with thorns and briers, because they returned 
 him a haughty answer when pursuing the Midianites, 
 Judg. viii. 5. 
 
 SUCCOTH BENOTH. Calmet speaks of Suc- 
 coth Benoth as an idol set up in Samaria, by the men 
 brought from Assyria, (2 Kings xvii. 30.) but Mr. 
 Taylor and other writers have shown it more proba-
 
 SUP 
 
 [ 868 ] 
 
 SWA 
 
 bly to denote tabernacles or booths consecrated to 
 one of the forms of Venus. In such places young 
 maidens were devoted to the licentious worship of 
 Venus. 
 
 SUN, the gi-eat luminary which God created, at the 
 beginning, to govern the day. Cahnet thinks it was 
 the sun which the Phoenicians worshipped under the 
 name of Baal, the Moabites under that of Chemosh, 
 the Ammonites under that of Moloch, the Israelites 
 under that of Baal, and king of the host of heaven. 
 Moses cautioned the Israelites against this species of 
 idolatry, (Deut. iv. 19.) "Take ye, therefore, good 
 heed unto yourselves — lest thou lift up thine eyes unto 
 heaven, and when thou seest the sun, the moon and 
 the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou shouldst be 
 driven to worship and serve them." In Deut. xvii. 3, 
 he condemns to death those perverted to worship 
 strange gods, the sun, the moon, &c. ; and Josiah 
 took from the temple of the Lord the horses, and 
 burned the chariots, which the kings his predecessors 
 had consecrated to the sun, 2 Kings xxiii. 11. Job 
 says, (xxxi. 26 — 28.) he looked on it as a great crime, 
 and as renouncing the God that is above, to kiss his 
 hand in token of adoration, when he beheld the sun 
 in its beauty and splendor. Ezekiel (viii. 16.) saw in 
 the Spirit, in the temple of the Lord, five and twenty 
 men of Judah, who turned their backs on the sanctu- 
 ary, and had their faces towards the east, worshipping 
 the rising sun. 
 
 The sun furnishes the greater part of the noble 
 similitudes used by the sacred authors, who, to repre- 
 sent gi-eat public calamity, speak of the sun as being 
 obscured, &c. (See Isa. xiii. 10 ; xxiv. 23 ; Jer. xv. 9 ; 
 Ezek. xxxii. 7 ; Joel ii, 31 ; Amos viii. 9.) To express 
 a long continuance of any thing glorious and illvistri- 
 ous, it is said, it shall continue as long as the sun. 
 So the reign of the Messiah, (Ps. Ixxii. 17; Ixxxix. 
 36.) under whose happy dominion the light of the 
 moon shall equal that of the sun, and that of the 
 sun be seven times more than ordinary, Isa. xxx. 
 26. Christ is called the Sun of righteousness, 
 Mai. iv. 2. 
 
 TJie compass of the whole earth is described by the 
 exju-ession, from the rising of tlie sun to the going 
 down of the same ; or ratlier from east to west, Ps. 1. 
 1 : cvii. 3; cxiii. 3, &c. 
 
 SUPERSTITION, and SUPERSTITIOUS, are 
 words which occur ouly in the New Testament. 
 Festus, governor of Judea, informed Agrippa, that 
 Paul had disputed with the other Jews concerning 
 matters of their own superstition, (Acts xxv. 19.) in 
 which he spoke like a true pagan, equally ignorant of 
 the Christian religion, and of the Jewish. Paul, writ- 
 ing to the Colossians, (chap. ii. 23.) recommends to 
 tliem, not to regard false teachers, who would per- 
 suade tliem to a compliance with human wisdom, in 
 an affected humility and superstition ; and speaking 
 to the Athenians, he says, "I perceive tliat in all 
 tilings ye are too superstitious," &c. Acts xvii. 22. 
 
 The Greeks call superstition JftaiHaiuorla, demon- 
 terror. A superstitious man looks on God as a severe 
 and rigid master, and obeys with fear and trembling. 
 Varro says, the pious man honors and loves God ; the 
 superstitious man dreads him, even to terror; and 
 Maxirnus Tyrius observes, tiiat a man truly pious looks 
 on God as a friend full of goodness, Avhereas the 
 fiupci-stitious serves him with base and mean flattery. 
 Such are Calmet's remarks on this sul)ject. Mr. 
 Taylor observes, that the Greek word JfimSanioria 
 is probably of less offensive import than has been 
 stated. Festus, a governor newly arrived in his 
 
 provmce, would hardly have paid so ill a comphmeni 
 to Agrippa, a king of the Jewish religion, as to cal 
 his religion superstitious ; and when Paul at Atheu* 
 tells the Areopagites that they are too superstitious 
 he uses a word no doubt susceptible of a good af 
 well as of a bad sense ; as it would have been highlj 
 indecorous, nor less unnecessary, to calumniate the 
 religious disposition of his judges, whom he was ad- 
 dressing. If we take the word in the sense of worship, 
 or reverence, Festus may say, "Paul and the Jews 
 differ in respect of certain objects of spiritual rever- 
 ence," — and Paul may say, " I perceive ye are greatly 
 attached to objects of spiritual reverence," not only 
 without offence, but as a very gi-aceful introduction 
 to a discourse, which proposed to describe the only 
 proper object of such reverence. 
 
 SUPHA. Suph is certainly the-Red sea; but the 
 notion of Suph being an appellation belonging to the 
 Red sea only, has misled our translators into gross 
 errors of geography. We i-ead in Numb. xxi. 14, of 
 the "book of the wai-sof the Lord, what he did in the 
 Red sea — Supha — and in the brooks of Arnon." But 
 the brooks of Arnon were not near the Red sea, nor 
 was any transaction there comparable to the passage 
 of the Red sea by the Israelites. It is more probable 
 that this Supha is the same as Suph, (Deut. i. 1.) 
 where Moses repeated his laws ; which was eleven 
 days' journey from Horeb, and between Paran, To- 
 phel, &c. on this side Jordan ; certainly, to say the 
 least, in the neighborhood of that river, and by the 
 banks of it, very distant from the Red sea. 
 
 SUSANNA, a holy woman who attended on our 
 Saviour, and with others ministered to his wants, 
 Luke viii. 2, 3. 
 
 SWALLOW. There is considerable diversity of 
 opinion among critics on the Hebrew designation of 
 this well known bird. Our translators have taken 
 both ^^-n and -lujj to signify the swallow, in different 
 passages of Scripture ; but in each they seem to have 
 been wrong. The former of the words is better un- J 
 derstood by Bochart, and other able critics, to be ap- " 
 plied to a species of dove ; and there is little doubt that 
 the latter word imports tlie crane, which is so called 
 from its remarkable cry. The real designation of the 
 swallow appears to be cd, sis, eitlier from its sjrrigM- 
 liness or swijl motion, or, as Bochart thinks, fi-om its 
 note. It is worthy of remark, that thefbddesslsis is 
 said to have been changed into this bird ; which cir- 
 cumstance, from the resemblance of the name, fur- 
 nishes an additional confirmation of the interi)retation 
 here adopted. The only mention of the swallow in 
 Scripture is in Isa. xxxviii. 14, and Jer. viii. 7. In tlie 
 former passage, Ilezekiah, referring to the severity of 
 his recent affliction, says, " Like a swallow, or a crane, 
 so did I chatter." The note of the swallow being 
 quick and mournful, the allusion of the king has been 
 supposed to be to his prayers, whic^h were so inter- 
 ru|)ted i)y groans, as to be like the quick twitterings 
 of the swallow. This seems to have occasioned the 
 pious monarch to regard with suspicion the sincerity 
 and fervor of his supplications, thus delivered, but in 
 broken accents ; and in bitterness of spirit he casts 
 himself upon the unbounded mercy of his God, ex- 
 claiming, " O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me." 
 The passage in Jeremiah refers to the well known 
 migrfition of this bird, a circumstance from which 
 the faithful prophet takes occasion to reprove the in- 
 gratitude and infidelity of the favored trilics : "Tiie 
 turtle, and the crane, and the swallow observe the 
 time of their coming ; l)ut my people know not the 
 judgment of the Lord."
 
 SWI 
 
 [ 869 
 
 SWINE 
 
 SWAN. This bird is only mentioned in Lev. xi. 
 18, and Dent. xiv. 16, and it is extremely doubtful 
 whether it be really denoted by the Hebrew ncc:n. 
 The LXX render Porphyrion, or pnrplt hen, which is 
 a water bird, not unlike in form to those which pre- 
 cede it in the text. Geddes observes, that "the root 
 signifies to breathe out, to respire ; and adds, if ety- 
 nioloirv were our guide, I would say it points to a 
 well known quality in the swan, that of being able to 
 resj)ire a long time with its bill and neck under water, 
 and even plunged in the mud." Some think the con- 
 jecture of Michaelis not improbable, "that it is the 
 goose, which every one knows is remarkable for its 
 manner of breathing out, or hissing, when provoked." 
 " What makes me conjecture this," says Michaelis, "is 
 that the same Chaldee interpreters, who in Leviticus 
 render Obija, do not employ this word in Deuteron- 
 omy, but substitute ' the white Kak,' which, according 
 to BuxJorf, denotes the goose." Perhaps Egypt has 
 birds of the wild goose kind, one of which is here 
 alluded to. Norden (vol. ii. p. 36.) mentions a " goose 
 of the Nile, whose plumage was extremely beautiful. 
 It was of an ex(|uisite aromatic taste, smelled of gin- 
 ger, and had a great deal of flavor." Can a bird of 
 this kind be the Hebrew Tinshemeth i 
 
 SWEARING, see Oath. 
 
 SWINE, a well known animal, forbidden as food 
 to the Hebrews, (Lev. xi. 7 ; Deut. xiv. 8.) who held 
 its flesh in such detestation, that they would not so 
 njucli as pronounce its name. 
 
 Among the gross abominations and idolatrous 
 practices of which the Israelites were guilty in the 
 time of Isaiah, how ever, the eating of swine's flesh is 
 mentioned, ch. Ixv. 4 : " A people that provoketh me 
 to anger continually to my face ; that sacrificeth in 
 gardens, and burnetii incense upon altars of brick ; 
 which remain among the graves, and lodge in the 
 monuments ; which eat swine's flesh ; and broth of 
 abominable things is in their vessels," &:c. Their 
 punishment is denounced in the next chapter : " They 
 that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the 
 gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's 
 flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be 
 consumed together, saith the Lord," ch. Ixvi. 17. 
 
 It was an established custom, among the Greeks 
 and Romans, to offer a hog in sacrifice to Ceres at 
 the beginning of harvest, and another to Bacchus, be- 
 fore the beginning of vintage ; because that animal is 
 equally hostile to the growing corn and the loaded 
 vineyard. To this practice there is probably an allu- 
 sion in Isa. Ixvi. 3: "He that killeth an ox is as if 
 he slew a man ; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he 
 cut oflfa dog's neck ; he that offereth an oblation, as 
 if he offered swine's blood ; he that burnetii incense, 
 as if he blessed an idol ; yea, they have chosen their 
 own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abom- 
 ination." 
 
 There is an injunction in Matt. vii. 6, which de- 
 mands notice here : " Give not that which is holy unto 
 the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest 
 they trample them under their feet, and turn again 
 and rend you." This passage, as it stands, is some- 
 what obscure, since it refers both the malignant acts 
 specified to the last-mentioned animal. Dr. A. Clarke, 
 however, has restored it to its true meaning, by trans- 
 posing the hnes ; and bishop Jebb, availing himself 
 of the hint, has shown it to be one of those introvert- 
 ed parallelisms which so frequently present themselves 
 in the sacred writings, and which he has generally so 
 beautifully illustrated. Placed in this form, it will 
 stand as follows : — 
 
 Give not that which is holy to the dogs ; 
 
 Neither cast your pearls before the swine ; 
 
 Lest they trample them under their feet, 
 And turn about and rend you. 
 
 Here the first line is related to the fourth, and the 
 second to the third. The sense of the passage becomes 
 perfectly clear, on thus adjusting the parallelism : — 
 
 Give not that which is holy to the dogs ; 
 Lest they turn about and rend you : 
 Neither cast your pearls before the swine ; 
 Lest they trample them under their feet. 
 
 The more dangerous act of imprudence, with its 
 fatal result, is placed first and last, so as to make, 
 and to leave, the deepest practical impression. To 
 cast pearls before swine, is to place the pure and 
 elevated morality of the gospel before sensual and 
 besotted wretches, who have 
 
 . . . Nor ear, nor soul, to comprehend 
 The sublime notion, and high mystery ; 
 
 but will assuredly trample them in the mire. To 
 give that which is holy [the sacrifice, as some translate 
 it) to tlie dogs, is to produce the deep truths of Chris- 
 tianity before the malignant and profane, who will not 
 fail to add injury to neglect; who will not only hate 
 the doctrine, but persecute the teacher. In either 
 case, an indiscreet and over-profluent zeal may do 
 serious mischief to the cause of goodness; but in the 
 latter case, the injury will fall with heightened sever- 
 ity, both on religion, and on religious injudicious 
 friends. The warning, therefore, against the dogs, is 
 emphatically placed at the commencement and the 
 close. (Jebb's Sacred Literature, p. 338, &c.) This 
 certainly places the allusion in a striking and beauti- 
 ful light, but we doubt whether the bishop has caught 
 the true sense of the passage. In this part of his dis- 
 course our Lord is warning his hearei-s not to be un- 
 merciful and severe in censuring others, in marking 
 and aggravating their faults ; not to correct their vices 
 or mistakes, while they are chargeable themselves 
 with much more heinous crimes. They were not to 
 suffer sin in their brother, but were bound to reprove 
 his faults, and endeavor his reformation ; their coun- 
 sels and reproofs, however, were to be managed with 
 wisdom and prudence, and were not to be iniseason- 
 ably lavished on hardened and profligate sinners, 
 who, instead of receiving them in a becoming man- 
 ner, would be exasperated by them, and turn with fury 
 upon their indiscreet advisers. " Give not wisdom," 
 says the Hebrew adage, " to him who knows not its 
 value, for it is more precious than ])carls, and he who 
 seeks it not is worse than a swine that defiles and 
 rolls himself in the mud ; so he who knows not the 
 value of wisdom, profanes its glory." 
 
 The hog delights more in the fetid mire than in 
 the clear and running stream. The mud is the cho- 
 sen place of his repose, and to wallow in it seems to 
 constitute one of his greatest pleasures. To wash 
 him is vain; for he is no sooner at liberty, than he 
 hastens to the ])uddle, and besmears himself anew. 
 Such is the temper of corrupt and wicked men, who 
 had escaped the pollutions of the world, through the 
 knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 but are again entangled and overcome. It is hap- 
 pened unto them according to th«! true proverb, 
 "The dog is turned to his vomit again ; and the sow 
 that was washed to her wallowing in the mire," 2
 
 SYC 
 
 [ 870 ] 
 
 SYCAMORE 
 
 Pet. ii. 22. Allured by the promises of the Gospel, 
 or alarmed by the teiTors of the law, they abandoned 
 some of their evil courses, and performed many 
 laudable actions ; but their nature and inclinations 
 remaining unrenewed by divine grace, they quickly 
 shook oft' the feeble restraints of external reforma- 
 tion, and returned with greater eagerness than ever 
 to their former courses. (Paxton's Illustrations, vol. 
 i. p. 500, &c.) 
 
 The beautiful and affecting parable of the prodigal 
 son, designed to represent the degraded and destitute 
 condition of the Gentile nations, before they were 
 called to a participation in the blessings of the cove- 
 nant, by the incarnation and ministry of the Saviour, 
 shows that the swine-herd was considered to be an 
 employment of the most despicable character. It 
 wus the last resource of I^Jiat depraved and unhappy 
 being who had squandered away his patrimony in 
 riotous living ; and may, perhaps, help to account 
 for the otherwise unnatural conduct of his brother, 
 while it sets the strong and unconquerable paternal 
 feelings of his affectionate father in a more con- 
 vincing and interesting light. 
 
 SWORD, in the style of the Hebrews, is often 
 used for war. The Lord shall send the sword into 
 the land ; that is, war. The " mouth of the sword " 
 is the edge of the sword. " A man that draws the 
 sv/ord " is a soldier by profession. The sword of 
 the mouth (Job v. 15.) is pernicious discoui"se, accu- 
 sations, slander, calumny. " Their tongue is a two- 
 edged swoi'd ;" (Ps. Ivii. 4.) i. e. the tongue of the 
 wicked is extremely dangerous. " If he turn not, he 
 will whet his sword ; " i. e. he will prepare to send 
 war. To lift the sword upon stones, (Exod. xx. 25.) 
 is to cut them with a chisel, or other sharp iron in- 
 strument. "By thy sword shah thou live ; " (Gen. 
 xxvii. 40.) i. e. thou shalt support thyself by war and 
 rapine. " They that take the sword shall perish with 
 the sword;" (Matt, xxvi. 52.) they that employ the 
 sword by their own authority, and would do them- 
 selves justice, deserve to be put to death by the sword 
 of authority. Or this is a kind of proverb : those 
 ■who take the sword to smite another, generally suffer 
 by it themselves. " The word of God is quick and 
 l)Owcrful, and sharper than any two-edged sword," 
 (Ileb. iv. 12.) it penetrates even to the bottom of the 
 soul, into the lieart and mind. Paul exhorts the 
 Epliesiaus (vi. 17.) to arm themselves witii the word 
 of God, as with a spiritual sword ; to defend them- 
 selves against spiritual enemies. 
 
 SYCAMORE. This curious tree, which seems 
 to ])artake of the nature of two distinct species, the 
 mulberry and the fig, the former in its leaf, and the 
 latter in its fruit, is called in Hebrew a>cptt' and nicpi:', 
 (occurring only in the plural form,) the derivation of 
 wliich is uncertain ; but in the Greek its name, 
 jLuy.i.uc^no;, is plainly descriptive of its character, 
 being compounded of avxog, a Jig tree, and uwooc, a 
 mulberry tree. The sycamore is thus described by 
 Norden : " I shall remark, that they have in Egypt 
 divers sorts of figs; but if there is any difference be- 
 tween them, a particular kind differs still more. I 
 mean that which the sycamore bears, that they name 
 in Arabic giomez. It was upon a tree of this sort 
 that Zaccheus got up, to sec oup Saviour pass through 
 Jericho. This sycamore is of the height of a beecli, 
 and bears its fruit in a manner quite different from 
 other trees. It has them on the trunk itself, which 
 shriots out little sprigs, in form of agraj)e-stalk, at the 
 end of which grows the fiiiit, close to one another, 
 most like bunches of grapes. The tree is always 
 
 green, and bears fruit several times in the year, with- 
 out observing any certain seasons, for I have seen 
 some sycamores which had fruit two months after 
 others. The fruit has the figure and smell of real 
 figs ; but is inferior to them in the taste, having a 
 disgustful sweetness. Its color is a yellow, inclining 
 to an ochre, shadowed by a flesh color ; in the inside 
 it resembles the common fig, excepting that it has a 
 blackish coloring, with yellow spots. This sort of 
 tree is pretty common in Egypt. The people, for the 
 greater part, live on its fruit." (Travels, vol. i. p. 79.) 
 
 From 1 Kings x. 27, 1 Chron. xxvii. 28, and 2 
 Chron. i. 15, it is evident that this tree was pretty 
 common ui Palestine, as well as in Egypt ; and from 
 its being joined with the vines in Ps. Ixxviii. 47, as 
 well as from the circumstance of David's appointing 
 a particular officer to superintend their plantations, it 
 seems to have been as much valued in ancient as in 
 modern times. From Isa. Lx. 10, we find that the 
 timber of the sycamore was used in the construction 
 of buildings ; and, notwithstanding its porous and 
 spongy appearance, it was, as we learn from Dr. 
 Shaw, of extreme durability. Describing the cata- 
 combs and mummies of Egypt, this intelligent writer 
 states that he found the mummy chests, and the lit- 
 tle square boxes, containing various figures, which 
 are placed at the feet of each mummy, to be both 
 made of sycamore wood, and thus preserved entire 
 and uncorrupted for at least three thousand years. 
 
 In Amos vii. 14, there is a reference, no doubt, to 
 the manner in which these trees are cultivated, by 
 scraping or making incisions in the fruit. So the 
 LXX seem to have understood it, and so it would 
 seem, from the united testimonies of natural histori- 
 ans, that the original term imports. Pliny, Dioscor- 
 ides, Theophrastus, Hasselquist, and other writers, 
 state, that the fruit of the sycamore must be cut or 
 scratched, either with the nail or iron, before it will 
 ripen ; and it was in this employment, most probably, 
 that the prophet was engaged before he was called to 
 sustain the prophetic character. If the words were 
 rendered " a sycamore tree dresser," instead of a 
 " gatherer of sycamore fruit," it would include, as 
 Mr. Harmer suggested, both the scarification and the 
 gathering of the fruit. 
 
 In the passage cited from Norden, that traveller 
 adverted to the circumstance of Zaccheus climbing 
 up into the sycamore for the purpose of witnessing 
 our Lord pass through Jericho, Luke xix. 4 ; and 
 Mr. Blomfield remarks, that this mode of viewing 
 an object seems to have been not unfrequent, inso- 
 much that it appears to have given rise to a proverb- 
 ial expression, which he cites from Libanius. 
 
 The sycamore strikes its large diyerging roots deep 
 into the soil ; and on this account, says Paxton, our 
 Lord alludes to it as the most difficult to be rooted 
 up, and transferred to another situation : " If ye had 
 faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto 
 this sycamore tree. Be thou j)lucked up by the root, 
 and be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey 
 you," Luke xvii. 5. The stronger and more diverging 
 the root of a tree, the more difficult it must be to 
 pluck it up, and insert it again so as to make it strike 
 root and grow ; but far more difficult still to plant it 
 in the sea, where the soil is so far below the surface, 
 and where the restless billows are continually tossing 
 it from one side to the other ; yet, says our Lord, a 
 task no less difficult than this to be accomplished, 
 can the man of genuine faith perform with a word, 
 for with God nothing is impossible, nothing difficult, 
 or laborious. In the parallel passage (Matt, xvii, 20^
 
 SYN 
 
 [871 ] 
 
 SYR 
 
 the hyperbole is varied, a mountain being substituted 
 for the sycamore tree. The passage is thus para- 
 phrased by Rosenmiiller: "So long as you trust in 
 God and me, and are not sufficient in self-rehance, 
 you may accompUsh the most arduous labors under- 
 taken tor the furthering my religion." 
 
 SYCHAR, see Sichem. 
 
 SYENE, a city on the southern frontiers of Egypt 
 towards Eihiopia, between Thebes and the cataracts 
 of the Nile, (Ezek. xxix. 10 ; xxx. 6.) and now called 
 Assouan. Pliny says it stands in a peninsula on the 
 eastern shore of the Nile ; that it is a mile in circum- 
 ference, and has a Roman garrison. 
 
 SYNAGOGUE, a word which primarily signifies 
 an assemlily ; but, like the word church, came at 
 length to be applied to places in which any assem- 
 bhes, especially those for the woi-ship of God, met, 
 or were convened. From the silence of the Old 
 Testament with reference to these places of worship, 
 most commentators and writers on biblical antiqui- 
 ties are of oi)inion that they were not in use till after 
 the Babylonish captivity. Prior to that time, the 
 Jews seem to have held their social meetings for 
 religious worship eitlier in the open air, or in the 
 houses of the prophets. (See 2 Kings iv. 2.3.) Syna- 
 gogues could only be erected in those places where 
 ten men of age, learning, piety, and easy circum- 
 stances could be found to attend to the service which 
 was enjoined in them. Large towns had several 
 synagogues, and soon after the captivity, their utility 
 became so obvious, that they were scattered over the 
 land, and became the parish churches of the Jewish 
 nation. Their number appears to have been very 
 considerable, and when the erection of a synagogue 
 was considered as a mark of piety, (Luke vii. 5.) or 
 passport to heaven, we need not be surprised to hear 
 that they were multiplied beyond all necessity, so 
 that in Jerusalem alone there were not fewer than 
 460 or 480. They were generally built on the most 
 elevated ground, and consisted of two parts. The 
 one on the most westerly part of the building con- 
 tained the ark, or chest, iu which the book of the 
 law and the sections of the prophets were deposited, 
 and was called the temple by way of eminence. The 
 other, in which the congregation assembled, was 
 termed the body of the church. The people sat 
 with their faces towards the temple, and the elders 
 in the contrary direction, and opposite to the people ; 
 tlie space between them being occupied by the pul- 
 pit, or reading desk. The seats of the elders were 
 considered as more holy than the othei-s, and are 
 si)oken of as " the chief seats in the synagogues," 
 ?.Iait. xxiii. 6. 
 
 The stated office-bearers iu every synagogue were 
 ten, thongh in rank they \vere but six. Their names 
 and duties are given by Lightfoot, to whom the 
 reader is referred. But we must notice the Archis^f- 
 nagogos, or ruler of the synagogue ; who regulated 
 all its concerns, and gianled permission to preach. 
 Of these there were three in each synagogue. Dr. 
 Lightfoot believes them to have possessed a civil 
 power, and to have constituted the lowest civil tribu- 
 nal, comjtionly known as "the council of three ; " 
 whose office it was to decide the differences that 
 arose between atiy members of the synagogue, and to 
 judge of money matters thefts, losses. Sec. Tothese 
 officers there is probably an allusion in 1 Cor. vi. 5. 
 The second office-bearer was "the angel of the 
 church," or minister of the congregation, who prayed 
 and preached. In allusion to these the pastors of 
 the Asiatic churches are called angels, Rev. ii. iii. 
 
 The service of the synagogue was as follows ; — • 
 The people being seated, the minister, or angel of 
 the church, ascended the pulpit and offered up the 
 public prayers ; the people rising from their seats, 
 and standing in a posture of deep devotion, Matt. vi. 
 5; Mark xi. 25; Luke xviii. 11, 13. The prayers 
 were nineteen in number, and were closed by read- 
 ing the execration. The next thing was the repeti- 
 tion of their phylacteries ; after which came the 
 reading of the law and the prophets. The former 
 was divided into 54 sections, with which were united 
 corresponding portions from the prophets ; (see Acts 
 XV. 21 ; xiii. 27.) and these were read through once 
 in the coui-se of the year. After the return from the 
 captivity an interpreter was employed in reading the 
 law and the prophets, (see Neh. viii. 2 — 10.) v/ho in- 
 terpreted them into the Syro-Chaldaic dialect, which 
 was then spoken by the people. The last part of 
 the service was the expounding of the Scriptures, 
 and preaching from them to the people. This was 
 done either by one of the officers, or by some dis- 
 tinguished person who happened to be present. The 
 reader will recollect one memorable occasion, on 
 which our Saviour availed himself of the opportunity 
 thus afforded to address his countrjmen, (Luke iv. 
 20.) and there are several other instances recorded 
 of himself and his disciples teaching iu the syna- 
 gogues. (See Matt. xiii. 54 ; Mark vi. 2 ; John xviii. 
 20 ; Acts xiii. 5, 15, 44 ; xiv. 1 ; xvii. 2—4, 10—12, 
 17 ; xviii. 4, 25 ; xix. 8.) The whole service was 
 conclufied with a short prayer, t»r benediction. 
 
 The Jewish synagogues were not only used for the 
 purposes of divine worship, but also for courts of 
 judicature, in such matters as fell under the cogni- 
 zance of the council of three, of which we have already 
 spoken. On such occasions the sentence given 
 against the offender was sometimes carried into efiect 
 in the [)lace where the council was assembled. 
 Hence we read of persons being beaten in the syna- 
 gogue, and scourged in the synagogue. Matt. x. 17 ; 
 Mark xiii. 9. 
 
 SYNTYCHE, (Phil. iv. 2.) a woman illustrious 
 for virtue and good works in the church at Philippi. 
 
 SYRACUSE, the capital of Sicily, on the eastern 
 coast, (Acts xxviii. 12.) where Paul spent three days, 
 on his voyage to Rome. 
 
 SYRIA, called Aram, from the patriarch who 
 peopled its chief provinces, comprehended the coun- 
 try lying between the Euphrates east, the Mediter- 
 ranean west, Cilicia north, and Phenicia, Judea and 
 Arabia Deserta south. Syria of the two rivers is 
 Mesopotamia of Syria, which see. 
 
 Syria of Damascus extended eastward along mount 
 Libanus; but its limits varied according to the power 
 of the princes that reigned at Damascus. Syria of 
 Zobah, or Sobal, was jnobalily Ccele-Syria, or hollow 
 Syria. Syria of Maacah, or Beth-maachah, or Ma- 
 chati, was also towards Libanus, (2 Sam. x. G, 8 ; 
 2 Kings XV. 29.) extending beyontl Jordan, and was 
 given to Manasseh, Dent. iii. 14 ; Josh. xiii. 13. (See 
 Abel II.) Syria of Rohob, or Reliob, was that 
 l)art of Syria of which Rehob was the caj)ital, near 
 the northern frontier of the Land of Promise, (Numb. 
 xiii. 21.) on the pass that leads to Emath, or Haniath. 
 It was given to Asher, and lav contiguous to A])hek, 
 in Libanus, Josh. xix. 28, 30'; xxi. 31. Laish, situ- 
 ate at the fountains of Jordan, was in t' : ^ countrj'-, 
 Judg. i. 31. Svria of Tob, or of Ish-tob, or of the 
 land of Tob, or of the Tubieni, as they are called m 
 the INIaccabees, was in the neighborhood of Libanus, 
 the northern extrcmitv of Palestine, Judg. xi. J, 5 ;
 
 SYRIA 
 
 [ 872 ] 
 
 SYR 
 
 1 Mac. V. 13 ; 2 Mac. xii. 17. Syria of Emath, or 
 Hamath, near the province of which Hamath, on the 
 Orontes, was the capital. 
 
 Syria, however, without any other appellation, de- 
 notes the kingdom of Syria, of which Antioch be- 
 came the capital, after the reign of the Seleucidse. 
 This country was originally governed by its own 
 kings, each in his own city and territories. David 
 subdued them about ante A. D. 1044, (2 Sam. viii. 
 12; X. 6, 8.) but after the reign of Solomon they 
 shook off the yoke, and were not reduced again, till 
 the time of Jeroboam II. A. M. 3179. Reziu, king 
 of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, having declared 
 war against Ahab, king of Judah, he found himself 
 under the necessity of soliciting aid from Tiglath- 
 pileser, king of Assyria, who put Rezin to death, took 
 Damascus, and transported the Syrians beyond the 
 Euphrates. Syria allervvards came under the Chal- 
 deans, then under the Persians, and was ultimately 
 reduced by Alexander the Great. After his death 
 (A. M. 3681) the empire was divided between his 
 principal officers, Seleucus Nicanor, head of the 
 family of kings called Seleucida*, taking the diadem, 
 and naine of king of Syria. He reigned forty-two 
 years, and was succeeded by Antioch us Soter ; Anti- 
 ochus Theos ; Seleucus Callinicus ; Seleucus Ke- 
 raunus ; Antioch us Magnus ; Seleucus Philopator ; 
 Antiochus Epiphanes ; Antiochus Eupator ; Deme- 
 
 trius Soter; Demetrius Nicator; Antiochus Theos ; 
 Tryphon ; Antiochus Soter, or Sidetes ; 3878, Seleu- 
 cus V. son of Demetrius Nicanor ; Antiochus Gry- 
 phus, or Philometer, and Antiochus Cyzicenus, his 
 brother, (3892,) divided the kingdom ; Seleucus VI. 
 son of Gryphus ; and Antiochus Eusebes. 
 
 In the year 3912, Syria was divided between 
 Philip and Demetrius Eucasrus. The Syrians find- 
 ing their country almost ruined by the civil wars 
 which ensued, they called in Tigranes, king of Ar- 
 menia, A. M. 3921. The two sons of Antiochus 
 Eusebes, however, still held possession of a part of 
 Syria, till Pompey reduced it into a Roman prov- 
 ince, A. M. 3939, after it had subsisted 257 years. 
 (See further under the respective articles relative to 
 the persons mentioned in this historical sketch.) 
 
 SYRIAC VERSION, see Versions. 
 
 SYRO-PHffiNICIA is Pbenicia properly so 
 called, but which, having by conquest been united to 
 the kingdom of Syria, added its old name, Phenicia, 
 to that of Syria. The Canaanitish woman is called 
 a Syro-pheniciau, (Mark vii. 26.) because she was of 
 Phenicia, then considered as part of Syria. Mat- 
 thew, who is by some supposed to have written in 
 Hebrew or Syriac, calls her a Canaanitish woman, 
 (Matt. XV. 22.) because that country was really 
 peopled by Canaanites, Sidon being the eldest son 
 of Canaan, Gen. x. 15. See Ph(enicia. 
 
 T 
 
 TAB 
 
 TAANACH is always mentioned in connection 
 with Megiddo, except in Josh. xxi. 25. The infer- 
 ence is, that they lay near each other. (See Me- 
 giddo, and see a full description of the topography of 
 the region, in the Bibl. Repository, vol. i. p. 598, 
 603.) *R. 
 
 TABERAH, or Tabeera, burning, an encamp- 
 ment of Israel in the desert, (Numb. xi. 3 ; Dcut. ix. 
 22 ) and so called, because here a fire from the tab- 
 ernach; of the Lord burned a great part of the camp. 
 
 TABERNACLE. We have an account of three 
 pulilic tabernacles among the Jews, previous to the 
 building of Solomon's temple. The Jirst, which 
 Moses erected for himself, is called "the tabernacle 
 of the congregation." In this he gave audience, 
 heard causes, and inquired of God. Perhaps the 
 public offices of I'cligious worship were also per- 
 formed in it for some time, and hence its designation. 
 The second tabernacle was that which Moses built 
 for God, by his express command, partly to be the 
 ])lace of his residence asking of Israel, (Exod. xl. .34, 
 35.) and pars'y to be the medium of that solemn wor- 
 sliij) which tiiC peo])le wore to render to him, ver. 17, 
 26 — 29. 'Vhv third public tabernacle was that which 
 David erected in his own city, for the reception of 
 the ark, when he received it from tlie house of 
 Obed-edom, 2 Sam. vi. 17 ; 1 Chron. xvi. 1. But 
 it is the sccnud of these, called <Ae tabernacle, by way 
 of distinction, that we have more particularly to 
 notice. 
 
 Moses having been instructed by God to rear the 
 tabernacle, according to the pattern which had been 
 shown to him in the mount, called the people to- 
 gether and informed them of his proceedings, fijrtho 
 
 TABERNACLE 
 
 purpose of affording them an opportunity of con- 
 tributing towards so noble and iionorable a work, 
 Exod. XXV. 2 ; xxxv. 5. And so liberally did the 
 people bring their offerings, that he was obliged to 
 restrain them in so doing, ver. 21 — xxxvi. 6. The 
 structure which we are now about to describe, was 
 built with extraordinary magnificence, and at a pro- 
 digious expense, that it might be in some measure 
 suitable to the dignity of the Great King, for whose 
 palace it was designed, and to the vahie of those 
 spiritual and eternal blessings, of which it was also 
 designed as a type or emblem. 
 
 The value of the gold and silver, only, used for the 
 work, and of which we have an account in Exod. 
 xxxviii. 24, 25, amounted, according to bishop 
 Cumberland's reduction of the Jewish talent and 
 shekel to English coin, to upwards of 182,568/. or 
 more than 810,600 dollars. If we add to this the 
 vast quantity of brass or copper, that was also used ; 
 the shittim wood, of which the boards of the taberna- 
 cle, as well as the pillars which surrounded the court 
 and sacred utensils, were made ; as also the rich 
 embroidered curtains and canopies that covered the 
 tabernacle, divided the parts of it, and surrounded 
 the court; — and if we further add, the jewels that 
 were set in the high-priest's ephod and breastplate, 
 which are to be considered as part of the furniture 
 of the tabernacle, the value of the whole materials, 
 exclusive of workmanship, must amount to an im- 
 mense sum. This sum was raised, partly by volun- 
 tary contributions and presents, and partly by a poll 
 tax of half a shekel a head for every male Israelite 
 above twenty years old, (chap. xxx. 11 — 16.) which 
 amounted to a hundred talents and 1775 shekels,
 
 ■TABERNACLE 
 
 [873 J 
 
 TABERNACLE 
 
 that is, 35,359/. 7s. Gd. stei-ling, or nearly 157,000 
 dollars, cliap. xx.wiii. 25. 
 
 The iLuriiod Spencer imagined that Moses bor- 
 rowed i]i.s design of this tabernuc-le IVoiii E'_'V|)t. But 
 this notion, as Jennings has shown, is dinctiy at 
 variance with matter of tact ; the struciure ofiAloses 
 ditiering from those used in the hiathen worship 
 most essentially, hotli in situation and lijrni, and also 
 with its ty|)icai design and use, as i)oijiied out by the 
 apostle iu the ninth chapter of the Hebrews. 
 
 The tabernacle was of an oitlong rectangular form, 
 thirty cubits long, ten broad, and ten in height; 
 (Exod. xxvi. 18—29 ; xxxvi. 23—34.) whicl), accord- 
 ing to bishop Cumberland, was lifiy-five feet long, 
 eighteen broad, and eighteen liigh. Tiio two sides, 
 and the western end, were formed of boards of shit- 
 tjin wood, overlaid with thin plates of gold, and 
 fixed iu soKd sockets, or vases of silver. Above, 
 they were secured by bars of the same wood, over- 
 laid with gold, passing through rings of gold, which 
 were fixed to the boards. On the east <iid, which 
 was the entrance, there were no boards, but only five 
 pillars of shiltim wood, whose chapiteis and fillets 
 were overlaid with gold, and their hooks of gold, 
 standing on five sockets of brass. The lal-ernacle, 
 tlius erected, was covered with four difiirent kinds 
 of curtains. The first and inner ciutain was com- 
 posed of fine linen, magnificently embroidered with 
 figures of cherubim, in shades of blue, purple and 
 scarlet ; this formed the beautiful ceiling. The next 
 covering was made of goats' hair; the third of rams' 
 skins, died red; and the fourth and outwiu'd cover- 
 ing was made of badgers' skins, as our translators 
 have it, but which is not quite certain, as it is gener- 
 ally thought that the original intends only skins of 
 some description, dyed of a particular color. We 
 have already said, that the east end of the tabernacle 
 had no boards, but only five pillars of shittim wood ; 
 it w;\s, therefore, enclosed with a richly embroidered 
 curtain, suspended from these pillars, Exod. xxvii. 16. 
 
 Such was the external appearance of the sacred 
 tent, which was divided into two apartments, liy 
 means of four pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with 
 gold, like the pillars before described, two cubits and 
 a half distant from each other; only they stood on 
 sockets of silver, instead of sockets of brass; (Exod. 
 xxvi. 32; xxxvi. 36.) and on these pillars was hung 
 a veil, formed of the same materials as the one 
 |)Iaced at the east end, Exod. xxvi. 31 — 3.3 ; xxxvi. 35. 
 We are not informed in what proportions the interior 
 of the tabernacle was thus divided ; but it is generally 
 conceived that it was divided in the same ])roportion 
 as the temple afterwards built according to its model ; 
 that is, two thirds of the whole length being allotted 
 to the first room, or the holy place, and one third to 
 the second, or most holy place. Thus the former 
 would be twenty cubits long, ten wide, and ten high, 
 and the latter ten cubits every way. It is observa- 
 ble, that neither the holy nor most holy places had 
 any window. Hence the need of the candlestick in 
 the one, for the service that was performed therein ; 
 the darkness of the other would create reverence, 
 and might, perhaps, have suggested the similar con- 
 trivance of ilie Adyta iu the heathen temples. 
 
 The tabi'rnacle thus described stood in an open 
 space, of an oblong form, one hundred cul)its in 
 length, and fifty in breadth, situated due east and 
 west, Exod. xxvii. 18. This court was surrounded 
 with pillars of brass, filleted with silver, and placed 
 at the distance of five cubits from each other. Their 
 sockets were of brass and were fastened to the earth 
 110 
 
 with |)ins of the same metal, Exod. xxx\nii. 10, 17, 
 20. Their height is not stated, but it was probably 
 five cubits, that being the length of the curtains that 
 were suspended on them, Exod. xxxviii. 18. These 
 curtains, which ibrmed an enclosure round the court, 
 were of fine twined wliite linen yarn, (Exod. xxvii. 
 9 ; xxxviii. 9, 16.) except that at the entrance on the 
 east end, which was of l)lue, and purple, and scarlet, 
 and fine white twined linen, with cords to draw it 
 either up, or aside, when the priests entered the 
 court, Exod. xxxviii. 18; xxxix. 40. Within this area 
 stood the altar of burnt-ofterings, and the laver and its 
 foot. The former was placed in a line between the 
 door of the court and the door of the tabernacle, but 
 nearer the former; (Exod. xl. 6, 29.) the latter stood 
 between the altar of burnt-oflTeriug and tlie door of 
 the tabernacle, Exod. xxxviii. 8. 
 
 But although the tabernacle was surrounded by 
 the court, there is no reason to think that it stood in 
 the centre of it ; for there was no occasion for so 
 large an area at the west end as at the east, where 
 the aitar and other utensils of the sacred service were 
 placed. It is more probable that the area at this end 
 was filty cubits square ; and indeed a less space than 
 that could hardly suffice for the work that was to be 
 done there, and for the persons who were intmedi- 
 ately to attend the service. We now proceed to no- 
 tice the furniture which the tabernacle contained. 
 
 In the holy place were three objects wortliy of no- 
 tice, VIZ. the altar of incense, the table for the shew- 
 bread, and the candlestick for the lights, each of 
 wliich have been described in their respective places. 
 The altar of incense was placed in the middle of the 
 sanctuary, before the veil, (Exod. xxx. 6 — 10 ; xl. 
 26, 27.) and on it the incense was burnt morning and 
 evening, Exod. xxx. 7, 8, 34 — 38. On the north side of 
 the altar of incense, that is, on the right hand of the 
 priest as he entered, stood the table for the sheW' 
 bread, (Exod. xxvi. 35 ; xl. 22, 23.) and on the south 
 side of the holy ])lace, the golden candlestick, Exod. 
 xxv. 31 — 39. In the most holy place were the ark, the 
 mercy-seat, and the cherubim, for a description of 
 which their articles may be consulted. 
 
 The remarkable and costly structure thus de- 
 scribed was erected in the wilderness of Sinai, on the 
 first day of the first month of the second year, after 
 the Israelites left Egypt; (Exod. xl. 17.) and when 
 erected was anointed, together with its furniture, with 
 holy oil, (ver. 9 — 11.) and sanctified by blood, Exod. 
 xxiv. 6 — 8; Heb. ix. 21. The altar of burnt-oftering, 
 esjjecially, was sanctified by sacrifices during seven 
 days, (Exod. xxix. 37.) while rich donations were 
 given by the princes of the tribes, for the service of 
 the sanctuary, Numb. vii. 
 
 We should not omit to obsen-e, that the tabernacle 
 was so constructed as to be taken to pieces and put 
 together again, as occasion required. This was in- 
 dispensal)le ; it being designed to accompany the 
 Israelites during their travels in the wilderness. As 
 often as they removed, the tabernacle was taken to 
 [)ieces, and borne in regular order by the Levites, 
 Numl). iv. Wherever they encamped it was pitched 
 in the midst of their tent.s, which were set up in a 
 quadrangular form, under their respective standards, 
 at a distance from the tabernacle of 2000 cubits; 
 while Moses and Aaron, with the priests and Levitea 
 occiq)ied a place between them. 
 
 "Tabernacle" is sometimes put for heaven, for the 
 dwelling-place of the blessed, Ps. xv. 1 ; Ixi. 4. " I 
 will abide in thy tabernacle for ever." Ps. Ixxxiv. 1, 
 " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts 1 **
 
 TABERNACLE 
 
 [874] 
 
 TAB 
 
 Paul says to the Hebrews, (chap. viii. 2.) that " Jesus 
 Christ was a muiister of the sanctuary and of the 
 true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not 
 man ;" and that, "being come a high-priest of good 
 things to come, by a greater and more perfect taber- 
 nacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this 
 building," &c. ch. ix. IL (See also Rev. xiii. 6 ; xxi. 
 3.) The tabernacle of David that God was to raise 
 (Amos ix. 11 ; Acts xv. 16.) is the church of Christ, 
 the ofFspringof David, and heir of the promises made 
 to that patriarch. 
 
 Tabernacles, Feast of ; called ^xijioTTJyyia, that 
 is, the feast in which they set up tents or tabernacles, 
 John vii. 2. In Hebrew it is called the feast of tents, 
 (Lev. xxiii. 42 — 44.) because it was kept under green 
 tents, or arbors, in memory of the dwelling in tents 
 by the Israelites during their passage through the 
 wilderness. It was one of their thi-ee great solemni- 
 ties, in which all the males were obliged to appear 
 before the Lord. It was celebrated after harvest, on 
 the fifteenth of Tizri, the first month of the civil 
 year, and was designed to return thanks to God for 
 the Iruits of the earth, then gathered in, Exod. xxiii. 
 16. The feast continued eight days, during which 
 no labor was permitted, and certain sacrifices were 
 offered. On the first day they cut down branches 
 of the handsomest trees, with their fruit, which they 
 carried in ceremony to the syntigogue, wiiere they 
 pei-formed what they called Liilab. Holding in their 
 right hand a branch of a palm-tree, three branches of 
 myrtle, and two of willow, tied together, and having 
 in their left hand a citron with its fruit, they brought 
 them together, waving them towards the four quar- 
 ters of the world, and singing certain songs. These 
 branches were also called Hosanna, because on that 
 occasion they cried Hosanna! not unlike what was 
 done at our Saviour's enny into Jerusalem, Matt. 
 xxi. 8, 9. On the eighth day they performed this 
 ceremony more frequently, and with greater solem- 
 nity than on the other days of the feast ; whence 
 they called this day Hosanna Rabbah, or the grejit 
 Hosanna. On this occasion Psalm cxviii. " O 
 give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good — Let Israel 
 now say," &.c. seems to have been sung. Tiie 
 psalmist makes a plain allusion to it in ver. 25, &c. 
 "Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord : O Lord, I be- 
 seech thee, send now prosi)erity. Blessed be he that 
 cometh in the name of the Lord," &.c. The Hebrew 
 says, "Hosanna Jehovah," &c. and these words the 
 Jews sing at this day, when they make a procession 
 about their desk, at the Feast of Tabernacles. They 
 are the same as were sung at our Saviour's triumphal 
 entry into Jerusalem. 
 
 On the first day of the feast, besides the ordinary 
 sacrifices, they offered as a burnt offering thirteen 
 calves, two rams and fourteen lambs, with offerings 
 of flour and lilmtions of wine ; and also a goat for a 
 sin-offering, Numb. xxix. 12. On the second day 
 they offered twelve calves, two rams and fourteen 
 lambs, for a burnt-offering, with their offerings of 
 flour, oil and wine ; as also a goat for a sin-offering ; 
 and this beside the ordinary morning and evening 
 sacrifices, which were never interrupted ; nor those 
 offered by the Israelites from private devotion, or for 
 expiation of sin. On the third, fourth, fifth, sixth 
 and seventh days of the feast were offered the same 
 Bacrifices as on the second day, with this difference, 
 that every day they diminished from the former by 
 one calf; so that on the third day they offered eleven, 
 on the fourth ten, on the fifth nine, on the sixth 
 eight, and on the seventh but seven. But the eighth 
 
 day, which was kept with the greatest solemnity, 
 they offered but one calf, one ram and seven lambs 
 for a burnt-offering, and one goat for a sin-offering ; 
 with the other accustomed offerings and libations. 
 On this day, too, the Jews presented at the temple 
 the first-fruits of their later crop, that is, of such 
 things as were the latest in coming to maturity. 
 They also drew water out of the fountain of Siloam, 
 which was brought into the temple, and, being first 
 mingled with wine, was poured out by the priests at 
 the foot of the altar of burnt-offerings ; the people in 
 the mean time singing those words of the pro]ihet 
 Isaiah, (chap. xii. 3.) "Therefore with joy shall ye 
 draw water out of the wells of salvation." It is said 
 this ceremony was instituted by Haggai and Zecha- 
 riah, at the return from the captivity; and it is 
 thought that our Lord alluded to it, (John vii. 37, 38.) 
 when he cried in the temple, on the last day of the 
 Feast of Tabernacles, "If any thirst, let him come 
 unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the 
 Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers 
 of living water;" — meaning, according to John's 
 observation, the Holy Ghost, which should be given 
 to those who believed on him. Some commentators 
 thhik, that at this feast were rehearsed Psalms viii. 
 Ixxxi. and Ixxxviii. entitled " for the presses ; " but 
 Leo of Modena says, they rehearsed those Psalms 
 whose titles are Hallelujah, or, " praise God," — cxi. 
 cxii. cxiii. cxvi. cxvii. cxviii. 
 
 TABLE OF Shew-Bread, see Bread, p. 209, seq. 
 
 TABITHA, a Christian widow,who lived at Joppa, 
 and who, having fallen sick and died, was restored to 
 life through the intercession of the apostle Peter, 
 Acts iv. 36. The name Tabitha, Heb. ■•ax, Syr. Nniaa, 
 signifies gazelle ; as does also the corresponding 
 Greek name, Dorcas. See Antelope, p. 70. 
 
 TABOR, an isolated mountain which rises on the 
 north-eastern side of the plain of Esdraelon, in Gal- 
 ilee. Its shape is that of a truncated cone, and 
 Burckhardt states its composition to be entirely cal- 
 careous. Travellers vary in their estimate of its 
 height, which is probably about 2500 to 3000 feet. 
 Tabor is extremely fertile, and is covered by trees 
 and odoriferous plants. On its summit is a plain 
 about a mile in circumference, where are the remains 
 of a citadel of some considerable extent, but for 
 what j)urpose it was erected is not known. Mr. 
 Buckingham, who ascended this mountain, describes 
 the view from its summit as being the finest in the 
 country : "We had on the north-west a view of the 
 Mediterranean sea, whose blue surface filled up an 
 open space left; by a downward bend in the outline 
 of the western hills ; to the west-north-west a small- 
 er portion of its waters were seen ; and on the west 
 again, the slender line of its distant horizon was just 
 perceptible over the range of land near the sea coast. 
 From the west to the south, the plain of Esdraelon 
 extended over a vast space, being bounded on the 
 south by the range of hills generally considered to 
 be Hermon, whose dews are poetically celel)rated, 
 (Ps. cxxxiii. 3.) and having in the same direction, 
 nearer the foot of Tabor, the springs of Ain-el-Sher- 
 rar, which send a jierceptible stream through ita 
 centre, and form the brook Kishon of antiquity, Ps. 
 Ixxxiii. 9. From the south-east to the east is the 
 plain nf Galilee, being almost a continuation of Es- 
 draelon, and like it, apy)earingto be highly cultivated, 
 being now ploughed for seed thoughout. Beneath 
 the range of this supposed Hermon is seated Endor, 
 famed for the witch who raised the ghost of Samuel ; 
 (1 Sam. xxviii.) and Nain, equally celebrated, as the
 
 TAD 
 
 [875 1 
 
 TAL 
 
 place at wliicli Jesus raised the only son of a widow 
 from death to hfe, and restored liim to Iiis afflicted 
 |)-dreiit, Luke vii. 11 — 15. The range which hounds 
 the eastern view is thought to he the mountains of 
 Giiboa, where Saul, setting an example of self-de- 
 struction to his armor-bearer and his three sons, fell 
 on his own sword, rather than fall into the hands of 
 the uncircumcised Philistines, by whom he was de- 
 feated, 1 Sam. xxxi. The sea of Tiberias, or the 
 lake of Gennesaret, famed as the seat of many mira- 
 cles, is seen on the north-east, filling the hollow of a 
 deep valley, and contrasdng its ligiit blue waters 
 with the dark brown shades of the barren hills by 
 which it is hemmed around. Here, too, the steep is 
 pointed out, down which the herd of swine, who 
 were possessed by the legion of devils, ran headlong 
 into the sea, Luke viii. 33. In the same direction, 
 below, and on the |)laiu of GaUlee, and about an 
 hour's distance from the foot of mount Tabor, there 
 is a cluster of buildings, used as a bazaar for cattle ; 
 somewhat further on is a rising ground, from which, 
 it is said, that Christ delivered the long and excellent 
 discourse, called the ' Sermon on the njount,' and the 
 whole view in this quarter is bounded by the high 
 range of Gebel-el-Telj, or the mountain of Snow. 
 The city of Saphet, supposed to be the ancient Be- 
 th uliah, a city said to be seen far and near, and 
 thought to be alluded to in the apophthegm which 
 says, 'a city set on a hill cannot be hid,' (Matt. v. 
 14.) is also pointed out in this direction. To the 
 north were the stony hills over which we had jour- 
 neyed hither ; and these completed this truly grand 
 and interesting panoramic view." (Travels, p. 107 
 —109.) 
 
 Deborah and Barak assembled their army on Ta- 
 bor, from which they marched to give battle to Sisera ; 
 (Judg. iv. 6.) and subsequently, Hosea (chap. v. 1.) 
 reproaches the princes of Israel, and the priests of 
 the golden calves, with liaviug been a snare on 
 Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor; referritig, no 
 doubt, to the idols, or superstitious altars, which they 
 here set up. When Josephus was eovernor of Gali- 
 lee, he strongly fortified the top of Tabor ; but Ves- 
 l)asian by stratagem dx-ew down the Jews into the 
 open country, and there cut them to pieces, 
 
 TABRET, or Tabouret, a small species of drum, 
 e. g. TiMEREx,, which see. 
 
 TADMOR, subsequently called Palnnfra by the 
 Greeks, was a city founded by Solomon in the desert 
 of Syria, on the borders of Arabia Deserta, near the 
 Euphrates. Its situation was remote from human 
 habitations, in the midst of a dreary wilderness; and 
 it is probable that Solomon built it to facilitate his 
 commerce with the East, as it aftbrded a su])ply of 
 water, a thing of the utmost importance in an Ara- 
 bian desert. It is one day's journey from the Euphra- 
 tes, two from Upper Syria, and six from Babylon. 
 The original name was preserved till the time of 
 Alexander, who extended his conquests to this city, 
 which then exchanged Tadmor for the title of Pal- 
 myra. It submitted to the Romans about the year 
 130, and continued in alliance with them during a 
 period of 150 years. When the Saracens triumphed 
 in the East, they acquired possession of this city, and 
 restored its ancient name of Tadmor. Of the time 
 of its ruin there is no authentic record ; but it is 
 thought, with some probability, that its clestruction 
 occurred during the period in which it was occupied 
 by the Saracens. Of its present appearance Messrs. 
 Wood and Dawkins, who visited it in 1751, thus 
 epeak: "It is scarcely possible to imagine any thing 
 
 more striking than this view. So great a number of 
 Corinthian pillars, mixed with so little wall orsolid 
 building, aftbrded a most romantic variety of pros- 
 l)ect." Captain Mangles, who travelled more recent- 
 ly, observes, " On o|)ening upon the ruins of Palmyra, 
 as seen from the valley of the Tombs, we were much 
 struck with the picturesque effect of the whole, pre- 
 senting the most imposing sight of the kind we had 
 ever seen." But on a minuter inspection, tlie ruins 
 of tins once nnghty city do not appear so ioteresting 
 as at a distance. Volney observes, "In tfce space 
 covered by these ruins, we sometimes find a palace 
 of which nothing remains but the court and walls ; 
 sometimes a temple, whose peristile is half thrown 
 down ; and now a portico, a galleiy, a triumphal 
 arch. If from this striking scene we cast our 
 eyes upon the ground, another almost as varied pre- 
 sents itself. On which side soever we look, the 
 earth is strewed with vast stones half buried, wth 
 broken entablatures, niutilated friezes, disfigured re- 
 liefs, effaced sculptures, violated tombs, and altars 
 defiled by the dust." It is situated under a ridge of 
 barren hills to the west, and its other sides are open 
 to the desert. The city was originally about ten 
 miles in circumference ; but, such have been the 
 destructions effected by time, that the boundaries 
 are with difficulty traced and determined. In the 
 Modern Traveller there is a very excellent description 
 of the present aspect of this ruined city, by Mr. Josiah 
 Conder. (Vol. iii. p. 1. Amer. edit.) 
 
 TAHAPANES, (Jer. ii. 16.) or Tahpanhes, 
 (Jer. xliii. 7, 9.) or Tehaphnehes, (Ezek. xxx. 18.) 
 the name of an Egyptian city, for which the Seventy 
 put Taphne, (Ta(/r?;, Tuiprui.) and this is probably the 
 same name which the Greeks write Daphne. This 
 city lay in the vicinity of Pelusium, (see Sin II.) to- 
 wards the south-west, on the western bank of the Pe- 
 lusiac branch of the Nile ; and is therefore called by 
 Herodotus the Pelusiac Daphne. To this city many 
 of the Jews retired, after the destruction of Jerusa- 
 lem by the Chaldeans, taking vAxh them the proph- 
 et Jeremiah, Jer. xliii. 7—9 ; xliv. 1. That Taha- 
 panes was a large and important city, is apparent 
 from the threats uttered against it by Ezekiel, c. xxx. 
 18. *R. 
 
 TALENT. Several authors have supposed that 
 among the Hebrews there were two sorts of talents, 
 a larger and a smaller ; the talent of the sanctuary, 
 and the common talent ; the former being double the 
 weight or value of the other. But we cannot find 
 this distinction in Scripture. 
 
 The weight of the Jewish talent, according to Dr. 
 Arlmthnot was 113 poimds, 10 ounces, 1 pennyweight 
 and 10 2-7ths grains troy weight. Its value in (Eng- 
 lish) money was 342/. 3s. 9d. or about $1520. The 
 talent of gold was of the same weight ; its value, 
 54,7.52/. or 8243,100. 
 
 The following thought of Mr. Bruce is perhaps 
 worth inquiring into ; that is, that the talents appro- 
 priated to different commodities might be of different 
 weights ; and adds, that if a talent could be dis- 
 covered, which, at the mine, was of less weight than 
 the talent of Judea, we might, perhaps, be justified 
 in estimating the riches in gold of David, or of Solo- 
 mon, by the weight of that talent. " David took 
 possession of two ports, Eloth and Ezion-gaber ; (1 
 Kings is. 26; 2 Chron. viii. 17.) from which he 
 carried on trade to Ophir and Tarshish, to a very 
 great extent, to the day of his death. We are struck 
 with astonishment, when we reflect on the sum that 
 prince received in so short a time from these mines
 
 TAL 
 
 [ 876 ] 
 
 TAM 
 
 of Ophir. For what is said to be given by David (1 
 Chron. xxii. 14, 15, 19 ; xxLx. 3—7, three thousand 
 Hebrew talents of gold, reduced to our money, is 
 21,600,000^. sterling) and his princes, for -the build- 
 ing of the temple" of Jerusalem, exceeds in value 
 800,000,000^. of our money, if the talent there spoken 
 of be a Hebrew talent, (the value of a Hebrew talent 
 appeai-s from Exod. xxxviii. 25, 26. For 603,550 
 persons being taxed at half a shekel each, they 
 must have paid in the whole 301,774 ; now that sum 
 is said to amount to 100 talents, 775 shekels only ; 
 deduct the two latter sums, and there will remain 
 300,000, which, divided by 100, will leave 3000 
 shekels for each of these talents,) and not a weight 
 of the same denomination, the value of which was 
 less, and peculiarly reserved for, and used in the 
 traffic of, these precious metals, gold and silver. It 
 was probably an African or Indian weight, proper to 
 the same mine whence was gotten the gold, appro- 
 priated to fine commodities only, as is the case with 
 our ounce trov different from the avoirdupois." 
 
 TALISMAN, see Amulet. 
 
 TAL3IUD is the name of a Jewish work contain- 
 ing the body of the doctrines, rehgion and morality 
 of the Jews ; and having among them an authority 
 equal to, if not greater than that of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures. The name conies from the Hebrew 
 Idmad, to teach, and signifies therefore teaching, or 
 rather traditional doctrine. Tliere are strictly two 
 works under tiiis name, viz. the Talmud of Jerusa- 
 lem, and the Talmud of Babylon. See under Lan- 
 guage, p. 609. 
 
 The Talmud of Jerusalem was compiled by 
 Rabbi Jochanan, who presided in the school of Pal- 
 estine fourscore years, and who is said to have fin- 
 ished it 230 years after the ruin of the temple, or 
 about A. D. 300, for the use of the Jews in Judea. 
 This Talmud is shorter and more obscure than that 
 of Babylon, but is doubtless more ancient. It is 
 composed of two parts, the Mishna and the Gemara. 
 The Mishna (which is also common to the Babylo- 
 nian Talmud) is the work of Rabbi Judah Hakko- 
 desh, or " tlie Holy," who compiled it about A. D. 
 190 or 220, at Tiberias. The name Mishna signifies 
 the second law ; and the work is a collection of the 
 traditions of the Jewish doctors, which Hakkodesh 
 gathered into one ijody, for fear they should be lost 
 and forgotten because of the dispersion of the Jews 
 and the interruption of their schools. About a century 
 later, Rabbi Jochanan, as is said above, composed 
 the Gemara, i. e. completion, perfection, in order to 
 perfect and finish the Mishna of Rabbi Judah. It 
 consists of illustrations of the ftlishna, and things 
 supplementarj' to it, and is in the nature of a com- 
 mentary upon it. The two constitute the Talmud 
 of Jerusalem. 
 
 The Talmud of Babylon is composed of the 
 same Mishna of Judah the Holy, and of a Gemara, 
 composed, as is said by some, by Rabbi Asa, who 
 lived at Babylon about A. D. 400 ; or, as is affirmed 
 by others, by Rabbi Jose, in the beginning of the 
 sixth century. It is called the Talmud of Babylon, 
 because it was compiled in that city, and was chiefly 
 prevalent among the Jews beyond the Euphrates. 
 The Jews prefer this to the Talmud of Jerusalem, 
 because it is clearer and more extensive. It aboiuids 
 with a multitude of fables and ridiculous stories, of 
 the truth of which, however, they must entertain no 
 doubt, unless they would pass for heretics. 
 
 The Jews even prefer the authority of the Talmud 
 to that of Scripture. They compare the Bible to 
 
 water, the Mishna to wine, and the Gemara to hypo- 
 eras. It is a part of their belief, that the traditions 
 and explications contained in the Talmud are derived 
 from God himself; tliat Moses revealed them to 
 Aaron and his sons, and to the elders of Israel; that 
 these communicated them to the jirophets, and the 
 prophets to the members of the great synagogue, who 
 transmitted them down till they came to the doctors 
 or rabbis, and these reduced them to the form of 
 the Mishna and Gemara. 
 
 The Mishna is written in Hebrew, in a very 
 close and obscure style. See Language, p. 609. 
 A noble edition of it was given by Sureiihusius, in 
 six parts, folio, Amst. 1698, &c. The Talmud of 
 Jerusalem was printed by Bomberg, at Venice, in 
 one volume folio : that of Babylon at Amsterdam, 
 in twelve volumes folio. Other editions are also 
 extant. *R. 
 
 I. TAMAR, daughter-in-law of the patriarch Ju- 
 dah, wife of Er and Onan, and mother of Pliarez and 
 Zarah. The book of the Testament of the twelve 
 Patriarchs says, that Tamar was of Mesopotamia, 
 and daughter of Aram, that is, by descent a Syrian ; 
 that Bathshuah, the wife of Judah, could not endure 
 her, because she was of a nation different from her 
 own, and inspired the same hatred of her into her 
 son Er, who, refusing to treat Tamar as his wife, 
 was slain by an angel of the Lord, on the third day 
 after his marriage. Scrifiture says that he was very 
 wicked before the Lord, for which the Lord slew 
 him, (Gen. xxxviii. 7.) which may mean, either that 
 he was suddenly slain, or smitten by a disease which 
 ultimately produced his death. Judah then said to 
 Onan, his second son, " Go in unto thy brother's wife, 
 and marry her, and raise up seed unto thy brother." 
 Onan took her, as commanded by his father; but 
 knowing that the children born from this intercourse 
 would not belong to him, but to his brother, he with- 
 held from Tamar the means of becoming a mother ; 
 wherefore the Lord slew him also. Judah then 
 said to Tamar, " Continue a widow in thy father's 
 house, till my son Shelah shall be of age to marry ;" 
 being afraid that Shelah also might die, as his broth- 
 ers did. Tamar therefore lived with her father a 
 considerable time, but did not receive Shelah as her 
 husband. Some years afterwards, therefore, when 
 Judah went to a sheep-shearing feast of his friend 
 Hirah, the Adullammite, Tamar disguised herself as 
 a foreign harlot, and sat in a y)lace where he would 
 pass. Judah had intercourse with her, and gave her 
 as pledges, his ring, his bracelets and his staff. After 
 some months the pregnancy of Tamar became ap- 
 parent, and Judah woidd have had her burned alive ; 
 but when she produced the ring, the bracelets and 
 the staff', and attributed her condition to tlie owner 
 of those pledges, Judah acknowledged that she was 
 more just than he had been. She bore twins, of 
 which one was called Pharez, the other Zarah. 
 
 Much has been said and written upon the transac- 
 tion between Tamar and Judah, and certainly, there 
 are ample groimds to doubt whether Tamar were so 
 culpable as she at first sight appears to have been. 
 It seems that her marriage with one branch of tl^e 
 family, gave her a right to expect a coniinuauce of 
 conjugahty with some of its other bianclics. Tlie 
 custom of the surviving brother marrying his de- 
 ceased brother's A^idow, with the indignity attcnflant 
 upon his refusal, are well known ; (see Marriage ;) 
 and its general prevalence shows it was of great an- 
 tiquity. The probability is, that Tamar, who was a 
 Caiiaanitess, might satisfy her mind with some foi-m
 
 TA3IAR 
 
 [877] 
 
 TAR 
 
 of inarriage, at that time customary in her country, 
 art siieiiis iiiiplied in the declaration of Judah — "She 
 iiris Iji'cn jiiDre riir/deous tlian I." Tlie plirase is not 
 — >iUc is less to blame — but — "she is more righteous." 
 Ainoii;^ the ciglit forms of marriage specilied in the 
 (iiUtoo coilr, is oue by a mutual intercliange, between 
 tiic |)artics, of necklaces or strings of flowers, which 
 biais a very striking resemi)lance to the case of Ju- 
 d.di and Tamar, the latter receiving from the for- 
 nicr his signet and bracelets. Migiit not Tamar thus 
 marry herself to Judah, though unwittingly in him ? 
 From the expression, (ver. 2().) "He knew her again 
 no more," it seems as if he might lawfully ha\e done 
 so, had he jileased. It is important to remark, that 
 although Tamar had been contracted to Er and 
 (Jnan, it is very doubtful whether those marriages 
 had ifeen consummated. 
 
 In the Asiatic Researches (vol. iii. p. 35.) there is a 
 liassago, which affords a similarity to the nan-ativc 
 under consideration, that is extremely remarkable : 
 " I discovered these circumstances of the marriage 
 ceremony of the Garrows, from being present at the 
 marriage of Lungrce, youngest daughter of the chief 
 Oodassy, seven years of age, and Buglun, twenty- 
 three years old, the son of a common Garrow ; and 
 I may here observe, that this marriage, dispropor- 
 tionate as to age and rank, is a very happy one for 
 Buglun, as he will succeed to the Booneaship and 
 estate : for among the Garrows, the You:yGEST 
 DAUGHTER IS ALWAYS HEIRESS, aud if there were 
 any other children born before her, they would 
 get nothing on the death of the Booneah : what 
 is more strange, if Buglun were to die, Lungree 
 
 would MARRY ONE OF HIS BROTHERS ; atul if all 
 
 his brothers luere dead, she woulu then marry the 
 FATHER ; and if the father afterwards should prove too 
 old, she would put him aside, and take any one else 
 whom she might choose." 
 
 Upon this extract IMr. Taylor has the following re- 
 marks. It is clear, that Lungree would have acted 
 exactly like Tamar ; who, because Shelah was not 
 given to her, considered him "as dead," and there- 
 fore she "married the father ;" in doing which, Ju- 
 dah not only acquits her of any transgression, but 
 confesses she had more closely adliered to the law 
 than himself (" is more righteous than I"). It appears 
 also, that the children of Judah by Tamar did actu- 
 ally inherit as his sons, lawfully, as well as naturally ; 
 hence they are reckoned to him in 1 Chron. ii. 4. 
 " And Tamar his daughter-in-law bare him Pharez 
 and Zerah." In Numb. xxvi. 20, we read, "The sons 
 of Judah were — of Shelah — of Pharez — of Zerah," 
 without any jiarticular mark of abasement on Pharez ; 
 and in Ruth iv. 18, the pedigree of David is express- 
 ly derived from this same sou of Judah by Tamar. 
 If the pedigree of David be so derived, that of the 
 Messiah must follow it ; artd it needs little considera- 
 tion to determine which has most propriety, to allow 
 the Ugality of Tamar's marriage, with the legal ac- 
 knowledgment of her children, or to bastardize not 
 merely Pharez but his posterity, Boaz, David, Solo- 
 mon ; a long line of Hebrew heroes, and all tlie kings 
 of Judah. 
 
 II. TAMAR, the daughter of Maachah, wife of 
 David, and by courtesy reckoned among the king's 
 children, 1 Chron. iii. K. Her great beauty was the 
 occasion of great trouble in the family of David. See 
 Amno.v. 
 
 III. TAMAR. Absalom had a daughter whose 
 name was Tamar, 2 Sam. xiv. 27. 
 
 IV. TAMAR, a city of Judea, (Ezek. xlvii. 19 ; 
 
 xlviii. 28.) somewhere about the southern extremity 
 of tiie Dead sea. 
 
 TA.AIMUS, the tenth month of the Hebrew civil 
 year, and the fourth of the sacred year. (See the 
 Jewish Calendar at the end of the vokune.) 
 
 TAMMUZ, a |)agan idol, mentioned in Ezek. viii. 
 14, where the women are represented as weeping for 
 it. It is generally thought that Tammuz was the 
 same deity as Adonis, to which article the reader 
 is referred, as also to the article Idolatry. 
 
 TA.XACH, or Taanach, a city of the half-tribe 
 of Manasseh, east of the Jordan, (Josh. xii. 21 ; xx. 
 25 ; Judg. i. 27.) yielded to the Levites. Eusebius, 
 Jerome and Procopius of Gaza say, that in their 
 time it was a considerable i)lace, three miles from 
 Legio. 
 
 TANNIM, or Thannim, see Dragon. 
 
 I. TAPPUAH, a city of Manasseh, but belonging 
 to Ephraim, (Josh. xvii. 8.) probably the En-tappuah 
 of the former verse. 
 
 II. TAPPrAH, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 34.) 
 ])erhaps the Beth-tappuah of verse 53, which is also 
 attributed to Judah, and which Eusebius places be- 
 yond Rajjhia, 14 miles toward Egypt. 
 
 TARAH, an encampment of Israel in the desert, 
 to which they came from Tahath, aud went hence to 
 Mithcah, Numb, xxxiii. 27. 
 
 TARES. It is not easy to decide, whether by the 
 term titumt, in Matt. xiii. 25, seq.the Saviour intends 
 indifterently all plants which grow among gram, or 
 some particular s])ecies. All we are certain of from 
 the circumstances of the parable is, that it is a plant 
 which rises to the height of the corn. Mintert says, 
 " It is a plant in ai)pearance not unlike corn or Avheat, 
 having at fii-st the same kind of stalk, and the same 
 viridity, but bringing forth no fruit, at least none 
 good." John Melchior also says, that Zi'ianor does 
 not signify every weed, in general, which grows 
 among corn, but a particular species of weed known 
 in Canaan, which is not unlike wheat, but, being put 
 into the ground, degenerated and assumed another 
 nature and form. The Talmudists name it zonim. 
 " Among the hurtful weeds," says Johnson, " darnell 
 (Lolium album) is the first. It bringeth forth leaves 
 like those of wheat or barley, yet rougher, with a 
 long ear, made up of many little ones, every particu- 
 lar whereof containeth two or three grains lesser 
 than those of wheat ; scarcely any chaffy husk to 
 cover them with ; by reason whereof they are 
 easily shaken about, and scattered abroad. They 
 grow in fields among wheat and barley. They spring 
 and flourish with the corn ; and in August the seed 
 is ripe. Darnell is called, in the Arabian tongue, 
 zizania." 
 
 Forskal sajs, the darnell is well kno^vn to the i)eo- 
 ple of Aleppo. It grows among corn. If the seeds 
 remain mixed with the meal, they render a man 
 drunk by eating the bread. The reapers do not sep- 
 arate the plant; but, after the thrashing, they reject 
 the seeds by means of a fan or sieve. Notliing, sjiys 
 Mr. Taylor, can more clearly elucidate the plant in- 
 tended by our Lord, than this extract. It grows 
 among corn — so in the parable. The reapers do not 
 separate the plants — so in the parable : both grow 
 together till hai-vest. After the thrashing they sep- 
 arate them — in the parable they are gathered from 
 among the wheat, and separated by the hand, then 
 gathered into bundles. Their seeds, if any remain 
 by accident, are finally separated by winnowing ; 
 which is, of course, a process preparatory to being 
 gathered — the corn into the garner, or storehouae ;
 
 TAR 
 
 [ 878 ] 
 
 TEM 
 
 the injurious plant into heaps, for consumption by 
 fire, as weeds are consumed. 
 
 TARGUMS, or Chaldee versions of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, see Versions. 
 
 I. TARSHISH, the second son of Javan, Gen. x. 
 4. He is supposed to have been the founder of Tar- 
 sus in Cihcia. 
 
 n. TARSHISH, the proper name of a city and 
 country (Tartessus) in Spain, the most celebrated 
 emporium in the west to which the Hebrews and 
 Phoenicians traded. That it was situated in the west 
 is evident from Gen. x. 4, where it is joined with 
 Elishah, Kittim and Dodanim. See also Ps. Ixxii. 
 10. According to Ezek. xxxviii. 13, it was an im- 
 portant place of trade ; according to Jer. x. 9, it ex- 
 ported silver ; and according to Ezek. xxvii. 12, 25, 
 silver, iron, tin and lead to the Tyrian markets. 
 They embarked for this place from Joppa, Jon. i. 3, 
 4. In Isa. xxiii. 1, 6, 10, it is evidently represented 
 as an imj)ortant Phoenician colony. It is named 
 among otiier distant states, in Isa. Ixvi. 19. That 
 these notices agree with Tartessus has been shown 
 by Bochart, Michaelis and Bredovv. The Greek 
 jiame Tartessus is derived from a harder Aramean 
 pronunciation of the word c-'tt'i-i ; but another or- 
 thography with a, was also known to the Greeks ; for 
 in Polybius and Stephanus Byzantinus occurs 
 Taoaiiiov, as syuonymous with Taiin^aaog. 
 
 In the interval between the composition of the 
 Books of Kings and Chronicles, this name seems to 
 have been transferred to denote any distant country ; 
 hence the Tarshish ships that went to Ophir (1 
 Kings xxii. 49.) are said expressly by the writer of 
 Chronicles to have gone to Tarshish, 2 Chron. ix ; 
 xxi. 20 ; xxxvi. 37. There is no necessity, then, for 
 the adoption of a second Tarshish (perhaps in India 
 or Ethiopia). (Gesenius, Heb. Lex. suh. vocem.) 
 
 Tarshish ships is employed in Isa. xxiii. 1, 4 ; Ix. 
 9, &c. to denote large merchant ships bound on long 
 voyages, (perhaps distinguished by their construction 
 from the common Phenician ships,) even though 
 they were sent to other countries instead of Tar- 
 shish. — The English phrase an Indiaman is very sim- 
 ilar. The phrase is also used of the ships that went 
 to Ophir, 1 Kings xxii. 49 ; x. 22. 
 
 TARSUS, the name of a celebrated city, the me- 
 tropolis of Cilicia, situated on the banks of the river 
 Cydnus, which flowed through and divided it into 
 two parts. Hence in the Greek writers the city is 
 sometimes called Tuoaoi, as Xen. Anab. i. 2. 23. 
 Tarsus was distinguished for the culture of Greek lit- 
 erature and philosophy, so that at one time, in its 
 schools and in the number of its learned men, it was 
 the rival of Athens and Alexandria. (Strabo xiv. p. 
 463. ed. Casaub.) In reward for its exertions and 
 sacrifices during the civil wars of Rome, Tarsus was 
 made a free city by Augustus. (Appian. Bell. Civ. 
 
 v. p. 1077. JauStxiac: di y.ul Taoata? iXev&ioovi; u(plti. 
 
 Dio. Chrysost. in Tarsic. post.) It was the privi- 
 lege of such cities, that they were governed by their 
 own laws and magistrates, and were not subjected to 
 the jurisdiction of a Roman governor, nor to the 
 power of a Roman garrison ; although they acknowl- 
 edged the supremacy of the Roman j)eople, and were 
 bound to aid them against their enemies. That the 
 freedom of Tarsus, however, was not equivalent to 
 being a Roman citizen, appears from this, that the 
 tribune, although he knew Paul to be a citizen of 
 Tarsus, (Acts xxi. 39.) yet ordered him to be 
 scourged, (Acts xxii. 24.) but desisted from his pur- 
 pose when he learned that Paul was a Roman citizen 
 
 (Acts xxii. 27.) It is therefore probable, that the an- 
 cestors of Paul had obtained the privilege of Roman 
 citizenship m some other way. Acts ix. 30 ; xi. 25 ; 
 xxii. 3. (See Kuinoel on Acts xvi. 37.) *R. 
 
 TARTAN, an officer of king Sennacherib, sent 
 with Rabshakeh on a message to Hezekiah, 2 Kings 
 xviii. 17. 
 
 TATNAI, an officer of the king of Persia, and 
 governor of Samaria, and of the provinces on this side 
 Jordan, opposed the rebuilding of the temple and the 
 walls of Jerusalem, Ezra v. 6. 
 
 TAVERNS, Three, see Apph Forum. 
 
 TAXING, see Cyrenius. 
 
 TEARS, Vale of, see Baca. 
 
 TEBETH, the Babylonish name of the tenth 
 ecclesiastical month of the Hebrews, Esth. ii. 16. 
 See Jewish Calendar, irj/ra. 
 
 TEHAPHNEHES, see Tahapanes. 
 
 TEIL-TREE, see Terebinth. 
 
 TEKEL, he was iveighed, one of the words that 
 appeared written on the wall at the sacrilegious feast 
 of Belshazzar, indicating that this wretched prince 
 had been weighed in the balance, and was found 
 wanting, Dan. v. 25. See Belshazzar, and Daniel. 
 
 TEKOA, a city of Judah, (2 Chron. xi. 6.) Avhich 
 Eusebius and Jerome place twelve miles from Jeru- 
 salem, south. The wilderness of Tekoa, mentioned 
 2 Chron. xx. 20, is not far from the Red sea. 
 
 TEL-ABIB, the name of a place to which some 
 of Israel were carried captive, (Ezek. iii. 15.) and 
 probably the same place as is now called Thelabba, 
 in Mesopotamia, on the river Chebar. In D'Anville's 
 Chart of the Euphrates and Tigris, it is placed be- 
 tween 36° and 37° north latitude, and 53° and 54° 
 east longitude. 
 
 TELASSER, or Thalassar, aprovince of Assyria, 
 (Isa. xxxvii. 12 ; 2 Kings xix. 12.) the exact situation 
 of which is unknown. It is thought to be towards 
 Armenia and Mesopotamia, and about the sources of 
 the Euphrates and Tigris, because of the children 
 of Eden, who inhabited that country. 
 
 TELEM, a city of Judah, originally seized as a 
 prey, (Josh. xv. 24.) as Kimclii, Le Clerc, Miller, and 
 others suppose ; elsewhere called also Telaim ; " prey 
 violently taken away," as the Arabic root imports, 
 1 Sam. XV. 4. 
 
 TEL-HARSA, perhaps the same as Telasser. 
 Those who returned with Zerubbabel out of this coun- 
 try, could not prove their genealogies, or show that 
 they were of the race of Israel, Ezra ii.59; Neh.vii.61. 
 
 TEMA, or Thema, son of Ishmael, (Gen. xxv. 15.) 
 is thought to have peopled the city of Thema, in 
 Arabia Deserta. Job speaks of the caravans of Tenia 
 and Sheba, (chap. vi. 19.) and Ptolemy plates a city 
 called Themma, or Thamma, in Arabia Deserta, to- 
 wards the mountains of the Chaldeans. 
 
 TEMAN, or Theman, son of Eliphaz, and gi-and- 
 son of Esau, Gen. xxxvi. 15. In the ver. 34, we find 
 a king of Idumea, called Itusham, of the country of 
 the Temani. Jeremiah, (xHx. 7 — 20.) Ezekiel (xxv. 
 13.) and Amos (i. 12.) speak of Teman. Eusebius 
 places Theeman in Arabia Petroea, five miles from Pc- 
 tra, and says there was a Roman garrison there. 
 This was doubtless the country of the Temanites. 
 It is also sometimes used for the whole south. 
 
 TEMPLE, the house of God, the sanctuary, the 
 tabernacle of the Lord, the palace of the Most High, 
 are terms often used synonymously in Scripture, 
 though, strictly speaking, they import very distinct 
 things. The sanctuary was but one part of the taber- 
 nacle or temple ; neither does the word temple de- 
 
 \ 
 
 ■m.
 
 TEMPLE 
 
 [ 879 ] 
 
 TEMPLE 
 
 scribe the tabernacie, nor tabernacle the temple. 
 Tlie Hebrews, before Solomon, could not properly be 
 said to have had a temple, yet they did not scruple 
 by the word temple to describe the tabernacle ; as, 
 on tiie contrary, they sometimes by tlie tabernacle of 
 the Lord, expressed the temple built by Solomon. 
 Afler the Lord had instructed David that Jerusalem 
 was the place he had chosen, in which to fix his 
 dwelling, that pious prince began to realize his design 
 of |)rcparing a temple for the Lord, that might be 
 something worthy of his divine majesty. He opened 
 his mind on this subject to the prophet Natlian, but 
 the Lord did not think fit that he should execute his 
 purpose, however laudable. The honor was reserved 
 for Solomon, his son and successor, who was to be a 
 peaceable prince, and not like David, who had shed 
 much blood in war. David, however, applied 
 himself to collect great quantities of gold, silver, 
 brass, iron, and other materials for this undertaking. 
 
 The place chosen for erecting this magnificent 
 structure was mount Moriah, the summit of which, 
 originally, was unequal and its sides irregular ; but it 
 was an object of ambition with the Jews to level and 
 extend it. This they effected, and during the second 
 temple, it formed a square of 500 cubits, or 304 yards 
 on each side, allowing, as is connnonly done, 21,888 
 inches to the cubit. Almost the whole of this space 
 was arched under ground, to prevent the possibility 
 of pollution from secret graves ; and it was surround- 
 ed by a wall of excellent stone, 25 cubits, or 47 feet 
 7 inches high ; without which lay a considerable 
 extent of flat and gently -sloping ground, which was 
 occupied by the buildings of the tower of Antonia, 
 gardens and public walks. 
 
 The plan and the wliole model of this structure was 
 laid by the same divine architect as that of the taber- 
 nacle, viz. God himself; and it was built much in the 
 same form as the tabernacle, but was of much larger 
 dimensions. The utensils for the sacred service 
 were also the same as those used in the tabernacle, 
 only several of them were larger, in proportion to the 
 more s[)acious edifice to which they belonged. The 
 foundations of this magnificent edifice were laid by 
 Solomon, in the year of the world 2992, and it was 
 finished A. M. 3000, having occupied seven years and 
 six months in the building. It was dedicated A. M. 
 3001, with peculiar solemnity, to the worship of Je- 
 hovaii, who condescended to make it the place for 
 the special manifestation of his glory, 2 Chron. v. vi. 
 vii. The front or entrance to the temple was on the 
 eastern side, and consequently facing the mount of 
 Olives, which commanded a noble prospect of the 
 building: tiie holy of holies, therefore, stood towards 
 the west. The temple itself, strictly so called, which 
 comprised the j)ortico, the sanctuary, and the holy 
 of holies, formed only a sn)ail part of the sacred edi- 
 fice, these being surrounded by spacious courts, cham- 
 bers, iuid other iq)artments, which were much more 
 extensive than the temple itself. 
 
 Frotn the descriptions which are handed down to 
 us of the temple of Solomon, it is utterly impossible 
 to obtain so accurate an idea of its relative parts and 
 their respective proportions, as to furnish such an ac- 
 count as may be deemed satisfactory to the reader. 
 Hence we find no two writers agreeing in their de- 
 scriptions. The following account may be sufficient 
 to give us a general idea of the building: — 
 
 "The temple itself was 70 cubits long ; the porch 
 being 10 cubits, (1 Kings vi. 3.) the holy place, 40 
 cubits, (ver. 17.) and the most holy place, 20 cubits, 2 
 Chron. iii. 8. The width of the porch, holy, and 
 
 most holy places, were 20 cubits ; (2 Chron. iii. 3.) 
 and the height over the holy and most holy places, 
 was .30 cubits; (1 Kings vi. 2.) but the height of the 
 porch was much greater, being no less than 120 cu- 
 bits, (2 Chron. iii. 4.) or four times the height of the 
 rest of the building. To the north and south t^idc^s, 
 and the west end of the holy and most holy places, or 
 all around the edifice, from the back of the j)orcli on 
 the one side, to the back of the porch on the other 
 side, certain buildings were attached. These were 
 called side chambers, and consisted of three stories, 
 each 5 cid/its high, (1 Kings vi. 10.) and joined to the 
 wall of the temjjle without. But what may seem 
 singular is, that the lowest of these stories was 5 cubits 
 broad on the floor, the second cubits, and tiie third 7 
 cubits, and yet the outer wail of them all was upright, 
 ver. G. The reason of this was, that the wail of the 
 temple, against which they leaned, had always a 
 scarcement of a cubit at the height of every 5 cubits, 
 to prevent the joists of these side chambers from be- 
 ing fixed in it. Thus the three stories of side cham- 
 bers, when taken together, were 15 cubits iiigh, and 
 consequently reached exactly to half the height of the 
 side walls, and end of the temple ; so that there was 
 abundance of s])ace, above these, for the windows 
 which gave light to the temple, ver. 4. Josepiius dif- 
 fers very materially from this in his description, for 
 which we know not how to account, but by supposing 
 that he has confounded the Scripture account of Sol- 
 omon's temple with that of the temple after the cap- 
 tivity and of Ilerod. 
 
 In noticing the several courts of the temple, we 
 naturally begin with the outer one, which was called 
 the court of the Gentiles, and into which persons of all 
 nations were permitted to enter. The most natural 
 approach to this was by the east gate, which was the 
 principal gate of the temple. It was by far the largest 
 of all the courts pertaining to the sacred building, 
 and comprised a space of 188,991 superficial cubits, 
 or fourteen English acres, one rood, twenty-nine 
 poles, and thirteen yards, of which above two thirds 
 lay to the south of the temple. It was separated from 
 the court of the women by a wall of 3 cubits high, 
 of lattice work, so that persons walking here might 
 see through it, as well as over it. This wall, how- 
 ever, was not on a level with the court of which we 
 are speaking, but was cut out of the rock 6 cubits 
 above it, the ascent to wiiich was by 12 steps. On 
 pillars placed at equal distances in this wall were in- 
 scriptions in Greek and Latin, to warn strangers, and 
 such as were unclean, not to proceed further, on pain 
 of death. It was from this court that our Saviour 
 drove the persons who had established a cattle-mar- 
 ket, for the pm-pose of supplying those with sacrifices 
 who came from a distance. Matt. xxi. 12, 13. We 
 must not overlook the beautiful pavement of varie- 
 gated marble, and the piazzas, or covered walks, 
 with which this court was surrounded. Those on 
 the east, west, and north sides were of the same di- 
 mensions ; but that on the south was much larger. 
 The porch called Solomon^s (John x. 23; Acts iii. 
 11.) was on the east side or front of the temple, and 
 was so called because it was built by this prince, 
 tqion a high wall of 400 cubits from the valley of 
 Kedron. 
 
 The court of the women, called in Scrij)ture the new 
 court, (2 Chron. xx. 5.) and the outer court, (Ezek. xlvi. 
 21.) was so designated by the Jews, not because none 
 but women were permitted to enter it, but because it 
 was their appointed place of worship, beyond which 
 they might not go, unless when they brought a sac-
 
 TE3IPLE 
 
 [ 880 ] 
 
 TEMPLE 
 
 rifice, in wliicli case they went forward to the court 
 of Israel. The gate which led into this court, from 
 that of the Gentiles, was the beautiful gate of the tem- 
 ple, mentioned Acts iii. 2, so called, because the fold- 
 ing doors, lintel and side-posts, were all overlaid 
 with Corinthian brass. The court itself was 135 
 cubits square, having four gates, one on each side ; 
 and on three of its sides were piazzas, with galleries 
 above them, whence could be seen what was passing 
 in the great court. At the four corners of tl)is court, 
 were four rooms, ap[)ro))riated to difl'ereut purposes, 
 Ezek. xlvi. 21 — 24. In the first, the lepers purified 
 themselves after they were healed ; in the second, the 
 wood for the sacrifices was laid up ; the Nazarites 
 prepared their oblations, and shaved their heads, in 
 tlie third ; and in the fourth, the wine and oil for the 
 sacrifices were kejjt. There were also two rooms 
 more, where the Levites' musical instruments were 
 laid up; and also thirteen treasure chests, two of 
 which were for tlie half shekel, which was })aid yearly 
 by every Israelite ; and the rest for the money lor the 
 purchase of sacrifices and other oblations. It was in 
 tills court of the women, called the treasury, that our 
 Saviour delivered his striking discourse to the Jews, 
 related in John viii. 1 — 20. It was into this court 
 also, that the Pliarisee and pidjlican went to pray, 
 (Luke xviii. 10 — 13.) and into which the lame man 
 followed Peter and John, after he was cured ; the 
 court of the women being the ordinary place of wor- 
 ship for those wlio brought no sacrifice. Acts iii. 8. 
 From thence, after prayers, he went back with them, 
 through the beautiful gate of the temple, where he 
 had been lying, and through the sacred fence, into 
 the court of the Gentiles, where, under the eastern 
 piazza, or Soloinon^s porch, Peter delivered that ser- 
 mon which converted five thousand. It was in the 
 same court of the women that the Jews laid hold of 
 Paul, when they judged him a violator of the temple, 
 ly taking Gentiles witliin the sacred fence. Acts xxi. 
 2(5, &c. In this court the high-priest, at the fast of 
 Expiation, read a portion of the law. Here also the 
 king, on the sabbatical year, did the same at the Feast 
 of Tabernacles. 
 
 The court of Israel was separated from the court of 
 the women by a wall 32^ cubits high, on that side, 
 but on the other only 25. The reason of which dif- 
 ference was, that as the rock on which the temple 
 stood always became Ijigheron advancing westward, 
 the several courts naturally became elevated in pro- 
 portion. The ascent into the court was by a flight 
 of 15 steps, of a semicircular form, on which it is by 
 some thought that the Levites stood and simg the 
 "Psalms of degrees" (cxx — cxxxiv.)at the Feast of 
 Tabernacles. This gate is spoken of under several 
 appellations in the Old Testament ; but in the time 
 of our Saviour it was known as the gate Nicanor. It 
 was here the leper stood, to have his atonement made, 
 and his cleansing completed. It was here they tried 
 the suspected wife, by making her drink of the bitter 
 water ; and it was here likewise that women appear- 
 ed after childbirth, for purification. The whole 
 length of the court from cast to west was 187 cubits, 
 and the breadth from north to south, 135 cubits. 
 This was divided into two parts, one of which was 
 the court of the Israelites, and the other, the court of 
 the priests. The former was a kind of piazza sur- 
 rounding the latter, under which tlie Israelites stood 
 while their sacrifices were burning in the court of 
 the priests. It had 13 gates, with chambers above 
 them, each of which had its particular name and use. 
 The space which was comprised in the court of the 
 
 priests was 165 cubits long, and 119 cubits wide, and 
 was raised 2^ cubits above the suiTOunding court, 
 from which it was separated by the jjillars which sup- 
 ported the piazza, and the railing which was placed 
 between them, 2 Kings xi. 8, 10. Within this court 
 stood the brazen altar, on which the sacrifices were 
 consumed, the molten sea, in which the priests wash- 
 ed, and the ten brazen lavers, for washing the sacri- 
 fices ; also the various utensils and instruments for 
 sacrificing, which are enumerated in 2 Chreii. iv. 
 
 It is necessai-y to observe here, that although the 
 court of the priests was not accessible to all Israelites, 
 as that of Israel was to all the ])ricsts, yet they might 
 enter it on three several occasions ; viz. to lay their 
 hands on the animals which they offered, or to kill 
 them, or to waive some part of them. And then their 
 entrance was not by the east gate, and through the 
 place where the priests stood, but ordinarily by the 
 north or south side of the court, according as the sac- 
 rifices were to be slain on the north or south sides of 
 the altar. In general, it was a rule that tliey never 
 returned from this court by the same door that they 
 entered, Exod. xlvi. 9. From the court of the priests 
 the ascent to the temple was by a flight of twelve 
 steps, each half a cubit in height, which led into the 
 sacred porch. Of the dimensions of this, as also of 
 the sanctuary and holy of holies, we have already 
 spoken. We shall therefore only observe here, that 
 it was within the door of the porch, and in the sight of 
 those who stood in the courts immediately before it, 
 that the two pillars, Jachui and Boaz, were placed, 
 2 Chron. iii. 17 ; Ezek. xl. 49. 
 
 The temple thus described, retained its pristine 
 splendor but 33 years, when it was plundered by 
 Shishak, king of Egypt, 1 Kings xiv. 25, 26 ; 2 Chron. 
 xii. 9. After this [)eriod it underwent sundry profana- 
 tions and pillages, and was at length utterly destroyed 
 by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, A. M.341t), B, 
 C. 588, afler having stood, according to Usher, 424 
 years, three months and eight days. 
 
 After lying in ruins for 52 years, the foundations 
 of the second temple were laid by Zeruhhabel, and 
 the Jews who had availed themselves of the j)rivi- 
 lege granted by Cyrus, and returned to Jerusalem, 
 Ezra i. 1 — 4; ii. 1; iii. 8 — 10. They had not pro- 
 ceeded far, however, before they were obliged to de- 
 sist, on account of an order from Artaxerxes, king of 
 Persia, which had been procured through the mis- 
 representations of the Samaritans and others, chap, 
 iv. 1. During fifteen years the work stood still, (ver. 
 24.) but in the second yefir of Darius they recom- 
 menced their labors ; and on the third day of the 
 month Adar, in the sixth year of Darius, it was finish-" 
 ed and dedicated, (Ezra vi. 15, IC.) 21 years after it 
 was begun, B. C. 515. The dimensions of this teirw 
 pie in breadth and height Averc double those of Solo- 
 mon's. The weeping of the people at the laying of 
 the foundation, therefore, (Ezra iii. 12, 13.) and the di- 
 minutive manner in which they s]Joke of it, when com- 
 pared with the first one, (Hag. ii. 3.) were not occasion- 
 ed by its inferiority in size, but in glory. It wanted the 
 five principal things which invested it a\ itli this ; viz. 
 the ark and mercy-seat ; tlie divine presence, or vis- 
 ible glory of the Shechinah ; the holy fire on the altar; 
 the urim and thunimim ; and the sj)irit of j)rophecy. 
 
 In the year A. M. 3837, this temjile was jilundcred 
 and profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes, who ordered 
 the discontinuance of the daily sacrifice, offered 
 swine's flesh upon the altar, and completely suspend- 
 ed the worship of Jehovah, 1 Mac. i. 62. Thus it 
 continued for three years, when it was repaired and
 
 TEMPLE 
 
 [ 881 
 
 TEMPLE 
 
 purified by Judas Maccabeus, who restored the di- 
 vine worship, and dedicated it anew. 
 
 Herod, having slain all the Sanhedrim, except two, 
 in the first year of his reign, B. C. 37, resolved to 
 atone for it, by rebuilding and beautifying the tern|)le. 
 This he was the more inclined to do, both from the 
 peace which he enjoyed, and tlie decayed state of the 
 edifice. For, besides the common ravages of time, 
 it had suffered considerably by the hands of enemies, 
 since that part of Jerusalem was the strongest, and 
 consequently the last resort of the inhabitants in times 
 of extremity. After employing two \ears in prepar- 
 ing the materials for the work, in which 1000 wag- 
 ons and 10,000 artificei-s were employed, besides 
 1000 priests to direct the works, the temple of Ze- 
 rubhabel was pulled down, B. C. 17, and 46 years 
 before the first Passover of his ministry. Although 
 this temple was fit for divine sei-vice in nine years 
 and a half, yet a great number of laborers and artifi- 
 cers were still employed in carrying on the out-build- 
 ings, all the time of our Saviour's abode on earth, and 
 even till the coining of Gessius Florus to be governor 
 of Judea. 
 
 The temple of Herod was considerably larger than 
 that of Zerubbabel, as that of Zerubbabel was larger 
 than Solomon's. For, whereas the second temple 
 was 70 cubits long, 60 broad, and 60 high, this was 
 100 cubits long, 70 broad, and 100 high. The porch 
 was raised to the height of 100 cubits, and was ex- 
 tended 15 cubits beyond each side of the rest of the 
 building. All the Jewish writers praise this temple 
 exceedingly for its beauty, and the costliness of its 
 workmanship ; for it was built of white marble, ex- 
 quisitely wrought, and with stones of large dimen- 
 sions, some of them 25 cubits long, 8 cubits high, and 
 12 cubits thick. To these there is no doubt a refer- 
 ence in Mark xii. 1 ; Luke xxi. 5 : "And as he went 
 out of the teujple, one of his disciples saith unto him. 
 Master, see what manner (Luke, goodly) of stones, 
 and what buildings are here ! " 
 
 The several courts have been already described, 
 with some little variation, in our observations on the 
 temple of Solomon. We may add, however, that the 
 vast sums which Herod laid out in adorning this 
 structure, gave it the most magnificent and imposing 
 appearance. " Its appeai-ance," says Josephus, " had 
 every tiling that could strike the mind, and astonish 
 the sight. For it was on every side covered with 
 solid plates of gold, so that when the sun rose upon 
 it, it reflected such a strong and dazzling effulgence 
 that the eye of the beholder was obliged to turn away 
 from it, being no more able to sustain its radiance 
 than the splendor of the sun." To strangers who 
 a])proached the capital, it appeared, at a distance, 
 like a huge mountain covered with snow. For where 
 it was not decorated with plates of gold, it was ex- 
 tremely white and glistening. The historian, indeed, 
 says, that the temple of Herod was the most astonish- 
 ing structure he had ever seen or heard of, as well 
 on account of its architecture as its magnitude, and 
 likewise the richness and magnificence of its various 
 parts, and the fame and reputation of its sacred ap- 
 purtenances. And Tacitus calls it, imvienscE opuhntia. 
 templum — a temple of immense opulence. Its exter- 
 nal glory, indeed, consisted not only in the opulence 
 and magnificence of the building, but also in the rich 
 gifts with which it was adorned, and which excited the 
 admiration of tliose who beheld them, Luke xxi. 5. 
 
 This splendid building, however, which was once 
 the admiration and envy^f the world, has for ever 
 passed away. Accordmg to our blessed Lord's pre- 
 111 
 
 diction, tnat "t4iere should not be left one stone upon 
 another that should not be throAvn down," (Mark xiii. 
 2.) it was completely demolished by the Roman sol- 
 diers, under Titus, A. D. 70, on the same month, and 
 on the same day of the month, on which Solomon's 
 temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. 
 
 Concerning the high veneration which the Jews 
 cherished for their temple. Dr. Harwood has collect- 
 ed some interesting particulars from Philo, Josephus, 
 and the writings of Luke. Their reverence for the 
 sacred edifice was such, that rather than witness its 
 defilement, they would cheerfidly submit to death. 
 They could not bear the least disrespectful or dishon- 
 orable thing to be said of it. The least injurious 
 slight of it, real or apprehended, instantly awakened 
 all the choler of a Jew, and was an affront never to 
 be forgiven. Our Saviour, in the course of his pub- 
 lic instructions, ha[)pening to say, " Destroy this tem- 
 ple, and in three days I will raise it up again," (John 
 ii. 19.) — it was construed into a contemptuous disre- 
 spect, designedly thrown out against the temple — his 
 words in^ranily descended into the heart of a Jew, 
 and kept rankling there for several years ; for upon 
 his trial, this declaration, which it was impossible for 
 a Jew ever to forget or to forgive, was alleged against 
 him, as big with the most atrocious guilt and impiety, 
 jMatt. xxvi. 61. Nor was the rancor and virulence 
 which this expression had occasioned at all softened 
 by all the affecting circumstances of that excruciating 
 and wretched death they saw him die — even as he 
 hung upon the cross, with infinite triumph, scorn, 
 and exultation, they upbraided him with it, contempt- 
 uously shaking their heads, and saying, " O Thou, 
 who couldcst demolish our Temple, and rear it up 
 again in all its splendor, in the space of three days, do 
 now save thyself, and descend from the cross ! " Matt, 
 xxvii. 40. Their superstitio\is veneration for the 
 temple further appears from the account of Stephen. 
 When his adversaries were bafiied and confounded 
 by that superior wisdom, and those distinguished 
 gifts he possessed, they were so exasperated at the 
 victory he had gained over them, that tliey went and 
 suborned persons to swear, that they had heard him 
 speak blasphemy against Moses and against God. 
 Tliese inflaming the populace, the magistrates, and 
 the Jewish clergy, he was seized, dragged away, and 
 brought before the Sanhedrim. Here the false wit- 
 nesses, whom they had procured, stood up and said, 
 " This person, before you, is continually uttering the 
 most repioachful expressions against this sacred 
 PLACE," (Acts vi. 13.) meaning the temple. This was 
 blasphemy not to be pardoned. A judicatm-e com- 
 posed of high-priests and scribes would never forgive 
 such impiety. We witness the same thing in the 
 case of Paul, when they imagined that he had taken 
 Trophimus, an Ephcsiim, with him into the temple, 
 and for which insult they had determined to imbrue 
 their hands in his blood. Acts xxi. 28, &c. 
 
 We have only to add, that from several passages of 
 Scripture it appears that the Jews had a body of sol- 
 diers who guarded the temple, to prevent any dis- 
 turbance dining the ministration of such an immense 
 mmiher of the priests and Levitcs. To this body of 
 men, whose office it was to guard the temple, Pilate 
 probably leferred, when he said to the chief priests 
 and Pharisees who vNaited on him to desire he 
 would make the sepulchre secure, "You have a 
 watch : go yoiu- way and make it as secure as you 
 can," Matt, xxvii. 65. Over these guards one person 
 had the supreme conmiand, who in several places is 
 called captain of the temple, or oflicer of the temple
 
 TEMPLE 
 
 [ 882 
 
 TEMPLE 
 
 guards, Acts iv. 1 ; v. 25, 26 ; xviii. 12. Josephus 
 mentions such an officer, Antiq. b. xx. 2. Wai-s, c. 17. 2. 
 
 A few remarks on the daily service of the temple 
 will close this article. 
 
 The first thing we notice is the inorni-ng service. 
 After having enjoyed their repose, the priests bathed 
 themselves in the rooms provided for that purpose, 
 and waited the arrival of the president of the lots. 
 This officer having arrived, they divided themselves 
 into two companies, each of which was provided with 
 lamps or torches, and made a circuit of the temple, 
 going in different directions, and meeting at the pas- 
 tryman's chamber, on the south side of the gate Ni- 
 canor. Having summoned him to prepare the cakes 
 for the high-priest's meat-offering, they retired with 
 the president to the south-east corner of the court, 
 and cast lots for the duties connected with the altar. 
 The priest being chosen to remove the ashes from 
 the altar, he again washed liis feet at the laver, and 
 then with the silver shovel proceeded to his work. 
 As soon as he had removed one shovel-full of the 
 ashes, the other priests retired to wash their hands 
 and feet, and then joined him m cleansing the altar and 
 renewing the fires. The next duty was to cast lots for 
 the thirteen particular duties connected with offering 
 the sacrifice, which being settled, the president 
 ordered one of them to fetch the lamb for the morn- 
 ing sacrifice. While the priests on this duty were 
 engaged in fetching and examining the victim, those 
 who carried the keys were opening the seven gates 
 o the court of Israel, and the two doors that sepa- 
 rated between the poi-ch and the holy place. When 
 the last of the seven gates was opened, the silver 
 trumpets gave a flourish, to call the Levites to their 
 desks for the music, and the stationary men to their 
 places, as the representatives of the people. The 
 opening of the folding doors of the temple was the 
 established signal for killing the sacrifice, which was 
 cut in pieces and carried to the top of the altar, where 
 it was salted, and left while the priests once more 
 retired to the room Gazith to join in prayer. While 
 the sacrifice was being slain in the court of the priests, 
 the two priests appointed to trim the lamps and 
 cleanse the altar of incense were attending to their 
 duties in the holy place. After the conclusion of 
 then- prayer, and a rehearsal of the ten command- 
 ments and their phylacteries, the priests again cast 
 lots, to choose two to offer incense on the golden 
 altar, and another to lay the pieces of the sacrifice on 
 the fire of the brazen altar. The lot being deter- 
 mined, the two who were to offer tlie incense pro- 
 ceeded to discharge their duty, the time for which 
 was, between the sprinkling of the blood and the lay- 
 ing the pieces upon the altar, in the morning ; and 
 in the evening between the laying the pieces upon 
 the altar and the drink-offering. As they proceeded 
 to the temple they rang the megemphita, or great bell, 
 to warn the absent priests to come to worship ; the 
 absent Levites to come to sing ; and the stationary 
 men to bring to the gate Nicanor those whose purifica- 
 tion was not perfected. The priest who carried the 
 censer of coals, which had been taken from one of 
 the three fires on the great altar, after kindling the 
 fire on the incense altar, worshipped and came out 
 into the porch, leaving the priest who had the incense 
 alone in the holy place. As soon as the signal was 
 given by the president, the incense was kindled, the 
 holy place was filled with perfume, and the congrega- 
 tion without joined in the prayei-s, Luke i. 9. These 
 being ended, the priest, whose lot it was to lay the 
 pieces of the sacrifice upon the altar, threw them into 
 
 the fire, and then, taking the tongs, disposed them in 
 somewhat of their natural order. The four priests 
 who had been in the holy place now appeared upon 
 the steps that led to the porch, and, extending their 
 arms, so as to raise their hands higher than their 
 heads, one of them pronounced the solemn blessing, 
 Numb. vi. 24 — 26. After this benediction, the daily 
 meat-offering was offered ; then the meat-offering of 
 the high-priest ; and last of all the drink-offering ; at 
 the conclusion of which the Levites began the song 
 of praise ; and, at every pause in the music, the 
 trumpets sounded and the people worshipped. This 
 was the termination of the morning service. It 
 should be stated that the morning service of the priests 
 began with the dawn of day, except in the great fes- 
 tivals, when it began much earlier; the sacrifice was 
 offered immediately after sunrise. 
 
 During the middle of the day the priests held them- 
 selves in readiness to offer the sacrifices which might 
 be presented by any of the Israelites, either of a vol- 
 untary or an expiatory nature. Their duties would 
 therefore vary accordhig to the number and nature of 
 the offerings they might have to present. 
 
 The evening service varied in a very trifling measure 
 from that of the morning ; and the same ])riests minis- 
 tered, except when there was one in the house of 
 their Father who had never burned incense, in which 
 case that office was assigned to him •, or if there 
 were more than one, they cast lots who should be em- 
 ployed. 
 
 The holiness of the place,' and the injunction of 
 Lev. xix. 3, " Ye shall reverence my sanctuary," laid 
 the people under an obligation to maintain a solemn 
 and holy behavior when they came to worship in 
 the temple. We have already seen, that such as were 
 ceremonially unclean were forbidden to enter the 
 sacred court on pain of death ; but in the course of 
 time there were several prohibitions enforced by the 
 Sanhedrim which the law had not named. The fol- 
 lowing have been collected by Lightfoot out of the 
 rabbinical writings : — (1.) "No man might enter the 
 mountain of the house with his staft'." — (2.) "None 
 might enter in thither with his shoes on his feet," 
 though he might with his sandals. — (3.) "Nor might 
 any man enter the mountain of the house with his 
 scrip on." — (4.) "Nor might he come in with the 
 dust on his feet," but he must wash or wipe them, 
 "and look to his feet when he entered into the house 
 of God," to remind him, perhaps, that he should 
 then shake off all worldly thoughts and affections. — (5.) 
 "Nor with money in his purse." He might bring it 
 in his hand however ; and in this way it was brought 
 in for various purposes. If this had not been the case, 
 it would seem strange that the cripple should have 
 been placed at the gate of the temple, to ask alms of 
 those who entered therein. (See Acts iii. 2.) — (6.) 
 "None might spit in the temple : if he were necessi- 
 tated to spit, it must be done in some corner of his 
 garment." — (7.) " He might not use any irreverent 
 gesture, especially before the gate of Nicanor," that be- 
 ing exactly in front of the temple. — (8.) "He might not 
 make the mountain of the house a thoroughfare," for 
 the purpose of reaching the place by a nearer way : 
 for it was devoted to the purposes of religion. — (9.) 
 "He that went into the court must go leisurely and 
 gravely into his place ; and there he must demean 
 himself as in the presence of the Lord God, in all 
 reverence and fear." — (10.) " He must woi-ship stand- 
 ing, with bis feet close to each other, his eyes directed 
 to the ground, his hands upon his breast, with the right 
 one above the left." (See Luke xviii. 13.) — (11.) "No
 
 TEM 
 
 [ 883 ] 
 
 TEN 
 
 one, however weary, might sit down in the court." 
 The only exception was in favor of the kings of the 
 liouse of David.— (12.) "None might pray with his 
 head uncovered. And the wise men and their schol- 
 ars never prayed without a veil." This custom is 
 alluded to in 1 Cor. xi. 4, where the apostle directs 
 the men to reverse the practice adopted in the Jew- 
 ish temple. — (13.) Their bodily gesture, in bowing 
 before the Lord, was either "bending of the knees," 
 " bowing the head," or " falling prostrate on the 
 ground." — (14.) Having performed the service, and 
 being about to retire, "they might not turn their 
 backs upon the altar." They therefore went back- 
 ward till they were out of the court. (Temple Ser- 
 vice, chap. X.) 
 
 The word temple denotes, sometimes, the church 
 of Christ: (Rev. iii. 12.) "Him that overcometh will 
 
 1 make a pillar in the temple of my God." And Paul 
 says, (2 Thess. ii. 4.) that Antichrist " as God sitteth 
 in the temple of God, showing himself that he is 
 God." Sometimes it imports heaven : (Ps. xi. 4.) 
 "The Lord is in his holy temple : the Lord's throne 
 is in heaven." The martyrs in heaven are said to be 
 "before the throne of God, and to serve him day and 
 night in his temple," Rev. vii. 15. The soul of a 
 righteous man is the temple of God, because it is in- 
 habited by the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17 ; vi. 19 ; 
 
 2 Cor. vi. 16. 
 
 TEiMPT, TE.AIPTATION, to try, to prove. God 
 tempted Abraham, by commanding him to offer up 
 his son Isaac ; (Gen. xxii. 1.) intending to prove his 
 obedience and faith, to confirm and strengthen him 
 by this trial, and to furnish in his person an example 
 and pattern of perfect obedience, to all succeeding 
 ages. God does not tempt or tiy men, in order to 
 ascertain their tempers and dispositions, as if he were 
 ignorant of them ; but to exercise their virtve, to 
 purify it, to render it conspicuous to others, to give 
 them an opportunity of receiving favors from his 
 hands. When we read in Scripture that God proved 
 his people, whether they would walk in his law, or 
 no ; (Exod. xvi. 4.) and that he permitted false proph- 
 ets to arise among them, who prophesied vain things 
 to try them, whether they would seek the Lord with 
 their whole hearts, we should interpret these ex- 
 pressions by that of James, (i. 13.) " Let no man say 
 when he is tempted, ' I am tempted of God,' for God 
 cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any 
 man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn 
 away by his own lust, and enticed." 
 
 The devil tempts us to evil, of every kind, and lays 
 snares for us, even in our best actions. He tempted 
 our Saviour in the wilderness, and endeavored to in- 
 fuse into him sentiments of jnude, ambition and dis- 
 trust, Matt. iv. 1 ; Mark i. 13 ; Luke iv.2. He tempt- 
 ed Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Ghost, 
 Acts V. 3. In the prayer that Christ himself has 
 taught us, we pray God " not to lead us into tempta- 
 tion ;" (Matt. vi. 13.) and a little before his death, our 
 Saviour exhorted his disciples to " watch and pray, 
 that they might not enter into temptation," Matt.xxvi. 
 41. Paul says, " God will not suffer us to be tempted 
 above what we are able to bear," 1 Cor. x. 13. 
 
 Men are said to tempt the Lord, when they un- 
 seasonably require proofs of the divine presence, 
 power or goodness. Without doubt, we are allowed 
 to seek the Lord for his assistance, and to pray him 
 to give us what we need ; but it is not allowed us to 
 tempt him, nor to expose ourselves to dangers from 
 which we cannot escape, unless by miraculous inter- 
 position of his omnipotence. God is not obliged to 
 
 work miracles in our favor ; he requires of us only 
 the performance of such actions as are within the 
 ordinary measures of our strength. The Israelites in 
 the desert repeatedly tempted the Lord, as if they had 
 reason to doubt of his presence among them, or of 
 his goodness, or of his power, after all his appear- 
 ances in their favor, Exod. xvi. 2, 7, 17 ; Numb. xx. 
 12 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 18, 41, &c. 
 
 Men tempt or try one another, when they would 
 know whether things are really what they seem to 
 be ; whether men are such as they are thought or 
 desired to be. The queen of Sheba came to prove 
 the wisdom of Solomon, by proposing riddles for 
 him to explain, 1 Kings xi. 1 ; 2 Chron ix. 1. Dan- 
 iel desired of him who had the care of feeding him 
 and his companions, to prove them for some days, 
 whether abstinence from food of certain kinds would 
 make them leaner, Dan. i. 12, 14. The scribes and 
 Pharisees often tempted our Saviour, and endeavored 
 to decoy him into their snares. Matt. xvi. 1 ; xix. 3 ; 
 xxii. 18. 
 
 TENT. Among the artificial conveniences for 
 
 the habitations of men, tents were of very early in- 
 vention. Jabal, before the flood, is called the father 
 of all such as dwell in tents. Noah, after the flood, 
 slept in his tent, and prophesying of the future desti- 
 ny of his family, he said, " Japheth shall dwell in the 
 tents of Shem." The patriarchal ages are described 
 as of shepherds dwelling in tents. Abraham dwelt 
 in tents with Isaac and Jacob ; Lot had flocks, and 
 herds, and tents ; Jacob was a plain man, dwelling 
 in tents, and his descendants succeeded a people de- 
 signated Shepherd Kings, in the land of Goshen, un- 
 der the Pharaohs of Egypt. On the exodus of the 
 Israelites from Egypt, throughout their peregrina- 
 tions, until they obtained the promised land, they 
 adopted the same kind of habitation. Tents were 
 very generally used in ancient times among the na- 
 tions : their way of life being in general pastoral, 
 locomotion became necessary for pasturage, and 
 dwellings adapted for such a life became indispensa- 
 ble. The Egyptians already mentioned, the Midian- 
 ites, the Philistines, the Syrians, the descendants of 
 Ham, the Hagarites and Cushanitcs are mentioned 
 in Scripture as living in tents. But the people most 
 remarkable for this unsettled and wandering mode 
 of life are the Arabs, w ho, from the time of Ishmael 
 to the present day, have continued the custom of 
 dwelling in tents. Aniidst the revolutions which 
 have transferred kingdoms from one possessor to 
 another, these wandering tribes still dwell, unsub- 
 dued and wild as was their progenitor. This kind of 
 dwelling is not, however, confined to the Arabs, but 
 is used throughout the continent of Asia. The word 
 tent is fonned from the Latin, "to stretch;" tents 
 being usually made of canvass stretched out, and sus- 
 tained by poles with cords and pegs. The same may 
 be understood of a tabernacle, a pavilion, or a porta- 
 ble lodge, under which to shelter in the open air, 
 from the injuries of the weather.
 
 TENT 
 
 [ 884 
 
 TENT 
 
 Mr. Taylor remarks, that erections answering the 
 purpose of tents, however sHght they may be, must 
 have (1.) a supporting pole or poles, placed towards 
 the centre ; (2.) hangings and curtains of some kind ; 
 (3.) cords attached to (4.) pins, which are driven 
 into the ground, in order to take sure hold of it. 
 
 Of the various kinds of tents, some were made of 
 slight materials, and others were erected for greater 
 permanency ; others, again, were mere shades or 
 hovels, and not made of canvass. Tents were also 
 appropriated to different sexes ; Sarah had her tent ; 
 Laban went into Jacob's tent ; Leah's tent, Rachel's 
 tent, and the maid servant's tent, are also particular- 
 ized. Sisera fled to Jael's tent. The custom of set- 
 ting apart tents for the use of the women, is still in 
 use, perhaps, however, a little varied ; and the com- 
 mon Arabs have a separate apartment in their tents 
 for their wives, made by letting down a curtain or 
 carpet from one of the pillars. The part of the tent 
 thus appropriated is called harem; and no stranger is 
 permitted to enterit, unless introduced. Hence, per- 
 haps, Sisera's hope of greater secui-ity in the harem 
 ofHeber, Jael's husband. There were also tents for 
 cattle. From the slighter kind of tents, the town, or 
 whatever else it might be, of Succoth was named ; 
 (Gen. xxiii. 17.) and an allusion to the frailty of this 
 description of shelter is made by Job, in chap, xxvii. 
 18, which very aptly describes the prosperity of the 
 wicked: — 
 
 " He buildeth his house like the moth. 
 
 Or like a shed which the watchman contriveth. 
 
 His support shall rot away." 
 
 The watchman is here supposed to be the keeper of 
 a vineyard, and the shed of the simplest kind, and 
 merely intended to defend him, while on guard, from 
 the intense heat of the sun. The Vulgate translates 
 the term lunbrella, a little insignificant shade, proba- 
 bly similar to those reared by the watch-negro on 
 plantations in the West Indies, and which generally 
 consists of four upright stakes joined together at right 
 angles, to others which support a covering of plan- 
 tain or banana leaves. 
 
 Besides Succoth, two other terms are used in the 
 sacred Scriptures to denote tents; namely, sheken, 
 wiiich may perhaps be taken for an inferior kind of 
 tent or tabernacle ; similar to the huts of the natives" 
 of New Holland, which are formed of a few branches 
 crossing each other, covered with brush-wood and 
 clay, six feet in depth, and four or five in breadth : 
 the other, called abel, may denote a tent whose ac- 
 commodation may be varied so as to suit a few per- 
 sons, a family ; or great men, as generals and kings, 
 enriched and ornamented. Of this kind of tent, a 
 description is given by sir John Chardin, in his 
 Travels, who relates that the deceased king of Persia 
 caused a tent to be made that cost £150,000. It was 
 called the house of gold, because there was nothing 
 but gold that glistened in every part of it. Its cor- 
 njce was embellished with verses, which concluded 
 in this manner : " If thou still demandest at what 
 time the throne of this second Solomon was built, I 
 will tell thee — Behold the throne of the second Sol- 
 omon :" here the last words being taken for numerals, 
 make 1057, the date of the year. 
 
 The Tui-ks spare for nothing in rendering their 
 tents convenient and magnificent ; those of the gran- 
 dees are said to be exceedingly splendid, and entirely 
 covered with silk, besides being lined with a stuff of 
 the same material. Van Egmont and Heyman men- 
 
 tion one which cost 25,000 piastres, and was not fin- 
 ished in less than three years : it was lined with a 
 single piece made of camels' hair, and beautifully 
 decorated with festoons, and sentences in the Turk- 
 ish language. Nadir Shah had a very superb tent, 
 covered on the outside with scarlet broadcloth, and 
 lined wthiji with violet colored satin, ornamented 
 with a great variety of animals, flowers, &c. formed 
 entirely of pearls and precious stones. 
 
 The tents of princes are frequently illuminated as a 
 mark of honor and dignity. Norden tells us, that the 
 tent of the bey of Girge was distinguished from those 
 of others by forty lamps suspended before it, in the 
 form of chequer work ; and the general appearance 
 of the camp of Darius, as related in Quintus Curtius, 
 is very characteristic of a modern Persian camp. 
 Whoever has seen at night, at a distance, a Persian 
 camp, or indeed a camp of any Asiatics, where im- 
 mense fires are lighted in all parts of it, will be struck 
 with the correctness of the similitude to a general 
 conflagration. 
 
 Tents are also of various colors ; black, as the 
 tents of Kedar ; red, as of scarlet cloth ; yellow, as 
 of gold shining brilliantly; white, as of canvass. 
 They are also of various shapes ; some circular, oth- 
 ers of an oblong figure, not unlike the bottom of a 
 ship turned upside down. In Syria, the tents are 
 generally made of cloth of goats' hair, woven by wo- 
 men. Those of the Arabs are of black goats' hair. 
 Some other nations adopt the same kind, but it is not 
 common. Thevenot says, the Curds of Mesopotamia 
 do. The modern royal tents of the Arabs have gen- 
 erally no other covei-ing than black hair-cloth. The 
 Turcomans, who are a nation living in the Holy 
 Land, dwell in tents of white linen cloth : they arc 
 very neat in their camps, and lie in good beds. Tho 
 Egyptian and Moorish inhabitants of Askalon are 
 said to use white tents ; and D'Arvieux mentions that 
 the tent of an Arab emir he visited, was distinguished 
 from the rest by its being of white cloth. 
 
 The Roman emperors had an ancient custom of 
 spreading a scarlet cloak over their tents, to distin- 
 guish those of officers of rank. Among the Mame- 
 lukes, the tents are often of cloth, and highly orna- 
 mented. Lieutenant Brown, of the Royal Navy, 
 brought an entire tent from the late Egyptian expe- 
 dition. It was of strong sail-cloth, of a leaden hue, 
 but ornamented with painting. ]Mr. Jackson, in his 
 over-land journey from India, on his entering the 
 Tigris, in tlie place where the river Hil joins with it, 
 near a small town called Coote, fell in with a Turk- 
 ish encampment, which appeared to him beautiful, 
 some of the tents being red, some green, and some 
 white. (Harmer's Observations, 1816.) Olearius, 
 attending the ambassadors of Holstcin Gottorp, v.ho 
 were invited by a late Persian monarch to accompany 
 him on a party of ])!easure for hunting, hawking, 
 &c. foimd in a village many t(>nts prepared for the 
 reception of the company, which, by the variety of 
 their coloi-s, and the pecidiar manner in which they 
 were pitched, made a most pleasing appearance. 
 
 Tents are still used for religious solemnities, as will 
 appear from the following extracts : — When De Perry 
 arrived at Siiit, a large town near the Nile, about 70 
 leagues above Cairo, it was " the first day of Biram ; 
 and, going to the town, we found many tents pitched, 
 and an innumerable concourse of people without the 
 town, to the southward of it. These people were 
 partly of Siiit, and partly from the circumjacent vil- 
 lages, who came thither to celebrate the happy day. ' 
 The Rev. Cornelius Rahum, a missionary, visiting
 
 TER 
 
 [ 885 ] 
 
 THA 
 
 Dorbat Horde, by whom the Calmuc superstitions are 
 held in veneration, describes it thus : — " We went out 
 to the 'Churull,' this is the name of that part of the 
 encampment where the temple Kibitjes, (or sacred 
 tents,) and tiiose belonging to the lama aucl gallongs, 
 or priests, are pitched. The word is derived from a 
 verb which signifies ' to gather,' and in this place all 
 ordinary assembhes for worship are held. In the 
 church were six temple Kibitjes." 
 
 A custom prevails in the East, of persons in all sta- 
 tions of life living in certain seasons of the year in 
 tents, whilst in other seasons they dwell in houses. 
 Dr. Pococke mentions a pleasant place near Aleppo, 
 where he met an aga, who had a great entertain- 
 ment, accompanied with music, under tents. The 
 custom of taking air in the neighborhood of Cairo in 
 tents, is noticed by Muillet as a matter of course. 
 
 It was customary to pitch tents near water-springs 
 or fountains. The army of Ishbosheth sat down by 
 the pool of Gibeon, 2 Sam. xx. 12, 13. Chardin in- 
 forms us that Tahmusp, the Persian monarch, used 
 to retire, in the summer, three or four leagues into 
 the country, where he lived in tents, at the foot of 
 mount Olouvent, in a place abounding in cool springs 
 and pleasant shrubs. The following stanza from the 
 Bedavi, a Persian poet, translated by Fox, will fur- 
 ther illustrate this. Speaking of the shepherd, he 
 says, 
 
 " Or haply when the summer sun-beam pours 
 Intensely o'er th' unshaded wide extent, 
 
 He leads instinctive where the grove embowers. 
 And rears beside the brook his shelt'ring tent." 
 
 The words succoth and masac are variously ren- 
 dered in our translation, curtain, tabernacle, covert, 
 pavilion, college, booth, tent, a hanging, and a 
 covering. 
 
 TEPHTLIM, i.q. Frontlets, which see. 
 
 TERAH, son of Nahor, and father of Nahor, Ha- 
 ran and Abraham, (Gen. xi. 24.) was born A. M. 1878. 
 He begat Abraham at the age of 72 years, and left 
 Ur, of the Chaldeans, to settle at Haran, in Mesopo- 
 tamia, A. 31. 2082, Gen. xi. 31, 32. He died there 
 the same year, aged 275 years. Scripture intimates 
 plainly, that Terah had fallen into idolatry, (Josh, 
 xxiv. 2 — 14.) and some think that Abraham himself 
 at first, worshipped idols ; but that afterwards, God 
 being gracious to him, convinced him of the vanity 
 of this worship, and that he undeceived his father 
 Terah. See Abraham. 
 
 TERAPHIM, idols, or superstitious figures, to 
 which extraordinary efl^ects were ascribed. The 
 eastern jieople are still much addicted to this super- 
 stition of talismans. The Persians call them telefm, 
 a name nearly approaching to tcraphini. Those of 
 Rachel must have been images, made of some pre- 
 cious metal. See Gon. xxxi. 19 ; 1 Sam. xv. 23 ; 
 Judg. xvii. 5 ; Ezek. xxi. 21 ; Zecli. x. 2, where the 
 word teraphim is used for an idol, or superstitious 
 figure. See Ear-rings, and Amulets. 
 
 The prophet Hosca, (iii. 4, 5.) threatening Israel, 
 says, "The children of Israel shall abide many days 
 without a king, and without a prince, and without a 
 sacrifice, and without an image, and without an 
 ephod, and without teraphim :" that is, during their 
 captivity they shall be deprived of the public exercise 
 of their religion, and even weaned from their private 
 superstition. The passage is highly descriptive of 
 the depth of their suffering. (See Fragment, 738.) 
 
 TEREBINTH. The Heb. nSx is sometimes ren- 
 
 dered by tne ancient versions oak, and sometimes 
 terebinth. The latter is the Pistacia Terebinthus of 
 Linnaeus, or the common turpentine tree, whose resia 
 or juice is the Chian or Cyprus turpentine, used in 
 medicine, and finer than that produced by the fir 
 tribe. The tree grows to a large size and gi-eat age, 
 and is common in Palestine. According to Plinv, it 
 is an evergreen ; although this dors not coincide with 
 the experience of modern botanists. The Hebrew 
 word would seem rather to be used, in a broader 
 sense, of any large tree in general ; like the Greek 
 (5oO--. In Is. vi. 13, it is improperly translated teil- 
 tree, which is the same as the lime or linden. *R. 
 
 TERTIUS, Paid's amanuensis in writing his epis- 
 tle to the Romans, Rom. xvi. 22. Lightfoot conjec- 
 tures that he was the same as Silas, this Hebrew name 
 signifying the same as the Latin Tertius. 
 
 TERTULLUS, an advocate who pleaded against 
 Paul before Felix, governor of Judea, A. D. 58, Acts 
 xxiv. 1—9. 
 
 TESTAMENT is commonly taken in Scripture 
 for the covenant, the law, the promises. See Cove- 
 nant. 
 
 TESTIMONY, a proof, testimony or witness. 
 (See Exod. xx. 16 ; xxiii. 1 ; Gen. xxxi. 47, 48, 52 ; 
 .Josh. xxii. 27 ; John i. 8 ; v. 31, &c.) 
 
 The law is called a testimony, Ps. cxix. passim, 
 because when the Lord gave it to the Israelites, he 
 gave testimony of his presence by prodigies performed 
 before them, and he required an oath of them, that 
 they should continue faithful to him. The ark is 
 called the ark of testimony, because it contained the 
 tables of the law ; so the tabernacle of testimony, be- 
 cause in diat tent the tables of the law were kept. 
 
 TETRARCH, a sovereign of a fourth part of a 
 state, province or kingdom. Matt. xiv. 1 ; Luke iii. 1, 
 19 ; ix. 7 ; Acts xiii. 1. It was a title frequeiu among 
 the descendants of Herod the Great, to A\liom the 
 Roman emperors distributed his dominions at their 
 pleasure. But the word tetrarch ought not to be un- 
 derstood rigorously, as it was occasionally given to a 
 prince who possessed, perhaps, a half, or a third part, 
 of a state. 
 
 I. THADDEUS, a surname of Jude the apostle, 
 Mark iii. 18. 
 
 II. THADDEUS, one of the seventy disciples, 
 who is related to have been sent to king Abgarus ut 
 Edessa. (Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. 13.) 
 
 THANKSGIVING, the act of acknowledging the 
 mercies of God. (See Praise.) There are various 
 modes, under the Old Testament, of oft'ering thanks- 
 giving; sometuncs it was public, sometimes in the 
 family. It was frequently accompanied by sacri- 
 fices (2 Chron, xxix. 31.) and peace-offerings, or 
 oflferings of pure devotion, arising from the sentiments 
 of gratitude in the offerer's own mind. Lev. vii. 12, 
 15 ; Ps. cvii. 23 ; cxvi. 7. It is usually connected 
 with praise, joy, gladness, and the voice of melody, 
 (Isa. li. 3.) or (as Neh. xi. 17.) with singing and with 
 honor ; (Rev. vii. 12.) but occasionally, if not gener- 
 ally, witli sup])lication (Phil, iv.6.) and prayer, 1 Tim. 
 u. 3; Neh. xi. 17. For thanksgiving, we have ex- 
 amples in the best men in all ages, and also in Christ 
 oiu- Lortl. Whoever possesses any good without 
 giving thanks for it, deprives him who bestows that 
 good of his gloiy, sets a bad example before othei-s, 
 and prepares a recollection severely painful for him- 
 self, when he comes in his turn to experience ingrati- 
 tude. Let only that man withhold thanksgiving, who 
 has no enjoyments for which to give thanks. 
 
 THARSHISH, see Tarshish II.
 
 THE 
 
 [ 886 
 
 THE 
 
 THEBET, see Tebeth. 
 
 THEBEZ, a city of Ephraim, at the siege of which 
 Abiraelech, son of Gideon, was killed, Judg. ix. 50, 
 &c. Eusebius says, there was a village called 
 Thebes, 13 miles from Shechem, towards Scy- 
 thopolis. 
 
 THEFT, among the Hebrews, was not punished 
 with death : (Prov. vi. 30, 31.) "Men do not despise 
 [overlook?] a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul 
 when he is hungry. But if he be found, he shall 
 restore seven-fold ; he shall give all the substance of 
 his house." The Mosaic law condemned a common 
 thief to make double restitution, Exod. xxii. 4. If he 
 stole an ox, he was to restore five-fold ; if a sheep, 
 only four-fold, Exod. xxii. 1. But if the animal 
 stolen were found alive in his house, he only rendered 
 the double of it. If he did not make restitution, they 
 seized and sold his property, his house, and even 
 himself, if he had not wherewith to make satisfaction, 
 Exod. xxii. 23. In the passage of Proverbs, the wise 
 man seems to say, thatthe thief should restore seven- 
 fold the value stolen ; but seven-fold is here put for 
 many-fold. Zaccheus declared he would restore four- 
 fold whatever he had fraudulently acquired in his 
 office of publican, (Luke xix. 8.) because the civil law 
 condemned receivers of the public money to a four- 
 fold restitution of their unjust gains. 
 
 If a thief were taken, and earned before a magis- 
 trate, he was interrogated judicially, and adjured in 
 the name of the Lord to confess the fact. If he per- 
 sisted in denying it, and was afterwards convicted of 
 perjury, he was condemned to death ; not for the 
 theft, but for the perjury. An accomplice, or receiver 
 of stolen goods, was subject to the same penalty, if 
 he did not discover the truth to the judges, when he 
 was examined, and adjured in the name of the Lord, 
 Lev. v. 1 ; Prov. xxix. 24. To steal a freeman, or 
 a Hebrew, and to reduce him to sen'itude, was pun- 
 ished with death, Exod. xxi. 16. If a stranger were 
 stolen, the thief was only condemned to restitution. 
 
 The night-robber might be killed with impunity in 
 the fact ; but not a thief taken stealing in the day- 
 time, Exod. xxii. 2. It was presumed, that he who 
 attempted to break open a house, and steal by night, 
 had a design on the life of the person molested ; and 
 under this presumption he might be prevented and 
 killed. But it was not so with him who stole by 
 day ; there was then opportunity of defence against 
 such an attack ; and the thief might be prosecuted 
 before the judges, and compelled to make resti- 
 tution. 
 
 THEOPHILUS, an honorable person, to whom 
 the evangelist Luke addressed his Gospel, and the 
 Acts of the Apostles, Luke i. 3 ; Acts i. 3. He was 
 probably a Christian of quality, and most likely gov- 
 ernor or intendant of some province ; such having 
 generally the title oi'most excellent. It is right to ob- 
 serve, however, that it does not of necessity imply a 
 Roman appellation of honor ; nor does the name 
 Theophilus occur in Roman history, as a governor. 
 It is found among the Jewish high-priests, in a son 
 of Annas, who was high-priest in the year when our 
 Saviour was crucified. Theophilus was nominated 
 to that office instead of his brother Jonathan, who 
 had been deposed by Vitellius, (Joseph. Ant. xviii. 
 xix. XX.) and Michaelis countenances the notion 
 that this was Luke's Theophilus. [We can only say 
 of Luke's friend, in general, that most probably he 
 was a man of some note, who lived out of Palestine, 
 and had abjured paganism in order to embrace 
 Christianity. R, 
 
 THESSALONICA, a city and seaport of the 
 second part of Macedonia. [It is situated at the head 
 of the Sinus Thermaicus. When ^milius Paulus, 
 aft;er his conquest of Macedonia, divided the country 
 into four districts, this city was made the capital of 
 the second division, and was the station of a Roman 
 governor and questor. (Liv. xlv. 29.) It was an- 
 ciently called Therma, but afterwards received the 
 name of Thessalonica, either from Cassander, in 
 honor of his wife Thessalonica, the daughter of 
 Philip ; or from Philip himself, in memoi7 of a vic- 
 tory obtained over the armies of Thessaly. (Diod. 
 Sic. xix. 35 et 52. coll. Strab. vii. p. 509.) _ It was in- 
 habited by Greeks, Romans and Jews, from among 
 whom the a})ostle Paul gathered a numerous 
 church. R.] There was a large number of Jews 
 i-esident in this city, where they had a synagogue, in 
 which Paul (A. D. 52) preached to them on three 
 successive sabbaths. Some of the Jews, and many 
 of the Gentiles, embraced the gospel, but the rest of 
 the Jews determined to maltreat the apostle, and 
 surrounded the house in which they believed he was 
 lodging. The brethren, however, secretly led Paul 
 and Silas out of the city, towards Berea, and they 
 escaped from their enemies. Acts xvii. Thessalonica, 
 now called Saloniki, is at present a wretched town, 
 but having a population of about 60,000 persons. 
 
 When Paul left Macedonia for Athens and Cor- 
 inth, he left behind him Timothy and Silas, that they 
 might confirm those in the faith who had been con- 
 verted under his ministry. Being subsequently in- 
 formed by them of the state of the church in Thes- 
 salonica, he addressed to them the first of the two 
 Epistles, so directed, in our present canon, A. D. 52, 
 or 53. 
 
 In this letter, the apostle instructs them concerning 
 the last judgment, and of the manner and measure 
 with which Christians should be afflicted for tlie 
 death of their relations. He expresses much affec- J 
 tion and tenderness for them, with an earnest desire M 
 of coming to see them. He reproves them with much " 
 mildness and prudence, intermingling expressions of 
 praise, and marks of tenderness, with his reprehen- 
 sions. The Second Epistle was written from Corinth, 
 a short time after the First ; and in it the apostle cau- 
 tions the Thessalonians against misapprehensions 
 occasioned by a false interpretation of a passage in 
 his former Epistle, as if he had said, that the day of 
 the Lord was at hand. He exhorts them to continue 
 steadfast in the doctrine and traditions he had taught 
 them, and to suflJer with constancy under persecu- 
 tion. He reproves, more vehemently than before, 
 those who lived in idleness and vain curiosity ; and 
 directs his converts to separate from them, that at 
 least they might be ashamed of their trifling, and re- 
 form it. He signs the letter with his own hand, and 
 desires them to mark it well, that they might not be 
 imposed on by supposititious letters, written in his 
 name, by which, perhaps, they had formerly been 
 deceived. (See chap. ii. 2.) 
 
 THEUDAS, the name of a seditious person, who 
 excited popular tumults, probably during the interreg- 
 num which followed the death of Herod the Great, 
 while Archelaus was absent at Rome ; at which time 
 Judea was agitated with frequent seditions. Acts v. 
 36. The person spoken of by Gamaliel cannot be 
 the Theudas mentioned by Josephus, (Ant. xx. 5. 1.) 
 since the latter appeared during the reign of Clau- 
 dius, after the death of Herod Agrippa I. and was 
 destroyed by Cuspius Fadus, then procurator of 
 Syria and Judea, about 14 or 15 years after the time 
 
 i
 
 THO 
 
 [ 887 1 
 
 THO 
 
 when the advice of Gamahel was given. (See 
 Kiiinoel.) *R. 
 
 THIMNATHAH, (Josh. xix. 43.) the same as 
 TiMNATH, which see. 
 
 THIRST is a painful, natural sensation, occasioned 
 by the absence of moistening liquors from the stom- 
 ach. As this sensation is accompanied by vehement 
 desire, the term is sometimes used in Scripture in a 
 moral sense, for a mental desire ; as Jer. ii. 25 : " With- 
 hold thy throat from thirst ; but thou saidst, I loved 
 strangers, and after them will I go." In other words, 
 " I desire the commission of sin — I thirst for criminal 
 indulgence." And Matt. v. 6, " Blessed are they who 
 hunger and thirst after righteousness." Ps. xliii. 2, 
 "My soul thirsteth for God." The same figure is 
 employed in the discourse of our Lord with the 
 woman of Samaria : " Whosoever drinketh of the 
 water which I shall give him shall never thirst ;" an 
 allusion which the woman mistook as if intended of 
 natural water, drawn from some spring possessing 
 peculiar properties. 
 
 THOMAS, the ajiostle, (Matt. x. 3.) called in 
 Greek Didymus, (John xx. 24.) was probably a Gali- 
 lean, as well as the other apostles ; but the place of 
 his birth, and the circumstances of his calling, are 
 unknown. He was appointed an apostle A. D. 31, 
 (Luke vi. 1.3 — 15.) and continued to follow our Sa- 
 viour during the three years of his preaching. We 
 know no particulars of his life, till A. D, 33, a little 
 before the passion of Christ ; when Jesus intending 
 to go to Judea to raise Lazarus, Thomas said to the 
 rest, " Let us also go, that we may die with him," 
 (John xi. 16.) meaning that by going to Judea they 
 should be exposed to certain death from the hatred 
 and malice of the Jews against his Master. At the 
 last supper (John xiv. 5, G.) Thomas asked Christ 
 whither he was going, and what way. Our Saviour 
 answered, " I am the way, and the truth, and the 
 life." After the resun-ection, when Christ appeared 
 to his apostles, in the absence of Thomas, he so far 
 expressed his disbelief in what they assured him of, 
 as to say, " Except I shall see in his hands the print 
 of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the 
 nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not be- 
 lieve," John XX. 19 — 29. Eight days after, Jesus 
 appeared to the apostles, Thomas being with them, 
 who, having both seen and touched him, no longer 
 doubted, but cried out, " My Lord, and my God ! " 
 Jesus said to him, " Thomas, because thou hast seen, 
 thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not 
 seen, and yet have believed." A few days after, while 
 Thomas and some other disciples were fishing, on the 
 sea of Galilee, Jesus appeared to them, caused them 
 to take a very great draught of fishes, and dined with 
 them. 
 
 Tradition says, that in the distribution of the apos- 
 tles to the several parts of the world, to preach the 
 gospel, the country of the Parthians was allotted to 
 Thomas, who preached to the Medes, the Persians, 
 the Caramanians, the Hircanians, the Bactrians, and 
 the Magians, people which then composed the emf)ire 
 of the Parthians. The author of the Imperfect Work 
 on Matthew says, that being arrived at the country in 
 which the Magi were still living, who came to worship 
 Christ at Bethlehem, he baptized them, and employed 
 them in preaching the gospel. Several of the Fa- 
 thers inform us, that he preached in the Indies ; and 
 others say, that he preached in Ethiopia, near the 
 Caspian sea. 
 
 There are Christians in the East Indies, which 
 bear the name of St. Thomas, because they report 
 
 that this apostle preached the gospel there. They 
 dwell in a peninsula of the Indus, on this side the 
 gulf There are also many in the kingdom of Cran- 
 ganor, and in neighboring places ; as also at Negapa- 
 tam, Meliapur, Engamar, beyond Cochin, where their 
 archbishop resides, who acknowledges the jurisdic- 
 tion of the patriarch of Babylon. It is said that the 
 first Christians of the Indies, converted by Thomas, 
 relapsed into their former infidelity, and so far forgot 
 the iiistructions they had received from the apostle, 
 that they did not remember there had ever been any 
 Christians in their coimtry. They believe that a 
 certain holy man, called Mar-Thome, a Syrian, 
 brought them the light of the gospel, and converted 
 a great number of the people, with the assistance of 
 some priests from Sj'ria and Egypt, whom he invited 
 thither. Calmet inclines to believe, that they derived 
 the name of Christians of St. Thomas only from 
 Mar-Thome; but Mr. Taylor remarks, that the uni- 
 form tradition and testimony of their writers, as col- 
 lected by Asseman, forms a body of evidence on this 
 subject which it is very difficult to resist. Thomas 
 travelled very far east ; and it can hardly be suppos- 
 ed that the Syrians would introduce into their pub- 
 lic worship, commemorations of him, with thanks- 
 givings to God for his zeal and example, unless their 
 ecclesiastics, who composed such ancient ritual, 
 thought themselves warranted by facts. There re- 
 mains, however, the question, what countries the 
 Syrian writers intended by the terms they use. 
 When they speak of China, it does not necessarily 
 follow that they mean the country we now call 
 China ; and certainly not in its whole extent. It 
 appears to be prudent to restrict the evangelical 
 labors of Thomas to the peninsula of India; yet with- 
 out denying that he might in some excursion, by sea 
 or land, touch on some part of the Chinese em[)ire. 
 Here he might first plant the gospel ; but he returned 
 to his residence in India. The confusion occasioned 
 by the revival, under a second Thomas, should not 
 be allowed to invalidate the evidence that fixes so 
 firmly on the first. 
 
 THORNS. There are several species of thorns 
 or briers, and not less than eight different words are 
 employed by the sacred writers to denote one or other 
 of them. The first time they are mentioned is in 
 Gen. iii. 18, (-n-\n }'i-) " thorns and thistles." The 
 word ^y- is put for thorns in other places, (Exod. 
 xxii. 6 ; Jiulg. viii. 6 ; xxviii. 24.) but it is not certain 
 whether it means a specific kind of thorn, or is a 
 generic name for all kinds of thorny plants. In the 
 passage first cited,_it seems to be used generally, for 
 all those noxious plants, shrubs, &c. by which the 
 labors of tlie husbandman are impeded, and which 
 are only fit for burning. The radical import of the 
 word is to fret, to ivound, or to tear. 
 
 In Judges viii. IG, we read of Gideon taking 
 " thorns," (ri^) and " briers " (=>r^3.) The former 
 word we have noticed ; the latter now claims our at- 
 tention. There can be no doubt that it means a 
 sharp, jagged kind of plant ; the difficulty is to fix on 
 one, where so many offer themselves. The LXX 
 preserve the original word. We should hardly think, 
 says Mr. Taylor, that Gideon went far to seek these 
 plants; the "thorns" are expressly said to be from 
 the " wildeniess," or common, hard by ; probably the 
 barkdnim were from the same place. In our country 
 this would lead us to the black-berry bushes on our 
 conunons ; but it might not be so around Succoth. 
 There is a plant mentioned by Hasselquist, whose 
 name and properties somewhat resemble those which
 
 TH0RN3 
 
 [ 888 ] 
 
 THORNS 
 
 are required in the barkdnim of this passage : " JVabca 
 paliurus Athenei, the nabka of the Arabs. There is 
 every appearance of this being the tree wliich fur- 
 nished the crown of thorns put on tlie head of our 
 Lord. It is common in the East ; a plant more 
 proper for this purpose could not be selected ; for it 
 is armed with thorns ; its branches are supple and 
 pliant, and its leaf of a deep green, like that of the 
 ivy. Perhaps the enemies of Christ chose this plant, 
 in order to add insult to punishment, by employing a 
 plant approaching in appearance that which was used 
 to crown emjjerors and generals." I am not sure, 
 continues Mr. Taylor, whether something of the same 
 ideas did not influence Gideon : at least, it is remark- 
 able, that though in ver. 7, he threatens to thrash the 
 flesh of the men of Succoth with thorns, that is, to 
 beat them severely, yet, in ver. 16, it is said, he taught, 
 made to know, perhaps 7nade to be known by wear- 
 ing them, as at once insult and punishment. The 
 change of words deserves notice ; and so does the ob- 
 servation, that "he slew the men of Penucl," which 
 IS not said of the men of Succoth. If the nabka 
 [nabaka] of the Arabs might be the na-barkan of this 
 passage, the idea of its employment is remarkably 
 coincident in the two instances. [The harkanim of 
 Gideon are understood by Gesenius to be the sharp 
 stones (sometimes, perhaps, thorns) underneath the 
 thrashing machines of the Hebrews ; and these 
 Gideon used as instruments of punishment and tor- 
 lure. See Thrashing. R. 
 
 Another word used to denote a plant of this de- 
 scription, is c:-<yi, tzenim, A'umb. xxxiii. 55; Josh, 
 xxiii. 13, and Job v. 5. From its application, it 
 seems to describe a bad kind of thorn: "But if ye 
 will not drive out the inhabitants of the land fvom 
 before you, then it shall come to pass, that those 
 which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in 30m- 
 eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in 
 the land wherein ye dwell" Numb, xxxiii. 55. So in 
 the second passage referred to. The passage in Job 
 IS thus rendei-ed by Good — 
 
 Their harvest the wild starveling devoureth ; 
 He seizeth it to the very thorns ; 
 
 which supports the interpretation of the word above 
 proposed, as far as the idea is concerned, although 
 Dr. Good seems inclined to think, with Symmachus 
 and Jerome, that the allusion is liere ratiier to " hos- 
 tile arms " than to vegetable prickles, Perhaps 
 Eliphaz may refer to a hedge of thorns, wjiich sur- 
 roimds for security a thrashing-floor, granary, or 
 some such place ; and Dr. Harris proposes, as the 
 particular kind, the rhamnus paliurus, a deciduous 
 plant or tree, a native of Palestine, Spain and Italy. 
 It will grow nearly to the height of fouiteen feet, and 
 is armed with sharp thorns, two of which are at the 
 insertion of each branch, one of them straight and 
 upright, the other bent backward. 
 
 In Prov. XV. 19, there is a beautiful apophthegm, 
 which involves a reference to some kind of thorny 
 shrub : — 
 
 The way of the slothful is as a hedge of thorns . 
 But the way of the righteous is plain. 
 
 The Avord here used is pin, chedek, but the particular 
 kind of thorn which, is intcndrd, it seems hardly pos- 
 sible to determine. Celsius and Ray make it the 
 solanum pomiferum fructu spinoso ; but Dr. Harris 
 thinks it is the eolutea spinosa of Forskal, which is 
 
 called in the Arabic keddad, and of which there is an 
 engraving in Russell. In Mic. vii. 4, the same word 
 is translated "brier," and perhaps here the same 
 word may be retained without injury to the passage. 
 Perhaps, too, this chedek may be a plant of some 
 verdure, like our brier, and of which we call a scented 
 kind "sweet-brier ; " so a judge — the comparison in 
 Micah — may be a well-looking (q. verdant) character, 
 but if he lake bribes he becomes a brier, liolding 
 every thing that comes within his reach, hooking all 
 he can catch ; not a sweet-brier, but a rank w^eed : 
 
 Sauciat atque rapit spinus paliurus acutis : 
 Hoc etiam judex semper avarus agit. 
 
 With regard to the passage in the Proverbs, there is 
 a beautiful opposition, which is lost in our render- 
 ing : — "The narrow ivay of the slothful is like per- 
 plexed palhivays among sharp tliorns: whereas, the 
 oroad road of the righteous is a high bank ;" (as ren- 
 dered elsewhere, a causeway ;) that is, straight for- 
 ward ; free from obstructions ; the direct, conspicu- 
 ous, open path. (1.) The conunon course of life of 
 these two characters answers to this comj)arison. (2.) 
 Their manner of going about business, or of trans- 
 acting it, answers to this: an idle man always prefers 
 the most intricate, the most oblique, and eventually 
 the most thorny measures, to accomplish his purpose ; 
 the honest man prefers the most liberal and straight- 
 forward. 
 
 We have no means of determining the kind of 
 plant meant by cin^n, sirim, rendered " thorns," in 
 Exod. vii. 6 ; Nah. i. 10, and lies. ii. 6. In Exod. 
 and Nah. tliey are spoken of as a kind of fuel which 
 quickly burns up, and in Hos. as obstructions or 
 hedges. The like uncertainty attends our inquii-y as 
 to the £=Min, " thorns, " of 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11 ; Prov. 
 xxvi. 9 ; Cant. ii. 2 ; Hos. ix. 6. Its etymology 
 would lead us to look for a kind of thorn with incur- 
 vated spines, like fish-hooks. In 2 Kings xiv. 9 ; 2 
 Chron. xxv. 18 ; Job xxxi. 18, the word nin is ren- 
 dered " thistle ; " in Job xli. 2, " hook ; " in 1 Sam. xiii. 
 6, " thicket ; " and in Isa. xxxiv. 14, " bramble." 
 
 The n->i-ii-;':, natzutzim of Isa. vii. 19, is taken for 
 " thorns " by the Chaldee interpreters, and also by 
 our translators ; but bishop Lowth renders it " thick- 
 ets," refeiTing it, probably, to the root y;, a tree. Mr. 
 Taylor, however, thiidvs that it refers rather to places 
 than to [)lants — mcadoics, or Jlowery meads. Bate 
 thinks that the — ^s^,-ij, nehellim, with which it is asso- 
 ciated, and which we render " bushes," should rather 
 be undei-stood of" pasture groiuids, where flocks are 
 tended;" and os tiiis makes three out of the four 
 subjects mentioned places, the fourth also, by parity, 
 should be a place, not a plant. This would lead to 
 the following distribution of the passage : — 
 
 In that daj', 
 
 The Lord shall hiss for the fly 
 
 Wliich is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, 
 Which shall come and setUe on all flowery meads, 
 And on all fruitful pastures. 
 And for the bee. 
 Which is in the land of Assyria, 
 Which shall come and settle on all abandoned val- 
 leys. 
 And in the crevices (or clefts) of the reck. 
 
 The pSa, sillon, of Gen. iii. 18; Josh, xxiii. 13; 
 Ezek. ii. G, and chap, xxviii. 24, is thought by some 
 to be a kind of thorn, oversoreading a large surface
 
 THORNS 
 
 [ 889 ] 
 
 THR 
 
 of ground, as the dew-brier. Mr. Taylor, fioiu its 
 association in the two last ])assages, inclines to think 
 that some kind of animal is intended, rather than a 
 vegetable substance. His reasons, however, seem to 
 possess little weight, and the passage in Gen. iii. 18, 
 appears decisive for a thorny plant of some descrip- 
 tion, though the particular kind cannot be ascertained. 
 From the vexatious characters ascribed to it, Harris 
 thinks it to be the hantuffa as described by Bruce. 
 
 The 1013, sii-pad, of Isa. Iv. 13, means, apparently, 
 some kind of wide-spreading thorn. Hiiler calls it 
 the ruscus. 
 
 In addition to the words already enumerated, we 
 find Snn, cherul, used in Job xxx. 7 ; Prov. xxiv. 31, 
 and Zeph. ii. 9. It is only in the second passage, 
 however, that it is rendered thorn, and the particular 
 kind it is impossible to determine. Indeed, it is no 
 wonder, that among so many kintls of thorns as arc to 
 be found in the East, we should be embarrassed in 
 idcntifyijig them. [The difficulty in all the preceding 
 remarks is, that the writers have felt no embarrass- 
 ment, but have decided with self-complacency, where 
 real scholars are at a loss. R. 
 
 The word employed in the New Testament for 
 " thorns " is ' Axuidu. Wetstein has quoted a pas- 
 sage from Galen, very similar to Matt. vii. U! : " Tiie 
 husbandman would never be able to make the thorn 
 produce grapes." On Matt, xxvii. 29, Harris cites, 
 with apparent approbation, Dr. Pearce's note on the 
 passage, which is as follows : " The word azui ,9^wi 
 may as well be the plural genitive case of the word 
 axarSog, as of uxaiOii; if of the latter, it is rightly 
 translated ' of thorns,' but the former would signifv 
 what we call ' bear's foot ; ' and the French ' branchc 
 ursine.' This is not of the thorny kind of ])lants, 
 but is soft and smooth. Virgil calls it ' mollis acan- 
 thus,' so does Pliny secundus ; and Pliny the elder says 
 that it is ' liEvis,' smooth, and that it is one of those 
 plants that are cultivated in gardens. I have some- 
 where read, but cannot at present tell where, that tiiis 
 soft and smooth herb was very conunon in and about 
 Jerusalem. I find nothing in the New Testament 
 concerning the crown which Pilate's soldiers j)ut on 
 the head of Jesus to incline one to think that it was 
 of thorns, and intended, as is usually sup})oscd, to put 
 him to pain. The reed put into his hand, and the 
 scarlet robe on his back, were meant only as marks 
 of mockery and contempt. One may also i-easonably 
 judge by the soldiers being said lo plait this crown, 
 that it was not composed of such twigs and leaves as 
 were of a tliorny nature. I do not find that it is 
 mentioned by any of the primitive Christian writers 
 as an instance of the cruelty used towards our Sa- 
 viour before he was led to crucifixion, till the time 
 of Tertullian, who lived after Jesus' death at tlie dis- 
 tance of above one hundred and sixty years. He, 
 indeed, seems to have understood axurftun in the 
 sense of thorns, and says, " Quale oro to, Jesus 
 Christus sertum pro utroque sexu subiit ? Ex spinis, 
 opinor, et tribulis." The total silence of Polycarj), 
 Barnabas, CI. Romanus, and all the oilier Christia-' 
 writers whose works are now extant, and who W;Otc 
 before Tertullian, in particular, will give some weight 
 to incline one to think that this crown "as iJ<)t i)laite(l 
 with thorns. 
 
 This conjecture of Pearce, which lias been em- 
 braced by Michaelis, is solidly refuted by Campbell. 
 Not a single version favors it ; and, as Bloomfield re- 
 marks, the word proposed occurs no where in the 
 New Testament or the Septuagint. The Italian and 
 Syriac render thorns; and the ancient Greek and 
 112 
 
 Latin fathers so took it. There is, therefore, the 
 highest probability opposed to mere conjecture. 
 Bod;eus and Theoi)liylact think that our Lord's 
 crown was of acacia ; othei's coujectun; difierently. 
 It was, doubtless, of some kind of prickly shrub, 
 though what that was cannot now be ascertained. 
 Certainly it was not of mere thorns, nor pressed upon 
 liis head with an intent to torture him ; every thing 
 in this occurrence seems to have been done with a 
 view to mockery and derision, not pain ; and, aa 
 Whitby remarks, not to deride Christ's pretensions 
 to the Messiahship, biu to his title to be king of the 
 Jews. Doddridge thinks, that had ridicule alone 
 been intended, a crown of straws might have done as 
 well. But croivns were usually made of such shrubs 
 as admitted of being ivoveii, and such are usually 
 more or less prickly. That they meant cruelty, he 
 argues from their striking him ; but with what ? — a 
 reed, not a cane ; or, as Doddridge thinks, a walking- 
 BtaW, as Wetstein has satisfactorily shown. 
 
 THOUGHT, THINKING, are words not always 
 used in Scripture for the simple operation of the 
 mind ; but as including a formed design of doing 
 something. (Sec Jer. xi. 19 ; Gen. xi. G, &:c.) 
 
 When our tianslation was made, the word thought 
 included the sense of anxiety, solicitude, apprehen- 
 sion ; so that when we are directed to " take no 
 thought for the morrow," the meaning was, no anxi- 
 ety, no carking carefulness ; the same when we are 
 told to take no thought for our life, or living, (Matt, 
 vi. 8.) or for raiment, Luke xii. 2(5. Which of you, 
 by taking thought, by anxiety, by solicitude, can add 
 one cul)it to his stature, or to his age ? verse 25. It 
 cannot be supposed that our Lord forbids a proper 
 care, foresight, or provision for future time : he only 
 meant to restrain immoderate desire, anguish of mind, 
 corroding cares, avarice. 
 
 THRASHING, the separating of corn from the 
 shell or husk in which it is enclosed. In England 
 this operation was, till lately, usually performed by the 
 staff or fiail ; but it wiis not so among the Hebrews. 
 
 In Isaiah xli. 15, we read, " Behold, I will make 
 thee a new sharp thrashing instrument, having teeth ; 
 thou shalt thrash the mountains, and beat them small, 
 and shalt make the hills as chafi'; thou shalt fan 
 them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the 
 whirlwind shall scatter them"." Here every idea, 
 every allusion, every sentence, was familiar to an 
 eastern agriculturist; but what can an Englishman 
 understand by " a new sharp thrashing instrument 
 havinfi; teeth9" He who naturally thinks of the flail, 
 as his thrashing instnunent, may well be permitted 
 to wonder in what part of this instrument its teeth 
 can be placed, a'ld how it was to be used, when in- 
 creased by this addition. As to our modern thrash- 
 in"' niaelii'iios, they are out of the question. In the 
 same |voj)het we have another passage, (chap. xxv. 
 10,1 ivhicii has not been understood: " Moab shall 
 he trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden 
 down FOR the dun,::hiil." — The margin reads, "Moab 
 shall be thrashed, as straw is thrashed in Madmeuah." 
 Now, to tread straw by labor purposely and specifi- 
 cally /or the dunghill, is an occupation of persons un- 
 known to our rural economy ; but our translators 
 were aware, that to allude to "the thrashing of straw 
 in iNIadmenah, was to delude the rustic reader by a 
 seeming translation of no information to him; and 
 tliey, tiiercfore, preferred that which, though it had 
 no "foundation in fact, yet seems less uncouth to 
 English ears. Translators, in general, have referred 
 the passages to thrashing, as appears by consulting
 
 THRASHING 
 
 [ 890 ] 
 
 THRASHING 
 
 them ; Coverdale has " thrashed upon the ground ; " 
 the Doway translation, "broken with the wain;" 
 and bishop Lowth, " thrashed under the wheels of 
 the car ;" each something right, and something wrong ; 
 but bishop Lowth is the nearest to accuracy. 
 
 Very little of the real imjjorl, the haste, or the value, 
 of the proposed present of Ornau to David (1 Chron. 
 xvi. 23.) can be understood in this country : " I give 
 the thrashing instruments for v/ood ; " i. e. to burn 
 tlie sacrifice of the oxen, &z.c. How many flails [our 
 thrashing instruments) must Oman have possessed, 
 to accomplish this purpose ? Could nothing better 
 be found, nothing be fetched from the adjacent city, 
 but must all the flails of this Jebusite be consumed 
 for this service ? Surely Oman did not hold such a 
 quantity of land, as required so great a number of 
 flails for the purpose of thrashing the produce of it, 
 that they might serve to consume the sacrifice of two 
 oxen ! But why not conclude, that this offer was 
 made for instant use, Oman hereby iioping to ter- 
 
 minate tnc pestilence, as it were, on the instant, 
 without a moment's delay ? Thus considered, it ac- 
 quires additional pj-opriety, and we shall see that it 
 had no trifling value. 
 
 When the prophet Isaiah speaks of the customary 
 practice of rural economy in Judea, as exemplifying 
 the talents imparted l)y Heaven to the sons of men, 
 he says, " H is God doth instruct him to discretion, 
 and doth teach him ; for the fitches are not thrashed 
 with a thiashing instrument ; neither is a cart ivheel 
 turned about upon the cumin ; but the fitches are 
 beaten cut with a staff, and the cumin with a rod. 
 Bread corn is bruised, because he will not be ever 
 thrashing it, nor break it luilh the icheel of his cart, nor 
 bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh irom 
 the Lord of hosts, wlio is wonderful in counsel, and 
 excellent in working," ch. xxviii. 27. To turn cart 
 wheels upon bread corn seems strange enough ; 
 but the following information will remove tho 
 difficulty : 
 
 " The second remark is concerning the manner 
 they thrash, or rather tread, rice in Egypt, by means 
 of a sledge drawn by two oxen; and in which the 
 man who drives them is on his kuees, whilst another 
 man has the care of drawing back i\xc straw, and of 
 separating it from the grain, tliat remairie underneath. 
 In order to tread the rice, they lay it on ihe ground 
 in a ring, so as to leave a little void circle in tW mid- 
 dle." (Norden's Travels in Egypt and Nubia, -jiage 
 80.) "In thrashing their corn, the Arabians lay tV^> 
 sheaves down in a certain order, and then lead over 
 them two oxen, dragging a large stone. This mode 
 of separating the ears Irom the straw, is not unlike 
 that of Egypt." (Niel)ubr's Travels, page 299.) " They 
 iisri oxen, as the ancients did, to beat out tlitir corn, 
 by trampling upon the shc^aves, and dragging after 
 them a clumsy machine. This machine is not, as in 
 Arabia, a stone cylinder; nor a jjlank with sharj) 
 stones, as in Syria; but a sort of sledge consisling of 
 three rollers, fitted with irons, which turn uj)on axles. 
 A farmer chooses out a level spot in his fields, and 
 ha.s his corn carried thither in sheaves, upon asses. 
 
 or dromedaries. Two oxen are then yoked in a 
 sledge ; a di-iver gets upon it, and drives them back- 
 wards and forwards [or in a circle] upon the sheaves; 
 and fresh oxen succeed in the yoke, from time to 
 time. By this operation, the chaft'is veiy much cut 
 down ; the whole is then winnowed, and the pure 
 grain thus separated. This mode of thrashing out 
 tlie corn is tedious and inconvenient ; it destroys the 
 chafi^, and injures the qualitv of the grain." (lb. vol. 
 i. p. 89.) 
 
 "This machii^.e [Niebuhr adds] is called Nauridj. 
 i* has three rollers, which turn on their axles ; and 
 eacV ofiliem is furnished with some irons, round and 
 flat. At the beginning of June, ]Mr. Forskal and I 
 sevei-al tiaios saw, in the environs of Dsjise, [Gize,] 
 how corn was thrashed in Egypt. Every peasant 
 chose for himself, in the open field, a smooth plat 
 of ground, from 80 to 100 i>aces in circumference. 
 Hither was brought, on camels or asses, the corn in 
 sheaves, of which was formed a ring of six or eight 
 feet wi(ie, and two high. Two oxen were made to 
 draw over it again and again the sledge (traineau)
 
 THR 
 
 [ 891 
 
 T II U 
 
 above mentioned, and this wais done with the great- 
 est convenience to the driver ; for he was seated in a 
 chair fixed on the sledge. Two such parcels or 
 layers of corn are thrashed out in a day, and they 
 move each of them as many as eight times, with a 
 wooden fork of five prongs, which they call Meddre. 
 Afterwards they throw the straw into the middle of 
 the ring, where it forms a heap, which gi-ows bigger 
 and Itiggcr. AVhen the first layer is thraslied, they 
 replaces the stra\v in the ring, and thrash it as before. 
 Tlius the straw becomes every time smaller, till at 
 last it resembles chopped straw. Afler this, with tlie 
 fork just described, tliey cast the wliole some jards 
 from thence, and against the tvind ; which driving 
 back the straw, the corn and the ears not thrashed 
 out full aj)art from it, and make another heap. A 
 man collects the clods of dirt and other impurities, 
 to which any corn adheres, and throws them into a 
 sieve. They afterwards place in a ring the heaps, in 
 which a good many entire eai-s are still found, and 
 drive over them, lor four or five hours together, a 
 dozen couj)le of oxen joined two and two, till, by 
 absolute trampling, they have separated the grains, 
 which they throw into the air with a shovel (Luhh) 
 to cleanse them." 
 
 The ancient Arabs, Syrians, Egyptians and Ro- 
 mans thrashed their corn in the same manner, by the 
 feet of cattle, as may be seen m Bochart, vol. ii. p. 
 302, 310. " The iAIoors and Arabs," says Dr. Shaw, 
 "continue to tread out their corn after the primitive 
 custom of the East. Instead of beeves, they fre- 
 quently make use of mules and horses, by tjing in 
 the like manner, by the neck, three or four of them 
 together, and whipping them afterwards round about 
 the neddai-s, (as they call the thrashing-floors ; the 
 Lybic£e Arae of Horace,) where the sheaves lie open 
 and expanded, in the same manner as they are 
 placed and prepared, with us, for thrashing. This, 
 indeed, is a much quicker way than ours, but less 
 cleanly: for, as it is performed in the open air (Hos. 
 xiii. 3.) upon any round level plat of ground, daubed 
 over with cow's dung, to prevent, as much as possi- 
 ble, the earth, sand, or gi-avel, from rising ; a gi'eat 
 quantity of them all, notwithstanding this precaution, 
 must unavoidably be taken up with the grain ; at the 
 same time the straw, which is their only fodder, is 
 hereby shattered to pieces ; a circumstance very per- 
 tinently alluded to in 2 Kings xiii. 7, where the king 
 of Syria is said to have made the Israelites like the 
 dust, by thrashing." (Travels, p. 221, folio.) 
 
 THRONE, that magnificent seat on which princes 
 usually sit to receive the homage of their subjects, or 
 to give audience to ambassadors ; where they appear 
 in pomj) and ceremony ; whence they dispense jus- 
 tice, &c. The throne, the sceptre, the crown, are 
 ordinary symbols of royalty and royal authority. 
 Scripture often represents the Lord as sitting on a 
 throne. The psalmist says, that God had confirmed 
 his throne in heaven from all eternity, Ps. ciii. 19 ; 
 xciii. 2 ; xlv. 6. This throne was supported by jus- 
 tice and equity, xcvii. 2. The throne of the Lord 
 which was shown to Ezekiel, (chap, i.j was at the 
 same time the most terrible, and yet the most mag- 
 nificent, object that can be imagined. It was an 
 animated chariot, borne by four cherubim of an ex- 
 traordinary figure. The wheels were of inexplicable 
 beauty and magnitude, also animated and conducted 
 by a spirit. The throne of the Lord, which was 
 over the wheels and the cherubim, was like glittering 
 crystal, with a seat of sapphire. He who sat on the 
 throne was surrounded with splendor like that of 
 
 fire, or of metal in fusion ; and round him glowed the 
 colors of the rainbow. (See also Isa. vi. 2 — 4.) 
 
 The cherubim on the ark of the covenant were 
 also considered as a kind of throne of the Deity : 
 whence it is said in many places that God sits be- 
 tween the cherubim ; (1 Sam. iv. 4 ; 2 Sam. vi. 2 ; 2 
 Kings xix. 15 ; Ps. xviii. 10 ; Ixxx. 1 ; xcix. 1 ; Isa. 
 XXX vii. IG.) whether we consider ihechei-ubim of the 
 ark, or the cherubim which Isaiah and Ezekiel de- 
 scribe as being under, and about, the throne of the 
 Ahnighty ; and probaljly to the same cherubim Paul 
 refers by the term throins. Col. i. K!. 
 
 The throne of Solomon is described in Scripture 
 as the finest and richest in tlie world, 1 Kings x. 20. 
 It was of ivory, inlaid witii gold. The ascent was by 
 seven steps ; the back was round, and two arms sup- 
 ported the seat ; twelve golden lions, one at each end 
 of every step, made a principal part of its ornaments. 
 
 The Jews sometimes swore by the throne of God, 
 or by heaven ; but our Saviour forbids such oaths ; 
 (Matt. v. 34; xxiii. 22.) for "Whoever swears by 
 heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by hiia 
 who sitteth upon it." There is a passage (Exod. xvii. 
 16.) that might be understood in the sense of an oath, 
 sworn by the throne of God: "The Lord has lifted 
 up his hand from his throne (he has swurn by his 
 throne) that he would make war against Amakk." 
 (See Oath.) Thus in Judith, (i. 2.) Nebuchadnezzar 
 swears bj' his throne, that he would make war 
 against all who had rejected his ambassadors. 
 
 In Scripture, the Son of God is rej)resented as fit- 
 ting on a throne at the right hand of his Father, Ps. 
 ex. 1 ; Ileb. i. 8 ; Rev. iii. 21. And he himself as- 
 sures his apostles, that they should sit on twelve 
 thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Luke 
 xxii. 30. In the Revelation, we find the twenty -four 
 elders seen in vision, sitting on thrones before the 
 Lord, Rev. iv. 4. And (Dan. vii. 9.) when God is 
 about to enter into judgment with men, thrones are 
 prepared for judges. The Ancient of Days is seated ; 
 his throne is as a flame of fire ; his wheels are as con- 
 suming fire ; streams of fire radiate from his face ; 
 millions of millions of angels attend upon him, and 
 thousands of thousands are round about him. 
 
 Thrones, in the sense of an order of the celestial 
 hierarchy, (Col. i. 16.) n^ay signify, as above hinted, 
 the cherubim, which were considered as the throne 
 of God. Paul does not mention thrones among the 
 celestial spirits that compose the angelic hierarchy, 
 (Eph. iii. 10; vi. 12.) and hence some suppose that 
 by thrones, principalities, powers and dominions, the 
 apostle means no more than temporal powers, sub- 
 ordinate one to another. Thus, thrones denote king- 
 ly po\ver ; princijtaiities, governors or princes ; and 
 powers, judges, magistrates of cities, &:c. 
 
 THUMMIM, see Urim. 
 
 THUNDER is a re-percussion of the air violently 
 agitated, among dense clouds, by the lightning or 
 electric flash ; and as this is the loudest natural noise 
 with which mankind are acquainted, it was, like 
 many other surprising things, expressed by an ad- 
 dition of the name of God. So we have, in Scrip- 
 ture, the terms " fair to God," extremely beautiful ; 
 " great cities of God," extremely great cities ; " trees 
 of God," extremely tall trees ; and hence thunder is 
 called " the voice' of God," that is, the prodigious 
 sound, noise, or report; "voices of God," (Heb. 
 Exod. ix. 28.) are mighty thunderings; (Ps. xxix. 3, 
 4,5.) the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars, di- 
 videth the flames of fire, &:c. : the psalmist tells us, 
 verse 3, he means thunder.
 
 TIB 
 
 [ m ] 
 
 TIB 
 
 THYATIRA, a city of Lydia, in Asia Minor, an- 
 ciently called Pelopia and Euhipj^ia, now Ak-hisar. 
 It was situated on the confines of Lydia and Mysia, 
 near the river Lycus, between Sardis and Perganius, 
 Acts xvi. 14 ; Rev. i. 11 ; ii. 18, 24. The art of dyemg 
 purple was particularly cultivated at Thyatira, as ap- 
 pears from an inscription found there, for which see 
 Kuinoel on Acts i. (See Wells, Sac. Geogr. No. 
 537. Miss. Her. for 1821, j). 251.) *R. 
 
 THYINE-WOOD, (Rev. xviii. 12.) the wood of 
 I he thyia v. thuja articulata of LinnEeus, an aromatic 
 evergreen tree, resembling tiie cedar, and foinid in 
 Libva. The ^\-ood was used in bnrning incense. R. 
 
 I.' TIBERIAS, a city of Galilee, on the western 
 shore of the lake of Gennesareth, the original name 
 of which is thought to have been Cimiereth, or Ham- 
 math, or Emath, or Rakkath, or Recchatli. Reland, 
 however, shows that this is very doubtful, and only 
 founded on the sea of Cinnereth being afterwards 
 called the sea of Tiberias ; which by no means proves 
 tliat Cinnereth and Tiberias were the same town. 
 Besides, as he observes, the portion of Naphtali did 
 not begin towards the south, but at Capernaum, 
 (Matt. iv. 1-3.) which is more to the north than Tibe- 
 rias ; and yet Cinnereth, Ilaminath, Rakkath, belong 
 to the portion of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 35. 
 
 Josephus states (Ant. lib. xviii. cap. 3 ; De Bel. lib. 
 ii. cap. 8.) that Tiberias was built in honor of Tibe- 
 rias by Herod Antipas, and that it was 30 furlongs 
 from Hiijpos, 60 from Gadara, 120 from Scythopolis, 
 and 30 from Tarichea. (De Vita sua, p. 1025, 1010.) 
 Herod endowed it with great advantages ; which, 
 with its convenient situation, soon made it the me- 
 tropolis of Galilee. When he was obliged to leave 
 Rome, he retired hither with his uncle Herod ; and 
 the emperor Claudius afterwards bestov/ing it upon 
 him, it had the name of Claudia Tiberias. Josephus 
 took possession of it at the time of the wars with the 
 Jews, and gave the bastinado to the officer who 
 came to propose terms of peace to it from the Ro- 
 mans. Vespasian intended to put all the inhabitants 
 to the edge of the sword ; but Agi-ippa prevailed on 
 him to be satisfied with Ijeating down part of its 
 walls. Tiberias was famous for its baths of hot 
 waters, from which diseased peojile received great 
 benefit. 
 
 In this city, some of the most learned of the Jews, 
 after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, 
 assembled, and laid the foundation of an academy, 
 which became famous by the INIishna that was com- 
 posed in it; by the celebrated labors of the Maso- 
 ritcs, the authors of the vowel points ; and by the 
 reputation of the doctors who there kept their schools. 
 Here the patriarch of the nation also I'esided. 
 
 Dr. E. D. Clarke says, (Trav. vol. ii. p. 4G7.) " The 
 town of Tiberias is situated close to the edge of the 
 lake. It is fortified by walls, but has no artillery ; and, 
 like all Turkish citadels, makes a great figure from 
 without, exhibiting, at the same time, the utmost 
 wretchedness within. Its castle stands ujion a rising 
 ground in the north part of it. No antiquities now 
 remain, except a very ancient church, of an oblong 
 square form, to which Ave descended by steps. 
 There is reason to believe tliis the first place of 
 Christian worship erected in Tiberias, and that it was 
 constructed as long ago as the fourth century. Tlie 
 roof is of stone, and it is vaulted. It is called the 
 house of Peter. About a mile south of the town are 
 the celebrated hot baths of Emmaus." 
 
 II. TIBERIAS, Sea of. This lake, which is 
 almost equal in the grandeur of its appearance to the 
 
 lake of Geneva, is called indifferently the lake of 
 Gennesareth, the lake of Tiberias, the sea of Galilee, 
 and the sea ofCinneroth, from the adjacent countrj-, 
 or the principal towns upon its shores. Josephus 
 and Phny agree in stating it to be about 16 miles 
 m length, and about 6 in breadth. Mr. Buckingham 
 thus describes it : " The waters of this lake lie in a 
 deep basin, surrounded on all sides with lofty hills, 
 excepting only the narrow entrance and outlet of the 
 Jordan at each extreme ; for which reason, long con- 
 tinued tempests from any one quarter are here un- 
 known ; and this lake, like the Dead sea, with which 
 it communicates, is, for the same reason, never 
 violently agitated for any great length of time. The 
 same local i'eatures, however, render it occasionally 
 subject to whirlwinds, squalls and sudden gusts 
 from the hollow of the mountains, which, as ui any 
 other similar basin, are of short duration ; and the 
 most furious gust is succeeded by a perfect calm. A 
 strong current marks the passage of the Jordan 
 through the middle of the lake, in its way to the Dead 
 sea, wliere it empties itself. The appearance of this 
 sea from the town of Capeniaum, which is situated 
 near the upper end of the bank on the western side, 
 is extremely grand ; its greatest length runs nearly 
 north and south. The barren aspect of the moun- 
 tains on each side, and the total absence of wood, 
 give, however, a cast of dulness to the picture; and 
 this is increased to melancholy by the dead calm of 
 its waters, and the silence which reigns throughout 
 its whole extent, where not a boat or vessel of any 
 kind is to be found." 
 
 Dr. E. D. Clarke, describing its appearance, says, 
 " The wind rendered its surface rough, and called to 
 mind the situation of our Saviour's disciples, when, in 
 one of thesiuall vessels which travci-se these waters, 
 they were tossed in a storm, and saw Jesus, in the 
 fourth v.'atch of the night, walking to them upon the 
 waves. Matt. xiv. 24, 25,26. Often as this subject 
 has been painted, combining a number of circum- 
 stances adapted for the representation of sublimity, no 
 artist has been aware of the imcommon grandeur of 
 the sceneiy, memorable on account of the transaction. 
 The lake of Gennesareth is surrounded by objects 
 well calculated to heighten the solemn impression 
 made by such a picture; and, independent of the 
 local feelings likely to be excited in its contemplation, 
 aftbrds one of the luost striking prospects in the Holy 
 Land. It is Ijy comparison alone that any due con- 
 cei)tiou of the appearance it presents can be conveyed 
 to the minds of those who have not seen it ; and, 
 speaking of it comparativel}^ it may be described as 
 longer and finer than any of our Cumberland and 
 Westmoreland lakes, although, perhaps, it yields in 
 majesty to the stupendous features of Loch Lomond 
 in Scotland. It does not possess the vastncss of the 
 lake of Geneva, although it much resembles it in 
 particular points of view. The lake of Locarno in 
 Italy comes nearest to it in point of picturesque beau- 
 ty, although it is destitute of any thing similar to the 
 islands by which that majestic piece of water is 
 adorned. It is inferior in magnitude, and, perhaps, 
 in the height of its surrounding mountains, to the 
 lake Asphaltites ; but its broad and extended surface, 
 covering the bottom of a profound valley, environed 
 by lofty and precipitous eminences, added to the 
 impression of a certain reverential awe imder which 
 every Christian pilgrim approaches it, give it a char- 
 acter of dignitv unparalleled by any similar scenerv." 
 (Travels, p. 402.) 
 
 TIBERIUS C^SAR, second emperor of Rome,
 
 TIM 
 
 [ 893 ] 
 
 TIMOTHY 
 
 i. e. Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero. He was the 
 son of Livia, and step-son of Augustus ; and, being 
 adopted by that emperor, he succeeded to his throne 
 A. U. 14. He died A. D. 37, after a cruel reign of 
 22i years. It was in the J 4th year of his reign that 
 John the Baptist firet appeared; and the crucifixion 
 of Jesus took place in the 3d or 4th yeeu* after, Luke 
 iii. 1. R. 
 
 TIBHATH, a city of Syria-Zoba, taken and plun- 
 dcrotl by David, 1 Chron. xviii. 8. 
 
 TIBNI, a son of Ginath, and competitor with Omri 
 for tiie kingdom of Israel, 1 Kings xvi. 21. 
 
 TIDAL, king of nations, or of Gentiles, (goiyn,) 
 Gen. xiv. 1. Some think he was king of Galilee of 
 the Gentiles beyond Jordan ; (Matt. iv. 15.) and 
 Joshua speaks of a king of the nations of Gilgal, or of 
 Galilee, according to the Septuagint, Josh. xii. 23. 
 
 TIGLATH-PILESER, king of Assyria, reigned 
 at Nineveh. Ahaz, king of Judah, finding himself 
 pressed by Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of 
 Israel, and unable to oppose them, sent ambassadors 
 to Tiglath-pileser, to desire his assistance against 
 those kings, 2 Kings xvi. 7, &c. At the same time he 
 sent him all the gold and silver found in the treasu- 
 ries of the temple and of the palace. Tiglath-pileser 
 marched against Rezin, killed him, plundered Da- 
 mascus, and transported the inhabitants to places on 
 the river Cyrus. Ahaz went to meet him at Damas- 
 cus, (2 Chron. xxviii. 20, 21.) but Tiglath-pileser, not 
 being satisfied with the presents of Ahaz, entered 
 Judea, and ravaged the whole country. He did the 
 same in Samaria, carried away the tribes of Reuben 
 and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and trans- 
 planted them to Halah, Habor and Ilara, on the river 
 Gozan, 1 Chron. v. 26. He took also the cities Ijon, 
 Abel-beth-maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Galilee, 
 and the countries of Gilead and Naphtali, and carried 
 away the inhabitants into Assyria, 2 Kings xv. 29. 
 He reigned nineteen years at Nineveh. His successor 
 was his son Shalmaneser. See more in Assyria. 
 
 TIMBREL, an instrument of music, often men- 
 tioned in Scripture. The Hebrews called it f)in, toph, 
 under which name they comprehended all kinds of 
 drums, tabors and timbrels. We do not find that the 
 Hebrews used it in their wars, but only at their pub- 
 lic rejoicings ; and it was commonly employed by the 
 women. It consisted and still consists of a small 
 rim, over which a skin is drawn. The rim is also 
 hung with small bells. The timbrel is used as an 
 accompaniment to lively music, being shaken and 
 'beaten with the knuckles in time. After the passage 
 of the Red sea, Miriam, sister of Moses, took a tim- 
 brel, and began to play and dance with the women, 
 Exod. XV. 20. The daughter of Jephthah came to 
 meet her father with timbrels and other musical in- 
 struments, Judg. xi. 34. 
 
 TIMNAH, or Timnath, an ancient Canaanitish 
 city, to which Judah was going when he met with 
 Tamar, Gen. xxxviii. 12. It was at fii-st assigned to 
 Judah, on whose northern borders it lay, (Josh. xv. 
 10, .57.) but afterwards to the tribe of Dan, (Josh.xix. 
 43.) where it is written Thimxathah. It remained 
 mostly, however, in the possession of the Canaanites. 
 Judg." xiv. 1; 2 Chron. xxviii. 18. (Compare Joseph. 
 Antiq. v. 8.5.) *R. 
 
 TIMNATH-SERAH, a city of Ephraim, which 
 Joshua chose for his dwelling and buiying-place, 
 Josii. xix. 50 ; xxiv. 30. 
 
 TIMOTHY, a disciple of Paul. He was of Derive 
 or Lystra, both cities of Lycaonia, Acts xvi. 1 ; xiv. (5. 
 His father was a Gentile, but his mother a Jewess, 2 
 
 Tim. i. 5 ; iii. 15. When Paul came to Derbe and 
 Lystra, about A. D. 51, or 52, tlie brethren spoke 
 highly of the merit and good disposition of Timothy ; 
 and the apostle determined to take him along with 
 him, for which purpose he circumcised him at Lystra, 
 Acts xvi. 3. Timothy applied himself to labor in the 
 gospel, and did Paul very important services, through 
 the whole course of his preaching. It is not known 
 when he was made bishop ; init it is believed that he 
 received veiy early the imposition of the apostle's 
 hands, and this in consequence of a particular revela- 
 tion, or intimation from the Holy Spirit, 1 Tim. iv. 
 14 ; 2 Tim. i. G. Paul calls him, not only his dearly 
 beloved son, but also his brother, the companion of 
 his labors, and a man of God ; observing that none 
 was more united with him in heart and mind than 
 Timothy. 
 
 He accompanied Paul to Macedonia, to Philippi, to 
 Tliessalonica, and to Berea, where he left him and 
 Silas to confirm the converts, Acts xvii. 14, &c. 
 When at Athens, he directed Timothy to come to 
 him, (A. D. 52,) and thence sent him back to Thes- 
 salonica, from whence he afterwards returned with 
 Silas, to Paul at Corinth, (Acts xviii. 5.) where he 
 continued with the apostle, and is named with Silas 
 at the beginning of the two epistles to the Thcs- 
 saloniaiis. 
 
 About A. D. 56, Paul sent Timothy with Erastus 
 into Macedonia, (Acts xix. 22.) and directed him 
 to call at Corinth, to refresh the minds of the Corin- 
 thians in the truth. Some time after, writing to this 
 church, (1 Cor. iv. 17.) he recommends to them the 
 care of Timothy, and directs them to send him back 
 in peace. 
 
 Timothy returned to Paul in Asia, who there stayed 
 for him, whence they went together into Macedonia, 
 and the apostle joins Timothy's name with his own, 
 in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, which he 
 wrote from this province, about the middle of A. D. 
 57. He also sends his commendations to the Ro- 
 mans, in the letter which he wrote to them from 
 Corinth, the same year, or about A. D. 58, Rom. xvi. 21. 
 Though it does not appear, by the Acts, that Tim- 
 othy was with Paul the two years in which he was 
 prisoner at Cesarea, nor during his voyage to Rome ; 
 yet he had accompanied him in his journey to Jeioi- 
 salem, (Acts xx. 4.) and it is certain he was in Rome 
 when the apostle wrote to the Phili])pians, to the 
 Colossians, and to Philemon, because he is named in 
 the titles of these epistles, which were written A. D. 
 60, 61, 62. The year following, when Paul wrote to 
 the Hebrews, (Heb. xiii. 23. A. D. 64,) he tells them, 
 that Timothy was come out of prison ; but he men- 
 tions no circumstances, either of his imprisonment 
 or delivery. 
 
 When the apostle returned from Rome, A. D. 64, 
 he left Timothy at Ephesus, (1 Tim. i. 3.) as the 
 overseer of that church. The first of the two 
 letters addressed to him was written from Mace- 
 donia, about A. D. 64 or 65, 1 Tim. v. 23. (But see 
 luider Paul.) The apostle recommends him to 
 be more moderate in his austerities, and to drink 
 a little wine, because of the weakness of his 
 stomach, and his frequent infirmities. After Paul 
 came to Rome, (A. I). 65,) he wrote to him his 
 second letter, which is full of kindness and tender- 
 ness for this his dear disciple, and which is justly con- 
 sidered as tlie last will of the apostle. He desires 
 him to come to Rome to him before winter, and to 
 bring with him several things that had been left at 
 Troas, 2 Tim. iv. 9—13. If Timothy went to Rome,
 
 TIT 
 
 [ 894 j 
 
 TOB 
 
 as is probable, he must have been a witness there of 
 the martyrdom of Paul, A. D. 66. Calmet and some 
 other commentators incline to think that Timothy 
 must be the angel of the church of Ephesus, to whom 
 John writes, (Rev. ii.) though they are of opinion that 
 the reproaches contained in the address do not so 
 much concern Timothy personally, as some members 
 of his church whose zeal had become cool. We 
 have notiiing that can be depended upon, concerning 
 the latter part of his life. 
 
 TIN is the word commonly employed in the 
 Scriptures to designate the metal tin, as in Num. xxxi. 
 22. But in Isa. i. 25, the Hebrew word is put for 
 dross, or that lohich is separated by smelting ; and here 
 our translators have also improperly retained the 
 word tin. R. 
 
 TIPHSAH, the ancient Thapsacus, an important 
 city on the Avestern bank of the Euphrates, which con- 
 stituted the north-eastern extremity of Solomon's 
 dominions. There was here a celebrated ford or 
 ferry over the Euphrates, 1 Kings iv. 24. Perhaps 
 the same city is meant, 2 Kings xv. 16 ; though others 
 understand here a city of the same name near Sama- 
 ria. (Xen. Anab. i. 4. Arrian. Exped. Alex. iii. 7.) R. 
 
 TIRHAKAH, king of Ethiopia, or Cush, border- 
 ing on Palestine and Egj^pt. (See Cush, p. , and 
 Egypt, p. 373.) This prince, at the head of a power- 
 ful army, attempted to relieve Hezekiah, when 
 attacked by Sennacherib, (2 Kings xix. 9.) but the 
 Assyrian army was routed before he came up. See 
 Sennacherib. 
 
 TIRZAH, pleasant, a city of Ephraim, and the 
 royal seat of the kings of Israel, from the time of 
 Jeroboam to the reign of Omri, who built the city of 
 Samaria, which then became the capital of this king- 
 dom. Joshua killed the king of Tirzah, Josh. xii. 24. 
 Menahem, the son of Gadi, of Tirzah, slew Shallum, 
 tlic usurper of the kingdom of Israel, who reigned at 
 Samaria, and assumed tl.e government himself. But 
 the city of Tirzah shutting is gates against him, he 
 made it sufter the most terrible effects of his indigna- 
 tion, 2 Kings XV. 14, 16. 
 
 TISIIBE, a city of Gilcad, east of the Jordan, and 
 the country of the prophet Elijah, who from hence 
 Avas called the Tishbite, 1 Kings xvii. 1. 
 
 TISllI, the first Hebrew month of the civil year, 
 and the seventh of the ecclesiastical year. (See the 
 Jewish Cale::dar, at the end of the volume.) 
 
 TITHES, see Tythes. 
 
 TITUS, a Gentile (Gal. ii. 3.) converted by the 
 apostle Paul, who calls him his son. Tit. i. 4. Paul 
 took him with him to Jerusalem, (Gal. ii. 1.) about 
 the time of the question whether the converted 
 Gentiles should become subject to the ceremonies of 
 the law. Some would then have obliged him to cir- 
 cumcise. Titus ; but neither he nor Titus would con- 
 sent. Titus was afterwards sent by the apostle to 
 Corinth, (2 Cor. xii. 18.) on occasion of some disputes 
 in that church. He was well received by the Corin- 
 thians, and much satisfied by their ready compliance, 
 but woukl receive nothing from them ; thereby im- 
 itating the disinterestedness of his master. From 
 Corinth he went to Paul in Macedonia, and gave him 
 an account ofthe state of the Corinthian church, 2 Cor. 
 vii. 6, 15. A short while afterwards, the apostle de- 
 sired him to return to Corinth, to regulate things 
 against his own arrival there. Titus readily under- 
 took this journey, and departed immediately, (2 Cor. 
 viii. 5, 16, 17.) carrying witii him Paul's second letter 
 to the Corinthians. Titus was made bishop of Crete 
 about A. D. 63, when Paul was obliged to leave that 
 
 island, to take care of other churches. Tit. i. 5. The 
 following year he wrote to him to desire that as soon 
 as he should have sent Tychicus, or Artemas, to sup- 
 ply his place in Crete, Titus would come to him to 
 Nicopolis hi Macedonia, (or to Nicopolis in Epirus, 
 on the gulf of Ambracia,) where the apostle intended 
 to pass his winter. Tit. iii. 12. 
 
 Titus was deputed to preach the gospel in Dalma- 
 tia ; and he was there A. D. 65, when the apostle 
 wrote his Second Epistle to Timothy, 2 Tim. iv. 10. 
 He afterwards returned to Crete, whence, it is said, 
 he propagated the gospel in the neighboring islands, 
 and died, aged 94. 
 
 The subject of the Epistle to Titus, is to represent 
 the qualities that should characterize church-ofRcers. 
 As a principal function of Titus in the isle of Crete 
 was to ordain bishops and deacons, it was highly in- 
 cumbent on him to make a discreet choice. The apos- 
 tle also suggests the advice and instructions he should 
 give to all sorts of persons ; to the aged, both men and 
 women ; to young people of either sex ; to slaves and 
 servants. He exliorts him to exercise a strict author- 
 ity over the Cretans, and to reprove them with sever- 
 ity, on account of their lying, idleness and gluttony. 
 And as there were many converted Jews in Crete, he 
 exhorts him to oppose their vain traditions and fables ; 
 also to decline the observation of the legal ceremo- 
 nies, as no longer necessary ; to show that the dis- 
 tinction of meats is abolished, and that every thuig is 
 pure and clean to those who are pure. He puts him 
 in mind of exhortmg the faithful to be obedient to 
 temporal powers, to avoid disputes, quarrels and slan- 
 der ; to engage in honest cahings; and to shun the 
 company of heretics, after the first and second admo- 
 nition. It is supposed by many, from the similai-ity 
 of then- contents, that the Epistle to Titus, and the 
 first to Timothy, were written at no great interval of 
 time. See under Paul. 
 
 TOB, a country beyond Jordan, in the most north- 
 ern part ofthe portion of Manasseh. The first men- 
 tion of it api)ears to be in Judg. xi. 3, where we read 
 that Jephthah fled into the land of Tol) ; and was 
 fetched from thence, verse 5. This is tliought by 
 many to be the same as Ish-Tob, 2 Sam. x. 6, 8. We 
 also read of this country apparently in 1 RIac. v. 13, 
 where the Jews send letters to Judas IMaccabajus, 
 complaining of the heathen in the land of Gilead, v/ho 
 had slain "all our brethren that were in the places of 
 Tobi, or Tubin," (where the Avord places deserves 
 notice, as being rather an addition by way of exi)la- 
 nation, than strictly in the original,) and we read also 
 of Jews called Tubieni,2Mac.xii. 17. Ptolemy men- 
 tions this city under the name of Thauba ; it should 
 probably have been written Thiiba. . Rabbi Joshua 
 ben Levi says, the Tob into which Jephtliah withdrew 
 was afterwards called Susitha; in Greek, Hipi)ene, 
 (cavalry-town.) In the city Hippo, were mingled both 
 Jews and Gentiles. 
 
 TOBIAH, an Ammonite, and an enemy to the 
 Jews, who strenuously opposed the rebui.!ding of the 
 temple, after the return from Babylon, Neh. ii. 10; 
 iv. 3 ; vi. 1, 12, 14. He is called in some places the 
 servant or slave of Nehemiah ; probably because he 
 was originally of servile condition. However, he be- 
 came of great consideration among the Samaritans, 
 over whom he was governor, with Sanballat. Tobi- 
 ali married the daughter of Shechaniah, a principid 
 Jew of Jerusalem, and had a powcrfid party in the 
 city itself, Neh. vi. 18. Nriieiniah being obliged to 
 return to Babylon, after he had repaired the walls of 
 Jerusalem, Tobiah took this opportunity to come and
 
 TON 
 
 [ 895 ] 
 
 TRA 
 
 dwell at Jerusalem ; and even obtained of Eliashib, 
 who had the care of the house of the Lord, an apart- 
 ment in the temple. But Nehemiah returning from 
 Babylon, some yeai-s after, drove Tobiah away, and 
 threw his goods out of the holy place, Neh. xiii. 4 — 8. 
 Scripture makes no further mention of Tobiah : he 
 probably retired to Sanballat at Samaria. 
 
 I. TOBIJAII, a Levite and doctor of the law, sent 
 by king Jehoshaphat through the cities of Judah, to 
 instruct the people, 2 Chron. xvii. 8. 
 
 II. TOBIJAH. The Lord commanded the prophet 
 Zechariah (vi. 10, 14.) to^ ask of Tobijah, Heldai, 
 Jedaiah and Josiah, son of Zephauiah, lately return- 
 ed from Babylon, a certain quantity of gold and 
 silver, which they intended for an offering to the 
 temple, to make crowns thereof, to place on the 
 head of Joshua, son of Josedech, high-priest of the 
 Jews. The rabbins are of opinion, that these four 
 persons were the same as Daniel, Ananias, Azariah 
 and Mishael. 
 
 TOG AR3L\H, the third son of Gomer, (Gen. x. 3.) 
 is liiought by Josephus and Jerome to have been the 
 father of tlie Phrygians ; but the majority of learned 
 men are for Cappadocia or Armenia. I'zekiel says, 
 (xxvii. 14.) "They of the house of Togarmah traded 
 in thy fail's (at Tyre) with horses and horsemen and 
 mules;" which agrees very well with Cappadocia. 
 
 TOl, king of Hamath, in S3^ria, who, when he 
 heard that David conquered king Hadadezer, sent his 
 son Joram to congratulate him, and to offer him ves- 
 sels of gold, silver and brass, 2 Sam. viii. 9 — 11. 
 
 I. TOLA, the tenth judge of Israel, succeeded 
 Abimelech, and judged Israel 23 yeai-s ; from A. M. 
 2772 to 2795. Scripture says. Tola was the son of 
 Puah, uncle to Abimelech by the father's side, and 
 consequently brother to Gideon; yet Tola was of the 
 tribe of Issachar, and Gideon of Manasseh. (See 
 Adoption.) He was buried at Shamir, a city in the 
 mountain of Ephraim, where he dwelt, and was suc- 
 ceeded by Jair of Gilead. 
 
 II. TOLA, the eldest son of Issachar, and chief of 
 a familv. Gen. xlvi. 13 ; Numb. xxvi. 23. 
 
 TOLAD, a city of Judah, (1 Chron. iv. 29.) yielded 
 to Simeon. Probably the Eltolad of Josh. xv. 30 ; 
 xix. 4. 
 
 TOMB, see Sepulchre. 
 
 TONGUE is taken in different senses : (1.) For the 
 organ of speech. — (2.) For the language spoken in 
 any country. — (3.) For discourse : thus we say, a bad 
 tongue, a slanderous tongue, &c. 
 
 To gnaw one's tongue is a sign of fury, despair 
 and tormi^iit. The worsliippors of the beast " gnaw^efl 
 their tongues for pain ; and blasphemed the God of 
 heaven, because of their pains and their sores, and re- 
 pented not of their deeds," Rev. xvi. 10. 
 
 Tongue of the sea — tongue of land — are t«rms used 
 i;i Scripture for an extremity or point of a sea. Or a 
 peninsula, a cape, a promontory of land, having the 
 sea on both sides. 
 
 The wise man says, (Ecclus. xxvi. 6.) that a jealous 
 v/oman is a scourge of the tongue. In families where 
 polygamj' was frequent, jealousy among women was 
 the foundation of a gi"eat number of evil discourses 
 and backbitings. The same autlior says, (Ecclus. 
 xxviii. 17, 18.) " The stroke of the whip maketh marks 
 in the flesli, but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the 
 bone. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, 
 but not so many as have fallen by the tongue." And 
 Job says, (v. 21.) God shall defend you from the hush 
 of the tongue ; you shall not be exposed to its strokes. 
 
 The gift of tongues with which God endowed the 
 
 apostles and disciples assembled at Jerusalem, on the 
 day of Pentecost, (Acts ii.) was communicated to tho 
 faithful, as appears by the Epistles of Paul, which 
 regidate the manner in which this great privilege was 
 to be used in their assemblies ; (1 Cor. xii. 10 ; xiv. 2.) 
 and it continued in the church so long as God thought 
 necessary, for the convei-sion of heathen, and the cou- 
 fiiTnation of believers. Irenaeus testifies, (lib. v. cap. 
 6.) that it subsisted in the church in liis time. 
 
 When Paul says, that though he should speak with 
 the tongue of men and of angels, it would be nothing 
 without charity, he uses a supposed hyperbole ; as 
 when we say, angelical beauty, angelical voice, &c. e. 
 g. " I would have every one set a due value on the gift 
 of tongues ; but though a man possessed the most ex- 
 quisite eloquence, this inestimable gift would be of 
 little use to him, as to salvation, if he be without 
 charitv." 
 ^TOPAZ. The Heb. mac, Pitdah, (Exod. xxviii. 
 17; xxxix. 10; Job xxvHi. 19; Ezek. xxviii. 13.) is 
 translated in most of the ancient versions, topaz, which, 
 in modern times, is supposed to be the same as the 
 chrysolite. 
 
 TOPHET, a place near Jerusalem, in the valley of 
 the children of Ilinnom. It is said that a constant 
 fire was kept here, for burning the offal, and other 
 filth brought from the city. Isaiah (xxx. 33.) seems 
 to allude to the custom of burning dead carcasses in 
 Tophet : when speaking of the defeat of the army of 
 Sennacherib, he says, " For Tophet is ordained of old ; 
 yea, for the king [or 3Ioloch] it is prepared ; he hath 
 made it deep and large. The pile thereof is fire and 
 much wood : the breath of the Lord, like a stream f 
 brimstone, doth kindle it." Hence some think the 
 name of Tophet was given to the valley of Hinnoni, 
 because of the sacrifices offered there to the god 5Io- 
 loch, by beat of drum, to drown the cries of the con- 
 suming children. In Hebrew a drum is called topJi. 
 See Gehexxa. 
 
 Jeremiah (vii, 31.) upbraids the Israelites with 
 having built temples to Moloch : " The high places 
 of Tophet, which is in the valley of the sons of Hin- 
 nom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the 
 fire." We learn from the same prophet that Tophet 
 was a polluted and unclean place, where they used to 
 throw the carcasses to which they refused burial, 
 chap. vii. 32; xix. 11 — 13. King Josiah defiled the 
 place of Tophet, where the temple of 3Ioloch s*ood, 
 that nobody might go thither any more, to sacrifice 
 their children to that cruel deitv, 2 Kings xxiii. 10. 
 
 TORTOISE, (Lev. xi. 290 » c'ass of animals 
 strongly allied to the reptile kinds. The Hebrew 
 word, however, does not signify a tortoise, but a liz- 
 ard, called in Arabic izab. 
 
 TRACHONITIS, rorh/, or nisrged, a province be- 
 tween Palestine and Syria, having Arabia Deserta 
 east, Batanea west, Iturea south, and the country of 
 Damascus north. Josei)hus (Antiq. lib. i. cap. 7.) 
 says, it is situate between Palestine and Ccelo-Syria, 
 and was peopled by Hush, or Cush, a son of Aram. 
 Of this province Herod Philip was tetrarch, Luke 
 iii. 1. 
 
 TRADITION, a sentiment or custom not written, 
 but delivered down by succession. The Jews had 
 numerous traditions, which they did not commit to 
 writing, before their wars against the Romans, imder 
 Adrian and Severus. Then ral)i)i Judah, the Holy, 
 composed the Mishna, that is, the second h\y ; which 
 is the most ancient collection of Jewish traditions. 
 To tliis were added the Gcmara of Jerusalem, and that 
 of Babylon, which, together with the ftlishna, form
 
 TRE 
 
 [ 896 ] 
 
 TRE 
 
 the Talmud of Jerusalem, and that of Babylon. ^See 
 Talmud.) Our Saviour often censured the false tra- 
 ditions of the Pharisees; and reproached them with 
 preferring these to the law itself, Mark vii. 7, &:c. 
 Matt. XV. 2, 3, seq. He gives several instances of their 
 superstitious adherence to vain observances, while 
 they neglected essential things. 
 
 The Christians also had traditions, which they re- 
 ceived from Christ, or his apostles. Paul (2 Thess. ii. 
 15.) says, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold 
 the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by 
 word or by our epistle." The ancient fathers acknowl- 
 edged the truth and authority of the apostolical tradi- 
 tions, but they have not pretended that we must blhidly 
 receive as apostolical traditions all that may be put 
 upon us as such. 
 
 TRANSFIGURATION. After our Saviour had 
 inquired of his disciples what men thought of him, 
 and what they themselves thought, Peter answered, 
 that he was the son of the living God. Jesus then 
 began to speak of his passion, as at hand, (Matt. xvi. 
 28.) adding, "Verily I say unto you, there be some 
 standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they 
 see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." Six 
 days after this promise, [Matt. xvii. I, says six days, 
 but Luke ix. 28, mentions eight days ; probably be- 
 cause he counted inclusively, reckoning the day of the 
 promise, and the day of the execution of that promise ; 
 whereas the other evangelist regarded only the six in- 
 tennediate days. One evangelist also says, about 
 eight days, the other, after six days,] Jesus took Peter, 
 James and John his brother, and brought them up 
 into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured be- 
 fore them ; and his face did shine as the sun, and his 
 raiment was white as the light : and behold there 
 appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with 
 him" — on the subject of his expected suffisring and 
 death at Jerusalem. The chief design of the Son of 
 God in this transfiguration was, according to the 
 fathers, to fulfil his })romise made a few days before, 
 that he would let some of his disciples see a glimjjse 
 of his glory before his death, and to fortify them 
 against the scandal of the cross, by giving them this 
 convincing proof that he was the IMessiah. It is ob- 
 served, with great reason, that the condition iu which 
 Christ appeared among men, humble, weak, poor and 
 despised, was a true and continual transfiguration ; 
 whereas, the transfiguration itself, in which he showed 
 himself in the real splendor of his glory, was his true 
 and natural condition. 
 
 It is probable, too, that being well aware of the 
 sufferings which awaited him at Jerusalem, Jesus 
 himself was refreshed by this manifestation, and by 
 the encouragement resulting from a view of the glory 
 that should follow his crucifixion. Hence his decease 
 is not expressed by the usual term for death, but by 
 the term implying a deliveraiice from suffering, with 
 an admission into a state of happiness ; as the Israel- 
 ites were released, by their exodus, from the bondage 
 of Egypt, and conducted uito Canaan, the land of rest 
 from their labors and wanderings. It is the opinion 
 of many interpreters, that this transfiguration occurred 
 upon mount Tabor ; but this opinion is attended with 
 difficidties. 
 
 The fathers observe in this manifestation, that the 
 law, represented by Moses, and the prophets, repre- 
 sented by Elias, gave testimony to our Saviour. 
 
 TREASURE, any thing collected together, in 
 stores. So a treasure of com, of wine, of oil ; treas- 
 ures of gold, silver, brass ; treasures of coined money. 
 Snow, winds, hail, rain, waters, are in the treasuries 
 
 of God, Ps. cxxxv. 7 ; Jer. h. 16. We say also, a 
 treasure of good works, treasures of iniquity, to lay 
 up treasures in heaven, to bring forth good or evil 
 out of the treasures of the heart. Joseph told his 
 brethren, when they found their money returned in 
 their sacks, that God had given them treasures. Gen. 
 xliii. 23. The kings of Judah had keepers of their 
 treasures, both in city and country, (1 Chron. xxvii. 
 25; 2 Chron. xxxii. 27, &c.) and the places where 
 these magazines were laid up were called treasure- 
 cities. Pharaoh compelled the Hebrews to build him 
 treasure-cities, or magazines, Exod. i. 11. The word 
 treasures is often used to express any thing in great 
 abundance : (Col. ii. 3.) " In Jesus Christ are hidden 
 all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." The 
 wise man says, that wisdom contains in its treasuries 
 understanding, the knowledge of religion, &:c. Paul 
 (Rom. ii. 5.) speaks of heaping up a treasure of wrath 
 against the day of wrath ; and the prophet Amos says 
 (iii. 10.) they treasure up iniquity, they lay up iniquity 
 as it were in a store-house, which will bring them a 
 thousand calamines. The treasures of impiety or in- 
 iquity, (Prov. X. 2.) express ill-gotten riches. The 
 treasures of iniquity, says the wise man, will eventu- 
 ally bring no profit ; and, in the same sense, Christ 
 calls the riches of iniquity, manunon of unrighteous- 
 ness, an estate wickedly acquired, Luke xvi. 9. 
 
 Gospel faith is the treasure of the just : but Paul 
 says, (2 Cor. iv. 7.) " We have this treasure in earthen 
 vessels." Isaiah says of a good man, (xxxiii. 6.) " The 
 fear of the Lord is his treasure." 
 
 TRENCH, a kind of ditch cut into the earth, for 
 the purpose of receiving and drainijigthe water from 
 adjacent parts. Something of this kind was the 
 trench cut by the prophet Elijah, to contain the water 
 which he ordered to be poiu-ed on his sacrifice, (1 
 Kings xviii. 32.) and which, when filled to the brim 
 with water, was entirely exhausted, evaporated, by 
 the fire of the Lord, which consumed the sacrifice. 
 
 TRENCHES is also a military term, and denotes 
 one description of the approaches to a fortified town. 
 They were anciently used to surround a town, to en- 
 close the besieged, and to secure the besiegers against 
 attacks from them. Trenches could not be cut in a 
 rock ; and it is probable, that when our Lord says of 
 Jerusalem, (Luke xix. 43.) "Thy enemies shall casta 
 trench about tb.^e," meaning, "they shall raise a wall 
 of enclosure," he foretold what the Jews Avould 
 barely credit, from the nature of the case ; perhaps 
 what they considered as impossible : yet the provi- 
 dence of God has so ordered it, that we have evidence 
 to this fact, in Josephus, who says, that Titus exhort- 
 ing his soldiers, they surrounded Jerusalem with a 
 wall in the space of three days, although the genera! 
 opinion had pronounced it impossible. This circum- 
 vallation, prevented any escape from the city, and 
 deterred from all attempts at relief by succors going 
 into it. 
 
 Such being the nature of trenches, it seems tl:at 
 our translators have used this word incorrectly iu 1 
 Sam. xxvi. 5 : " Saul was sleeping within the trench." 
 A trench demanded too much labor, and was too te- 
 dious an operation, to be cut round every place where 
 a camp lodged for a night. The margin, therefore, 
 hints at a circle, or ring, of carriages; and so Buxtorf 
 interprets the word. It seems, however, more likely 
 that it means a circular encampment, in the midst of 
 which stood the tent of Saul ; or a circular guard, 
 which surroimded the royal tent, as Mr. Ilarmer sup- 
 poses. Mr. Taylor thinks, however, from the de- 
 scription given of the tent of Nadir Shah, that it may
 
 TRI 
 
 [ 897 
 
 TRO 
 
 mean a circular screen, with passages, which, sur- 
 rounding the royal tent, kept off all persons but those 
 to whom the guards gave regular admission. This 
 screen might lie of canvass, or of any other substance, 
 like tiie tent itself. 
 
 TRESPASS is an offence committed, a hurt, or 
 \vrong done to a neighbor ; and partakes of the na- 
 ture of an error, or slip, rather than of deliberate or 
 gross sin. Under the law, the delinquent who had 
 trespassed was of coarse bound to make satisfac- 
 tion ; but an offering or oblation was allowed him, to 
 reconcile himself to the Divine Governor, Lev. v. (J, 
 15. It deserves notice, that whoever does not for- 
 give the trespasses of a fellow man against himself, is 
 not to expect that his Father in heaven will forgive 
 his trespasses ; if he will not forgive smaller, inad- 
 vertent, non-intentional offences, but harbors a bitter, 
 revengeful disposition, how should he propitiate God 
 when God withholds forgiveness for his lesser crimes ; 
 and moreover, charges him with accumulated guilt by 
 gi'eat transgressions? May this thought promote a 
 forgiving spirit, a spirit of reconciliation and mutual 
 charity between neighl)ors and friends ! 
 
 TRIBE. Jacob iiaving twelve sons, who were 
 heads of so many families, which together formed a 
 great nation, each of these families was called a tribe. 
 But this patriarch on his death-bed adopted Ephraim 
 and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph, and would 
 have them also to constitute two tribes in Israel, Gen. 
 xlviii. 5. Instead of twelve tribes, there were now 
 thirteen, that of Joseph being two. However, in the 
 distribution of lands by Joshua, under the order of 
 God, they reckoned but twelve tribes, and made but 
 twelve lots. For the tribe of Levi, being appointed 
 to the sacred service, had no share in the distribu- 
 tion of the land ; but received certain cities to dwell 
 in, with the first fruits, tithes and oblations of the 
 people. 
 
 The twelve tribes, while in the desert, encamped 
 round the tabernacle of the covenant each in due 
 order. To the east were Judah, Zebulun and Issa- 
 char : to the west Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin : 
 to the south Reuben, Simeon and Gad : and to the 
 north Dan, Asher and Naphtali. The Levites were 
 <iistributed round about the tabernacle, nearer to tlic 
 holy place than tiie other tribes ; so that Moses and 
 Aaron, with their families, were to the east, Gershom 
 to the west, Kohath to tiie south, and Merari to the 
 north. 
 
 In the marches of Israel, the twelve tril)cs were 
 divided into four great bodies. The first body, in 
 front of the army, included Judah, Issachar and Zeb- 
 ulun : the second was composed of Reuben, Simeon 
 and Gad. Between the second and third body of 
 troops came the Levites and ])riests, with the ark of 
 the Lord, and the furniture of the tabernacle. The 
 third body was composed of Ephraim, Manasseh and 
 Benjamin ; and the fourth, which brought uj) tlie 
 rear, was Dan, Asher and Naphtali. 
 
 In the division made by Joshua of the land of Ca- 
 na;ui, Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh, had their 
 lot beyond Jordan, east ; all t!ie other tribes, and the 
 rcmainiughalf of Manasseh, had their distribution ou 
 this side the river, west. Sec Canaan. 
 
 The twelve tribes continued miited as one slate, 
 one people and one monarchy, till after the death of 
 Solomon, when ten of the tribes revolted from the 
 house of David, and formed the kingdom of Israel. 
 See Hebrews. 
 
 TRIBULATION expresses in our version much 
 the same as trouble, or trial ; importing afflictive dis- 
 113 
 
 pensations, to which a person is subjected, either by 
 way of punishment, or by way of experiment. For 
 tribulation, by way of punishment, see Judg. x. 14 ; 
 Mau. xxiv. 21, 29 ; Rom. ii. 9 ; 2 Thess. i. G. For 
 tribulation by way of trial, see John xvi. 33 ; Rom. 
 v. 3 ; 2 Thess. i. 4. 
 
 TRIBUNAL, the place where judicial proceedings 
 are administered. Closes appointed (Dent. xvi. 18 ; 
 xvii. 8, 9; Ezek. xliv. 24.) that in every city there 
 should be judges and magistrates, who should hear 
 and determhic differences; and thatif any thing very 
 difficult occiuTcd, it should be refoired to the place 
 which the Lord should choose, and be laid before the 
 high-priest, or priests, of the race of Aaron, and be- 
 fore the judge, whom the Lord should raise up there 
 for the time being. See Judge, and Sanhedrin. 
 
 TRIBUTP:. The Hebrews acknowledged the 
 sovereign dominion of God by a tribute, or capitation 
 of half a shekel a head, which was paid yearly, Exod. 
 XXX. 13. Our Saviour (3Iatt. xvii. 25.) thus reasons 
 with Peter : " Of whom do the kings of the earth 
 take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of 
 strangers ? " iMeaning, that he, as Son of God, ouglit 
 to be exempt from this capitation. We do not find 
 that either the kings or the judges of the Hebrews, 
 when they were of that nation, demanded tribute. 
 Solomon, at the beginning of his reign, (1 Kings ix. 
 21 — 33 ; 2 Chron. viii. 9.) compelled the Canaanites, 
 left in the country, to pay tribute, and to perfoim the 
 drudgeiy of the jniblic works he had undertaken. 
 Toward the end of his reign, he also imposed a trib- 
 ute on his own people, and made them work on the 
 public buildings, (1 Kings v. 13, 14 ; ix. 15 ; xi. 27.) 
 which alienated their minds, and sowed the seeds of^ 
 that discontent which afterwards rijioued into open 
 revolt, by the rebellion of Jeroboam. 
 
 The Israelites were frequently subdued by foreign 
 j)rinces, who laid taxes and tribute on them, to which 
 necessity compelled them to submit. Sec in IMatt. 
 xxii. 17,' the answer of Christ to the Pharisees, who 
 came \vith insidious designs of tempting him, and 
 asked him, whether or no it was lawful to pay trilnite 
 to Cfesar. Also John viii. 33, where the Jews boast 
 of having never been slaves to any, of being a free 
 nation, acknowledging God only for sovereign. And 
 note that at that time many Jews had imbibed the 
 principles of Judas Gauloniies, and infused into tlie 
 people their noiionsof independence, and a vain show 
 of liberty. On the contrary, the apostles Peter and 
 Paul, in" their ei)istles, always endeavored to recom- 
 mend and inculcate on Christians submission and 
 obedience to jirinces, with a conscientious discharge 
 of their dutv, in pavuig tribute, Rom. xiii. 1— 8 ; 1 
 Pet. ii. 13. 
 
 TROAS, a citv of Phiygia, or of Mysia, on the 
 Hcllesi)ont, between Troy north, and Assos sotuh. 
 Sometimes the nanicof Troas (or the Troad) signifies 
 the whole coimtry of the Trojans, the j)rovince where 
 the ancient citv of Troy had stood. But m the Ne\v 
 Testament the word Troas signifies a city of this name, 
 sometimes called Antigonia, jmd Alexandria. Some- 
 times both names are united, Alexandria-Troas. 
 
 Paul was at Troas, A. D. 52, (Acts xvi. 8, &c.) and 
 had a vision in the night of a man of Macedonia, 
 who requested gospel assistance. He embarked, 
 therefore, at Troas, and passed over into Macedonia, 
 The apostle was several other times at Troas. (See 
 Acts XX. 5, 6 ; 2 Cor. ii. 12.) He left here, in the 
 custoily of Carpus, some clothes and book.-, which 
 he desired Timothy to bring with him to Rome, 2 
 Tim. iv. 13.
 
 TRU 
 
 [ 898 ] 
 
 TUR 
 
 TROGYLLIUM, the name of a town and prom- 
 ontory of Ionia, in Asia Minor, between Ephesus and 
 the mouth of the river Meander, opposite to Samos. 
 The promontory is a spur of mount Mjxale, Acts xx. 
 15. R. 
 
 TROPHIMUS, a disciple of Paul, a Gentile by re- 
 ligion, and an Ephesian by liirtli, came to Corinth 
 Avith the apostle, and accompanied him in his whole 
 journey to Jerusalem, A. D. 58, Acts xx. 4. When 
 the apostle was in the temple there, the Jews laid 
 hold of him, crying out, "He hath brought Greeks 
 into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place," 
 because having seen him in the city, accompanied by 
 Trophimus, they imagined that he had introduced 
 him into the temple. It is probable that Trophimus 
 followed Paul to Rome, and attended him while in 
 bonds ; and it is also related, tliat after the apostle 
 had obtained his liberty, he went into Spain, and 
 passing througli Gaul, left Trophimus at Aries, as 
 bishop. This, however, as Calmet remarks, is veiy 
 difficult to reconcile with wliat Paul writes to Timo- 
 thy, (2 Tim. iv. 20.) that he left him sick at Miletus. 
 Trophimus must then necessarily have returned to 
 Asia, about a year after Paul had thus left him at 
 Aries. 
 
 TRUMPET. The Lortl commanded Moses to 
 make two trumpets of beaten silver, for the purpose 
 of calling the people together when they were to de- 
 camp. Numb. X. They chiefly used these trumpets, 
 however, to proclaim the beginning of the civil year, 
 tlic beginning of the sabbatical year, (Lev. xxiii. 24 ; 
 Numb. xxix. 1.) and the Ijeginning of the jubilee. 
 Lev. XXV. 9, 10. Joseph us says, that they were near 
 a cubit long, and that their tube or pipe Avas of the 
 thickness of a counnon flute. Their mouths Avere 
 no wider than just admitted to blow into them, and 
 their ends Avere like those of a modern trumpet. 
 There Avore originally but two in the camp, though 
 afterwards they made a great number. In the time 
 of Joshua diere Avere seven, (Josh. iii. 4.) and at the 
 dedication of the temple of Solomon there were 120 
 priests that sounded trumpets, 2 Chron. v. 12. 
 
 In addition to the sacred trumpets of the temple, 
 Avhosc use was restricted to the priests, even in Avar 
 and in battle, there Avere others used by the Hebrew 
 generals, Judg. iii. 27. Ehud sounded the trumpet 
 to assemble Israel against the Moabites, Avhose king, 
 Eglon, he had lately slain. Gideon took a trumpet in 
 his hand, and gave each of his people one, Avhen he 
 assaulted the Midianites, Judg. A'ii. 2, 16. Joab 
 sounded the trumpet as a signal of retreat to his sol- 
 diers, in the battle against Abner, (2 Sam. ii. 28.) in 
 that against Absalom, (2 Sam. xviii. 16.) and in the 
 pursuit of Sheba, son of Bichri, 2 Sam. xx. 22. 
 
 TRUMPETS, THE Feast of, Avas kept on the 
 first day of the seventh month of the sacred year, 
 Avliich Avas the first of the civil year, called Tizri. 
 The beginning of the year Avas proclaimed by sound 
 of trumpet, (Lev. xxiii. 2 ; Numb, xxix.) and the day 
 Avas kept solemn ; all servile business being forbidden. 
 A solemn holocaust Avas oflfered in the name of the 
 Avhole nation, of a calf, two rams, and seven lambs 
 of the same year, Avith oflerings of flour and Avine, as 
 usual Avith these sacrifices. Scriinure does not men- 
 tion the occasion of appointing this feast. The rab- 
 bins say, it Avas in reuiembrance of the deliverance 
 of Isaac by the substitution of a ram. 
 
 TRUTH is that accurate corrcs])ondence of Avhat 
 is related of a subject, or of what is expected from it, 
 whicii fully justifies the relation ; or, it is the precise 
 conformity of a description, an assertion, a proposi- 
 
 tion, &c. to its subject. In Scripture language, em- 
 inently, God is truth ; that is, in him is no fallacy, 
 deception, perverseness, &c. Jesus Christ is the 
 truth, the true way to God, the true representative, 
 image, character of the Father; the Holy Spirit is 
 the Spirit of truth, Avho communicates truth, who 
 maintains the truth in believers, guides them in 
 the truth ; and Avho hates and punishes falsehood, or 
 lies, even to the death of the transgressor, Ps. xxxi. 
 5 ; John xiv. 6, 17 ; Acts v. 3, &c. Good men main- 
 tain truth, speak the truth, practise truth ; that is, they 
 are careful that their Avords, actions and sentiments 
 correspond Avith Avhat is correct, accurate and up- 
 right. 
 
 Truth, as a substance, is opposed to typical repre- 
 sentations, as shadoAVs ; the laAV Avas given by Moses, 
 but the grace and the truth — the reality of the prom- 
 ised blessings — came by Jesus Christ. 
 
 Every man should speak truth to his neighbor ; 
 that is, honestly, sincerely, Avith integrity. Truth, 
 on the part of God, is often united with kindness, 
 mercy, goodness, &c. because fidehty to promises 
 being one great branch of truth, and goodness, mercy, 
 &c. being implied in the divine promises, Avhen God 
 realized any special good, he did but show himself 
 faithful, true, fulfilling the desires, or acting for the 
 adA'antage, of those Avho confided in him and in his 
 Avord. But sometimes the severity of God is his 
 truth, Ps. xl. 10 ; Rom. iii. 21. Truth is judicial, in 
 reference to a verdict given, (Prov. xx. 28.) judicious, 
 (Rom. i. 25.) constant, (Rom. iii. 7.) upright, 1 Cor. v. 
 8. The loA^e of the truth is among the noblest char- 
 acters of the Christian; and as genuine pietj', Avher- 
 ever it prevails, will banish falsehood, so Ave find a 
 real love of truth, the comparison of a man's conduct 
 Avith the regulations of truth, and a conformity to 
 those regulations are ahvays among the most desira- 
 ble, the most faA^orable, and the most decisive proofs 
 of genuine religion ; Avhich being itself a system of 
 truti), delights in nothing more than in truth, Avhcth- 
 er of heart, discourse, or conduct. Of this tiie ajms- 
 tle John is an instance, Avho expresses to the lady 
 Eclccta his delight at seeing her children walk in 
 the truth. 
 
 TRYPHENA, and TRYPHOSA, Christian avo- 
 men, whom Paul mentions in Rom. xvi. 12, and of 
 Avhom mtich mention is made in the history of St. 
 Thecla. 
 
 TRYPHON, a king of Syria, Avho had been a caj)- 
 tain in the troops of Alexander Balas. He deposed 
 Nicanor, and placed Antiochus on the throne of 
 Syria, Avhose death he afterAvards procured, and then 
 seized the throne himself See Axtiochus. 
 
 TUBAL, fifth son of Japhet, Avho is commonly 
 united Avith Meshech, Avhence it is thought that they 
 peopled countries bordering on each other. Bo- 
 chart is very co])ious to prove, that by Meshech and 
 Tubal are intended the 3Iuscovites and the Tiha- 
 renians. 
 
 TUBAL-CAIN, son of Lamech the bigamist, and 
 of Zillah, Gen. iv. 22. Scrijiture calls him the father, 
 that is, inventor or master of the art of forging and 
 managing iron, and of making all kinds of iron work. 
 It has been thought that he gave occasion to the 
 Vulcan of the heathen. 
 
 TURTLE-DOVE, or TURTLE, a clean bird 
 oft(^n mentioned in Scripture, and which th^ Jews 
 might offi^r in sacrifice. It was a])])oint('d in favor 
 of the poor, Avho could not afibrd more substantial 
 sacrifices, (Lev. xii. 6 — 8 ; xiv. 22 ; Luke ii. 24.) 
 Before the law, (Gen. xv. 9.) Abraham offered birds
 
 TYP 
 
 [ 899 1 
 
 TYPE 
 
 wliicli were a turtle and a j)igcon ; ami when lie 
 divided the other victims he leil the birds entire. See 
 Dove. 
 
 Jeremiah (viii. 7.) speaks of the turtle as a bird of 
 passage : " Tlie stork in the heaven knoweth her ap- 
 pointed times, and the turtle, and the erane, and the 
 swallow, observe the time of their coming." 
 
 TYCIIICUS, a disciple employed b\^ the apostle 
 Paul to carry his letters to several churches. He was 
 of the province of Asia, and accompanied Paul in his 
 jom-ney from Corinth to Jerusalem, Acts xx. 4. He 
 carried the Epistle to the Coiossians, that to the 
 Ephesians, and the fii"st to Timothy. The apostle 
 calls him his dear brother, a faithful minister of the 
 Lord, and his companion in the service of God, (Eph. 
 vi. 21, 22 ; Col. iv. 7, 8.) and had intentions of send- 
 ing him into Crete, to preside there in the absence 
 of Titus, Tit. iii. 12. It is thought also, that he wiis 
 scut to Ej)hesus, while Timothy was at Rome, when 
 he carried a letter to the Ephesians from this apostle. 
 The Greeks make him one of the seventy, and bishop 
 of Colophon, in the province of Asia. 
 
 TYPE is a Greek word which generally siginifies 
 a resemblance, however it may be produced. Thus, 
 (Acts vii. 44.) 3Ioses was to make the tabernacle ac- 
 cording to tlie type, model, exemplar, he had seen. 
 The same word is used in reference to the copy of 
 the letter sent from Claudius Lysias to Felix, (Acts 
 xxiii. 25.) and also concerning the form of doctrine 
 into which believers were inducted, and, as it were, 
 pressed as clay is pressed into the mould, the im- 
 pression, form, or resemblance of which it exactly 
 takes. (Comp. 1 Cor. x. 6 ; Phil. iii. 17, et al.) 
 
 A type is however more usually considered as an 
 example, pattern, or general similitude to a person, 
 event, or thing which is to come ; and in this it dif- 
 fers frorn a representation, memorial, or commemo- 
 ration of an event which is past. For mstance, the 
 ceremony of the passover among tlie Jews, with its 
 bitter Jierbs, its lamb slain, &c. was a commemora- 
 tion, or memorial re]ietition of what their fathers had 
 originally transacted at their exodus from Egypt. 
 The same may be said of their dwelling in booths, 
 and the opinion may be justLfied, which considers 
 sacrifices themselves as commemorative. Being 
 originally instituted after the first transgression, they 
 perpetually revived in Adam, and in his posterity, 
 the recollection of his fii-st guilt, and of the victim 
 which died instead of himself, on that occasion. 
 
 In the nature of commemorative ordinances, Jews 
 and Christians are agreed : but the latter say furtlier 
 that many, or most, if not all, the sacred institutions 
 among the Jews were prefigurative hints, or notices 
 of what was to happen under a more perfect dispen- 
 sation. Hence a sacrifice, the blood of which was 
 shed before the ark, or other symbolical presence of 
 God, prefigured a more noble, more dignified blood, 
 which should be shed before God at some futin-e 
 time ; that as such blood was shed to reconcile man 
 and God, to mediate between those otherwise distant 
 parties, so the nobler blood sliould mediate, with un- 
 limited success, in restoring amity between God and 
 man. They say also, that the dwelling in taberna- 
 cles, or booths, prefigured the a|)])earance of a great 
 personage, whose residence in human nature was to 
 liiiii but a mere temporary humble dwelling ; as 
 much below his true dignity as a slight booth or hut 
 is below the dignity of a palace. In like manner the 
 passover lamb was a victim which cxem|)ted from 
 evil, while it also jirefigured a nobler deliverer (and 
 deliverance'' from divine wrath and anger, than could 
 
 possibly be accomplished in the exemption of Israel 
 ironi the stroke of the destroying angel wiiicli smote 
 the first-born of the Egvfitians; a nobler deliverance 
 from the moral tyranny of sin than that of the Israel- 
 itt.'s was from the oppressive dominion of Pharaoh, 
 ■which deliverance is accomplished by the blood of 
 " the Lamb of God which taketli away the sins of the 
 world." 
 
 Types did'er from signs, in that signs Avere occa- 
 sional, and usuallj' jiointed to a time, but little distant, 
 in the first place ; though ultimately to a much more 
 distant event, of whose accomplishment the accom- 
 plishment of the sign was a token, an earnest, and in 
 some sense a proof; as it manifested a divine iiiter- 
 jiosition on the subject to which the sign related, i^o 
 when Ezekiel, at a great distance from Jerusalem, 
 brought out his troops, and digged through his house, 
 he signified the fate of Jerusalem : so, when Isaiah 
 was ordered to beget a son by a young wonian, then 
 a virgin, this being accomplished, was a sign of a 
 much greater birth to be expected in the pereon of 
 Emmanuel, to whom the prophet expressly directs 
 the idtimate reference. 
 
 If this be correct, what should prevent types also 
 from looking forward ? If it pleased God to en- 
 courage the liopc and faith of his people by occa- 
 sional signs, why not also by lasting and permanent 
 types ? Why might not the same ideas be conveyed 
 every day, every year, on public occasions, as inci- 
 dentallj-, only, ui a less conspicuous manner ? Never- 
 theless, that may be true of public services under a 
 general idea, which it would be imjiriident and un- 
 advisable to apply to every minute circumstance 
 attending them. E. gr. The holy of holies in the 
 Jewish temple might be emblematic of heaven, the 
 residence of God; but it certainly is not prudent to 
 consider whatever may, at any rate, and by any con- 
 struction, bear a reference to the holy of holies, as 
 therefore assimilated to a correspondent antityi)e in 
 heaven. The wit and ingenuity of many of those 
 references, which occur in some systems of divinitj', 
 may be admirable, but admiration differs from ap- 
 probation. Though we read that the bellies of the 
 pillai'S in Solomon's temple were decorated with lily 
 work, it is by no means certain that " tlie typical 
 meaning was, to denote that ministers being the pil- 
 lars of the gospel church, and lilies being emblems 
 of the care of Providence, therefore gospel ministers 
 should leave to Providence the care of their bellies." 
 Whatever may be thought of the doctrine, it is far 
 enough from certain, that this was the intention of the 
 sacred writer, or of the Holy Si)irit, in recording this 
 passage ; to which intention too much cautious def- 
 erence cannot be paid. 
 
 Whether certain histories which happened in an- 
 cient times were designed as types of future events, 
 it is not easy to determine: but it is likely (1.) that 
 such histories are rcconlcd (being selected from 
 among many occurrences) as might be useful lessons 
 to succeeding ages : (2.) that there being a general 
 conformity in tlie dispensations of providence and 
 grace, to different ])ersons, and in difierent ages, in- 
 stances of former dispensations may usefully be held 
 up to the view of later times, and may encourage, 
 check, direct, or control, those placed in circumstan- 
 ces similar to what is recorded, though their times and 
 their places may be widely separated. We have New 
 Testament authority for this. 
 
 Types may be considered as possessing difl^ereiit 
 degrees of that clearness which determines their ref- 
 erence to their antitype. Some may be evident, and
 
 YR 
 
 [ 900 
 
 TYRE 
 
 palpable ; others more obscure : some may oe refer- 
 able in a general or leading sense, or under some 
 jjai'ticular view ; but, if onl_y that general (or that par- 
 ticular) view were originally designed, it is not for us 
 to particularize every division, every ramification 
 seen under every aspect, and tinged with every hue 
 which the multiplication glass of a fertile imagination 
 may offer, or may induce us to admire. 
 
 The Jewish literati delighted in the studies and 
 the application of learning derived from the types : 
 they even thought certain letters, and tlaeir positions, 
 to be of the nature of types ; and hence arose their 
 Cabala. But the fliUacy of this mode of instruction 
 as to any reliance to be placed on it, appears from 
 considering that scarcely any two commentators 
 agree in their explanations and inferences, when such 
 principles are the basis of their remarks. 
 
 Types should be referred from a lesser to a 
 greater, as from tlie death of a beast to the death of 
 a man ; from a lower to a higher, as from earth to 
 heaven ; from time present to futurity, as from this 
 world to the eternal state ; from leaser degrees of 
 perfection to more absolute, as from man to God. 
 If the sacrifice of a Jamb availed ofRcially to restore 
 peace, or to conciliate favor, that of a person in 
 whom dwelt the fidness. of Divinity, must be infi- 
 nitely more available to mediate reconciliation: if 
 pardon and exemption from punishment in this W'Orld 
 be desirable, justification and deliverance from eter- 
 nal misery is infinitely more desirable : if the tender 
 feelings of a father in this unequal state, and amidst 
 all the imperfections of the social principle, be pow- 
 erful, how much more those of the great Father of 
 all, the Father of om* spirits! Whatever is divine is 
 infinite ; whatever is mfinite eludes our comprehen- 
 sion, however urged by the most vehement imagina- 
 tion ; under this reflection, types may be useful by 
 offering similitudes adapted to our powers ; but when 
 that which is perfect is come, that which is imperfect 
 and partial, that which is feeble and unsatisfactory, 
 shall be done away. (On the general subject of tijpcs, 
 see the Bibl. Repos. vol. i. p. 135.) 
 
 TYRANNUS. We read. Acts xix. 9, that Paul, 
 at Ephesus, withdrew from the synagogue, but taught 
 every day in the school of one Tyrannus, who is gen- 
 erally thought to have been a converted Gentile. 
 
 TYRE, a famous city of Phoenicia, allotted to the 
 tribe of Asher, with other maritime cities of the same 
 coast ; (Josh. xix. 29.) but it does not appear that the 
 Asherites ever drove out the Canaanites. Yet very 
 learned men maintain, that in Joshua's time Tyre 
 was not built; and that Strong Tyre — well-fortified 
 Tyre — Tyre the Great, is not the city of Tyre. Isaiah, 
 it is said, (xxiii. 12.) calls Sidon the daughter of Tyre, 
 that is, a colony from it. . Ilomrr never speaks of 
 Tyre, but only of Sidon." Josephus says. Tyre was 
 built not above 240 years before the temple of Solo- 
 mon ; which woiddbe 200 years after Joshua. That 
 there was such a city as Tyre, however, in the days 
 of Homer, is quite certain, seeing, that in the reign of 
 Solomon, thtn-e was a king of Tyre ; and we appre- 
 hend that the Scripture text will be h.eld a sufficient 
 proof of its having had an existence before the land 
 of Canaan was conquered by the Israelites. Nor is 
 Joscphus's chronology so accurate as to render his 
 fuithority on such a point very important. There 
 ^v.'is Insular Tyre, and Tyrus on the continent, 
 or Palre Tyrus ; and it is supposed by some learned 
 writers, that the island was not inhal/itcd till after 
 the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. But this supposition 
 is not merely at variance with tlic doubtful authority 
 
 of Josephus, but is scarcely reconcilable with the 
 language of the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, who 
 both seem to speak of Tyi-e as an isle. (See Isa. 
 xxiii. 2, 0; Ezek. xxvi. 17; xxvii. 3; xxviii. 2.) 
 Nor is it probable that the advantageous position of 
 the island would be altogether neglected by a mari- 
 time people. The coast woidd, indeed, first be occu- 
 pied, and the fortified city mentioned in the book of 
 Joshua was in all probability on the continent : but 
 as the comiuercial importance and wealth of the port 
 increased, the island would naturally be inhabited, 
 and it must have been considered as the place of the 
 greatest security. Volney supposes that the Tyrians 
 retired to their isle when compelled to abandon the 
 ancient city of Nebuchadnezzar, and that till that 
 time the dearth of water had prevented it from being 
 nuieh built upon. Certain it is, that when, at length, 
 Nebuchadnezzar took the city, lie found it so impov- 
 erished as to afford liim no compensation for his 
 labor. (See Ezek. xxix. 18, 19.) The chief edifices 
 were, at all events, on the main land, and to these the 
 denunciations of total ruin strictly ajjply. Palse Ty- 
 rus never rose from its overthrow by the Chaldean 
 conqueror, and the Macedonian completed its de- 
 struction ; at the same time, the wealth and com- 
 merce of Insidar Tyre were for the time destroyed, 
 though it afterwards recovered from the effects of 
 this invasion. 
 
 Ancient Tyre, then, probably consisted of the forti- 
 fied city, which commanded a considerable territory 
 on the coast, and of the port which was " strong in 
 the sea." On that side, it had little to fear from in- 
 vaders, as the Tyrians were lords of the sea, and ac- 
 cordingly it does not appear that the Chaldean con- 
 queror ventured upon a maritime assault. Josephus, 
 indeed, states, that Salmaneser, king of Assyria, made 
 war against the Tyrians, with a fleet of sixty shi])s, 
 manned by 800 rowers. The Tyrians had but twelve 
 shi])s, j'et they obtained the victory, dispersing the 
 Assyrian fleet, and taking 500 prisoners. Salmaneser 
 then returned to Nineveh, leaving his land forces be- 
 fore Tyre, where they remained for five years, but 
 were unable to take the city. (See Joseph. Antiq.) 
 This expedition is supposed to have taken place in 
 the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, about A. M. 
 3287, or 717 B. C. It must have been about this 
 period, or a few' years earlier, that Isaiah delivered 
 his oracle against Tyre, in which he specifically de- 
 clared, that it should be destroyed, not by the power 
 which then threatened, but by the Chaldeans, a peo- 
 ple " formerly of no account," Isa. xxiii. 13. The 
 more detailed predictions of the prophet Ezekiel 
 were delivered a hundred and twenty years after, 
 B. C. 588. Almost inmiediately before the Chaldean 
 invasion, the army of Nebuchadnezzar is said to have 
 lain before Tyre thirteen years, and it was not taken 
 till the fifteenth year after the captivitj-, B. C. 573, 
 more than 1700 years, according to Joscjihus, after 
 its foundation. Its destruction then nuist have been 
 entire ; all the inhabitants Avcre })ut to the sword, or 
 led into captivity, the walls w'ere razed to the ground, 
 and it was made a "terror" and a desolation. It is 
 remarkable, that one reason assigned by Ezekiel for 
 the destruction of this jjroud city, is its exultation at 
 the destruction of Jerusalem : " I shall be replenished 
 now she is laid waste," Ezek. xvi. 2. This clearly 
 indicates that its overthrow was jiosterior to that 
 event ; and if we take the seventy years during wliich 
 it was predicted by Isaiah (xxiii. 15.) that Tyre should 
 be forgotten, to denote a definite term, (which seems 
 the most natural sense ^ \ve may conclude that it was
 
 TYRE 
 
 [901 ] 
 
 TYT 
 
 not rebuilt till the same number of years after the re- 
 turn of the Jews from Babylon. Old Tyre, the con- 
 tinental city, remained, however, in ruins up to the 
 jjcriod of the Macedonian invasion. Insular Tyre 
 iiad then risen to be a city of very considerable 
 wealth and political importance, and by sea her fleets 
 were triumphant. It was the rubbish (Ezek. xxv. 
 12, 1!J.) of old Tyre, thirty furlongs off, that supplied 
 materials for the gigantic mole constructed by Alex- 
 ander, of 200 feet in breadth, extending all the 
 way i'l-om the continent to the island, a distance of 
 three quarters of a mile. Tlie sea that formerly sep- 
 arated them, was shallow near the shore, but towards 
 the island, it is said to have been three fathoms hi 
 depth. The causeway has probably been enlarged by 
 the sand thrown up by the sea, which now covers the 
 surface of the isthmus. Tyre was taken by the Mace- 
 donian conqueror, after a siege of eight months, B. C. 
 332, two hundred and forty-one years after its de- 
 struction i)y Nebuchadnezzar, and consequently about 
 one hundred and seventy after it had been rebuilt. 
 
 Though now subjugated, it was not, however, to- 
 tally destroyed, since only thirty years afterwards it 
 was an object of contention to Alexander's succes- 
 sors. The fleet of Antigonus invested and blockaded 
 it for thirteen months, at the expiration of which it 
 was compelled to surrender, and received a garrison 
 of his troops for its defence. About three years after 
 it was invested by Ptolemy, in person, and owing to 
 a mutiny in the garrison, fell into his hands. Its 
 history is now identified with that of Syria. In the 
 apostolic age it seems to have regained some measure 
 of its ancient character as a trading town ; and Paul, 
 in touching here, on one occasion, in his way back 
 from 3Iacedonia, found a number of Christian be- 
 lievers, with whom he spent a week ; so that the 
 gospel must have been early preached to the Tyrians. 
 (Acts xxi. 3, 4.) Josephus, in speaking of the city 
 of Zabulon as of admirable beauty, says that its 
 houses were built like those in Tyre, and Sidon, and 
 Berytus. Strabo also speaks of the loftiness and 
 beauty of the buildings. In ecclesiastical history, it 
 is distinguished as the first archbishopric under the 
 patriarchate of Jerusalem. It shared the fate of 
 the country in the Saracen invasion, in the begin- 
 ning of the seventh century. It was reconquered by 
 the crusaders in the twelfth, and formed a royal do- 
 main of the kingdom of Jerusalem, as well as an 
 ai'chiepiscopal see. William of Tyre, the well-known 
 historian, an Englishman, was the first archbishop. 
 In 1289, it w^as retaken by the Saracens, the Chris- 
 tians being permitted to remove with their effects. 
 AVhcn the sultan Selim divided Syria into pashalics, 
 Tyre, which had probably gone into decay, with the 
 depression of commerce, was merged in the territory 
 of Sidon. In 1766, it was taken possession of by the 
 Motoualies, who repaired the port, and enclosed it, 
 on the land side, with a wall twenty feet high. The 
 wall was standing, but the repairs had gone to ruin, 
 at the time of Volney's visit (1784). He noticed, 
 hoAvever, the choir of the ancient church, also men- 
 tioned by Maundrell, together with some columns of 
 red granite, of a species unknown in Syria, which 
 Djezzar Pasha wanted to remove to Acre, but could 
 find no engineers fit to accomplish it. It was at that 
 time a miserable village : its exports consisted of a 
 few sacks of corn and cotton, and the only merchant 
 of which it could boast was a solitary Greek, in the 
 service of the French factory at Sidon, who could 
 hardly gain a livelihood. It is only within the last 
 five-and-twenty years that it has once more begun to 
 
 lifl its head from the dust. [Modern Traveller, Syria, 
 vol. i. p. 37, seq. Amer. ed.) 
 
 TYTHES. We have nothing more ancient con- 
 cerning tytlies, than what is read Gen. xiv. 20, that 
 Abraham gave tythes to Melchizedec, king of Salem, 
 of all the booty he had taken from the enemy. Jacob 
 imitated this piety of his grandfather, when he vowed 
 to the Lord the tythe of all the substance he njight 
 acquire in Mesopotamia, Gen. xxviii. 22. Under the 
 law, Moses ordained, "All the tythe of the land, 
 whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the 
 tree, is the Lord's ; it is holy unto the Lord. And if 
 a man will at all redeem aught of his tythes, he shall 
 add thereto the fifth part thereof. And concerning 
 the tythe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatso- 
 ever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy 
 unto the Lord," Lev. xxvii. 30^32. 
 
 The Pharisees in, the time of Christ, to distinguish 
 themselves by a more scrupulous observance of the 
 law, not content with tything the grjun and fruits 
 growing in the fields, also paid tythes of pulse and 
 herbs growing in their gardens, which was more than 
 the law required. Our Saviour did not censure this 
 exactness ; but he blamed their hypocrisy and pride 
 in it. Matt, xxiii. 23 ; Luke xi. 42. 
 
 Tythes were taken from what remained after the 
 offerings and first-fruits were paid. They brought 
 the tythes to the Levites in the city of Jerusalem, as 
 appears by Josephus, Antiq. lib. iv. cap. 8. The Le- 
 vites set apart the tenth part of their tythes for the 
 priests, (for the priests did not i-eceive them immedi- 
 ately from the people,) and the Levites were not to 
 enjoy the tythes they had i-eceived, before they had 
 given to the jnuests such a part as the law assigned 
 to them. Of the nine parts that remained to the pro- 
 prietors, after the tythe%as paid to the Levites, they 
 took another tenth part, which was either sent to 
 Jerusalem in kind, or, if that were too far, they sent 
 the value in money, adding thereto, as the rabbins 
 inform us, a fifth from the whole. This tenth part 
 was applied towards celebrating the festivals in the 
 temple ; and was nearly resembled by the Agapse, or 
 love feasts, of the first Christians. Thus Dent. xiv. 
 22, 23, is understood by the rabbins : " Thou shah 
 truly tythe all the increase of thy seed, that the field 
 bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat be- 
 ford the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall 
 choose to place his name there, the tythe of thy corn, 
 of thy wine and of thy oil, and the firstlings of thy 
 herds and of thy flocks ; that thou mayest learn to 
 fear the Lord thy God always." Josephus also 
 speaks of these feasts, which were made in the tem- 
 ple, and in the holy city, Antiq. lib. iv. cap. 8. 
 
 Tobit says (i. 6.) that every three years he paid 
 punctually his tythe to strangers and proselytes. This 
 was probably because there were neither priests nor 
 Levites in the city where he dwelt. Moses speaks 
 of this last kind of tythe. Dent. xiv. 28 ; xxvi. 12. "At 
 the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the 
 tythe of thine increase the same year, and shall lay it 
 up within thy gates. And the Levite, (because he 
 hath no part nor iiflieritance w-ith thee,) and the 
 stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which 
 are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be 
 satisfied : that the Lord thy God maj^ bless thee in 
 all the work of thine hand which thou dost." Cal- 
 met thinks this third tythe not to be diflerent from 
 the s'-cond kind already noticed, except that in the 
 third year it was not brought into the temple, but 
 was used on the spot, by every one in the city of his 
 habitation. Therefore, properly speaking, there were
 
 TYTHES 
 
 [ 909 ] 
 
 TYTHES 
 
 only two sorts of tythes ; (1.) that whicii was given 
 to the Levites and priests ; (2.) that which was ap- 
 pHed to feasts of charity, either in the temple at Je- 
 rusalem, or in other cities. 
 
 Samuel tells the children of Israel, that their king 
 would " take the tenth part of their seed, and of their 
 vineyards, and give to his officere and his servants. 
 He will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be 
 his servants," 1 Sam. viii. 15, 16. Yet it does not 
 clearly appear from the history of the Jews, that they 
 regularly paid tythe to their princes. But the man- 
 ner in which Samuel expresses himself seems to in- 
 sinuate, that it was looked upon as a common right 
 among the kings of the East. 
 
 Tythes are not enforced by the New Testament. 
 Our Saviour has commanded nothing as to the sup- 
 port of ministers ; only, when he sent his apostles to 
 preach in the cities of Israel, he forl)ade them to 
 carry either purse, or provisions, and commanded 
 them to enter the houses of those who were willing 
 to receive them, and to eat what should be set before 
 them ; for, as he adds, the laborer is worthy of his 
 liire, that is, of his maintenance, Matt. x. 10 ; Luke 
 X. 7, 8. Paul also determines, that he who receives 
 
 instruction, should administer some of his good 
 things to him who gives it, Gal. vi. 6. It is agree- 
 able to nature and reason, that they who wait at the 
 altar should live by the altar ; and whoever under- 
 took a warfare at his own expense ? 1 Cor. ix. 13. 
 In the infancy of the church, the ministers lived on 
 the alms and oblations of believers. Afterwards, 
 lands and fixed revenues were settled on churches 
 and their ministers, and people began to give them a 
 certain portion of their substance, which was called 
 tytlie, in imitation of that paid to the priests of the 
 old covenant, though every one gave only as his de- 
 votion inclined him. At last, the bishops, in concur- 
 rence with secular princes, made laws obliging Chris- 
 tians to give to ecclesiastics the tythe of their revenues, 
 and of the fruits of the earth. As these regulations 
 were not all made at the same time, nor in a uniform 
 manner, we cannot precisely fix the period of the 
 establishment of tythes. But they were paid as far 
 back as the sixth century ; though not evei-y where, 
 nor under the same obligations. F. Paul, in his 
 Treatise of Benefices, observes, that till the eighth or 
 the ninth century, tythes were not paid in the East, 
 nor in Africa. 
 
 U 
 
 UNICORN 
 
 UNICORN 
 
 ULAI, a river which runs by the city Shushan 
 in Persia, on the bank of which Daniel had a famous 
 vision, Dan. viii. 2, 16. [It was the Choaspes of the 
 Greeks, and is now called^Le/rrtA. It empties its 
 waters into the united stream of the Euphrates and 
 Tigris, Dan. viii. 2. (See R. K. Porter's Travels, 
 vol. ii. p. 412.) R. 
 
 UNICORN. (Heb. oxi, reem.) It is hardly neces- 
 sary to remark, that the unicorn, as represented by 
 poets and painters, has never been found in nature, 
 and never, perhaps, had an existence but in the im- 
 agination of the one, and on the canvass of the other. 
 [See, however, the additions at the end of this article. 
 Indeed the whole of the article which follows might, 
 perhaps, be more properly omitted ; as it proceeds on 
 the erroneous supposition that the animal denoted by 
 the Hebrew word reem is the rhinoceros ; and because 
 one of the main arguments for this supposition is based 
 upon a word not found in the Hebrew, but inserted 
 by the English translators, as will be shown below. 
 Still, as the general information here exhibited is not 
 uninteresting, the whole may be permitted to remain ; 
 referring the reader, however, for a probably more 
 correct view to the additions below. R. 
 
 Before we inquire what creature is denoted by the 
 Hebrew reem, it will be well to ascertain its precise 
 character from a careful examination of the several 
 passages in which it is mentioned. The first allusion 
 to it is in the reply of Balaam to Balak, when impor- 
 tuned by the ten-ified king to curse the invading armies 
 of Israel : " Gofl l^rought them out of Egypt ; he hath 
 as it were the strength of an unicorn," Niunb. xxiii. 
 22 ; xxiv. 8. From tins it is evident, that the ixem 
 was conceived to possess very considerable jiower. 
 With this idea corresponds the passage in Isaiah, 
 where the ])rophet associates with him other power- 
 ful animals, to symbolize the leadtMS and princes of 
 tlie hostile nations that were destined to desolate his 
 country : " And the unicorns shall come down with 
 
 them, and the bullocks with the bulls ; and their land 
 shall be soaked with blood, and their dust be made 
 fat with fatness," chap, xxxiv. 7. From the book of 
 Job we leani, that he was not only an animal of con- 
 siderable strength, but also of a very intractable dis- 
 position : " Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, 
 or abide by thy crib ? Canst thou bind the unicorn 
 with his band in the furrow, or will he harrow the 
 valleys after thee ? Wilt thou trust him because his 
 strength is great, or wilt thou leave thy labor to him ? 
 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy 
 seed, and gather it into thy barn ? " chap, xxxix. 9 — 12. 
 Another particular we collect from Ps. xcii. 10. 
 namely, that this animal possesses a single horn, 
 and that in an erect posture, unlike other horned ani- 
 mals : " My horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an 
 unicorn ;" while it is evident from the following pas- 
 sage, that it was sometimes found with more horns 
 than one. "His [Joseph's] horns are like the horns 
 of an unicorn," Deut. xxxiii. 17. There are only two 
 more passages, in which the reem is mentioned in 
 Scripture : these are Ps. xxii. 21. and xxix. 6. 
 From the former we are unable to gather any addi- 
 tional information, and the latter will add luit httle to 
 our stock: "He maketh them also to skip like a calf; 
 Lebanon and Sirion like a yoimg uniconi." 
 
 We are now better prejjared to examine into the 
 validity of the claims that have been advanced in fa- 
 vor of those animals which are supposed to be the 
 reem of the Hebrew Scriptures. Let us first hear 
 Mr. Bruce. 
 
 It is very remarkable, says this distinguished travel- 
 ler, tflat two such animals as the elephant and rhi- 
 noceros should iiavc wholly escaped the desrrijnion of 
 the sacred writers. Moses and the children of Israel 
 were long in the neighborhood of the countries which 
 produced them both, whilt! in Egy|)f and in Arabia. 
 The classing of the animals into clean and unclean 
 seem? to have led the legislator into a kind of ueces-
 
 UNICORN 
 
 [ 903 ] 
 
 UNICORN 
 
 sity of <]cscril>ing, in one of the classes, an animal 
 whicii made tiie food of the principal pagan nations 
 in the neighhorhood. Considering the long and inti- 
 mate connection Solomon liad with the sonth coast 
 of tiie Red sea, it is next to impossil)le tiiat he was 
 not acquainted with them, as itoth David his father, 
 and he himself, made ])ientiful nse of ivory, as 
 they fi-e(piently mention in their writings, which, 
 along with gold, came from the same pans. Solo- 
 mon, hesides, wrote expressly on zoology, and we 
 can scarce suppose was ignorant of two of the princi- 
 pal articles of that part of the creation, iidialutants of 
 the great continent of Asia east from him, and that 
 of Africa on the south, with both which territories he 
 was in constant correspondence. 
 
 There are two animals nained frequently in Scrip- 
 tin-e, without naturalists being agreed what they are. 
 The one is the behemotk, the other the reem ; both 
 mentioned as types of strength, courage and inde- 
 pendence on man ; and, as sucii, exemi)ted from the 
 ordinary lot of beasts, to be subdued by him, or re- 
 «hiced under his dominion. Though this is not to be 
 taken in a literal sense, — for there is no animal witii- 
 out the fear or beyond tlie reach ol" the jjower of 
 man, — we are to understand it of animals possessed 
 of strength and size so superlative, as that in these 
 quahties other beasts bear no pro])ortion to them. 
 
 The behemoth Mr. Bruce takes to be the elephant, 
 in wliich we differ from him : the reem he argues to 
 be the rhinoceros, from tlie following considerations : 
 
 The derivation of the word, both in Hebrew and 
 Ethio|)ic, seems to be from crectness, or standing:; 
 straight. This is certainly no particular ciuality in 
 the animal itself, who is not more, nor even so much, 
 erect as many other qnaih-upeds, for its knees are 
 ratlier crooked ; but it is from the circumstance and 
 manner in which his horn is placed. The horns of 
 all other animals are inclined to some degree of par- 
 allelism with the nose, or osfrontis. The horn of the 
 rhinoceros alone is erect or ])erpendicular to this 
 bone, on which it stands at right angles ; thereby pos- 
 sessing a gi'cater piu'chase or power, as a lever, than 
 any horn could possibly have in any other ])osition. 
 This situation of the horn is very hajopily alluded to 
 in the sacred writings: "My horn shalt thou exalt 
 like the horn of a reem," Ps. xcii. 10. And the horn 
 hei-e alluded to is not wholly figurative, but was really 
 an ornament worn by great men in the days of vic- 
 torv, ])refermcnt, or rejoicing, wdien they were anoint- 
 ed with new, sweet, or liesh oil ; a circumstance 
 wiiii-li David joins with tliat of erecting the horn. 
 
 Tlie reasons which have induced some writers to 
 consider the unicorn as being of the deer or antelope 
 kind, it is ditlicidt to conceive of, since this is of a 
 genus, whose very character is li^ar and weakness, 
 very opposite, as Mr. Bruce contimies, to the (pialities 
 bv which the reem is dc^scribed in Scripture. Be- 
 sides, it is plain the reem is not of the chuss of clean 
 (|uadrnpe(ls ; and a late traveller very whimsically 
 takes him for the leviathan, which certainly was 
 a fish. Balaam, a priest of Midian, and so in tlie 
 ncigliborhooil of the liauiits of tlie rhinoceros, and 
 intimately connected with l''-tliiopra, (liir they tli<'rn- 
 s;'lves were slieplierds of tliat country,) in a ti"iiis|)()rl, 
 iVtiin contemplating tin; strength of Israel wliom he 
 was hiougiit to curs(^, says, they li.ad as it were "the 
 strength of the reem," Numb, xxiii. 22. Job makes 
 frequent allusion to bis great strength, ferocity and 
 iudocility, chaj). xxxix. 9, 10. He asks, " Will the 
 rrrm be willing to serve thee, or to abide at thy crib?" 
 That is, Will he willingly come into thy stable, and 
 
 eat at thy manger? and again, "Canst thou bind the 
 reem with a band in tlie furrow, and will he harrow 
 the valleys after thee ? " In other words. Canst thou 
 make him to go in the plough or harrows ? 
 
 Isaiah, (chaj). xxxiv. 7.) who, of all the pro|)hets, 
 seems to have known Egypt and Ethiopia the best, 
 when ])rophesying about the destruction of Jdumea, 
 says, that " the reem shall come down with the fat 
 cattle:" a proof that he knew his hal)itation was in 
 the neighborhood. In the same manner as when 
 foretelling the desolation of Egypt, he mentions as 
 one m.amier of eftecting it, the bringing down the fly 
 Irom Ethio])ia, to meet the cattle in the desert, and 
 among the bushes, and destroy them there, where 
 that insect did not ordinarily come but on command, 
 (eomp. Isa. vii. 18, 19, and Exod. viii. 22.) and where 
 the cattle feed every year, to save themselves from 
 that insect. 
 
 The rhinoceros in Geez is called arive harish, and 
 in the Aniharic, auraris, both of which names signify 
 th(^ large wild beast with the horn. This w ould seem 
 as if apjilied to the species that had but one horn. 
 On the other hand, in the country of the Shangalla, and 
 in Nubia adjoining, he is called gimatngini, or horn 
 upon horn, and this would seem to denote that he 
 had t\vo. The Ethiopic text renders the word reem, 
 arwi harish, and this the Septnagint translates i<oiozt- 
 Qog, or nnicorn. 
 
 If the Abyssinian rhinoceros had invariably two 
 horns, it seems impro!)able that the Septnagint would 
 have called him monoceros, especially as they must 
 have seen an animal of this kind exposed at Alexan- 
 dria in their time, when lirst mentioned in history, 
 at an exhibition given to Ptolemy Philadelphus, at his 
 accession to the crown, before the ileath of his father. 
 
 The jjrincipal reason for translating the word reem, 
 nnicorn, and not rhinoceros, is from a prejudice that 
 he must have but one horn. But this is by no means 
 so well founded, as to be admitted as the only argu- 
 ment for establishing the existence of an animal, 
 which never has appeared after the search of so 
 many ages. Scripture, as we have seen, speaks of 
 the horns of the nnicorn ; so that, even from this cir- 
 cumstance, the reem may be the rhinoceros, as the 
 Asiatic and part of the African rhinoceros may be 
 the unicorn. 
 
 In addition to these particulars, Mr. Bruce informs 
 us, that the rhinoceros does not eat hay or grass, but 
 lives entirely upon trees ; he does not spare the most 
 thorny ones, but rather seems to be fond of them ; 
 and it is not a small branch that can escape his hun- 
 ger, iVir he has the strongest ja\\s of any creature 
 known to him, and best adapted to grinding or bruis- 
 ing any thing that makes resistance. But, besides the 
 trees callable of most resistance, there are in tlie vast 
 forests which hi; inhabits trees of asofter consistence, 
 and of a very succulent (piality, which seem to be 
 destined for his jirincipal iood. I'or the purpose of 
 gaining the highest branches of these, his upper lip is 
 capaiile of being lengthened out, so as to increase his 
 power of laying holil with this, in the same manner 
 as the elephant does with his trunk. \\'itli this lij), 
 and the assistance of his tongue, he pulls down the 
 ujiiicr branches, which have most leaves, and these he 
 devours lirst: having strijiped the tree of its branches, 
 he does not therefore abandon it, but placing his 
 snout as low in the trunk as he finds his liorn will 
 enter, he rips up the body of the tree, and reduces 
 it to thin pieces, like so many laths ; and when he 
 has thus prepared it, he embraces as much of it as ho 
 can in his monstrous jaws, and twists it with as much
 
 UNICORN 
 
 [ 904 ] 
 
 UNICORN 
 
 ease as an ox would do a root of celery. (Bruce's 
 Travels, vol. v. p. 89—95.) 
 
 Such is the description which this intelligent 
 writer gives of the animal which he supposes to be 
 the reem of the sacred writers ; but it is necessary that 
 we should notice the objections urged against this 
 opinion. 
 
 Mr. Scott, who considers the reem to be a species 
 of the wild bull, an animal bred in the Arabian and 
 Syrian deserts, objects, that the rhinoceros cannot be 
 the animal uitended, because the reem is represented 
 as having high and terrible horns ; whereas, this 
 creature possesses but one, and that a very short one, 
 placed just over the nose. That the former part of 
 this objection is founded in misapprehension, we 
 have already seen ; since the reem is, in one passage 
 of Scripture at least represented as having only one 
 horn ; and that honi, as is evident from the allusion, 
 placed in a position exactly answering to the descrip- 
 tion of this weapon of the rhinoceros, which is fur- 
 nished by Mr. Bruce. Nor is the remaining part of 
 the objection of greater weight, since the horn of the 
 rhinoceros is by no means of so contemptible a size as 
 it represents. In the forty-second and fifty-sixth vol- 
 umes of the Philosophical Transactions, Dr. Parsons 
 has given drawings of the horns of the rhinoceros, 
 from Dr. Mead's, and also from sir Hans Sloane's, 
 collections. Fi'om those delineations we ascertain, 
 that the straight horn on a double-horned animal was 
 twenty-five inches in length ; the curved one being 
 something shorter; and the two diameters of the 
 bases thirteen inches. Nor were these the largest of 
 the kind, for the doctor mentions a horn in the col- 
 lection of sir H. Sloane, which was thirty-seven 
 inches long, and another thirty-ttvo inches ; and Buf- 
 fon mentions one whose length was three feet eight 
 inches, — an altitude sufficient, surely, to justify the 
 allusions of the sacred writers. 
 
 But in addition to this, we must remark, that the 
 wild bull, which in all its varieties is possessed of 
 two horns, can never be identified with aji animal 
 represented as varying in these jiarticulars ; pos- 
 sessing sometimes one and sometimes two. The 
 LXX, as we have shown, imiformly translate the 
 Heb. =:ni by uoyijy.cnog, i. e. ONE-/iornerf ; and the con- 
 tradiction is equally great, whether they designed to 
 describe a bull having two horns, or whether they 
 designed the double-horned rhinoceros. But when 
 we consider that a wild bull, having only one horn, 
 would be contrary to the nature of the beeve kind, 
 and, indeed, would be a monster ; whereas a unicorn, 
 or single-horned rhinoceros, would suit some ])as- 
 sages of Scriptiu-e, and be perfectly well known to 
 til eir readers; while another species of rhinoceros, 
 having two horns, Avonld suit other passages of Scrip- 
 ture, where a similar animal is meant, and this also 
 was known to their readers ; — we camiot but approve 
 of the choice they made in preferring the rhinoceros 
 to the urus, as the animal intended by the Hebrew 
 reem. We consider this choice and this opinion of 
 the Eg}'ptian translators, who certainly knew full as 
 well as modern writers can know, tlie animal most 
 likely to be described by the sacred poet, as no despi- 
 cable authority on this side of the question. 
 
 We now leave the reader to determine for him- 
 self respecting the identity of this flispiUed animal. 
 To us it appears, that tlie arguments in ftvor of the 
 rhinoceros preponderate, and that we shall not be 
 very far from the truth, if we conclude this to be the 
 reem of the sacred volume. 
 
 From what has been already said, some idea may 
 
 be formed of tne external appearance, as well as the 
 dispositions of the rhinoceros. A few additional re- 
 marks, however, may not be unacceptable. 
 
 Next to the elephant, the rhinoceros is said to be 
 the most powerful of animals. It is usually found 
 twelve feet long, from the tip of the nose to the inser- 
 tion of the tail ; from six to seven feet high ; and the 
 circumference of its body is nearlj' equal to its length. 
 It is, therefore, equal to the elephant in bulk ; and 
 the reason of its appearing so much smaller to the 
 eye than that animal is, that its legs are so much 
 shorter. Words, says Goldsmith, can convey but a 
 very confused idea of this animal's shape ; and yet 
 there are few so remarkably formed. But for its 
 horn, which we have already described, its head 
 would have the appearance of that part of a hog. The 
 skin of the i-hinoceros is naked, rough, knotty, and 
 lying upon the l)ody in folds, in a very peculiar man- 
 ner : the skin, which is of a dirty brown color, is so 
 thick as to turn the edge of a cimetar, and to resist a 
 musket-ball. 
 
 Such is the general outline of an animal that ap- 
 pears chiefly formidable from the horn growing from 
 its snout ; and formed rather for war, than with a 
 propensity to engage. The elephant, the boar, and 
 the buffalo, are obliged to strike transversely with 
 their weapons ; but the rhinoceros, from the situation 
 of his horn, employs all his force with every blow ; 
 so that the tiger Avill more willingly attack any other 
 animal of the forest than one whose strength is so 
 justly employed. Indeed, there is no force which 
 this terrible animal has to apprehend ; defended on 
 every side by a thick, horny hide, which the claws of 
 the lion or the tiger arc unable to pierce, and armed 
 before with a weapon that even the elephant does not 
 choose to oppose. Travellers have assured us, that 
 the elephant is often found dead in the forests, pierced 
 with the horn of a rhinoceros. 
 
 [The preceding arguments ai-e the strongest, and 
 indeed the only ones, which can be urged in favor of 
 the rhinoceros, as being the reon of the Hebrew Vv'rit- 
 ers. They are however rebutted by the fact, that 
 the reem was obviously an animal well known to 
 the Hebrews, being every where mentioned wiiii 
 other animals common to the countiy ; while the rhi- 
 noceros was never an inhabitant of the country, is no 
 where else spoken of by the sacred writers, ricr, ac- 
 cording to Bochart, either by Aristotle in his treatise 
 of animals, nor by Arabian writers. Nor do the qual- 
 ities and habits of the rhinoceros at all coincide with 
 those ascribed to the reem. The prominent features 
 of the latter are its horns, in i-cspect to which it is 
 classed with animals tliat push, Avhich is never the 
 case with the rhinoceros. Besides, the chief argu- 
 ment adduced above for the rhinocercs, viz. that the 
 reem is sometimes described ^vith one horn and some- 
 times with more, is false. The truth is, the word reem 
 has in itself no reference to horns at all, and wherever 
 the animal is spoken of with any allusion to this 
 member, the expression is in tlie jjlural, horns; c. g 
 Deut. xxxiii. 17, "His [Joseph's] horns are like the 
 horns of an unicorn ; " Ps. xxii. 21, " Thou hast heard 
 [and delivered] me from the horns of the unicorn." 
 In Ps. xcii. 10, which is referred to above as proving 
 that the reem is sometimes represented as liaving but 
 one horn, the Hebrew reads simply, " My horn shall 
 thou exalt like an unicorn ;" where the word horn, as it 
 stands in the English version, is no where expressed ; 
 although there is undoubtedly an ellipsis, which, to 
 compare with other parallel passages, ought to be filled 
 out with horns, in the plural, rather than with the sin-
 
 Unicorn 
 
 [ DOo i 
 
 UNICORN 
 
 giilar. (See Stuart's Heb. Gram. § 550. lib edit.) 
 Tbtjs tbe wbole argument in question rests not on 
 tbe Hebrew original, but on an interpolation of tbe 
 English translatoi"s. — Inrleed the supposition oC tbe 
 rhinoceros has been long since refuted by Bochart, 
 to whose learned work the reader is referred. (Hieroz. 
 Tom. i. 930. edit. 1719.) 
 
 But on the other hand, Bochart, and after him Ro- 
 Beniniiller and others, regard the recm of the Hebrews 
 ns a species of antelope, the rim of the Arabs, and the 
 oryx or Itncori/x of the Greeks. The argument of 
 most weight in Bocbait's mind, seems to be the fact, 
 that rim in Arabic, which is equivalent to reem in 
 Hebrew, is thus used of a species of white gazelle or 
 antelope, (Niebuhr, Dcscr. of Arab. p. xxxviii. Germ, 
 ed.) which would seem to be very probably the 
 leucoryx. But then, the other characteristics of 
 these animals by no means correspond to those of 
 the recm, wliicb is every where described as a fierce, 
 intractable animal, acting on tbe offensive and attack- 
 ing even men of its own accord. Now, liowever 
 wild and untameable many species of antelopes may 
 be, they are universally described as a shy and 
 retiring animal, always flying from pursuit, and 
 avoiding even the approach of man. In opposition 
 to this, Bochart and Rosenmliller produce a j)assage 
 of Martial, where he gives to the oryx the ejjitliet 
 fierce, (saevus oryx, Epigr. xiii. 95.) and another from 
 Oppian, whore he says, "There is a beast, vvilli 
 ])ointed horns, familiar to the woods, tbe savage oiyx, 
 most terrrible to other beasts." (Cyneget. ii. 445.) 
 Now all these epithets and descriptions, even allow- 
 ing nothing for poetical ampiification, arc perfectly 
 applicable to the stagof our forests and of Asia ; they 
 iinplj' no more than that the oryx, when hard push- 
 ed, will turn upon its pnrsuei-s, and defend himself 
 with fury. Yet no one would hence draw the con- 
 clusion, that it was characteristic of the stag to act on 
 the offensive ; nor can such a conclusion be drawn 
 with better reason in regard to the oryx. — The oi-ijx 
 of Pliny and other ancient Avriters is understood to be 
 the antelope onjx of zoologists ; the ga.zdla Indica of 
 Kay, th.e capra gazella of the Syst. Nat., the Egijptian 
 antelope of Pennant, and tlie pasan of Buffon. It is 
 about the size of a fallow deer, having straight, 
 slender, annulated horns Avhicli taper to a point; the 
 liorns are about three feet long, the j)oints sharp, and 
 -about fourteen iitches asunder; the body and sides 
 j'.re of a reddish ash color; the face is w!)ite, with a 
 black spot at the bass of the bonis, and another on the 
 middle of the face. It is a native of Asia and Africa. 
 — The leucoryx, which some suppose to be the oryx 
 of Oppian, is in general similar to the animal above 
 described, except that the body is of a milk white 
 color. It iulia])its the neighborhood of Bassora, on 
 the Persian gulf. — Most obviotisly neither of these 
 animals answer the description of the Hebrew reem. 
 The fact that the Arabs aj)ply the word rim to this 
 class of animals, has probably its origin in the same 
 cause, which also leads them to ap!)ly to the races of 
 deer and antelopes, in general, the epithet loild oxen. 
 (See Sehultens, Comm. in Job xxxix. 9.) 
 
 Other v.riters have supposed the reem, of the He- 
 brews to be the urus, bison, or wild ox, described by Cre- 
 snr, which is understood to be the same animal as the 
 American buffalo. The characteristics of this animal 
 accord well with those attributed to the reem ; but 
 there is no evidence that the bison existed in Pales- 
 tine, or was known to the Hebrews. A more obvious 
 supposition, therefore, is that of Sehultens, De Wette, 
 Gesenius, and others, that under the recm we are to 
 114 
 
 understand the buffalo of the eastern continent, the 
 bos bnbahis of Linnaeus, which differs from the bison 
 or American buffalo chiefly in the shaj)e of the horns 
 and the absence of the dewlap. This animal is indi- 
 genous, originally, in the hotter parts of Asia and Af- 
 rica, but also in Persia, Abyssinia and Eg^pt : and is 
 now also naturalized in Italy and southern liluropc. 
 As, therefore, it existed in the countries all aroimd 
 Palestine, there is every reason to suppose that it was 
 also found in that country, or at least in the regions 
 east of the Jordan and south of the Dead sea, as 
 Bashan and Idumea. 
 
 The oriental buflalo appears to be so closely allied 
 to our common ox, that without an attentive exam- 
 ination it might be easily mistaken for a variety of 
 that animal. In point of size it is rather superior to 
 the ox ; and upon an accurate inspection, it is observed 
 to differ in the shape and magnitude of the bead, the 
 latter being larger than in the ox. But it is chiefly 
 by the structure of the horns that the buffalo is dis- 
 tinguished, these being of a shape and curvature al- 
 together different from those of the ox. They are of 
 gigantic size in proportion to the bulk of the animal, 
 and of a compressed form, with a sharp exterior 
 edge ; for a considerable length from their base these 
 horns are straight, and then bend slightly upwards ; 
 the prevailing color of them is dusky, or nearly black. 
 The buf!alo lias no dewlap ; his tail is small and des- 
 titute of vertebra; near the extremity; his cars are 
 long and pointed. This animal has the appearance 
 of uncommon strength. The bulk of his body, and 
 prodigious muscular limbs, denote his force at the first 
 view. His aspect is ferocious and malignant ; at the 
 same time that his physiognomy is stronglj- marked 
 with features of stupidity. His head is of a ponder- 
 ous size; his eyes diminutive; and what serves to 
 render his visage still more savage, are the tufts of 
 frizzled hair whicli hang down front his cheeks and 
 the lower part of his muzzle. 
 
 This animal, although originally a native of the 
 hotter parts of India and Africa, is now completely 
 naturalized to the climate of the south of Europe. Mr. 
 Pennant supposes the ivild bidls of Aristotle to have 
 been bufialoes, and Gmelin and other distinguished 
 naturalists are of the same opinion. Gmelin also 
 supposes the Bos Indicits of Pliny to have beeji the 
 same animal. Butfon, liowever, endeavors to show, 
 that the buffalo of modern times was unknown to the 
 (ji-eeks and Romans, and that it was first transported 
 from its native countries, the warmer regions of Af- 
 rica and the Indies, to be naturalized in Italy, not 
 earlier than the seventh century. 
 
 The buffalo grows in some coimtries to an ex- 
 tremely large size. The buffaloes of Abyssinia grow 
 to twice the size of our largest oxen, and are called 
 elephant bulls. Mr. Pennant mentions a pair of horns 
 in the British Museum, which are six feet and a half 
 long, and the hollow of which will hold five quarts. 
 Father Lobo aftlrms that some of the horns of the 
 buffaloes in Abyssinia will hold ten quarts; and 
 Dillon saw some in India that were ten feet long. 
 They are sometimes wrinkled, but generally smooth. 
 The distance betv/een the points of the two horns is 
 usually about five feet. 
 
 Wild buffaloes occur in many parts of Africa and 
 India, where they live in great troops in the forests, 
 and are regarded as excessively fierce and dangerous 
 animals. In all these particulars they coincide with 
 the buffaloes of America. The hunting of them is a 
 favorite but veiy dangerous ])ursuit ; the huntera 
 never venture in any numbers to oppose these fero-
 
 UNICORN 
 
 [ 906 ] 
 
 UNICORN 
 
 cioiis animals face to face ; but conceal themselves 
 in the thickets, or in the branches of the trees ; 
 whence they attack the bufTaloes as they pass along. 
 
 In Egypt, as also in southern Europe, the buffalo 
 has been partially domesticated. In Egypt especially, 
 it is much cultivated, where, according to Sounini, it 
 yields plenty of excellent milk, from which butter 
 and various kinds of cheese are made. 
 
 "The buffalo," says Sonniui, "is an acquisition 
 of the modern Egyptians, with which their ancestors 
 were unacquainted. It was brought over from Per- 
 sia [ ? ] into their country, where the species is at 
 present universally sj)read, and is very much propa- 
 gated. It is even more numerous than the common 
 o.v, and is there equally domestic, though but recent- 
 ly domesticated ; as is easily distinguishable by the 
 constantly uniform color of the hair, and still more 
 by a remnant of ferocity and intractability of dispo- 
 sition, and a wild and lowering aspect, the characters 
 ; of all half-tamed annuals. The bufTaloes of Egypt, 
 -' however, are not near so wild nor so much to be feared 
 as those of other countries. They there partake of 
 the gentleness of other domestic animals, and only re- 
 tain a few sudden and occasional caprices. — They 
 are so fond of water, that I have seen them continue 
 in it a whole day. It often happens that the water 
 which is fetched from the Nile, neai- its banks, has 
 contracted their musky smell." 
 
 These animals nujltiply more readily than the 
 common ox; they breed in the fouith year, pro- 
 ducing young for two years together, and remaining 
 sterile the third ; and they commonly cease breeding 
 after their twelfth year. Their term of life is much 
 the same as that of the common ox. They are more 
 robust than the common ox, bettei' capable of bear- 
 . ,' ing fatigue, and, generally speaking, less liable to dis- 
 tempers. They are therefore employed to advantage 
 in difierent kinds of labor. Buffaloes are made to 
 draw heavy loads, and are commonly guided by 
 means of a ring passed through the nose. In its hab- 
 its the bufTiilo is much less cleanly than the ox, and 
 delights to waliow in the mud. His voice is deeper, 
 more uncouth and hideous than that of the bull. 
 The milk is said by soiue authors to be not so good 
 as that of the cow, but more plentiful ; Buffbn, on the 
 contrary, asserts that it is far superior to cows' milk. 
 The skin and horns are of more value than all the 
 rest of the animal ; the latter are of a fine grain, 
 strong, and bear a good polish, and are therefore in 
 much esteem with cutlers and other artisans. 
 
 Italy is the country where buffaloes are, at present, 
 moat common perhaps in a domesticated state. They 
 are used more particularly in the Pontine marshes 
 and those in the district of Sienna, W'here the fatal 
 nature of the climate acts \mfavorably on common 
 cattle, but affects the buffaloes less. The Spaniards 
 also have paid attention to them ; and indeed the 
 cultivation of this usefid animal seems to be |)retty 
 general in all the countries .bordering on the Medi- 
 terranean sea, both in Europ^-^id Africa. Niebuhr 
 remarks, that he saw buffaloes no>-<jnly in Egypt, but 
 also at Bombay, Surat, on the Eilplirates, Tigi-is, 
 Orontcs, at Scanderaon, &c. and indeed in almost all 
 marshy regions and near large rivers. He does not 
 reriKMuber any in Arabia, tliere being perhaps in that 
 country too little water for this animal. (Descr. of 
 Aral)ia, p. 165, Germ, edit.) 
 
 We have been thus particular in describing the 
 buffalo of Asia, in order to show that it ])ossesses, in 
 its wild state, all the characteristics attributed to the 
 Hebrew rcem. All the evidence goes to show that it 
 
 has been domesticated only at a comparatively recent 
 period ; and that the Hebrews therefore were proba- 
 bly acquainted with it only as a wild, savage, fero- 
 cious animal, resembling the ox; and it was not im- 
 probably often intended by them under the epithet 
 bulls of Bashan. The appropriateness of the forego- 
 ing description to the Hebrew reevi will be apparent, 
 on a closer inspection of the passages whei-e this ani- 
 mal is mentioned. 
 
 In Deut. xxxiii. 17, and Ps. xcii. 10, the comparison 
 is with his horns ; which requires no further illustra- 
 tion after what is said above. In Numb, xxiii. 22 ; 
 xxiv. 8, it is said, " he hath as it Avere the strength of 
 a reem ; " this is certainly most appropriate, if we 
 adopt here the word strength, as the proper transla- 
 tion. But the Hebrew word here rendered strength, 
 means strictly, rapidity of motion, speed, combined, if 
 you please, with force. In this sense also, it is not 
 less descriptive of the buffalo, which runs with great 
 speed and violence when excited ; as is often the case 
 in regard to whole herds, which then rush blindly 
 forwards with tremendous power. (See the Account 
 of major Long's expedition to the Rocky mountains.) 
 In three other passages, the reem is closely coupled 
 with the common ox, or with the employment of the 
 latter. In Ps. xxix. 6, it is said, " He maketh them 
 also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a 
 young reem ; " where the young of the reem stands in 
 parallelism with the calf, so that we should nat- 
 urally expect a great similarity between them. Isa. 
 xxxiv. 7, " And the reemim shall come down with 
 them, and the bullocks with the bulls, &e." Here, in 
 verse 6, it is said that the Lord has a great sacrifice 
 in Bozrah ; and the idea in verse 7 is, according to 
 the LXX and Gesenius, that the reemim shall come 
 down, i. e. shall make part of, this sacrifice, as also 
 the bullocks, old and young, of the land of Edoiu, so 
 that their "land shall be soaked with blood," &c. 
 The other passage is Job xxix. 9 — 12, " Will the reem 
 be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib ? Canst 
 thou bind the reem with his band in the furrow, oi 
 will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou 
 trust him because his strength is great, or wilt thou 
 leave thy labor to him ? Wilt thou believe him, that 
 he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy 
 barn ?" Here Job is asked, whether he would daro 
 to intrust to the reem such and such lal^ors as were 
 usually performed by oxen. Nothing can be more 
 appropriate to the wild buffalo than this language ; 
 and we have seen above that the Hebrews probably 
 knew it only in a wild state. The only other passage 
 where the reem is mentioned is Ps. xxii. 21, and this 
 requires a more extended notice. The psalmist in 
 deep distress says in verse 12, " Many bulls (□>■!£) have 
 compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me 
 round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, 
 as a ravening and roai-ing lion. For dogs have com- 
 passed me," &c. Here it will be observed that three 
 animals are mentioned as besetting the writer, 
 bulls of Bashan, lions, dogs. The psahnist pro 
 ceeds to s])oak of his deliverance; verse 20, "De- 
 liver my soul [me] from the sword, luy darling 
 [me] from the power of the dog. Save me from the 
 lion's mouth ; for thou hast heard [and saved] me 
 from tlie horns of the reemiwj." Here also it will be 
 SL-en are three animals, corrcs])onding to the three 
 before ineiuioned as besetting him, but ranged in an 
 inverted order, viz. the dog, tin; lion, and the reem, 
 in place of the bulls of Bashan ; that is, from the 
 whole structure of the poem, and the fact that these 
 animals and no others are alhided to, the inference ia
 
 UNICORN 
 
 907 
 
 UNICORN 
 
 almost irresistible, that the reemim of verse 21 are tlje 
 pdriiii. oi' verse 12, the bulls of Baslian, as has been 
 already suggested above. At least ^ve may infer that 
 the reeiii was an animal not so unlike tliose ijidls, but 
 tiiat it might with propriety be interchanged with 
 them in poetic parallelism ; a circumstance most 
 appropriately true of the wild buflalo, and of him 
 only. 
 
 From all these considerations, and from the fact 
 that the buffalo must have been far better known in 
 western Asia than cither the rhinoceros or tlie oryx, 
 (even if the description of the reem suited these ani- 
 mals in other respects,) we feel justified in assuming 
 the tauriis bubalus, or wild buflalo, to be the reem of 
 the Hebrew Scriptures and the itnicorn of the English 
 version. 
 
 The principal difficulty in the way of this assump- 
 tion, is the fact that the LXX have usually translated 
 the Hebrew reem by fioruyioios, unicorn, one-horn. It 
 must, however, be bonie in mind, that these transla- 
 tors lived many centuries after the Hebrew Scriptures 
 %\ ere written, and not long indeed before the birth of 
 Christ ; they lived, too, in Eg7pt, where it is not im- 
 possible that the buflalo had in their age begun to be 
 domesticated. In such circumstances, and being un- 
 acquainted with the animal in his fierce and savage 
 state, they may have thought that the allusions to the 
 reem were not fully answered by the half-domesti- 
 cated animal before them, and they may, therefore, 
 have felt themselves at liberty to insert the name of 
 some animal which seemed to them more appropri- 
 ate. That they did often take such liberties, is well 
 known. An instance occurs in the very passage of 
 Isaiah above quoted, ch. xxxiv. 7,where the Hebrew is 
 Di-i'3N oy D''-i5'i, "and the bullocks witli the bulls," 
 i. e. tiie bulls with the strong ones, or, according to 
 Gesenius, "the bulls both j^oung and old : " this the 
 LXX translate, y.ui oi. y.otol y.al oi Tavooi, "and the 
 rams (or wethers) and the bulls," — certainly a quid 
 pro quo not less striking than that of putting unicorn 
 for buffalo. 
 
 Tliat the LXX, in using the word monoceros, (uni- 
 corn, one-horn,) did not understand by it the rhinoce- 
 ros, would seem obvious ; both because the latter al- 
 ways had its appropriate and peculiar name in Greek, 
 (■Mrozfoc'i-% rhinoceros, nose-horn,) taken from the posi- 
 tion of its horn iqion the snout ; and also from the cir- 
 cumstance so much insisted on above in the extracts 
 from Mr. Bruce, that the rhinoceros of that i)art of 
 Africa adjacent to Egypt actually has iwo horns. 
 They appear rather to have had in mind the half-fab- 
 ulous unicorn, described by Pliny, but lost sight of 
 by all subsequent naturalists; although inq)erfect 
 hints and accounts of a similar animal have been 
 given by travellers in Africa and India in different 
 centuries, and entirely independent of each other. 
 The interesting nature of the subject, renders it 
 proper to exhibit here all the evidence which exists in 
 respect to such an animal ; especially as it is no 
 where brought together in the English language, or 
 at least in no such form as to render it generally ac- 
 cessible. 
 
 The figure of the unicorn, in various attitudes, is 
 depicted, according to Niebuhr, on almost all the 
 stair-cases found among the ruins of Persepolis. 
 One of these figures is given in vol. ii. plate xxiii. 
 of Niebuhr's Travels; and also in vol. i. ]). 59-4, 
 595, of the Travels of Sir R. K. Porter. The latter 
 traveller supposes it to be the representation of a bull 
 with a single horn. Pliny, in speaking of the wild 
 beasts of India, says with regard to the animal in 
 
 (juestion : Asperrimam autem feram monocerolevi, re- 
 liquo corpore cquo simikm, capite cervo, pedihus cle- 
 phanii, cauda apro, mus^itu gravi, uno cornu nigro 
 media frontt cubitorum dinun eminente. Uanc ferum 
 vivam nega7it cupi. (Hist. Nat. viii. 21.) "The uni- 
 corn is an exceeding fierce animal, resembling a 
 horse as to the rest of its body, but having the Ik ad 
 like a stag, the feet like an elephant, ami the tail like 
 a wild boar: its roaring is loud ; and it has a black 
 horn of about two cubits projecting from the middle 
 of its forehead." These seem to be the chief ancient 
 notices of the existence of the animal in question. 
 
 In 1530, Ludovico de Bartema, a Roman patrician, 
 travelled to Egypt, Arai)ia and India ; and having as- 
 sumed the character of a JMussulman, he was able to 
 visit iVieccawith the Hadj, or great caravan of i)ilgrims. 
 In his account of the curiositiesof this city, in Raniu- 
 sio's Collection of Travels, (Racotta di Viaggi, Venet. 
 1 563, p. 103.) he says : " On the other side of the Caaba 
 is a walled court, in which we saw two unicorns, 
 which were pointed out to us as a rarity ; and they are 
 indeed truly remarkable. The larger of the t\\o is 
 built like a three-year-old colt, and has a liorn ni)on 
 the forehead about three ells long. The other uni- 
 corn ^vas smaller, like a yearling Ibal, and has a horn 
 perhaps four spans long. — This animal has the color 
 of a yellowish-brown horse, a head like a stag, a neck 
 not very long, with a thin mane ; the legs are small 
 and slender, like those of a hind or roe ; the hoofs of 
 the forefeet ai'e divided, and resemble the hoofs of a 
 goat. These two animals were sent to the sultan of 
 Mecca, as a rarity of great value, and very scldoni 
 found, by a kuig of Ethio|)ia, who wished to secure, 
 by this present, the good will of the sultan of I\lecca." 
 
 Don Juan Gabriel, a Portuguese colonel, who lived 
 several years in Abyssinia, assures us, that in the re- 
 gion of Agamos in the Abyssinian province of Damo- 
 ta, he had seen an animal of the form and size of a 
 middle-sized horse, of a dark chestniu-brown color, 
 and with a whitish horn about five spans long ujion 
 the forehead ; the mane and tail were black, and the 
 legs short and slender. Several other Portuguese, 
 who w^ere placed in confinement upon a high 
 mountain in the district Namna, by the Abyssinian 
 king Adamas Saghedo, related that they had seen, at 
 the foot of the mountain, several unicorns feeding. 
 (Ludolf 's Hist, ^thiop. lib. i. c. 10. n. 80, seq.) 
 These accounts are confirmed by father Lobo, who 
 lived for a long time as a missionary in Abyssinia. 
 He adds, that the unicorn is extremely shy, and es- 
 capes from closer obsf'rvation by a speedy flight into 
 the forests ; for which reason there is no exact de- 
 scription of him. (Voyage liistor. d'Abyssinie, Amst. 
 1728, vol. i. p. 83, 291.) "All these accounts are cer- 
 tainly not apjilicableto the rhinoceros ; although it is 
 singular that Mr. Bruce speaks only of the laUer ani- 
 mal as not uncommon in Abyssinia, and makes ap- 
 parently no allusion to the above accounts. 
 
 In more recent times we find further traces of the 
 animal in question in Southern Africa. Dr. Sjiarr- 
 mann, the Swedish naturalist, who visited the cape 
 of Good Hope and the adjacent regions, in the years 
 1772-1776, gives, in his" travels, the following ac- 
 count: Jacob Kock,an observing peasant on Hippo- 
 potamus river, wlio had travelled over the grcjiter part 
 of Southern Africa, found on the face of a perpendicu- 
 lar rock a drawing made by the Hottentots, rejiresent- 
 in-r a quadruped with one horn. The Hottentots 
 toid him, that the animal there represented was very 
 like the horse on which he rode, but had a straight 
 horn upon the forehead. They added, that these one-
 
 UNICORN 
 
 [ 908 
 
 UNICORN 
 
 horned animals wei-e rare, that they ran with great 
 rapidity, and were also very fierce. They also de- 
 scribed the manner of hunting them. " it is not 
 probable," Dr. Sparrmann remarks, " that the savages 
 wholly invented this story, and that too so very cir- 
 cuinstaniially : still less can we suppose, that they 
 should have received and retained, merely from his- 
 tory or ti-aditiou, the remembrance of such an animal. 
 These regions are very seldom visited ; and the crea- 
 ture might, therefore, long remain unknown. That 
 an animal so rare should not be better known to the 
 modern world, proves notliing against its existence. 
 The greater part of Africa is still among the terrcE 
 {ncogmt(s. Even the giraffe has been again discover- 
 ed only within comparatively a few years. So also 
 the gnu, which, till recently, was held to be a fable 
 of the ancients." 
 
 A somewhat more definite account of a similar 
 animal is contained in the Transactions of the Zea- 
 land Academy of Sciences at Flusliing. (Pt. xv. 
 JMiddelb. 1792. Prsef. p. Ivi.) The account Avas 
 transiiiitted to the society in 1791, from the cape of 
 Good Hope, by Mr. Henry Cloete. It states that a 
 Ijastard Hottentot, Gerrit Slinger by name, related, 
 that while engaged several years before with a party, 
 in pursuit of tlie savage Bushmen, they had got sight 
 of nine strange animals, which they followed on 
 horseback, and shot one of them. This animal re- 
 sembled a horse, and was of a light-gi'ay color, Avith 
 white stripes under the lower jaw. It had a single 
 horn, directly in front, as long as one's arm, and at 
 the base about as thick. Towards the middle tS^e 
 horn was somewhat flattened, but had a sharp point ; 
 it was not attached to the bone of the forehead, but 
 fixed only in the skin. The head was like that of 
 the horse, and the size also about the same. The 
 hoofs were round, like those of a horse, but divided 
 below, like those of oxen. This remarkable animal 
 was shot between the so-called Table mountain and 
 Hippopotamus river, about sixteen days' journey on 
 horseback from Cambedo, which would be about a 
 month's journey in ox- wagons from Capetown. Mr. 
 Cloete mentions, that several different natives and 
 Hottentots testify to the existence of a similar animal 
 with one horn, of which they profess to have seen 
 drawings by hundreds, made by the Bushmen on 
 rocks and stones. He supposes that it would not be 
 difficult to obtain one of these animals, if desired. 
 His letter is dated at the Cape, April 8, 1791. (See 
 tinis far Rosenmiiller's Altes u. neues Morgenland, 
 ii. p. 269, seq. Leipz. 1818.) 
 
 Such appear to have been the latest accounts of the 
 animal in question, when it was again suddenly 
 Ijrouglit into notice as existing in the elevated regions 
 of central India. The Quarterly Review for Oct. 
 1820, (vol. xxiv. p. 120.) in a notice of Frazer's tour 
 through the Himlaya mountains, goes on to remark 
 iis follows : " We have no doubt that a little time will 
 bring to light many objects of natural history j)eculiar 
 to t!ie elevated regions of central Asia, and hitherto 
 unknown in the animal, vegetable and mineral king- 
 floms, ])articularly in the two former. This is an 
 opinion which we have long entertained ; but we are 
 bd to tiie ex|)ression of it on the present occasion, by 
 having been favored with the perusal of a most inter- 
 esting communication from major Latter, command- 
 ing in the rajah of Sikkim's territories, in the hilly 
 country cast of Nepaul, addressed to acljtUant-gen- 
 eral Nicol, and transmitted by him to tiie marquis of 
 Hastings. This important paper explicitly states that 
 the unicorn, so long considered as a fabulous animal, 
 
 actually exists at this moment in the interior of Thi- 
 bet, where it is well knawn to the inhabitants. ' This ' 
 — we copy from the major's letter — ' is a very cu.rious 
 fact, and it may be necessary to mention how the cir- 
 cumstance became knov\qi to me. In a Thibetian 
 manuscript, containing the names of different animals, 
 which I procured the other day from the hills, the uni- 
 corn is classed under the head of those v/hose hoofs are 
 divided : it is called the one-horned tso'po : Upon 
 inquiring what kind of animal it was, to our astonish- 
 ment, the person who brought the manuscript de- 
 scribed exactly the unicorn of the ancients; saying, 
 that it was a native of the interior of Thibet, about 
 the size of a tattoo, [a horse from twelve to thirteen 
 hands high,] fierce and extremely wild ; seldom, if 
 ever, caught alive, but frequently shot ; and that the 
 flesh was used for food.' — 'The person,' major Latter 
 adds, ' who gave me this information, has repeatedly 
 seen these animals, and eaten the flesh of them. 
 They go together in herds, like our wild buffaloes, 
 and are very frequently to be met with on the borders 
 of the great desert, about a month's journey from 
 Lassa, in that part of the country inhabited by the 
 wandering Tartars.' 
 
 "This communication is accompanied by a draw- 
 ing made by the messenger from recollection. It 
 bears some resemblance to a horse, but has cloven 
 hoofs, a long cin-ved horn growing out of the fore- 
 head, and a boar-shaped tail, like that of the/eramo- 
 noceros described by Pliny. From its herding to- 
 gether, as the unicorn of the Scriptures is said to do, 
 as well as from the rest of the description, it is evi- 
 dent that it cannot be the rhinoceros, which is a soli- 
 tary animal ; besides major Latter states that, in the 
 Thibetian manuscript, the i-hinoceros is described 
 under the name of servo, and classed with the ele- 
 phant ; 'neither,' says he, ' is it the wild horse, (well 
 known in Thibet,) for that has also a diflferent name, 
 and is classed in the manuscript with the animals 
 which have the hoofs undivided.' — 'I have written,' 
 he subjoins, 'to the Sachia Lama, requesting him to 
 procure me a perfect skin of the au'mal, with the 
 head, horn and hoofs ; but it will be a long time be- 
 fore I can get it down, for they are not to be met 
 with nearer than a month's journey from Lassa.'" 
 
 As a sequel to this account, we find the following 
 paragraph in the Calcutta Government Gazette, Au- 
 gust, 1821 : "Major Latter has obtained the hori] of 
 a young unicorn from the Sachia Lama, which is 
 now before us. It is twenty inches in length ; at thb- 
 root it is four inches and a half in circumference, and 
 tapers to a point ; it is black, rather flat at the sides, 
 and has fifteen rings, but they are only prominent on 
 one side ; it is nearly straight. Major Latter ex])ects 
 to obtain the head of the animal,with the hoofsand the 
 skin, very shortly, vdiich wiTl afford positive jiroof 
 of the form and character of the tso''po, or Thibet 
 unicorn." 
 
 Such are the latest accounts which have reached us 
 of this animal; and although their credibility cannot 
 well be contested, and the coincidence of the de- 
 scription with that of Pliny is so striking, yet it is sin- 
 gular that in the lapse of niore than ten years, (1832,) 
 nothing further sliould have been heard on a suiiject 
 so interesting. — But whatever may be the fact as to 
 the existence of this animal, the adoption of it by the 
 LXX, as being the Hebrew recm, cannot well be cor- 
 rect ; both for the reasons already adduced above, 
 and also from the circumstance, that the reem \i'as 
 evidently an animal frequent and well known in the 
 countries where the scenes of the Bible are laid;
 
 USD 
 
 [ 909 ] 
 
 uz 
 
 wliile the unicorn, at all events, is and was an animal 
 of exceeding rarity. "R. 
 
 UR, the conntry of Terah, and the birth-place of 
 Abraliani, (Gen. xi. ^8.) but its precise situation is 
 inikiiown. [It is called Ur of the Chaldccs ; and by 
 the Seventy, country, or region of the Chaldecs. 
 Traces of it most j)robably remain in the Persian 
 fortress Ur, between Nesibis and the Tigris, men- 
 tioned by Ammianus, xxv. 8. Alexander Folyhistor 
 calls it a city of the Chaldeans. [Ap. Euseb. Pra?p. 
 Evang. ix. 17.) The word Ur in Sanscrit signifies 
 city, town, place, Sec. R. 
 
 URIAH, u Hittite, and husband of Bathsheba, was 
 killed at the siege of Rabbali, in consetiuence of the 
 orders of David, 2 Sam. xi. 3. See Katiisheba. 
 
 I. URIJAII, chief priest of the Jews under Ahaz, 
 king of Judah, introduced, under Ahaz's direction, a 
 new altar into die temple of the Lord, 2 Kings xvi. 
 10 — 12. (See Ahaz.) Urijah succeeded Zadok II. 
 and was succeeded liy Shallum. 
 
 II. URIJAH, a pro])het of the Lord, son of Sliema- 
 iah of Kirjatli-jcarini, (Jer. xxvi. 20, 21.) propiiesied 
 at the same time as Jeremiah, and declared the same 
 things against Jerusalem and Judah. Jehoiakim 
 resolved to secure him, and put him to death ; but 
 Urijah escaped into Egypt. Jehoiakim sent mes- 
 sengers, who brought himout of Egypt ; and he was 
 put to death by the suoril, and ordered to bo buried 
 dishonorablv in the graves of the meanest of the peo- 
 ple. A. M.'3.'i95, ante A. D. 609. 
 
 URIM AND THUMMIM, light and perfection, or 
 doctrine and judgment, is supposed to have been an 
 ornament in the high-priest's habit, which was con- 
 sulted as an oracle upon particular and difficult pub- 
 lic questions. Some think it was the precious stones 
 in his breastplate, which made known the divine 
 will by casting an extraordinary lustre. Others assert 
 that thoy were the words manifestation and truth, 
 written upon two precious stones, or upon a plate of 
 gokl. Various, in fact, are the conjectures upon this 
 subject, and P.Ioses has no where spoken of the Urim 
 and Thummim in such terms as to remove the difti- 
 cidry. When the Urim and Thummim was to be 
 consulted, the high-j)rirst put on h'ls robes, and, going 
 into the holy place, stood before the curtain that sep- 
 arated the holy place from the most holy place, and 
 then, turning his face directly toward the ark and the 
 mercy-seat, upon which tlic divine presence rested, 
 he proposed what he wanted to be resolved about ; 
 and directly behind him, at some distance without 
 the holy [)Iacc, stood the person at whose command 
 or entreaty God was consulted, and there, with all 
 huniility and devotion, expected the answer. Accord- 
 ing to Josephus, this oracle ceased about 112 years 
 before Christ. 
 
 USURY, a premium received for the loan of a sum 
 of money, over and above the principal. It is said in 
 Exod. xxii. 2.5,26, "If thou lend mone\to anj' of my 
 people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him 
 as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay ujmn him usury. 
 If thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment lO pledge, 
 thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth 
 down." And in Lev. xxv. 35 — 'il : "If thy brother 
 be waxen poor, and fallen into decay with thee, then 
 thou shalt relieve him ; yea, though he be a stranger, 
 or a sojourner, that he may live with thee. Take 
 thou no usmy of him, or increase, but fear thy God, 
 that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not 
 give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy 
 victuals for increase." The Hebrew may be trans- 
 lated : " When your brother shall fall into poverty 
 
 and miseiy, you shall support him ; and as to the 
 stranger or foreigner that shall be settled among you, 
 you shall take no usury of him ; you shall not lend 
 him your money (or usury," &c. So that this passage 
 would contain two precepts: first, that a brother was 
 to be maintained when in poverty ; secondly, that 
 even a stranger was to be relieved without paying 
 usury. In Deut. xxiii. 19, 20, however, we have the 
 following : " Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy 
 brother, usury of money, usury of victuals, usuiy of 
 any thing that is lent upon usury. Unto a stranger 
 thou mayest lend upon usur}', but unto thy brother 
 thou shalt not lend upon usury : that the Lord thy 
 God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand 
 to, in the land whither thou goest to ])ossess it." In 
 this place the Lord seems to tolerate usury towards 
 strangers ; that is, the Canaanites, and other people 
 devoted to subjection, but not toward such strangers 
 against whom the Hebrews had no quarrel, and 
 against whom the Lord had not denounced his judg- 
 ments. To exact usury is here, according to Am- 
 brose, an act of hostility ; it was a kind of waging 
 war with the Canaanites, and of ruining them by 
 means of usury. The true inference seems to be, 
 that God did indeed tolerate, but not approve, the 
 usury which the Hebrews received from the Canaaif- 
 ites. He allowed thua much to the hardness of their 
 hearts, because it could not be entirely prevented. 
 
 Our Saviour has revoked all such tolerations, which 
 obtained under the old law, Luke vi. 30 — 33. 
 
 I, UZ, the eldest son of Aram, and grandson of 
 Shem, is thought to have peopled Trachonitis,a prov- 
 ince beyond Jordan, having Arabia D< sprta east, and 
 Batanea west. The ancients say, that Uz founded the 
 city of Damascus ; and the Arabians aftinn, that Uz 
 had Ad for a son, who was father of a people called 
 Adites, in Arabia Felix. 
 
 II. UZ, Land of. Euscbius and Jerome assure us, 
 that, according to the tradition of the people of Pales- 
 tine, and aroimd it, tlie city of Astaroth-Carn-.im was 
 the place of Job's habitation; but Astaroth-Carnaim 
 was beyond Jordan, between Mahanaim and Esdrai, 
 on the Jabbok. Others suppose he lived in the city of 
 Bozra, the capital of Idumea ; but Calmet, who thinks 
 that Job may be the Jobab mentioned in Gen. xxxvi. 
 33, 34, and i Chron. i. 43, 44, believes that the city 
 of Dinhabah, in Moab, was the country which Scrip- 
 ture assigns lor Job's dv^elling-place. 
 
 Dr. Good, in one of the dissertations prefixed to his 
 translation of the Book of Job, has bestowed much 
 labor on this question. The following extract cannot 
 fail to be acceptable to the reader: — "The innncdiate 
 district of Arabia to which the ensuing poem directs 
 our attention, is the land of Uz, which by sonie geog- 
 raphers has been placed in Sandy, and by others in 
 Stony, Arabia. Bochart took a learl in the fornser 
 opinion, and has been powerfully supported by Sjian- 
 heim, an.d the \vriters of that very excellent work, the 
 Universal History. The general argmnent is as fol- 
 lows : Ptolemy has described a region which he calls 
 /Esitee, as situated in this very province, boimded by 
 the Caiichabeni, who iidiabited the southern banks 
 of the Euphrates, on the north, and by the moinitains 
 of ChaldaBa on the cast ; and as the Septuagint, and 
 the Greek writers generally, translate Uz by -Unin.-, 
 ^lusitis, there is a probability, it is contended, that the 
 Ausitis, or Ausitai, of the poem of Job, was the same 
 as the j^sitse of Ptolemy ; a probability which is con- 
 siderably strengthened by our finding, in Ptolemy's 
 delineation of this same province, three districts, de- 
 nominated Sabe, Thema, and Busitis, veiy closely
 
 uz 
 
 [910] 
 
 uzz 
 
 corresponding in sound with the Sabeea, Teman, and 
 Buz of the same poem. In addition to which, we 
 are expressly told, in the very opening of the poem, 
 that the country was often infested by hordes of 
 Chaldean banditti, whose mountains form the boun- 
 dary line between the Ptolemaic ^Esitse and Chaldea. 
 In consequence of which it is ingeniously conjec- 
 tured that the land of Uz and of Buz, the jEsitse and 
 Busitis of Ptolemy, were respectively ])eopled and 
 named from Uz and Buz, two of the sons of Nahor, 
 and consequently nephews of Abraham, the resi- 
 dence of whose father, Terah, was at Haran, or 
 Charraj, on the opposite bank of the Euphrates, and 
 necessarily, therefore, in the neighborhood of 
 iEsitae. 
 
 " Yet, this hypothesis can by no means be recon- 
 ciled with the geogi-aphy of the Old Testament, which 
 is uniform in placing the land of Uz, or the Ausitis 
 of the Septuagint, in Stony Arabia, on the south- 
 western coast of the lake Asphaltites, or the Dead 
 sea, in a line between Egypt and Philistia, suiTounded 
 by Kedar, Teman and Midian, all of them districts 
 of Stony Arabia ; and, as though to set eveiy remain- 
 ing doifbt completely at rest, situated in idumea, or 
 the land of Edom or Esau, (of whose position there 
 can be no question,) and comprisiHg so large a i)art 
 of it, that Idumea and Ausitis, or the land of Uz, and 
 the land of Edom, were convertible terms, and 
 equally employed to import the same region. Thus 
 Jeremiah: (Lam. iv. 21.) 'Rejoice, and be glad, O 
 davighter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz.' 
 Whence Eusebius : ' Idumea is the region of Esau, 
 siirnamed Edom : it is that part which lies about 
 Petrasa, (Stony Arabia,) now called Gabalene, and 
 with some writers is the Ausitis, or country of Job ; " 
 an opinion advanced with great modesty, considering 
 that he himself appears to have concurred in it. 
 
 "In effect, nothing is clearer than that all the per- 
 sons introduced into the ensuing poem were Idumas- 
 ans, dwelling in Idumea ; or, in other words, Edomite 
 Arabs. These characters are. Job himself, of the 
 land of Uz, Eliphaz of Teman, a district of as much 
 repute as Uz -, and, upon the joint testimony of Jere- 
 miah, (xlix. 7, 20.) Ezekicl, (xxv. 13.) Amos (i. 11, 
 12.) and Obadiah, (v. 8, 9.) a part, and principal part, 
 of Idumea; Bildad of Shuah, always mentioned in 
 conjunction with Sheba and Dedan, the first of which 
 was probably named after one of the brothers of Jok- 
 Uin or Kahtau, and the two last from two of his sons, 
 all of them being uniformly placed in the vicinity of 
 Idumea; Zophar of Naama, a city importing pleas- 
 antness, which is also stated by Joshua (xv. 21, 41.) 
 to have been situated in Idumea, and to have lain in 
 a southern direction, towards its coast, or the shoi-es 
 of the Red sea ; and Elihu of Buz, which, as 
 the name of a place, occurs only once in Sacred 
 Writ, but is there mentioned in conjunction with 
 Teman and Dedan, (Jer. xxv. 23.) and hence neces- 
 sarily, like themselves, a border city upon Ausitis, 
 Uz, or Idumea. 
 
 " Nothing, therefore, appears clearer, than that the 
 Uz, or Ausitis, mentioned in the ensuing poem, nuist 
 have been situate in Stony, and not in Sandy, Arabia ; 
 and that the j'Esitis of Ptolemy could not have been 
 the same place. In reality, to make it so, Bochart 
 and those who advocate his opinion are obliged to 
 gupposc, first, a typographical error of yEsitis for 
 Ausitis in the text of Ptolemy ; and next, that the 
 position of iEsitis itself is not correctly laid down in 
 Ptolemy's delineation, which they admit ought to be 
 placed in a higher northern latitude, by nearly two 
 
 degrees. Uz, Buz, Teman, Dedan and Seba arc 
 names not unfrequent in the earlier ]5art of the He- 
 brew Scriptures ; and hence it is by no means diffi- 
 cult to suppose that, in different provinces of the 
 same country, similar names may hisve been given to 
 different districts or cities. And it is highly proba- 
 ble that the Seba of Ptolemy was so denominated, 
 not from the son of Abraham of this name by Ketu- 
 rah, but from one of the descendants of Cush, who 
 had a son of the name of Seba, and two grandsons 
 named Shebah and Dedan, (Gen. x. 7.) and who in 
 various places are incidentally stated to have travel- 
 led towards the eastern parts of Happy Arabia, and 
 consequently in the very track in wliich the Seba of 
 Ptolemy is situated ; a probability very strongly cor- 
 roborated from the name of Raamah, the father of 
 Sheba and Dedan, being also mentioned by Ezekiel, 
 (xxvii. 22.) as that of a celebrated commercial city 
 lying in the same track, by the Septuagint written 
 -riyiHi, Bhegma ; and from the same name, with the 
 Septuagint mode of spelling it, occiu-ringin Ptolemy, 
 at no great distance from his Seba. 
 
 "It only remains to be observed, that allowing this 
 chorography to be correct, there is no difficulty in 
 conceiving that hordes of predatory Chaldeans, and 
 even of the Sabeans of Ptolemy, should occasionally 
 have infested the countiy of Idumea, and carried off 
 the camels of Job, unlimited as they were in their 
 rovings, and addicted to general plunder, perhaps, as 
 bishop Lowth conjectures, over the whole extent of 
 country from the Euphrates to Egypt. 
 
 "In few words, the country which forms the 
 scene of the poem before us, was almost as richly en- 
 dowed with names as ancient Greece, and, in many 
 respects, from causes not dissimilar. It was first 
 called Horitis, or the land of the Horim, or Horites, 
 in consequence, as is generally supposed, of its 
 having been first possessed and peopled by a leader 
 of the name of Hor, and his tribe or family. Among 
 the descendants of Hor, one of the most distinguished 
 characters was Seir ; and from his era it was better 
 known by the name of the land of Seir. This chief- 
 tain had a numei-ous family of sons and grandsons: 
 among the most signalized of the latter was Uz, or 
 Utz ; and from him, and not from Uz the son of Na- 
 hor, it seems to have been called Ausitis, or the land 
 of Uz. The family of Hor, Seir, or Uz, were at 
 length, however, dispossessed of the entire region, by 
 Esau, or Edom ; who, already powerful on his en- 
 tering Arabia, rendered himself still more so by a 
 marriage with one of the daughters of Ismael ; and 
 the conquered territory was noAV denominated 
 Idumea, or the land of Edom, under which name it 
 has been generally recognized by the Greek writers." 
 
 UZAL, the sixth son of Joktan, (Gen. x. 27 ; 1 
 Chron. i. 21.) is commonly placed in Arabia Felix. 
 
 UZZAH, son of Abinadab, (2 Sam. vi.) a Levite, 
 who, with his brother, Ahio, conducted the new cart, 
 on which the ark of the covenant was brought from 
 Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem. AVlien they arrived at 
 Nachon's thrashing-floor, Uzzah stretched out his 
 hand to sujiport the ark of God, which seemed to him 
 to be in danger of falling, because of the stumbling 
 of the oxen. In consequence of this, the anger of 
 the Lord smote him, and he died on the place. 
 
 Critics are much divided about the occasion of the 
 death of Uzzah ; and as the history, being related 
 very succinctly, is liable to be misunderstood, it may 
 be proper to notice, 
 
 (1.) That the law (Exod xxv. 14.) ordered the arK 
 to be carried on the shoulders of Levites, whereas,
 
 UZZAH 
 
 [911 ] 
 
 uzz 
 
 in this instance, it was drawn by oxen, on a cart, as 
 if tills carriage by beasts were gooil enough fur it: it 
 was hereby assimilated to the processions ofthe hea- 
 thin, who drew their gods al)out in carriages. 
 
 (2.) The ark ought to have been enveloped, wholly 
 concealed, by the priests, before the Levites ap- 
 proached it : wliereas, no priest attended this proces- 
 sion. ^V^as it carried openly, exposed to view as it 
 was by the Philistines? 1 Sam. vi. 13 — 19. Uzzah, 
 being a Levite, ought to have known these rules, and 
 being the principal in conducting the procession, and, 
 as may be supposed, the elder brotiier, he was prin- 
 cipally guilty ; Ahio being subordinate to him. 
 
 (3.) It is likely, that the oxen drew it safely while 
 in a straight road, but when they came to the thrash- 
 ing-floor, one or both of them became restiff" and 
 stumbled, which, provoking Uzzah, put him ofl' his 
 guard. 
 
 [This solution seems to be most in accordance 
 with the words of David afterwards, when about to 
 
 bring the ark from the house of Obed-edom to Zion, 
 1 Chron. xv. After saying (verse 2) that "none 
 ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites," he 
 sunmions all the priests and Levites to assist in the 
 removal of it, and then says, (verse 13,) "Because ye 
 did it not at the first, the Lord our God made' a 
 breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the 
 due order." This is said in evident allusion to the 
 breach made upon Uzzah, i. e. the breaking forth of 
 God's anger against Uzzah, 2 Sam. vi. 8, and 1 Chron. 
 xiii. IL R. 
 
 UZZEN-SIIERAH, a city of Ephraim, built by 
 Sherah, daughter of Beriah, and granddaughter of 
 Ephraim, 1 Chron. vii. 22 — 24. 
 
 UZZI, son of Bukki, the sixth high-priest of the 
 Jews, of the race of Eleazar, was succeeded by Eli, 
 A. M. 2828. 
 
 UZZLVH, or Azariau, king of Judah. See Aza.- 
 
 RIAH YIII. 
 
 V 
 
 VEX 
 
 VEIL 
 
 VANITY is jnit (1.) for vain glory, or pride, 
 which inflates men with a great opinion of them- 
 selves ; boasting, or self-conceit, Ps. cxix. 37 ; 2 Pet. 
 ji. 18 ; (2.) for lying, Ps. iv. 2 ; (3.) for mere emptiness, 
 Eccles. i ; Ps. cxiiv. 4 ; (4.) for idols, Dent, xxxii. 
 21 ; 2 Kings xvii. 15; Jer. ii. 5; (5.) for wantonly, 
 imnecessarily, &c. Exod. xx. 7. (6.) V'ain is opposed 
 to true, real, substantial. Ps. v. 10, "Their heart is 
 vain, or fidl of vanity and lying." Ps. xii. 2, They 
 have deceived their neighbors by vain discoui-ses, by 
 words of deceit and lies. To lift up the soul to 
 vanity, (Ps. xxiv. 4.) is, to swear vainly and falsely. 
 
 VASllTI, a wife of Ahasuerus, divorced by him, 
 in favor of Esther. See Esther, and Ahasl'erus. 
 
 \'EIL, a kind of scarf or mantle, with which 
 females in the East cover the face and head. 
 
 In the history of Abimelech and Sarah, (Gen. xx. 
 16.) the veil is by some supposed to be described by 
 the circumlocution of " a covering to the eyes." [But 
 the phrase " covering to the eyes " refers evidently 
 to the moneif given by Abimelech, viz. the thousand 
 pieces of silver, which were to bo a covering to the 
 eyes of others, i. e. an atoning present, a testimony 
 of her innocence in the eyes of all. See Abime- 
 lech I. R. 
 
 It is related of Moses, (Exod. xxxiv. 33.) that after 
 coming down from the mount, "the skin of his face 
 shone ; " so that, in order to quiet the minils of the 
 people, "he put a veil over his face." This veil is 
 called ny:^-:, mnsveh, and seems to denote not a close 
 texture, but a loosely woven, or open net-work ma- 
 terial. This idea shows the j)ropriety of the appli- 
 cation of a like word in Isa. xxv. 7, " The Lord shall 
 take away, in this mountain, the superficial icrapper, 
 cornering close up, which is upon all nations, whereby 
 they are iotally |)recluded from correct knowledge of 
 God ; as well as the veil of a looser texture, [inasvch,) 
 the spreading spread overall people ; which ])ermits 
 some small glimi)sc (by natural conscience, Rom. ii. 
 14, 17) of the divine excellences to pass through it; 
 affording, not a clear view, but a confused perception, 
 to those who wish to examine beyond it. This 
 seems to be the very idea of the aposde, 2 Cor. iii. 
 
 12, 13 : — " We use gi-eat openness, and plainness of 
 speech, in discovering the gospel to you ; not as 
 Moses did, who put a net- work veil over his face, so 
 that Israel couhl not look steadfastly — to the end — 
 fully — thoroughly, entirely, into that which was to be 
 abolished : they could see a part, but not the whole ; 
 they saw it as it were through the meshes of the net- 
 work, but not clearly, distinctly : they discerned ill- 
 defintdhj, not, as you may do, punctually, for we do 
 not use the slightest prevention of sight ; — and this 
 veil, which admits but such imperfect views of things, 
 continues still u])on their heart, but shall be removed ; 
 so that they shall see all things clearly, when that 
 heart shall turn to the Lord." [The distinction here 
 made exists only in the fancy ofthe writer. R. 
 
 There is a kind of veil or garment mentioned in 
 Ruth iii. 15, named m^cc, mitpahhath, which, by the 
 expression of Boaz, it should seem, Ruth wore upon 
 her person. It a])pears also not to have been very 
 large, as Ruth held it open, to receive six measures of 
 barley. Besides, as she carried this quantity, it could 
 not have been extremely heavy, and yet it is most 
 likely Boaz nearly or altogether filled it. A word, 
 very closely allied to this, if not the very same, with 
 a Chaldee variation, is used, Ezek. xiii. 18, to denote 
 a veil, (Eng. trans. ^^ kerchief" from the French 
 couvre-chef,) which is expressly said to be worn on 
 the head ; consequently, it is not the neck couvre-chef 
 of our females ; as otherwise might have been 
 thought. — " Wo to the women who adapt cushions 
 to all reclining arms, and who compose veils (-nsnr) 
 to be worn u]Jon the head of females of all statures, 
 in order to render them more alluring, for purposes 
 of volu|)tuousness, to hunt souls — jiersons: .... I 
 will tear away the pillows from your lolling arms ; 
 your kerchiefs also will I tear, that they may no longer 
 adorn you ; and will let go the (male) souls — persons, 
 whom you have hunted, and caught in your toils." 
 q. d. "Some of my people you worry r'^ 1 seduce 
 by voluptuous attractions and solicitations; othere 
 you chase and pursue, till they are terrified, to answer 
 your criminal purposes: but from both these methods 
 of attack will I fleliver them : and I will punish you."
 
 VEIL 
 
 [912] 
 
 VER 
 
 From this use of this kind of veil, it appears that it 
 was esteemed a very ornamental part of the head- 
 dress ; and herein it agrees with the directions of 
 Naomi to Ruth, to dress herself to advantage. It was, 
 perhaps, not, therefore, a veil to be taken off and put 
 on, but was constantly worn on the head, and has, 
 possibly, its representatives in the modern caps or tur- 
 bans of our young women. 
 
 We read, Gen. xxiv. 65, that Rebekah, seeing Isaac 
 advancing towards her, covered herself with a veil, 
 or rather with the veil, (ri^j'sn, hats-fsdiph,) either, (1.) 
 that which it was customary for brides to wear, or, 
 (2.) that which had been provided for her at home: 
 if these ideas may coalesce into one, then this was 
 provided at home, for Rebekah to wear as a bridal 
 veil. That it was used for that purpose in her inten- 
 tion, is certain ; but was it adopted on account of 
 haste? or was it that veil which due formality 
 required? This question is rendered perplexing, by 
 the same word being used in the history of Tamar, 
 who " put away the garments of her widowhood, 
 and covered up herself in a tsdiph;^' whence, it 
 seems, this was not a widow-like dress, or dress of 
 grief, but of joy ; yet it could hardly be the regular 
 bridal veil, (notwithstanding Mr. Harmer thinks it 
 wa«,) for what could any ol)server, or bystander, think 
 might induce a bride to sit as Tamar sat, " like a 
 harlot, by the way side?" — Besides, could Judah 
 think her a bride, and yet make such projjosals as he 
 did to her ? It is, therefore, likely, that this veil was 
 worn by Chaldean women, or stranger women — 
 foreigners to the country of Canaan ; hence it seems 
 to be certain, that Rebekah brought with her that 
 kind of veil which in her. own country would have 
 been esteemed honorable, on any occasion ; and Ta- 
 mar, (a Canaanitess,) by wearing such a veil, appeared 
 to Judah to be a foreigner — a stranger- woman — who 
 had strayed from her associates, or whose living de- 
 pended on tlie disposal of her j)erson. 
 
 [Another Hebrew word rendered veil in the Eng- 
 lish version, is -im, radul, which, however, seems 
 properly to denote a fine upper garment or mantle, 
 which females were accustomed to throw over their 
 other garments when they went out, Cant. v. 7 ; Isa. 
 iii. 23. The Greek word fzovnla, power, which is also 
 thus translated in 1 Cor. xi. 10, seems there more 
 properly to be put for emblem of power or of honor 
 and dig^itrf, i. e. a veil. This, Paul says, should be 
 worn by females in the churches, on account of the 
 angels. Who are these ? Some say, the angels of 
 the churches, i. e. the bishops. Others, better, the 
 messengers, i. e. spies of the heathen, evil-minded per- 
 sons, who frequent the assemblies in order to spy out 
 in-egularities. Others, still, take angels in the usual 
 sense, and consider Paul as representing the angels 
 of heaven as beholding with deep interest the devo- 
 tions of Christian assemblies. R. 
 
 These remarks will have prepared the way for 
 noticing some of the eastern ideas attached to the 
 veil. 
 
 In the fn-st place, it is i)roper to notice the affront 
 committed against a femali^ in the East, by lifting up 
 her veil. We nfiglit quote- from Schultens, who 
 shows, from Arabian writers, that the image of tear- 
 ing or taking away the nil cxjiresses the unliappy 
 state of eastern virgin:*, wiicii affronted, violated and 
 insulted. So Cabihaii, tlie mother of Khalife I\Iotaz, 
 complained of Saleh, the 'f lukisli chief, " He has torn 
 my veil ;" to ex])ress with decency, " I le has dishonor- 
 ed mc ; " but we rather appeal to the story of Susanna, 
 m the Apocrypha, as best adapted to tiie following 
 
 illustration. The writer notices as an act of ill 
 ti'eatment, " Now Susanna was a very delicate woman, 
 and beauteous to behold; and these wicked men 
 commanded to uncover her. face, (for she ivas 
 covered,) that they might be filed unth her beauty. 
 Therefore, her friends, and all that saw her, wept;" 
 i. e. the elders unveiled her from impure motives. 
 
 Many have been the inquiries to which the precept 
 of our Lord in Matt. v. 28, has given occasion : " Who- 
 soever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath 
 committed adulter}' with her already in his heart." 
 Great stress has usually been laid on the motive, and 
 veiy justly ; but Lardner and others insist, that 
 ■/I'lurzu muM be taken for a married woman, as is 
 common enough ; nevertheless, the true import of 
 the passage, IMr. Taylor thinks, can only be under- 
 stood, by considering the closely covered state of the 
 eastern women, under their veils, in which, being 
 totally concealed, they offer no occasion of being 
 LOOKED UPON ; but would take it as the greatest in- 
 solence — as nothing shoi-t of the gi-eatest insolence 
 could dictate the offence — should their veils be drawn 
 aside. Understand, therefore, the passage thus: 
 "You have heard that it was said in ancient times, 
 Thou shalt not commit adultery : but I say to you, 
 that mj' purer ])rincipies forbid the most i-emote ad- 
 vance toward that crime, any commencement of what 
 may lead to it ; whoever removes the veil, to look on 
 any woman, (whether married or unmairied, whether 
 of rigid or of easy virtue,) if he violate modesty by 
 such a liberty for excitative purposes, he has sullied 
 his spiritual purity, and is guilty." Is not this the 
 true import of the term to look on, on which the 
 question turns? [But does not this 7ninuteness of 
 meaning detract much from the force of our Lord's 
 precept? Cannot a man, according to our Lord's 
 idea, just as much commit adultery or fornication in 
 his heart by casting his eyes upon a woman to lust 
 ajler her, or even in thinking of her, as by actually 
 tearing away her veil to look upon lier ? Away, then, 
 with such trifling ! R. 
 
 In the Fragments from which these remarlcs are 
 selected, and some others which follow, (Nos. 159 — 
 165,) are collected from various travellers the most 
 ample accounts of the forms of eastern veils, and of 
 the manner in which they are worn. From these 
 accounts it is manifest that it is a most im})ortant part 
 of female dress, and is Irequently alluded to, where 
 not distinctly or apparently sp,okcn of in Scripture. 
 
 VERSIONS OF THE Scriptures. Our attention 
 must be confined, in this article, to those which are 
 more usually denominated the Ancient Versions. 
 These are the following : The Greek versions, of 
 which the SEPTUACiNTor Alexandrine version is the 
 chief; the Latin versions, viz. the Vulgate and 
 Itala; the C/i«Wee versions, or Takgums ; the Samar- 
 itan version ; the Pcshito and other Syriac versions ; 
 and the .^Irabic versions. 
 
 Af\er the Hebrew had ceased to be s])o]ccii, and 
 had become a dead language, in the second century 
 before Christ, and still more after the spread of Chris- 
 tianity, translations of the Hebrew Scriptures into 
 the prevailing languages of the age, became a thing 
 of necessity, both to Jews and Christians, in Palestine 
 and in other countries. Accordingly, almost every 
 language then current received at least one vereion, 
 which became of ecclesiastical authority, and was 
 used instead of the original Hebrew text. In this 
 way,there arose,almost contemporaneoush', the Alex- 
 andrine version for the Grecian and Eg} ptian Jews, 
 and the earliest Chaldee versions for those who dwelt
 
 VERSIONS 
 
 [ 013 
 
 VElfrilOKS 
 
 l!l Palestine and Babylonia, After the introdi'.ction 
 of Clu'istianily, tlie (JJn-istians adopted at first the 
 Septuagint ; but in the second century there ap- 
 peared three or four otlUT Greek versions from the 
 hands of Jewish and CJiristian translators, the object 
 of which was to supersede the Septuagint. In this, 
 however, they did not succeed ; and these works are 
 now lost. About the same time, tlie Syrian Christians 
 made the Syriac version ; and the Latin Christians 
 procured a Latin version of the Septuagint, whicli at 
 (he close of the fourth century gave place to the ver- 
 sion of Jerome, the present Vulgate. After the wide 
 extension of the Arabic language in the seventh 
 century, both Jews and Christians l)egan to translate 
 the Scriptures into Arabic also ; the Jews out of the 
 original Hebrew, and the Christians from the Sep- 
 tuagint. Indeed, this latter is the case with all 
 translations of the Old Testament, made by the Chris- 
 tians, into the oriental languages. 
 
 The versions of the Scriptures arc usually divided 
 into the immediate, or those made directly from the 
 original text, and the mediate, or those made from 
 other versions. The latter arc also sometimes called 
 daughttis of the former. It is only those of the first 
 species which have any hcrmencutical value ; those 
 of the latter kind can only serve for aid in the verbal 
 criticism of the versions from which they have flowed, 
 and are indeed of no special importance, even here, 
 except in the case of the Sej)tuagint, the text of 
 which has been so much corrupted. 
 
 The ancient translators possessed neither grammati- 
 cal nor lexicographical helps, and followed, therefore, 
 every where, exegetical tradition. As their object, 
 too, was always practical, rather than a learned or 
 scientific one, they are olten apt to fail in the requi- 
 site degree of exactness ; and sometimes also they 
 interweave their own views and impressions in their 
 versions. This last circumstance renders these ver- 
 sions less available as it respects exegesis ; but makes 
 them so much the more important as historical docu- 
 ments, in regard to the views of the age and of the 
 sect to which they belong. 
 
 Septuagint, or Alexandrine Version. The Septua- 
 gint, or the version of the LXX, or the Alexandrine 
 version, is undoubtedly the oldest of all the Greek, or, 
 indeed, of all the versions whatever of the Old Tes- 
 tament. There was, it is true, a legend among the 
 Fathers, tliat there had existed an earlier Greek ver- 
 sion, in which Plato had read the Bible ; but this is 
 .■■.ssuredly without foundation, and was suggested by 
 t!ie Fathers, in order to aftbrd ground ibr the assump- 
 tion, tli:'.t Plato and the Greek philosophers had bor- 
 rowed from i\Ioses. (Clem. Alexandr. Siromata, i. ]). 
 52ti, ed. Potter.) The origin of this version, like that 
 of the canon, in some degree, is veiled in Jewish 
 legends; according to which Ptolemy Philadelphns, 
 king (;f Egypt, from 284 to 946, B. C. having formed 
 the wisli, throiigli the advice of his librariiin, Deme- 
 trius Plialerius, to possess a Greek translation of the 
 .Mosaic writings for the Alexandrine li!)rary, sent an 
 embassy to Jerusalem for this object, and obtained a 
 Hebrew manuscript, and 72 learned Jews to translate 
 it. These all labored together in the translation, 
 which, after mutual consultation, they dictated to 
 Demetrius. This legend is given in an epistle said 
 to have been written by Arista'us to his brother in 
 Alexandria, but which is s]jurious. Jose|)hus also re- 
 lates the story, lib. xii.2. 2 — 14. The pretended epis- 
 tle of Arlst;eus is found in Van Dale's Diss. sup. 
 Aristajum, Ainst. 1705; in H. Hod;/ de Biblior. Text, 
 originalibus. Ox. 1705 ; in Josephi Opp. ed. Haver- 
 115 
 
 camp, Amst. 172(3. The legend, as transmitted to U3 
 by the Fathers, is far more romantic. According to 
 Justin ]Martyr, the 72 interprcteis were distributed 
 into as many separate cells, hi which they were con- 
 fined until they had completed each his separate 
 translation, or 72 in all ; and UiesCj when afterwards 
 compared, were found to agree verbatim throughout. 
 
 Ifj now, we leave out of view these later fabulous 
 additions, sti!), even the earlier narrative of the Jews 
 is full of improbability; An Egyptian monarch 
 would hardiy have thought it necessary to send an 
 embassy to Jerusalem to obtain a manuscript ; and 
 the eii-cuinstauce as related savors strong.']' '^f Jov- 
 ish national self-complacency and pride. TliC most 
 probable supposition is, that after the Jews had in 
 great numbers settled down permanently in Egypt, 
 and had, by degrees, forgotten in a great measure the 
 Hebrew language, a Greek version of their Scrip- 
 tures, and especially of the Law, or Pentateuch, be- 
 came necessary for the use of their pubhe worship 
 in their synagogues and temple. (See Alexa.nduia, 
 p. 43.) This would be, in all probability, prej^ared 
 under the authority of the Sanhedrim, which con- 
 sisted of 72 members. Or this number, moreover, 
 is a sort of round number, and might be used merely 
 to denote a version made by many interpreters. SucTt 
 a version would not impiobably be received by De- 
 metrius into the library ; for we know that he set on 
 foot a collection of all known codes of law, with 
 reference to a new code contemplated by Ptolemy 
 Lagus. The translation of the other books, besides 
 the Pentateuch, seems to have taken place gradually, 
 between this time and the birth of Christ. Of the 
 book of Esther, it is said, in a note at the end, that it 
 was translated under Ptolemy Philoniator. The 
 book of Daniel seems to have been translated last of 
 all ; on which account it is, perhaps, that this book is 
 not contained at all in our manuscripts of the Sep- 
 tuagint. The translation of Daniel, in our editions, 
 is that of Theodotion. The genuine Alexr.ndrino 
 version of Daniel was first discovered in the pre- 
 ceding century, and published at Rome, 1772, 
 rejirintcd Gottingen, 1773. 
 
 The charactei'of this version is different, according 
 to the different books. It is easy to distinguish five 
 or six difierent translators. The Pentateuch is best 
 translated, and exhibits a clear and flowing Greek 
 style ; though it seems to have been ni.ide from a 
 differfnt aiid interpolated original text. The next 
 in rank is the translator of Job and Proverbs ; he 
 indeed often misses the true sriise, but still gives 
 eveiT where a good idea, and his style is like that of 
 an original writer. The Psalms and the projihets 
 are translated worst of all ; often, ii:deed, without 
 anv sense. The version of Ecclesiastes is dis- 
 tinguished by OH anxious literal adherence to the 
 original. — Indeed, the real value of the Septuagint, as 
 a version, stands in no sort of relation to its reputa- 
 tion. Ail the translators engaged in it appear to 
 have been wanting in a proper knowledge of the 
 two languages, and in a due attention to gram- 
 nmr, etymology and orthography. Hence they often 
 confound proper names, and appellations, kindred 
 verbs, similar words and letters, etc. and this in 
 cases where wc are not at liberty to conjectum 
 various readings. The avIioIc vereion is rather free 
 than literal ; the fiirures and metaphors are i-esolved, 
 and there are frequent allusions inserted to later 
 times and later Jev.ish dogmas : e. g. Isa. xiii. 21 ; 
 ix. 12; xix. 18, 25: xxxiv. 14. Not unfrequently, 
 too, particular references and allusions to Egypt, and
 
 VERSIONS 
 
 [914] 
 
 VERSIONS 
 
 Egj'ptian antiquities, are inserted ; e. g. Isa. xix. The 
 Greek of the Septuagint is that of the Jews in 
 Egypt, a branch of the later Greek of the common 
 people, and called usually ', i^<"i/,', the common, or also 
 the Macedonic-Alexandrine dialect. This common 
 dialect, or vulgar language, spread itself, after the 
 time of Alexander, over all the nations which spoke 
 Greek, and was distinguished from the Attic, &.c. by 
 the circumstance, that it adopted much from the 
 ancient Doric. It was fii-st used as the language of 
 books, in the version of the LXX, and is, hence, 
 often called the Alexandrine dialect. From the 
 tnixture of Hebraisms which it received in the mouths 
 of the Jews, who spoke Greek, i. e. the Hellenistic 
 Jews, it is also named the Hellenistic dialect. The 
 New Testament is written in the same dialect, but in 
 a purer form. It is also the language of the Apoc- 
 ry{)ha and of some of the Fathers. The chief phi- 
 lological helps for the study of the Septuagint, are 
 the concordance of Tromm, and the lexicons of the 
 Old Testament by Biel and Schleusner. 
 
 The authority of this new version soon became so 
 great, as to supersede the use of the original Hebrew 
 among all those Jews who spoke Greek. In the 
 Egyptian synagogues, indeed, the original Hebrew 
 was still read along with the Greek version, but the 
 common people no longer understood it. Even 
 scholars, like Philo, no longer understood the 
 national mother tongue, and held entirely to the 
 Greek translation. In Palestine also, this became by 
 degrees current, and was used along with the Chal- 
 dee vereions, especially by the more learned, who 
 were acquainted with Greek. This appears even in 
 Josephus, and from the New Testament. lu both, 
 the version of the LXX seems to lie at the founda- 
 tion ; though the citations do not always accord with 
 it, and the writers sometimes (e. g. Matthew) seem to 
 have had the original before them. (On the citations 
 from the O. T. see Surenhusius, i^/.'J.'-o; xoTaA,u<)(;c, 
 Amst. 713 ; also the Tracts of Owen and Randolph, 
 as published at Andover, 1827.) From the Jews the 
 reputation and authority of the Septuagint passed 
 over to the Christians, who employed it with the same 
 degree of credence as the original. It became of 
 course the point of appeal in the controversies be- 
 tween Jews and Christians, and hence began to lose 
 its consequence in the eyes of the former. As in 
 those controversies the Jews often found themselves 
 worsted, they declared that this lay solely in the 
 Greek translation, and carried their appeal to the He- 
 brew original, and also to other versions, which they 
 said were more literal. The Talmudists, among whom 
 the ancient hatred against the Greek again awoke, 
 proclaimed a curse upon tlie Greek law, or Penta- 
 teuch, and ajipointed a fast upon the day on which 
 they supposed the translation to have been suggested. 
 
 The Text of the Septuagint has suffered greatlv. 
 Through the multitude of copies, which the verv 
 general usage rendered necessary, and by means of 
 ignorant critics, the text of this version, in the third 
 century, had fallen into the most lamentable state. 
 In order to remedy this evil, Origen set himself to 
 obtain a corrected text by means of a comparison of 
 the original Hebrew and the other Greek versions. 
 The plan which he adopted was, to place the 
 original text and the different vei-sions in parallel 
 columns ; by which means, also, he was able to give 
 to the Christians, in their polemics with the Jews, the 
 benefit of all the versions of the Old Testament in 
 one view. This work was the celebrated Hexapla 
 of Origen, Vja.T^a sc. pi^nia, i. e. the Bible in six col- 
 
 umns. It contained, besides the Hebrew text and the 
 LXX, also the three later Greek versions of Aquila, 
 Symmachus and Theodotion, described below, to- 
 gether with the Hebrew text, written in Greek letters. 
 In order to emend the LXX, he compared the Greek 
 with the original, in which he used the assistance 
 of learned Jews. Where there was an omission in 
 the Greek, he supplied it from one of the other ver- 
 sions, usually that of Theodotion ; marking the 
 additions with an asterisk at the beginnuig, and with 
 the name of the translator at the end. Where the 
 LXX had any thing too much, he let it stand, indeed, 
 but marked it with an obelisk or dagger at the 
 beginning, to denote its spuriousness. The whole 
 work consisted of fifty rolls or volumes, and was 
 afterwards seen and used by Jerome in the auto- 
 graph ; but was, not long after, lost, and exists now 
 only in fragments. 
 
 These fragments have been collected, and published 
 by Montfauijon, Paris, 1714, 2 vols. fol. reprinted in 
 an abridgment by Bahrdt, Leipz. 1769 — 70. But the 
 very plan adopted by Origen became, alas ! in the 
 sequel, the occasion of still more numerous, and 
 greater corruptions of the Greek text of the Scj)tua- 
 gint. The transcribers left out all the critical marks 
 and signs which Origen had employed, but not the 
 w^ords which he had inserted in the text; so that the 
 evil was worse than before. 
 
 The text which has come down to us from this 
 source is called the Text of the Hexapla, or of Origen, 
 in distinction from the earlier text, which is called 
 the zoo/,', the common, or the Greek Vulgate. In 
 the manuscripts which exist at the present day, as 
 also in the printed editions, these two different texts 
 lie at the foundation, according as they follow the 
 two principal manuscripts, viz. the Roman, or the 
 Codex Vaticanus, the basis of which is the zom', or 
 earlier common text ; and the Alexandrine, from the 
 Codex Mexandrinus, in the British museum at Lon- 
 don, which exhibits more of the readings and inter- 
 polations of the Hexapla of Origen. Hence the 
 editions of the Septuagint fall also into two classes, 
 viz. those which follow the Codex Vaticanus, as the 
 editions of L. Bos. 1709, and Reineccius, 1730, 1757 ; 
 and those which follow the Codex Alexandr. as the 
 editions of Grabe, Ox. 1707, and of Breitingcr, 1730. 
 A critical edition of the Septuagint, with a full col- 
 lection of various readings from all the manuscripts, 
 and also out of the versions which have flowed from 
 it, was undertaken in England, by Dr. Holmes, 
 towards the close of the last century. The book of 
 Genesis was published in folio, in 1798 ; Exodus, 
 1801; Leviticus, 1802; Numbers, 1803; Deuter- 
 onomy, 1804 ; and the book of Daniel in 1805, just 
 before the death of the editor. The work has since 
 been continued by Dr. Pai-sons ; Joshua was pub- 
 lished in 1810 ; Judges and Ruth in 1812 ; and the 
 six remaining historical bonks, in the five years fol- 
 lowing ; thus completing the second voliune. The 
 work is still continued. (See, on the history of the 
 Septuagint, Hody de Biblior. Textibus orig. Ox. 
 1705 ; and Fabricii Bibliotheca Groeca, edit. Harles, 
 vol. ii. iii.) 
 
 The principal mediate versions, which have been 
 made from the Septuagint, are the Ilala, or ancient 
 Latin version, one of the Syriac versions, the Ethio- 
 pic, Egyptian, Armenian, Georgian or Grusinian, 
 Sclavonian, and several Arabic versions. 
 
 Other Greek Versions. In the latter half of the 
 second century after Christ, there appearc 1, nearly 
 contemporaneously, three now Greek versic as oftlio
 
 TTERSIOiNS 
 
 [915] 
 
 VERSIONS 
 
 rvholc Old Testament. The author of the first was 
 Aquila, a Jew by birth, wliose translation, therefore, 
 was adopted for use in many synagogues. The au- 
 thors of the two others, Si:mmachus and Theodo- 
 Tio-V, were Jewish Christians. All those are more 
 exact and literal than the LXX ; they retain the 
 figures and metaphors of the original ; and none of 
 tliLMU exliibit the arbitraiy caprices of the Alexan- 
 drine translators. Aquila, especially, is in the high- 
 est degree anxious ; he is often so literal as to destroy 
 the sense ; and expresses with the utmost care even 
 the etymologies of the Hebrew. Symmachus, on 
 the contrary, aims at a better Greek style. The- 
 odotion is more eclectic, and he seems to have been 
 wanting in a knowledge of Hebrew. Fragments of 
 all these versions are found in the Hexapla of Origen, 
 as published by 3IontfauQon. From Theodotion 
 alone we have the whole book of Daniel extant, 
 which stands in our editions of the Septuagint. 
 
 Of less importance are some anonymous Greek 
 versions, which Origen denotes as the 5th, Uth and 
 7th. Of rather more value is a Grseco-Samaritan 
 translation, which was made from the Samaritan 
 version. 
 
 In the latter part of the preceding century, a new 
 Greek version of several books of the Old Testa- 
 ment was discovered by Villoison, in a manuscript 
 in the library of St. .Mark's cathedral, Venice ; hence 
 calletl the Versio Veneta, or Graecus Venetus. It 
 comi)rises the Pentateuch, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 
 Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations and Daniel. The 
 Pentateuch was published by Ammon, Erlangen, 
 17D0 — 91 ; the other books by Villoison himself, 
 Strasburg, 1784. It follows slavishly the original, 
 and the verbal interpretation of the Jews ; even the 
 Parasha or Jevv ish divisions of the text are given, 
 and the pages of the manuscript run backwards, like 
 the Hebrew ; the Greek diction is in the highest 
 degree affected. The translator is ever straining 
 after a poetic and Attic style ; along with which 
 occur, nevertheless, the grossest mistakes in lan- 
 guage and newly former! words. Jehovah he trans- 
 lates oiTciri;;. The translator was, most probably, 
 a Byzantine Jew, of the middle ages. 
 
 Jlncient Latin Version, or Itala. After Christianity 
 had extended itself in the West, a Latin version of 
 the Bible also became necessary. In the time of Au- 
 gustin, there were several of these ; although only one 
 of them was adopted by the church, i. e. by ecclesiasti- 
 cal authority. This was called vulgata, (common, 
 })0|)ular,) because it was made from the Greek com- 
 mon version, ', yum]. In modern times this ancient 
 Latin version is often called Itala, in consequence of 
 a passage in Augustin : (de Doctr. Christ, ii. 15.) hut 
 the reading is there false, and it should be read 
 itsilatn. This translation was made literally from 
 the Septuagint, and gives, most conscientiously, even 
 all the verbal mistakes of the Greek. There are still 
 extant of it the Psalms, Job, and some of the apociy- 
 phal books, complete, besides fragments; these were 
 all collected and published by Sahatier, Rheims, 1739 
 — 49, 3 vols. fol. As the manuscripts of this version 
 had become by degrees very nuicli corrupted, a re- 
 \ ision of the Psalter and book of Job was under- 
 taken, in A. D. 383, by Jerome, in pursuance of a 
 commission from the Roman bishoj) Damasus ; this 
 is still extant, and called Psallcrium Romanum, be- 
 cause it was introduced into the Roman diocese. 
 
 The modem Vulgate, or Jerome^s Version. While 
 Jerome was still employed in the revision of the 
 ancient Vulgata, or Itala, he ventured to cominence, 
 
 also, a new version of liis own, out of the original 
 Hebrew ; being induced to the undertaking partly by 
 the counsel of his friends, and partly by his own 
 feeling of the necessity of such a work. He began 
 with the Books of Kings, and completed the work 
 A. D. 405, with Jeremiah. While engaged in this 
 work, he enjoyed the oral instruction of learned Jew- 
 ish rabbins in Palestine, (see Language, p. (J09,) and 
 availed himself of all the former Greek versions and 
 of the Hexapla of Origou. His new version surpasses 
 all the preceding in usefulness. The knowledge of 
 Hebrew which Jerome possessed was, for the age, 
 very respectable ; and he also made himself master 
 of the Chaldee. His manner of explanation connects 
 itself very closely with that of the Jews ; and his 
 choice of Latin expressions is, for the most part, very 
 happy. Still, this production did not meet with the 
 anticipated success and general reception ; and espe- 
 cially Augustin and Rufinus wrote against it with 
 violence, as if a new Bible were about to be intro- 
 duced. Nevertheless, the new version maintained 
 itself along with the ancient one ; and at length, in 
 the seventh century, supplanted it almost entirely. 
 
 But the frequent and constant use of the new ver- 
 sion now occasioned again, in turn, a very considera- 
 ble coiTuption of the text; so that already in the time 
 of Charlemagne, no copies entirely alike were any- 
 longer to be found. In order to remedy this evil, 
 Charlemagne commissioned Alcuin to make a revis- 
 ion of the manuscripts of the new Latin version. 
 Similar revisions of this version, (the Vulgate,) were 
 made occasionally during the wliole of the middle 
 ages, under the name of Correctoria. These are a 
 kind of Latin Masorah, and consist of various read- 
 ings, and all kinds of critical remarks. Only one 
 correctorium has ever been printed, viz. at Cologne, 
 1508, 4to. 
 
 The Vulgate was the first book ever printed. The 
 first edition is without date or place ; the first with a 
 date was printed at 3Iayence, 1462. At the council 
 of Trent, in 1545, the Vulgate was declared to be the 
 standard version of the Catholic church, and to be 
 of equal aiuhority with the original Scripture. Since 
 this time, the study of the original text has been re- 
 garded by the Catholics as a verging towards heresy. 
 (See Language, p. G09.) The Vulgate at present 
 consists of different elements ; the Psalms and most 
 of the apocryphal books being from the ancient ver- 
 sion, or Itala, and the rest from the later Vulgate. 
 The popes have taken great pains to obtain as cor- 
 rect a text of the V'ulgate as possible ; thus, in 1590, 
 under Sixtus V, appeared the editto Sixtina, which 
 was declared to be the standard for all future editions. 
 But many errors being afterwards discovered in it, 
 the popes purchased up all the copies, so far as pos- 
 sible, and a new standard, the editio Clementina, was 
 published in 1592, which still retains its authority. 
 
 TVie Targums, or Chaldee Versions. All these are 
 the works of Jews living in Palestine and Babylon, 
 from a century before Christ, to the eighth or ninth 
 century after." They bear the name Targum, i.e. 
 translation, from the Chaldee oj-in, to translate. The 
 name paraphrase, by which they are so?netimes called, 
 is unsuitable, since they are not all paraphrastic. 
 That Chaldee translations were already in use in the 
 time of Christ is apparent from IMatt. xxvii. 46, 
 among other passages, where the words are quoted 
 according to the Chaldee version. The more an- 
 cient of the Targums are well translated, and may be 
 reckoned among the best works of the kind. The 
 later ones are more proli.x and paraplirastic, and full
 
 VERSIONS 
 
 [ 91G 
 
 V I x\ 
 
 of ridiculous iiiterpolatioiirj. There ai'c, in all, eleven 
 T:irgiims, of which xiie four Ibllowing are the most 
 important. 
 
 1. Tlie Targum of Onkelos, containiug the Pen- 
 tatc'Lich. The author was, most jjrobably, a pupil of 
 llillel, the grandfather of Gamaliel, Paul's instructor. 
 The style is pure, and the translation very exact and 
 literal. (See Winer, dc Onkelosso Pcntat. Interp. 
 Lijjs. 1820.) 
 
 2. The Targum of Jonathan Bex Uzzif.l, com- 
 jirising the historical books and prophets. He lived 
 a sh.ort time before the birth of Christ, !uU his woi-k 
 is far uiforior to the preceding. It exhibits a multi- 
 tude of arbitrary explanations, interpolations, and later 
 views ; especially such as tend to the honor of the 
 Pharisees. (Com'p. Gesenius Comm. zu Isa. Einl.§ 11. 
 
 3. The version of the Pentateuch, prolessedly by 
 the same Jonathan, but which is spurious. It is 
 hence called the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan. 
 
 4. Tlie Targum of Jerusalem, on the Pentaceucli. 
 All these Targums are to be found in the rab- 
 binic Bibles and the Polyglotts. 
 
 There are smaller separate Targums on the books 
 of Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah. A separate Targum 
 vA the Chronicles was first discov^ered at a later 
 l)eriod in the library of Erfiu-th, and published bv 
 JJeck, 1630—83, 4to. ; and by Wilkins, Amst. 1715, 
 4to. 
 
 Sa.::i'dntan Version. There exists a copy of tlie 
 I*entateuch among the Samaritans, in the Hebrew 
 language, but written with Samaritan letters. (See 
 SA:.iARrrANS, p. 810.) But besides this, thei-o exists 
 also a version of the Pentateuch in the Samaritan 
 language. About the time of Christ's appearance, 
 they had forgotten the ancient Hebrew, as much as 
 the Jcv/s of that age ; and spoke instead of it a pe- 
 culiar dialect, mixed up from Hebrew and Chaldee, 
 but witii many peculiar words. In this dialect the 
 version is made, following their copy or recension 
 of the Penlateuch. Nothing is certainly knov.n 
 respecting the age of this version, except that it had 
 existed a considerable time before Origen's day ; for 
 this fallier cites a Greek version, which had already 
 been made from the Samaritan. The Samaritan 
 version itself is difiicult to be undei-stood, since, 
 besides this, and some few poems, we have nothing 
 ill tliis dialect. The version stands in the Polyglotts ; 
 and Winer has written an essay upon \i—Devir- 
 .'done Sitmaritana, Lips. 1817. See Bib!. R^-pos. Vol. 
 II. p. 720. 
 
 Syriac Versions. There arc two of these, both of 
 which are of Christian origin, having been made by 
 Christians of the Syrian church, who dwelt in Mcs- 
 o!!Otamia and Armenia. T!ie earliest and most 
 celebrated of these is the PcsJiitj, i. i\ plana, simplex, 
 or the clear, the literal. It is the regular version of 
 the Syrian church, atid of all its sects and j)arties, 
 the orthodox and also the heterodox. The Syrian 
 church regards this version as so exceedingly old, as 
 to have been made, by command of king Solomon, 
 Ibr the church in Syria. What is certain is, tiiat in 
 ilie thi;\l century it alread}' ^vas the autitoritative 
 version of the church. The author was, possibly, a 
 Jewish Cliri::tian, and has avaihnl himself of ilic 
 Chaldee vers on. The Peshito follous, in general, 
 the Hebrew literally ; but exhibits also traces of the 
 occasional us3 both of the Septuagint and Chaldee. 
 I !, stands in the Polyglotts ; and a beautiful edition 
 lias also been published in England, under the super- 
 intendence of professor Lee. 
 
 Tlie ot'.ier Svriac version was made from tlie Sen- 
 
 tuagint. and from the text of the Ilexapla, about 
 A. D. G16, for the use of the 3Ionophysites. It is of 
 importance only for the criticism of the Septuagint. 
 There is a complete manuscript of this version exist- 
 ing in the Ambrosian Iil)rary at Milan. No portion 
 of it has been printed, except Jeremiah and Ezekiel, 
 1787, and Daniel, 1788. 
 
 Arabic Versions. After the era of Mohammed, 
 the Arabic became the mother tongue of most of the 
 Jews, and of very numerous bodies of Christians, 
 especially of those in Egypt. It is, tiierefore, no 
 wonder that Arabic versions of the Scriptures \\cre 
 very soon felt to be necessary. Of these there are 
 quite a number, flowing sometimes from the Hebrew, 
 but chiefly from the Septuagint, and also from the 
 Peshito and Vulgate. The most important and best 
 known are the following: — 
 
 1. The Arabic version of R. Saadias Gaon, 
 director of the Jewish academy at Babylon, in the 
 tenth century. It probably comprised, originally, all 
 the Okl Testament ; but there have been printed 
 only the Pentateuch and Isaiah, though some other 
 books, e. g. Job, are extant ui manuscrij)t. This 
 version is jiaraphrastical, and resolves all the tropes 
 and anthropomorphisms ; in other respects it Ibl- 
 lovvs very closely our unpointed Hebrew text. The 
 Pentateuch stands in the Polyglotts ; and Isaiah was 
 published by Paulus, in 1791. 
 
 2. The Mauritanian version of the Pentateuch, 
 made in the thirteenth century, by an Arabian Jew, 
 and published by Erpenius in 1629; hence called 
 Arabs Erpeniana. 
 
 3. The Arabic \ersion of the prophets, foimd in 
 the Polyglotts, which was made fi-om the LXX, 
 apparently by a Christian of Alexandria, after the 
 time of Mohammed. For the Polyglotts, see 
 Bible, p. 177. *R. 
 
 VETCHES, see Pitches. ' 
 
 VIALS, see Cense.i, p. 267. 
 
 VINE. Of this valuable and well-known i)lant 
 there are several species, and there are man}' refer- 
 ences to it in the sacred writings. It grew plentifully 
 in Palestine, and \vas jiarticularly fine in some of the 
 districts. The Scriptures celebrate the vines of 
 Sorek, Sibmah, Jazer and Abel ; and profane authors 
 mention the excellent wines of Gaza, Sarcpta, Liba- 
 nus, Sharon, Ascalon and Tyre. The grapes of 
 Egypt being particularly small, we may easily concei\o 
 of the surprise which was occasioned to the Israelites 
 by witnessing the bunch of grapes brought by the Kpi^■:^ 
 to the camp, from the valley of Eshcol, Numb. xiJi. 
 21. The account of Moses, however, is confirmed 
 by the testimony of several travellers. Doubdau 
 assures us, that in the valley of Eshcol were bunchf:; 
 of grapes often and twelve noirnds. Forstcr tell.-' us, 
 that he was intbrmed by a Religious, -who had lived 
 many years in Palestine, that there Avere bunches of 
 grapes in the valley of Hebron, so large that two 
 men could scarcely carry one. (Comp. Numb. xiii. 
 94.) And Rosenmiiller eays, '-Though the Mahom- 
 cdan religion docs not favor the culti\at:on of the 
 vine, there is no want of vineyards in J'alestine. 
 Besides the large quantities of grapes aud raisins 
 which are daily sent to the marketsof Jerusalem and 
 other neighboring places, Hebron alone, in the first 
 half of the eighteeiuh century, annually sent thrci! 
 hundred camel loads, that is, nearly three hundred 
 thousand weight of grape juice, or honey of raisins, 
 to Egypt. 
 
 Bochart informs us that a triple produce from the 
 same vino is ratliercd every year. In March, after
 
 VINE 
 
 [917 ] 
 
 VINE 
 
 the vine lias produced the first clusters, they cut 
 away from the fruit that wood which is barren. In 
 April a new shoot, bearing fruit, sjjrings from the 
 branch that was lell in March, which is also lopped ; 
 this shoots forth again in May, loaded with the latter 
 grapes. Those clusters which blossomed in March 
 come to maturity and are fit to be gathered in 
 August; those which blossomed in April are gath- 
 ered in September ; and those which blossomed in 
 May must be gathered in October. 
 
 In the East, grapes enter very largely into the 
 provisions at an entertainment. Thus, Norden was 
 treated by the aga of Essuacn with coffee, and some 
 bunches of grapes of an excellent taste. To show 
 the abundance of vines which should fall to the lot 
 of Judah in th(» partition of the promised land, Jacob, 
 in his proi)hetic benediction, says of this tribe, he 
 shall be found — 
 
 Binding his colt to the vine. 
 
 And to the choice vine, the foal of his ass. 
 
 Washing his garments in wine, 
 
 His clothes in the blood of the grape. 
 
 Geu. xlix. 11. 
 
 It has been shown by Paxton, that in some parts of 
 Persiii, it was formerly the custom to turn their cattle 
 into the vineyards after the vintage, to browse on the 
 vines, some of which are so large, that a man can 
 hardly compass their trunks in his arms. These facts 
 clearly show, that according to the ])rediction of Ja- 
 cob, the ass might be securely bound to the vine, and 
 "without damaging the tree by browsing on its leaves 
 and branches. The same custom appears, by the 
 narratives of several travellers, to have genei'ally pro- 
 vailed in Lesser Asia. Chandler observed, that in the 
 vineyards around Smyrna, the leaves of the vines 
 were decayed or stripped by the camels, or herds of 
 goats, which are permitted to browse upon them, 
 after the vintage. When he left Smyrna, on the 30th 
 of September, the vineyards were already bare ; but 
 Avhen he arrived at Phygella, on the 5th or 6th of Oc- 
 tober, he found its territory still green with vines ; 
 which is a jjroof that the vineyards at Smyrna must 
 have been stripped by the cattle, which delight to feed 
 upon the foliage. 
 
 This custom furnishes a satisfactory reason for a 
 regulation in the laws of Moses, the meaning of which 
 has been verj'' impei-fectly understood, which pro- 
 hibits a man from introducing his beast into the vine- 
 yard of his neigh!)or. It was destructive to the vine- 
 yard before the fruit was gathered ; and after tiie 
 vintage it was still a serious injury, because it deprived 
 the owner of the fodder, ^^hich was most grateful to 
 his flocks and herds, and perhajjs absolutely requisite 
 for their subsistence during the winter. Tiiese things 
 considered, wc discern, in this enactment, the justice, 
 wisdom and kindness of the great Legislator : and 
 the same traits of excellence migiit, no doubt, be dis- 
 covered in tlie mo.st obscure and minute regulation, 
 coidd we detect the reason on which it is founded. 
 
 But if the vine leaves were generally eaten by cat- 
 tle after the winter was over, how, says Mr. Harmer, 
 "could the prophet (Isa. xxxiv\ 4.) rejjresent the drop- 
 ping of the stars from heaven, in a general wreck of 
 nature, by the falling of the leaf from the vine? If 
 they were devom-ed by the cattle they could not fall." 
 The answer is easy : the prophet refers to the char- 
 acter of the vine-leaf, not to any local custom ; nor 
 is it reasonable to su])pose that the leaves of every 
 vineyard were so regularly and completely consumed, 
 
 that the people had never seen them showering from 
 the branches by the force of the wind ; or the 
 nipping colds in the close of the year. (Paxton, vol. 
 i. J). 180.) 
 
 Tlie law enjoined that he who planted a vine should 
 not eat of the produce of it before the fifth year, Lev. 
 xix. 24, 25. Nor did they gather their grapes on the 
 seventh year : the fruit was then left for the poor, the 
 or[)han and the stranger. A traveller was j)ermitted 
 to gather and eat grapes in a vineyard, as he passed 
 along, but was not permitted to carry any away, Deut. 
 xxiii.' 24. 
 
 In John XV. our Lord declares himself to be the 
 "true vine." Doddridge, after Wetstein, has sup- 
 posed that the idea might be suggested by the sight 
 of a vine, either from a window or in some court by 
 the side of the house ; but this is contro\ erted by 
 Harmer, w ho remarks, that there were no gardens in 
 Jerusalem, and that it is not likely there were vines 
 about the sides of the houses. Harmer's assertion, 
 however, is set aside by Dr. Russell, who states, that 
 it is very common to covei- the stairs leading to the 
 upper apartments of the harem with vines. This fully 
 explains the beautiful metaphor in Ps. cxxviii. — " Thy 
 wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine 
 house," — with which Mr. Harmer is so much embar- 
 rassed : but whether such a vine gave rise to our Sa- 
 viour's discourse, is a malter of great doubt. The 
 intention of the similitude is that which it is most im- 
 portant for us to attend to and understand ; which is, 
 that no fruit can be expected from professing Chris- 
 tians, either in their personal or ofticial character, but 
 by perseverance in the appointed way, and in com- 
 munion, by faith and love, with him who is the source 
 of all that is good in man. 
 
 Rosenmiiller has a long article on the parable, which 
 Dr. Wait has translated in his "Repertoriuni Theolo- 
 gicum," and of which the following is the substance. 
 After having remarked that the whole of the dis- 
 courses in John xiii. — xviii. wei-e not delivered in one 
 place, and in an unbroken connection, he proceeds 
 to show that the comparison of our Lord was not to a 
 real or natural vine, since John always uses tlie adjec- 
 tive a/.iidiruc, true, in opposition to something false, 
 counterfeit, and not genuine ; c. g. iv. 23 ; i. 47 ; viii. 
 31. "But what is the opposition in this passage, 
 where Christ is denominated ', lxii:ii).o? >, <i/.>;5n/,'? It 
 would be, according to the preceding expositions, a 
 natural or real vine : — yet it will be urged, that this 
 would have far greater claims to the aimiXug a/.hSiv>' 
 than (Christ, who only compared himself to such, and 
 merely represents himself as an image of it. Since 
 then he calls himself ' the true vike,' he must neces- 
 sarily have had a certain object in contrast, which 
 represented a vine without being a natural or real 
 vine, between which also and himself a most signifi- 
 cant analogy existed." What this probably was, he 
 I)roceeds to show. 
 
 In the temple at Jerusalon, above and round the 
 gate, seventy cubits high, which led from the porch 
 to the holy place, a richly carved vine was extended 
 as a border and decoration. The branches, tendrils 
 and leaves were of the finest gold ; the stalks of the 
 bunches were of the length of the human forni, and 
 the bimches hanging upon them were of costly jewels. 
 Herod first placed it there ; rich and patriotic Jews 
 from time to time added to its embellishment, one 
 contributing a new grape, another a leaf, and a third 
 even a bunch of the same precious materials. If to 
 compute its value at more than 12,000,000 of dollars 
 be au exaggeration, it is nevertheless indisputable,
 
 VINE 
 
 [918 1 
 
 VINE 
 
 that this vine must have had an uncommon impor- 
 tance and a sacred meaning in the eyes of tlie Jews. 
 With what majestic splendor must it hiiewise have 
 appeared in tlie evening, when it was illuminated 
 by tapers! 
 
 If, then, Jesus, in the evening, after having cele- 
 brated the passover, again betook himself to the temple 
 with his disciples, what is more natural, than, as they 
 wandered in it to and fro, that above every thing this 
 vine blazing with gold and jewels should have attract- 
 ed tlieir attention? that, rivetted by the gorgeous 
 magnificence of the sight, they were absorbed in 
 wonder and contemplation respecting the real import 
 of this work of art ? I^et us now conceive that Jesus 
 at this moment, referring to this vine, said to his dis- 
 ciples, " I am the true vine " — how correct and striking 
 must his words then have appeared ! — how clearly 
 and determinately must then the import of them have 
 been seen ! 
 
 The Jews accounted the vine the most noble of 
 plants, and a type of all that was excellent, powerful, 
 fruitful and fortunate. The prophets, therefore, com- 
 pared the Jewish nation and the Jewish church to a 
 great vine, adorned with beaiuiful fruit, j)lanted, tended 
 and guarded by God, Jer. ii. 21 ; Ezek. xLx. 10, seq. ; 
 Ps. Ixxx. 9, 15, seq. God was the dresser of the vine- 
 yard ; Israel was the vineyard and vine ; (Isa. v. 1, seq. ; 
 xxvii. 2, seq. ; Hos. x. 1.) every true Israelite, especially 
 the heads and chiefs of the people, were the branches ; 
 (Isa. xvi. 8 ; Ezek. xix. 10.) the might and power of tlie 
 nation were the full swelling bunches. The basis of 
 the metaphor was ever the idea, that "Israel is the first, 
 the most holy nation on the earth, that God himself is 
 the founder and protector of it." 
 
 The curiously-wrought and splendid vine, above 
 described, which Herod introduced into the temple, 
 was a symbol of this peculiar, proximate and joj ful 
 relation in which God stood to Israel. The patriotic 
 Jews, as they looked at it, thought with joy and ])ride 
 of the high dignity and preeminence of their people. 
 To go out and to enter under the vine, was a phrase, 
 by whicli they denoted a peaceful, fortunate and con- 
 tented life. Hence this ornament, extended over the 
 entrance to the holy place, was as striking and full of 
 meaning, as it was edifying to the orthodox Jews; 
 hence, each contributed his own to increase its mag- 
 nificence, and thus authenticate himself, as a worthy 
 member of this holy and glorious nation. 
 
 Jesus having thus depicted himself as the individual 
 who was prefigured by this vine, the ideas which he 
 would cx])ress by this parable, could not have been 
 misunderstood. 
 
 This parable, therefore, more immediately concerns 
 the ai)ostles. Jesus does not merely represent him- 
 self under the meta])hor of a vine in the more con- 
 fined sense of a teaclier, but in the more exalted and 
 comprehensive one of tlie Messiah sent from heaven 
 to found a new kingdom of God. He considers his 
 apostles as the branches in him, not merely as disci- 
 ples and friends, but as deputies and assistants chosen 
 and called by him to found and extend his kingdom. 
 The connection which he would maintain between 
 liimsflf and them, consists not irierely in love and 
 frien(lshi|), i)iit in the true execution of bis couniiands, 
 grounded on a faith in his exalted nature and dignity. 
 The fruits which he expects from them are not mere- 
 ly faith and virtue, which are the concerns of all 
 Christians, but im|)ortant services in the extension of 
 Christianity. And he incites them to perform them 
 by a promise of divine gi-ace and assistance. 
 
 The expression of " sitting every man under his 
 
 own vine," (1 Kings iv. 25 ; Mic. iv. 4.) probably 
 alludes to the delightful eastern arbors, which were 
 partly composed of vines. Norden speaks of vine- 
 arbors as being common in the Egyptian gardens : 
 and the Prtenestine pavement, in Shaw's Travels, gives 
 us the figure of an ancient one. The expression \a 
 intended to refer to a time of public tranquillity and 
 of profound peace. 
 
 In the passage of Isaiah to which we just now re- 
 ferred, there is mention made of a wild grape, which 
 requires notice : "And he looked that it should bring 
 forth grapes, and it brought Ibrth wild grapes," Isa. 
 v. 2. Jeremiah uses the same image, and apjilies it 
 to the same purpose, in an elegant paraphrase of this 
 part of Isaiah's paral)le, in his flowing and plaintive 
 manner — But I planted thee a sorek, a scion perfectly ^ 
 genuine ; how then art thou changed, and become to 
 me the degenerate shoots of the strange vine ! chap, 
 ii. 21. By these wild gi-apes, or poisonous berries, 
 n:i::»it<3, we must understand not merely useless, un- 
 profitable grapes, such as wild grapes, but grapes 
 offensive to the smell, noxious, poisonous. By the 
 force and intent of the allegory, to good grapes ought 
 to be opposed fruit of a dangerous and pernicious 
 quality ; as, in the explication of it, to judgment is op- 
 posed tyranny, and to righteousness oppression. Ge- 
 phen, the vine, is a common name or genus, including 
 several species under it ; and 3Ioses, to distinguish 
 the true vine, or that from which wine is made, from 
 the rest, calls it gephtn hayayin, the wine-vine. Num. 
 vi. 4. Some of the other sorts were of a poisonous 
 quality, as appears from the story related among the 
 miraculous acts of Elisha: "And one went out into 
 the field to gather jiot herbs, and he found a field-vine, 
 and he gathered from it wild fruit, his lap full ; and he 
 went and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they 
 knew them not. And they pom-ed it out for the men 
 to eat; and it came to pass as they were eating of the 
 pottage, that they cried out and said, There is death 
 in the pot, O man of God ! and they could not cat of 
 it. And he said, Bring meal ; and he threw it into 
 the pot. And he said, Pour out for the people, that 
 thev may eat. And there was nothing hurtflil in the 
 pot"," 2 Kings iv. 39-^1. 
 
 From some such poisonous sorts of the grape kind, 
 Moses has taken those strong and highly poetical im- 
 ages, with which he has set forth the future corrup- 
 tion and extreme degeneracy of the Israelites, in an 
 allegory which has a near relation, both in its subject 
 and imagery, to this of Isaiah, Deut. xxxii. 32, 33. — 
 
 "Their vine is from the vine of Sodom, 
 And from the fields of Gomorrha: 
 Their grapes are grapes of gall ; 
 Their clusters are bitter: 
 Their wine is the poison of dragons, 
 And the cruel venom of asjiics." 
 
 "I am inclined to believe," says Hasselquist, "that 
 the prophet here (Isa. v. 2,4.) means the hoary night- 
 shade, solayium incanum ; because it is common in 
 Egypt, Palestine and the East ; and the Arabian name 
 agrees well with it. The Arabs call it aneb el dib, that 
 is, wolf-grapes. (The c'c-inj, says Kab Cliai, is a 
 well-known species of the vine, and the worst of all 
 sorts.) The prophet could not have found a plant 
 more opposite to the vine than this ; for it grows 
 nuich in the vineyards, and is very ])ernicious to 
 them, wherefore they root it out : it likewise resem- 
 bles a vine by its shrubby stalk." /Travels, p. 289.) 
 But see Grapes, Wild, p. 471,
 
 VINE 
 
 [919] 
 
 VIR 
 
 The following scriptural account of the cultivation 
 of the vine, the vintage and the wines of Palestine, 
 which will doubtless be acceptable to the reader, is 
 taken from the " Investigator." 
 
 The Jews planted their vineyards most commonly 
 on the south side of a hill or mountain, the stones 
 being gathered out, and the space hedged round with 
 thorns, or walled, Isa. v. 1 — 6; Ps. Ixxx. and Matt. 
 xxi. 33. A good vineyard consisted of a thousand 
 vines, and produced a rent of a thousand silvcrlings, 
 or shekels of silver, Isa. vii. 23. It required two hun- 
 dred moro to j)ay the dressers. Cant. viii. 11, 12. In 
 these, the keepers and vine-dressere labored, digging, 
 planting, pruning and propping the vines, gathering 
 the grapes and making wine. This was at once a 
 laborious task, and often reckoned a base one, 2 Kings 
 XXV. 12; Cant. i. 6; Isa. Ixi. 5. The vines with 
 the tender grapes gave a good smell early in the 
 spring, (Cant. ii. 13.) as we learn also from Isa. xviii. 
 5, afore the harvest, that is, the barley-hanest, when 
 the bud is perfect, and the sour gi'ape is ripening in 
 the flower. 
 
 The Vintage followed the wheat harvest and the 
 thrashing, (Lev. xxvi. 5; Amos ix. 13.) about June 
 or July, when the clusters of the grapes were gath- 
 ered with a sickle, and put into baskets, (Jer. vi. 9.) 
 carried and thrown into the wine-vat, or wine-press, 
 where they were probably first trodden by men, and 
 then pressed. Rev. xiv. 18 — 20. It is mentioned as 
 a mark of the great work and power of the INIessiah, 
 that he had trodden the figurative wine-press alone ; 
 and of the people there was none with him, Isa. Ixiii. 
 3 ; Rev. xix. 15. The vintage was a season of great 
 mirth. Of the juice of the squeezed grapes were 
 formed wine and vinegar. 
 
 The Wines of Canaan, being very heady, were 
 generally mixed with water for common use, as 
 among the Italians; and they sometimes scented 
 them with frankincense, myrrh, calamus and other 
 spices; (Prov.ix.2, 5 ; Cant. viii. 2.) they also scented 
 them with jjomegi'auates, or made wine of their juice 
 as we do of the juice of currants, goosebeiTies, &c. 
 fermented with sugar. Wine is best when old, and 
 on the lees, the dregs having sunk to the bottom, Isa. 
 XXV. 6. Sweet wine is that which is made from gi-apes 
 fully ripe, Isa. xlix. 26. The Israelites had two kinds 
 of vinegar: the one was a weak wine, which was 
 used for their common drink in the harvest field, 
 (Ruth ii. 14.) as the Spaniards and Italians still do; 
 and it was probably of this that Solomon was to fur- 
 nish twenty thousand baths to Hiram for his servants, 
 the hewers that cut timber in Lebanon, 2 Chron. 
 ii. 10. The other had a sharp acid taste, like ours ; 
 and hence Solomon hints, that a sluggard hurts and 
 vexes such as employ him in business, as vinegar is 
 disagreeable to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes; 
 (Prov. X. 26.) and as vinegar poiu"ed upon nitre spoils 
 its virtue, so he that singeth songs to a heavy heart, 
 docs but add to his grief, chap. xxv. 20. The poor 
 were allowed to glean grapes, as well as corn, and 
 other articles ; (Lev. xix. 10 ; Dent. xxiv. 21 ; Isa. iii. 
 14; chap. xvii. C; xxiv. 13; Micah vii. 1.) and we 
 learn that the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim was 
 better than the vintage of Abiezcr, Judg. viii. 2. 
 
 The vessels in which the wine was kept were prob- 
 ably, for the most part, bottles, which were usually 
 made of leather, or goat-skins, firiidy sewed and 
 pitched together. (See Bottles.) The Arabs pull 
 the skin off goats in the same manner that we do 
 from rabbits, and sew up the places where the legs 
 and tail were cut off, leaving one for the neck of the 
 
 bottle, to pour from ; and in such bags they put up 
 and carry, not onlv their liquors, but dry things which 
 are not apt to be broken ; by which means thry are 
 well ])reserved from wet, dust or insects. These 
 would in time crack and wear out. Hence, when the 
 Gibeonitescame to Joshua, pretending that they came 
 from a far country, amongst other things they brought 
 wine bottles, old and rent, and bound up where they 
 had leaked. Josh. ix. 4, 13. Thus, too, it was not 
 expedient to put new wine into old bottles, because 
 the fermentation of it would break or crack the bot- 
 tles. Matt. ix. 17. And thus David complains, that 
 he had become like a bottle in the smoke ; that is, a 
 bottle dried and cracked, and worn out, and unfit lor 
 service, Ps. cxix. 83. These bottles were jnobably 
 of various sizes, and sometimes very large ; for when 
 Abigail went to meet David and his 400 men, and took 
 a present to pacify and supply him, 200 loaves and five 
 sheep, ready dressed, &c. she took only iuo bottles of 
 wine, (1 Sam. xxv. 18.) a very disproportionate quan- 
 tity, unless the bottles were large. But the Israelites 
 had bottles likewise made by the jiotters. (See Isa. 
 XXX. 14, marg. ; Jer. xix. 1,10; ch. xlviii. 12.) We hear 
 also of vessels called barrels. That of the widow, in 
 which her meal was held, (1 Kings xvii. 12, 14.) was 
 not, probably, very large ; but those four in which 
 the water was brought up from the sea, at the bottom 
 of mount Carmel, to pom- upon Elijah's sacrifice and 
 altar, must have been large, 1 Kings xviii. 33. We 
 read also of the water-jugs, or jars of stone, of con- 
 siderable size, in which our Lord caused the water 
 to be converted into wine, John ii. 6. See Bottles. 
 
 Grapes were also dried into raisins. A part of 
 Abigail's present to David was 100 clusters of raisins ; 
 (1 Sam. xxv. 18.) and when Ziha met David, his pres- 
 ent contained the same quantity, 2 Sam. xvi. 1 ; 1 Sam. 
 XXX. 12 ; 1 Chron. xii. 40. 
 
 VINEGAR, see Vine, adfn. 
 
 VIPER, a sort of serpent. See Serpent. 
 
 VIRGIN, ntS;-, Jllmah, mndiroc, properly signi- 
 fies a young unmarried woman, and, liy im|)lication, 
 one who has preserved the purity of her body. 
 
 The authors of the books of the Maccabees, and 
 Ecclesiasticus, speaking of the young unmarried 
 women, give them the epithets, kept in, secluded, hid- 
 den, to distinguish them from married women, who 
 occasionally appear in public ; and Jerome preserves 
 a distinction between bethula, a virgin, and almah, in 
 that the latter is one who never has been seen by 
 men. This is its proper signification, in the Punic cr 
 Phoenician language, which, as is well known, is the 
 same as the Hebrew. It occurs in the famous pas- 
 sage of Isaiah, vii. 14 : " Behold a virgin [almah] shnll 
 conceive, and bear a son." The Hebrew [according 
 to some] has no term that more properly signifies a 
 virgin, than almah; but it must be admitted, without 
 lessening, however, the certainty or apjdication of 
 Isaiah's "prophecy, that sometimes, by mistake, for 
 instance, a yoimg woman, whether truly a virgin or 
 not, is called almah. Jerome remarks, that the 
 prophet declined using the word bethula, which sig- 
 nifies a young woman, or young person, but emj)loy- 
 ed the term almah, which denotes a virgin never 
 seen by man. This is the proper ini|)ort of the 
 word, which is derived from a root that signifies to 
 conceal. It is well known that young women, in the 
 East, do not appear in public, but are shut up in their 
 houses, and in their mothers' apartmciits, l.ke nuns. 
 The Chaldee paraphrast and the Septuagint, trans- 
 late almah by >, nunfiiyo;; Akiba, the famous rabbin, 
 a great enemy to Christ and Christians, who lived in
 
 VIRGIN 
 
 [ 920 
 
 VIRGIN 
 
 the second century, understands it thus ; the apostles 
 and evangelists, and the Jews of oiu* Saviour's time, 
 explained it thus, and expected a Messiah born of a 
 virgin ; and, further, Mahomet and his followers 
 acknowledge the virginity of the mother of our 
 Lord. 
 
 [The above remarks are by Calmet. The English 
 editor has subjoined a long discussion, in which he 
 advances a theory (respecting Isa. vii. 14.) apparently 
 his own, or at least unlike what any other pei^son 
 would be apt to strike upon. It is, however, so com- 
 plicated, and rests on assumptions so obviously un- 
 foimded, that it would both be a waste of time to 
 insert it here, and would only tend to mislead the 
 reader. 
 
 Before entering on the consideration of the passage 
 in question, a few words may be premised on the 
 proper meaning of the Hebrew word ncS?, almah, ren- 
 dered every where virgin. The earlier interpreters 
 all derive it from the Hebrew verb :=S;', dlam, to con- 
 ceal, (so Jerome, as cited above,) with reference to 
 the oriental custom of keeping young females shut 
 up. But a more direct and far better etymology is 
 found in the same word [dlam) as employed by the 
 Arabs, among whom it signifies to grow up ; whence 
 also they have derivative nouns, signifying adolescens 
 and adolescentula, youth and young maiden [dldmath); 
 so also the Syriac dlimethd, from the same verb in 
 Syriac. Hence derived, the idea of the Hebrew 
 almah is young maiden, damsel, virgin, i. e. a young 
 unmarried woman ; without direct reference to chas- 
 tity of person, although this is naturally implied. 
 That this, however, is not necessarily to be understood, 
 is obvious from Prov. xxx. 19, " The way of a man 
 with a maid," where the Hebrew word is almah, 
 wliich is properly rendered by the English word 
 viaid, in its general signification, and not its special 
 one of virgo intacta. 
 
 The passage in Isa. vii. 14 — 16, stands thus : Ahaz 
 having refused to ask a sign by which he may be 
 assured of deliverance from the kings of Syria 
 and Israel, the prophet exclaims: "Therefore the 
 Ivcrd himself shall give you a sign ; behold a virgin 
 Bhall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name 
 Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he cat, that 
 [until] he may know to refuse the evil and choose 
 the good. For before the child shall know to refuse 
 the evil and choose the good, the land that thou ab- 
 lioiTcst shall be forsaken of both her kings." This 
 prophecy 3Iatthew quotes (i. 22.) as referring to the 
 IMessiah ; and introduces his citation by the words, 
 "Now all tljis was done, that it might be ful- 
 filled," etc. 
 
 In regard to this passage of Isaiah, we may say, 
 that it must obviously either be understood as wholly 
 j»rophetic of the Messiah, or else as having no refer- 
 ence to him, but as relating merely to a sign to be 
 given to Ahaz, viz. the birth of ason from the pro])h- 
 ctpss within a certain time, within the period of whose 
 cliililhood the promised deliverance should take place. 
 B'twcen these two there would seem to be no mid- 
 dle way, which does not lead to inextricable confu- 
 ."^ion and absurdity — whether we sujipose a change of 
 subject, the prophet speaking sometimes of Inunanuel 
 ntul sometimes of Shear-jashub, which is mere hy- 
 jKnliesis; or wliethcr avc suppose that the sign was 
 to Ahaz alone, but consisted in the birth of a child 
 from a virgin who had not known mdn — a supposition 
 for which tljcrc is no hint in history, nor any ground 
 of necessity or probabihty. 
 
 The Messianic exposition has been tliat of the 
 
 church at large, in all ages, down to the middle of the 
 eighteenth century ; except that some have connected 
 with it a double sense, making it refer both to the 
 IMessiah and to an event in the time of Ahaz, for 
 which there seems no rational ground extant. Those 
 who, since the middle of the last century, deny that 
 the passage is prophetic of the Messiah, consider the 
 word almah as signifying a young woman in general, 
 whether married or uinnarried ; or at least they sup- 
 pose that it might be employed of a young married 
 woman, without a violation of usage. They suppose 
 the wife of the prophet to be intended ; and that the 
 sign is, her conception and delivery of a son in ac- 
 cordance with this distinct and definite prediction ; — 
 the fulfilment of this prediction will be a sign to the 
 king, that the promise of dehverance connected with 
 it will also be fulfilled. They suppose that the his- 
 tory in the beginning of c. viii. is the narrative of this 
 very fulfilment, where the prophet takes witnesses, 
 and goes in unto the prophetess, and she conceives 
 and bears a son; of whom it is said, "Before the 
 child shall have knowledge to cry My father and my 
 mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Sa- 
 maria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria," 
 — the same event which is predicted in c. vii. 16, as 
 about to follow the birth of Immanuel. That in c. 
 viii. 3, the father is directed to call the child Maher- 
 shalal-hashbaz, instead of Immanuel, as in c. vii. 14, 
 creates no greater difliculty, it is said, than Matt. i. 
 21 ; where, although this passage respecting the birth 
 of Immanuel is quoted, yet the angel directs Joseph 
 to call the name of Mary's son Jesus, and not Inunan- 
 uel. It is asked, moreover. Of what value could a 
 sign be to Ahaz, which was first to take place after 
 700 yeai"s.' or what connection could this have with 
 his deliverance from the invasion of the kings of 
 Israel and Syria? Those who adopt this mode of 
 exposition understand, of coin-sc, the citation of 
 Matthew to be made merely by way of illustration, or 
 as an allusion to a factor circumstance of former his- 
 tory ; just as in Matt. ii. 15, it is said of Jesus, " Out 
 of Egypt have I called my son," quoted from Hos. 
 xi. 1, where it refers simply and solely to the nation 
 of Israel. It must indeed be admitted, that were the 
 quotation in INIatthew not extant, there would proba- 
 bly be nothing to suggest that this passage in Isaiah 
 could have any reference to the IMessiah. 
 
 But, on the other hand, it is very diflicult to avoid 
 the conclusion, that the evangelist intended here to cite 
 this passage as a direct prophecy. In c. ii. 15, ho 
 merely says, " that it might be fuliillcd ; " o)-, as it may 
 be rendered, so that there teas a fulfilment, sc. in a 
 higher sense, i. e. as God formerly called Israel his 
 son out of Egypt, so now his own well-beloved Son, 
 the Messiah. But here, in c. i. 22, the writer says 
 expressly, " Now oZZ </i?5 !ca5 rfc?!f, that it might be 
 fulfilled," &c. intimating that all the rircumstances 
 previous to the birth of Christ had a direct reference 
 to this passage in Isaiah, and that this passngc was 
 directly i)roplietic of these circumstances. The lan- 
 guage is as strong as possible: had the e\"angelist 
 intended to express this idea with the utmost strength 
 and plainness, he could not probably have selected 
 any other language, or at least none stronger. With 
 this view, too, coincide the other prophecies of the 
 Messiah in Isa. ix. 6, and Mirah v. 2, 3. 
 
 In respect to the objection, that if this is an annun- 
 ciation of the Messiah, it could be no sign to Ahaz, it 
 may be replied, that the j)rophet directs liis discourse 
 not so much to Ahaz, as to the pious part of the people ; 
 Ahaz being, indeed, the representative of the whole
 
 VIS 
 
 [921 J 
 
 VOW 
 
 nation. He had cast off the fear of God ; the land was 
 invaded; he had just contemned the promise of the 
 Lord through his prophet. The people, or at least the 
 pious pait of them, feared the total destruction of the 
 state. In these circumstances, the prophet reminds 
 the people of their firm belief in the future appearance 
 of a Messiah, and shows them that this belief is in con- 
 tradiction with their present fear of the total down- 
 fill of the state. His language to them is : " Because 
 the king has contemned the miraculous sign which I 
 was commissioned to offer him, therefore God, through 
 me, recalls to your minds that great event of the fu- 
 ture, which is well known to you, although you now 
 forget it, the miraculous birth of the Messiah. This 
 may serve to you as a sign of present deliverance ; 
 for so surely as that event will take place, so surely 
 can the state not now come to destruction." 
 
 The words of verse 16 have occasioned much dif- 
 ficulty : "Before the child shall know to refuse the 
 evil and choose the good, the land that thon abhor- 
 rest shall be forsaken of both her kings." If the pas- 
 sage be taken as non-Messianic, these words are easy 
 and natural ; and they constitute, iudeed, one of the 
 greatest dithculties in the waj' of the other mode of 
 exposition. The idea unquestionably is, that in the 
 interval between the birth of the child mentioned, 
 and the time when it will begin to distinguish between 
 good and evil, i. e. an interval of 3 or 4 years, the 
 kingdoms of Israel and Syria will be overthrown. 
 But how could the prophet say this, if that child was 
 the Messiah, who was to be born 700 j^ears later? 
 The best, and indeed the only solution, seems to be 
 that of Vitringa, Lowth, Koppe, Hengstenberg and 
 others, which is as follows: The prophet, beholding 
 the future in vision, sees all things as if present ; thus 
 in ('.. ix. 6, he says, "Unto us a child is bom, unto us 
 a son IS given ;" so here we may with entire ])ropri- 
 ety translate, " Lo ! the virgin conceives and brings 
 forth a son," &c. — the prophet beholding, in vision, 
 tiie future spread but before him as if pi*esent. So in 
 announcing to Ahaz, or more properly to the pious 
 part of the people, the approaching dehvcrance from 
 invading enemies, with this same vision of the future 
 spread out before his mental eye, he goes on to say, 
 thnt in an intein'al not longer than that in which this 
 child, Avhom he now thus beholds, shall learn to dis- 
 tinguish good and evil, this deliverance of the land 
 shall take place ; i. e. the prophet assumes the time 
 between the birth of this child and the development 
 of his faculties, as the measure of the time before the 
 deliverance of the country from its enemies. He 
 means to say, that in the interval of 3 or 4 years, the 
 fall of both the hostile kingdoms will take place. 
 This he expresses by saying, that this interval will be 
 the same as the interval from the birth of the child 
 whom he now beholds in vision, to the age when this 
 child will be able to choose the good and refuse the 
 evil." (See Hengstenberg's Christologie, Th. ii. p. 
 68, seq.) *R. 
 
 VISION, a supernatural presentation of certain 
 scenery or circumstances to the mind of a person, 
 while awake. (See Dream, ad Jin.) When Aaron 
 and Miriam murmured against IVIoses, (Numl>. xii. 
 — 8.) the Lord said, " Hear now my words : if there be 
 a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself 
 known unto him in a vision, and will speak to him in a 
 dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faith- 
 ful in all mine house; with him will I speak mouth 
 to mouih,even apparently, and not in dark speeches; 
 and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." The 
 false prophet Balaam, whose heart was perverted by 
 116 
 
 covetousness, says of himself, that he had seen tlie 
 visions of the Almighty, Numb. xxiv. 15, 16. In the 
 time of the high-priest Eli, it is said, (1 Sam. iii. 1.) 
 " The word of the Lord was precious in those days ; 
 there was no open vision ;" literally, " the vision did 
 not break forth." Such connnunications were not 
 vouchsafed to any propliet then existing. 
 
 To VISIT ; VISITATION. These words are 
 sometimes taken for a visit of mercy from God, but 
 oftencr for a visit of rigor and vengeance^, day of vis- 
 itation, year of visitation, or time of visitation, gener- 
 ally signifies the time of affliction and vengeance ; or 
 of close inspection. 
 
 VITELLIUS, the censor, father of the emperor 
 A. Vitellius, was made governor of Syria, at the ex- 
 piration of his consulate, A. D. 35, and'the same year, 
 or the year following, he came to Jerusalem at the 
 feast of the passover, and was very magnificently en- 
 tertained. He released the city from a tax on fruits ; 
 conmiitted to the care of the Jews the high-priest's 
 habit, with the pontifical ornaments, which Herod 
 and the Romans had kept, till then, in the tower An- 
 tonia. He deposed Joseph Caiaphas from the high- 
 priesthood, and put in his place Jonathan, son of 
 Ananus ; but deprived him of his dignity two years 
 afterwards, and conferred it on Thcophilus, his 
 brother. (Josephus, Ant. viii. 6.) 
 
 VOLUME, see Book. 
 
 VOW, a promise made to Godof doing some good 
 thing hereafter. The use of vows is observable 
 throughout Scripture. Jacob, going into Mesopota- 
 mia, vowed the tenth of his estate, and promised to 
 offer it, at Bethel, to the honor of God, Gen. xxviii. 
 22. Moses enacts several laws for the regulation and 
 execution of vows. A man might devote himself or 
 his children to the Lord. Jeplithah devoted his 
 daughter, (Judg. xi. 30, 31.) and Sanniel was vowed 
 and consecrated to the service of the Lord, 1 Sam. i. 
 21, Sec. If a man or woman vowed themselves to 
 the Lord, they were obliged to adhere strictly to his 
 service, according to the conditions of the vow ; but 
 in some cases they might be redeemed. A man 
 from twenty years of age till sixty, gave fifty shekels 
 of silver, and a woman thirty. From the age of five 
 years to twenty, a man gave twenty shekels, and a 
 woman ten : from a month old to five ycai-s, they 
 gave for a boy five shekels, and for a girl three. A 
 man of sixty years old or upwards, gave fifteen she- 
 kels, and a woman of the same age ten. If the per- 
 son were poor, and could not procure this sum, the 
 priest imposed a ransom on him, according to his 
 abilities, Lev. xxvii. 3. 
 
 If any one vowed an animal that was clean, he had 
 not the' liberty of redeeming it, or of exchanging h, 
 but must sacrifice it to the Lord. If it were an un- 
 clean animal, such <'is was not lawful in sacrifice, ti;c 
 priest made a vaination of it, and the proprietor, if he 
 desired to red<^em it, added a fifih part to the Aahic, 
 by way of tine. They did the same, in ]iroportion, 
 \vhen the thing vowed was a house or a field. They 
 could not devote the first-born, because, in their own 
 nature, they belonged to the Lord. Whatever was 
 devoted by anathema could not be redeemed, of 
 whatever nature or quality it was; if an animal, it 
 was put to death ; and other things were devoted 
 forever to the Lord, Lca". xxvii. 28, 29. The conse- 
 cration of Nazarites was a particular kind of vow, 
 and had special rules. See Nazarites. 
 
 The vows and promises of children were void, of 
 course, except ratified by the express or tacit consent 
 of their parents, Numb. xxx. 1—3, &c. Also the vow
 
 vow 
 
 [ 922 ] 
 
 VUL 
 
 of a married woman was of no validity, except con- 
 firmed by the express or tacit consent of her hus- 
 band. But widows, or hberated wives, were bound 
 by their vows, of whatever nature. Deut. xxiii. 21, 
 22, " When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy 
 God, thou shalt not be slack to pay it ; for the Lord 
 thy God will surely require it of thee, and it would 
 be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it 
 shall be no sin in thee." (See Eccl. v. 3, 4, &c.) 
 Paul had a vow of Nazariteship, when he left Cen- 
 chrea, (Acts xviii. 18.) and when he arrived at Jeru- 
 salem, James, the apostle, and the bi-ethren, advised 
 him to join four Judaizing Christians, who had avow 
 of Nazariteship, and to contribute to the charges of 
 their purification in the temple, chap. xxi. 18, &c. 
 
 The vowa of the Jews always implied a kind of 
 imprecation against themselves, if they failed in the 
 performance. Such vows were generally expressed 
 in a distinct and plain manner, but the penalty was 
 declared conditionally or hypothetically. For ex- 
 ample, Ps. xcv. 11, "I have sworn in my wrath, if 
 they shall enter into my rest." I have sworn they 
 shall not enter, and I have said. Let me be a liar — 
 or something else, not expressed — if they do enter. 
 David vows to the Lord to build him a temple, say- 
 ing, " Surely I will not come [or if I come] into the 
 tabernacle of my house — until I find out a place for 
 
 the Lord, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." 
 Where we observe, that he does not mention the 
 penalty to which he becomes liable, should he fail 
 of performing his vow : as if he had said, " Let God 
 treat me with the utmost rigor, if I allow myself 
 the least respite, till I have accomplished my design." 
 
 Sometimes they expressed the penalty, or impre- 
 cation, but directed it against their enemies, or 
 against brute beasts. For example, " So and more 
 also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave a 
 male, of all that pertain to him, by the morning light." 
 He does not say, "May God treat me as a forsworn 
 person, if I leave any one alive of the family of Na- 
 bal ;" but. May God do so to the enemies of David, 
 if I leave so much as a dog alive. Generally, the 
 Scripture expresses the imprecation by, " God do so 
 to me — and more also," &c. without specifying any 
 particular penalty, or imprecation ; whether it be that 
 the person vowing did not express any, or that out of 
 discretion he forbore to mention any ; or that the 
 penalty was so publicly known, being customary, 
 that it was understood without bemg expressed. See 
 Devoting, and Corban. 
 
 VULGATE, see Versions. 
 
 VULTURE, a bird of prey, declared unclean by 
 Moses, Lev. xi. 14 ; Deut. xiv. 13. See Bird, and 
 Eagle. - 
 
 W 
 
 WAL 
 
 WAR 
 
 WAFER, in Scripture, a thin cake of fine flour, 
 which was used in various offerings, anointed with 
 oil, Ex. xxix. 2, 23; Lev. ii. 4; vii. 12; Num. vi. 15. R. 
 
 WAGES, reward for service performed. The 
 wages, the reward, the deserved retribution, of sin is 
 death, Rom. vi. 23. , 
 
 WAGON, see Chariot. 
 
 WALK, WALKING. This word, in Hebrew, 
 signifies, not merely to proceed or advance, step by 
 step, steadily, but to proceed with increased velocity : 
 it signifies to swell out louder a musical note or voice, 
 a crescendo, as musicians term it ; and so, generally, 
 to augment a moderate pace till it acquires rapidity. 
 Under this idea, examine Isa. xl. 31 : " The youths 
 shall faint and grow weary, the young men shall ut- 
 terly fail of their power ; but they who wait on the 
 Lord shall renew strength ; shall mount up with 
 wings as eagles.; they shall run and not be weary, 
 they shall walk, shall increase their swiftness, aug- 
 ment their velocity, and not faint." The passage re- 
 quires the admission of some idea to this eflfect, since 
 walking after running is an anti-climax, and there- 
 fore could not be the poetical prophtt's meaning. 
 
 To walk signifies the conduct of life, the general 
 course of a party, his deportment, demeanor, &c. 
 To worship and serve God truly, is to walk before 
 him. Enoch walked with God, maintained and in- 
 creased in piety towards him ; so did Noah. God 
 promises to walk with his people, and his people de- 
 sire his influence, that they may walk in his statutes. 
 The pestilence is said to walk in darkness, spread- 
 ing its ravages by night as well as by day. God is 
 said to walk on the wings of the wind, and the 
 heart of man to walk after detestable things. To 
 walk in darkness, (1 John i. 6, 7.) is to be misled by 
 error ; to walk in the light, is to be well informed ; 
 
 to walk by faith, is to expect the things promised or 
 threatened, and to maintain a conduct accordingly ; 
 to walk after the flesh, is to gratify fleshly appetites ; 
 to walk after the spirit, is to pursue spiritual objects, 
 to cultivate spiritual affections, to be spiritually mind- 
 ed, which is life and peace. 
 
 WALL, an enclosure or separation. (See Fence.) 
 The Lord tells the prophet Jeremiah, (i. 18 ; xv. 20.) 
 that he will make him as a wall of brass, to with- 
 stand the house of Israel. Paul says, (Eph. ii. 14.) 
 that Christ, by his death, broke down the partition- 
 wall that separated us from God, or rather the wall 
 that separated Jew and Gentile ; so that these two 
 people, when converted, may make but one. 
 
 WAR. The Hebrews were formerly one of the 
 most warlike nations in the world. The books that 
 relate their wars are by neither flattering authors, 
 nor ignorant, but inspired by the spirit of truth and 
 wisdom. Their warriors were not fabulous heroes, 
 but, commonly, wise and valiant generals, raised up 
 by God, to fight the battles of the Lord ; such were 
 Joshua, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, David, the 
 Maccabees, &c. Their wars were not undertaken 
 on sligjit occasions, nor performed with a handful of 
 people. Under Joshua the affair was no less than 
 the conquest of a country, allotted, by God, to Israel, 
 from several powerful nations, who were devoted to 
 an anathema; to vindicate an offended Deity, and 
 human nature, debased by wicked and corrupt 
 people of different nations, which had filled up the 
 measure of their iniquities. Under the Judges, 
 the purpose was to assert their liberty, by shaking 
 off the yoke of powerful kings, who kept them in 
 subjection. Under Saul and David, to these motives 
 were added that of subduing such provinces as God 
 had promised to his people.
 
 WAR 
 
 [923 ] 
 
 WAR 
 
 In the latter times of the kiugdonis of Israel and 
 Judah, we find then* kings bearing the shock of the 
 greatest powers of Asia, the kings of Assyria and 
 Chaldea, Sliainianesei*, Sennacherib, Esar-Haddon 
 and Nebuchadnezzar, who made the whole East to 
 tremble. Under the Maccabees, the business was, 
 with a handful of men, to oppose the whole power 
 of the kings of Syria, to uphold the religion of their 
 fatiiers, and to free themselves from the despotism 
 which designed to subvert both their religion and 
 liberty. In the last times of their nation, with what 
 courage, intrepidity and constancy did they sustain 
 the war against the Romans, then masters of the 
 world ! 
 
 Under Moses and Joshua, the Israelites were all 
 soldiers, and men bearing arms. They came out of 
 Egypt in number 600,000 fighting men. When 
 Joshua entered Canaan, he fought sometimes with 
 detachments, and sometimes with his whole army. 
 To signalize his omnipotence, and to humble the 
 pride of man, God often gave victory to very small 
 armies. For example, imder Gideon, when he 
 orilered that general to dismiss the greater part of 
 his attendants, and only to keep with him three hun- 
 dred men, with which he .defeated an innumerable 
 multitude of Midianites and Amalekites. See Ar- 
 mies. 
 
 We may distinguish two kinds of wars among the 
 Hebrews. Some were of obligation, being expressly 
 commanded by the Lord ; others were free and volun- 
 tary. The first were such as those against the Amale- 
 kites, and the intrusive and wicked Canaanites, nations 
 devoted to an anathema. The others were to avenge 
 injuries, insults, or offences against the nation. Such 
 was that against the city of Gibeah, and against the 
 tribe of Benjamin ; and such was that of David 
 against the Ammonites, whose king had insulted his 
 ambassadors. Or they were to maintain and defend 
 their allies, as that of Joshua against the kings of 
 the Canaanites, to protect Gibeon. In fact, the laws 
 of Moses su})pose that Israel might make war, and 
 ojjpose enemies. 
 
 The first law of war is, that it should be declared 
 to the enemy, and that reparation should be demand- 
 ed for the wrong supposed to have been suffered, 
 ])efore the enemy is attacked, Deut. xx. 10, 11, &c. 
 In the sacred writings, we have several examples of 
 defiance, challenge, or declaration of war ; and com- 
 plaints of those who were attacked, without having 
 had war formally declared. When the Ammonites by 
 sin-priso attacked the Israelites beyond Jordan, Jeph- 
 thah sent to inquire of them, " What hast thou to 
 do with me, that thou art come against me, to fight 
 in my land ?" &c. Judg. xi. 12. When the Philis- 
 tines'cntered the territory of Judah, to avenge them- 
 selves for the fire that Samson had put to their corn, 
 the men of Judah came out to inquire of them, "Why 
 are ye come up against us?" Judg. xv. 10, &c. 
 They answered, they had no quarrel against any but 
 Samson, who had destroyed theii- fields. The men 
 of Judah promised to deliver up the guilty person, 
 and the Philistines retired. Amaziah, king of Judah, 
 puffed up with some advantages he had obtained 
 over the Edomites, sent a challenge to Joash, king of 
 Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in 
 the face," 2 Kings xiv. 8—10. But the king of Is- 
 rael, without disquieting himself about it, sent him 
 a parable in answer : Amaziah would not hearken to 
 his advice, and Judah was beaten. Benhadad, king 
 of Syria, came with his army before Samaria, and 
 sent to declare ^var against Ahab, king of Israel, say- 
 
 ing, " Thy silver and thy gold is mine ; thy wives, 
 also, and thy children, even the goodliest are mine," 
 1 Kings XX. 1, 3. Ahab at first submitted, but Ben- 
 hadad becoming more arrogant, Ahab determined to 
 resist him, and the Syrian failed of his purpose. 
 
 When a war was resolved upon, all the people 
 capable of bearing arms were assembled, or only pait 
 of them, according to the exigence of the case, and 
 the necessity and importance of the enterprise ; for 
 it does not appear, that before the reign of David 
 there were any regular troops in Israel. A general 
 rendezvous was appointed, and a review made of 
 the people by tribes, and by families. When Saul, 
 at the beginning of his reign, was informed of the 
 cruel proposal made by the Ammonites to Jabesh- 
 Gilead, he cut in pieces the oxen belonging unto his 
 plough-team, and sent dissevered members through 
 the country, saying, " Whosoever cometh not forth 
 after Saul and Samuel, to the relief of Jabesh-Gilead, 
 so shall it be done unto his oxen," 1 Sam. xi. 1. (See 
 Covenant.) After this he marched to meet the ene- 
 my. When the children of Israel had heard of the 
 crime committed by the inhabitants of Gibeah, 
 against the wife of the Levite of Bethlehem, (Judg. 
 XX. 8.) they resolved not to retum to their houses till 
 they liad adequately punished it. They consulted 
 the Lord, who appointed the tribe of Judah to lead 
 the enterprise. They chose ten men out of every 
 hundred, to bring provisions to the army, after which 
 they proceeded to action. 
 
 In ancient times, those who went to war common- 
 ly carried their own provisions with them ; hence 
 the wars were generally of short continuance. When 
 David, Jesse's younger son, staid behind to look 
 after his father's flocks, while his elder brothers ac- 
 companied Saul in the army, he was sent by Jesse 
 with provisions to his brothers, 1 Sam. xvii. 13. 
 Each one also provided his own arms ; for the kings 
 did not begin to form magazines of warlike imple- 
 ments till the time of David. 
 
 The Officers of War were, (1.) The generalissimo 
 of the armies, or the military prince, such as Abner 
 under Saul, Joab under David, and Benaiah under 
 Solomon. (2.) The princes of the tribes, or princes 
 of the fathers, or of the families of Israel, who were 
 at the head of their tribes. (3.) Princes of a thou- 
 sand, or tribunes, captains of a hundred, heads of 
 fifty men ; also decurious, or chiefs often men. (4.) 
 Shopherim, scribes or writers, a kind of commissa- 
 ries, who kept the muster-roll of the troops ; and, (5.) 
 Shoterim, or inspectors, who had authority to com- 
 mand the troops under their inspection. 
 
 Machines of War, proper for besieging cities and 
 fortresses, are of comparatively late invention. They 
 are not mentioned in Homer ; and Diodorus Siculus 
 observes, (lib. ii. p. 80.) that Sardanapalus, king of 
 Assjria, sustained a siege of seven years in Nineveh ; 
 because at that time machines fit for demolishing 
 and taking cities were not invented. But about the 
 same time we read, that Uzziah, king of Judah, had 
 stored up in his magazines " shields, and speai-s, and 
 helmets, habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast 
 stones." And that " he made in Jerusalem engines 
 invented by cunning men, to be on the towers, and 
 ui)on the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones 
 and his name spread far abroad, for he was marvel- 
 lously helped, till he was strong," 2 Chron. xxvi. 14, 
 15. Here we have, perhaps, the first instance of 
 machines of war, or, at least, of a collected armoiy 
 of them. About seventy years after, in the sieges of 
 Tyre and Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar used batter-
 
 WAR 
 
 924 ] 
 
 WEE 
 
 ing-rams and slings. The Hebrew i3, car, (Ezek. iv. 
 1, 2 ; xxl. 22.) in Greek Kqiuc, which Scripture uses 
 to express this machine, signifies a real ram; by 
 metaphor a machine, with which they battered down 
 gates and walls of cities. Ezekiel, (xxvi. 8, 9.) 
 speaking of this siege, alludes to the ancient manner 
 of besieging places: "He shall slay with the sword 
 thy daughters in the field, and he shall make a fort 
 ag-ainst thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lifl; 
 up the buckler against thee. And he shall set en- 
 signs of war against thy walls, and with his axes he 
 shall break down thy towers." 
 
 When the ancients besieged a place, they usually 
 surrounded it with mounds, towers and trenches, 
 that the besieged might neither make sallies, nor re- 
 ceive succors from without. To lift up the buckler 
 may intimate what the Romans called facere testudi- 
 ncm, to make a tortoise ; when they caused their sol- 
 diers to close each other to join their bucklers, in the 
 Ibnn of a tortoise, in order to sap the walls, to beat 
 down gates, or to burn them. The engines of war 
 hei-e mentioned, or machines of cords, were the Ba- 
 iistse, or Catapultfe, used for casting stones or darts ; 
 or great hooks fastened to cords, and thrown on the 
 tops of walls, to tear them down. Of these iron 
 hooks or fangs, may be understood 2 Sam. xvii. 13: 
 " If he be got into a city, then shall all Israel bring 
 ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, 
 until there be not one smaM stone found there." 
 
 But besides open and violent modes of attack, the 
 besiegers, whenever it was possible, practised the 
 less evident, but not less fatal, method, of sapping 
 and undermining the walls of a city : the besieged, 
 on their part, also, adopted the same mode for pur- 
 poses of resistance, with design of ruining the works 
 of their adversaries; or of issuing from the city, 
 either for sudden attack on their enemies, or for 
 escape from the consequences of the siege, when 
 they considered resistance as desperate. We have 
 a history of such an attempt at escaping in Zedekiah, 
 (Jer. xxxix. 4.) " who fled and went forth out of the 
 city by night, by the way of the king's gardens, by 
 the gate between the two walls :" but he was over- 
 taken. In 2 Kings xxv. 4, it is said, " all the men of 
 war fled by night, Ijy the way of the gate between 
 two walls, which is by the king's gardens (now the 
 Chaldees were against the city round about)." — 
 Should not this rather be understood, " by the rough, 
 rugged way, or track, between two walls ;" that is, 
 one wall below the other, around a part of the king's 
 gardens; rather "between the defences," that is, of 
 the city, in that part of the works of defence which 
 went round the king's gardens ; for, as the Chaldeans 
 surrounded the city, they would certainly watch 
 every gate ; and Zedekiah would hardly have chosen 
 to issue by a regular and customary passage, since 
 he wished for secrecy, and to screen himself from 
 observation ; in which, apparently, he in some degree 
 succeeded. 
 
 Thus imderstood, the histoi-y will agree with the 
 figurative representation of it by Ezekiel : (chap. xii. 
 7.) " I brought forth my stuff", baggage, by day, as 
 baggage for going into captivity ; and in the evening, 
 at twilight, I digged through the wall with mine own 
 hand : I bi-ought it — my baggage — forth, in the twi- 
 light : I bare it upon my shoulder," see verse 12. In 
 like manner, Zedekiah passed over the precipices, 
 or steps, and digged through a part of the defences 
 of his city ; and endeavored to escape at this breach 
 made by his own hands, or ids own order in his own 
 forlifif iition. Probalfiy, too, Zedekiah carried about 
 
 his person whatever of valuables he could convey 
 from his palace ; so that the resemblance to Ezekiel, 
 in loading himself with baggage, was nearly, or alto- 
 gether, perfect. It might be more complete than we 
 are aware ot| if Zedekiah digged through the wall 
 of any part of his palace, as Ezekiel did of his house ; 
 in which we see no improbability ; and he might 
 also have a subterraneous passage of some length, 
 before he issued from the wall into any open place. 
 
 WASHING, purification. See Baptism. 
 
 WASHING OF Feet. See imder Foot, and 
 Sandals. 
 
 WASHING of Hands was very frequent among 
 the Hebrews. See Baptism. 
 
 Children were washed immediately after their 
 birth. See Birth. 
 
 WATCH, a period of time. See Hour. 
 
 WATERS denote, metaphorically, (1.) posterity, 
 Numb. xxiv. 7 ; Prov. v. 15, 16 ; Isa. xlviii. 1. — (2.) 
 indefinitely, a large concourse of people. Rev. 
 xvii. 15. 
 
 Stra7ige waters, stolen iv^ters, (Prov. ix. 17.) denote 
 unlawful pleasure with strange women. The Israel- 
 ites are reproached with having forsaken the fountain 
 of living vvater, to quench their thirst at broken 
 cisterns; (Jer. ii. 13.) i. e. with having quitted the 
 worship of God for that of false and abominable 
 deities. 
 
 Waters sometimes denote afflictions and misfor- 
 tunes. Lam. iii. 54 ; Ps. Ixix. 1 ; cxxiv. 4, 5 ; cxvii. 16. 
 
 Living waters, spring waters, running waters, 
 streams ; in opposition to waters that stagnate in a 
 cistern, or in a lake, which are dead waters. 
 
 As in Scripture, bread is put for all sorts of food, 
 or solid nourishment, so water is used for all sorts of 
 drink. The Moabitesand Ammonites are reproach- 
 ed for not meeting the Israelites Avith bread and 
 water, that is, with proper refreshments, Deut. xxiii. 
 4. Nabal says, insulting David's messengers, "Shall 
 I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh 
 that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto 
 men, whom I know not whence they be .'"' 1 Sam. 
 xxv. 11. 
 
 In Deut. xi. 10, it is said, the land of Canaan is 
 not like Egypt, " where thou sowest thy seed, and 
 waterest it with thy foot." Palestine is a country 
 which has rains, plentiful dews, springs, rivulets and 
 brooks, which supply the earth with the moisture 
 necessary to its fruitfulness ; whereas Egypt has no 
 river but the Nile ; and as it seldom rains, the lands 
 which are not within reach of the inundation, con- 
 tinue parched and barren. To sup|)ly this want, 
 ditches are dug, and water is distributed throughout 
 the several villages and cantons, by the help of ma- 
 chines ; one of which Philo describes as a wheel 
 which a man turns with the motion of his feet, by 
 ascending successively the several steps that are 
 within it. But as, while he is thus continually ttuii- 
 ing, he cannot keep himself up, he holds a stay in 
 his hands, which is not movable, and this supports 
 him ; so that in this work, the hands do the oflice of 
 the feet, and the feet that of the hands. 
 
 WEDDING, see Marriage. 
 
 WEEK. Among the Hebrews there were three 
 kinds of weeks : (1.) Weeks of days, reckoned from 
 one sabbath to another. [The Jews were accustom- 
 ed, instead of the term iceek, to make use of the ex- 
 pression eight days ; just as the Germans do at the 
 present day ; and just as we also say foi-tiiight (i. e. 
 fourteen nights) instead of two toeeks. This remark 
 serves to illustrate John xx. 26, where the disciplct*
 
 WEL 
 
 [ 925 
 
 WIC 
 
 are said to have met again after " eight days," i. e. evi- 
 dently after a week, on the eightli day after our 
 Lord's resurrection. R.] (2.) Weeivs of years, reck- 
 y oned fi-oni one sabbattical year to another, and con- 
 ^ sisting of seven years. (3.) Weeks of seven times 
 seven years, or of forty-nine years, reckoned from 
 one jubilee to another. 
 
 WEEPING, see Fu.veral. 
 
 WEIGHTS, The Hebrews weighed all the gold 
 and silver they used in trade. The shekel, the half- 
 sliekc'l, the talent, are not only denominations of 
 moneys, of certain values, in gold and silver, but also 
 of certain weights. The Weight of the Sanctuary, 
 or Weight of the Temple, (Exod. xxx. 13, 24 ; Lev. 
 V. 5 ; Numb, iii, 50 ; vii. 19 ; xviii. IG, &c.) was 
 probably the standard weight, preserved in some 
 apartment of the temple, and not a different weiglit 
 from tbe common shekel ; (1 Chron. xxiii. 29.) for 
 though Moses appouits, that all things valued by 
 their price in silver should be rated by tl»e weight 
 of the sanctuary, (Lev. xxvii. 25.) he makes no dif- 
 ference between tliis shekel of twenty oboli, or 
 twenty geralis, and tiie common shekel. Ezekiel, 
 (xlv, 12.) speaking of the ordinary weights and meas- 
 ures used in traffic among the Jews, says, that the 
 sliekel weighed twenty oboli, or gerahs : — it was 
 therefore equal to the weight of the sanctuary. 
 Neitiier Josephus, uor Philo, nor Jerome, nor 
 any ancient author, speaks of a distinction between 
 tlie weights of the temple and those in common 
 use. 
 
 Besides, the custom of preserving the standards of 
 weights and measures in temples is not peculiar to 
 the Hebrews. The Egyptians, as Clemens Alexan- 
 drinus informs us, had an officer in the college of 
 })riests, whose business it was to examine all sorts of 
 measures, and to take care of the originals ; the Ro- 
 mans had the same custom. Faunius, de Ampliora ; 
 and the emperor Justinian decreed, that standards of 
 weights and measures should be kept in Christian 
 churches. 
 
 The following are the Jewish weights reduced to 
 Troy :— 
 
 lb. 02. dwt^. ^■:. 
 
 The Gcrah, the 20th part of Q shekel, . 12. 
 
 The Bekah, half a shekel, 5 0. 
 
 The Shekel, 10 0. 
 
 The Maneh,'GO shekels, 2 G 0. 
 
 The Talent, 50 maneh, or 3000 shekels, 125 0. 
 
 A xoeight of glory, of which Paul speaks, (2 Cor. 
 iv. 17.) is opposed to the lightness of the evils of this 
 life. The troubles we endure are reallj' of no more 
 weight than a feather, or of no weight at all, if com- 
 j)arcd to the weight or inteiisencss of that glory, 
 which shall be hereafter a compensation for them. 
 In addition to this, it is probable the apostle had in 
 view the double meaning of the Hebrew word cabod, 
 which signifies not only ivcight, but glory: glory, 
 that is, s|)lendor, is in this world the lightest thing in 
 nature ; but in the other world it may be real, at 
 once substantial and radiant. 
 
 WELLS, or Springs, are frequently mentioned 
 in Scripture. The Hebrews call a well beer; whence 
 this word is often compounded with proper names, as 
 Beer-sheba, Beeroth-bene-jaakan, Beeroth, Beerah, &-c. 
 
 How little do the people of this country under- 
 stand feelingly those passages i/f Scripture which 
 speak of want of water, of paying for that necessary 
 fluid, and of the strife for such a valuable article as a 
 
 well ! So we read, " Abraham reproved Abim- 
 elech, because of a well of water, which Abimelech's 
 servants had violently taken away," Gen. xxi. 25. 
 So, chap. xxvi. 20, "The herdsmen of Gerar did 
 strive with Isaac's herdsmen ; and he called the well 
 Ezek, contention.''^ — To what extremities contention 
 about a supply of water may proceed, we learn from 
 the following extracts: — "Our course lay along 
 shore, betv/ixt the main land and a chain of little 
 islands, with v/hich, as likewise with rocks and 
 shoals, the sea abounds in this part; and for that 
 reason, it is the practice with all these vessels to 
 anchor every evening : we generally brought up 
 close to the shore, and the land-breeze springing up 
 about midnight, wafted to us tiie perfumes of Arabia, 
 with which it was strongly impregnated, and very 
 fragrant ; the latter part of it caiTied us off in the 
 morning, and continued till eight, when it generaly 
 fell calm for two or three hours, and after that the 
 northerly wind set in, after obliging us to anchor 
 under die lee of the land by noon. It happened tliat 
 one morning, when we liad been driven by stress HiJL 
 w»ather into a small bay, called Birk bay, the coun- 
 try around it being inhabited by the Budoes, [Be- 
 doweens,] tlie Noquedah sent his people on shore lo 
 get water, for which it is always customary to pay. The 
 Budoes werp, as the people thought, rather too exor- 
 bitant in their cltmcmds, and not choosing to comply 
 with them, returned to make their report :o their 
 master. On hearing it, rage immediately seijred him, 
 and, determined to have the water on his oivn terms, 
 or perish in the attempt, he buckled on Hs armor, 
 and attended by his myimidons, carrying thdr match- 
 lock guns and lances, being twenty in nunber, they 
 rowed to the land. My Arabian servant, .vho went 
 on shore with the first party, and saw tha the Bu- 
 does were disposed for fighting, told me tint I should 
 certainly see a battle. I accordingly looktd on very 
 anxiously, hoping that the fortune of the lay would 
 be on the side of my friends ; but Heavei ordained 
 it otherwise ; for, after a parley of about a quarter of 
 an hour, with wliicli the Budoes amiisec them till 
 near a hundred were assembled, they pjoceeded to 
 the attack, and routed the sailors, Avho mide a pre- 
 cipitate retreat, the Noquedah and two others having 
 fallen in the action, and several being wouided ; they 
 contrived, however, to bring off their /lead," &c. 
 (3Iajor Rooke's Travels from India p England, 
 page 52.) 
 
 This extract especially illustrates tbe passage in 
 Nimib. XX. 17, J9 :— " We will not drink jf the water 
 of the wells:— If I and mv rattle drink 'f thy water, 
 then will I pay for //."—This is alw>ys expected; 
 and though Eclom might, in friendshp, have let his 
 brother Israel drink gratis, had he recollected their 
 consangninitv, yet Israel did not-lisist on such ac- 
 commodation. How strange wnild it sound among 
 us, if a person in travelling sN«'l<l propose to pay 
 for drinking water from the 'Vells by the road-side! 
 Nevertheless, still stronger l-^ the expression, Lam. v. 
 4 : " We have drank our nvn icaler for money f we 
 bought it of our foieig-i rulers, although we were 
 the natural proprietor* of the wells which furnish- 
 ed it. , . , 1 • , 
 
 WHEAT is tbe principal and most valuable kttid 
 of grain for the service of man, and is produced in 
 almost any part of the world. It is comprehended 
 under the* general name of grain or corn. See 
 
 COR.V. „, . , I „ 
 
 WICKED, vicious, sinful. " The wicke.l one," 
 taken absolutely, is generally put for the devil : " De-
 
 WIL 
 
 [ 926 ] 
 
 WIN 
 
 liver us from the wicked or evil one" (Matt. vi. 13.); 
 " Then corneth the wicked one, and catcheth away 
 that which was sown in his heart," Matt. xiii. 19. 
 The evil day (Ephes. vi. 13.) is the day of temptation, 
 or trial ; the day in which one is most in danger of 
 doing evil. The evil eye signifies jealousy, envy, or 
 sordid niggardliness, being opposed to liberality and 
 charity. Or it may denote a grudging or malign as- 
 pect. In the East, they believe the eye to have great 
 powers of striking the party looked on ; and jjcrhaps 
 the phrase alludes to this: a mischievous, mahgnant, 
 injurious direction of the eye ; eye-shot, as our poets 
 speak, " darting malignant fires." 
 
 WIDOW. Widowhood, as well as barrenness, 
 was a kind of shame and reproach in Israel. Isaiah 
 (Jiv. 4.) says, "Thou shalt forget the shame of thy 
 Touth, [passed in celibacy and barrenness,] and shalt 
 not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any 
 more." It was presumed, that a woman of merit 
 j,nd reputation might have found a husband, either 
 u the family of her deceased husband, if he died 
 childless, (see Marriage,) or in some other family, 
 i:' he had left children. It is true, indeed, that a 
 vidow was commended, who, from affection to her 
 frst husband, declined a second marriage, and con- 
 tinued in mourning and widowhood, as was the case 
 of Judith. 
 
 It was thought the greatest misfortune that could 
 happer to a man, to die, and not be bewailed by his 
 widow , that is, witiiout receiving the solemn hon- 
 ors of sepulture, of which the tears and praises of 
 the widov made a chief part. The wicked and his 
 children shall die, says Job, " and their widows shall 
 not mou;n for them," (chap, xxvii. 15.) and the 
 psalmist, -.peaking of the lamentable death of Hophni 
 and Phin^lias, observes, as a great disaster, that they 
 were not kwailed by their widows, Ps. Ixxviii. 64. 
 
 God frkjuently recommends to his people to be 
 veiy careful in relieving the widow and orphan, 
 Exod. xxK. 22 ; Dent. x. 18 ; xiv. 29, et passim. Paul 
 would hare us honor widows that are widows in- 
 deed, and desolate ; (1 Tim. v. 3, &c.) that is, the 
 bishop slionUl have a great regard for them, and sup- 
 ply them in their necessity ; for this is often signified 
 by the ve;b to honor. God forbids his high-priest to 
 marry a woman who is either a widow, or divorced, 
 Lev. xxi. 11 
 
 Formerly there were widows in the Christian 
 church, who, because of their poverty, were placed 
 on the list of persons to be provided for at the ex- 
 pense of tilt; church. There were others, who had 
 certain emj)hyments in the church ; as, to visit sick 
 women, to asSfjt women at baptism, and to do several 
 things which dfcoency would not permit to the other 
 sex. Paul did lot allow any woman to be chosen 
 into this number, «nless she were threescore years 
 old, at least, 1 Tim. x, 9. Such must have been mar- 
 ried but once ; must i^ve produced suflicient testi- 
 mony of their good wo-ks ; must have given good 
 education to their children; must have exercised 
 hospitality, washed the feel of the saints, and bestow- 
 ed succor on the miserable nnd afflicted. He for- 
 bids that young widows shoui* be admitted among 
 these, or, at least, among such as were on the church 
 list for maintenance. 
 
 WILDERNESS, see Desert. 
 
 WILL. Besides the common acceptation of this 
 word, to signify that faculty of willing, with which 
 we are endued ; that is, of choosing, desiring and 
 loving, it is taken, (1.) For the absolute and immu- 
 table Avill of God, which nothing can withstand, 
 
 Rom. ix. 19 ; Gen. 1. 19, 20 ; Isa. xlvi. 10. (2 ) For 
 a will not absolute and immutable ; as when Christ 
 desired that the cup of his passion might pass from 
 him, if such had been the will of God, Matt. xxvi. 
 39. It is not the will of God, that the wicked should 
 perish : (Ezek. xviii. 23.) " Have I any pleasure at 
 all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, 
 and not that he should turn fi-om his ways and live ?" 
 But if he determine to perish, and refuse to be con- 
 verted, God is not obliged to interpose, and to hinder 
 him from perishing against his will. (3.) To do the 
 will of God is put for keeping his law, submitting to 
 his authority, Matt. vii. 21 ; xii. 50. Paul says, (Heb. 
 x. 26.) " If we sin wilhngly, there remains no other 
 sacrifice for sin." In the old law, sacrifices for the 
 expiation of offences committed against the ceremo- 
 nies of the law, were repeated as oflen as those 
 offences were acknowledged. But, under the new 
 law, those who fall voluntarily and wilfullj^ into great 
 crimes, are not to expect that Christ will come to die 
 for them again : he died but once, and is not to die 
 any more ; neither is there to be any succeeduig me- 
 diator. Those who fall into great crimes, it is true, 
 may always hope for pardon, or may return and re- 
 pent ; but this remedy and this return are not easy. 
 By those voluntary crimes mentioned by Paul, many 
 understand final impenitence, hardness of heart, de- 
 spair, or the sin against the Holy Spirit. 
 
 WILLOW, a veiy common tree, which grows in 
 marshy places, with aleaf much like that of the olive. 
 God commanded the Hebrews to take branches of 
 the handsomest trees, particularly of the willows of 
 the brook, and to bear them in their hands before the 
 Lord, as a token of rejoicing, at the Feast of Taber- 
 nacles, Lev. xxiii. 40. 
 
 WIMPLE, a veil or hood. But the Hebrew 
 nncao signifies, properly, a broad and large mantle or 
 shawl. So in Ruth iii. 15, Boaz gives Ruth six meas- 
 ures of barley, which she carries away in her mit- 
 pahhath or mantle, not veil as in the English transla- 
 tion. So in Isa. iii. 22. R. 
 
 WINDS. [From the Calendar of Palestine, by 
 Buhle, inserted under the article Canaa>', (p. 240,) it 
 appears, that the winds which most conunonly pre- 
 vail in Palestine are from the western quarter, more 
 usually, perhaps from the south-west. This is also 
 supported by the reports of intelligent travellei-s. 
 The Rev. E. Smith, American missionary in the East, 
 now (July 1832) on a visit to his native country, re- 
 cently confirmed this statement to the writer ; remark- ^ 
 ing, also, that a north wind not unfrcquently arises, -^J 
 which, as in ancient days, is still the sure harbinger of 
 fair weather; illustrating the truth of the observation 
 in Prov. xxv. 23, " The north wind driveth away rain." 
 (For the tempestuous wind called Euroclydon, see 
 that article.) 
 
 But the principal object which we have here in 
 view is the Kddim or East Wind of the Scriptures, 
 which is represented as blasting and drying up the 
 fruits, (Gen. xli. 6; Ezek. xvii. 10; xix. 12, &c.) and 
 also as blowing with great violence, Ps. xlviii. 7; 
 Ezek. xxvii. 26; Jonah iv. 8, &c. It is also the 
 "horrible tempest," \)ro\>vr\y glow-uind, iT-ySs, of Ps. 
 xi. 6. This is a sultry and oppressive wind blowing 
 from the south-east, and prevailing only in the hot 
 and dry months of summer. Coming thus from the 
 vast Arabian desert, it seems to increase the heat and 
 drought of the season, and produces universal lan- 
 guor and relaxation. Mr. Smith, who experienced 
 its effects during the summer, at Beyrout, describes it 
 as possessing the same qualities and characteristics,
 
 WINDS 
 
 [ 927 ] 
 
 WINDS 
 
 as the Sirocco which he had felt at Malta, and which 
 also prevails in Sicily and Italy ; except that the Si- 
 rocco, in passing over the sea, acquires great damp- 
 ness. The Sirocco is described by Brydone, as re- 
 sembling a blast of burning steam from the mouth of 
 an oven ; in a few minutes those exposed to it find 
 every fii)re relaxed in an extraordinary manner. 
 This wind is more or less violent, and of longer or 
 shorter duration at different times ; seldom lasting 
 more than 36 or 40 hours ; and, notwithstanding its 
 scorching heat, it has never been known to [)roduce 
 epidemical disorders, or to do any injury to the health 
 of the people. These characteristics, except the 
 dampness, apply entirely to the east wind of I'alcs 
 tine, which is dry and withering. 
 
 Many interpreters, however, have chosen to refer 
 the kddim, or east wind of the Scriptnres, to the oft 
 described wind of the desert, called by the Arabs 
 Simoom, {Semoom, Smtioom, or Smoum,) by the Turks 
 Samiel, and in Egypt Camsin ; which has long re- 
 tained the character of a pestilential wind, suddenly 
 overtaking travellers and caravans in the deserts, and 
 almost instantly destroying them by its poisonous and 
 suffnrating breath. The result, however of the re- 
 searches of more modern and judicious travellers, 
 seems to show, that the former accounts of the de- 
 structive power of this wind have been, at least, much 
 exaggerated ; and that the autliors of these accounts 
 either had their credulity imposed upon by the Arabs, 
 or else have described certain facts in such a way, as 
 to impart to them a coloring and cause them to make 
 an impression, which the naked facts themselves 
 would not warrant. 
 
 Among writers of this class, we may probably reck- 
 on with justice Mr. Bruce and sir R. K. Porter. The 
 latter has eveiy where given the fii'st accounts which 
 he received from by-standei-s, as matters of fact ; 
 without ever seeming himself to have any question 
 of their con-ectness, and usually without even indi- 
 cating that they are not matters of his own personal 
 knowledge or experience. In 1830 and 1831, Messrs. 
 Smith and Dwight, American missionaries, travelled 
 in Armenia over much of the same ground as this 
 writer ; and they do not hesitate to affirm that his 
 accounts are, in general, to be received with gi-eat dis- 
 trust, and that not a few of his statements are in 
 direct variance with the reality. In regard to Mr. 
 Bruce, it is well known, that his book was generally 
 considered, on the first appearance of it, as a mere ro- 
 mance ; later travellers, however, have confirmed the 
 accuracy of his general accounts, i. e. they have estab- 
 lished the fact, that his work has a broad basis of 
 truth at the bottom ; while it is well understood, that 
 in filling up the details he drew largely from his im- 
 agination ; — not perhaps with the design of stating 
 any thing which he did not suppose to be true; but 
 partly in consequence of that tendency to exaggera- 
 tion and high coloring, which is the characteristic of 
 so many minds ; and partly, no doubt, from the cir- 
 cumstance, that his narrative was first written out, 
 sixteen years after the events therein described, when 
 the whole had become to him, in a measure, like a 
 dream. Mr. Salt, in his Travels in Abyssinia, has 
 produced some strong instances, on the part of Bruce, 
 of aberration from strict veracity and manly frankness. 
 
 After these prefatory remarks, we proceed to give 
 the accounts of the Siinoom as furnisl)ed by various 
 travellers, placing that of sir R. K. Porter first, as 
 being, although oneof the latest, yet, probably, one of 
 the most exaggerated. 
 
 At Bagdad, October 9, 1818, sir R. K. Porter informs 
 
 us, (Travels, vol. ii. p. 229.) the master of the khan 
 " told me, that they consider October the first month 
 of their autumn, and feel it delightfully cool in com- 
 parison with July, August and September; for that 
 during forty days of the two first-named summer 
 months, the hot wind blows from the desert, 
 and its effects are often destructive. Its title 
 is very appropriate, being called the Samiel, or 
 Baude Semoom, the pestilential wind. It does not 
 come in continued long currents, but in gusts at dif- 
 ferent intervals, each blast lasting several minvites, and 
 passing along with the rajiidity of lightning. No one 
 dare stir from their houses while this invisible flame 
 is sweeping over the face of the country. Previous 
 to its approach, the atmosphere becomes thick and 
 suffocating, liiid appearing particularly dense near the 
 horizon, gives sufficient warning of the threatened 
 mischief. Though hostile to human life, it is so far 
 from bemg prejudicial to the vegetable creation, that 
 a continuance of the Samiel tends to ripen the fruits. 
 I inquired what became of the cattle during such a 
 plague, and was told they were seldom touched 
 by it. It seems strange that their lungs should be so 
 perfectly insensible to what seems instant destruction 
 to the breath of man ; but so it is, and they are regu- 
 larly driven down to water at the customary times of 
 day, even when the blasts are at the severest. The 
 people who attend them are obliged to plaster their 
 own faces and other parts of the body usually ex- 
 posed to the air, with a sort of muddy clay, which m 
 general protects them from its most malignant effects. 
 The periods of the winds' blowing are generally from 
 noon till sunset; they cease almost entirely during 
 the night ; and the direction of the gust is always from 
 the north-east. When it has passed over, a sul- 
 phuric, and indeed loathsome, smell, like putridity, 
 remains for a long time. The poison which occa- 
 sions this smell must be deadly ; for if any unfortu- 
 nate traveller, too far from shelter, meet the blast, he 
 falls immediately ; and, in a few minutes his flesh be- 
 comes almost black, while both it and his bones at 
 once arrive at so extreme a state of corruption, that 
 the smallest movement of the body would separate 
 the one from the other." 
 
 It is but justice to sir R. K. Porter to say, that his 
 account of the Sitnoom tallies entirely with that given 
 by Chardin in his Travels in Persia. Both travellers 
 doubtless drew from similar sources — the stories of 
 the common people. Chardin says, (Travels, vol. iii. 
 p. 286. edit, of Langl^s,) that "this wind blows with a 
 great noise, appears red and inflamed, and kills those 
 persons whom it overtakes by a kind of suffocation. 
 The most remarkable effect of it is, not so much that 
 it causes death, as that the bodies of those who are 
 destroyed by it are dissolved or corrupted, without 
 losing either their form or color; so that one would 
 suppose, they were merely asleep ; but if he takes 
 hold of a member, it separates from the body and 
 remains in his hand." Chardin then relates sev- 
 eral instances of this kind which he had heard of 
 
 The following extract is from D'Obsonville's " Es- 
 says, &-C. on the East : " " Some enlightened travellers 
 have seriously written, that every individual who falls 
 a victim to this infection, is immediately reduced to 
 ashes, though apparently only asleep ; and that when 
 taken hold of to be awakened by passengers, the 
 limbs part from the body and remain in the hand. 
 Such travellers would evidently not have taken these 
 tales on hearsay, if they had paid a j)roper attention 
 to other facts, which they either did, or ought to have 
 heard. Experience proves, that animals, by pressing
 
 WINDS 
 
 [ 928 1 
 
 WINDS 
 
 their nostrils to the earth, and men, by covering their 
 heads in their niantles, liave nothing to fear from 
 these meteore. This demonstrates tlie impossibility, 
 that a poison, wiiich can only penetrate the most del- 
 icate parts of the brain or lungs, should calcine the 
 skin, flesh, nerves and bones, I acknowledge these 
 accounts are had from the Arabs thenjselves ; but 
 their picturesque and extravagant expressions are a 
 kind of imaginary coin, to know the true value of 
 wiiich requires some practice." " I have twice had 
 ail opportunity of considering the effect of these 
 siphons, with some attention. I shall relate simply 
 what I have seen in the case of a merchant and two 
 travellers, who were struck during their sleej), and 
 died on the spot. I ran to see if it was possible to 
 afford them any succor, but they were already dead, 
 tlie victims of an interior suffocating fire. There 
 were apparent signs of the dissolution of their fluids ; 
 a kind of serous matter issued from the nostrils, 
 mouth and ears : and in something more than 
 an hour, the whole body was in the same state. 
 However, as, according to their custom, they [the 
 Arabs] were tliligent to pay them the last duties of 
 humanity, I cannot aflirm that the putrefaction was 
 more or less rapid than usual in that country. As 
 to the meteor itself, it may be examined with impu- 
 nity at the distance of three or four fathoms ; and the 
 country people are only afraid of being surprised by it 
 when they are asleep ; neither are such accidents verj' 
 common, for these siphons are only seen during tv/o 
 or three months of the year; and as their approach 
 is felt, the camp-guards and the people awake, are 
 always very careful to rouse those that sleep, who 
 also have a general habit of covering thuir faces with 
 their mantles." 
 
 All these accounts bear, upon the face of them, 
 the stamp of exaggeration. But this is not all. Of 
 the accounts of Chardin, I\Ir. Morier, well known as 
 a judicious observer, remarks, in speaking of this 
 very passage, (p. 63.) "On intpiirj-, we lem-ued that 
 the present inhabitants of these countries [around the 
 Persian gulf] knoiv nothing of the fatal effects of this 
 wind upon those who are exposed to it, and of which 
 this traveller [Chardin] adduces examples. The 
 Sam-icind occasions great devastation in this region, 
 as I was informed, and is especially destructive to the 
 vegetation. About six years before, this wind blew 
 during all the summer months, and scorched all the 
 grain, then nearly ripe, in such a manner, that no ani- 
 mal would touch a loaf or a kernel of it." This account 
 is far more probable in itself, apart from the well-knovvH 
 character of the writer ; and it is also sustained by 
 the following extract from the Journal of Mr. Jackson, 
 who made the over-land journey from India to Eng- 
 land in 1797. This writer gives the following account 
 of this wind, which is probably very near the truth. 
 When on the Tigris, about five days' journey from 
 Bagdad, (in the same region as sir R. K. Porter,) he 
 remarks : " I had liere an opportunity of observing 
 th" |)rogress of the hot wincls, called by the natives 
 Samiel, which sometimes proves very destructive, par- 
 ticularly at this season. They arc most dangerous 
 between twelve and three o'clock, when the atmos- 
 phere is at its greatest degree of heat. Their force 
 entirely depends on the surface over which they 
 pass. If it be over a desert, where there is no vegeta- 
 tion, they extend their dimensions with amazing ve- 
 locity, and then their progress is sometimes to wind- 
 ward ; if over grass, or any other vegetation, they 
 soon diminish and lose much of their force ; if over 
 water, they lose all their electrical force, and 
 
 ascend ; [see the extract from Riippell below ;] yet I 
 have sometimes felt their effects across the river 
 where it was at least a mile broad. An instance hap- 
 pened here. Mr. Ste|)hens, a fellow traveller, was 
 bathing in the river, having on a pair of Turkish 
 drawers. On his return from the water, there came 
 a hot mnd across the river, which made his drawers 
 and himself perfectly dry in an instant. Had such a 
 circumstance been related to him by another person, 
 he declared he could not have believed it. I was 
 present and felt the force of the hot wind, but should 
 otherwise have been as incredulous as IMr. Stephens." 
 (p. 81.) 
 
 We subjoin here the account of Niebuhr, as being 
 one of the most full and trustworthy, and as relating 
 also to the same Asiatic regions. It will be perceived, 
 however, that this is the result, not of his own ob-. 
 servations, but of his inquiries among the Arabs ; and 
 that although according in the chief points witl) the 
 descriptions of Porter and Chardin, the language is, 
 nevertheless, much noore moderate. The suggestions 
 also occasionally thrown in, accord well with the 
 character of this most sober and judicious of all 
 travellers. He is speaking of the region around the 
 Persian gulf, Bagdad, &c. (Descr. of Arab. p. 7. Germ, 
 edit.) "The hot season is called by the Arabs, so far 
 as I can learn, Sryium, [Simoom,] just as we call ihe 
 same period, dog-days, and as the Egyptians also call 
 their hot season, Ca77isin. In these months there 
 are occasional instances at Bassora, though seldom, 
 of persons in the street, both in the city and on the 
 way to Zobier, falling down and dying from the heat ; 
 indeed mules also are said to have died of the heat 
 out of the citj-. 
 
 "Of the poisonous wind Sam, Smi'tm, Sainiel, or 
 5ame7j, according to the pronunciation of the Arabs, of 
 whom 1 inquired about it, one hears most in the desert 
 between Bassora, Bagdad, Aleppo and Mecca. It is 
 said also not to be unknown in some districts of Per- 
 sia and India, and also in Spain. This wind is also 
 to be feared only in the hottest summer months. It 
 is said alwavs to come from the gi-eat desert ; indeed 
 they saj' that the Simoom, (I am not sure whether 
 the poisonous one is meant,) at Mecca, comes from 
 the east, at Bagdad, from the west, at Bassorah, from 
 the north-west, and at Surat, from the north. At 
 Cairo, the hottest wind comes over the Libyan desert, 
 and consequently" from the south-west. As the Arabs 
 of the desert arc accustomed to a pure atmosphere, it 
 is BJiid that some among them are so keen-scented as 
 to distinguish the fatal Simoom by its sulphuroussmell. 
 Another token of this wind is said to be, that the 
 whole atmosphere, in the quarter whence it blows, 
 becomes of a reddish hue. Since, however, a wind 
 moving regidarly forwards has less power near the 
 sm-lace of the earth, being somewhat hindered and 
 i)roken perhaps by hills, and rocks, and bushes, and 
 also by the evaporation from the ground, it is there- 
 fore usual for persons to throv/ themselves upon the 
 earth when they perceive the appicach of the Si- 
 moom. Nature' also is said to have taught the beasts 
 to hold their heads to the earth in like circumstances. 
 One of my servants was overtaken by this wind, iu 
 a caravan on the way from Bassorah to Aleppo. 
 Some of the Arabs cried out in time for them all to 
 throw themselves on the ground, and none of those 
 who did this received any injury. But some of the 
 caravan, and among them a French surgeon, who 
 wished to examine this phenomenon more closely, 
 were too secure, and in consequence died. Some- 
 times years are said to elapse, during which there
 
 WINDS 
 
 [ 929 ] 
 
 WINDS 
 
 appears no trace of the poisonous Sinioom on the 
 way between Bassorah and Aleppo. 
 
 " According to the Arabs, both men and beasts are 
 suffocated by this wind, in the same manner as by 
 the ordinary hot wind, of which I have spoken above. 
 When the heat of the season is extraordinarily great, 
 there comes sometimes a slight blast vvhicli is still 
 hotter; and when men or beasts have already be- 
 come so weak as almost to perish from the heat, it 
 would seem that this additional degi-ee of heat, though 
 small, takes away their breath entirely. In tlie case 
 of those who are suffocated by this wind, or, as they 
 say, whose heart has burst, it is said that the blood 
 starts from the nose and ears sometimes in two hours 
 after death. Their bodies are said to remain a long 
 time warm, to swell, to turn blue and green, and, if 
 the attempt is made to raise them by the leg or arm, 
 this separates itself at once. Some profess to hav'e 
 observed, that those who are not previously so weak- 
 ened, usually suffer less ; and hence, in a large cara- 
 van, sometimes not more than four or five have died 
 on the spot, wlule others have lived several hours, 
 and some have even been restored by refreshing cor- 
 dials. The Arabs, it is said, take with them leeks 
 and raisins upon their journeys, and by means of 
 these have often relieved persons who were well nigh 
 suffocated. 
 
 "After this description of the Simoom, it will 
 readily be supposed, that I had no great inclination 
 to make the experiment proposed in the 24th question 
 of professor Michaelis. And even if I had kept every 
 thing in readiness for this purpose, my trouble would 
 all have been in vain, for I have myself never met with 
 this wind." 
 
 The preceding extracts relate chiefly to the interior 
 of Arabia and Asia; those which follow refer more 
 to Africa, and the southern coast of Arabia. The 
 first which we shall give, go to show that the Simoom 
 has in general the same bad name in these regions as 
 in other places. 
 
 Maillet, in speaking of the great Hadj, or annual 
 caravan of pilgrims from Egypt to Mecca, remarks : 
 (Let. xiv. p. 232.) "If the north wind happens to 
 fail, and that from the south comes in its place, 
 which, however, is rather uncommon, then the whole 
 caravan is so sickly and exhausted, that three or four 
 hundred persons are wont to lose their lives ; and 
 even greater numbers, as fifteen hundred ; of whom 
 the greatest ])art are stifled on the spot, by the fire and 
 dust of which this fatal wind seems to be composed." 
 
 The same writer, in giving an account of the dan- 
 gers attending the caravans that pass between Egypt 
 and Nubia, further remarks: (Lett. dern. p. 218.) 
 "The danger is infinitely greater when the south 
 wind hap|)ens to blow in these deserts. The least 
 mischief that it produces is the making dry their 
 leather bottles, or goat skins filled with water, which 
 they are obliged to carry with them in these journeys, 
 and by this means depriving both man and beast of 
 the only relief they have against its violent heat^'. 
 This wind, which the Arabs call poisonous, stifl^^s on 
 the spot those that are unfortunate enough fo breathe 
 in it ; so that to guard against its penucious effects, 
 they are obliged to tlirow themselves speedily on the 
 ground, with their face close to these burning sands, 
 with which they are surrounded, and to cover their 
 heads with some cloth or carpet, lest, in respiration, 
 they should suck in that deadly quality which every 
 where attends it. People ought even to think them- 
 selves very happy when this wuid, which is always, 
 besides, very violent, does not I'aise up large quanti- 
 117 
 
 ties of sand with a whirling motion, which, darkening 
 the air, renders their guides incapable of discerning 
 their way. Sometimes whole caravans have been 
 buried by this means under the sand, with which this 
 wind is frequently charged." 
 
 The next traveller whom we quote is Mr. Bruce, 
 who speaks more in detail, and professes to give the 
 results of his own personal experience. On the 
 general character of his work, and the degree of con- 
 fidence to be placed in the accuracy of his narratives, 
 we have made some remarks above, (p. 927.) His 
 account is as follows : — 
 
 " On the 16th, at half-past ten, we lefl; El Mout. 
 At eleven o'clock, while we contemplated with great 
 pleasure the rugged top of Chiggre, to which we 
 were fast approaching, and where we were to solace 
 ourselves with plenty of good water, Idris cried out, 
 'Fall upon your faces, for here is the Simoom !' I 
 saw from the S. E. a haze come, in color like the 
 purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or 
 thick. It did not occupy twenty j^ards in breadth, 
 and was about twelve feet high from the giound. It 
 was a kind of blush upon the air, and it moved very 
 rapidly, for I scarce could turn to fall upon the 
 ground, with my head to the northward, when I felt 
 the heat of its current plainly upon my face. We 
 all lay flat on the ground, as if dead, till Idris told us 
 it was blown over. The meteor, or purple haze, 
 which I saw, was indeed passed, but the light air that 
 still blew was of heat to threaten suffocation. For 
 my part, I found distinctly in my breast that I had 
 imbibed a part of it, nor was I free of an asthmatic 
 sensation, till I had been some months in Italy, 
 at the baths of Poretta, near two years after- 
 wards. A universal despondency had taken pos- 
 session of our people. They ceased to speak to 
 one another, and when they did, it was in whispers, 
 by which I easily guessed that they were increas- 
 ing each others' fears, by vain suggestions, calcu- 
 lated to sink each other's spirits still further. . . . This 
 phenomenon of the Simoom, unexpected by us, 
 though foreseen by Idris, caused us all to relapse into 
 our former despondency. It still continued to blow, 
 so as to exhaust us entireh', though the blast was so 
 weak as scarcely would have raised a leaf from the 
 ground. At twenty minutes before five, the Simoom 
 ceased, and a comfortable and cooling breeze came 
 by starts from the north." (Vol. iv. p. 558, 559.) 
 
 " We had no sooner got into the plains than we 
 felt great symptoms of the Simoom, and about a 
 quarter before twelve, our prisoner first, and then 
 Idris, cried out. The Simoom! the Simoom! My cu- 
 riosity would not suffer me to fall down without look- 
 ing behind me : about due south, a little to the east, 
 I saw^ the colored haze as before. It seemed now to 
 be rather less compressed, and to have with it a shade 
 of blue. The edges of it were not defined as those 
 of the ibniicr ; but like a very thin smoke, with about 
 jard in the middle tinged with those colors. We 
 all fell upon our faces, and the Simoom passed with 
 a gentle nifiling wind. It continued to blow in this 
 manner till near three o'clock ; so that we were all 
 taken ill at night, and scarcely strength was left us to 
 load the camels." (Vol. iv. p. 581.) 
 
 " The Simoom with the wind at S. E. immediately 
 followed the wind at N. and the usual despondency 
 that always accompanied it. The blue meteor, with 
 which it began passing over us about twelve, and the 
 ruffling wind that followed it, continued till neartwo. 
 Silence, and a desperate kind of indifference about 
 life, were the immediate effects upon us; and I be-
 
 WINDS 
 
 [ 930 ] 
 
 WINDS 
 
 gan, seeing the condition of my camels, to fear we were 
 all doomed to a sandy grave, and to contemplate it 
 with some degree of resignation. 
 
 " I here began to provide for the worst. I saw the 
 fate of our camels fast approaching, and that our men 
 grew weak in proportion : our bread, too, began to 
 fail us, although we had plenty of camel's jfleshinits 
 stead ; our water, though to all appearance we were 
 to find it more frequently than in the beginning of 
 our journey, was nevertheless brackish, and scarce 
 served the purpose to quench our thirst ; and above 
 all, the dreadful Simoom had perfectly exhausted 
 our strength, and brought upon us a degi'ee of cow- 
 ardice and languor, that we struggled with in vain." 
 (Vol. V. p. 583, 584.) 
 
 Such is the strongest evidence which is or can be 
 brought forward, to establish the poisonous qualities 
 of the Simoom, or wind of the desert. We must 
 now reverse the picture, and produce the evidence to 
 show that all these stories probably rest either upon 
 the credulity of the writers, or on a spirit of exag- 
 geration. Our first witness is Burckhardt, who lived 
 and travelled, from 1810 to 1817 inclusive, in Syria, 
 Arabia, and the countries between these, in Egypt, 
 Nubia, Soudan, &c. — in all the countries indeed in 
 whicli, according to the foregoing accounts, the Si- 
 moom is said to be prevalent. He was, moi'eover, 
 thoroughly acquainted with the language, and travel- 
 led every where as a native, which of course gave him 
 far greater facilities of obtaining information than 
 fall to the lot of other Europeans. His good judg- 
 ment and extreme accuracy are every where appa- 
 rent, and are also vouched for by all subsequent 
 travellers. In describing his journey across the 
 great Nubian desert, in 1814, the same which Mr. 
 Bruce crossed, he gives the results of all his obser- 
 vations upon the Simoom, in the following manner : — 
 
 " March 22, 1814.— At the end of five houre we 
 halted in a Wady. The wind was still southerly. I 
 again inquired, as I had often done before, whether 
 my companions had often experienced the Semoum, 
 which we translate by the poisonous blast of the 
 desert, but which is nothing more than a violent 
 south-east wind. They answered in the affirmative, 
 but none had ever known an instance of its having 
 proved fatal. Its worst effect is, that it dries up the 
 water in the skins, and so far endangers the travel- 
 ler's safety. In these southern countries, however, 
 [Nubia,] water-skins are made of very thick cow- 
 Icathcr, which are almost impenetrable to the Se- 
 inoum. In Arabia and Egypt, on the contrary, the 
 skins of sheep or goats are used for this purpose ; and 
 I [afterwards] witnessed the effect of a Semoum 
 upon them, in going from Tor to Suez, in 1815, when 
 in one morning a third of the contents of a full water- 
 skin was evaporated. I have repeatedly been ex- 
 posed to the hot wind, in the Syrian and Arabian 
 deserts, in Upper Egypt and Nubia. The hottest and 
 most violent I ever experienced was at Suakin, [on 
 the Nubian coast of the Red sea,] yet, even there, 1 
 felt no particular inconvenience from it, although ex- 
 posed to all its fury in the open plain. For my own 
 part, I am peri-ectly convinced, that all the stories 
 which travellers, or the inhabitants of the towns of 
 Egypt and Syria, relate of the Semoum of the desert, 
 arc greatly exaggerated ; and J never could hear of a 
 
 SINGLE WELL AUTHENTICATED INSTANCE ofits havirio- 
 
 proved mortal, either to inan or heaM. The fact is, that 
 the Bedouins, when questioned on the subject, often 
 frighten the towns-people with tales of men, and even 
 of whole caravans, having perished by the effects of 
 
 the wind ; when, upon close inquiry, made oy sonic 
 person whom they find not ignorant of the desert, 
 they will state the plain truth. I never observed tliat 
 the Semoum blows close to the groimd,as commonly 
 supposed, but always observed the whole atmos- 
 phere appear as if in a state of combustion ; the dust 
 and sand are carried high into the air, which assumes 
 a reddish, or bluish, or yellowish tint, according to the 
 nature and color of the ground, from which the dust 
 arises. The yellow, however, always, more or less, 
 predominates. In looking through a glass of a light 
 yellow color, one may form a pretty con-ect idea of 
 the appearance of the air, as I observed it during a 
 stormy Semoum at Esne, in Upper Egypt, in May, 
 1813. The Semoum is not always accompanied by 
 whirlwinds ; in its less violent degree, it will blow for 
 hours with little force, although with oppressive heat ; 
 when the whirlwind raises the dust, it then increases 
 several degrees in heat. In the Semoum at Esne, 
 the thermometer mounted to 121° in the shade ; but 
 the air seldom remains longer than a quarter of an 
 hour in this state, or longer than the whirlwuid lasts. 
 
 " The most disagreeable effect of the Semoum on 
 man is, that it stops perspiration, dries up the palate, 
 and produces great restlessness. I never saw any per- 
 son lie down flat upon his face, to escape its pernicious 
 blast, as Bruce describes himself to have done in 
 crossing this very desert; but during the whirhvinds, 
 the Ai'abs often hide their faces with their cloaks, 
 and kneel down near their camels, to prevent the 
 sand or dust from hurting their eyes. Camels are 
 always much distressed, not by the heat, but by the 
 dust blowing into their lai-ge, prominent eyes. They 
 turn round and endeavor to screen themselves by 
 holding down their heads ; but this I never saw 
 them do, except in case of a whirlwind, however 
 intense the heat of the atmosphere might be. In 
 June, 1813, gohig from Esne to Siout, a violent 
 Semoum overtook me upon the plain, between Far- 
 shiout and Berdys. I was quite alone, mounted upon 
 a light-footed Hedjin. When the whirlwind arose, 
 neither house nor tree was in sight, and while I was 
 endeavoring to cover my face with my handkerchief, 
 the beast was made unruly by the quantity of dust 
 thrown into its eyes, and the terrible noise of the 
 wind, and set off at a fui'ious gallop. I lost the reins 
 and received a heavy fall ; and not being able to see 
 ten yards before me, I remained wrapped up in my 
 cloak on the spot where I fell, until the wind abated, 
 when, pursuing my dromedary, I found it at a great 
 distance, quietly standing near a low shrub, the 
 branches of which afforded some shelter to its 
 eyes. 
 
 " Bruce has mentioned the moving pillars of sand 
 in this desert ; but although none such occurred 
 during my passage, I do not presume to question his 
 veracity on this head. The Arabs told me that there 
 are often whirlwinds of sand, and I have repeatedly 
 passed through districts of moving sands, which the 
 slightest wind can raise. I remember to have seen 
 columns of sands moving about like water-spouts, in 
 the desert, on the banks of the Euphrates, and have 
 seen, at Jaka, terrible effects from a sudden wind ; I 
 therefore very easily credit their occasional appear- 
 ance in the Nubian desert, although I doubt of their 
 endangering the safety of travellei*s." (Travels in 
 Nubia, &c. Lond. 1819, p. 204—6.) 
 
 A later and not less respectable traveller is M. 
 Riippell, of Franckfort, who is still living, (1832,) and 
 with whom the writer of these lines had the pleasure 
 of a personal interview. He first visited Egypt, and
 
 ^x, WINDS [ 931 
 
 Arabia Pe. la, in the yeai-s 1817 and 1818 ; but re- 
 turned to Europe in this latter year, in order to make 
 the necessary preparations in order to examine those 
 and the adjacent regions inamore scientific manner. 
 He pursued the necessary studies, both in natural 
 philosophy and natural history, at the university of 
 Pavia, under the general advice and direction of the 
 celebrated astronomer, baron Von Zach ; and pro- 
 cured also an apparatus of astronomical and other 
 instruments. Thus prepared, he arrived in Egypt 
 in the beginning of 1822, and continued to reside 
 and travel in that country, in Nubia, Kordofan, and 
 south-western Arabia, until the middle of 1827. His 
 remarks upon the wind of the desert are contained in 
 the following extract, and are those of a scientific 
 observer : — 
 
 "During the march from Suez to Cairo, I had 
 opportunity to make a meteorological observation, 
 wliich surprised me, and which may perhaps lead to 
 interesting results. It was on tlie 21st of May, 1822, 
 at the distance of seven hours [about 22 miles] from 
 Cairo, that we were overtaken by the violent south 
 wind, of which former travellers have given the 
 most strange and incredible accounts. Not long 
 after sunrise, after we had had during the night a 
 light wind from the north-east, there sprung up a 
 fresh breeze from the south-south-east, which by de- 
 grees increased to a violent gale. Clouds of dust 
 filled the whole atmosphere to such a degree, that 
 one could recognize nothing fifty paces off; not 
 even a camel was to be distinguished at this distance. 
 Along the surface of the earth there was a constant 
 crackling, which I suj)posed to arise from the rolling 
 sand, which the wind lashed so impetuously. All 
 those parts of our bodies which were turned towards 
 the wind, were uncommonly heated ; and we expe- 
 rienced an unusual feeling of pain, somewhat like 
 the pricking of needles, accompanied by a peculiar 
 sound. I supposed, at first, that this feeling of pain 
 m the exposed parts of the body, was caused by the 
 small stones which were borne along by the tempest 
 and hurled against us; and in order to judge of the 
 size of these stones, I attempted to catch some of 
 them with my cap ; but how great was my surprise, 
 when I found I could not succeed in obtaining a 
 single one of these supposed stones. 1 now remarked, 
 for the first time, that this painful feeling in the skin 
 was not caused by the stroke of any such stones or 
 sand, but was rather the eflTect of some invisible 
 physical power, which I could compare only with 
 the passing off of a stream of electric fluid. After 
 this first conjectfue, I began to observe more closely 
 the phenomena around me. I noticed, that our hau* 
 became more or less erect ; and that the pricking 
 pain in the skin was especially perceptible in the 
 joints and at the extremities, just as if I had been 
 exposed to an electric shock upon an isolated stool. 
 In order to convince myself entirely, that this feeling 
 of pain did not arise from the stroke of stones or 
 sand, I stretched a sheet of paper, and held it against 
 the wind. The smallest stone or grain of sand, and 
 even the dust itself, would have been distinctly per- 
 ceptible to the ear or eye ; but nothing of this took 
 place. The surface of the paper remained un- 
 changed and noiseless. I now stretched out my arm, 
 and the pricking pain was immediately increased at 
 the extremities of my fingers. These observations 
 led me very strongly to conjecture, that the violent 
 wind known in Egypt by the name of Camsin, is 
 either accompanied by a large quantity of the electric 
 fluid, or else that this is occasioned by the motion of 
 
 WINDS 
 
 the dry sand in the desert. Hence the thick clouds 
 of dust which accompany this wind, consisting of 
 isolated atoms of sand, which for days darken the 
 sun in a cloudless sky. In this way one could per- 
 haps explain how this wind might, through its 
 electrical properties, sometimes prove fatal to cara- 
 vans, as has been related by some travellers. I must, 
 however, here remark, that in the countries through 
 which I have travelled, I have never beard the 
 LEAST HINT OF ANY SUCH ACCIDENT. At any rate, 
 the supposition that such a calamity might be occa- 
 sioned by the caravan's being buried under the sand, 
 is most ridiculous. 
 
 " The Camsin, or gale from the south-east, usually 
 blows in Egypt two or three days at a time, with 
 less violence, however, during the night. It occurs 
 only in the inten'al between the middle of April and 
 the middle of June ; hence its Arabic name, which 
 signifies Ji/ty, or the fifty days^ ivind. It is much to 
 be wished, that scientific travellers, provided with the 
 proper instruments, may subject the electrical quality 
 of this wind to an accurate examination ; but for this 
 purpose it would be necessary to select some other 
 station than Cairo, or any other inhabited place, 
 where, in consequence of the vicinity of trees, or 
 houses, or towers, the electricity of the air would 
 be already weakened or lost. The observer of the 
 Camshi must betake himself to the midst of the 
 desert, far from all running or standing water, 
 where the wind shows itself in its full strength ; and 
 there may he with certainty expect, that his investi- 
 gations will lead to interesting and important results." 
 (Reisen, Franckf 1829, p. 269—272.) 
 
 In a note appended to this passage, M. Riippell 
 further remarks : " I had myself opportunity, a year 
 afterguards, to make some investigations in I)ongola, 
 respecting the electricity which accompanies violent 
 gales in Africa. It was during a gale which occuiTed 
 in that province, on the 7th of April, 1823. The 
 instrument employed was the common Voltaic straw- 
 electrometer. On the first experiment, at 8 o'clock 
 A. M. while it was blowing violently from N. N. W. 
 [from the great African desert,] and the thermometer 
 stood at 16° of Reaumur, [68° J'ahr.] the electrici- 
 ty of the air was at its maxunum ; the straw instantly 
 touched the sides of the bottle. The electricity was 
 negative. At 10 o'clock, during a whirlwind, with 
 the like temperature, the electrometer showed ten 
 degrees, and tliat positive. About 12 o'clock, the 
 wind had somewhat abated ; the thermometer stood 
 at 18°, [72^°,] and the electrometer showed only four 
 degrees, negative. Afterwards, as the wind abated 
 more, the electricity of the air disappeared entirely." 
 To these statements of Burckhardt and Riippell, it 
 is almost unnecessary to add, that they are confirmed 
 by the oral testimony of the American missiona- 
 ries, who have visited those regions. The Rev. ]\Ir. 
 Smith, m particular, stated expressly to the editor, 
 that so far as his opportunities of experience and 
 inquiry, in Egypt and Palestine, had extended, the 
 views given by Burckhardt were entirely correct. 
 We must, therefore, it would seem, abandon the long 
 prevalent idea of the poisonous nature of the hot 
 wind of the desert ; wliile it may no doubt be true, 
 that individuals, previously exhausted by the heat of 
 the season, have sunk under the augmented heat of 
 this wind, in the manner described above by Niebuhr ; 
 and as is, also, ndt very seldom the case in the more 
 sidtry days even of our own clime. In the caravans, 
 too, which cross these arid wastes, there are always 
 more or less who are feeble and languid, and who
 
 WIN 
 
 [ 932 ] 
 
 WIS 
 
 thus may be easily overcome, and perish by a greater 
 degree of heat, and especially by a suddeu augmen- 
 tation of it through a sultry wind. The great Hadj 
 route, across the desert El Tyh, is strewed with the 
 bones of animals, and studded with the graves of 
 pilgrims, that have died on the route, from fatigue, 
 exhaustion, disease, &c. but not in general from 
 any fatal influence of the wind, or atmosphere. 
 (See the extracts from Burckhardt, under Exodus, 
 p. 4ia) *R. 
 
 WINE. (See Vine, adfn.) Hardly any sacri- 
 fices were made to the Lord, without being accom- 
 panied by libations of wine, Exod. xxix. 40 ; Numb. 
 XV. 5, 7. Its use, however, was forbidden to the 
 priests during the time they were in the tabernacle, 
 employed in the service of the altar, (Lev. x. 9.) as it 
 was also to the Nazarites, Numb. vi. 3. 
 
 Wine, or the cup in which it is contained, often 
 represents the anger of God : " Thou hast made us 
 drink the wine of astonishment," Ps. Ix. 3. "In the 
 hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red ; 
 it is full of mixtui-e, and be poureth out of the same. 
 But the dregs thereof all the wicked shall wring them 
 out and drink them," Ps. Ixxv. 8. The Lord says to 
 Jeremiah, (chap, xxv, 15.) " Take the wine-cup of 
 this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to 
 whom I send thee to drink it." 
 
 Wine was administered medically to such as were 
 sinking in ti'ouble and sorrow : (Prov. xxxi. 4 — 6.) 
 " Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, 
 and wine to those that be of heavy hearts." The 
 rabbins tell us, that it was customary to give wine 
 and strong liquors to criminals condemned to die, at 
 their execution, to stupify them, to abate their fear, 
 and lull the sense of their pain. There were certain 
 charitable women at Jerusalem, they say, who used 
 to mix certain drugs with wine, to make it stronger, 
 and more eftectual in diminishing the sense of pain. 
 It is thought a mixture of this kind was offered to 
 our Saviour to drink, before he was fastened to the 
 cross: (Markxv. 23.) "And they gave him to drink, 
 wine mingled with myrrh ; but he received it not." 
 
 Wine of Helbon (Ezek. xxvii. 18.) was a kind of 
 excellent wine, sold at the fairs of Tyre. It was 
 made at Damascus. 
 
 Wine of Astonishment (Ps. Ix. 3.) may repre- 
 sent the cup of God's anger, with which he inebri- 
 ates the wicked ; or rather, according to the Hebrew, 
 the cu]) of the wine of affliction, impregnated with 
 its lees ; it might also be translated, wine of trem- 
 bling, that produces death, that poisons, that stupifies, 
 ps. ixxv. 8. The LXX translate it, wine that stings 
 inward !}', that causes aflliction, or compunction ; 
 Aquila, wine of stupefaction ; Symmachus, wine of 
 agitation, or disturliance. 
 
 Wine of the Palm-tkee (Deut. xiv. 26.) is made 
 of the sap of the palm-tree, and is common in the 
 East. 
 
 Wine of Libation (Deut. xxxii. 38 ; Esth. xiv. 
 17.) was the most excellent wine, poured on the vic- 
 tims in the temple of the Lord. Or pure wine, 
 because in libations they used no mixture. 
 
 Wine of Uprightness (Cant. i. 4 ; vii. 9 ; Prov. 
 xxiii. 30.) is good wine, true and excellent wine. 
 
 WING, Jlla. By this word, the Hebrews under- 
 stood not only the wings of birds, but also the lappet, 
 Bkirt, or flap of a garment, the extremity of a coun- 
 try, the wings of an army ; figuratively and meta- 
 E>horically, protection or defence. God says, that he 
 las borne his people on the wings of eagles, (Exod. 
 xxi. 4 ;see also Deut. xxxii. ll.)that is, he had brought 
 
 them out of Egypt, as an eagle carries its young ones 
 under its wings. The prophet begs of God to pro- 
 tect them under his wings, (Ps. xvii. 8.) and says that 
 the children of men put their trust in the protection 
 of his wings, Ps. xxxvi. 7. Isaiah, speaking of the 
 army of the kings of Israel and Syria, who were 
 coming against Judah, says, " The stretching out of 
 his wings shall fill the breadth of thy lanjl, O Im- 
 manuel," chap. viii. 8. 
 
 WINTER, in Palestine, see under Canaan, p. 
 240, seq. 
 
 WISDOM is a word used with great latitude in 
 the Scriptures, and its precise import can only be 
 ascertained by a close attention to the context. See 
 Folly. 
 
 1. The term wisdom is used to express the under- 
 standing or knowledge of things, both human and 
 divine. It is often so used in the Psalms. It was 
 this wisdom which Solomon entreated and received 
 of God. 
 
 2. It is put for ingenuity, skill, dexterity ; as in the 
 case of the artificers Bezaleel and Aholiab, Exod. 
 xxviii. 3 ; xxxi. 3. 
 
 3. Wisdom is used for subtlety, craft, stratagem, 
 whether good or evil. Pharaoh dealt uisely with 
 the Israelites, Exod. i. 10. Jonadab was very wise, 
 i. e. subtle and crafty, 2 Sam. xiii. 3. In Proverbs, 
 (xiv. 8.) it is said, "The wisdom of the prudent is to 
 understand his way," 
 
 4. For doctrine, learninsr, experience, sagacity, 
 Job xii. 2, 12 ; xxxviii. 37 ; Ps. cv. 22. 
 
 5. It is put sometimes for the skill or arts of ma- 
 gicians, wizards, fortune-tellers, &c. 
 
 6. Wisdom is also the Eternal Wisdom, the Word, 
 the Son of God, Prov. iii. 9 ; viii. 22, 23. (Compare 
 also the Book of Wisdom, vii. 22, 2(3 ; viii. xvii. 12, 
 26, &c. Also Ecclus. xxiv. 5, &c.) 
 
 7. Wisdom of the flesh, of this world, human 
 wisdom, are opposed, by Paul, to true wisdom, the 
 wisdom of Christ, the wisdom of the Spirit, 1 Cor. i. 
 19, &c, James also (iii. 14, &c.) speaks of a wisdom 
 which is earthly, sensual, devilisli, and opposed to the 
 wisdom thai is from above, which is pure, peaceable, 
 gentle, &c. 
 
 W^ISDOM, Book of, [or, as it is also called, the 
 Wisdom of Solomon. Just as the books of Tobit and 
 Sirach give us a representation of the Jewish religious 
 views and culture in Palestine, in the centuries next 
 preceding the Christian era, so also the book of 
 Wisdom does the same for the far nobler and jiurer 
 religious culture of the Alexandrine Jews, iu the 
 same period. We see from this book, and from 
 Philo, that a peculiar religious philosophy bad formed 
 itself in Alexandria among the Jews, arising out of a 
 mixtiue of the national views, Platonic philosophy, 
 and the oriental, or more especially Persian, ideas of 
 dualism and emanation. The great object of the 
 book is, to enforce the value of wisdom, i. e. of 
 religion ; and this is done by showing that it leads 
 not only to greater honor and esteem in this life, but 
 to the rewards of a future state of existence. 
 
 Solomon is every where introduced as the speaker, 
 in the first part; and it would seem to have been the 
 plan of the writer, that he should be the speaker 
 throughout. This, however, is not the case ; for in 
 the latter part, the writer often speaks of Solomon in 
 the third person. From chap. xv. onward, God is 
 every where addressed. 
 
 The book was originally written in the Alexandrine 
 Greek ; the style, for that of a later Jew, is uncom- 
 monly good. It has in it something eloquent and
 
 wo 
 
 [ 933 ] 
 
 WOM 
 
 rhetorical, which verges sometimes towards the arti- 
 ficial and pompous. This is more particularly the 
 case with the latter pai't. There is, however, along 
 with this, such a variety of allusion, as to betray a 
 very extensive knowledge, and especially an ac- 
 quaintance with heathen learning. 
 
 As to the author and the time in which he wrote, 
 nothing can be said definitely, except that he must 
 have been a Jew of Alexandria, in the centuries next 
 preceding Christ. In consequence of the similarity 
 of some points in the book with the doctrines of the 
 Essenes, it has been supposed that the author was of 
 this sect ; but there are also, in other places and re- 
 spects, certain resemblances between the Essenes and 
 Alexandrians. Others, as Grotius, have assumed 
 certain interpolations from some Christian hand, viz. 
 in respect to the doctrine of immortality ; but, re- 
 garded more closely, the inmiortality of this book is 
 not that of Christianity, inasmuch as it speaks only 
 of the immortality of the pious. In a philological 
 respect, moreover, interpolations are not admissible. 
 The assertion of Jerome, perhaps, deserves the most 
 attention, viz. that Philo was tlie author. But yet, 
 after all the points of close resemblance with Philo's 
 writings, there is still a difference ; nor can it well 
 be explained, if Philo were the author, why the book 
 should not stand among his acknowledged works. 
 
 The Latin version of tliis book, which is found in 
 the Vulgate, is not by Jerome, but is of an earlier 
 date. See V'ersions. *R. 
 
 WITCH OF Endor, see in Samuel. 
 
 WITNESS, one who bears testimony to any thing : 
 thus it is said, you are a witness-^-a faithful witness 
 — a fiilse witness — God is witness, &c. Clirist is 
 the faithful witness ; (Rev. i. 5.) the martyr of truth 
 and justice. God promises to give to his two wit- 
 nesses (which some think to be Enoch and Elijah) 
 the spirit of prophecy, (Rev. xi. 3.) after which (he 
 says) they shall be put to death. 
 
 The law appoints, that two or three witnesses 
 should be credited in matters of judicature ; but not 
 one witness only, Deut. xvii. 6, 7. The law con- 
 demned a false witness to the same punishment as 
 that he would have subjected his neighbor to, Deut. 
 xix. 16—19. 
 
 The prophets ai*e the witnesses of our belief; they 
 witness the truth of our religion, Heb. xii. 1. The 
 apostles are still further witnesses of the coming, the 
 mission, and the doctrine of Christ. If Christ is not 
 risen, says Paul, then are we false witnesses, 1 Cor. 
 XV. 15. We are witnesses, says Peter, Acts x. 39, 
 41.) of all that Jesus did in Judea ; and when the 
 apostles thought fit to put another in the place of 
 Judas, (Acts i. 22.) they selected one who had been 
 a witness of the resurrection along with themselves. 
 
 WIZARD, see Magic, and Inchantments. 
 
 WO is used in our translation where a softer 
 expression would be at least equally proper: "Wo 
 to such an one!" is in our language, a threat, or im- 
 precation, which comprises a wish for some calamity, 
 natural or judicial, to befall a person ; but this is not 
 always the meaning of the word in Scripture. We 
 have the expression " Wo is me," that is, Alas, for 
 my sufferings ! and " Wo to the women with child, 
 and those who give suck," &c. that is, Alas, for their 
 redoubled sufferings, in times of distress ! It is also 
 more agreeable to the gentle character of the com- 
 passionate Jesus, to consider him as lamenting the 
 Bufferings of any, whether person, or city, than as 
 imprecating, or even as denouncing, them ; since his 
 character of judge formed no part of his mission. If, 
 
 then, we should read, "Alas, for thee, Chorazin ! Alas, 
 for thee, Bethsaida ! " we should do no injustice to the 
 general sentiments of the place, or to the character of 
 the person speaking. This, however, is not the sense 
 in which wo is always to be taken ; as when we read, 
 " Wo to those who build houses by unrighteousness, 
 and cities by blood :" wo to those who are " rebellious 
 against God," &c. in numerous passages, especially 
 of the Old Testament. The import of this word, 
 then, is in some degree qualified by the application 
 of it ; where it is directed against transgression, 
 crinie, or any enormity, it may be taken as a threat- 
 ening, a malediction ; but in the words of our Lord, 
 and where the subject is suffering under misfortunes, 
 though not extremely wicked, a kind of lamentatory 
 application of it should seem to be most proper. 
 
 WOLF, a wild creature, very well known. The 
 Scripture notices these remarkable things respecting 
 the wolf: (1.) It fives upon rapine. (2.) Is violent, 
 cruel and bloody. (3.) Voracious and greedy. (4.) 
 Seeks its prey by night. (.5.) Is very sharp-sighted. 
 (6.) Is the great enemy of sheep. That Benjamin 
 shall raven as a wolf, Gen. xlLx. 27. False teachers 
 are wolves in sheep's clothing. Persecutors of the 
 church, and false pastors, are also ravenous wolves. 
 The prophets speak of evening wolves. Jer. v. 6, " A 
 wolf of the evening shall spoil them." And Hab. i. 8, 
 " Their horses are more fierce than the evening 
 wolves." And Zeph. iii. 3, "Her judges are evening 
 wolves." The Chaldee interpretei-s explain — Benja- 
 min shall raven as a wolf — of the altar of burnt-oflTer- 
 ings at Jerusalem, which stood in the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin. Others refer it to that violent seizure, by 
 the sons of Benjamin, of the young women that came 
 to the tabernacle at Shiloh, Judg. xj.i. 21. Others 
 refer it to Mordeeai, or to Saul, who were of the tribe 
 of Benjamin. Otliers explain it of Paul, who was 
 also of this tribe ; and this interpretation has com- 
 monly prevailed among Christian interpreters. 
 
 The wolf is a fierce creature, dwelling in forests, 
 ravenous, greedy, crafty, and of exquisite quickness 
 of smell. 
 
 Isaiah, (xi. 6 ; Ixv. 25.) describing the tranquil reign 
 of the Messiah, says, " The wolf shall dwell with the 
 lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; 
 and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling 
 together, and a little child shall lead them." Our 
 Saviour, (Matt. x. 16.) says, that he sends his apostles 
 as sheep among wolves, (Luke x. 3.) and it is known, 
 that both Jews and jiagans, like ravenous and vo- 
 racious wolves, persecuted and slew almost all of 
 them. At last, however, these same wolves them- 
 selves became converts, and docile as lambs. Paul, 
 one of the most eager persecutors of the church, was 
 afterwards one of its most zealous defenders. 
 
 WOMAN was created as a companion and assist- 
 ant to man ; (see Adam ;) equal to him in authority 
 and jurisdiction over the animals ; but after the fall, 
 God subjected her to the government of man : (Gen. 
 iii. 16.) " Thy desire shall he to thy husband, and he 
 shall rule over thee." In addition to the duties pre- 
 scribed by the law, common to men and women, 
 certain regulations were peculiar to this sex ; as 
 those respecting legal uncleanness during their 
 ordinary infirmities, those attending child-bearing, 
 &c. The law did not allow any action of the woman 
 against the man ; but it permitted the husband to 
 divorce his wife, and to cause her to be stoned, ifshe 
 violated her conjugal vow, &c. 
 
 If a married woman made a vow, of whatever 
 nature, she was not bound by it, if her husband for-
 
 WOR 
 
 [ 934 
 
 WORD 
 
 bade it the same day. But if he staid till the next 
 day, before he contradicted it, or knowing the thmg, 
 if he held his peace, he was then supposed to consent 
 to it ; and the woman was bound by her vow. Numb. 
 XXX. 7, &c. (See 1 Cor. vii. 2, &c. for the duties of 
 women towards their husbands.) The apostle would 
 have them submissive, as to Christ, Eph. v. 2. He 
 forbids them to speak or teach in the church ; or to 
 appear there with their heads uncovered, or without 
 veils, 1 Cor. xi. 5 ; xiv. 34. He does not allow women 
 to teach, or to domineer over their husbands, but 
 would have them continue in submission and silence. 
 (See Veil.) He adds, that the woman shall be saved 
 in bearing and educating her children, if she bring 
 them up in faith, charity, sanctity, and a sober life. 
 See Titus ii. 4, 5, and 1 Pet. iii. 1 — 3, where modesty 
 is recommended to them, with great care in avoiding 
 superfluous ornaments and unnecessary finery. 
 
 WOMB. The fruit of the womb is children, (Gen. 
 XXX. 2.) whom the psalmist (cxxvii. 3.) describes as 
 the blessing of marriage. Ps. xxii. 10, " Lord, thou 
 art my God from my mother's womb." 
 
 WONDER is some occurrence, or thing, which 
 so strongly engages our attention, by its surprising 
 greatness, rarity, or other properties, that our minds 
 are struck by it into astonishment. Wonder is also 
 nearly synonymous with sign : " If a prophet give 
 thee a sign, or a wonder," says Moses, (Deut. xiii. 1.) 
 and "if the sign or wonder come to pass," &c. 
 Isaiah says, he and " his children are for signs and 
 wonders," (chap. viii. 18.) that is, they were for signs, 
 indications of, allusions to, prefigu rations of, things 
 future, that should certainly take place; and they 
 were to excite notice, attention and consideration in 
 beholders ; to cause wonder in them. Wonder also 
 signifies ihe act of wondering, as resulting from the 
 observation of something extraordinary, or beyond 
 wliat we are accustomed to behold. 
 
 WORD is in Hebrew often put for thing or matter ; 
 as Exod. ii. 14 : " Surely this thing [Heb. tvoTcl] is 
 known." "To-morrow the Lord shall do this thing 
 [Heb. word] in the land," Exod. ix. 5. " I will do a 
 thing [Heb. tvord] in Israel, at which both the eare of 
 every one that hearcth it shall tingle," 1 Sam. iii. 11. 
 "And the rest of the acts [Heb. word^] of Solomon," 
 1 Kings xi. 41. 
 
 Sometimes Scripture ascribes to the word of God 
 supernatural effects ; or represents it as animated 
 and active. So, "He sent his word, and healed 
 them." The Book of Wisdom ascribes to the word 
 of God, the death of the first-born of Egypt ; ( Wisd. 
 xviii. 15 ; xvi. 20 ; ix. 1 ; xvi. 12.) the miracidous 
 effects of the manna ; tl)e creation of the world ; the 
 healing of those who looked up to the brazen ser- 
 pent. The centurion in the Gospel says to our Sa- 
 viour, (Matt. viii. 8.) " Speak the word only, and my 
 servant shall be healed." And Christ says to the 
 devil that tempted him, (Matt. iv. 4.) " Man shall not 
 live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed- 
 eth out of the mouth of God." Hence we see that 
 word is taken either, (1.) for that eternal word heard 
 by the prophets, when under inspiration from God. 
 Or, (2.) for that which they heard externally, when 
 God spoke to them ; as when he spoke to Moses, 
 face to face, or as one friend speaks to another, Exod. 
 xxxiii. 11. Or, (3.) for that word which the minis- 
 ters of God, the priests, the apostles, the servants of 
 God, declare in his name to the people. (4.) For 
 what is written in the sacred books of the Old and 
 New Testaments. (5.) For the only Son of the 
 Father, the uncreated Wisdom : " In the beginning 
 
 was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
 Word was God. The same was in the beginning 
 with God. All things were made by him, and with- 
 out him was not any thing made that was made," 
 John i. 
 
 The Chaldee paraphrasts, the most ancient Jewish 
 writers extant, generally use the name Memra, or 
 Word, where Moses puts Jehovah ; and it is thought 
 that under this term they allude to the Son of God. 
 Now, their testimony is so much the more consider- 
 able, as, having lived before or at the time of Christ, 
 they are irrefragable witnesses of the sentiments of 
 their nation on this article ; since their Targum, or 
 explication, has always been, and still is, in universal 
 esteem among them. In the greater part of the 
 passages where the sacred name occurs, these para- 
 phrasts substitute Memra JeAouaA, ("i t<-\c^c)the Word 
 of God ; and as they ascribe to Memra all the attri- 
 butes of deity, it is concluded that they believed the 
 divinity of the Word. In effect, according to them, 
 Memra created the world ; appeared to Abraham in 
 the plain of Mamre, and to Jacob at Bethel. It was 
 to Memra Jacob appealed to witness the covenant 
 between him and Laban : " Let the Word see be- 
 tween thee and me." The same Word appeared to 
 Moses at Sinai ; gave the law to Israel ; spoke face to 
 face with that lawgiver ; marched at the head of that 
 people ; enabled them to conquer nations ; and was 
 a consuming fire to all who violated the law of the 
 Lord. All these characters, where the paraphrasts 
 use the word Memra, clearly denote Almighty God. 
 This Word, therefore, was God ; and the Hebrews 
 were of this opinion at the time when the Targum 
 was composed. 
 
 The author of the Book of Wisdom expresses him- 
 self much in the same manner. He says that God 
 created all things by his Word, (ch. ix. 1.) that it is 
 not what the earth produces that feeds man ; but the 
 Word of the Almighty that supports him, ch. xvi. 26. 
 It was this Word that fed the Israelites in the desert ; 
 healed them after the biting of the serpents ; (ch. xvi. 
 12.) and who, by his power, destroyed the first-born 
 of the Egyptians, (ch. xviii. 15 ; Exod. xii. 29, 30.) 
 and by which Aaron stopped the fuiy of the fire that 
 was kindled in the camp, which threatened the de- 
 struction of all Israel, Wisd. xviii. 22. (See Numb, 
 xvi. 4G.) 
 
 But the most full and distinct testimony is borne to 
 the personality and real deity of the Word, by the 
 evangelist John in his Gospel, in his First Epistle 
 and in the Book of Revelation. 
 
 The following remarks on the different appli- 
 cations of the terms Rhema and Logos, in the New 
 Testament, are from Mr. Taylor. 
 
 We do not find that Rhema is ever personified, or 
 that personal actions are attributed to the term, but 
 generally speaking, when relating to events, the force 
 of our English word facts, unquestionable facts, is 
 intended ; in other cases, authority, influence, or 
 power. 
 
 The word Logos imports simple speech ; that by 
 which the party hearing it may be instructed ; also 
 written information, that by which the reader may 
 be edified. Acts i. 1, "The former treatise {^-vyov) I 
 have made." Also commandments, John viii. 55 : 
 Rom. xiii. 9 ; 1 Thess. iv. 15, et al. Prophecy, prom- 
 ises, disputes, threatenings, evil speakings, and, in 
 short, whatever is the subject of words, whether good 
 or bad. Hence, teaching in all its branches ; hence 
 teacher, instructer, wisdom ; hence heavenly wisdom, 
 the heavenly teacher, the heavenly instructer, &c.
 
 WORD 
 
 935 ] 
 
 WRI 
 
 And this word Logos is personified, and personal 
 actions are attributed to it. 
 
 It is not easy to suggest English terms by which to 
 fix this distinction in every instance ; but it is very 
 desirable to represent tlic original as accurately as 
 possible, and to avoid interchanging terms which, 
 certainly, were not adopted by the sacred writers, 
 to express such difterence, without valid and efficient 
 reasons. 
 
 In addition to these remarks on the application of 
 the word Logos, Mr. Taylor has elsewhere some ob- 
 servations on the probable origin of its personal ref- 
 erence. The following extracts are from Bruce's 
 Travels : — 
 
 "An officei", named Kal Hatze, who stands always 
 upon steps at the side of the lattice window, where 
 there is a hole covered in the inside with a cintain of 
 green tatieta ; — behind this curtain the king sits." 
 (Vol. iv. p. 76.) "Hitherto, while there were stran- 
 gers in the room, he [the king] had spoken to us by 
 an officer called Kal Hatze, the voice or word of the 
 king." (Vol. iii. p. 231.) " — But there is no such 
 ceremony in use; and exhibitions of this kind, made 
 by the king in public, at no period seem to have 
 suited the genius of this people. Formerly, his face 
 was never seen, nor any part of him, excepting some- 
 times his foot. He sits in a kind of balcony, with 
 lattice windows and curtains before him. Even yet 
 he covers his face on audiences, or pubhc occasions, 
 and when in judgment. On cases of treason, he sits 
 within his balcony, and speaks through a hole in the 
 side of it, to an officer called Kal Hatze, ' the voice or 
 WORD of the king,' by whom he sends his questions, 
 or any thing else that occurs, to the judges, who are 
 seated at the council table." (Vol. iii. p. 265.) 
 
 Of the use of this officer, Mr. Bruce gives several 
 striking instances: in particular, one on the trial of a 
 rebel, when the king, by his Kal Hatze, asked a ques- 
 tion, by which his guilt was effectually demonstrated. 
 It appears, then, that the king of Abyssinia makes in- 
 quiry, gives his opinion, and declares his will by a 
 deputy, a go-between, a middle-man, called "his 
 WORD." Assuming for a moment that this was a Jew- 
 ish custom, we see to what the ancient Jewish par- 
 aphrases referred by their term, " Word of Jehovah," 
 instead of Jkhovah himself; and the idea was ya- 
 miliar to thoir recollection, and to that of their readers ; 
 a no less necessary consideration than that of their 
 own recollection. 
 
 If it be inquired. What traces of this officer, as an 
 attendant on official dignity, occur in Scripture? we 
 may reply that to trace allusions to the office of this 
 deputy in Scripture would be too extensive for this 
 place; but by way of selection, consult the history of 
 the calling of Samuel, 1 Sam. iii. 21. "Jehovah re- 
 vealed himself to Samuel, in Shiloh, by the word of 
 the Lord (Jehovah) ;" why not say at once, simply, 
 " by himself," without this interposing " word ? " 
 What shall we say to Job xxxiii. 23? and does not 
 Elisha (2 Kings v. 10.) assume somewhat of the same 
 state ? And is it not probable, that Naaman felt him- 
 self treated like an inferior, a subject, by the prophet's 
 sending a messenger (a Kal Hatzi) to him, instead of 
 coming out to him ? See also 1 Kings xiii. 9, &c. a 
 prophet directed by the word of the Lord. There is 
 something very remarkable in the terms employed by 
 the old prophet : (v. 18.) An angel spake to me by the 
 WORD of the Lord: what a circuitous combination of 
 phraseology ! Why not at once, " The Lord spake to 
 
 me." Why not at most, "The word of the Lord 
 spake to me ? " 
 
 The author of the Wisdom of Solomon has given 
 an activity to his " Word of God," which exceeds what 
 appears to be the duty of Abyssinian Kal Hatzi. 
 Thine .Almighty Word leaped doum from heaven, from 
 the royal throne, [or, according to the representation 
 of Bruce, down the steps at the side of the window 
 next the throne,] and brought thine unfeigned com- 
 mandment, as a sharp sword, and filled all with death, 
 &c. chap. XV iii. 15, 16. 
 
 It may now be considered as hardly bearing a 
 question, whether the aucieni Jewish writers (Philo 
 included) derived this idea, or mode of speech, from 
 the heathen, or from the customs and manners of 
 the kings of the East, and those of their own country 
 in particular. Shall we not, hereafter, acquit the 
 evangelists from adopting the mythological concep- 
 tions of Plato ? Rather, did not Plato adopt eastern 
 language ? and is not the custom still retained in the 
 East? See all accounts of an ambassador's visit to 
 the grand seignior; who never /nWe//" answers, but 
 directs his vizier to speak for him. So in Europe, 
 the king of France directs his keeper of the seals to 
 speak in his name ; and so the lord chancellor in 
 England prorogues the parliament, expressing his 
 majesty's pleasure, and using his majesty's name, 
 though in his majesty's presence. 
 
 WORLD, hi addition to its natural meaning, as 
 embracing the whole of created nature, and more 
 particularly the respective parts of our own planet, 
 is used in Scripture to denote its inhabitants, as in 
 John viii. 12 ; xvii. 25 ; xv. 18, &c. In several pas- 
 sages of the New Testament, the Greek word y»;?, 
 now translated world, would be more correctly ren- 
 dered land. 
 
 WORMWOOD, a plant which grows wild about 
 dunghills, and on dry waste gi-ounds. It flowers in 
 summer ; the leaves have a strong, offensive smell, 
 and a very bitter, nauseous taste ; the flowers are 
 equally bitter, but less nauseous. Its bitter qualities 
 are mentioned in several comparisons in Scripture. 
 
 WORSHIP OF GoD is an act of religion, which 
 consists in paying a due respect, veneration and hom- 
 age to the Deity, from a sense of his greatness, of 
 benefits already received, and under a certain expec- 
 tation of reward. This internal respect is to be 
 shown and testified by external acts ; as prayers, 
 sacrifices, (formerly,) thanksgivings, &c. 
 
 Worship may be taken as (1.) internal, or (2.) ex- 
 ternal : (1.) private, or (2.) public: (1.) personal, or 
 (2.) social: (1.) active, or (2.) passive ; for there is a 
 worship of God in sentiment, in submission to his 
 will, in intentional obedience, &c. which is not exter- 
 nal or active, but which becomes a habit of the mind, 
 and indeed forms it to a devout disposition for active 
 worship. 
 
 That it is the duty of man to worship his Maker, 
 no one can deny ; it is not, indeed, easily to be con- 
 ceived how any one who hastolerably just notions of 
 the attributes and providence of God, car possibly 
 neglect the duty of private worehip ; and if we admit 
 that public worship docs not seem to be expressly en- 
 joined in that system which is called the religion of 
 nature, yet it is most expressly commanded by the 
 religion of Christ, and will be regidarly performed 
 and promoted by every one who reflects on its great 
 utilitv, or who enjoys its extensive benefits. 
 
 WRITING, see Book, Bible, Letters I.
 
 [ 936 ] 
 
 YEAR 
 
 YEAR. The Hebrews had always years of twelve 
 months. But at the beginning, and in the time of 
 Moses, they were solar years of twelve months, each 
 month having thirty days, excepting the twelfth, 
 Avhicii had thirty-five days. We see, by the enumer- 
 ation of the days of the deluge, (Gen. vii.) that the 
 Hebrew year consisted of 365 days. It is supposed 
 that tliey had an intercalary month at the end of 120 
 years ; at which time the beginning of their year 
 would be out of its place full thirty days. It must be 
 admitted, however, that no mention is made in Scrip- 
 ture of the thirteenth month, or of any intercalation ; 
 and hence some think that Moses retained the order 
 of the Egyptian year, which was solar, and consisted 
 of twelve months of thirty days each. After the time 
 of Alexander the Great, and of the Grecians, in Asia, 
 the Jews reckoned by lunar months, chiefly in what 
 related to religion and to the festivals ; (see Ecclus. 
 xliii. 6, 7.) and since the completing of the Talmud, 
 they use years wholly lunar ; having alternately a full 
 month of thirty days, and a defective month of twenty- 
 nine days. To accommodate this lunar year to the 
 course of the sun, at the end of three years they in- 
 tercalate a whole month after Adar, which inter- 
 calated month they call Ve-adar, that is, second Adar. 
 
 Their civil year has always begun in autumn, at 
 the month Tizri ; but their sacred year, by which the 
 festivals, assemblies and other religious acts were 
 regulated, began in the spring, at the month Nisan. 
 See Months, and Jewish Calendar, infra. 
 
 Nothing is more equivocal among the ancients than 
 the term year ; and hence it has always been, and 
 still is, a source of dispute among the learned. Some 
 think, that from the beginning of the world to the 
 160th year of Enoch, mankind reckoned only by 
 weeks ; and that the angel Uriel revealed to Enoch 
 the use of months, years, the revolutions of the stars, 
 and the return of the seasons. Some nations formerly 
 made their year to consist of one month, others of 
 four, others of six, others of ten, others of twelve. 
 Some have made one year of winter, another of sum- 
 mer. The beginning of the year was fixed sometimes 
 at autumn ; sometimes at spring ; sometimes at mid- 
 winter. Some used lunar months, others solar. Even 
 the days have been differently divided ; some begin- 
 ning them at evening, others at morning, others at 
 noon, othei-s at midnight. With some, the hours were 
 equal, both in winter and summer ; with others, they 
 were unequal. They counted twelve hours to the 
 day, and twelve to the night. In summer the hours 
 of the day were longer than those of the night ; on 
 the contrary, in winter the houi-s of the night were 
 longest. See Hour. 
 
 In some parts of the East, particularly in Japan, 
 says baron Thunberg,) the year ending on a certain 
 day, any portion of the foregoing year is taken for a 
 whole year ; so that, supposing a child to be bom in 
 the last week of our December, it would be reckoned 
 one year old on the first day of January. This sounds 
 like a strange solecism to us : a child not a week old, 
 
 YEAR 
 
 not a month old, is yet one year old ! because born in 
 the old year. If this mode of computation obtained 
 amongthe Hebrews, the principle of it easily accounts 
 for those anachronisms of single years, or parts of 
 years taken for whole ones, which occur in sacred 
 wi'it ; it removes the difficulties which concern the 
 half years of several princes of Judah and Israel, in 
 which the latter half of the deceased king's last year 
 has hitherto been supposed to be added to the former 
 half of his successor's first year. 
 
 We cannot but observe how this mode of enumer- 
 ation clears the phrase " three days," &c. where it 
 occurs, reckoning as the entire first day, whatever 
 small portion of that day was included, even if only 
 a quarter of it ; and the same as to the third day ; so 
 that a few hours pass for a whole day in this case, as 
 a few months or a few weeks pass for a whole year 
 in the other case. 
 
 This may contribute to explain a passage or two 
 which are not commonly seen in this light. 1 Sam. 
 xiii. 1, " A son of one year was Saul in his kingdom ; 
 and two years he reigned over Israel," that is, say he 
 was inaugurated in June ; he was consequently one 
 year old asking on the first day of January following, 
 though he had only reigned six months ; the son of 
 a year : but afi:er [and on] this first of January, he 
 was in the second year of his reign, although, accord- 
 ing to our computation, the fii-st year of his reign 
 wanted six months of being completed : in this, his 
 second year, he chose three thousand military, &c. 
 guards. This passage has been noticed as a difficulty ; 
 may we now perceive the reason of this remarkable 
 phraseology ? 
 
 The same principle may account for the phrase 
 («,t6 Siiri[g) used to denote the age of the infants 
 slaughtered at Bethlehem, (Matt. ii. 16.) " from two 
 years old and under." If these words, as they stand, 
 do not form an absolute contradiction, they come 
 pretty near one. This difficulty has been strongly 
 felt by the learned, and has been made the most of by 
 the antagonists of Christianity — " What," say they, 
 "some infants two weeks old, others two months, 
 others two years, equally slain ! Surely those born so 
 long before could not possibly be included in the order, 
 which purposed to destroy a child certainly born 
 within a few months." This is regulated at once, by 
 admitting the existence of this maimer of calculating 
 time, or rather of expressing a mode of calculating 
 time ; by the idea that they w ere all of nearly equal 
 age, being all recently born ; some not long before 
 the close of the old year, others not long since the 
 beginning of the new year. Now, those born before 
 the close of the old year, though only a few months 
 or weeks, would be in their second year, as the ex- 
 pression implies ; and those born since the beginning 
 of the year would be well described by the phrase 
 " and imder ;" that is, under one year old ; — some 
 two years old, though not born a complete twelve- 
 month, (perhaps, in fact, barely six months,) others 
 under one year old, yet born three, or four, or five
 
 YES 
 
 [ 937 
 
 YOK 
 
 months ; and therefore a few days younger tlian tliose 
 
 Erevioiisly described: "according to the time wliich 
 e had diligently inquired of the wise men :" — in their 
 second year and under. 
 
 Tlic influence of this remark, on tlie proper placing 
 of the birth of our Lord, before the death of Herod, is 
 considerable: it lessens, too, the number of infants 
 slain by his order ; it draws a stj-ong distinction be- 
 tween those appointed to death, and those allowed to 
 escape ; while it shortens the interval between tlie 
 appearance of the star to the Magi, and their visit to 
 Jerusalem, if we are not mistaken, full one half of 
 what some have allowed for it. 
 
 YESTERDAY' is used to denote all time past, how- 
 ever distant; as to-day denotes time pi-esent, but of a 
 larger extent than the very day on which one sjTcaks: 
 Exod. xxi. 29. " If the ox was wont to push with 
 his horn in time past ; Heb. yesterday. And it came 
 to pass, when all that knew him before time ; Heb. 
 yesterday ; whereas thou camest but yesterday," 2 
 Sam. XV. 20, or lately, et al.freq. "Jesus Christ, the 
 same yesterday, to-day and for ever," Heb. xiii. 8. 
 His doctrine, like his person, admits of no change ; 
 
 his truths are invariable. With him there is neither 
 yesterday nor to-morrow, but one continued to-day. 
 Job says, (viii. 9.) " We are but of yesterday, and 
 know nothing ; because our days upon earth are a 
 shadow." 
 
 YOKE. It appears that yokes were of two kinds, 
 as two words are used to denote them in the Hebrew: 
 one refers to such yokes as were put upon the necks 
 of cattle, and in which they labored, Numl). xix. 2. 
 Deut. xxi. 3. The subjects of Solomon comjijain tliat 
 hi' Iiad made his yoke heavy to them, (1 Kings xii. 
 10.) and tiicy use the same word; but Jeremiah 
 (xxvii. 2.) made him bonds and yokes of another con- 
 struction, and fitted to the human neck ; which he 
 expresses by another word ; most ])robably they were 
 such as slaves used to wear when at labor ; however, 
 they were the sign of bondage. We read of yokes of 
 iron, Deut. xxviii. 48 ; Jer. xxviii. 13. The ceremo- 
 nies of the Mosaic ritual are called a yoke, (xVcts xv. 
 10 ; Gal. V. 1.) as also tyrannical authority ; but Clnist 
 says, his yoke is easy, and his burden is light, JMatt. 
 xi. 29. 
 
 ZAC 
 
 ZAANANNIM, a city of Naphtali, (Josh. xix. 33 ; 
 Micah i. 11.) contracted into Zenan, Josh. xv. 37. 
 
 ZABADEANS, Arabians who dwelt east of the 
 mountains of Gilead, and who were overcome bj' 
 Jonathan Maccabeus, 1 Mac. xii. 31. Calmet thinks 
 that, instead of Zabadeans, which is a name entirely 
 imknown, we should read Nabatheans, as Josephus 
 does. 
 
 I. ZABDIEL, father of Jashobean), commanded 
 the 24,000 men who served in the firet month, as the 
 life-guard of David, 1 Chron. xxvii. 2. 
 
 II. ZABDIEL, a king of Arabia, who killed Alex- 
 ander Balas, king of Syria, and sent his head to 
 Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, 1 Mac. xi. 17. 
 
 ZACCHEUS, chief of the publicans ; that is, 
 farmer-general of the revenue, Luke xix. When 
 Christ |)assed through Jericho, Zaccheus greatly de- 
 sired to see him, but could not, because of the mid- 
 titude, and bi^cause he was low of stature. He 
 therefore ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore 
 tree. Jesus, observing him, called him down, and 
 ]iroj)osed to become his guest. The result was, that 
 the heart of Zaccheus was opened, and he declared 
 he would make four-fold restitution to all whom he 
 had injured. 
 
 I. Zx\CHARIAH, king of Israel, succeeded his 
 father, Jeroboam II. A. M. 3220, and reigned six 
 months. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, (2 
 Kings xiv. 29.) and Shalium, soil of Jabesh, con- 
 spired against him, killed him in public, and reigned 
 in his stead. Thus was fulfilled what the Lord had 
 foretold to Jehu, that his children should sit on the 
 throne of Israel to the fourth generation, 2 Kings xv. 
 8—11. 
 
 II. ZACHARIAH, or Zechariah, a Levitc, who 
 wassentbyJehoshaphatthroughout Judah, to instruct 
 the people, 2 Chron. xvii. 7. 
 
 118 
 
 ZACHARIAH 
 
 III. ZACHARIAH, or Zechariah, son of Jehoi- 
 ada, high-priest of the Jews, and jjrobably the Aza- 
 riah of! Chron. vi. 10, 11, was slain by order of Joash, 
 A. 31. 3164, 2 Chron. xxiv. 20—22. 
 
 Jerome (on ]\Iatt. xxiii.) followed by a gi-eat num- 
 ber of commentators, believed that this Zachariah, 
 son of Jehoiada, was he of whom our Saviour speaks 
 in Matt, xxiii. 34, 35. But to this opinion three things 
 are objected : (1.) That Zachariah, son of Barachiah, 
 according to the intention of Christ, seems to have 
 been the last of the prophets, or just, slain by the Jews, 
 as Abel was the first of the just who suffered a violent 
 death. (2.) That Zachariah, son of Jehoiada, was 
 stoned in the court of the house of God ; whereas 
 Zachariah, son of Barachiah, was killed between the 
 temple and the altar. (3.) That though it be true that 
 the Hebrews had often two names, it is hardly to be 
 thought that Cln-ist would here omit the name of Je- 
 hoiada, which was so well known, and substitute that 
 of Barachiah, which was not so familiar. Calmet, 
 therefore, thinks that our Saviour points at Zachariah, 
 son of Baruch. 
 
 IV. ZACHARIAH, or Zf.chariah, the eleventh 
 of the lesser prophets, was son of Barachiah, and 
 gi-andson of Iddo. He returned from Babylon with 
 Zerubbabel, and began to prophesy in the second 
 year of Darius son of Hystaspes, A. M. 3484, ayite 
 A. D. 520, in tht eighth nionth of the holy year, and 
 two months after Haggai. These two prophets, with 
 luiited zeal, encouraged the people to resume the 
 work of the tem])le, which had been discontinued for 
 some years, Ezra v. 1. 
 
 This j)rophet has been confounded with Zachariah, 
 son of Barachiah, contemporary with Isaiah, (viii. 2.) 
 and with Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, 
 which opinion is plainly incongruous. He has been 
 thoujrht to be the Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom
 
 ZACHARIAH 
 
 f 938 ] 
 
 ZEA 
 
 our Saviour mentions as killed between the temple 
 and the altar, though no such thing is any where 
 said of him. 
 
 Zachariah begins his prophecy with an exhortation 
 to the people, to return to the Lord, and not to imi- 
 tate the stubbornness of their fathers. He foretells 
 very distinctly the coming of Christ, a Saviour, poor, 
 and sitting on an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass. 
 In the eleventh chapter he speaks of the war of the 
 Romans against the Jews, of the breach of the cove- 
 nant between God and his people; of thirty pieces 
 of silver given for a recompense to the shepherd ; of 
 three shepherds put to death in one month, &c. 
 
 Zachariah is the longest and the most obscure of 
 the twelve minor prophets. His style is broken and 
 unconnected ; but his prophecies concerning the 
 Messiah are more particular and express than those 
 of some other prophets. Several modern critics 
 have been of opinion, that chap. ix. — xi. of this 
 prophet were written by Jeremiah ; because in RIatt. 
 xxvii. 9, 10, under the name of Jeremiah, we tind 
 quoted Zach. xi. 12 ; and as the chapters make 
 but one continued discourse, they concluded, that 
 all three belonged to Jeremiah. But it is much 
 more natural to suppose, that the name of Jere- 
 miah, by some mistake, has slipped into the text of 
 Matthew. 
 
 V. ZACHARIAH, or Zacharias, a priest of the 
 family of Abia, father of John the Baptist, and hus- 
 band to Elisabeth, (Luke i. 5, 12, &c.) with whom 
 he was righteous before God, walking in all the com- 
 mandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 
 They had no child, because Elisabeth was barren, 
 and they were both well stricken in years ; but about 
 fifteen months before the birth of Christ, as Zacha- 
 riah was waiting his week, and performing the func- 
 tions of priest in the temple, "there appeared unto 
 him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side 
 of the altar of incense. And when Zachariah saw 
 him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the 
 angel said unto him. Fear not, Zachariah ; for thy 
 prayer is heard ; and tliy wife Elisabeth shall bear 
 thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And 
 Zachariah said vmto the angel. Whereby shall I know 
 this ? For I am an old man, and my wife well strick- 
 en in years. And the angel anssvering said unto him, 
 I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and 
 am sent to speak unto thee, and to sliow thee these 
 glad tidings. And, Ijehold, thou shalt be dumb, and 
 not able to speak, until the day that these things shall 
 be performed, because thou bclievedst not my words, 
 which yet shall be fulfilled in their season." Sec 
 
 AXNU>X'IATI0N. 
 
 The people were waiting till Zachariah came forth 
 out of the holy place ; and they were surprised at 
 his long delay. But when he came out, he was not 
 able to speak ; and by his making signs to them, they 
 found that he had seen a vision, and had become 
 dumb. When the days of his ministry were com- 
 pleted, that is, at the end of about a week, he return- 
 ed to his own house ; and his wife Elisabeth con- 
 ceived a son, of whom she was hapi)ily delivered in 
 its due time. Her neighbors and relations assemijled 
 to congratulate her on this occasion ; and on the 
 eighth (lay tliey c-ircumcised the ciiiid, ctdling his 
 name Zachariah, after the name of his father ; but 
 Elisabeth interposed, and directed his name to be 
 called " John." They then desired a tolicn from his 
 father, who, making signs i'ox a tablet, wrote on it, 
 " His name is John." At this instant his tongue was 
 
 loosed ; he praised God ; and, being filled with the 
 Holy Ghost, he prophesied, by a canticle, which 
 Luke has preserved, chap. ii. 
 
 ZADOK, or Sadoc, son of Ahitub, high-priest of 
 the Jews, of the race of Eleazar. From the de- 
 cease of Eli, the high-priesthood had been in the 
 family of Ithamar ; but it was restored to the family 
 of Eleazar, in the time of Saul, in the person of Za- 
 dok, who was put in' the place of Ahimelech, slain 
 by Saul, A. M. 2944, 1 Sam. xxii. 17, 18. While Za- 
 dok performed the functions of tlie jjriesthood with 
 Saul, Ahimelech performed them with David; so 
 that, till the reign of Solomon, there were two high- 
 priests in Israel, Zadok, of the race of Eleazar, and 
 Ahhiielech, of the race of Ithamar, 2 Sam. viii. 17. 
 See Eli, and Abiathar. 
 
 When David was forced to leave Jerusalem by the 
 rebellion of his son Absalom, Zadok and Abiathar 
 would have accompanied him with the ark of the 
 Lord, (2 Sam. xv. 24.) but the king would not per- 
 mit them. To Zadok he said, O seer, return into the 
 city with Ahimaash your son, and let Abiathar and 
 his son Jonathan return also. I will conceal myself 
 in the countiy, till you send ms news of what passes. 
 Zadok and Abiathar returned, therefore, to Jerusalem ; 
 but their tAvo sons, Ahimaash and Jonathan, hid them- 
 selves near the foimtain of Rogel ; and when Hushai, 
 the friend of David, had defeated the counsel of 
 Ahitophel, they communicated this event to David. 
 Subsequently, Zadok counteracted the party of Ado- 
 nijah, who aspired at the kingdom, to the exclusion 
 of Solomon, (1 Kings i. 5 — 10, &c.) and David sent 
 Zadok with Nathan, and the chief officers of his 
 court, to give the royal unction to Solomon, and to 
 proclaim him king instead of his father. After the 
 death of David, Solomon excluded Abiathar from 
 the high-priesthood, because of his adherence to the 
 party of Adonijah ; and Zadok was high-priest alone, 1 
 Kings ii. 35. It is not known when he died ; but 
 his successor was his son Ahimaash, who enjoyed 
 the high-priesthood under Rehoboam. 
 
 ZALMONAH, an encampment of Israel in the 
 desert, (Numb, xxxiii. 41.) where, as some think, 
 Moses setup the brazen scipenl. 
 
 ZAMZUMMIIM, ancient giants who dwelt beyond 
 Jordan, in the coimtry afterwards inhabited by the 
 Anmionites, Deut. ii. 20. See Anakim. 
 
 ZARAH, son of Judah and Tamar, Gen. xxxviii 
 28, 29. He had five sons, Ethan, Zimri, Heman, 
 Calcol and Dara. 
 
 ZARED, or Zered, a brook beyond Jordan, on 
 the frontier of IMoab, which falls into the Dead sea. 
 See Zerkd. 
 
 ZAREPHATH, a city of the Sidonians, between 
 Tyre and Sidon, in Pha?nicia, on the coast of the 
 IMediterranean sea, and afterwards called Sarepta; 
 It is between Tyre and Sidon, and was the residence 
 of the prophet Elijah, with a poor woman, during a 
 famine in the land of Israel, 1 Kings xvii. 9, 10. 
 
 ZARETH-SHAHAR, a city of Reuben, beyond 
 Jordan, Josh. xiii. 19. 
 
 ZARETAN, a town in the land of Manassch, on 
 this side Jordan, called Zartanah, in 1 Kings iv. 
 12. It is said to be near Beth Shen, which was in 
 the northern limits of IManasseh. Fron) Adam to 
 Zaretan, the waters dried uj), (Josh. iii. 16.) from 
 Zaretan ui)wards, they stood on a heap. The brazen 
 vessels for the temi)le were cast in the clay ground 
 between Zaretan and Succoth, 1 Kings vii. 46. 
 
 ZEAL is taken, (1.) For the eagerness with
 
 ZEB 
 
 [ 931) 
 
 ZED 
 
 which any thing is pursued : " I have hcen very jealous 
 (or zealous) for the Lord God of hosts," 1 Kings xix. 
 10, 14. I burn with zeal for his honor. " Phiuehas 
 was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for 
 tiie children of Israel," Numb. xxv. 13. Judith says 
 that Simeon and his brethren were filled with the 
 zeal of tlie Lord, to revenge the injury done to their 
 sister, Jiulith ix. 4. — (2.) Zeal is put for anger : (2 
 Kings xix. 31.) " the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall 
 do this:" tluit is, his anger. Ps. Ixxix. 5, "How 
 long. Lord ? wilt thou be angry for ever ? shall thy 
 jealousy (or zeal) burn Hke fire ?" The whole land 
 shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousv, or zeal, 
 Zeph. i. 18; iii. 8. 
 
 Zeal, Judgment of, see Judgment, ad fin. 
 The Idol of Zeal (Ezek. viii. 3, 5.) was Adonis ; 
 called the idol of jealousy, because he was beloved 
 by Venus ; and therefore Mars, stimulated by jeal- 
 ousy, sent a wild boar against him, which killed him. 
 In pursuing the discourse of Ezekiel, we see that 
 the same idol, which at the fifth verse is called the 
 idol of jealousy, is called Thammuz at the fourteenth 
 verso. See Adonis. 
 
 ZEBEDEE, father of the apostles James, and 
 John the evangelist, was a fisherman by profession. 
 His wife was called Salome, and his two sons left 
 him to follow our Saviour, Matt. iv. 21. 
 
 ZEBUL, governor of the city of Shechem for 
 Abimelecii, son of Gideon, Judg. ix. 28. 
 
 I. ZEBULUN, the sixth son of Jacob and Leah, 
 (Gen. XXX. 20.) was born in Mesopotamia, about 
 A. M. 2256. His sons were Sered, Elon and Jah- 
 leel, Gen. xlvi. 14. Moses gives us no particulars of 
 his life ; but Jacob in his last blessing (Gen. xlix. 13.) 
 said, " Zcbulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, 
 and he shall be for a haven of ships, and his border 
 shall be unto Zidon." His portion extended to the 
 coast of the Mediterranean, one end of it bordering 
 on this sea, and the other on the sea of Tiberias, Josh, 
 xix. 10. (See Canaan.) Moses joins Zebidun and 
 Issachar together: (Deut. xxxiii. 18.) "Rejoice, 
 Zebulun, in thy going out ; and, Issachar, in thy tents. 
 They shall call the people unto the mountain ; there 
 they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness : for tliey 
 shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treas- 
 ures hid in the sand." Meaning, that these two 
 tribes, being at the greatest distance north, should 
 come together to the temple at Jerusalem, to the 
 holy mountain, and should bring with them such of 
 the other tribes as dwelt in their way ; and that, 
 occupying part of the coast of the INIediterranean, 
 they should apply themselves to trade and navigation, 
 and to the melting of metals and glass, denoted by 
 those words, Treasures hid in the sand. The river 
 Bel us, whose sand was very fit for making glass, was 
 in this tribe. See Glass. 
 
 When the tribe of Zebulun left Egypt, its chief 
 was Eliab, son of Elon, and it comprehended 57,400 
 men able to bear arms. Numb. i. 9, 30. In another 
 review, 39 years afterwards, it amounted to 60,500 
 men, of age to bear arms, Numb. xxvi. 2(), 27. 
 The tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali distinguished 
 themselves in the war of Barak and Deborah, 
 against Sisera, the general of the armies of Jabin, 
 Judg. iv. 5, 6, 10 ; v. 4, 18. It is thought they were the 
 first carried into captivity beyond the Euphrates, by 
 Pul and Tiglath-Pileser, kings of Assyria, 1 Chron. v. 
 26. But they had the advantage of hearing and see- 
 ing Christ in their country oftener and longer than 
 any other of the tribes, Isa. ix. 1 ; Matt. iv. 13, 15. 
 
 II. ZEBULUN, a city of Asher, (Josh. xix. 27.) 
 but probably afterwards yielded to Zebulun, whence 
 it took its name. It was not far from Ptolemais, since 
 Josephus makes the length of lower Galilee to be 
 from Tiberias to Ptolemais. It received the name of 
 Zebulun of men, probably from its great populous- 
 ness. Elon, judge of Israel, was buried in this city, 
 Judg. xii. 12. 
 
 ZECHARIAH, see Zachariah. 
 ZEDAD, a city of Syria, in the most northern 
 part of the Land of Promise, Numb, xxxiv. 8 ; Ezek. 
 xlvii. 15. 
 
 I. ZEDEKIAH, or Mattaniah, the last king of 
 Judah, before the captivity of Babylon, was son of 
 Josiah, and uncle to Jeconiah, his predecessor, 2 
 Kings xxiv. 17, 19. When Nebuchadnezzar took 
 Jerusalem, he carried Jeconiah to Babylon, with his 
 wives, children, officers, and the best artificers in 
 Judea, and put in liis place his uncle Mattaniah, 
 whose name he changed to Zedekiah, and made him 
 promise, with an oath, that he would maintain fidel- 
 ity to him, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13 ; Ezek. xvii. 12, 14, 18. 
 He was 21 years old when he began to reign at Jeru- 
 salem, and he reigned there eleven years. He did 
 evil in the sight of the Lord, committing the same 
 crimes as Jehoiakim, 2 Kings xxiv. 18 — 20; 2 Chron. 
 xxxvi. 11 — 13. The princes of the people, and the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem, imitated his impiety, and 
 abandoned themselves to all the abominations of the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 In the first year of his reign, Zedekiah sent to 
 Babylon, Elasali, son of Shaphan, and Gemariali, 
 son of Hilkiah, probably to carry his tribute to Nebu- 
 chadnezzar ; and by these messengers Jeremiah sent 
 a letter to the captives of Babylon, Jer. xxix. 1, 2 — 23. 
 Four years afterwards, either Zedekiah went thither 
 himself, or sent thither, (Jer. xxxii. 12 ; li. 59 ; Baruch 
 i. 1.) his chief design being to entreat Nebuchadnez 
 zar to return the sacred vessels of the temple, Baruch 
 i. 8. In the ninth year of his reign, he revolted 
 against Nebuchadnezzar, (2 Kings xxv.) in conse- 
 quence of which the Assyrian marched his army into 
 Judea, and took all the fortified places, except La- 
 chish, Azekah and Jerusalem. During the siege of 
 the holy city, Zedeldah often consulted Jeremiah, 
 who advised him to surrender, and denounced the 
 greatest woes against him if he should persist in his 
 rebellion, Jer. xxxvii. 3 — 10 ; xxi. But the unfortu- 
 nate prince had neither patience to hear, nor resolu- 
 tion to follow, good counsel. In the eleventh year 
 of his reign, on the ninth day of the foiu-th month, 
 (July,) Jerusalem was taken, 2 Kings xxv. Jer. xxxix. 
 Iii. The king and his people endeavored to escape 
 by favor of the night ; but the Chaldean troops pursu- 
 mg them, they were overtaken in the plain of Jericho. 
 Zedekiah was taken and carried to Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, then at Riblah, in Syria, who reproached him 
 with his perfidy, caused all his children to be alain 
 before his face, and his own eyes to be put out ; and 
 then, loading him with chains of brass, he ordered 
 him to be sent to Babylon, 2 Kings xxv, Jer. xxxii. 
 Iii. Thus wTcrc accomplished two prophecies, which 
 seemed contradictory ; one of Jeremiah, who said 
 that Zedekiah should see, and yet not see, Nebuchad- 
 nezzar with his eyes; (chap, xxxii. 4, 5; xxxiv. 3.) 
 the other of Ezekiel, (xii. 13.) which intimated that 
 ho should not see Babylon, though he shoiUd die 
 there. The year of his death is not known. Jere- 
 miah had assured him (chap, xxxiv. 4, 5.) that he 
 should die in peace ; that his body should be burned,
 
 ZEP 
 
 [ 940 
 
 Z ER 
 
 as those of the kings of Judah usually were ; and 
 that they should niouni for him, saying, Alas, my 
 lord ! He reigned eleven years at Jerusalem ; and 
 after him the kingdom of Judah was entirely sup 
 pressed. 
 
 II. ZEDEKIAH, son of Chenaanah, a false 
 prophet of Samaria, (1 Kings xxii. 11.) who put iron 
 horns on his head, and sent to Ahab, king of Israel, 
 saying, "This saith the Lord, You shall beat Syria, 
 and toss it up into the air with these horns." The 
 prophet Micaiah, son of Imlah, being sent for, and 
 denouncing the direct contrary, Zedekiah came near 
 him, and giving him a blow on the face, said to him, 
 " Wliich way went the Spirit of the Lord from me, 
 to do thus to you ?" Micaiah answered, "You will 
 see that, when you shall be obliged to hide yourself 
 in an inward chamber." It is not said what became 
 of Zedekiah ; but all the prophecies of Micaiah 
 proved true. 
 
 III. ZEDEKIAH, son of Maaseiah,a false proph- 
 et, who always opposed Jeremiah. Against him, 
 and Ahab, son of Kolaiah, the prophet jn-onouncecl 
 a terrible cui-se: (chap. xxix. 21,22.) "Of them shall 
 be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah 
 which are in Babylon, saying, The Lord make thee 
 like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of 
 Babylon roasted in the fire," &c. 
 
 ZEEB, a prince of Midian, was found at a wine- 
 press, and slain by the Ephraimites, who sent his 
 head to Gideon beyond Jordan, whither they pursued 
 their enemies, Judg. vii. 25. 
 
 ZELAH, a city of Benjamin, (Josh, xviii. 28.) 
 where Saul was buried in the tomb of his fatiier 
 Kish,2Sam.xxi. 14. 
 
 ZELOTES, a surname given to Simon the Ca- 
 naanite, one of the ajiostles. It signifies, properly, 
 one passionately ardent in any cause, a zealot, as in 
 Titus ii. 14, in the Greek. Thus, among the ancient 
 Hebrews, those who, from zeal for the institutions of 
 their religion, reproved or punished such as commit- 
 ted offences against them, were said to be itiXwTai, 
 zealots. (Comp. Numb, xxv. 6 — 13 ; 1 Mace. ii. 40.) 
 In the age of Christ and the apostles, tliis name was 
 applied particularly to an extensive association of 
 private individuals, who imdertook to maintain the 
 purity of the national ^vorship, by inflicting pun- 
 ishment without the form of trial on all who should 
 violate any of the institutions, &c. which they held 
 sacred. They were impelled, as they said, by a 
 more than human zeal ; and were certainly guilty 
 of the greatest excesses and crimes. (See Jos. B. J. 
 iv. 6. 3. vii. 8. 1. Jahn, §32L) 
 
 The name Zelotes was, therefore, probably given 
 to Simon from the circumstance of his having 
 been one of the ZelottE. The name Canaanite, or 
 more properly Cananite, is also most probably here 
 of the same signification, being derived from the 
 Heb. Nj-', ChalcL jxj^, which is entirely equivalent 
 in meaning to Zdotes. *R. 
 
 ZENAS, a doctor of the law, and disciple of 
 Paul, Tit. iii. 13. 
 
 I. ZEPIIANIAH, son of Maaseiah ; called (2 
 Kings xxv. 18.) tiie second priest, while the high- 
 priest Seraiah performed the fimctions of the high- 
 priesthood, and was the first priest. It is thought 
 Zephaniah was his deputy, to discharge the duty when 
 the high-priest was sink, or when any other accident 
 hindered him from performing his office. After the 
 taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, Seraiah and 
 Zcphaniali were taken and sent to Neljurliadnezznr 
 
 at Riblah, who caused them to be put to death. 
 Zephaniah was sent more than once by Zedekiah to 
 consult Jeremiah. (See chap. xxi. 1 ; xxxvii. 3.) 
 
 II. ZEPHANIAH, son of Cushi, and grandson of 
 Gedaliah, was of the tribe of Simeon, according to 
 Epiphauius, and of mount Sarabata, a place not men- 
 tioned in Scripture. The Jews are of opinion, that 
 the ancestors of Zephaniah, recited at the beginning 
 of his prophecy, were prophets. Some have sup- 
 posed, without foundation, that he was of an illus- 
 trious family. We have no exact knowledge, either 
 of his actions, or the time of his death. He hvcd 
 under Josiah, who began to reign A. M. 33G3. The 
 description that Zephaniah gives of the disorders of 
 Judah, leads Calmet to judge, that he prophesied be- 
 fore the eighteenth year of Josiah ; that is, before 
 this prince had reformed the abuses and corruptions 
 of his dominions, 2 Kings xxii. Besides, he foretells 
 the destruction of Nineveh, (chap. ii. 13.) which 
 could not fall out before the sixteenth year of Josiah, 
 by allowing, with Berosus, 21 years to the reign of 
 Nabopolassar over the Chaldeans. Therefore we 
 must necessarily place the beginning of Zephaniah's 
 prophecy early in the reign of Josiah. His first 
 chapter is a general threatening against all the people 
 whom the Lord had appointed to slaughter ; against 
 Judah ; against those who leap over the threshold, 
 i. e. the Philistines, 1 Sam. v. 5. In the second chap- 
 ter he inveighs against Moab, Ammon, Cush, the 
 Phoenicians, and the Assyrians, and foretells the fall 
 of Nineveh, which happened A. M. 3378. The third 
 chapter contains invectives and threatenings against 
 Jerusalem, but afterwards gives comfortable assur- 
 ance of a return from the captivity, and of a flour- 
 ishing condition. 
 
 ZEPHATH, a city of Simeon, (Judg. i. 17.) prob- 
 ably the same as Zephathah, near Mareshah, in the 
 south of Judah, 2 Chron. xiv. 10. It was called Hor- 
 mah, or Anathema, after the victory obtained by Is- 
 rael over the king of Arad, Numb. xxi. 3 ; Judg. i. 17. 
 
 ZEPHATHAH, tuk Valley of, near Mareshah, 
 is mentioned 2 Chron. xiv. 10. It was, perhaps, 
 near Zephath, or Hormah ; or, perhaps, it should be 
 read Shephalah, instead of Zepliathah. 
 
 ZERAH, king of Ethiopia, or Cush, in Arabia Pe- 
 trcea, on the Red sea, and bordering oft Egj^pt, (2 
 Chron. xiv. 9.) came to attack Asa, king of Judah, with 
 an army of a million of foot, (see Armies,) and three 
 hundred chariots of war. Asa went out to meet 
 him, and set his army in battle array in the valley of 
 Zephathah, near INIareshah. He called on the Lord, 
 who cast terror and consternation into the hearts of 
 the Ethiopians, so that they ran away. Asa and his 
 army pursued tiiem to Gerai-, and obtained a great 
 booty. See, however, in Pharaoh, p. 742. 
 
 ZERED, or Zared, a brook or torrent which 
 takes its rise in tlie mountains of jMoab, and, running 
 from cast to west, falls into the Dead sea. It seems 
 to be the stream which Burckhardt calls JFady Beni 
 Hammad, south of the Arnon, and aboiU five hours 
 north of Kerek, the ancient Charak Moab, Numb. xxi. 
 12; Deut. ii. 13, 14. 
 
 ZEREDA, a city of Ephraim, the native place of 
 Jeroboam, son ofNebat, 1 Kings xi. 26. Perhaps 
 Zcredatha, or Zarthan. 
 
 ZERERATH, a city in Manasseh, not far from 
 Bethshan, Judg. vii. 22. Also called Zereda, 1 Kings 
 xi. 26, and Zeredetha, 2 Chron. iv. 17 ; perhaps also 
 Zaretan, the narrow dwellings. Josh. iii. 16, 1 Kings 
 vii. 46, and Zaretanali, 1 Kings iv. 12.
 
 ZIL 
 
 [ 941 
 
 ZOP 
 
 ZEIII, son of Jeduthun, the foiirtii among the 
 twenty-four famihes of tlie Levites, which attended 
 in the temple, 1 Chron. xxv. 3, 11. 
 
 ZERUBBABEL, or Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, 
 of the royal race of David. Matthew (i. 12.) and the 
 Chronicles (1 Chron. iii. 17, 19.) make Jcconiah, king 
 of Jiidali, to be father of Salathiel, but they do not 
 agree as to the fatlier of Zerubbabel. Tlie Chron- 
 if'lcs say Pedaiah was father of Zerubbabel ; but 
 Matthew, Luke, Esdras and Haggai constantly make 
 Salathiel his father. We must, therefore, take the 
 name of son in the sense of grandson, and say that 
 Salathiel having educated Zerubbabel, he was always 
 afterwards considered as his father. Some think 
 that Zerubbabel had also the name of Sheshbazzar, 
 and that he is so called, Ezra i. 8. Josephus and 
 the first book of Esdras describe him as one of the 
 three famous body-guards of Darius, son of Hystas- 
 ])es ; but this must be a mistake, for he returned to 
 Jerusalem long before the reign of Darius, son of 
 Hystaspes. 
 
 Cyrus committed to his care the sacred vessels of 
 the temple, with which he returned to Jerusalem, 
 Ezra i. 11. He is always named first, as being chief 
 of the Jews that returned to their own country, Ezra 
 ii. 2 ; iii. 8 ; v. 2. He laid the fotmdations of the 
 temple, (Ezra iii. 8, 9 ; Zech. iv. 9, &c.) and restored 
 the worship of the Lord, and the usual sacrifices. 
 When the Samaritans offered to assist in rebuilding 
 the temple, Zerubbabel and the principal men of 
 Judah refused them this honor, since Cyrus had 
 granted his commission to the Jews only, Ezra iv. 2, 
 3. When the Lord showed the prophet Zachariah 
 two olive-trees, near the golden candlestick with 
 seven branches, the angel sent to explain this vision 
 informed the prophet, that these two olive-trees, 
 which supplied oil to the great candlestick, were Ze- 
 rubbabel, the prince, and Joshua, the high-priest, son 
 of Josedech. Scripture says nothing of the death 
 of Zerubbabel, but it informs us, (1 Chron. iii. 19.) 
 that he left seven sons and one daughter. These 
 were Meshullam, Hananiah and Shelomith, their 
 sister; Hashuba, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah and 
 Jushabhesed. JNIatthew (i. 13.) makes the name of 
 one of his sons to be Abiud, and Luke (iii. 27.) 
 makes it Rhesa. Consequently, one of the sons of 
 Zerubbabel, above enumerated, must have had more 
 than one name. See Adoption". 
 
 ZIBA, a servant to Saul, 2 Sam. ix. When David 
 was expelled from Jerusalem, by his son Absalom, 
 Ziba went to meet him, with two asses loaded with 
 provisions, 3 Sam. xvi. The king gave him all that 
 belonged to Mepliibosheth. 
 
 ZICHRI, of Ephraim, a very stout and valiant man. 
 He killed Maaseiah, son of king Ahaz, Azrikam, the 
 governor of the palace, and Elkanah, who was sec- 
 ond after thc'king, 2 Chron. xxviii. 7. 
 
 ZIDON, see Sidox. 
 
 ZIP, the second month of the holy year of the 
 Hebrews ; afterwards called Jiar ; it answers nearly 
 to April, 1 Kings vi. 1. See the Jewish Calendar. 
 
 ZIKLAG, a city that Achish, king of Gath, gave 
 to David, when he took shelter among the Philistines, 
 (1 Sam. xxvii. 6.) and which, after that time, ahvays 
 belonged to the kings of Judah. The Amalekites 
 took it, and plundered it, in the absence of David. 
 Josluia had allotted it to the tribe of Simeon, Josh, 
 xix. 5. Euscbius saya it lay in the south of Ca- 
 naan. 
 
 ZILLAH, a wife of Lamech, the bigamist. She 
 
 was mntlier of Tubal -cain and Naamah, Gen. iv. 
 21, 22. 
 
 I. ZIMRI, son of Zerah, and grandson of Judah 
 and Tamar, 1 Chron. ii. 6. 
 
 n. ZIMRI, son of Salu, prince of the tribe of 
 Simeon, who went publicly into the tent of Cozbi, a 
 Midianite Avoman, and was followed by Phinehas, son 
 of Elcazar the high-priest, who slew him with Cozbi, 
 Numb. xxv. 14. 
 
 III. ZIMRI, a general of half the cavalry of Elali, 
 king of Israel, when he rebelled against his master, (1 
 Kings xvi. 9, 10.) killed him, and usuri)ed his kingdom. 
 He cut off the whole family, not sparing any of his re- 
 lations or friends ; whereby was fulfilled the word of 
 the Lord, denounced to Baasha, the father of Elah, by 
 the prophet Jehu. Zimri reigned ])ut seven days ; for 
 the army of Israel, then besieging Gibbethon, a city of 
 the Philistines, made their general, Omri, king, and 
 came and besieged Zimri in the city of Tirzah. 
 Zimri, seeing the city on the point of being taken, 
 burnt himself in the palace with all its riches. 
 
 ZIN, a desert south of the Land of Promise. See 
 in Exodus, p. 419. 
 
 ZION, or Si on, a mountain of Jerusalem. See 
 
 SlON. 
 
 I. ZIPH, the second Hebrew month, 1 Kings 
 vi. 1. 
 
 II. ZIPH, son of Jehalaleel, of Judah, and of the 
 family of Caleb ; (1 Chron. iv. 16.) he probably gave 
 his name to the city of Ziph, in Judah. 
 
 III. ZIPH, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 24.) near 
 Hebron, eastward, and in the wilderness of which 
 David kept himself concealed for some time, 1 Sam. 
 xxiii. 14, 15. 
 
 IV. ZIPH, another city near Maon and Carmel of 
 Judah, Josh. xv. 55. 
 
 ZIPPORAH, or Sephora, daughter of Jethro, 
 wife of Moses, and mother of Eliezer and Gershom. 
 When Moses fled from Egjpt, (Exod. ii. 16, &c.) he 
 withdrew into Midian, where, having stood up m 
 defence of the daughters of Jethro, priest, or prince, 
 of Midian, against shepherds who would have 
 hindered them from watering their flocks, Jethro 
 took him into his house, and gave him his daughter 
 Zi|iporah in marriage, by whom he had two sons, 
 Eliezer and Gershom. See Moses. 
 
 ZOAN, a royal city of Egypt, and extremely an- 
 cient. Called in Greek Tanis, (Judith i. 10.) and 
 built, no doubt, by emigrants. Numb. xiii. 22 ; Ps. 
 Ixxviii. 12, 43 ; Isa. xix. 11, 13 ; xxx. 4 ; Ezek. xxx. 14. 
 
 ZOAR, a city of the Pentapolis, on the southern 
 extremity of the Dead sea, was destined, with the 
 other five cities, to be consumed by fire from heaven ; 
 but at the intercession of Lot, it was preserved. Gen. 
 xiv. 2. It was originally called Bela ; but after Lot 
 entreated the angel's permission to take refuge in it, 
 and insisted on tlie smallness of this city, it had the 
 name Zoar, which signifies small or little. 
 
 ZOBAH, a kingdom or country of Syria, whose 
 king carried on war with Saul and David, 1 Sam. 
 xiv. 47 ; 2 Sam. viii. 3 ; x. 6. It seems to have lain 
 near Damascus, and to have included the city Ila- 
 math, (2 Chron. viii. 8.) but also to have extended to- 
 wards the Euphrates, 2 Sam. viii. 3. *R. 
 
 ZOHELETH, a stone near the fountain of Rogel, 
 or En-rogel, just under tlie walls of Jerusalem, 1 
 Kings i. 9. The rabbins tell us, that it served as an 
 exercise to the young men, who tried their strength 
 by throwing it, or rather rolling it, or lifting it. Oth- 
 ei-s think it was useful to the fiillers, or whitsters.
 
 ZUP 
 
 [942 ] 
 
 zuz 
 
 to beat their clothes upon, after they had washed 
 them. 
 
 ZOPHAR, the Naamathite, a friend of Job, chap, 
 ii. 11. The LXX call him Sophar, king of the Mine- 
 ans ; the interpreter of Origen make^ him king of 
 the Nomades. 
 
 I. ZORAH, a city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 33.) built, 
 or rebuilt and fortified, by Rehoboam, 2 Chron. xi. 10. 
 
 II. ZORAH, a city of Dan, and the birth-place of 
 Samson, (Judg. xvi. 31.) on the frontier of Dan, and of 
 Judah, not far from Eshtaol. Eusebius places it ten 
 miles from Eleutheropolis, towards Nicopolis, not far 
 from Kaphar-Sorek. Calmet thinks the Zorites, (1 
 Chron. ii. .54.) and the Zorathites, (1 Chron. iv. 2.) 
 were inhabitants of Zorah. 
 
 ZUPH, a Levite, great-grandfather of Elkanah, 
 the father of Samuel, and head of the family of the 
 Zuphim, who dwelt at Ramah ; whence it had its 
 name of Ramathaim Zophim, (1 Sam. i. 1 ; 1 Chron. 
 vi. 35.) and the land of Zuph, 1 Sam. ix. 5. 
 
 ZUR, a city of Judah, Josh. xv. 58 ; Neh. iii. 16 ; 
 1 Chron. ii. 45 ; 2 Chron. xi. 7. Called Bethsura, 
 and described as a strong town in 2 Mac. xi. 5, 
 
 I. ZUR, a prince of Midian, father of Cozbi, who, 
 with Zimri, was killed by Phinehas, Numb. xxv. 15 ; 
 xxxi. 8. 
 
 II. ZUR, son of Jehiel and Maachah, of Ben- 
 jamin, inhabitants of Gibeon, 1 Chron. xi. 36 ; 
 viii. 30. 
 
 ZURIEL, son of Abihail, chief of the families of 
 the Mahlites and the Mushites, Numb. iii. 33, 35. 
 
 ZURISHADDAI, father of Shelumiel, who was 
 chief of the tribe of Simeon at the exodus, Num- 
 bers i. 6. 
 
 ZUZIM, certain giants who dwelt beyond Jordan, 
 and were conquered by Chedorlaomer and his allies, 
 Gen. xiv. 5. The Chaldee and the LXX have taken 
 Ziizim in the sense of an appellative, for stout and 
 valiant men. Calmet conjectures the Zuzim to be 
 the Zamzummim of Deut. ii. 20. See Anakim.
 
 THE 
 
 CALENDAR OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The year of the Hebrews is composed of twelve lunar months, of which the first has thirty days, and tno 
 second twenty-nine ; and so the rest successively, and alternately. The year begins in autumn, as to the 
 civil year ; and in the spring, as to the sacred year. The Jews had calendars, anciently, wherein were noted 
 all the feasts — all the fiists — and all tlie days on which they celebrated the memoiy of any great event that 
 liad happened to the nation, Zech. viii. 10 ; Esth. viii. 6, in Grreco. These ancient calendars are sometimes 
 quoted in Talmud, (Misna Tract. Taanith, n. 8.) but the rabbins acknowledge that they are not now in 
 being. ( Vide Maimonides et Bartenora, in eum locum.) Those tliat we have now, whether printed or in 
 manuscript, are not very ancient. ( Vide Genebrar. Bibliot. Rabinic. p. 319 ; IJuxtorf. Levit. Talmud, p. 1046 ; 
 Bartolocci. Bibl. Rabbinic, tom. ii. p. 550 ; Lamy's Introduction to the Scripture ; and Plantav. Isago". 
 Rabbin. a(//?iem.) That which passes for the oldest, is Megillath Thaanith, "the volume of affliction;" 
 which contains the days of feasting and fasting heretofore in use among the Jews ; which are not now 
 oliserved ; nor are they in the common calendars. We shall insert the chief historical events, taken as well 
 from this volume, Thaanith, as from other calendar. 
 
 TISRI. 
 
 The first month of the civil year; the seve7ith month 
 of the sacred year. It has thirty days, and answers 
 to the moon of September. 
 
 Day 1. New moon. Beginning of the civil year. 
 
 The feast of trumpets, Lev. xxin. 24; Numb, 
 xxix. 1, 2. 
 
 3. Fast for the death of Gedaliah, 2 Kmgs xxv. 
 25 ; Jer. xli. 2. 
 
 The same day, the abolition of written contracts. 
 Tha wicked kings having forbidden the Israelites to 
 pronounce tlic name of God, when they were re- 
 stored to lil)erty, the Asmoneans, or Maccabees, or- 
 dained, that the name of God should he written in 
 contracts after this manner : " In such a year of the 
 liigh-priest N, who is minister of the most high 
 God," &c. The judges to wiiom these writings 
 were ])resented, decreed they shotdd be satisfied ; 
 saying, for example, " On such a day, such a debtor 
 shall pay such a sum, according to his promise, after 
 which tiie schedule shall be torn." But it was found 
 that the name of God was taken away out of the 
 writing ; and thus the whole became useless and 
 inctli'ctual. For which reason they abolished all 
 tliese written contracts, and a|)i)oirited a festival day 
 in memory of it. (Megil. Taanith, c. 7.) 
 
 5. Tiie death of twenty Israelites. Rabbi Akiba, 
 son of Joseph, dies in prison. 
 
 7. A fast, on account of the worshipping th'' golden 
 calf, and of the sentence God pronounced against 
 Israel, in consequence of that crime, Exod. xxxii. 
 (i— 8, :34. 
 
 10. A fast of expiation, Lev. xxiii. 19, Sec. 
 
 15. The feast of tabernacles, with its octave, Lev. 
 xxiii. 34. 
 
 21. Hosanna-Rabba. The seventh day of the 
 feast of tabernacles, or the feast of branches. 
 
 22. The octave of the feast of tabernacles. 
 
 23. The rejoicing for the law, a solemnity in 
 memory of the covenant that the Lord made with 
 the Hebrews, in giving them the law by the media- 
 tion of Moses. 
 
 On this same day, the dedication of Solomon's 
 temple, 1 Kings viii. 65, 66. 
 
 30. The first new-moon of the month Marchesvan. 
 
 MARCHESVAN. 
 
 The second month of the civil year ; the eighth month 
 of the sacred year. It has but twenty-nine days, and 
 answers to the tnoon of October. 
 
 Day 1. The second new-moon, or first day of 
 the month. 
 
 6, 7. A fast, because Nebuchadnezzar put out the 
 eyes of Zedekiah, after he had slain his children 
 before his face, 2 Kings xxv. 7; Jer. Hi. 10. 
 
 19. A fast on Monday and Tuesday, [Thursday ?] 
 and the Monday following, to expiate' faults cominit- 
 ted on occasion of the feast of tabernacles. {Vide 
 Calendar, a Bartoloccio editum.) 
 
 2:3. A feast, or memorial of the stones of the altar, 
 ])rofane(l by the Greeks ; which were laid aside, in ex- 
 pectation of a proiihct, who could declare to what use 
 they might be applied, 1 Mac. iv. 4(). (iAlegillath, c. 8.) 
 
 26. A feast in memory of son)e places jjossessed 
 by the Cuthites ; which "the Israelites recovered at 
 their return from the captivity. 
 
 A dispute of Rabbin Joclianan, sen cf Zachai, 
 against the Sadducees, who pretended that the loaves 
 of the first-fruits (Lev. xxiii. 17, 18.) were not to be 
 offered on the altar,but to be eaten hot. (Megil. c.9.)
 
 944 
 
 THE JEWISH CALENDAR. 
 
 KISLEU. 
 
 The third month of the civil year ; the ninth month of 
 the sacred year. It has thirty days, and answers to 
 our moon of JVovember. 
 
 Day 1. New-moon, or tlie first day of the month. 
 
 3. A feast in memory of the idols which the As- 
 TTioueans threw out of the coiu-ts, where the Gentiles 
 had placed them. (Megil. Taanith.) 
 
 6. A fast in memory of the book of Jeremiah, torn 
 and burnt by Jehoiakim, Jer. xxxvi. 23. 
 
 7. A feast in memory of the death of Herod the 
 Great, son of Antipater ; who was always an enemy 
 to the sages. (Megillath, c. 11.) 
 
 21. The feast of mount Gerizim. The Jews re- 
 late that when their high-priest Simon, with his 
 priests, went out to meet Alexander tfle Great, the 
 Cutheans or Samaritans went also, and desired this 
 prince to give them the temple of Jerusalem, and to 
 sell them a part of mount Moriah, which request 
 Alexander granted. But the high-priest of the Jews 
 afterwards presenting himself, and Alexander asking 
 him what he desired, Simon entreated him not to 
 suffer the Samaritans to destroy the temple. The 
 king replied to him, that he delivered that people 
 into his hands, and he might do what he pleased 
 with them. Then the high-priest and inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem took the Samaritans, bored a hole 
 through their heels, and tying them to their horses' 
 tails, dragged them along to mount Gerizim, which 
 they ploughed and sowed with tares, just as the 
 Samaritans had intended to do to the temple of 
 Jerusalem. In memory of this event, they instituted 
 this festival. [Comp. Sivan 25.1 
 
 24. Prayers for rain. (Calendar Bartolocci.) 
 
 25. The dedication, or renewing of the temple, 
 profaned by order of Antiochus Epiphanes, and pu- 
 rified by Judas Maccabaeus, 1 Mac. iv. 52; 2 Mac. ii. 
 IG ; John x. 22. This feast is kept with its octave. 
 Josephus says, that in his time it was called the feast 
 of lights ; perhaps, he says, because this good fortune, 
 of restoring the temple to its ancient use, appeared 
 to the Jews as a new day. (Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 11.) 
 But the Jewish authors give another reason for the 
 name of lights. They report, that when they were 
 employed in cleansing the temple, after it had been 
 j)rofaiied by the Greeks, they found there only one 
 small phial of oil, sealed up by the high-priest, which 
 v,ould hardly suffice to keep in the lamps so much 
 as one night ; but (Jod permitted that it should last 
 several days, till they had time to make more ; in 
 memoi-y of which, the Jews lighted up several lamps 
 in their synagogues, and at the doors of their houses. 
 [Vide Seldcn, de Syiied. lib. iii. cap, 13.) Others 
 affirm (as the Scholastical History, Thomas Aquinas, 
 cardinal Ilughgo, on 1 Mac. iv. 52.) that the appella- 
 tion of the feast of lights was a memorial of that- fire 
 from heaven which inflamed the wood on the altar 
 of burnt-offerings, as related 2 3Iac. i. 22. 
 
 Some think tliis feast of the dedication was insti- 
 tuted in memory of Judith. ( Vide Sigon, lib. iii. cap. 
 18. de Republ. Ilebr.) But it is doubted whether 
 this ought to be understood of Judith, daughter of 
 Morari, who killed Ilolofurnes ; or of another Judith, 
 daughter of Mattathias, and sister of Judas Macca- 
 ba3us, who slew Nicanor, as they tell us. [p'ide Ganz, 
 Zcinach David ; Millenar. 4. an. G22. et apud Selden! 
 tie Synedriis, lib. iii. cap. 13. n. II.) This last Judith 
 is known only in the writings of the rabbins, and is 
 Jiot mentioned either in the Maccabees, or in Jose- 
 phus. But there is great likelihood that the Jews 
 
 have altered the Greek history of Judith, to place it 
 in the time of Judas Maccabaeus. 
 
 A prayer for rain. Time of sowing begins in Judea. 
 
 30. First new-moon of the month Tebeth. 
 
 TEBETH. 
 
 The fourth month of the civil year ; the tenth month of 
 the ecclesiastical year. It has tweniy-nine days, and 
 ansjvers to the moon of December. 
 
 Day 1. New-moon. 
 
 8. A fast, because of the translation of the law out 
 of Hebrew into Greek. This day, and the three 
 following days, were overcast by thick darkness. 
 
 The fast of the tenth month. (Calend. Bartolocci,) 
 
 9. A fast for which the rabbins assign no reason. 
 
 10. A fast in memoiy of the siege of Jerusalem 
 by Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings xxv, 1. 
 
 28, A feast in memory of the exclusion of the 
 Sadducees out of the Sanhedrim, where they had all 
 the power in the time of kmg Alexander Jannseus. 
 Rabbi Simeon, son of Shatach, found means of ex- 
 cluding them one after another, and of substituting 
 Pharisees. (Megillat. Taanith.) [Comp, Jiar 23,] 
 
 SHEBET, 
 
 The fifth month of the civil year ; the eleventh month 
 of the sacred year. It has thirty days, and answers 
 to the moon of January. 
 
 Day 1, New-moon, or the first day of the month. 
 
 2, A rejoicing for the death of king Alexander 
 Jannseus, a great enemy to the Pharisees, (Megill.) 
 
 4 or 5, A fast in memory of the death of the elders, 
 who succeeded Joshua, Judg. ii. 10. 
 
 15, The beginning of the year of trees, that is, 
 from hence tliey begin to count the four years, 
 during which trees were judged unclean, from the 
 time of their being planted. Lev. xix. 23 — 25. Some 
 place the beginning of these four years on the first 
 day of the month. 
 
 22. A feast in memory of the death of one called 
 Niskalenus, who had ordered the placing images or 
 figures in the temple, which was forbidden by the 
 law : but he died, and his orders were not executed. 
 The Jews place this under the high-priest Simon 
 the Just. It is not known who this Niskalenus was. 
 (Megill. c, 11,] 
 
 23, A fast for the war of the ten tribes against that 
 of Benjamin, Judg, xx. 
 
 They also call to remembrance the idol of Micah, 
 Judg, xviii, 
 
 29, A memorial of the death of Antiochus Epiph- 
 anes ; an enemy of the Jews, 1 JMac, vi, 1, [Me- 
 gillath,) 
 
 30, First new-moon of the month Adar, 
 
 ADAR, 
 
 The sixth month of the civil year ; the twelfth month 
 of the sacred year. It has but twenty-nine days, and 
 answers to the moon of February. 
 
 Day 1, New-moon, 
 
 7. A fast, because of the death of 3Ioses, Deut. 
 xxxiv. 5. 
 
 8. 9. The trumpet sounded, by way of thanksgiv- 
 ing for the rain that fell in this month, and to pray 
 for it in future. (Megillath Taanith.) 
 
 9. A fast in memory of the schism between the 
 schools of Shammai and llillel [called Taanith 
 Tzadehiml.
 
 THE JEWISH CALENDAR. 
 
 043 
 
 12. A feast in memory of the death of two prose- 
 lytes, Holliaiius and Pipiis his brotlicr, whom cue 
 Tyriiuis or Tiiriamis woidd liave compelled to break 
 tiie hiw, in the city of Laodicea ; hut tiiey ciiose 
 rather to (he, tiian to act contrary to the law. (Selden, 
 de Syncdr. lih. iii. cap. l:}. ex Megill. Taanith.) 
 
 Vi. Esther's last ; probably in memory of that, 
 Eslii. iv. 16. (Geneb. Hartolocci.) 
 
 A feast in memory of the death of Nicanor, an 
 enj.ny of tlie Jews, 1 iMac. vii. 44 ; 2 Mac. x v. 30, 
 &c, Some of the Hebrews insist, that Nicanor was 
 killed by Jndith, sister of Jndas Maccahsens. 
 
 14. The first pnrim, or lesser feast of lots, Esth. 
 ix. 21. The Jews in the province s ceased from the 
 slaughter of tlieir enemies on Nisan 14, and on that 
 day made great rejoicing. But the Jews of Shnshan 
 continued the slaughter till the 15th. Tlurelbre 
 Mordecai settled the feast of lots on the 14th and 
 15th of this month. 
 
 15. The great feast of puiim, or lots ; the second 
 ])nrim. These three lUiys, the l-"5th, 14th and 15th, 
 arc commonly called the days of Mordecai ; though 
 the feast for the death of Nicanor has no relation 
 either to Esther or to Mordecai. 
 
 Tiie collectors of the half-shekel, paid by every 
 Israelite, (Exod. xxx. 1.3.) received it on Adar 15, in 
 the cities, and on the 25th in the temjjle. (Tahnud. 
 Tract. Shekalim.) 
 
 17. The deliverance of the sages of Israel, who, 
 flying from the persecution of Alexander Jaunjrus, 
 king of the Jews, retired into the city of Koslik in 
 /\Jrabia ; but finding themselves in danger of being 
 sacrificed by the Gentiles, the inhabitants of the place, 
 they escaped by night. (Megill. Taanith.) 
 
 20. A feast in memory of the rain obtained from 
 God, by one called Onias Hainrnagel, during a great 
 drought in the time of Alexander Jannseus. (Megill. 
 Taanith.) 
 
 2.3. The dedication of the temple of Zerubbabcl, 
 Ezra vi. IG. The day is not known. Some put it 
 on the IGth, the calendar of Sigonius puts it on the 
 2;3d. 
 
 28. A feast in commemoration of the repeal of the 
 decree by which the kings of Greece had forbidden 
 the Jews to circumcise their children, to observe the 
 s.ibiiath, and to decline foreign worship. (Megill. 
 Taanith. et Gcmar. ut Tit. Thainith. c. 2.) 
 
 \Vhen the year consists of thirteen lunar months, 
 t'lcy place here, by way of intercalation, the second 
 monili of Adar, or Ve-adar. 
 
 NISAN, or ABIB. Exod. xiii. 4. 
 
 The seventh month of the civil i/car ; the first month of 
 ti'ie sacred year. It has thirty days, and ansiveis to 
 the moon of March. 
 
 Day 1. New-moon. A fast, because of the death 
 of the children of Aaron, Lev. x. 1, 2. 
 
 10. A fast for tlie death of Miriam, the sister of 
 Moses, Numb. xx. 1. Also in memory of the scarcity 
 of w-ater that happened, after her death, to the chil- 
 dren of Israel in the desert of Kadesh, Numb. xx. 2. 
 
 On this day every one provided himself a lamb or 
 kid, i)r'-paratory to the following })assover. 
 
 14. On th;; evening of the 14tli they killed the 
 ])aschal lamb ; they began to use unleavened bread, 
 and ceased from all servile laljor. 
 
 1.5. The solemnity of the passover, with its octave. 
 The first day of uideavcned bread, a day of rest. 
 Tbeyate none but unleavened bread duringeight days. 
 119 
 
 After sunset they gathered a sheaf of barlej', 
 which they brought into the temple. (Cod. Mcnachut. 
 
 vi.;3.) 
 
 Supplication for the reign of the spring. (Geneb.) 
 
 1(J. On the second day of the fiast, they cficrrd 
 the barley which tb< y luid provided the evi ning 
 before, as the first-fn.its of the harvest. After that 
 time, it was allowed to ])ut the sickle to the corii. 
 
 The beginning of harvest. 
 
 From this day they began to count fifty days to 
 penteeost. 
 
 21, The octave of the feast of the passover. The 
 end of imleavened bread. This day is held more 
 solemn than the other days of the octave ; yet they 
 did not refiain from manual hdjor on if. 
 
 2t). A fast lor the death ofJcsl.ua, Josh. xxiv. 29. 
 
 oO. The first new-moon of the month Jiar. 
 
 The book called Megillath Taanith docs not no- 
 tice any particular festival for the month Nisan. 
 
 JIAR, or lYAR. 
 
 The eighth month of the civil year ; the second month 
 of the ecclesiastical year. It has but twenty-nine 
 days, and answers to the moon cf^Ij^ril. 
 
 Day 1. New-moon, 
 
 G. A fast of three days for excesses ccminitted 
 during the feast of the passover, that is, r.ji the Mon- 
 day-, Thursday, and the Jlonday following. (Calendar. 
 Bartolocci.) 
 
 7. The dedication of the temjde, when the Asmo- 
 neans consecrated it anew, after the persecutions of 
 the Greeks. (Megill. Taanith, c. 2.) 
 
 10. A fast for the death of the high-priest Eii, and 
 for the capture of the ark by the Philistines. 
 
 14. The second passover, in favor of those who 
 could not celebrate the first, on Nisan 1.5. 
 
 23. A feast for the taking of the city of Gaza, by Si- 
 mon Maccabseus. (Calend. Scalig. 1 Mac. xiii. 43, 44.) 
 
 Or for the taking and purification of the citadel 
 of Jerusalem, by the IMaccabees ; according to the 
 calendar of Sigonius, 1 Mac. xiii. 49, 53 ; xvi. 7, 3G. 
 
 A feast for the expulsion of the Caraites out of 
 Jerusalem, by the Asmoneans or !\Iaccabees. (Meg, 
 Taanith.) [Comp. Tebeth 28.] 
 
 27. A feast for the expulsion of the Galileans, or 
 those who attempted to set up crowns over the gates 
 of their tempks, and of their houses ; and even on 
 the heads of their cxen and assrs; and to sing hymns 
 in honor of false gods. The IVIaccabecs drove them 
 out of Judea and Jerusalem, and appointed this feast 
 to |)erpetuate the memory of their expulsion. (Megill, 
 Taanith.) 
 
 2d. A fast for t!ic death of the prcj.het Samuel, 1 
 Sam. XXV. 1. 
 
 SIVAN. 
 
 77ic ninth month of the civil year ; the third month of 
 the ecclesiastical year. It has thirty days, end an- 
 swers to the moon of May. 
 
 Day 1. Ncw-nioon. 
 
 G. Pentecost, the fiftieth day after the passover. 
 Called also the Feast of Weeks, hecausc it happened 
 seven weeks aftei the passover. Wc do not find that 
 it had any octave. 
 
 15, 1 '."a feast to celebrate the victory of the Mac- 
 cabees over the people of Bethsan, 1 Mac. v. 52; xii. 
 40, 41. (.Alegill. Taanith.) 
 
 17. A feast for the taking of CjFsarca by the As- 
 moneans ; who drove the i)agans from thence, and 
 settled the Jews there. (^Megill. Taanith.)
 
 946 
 
 THE JEWISH CALENDAR. 
 
 22. A fast in memory of the prohibition by Jero- 
 boam, so 1 of Neb.1t, to his siil)jects, forbidding them 
 to carry their first-fruits to Jerusalem, 1 Kings xii. 27. 
 
 25. A fast in connnemoration of the death of the 
 rabbins, Simeon, son of Gamaliel, Isbmael, son of 
 Elisha, and Chanina, the high-priest's deputy. 
 
 A feast in memory of the solemn judgment pro- 
 nounced in favor of the Jews by Alexander the 
 Great, against the Ishmaelites, who, by virtue of 
 their birthright, maintain a possession of the land 
 of Canaan, against the Canaanites, who claimed the 
 same, as being the original j)ossessors, and against 
 the Egyptians, who demanded restitution of the ves- 
 sels and other things, borrowed by the Hebrews, 
 when they left Egypt. (Ftc/e Megillath Taanith.) But 
 the Gemara of Babylon (Tit. Sanhedrim, c. 11.) puts 
 the day of this sentence on Nisan 14. [Comp. Cis- 
 leu 21.] 
 
 27. A fast, because rabbi Chanina, the son of 
 Thardion, was burnt with the book of the law. 
 
 30. Tiie first new-moon of the month Thammuz. 
 
 THAMMUZ, or TAMUZ. 
 
 The tenth month of the civil year ; the fourth month of 
 the holy year. It has but twenty-nine days, and an- 
 swers to the moon of June. 
 
 Day 1. New-moon. 
 
 14. A feast for the abolition of a pernicious book 
 of the Sadducees and Bethusians, by which they 
 endeavored to subvert the oral law, and all the tra- 
 ditions. (Megill. Taanith.) 
 
 17. A fast in memory of the tables of the law, 
 broken by Closes, Exod. xxxii. 19. 
 
 On this day the city of Jerusalem was taken. The 
 perpetual evening and morning sacrifice was sus- 
 ])ended during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. 
 E|)istemon tore the book of the law, and set up an 
 idol in tiie temple. It is not said whether this hap- 
 pened under Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus Epiphaues, 
 or the Romans. 
 
 AB. 
 
 TTie eleventh month of the civil year ; the fflh month 
 of the sacred year. It has thirty days, and answeis 
 to the moon of July. 
 
 1. New-moon. A fast for the death of Aaron the 
 high-priest. 
 
 5. A conmiemoration of the children of Jcthutl, of 
 the race of Judah, who, after the return from the cap- 
 tivity, furnished wood to the temple. (Megill. Taanith.) 
 
 9. A fast of the fifth month, in memory of God's 
 declaration to Moses on this day, that none of the 
 murmuring Israelites should enter the land of prom- 
 ise, Numb. xiv. 29, 31. 
 
 SACRED YEAR. 
 
 .Wames and Order of the Ilebreiv Months. 
 
 1. Nisan, answering to March, O. S. 
 
 2. Jiar April. 
 
 3. Sivan May. 
 
 4. Thammuz June. 
 
 5. Ab July. 
 
 6. EIul August. 
 
 7. Tizri September. 
 
 8. Marchesvan October. 
 
 9. Cisleu Novetnber. 
 
 10. Thebet December. 
 
 1 1. Sebat January. 
 
 12. Adar February. 
 
 On the same day the temple was taken and burnt ; 
 Solomon's temple first by the Chaldeans ; Herod's 
 temple afterwards by the Ronjans. 
 
 18. A fast, because in the time of Ahaz the evening 
 ■ lamj) went out. 
 
 21. Xylophoria ; a feast on which they stored up 
 the necessary wood in the temi)le. (Selden. fu/e 
 Joscphus, de Bello, lib. ii. cap. 17.) Scaliger places 
 this festival on the 22d of the next month. 
 
 24. A feast in memory of the abolition of a law by 
 the Asmoneans, or Maccabees, which had bet-n in- 
 troduced by the Sadducees, enacting, that both sons 
 and daughters should alike inherit the estates of their 
 parents. (Megill. Taanith.) 
 
 30. The first new-moon of the month Elu!. 
 
 ELUL. 
 
 The twelfth month of the civil year ; and the sevc7itk 
 month of the ccclesiaslical year. It has but twenty- 
 nine days, and answers to the moon of Av gust. 
 
 Day 1. New-moon. 
 
 7. Dedication of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehe- 
 miah, Ezra xii. 27. We read in Neh. vi. 15, that 
 these walls were finished Elul 25. But as there still 
 remained many things to be done, to complete this 
 work, the dedication might have been deferred to the 
 7th of Elul of the year ibllowing. (Megill. Seld.) 
 
 17. A fast for the death of the spies, who brought 
 an ill report of the laud of promise. Numb. xiv. 36. 
 
 A feast in remeuibrance of the expulsion of tjie 
 Romans, [rather the Greeks,] who Avould have pre- 
 vented tlie Hebrews from marrying, and who dishon- 
 ored the daughters of Israel. When they intended 
 to use violence towards Judith, the only daughter of 
 Mattathias, he, with the assistance of his sons, over- 
 came them, and delivered his country from their 
 yoke. In commemoration of which deliverance, this 
 festival v/as appointed. 
 
 21. Xyloj)horia ; a feast in which they brought to 
 the temjjle the necessary provision of wood for keep- 
 ing in the fire of the altar of burnt-sacrifices. The 
 calendar of Scaliger i)laces this feast on the S2d. 
 [Vide the 21st of the foregoing month.) 
 
 22. A feast in mcmoi-y of the punishment inflicted 
 on the wicked Israelites, whose insolence could not 
 be otherwise restrained than by putting them to 
 death ; for then Judca was in the possession of the 
 Gentiles. They allowed these wicked Israelites 
 three days to reform ; but as they showed no signs 
 cf repentance, they were condemned to death. (Me- 
 gill. Taanitli.) 
 
 [From the beginning to the end of this month, the 
 cornet is sounded to warn of the a])proacliing new 
 year.] 
 
 CIVIL YEAR. 
 
 J^tames and Order of the Hebrew Months. 
 
 7 1. Tizri September, O. S. 
 
 8 2. Marchesvan October. 
 
 9 3. Cisleu November. 
 
 10 4. Thebet December. 
 
 1 1 5. Sebat January. 
 
 12 6. Adar Februaiy. 
 
 1 7. Nisan March. 
 
 2 8. Jiar April. 
 
 3 9. Sivan May. 
 
 4 10. Thammuz June. 
 
 5 n. Ab July. 
 
 6 12. Elul August.
 
 A GENERAL 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 The Author places the true date of the birth of Christ four years before the common Era, or A. D. 
 
 A. IM. 1 corresponds to the 710th year of the Julian Period. 
 
 We have added the Chronology adopted by Dr. Hales ; and also a reference to the sources of infonnation, 
 
 both sacred and profane. [It must, however, be borne in mind, that the particularity 
 
 of the dates iiere assigned rests chiefly on mere conjecture. R. 
 
 Caluiet. Hales. 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 129 
 
 130 
 
 235 
 
 325 
 
 395 
 
 4(50 
 
 G22 
 
 687 
 
 874 
 
 930 
 
 987 
 
 1042 
 
 10.56 
 
 1140 
 
 1235 
 
 1290 
 
 1422 
 
 100 
 
 101 
 
 201 
 
 230 
 
 435 
 
 625 
 
 795 
 
 980 
 
 1122 
 
 1287 
 
 1474 
 
 930 
 
 1487 
 
 1142 
 
 1656 
 
 1.340 
 
 1534 
 
 1690 
 
 1922 
 
 4000 
 
 3999 
 3998 
 3871 
 3870 
 3765 
 3675 
 3605 
 3540 
 3378 
 3313 
 3126 
 3070 
 3013 
 2958 
 2944 
 2860 
 2765 
 2710 
 2578 
 
 5411 
 
 5311 
 .5310 
 5210 
 5181 
 4976 
 4786 
 4616 
 4451 
 4289 
 4124 
 3937 
 4481 
 3914 
 42()9 
 3755 
 4071 
 3877 
 3721 
 3489 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 The Creation. 
 
 First day. — Creation of Light 
 
 Second day. the Firmament 
 
 Third day. — Sea, Water, Plants, Trees 
 
 Fourth day. — Sun, Rloon, and Stars 
 
 Fifth day. — Fishes, and Birds 
 
 Sixth day. — Land Animals, and Man 
 
 God causes the animals to appear before Adam, who 
 gives them names. God creates the woman by 
 taking her out of the side of the man, and gives 
 her to him for a wife. He brings them into Para- 
 dise • • - 
 
 Seventh day. — God rests from the work oi Creation, 
 and sanctifies the repose of the Sabbath 
 
 Eve, tempted fatally, by means of the serpent, diso- 
 beys God, and persuades her husband, Adam, to 
 disobedience also, God expels them from Paradise. 
 
 Cain born, son of Adam and Eve 
 
 Abel born, son of Adam and Eve 
 
 Cain kills his brother Abel 
 
 Seth born, son of Adam and Eve 
 
 Enos born, son of Seth 
 
 Cainan born, son of Enos 
 
 Mahalaleel born, son of Cainan 
 
 Jared born, son of Mahalaleel 
 
 Enoch born, son of Jared 
 
 Methuselah born, son of Enoch 
 
 Lamech born, son of Methuselah 
 
 Adam dies, aged 930 years 
 
 Enoch translated, had lived 365 years • . 
 
 Seth dies, aged 912 years 
 
 Noah born, son of Lamerh 
 
 Enos dies, aged 905 years 
 
 Cainan dies, aged 910 years 
 
 Mahalaleel dies, aged 895 years 
 
 Jared dies, aged 962 years 
 
 ii. 18—25. 
 -2,3.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE, 
 
 Calniei. | Hale;. I Calmel. 
 
 1536 I 2136 
 
 1556 
 1558 
 1651 
 1656 
 
 1C5; 
 
 2256 
 2256 
 
 2257 
 
 165S 
 1663 
 
 16)3 
 1723 
 1757 
 1770 
 
 1771 
 
 2258 
 2263 
 
 2293 
 2523 
 2657 
 2857 
 
 2857 
 
 1787 
 
 1819 
 
 ]84!) 
 187H 
 1918 
 200() 
 20G8 
 2018 
 2033 
 
 205:3 
 
 2784 
 2794 
 2^)19 
 3049 
 3389 
 319S 
 2606 
 3258 
 3268 
 ::318 
 
 2460 
 
 2444 
 2442 
 2349 
 2344 
 
 2343 
 
 2342 
 2337 
 
 2307 
 2277 
 2243 
 2230 
 
 2229 
 
 3275 
 
 3155 
 3155 
 
 3154 
 
 2213 
 
 2181 
 ,i 2151 
 J 2122 
 i|2052 
 '1994 
 il lf«)2 
 1982 
 1917 
 
 3333 
 
 1917 
 
 3153 
 
 3148 
 
 3018 
 2888 
 2754 
 2554 
 
 2554 
 
 rsCM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 2624 
 2614 
 24S2 
 2362 
 
 22c3 
 2213 
 2805 
 2153. 
 2143 
 2093 
 
 2078 
 
 God infonijs Noah of the future deluge, and com- J) 
 iiiissioiis hiui to preacli repentance, 120 years > 
 
 before the dehige ) 
 
 Japhet born, eldest son of Noah 
 
 Shcui born, the second son of Noah 
 
 Lamech dies, the lather of Noah, aged 777 years. . . . 
 Methuselah dies, tlie oldest of men, aged 969 years, 
 
 in the year of the deluge 
 
 The tenth day of the second month (November) God 
 
 commands Noah to prepare to enter the ark 
 
 Seventeenth day of the same month, Noah enters the 
 
 ark with his wife, his sons, and their wives 
 
 Rain on the earth, forty days. The waters continue 
 
 on the earth 150 days 
 
 Seventeentli day of tile seventh month, the ark rests 
 
 on tlie moiuitain of Ararat 
 
 First day of the tenth month, the tojis of the moun- 
 tains begin to appear 
 
 Forty days afterwards, Noah sends fortii a raven .... 
 Seven days afterwards, Noah sends cut the dove ; it 
 
 returns 
 
 Seven days afterwards,he sends it out again ; it returns 
 in the evening, bringing an olive-branch in its bill. 
 Seven days afterwards, he sends it forth again ; it re- 
 turns no more ^. 
 
 Noah being now 601 years old, the first day of tlie 
 
 first month he takes ofi^'the roof of the ark 
 
 Twenty-seventh day of the second month Noah quits 
 the ark. He offers sacrifices of thanksgiving. God 
 permits to man the use of flesh as food ; and ap- 
 points the rainbow, as a pledge that he would send 
 
 no more a universal deluge 
 
 Arphaxad born, son of Shem 
 
 About seven years after the deluge, Noah, having 
 planted a vineyard, drank of the wine lo e.vcess ; 
 falling a.sleep, he was uncovered in his tent. His 
 
 son Ham, mocking at him, is cursed for it 
 
 Sal.'Ji born, son of Arphaxad 
 
 Heber born, son of Salah 
 
 Piialeg born, son cf Heber 
 
 About this ihne the building of the tower of Babel is 
 undertj;ken ; God confounds the language of men, 
 
 and disperses them 
 
 About this time the beginning of the Assyrian mon- 
 archy, by Nimrod. From this year to tlu; taking 
 of Babylon by Alexander the Great, are 19G3 years ; 
 the ])eriod to which Callisthenes traced the astro- 
 nomical calculations of the Chaldeans 
 
 The Egyptian empire begins about the same time, by 
 Ham, tlie father of Mizraim : this empire contiinied 
 lii33 years, till the conquest of Egy])t by Cam- 
 
 byses 
 
 Reu born, son of Plialcg 
 
 Divisicn of tlie Earth 
 
 Serug bnrn, son of Reu 
 
 Xahor born, son of Serug 
 
 Tvrali born, son of Nahor , 
 
 Ilaran born, son of Terali 
 
 Noah dies, aged 950 years 
 
 Abrani born, sen of Terali 
 
 Sarai born, afterwards wife of Abram 
 
 Abrani call;'(l, in Vr of the Cbaldees. He travr-ls to 
 Charre, or Haran, of Mesojiotamia. His father, 
 
 Terali, di^^s there, aged 205 years 
 
 Second calling of Abrum from Haran. He comes 
 
 Gen. vi. 13—22; Heb. 
 
 xi. 7 i 1 Pet. iii. 20 ; 
 
 2 Pet. ii. 5. 
 
 V. 32 ; X. 21. 
 
 32. 
 
 31. 
 
 ix. 1—17. 
 xi. 10, 11. 
 
 ]— 9. 
 
 — X. e— 13. 
 
 Porplivr. ap. Sim])lic. 
 lil). ii. de Ccelo. 
 
 Ps. cvi. 22 ; I^. xix. 11. 
 Coiistaiitin. Manass. in 
 
 Annalib. 
 Gen. xi. 18. 
 
 X. 25. 
 
 xi. 20. 
 
 22. 
 
 24. 
 
 i\. 99. 
 
 xi.27;Josh.xxiv.2. 
 
 29,30; xvii. 17. 
 
 Acts vii. 2, 3. 
 
 Gen. xi. 31,32
 
 A CHROlVOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 049 
 
 Vear of the 
 Wo.l'. 
 
 Ye.ir before 
 Christ. 
 
 I ROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Gen. xii. 1 — 6 ; Actsvii. 
 4,5; Heb. xi. 8. 
 
 xii. 9 — xiii. 11. 
 
 xiv. 1-^. 
 
 xiv. 5 — 16. 
 
 18—20 ; Heb. 
 
 vii. 1—11. 
 
 XV. ; Acts vii. 6 ; 
 
 Gal. iii. 17. 
 
 XV i. 1—3. 
 
 15, 16. 
 
 xvii. 1—22. 
 
 10—14, 23—27. 
 
 xviii. 1 — 15 ; 
 
 Heb. xiii. 2. 
 
 xviii. 16— xix.38; 
 
 2 Pet. ii. 6—8. 
 
 XX. 1. 
 
 xxi. 1—21. 
 
 22—34. 
 
 xxii.2— 19. 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 XX iv. 
 
 XXV. 1-^. 
 xi. 10, 11. 
 
 XXV. 21 23. 
 24 26. 
 7 11. 
 
 xi. 17. 
 
 xxvi. 1—31. 
 34, 35. 
 
 X.XV. 17, 18. 
 xxvii. — xxix. 28. 
 
 C.iln.el. 
 
 Hales. 
 
 Calmet 
 
 Hales. 
 
 into Canar.n witli Sarai liis wife, and Lot his 
 lu'pliew ; and dwoils at Siclieni 
 
 2084 
 
 2091 
 2092 
 
 2093 
 2094 
 
 2107 
 
 2108 
 2115 
 
 2133 
 
 9145 
 2148 
 
 2150 
 2158 
 2167 
 
 2168 
 2184 
 2187 
 2200 
 
 2208 
 
 2231 
 2245 
 
 3334 
 3341 
 
 3342 
 3343 
 3344 
 
 3357 
 
 3358 
 
 3357 
 
 3!^83 
 3395 
 3398 
 
 3399 
 
 3418 
 3433 
 
 3G15 
 3481 
 3495 
 
 191G 
 
 1909 
 1908 
 
 1907 
 1906 
 1893 
 
 1892 
 
 1885 
 
 1867 
 
 1855 
 1852 
 
 1850 
 1842 
 1833 
 
 1832 
 1817 
 1813 
 1800 
 
 1792 
 
 1769 
 1755 
 
 2077 
 2070 
 
 2069 
 
 20G8 
 2067 
 
 2054 
 
 2053 
 
 2054 
 
 2028 
 201() 
 2013 
 
 2012 
 
 1993 
 
 1978 
 
 1796 
 1930 
 1916 
 
 Abriiiii goes iuto Egypt; Pliaraoli takes liis wile, l)iit 
 soon restores iier again. Abrani (luits Egypt; he 
 and Lot separate 
 
 The kings of Sodom and Goinorrha revolt from 
 
 Chedorlaomer and liis allies uivadc tlie kings of 
 Sodom and Goinorrha, &e. Sodom is ])iilag('d ; 
 Lot is taken captive; Abrain pnrsiies them, dis- 
 pei-ses them, retakes the booty, and rescnes Lot. . . 
 
 Melchizedec blesses Abrain 
 
 The Lord makes a covenant with Abram, and ? 
 ])romises him a nnmeroiis j)Osterity ( 
 
 Sarai gives her maid Hagar, lor a wife, to her hns- 
 band Aiiram 
 
 Ishmael born, the son of Abrani and Hagar. Abram 
 was 86 years old 
 
 The new covenant of the Lord witli Abram; God 
 promises him a numerous posterity; changes his 
 name from Abram to Abraham, and that of his 
 
 wife Sarai to Sarah 
 
 In connection ivith this covenant, 
 
 Circumcision is instituted 
 
 Abraham entertains tlirec angels, under the appear- 
 ance of travellers; they predict to Sarah the birtii 
 of a son (I.<aac ) 
 
 Sodom, Gomorrha, Admaii and Zeboiim burnt by 
 fire ii-om heaven. Lot is jjreserved; retires to 
 Zoar ; commits incest with his daiigliters 
 
 Abraham de[)arts from the plain of Mainre, to Beer- 
 slieba 
 
 Isaac born, the son ol" Abraham and Sarah. Sarah 
 makes Abraliam turn away Hagar and her son Ish- 
 mael. Hagar causes Ishmael to lake an Egyptian 
 woman to wife, by whom he has several children. 
 
 Covenant between Abraham and Abimeleeh, khig of 
 
 
 Sarah dies, a<''ed 127 years 
 
 Abraham sends Eliezer into Mesopotamia to precure 
 a wife for his son Isaac, who was 40 years of age. 
 Eliezer brink's Rebckah 
 
 Abraham marries Keturah, by whom he has several 
 children 
 
 Shem dirp, the son of Noah, 500 years after the birth 
 of Arphaxad 
 
 Rebekah continuing barren nineteen years, Isaac in- 
 tercedes for her, and she obtains the favor of con- 
 
 .lacob and Esau born. Isaac being 60 years old 
 
 Abraham dies, vjivd 175 years 
 
 Isaac goes lo Gerar. God renews with him his |)rom- 
 ises made to Abraham. Isaac covenants with 
 
 
 The deluge of Ogyges in Attica, 2020 years before 
 
 the lirst Olymi)iad. 
 Ishmael dies, the eldest son of Abraham, aged 137 
 
 Isaac blesses Jacob instead of Esau. Jacob withdraws 
 into Mesoi)otamia, to his uncle Laban. Here he 

 
 950 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Year of lie 
 Woria. 
 
 1 Year b(..ore 
 Chrisl. 
 
 Calniet. 
 
 Hales. 
 
 Calmet. 
 
 Hales. 
 
 2246 
 2247 
 2248 
 2249 
 2259 
 
 3496 
 3498 
 3500 
 3501 
 3502 
 
 1754 
 1753 
 1752 
 1751 
 1741 
 
 1915 
 1913 
 1911 
 1910 
 1902 
 
 2265 
 
 
 1735 
 
 
 2273 
 
 
 1727 
 
 
 2276 
 
 3522 
 3526 
 
 1724 
 
 1889 
 1885 
 
 2286 
 
 
 1714 
 
 
 
 3511 
 
 
 1899 
 
 2287 
 
 
 1713 
 
 
 2288 
 2289 
 
 3539 
 
 1712 
 1711 
 
 1872 
 
 2290 
 2291 
 2296 
 
 
 1710 
 1709 
 1704 
 
 
 2297 
 
 
 1703 
 
 
 2298 
 
 
 1702 
 
 
 2300 
 
 
 1700 
 
 
 2301 
 2302 
 
 
 1669 
 1698 
 
 
 2302 
 
 
 1698 
 
 
 2315 
 
 3565 
 
 1695 
 
 1846 
 
 2369 
 
 3619 
 
 1631 
 
 1792 
 
 2385 
 2427 
 
 3683 
 
 1615 
 1573 
 
 1728 
 
 
 3074 
 
 
 2337 
 
 2430 
 2433 
 
 3686 
 3689 
 
 1570 
 1567 
 
 1725 
 1722 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Reuben born, son of Jacob and Leah 
 
 Simeon born, son of Leah 
 
 Levi born, son of Leah 
 
 Judah born, son of Leah 
 
 Josei)h born, son of Jacob and Rachel, Jacob being 
 90 years old 
 
 Jacob resolves to return to his parents in Canaan. 
 Laban pursues hiin, and overtakes him on mount 
 Gilead. Esau comes to meet him, and receives him 
 with much affection. Jacob arrives at Shechem. . 
 
 Dinah, Jacob's daughter, ravished by Shechem, son 
 of Hamor. Dinah's brothers revenge this affront 
 by the death of the Shechemites 
 
 Benjamin born, son of Rachel 
 
 Joseph, being seventeen years old, tells his father, 
 Jacob, of his brothers' faults; they hate him, and 
 sell him to strangers, who take him into Egypt. 
 Joseph sold there as a slave to Potiphar 
 
 About this time Judah marries the daughter of 
 Shuah, a Canaanite, iiy whom he has Er, Onan 
 and Shelah 
 
 Joseph, tempted by the wife of his master Potiphar, 
 refuses her ; is put in prison 
 
 The shepherds, expelled from Egypt, settle in Pales- 
 tine. 
 
 Joseph explains the dreams of the two officers of 
 Pharaoh 
 
 Isaac dies, aged 180 years 
 
 Pharaoh's dreams explained by Joseph ; Joseph is } 
 made governor of Egypt ^ 
 
 The beginning of the seven years of plenty foretold 
 by Joseph 
 
 Manasseh born, son of Joseph 
 
 Ephraim born, second son of Joseph 
 
 The beginning of the seven years of scarcity, fore- 
 told by Joseph 
 
 Jose[)h's ten brethren resort to Egypt to buy corn. 
 Joseph imprisons Simeon 
 
 Jo3epli's brethren return into Egypt, with their 
 brother Benjamin. Joseph discovers himself, and 
 engages them to settle in Egypt. with their father, 
 Jacob, then 130 years old 
 
 Joseph gets all the money of Egypt into the king's 
 treasury 
 
 Josei)li gels all the cattle of Egypt for the king 
 
 The Egyptians sell their lands and liberties to Pha- 
 raoh 
 
 The end of the seven years of scarcity. Joseph re- 
 turns the Egyj)tians their cattle and their lands, on 
 condition that they })ay the king the fifth part of 
 the ])roflucc 
 
 Jacob's last sickness; he adopts Ephraim and Ma- 
 nasseh; foretells the character of all his sons ; de- 
 sires to be buried with his fathers. Dies, aged 147 
 years 
 
 Joseph dies, aged 1 1 years. He foretells the depart- 
 ure of the Israelites from Egypt, and desires his 
 bones maybe taken with them into Canaan 
 
 Levi dies, aged 137 years 
 
 A new king in Egypt, who knew nciiher Joseph nor 
 his services. He op])rr'ssps the Israelites 
 
 About this time lived Job, famous for his wisdom, 
 virtue and patience 
 
 Aaron born, son of Ann-am and Jochebed 
 
 Moses born, brother to Aaron ; is exposed on the banks 
 
 Gen. xxix. 32. 
 
 33. 
 
 34. 
 
 35. 
 
 XXX. 22—24. 
 
 XXX. 25 — xxxiij. 20. 
 
 xxxiv. 
 XXXV. 16—18. 
 
 xxxvii. 3 — 36. 
 
 xl. 
 
 XXXV. 28, 29. 
 xli. 1—46 ; 
 Psalm cv. 17—21. 
 
 xli. 47—49. 
 
 — 50, 51. 
 
 — 52. 
 
 — 53—57. 
 xlii. 
 
 xliii. — xlv. 
 
 Psalm cv. 17 — 23. 
 
 Gen. xlvii. 14. 
 15—17. 
 
 18—22. 
 
 23—26. 
 
 28— xlix. 33. 
 
 1. 24—26 ; Ileb. xi. 
 
 22. 
 Test, of 12 patriarchs. 
 
 Exod. i. 8—22. 
 
 Book of Job. 
 Exod. vi. 20.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 951 
 
 2473 
 
 2513 
 
 3723 
 
 3763 
 
 1527 
 
 1487 
 
 1G88 
 
 JG48 
 
 37G4 
 
 1G47 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 of the Nile ; is found by Pharaoh's daughter, who 
 adopts liiin 
 
 3I0SPS goes to visit liis brethren ; kills an Kgy|)tian ; 
 being informed tiiat Pharaoh knows of it, he retires 
 into 3Iidian ; marries Zipijorah, daujrhter of Je- 
 thro; has two sons liy her, Gcrsliom and F.liezer. 
 
 The Lord appears to Moses in a burning Imsh, while 
 feiMling his father-in-law's flock; sends him to 
 Egypt to deliver Israel 
 
 Moses returns into Egypt. His brother Aaron conies 
 to meet him, to mount Ilorcb. The two brothers 
 announce to Pharaoh the commands of the Lord; 
 Pharaoh refuses to set Israel at liberty ; but loads 
 them with new burdens. Moses performs several 
 niiraejc's in his presence ; these failing to convince 
 the king, his people suft'er several plagues 
 
 1. Plague. Water changed into blood ; about the 
 18th of Oth month 
 
 2. Plague. Frogs ; 2.")th of (nh month 
 
 3. Plague. Gnats or hcc ; 27tli of Gth month 
 
 4. Flies of all sorts; about the 28th and 29th of Gth 
 month 
 
 5. Murrain on the cattle; about the 1st of 7th month. 
 
 6. Boils ; about the 3(1 of 7th month 
 
 7. Hail, thunder and tire from heaven; 4th of 7th month 
 
 8. Locusts ; 7th of 7th month 
 
 9. Darkness ; 10th of 7th month 
 
 On this day Aloses appoints that this month in future 
 
 should be the 1st month, according to the sacredstyle. 
 Orders the passover,and sets apart the jiaschal lamb, 
 which was to be sacrificed four days afterwards. . 
 
 10. Death of the fh-st-born of the Egyjnians, in the 
 night of the 14th or 15th of A!)ib. . ." 
 
 This same night, the Israelites celebrate the first 
 
 passover ; and Pharaoh ex])els them from Egypt. 
 
 Israel departs from Ramescs to Succoth 
 
 From Succoth to Etham. 
 
 From Etham they turned south, and encamped at Pi- 
 hahiroth ; between Migdol and the sea, over against 
 Baal-zephon 
 
 Pharaoh jjiu'sues Israel with his army, and overtakes 
 them at Pi-hahiroth : God gives the Ilelrews a 
 pillar of cloud to guide and protect them. The 
 waters divideil. Israel goes through on dry ground. 
 The Egyptians are drowned; 21st of the first month. 
 
 Moses, having passed the sea, is now in the wilderness 
 of Etham ; after marching three days in the desert, 
 Israel arrives at I\Iarah, where Moses sweetens the 
 water. From Marah they come to Elim. From 
 Elini to the Red sea; then into the desert of Sin, 
 where God sends manna ; from thence to Dophcah, 
 Alush and Itephidim, where Moses obtains water 
 from a rock ; 2d month 
 
 About this place the Amalekites slay those who could 
 not keep up with the body of Israel. Moses sends 
 Joshua against them, while he himself goes to a 
 mountain, and lifts uj) his hands in prayer 
 
 On the third day of the third month, after their de- 
 parture from Egypt, Israel comes to the foot of 
 mount Sinai, where they encamp above a year. . . 
 
 Moses goes up the mountain ; God offers a covenant 
 to Israel 
 
 Moses comes down from the mountain, and reports to 
 
 Exod. ii. 1—10; 
 lleb. xi. 23. 
 
 11—22, 
 
 Ex. xviii. 3, 4. 
 Heb. ,\i. 24—26. 
 
 iii.— iv. 19. 
 
 iv. 20— xii. 29. 
 
 vii. 17 — 25. 
 viii. 1—14. 
 
 — 15—19. 
 
 — 20— ;^2. 
 ix. 1—7. 
 
 — 8—12. 
 
 — 18—35. 
 X. 3—19. 
 
 — 21—23. 
 
 xn. 
 
 — xi. 4-6 ; xii. 29- 
 33. 
 
 — xii. 21—33 ; 
 Heb. xi. 27, 28. 
 
 37—39 ; 
 
 Numb, xxxiii. 1 — 6. 
 
 — xiii. 17—22 ; 
 Numb, xxxiii. 6. 
 
 — xiv. 1—19;^ 
 Numb, xxxiii. 7. 
 
 xiv. 19—31 ; 
 
 Heb. xi. 29. 
 
 x^-. 22—26. 
 
 27; 
 
 Numb, xxxiii. 9, 10. 
 
 xvi. 1 — xvii. 7 ; 
 
 Numb, xxxiii. 10, 11. 
 
 Numb, xxxiii. 12 — 14. 
 
 Exod. xvii. 8 — 16. 
 
 xix. 1,2; 
 
 Numb, xxxiii. 15. 
 
 Exod. xix. 3 — 6.
 
 952 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Calmet. Ha e;. 
 
 2513 
 
 3764 
 
 1487 
 
 1647 
 
 •2514 
 
 1486 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 the people what the Lord had proposed. The people 
 declare their readiness to enter into this covtnant. 
 
 Mt)scs again ascends the mountain ; God orders Iiini to 
 bid the j)eople prepare theinstlvesto receive his law. 
 
 On the third day after that notice, the glory of God 
 ap|)ears on jhe moimtain, accoinj;anicd liy sound of 
 trumpet and thunder. IMoses stations the people at 
 tlie foot of mount Sinai ; he alone goes up liie moun- 
 tain. God directs him to Ibrhid the people to ascend, 
 lest thry should suffer death. Moses goes down 
 and declares tiiess orders to the peoj)le. He then 
 a.scends again, and receives the decalogue 
 
 He returns, and proposes to the people what he had 
 rcceiveel from the Lord. The peoj)le consent, and 
 covenant on the terms j)roposed 
 
 Mosfcs goes again up the mountain ; God gives Jnm 
 S2vei-al judiciary precepts of civil polity. At his 
 return, he erects twelve altars at the foot of the 
 mountain, causes victims to he sacrificed to ratify 
 the covenant, and sj)rinkles with the blood of the- 
 sacrifices the book that contained the conditions of 
 the covenant. He also s|)rinkles the peo|)le, who 
 jH'omise obedience and fidelity to the Lord 
 
 Moses, Aaron, Nadah, Abihu, and seventy elders of 
 Israel, go u]) the mountain, and see the glory of 
 the Lord. They come down the same day ; but 
 RIoscS, and his servant Joshua, str.y there six days 
 long:n\ The seventh day the Lord calls Moses, and 
 during forty days shows him all that concerned his 
 tabernaclt^, the ceremonies of sacrifice, and other 
 things 
 
 x\fter these forty days, God gives IMoses the deca- 
 logue, written on two tables of stone, and bids 
 him hasten down, because Israel had made a golden 
 calf, and was worshipping it 
 
 Moses comes down, and finding the peo])le dancing 
 about their golden calf, lie throws the tables of 
 stone on the ground, antl breaks them. Coming 
 into the camp, he destroys the calf; slays by the 
 sword of the Levites, three thousand Israel- 
 ites, who bad worshipped this idol 
 
 The elay following, Mcses again goes up the moun- 
 tain, and, liy his entreaties, obtains from God the 
 j)ardon of his people. God orders him to j)repare 
 new tables for the laAV ; and promises not to for- 
 sake Israel 
 
 Moses comes down and prepares new tables ; goes 
 up again the day following; God shows him liis 
 glory. He continues again forty days and forty 
 nights on the mountain, and God writes a second 
 time his law on the tables of stone 
 
 Afler forty days, IMoses comes down, not knowing 
 that his face sliincs with glory. He puts a veil 
 over his face^, discourses to the people, and proposes 
 to erect a tabernacle to the Lord ; to nceomplisli 
 this, he taxes each Israelite at half a shekel. This 
 occasions a numbering of the ])eo|)le, who amount 
 to 603,550 men. He appoints 13e/.al(>el and Aho- 
 liab to oversee the work of the tabernacle 
 
 Construction of the tab(>rnacle, on the first day of the 
 first month of the second year, after the exodus. . . 
 
 A second numbering of the peojjlc, the first day of 
 the second month 
 
 Consecration of the tabpniaclc, the altars and the 
 priests, the fifth day of the second month 
 
 Exod. xix. 7,8. 
 o ]5_ 
 
 16- 
 
 XX. 18—21. 
 
 17. 
 
 21— xxiv. 8. 
 
 xxiv. 9 — XXX i. 18. 
 
 XXX ii. 1 — 14. 
 
 15—30 
 
 31— xxxiv. 3. 
 
 xxxiv. 4—28. 
 
 2f>— XXXV. 35. 
 
 XXX vi. 1— xl. 33. 
 
 Nuinb. i. 1 — 46. 
 Lev. viii. 1 — ix. 24,
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 953 
 
 Calmel. Hilci 
 
 2514 
 
 3/64 
 
 1486 
 
 1647 
 
 2515 
 
 1485 
 
 FROM THE ChEATION TO THE BIKTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 The Levites numbered by tbemselves ; they are con- 
 secrated to the service oftlie tabernacle, instead of 
 the first-born of Israel 
 
 On the eighth day after the consecration of the taber- 
 nacle, the princes of the tribes, each on his day, 
 offer their |)resenls to the tabernacle 
 
 Jethro comes to the camp, a few days before the de- 
 parture of Israel from Sinai 
 
 On the twentietli day of the second month, (iMay,) 
 the Israelites decamp from Sinai, and come to 
 Taberah, or Burning ; from thence to Kibroth- 
 hattaavah, or the Graves of Lust, three days' jour- 
 ney from mount Sinai 
 
 Eldad and 3Iedad prophesy in the camp 
 
 Quails sent 
 
 Israel arrives at Hazeroth ; Aaron and Miriam mur- 
 mur against Moses, because of his wife. Miriam 
 continues seven dajs without the camp 
 
 Israel comes to Rithmah, in the wilderness of Paran ; 
 thence to Kadesh-barnea; from v.hence they send 
 twelve chosen men, one out of each tribe, to ex- 
 amine the land of Canaan 
 
 After forty days these men return to Kadesh-barnea, 
 and exasperate the people, saying that this country 
 devoured its inhabitants, and that they were not 
 able to conquer it. Caleb and Joshua ^Nithstand 
 them ; the people mutiny : God swears tliat none 
 of the munniu-ers should enter the land, but be 
 consumed in the desert. The people resolve on 
 entering Canaan, but are repelled by the Amalek- 
 ites and the Canaanites 
 
 Continue a long while at Kadesh-barnea. From ? 
 hence they journey to the Red sea ^ 
 
 Aa/ncs of the several Stations. 
 
 1. Rameses. 
 
 2. Succoth. 
 
 3. Etham. 
 
 4. Baal-zephon. 
 
 5. Desert of Etham. 
 
 6. Marah. 
 
 7. Elim. 
 
 8. Coast of Red sea. 
 
 9. Desert of Sin. 
 
 10. Dopiicah. 
 
 11. Alush. 
 
 12. Repbidim. 
 
 13. Sinai. 
 
 14. Taberah. 
 
 15. Kibrotli-hattaavah. 
 
 16. Hazeroth. 
 
 17. Rithmah. 
 
 18. Rimmon-Parez. 
 
 19. Libnah. 
 
 20. Rissah, 
 
 21. Kehelathah. 
 
 22. Mount Shapher. 
 
 23. Ilaradah. 
 
 24. .^lakheloth. 
 
 25. Tahath. 
 
 27. Mithcah. 
 
 28. Hathmonah. 
 
 29. Moseroth. 
 
 30. Bene-jaakan. 
 
 31. Hor-Hagidgad. 
 
 32. Jotbathah. 
 
 33. Ehronab. 
 
 34. Ezion-gaber. 
 
 35. Moseroth. 
 
 36. Kadesh. 
 
 37. Mount Ilor. 
 
 38. Zahnonah. 
 
 39. Punon. 
 
 40. Oboth. 
 
 41. Jje-abarim. 
 
 42. Valley of Zared. 
 
 43. Bamoth Arnou. 
 
 44. Beer. 
 
 45. ?uuttanah. 
 
 46. Nahaliel. 
 
 47. Dibon-gad. 
 
 48. Almon-diblathaim. 
 
 49. Mount Pisgah. 
 
 50. Kedemoth. 
 
 51. Abel-shittim. 
 
 Tarah. (But see ur.ucr the article Exodus, p. 420.) 
 
 Numb. i. 47—53 ; iii. 5 — 
 iv. 49 : viii. 
 
 Vil. 
 
 Exod. xviii. 
 
 Numb. X. 11— xi. 34; 
 xxxiii. 16. 
 
 xi. 26, 27. 
 
 31, 32 ; Ex. xvi. 
 
 13 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 
 
 26—29; cv.40. 
 
 .35 — xii. 15 ; 
 
 xxxiii. 17. 
 
 xii. 16 — xiii. 20 ; 
 xxxiii. 18. 
 
 xiii. 21 — xiv. 45. 
 XV. — xix. 
 
 Dent. i. 46 ; ii. 1. 
 
 Probably at the encampment of Kadesli-bra-nea, | 
 
 120
 
 954 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Calnie*. Halej. 
 
 Calmet. Hale?. 
 
 2552 
 
 3802 
 
 1448 ! 1609 
 
 2553 
 
 1447 
 
 3803 
 
 1608 
 
 2554 
 2559 
 
 2560 
 
 3804 
 3809 
 
 3815 
 
 1446 
 1141 
 
 1440 
 
 1607 
 1602 
 
 1596 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 happened the sedition of Korah, Dathan and 
 Abu-am 
 
 After wandering in the deserts of Arabia-Petraea and 
 Iduiiiea thjity-seven years, they return to IMose- 
 roth, near Kadesli-barnea, in the thirty-ninth year 
 after the exodus 
 
 Moses sends ambassadors to the king of Edom, to 
 desire passage through his territories; he refuses. 
 
 Tlie Israelites arrive at Kadesh. Muiam dies, aged 
 130 years 
 
 The Israelites murmur for want of water. ]\Ioses 
 brings it from the rock ; but he, as well as Aaron, 
 having shown some distrust, God forbids their en- 
 trance into the Land of Promise 
 
 From Kadesh they proceeded to mount Hor, where 
 Aaron dies, aged 123 years ; the first day of the 
 fifth month 
 
 King Arad attacks Israel, and takes several ) 
 captives ^ 
 
 From nioimt Hor they come to Zahnonah, where 
 Moses raises the brazen serpent. Others think 
 this hapjjened at Punon 
 
 Sihon, king of the Amorites, refuses the Israelites a 
 passage through his dominions. Moses attacks him, 
 and conquers his country 
 
 Og, king of Bashan, attacks Israel, but is de- } 
 feated ^ 
 
 Israel encamps in the plains of Moab 
 
 Balak, king of Moab, sends for Balaam 
 
 Israel seduced to fornication, and to the idolatry ? 
 
 of Baal-Peor ^ 
 
 The people punished for their sin 
 
 War against the Midianites 
 
 Distribution of the countries of Sihon and Og, to the 
 tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half-tribe of 
 jManasseh 
 
 Moses renews the covenant of Israel with the } 
 Lord \ 
 
 Moses dies, being 120 years old, in the twelfth month 
 of the holy year 
 
 Joshua succeeds him ; sends spies to Jericho in the 
 first month (March) 
 
 The people pass ilie Jordan, the 10th of the first month 
 
 The day following Joshua restores circumcision 
 
 The first passovcr, after passing the Jordan ; the 15th 
 of the first month 
 
 Manna ceases 
 
 Jericho taken 
 
 Israel comes to mount Ebal to erect an altar, pur- ? 
 suant to the order of Moses \ 
 
 The Gibeonites make a league with Joshua 
 
 War of the five kings against Gibcon. Joshua de- 
 feats them ; the sun and moon stayed 
 
 War of Joshua against the kings of Canaan. These 
 wars occupy six years 
 
 Joshua divides the conquered country among Ju- ) 
 dab, Ephraim, and the half-tribe of JManasseh. . ) 
 
 He gives Caleb the portion that the Lord had prom- 
 ised him, and assists him in conquering it 
 
 The ark and the tabernacle fixed at Shiloh, in the 
 tribe of Ephraim 
 
 Joshua distributes the country to Benjamin, Simeon, 
 
 Numb. XV. — xix. 
 
 xxxiii. 19—30. 
 
 XX. 14—21. 
 
 1 ; xxxiii. 36. 
 
 — 2—13. 
 
 — 22—29 ; xxxiii. 
 37— ,39. 
 
 xxi. 1 — 3 ; xxxiii. 
 
 40. 
 
 — 4 — 9; xxxiii. 41. 
 
 — 23— 31;Deut.ii. 
 26—37. 
 
 — 33—35 ; Dent, 
 iii. 1—11. 
 
 xxii. 1 — 4 ; xxxiii. 
 48. 
 
 — 5 — xxiv. 25 ; 
 Dent, xxiii. 4, 5. 
 
 XXV. 1 — 3 ; Ps. cvi. 
 28,29;lCor.x.8. 
 
 — 4—15 ; Deut. 
 iv. 3. 
 
 — 16—18 ; xxxi. 
 
 xxxii. Deut. iii. ]2 
 
 —22. 
 xxxiii. 50 — XXXV ; 
 Deut. i. — xxxiii. 
 
 V. 10, 11. 
 
 — 12. 
 
 — vi. 20—27. 
 viii.30— .35; Deut. 
 
 xxvii. 
 ix. 6 — 15. 
 
 x. 1—27. 
 
 — 28— xi. 23. 
 
 XV. 1—1.3, 20 ; xvi. 
 xvii. 
 
 XV. 7—15. 
 
 xviii. 1. 
 — 11— xix. 49.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 955 
 
 2560 
 
 2561 
 
 3815 
 
 1440 
 
 1439 
 
 159G 
 
 2591 
 2599 
 2361 
 2679 
 
 2699 
 
 to 
 2719 
 2752 
 2759 
 
 2768 
 
 2771 
 2772 
 
 2795 
 
 2799 
 
 2817 
 
 2820 
 
 2823 
 
 2830 
 2840 
 
 2848 
 
 2349 
 
 2861 
 
 2867 
 2808 
 2S67 
 
 to 
 2887 
 
 2888 
 
 3839 
 
 2847 
 3887 
 3905 
 
 3985 
 
 4006 
 4045 
 4052 
 
 4092 
 
 4095 
 4118 
 4140 
 4158 
 
 4164 
 4171 
 4181 
 4229 
 
 4189 
 4209 
 
 42c9 
 
 4269 
 
 1409 
 1401 
 1339 
 1321 
 
 1281 
 
 1248 
 1241 
 
 1232 
 
 1229 
 1228 
 
 1205 
 
 1201 
 
 1183 
 1180 
 
 1177 
 1170 
 1160 
 1152 
 
 1151 
 
 1139 
 1133 
 1132 
 1113 
 
 1112 
 
 1572 
 1564 
 1524 
 
 1506 
 
 1426 
 
 1406 
 1366 
 1359 
 
 1319 
 
 1316 
 1293 
 1271 
 1255 
 
 1247 
 1240 
 1230 
 1182 
 
 1222 
 
 1202 
 
 1152 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 1142 
 
 Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Dan. Re- 
 ceives liis own portion at Tininatli-serah, on the 
 
 mountain of Gahash 
 
 Reuben, (iad, and the half tribe of Manassch, return 
 
 beyond Jordan 
 
 Josiiua renews the covenant between the Lord and 
 
 the Israelites 
 
 Joshua dies, aged 110 years 
 
 After his deatli, the elders govern about eighteen or 
 
 twenty years ; during which time happen the wars 
 
 of Jiidah with Adoni-bezek 
 
 Anarchy; during wliich some of the tribe of Dan 
 
 conquer the city of Laish. 
 In this interval happened the story of Micah,and the 
 
 idolatry occasioned by his e])ho"d. 
 Also, the war of the twelve tribes against Benjamin, 
 
 to revenge the outrage committed on the wife of a 
 
 Levite. 
 The Lord sends prophets, in vain, to reclaim the He- 
 
 bre\vs. He jierinits, therefore, that tbey should fall 
 
 into slavery 
 
 Servitude of the Israelites, under Cushan-Risha- 
 
 thaim, king of Mesopotamia, eight years. 
 Othniel delivers them ; defeats Cushan-Rishathaim ; 
 
 judges the people forty years 
 
 Second servitude, under Eglon, king of Moab, about 
 
 sixty-two years after the peace of Othniel 
 
 Ehud delivers them, after about twenty years 
 
 Third servitude of the Israelites, under the Philistines. 
 
 Shamgar delivers them ; year uncertain 
 
 Fourth servitude, under Jabin, king of Hazor. 
 
 Deborah and Barak deliver them, after twenty 
 
 years '. 
 
 Fifth servitude under the 3Iidianites 
 
 Gideon delivers Israel. He governs them nine years, 
 
 from 2759 to 2768 
 
 Abimelech, son of Gideon, procures himself to be 
 
 made king of Shechem 
 
 Abimelech killed, after three years 
 
 Tola, judge of Israel, after Abimelech ; governs 
 
 twenty-three years 
 
 Jair judges Israel, chiefly beyond Jordan ; governs 
 
 twenty-two years 
 
 Sixth servitude under the Philistines and the Am- 
 monites 
 
 Jephthah delivers the Isi-aelites beyond Jordan 
 
 The city of Troy taken, 408 years before the first 
 
 Olympiad. 
 
 Jephthah dies, Ibzan succeeds him 
 
 Ibzan dies, Elon succeeds him 
 
 Eiou dies, Abdon succeeds him 
 
 Abdon dies. The high-priest Eli succeeds as judge 
 
 of Israel 
 
 Seventh servitude under the Philistines, forty years 
 
 Samuel born 
 
 Under his judicature God raises Samson, born 2849. 
 
 God begins to manifest himself to Samuel 
 
 Samson marries at Timnath 
 
 Samson burns the ri[)e corn of the Philistines 
 
 Samson delivered to the Philistines by Delilah ; kills 
 
 himself under the ruins of the temple of Dagon, 
 
 witli a great multitude of Philistines. He defended 
 
 Israel twenty years 
 
 War between the Philistines and Israel. The ark 
 
 of the Lord taken by the Philistines. Death 
 
 Josh, xviii. 1 — 51. 
 
 xxii. 1—9. 
 
 xxiii. — xxiv. 28. 
 
 xxiv. 29, 30. 
 
 Judg. i. — iii. 1 — 5 ; xvii. 
 — xxi. 
 
 iii. 1—9. 
 
 — 10, 11. 
 
 — 12—14. 
 
 — 15—30. 
 
 — 31. 
 
 IV. — V. 
 
 vi. 1—6. 
 
 — 7 — viii. 32. 
 
 ix. 1—52. 
 
 — 53, 54. 
 
 X. 1, 2. 
 
 — 3—5. 
 
 — 6—9. 
 
 — 10— xii. 6. 
 
 xii. 7 — 9. 
 
 10, 11. 
 
 12, 13. 
 
 15. 
 
 1 Sam. iv. 1—18. 
 Judff. xiii. 1. 
 1 Sa^m. i. 20. 
 Judg. xiii. 2, &c. 
 1 Sam. iii. 
 Judg. xiv. 
 XV. 1 — 5.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 4289 
 
 4301 
 
 4303 
 
 4305 
 4311 
 
 4337 
 
 4340 
 
 4341 
 
 4348 
 4350 
 4351 
 
 435G 
 
 Calniel. 
 
 Hale-. 
 
 
 1122 
 
 1092 
 1091 
 
 1110 
 
 1089 
 
 1108 
 
 1081 
 1070 
 1059 
 1058 
 
 1106 
 1100 
 
 1057 
 1056 
 
 1074 
 
 1055 
 
 
 1054 
 
 
 1053 
 
 
 
 1071 
 
 1051 
 
 
 
 1070 
 
 1010 
 1044 
 
 
 1043 
 
 1063 
 
 FROM TIE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 ia42 
 
 1041 
 1040 
 
 1061 
 lOGO 
 
 1055 
 
 of the high-priest Eli. He governed Israel foity 
 years • • 
 
 The Philistines send back the ark with presents. It 
 is deposited at Kirjath-jearim. Samue! acknowl- 
 edged chief and jndge oflsrael, 39 or 40 years. . . 
 
 Victory of the Israelites over tiie Philistines 
 
 The Israelites ask a king of Samue! 
 
 Saul is apyiointed king, and consecrated in an assem- 
 bly of the people at Slizpeh He reigned forty 
 
 y< 
 
 Said delivers Jabesh-gilead 
 
 War of the Philistines against Saul 
 
 Saul, not havinij obeyed Samuel's orders, is rejected 
 of God .^ • 
 
 Victory obtained by Jonathan over the Philistines. . 
 
 Birth of David, son of Jesse. 
 
 War of Saul against the Amalckitcs 
 
 Samuel sent by God to Bethlehem to anoint David. 
 
 War of the Philistines against the Israelites. David 
 kills Goliath • 
 
 Saul, urged by jealousy, endeavors to slay David. . . . 
 
 David retires' to Achish, king of Gath ; withdrav/s 
 into the land of Moab 
 
 Saul slays Abimelech, and other priests. Abiathar 
 escajjes to Dasid 
 
 David delivers Keilah, besieged by the Philistines. . 
 
 David flies into the wilderness of Zlph. Saul (jursnes 
 him, l)at is obliged to return suddenly, on the news 
 of an irruption of tlie Philistines 
 
 David withdraws to about En-gedi. He spares Saul, 
 who had entered alone the cave where David and 
 his men were concealed 
 
 Samuel dies, aged 98 years. lie had judged Israel 
 twenty-one years before the reign of Saul. He 
 lived thirty-eiglit years afterwards 
 
 David retires into the wilderness of Paran. The his- 
 tory of Nabal. David marri; s Abigail. Comes into 
 the desert of Zij)!! , enters by night the tent of Saul, 
 and takes away his lance and cruse of water. 
 Withdraws to Achish, king of Gath, who assigns 
 him Ziklag. Here he abides a year and four months 
 
 War of the Philisrines a-rainst Saul. Saul consults 
 the witch of Endor. He loses the battle, and kills 
 himself. 
 
 The A'lialekitf^s pillage Ziklag; David recovers the 
 plunder and captives 
 
 Ishbosh'^th, son of Saul, acknowledged king ; reigns 
 at Mahanaiin beyond Jordan 
 
 David acknowledged king by Jndah, is consecrated 
 a s:-rond time. Reigns at Hebron 
 
 War !)etwccn Ishbosheth and David, four or five years 
 
 Abner quits Islibos!)eth ; resorts to David ; is treach- 
 erously slain l)y Joab 
 
 Ishbosheth assassinated 
 
 David acknowledged king over all Israel ; conse- ? 
 crated a third time at Hebron s 
 
 Jerus:ilem taken from the Je!)usites by David, who ? 
 make? it the royal city S 
 
 War of thn Pbilistinrs against David. He heats ? 
 them at Raal-perazim ^ 
 
 David brings the ark from Kirjalh-iearim to Jerusa- 
 lem ; conuiiits it to Abinadab. After three months, 
 David brin.'.':.-' it to his own palace 
 
 David d'^r^vgiis to build a temple to the Lord ; is di- 
 vr^rtod from it by the prophet Nathan 
 
 1 Sam. iv. 1—18. 
 
 v.—vii. 1—6, 15 
 —17. 
 vii. 7 — 14. 
 viii. 5 — 22. 
 ix. 
 
 Acts xiii. 21. 
 1 Sauj. xi. 
 xiii. 5- 
 
 9—14. 
 
 XV. 
 
 xvi. 1—13. 
 
 xvii. 
 
 xviii. 8 — xix. 17. 
 
 xix. 18 — xxii. 4. 
 
 xxii. 9—23. 
 xxiii. 1 — 6. 
 
 14—28. 
 
 29— xxiv. 1 
 —22. 
 
 XXV. 1. 
 
 1— xxvii.l2. 
 
 1 Chron. xii. 1—22. 
 
 1 Sam. xxviii. xxxi. 
 1 Chron. x. 
 
 1 Sam. XXX. 
 
 2 Sam. ii. S— 11. 
 
 1—7. 
 13— iii. 1. 
 
 iii. 12—39. 
 iv. 
 
 v. 1—5;] Clnon. 
 xi. 1—3. 
 
 — 6—10; IChr. 
 xi. 4—9. 
 
 — 17— 20;lChr. 
 xiv. 11. 
 
 vi. 1 Chron. xiii. 
 5— 14; XV. xvi. 
 
 vii. IChroji.x- H.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 957 
 
 29 JO 
 
 29fi7 
 
 2:)()S 
 2939 
 
 2970 
 
 2971 
 2972 
 2974 
 9;>. 7 
 2979 
 29.-1 
 
 2:)33 
 2987 
 
 23S8 
 
 2989 
 
 2oro 
 
 2991 
 
 2912 
 
 .<000 
 8001 
 
 3G12 
 
 :]:2o 
 :JC29 
 
 435G 
 
 4359 
 
 1040 
 
 1033 
 
 1032 
 1031 
 
 4361 
 
 4375 
 
 4379 
 
 43SI 
 
 1030 
 
 1029 
 1028 
 1020 
 ,1023 
 1021 
 1019 
 
 1017 
 1013 
 1012 
 
 1011 
 1010 
 
 1055 
 
 1052 
 
 10-0 
 
 1036 
 
 1032 
 
 1030 
 
 43S4 
 4301 
 
 4420 
 4421 
 
 1009 
 
 1008 
 
 1000 
 999 
 
 988 
 
 974 
 971 
 
 1027 
 1020 
 
 991 
 990 
 
 FROM I HE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 David's wai-s against tlie Philistines, against Hadade- 
 zcr, against Damascus, and against Idiiiuea ; cou- 
 
 tiiHK d al)oiit six years 
 
 David's war against tlie king of the Ammonites, who 
 had insuhed his ambassadors ; and against the 
 
 Syrians, who liad assisted the Ammonites 
 
 Joab besieges Ralibaii, the capital of the Ammonites. 
 David commits adiilti'iy with Bathshcba, and 
 
 causes Uriah to be killed. Rabbah taken 
 
 After the birth of the son conceived i)y the adultery 
 of David with IJathsheba, Nathan reproves David : 
 
 his deep repentance 
 
 Solomon born 
 
 Amnon, David's son, ravishes Tamar 
 
 Absalom kills Amnon 
 
 Joab procures Alisalom's return 
 
 Absalom received at court, and appears before David. 
 
 Absalom's rebellion against David 
 
 Absalom killed by Joab 
 
 Sedition of Sheba,the son of Bichri, appeased by Joab. 
 Beginning of the famine sent to avenge the death of 
 the Gibeonites, unjustly slain by Saul : ended 2986. 
 David numbors the people. God gives him the } 
 choice of three ])lagues, by which to be punished. ( 
 David prepares for building the temple on mount ( 
 
 Zion, in the threshing floor of Araunah ^ 
 
 Rehoboam reigns, sou of Solomon 
 
 Abishag, the Shunamite, given to David 
 
 Adonijah aspires to the kingdom. David causes his 
 son Solomon to be crowned. Solomon proclaimed 
 
 king by all Israel 
 
 David dies, aged 70 years ; having reigned seven 
 years and a half over Judah at Hebron, and thirty- 
 three years over all Israel, at Jerusalem 
 
 Solomon reigns alone, having reigned about six 
 months in the life-time of his father David. He 
 
 reigned forty years 
 
 Adonijah slain 
 
 Abiathar deprived of the office of high-priest. Zadok 
 
 in future enjoys it alone 
 
 Joab slain in the teni])le 
 
 Solomon marries a daughter of the king of Egypt. . 
 
 Solomon goestoGibenntoofrprsacrifices,and to]>ray ) 
 
 to God thf re. God grants him singular wisdom. \ 
 
 Solomon givesaremarkable sentence between 2 women 
 
 Hiram, king of Tyre, congratulates Solomon on his 
 
 accession to the crown; Solomon requires of him 
 
 timber and workmen to assist in building the temple 
 
 Solomon lays the foundation of the temple, 2d day ) 
 
 of the 2d"i!ioiith (May) ^ 
 
 Teni|)le of Solomon finished ; being seven j'oars and a 
 half in building, and dedicated the year following, 
 pro!)ably, because of the soltmnity of the year of 
 
 Jubilee that then happened 
 
 Solomon finishes the building of his palace, and that 
 
 of his queen, the daughter of Pharaoh 
 
 Visit of the queen of Sheba 
 
 Jeroboam, son of Nebat, rebels against Solomon. 
 
 He flies into Egypt 
 
 Solomon dies 
 
 Rehoboam succeeds him ; alienates the Israelites, and 
 occasions the revolt of the ten ti'ibes. Jeroboam, the 
 sou of Nebat, acknowledged king of the ten tribes 
 
 2 Sam. viii. 1 Chron. 
 xviij. 
 
 X. 1 Chron. xix. 
 
 xi. xii. 26—31 ; 
 1 Chr. XX. 1—3. 
 
 xii. 1—25 ; Ps. li. 
 
 24, 25. 
 
 xiii. 1—20. 
 
 22—39. 
 
 xiv.l— 27. 
 
 28—33. 
 
 XV. 1 — xviii. 8. 
 
 xviii. 9—33. 
 
 XX. 
 
 xxi. 1—14. 
 
 xxiv. 1—16; 
 
 1 Chr. xxi. 1—17. 
 
 xxiv. 18—25 ; 
 
 1 Chr. xxi. 18 — xxvii. 
 1 Kings xiv. 21. 
 i. 1—14. 
 
 i. 5 — 53. 
 
 ii. 1— 11; IChr. 
 xxix. 26—30. 
 
 xi. 42. 
 ii. 12—25. 
 
 — 26, 27. 
 
 — 28—34. 
 iii. 1. 
 
 — 3— 15; 2 Chr. 
 i. 3—12. 
 
 — 16—28. 
 
 vi. vii. 2 Chron. 
 ii. — iv. 
 
 viii. 2 Chron. v. 
 — vii. 
 
 ix. 1—10. 
 X. 1—10; 2 Chr. 
 ix. 1—9. 
 
 xi. 26—40. 
 — 41-43; 2 Chr. 
 ix. 29—31. 
 
 xii. 1—20 ; 
 2 Chron. x.
 
 958 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 [Kingdoms or 
 
 Catmet. Hales. 
 
 3029 
 S030 
 
 3032 
 3033 
 
 3046 
 
 3047 
 
 3049 
 
 3053 
 
 3055 
 3063 
 3064 
 
 4421 
 
 4424 
 4426 
 
 4438 
 
 4441 
 
 971 
 
 970 
 
 968 
 967 
 
 954 
 
 953 
 
 951 
 
 947 
 
 945 
 
 937 
 936 
 
 990 
 
 987 
 985 
 
 973 
 
 970 
 
 3G80 
 
 3087 
 3090 
 
 3097 
 
 3106 
 3107 
 
 3108 
 
 4482 
 
 920 
 
 913 
 910 
 
 903 
 
 894 
 893 
 
 892 
 
 929 
 
 3112 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 KINGS OF JUDAH.— 388 Years. 
 
 Rehoboam intends to subdue the ten tribes, but ? 
 
 forbears ; reigned seventeen years ^ 
 
 The priests and Israelites that fear the Lord witiidraw 
 
 in great numbers from the kingdom of Israel, into 
 
 that of Judah 
 
 Rehoboam becomes impious 
 
 Shishak, king of Egypt, comes to Jerusalem, plun- ) 
 
 ders the temi)le and the king ( 
 
 Rehoboam dies. Abijam succeeds liim ; reigns / 
 
 three years ^ 
 
 Abijam's victoiy over Jeroboam, who loses many 
 
 thousands of his troojjs 
 
 Abijam dies. Asa succeeds him 
 
 Asa suppresses idolatry in Judah 
 
 Jehoshaphat born, son of Asa 
 
 Asa's victory over Zerah, king of Ethiopia, or Cush. 
 
 Asa engages Benhadad, king of Syria, to make an ir- 
 ruption into the territories of the kingdom of Ii«rael, 
 to force Baasha to quit his undertakhig at Raniah. 
 
 Jehoram born, son of Jehoshaphat. 
 Hesiod, the Greek poet, flourishes. 
 
 Asa, troubled with a lameness in his feet, (probably 
 
 the gout,) places his confidence in physicians. . . 
 
 Asa dies, having reigned 41 years 
 
 Jehoshaphat succeeds Asa ; expels sui)erstitious ) 
 worship ^ 
 
 Ahaziah bom, son of Jehoram and Athaliah, and 
 grandson of Jehoshaphat. 
 
 Jehoshaphat nominates his son Jehoram king; makes 
 him his viceroy. 
 
 Jehoshaphat accompanies Ahab in his expedition 
 against Ramoth-gilead, where he narrowly escapes 
 a great danger 
 
 Jehoshaphat equips a fleet for Ophir; Ahaziah, king 
 of Israel, participating in his design, the fleet is de- 
 stroyed by tem})cst 
 
 About this time jehoshaphat is invaded by the Ani- 
 nionites and Moabites, over whom he obtains a 
 miraouicnis victory 
 
 Elijah the prophet removed from this world in a fiery 
 chariot 
 
 Jehoshaphat invests his son Jehoram with the royal 
 dignity , 
 
 1 Kinirs xii. 21 — 24 ; xiv. 
 21 ; 2 Chr. xi. 1—4. 
 
 2 Chr. xi. 12—17. 
 
 xii. 1. 
 
 2—9. 
 
 1 Kings xiv. 25, 26. 
 
 29—31 ; 2Chr. 
 
 xii. 15, 16. 
 
 2Chr. xiii.3— 20. 
 
 XV. 7—9 ; 2 Chr. 
 
 xiii. 22 ; xiv. 1. 
 
 11— 15;2Chr. 
 
 xiv. 2 — 5 ; XV. 
 
 xxii. 42. 
 
 2 Chrou. xiv. 8 — 15. 
 
 1 Kings XV. 18—20 ; 
 
 2 Chr. xvi. 2—4. 
 
 — 23 ; 2 Chron. 
 xvi. 12. 
 
 — 24; 2 Chron. 
 xvi. 13, 14. 
 
 — 24 ; 2 Chron. 
 xvii. 1—19 ; 
 XX. 31—33. 
 
 — xxii. 1—33 ; 
 2Chr. xviii. 1— 32. 
 
 48; 2 Chr. XX. 
 35-^7. 
 
 2 Chron. xx. 1—30. 
 2 Kings ii. 
 
 viii. 16, 17.
 
 Israel a>'d Judaii.] 
 
 OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 959 
 
 3029 
 3030 
 
 4421 
 
 971 
 
 970 
 
 3047 
 
 3050 
 3054 
 
 3064 
 
 3074 
 3075 
 
 3079 
 3080 
 3086 
 
 3096 
 
 3103 
 
 3104 
 3105 
 310G 
 
 3107 
 
 3108 
 
 3109 
 
 4439 
 
 4443 
 4445 
 
 4468 
 
 to 
 4469 
 
 4473 
 
 4503 
 
 4504 
 
 4520 
 
 953 
 
 950 
 946 
 
 936 
 
 926 
 925 
 
 921 
 920 
 914 
 
 904 
 
 897 
 
 896 
 895 
 894 
 
 893 
 
 892 
 
 891 
 
 990 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 972 
 
 968 
 966 
 
 943 
 942 
 
 938 
 931 
 
 908 
 
 897 
 
 907 
 
 891 
 
 KINGS OF ISRAEL.— 254 Years. 
 
 Jeroboam, son of Nebat, the firet king of Israel ; that 
 is, the revolted ten tril)cs 
 
 Jeroboam, son of Nebat, king of Israel, abolishes the 
 ■wor.sliipof the Lord, and sets up the golden calves; 
 reigned nineteen years 
 
 Jeroboam overcome by Abijah, who kills 500,000 
 men 
 
 Jeroboam dies, Nadab his son succeeds ; reigns two 
 yeai-s 
 
 Nadab dies, Baasha succeeds him ; reigns twenty 
 years ^, , 
 
 Baasha builds Ramah, to hinder Israel from going ) 
 
 to Jerusalem I 
 
 Ben-hadad, king of Damascus, invades the countiy ? 
 
 of Baasha ^ 
 
 Bajisha dies, Elah his son succeeds him ; reigns two 
 
 years 
 
 Elah killed by Zimri, who usurps the kingdom seve i 
 
 days 
 
 Omri besieges Zimri in Tirzah ; he burns himself 
 
 in the palace 
 
 Omri prevails over Tibni ; reigns alone in the 31st 
 
 year of Asa 
 
 Omri builds Samaria ; makes it the seat of his kingdom 
 
 Omri dies 
 
 Ahab his sou succeeds ; reigns 22 jears 
 
 Tlie prophet Elijah iu the kingdom of Israel. 
 
 He presents himself before Ahab, and slays the false 
 prophets of Baal 
 
 Ben-hadad, king of Syria, besieges Samaria ; is forced 
 
 to quit it 
 
 Returns next year; is beaten at Aphek 
 
 Ahab seizes Nabotli's vineyard 
 
 Ahab invests his son Ahaziah with royal power ) 
 
 and dignity ^ 
 
 Ahab wars against Ramoth-gilead ; is killed in ) 
 
 disguise ^ 
 
 Ahaziah succeeds ; reigns two years 
 
 Ahaziah falls from the platform of his house ; is 
 
 dangerously wounded 
 
 Ahaziah dies ; Jehoram his brother succeeds him. . 
 He makes war against JMoab 
 
 Elisha foretells victory to the army of Israel, and 
 procures water in abundance 
 
 1 Kings xii. 20. 
 
 - — 26—33; 
 2 Chron. xi. 14, 15. 
 
 2 Chron. xiii. .3—20. 
 
 1 Kings xiv. 20 ; xv. 25. 
 XV. 27, 28. 
 
 — 17; 2 Chron. 
 xvi. 1. 
 
 — 20 ; 2 Chron. 
 xvi. 4, 5. 
 
 xvi. 1—8. 
 
 — 9—15. 
 
 — 16—20. 
 
 — 21—23. 
 
 — 23—27. 
 
 — 28. 
 
 — 29. 
 
 XX. 1—21. 
 
 — 22—34. 
 XX i. 
 
 xxii.40; 2 Kings 
 
 i. 1—18. 
 — 1—40 ; 2 Chr. 
 xviii. 
 
 — 40. 
 
 2 Kings i. 2. 
 
 1(3-18 ; iii. 1-3. 
 
 iii. 4—10. 
 
 11—20.
 
 960 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 [KI^-CDO?.IS OF 
 
 Calnut. Hale--. 
 
 3115 
 
 3116 
 3117 
 3118 
 
 3119 
 
 3120 
 
 4507 
 
 4515 
 4516! 
 
 3126 
 
 3140 
 3147 
 
 3164 
 3165 
 
 3177 
 3178 
 
 4522 
 
 4562 
 
 4591 
 
 3191 
 
 4602 
 
 3221 
 
 885 
 
 884 
 883 
 882 
 
 881 
 
 880 
 
 874 
 
 860 
 853 
 
 836 
 835 
 
 823 
 822 
 
 806 
 
 779 
 
 904 
 
 896 
 895 
 
 889 
 
 849 
 
 820 
 
 809 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 KINGS OF JUDAH.— 388 Years. 
 
 Jehosliaphat dies, liaving reigned twenty-five ? 
 
 years ; Jehorain succeeds ) 
 
 The Idumeaus revolt, and assert their Ubeity 
 
 Jehoram, at the importunity of his wife, Athaliah, ? 
 
 introiluces into Juduh the worship of Baal ^ 
 
 Jehoram smitten of God, with an incurable distemper 
 
 in his bowels 
 
 Jehoram makes his son Ahaziah viceroy, or associate 
 
 in his kingdom. 
 
 Jeiionim dies ; he reigned four years } 
 
 Ahaziah reigns but one year ^ 
 
 Joash, or Jehoash, born. 
 
 Homer, the Greek j)oet, flourishes. 
 
 Ahaziah accompanies Jehoram, king of Israel, to the 
 
 siege of Ramoth-gilead 
 
 Ahaziah slain by Jehu 
 
 Athaliah kills all the royal family ; she usurps the 
 kingdom. Joash is preserved, and kept secretly 
 in the temple six years 
 
 Jehoiada, the high-priest, sets Joash on the throne 
 of Judah, and slays Atlialiah. Joash reigns forty 
 years 
 
 Amaziah boi'n, son of Joash. 
 
 Joash repairs the temple 
 
 Zechariab, the high-priest, son of Jehoiada, killed in 
 the temple by order of Joash 
 
 Hazael, king of Syria, wars against Joash 
 
 Hazael returns against Joash ; forces large sums from 
 him 
 
 Joash dies, Amaziah succeeds him ; reigns twenty- ) 
 nine years ^ 
 
 Amaziah wars against Idumea 
 
 Amaziah wars against Joash, king of Israel ; is de- ) 
 
 feated by him ^ 
 
 Uzziali, or Azariah, born, son of Amaziali. 
 
 Amaziah dies 
 
 Uzziah, or Azariah, succeeds him ; reigns fifty- ) 
 two years \ 
 
 In Judah, the ])roj)hets Isaiah and Amos, under this 
 reign 
 
 Jotham born, son of Uzziah. 
 
 1 Kings xxii. 50; 2Chr. 
 
 xxi. 1. 
 2Kingsvhi.20;2Chron. 
 
 xxi. 8—10. 
 — 18;2Chrcn. 
 
 xxi. 6, 11. 
 
 2 Chron. xxi. 18, 19. 
 
 2Kings viii.24— 29; 
 
 2 Chr. xxii. 1, 2. 
 
 2 Chron. xxii. 5. 
 2 Kings ix. 16—28 ; 
 
 2 Chr. xxii. 8, 9. 
 
 xi. 1—3 ; 2 Chr, 
 xxii. 10—12. 
 
 — 4— 21; 2 Chr, 
 xxiii. 
 
 xii.l— 16;2Chr, 
 xxiv. 1 — 14. 
 
 2 Chron. xxiv. 17—22. 
 2 Kings xii. 17. 
 
 2 Chron. xxiv. 23, 24. 
 2 Kings xii. 19—21 ; xiv. 
 
 1,2. 
 xiv. 7 ; 2 Chron. 
 
 XXV. 11, 12. 
 
 8— 15; 2 Chr. 
 
 XXV. 17—24. 
 
 17—20; 
 
 2 Chr. XXV. 27, 28. 
 
 XV. 1,2; 2 Chron. 
 xxvi. 1—21. 
 
 Isaiah i. 1 ; Amos i. 1.
 
 JcDAH AND Israel.] 
 
 OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 961 
 
 Calmet. Hal. 
 
 3119 
 3120 
 
 3148 
 
 3165 
 3168 
 
 3178 
 3181 
 
 3222 
 
 4526 
 
 4561 
 4579 
 
 4618 
 
 881 
 880 
 
 852 
 
 835 
 832 
 
 822 
 819 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 885 
 
 867 
 
 850 
 832 
 
 834 
 
 778 
 
 793 
 
 An in- 
 terre^- 
 
 .,f 22 
 
 KINGS OF ISRAEL.— 254 Years. 
 
 Samaria besieged by Ben-hadad, king of Syria. Ben- 
 hadad and his army, seized witli a panic fear, flee 
 in the night 
 
 EHsha, going to Damascus, foretells the death of 
 Ben-hadad, and the reign of Hazael 
 
 Jehorain marches with Ahaziah against Ramolh- 
 gilead ; is dangerously wounded, and carried to 
 Jezreel 
 
 Jehu rebels against Jehoram ; kills him. Jehu reigns 
 twenty-eight years 
 
 Jehu dies ; his son, Jehoahaz, succeeds him ; reigns ? 
 seventeen years ) 
 
 Jehoahaz dies; Joash, or Jehoash, succeeds him.. . . 
 
 Elisha dies about this time 
 
 Hazael, king of Syria, dies ; Ben-hadad succeeds hiin. 
 Joash wars against Ben-hadad 
 
 Joash obtains a great victory over Amaziah, king of 
 Judah 
 
 Joash dies ; Jeroboam II. succeeds him ; reigns forty- 
 one years 
 
 The prophets Jonah, Hosca and Amos, in Israel, 
 under this reign 
 
 2 Kings vi. 24. — vii. 7. 
 viii. 7—13. 
 
 Jeroboam II. dies ; Zachariah his son succeeds him ; 
 reigns six months ; or perhaps ten j'ears 
 
 The chronologA' of tiiis reign is perplexed. 2 Kings 
 XV. 8, 12, |)hicesthc death of Zachariah in the 38th 
 year of Uzziah, allowing him a reign of but six 
 months. Yet, reckoning wiiat time remains to the 
 end of tlic kingdom of Israel, we must either admit 
 an interregnum of nine or eleven years, between 
 Jeroboam II. and Zachariah, as Usher docs ; or 
 
 — 28, 29. 
 ix. 14.— X. 36. 
 
 X. 35, 36 ; xiii. 
 
 1—8. 
 
 xiii. 9, 10. 
 
 — 14—21. 
 
 — 24. 
 
 — 25. 
 
 xiv. 8—14. 
 
 — 15,16,23,24, 
 27. 
 
 — 25 ; Hoa. i. 1 ; 
 Amosi. 1. 
 
 28, 29; XV. 
 8,9. 
 
 121
 
 962 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 [KlI»GDOMS Ok 
 
 Calmel. Hales. 
 
 Calniel. Hales, 
 
 3246 
 
 3252 
 
 4654 
 
 754 
 
 748 
 
 3261 
 
 3262 
 
 3263 
 3264 
 
 4670 
 
 739 
 
 738 
 
 737 
 
 736 
 
 3277 
 3278 
 
 4686 
 
 757 
 
 741 
 
 723 725 
 722 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 KINGS OF JUDAH.— 388 Years. 
 
 Uzziah dies; Jotham, his son, succeeds; reigns 
 
 sixteen years 
 
 Isaiah sees tlie glory of the Lord 
 
 Isaiah and Hosea continue to jJiophesy. 
 Hezekiah born, sou of Jotham. 
 
 Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, in- 
 vade Judah 
 
 Jotham dies ; Ahaz succeeds him ; reigns sixteen 
 years 
 
 Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, 
 continue hostilities against Judah 
 
 Isaiah foretells to Ahaz the birth of the Messiah, and 
 a speedy deliverance from the two kings his ene- 
 mies. Nevertheless, the year following, they re- 
 tuiTi and spoil his country 
 
 The Idumeans and Philistines also uivade Judah. . . 
 
 Ahaz invites to his assistance Tiglath-pileser, king 
 of Assyria, and submits to pay him tribute 
 
 2 Kings XV. 6, 7 ; 2Chr. 
 
 xxvi. 22, 23. 
 
 Is, vi. John xii. 39—41. 
 
 2 Kings XV. 37. 
 
 — 38 ; xvi. 1, 2. 
 
 xvi. 5 ; 2 Chron. 
 
 xxviii. 
 
 Isaiah vii. — ix. 
 
 2 Chron. xxviii. 16—18. 
 
 2Kingsxvi.7,8;2Chr. 
 xxviii. 16. 
 
 Ahaz remits the royal authority to his son Hezekiah . 
 Ahaz, king of Judah, dies 
 
 19, 20;2Chr. 
 xxviii. 27.
 
 JuDAH AND Israel.] 
 
 OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 963 
 
 3232 
 3233 
 
 3243 
 3245 
 
 3254 
 3257 
 
 3264 
 
 3265 
 3274 
 3276 
 
 4640 
 
 4641 
 
 4651 
 4653 
 
 4701 
 4704 
 
 4664 
 
 4673 
 4675 
 
 4683 
 4687 
 
 768 
 767 
 
 757 
 755 
 
 746 
 743 
 
 736 
 
 735 
 726 
 724 
 
 Ihr DC 
 
 771 
 
 770 
 
 760 
 
 758 
 
 710 
 707 
 
 747 
 
 738 
 736 
 
 728 
 724 
 
 FROM THB CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 KINGS OF ISRAEL.— 254 Years. 
 
 we must suppose Jeroboam II. reigned five years ; 
 or tliat his reign did not begin till 3191, and ended 
 in 3232, whici) is tlie year of the death of Zacha- 
 riah. 
 
 Zachariah killed by Shallum, after reigning six 
 months 
 
 Shallum reigns one month ; is killed by Menahem, 
 who reigns ten yeai"s 
 
 Pul, king of Assyria, invades Israel ; Menahem be- 
 comes tributary to him 
 
 Menahem dies ; Pekaiah, his son, succeeds 
 
 Pekaiah assassinated by Pekah, son of Remaliah, 
 who reigns twenty-eight years. The text allo^■v« 
 20 years only ; but we must read 28 years. Syn- 
 cellus says (p. 202.) it was 28 years, in a copy 
 quoted by Basil. And indeed, his reign began in 
 the 52(1 of Azariah, (2 Kings xv. 27.) and ended in 
 the 12th of Ahaz, (2 Kings xvii. 1.) which includes 
 28 years 
 
 Arbaces, governor of Media, and Belesus, governor ^ 
 of Babylonia, besiege Sardanapalus, king of As- > 
 Syria, in Nineveh ) 
 
 After a siege of three years, Sardanapalus burns him- 
 self in his palace, with all his riches. Arbaces is 
 acknowledged king of Media, and Belesus king of 
 Babylonia 
 
 Belesus, otherwise Baladan, or Nabonassar, founds 
 the Babylonian empire. This famous epoch of 
 Nabonassar, falls 743 years before Christ; 747 
 befoie A. D 
 
 Ninus junior, called in Scripture Tiglalh-pileser, suc- 
 cessor of Sardanapalus, continues the Assyrian em- 
 pire, but reduced into very narrow limits. Reigned 
 nineteen years; according to othei-s, thirty years. 
 
 Tislath-pileser defeats and slays Rezin, king of? 
 Damascus ^ 
 
 Entei-s the land of Israel, takes many cities and cap- 
 tives ; chiefly from Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe 
 of Manasseh. The fii-st captivity of Israel 
 
 Iloshea, son of Elah, slays Pekah, and usurps the 
 kingdom 
 
 Reigns peaceably the 12th year of Ahaz ; reigns nine 
 years 
 
 Shalmanrser succeeds Tiglath-pileser, king of 
 Nineveh 
 
 2Kingsxv. 10— 12. 
 13—17. 
 
 19—21. 
 22—26. 
 
 XV. 25—28. 
 
 Diod. Sic. lib. ii. 
 Athenaeus, lib. xii. 
 Herod, lib. i. 
 
 Justin, lib. i. c. 3. 
 
 Nic. Dam. in Eclog. 
 Vales, p. 426, &c. 
 
 2 Kings XV. 29 ; xvi. 7. 
 Euseb. Chron. p. 46. 
 
 xvi. 5 — 9 ; Amos 
 i. 5. 
 
 XV. 29 ; 1 Chron. 
 V. 26. 
 
 — 30, 31. 
 
 xvii. 1. 
 
 Castor, ap. Euseb. 
 Chron. p. 46.
 
 964 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 [Kingdoms of 
 
 Calmet, Hales. 
 
 Calmel. Hales. 
 
 3278 
 3279 
 
 4686 
 
 722 
 721 
 
 725 
 
 3290 
 3291 
 
 4700 
 
 4701 
 
 710 
 709 
 
 711 
 
 710 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 KINGS OF JUDAH.— 388 Years. 
 
 Hezekiah restores the worship of the Lord in Judah, ) 
 which Ahaz had subverted ^ 
 
 Fi)'St-fruits and tythes again gatliered into the temple, 
 for maintenance of the priests and ministers 
 
 Hezekiah revolts from the Assyrians ; makes a league 
 witli Egypt and Gush, against Sennacherib 
 
 Sennacherib invades Hezekiah ; takes several cities ) 
 of Judah 5 
 
 Hezekiah's sickness. Isaiah foretells his cure ; ^ 
 gives him as a sign, the shadow's return on the > 
 dial of Ahaz ) 
 
 Sennacherib besieges Lachish 
 
 Hezekiah gives money to Sennacherib, who yet con- 
 tinues his war against him, and sends Rabshakeh 
 to Jerusalem ; marches himself against Tirhakah, 
 king of Cush, or Arabia. Returning into Judaii, 
 the angel of the Lord destroys many thousands of 
 his army ; he retires to Nineveh, where he is slain 
 by his sons 
 
 2 Kings xviii. 1 — 6 ; 
 
 2 Chr. xxix. — xxxi. 
 
 2 Chron. xxxi. 4, 5. 
 
 2 Kings xviii. 7. 
 
 13 ; 2 Chr. 
 
 xxxii. 1; Is. 
 xxxvi. 
 
 xx.l— ll;2Chr. 
 
 xxxii. 24 ; Is. 
 xxxviii. 
 2 Chron. xxxii. 9. 
 
 2 Kings xviii. 14 — xix.37; 
 Is. xxxvi. 
 xxxvii. 
 Herod, lib. ii.
 
 Israel and Judah.] 
 
 OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 965 
 
 Calmcl. Hale- 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 3279 
 
 3280 
 3283 
 
 4692 
 
 4090 
 4692 
 
 721 
 
 720 
 717 
 
 719 
 
 721 
 
 to 
 
 719 
 
 KINGS OF ISRAEL.— 254 Years. 
 
 Hoshea makes an alliance with So, king of Egj-pr, 
 and endeavors to shake off" the yoke of Shalnia- 
 neser 
 
 Shahnaneser besieges Samaria ; takes it after three 
 years' siege. Carries beyond the Eupiu-ates the 
 tribes that Tiglath-pileser had not already carried 
 into captivity ; the ninth year of Hoshea ; of Heze- 
 kiali the sixtli year ." 
 
 Among the captives carried away by Shahnaneser to 
 Nineveh, is Tobit, of the tribe of Naphtah 
 
 2 Kings xvii. 4. 
 
 — 3—18 ; Hos. 
 xiii. 16 ; 
 1 Chr. V. 26. 
 
 Tobit 
 
 End of the kingdom of Israel ; after it had subsisted 
 two hundred and ffly four years.
 
 966 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Calmet. j Hales 
 
 3292 
 
 4703 
 
 3233 
 3294 
 33G6 
 
 3323 
 3329 
 3347 
 3331 
 
 3363 
 
 3370 
 3376 
 
 3380 
 
 4715 
 
 4731 
 4737 
 4771 
 
 4770 
 
 4772 
 4783 
 
 3331 
 3394 
 
 3395 
 3398 
 
 3399 
 .3402 
 
 3404 
 
 4803 
 
 4825 
 
 708 
 
 707 
 706 
 694 
 
 677 
 661 
 653 
 639 
 
 637 
 
 630 
 624 
 020 
 
 619 
 606 
 
 605 
 602 
 
 601 
 598 
 
 596 
 
 708 
 
 696 
 
 680 
 674 
 640 
 641 
 
 639 
 628 
 
 608 
 
 586 
 
 4806 
 
 605 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 JUDAH alone. 
 AssaradoD, or Esar-Haddon, succeeds Sennacherib. . 
 
 Probably about this time Baladan, or Merodach- 
 Baladan, king of Babylon, sends to congratulate 
 Hezekiah on the recovery of his health, and to in- 
 quire about the prodigy on that occasion 
 
 The prophets Micah, the Morasthite, and Nahuin, 
 prophesy 
 
 Tai'tan sent by Assaradon against the Philistines, } 
 the Idunieans, and the Egyptians ^ 
 
 Assaradon sends an Israelitish priest to the Cushites 
 settled at Shechem 
 
 Hezekiah dies ; Mauasseh succeeds him ; reigns } 
 fifty-five years ^ 
 
 Assaradon becomes master of Babylon ; reunites the 
 
 empires of Assyria and Chaldea 
 
 Manasseh taken by the Chaldeans, aud earned to ) 
 
 Babylon ^ 
 
 The war of Holofernes, who is slain in Judea by 
 
 Judith 
 
 Manasseh dies. He returned into Judea a good ) 
 
 while before, but the time is not exactly known. ^ 
 Amon succeeds him ; reigns two years 
 
 Amon dies ; Josiah succeeds him 
 
 Zephaniah prophesies at the beginning of his reign.. 
 Josiah endeavors to reform abuses. He restores ) 
 
 the worship of the Lord I 
 
 Jeremiah begins to prophesy, in the thirteenth year 
 
 of the reign of Josiali 
 
 The high-priest Hilkiah finds the book of the law in 
 
 the treasury of the temple, in the eighteenth year 
 
 of Josiah 
 
 Money collected for repairing the temple 
 
 The prophetess Huldah foretells the calamities that 7 
 
 threaten Judah ^ 
 
 A solemn passover, by Josiah and all the people 
 
 Joel prophesies under Josiah. 
 
 Josiah opposes tlie expedition of Necho, king of 
 Egypt, against Carcheinish ; is mortally wound- 
 ed, and dies at Jerusalem. Jeremiah composes 
 lamentations on his death 
 
 Jehoahaz is set on the throne by the j)eople ; but 
 Necho, returning from Carchemish, deposes him, 
 and installs Eliakim,or Jehoiakim, his brother, son 
 of Josiah, who reigns eleven yeai-s 
 
 Habakkuk prophesies under his reign. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar besieges and takes Cai-cliemish ; 
 comes into Palestine ; besieges and takes Jerusa- 
 lem ; leaves Jehoiakim there, on condition of pay- 
 ing him a large tribute 
 
 Daniel and his companions led captive to Babylon. • 
 
 Jeremiah begins to commit his prophecies to writing. 
 Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a gi-eat statue explained 
 
 by Daniel 
 
 The history of Susannah at Babylon 
 
 Jehoiakim revolts against Nebuchadnezzar 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar sends an army from Chaldea, Syria, 
 
 2 Kings xix. 37 ; Isaiah 
 xxxvii. 38. 
 
 XX. 12—19 ; Isa. 
 xxxix. 
 
 Mic. i. 1. 
 
 2 Kings xviii. 17 ; Is. xx ; 
 Joseph.Ant.lib, 
 X. cap. 1, 2. 
 
 xvii. 27—33. 
 
 XX. 20, 21 ; xxi. 1 
 
 — 18 ; 2 Chr. xxxii. 
 32,33; xxxiii. 1—10. 
 
 Canon. Ptolemfei, 
 2 Chr. xxxiii. J 1—19; 
 Jos. Ant. lib. x. c. 4. 
 
 Judith, Apoc. 
 
 2 Kings xxi. 17, 18 ; 
 
 2 Chr. xxxiii. 20. 
 18— 22;2Chr. 
 
 xxxiii. 20— 23. 
 23— 26; 2 Chr. 
 
 xxxiii. 24, 25. 
 Zeph. i. 1. 
 
 2 Kings xxii. 1 — 7;2Chr. 
 xxxiv. 1 — 13. 
 
 Jer. i. 2. 
 
 2 Kings xxii. 8 ; 2 Chr. 
 xxxiv. 14. 
 
 4—7 ; 2 Chr. 
 
 xxxiv. 9— 14. 
 
 14— 20;2Chr. 
 
 xxxiv. 22—28. 
 
 xxih.l-24;2Chr. 
 
 xxxiv. 29— 
 XXXV. 19. 
 
 -— 29,30;2Clir. 
 
 XXXV. 20—27. 
 Herod, lib. 2; Jos. 
 Ant. lib. X. c. 6. 
 
 ■30— 36; 2 Chr. 
 xxxvi. 1 — 5. 
 
 2 Kings xxiv. 1 ; 2 Chr. 
 xxxvi. 6, 7. 
 Jer. XX. 4 ; xlvi. 2 ; 
 
 Dan. i. 1—7. 
 xxxvi. 1 — 4. 
 
 Dan. ii. 
 
 Susannah, Apoc. 
 2 Kings xxiv. 1.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 967 
 
 Yeir nf ibe 
 
 World. 
 
 Ycxr beo-e 
 Chrisl. 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 
 Calm..-. 
 
 lUles. 
 
 Ciluiel. 
 
 H»lej. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JUDAH alone, 
 and IMoab, whicli ravages Jiidea, and brings away 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3023 Jews to Babylon, in the seventli year of Je- 
 
 2 Kings xxiv. 2 — 4 ; Jer. 
 
 3405 
 
 4812 
 
 595 
 
 599 
 
 hoiakiin 
 
 Iii.8. 
 Diod. Sic. lib. i. Herod. 
 
 lib. i. 
 2Kingsxxiv.5,0;2Chr. 
 
 Cyrus born, son of Cambyses and Maudane 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jehoiakim revolts a second time against Nebticliad- ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 nezzar. Is taken, put to deatli, and cast to the > 
 
 xxxvi.8;Jcr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 fowls of the air. Reigned eleven years ) 
 
 xxii. 18, 19; 
 XXX vi. 30. 
 
 3406 
 
 
 594 
 
 
 Jehoiakin, or Coniah, or Jeconiah, succeeds 
 
 t; . o r^t... — 
 
 
 
 
 XXX vi. f, 9. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar besieges him in Jcrtsalem, and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 takes him after he iiafl reigned three iiontlis and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ten days. He is carried to Babylon, witii part of 
 
 8—16 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 the people. Mordecai is among the captives 
 
 2Clir. xxxvi. 10. 
 
 
 4814 
 
 
 597 
 
 Zed. kiah, his luicle, is left at Jerusalem in his f 
 
 place, and reigns eleven years ^ 
 
 Zedekiah sends ani!)a.ssadors to Babylon. 
 Jeremiah writes to tiie captive Jews there 
 
 17, 18;2Clir. 
 
 xxxvi. 10, 11. 
 
 Jer. XX ix. 
 
 3409 
 
 
 591 
 
 
 Seraiah and Banich sent by Zedekiah to Bal)ylon. 
 
 
 3110 
 
 4821 
 
 590 
 
 590 
 
 F^zekiel begins to |)rophesy in Chaldea 
 
 Ezek. i. 1,2. 
 
 3411 
 
 
 5:9 
 
 
 Ha foretells the taking of Jerusalem, and the disper- 
 sion of the Jews 
 
 iv. v. viii. — \ii. 
 
 2 Kings xxiv. 20 ; 2 Chr. 
 
 Zedekiah takes secret measures with the king of ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Earvpt, to revolt against the Chaldeans S 
 
 xxxvi. 13 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 o* 1 ? O J 
 
 Jer. lii. 3. 
 
 3414 
 
 4823 
 
 586 
 
 588 
 
 Zedekiah revolts. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar marches against Jerusalem, besieges 
 it; quits the siege to repel the king of Egvjtf, who 
 comes to assist Zedekiah. Returns to the siege. . 
 
 Jeremiah continues prophesying during the whole ? 
 siege ; which continued almost three years ^ 
 
 Ezekiel also describes the same siege in Chaldea. . . 
 
 XXV. 1 , 2 ; Jer. 
 
 xxxvii. 5. 
 Jer. xxxvii. 6 — 11 ; xlvii. 
 
 xxi. 
 Ezek. xxiv. 
 
 3416 
 
 
 584 
 
 
 Jerusalem taken on the ninth day of the fourth month, 
 (July,) the eleventh year of Zedekiah 
 
 2 Kings XXV. 3, 4, 8 ; 
 2 Chr. xxxvi. 17, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18; Jer. lii. 5— 7. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Zedekiah, endeavoring to fly by night, is taken, and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 brought to Riblah, to Nebuchadnezzar. His eyes 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 are put out, and he is carried to Babylon 
 
 7—11. 
 
 
 4825 
 
 
 580 
 
 Jerusalem and the temple burnt; seventh day of the 
 
 ft in • ^ riir 
 
 —'^■'^—^ t7 J JW^ /^Vylll. 
 
 
 
 
 
 fourth month 
 
 xxxvi. 19 ; Jer. 
 xxxix. 8 ; Jer. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lii. 12, 13; Jos. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bel. lib.vii. c.lO. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Jews of Jerusalem and Judah carried captive 
 
 11, 12; 2 Chr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 beyond the Euphrates. The poorer classes only left 
 
 xxxvi. 20; Jer. 
 
 
 
 
 
 in the land 
 
 xxxix. 9, 10; 
 lii. 15, 16. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thus ends the k{ns;dom of Judah, after it had subsisted 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 four hundred and sixly-eis;ht years, from the begin- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ning; of the reign of David; and three hundred and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 eighli/-eight years from the separatioii of Judah and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 the ten tribes. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The beginning of the seventy years' captivity, fore- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 told by Jeremiah 
 
 Jer. XXV. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gedaliah made governor of the remains of the peo- ? 
 
 2 Kings XXV. 22—25; 
 
 
 
 
 
 pie. He is slain ^ 
 
 Jer. xl. 1— xli. 1, 2. 
 
 3417 
 
 
 583 
 
 
 Jeremiah carried into Egypt by the Jews, after the 
 death of Gr-daliah. He ))rophesics in Egypt 
 
 Ezekiel in Chaldea prophesies against the captives 
 of Judah 
 
 Jer. xliii. 5 — 13. 
 Ezek. xxxil;. 
 
 3419 
 
 4827 
 
 581 
 
 584 
 
 The siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar; lasted thir- 
 teen years. During this interval, Nebuchadnezzar 
 
 Jer. xxvii. — xxix.
 
 968 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Calmet Hale 
 
 3419 
 
 3432 
 
 3433 
 3431 
 343) 
 344 3 
 3444 
 
 4827 
 
 4840 
 4341 
 
 4842 
 
 3445 
 
 3446 
 
 3448 
 3449 
 
 3450 
 
 4350 
 
 4853 
 4860 
 
 4858 
 
 :455 
 
 3456 
 3457 
 
 3458 
 3475 
 
 3478 
 3480 
 3483 
 
 4863 
 
 4875 
 
 4382 
 
 48S6 
 4948 
 
 3484 
 ai85 
 
 581 
 
 568 
 
 567 
 566 
 5(5 
 557 
 556 
 
 555 
 
 554 
 
 552 
 551 
 
 550 
 
 545 
 
 544 
 543 
 
 542 
 525 
 
 522 
 
 520 
 517 
 
 516 
 515 
 
 584 
 
 571 
 570 
 
 569 
 
 561 
 
 558 
 551 
 553 
 
 548 
 
 536 
 
 529 
 
 525 
 
 463 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 wars against the Idumeans, the Ammonites, and 
 the Moabites 
 
 Obadiah prophesies against Idumea. 
 
 Tyre taken by Nebucliadnezzar 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar wars against Egypt 
 
 He returns to Babylon. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a great ti'ee 
 
 His metamoi-phosis into an ox 
 
 His return to his former condition 
 
 He sets up a golden statue for worship 
 
 Daniel's threo companions cast into the fiery furnace. 
 
 Nebuchadn .:zzar's death, after reigning forty-three 
 years, from the death of Nabouassar, his father, 
 who died in 3,399 
 
 Evilmerodachjhis son, succeeds him ; reigns but one 
 year 
 
 Belshazzar, his son, succeeds him. 
 
 Daniel's vision of the four animals 
 
 Cyrus begins to appear ; he liberates the Persians, 
 and takes the title of king. 
 
 Belshazzar's impious feast. His death 
 
 Darius the Mede succeeds Belshazzar 
 
 Daniel's prophecy of seventy weeks 
 
 Darius decrees that supplication should be made to 
 no other god but himself 
 
 Daniel cast into the lion's den 
 
 Cyrus meditates the destruction of the empire of the 
 Medes and Chaldeans; begins with the Medes; 
 having overcome Astyages, king of the Medes, his 
 uncle by the mother's side, he gives him the gov- 
 ernment of Hyrcania. 
 
 Cyrus marches against Darius the Mede, his uncle ; 
 but first wars against the allies of his uncle Darius ; 
 particularly against Crcesus, king of Lydia 
 
 He attempts Bal)ylon, and takes it 
 
 He sets the Jews at lii)erty, and permits their re- ^ 
 tui-n into Judea. The first year of his reign > 
 over all the East ) 
 
 The history of Bel and the Dragon 
 
 The Jews, returning from captivity, renew the sacri- 
 fices in the temple ' 
 
 Cyrus dies, aged seventy years 
 
 Cambyses succeeds him. The Cushites, or .Samari- 
 tans, obtain a prohibition, forbidding the Jews to 
 continue the building of their temple 
 
 Cambyses wars in Egypt, five years 
 
 Cambyses kills his brother Smerdis. 
 
 He dies 
 
 The seven Magi usurp the empire. Artaxata, one of 
 them, forbids the building of the tem|)le 
 
 Seven chiefs of the Persians slay tlip Magi 
 
 Darius, son of Hystaspes, otherwise Ahasuerus, ac- 
 knowledged king of the Persians. Marries Atossa, 
 the daughter of Cyrus 
 
 Haggai begins to prophesy ; reproaches the Jews for 
 not building the house of the Lord 
 
 The Jews re-commence building the temple 
 
 About tills time Zcchariah begins to proi)hesy 
 
 Htre, proprrh/, end the sevej^t)/ years of cnptivitrj, 
 fordold by Jeremiah, which be^an A. M. 3146. 
 
 Ezek. XXV. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. x. c. 11. 
 
 Ezek. xxix. 18 ; Jos. Ant. 
 
 lib. X. c. 11. 
 19 — xxxii. 
 
 32. 
 
 Dan. iv. 1—27. 
 
 28—33. 
 
 34—37. 
 
 ili. 1—7. 
 
 8—30. 
 
 Berosus, ap. Jos. cont. 
 
 Ap. lib. i. 
 2 Kings XXV. 27-30 ; Jer. 
 
 lii. 31 — 34. Berosus, 
 
 ap. Jos. cont. Ap. lib. 
 
 i. et Euseb. Praep. 
 
 lib. ix. 
 
 Dan. vii. 
 
 vi. 1—9. 
 — 10—24. 
 
 Herod, lib. i. Cyrop. vi. 
 vii. 
 
 2Chr.xxxvi.22,23;Ez- 
 ra i. Xen. Cyrop. 
 lib. viii. 
 
 Apocrypha. 
 
 Ezra ii. 1 — iii. 7. 
 Cyropedia, lib. viii. 
 
 Ezra iv. 6—24. 
 
 Ptol. Can. 
 Her. ii. iii. Just. i. c.9. 
 
 Herod. lib. iii. 
 
 1 Esdras v. 73. 
 Herod, iii. Just. i. c. 10. 
 
 Haggai. 
 
 Ezra vi. 6 — 14. 
 
 Zcch. i. 1.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 969 
 
 3487 
 3488 
 3489 
 
 3495 
 
 349G 
 
 3519 
 3531 
 3537 
 353H 
 3550 
 
 3551 
 
 4948 
 4951 
 4895 
 
 4926 
 4947 
 4954 
 
 4967 
 
 35()3 
 3565 
 
 3580 
 
 49791 
 
 fi 
 
 4987 
 
 4991 
 
 4998 
 5038 
 
 5070 
 
 3654 
 3671 
 3672 
 
 3(573 
 
 3674 
 3681 
 
 3684 
 
 Calmet. 
 
 Hales. 
 
 513 
 512 
 511 
 
 463 
 460 
 516 
 
 505 
 
 
 504 
 
 
 481 
 
 485 
 
 469 
 
 464 
 
 463 
 
 457 
 
 462 
 
 
 450 
 
 444 
 
 449 
 
 
 437 
 435 
 
 432 
 424 
 
 420 
 
 420 
 413 
 373 
 
 
 341 
 
 346 
 
 
 329 
 
 
 328 
 
 
 327 
 
 
 326 
 319 
 
 
 316 
 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 The feast of Darius,or Ahasuerus ; he divorces Vashti. 
 
 He espouses Esther 
 
 The dedication of the temple of Jerusalem, rebuilt hy 
 
 Zeruhhahel 
 
 The beginninjf of the fortune of Hanian 
 
 He vo\vs the destruction of the Jews, and procinxs 
 
 from Ahasuerus an order for their e.\tennination. 
 Esther obtains a revocation of this decree. Hainan 
 
 hung on the gallous he had prepared for Mor- 
 
 decai 
 
 The Jews punish their enemies at Shushan, and ^ 
 
 throughout the Persian empire (j 
 
 Darius, or Ahasuerus, dies ; Xerxes succeeds him.. . 
 
 Xei-xes dies ; Artaxerxcs succeeds him 
 
 He sends Ezra to Jerusalem, with several priests 
 and Lcvites, the seventh year of Artaxerxcs 
 
 Ezra reforms abuses among the Jews, especially as 
 to their strange wives 
 
 Nehemiah obtains leave of Artaxerxcs to visit Jeru- 
 salem, and to rebuild its gates and walls 
 
 The walls rebuilt 
 
 Dedication of the walls of Jerusalem 
 
 Nehemiah prevails with several families in the coun- 
 try to dwell in Jerusalem 
 
 The Israelites put awaj' their strange wives 
 
 Nehemiah renews the covenant of Israel with the 
 Lord 
 
 Nehemiah retm-ns to king Artaxerxcs 
 
 Nehemiah comes a second time into Judea, and re- 
 forms abuses 
 
 Zcchariah prophesies under his government ; also 
 Malachi, whom several have confounded with Ezra. 
 
 Nehemiah dies. 
 
 Eliashib, the high-priest, who lived under Nehemiah, 
 is succeeded by Joiada, who is succeeded by Jon- 
 athan, who is killed in the temple by Jesus his 
 brotlier: the successor of Jonathan is Jaddus, or 
 Jaddua. The exact j^ears of the death of these 
 high-priests are not known 
 
 Artaxerxcs Ochus sends several Jews into Hyrca- ) 
 nia, whom he had taken captive in Egypt ^ 
 
 Alexander the Great enters Asia 
 
 He besieges Tj^re ; demands of tiie high-priest Jad- 
 dus the succors usually sent to the king of Persia ; 
 Jad(Uis refuses 
 
 Alexander ajiproarhes Jerusalem, sIjows respect to 
 the high-priest, is favorable to the Jews; grants 
 them an exemption fioni tribute every sabbatical 
 year 
 
 The Samaritans obtain Alexander's permission to 
 build a tcm|)le on mount Gcrizim. 
 
 Alexander conquoi's Egypt ; retm-ns into Pha?nicia ; ^ 
 chastises the Samaritans, u'ho had killed An- ( 
 dromachus, his governor; gives the Jews j)art C 
 of their country / 
 
 Darius Codomannus dies, the last king of the Persians. 
 
 Alexander the Great dies, first monarch of the Gre- 
 cians in the East 
 
 Judea in the division of the kings of Syria. 
 Ptolemy, son of Lagus, conquers it ; carries many ? 
 Jews into Egypt $ 
 
 Esth. i. 
 
 ij. 1—18. 
 
 Ezra vi. 15 — 22. 
 Esth. iii. 1, 2. 
 
 3—15. 
 
 IV. VII. 
 
 ix, 1 — 16 ; Jos. Ant. 
 
 lib. xi. c. 6. 
 Ptol. in Canone ; Africa- 
 
 nus ; Euseb. &:c. 
 Diod. Sic. lib. xi. Justin, 
 
 lib. iii. c. 1. 
 
 Ezravii. 1, 7, 8. 
 
 ix. X. 
 
 Neh. i.— ii. 12. 
 
 ii. 13— vi. 19. 
 
 xii. 27-^3. 
 
 xi. 
 
 ix. 2. 
 
 viii. — X. 
 
 vii. 1—4 ; Prid. 
 
 xiii. 10. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xi. c. 7 ; 
 
 Chron. Alexand. 
 Diod. Sic. Ill), xvi. Jos. 
 
 cont. Ap. lib. i. 
 Pint, in Alex. Arrian, i. 
 
 Diod. Sic. lib. xxii. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xi. c. 8. 
 
 Q. Curt. lib. iv. c. 8; 
 Euseb. Chron. p. 177. 
 Cedronus ; Jos. cont. 
 Ap. lib. ii. 
 
 Pint, in Alexand. Q.Cnrt. 
 lib. X. c. 5 ; Diod. Sic. 
 lib. xvii. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xii. c. 7. 
 Arist. Diod. lib. xviii. 
 
 128
 
 970 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Calmet. Hales. 
 
 3690 
 3692 
 
 5070 
 
 310 
 30g 
 
 241 
 
 3727 
 3743 
 
 3758 
 
 273 
 257 
 
 242 
 
 3771 
 
 5090 
 
 5111 
 5120 
 
 5135 
 5161 
 
 3783 
 
 3785 
 
 3786 
 
 3787 
 
 5194 
 
 229 
 
 217 
 
 215 
 214 
 
 213 
 
 321 
 
 300 
 291 
 
 276 
 250 
 
 217 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 3788 
 3800 
 
 3802 
 3805 
 
 3806 
 
 3807 
 
 3812 
 
 3815 
 
 5216 
 
 212 
 
 200 
 
 198 
 195 
 
 194 
 
 193 
 
 188 
 
 18c 
 
 195 
 
 Antigonus retakes Judea from Ptolemy 
 
 Ptolemy, son of Lagus, conquers Demetrius, son of 
 Antigonus, near Gaza ; becomes again master of 
 Judea 
 
 Judea returns to the jurisdiction of the kings of 
 Syria; the Jews pay them tribute some time. 
 Judea is in subjection to the kings of Egypt under 
 the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, if what we read 
 concerning the version of the Septuagint be true. 
 
 The Septuagint version supposed to be i-eally nmde 
 about this time. 
 
 Antiochus Theos, king of Syria, begins to reign ; 
 grants to the Jews the privileges of free denizens 
 throughout his dominions. 
 
 Ptolemy Euergetes makes himself master of Syria 
 and Judea. 
 
 The high-priest Jaddus dying in 8682, Oriias I. suc- 
 ceeds him, whose successor is Simon the Just, in 
 3702. He, dying in 3711, leaves his son Onias II. 
 a child ; his father's brother, Eleazar, discharges the 
 office of high-priest about thirty years. Under the 
 priesthood of Eleazar the version of the Septuagint 
 is said to be made. After the death of Eleazar in 
 3744, Manasseh, great uncle of Onias, and brother 
 of Jaddus, is invested with the priesthood 
 
 Manasseh dying this year, Onias II. possesses the 
 high-priesihood. Incurs the indignation of the 
 king of Egypt, for not paying his tribute of twenty 
 talents ; his nephew Joseph gains the king's favor, 
 and farms the tributes of Coelo-Syria, Plioenicia, 
 Samaria and Judea 
 
 Ptolemy Euergetes, king of Egypt, dies; Ptolemy 
 Philopator succeeds him 
 
 Onias II. high-priest, dies ; Simon II. succeeds him. 
 
 Antiochus the Great wars against Ptolemy Philo- ) 
 pator ^ 
 
 Ptolemy Philopator defeats Antiochus at Raphia in 
 Syria 
 
 Ptolemy attempts to enter the temple of Jenisalem ; 
 is hindered by the priests. He returns into Egypt ; 
 condemns the Jews ui his dominions to be trod to 
 death by elephants. God gives his people a mi- 
 raculous deliverance 
 
 The Egyptians rebel against their king Ptolemy 
 Philopator ; the Jews take his part 
 
 Ptolemy Philopator dies; Ptolemy Epiphanes, an 
 infant, succeeds him 
 
 Antiochus the Great conquers Phoenicia and Judea. 
 
 Simon II. high-priest, dies; Onias III. succeeds 
 him. 
 
 Scopas, a general of Ptolemy Epiphanes, retakes 
 Judea from Antiochus 
 
 Antiochus defeats Scopas ; is received by the Jews 
 into Jerusalem 
 
 Arius, king of Lacedemon, writes to Onias III. and 
 acknowledges the kindred of the Jews and Lace- 
 demonians. The year uncertain. Perhaps it was 
 rather Onias I. 
 
 Antiochus the Great gives his daughter Cleopatra in 
 marriage to Ptolemy Epi])hanes, king of Egypt ; 
 and as a dowry, Coelo-Syria, Phoenicia, Judea and 
 Samaria 
 
 Antiochus, declaring war against the Romans, is 
 
 Plut. in Demet. 
 
 Diod. Sic. lib. xix. App. 
 in Syriacis. 
 
 Jos. Ant. hb. xii. c. 2; 
 Euseb. in Chron. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xii. c. 3. 
 Polyb. lib. ii. p. 155; 
 
 Justin, lib. xxix. e. 1 ; 
 
 Euseb. in Chron. 
 
 Polyb. lib. V. Justin, lib. 
 XXX. c. 1. 
 
 Polyb. lib. V. 
 
 3Mac. i.ii. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xii. c. 4. 
 Euseb. in Chron. 
 Chron. Alexand. 
 
 Polyb. lib. V. 
 
 Justin, lib. xx. c. 1, 2. 
 
 Ptol. in Canone; 
 
 Euseb. &c. 
 Polyb. lib. V. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xii. c. 3. 
 Polyb. lib. xvi. 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xii. c. 3. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xii. c. 3.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 971 
 
 3817 
 
 3828 
 
 3829 
 
 3831 
 3834 
 
 5216 
 
 5236 
 
 5239 
 
 3836 
 
 3837 
 
 183 
 172 
 
 171 
 
 169 
 166 
 
 195 
 
 175 
 
 172 
 
 3838 
 
 164 
 
 163 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 5248 
 
 162 
 
 163 
 
 overcome, nnd loses great part of his dominions. 
 He presen'es Syria and Judea 
 
 Antiochus dies; leaves Seleucus Pliilopator his ^ 
 successor. Antiochus, his other son, surnamed > 
 afterwards Epiphanes, at Rome as a hostage ... 5 
 
 Heliodorus, by order of Seleucus, attempts to rifle 
 the treasury of the temple at Jerusalem. Is pre- 
 vented by an angel. 
 
 Onias III, goes to Antioch, to vindicate himself 
 against calumnies. 
 
 Seleucus sends his son Demetrius to Rome, to re- 
 place his brother Antiochus, who had been a host- 
 age there fourteen years. 
 
 Antiochus journeying to return into S3'ria, Seleucus 
 is put to death by the machinations of Heliodorus, 
 who intends to usui-p the kingdom. 
 
 Antiochus, at his arrival, is received by the Syrians 
 as a tutelai- deity, and receives the name of Epiph- 
 anes. 
 
 Jason, son of Simon II., high-priest, and brother of 
 Onias III., now high-priest, buys the high-priest- 
 hood of Antiochus Epiphanes 
 
 Several Jews renounce Judaism, for the religion and 
 ceremonies of the Greeks. 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes intends war against Ptolemy 
 Philometor, king of Egypt Is received with great 
 honor in Jerusalem. 
 
 Menelaus offers three hundred talents of silver for the 
 high-priesthood more than what Jason had given 
 for it ; he obtains a gi-ant of it from Antiochus.. . . 
 
 Menelaus, not paying his purchase-money, is deprived 
 of the high-priesthood : Lysimachus, his brother, 
 is ordered to perform the functions of it. 
 
 Menelaus, gaining Andronicus, governor of Antioch, 
 in the absence of Antiochus Epiphanes, causes 
 Onias III. the high-priest, to be killed 
 
 Lysimachus, thinking to plunder the treasury of the 
 temple at Jerusalem, is put to death in the temple. 
 
 Antiochus preparing to make war in Egypt. Prodi- 
 gies seen in the air over Jerusalem 
 
 A report that Antiochus Epiphanes was dead, in 
 Egypt ; Jason attempts Jerusalem, but is repulsed. 
 
 Antiochus, being informed that some Jews had re- 
 joiced at the false news of his death, plunders Je- 
 rusalem, and slays 80,000 men 
 
 ApoUonius sent into Judea by Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 He demolishes the walls of Jerusalem, and op- 
 presses the people. He builds a citadel on the 
 mountain near the temple, where formerly stood 
 the city of David 
 
 Judas 3Iaccabaeus, with nine others, retires into the 
 
 wilderness. 
 Antiochus Epiphanes publishes an edict, to constrain 
 all the people of his dominions to uniformity with 
 the religion of the Grecians. 
 The sacrifices of the temple interrupted ; the statue 
 of Jupiter Olympius set up on the altar of burnt- 
 
 sacriiices 
 
 The martyrdom of old Eleazar at Antioch ; of the ? 
 
 seven brethren Maccabees, and their mother. . . \ 
 
 Mattathias and his seven sons retire into the moun- ? 
 
 tains ; the Assideans join them ^ 
 
 About tliis time flourishes Jesus, sou of Sirach, author 
 
 of the book of Ecclesiastic us. 
 Mattathias dies 
 
 Justin, lib. xxxi. c. 6 — 8. 
 xxxii. c. 2 ; 
 
 Strabo, lib. xvi. 
 Ai)p. in Syriacis. 
 
 2 Mac. iv. 7 ; Jos, de Mac. 
 c. 4, 
 
 23—28. 
 
 34. 
 
 40—42. 
 
 1—3. 
 
 5, 6 ; Jos. Ant. 
 1. xii. c. 8. 
 
 ll;Diod.Sic. 
 lib. xxxiv. 
 
 24—26 ; 
 
 1 Mac. i. 30—40 ; 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xxii. c. 7. 
 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xxii. c. 7. 
 2 Mac. vi. vii. 
 
 Jos. de Maccab. 
 1 Mac. ii. 29, 30 ; Jos. 
 Ant. lib. xii. c. 8. 
 
 70.
 
 972 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Calmet. Hales. 
 
 3838 
 
 3839 
 
 5248 
 
 162 
 
 161 
 
 163 
 
 3840 
 
 160 
 
 3841 
 
 159 
 
 :812 
 
 158 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Is succeeded by Judas Maccabajus. Judas defeats 
 Apollonius, and afterwards Seron 
 
 Antiocluis Epiphanes, wanting money to pay the 
 Romans, goes to Persia. Nicanor and Gorgias, 
 and Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, enter Judeaat the 
 head of their armies 
 
 Judas Maccabseus defeats Nicanor. Gorgias de- 
 clines a battle against Judas. 
 
 Lysias, coming into Judea with an army, is beaten, 
 and forced to return to Antioch. 
 
 Judas purifies the temple, after three years' defile- 
 ment by the Gentiles. This is called Encoenia.. . 
 
 Timotheus and Bacchides, generals of the Syrian 
 army, are beaten by Judas. 
 
 Antiocluis Epiphanes dies in Persia. His son, Anti- 
 ocluis Eupator, aged nine years, succeeds him ; 
 under the regency of Lysias 
 
 Judas wars against the enemies of his nation in 
 Idumea, and beyond Jordan 
 
 Timotheus, a second time, overcome by Judas. . . 
 
 The jjeople beyond Jordan and in Galilee consj)ire 
 against the Jews. Are supported by Judas and his 
 brethren. 
 
 Lysias, coming into Judea, forced to make peace with 
 Judas ; returns to Antioch 
 
 A letter of king Antiochus Eupator, in favor of the 
 Jews. 
 
 The Roman legates Avrite to the Jews, and promise 
 to support their interests with the king of Syria. 
 
 The treachery of Joppa and Samaria chastised by 
 Judas. 
 
 Judas wars beyond Jordan. Defeats a general of the 
 Syrian troojis, called Timotheus, different from the 
 former Timotheus 
 
 Judas attacks Gorgias in Idumea ; having defeated 
 him, finds Jews, killed in the fight, had concealed 
 gold under their clothes, which they had taken 
 from an idol's temple at Jamnia 
 
 Antiochus Eu|)ator invades Judea in person ; be- 
 sieges Bethshur, and takes it; besieges Jerusa- 
 lem 
 
 Philip, who had been appointed regent by Antiochus 
 E|)iphanes, coming to Antioch, Lysias prevails 
 with the king to make peace v/ith the Jews, and to 
 return to Antioch. But before he returns, he enters 
 Jerusalem, and causes the wall to be demolished 
 that Judas had built to secure the tempje from the 
 insults of the citadel 
 
 Menelaus, the high-priest, dies; is succeeded by 
 Alcimus, an intruder 
 
 Onias IV. son of Onias III. lawfid heir to the dig- 
 nity of high-priest, retires into Egypt, where, some 
 time after, he builds the temple Onion. See 
 3854. 
 
 Demetrius, son of Seleucus, sent to Rome as a 
 hostage ; escapes from thence, comes into Syria, 
 where he slays his nephew Eupator, also Ly- 
 sias, regent of the kingdom, and is acknowl- 
 edged king of Syria 
 
 1 Mac. iii. 1, 13, 24 ; 
 
 2 Mac. viii. 1 ; Jos. 
 Ant. hb. xii. c. 9. 
 
 42,&c.2aiac. 
 
 viii. 34, &c. Jos. 
 Ant. lib. xii. c. 11. 
 
 - iv.36,&c.2Mac. 
 X. 1, &c. Jos. Ant. 
 lib. xii. c. 11. 
 
 Appian, in Syriacis ; 
 Euseb. in Chron, Jos. 
 Ant. lib. xii. c. 14 ; 
 ] Mac. vi. 17 ; 2 Mac. 
 ix. 29; X. 10, II. 
 
 1 Mac. v. 1, &c. 2 Mac. 
 
 X. 14, 15, &c. 
 
 2 Mac. X. 24—38. 
 
 xi. 1—15. 
 
 1 Mac. xii. 10, &c. 
 
 v. 65, &c. 
 
 vi. 48—54. 
 
 55-62 ; 2 Mac. 
 
 xiii. 23. 
 2 Mac. xiv. 3 ; Jos. Ant. 
 
 lib. xii. c. 15. 
 
 lib. XX. c. 8. 
 
 IMac. vii. 1— 4;2Mac. 
 xiv. 1,2; Jos. Ant. 
 lib. xii. c. 16; Ap- 
 pian in Syriacis ; 
 Just.lib.xxxiv.c.3.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 973 
 
 3842 5248 
 3843 
 
 158 
 
 157 
 
 163 
 
 5251 
 
 160 
 
 3SJ4 
 3846 
 
 156 
 154 
 
 3851 
 3852 
 
 149 
 
 148 
 
 5258 
 
 153 
 
 3854 
 
 146 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Alcimus intercedes with Demetrius for the confirma- 
 tion of the dignity of liigh-priest, which he had 
 received from Eupator 
 
 Alcimus returns into Judea with Bacchides, and en- 
 ters Jerusalem 
 
 Is driven from thence, and returns to Demetrius, who 
 appoints Nicanor, with troojjs, to take him back to 
 Judea. Nicanor makes an accommodation with 
 Judas, and lives for some time on good terms with 
 him 
 
 Alchnus accuses Nicanor of betraying the king's ^ 
 interests. Demetrius oi'ders Nicanor to bring > 
 Judas to him ) 
 
 Judas attacks Nicanor, and kills about 5000 men. . . . 
 
 Death of Rhazis. a famous old man, who chooses 
 rather to die by his own hand, than to fall alive 
 into the ])ower of Nicanor 
 
 Judas obtains a complete victory, in which Nicanor 
 is killed 
 
 Bacchides and Alcimus again sent into Judea 
 
 Judas gives them battle ; dies like a hero, on a heap } 
 of enemies slain by him ^ 
 
 Jonathan Maccabseus chosen chief of his nation, and ? 
 high-priest, in the place of Judas \ 
 
 The envoys return, which Judas had sent to Rome, 
 to make an alliance with the Romans. 
 
 Bacchides pursues Jonathan ; he, after a slight com- ? 
 bat, swims over the Jordan in sight of the enemy. ) 
 
 Alcimus dies 
 
 Jonathan and Simon Maccabseus are besieged in 
 Bethbessen, or Beth-agla. Jonathan goes out of 
 the place, raises soldiers, and defeats several bodies 
 of the enemy 
 
 Simon, his brother, makes several sallies, and opposes 
 Bacchides. 
 
 Jonathan makes proposals of peace to Bacchides, } 
 which are accepted ^ 
 
 Jonathan fixes his abode atMikmash, where he judges 
 the people 
 
 Alexander Balas, natural son of Antiochus Epiph- ) 
 anes, comes into Syria to be acknow ledged king. ^ 
 
 Demetrius Soter, king of Syria, writes to Jonathan, 
 asks soldiers against Alexander Balas. Balas also 
 writes to Jonathan, with offers of fi'iendship, and 
 the dignity of high-priest 
 
 Jonathan assists Balas, puts on the purple, and per- 
 forms the functions of high-priest, for the first time 
 at Jerusalem, which he makes his ordinary resi- 
 dence. In the year of the Greeks 160 
 
 Demetrius's second letter to Jonathan 
 
 Demetrius Soter dies; Alexander Balas is acknowl- 
 edged king of Syria 
 
 Onias IV. son of Onias III. builds the temple of 
 Onion in Egypt 
 
 A dispute between the Jews and Samaritans of Al- 
 exandria, concerning their temples. The Samari- 
 tans condenuied by the king of Egj'pt, and the 
 temple of Jerusalem preferred to that of Gerizim. 
 
 Aristobuhis, a peripatetic Jew, flourishes in Egypt, 
 under Ptolemy Philopator. 
 
 1 Mac. vii. 5 — 9. 
 10, &c. 
 
 26—29. 
 27—32; 
 
 2 Mac. xiv. 26—29 ; 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xii. c. 17. 
 2 Mac. XV. 27. 
 
 xiv. 37—46. 
 
 XV. 27, &c. 
 
 1 Mac. ix. 1, &c. Jos. 
 
 Ant. lib. xii. c. 19. 
 5—21 ; Jos. 
 
 Ant. lib. xii. c. 19. 
 
 . 28, &c. Jos. 
 
 Ant. lib. xiii. c. 1. 
 
 43, &c. Jos. 
 
 Ant. lib. xiii. a. 1. 
 - — 54. 
 
 62, &c. Jos. 
 
 Ant. lib. xiii. c. 1. 
 
 — 70 ; Jos. Ant. 
 lib. xiii. c. 2. 
 
 — 73. 
 
 X. 1 ; Jos. Ant. 
 lib. xiii. c. 3. 
 
 3—9,15—20; 
 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xiii. c. 5. 
 
 21, &c. 
 
 24—45. 
 
 — 50 ; Justin, 
 
 lib. XXXV. c. 1 ; 
 
 Polyb. lib. iii.p, 
 
 161 ; Jos. Ant. 
 
 lib. xiii. c. 5. 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xii. c. 6 ; lib. 
 
 XX. c. 8 ; Bell. 
 
 lib. vii. c. 30.
 
 974 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Calmet. Hales. 
 
 3854 
 
 5258 
 
 146 
 
 153 
 
 3858 
 3859 
 
 142 
 141 
 
 3860 
 
 140 
 
 3861 
 
 3362 
 
 5268 
 
 139 
 
 138 
 
 143 
 
 3364 
 
 3835 
 3836 
 
 38£9 
 
 3870 
 
 5275 
 
 136 
 
 135 
 134 
 
 131 
 
 130 
 
 136 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Demetrius Nicanor, eldest son of Demetrius Soter, ^ 
 cotnes into Cilicia to recover the kingdom of his > 
 father ^ 
 
 Apollonius, to whom Alexander Balas had trusted his 
 affairs, revolts to Demetrius Nicanor 
 
 He marches against Jonathan Maccabseus, who con- 
 tinues in the intei-est of Alexander Balas. Apollo- 
 nius is put to flight 
 
 Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, comes into Syria, 
 pretending to assist Alexander Balas, but he really 
 designs to dethrone him 
 
 Alexander Balas gives battle to Philometor and De- j) 
 metrius Nicanor. He loses it, and flies to Zab- > 
 diel, king of Arabia, and cuts ofl'his head 3 
 
 Ptolemy Philometor dies in Syria. Cleopatra, his i 
 queen, gives the command of her army to Onias, > 
 a Jew, son of Onias III ) 
 
 Onias restrains Ptolemy Physcon, son of Philo- } 
 metor y 
 
 Jonathan besieges the fortress of the Syrians at Je- ? 
 rusalem ^ 
 
 Demetrius comes into Palestine ; Jonathan finds 
 means to gain him by presents 
 
 Demetrius Nicanor attacked by the inhabitants of 
 Antioch, who had revolted. Jonathan sends him 
 soldiers, who deliver him 
 
 Tryphon brings young Antiochus, son of Alexander 
 Balas, out of Arabia, and has him acknowledged 
 king of Syria. Jonathan espouses his interests 
 against Demetrius Nicanor 
 
 Jonathan renews the alliance with the Romans and ) 
 Lacedemonians y 
 
 He is treacherously taken by Tryphon in Ptolemais, 
 who some time afterwards puts him to death 
 
 Simon Maccabteus succeeds Jonathan 
 
 Tryphon slays the young king Antiochus Theos, and 
 usurps the kingdom of Syria 
 
 Simon acknowledges Demetrius Nicanor, who had ^ 
 been dispossessed of the kingdom of Syria, and > 
 obtains from him the entire freedom of the Jews. ) 
 
 The Syrian troops, that held the citadel of Jerusalem, 
 capitulate 
 
 Demetrius Nicator, or Nicanor, goes into Persia with 
 an army ; is taken by the king of Persia 
 
 Simon acknowledged high-priest, and chief of the 
 Jews, in a great assembly at Jerusalem 
 
 Antiochus Sidetes, brother of Demetrius Nicanor, 
 becomes king of Syria; allows Simon to coin 
 money, and confirms all the privileges the Syrian 
 kings had granted to the Jews 
 
 Return of the ambassadors Simon had sent to Rome, 
 to renew his alliance with the Romans 
 
 Antiochus Sidetes quarrels with Simon, and sends 
 Cendebeus into Palestine, to ravage the country. . 
 
 Cendebeus is beaten by John and Judas, Simon's sons. 
 
 Simon killed by treachery, with two of his sons, 
 by Ptolemy, his son-in-law, in the castle of Do- 
 
 cus 
 
 Hyrcanus, or John Hyrcanus, succeeds his father, 
 
 Simon. 
 Antiochus Sidetes besieges Hyrcanus in Jerusalem . 
 
 Hyrcanus obtains a truce of eight days to celebrate 
 
 1 Mac, X. 67 ; Jos. Ant. 
 1. xiii. c. 8 ; Jus- 
 tin, 1. XXXV. c. 2. 
 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xiii. c. 8. 
 
 1 Mac. X. 69—87 ; Jos. 
 Ant. 1. xiii. c. 8. 
 
 xi. 1 — 5 ; Jos. 
 
 Ant. 1. xiii. c. 8. 
 
 xi. 15—17 ; Diod. 
 
 Sic. in Excer. 
 Phot. cod. 244. 
 
 xi. 18 ; Polyb. in 
 
 Excer. Val. p. 194. 
 
 Strab. 1. xvi. p. 751. 
 
 Justin, lib. xxxviii. c. 8 ; 
 
 Jos. cont. Ap. 1. ii. 
 1 Mac. xi. 20 ; Jos. Ant. 
 1. xiii. c. 8. 
 
 21—29. 
 
 43, 44. 
 
 — 54—60; Jos. 
 Ant. 1. xiii. c. 9. 
 
 xii. 1 — 13 ; Jos. 
 Ant. 1. xiii. c. 9. 
 
 — 39—53. 
 xiii. 1—9. 
 
 Diod. Sic. Legat. 31. 
 1 Mac. xii. 34— 42; xiv. 
 
 38—41 ; Jos. Ant. 
 
 I. xiii. c. 11. 
 
 xiii. 49—52. 
 xiv. 1 — 3; Justin, 
 
 1. xxxvi. c. 1 ; Jos. 
 Ant. xiii. c. 9, 12; 
 Orosiu.s, lib. y. c. 4. 
 
 26-49. 
 
 XV. 1, &c. 
 — 15. 
 
 — 26—36. 
 
 — 38—40. 
 
 xvi. 14 — 18 ; Jos. 
 Ant. 1. xiii. c. 14. 
 
 — 20—24 ; Jos. 
 Ant. 1. xiii. c. 14.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 97o 
 
 Caloiel. Hales. 
 
 3870 
 
 3S73 
 
 3874 
 
 3875 
 3877 
 
 3:^^4 
 
 3S98 
 
 5275 
 
 130 
 
 127 
 
 126 
 
 125 
 123 
 
 lOf) 
 105 
 
 102 
 
 136 
 
 5305 
 
 106 
 
 3899 
 
 3900 
 3901 
 
 3902 
 
 3906 
 3907 
 
 5306 
 
 101 
 
 100 
 99 
 
 98 
 
 105 
 
 3919 
 
 81 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 the feast of Tabernacles. Makes peace with An- 
 tiochus 
 
 Hyrcaniis finds money in David's tomb; or rather 
 tlie hidden treasures of the kings of Jiidaii 
 
 Antiochiis Sidetcs goes to war against the Persians ; 
 Hyrcanus accompanies him. Antiochus is con- 
 quered and shiin 
 
 Hyrcanus shakes off the yoke of the kings of Syria, 
 sets himself at perfect liberty, and takes several 
 cities from Syria 
 
 He attacks the Idumeans, and obliges them to re 
 ceive circumcision 
 
 He sends ambassadors to Rome, to renew hisaUiance 
 with the Roman power 
 
 While the two kings of Syria, both of them called 
 Antiochus, war against each other, Hyrcanus 
 strengthens himself in his new monarchy 
 
 He besieges Samaria ; takes it after a year's siege. . . 
 
 Hyrcanus dies, after a reign of twenty-nine years. . . 
 
 Under his government is placed the beginning of the 
 three principal Jewish sects, the Pharisees, the 
 Sadducees and the Esseniaus, but their exact 
 epochas are not kno\vn. 
 
 Judas, otherwise called Aristobulus, or Philellen, 
 succeeds John Hyrcanus, associates his brother 
 Antigonus with him in the government, leaves his 
 other brethren and his mother in bonds. Lets his 
 mother starve in j '.ison ; takes the diadem and title 
 of king. Reigns one year 
 
 He declares war against the Itureans. Antigonus, 
 his brother, beats them, and obliges them to be 
 circumcised 
 
 Antigonus slain at his return from this expedition, by 
 onier of his brother Aristobulus 
 
 Aristobulus dies, after reigning one year. Alexander 
 Jannseus, his brother, succeeds him ; reigns twen- 
 ty-si.x years. He attempts Ptolemais, but hearing 
 that Ptolemy Lathurus was coming to relieve the 
 city, he raises the siege, and wastes the coun- 
 try 
 
 Ptolemy Lathurus obtains a great victory over Alex- 
 ander, king of the Jews 
 
 Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, fearing that Lathurus 
 should give her disturbance in Egypt, sends the 
 Jews Helcias and Ananias, against him, with a 
 ])owerful army. She takes Ptolemais 
 
 Alexander Jannjeus, king of the Jews, makes an 
 alliance with Cleopatra, and takes some places in 
 Palestine 
 
 Attacks Gaza, takes it, and demolishes it. 
 
 The Jews revolt against him, but he subdues them. 
 
 He wages several Avars abroad with success. 
 
 His subjects war against him during six years, and 
 invite to their assistance Demetrius Eucenis, king 
 of Syria 
 
 Alexander loses the battle, but the consideration of 
 his misfortunes reconciles his subjects to him. 
 
 Demetrius Eucerus obliged to retire into Syria. The 
 years of these events are not well known. 
 
 Antiochus Dionysius, king of Syria, invades Judea ; 
 attacks the Arabians, but is beaten and slain. 
 Aretas, king of the Arabiajis, attacks Alexander; 
 having overcome him, treats with him, and re- 
 tires. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xiii. c. 16 ; 
 Diod. Sic. xxxiv. p. 901. 
 
 Jo3. Ant. lib. xiii. c. 16. 
 
 Justin, I. xxxviii, c. 10. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xiii. c. 17 ; 
 Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 76. 
 XV. c. 11 ; 
 
 Strabo, 1. xvi. p. 7G0. 
 xiii. c. 17. 
 
 c. 18. 
 
 Euseb. in Chron. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xiii. c. 19 ; 
 de Bell. lib. i.e. 3. 
 
 Jos. ubi sup. 
 
 c. 20. 
 c. 20, 21. 
 
 C.21. 
 
 C.22.
 
 ^7Q 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 3920 
 3926 
 
 3933 
 
 3934 
 3935 
 
 3935 
 
 5306 
 5333 
 
 5342 
 
 80 
 74 
 
 67 
 
 66 
 65 
 
 3938 
 
 62 
 
 5342 
 
 3939 
 
 6] 
 
 3940 
 
 3941 
 
 5348 
 
 60 
 
 59 
 
 3947 
 
 53 
 
 105 
 
 78 
 
 69 
 
 69 
 
 63 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Alexander Jannseus takes the cities of Diou, Gerasa, 
 Gaulon, Seleuci, &c. 
 
 Alexander Jannseus dies, aged forty-nine years 
 
 Alexandra, otherwise Salome, or Salina, his queen, 
 succeeds him ; gains the Pharisees to her party, by 
 giving them great power. Reigns nine years. 
 
 Aristobulus II. son of Alexander Jannseus, heads the 
 old soldiers of his father ; is discontented with the 
 government of his mother and the Pharisees 
 
 Takes possession of the chief places of Judea, during 
 his mother's sickness 
 
 Alexandra dies. Hyrcanus, her eldest son, and 
 brother of Aristobulus, is acknowledged king. 
 Reigns peaceably two years. 
 
 Battle between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus ; Hyrcanus 
 is overcome at Jericho. Hyrcanus had lieen high- 
 priest under the reign of his mother nine years; 
 then is king and pontiff two years ; is afterwards 
 only priest nineteen years ; after wliich he is eth- 
 narch four years. At last, he is Herod's captive 
 and sport eight years. So that he survived his 
 fatner, Alexander Jannajus, forty-eight years 
 
 Peace concluded between the brothers, on condition 
 that Hyrcanus should liv'e private, in the enjoy- 
 ment of his estate, and Aristobulus be acknowl- 
 edged high-priest and king. Thus Hyrcanus, 
 having reigned three years and three montJis, re- 
 signs the kingdom to Aristobulus II. who reigns 
 three years and three months 
 
 Hyrcanus, at the instigation of Antipater, seeks pro- 
 tection from Aretas, king of the Arabians. 
 
 Aretas, king of the Arabians, undei-takes to replace 
 Hyrcanus on the throne '. 
 
 Aristobulus is worsted, and forced to shut himself up 
 in the temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 He sends deputations, first to Galiinius, and then to 
 Scaurus, who were sent by Pompey into Syria ; 
 offers them great sums of money to engage on his 
 sid'!, and to oi)lige Aretas to raise the siege of the 
 temj)le 
 
 Scaurus writes to Ai'ctas, and threatens to declare 
 him an enemy to the Roman people, if he does not 
 retire. 
 
 Aretas withdraws his forces ; Aristobulus pursues him, 
 gives him battle, and olitains a victory over him. 
 
 Pompey comes to Damascus, and orders Aristobulus 
 and Hyrcanus to appear before liim. Hears the 
 cause of the two brothers, and advises them to live 
 in good understanding witii each other 
 
 Aristobulus withdraws into Jerusalem, and maintains 
 the city against Pompey, who besieges it. The 
 city and temple taken. Aristobulus taken prison- 
 er. Hyrcanus made high-jiriest and prince of the 
 Jews, but not allowed to wear the diadem. Judea 
 reduceil to its ancient limits, and obliged to pay 
 tribute to the Romans 
 
 Alexander, son of Aristobulus, having escaped from 
 the custody of those who were carrying him to 
 Rome, comes into Judea, and raises soldiers 
 
 End of the kingdom of Syria. 
 
 Augustus, afterwards emperor, is born. 
 
 Gabinius, a Roman commander, beats Alexander, and 
 besieges him in the castle of Alexandrion. Alex- 
 ander sun-enders, with all his strong places. 
 
 Jos. Ant, lib. xiii. c. 23. 
 
 24. 
 
 lib. xiv. c. 1 ; 
 Bel. lib. i. c. 4. 
 
 Jos. ubi sup. 
 
 c. 3:Behlib.i.5. 
 
 c. 4. 
 
 c. 5. 
 
 c. 5—7. 
 
 Strab. lib. xvi. p. 762. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xiii. c. 10; 
 Bel. hb. i c. 6.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 977 
 
 3948 
 
 5348 
 
 3949 
 
 51 
 
 3950 
 3951 
 
 3[I52 
 
 5358 
 
 50 
 49 
 
 48 
 
 3955 
 
 45 
 
 3957 
 
 43 
 
 53G4 
 
 3958 
 
 42 
 
 G3 
 
 53 
 
 47 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 3959 
 
 41 
 
 Aristobulu?!, escaping from Rome, returns into Jiulea, 
 ami endeavors to repair the castle of Alexandrion. 
 Is hindered Ity tlie Romans, wlio disperse his httle 
 army. lie flees to Machoeron, determining to for- 
 tify it, but is presently besieged in it. After some 
 resistance, is taken, and sent a second time pris- 
 oner to Rome 
 
 Ptolemy Auletes, king of Egypt, by money, induces 
 Gabinius to come into Egypt, to restore him to the 
 throne. Joiin Hyrcanus furnishes Gabinius Avith 
 provisions for his army, and writes to the Jews, in 
 Pelusium, to favor the passage of the Romans. . . . 
 
 While Gabinius is busy in Egypt, Alexander, son of 
 Aristobulus, wastes Jiulea. Gabinius defeats hmi 
 at the foot of mount Tabor 
 
 Crassus succeeds Gabinius in the government of 
 Syria 
 
 Crassus, passing into Syria, and finding the province 
 quiet, makes war against the Parthians. 
 
 lie comes to Jerusalem, and takes gi-eat riches out 
 of the temple 
 
 He marches against the Parthians : is beaten and 
 killed by Orodes 
 
 Cassius brings the remains of the Roman army over 
 the Euphrates, takes Tirhakah, and brings from 
 thence above 30,000 Jewish captives. 
 
 He restrains Alexander, son of king Aristobulus. 
 
 Civil war between Ctesar and Pompey 
 
 Julius Caesar, making himself master of Rome, sets 
 Aristobulus at liberty, and sends him with two le- 
 gions into Syria. 
 
 Those of Pompey's party poison Aristobulus. 
 
 Scipio slays young Alexander, son of Aristobulus. 
 
 The battle of Pharsalia. Antipater governor of 
 Judea. 
 
 The libraiy of Alexandria burnt. 
 
 Antipater, by order of Hyrcanus, joins Mithridates, 
 who was going into Egjpt with succors for Cassar, 
 and assists him in reducing the Egyptians. 
 
 Cajsar, having finished the war in Egypt, comes into 
 Syria ; confirms Hyrcanus in the high-priesthood. 
 
 Vitruvhis, the architect, flourishes. 
 
 Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, remonstrates to 
 Ciesar ; but Cresar is pn^judiced against hun by 
 Antip'ater 
 
 Antipater takes advantage of the indolence of Hyr- 
 canus ; makes his eldest son, Phazael, governor of 
 Jerusalem, and Herod, another of his sons, gov- 
 ernor of Galilee 
 
 Herod is sunmioncd to Jerusalem to give an account 
 of his conduct, but, finding himself in danger of 
 being condemned, retires to his government. 
 
 Hillel and Sameas, two famous rabbins, live about 
 this time. Sameas was master to Hillel. Jona- 
 than, son of Uziel, author of the Chaldee para- 
 l)hrase, was a disciple of Hillel. Josephus says, 
 that Pollio wr.s master of Sameas. Jerome says, 
 that Akiba succeeded Sameas and Hillel in the 
 school of the Hebrews. 
 
 CfBsar passes into Africa. Cato kills himself at Utica. 
 
 Reform of the Roman Calendar, in the year of Rome 
 
 708. This year consisted of 445 days 
 
 Hyrcanus sends ambassadoi-s to Julius Caesar, to re- 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xiv. c. 11 ; 
 Bel. lib. i. c. 6. 
 
 Dion. Cas. lib. xxxix ; 
 Plutarch in Anton. 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xiv. c. 11. 
 
 Jos. ubi sup. 
 
 Dion. Cas. lib. xxxix. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xiv. c. 12. 
 Dion. Cas. lib. xl. 
 
 Pint, in Caes. etc. 
 Dion. Cas. lib. xli. 
 App. Bel. civ. lib. ii. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xiv. c. 15 ; 
 Bel. lib. i. c. 8. 
 
 c. 17. 
 
 Censorin. c. 20. 
 
 12.3
 
 978 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 3960 
 
 3961 
 
 3962 
 
 3963 
 
 5364 
 
 40 
 
 39 
 
 38 
 
 37 
 
 47 
 
 3964 
 
 36 
 
 5371 
 5374 
 
 3965 
 
 35 
 
 3966 
 3967 
 
 34 
 33 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 new alliance. The alliance renewed in a manner 
 very advantageous to the Jews. 
 
 After the death of Julius Caesar, the ambassadors of 
 the Jews are introduced into the senate, and obtain 
 their whole request. 
 
 The Jews of Asia confirmed in their privilege of not 
 being compelled to sei"ve in the wars. 
 
 Cassius demands 700 talents from Judea. Malichus 
 causes Antipater to be poisoned 
 
 Herod causes Malichus to be killed, to revenge the 
 death of his father Antipater. 
 
 Felix, having attacked Phazael, is shut up bj' him in 
 a tower, whence Phazael would not release him 
 but on composition. 
 
 The era of Spain, Spain being now subdued to Au- 
 gustus by Domitius Calvinus. 
 
 Herod and Phazael tetrarchs of Judea 
 
 Antigonus 11. son of Ai'istobulus, gathers an army, 
 and enters Judea. 
 
 Herod gives-him battle, and routs him. 
 
 Mark Antony coming into Bithynia, some Jews 
 resort to him, and accuse Herod and Phazael be- 
 fore him ; but Herod, coming thither, wins the 
 affections of Antony 
 
 Mark Antony, being at Ephesus, grants the liberty 
 of their nation to such Jews as had been brought 
 captive by Cassius, and causes the lands to be re- 
 stored that had been unjustly taken away from the 
 Jevvs. 
 
 Mark Antony coming to Autioch, some principal 
 Jews accuse Herod and Phazael, but, instead of 
 hearing them, he establishes the two brothers te- 
 trarchs of the Jews 
 
 The Jews afterwards send a deputation of a thou- 
 sand of their most considerable men to Antony, 
 then at Tyre ; but in vain 
 
 Antigonus, sou of Aristobulus, prevails with the 
 Parthians to place him on the throne of Judea. 
 The Parthians seize Hyi'canus and Phazael, and 
 deliver them up to Antigonus 
 
 Phazael beats out his own brains ; the Parthians 
 carry Hyrcanus beyond the Euphrates, after Antig- 
 onus had cut oft' his ears. 
 
 Herod forced to flee to Jerusalem, and thence to 
 Rome, to implore assistance from Antony. He 
 obtains the kingdom of Judea from the senate, and 
 returns with letters from Antony, who orders the 
 governors of Syria to assist in obtaining the king- 
 dom. He reigns thirty-seven years 
 
 He first takes Joppa, then goes to Massada, where 
 his brother Joseph was besieged by Antigonus. . . 
 
 He raises that siege, and marches against Jerusalem ; 
 but, the season being too far advauced, he coidd not 
 then besiege it 
 
 He takes the robbers that hid themselves in the caves 
 of Galilee, and slays them. 
 
 3Iachcra, a Roman captain, and Josej)h, Herod's 
 brother, carry on the war against Antigonus, while 
 Herod goes with troops to Antony, then besieging 
 Samosata 
 
 After the taking of Samosata, Antony sends Sosius, 
 with Herod, into Judea, to reduce it 
 
 After several battles, Herod marches against Jerusa- 
 lem ; the city is taken ; Antigonus surrenders him- 
 self to Sosius, who insults him. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xiv. c. 18. 
 19. 
 
 C.23. 
 
 C.22. 
 
 c.23. 
 
 •c.24,25. 
 
 c.26. 
 C.27.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 979 
 
 Calmet. Hales. 
 
 3967 5374 33 
 
 39G8 
 
 39C9 
 3970 
 
 3973 
 
 3974 
 
 3975 
 3976 
 3978 
 
 3979 
 
 3982 
 
 3983 
 
 3984 
 3985 
 
 3988 
 
 3989 
 3990 
 
 3991 
 
 3993 
 3994 
 
 27 
 
 26 
 
 25 
 24 
 22 
 
 21 
 
 18 
 
 17 
 
 16 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 37 
 
 KROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Antigomis carr.ed prisoner to Antony, at Antiocli, 
 who orders him to be beheaded 
 
 End of the rei^i of the Asmoneans, which had lasted 
 126 years. 
 
 Ananel higli-priest the first time 
 
 Hyrcanus is treated kindly by the king of the Par- 
 tliians. Obtains leave to return into Judea. 
 
 Because Hi'rcanus could no longer exercise the 
 functions of the high-priesthood, Herod bestows 
 that dignity on Ananel 
 
 Alexandra, mother of Mariamne and Aristobulus, ob- 
 tains of Herod, that Aristobulus might be made 
 high-priest. 
 
 Herod causes Aristobulus to be drowned, after he 
 had been high-priest one year. 
 
 Ananel high-priest the second time 
 
 Herod is sent for by Antony to justify himself con- 
 cerning the murder of Aristobulus 
 
 War between Augustus and Mark Antony. Herod 
 sides with Antony. 
 
 Herod's wars with the Arabians. 
 
 A great earthquake in Judea 
 
 The battle of Actium ; Augustus obtains the vie- ) 
 tory over Antony s 
 
 Herod seizes Hyrcanus, who attempted to take shel- 
 ter with the king of the Arabians, and puts him to 
 death. 
 
 He goes to Rome to pay his court to Augustus ; 
 obtains the confirmation of the kingdom of Ju- 
 dea. , 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra kill themselves. 
 
 E7ul of the ki7igs of Alexandria^ 294 years from the 
 death of Alexander the Great. 
 
 Augustus comes into Syria ; passes through Pales- 
 tine ; is magnificently entertained by Herod. 
 
 Herod puts to death his wife Mariamne, daughter of 
 Alexandra. 
 
 Salome, Herod's sister, divorces herself from Costo- 
 barus. 
 
 Plague and famine rage in Judea. 
 
 Herod undertakes several buildings, contrary to the 
 religion of the Jews 
 
 He builds Caisarea of Palestine. 
 
 Agrippa, Augustus's favorite, comes into Asia. Herod 
 visits him 
 
 Augustus gives Trachonitis to Herod. 
 
 Herod undertakes to rebuild the temple of Jeru- 
 salem 
 
 Herod makes a journey to Rome, to reconmiend him- 
 self to Augustus 
 
 He marries his two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus. 
 
 Herod comes to meet Agrippa, and engages him to 
 visit Jerusalem. 
 
 Domestic divisions in Herod's family. Salome, Phe- 
 roras and Antipater at variance with Alexander 
 and Aristobulus 
 
 Herod goes to Rome, and accuses his two sons, 
 Alexander and Aristobulus, to Augustus. 
 
 The solemn dedication of the city of Caesarea, built 
 by Herod, in honor of Augustus. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xiv. c. 27. 
 
 XV. c. 2. 
 
 — c. 2, 3. 
 
 Jos. ubi sup. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xv. c. 4. 
 
 c.7; 
 
 Bel. lib. i. c. 14. 
 Dion. Cas. lib. li. 
 Plut. in Ant. etc. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xv. c. 11. 
 
 c. 13. 
 
 c. 14. 
 
 xvi. c. 1. 
 
 -C.6— 12.
 
 980 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Calmet. Hales. 
 
 3995 
 
 3996 
 
 3997 
 
 3998 
 
 3999 
 
 5374 
 
 37 
 
 5406 
 
 Augustus continues the Jews of Alexajidria in their 
 ancient rights and privileges. 
 
 Herod, it is said, causes David's tomb to be opened, 
 to take out treasure. 
 
 New disturbances in Herod's family. 
 
 Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, reconciles his son-in- 
 law, Alexander, to his father, Herod. 
 
 Archelaus goes to Rome with Herod. 
 
 Herod makes war in Arabia. 
 
 Herod is accused to Augustus of killing several Arabs. 
 
 An angel appears to the priest Zacharias. The con- 
 ception of John the Baptist. September 24th. . . . 
 
 iVnnunciation of the Incarnation of the Son of God, 
 to the Virgin Mary. March 25th 
 
 Herod condemns and slays his two sons Alexander 
 and Aristobul us 
 
 Antipater, son of Herod, aims at the kingdom 
 
 Herod sends Antipater to Rome. 
 
 The artifices and tricks of Antipater are discovered. 
 
 Birth of John the Baptist, six months before the birth 
 of Jesus, June 24th 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xvi. c. 15 
 
 Luke i. 9—20. 
 
 26—38. 
 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xvi. c. 17. 
 1. xvii. c. ] . 
 
 Luke i. 57—80.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 981 
 
 Vcir ct 
 World. 
 
 Before 
 
 Clirist. 
 
 B.-f.,re 
 A.D. 
 
 Ye.ir of 
 Chrisl. 
 
 FRO.M THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 
 Caliaet. 
 
 Hiles. 
 
 Calmcl. 
 
 The l)iitli of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 
 4000 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4001 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 December 25th 
 
 Luke ii. 7. 
 21. 
 
 Circumcision of Jesus, January 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 Antipater retmnis from Rome. Is accused and ) 
 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xvii. c. 7, 9 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 convicted of a design to i)oison Herod ^ 
 
 Bel. lib. i. c. 20, 21. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wise men come to worship Jesus 
 
 Matt. ii. 1—12. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Purification of the \'irgin Mary ; Jesus presented in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 the temi)ie, forty days after his birth, Feb. 2d 
 
 Luke ii. 22—38. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fhght into Egy|)t 
 
 Matt. ii. 13—15. 
 
 
 
 
 
 iMa.-^sacre of the innocents at Bethleiiem 
 
 10, 17. 
 
 Antipater put to death by order of Herod. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Herod dies, five days after Antipater 
 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xvii. c. 8 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Euseb. Hist. Ec. i. 8. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Archelaus appointed king of Judea by the will of ) 
 Herod ^ 
 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xvii. c. 13 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 Matt. ii. 22. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Return of Jesus Christ out of Egypt. He goes to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 dwell at Nazareth 
 
 Matt. ii. 19—23. 
 
 Archelaus goes to Rome, to procure from Augustus 
 
 
 
 
 
 the confirmation of Herod's will in his favor. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Jews revolt ; Varus keeps them in their duty. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Archelaus obtains a part of his father's dominions. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 with the title of tetrarch, and returns to Judea. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 An impostor assumes the character of Alexander, son 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of Herod and Mariamne. 
 
 
 4002 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Archelaus takes the high-priesthood from Joazar, 
 
 and gives it to Eleazar. 
 The Vulgar ^ra, or Anno Domini ; the fourth year 
 
 of Jesus Christ, the first of which has but eight 
 
 
 
 A. D. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 days. 
 
 
 4009 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 Archelaus banished to Vienne in Gaul 
 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xvii. c. 15. 
 
 4010 
 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 Enrolment, or taxation, by Cyrenius in Syria. 
 
 This was his second enrolment. 
 Revolt of Judas the Gaulonite, chief of the Ilero- 
 
 dians. 
 
 
 4012 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 Jesus Christ, at twelve years of age, visits the temple 
 at Jerusalem ; continues there three days, unknown 
 to his parents 
 
 Luke ii. 46—48. 
 
 4013 
 
 
 10 
 
 13 
 
 Marcus Ambivius governor of Judea 
 
 Jos. Ant. 1. xvii. c. 15. 
 
 4017 
 
 
 14 
 
 17 
 
 Death of the emperor Augustus ; reigned fifty-seven 
 years, five months, and four days r 
 
 Vel. Pat. lib. ii. c. 123 ; 
 Suet, in Oct. c. 100 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tacitus, 1. i. c. 5, 7. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tiberius succeeds him ; reigns tw^enty-two years, six 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xviii. c. 3, 
 
 
 
 
 
 months, and twenty-eight days 
 
 &c. 
 
 4023 
 
 
 20 
 
 23 
 
 Tiberius expels from Italy all who profess the Jewish 
 religion, or practise Egyptian superstitions. 
 
 
 4031 
 
 25 
 
 28 
 
 31 
 
 Pilate sent *''overnor into Judea 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 He attempts to bring the Roman colors and ensigns 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 into Jerusalem, but is opposed by the Jew s. 
 
 
 4032 
 
 26 
 
 29 
 
 32 
 
 John the Baptist begins to preach 
 
 Matt. iii. 1 ; 
 
 Luke iii. 2, 3 ; 
 John i. 18. 
 
 4033 
 
 27 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 Jesus Christ baptized by John 
 
 13 17 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 INIark i. 9 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Luke iii. 21. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jesus goes into the desert 
 
 - iv 1 11 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mark i. 12 ; 
 Luke iv. 1. 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 After forty days, Jesus returns to John. He calls 
 Andrew, Simon, Philip and Nathanael 
 
 The marriage in Cana, where Jesus changes water 
 into wine 
 
 Jesus comes to Capernaum; thence to Jerusalem, 
 where he celebrates the first passover after his 
 baptism, April 15th, this year 
 
 12, &c. 
 
 John ii. 1. 
 
 Matt, ix.— xii. 
 John ii. 12 — 25. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night 
 
 John iii. 1—21. 

 
 982 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 4033 
 
 28 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 4034 
 
 4035 
 
 31 
 
 32 
 
 34 
 
 35 
 
 30 
 
 1036 
 
 31 
 
 33 
 
 36 
 
 FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 Jesus goes to the banks of Jordan, where he baptizes. 
 Herod Antipas marries Herodias, his brother Philip's 
 
 wife, Philip being yet living. 
 John the Baptist declares vehemently against this ) 
 
 marriage ; he is put in prison ^ 
 
 Jesus withdraws into Galilee ; converts the Samari- 
 tan woman, and several Samaritans 
 
 Preaclies at Nazareth, and leaves this city to dwell 
 in Capernaum 
 
 Calling of Simon, Andrew, James and John, by Je- 
 sus Christ 
 
 Jesus Chi-ist works sevei-al miracles. 
 
 Matthew called. 
 
 The second passover of our Saviour's public ministry. 
 Our Savioui"'s sermon on the mount 
 
 John the Baptist, in prison, sends a deputation to ) 
 
 Jesus, to inquire if he were the Messiah ^ 
 
 Mission of the apostles into several parts of Judea. . 
 
 John the Baptist slain, by order of Herod, at the ^ 
 instigation of Herodias, in the seventeenth year > 
 of Tiberius ) 
 
 Jesus Christ feeds 5000 men, with five loaves and 
 two fishes 
 
 Jesus Christ's third passover, after his baptism. 
 
 He passes through Judea and Galilee, teaching ) 
 
 and doing miracles I 
 
 Transfiguration of Jesus Christ 
 
 Mission of the seventj^-two disciples 
 
 Jesus goes to Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost. . . 
 
 His relations would have him go to the feast of Tab- 
 ernacles ; he tells them his hour is not yet come ; 
 however, he goes thither about the middle of the 
 feast 
 
 At the beginning of the thirty-sixth year of Jesus 
 Christ, Lazarus falls sick, and dies ; Jesus comes 
 from beyond Jordan, and restores him to life 
 
 Jesus retires to Ephraim on Jordan, to avoid the 
 snares and malice of the Jews of Jerusalem 
 
 He comes to Jerusalem, to be present at his last 
 passover 
 
 On Sunday, March 29, of Nisan 9, he arrives at 
 Bethany ; sups with Simon tlie leper 
 
 Monday, March 30, his triumphant entry into Je- ? 
 rusalem ^ 
 
 Tuesday, March 31, he comes again to Jerusalem ; ? 
 on his way curses the barren fig-tree '. . ( 
 
 Wednesday, April 1, the priests and scribes con- / 
 suit on means to apprehend him ^ 
 
 Thursday, April 2 ; he passeth this day on the mount 
 of Olives; sends Peter and John into the city, to 
 prepare for the passover 
 
 Thiu-sday evening, he goes into the city, and eats 
 his last supper with his apostles ; institutes the 
 Eucharist. After supper, lie retires with them 
 
 John iii. 22. 
 
 Matt. xiv. 3—5; Mark 
 vi. 17—20 ; Luke 
 iii. 19. 
 
 John i^ . 1—42. 
 
 Luke iv. 16—32. 
 
 Matt. iv. 18—22 ; Mark i. 
 
 17—20 ; Luke v. 1 
 
 —11. 
 Mark i. 23—27 ; ii. 12 ; 
 
 Matt. viii. 14—17 ; 
 
 Luke iv. 35 ; v. 25. 
 Matt. ix. 9 ; Mark ii. 14 ; 
 
 Luke V. 27. 
 
 V. 1 — vii. 29 ; Luke 
 
 vi. 20—49. 
 xi. 2 — 6 ; Luke vii. 
 
 18—23. 
 X. Mark vi. 7—13 ; 
 
 Luke ix. 1 — 6. 
 
 xiv. 1 ; IVIark vi. 14 ; 
 
 Luke ix. 7. 
 15 ; Mark vi. 35 ; 
 
 Luke ix. 12 ; John 
 
 vi. a 
 
 ix. 35 ; JMark vi. 6. 
 
 xvii. 1 ; Mark Lx. 
 
 2 ; Luke ix. 28. 
 Luke X. 1 — 16. 
 John V. 1. 
 
 vii. 1—39. 
 
 xi. 17—46. 
 
 54. 
 
 Matt. xxi. 1 ; Mark xi. 1 ; 
 
 Luke xix.29 ; John 
 
 xii. 12. 
 
 John xii. 1 — 8. 
 
 Matt. xxi. 8 ; Mark xi. 
 
 8; Luke xix. 36; 
 
 John xii. 1.3. 
 xxi. 18, 19 ; Mai-k 
 
 xi. 12—14. 
 Mark xi. 18 ; Luke xix. 
 
 47, 48. 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 17 ; Mark xiv. 
 
 12 ; Luke xxii. 7. 
 20; 3Iark xiv. 
 
 17 ; Luke xxii. 14 ; 
 
 John xiii. 1 ; Matt.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 983 
 
 4036 31 
 
 as 
 
 36 
 
 4037 
 
 31 
 
 34 
 35 
 
 34 
 
 37 
 
 4038 
 4039 
 4040 
 
 35 
 C6 
 37 
 
 38 
 39 
 40 
 
 4041 
 
 38 
 
 41 
 
 FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 into the garden of Gethsemane, where Judas, ac- 
 companied by the soldiers, seizes him 
 
 In the night-time, Jesus is conducted to Annas, ? 
 father-in-law of the high-priest Caiaphas ^ 
 
 Friday, April 3, Nisan 14, he is caiTied to Pilate, ^ 
 accused, condemned, and crucified on Calvary.. > 
 
 Towards evening, before the repose of the sabbath b 
 begins, he is taken down from the cross, em- > 
 balmed, and laid in a tomb ) 
 
 The priests set guards about it, and seal up the entry 
 of the sepulchre 
 
 He continues in the tomb all Friday night, all Satur- 
 day, (that is, the sabbath,) and Saturday night, till 
 Sunday morning. 
 
 He rises on Sunday morning 
 
 Angels declare his resurrection to the holy women 
 who visit his tomb 
 
 Jesus himself appears ; 1. to Mary Magdalen, who 
 mistakes him for the gardener ; 2. to the holy 
 women, returning from the sepulchre ; 3. to Peter ; 
 4. to the two disciples going to Emmaus ; 5. to the 
 apostles assembled in an apartment at Jerusalem, 
 excepting Thomas, who was absent : all this on the 
 day of his resurrection 
 
 Eight days after, in the same place, he again visits his 
 disciples, and convinces Thomas, now present.. . . 
 
 The apostles return into Galilee. Jesus shows ) 
 himself to them on several occasions ^ 
 
 The apostles, having passed about twenty-eight days 
 in Galilee, return to Jerusalem. 
 
 Jesus appears to them while at table, in Jerusalem, 
 Maj' 14. Having taken them out of the city, to 
 the mount of Olives, he ascends into heaven before 
 them all, on the fortieth day after his resurrection. 
 
 Ten days after, being the feast of Pentecost, the Holy 
 Ghost descends upon them in the form of tongues 
 of fire 
 
 Seven deacons chosen 
 
 St. Stephen martyred 
 
 Saul persecutes the church; his conversion 
 
 Pilate writes to Tiberius respecting the death of Je- 
 sus Christ. 
 
 James the lesser made bishop of Jerusalem. 
 
 Philip the deacon baptizes the eunuch of queen 
 Candacc 
 
 Dispersion of believei-s from Jerusalem 
 
 Agrippa the younger, being much involved in debt 
 in Judea, resolves on going to Rome. 
 
 He arrives at Rome, and devotes himself to Caius, 
 afterwards emperor. 
 
 He falls under the displeasure of Tiberius, and is put 
 in prison. 
 
 Pilate ordered into Italy. 
 
 Tiberius dies ; Caius Calisula succeed^ 
 
 Agrippa sot at liberty, and promoted to honor. 
 
 Apollonius Tyanicus becomes famous about the end 
 of Tiberius's reign. 
 
 It is thought that about this time St. Peter comes to 
 Anlioch. 
 
 St. Paul escapes from Damascus, by being let down 
 in a basket 
 
 xxvi. 30 ; INIark x'lv. 
 
 26 ; Luke xxii. 39 ; 
 
 John xviii. ], 3. 
 Matt. xxvi. 57 ; INIark xiv. 
 
 53 ; Luke xxii. 54 ; 
 
 John xviii. 13. 
 xxvii. 2, 11—14; 
 
 Markxv.l;Lu.xxiii. 
 
 1 ; John xviii. 28. 
 57 ; Mark xv. 
 
 42 ; Luke xxiii. 50 ; 
 
 John xix. 38. 
 
 66. 
 
 xxviii. 2. 
 
 John XX. 11. 
 14. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 9 ; John xx. 
 
 18. 
 Luke xxiv. 36. 
 
 John XX. 19—23. 
 Mark xvi. 14 ; John xx. 
 
 26. 
 Matt, xviii. 16—18 ; 
 
 John xxi. 1. 
 
 Luke xxiv. 30, 31 ; Acts 
 i. 9. 
 
 Acts ii. 
 
 vi. 1—6. 
 
 8— vii. 60. 
 
 viii. 1— ix. 1—19. 
 
 26—40. 
 1. 
 
 Sueton. in Calig. 
 
 Acts ix. 23—25.
 
 984 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 4041 
 
 35 
 
 38 
 
 41 
 
 4042 
 
 4043 
 
 39 
 
 40 
 
 42 
 
 43 
 
 4044 
 
 41 
 
 44 
 
 4045 
 404G 
 4047 
 
 44 
 
 42 
 43 
 44 
 
 FROM THE BIKTH OF CHRIST TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 4048 
 
 4049 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 48 
 
 49 
 
 He comes to Jerusalem ; Baraabas introduces him 
 to the apostles and disciples 
 
 He goes to Tarsus in Cilicia, his native country 
 
 Caligula gives Agrippa the tetrarchy of his uncle 
 Philip ; he retm-ns into Judea ; passing through 
 Alexandria, he is ridiculed by the inhabitants. 
 
 The citizens of Alexandria make an uproar against 
 tlie Jews, at the instigation of Flaccus. 
 
 Pilate kills himself. 
 
 Flaccus apprehended, and carried to Rome ; is ban- 
 ished by order of Caligula. 
 
 Ilerod the tetrarch goes to Rome, in hopes of ob- 
 taining some favor from the emperor. But Calig- 
 ula, being prepossessed by Agrippa, banishes him 
 to Lyons. 
 
 Caligula orders Petronius to place his statue in the 
 temple of Jerusalem. The Jews obtain some de- 
 lay from Petronius. 
 
 Agrippa endeavors to divert the emperor from this 
 thought, at last, as a great favor, that this statue 
 should not be set up. 
 
 Philo, the Jew, goes with a deputation from the 
 Jews at Alexandria to Caligula, 
 
 Philo obtains an audience of the emperor, and runs 
 the hazard of his life. 
 
 Tumults in Chaldea ; the Jews quit Babylon, and re- 
 tire to Seleucia. 
 
 About this time, Helena, queen of the Adiabenians, 
 and Izates, her son, embrace Judaism. 
 
 Cains Caligula dies; Claudius succeeds him. Agrip- 
 pa persuades him to accept the empire oflered by 
 the army. Claudius adds Judea and Samaria to 
 Agrippa's dominions 
 
 Agri])]>a returns to Judea ; takes the high-priesthood 
 from Theophilus, sou of Ananus ; gives it to Simon 
 Cantharus. 
 
 Soon after, takes this dignity from Cantharus, and 
 gives it to Matthias. 
 
 Peter comes to Rome in the reign of Claudius. The 
 year not certain. 
 
 Agrippa deprives the high-priest Matthias of the 
 priesthood ; bestows it on Elioneus, son of Cithcus. 
 
 Causes the apostle James the greater to be seized, ) 
 and beheads him ^ 
 
 Peter also put into prison by his order, but is liberated 
 by an angel 
 
 Some time afterwards, Agrippa, at Csesarea, receives 
 a sudden stroke from heaven, and dies in great 
 misery 
 
 Paul and Barnabas go to Jerusalem with the contri- 
 butions of the believers of Antioch 
 
 At their return to Antioch, the church sends them 
 forth to preach to the Gentiles, wherever the Holy 
 Ghost should lead them 
 
 Cuspius Fadus sent into Judea, as governor. 
 
 A great famine in Judea 
 
 Paul and Barnabas go to Cy|)rus, thence to Pamphy- 
 lia, Pisidia and Lycaonia. (But see under Pauj..). 
 
 At Lystra, the people prepare sacrifices to them as 
 gods 
 
 They return to Antioch 
 
 The First Epistle of Peter 
 
 About this time INIark writes his Gospel 
 
 Cuspius Fadus recalled ; the government of Judea 
 given to Til)erius Alexander 
 
 Acts ix. 26—29. 
 30. 
 
 Sueton. in Claud. 
 
 Acts xii. 1, 2; 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xix. c. 8. 
 
 3—17. 
 
 21—23. 
 
 xi. 2G— 30 ; xii. 25. 
 
 xiii. 1—3. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xx. c. 2. 
 
 Acts xiii. 4 — xiv. 10. 
 
 xiv. 11—18. 
 
 19—23. 
 
 1st Peter. 
 Gospel of Mark. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xx. c. 5.
 
 A chr(5nological table of the holy bible. 
 
 985 
 
 4051 
 
 4052 
 4054 
 
 44 
 
 48 
 
 49 
 51 
 
 49 
 
 4055 
 4056 
 
 52 
 53 
 
 4057 
 
 54 
 
 4058 
 4059 
 4060 
 
 4061 
 4062 
 
 4063 
 
 4064 
 
 40(.;.1 
 
 55 
 56 
 57 
 
 58 
 59 
 
 60 
 
 61 
 
 62 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 54 
 
 57 
 
 58 
 59 
 60 
 
 61 
 62 
 
 G3 
 
 64 
 
 65 
 
 FROM THE BIRTH Of CHRIST TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. > 
 
 Herod, king of Chalcis, takes the pontificate from 
 Joseph, son of Caniides ; gives it to Ananias, son 
 of Nebedeus. 
 
 Herod, king of Chalcis, dies. 
 
 Ventidius Curnanus made governor of Judea, in place 
 of Tiberius Alexander. 
 
 Troubles in Judea under the government of Curna- 
 nus. 
 
 Judaizing Cliristians enforce the law on converted 
 Gentiles 
 
 The council of Jerusalem determines that converted 
 Gentiles should not be bound to an observance of 
 the legal ceremonies 
 
 Peter comes to Autioch, and is reproved by Paul. . . 
 
 Paul and Barnabas separate, on account of John 
 Mark 
 
 Timothy adheres to Paul, and receives circumcision . 
 
 Luke, at this time, with Paul. 
 
 Paul passes out of Asia into Macedonia 
 
 Paul comes to Athens 
 
 From Athens he goes to Corinth 
 
 The Jews expelled Rome under the reign of Clau- 
 dius 
 
 Felix sent governor into Judea instead of Cumanus. 
 
 First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians 
 
 His Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, some mouths 
 after the First 
 
 Paul leaves Corinth, after a stay of eighteen months ; 
 takes ship to go to Jerusalem ; visits Ephesus in 
 his way 
 
 A polios arrives at Ephesus ; preaches Christ 
 
 St. Paul, having finished his devotions at Jerusalem, 
 goes to Antioch 
 
 Passes into Galatia and Phrygia, and returns to 
 Ephesus, where he continues three years 
 
 Claudius, the emperor, dies, being poisoned by Agrip- 
 pina. Nero succeeds him 
 
 Epistle of Paul to the Galatians 
 
 The Fii-st Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians 
 
 Paul forced to leave Ephesus on account of the up- 
 roar raised against him by Demetrius the silver- 
 smith 
 
 He goes into Macedonia 
 
 Second Episde to the Corinthians 
 
 Epistle to the Romans 
 
 Paul goes into Judea to carry contributions 
 
 Is seized in the temple at Jerusalem 
 
 Is sent prisoner to Cajsarea 
 
 Ishmael, son of Tabei, made high-priest instead of 
 Ananias. 
 
 Disturbance between the Jews of Caesarea, and the 
 other inhabitants. 
 
 Porcius Fostus made governor of Judea in the room 
 of Felix 
 
 Paul appeals to the emperor. He is put on ship- 
 board, and sent to Rome 
 
 Paul shipwrecked at Malta 
 
 He arrives at Rome, and continues there a prisoner 
 two years 
 
 The Jews build a wall, which hinders Agrippa from 
 looking within the temple. 
 
 Ishmael, the high-priest, deposed. Joseph, surnamed 
 Cabei, is put in his place. 
 
 Epistle of Paul to the Philippians 
 
 Epistle to the Colossians 
 
 Acts XV. 1 — 5. 
 
 6—29. 
 
 Gal. ii. 11. 
 
 Acts XV. 36—39. 
 xvi. 1—3. 
 
 9—12. 
 
 xvii. 15 — 34. 
 
 xviii. 1. 
 
 xviii. 2. 
 
 1st Thessalonians. 
 
 2d 
 
 Acts xviii. 18, 19, 20. 
 24—26. 
 
 22. 
 
 23; xix. 1. 
 
 Sueton. in Nero. 
 
 Galatians. 
 
 1st Corinthians. 
 
 Acts xix. 23 — 11. 
 
 XX. 1. 
 
 2d Corinthians. 
 
 Romans. 
 
 Acts xxi. 1 — 15. 
 
 xxi. 27 — xxiii. 10. 
 
 xxiii. 31—35. 
 
 xxiv. 27. 
 
 XXV. 11, 12 — xxvii. 
 xxvii. 
 
 16— ;3i. 
 
 Philippians. 
 Colossians. 
 
 124
 
 986 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Calmet. Hales. 
 
 4065 
 4066 
 
 49 
 
 62 
 63 
 
 4067 
 
 64 
 
 1068 
 
 65 
 
 4069 
 
 65 
 
 66 
 
 4070 
 
 67 
 
 68 
 
 69 
 
 70 
 
 FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 Martyrdom of the apostle James the lesser, bishop of 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, written from Italy, 
 soon after he was set at liberty 
 
 Albinus, successor of Festus, arrives in Judea 
 
 A division among the priests of Jerusalem on the 
 subject of tithes. 
 
 The singing Levites obtain leave to wear linen gar- 
 ments in the temple, as well as the priests. 
 
 Jesus, son of Ananus, begins to cry in Jerusalem, 
 "Wo to the city," &c. and continues so to cry till 
 the siege, by the Romans 
 
 Paul comes out of Italy into Judea ; passes by Crete, 
 Ephesus and Macedonia. 
 
 It is thought that from Macedonia he writes his First 
 Epistle to Timothy 
 
 Paul's Epistle to Titus 
 
 Agrippa takes the high-priesthood from Jesus, son 
 of Gamaliel ; gives it to Matthias, son of Theoph- 
 ilus 
 
 Gessius Florus made governor of Judea in place of 
 Albinus. 
 
 Nero sets fire to the city of Rome ; throws the blame 
 on the Christians, several of whom are cruelly put 
 to death 
 
 Peter writes his Second Epistle, probably fi-om Rome. 
 
 Several prodigies at Jerusalem this year, during the 
 passover. 
 
 Paul goes to Rome the last time ; is there put into 
 prison ; also Peter. 
 
 Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians 
 
 Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy 
 
 ApoUonius Tyanaeus comes to Rome. 
 
 The martyrdom of Peter and Paul at Rome 
 
 Clement succeeds St. Peter, but does not take upon 
 him the government of the church till after the 
 death of Linus. 
 
 Mark comes again to Alexandria, and there suffers 
 martyrdom. 
 
 Cestius, governor of Syria, comes to Jerusalem ; 
 enumerates the Jews at the passover 
 
 Disturbances at Caesarea, and at Jerusalem. 
 
 Florus puts several Jews to death. 
 
 The Jews revolt, and kill the Roman garrison at Je- 
 rusalem. 
 
 A massacre of the Jews of Caesarea in Palestine. 
 
 All the Jews of Scythopolis slain in one night. 
 
 Cestius, governor of Syria, comes into Judea. 
 
 He besieges the temple at Jemsalem ; retires ; is de- 
 feated by the Jews. 
 
 The Cliristians of Jerusalem, seeing a war about to 
 break out, retire to Pella, in the kingdom of Agi'ip- 
 pa, beyond Jordan 
 
 Vespasian appointed by Nero for the Jewish war. 
 
 Josephu.s made governor of Galilee. 
 
 Vespasian sends his son Titus to Alexandria ; comes 
 himself to Antioch, and forms a numerous army. 
 
 Vespasian enters Judea ; subdues Galilee 
 
 Josephus besieged in Jotapata. 
 
 Jotapata taken ; Josephus surrenders to Vespasian.. . 
 
 Tiberias and Tarichoa, which had revolted against 
 Agrippa, riMluoed by Vespasian. 
 
 Divisions in .!."rusalem 
 
 The Zealots seize the temple, and commit violence 
 in JerusaU;nj. 
 
 Hebrews. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xx. c. 9. 
 
 Jos. Bel. lib. vi. c. 5. 
 
 1st Timothy. 
 Titus. 
 
 Jos. Ant. lib. xx. c. 9. 
 
 Tacit. Hist. lib. v. 
 2d Peter. 
 
 Ephesians. 
 2d Timothy. 
 
 Euseb. Hist. 1. iii. c. 1. 
 
 Jos. Bel. lib. ii, c. 13. 
 
 c. 25. 
 
 — lib. iii. c. 1. 
 c. 8. 
 
 lib. iv. c. 5, 6.
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 987 
 
 4070 
 
 65 
 
 67 
 
 4071 
 
 4072 
 
 68 
 
 69 
 
 4073 
 
 70 
 
 4074 
 
 4075 
 
 70 
 
 71 
 
 72 
 
 70 
 
 71 
 
 72 
 
 73 
 
 74 
 
 75 
 
 FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 They depose Theophilus from being high-priest, and 
 put Phaunias in his place. 
 
 The Zealots send for the Idunieans to succor Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 They slay Ananus, Jesus, son of Gamala, and Zach- 
 arias, son of Baruch. 
 
 The Idumeans retire from Jerusalem. 
 
 Nero, the emperor, dies. Galba succeeds him 
 
 Vespasian takes all the places of strength in Judea, 
 about Jerusalem. 
 
 Simon, son of Gioras, ravages Judea, and the south 
 of Iduinea. 
 
 Galba dies ; Otho declared emperor 
 
 Otho dies ; Viteliius proclaimed emperor. 
 
 Vespasian declared emperor by his army ; is acknowl- 
 edged all over the East 
 
 Josephus set at liberty. 
 
 John of Gischala heads the Zealots. 
 
 Eleazar, son of Simon, forms a third party ; makes 
 himself master of the inner temple, or the court of 
 the priests 
 
 Titus marches against Jerusalem, to besiege it 
 
 Comes down before Jerusalem, some days before the 
 passover. 
 
 The factions unite at firet against the Romans, but 
 afterwards divide again 
 
 The Romans take the first enclosure of Jerusalem, 
 then the second ; they make a wall all round the 
 city, which is reduced to distress by famine. 
 
 July 17, the perpetual sacrifice ceases. 
 
 The Romans become masters of the court of the 
 people, in the temple ; they set fire to the galleries. 
 
 A Roman soldier sets the temple on fire, notwith- 
 standing Titus commands the contrary 
 
 The Romans, being now masters of the city and tem- 
 ple, offer sacrifices to their gods. 
 
 The last enclosure of the city taken 
 
 John of Gischala, and Simon, son of Gioras, conceal 
 themselves in the common sewers. 
 
 Titus demolishes the temple to its foundations. 
 
 He also demolishes the city, reserving the towers of 
 Hippicos, Phazael and Mariamne 
 
 Titus returns to Rome, to his father Vespasian ; they 
 triumph over Judea. 
 
 Bassus sent into Judea as lieutenant. 
 
 After the death of Bassus, Fulvius Sylva succeeds ; 
 takes some fortresses that still held out in Judea. 
 
 The temple Onion, in Egypt, shut up by the Ro- 
 mans. 
 
 An assassin of Judea seduces the Jews of Cyrene, 
 and causes their destruction 
 
 Vespasian causes a strict search to be made for all 
 who are of the race of David. 
 
 Plut. et Suet, in Galb. 
 
 Tacit, hb. ii. c. 50. 
 Jos. Bel. lib. iv, c. 10. 
 
 ~ lib. V. c. 1. 
 e. 3. 
 
 ~c.7. 
 
 lib. Ti. c. 4. 
 C.8. 
 
 lib. yii. c. 1. 
 
 ell
 
 TABLES 
 
 WEIGHTS MEASURES, AND MONEY, MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE 
 
 EXTRACTED CHIEFLY FROM DR. ARBUTHNOT'S TABLES. 
 
 1. Jetcish Weights, reduced to English Troi^ Weight. 
 
 lbs. oz. pen. gr. 
 
 The gerah, one twentieth of a shekel 12 
 
 Bekah, half a shekel 5 
 
 The shekel >. 10 
 
 The maueh, 60 shekels 2 6 
 
 The talent, 50 raanehs, or 3000 shekels 125 
 
 2. Scripture Measures of Length, reduced to English Measure. 
 
 A digit. 
 
 12 
 
 24 
 
 144 
 
 A palm 
 
 A span . 
 
 96 24 
 
 36 
 
 192 48 
 
 1920 480 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 16 
 
 160 
 
 A cubit 
 
 2 I A fa thom , 
 
 Ezekiel's reed , 
 
 An Arabian pole 14 
 
 A schanus or measuring line 145 
 
 6 1.5 
 
 1.3 
 
 80 20 13.3 10 
 
 Eng. feet 
 
 inches. 
 
 
 
 0.912 
 
 
 
 3.648 
 
 
 
 10.944 
 
 1 
 
 9.888 
 
 7 
 
 3.552 
 
 10 
 
 11.328 
 
 14 
 
 7.104 
 
 145 
 
 11.04 
 
 3. The long Scripture Measures. 
 
 Eng. miles, paces, feet. 
 
 A cubit 1.824 
 
 400 1 A stadium or furlong ^145 
 
 I 2000 \ 5 I A sa bbath day's journey 729 
 
 I 4000 I 10 I 2 I An e astern mile 1 403 
 
 ; 12000 I 30 I 6 I 3 I A p arasang 4 153 
 
 I 96000 I 240 I 48 I 24 I 8 I A day's journey ^3 173 
 
 4.6 
 3. 
 1. 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 ,*>
 
 TABLES OF WEIGHTS, MEASURES AND MONEY. 
 
 989 
 
 4 Scripture Measures of Capacity for Liquids, reduced to English Wine Measure. 
 
 A caph 
 
 1.3 I A log 
 
 5.3 
 
 16 
 
 32 
 
 96 
 
 12 
 
 24 
 
 72 
 
 960 720 
 
 A cab 
 
 3 AWn 
 
 6 I 2 I Aseali. 
 
 18 
 
 3 I A bath or ephah 7 
 
 180 I 60 I 20 I 10 I A kor or choros, chomer or homer 75 
 
 Gal. 
 
 |iints. 
 
 
 
 0.625 
 
 
 
 0.833 
 
 
 
 3.333 
 
 1 
 
 2. 
 
 2 
 
 4. 
 
 7 
 
 4. 
 
 75 
 
 5. 
 
 5. Scripture Measures of Capacity for Things dry, reduced to English Com Measure. 
 
 20 
 
 36 
 
 1. 
 
 A gachal 
 
 A cab 
 
 An omer or gomer 
 
 A seah 1 
 
 3 I An ephah 3 
 
 I A letech 16 
 
 Pecks, gal. pints. 
 
 0.141G 
 
 120 
 
 360 
 
 1800 
 
 3600 
 
 6 
 
 3.3 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 90 
 
 50 
 
 15 
 
 180 ! 100 I 30 I 10 I 2 I A chomer, homer or kor 32 
 
 A gerah 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 A bekah 
 
 2 I A shekel. 
 
 1200 I 120 I 50 ! Amaneh, orminaHebr. 
 
 6. Jewish Money, reduced to the English Standard. 
 
 £ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 60000 I 6000 I 3000 | 60 | A talent 342 
 
 A solidus aureus, or sextula, was worth 
 
 A siclus aureus, or gold shekel, was worth 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 14 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 d. 
 
 1.3687 
 
 1.6875 
 
 3.375 
 
 0.75 
 
 9. 
 
 0.5 
 
 6. 
 
 0. 
 
 A talent of gold was worth 5475 
 
 In the precedmg table, silver is valued at 5*. and gold at £4 per ounce 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 1505 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 24309 
 
 2.8333 
 
 5.1 
 
 1. 
 
 3. 
 
 0. 
 
 1. 
 
 cts. 
 
 02.5 
 
 25.09 
 
 50.187 
 
 09.35 
 
 62.5 
 
 64.09 
 
 03. 
 
 7. Roman Money, mentioned in the JVeio Testament, reduced to the English Standard. 
 
 £ s. d. far. $ cts. 
 
 Amite, (Jf^r6v or 'AooaQiov) 0| 00.34375 
 
 A farthing (A'o(5(.avT^e) about li 00.6875 
 
 A penny or denarius (^ijtueiov) 7 2 13.75 
 
 A pound or nuna 3 2 6 13 75.
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Aaron 
 
 a'ron 
 
 Abaddon 
 
 a-had'don 
 
 Abagtha 
 Abal 
 
 a-hag'thah 
 a'bal 
 
 Abana 
 
 ab'a-nah 
 
 Abarim 
 
 ab'a-rim 
 
 Abba 
 
 ab'bah 
 
 Abda 
 
 ab'dah 
 
 Abdiel 
 
 ab'de-el 
 
 Abednego 
 Abel 
 
 a-bed'ne-go 
 a'bel 
 
 Abesan 
 
 ab'be-san 
 
 Abez 
 
 a'bez 
 
 Abiah 
 
 ab-i'ah 
 
 Abialbon 
 
 ab-e-al'bon 
 
 Abiasaph 
 
 ab-i'a-saf 
 
 Abiathar 
 
 ab-i'a-thar 
 
 Abib 
 
 a'bib 
 
 Abidah 
 
 ab-i'dah 
 
 Abiel 
 
 ab'e-el 
 
 Abiezer 
 
 ab-e-e'zer 
 
 Abiezrite 
 
 ab-e-ez'rite 
 
 Abigail 
 
 ab'e-gale 
 
 Abihail 
 
 ab'e-hale 
 
 Abijah 
 Abilene 
 
 ab-i'jah 
 ab-be-le'ne 
 
 Abimael 
 
 ab-be-may'el 
 
 Abiinelech 
 
 ab-im'me-lek 
 
 Abinadab 
 
 ab-in'na-dab 
 
 Abinoam 
 
 ab-in'no-am 
 
 Abiram 
 
 ab-i'ram 
 
 Ai)isliag 
 
 ab'be-shag 
 
 Abishai 
 
 ab-be-shay'i 
 
 Abishahar 
 
 ab-be-shay' har 
 
 Aliislialom 
 
 ab-be-shay'lom 
 
 Abishua 
 
 ab-be-shu'ah 
 
 Abishiir 
 
 ab'e-shur 
 
 Abital 
 
 ab'e-tal 
 
 Abiud 
 
 ah'e-ud 
 
 Acaron 
 
 ak'a-ron 
 
 Accad 
 
 ak'kad 
 
 Aceldama 
 
 a-sel'da-mah 
 
 Achaia 
 Achaichus 
 
 a-kay'ynh 
 a-kay'e-kus 
 
 Ac ban 
 
 a'kan 
 
 Acliiin 
 
 a'kim 
 
 Achiinelech 
 
 n-kim'e-lek 
 
 Achioi- 
 
 a'ke-or 
 
 Acliish 
 
 u'kish 
 
 Acliitophel 
 
 a-kit'o-fal 
 
 Achmetha 
 
 Achor 
 
 Achsah 
 
 Achshaph 
 
 Achzib 
 
 Acipha 
 
 Acitho 
 
 Adadah 
 
 Adadezer 
 
 Adadrimmon 
 
 Adaiah 
 
 Adam 
 
 Adamah 
 
 Adbeel 
 
 Addi 
 
 Ader 
 
 Adiel 
 
 Adina 
 
 Adithaim 
 
 Adlai 
 
 Admah 
 
 Adonai 
 
 Adonibesek 
 
 Adonijah 
 
 Adonikam 
 
 Adoniram 
 
 Adonis 
 
 Adonizedei< 
 
 Adoraim 
 
 Adranimelech 
 
 Adramyttium 
 
 Adria 
 
 Adriel 
 
 Adnllam 
 
 Adiimmini 
 
 i^Siieas 
 
 Ethiopia 
 
 Agabiis 
 
 A gag 
 
 Agate 
 
 A gee 
 
 Agrippa 
 
 Agur 
 
 Ahab 
 
 Aharah 
 
 Ahasai 
 
 Ahasbai 
 
 Ahasuerus 
 
 Ahava 
 
 Ahaz 
 
 ak-me'thah 
 
 a'kor 
 
 ak'sah 
 
 ak'shaf 
 
 ak'zib 
 
 as'e-fah 
 
 as'e-tho 
 
 ad'a-dah 
 
 ad-ad-e'zer 
 
 ad-ad-rim'mon 
 
 ad-a-i'ah 
 
 ad'am 
 
 ad'a-mah 
 
 ad-be'el 
 
 ad'dy 
 
 a'der 
 
 ad'e-el 
 
 ad-dy'nah 
 
 ad-e-tha'im 
 
 ad-lay'i 
 
 ad'mah 
 
 ad'o-nay 
 
 ad-on'e-be'zek 
 
 ad-o-ny'jah 
 
 ad-o-ny'kam 
 
 ad-o-ny'ram 
 
 a-do'ms 
 
 ad-on'e-ze'dek 
 
 ad-o-ray'im 
 
 ad-rain'mc-hk 
 
 ad-ra-mit'te-um 
 
 a'dre-ah 
 
 a'dre-el 
 
 ad-ul'avi 
 
 ad-um'mim 
 
 e-ne'as 
 
 e-the-o'pe-a 
 
 ag'a-bus 
 
 Jgag 
 
 ag'ate 
 
 ag'e-e 
 
 a-grip'pah 
 
 a'gw 
 
 a'hab 
 
 a-har'ah 
 
 a-has'a-i 
 
 a-has'ba-i 
 
 a-has-u-e'rus 
 
 a-hay'vah 
 
 a'haz 
 
 Ahazai 
 
 Ahaziah 
 
 Ahban 
 
 Ahi 
 
 Ahiah 
 
 Ahiezer 
 
 Ahihud 
 
 Ahijah 
 
 Ahikam 
 
 Ahimaaz 
 
 Ahiman 
 
 Ahimelech 
 
 Ahimoth 
 
 Abinadab 
 
 Abinoam 
 
 Ahio 
 
 Ahira 
 
 Ahisaraach 
 
 Ahishahur 
 
 Ahisham 
 
 Ahishar 
 
 Ahitophel 
 
 Ahitub 
 
 A blab 
 
 Ahiai 
 
 Ahoah 
 
 Ahohite 
 
 Aholah 
 
 Aholbah 
 
 Aholiab 
 
 Aholibah 
 
 Aholibainah 
 
 Almmai 
 
 Ahuzam 
 
 Ahuzzah 
 
 Ai 
 
 Aiali 
 
 Aiath 
 
 Aijah 
 
 Aijaleth shahur 
 
 Ain 
 
 Ajah 
 
 Ajalon 
 
 Akkub 
 
 Akrabbiin 
 
 Aiammelech 
 
 Aiamoth 
 
 Alcmeth 
 
 Alexandria 
 
 Aliah 
 
 a-haz'a-i 
 
 a-haz-i'ah 
 
 ah'ban 
 
 a'hy 
 
 a-hy'ah 
 
 a-hy-e'zer 
 
 a-hy'ud 
 
 a-hy'jah 
 
 a-hy'kam 
 
 a-him'a-az 
 
 a-hy'man 
 
 a-him' me-lek 
 
 a'he-moth 
 
 a-hin'na-dab 
 
 a-hin' no-am 
 
 a-hy'o 
 
 a-hy'rah 
 
 a-his'a-mak 
 
 a-hy-shay'hur 
 
 a-hy'sham 
 
 a-hy'shar 
 
 a-hit'o-fel 
 
 n-hy'tiib 
 
 ah'lab 
 
 ah'lay 
 
 a-ho'ah 
 
 a-ho'httt 
 
 a-ho'lah 
 
 a-hol'bah 
 
 a-ho'le-ab 
 
 a-ho'le-bah 
 
 a-ho-le-bay'mah 
 
 a-hew'ma-i 
 
 a-hew'zam 
 
 a-huz'zah 
 
 a'i 
 
 a-i'ah 
 
 a-i'ath 
 
 a-i'jah 
 
 ad'ja-Icfh-.iha'htif 
 
 a'in 
 
 a'jah 
 
 ad'ja-lon 
 
 ak-kub 
 
 uk-rab'bim 
 
 a-lam'me-lek 
 
 al'a-moth 
 
 al'e-meth 
 
 al-ex-an' dre-n 
 
 a-ly'ah
 
 992 
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Alian 
 
 AUelujah 
 
 Alloubachuth 
 
 Almodad 
 
 Almondiblatha- 
 
 ini 
 Almug 
 Aloth 
 Alpha 
 Alpheus 
 Altaschith 
 Alvah 
 Aliish 
 Amadathus 
 Amal 
 Amalda 
 Amalek 
 Arnanah 
 Amariah 
 Aiiiasa 
 Amasai 
 Amashai 
 Amaziah 
 Amen 
 Amethyst 
 Ami 
 
 Amhiadab 
 Ammishaddai 
 Amittai 
 Ammiel 
 Ainmali 
 Ammi 
 Ammihud 
 Ammizabad 
 Ammonitess 
 Amorites 
 Amos 
 
 Amphipolis 
 Amok 
 AmpHas 
 Amraphel 
 Amzy 
 Anal) 
 Anah 
 Analiarath 
 Anaiali 
 Anak 
 Anakims 
 Anammelech 
 Anani 
 Ananiah 
 Anath 
 Anathema 
 Anathoth 
 Andronicus 
 An em 
 Aneth 
 Anothothite 
 Aniam 
 Antiiibanus 
 Antioch 
 Antiochis 
 Antipas 
 Antipater 
 Antipatris 
 Anti|)ha 
 Antothijah 
 Aiitothite 
 Anub 
 Apelles 
 Apharaim 
 
 al'e-an 
 
 al-le-lu'yah 
 
 aVlon-hak'uth 
 
 al-mo'dad 
 
 al'mon-dib-la-tha' 
 
 im 
 al'mug 
 a'loth 
 al'fah 
 al-fe'us 
 cd-tas'kith 
 al'vah 
 a'lush 
 
 a-mad'a-thus 
 a'mcd 
 a-mal'dah 
 am'a-lek 
 am-a'nah 
 am-a-ry'ah 
 a-may'sali 
 am-a-say'i 
 am-a-shay'i 
 am-a-zS'ah 
 a'men 
 am'me-thist 
 a'my 
 
 a-min'a-dab 
 am-me-shad'da-i 
 a-mit'tay 
 am'me-el 
 ain'mah 
 am' my 
 am'me-hud 
 am-miz' a-had 
 am-mon-i'tess 
 am'o-rites 
 a'moz 
 am-Jip'o-lis 
 a'mok 
 am'ple-as 
 am'ra-fel 
 am'zy 
 a'nab 
 a'nah 
 
 an-a-hay'rath 
 an-a-i'ah 
 a'nak 
 an'a-kims 
 a-nam'me-lek 
 an-a'ny 
 an-a-ny'ah 
 a'nath 
 
 a-nalh'e-mah 
 an'n-thoth 
 an-dro-ny'kus 
 a'nem 
 a'neth 
 
 a-neth' o-thile 
 a-ny'am 
 an-te-lib' a-nus 
 nn'tt-ok 
 an-ty'o-kis 
 an'te-pas 
 an-te-pay'tcr 
 an-te-pay'tris 
 an'tc-fah 
 an-to-thi'jak 
 an'tofh-ite 
 a'nub 
 a-pel'les 
 af-a-ray'wi 
 
 Apharsathchites 
 
 Apharsites 
 
 Aphek 
 
 Aphekah 
 
 Aphiah 
 
 Aphra 
 
 Aphses 
 
 Apocalypse 
 
 Apocrypha 
 
 Apollonia 
 
 Apollos 
 
 ApoUyon 
 
 Apostle 
 
 Appaim 
 
 Apphia 
 
 Appii forum 
 
 Aquila 
 
 Ara 
 
 Arab 
 
 Arabah 
 
 Arabattine 
 
 Arabia 
 
 Arad 
 
 Arab 
 
 Aram 
 
 Aramitess 
 
 Ararat 
 
 Araunah 
 
 Arbah 
 
 Arbathite 
 
 Archelaus 
 
 Archestratus 
 
 Archevites 
 
 Archi 
 
 Archiataroth 
 
 Archippus 
 
 Archites 
 
 Arcturus 
 
 Areli 
 
 Arelites 
 
 Areopagite 
 
 Areopagus 
 
 Ares 
 
 Aretas 
 
 Argob 
 
 Aridai 
 
 Aridatha 
 
 Arieh 
 
 Arimathea 
 
 Arioch 
 
 A risai 
 
 Aristarchus 
 
 Aristobidus 
 
 Armageddon 
 
 Armenia 
 
 Armoni 
 
 Arnejjher 
 
 Arodi 
 
 Arocr 
 
 Arpiiaxad 
 
 Artaxerxes 
 
 Artcmas 
 
 Arnl)otli 
 
 Arimiaii 
 
 Asa 
 
 Asadias 
 
 Asiihel 
 
 AsMJaii 
 
 Asaph 
 
 Asareel 
 
 Asarelah 
 
 a-far' sath-kites 
 
 a-far'sites 
 
 a'fek 
 
 a-fe'kah 
 
 a-fy'ah 
 
 af'rah 
 
 af'sez 
 
 a-pok'a-lips 
 
 a-pok're-fah 
 
 ap-pol-lo'ne-a 
 
 a-pol'los 
 
 a-pol'yon 
 
 a-pos'sel 
 
 ap-pay'im 
 
 af'e-ah 
 
 ap'pe-ifo'rum 
 
 ak'quil-ah 
 
 a'rah 
 
 a'rab 
 
 ar'ra-bah 
 
 ar-ra-bat' e-ne 
 
 a-ray'be-a 
 
 a'rad 
 
 a'rah 
 
 a'ram 
 
 a-ram-i'tes 
 
 ar'ra-rat 
 
 a-raw'nah 
 
 ar'bah 
 
 ar'bath-ite 
 
 ar-ke-lay'us 
 
 ar-kes'tra-tus 
 
 ar'ke-vites 
 
 ar'ky 
 
 ar-ke-at' a-roth 
 
 ar-kip'pus 
 
 ark'ites 
 
 ark-too'rus 
 
 ar-e'ly 
 
 ar-e'lites 
 
 ar-e-op' a-gite 
 
 ar-e-op' a-gus 
 
 a'rcz 
 
 a-re'tas 
 
 ar'gob 
 
 a-rid'a-i 
 
 a-rid'a-thah 
 
 a-ry'eh 
 
 ar-e-7na-the' all 
 
 a're-ok 
 
 a-ris'a-i 
 
 ar-is-tar'kiis 
 
 ar-is-to-bew'lus 
 
 ar-ma-ged' don 
 
 ar-mt'ne-a 
 
 ar-mo'ny 
 
 ar-nc'/er 
 
 a-ro'dy 
 
 a-ro'er 
 
 ar-fax'ad 
 
 ar-tax-crx'es 
 
 ai-'lc-mas 
 
 ar'ru-bolh 
 
 a-ru'mah 
 
 a'sah 
 
 as-a-dy'as 
 
 as'a-el 
 
 as-a-i'ah 
 
 a'saf 
 
 as-a-re'el 
 
 as-a-re'lah 
 
 Asl>azareth 
 
 as-baz'a^reth 
 
 Asenath 
 
 as'e-nath 
 
 Ashan 
 
 a'shan 
 
 Ashbea 
 
 ash'be-ah 
 
 Ashchenaz 
 
 ash'ke-naz 
 
 Ashean 
 
 a'she-an 
 
 Asher 
 
 ash'er 
 
 Ashima 
 
 ash't-mah 
 
 Ashon 
 
 a'shon 
 
 Ashpenaz 
 
 ash'pe-naz 
 
 Ashriel 
 
 ash're-el 
 
 Ashtaroth 
 
 ash'ta-roth 
 
 Ashterathites 
 
 ash-ter'ra-thites 
 
 Ashuath 
 
 a-shu'ath 
 
 Ashur 
 
 ash'ur 
 
 Ashurim 
 
 a-shu'rim 
 
 Aslm rites 
 
 ash'ur-ites 
 
 Askelon 
 
 as'ke-lon 
 
 Asmaveth 
 
 as'ma-veth 
 
 Asnapper 
 
 as-nap'per 
 
 Asochis 
 
 a-so'kis 
 
 Aspatha 
 
 as'pa-thah 
 
 Asriel 
 
 as're-el 
 
 Assir 
 
 as'ser 
 
 Assos 
 
 as'sos 
 
 Assyria 
 
 as-sir'e-a 
 
 Astarte 
 
 as-tar'te 
 
 Asuppim 
 
 a-sup'phn 
 
 Asyncritus 
 
 a-sin'kre-tus 
 
 Atad 
 
 a'tad 
 
 Ataroth 
 
 at'ta-roth 
 
 Athack 
 
 a'thak 
 
 Athaiah 
 
 ath-a-i'ah 
 
 Athaliah 
 
 ath-a-ly'ah 
 
 Athens 
 
 ath'ens 
 
 Athlai 
 
 ath'lay 
 
 Altai 
 
 at'tay 
 
 Attaliah 
 
 at-ta-ly'ah 
 
 Attharates 
 
 at-thar' a-tes 
 
 Augustus 
 
 aiv-gus'tvs 
 
 Ava 
 
 a'vah 
 
 Aven 
 
 a'ven 
 
 Avims 
 
 a' vims 
 
 Avith 
 
 a'vith 
 
 Azaelus 
 
 az-a-e'lus 
 
 x\zaliah 
 
 a:^a-ly'ah 
 
 Azaz 
 
 a'zaz 
 
 xAzareel 
 
 az-a-re'el 
 
 Azarial> 
 
 az-a-ry'ah 
 
 Azazel 
 
 az-az'el 
 
 Azaziah 
 
 az-a-zy'ah 
 
 Azbazareth 
 
 az-baz'a-reth 
 
 Azekah 
 
 a-ze'kah 
 
 Azem 
 
 a'zem 
 
 Azcphurith 
 
 az-ze-feiv'rith 
 
 Azgad 
 
 az'gad 
 
 Aziel 
 
 a'ze-el 
 
 Aziza 
 
 a-zy'zah 
 
 Azmaveth 
 
 az'ma-veth 
 
 Azor 
 
 a'zor 
 
 Azotus 
 
 a-zo'tus 
 
 Azriel 
 
 az're-el 
 
 Azrikam 
 
 az-ry'kam 
 
 Azubah 
 
 v.z-yeie'bnh 
 
 Azur 
 
 a'zur 
 
 Azzur 
 
 az'zi T 
 
 B 
 
 
 Baa I, 
 
 hay'al 
 
 Baalah 
 
 bay'al-ah 
 
 Baall 
 
 bay'al-e
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 993 
 
 Baalim 
 
 Baanah 
 
 Baanath 
 
 Baara 
 
 Baaseiah 
 
 Baashah 
 
 Babel 
 
 Babylon 
 
 Babylonians 
 
 Baca 
 
 Bachrites 
 
 Bachuth-allon 
 
 Baharumite 
 
 Bahurim 
 
 Bajith 
 
 Bakbakker 
 
 Bakbuk 
 
 Bakbiikiah 
 
 Balaam 
 
 Baladan 
 
 Balak 
 
 Bamoth 
 
 Bani 
 
 Barabbas 
 
 Barachel 
 
 Barachiah 
 
 Barak 
 
 Barhumites 
 
 Barjesiis 
 
 Baijonah 
 
 Barsabas 
 
 Bartholomew 
 
 Bartimeus 
 
 Baruch 
 
 Barzillai 
 
 Bashan 
 
 Bashemath 
 
 Basmath 
 
 Bathaloth 
 
 Bathrabbini 
 
 Bathshebah 
 
 Bavai 
 
 Bdellium 
 
 Bealoth 
 
 Bebai 
 
 Bee her 
 
 Bechorath 
 
 Bedaiah 
 
 Bcdad 
 
 Bedan 
 
 Beeliada 
 
 Beelzebub 
 
 Beera 
 
 Beerelim 
 
 Beeri 
 
 Beerlahairoi 
 
 Beeroth 
 
 Beersheba 
 
 Becshterah 
 
 Behemoth 
 
 Bekah 
 
 Bela 
 
 Belgai 
 
 Belial 
 
 Belshazzar 
 
 Belteshazzar 
 
 Benjainin 
 
 Benaiah 
 
 Beuammi 
 
 Beneberak 
 
 Benejaakan 
 
 hay'al-im 
 bay-a'nah 
 ba-a'nath 
 ba-a'rah 
 ba-a-sy'ah 
 ba-a'shah 
 bay'bel 
 bah'e-lon 
 bab-e-lo'ne-ans 
 bay'kah 
 bak'rites 
 bak'uth-al'lon 
 ba-har-iun'ite 
 ba-heiv'rim 
 bad'jith 
 bak-bak'ker 
 bak'buk 
 bak-buk-i'ah 
 bay'lam 
 bal-a'dan 
 hay'lak 
 bay'moth 
 bay'ny 
 ba-rab'bas 
 bar'a-kel 
 bar-a-ky'ah 
 bay'rak 
 bar-hew' mites 
 bar-je'sus 
 bar-jo'nah 
 har'sa-bas 
 bar-thol'o-meiv 
 bar-te-me'us 
 bay'ruk 
 bar-zil'la-i 
 bay'shan 
 bash'e-math 
 bas'math 
 bath'a-loth 
 bath-rab'bim 
 bath-she'bah 
 bav'a-i 
 del' yum 
 be-a'loth 
 beb'a-i 
 be'ker 
 bek-o'rath 
 bed-a-i'ah 
 be'dad 
 be' dan 
 be-el-i'a-dah 
 be-el'ze-bub 
 be-e'rah 
 be-er'e-lhn 
 be-e'nj 
 
 be'er-la-hay'roy 
 be-e'roth 
 be'er-she'bah 
 be-esh'te-rah 
 be'he-moth 
 be'kah 
 be'lah 
 bel'ga-i 
 be-h'al 
 bel-shaz'ar 
 bel-te-shaz'ar 
 ben'ja-min 
 ben-a'yah 
 ben-am'my 
 ben-eb'e-rak 
 ben-e-jay'a-kaii 
 125 "^^ 
 
 Benhadad 
 
 Benhail 
 
 Bcnhanaii 
 
 Ben in u 
 
 Beno 
 
 Benoni 
 
 Benui 
 
 Benzoheth 
 
 Bera 
 
 Berachah 
 
 Berachiah 
 
 Beraiah 
 
 Berea 
 
 Bered 
 
 Beri 
 
 Beriah 
 
 Berith 
 
 Bernice 
 
 Berodach 
 
 Berothai 
 
 Berothath 
 
 Beryl 
 
 Besai 
 
 Besodeiah 
 
 Betah 
 
 Beten 
 
 Bethabai-a 
 
 Bethanath 
 
 Bethany 
 
 Betharabah 
 
 Betharbel 
 
 Bethaven 
 
 Bethazmaveth 
 
 Bethbaalmeon 
 
 Bethbarah 
 
 Bethbirei 
 
 Bethdiblathaim 
 
 Bethel 
 
 Bethemek 
 
 Bethesda 
 
 Bethezel 
 
 Bethgamul 
 
 Bethhaccerim 
 
 Bethharan 
 
 Bethhoglah 
 
 Bethjesimoth 
 
 Bethlehem 
 
 Bethlebaoth 
 
 Bethmaaeah 
 
 Bethmeon 
 
 Bethnimrah 
 
 Bethoran 
 
 Bethpalet 
 
 Bcthpazzez 
 
 Bethpeor 
 
 Bethphagc 
 
 Bethj)helet 
 
 Bethraliah 
 
 Bethrehob 
 
 Bethsaida 
 
 Bethshean 
 
 Bethshemesh 
 
 Bethshomite 
 
 Bethshittah 
 
 Bethsimos 
 
 I$ethtappua 
 
 Bethuel 
 
 Bethul 
 
 Betonim 
 
 Beulah 
 
 Bezai 
 
 ben-hay'dad 
 
 Bezaleel 
 
 ben-hay'il 
 
 Bezek 
 
 ben-hay'nan 
 
 Bichri 
 
 ben-i'nu 
 
 Bigvai 
 
 be'no 
 
 Bileam 
 
 ben-o'ne 
 
 Bilgai 
 
 ben-u'i 
 
 Binea 
 
 ben-zo'heth 
 
 Binnui 
 
 be'rah 
 
 Birzavith 
 
 ber-a'kah 
 
 Bithiah 
 
 ber-a-ky'ah 
 
 Bithron 
 
 ber-a-i'ah 
 
 Bithynia 
 
 be-re'a 
 
 Bizjothiah 
 
 be'red 
 
 Bizjothjah 
 
 be'ry 
 
 Boanerges 
 
 be-ry'ah 
 
 Boaz 
 
 be'nth 
 
 Bocheru 
 
 ber-ny'se 
 
 Bochim 
 
 be-ro'dak 
 
 Bosor 
 
 be-ro'thay 
 
 Bozrah 
 
 be-ro'thath 
 
 Bozez 
 
 ber'rU 
 
 Brigandine 
 
 be'say 
 
 Bukki 
 
 bes-o-dy'ah 
 
 Bui 
 
 be'tah 
 
 Bunah 
 
 be'ten 
 
 Bunni 
 
 beth-ab'a-rah 
 
 Buzi 
 
 beth'a-nalh 
 
 Buzite 
 
 beth'a-ne 
 
 
 beth-ai-' a-bah 
 
 < 
 
 beth-aj-'bel 
 
 Cabul 
 
 beth-a'ven 
 
 Cades 
 
 beth-az'ma-veth 
 
 Caesar 
 
 beth-ba'al-me'on 
 
 Caiaphas 
 
 beth-bai-'ah 
 
 Cain 
 
 beth-bii-'e-i 
 
 Cainan 
 
 beth-dib-la-tha'im 
 
 Calah 
 
 beth'el 
 
 Calamus 
 
 beth-e'mek 
 
 Calcol 
 
 beth-es'dah 
 
 Caldees 
 
 beth-e'zel 
 
 Caleb 
 
 beth-gay'mul 
 
 Calneh 
 
 beth-hak! se-rim 
 
 Calvary 
 
 beth-hay'ran 
 
 Camon 
 
 beth-kog'lah 
 
 Cambyses 
 
 beth-jes'se-moth 
 
 Cana 
 
 beih'le-hem 
 
 Canaan 
 
 beth-leb'a-oth 
 
 Canaanites 
 
 beth-may'a-kah 
 beth-me'on 
 
 Canaanitish 
 
 Candace 
 
 beth-nim'rah 
 
 Canneh 
 
 beih-o'ran 
 
 Canticles 
 
 beth-pay'let 
 
 Capernaum 
 
 beth-paz'zez 
 
 Capharsalania 
 
 beth-pe'or 
 
 Caphira 
 
 beth-fai/je 
 
 Caphtor 
 
 beth-fe'let 
 
 Caplitorim 
 
 beth-ray'bali 
 
 C ark as 
 
 beih-re'hob 
 
 Ca])padocia 
 
 beth-say'dah 
 
 Carabasion 
 
 beth-she'an 
 
 Carbuncle 
 
 bclli-she'rncsh 
 
 Carchamis 
 
 beth! she-mite 
 
 Carchemisli 
 
 beth-shit'tah 
 
 Careah 
 
 bdh-sy'mos 
 
 Carmel 
 
 beth-tap' pcw-ah 
 belh-yetvel 
 
 Carini 
 
 Casiphia 
 
 be'ihid 
 
 Casluhim 
 
 bet'o-nim 
 
 Cassia 
 
 bew'lah 
 
 Cedron 
 
 be'zav 
 
 Ceilan 
 
 hez-a-le'el 
 
 be'zek 
 
 bik'ry 
 
 big-vay'i 
 
 bil'e-am 
 
 bil-gay'i 
 
 bin'e-a 
 
 hin'u-{ 
 
 bir-zay'vith ■ 
 
 bith-i'ah 
 
 bith'ron 
 
 be-thin'e-a 
 
 biz-jo-thi'ah 
 
 biz-joth'jaJi 
 
 bo-a-ner'jez 
 
 bo'az 
 
 bok'er-rii 
 
 bo'kim 
 
 bo'sor 
 
 boz'rah 
 
 bo'zez 
 
 brig' an-dine 
 
 biik'ky 
 
 bul (as dull) 
 
 beu/nah 
 
 bun'ny 
 
 bew'zy 
 
 buz'ite 
 
 kay'bvl 
 
 kay'des 
 
 seizor 
 
 kaxfa-fas 
 
 kain 
 
 kay'nan 
 
 kay'lah 
 
 kal'a-mus 
 
 kal'kol 
 
 kal-deez' 
 
 kay'leb 
 
 kal'neh 
 
 kal'va-re 
 
 kay'mon 
 
 kam-by'ses 
 
 kay'nah 
 
 kay'nan 
 
 kay'nan-ites 
 
 kay-nan-i'tish 
 
 kan-day'se 
 
 kan'neh 
 
 kan'te-kels 
 
 ka-pcr'na-wn 
 
 kaj'-ar-sal' a-mah 
 
 ka-J'y'rah 
 
 kaf'tor 
 
 kaf'io-rim 
 
 kar'kas 
 
 kap-pa-do'she-a 
 
 kar-a-bay'ze-on 
 
 kar'bun-kel 
 
 kar'ka-mis 
 
 kar'ke-niish 
 
 ka-re'ah 
 
 kar'mel 
 
 kar'my 
 
 kas-se-fy'ah 
 
 kas-lew'him 
 
 kash'e-a 
 
 se'dron 
 
 se'lan
 
 994 
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Cenchrea 
 
 sen-kre'ah 
 
 Cornelius 
 
 kor-nc'le-us 
 
 Doeg 
 
 do'eg 
 
 Cephas 
 
 se'fas 
 
 Cosain 
 
 ko'zain 
 
 Dophkah 
 
 dofkah 
 
 Cesarea 
 
 ses-a-re'ah 
 
 Cozbi 
 
 ko'zbe 
 
 Dorcas 
 
 dor'kas 
 
 Chalcedony 
 
 kal'se-do-ny 
 
 Crescens 
 
 ki-es'sens 
 
 Dositheus 
 
 do-se-the'us 
 
 Chaleol 
 
 kal'kol 
 
 Crete 
 
 kreet 
 
 Dothan 
 
 do' than 
 
 Chaldea 
 
 kal-de'ah 
 
 Cretians 
 
 kree'she-ans 
 
 Dotliaim 
 
 do-tha'im 
 
 Chamelion 
 
 ka-me'le-on 
 
 Crispus 
 
 kris'pus 
 
 Draclniia 
 
 drak'mah 
 
 Charashim 
 
 kar'a-shim 
 
 Cubit 
 
 keiv'bit 
 
 Drusilla 
 
 dreiv-sil'lah 
 
 Chanau 
 
 kar'ran 
 
 Cush 
 
 kush 
 
 Dumah 
 
 deiv'mah 
 
 Chebar 
 
 ke'bar 
 
 Cushan rishatha 
 
 - kush' an rish-a-tha' 
 
 Dura 
 
 dev/rah 
 
 Chederlaomer 
 
 ked-er-lay-o'mer 
 
 im 
 
 im 
 
 E 
 
 
 Chelal 
 
 ke'lal 
 
 Cushi 
 
 kushU 
 
 
 Chelcias 
 
 kel'she-as 
 
 Cyprus 
 
 sy'prus 
 
 Ebal 
 
 e'bal 
 
 Chelhih 
 
 kel'leh 
 
 Cyrene 
 
 sy-re'ne 
 
 Ebed melech 
 
 e'bed me'lek 
 
 Cheliibai 
 
 ke-lev/hay 
 
 Cyrenius 
 
 sy-re'ne-us 
 
 Ebenezer 
 
 eb-en-e'zer 
 
 Chemariras 
 
 kem'a-rims 
 
 Cyrus 
 
 sy'rus 
 
 Eber 
 
 e'ber 
 
 Cheinosh 
 
 ke'mosh 
 
 
 
 Ebiasaph 
 
 e-by'a-saf 
 
 Chenaanah 
 
 ke-nay'a-nak 
 
 D 
 
 
 Ebronah 
 
 eb-ro'nah 
 
 Chenaniuh 
 
 ken-a-ny'ah 
 
 Dabareh 
 
 dab'a-reh 
 
 Ecclesiastes 
 
 ek-kle-ze-as'tes 
 
 Cliepharlia- 
 
 ke'far-ha- 
 
 Dabbasheth 
 
 dab'bn-sheth 
 
 Ecclesiasticus 
 
 ek-kle-ze-as'ti-kus 
 
 amiuouai 
 
 am'o-nay 
 
 Dagon 
 
 day'gon 
 
 Edar 
 
 e'dar 
 
 Chephirah 
 
 kcf-i'rah 
 
 Dalaiah 
 
 dal-a-i'ah 
 
 Eden 
 
 e'den 
 
 Clieraii 
 
 ke'ran 
 
 Dalilah 
 
 da'le-lah 
 
 Edom 
 
 e'dom 
 
 Cherethites 
 
 ker'eth-ites 
 
 Dahnanutha 
 
 dal-ma-nu'thah 
 
 Edrei 
 
 ed're-i 
 
 Cherith 
 
 ke'rith 
 
 Dal mat ia 
 
 dal-may' she-a 
 
 Eglah 
 
 eg'lah 
 
 Cherub (a city) 
 
 ke'rub 
 
 Dalphon 
 
 dal'fon 
 
 Eglaim 
 
 eg-lay'im 
 
 Cherub (a spu-it' 
 
 chtr'uh 
 
 Damaris 
 
 dam'a-ris 
 
 Ehi 
 
 e'hi 
 
 Cherubhn 
 
 cher'u-bim 
 
 Damascenes 
 
 dam-a-seens' 
 
 Ekron 
 
 e'kron 
 
 Chesalon 
 
 kes'n-lon 
 
 Damascus 
 
 da-inas'kus 
 
 Eladah 
 
 el-a'dah 
 
 Chased 
 
 ke'scd 
 
 Dauites 
 
 dan'ites 
 
 Elah 
 
 e'lah 
 
 Chesulloth 
 
 ke-sul'loth 
 
 Danjaan 
 
 dan-jay'an 
 
 Elamites 
 
 e'lam-ites 
 
 Chezib 
 
 ke/zib 
 
 Dara 
 
 day'rah 
 
 Elasah 
 
 el-a'sah 
 
 Chidon 
 
 ky'don 
 
 Darda 
 
 dar'dah 
 
 Eldaah 
 
 el-day'ah 
 
 Cliileab 
 
 kil'e-ah 
 
 Darian 
 
 day're-an 
 
 Elead 
 
 e'le-ad 
 
 Chihon 
 
 kil't-on 
 
 Darius 
 
 da-ry'us 
 
 Elealeh 
 
 el-e-a'leh 
 
 Chilrnad 
 
 Ml' mad 
 
 Darkon 
 
 darkon 
 
 Eleasah 
 
 el-e-a'sah 
 
 Chiinham 
 
 kim'ham 
 
 Dathan 
 
 day'lhan 
 
 Eleazar 
 
 el-e-a'zar 
 
 Chinnereth 
 
 kin'er-eth 
 
 Debir 
 
 de'ber 
 
 Elelohe 
 
 el-el'o-he 
 
 Chios 
 
 ky'os 
 
 Deborah 
 
 de'bo-rah 
 
 Elei)h 
 
 e'lef 
 
 Chisleu 
 
 kis'lu 
 
 Decapolis 
 
 de-kap'po-lis 
 
 Elhaynan 
 
 el-hay'nan 
 
 Chislon 
 
 kis'lon 
 
 Dedan 
 
 de'dan 
 
 Eli 
 
 e'ly 
 
 Cliisloth 
 
 kis'loth 
 
 Dedanim 
 
 ded-a'nim 
 
 Eliab 
 
 e-ly'ab 
 
 Chittim 
 
 chit'tim 
 
 Dehavites 
 
 de'ha-vites 
 
 Elias 
 
 e-ly'as 
 
 Chiun 
 
 ky'un 
 
 Dekar 
 
 de'knr 
 
 Eliahba 
 
 e-ly'ah-bah 
 
 Chloe 
 
 klo'e 
 
 Delaiah 
 
 de-la-i'ah 
 
 Eliada 
 
 e-ly'a-dah 
 
 Cliorashan 
 
 ko-ray'shan 
 
 Delilah 
 
 del'e-lah 
 
 Eliaka 
 
 e-ly'a-kah 
 
 Cliorazin 
 
 ko-ray'zin 
 
 Demas 
 
 dt'mas 
 
 Eliakim 
 
 e-ly'a-kim 
 
 Chozeba 
 
 ko-ze'bah 
 
 Demetrius 
 
 de-me'tri-iis 
 
 Eliam 
 
 e-ly'am 
 
 Chronicles 
 
 kron't-kds 
 
 Derbe 
 
 dcr'be 
 
 Eliasaph 
 
 e-ly'a-saf 
 
 Chrysolite 
 
 kris'o-iite 
 
 Deuel 
 
 de-yew' el 
 
 Eliathah 
 
 e-ly'a-thah 
 
 Ciu-v-soprasus 
 
 kris-op'ra-sus 
 
 Deuteronom 
 
 deu-tcr-on'o-me 
 
 Elidad 
 
 e-ly'dad 
 
 Ciiu'b 
 
 kub 
 
 Diana 
 
 dy-a'nah 
 
 Elihoreph 
 
 el-e-ho'ref 
 
 Chusa 
 
 kew'sah 
 
 Dil)laim 
 
 dib-lay'im 
 
 Elihu 
 
 e-ly'heio 
 
 Chushan risha 
 
 kitsh'an lish-a- 
 
 Diblath 
 
 dib'la'th 
 
 Elijah 
 
 c-ly'jah 
 
 thaini 
 
 thn'im 
 
 Dibon 
 
 dy'bon 
 
 Elika 
 
 c-ly'kah 
 
 Cihcia 
 
 sil-ish'e-a 
 
 Dibri 
 
 dib'nj 
 
 Elimelech 
 
 e-lim'e-lek 
 
 Cisai 
 
 sii'say 
 
 Dibzahab 
 
 dib'za-hab 
 
 Elia?nai 
 
 el-e-e'na-i 
 
 Ckuula 
 
 klaiv'dah 
 
 Didrachm 
 
 dy'dram 
 
 Elii)hal 
 
 el'i-fal 
 
 Claudia 
 
 klaw'de-a 
 
 Didymus 
 
 did'e-mus 
 
 Eliphaleh 
 
 e-lif'e-leh 
 
 Claudius 
 
 klnw'dt-us 
 
 Dil.'an 
 
 dy'le-an 
 
 Eliphalet 
 
 e-l'ife-let 
 
 Clement 
 
 kic'ment 
 
 Diiiion 
 
 dy'mon 
 
 Eliphaz 
 
 eVle-fuz 
 
 Cli'ophaa 
 
 kle'o-fas 
 
 Dinionah 
 
 dy-mo'nah 
 
 ]'>lisanis 
 
 el-f-say'iis 
 
 Cni.his 
 
 ny'dus 
 
 Dinbal)ah 
 
 din-hay'hah 
 
 Elislia 
 
 e-ly'shah 
 
 Colliozeh 
 
 kol-ho'zeh 
 
 Diouysius 
 
 dy-o-nish'c-us 
 
 Elishania 
 
 e-lish'a-mah 
 
 Coiosse 
 
 ko-los'se 
 
 Diotrephes 
 
 di -of re-fcz 
 
 Elishaphat 
 
 e-lish'a-fat 
 
 Colossians 
 
 ko-losh'e-ans 
 
 Disban 
 
 liy'.than 
 
 Elishcba 
 
 e-lish'e-bah 
 
 Conaniah 
 
 ko-na-ny'ah 
 
 Di/.aliab 
 
 diz'zd-hab 
 
 Elisbua 
 
 el-e-shu'ah 
 
 Cor(! 
 
 ko're 
 
 Dodai 
 
 do-day'i 
 
 Eliud 
 
 e-ly'ud 
 
 Coos 
 
 ko'os 
 
 Dodanim 
 
 do-day'nim 
 
 Elizaplian 
 
 e-iiz'a-fan 
 
 Corinth 
 
 ko'rinth 
 
 Dodiivah 
 
 do-day'vah 
 
 Eliznr 
 
 e-ly'zur 
 
 Corinthians 
 
 ko-rinlh'e-ans 
 
 Dodo 
 
 do' do (as so lo) 
 
 Elkanah 
 
 el-kay'nah
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 995 
 
 Elkoshite 
 
 Ellasar 
 
 Eliiiodam 
 
 Elnathan 
 
 Elon 
 
 Eloth 
 
 Eloi 
 
 Elpaal 
 
 Elpalet 
 
 Elparan 
 
 Eltckeh 
 
 Eltolad 
 
 Ehil 
 
 Eluzai 
 
 Elyinas 
 
 Elzaplian 
 
 Eiiialciiel 
 
 Emanuel 
 
 Eniims 
 
 Emmaus 
 
 Enimor 
 
 Enain 
 
 Eneas 
 
 Eneglaim 
 
 Enganniin 
 
 Engedi 
 
 Enhakkore 
 
 Enliaddah 
 
 Enhazor 
 
 Enmislipat 
 
 Enoch 
 
 Enriinmon 
 
 Enrogel 
 
 Ensheniesh 
 
 Entappuah 
 
 Epapliras 
 
 Epaphroditus 
 
 Epenetus 
 
 Ephah 
 
 Ephai 
 
 Ephes damniim 
 
 Ephesians 
 
 Ephcsus 
 
 Ephlal 
 
 Ephod 
 
 Ephphatlia 
 
 Ephrahn 
 
 Ephratah 
 
 Eplirath 
 
 E|)hron 
 
 Epicureans 
 
 Eran 
 
 Erastus 
 
 Erech 
 
 Esaias 
 
 Esar haddon 
 
 Esau 
 
 Esek 
 
 Esdrelon 
 
 Eshbaal 
 
 Eshcol 
 
 Eshean 
 
 Eshkalon 
 
 Eshtaol 
 
 Eshtaulites 
 
 Eshtemoa 
 
 Eshteinoth 
 
 Esli 
 
 Esmachiah 
 
 Esrom 
 
 Essenes 
 
 el'ko-shite 
 
 Esther 
 
 es'ter 
 
 el-lay'sar 
 
 Etam 
 
 e'tam 
 
 el-mo' dam 
 
 Ethanim 
 
 e-than'im 
 
 el-iiay'than 
 
 Ethlmal 
 
 elh-hay'al 
 
 e'lon 
 
 Ether 
 
 e'thcr 
 
 e'loth 
 
 Ethiopia 
 
 e-the-o'pe-a 
 
 el'o-hjj 
 
 Ethnan 
 
 eth'nan 
 
 el-paij'al 
 
 Euasihus 
 
 yeiv-as'e-bu-s 
 
 el-pay'ld 
 
 Eubuhis 
 
 yeiv-bew'lus 
 
 el-pay'ran 
 
 Eve 
 
 eve 
 
 el-te'keh 
 
 Evi 
 
 e'vy 
 
 el-to'lad 
 
 Evil nicrodac 
 
 1 e'vil me-ro'dak 
 
 e'lul 
 
 Eunice 
 
 yeic-ny'se 
 
 e-lu'za-i 
 
 Euodias 
 
 ycw-o'dc-as 
 
 el'e-mas 
 
 Euphrates 
 
 yeiv-fray'les 
 
 el-zay'fan 
 
 Euroclydon 
 
 yew-rok'le-don 
 
 e-mal-ketv'el 
 
 Eutychus 
 
 yew'te-kus 
 
 e-man'u-d 
 
 Ezar 
 
 e'zar 
 
 e'mims 
 
 Ezbai 
 
 ez'ba-i 
 
 em-may' us 
 
 Ezekiel 
 
 e-ze'ke-el 
 
 em'mor 
 
 Ezel 
 
 dzel 
 
 e'nam 
 
 Ezion geber 
 
 e'ze-07i ge'ber 
 
 e-ne'as 
 
 
 F 
 
 en-eg-lay'im 
 
 
 en-gan'nim 
 
 Felix 
 
 fe'lix 
 
 en-ge'dy 
 
 Festus 
 
 fes'tus 
 
 en-hak'ko-re 
 
 Fortunatus 
 
 for-tu-nay'tus 
 
 en-had'dah 
 
 
 
 en-hay'zor 
 
 
 G 
 
 en-mish'pat 
 
 Gaal 
 
 gay'al 
 
 e'nok 
 
 Gaash 
 
 gay'ash 
 
 en-rim'mon 
 
 Galxi 
 
 gdy'bah 
 
 en-ro'gel 
 
 Gabbai 
 
 gah'bay 
 
 en-she' jnesh 
 
 Gabbatha 
 
 gab'ba-thah 
 
 en-tap' pew-ah 
 
 Gabriel 
 
 gay'bre-el 
 
 ep'a-fras 
 
 Gadarenes 
 
 gad-a-reens' 
 
 e-paf-ro-dy'tus 
 
 Gadi 
 
 gay'dy 
 
 e-pe-ne'tus 
 
 Gaddi 
 
 gad'dy 
 
 e'fah 
 
 Gaddiel 
 
 gad'de-el 
 
 ^'fay 
 
 Gains 
 
 gay'yus 
 
 e'fes dam'mim 
 
 Galal 
 
 gay'lal 
 
 ef-fe'she-ans 
 
 Galatia 
 
 ga-lay'she-a 
 
 effe-sus 
 
 Galbanum 
 
 gal'ba-num 
 
 eflal 
 
 Galeed 
 
 gal'e-ed 
 
 e'fod 
 
 Galilee 
 
 gal'le-lee 
 
 effa-thah 
 
 Galileans 
 
 gal-le-lee'ans 
 
 efra-im 
 
 Gallio 
 
 gal'le-o 
 
 efra-tah 
 
 Gamaliel 
 
 ga-may'le-el 
 
 efrath 
 
 Gaminadims 
 
 gam'ma-ditns 
 
 e'fron 
 
 Gamul 
 
 gay'mul 
 
 ep-e-kew-re'ans 
 
 Gareb 
 
 gay'nb 
 
 e'ran 
 
 Garizim 
 
 gar'e-zim 
 
 e-ras'tus 
 
 Gashmu 
 
 gash' mew 
 
 e'rek 
 
 Gatam 
 
 gay' tarn 
 
 ez-zay'yas 
 
 Gathhopher 
 
 gath-he'fer 
 
 e'sar had' don 
 
 Gathrimmon 
 
 gath-rim'mon 
 
 e'saw 
 
 Gaza 
 
 gay'zah 
 
 e'sek 
 
 Gazatliites 
 
 gay'zath-ites 
 
 es-dre'lon 
 
 Gazez 
 
 gay'zez 
 
 esh-hay'al 
 
 Gazzam 
 
 gaz'zam 
 
 esh'kol 
 
 Gebal 
 
 ge'bal 
 
 esh'e-an 
 
 Geber 
 
 ge'ber 
 
 esh'ka-lon 
 
 Gebim 
 
 ge'bim 
 
 esh'ta-ol 
 
 Gedaliah 
 
 ged-a-ly'ah 
 
 esh'taw-lites 
 
 Geder 
 
 ge'der 
 
 esh-tem'o-ah 
 
 Gederah 
 
 ge-de'rah 
 
 esh'te-molh 
 
 Gederathite 
 
 ge-de'rath-ife 
 
 es'ly 
 
 Gederoth 
 
 ge-de'roth 
 
 es-ma-ky'ah. 
 
 Gederothaim 
 
 ge-der-oth-a'in 
 
 es'rom 
 
 Gehazi 
 
 ge-hay'zy 
 
 es-seens' 
 
 Geliloth 
 
 geVe-lolh 
 
 Gemalli 
 
 Gemariah 
 
 Genesaretb 
 
 Genesis 
 
 Gentiles 
 
 Genubath 
 
 Gera 
 
 Gerasa 
 
 Gergashi 
 
 Gergasenes 
 
 Gerizim 
 
 Gei-siiom 
 
 Goslicm 
 
 Gcshuri 
 
 Gether 
 
 Getholias 
 
 Getbsetnane 
 
 Geuel 
 
 Gezer 
 
 Giah 
 
 Gibbah 
 
 Gibbetbon 
 
 Gibea 
 
 Gibeon 
 
 Gibiites 
 
 Giddalti 
 
 Giddel 
 
 Gideon 
 
 Gideoni 
 
 Gidom 
 
 Gier 
 
 Gihou 
 
 Gilalai 
 
 Gilboa 
 
 Gilead 
 
 Gilgal 
 
 Giloh 
 
 Gilonite 
 
 Gimzo 
 
 Ginath 
 
 Ginnetho 
 
 Girgasite 
 
 Gittayim 
 
 Gittites 
 
 Gizonite 
 
 Gnidus 
 
 Goath 
 
 Golan 
 
 Golgotha 
 
 Goliah 
 
 Gomer 
 
 (Jomorrah 
 
 Gopher 
 
 Goshen 
 
 Gozan 
 
 Greece 
 
 Grecia 
 
 Gudgodah 
 
 (iuni 
 
 Gurbaal 
 
 ge-mal'ly 
 
 gem-a-ry'ah 
 
 ge-nes'a-reth 
 
 jeii'e-sis 
 
 jen'lyles 
 
 gen'u-bath 
 
 ge'rah 
 
 ger'a-sah 
 
 ger'ga-shy 
 
 ger-ga-seens' 
 
 ger're-zim 
 
 ger'shom 
 
 ge'shem 
 
 gesh'u-ry 
 
 ge'ther 
 
 geth-o-ly'ns 
 
 gclh-scm'a-ne 
 
 ge-yew'el 
 
 ge'zer 
 
 gy'ah 
 
 gib'bah 
 
 gib'be-thon 
 
 gib'e-ah 
 
 gib'e-on 
 
 gib'lites 
 
 gid-dal'ty 
 
 gid'del 
 
 gid'e-on 
 
 gid-e-o'ny 
 
 gy'dom 
 
 gy'hon 
 
 gH-a-lay't 
 
 gil-bo'ah 
 
 gil'e-ad 
 
 gil'gal 
 
 gy'lo-nite 
 
 gim'zo 
 
 gy'nath 
 
 giii'ne-tho 
 
 gir'ga-site 
 
 git-tay'im 
 
 git'titcs 
 
 gy'zo-nite 
 
 7}y'dus 
 
 go'ath 
 
 go'lan 
 
 gol'goth-ah 
 
 go-ly'ah 
 
 go'mer 
 
 go-moi-'rah 
 
 go'fer 
 
 go'shen 
 
 go'zan 
 
 greece 
 
 gree'she-a 
 
 gud'go-dah 
 
 gtw'ny 
 
 gur-bay'al 
 
 H 
 
 TIaahashtari 
 
 Habaiah 
 
 Habakkuk 
 
 Hahaziniah 
 
 Habergeon 
 
 Habor 
 
 Hachaliah 
 
 llachelah 
 
 Ilachmoni 
 
 hay-a-hash'ta-ry 
 
 hay-bay'yah 
 
 hab'a-kuk 
 
 hab-a-ze-ny'ah 
 
 ha-ber'je-on 
 
 hay'bor 
 
 hak-a-ly'ah 
 
 hak'e-lah 
 
 hak-mo'ny
 
 996 
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Hadad 
 
 hay'dad 
 
 Harum 
 
 hay'rum 
 
 Hierapolis 
 
 hy-er-rap'o-lis 
 
 Hadadezer 
 
 had-ad-e'zer 
 
 Harumaph 
 
 ha-rew'maf 
 
 Hiereel 
 
 hy-er'e-el 
 
 Hadad rimnion 
 
 hay'dad rim'mon 
 
 Haruphite 
 
 ha-reiv'Jite 
 
 Hieremoth 
 
 hy-er'e-moth 
 
 Hadar 
 
 hay'dar 
 
 Haruz 
 
 hay'ruz 
 
 Hierielus 
 
 hy-er-rt-e'lus 
 
 Hadai-ezer 
 
 had-a-re'zer 
 
 Hasadiah 
 
 has-a-dy'ah 
 
 Higgaion 
 
 hig-gay'yon 
 
 Hadashah 
 
 had-a'shah 
 
 Hasenuah 
 
 has-e-neii/ ah 
 
 Hilen 
 
 hy'len 
 
 Hadassali 
 
 ha-das'sah 
 
 Hashabiah 
 
 Jiash-a-by'ah 
 
 Hilkiah 
 
 hil-ky'ah 
 
 Hadattah 
 
 ha-dat'tah 
 
 Hashabnah 
 
 hash-ab'nah 
 
 Hirah 
 
 hy'rah 
 
 Hadid 
 
 hay'did 
 
 Hashabniah 
 
 hash-ab-ny'ah 
 
 Hiram 
 
 hy'ram 
 
 Hadlai 
 
 had'la-i 
 
 Hashbadana 
 
 hash-bad' a-nah 
 
 Hizkijah 
 
 hiz-ky'jah 
 
 Hadoram 
 
 ha-do'ram 
 
 Hashem 
 
 hay'shem 
 
 Hivites 
 
 hy'vites 
 
 Hadrach 
 
 hay'drak 
 
 Hashmonah 
 
 hash-mo'nah 
 
 Hobab 
 
 ho'bab 
 
 Hagab 
 
 hay'gab 
 
 Hashiib 
 
 hash'uh 
 
 Hodaiah 
 
 hod-a-i'ah 
 
 Hagabah 
 
 hag'a^bah 
 
 Hashubah 
 
 hash-yeiv'bah 
 
 Hodaviah 
 
 hod-a-vy'ah 
 
 Hagai 
 
 hag'a-i 
 
 Hashum 
 
 hash'um 
 
 Hodevah 
 
 ho-de'vah 
 
 Hagar 
 
 hay'gar 
 
 Hassenaah 
 
 has-se-nay' ah 
 
 Hodiah 
 
 ho-dy'ah 
 
 Hagarenes 
 
 hag-a-reens' 
 
 Hasupha 
 
 has-yeit/fah 
 
 Hoglah 
 
 hog'lah 
 h</lon 
 
 Haggai 
 
 hag'ga-i 
 
 Hatach 
 
 hay'tak 
 
 Holon 
 
 Haggeri 
 
 hag'ge-ni 
 
 Hathath 
 
 hay'thatJi 
 
 Homam 
 
 ho'mam 
 
 Haggi 
 
 hag'gy 
 
 Hatita 
 
 hat'e-tah 
 
 Hophni 
 
 hofny 
 
 Haggiah 
 
 hag-gy'ah 
 
 Hattaavah 
 
 hat-tay' a-vah 
 
 Hophra 
 
 hof'rah 
 
 Haggith 
 
 hag'gith 
 
 Hattipha 
 
 hat'tc-fah 
 
 Horam 
 
 ho'ram 
 
 Hai 
 
 hay'i 
 
 Havilah 
 
 hav'e-lah 
 
 Horhagidgad 
 
 hor-ra-gid' gaa 
 
 Hakkatan 
 
 hak'ka-tan 
 
 Havoth jau- 
 
 hay'vothjay'ir 
 
 Hori 
 
 ho'ry 
 
 Hakkoz 
 
 hak'koz 
 
 Hauran 
 
 haiv'ran 
 
 Horims 
 
 ho'rims 
 
 Hakupha 
 
 hak-yew'fah 
 
 Hazael 
 
 haz'a-el 
 
 Horonaim 
 
 hor-o-nay'im 
 
 Halac 
 
 hay'lak 
 
 Hazaiah 
 
 ha-zay'yah 
 
 Horonites 
 
 hor' ro-nitts 
 
 Hali 
 
 hay'ly 
 
 Hazai- hatticon 
 
 hay'zar hat'te-kon 
 
 Hosah 
 
 ho'sah 
 
 Hallelujah 
 
 hal-le-lu'yah 
 
 Hazel elponi 
 
 hay'zel el-po'nc 
 
 Hosannah 
 
 ho-zan'nah 
 
 Hallocsh 
 
 hal-lo'esh 
 
 Hazerim 
 
 haz-e'rim 
 
 Hosea 
 
 ho-ze'ah 
 
 Haman 
 
 hay'man 
 
 Hazeroth 
 
 haz-e'roth 
 
 Hoshaiah 
 
 hosh-a-i'ah 
 
 Hamath 
 
 hay'math 
 
 Hazezon 
 
 haz'e-zon 
 
 Hoshama 
 
 hosh'a-mah 
 
 Hamath zobah 
 
 hay'math zo'bah 
 
 Hazor 
 
 hay'zor 
 
 Hotham 
 
 ho'tham 
 
 Hamath ite 
 
 ham'ath-ite 
 
 Heber 
 
 he'ber 
 
 Hothir 
 
 ho'thir 
 
 Hammedatha 
 
 ham-med'a-thah 
 
 Hebron 
 
 he'bron 
 
 Hupham 
 
 hew' Jam 
 
 Hammelech 
 
 ham'me-lek 
 
 Hegai 
 
 he-gay'i 
 
 Hurai 
 
 heiv'ray 
 
 Hainmoleketh 
 
 ham-mo' le-keth 
 
 Hege 
 
 he'ge 
 
 Hushah 
 
 hew'shah 
 
 Hainonah 
 
 ham-o'nah 
 
 Helah 
 
 he'lah 
 
 Hiishai 
 
 heiv'shay 
 
 Hamongog 
 
 hay'mon-gog 
 
 Helchiah 
 
 hel-ky'ah 
 
 Hiisham 
 
 hew'sham 
 
 Hamuel 
 
 hay-mtw'd 
 
 Heldai 
 
 hel'da-i 
 
 Hushathite 
 
 heu/shath-ite 
 
 Hamothdor 
 
 hay'moth-dor 
 
 Heleb 
 
 he'leb 
 
 Hushiibah 
 
 heiv-shu'bah 
 
 Hainul 
 
 hay' mid 
 
 Heleph 
 
 he'lef _ 
 
 Huzoth 
 
 hew'zoth 
 
 Hamutal 
 
 hay-meio'tal 
 
 Hclkai 
 
 hel'ka-i 
 
 Hydaspes 
 
 hy-das'pes 
 
 Hanaiiieel 
 
 hay-jiam'e-el 
 
 Helkath hazzu 
 
 ■ hel'kathhaz'u-rim 
 
 Hyena 
 
 hy-e'nah 
 
 Hanan 
 
 hay'nan 
 
 run 
 
 
 Hymeneus 
 
 hy-men-e'us 
 
 Haiianeel 
 
 han-nan'e-el 
 
 Helon 
 
 he'lon 
 
 
 I 
 
 Hanani 
 
 ha-nay'ny 
 
 Hemaii 
 
 he'man 
 
 
 Hananiah 
 
 han-a-ny'ah 
 
 Hena 
 
 he'nah 
 
 Ibleam 
 
 ib'le-am 
 
 Hanes 
 
 hay'nez 
 
 Henadad 
 
 hen'a-dad 
 
 Ibneiah 
 
 ib-ny'ah 
 
 Haniel 
 
 hay'ne-el 
 
 Henoch 
 
 he'nok 
 
 Ichabod 
 
 ik'a-bod 
 
 Hannathon 
 
 han'na-thon 
 
 Hepher 
 
 he'fer 
 
 IconJum 
 
 i-ko'ne-um 
 
 Hanniol 
 
 han'ne-el 
 
 Hephzibali 
 
 hef'ze-bah 
 
 Idalah 
 
 i-day'lah 
 
 Hanorh 
 
 hay'nok 
 
 Heres 
 
 he' res 
 
 Iddo 
 
 id'do 
 
 Hamin 
 
 hay'nun 
 
 Hernias 
 
 her'mas 
 
 Idumsea 
 
 id-u-me'ah 
 
 Hapharaim 
 
 haf-a-ray'im 
 
 Hermes 
 
 her'mes 
 
 Idumeans 
 
 id-ti-mc'ans 
 
 Hara 
 
 hay'rah 
 
 Hermogene 
 
 her-mog'e-ne 
 
 Igal 
 
 i^gal 
 
 Haradali 
 
 har'a-dah 
 
 Herod 
 
 her'rod 
 
 Igdaliah 
 
 ig-da-ly'ah 
 
 Haraiah 
 
 har-a-i'ah 
 
 Ilerodians 
 
 he-ro'de-uns 
 
 Igeabarini 
 
 ig-e-ab'a-rim 
 
 Hararite 
 
 hay'ra-rite 
 
 Herodias 
 
 he-ro'dc-as 
 
 Igeal 
 
 ig-e'al 
 
 Harl)onah 
 
 har-bo'nah 
 
 Herodion 
 
 he-ro'de-on 
 
 lim 
 
 i'im 
 
 Hareph 
 
 hay'ref 
 
 Hesed 
 
 he'sed 
 
 Ijon 
 
 i'jon 
 
 Hareth 
 
 hay'relh 
 
 Hcshbon 
 
 heshfbon 
 
 Hai 
 
 i'lay 
 
 Harhaiah 
 
 har-ha-i'uh 
 
 Hezeki 
 
 hez'e-ky 
 
 Illyricum 
 
 il-lyi-'e-kum 
 
 Harhiita 
 
 har-hny'lah 
 
 Hczekiah 
 
 hez-e-ky'ah 
 
 Immanuel 
 
 im-man'u-tl 
 
 Hariiii 
 
 hay'rim 
 
 Hezir 
 
 he'zer 
 
 Iphedeiah 
 
 if-e-dy'ah 
 
 Haniophor 
 
 har-ne'fer 
 
 Hezion 
 
 he'ze-on 
 
 Ira 
 
 %'rah 
 
 Harod 
 
 hay'rod 
 
 Hczrai 
 
 hez'ra-i 
 
 Irani 
 
 i'rnm 
 
 Haroch 
 
 har'o-eh 
 
 Hezron 
 
 hez'ron 
 
 Iry 
 
 i'ry 
 
 Harorito 
 
 hay'ro-ritc 
 
 Hiddai 
 
 hid'day-i 
 
 Irijah 
 
 i-i-i/jah 
 
 Harosheth 
 
 hai-' o-sheth 
 
 Hiddekcl 
 
 hid'de-kel 
 
 Irnahash 
 
 ir-nay'hash 
 ir-pe'el 
 
 Harsha 
 
 har'shah 
 
 Kiel 
 
 hy'el 
 
 Irpcel
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 997 
 
 Irshemesh 
 
 ir-she'tnesh 
 
 Iru 
 
 i'reiv 
 
 Isaac 
 
 i'zak. 
 
 Isaiah 
 
 i-zay'yah 
 
 Iscariot 
 
 is-kaPre-ot 
 
 Ishbi benob 
 
 ish'be be'noh 
 
 Ishbosheth 
 
 ish-bo'sheth 
 
 Ishi 
 
 i^hy 
 
 Ishiah 
 
 i-shy'ah 
 
 Ishjjah 
 
 i-sh/jah 
 
 Ishmael 
 
 ish'ma-el 
 
 Ishmaiah 
 
 ish-may'yah 
 
 Ishmerai 
 
 ish'me-ray 
 
 Ishod 
 
 ('shod 
 
 Ishuah 
 
 ish'u-ah 
 
 Ishuai 
 
 ish'u-a 
 
 Ismachiah 
 
 is-ma-ky'ah 
 
 Israel 
 
 is'ra-el 
 
 Issachar 
 
 is'sa-kar 
 
 Isui 
 
 is'u-i 
 
 Ithai 
 
 ith'a-i 
 
 Ithamar 
 
 ith'a-mar 
 
 tthiel 
 
 ith'e-el 
 
 Ittai 
 
 it'ta-i 
 
 Ittah kazin 
 
 it'tah kay'zin 
 
 Iturea 
 
 it-u-re'ah 
 
 Ivah 
 
 i'vah 
 
 Izhar 
 
 iz'har 
 
 Izehar 
 
 iz'e-har 
 
 Izrahiah 
 
 iz-ra-hy'ah 
 
 Izreel 
 
 iz're-el 
 
 J 
 
 jay'a-kan 
 
 Jaakan 
 
 Jaakobah 
 
 jay-ak'o-bah 
 
 Jaala 
 
 jay-a'lah 
 
 JaaDai 
 
 jay-a'nay 
 
 Jaareoragim 
 
 ja-ar-e-or'a-gim 
 
 Jaasaii 
 
 jay-a'saw 
 
 Jaasiel 
 
 ja-a'se-el 
 
 Jaazah 
 
 jay-a'zah 
 
 Jaazaniah 
 
 jay-az-za-ny'ah 
 
 Jaaziah 
 
 ja-a-zy'ah 
 
 Jaaziei 
 
 ja-a'ze-el 
 
 Jabal 
 
 jay'bal 
 
 Jabesh 
 
 jay'besh 
 
 Jabez 
 
 jay'bez 
 
 Jabin 
 
 jay'bin 
 
 Jabneel 
 
 jab'ne-el 
 
 Jachan 
 
 jay'kan 
 
 Jacbin 
 
 jmjkin 
 
 Jacinth 
 
 jay'sinth 
 
 Jada 
 
 jdy'dah 
 
 Jadau 
 
 ja-day'u 
 
 Jaddua 
 
 jad-du'ah 
 
 Jadoii 
 
 jay' don 
 
 Jael 
 
 ja'y'el 
 
 Jagur 
 
 jaxj'gur 
 
 Jahaleel 
 
 ja-hay'le-el 
 
 Jahaleleel 
 
 ja-hal'e-hcl 
 
 Jahaz 
 
 jay'haz 
 
 Jahazael 
 
 ja-haz-a'el 
 
 Jahaziah 
 
 ja-ha-zy'ah 
 
 Jahaziel 
 
 ja-haz'e-el 
 
 Jahdai 
 
 jah-day'i 
 
 Jahdiel 
 
 jah'de-el 
 
 Jahdo 
 
 jah'do 
 
 Jahliel 
 
 jah'le-el 
 
 Jahmai 
 
 jah-may'i 
 
 Jahzerah 
 
 jah'ze-rah 
 
 Jair 
 
 jay'er 
 
 Jairus 
 
 Jakan 
 
 Jakkim 
 
 Jalon 
 
 Jambres 
 
 Jambri 
 
 Jam in 
 
 Jamlech 
 
 Janna 
 
 Jannes 
 
 Janoah 
 
 Janum 
 
 Japheth 
 
 Japhiah 
 
 Japhlet 
 
 Japhleti 
 
 Japho 
 
 Jarah 
 
 Jareb 
 
 Jaresiah 
 
 Jaroah 
 
 Jasheni 
 
 Jasher 
 
 Jashobeam 
 
 Jashiib 
 
 Jashubi lehem 
 
 Jasiel 
 
 Jason 
 
 Jasper 
 
 Jathniel 
 
 Jattir 
 
 Javan 
 
 Jazer 
 
 Jearim 
 
 Jeaterai 
 
 Jeberechiah 
 
 Jebus 
 
 Jebusi 
 
 Jebusites 
 
 Jecamiah 
 
 Jecoliah 
 
 Jeconiah 
 
 Jedaiah 
 
 Jedjael 
 
 Jedidiah 
 
 Jediel 
 
 Jeduthun 
 
 Jeezer - 
 
 Jegar 
 
 sahadutha 
 Jehalelcel 
 Jehalelel 
 Jeliaziel 
 Jelideiah 
 Jeheiel 
 Jehezekel 
 Jeliiali 
 Jehishai 
 Johiskiah 
 Jelioadah 
 Jelioahaz 
 Jehoaddan 
 Jelioasli 
 Jcliohanan 
 Jehoiachin 
 Jcljoiada 
 Jehonadab 
 Jehonathan 
 Jehorain 
 Jeliosliaphat 
 Jehosheba 
 
 jay'er-us 
 
 jay'kan 
 
 jak'kim 
 
 jay'lon 
 
 jam'brez 
 
 jam'bre 
 
 jay'min 
 
 jam'lek 
 
 jan'nah 
 
 jan'nez 
 
 ja-no'ah 
 
 jay'num 
 
 jay'feth 
 
 ja-fy'ah 
 
 jafiet 
 
 jof-le'ty 
 
 jay'fo 
 
 jay'rah 
 
 jay'reb 
 
 jar-e-sy'ah 
 
 ja-ro'ah 
 
 jay'shen 
 
 jay'sher 
 
 ja-sho'be-am 
 
 jay'shub 
 
 ja'shu-bi le'hem 
 
 jay'se-el 
 
 jay' son 
 
 jas'per 
 
 jath'ne-el 
 
 jat'ter 
 
 jay'van 
 
 jay'zer 
 
 je'a-rim 
 
 je-at'e-ray 
 
 jeb-er-re-ky'ah 
 
 je'bus 
 
 je-bew'si 
 
 jeb'u-sites 
 
 jek-a-my'ah 
 
 jek-o-ly'ah 
 
 jek-o-ny'ah 
 
 je-day'yah 
 
 jed-e-a'el 
 
 jed-e-dy'ah 
 
 jed'e-el 
 
 jed-yeiv'thitn 
 
 je-e'zer 
 
 je'gar 
 
 sa-ha-du'thah 
 je-haV e-leel 
 je-hal'e-lel 
 je-haz'e-el 
 jeh-dy'ah 
 je-hy'el 
 je-hez'e-kel 
 je-hj/ah 
 je-hish'a-i 
 je-his-kxfah 
 je-ho'a-dah 
 je-ho'a-haz 
 je-ho-ad'dan 
 je-ho'ash 
 je-ho-hay'nan 
 je-hoy'a-kin 
 je-hoy'a-dah 
 je-hon'a-dab 
 je-hon' a-than 
 je-ho'ram 
 je-hosh' a-fat 
 je-hosh'e-bah 
 
 Jehoshua 
 
 Jehovah 
 
 Jehozabad 
 
 Jehozadak 
 
 Jehu 
 
 Jehubbah 
 
 JeliLical 
 
 Jehudi 
 
 Jehudijah 
 
 Jehush 
 
 Jeiel 
 
 Jekabzeel 
 
 Jekameam 
 
 Jekaniiah 
 
 Jekutliiel 
 
 Jemima 
 
 Jemuel 
 
 Jephthah 
 
 Jephunueh 
 
 Jerah 
 
 Jerahraeel 
 
 Jered 
 
 Jeremai 
 
 Jeremiah 
 
 Jeremoth 
 
 Jeriah 
 
 Jeribai 
 
 Jericho 
 
 Jeriel 
 
 Jerijah 
 
 Jerioth 
 
 Jeroboam 
 
 Jeroham 
 
 Jerubbaal 
 
 Jerubesheth 
 
 Jeruel 
 
 Jerusalem 
 
 Jenisha 
 
 Jesaiah 
 
 Jeshanah 
 
 Jesharelah 
 
 Jeshebeab 
 
 Jesher 
 
 Jeshimon 
 
 Jeshisliai 
 
 Jeshohaiah 
 
 Jeshua 
 
 Jeshui 
 
 Jeshurun 
 
 Jesimiel 
 
 Jesse 
 
 Jcsns 
 
 Jether 
 
 Jethlah 
 
 Jethro 
 
 Jetur 
 
 Jeuel 
 
 Jeush 
 
 Jouz 
 
 Jezaniah 
 
 Jezebel 
 
 Jczer 
 
 Jeziali 
 
 Jeziel 
 
 Jezliah 
 
 Jezoar 
 
 Jezrahiah 
 
 Jezreel 
 
 Jezreelitess 
 
 Jidlaph 
 
 Jiphtah 
 
 je-hosh'u-ah 
 
 Je-ho'vah 
 
 je-hoz'a-bad 
 
 je-hoz'a-dak 
 
 je'hew 
 
 je-hub'bah 
 
 je-hew'kal 
 
 je-hew'dy 
 
 je-hu-dy'jah 
 
 je'hush 
 
 je-i'el 
 
 je-kab'ze-el 
 
 jek-a-me'am 
 
 jek-a-my'ah 
 
 je-kew'the-d 
 
 je-my'mah 
 
 jem'u-el 
 
 jefthah 
 
 je-fun'neh 
 
 je'rah 
 
 jer-ah-me'el 
 
 je'red 
 
 jer'e-may 
 
 jer-e-my'ah 
 
 jer'e-moth 
 
 je-ry'ah 
 
 jer'e-bay 
 
 jer't-ko 
 
 je-ry'el 
 
 jer-ry'jah 
 
 jer'e-oth 
 
 jer-o-bo'am 
 
 jer-o'ham 
 
 je-rub-ba'al 
 
 je-rub-esh'eth 
 
 je-rwcl 
 
 je-ru'sa-Iem 
 
 je-ru'shah 
 
 je-say'yah 
 
 jesh-a'nah 
 
 jesh-ar'e-lah 
 
 jesh-eb'e-ab 
 
 je'sher 
 
 jesh'e-mon 
 
 je-shish'a-i 
 
 jesh-o-ha-i'ah 
 
 jesh'ii-ah 
 
 jesh'u-i 
 
 jesh'ur-nin 
 
 jes-im'int-el 
 
 jes'se 
 
 Je!sus 
 
 je'ther 
 
 jeth'lah 
 
 je'thro 
 
 je'tiir 
 
 je'yeic-el 
 
 je'ush 
 
 je'uz 
 
 jez^a-ny'ah 
 
 jez'e-bel 
 
 je'zer 
 
 je-zy'ah 
 
 je'ze-el 
 
 jez-h/ah 
 
 jez'o-ar 
 
 jez-ra-hy'ah 
 
 jez're-el 
 
 jez're-d-i-tess 
 
 jid'laf 
 
 jiftah
 
 998 
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Jiphthahel 
 
 Jireth 
 
 Joab 
 
 Joah 
 
 Joahaz 
 
 Joanna 
 
 Joatham 
 
 Job 
 
 Jobab 
 
 Jochebed 
 
 Joelah 
 
 Joezer 
 
 Jogbeah 
 
 Jogli 
 
 Joha 
 
 Johauan 
 
 John 
 
 Joiadah 
 
 Joiakim 
 
 Jokdeam 
 
 Jokim 
 
 Jokmeam 
 
 Jokshan 
 
 Joktheel 
 
 Jonadab 
 
 Jonah 
 
 Jonan 
 
 Jonathan 
 
 Joppa 
 
 Jorah 
 
 Jorai 
 
 J Oram 
 
 Jorkoam 
 
 Josabad 
 
 Josaphat 
 
 Josaphias 
 
 Jose 
 
 Josedech 
 
 Joses 
 
 Joshah 
 
 Josh.iviah 
 
 Joslibekashah 
 
 Joshua 
 
 Josiah 
 
 Josibiah 
 
 Josiphiah 
 
 Jotbatha 
 
 Jotliam 
 
 Jozabad 
 
 Jozacliai 
 
 Jozadak 
 
 Jul)al 
 
 Jucal 
 
 Jiulah 
 
 Jtidfim 
 
 Judith 
 
 Julia 
 
 Juhus 
 
 Junia 
 
 Jupiter 
 
 Jushabheshed 
 
 jifthah-el 
 
 jy'reth 
 
 jo'ab 
 
 jo'ah 
 
 jo-a'haz 
 
 jo-an'nah, 
 
 jo-a'tham 
 
 jobe 
 
 jo'bab 
 
 jok'e-bed 
 
 jo-e'lah 
 
 jo-e'zer 
 
 jog-be'ah 
 
 jog'ly 
 
 jo'hah 
 
 jo-hay'nan 
 
 jon 
 
 joy'a-dah 
 
 joy'a-kim 
 
 jok-de'am 
 
 jo'kim 
 
 jok-mt'am 
 
 jok'shan 
 
 jok'theel 
 
 jon'a-dab 
 
 jo'nah 
 
 jo'nan 
 
 jon'a-than 
 
 jop'pah 
 
 jo'rah 
 
 jo'ra-i 
 
 jo'ram 
 
 jor-ko'am 
 
 jos'a-bad 
 
 jos'a-fat 
 
 jos-a-fy'as 
 
 jo'se 
 
 jos'e-dek 
 
 jo'sez 
 
 jo'shah 
 
 josh-a-vy'ah 
 
 josh-bek'a-shah 
 
 josh'u-a 
 
 jo-sy'ah 
 
 jos-e-by'ah 
 
 jos-e-fy'ah 
 
 jot'ba-fhah 
 
 jo'tham 
 
 joz'a-bad 
 
 joz'a-kar 
 
 joz'a-dak 
 
 jeiv'bal 
 
 jetv'kfd 
 
 jeiv'dah 
 
 jeiv-de'ah 
 
 jew'dith 
 
 jeiv'le-a 
 
 jew'le-us 
 
 jew'ne-a 
 
 jeu/pit-ter 
 
 jew-shab'he-shed 
 
 K 
 
 Kabzeel 
 
 Kades 
 
 Kadesh bamea 
 
 Kadmiel 
 
 Kadnionites 
 
 Kallai 
 
 Kanah 
 
 Kareah 
 
 kab'ze-el 
 
 kay'dez 
 
 kay'desh har'ne-a 
 
 kad'me-el 
 
 kad'mon-ites 
 
 kal'la-i 
 
 kay'nah 
 
 ka-re'ah 
 
 Karkaa 
 
 Kamaim 
 
 Karta 
 
 Keder 
 
 Kedemah 
 
 Kedemoth 
 
 Kehelathah 
 
 Keilah 
 
 Kelaiah 
 
 Kelita 
 
 Kemuel 
 
 Kenah 
 
 Kenaz 
 
 Kenites 
 
 Kennizzites 
 
 Keren happuch 
 
 Kerioth 
 
 Keros 
 
 Keturah 
 
 Kezia 
 
 Keziz 
 
 Kibroth 
 
 hattaavah 
 Kibzaim 
 Kidron 
 Kinah 
 Kirharaseth 
 Kirharesh 
 Kiriathaim 
 Kirioth 
 Kirjath aim 
 Kirjath arba 
 Kirjath arim 
 Kirjath baal 
 Kirjath huzoth 
 Kirjath jearim 
 Kirjath sannah 
 Kirjath sepher 
 Kishi 
 Kishion 
 Kishon 
 Kirron 
 Koa 
 Kohath 
 Kolaiah 
 Korah 
 Korhite 
 Kore 
 Kushaiah 
 
 Laadah 
 
 Laadan 
 
 Lal)an 
 
 Labana 
 
 Lachish 
 
 Lael 
 
 Lahad 
 
 Lahairoi 
 
 Lahman 
 
 Lahmi 
 
 Laish 
 
 Lakum 
 
 Lamech 
 
 Laodicea 
 
 Laodiceans 
 
 Laj)idoth 
 
 Las(%i 
 
 Lashali 
 
 Lasharon 
 
 Lazarus 
 
 kar-kay'ah 
 
 kar-nay'im 
 
 kar'tah 
 
 ke'der 
 
 ked'e-mah 
 
 ked' de-moth 
 
 ke-heU a-thah 
 
 ky'lah 
 
 ke-lay'yah 
 
 kel'e-tah 
 
 kem'u-el 
 
 kt'nah 
 
 kt'naz 
 
 ke'nites 
 
 ken'niz-zites 
 
 ker-en hap'puk 
 
 ker'e-oth 
 
 ke'roz 
 
 ke-tu'rah 
 
 ke-zy'ah 
 
 ke'ziz 
 
 kib'roth 
 
 hat-tay'a-vah 
 kib-zay'im 
 kid'ron 
 ky'nah 
 
 kir-har'a-seth 
 kir-hay'resh 
 kir-e-ath-a'im 
 kir't-oth 
 ker'jath a'im 
 ker'jath ar'bah 
 ker'jath a'rim 
 ker'jath bay'al 
 kerjath hew'zoth 
 ker'jath je'a-rim 
 ker'jath san'nah 
 ker'jath st'fer 
 kish'i 
 kish'e-on 
 ky' short 
 kit'ron 
 ko'ah 
 ko'hath 
 kol-a-i'ah 
 ko'rah 
 kor'hite 
 ko're 
 kush-ay'ah 
 
 lay'a-dah 
 
 lay-a'dan 
 
 lay'ban 
 
 la-bay' nah 
 
 lay'kish 
 
 lay'cl 
 
 lay'had 
 
 la-hay' roy 
 
 lah'man 
 
 lah'my 
 
 lay'ish 
 
 lay'kum 
 
 lay'mek 
 
 lay-o-de-se'ah 
 
 lay-o-de-se'ans 
 
 lap'e-doth 
 
 la-se'ah 
 
 lay'shah 
 
 la-shay'ron 
 
 laz'er-us 
 
 Leah 
 
 Lebanon 
 
 Lebaoth 
 
 Lebbeus 
 
 Lebonah 
 
 Lechah 
 
 Lehabim 
 
 Lehi 
 
 Lemuel 
 
 Leshem 
 
 Letushmi 
 
 Levi 
 
 Levites 
 
 Leviathan 
 
 Leviticus 
 
 Leunimim 
 
 Libni 
 
 Lign-aloes 
 
 Ligure 
 
 Likhi 
 
 Linus 
 
 Loammi 
 
 Lodebar 
 
 Lois 
 
 Lo ruhamah 
 
 Lotan 
 
 Lucas 
 
 Lucifei 
 
 Lucius 
 
 Lubim 
 
 Lybia 
 
 Lycaonia 
 
 Lycca . 
 
 Lydda 
 
 Lydia 
 
 Lysanias 
 
 Lysias 
 
 Lystra 
 
 le'ah 
 
 leb'a-non 
 
 le-bay'oth 
 
 leb-he'us 
 
 le-ho'nah 
 
 le'kah 
 
 le-hay'bim 
 
 Why 
 
 lem'u-el 
 
 le'shem 
 
 le-tew'shim 
 
 le'vi 
 
 le'vites 
 
 le-vy'a-than 
 
 le-vit'e-kus 
 
 le-iim'mim 
 
 lib'ny 
 
 line-al'oes 
 
 ly'gure 
 
 lik'hy 
 
 ly'mirS 
 
 lo-am'my 
 
 lo-de'bar 
 
 lo'is 
 
 lo ru-hay'mah 
 
 lo'tan 
 
 letv'kas 
 
 leiv'se-fer 
 
 lew'she-us 
 
 leu/bim 
 
 lib'e-ah 
 
 ly-ka-o'ne-a ■ 
 
 lik'kah 
 
 lid'dah 
 
 lid'e-a 
 
 ly-say'ne-as 
 
 lish'yas 
 
 lis'tra 
 
 M 
 
 Ma AC HAH 
 
 Maacathi 
 
 Maadai 
 
 Maadiah 
 
 Maai 
 
 Maaleh 
 
 acrabbim 
 Maanai 
 Maarath 
 Maaseiah 
 Maasiai 
 Maath 
 IVfaaziah 
 Maccabees 
 Macedonia 
 Machbana 
 Maciibena 
 Machi 
 Machir 
 Machnadebai 
 Machpelah 
 Machheloth 
 Madai 
 Madiabun 
 Madiah 
 Machan 
 Madmcnah 
 Madnianuah 
 Madon 
 Magdala 
 Magdalen 
 
 may-a'kah 
 
 may-ak'a-thi 
 
 may-ad'dy 
 
 viay-a-dy'ah 
 
 niay-a'i 
 
 may-a'leh 
 
 ak-rab'bim 
 may'a-nay 
 may-a'rath 
 may-a-sy'ah 
 may-a-sy'a 
 may'ath 
 may-a-zy'ah 
 mak'ka-bees 
 mas-se-do'ne-a 
 mak-bay'nay 
 mak-be'nah 
 may'ky 
 may'kir 
 mak-na-de'bay 
 mak-pe'lah 
 mak-he'loth 
 mad'a-i 
 ma-dy'a-bun 
 may-dy'ah 
 may'de-an 
 Tnad-me'naJi 
 mad-man! nah 
 may'don 
 mag'da-lah 
 mag'da-len
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 999 
 
 Magdalen e 
 
 Magdiel 
 
 Magog 
 
 Magor inissabib 
 
 Magpiash 
 
 Mahalali 
 
 Malialaleel 
 
 Mahal i 
 
 Mahanaiin 
 
 Mahaiiehdan 
 
 Ma h an em 
 
 Maharai 
 
 Mahatii 
 
 Mahazioth 
 
 Maher shalal 
 
 haslibaz 
 Mahlah 
 Mahli 
 Mahion 
 Mahol 
 Makaz 
 Makhcloth 
 Makkedali 
 Malai-lii 
 Malcham 
 Malchiah 
 Malcliii'l 
 Malchijali 
 Malcliiram 
 Malchisliuah 
 Malchoin 
 Malclius 
 MalPleel 
 Mallothi 
 Malluch 
 Mamre 
 UlaiKieii 
 3Ianaiiath 
 Manaliethites 
 Maiiasseli 
 Manna 
 Manoali 
 Muoch 
 Maon 
 Ma rah 
 Maralah 
 Maranatha 
 Marcus 
 Mardocheus 
 Mareshah 
 Marisa 
 Marsena 
 Maschil 
 Mashal 
 Masrekah 
 Masa 
 M assail 
 Matri 
 Matred 
 Mattanah 
 IMattaniah 
 Mattatha 
 Mattathias 
 Mattenai 
 Matthat 
 Matthew 
 Matthias 
 Mattithiah 
 Mazzaroth 
 Meah 
 Mearah 
 
 mag-da-le'ne 
 
 maer-de'tl 
 
 may'gog 
 
 may'gor tiiis'sa-bib 
 
 mag'pe-ash 
 
 may-hny'lah 
 
 may-hul'a-leel 
 
 may-hay'ly 
 
 may-ha-nay'im 
 
 mny-hay'neh-dan 
 
 may-hay' nan 
 
 may-har'a-i 
 
 may'hath 
 
 may-haz'e-oth 
 
 may' her shal'al 
 
 hash'baz 
 mah'lah 
 mah'ly 
 mah'lon 
 may' hoi 
 may'kaz 
 mak-he'loth 
 mak-ke'dah 
 mal'a-ky 
 mal'kam 
 mal-ky'ah 
 mal'ke-el 
 mal-ky'jah 
 mal-ky'ram 
 mal-kc-shu'ah 
 mal'kom 
 mal'kus 
 mal-le-le'cl 
 mal'lo-thi 
 mal'luk 
 mam' re 
 ma-nay'en 
 man'a-hath 
 man-ah' eth-ites 
 ma-nas'seh 
 man'nah 
 ma-no'ah 
 may'ok 
 may'on 
 may'rah 
 ma/a-lah 
 mar-ran-a'thah 
 mar'kus 
 mar-do-ke'us 
 viar'e-shah 
 ma-ry'sah 
 mar-xe'nak 
 mxis'kil 
 may'shal 
 mas'rc-kah 
 may'sah 
 mas'sah 
 may'try 
 may'tred 
 mal'ta-nah 
 mat-ta-ny'ah 
 mat'ta-thah 
 mat-tath-i' as 
 mal-k-nay'i 
 mnt'that 
 math' yew 
 math-i'as 
 mat-tith-i'ah 
 maz'za-roth 
 me'ah 
 me-a'rah 
 
 Mebunnai 
 Meclierath 
 lAIedad 
 Medalah 
 Medebah 
 Medes 
 Media 
 Median 
 Megiddo 
 Megiddon 
 Mehotabel 
 Mehida 
 Mehir 
 Meholathite 
 Mehujael 
 Mchuman 
 31 ej ark on 
 Mekonah 
 Melatiah 
 Melchi 
 Mclciiiah 
 Mel.-Iiiel 
 Melcliisedek 
 Melea 
 Melech 
 3Iellicu 
 3Ielita 
 3Iemphis 
 3Ietnncan 
 3Ienalieni 
 3Ienan 
 3Ieiie 
 3Ieonothai 
 Meonenem 
 3Iephaath 
 Mephibosheth 
 3Ierab 
 3Ieraiaii 
 3Ieraioth 
 3Ierari 
 Merathaim 
 Mercurius 
 Mered 
 3Ieremoth 
 3teres 
 3Ieribah 
 3Ieribbaal 
 3Iero(lach- 
 baladan 
 3Ieroiri 
 31eronothitc 
 3Icroz 
 3Iesoch 
 3Icsha 
 31(>sheeh 
 3Iesheleiiiiali 
 3Ieshezabeel 
 3I( shilaniith 
 3Iesiiiillaiii 
 3Iesliobab 
 3Icsobaite 
 3Iesop()lainia 
 31essiaii 
 Metlieg aiuniah 
 31etliiisael 
 31ethiisalah 
 3Ienniin 
 3Iezaliab 
 3Iianini 
 3Iil)har 
 3Iica 
 
 me-hun'nay 
 
 3Iicaiah 
 
 my-kay'yali 
 
 mek'e-ralh 
 
 3Iicha 
 
 my'kah 
 
 vie'dad 
 
 3Iichael 
 
 my'-ka-el 
 
 mcd'a-lah 
 
 3Iichniash 
 
 mik'mash 
 
 vied'e-bah 
 
 3Iichinethali 
 
 mik'me-ihah 
 
 meeds 
 
 Mifhri 
 
 mik'ry 
 
 me'de-a 
 
 3Iichtam 
 
 mik'tam 
 
 me'de-an 
 
 3Iidian 
 
 mid'e-an 
 
 me-gid'do 
 
 3Iigdalel 
 
 mig'da-lel 
 
 me-gid'don 
 
 3Iigron 
 
 mig'ron 
 
 me-het'a-bel 
 
 31 ijamin 
 
 viy'ja-min 
 
 me-hy'dah 
 
 31 ik loth 
 
 mik'loth 
 
 me'htr 
 
 3Iikneiah 
 
 mik-ny'aJi 
 
 vie-hol'ath-ite 
 
 31ilalai 
 
 mil-a-lay'i 
 
 me-yew'ja-el 
 me-hew' man 
 
 3Iilcah 
 
 mil'kah 
 
 3Iiletu9 
 
 mi-le'tus 
 
 me-jar'kon 
 
 3Iiletiim 
 
 mi-le'tum 
 
 me-ko'nah 
 
 3Iinian)in 
 
 min-ny'a-min 
 
 mel-a-ty'ah 
 
 3Iinni 
 
 min'ny 
 
 mcl'ky 
 
 3Iiphkad 
 
 viifkad 
 
 mel-ky'ah 
 
 3Iinam 
 
 mir'e-am 
 
 mel'ke-el 
 
 3Iirniah 
 
 mtr'mah 
 
 md-kiz'ze-dek 
 
 3Iisgab 
 
 mis'gab 
 
 me-le'ah 
 
 3Iishael 
 
 my-shay'el 
 
 me'lek 
 
 3Iishal 
 
 my'shal 
 
 mel'le-keiv 
 
 3Iisham 
 
 7ny'sham 
 
 me-le'tah 
 
 3Iisheal 
 
 my-she'al 
 
 mem'fs 
 
 3Iishnia 
 
 inish'mah 
 
 me-meiv'kan 
 
 3Iishmannah 
 
 mish-man'naJi 
 
 men'a-hem 
 
 3Iishraites 
 
 mish'ra-ites 
 
 me'nan 
 
 3Iispereth 
 
 mis-pe'reth 
 
 me'ne 
 
 3lisrcphoth 
 
 mis're-foth 
 
 me-on'o-thay 
 
 maim 
 
 viay'im 
 
 me-on'e-nem 
 
 3Iithredath 
 
 mith're-dath 
 
 me -fay' at h 
 
 3Iitylene 
 
 mit-e-le'ne 
 
 me-fib' o-sheth 
 
 3Iizraim 
 
 miz-ray'im 
 
 me'rab 
 
 3Iizar 
 
 my'zar 
 
 me-ra-i'ah 
 
 3Inason 
 
 nay'son 
 
 me-ray'yoth 
 
 3Ioadiah 
 
 mo-a-dy'ah 
 
 me-ray'ry 
 
 3Ioladali 
 
 mol'a-dah 
 
 mer-ath-a'im 
 
 3Iolecli 
 
 mo'lek 
 
 mer-kew' re-US 
 
 3tolid 
 
 mo'lid 
 
 me'red 
 
 3Ioloch 
 
 mo'Iok 
 
 mei-'rc-molh 
 
 3Iorasthite 
 
 mo-ras'thite 
 
 me'rez 
 
 31ordecai 
 
 mor'de-kay 
 
 mer'e-hah 
 
 3Ioreh 
 
 mo'reh 
 
 mer-e-bay'al 
 
 3Toresheth gath mo'resh-eth gath 
 
 me-ro'dak- 
 
 3Ioriah 
 
 mo-ry'ah 
 
 bal'a-dan 
 
 Moserah 
 
 mo-ser'ah 
 
 me'rom 
 
 3Ioseroth 
 
 mo-ser'oih 
 
 me-ron' o-thite 
 
 31 OSes 
 
 mo'zez 
 
 mefroz 
 
 3Iozali 
 
 mo'zah 
 
 me'sek 
 
 3Iiippini 
 
 mup'pim 
 
 me'shah 
 
 3Tushi 
 
 mew'shy 
 
 mc'shi'k 
 
 3Iiithlabben 
 
 muth-lab'ben 
 
 mcsh-el-c-my'ak 
 
 3Iyra 
 
 my'rah 
 
 mesh-cz'a-heii 
 
 3lysia 
 
 mxsh'e-a 
 
 mesh-il'la-mith 
 
 
 
 me-shul'lain 
 
 
 N 
 
 mc-sho'bab 
 
 Naam 
 
 nay'am 
 
 incs-o-bay'ite 
 
 Naamah 
 
 nay'a-mah 
 
 mcs-o-po-tay' ine-a 
 
 Naamau 
 
 nay'a-man 
 
 mes-sy'ah 
 
 Naarah 
 
 nay'a-rah 
 
 mc'theg am'mah 
 
 Naarai 
 
 nay'a-ray 
 
 mc-thew' sa-el 
 
 Naaran 
 
 nay'a-ran 
 
 mc-thiw'sit-lah 
 
 Najishon 
 
 na-ash'on "j 
 
 me-ycw'nim 
 
 Nabal 
 
 nai/bal 
 
 mez'a-hab 
 
 Naboth 
 
 nay'both 
 
 my-a'nim 
 
 Nachon 
 
 nay'kon 
 
 mib'har 
 
 Nachor 
 
 nay'kor 
 
 my'kah 
 
 Nadab 
 
 naj/dab
 
 1000 
 
 Nagge 
 Nahaliel 
 Nahallal 
 Nahaiii 
 Nahamaiii 
 Naharai 
 Nahash 
 Nahbi 
 Nalior 
 Nairn 
 Nain 
 Niiioth 
 Naoini 
 Naphish 
 Naphthali 
 Naphtuim 
 Narcissus 
 Nasor 
 Nathan 
 Nathanael 
 Nathauias 
 Nathan melech 
 Naiim 
 Nazarene 
 Nazareth 
 Neah 
 Neapohs 
 Neariah 
 Nebai 
 Nehajoth 
 Neballat 
 Nobat 
 Nebo 
 
 Nebuchadnez- 
 zar 
 Nsbushasban 
 Nebuzaradan 
 
 Nechoh 
 
 Nedabiah 
 
 Neginoth 
 
 Nehelamite 
 
 Nehemiah 
 
 Nehum 
 
 Nehushtah 
 
 Neiel 
 
 Nekeb 
 
 Nekoda 
 
 Nemuel 
 
 Nepheg 
 
 Nepliishesim 
 
 Nephthoah 
 
 Nophusim 
 
 Nercus 
 
 Nergal sharezer 
 
 Ncri 
 
 Nero 
 
 Nethaneel 
 
 Nethaniah 
 
 Nethinims 
 
 Netophathites 
 
 Neziah 
 
 Nezib 
 
 Nicanor 
 
 Nicodemus 
 
 Nicolaitanes 
 
 Nicolas 
 
 Nicopohs 
 
 Niger 
 
 Nimrah 
 
 Ninishi 
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 nag'gee 
 
 na-hay'le-el 
 
 na-hal'lal 
 
 nay'ham 
 
 na-ham'a-ny 
 
 na-har'a-i 
 
 nay'hash 
 
 nah'be 
 
 nuy'hor 
 
 nay'im 
 
 nay'in 
 
 nay'yoth 
 
 na-o'me 
 
 nay'Jish 
 
 naf'tha-le 
 
 naf'tu-him 
 
 nar-sis'sus 
 
 nay'sor 
 
 nay'than 
 
 na-than' e-el 
 
 nath-a-ny'as 
 
 nay'than mt'lek 
 
 nay'um 
 
 naz-a-reen' 
 
 naz'a-reth 
 
 ne'ah 
 
 ne-ap'po-Us 
 
 ne-a-ry'ah 
 
 ne-bay'i 
 
 ne-bay'joth 
 
 ne-ballat 
 
 ne'bat 
 
 ne'bo 
 
 neb-yew-kad-nez'- 
 
 zar 
 neb-yew-shas'ban 
 neb-yew-zar' a- 
 
 dan 
 ne'ko 
 
 ned-a-by'ah 
 neg'e-noth 
 ne-hel'a-mite 
 ne-he-my'ah 
 ne'hum 
 ne-hush'tah 
 ne'e-el 
 ne'keb 
 ne-ko'dah 
 nem-yeiv'el 
 nc'feg 
 
 ne-Jish' e-sim 
 nef-tho'ah 
 ne-feiv'sim 
 ne're-us 
 
 ner'gal sha-re'zer 
 ne'ry 
 ne'ro 
 
 ne-than'e-el 
 7ieth-a-ny' ah 
 neth'in-inis 
 ne-tof'a-thiies 
 ne-zy'ah 
 ne'zib 
 ny-kay'nor 
 mk-o-de'mus 
 nik-o-lay'e-tanes 
 nik'o-las 
 ny-kop'o-lis 
 ny'jer 
 nim'rah 
 nim'shy 
 
 Nineveh 
 
 Nisan 
 
 Nisroch 
 
 Noadiah 
 
 Noah 
 
 Nobah 
 
 Nogah 
 
 Noph 
 
 Nophah 
 
 Nyniphas 
 
 Obadiah 
 
 Obal 
 
 Obed edom 
 
 Obil 
 
 Oboth 
 
 Ocran 
 
 Oded 
 
 Olyrapas 
 
 Omar 
 
 O 
 
 nin'ne-veh 
 
 ny'san 
 
 nis'rok 
 
 no-ah-dy'ah 
 
 no'ah 
 
 no'bah 
 
 no'gah 
 
 noff 
 
 no'fah 
 
 nim'fas 
 
 o-ba-dy'ah 
 
 o'bal 
 
 o'bed e'dom 
 
 o'bil 
 
 o'both 
 
 ok'ran 
 
 o'ded 
 
 o-lim'pas 
 
 o'mar 
 
 Omega 
 
 o'me-ga 
 
 Oniri 
 
 om'ry 
 
 Onam 
 
 o'nam 
 
 Onesimus 
 
 o-nes'se-mus 
 
 Onesiphorus 
 
 on-e-sif'o-rus 
 
 One 
 
 o'no 
 
 Onycha 
 
 o-ny'kah 
 
 Onvx 
 
 o'mx 
 
 Ophel 
 
 o'fel 
 
 Ophir 
 
 o'Jir 
 
 Ophni 
 
 off'ny 
 
 Ophrah 
 
 off'rah 
 
 Oreb 
 
 o'reb 
 
 Orion 
 
 o-ry'on 
 
 Orphah 
 
 or'fah 
 
 Othni 
 
 oth'ny 
 
 Othniel 
 
 oth'ne-el 
 
 Ozem 
 
 o'zem 
 
 Ozias 
 
 o-zy'as 
 
 Ozni 
 
 oz'ny 
 
 P 
 
 
 Paarai 
 
 pay'a-ray 
 
 Padan aram 
 
 pay'dan a'ram 
 
 Pad on 
 
 pay'don 
 
 Pagiel 
 
 pay'je-el 
 
 Pahath moab 
 
 pay'hath mo'ab 
 
 Pai 
 
 pay'i 
 
 Palal 
 
 pay'lal 
 
 Palestina 
 
 pal-es-ty'nah 
 
 Palestine 
 
 pal'es-tyne 
 
 Pallu 
 
 pal'leio 
 
 Palti 
 
 pal'ty 
 
 Paltiel 
 
 pal-te'el 
 
 Pamphylia 
 
 pam-fil'e-a 
 
 Paphos 
 
 pay'fos _ 
 
 Paradise 
 
 par'a-dise 
 
 Paran 
 
 fay'ran 
 
 Par mash ta 
 
 par-mash'tah 
 
 Parmenas 
 
 par'me-nas 
 
 Parnach 
 
 pai-'nak 
 
 Parosh 
 
 pay'rosh 
 
 Parshandatha 
 
 par-shan'da-thah 
 
 Parthians 
 
 jiar' the-ans 
 
 Paniah 
 
 par'yew-ah 
 
 Parvaim 
 
 par-vay'im 
 
 Pasach 
 
 pay'su'k 
 
 Pasdammim 
 
 pas-dam'mim 
 
 Paseah 
 
 pa-se'ah 
 
 Pashur 
 
 pash'ur 
 
 Passover 
 
 Patara 
 
 Pathros 
 
 Pathrusim 
 
 Patrobas 
 
 Pau 
 
 Pedahel 
 
 Pedahzur 
 
 Pedaiah 
 
 Pekah 
 
 Pekahiah 
 
 Pekod 
 
 Pelaiah 
 
 Pelaliah 
 
 Peleg 
 
 Peleth 
 
 Pelonite 
 
 Peniel 
 
 Peninnah 
 
 Peutapolis 
 
 Pentateuch 
 
 Pentecost 
 
 Penuel 
 
 Peor 
 
 Perazim 
 
 Perez uzzah 
 
 Perga 
 
 Pergamos 
 
 Perida 
 
 Perizzites 
 
 Persia 
 
 Perudah 
 
 Pethahiah 
 
 Pethor 
 
 Pethuel 
 
 Peulthai 
 
 Phalec 
 
 Phalti 
 
 Phanuel 
 
 Pharaoh 
 
 Pharaoh hophr 
 
 Pharathoni 
 
 Pharez 
 
 Pharisees 
 
 Pharphar 
 
 Phaseah 
 
 Phebe 
 
 Phenice 
 
 Phenicia 
 
 Phibeseth 
 
 Phicol 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 Philemon 
 
 Philetus 
 
 Philip 
 
 Philippi 
 
 Philistia 
 
 Philistim 
 
 Philistines 
 
 Philologus 
 
 Philonieter 
 
 Phinehas 
 
 Phison 
 
 Phlegon 
 
 PJuTgia 
 
 Phud 
 
 Phiirah 
 
 Phut 
 
 Phubah 
 
 Phygellus 
 
 Phylacteries 
 
 pass'o-ver 
 pat'a-rah 
 pay'thros 
 path-rni/ sim 
 pat-ro'bas 
 pay' hew 
 ped'a-hel 
 ped-ah'zur 
 ped-a'yah 
 pe'kah 
 pek-a-hi'ah 
 pe'kod 
 pel-a-i'ah 
 pel-a-ly'ah 
 pe'leg 
 pe'leth 
 pel'o-nite 
 pe-ny'el 
 pe-nin'nah 
 pen-tap' o-lis 
 pen'ta-tuke 
 pent'e-coast 
 pen-yew'el 
 pe'or 
 pei-'a-zim 
 pe'rez uz'zah 
 per'gali 
 per'ga-mos 
 pe-ry'dah 
 per'iz-zites 
 per'she-a 
 per-yew'dah 
 peth-a-hy'ah 
 pe'thor 
 peth-yew'el 
 pe-ul'thay 
 fay'lek 
 fal'ty 
 fan-yeiv'el 
 fa'ro 
 •a fa'ro hof'rah 
 far-a-tho'nt 
 fa'rez 
 far'e-sces 
 far'far 
 fa-se'ah 
 fee'be 
 fe-ny'se 
 fe-nish'e-a 
 Jib'e-seth 
 fy'kol 
 
 Jil-a-del'fe-a 
 Ji-le'mon 
 Ji-le'tus 
 Jil'lip 
 fl-Hp'py 
 Jil-hs'te-a 
 Jil-lis'li>n 
 fd-lis'tins 
 Jil-lol'o-gus 
 Jil-o-me'ter 
 Jin'ne-has 
 fy'son 
 Jleg'on 
 fridj'ye-a 
 fud 
 feiv'rah 
 fid (as nut) 
 few'bah 
 fy-jel'lus 
 fy-lak'te-rees
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 1001 
 
 Pihahiroth 
 
 Pilate 
 
 Pildash 
 
 Piletha 
 
 Piltai 
 
 Piiion 
 
 Pirarn 
 
 Pirathon 
 
 Pisgah 
 
 Pisidia 
 
 Pison 
 
 Pithon 
 
 Pleiades 
 
 Pochereth 
 
 Pollux 
 
 Pontius 
 
 Poratha 
 
 Portius Festus 
 
 Potiphar 
 
 Potiphera 
 
 Prisca 
 
 Priscilla 
 
 Prochorus 
 
 Ptolemeus 
 
 Puah 
 
 Publius 
 
 Pudens 
 
 Pul 
 
 Punites 
 
 Punon 
 
 Put 
 
 Puteoli 
 
 Putiel 
 
 py-ha- hy'roth 
 
 py'lat 
 
 pil'dash 
 
 pil'e-thah 
 
 pil'tay 
 
 py'non 
 
 py'ram 
 
 pir'a-thon 
 
 piz'gah 
 
 pe-sid'e-a 
 
 py'son 
 
 py'thon 
 
 ply'a-dez 
 
 pok'e-reth 
 
 pol'lux 
 
 pon'she-us 
 
 por'a-thah 
 
 por'shns /est' us 
 
 pot'e-far 
 
 pot-e-fe'rah 
 
 pris'kah 
 
 pris-sil'lah 
 
 prok'o-rus 
 
 tol-e-me'us 
 
 peiv'ah 
 
 puh'le-us 
 
 peit/dens 
 
 pid (as dull) 
 
 peiv'nites 
 
 pew'non 
 
 put (as nut) 
 
 peiv-te'o-li 
 
 pei(/te-el 
 
 a 
 
 QOARTUS 
 
 Quaternion 
 
 R 
 
 Raamah 
 
 Raamiah 
 
 Rabbah 
 
 Rabbi 
 
 Rabboni 
 
 Rabsaris 
 
 Rabshakeh 
 
 Raca 
 
 Rachal 
 
 Rachel 
 
 Raddai 
 
 Ragau 
 
 Ragua 
 
 Raguel 
 
 Rahab 
 
 Rakem 
 
 Rakkath 
 
 Rakkon 
 
 Ramah 
 
 Ramathaini 
 
 Ramathcm 
 
 Raniatli lehi 
 
 Raiaath mispeh 
 
 Ramesis 
 
 Ramoth 
 
 Ramiah 
 
 Raphah 
 
 Raphael 
 
 Raphu 
 
 Reaiah 
 
 Reba 
 
 Rebekah 
 
 126 
 
 qiiar'tus 
 qua-ter'ne-on 
 
 ray'a-mah 
 
 ra-a-my'ah 
 
 rab'bah 
 
 rab'by 
 
 rab-bo'ny 
 
 rab'sa-ns 
 
 rab'sha-keh 
 
 ray'kah 
 
 ray'kal 
 
 ray'chel 
 
 rad'da-i 
 
 ray'gmo 
 
 rag'yew-ah 
 
 rag-yetv'el 
 
 ray'hab 
 
 ray'kem 
 
 rak'kath 
 
 rak'kon 
 
 ray'mah 
 
 ra-math-alim 
 
 ram'a-them 
 
 ray'math le'hy 
 
 ray' math mis'peh 
 
 ram'e-sis 
 
 ray'moth 
 
 ray -my' ah 
 
 ray'fah 
 
 ray'fa-el 
 
 ray'feio 
 
 re-a'yah 
 
 re'bah 
 
 re-bek'ah 
 
 Rechab 
 
 Rechah 
 
 Reelaiah 
 
 Regem 
 
 Regem melek 
 
 Rehabiah 
 
 Rehob 
 
 Rehoboani 
 
 Rohoboth 
 
 Rehum 
 
 Rei 
 
 Rekim 
 
 Renialiah 
 
 Remeth 
 
 Remmon 
 
 niethoar 
 Remphan 
 Raphael 
 Rephaiah 
 Rephaim 
 Rephidim 
 Resen 
 Reu 
 Reuben 
 Reuel 
 Reumah 
 Rezeph 
 Rezia 
 Rezon 
 Rhegium 
 Rhesa 
 Rhoda 
 Rhodes 
 Ribai 
 
 Rimmon parez 
 Rip hath 
 Rogelim 
 Rohgah 
 Romamti ezer 
 Rome 
 Rufus 
 Rusticus 
 Ruhamah 
 Ruth 
 
 re'kab 
 
 re'kah 
 
 re-el-a'yah 
 
 re'jem 
 
 re'jem me'lek 
 
 re-ha-by'ah 
 
 re'hob 
 
 re-ho-bo'am 
 
 re'ho-both 
 
 re'hum 
 
 re'i 
 
 re'kim 
 
 rem-a-ly'ah 
 
 re'meth 
 
 rem'mon 
 
 meth-o'ar 
 rem'fan 
 re'fa-el 
 re-fay'yah 
 re-fay'im 
 re-Jid'im 
 re'sen 
 re'yeio 
 ru'ben 
 re-yew'tl 
 ru'mah 
 re'zef 
 re-zy'ah 
 re'zon 
 re'je-um 
 re'sah 
 ro'dah 
 roads 
 ry'bay 
 
 rim'mon pay'rez 
 n/fath 
 ro-ge'lim 
 ro'gah 
 
 ro-viam!te e!zer 
 room 
 rew'fus 
 rus'te-kus 
 ru-hay'mah 
 rooth 
 
 S 
 
 Sabacthani 
 
 Sabaoth 
 
 Sabdi 
 
 Sabeans 
 
 Sabtechah 
 
 Sacar 
 
 Sackbut 
 
 Sadducees 
 
 Sadoc 
 
 Salah 
 
 Salainis 
 
 Salathiel 
 
 Saicah 
 
 Salem 
 
 Sailai 
 
 Sahnoni 
 
 Salome 
 
 Samaria 
 
 Samaritan 
 
 Samgar nebo 
 
 Samiah 
 
 Samos 
 
 Samothracia 
 
 Samuel 
 
 Sanballat 
 
 sa-bak-tha'ni 
 
 sab-a'oth 
 
 sab'dy 
 
 sa-be'ans 
 
 sab'te-kah 
 
 say'kar 
 
 sak'but 
 
 sad'du-seez 
 
 say'dok 
 
 say'lah 
 
 sal'a-mis 
 
 sa-lay'the-el 
 
 sal'kah 
 
 say'lem 
 
 sal'lay-i 
 
 sal-mo'ne 
 
 sa-lo'mc 
 
 sa-tnay're-a 
 
 sa-mar'e-tan 
 
 sam'gar ne'bo 
 
 sam'lah 
 
 say'mos 
 
 sam-o-thray'she-a 
 
 sam'u-el 
 
 san-bal'lat ,/^ 
 
 Sanhedrim 
 
 san-he'drim 
 
 Sansannah 
 
 san-san'ndh 
 
 Saph 
 
 saff 
 
 Saphir 
 
 saf'Jir 
 
 Sapphira 
 
 saf-fy'rah 
 saf'Jire 
 
 Sapphire 
 
 Sarai 
 
 say'rai 
 
 Sarah 
 
 say'rah 
 
 Saraph 
 
 say'raf 
 
 Sard is 
 
 sar'dis 
 
 Sardius 
 
 sar'de-us 
 
 Sardine 
 
 sar'dyne 
 sar-do'nix 
 
 Sardonyx 
 
 Sarepta 
 
 sa-rep'tah 
 
 Sarid 
 
 say'nd 
 
 Sargon 
 
 sar'gon 
 
 Sarsekim 
 
 sar-se'kim 
 
 Saruch 
 
 say'ruk 
 
 Satan 
 
 say'tan 
 
 Saul 
 
 sawl 
 
 Sceva 
 
 se'vah 
 
 Scythians 
 
 sith'e-ans 
 
 Seba 
 
 se'bah 
 
 Sebat 
 
 se'bat 
 
 Secacah 
 
 se-kay'kah 
 
 Sechu 
 
 se'kew 
 
 Secundus 
 
 se-kun'dus 
 
 Segub 
 
 se'gub 
 
 Seir 
 
 se'ir 
 
 Seirath 
 
 se'ir-ath 
 
 Sela hanimah 
 
 se'lah ham'mah 
 
 lekoth 
 
 le'koth 
 
 Selah 
 
 se'lah 
 
 Seled 
 
 se'led 
 
 Seleucia 
 
 se-lu'she-a 
 
 Semachiah 
 
 sem-a-ky'ah 
 
 Semaiali 
 
 sem-a-i'ah 
 
 Semei 
 
 sem'e-i 
 
 Senaah 
 
 se-nay'ah 
 
 Sennacherib 
 
 sen-nak'e-rib 
 
 Senir 
 
 se'ner 
 
 Senua 
 
 sen'u-ah 
 
 Seorim 
 
 se-o'rim 
 
 Sephar 
 
 se'far 
 
 Sepharad 
 
 sejf'a-rad 
 
 Sepharvaim 
 
 sef-ar-vay'im 
 
 Sephela 
 
 sef'fe-lah 
 
 Serah 
 
 se'rah 
 
 Seraiah 
 
 ser-a-i'ah 
 
 Seraphim 
 
 ser'ra-fim 
 
 Sercd 
 
 se'red 
 
 Sergius 
 
 ser'je-us 
 
 Serug 
 
 se'rug 
 
 Sether 
 
 se'ther 
 
 Shaalabbin 
 
 shay-al-ab'bin 
 
 Sliaalbim 
 
 shay-al'bim 
 
 Sliaalbonit 
 
 shay-al'bon-it9 
 
 Shaaph 
 
 shay'af 
 
 Shaaraim 
 
 shay-a-ray'im 
 
 Sliaasiigaz 
 Shai)hcthai 
 
 sh^s}}-ash"^Zl 
 shah-beth'a-i 
 
 Shachia 
 
 shak-i'ah 
 
 Siiaddai 
 
 shad'da-i 
 
 Shiidrach^ ' 
 
 Slia::(« 
 
 S'l-'il .azimath 
 
 shay'drak 
 shay'ge 
 
 sha-haz'e-math 
 
 f^l'.alfm 
 
 shay'lem 
 
 ohalislia 
 
 shal'e-shah 
 
 Slialiecheth 
 
 shal'le-keth 
 
 Shallum 
 
 shallum 
 
 Shalmai 
 
 shal'may
 
 1002 
 
 Shalmanezer 
 
 Shamariah 
 
 Shamir 
 
 Shamgar 
 
 Shammai 
 
 Shammua 
 
 Shamsherai 
 
 Shaphan 
 
 Shaphat 
 
 Shapher 
 
 Sharai 
 
 Sharaim 
 
 Sharar 
 
 Sharezer 
 
 Sharon 
 
 Sharuhen 
 
 Shashai 
 
 Shashak 
 
 Shaveh 
 
 Shaul 
 
 Shealtiel 
 
 Sheariah 
 
 Shear jashub 
 
 Shebah 
 
 Sheham 
 
 Shebaniah 
 
 Shebarim 
 
 Sheber 
 
 Shebnah 
 
 Shebiiel 
 
 Shecaniah 
 
 Shechem 
 
 Shedeur 
 
 Shehariah 
 
 Shelemiah 
 
 Sheleph 
 
 Shelesh 
 
 Shelomi 
 
 Shelomoth 
 
 Shelumiel 
 
 Sheinah 
 
 Shemaiah 
 
 Shemariah 
 
 Shenieber 
 
 Shemir 
 
 Shemida 
 
 Sheminith 
 
 Shemirainoth 
 
 Shemuel 
 
 Shenazar 
 
 Slienir 
 
 Shephatiah 
 
 S'.hephi 
 
 Shc"'ohuphan 
 
 S.'iei-a H 
 Shftrebj>h 
 
 Shei-ftsh 
 
 Sheshae.'i 
 
 •^heshai 
 
 Sheslian 
 Sheshbazzar 
 
 Sliclhar 
 
 Shethar boznai 
 
 Shibboleth 
 
 Shicron 
 
 Sbiggiiio" 
 
 Shihon 
 
 Shilior libnah 
 
 Shilbi 
 
 Shiloah 
 
 Shiloh 
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 shal-ma-ne'zer 
 sham-a-ry' ah 
 shay'mer 
 sham'gar 
 sham'ma-i 
 sham-mew' ah 
 
 sham-she-ray'i 
 
 shay'fan 
 
 shay'fat 
 
 shay'fer 
 
 sha-ray'i 
 
 sha-ray'im 
 
 shay'rar 
 
 sha-re'zer 
 
 shay'ron 
 
 sha-ru'hen 
 
 shash'a-i 
 
 shay'shak 
 
 shay'veh 
 
 shay'ul 
 
 she-al'te-el 
 
 she-a-ry'ah 
 
 she'ar jay'shub 
 
 she'bah 
 
 she'bam 
 
 shtb-a-ny'ah 
 
 sheb'a-rim 
 
 she'ber 
 
 sheb'nah 
 
 sheb'yetv-el 
 
 shek-a-ny'ah 
 
 she'kem 
 
 shed'e-ur 
 
 she-ha-ry'ah 
 
 shel-e-my'ah 
 
 she'lef 
 
 she'lesh 
 
 she-lo'my 
 
 shel'o-moth 
 
 she-lu'me-el 
 
 she'mah 
 
 shem-a-i'ah 
 
 shem-a-ry'ah 
 
 shem-e'ber 
 
 she'mer 
 
 she-my'dah 
 
 shem'e-nith 
 
 she-mir'a-moth 
 
 she'meiv-el 
 
 she-nay'zar 
 
 she'ner 
 
 shef-n-ty'ah 
 
 she'fy 
 
 she-few'fan 
 
 she' rah 
 
 sher-e-by'ah 
 
 she'resh 
 
 shc'shak 
 
 she'shay 
 
 she'shan 
 
 ihesh-baz'zar 
 "'thar 
 5/,^ '^ar boz'nay 
 she'tu ^eth 
 shib'ho- 
 shi'^ron 
 
 shig-gay'V*'-" 
 shy'hon 
 shy'hor hb'nah 
 shil'hy 
 shy-lo'ah 
 
 shy'lo 
 
 Shiloni 
 Shilshah 
 Shimea 
 Shimeath 
 Shimei 
 Shimeon 
 Shimi 
 Shimon 
 Shimrath 
 Shimri 
 Shimshai 
 Shinab 
 Shinar 
 Shiphi 
 Shiplirah 
 Shiphtan 
 Shisha 
 Shishak 
 Sliitrai 
 Shiza 
 Shoa 
 Shobab 
 Shobach 
 Shobal 
 Sliobai 
 Slioco 
 Shochob 
 Sliophach 
 Shophan 
 Slioshannim 
 Shiia 
 Shual 
 Shiibael 
 Shulamite 
 Sluimathites 
 Shimainite 
 Sliunem 
 Shuni 
 Sliiipham 
 Shushan eduth 
 Shuthelah 
 Sia 
 Siaha 
 Sibl)echai 
 Sibboleth 
 Sil)raim 
 Sichem 
 Sidon 
 Siijionoth 
 Sihon 
 Silas 
 Siloah 
 Silvaniis 
 Silla 
 Simeon 
 Simon 
 Sinai 
 Sinim 
 Sinites 
 Sion 
 
 Si ph moth 
 Sippai 
 Sirach 
 Sirion 
 Sisamai 
 Sisera 
 Si van 
 Smyrna 
 Sochoii 
 , ""odi 
 
 she-lo'ny 
 
 shil'shah 
 
 shim-e'ah 
 
 shim'e-ath 
 
 shim'e-i 
 
 shim'e-on 
 
 shy'my 
 
 shy'mon 
 
 shim'rath 
 
 shmi'ry 
 
 shim'shay 
 
 shy'nah 
 
 shy'nar 
 
 shy'fy 
 
 shif'rah 
 
 shif'tan 
 
 shy'shah 
 
 shy'shak 
 
 shit'ray 
 
 shy'zah 
 
 sho'ah 
 
 sho'bab 
 
 sho'bak 
 
 sho'bal 
 
 sho-bay'i 
 
 sho'ko 
 
 sho'kob 
 
 sho'fak 
 
 sho'fan 
 
 sho-shan'nim 
 
 shu'ah 
 
 shu'al 
 
 shu'ba-el 
 
 shu'lam-ite 
 
 shu'math-ites 
 
 shu'nam-ite 
 
 shu'nem 
 
 shu'ny 
 
 shu'fam 
 
 shu'shan e'duih 
 
 shu'the-lah 
 
 sy'ah 
 
 sy-a'hah 
 
 sib'be-kay 
 
 sib'bo-leth 
 
 sib-ray'im 
 
 sy'kem 
 
 sy'don 
 
 se-gy'o-noth 
 
 sy'hon 
 
 sy'las 
 
 silo- ah 
 
 sil-vay'nus 
 
 sil'Iah 
 
 sim'e-on 
 
 sy'mon 
 
 sy'nay 
 
 sy'nim 
 
 sin'ites 
 
 sy'on 
 
 si f moth 
 
 sip' pay 
 
 sy'rak 
 
 sv'e-on 
 
 sis-am'a-i 
 
 sis'p-rah 
 
 sy'van 
 
 smer'nah 
 
 so'ko 
 
 so'dy 
 
 sod'om 
 
 Solomon 
 
 Sopater 
 
 Sophereth 
 
 Sorek 
 
 Sosthenes 
 
 Sotai 
 
 Stachys 
 
 Stacte 
 
 Stephanas 
 
 Stoicks 
 
 Suah 
 
 Siiccoth benoth 
 
 Suchathites 
 
 Sukkiims 
 
 Susa 
 
 Susanchites 
 
 Susannah 
 
 Susi 
 
 Sycamine 
 
 Sychar 
 
 Syene 
 
 Synagogue 
 
 Syntiche 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 Syria 
 
 Syrion 
 
 Syrophenicia 
 
 Taanac shiloh 
 
 Tabeal 
 
 Taberah 
 
 Tabitha 
 
 Tabor 
 
 Tabrimon 
 
 Tache 
 
 Tachmonite 
 
 Tahan 
 
 Tahapanes 
 
 Tahaphanes 
 
 Tab penes 
 
 Tahrea 
 
 Tahtim hodshi 
 
 Talitha cumi 
 
 Tahnai 
 
 Tamar 
 
 Tammuz 
 
 Tanach 
 
 Tanhumeth 
 
 Taphath 
 
 Tappuah 
 
 Tarah 
 
 Taralah 
 
 Tarea 
 
 Tarpelites 
 
 Tarshish 
 
 Tatnai 
 
 Tebali 
 
 Tebaliah 
 
 Tebetli 
 
 Tehinnah 
 
 Tekel 
 
 Tekoah 
 
 Telabib 
 
 Telah 
 
 Telahim 
 
 Telassar 
 
 Telem 
 
 Telliar«a 
 
 Telmelah 
 
 Tema 
 
 sol'o-mon 
 
 sop'a-ter 
 
 so-fe'reth 
 
 so'rek 
 
 sos'te-nes 
 
 so'ta-i 
 
 sta'kees 
 
 stak'te 
 
 stef'a-nas 
 
 sto'iks 
 
 su'ah 
 
 suk'koth be'notk 
 
 suk'a-thites 
 
 siik-ke'ims 
 
 su'sah 
 
 su'san-kites 
 
 su-san'nah 
 
 su'sy 
 
 sik'a-mine 
 
 sy'kar 
 
 sy-e'ne 
 
 sin'na-gog 
 
 sin'te-ke 
 
 syr'ak-use 
 
 syr'e-a 
 
 syr'e-on 
 
 sy-ro-fe-nish'e-a 
 
 tay-a'nak shy'loh 
 
 ta-be'al 
 
 ta-be'rah 
 
 tab'e-thah 
 
 tay'bor 
 
 tab're-mon 
 
 tatch 
 
 tak'mo-nite 
 
 tay'han 
 
 ta-hap'a-nes 
 
 ta-haf'a-nes 
 
 tah'pe-nes 
 
 tah're-ah 
 
 tah'tim hod'shy 
 
 tal'e-lhah ktw'my 
 
 tal'may 
 
 tay'mar 
 
 tarn' muz 
 
 tay'nak 
 
 tan-heiv'meth 
 
 tay'fath 
 
 tap'peiv-ah 
 
 iay'rah 
 
 tar'a-lah 
 
 tay're-ah 
 
 tar'pel-ites 
 
 far'shish 
 
 tat'nay 
 
 te'bah 
 
 teb-a-ly'ah 
 
 te'beth 
 
 te-hin'nah 
 
 te'kel 
 
 te-ko'ah 
 
 tel-a'bib 
 
 te'lah 
 
 te-lay'im 
 
 te-las'sar 
 
 te'lem 
 
 iel-har'sah 
 
 tel-me'lah 
 
 te'mah
 
 SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 
 
 1003 
 
 Teinan 
 
 Ternani 
 
 Terah 
 
 Teiaphim 
 
 Teresli 
 
 Tertius 
 
 Tertullu3 
 
 Tetrarch 
 
 Thaddeus 
 
 Thara 
 
 Thelasser 
 
 Theodotus 
 
 Theopliilus 
 
 Therineleth 
 
 Thessalonica 
 
 Theiidas 
 
 Thimnathah 
 
 Thyatira 
 
 Tiberias 
 
 Til)ni 
 
 Tidal 
 
 Tiglath pilezer 
 
 Tikvah 
 
 Tilon 
 
 Tinieus 
 
 Timna 
 
 Timnah 
 
 Timnath heres 
 
 Timon 
 
 Timotheus 
 
 Tiplisah 
 
 Tiras 
 
 Tirathites 
 
 Tirliakah 
 
 Tirhanah 
 
 Tiria 
 
 Tirsliatha 
 
 Tishbite 
 
 Titus 
 
 Tizite 
 
 Toah 
 
 Tobiah 
 
 Tobijah 
 
 Toclien 
 
 Togarniah 
 
 Tohew 
 
 Toi 
 
 Tola 
 
 Tolad 
 
 Tophel 
 
 Tophet 
 
 Trachonitis 
 
 Trogyllium 
 
 Trophimus 
 
 Tryphena 
 
 Tryphosah 
 
 Tsidkenu 
 
 Tubal Cain 
 
 Tychicus 
 
 Tyrannua 
 
 Tyre 
 
 Tyru9 
 
 teaman 
 
 tem'a-ny 
 
 te'rah 
 
 ter'a-Jim 
 
 te'resh 
 
 ter'she-us 
 
 ter-lul'lus 
 
 tet'mrk 
 
 thad-de'us 
 
 tha'rah 
 
 the-las'ser 
 
 the-od' o-tus 
 
 the-offe-lus 
 
 ther' me-leth 
 
 thes-a-lo-ny'kah 
 
 thu'das 
 
 thim-nay'thah 
 
 thi-a-ty'rah 
 
 ty-be're-as 
 
 tib'ny 
 
 ty'dal 
 
 tig'lath pe-le'zer 
 
 tik'vah 
 
 ty'lon 
 
 te-me'us 
 
 tim'nay 
 
 iim'nah 
 
 tim'nath he'res 
 
 ty'mon 
 
 te-tno'the-213 
 
 tif'sah 
 
 ty'ras 
 
 ty'rath-iies 
 
 tir-hay'kah 
 
 tir-hay'nah 
 
 tyr'e-a 
 
 tir'sha-thah 
 
 tish'bite 
 
 ty'tus 
 
 ty'zile 
 
 to'ah 
 
 to-by'ah 
 
 to-by'jah 
 
 to'ken 
 
 to-gar'mah 
 
 to' hew 
 
 to'i 
 
 to'lah 
 
 to'latl 
 
 to'fel 
 
 to'fet 
 
 trak-o-ny'tis 
 
 tro-jil'le-um 
 
 trofe-mus 
 
 try-fe'nah 
 
 try-fo'sah 
 
 sid'ke-nu 
 
 tu'bal knin 
 
 tik'e-kus 
 
 ty-ran'nus 
 
 tyer 
 
 ty'rus 
 
 U 
 
 UCAL 
 
 Uel 
 
 Ulai 
 Ulam 
 
 yeio'kal 
 
 yew'el 
 
 yew'la-i 
 
 yew'lam 
 
 Ulla 
 
 Ummah 
 
 Unni 
 
 Upharsin 
 
 Uphaz 
 
 Urbane 
 
 Uri 
 
 Uriah 
 
 Uriel 
 
 Urini 
 
 Uthai 
 
 Uzai 
 
 Uzal 
 
 Uzzah 
 
 Uzzen she rah 
 
 Uzzi 
 
 Uzziah 
 
 Uzziel 
 
 Vajesatha 
 
 Vaniah 
 
 Vashni 
 
 Vashti 
 
 Vophsi 
 
 Zaanaim 
 
 Zaanan 
 Zaananniin 
 Zaavan 
 Zabad 
 Zabbai 
 Zabdi 
 Zabdiel 
 Zabina 
 Zaccai 
 Zaccu 
 Zacharlah 
 Zacher 
 Zaccheus 
 Zadok 
 Zaham 
 Zair 
 Zalaph 
 Zajiiionah 
 Zalinunnah 
 Zamzumniims 
 Zaiioah 
 Za|)hnath 
 paaneah 
 Zai)iion 
 Zarah 
 Zareah 
 Zarod 
 Zarephath 
 Zaretaii 
 Zar(>th sliahar 
 Zaitaiiah 
 Zatihu 
 Zaza 
 Zebadiah 
 Zel>ah 
 Zol)aiin 
 Zebedee 
 Zebina 
 Zeboim 
 
 ul'lah 
 
 um'mah 
 
 %in'ny 
 
 yexv-far' sin 
 
 yeu/faz 
 
 ur'ba-ne 
 
 yew'ry 
 
 yew-ry'ah 
 
 yew're-el 
 
 yew'rim 
 
 yei&tha-i 
 
 yew'za-i 
 
 yew'zal 
 
 uz'zah 
 
 uz'zen she'rah 
 
 uz'zy 
 
 uz-zy'ah 
 
 uz-zy'el 
 
 va-jes'a-thah 
 
 va-ny'ah 
 
 vash'ny 
 
 vash'ty 
 
 vofsy 
 
 zay-a-nay'im 
 
 zay'a-nan 
 
 zay-a-nan'nim 
 
 zay'a-van 
 
 zay'bad 
 
 zah'bay 
 
 zab'dy 
 
 zab'de-el 
 
 zab-by'nah 
 
 zak'ka-i 
 
 zak'ker 
 
 zak-a-ry'ah 
 
 zay'ker 
 
 znk-ke'us 
 
 zay'dok 
 
 zay'ham 
 
 zay'ir 
 
 zdy'laf 
 
 zal-mo'nah 
 
 zal-mun'nah 
 
 zam-zum'mims 
 
 zan-o'ah 
 
 zaf'natk 
 
 pay-a-ne'ah 
 zay'fon 
 zay'rah 
 za-re'ah 
 zay'red 
 znr'e-fath 
 zar'e-tan 
 zay'reth sha'har 
 znr-tay'nah 
 zat'thew 
 zm/zah 
 zeb-a-dy'ah 
 ze'bah 
 ze-bay'iin 
 zeb'be-dee 
 ze-by'nah 
 ze-bo'im 
 
 Zebuda 
 
 Zebul 
 
 Zebulon 
 
 Zedekiah 
 
 Zedah 
 
 Zeeb 
 
 Zelah 
 
 Zelek 
 
 Zelophehad 
 
 Zelotes 
 
 Zelzah 
 
 Zemaraim 
 
 Zeniarite 
 
 Zeniirah 
 
 Zenan 
 
 Zenas 
 
 Zeorim 
 
 Zephaniah 
 
 Zephath 
 
 Zephathah 
 
 Zetlio 
 
 Zephon 
 
 Zerah 
 
 Zerahiah 
 
 Zeresh 
 
 Zereda 
 
 Zeredatha 
 
 Zerereth 
 
 Zeror 
 
 Zeruah 
 
 Zerubbabel 
 
 Zeruiah 
 
 Zetham 
 
 Zia 
 
 Ziba 
 
 Zibeon 
 
 Zibiah 
 
 Zichri 
 
 Zidkijah 
 
 Zidon 
 
 Zidonians 
 
 Ziba 
 
 Zikhai 
 
 Zimri 
 
 Zina 
 
 Ziph 
 
 Ziphah 
 
 Ziphion 
 
 Ziphites 
 
 Zipbron 
 
 Zijtporah 
 
 Zitiiri 
 
 Ziza 
 
 Zoan 
 
 Zobeba 
 
 Zoheleth 
 
 Zophah 
 
 Zopbai 
 
 Zopbini 
 
 Zorah 
 
 Zorathites 
 
 Zoreah 
 
 Zorobabel 
 
 Zuar 
 
 Zuriel 
 
 Zuri shaddai 
 
 Zuzims 
 
 ze-bew'dah 
 
 ze'bid (as didl) 
 
 ieb'u-lun 
 
 zed-e-ky'ah 
 
 ze'dah 
 
 ze'eb 
 
 ze'lah 
 
 ze'lek 
 
 ze-lo'fe-had 
 
 zt-lo'tes 
 
 zel'zah 
 
 zem-a-ray'im 
 
 zem'a-rite 
 
 ze-my'rah 
 
 ze'nan 
 
 ze'nas 
 
 ze-or'im 
 
 zef-a-ny'ah 
 
 ze'fath 
 
 zepa-thah 
 
 zt'tho 
 
 ze'fon 
 
 ze'rah 
 
 zer-a-hy'ah 
 
 ze'resh 
 
 zer'e-dah 
 
 ze-red'a-thah 
 
 ze-re'reth 
 
 ze'ror 
 
 ze-ru'ah 
 
 ze-rub'ba-bel 
 
 zer-u-i'ah 
 
 ze'tham 
 
 zy'ah 
 
 zy'bah 
 
 zib'e-on 
 
 zib-i'yah 
 
 zik'ry 
 
 zid-ky'jah 
 
 zy'don 
 
 zy-do'ne-ans 
 
 zy'hah 
 
 zil'thay 
 
 zim'ry 
 
 zy'nah 
 
 ziff 
 
 zy'fah 
 
 zife-on 
 
 zifites 
 
 zifron 
 
 zip-po'rah 
 
 zith'ry 
 
 zy'zah 
 
 zo'an 
 
 zo-be'bah 
 
 zo'he-leth 
 
 zo'fah 
 
 zo'fay 
 
 zo'Jim 
 
 zo'rah 
 
 zo'rath-ites 
 
 zo-re'ah 
 
 zo-rob'a-bel 
 
 zu'ar 
 
 zu're-el 
 
 zti'ry shad'a-i 
 
 zu'zims
 
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